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ABC is jumping on the true crime bandwagon.The Disney-owned network has handed out a pilot order to scripted drama The Jury, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.Described as 12 Angry Men meets podcast Serial, The Jury follows a single murder trial as seen through the eyes of the individual jurors, exploring the biases and experiences that influence the jurors judgment, and how their preconceptions change along the way. It's unclear if The Jury is an anthology, with a different case every season.The drama, which landed at ABC with a six-figure penalty, is written by Justified's VJ Boyd and Mark Bianculli (MTV's Self Promotion). Boyd exec produces alongside CSI graduate Carol Mendelsohn and her production company topper Julie Weitz. Bianculli is set as a co-EP. The drama hails from Sony Pictures Television, where Mendelsohn is under an overall deal. The news comes before NBC is poised to launch Mendelsohn's first post-CSI Sony series with NBC's midseason drama Game of Silence.For ABC, The Jury arrives as the nation continues to be swept up in Netflix's 10-episode true-crime documentary Making a Murderer and after HBO's The Jinx experienced a similar moment in pop culture. True crime fare has been all the rage following the breakout success of podcast Serial, which is also in development as a scripted series at Fox 21 Studios. The genre has been one of the five hottest trends of development season.The Jury becomes ABC's fourth pilot order and third drama. The network is also readying Agents of SHIELD spinoff Marvel's Most Wanted and John Ridley PI drama Presence (unlic).
Following the recent spate of bad weather, the Rural and Industrial Design and Building Association (RIDBA) has warned farmers to ensure their buildings are fit for purpose from both a moral and legal perspective.

The moral perspective would be living with the knowledge that an agricultural building that was not fit for purpose could partially or wholly collapse and injure or kill people or livestock or damage machinery and crops.

The legal perspective is farmers now being criminally liable, under new regulations, for Health and Safety on their land. The implications for them and the manufacturer or supplier of a poorly designed agricultural building are immense.

It has been drawn to RIDBA's attention that more and more farmers are asking frame manufacturers to use the steel frame of a new building at the same size as an existing building but mostly this will mean that the new building frame is under-designed.

Design loads on buildings are being increased to ensure the structure will remaining standing in the increasingly extreme weather conditions brought about by climate change that a few years ago would not have been thought possible.

A typical example of this extreme weather is the extreme quantity of rain that fell in Cumbria and the North West of England and parts of Scotland earlier this month and the extreme snow fall that caused so many buildings in the north of England and Scotland to collapse a few years ago.

Because of this increased risk, standards such as BS 5502:22, which sets the design loads for agricultural buildings, have been amended to increase the design loads.

RIDBA advises that designing to old standards is not only a false economy because of the risk of collapse but also poses serious issues under the Construction Design and Management (CDM) regulations which have recently put increasing responsibility on the "principle designer" and any other designer.
Jim Baines of Trawden once again took the red rosette home, with his 545kg Limousin heifer catching the eye of judge Jonathan Townley from Clapham.

The Baines family has a long history of prime cattle champions at Skipton Auction Mart, and this latest winner was snapped up by Keelham Farm Shop, regular buyers at Skipton, for 1,479, or 271.5p/kg.

Reserve champion was Gary Lodge of Westside Farm in Malham Moor. Selling for the first time at Skipton, his homebred British Blue cross steer fetched 1,483, or 216.5p/kg, and was also the first prize steer.

Malcolm Metcalfe took second prize in the heifer and steer categories, with his Limousin cross heifer selling for 254.5p/kg or 1,395, and a Limousin cross steer for 1,416, or 248.5p/kg.

Third prize for steers also went to Jim Baines, who sold a Bazadaise for 1,443, and for heifers it was JM Townsend of Laneshawbridge who picked up third place but also top price for a heifer, with a Blonde cross, which fetched 1,483, or 251.5p/kg.

Steers, weighing over 560kg, averaged 232.67p/kg, while heifers weighing between 400 and 480kg averaged 251.96p/kg and those weighing over 485kg averaged 221.33p/kg.

In the cull cow dairy show, MP Jennings (Dairy) Ltd, from Cowling, took first place, and went on to sell three black and whites for 855, 841 and 814. DA Fort, of Glusburn, came second and G Pickersgill & Sons of Guiseley were third.

KA&HL Fawcett of Barden were beef champions, with R Caton of Cowan Bridge second and I Barrett & Son of Braisty Wood third.

Culls sold to an overall average of 100.79p/kg, or 675.47, with black and whites averaging at 95.48p/kg, dairy shorts averaging 102.73p/kg, Brown Swiss selling to 61.5p/kg, Limousin crosses averaging at 11.93p/kg, British Blue crosses averaging 128.04p/kg, and Blonde crosses selling to 146.5p/kg.

Gargrave farmer starts the New Year with champions and top price in prime sheep show

It was an optimistic start to the New Year at Skipton's prime sheep show with trade up on the week.

Brian and Lisa Hall of JG Hall and Son, Gargrave, showed the champion pen of five April-born home-bred Beltex, weighing 44kg each. It was a triumphant return to the New Year show for the Halls, who won the same show in 2014.

Lisa said:

"Its only the second time we've put lambs in this show and it's the second time we've won."

The winning pen, chosen by judge Michael Winchester, took top price of 268p, or 118 each, sold to Vivers Scotlamb of Annan.

Ellis Bros, of Addingham Moorside, were reserve champions, selling a pen of five 42kg Beltex at 102 each, again to Vivers Scotlamb.

Third prize in the continental class went to WA, VJ, JA Towler, of Grindleton, who sold a pen of 42kg Beltex for 96 each to T Shepherdson, of Marsden, Huddersfield.
A pple has bought a company behind artificial intelligence (AI) technology that can recognise facial expressions.

The tech giant confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that it had bought Emotient, but did not provided details of the deal or elaborate on its plans for the firm.

Emotient, which bills itself as "a leader in emotion measurement", has sold technology to advertisers who use it to work out what viewers make of their ads.

"Wherever there are cameras there can be video analysis of expressions, and an opportunity to learn about the customers state of mind as they emotionally respond to marketing, product and service experiences," Emotient says on its website.

Doctors have also called on Emotient to help them interpret signs of pain among patients and one retailer monitored shoppers' facial expressions with its tools, the WSJ said.

Apple is not the only tech firm interested in image recognition. Rivals including Facebook and Alphabet parent Google are investing in AI techniques.

In a video on its website, Facebook describes how it is developing AI that can read the contents of images to the visually impaired. Other software automatically recognises faces for photo tagging.

Emotient was founded in 2012 and is based in San Diego.

In 2014 it raised $6 million to apply its technology to the wearables market, according to a TechCrunch.

It created an app for Google Glass, which Google stopped selling last year.
S py might not be the sharpest tool in the box, which could explain why were struggling to unwind the events leading up to Marks & Spencer chief executive Marc Bollands retirement.

Chairman Robert Swannell says the board was informed by Bolland last summer that he would leave this year but didnt tell the stock market the news until yesterday.

But this is fine because, apparently, the summer announcement wasnt a firm one. Until yesterday. When it was. There was a thorough search for a successor.

However, this apparently involved no interviews with any candidates  internal or external  and new boss Steve Rowe was only informed on Monday.

And, anyway, the summer announcement by Bolland to the board is irrelevant because Swannell had already been planning the succession from the day the Dutchman arrived. Clear?

The Rowes keep it in the family

Steve Rowe, the new man in the M&S hot seat, belongs to one of only two families ever to have had successive generations on the board. (The other was the Sieffs.)

His father Joe headed procurement until 2000 when he was part of the boardroom shakeout that heralded the arrival of Luc Vandevelde as the first Dutchman to attempt to turn around the retail giant.

Joe left with a then handsome pay-off of 536,000 and a hefty 1.4 million top up to his pension pot.

The perils of pre-written comments

Bollands departure was announced at 7am.

Then, 37 minutes later, an email arrives from Begbies Traynor giving the views of partner Julie Palmer, who said: Marc Bolland is yet again under increased pressure to kick-start growth in the clothing division during 2016.

Except he wont be, will he?

Paul Smith's profits plunge

Sir Paul Smith kepot investor happy (Picture: AFP/Getty Images) / Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

Results from Sir Paul Smiths eponymous fashion group werent as sharp as the suits this year, according to Companies House figures, with profits down by half in a mixed performance.

The firm, controlled by Sir Paul, still managed a 3.1 million dividend payout though.

CoalFace Leeson pitch is the pits

A dazzling opportunity arrives in Spys inbox  the chance to interview Nick Leeson, the rogue trader who single-handedly bought down Barings Bank in 1995.

Surely Leeson has spent more time doing interviews about how he racked up 862 million in trading losses than the three-and-a-half years he spent doing time for it.

But the PR pushing trading data firm CoalFace Capital, the latest to sign him up as a mouthpiece, reckons Leeson is really a fan because he doesnt have a stake in CoalFace, hes involved entirely on a third-party basis as he likes the idea.

Likes the idea, or is being paid to say he likes the idea?

CoalFace pays him for image rights.
C hancellor George Osborne has been dealt another blow on the economy as the UKs trade deficit with its biggest partner  the European Union  hit an all-time high.

Trade figures showed that record car imports drove the nations goods gap with its EU partners up by 500 million to 8.2 billion, the highest since Office for National Statistics records began in 1998.

The latest gloom on the UK economy comes just a day after Osborne warned of a dangerous cocktail of global risks threatening the recovery this year and China-inspired new year turmoil in world markets.

Number-crunchers have meanwhile slashed estimates of the UKs growth performance in 2015, while dire borrowing figures have left the Chancellor facing the embarrassment of missing his deficit target in this years Budget.

UK goods have become more expensive on the continent as the pound surged against the euro following the European Central Banks 1.1 trillion (817.9 billion) move to pump cash into its economy last year, hampering the efforts of British exporters.

In a blow to hopes of rebalancing the economy, EU imports rose 2% to hit a record 19.3 billion in November.

But exports to the region  which accounts for almost 40% of UK trade  sank by 1.7 billion or 1.5% to 11.1 billion, which was put down to weaker markets in France, the Netherlands and Ireland.

The UKs overall goods trade deficit with the rest of the world improved slightly to 10.6 billion from 11.2 billion  although experts put this down to falling prices halving the cost of oil imports from 1.1 billion to 0.6 billion.

Economists said the slight improvement was unlikely to be enough for net trade to add to overall UK growth in the final three months of 2015, after it knocked one percentage point off the economys expansion between July and September.

"The economic recovery looks set to remain reliant on the domestic services sector."

Scott Bowman, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: The recent fallback in the oil price should help to improve the trade balance, all else equal, given that the UK is a net importer of oil. Against this, there are a number of challenges exporters face, not least the strong pound and weakness of demand overseas.

Accordingly, the economic recovery looks set to remain reliant on the domestic services sector.

Stripping out volatile oil, the underlying picture is also weak as export volumes fell 1.7% over the month, exceeding the 1% decline in imports.

Import prices have meanwhile dipped 7.9% year-on-year  reflecting lower commodity prices and previous sterling strength  which could give the Bank of England another reason to delay rate rises, according to IHS Global Insights Howard Archer.
P lunging oil prices have prompted the Qatari owner of 1 Cabot Square  the Canary Wharf home of Credit Suisse  to put it on the market for 450 million and the turmoil could prompt even more deals, experts said.

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has lined up its first major London property sale, having bought it in 2012 for 330 million.

Credit Suisse was one of the two first investment banks who agreed to move to Canary Wharf from the City in the early 1990s.

QIA had budgeted for oil at $65 a barrel but, with todays price at $34.35, pressure to improve returns from its investment arm is mounting, Estates Gazette reported.

Instead Qatars sovereign wealth fund is understood to be concentrating on larger redevelopment opportunities that could offer higher returns.

These include Canary Wharf Group, which QIA took control of last year with partner Brookfield.

Other sellers from the Middle East include the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Fergus Keane, head of West End investment at Cushman & Wakefield, said: Oil may prompt some selling, but I actually believe Middle Eastern volatility in terms of the current conflicts will result in even more money being ploughed into London bricks and mortar because of its safe haven status.
Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana may be best known for its extravagant designs and form-fitting dresses worn by top models, but that is not to say the company is ignorant to its fans who like to dress more modestly.

Satisfying this customer  and taking the brands look slightly further than its Sicilian heritage  Dolce & Gabbana has this week unveiled a collection in which it looked to the Middle East for inspiration.

Introducing its first collection aimed at its Muslim consumers, the range of abayas and hijabs come in a variety of different forms, with some more subtle, monochrome looks offsetting others decorated with the brands signature colourful prints.

However, this high-end brand is not the first to create a collection especially for the Middle Eastern shopper.

Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection 1 /25 Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection The new Dolce & Gabbana Abaya collection

With Oscar de la Renta, Tommy Hilfiger and DKNY all having created ranges, many labels now design Ramadan collections as the religious celebration gains recognition as a time of increased retail activity for Muslim consumers.

Net-A-Porter also offer a Ramadan Edit tailored specially for the annual holy month.

The high-street has quickly followed suit, with Uniqlo offering a range of hijabs in Singapore and H&M enlisting its first hijab wearing model, Mariah Idrissi.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Idrissi said: Seeing Dolce & Gabbana launch in this market is definitely a positive thing.

I think [brands] are realising; lets not just do it in that one month [Ramadan], lets make this something to stay, because theyve realised the potential and how much Muslim women spend on fashion."

The reaction has not been entirely positive, however, as the model reveals she receives criticism for wearing trend-led clothes.

Some members of the community still dont get it. Im trying to explain to people that fashion is such a big, influential part of life, the same way that music is to movies.

If we were more used to seeing Muslim women, then for all the negative media that we hear about Muslims theyd also be a positive side to it as well.

The Abaya line goes on sale this month in all Dolce & Gabbana boutiques in the Middle East, Paris and London.
Review at a glance









B illy Connolly was greeted by a huge cheer when he appeared for his first Apollo run in six years. Youre only doing that because Im not well, he responded. He did look slightly frail as he walked slowly to the microphone, but it is a relief to report that his funny bones are in full working order.

Since Connolly, 73, last performed here he has been treated for prostate cancer and is dealing with Parkinsons disease. His left arm noticeably hung more limply than his right. But typically he found laughs in his misfortune. On having Parkinsons he quipped: I wish hed f**king kept it. Elsewhere the white-haired former welder seemed to be mellowing as he reflected on his globe-trotting life. There was not as much rage and more sentimentality as he talked about his first kiss near an air raid shelter and confessed to losing his virginity in Arbroath. He still got into a froth about anti-smoking zealots, although he admitted that his wife Pamela had nagged him into quitting years ago.

Topical observations were outnumbered by references to mortality. At one point he recalled a fan dying at an early gig and he finished with a vivid anecdote about a nerve-shreddingly wobbly flight over Mozambique.

Last time he opened here he frequently lost his thread. If anything he was mentally more on message this time. Even when he went off at wild tangents  one moment discussing Aberdeen autograph hunters, the next filming in Toronto  he always returned to his original yarn.

Further highlights included a shaggy cat story and plenty of well-turned one-liners. Bonnie Prince Charlie is the only member of royalty to be named after three sheepdogs, while the Scots are so melancholy there was a guy who loved his wife so much he almost told her.

This was not quite vintage Connolly yet any suggestion of an artistic demise is far from accurate. Your sense of humour is gonna get you in trouble, he said he had once been warned. Tonight it got him a standing ovation.

Until February 6, Eventim Apollo (0844 844 0444, axs.com )

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T obias Lindholms war drama, which revolves around a group of Danish soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, is seen as one of the frontrunners in the Oscars Best Foreign Language Film race. Though a muted and rather conventional-looking affair, its beautifully acted by, among others, Borgen and Game of Thrones cutie Pilou Asbaek.

Asbaek plays a brave and compassionate commander battling the Taliban in Helmand Province, whose wife and three children miss him sorely. The second half nicely confounds our expectations. Like the anti-war saga In the Valley of Elah, A War explores a misuse of power that has horrific consequences. Whats different is that here the crime takes place under our noses and, even more disturbingly, feels justified.

Rather like the Swedish indie gem Force Majeure, A War is designed to put us in a moral quandary. There are no baddies in this universe, just panicky patriarchs who lose sight of the bigger picture under pressure and, in the process, also lose the right to view themselves as wholly decent.

The ending is beyond bleak. Given the low-fi aesthetic, the movie should work well on TV where, hopefully, it will persuade floating voters that Afghanistan is the last place Western forces should be.

Cert 15, 115 mins

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T he Baftas may be British awards but any film released here is eligible in any category except outstanding British film and outstanding British debut.

This generosity produces some unfortunately indicative results, despite the patriotism of the academys voters.

This year there is no overlap at all between best British film  45 Years, Amy, Brooklyn, The Danish Girl, Ex Machina, and The Lobster, excellent works all, with perhaps one exception  and best film tout court, a solid list of The Big Short (perhaps the best credit crunch film yet), Bridge Of Spies, Carol, The Revenant and Spotlight.

Ridley Scott is the only British candidate for best director, a category in which comedian Adam McKays inclusion for The Big Short is the surprise, at least to those yet to see the film.

Last year Eddie Redmayne upheld UK talent as the ultimate winner of the Oscar for best actor after the Baftas, but seems unlikely to do so this time, up against Leonardo Di Caprios amazing performance as the survivor of a bear attack in The Revenant, although Michael Fassbender may have an outside chance as Steve Jobs.

We may have a better chance in best supporting actor with Idris Elba so powerful in Beasts Of No Nation, as well as Mark Rylance and Christian Bale challenging. In best actress, its a delight to see Dame Maggie Smith make the cut as The Lady In The Van, when the film itself did not, but she is up against Saoirse Ronans performance in Brooklyn and Brie Larsons in Room. Jennifer Lawrence didnt make it for Joy  and where was Charlotte Rampling for her superb work in 45 Years? Also missing out completely were Carey Mulligan and Tom Hardy, London Road and the much-heralded Suffragette.

Both Todd Hayness Carol and Alex Garlands Ex Machina have done well, while Alicia Vikander has scored brilliantly to be nominated as both best actress and best supporting actress.

It seems fair enough that Star Wars: The Force Awakens should score only in four technical nominations, much less so that the wildly inventive Mad Max: Fury Road also took only technical nominations, albeit seven. Overall though, few great shocks or surprises so far, no mortal snubs: the final awards are on Valentines Day.

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Review at a glance









A s dramatic as Black Swan, as funny as Horrible Bosses and as spryly intimate as The Red Shoes, this doc about Russias most famous dance company is hot stuff indeed. Ballet afficionados may deem it sordid to dwell on the 2013 acid attack that left Sergei Filin, the Bolshois artistic director, blind in one eye. Yet the film never feels lurid.

Lets not turn this into stories about sex, says world-weary, fiercely articulate ballerina Anastasia Meskova. British director Nick Read heeds her advice and glosses over the part played by glamorous 21-year-old Angelina Vorontsova in the scandal. Hes not interested in the power of lust, but the lust for power.

Three men dominate the story and all of them, amazingly, are willing to be interviewed on camera. First up is huge-haired Nikolay Tsiskaridze (imagine Sacha Baron Cohens character Bruno on an especially loud day), a stupendous dancer and teacher who allegedly schemed against Filin.

Then theres hatchet-faced maverick Vladimir Urin, the man sent in to clean up the Bolshois image. He too has issues with Filin. The latter, in case youre wondering, has issues with everyone. All of these men are fascinating dramatic types, but Filin is particularly intriguing: arrogant, poisonous, brilliant and almost touchingly naive. Back at work following nine months of surgery he seems confident that he can reassert his hold on the company. Wrong!

The camera hones in on his ugly wounds (his enemies claimed he exaggerated the scale of his injury; the images suggest otherwise). Meanwhile, slowly but surely, its Urin who gains the upper hand. The unsuspecting Filin gets assaulted again, this time by an acid tongue.

You may ask yourself why Urin allowed Read to remain a fly on the wall while all this was going on. And you may wish a longer interview with Tsiskaridze had made it into the final cut (the dancer withdrew his permission for its use when he got a new job in St Petersburg).

There are gaps in this narrative, but its pretty obvious that none of the central figures are saints and that the corruption the interviewees repeatedly refer to (whether on the part of the Kremlin or various oligarchs) has probably shaped the film itself.

Given the circumstances, Read has done a wonderful job. Instead of promoting or smearing a celebrated brand hes created a portrait of a workplace that feels both pertinent to Putins Russia and universal. Take note, employees of the world: dysfunctional institutions can seriously damage your health.

Cert PG, 96 mins

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L ondons two biggest street food night markets are returning this month following a festive break.

Dinerama in Shoreditch  which was destroyed by fire last year  will open on Thursday January 14, with an impressive line-up of traders that includes mini-burger sellers Slider Bar, puffy steamed bun makers Yum Bun, and the ultimate sweet spot You Doughnut!.

Its five bars will also return, including an alpine lodge for mulled wine, Winerama for un-mulled wine and the German Sex Dungeon, selling cans and shots.

Hawker House, set in Canada Water, will return a couple of weeks later on Friday January 29, complete with four brand new traders.

Exisiting food stalls such as twisted Indian snack stop Rola Wala, Mexican-inspired Breddos and meaty Smokestak will be joined by Kimchinary serving Mexi-Korean wraps; Mother Clucker and their tea-brined buttermilk fried chicken; Club Mexicana offering meat-free tacos and burritos; and Chin Chin Labs, making nitro-frozen ice cream.

Also back at Hawker House will be The 86, a bonus hidden cocktail bar that's worth seeking out for special drinks and speedier service.

Both the markets will run until early spring. Visit streetfeastlondon.com.

Follow Ben Norum on Twitter @BenNorum

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E ven the richest and most famous of Londoners cannot be beside the seaside all the time. But one private health club has decided that if its members cannot go to the Med, then the Med can come to them.

Twenty-five tonnes of it to be precise, driven more than 1,500 miles from Sicily to South Kensington in the back of a lorry.

The seawater is now installed in a pool at the South Kensington Club, which has been visited by the likes of Chelsy Davy, Alexa Chung and Pippa Middleton. The Delevingne sisters, Cara and Poppy, are also believed to be fans.

The watsu pool is lined with tiles made from lava taken from the base of Mount Etna. The water is heated to 34.5C and constantly purified, making it cleaner than the sea.

Members are offered therapy sessions in the water, which the club claims contains minerals that are good for the skin and for recovery after a workout. They also increase the waters buoyancy, allowing muscles to relax.

Its pH balance is adjusted to 7.4 so that it is gentle on the eyes but retains the benefits of sea salt.

This week 25 tons of seawater from the volcanic Aeolian Islands, Lipari, made its way to the heart of London at the South Kensington Club

Club founder Luca Del Bono obtained a special dispensation from the Sicilian authorities to collect a sample of the Tyrrhenian Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean, from Lipari, the island where he grew up. It is the largest of the volcanic Aeolian Islands near Sicily.

After pumping the water out of the sea, he drove it in sanitised tanks to London in the back of a lorry. He also took a collection of native plants and lava, used to make table tops and a reception desk.

He said it cost him only 50 euros in permit fees because he had help from his friends in the area.

I had to have 14 permits to do it, he said. When a lady who works for me went to the government to ask for it they thought it was a joke ... Im not transporting the water here, Im transporting you to there. People feel like theyve been on holiday [after bathing in it].

I grew up on the island north-east of Sicily, I took the challenge further because I didnt just get the water from Sicily, I brought it from the island where I grew up.

The club offers a passive movement-based therapy in the pool called aquatic bodywork. Specialist Steve Karle moves the clients around in ways said to follow the movement patterns of the body. Benefits are said to include natural realignment and improved posture, relief from chronic pain, alleviation of insomnia and improved energy levels.

Mr Del Bono said: Im very into energy, volcanos, some things you cant scientifically explain but you feel the benefit of.

Because its very salty it has very little chlorine because we have a very sophisticated ultra violet system which disintegrates bacteria ... We have such a sophisticated system that its cleaner than in the sea.

Best spas in London 1 /26 Best spas in London The Ned Spa The spa is built around this 20 metre indoor pool The Ned Spa The Cowshed treatment room The Lanesborough Club & Spa Pedicure chairs in the parlour The Lanesborough Club & Spa Akasha at Hotel Cafe Royal The swimming pool Akasha at Hotel Cafe Royal The Hammam House of Elemis The spa is located in the heart of Mayfair House of Elemis A treatment room The spa at the Bulgari Hotel The Bulgari spa includes a 25-metre swimming pool and a top-notch hair salon Press The spa at the Bulgari Hotel The spa has 11 treatment rooms, 1 private spa suite and a relaxation room Press ESPA life at Corinthia hotel Guests will leave with noticeable plumped and refreshed faces Press ESPA life at Corinthia hotel Sleep pods replace traditional daybeds in the relaxation room Press Cowshed Treatment rooms where you're asked to be as quiet as possible to aid relaxation Press Cowshed Distressed furniture and comfy sofas give the spa a vintage relaxed feel Press Four Seasons Spa, Park Lane Relax in the renowned spa Press Four Seasons Spa, Park Lane The spa, on the 10th floor, provides breathtaking views Press Bamford Haybarn Spa at The Berkeley Discover the rooftop open-air pool on the 8th floor and admire London's skyline Press Bamford Haybarn Spa at The Berkeley Their aim is to replicate the peace of the countryside in this most metropolitan of spas Press The Spa At The Dorchester The spa exudes 1930s Art Deco glamour with a contemporary edge ensuring a luxurious feel throughout Press The Spa At The Dorchester The spa has a mani-pedi suite, relaxation room, and male and female aromatic steam rooms and experience showers Press

The watsu pool is part of the clubs bathhouse which also features hammam baths and banya, a Russian-style sauna.

Membership to the club costs 365 a month. Non-members can attend only with a member, at a cost of 50.

But Mr Del Bono claims it is not an exclusive club. In that environment [a bathhouse] it doesnt matter who they are, theyre equal, he said.

Everybodys made out of flesh and bone, when you enter this space nothing material matters. People become themselves in a way.

@mirandeee
A man has been arrested on suspicion of throwing laughing gas canisters and shouting anti-Semitic abuse at Jewish shoppers in north London.

The 24-year-old was on Friday being questioned by police over the incident on Wednesday evening, which saw three shoppers in Orthodox Jewish dress pelted with the metallic containers.

The words Heil Hitler and Hitler is on the way to you were allegedly also shouted at the two men and woman by a group in a white pickup truck.

It happened outside Tottenham Hale shopping centre at about 7.45pm.

The shoppers were left shaken but not injured.

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of a religiously aggravated public order offence after visiting a north London police station.
A Met officer who smashed into an innocent motorcyclist during a car chase has been found guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

The biker was left fighting for his life following the crash in Poplar, east London.

The impact sent him flying into the air and also injured two police officers, while three pedestrians were hurt by flying debris as the car ploughed into the railings.

Pictures showed the front of the police car badly crushed and a set of railings all but demolished at the junction of Poplar High Street and Cotton Street.

The motorcyclist, then 27, stabilised in hospital, but faced a steep recovery from serious head and leg injuries.

Pc Lee Drake, 52, denied two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving but was on Thursday found guilty by jurors at Southwark Crown Court.

He will be sentenced in February.

The crash happened in Cotton Street at the junction with Poplar High Street.

Scotland Yard said on a statement Pc Drake had been placed on restricted duties, which will be reviewed and that he would be the subject of a misconduct review.

At the time, the Met said Pc Drake had been responding to an alert from an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system.
T wo Islamic extremists have been jailed after admitting a serious and deliberate breach of their notification requirements under the Counter Terrorism Act.

Trevor Brooks, 40, from Clapton, and Simon Keeler, 44, from Shadwell, were arrested by police in Hungary, close to the Romanian border, on November 15.

Enquiries by UK authorities found both men left the country six days earlier and had breached their notification requirements.

Under their conditions, Brooks and Keeler were required to alert authorities in the UK if they planned to leave the country for more than 72 hours.

A European arrest warrant was issued and both men were extradited to the UK on November 26 and were arrested and subsequently charged at Heathrow.

The pair pleaded guilty to breaches of notification requirements under the Counter Terrorism Act at Westminster Magistrates Court on November 27 and were each jailed for two years at the Old Bailey on Friday.

Prosecutor Karen Robinson told the court it was clear the men intended to travel for some time, with both men carrying large quantities of cash.

The court heard both men left the UK by hiding in a lorry to avoid border controls at Dover.

But Tanveer Qureshi, defending, said Keeler was attempting to find his wife and six children who had been in Turkey since October 2014 and he was unable to travel legitimately because authorities had his passport.

He said: "He became very desperate, missed his family, wanted to know what was going on, and it was in those circumstances that they left the United Kingdom."

The pair were previously convicted in April 2008 of fundraising for a terrorism purpose and inciting terrorism and were sentenced to three and a half years in prison along with having travel restrictions placed on them for 10 years.

Sentencing, Mr Justice Saunders said the pairs breach was "serious and deliberate" and stressed the importance of counter-terrorism restrictions.

Mr Justice Saunders said: "[Restrictions] are particularly important at this time when there has been recent terrorism activity in several European countries and the fear of further terrorist attacks is intense.

Both of these defendants have been convicted of terrorist offences in the past and Parliament has decided that to protect the public, law enforcement agencies should know where convicted terrorists are when they travel abroad so that a check can be kept on their movements.

Additional reporting by Press Association.
A nurse has been struck off after taking a vulnerable patients bank card and using a hospital cash machine to steal hundreds of pounds.

Karisma Garcia was working at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London, when she stole the money in October 2014.

The nurse, who qualified in 2002, had apparently been asked by the patient to withdraw 100 on his behalf.

However, his card was then reported missing, and Garcia was filmed on CCTV returning to the cash machine to withdraw 700 for herself.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council ruled she should be struck off on Monday.

In a written ruling, the panel said: [The patient] was a vulnerable individual and although no physical harm was caused, there was psychological harm caused by Miss Garcias dishonesty. He was reported to have been upset by what had occurred.

It is highly likely that the incident would have a lasting impact on [him] and the trust he would place on nurses in the future.

Miss Garcias actions have brought the nursing profession into disrepute and her conviction breaches fundamental tenets of the nursing profession, namely those of honesty and a requirement to act lawfully.

Garcia had been convicted of the theft at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court in January 2015. She was ordered to pay back the money and carry out 100 hours unpaid work.
T he memory that stays clearest in my mind from the time I spent at Great Ormond Street Hospital is the T-shirt worn by Ralph Frost, who had recently had his kidneys removed and was being kept alive through dialysis.

Not that he was letting a minor inconvenience like that bother him. Ralph, like six-year-olds everywhere, was much more concerned with showing off his favourite toys and the pictures he was busy drawing.

We drew stick figures together and then played with Lego, only the occasional beeps from the machines on the ward reminding us where we actually were.

But it was the T-shirt that kept catching my attention. When I grow up, the slogan on it read, I want to be a superhero. It was not only the When I grow up that got me. It was the I want to be a superhero, because, like all the children at the hospital who undergo pain and treatments that would test any of us, he already is.

Ralphs mother Amie told me he had already been in and out of the hospital for two years. Recently, she ex-plained, he got lots of blood clots so his kidneys had to be taken out. When was that, I asked. This Friday, she answered.

3 buys a box of microscope slides for researchers finding new cures

I have two half-siblings a similar age to Ralph. When I was younger I spent many years working with the architect of perestroika and glasnost, Mikhail Gorbachev, to raise money for the foundation he set up in his wife Raisas memory to help children with cancer.

There is, I know, nothing more heartbreaking than the reality of a critically ill child, their lives in danger of being cut off before they can properly begin.

I never heard Ralph complain about what simple bad luck meant he was having to undergo. Instead, he proudly told me how he is now used to being poked by needles.

He did not moan about being deprived of his favourite foods  chips and pizza were particular ones, I remember  but rather wanted to show off his new-found knowledge of what he could and could not eat, listing them with a beam on his face as he got them right.

Nor was he alone in this. One child at GOSH told how every night, when he is woken in the small hours for his treatment, he tries not to cry out from the pain as he does not want to wake the other sleeping children.

Superheroes all. Just like the nurses and the doctors and the cleaners and all those working at Great Ormond Street Hospital, who go in each day with the sole objective of doing what they can to make the lives of the children there healthier and happier.

Yet now we know we have another group of heroes to thank. And that is you, our readers, who have also done something extraordinary during the past few weeks. The response to our Give to GOSH appeal  not only through the donations that have already raised 2 million, but through your expressions of support on social media  has been humbling.

Superhero: Little Ralph Frost / Johnny Shand Kydd

Thank you for all you have given and for caring about this hospital and what it is trying to achieve. Every penny raised means we can do more to help children like Ralph and their families.

50 pays for a parent to stay overnight so they can be near their sick child

That is why we want 2 million to be just the start. In the final weeks of this appeal before it ends on February 14, which is not only Valentines Day but also the anniversary of the founding of Great Ormond Street Hospital, our objective is to raise a million more pounds.

A million pounds to fund new research; a million pounds to ensure the children and their families have the best facilities; a million more pounds to help critically ill children as they face unimaginable challenges.

A new years resolution we can achieve together, one we can all be proud of  what a start to 2016 that would be. Please keep helping us reach this goal.
A nnabel Bartfelds love of chocolate hasnt stopped her giving it up for January to help raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The 43-year-old was inspired to make the sacrifice after GOSH saved her daughter Jessicas life eight years ago.

She was diagnosed with a brain tumour when she was just two years old, but was cleared of cancer after undergoing an eight hour operation at the hospital.

The challenge is part of the Give It Up For GOSH fundraising initiative taking place this January for the Evening Standard's Give to GOSH appeal.

Annabel said: Knowing that my daughter Jessy would not be here today had it not been for GOSH keeps me motivated. It is at the front of my mind every day, I will do anything I can to help the hospital and the kids there. I think GOSH is the best place in the world."

Annabel admitted that the challenge hasnt been easy, but said she was determined to see it through. I have found it really hard in the evening after I finish dinner and I always fancy something sweet, she said.

She also spoke of the support she has received from her children, who have been inspired by her actions. The kids are so proud of me. They keep telling their friends what Im doing, and thinking of things that would be hard for them to give up, like pasta.

Give it up for GOSH explainer

"One of my kids even suggested they would give up healthy food for a month. Of course, I put them straight."

It's also not too late to take part yourself. Getting started is simple: choose just one thing to give up, then click here where JustGiving will help you to create a page and encourage friends, family and colleagues to donate.
A Scotland Yard officer today told of the dramatic moment US police stormed her New York hotel room and her baby was taken into care.

The holiday of a lifetime during maternity leave turned into a nightmare for Louise Fielden, 42, a Tower Hamlets-based Pc, when the officers took away Samuel, then just six months old.

Staff at the Chelsea Highline Hotel called in social services alleging she had left Samuel unattended in the hotel lobby and for 30 minutes in their hotel room.

Ms Fielden, a Pc for 13 years, is now locked in a legal battle to get 15-month-old Samuel back after he was placed in foster care in the US in April.

She said today she has CCTV proving she never left Samuel, who was born via IVF and an anonymous sperm donor, in the lobby.

A recent image of Louise Fielden's son Samuel

Ms Fielden, from Battersea, also says she left him unattended in the hotel room only for a short period when she had to descend three flights of stairs in the hotel to sterilise his feeding bottles in hot water.

She only returned to the UK earlier this week after criminal charges against her were dropped, and is now battling to get Samuel back through the US federal and family courts.

She revealed fighting the case has already cost her more than $75,000.

American foster carer Susan Sena

Speaking of the dramatic moments leading to Samuel being taken, three days after she arrived in New York following three months on holiday in Antigua, she said she had spent hours telling a social services official Samuel was safe, but she then decided to remove him anyway... three police officers entered the room and threw me to the floor.

She alleged that one officer assaulted her and told her: Take that you limey bitch, you cant be a police officer.

Ms Fielden added: Samuel has been taken away illegally and I havent done anything wrong. I just want my son back.

She says her sons US foster carer Susan Sena is not appropriate as she is a member of a gay rights support group.

The Pc has begun court proceedings to get Samuel immediately returned to the UK to live with her or her cousin. A hearing is due next week.
A busy London high street has become the first place in Britain to exceed annual legal limits of a harmful gas belched out by dirty diesel engines - just eight days into 2016.

Measuring equipment on Putney High Street this morning recorded the nineteenth breach of the European-wide legal ceiling on concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (N02) since January 1.

Under EU law there should be no more than 18 occasions a year when residents and pedestrians are exposed to levels higher than 200 micrograms of N02 per cubic metre over the course of an hour.

Putney is particularly prone to high levels of N02 because it has nine bus routes passing through a narrow main road with a hill behind that can trap the fumes.

Simon Birkett, founder and director of the campaign group Clean Air in London, said: It is breathtaking that toxic air pollution in London is breaching the legal limit for a whole year within a few days.

This shocking start to the 60th anniversary year of the worlds first Clean Air Act in 1956 illustrates the scale of Boris failure to reduce diesel fumes, which are the main street-level source of NO2, and protect hundreds of thousands of people on our busiest shopping streets.

With Boris already irrelevant, Clean Air in London demands bankable promises from all the Mayoral candidates to ban carcinogenic diesel exhaust from the most polluted places by 2020, as we banned coal burning so successfully 60 years ago, with an intermediate step by 2018.

A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: The Mayor is leading the most ambitious and comprehensive package of measures in the world to improve Londons air quality.

"His recent 10m bus retrofit programme has led to a sustained reduction in NO2 concentrations on Putney High Street.

"The Mayor expects that by introducing new zero emission capable taxis and the worlds first Ultra Low Emission Zone from 2020, there will be 70 per cent reduction in the number of Wandsworth residents living in areas breaching NO2 limits and significant improvements elsewhere in the capital.

N02 is linked to respiratory diseases such as emphysema and bronchitis as well as cancer and heart disease and thought to contribute to around 5900 premature deaths in London each year.

The World Health Organisation advises that there is no safe level of exposure to concentration of N02 above the 200 micrograms threshold.

Several other N02 hotspots such as Knightsbridge and Brixton Road also look set to pass the annual limit in the coming days.

Monitoring equipment on Oxford Street - sometimes described as the worlds worst N02 corridor because of the huge number of diesel buses and cabs that pass down it - broke down on the 3rd January after recording three hours above 200 micrograms per cubic metre.

Last year in 2015 it took Oxford Street just two days to breach the N02 limit but levels have been slightly lower this year because of the frequent heavy rain.

Environmental group ClientEarth is planning to bring a High Court challenge against the Government later this year because of the failure to tackle the problem.

One of its environmental lawyers Alan Andrews said: We first took the Government to court on this issue in 2011 but we can still see legal limts being broke in the first few days of January.

"Five years on the Government has still not got a handle on this problem and thousands of people a year are dying in London alone.

In the coming months, we will take the Government back to court. In the meantime we need to hear from all mayoral candidates about how they are going to solve this public health crisis. Warm words and empty rhetoric wont save lives.
D avid Cameron's battle to keep Britain in the European Union was boosted today when he received the backing of his Eurosceptic Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

Mr Hammond, who has previously said the United Kingdom would leave if only cosmetic changes were made to its membership, declared this morning that he cant envisage voting for a Brexit.

His comments came a day after Boris Johnson publicly sat on the fence, saying that Britain could have a great, great future outside the EU.

Asked if he might vote to leave, the Mayor of London replied: Lets see what happens.

But Mr Hammond said that although negotiations were painstaking, Mr Cameron would not lead the campaign to stay unless he secured a good deal.

I cannot envisage us negotiating a deal which the Prime Minister thinks is good enough to recommend to the British people and which I feel I want to campaign against, he said in an interview on BBC radio. I cant envisage that circumstance.

The negotiations appeared to be slipping backwards today  amid growing signs that the In-Out referendum will be staged in September. Downing Street today said it was relaxed over reports that the potential deal on reforming the EU would not be reached until March.

Mr Cameron last month appeared confident it would be reached at a summit on February 18.

A key sticking point to negotiations between the 28 members states is the Prime Ministers manifesto promise to curb welfare payments to migrant workers from the EU for four years to reduce mass movement from poor states to the UK.

At a joint press conference in Hungary yesterday, prime minister Viktor Orban expressed anger that his citizens were being presented as parasites on the British taxpayer.

Mr Orban noted at a press conference alongside Mr Cameron that 55,000 Hungarians working in Britain were paying more in taxes than they receive in benefits.

We do not want to be parasites, we want to work there, he said.

But he said he recognised anxiety over abuse of Britains welfare system and expressed confidence that the V4 nations  Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia  would agree to a solution.

Government officials said they did not recognise a proposal reportedly being made by EU leaders for a deal that would allow Mr Cameron to ban welfare payments for four years but allow Britons aged 18 to 22 to be compensated through other payments.

A Downing Street source said: There has been lots of noise and specula- tion around our renegotiation over recent months  and this is just the latest example.

Some Cabinet ministers regard such an idea as being preferable to a blanket ban for four years that would cause young Britons to lose out, said other sources.

Home Secretary Theresa May, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith and Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers are all thought likely to vote to leave the EU.
U S marshals have raided a hoverboard firms stand at the worlds biggest technology show.

Officials swooped on the booth on the second day of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, seizing all of the boards brought into the US by Changzhou First International Trade.

It came after a Silicon Valley start-up company, Future Motion, filed a claim that their patent had been infringed by Changzhou.

The case is due to be heard in court next week.

There are many of the self-balancing boards on display at CES, but the ones on the Chinese companys stall appeared unique as they balance on a central wheel, as opposed to having a wheel at either end like most of the controversial devices.

The design is similar to the Onewheel created by Future Motion, which incorporates a computer-controlled system of sensors to maintain the boards balance.

Changzhou is selling the device online for 375, about a third of the price of the Onewheel.

There are two patents under investigation. The first, for the self-stabilising technology, was filed in 2014 while a second, for its design, was filed this month.

Future Motions founder Kyle Doerksen told the BBC: We have design and utility patents that cover our invention.

"When we got word that a company was exhibiting a knock-off product, we engaged in the formal process, which involved sending a cease and desist letter and then getting a restraining order, which was then enforced by the US marshals.

As a company who launched ourselves at CES two years ago, we know that the world is watching.

A US Department of Justice spokeswoman said: A court order has been served in a civil case involving private litigation. Changzhou declined to comment.

Hoverboards, in huge demand over Christmas, have become a regular sight on Londons streets despite warnings from the Met that they are illegal to ride in public.

Londons first mugging for a hoverboard took place in September, while last month Britains first hoverboard shoplifter, Omaree Lindsay, was spared jail after he appeared in court for using the device to steal a crate of Lucozade from a Co-op store.

Mark Blunden flew as a guest of Norwegian, a low-cost carrier which flies the 787-9 Dreamliner weekly from London Gatwick to Los Angeles . For more information: (norwegian.com)
J unior doctors will go on strike as planned next week after ongoing talks were unable to resolve the dispute over contracts.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) said a meeting between the British Medical Association (BMA) and NHS Employers were constructive but unable to halt industrial action beginning on Tuesday.

Earlier this week, The BMA said there would be three spells of strike action in England after negotiations with the Government did not result in a resolution.

Talks will continue next week to try and prevent further strike action taking place, but junior doctors are set to provide only emergency care from 8am on Tuesday.

An Acas spokesman said: Talks have been held under the auspices of Acas between the established team for the BMA and the NHS team.

A very helpful stock-take of issues took place. Unfortunately, whilst talks have been constructive and will continue next week, the parties are not able to prevent the industrial action planned for January 12 2016.

If further talks do not reach a resolution, Tuesday's strike will be followed by a 48-hour stoppage and emergency care only from 8am on January 26.

Another walk out from 8am to 5pm on February 10 is also proposed.

Strike action was called off at the last minute in November, but the suspended action led to the cancellation of thousands of operations, procedures and appointments.

Previous negotiations centred on the Government's offer, which included 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.

Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attract a premium rate of pay.

Under the Government's offer, junior doctors would receive time and a half for any hours worked Monday to Sunday between 10pm and 7am, and time and a third for any hours worked between 7pm and 10pm on Saturdays and 7am and 10pm on Sundays.

Junior doctors would also receive on-call availability allowances, ranging from 2% to 6% of basic pay, as well as payment for work undertaken as a result of being on-call.

Additional reporting by Press Association.
A man was left fighting for his life when he was accidentally served a glass of caustic soda to drink rather than beer.

Spanish TV producer David Caminal, 48, had to have his oesophagus removed after he drank just a small amount of the fluid when it was served by mistake at the New Conservatory, in Leeds.

Leeds City Council confirmed that a clear-coloured line cleaner had been put in the beer pipe, and this had turned the colour of pale ale due to yeast deposits.

The bar had a practice of turning round beer signs on the pump to indicate the line was being cleaned, but a new member of staff was not told of this practice and turned the marker back to its normal position.

The bar owner has how been fined 20,000 over the incident in July 2014.

A spokesman said: "When Mr Caminal and a colleague ordered a sample, a member of staff poured what they thought was pale ale.

"Due to yeast deposits in the line, the clear cleaner turns a straw colour and looked similar in colour to the beer taster ordered.

"Mr Caminal ingested the beer line cleaner and immediately reacted to the substance and emergency services were called."

Solicitor Jill Greenfield said her client, Mr Caminal, who lives in Barcelona, was filming a commercial in Leeds when he visited the bar with his clients.

She said that after he swallowed the liquid he immediately suffered excruciating pain and was rushed to intensive care at Leeds Infirmary with severe internal injuries.

His family, who flew in from Spain, was warned that he might not survive.

Mr Caminal was placed in an induced coma for 10 days and then flown back to Barcelona.

Ms Greenfield said it was eventually decided that his oesophagus should be removed and a new organ rebuilt linking into his stomach.

She said her client now finds it very difficult to eat solid food and suffers from a range of related problems which has meant him giving up his career.

Ms Greenfield said: "This is a remarkable and terrible case. It could have been anyone that day. Simply going for a pint of beer has led to tragic consequences.

"My client's life has changed dramatically. His family has also had an extremely stressful time. The simple act of eating is now a real challenge and I would hope that at the very least highlighting this case will mean that others check to ensure that proper safety measures are in place."

Leeds City Council confirmed that TNC Music and Bars Ltd was fined 5,000 and ordered to pay a 120 victim surcharge.

Company director Nicholas Bird was fined 20,000 and must pay a 120 victim surcharge.

Total costs of 17,859 will be split equally between the company and its director.

Both pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.
P rince William and Kate are to visit the remote Himalayan kingdom of the clouds Bhutan this spring.

The royal couple with head to the ancient and mysterious country after their tour of India.

They will not be taking their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, on the official visit.

Although Prince George travelled with his parents when they went on tour to Australia and New Zealand in 2014, it is understood they feel this tour would prove too gruelling for the children - particularly Charlotte who was only born in May.

It comes as Kensington Palace also today announced that Prince Harry will also be heading to the Himalayas too in February.

He will visit Nepal as it recovers from last years devastating earthquake.

The Royals are to visit the country following in the footsteps of Prince Charles who went there in 1998 / Hannah McKay/PA

Bhutan, a tiny country with a Buddhist culture, has a reputation for mystery and magic and was visited by Prince Charles in 1998.

Its political system recently changed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy, with King Jigme Singye Wangchuck transferring most of his administrative powers to the Council of Cabinet Ministers

In 1999, the year after Charles visited, the government lifted a ban on television and the internet, making Bhutan one of the last countries to introduce television.

Prince Harry will be following in his late mother, Princess Dianas footsteps, when he visits Nepal. She went there in March 1993.

Harry will see how the country is rebuilding after the devastating earthquake in the countrys capital, Kathmandu.

More than 9,000 people died after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit last April. Another 23,000 people were injured.

TODO: define component type brightcove

Kensington Palace had already announced that The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are set to follow in Charles and Dianas footsteps when they embark on the tour of India.

It is hoped that this visit to India will be a more unified one than what Charles experienced with Diana in 1992.

Prince Charles had visited as a single man of 32 in 1980. Sitting on a stone bench in front of the Taj Mahal, the iconic symbol of love, he had vowed to return one day with the woman he loved.

This was set to happen 12 years later when the Princess of Wales accompanied her husband on a joint tour to the country.

But although the couple had planned to visit the Taj Mahal, Charles was committed to a business leaders forum 1,200 miles away in Bangalore, where he was due to give the only keynote address of the tour.

This resulted in the iconic image of the Princess of Wales sitting alone on the very same bench which many critics hailed as symbolic of cracks in the couples marriage. They separated later that year.

It is not known if William and Kate will visit the Taj Mahal as the full programme has not been released.
A great white shark that was put in a tank at a Japanese aquarium has died after just three days.

The 3.5-metre-long male went on display at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium after being accidentally caught in a net on Tuesday.

It was believed to be the world's only great white in captivity.

The cause of the animal's death early on Friday is now under investigation, the aquarium announced.

A spokesman for campaign group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) Asia said it had been cruel and wrong to put it in a tank.

He said: The cause of death is clear: captivity. The shark never had to die like this.

Keeping a great white in captivity is extremely difficult as it needs to swim constantly to get oxygen and maintain its body temperature.

Aquarium researcher Keiichi Sato said the aquarium abides by Japanese and international laws and believes its efforts contribute to education and science.

"Many visitors had asked us to exhibit the great white shark," he said.

The aquarium had announced the rare exhibition of the species earlier this week.

The captured shark, a male, was relatively small, and had appeared to be doing well, swimming with several other sharks, but suddenly weakened and sank to the bottom of the tank.

Efforts to give it oxygen in a separate special tank failed. It had refused to eat any food since being caught.

Additional reporting by Press Association
S yrian tyrant Bashar Assad should be kept in power to defeat Islamic State, say more than a third of Britons according to a new poll.

The BMG Research survey found 35 per cent of people regard IS as a worse evil and a far bigger threat to the UK than the Assad regime.

This contrasted with just over a quarter who believe Britain should not support the Syrian president even if this meant losing ground to IS, while 39 per cent said dont know.

The Assad government and militias linked to it have been accused of carrying out appalling atrocities including using chemical weapons on civilians, torture, using rape as a weapon of war and brutal executions.

Forces loyal to the regime and Lebanons Hezbollah movement have also besieged the former holiday resort of Madaya, close to Damascus, where people have been forced to eat cats, leaves and grass to survive, with reports of some starving to death.

The UN today said Syrian officials had agreed to allow humanitarian aid to the town, as well as Fuaa and Kafraya, after shocking pictures revealed the plight of thousands of local people without food, water or electricity.

Islamic State has also shocked the world with its gruesome beheadings, crucifixions and throwing people off buildings for being gay.

IS fanatics have threatened attacks in the UK, with hundreds of Britons having travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the terror organisations ranks, and many having then returned here.

The poll was carried out before the full scale of the suffering in Madaya emerged. It also found that a third of Britons believe the UK should send ground troops to Syria to defeat IS, with 44 per cent against such a deployment and 23 per cent dont knows.

Men are significantly more likely than women to back using UK ground troops in Syria, by 41 per cent to 24 per cent, and also to support keeping Assad in power to destroy IS.

Michael Turner, BMGs research director, said: Our previous polling last November showed increasing support for the extension of Iraqi airstrikes by the RAF into Syria. But boots on the ground appears to be a step too far for Britons at this time, particularly for older people, with over half of over-55s against the deployment of troops.

America, Britain and other allies are seeking an international consensus with Russia and other countries in the Middle East for a solution to end the Syrian civil war, which has seen at least 250,000 people killed, and step up the battle against IS. The UK is prepared for Assad to remain in power in the short term but believes he has to eventually go to heal the bitter wounds between Syrias communities.

Hopes of a deal, though, suffered a severe blow with the diplomatic clash between Saudi Arabia and Iran after Riyadh executed Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

@nicholascecil

BMG Research polled 1,585 adults online across the UK from December 9 to 15. Data is weighted.
T he UK's close relationship with Saudi Arabia has once again been cast under scrutiny after it emerged that hundreds of Saudi Arabian police officers have received training in Britain.

The College of Policing has provided specialist training to 270 Saudi officers who visited the UK, new figures released under Freedom of Information laws showed.

The Freedom of Information request also disclosed that 26 college employees had been deployed to Saudi Arabia, each on a short-term basis, since December 2012.

The revelations sparked fresh scrutiny of the UK's links with the Middle Eastern state, which has been attacked over its human rights record following beheadings and allegations of torture.

Last year the Government pulled out of a 5.9 million bid to run prison training services in Saudi Arabia.

The data, which was released to the BBC, showed that the College of Policing provided specialist training in the UK to the 270 Saudi officers between December 2012 and October 2015.

Details of the nature of the training were not revealed.

The college, which sets standards for forces in England and Wales, said any training of overseas officers is overseen by the cross-governmental International Policing Assistance Board.

It said: "All training delivered by the College meets the highest international standards and respect for human rights and dignity is interwoven into programmes."

The FOI response said the college had received a total of 2.7 million for training provided to countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, but did not disclose specific details of the income from Saudi Arabia.

Maya Foa, of human rights organisation Reprieve, said the Home Office has "serious questions to answer" over the relationship between British police and Saudi forces.

In a statement, the college added: "Decisions about UK policing assistance overseas must reconcile the difficulties of working with countries whose standards of human rights may be at odds with our own with the opportunity to address national security concerns, reduce harm to individuals, help to protect UK citizens overseas and contribute to reform in those countries."

The Home Office declined to comment.
A police officer in Philadelphia has been shot and seriously wounded by a gunman claiming to have pledged allegiance to Islamic State militants.

The police officer was targeted in an ambush-style attack while he sat in his patrol car, the city's police commissioner said on Friday.

The gunman, who has been named as Edward Archer, from Philadelphia, fired about 13 shots through the window of the officer's car at close range, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross told reporters.

Archer, 30, who has been arrested, walked towards the car as he fired, eventually getting close enough to reach in the window.

Mr Ross told a press conference: "He has confessed to committing this cowardly act in the name of Islam."

Victim: Philadelphia Police Officer Jesse Hartnett / Philadelphia Police Department via AP

There was no evidence as yet that the shooter had worked with anyone else, he said.

Philadelphia Police Captain James Clark added, "He said he pledges his allegiance to Islamic State, he follows Allah and that was the reason he was called on to do this."

U.S. officials have been on high security alert following a series of Islamic State-linked attacks at home and abroad over the last few months.

Last month a married couple armed with guns killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in an attack inspired by Islamic State militants.

Suspect: Edward Archer has been arrested / Mark Makela/Getty Images

The wounded police officer, 33-year-old Jesse Hartnett, who pursued the shooter, was taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital, where he will need to undergo surgery.

"We're just lucky, that's all I can say," Ross told reporters. "I can't even believe that he was able to survive this."

The shooter used a gun that had been stolen from a Philadelphia police officer's home several years ago, but not by the gunman himself, Mr Ross said.

"We know it was stolen, how many hands it may have passed through in the last couple of years, we do not know," he added.

CCTV cameras captured Archer, dressed in a white robe and walking towards the police car and up to the driver's side door.

Police said he was firing continuously as he approached the car.
N ew Harry Potter star Noma Dumezweni today hit out at critics who claim black actors should not play white characters, saying it is a sign of ignorance and a lack of imagination.

The Swaziland-born, British-raised actress spoke out for the first time on race and casting since she was unveiled as the adult Hermione Granger in upcoming stage show Harry Potter And The Cursed Child.

Dumezweni, 45, said she had encountered unconscious prejudice when going for roles in the past, but had not experienced people questioning her ability to play a character because of the colour of her skin.

She told the Standard: It stems from ignorance. They dont want to be a part of the creative act. To say its not as it was intended is so unimaginative.

I dont think they understand how theatre works. Were here to heal you, make you smile and whisk you away.

The actress has been backed by Harry Potter author J K Rowling and Emma Watson, who played Hermione in the films.

She said she would not have taken the role unless she could bring her own interpretation to it, adding: The only question we should ask is Are they good? Ive met great actors black and white and Ive met bad actors black and white.

Dumezweni, an acclaimed Shakespearean actress, is backing a project to celebrate forgotten performances of the Bard by ethnic minority actors.

Warwick University academic Jami Rogers has compiled an online database recording nearly 1,200 productions since black US actor Paul Robeson played Othello in London in 1930.

The research, part of the Multicultural Shakespeare project, found black and Asian performers still face a glass ceiling and are less likely to be cast in lead roles. It is due to be launched at the Tricycle Theatre on January 15.

Dumezweni said she has decided not to follow other black British actors who have moved to the US in search of better work, explaining: We have to hold on to the choice that it will get better here.

@RashidRazaqES
S tar Wars fans have launched a new campaign to bring Star Wars creator George Lucas back to the franchise.

Yuri Luiz from Brazil has set up a Change.org petition calling for Disney to replace director Colin Trevorrow with Lucas.

We have no problem with Colin Trevorrow, but hes not the right guy to direct Star Wars Episode IX, says Luiz.

George Lucas as director of Episode IX would be the perfect way to end this new trilogy and make an epic farewell between the father of Star Wars and the whole universe of the galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens European Premiere 1 /38 Star Wars: The Force Awakens European Premiere Star of the show Daisy Ridley at 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' eurpoean film premiere, London David Fisher/Rex John Boyega attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Justin Tallis/AFP/gETTY iMAGES Director's Cut J.J. Abrams attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Solo has landed Harrison Ford attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Make way for the original Princess Carrie Fisher at 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' film european premiere David Fisher/Rex The real 3P0 Anthony Daniels attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Lupita Nyong'o at 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' film premiere David Fisher/Rex Beckham United Jnr Romeo Beckham (L) and Brooklyn Beckham attend the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Skywalker sqaud Mark Hamill with daugher Chelsea Hamill and wife Marilou York attend the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Glittering star Daisy Ridley at 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' eurpoean film premiere, London David Fisher/ Rex Gwendoline Christie attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Meet the new bad guy Adam Driver (R) and Joanne Tucker attend the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Rolling with it Droid character BB-8 at the European Premiere of Star Wars, The Force Awakens in Leicester Square, London Paul Hackett/Reuters Aliens on the red carpets Jawa's and Sand People attending the Star Wars: The Force Awakens European Premiere Ian West/PA Darth Vader and company Darth Vader and Chewbacca pose with stormtroopers at the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Double droids C-3PO and R2-D2 attend the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Dave Benett Oscar Isaac attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Hello Wicket Warwick Davis attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett The real Chewbacca Peter Mayhew attending the Star Wars: The Force Awakens European Premiere Ian West/PA Sophie Hunter and Benedict Cumberbatch attend the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett George Lucas (L) and Mellody Hobson attend the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens Dave Benett Big fan Simon Pegg attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Diego Luna attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett Chewie and friends ans dressed up as Star Wars character pose ahead of the European Premiere of "Star Wars The Force Awakens" Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images Lightsabers at the ready ans receive light sabres before the start of the European Premiere of "Star Wars The Force Awakens" Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images This way to the Dagobar system Fans wait ahead of the European Premiere of "Star Wars The Force Awakens" Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images The force is strong Fans gather in Leicester Square for hte Star Wars:The Force Awakens European Premiere Jeremy Selwyn Myleene Klass attends the European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square Dave Benett

Despite his enthusiasm, it seems that not many people are on board with a change in direction as just over 4000 have currently signed the petition.

Lucas has said that he is not keen on being involved in any future films after selling the rights to the franchise to Disney.

In a recent interview with Charlie Rose, Lucas joked that he had sold his kids to the white slavers who take these things.

He later apologised for the comments, saying: I misspoke and used a very inappropriate analogy and for that I apologise.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)  The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is establishing a facility that will focus on providing the state detailed pictures of the state's weather and historical climate data, university officials said.

The new Nebraska State Climate Office will operate under the wing of university's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The office will identify and provide the climate recording and reporting services needed most by Nebraska users, especially those engaged in agriculture.

The data will be shared through the state climate office's website, mobile apps and other products in development, said John Carroll, the School of Natural Resources director. Many of the products have been sitting on the shelf waiting for deployment, Carroll said, and could be launched yet this year.

The university said Wednesday that the office staff of climatologists and meteorologists will manage a network of 69 weather stations called the Nebraska Mesonet. Martha Shulski, who will direct the new office along with longtime state climatologist Al Dutcher, said the climate office wants stations in all 93 Nebraska counties.

We'd like more in the Sandhills and the Panhandle especially, Shulski told the Lincoln Journal Star.

The network has been managed by the university's High Plains Regional Climate Center. Transferring those duties to the new state climate office, university officials said, will let the center focus on the needs of the broader region, which is composed of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Members of the Student Council at Lincoln Elementary and Key Club members gather at the Lincoln Elementary library to give blankets to Nancy Bentley, executive director of Housing Partners of Western Nebraska. Fifteen fleece blankets were made for the Hope Distribution Center. Three hundred families were assisted this past year through the organization. There were also over 100 gloves, hats, and scarves that were given to the organization which were collected by fourth graders at Lincoln Elementary to celebrate the cure date of one of the students, Ashtyn Schwartz.
Theres a longstanding tradition in Washington D.C. No, its not visiting the many National Monuments or enjoying the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Instead, this tradition gives Nebraskans visiting the D.C. area an opportunity to meet and eat breakfast with the entire Nebraska delegation.

What started as an informal weekly meeting by U.S. Senator Hugh Butler in 1943, the Nebraska Breakfast is the oldest ongoing gathering of its kind on Capitol Hill. The breakfast is held at 8 a.m. at the Southside Buffet located in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Wednesdays when both the Senate and the House of Representatives are in session. Coffee is provided for attendees, and hot and cold breakfast items are available for purchase as well.
President Barack Obama has turned his focus to trying to do something about gun violence in the United States. On Tuesday, he cried in front of the cameras as he condemned gun violence in the U.S., standing with the relatives of those killed in mass shootings. There have been dozens of mass shootings in America since he took office.

According to the Pew Research Center, 37 percent, or more than a third of Americans say they or someone in their household owns a gun. There are somewhere between 270 million and 310 million guns in the U.S. Nearly the amount of the total population of the country.

Roughly three-quarters (74 percent) of gun owners are men, and 82 percent are white. Taken together, 61 percent of adults who own guns are white men. Nationwide, white men make up only 32 percent of the U.S. adult population, according to the Pew Research Center. More than 50 percent of gun owners lean toward the Republican Party. In households without guns, 61 percent lean Democrat.

The majority of people who own guns, 48 percent, do so because they say it makes them feel safer. About a third own guns for hunting as their primary purpose.

Obama plans to take a number of executive actions that would bolster the existing laws, not necessarily expand them, and would provide guidance for federal agencies. For example, he wants to clarify who should be licensed as a gun dealer. Dealers are required to conduct background checks to prevent prohibited buyers from purchasing guns.

However, much of what Obama is trying to do wont actually keep guns out of the hands of criminals or those who are legally allowed to own guns.

He claims that a felon can buy a weapon over the internet no questions asked. Its not that simple, according to an Associated Press Fact Check analysis. Federally licensed gun dealers are required to conduct background checks regardless of how the gun is sold. In order to adhere to the law, if you buy a gun from out of state over the Internet, you are still required to include a licensed gun dealer in the transaction in the state in which the purchaser of the gun resides. And it doesnt matter how the sale is conducted, if youre a felon, you cant own or buy a gun unless your rights have been restored.

He wants gun dealers to report sooner if any guns are stolen or missing. They are already required by law to report missing or stolen guns within 48 hours. Thats soon enough.

When he compares the no-fly list to the right to own a gun, hes forgetting that our Constitution protects our right to own a firearm, but doesnt guarantee a right to get on a plane. The Department of Homeland Security hasnt, at least not yet, decided to regulate gun ownership.

The most drastic step, and one that Obama hasnt yet mentioned, but others have, would be to require a gun registry. The analogy is often made to how our vehicles are licensed. Some call for guns to be tracked in order to be regulated. Conservatives and Libertarians consider this an egregious overreach.

On Tuesday, Obama said, Each time this comes up, we are fed the excuse that common-sense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, or the one before that, so why bother trying. I reject that thinking. We know we cant stop every act of violence, every act of evil in the world. But maybe we could try to stop one act of evil, one act of violence.

In the aftermath of tragedy, its hard for me not to empathize with the president. I wouldnt want to have to call or visit the parents of the students who died in Sandy Hook, or more recently at the community college in Oregon. What Obama is doing is trying to prove to the people who had their lives destroyed by mass shootings that he cares. And yes, hes also thinking about his legacy, and the dozens of shootings that took place under his watch.

But theres little more that can be done in terms of regulation. The other approaches  particularly that we need to improve our mental health treatment capabilities and prevent those who are mentally ill from buying guns  are more likely to have an impact. We cant legislate guns out of our culture. Theyre interwoven into the fabric of America.
| By Rama Kanungo

Crowdfunding has rapidly emerged as an alternative source of financing for startups and new ventures. From artistic endeavours such as Marina Abramovics Institute project to new tech like the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and the Pebble smartwatch, crowdfunding has become increasingly mainstream.

The idea of being part of the business development process has proven popular with individual investors who are able to get on board with projects from the outset. The story-telling features of crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo also make investors feel personally involved.

The advantages for investors are not just transactional or financial  they get to be part of something. Consequently, crowdfunding has been described as democratic finance, placing a strong emphasis on building community while also benefiting from it.

But is it all as good as it sounds? A growing number of reports show investors failing to get a return. If crowdfunding is to continue growing  and providing an important platform for new startups  better transparency and regulation is needed.

Money and trust

Crowdfunding allows businesses, particularly start-ups, to access funding via contributions from a large number of unrelated people. In return for these injections of cash, funders are promised various rewards once the product or service is up and running. But without proper regulation, this ultimately involves handing money over to strangers online, with nothing but a promise of a return.

Crowdfunding, then, is open to abuse and can be a risky business for investors. In 2015, for example, a British drone company set a record as the most-funded European Kickstarter project  only to file for bankruptcy later in the year. Despite raising US$3.4m its collapse left donors out of pocket and without the product they had funded.

Ouya, an Android-based micro games console, is another famous crowdfunding failure. Started in 2013, Ouya reached its US$950,000 Kickstarter fundraising goal within a record eight hours and went on to collect US$8.5m in pledges  more than nine times the initial ask. But fans were underwhelmed by the finished product and in 2015 it was bought by large games house Razer after being crippled by debt. The bottom line is that crowdfunding does not always result in success.

So what to do? The primary responsibility lies with the crowdfunding sites to maintain a transparent and safe platform for their funders. But funders should also do their due diligence on the companies they are investing in.

Peer-to-peer pressure

As an alternative to donation crowdfunding, investment crowdfunding sees money exchanged for securities. Peer to peer (or P2P) lending, for example, allows individuals or companies to borrow money from a range of investors, who they then repay with interest. This, too, needs careful monitoring.

So, while crowdfunding is an innovative way for businesses to get off the ground and will likely continue to grow as a model, a number of issues remain. Investors risk a sting in the tail if they are not careful and its important that both crowdfunding hosting sites and the government act to protect them, while helping businesses to grow, too.

Rama Kanungo is a lecturer in accounting and finance at the Newcastle University.





This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
| By Dinushi Dias

Ashton Kutcher, Hollywood actor turned heavyweight startup investor, says his best investment is something money cant buy.

In an interview with Grow, US startup Acorns publication, Kutcher was asked what he considers to be his best investment.

My relationships, Kutcher answers.

Taking the time to get to know [people], what motivates them, what their challenges are  these things are overlooked.

Investors get so wrapped up in return and numbers that they forget that the true privilege of their position is to share a journey with exceptional people.

Kutcher tells Grow he regularly finds simpler ways to do things but doesnt have the time to launch all of these ideas.

So I found people who were executing on them and invested in their success, he says.

Unlike his lovably dim-witted characters in Dude, Wheres My Car? and That 70s Show, Kutcher is a successful entrepreneur who co-founded Thorn, a tech startup combatting child sexual exploitation, and A Plus, a digital media company.

He has co-founded venture capital firms A-Grade Investments and Sound Ventures.

Invest in that which you would like to see become a reality, he says.

Kutcher encourages new investors to avoid sinking too much money in projects that arent working by developing a clear plan with benchmarks for success or failure.

Optimism is priceless  but only when coupled with measurement, he says.

The scariest financial decision Kutcher has ever made was buying his first home.

I took on debt greater than my cash on hand, he says.

I dont sleep well when I owe people money.

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| By Denham Sadler

Despite having two of his startups acquired by some of the largest tech companies in the world, Aussie entrepreneur Nick Crocker says seeking an exit was never a consideration.

Crocker co-founded Sessions, which was acquired by MyFitnessPal in 2014, as well as WeAreHunted, which was bought by Twitter two years earlier.

In an AMA run by Blackbird Ventures on Thursday, Crocker offered some simple advice on how to sell to these big players.

Build a really awesome company that is so good you would never want to sell it, he said.

I see so many early-stage decks with the exit strategy slide, but I dont think thats the right mindset.

In most cases when your company is crushing it you dont want to be acquired.

Now the product lead at MyFitnessPal in San Francisco, Crocker also dished out many other useful pieces of wisdom during the online interview.

1. The biggest misconception about startups





People think its fun and it rarely is. People think its a way to get rich and thats rarely the case. People think its cool to do a startup and for anyone in the area actually doing one, actually in the daily grind of it, feeling cool is never the reality.

2. Why he chose entrepreneurship





I am an accidental entrepreneur. I am not the lemonade stand or selling lollies in the playground archetype. What makes entrepreneurship a fit for me though is that its the thing that has the steepest learning curve. If you join a law firm, the floor and the ceiling are set. As an entrepreneur there is no ceiling. You set your own ceiling. And that enables incredible opportunities to learn.

3. What to look for when joining a team





You want to be somewhere that allows you to wake up every morning and not question your existence. I just think theres enough garbage in the world to want to spend your life trying to get people to eat more pizza or bet more or spend their money on virtual dog collars.

4. The ups and downs of living in San Francisco





The best is that you will feel really small and insignificant as soon as you arrive and realise that no-one really cares about you. Thats freeing in a way. As soon as youre there, your startup is now in comparison with Apple, Google and Facebook. Those companies are possible. Atlassian is possible and those companies are started by people like you.

San Francisco gives you this incredibly freeing sense of everything is possible and Im invisible so it doesnt matter if I fail. Whats hard is that youre competing for talent with all those giants so you better have something good going on.

5. How to deal with co-foudner conflicts





Co-founders can come from anywhere. Co-founder splits are the reason most early-stage companies die I think.

I think Ive had extremely robust conflict with [both co-founders]. The presence of conflict isnt the issue, its the inability to resolve it that really kills progress. For that, the general advice is communicate, communicate, communicate. You cant solve whats not in the sunshine. The specific advice is that its always complex at a personal level, so be patient and gentle where possible.

6. Why you have to follow your instincts





When you start you have so few users that testing can only give you directional feedback. Ultimately its up to your instincts. When you have millions of users then you can know much more solidly whether what youre doing is working or not. All the best founders over time develop an instinct for whats right so theyll always have a macro view to counter any specific A/B test results.

7. How to know when youve got product-market fit





You can always feel when product/market fit isnt happening. The customers arent quite getting value out of the product, word of mouth isnt spreading, usage isnt growing that fast, press reviews are kind of blah, the sales cycle takes too long and lots of deals never close.

And you can always feel product/market fit when its happening. The customers are buying the product just as fast as you can make it, or usage is growing just as fast as you can add more servers. Money from customers is piling up in your company checking account. Youre hiring sales and customer support staff as fast as you can. Reporters are calling because theyve heard about your hot new thing and they want to talk to you about it. You start getting entrepreneur of the year awards from Harvard Business School. Investment bankers are staking out your house. You could eat free for a year at Bucks.

8. Why theres never been a better time to be an Australian founder





I think its the best time ever to be starting a startup in Australia. I have no doubt Australian founders can be world class, were proving that every day. Its just a matter of time I think before we follow the lead of the US and have multiple technology companies amongst the most valuable Australian companies.

The challenge for Australian startups I think is finding and retaining world-class talent and the more we can convince our best minds to join startups the more I think that will happen. Whether the government can move fast enough or efficiently enough to drive major change is a separate question.

9. How to find a startup mentor





You shouldn't expect it to work straight away, and it shouldn't be your full-time focus. If you patiently build and pursue relationships with the best kind of people, and stay open to meeting people generations and stages more experienced than you are, then mentors will naturally appear.

Follow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
| By Denham Sadler

It was three days before Christmas on a Tuesday morning when UNSW entrepreneurship catalyst Joshua Flannery sent an odd request to a group of unis entrepreneurs.

Flannerys friend Martin Orliac had received a message half-way through seeing the new Star Wars film saying that his beloved cat Mozart had fallen nearly 30 metres from their balcony.

After rushing out of the cinema to the hospital, Orliac found Mozart with two broken legs, and the vet describing it as a miracle he was still alive.

But he wouldnt be able to walk for two months and Orliac didnt want to enclose the poor animal in a small corner as the vet had suggested and an expensive wheelchair.

So he turned to the internet.

These wheelchairs for pets are really expensive, ad hoc-type devices that cost dramatically more than for a human, Orliac tells StartupSmart.

But some people have been quite ingenious in making wheelchairs for cats.

A guy in Israel made different parts through 3D printing and put them readily available online.

It wouldnt cost much and wouldnt be that difficult, but I didnt have a 3D printer.

That was when he turned to Flannery, who in turn reached out to the wider student entrepreneur network.

And within minutes he had numerous responses and offers to help.

An enterprising 3D printer owner and UNSW student Viriya Chittasy pulled through and printed the various parts for Orliac and helped Mozart get back on his good feet.

The cat started walking around with it, Orliac says.

Hes got a lot of strength back and is crawling around and jumping around.

The recovery is going so well now that Mozart has even become bored of his new high-tech accessory.

Now hes back to jumping around like no-ones business, he says.

Flannery says the story demonstrates the very real practical uses of 3D printing.

It was important to be able to give back to our partners on a more personal level and it just shows that we have a really caring and valuable community of entrepreneurs around the university, he says.

Its amazing what innovation can deliver, Orliac adds.

Follow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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Chengde Steels finished steel exports to Africa up 18.6% in 2015

Friday, 08 January 2016 11:07:07 (GMT+3) | Shanghai



On January 7, Hebei Province-based Chinese steelmaker Chengde Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd (Chengde Steel), a subsidiary of Chinese steel producer Hebei Iron and Steel Group Co. (Hebei Steel), announced that it has successfully completed production of 5,000 mt of 400MPa vanadium-added rebar, which will be exported to Africa for use on infrastructure projects. In addition, in 2015 Chengde Steels finished steel exports to Africa increased by 18.6 percent year on year.

Similar articles
Friday, 08 January 2016 15:24:50 (GMT+3) | Istanbul

The World Trade Organization (WTO) committee on safeguards has announced that on December 16, 2015, Jordan 's cabinet of ministers terminated the safeguard measures imposed on imported bars and rods of iron and steel.

The measures were originally launched on June 16, 2013. The safeguard duties were JOD 80/mt ($112.75/mt) for the period between June 16, 2013 and June 15, 2014, JOD 70/mt ($98.65/mt) between June 16, 2014 and June 15, 2015, and JOD 60/mt ($84.56/mt) between June 16, 2015 and December 16, 2016.





The products subject to safeguard measures currently fall under Customs Tariff Statistics Position Numbers 7213.10, 7213.20, 7213.91, 7214.10, 7214.20, 7214.30, 7214.91, 7214.99, 7215.10, 7215.50 and 7215.90.
Friday, 08 January 2016 12:16:08 (GMT+3) | Shanghai

During the week ending January 8, pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI) quotations in the Chinese domestic market have indicated a rising trend, while overall transaction activity has remained on the slack side. Average PPGI prices in the local Chinese market are presented in the following table.





During the given week, local PPGI prices have moved on a rising trend as mainstream specifications have been in short supply. Meanwhile, inventory levels on the steelmakers side have been at relatively low levels, providing support for PPGI prices. In addition, the rebound in iron ore prices has exerted a positive impact on PPGI prices from the cost side. It is thought that PPGI prices in the Chinese domestic market will edge up further in the coming week.

Product name Spec. Category City Steel plant/origin Price (RMB/mt) Price ($/mt) Weekly change (RMB/mt) Thick color coated coils 0.476 mm x 1,000 x C CGCC Shanghai NewDaZhong 5,000 759 0 Guangzhou Huamei 4,750 721 0 Boxing Guanzhou 3,490 530 230 Average - 4,414 670 77 Thin color coated coils 0.426 mm x 1,000 x C CGCC Shanghai NewDaZhong 5,300 804 0 Guangzhou Huamei 5,110 775 70 Average - 5,205 790 35

17 percent VAT is included in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.

$1 = RMB 6.59




Mackinac Island The weather has been up and down this past week. We had some very nice days, and other were cold,...

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Few things have been conventional at KFNS in recent years, as the once-stalwart St. Louis sports-talk radio station has gone through a series of wild incidents, including an in-studio fight between a broadcaster and the companys boss.

There also was an unsuccessful format change followed by unpaid bills that led the station, at 590 AM, to be off the air for most of 2015.

It was resuscitated in November, with local businessmen Randy Markel and Scott Gertken vowing to return it to what it had been for much of two decades  a fixture on the local airwaves.

KFNS unveiled a revamped lineup this week, but the station couldnt even get through its first day on the air with the new schedule without fireworks flying.

Kevin Slaten, an outspoken St. Louis sports-talk original, was supposed to man the 3-6 p.m. shift Monday but didnt.

Sources said there was an argument between Slaten and Markel shortly before Slatens shift was to begin, fueled by Markel considering to hire a behind-the-scenes producer Slaten disdains.

Slaten was asked into the meeting and the situation mushroomed, leading to Slaten not doing his show Monday or Tuesday. But he returned Wednesday and was on again Thursday.

Those involved wanted to play down the situation.

It was like a fight with your wife, Markel said. You go to your neutral corners and everything is fine.

He compared it to Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, who some considered Hollywoods perfect couple. He said Newman once said, when asked if they fight: Yeah. ... Ill leave the house and walk around the block till I cool off. It just happens that our blocks are a little bigger than most.

Slaten said he was angry about the possibility of the producer being hired.

I wasnt feeling good, the only reason I even went in was it was the first day of the new lineup, he said. Then they called me into this meeting in which the producer was being discussed. I said, Oh my God, now Im even sicker if you are thinking about hiring him.

Slaten said he told Markel: Maybe Ill just work somewhere else, and he laughed.

Slaten said he then said, Im leaving, Im going home. ... I dont want to be part of this anymore  meaning the discussion, not working at the station.

The misinterpretation came when I said, I dont want to be part of this anymore and I left. ... Its not my call anyway. Im not management. Its much ado about nothing, a simple misunderstanding.

Markel said the air is clear now.

Kevin is our star, hell be around as long as he wants, Markel said. But that doesnt mean Ill always agree with him.
LOS ANGELES  Before showing off a new season of "Top Gear" (and new gear) to TV critics meeting in Los Angeles, BBC America announced new series including "Class," billed as a companion to "Doctor Who."

The eight-part series will be written Patrick Ness, young-adult author of "A Monster Calls." It's set in a school in contemporary London and has the "Who" team of Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin as executive producers.

"I'm astounded and thrilled to be entering the 'Doctor Who' universe, which is as vast as time and space itself," Ness said. "I can't wait for people to meet the heroes of Class, to meet the all-new villains and aliens, to remember that the horrors of the darkest corners of existence are just about on par with having to pass your exams."

"Class" will premiere later this year.

Also on BBC America's agenda: A Valentine's Day special featuring Adele, "Live in London."

"Prey," a six-part thriller starring John Simm, Philip Glenister and Rosie Cavaliero, is due Feb. 25. In the first, three-part story, Simm ("The Village," "Life on Mars," "State of Play") is Detective Constable Marcus Farrow, "a man on the run, who will do things he never thought possible to clear his name for the sake of his family."

Gail Pennington is attending the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles. Follow her at stltoday.com/tubetalk, facebook.com/tubetalkpd and on Twitter at @gailpennington.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

Trend:

State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) announces today the agreement to acquire Palazzo Turati, an office property in Milan's historical Central Business District (CBD), for 97 million with the aim to further diversify its real estate portfolio. This is the first property acquisition of SOFAZ in Italy.

Palazzo Turati is located at Via Meravigli 7, historical centre of Milan, just a step away from Piazza Cordusio and Piazza Affari, and 500 m from Duomo. The building develops over six floors above the ground for office use, in addition to an exhibition hall on the ground floor. The net leasable area of this prime asset is 10 360 square meters. Palazzo Turati is a historical building built in 1880 and is part of Milan's heritage. It has recently undergone major restoration works. The property is leased in its entirety to Milan Chamber of Commerce, a primary Italian public institution, which uses it as its HQ, till 2021. The seller of Palazzo Turati is Tecnoholding S.p.a.

The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan, the sovereign wealth fund, was set up in December 1999 by the Presidential Decree as an extra-budgetary entity which accumulates and manages oil and gas revenues of the country. The Fund's primary objectives are to help maintain macroeconomic stability in the country and to generate wealth for present and future generations. As of 01 December, 2015, assets of SOFAZ totaled USD 33.6 billion. Purchase of this property was realized in accordance with the amendments under the Presidential decree  519 dated October 27th, 2011 made to "Rules on management of foreign currency assets of the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan". By the investment policy overall value of the investment portfolio can be invested into the gold, equities and real estate with 5%, 15%, 10% per each financial tool.
At first I thought it was a joke.

Like the satirical Funny or Die video Muslim-Meet, which offers a surefire way to cure your Islamophobia. That video spoofs ignorant Americans being introduced to a random Muslim-American and discovering their commonalities, like living in an apartment, loving soup and watching Netflix, just like me.

The conceit of the two-minute video is humanizing a regular human to those who would believe that Muslims have retractable horns growing from their heads. It makes us laugh because the notion is so obvious, its silly.

Well, perhaps not so obvious.

Scott McNorton, 35, an undergraduate student at University of Wisconsin-Superior, was so fed up with the anti-Muslim bigotry he heard that he felt motivated to do something to counter it. He didnt have any Muslim friends, nor did he know much about Islam. He grew up in Waynesboro, Va., about three hours south of Washington, D.C., where a lot of people were just like him, he said: white and middle-class.

Shortly before Christmas, he was sitting in the universitys student center and saw a Muslim student wearing hijab walking across the room. He approached her and asked if she would mind taking a selfie with him.

Understandably, she was a little puzzled by the request from a stranger. Shes a student, not a campus attraction, after all. He explained to her that he wanted to post pictures of himself with Muslims to help educate others who have never met a Muslim. It was his attempt to promote tolerance through exposure.

Oh yes, that would be awesome, she replied, gave him a high five and thanked him for the selfie.

Thus began #SelfiesWithMuslims. At first he would post on his own Facebook page, beginning each status with One day a Christian man meets... and briefly describe the encounter and Muslim he met. He has since created a separate page that has garnered thousands of likes from around the world.

In an interview with a local paper, he said he wants people to see that Muslims enjoy being outdoors, playing sports, watching Netflix, playing video games and hanging out with friends. One of the women from his selfie encounter concurs, adding that she likes to eat bagels with Nutella, too.

It would seem satirical if McNorton werent so genuinely earnest and if the Muslims he approached werent so touched and thankful for his gesture. The project has led him to visit mosques and get to know a community he knew nothing about before.

Ironically, the social media project was inspired by GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump. After McNorton heard his call for a ban on Muslims entering America, a proposal denounced by the majority of Republican officials and candidates, he could not stay silent.

I grew up in a family that was very high on morals and values and respect, he said. Its ridiculous that someone has to stand up and say something. But its not about being a Catholic, like me, or a Muslim. Its about being a decent human being to another person.

Imagine how bizarre #SelfiesWithaJew or #SelfiesWithaChristian or #SelfiesWithanAgnosticWho-StillLikesToCelebrateChristmas might sound.

His efforts seem less ridiculous given the backdrop. He grew up in the same county as Riverheads High School, where a teacher drew national attention and local fury for giving geography students a lesson that included information about Islam. Bruce Hagen, the mayor of Superior, where McNorton now lives, recently posted a comment on Facebook on a picture of Michelle Obama that said, Unbelievable! She and her Muslim partner have destroyed the fabric of democracy that was so very hard fought for.

Obama has repeatedly said he is a Christian. Hagen has since apologized and accepted an invitation from the local Muslims in his community to meet them for a meal at their mosque.

McNorton said he wants his own two children to learn the same values his mother taught him.

I want them to see that its OK to put yourself out there. Its OK to learn from others. Its OK to educate others.

Hes been overwhelmed by the hugs, smiles and encouragement hes received from random Muslims hes met. One of them, Ahmed Maamoun, is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He met McNorton at a recent Friday prayer service.

Thank you for what you are doing for us, Maamoun said to him, gladly posing for a group selfie.

McNorton says that while the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, hes gotten a few negative messages. Some people are upset by his wanting to portray Muslims as normal people. One person said he hopes McNorton gets taken out for what hes doing.

People want to scare me, he said. Im not scared.

Weve gotten to the point where some Americans are so upset by the message that Muslims are normal people that they would wish death upon that messenger.

Sometimes its difficult to distinguish reality from satire.
JEFFERSON CITY  An election-year bid aimed at polishing the image of Missouri lawmakers could face its first test Monday.

With Republicans who control the Legislature putting ethics reform on a fast track, members of the House Government Oversight and Accountability Committee will consider a package of bills designed to clean up the much-maligned culture of the capital city.

Among the proposals is a plan to impose a cooling-off period for lawmakers who want to jump into the potentially lucrative world of lobbying.

Exactly how long that waiting period should be has become an early indicator that the road to improving ethics may not be as smooth as the GOP majority hopes.

In the House, the measure on tap for debate Monday calls for a one-year waiting period in order to ensure lawmakers arent writing bills one day and then lobbying on behalf of companies that could benefit from the legislators work the next day.

In the Senate, however, Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, favors a two-year waiting period.

Richard pushed last year a two-year revolving door law, but found few takers among his colleagues.

I compromised to one year and I couldnt even get that through, Richard said.

Lawmakers have filed at least seven separate proposals that would impose a waiting period for lawmakers.

Two measures would bar members of the House and Senate from jumping into the lobbying ranks for the length of a full legislative session, which typically runs from January through mid-May.

State Rep. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, is sponsoring legislation that would stop the revolving door for one full year.

State Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake St. Louis, and state Rep. Sheila Solon, D-Blue Springs, are backing plans for a two-year waiting period.

State Rep. Tracy McCreery, D-St. Louis, has proposed a three-year wait.

The chairman of the House panel said Friday that he believed the length of the waiting period wouldnt be a major stumbling block.

I think thats an issue that will get worked out between the House and the Senate, state Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, said.

Barnes favors a one-year cooling off period.

I think one year is more appropriate because thats what the vast majority of other states have, he said.

In all, at least 33 states impose waiting periods for lawmakers looking to move into lobbying, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Like Missouri, there are no restrictions in Illinois, Kansas or Nebraska.

In other states surrounding Missouri, the laws call for various waiting periods. Lawmakers in Oklahoma, Iowa and Kentucky must wait for two years to lobby. In Arkansas and Tennessee, there is a one-year wait.

A St. Louis Post-Dispatch tally in 2015 found an estimated 50 former Missouri legislators registered to wine and dine their former colleagues.

With the length of the waiting period a potential hurdle, Richard said he would advance companion legislation out of the Senate in the coming days in order to ensure his members have the ability to negotiate or modify the final product before it goes to Gov. Jay Nixons desk.

This just gets the progress going, Richard said.

In a testament to the rapid speed Republicans are hoping to tackle ethics reform, Barnes said he hopes to move all of the legislation pending in his committee on to the full House. But, he said he wont rush a proposal if questions are raised about it.

It is my hope and intent to vote them all out on Monday. But it all depends on the testimony, Barnes said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

Turkey will start realization of preferential trade agreements with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on Jan. 1, 2017, the Turkish newspaper Haber 7 reported Jan. 8.

This is envisaged by a 'roadmap' drawn up by Turkey's Ministry of Economy.

After Moscow introduced economic sanctions on Turkey, Ankara began searching alternative markets more intensively to compensate for losses inflicted by the Russian sanctions.

Turkey has initiated the signing of a free trade agreement with Pakistan. Similar agreements are also planned to be signed with Japan, Mexico, Peru and Ukraine, reported Haber 7.

Russia's economic sanctions against Turkey came into force Jan. 1, 2016. In particular, Turkish vegetables, fruits, and poultry are banned in Russia. Moreover, the sanctions include a ban on making charter flights and selling tours to Turkey, as well as the introduction of a visa regime from 2016.

Relations between Moscow and Ankara deteriorated greatly after the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber in Turkey's airspace Nov. 24.

Ankara has said the Su-24 violated the Turkish airspace, but the Russian General Staff says the plane didn't violate Turkey's airspace.
In response to the possibility of Amerens energy efficiency programs shrieking to a halt, the Post-Dispatch editorial board issued a rallying cry that now is the time for Missouri to ramp up its efficiency programs  not shut them down.

We agree. Missourians have a major opportunity to reap big benefits from energy efficiency. Families save on utility bills. Building owners increase the value of their properties. And business owners create new jobs.

Right now, its a missed opportunity.

The federal Clean Power Plan, a historic effort to reduce harmful carbon pollution produced by power plants, will give Missouri power companies double credit toward compliance with the plan for energy efficiency investments that are made in low-income communities. This would mean investments of millions of dollars to help revitalize our neighborhoods.

Amerens proposed energy efficiency programs  rejected by the Missouri Public Service Commission  would invest $10.75 million via a cutting-edge program to bring energy savings and increased comfort to low-income families living in apartments. That could catapult Missouri toward getting those double credits.

Fannie Mae knows that the cost of energy is a major challenge in making sure affordable housing remains sustainable for the families that need it. Across the country, energy costs are 37 percent higher per square foot in low-income rental apartments than in condos or co-ops, 41 percent higher than rented single-family homes and an astounding 76 percent higher than owner-occupied single-family homes.

This toll also goes beyond the wallet. The problems that cause a building to be energy inefficient  for example, poor air filtration or inadequate insulation  exacerbate chronic health conditions like asthma. These health problems can lead to missed work and school and more visits to the hospital.

Ameren, the PSC and other stakeholders must work to find a solution regarding recovery of program costs. More than 70 percent of the affordable multifamily buildings within Ameren Illinois and Ameren Missouri service territories are not engaging in current energy efficiency programs  despite the fact that affordable multifamily housing is aging and offers a huge opportunity for untapped energy savings and lower energy bills. As a result, multifamily housing ranks as the least energy-efficient building type in the residential sector.

Improving the energy efficiency of affordable multifamily housing will help thousands of Missouri families who call affordable housing home  and it will go a long way in helping Missouri create a sustainable energy future.

A new multi-state partnership, Energy Efficiency for All, released a Potential for Energy Savings report that clearly illustrates the impact of energy efficiency investments. According to the report, improving the energy efficiency of low-income housing will create significant economic impact in Missouri  a return on investment of $3.20 for every $1 made in energy efficiency improvements.

Savings like these have a real impact on real people  225,000 St. Louis families and seniors who call affordable housing home will see lower energy bills all while improving the value of affordable housing.

And it creates good jobs in a high-growth industry. In Missouri, the clean energy industry already employs 40,000 people  the majority of whom work in energy efficiency  at 4,400 businesses. In the next year alone, these firms expect to add 3,000 new jobs to their payrolls.

The states energy plan provides the framework to make this kind of change possible. Utilities and their regulators can strengthen the Missouri programs by using best practices that leaders in other states are putting in place. They can:

 Develop programs specifically targeted to multi-family low-income buildings.

 Structure incentives for whole-building savings.

 Support benchmarking, audits and other assessments.

 Support a one-stop-shop where building owners can access integrated program services.

 Help building owners finance efficiency projects by tailoring incentives to fit with conventional purchase and refinancing loans, partnering with lenders active in the local market, and exploring on-bill payment arrangements.

Those who are most vulnerable to the financial and health toll of energy inefficiency have been left behind for too long. When it comes to energy efficiency, little steps can make a big impact. Low-income families need the investment that Ameren included in its most recent plan. Now is the time to take action.

Thomas J. Pickel is president of the Community Builders Network of Metro St. Louis.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:

Azerbaijan's participation in the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit testifies that Azerbaijan is the US reliable ally in the field of security in the Caspian region, Peter Tase, the political analyst, the expert on international relations at the Marquette University (US), told Trend Jan. 8.

"This is also the testimony of many accomplishments that the Azerbaijani government has achieved in the fields of democracy building, institutional building and respect of human rights, reliable ally towards preserving peace and stability in the Caspian region and beyond," he said.

"It is in the strategic interest of the US government to give priority to the peaceful solution of the protracted Nagorno-Karabakh armed conflict and emerge as the primary advocate of the territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan," the expert said.

The expert expressed regret that some Armenian political groups in the US render financial support for certain congressmen.

"At the same time, I am confided that such legislative initiatives that are expected to 'punish with sanctions' the peace loving nation of Azerbaijan, are doomed to failure," he said.

US President Barack Obama invited Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to attend 4th Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. in March 2016.

Obama sent a letter to Ilham Aliyev Dec. 3, adding that in the letter that Obama said Azerbaijan has demonstrated steadfast support of the global nuclear security architecture.

The US president also expressed hope that Azerbaijan will continue to prioritize efforts to interdict nuclear and radiological materials.

The summit will be held in Washington, DC from March 31 to April 1, 2016. The first Nuclear Security Summit was held in Washington in 2010, the second - in Seoul in 2012, the third - in the Hague in 2014.
LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Tax threat to UK banks hurts FTSE 100

Wednesday, October 19, 2022 - 12:37

Selling pressure on bank stocks and worries about more aggressive interest rate hikes were holding back the London market on Wednesday

The FTSE 100 index was down just 1.45 points at 6,935.29 around midday. The FTSE 250 was off a heftier 217.21 points, or 1.2%, at 17,312.10. The AIM All-Share shed 6.77 points, 0.9%, at 788.71.

The Cboe UK 100 traded 0.1% lower at 693.16, the Cboe UK 250 fell 1.3% to 14,832.56, and the Cboe Small Companies traded 0.3% lower at 12,421.51.

In European equities on Wednesday afternoon, the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.3%, and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt added 0.2%.

The pound fell to $1.1255 midday Wednesday from $1.1291 late Tuesday, despite another hot consumer price index rise increasing the likelihood of the UK central bank stepping up its pace of rate hikes.

The UK inflation rate picked up to 10.1% in September 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.

"With the country's economic prospects looking bleak, a higher-than-expected inflation reading adds to the woes faced by British policymakers," ActivTrades analyst Ricardo Evangelista commented.

Pressure is also on the European Central Bank, which makes an interest rate decision on Thursday next week, as eurozone inflation also remains too high.

However, the eurozone's yearly inflation rate was a touch cooler than expected last month, according to revised figures.

The yearly inflation rate for the single currency area was 9.9% in September, slightly below the 10% initial estimate from Eurostat, though quickening from 9.1% in August.

Highlighting the plight faced by the ECB, a year earlier, the eurozone yearly inflation rate was 3.4%, still above the central bank's 2% target, but markedly below the current rate.

The euro traded at $0.9779 midday Wednesday UK time, down from $0.9826 at the time of European equities close on Tuesday.

The dollar rose to JP149.57 from JP149.24 late Tuesday.

In London, Asos shares rose 11%. 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, it will look to improve inventory management, reduce its costs and "reinforce" its leadership team and culture.

Asos 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.

It also flagged a half-year loss for the current financial year.

On AIM, IOG plunged 52%. The North Sea-focused gas and infrastructure operator has suspended its Southwark A1 well due to more fluid losses, putting its focus elsewhere as it still eyes first gas this quarter.

"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 says.

Analysts at SP Angel commented: "Lower reserves, lower production, higher costs and delays; a sobering update from IOG on its operational difficulties and below-expectation reservoir performance.

"Shareholders will hope that this 'kitchen-sinking' marks the low point of the start-up issues that have plagued the project and that management can find long-term solutions to optimise reservoir management and resolve its drilling issues.

7digital surged 41% as it announced a contract win with Pinterest, a social media platform famed for its moodboards and image sharing.

"7digital's three-year contract with Pinterest is designed to support growth in content and territories as the platform expands into new markets as needed. The contract will enable Pinterest's music library to include licensed commercial tracks, delivered by 7digital's music-as-a-service platform, to sit alongside their royalty free music," the music licensing provider said.

Lloyds Banking fell by 3.3%, NatWest by 1.6% and Barclays by 1.3%.

The shares fell in response to a report that banks will be targeted by the new UK chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.

According to the Financial Times, Hunt will look at a tax on banking sector profits, in a bid to bolster the government's finances.

Banks currently pay an effective 27% tax rate, stemming from corporation tax at 19% and the banking surcharge at 8%.

While corporation tax is to climb to 25% in April, the FT reported that Hunt is undecided on whether to keep the bank surcharge at the current 8%. The surcharge had been due to drop to 3% next year under plans announced last year.

The FT quoted a treasury spokesperson as saying: "We can't comment on specific speculation; however, the chancellor and prime minister have been clear that difficult decisions will be required to restore economic stability and no options are off the table."

A barrel of Brent oil rose to $91.07 around midday in London, up from $88.97 late Tuesday. Brent fell below $89 before regaining poise on Wednesday morning.

President Joe Biden will announce on Wednesday that he is putting the final 15 million barrels on the market from a record release of US strategic oil reserves, with more releases possible if energy prices spike, a senior US official said.

The new tranche of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will be "completing the 180 million barrel release authorized in the spring", in response to price hikes linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the senior US official added.

In New York, focus remains on corporate earnings, with Tesla reporting later on Wednesday, with AT&T, American Airlines and American Express to follow before the end of the week.

Stocks in New York were called to open higher on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called up 0.1%, the S&P 500 up 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.5%.

"Third-quarter earnings season from the US may help to set the mood and so far, companies seem to be performing well, albeit against some pretty modest expectations," AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould commented.

"For now, corporate America seems to be standing up well to the inflation storm, but a lot will depend on the big tech companies reporting next week  with the destiny of the markets in the hands of the likes of Apple, Alphabet and Amazon."

Gold traded at $1,633.90 an ounce midday Wednesday, down from $1,647.70 at the London equities close Tuesday.

Still to come in Wednesday's economic calendar are US housing starts at 1330 BST.

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
As we have since July 2006, each Friday well post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. Below is our latest Friday Sampler.

1) Davidoff yesterday announced The Raconteur, a new limited edition for the Winston Churchill brand that celebrates Churchills personality as a master wordsmith. Available in a Gran Toro size (6 x 56), the cigar will feature a Habano Ecuador wrapper, San Andres binder, and Nicaraguan and Dominican filler tobaccos (including, notably, a San Vicente Ligero that has been aged for 15 years). Only 6,000 wooden boxes, each containing 10 cigars with a different quote, have been crafted in an elegant white design, carefully chosen to showcase the iconic silhouette of Sir Winston Churchill, reads a Davidoff press release. After its launch in the U.S. in January 2016, Davidoffs new Raconteur range will also be available to cigar aficionados at Davidoff Depositaires and Davidoff Flagship Stores worldwide from February/March 2016.

2) In last months Question of the Month (which admittedly ran significantly longer than a month, as many of you rightly pointed out), we asked readers to select their favorite cigar size. Robusto came in first place with 38% of the vote, followed by Corona (20%), Torpedo (13%), Churchill (10%), Gordo (7%), and Lancero (4%). Eight percent listed other. Be sure to weigh in on this months question by voting. And feel free to contact us if youve got a good suggestion for a future poll. In 2016, we resolve to keep the questions rotating much more frequently. We promise.
As promised in early 2015 the Taliban undertook a major military effort against the Afghan security forces now that that foreign troops are no longer doing any of the fighting. That role ended in late 2014. As a result the 350,000 personnel of the Afghan security forces (170,000 troops and 180,000 police) have suffered 27 percent more casualties in 2015 compared to 2014. Taliban losses have also been very high, but they have lower recruiting standards and can offer drugs as well as money for those young tribesmen willing to take a chance during the fighting season (the annual warm weather period between the time crops are planted and harvested). Going off to try and gain some glory and loot during the fighting season is an ancient tradition in Afghanistan. Being part of an organized army is not. American advisors believe that losing nearly three percent of its strength a year to combat deaths or crippling wounds is not sustainable. While the Taliban suffer higher losses the Taliban are more flexible in how they operate. This is more in line with the traditional Afghan way of warfare, which is more about raiding and ambushes than it is in operating like soldiers. The army and police are often standing guard in exposed positions (checkpoints or in bases) or obliged to go after fleeing Taliban, who often pause long enough to ambush the troops then move off again. Afghan soldiers and police know they are more effective fighters than the tribal warriors, but that their job requires them to expose themselves to danger regularly in order to maintain control of territory. The Taliban are not tied down nearly as much and that makes a big difference in morale.

Afghan military leaders point out that these operations are most successful and less stressful when they have American air support and the U.S. has apparently responded to that by quietly sending more warplanes and helicopter gunships to Afghanistan, along with more ground control teams to work with Afghan ground forces. But the air support is still much less than what it was when there were a lot of U.S. ground troops in Afghanistan.

NATO is working to increase the number of Afghan warplanes by 50 percent by the end of 2016 and are training several hundred new pilots and even more technical people to keep the aircraft operational. The problem here is that technically trained Afghans see those skills as a way out, or at least to take a better paying (and safer) job outside the military. Afghan received twenty MD-530 helicopters armed with machine-guns and rockets in 2015 along with twenty A29 Super Tucano light support aircraft (trainers that can also be used for ground attack). India is sending some Russian helicopter gunships. But what the Afghans really want are the American smart bombs, missiles, helicopter gunships and A-10 aircraft.

Even without air support Afghan army and special police units have been very effective against the Taliban, often killing ten or more of the enemy for each of their own dead. Overall though the Taliban lose about 15 men for every ten soldiers and police killed. Afghan special operations units make up about ten percent of the 350,000 soldiers and police in the security forces and are much more effective but dont spend much time standing guard on roads or in front of important places (dams, buildings, roads) and dont suffer the high losses doing so. The Afghan commandos took years to recruit, train and turn into experienced operators. Most of the other police and army units can defend themselves and at least a third of army units can regularly defeat the Taliban on the ground. Most soldiers and police can be depended on to defend a checkpoint, base or compound. But that does not replace the enormous American intelligence collecting and analysis capability which, along with all that airpower (for moving troops as well as blowing things up) which made the foreign troops so incredibly deadly against the Taliban. Many Afghan commanders warned that this support would be sorely missed by Afghans and now that all these foreign forces are gone, a lot more Afghans are agreeing.

The problems the Afghan security forces are facing have largely disappeared from Western media, in large part because far fewer Western troops are being killed in Afghanistan. From the peak year of 2010, when 711 foreign troops died (70 percent of them American) to 2014 (the last year Western combat troops were operating in Afghanistan) Western losses fell to 75 (73 percent American) Western media coverage declined in equal measure. In 2015 twenty-seven foreign troops died in Afghanistan (81 percent American).

The Taliban can ultimately cause most of the soldiers and police to desert if nothing is changed but even then the majority of Afghan tribes (and their tribal militias) oppose the drug gangs and the Taliban. So an ultimate Taliban victory is just about impossible. What Afghans want to avoid is another 1990s style bloodbath to prove this once again.
Exams are invigilated on your part. How do you mark the exam papers? What main features did you follow?

Remember that we have examinations in Edinburgh, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur campuses of Heriot-Watt University, so there is quite a complicated process. This is a Course Responsible Person (CRP) who oversees all the marking in a particular course. I am for example the CRP for B47AC: Foundation Engineering A. Only approved markers are allowed to mark examinations. There is a common marking scheme with an allocation of marks for each part of the question. All approved markers follow the same marking scheme.

Furthermore, Heriot-Watt has a system of checking (which we call "green inking") in which we check that every examination has been properly marked and that the exam marks have been corrected and included in our databases. And also remember that all examinations are anonymous, so we have to mark the scripts without knowing which student is being considered. BHOS students usually demonstrate excellent results.

While looking at the results do you pay attention to the theoretical knowledge or logical competence of students?

Both theoretical knowledge and the professional skill of problem-solving are tested in Heriot-Watt examinations. All students - whether from Edinburgh, Dubai, Malaysia or Baku - find the "professional problem solving" to be the more complicated and demanding.

Could you tell us about your professional background and education?

On my academic qualifications, I have an Honours degree in Physics and a PhD in Acoustics, both from University of St Andrews in Scotland. I also have a Diploma in Education from University of Edinburgh. These academic qualifications mean that I am able to teach Mathematics and Physics at Scottish school, colleges and universities.

Professionally, I am a member of the British Institute of Physics, a Chartered Physicist and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. All professional qualifications ensure that I remain up-to-date with both scientific and pedagogical developments.

What would you like to recommend/advise to our students?

For all BHOS students, I would recommend that you all keep your destination in mind: you are going to be Chemical or Petroleum Engineer. The more you can integrate the material from all of your courses, the better engineers you will become.

Do you have any other comments about BHOS?

It is always a pleasure to visit BHOS for the examinations. Everyone, whether Rector, Administrator, Academic, Librarian, Student, Cleaner or Driver, makes us very welcome and everyone is very helpful and supportive. In particular, I would like to thank BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov for his generous hospitality and Vice Rector Rashad Hasanov for his support and attention to detail. We would also like to thank all BHOS staff who provided us with all necessary conditions during our visit.
Dirty Little Secrets

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DLS for 2007 | DLS for 2008

Soldiers And Marines Step In

by James Dunnigan

January 7, 2016 For decades the U.S. Army Special Forces spent much (often most) of their time training foreign troops but since September 11, 2001 the Special Forces and the rest of SOCOM (Special Operations Command) has been in great demand to do combat missions. So soldiers and marines have stepped in and taken their place. It was soon discovered that as good as the Special Forces were at training foreign troops, many of these foreign armed forces now prefer American soldiers and marines. This began when some U.S. officers, responsible for assisting in the training of military forces in Third World countries began declining when Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel were offered. Publicly, the reasons were usually couched in terms that suggest the SOF people were needed elsewhere, which is certainly true, given ongoing operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and so on. But privately some of the advisory personnel cite the fact that SOF personnel usually bring with them all sorts of specialized equipment that the host country will never be able to afford. Moreover, the capabilities for which SOF trainers provide training for are often much too sophisticated for local, and usually poorly educated, troops to absorb. An additional objection is that the nature of the way in which SOF operates is just too "undisciplined" for Third World forces. Apparently when asked, experienced advisors will ask for American marines rather than Special Forces. The marines have been helping out with the foreign troops training since the war on terror began, and the more basic and down-to-earth approach of the marines has been more attractive to many nations. Soon the demand was so great that the U.S. began sending soldiers and these proved just as capable. American soldiers in particular have been heavily involved in training African troops on the best methods for hunting and killing the Islamic terrorists. Many of these American troops have practical experience and their African trainees appreciate that. Language skills are not as important as combat experience. There are plenty of English speakers in most African armed forces and a lot of instruction can be given with no knowledge of the local language, just a knack for showing how its done. The SOF are still very good at organizing and training irregulars and educating local special operations troops and counter-terrorism forces. But when it comes to turning a bunch of civilians into disciplined troops, the soldiers and marines have an edge.


In 2015 the Afghan security forces were pretty much on their own for the entire year. The soldiers, and to a lesser extent the police, were able to beat the Taliban in combat but it became apparent that the troops were better trained than many of their leaders. That was no surprise as Afghans have been fighting as tribal warriors for thousands of years. Since 2001 the U.S. has developed training programs that built on the tribal warrior skills to produce a disciplined (by Afghan standards) and effective (by any standard) soldier. But Afghanistan has long lacked professional officers who could employ such troops effectively on the battlefield.

Even before 2015 American advisors were telling battalion and brigade commanders that they had to outthink the Taliban develop effective countermeasures to Taliban raiding and ambush tactics. This was done but when NATO combat forces left Afghanistan in 2014 it was discovered, too late, that Western trainers underestimated the importance of Western aerial surveillance and intelligence analysis capabilities, not to mention air support with smart bomb equipped aircraft. Some of those shortages were remedied during 2015 with more such help coming in 2016. A more difficult problem was getting Afghan commanders to cut back on putting most of their troops on checkpoints and what amounts to guard duty. Instead the Americans are urging the Afghans to operate like the U.S. forces did since 2001. That means using the intel and (especially in the case of Afghan commanders) knowledge of how the enemy commanders operate to carry out attacks and raids on the enemy as soon as you locate them. That means having most of your forces trained and deployed as combat units ready to go off to raid or ambush the Taliban, especially those preparing to attack something (a town, military base or plant a lot of mines and roadside bombs along a vital road). In other words, attack the enemy before he can attack you. The Afghan troops have vehicles, radios and night vision equipment. The U.S. knows that the Afghan special operations troops can do this raiding stuff and believe that most regular Afghan troops can as well. As a result 2016 will be a different war in Afghanistan if Afghan commanders can adapt as well as their subordinates already have.
The United States Army has established storage and maintenance facilities in East Europe. The Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria facilities will support U.S. Army weapons and equipment that is already there or arriving by end of 2016. In the case of Hungary the equipment will not arrive until 2017. The U.S. already has the equipment for an armored brigade in the area and this is being moved further east, to Poland, Estonia and Latvia. These are among the few NATO members that are adjacent to Russia. In addition to the brigade worth of equipment (which includes 1,300 vehicles, a fifth of them armored) there will be smaller stockpiles of weapons and equipment for NATO allies in East Europe, for use if war breaks out.

The U.S. has similar stored equipment worldwide. Most of it is in warehouses or ships, while in Norway the prepositioned gear is kept in caves. This prepositioning of military equipment goes back to the 1960s when the U.S. began pulling combat divisions out of Europe but still wanted to be able to bring these units back quickly if the Russians threatened an invasion. The solution was prepositioned equipment for several divisions of soldiers and marines. After the Cold War ended in 1991 the army and marines adjusted their prepositioned equipment deployment. This involved moving some prepositioned gear to new potential hot spots. Throughout the Cold War, most of the prepositioned equipment was in Europe. Since the 1990s some was moved to the Persian Gulf and Korea. But one brigades worth was kept in Europe, and another was stored on ships off the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. After the 2003 Iraq invasion there were three brigade sets in the Persian Gulf, one afloat off Guam, one in Korea and one still in Europe. The one in East Europe is currently used regularly for American brigades coming in to train and stand guard for nine months at a time.

This stored equipment has actually been used for something other than training exercises. Prepositioned gear got a workout during the 2002-7 Iraqi operations and the troops were very pleased with the reliability and readiness of the prepositioned gear. The equipment is maintained by civilians, under military supervision.

The prepositioned equipment for U.S. Marines is abroad ships. The U.S. Navy Maritime Prepositioning program cost about $7 million per ship per year to maintain. The navy MSC (Military Sealift Command) maintains sixteen of these ships, to carry heavy equipment and supplies. These ships are organized into three squadrons with one stationed in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Each group of ships carries the equipment for a marine brigade and enough supplies it going for 30 days. All you have to do is fly the marines in, land the equipment, and you have a marine brigade ready to fight. The process takes less than a week.

In each squadron equipment is dispersed among the five ships so that the loss of one ship does not eliminate an entire category of equipment. Thus each ship in the squadron carries approximately 15 M1A1 tanks, 28 AAVs (amphibious assault vehicles, armored carriers for infantry), 153 Humvees, 100 MTVR (heavy trucks that can carry 15 tons of stuff on a road, half that cross country), two mechanized landing craft, eight 155mm towed howitzers, and 550 containers filled with spare parts, ammunition, medical supplies, food, and other material needed to keep a Marine brigade (17,300 Marines and Sailors) going for 30 days. The MPF squadrons performed well during the 2003 Iraq campaign, with their stored equipment being ready for action when unloaded.

Politics decides whether U.S. troops are used overseas, and politics can change. You can't quickly change your ability to move troops quickly. If you have to get a lot of firepower to a distant trouble spot bomber aircraft don't always provide sufficient intimidation. Shiploads of tanks and troops deliver a more powerful message. In a world prone to random violence, ships that wait provide a quiet measure of security, as do warehouses and ships in several countries and caves in Norway.
Suddenly Turkey is an enemy of Iran and allied with Israel. This is not good for Iran but an excellent development for Israel, and most Turks. The war in Syria, in particular the recent Russian intervention was very unpopular in Turkey. This was good for Israel because Turkey, long a foe of Russia was not happy with Russian troops fighting right on the Turkish border, Thus by the end of 2015 the Turks were discussing the resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel. Since 2002 the Islamic government of Turkey has been battling Turkish secularists and trying to improve relations with other Islamic countries (including ancient rival Iran). This 2002 policy meant adopting an anti-Israel attitude after decades of close relations with the Jewish state. In 2010 Turkish politicians backed themselves into a corner by supporting the Turkish radical group (IHH) that organized a convoy of ships that tried to break the Gaza blockade. Nine Turkish members of pro-Terrorist Islamic charity IHH were killed when they attacked Israeli commandos landing on one of the ships. Despite video evidence that the nine Turks attacked the Israeli commandos with metal pipes and knives, the nine are considered martyrs in Turkey and the Islamic politicians who run the government cut diplomatic (and many other) relations with Israel because Israel would not take the blame for the deaths of the nine Turks. Israel refused to do this, because it is politically impossible to take the blame when so many Israelis blame the Turks for supporting the Gaza flotilla, which was trying to open supply lines for Hamas, an organization openly dedicated to the destruction of Israel. The major problem for the Islamic Turkish leaders was that many Turks did not back IHH or blame Israel. Five years of strained relations because of all this was finally ended because the Turks found they have a real enemy next door in Syria and could no longer afford to maintain the illusion that Israel is a problem. The Islamic terrorists that these Islamic Turkish politicians thought they would deal with proved to be uncontrollable and a growing political liability. The final straw was Russian troops moving into Syria in September and the growing threat ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and other Islamic terrorist groups were for Turkey. More Turks were becoming hostile to this Islamic and pro-Arab political policy. Turkey is not seeing a lot of pushback from the voters over this seemingly sudden change in official attitudes towards Israel.

The latest Egyptian counter-terror operation in northern Sinai has killed over a hundred armed or suspected Islamic terrorists in the last six days. Over a hundred suspects have been arrested. Infantry and armored vehicles supported by artillery and air strikes (F-16s and AH-64 gunships) are raiding known or suspected Islamic terrorist locations. The government plays down civilian casualties but there are some as troops and pilots tend to open fire if they just suspect they may have encountered Islamic terrorists. This is a problem because the Islamic terrorists sometimes use civilians as human shields or disguise themselves as unarmed civilians. Such civilians sometimes turn out to be suicide bombers wearing explosive vests under their clothing. Dozens of soldiers and police have been killed by such tactics and one result is more civilian casualties during raids. The Islamic terrorists count this as a plus because they can then accuse the security forces of deliberately killing unarmed civilians. Islamic terrorists declare any civilians kill or get killed to be involuntary martyrs.

Another reason for this new Sinai offensive is to help restore confidence in Egypt as a tourist destination. Because of the ISIL bombing of a Russian airliner on October 31st 2015 (killing 224 Russians flying home from a Sinai tourist resort) tourist visits to Egypt were down 15 percent during the last three months of 2015. This is a big deal in Egypt where tourism accounts for 11 percent of the GDP and provides jobs (directly or indirectly) for 12 percent of the work force. For most Egyptians the most important task of the government is improving the economy, followed by reducing Islamic terrorist violence.

Egypt continues its tight border controls with Libya. Mainly Egypt wants to keep weapons and Islamic terrorists from entering Egypt and stop illegal migrants (some of them new recruits for ISIL in Libya) from crossing into Libya. Smugglers still get a lot of people and goods into and out of Libya using the fact that the 1,100 kilometer long border largely runs through thinly populated desert. The desert route is more expensive and many illegals cannot afford it. Egypt continues making public calls for international help, from anyone, to help stop the violence and chaos in neighboring Libya. Egypt has been making this appeal since early 2015. These appeals have, so far, been answered with silence. Egypt has carried out some unofficial air strikes but wants an international effort (at least one other nation besides Egypt) to carry out an open and official air support campaign. One of the two governments in Libya (Tobruk) also called for some international help and got the same response as Egypt. In the meantime Egypt has developed closer, and sometimes official, economic relations with the Tobruk government. This includes a recent deal to buy two million barrels of oil a year from fields Tobruk controls. Egypt probably got a big discount but this deal was probably worth over $50 million to the Tobruk government. Egypt has, since at least 2013, provided the Tobruk some covert military support (trainers, advisors, special equipment). That appears to be continuing.

January 7, 2016: In Egypt ISIL took credit for using explosives to damage a Sinai pipeline carrying Egyptian natural gas to Jordan as well as customers in northern Sinai. The explosion caused no casualties and the damage was quickly repaired.

Elsewhere in Egypt (outside Cairo) about fifteen Egyptians attacked a hotel serving tourists. The attackers used flares, firebombs and at least two firearms (a pistol and a shotgun). Police quickly returned fire, the attackers fled and the damage was restricted to some broken windows at the hotel entrance and on a bus waiting to take forty tourists (Israeli Arabs) to a historical site. The Egyptian government downplayed the attack because there were no injuries and no Islamic terrorist group took credit for the attack. Some of the Israelis told Israeli reporters that the attack was pretty violent but confirmed that there did not appear to be any casualties.

January 6, 2016: Egypt asked Israel to not respond to Turkish demands that Israel lift its Gaza blockade, at least not to the extent that it will help Islamic terrorists in Gaza to carry out more attacks (against Israel as well as Egypt). In general Egypt is opposed to Israel resuming diplomatic relations with Turkey because the Turks openly support several of the Islamic terrorist groups in Egypt as well as the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood, which tried to turn Egypt into a religious dictatorship.

January 5, 2016: Israel revealed that it had arrested six Hamas members in December who were planning to kidnap and kill Israelis and then offer to exchange the Israeli corpses for the release of Palestinians imprisoned for terrorism. Such exchanges have been made before and it is believed that the Palestinians who kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank in mid-2015 were planning a similar swap but fast Israeli police work disrupted that effort. The December arrests included three Israeli Arabs in Jerusalem and three Palestinians in the West Bank.

January 4, 2016: On the Lebanese border, near the disputed Shebaa Farms (occupied by Israel but claimed by both Lebanon and Syria) Hezbollah used a roadside bomb to attack an Israeli convoy. Some vehicles were damaged but there were no casualties. Israeli artillery retaliated by hitting several Hezbollah facilities in the area. Hezbollah declared the attack more damaging than it actually was and said it was another act of revenge for Israel killing Hezbollah commander Samir Kuntar on December 19th. On December 20th Hezbollah fired four rockets into northern Israel from Lebanon but did no damage. Russia is demanding that Hezbollah cease the attacks on Israel. Iran is apparently saying the same thing, but not in public. Iran wants revenge as well because Kuntar was also working directly for them. Russia and Iran understand, where Hezbollah does not, that starting another war with Israel right now, while Hezbollah, Iran and Russia are fighting in Syria to try and keep the pro-Iran Assad government alive, would be counterproductive. Hezbollah leaders told Russia and Iran that they had to respond because Hezbollah had suffered so many losses in the last two years and morale within Hezbollah was low. Attacks on Israel, even if they fail to do any damage (which is normal) are always popular inside Hezbollah. Even Hezbollah leaders agree that they dont want to trigger another war with Israel like the 2006 conflict. That one got going not because of bomb and rocket attacks but because Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others.

January 2, 2016: Egypt launched another offensive in Sinai against Islamic terror groups there, especially those allied with ISIL. This effort was ordered because several Islamic terror groups announced they would be making attacks in Egypt in January.

Palestinian West Bank violence in 2015 left 170 Palestinians and 26 Israelis dead. Over 15,000 Palestinians were injured, most of them during violent demonstrations against Israel or (more rarely) other Palestinians. Over 90 percent of these casualties are related to the latest Fatah terror campaign against Israel. This began in September 2015 and continues. Like past Palestinian terrorism efforts it is losing support among the young Palestinians who are expected to take most of the risks (and suffer nearly all the casualties). There is no new terrorist campaign in Gaza, just continued efforts by Islamic terrorists inside Gaza to reach Israel and do some damage (or just escape the religious dictatorship in Gaza). This has led to 28 Gaza Palestinians killed and over 1,300 wounded in 2015.

January 1, 2016: Five rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. There were no casualties or property damage in part because three of the rockets detonated before they entered Israeli airspace. That night and into the next day hit four Islamic terrorist sites in Gaza were hit by Israeli aircraft. Ansar Bayt al Maqdis, an Egyptian Islamic terrorist group based in Gaza took credit for the rockets. Ansar Bayt declared itself an ally of ISIL in 2015 and most of its members (many of them Palestinian) are in is in Gaza. Ansar Bayt supports itself with smuggling and controls many of the remaining tunnels from Gaza to Egypt. The New Years Day attack was considered a success because it got lots of media attention. Two of the four targets attacked by Israel in retaliation belonged to Hamas which tolerates the presence of Ansar Bayt even while telling Israel it does not.

December 28, 2015: Hamas announced that one of its members had died when a tunnel he was working on in Gaza collapsed. Since 2007 between 200 and 400 Palestinians have died in such tunnel accidents.

December 24, 2015: A senior Russian official (the one in charge of Syrian operations) quietly (and unofficially) visited Israel to meet with senior Israelis to further develop procedures to ensure that there are no accidental clashes between Russian and Israeli forces in Syria. The Russians appreciate the fact that the Israelis, unlike the Turks, could probably quickly locate and destroy all Russian anti-aircraft systems and warplanes in Syria if Israeli troops, ships or aircraft were accidentally attacked by Russian forces.

December 23, 2015: Egypt repeated its earlier announcements that it had no plans to intervene with military force in Libya. Despite that Egypt has called on the UN to lift the arms embargo, at least for the UN recognized government there (based in Tobruk).
Wellesbourne Airfield

For residents it also performs a very important function because it acts as a web cam which people can monitor from the safety of their own homes and take appropriate action if required.

The camera system, which is entirely solar powered, will monitor eight watercourses across the county to help make sure that local residents are alerted if their properties are at risk of flooding. Residents signed up to the Environment Agencys flood warning service will receive an automated call, and those who follow the camera via twitter will receive alerts and photos when the water levels rise significantly.

More rain is forecast for tomorrow (Saturday 9th January) and it looks set to brighten up towards the end of the weekend.
This is a joint press release by FedEx Corporation, FedEx Acquisition B.V. and TNT Express N.V. pursuant to the provisions of Article 5:25i paragraph 2 of the Dutch Act on Financial Supervision (Wet op het Financieel Toezicht, the DFSA) and Article 4 paragraph 3 of the Decree on Public Takeover Bids (Besluit Openbare Biedingen Wft, the Decree) in connection with the recommended public offer by FedEx Acquisition B.V. for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of TNT Express N.V., including all American depositary shares representing ordinary shares (the Offer). This announcement does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in TNT Express N.V. The Offer is made solely pursuant to the offer document, dated August 21, 2015 (the Offer Document), approved by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiele Markten) (the AFM). Terms not defined in this press release will have the meaning as set forth in the Offer Document.

FedEx Corporation (FedEx) (NYSE: FDX), FedEx Acquisition B.V. (the Offeror) and TNT Express (TNT Express) hereby jointly announce that they have obtained the unconditional approval of the European Commission in connection with the Offer. After its investigation, the European Commission has concluded that the deal does not raise any competition concerns.

We are extremely pleased to receive the European Commissions unconditional approval, said David Binks, Regional President Europe, FedEx Express. We believe the combination of TNT Express and FedEx will provide significant value to the employees, customers and shareholders of both companies.

FedEx and TNT Express continue to work constructively with the regulatory authorities to obtain clearance of the transaction in the remaining jurisdictions, including Brazil and China. FedEx and TNT Express are making timely progress and continue to anticipate that the Offer will close in the first half of calendar year 2016.

About FedEx Corp.

FedEx provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $48 billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the worlds most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 340,000 team members to remain absolutely, positively focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities.

For more information, please visit www.fedex.com.
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) confirms the composition of the Board of Directors and announces the composition of the Board Committees and the new Group Leadership Team following the successful public exchange offer for Alcatel-Lucent securities.

Members of the Board of Directors confirmed and Board Committee members elected

In accordance with the resolutions passed at the Extraordinary General Meeting on December 2, 2015, and following the successful public exchange offer for Alcatel-Lucent securities, Nokia's Board of Directors consists of ten (10) members. The new members of the Board of Directors are Louis R. Hughes, Jean C. Monty and Olivier Piou. Elizabeth Doherty, who was a member of the Board of Directors until the successful closing of the exchange offer for Alcatel-Lucent securities, has stepped down from the Board of Directors.

As previously announced, Risto Siilasmaa continues as the Chairman of the Board. In the Board of Directors' assembly meeting, the Board of Directors elected Olivier Piou as Vice Chairman of the Board. The Nokia Board of Directors, for a term ending at the close of the Annual General Meeting in 2016, comprises the following members:

Risto Siilasmaa (Chairman);

Olivier Piou (Vice Chairman);

Vivek Badrinath;

Bruce Brown;

Louis Hughes,

Simon Jiang;

Jouko Karvinen;

Jean Monty;

Elisabeth Nelson; and

Kari Stadigh.

The Board of Directors also elected the members of the Board Committees. Bruce Brown was elected as Chairman and Simon Jiang, Olivier Piou and Kari Stadigh as members of the Personnel Committee. Jouko Karvinen was elected as Chairman and Vivek Badrinath, Louis Hughes, Jean Monty and Elizabeth Nelson as members of the Audit Committee. Risto Siilasmaa was elected as Chairman and Bruce Brown, Jouko Karvinen, Olivier Piou and Kari Stadigh as members of the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee.

The resumes of the members of the Board of Directors are available at

http://company.nokia.com/en/about-us/corporate-governance/board-of-directors/meet-the-board.
Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI) announced today that it has filed petitions for relief from imports of off-the-road ("OTR") tires from China, India, and Sri Lanka. The petitions, filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce, allege that imports from China and India are being dumped in the U.S. market, imports from all three countries are benefitting from government subsidies, and the imports are causing material injury to the domestic industry producing OTR tires. The petitions were filed jointly with the United Steelworkers union.

"In 2007 Titan won antidumping and countervailing duties on OTR tires from China, but over the past few years there have been a number of companies putting wheels into the tires to get around the duties," stated Maurice Taylor, CEO and Chairman. "This has become a large problem because some overseas operators have actually advertised on their websites how to beat duties. So our petitions address tires from China which enter mounted on a wheel or rim. We have also added India and Sri Lanka to this new action. We believe we have strong cases and look forward to the U.S. government conducting investigations. We urge our government to move expeditiously to investigate the unfair trade practices alleged.

"It is easy to understand why the middle class has decreased and manufacturing has been decreasing during the last 20 years. Too many domestic industries have been overwhelmed with unfair trade practices that capture sales of U.S. companies, depressed prices, reduced profitability and inability to maintain facilities and jobs. Titan has been fighting for the last eight years to safeguard the rights of U.S. producers of certain OTR tires and their workers to conditions of fair trade. Too many other companies have not been able to do so."

The petitions cover OTR tires for agriculture, industrial, construction, and mining applications. They cover OTR tires whether they enter the United States mounted on wheels or unmounted, though only the tire is covered. The inclusion of mounted tires distinguishes these petitions from ones filed by Titan in 2007 on OTR tires from China. Unmounted OTR tires from China are already covered by antidumping and countervailing duty orders that resulted from the earlier case, though entries of mounted tires from China are not currently subject to those duties.

In 2014, imports from China, India, and Sri Lanka accounted for an estimated 41 percent of all such imports from the world, though the actual number is likely higher due to the inclusion of mounted tires not broken out in the import data. Imports from the three countries have grown significantly since 2012, even as demand in key end use segments has fallen due to declining farm income and low commodity prices.

"This case represents a significant effort by our company to restore conditions of fair trade to the U.S. market for OTR tires," stated Taylor. "We are hopeful that a thorough investigation will show the merits of our case and result in meaningful relief for the domestic industry."

If the Commission and the Commerce Department reach affirmative preliminary determinations, imports become subject to additional bonding requirements to cover dumping or subsidization amounts finally determined. If orders issue at the end of the investigations, cash deposits equal to the level of dumping or subsidization are required on imports after the publication of the order. Preliminary determinations are likely by summer and final determinations due at the latest in early 2017.
A motorcycle modified to run on rails is seen inside a tunnel connected to the Altiplano Federal Penitentiary and used by drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman to escape, in Almoloya de Juarez, on the outskirts of Mexico City, July 15, 2015. REUTERS/Edgard

By Dave Graham

LOS MOCHIS, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico recaptured the world's top drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in a pre-dawn shootout and chase through drains on Friday, returning him to the same prison he escaped from six months ago, in a boost for the beleaguered government.

The head of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel was captured in a car wearing a filthy vest after fleeing through tunnels and drains from a raid on a safe house in the city of Los Mochis, in his native northwestern state of Sinaloa.

"Mission accomplished: We have him," President Enrique Pena Nieto said on his Twitter account. "I want to inform all Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been arrested."

For Pena Nieto, the capture of a trafficker who twice slipped out of Mexican prisons is a sorely-needed victory after his presidency was tarnished by graft and human rights scandals and the shame of the kingpin's flight from the maximum security Altiplano prison in July.

It also provides relief to U.S.-Mexico relations, strained by suspicion of high-level collusion given the apparent ease with which Guzman gave Mexican authorities the slip after the United States requested his extradition.

Guzman now faces possible extradition to face trial in the United States. That process could take months, although U.S. Republican party presidential hopeful Marco Rubio was among those calling for Washington to immediately pursue extradition.

Once featured in the Forbes list of billionaires, Guzman led a cartel that has smuggled billions of dollars worth of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines into the United States and fought vicious turf wars with other Mexican gangs.

He was caught early on Friday after Mexican marines raided his safe house, killing five and capturing six of Guzman's henchman. They pursued the drug lord through the northern city's drains and caught him after a car chase through the outskirts, Attorney General Arely Gomez said.

He was flown to Mexico City and later transferred in a naval helicopter back to the Altiplano.

Guzman, whose nickname means "Shorty", first escaped prison in 2001 by bribing prison officials, and went on to dominate the world of Mexican drug trafficking.

He was recaptured by Pena Nieto's government in 2014 but escaped in July by capitalizing on the drug-tunneling skills his cartel honed on the U.S. border. A mile-long tunnel equipped with electric lights, rails and a motorbike came out directly into the shower of his prison cell and he simply slipped away.

The escape heaped embarrassment on Pena Nieto, who had resisted a U.S. request to extradite Guzman and had said previously that an escape would be "unforgivable."

Dozens of people were arrested over the jailbreak, though details of who Guzman bribed and how his accomplices knew exactly where to dig into the prison remain scarce.

His recapture on Friday involved Mexican marines, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and U.S. Marshals, a senior Mexican police source and a U.S. source said.

STORM DRAINS

After stopping his getaway car, the Marines took Guzman and waited for reinforcements at Hotel Doux, a love motel on the outskirts of town that rents out rooms by the hour.

Los Mochis residents described gunfire and explosions from about 3:30 a.m. (0930 GMT).

Schools were closed as helicopters clattered overhead.

"The teachers were coming out terrified because they had heard the rumors that he was fleeing in the city's drains," said Ana Bertotti, 30, a housewife who crossed town to find her child's kindergarten closed.

One photograph widely circulated on social media, but that could not be independently verified by Reuters, appeared to show Guzman sitting handcuffed on a hotel bed, in a room that resembled those shown on the Hotel Doux website.

He was wearing a filthy vest and a poster of a scantily clad woman was pinned on the wall behind him.

Another photo appeared to show Guzman without handcuffs and wearing the same vest in the back of a vehicle next to one of his top assassins.

U.S. officials and the DEA, which has had a bumpy relationship with its Mexican counterparts since traffickers tortured a U.S. agent to death in 1985, took no credit and congratulated Mexico on the capture.

"This notorious criminal is  and will remain  behind bars, until he faces justice in a court of law," said DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg.

EXTRADITION WILL 'TAKE TIME'

After coming under fire for failing to send Guzman to the United States before he escaped the last time, Mexico said in July it had approved an order to extradite him north of the border.

On Friday, the U.S. Justice department said its previous request to extradite Guzman to the United States still stands.

A senior Mexican official said the attorney general's office would quickly move to determine how Guzman could be extradited, but that it could be months before he was sent out of the country.

Guzman's lawyer in October appealed against possible extradition in case his client was captured.

Guzman is wanted by U.S. authorities for various criminal charges including cocaine smuggling and money laundering

In 2013, Chicago dubbed him its first Public Enemy No.1 since Al Capone, the gangster who won notoriety in the 1920s.

Believed to be 58 years old, Guzman was born in La Tuna, a village in the Sierra Madre mountains in Sinaloa state where smugglers have been growing opium and marijuana since the early 20th century.

After Guzman's first prison break, violence began to creep up in Mexico. The situation deteriorated during the 2006-2012 presidency of Pena Nieto's conservative predecessor Felipe Calderon, when nearly 70,000 people lost their lives in gang-related mayhem.

After he managed to outmaneuver, outfight or out-bribe his rivals to stay at the top of the business for over a decade, some security experts see in Guzman's capture new hope for Mexico.

"This gives important credibility to the Mexican government. And the fact is, they're starting to move forward in implementing the rule of law," said Mike Vigil, former head of global operations for the DEA.

(With reporting by Gabriel Stargardter, Christine Murray, Cyntia Barrera and Alexandra Alper; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Simon Gardner and Kieran Murray)
An aerial view of the mouth of Rio Doce (Doce River), which was flooded with mud after a dam owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd burst, at an area where the river joins the sea on the coast of Espirito Santo in Regencia Village, Brazil, November 23, 201

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Much less sludge was spilled than first estimated from a dam burst at a Brazilian iron ore mine last November which killed 17 people, co-owner BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP)(NYSE: BLT) said on Friday.

Satellite assessments showed about 32 million cubic meters of sludge was released into the Rio Doce river, BHP said, citing information from mine operator Samarco, its joint venture with Brazil's Vale .

"The amount of tailings released is therefore significantly less than some initial estimates which were in excess of 50 million cubic meters," BHP said. The early estimates suggested the mine tailings could have filled more than 20,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The dam burst left hundreds homeless in Brazil's worst environmental disaster for which the government is seeking 20 billion reais ($5 billion) in damages and seeking to hold BHP and Vale responsible for any amount that Samarco cannot pay.

The latest Samarco report showed about 85 percent of the sludge stayed within 85 km (53 miles) of the burst dam, while the recovery effort has found fish alive in the Rio Doce in a 670 km (416 mile) stretch of the river out to where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

"They were able to detect fish living in areas affected by the turbidity plume as well as in unaffected tributaries of the Rio Doce," BHP said.

Companies in charge of water supply have also been able to treat water from the river up to drinking standards and for use in industry and on farms, while Samarco and other companies are working to limit harm from sediment in the river at hydroelectric plants.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

By Samir Ali - Trend:

Natig Karimov, chairman of the Council of Elders of Baku's Nardaran township, who was arrested on charges of high treason, is being kept in an isolation ward in the Azerbaijani State Security Service, the detainee's lawyer Eyyub Alakbarov told Trend Jan. 8.

He said it is so far unknown when Karimov will be transferred to the Baku isolation ward.

On Jan. 7, the Sabail District Court in Baku chose a preventive measure of a four-month arrest against Karimov.

"Karimov said in court that he didn't consider himself guilty," added Alakbarov.

Azerbaijan's State Security Service earlier said investigative actions revealed that Karimov, a resident of Baku's Nardaran township, secretly cooperated with foreign intelligence services.

Karimov has been carrying out their orders for a long time. He has been involved in espionage for foreign countries to the detriment of Azerbaijan's state security.

In this regard, he was detained as a suspect under the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan and was held criminally liable Jan. 7 as an accused person. A preventive measure of arrest was chosen against him upon a court verdict.

On Nov. 26, five members of a criminal group, operating under the guise of religion, were killed during a police operation in the township of Nardaran, some 25 km northeast of Baku. Two police officers were also killed in the standoff.

Fourteen members of the criminal group were arrested along with the group's ringleader Taleh Baghirov.
U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institutes (CHCI) 38th Annual Awards Gala in Washington October 8, 2015. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

By Richard Cowan and Fiona Ortiz

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. Congress, outraged over the Obama administration's pursuit of Central American migrant families for deportation, on Friday called for a halt and new protections for undocumented people from three crime-infested countries.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said they want "temporary protective status" for undocumented migrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. They argue that high murder rates and gang violence there pushed thousands, including families and children traveling alone, to seek U.S. refuge.

The recent crackdown, by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was an expansion from mostly targeting individuals to pursuing families with undocumented members.

Some immigration groups viewed the policy as sending a message to Central Americans, amid a spike in their arrivals at the southwestern U.S. border, not to make the journey.

House Democrats denounced Democratic President Barack Obama's policy at a press conference, urging him to protect, not deport, those immigrants.

The White House did not signal a willingness to back off.

"We are of course aware of these concerns, but the enforcement strategy and priorities that the administration has articulated are not going to change," White House spokesman Joshua Earnest told reporters.

Hispanic Caucus head Linda Sanchez described women being raped and murdered, buses being set ablaze and gangs controlling the streets of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

"Deporting these refugees essentially means that we're sending them back to their home countries to face possible death," she said.

Several House Democratic lawmakers on Thursday met with administration officials to register their anger over the policy.

Sanchez told reporters they left the meeting not knowing whether DHS agents will continue targeting Central American families for deportation. They have asked to meet in person with Obama.

DHS has confirmed authorities took 121 people into custody over the weekend.

More than 10,000 people could be subject to deportation under the DHS initiative, according to new figures from the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Nearly all are unaccompanied minors.

Seventy-five percent of deportation orders were issued in absentia because the immigrant did not attend a hearing. Activists say that indicates many have not gotten adequate legal aid, as immigrants attending hearings and fighting their cases in court have mostly avoided deportation.

"Unfortunately there are removal orders for people who had bad legal representation or poor legal representation," said Claudia Valenzuela, director of Chicago's Detention Project at the National Immigrant Justice Center.

(Reporting By Richard Cowan in Washington and Fiona Ortiz in Chicago; editing by Steve Orlofsky and Tom Brown)
Russia's partial mobilisation harms consumer, business confidence - cenbank analysts MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's partial mobilisation is having a negative impact on consumer and entrepreneurial confidence, while also posing new challenges for small and medium-sized companies, Russian central bank analysts said on Wednesday. They also said in a note that the resulting labour force contraction could hold back overall economic activity in coming months. The analysts added that the impact of mobilisation could have both disiflationary and... (continue reading...)



Russian lawmaker urges WhatsApp ban for state employees By Alexander Marrow MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian lawmaker on Wednesday urged state institutions to stop using WhatsApp messenger and the industry ministry sought to promote domestically produced software as Russia tries to wean itself off Western technology. WhatsApp owner Meta Platforms Inc. was found guilty of "extremist activity" in Russia in March and later added to financial monitoring agency Rosfinmonitoring's list of "terrorists... (continue reading...)



WHO to switch to one dose of two-dose cholera vaccine amid rising outbreaks By Akriti Sharma and Jennifer Rigby (Reuters) -The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it will temporarily suspend the standard two-dose vaccination regimen for cholera, replacing it with a single dose due to vaccine shortages and rising outbreaks worldwide. The U.N. agency said "the exceptional decision reflects the grave state of the cholera vaccine stockpile" at a time when countries like Haiti, Syria, Malawi are fighting large... (continue reading...)



Mexican buy now, pay later app Nelo lands $100 million credit line By Kylie Madry MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican "buy now, pay later" application Nelo has received a $100 million credit facility from U.S. private equity firm Victory Park Capital, which it will use to cushion its loan book and grow its business, the company said on Wednesday. The funding gives Nelo a boost in an increasingly crowded market, as other buy now, pay later platforms such as Kueski, Aplazo and Atrato vie to win over clients in... (continue reading...)



BMW investing $1.7 billion to build electric vehicles in U.S By David Shepardson SPARTANBURG, South Carolina (Reuters) - BMW AG said on Wednesday it will invest $1.7 billion to build electric vehicles in the United States, the latest announcement from major automaker about plans to ramp up U.S. EV production. The German automaker said it was making a new $1 billion investment in its Spartanburg, South Carolina plant to prepare for EV production and will spend $700 million on a new high-voltage... (continue reading...)



More Reuters
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Iceland, in the slow process of lifting capital controls it imposed after a 2008 financial meltdown, said on Friday its pension funds would be allowed to invest 20 billion Icelandic crowns ($154 million) abroad.

The Icelandic central bank said the funds would be available in the first four months of this year and follows a similar move last year when pension funds were allowed to invest 10 billion crowns in the second half.

The central bank has long said Icelandic pension funds should be able to invest abroad to diversify their own portfolios.

Authorities in Iceland struck agreements last year with creditors of three failed banks, which once held assets worth over 10 times the country's gross domestic product, on how they will repatriate any funds recovered.

That agreement is seen as a critical step before controls are lifted although officials have said that the process of removing them will be slow and carefully planned.

The central bank has said it would intervene on the foreign currency market to keep the crown stable once it is allowed to be traded more, and that today's Icelandic banks will have their activities limited to mostly domestic operations.

The government has had to strike a balance between returning the country to international financial norms and ensuring that once capital controls are lifted, money does not flow out of the country so fast the currency crashes and the economy suffers.

(Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki)
By Angus Berwick

MADRID (Reuters) - The leader of Spain's opposition Socialist party, Pedro Sanchez, ruled out a pact with the ruling People's Party during a visit to Portugal on Thursday to study its leftist coalition government's success in booting out a right-wing leader.

The centre-right People's Party (PP) failed to win a majority of seats in last month's indecisive general election and its return to government is dependent on forming a German-style grand coalition with the second-placed Socialists to break the political deadlock.

"We say 'no' to a grand coalition between the PP and the Socialists, and we say 'yes' to a government that brings together all the progressive forces that want to change Spain and repair the damage the right wing has done over the last four years," Sanchez told a news conference in Lisbon.

Socialists and hard-left parties in neighboring Portugal joined forces in November to oust a centre-right government which had won the most votes in an October election but had also lost its parliamentary majority.

"What is clear is that when the forces for change join together the people reap the benefits, and Portugal's government is the best evidence of this," Sanchez said after meeting Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

Sanchez's PSOE lost much of its support to the anti-austerity party Podemos in the election, but the two might be able to form a coalition along with small regional parties to oust acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's PP.

However, matters are complicated by Podemos' support for a referendum on independence in Catalonia, which the Socialists have said is unacceptable.

The PP criticized Sanchez's overtures to Podemos and said a leftist coalition would be "electoral fraud" as it would be against the Spanish vote.

"It would be smart for Sanchez to correct himself, instead of continuing to say 'no,' and be open to agreements and talks (with the PP)," Rafael Hernando, the party's spokesman in congress, told Cadena Ser radio.

Earlier on Thursday, Alberto Rivera, leader of the newcomer centrist party Ciudadanos, dismissed comparisons of the Spanish political situation with Portugal because of the Catalan issue.

"As far as I know, there is no party in Portugal that wants to break up Portugal. In Spain, there are parties that want to break up Spain," he told reporters at the parliament in Madrid.

Rivera, whose party failed to secure enough seats to play a king-maker role, suggested a minority government might be the answer.

(Additional reporting by Angus MacSwan and Blanca Rodriguez; Editing by Sonya Dowsett and Andrew Roche)
MADRID (Reuters) - Two Indian men arrested in Spain for smuggling Russian anti-aircraft missiles were extradited to the United States, Spanish military police said in a statement on Thursday.

Spanish police detained the pair in Barcelona in 2014 along with two Pakistani men, who have already been extradited, as part of a joint operation - dubbed Operation Yoga - with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to bust a smuggling ring based in the Catalonia region.

The group had offered the Russian-built Igla missiles to foreign paramilitary groups. The police could not immediately confirm when the pair were extradited.

The attorney's office in New York has charged them with drug and arms trafficking, and with financing terrorist organizations, the statement said. They face up to 30 years in prison.

(Reporting by Angus Berwick; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies staged 36 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Wednesday in its latest round of daily attacks on the militant group, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement.

In Iraq, 22 strikes near nine cities hit several Islamic State buildings, an improvised explosive device factory and a staging facility, among other targets. Fourteen strikes near Manbij in Syria also hit multiple targets, the statement released on Thursday said.

(Reporting by Washington newsroom; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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A police prosecutor position has been cut from the Blenheim District Court in a move branded "ridiculous" by Blenheim lawyers.

New Zealand Police have cut the number of prosecutors from two to one as part of a "realignment" of the Police Prosecution Service.

Blenheim lawyers, who objected to the move, said losing a prosecutor would slow down justice and potentially clog up the court system.

Blenheim's one remaining prosecutor was off on sick leave and prosecutors from around the country were being drafted in to cover court.

READ MORE: * Proposal to cut police prosecutors 'absurd'

A prosecutor from Nelson had to be brought in at the last minute to cover Tuesday's district court.

Judge Richard Russell said on busy court days, the court could not afford to be starting late.

He told police to "pick up your game".

A police spokeswoman said the prosecution cuts were consulted with staff, the Police Association and the Police Managers' Guild.

Forty-one police prosecution offices nationwide were reviewed.

" The operating environment for the Police Prosecution Service has changed significantly in recent years, due in part to the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 and policing excellence initiatives which have seen reductions in recorded crime and non-traffic prosecutions.

"As a result, NZ Police proposed a realignment of the Police Prosecution Service, to ensure we have frontline prosecutors and prosecution support officers in the right locations to meet the current demands of the courts and district staff."

Lawyer Rennie Gould said the realignment was a money saving exercise from head office.

"It's just ridiculous. It doesn't seem to be particularly cost effective. [These decisions] are made by people that don't know how a small court works."

Having two prosecutors allowed one to deal with court lists and the other to meet with lawyers on case files that helped smooth out procedural matters such as bail conditions and case management.

"It will mean more court appearances and longer lists," she said.

Gould said she believed clients were staying longer in custody as a result of the job cut.

"I am concerned if they stay in custody longer. That's a really bad thing, it's a breach of their human rights."

Having different prosecutors disrupted the continuity of court, she said.

Barrister John Holdaway said lawyers were unhappy about the move.

"We had a period of seven months with one prosecutor and he was very stretched."

Losing a prosecutor would slow down the court system, he said.

"It puts a huge stress on Nelson prosecutors who have to pick up the reins.

"If a prosecutor is not familiar with a case the matter will have to be stood down. It could potentially clog up the system.

"I was at a case management meeting with one prosecutor this week. He was doing his best but he was chasing his tail.

"Having two prosecutors enables everything to run smoothly and everybody has access to justice."
Syrian refugees arrive in Greece freezing and wet, and some are too traumatised to speak, a Timaru nurse says.

Olivia Carnegie said on Thursday she would never forget the children and adults she helped in December as they arrived on the island of Lesbos from the Turkish coast.

They came in their thousands. Pictures Carnegie took show discarded lifejackets piled more than a metre high by the beach.

MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/FAIRFAX NZ Olivia Carnegie says more must be done refugees fleeing Syria's years-long conflict.

READ MORE: Timaru nurse, doctor partner respond to refugee crisis

She estimated about 70 per cent of the people were Syrians, with the rest coming from Afghanistan, Iraq and North African countries, she said. Most made the ten kilometre trip in rubber boats. Some would clap as they approached the shore.

"Kids often sat in the middle. They were absolutely drenched and freezing, absolutely freezing."

SUPPLIED Carnegie says she wonders what happened to the families she saw arriving on Lesbos.

She and other volunteers brought them emergency blankets and dry clothes, some of which South Cantabrian donors had knitted.

Sometimes there were not enough shoes, and the refugees wore plastic bags on their feet instead.

The volunteers helped to register some refugees, taking names and passports.

"Quite a few had a bit of English. Most of them know 'thank you'."

A mother who arrived with three young girls would not talk to anyone at first, Carnegie said. The woman later revealed she had been hiding in a forest for three days without food before making the trip. Others told Carnegie their entire families had been killed in the Syrian conflict, which began in 2011 after president Bashar al-Assad's government began violently repressing protests.

"When you hear it, it's hard to fathom."

She and her partner, Dr Nicandro Castaneda, spent 10 days volunteering with charitable organisation the Salaam Cultural Museum, providing basic supplies and medical help to those arriving on Lesbos' northern coast, many of whom had only the clothes on their backs.

Elsewhere on the island, Greeks gave refugees food, Carnegie said. Most refugees stayed in a camp near a nightclub for one or two days before taking a 12 hour ferry journey to the Greek capital, Athens.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has recorded more than 4.3 million Syrian refugees fleeing the country.

"They were doctors, they were teachers, they were lawyers. They're just people like you and I," Carnegie said.

She feared the people she helped could face hostility on their journey through Europe.

"The rest of their journey's not great."

Although some people she met knew which country they planned to settle in, others had not yet chosen an intended destination.

She sometimes wondered what became of children like Mohamed, a nine-year-old boy whose father carried him onto the island.

"I wish I knew where they were."

Carnegie said she wanted to volunteer on the island longer.

"It's hard being here and seeing it going on."

South Cantabrians and people around the country had given considerable support to her efforts, she said. Some gave clothes and other supplies.

"I got people ringing me who I don't even know. There's a lady in Auckland and we still don't know who she is or how she got our contact details. Everything was used.

"I want to say thank you to everyone."

She believed creating greater public awareness of the situation was important. However, reporters' presence on the island complicated matters at times.

Photographers crowding a rocky shore sometimes accidentally attracted boats toward the rocks. However, their pictures "helped to tell the story", Carnegie said.

Despite the "tragic" situation, Carnegie said she found volunteering and uplifting experience.

She plans to speak about her experiences at the St John's Church Hall in Timaru as a fundraiser for Syria's Forgotten Families South Canterbury.

One of the organisation's organisers, Kate Elsen, said the volunteer organisation had raised more than $7000 for Syria's refugees since it began operating and had plans for further fundraisers this year.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Jan. 7

By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:

Turkmen GDP growth will amount to 8.9 percent in 2016 against 8.5 percent in 2015, according to the World Bank forecasts.

This forecast is published in the "Global Economic Prospects" annual report of the bank.

Earlier, the Ministry of Economy and Development of Turkmenistan reported that Turkmenistan maintains GDP growth at a high level - in January-November 2015, this figure was 7.1 percent.

Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world on natural gas reserves, selling it to China and Iran, according to BP.
The Coursey Family have been camping at Nelson's Tahuna Beach holiday Park since the 1980's.

Every year you get the family together, pack up the car, and head off to your favourite holiday spot. Where do you go?

Stuff wants you to decide where the best summer holiday destination can be found in New Zealand.

We're pitting some of the country's most-loved hotspots against each other. All you have to do is vote for your favourite, and let us know what you love about it in the comments.



We've arrived at the final, with the Bay of Islands representing the North Island and Nelson standing for the South Island.



Who will emerge victorious? You be the judge.



BAY OF ISLANDS

Northland's Cape Brett.

Winner against the Bay of Plenty, with 54 per cent of votes.

Where: Located on the east coast of the Far North of the North Island. Encompasses 144 islands between Cape Brett and the Purerua Peninsula and includes the towns of Opua, Paihia, Russell and Kerikeri.

Population: Kerikeri, the biggest town, has a population of 7050, followed by Paihia at 1880.

Northland Paddleboarding All ages get to grips with stand up paddle boarding on the waters in Kerikeri inlet basin.

History: The Bay of Islands is one of the most important sites of New Zealand history. Waitangi was where the nation's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi, was signed, and Okiato was the site of New Zealand's first national capital. The Bay of Islands was also the first area of New Zealand to be settled by Europeans, with Captain James Cook arriving in 1769, followed by whalers, sailors and missionaries.

Climate: Often referred to as "sub-tropical", with some of the most consistently high temperatures in the country.



What it's all about: History and Maori culture. Some of the bluest skies in the world. Warm weather. Coves and beaches. Boat trips and swimming with dolphins. Fish and chips.



Any famous faces? Mostly historical figures, like Ngapuhi chief Hongi Hika, who managed to take over the north during the Musket Wars of the early 1800s.

What to do there: Visit Urupukapuka Island, the largest of the 144 islands and a perfect spot for camping. Go to Waitangi and visit the treaty grounds. Go for a swim or a snorkel at one of the golden sand beaches around Paihia. Cruise out to the famous Hole in the Rock on Piercy Island, at the very tip of Cape Brett.



NELSON

Alden Williams/Fairfax NZ Mt Owen, the highest peak in Kahurangi National Park.

Winner against the Mackenzie Country, with 64 per cent of votes.

Where: Nelson can be found at the top north-west of the South Island. The region is the gateway to Abel Tasman National Park, Kahurangi National Park, and the Nelson Lakes National Park. The city itself is also popular with holidaymakers, both from the South Island and across the Cook Strait.

Population: 46,437 people usually live in Nelson city.

Pene Webber A group of friends strike a pose as the sun goes down over Tahunanui Beach.

History: Established in 1841 by the English, Nelson is the oldest settled city in the South Island and the second-oldest in the country. It is named after the British naval commander Horatio Nelson, and its main street, Trafalgar Street, is named after the 1805 battle in which he died.

Climate: Known as "Sunny Nelson". Boasts around 2400 hours of sunshine a year. Locals often refer to the "Mediterranean climate".

What it's all about: Beaches. Sea kayaking. Walks and tramps in the national parks. Craft beer, coffee and culture.

Any famous faces? Brother-sister music duo Broods (Georgia and Caleb Nott) hail from Nelson.

What to do there: Head straight to the beach. Tahunanui is a family-friendly swimming spot located at the edge of city. An hour's drive away is Kaiteriteri, one of the most spectacular gold sand beaches in the country. Experience Abel Tasman National Park by sea kayak, or set off on foot along the Coast Track, which has been designated one of the country's Great Walks.

What do you like best about the Bay of Islands or Nelson? Let us know in the comments after casting your vote.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

The European Commission has awarded EASA a $5.4 million technical contract to support the sustainable development of civil aviation in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Armenia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, in line with international and European standards, a statement posted on Aviation Today portal said Jan. 8.

EASA will begin implementing the 4-year contract in February 2016. Under the terms of the contract, EASA will provide training; dedicated initiatives on safety management and civil aviation administration management; effectively addressing safety findings raised by ICAO or EASA audits; support for the implementation of existing comprehensive aviation agreements; and support for the harmonization of regulations and working practices with international safety and security standards, the statement said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

Trend:

Young people interested in exchange programs and implementing local projects got an invaluable opportunity to gain experience and useful advice in the event held within the "Fireflies" project organized by AIESEC Azerbaijan and with sponsorship of Nar.

Purpose of the event held on January 8, 2016, in Baku was to accelerate the integration of Azerbaijan society with the cultures of different nations. Along with young trainees, representatives of diplomatic missions in Azerbaijan also participated in the event which was open to general public as an example of transparency.

AIESEC Azerbaijan organized cultural festival - Global Village for the foreign trainees coming on the occasion of the completion of "Fireflies" project - exchange program of the winter season. Foreign visitors who took part in festival presented their national cuisine and dances, as well as other cultural patterns to Azerbaijan society. Nar always attaches great importance to promoting national culture and intercultural dialogue and was the main sponsor of this successfully completed event.
Brian Rogers

Rogers Rabbits

www.sunlive.co.nz

Welcome to 2016 and the first column of the New Year. The Chinese call it the Year of the Red Monkey, but down here in Nuzzillin it still seems more like the year of the Blue Johnkey.



Launching back into work is always a bit daunting, after a few days of festivities and relaxation. Never fear, there is a Rogers Rabbits for every week of the year, even the lazy, hazy summer days.



This week we take a stroll down memory lane, to see what was on the RR agenda back in 2010, the Year of the Tiger. And coincidentally enough, it was Tiger Woods making the headlines.



Heres some extracts from a summer past



When the rest of you are living it up at the beach, the bach or the boat; or sipping kiwifruit daiquiris around the pool, Im here providing you with witty repartee and enlightening wisdoms that will have you gasping in disbelief or chortling so much you swallow the little umbrella on the side of the glass.



This weeks column is dedicated to three people:



Tiger, Nick and Susan.



Some of you will be pleased to know 2010 was the Year of the Tiger.

Which is interesting, because 2009 wasnt his best year.



In fact 2009 is one hed probably rather forget. Unfortunately for Tiger Woods, no-one will let him. The jokes just kept rolling.



NZ Post had a special issue of Tiger stamps. It didnt catch on with everyone. For starters, his wife had trouble getting her stamps to stick. It appears shes spitting at the wrong side.



But back to the Chinese New Year. Here at RR we are having difficulty getting excited about it.



Its nothing personal  we love the Chinese. Especially their takeaways.



Not so much their burns. Weve heard some of their whispers but never know whether to believe it or not.



Lately weve had an issue with their lanterns.



But Year of the Tiger?



We cant really see the point of hijacking someone elses culture. Especially to the point of have tigers on our stamps. NZ Post is very excited about having tigers on our stamps.



We think it would be more appropriate if we had a New Zealand animal on our stamps. One of our iconic, amazing critters, flora or fauna.



Why not year of the Giant Snail. Or Year of the Huhu Grub. Or the Sea Lettuce.



Searching for Susan



The second saviour for this weeks column was Nick. He introduced me to the third person, Susan. She arrived in the Nick of time to produce this column.



Susan has provided me with the inspiration to write and I cant thank her enough.



In fact, Susan has coincidentally been at the centre of a lot of my social engagements this summer, including every barbecue.



The first meeting with her happened when the Sun news team were at lunch, marvelling at the dexterity of Susan.



She was in fact in the centre of the table, being Lazy, apparently.



I guess thats why they call her Lazy Susan. And being people of words, it naturally transpired that the conversation drifted to Susan.



How did she get that name?



Mental notes were made to Google Susan straight after lunch.



However, our research remains inconclusive as to the exact origins.



Theres speculation that Susan could have been a common name for servants and therefore the Lazy Susan inherited a not-so-complimentary label.



But theres a school of thought that the first ever coining of the phrase was in the 1930s as marketing for the rotating tray. Not many households would still have had servants then, so that theory is a little dubious.



Days later, Susan turned up, again the centre of attention, at a backyard barbecue. We didnt talk, she was much too busy doing good turns around the table.



I couldnt take my eyes off her lovely rotund base and the way she moved. That was, until my better half caught the wandering eye.



A swift prod from my beloved with the barbecue fork brought me back to earth and I realised that, if I valued my kidneys, I had to forget Susan.



As the lazy, hazy days of summer worn on, I did get over the mysterious woman at the centre of the table, but still puzzled over her name.



Which lead to muse the origins of several other dubious characters who serve our language, if not our salads, every day.



Which is when the Nick of time popped back into my consciousness.



While skinny dipping off a Coromandel beach, the question arose whether theres a connection to swimming in the Nick or other Tom foolery.



Family connections



Next up is the guy who helps me out with the mainsail after every voyage: Lazy Jack. He must be some relation to Lazy Susan. All I know is he used to hang out with Jolly Roger (no relation to RR) while we Bob in the ocean above the John dorys.



That was a question to ponder as a Bloody Mary washes over ones Adams Apple.

From there, a whole range of proper names in phrases that appeared from the murky depths.



Mark my words



Rob the bank



Doubting Thomas



Grant a licence



Which is where this column, thankfully, will Peter out.



brian@thesun.co.nz



Like on Facebook: Rogers Rabbits Blog
A decision on seabed mining exploration off Waihi Beach is expected in about two months, says the Ministry of business innovation and employment.

Pacific Offshore Mining is seeking a five-year permit to explore for ilmenite  titanium ore, within 12,000 hectares off Waihi Beach.
Police have been left shaking their heads after attending a number of crashes in the Bay Plenty and Waikato today.

Currently, Tauranga Police are dealing with a crash on State Highway 29, near the Kaimai Range.
Just before 5am, Hamilton Police were called to a residential area after some residents reported the sound of a loud explosion.

A short time later a man arrived at the Waikato Hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg.

Police believe the two incidents are connected.

The injuries at this stage have been categorised as not to be life threatening but serious.

The man will likely undergo surgery this morning.

Hamilton CIB are investigating the incident.

Source: New Zealand Police.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8



By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:



The supplies of Iranian gas via the Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP) were discussed only at the political level, not commercial, Vagif Aliyev, the head of the SOCAR Investment Department, said in an interview with Azerbaijani ANS TV channel.



He said that TANAP pipeline is primarily being built for export of Azerbaijani gas from the second phase of the Shah Deniz field.



"At the first stage, its capacity will be 16 bcm of gas a year," he said. "But the pipeline can be expanded to 31 bcm to supply from other possible sources. Technically, this will enable to supply more gas to Turkey. However, the commercial supplies of Iranian gas via TANAP have not been discussed up till now."



While commenting on the possibility of increasing the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Turkey amid deteriorating Ankara-Moscow relations, Aliyev said that currently Turkey has no problems with gas supply.



"However, we are considering the opportunity of increasing the supply. These issues will be resolved as far as possible," he added.



TANAP project envisages transportation of gas of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field from Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey.



The initial capacity of TANAP pipeline is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Around six billion cubic meters of this gas will be delivered to Turkey and the remaining volume will be supplied to Europe.



Turkey will get gas in 2018 and after completing the construction of Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), it will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.



Currently, the shareholders of TANAP are: the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) - 58 percent, Botas - 30 percent and BP - 12 percent.
What if when you were knitting a scarf, you were also knitting better cognitive health and well-being? Research shows that regularly knitting has tremendous health benefits, and by joining a knitting club seniors can improve their minds, moods and spirits.

The Purlettes, a knitting group at The Redwoods retirement home in Mill Valley, California, have made a name for themselves knitting handbags that are sold throughout the country. The group's 15 members have been meeting weekly for a decade, according to the Huffington Post, and praise the power of knitting in their lives.

"It's very rewarding for me," said member Hector Richards in an interview with the source, who says knitting is "my meditation."

CEO of The Redwoods, Barbara Solomon, also believes in the benefits of knitting:

"It's like bridge or chess, or any of those activities where you're concentrating and remembering, so there's mental stimulation," she said to the Huffington Post. "And then there's the socialization that happened. It gives them opportunities to participate in different ways, to be mentally stimulated and physically active and get out of their apartments -- and it's a feeling of being very useful."

Cognitive health

Knitting supports a healthy brain. A neuropsychiatry study found that engaging in craft activities like knitting and quilting could reduce the chance of developing mild cognitive impairment by 30 to 50 percent for seniors. Researchers believe that knitting can help keep the mind sharp by creating new neural pathways. While scientists traditionally thought that the brain reached its peak level of development when people were in their 20s, new findings suggest that brains continue growing and creating new connections, even into old age, according to CNN. Knitting and other craft activities contribute to healthy minds by involving many parts of the brain at once.

"The hypothesis is that the more stimulating your environment is ... the more you're increasing the complexity of the brain, the more you can afford to lose. You're building a buffer," ," said Catherine Carey Levisay, a neuropsychologist who's also married to the CEO of tutorial website Craftsy.com, in an interview with CNN.

Mood lifter

Knitting has also been shown to elevate mood. A survey of knitters conducted as part of a research study found that individuals who knitted more than three times per week reported sizeable increases in feelings of calm, with the respondents calling the act of knitting itself "spiritual," "soothing" and "restful." In addition, 81 percent of individuals with depression felt that knitting made them feel happier. The repetitive movements of knitting can have similar benefits to those of meditation, and watching a scarf or hat come together can boost feelings of pride and happiness, the Washington Post reported.

"When we have a life-affirming project going on that grabs the self and gets it to work in a positive way, that is an antidepressant," said Carrie Barron, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, in an interview with the newspaper.

Social benefits

While there are positive impacts of knitting alone, individuals should consider joining a club to reap the most benefits. Combining a fun activity with friendly faces and a positive environment helps seniors combat feelings of loneliness. A study published in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy found that knitting in a group significantly impacted happiness levels, communication with others and social contact. What's more is that another research study found that 90 percent of individuals surveyed had made several or more friends in their knitting groups, and knitting in a group contributed to greater feelings of belonging and better social confidence. Sharing a creative experience with others binds people together and builds a strong sense of community.

So grab some needles and yarn in your favorite color and join a knitting group today.
The Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra is celebrating its 25th anniversary, but it needs to attract larger audiences and more sponsors, and improve its relationship with the Cervantes Theatre

The Philharmonic Orchestra filled the Cervantes Theatre with its last Christmas Concert. :: NITO SALAS

It may sound strange but this story began in Moscow, which is more than 4,600 kilometres from Malaga. With the temperature ten degrees below zero, in a city shaken by political change, in the middle of a demonstration over the dismissal of one of Gorbachovs strongmen, a delegation from Malaga was looking for musicians. They found them.

Outside the school where the auditions were taking place, a long queue formed of hopefuls who couldnt speak Spanish and didnt even know where Malaga was on a map. We only knew the name because the Empress Catherine II liked the wine, says percussionist Yuri Chuguyev.

They did know, however, that it was a place in western Europe which was known as the capital of the Costa del Sol - that sounded wonderful in the middle of a Russian winter - and it promised a tempting salary of around 200,000 pesetas a month. That would have been impossible to earn in Russia. When it came to music, they had no rivals: Even the worst one of us would be the best musician you have there, the students at the conservatory told the people from Malaga. And they werent wrong.

Nearly 50 musicians packed their bags in Moscow and Bratislava (where auditions were also held) and set off for Andalucia to form what was then the City of Malaga Orchestra and is now the Philharmonic Orchestra (OFM). It performed for the first time on 14 February 1991.

25 years later, the orchestra which at one time was like a Tower of Babel - the only language everyone understood was the baton of conductor Octav Calleya - can boast of being a compact and consolidated group. Because on an important anniversary like this, one has to take stock: highlight the good (the OMF is now an indisputable benchmark in culture, its quality is recognised and it has survived the crisis), and identify whats bad (it still doesnt have a venue of its own, it needs to attract a larger audience and more sponsors).

The OFM is facing a decisive year in its history, and hopes to use its 25th anniversary as a way of attracting more audiences and sponsors who can breathe life into its diminished funds (it receives 4,767,000 euros from Malaga council and the Junta de Andalucia, compared with six million six years ago).

For audiences, the OFM has arranged a seasonal concert on the date of its anniversary with conductor Hernandez Silva, a recital in the cathedral in May, conducted by Calleya, and two performances in the summer organised by an association which has recently been formed to commemorate the orchestras 25th anniversary.

With regard to sponsorships, agreements have been signed with companies and entities which will provide either funds or savings. At present, NH Malaga Palacio has become the sponsor of all the performances, offering accommodation for groups and conductors; Unicaja is collaborating on a concert by the Baroque Youth Orchestra of Andalucia; El Pimpi has agreed to provide food for artists and conductors; Club El Candado will be hosting concerts in the Chamber Music cycle - which is officially based in the Picasso Museum - and the Albia insurance company sponsored the last Christmas Concert. A list of patrons like that was unthinkable years ago.

With no hope yet of a Music Auditorium in Malaga, the Philharmonic has 12 key months ahead of it to resolve its differences with what is in theory its home, the Cervantes Theatre. With a new manager of this municipal theatre having been appointed, Juan Antonio Vigar, the door to dialogue, which was closed with the previous management, is now open.

At the Cervantes, the OFM says it feels as if it is on loan, with no possibility of using the income it generates (about 200,000 euros a season) or of choosing the dates of its recitals: these depend on gaps in the theatres own programme. While things remain like that, the orchestra will not grow, says Manuel Hernandez Silva. We are the best client the theatre has, and the one it treats worst, he complains.

The Cervantes is now too small for the way the orchestra would like to develop, and in its search for new venues, the OFM has found an ally in the provincial governments Edgar Neville Auditorium where, for the fourth year, it is performing the cycle La Filarmonica frente al Mar. La Termica has also helped the Baroque Youth Orchestra, by covering the costs of the musicians accommodation and food. Without them, the project would have died a death, admits the director of the Philharmonic.

But before looking to the future, we have to look back at the past. The support from the then mayor, Pedro Aparicio, is behind the OFM, which he admits was his favourite cultural project.

It all began with a statement by the president of the Junta de Andalucia at that time, Rafael Escuredo, that he intended to create an Orchestra of Andalucia which would be resident in Seville. We were a bit angry about that: we had a greater musical tradition and we also deserved an orchestra, recalls Curro Flores, who was councillor for Culture in Malaga.

After a lot of coming and going to offices in Seville, they convinced the Andalusian government to create two parallel orchestras, in Malaga and Seville, financed 50 per cent by the Junta and 50 per cent by the respective City Halls.

With the machinery in motion, they had to create a professional orchestra in record time. The project was commissioned to Octav Calleya, a Romanian who was the conductor of the Provincial Symphony Orchestra. With his customary irony, Calleya compares the birth of the OFM with a difficult labour.

The first rehearsals were arranged for 1 January 1991 but the musicians were arriving bit by bit from different parts of the world. The grand introductory concert was to take place on 14 February at the Cervantes, and on the Sunday before, the last ones arrived. Actually, more came than were expected. It had been announced that the City of Malaga Orchestra would have 100 musicians, but they had only contracted just over 80; luckily, about 20 British musicians came to Malaga especially for this inaugural performance. Despite everything, it went very well, reflects Calleya.

Five baton-holders came after him. The late Odon Alonso, a renowned musician, consolidated the incipient orchestra. After him, Alexander Rahbari fought for the internalisation of the OFM, changing its name from the Malaga City Orchestra to the Malaga Philharmonic. When we began to perform concerts abroad, the first thing they used to ask was what type of formation we were; so we said Philharmonic, explains the leader of the orchestra, Juan Carlos Ramirez.

Rahbari, however, didnt know how to connect with critics and the public, but this was something that Aldo Ceccato did achieve: with him, the OFM reached a record number of 1,013 subscribers in 2007-2008. Now there are 840 supporters.

Edmon Colomer then took over, placing an emphasis on educational work and making efforts to tackle a contemporary repertoire, but this did not go down well with the more conservative sector of the public. Now Manuel Hernandez Silva, who is Venezuelan, is holding the reins of an OFM which has a balanced budget and has grown tremendously artistically, he says.

This orchestra does not restrict itself to seasonal concerts. After a time spent on stand by because of the cutbacks, the OFM has started recording again - it has done 51 recordings so far, and the latest, of Mahler, will be given as a gift at the anniversary concert - and is developing its Cycle of Chamber Music. It also supports the Baroque Youth Orchestra (JOBA) and is committed to musicians of the future with its Young Talent Contest, among others.

The OFM also hopes to reactivate the Festival of Ancient Music and Cycle of Contemporary Music, if the economy picks up. But musicians are also poorly paid. We started as one of the best-paid orchestras in Spain and now were down at the bottom, says percussionist Yuri Chuguyev.

In 1991 he thought he would only spend a year or two in Malaga: We Russians get homesick, he explains. 25 years later, he has no intention of leaving. Malaga is the best place in Europe to live, he says. And a good place to play music. Thats another reason to raise a glass in 2016, to celebrate 25 years of music.
In 2014, the figure was at a record low, but last year the number of deaths on the roads in Malaga province rose by about 30 per cent

Complying with speed limits has been one of the main focuses of recent road safety campaigns. :: JESUS DIGES / EFE

The number of fatal accidents on roads in Malaga province rose by about 30 per cent last year in comparison with 2014, which was the lowest year ever in terms of numbers of deaths in traffic accidents on inter-urban roads. The statistics show that in the past 12 months, 26 people lost their lives in accidents in Malaga; in 2014, there were 20 fatalities.

In recent years, the number of victims has been dropping and this increase has broken that trend. The General Traffic Department (DGT) has been monitoring this change for several months, and points out that no figures can ever be considered positive while even one person loses their life.

One aspect which has been highlighted by the figures is that there has been an increase in the number of pedestrians who have been killed on inter-urban roads.

The statistics from the DGT, which only include accidents of this type on dual carriageways and secondary roads but not in town centres, show that four pedestrians died in 2014 and six in 2015, in addition to those who were killed in urban streets.

The DGT is concerned about these figures and is looking for ways to tackle the problem. At present it is preparing a campaign aimed at pedestrians, who will be fined if they are found to have broken the law.

Although it is often the case that no action is taken against them, the Law of Road Safety stipulates that people can be fined up to 200 euros for not respecting a traffic light. If they cross the road at the wrong time and cause an accident, the fine can be as much as 1,000 euros.

Another aspect which is also worrying the DGT is that in 2015 more motorcyclists died on inter-urban roads in the province, compared with 2014, and it has organised specific campaigns with this in mind.

Specifically, these campaigns focus on overtaking safely, not drinking alcohol or taking drugs, having the correct documentation and complying with speed limits.

Sources at the Traffic Department insist that there are fewer fatal accidents when people respect speed limits, and fewer people are injured. The latest campaigns are aimed to ensure that motorcyclists, who are the most vulnerable road users, drive as safely as possible.

There was an increase in the overall number of victims last year despite the DGTs efforts to raise awareness of road safety. This year their website even shows the locations of all the mobile speed traps on secondary roads. This type of road is one of the main battlegrounds when it comes to reducing the number of accidents, because the majority of deaths occur on them.

There are 28 accident black spots on roads in Malaga province, and the DGT plans to monitor these more intensively. Sixteen of these black spots are in the Guadalhorce valley, and especially in the municipalities of Coin, Pizarra (and Zalea) and Cartama. These are places where drivers need to be especially careful if the number of people who are killed in traffic accidents is ever to drop to zero.
Cristina de Borbon (back row) in court in Palma de Mallorca on Monday morning. :: EFE

How on earth has the sister of King Felipe VI ended up in a situation which means that she will be sitting in the dock in a courtroom on 11 January? Well, technically it is due to the obstinacy of a judge, Jose Castro, and a private prosecution brought about by the Manos Limpias organisation. Following a series of emails from Diego Torres about the royal family, in the spring of 2013 they decided to point an accusing finger at the Infanta Cristina for alleged involvement in the Noos case, and also because she was a partner in Aizoon, the company which her husband, Inaki Urdangarin owned. He is said to have diverted money from lucrative business deals in the Balearics and Valencia into the couples private bank accounts, in addition to using it to defraud.

The Achilles heel for the Infanta, who has been stripped of her title of Duchess of Palma de Mallorca, was Aizoon, not the Noos Institute, but that was enough for her to end up in court for alleged tax fraud.

Nobody related the Infanta with the Noos case at first. The investigation began in the summer of 2010 but it was not until April 2012 that Diego Torres, Inaki Urdangarins partner, sent the first of his barrage of seven emails pointing the finger at the Zarzuela Palace and, in passing, at Cristina de Borbon. Then followed a year of emails with numerous indications that the Infanta not only knew about her husbands business dealings with the administrations of Jaume Matas and Francisco Camps, but may have been involved in them. This made Judge Castro change his mind; until then he had been radically opposed to any action being taken against the Infanta. The judge, supported only by Virginia Lopez-Negrete, the lawyer for Manos Limpias, embarked upon his own crusade against her when, unexpectedly, on 3rd April 2013 he accused her of influence peddling.

That unexpected bombshell created a permanent barrier between Castro and prosecutor Pedro Horrach, who insisted that he saw no sign that Cristina de Borbon, as a board member of the Noos Institute, had done anything wrong. The judge took a completely opposite view, accusing the daughter of the then king, Juan Carlos, of being complicit or a necessary cooperator in the offences allegedly committed by her husband via the Noos Institute and a charitable foundation for disabled children. He insisted that she must have consented to her status as a member of the royal family being used by her husband and by Diego Torres, knowing that they would use it to obtain generous, or even lavish, treatment from private companies and public administrations.

Tax fraud

Things didnt go quite as planned for Judge Castro. Barely a month later, the Provincial Court in Palma suspended the summons for Cristina de Borbon to appear in court because it agreed with Horrach that she had played only a token role in Noos. But that decision turned out to be toxic for the Infanta. The judges may have exonerated her in the Noos case, but for Castro their decision quite clearly indicated the path which he should take to prosecute her: accuse her of helping her husband to use Aizoon to defraud the tax authority of more than 337,138 euros in 2007 and 2008.

The judge then spent nearly a year investigating the Infanta for fiscal offences. On 25 June 2014 he officially accused her of actively collaborating with Urdangarins tax offences and laundering illegal money. She was given the right to appeal. In the autumn of that year her lawyers and the Prosecution (which by then was acting in her defence) set to work on getting the Court to exonerate their client. But on 7 November, to everybodys surprise, far from clearing the Infanta, the court in Palma decided she should be questioned over two fiscal offences (but not money laundering), despite the only accusation being from Manos Limpias and not Anti-Corruption or the Hacienda tax authority.

On 22 December 2014, hours before her brother Felipe gave his first Christmas speech as King, the Infanta Cristina appeared in court. The judge refused to apply the controversial Botin doctrine (which would have meant that she could not be tried for a fiscal offence because the case was brought about by a third party and not by Hacienda) and decided that she should stand trial, accused of tax fraud for which Manos Limpias is demanding that she be given an eight year jail sentence.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

For Turkmenistan, which has the fourth largest gas reserves in the world, Asian gas markets are more attractive than European ones, Head of Greek Energy Forum's Brussels Group believes.

In terms of the market conditions prices and the correlation of supply and demand in Asia are still more attractive, Constantine Levoyannis told Trend.

"The economies and populations in the East continue to grow and develop at a faster pace than in Europe, meaning there is simply more demand in Asia as opposed to Europe where we are facing ageing population, economic stagnation and declining gas consumption," the expert explained.

Levoyannis also noted that timing and geostrategic issues such as, for example, the return of Iran to energy markets and the security for transit of gas to Europe, particularly on the Turkish border (involving ISIS aka Daesh and other extremist groups), are also important considerations while evaluating opportunities to export Turkmen gas.

Meanwhile the expert noted that Europe is interested in Turkmen gas.

Earlier, the European Commission's Vice President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said that the EU expects to receive Turkmen gas in 2019. The best route for delivering Turkmen gas to Europe would be a 300-kilometer long gas pipeline running through the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijani coasts by further connecting it to the Southern Gas Corridor gas pipelines' system.

The negotiations among the EU, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline began in September 2011. Turkmenistan believes that its and Azerbaijan's consent is enough to construct a pipeline along the bottom of the Caspian Sea, the legal status of which still needs to be determined. Azerbaijan has expressed readiness to provide its territory, transit opportunities and infrastructure for realization of the project.

Levoyannis noted that Europe continues to pursue the prospect of the Trans Caspian Pipeline in an attempt to overcome these obstacles, the EU relaunched talks on the project in 2015.

The project is still wishful thinking at this stage and very far away from the completion, but the obstacles that have hindered the project's progress in the past still remain, said Levoyannis.

Speaking about the position of the other Caspian states regarding Trans Caspian Pipeline, Levoyannis noted that Russia and Iran oppose this project because it will pose challenges of competition in the European gas market.

Edited by S.I.

Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova
m&t bank fayetteville.JPG

This is the M & T Bank branch at 500 E Genesee St, Fayetteville. Photo taken on Jan. 8, 2016.

(Syracuse.com)

Fayetteville, NY - A Manlius woman says she put $30,000 worth of jewelry in a safety deposit box while her house was renovated in 2014.

A year later, the box was empty.

Carol Chau, 64, is now suing M&T Bank, accusing the Fayetteville branch of losing her precious sapphires, rubies and emeralds.

"I wanted to throw up," Chau said, recalling her reaction to seeing the empty safety deposit box. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing."

Chau told Syracuse.com she drove directly to the Manlius police station April 8, 2015 to file a police report. All told, she said she was missing about 50 items.

Bank spokesman Chet Bridger said these cases are taken very seriously.

"Any time a customer initiates a claim at one of our branches, we take that claim very seriously and work diligently to substantiate the claim," he said. "However, we're not going to comment publicly about the details of any specific customer claim."

Chau said that when she reported the missing jewelry, a bank manager told her: "It's impossible. It's never happened before."

Chau: I'm an organized person

A retired nurse from Crouse Hospital, Chau said her family has been collecting gemstones for decades. Whenever her parents traveled, for example, they'd bring her back a "museum-quality" precious stone for her collection.

Among her most recent additions was a gold coin from South Africa, called a krugerrand, worth $1,800, Chau said.

Her attention turned to her precious stones when her family renovated its house in March 2014. She says she carefully bagged them in Ziplocs and labeled them: rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and the like.

She has a list of all of her jewelry that she has provided to her lawyer. Besides the missing gold coin, she's also missing brooches, necklaces and other valuables worth thousands.

"It was very organized. I'm naturally an organized person," Chau said.

Chau says she's had small safety deposit boxes before, but nothing big enough to store her gemstones. She picked M&T due to a relationship with the bank over the years.

But when she arrived one Saturday -- March 22, 2014 - there were too many stones for one safety deposit box. Chau rented two boxes: 562 for her precious stones and 575 for her semi-precious stones, according to her lawsuit.

Box 562 was so full with jewelry that the top kept popping off. But Chau said she was able to get the box closed and into the safe.

The second box, 575, wasn't as full. Chau said she returned to the bank several times to add more items to the second box. She says she didn't return to the first box for more than a year.

Chau told police she was the only one with access to the safety deposit boxes and kept the keys herself. There was no record of anyone going into box 562 between her first visit and her trip when she found the box empty.

Last year, both of her sons were planning weddings. Chau said she carefully picked out her dresses for the first wedding, keeping in mind the pink theme to the Skaneateles occasion.

She knew exactly which ring she wanted: a pink sapphire.

She first sensed something wrong when she held safety deposit box 562 and it seemed too light. But it wasn't until she entered the private room that she opened the box and found it empty.

Chau said she immediately emptied the second box - those items were untouched - and went to the police.

How do safety deposit boxes work?

Chau recalled numerous tellers over the years saying that safety deposit boxes were the safest place to keep valuables.

There are numerous safeguards, bank personnel told police:

 The bank employee must confirm the customer's identity with a driver's license.

 The bank employee must note the start and end time that the customer accessed the box.

 The customer must sign in before accessing the box.

 The box requires a key kept by the bank and a second key kept by the customer to open the double-tumbler locking mechanism.

 Bank employees cannot open the box without the customer's key.

M&T Bank told police that it conducted an internal investigation.

Chau and her lawyer have been pursuing an agreement since the jewelry went missing. But after negotiations stalled, they filed a lawsuit in late December. The two sides will continue negotiating - the lawsuit is simply the first step toward fighting this out in court. No judge has been assigned to the case and the bank has not responded in court papers.

Bridger, the M&T Bank spokesman, did not directly refute Chau's account of the missing jewelry, but sent a reporter the police statement noting that Chau had found some of her missing jewelry.

Within days of filing the initial report, Chau sent a letter to Manlius police correcting herself: a few of the items she believed missing were, in fact, at her residence but the rest were gone.

Chau said the correction arose from a simple oversight: she didn't have her list of jewelry when she filed the initial police report. She says she sent the follow-up letter to notify police that some of the items she reported missing may not have been in the safe.

Her lawyer, Brendan Reagan, said Chau was in shock after finding her jewelry missing and couldn't remember exactly what was in the safe less than two hours later.

Chau later checked a list of her jewelry and came up with a list of about 50 missing items, Reagan said.

Chau wants the bank to find her jewelry or pay her its value. "I find it disappointing that it's taken this long," she said.
SYRACUSE, N.Y -- On Saturday, the grandstand at the New York State Fairgrounds will be demolished using explosive charges. The implosion is set to take place at 1:20 p.m.

Total Wrecking & Environmental LLC, based in the Town of Tonawanda, north of Buffalo, is responsible for the demolition. The firm hired Controlled Demolition, Inc. of Phoenix, Maryland to carry out the implosion.

Thom Doud, project manager for Controlled Demolition, Inc., said there will be an audible countdown tomorrow at 1:20 p.m., then a series of loud blasts.

There will be 4-5 seconds of detonation, a couple seconds of pause, then the implosion will last approximately 25 seconds.

The implosion will use 268 explosives, consisting of linear shaped charges, gelatin dynamite and non-electric detonators. Explosives placed at 260 different locations will crumple the grandstand's steel skeleton in on itself.

"Basically, what it's gonna do is slice the structure like a loaf of bread," said Doud. "The goal here is to get the roof and the back down, so it's a safe, working level for total wrecking and clean-up."

Controlled Demolition, Inc. coordinated with Syracuse police, fire departments and the CSX Railroad Company to make sure no one would be within 1,000 feet of the implosion. No trains will run behind the fairgrounds for an hour-long window when the implosion is scheduled to occur.

The public can watch the implosion from the Brown Lot at the Fairgrounds, across State Fair Boulevard. Parking will be available starting at 9:30 a.m.

How loud will the implosion be?

Doud said the implosion will sound like the montage of a fireworks show. The event should be lower than 140 decibels. For comparison, a motorcycle hits about 100 dB and loud rock concert reaches about 115 dB.

How loud is the @NYSFair grandstand implosion is expected to be? Imagine shot gun blasts, lower than 140 decibels. pic.twitter.com/ttnRpc1awH  Katrina Tulloch (@katrinatulloch) January 8, 2016

For the public, Doud said ear plugs won't be necessary. Expect to hear some "scare charges" to make birds or other animals scatter before the implosion.

"It's not very loud, but it's closer to shot gun blasts, with wildlife typically scampering away," Doud said.

An estimated 2,500 tons (5,000,000 lbs.) of concrete and 150 gross tons (350,000 lbs.) of steel will be cleared out in the coming months.

County Executive Joanie Mahoney (left), Department of Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard Ball (center) and State Fair Acting Director Troy Waffner hold a press briefing at the grandstand on the NYS Fairgrounds as crews prepare for implosion of the building on Saturday. Friday Jan. 8, 2015. David Lassman | dlassman@syracuse.com

'A sad moment for us all'

On Friday, Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney, Department of Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard Ball and NYS Fair acting director Troy Waffner received briefings from demolition officials.

"This is step one to making room for the future here at the state fair," said Mahoney. "It's hard to let go, but there is a great vision for what the fair's going to be tomorrow."

Related: Share your memories of the NYS Fair grandstand

Waffner expressed mixed emotions over the demolition.

"It's tough; it's a sad moment for us all," said Waffner. "I grew up in Central New York like the county executive, and I went on a lot of first dates here, not many seconds --"

"Not with me," Mahoney quickly interrupted, to laughter from reporters. "I would've loved to, Troy, but it was never offered."

"That said, those memories [at the grandstand] live on in our minds and in pictures," Waffner said.

Out with the old, in with the new

The demolition of the 38-year-old structure comes as part of a major renovation at the fairgrounds.

The implosion will cost New York $230,000, said Heather Groll at the New York State Office of General Services.

An RV park will replace the grandstand and NYS Fair concerts will be moved to the new Lakeview Amphitheater.

The fairgrounds is hosting an RV show and sale on Saturday. The grounds will be closed to vehicular traffic and pedestrian access on Saturday due to the demolition. People attending the RV show will be bused to the buildings from Fair parking lots. Only people attending the RV event will be allowed on the grounds.

Katrina Tulloch writes life and culture stories for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact her: Email | Twitter | Facebook
StJoes.jpg

(Ellen M. Blalock | eblalock@syracuse.com)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center has received a loan from its new parent company to pay off more than $200 million of its public and private debt.

The financial help from Trinity Health, one of the nation's biggest health systems, will reduce St. Joe's high interest costs, which have contributed to the hospital's financial woes. The hospital posted operating losses of $25.4 million for the first nine months of 2015 and $21.6 million for 2014.

St. Joe's borrowed more than $211 million by issuing municipal bonds through Onondaga County in 2012 and 2014 to pay for a new patient tower, a cogeneration plant and an electronic health record system.

As of Sept. 30, the hospital had total long-term debt of more than $272 million.

Trinity Health did not disclose how much interest it is charging St. Joe's for the loan.

"The action provides St. Joseph's with several benefits, including relief from various restrictive financial and reporting covenants, as well as initial debt service savings," said Carol Tingwall, a Trinity spokeswoman. "St. Joseph's and Trinity Health will continue to work together to use the expertise and resources of both organizations to provide better health, better care and lower operating costs in the community, benefitting the people we serve and our employees and advancing our mission."

St. Joe's joined Trinity July 1. The Livonia, Michigan-based Catholic health system acquired assets worth $627.8 million from St. Joe's and assumed $438.7 million of its liabilities.

Contact James T. Mulder anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-2245
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Onondaga County Comptroller Robert Antonacci wants to look into the county's tax deal at the Inner Harbor, but the agency that approved the deal says he doesn't have that authority.

The Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency has refused an audit request from Antonacci's office. Antonacci said he is interested in reviewing the agency and its dealings with the Inner Harbor project.

"We are losing an opportunity to resolve the rift between the city and county and provide answers to many questions from an independent source," Antonacci said Thursday evening. He said he will be reaching out to ask the agency to reconsider.

On Dec. 15, OCIDA approved a 15-year tax exemption for COR Development Co.'s project at the Inner Harbor. The deal led to a lawsuit between COR and the City of Syracuse.

On Dec. 22, Antonacci filed a request to audit OCIDA.

In a letter dated Jan. 5, OCIDA Chairman Dan Queri says the comptroller's office does not have the authority to audit OCIDA.

"All of the relevant information is readily available for you and the public at large," the letter says. The letter goes on to say an audit would erode the agency's independence.

Antonacci called that claim "absolute nonsense." OCIDA members are selected by the county legislature and the organization is staffed by county personnel, he said.

This isn't the first time the agency has denied an audit request from Antonacci. In 2012, the comptroller attempted to review the agency's hiring of advertising firm Dixon Schwabl. OCIDA's attorney offered a similar response then, saying Antonacci had no authority to audit its actions.

Read OCIDA's letter to Antonacci:

Contact Chris Baker at cbaker@syracuse.com or follow him on Twitter
Charter Communications

The New York Public Service Commission on Friday will review Charter Communications' proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable.

(AP)

The state Public Service Commission on Friday will review Charter Communications' proposed $56 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable, which Charter promises will bring faster internet speeds and lower prices to New York residents.

The PSC has scheduled a special session for 9:30 a.m. in Albany to review the merger, which also faces review by the Federal Communication Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. The FCC is expected to rule on the proposal by the end of this month.

If the merger goes through, Charter would offer a minimum internet speed of 60 megabits per second, which is faster than the top speed of 50 Mbps that Time Warner Cable currently offers in most Upstate markets, the company said.

Charter's standard price for the 60-Mbps service is $60 a month. Time Warner cable charges $58 a month plus an $8 monthly modem fee for 15 Mbps, and $108 plus an $8 modem fee for 50 Mbps, Charter said in a document filed with the PSC.

Charter has pledged not to impose data caps, usage-based pricing, modem fees or early termination fees. It said it also will not pass on federal or state Universal Service Fund fees to customers.

Contact Tim Knauss anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-3023

PSC filing by Charter
To the Editor:

It is easy to see the nuclear power industry is desperate. Their latest deception is that running nuclear stations does not contribute to climate change.

Increasingly we see commentaries in newspapers from representatives of the industry asserting that nuclear power is some sort of a green energy. This is nonsense. The entire nuclear fuel cycle from mining and milling uranium, transportation of radioactive materials, uranium enrichment, and fuel fabrication, all involve heavy use of fossil fuels. Constructing nuclear stations is also fossil fuel intensive as are stabilizing and cleaning up nuclear catastrophes (Chernobyl and Fukushima).

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's recent directive that the state Public Service Commission should consider treating nuclear power as renewable electricity is ridiculous. Doing so would retard the much-needed transition to increased conservation and energy efficiency. and safe, renewable electricity sources.

New York is far too heavily dependent on atomic power. Two of the six nuclear stations in New York state are more than 45 years into their operating lives, there others more than 35 years, and the youngest more than 25 years. These are old reactors. To pretend they can be safely operated (and at full power) indefinitely is very dangerous thinking. We have pushed our luck with nuclear power far too long.

The day may come when a nuclear catastrophe somewhere in North America forces the quick and permanent closure of all the nuclear stations in the country. Then what? New York politicians and energy planners will look foolish because suddenly their make-believe high percent of electricity from "renewable" sources will be gone.

Let's invest in safe, renewable electricity, efficiency, and conservation, creating permanent, high paying, desperately needed jobs for New Yorkers instead of further risking everything we have ever built here.

Tom Ellis

Citizens' Environmental Coalition

Albany


GOP 2016 Trump crop.jpg

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop at the Flynn Center of the Performing Arts in Burlington, Vt., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016.

(Charles Krupa / AP)

Michael Gerson is a nationally syndicated columnist who appears twice weekly in The Washington Post. Gerson was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush.

By Michael Gerson | The Washington Post

Every Republican of the type concerned with winning in November has been asking the question (at least internally): "What if the worst happens?"

The worst does not mean the nomination of Ted Cruz, in spite of justified fears of political disaster. Cruz is an ideologue with a message perfectly tuned for a relatively small minority of the electorate. Uniquely in American politics, the senator from Texas has made his reputation by being roundly hated by his colleagues -- apparently a prerequisite for a certain kind of anti-establishment conservative, but unpromising for an image makeover at his convention.

Cruz's nomination would represent the victory of the hard right -- religious right and tea party factions -- within the Republican coalition. After he loses, the ideological struggles within the GOP would go on.

No, the worst outcome for the party would be the nomination of Donald Trump. It is impossible to predict where the political contest between Trump and Hillary Clinton would end up. Clinton has manifestly poor political skills, and Trump possesses a serious talent for the low blow. But Trump's nomination would not be the temporary victory of one of the GOP's ideological factions. It would involve the replacement of the humane ideal at the center of the party and its history. If Trump were the nominee, the GOP would cease to be.

Whatever your view of Republican politicians, the aspiration, the self-conception, of the party was set by Abraham Lincoln: human dignity, honored by human freedom and undergirded by certain moral commitments, including compassion and tolerance. Lincoln described the "promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance."

It is this universality that Trump attacks. All of his angry resentment against invading Hispanics and Muslims adds up to a kind of ethno-nationalism -- an assertion that the United States is being weakened and adulterated by the other. This is consistent with European, right-wing, anti-immigrant populism. It is not consistent with conservatism, which, at the very least, involves respect for institutions and commitment to reasoned, incremental change. And Trumpism is certainly not consistent with the Republicanism of Lincoln, who admitted no exceptions to the promises of the Declaration of Independence and was nominated, in part, because he could appeal to anti-slavery German immigrants.

Liberals who claim that Trumpism is the natural outgrowth, or logical conclusion, of conservatism or Republicanism are simply wrong. Edmund Burke is not the grandfather of Nigel Farage. Lincoln is not even the distant relative of Trump.

Trump, in some ways, is an odd carrier of ethno-nationalist beliefs. He held few of them, as far as I can tell, just four years ago. But as a demagogue, he has followed some of America's worst instincts wherever they have led, and fed ethnic and religious prejudice in the process. All presidential nominees, to some extent, shape their parties into their own image. Trump would deface the GOP beyond recognition.

Trump is disqualified for the presidency by his erratic temperament, his ignorance about public affairs and his scary sympathy for authoritarianism. But for me, and I suspect for many, the largest problem is that Trump would make the GOP the party of racial and religious exclusion.

American political parties are durable constructions. But they have been broken before by powerful, roiling issues such as immigration and racial prejudice. Many Republicans could not vote for Trump but would have a horribly difficult time voting for Clinton. The humane values of Republicanism would need to find a temporary home, which would necessitate the creation of a third party. This might help elect Clinton, but it would preserve something of conservatism, held in trust, in the hope of better days.

Ultimately, these political matters are quite personal. I have spent 25 years in the company of compassionate conservatives, reform conservatives, Sam's Club conservatives or whatever they want to call themselves, trying to advance an agenda of social justice in America's center-right party. We have shared a belief that sound public policy -- promoting opportunity, along with the skills and values necessary to grasp it -- can improve the lives of our fellow citizens and thus make politics an honorable adventure.

The nomination of Trump would reduce Republican politics -- at the presidential level -- to an enterprise of squalid prejudice. And many Republicans could not follow, precisely because they are Republicans. By seizing the GOP, Trump would break it to pieces.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Trans Caspian Pipeline project requires an effective diplomatic approach to Russia that would encourage Moscow to acquiesce to the supply of Turkmen gas to Europe, Dr. Micha'el Tanchum, a non-resident senior fellow with the Eurasian Energy Futures Initiative and Global Energy Center at the Atlantic Council believes.

Tanchum told Trend that with Turkmenistan possessing the fourth largest known natural gas reserves in the world, the export of large volumes of Turkmen natural gas to Europe in addition to Asia would be nothing short of a revolution in the natural gas flows in Eurasia.

Russia does not want to see such a threat to its market share in the EU and Turkey and in the current atmosphere of tense relations between Turkey and Russia as well as between Russia and the EU, Russia is likely to maintain its opposition to the Trans-Caspian Pipeline, he said.

"Moscow's firing of a cruise missile into Syria from the Caspian Sea was a potent reminder that Russia possesses the most powerful naval assets in the Caspian and can disrupt the maritime security environment if it so chooses," he said.

The proposal to construct only one string in the near future may be a clever attempt to make the pipeline less threatening to Russia, Tanchum believes.

"Would Russia want to further antagonize the EU and Turkey over 5 billion cubic meters per year? The answer to that question depends on Moscow but also on how much Brussels is willing to back up its desire for Turkmen gas with a strong political commitment," Tanchum said.

He further said that in relation to the Trans Caspian Pipeline Project's implementation, the four-way cooperation between Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and the EU is essential, especially to encourage international energy companies to join a consortium for the project.

He believes that in the case of the Trans Caspian Pipeline, the geopolitics are the main issue, not the economics.

Tanchum noted that Turkmenistan is already considering new gas markets and had already been working hard to diversify its export delivery routes and its export markets. Turkmenistan's turnaround in attitude can be seen in the progress that has occurred with the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, he said.

Facing the impending prospect of competition from Iran's unfettered participation in global natural gas markets as well as a dangerous dependency on China as its sole major export market, Turkmenistan adopted a new policy orientation to expedite TAPI's construction, according to the expert.

Tanchum said that traditionally unwilling to do little more than deliver gas to its border, Ashgabat seems to have found sufficient motivation from Iranian competition and the loss of its Russian export market [previously Russia sharply reduced and in 2016 completely stopped gas import from Turkmenistan] to change course.

"Turkmenistan's new willingness to become involved in external pipeline projects enabled construction on the TAPI pipeline to begin in December 2015," Tanchum said.

Turkmenistan is already thinking seriously about EU markets, and some progress has been made in this issue, the expert said.

He noted that in the May 2015 Ashgabat hosted a quadrilateral Summit of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and EU aimed to advance the export of Turkmen natural gas via Azerbaijan to Turkey and the EU.

The Summit resulted in the Ashgabat Declaration outlining the parties' next steps for bringing Turkmen gas to Europe, and the European Commission Vice President in charge of Energy Union Maros Sefcovic emerged from the quadrilateral summit asserting that "Europe expects supplies of Turkmen gas to begin by 2019".

Edited by SI
BWTS - USCG leads IMO

As of 1st January, 2016 vessels are no longer able to discharge ballast in US waters unless their ballast water treatment (BWT) systems are compliant with USCG strict demands.

Theres so much confusion surrounding the issue of ballast water treatment now, said Optimarin CEO Tore Andersen. The IMO Ballast Water Management (BWM) convention is close to ratification, but yet to be rubber-stamped and meanwhile the USCG has taken the bold move to act unilaterally to protect the environment with its own regulations. So lets cut through that uncertainty and state a fact: All shipowners that discharge ballast must get a BWT system, preferably an environmentally friendly one, if they want their ships to operate in the future. And, if they want to sail in US waters, then they must act now, he warned. Given that there are effectively two sets of regulations regarding BWT standards has muddied the waters for shipowners, making it difficult to find the solution they need, he said. An environmental solutions expert at one of the worlds leading class societies, said; Ballast water gets by far the most questions of any issue we deal with. Theres a major difference between USCG and IMO regulations. Basically this centres on standards. USCG judges (BWT) systems on the basis of living/dead organisms in ballast water, whereas IMO views them in terms of viable/unviable. In other words, for USCG approval systems have to kill the organisms, while for IMO they dont, but must ensure they dont reproduce. USCG tests this using the FDA/CMFDA method, which uses a dye to identify living organisms, while the IMO does not list one specific methodology. The MPN (Most Probable Number) test is the norm here, having been used for almost 40 years, but procedures vary from laboratory to laboratory. This is an issue for USCG  it wants a simple, reliable and reproducible testing method. Until this is established, and there are hurdles in doing so, both with validation and law making, FDA/CMFDA will remain the USCG standard, he said. Today, USCG is temporarily accepting the use of Alternate Management System (AMS), whereby vessels with solutions that have already been approved by another flag state can discharge ballast in US waters. However, USCG approved AMS systems will only be accepted for a period of five years after the vessels compliance date, and, if they havent met the USCGs own stringent standards by that point, will have to be changed. The systems that many industry observers seem to prefer for their simplicity, ease of operation and environment credentials (using no chemicals) are struggling with USCG approval. UV systems are easy to operate, dont require chemical storage and are a good option for the industry, said the classification specialist. But caution is needed. As for Optimarin - which has sold over 350 of its systems to shipowners worldwide, with more than 270 installed - the company is coming to the end of a $3 mill USCG approval programme. Its technology is claimed to be the first UV system to meet the USCG marine water requirements, satisfying the FDA/CFMDA criteria. Further tests of remaining water salinities are scheduled for spring 2016, after which point approval is expected later in the year. Install a system that is reliable, simple to maintain, easy to install (make sure any supplier can show a history of retrofit success) and proven within the marketplace. This is still a relatively young sector, so it pays to go with a name you can trust, Andersen advised. On 21st December, the IMO circulated a briefing saying that ratification of the BWM Convention by Morocco, Indonesia and Ghana during November 2015 has brought the convention closer to meeting the requirements for entry into force. Some 47 countries have now ratified the convention, substantially more than the 30 required, but whether the requirement for parties to hold 35% of the worlds tonnage has been met is still being calculated. The Convention will enter into force 12 months after the tonnage requirement has been met. Tonnage figures are derived from data supplied to the IMO Secretariat by IHS Maritime & Trade. The compiled 2015 assessment tonnages, released to IMOs members on 16th December, 2015, contained some unverified data, but also revealed that the conditions for entry into force of the BWM Convention might have been met, by a very small margin. IMO said that it was also aware that between June and November, 2015, some parties gained tonnage and others lost tonnage. As a result, IMO secretary general Koji Sekimizu requested a complete verification of tonnage data, as at the time of the deposits by Morocco, Indonesia and Ghana, prior to determining whether or not the BWM Convention had met the entry-into-force requirements. This verification process has not yet concluded. The precise figures will be announced after the verification process is complete, which is likely to be early this year. If the ratifications by the three states add sufficient tonnage, the BWM Convention will enter into force on 24th November, 2016. Sekimizu again urged countries, particularly those with large merchant fleets that have not done so, to ratify the BWM Convention so that it is widely accepted upon entry into force. He also urged the MEPC, at its meeting in spring 2016, to prepare a set of amendments to the BWM Convention to reflect all the agreements forged at both the IMO Assembly and MEPC during the past three years, so that such amendments can be adopted as soon as possible and implemented when the BWM Convention enters into force. Further, he called on the shipping industry to take action to install necessary equipment and establish operational procedures in accordance with IMO regulations and standards, so that the BWM Convention can be effectively implemented upon entry into force.




Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Russia has completely stopped buying gas in Turkmenistan since January 2016. This can stir this Central Asian country's interest in the European gas market.

Russia's decision was expected. The export of Turkmen gas to Russia decreased tenfold over the past decade. Russia bought about 41-42 bcm a year from Turkmenistan in 2006-2008. The import has dropped to 10 bcm a year since 2010. The Russian Gazprom announced about the reduction of the Turkmen gas purchase by more than twofold - up to 4 bcm per year in 2015.

But even these supplies were problematic. The sides did not agree on the price of gas. Gazprom filed suit against Turkmengaz in the Stockholm Court of Arbitration with intention to revise the contract value of the purchased Turkmen gas as energy prices dropped in the world.

Turkmengaz announced that Gazprom has not paid for the already supplied Turkmen gas since early 2016. According to the Turkmen side, Gazprom simply went bankrupt because of the crisis and sanctions.

On one hand, the supply of gas in such small volumes has no role for the economy of both countries. Gazprom said in early 2015 that there is no technological need for the purchase of gas from abroad regardless of the source.

Gazprom said it is able to ensure both the needs of the market in any region of Russia and the supply of gas to its customers in Europe and, in the long term, in Asia, through own resources. Considering the fact that Russia, according to BP, ranks second in the world in terms of gas reserves - 32.6 trillion cubic meters, there's no point to doubt Gazprom's statement.

Gas supplies to Russia for Turkmenistan amounted in 2014, for example, to only one-third of total export volume, mainly due to the fact that more than 25 billion cubic meters were sold to China. In 2015, because of the significant reduction in exports to Russia, the share of export in Russian direction fell dramatically.

The fact that Ashgabat lost one of the export routes, which are only three, including China and Iran is important in the issue of termination of Turkmen gas deliveries to Russia. Of course, China remains the most important market, the demand for gas of which will only grow. For 10 years, the demand for gas in China increased by 4.5 times to 185.5 billion cubic meters in 2014.

There is another export route - Iran. Iran has huge gas reserves itself (34 trillion cubic meters, according to BP), which puts the country to the first place in the world. In addition, in the light of lifting of sanctions from Iran, the country may soon begin development of new gas fields and become from a partner to a competitor of Turkmenistan. So it's not necessary to count on this route.

There may be another export route in the future - the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline started in Dec. 2015, which will supply Turkmen gas to promising markets in South and Southeast Asia.

However, according to official statements, only the construction of this pipeline's Turkmen section will last for 3 years. Building plots in the transit countries, counting security problems in the region, may take even more time. Therefore, this export route can be expected only in the long term.

It is most likely in such situation that Turkmenistan's interest in European gas market will further increase. The Central Asian country has already done a great deal to supply gas to Europe.

The commissioning of the East-West gas pipeline in Dec. 2015, is intended to transport natural gas from the biggest deposit in the country's eastern regions - Galkynysh - to European markets. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, lying on the route from Turkmenistan to Europe, are willing to be transit countries.

Many experts believe that for Turkmen gas, in order to become finally a reality in Europe, it's only necessary the construction of a 300- km gas pipeline across the Caspian, which is not difficult from a technical point of view.

However, for this, Europe must become more resolute in its intention to get Turkmen gas and take part in the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, in which is interested not less than Turkmenistan.

Otherwise, the statement of Maros Sefcovic, Vice-President of the European Commission for Energy Union, about the plans to get Turkmen gas in 2019 will be nothing but populism. When Turkmen gas is released to the huge Southern and Southeastern Asian markets, Turkmenistan's interest in European market can vanish.

Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world in terms of gas reserves - 17.5 trillion cubic meters of gas. Currently, the country produces more than 75 billion cubic meters of gas per year, and it is planned to increase production to 230 billion cubic meters by 2030, most part of which will be exported.

---

Elena Kosolapova is Trend Agency's staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
First US crude export cargo leaves Texas

The first US crude oil shipment for 40 years has left Corpus Christi bound for Europe.

This follows the US Governments lifting of the ban on crude exports on 18th December last year. Ionia Managements 2003-built Panamax Theo T sailed on 31st December with a cargo of Eagle Ford Shale light crude. The cargo was sold by ConocoPhillips to Vitol and the tanker was loaded at NuStar Logistics terminal at Corpus Christi, Texas. She was believed to be heading for Italy. Enterprise Products Partners has also negotiated a cargo with Vitol for a shipment due to depart early this month. The 600,000 barrel cargo of domestic light crude was due to load at the Enterprise Hydrocarbon Terminal (EHT) on the Houston Ship Channel during the first week of January, 2016. NuStar CEO Brad Barron said the company was expanding its operations at Corpus Christi by building a second tanker jetty. The new jetty would bring a combined loading capacity to 90,000 barrels per hour. The port authority is also planning to deepen the channel and build new infrastructure to handle larger tankers for crude and condensate exports. US crude oil exports will change the oil and tanker market, according to Poten & Partners. Most analysts agreed that the impact of the lifting of the ban on oil markets would be of limited importance, at least in the short-term, due to the worlds oil glut, while also, the currently narrow WTI-Brent spread renders US crudes uncompetitive in the export market, Poten said. As for the export infrastructure, only US Gulf ports have the capability to load crude oil and most of these facilities only support Aframaxes but some, such as Corpus Christi, will be able to handle Suezmaxes in the future. VLCCs may be used in the short term if the economics support transhipments in the US Gulf. Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) is the only VLCC facility in the area. And is believed to be considering offering loading operations by 2018 and adding storage capacity, but reconfiguring LOOP will take time and money, Poten pointed out. As a result, it was thought that the initial US crude oil exports will probably be undertaken on Aframax hulls. Poten said; Once exports start flowing, Aframax crude tankers will be the initial beneficiaries. If production continues to increase and pricing is favourable, Suezmaxes and VLCCs may come into the mix - which would open up Asian markets. The impact on product carriers will depend very much on the relative competitiveness of the US Gulf refiners. The lifting of the US crude oil export ban will probably be a net negative for the US Jones Act market. This market did receive a boost from the coastwise transportation of crude oil in the past, but these movements, which already declined significantly in 2015, may disappear altogether, the broker said.




Markets - Good times for large tankers continue

The new year has started somewhat slower for large tankers and rates ex MEG were off last years peaks, but earnings remained very healthy.

Last year was good for VLCC owners, which ended with earnings at close to $100,000 per day for MEG/East. Thus far this year, continued interest in period business has kept the momentum going and rates ex MEG seemed to withstand charterers fierce attempts to shave the rates further, Fearnleys said in its weekly report. Close to two thirds of the January MEG programme is now covered and what direction the rates take is dependent on what is left before the BOT February stems are available in a week or so. W Africa/East continued steady with dates well into February being traded and rates remained stable. Increased activity seen for Caribbean/East has led to absorbing tonnage available in the area and as a result, rates firmed. For Suezmaxes, the beginning of the year saw a lot of activity in the west and especially ex W Africa. Charterers entered the market with fresh cargoes for the third week of January and, as a result cranked up the rates to a new fixing level at WS85 for UK/Cont/Med voyages ex W Africa. There were still seven to 10 days delays northbound in Turkish Straits as well as reported increased delays in W African ports, which might add pressure to the firm trend being seen, Fearnleys said. In the East, there is also increased activity ex MEG. However, the rates have balanced sideways of last done, due to an overhang of vessels in position. Despite ice restrictions being introduced at Primorsk on 17th January, rates came off rapidly in the N Sea and Baltic regions, due to lack of activity. Quite a few Aframax cargoes from N Sea ports have been fixed on Suezmaxes and VLCCs, consequently leading to more Aframaxes becoming available and adding further downward pressure on rates. We have seen very low numbers for both cross-Med and B Sea/Med, Fearnleys said. Last week, rates declined as WS145 was done Sidi Kerir/Trieste and this week they dropped further and WS110 was done Sidi Kerir/Pgal. This decline was mainly due to the lack of cargoes both in the Med and B Sea regions. B Sea was covered up to mid-Jan by mid-Dec last year. In the charter market, Navios Maritime Acquisition Corp has confirmed a two-year charter for its recently delivered 2008-built VLCC Nave Photon at $40,488 (net) per day. She is expected to generate around $21.8 mill of aggregate EBITDA during the charter, assuming opex approximating current costs and 360 revenue days. Nave Photon has been provided as collateral under the 8.125% First Priority Ship Mortgage Notes due 2021, to replace the LR1 Nave Rigel and the MR2 Nave Dorado. As a result, about $3 mill of value has been added to the collateral package, the company said. Navios also said that it has secured a new $44 mill bank debt facility for the Nave Rigel and the Nave Dorado. This facility has an amortisation profile of 11 years and a margin of 230 bps. Apart from the VLCC, seven of Navios product tankers, comprising four LR1s and three MR2s, have had their charters extended at rates, which have increased by about an average of 22%. Navios estimated that together the vessels were expected generate around $33.4 mill of aggregate EBITDA over the duration of the charters, which were three years for the the LR1s and one year for the MR2s. Scorpio Tankers (STI) also announced that it had chartered out two ice class 1A Handymaxes for three years at $18,000 per day each.The charters scheduled to commence by the end of this month. Concordia Maritime has chartered out a P-MAX for two years to an undisclosed Chinese shipping company. The vessel will be mainly used to transport heavy oil products between South Korea, Japan and China. Several of the ports in the region are relatively shallow and the P-MAX tanker is well suited for this trade, Concordia said. China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) said that it had signed charter agreements with the subsidiaries of BP and Taiwans CPC Corp for one VLCC each. The companies will period charter a VLCC for up to three years. The contracts are valued at RMB495 mill ($75.5 mill), CMES said without giving details of the charter rates. Other charters reported just before the holiday period included the 2011-built VLCC Maran Taurus, which reportedly was fixed to Unipec for five years at $40,000 per day, the 1999-built VLCC DS Crown believed taken by Litasco for 12 months at $47,500 per day and the 2007-built VLCC to undisclosed charterers for 12 months at $53,200 per day. In the Suezmax sector, Shell was said to have fixed the 2010-built SCF Samotlor for 12 months at $38,000 per day, while BPCL was said to have taken the 1998-built Saffron for two years at $29,000 per day and India SS was reported as fixing the 1996-built Suezmax shuttle tanker Gerd Knutsenfor nine months at $32,500 per day. As for Aframaxes, Teekay Tankers reportedly fixed the 2007-built Bergitta for five years at $22,500 per day, while Phillips 66 was thought to have taken the 2003-built Atlas Voyager also for five years at $22,750 per day and undisclosed interests were said to have fixed the 2010-built Stealth Majestic for three years at $18,000 per day. LR1s also featured on brokers lists. These included Trafigura fixing the 2007-built Brook Trout for 12 months at $23,000 per day and Vitol taking the 2012-2013-built sisters Jo Pinari and Jo Redwood for 12 months at $23,750 each, while another 2013-built sister Jo Provel was taken by Navig8 for 12 months at $24,000 per day. Turning to MRs, NORDEN reportedly took the 2008-built Oriental Diamond for 12 months at $17,900 per day, while Morgan Stanley was said to have fixed the 2005-built Nave Dorado (mentioned above) for 12 months at $17,775 per day and the 2004-built Endeavour for 12 months at $17,950 per day. FLOPEC was believed to have taken the 2005-built Loukas 1for two years at $18,850 per day and finally, Koch was said top have fixed the 2009-built Pyxis Malou for six months at $17,950 per day.




USC to build SCF Aframaxes

State-owned shipbuilding conglomerate United Shipbuilding Corp (USC) and Sovcomflot (SCF Group) have signed a co-operation agreement, which includes the building of a series of ECO Aframaxes.

The tankers order will be built at USC's St Petersburg Severnaya Verf Shipyard, which is undergoing a modernisation programme, which is due for completion in 2018. "This project is the next element of the new policy of the United Shipbuilding Corp and, accordingly, the new production capacity. We hope to see a multiple production increase as a result of the Severnaya Verf capacity. We expect that the yard will have a dual purpose, and will be successfully building large tonnage commercial ships," USC President Alexey Rakhmanov said at the ground-breaking ceremony. SCF executive vice president and technical director, Igor Tonkovidov, said: "SCF welcomes the new production facilities at Russian shipyards, which will allow Russian shipbuilders to build vessels using high technology which provides for new better environmental protection methods, reduction in energy consumption and emissions. This opens up new opportunities and removes constraints that existed previously during the construction of large-tonnage vessels." It was thought that both sides had been talking about building Aframaxes for several years. USC was founded in 2007 as a 100% state-owned group of companies, which currently includes about 80% of the domestic shipbuilding industry incorporating three regional shipbuilding centres, nine engineering and design offices and 39 shipyards. The largest shipbuilding assets include Kaliningrad-based JSC Yantar Shipyard, JSC Admiralty Shipyards (St Petersburg), JSC PA Sevmash (Severodvinsk), JSC DVZ Zvezda (Vladivostok) and Baltic Shipyard. In addition, UCS holds a 50% stake in Arctech Helsinki Shipyard, a joint venture with STX Finland Cruise. In another move, SCF and Sberbank have signed a 14-year $340 mill credit facility agreement to finance the construction of three Arctic shuttle tankers for Gazprom Nefts Novy Port project. Novy Port is one of the largest oil and gas condensate deposits on the Yamal peninsula in Russia. The vessels will operate year-round taking crude oil from an offshore loading terminal in the Gulf of Ob. Production from the field is due to start this year. The transaction involves Sberbank Europe, a subsidiary bank of PJSC Sberbank.



Commenting on the transaction, Nikolay Kolesnikov, SCFs CFO, said:We welcome Sberbanks participation as a lender in this new project of Sovcomflot and we hope for further development of our strategic partnership with Russias leading bank. This is the first example of the banks long-term financing of a project implemented by Sovcomflot Group. The signing of the credit facility agreement creates an important precedent for further development of shipping industry financing by Russian banks. With this new financing Sovcomflot will have raised a total of over $900 mill of long-term debt finance from commercial banks and export credit agencies in the course of 2015,he explained.



Sovcomflot is the leader in the operation of high ice class heavy-tonnage vessels in the Arctic and has many years of experience in raising asset-backed financing in the international market, said Dmitry Kazvini, Sberbanks head of transport and infrastructure department.Lending to Sovcomflot confirms our commitment to participating in initiatives that are strategically important for the national economy, and we are happy to be able to support the creation of a fleet of Arctic tankers. In addition, SCF recently completed a major IT integration project supported by SpecTec. Claimed to be one of the most complex and advanced IT projects ever undertaken within the shipping industry, this project involved the databases of all 143 vessels within SCF Groups fleet. This has involved the merger of separate technical databases into a common unit, in order to leverage SpecTecs Amos centralised database feature. The quality and safety databases were also upgraded and updated to support a dual language system. In addition, the two legacy crewing systems operated by SCF Novoship and SCF Unicom have been merged into Amos Staff Management. Finally, SpecTec created a bi-directional link between AMOS and SAP, to transfer and receive all data with an economic value. Commenting on the project, SCF senior executive vice president and COO, Evgeniy Ambrosov, said:The successful completion of this very large IT integration project for SCF Group has delivered a state-of-the-art resource for the whole group. It has seen the removal of incompatible legacy IT systems that arose following a series of mergers and acquisitions, which saw the formation of the industry leader that is SCF Group today. With the support of SpecTec, we have been able to upgrade our systems and software, to provide timely, accurate and consistent enterprise resource management information across the entire SCF Group. SCF specialists provided full design input for the entirely new Dynamic Data Reporting I and Dynamic Data Reporting II modules used for technical, operational and environmental performance monitoring of the vessels, as well as Automatic Document Generator for sea staff documents and the customisation of the Auditing Agenda. Investment in the latest IT systems and software is a further example of SCF Groups determination to continue serving the evolving needs of its clients in the most efficient and effective way. Giampiero Soncini, SpecTec Group CEO, commented:With this new integrated IT system in place, SCF Group is in total control of all aspects of its fleet for all areas relating to technical management. SpecTec has, in the past, delivered some very complex and large installations. However, the SCF project is one of the most complete systems ever delivered by SpecTec and because of this one of the most difficult to perform. Having a powerful IT system gives shipowners a definitive, large economic advantage over competitors who did not have the vision, the courage and the willingness to invest at the same level. Amos is an essential tool in controlling costs, while allowing compliance with all the existing shipping rules. We are very proud of the interesting work done in co-operation with SCF Group, which was mutually enriching taking into account high professional engineering skills of the SCF sea and shore staff. This co-operation was essential, as was their understanding of the difficulties we were encountering when trying to solve all the tasks assigned to us. IT projects of such dimensions require co-operation between the supplier and the customer, or they risk reaching only half of the targets. SCF Group has been a very demanding and clever customer, he said.




By Isadora Rangel of TCPalm

Editor's Note: Keep up with all the legislative action starting Tuesday in social media reports from @IsadoraRangel2 and our Naples and Tampa news partners @ArekSarkissian and @JeffSchweersTBO.

Some environmentalists say a bill that changes state water regulations will hurt Lake Okeechobee  and inherently the Indian River Lagoon  by allowing farmers to decide how they will reduce pollution with no deadlines and weak enforcement.

Other environmentalists agree the bill isn't perfect, but say the Legislature has made significant progress in adding enforcement measures compared to last year's version.

After two years in the making, the controversial water bill is ready to be heard on the House and Senate floors when the 2016 legislative session starts Tuesday.

This is a legacy issue for Speaker Steve Crisafulli, a Merritt Island Republican who represents the northern end of the lagoon, and is likely to be one of the first pieces of legislation lawmakers send to Gov. Rick Scott's desk in 2016.

That's despite two Hail Mary's in December: protests led by the Sierra Club and a letter 106 environmental and civic organizations signed to convince legislators to make the bill stricter.

RULE CHANGES

SB 552 and HB 7005 cover a lot of ground, from springs and parks to water supply in Central Florida.

The part that matters most to the Treasure Coast has been controversial since lawmakers first introduced similar bill versions last year, when the Legislature adjourned early without addressing them because of an impasse over Medicaid expansion.

That part changes the way the state regulates pollution in farm runoff flowing into Lake Okeechobee. Florida today uses a permitting program that mandates water entering the lake must meet certain maximum levels of phosphorus contained in fertilizers. Under the bill, the South Florida Water Management District still would have permits for the quantity of runoff water that can enter the lake, but not the quality, said Eric Draper, Audubon Florida executive director.

Pollution levels would be regulated instead by a cleanup plan that, among other actions, requires farmers to follow "best management practices" to reduce pollution leaving their land. Those practices are voluntary guidelines farmers themselves developed, such as not fertilizing amid heavy rain forecasts.

HONOR SYSTEM

These practices are at the core of what David Guest, managing attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice, described as a plan where "you take all the speed limits and remove all the traffic lights." That's because as long as farmers implement these measures, they are considered to be in compliance with the law.

After environmentalists raised concerns about the practices last year, the Legislature added new language that specifies the cleanup plans are enforceable. The state can inspect whether farmers are following the practices and subject them to penalties. The bill does not detail why, when or how inspections would be conducted; what would lead to a penalty; and what the penalty would be.

The bill now also requires the Department of Environmental Protection to evaluate whether the practices are working to reduce pollution and change them if necessary.

Yet the bill doesn't ask for additional money for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to hire new employees to perform inspections, making them largely unfeasible to achieve, Sierra Club lobbyist David Cullen said. And even if the state changes the practices, farmers can negotiate with the state to make them as lax as possible, Cullen said.

With a permit in place, on the other hand, farmers either comply or lose it, he said.

NEXT BEST THING

Permits are better, but lawmakers haven't shown any signs they will budge, said Draper, who's a top environmental lobbyist and who worked with lawmakers to strengthen the bill. Having enforceable best management practices is the next best thing.

"Environmental advocacy, like everything else, is the craft of compromise," Draper said. "A permit is better to require a discharger to meet a water quality standard, but we lost that battle."

Republican Senate President-elect Joe Negron of Stuart was the only senator who voted against the water bill last year because of the lack of enforcement. He said he likes the new provisions and supports this year's version  as long as the added enforcement stays in the bill.

The new enforcement will pair well with another bill he and Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, are sponsoring to require at least $200 million be allocated annually for Everglades restoration with an emphasis on projects that reduce lake discharges into the St. Lucie River, he said.

IDEAL BILL

If Draper could write the water bill, he said he would:

Require landowners to hold more water on their land instead of discharging it into Lake Okeechobee;

Restrict fertilizer use around the lake and the Everglades; and

Require local governments to connect septic tanks near troubled waterways to sewer lines. If a sewer line isn't available, local governments should be required to install them, as was done in the Florida Keys after a state mandate in the 1990s.

Guest, the Earthjustice attorney, would revoke farmers' permits if they don't reduce pollution through best management practices within a certain time frame. He also would require farmers to use irrigation methods that use less water to preserve the state's water supply.

"What you have to do is, you have to use water in a way that reflects its real value and the interest of future Floridians," Guest said.
Laura Herren (left) and Marie Tarnowski, researchers at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, collect algae samples from a reef just offshore from the St. Lucie Inlet to study the effects of Martin County septic systems on the St. Lucie River, Indian River Lagoon and nearshore reefs in this undated photo. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO FROM HARBOR BRANCH OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE)

By Isadora Rangel of TCPalm

Editor's Note: Keep up with all the legislative action starting Tuesday in social media reports from @IsadoraRangel2 and our Naples and Tampa news partners @ArekSarkissian and @JeffSchweersTBO.

For the next two months, the Treasure Coast will compete with the rest of Florida's communities for the $46 million in state money it wants for local projects such as expanding a college and an airport and removing septic tanks that pollute the Indian River Lagoon.

Tuesday marks the beginning of the Florida legislative session, when lawmakers are required to pass a state budget for fiscal year 2016-17  and are expected to bring home the bacon.

Treasure Coast Newspapers compiled a wish list with the projects and legislation that could affect the region the most.

SEPTIC TANKS

This has been a hot topic in recent months, after a Martin County-commissioned study found septic tanks are one of the lagoon's primary polluters. Treasure Coast county governments want a combined $11.2 million to convert septic systems into sewer lines. The planned projects are for Sebastian's downtown as well as residential properties along the lagoon: North Hutchinson Island in St. Lucie County, Old Palm City and Golden Gate. Both areas were the focus of Martin's study. Last year, Martin got state money for septic conversions in North River Shores, but St. Lucie's and Indian River's funding requests were denied.

STATE COLLEGE

Indian River State College hopes the Legislature will tap into the state's school renovations and construction fund to remodel two 30-plus-year-old buildings on the Vero Beach Mueller campus. The $19.1 million project includes a building connector and expansion of labs and academic center, according to plans the college submitted in 2007, when it first asked for the money. The college also wants $10.6 million to buy new Science Center equipment and infrastructure, as well as $12.6 million for labs for heating, welding, auto repair and air conditioning classes on the Fort Pierce main campus.

LAGOON TEAM

Martin wants $2.2 million to fund stormwater and drainage improvements and the use of aquatic vegetation to remove runoff contaminants in the lagoon. The project is one of many recommended by the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon Issues Team, created in 1998 to recommend estuary-cleaning projects. The team represents 17 different federal, state and local governments, as well as agricultural and environmental organizations. The Legislature last year rejected the team's requests, despite granting them in previous years.

KILROY SENSORS

The Ocean Research & Conservation Association wants $500,000 for the maintenance, staff salaries and equipment replacement needed to monitor Indian River Lagoon water conditions through Kilroy sensors the Fort Pierce nonprofit developed. The year after Lake Okeechobee discharges caused toxic algae blooms in Summer 2013, the Legislature passed a $230 million budget package that included $4 million for Kilroys. Located in the main canals and tributaries along the 156-mile-long lagoon, the Kilroys' main purpose is to pinpoint pollution sources.

AIRPORT HUB

St. Lucie wants to make its airport a destination for aircraft repair companies with a $5.3 million request to build a 30,000-square-foot hangar. County officials expect a yearly $14.5 million economic impact from the improvements and 75 jobs with an average pay of $53,700. They hope the project will reduce St. Lucie's unemployment rate, which was 0.6 percent above the 5.4 percent state average in November. They also hope a modernized airport will attract a commercial airline. St. Lucie last offered commercial flights in 1989 with Comair, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.

EVERGLADES RESTORATION

Martin and St. Lucie counties support increased funding for the Everglades and environmentally sensitive land acquisition. Martin, the most impacted by Lake Okeechobee discharges, wants an emphasis on properties that can be used to move lake water south into the Everglades and away from the St. Lucie River. A bill filed by Rep. Gayle Harrell, who represents parts of both counties, sets aside 25 percent, or $200 million, for Everglades restoration using money from Amendment 1, approved by voters for land and water conservation in 2014.

POWER STRUGGLE

This is Republican Rep. Debbie Mayfield's third attempt to rein in the agency through which Vero Beach gets some of its power at higher rates than it would through Florida Power & Light Co. The city wants to sell its electric utility to FPL, but can't get out of its contract with the FMPA. Mayfield's bill would require the agency to disclose its financial information to the municipalities it contracts with after a state audit found risky business practices resulted in a loss of $400 million in recent years.

OTHER FUNDING REQUESTS

MARTIN COUNTY

$4.3 million: St. Lucie Inlet dredging

$1.5 million: Britt Road bridge replacement

$695,000: Timer Powers Park improvements

$670,000: Lake and stormwater treatment area construction to reduce polluted runoff into St. Lucie River

$357,700: Beach nourishment

ST. LUCIE COUNTY

$2 million: Treasure Coast Research Park Food Business Incubator to help entrepreneurs develop new food ventures

$1.8 million: 12-inch water main extension along U.S. 1

$1.8 million: Fort Pierce Inlet and beach restoration projects

$900,000: Culvert replacements

$400,000: Teague Hammock Preserve (300 acres of groundwater recharge for the C-23 and C-24 canals to capture agriculture runoff and restore wetland and wildlife habitat)

$200,000: Hire a project coordinator to create a community revitalization plan for blighted northwest Fort Pierce

$200,000: Renovate a Petravice Park fishing pier, pedestrian bridge, two picnic pavilions and more than a mile of hiking trails

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY

$1.2 million: Restore 9.3 miles of shoreline subject to erosion

$150,000: Pilot program using aquatic plants to remove pollution from canals

$125,000: Conveyor system enhancement to treat canal water flowing into Indian River Lagoon
Eve Samples is a columnist for Treasure Coast Newspapers.



We heard your message loud and clear.

You want elected officials to work for us, the voters  not for political donors and lobbyists. You want politicians to follow through on campaign promises; to be transparent about how they spend our tax dollars.

Before the holidays, I asked you to email me, articulating your priorities for Florida lawmakers, who return to Tallahassee on Tuesday for their annual session.

Many of you responded with the ground-level insights that, too often, politicians are detached from.

Pat Reed, a reader who lives in Micco, said he wants to see the Legislature accept federal dollars to expand health care; better compliance with open-government laws; and no fracking.

He's fine with allowing casinos across Florida  so long as the revenue goes toward public schools. And he wants the Legislature to get its act together on spending money generated by Amendment 1, which 75 percent of voters approved in 2014.

"Amendment 1 money needs to be used for the purpose voters intended: environmental preservation," Reed said.

Our Editorial Board agrees. That's one of our 12 priorities for lawmakers this session.

Ray Hofmann of Port St. Lucie called on lawmakers to keep Florida's state parks system as is. He also wants better funding for public education, reduced student testing and an end to "corporate welfare."

We're on the same page. Smarter stewardship of economic incentives  with an emphasis on transparency, accountability and proven financial track records  is another of our Editorial Board's priorities for the session.

Paul Gronroos of St. Lucie West believes limiting terms is a big part of the answer. While term limits exist for members of the state House and Senate (max for both chambers is eight years), it's not uncommon for members to jump from chamber to chamber or take a term off then serve again.

As for lawmakers who shirk their duties, Palm City resident Allen Atkinson has a suggestion for handling them: "Fine politicians if they don't keep campaign promises."

Brilliant. Never again would Florida have budget problems!

We have existing recourse, too: Track how our lawmakers vote. Our Editorial Board and Treasure Coast Newspapers political reporter Isadora Rangel, who will be reporting in Tallahassee, will help you do that.

Then vote accordingly. All 40 state senators will be on the ballot this year, thanks to redistricting. State representatives, who serve 2-year terms, will be campaigning, too.

This year, voters have more power than usual. Let's use it.

Eve Samples is opinion and audience engagement editor for Treasure Coast Newspapers. Contact her at 772-221-4217 or eve.samples@tcpalm.com. Follow her on Twitter @EveSamples.
Dennis Root is a lot of things: A longtime cop. A successful businessman. Head of an eponymous nonprofit public safety foundation. A one-time expert witness at the trial of George Zimmerman (remember him?). Even a long-shot candidate for Martin County sheriff.

But right now, he's a potential victim.

We're sitting in the back of the Stuart Coffee Company, and I point to the front door, down a corridor past the cash registers.

What happens, I ask, if a mass shooter comes in there?

He points immediately to the back door, about five feet from where we're sitting. "We escape here," he said.

OK, I counter, what happens if a mass shooter comes in that door just five feet away?

"Then we have one choice," he said, motioning to the table between us. We  that is, he and I, both of us in the theoretical line of fire  would need to use the table, or maybe a chair, to try to stop the gunman.

It sounds kind of ludicrous  a table's going to stop a bullet? But then the whole idea that you or I might find ourselves in an "active shooter" situation is itself almost unimaginable.

Root's on a mission to get people to imagine the unimaginable.

The Dennis Root Public Safety Foundation, a nonprofit based in Martin County, last month held a free seminar titled "Surviving an active shooter: What you should know" at the Stuart/Martin County Chamber of Commerce. The mass terrorist shooting in San Bernardino, California, had occurred less than two weeks earlier; the issue was fresh in people's minds, and Root had a standing-room-only crowd of about 60.

Root's message boiled down to a three-pronged strategy:

First: If at all possible, run away.

Second: If you can't run, hide. Turn out lights, silence cellphones, block or barricade doors. Shooters are "looking for active targets," Root said; so if your door is locked and there are other targets available, you just might be spared.

Third: If you have no choice  if you're about to be shot  you've got to fight back. Find something you can use as a weapon. A fire extinguisher might make a good one, Root says.

Strangely enough, this last item  fight for your life if you must  has been politically controversial. Last week, The New York Times ran a story about an active shooter seminar in Douglasville, Georgia; the web headline read, "Georgia Town Teaches 'Fight Back' as Option in Mass Shootings." As if the suggestion is odd or irresponsible.

And in October, GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson was ridiculed for saying those caught in a mass shooting should rush the attacker.

That happens to be exactly what Root and other public safety experts advise  but, Root stressed, only as a last resort.

"There's been a lot of comments made (by those who say) nothing stops a bad guy with a gun like a good guy with a gun," he said. "But just because someone's carrying a concealed firearm doesn't mean they're prepared to interact in this type of situation.

"Some people say you hide, then take the shot. Really? Hide where? If you can see them, they can see you. And if you miss, where's the bullet going?"

It's pretty sad to think we live in a society where we have to argue about the intricacies of how to respond when a crazed gunman begins shooting up a workplace or shopping center. But welcome to 2016, where the demand for such information is growing  and law enforcement experts around the country are responding with events like the one Root held here.

A quick Google News search shows seminars being held in several cities in Georgia, including Atlanta, along with Las Vegas, Birmingham and Cincinnati. The New York Times reported hundreds turned out in Livonia, Michigan; the Iowa City Police Department put on a seminar for Boy Scouts.

In God we trust? Maybe we ought to engrave "Duck and cover" on the currency instead.

Root has one more seminar scheduled, in Palm Beach Shores in conjunction with the police department there. And he wants to do another one in Stuart, he's just looking for a location.

"Everybody relies on law enforcement" in a mass shooting, he said. "But when you're waiting for a police officer that's minutes away, that's a problem.

"What we are trying to do is enhance your opportunity to survive this type of event."

And that seems to me to be an important point, maybe even indicative that as a society, we've reached a turning point: For years, discussion has been focused on how we might prevent mass shootings.

Now  we're merely talking about how to live through them.

Gil Smart is a columnist for Treasure Coast Newspapers and a member of the Editorial Board. This column reflects his opinion. Readers may reach him at gil.smart@tcpalm.com, by phone at 772-223-4741 or via Twitter at @TCPalmGilSmart.
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By Editorial Board

JUSTICE DENIED?: A much-anticipated report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is in  and reveals some sobering statistics.

Evidence lockers around the state contain more than 13,000 untested sexual assault kits, according to the report released Monday, and 9,484 such kits "should be submitted" for testing.

The findings confirm concerns raised in September by state Attorney General Pam Bondi, who estimated there were thousands of untested rape kits in Florida.

Proposals for processing the backlog range from $9 million to $32 million, with time frames ranging from three to nine years.

One of the impediments to testing rape kits in a timely manner is the cost  from $400 to $1,500 per kit, according to the National Center for Victims of Crime.

The Florida Legislature should begin taking steps to address the backlog. Victims of rape should not be denied justice by a flawed system.
"I have always said that 'hate' is a very strong word, but I hate cancer. I dislike a lot of things, but I hate cancer because it disrupts and affects so much. It not only touches you, the patient, personally, but it touches your entire family. It forces you to rethink the future."  Dr. Daniel Glotzer

For Dr. Daniel Glotzer, the fight against cancer is a personal one.

His wife was only 38 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer  less than six months into their marriage.

Even for a man who looked at mammograms daily and was accustomed to delivering heart-wrenching diagnoses, Glotzer found himself much closer to the disease than he ever wanted to be.

A board-certified general surgeon and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Glotzer went to medical school in his home country of Uruguay. He completed both his internship and residency in New York, and his fellowship in Pennsylvania.

"I was very comfortable where I was in practice for 14 years, in a multi-specialty group in New York, but my wife always loved Florida," said Glotzer.

"Vero is not on the map, as you know, but my wife found it when she and a close friend were driving up and down A1A. She fell in love with it.

"She called me in New York to tell me I had to come look at it. We have been here now, almost five years."

Changing approaches

Breast cancer treatment has changed dramatically over the past 100 years. In the late 1800s, the recommended treatment for breast cancer was to remove the entire breast, as well as all of the skin and muscles in the surrounding area.

For 70 years, this procedure was the barbaric standard, leaving people deformed and debilitated  and often with emotional scars far worse than the physical ones from surgery.

It wasn't until 1948 that the Patey-Dyson method was proposed: a reduced surgery called the "modified radical mastectomy."

In this procedure, the breast was removed, but muscles  largely responsible for giving shape to the chest  were left intact.

Radiation therapy supplemented this less invasive mastectomy, with promising results.

For the next 20 years, the treatment grew in acceptance and popularity. It proved to be as effective as the previous radical mastectomy with much less disfigurement and far fewer complications.

Balance

Research into less and less aggressive procedures culminated in the 1960s, when trials for breast conservation therapy were conducted in London.

However, this approach aimed at removing as little tissue as possible was soon reevaluated when cancers returned to the original areas of discovery.

The pendulum began to swing back toward more aggressive methods.

By the 1970s, physicians began to ask again if taking the entire breast was necessary.

Lumpectomies, or removing just the affected area, became the new standard for treatment.

It was coupled with radiation therapy for the best possible outcome.

This is still a viable option for many breast cancer patients today. Depending on risk factors (including family history), the combination of a lumpectomy with radiation and chemotherapy continues to be as effective as removing the entire breast, in many cases.

Patients with a family history of breast cancer or a genetic abnormality may be better served with a bilateral mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction.

Always personal

But even people with genetic markers for cancer are offered the option of surveillance, such as mammograms every six months (instead of every year), before making a surgery decision.

"No woman should feel today that she has to give up her breast to live longer," said Glotzer. "When we catch breast cancer early and it is a small cancer (up to an inch or an inch-and-a-half lesion), breast conservation therapy is a good option.

"When there is no evidence of lymph node involvement and no dissemination of cancer, we can be more conservative with a good cosmetic result."

Too close to home

When asked if his personal experience with breast cancer has changed him as a doctor or a surgeon, Glotzer is quick to qualify his response.

"I have always been very involved with my patients. I treat them like family. I have always thought if you take good care of people, they will come to you.

"Of course, I think that my wife having breast cancer put a personal touch to this fight.

"But cancer is very unique  everybody has a different experience. It is never a pleasant experience, but we (doctors) are here to help people cope with it."

Glotzer maintains the most important role of a physician is to combat fear in patients, to help them make the most educated, informed choices.

"We have to help people make a decision in science and not in fear. As physicians, we have a unique opportunity to influence people one way or another, but one of the things we have to do is reassure them.

"Statistics apply to populations, not to people. It is always personal. Physicians are partners with our patients."
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Jan. 8

By Damir Azizov - Trend:

New amendments to Uzbekistan's 'Law on Financing Political Parties' stipulate that the state funds not used by political parties during financial year can't be returned to the state budget and should be used to finance those parties' statutory activities in the coming years.

The amendments were adopted by both houses of the parliament in late 2014, and were approved by the president of Uzbekistan on the eve of 2016.

According to the Uzbek law, a political party is entitled to receive state funding for statutory activity, if after an election to the legislative chamber of the parliament's lower house it has received the necessary number of seats to form a faction.

Earlier, political parties were obliged to return the remainder of the unused funds to the budget during one month after the end of the fiscal year.

Amendments prohibiting political parties and their organizations to have accounts in more than one bank, as well as accounts in foreign banks have also been introduced to the law.

Uzbekistan's bicameral parliament was created in 2005. Its legislative chamber permanently employs 150 MPs elected for five years from four political parties and the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan.

The lower house of the Uzbek parliament includes the Movement of Entrepreneurs and Businessmen - Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan - 52 MPs, Democratic Party Milly Tiklanish (National Revival) - 36 MPs, People's Democratic Party - 27 MPs and the Social Democratic Party Adolat (Justice) - 20 MPs.
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My Maruti Ertiga Automatic



Where I come from: I have close to 15 years or more of car driving experience with my last 2 cars being diesels. My last car which was the Diesel Micra was the one I held the longest and drove the most.

The Micra diesel was simply awesome when it came to drive-ability and the car was more like a go-kart that could simply be thrown around in any fashion you could please. The only drawbacks of the car were missing safety features like ABS due to which I had a few scary experiences on the highways and the lack of cushioning in the seats which made the entire experience a pain in the back. With my family of wife and 2 young and growing kids, I had to look out for a more spacious alternative that gave all of us, something to cheer about for another 4-5 years at least! Much of my use is for weekend long drives and shopping. My daily usage is moderate to low as I work from home most of the time



The vehicles I looked into this time around

Renault Duster AWD: Awesome vehicle when it came to most departments other than cosmetics. Shock absorber performance on Bangalore's miserable roads were shockingly awesome. Performance was something that one has to drive to believe. Though I am a sucker for automatics, the lightness of the clutch (lighter than my Micra) coupled with sweet short shifting gears aided by the 245 NM of torque made feel that this was more than enough to compensate the lack of an automatic.



Honda City: Awesome in most aspects. My wife always used the adjective "pampering" to describe how she felt when she sat in the car.



S-Cross Delta version 1.3 Great in all aspects other than the engine



Honda Jazz: I actually waited for over 18 months for this baby with the fond hope that she would come in the 1.5 liter petrol automatic avatar. It was a terrible personal disappointment for me to see the final trims in which she was released in.



The New Ertiga: When the new Ertiga surfaced, my wife was interested in having a look, as the face lift made it look prettier. With very little expectations and with the intent of pure time pass we went and checked out the car. Voila, my wife felt the seats of the Ertiga were far more pampering than those of the City (In fact we immediately rushed to the Honda showroom to ensure that it was indeed so!), my kids loved the extra row of seats and I felt assuaged that I had a car with decent power and an automatic. Though it was not the automatic in the league of the Polo/Vento TSI (both of which I have driven) or even the Honda City (technically), practically the package which came at Rs 10.42 Lakhs OTR (Appx. price of the Polo TSI) in Bangalore was a steal when compared to the others. Even Renault's final offer of Rs 15.65 Lakhs OTR for the top end AWD could not change my mind. My top concerns on the Micra which were comfort, lack of safety features and space were all addressed handsomely by the new Ertiga Automatic VXi.



The waiting: Took me 31 days to get my car from Garuda Autocraft after many nerve wracking and desperate attempts to know the status of my booking through various channels within Maruti. Even now, the car is simply not available readily anywhere and some of my friends who tried booking it were left disappointed.



The car:



This is a car that is built to be practical in most ways. It seats 7 luxuriously, and I will include the third row of seats when I say this with all responsibility. It drives very well, very smoothly and is an epitome of convenience. It is not a car for the pure driving enthusiasts or the speed demons. It is an awesome deal for those with growing families who love to take their kids, their relatives and their dog along with them. It is a car for those who love going on family outings and for shopping! The driving position is very comfortable though the lack of driver seat height adjuster in the VXi option in which the automatic is available in, can cause back pains to those whose physical structure does not suit the fixed height that Maruti has decided for its customers.



The Ertiga automatic is very convenient to drive, comfortable to seat and very economical for a petrol automatic that weighs in at over a ton. It is smooth to its very core, solid in its bearings and extremely pleasant in its interiors. All controls fall into your hands very conveniently. The audio and Bluetooth controls on the steering are delightful. The quality of the audio itself is far from satisfactory.



The never satisfied motorist in me will always ask for more in terms of an engine in the leagues of the Mobilio, an automatic in the leagues of the Polo/Vento and a ZXi trim to choose from. Phew! If wishes were horses, I would definitely ride.



I have had this baby for less than a month (19th December was when I got to take delivery) but have been able to cover over 1300 kms due to my long trip with family and cousins to Agumbe in Karnataka. Before that I had driven around 300 kms in and around Bangalore and was very satisfied with the performance and drive-ability in the city. The shock absorbers are definitely not the best one could have hoped for and are typically Maruti.



The convenience of the automatic are simply there for one to enjoy. Its a unit that does its job well for being a torque converter by design. It's upshifts and downshifts happen in decent time and at no stage did I find the unit unpleasant or discomforting at the least.



The car handles very well in the winding western ghats with the only fly in the ointment being the thick A pillar. The steering is soft and comfortable with adequate feedback though I feel the Micra was a notch or two above in terms of sheer smoothness of the unit. The highway mileage is astoundingly high at 17+ kmpl. City mileage is something that I will in the future give more inputs on, but at the moment its around 8 kmpl using normal petrol (At Shell) and 10+ kmpl using Shell's V-Power which is a good 8 INR costlier at Rs 72 compared to the normal petrol that costs Rs 64. The braking is very good and at no point did the ABS kick in uncomfortably either too early or too late which has been a common complaint with some other cars discussed on this forum.



The interiors of the car are very pleasant and joyful. The only challenge being the inability to keep it spick and span all the time due to its all beige color. The air conditioning is awesome though the mid row roof air conditioner tends to be very noisy.



I have explained point wise below the good and the bad of the car in the short time that I have used it. I hope it helps all potential buyers and enthusiasts to take the right call.



The Good



1. A complete package that epitomises 'Practicality' in every which way. The car excels in very few departments compared to the competition ( the seating comfort I believe trumps the competition) but the overall package is a very satisfying experience.



2. Glass area and the feeling of space in the car are simply superb.





3. Safety features of twin air-bags and ABS/EBD are in place even in this VXi version. Braking is simply very good. Even the wing mirrors are in place. However compared to the Micra where the wing mirrors would close each time I shut the car automatically, here its a manual process.





4. Convenience of the automatic is good and the response taken by the system to understand the increase in pressure on the accelerator to get the gears down or vice versa is satisfactory. In no way is it lightning quick, but it does its job reasonably well without in anyway being termed as disappointing or lethargic. Again these are very relative judgements of how one feels about these aspects and those used to DSG gearboxes may not be so charitable in their adjectives.



The D mode is tuned for early up shifting of gears and you are in overdrive very soon if you maintain a pussy foot on the accelerator. Conversely if the accelerating is hard, the gears shift only when the RPM is at around 3000 or more. Two more modes of '2' and 'L' are available for taking care of steeper climbs which I did not use in this journey much except when climbing extremely tight slopes which were very few and far in number.





5. Shell V-Power petrol is leagues ahead of other fuels when it comes to engine responsiveness and mileage. It costs a good Rs 8 more than the normal fuel (Rs 72 versus Rs 64). I started using the normal Shell petrol and the computer displayed a consistent city mileage of 7.5-7.7 kmpl. The moment I changed over to V-Power, the mileage jumped to 10.2! My travel from Bangalore to Agumbe (lots of ghat climbing to Agumbe) gave me close to 17.2-17.5 kmpl (All these numbers are based on what I see on the computer and in the previous occasion when I filled up the fuel to the neck, the numbers displayed turned out to be very accurate. With NO Shell stations outside of Bangalore (except on Mysore Road) had to fill up with IOL at Shringeri and the overall average (both up and down combined) dropped down to 15.5 kmpl. I had a full load of people on the way to Agumbe and much less when I came back. So the fall in mileage is actually much higher than it seems. Have taken an oath to continue filling up with V-Power and also carry more fuel in Shell cans than to go through the pain of filling up at Non Shell stations. If anyone has some tips on other fuels such as BPL's SPEED etc, please do share



6. Super smooth engine - PERIOD.





7. Handles very well in the winding ghat sections. No complaints. On potholes however, the vehicle bounces and one has to take care. The car weighs in at 1185 Kgs and is rock solid on the highways. Handling is definitely impressive for this form factor (MUV)



8. All controls for music and Bluetooth at a thumbs distance away on the steering. Brilliant piece of convenience. All these functions work very precisely





9. Overall NVH levels have so far been satisfactory. Again I remind readers here that I have driven noisy diesels in the past and coming back to a petrol after a very long time has been a revelation!



10. Extremely versatile in terms of how you can plan the space usage for luggage loading. Specially so in the new Ertiga where the third row of seats is a split seat.





11. The front AC performance is very good. Don't miss the Climatronic Control that I had on the Micra even for a moment.



12. Mirrors are large and visibility is awesome. Period!



The Bad:

1. The car's seats though brilliant overall, are not the best for the driver, specially in the VXi which does not have a driver seat height adjuster. I am most probably investing in one at an astronomical cost of Rs 18k.



2. The engine though rated at 91 BHP and 130 NM of torque, is not exhilarating at all. Its not a chip on my earlier Micra Diesel which raced like a monster on the highways. Getting to 100 kmph or a little over that is a good speed to achieve on this car. Though to be honest, I kept the car running at sub 100 kmph levels as it was still in the running in period of less than a 1000 kms on the odometer. However there is no desire that one can feel in the engine to be revved harder at any stage beyond this. In the city however, there is absolutely no issues even with a full load of 7 passengers.



3. Thick A pillar (it thickens at the bottom) has the potential to create serious blind spots. Had to keep stretching my neck to ensure that I did not have any accidents, specially in the winding ghat sections.





4. Quality of the audio, very pedestrian.



5. Rear door takes some skill and time to understand how to shut in one go without banging it in.



6. Fit and finish at the finer levels is not up to the mark and you see rough edges of the plastic in the areas behind the steering where the speedometer is placed as well as the glove box.. Its not too evident and visible, but for those with a keen eye, its an eyesore!



Glove Box





Speedometer area.





7. Though the car is heavy and weighs in close to 1.2 tons, it is very prone to denting.



8. No special labelling for such a special first of a kind 'Automatic MPV'. They don't even have the ABS labelling any more





9. Fabric though fantastic in quality (Its leagues ahead of the earlier version) gets very dirty, very easily.



10. Mid row AC is pretty noisy.



After Market Changes/purchases:



1. 3M mats. Simply brilliant. Costed me a bomb of Rs 7.5k but a very good investment





2. 3M polyvinyl covering for the fenders and bonnet. Too expensive at around 19k, but wanted to ensure that the face of the car is kept as pristine as humanely possible.



3. 3M under chassis treatment.





4. Door beadings and window visor.



5. Michelin XM2s (Rs 2.8k paid for the OEM MRFs and 5.65k paid per new Michelin tyre). They are super silent and smooth compared to the noisy MRFs.





6. Rear Spoiler



7. Driver seat with height adjuster proposed in the near future.



8. Goodyear Digital Air Compressor





9. 3M carpet covering plastics. No fear of dirtying the carpets in areas that the mats don't cover anymore!





10. 2 years extra warranty.



First Service Feedback:

Got the engine oil and filter changed despite Maruti telling me that it was unnecessary. Did this for my personal psychological peace! The car seats came back much dirtier than ever. Some plastics scratched as well. A dent on the door to compliment.





Other Trivia and Observations



1. The Braking system is supplied by Bosch









2. The Automatic Gear system is supplied by Aisin. Posting a few snaps here for the ones with penchant for detail!













3. The meters clearly indicate that Maruti has the options of ESP and Cruise put in place!





4. Bridgestone Rubber used for the AC pipings





5. The handsome front facia of the car with the much improved bumpers and chrome





6. The new VXi gets the music system of the earlier ZXi





7. There seems to be part plastic cladding protection for the underarm suspensions in the front





8. Getting into the third row of seats is not too tough





9. Lots of neat cubbyholes to keep the change.





10. Lastly, my son and me in the western ghats

The following details are to share from my short 2 week experience of having owned one of the few Automatic Ertigas in the country! Due to extensive usage in the city of Bangalore as well as a trip to Agumbe in Karnataka I have logged in close to 1300 kms in this short period!I have close to 15 years or more of car driving experience with my last 2 cars being diesels. My last car which was the Diesel Micra was the one I held the longest and drove the most.The Micra diesel was simply awesome when it came to drive-ability and the car was more like a go-kart that could simply be thrown around in any fashion you could please. The only drawbacks of the car were missing safety features like ABS due to which I had a few scary experiences on the highways and the lack of cushioning in the seats which made the entire experience a pain in the back. With my family of wife and 2 young and growing kids, I had to look out for a more spacious alternative that gave all of us, something to cheer about for another 4-5 years at least! Much of my use is for weekend long drives and shopping. My daily usage is moderate to low as I work from home most of the timeAwesome vehicle when it came to most departments other than cosmetics. Shock absorber performance on Bangalore's miserable roads were shockingly awesome. Performance was something that one has to drive to believe. Though I am a sucker for automatics, the lightness of the clutch (lighter than my Micra) coupled with sweet short shifting gears aided by the 245 NM of torque made feel that this was more than enough to compensate the lack of an automatic.Awesome in most aspects. My wife always used the adjective "pampering" to describe how she felt when she sat in the car.Great in all aspects other than the engineI actually waited for over 18 months for this baby with the fond hope that she would come in the 1.5 liter petrol automatic avatar. It was a terrible personal disappointment for me to see the final trims in which she was released in.When the new Ertiga surfaced, my wife was interested in having a look, as the face lift made it look prettier. With very little expectations and with the intent of pure time pass we went and checked out the car. Voila, my wife felt the seats of the Ertiga were far more pampering than those of the City (In fact we immediately rushed to the Honda showroom to ensure that it was indeed so!), my kids loved the extra row of seats and I felt assuaged that I had a car with decent power and an automatic. Though it was not the automatic in the league of the Polo/Vento TSI (both of which I have driven) or even the Honda City (technically), practically the package which came at Rs 10.42 Lakhs OTR (Appx. price of the Polo TSI) in Bangalore was a steal when compared to the others. Even Renault's final offer of Rs 15.65 Lakhs OTR for the top end AWD could not change my mind. My top concerns on the Micra which were comfort, lack of safety features and space were all addressed handsomely by the new Ertiga Automatic VXi.Took me 31 days to get my car from Garuda Autocraft after many nerve wracking and desperate attempts to know the status of my booking through various channels within Maruti. Even now, the car is simply not available readily anywhere and some of my friends who tried booking it were left disappointed.This is a car that is built to be practical in most ways. It seats 7 luxuriously, and I will include the third row of seats when I say this with all responsibility. It drives very well, very smoothly and is an epitome of convenience. It is not a car for the pure driving enthusiasts or the speed demons. It is an awesome deal for those with growing families who love to take their kids, their relatives and their dog along with them. It is a car for those who love going on family outings and for shopping! The driving position is very comfortable though the lack of driver seat height adjuster in the VXi option in which the automatic is available in, can cause back pains to those whose physical structure does not suit the fixed height that Maruti has decided for its customers.The Ertiga automatic is very convenient to drive, comfortable to seat and very economical for a petrol automatic that weighs in at over a ton. It is smooth to its very core, solid in its bearings and extremely pleasant in its interiors. All controls fall into your hands very conveniently. The audio and Bluetooth controls on the steering are delightful. The quality of the audio itself is far from satisfactory.The never satisfied motorist in me will always ask for more in terms of an engine in the leagues of the Mobilio, an automatic in the leagues of the Polo/Vento and a ZXi trim to choose from. Phew! If wishes were horses, I would definitely ride.I have had this baby for less than a month (19th December was when I got to take delivery) but have been able to cover over 1300 kms due to my long trip with family and cousins to Agumbe in Karnataka. Before that I had driven around 300 kms in and around Bangalore and was very satisfied with the performance and drive-ability in the city. The shock absorbers are definitely not the best one could have hoped for and are typically Maruti.The convenience of the automatic are simply there for one to enjoy. Its a unit that does its job well for being a torque converter by design. It's upshifts and downshifts happen in decent time and at no stage did I find the unit unpleasant or discomforting at the least.The car handles very well in the winding western ghats with the only fly in the ointment being the thick A pillar. The steering is soft and comfortable with adequate feedback though I feel the Micra was a notch or two above in terms of sheer smoothness of the unit. The highway mileage is astoundingly high at 17+ kmpl. City mileage is something that I will in the future give more inputs on, but at the moment its around 8 kmpl using normal petrol (At Shell) and 10+ kmpl using Shell's V-Power which is a good 8 INR costlier at Rs 72 compared to the normal petrol that costs Rs 64. The braking is very good and at no point did the ABS kick in uncomfortably either too early or too late which has been a common complaint with some other cars discussed on this forum.The interiors of the car are very pleasant and joyful. The only challenge being the inability to keep it spick and span all the time due to its all beige color. The air conditioning is awesome though the mid row roof air conditioner tends to be very noisy.I have explained point wise below the good and the bad of the car in the short time that I have used it. I hope it helps all potential buyers and enthusiasts to take the right call.1. A complete package that epitomises 'Practicality' in every which way. The car excels in very few departments compared to the competition ( the seating comfort I believe trumps the competition) but the overall package is a very satisfying experience.2. Glass area and the feeling of space in the car are simply superb.3. Safety features of twin air-bags and ABS/EBD are in place even in this VXi version. Braking is simply very good. Even the wing mirrors are in place. However compared to the Micra where the wing mirrors would close each time I shut the car automatically, here its a manual process.4. Convenience of the automatic is good and the response taken by the system to understand the increase in pressure on the accelerator to get the gears down or vice versa is satisfactory. In no way is it lightning quick, but it does its job reasonably well without in anyway being termed as disappointing or lethargic. Again these are very relative judgements of how one feels about these aspects and those used to DSG gearboxes may not be so charitable in their adjectives.The D mode is tuned for early up shifting of gears and you are in overdrive very soon if you maintain a pussy foot on the accelerator. Conversely if the accelerating is hard, the gears shift only when the RPM is at around 3000 or more. Two more modes of '2' and 'L' are available for taking care of steeper climbs which I did not use in this journey much except when climbing extremely tight slopes which were very few and far in number.5. Shell V-Power petrol is leagues ahead of other fuels when it comes to engine responsiveness and mileage. It costs a good Rs 8 more than the normal fuel (Rs 72 versus Rs 64). I started using the normal Shell petrol and the computer displayed a consistent city mileage of 7.5-7.7 kmpl. The moment I changed over to V-Power, the mileage jumped to 10.2! My travel from Bangalore to Agumbe (lots of ghat climbing to Agumbe) gave me close to 17.2-17.5 kmpl (All these numbers are based on what I see on the computer and in the previous occasion when I filled up the fuel to the neck, the numbers displayed turned out to be very accurate. With NO Shell stations outside of Bangalore (except on Mysore Road) had to fill up with IOL at Shringeri and the overall average (both up and down combined) dropped down to 15.5 kmpl. I had a full load of people on the way to Agumbe and much less when I came back. So the fall in mileage is actually much higher than it seems. Have taken an oath to continue filling up with V-Power and also carry more fuel in Shell cans than to go through the pain of filling up at Non Shell stations. If anyone has some tips on other fuels such as BPL's SPEED etc, please do share6. Super smooth engine - PERIOD.7. Handles very well in the winding ghat sections. No complaints. On potholes however, the vehicle bounces and one has to take care. The car weighs in at 1185 Kgs and is rock solid on the highways. Handling is definitely impressive for this form factor (MUV)8. All controls for music and Bluetooth at a thumbs distance away on the steering. Brilliant piece of convenience. All these functions work very precisely9. Overall NVH levels have so far been satisfactory. Again I remind readers here that I have driven noisy diesels in the past and coming back to a petrol after a very long time has been a revelation!10. Extremely versatile in terms of how you can plan the space usage for luggage loading. Specially so in the new Ertiga where the third row of seats is a split seat.11. The front AC performance is very good. Don't miss the Climatronic Control that I had on the Micra even for a moment.12. Mirrors are large and visibility is awesome. Period!1. The car's seats though brilliant overall, are not the best for the driver, specially in the VXi which does not have a driver seat height adjuster. I am most probably investing in one at an astronomical cost of Rs 18k.2. The engine though rated at 91 BHP and 130 NM of torque, is not exhilarating at all. Its not a chip on my earlier Micra Diesel which raced like a monster on the highways. Getting to 100 kmph or a little over that is a good speed to achieve on this car. Though to be honest, I kept the car running at sub 100 kmph levels as it was still in the running in period of less than a 1000 kms on the odometer. However there is no desire that one can feel in the engine to be revved harder at any stage beyond this. In the city however, there is absolutely no issues even with a full load of 7 passengers.3. Thick A pillar (it thickens at the bottom) has the potential to create serious blind spots. Had to keep stretching my neck to ensure that I did not have any accidents, specially in the winding ghat sections.4. Quality of the audio, very pedestrian.5. Rear door takes some skill and time to understand how to shut in one go without banging it in.6. Fit and finish at the finer levels is not up to the mark and you see rough edges of the plastic in the areas behind the steering where the speedometer is placed as well as the glove box.. Its not too evident and visible, but for those with a keen eye, its an eyesore!Glove BoxSpeedometer area.7. Though the car is heavy and weighs in close to 1.2 tons, it is very prone to denting.8. No special labelling for such a special first of a kind 'Automatic MPV'. They don't even have the ABS labelling any more9. Fabric though fantastic in quality (Its leagues ahead of the earlier version) gets very dirty, very easily.10. Mid row AC is pretty noisy.1. 3M mats. Simply brilliant. Costed me a bomb of Rs 7.5k but a very good investment2. 3M polyvinyl covering for the fenders and bonnet. Too expensive at around 19k, but wanted to ensure that the face of the car is kept as pristine as humanely possible.3. 3M under chassis treatment.4. Door beadings and window visor.5. Michelin XM2s (Rs 2.8k paid for the OEM MRFs and 5.65k paid per new Michelin tyre). They are super silent and smooth compared to the noisy MRFs.6. Rear Spoiler7. Driver seat with height adjuster proposed in the near future.8. Goodyear Digital Air Compressor9. 3M carpet covering plastics. No fear of dirtying the carpets in areas that the mats don't cover anymore!10. 2 years extra warranty.First Service Feedback:Got the engine oil and filter changed despite Maruti telling me that it was unnecessary. Did this for my personal psychological peace! The car seats came back much dirtier than ever. Some plastics scratched as well. A dent on the door to compliment.1. The Braking system is supplied by Bosch2. The Automatic Gear system is supplied by Aisin. Posting a few snaps here for the ones with penchant for detail! http://www.aisin.com/product/automotive/ Open the link "Drivetrain related products" and it opens a window where you could see the same symbols as in the above snaps3. The meters clearly indicate that Maruti has the options of ESP and Cruise put in place!4. Bridgestone Rubber used for the AC pipings5. The handsome front facia of the car with the much improved bumpers and chrome6. The new VXi gets the music system of the earlier ZXi7. There seems to be part plastic cladding protection for the underarm suspensions in the front8. Getting into the third row of seats is not too tough9. Lots of neat cubbyholes to keep the change.10. Lastly, my son and me in the western ghats Last edited by Aditya : 8th January 2016 at 13:51 . Reason: Correcting image orientation
Operation Northwoods should be a familiar name to you if you have been snooping around the internet and otherwise to read about conspiracy theories. It is quite a famous conspiracy theory indeed, and in fact, it is a true one. Even though it is safe to assume that you are already know what Operation Northwoods actually is, but anyway let me give you a brief rundown of things, just in case. Operation Northwoods was a code name given to a proposed operation to overthrow the Cuban government led by Fidel Castro back in the 1962. Yes, back in the day the relationship between the communist Soviet Union and the United States were less than friendly, and it is also true that, it raised a lot of eyebrows in the United States government, when the communist resign assumed power in Cuba. The intentions of the men behind the plan had been somewhat just, but the methods they proposed were just way too radical and outright unethical by any standards. The plan was to stage attacks on United States military bases and on other United States establishments and then blame the attacks on Cubans. So that military action can be justified in Cuba by the United States and Castro regime could be overthrown by force.

If you wish to learn more about this interesting topic, then you have come to the right place. At insider monkeys blog page, we have put together the article titled 6 Facts About Operation Northwoods Conspiracy Theory Just click on the provided link to get instant access to the full article.
Samsung on Wednesday unveiled the Family Hub Refrigerator at CES, ongoing in Las Vegas through Saturday.

The new refrigerator sports a 21.5-inch full HD LCD screen on the upper right outside door, which doubles as a communications center.

The screen lets users post, share and update calendars, as well as pin digital photos, share images and leave notes.

The Family Hub Refrigerator supports WiFi, Samsung said in a statement provided to TechNewsWorld by company rep Kate Knox.

Fridge Features

The Family Hub Refrigerator has built-in speakers for music streaming, and it can connect to Bluetooth wireless speakers.

Users can view TV programs on the screen, using screen mirroring with their Samsung smart TV.

Three interior cameras capture images every time the fridge door closes  to take stock of its contents  and then send them to the users smartphone.

Users can check the contents through the Samsung Smart Home app.

The refrigerator also supports the Groceries by MasterCard app, codeveloped with Samsung, to aid online grocery shopping.

The Samsung Family Hub refrigerator will be available in the United States in May, in counter-depth and full-depth versions. In both stainless steel and black stainless steel.

It could cost around US$5,000, according to reports, but Samsung did not comment on pricing.

Shopping for Groceries

The Groceries by MasterCard app supports the latest versions of both Android and iOS, said MasterCard spokesperson Chaiti Sen.

It lets consumers order groceries from FreshDirect and ShopRite.

We have a strong relationship with both  and they share our vision of connecting consumers to stores in a way that is most convenient to them, Sen told TechNewsWorld. More grocers will be added to the app as the rollout continues through this year, through MasterCards partnership with MyWebGrocer.

Other Partnerships in the Works?

Samsungs arrangement with MasterCard may not be exclusive.

Our focus is launching the Family Hub  and [we] have not made any other announcements as yet, Samsung said.

Looking ahead, we continuously seek and evaluate new partnerships that enable us to innovate in order to create new benefits for our stakeholders, Sen remarked. MasterCard may explore other joint development opportunities with other partners.

Leaping into bed with Samsung first might have been a good strategic move, because MasterCard wants to be first, suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. They might get a few more transactions than if they didnt.

The Security Issue

With an increasing number of household devices connected to the Internet of Things, concerns about hacker attacks have been on the rise.

However, the threat is not much worse than anybody stealing magnetic strip information from credit cards, so in terms of relative security against the credit card, its not that bad, Enderle told TechNewsWorld. Identity theft is another issue.

All customer card and personal data will be stored in MasterCards secure wallet, and all card data is encrypted using the latest technologies, said MasterCards Sen. Further, we have plans to tokenize the purchases made through the grocery app.

From CES to Main Street

There will be 50 billion Internet-connected devices by 2020, Cisco has predicted.

For MasterCard, this [Family Hub Refrigerator] launch is another important step towards our goal of bringing commerce to every device, Sen remarked.

So, is it safe to assume that smart fridges soon will reach the mainstream?

Two years ago, Samsung put a PC in a fridge, and that didnt do well, Enderle pointed out. Then they tried a tablet in the fridge, and that didnt do well either.

The problem is that a refrigerators service life is eight to 10 years, while the high-tech hardware  chips and boards  have an 18-24-month life, Enderle noted. The hardware will become obsolete, and people wont want to pay extra for that.
General Motors has agreed to invest US$500 million in Lyft, and the companies will work together to develop an integrated network of autonomous vehicles, they said in a joint announcement on Monday.

As part of the agreement, GM will become a preferred provider of short-term vehicles to Lyft customers, and it will provide them with its OnStar vehicle location services.

GM will gain a seat on the Lyft board of directors.

The companies see the future of personal mobility as connected, seamless and autonomous, and they believe they can reach that goal more rapidly by working together, said GM President Dan Ammann, pictured above (center) with Lyft cofounders John Zimmer (right) and Logan Green (left).

Self-Driving Space Revs Up

The investment is part of Lyfts overall $1 billion capital raising effort, the company said, which includes $100 million from Saudi-based Kingdom Holding and several new and existing investors, including Janus Capital Management, Rakuten, Didi Kuadi and Alibaba.

The Kingdom contribution brings the companys investment total to $250 million, Lyft said.

Lyft  the second largest ride-sharing service in the U.S., behind Uber  provides more than 7 million rides per month in 190 cities nationwide, according to company figures.

GM is the latest automaker to jump into the autonomous vehicle space, which is under development on a number of fronts, in a bid to compete with Google, which has taken the lead in promoting this promising new industry to consumers.

This shows GM is paying attention to that and positioning itself for when that day comes, said Egil Juliussen, a principal analyst at IHS.

Toyota late last year announced a $1 billion plan to invest in robotics and artificial intelligence. Other automakers, including Tesla, have begun testing autonomous vehicles.

Google, which has led the industry in this space, last year hired industry veteran John Krafcik, the former chief of Hyundais U.S. operations, to lead its autonomous vehicle unit.

Weve talked in this space to a number of companies, said Vijay Iyer, spokesperson for GMs Global Connected Customer Experience and Urban Mobility business.

I think it complements what we do quite well, he told the E-Commerce Times.

GM Wades Into the Pool

GM last fall signaled plans to expand its development in the self-driving space, announcing that it would provide a fleet of autonomous 2017 Chevrolet Volts for use at its Warren( Mich.) Technical Center campus.

The supercruise autonomous vehicle feature, which has been undergoing tests since 2012, will be available in its 2017 Cadillac CT6 vehicles, GM said.

GM joined with Google in 2014 to test a ride-sharing service that utilized Chevrolet Spark electric vehicles, and it announced a New York City program called Lets Drive NYC. Residents of the Ritz Plaza, a 479-unit luxury residence in Times Square, were given access to Chevrolet Trax and Equinox vehicles and parking at 200 Icon Parking System garages around the city for up to three hours a month, with additional time priced at $10 an hour.

GM also worked with dealerships in Europe to launch a ride-sharing program called CarUnity with its Opel brand.

The company has been testing a ride-sharing program at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, with a fleet of EN-V 2.0 electric concept vehicles.

The potential market for autonomous vehicles is massive, IHS Juliussen told the E-Commerce Times, as about 1.1 billion of the world population of almost 7 billion are licensed drivers.

There is a massive market of potential customers who cannot drive their own vehicles, he pointed out, ranging from those who cannot afford to own their own cars, to members of two-income households who may not need two full-time cars, as well as senior citizens and disabled individuals who cannot drive their own vehicles.
New Delhi, India, January 08, 2016: Zebra Technologies Corporation has launched the TC8000 enterprise mobile computer, a landmark innovation in warehousing technology that will drive significant gains in productivity and decrease worker fatigue. The ergonomic, lightweight TC8000 mobile computer offers an innovative design that reduces muscle effort by eliminating the need for tilt and verify motions warehouse workers repeatedly conduct with traditional devices. Shaving seconds off each repetitive motion saves one hour per worker per shift  increasing productivity by an average of 14 percent based on workflow.

Zebra worked with users around the globe to completely re-think, re-design and re-engineer industrial mobile computers based on deep research and human factors analysis. The result is the new rugged Android-based TC8000 mobile computer  33 percent lighter than traditional mobile computers and requiring less muscle effort and reduced wrist motion to help increase the productivity of warehouse workers. It also reduces training time and makes data entry significantly faster and more accurate in challenging industrial settings.

Key Facts:

Designed for warehouses, third-party logistics, manufacturing and back-of-store retail environments, the TC8000 offers triple-shift battery power and can be used for warehouse management, price audits, store receiving, inventory management, voice-directed picking (VDP) and supply-line replenishment applications.

The TC8000 automatically updates legacy Terminal Emulation (TE) green screens into modern, graphics-based All-touch Terminal Emulation screens without requiring IT to modify back-end systems. The highly intuitive user experience on the TC8000s large touchscreen not only reduces the number of interactions required to complete a task but also increases accuracy.

The TC8000 is available with Zebras most advanced scanning engine and the industrys first hands-free proximity scanner in a handheld device, which can be enabled from a hip holster, presentation holster or a cart mount. Coupled with Zebras SimulScan Document Capture, it is now easy to capture multiple bar codes and entire forms with a single scan.

Zebra OneCare Support Service contracts can significantly reduce unforeseen support expenses for the TC8000 by providing comprehensive coverage, technical support, software updates and unique device diagnostics that will detect WLAN connectivity, memory and battery issues helping improve mobile worker productivity and reducing downtime.

Zebra will debut the TC8000 in booth #1603 at the 2016 NRF BIG Show being held on Jan. 17-20, 2016, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Bill Burns, senior vice president, Enterprise Visibility and Mobility, Zebra Technologies, said, The TC8000 mobile computer represents the greatest advancement in warehouse technology in more than two decades with its revolutionary design contributing to an extra hour of productivity per worker per shift without disrupting existing IT systems. Warehouses are evolving from simplified operations to tightly integrated profit centers as companies increasingly rely on analytics to drive business decisions. The TC8000 will help warehouse workers be more efficient and deliver more accurate information, ultimately helping businesses operate more profitably.

 Technuter.com News Service
One of the most iconic and recognizable brands both in and outside of the tech world will soon disappear... at least, as it relates to mobile devices. During a recent interview at CES, Motorola COO Rick Osterloh told CNET that they'll be slowly phasing out the Motorola brand.

Moving forward, Lenovo plans to unify its two phone businesses under the Lenovo name. Specifically, it'll reserve the Moto name for its high-end product line and its own Vibe brand for entry-level devices. The publication said the Motorola brand will live on in the corporate world as a division within Lenovo.

Kantar WorldPanel analyst Carolina Milanesi said Lenovo doesn't have a bad brand but Motorola stands for a lot, especially in mobile. It would be a shame to move away from that, the analyst added.

Indeed, Motorola's name is synonymous with the mobile industry. Martin Cooper, who led the company's communications systems division in the early '70s, conceived the first portable cellular phone (not to be confused with the car phone) in 1973. Cooper was given the green light to develop the device, bringing to market the DynaTAC (DYNamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) 8000x a decade later.

By the early 2000s, Motorola's Razr series took the mobile industry to new heights but the company lost much of its momentum and marketshare by the end of the decade. Google acquired Motorola's Mobility division in 2012 for $12.5 billion before selling it to Lenovo less than two years later for just $2.91 billion.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

German's Siemens company is ready to help Iran to improve its infrastructure sector, Yashar Azad, a spokesman with Siemens told Trend Jan. 7.

He made the remarks while responding to a question about the cooperation document was signed between the parties Jan. 6.

Iranian media outlets reported Jan. 6 that the country's Railways and Siemens have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in various fields.

Based on the agreement the parties will cooperate in electrification project of Tehran-Mashhad railroad, construction of Tehran-Isfahan high-speed railway, providing and maintenance of 500 passenger train coaches, as well as updating railway systems of the Islamic Republic, according to Iranian media outlets.

Under the agreement Siemens will also take steps to transfer technology to Iran via selecting Iranian partners.

"After the sanctions are lifted, Siemens and Iran will discuss possibilities of improving the country's infrastructure sector, in particular in railways sector. Both parties have agreed to this," Azad said.

Azad further underlined that any agreement will only take effect after lifting of all international sanctions, without giving further details about the signed document.
One of the great things about CES is that you're almost guaranteed to witness something you hadn't bargained for. Such was the case on Thursday when U.S. Marshals raided a booth exhibiting a discount electric "hoverboard."

Changzhou First International Trade Co. (CZ-First) had been having a pretty decent day according to Bloomberg. The Chinese company's hoverboard, dubbed the Trotter, had attracted the attention of passersby largely due to its unique one-wheeled design.

As it turns out, the design was a bit too unique (and familiar) to Future Motion. The startup, which rented a booth at CES in 2014 to showcase a product called the Onewheel (you guessed it, a one-wheeled scooter that's strikingly similar to the Trotter), felt the Chinese company's product was a total ripoff of his creation.

The product's inventor, Kyle Doerksen, said he learned of the Trotter when one of its users posted about it online. Doerksen's lawyer sent a letter to CZ-First in December asking them to stop selling the knockoff. It went unanswered. He also approached the company the day before CES opened its doors but didn't get anywhere.

As luck would have it, Onewheel's creator received a patent for his board's design earlier this week. Armed with it, he asked a judge on Wednesday to issue a temporary restraining order, hence the raid. Authorities confiscated all of CZ-First's merchandise and marketing material, leaving its employees clueless as to what to do next.

Doerksen told Bloomberg the raid not only eliminates what he described as an illegitimate competitor, but helps protect the reputation of the entire electric skateboard industry - one that has already been tarnished due to fire safety concerns.
It's not often that Silicon Valley rivals join forces for something, but tech companies tend to stand together when it comes to governments using their products to spy on its citizens. And there are few proposals more intrusive than those found in the UK's draft Investigatory Powers Bill, which has prompted Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo to make a joint submission expressing their concerns over this so-called snoopers charter.

The five companies are part of the Reform Government Surveillance coalition, which aims to address and reform current and potential laws regarding government surveillance.

The firms have warned the UK government that the Bill "could have far-reaching implications - for our customers, for your own citizens, and for the future of the global technology industry." In December, Apple voiced its protest at the proposals, saying: "We believe it would be wrong to weaken security for hundreds of millions of law-abiding customers so that it will also be weaker for the very few who pose a threat."

In today's submission, the companies also warned that the complex wording of the Bill could mean that firms are forced to weaken their encryption or provide backdoors, despite promises from the government that this wouldn't happen.

The bill also suggests companies may be forced to generate new sets of customer data simply because they're required to retain it. Part of the proposed legislation would require tech firms to store users' data for up to twelve months, including a record of every internet site visited, and allow government agencies unfettered access to the information; a form of online monitoring banned in the US, Canada, and every other European nation.

The US firms also state that the bill presents a risk to UK employees who work for the companies, as they may be targetted by law enforcement. "We have collective experience around the world of personnel who have nothing to do with the data sought being arrested or intimidated in an attempt to force an overseas corporation to disclose user information."

UK telecommunication companies Vodafone and EE have joined in the criticism of the bill, saying it could "significantly undermine trust in the United Kingdom's communications service providers."

Two weeks ago, it was reported that the UK government wants a note added to the bill that would see the bosses of any tech company that warns its users that British agencies are monitoring them face up to two years in prison.
In times of chaos, natural disasters, epidemic or terrorist attacks, is the United States ready to respond to the needs of its constituents especially most vulnerable populations like children?

Despite marked progress in recent years, the United States still lacks ample resources to treat children in disasters, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reported.

The AAP said that the country is still partly equipped to respond to the unique needs of children. Of all people, children are most susceptible to injury and illness during epidemics, acts of terrorism and natural calamities such as floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes.

"Children represent nearly a quarter of the U.S. population, but they are affected disproportionately by most disasters and public health emergencies," the authors of the report said.

The distinct needs of children ranging from specific drug formulations and small medical devices may hinder immediate treatment. This is because most emergency equipment are designed mostly for adults and these may not work for kids.

The report titled, "Medical Countermeasures for Children in Public Health Emergencies, Disasters or Terrorism," states that despite significant strides made in the last 10 to 15 years, there is much to be done to meet the needs of children of all ages. The availability of equipment, supplies, devices, medications and even vaccines is adequate but presently approved to be used by only adults.

The Government Needs To Fix The Problem

To meet the needs of children, the AAP recommends stockpiles should also include proper medicines with accurate dosages for children. The United States needs more investment in treatments appropriate for children including research to develop age-appropriate therapies.

"Without research and development the pipeline of new and innovative medical countermeasures will not be achieved or sustained," said lead report author Dr. Daniel Fagbuyi of George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

"Life or death is what's at stake," Fagbuyi added.

Though in times of emergencies, there are mechanisms for the use of unapproved medicines and devices for children, more research is needed to assure efficacy and safety. The researchers recommend that the federal government should develop medical countermeasures (MCM) for children.

Biomedical research should be conducted to develop MCM for children that are safe, effective and age-appropriate. The distribution and forward deployment of medical needs should consider the location of children congregates such as schools, camps and communities. These locations should be explored as opportunities for advance cache storage and fast distribution to families.

Added costs should not hinder ample medical supply to children during disasters

Since children's needs are different from that of adults', concerns about added costs or storage space for pediatric-appropriate medical equipment or medicines should not hinder the government for lesser protection for children.

Dr. David Schonfeld, author of the study and a professor at the School of Social Work and Pediatrics at the University of Southern California and Children's Hospital Los Angeles, compare the scenario to a life boat that only has life vests for adults and if it will buy child-sized vests, it will cost too much.

"So in this situation if the boat sinks, there's only going to be life vests for adults because that will save the most people per dollar. I don't think anyone would agree that that's acceptable," he said. He added that a remedy is needed to be able to supply the needs of children in the country.

Finally, the authors said that federal officials need to have a plan in place for storage and distribution of emergency medications for children.

"The recommendations outlined in this statement should be used to guide pediatricians; federal, state, and local government agencies; and others in addressing this need," the researchers concluded.

Photo: NASA/NOAA GOES Project | Flickr

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
North Korea has detonated its first hydrogen bomb, which the North Korean state television officially announced. If it turns out to be true, the Hermit Kingdom takes a considerable leap toward the country's militaristic aspirations.

Compared with plutonium weapons, a hydrogen bomb is more impressive in terms of power.

"If there's no invasion on our sovereignty we will not use nuclear weapon. This H-bomb test brings us to a higher level of nuclear power," North Korea's state news agency says.

To illustrate how strong the bomb is, the U.S. Geological Survey observed a magnitude 5.1 earthquake east-northeast of Sungjibaegam, which is 12 miles away from the test site.

The measurement of the seismic occurrence is on par with the 2013 atomic bomb test, and it's estimated to be 100 times more powerful than the atomic bomb deployed in Hiroshima in 1945.

Back in December, the leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un first declared that the country had the technological resources to create a thermonuclear weapon. In response, the White House doubted North Korea's claim, and experts said that even though it's possible, it would be quite a feat for the reclusive country to pull off.

"North Korea appears to have had a difficult time mastering even the basics of a fission weapon, starting with a first test of apparently less than one kiloton and achieving only about 10 kilotons by its third nuclear test, seven years later," Bruce Bennett, a defense analyst at Rand Corp, says.

The United States wasn't able to immediately confirm whether or not it really was a nuclear test, but it's keeping an eye on the matter.

"We are aware of seismic activity on the Korean Peninsula in the vicinity of a known North Korean nuclear test site and have seen Pyongyang's claims of a nuclear test," John Kirby, State Department spokesperson, says.

Meanwhile, South Korea says North Korea violated the agreements with the United Nations Security Council to ban the development of nuclear weapons.

"This is a grave provocation to our security, threatening the survival and future of our nation and further directly challenging peace and stability in the world," South Korean President Park Geun-hye said during a National Security Council meeting held in Seoul.

Japan considered the event as a "grave threat" to the country's security, and it'll cooperate with countries such as the United States, China, Russia and South Korea.

China's response is considered as one of the most important denouncements, as the event has accentuated the country's inability to influence its ally's dangerous undertakings.

"Beijing formally protested, expressed concern over radioactive fallout in areas bordering North Korea, and indicated it would support new, punitive UN security council action as demanded by South Korea, among others," Simon Tisdall writes.

China Xinhua News has uploaded a video that shows how a school near the test site was affected by the event, where the staff and children had to evacuate because of the tremors.

Students, teachers evacuate in NE China border town after feeling tremor due to #DPRK #HBomb test pic.twitter.com/rQ0xdNFmDq  China Xinhua News (@XHNews) January 6, 2016

In the meantime, the U.S. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio castigated the foreign policy of President Barack Obama.

"If this test is confirmed, it will be just the latest example of the failed Obama-Clinton foreign policy. I have been warning throughout this campaign that North Korea is run by a lunatic who has been expanding his nuclear arsenal while President Obama has stood idly by," Rubio says.

I was asked today how I would deal with North Korea. Here are four things I would do to stop them: https://t.co/epEwtdujHx  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 6, 2016

This marks the third explosion during Obama's presidential term, and by the look of things, the North Korean nuclear test would likely have an impact on the presidential campaign in the United States.

On the economical side of things, stock markets could drop in light of the recent event, as political instability affects the economy.

It appears that North Korea's hydrogen bomb test has unnecessarily stirred up the countries and would have an effect that traverses beyond the hermit country's neighbors.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
As average global temperatures begin to rise due to human activity, scientists say the drastic effects of climate change continue to take effect all over the world.

One of the most severely affected sectors is the field of agriculture. In the past decades, extreme weather conditions caused by climate change have disrupted global food production.

"The food system is already stressed in many ways," said Professor Navin Ramankutty of the University of British Columbia, an expert on global food security and sustainability.

With the adverse effects of climate change, Ramankutty said the phenomenon is becoming an additional stressor to global food production.

The Effects Of Climate Change On Global Cereal Harvests

Ramankutty is the senior author of a new study featured in the journal Nature, which examined the link between weather-related disasters and food production.

Along with a team of researchers from UBC and McGill University, Ramankutty found that extreme heat waves and droughts have reduced global cereal harvests such as maize, wheat and rice by 10 percent in a span of 50 years.

The impact persists even in areas where farming is technologically advanced, researchers said.

In the study, the team looked into the "fertilizing effect" in which high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could have visible effects on crops, an effect that could outweigh the damage caused by droughts and heat waves.

Ramankutty and his colleagues analyzed records that contained national food production of 16 different cereal crops in 177 countries, and compared the effects of 2,800 weather disasters that occurred from 1964 to 2007.

After evaluating their data, the team created a detailed snapshot of how extreme weather conditions affected global cereal harvests.

In North America, Europe and Australia, droughts and heat waves had both caused an average reduction in cereal harvests by about 20 percent. They also found that the average reduction in cereal harvests caused by droughts and heat waves increased from 6.7 percent in the mid-1980s to 13.7 during more recent years.

Nations With Advanced Agricultural Technologies

Pedram Rowhani, a co-author of the study, said they found that the production cut was far worse in richer countries, and they predict that these extreme weather conditions will continue in the future.

The team also found that nations with advanced agricultural technologies and farming methods were more susceptible to heat waves and droughts compared to nations that are less advanced.

Corey Lesk of McGill University, the first author of the study, said crops and farming methods across North America are very uniform across huge areas. If a drought hits and damages the crops, it will result in a massive domino effect and all the crops will suffer, he said.

In the developing world, the farming systems are made up of patchworks of small fields with diverse crops.

"If a drought hits, some of those crops may be damaged, but others may survive," said Lesk.

With that, Rowhani said that if governments do not adapt agricultural systems to become more resilient to these shocks, more losses will occur in the future.

Still, Lesk said farmers in developed nations rarely rely on harvests for direct food, and they usually have access to crop insurance in case of extreme weather. Their optimal strategy should be to maximize yields instead of minimizing the risks of weather-related crop damage, he said.

On the bright side, the study also found that extreme weather conditions have no significant and lasting effects on food production in the years following weather-related disasters.

"Our findings may help guide agricultural priorities and adaptation efforts, to better protect the most vulnerable farming systems and the populations that depend on them," said Ramankutty.

Scientist Says Agriculture Benefits From Carbon Emissions

Meanwhile, a former delegate of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said climate change provides several benefits for agriculture.

In a report, Indur Goklany, a science and technology policy analyst at the U.S. Department of the Interior, said carbon has the ability to fertilize plants, and that it has led to an increase in fossil fuel emissions.

This plant fertilization greatly contributes to the health of crops and is accountable for increasing crop harvests by 10 to 15 percent, he said.

Aside from that, wild places on the planet have turned greener because of the increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Plants had also become stronger during droughts because carbon dioxide has boosted plants' water-quality.

Contrary to previous notions that only look at the negative effects of global warming, the benefits of carbon dioxide are only being realized now.

"My report should begin to restore a little balance," added Goklany.

Photo: Elias Gayles | Flickr

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Workaholics will soon rejoice as Harman Connected Car is teaming up with Microsoft to bring Microsoft Office in their cars.

For the first time in the automotive industry, Microsoft Office 365, which includes productivity apps such as PowerPoint, Word and Excel, will be brought into Harmans infotainment system as a result of the partnership. The collaboration between the two companies was announced during CES 2016 in Las Vegas.

By getting access to Office 365 services, users will be able to accomplish tasks hands-free, such as hearing and responding to emails, scheduling meetings and automatically joining conference calls, thanks to Cortana integration.

Working with Microsoft is a natural fit for Harman as we continue our track record of making the car more sophisticated, productive and intelligent, Harman President Phil Eyler says.

The company acknowledges that car owners these days prefer an immersive, personalized experience in their automobiles. This means the demand for richer productivity is indeed strong.

Harman claims the partnership will specifically bring in these nifty functionalities with great reliability, security and minimal distraction.

Similarly, Microsofts executive vice president of business development Peggy Johnson says the integration of Office 365 into the connected car systems of Harman is going to offer new productivity solutions. He also says this collaboration will considerably transform the driving experience.

By ensuring that Office 365 services are seamlessly integrated with car and driver telematics and performance data, we will allow consumers to be more productive during the driving hours, while enjoying for greater convenience, safety and reliability, says Johnson.

The two companies effort to provide productivity on wheels is going to be powered by Microsofts Azure cloud platform. Johnson reveals in an interview that Microsoft is broadening its focus into the automotive industry. He goes on to say that the companys focus is on cloud.

Weve been in the automotive arena for years and weve broadened it to tap into the cloud, she says.

In the meantime, Google and Apple are also focusing on similar efforts in the form of CarPlay and Android. Also, Google is now busy testing out its autonomous cars while Apple is highly speculated to be working on its own autonomous car. In fact, in October last year, Apple was rumored to be building its second spaceship campus in Sunnyvale down the road, and this campus has been rumored to house the companys electric cars.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
One of the most baffling sights this year so far: thousands of bright pink plastic detergent bottles getting washed up on a Cornwall beach in the United Kingdom. And locals are bracing themselves for more bottles to appear on the shore.

More than 2,000 bottles arrived at Poldhu Cove on the Lizard last Sunday, prompting diligent clearing operations. Volunteers warned that the bottles  expected to increase in numbers in the coming days  pose a potential risk to wildlife.

The pink bottles come from a container going overboard from a ship during a recent storm. Reckitt Benckiser (RB) is currently investigating the connection of its products to the bottles.

Plastic Bottle Invasion

[T]he Maritime Coastguard Agency sent a helicopter out and discovered that actually theres whole rafts of them that are likely to be coming our way, said Justin Whitehouse of the National Trust. The plastic bottles were believed to be full.

Whitehouse added that Lizard Point is among the largest shipping routes in the UK.

The high seas usually cause ships to lose containers, which will sink to the bottom and lie there for months prior to a storm breaking them open and rising to the surface.

In a statement, RB assured that regardless of the bottles origin, they are looking into the matter and providing financial, logistical, and technical support for cleanup and disposal operations.

Kids, Dogs Should Keep Away

In the meantime, the local council urged everyone to keep children and dogs at a safe distance from the bottles, some of which were seen foaming.

Cornwall Council and partners that include the Maritime and Coastguard Agency continue to monitor nearby beaches and perform cleanups.

The container was thought to be separated from its vessel near Lands End back in May.

Environmental Risks

Various groups expressed concerns over the situation, with plastic pollution in the seas already a pressing matter.

Cornwall Wildlife Trusts Matt Slater cited the bottles contents and their potential impact on the marine ecosystem.

[O]f course, the plastic bottles themselves could persist in the environment for hundreds of years, he said.

Smaller plastic pieces could be ingested by marine creatures, resulting in illness and even death.

Poldhu Beach Watcher added on Twitter that while the pink bottles can be cleared, the real environmental disaster lies on the lines of pulverized plastic remaining at every tide.

Pink bottles can be cleared but the real enviromental disaster is the lines of pulverized plastic left at every tide pic.twitter.com/Nsa45KaWg7  Poldhu Beach Watcher (@friendsofpoldhu) January 6, 2016

Plastic pollution in the oceans is a global concern. About 80 percent of marine litter originates on land and is largely made up of plastic, which could choke and starve seabirds, sea turtles, whales, and other marine animals to death.

U.S. environmental watchdog group Natural Resources Defense Council said this pollution not only threatens public and marine health, but also entails huge costs for cleanup, causes flood because of trash-blocked drains, and lost tourism revenue from dirty beaches.

A survey on some California communities, for instance, found that their total annual costs for preventing litter from turning into pollution is a staggering $428 million a year.

One of NRDCs key recommendations is to hold plastic producers and polluters accountable.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
With global consumption of sugary drinks increasing in the past few years, particularly in developing countries, health experts have tried pushed for the adoption of a soda tax to discourage people from overindulging on such beverages.

Efforts to start a soda tax have continuously been blocked by opponents, who claim that there is not enough evidence to date that can prove a tariff on sugary drinks can reduce consumption among consumers.

However, a new study featured in the journal BMJ has found that a tax on sugary drinks in Mexico has led to a considerable drop in consumption a year after it was implemented.

Figures show that the use of soda and other sugary beverages in the country was 6 percent lower than the average expected over the course of 2014. This percentage continued to increase as the year progressed, which eventually reached a 12 percent lower rate compared to the average expected by December.

Arantxa Colchero, an economist from the National Institute for Public Health in Mexico and one of the co-authors of the study, said the decline in sugary drinks consumption was greatest among people who earned the least amount of money, and that it appears to be going up over time as the habits of people in the country continue to change.

Despite initially being skeptical of the impact of a soda tax, food policy expert Corinna Hawkes of the City University London said that the BMJ paper has helped her reconsider her stance on the issue.

Hawkes, who was not involved in the study, said that the paper shows the potential of taxes to course things in the right direction.

Similar to the taxation of other products such as tobacco, which decreased in consumption as tax rates increased, the soda tax in Mexico helped influence the behavior of consumers.

Hawkes said that such policies can also help issues, such as the dangers of overconsumption of sugar, be brought into the political arena, where they can be discussed more prominently.

The decline in sugary drinks consumption is considered to be a major development in the Mexican government's efforts to curtail the growing obesity epidemic in the country.

Mexico is one of the member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to have the highest rate of overweight or obese adults (about 70 percent) and the highest rate of Type 2 diabetes.

The Central American nation also has the highest intake of sugary drinks per capita, which is about 70 percent of the total amount of added sugars consumed by the average Mexican.

Impacts Of Daily Sugary Drink Consumption

Aside from an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, here are some other effects drinking soda and other sugary beverages can have on the human body.

1. Prevents Weight Loss

The high amount of added sugar contained in soda can be highly counteractive for people looking to lose excess weight.

A single drink of canned soda can already give you about 160 calories. Provided that you continue to drink one can of soda every day, you can take in as much as 4,800 additional calories in a month. This adds about 1.4 pounds to your body weight.

In a year, your daily consumption of canned soda can add as much as 57,600 additional calories or about 16.8 pounds to your body.

While it is not definite that you will add precisely 16.8 pounds to your body weight as your body's metabolism will eventually be able to adapt accordingly to your consumption of calories, the figures show that you are likely to gain weight by drinking soda instead of other healthier beverages.

2. Limits Hydration Of The Body

Contrary to the popular belief that soda can quench your thirst, drinking such beverages can instead cause the body to lose more fluids. This is because many soft drink variants contain caffeine, a diuretic substance that speeds up the removal of water from the body in the form of urine.

You may be able to temporarily satiate your thirst with a drink of soda, but you won't become as hydrated as you can be if you drink water instead.

3. Can Cause Insomnia And Other Sleeping Problems

The caffeine content of soft drinks can also cause drowsiness because the substance blocks the impact of melatonin and serotonin hormones on the body. It also prevents sleep-inducing adenosine receptors from binding.

Too much consumption of caffeine can lead you to develop insomnia, as well as keep you from receiving the complete benefits of a good night's rest.

Photo: Ruben Alexander | Flickr

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Segway's new hoverboard has an Intel RealSense eye, which is useful for when the self-balancing board morphs into a personal robot. The company showed off the multipurpose hoverboard during a presentation at CES 2016 in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

It's a new leaf for the Segway company, which was recently taken in by China's Ninebot. The new Ninebot Segway aims to be cooler than the traditional Segways, which was rivaled only by Google Glass in the amount of ridicule it received on the streets in the States.

The Ninebot Segway employs a bar-less build, giving users hands-free control over the self-balancing board. But beyond that, the Ninebot Segway has a mind of its own.

"For years, there has been the promise of a personal robot that would provide real help in and around the house," Ninebot says. "This Tuesday at CES, Segway took a big step towards making that dream a reality with its Segway Robot showcase in the opening demo for the CES16 Intel Keynote."

When a rider hops off of the hoverboard, the Ninebot Segway can shape shift into a robot that'll follow that person around, taking pictures and commands.

The robot uses Intel's RealSense camera to make its way around dynamic environments and it can interact with both users and sensors in the home. The robot also has an Intel Atom processor inside.

But just because this thing is a bot doesn't mean it slacks on speed and performance. The Ninebot Segway can hit a top speed of over 11 mph and can travel up to 18 miles on a single charge.

The Ninebot Segway also includes a depth sensing camera, fish eye tracking camera and a camera for taking photos.

The Ninebot Segway can get smarter. The robot's platform is open and compatible with Android, and the company has issued a call on developers to have a go at it.

"Segway plans to make the robot commercially available and will initially introduce a developer kit based on Android platform in second half of this year," Ninebot says. "Developers worldwide will be able to use this SDK to allow the robot to perform new applications and to interact with other devices."

Intel has helped develop the robot's Android-based platform, while Xiaomi has been Ninebot's investor. Both Intel and Xiaomi will accompany the Ninebot Segway along its next steps through the companies established joint engineering and strategic alliance.

The developer edition of the Ninebot Segway is tentatively slated for a Q3 2016 release. And it'll include the full software developer's kit.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
BlackBerry CEO confirms that the company will roll out at least one Android smartphone this 2016, and it could possibly be the BlackBerry Vienna. If this is successful, a second device could also be on the way.

Considering the success of BlackBerry's first Android device, the impact of the Priv seems to have reverberated through to the big picture of BlackBerry.

"Our new Priv device has been well received since its launch in November, and we are expanding distribution to additional carriers around the world in the next several quarters," BlackBerry CEO John Chen says (PDF), referring to the deal with T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon to sell the device following a 60-day exclusive agreement with AT&T.

In an interview at the CES 2016 trade show, the BlackBerry head honcho said that the company will only release Android smartphones this year, and a handset or two is already well under way.

While BlackBerry doesn't intend to abandon the BlackBerry 10, it won't be investing in the production of new hardware for the home-built operating system. With that said, the company will continue to support older devices, including a national security certification that will make them useful for business projects.

Interestingly, Chen also expressed his thoughts regarding the momentum that the launch of Priv created.

"The question is, does it last?" he says, continuing to remark that, down the road, he remains "confident in profitability this year" despite the circumstances.

BlackBerry is still tying up loose ends for the Priv, and it plans to deliver it to 31 countries in the near future and the entire U.S. market eventually. Currently, the price tag for the smartphone is pegged at $699, and according to Chen, it could be slashed down in due time.

As for the upcoming units, Chen unfortunately did not disclose their availabilities and pricing yet. Needless to say, there are no details of their hardware specifications yet as well.

Back in November, leaks of the BlackBerry Vienna emerged and made the rounds on the Internet, revealing a tall-looking phone with the traditional BlackBerry physical keyboard instead of the slider keyboard as seen ini the Priv.

Based on the images, the device will be fitted with both a rear camera with an LED flash and a front snapper. The microSD and SIM card trays are presumably on the left side, where the charging port is positioned above them.

The power button appears to be on the left side, whereas the volume controls can be spotted on the right side.

Seeing as the Priv could be getting the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update sometime in the first quarter, there's a slim chance that the Vienna could be rocking it at launch too  that is, of course, if the plans for the older sibling push through.

Nevertheless, details were sparse at best then, and they are still so until now, but assuming that the purported renders hold true, it'll also come in a slew of colors, including silver, blue, green and red.

To boil things down, it's a pretty safe bet to assume that the BlackBerry Vienna is about to see the light of day based on the latest developments, opening up even more options for BlackBerry fans who want to see more Android handsets this year. It could also be a good idea to hold off from buying a new smartphone this 2016 for a little while longer.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:

Prayers in Iran launched rallies against the execution of a prominent Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi Arabia, after Friday Congregational Prayer.

The rallies were launched in all Iranian cities on Jan. 8, the Fars news agency reported.

Reportedly, Iran's Islamic Propagation Coordination Council called on the prayers to rally across the country chanting "death to the House of Saud."

Over the past few days, the relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia deteriorated following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, on Jan. 2.

Reacting to al-Nimr's execution, a group of Iranian hardliners stormed Saudi embassy in Tehran, smashing furniture and setting fire to the building before being dispersed by police.

Officially, Iran expressed strong protest regarding the execution, and the fragile relations between the two countries started going even further downhill from there.

Iranian Foreign Ministry's Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said Jan. 7 the country's embassy in Sana'a was hit in an air strike by Saudi Arabia. However, the Saudi-led coalition, as well as Yemen's Foreign Ministry denied Iran's accusations.

Earlier in March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against Shia backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Quelling rumors that circulated on the matter, Amazon announced that it is ready to deliver its own brand of ARM-based silicon chips to electronics manufacturers.

Last year, Amazon was one of the United States tech companies that went overseas looking to purchase small and innovative enterprises. The largest global e-commerce retailer sealed the deal with Annapurna Labs for the sum of $350 million.

Annapurna Labs is a startup that has been manufacturing silicon chips for four years. The firm started its activity back in 2011 and made a staple out of its discrete presence in the IT semiconductor industry.

The startup focused its energy, resources and man-power on developing ARM-based "midrange networking chips for data centers" according to sources. The plus of this type of semiconductor is that it can transmit more data while using less power.

Rumors from last year pointed out that Amazon was planning to stop using chips from Intel, replacing them with the less power-intensive ARM chips. Better yet, having its chip-building production line means consistent savings for the American e-retailer.

A press release coming directly from Annapurna Labs sheds light on the matter.

The two companies set up a product line dubbed "Alpine," aimed to be a "foundation for next-generation digital services for the connected home," according to the press release.

What this means is that the Seattle-based e-commerce company will supply semiconductor chips to service providers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). It is estimated that Amazon's chips will power Wi-Fi routers, home gateways, Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices as well as streaming devices.

"In the fast-growing home application marketplace, new use cases and consumer needs are rapidly invented and adopted," notes Gary Szilagyi, VP of Annapurna Labs.

Amazon and its subsidiary want to deliver "a high-performance platform," which its clients can use when building the type of hardware that meets consumer demands. Whether they will be used for connected devices or fast connectivity, the ARM chips will provide the processing power needed to get the job done.

With an increasing number of platforms relying on 32-bit ARMv or 64-bit ARMv architectures, it can be said that both Annapurna and Amazon are in the books for success.

The e-commerce company already offers cloud computing programs via Amazon Web Services (AWS), and by entering the manufacturing of semiconductors, the corporation will gain leverage in the 'Internet of Things' market.

Intel continues to dominate the server market without blinking, as ARM chips still have a long way to go before competing in that niche. The ARM chips might not be powerhouses such as rival Intel's semiconductors, but they are powerful enough to do a myriad of tasks. Amazon aims to pack Annapurna's chips into low-power devices, such as household appliances.

Other companies, such as AMD, already developed ARM-based server chips for data centers.

Negotiations between Amazon and big names such as Synology, Netgear and ASUS make it fairly certain that the ARM chips will be part of the devices manufactured by these companies.

Starting this week, Annapurna affirms that "other OEMs and service providers" will have access to its processors.

It remains to be seen whether or not Amazon will equip its own Kindle devices with the ARM chips, but we will keep you posted if it happens.

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In a finding that further links dinosaurs and their modern bird descendants, paleontologists report some dinosaurs engaged in mating dances similar to those employed by today's birds.

The evidence for such behavior lies in 100-million-year-old rocks that bear large scrape marks similar to what results from modern birds' "nest scrape displays" or "scrape ceremonies," researchers say.

In such behaviors, males attempt to attract mates by showing off their ability to excavate pseudo nests for potential partners, they explain.

The ancient dinosaur scrapings were found in western Colorado.

"These are the first sites with evidence of dinosaur mating display rituals ever discovered, and the first physical evidence of courtship behavior," says Martin Lockley, a geology professor at the University of Colorado Denver.

The new finding, along with previous discoveries of dinosaur head crests and colorful feathers, strengthens speculation that dinosaurs engaged in sophisticated mating displays, the researchers say in a study appearing in Scientific Reports.

More than 50 of the dinosaur scrapings were discovered by Lockley, a noted expert on dinosaur footprints, in an area already known for foot tracks of both herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaurs.

Large theropods, two-legged carnivorous dinosaurs, likely made the scrapes marks in Colorado, the researchers suggest. A leading candidate is Acrocanthosaurus, which could reach 38 feet in length and weigh close to 7 tons.

Paleobiologists have long speculated that dinosaur mating rituals might resemble those of some modern bird descendants like ostriches and Atlantic puffins, both of which conduct energetic dancing displays.

Breeding season would have been a time of great activity and even frenzy among the dinosaurs, Lockley says.

"This is typical of some bird species," he explains. "The extensive scrape evidence suggests much high-energy activity. If small birds get excited when breeding, imagine what big theropods might have done!"

Males would have been the primary dancers and scrapers, he argues, as males are the main "show-offs" in birds today.

However, while some carnivorous dinosaurs evolved into bird descendants retaining display abilities, Lockley acknowledges, "there is no reason to suppose that all theropods developed this behavior, or that all descendants should have inherited it."

Still, he says, the scrapings are strong evidence of dinosaur mating displays and the evolutionary power of "sexual selection," in which female dinosaurs may well have chosen the most impressive male performers as mating partners.

"These huge scrape displays fill in a missing gap in our understanding of dinosaur behavior," he suggests. The scientists made molds of the scrapes and took layered photographs since the scrapes could not be removed without damaging the fossilized markings.

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Heres the thing about Google Translate: it is not perfect, and the method it uses to essentially crowdsource the data behind any given translation isnt always correct. The perfect example of this is a recent string of particularly poor translations when going from Ukrainian to Russian which included the particularly amusing error of changing Russian Federation into Mordor, the fictional home of the evil Sauron in Lord of the Rings.

Thats not the only problematic Ukrainian-to-Russian translation. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, became "sad little horse and Russians reportedly became occupiers. Why did it do this? Well, because Google designed it to do that, basically.

"Google Translate is an automatic translator  it works without the intervention of human translators, using technology instead, The Independent quotes a Google spokesperson as saying in a statement. When Google Translate generates a translation, it looks for patterns in hundreds of millions of documents to help decide on the best translation for you.

So, basically, the patterns in hundreds of millions of documents decided that the best translation of the Ukrainian version of Russian Federation into Russian was actually Mordor. Speculation points to the protests in Ukraine of Russian operations as the ultimate culprit, effectively poisoning the data well from which Google Translate then drank deep.

The translation issue arose Jan. 4 and has since reportedly been fixed, but its a good example of how our algorithmic future isnt always going to run smoothly without the helping hands of actual humans.

Source: Ars Technica

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Alienware has teased a new 13-inch gaming laptop that is set to be, according to the company, the first gaming notebook with an OLED display.

OLED technology basically uses organic layers rather than crystalline structures to display information. What this means is that the screen is able to display at broader viewing angles while using a lot less energy than others.

Not only that, but OLED displays are also able to output much deeper black levels because the technology doesn't use a backlight, which can sometimes brighten blacks up on other display types.

Last but not least, OLED displays are able to refresh much faster, reducing stutter, which can be very helpful in gaming situations.

While the tech is seen as a lot better than other types of displays, it also costs a lot more, which is why it has largely been limited to high-end televisions and some gaming systems.

Alienware, which is owned by Dell, isn't giving away too much information about the computer at this point, however, it has said that the new computer will resemble the current non-OLED 13-inch laptop that it offers. Reports indicate that the screen will have a resolution of 2,560 by 1,440, along with specs similar to those found on the last Alienware computers, including sixth-generation Skylake processors. Users should also be able to buy the computer around mid-April, and it will be priced starting at $1,499.

Via: Digital Trends

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Hyundai has given a few more details about its first all-electric car, the Ioniq, which is a sedan that will be sold with options to turn it into a gasoline-hybrid, a plug-in, or a fully-electric car.

The company has released a number of clear images that show off both the exterior and the interior of the new car.

While we haven't really seen the front of the car yet, we do get a good look at the back of it, and it looks somewhat like the Toyota Prius, a car that Hyundai is clearly attempting to outclass. Despite this, the Hyundai back looks more familiar, and the company is clearly looking to sell the car to the mass market. While that's also true of the Prius, Toyota has always leaned a little more into the weirdness when it comes to the design of the car, polarizing opinions of it.

As mentioned, Hyundai plans to offer three different versions. The hybrid version will ease stress that might come with driving the car long-range,while the all-electric is obviously the best for both the user's wallet and the environment.

The Ioniq will launch in March at the Geneva Auto Show, at which point we hope to find out information like pricing.

Via: The Verge

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Edward Snowden could be arrested by the United States government the moment he enters the country, but he made a surprise appearance at CES 2016, thanks to the screen-on-wheels robot.

The whistle-blower and former contractor of the National Security Agency was able to attend Suitable Technologies' press conference and virtually converse and intermingle with the audience via the company's Beam telepresence robot.

The founder of Xprize Foundation and executive chairman of Singularity University, Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, was lucky to interview Snowden, who became popular for handing over secrets of the U.S. government to different publications, during the event.

Snowden said that Beam is not only beneficial as office technology, it can be used to subvert governments as well. He also expressed his delight on new technologies, such as the Beam, which allows him to participate in different events in the country, given his current situation.

"This is the power of Beam, or more broadly the power of technology," he said during the interview with Diamandis. "The FBI can't arrest a robot."

Ben Wizner, lawyer of Snowden, revealed to The Guardian that the former government employee did not receive compensation for talking at the event, which was verified by Suitable. However, Wizner underscored that his client greatly "benefited" from the new technology.

At some points, he lauded new innovations showed off at CES this year, particularly virtual reality and artificial intelligence systems (and, of course, the Beam).

"What if you could commute to work without having to sit in traffic?" asked Snowden.

He went to say that the U.S. government cancelled his passport, "but I'm sitting here in Las Vegas with you guys at CES."

Snowden added that technology is not only a tool for "oppression," but also an instrument for "liberation."

He also emphasized that he thinks that the newly launched technologies seem promising only if companies take into account security and privacy.

Beam Telepresence Device

The Beam is equipped with video camera plus a display which allows people to remotely view and even move around different places, such as offices.

Diamandis, for instance, revealed that he has six Beams at his offices in Xprize, 28 at Singularity University and one at his house.

On Coming Home

Snowden was questioned if he wishes to come home. He replied "absolutely." However, he also said that the U.S. government did not give him enough assurances as to how he was going to be treated.

He even added that what the government only guaranteed is not to "torture" him.

In the meantime, in November last year, we reported that Snowden was the keynote speaker of the Queen's University Model United Nations Invitational in Canada. He spoke to more than 600 participants through Skype.

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The annual CES is packed with sights that are not often seen, and CES 2016 is no exception. The floor of the annual tech show is filled with spectacles such as virtual reality devices, futuristic concept cars and drones, among other things, with exhibitors always looking to upstage their competitors.

However, on Thursday afternoon, a pair of U.S. federal marshals were seen raiding an electric skateboard booth. The marshals packed up one of the one-wheeled skateboards that was on display, along with fliers and signs that promoted the product.

The incident was not one of the usual publicity stunts at the trade show, though Changzhou First International Trade Co., the exhibitor that saw its booth raided, sure wished it was.

Bloomberg reported that until the raid, Changzhou First International Trade was doing well in the day. While it was not the only dealer of electronic skateboards or hoverboards at CES 2016, show attendees were taking notice of its product known as the Trotter. Unlike hoverboards with wheels on either end, the Trotter features a board with one wheel in the middle.

Many Chinese companies have sold products at the CES 2016, with the Consumer Technology Association allowing any company to put up a booth at the show as long as they pay the required fees. However, many companies have expressed disdain over low-cost competitors at CES 2016, as they believe that their trademarks and patents are being violated.

The raid against Changzhou First International Trade was the result of a weeks-long effort made by Future Motion, a startup company that claims to have invented and patented an electric skateboard that looks very similar to the Trotter. Future Motion sent members of its legal team to accompany the marshals in the raid, who served a court order at CES 2016.

A woman at the booth of the Chinese company said that Changzhou First International Trade will be consulting a lawyer. The Consumer Technology Association, meanwhile, refused to issue a comment.

Future Motion's Onewheel skateboard, from which the Trotter is said to be copied from, is the creation of designer Kyle Doerksen. He rented a booth at CES 2014 to show off a prototype of the Onewheel, and a Kickstarter campaign that was launched on the same day of the tech show was able to raise $630,000.

At CES 2015, Doerksen returned with a more finished model. For CES 2016, however, Future Motion decided not to get a booth, but was in Las Vegas to meet up with potential business partners.

Future Motion, which has recently received a second patent for the design of the device, first discovered about Changzhou First International Trade's Trotter late last year when a Onewheel customer alerted the company about the product. The Trotter was listed on the online marketplace of Alibaba, with the price of the electric skateboard at $500. In comparison, the Onewheel carries a price tag of $1,500.

Shawn Kolitch, a lawyer for Future Motion, demanded Changzhou First International Trade to stop selling the Trotter through a letter. The Chinese company did not respond. Kolitch again tried by approaching the booth of Changzhou First International Trade before CES 2016 began, but that was not fruitful as well. By the afternoon of Jan. 6, the company filed for a request with a judge to prevent the display of Trotters.

The booth of Changzhou First International Trade now has all its merchandise and signs taken away. For Doerksen, the shutdown of the booth does not only cut off an illegal competitor to his product, but also protects the reputation of the burgeoning electric skateboard industry.

Electric skateboards and hoverboards reached massive popularity over the recent holiday season, which prompted certain companies to take advantage of the demand. However, some models were of low quality and presented risks of bursting into flames.

"If customers start to view the space as full of low-quality, low-cost products, that reflects poorly on everybody," Doerksen said.

"We hate to see someone poison the well."

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Microsoft is planning to make it easier for Windows device owners to access LTE cellular data, as a Microsoft SIM card is apparently in the works.

This new SIM card will most likely be for Windows 10 mobile devices only, but it remains unclear for now just when it will become available, or with which device models it will be compatible.

Nevertheless, Microsoft is currently testing a new cellular data app that enables Windows 10 devices to connect to various mobile network operators contract-free. This would greatly facilitate LTE access and make things more convenient for consumers who are not on a contract.

Microsoft already published this cellular data app on its Windows Store, but has yet to make an official announcement in this regards. The app's description notes that it's designed to work on Windows 10 devices and that it requires a Microsoft SIM card (see image above).

This means that Microsoft plans to launch its own SIM cards at some point in the near future, but it's tough to tell for now just when this will occur. It also remains unclear which markets will get the new Microsoft SIM cards, or how much the contract-free cellular data will cost.

The most plausible theory is that Microsoft will sell plans directly through its Windows Store, and the app's description already notes that the cellular data will be tied to one's Microsoft Account.

"Connect with - and pay for - a mobile data plan on your Windows 10 device using only your Microsoft account information. That means no fixed contract and no long term commitments to a mobile network operator. Now you can buy and use mobile data at your own convenience," Microsoft notes.

Microsoft could also be working on creating its very own mobile virtual networks in order to allow Windows 10 mobile users with a Microsoft SIM to connect to partner carriers. Teaming up with carriers would make sense considering the lack of contracts, but Microsoft could also be planning a different strategy similar to how Apple SIM cards work.

The Apple SIM are compatible with select iPad models, allowing users to switch mobile carriers without having to switch their SIM card as well when going abroad. Just recently, Apple added short-term cellular data plans to its offer, exclusively available via AlwaysOnline Wireless.

Microsoft, for its part, has yet to announce which markets will get the new Microsoft SIM card, but the app's description does reveal that the service will launch in some markets, initially offering only domestic plans. International roaming offers will apparently become available afterward, but it remains to be seen whether they will be among the lines of the Apple SIM offers.

Considering that the new cellular data app from Microsoft already surfaced on the Windows Store, it shouldn't be too long now until Microsoft makes a formal announcement in this regards. More details regarding the Microsoft SIM should surface shortly, and we'll keep you up to date as soon as we learn more.

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After streaming the true crime doc-series Making a Murderer on Netflix, many viewers were left feeling like they needed to take action to help Steven Avery and his cousin Brenden Dassey, who are both in prison for a crime they say they did not commit. So a petition on the government site We The People began circulating, asking the president to pardon the men.

The petition said that based on the evidence in the documentary Making a Murderer, "the justice system embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives," adding that the Manitowoc County sheriff's department used improper methods that resulted in the convictions.

Because the petition on the White House-sponsored site for increasing participation in government obtained at least 100,000 signatures within 30 days  129,895 signatures, according to the final tally  terms call for the White House to address it within 30 days. And now the verdict is in.

The White House explained that President Obama cannot pardon Avery.

"Under the Constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those adjudicated in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President," the response reads. "In addition, the President's 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 only federal criminal convictions can be pardoned by the president, and Avery and Dassey's cases are state criminal offenses, President Obama has no authority to take action, and only the authorities at the state level would be able to do so.

Still, the White House acknowledges that sometimes the justice system fails, something President Obama has worked to correct.

"While this case is out of the Administration's purview, President Obama is committed to restoring the sense of fairness at the heart of our justice system. That's why he has granted 184 commutations total  more than the last five presidents combined  and has issued 66 pardons over his time in office," the White House writes.

While this may be another blow to Avery and his supporters, there is always hope on the state level. Although, after watching the doc-series, many may feel like this would be impossible.

To further educate people about Avery's case, mystery and suspense network Investigation Discovery announced on Jan. 7 that it will air a follow-up special called Front Page: The Steven Avery Story, hosted by journalist and Dateline NBC correspondent Keith Morrison.

The special will provide viewers with critical details about the case, and will air in late January.

Steven Avery was wrongfully convicted of sexual assault in 1985, serving 18 years in prison before DNA evidence exonerated him. After filing a $36 million lawsuit against Manitowoc County, Avery was arrested and convicted of the murder of Teresa Halbach along with his cousin Brendan Dassey.

Making a Murderer is available to stream on Netflix.

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When ABC's Galavant premiered last year, the series quickly gained a cult following. The medieval comedy musical series eventually got a second season, which premiered last week.

Although each episode is only 30 minutes long, ABC airs two episodes every Sunday, so every week, fans get a full hour of guys like Timothy Omundson, Joshua Sasse and Vinnie Jones singing their hearts out about such varied topics as unrequited love, heroism and piracy.

This weekend's episode, though, introduces a new actor to Galavant's stage, Muzz Khan, who might just steal the show as Wormwood's assistant, a character whose bio calls him the "Pakistani lovechild of Kramer from Seinfeld and Daphne from Frasier."

Khan, a well-known DJ on the European circuit, will also co-star with Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke in the film Me Before You, which releases later this year.

Tech Times spoke with Khan about his experiences with both projects. He began with a description of his character on Galavant.

"He's the assistant to the chief wedding planner  that's a spoiler alert right there  called 'Wormwood', played by the British acting legend that is Robert Lindsay!" said Khan. "In the audition breakdown, Barry was described as a 'stroppy intern.' During my audition, I played him semi-stroppy and a little bit dim and that's how he ended up. He struggles to get his house in order on most occasions and  quite literally  makes Wormwood lose the will to live. But he's a pure spirit and has a kind heart, which comes to the fore whenever he's not being told off by Wormwood!"

As expected, working on a wacky series like Galavant left its impact on Khan, not just because there's a lot of singing and dancing, but because it's also different from everything else on television.

"Working on Galavant has been one of the craziest jobs of my career," said Khan. "I mean, the show is so anarchic and really complex. Having to juggle the disciplines of regular screen acting with finely choreographed (and meticulously rehearsed) musical numbers complete with backing tracks and then obeying the laws of comedy after throwing in some improv, too. That's no mean feat, I tell 'ya."

Khan also credits his great experience working on the series to the show's cast and crew.

"From the producers and directors to the outrageously talented crew, everything that happened behind-the-scenes was a hoot," he said. "And the cast? Woah. From the word go, Tim Omundson was an absolute darling. Such a warm, encouraging and compassionate human being. In my ignorance, I had no idea who he was prior to this job, but he just came up to me and welcomed me into the fold and into the family. Likewise with Stan Townsend and Genevieve Allenbury. Those three are like the glue that hold us all together. And when you include Luke, Karen, Ben, Mallory, Vinnie and everyone else into the mix  you have all the hallmarks of a cast that are a joy to work with. Plenty of fun and laughs off-set as well as on. We worked together, we ate together, we partied together. The synergy is incredible."

Khan also talked about how he feels Galavant attracted such a rabid fan following since its premiere last year.

"The beauty about Galavant is there's nothing like it out there on television. Not in the U.S. and definitely not in Britain," said Khan. "Crucially, it doesn't take itself too seriously. So, as an audience member, you know it's a show you can just kick back and relax to. It's fun, side-splitting, easy viewing.

"It fuses Monty Python-esque humour with a medieval backdrop and keeps its tongue firmly in its cheek. And that sorta thing is alluring and seductive, man. Why wouldn't you wanna watch it?! I'm not surprised it has a massive cult following. For season two, we have some of the U.K.'s biggest talent involved as guest stars. When we eventually get it here in the U.K., things are gonna' pop!"

However, Khan's work also extends to the big screen in Me Before You, which also features some well-known actors. The movie is a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by JoJo Moyes.

"We have Emilia Clarke (from Game of Thrones), Sam Clafin (from The Hunger Games), Matt Lewis (from Harry Potter), Jenna Coleman (from Doctor Who)  actually, thinking about it, it kinda reads like a roll call of the biggest franchises in screen history, doesn't it?" said Khan. "My good friend Vanessa Kirby's in it, too. So, it was nice letting her know that I booked the job!

"I play Syed. In the book (and film), he's the guy who works at the job center and serves as Lou's (Emilia) career adviser. It's a role that's trimmed down a bit in the film, but still, what a joy to work with Emilia!"

Speaking of which, Khan admits that he was already a fan of Clarke's before ever working with her.

"Strictly between me and you  oooh, and the thousands reading this interview  I've always had a bit of a crush on Daenerys in Game of Thrones, so was a bit flustered when I'd learned that I'd got the part in Me Before You," he admitted. "But luckily for her and to save any doe-eyed embarrassment on my part, Emilia, thankfully, wasn't dressed in her G.O.T attire for this, so no flowing blonde wig or medieval get-up were present. It meant that I could  for once in my career  remain super-professional and get on with the job at hand!"

However, Khan teased that there's a chance he'll eventually make it on to Game of Thrones: he stated that the production behind the HBO series has contacted him several times. And it's also that he wouldn't mind working with Clarke again.

"And you know what? Emilia was a doll," he said. "She's so funny and charismatic. We had plenty of banter and jokes in between takes. And whenever the cameras stopped rolling! Really got on like a house on fire. She's one of a kind."

Don't miss Khan on Galavant Sunday nights on ABC.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

By Aygun Badalova - Trend:

Crisis in Saudi Arabia-Iran relations will invariably complicate the situation in other region's countries, such as Syria, Yemen and Iraq, senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, James Dorsey believes.

"All of these conflicts are as much domestic fights as they are Saudi-Iranian proxy wars. Heightened Saudi-Iranian tension intensifies these proxy wars," Dorsey told Trend.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran soured after execution of Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric, by the Kingdom along with other 46 people, which was followed by a strong protest from Iran.

Mass protests took place in Iran following the said execution. In particular, the Saudi embassy in the capital Tehran and the consulate in the city of Mashhad were attacked, after which Riyadh broke off diplomatic ties with Tehran on Jan. 3.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia's permanent representative to the United Nations, Abdullah al-Moallem said that relations with Iran will be restored only when Tehran stops "interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, including that of Saudi Arabia's".

The Iranian government has recently banned the import of products from Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia's goods from other countries.

Talking about the Iran's strategy to defend its interests in Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Syria, Dorsey said that Islamic Republic is in this for the long haul and despite public perceptions, is not on the defensive.

"It is well-positioned to fight this battle," Dorsey said.

"Having said that it would be a mistake to reduce problems in various countries to Iran defending its interests," he added.
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has sent new images to Earth from Pluto that reveal new details about the dwarf planet's icy terrain.

New Horizons used data from two instruments, including the its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (Lorri) to take pictures from a range of about 31,000 miles on July 14, 2015, and the Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC), which enhanced the color photo approximately 20 minutes after the photos were taken. MVIC did so at a range of 21,000 miles and at a resolution of about 2,100 feet per pixel.

The result is a composite image of 160 milieus across of Pluto's Viking Terra area.

The photo shows bright methane ices that are located on many rims of the planet's craters. The image shows a collection of small, red soot-like particles called tholins that are created from methane and nitrogen reactions. The viewer can see where this red material appears thick. Scientists believe the particles are riding along with the ice that is flowing underneath.

Lorri also transmitted back a high-resolution image on Dec. 24 that shows the icy plain known as Sputnik Planum that forms to the left side of the dwarf planet's "heart."

The images were also taken during its July 14 flyby when New Horizons was at its closet approach to the planet. The photos were taken with resolutions of about 250 to 280 feet per pixel and show off the planet's icy plains.

The image focuses on a strip of 50 miles wide and more than 400 miles long from the northwestern shoreline of Sputnik Planum and its surrounding plains.

The surface of this area shows a change in its composition, with scientists believing the darker blocks are probably icebergs that are floating in denser solid nitrogen.

The high-res image also reveals an "X," which scientists think is a site where four convection cells meet. They believe a pattern of the cells form the thermal conviction of the nitrogen-filled ices, and that a reservoir could be located somewhere deep within.

"This part of Pluto is acting like a lava lamp," William McKinnon, deputy lead of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team from Washington University in St. Louis, said in a press release, "if you can imagine a lava lamp as wide as, and even deeper than, the Hudson Bay."

NASA recently released other mind-bending photos of Pluto that were arranged using the infrared Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (Leisa). The results are psychedelic renderings that make any space enthusiast want to take a trip to the dwarf planet.

Source: NASA

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a draft version progress report on broadband access and use on Friday, and according to the federal agency, almost 10 percent of Americans  roughly 34 million people  lack basic average access to fixed broadband.

In a study that included Internet services like DSL, cable, fiber, satellite and Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs), the results found that a staggering disparity existed in broadband accessibility between rural and urban users.

"A persistent urban-rural digital divide has left 39 percent of the rural population without access to fixed broadband," stated the report, which was published on Friday, Jan. 8. "By comparison, only four percent living in urban areas lack access."

Even more devastating: 41 percent of Tribal Lands residents  those who live on lands legally-designated to members of indigent tribal nations  also lack access, and 41 percent of American schools fail to meet the FCC's goal of 1 Gbps per every 1,000 students, leaving 47 percent of U.S. students at a great disadvantage overall.

There is one optimistic finding: a general uptick in overall fixed access. As ARS Technica pointed out, 20 percent of Americans were without broadband fixed access at 25 Mbps for downloads, 3 Mbps for uploads  that number has fallen to 10 percent when last reported in 2014.

"While the nation continues to make progress in broadband deployment, advanced telecommunications capability is not being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion to all Americans," the FCC concluded.

The full progress report is set to be published later this year.

Via: ARS Technica

Photo: Sean MacEntee | Flickr

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Wicked : Google Translate terms Russia as Mordor and Russians as Occupiers

Looks like some engineer at the Googles Translate service has a very wicked sense of humor. The Googles Translate tool translated Russian Federation as Mordor, the fictional wicked city of evil lord Sauron from J.R.R.Tolkiens fiction, The Lord of The Rings.

Even more wicked is that the same tool translated Russians to occupiers and the surname of Sergey Lavrov, the countrys Foreign Minister, to sad little horse.

According to Google, the wicked translations happened due to an automatic bug which appeared in the online tool when users converted the Ukrainian language into Russian. However the terms actually mirror the language used by some Ukrainians for Russia following Moscows annexation of Crimea in 2014 so Google pinning the bug on automatic holds shallow.

The bug has now been patched according to Google. In a statement provided to the Guardian, Google said its translator tool works without the intervention of human translators.

When Google Translate generates a translation, it looks for patterns in hundreds of millions of documents to help decide the best translation.

Automatic translation is very difficult, as the meaning of words depends on the context in which theyre used. This means that not all translations are perfect, and there will sometimes be mistakes or mistranslations.

Many screenshots were taken of the erroneous translations in the past few days and shared widely on social media, particularly on VKontakte (VK)  the Russian language equivalent of Facebook.
Doctors use Google Cardboard to save a four-month-old babys life

A four-month-old baby born with only one lung and a defective heart got a new lease on life after doctors in Miami, Florida used Google Cardboard, the virtual-reality (VR) headset to explore her heart in a virtual, 3D form. The life-saving surgery that was made possible with Google Cardboard helped the baby celebrate her first Christmas with her family.

Teegan, one of the twins born on August 20 to Cassidy and Chad Lexcen of Minnesota, was born with only one lung and a critically deformed heart that had been displaced into her left chest cavity.

Doctors in Minnesota deemed the newborn inoperable  a word we hate here, said Dr. Redmond Burke, Nicklaus director of cardiovascular surgery. As standard 2D images did not provide enough detail of the state of her heart, doctors were too afraid to go ahead with an open-heart surgery.

The twins parents said they were told to prepare to let Teegan go. She was sent home with her twin sister Riley so that she could spend her short life with her family in Minnesota.

It was devastating, said Teegans mother, Cassidy Lexcen told WSVN News. Any parent that has to go through that is its devastating, and we lived every day by every day, knowing this could be her last day with us.

However, determined to save their daughters life, Lexcens scoured the Internet to find a team who could attempt surgery. After a couple of months, they found hope with the doctors at Miamis Nicklaus Childrens Hospital, who thought Google Cardboards virtual imaging could help with surgery on Teegans heart.

The pediatric surgeons at Nicklaus Childrens Hospital took computer scans of Teegans heart and lung and uploaded the images to an iPhone. The team converted 2D MRI scans of the deformed heart and one lung into 3D images using a $20 Google Cardboard. It finally gave surgeons a chance to visualize the procedure that would go on to save Teegans life.

The old VR images we used to get were just too grainy not specific enough for the fine detail you need to do open heart surgery on a baby, said Burke.

With VR imaging, doctors were able to successfully decide where to make their first incision. The doctors were able to proceed with the delicate seven-hour open-heart surgery, where they rebuilt Teegans aortathe bodys main blood vessel that leads away from the heartwith donated heart tissue and then connected her aorta and pulmonary artery.

I looked inside and just by tilting my head I could see the patients heart, Dr. Juan-Carlos Muniz, head of the hospitals MRI program, told UploadVR. I could see it as if I were standing in the operating room.

Finding out after the fact that helped save her life, thats phenomenal, said Cassidy Lexcen.

On Wednesday, four weeks after her surgery, baby Teegan was taken off a ventilator and is breathing on her own. Little Teegan is now recovering in the hospitals ICU with her parents, her twin sister Riley and the cardboard tech by her side. Doctors expect her to go home within the next two weeks and make a full recovery.

Being innovative seems to be the goal of this hospital and these doctors and innovation saved our daughters life, said Lexcen.

Its the best thing that we could have been given this time of year. We have another chance with our baby girl, and we didnt think we would ever have that, Lexcen added.

Dr. Burke, whos passion is to merge medical science with new tech, says his next project will involve raising awareness about the uses of VR imaging in the medical field.

This isnt the first time when an emerging technology helped doctors saving a life. In January 2014, an Indian doctor had used Google Glass to perform a foot and ankle surgery of a patient. An ACL surgery was also broadcasted directly through Google Glass in 2013.
United Kingdom lambasted by Apple, Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft over its proposed hacking law

In a rare bonhomie the three tech giants came together to criticize United Kingdoms new hacking law. Apple, Microsoft, Google and Facebook criticized plans by the UK government for a new law that would allow government authorities and law enforcement agencies to hack computer systems to access data.

According to the provisions of the draft Investigatory Powers Bill, government authorities and law enforcement agencies like intelligence and security services, police and the armed forces would be free to hack into devices belonging to Britons and visitors to United Kingdom to obtain data, such as communications, when they have a warrant to do so.

The draft bill has been pilloried by netizens on social network however, the government argues that the hacking provisions  part of the wider internet surveillance legislation  are needed so that law enforcement can intercept the communications of criminals even when they are encrypted.

However the gang of four tech companies have put together a warning saying that the plan would set a dangerous precedent that would be followed by other countries, will damage trust in their services and may be impossible to implement anyway.

The tech giants have issued a joint submission to the committee of MPs overseeing the nitty gritties of the bill before it is submitted before the UKs parliament for vote.

In the joint submission, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo state that, To the extent this could involve the introduction of risks or vulnerabilities into products or services, it would be a very dangerous precedent to set, and we would urge your government to reconsider.

We urge the government to make clear that actions taken under authorization do not introduce new risks or vulnerabilities for users or businesses they said.

In its submission Apple said the plans would put tech companies in a very difficult position. For the consumer in, say, Germany, this might represent hacking of their data by an Irish business on behalf of the UK state under a bulk warrant  activity which the provider is not even allowed to confirm or deny. Maintaining trust in such circumstances will be extremely difficult.

All the tech companies have warned that the bill if passed by UKs parliament would spell doom for, if followed by other countries, could endanger the privacy and security of users in the UK and elsewhere.

UKs largest mobile operator, Vodafone also joined the anti bill bandwagon. It warned that equipment interference elements are perhaps the most contentious of all the powers within the scope of the draft bill.

The obligations relating to equipment interference have the potential to significantly undermine trust in the United Kingdoms communications service providers, it warned.

Firefox maker Mozilla warned that the bulk systems intrusion provisions in the bill could be used to compel a software developer, like Mozilla, to ship hostile software, essentially malware, to a user  or many users  without notice.
Microsoft Will Be Providing Its Own SIM Card to Provide Contract-less Cellular Data

If you are a Windows 10 living in United States, you will soon be getting a contract-less SIM from Microsoft for surfing on the Internet. The Redmond based software giant is currently testing a cellular data app that lets Windows 10 devices connect to various mobile network operators without a contract.

Though the service is still under wraps, the listing for the cellular data app has been published to the companys Windows Store.

From the listing it can been seen that the App will work only with Windows 10 and requires a Microsoft SIM card. Other features of the App are as follows :

Service is available in some markets and offers are for domestic plans only  international roaming offers will be available soon. To purchase a data plan, you can follow these simple steps:

1. Click the WiFi icon at the far right of the taskbar

2. In the list of networks, look for one called Cellular data, then select it

3. In Mobile settings, select View plans, then follow the steps to buy mobile data and get online

As said above it is not immediately clear which markets Microsoft plans to launch its SIM card in, and the pricing of the cellular data however a US launch looks feasible. Microsoft is planning to sell plans through the Windows Store, so the data will be tied to a Microsoft Account.

Depending on availability, Microsoft could be planning to create its own mobile virtual networks to allow Windows 10 users to connect to partner carriers. As the App says the SIM will be contract-less, it means that Microsoft may need to create its own network with partners.
Edward Snowden speaks at CES 2016 disguised as a robot

The world is eagerly watching the electronic gadgets announced at CES 2016 being held at Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. And found among top celebrities who were vying for attention was serial whistle blower and ex-NSA contractor, Edward Snowden.

The former National Security Agency contractor, famous for leaking top secret documents pertaining to NSAs snooping and surveillance programs, made a virtual appearance at the Suitable Technologies booth here.

Snowden was in Las Vegas virtually through Suitables Beam, a roaming screen on wheels used for remote commuting and virtual meetings.

Snowden was in high praise for the virtual screen and said that Beam can be used to subvert government snooping and surveillance.

This is the power of Beam, or more broadly the power of technology, he said in an onstage interview with Peter Diamandis, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. The FBI cant arrest a robot.

Snowdens lawyer, Ben Wizner with the American Civil Liberties Union, said in an email that his client wasnt compensated for the event, which Suitable confirmed. But he has benefited from the technology, Wizner said.

Snowden seemed to be happy with the gadgets showcased at CES this year. He stated that he was happy to see companies take privacy and security into account while making gadgets. They dont really think of the security of these things very much, he said.

What if you could commute to work without having to sit in traffic? Snowden said speaking about Beam. The US government basically cancelled my passport, but Im sitting here in Las Vegas with you guys at CES.
A senior Iranian lawmaker says possible adoption of new sanctions against Iran by the US will harm a nuclear agreement reached between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries last July, Press TV reported.

The US is creating obstacles in the way of implementing the nuclear agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to express its dissatisfaction with its absence in Iran's markets, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said on Friday.

The US sought to advance its own economic interests in the JCPOA but we are witnessing in practice that the United States has been denied the chance for presence in Iran's markets, Boroujerdi added.

The JCPOA, reached between Iran and the P5+1 - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany - in the Austrian capital of Vienna on July 14, 2015, puts limits on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the removal of all economic and financial nuclear-related sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

In a letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on October 21, 2015, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei enumerated certain points on the implementation of the JCPOA and issued directives to be heeded in that regard, among them the government's duty to check the imports of goods from the US.

Congress to vote on fresh new sanctions

The Foreign Affairs Committee in the US House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that would limit President Barack Obama's ability to lift anti-Iran sanctions as stipulated in the JCPOA.

The bill is designed to prevent the removal of certain Iranian individuals and financial institutions from the US Treasury Department's sanctions list, until Obama assures Congress that they were not involved in Iran's ballistic missiles program or alleged terrorist activities.

The House committee's bill, which is scheduled for a vote in the full Congress this week, targets more than 50 individuals and entities included in an attachment to the nuclear agreement, as well as the Treasury's 'Specially Designated Nationals' list.

Boroujerdi further said that Iran and six world powers are likely to start implementing the JCPOA in the near future, adding that European countries will have an active presence in Iran's markets but the US would be denied such an opportunity.

"This is while the Americans sought to increase their economic revenues through the JCPOA," the Iranian lawmaker added.

He warned that the adoption of the new US bill would violate and undermine the JCPOA.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9



By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:



Iranian envoy to Baku has criticized Saudi Arabia for the execution of a prominent Shia cleric as well as over-supplying the oil market.



"We believe Execution of Sheikh Nimr was unjustifiable because he was a cleric who pushed for peace and was against terrorism and extremism to the extent that his execution has been condemned by the world," Iran's Ambassador Mohsen Pak-Ayeen told Trend Dec. 9.



Over the past week, the relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia deteriorated following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, on Jan. 2.



"Saudi Arabia has been pumping extra oil to the market with the aim of bringing down prices in order to follow western policy against Iran," he added.



Saying that the Islamic Republic pursues policy of friendly ties with its neighboring states as well as maintaining "positive" and "constructive" relations, the ambassador added that Iran's main demand is to fight against terrorism and extremist groups.



Meanwhile Iran urges for establishing stability and security in the region, he said.



"Unfortunately Saudi Arabian government made mistakes supporting terrorism in the region and adopting wrong policies which will lead to no result," Pak-Ayeen mentioned.



"I express my regrets over measures taken by Saudi Arabia aimed at creating discord among Shia and Sunni Muslims and expansion of Wahhabism in the Muslim states," he said.



"Despite the huge mistakes that Saudi Arabia has made, the Islamic Republic does not seek to create tension in the Middle East," he stated.



He further added that Iran seeks to foster friendship and brotherhood in the region which is facing threats of terrorism and extremism.



Contrary to Saudi Arabia, over the past 2.5 years Tehran has made efforts to maintain brotherly ties with Riyadh, he added.

Riyadh has accused Tehran of meddling in the internal affairs of Arab countries, particularly Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and Iraq. However, Iran has dismissed the accusations.

He further accused Saudi Arabia of displaying hostile behavior towards Iran.



"Riyadh along with Israel unsuccessfully sought to kill the nuclear deal between Iran and the world's major powers," he added.



Iran and the P5+1 group of countries reached a landmark deal over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program in July last year. Under the deal most of international sanctions against Tehran are expected to be lifted in early January.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8



Trend:



A rally is being held at the police building in Yerevan to support the activists of "New Armenia" Public Salvation Front, said an article published on ArmenianReport.



A group of citizens, activists of the "New Armenia" front gathered outside the police building, condemning the beating of Suzi Gevorkyan, the member of the "New Armenia" front and urging the police to solve this case as soon as possible.



The police did not allow the protesters to approach the police building and blocked the sidewalk.
Speaking on the flight deck of an American aircraft carrier at a US naval base at Yokosuka, 40 miles south-west of Tokyo, Mr Hammond said: "North Korea acts in a totally provocative and irresponsible way, so I can understand the pressure that South Korea is under to respond.
On Thursday, Tehran accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out an airstrike on its embassy, which injured several guards, Sputnik reported.

"It [investigation] confirms the embassy building is safe and has not been damaged," the coalition said in a Thursday statement, as quoted by The National, adding that Tehran's "allegations are false and that no operations were carried out around the embassy or near to it."

Tehran said it would provide a report detailing Saudi Arabia's alleged airstrike against the Iranian embassy in Sanaa to the United Nations.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia formally severed diplomatic ties with Iran, a move that came after Riyadh announced the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on January 2, inciting a response in Iran, where protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Since 2014, Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Shiite Houthi rebels, the country's main opposition force.

An international coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been launching airstrikes in Yemen at the request of president Hadi since March 2014, in an attempt to push Houthis out of areas they have come to control.
Arriving by sea, gunmen stormed the Bella Vista hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Hurghada.

According to Reuters, two foreign tourists were injured when attackers opened fire at the entrance of the resort. The gunmen were killed by police, according to Husam Shair of Egypt's Chamber of Tourism Companies

While it remains unclear who carried out the attack, Daesh, also known as IS/the Islamic State, claimed responsibility for a similar incident in Egypt on Thursday.

Hurghada is located across the sea from the Sharm El-Sheikh, the resort town where Daesh militants allegedly planted bombs on a Russian passenger plane in October.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

Trend:

Members of the terrorist group "Islamic State" (aka IS, ISIL or Daesh) attacked a Turkish military camp in Mosul, in northern Iraq, the Turkish Haber7 news agency reported Jan. 8.

There are so far no reports on casualties.

Earlier, two civilians were killed and four Turkish soldiers were wounded in an attack on the Turkish military in Iraq on Jan. 7.

The wounded were taken to Turkey' Sirnak province.

Turkish armed forces have a tank battalion stationed in the Iraqi province of Nineveh, tasked to prepare Kurdish Peshmerga forces to fight the IS. Turkish side states that an agreement was reached with Iraqi authorities on the matter.

Meanwhile, Iraqi authorities accused Turkey of an invasion and demanded the Turkish troops to leave the country. In addition, a number of Iraqi MPs demanded from the authorities to launch a military operation against the Turkish troops.

---
The resources coming from Washington are one of the many solidarity supports that Cuba is receiving from several countries and social organizations in the world. | Read More
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8



By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:



Turkey's possible attempt to become a mediator in the normalization of Saudi Arabia-Iran relations is doomed to failure, Ahmet Tasgetiren, the columnist of the Turkish Star newspaper, the expert on foreign policy, said.



"Iran will not accept this initiative of Turkey as these two countries have serious disagreement over the settlement of the Syrian crisis," Tasgetiren told Trend Jan. 8.



He also said that the crisis in Saudi Arabia-Iran relations negatively impacts on the Muslim countries in the region.



Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran soured after execution of Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric, by the Kingdom along with other 46 people, which was followed by a strong protest from Iran.



Mass protests took place in Iran following the said execution. In particular, the Saudi embassy in the capital Tehran and the consulate in the city of Mashhad were attacked, after which Riyadh broke off diplomatic ties with Tehran on Jan. 3.



Earlier, Saudi Arabia's permanent representative to the United Nations, Abdullah al-Moallem said that relations with Iran will be restored only when Tehran stops "interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, including that of Saudi Arabia's".



Meanwhile, Turkey's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on the embassy of Saudi Arabia, and urged Tehran and Riyadh to resolve the crisis in relations diplomatically.



The Iranian government has recently banned the import of products from Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia's goods from other countries.

---

Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

By Anakhanum Hidayatova - Trend:

The project to build a gas pipeline between Turkey and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, which is designed to have a pumping capacity of 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year, is an attempt of Ankara to find alternative to Russian energy supplies, Amatzia Baram, professor at the Middle East History Department of the Haifa University, told Trend Jan. 8.

"Laying a gas pipeline through the territory of KRG can be a profitable investment, as investment projects in any other part of Iraq would make them ineffective," he said.

A tender will be held Feb. 9, 2016 in Ankara for constructing a new gas pipeline between Turkey and the KRG. Both local and foreign companies are allowed to participate in the tender. The tender's winner will build the new gas pipeline in 720 days.

The pipeline's length will be 181.5 kilometers.

Turkey was the second largest importer of Russian gas after Germany in 2014. Ankara purchased 27.3 billion cubic meters of gas from Russian company Gazprom.

Turkey has been importing 25 to 27 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia in the past four years, which accounts for 55 to 58 percent of the country's total gas consumption.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

The gas to be supplied to Turkey from Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq is vital for Ankara, said Salihe Kaya, researcher at Turkey-based Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA).

"Against the backdrop of diversification of natural gas supplies, the KRG can be an important source of supply for Ankara," she told Trend Jan. 7.

"For Ankara, natural gas from the KRG will be much cheaper than the gas from other sources," added Kaya.

A tender will be held Feb. 9, 2016 in Ankara for constructing a new gas pipeline between Turkey and the KRG. Both local and foreign companies are allowed to participate in the tender. The tender's winner will build the new gas pipeline in 720 days.

The pipeline's length will be 181.5 kilometers.

Iraqi media earlier said that the volume of natural gas reserves on KRG's territory stand at five trillion cubic meters.

KRG and Ankara signed a 50-year contract in 2013 for natural gas supply to Turkey.

As it is expected, after completion of construction of a new gas pipeline, KRG will deliver 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey. The volume of the gas supplied from Iraq to Turkey will reach 20 billion cubic meters by 2020.

Turkey imports 6.6 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Azerbaijan on the basis of a 'take or pay' contract. Turkey also buys 9.6 billion cubic meters of gas from Iran on the basis of a contract that is valid until July 2026.

Ankara also has agreements with Algeria (from 1988 to October 2024) and Nigeria (from 1995 to October 2021) for supply of 4.4 billion cubic meters and 1.3 billion cubic meters of liquefied gas per year, respectively.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Its 30 years since Tracey Ullman last made a show for the BBC before becoming one of the few British stars to crack the US market in the 1980s.

Last seen on the BBC in Three of a Kind and A Kick up the Eighties, the comedian and one-time pop star started work on the Tracey Ullmans Show for BBC1 since February.

Featuring impressions of Dames Judy Dench and Maggie Smith, as well as Camilla Parker Bowles, former Sun editor Rebekah Brooks and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the show stems from an invitation last year to meet with BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore and head of comedy production Myfanwy Moore.We hit it off, says Ullman, who was struck by the number of women at the top of the corporation. When I was there years and years ago, it was five men in bowties who talked about the war and The Goonsit was so male dominated.





Out of the meeting sprung the idea of making a multi-camera show, in which Ullman looks at how Britain has become a multi-cultural melting pot. She portrays diverse characters living in, or visiting, the busy global hub that is the UK. Aimed primarily at a UK audience, Ullman clearly hopes the show has international legs too; it is being sold globally by DRG.

Ullman, who has dual UK-US nationality, is quick to dismiss perceptions that she is out of touch with the UK because of her long stint in the US. People think I havent been in Britain for years, but I have  I just havent worked here. Her daughter lives and works in the UK, and her husband Allan McKeown  who died in December 2013  produced many TV and stage shows through his indie Allan McKeown Presents.

Emotionally it was great to get out after having worked with my husband for 30 years, says Ullman, adding that the show is a co-production with the BBC and Allan McKeown Presents. So he is still presenting me



Ullman teamed up with a group of writers to script the show, many of whom had worked on Veep with Armando Iannucci, including Georgia Pritchett, Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil, while The League of Gentlemans Jeremy Dyson supervised the scripts. Dominic Brigstocke (Im Alan Partridge, Green Wing) directs, while Caroline Norris (Raised by Wolves) produces. Its a quality group of people, says Ullman.

The show was shot entirely on location, unable to secure studio space as the UK production sector is so busy with drama, film and TV shoots. There was nothing available, says Ullman. But you can just be completely mobile now, and set up a video village anywhere.

Ullman says the TV landscape has changed hugely since she last worked here. Moving to America in the 1980s, she was struck by the number of strong female comediennes on television, such as Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett and Lily Tomlin. I came from a country where we just had Benny Hill girlsyou had to run around in a bikini in the early 1980s in England. Ullman, Pamela Stephenson and French and Saunders were among the stars who helped shake it all up. Thank God, it has changed so much, she says.

Ullman is also quick to stand up for the BBC, endorsing Iannuccis defence of the corporation in his MacTaggart lecture. The BBC is under terrible threat. There are still lots of people at the BBC who dont make a fortune, but want to make the best programming and arent affected by sponsors. If we lose it, it will be terrible.

Tracey Ullmans Show begins on Monday January 11 on BBC1 at 10.45pm

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TRS announces reservations in GHMC elections

Telangana Government on Friday announced reservations in upcoming Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections. In Its GO govt announced the details regarding the allocation of reservations for total 150 municipal divisions



Out of 150 divisions, government has declared 44 as unreserved and 44 more division has Women General.



The reservation details as following'



Unreserved 44

Women general 44

BC General- 25

BC women-25

SC Genaral-4

SC Women-1

ST General-1

ST Women-1

Division wise Reservation Details:

ST (General) : Falaknuma

ST (Woman): Hastinapuram

SC (General) : Kapra, Meerpet HB Colony, Jiyaguda, Macha Bollaram and Venkatapuram.



The Telangana Government has recently told the court that the reservation process for the GHMC divisions would be completed by Saturday (Jan 9). The High Court has ordered that the elections be conducted by February 9 or 10.









News Posted: 8 January, 2016








KTR to Contest from Bhimavaram on Telugu Rashtra Samiti Ticket

Telagana Rashtra Samithi was the single largest party in Telangana and there was no proper opposition for the party in the state. The party is often called by its leaders as the mascot of the Telangana movement and the state's self-respect.



The party which is focusing on upcoming GHMC elections is using all th eways to attract the Andhra voters who settled in hydearbad. The party's prominent leader, IT minister KTR made some interesting remarks recently while addressing a gathering of Andhra Pradesh natives living in Hyderabad earlier this week.



The IT and Panchayat Raj Minister KT Rama Rao said they are going to change Telangana Rashtra Samiti into Telugu Rashtra Samiti as KCR is loved by people of both the states equally. KTR recalled an AP minister's words that that Telangana CM KCR has bigger following in Andhra than what AP CM has and said that it is enough to rechristen the TRS party as Telugu Rashtra Samithi.



He cited the Amaravati incident to prove his point.That is not all. KTR even expressed his wish to contest from Bhimavaram should the party go to AP. KTR said "I know people of Bhimavaram, mostly Kshatriyas, are like kings when it comes to playing hosts. They serve food liberally and won't leave you until you eat all the items on platter''. As a joke KTR said that if cock fights are legalized he can easily win at the Bhimavaram.









News Posted: 8 January, 2016








Dy CM promises promotion for Jr College Lecturers

Hyderabad, Jan 8 (INN): Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari on Friday assured that junior college lecturers would be given promotions during forthcoming summer holidays.



Speaking after releasing the Diary and Calendar of Government Junior College Lecturers here, the Deputy CM said that all junior colleges in the State would be provided required amenities from next academic year. He also assured to consider the regularisation of services of contract lecturers.









News Posted: 8 January, 2016








TRS handing over Mayor's post to MIM: BJP

Hyderabad, Jan 8 (INN): Telangana BJP floor leader Dr. K. Lakshman has accused the TRS Government of handing over the post of GHMC Mayor to Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.



Speaking to media persons at State BJP Headquarters here, Lakshman said that TRS decision to handover the Mayor's post to MIM was not in the interest of people of Hyderabad. He also accused the TRS of luring leaders of opposition parties by offering money and other sops. He said that the TRS Government has been resorting to all illegal means to win the GHMC polls.



Meanwhile, a delegation of BJP leaders called on Governor ESL Narasimhan seeking his intervention to ensure conduct of GHMC elections in a free and fair manner.









News Posted: 8 January, 2016








AP Govt to strengthen Forensic Labs

Hyderabad, Jan 8 (INN): Realizing the importance of having a full-fledged Forensic Science Service, for effective enforcement of law and efficient administration of justice, the Andhra Pradesh Government has laid special emphasis on leveraging the advances in Science and Technology for prevention, control and detection of crime in a timely manner to ensure public safety, stability and security in the state which is paramount to overall development of the newly formed state.



At a meeting in the presence of the Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao held today, Dr. Gandhi P C Kaza, Advisor to the Government Forensic and Allied Police Support Services, Andhra Pradesh briefed about the master plan for development of Forensic Science Services in Andhra Pradesh State. Forensic Science simply means science applied for law enforcement and justice administration. Science, here, denotes all natural sciences such as Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Genetics etc., as well as social sciences like Psychology, Anthropology, Medicine, Engineering, Commerce, Law and Arts and any other branch of human knowledge.



Gandhi said that A.P. State FSL used to be the No. 1 in the country till 2007 catering not only to the AP state requirements but also to most of the other states as well as central agencies like CBI, CVC, RBI etc., in sensational cases. Now the bifurcated Andhra Pradesh state has 5 Regional Forensic Laboratories (RFSLs) at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Kurnool and Tirupathi.



AP State FSL to Adopt a New Proactive Model in place of Reactive Model. In the traditional Reactive Policing Mode, responses of the police start after the incident. Whereas in the Proactive Mode proposed now, much before the incident is reported, the linking data relating to the evidences, crimes and criminals will be collected and stored in the online database for issuing timely alerts and actions to avert potential crimes and also apprehend the suspects before even the commission of crime. Tracking, Trailing and Tracing the actions of perpetrators and their movements leveraging the advances in Science and Technology will be an integral and pivotal part of the new model.



When the new AP state is planning to have world-class cities and world-class infrastructure and so on, there is a need to ensure better public safety and citizen satisfaction towards the governance systems. Establishing an effective Forensic Science facility is a key to ensure better public safety and public satisfaction and confidence in the governance process which can reduce crime rates and increase conviction rates, if properly planned and implemented, Chief Secretary opined.



The present proposal will bring glory by establishing an ultra modern lab to cater not only to the state's needs but also to that of other government and non-government agencies.









News Posted: 8 January, 2016








Work with one spirit: AP CM to officials

Hyderabad, Jan 8 (INN): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said every official in the government, from village officer to the State Chief Secretary must work with unified spirit to achieve desired results. Janmabhoomi-Maa Vooru campaign, he said, forms basis to achieve it.



In a teleconference with the district collectors and government officials, the Chief Minister gave some directions. He directed the officials to visit villages at field level once in every week or 10 days to analyze the actual conditions.



Stating that it must be a continuous process, he asked the officials to submit a report on how swiftly they have redressed a complaint that was received during the Gramasabhas. "We should have transparency in the process. The ultimate goal is to satisfy the needs of the people. To achieve this, we are organizing Grama Sabhas at such massive scale, which is a big feat in the country' he said.



Meanwhile, he suggested the officials to give grading to each village based on the 20 growth indicators. He asked the officials to ensure water mapping is done in every village and information on the water resources is timely informed to the local people. He also directed the officials to monitor the construction of roads for 3 km every day, in the villages and submit daily reports.



A total of 27,000 employees are regularly uploading data from village-level, if necessary, take the help of local engineering colleges, he added. He also suggested to identify best partners in "Smart Village ward-start 'program and felicitate them at the district level.









News Posted: 8 January, 2016








One German version of Pathlight fell into the hands of Enrico Brandt, a cultural affairs officer at the German embassy in Beijing. (Photo : China Daily)

A Chinese magazine publisher is helping the country's contemporary literature reach a more diverse range of readers, according to a report by Mei Jia from China Daily.



The literary magazine called Pathlight, published in various languages and versions, has helped bring Chinese contemporary literature to the global literary scene.



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One German version of Pathlight fell into the hands of Enrico Brandt, a cultural affairs officer at the German embassy in Beijing. Created by the editorial team of its parent magazine, People's Literature, Pathlight has helped Brandt appreciate Chinese literature more.



Pathlight has already been published in French, Italian, Russian and Japanese. According to Shi Zhanjun, the magazine's editor-in-chief, the team is currently looking into making seven additional versions in languages such as Korean, Spanish and Arabic. These versions are all published annually.



The evolution of Pathlight into a multilingual Chinese literary magazine was driven by "the many zealous invitations we got from the relevant countries," said Shi in an interview with China Daily.



"All we want to do through Pathlight is to share with the global audience how ordinary Chinese people nowadays might feel and react toward the world," said Shi, adding that "Chinese literature is about good stories and good language."



Before Pathlight gained prominence, it launched its English version in 2011. It's the first of the series of international editions, and was published quarterly with unique illustrations. Thanks to the magazine, the world now has access to contemporary Chinese literature.



"The form of a collection of short stories and poems are different than that of a novel," said Gong Yingxin, director of the German Book Office of Beijing of the Frankfurt Book Fair, in an interview with China Daily. "It gives more authors the opportunity to reach foreign readers, and at the same time, gives the readers a better overview of the current literature landscape in China."


Mainland passengers can soon have transit stops in Taiwan. (Photo : REUTERS)

Chinese mainland authorities are considering to allow transit stops in Taiwan, permitting its citizens to travel on from the island for the first time.



Citing a statement from China's Taiwan Affairs Office website, China Daily reported that passengers departing from three Chinese cities--Nanchang, Kunming and Chongqing--will be allowed to have flight transfer via Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport.



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The statement also noted that no additional documents will be be required for the traveling mainland residents except the usual ones, such as passports, air tickets and boarding passes.



After preparatory works are done between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the island's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), the flight transfer service will be rolled out.



Additionally, the mainland authorities pointed out that the passengers in transit will not be allowed to leave the airport.



Until this decision, mainland citizens were not allowed to have transit stops in Taiwan, though they can travel to the island. Airlines from both areas have operations between the mainland and Taiwan.



Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou, through an official statement, said he appreciated the plan. EVA Airways, the island's second-biggest airline, also welcomed it.



"It's a joint effort by governments across the strait. We're happy to see it happening." KW Nieh, a senior vice president at EVA Airways, told Reuters.



The airline executive also expressed his optimism that other cities will also follow what the mainland authorities are proposing. "We hope more cities will be added to really implement it," the SVP said.



The news comes ahead of Taiwan's election for president on Jan. 16. Currently, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), which is considered to be more "China-friendly," has been lagging behind the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in surveys.



According to DPP lawmaker Chen Chi-mai, the move will surely "give the KMT a boost in the elections."


Local shares have ended a horror week deep in the red, caught up in a global rout sparked by worries about China's economic health.

The ASX fell 0.4 per cent to 4990.8, posting its sixth straight loss, while the broader All Ords slipped 0.4 per cent to 5049.4.

For the week, the ASX slumped 5.8 per cent, losing about $85 billion in market capitalisation.

It marked the worst start of the year on record, and the biggest weekly drop in more than four years.

While regional markets mostly rose after Beijing suspended a controversial circuit breaker system for its sharemarkets and the People's Bank of China moved to stabilise the yuan with its reference rate, the bounce on the ASX quickly faded.

The big banks were once again the biggest drag on the benchmark index, all falling around 1 per cent.

But it wasn't all doom and gloom today, with energy stocks finding some relief after the oil price gained. Woodside was the biggest tailwind for the benchmark index, rising 4.6 per cent, while Oil Search added 3.5 per cent and Santos found 4 per cent.

And the big miners also rose, with Rio rallying 3 per cent and BHP up 0.1 per cent.
Sean Price, the man who murdered Masa Vukotic in a Doncaster park, has been formally jailed for threatening to kill a prison guard during a series of chilling rants in which he said he was "going to knock kids" once released.

Price, who is awaiting sentence for Masa's murder on March 17 last year and a series of crimes the following day, appeared via video link before Sunshine Magistrates Court on Friday to plead guilty to one charge of making a threat to kill. Three charges were withdrawn.

Sean Price after his pre-sentence hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court in December. Credit:Mal Fairclough

But Price, 31, was not prepared to accept responsibility for his 2014 offending, saying he had made the threats over a cell intercom while "under duress", with no food or water in his cell, and "I was definitely encouraged to act that way".

"I believe I am innocent of it, even though I did it," he said during an at-times rambling self-representation to magistrate Richard Pithouse.
That finding and the apparently widespread nature of the attacks threw a wrench into what had been German Chancellor Angela Merkel's push for her country and the rest of Europe to welcome the hundreds of thousands of migrants from Syria and elsewhere who have flooded the continent during the past months' refugee crisis. Security officers stand guard on Wednesday as supporters of Pro NRW, a right-wing, populist group that has campaigned against the construction of new mosques in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, protest following the New Year's Eve sex attacks by what witnesses described were gangs of Arab or North African men. Credit:Getty Images Just before she met with the Prime Minister of Romania on Thursday, Mrs Merkel said she did not think the New Year's Eve events were isolated cases and that they must be dealt with swiftly and firmly, including deporting the perpetrators. She said she feared that the incidents showed contempt for women. "We have to send out clear signals to those who are not willing to observe our laws," she said. She added that would include "checking whether everything that must be done has been done regarding the possibility of deportation from Germany." German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Kreuth, Germany, on Wednesday. Credit:Getty Images

Under German law, any resident without a German passport can be deported for cause. Earlier, Mrs Merkel had issued a statement condemning the "disgusting assaults and sexual attacks". The Minister of Justice, Heiko Maas, said the attacks revealed "a completely new dimension of organised crime" in Germany. Refugeess warm themselves inside a waiting tent on a cold and snowy early morning, at the central registration center for refugees and asylum seekers in Berlin on Wednesday. Credit:AP The events also raised questions about Germany's underfunded and often ineffectual police force, which appears to have turned its back as the chaos began and is accused of then trying to cover up the attacks. The chaos also raised concerns about what will happen next. New Year's Eve is a cherished and fairly wild affair in Germany. Celebrants typically wander the streets drinking, and the volume and strength of fireworks being detonated on every corner can make the Fourth of July in the United States seem remarkably tame.

Migrants are silhouetted as they warm themselves inside a waiting tent to get an appointment at the central registration center for refugees and asylum seekers in Berlin on Wednesday. Credit:AP But New Year's Eve is nothing compared with what is coming, especially in Cologne, and to a lesser extent Dusseldorf. The Cologne Carnival, the German version of Mardi Gras, begins in February and is known as a week-long costumed street festival featuring massive crowds and heavy drinking. Cologne mayor Henriette Reker, who was elected last year after being stabbed by a man voicing anti-refugee views, urged caution before passing judgment on who was involved in the attacks. A woman protests against sexual harassment outside the cathedral in Cologne, Germany, this week. Her poster reads: "Mrs Merkel. Where are you? What do you say? It's scary". Credit:AP "There's no evidence that we're dealing here with people who are refugees," she said. She added that calling the attackers refugees at this point was "absolutely impermissible".

The statement, though, came after she'd uttered what became a controversial initial reaction to the attacks, advising victims that "there's always a chance to keep a certain distance, by avoiding large crowds and keeping unfamiliar people at arm's length". Certainly, in the United States, the attacks and the so-far-unsubstantiated allegation that they were perpetrated by recent arrivals is likely to animate those who oppose the Obama administration's plan to welcome 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next year. Presidential candidate Donald Trump, whose campaign has opposed allowing in refugees, raised the issue on Twitter. "Germany is going through massive attacks to its people by the migrants allowed to enter the country," he wrote. "New Years Eve was a disaster. THINK!" German officials aren't so sure who is to blame. One problem is the slowness of the police response. A week after the attacks, there hasn't been a single arrest. Witnesses and victims have given a highly critical assessment of the police reaction to the mayhem in Cologne. At one point during the evening's events, police cleared the square where 1000 men had descended but then left the area, according to witnesses and victims, and the men returned. The initial police reports show little sense that anything out of the ordinary had happened.

"A joyful, party atmosphere," read one, filed the morning of January 1. "As in years past, we are looking back at a mostly peaceful New Year's celebration. Reasons to intervene were mostly physical assault and disturbance of the peace." The number of assaults rose from 78 last New Year to 80 this year, the report said, noting that police had issued two "orders to disperse" to 94 people in the square. "In order to avoid a mass panic from firing of fireworks by 1000 partiers, police temporarily cleared the square. Despite this unplanned interruption, the situation remained relaxed," the report said. That version, however, ran counter to the tales that have emerged since of women who report they were stripped of their dresses, underwear and purses and, begging police for help, were told "to keep a good grip on your champagne bottle to use as a weapon of defence". Other attack victims claimed that police told them they were too busy with traffic control to help. Accounts of assaults and police inaction filled social media. One man on Facebook referred to assistance he claimed to have given to help resettle refugees when he recounted how, despite holding his girlfriend's hand as they walked from Cologne's train station across the square, she was subjected to "men groping her, even under her dress. I looked at this and wondered if this is what we got when I donated half of my closet". Other accounts said the apparently unarmed assailants threw fireworks at police officers throughout the evening. The German news magazine Der Spiegel quoted one unnamed federal police official as saying the police were "outnumbered and insufficiently equipped. The situation was chaotic and embarrassing".
Canberra CBD has called on the ACT government to delay selling land at West Basin beside the lake until the state of the declining city centre improves.

Concerned about the government opening yet another development front while rents, tenancies and business fortunes continue to decline in the CBD, the business group also says the tram should be delayed until the city centre population at least doubles.

Canberra CBD wants improvements to Verity Lane behind the Sydney Building. Credit:Jeffrey Chan

Begging in the streets and people spruiking for charity have also drawn the ire of Canberra CBD.

Chairman Tony Hedley has asked the government to increase funding for more police to deal with begging, antisocial behaviour and "groups with dogs".
The China-controlled $2.5 billion Karara iron ore project in Western Australia faces collapse and the loss of 1000 jobs, with majority owner Ansteel saying its parent company might no longer provide funding because of the prolonged iron ore price slump.

Karara, a joint venture between Chinese state-run Ansteel and Australian-listed Gindalbie Metals, could be shuttered in the coming weeks if the Chinese steelmaker pulled its financial support, sources close to the project said.

Karara's chief executive Zhang Zhao Yuan has cast doubt over the viability of the project. Credit:John W. Banagan

In an email to staff, Karara's chief executive Zhang Zhao Yuan cast doubt over the viability of the project.

"Firstly, its parent company is unable to continue providing funding support to Karara due to the impact of economic and industry downturn," the email said. "Secondly, Karara is still facing significant cost pressure and being in a loss position."
While hitch-hiking through Mexico and Central America as a teenager, John 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 Holm could barely understand what he was hearing, it planted the seed for what would become his life's 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 Holm also studied  Afrikaans is an example  share even more traits with their vocabulary-source languages.

Holm, who has died of prostate cancer aged 72, compiled the first dictionary of Bahamian English then produced a landmark study, the two-volume Pidgins and Creoles, which traced the socio-historical evolution of pidgins and creoles, explained their structures and described more than 100 varieties.

"Pidgin and creole studies had generally been dismissed, largely because creole languages in particular were thought to be spoken almost exclusively by poor people of colour and were considered to be bastardized versions of the European languages that contributed their vocabularies," said Sarah Thomason, a linguist at the University of Michigan. "By publishing careful empirical studies of creole and semi-creole language structures, and by publicising these languages in Pidgins and Creoles, John helped create one of the most exciting subfields of linguistics."

John Alexander Holm was born in Jackson, Michigan. He studied German, Spanish and Russian in high school then at the University of Michigan, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in English in 1965, he studied French at the Sorbonne during his junior year and picked up Italian at the same time. After graduation, he taught English at the University of the Andes in Bogota, Colombia, where he became fluent in Spanish.

At Columbia University's Teachers College, he earned a master's degree in teaching English as a foreign language. He taught English in Zurich and at the Detroit Institute of Technology, where his students included Indians from Gujarat and black Americans from poor neighbourhoods in Detroit. His interest in black speech led him to study African-American English at the State University of New York at Cortland.
The main providers of residential aged care used to be religious, community-based and charitable organisations; the quality of care may have varied but owners were not motivated by profit. During the past decade, however, the number of privately owned aged-care facilities has grown at twice the rate of those in the non-profit sector.

A recent report suggested that average profits in the industry rose 40 per cent last year, while the time spent caring for residents declined by 7 per cent.

Illustration: Simon Kneebone

The federal government's Aged Care Financing Authority paints a more complex picture. Although profits are up, some facilities are doing better than others. Recent letters to the editor reporting medical negligence, neglect and inadequate personal care suggest that some facilities are prioritising profits over residents' quality of life.

Ten years ago, a Senate committee held an inquiry into the sector. Its report was critical of the accreditation standards of aged-care facilities, finding them too generalised to effectively measure care outcomes. Given that the accreditation process enables aged-care facilities to receive government funding, it should not be a rubber stamp.
A five-year-old asylum seeker was urinated on by a group of Nauruan boys and asylum seeker girls have been sexually harassed at school, a former teacher says, saying many parents are too scared to send their children to school in 2016.

The claims are backed by asylum seeker children who report that Nauruan students threaten them with knives and teachers routinely swear at them. One Iranian boy reported his female Nauruan classmates offered sex for money.

In one alarming allegation, outlined in an official incident report sighted by Fairfax Media, a group of children were hit with a wooden ruler for being late to an exam.

It has been six months since the Australian government closed the detention centre school and forced child asylum seekers into Nauruan schools, where classes are taught in the Nauruan language and teachers are frequently absent.
When it comes to saving money, there's always something more you can do. Altering a couple of old habits and developing new ones could see you save significantly. Here are our top 10 saving tips to get your finances off to a great start in 2016.

1. Offset your mortgage

If you've got both a savings account and a home loan, it's time to combine them. Refinance your mortgage to a better rate and make sure you get a 100 per cent offset account, then your savings will offset the interest you pay on your home loan while still being accessible for use. Win win!

Where there's a will there's a way to save money.

2. Don't pay an annual fee
When Louise Robert-Smith steps in to take control of the troubled MLC school this month, the situation before her will be a familiar one.

Staff resignations, parent revolt and student unrest had divided another Sydney private girls' school before she first walked through its gates a decade ago.

Ascham, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, had been led by three headmistresses in eight months and gone through a public parent revolt when the now 67-year-old took the helm in 2005.
China To Give Residency Rights To Migrant Families (Photo : Getty Images)

The three Chinese students who were sentenced by a Los Angeles court for kidnapping and torturing a female Chinese student is being felt in mainland China. Chinese educators are now talking about the need for more protection for Chinese students from school bullying.



Besides serving their 6, 10 and 13 years prison terms, Zhang Xinlei, Yang Yuhan and Zhai Yunyao, respectively, would also be deported back to China after serving time. The repatriation was part of a plea bargain the three reached with local prosecutors on Tuesday, reports Qiaobao, a Chinese-language newspaper in the U.S.



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The three abducted the victim in March at Rowland Heights, an affluent community in LA with a predominant Asian population. For five hours, they beat her, stripped her naked, burned her nipples with lit cigarettes and forced her to eat sand, reports AsiaOne. The crime was triggered by jealousy of one of the female defendants.







Tong Xiaojun, dean of the Research Institute of Children and Adolescents of China Youth University for Political Sciences, said on Thursday that adolescent physiological and psychological conditions explains school bullying.



While pinpointing the cause to teen's troubled years, Tong says it does not mean the problem should be ignored, rather, "it should be addressed by more caring by parents and schools, and the protection of children and adolescents should be emphasized," quotes Globaltimes.



For Jiang Jie, a lawyer based in Beijing, what is lacking in China's educational system, which explains why bullying persists, are social ethics and related laws. He adds that there is also a need to improve household education because many school children are the only child - because of China's one-child policy - resulting in the youth becoming self-centered because he or she is spoiled by the parents and grandparents.


The grandfather of a baby girl stabbed to death in Brisbane's south has been charged with her murder and the attempted murder of his wife and daughter.

Two-month-old Queenie Xu died in hospital on Wednesday after she was allegedly stabbed along with her mother, Yuanyuan Cao, and grandmother in Parkinson earlier that day.

Ms Cao was seriously injured and Queenie's grandmother suffered life-threatening injuries.

Both were rushed to the Princess Alexandra Hospital along with the baby's grandfather, who also suffered life-threatening injuries in his alleged attack on the trio.
Queensland's independent Speaker Peter Wellington is calling for the state government to bring in "no body, no parole" laws.

Mr Wellington has written to Police Minister Bill Byrne asking him to change the state's laws to ensure murderers who hide their victim's bodies are denied parole.

Queensland independent MP Peter Wellington sits in the Speaker's chair after he was officially chosen for the role at Parliament House in Brisbane, Tuesday, March 24, 2015. All 87 Members of Parliament as well as the Speaker of the House were sworn-in today. (AAP Image/Dan Peled) NO ARCHIVING Queensland Parliament sits for the first time since the 2015 state election Credit:Dan Peled/Pool Image

"In my electorate of Nicklin Derek Sam was convicted of murdering schoolgirl Jessica Gaudie in 1999 and I understand he refuses to say where her body is. I believe he should never be considered for parole, unless he reveals where her body is," he said in a statement on Facebook.

AAP
The first is that our relationship to art is in constant flux. 20th century art interrogated ideas of authorship, identity and social function, showing these all as moving targets. The broader socioeconomic changes driven by AI will continue to influence this evolution. In a post-work future, with most necessary work automated under proper common ownership, we may live out the oft-quoted vision of 18th century US president John Adams as a reality: "I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy [] in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture []" Adams is typical in viewing creative arts as higher pursuits: virtuous, noble, and useless in the best possible sense, the sense intended by Oscar Wilde when he wrote: "We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely."

Add to this the second thread, that even artistic creativity itself can be automated, and the future becomes even harder to imagine. Enter computational creativity. Computational creativity In the AI subfield of computational creativity we study the mechanisms by which computing technology can perform creative tasks, often in the arts. How can software create things of novelty, beauty, value and meaning? This niche of AI can easily be sidelined as immaterial: flippantly because there is no economic value in robots that make art; more pragmatically because it deals with ill-defined problems that dont have clear measures of success, let alone clear solutions. Indeed it is quite right to think it problematic to view art in terms of problems and solutions. Computational creativity can also, instead, be revered as an epic frontier for AI. In the sci-fi cliche of the robot that can do everything except feel emotions and appreciate art we recognise a common presumption that artistic behaviour sits at the pinnacle of human intelligence and achievement: a sacred domain, virtuous, bettering, sophisticated, and in some sense definitively human.

Ray Kurzweil, the godfather of AI futurology, predicted in his 1998 book The Age of Spiritual Machines that by 2020 autonomous machine art would be prevalent, and soon after, robot artists would exceed human artists in ability. Deepdream #1 via Googles DeepDream neural network algorithm. Image: Kevin Dooley An often-heard complaint is that such predictions oversimplify art to resemble a well-behaved engineering problem, devoid of its social complexity. But unperturbed, a steady surge of work that is at least computationally creative in intention, if nowhere near human-like in its capability, is creeping into the mainstream, with AI characters influencing game narratives, artificial improvising musicians performing with real musicians, poetry-writing Twitter bots, and neural nets that dream. A common distinction is made in the community between systems that exhibit some kind of reflective awareness about what they are doing, and the rest, referred to as mere generation. Although the former is the true goal of computational creativity research, the mass of work creating merely generative systems is building a formidable scaffold upon which new discoveries might be made. Even though Kurzweil was some way off, not just quantitatively but also in the way he imagined change taking place, he is right in principle that there is no existential force-field separating artistic behaviour from any other kind of human activity, that would place it out of reach for AI.

The artless robot is a myth begging to be disproved. Our evolved psychologies, grounded in adaptive social behaviour, can be unpicked, studied and modelled to reveal the ingredients that make up an artistic mind. That does not mean this is a simple task, achievable any time soon. Even if it was simple, art is such a socially embedded thing that there is questionable power in framing the challenge just in terms of individual minds. Cultural dynamics count a great deal, and these are poorly understood; computational creativity is indeed an ill-defined and scarily multidisciplinary subject with a monumental task ahead of it. With this in mind, practical computational creativity is not only about building artificial artists, but also about understanding the potential relationships between automated creativity systems and people. Researchers are looking increasingly at the usability issues associated with putting automated creativity systems into the hands of creative practitioners, from designing useful tools for supporting creative search, to getting art-producing machines to explain what they are thinking. The future is therefore probably not one of human-like machines, but extraordinary machine-human hybrids with new approaches to creativity. As we explore this space we also have the potential not only to observe but to probe the phenomenon of creativity using the automated creativity systems we build. Streamlining creative labour

Another popular expectation of computational creativity is that it might make art production available to all, not just a trained elite, by reducing the barrier to entry to zero. This has been the stated goal of various systems. This may be a meaningful objective in some sense, particularly in the case of assistive technologies for the disabled, or rapid access to free content in a commercial world that seeks to push every efficiency to its limit (as any screen composer will know). In the general sense that it makes making art more accessible, this is perhaps an evasive goal: it has always been the case that we can all enjoy amateur art-making. Gaining social recognition, as well as drawing genuine satisfaction from ones achievements, are more substantial challenges, as these outcomes are inherently established relative to what other people are thinking and doing. But the more pragmatic aim to drive efficiencies in commercial creative production may well be big business. Programs like Melomics use AI techniques to mass produce copyright-free music on demand for commercial applications. AI techniques are also being used to support, for example, the adapting of musical content to on-screen or in-game scenarios, and indeed in the context of video games and interactive TV, such automation can even be seen as a necessity, not a luxury, if the entire process is generative and cant be entirely pre-prepared.

This inserts into our speculative future a host of interactive, immersive and self-generating artforms that look nothing like those we have today, and that are fundamentally founded on a creative partnership between human and computational intelligence, just as successive dominant forms are grounded in their eras technology: from perspective painting to rocknroll to 3D animated movies. The next great generational shift might revolve around such technologys implications for authorship and the social currency of creative effort. Ambiguity at the heart of art Much energy in this field has been devoted to trying to evaluate creative systems, or even trying to define what meaningful evaluation would entail. For the time being, news stories covering the field seem caught up in an overly simplistic Turing Test view of computational creativity. Articles ask you to spot the machine art, and if you are unable to tell the difference, then to contemplate quite how sophisticated such systems are. This is questionable. It relocates Turings original test  which was based on linguistic interrogation  to a context for which it is not suited. One problem is that the process of evaluation is rarely interactive, which means you cant probe the behaviour of the system. Another problem is that art exists in a domain in which ambiguity is very often celebrated rather than avoided. Language can be ambiguous, but it can also be used with great precision to convey complex concepts, which is what makes the Turing Test meaningful.

The AI pioneer Marvin Minsky said disparagingly of the results of a recent linguistic Turing Test that he thought was poorly executed; Ask the program if you can push a car with a string. And, if not, then, why not? Language reveals complex understanding. By contrast it has often been said that ambiguity  a sort of floating state of interpretability  is a functionally important part of art, music and poetry. How do we dig into creative intelligence in a language-free environment? To confuse matters further, claims are frequently made that such-and-such a system is the first ever to create art, music or poetry on its own. Unpacking the on its own clause in such claims involves complex forensics. What knowledge has been put into the system by its maker? If it is a learning-based system, then what is the difference between mere regurgitation-with-variation, and something creative? Without rejecting the genuine and remarkable innovation that may be involved in such work, be questioning of such claims, especially when not supported by detailed disclosure of the system design. The standards of academic transparency, when strong claims are being made, should be no lower here than in any other domain. For the empirical researcher  and the science or technology journalist for that matter  an even more basic challenge to the Turing Test mentality is simply this: why ask a simple yes/no question, as the Turing Test does? Does this sufficiently reflect the rich complexity of the subject of study? Instead conduct an expansive study of the creative and interactive affordances of the system. Use it to better understand the dynamics of creativity and aesthetic behaviour in humans.
Victoria is set to swelter as a hot spell pushes temperatures above 30 degrees for four consecutive days next week, keeping fire crews around the state on high alert.

A series of low-pressure troughs travelling in a south-easterly direction is expected to draw hot air from northern parts of the country by Sunday, ahead of a warm and dry week.

Victoria's mini heatwave is expected to peak on Wednesday. Credit:Bureau of Meteorology

Gusty winds will be monitored by fire authorities as a "very high" fire danger rating has been put in place across most of the state from Monday.

Melbourne will reach its hottest on Wednesday, with temperatures expected to peak at 36 degrees. Temperatures in northern Victoria may edge above 40 degrees.
Germany is reeling from the news, hidden for several days because of its political sensitivity, that as many as 90 women were sexually assaulted by a crowd of young men of Middle Eastern appearance outside Cologne's majestic cathedral on New Year's Eve. This is, as the local police chief put it, a "whole new dimension of crime" for Germans to confront. No woman in North Africa, however, would be the least bit shocked.

There is a lot we still don't know about the Cologne attacks, including whether they were pre-arranged on social media and whether the actual culprits were refugees, petty criminals who have been plying the area around Cologne's train station for years, or both. All the police have said is that the complaints were made, in one case of rape, and that the men were aged 18 to 35, many of them drunk and of "Arab or North African" origin.

Michelle described on German television how she was attacked during New Year's Eve celebrations in Cologne. Credit:n-tv

No matter what the details, this will be political dynamite for Chancellor Angela Merkel. The new mayor of Cologne, who was stabbed in the neck during her election campaign over her support for Merkel's pro-refugee policies, is already being hounded on social media for absurdly advising women to keep "an arm's length" from strange men during the city's carnival season next month.

Yet this kind of event shouldn't come as a surprise in a year when more than a million asylum seekers arrived in Germany, many from across the Middle East.
Beirut: An Islamic State militant shot and killed his own mother in front of a post office in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa this week, Syrian activists said on Friday, with one monitoring organisation adding that the problems began when she tried to persuade him to leave the extremist group.

The fighter, Ali Saqr, 21, killed his mother in front of several hundred people for what the Islamic State called apostasy, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, two groups that monitor the conflict through contacts on the ground.

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

The act was the latest in a chain of brutal and bizarre killings that the Islamic State uses, and often widely publicises, in efforts to tamp down dissent and to attract recruits.

It would not be the first time that a member of the Islamic State has killed a parent on the group's orders. Last year, a Lebanese father travelled to Raqqa to try to bring back his son, an Islamic State fighter, and three other children whom the son had persuaded to go there. The son reported the father, who was detained and killed, according to interviews with family members.
The world's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, has been recaptured by Mexican security forces after a fierce pre-dawn gun battle in a western city that left five people dead, authorities said.

Guzman, the world's most famous drug boss and head of the Sinaloa cartel, escaped from his cell in July through a specially dug tunnel, a staggering blow for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who had been building a strong reputation for arresting top drug bosses from all the major cartels.

"Mission accomplished: we have him," Mr Pena Nieto wrote on Twitter.

Guzman was apprehended after a shootout with Mexican marines in the city of Los Mochis, in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa.
Actor and writer Pat Harrington Jr., known for playing super Dwayne F. Schneider on the USA sitcom One Day at a Time, died December 6 in Los Angeles. Harrington, who appeared on Broadway twice during his career as well as in several touring and regional productions, was 86.

Pat Harrington Jr. was born Daniel Patrick Harrington, Jr. in Manhattan on August 13, 1929, the son of vaudevillian and Broadway performer Pat Harrington, Sr. He went on to receive both a bachelor of arts and a master's degree in political philosophy from Fordham University and served as an intelligence officer with the United States Air Force during the Korean War.

In the 1950s and '60s, Harrington began performing regularly as a screen actor and worked with Steve Allen's television comedy troupe, the "Men on the Street." His notable television and film credits from the period include a recurring role on The Danny Thomas Show, guest appearances on The Bing Crosby Show and Kentucky Jones, the 1963 film Move Over, Darling, and the 1967 film The President's Analyst.

Harrington appeared in his most recognizable role as building superintendent Dwayne Schneider on One Day at a Time from 1975-1985, for the full length of the show's run. In 1984, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance, for which he also garnered a 1980 Golden Globe. As a writer, Harrington also contributed twelve scripts to the series.

The actor went on to appear in comedies including Who's the Boss? (with his son, Michael Harrington) , A Garfield Christmas Special (as the voice of Dad), Murder, She Wrote, and most recently, a 2012 episode of Betty White's Hot in Cleveland.

Harrington made his first Broadway appearance as a child performer in 1939's Ladies and Gentlemen and went on to play the role of Walter Bagley in the short-lived play Happiness Is Just a Little Thing Called a Rolls Royce in 1968. His touring credits include Show Boat (1997-98), The Odd Couple (1987), and The Pajama Game (1987).

Harrington was married to Marjorie Ann Gortner from 1955 to 1985, when the couple divorced. He is survived by their four children, Michael Harrington, Patrick Harrington, Terry Harrington, and Tresa Harrington, as well as three grandchildren.
CES 2016 Opens with Technology Changing the World







Product Launches from Record-Breaking CES Show Floor and Keynotes from Netflix, GM and IBM Kick off Worlds Largest Innovation Event

MORE INFO The Best Car Research and Buyer's Guide

LAS VEGAS -- January 7, 2015: The latest game-changing innovations revolutionizing our world took center stage on opening day of CES 2016. More than 3,600 exhibitors unveiling new products on the largest show floor in CES history  spanning more than 2.4 million NSF  and keynotes from the leaders of Netflix, GM and IBM kicked off the worlds largest innovation event. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)TM, formerly the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), CES 2016, the worlds gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies, runs through Saturday, January 9, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, Consumer Technology Association (CTA)TM , officially opened CES 2016 on the keynote stage following a musical performance by Lexie Hayden, winner of the CES Music Contest. Shapiro welcomed a standing-room only audience to the worlds global stage for innovation and highlighted the many ways technology is changing the world and solving some of the planets most complex problems through revolutionary products and services such as drone delivery, automated driving, the sharing economy, 3D printing and more. He shared his vision of a connected world that is changing rapidly as billions of intelligent products and services are now woven into the daily fabric of our lives, connecting each of us to these products and services, but more importantly, to each other. Shapiro continued, I see a world with connected devices that are constantly learning and discovering new ways of doing everything; improving the way we live.

Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix, followed with his opening keynote during which he and Ted Sarantos, chief content officer, Netflix, announced several new Netflix Original Series airing in 2016 including The Crown, a biographical story of Queen Elizabeth II and Baz Lurhmanns The Get Down, a story about urban youth in The Bronx. Sarantos welcomed stars from several Netflix Original Series including, Chelsea Handler (Chelsea Does), Will Arnett (BoJack Horseman & Flaked), Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones) and Wagner Moura (Narcos), who discussed the creative freedom given by Netflix to create original content.

Hastings finished his keynote by announcing that while he was speaking, Netflix became available in 130 new countries, including India, South Korea, Turkey and Poland.

During the Wednesday afternoon keynote, Mary Barra, chairman and CEO of General Motors, introduced the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, a fully electric vehicle that can travel 200 miles on a single charge and is slated to go into production this year. The Bolt EV is truly the first electric vehicle that cracks the code of long range and affordable price, Barra said. Its for anyone who wants to save time, money and the environment in a car thats truly fun to drive. In touting the Bolts innovative tech features, like its wide-angle rear camera, quick-charge battery and navigation with EV-specific routing, Barra stressed that todays car is more than just a car  its an upgradable platform for new technologies.

Ginni Rometty, chairman, president and CEO of IBM, concluded Wednesdays keynote lineup discussing IBMs role in the next phase of the Internet of Things (IoT): cognitive computing. She said the challenge of IoT today is making sense of all the data were creating and capturing. The future of the Internet of Things is cognitive, Rometty said. It will change what you make, it will change how you operate, and IoT will change who you are. Rometty announced partnerships with Under Armour, Medtronic and Softbank Robotics, who are all using Watson, IBMs computing power technology that makes sense of data generated by connected devices.

Shapiro opened IBMs keynote by announcing a research partnership between the CTA Foundation and IBM to study how cognitive computing will transform our lives as we age and transform the lives of those living with disabilities.

Opening day of CES 2016 also featured dynamic SuperSessions and conference panels discussing the latest trends and public policies covering the entire spectrum of consumer technology.

During the Insights with the FCC and FTC SuperSession, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler discussed the value of spectrum in supporting IoT connectivity and the significance of the upcoming wireless spectrum auction. Eighty-four days from today there will be the worlds largest spectrum auction that has ever taken place, Wheeler said. The auction is essential to the kinds of things that are going on downstairs on the show floor, he added. Wheeler said the upcoming spectrum auction is an opportunity for broadcasters to rethink how they want to do their business.

Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez focused on the need to protect consumer privacy in an IoT era. Data is increasingly becoming todays currency and we need to be aware of what impact that has on consumers. Ramirez added that companies should be transparent about their data practices and offer consumers opt-out choices. Consumers are willing to share information if they can be assured about what that information is being used for, Ramirez said. She also discussed the FTCs recent workshop on the sharing economy and the Commissions plans to release a report on the sharing economy this spring.

Wednesdays SuperSession, An Inside Look: Industry Innovators and Government Join Forces, featured U.S. CTO Megan Smith, White House OSTP, and Tom Kalil, deputy director for policy, White House OSTP. The panel highlighted five key factors that are making the difference and driving innovation in cities across America: the Maker Movement, TechHire, diversity, smart cities and the Presidential Innovation Fellowship (PIF) program. The presentation included representatives from Autodesk, Telegraph Education and Pinterest to explain how various OSTP initiatives are helping to create greater access to technology and other valuable resources.

Marina Martin, CTO of the Department of Veterans Affairs, also joined on stage to explain how the PIF program inspired her to leave the private sector for a greater cause. My experience working for the federal government is that, as civil servants, they want to build a bridge, said Martin. I cant make those decisions, but I have the digital service skills to build a bridge. PIF is a way to serve your country and also bring important skills back to your company. For more information on the programs discussed during the presentation, visit wh.gov/CES2016.

CNET Editors-at-Large Brian Cooley and Tim Stevens explored the future of how we interact with machines and computers and the relationship between devices and people with a panel of linguists, artificial intelligence specialists and big-name industry experts at the Next Big Thing: Is Typing Dead Supersession. Marcus Behrendt, head of user experience, BMW Group, Wendy Ju, executive director, interaction design research, Stanford University, Dr. Pattie Maes, Professor, MIT Media Laboratory, MIT and Vlad Sejnoha, CTO, Nuance debated whats next when it comes to human and device interaction across various use-case scenarios. The panel discussed advances in voice and gesture control, but agreed that the ultimate future for communication may lie in biometric tech where the objects around us can sense bio-feedback and respond according to mood, mental state, physical activity, etc. A future where just being is all you need to communicate.

The C Space Storytellers conference track explored the unique relationship between content, technology and the art of innovation. The day-long program featured executives from global brands including AOL, Facebook, GE, LinkedIn, Pandora, Salesforce and Target, as well as artist, entrepreneur and TV host Nick Canon. Topics discussed included the importance of furthering innovation through strategic partnerships; the global shift to mobile; creating and maintaining healthy brands; building consumer engagement and the future of content delivery. When discussing the new age of data, Cannon remarked, People like to say that content is king, but now, data, or information, is king.
Auto Enthusiast? Repair Questions?, Car Problems? Opinion? - Auto Lab LIVE, Saturday January 9, 2016







Car Question? Call Toll Free 888-692-7234

Auto Lab is a 25 year old interactive automotive-focused New York area radio call-in show hosted by Professor Harold Wolchok. Each week a cadre of experienced hands-on automotive experts are in-studio with advice for the New York area's 12 million people, providing listeners with honest, practical and street-smart car repair and buying advice.

Auto Lab is also about the automotive industry, its history, and its

culture, presenting the ideas and advice of leading college faculty, authors, and automotive practitioners in a relaxed, conversational interactive format.

8 to 9 am on WMCA Radio Listen Live on WMCA Radio

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After listening to the first hour on WMCA, you will need to close that window and click the link to listen to the second hour on WNYM.

Listeners can hear the past 18 years of archived Auto Lab shows as simulcast on www.theautochannel.com.

Listen - Auto Lab Page (Includes Audio-on-Demand Archives, Auto Programs at Community College Database, Guests Pictures

January 9, 2016 - Car Question? Straight Answers From These In-Studio Auto Lab Experts

Harold Bendell- Major Auto

Fred Bordoff-Bronx Community College, CUNY

Tim Cacace-Master Mechanix

Jerry Pastore-D & J Diagnostic

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Michael Porcelli - Central Avenue Auto Repairs & I-CAR

Nicholas Prague- MTA and Rockland Community College, SUNY

January 9, 2016 - Correspondent Reports - Car Reviews, Opinion and Other Automotive News and Information

Robert Erskine, Senior European Correspondent, Suffolk England

OUT OF ALL PROPORTION

Robert Sinclair-AAA Northeast

GAS PRICES WAY UP IN SAUDI ARABIA

Russ Rader, Vice President-Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

STRONGER ECONOMY CAN BE BAD NEWS FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY

Sharon Sudol and John Russell, Senior Correspondents

2016 LEXUS NX 200T Review
Research also shows that a higher gross domestic product (GDP) per capita does not necessarily increase the optimism of a country. (Photo : Getty Images)

Chinese companies that are focusing on dissuading mistresses from destroying families are using variety of methods to convince women who enter into a relationship with married men that they have other options.



One method used by a Chongqing-based company, run by Luo Rong, is to hire tall and handsome men to pretend to be wealthy and be interested in the mistress so she could be distracted from her relationship with a married man. But Luo says despite feigning interest in a bid to "sabotage" the married man-mistress relationship, the company sees to it that it does not use illegal ways such as stalking, monitoring or threatening the "other woman" or mistress, reports WomenofChina.



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Another Shenzhen-based company, run by Kang Na, created a new social circle for mistresses, similar to Luo's strategy, to get these women to meet other single men, in the process helping preserve marriages.



About 80 percent of failed marriages in China is because of mistresses which results in a steady increase in divorces in the past 12 years. Whatsonweibo reports that the divorce rate in China stands at 3.9 percent in 2015 as 3.63 million couples divorced, according to data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.



Divorce is quite prevalent that the line "Have you divorced today?" is a common joke among Chinese. Meanwhile, wives who have not yet divorced their husbands have resorted to physically harming the mistresses, as can be seen in a number of YouTube postings.







This situation, brought to fore during the Second Chinese Marriage and Family Counseling Summit in Shanghai in October 2015, led to the release of a convention on the marriage and family counseling industry in the country.



However, how to open counseling services does not come cheap. Training courses to help dissuade mistresses from becoming family wrecking balls cost 300,000 yuan or $46,235.



Experts in the field are called "third person dissuader" or "mistress discourager." Most of them are found in big Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenzhen. The number of companies and individuals offering such services has boomed that a Google search using the two terms would yield 80,000 links.



Despite the cost, Ming Li, chief counselor of the Weiqing Group, stresses, "Our goal is to contribute to the development of a harmonious society and carry forward positive energy."



Since Weiqing opened 15 years ago, it has saved 5,135 marriages, stopped 5,859 extramarital affairs and persuaded 6,270 third parties from destroying marriages and families. If they work 365 days a year, they could convince 1.65 couples to remarry, reunite 3.65 families, save one marriage and discourage 1.5 other women daily, estimates Ming.


Leeds bar owners prosecuted after man is left fighting for his life

THE company behind The New Conservatory bar and restaurant on Albion Place has been prosecuted after major health and safety breaches led to a tourist suffering life-changing injuries.

TNC Music and Bars, the owners and operators of The New Conservatory located in the heart of the Leeds shopping district, were fined 25,000 after a customer drank caustic soda which was being used to clean the beer line, rather than the pale ale he had asked for.

Barcelona-based freelance TV producer David Caminal was left fighting for his life after drinking the cleaner. He was immediately rushed to hospital but had to have his oesophagus removed.

TNC Bars and director Nicholas Bird were fined 43,000 over the incident, following an investigation with West Yorkshire Police.

It was found that a junior member of staff had not turned round the beer badge, indicating that the line was out of action for cleaning.

Unwitting bar staff then served Mr Caminal from the tap, without realising that it was cleaning solution rather than pale ale that was being served, due to the yeast deposits in the line, colouring the liquid.

Councillor Mark Dobson, executive member for environmental protection and community safety said: What started out as a day off, sightseeing in Leeds ended in tragedy for Mr Caminal.

When taken on their own, the events that led to this incident seem minor but the knock-on effects had a catastrophic outcome leaving us in no doubt that we had to prosecute.

Its my sincere hope that this case shows just how important it is that businesses remain vigilant, follow the correct procedures and ensure their staff are fully informed. It should also demonstrate just how seriously we take health and safety at work.

We appreciate that this incident has been life changing for Mr Caminal and wed like to wish him and his family the very best for the future.
Grant advances CSUCI research Cal State Channel Islands assistant professor of computer science Scott Feister and assistant professor of mathematics Alona Kryshchenko recently received $112,480 from the National Science Foundation to continue a grant to support their research project, Enhancing Laser Based Ion Sources...

Healthcare agency recommends flu shots The Ventura County Health Care Agency offers options for the community to receive flu shots through its Ambulatory Care Clinic system, public health clinics and pop-up clinics. Although seasonal influenza viruses are detected year-round in the United States, they are...

Early detection is the best way to survive breast cancer Every October, we celebrate those men and women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. But what is breast cancer and how can it be diagnosed and managed? There are five basic warning signs that breast cancer may be present:...

Cal Lutheran University hosts Heart Walk The American Heart Association will host a Heart Walk Sat., Oct. 8 at Cal Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks. The event is expected to draw hundreds of people. Activities include a 2-mile walk, drum circle performances, Zumba demonstrations, live music and...
Zhang Hongjiang, chief executive officer of Kingsoft Corp. Ltd., has expressed desire for the firm to become the world's second largest cloud-computing operator. (Photo : www.scmp.com)

Kingsoft Corp. Ltd., one of Chinas leading antivirus software and Internet services companies, is planning to lead in the growing domestic cloud-computing market, following a dramatic growth since the company launched its cloud operations in 2012, China Daily reported.



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Zhang Hongjiang, chief executive officer of Kingsoft, said that its Kingsoft Cloud offshoot has also set its sights firmly on becoming the world's second largest cloud provider, behind Amazon Web Services Inc.



According to the report, Kingsoft Cloud continued to have an annual growth of around 80 percent in its first three years, and during the second half of last year, its growth soared to 300 percent, after it received a new round of funding worth $67 million in March.



Zhang said that Kingsoft Group chairman Lei Jun has assured the company of getting 1 billion yuan ($153 million) in investment over the next three years, which gave him the confidence to achieve and maintain market leadership in China.



When Kingsoft first embarked on developing cloud services, it only planned to focus on developing infrastructure rather than software, Zhang said. But as the market developed, more firms have started to target software development.



"The timing for us to enter the industry was just right," said Zhang, who was the former chief technology officer at Microsoft China R&D Group and managing director of Microsoft Advanced Technology Center before he joined Kingsoft in 2011.



"The first layer of companies has now formed, meaning it is very difficult for newly established firms to enter the cloud-computing industry right now, especially those wanting to focus on infrastructure, which is expensive and highly technical," the CEO added.



In 2014, Kingsoft entered the digital gaming industry and it expanded into the online video industry last year, which helped push the company into impressive growth.



Zhang said that the business's success can be attributed to overcoming three major barriers: technology, scale and service quality. As the company has put its processes firmly in place, it is now moving into other areas of cloud services that include medical, government administration and smart cities.



"To apply cloud technologies to such areas, especially traditional industries, we need more efficient system integrators to tailor-make applications using our technology. This level of system integration expertise is in short supply in China right now, and developing even more reliable integrators is likely to be our major target in 2016," Zhang said.



The report added that the company started looking globally last year, as it opened two centers in Hong Kong and the United States to serve its expansion into Southeast Asia and North America, respectively, by both sourcing international clients and finding the best ways to serve them.


Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/01/2016 (2476 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mennonite Central Committee Manitoba has appointed Darryl Loewen as its new executive director. Loewen joins MCC after serving as principal at Mennonite Collegiate Institute (MCI) in Gretna.

Ive always deeply admired the work of MCC, and I am excited to step into that mission. I look forward to being part of the really important work MCC does with justice, peace and cultural understanding at a time when organizations like MCC need to be out front. This is not an easy calling but one I look forward to, Loewen said in a release.

Loewen takes over as executive director in August. Peter Rempel will continue to serve as interim executive director until then.

The search for a new executive director began as a result of the departure of Ron Janzen. Janzen, a former Steinbach resident who worked previously as a vice-president of corporate services with South Eastman Health, has moved into that same health care role, this time with the Interlake-Eastman Regional Health Authority.
The hole where the fairy is said to live Another Fairy Entity Captured at the Estuary I got the following report and photos of what is said ...
Dearest Jennifer Lawrence, we really did want to be your best friend.

We drooled over every photo and crazy anecdote from your nights out with your real BFF, Amy Schumer.

We only have admiration for your articulate, fiercely spot-on response to the 2014 nude photo leak, as well as your commitment to combating sex-based wage inequality in Hollywood.

It goes without saying, we loved how you trip in the adorable romantic-comedy way where clumsiness is the one flaw in the hot heroine.

But really, J. Law, dont try to tell us youre not skinny or imply your body doesnt look fabulous in pretty much everything.

In the latest issue of Glamour, Lawrence spoke with editor-in-chief Cindi Leive about, among other things, her approach to style and dressing.

And there are things that are made for skinny peoplelike a lot of embroidery, or it covers a lotand those make me look fat, Lawrence said without, as far as one can tell, a bit of ironyin a profile that was accompanied by a photo of her in a black bikini with nary an ounce of excess flesh.

Reading Lawrence talk about skinny people as if she were not part of that slim coterie is a bit infuriating.

Of course, she is only playing the annoyingly common female celebrity card of saying Im not thin! I dont have a perfect physique!

Demi Lovato similarly professed her bodily imperfection with a nude and, as she so carefully stressed, unretouched spread for Vanity Fair in October. She said it was about letting go, being authentic, saying I dont give a fuck and this is who I am.

But, as I noted when the photos went viral, such a bold declaration presupposes someone would be criticizing her body or that the way she looks dramatically challenges our conventional standards for female beauty. Lovatos body does not.

Lovato has a history of battling with eating disorders and, thus, there is something more genuine about her declaration. Still, it doesnt change the fact that for many others who struggle with their own body insecurities, watching Lovato make peace with her gorgeous figure only stirs up the flaws we find, by comparison, with our own (or at least, it does for me).

Also, not only do such claims of imperfection often reek of false self-modesty, but they are insulting because theyre often presented by the celebrity as a way to make herself relatable to a normal female audience: Im just like you plebeians with love handles! is what these implausibly, professionally hot women are usually trying to say.

What was even more disappointing about Lawrences comment distancing herself from skinny people is she used her not-skinny status as the justification for showing off her enviable tits and an ass. She explained to Leive, I have to show the lumps. If you have boobs, you have to show, like, These are boobs. This isnt cellulite. [Laughs] Not that theres anything wrong with that.

No, there isnt anything wrong with cellulite, J. Law. Apparently, 90 percent of women have it at some point.

In Lawrences, Lovatos, and the whole slew of indisputably hot celebrity women who feel compelled to profess they dont meet all the stringent conventions of female hotness, there is certainly a pressure on them to seem relatable.

Its the same reason they play up the chaos and messiness of motherhood when they have children, rarely admitting they have a staff of nannies and assistant to shepherd their progeny.

Hollywood sells our icons, especially women, as likeable, self-deprecating, and, often, deferential. Not for nothing has Us Weeklys StarsTheyre Just Like Us spreads become one of the most popular and cliched celebrity tabloid features.

Lawrence and Co. may be well-intentioned in their efforts to embrace imperfections.

Many women have a tendency to self-deprecate, psychiatrist Anna Fels argued in her book Necessary Dreams: Ambition in Womens Changing Lives.

In her review of the book for Bloomberg Business in 2012, Michelle Conlin described Felss logic that if one is to be seen as feminine, one must be selflessly unambitious. And to be unfemininetoo masculine, in other words--is to invite savage personal attacks, intense scrutiny, and conjectures about ones sexuality.

Certainly, women in Hollywood are not immune from this pressure, even if one would hope that powerful celebrity women power could be a little bolder. Lawrence, after all, has built her celebrity brand on candor.

For Lawrence or Lovato to say they love bodies because they are perfect, rather than the friendlier in spite of their imperfections would be refreshing in its own way. Instead, whether intended or not, they feign flaws, which comes off as patronizing.

And Lawrence continued to exude false modesty in the Glamour interview, claiming she was shocked people paid attention to her.

What do I do? What do I do? Im just a girl, sitting in front of the world and asking them to forgive her for speaking, Lawrence said. Theres no need to ask for forgiveness, J. Lawand no need to pretend that youve got anything to apologize for.
BURLINGTON  Donald Trump has now gone where few Republican presidential contenders have gone before: the backyard of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Trump had other things on his mind, though, as Sanders was barely the focus of a Thursday night rally whose second half was repeatedly interrupted by protesters.

When he did bring up Sanders, the Republican frontrunner seemed surprisingly skittish.

We all like Bernie, right? Do we all like Bernie?

No! Boo! shouted the crowd back at Trump.

OK, he wants a 90 percent tax. I wasnt sure how to feel that out, he said.

Trump talked about Sanders for less than two minutes, focusing the bulk of his usual stemwinder speech on the art of negotiation and guns, along with, of course, himself. He even managed to get in his regular attacks on former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

The event had been anticipated all week in Burlington.

The Trump campaign came under fire locally for distributing more than 20,000 tickets to the event, even though the theaters capacity is limited to 1,400. Police officials defended the decision to allow the event to go forward on First Amendment grounds.

If Phish was holding a free concert at the Flynn and gave away 20,000 free tickets, we would cancel the event out of public safety concerns. We are committed to accommodating the campaign because political speech is the very essence of the First Amendment, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo told the Burlington Free Press.

The Daily Beast did not observe 20,000 people outside the Flynn Center, but there were large crowds of pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators, as well as a large swath of Sanders supporters. The two groups did not physically interact, as they were separated by police barricades and Main Street. It was a lively scene featuring Trump supporters on one side patiently waiting in line and looking on with amusement at the drum-playing and candle-toting Sanders supporters.

The candles were part of some vague peace and unity demonstration.

The candles to me symbolize light and enlightenment. They symbolize brightness as opposed to the darkness of hatred and bigotry and racism and exclusion, said Arleen Sorkin, 60, of Williston, Vt.

The Sanders supporters were creative in their demonstrations of disdain for Trump, holding light-up signs while rolling out chants like From Mexico to Palestine, border walls are a crime and Dump Trump in a lake, hes not welcome in our state.

Trump supporters were less creative in their insults, offering up retorts like Get a job! and Take a shower!

Standing in a sea of Sanders supporters outside the Flynn Center were two silent Trump supporters holding signs that read Trump Before Its Too Late.

I dont think it needs an explanation. Why should I even explain it? The national debt, the wars, the lack of work, the lack of everything. Its just not like it was when I was a teenager, said Cathleen Laughy, 67, of Fairfax, Vt.

While the shouting and drumming continued outside, Trump supporters gradually filed into the Flynn Center and were greeted with a question:

Are you a Trump supporter?

Those who said no were turned away. Those who said yes were allowed to enter the security screening area.

In an emailed campaign statement, Trump defended the decision to question attendees before allowing them entry.

We have more than 20,000 people that showed up for 1,400 spots, he said. Im taking care of my people, not people who dont want to vote for me or are undecided. They are loyal to me and I am loyal to them.

The loyalty question turned out to be an imperfect screening mechanism for the event, which was repeatedly disrupted by protesters after the 30-minute mark. Dozens were ejected during the events final half hour. Things escalated to a point where audience members acted as narcs and called out others in the crowd they suspected of being potential protesters.

The crowd was largely tame and did not attack or physically confront protesters, leaving that to security.

At times it appeared as if Trump, who has been using a softer tone (for him, anyway) with protesters at his events, was trying to ignore them. But by the end of the night he was encouraging security to take away the coats of protesters and send them out into the cold Vermont night without winter gear.

Well send it to him in a couple weeks, said Trump of one protesters coat.
When the Golden Globe nominations were announced last month, one of the biggest surprises was all the love for a little-seen Amazon series called Mozart in the Jungle. Not only did the show score a Best Comedy Series nod, but its star, Gael Garcia Bernal, also landed himself in the Best Actor in a Television Comedy Series category alongside Aziz Ansari, Rob Lowe, and Jeffrey Tambor.

Unlike those three men, the Mexican-born star of films Y Tu Mama Tambien, The Motorcycle Diaries and, more recently, the Jon Stewart-directed drama Rosewater, is not exactly known for his comedy chops.

But for fans of Mozart, which just started streaming its second season on Amazon December 30, the accolades were less shocking. As Rodrigo, the eccentric maestro of the incestuous New York Symphony, he has developed a completely unique performance, generating laughs with nothing more than the way he mispronounces the name of co-star Lola Kirkes character. (Its Hailey, but coming from Rodrigo it sounds more like the sport jai alai.)

On March 4, Bernal returns to the big screen with yet another dark turn in the immigration thriller Desierto, the directorial debut of Jonas Cuaron, who previously co-wrote the script for Gravity with his father, Alfonso Cuaron.

Desierto turns the contentious immigration debate into a tense action film set along the U.S.-Mexico border. While Bernal plays one of a group of migrants trying to enter the United States, Jeffrey Dean Morgan portrays a racist vigilante who decides to take matters into his own hands to prevent them from doing so.

Bernal spoke to The Daily Beast about both projects, and shared his message for Latinos who dont want to see President Donald Trump build a wall along the southern border. Below is an edited and condensed version of our conversation.

Congrats on the Golden Globe nominations for Mozart in the Jungle. The show seems to have flown under the radar for a while, but people are finally starting to really take notice, just in time for Season Two.

Thank you so much. Yeah, thats great man. Im really happy, really delighted. Im just spinning.

Can you talk a little bit about what drew you to the part of Rodrigo?

It was a combination of many things, but the fact that it was a show about classical music really pulled my attention. Because that itself is very original, to do a TV series about that. So that pulled me immediately. But the way it was put together, the people that were involvedRoman [Coppola], Jason [Schwartzman] and Paul [Weitz]it was something that was very interesting to be part of. And now Im just delighted because I look forward each year to working on it, to learn more, because I learn so much doing each episode. And to spend time in New York, working with this wonderful group of people, its incredible. And to play Rodrigo, hes one of the most fun characters to play, you know? Hes so free.

Have you enjoyed the opportunity to play comedy after doing a lot of darker work throughout your career?

I think yeah, that was something I was looking for as well. Because it was nice to do something relaxed and a little bit more approachable. And at the same time, it takes another type of effort that leaves you really tired. You have to be really connected and really playing the part all of the time. Comedy requires a lot of energy.

Shifting gears, the trailer for Desierto just premiered. It tells the story of a group of migrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border but it appears to be a thriller or even a horror film. What can you tell us about your character in the film?

Yeah, its this migrant story, with everyone crossing the border for different reasons, most of them forced reasons. And they encounter this character, who, unfortunately takes matters into his own hands and kind of validates a hate discoursejust suddenly snaps and starts killing these people. The character I play is one of these migrants and its pure action, the film. So, a lot of people will find a lot of complexity in its very strong action sequences. And hopefully a lot of people will enjoy the film.

Why do you think this story is an important one to tell?

Because its an important issue all over the world. And its an issue that needs to be talked about, because there is a huge void in leaving a large group of people to be considered criminals, and even illegal, while the world economy needs this migration to exist. Migration is as natural as breathing, as eating, as sleeping. It is part of life, part of nature. So we have to find a way of establishing a proper kind of scenario for modern migration to exist. And when I say we, I mean the world. We need to find ways of making that migration not forced. Because unfortunately in a lot of situations, right now with Syria for example, a lot of the migration that exists is a forced migration.

Between Rosewater and now Desierto, much of your work seems aimed at making a political point. What do you make of the recent debate over immigration, whether it is ideas to deport millions of undocumented immigrants or calls to keep Syrian refugees out of the country?

[Sighs.] I think thats the wrong way to tackle this subject. Because first of all, its an issue that involves everybody. And there are many legs to it. And with immigration, again, we are denying a natural phenomenon. We cant deny that natural phenomenon. We need to establish roots of how to make that phenomenon happen in a way that is, yes, legal, but we also need to prevent this forced migration from existing. What happened in Syria is terrible. We all have to be responsible for that. Millions of people are left without a home and without a future. We cant let those kids not have a future. And in the case of the United States and Mexico or Latin America, there is an interdependent culture and economy. Weve seen through history that building walls is completely obsolete and completely ridiculous. The best investment you can make is to prevent forced migration. And to take down walls so we share this interdependence in harmony and not in this kind of contention.

Of course the man whos leading the Republican presidential primary race right now is Donald Trump, who wants to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. How do you think Latino voters will respond if he becomes the Republican nominee for president?

Well, I would suspect that anyone with a human heart will vote against people who talk that way. There are a few people [in the presidential race] who think like that and the problem is that if we do a little bit of insight into history, how many times have there been people doing hate discourse, blaming everything on a certain group of people? So that really is the genesis of genocide, where it kind of sparks. So this hatred should be stopped and the best way to stop it is coming out to vote.
President Xi Jinping meets with Chinese leaders in a symposium on improving the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in Chongqing Municipality, on Jan. 5, 2016. (Photo : www.news.xinhuanet.com)

President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday, Jan. 5, that ecology and "green development" would play a key role to boost the growth of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Xinhua Finance reported.



Xi made the remarks during a meeting in Chongqing with officials from Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and some departments under the State Council.



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Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli was also present at the meeting.



According to the report, Xi said that it is a key strategy for the country to boost growth in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, while work has been done to develop the natural waterway such as river course renovation, use of water resources, and control and treatment of water pollution.



Xi said that the Yangtze River has been an important part of Chinese society and the economy for thousands of years, and today, it is still crucial as it holds the key to linking the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.



Xi added that the river's status and role to the economic belt mean that development along the river must prioritize ecology and "green development" to respect natural, economic and social rules.



The Chinese leader said that the Yangtze River has a unique ecological system and it will be a huge task to restore its ecological environment, as he stressed that no large-scale development will be allowed along the river at present and for a long period to come.



Xi also urged various sectors to coordinate development in areas such as water, road, port, wetland and environment in various regions along the river.



In April, the State Council announced a plan to build city clusters along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in an effort to spur new economic growth and to promote further development.



The planned development would include urban clusters around Wuhan in Hubei Province, clusters around Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province, and the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan city group in Hunan Province.



According to the State Council, the clusters are a major component of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which covers a total land area of 317,000 square kilometers.



The State Council said that the three clusters are key areas where the "Rise of Central China" strategy will be implemented. It will be an area where the government will launch and promote more substantive reform and a new type of urbanization.



The "Rise of Central China" strategy was launched in 2004 as part of the country's effort to attain a more balanced development.


She was simply trying to save the life of her child.

Instead, Leena al-Qasem fell victim to the first rule of any successful cult: Turn your followers against their friends, their family, and most importantly, their parents.

This being one of the most destructive cults in historyLeena, 45, was not simply cut off when she suggested escaping from the self-declared Islamic State; she was gunned down by her own son.

The brutal, execution-style killing was carried out in the center of Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIS, in front of hundreds of onlookers.

Leena was reportedly condemned to death when her son, Ali Saqr al-Qasem, snitched on her to hardline Islamist officials in Raqqa. Sources told the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that she was accused of inciting her son to leave the Islamic state and escaping together to the outside of Al-Raqqah. She was also said to have warned her boy that the Coalition will kill all members of the organization.

Leena al-Qasem, who lived in nearby Tabaqa on the banks of the Euphrates, was shot dead outside the main post office in Raqqa on Wednesday. A spokesman for the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told The Daily Beast that she was killed in order to scare people in Raqqa who may want to pull their families out of the danger zone.

The battle for the soul of vulnerable young Muslimsbetween their parents and sadistic Islamist recruitershas become a central theme in the rise of ISIS.

Daniel Koehler, director of the Berlin-based German Institute on Radicalization and De-radicalization Studies, echoed decades of research on cults when he described the way ISIS recruiters draw young people into their control.

It is all about gaining trust, building a relationship, and then slowly distancing the recruit from his or her family," he explained.

By emulating Norman Bates in Psycho and slaughtering his own mother, Ali Saqr al-Qasem can now be considered the poster child of that twisted doctrine.

Former Islamist Alyas Karmani, who appeared in the British documentary Exposure: Jihad last year, explained how he would recruit impressionable teenagers by attempting to replace their parental figures. When someone for the first time starts to understand you, emotionally support youput that arm around you to show compassion and love for youthats unbelievably powerful and compelling, he said.

Like Leena al-Qasem, Canadian mother Chris Boudreau tried to pull her son back from the brink. She also failed: Her son, Damian Clairmont, a convert to Islam, was killed in Syria in 2014.

Despite his death, Boudreau has continued the battle through Mothers for Life, a group of women trying to confront ISIS propagandists with a vibrant countermessage. Weve got to fight fire with fire, she said.

The group posted an open letter, which quotes the Quran extensively, on many of the social-media sites where ISIS recruiters try to warp young peoples minds.

We, your mothers, brought you in this world, loved and cherished you. Allah has enjoined on man kindness to his parents; in pain did his mother bear him, and in pain, did she give him birth (Quran: 46:15), the letter reads.

Remember that even the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Paradise lies at the feet of your mother.

In Raqqa, it was the crumpled body of a mother lying at the feet of her son.
CHICAGO  Attorneys for Laquan McDonalds estate accused the Chicago Police Department of pressuring eyewitnesses to change their stories about the teenager who was killed by a cop.

Eyewitnesses were questioned by police immediately after Officer Jason Van Dyke shot McDonald on Oct. 20, 2014 and some of them supposedly gave statements contrary to polices version of events, namely that McDonald lunged at Van Dyke with a knife.

The allegations were made during negotiations over a $5 million settlement between McDonalds estate and the city, as revealed in emails released by the city last week.

McDonalds attorneys said when eyewitness stories didnt jibe with the police version of events, cops pressured the bystanders to change their stories.

One witness whom the police reports alleged did not see the shooting, in fact told multiple police officers that he saw the shooting, and it was like an execution, Michael Robbins wrote Thomas Platt, deputy corporation counsel of Chicago, on March 23. Civilian witnesses have told us that they were held against their will for hours, intensively questioned by detectives, during which they were repeatedly pressured by police to change their statements. When the witnesses refused to do so, the investigating officers simply fabricated civilian accounts in the reports.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel should have been aware of these allegations given that Platts boss briefed him about the settlement talks towards the end of March. City Hall and the Law Department have not said what corporation counsel Stephen Patton told Emanuel.

No dissenting witness statements made it into the full police report on the McDonald shooting, as DNA Info noted. Most importantly, none of the witnesses police quoted in that report describe anything close to what the dashcam video proves really happened. The police department said it could not comment about specific allegations due to ongoing investigations into the shooting by Cook Countys prosecutor and the Justice Department.

After the crime scene was cleared, City Hall went into lockdown mode, coordinating messages with the police, the Law Department, and the Independent Police Review Authority: anyone and everyone who may come into contact with a reporter.

One month later, a Cook County child welfare advocate submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for police reports pertaining to McDonalds death. CPD denied the request citing the Juvenile Records Act.

An FOIA officer reported to her sergeant that no one else had made public records requests in the McDonalds deathincluding news organizations.

With IPRA officially investigating the officer-involved shooting, reports and documents related to the incident could be locked down by CPD, which continually cited the ongoing investigation.

Reports were asking questions, which meant City Hall needed to give them an answer: The dashcam video will be released once the investigation is complete in order not to taint it.

However, it appears the investigation was already tainted from what the McDonald estates attorneys said about witness intimidation.
In 2008, they went after Barack Obama. In 2016, theyre going after Ted Cruz.

The originators of the so-called birther movement are leading a charge this campaign cycle with the same accusations they had two campaign cycles ago.

Eight years ago, the loosely organized group came together other-izing the man who would become the first black president. Now, theyre attempting to do so with the potential first Latino one. And its not just isolated fringe bloggers who have taken up the mantle. WorldNetDaily, a site that has touted both Donald Trump and Cruz and been essential reading for their fans, is supporting the cause as well.

The senator from Texas was born in Calgary, Canada, to an American mother and a Cuban father. Cruz released his birth certificate in 2013 and renounced his Canadian citizenship a year later in advance of his presidential campaign, in an attempt to put the issue to bed before it reached national headlines in this campaign cycle.

And that might have resolved it, if Donald Trump had not questioned his legitimacy as a candidate.

How do you run against the Democrat, whoever it may be, and you have this hanging over your head if they bring a lawsuit? Trump said in an interview on CNN this week. And just like that, with one question, the real estate mogul effectively brought this issue from the far reaches of conspiracy Internet sites to the forefront of American dialogue.

Trump later suggested that Cruz ask a judge for a declaratory judgment to definitively prove the status of his citizenship.

This, of course, would likely create a spectacle that could prove politically advantageous to Trump, who is currently losing to Cruz in Iowa, the first primary state.

Im doing this for the good of Ted I like him. He likes me, Trump asserted.

While this reads as a witch hunt to most eyesakin to Trumps previous efforts to get Obamas birth certificate releasedmany of the original founders of the 2008 movement seem to agree with the leading Republican candidate. Unlike Obama, they like Cruz and they want him to clear the air on this birth issue before its too late.

I think it does disqualify him, said Teo Bear (an online pseudonym), who warned about the issue of Ted Cruzs birth on his site Birthers.org in 2014. Let me ask you a question, if you were dating a girl and you come to realize that she wanted to get serious and wanted to have children and you didnt want puppies, dont you think you should tell her I dont want puppies?

In the same manner, Bear thinks that Cruz should be forthright with the American people and go to the Supreme Court to get this question resolved once and for all. The origin of the problem for Bear and his birther associates when it comes to Obama, Cruz, and especially Marco Rubio, is the constitutional understanding of the phrase natural born citizen.

The birther movement would suggest that anyone born in a foreign countryin Cruzs case, Canadawould need to become formally naturalized in a court of law before being considered a natural born citizen in the United States.

Most legal experts contend that Cruz meets the qualifications of this constitutional standard by having an American mother and thus obtaining her citizenship upon his birth. In 1790, after the Revolution, the United States passed the Naturalization Act, which said that children who were born to U.S. citizens outside of the United States also qualified as citizens.

But these standards are not clear enough proof for people like Joseph Farah, the editor-in-chief of conservative site WorldNetDaily.

Is that what the founders meant? Was it enough to have one parent be an American citizen? Does it matter where youre born? This is a serious issue, Farah said in a phone interview with The Daily Beast. Its not some crazy conspiracy theory. Its not some game. Its the Constitution were talking about.

Yet, the mustachioed purveyor of conspiracy theories about Obamas birth in Kenya really likes Cruz politically.

I personally think Ted Cruz is a terrific candidate, one of the smartest guys in any room he goes into, Farah said, coming short of endorsing Cruz. I think hed be a fine president.

After all, WND sells a book by Cruzs father, Rafael, called A Time for Action: Empowering the Faithful to Reclaim America, which details how Christians should get more involved in politics. Not to mention WNDs close affiliation with a fellow Cruz-lover Frank Gaffney, who has said that Grover Norquist is a secret informant for the Muslim Brotherhood.

So its not as if Farah doesnt want Cruz to succeedin fact hes raising these issues to ensure that he can.

Farah worries that if the debate about eligibility standards does not happen soon, Cruzs birth will negatively impact Republican primary voters. And he suggested, its only coming up now because it is politically advantageous for Trump to create this dialogue.

The day that Rubio emerges as a super threat, the questions will be raised about him, Farah said, echoing a similar sentiment that many birthers share about the legitimacy of the Florida senators citizenship status. It just depends on whose ox is being gored.

As this debate about Cruzs presidential eligibility has dragged onwith John McCain, whose birth was previously questioned, raising the spectre of doubt about Cruz and Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson filing a lawsuitthe rhetoric from the OGs of the birther movement have been ratcheting up.

Hes not eligible because hes not born in the country, said Mario Apuzzo, an insurance attorney from New Jersey who filed a lawsuit in federal court in 2009 against president-elect Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, Nancy Pelosi, and Congress alleging that Congress had not properly verified Obamas eligibility to be president.

In 2010, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case after a federal court in New Jersey dismissed it and the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal.

He was born to an alien father, Apuzzo said of Cruz. Hes got a worse situation than President Obama.

Apuzzo added that Cruz, because of his birthplace, would have divided allegiances, compromising his ability to lead.

This is an argument employed by other original members of the movement who worry that a Cruz presidency would set a bad precedent for future American politicians.

Charles Kerchner, a self-described retired professional electrical engineer who was one of the plaintiffs in Apuzzos suit, thinks that its time for Cruz to drop out of the race entirely.

What if the next time its North Korea? Kerchner said about Cruzs country of birth. Youre either pregnant or youre not. Why do we have to go to these more exotic candidates because the political parties want to do this?

Hes been writing about Cruz and his birth on his personal WordPress blog since 2013.

Natural born Citizens are created by natural law and the laws of nature and natures Creator, not man-made laws, he penned nearly three years ago. Upset that his case wasnt heard in court, Kerchner is happy that Trump brought this issue to mainstream light again.

If I say to you a red Chevy and a Ford are both cars, does that make a Ford a red Chevy? Kerchner asked. You have to be totally free of foreign influence. What if we had a Cuban missile crisis and the president has a father living in Cuba? Kerchner said referencing Cruzs own father. Would he be as quick to pull the trigger if we have to?

It takes two tigers in natural law to make a tiger, he added. It takes two citizens to have a natural born citizen. Why do you have to go to all these sexy immigrant types, Kerchner said exasperated with some of the GOP choices.

While mainstream media and Cruz himself might scoff at these suggestions from people like Apuzzowho said hes tired of being called a kookwhen these same questions were raised about Obama, they gained some ground.

In 2011, a quarter of Americans polled thought that Obama was born in a different country. Even in September of this year, 20 percent of Americans thought that he was not from the United States initially.

Cruz himself has balked at the question of citizenship.

Yes, Im sure the mediawith all due respectlove to engage in silly sideshows, he said in an interview with CNN on Thursday. We need to focus on what matters.

Cruzs national spokesperson, Rick Tyler, told The Daily Beast, Its all nonsense. Ted Cruz has never breathed a breath where he was not an American citizen.

But for the so-called birthers, a term that is pejorative depending on which member is talking, this situation is of dire importanceespecially for the people who want to see Cruz win.

If I could say anything to anybody, it would be to the Supreme CourtGET OFF YOUR ASS and make a clarification on who is a natural born citizen so we dont have to do this again! Is that clear enough? Bear screamed from the side of a Florida road before hanging up the phone.

with additional reporting by Betsy Woodruff
The head of the Democratic National Committee is supposed to help unify the disparate parts of her party, but Debbie Wasserman Schultz doesnt seem to have gotten the memo.

This week the Florida Democrat stirred the hornets nestknown as the progressive wing of the partyby charging millennial women with, basically, being lazy when it comes to womens issues.

A complacency among the generation of young women whose entire lives have been lived after Roe v. Wade was decided, Wasserman Schultz told the New York Times Magazine, when asked about the contemporary abortion battle.

Talk about off message.

But that seems par for the course for Wasserman Schultzs rocky reign as the head of the DNC since 2011.

Last month, Wasserman Schultz single handedly alienated a large, energetic segment of Bernie Sanders base, caused one of her chief lieutenants to rip on the DNC on live television and now has numerous petitions calling for her ouster. #YOLO

The White House (and others) even attempted to peer-pressure her out in 2014 after accusing her of putting her own ambitions over the party.

In response to the latest flood of criticism, Wasserman Schultz has attempted to walk her comment back, but the damage may already be done. The progressive group CREDO Action jumped at the anti-millennial-feminist charge and circulated a petition to its 3.9 million strong liberal army calling on Wasserman Schultz to step down. Within a couple days the online petition garnered more than 10,000 outraged signatures.

We thought that statement was in the latest string of actions where she put herself in positions by her statements that [were] directly in conflict with the progressive base, which is the core of the Democratic Party, and essentially the core of the constituency which is the DNC, CREDO Actions Deputy Political Director Murshed Zaheed told The Daily Beast.

This isnt the first time progressives have tried to force Wasserman Schultz out. Bernie Sanders supporters started a petition at Change.org after the DNC cut off his campaigns access to its own voter files when Sanders staffers were caught pillaging Hillary Clintons voter data. That petition has received more than 46,000 online signatures.

In some ways, Wasserman Schultz may be the greatest gift the Democratic Party has given the GOP in this Trump-era. She enjoys a national perch where shes charged with keeping the White House in Democratic hands, but shes alienatedor alienatingthe most energetic wing of her party.

Sanders supporters (and Martin OMalleyssupporter?) have been criticizing Wasserman Schultz and the DNC this cycle because theyve drastically limited the number of Democratic primary debates and buried a couple debates on weekends when no oneso the charge goeswatched Hillary Clinton get challenged in prime time.

That criticism exploded into a full fledge family feud for all to see when Wasserman Schultz got into a public spat with Rep. Tulsi Gabbarda colleague in the House and one of five vice chairs at the DNC. The long and short: Gabbard watched the Vegas debate from her district in Hawaii (#winning?).

When I caught up with Wasserman Schultz Thursday afternoon, she was initially reticent about even discussing this latest petition. After walking away and casting a vote on the House floor, she came back and we had a good chat where she defended herself from all the charges.

As for the (second, or third, but whos counting?) petition for her to move aside?

I havent thought anything at all about it, she calmly told me. The national party chairof both parties, franklyare going to make decisions that people like, some decisions people dont like. Im going to say things that some people agree with; say things that some people dont agree with. I just have to stay laser focused on doing everything I can to elect a Democratic president.

Wasserman Schultz compared her tumulous reign to that of former Vermont governor Howard Dean went through when he was DNC chair back in 2008. Thats when her home state of Florida and Michigan tried their hands at power politics andover protests from the party establishmentmoved their primary dates from February to January.

Dean and the DNC later voted to strip the states of all their delegates at the party convention.

That controversy was far more intense than this one is, Wasserman Schultz said.  It is the nature of being a party chair. Youre going to get bumped and bruised. Its just the way it is. I just have to stay focused. I know what my role is; I know what my job is. Im working my tail off to do it. Just like with any job, whether its my role in Congress or my role as party chair, youre not going to please everyone all the time.

But Bernie Sanders and the populist masses who flock to his events have ushered in a new day for the Democratic Party. That leaves Wasserman Schultz and the DNC with a choice: Embrace the new or cling to the old, according to Sanders supporters.

Bernie runs against: The system is rigged, and I think Democrats and the DNC cant give the appearance that theyre part of the rig, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) told The Daily Beast, one of two Sanders supporters in Congress.

What was isnt no more, and I think DNC has to catch up with that real quick, Grijalva said. Absent a gesture on the part of leadership at the top, those calls are going to intensify, he added. I think you need to come forward and say, We need to talk. We need to fix this.

Wasserman Schultz maintains the support of the Democratic establishmenteven if shes a thorn in their sides every once in awhile. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has criticized the DNC for sanctioning such a miniscule amount of debates, but she doesnt blame Schultz.

I dont share the concerns that others have put forth, Pelosi told The Daily Beast. She has all the stamina and enthusiasm for the job that she has, and I believe she has the confidence of the president and of the nominee of our party.

Just to be clear, Democratic voters have yet to weigh in for the 2016 primary, so theres actually no Democratic nominee. But it seems Pelosi was alluding to Hillary Clinton.

Asked about the whole Bernie Sanders suing the DNC thing Pelosi claimedon camerathe lawsuit was news to her.

Im not aware of that. Im not aware of that, Pelosi hastily responded. Im just not paying that much attention to that.

Really? And that sentimentnot paying attentionfrom the Democratic Party elite is exactly what Wasserman Schultz and the DNCs critics from their leftward flank are worried about. And theyre not going away.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it did not investigate the hate group that inspired Dylann Roof to kill nine black parishioners in Charleston, South Carolina last year.

FBI spokeswoman Jillian Stickels told The Daily Beast that there is no record of an investigation into the Council of Conservative Citizens. This comes after The Daily Beast requested FBI files on the group through the Freedom of Information Act. The FBI did not respond to requests for files on the CCCs most prominent leaders.

The FOIA request also covered one week following the June 17, 2015 attack, indicating that the FBI wasnt looking into the group even after it was revealed that Roof cited the CCC in his manifesto.

Roof wrote that he Googled black on White crime and found them.

The first website I came to was the Council of Conservative Citizens. There were pages upon pages of these brutal black on White murders, Roof said, adding that more research led him to fight a race war.

After the Charleston shooting, the CCCs webmaster first said the FBI was looking into suspected ties between him and Roof, and then later denied being part of any investigation.

The Council of Conservative Citizens was founded in 1985. It was meant to be a successor to the White Citizens Councils formed to oppose desegregation following the Supreme Courts 1954 Brown v. Board of Education. (Justice Thurgood Marshall called the councils the uptown Klan.) The FBI maintained extensive records on the earlier Citizens Councils, particularly in the 50s and 60s.

But the practice apparently did not continue, despite inflammatory statements from the new CCC. In the 1980s, the CCC called blacks genetically inferior. In 2001, the CCC website said, God is the author of racism. God is the One who divided mankind into different types. Mixing the races is rebelliousness against God.

Racist statements dont automatically trigger an FBI investigation, of course. Whats usually needed is a link to a threat of violence or criminal activity. Recent prosecutions of ISIS members show that the government may investigate and prosecute people for as little as re-blogging an image that calls for violence.

Other hate groups have been investigated by the FBI, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, including the Aryan Nations, the National Alliance, and several neo-Nazi groups.

The director of the SPLCs Intelligence Project speculated the CCC was not extreme enough to worry the FBI.

It may be that they considered the Council to be too mainstream to investigate, Heidi Beirich said. After all, several GOP lawmakers including Trent Lott were very close to the group in the 1990s.

The CCC was co-founded by two Democrats, former Georgia governor Lester Maddox and former Louisiana congressman John Rarick. Republican senator Trent Lott spoke to the CCC at least five times, as did Republican congressman Bob Barr in 1998. Mike Huckabee, another Republican, delivered a videotaped speech to the group in 1993 when he ran for governor of Arkansas.

Even as recently as 2013, South Carolinas Republican governor Nikki Haley appointed a CCC leader to her before he resigned when the public found out he was with the hate group.
It was a good day to die.

In early September 2003, I spent the morning shuffling my children off to school, used our last 10 dollars to put gas in the tank, folded a basket of laundry, and tidied up the tiny motel room we lived in. And then, I went to my car and pulled the small, .22 caliber revolver from the locked glove compartment.

I sat in the dimly lit roomfor minutes or hours, I do not knowsurrounded by the remains of my life, haunted by a broken marriage that was nearly 10 years gone, a failed business, a pile of overdue utility bills, and a string of eviction notices. We were living, if you could call it that, on $150 a week in child support and a few hundred dollars each month in food stamps. What was left of our furniture was in storage, paid for by our church benevolent fund. There had been two flat tires, but no job interviews that week. The weekly motel rent was due again and there wasnt a dime left on my credit card to cover it.

I placed my gun on the bed and kneeled down on the carpet to pray. I listed my complaints and my failings. Father, help me.

I remember feeling tired when I turned on my old desktop computer, logged in to AOL, and started to type out what I intended to be a final message to family and a few close friends. I want to thank you, I started.

I sat there a while longer, realizing there was nothing I really wanted to say, until an instant message popped up on the screen.

Hi, Mom! How are you?

Hey, Katie Lady

Im in the computer lab and guess what?

What is it sweetie?

I won the election!

Thats great, honey.

Ill see you after school!

See you then

Tonight, as the country continues a national conversation on gun control, I am thinking about my old gun. I purchased it and two others over the years. They were handguns, bought legally, as a means of personal protection.

Each year, there are some 30,000 victims of gun violence in the U.S. Nearly half of those deaths come at the hands of another. Whether it is the Bushmaster that cuts down a classroom of schoolchildren, an assault-style weapon used to carry out a massacre in a church basement or a movie theater, or one of the thousands of cheap, illegal handguns that flood our streets, gun violence continues to capture national headlines. When we talk about gun control, invariably we are talking about those guns.

We dont talk about the gun in the nightstand. We dont talk about the one in the lockbox in the top of a bedroom closet. We dont talk about the one, like mine, secured in the glove compartment of a car.

And even when we do discuss mental health as a factor, we rarelyif evermention the nearly 15,000 Americans who commit suicide each year. When we talk about expanding access to mental health care, we mean for the mass shooter who wipes out an entire kindergarten class. We mean for the loner who walks into a movie theater and shoots indiscriminately into the darkness. We mean for the man who targets a Planned Parenthood clinic.

We dont mean the uninsured, unemployed, single mother battling depression, who begs the heavens for a reprieve.

The president has proposed a myriad of solutions, including expanded background checks. Taken together, his planned executive actions may work to dampen the tide of guns. Closing the so-called gun show loophole may hamper a straw-purchasers ability to buy firearms in a state like Indiana and later sell them on the streets of Chicago.

I lost my father and two brothers to gun violence and all were killed with illegal handguns that were used in other crimes. Growing up, it was all too easy to get a gun in our neighborhood in East St. Louis. Placing reasonable restrictions on the most dangerous consumer product on the market isnt a violation of the Second Amendment. Its common sense.

However, in this country, suicides outnumber homicides almost two to one. We should not forget that when an individual owns a gun they are more likely to kill themselves and/or someone they love. Survival rates among those who attempt suicide by other means, such as a pill overdose or hanging, are higher than for those who use a gun. It is no accident that states where guns are most prevalent also report higher suicide rates. According to the Annals of Internal Medicine, people who live in homes with firearms are two to three times more likely to be murder victims or commit suicide.

We can debate the notion that more good guys with guns is the answer to violent crime or if the cast of solutions proposed by the president will make a difference in practice. There are no easy answers. But we should try everything within the confines of the Constitution if it will make it harder for criminals to stockpile guns. We should impose more meaningful barriers to high-capacity magazines and rapid-fire weaponry, if it means curtailing a mass shooters ability to slaughter and maim. If it means more children will be safe walking to school in America, that people can enjoy a prayer service at church or join their family for a night at the movies, we should do it. Maybe, as Chicagos Father Pfleger suggested during tonights town hall on CNN, we should title guns like we title cars.

Tonights broadcast focused almost solely on the potential for homicide, with little or no conversation about the thousands of people who take their own lives each year. But, make no mistake: A self-inflicted gunshot wound is an act of violence.

My oldest daughter Katie was in the eighth grade the day I decided to die and I know that her message saved my life. That year, she would go on to be valedictorian of her graduating class and give an incredible speech at the ceremony. Today, she is an Ivy League alum, an extraordinary schoolteacher, and expecting her first child this fall.

When we talk about gun violence we almost always focus on the criminal aspects, and forget the public health questions. We forget that there are thousands of gunshot victims who die by their own hand. The president briefly broached the topic, saying that while the majority of young homicide victims are black or Latino, the overwhelming majority of suicides by young people are white. If we are to truly host a national conversation about gun violence and commit ourselves to real solutions, we cannot forget the people who die alone in the dark. They rarely make the news and, like tonight, too little attention is paid to their pain.

I am grateful for this life, thankful for my children who are now taking the world on their own terms. I cannot wait to hold my second grandchild. Too many Americans will miss moments like these.

We can do something about that.
Thinking about taking a trip this year? Does the thought of traveling to Tulum, the proclaimed Williamsburg of Mexico, nauseate you? Great, this is the perfect travel guide for you!

Here are 2016s top in-the-know destinations no matter your preferred type of vacation. For wine enthusiasts, British Columbias 2015 Okanagan Valley vintage is thought to be some of the best-produced wine of the last century. Beach bums, look no further than Indias pristine Adaman Islands. Check out the full list in the video below.
ISTANBUL  They are fleeing the war thats raging in their country and have scratched together their last money to pay for a place on a flimsy boat that is supposed to take them from Turkey to Greece and to a better, safer life in Europe. But when their dinghy capsizes in the icy waters of the wintry Aegean Sea, as many do, some Syrian refugees find that the life vests they bought on shore drag them down because they are stuffed with foam, cloth or paper packaging instead of flotation materials.

As Turkey is trying to reduce the numbers of Syrians crossing into the European Union in line with a deal it struck with European leaders in November, authorities also are struggling to fight an illicit economy that has sprung up around the mass exodus and that includes more than just gangs of people smugglers.

Greece received around 850,000 refugees last year, most of whom came to the country via Turkey. Thats a lot of people in need of life vests and other items.

This week, police in Izmir, the biggest city on the Turkish Aegean coast and a center of the exodus towards Greece, raided an illegal workplace producing life vests for refugees. Officers found two underage Syrian girls and two other people working on vests that were filled with packaging. The owner of the place was arrested.

Cash-strapped refugees pin their hope of survival on these life jackets that cost as little as 20 Turkish Lira ($7), according to Turkish news reports. Some are filled with sponges that soak up water and cause deaths rather than save lives. Earlier this week, the bodies of 34 people who had drowned trying to reach the nearby Greek island of Lesbos were washed onto beaches in northwestern Turkey. Many of the bodies were still wearing their bogus life vests.

The police raid in Izmir was not the first sign that some in Turkey are trying to cash in on the wave of refugees, even if it means putting peoples lives at risk. Last summer, Turkish newspapers reported that refugees in the Izmir area had turned to cheap under-the-counter life vests that were black instead of orange, in order to evade Turkish coast guard boats during the crossing to Greece. The vests also made them less visible in the water, and less likely to be rescued, if their boats capsized.

The quick-buck corruption appears to be pervasive. Last September, France suspended its honorary consul in the resort of Bodrum after television footage showed her selling boats and life vests to refugees. The sacked official, Francoise Olcay, said at the time that if she did not sell the items to the refugees, someone else would.

She was right in the sense that there is no shortage of cynics exploiting the Syrian exodus. Well-organized gangs of people smugglers rely on networks that include cheap hotels in coastal towns, bus and taxi drivers ferrying refugees to the beaches, sometimes from as far as Istanbul, and suppliers of boats. In October, police in Izmir discovered a workplace producing rubber boats to be sold to refugees. Authorities said the boats were not seaworthy.

Well-heeled Syrians dont have such worries. They can book a crossing on a luxurious speedboat. Police in the southern resort of Marmaris broke up a people-smuggling gang two months ago that specialized in ferrying wealthy migrants to a nearby Greek island in small groups to avoid attention. Dubbed a VIP service for refugees by Turkish media, the gang offered a safe 10-minute crossing at the price of $3,300 per head, about three times the going rate of a place in a rubber dinghy, to Syrians who were posing as tourists.

The Turkish government says it is doing all it can do bring refugees numbers down and to battle people smugglers. More than 200 irregular migration organizers have been apprehended and numerous rings have been dismantled so far since 2014, a government factsheet said last November.

But Ankara says it is not only up against the smugglers, but also against the refugees determination. Behavioral profiles clearly show that irregular migrants take all current risks in cases of migration by sea and they do not hesitate to try such perilous journeys repeatedly until they succeed, the factsheet said.

That fact shows no sign of changing. In Aksaray, a neighborhood on the European side of Istanbul that has become a central meeting point for refugees, passport forgers and people smugglers, Syrians said that they were aware of stricter checks by Turkish police along the coast and of promises of a better life in Turkey with the help of $3.3 billion in EU aid money that is part of the deal hammered out by European and Turkish leaders. But that doesnt mean they have given up on their dream of going to Europe.

Mehmet, a 51-year-old father of four who was selling instant coffee to passers-by in Aksaray one cold morning recently, said he was struggling to make enough money to pay the monthly rent of $220 for the apartment where he lives with his family. If I had the money, I would go to Germany tomorrow, he said. For the moment, however, Mehmet cant see how he can come up with the $1,000 per head that the smugglers charge for the boat trip to a Greek island.

One of Mehmets friends pointed to a four-lane road nearby that passes Istanbuls police headquarters and leads out of the city to the highway. Tonight, buses will be leaving for Izmir again, he said. And from Izmir, its just a hop and a jump to Greece.

For those scraping together every cent to try to make it, the temptation to save money on a bargain boat or bargain life vests is great, even if the fraud behind them proves fatal.
Service members suffering from PTSD often feel like theyre wearing a mask. Melissa Walker asks them to make one.

Walker, an art therapist and healing arts coordinator with the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center runs an art therapy program in which service members returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD or a traumatic brain injury (TBI) are asked to make papier-mache masks to express their feelings.

Its actually the first art directive theyre introduced to as they come through the program, Walker told The Daily Beast. These are service members that sometimes have trouble verbalizing what theyre struggling with and these masks, along with all the artwork [they] create, help to make their invisible wounds visible.

The results are stirring. One mask, striped in red and black with hollow chrome-colored eyes, is wrapped in razor wire with a lock where its mouth should be. Another haunting paper face, eyes bloodshot, mouth agape, is being crushed by a vice bearing the acronyms for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The masks are so evocative and insightful that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), through its Military Healing Arts partnership, is now funding an analysis of 400 of them at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

What this gives us is a chance to understand the military experience from the service members perspective, said Dr. Girija Kaimal, a professor of creative arts therapy in Drexels College of Nursing and Health Professions and a collaborator on the study, in a press release.

The masks, Kaimal explained, are especially significant because they provide an outlet for non-verbal expression at a time when verbal communication may be challenging for the service members. People with PTSD, as the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) notes, may practice extreme avoidance of traumatic thoughts and feelings, which can interfere with your emotional recovery and healing.

Neuroimaging studies have also shown that PTSD can decrease activity in Brocas area of the brain, which plays a key role in speech and language.

A lot of research will tell you that when youre in a traumatic experience, the part of the brain that controls speech shuts down, said Kaimal. So having a nonverbal waysuch as artto communicate is key to understanding what theyre going through.

According to the DVA, PTSD affects between 11 and 20 percent of veterans from Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Traumatic brain injury, which heightens the risk of depression and PTSD, accounts for 22 percent of combat casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense and the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center.

Kaimal and her colleagues at Drexel are hoping to better understand the psychology of these wounded service members through themes found in the masks. For instance, many participants in the art therapy programs cut the masks, or embed shrapnel in the papier-mache molds, to illustrate their pain. Needles and nails are often inserted into the foreheads.There are other common themes, added Walker, who has now seen close to 1,000 masks come out of the program.

The one that were seeing the most is the split sense of self, or the dual identity, she told The Daily Beast. One side of the mask is maybe who they are when theyre deployed, or in theater, or the part of themselves that was injured, and the other part is the part of themselves that they think remains intact, or who they are when theyre at home with their families.

Another recurring motif is the manipulation of mouths. Many service members paint over the mouths of the mask, stitch them shut, or even place gags in them.

Many of the masks have guilt, grief written on them or depicted, said Kaimal. They have things on their mouths to show that they arent allowed to talk or [that they] feel they should talk about what theyre feeling.

Ultimately, creating the masks can help service members do just that: talk.

The art-making bypasses [problems with speech and language] and accesses different parts of the brain that they can then use to express and apply words to what theyve created, explained Walker, noting that this approach may prove easier for some service members than simply sitting down with a talk therapist and trying to describe whats occurred.

According to Kaimal and Walker, the masks can sometimes even help to alleviate symptoms of PTSD. In one case study that is being highlighted at Drexel, a service member who was deployed in Iraq recreated a bloody face that haunted him in PTSD-related flashbacks. Over the course of art therapy, he put his mask into a box and closed it, significantly reducing the frequency of his flashbacks as a result.

Through art therapy with Ms. Walker, he was able to externalize a lot of feelings that were trapped in him, said Kaimal.

One unintended consequence of the mask-making program is that it has helped those outside the military better understand the effects of TBI and PTSD. Walker told The Daily Beast that, although service members create an array of artwork during her program, the masks often elicit the most attention from outsiders and tourists.

This can bring us a little closer to the experience because it gives them a way to show us, rather than tell us, she said.

For the NEA Military Healing Arts Partnership, which began in 2011 when the National Endowment for the Arts first helped NICoE expand the art therapy program at Walter Reed, the mask-making is one of many recent successes. In 2013, the partnership brought the same art therapy program to the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital Brain Wellness Center in Virginia and, in late 2015, they announced a further expansion in collaboration with the Department of Defense.

Art is indeed the right word for these masks. Many service members, Walker said, are astonished by the quality of what they manage to make in the first week of her program, often without any formal training or experience.

What I tell them is because theyve been through so much, they have a lot to express, she said.
It reminded us all of the beginning of the end of the Arab Spring. In 2011, the celebratory crowds in Egypts Tahrir Square began giving way to organized street gangs who targeted and raped women out in the open. Perhaps this was a bad omen for things to come in the region.

Germanys welcoming euphoria at receiving 1.1 million asylum seekers in 2015 may have just turned a similarly dark corner. More than 120 criminal complaints have been filed by women in Cologne who say they were subjected to public sexual assault or robbery, including at least two alleged street rapes, all in one night. The 400 men accused of being behind this mass attack formed coordinated rings around the women. They have been universally described as being of North African and Arab appearance. Police are examining Internet forums and chat groups on the working assumption that it is unlikely 400 men just met by accident.

Though this all occurred on New Years Eve, the absolute scandal is that we only found out about it five days later. Amid accusations that it deliberately covered the incident up in order not to spark panic, the public broadcaster ZDF was forced to issue an apology for failing to include the assaults in its main evening news broadcast. It appears that, as the authorities and the media were choosing between stirring up racial tension and these womens rights, we were faced with a conspiracy of silence.

Eventually, this was bound to happen. Recent mass migration patterns across Europe have meant that misogyny has finally come head to head with anti-racism, multiculturalism is facing off against feminism, and progressive values are wrestling with cultural tolerance.

Yes, it is racist to suspect that all brown men who look like me are rapists. It is bigoted to presume that all Muslim men who share my faith advocate religiously justified rape. It is xenophobic to assume that all male refugees are sexual predators awaiting their chance to rape. But let me be absolutely clear: What will feed this racism, bigotry, and xenophobia even more is deliberately failing to report the facts as they stand. Doing so only encourages the populist rights rallying cry against the establishment.

If liberals do not address such issues swiftly, with complete candor and courage, the far-right and anti-Muslim populist groups will get there first. They have been doing so for a while now.

The far-right street protest group Hogesa, or Hooligans Against Salafism, continues to cause consternation on the streets of Cologne, while the populist-right Pegida has already responded to the New Years Eve attacks by announcing a protest in Cologne on Jan. 9.

No, my fellow liberals, these issues cannot be brushed under the carpet or simply willed away. They are not going anywhere, anytime soon. So how can we address this sensibly, without bursting a blood vessel in our Right eye, or missing the blind spot in our Left?

Lets start by looking at the evidence. Official figures in Germany suggest that, currently, refugees are no more likely to commit sexual crimes than other sections of the population. Refugees commit just as few or as many crimes as groups of the local population, says Germanys interior minister, Thomas de Maiziere. Thats good news. Bank it.

Street sexual violence is alsoobviouslynot exclusive to Arab and Muslim-majority countries. Indeed, among the worst offenders is Papua New Guinea, where two-thirds of women are subjected to some kind of physical or sexual violence, and rapists from raskol gangs are happy to pose for photos after their latest rape.

Having said that, what is infuriating and totally counterproductive is to deny that a specifically cultural problem around immigration patterns and European sexual norms has been steadily rising across the continent. To pretend this is not the case only further stigmatizes us brown Muslim men. That the problem requires attention is clear.

German police unions and womens right groups have recently accused authorities of underplaying cases of rape at refugee shelters. There is a lot of glossing over going on. But this doesnt represent reality, police union chief Rainer Wendt told Reuters. Henry Ove Berg, who was a police chief during Norways recent spike in rape cases, said, people from some parts of the world have never seen a girl in a miniskirt, only in a burqa when they get to Norway, something happens in their heads. He added that there was a link but not a very clear link between the rape cases in Norway and immigrants. Hanne Kristin Rohde, former head of the violent crime section of the Oslo Police Department, was criticized in 2011 when she went public with data suggesting that immigrants committed a hugely disproportionate number of rapes. This was a big problem but it was difficult to talk about, she remarked. There was a clear statistical connection between sexual violence and male migrants.

This is all controversial, but it must be said. Anecdotal attitudes point to the same conclusion. Abdu Osman Kelifa, an Eritrean asylum seeker to Norway, recently told The New York Times that in his home country, if someone wants a lady, he can just take her and he will not be punished. He confessed that it was still hard for him to accept that a woman could accuse her husband of rape.

Between denying the problem and using it to fuel bigoted far-right rhetoric, an approach grounded in data and a level head is vital. Any solution to this emerging issue must simultaneously seek to deny the far right the ammunition it desires while preservingnot reneging onEuropes hard-earned progressive social values.

With that in mind, Cologne Mayor Henriette Rekers comments after the mass attacks in her city were terribly unhelpful. When asked by a journalist how women could guard against such attacks, Reker shocked many around the world by suggesting that women should remain at arms length from strangers in the street and that she would soon be issuing a code of conduct for women so that such things do not happen to them.

Others have made the same error. Martin Thalhammer, the headmaster at Wilhelm-Diess-Gymnasium, a school in Pocking, Bavaria, sent a letter home to parents advising them that Syrian citizens are mainly Muslims and speak Arabic. The refugees are marked by their own culture. Because our school is directly next to where they are staying, modest clothing should be adhered to, in order to avoid discrepancies. Revealing tops or blouses, short shorts or miniskirts could lead to misunderstandings. With men accounting for about 70 percent of asylum seekers, some groups across Germany have demanded gender-segregated accommodation and safe zones for women.

No. European progressive and feminist groups have toiled over centuries to educate us all that rape victims are not responsible for the actions of the rapist. Victim-blaming and demanding that women change their behavior are the worst ways to respond to rape culture. They only sexualize the victim more.

The fetishization of the female body has not led to a decrease in cases of sexual violence in societies where women cover their entire bodies. If Taliban- and ISIS-held areas are anything to go by, violence against women only increases the more women are asked to conceal and segregate themselves. This would make sense, because accompanying such attitudes is the notion that women are sexual objects to be owned and controlled, and not human beings to be respected and loved. What is infuriating is that for centuries progressives have made these very arguments against white Christian fundamentalists in the West, yetdisplaying an incredible cognitive dissonancethose progressives easily abandon that position when confronted with the problem in a minority community.

The case of Cologne tells us that we can no longer afford this Regressive-Left double standard. The only person to blame for rape is the rapist. Employment and education among migrant males will be a more conducive and far more consistent approach than asking European women to change how they dress or when they go out.

Norway has led the way here, offering voluntary nationwide classes that expand upon Norwegian social and sexual norms to newly arrived migrant men. The German border town of Passau in Bavaria, has already started a similar program for male refugees, while Danish politicians aim to approve the same measure after a string of attacks in Denmark. Among other measures, it is my view that such classes should be mandatory for new arrivals across the continent. These classes should form part of a citizenship, integration, and employment course, before residency permits are provided. In any case, they would help refugees come to grips with the strange new world they have just fled to, and can only make their job prospects better.

Former Israeli prime minster Golda Meir may have done and said many things people disagree with, but one of her stances is difficult to argue with. When there was an outbreak of nighttime assaults against women in Israel, a minister in the cabinet suggested a curfew to keep women in after dark. But its the men who are attacking the women, she retorted. If theres to be a curfew, let the men stay at home, not the women.

The alternative would be to lay the seeds of the very same cultural attitudes in Europe that many migrants have been fleeing from in counties like Syria and Afghanistan. That would be sheer madness.
Shanghai Composite Index declined about 10 percent for the first week of 2016. (Photo : Getty Images)

The World Bank chief economist and former senior vice president, Justin Yifu Lin, said that despite the weak global demand, there are still many opportunities for China to experience economic growth in 2016.



He concedes, in a speech in New York on Thursday hosted by the National Committee of U.S.-China Relations, that while China is a transition economy and the nation has a lot of structural internal problems, the economic contraction that started in 2010 was because of external and cyclical issues.



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Lin points out that other emerging markets are also going through similar economic deceleration that are worse than China's. It is the experience even among high-income and high-performing nations such as Singapore and South Korea.



Rather than focus on the global market, the economist advises China to zero in on boosting domestic demand by improving infrastructure, investing in environment production and continuing urbanization. He also pushes for boosting productivity to move China into a high-income nation from its current standing as middle-income country.



Lin explains, "Supply side reform tries to improve the production sector of China in order to improve the productivity. Secondly, China needs to digest those excess capacities so resources can be relieved for the growth of other sectors," quotes Xinhua.



Also optimistic about China's prospects in 2016, despite the sliding yuan and stock trading suspension, is Mark Williams, chief Asia economist of Capital Economics Ltd. in London. He forecasts, "Sentiments about China is so downbeat right now that there's a good chance of a positive surprise over coming months," quotes Bloomberg.\







Williams notes that there are signs that China's policy is having an impact and majority of more reliable indicators of the economy have stabilized. He cites expected continued gains in retail sales and acceleration in industrial output from November to December with the release of the monthly indicators on Jan. 19.


Whether you enjoy country swing, American folk or even polka dancing, theres lots of music and dancing happening around town this weekend. But thats not all, for a more complete list of events for the weekend, including A&M sporting events and local farmers markets, check out the online events calendar.

 The Aldersgate Methodist Church, 2201 S. Earl Rudder Freeway, is hosting a traditional American folk dance from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday. Attendees are invited to contra dance to live music. For more information, call 846-4504 or visit bcscontra.org.

 You can polka dance to the music of The Red Ravens on Saturday from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Frenstat Recreation Center, behind Holy Rosary Catholic Church on F.M. 2774 in Caldwell. The kitchen opens at 6 p.m. and will be serving hamburgers. The dance benefits the Diocese of Austin Clergy Retirement Fund. Admission is $10 per person and is sold at the door. There is no charge for children 12 and younger.

 Sons of Hermann Lodge, 1104 S. William J. Bryan Parkway in Bryan, is hosting a country swing dance with live music by Wayne Johnson at 8 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, visit www.sonsofhermann.com.

 Hundreds of street rodders are coming to Bryan-College Station on Sunday in the Luckeys Rod Run to the Chicken Oil Co. at 3600 S. College Ave. in Bryan. Ten years ago, about 15 owners of street rods made a trip from the Conroe-Houston area to the Chicken Oil Company and decided that they would get together on the first Sunday in January of each year. Check out rodders from all over in this once a year event. For more information, visit http://www.motortexas.com/events/detail.aspx?event-id=13.

 Live music is happening at local eateries and bars all weekend, including Austin English at Smitty Ks on Friday, The Stetson Trio at the Edge General Store on Saturday and Blues II at Rockin B. Steakhouse on Saturday.

For a more complete list of entertainment, check out the Spotlight calendar.
The People's Bank of China found last year that Shanghai Chang-go was involved in illegal operations. (Photo : YouTube)

The Peoples Bank of China (PBOC) has told Shanghai Chang-go Corporate Services Co. Ltd. to stop selling prepaid shopping cards that had become popular in Shanghai and rich provinces, one year after learning that the company was involved in illegal operations.



PBOC issued a statement on its website on Thursday, Jan. 7, that Chang-go misappropriated reserve deposits, forged fiscal documentation, and obstructed official audit, according to Caixin.



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The statement did not indicate the amount of money that PBOC regulations require to be held in special accounts at a bank. An insider told the publication in 2014 that a Chang-go official transferred up to 30 million yuan to relatives' accounts.



The central bank as well pointed out that the police have detained one person in charge of the company, although it did not give specifics on the individual. Liu Rongjuan and Jiang Lingpin are named in documents filed in the Shanghai commerce bureau as major shareholders in Chang-go.



Clients still having the company's cards can receive 85 percent of their money back from an asset management corporation under the Bank of Communications, one of China's biggest commercial banks.



A different report from the same publication revealed that clients began experiencing issues with the Chang-go cards in supermarkets and shopping malls in Dec. 2014. Almost 36 customers of Chang-go later visited the firm's offices to seek refunds.



The headquarters of the bank where Chang-go kept its reserve deposits realized the company was making unusual transactions and informed the Shanghai office, but the latter took no notice of the warning.



In January last year, the central bank's Shanghai office said in a statement that it realized during a probe into the firm's activities that it was engaged in illegitimate operations.



However, the company was allowed to continue with its operations. The central bank then said it would make a decision on how to handle the issue after carrying out sufficient investigations. In addition, a few stores had restarted accepting Chang-go's cards.


Liu Yuan has been influential in the development of jazz in China. (Photo : Wikimedia)

Jazz is becoming increasingly popular in Beijing thanks to dedicated musicians and influence from abroad, reported China Daily.



Liu Yuan, owner of East Shore Live Jazz Cafe in Beijing Houhai Lake area, is a 55-year-old saxophonist and a pioneer and promoter of jazz in the country.



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Liu's friend Luo Ning is a Chinese jazz pianist who recently returned from Cape Town, South Africa, for a Chinese Cultural Festival. Luo collaborated with several jazz musicians from South Africa to open the event backed by China's Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Arts and Culture of the Republic of South Africa.



"Usually the Chinese government sends acrobatic or Peking Opera troupes to do cultural-exchange programs abroad," said Liu. "This time, a Chinese jazz pianist represented the country to collaborate with world-level musicians. It's a big step for China's jazz scene."



Back in the 1980s, Liu, then a folk musician, first learned to play the saxophone, when there were only five or six professional jazz musicians in Beijing.



"We didn't have a place to perform jazz. Few people in China knew what jazz was. All the knowledge we had was from tapes and magazines, which were brought back by our friends from the West," said Liu.



In recent years, jazz is developing thanks to the Internet. More Chinese jazz musicians are working hard to create good music, and many international jazz musicians are coming to the country to perform.



Luo said that Liu will soon be flying to New York to record an album, "The Encounter of Light and Shadow," wherein he will be joined by jazz musicians from the United States including drummer Dave Weckl and trumpeter Randy Brecker.



Growing up, Luo was classically trained since the age of four. His father taught music at the local art center.



"My father recalls that I could play a song I heard from a movie without any training. I guess it was the instrument that chose me," Luo said.



Luo met Liu in 1996 when he came to Beijing to pursue his dream after graduating from Xinjiang Arts University.



"At that time, nearly all jazz musicians in Beijing came to Liu because he is well-known and determined to build a scene in the country," said Luo. "We learned and jammed together. Music is full of color and imagination to us."



One of Luo's works is entitled "Farewell My Concubine," inspired by the Peking Opera of the same name, performed by the late master Mei Lanfang.



Liu and Luo are optimistic about the future of jazz in China.



"I am very positive about the country's jazz scene because these people are the future," said Liu.


Last November, the duly elected government of the United States of America rejected the Keystone XL oil pipeline - in response to an outcry by citizens across the country and protests by the communities along the pipeline's route.

Now, TransCanada, the company behind the pipeline, is suing for $15 billion in sunk costs and lost future profits.

As crazy as this sounds, it's because corporations can use trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to sue governments for introducing rules that protect citizens' health, rights or the environment.

The controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried climate-killing tar sands oil from Canada, was rejected by US President Barack Obama in November 2015.

The pipeline would have opened up global markets to exports of tar sands oil - one of the world's dirtiest fuels. Blocking the pipeline was a major victory for the climate movement, putting the interests of people ahead of profits.

TransCanada's Keystone XL permit was rejected on the basis that construction of the pipeline was not in the national interest of the United States and contributed to climate change. Instead of honoring President Obama's reasoned decision, TransCanada is turning to secretive trade tribunals in an attempt to force American citizens to pay compensation.

Trade rules undermining environmental protection

Trade and investments agreements are no longer just about import tariffs, but about a range of issues that determine the food we eat, the energy we use and the ability of our governments to regulate in the public interest.

Current trade rules empower corporations like TransCanada to challenge legitimate environmental protections in secret tribunals. A mechanism called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) that is included in most trade deals enables companies to sue governments when they feel their profits are threatened by new regulation.

TransCanada says that Obama's decision to reject the pipeline was "arbitrary and unjustified", and has initiated one of the largest trade appeals against the US on this basis, describing it as "a symbolic gesture based on speculation about the perceptions of the international community regarding the Administration's leadership on climate change and the President's assertion of unprecedented, independent powers."

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. There are over 600 such ISDS cases worldwide, with the majority in the global south. For example, a simple bilateral trade agreement was the basis of a cigarette company's attempt to sue the government of Uruguay for an anti-smoking campaign. And the Ethyl corporation gained the reversal of Canada's ban on the toxic chemical MMT.
The explanation is that cells adjust their DNA repair levels, the concentrations of cellular anti-oxidants and radiation repair systems is altered in proportion to the perceived radiation stress. I accept that this is the case, and indeed it seems intuitively likely that such a system would have developed.

We protect against ultraviolet damage to skin cells by sun-tanning, and we have haemoglobin modulators that can be induced by low oxygen levels at altitude. For radiation the process is termed hormesis and is entirely dependent on the induction of cell repair.

But there is clearly a limit to this process: above a certain dose it is overwhelmed: the cell just can't mobilise enough defences and the castle is taken; by which I mean the DNA is mutated and off we go.

The alternative position, the probabilistic one, which is where we are now with radiation protection models, NCRP, ICRP all those people, is that radiation creates its effects by causing tracks of charged particles, mostly electrons.

Every ionization causes damage to the cell, and therefore even at the smallest dose, one ionisation, there is damage to the cell and hence a finite probability that this will lead to cancer. These are the armies facing each other in the petition to assume a threshold, based on the hormesis model versus the Linear No Threshold model.

Actually, as far as human cancer and genetic damage is concerned, both are wrong. I met the hormesis brigade, Myron Pollycove and Ludwig Feinendegen at the CERRIE conference in Oxford in 2004. They were quite sympathetic with what I was arguing (maybe they hadn't thought it through), but they both seemed like nice guys. Scientists anyway. Not psychotic. Because their arguments were based on observation.

Sadly, it's not true

So what is wrong with hormesis. Is radiation good for you? The answer, of course, is no it isn't. There are two alternative, not mutually exclusive reasons. The first is due to Elena Burlakova, Head of Radiation Biology at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Her groups have carried out dozens of experiments on the effects of radiation on different systems.

The dose response they find is biphasic. I show this in Figure 1 (above right). The effects (including a plot she made for childhood leukemia near nuclear sites) go up then down then up again.

She ascribes this to a combination of the basic dose response which is like a hogs back, going up then flattening, and the induction of repair systems ( the hormesis effect) resulting in a falling of the response, which is then overwhelmed at some point, at which the response rises. So the largest effect is at very low doses indeed.

The second is my idea and it is very simple [1]. In the body there are many differentiated types of cell, but what they all (except a few which do not replicate and which you are stuck with all your life, heart muscle, brain) have in common is that at any single time there are two classes: those that are functioning, and those that, because of age (and DNA damage) or fresh DNA damage, make the decision to replicate and provide a daughter cell to take over the job that the parent can no longer do properly.

Replication begins with a 12 hour period in which the cell checks the DNA strands against one another, repairs any repairable mistakes (mis-matches) and then divides. This period is known from experiments to be extraordinarily sensitive to radiation damage to the DNA, ten to hundreds of times more sensitive.

So as the dose to the cell and specifically the DNA is increased, mutation increases for these sensitive minority sub-class of cells which are in repair-replication phase. Thus the cancer rates (or whatever genetic end point is used) rises sharply at these very low doses, Region A in Figure 1 (above right).

But then the dose reaches the point where these cells are so damaged they cannot survive. At this point, the cancer effect falls (a dead cell doesn't represent a cancer hazard, it cannot create a genetically damaged clone).

This reduction appears to the hormesis crew as a good thing, but note it doesn't operate from the lowest dose, only from some intermediate low dose, and this position (the top of the A peak in Figure 1) is different for different cells.

As the dose increases, after all the sensitive replicating cells are wiped out, the insensitive cells begin to be affected (region B) and the cancer excess risk rises again until these also are overwhelmed and you die (region C). The effect is clearly seen in the results of the huge Cardis et al. 15-country nuclear workers study data which is presented at different doses.

Injecting dogs with plutonium - to prove what?

Some years ago I was up against one of these hormesis geezers, a certain Dr Otto Raabe, in a court case in America. He was the expert for the defence. Raabe was in charge of the Beagle dog studies in New Mexico.

They injected these poor creatures with Plutonium, Radium or Strontium-90 and watched them develop bone cancer and leukemia. The doses were enormous, the number of dogs was small (cost). The whole place was contaminated with Plutonium, the particles hanging in the air like fairy dust. The burial site for the dogs is so radioactive it is fenced off as a US superfund site for decontamination.

Raabe's thing was that he had mathematically converted beagle dogs into humans: you should just see his amazing three dimensional graphs (these guys love all that stuff). Well you can probably find them somewhere on the internet.

The best thing was that in one of his papers he discussed how difficult it was to do these beagle studies. He wrote that 12 (yes 12) of his control dogs (no injections of Plutonium) had unfortunately died of lung cancer and had to be removed from the analysis. What!!?

I checked out the rates of lung cancer in dogs (you can find everything on the web) and that was the end of Raabe. Low dose, you see. Fairy dust.

Anyway, as far as nuclear sites are concerned, none of this is really relevant, except as an excuse to increase the limits of exposure. This is because the cancers near the nuclear sites are caused by internal exposures, to Plutonium, Uranium, Tritium, Strontium-90, Caesium-137, Iodine-131, Carbon-14, particles and huge amounts of radioactive noble gases Krypton-85 and Argon-41. There are more nasty isotopes but that will do.

And internal exposures can deliver doses to the cell and to the DNA which are far above the small doses that the hormesis people are citing. They are talking about low external doses around external natural background, up to 10 mSv.

The alpha particle track in a cell delivers about 400mSv. The alpha decay of a Uranium atom bound to DNA delivers several thousand mSv to the DNA, and also amplifies natural background though secondary photoelectron effects. Different game altogether.

So whats the conclusion? It is this: there is no threshold from zero dose. There is an apparent reduction in the response over some variable intermediate low dose region (the right hand side of the A region peak in Fig 1) which varies depending on the cell type.

Since we don't know what this is, and anyway it varies, we cannot allow for the effect in legislation. And of course, we don't know what other downsides there are to induced repair: one clear likelihood is that you die earlier.

You only get a limited number of replications before you run out of the ability to replace cells. If you use them up with induced repair systems that's the end of the road. Otherwise why haven't we all got these repair systems zinging and spinning at maximum rpm all the time? We all die. And that is why.

The Sweden nuclear waste repository at Forsmark

Hormesis is about misinterpreting some results to obtain what you want. If the hormesis issue seems jaw-dropping, here is a better one where there are no results to interpret, only mathematical modelling.

On 3rd November I was in Stockholm at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The meeting was to present to the public and concerned individuals the safety case for the proposed high level nuclear waste repository at Forsmark on the shore of the Baltic Sea just north of Uppsala.

In this perfect example of rational calculation gone mad, the Swedes are proposing to bury the waste in copper canisters which they have mathematically persuaded themselves will keep the stuff from the environment for 100,000 years (Yes!).

The State, in the form of the Environment Council, requires proof that the death toll as a result of this Kierkegaard insanity will be less than 1 in 1,000,000 per year for that period. These deaths are calculated using environmental dose modelling based on the famous ICRP risk model.

I had already written two reports for the Swedish Environment Council [2] and Ditta and I had even presented a complaint to the Swedish Justice Minister in 2012 on this issue [3] [4]. The meeting was in Swedish, and they would not allow me to make a presentation from the stage.

These soothing powerpoints were naturally made by ten or so of the scientific luminaries associated with the ICRP and the presentations verged on criminal misdirection.

Luckily the moderator, a woman, gave me space to jump up at each question time and make clear what was really going on. At the end, she gave me about 15 minutes to present the truth (see video embed, below) [5]. This was also reported in the Osthammar Nyheter newspaper which gave several pages to these arguments. [6]

There was a predictable response from the men in suits the following week and I get to reply. Carry out a cancer study, I say: let's look at cancer near the present Forsmark reactors, which are among the dirtiest in the world. Lets look at the real world rather than modelling it. Of course they will not: just as the NAS in the USA will not.

My main argument was about the Fukushima thyroid cancers [7]. The average thyroid doses from radio-Iodine at Fukushima were reported to be less than 10mSv. At this dose the current risk model predicts less than 0.05 extra cancers in the 300,000 screened 0-18 year olds.

But in a paper published last October it was reported that there were discovered about 110 extra cancers in Fukushima and none in a control screened group in Nagasaki. This shows an error in the model of about 2,500 times. Our studies and the child leukemia studies suggest the error is bigger.

Kierkegaard was from Denmark. Sweden had Ibsen, whose play, An Enemy of the People, focuses on the attacks by the establishment (out to make money) on the messenger who points out that their nasty tricks are killing everyone. Plus ca change ...

Chris Busby is an expert on the health effects of ionizing radiation. He qualified in Chemical Physics at the Universities of London and Kent, and worked on the molecular physical chemistry of living cells for the Wellcome Foundation. Professor Busby is the Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk based in Brussels and has edited many of its publications since its founding in 1998. He has held a number of honorary University positions, including Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Health of the University of Ulster. Busby currently lives in Riga, Latvia. See also: chrisbusbyexposed.org, greenaudit.org and llrc.org.

References

1. (Busby IntechOpen 2013). Busby Christopher (2013). 'Aspects of DNA Damage from Internal Radionuclides, New Research Directions in DNA Repair', Prof. Clark Chen (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-51-1114-6, InTech, DOI: 10.5772/53942.

2. Busby report to the Environmental Council: Pandoras Canister.

3. Busby & Ditta deliver Complaint to Justice Chancelor of Sweden

4. 'Chris Busby - Scary Rider', Nuclear Power? Yes Please.

5. Chris Busby; Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences - YouTube

6. 'Cancer study can be relevant in Osthammar'. Osthammars Nyheter, 6th November 2015.

7. Tsuda Toshihide, Tokinobu Akiko, Yamamoto Eiji, Suzuki Etsuji, 'Thyroid Cancer Detection by Ultrasound Among Residents Ages 18 Years and Younger in Fukushima, Japan: 2011 to 2014'. Epidemiology: doi: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000000385. Download.
Google Going After More Hires in China

Google's China office is currently on the lookout for new hires, posting several job ads on online directories. (Photo : Reuters)

Google is set to strengthen its presence in China as it has begun looking for new hires to man its office in the country.



According to reports, the search engine giant is currently looking for people to fill in a variety of technical positions, posting several job advertisements on professional networking site LinkedIn.



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Some of the openings offered include lead software engineers, a public relations manager, and advertising specialists, CNBC reported.



Google's Beijing-based spokesperson Marsha Wang said that the company already has several hundreds of personnel in its China office, with most of them involved in engineering and business roles.



While Wang did not comment on the new hirings, she said that Google China's engineers are constantly working with their overseas counterparts in developing products for global use, Adage reported.



Analysts speculated that the recent job postings are a signal of Google's impending return to the Chinese Internet scene after five years of absence.



In 2010, the company pulled out its services over disputes with the government on content censorship, with the latter wishing to impose more control.



Currently, its search and Gmail services are blocked, as well as its YouTube video sharing site. However, the Android mobile operating system still holds a large chunk of the Chinese market.



Observers also believe the hiring effort to be in line with the company's drive to capture more of the mobile device and app market, with a lot of the positions being connected to the Google Play online store, such as a business development manager for the said branch.


Many of the housing zones in the government's scheme are in areas that have flooded within the last five years, and several of the councils overseeing the projects have already paid out hundreds of thousands of pounds in grants and council tax relief to local flood victims.

Mary Dhonau OBE, a flood campaigner, told Greenpeace: "No developer in their right mind would build a house in the middle of the river so why build it where we know the river will be when the floods come? It's setting people up for misery. In the light of the appalling floods we've seen in Cumbria, coupled with the threat that climate change brings - it has never been more essential that new homes are not built where there is a risk of flooding."

The findings - which do not take into account increased flood risk from climate change - back-up a report by the government's climate advisory body the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) which warned "each year 1,500 new homes are built in areas of high flood risk and 3,100 homes per year in areas of medium flood risk."

Taking climate change into account the CCC warned: "New development will add to future flood protection costs and result in flood events causing more damage."

Uninsurable new homes?



Now experts warn that if these plans go ahead they could leave thousands of homeowners unable to get insurance. The new builds would not qualify for the government's planned new flood-insurance scheme Flood Re.

Those responsible for the Flood Re scheme, which is due to be implemented next year and will spread the costs of insurance for houses in high risk areas, confirmed to Greenpeace that properties built after 2009 will not be covered by the scheme.

That would leave homeowners reliant on commercial insurers who may choose not to cover homes built in flood zones or only offer insurance at prohibitively expensive rates.

The government's housing zone scheme aims to help build 200,000 new homes across the UK. However our investigation reveals many of those are at serious risk of flooding with questions over the level of likely flood defences at a local level.

Around 1,000 homes are planned for Hinkley, Bridgwater in Somerset, one of the areas that was inundated in the floods of 2014. Those floods were labelled a 'major incident'. The local district council has paid out more than 280,000 in grants and tax relief to flood victims in the last three years.

When we looked at the planned housing area on the Environment Agency maps it was almost entirely within Flood Risk 3, the highest band. A spokesperson from the council told Greenpeace:

"Much of the district is at potential flood risk. Bridgwater is the most sustainable location for new development but even here, most of the land to the east of the River Parrett is at risk from tidal flooding. The council is now looking into new flood defence systems on the river."

Floods? What floods?

In Poole, the area designated for new housing is already at threat from flooding. Plans were approved to build 1,350 new homes on the site of a former power station.

The council has undertaken mapping which builds in climate change projections for flooding in the area in around 100 years. According to those maps parts of the new housing site would be at risk of anywhere from 1 to 4m deep water during flooding periods. Now the scheme now appears to be in chaos, after an application was suddenly withdrawn.

Similar projections may reveal further future problems around the country but national maps showing climate change potential have not been made publicly available by ministers.

Another of the areas identified for new building is in Greater Gainsborough in Lincolnshire. At least 750 houses are planned in 15 sites around the towns of Gainsborough and Morton - however those in Morton are at high risk of flooding (Flood Risk 3) with no defenses.

The borough council that is responsible for Morton has seen its flood prevention budget drop by 24% compared to last year. Last year in June the council there was forced to hand out sandbags after heavy rain resulted in flash flooding. The area is so prone to floods that a main thoroughfare out of town is known as the Flood Road.

Lincolnshire County Council, home to the housing zone, admitted it does not have a revenue budget for the maintenance of flood defences. The district council with responsibility for the area has paid out 2,223.82 in council tax breaks. The council has already received 80k of revenue funding from central government to produce a Local Development Order to move ahead with the planning.

In Wakefield, Yorkshire town planners are pushing forward plans to develop 1,200 new homes in a development on the banks of the Aire river, near to the town of Castleford. Last August, Castleford flooded and, according to local news reports, was under around five foot of water. Motorists had to be rescued from submerged cars. The planning document for the Castleford site, seen by Greenpeace, notes:

"The area to the north of the railway line, which includes most of the key development sites, is subject to the risk of flooding. Whilst this does not restrict development, flooding issues will need to be alleviated or mitigated, which will impact upon development costs, usage and overall densities, therefore having a negative impact on viability."

Climate risk ignored



Last November the Environmental Audit Committee presented their 2nd Special Report on Climate Change Adaptation to Parliament. In it they said: "Despite the clear flooding risks of building on floodplains, this continues" and noted that "only a minority of Lead Local Flood Authorities have produced the required flood risk management plans."

Lord Krebs, Chairman of the Adaptation Sub Committee of the Committee on Climate Change, told Greenpeace: "Continuing to allow development in areas of high flood risk increases the costs of future flood protection and means more flood damage when defences are overtopped."

Even if warming is limited to below 2C (the target of the Paris Agreement), he added, "investment in flood protection will need to increase and our towns, cities and countryside adapted to be able to cope with heavier rainfall. This process has yet to begin in earnest."

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "The Environment Agency continues to comment on all proposals for major development in areas that are at medium or high risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. In the majority of such planning applications, our flood risk advice is taken on board by Local Planning Authorities. Last year over 98% of applications for new homes were decided in line with Environment Agency advice."

A Government spokesman said: "This Government takes flood risks extremely seriously and we are investing 2.3bn in flood defences over the next six years, as well as protecting flood maintenance spending in real terms over this Parliament.

"We have put in place strong safeguards to stop inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding, and are delivering the homes this country needs by taking forward plans to build homes on suitable brown field land. The Environment Agency provides advice on whether or not to grant permission, but final decisions rest with local authorities."

Flood defences controversy

Capital spending on new flood defences was protected at 2.3bn for the next six years. Environment secretary Liz Truss recently told Parliament "In the last Parliament there was a real terms increase in the investment in flood defences and in this Parliament there will be another real terms increase in spending.

"We are investing 2.3bn in 1,500 schemes throughout the country that will better protect 300,000 homes and the Spending Review has also confirmed that we're protecting flood maintenance spending throughout this Parliament as well as capital spending."

The theme was picked up in this week's Prime Minister's Questions when Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn asked: "In 2011, a 190 million flood defence project on the River Aire in Leeds was cancelled by the Government on cost grounds.

"One thousand homes and businesses in Leeds were flooded in recent weeks, and the Government are still committed only to a scaled-down version of the project, worth a fraction of its total cost. This from a Prime Minister who claimed that 'money was no object' when it came to flood relief.

"When he or his Secretary of State meets the Leeds MPs and Judith Blake, the leader of Leeds City Council, in the near future, will he guarantee that the full scheme will go ahead to protect Leeds from future flooding?"

But while Cameron's responses were undoubtedly combative, they left the question unanswered.

Flood funding as unpredictable as the weather

Furthermore DEFRA still haven't confirmed what revenue or maintenance spending will be made available for the next five years - in other words, what will be spent on maintaining existing protection and where it will be spent.

Figures obtained by the investigation also revealed a 5% cut in staff working on flooding at the UK's flooding regulator - the Environment Agency over the last three years. In the same period the rate at which the Environment Agency objected to planning proposals has dropped slightly - from 23% of all applications seeing objections in 2013 to 21.6% this year.

According to the National Audit Office funding for the Environment Agency fell 10% in real terms during the last government. Meanwhile, further cuts to those tasked with giving building advice on flood risk areas may be on the horizon.

The latest cuts to budgets from the Chancellor's most recent Spending Review have not yet been fully outlined. However, it is known that DEFRA's day to day spending has been cut by 15% and the department said it would cut 123m from its administration budget.

Spending on flood defences fell by 14% in 2015 after particularly high spending in 2014 following the flood in winter 2013/14.

Maeve McClenaghan is an investigative journalist working with Greenpeace Energydesk. She tweets @MaeveMCC

This article was originally published by Greenpeace Energydesk. Some additional reporting by The Ecologist.
In a dramatic example of the powers assumed by the corporate world through trade deals, energy infrastructure corporation TransCanada has commenced legal actions against the US president for cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline project.

Keystone XL was designed to carry 800,000 barrels a day of tar sands oil from Hardisty in Alberta to Steele City in Nebraska, thus increasing outlets for the most carbon-intensive oil currently produced, and reinforcing the dependency that industrialised countries like the US have on fossil fuels.

President Obama turned the project down on 6th November 2015 ciring climate change as his reason for doing so. "America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change, and frankly approving this project would have undercut that leadership", Obama stated.

"Today, we're continuing to lead by example. Because ultimately, if we're going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we're going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them and release more dangerous pollution into the sky."

The legal case is being brought under the auspices of NAFTA, a predecessor of the current crop of free trade agreements such at TTIP, CETA and TPP.

If it succeeds it will set a truly dreadful precedent, by establishing that 'free trade' and investor rights take precedence over action to reduce carbon emissions and reduce the pace of climate change, indeed over the Climate Convention (UNFCCC) and the recently concluded Paris Agreement.

It also poses four alarming propositions for us in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

1. Canadian companies can be nasty, too ...

Firstly, the threat posed by CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) between Canada and the EU. This is a prime example of the Canadian corporate world bearing its teeth. As they can no longer build a hugely profitable pipeline to the US, they want to claim compensation from the US taxpayer instead.

Never mind the environmental concerns of the project, the effects on our countryside and animal habitats, there's money to be made. Politicians need to be very conscious of this when making their minds up whether to support CETA or not when it comes up from ratification later this year.

2. Under TTIP and CETA, all Europe would be at risk

Secondly, and following on from the first point is the potential environmental impact this could have in Europe. Firms involved in fracking, drilling, mining and other environmentally damaging practices also look to exploiting the provisions of various trade treaties to further their profit making at a cost to taxpayers across the world.
EDF is also said by Les Echos to be considering disposing of a half stake in the Constellation Energy nuclear group in the US, plus a a similar option to ditch its 50% holding in power transmission business RTE.

Over the last six months the company's chief executive, Jean-Bernard Levy, has made clear he is reviewing various parts of the business in a bid to pay for a range of new commitments and rising debt levels.

EDF has been pressured by the government to buy a stake in its ailing engineering partner, Areva, and must set aside at least 55bn to upgrade its huge fleet of French reactors following safety concerns raised by the Fukushima accident in Japan.

EPR trouble in France, Finland and now China too



It has meanwhile emerged that another EDF project is running late at Taishan in China, where the company is building two 1.75GW reactors to the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) design, the same as is planned for Hinkley C. The Taishan project is seen as the pilot for Hinkley C, which would also use twin EPR reactors. A further two EPRs are planned for the site.

An article in the Financial Times this week reveals that the target completion date for Taishan, which was originally due to be generating by 2013, has now been set back another year - 'probably'. EDF is in charge of building the reactors for China General Nuclear Power Corp (GGN) - also its partner at Hinkley C.

"The Chinese plant's targeted completion date, originally late 2013, has already been put back once, in part because of safety rules after Fukushima. Now it will probably come online in 2017 - though CGN will not say exactly when", the newspaper reports.

It goes on to quote Zheng Dongshan, CGN senior vice-president: "We must perform a lot of tests, and since it's now a first of a kind, we need to do more tests than we planned. Those tests should have been done already in Finland or France, but we must do them now."

He was referring to the EPR reactors at Olkiluoto in Finland and at Flamanville in France. Both are running at roughly three times over the original cost. Olkiluoto was due to be completed by 2009 and the current target in 2018. Flamanville was meant to be working by 2012 but following the discovery of flaws in its reactor vessel no firm date is set.

And now these long delays in France and Finland, as Zheng indicated, are causing knock-on delays at Taishan.

EDF's 'final investment decision' is looming

This precarious situation raises a deep and serious question for EDF and CGN to consider? Is it wise to commit to the EPRs at Hinkley C until at least one other EPR is working somewhere in the world?

This applies especially to cash-tight EDF. CGN is understandably risk-averse over EPRs and is reportedly demanding an indemnity from EDF against losses at Hinkley C - so that while EDF would only own 66.5% of the project, it would be liable for 100% of any cost overruns.

Meanwhile two legal challenges against the UK government's enormous state aid package for Hinkley C are looming at the European Court: one brought by Austria, now joined by Luxembourg; and one by Germany's Greenpeace Energy cooperative together with other green energy suppliers in Germany and Austria.

There is also considerable unease in EDF about Hinkley C, which some fear could, in a worst-case scenario, sink the company altogether. The leak to Les Echos is widely supposed to have come from company insiders determined to scupper the project.

This leaves two most likely options for the impending 'final investment decision': a refusal; or yet another postponement.

Terry Macalister is energy editor of the Guardian. He has been employed at the paper and website for 12 years and previously worked for the Independent and other national titles.

Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

This article is based on one by Terry McAlister originally published in the Guardian with additional reporting by Oliver Tickell.
The Harvester Performance Center is expanding offerings this year, and it should be something that many residents find appealing. For the first time, the Harvester will host a stage play, a great addition to the already diverse, solid musical performances on the schedule.

Through a partnership with Virginias state theatre, Barter Theatre, the political comedy Lying in State will be presented at the Harvester on April 21. Those who have been to the Barter Theatre in Abingdon know full well the quality of the productions. In fact, many rival Broadway productions with the professional talent involved.

Many residents have already expressed excitement about the play, hoping this will be the first of numerous productions. Keep in mind that Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre at Ferrum College was very popular, so when it ended its production schedule, there has been a vacuum in the county for stage shows.

Although the stage may be small at the Harvester for more elaborate productions, the sound and intimate atmosphere for a play should provide a great experience.

Of course, the Harvester continues to add to its already impressive musical lineup for the year. Former Joe Cocker bandleader and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member Leon Russell will present a return performance on March 5, and the Texas group Asleep At The Wheel will be in concert on March 9. Southern rockers Drive By Truckers will hit the Harvester stage March 14.

We urge everyone to check out the lineup at the Harvester by visiting harvester-music.com and please support this asset for Rocky Mount and Franklin County as its popularity and offerings continue to grow.
I really dont know why, but I just felt like it was something I had to do, said Glade Hills Ty Walker of his decision to go to Iraq and film a documentary on the tens of thousands of refugees displaced by ISIS terrorists.

The results of the free-lance photographers nearly 7-month effort will be shown at 6 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday) in two of Rocky Mounts Eagle Cinema theaters. The movie is in Arabic with English subtitles. Admission is $10.

Walker, 25, the son of Bill Walker Jr. of Glade Hill, has been living in Los Angeles for the past 3 years, where he made the tough decision to go halfway around the world to take on a project hed never considered before.

I had a friend in LA who left and went over there out of the clear blue sky to teach music and minister through music. We stayed in touch after he left, Walker said. My friend kept telling me about how great it was living over there and how much he was enjoying it.

The friend lived in the city of Erbil, located in the northern section of Iraq, and he told Walker about the refugee camps in the area.

There were as many as 15,000 people living in a single tent city, Walker was told. I also learned that many of the displaced were professionals, owned homes, BMWs and lived comfortable lifestyles before ISIS disrupted their lives.

Walkers friend invited him to come to Iraq, stay with him and film the people living in the camps.

Now Im not a save the world kind of guy but I wanted to do this, Walker said. The idea of going there kept nagging at me because it was something I felt in my gut I needed to do but still didnt know why. My dad even tried to talk me out of it when I mentioned it to him.

Finally, he purchased a plane ticket, packed his bags and camera, and was on his way.

I told my friend the exact time I would be arriving at the airport. He assured me hed be there waiting, Walker said.

But after clearing customs, which took a considerable amount of time, Walker walked into the main area of the airport.

He wasnt there! So there I sat in a foreign airport and couldnt speak the language, Walker said. Then I started wondering if one of the people walking past me was a terrorist. I was getting a little scared when here he came strolling in without a care in the world.

Staying with his friend, he quickly adjusted to living in Iraq.

The food was out of this world, and I especially liked the lamb, he said.

NATO was providing refugees with food, clothing and personal items, as well as Bibles.

I ended up visiting 10 of the cities in five weeks while I was there. Most of them were smaller cities, he said. There were quite a few Christians among the Muslims there. I discovered that despite all the hardships and setbacks they have gone through and still are experiencing, they still have a strong faith.

I went there to hear their stories and tell it from their perspective, he added. And that is what I did.

An interpreter drove him to the different locations, where Walker started interviewing and filming Iraqi people of all ages.

At first they were leery of me and wouldnt talk. But after repeated visits, they finally warmed up to me, he said. I would pose questions to the guide and hed relay them. Id be filming and listening but not knowing a word of what they were saying. The guide would briefly translate the story they were telling and Id go from there.

Walker related that people living in the camps came from all walks of life. Some of them had a chance to plan for their exit before ISIS arrived, while others had to scramble to get out before the terrorists came.

I interviewed one man who was a dentist. He had a nice home, was living a comfortable life and owned a BMW, Walker said. His family managed to take some things with them as they fled.

Others were forced to flee quickly, he added. There was this young boy whose family narrowly escaped. The boy said he left his birthday cake on the table with the candles burning.

After he returned to L.A., Walkers work had just begun.

It took me six months just to get the footage put together. I had to pay an interpreter to go through the footage and translate the stories each person told, he said. While that was going on, I was shopping around the film, looking for a distributor.

When I got the film together, I submitted it to several film festivals. Its already been accepted as one of the top three out of 289 submitted to the Canada Film Festival in Winnipeg, Walker said. I raised about half of the money needed, but had to finance the rest of it myself.

Walker arrived at his Glade Hill home this week after arranging a showing of the film at Eagle Cinema. The documentary is about 35 minutes long, and Walker will hold a question-and-answer session afterwards.

The graduate of Franklin County High School and James Madison University will be spending some time now with his parents at their farm. He is also making plans to wed his college girlfriend next month in Fincastle.
Metersbonwe (Photo : Metersbonwe)

Zhou Chengjian, the 65th richest man in China with an estimated wealth of $4 billion (26.5 billion yuan), is reportedly missing. The founder of famous Chinese fashion brand Metersbonwe was picked up by police.



Following this development which is part of the anti-corruption campaign in China that looks into the activities of businessmen and financiers, Metersbonwe suspended trading on Thursday on the Shenzhen stock exchange, CNBC reports. In a second statement issued by the fashion company on the same night, it said that officials of Metersbonwe could not reach Zhou or Tu Ke, the board secretary.



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Forbes reports that his detention was because of his business ties with fund manager Xu Xiang. The fund manager was arrested in November for insider trading. Chinese media reports say that Zexi Investment, the company of Xu, profited about $70 million by trading Metersbonwe's stock in six months to April 2015.



Zhou's rise to wealth is an interesting story because the former tailor declared bankruptcy twice before he was 18, but kept on relaunching his fashion business, based in Shanghai, until he succeeded by selling fashionable clothing significantly more affordable than foreign brands. His target market are young graduates.







In December, Guo Guangchang, owner of Chinese conglomerate Fosun - the operator of Club Med - also disappeared. Guo was also part of the high-profile investigation involving private sector businessmen. For several days, he could not be located, but Fosun later said that Guo was helping authorities with an unspecified investigation, although he is said to be not a target of the ongoing probe.



Because the private sector was spared before by the Communist Party's anti-corruption drive, Guo's detention shocked the country's business community. Zhou's detention again shocked China's businessmen.


A Henry man has been indicted on charges of using a communication device to solicit sex from a person he believed was a child and soliciting such person to be the subject of child pornography.

Larry Ray Jones, 32, was arrested on Oct. 6, 2015, as part of an undercover operation, according to Investigator Nick Shockley with the Franklin County Sheriffs Office.

The investigation was conducted from Sept. 24 through Oct. 6 by the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, of which Shockley is a member.

Jones was indicted on the two felony charges by a Franklin County grand jury Monday.

The Rocky Mount Police Department assisted in the apprehension of the suspect.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. It is a determination by jurors that enough evidence exists to warrant a trial.
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OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP)  Police say a law enforcement officer in Western Kentucky fatally shot an armed person who fled into a wooded area while officers were investigating a burglary call.

Kentucky State Police said troopers, Owensboro police and the Daviess County Sheriff's Office responded Thursday afternoon and searched the area in western Daviess County.

Police said the person was found within about 15 minutes and told to surrender. A news release from state police said he knelt, and an officer prepared to use a Taser. The release said the person raised a firearm in the officers' direction, and a different officer fired a rifle, hitting the person. He was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy has been scheduled for Friday in Louisville.

No additional information has been released.
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The following information is based on public records from local and area law enforcement agencies and/or court systems:

HENDERSON CIRCUIT COURT

Curtis D. Momon, 21, Evansville, pleaded guilty Monday to carrying a concealed deadly weapon, amended from being a felon in possession of a handgun. He was sentenced to 12 months. Charges of tampering with physical evidence and receiving stolen property (firearm) were dismissed.

Michael D. Cox, 38, Evansville, pleaded guilty Monday to third-degree burglary and falsely reporting an incident. He was sentenced to one year.

Johnny L. Peartree, 36, Louisville, pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and being a second-degree persistent felony offender. He was sentenced to 15 years.

Justin W. Steil, 32, 600 block of Washington Street, pleaded guilty Monday to theft under $10,000, third-degree criminal mischief and second-degree criminal trespass. He was granted pretrial diversion, supervised, for five years. One of the conditions of the diversion is that Steil must enroll in and complete a substance abuse treatment program.

Jordan L. Maraman, 22, 800 block of North Adams Street, pleaded guilty Monday to fraudulent use of a credit card under $10,000. He was sentenced to five years.

Tetra Spurlin, 35, 2700 block of U.S. 41-North, pleaded guilty Monday to tampering with physical evidence, first-degree possession of a controlled substance, two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, public intoxication and possession of marijuana. Spurlin was sentenced to a total of three years.

Jeffrey M. Walker, 29, address unavailable, was sentenced Monday to five years for second-degree burglary. A charge of being a second-degree persistent felony offender was dismissed.

John J. Rice, 46, 2200 section of Old Corydon Road, pleaded guilty Monday to tampering with physical evidence and being a second-degree persistent felony offender, theft of an identity and being a second-degree persistent felony offender, first-degree possession of a controlled substance, third-degree possession of a controlled substance, operating on a suspended/revoked license and driving under the influence. He was sentenced to a total of five years.

Nolan C. Hoggard, 37, 800 block of North Adams Street, pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree fleeing/evading police and being a first-degree persistent felony offender, and third-degree assault and being a first-degree persistent felony offender. He was sentenced to a total of 10 years.

Brandon Embry, 34, 1400 block of Cumnock Street, pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree burglary. In a separate case, Embry was found guilty by a jury on charges of fourth-degree assault, first-degree wanton endangerment and being a second-degree persistent felony offender and third-degree terroristic threatening. One count of being a second-degree persistent felony offender was dismissed. He was sentenced to a total of 10 years for both cases.

Hubert L. Grounds, 47, 1100 block of Burris Street, was sentenced Monday to a total of five years on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse (victim under 12) and one count of first-degree sexual abuse.

Jacob D. Hale, 34, Owensboro, was sentenced Monday to three years for first-degree possession of a controlled substance.

Mason Jones, 19, 1200 block of Helm Street, was sentenced Monday to three years for first-degree possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana.

Ali Langley, 28, 2400 block of North Park Drive, was sentenced Monday to five years for first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.

Christopher S. Williams, 34, Owensboro, was sentenced to a total of two years for first-degree possession of a controlled substance and driving on a DUI suspended license.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Those charged with crimes are considered innocent until they are found guilty in a court of law. Every effort is made by this newspaper to report the final disposition of each case. In the event we fail to do so, a call to our newsroom, 827-2000, will prompt a background check on those cases and, if necessary, a published report on the final disposition.
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The following information is based on public records from local and area law enforcement agencies and/or court systems:

HENDERSON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

Bonnie Kay Wangler, 37, Evansville, was charged Wednesday with being a fugitive from justice from Indiana. She was also served six felony warrants from Vanderburgh County, Indiana.

HENDERSON POLICE DEPARTMENT

Malcolm Billings Jr., 38, 900 block of Washington Street, was arrested early Thursday morning and charged with first-degree possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, driving under the influence, disregarding a railroad crossing flasher lights, possession of drug paraphernalia, operating on a suspended/revoked license, no insurance, having more than one driver's license and theft of identity of another without consent.

Billings was stopped after a police officer allegedly spotted him driving around a railroad crossing on Washington Street, and then out of his lane of travel. Further investigation, which included field sobriety tests, led to the charge of driving under the influence. During a search of the vehicle, a quantity of meth and drug paraphernalia were located, according to a news release.

Billings was lodged at the Henderson County Detention Center.

Jeffrey Hodges, 26, Sorgho, Kentucky, was arrested Wednesday night on a charge of theft (shoplifting) more than $500, but less than $10,000. The charge stems from Hodges allegedly trying to steal a cart filled with merchandise from Walmart. The merchandise was valued at $1,566.56. He was lodged at the Henderson County Detention Center.

A resident in the 500 block of Fair Street reported Wednesday that someone broke into her apartment and stole electronic equipment and cash.

Richard Brown, 33, 600 block of Sixth Street, Brian Hawks, 39, 1200 block of Pringle Street, and Chelsea Stone, 20, 8100 block of Green River Road, were arrested Saturday, Jan. 2, and each charged with possession of methamphetamine. The three were in a vehicle in which a quantity of meth was allegedly found. They were lodged at the Henderson County Detention Center.

Martinas T. Wilkes, 21, 200 block of East Fox Hollow Run, was arrested Jan. 1 on a charge of second-degree sexual abuse for allegedly engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.

Two other men, Jalen B. Grimes, 20, 2400 block of Green River Road, and Anthony Antia, age and address unavailable, were arrested Dec. 30, each on a charge of third-degree sexual abuse, for allegedly engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl. According to a new release, the incidents involving Wilkes, Grimes and Antia are related. The men denied the allegations.

They were lodged at the Henderson County Detention Center.

KENTUCKY STATE POLICE

Gazaar M. Dudley, 25, Owensboro, was arrested Tuesday during a traffic stop in Henderson. He was charged with first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, possession of an open alcoholic beverage container in a vehicle, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving under the influence, speeding and license to be in possession.

A passenger in Dudley's vehicle, Synthia L. Boone, 20, Hawesville, was charged with first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana. They were lodged at the Henderson County Detention Center.

Stephanie C. Lovell, 44, Waverly, was arrested Tuesday after a traffic stop in Union County. She was charged with first-degree possession of a controlled substance, driving under the influence, careless driving, failure to wear seat belts and failure to produce insurance card.

She was lodged at the Union County Detention Center.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Those charged with crimes are considered innocent until they are found guilty in a court of law. Every effort is made by this newspaper to report the final disposition of each case. In the event we fail to do so, a call to our newsroom, 827-2000, will prompt a background check on those cases and, if necessary, a published report on the final disposition.
Application for student loan forgiveness plan is available: Here's what to know
China Daily Life - Weather (Photo : Getty Images)

Russia topped the list of countries that tour operators listed as the best places to enjoy escorted trips in 2016. Half of the top 10 countries are in Asia, including China.



For the China escorted tour, the fourth on the tour operators' list, The Telegraph recommends Katie Adie's 15-day Highlights of China itinerary tour. The tour brings tourists to iconic landmarks such as the Great Wall of China, the Three Gorges Dam, the Terracotta Warriors, Forbidden City in Beijing and Tianamen Square.



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Joining the tour is BBC's Kate Adie and The Daily Telegraph's China correspondent Neil Connor. He will serve as personal guide of the October tours, costing 3,490, for the Li River cruise to Yangshuo and two days in Shanghai.



Other stops on the China tour are the Muslim Quarter in Xi'an, the reed Flute Caves in Guilin and Chongqing which is where the giant pandas could be found.



Next to Russia's Moscow and St. Petersburg, other places that the British daily recommends as the places to visit through escorted tours this year are Sicily, India, Japan, U.S., Burma, South America, Iran, and Australia and New Zealand.



From 2007 to 2014, tourist arrivals have been going up steadily which reached 56 million in 2014. Actually, the bulk of tourists who visit China are ethnic people from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Not all of them come just for a vacation but also to do business, study or visit relatives in the mainland.



Of the 56 million foreign visitors in 2014, 26 million were non-Chinese tourists. According to Chinahighlights, China is the third most-popular tourist destination in the world after France and the U.S. However, since Hong Kong and Macau are actually part of China, if their tourist numbers are added, China would likely be the number one tourist destination, especially since tourists are now avoiding France because of the November terror attacks in Paris initiated by the Islamic State terrorists.


Who turned in the top performances from Week 8? We have the answers
To share with friends and brethren The Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (the Everlasting Gospel), and to prepare a people to stand when He returns to redeem His remnant. Also, to share relevant information of current events, and to show how they relate to prophecy; By means of articles, editorials, opinions, scripture readings, and poetry.

Disclaimer

Endrtimes does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article/video posted on this site. The information provided here is done so for personal edification; It's up to the reader to separate truth from error, and to examine everything (like the Bereans) from a Biblical perspective. Let the Holy Scriptures be you guide! - - - FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/videos may contain copyrighted () material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes.
In this weeks segment of Segue, College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Dean Greg Budzban, PhD, hosts Sorin Nastasia, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Applied Communication Studies and newly appointed director for the International Studies program. Nastasia will lead this exciting new academic bachelor of arts (BA) program within CAS, which was approved in August 2015.

As this announcement opens exceptional new opportunities for students, the discussion revolves around the introduction of the program, what academic areas will be covered within the program, what career opportunities will be available to students choosing this educational path and how this degree will lend itself to the future of both the University and the global marketplace.

The International Studies program will be an interdisciplinary offering, meaning that while a core selection of courses will require successful completion by students, the program also allows for students to choose among an array of elective hours offered across CAS units. The degree can be customized and tailored to encompass the interests and career goals of each individual.

Students will have the choice of three specializations within the major concentration: international relations and diplomacy, international development and sustainability, and international arts, culture and communication. As part of a program committed to a global perspective, students will be required to complete two levels of foreign language, to participate in at least one study abroad opportunity, and to do a senior assignment with an international focus.

As a native of Romania and former international communications professional prior to earning a PhD in the United States and being employed at SIUE, Nastasia certainly encompasses the necessary knowledge and skills to ensure student success in the international realm. He also displays a passion and commitment to providing SIUE students with global and culturally sensitive experience, having accompanied SIUE students on study abroad trips to France and Romania as well as to Germany and Hungary. In my public relations teachings at SIUE, I try to give a context of foreign language and foreign culture to students, he says.

In this weeks show, Budzban expresses his excitement for the beginning of this internationally-driven program, noting the impact that students can make in so many different realms. For diplomacy, there are organizations that need more than traditional diplomats, he explains. When working for the State Department, there are so many different areas where this degree would be useful.

For sustainability and communication, they know no boundaries. Once something is shared to Twitter, it goes everywhere. So, this program will help solve issues in those areas as well.

Nastasia comments on the benefits this program will lend to students seeking careers in project management, noting that student mastery of language and cultural idiosyncrasies will be critical in fulfilling a successful career in international relations.

Budzban elaborates on the subject to demonstrate why the training this program offers is so important and unique. You can do project management in the States, but if youre going to do a project on an international scope, thats a different set of skills and background that is needed to be successful.

Budzban and Nastasia discuss the bright future of the program, which will enroll students for the next academic year. They also indicate existing and new University resources that will be identified to make the program more effective, future goals and initiatives for the program, and promotional plans to make students in the area aware of the new offering.

For more information on the international studies program at SIUE, visit http://www.siue.edu/artsandsciences/internationalstudies/.

More information will be made available as program details continue to progress.

Tune in to WSIE 88.7 FM every Sunday at 9 a.m. as weekly guests discuss issues on SIUEs campus.

By Logan Cameron, SIUE Marketing & Communications
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Linkedin Yuen Meikeng (The Jakarta Post)  Fri, January 8, 2016

I'd never seen anything like it - a mini mountain of fluffy egg white paste, with menacing, fried scorpions jutting out of it. And this was for dinner?



I was on unfamiliar ground, out of my comfort zone and on a journey to get to know two Chinese cities in eight days, courtesy of fellow ANN member China Daily. As quirky as this welcome dish was when I first arrived in Xi'an city, it had a more elegant meaning. My hosts explained that it symbolizes the majestic peaks in Shaanxi province, situated in China's Northwest.



The egg white denoted the sometimes snow-capped mountains in the province. And such elevated grounds are habitats for scorpions, which, when fried and served to a true blue Malaysian girl like me, tasted like crunchy, salty anchovies in nasi lemak!



This dish was a rather apt introduction to my visit to Shaanxi, where I drank in the breathtaking sights of Mount Hua and Mount Taibai, the tallest mountain in East China. Xi'an, the one-time ancient capital of China, brings to mind the famed terracotta warriors, buried together with the Emperor to guard him in the afterlife.



Mount Hua, dubbed the "Western Great Mountain" is 120 kilometers from the city and accessible by a slow, steady cable car with transparent walls that climbs up steep elevations to get closer to the peak. The ride can be unnerving but the view makes it all worth while. Like traditional Chinese paintings of mountains leaping to life, Hua Shan basks in glory on a sunny day.



The beige, granite rock formations with trails of green shrubs running along its sides, gently being blown by the wind, bring to mind a mighty ancient warrior with rock-hard muscles standing tall in the misty air.



Named "Hua" after an official from heaven who met a monk, the mountain is considered a romantic spot, with love-locks adorning the railings along the way to the peak.



Mount Taibai is even taller at 3,511m above sea level and its peak is occasionally covered with snow though sadly not on the day of my visit.



Back on lower ground as we drove back into the city, my bus passed through the imposing Xi'an City Wall. Its long arms protectively wrap around the city centre, spanning about 14km in length.



Built during the Ming Dynasty, the 12m-high wall is now the pride of the city and, for tourists, a chance to cycle on the platform to soak up views of this historic city. From there, one can see the Bell and Drum Tower which, according to legend, was erected by the Xi'an people to stop earthquakes caused by a dragon living underground.



After engaging with soulful Xi'an, I make the acquaintance of her dynamic and unique sister, the coastal city of Ningbo in the Zhejiang province in eastern China.



Meaning "serene waves", Ningbo is said to be one of the oldest cities in China, and a major port, thanks to its proximity to the sea. But despite its 7,000-year-old history, the city pulses to a modern beat and belies its true age.



With its trendy bars, futuristic architecture and many ongoing development projects, the city is young at heart and full of promise for so much more. From its growing High-Tech Industrial Development Zone and robust Ningbo Port, it is obvious that the place is poised to springboard itself into a highly advanced city.



I found myself more intrigued by the town's subtle nuances, including the exceedingly fresh and succulent local seafood. One of the specialities is another multi-legged creature - the crab.



The crab, which is served raw, had a naturally sweet and juicy flavour and was followed by Ningbo's signature glutinous rice balls with black sesame filling.



Betraying Ningbo's seemingly youthful vibe is the Temple of King Asoka, built in 282 CE and the only ancient temple more than 1,000 years old in China. The structure was built by King Asoka from India, who became a Buddhist after he dreamt that the Buddha told him to stop killing off his rivals.



The temple also houses one of the 100 relics from the Shakyamuni Buddha's remains, a holy artifact revered by followers.



Ningbo is also home to several significant figures, including Tu Youyou, who was recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her contribution towards creating a drug to treat malaria that has saved millions of lives. The 84-year-old's family home in the city, which has been preserved for its traditional architecture, is open to visitors.



It is also the birthplace of Chen Yumen, the inventor of mah jong and his former residence, also in the city, has been turned into a mini museum for the public.



At night, Ningbo lets her hair down and transforms into a marvel of light and sound. One can easily soak up the vibrant atmosphere by taking a stroll along the charming and scenic Nantanghe Block.



Decked with rows of food shops and cafes, the block has a traditional Chinese faAade and attracts many locals eager to relax over a meal.



For a stiffer drink, Ningbo folks and tourists alike converge at the hip joints near The Old Bund and bars overlooking the Yong River, which runs through the city.



Despite its rapid development and advancements, the other side of Ningbo coaxes you to just kick back, relax and drink it all in. (kes)(+)
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Linkedin Marcel Thee (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

Rising from what he considers 'a completely unsupportive environment', photographer Agra Suseno has made a name for himself around the creative scene through both his live stage photography and artiste portraits.



His stylistic tendencies are to combine artsy visuals with a sense of candidness, shifting from posed to spontaneous pictures with grace.



'I actually graduated with a degree in industrial engineering,' explained the 25-year-old.



'But things changed for me when my girlfriend got a DSLR [Digital Single-Lens Reflex] camera in 2008. It felt like love at first sight; I simply could not part ways with the camera and have tried to learn about everything related to photography.'



Eventually garnering enough courage and cash to purchase his own professional camera in 2010, Agra dove head first into the photography world that year, taking up any job-related gig he could find.



To develop his skills, the Bandung-based photographer read a variety of photography-tutorial books and undertook a few internships.



He also studied the websites of noted photographers, including New York-based photographer Todd Owyoung and Rodney Smith, the New York-based fashion and portrait photographer known for his influential minimalist style.



'In the beginning, my goal was to simply master the camera and come up with consistently great pictures. These days, it is to capture important moments, whether it is someone on their wedding day or a part of a musician's journey.'



'For me,' continued Agra, 'technique is increasingly important, but what's even more important is that a picture contains a feeling, even if it might not be technically 'right'.'



Agra relates how limitations often work in his advantage as they force him to come up with creative solutions.



'I recall how I was not allowed to take certain pictures of [songstress] Andien, and how my lens broke that day, and how I had to come up with ways of taking her picture in an unorthodox manner.



'It affected my mood, but it made me arrive at ideas and pictures that I would not have otherwise come up with,' Agra explains.





He used to measure his peers' work as either good or bad, but now says he understands that everybody has different tastes.



'It could be something as simple as me taking what I consider a good picture, but it not translating into what the client or musician feels fits with who they are.'



The increasing popularity of social-media-based photography is also something Agra finds encouraging, as more healthy competition means he is forced to grow.



'The challenge is for these Instagram photographers to hop from taking pictures on their phones to something more professional. It's important that people understand how significant it is to take really good photos.'

' Photos courtesy of Agra Suseno
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has refused to reinstate Retno Listyarti as a school principal despite a court ruling in her favor in a lawsuit against the Jakarta Education Agency.

Ahok said on Friday that he would not reinstate Retno as the principal of SMAN 3 Jakarta state senior high school.

"School principal is not a [functional] position. Besides, we are the ones who decide who should be appointed a principal," he told journalists at City Hall.

Ahok added that a principal position was different to a position of Jakarta Education Agency head as a principal had the additional duties of a teacher.

Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) on Thursday declared Retno the victor in her legal suit against the Jakarta Education Agency, which fired her in May last year over disciplinary issues.

The court also ordered the agency to end disciplinary action against Retno and to reinstate her as principal of a senior high school in Jakarta.

Ahok said he had not decided whether to appeal.

"I don't know yet, let's just wait and see," he said.

Retno was fired by Jakarta Education Agency head Arie Budiman following her absence during the national exam last year when she was interviewed by a private television station on the implementation of the nationwide exam.

The secretary-general of the Federation of Indonesian Teachers Associations (FSGI) then filed a lawsuit against her dismissal.

She expressed gratitude following the court verdict on Thursday.

"Being a principal again was not the purpose [of the lawsuit] but to prove that my dismissal was unwarranted. But if the court orders the revocation of my dismissal then I can be a principal again," she said as quoted by kompas.com. (rin)(+)
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Linkedin Corry Elyda and Dewanti A Wardhani (The Jakarta Post)  Fri, January 8, 2016

Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama has replaced city-owned bus operator PT Transportasi Jakarta (Transjakarta) president director ANS Kosasih, who was appointed last year, with Budi Kaliwono, the former vice president director of transportation company PT Citra Maharlika Nusantara Corpora (CMNC), formerly known as PT Cipaganti Citra Graha.



Ahok said on Thursday that he had removed Kosasih from his position because of the latter's lackluster performance in 2015.



Kosasih was officially inaugurated in January 2015, but started working in 2014. Ahok said that Kosasih had not lived up to expectations.



'I turned Transjakarta into a company because it would be easier to manage. However, it's been more than a year [since Kosasih started] but there are still many problems with Transjakarta. He's not a bad president director, he just works too slow,' Ahok said.



Previously, Transjakarta was managed by the Jakarta Transportation Agency. Ahok said that Kosasih had been unable to solve Transjakarta's many problems.



Ahok said that, for example, Kosasih had not procured enough buses to accommodate the number of passengers. In 2015, the firm procured 51 Swedish-made Scania buses, 21 of which have arrived and are operational.



'It's been almost two years since he started working but there are barely any new buses,' Ahok said.



Ahok said that he had chosen Budi because of his background as vice president director of car and bus rental company Cipaganti.



'I didn't know [Budi] before, but I know those big Cipaganti buses and how hard it is to find passengers. Managing Transjakarta is easier than managing Cipaganti, so I thought he would make a good president director,' Ahok said.



Separately, Budi said after the inauguration ceremony that he was the vice president director of CMNC after being acquired by a Hong Kong-based company.



'I started at Cipaganti in July 2015. I used to work as a dealer in Surabaya. However, I have spent my 22-year career in finance,' he said.



CCG has previously been implicated in a fraud and embezzlement case worth Rp 3.2 trillion as part of cooperative Koperasi Cipaganti Karya Guna Persada, following a report that business partners had invested money in the cooperative but had never received any returns. Three senior people in the company were imprisoned in the case.



Budi said that he was confident that he could meet the targets set by the governor. 'Transportation is about service. The business I have been involved in for 22 years is also customer-service oriented,' he said.



Budi said that he was aiming to procure around 1,000 new buses this year. 'The number of buses will also have an affect on the number of passengers,' he said.



Kosasih, who attended the ceremony, said that the company faced many challenges in fulfilling their obligation to provide good public transportation to Jakartans.



He added that bureaucracy was one of the obstacles that they faced, especially obtaining capital injection and the public service obligation subsidies.
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Linkedin Foster Klug (The Jakarta Post) Seoul, South Korea  Fri, January 8, 2016

It's a single image released by an enormous propaganda apparatus, showing a note handwritten by a dictator. And it contains a telling clue to the mindset behind North Korea's surprise and disputed claim to have tested its first hydrogen bomb.



The Dec. 15 note from Kim Jong Un calls for a New Year marked by the "stunning sound of the explosion of our country's first hydrogen bomb." The document closes with his signature ' almost like a rock star signing an autograph.



The photo, released after the North's nuclear test Wednesday, points to this conclusion: While the world focuses on how the explosion will resonate beyond the nation's borders, the whole thing is really all about Kim, North Korea's third-generation leader.

Four years after his abrupt ascent following his father's sudden death, analysts are split on whether Kim is coming into his own as a leader, confidently balancing competing interests among powerful military and political camps, or whether he's struggling to put his mark on a Shakespearean churn of political jockeying and bloodshed that roils beneath the smooth propaganda surface.



Whether Kim is confident or desperate, the note provides a look at the careful calibration behind the nuclear test's propaganda. The date on the note, from three weeks ago, and the missive's almost poetic tone are meant to show both deliberation and pride from a leader who approved and orchestrated the test.



The note speaks of making "the entire world look up to" North Korea and the ruling party, while giving no regard to the international outrage the nuclear test was certain to generate, including from China, the North's most important ally. The test was aimed not at external forces, but at showing Kim's citizens that he is in full command at an important moment.



John Delury, an expert on Korea and China at Seoul's Yonsei University, describes the note's message like this: "Let no one be confused; there's no factional struggle; the military isn't telling him what to do."



Whether that's a true representation of what's happening in one of the world's most secretive governments is another matter, especially regarding the powerful military.



With little diplomatic progress and nearly three years since the last nuclear test, Kim might have calculated that it was time to agree to his military's push for another. Or, as some analysts speculate, maybe the order was given as soon as scientists were ready to detonate.



Kim may be associating himself closely with what his state media call the "H-bomb of justice" in part because a hydrogen bomb would be a clear advance on the nuclear tests conducted under his father's rule. And to the people of his isolated country, international doubts about whether the device was truly an H-bomb probably won't matter.



"Our hydrogen bomb test is like the big thunder of a great country, and it really makes me feel great and happy," said Ri Chon Hyang, a Pyongyang resident. "Not just me, my friends are also so happy, we don't know how to put it into words."

North Korean state media routinely cast nuclear weapons as the only way to stand up to the country's archenemy Washington. The military needs nuclear tests to advance its quest for a warhead small enough to fit on a long-range missile.



Propaganda has always been crucial for the Kim family's control of the North, but it's especially important for Kim Jong Un. Thought to be in his early 30s ' and celebrating a birthday Friday ' he has been dealt much different cards than his father, Kim Jong Il.



Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011, while still in his 20s. Although he had a few years as the anointed heir, his experience was paltry when compared with his father. Kim Jong Il was given increasingly important responsibilities by his own father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, over a long apprenticeship and was middle-aged when he took power in 1994.



From the beginning, Kim Jong Un moved quickly when he perceived challenges from his lieutenants.



He had his uncle, and the country's No. 2 power, Jang Song Thaek, publicly shamed and then executed for treason in December 2013. The year before, he purged another supposed mentor, North Korean army chief Ri Yong Ho, whose fate is still unknown.



A think tank affiliated with South Korea's spy agency said last year that Kim has executed more than 100 senior officials. Last year, he ordered a defense chief executed with an anti-aircraft gun for complaining about the young ruler, talking back to him and sleeping during a meeting, the spy agency told lawmakers in a briefing.



The recent car crash death of Kim Yang Gon, the top official in charge of ties with Seoul, was viewed with suspicion in the South because crashes have previously been seen as ways to get rid of unwanted officials.



Kim's note represents a different way of cementing his position over North Koreans. He's making himself a part of history, however it's seen outside his country's borders. In a land awash with portraits and statues of his father and grandfather, the note is part of Kim's effort to claim a place beside them. (+)
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Linkedin Rizal Harahap (The Jakarta Post) Pekanbaru  Fri, January 8, 2016

A Lion Air flight from Pekanbaru to Medan was delayed on Friday after a passenger who turned out to be an Army officer joked about carrying a bomb on board the plane, an official said.

Jaya Tahoma Sirait, general manager of Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport in Pekanbaru, Riau, said on Friday that Lion Air JT141 flight carrying 189 passengers was scheduled to take off at 3:15 p.m., headed for Kuala Namu Airport in North Sumatra.

However, a man sitting in seat 18B was seen still holding a bag on his lap prior to takeoff. A stewardess then offered to put his bag in the overhead cabin and as she did so the man, initialed S, told her to be careful as it was a bomb.

The pilot of the flight delayed takeoff upon receiving a report of the incident from the stewardess.

"The passenger was then taken for questioning. Maybe he meant it as a joke, but based on the standard operating procedure of airport security, he must be investigated," he said.

As part of a standard security response, all passengers were asked to get off of the plane and baggage and cargo were unloaded for re-checking.

Tahoma said that S was later identified as a major in the Indonesian Army. S did not explain his conduct, which caused shock to other passengers.

The airport authorities also reported him to military police for further investigation.

Moreover, Tahoma said that after checking the safety of the airplane, the flight was eventually allowed to take off at 5:35 p.m. (rin)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

Indonesian Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Muhammad Sabrar Fadhilah has said that the force was yet to decide what role it would play in the next operation to arrest Santoso, the leader of terrorist group East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) in Central Sulawesi.

Fadhilah said on Friday that the Army would first carry out an evaluation before deciding whether it would continue its participation with the three-month joint police-military operation "Camar Maleo Code IV" to be wrapped up on Saturday with Santoso still at large.

"We still don't know, but in principle we are ready to join the police to assist them in the operation. It is likely to extend the length [of the operation]," Fadhilah told thejakartapost.com.

Fadhilah added that the Camar Maleo operation, which involved 700 military and 1,000 police personnel, comprised three components.

The first component was combat operations to challenge MIT armed group members, who had committed acts of terror using weapons.

Second was territorial operations to de-radicalize local residents, among whom MIT had reportedly already spread their influence.

And the third was intelligence operations as a main tool of gathering information.

According to Fadhilah, the difficult terrain of Poso Pesisir forest in Central Sulawesi, which covers an area of 2,400 square kilometers, had allowed Santoso to evade capture.

Another factor, he added, was how successfully he had radicalized his followers.

He stressed that the army and police needed to formulate a new strategy if the operation was to continue.

Meanwhile, Poso Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ronny Suseno said that after the completion of the Camar Maleo IV on Saturday, the police would continue the operation for about two weeks with the new code 'Tinombala'.

Regarding the continuation of the police-military joint operation, Ronny said that it was up to the National Police to make the decision.

For years, the police have hunted the group led by terrorist leader Santoso, known also as Abu Wardah, and have managed to arrest and kill a number of group members, but failed to capture Santoso. (bbn)
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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

Bank Indonesia (BI) announced on Thursday that it would postpone the rolling out of chip-technology debit cards until 2021 because of technical issues in nationwide implementation.



In a circular published on Dec. 30, BI revised a regulation stipulating that all debit cards issued by local banks should use chip technology beginning Jan. 1 in order to reduce digital crime in payment systems.



Under the revision, banks are now required to implement chip-technology debit cards and six-digit PINs from Dec. 31, 2021, replacing the old 'magnetic stripe' cards.



BI director of payment system policy and supervision Farida Peranginangin said the central bank decided to postpone the regulation after discussing the issue with banking industry representatives, who expressed the difficulties their organizations had faced in implementing the program.



Farida said that BI had agreed that a wide-scale conversion of debit cards and upgrades of infrastructure as well as six-digit PINs would be daunting for the banking industry.



'The banking industry has expressed their concerns that the simultaneous implementation of chip technology would cost too much and create inefficiencies as there were more than 121 million debit and ATM cards by the end of 2015,' Farida said in a press briefing on Thursday.



The central bank, which supervises the country's payment system, calculated that there were 96,900 ATMs and 960,300 electronic data capture (EDC) units as of Dec. 31, 2015, with many of them yet to be upgraded to accommodate the new cards.



In order to help the banking industry, Farida said that BI had allowed the use of magnetic stripe cards in certain conditions, namely for savings or current accounts with a maximum balance of Rp 5 million (US$358.9) under agreements between customers and the bank.



Beyond that, Farida said BI had implemented a new schedule and steps for banks to take to prepare for the changeover.



Under the new schedule, banks are required to upgrade their back-end system to accommodate chip cards before June 30, 2017, while upgrades for ATMs and EDC units should be completed by July 1, 2017.



'Magnetic stripe cards should also have six-digit PINs by June 30, 2017,' she said.



By Jan. 1, 2019, banks should have at least 30 percent of their debit cards using chip technology, followed by 50 percent by Jan. 1, 2020 and 80 percent before Jan. 1, 2021.



'This will facilitate the replacement of the remaining 20 percent of old debit cards by 2021,' Farida said, adding that the schedule had been created based on BI's calculation of the banking industry's overall capacity.



Farida said that some banks had already showed that they were ready for the new system as they had prepared new chip debit cards, but many of them still had infrastructure-related issues.



'Some banks have old-type ATMs, while others have a huge number of ATMs and customers,' she said.



Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) senior executive vice president Catur Budi Harto said that the lender had prepared for the card migration program and required infrastructure gradually, adding that it was considering whether it will have to charge customers for the cost of each new card.



Meanwhile, Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) retail funding and distribution director Sis Apik Wijayanto said the lender was ready with newly upgraded ATMs and already more than 2 million upgraded debit cards.



'All of our newly issued debit cards already use chip technology and at least 300 ATMs have been upgraded,' he said.
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Linkedin Dewanti A. Wardhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

The Jakarta administration has shut down all Chiropractic First clinics in the capital following a report of alleged malpractice causing the death of Allya Siska Nadya last year.



Jakarta Health Agency head Koesmedi Priharto said that the agency had checked the company's documents and found that Chiropractor First did not have a practice permit with the agency, and was thus operating illegally.



'Chiropractic is categorized as a traditional medication so the clinic needs to have a permit from the Health Agency to operate. However, we found that in fact they do not have a permit,' Koesmedi told reporters at City Hall on Thursday.



Koesmedi said the agency suspected that Chiropractic First chose only to operate in shopping centers so it could more easily run without the city administration's knowledge. According to its website, Chiropractic First's branches across Jakarta were located in shopping centers such as Lippo Mall Puri and Mall Taman Anggrek in West Jakarta, Pondok Indah Mall, Kota Kasablanka and fX Sudirman in South Jakarta and Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta.



'The clinic mostly operated in shopping centers, probably because it was easier for them. However, shopping centers should keep track of their tenants too, because the agency wouldn't have any knowledge about this clinic if the case hadn't been publicized,' he said.



He further explained that the American doctor who was allegedly responsible for the malpractice, Randall Cafferty, was also not listed as an official health practitioner with the Health Ministry.



'Since he is a foreigner, he must register with the Health Ministry. However, we discovered that he is not listed,' Koesmedi said.



Cafferty reportedly also had a problematic career in the US. According to the Californoa Board of Chiropractic Examiners' website, Cafferty has been on probation and had his license revoked on March 3, 2013 due to 'unprofessional conduct and conviction of crime', effective for three years. A report was filed against him on Aug. 22, 2012.



Koesmedi said that all of Chiropractor First's branches in Jakarta were operating without a practice permit from his agency, and were shut down on Thursday.



Thirty-two-year-old victim Allya reportedly went to the Chiropractic First clinic in Pondok Indah Mall on Aug. 5 last year for a consultation for neck pain. She underwent her first session with Cafferty on Aug. 6 to address the problem.



However, when Allya returned home in the late evening after the session, she suffered from severe pain in her neck. She called her parents, Alfian Helmy and Arnisda Helmy, who immediately took her to Pondok Indah Hospital in South Jakarta.



Allya died on Aug. 7 in the hospital, which issued a medical report saying she had died with abnormalities in her neck bones after receiving therapy at the Chiropractic First clinic.



Suspecting malpractice, Alfian and Arnisda filed a report against Cafferty on Aug. 12.



Jakarta Police general crime director Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti said on Thursday that the police had questioned 11 witnesses, including three experts. The police also examined Allya's medical records issued by Pondok Indah Hospital.



However, he said that the police had difficulty in determining the cause of death as Allya's family had not allowed an autopsy to be carried out.



'[Our investigations] have been hampered by the family's refusal of an autopsy,' Krishna said. 'To solve the case, we need their cooperation. We will meet them again and propose that the procedure be carried out.'



Krishna further said that the police were yet to question Cafferty, who reportedly fled the country as he had attended two questioning sessions. The police are currently searching for him. (agn)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

The Constitutional Court on Thursday kicked off preliminary hearings into 147 disputes pertaining to December's simultaneous regional elections.



The hearings will run until next Monday before the court holds a plenary session to announce which disputes it will follow up.



Papua's Waropen and Nabire regencies and North Sumatra's Humbang Hasundutan account for the joint-most lawsuits, with three each.



Regencies seeing two lawsuits include West Halmahera in North Maluku, Boven Digoel in Papua, Gresik in East Java, Labuhan Batu in North Sumatra and Kaimana in West Papua.



Of 51 disputes heard by three panels of judges on Thursday, most challenge local general elections commissions (KPUD) and the central General Elections Commission (KPU) on alleged violations concerning election processes and the validity of other candidates, rather than necessarily on ballot counts.



Most of the plaintiffs also complain that KPUDs unevenly distributed voting invitations.



Humbang Hasundutan has seen lawsuits filed by three losing tickets, challenging the validity of other pairs. None of them dispute the victory of the winning pair, Dosmar Banjarnahor and Saut Parlindungan Simamora.



One of the three plaintiff pairs, Marganti Manullang and Ramses Purba, has accused the KPUD of violating Law No. 8/2015 on regional elections by allowing one political party to be represented by more than one ticket.



Palbet Siboro and Henry Sihombing of the Aburizal Bakrie-led Golkar Party, and Harry Marbun and Momento Nixon Sihombing from the Agung Laksono-led Golkar, should not, according to the plaintiffs, have been allowed to stand, as they were backed by the same party.



'We want the court to disqualify them and hold a revote with three candidates only, because the participation of [the two pairs] in the election heavily affected the result of the ballot,' the plaintiffs' lawyer Arco Misen Ujung said, adding that there had been only a 1.5 percent difference between the number of the votes garnered by the winning pair and those garnered by his clients.



Humbang Hasundutan KPUD head Leonard Pasaribu said that the two pairs from Golkar had been eligible to contest the election in light of verdicts from the State Administrative High Court (PTTUN) and the Regional Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu).



'The PTTUN endorsed [Palbet-Henry] for the election and Panwaslu endorsed [Harry-Momento]. Those were final and binding decisions,' Leonard said.



All plaintiffs from Waropen regency, meanwhile, are losing pairs challenging the Waropen KPUD related to alleged vote-buying by the winning pair.



A lawsuit from Tasikmalaya, which saw only one candidate pair contest last month's regentship election, was filed by a self-described election observer called the Tasikmalaya Communication Forum. The plaintiff argued that the pair, who received 67.35 percent votes, was not eligible for election.



However, the panel of judges questioned the accreditation and legal standing of the plaintiff.



'The election observer certificate you have attached was valid for regional elections in 2012. We will seek clarification from the KPU as to whether it is still valid, as that bears heavily on your legal standing,' judge Suhartoyo said during the hearing.



According to the judges, a number of plaintiffs have yet to provide complete and systematic evidence to back up their claims or have issues with the validity of their letters of attorney.



'We need the plaintiffs to provide data. If they talk about error in ballot counts or vote-buying, they have to be able to furnish credible data,' judge Suhartoyo said.



Meanwhile, KPU commissioner Arief Budiman said that the KPU was preparing materials for defense and had urged related KPUDs to provide more evidence.



'We have received lawsuit documents before the hearings so we can prepare the material and evidence for defense,' Arief said, adding that the KPU would also provide assistance and consultation to the KPUDs. (foy)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Paris  Fri, January 8, 2016

French authorities are investigating the taxes of designer Karl Lagerfeld, who a French magazine claims used offshore tax havens to avoid paying millions of euros to the French government.



The case is the latest involving allegations of high-end tax evasion in France, where the finance ministry has cracked down on fraud in recent years to ease budget strain.



Lagerfeld "had no wish to evade the law," and trusts his financial advisers to work out the situation with the tax authorities, Caroline Lebar, a spokeswoman for the designer, said Thursday. She would not comment on the specific allegations in L'Express magazine, saying only that a tax procedure is under way.



The national tax service would not comment on an ongoing case.



The case does not concern Chanel, where Lagerfeld has been chief designer since the 1980s, and Chanel would not comment Thursday.



Lagerfeld himself is not allowed to discuss the procedure while it's pending, Lebar said. He and Chanel are preparing for upcoming Spring-Summer 2016 haute couture shows in Paris later this month.



Also this week, prominent international art dealer Guy Wildenstein and relatives went on trial in Paris accused of tax fraud and money laundering. He is facing a bill for back taxes of more than $600 million. (kes)(+)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

The Gerindra Party is ready to become a sole opposition party if other members of the Red-and-White Coalition want to join the ruling Great Indonesia Coalition, the party's deputy chairman Arief Poyuono said in Jakarta on Friday.

'We declare that we are ready to become a sole opposition party. We will not join the [Joko] 'Jokowi' [Widodo]-Jusuf Kalla government,' Arief said, adding that his party would not be troubled if Red-and-White Coalition members moved to join the ruling coalition, kompas.com reported.

The Red-and-White is a group of political parties that supported losing presidential candidate and current Gerindra chairman Prabowo Subianto in the 2014 election. Initially, the coalition consisted of Gerindra, the Golkar Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP).

But after the leadership change, PAN expressed its wish to join the ruling coalition in a reported effort to gain a ministerial post in the planned Cabinet reshuffle. Meanwhile, Golkar and the PPP have also stated that they are already to join the ruling party.

Arief stressed that Gerindra would remain an opposition party and would continue to be critical of the government's policies, particularly if the party considered policies to be not in line with the people's interests.

According to Arief, if Golkar, under the leadership of Aburizal Bakrie, joined the ruling coalition, it would be beneficial for the government because as the second-largest party during the recent legislative elections, it has a significant role in the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, PKS leaders met with President Jokowi at the State Palace recently, but said they would not join the government's side. (bbn)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

The South Jakarta Police had arrested a film actor identified as DPA, 20, for allegedly possessing 0.4 grams of marijuana, the police announced Thursday.



South Jakarta Police vice chief Sr. Adj. Comr. Surawan said that police officers had arrested the suspect on Wednesday on Jl. Ceger in East Jakarta where he was shooting his new local drama for a private television station.



'We arrested him at a location where he was shooting at 3:30 p.m.,' Surawan said at the South Jakarta Police headquarters in Kebayoran Baru, as quoted by tempo.co.



He added that officers had raided the suspect's car and found the marijuana before they arrested him. 'He said the suspect had bought the marijuana for Rp 50,000 [US$3.59],' he said.



'The police also got him to undertaken a urine test. The result was positive [for] marijuana and methamphetamine,' he explained.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

Tons of dead water hyacinths have washed up on Tidung Island in Thousand Islands, disturbing tourism on the island.



Head of Tidung Island Tourism Association (APPTI) Irvan said that millions of water hyacinths had filled the waters of Tidung Island since Monday.



'The dead water hyacinths are waste from the mainland. Currents washed them to this island, making them piled at Jembatan Cinta [Love Bridge] ' the island's icon,' Irvan said as quoted by wartakotalive.com.



Tidung Island subdistrict chief Surahman said that he had assigned 45 contract workers and 15 beach cleaning workers to clear the hyacinths from the island. By Thursday, according to him, they had cleaned up two tons of the plants, which were dumped at a trash disposal site.



'We cleaned them from Jembatan Cinta as soon as possible. As that is the island's icon, we should keep trash away from it,' Surahman said.
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Linkedin Keith Ridler (The Jakarta Post) Boise, Idaho  Fri, January 8, 2016

An Uzbek refugee authorities say had an unwavering commitment to kill personnel at a military base or civilians at crowded Fourth of July celebrations in downtown Boise, Idaho, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Fazliddin Kurbanov received the sentence Thursday and a $250,000 fine.

A federal jury in August convicted Kurbanov of conspiracy, attempting to support a terrorist organization and possession of bomb-making components.

Prosecutors say the 33-year-old Russian-speaking truck driver who fled Uzbekistan in 2009 downloaded jihadist and martyrdom videos from a terrorist website.

Authorities monitored his communications and arrested him in 2013

Kurbanov maintained his innocence and told the court he wasn't a terrorist.

But U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge in handing down the sentence said Kurbanov planned to commit jihad against the United States. (dan)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post)  Fri, January 8, 2016

Trade Minister Thomas Trikasih Lembong is scheduled to visit India and meet with Indian Trade Minister on Jan. 28-29 to follow up on a pledge to collaborate, Indonesian Ambassador to India Rizali Wilmar Indrakesuma has said.



In the trade collaboration with India, Thomas said Indonesia would focus on two things, namely pharmaceuticals with a focus on generic medicine and rice imports from India.



Collaboration in pharmaceuticals was initiated by President Joko "Jokowi" Widowo after meeting with Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari on Nov. 11, 2015. The plan to import rice was confirmed on Thursday by Thomas, who said he would propose an MoU to India.



Collaboration in pharmaceuticals is seen as a positive step as India is the biggest producer of generic medicine in the world. Indonesia AIDS Coalition (IAC) executive director Aditya Wardhana expressed hoped that Indonesia could also learn something from India.



"Indian medicinal policy really supports its people. It utilizes the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights [TRIPS] agreement by the World Trade Organization to produce affordable generic medicine," Aditya told thejakartapost.com recently.



He gave as an example Sovaldi, a branded medicine to treat hepatitis C. He stressed that it cost US$1,000 per pill, not per box. Hepatitis C patients around the world protested the price, but no country openly supported the protest except for India. Utilizing the TRIPS agreement flexibility, if there are public objections to a patent, a patent registration can be canceled.



"From there the Indian pharmaceutical company could produce the generic version called Sofosbufir, and it is affordable, around $7 per pill," Aditya explained.



In reference to trade, Ambassador Rizali voiced hope that it would enhance relations between two countries. He said that many things had been initiated, the last being the India-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Arrangement (CECA) in 2011 by then trade minister Mari Elka Pangestu.



"But results of the follow up cannot be felt now. Chemistry must be built not only between governments but also between Indonesian and Indian businesspeople. Indonesian businesspeople remain wary of Indian businessmen and vice versa," said Rizali.



Rizali also expressed hope that pharmaceutical and rice trade would help Indonesian and Indian businessmen get to know each other better.



"India is a big market and has the highest economic growth in Asia. Maybe it won't replace China as Indonesia's main trading partner, but by looking more to India, we could have alternatives and diversification for our economy," Rizali explained. (dan)(+)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Fri, January 8, 2016

Jan. 5, 2016



Most sidewalks in the capital are heavily damaged and a major project will be undertaken to repair them, Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama said on Monday.



Ahok said about 60 percent of the sidewalks in the capital were damaged and repairing them was one of the city administration's focuses for capital spending this year. Ahok said the city administration had allocated a large portion of the 2016 Jakarta budget to public works throughout the capital, including sidewalk repairs.



Your comments:



Walking in Jakarta is a nightmare.



Phil France



Sidewalks? What sidewalks? I thought these spaces were for markets, tyre repair joints, warungs, and motor cycle lanes.



Nothingtodo



This is what you get when the ruling elite does nothing but steal. The money for repairs and maintenance is stolen and so the country becomes dilapidated. Indonesia is a country that is still using 1930s infrastructure such as roads, railways and ports that were built with coolie labor in the colonial era. The nation is literally falling to pieces.



Jokowi knows this and has emphasized the need to improve infrastructure, but he lacks the courage to stand up to the corruption in the DPR and National Police, so his reforms are weak and will not be enough.



Lasem Benny

Sixty percent are badly damaged and the remaining 40 percent are occupied by parked cars, motorcycles, street vendors and kiosks for security officers, Pemuda Pancasila and others.



Silvio Bari



When it comes to sidewalks, there is only one word to best describe Jakarta: primitive!



Komang Kusuma



And 80 percent of Indonesian cities have no sidewalks, so what's the big deal about Jakarta's so-called problem?



Angela006



What about pedestrian crossings, Pak? When is that going to be addressed?



Kortsleting



Moveable pedestrian crossings. Those will be painted on the soles of the shoes of each pedestrian in DKI. (Looks like already 90 percent complete.)



Please do, I love to walk to the office, instead of driving. And punish those riding their bikes on the sidewalk! Confiscate their motorbikes!



Perhaps looking into contractor competence, dirty sand, lack of aggregate, lack of reinforcing bars, low cement content and poor mixing of concrete used to construct sidewalks (especially those homemade self draining prefab rectangular 'slabs' used to cover drains) might also help understand where the bulk of the problem lies.



An unusually large proportion of whatever 'sidewalks' get built appear to self-destruct within 12 months, sometimes sooner!



Perplexed



I actually think the painted curbs in the tropics are picturesque. Like candy canes!



Devanagari



There is 7,650 km of road in Jakarta. 60 percent comes to around 4,500 km. We know that most roads don't have a sidewalk so let's pretend that only 10 percent of this is actually the damaged sidewalk. So, we have around 450 km of repairs needed. How many contractors will they need to get 1.25 km refurbished per day?



Rendang



We have sidewalks in Jakarta? People walk here? I only see extended motorbike trails with families taking the bike 100m to the corner shop.



Cukup



I only see street vendors and 'tukang tambal ban' on the sidewalk. Being forced to walk in the street? No thank you.



Icyblue



Be careful for the 2018 Asian Games! Jakarta needs good innovative sidewalks!



Tutkukap
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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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Fri, January 8, 2016

President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo will hold a limited Cabinet meeting on Friday to discuss aviation-related issues after a rating website named the country's airlines among the least safe in the world.



The meeting will be centered on airport patterns and the use of airspace in Java related to the improvement of flight safety.



'The meeting will start at 3 p.m,' Ari Dwipayana, presidential communication team head, said in text massage.



The Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) has questioned the assessment criteria in a survey conducted by airlinerating.com, the results of which were released on Wednesday. The survey results said that Indonesian airlines shared the lowest ranking with Nepali and Surinamese airlines, having been awarded just one out of seven stars.



According to INACA chairman M. Arif Wibowo, clear criteria was sorely needed as the aviation industry was fully regulated.



"Safety is mandatory and the INACA is committed to ensuring that all its members prioritize aviation security and safety. We will always obey the rules and regulations, either those of the Indonesian government, the International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO], the Federal Aviation Administration [FAA], the European Aviation Safety Agency [EASA] or other international regulators," said Arif in a press release. (dan)
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Linkedin Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post) Surakarta, Central Java  Fri, January 8, 2016

Surakarta in Central Java has long been known as a center for batik craftsmanship, being the royal seat of the Pakubuwono dynasty. After years of neglect caused by the onslaught of factory-made batik prints, Surakarta is revitalizing its batik-making centers.

For more than 200 years Surakarta, Central Java, has had two special districts, Kampung Laweyan and Kampung Kauman, which are well known not only for their age, but also for their historic batik industries.



Formerly, the two areas enjoyed a heyday as batik trading centers. However, both neighborhoods ceased their activities as handmade and printed batik fabrics were overwhelmed by modern batik products from China.



The dark period lasted from the 1980s until 2004, when the city's batik industry entered its revival. Today, after more than 10 years, batik has turned Kauman and Laweyan into popular shopping and tourist destinations.



'Kampung Laweyan tends to serve as an educational tourist spot, where visitors mostly observe the district and learn how to make batik designs,' the chairman of the Kampung Laweyan Development Forum (FPKBL), Alpha Fabela, said.



In the early period of Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo serving as Surakarta mayor in 2005, the city administration was actually already developing Laweyan as a batik center and as a cultural heritage zone.

The 24-hectare zone has various heritage buildings that have a unique blend of Javanese, European, Chinese and Islamic architectural features surrounded by tall fences. Laweyan's narrow alleys are where the houses of batik makers of the early 20th century can be found.



Therefore, the development of Laweyan as a batik district is directed toward the creation of a home-gallery atmosphere. 'The old buildings are revived not only as residences, but also as batik production houses and galleries,' said Surakarta Culture and Tourism Agency chief Eny Tyasni.



Through a tourism package, visitors are taken around to inspect the historic traces of Laweyan's batik industry from the 1900s. This package includes homestay facilities and practicing handmade and printed batik making.



Kampung Laweyan also offers other historic sites, such as the tomb of Kyai Ageng Henis (an ancestor of the Mataram kings), the house of Kyai Ageng Henis and Sutowijoyo (or Panembahan Senopati, founder of the Mataram kingdom) and the house and museum of H. Samanhudi, founder of the Islamic Trade Union (SDI).



'We're conserving 30 historic buildings in Laweyan to support the promotion of heritage tourism. The budget is provided by the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry and the city administration,' revealed Eny.



As a tourism zone, Alpha said the city administration had not yet supplied Laweyan with supporting infrastructure like guideposts, transportation access and parking facilities.



'The Batik Solo Trans [BST] route that should pass Kampung Laweyan has no transportation access yet,' he remarked.



Kauman, the other batik center in Surakarta located not far from the main road, Jl. Slamet Riyadi, has maintained the tradition because of the many abdi dalem (royal servant) batik makers of the Keraton Surakarta (Sultanate Palace) living in the district.



While Laweyan produces a lot more modern-styled batik, Kampung Kauman mostly turns out batik with classic motifs based on palace standards by using silk material.



Apart from batik, Kampung Kauman also boasts historic structures such as the joglo (traditional Javanese) mansions, limasan (pyramidal) houses, colonial buildings and Javanese-Dutch architectural constructions.



'Tourism in Kauman is combined with the Laweyan package because both share heritage and batik characteristics. We've built city walk facilities on Jl. Slamet Riyadi for easier access to Kauman,' added Eny.

A batik entrepreneur in Kauman, Gunawan Setiawan, said that through the Association of the Kauman Batik Tourism Village (PKWBK) Kauman residents had been sharing responsibilities with the Surakarta city administration.



'The city government takes care of the district's reordering while residents create Kauman's brand as a batik and heritage village,' he indicated. The branding is achieved through batik events like Batik Day and free batik-making workshops for students.



'At present we're promoting Kampung Kauman as a religious, historic, educational and shopping tourism spot. Kauman's proximity to the palace, the Grand Mosque and Pasar Klewer enables it to offer an appealing variety tourism package,' added Gunawan.



' Photos by JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi
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Linkedin Erika Anindita (The Jakarta Post)  Fri, January 8, 2016

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) gratification director Giri Suprapdiono has been accused of campaigning for incumbent South Tangerang Mayor Airin Rachmi Diany and his deputy Benyamin Davnie in the Dec. 9 mayoral election, a plaintiff's lawyer said on Thursday evening.

In a preliminary hearing of the case, Habiburokhman, the lawyer representing the Ikhsan Mojo-Li Claudia candidate pair, told the Constitutional Court panel of judges that his team had presented evidence of Giri's participation in an event held by the South Tangerang administration.

"A [KPK] director attended an event held by the South Tangerang administration, which was perceived as South Tangerang being an anticorruption city," Habiburokhman said during the hearing on Thursday evening.

After the hearing, he claimed that Giri had implied that he acknowledged Airin's integrity and capability.

Habiburokhman claimed that Giri should not praise Airin, the wife of graft suspect Tubagus Chaeri " Wawan" Wardana, because her name had been mentioned in connection to a health equipment corruption case in Banten.

Wawan has been named a suspect in the case.



Habiburokhman's evidence comprises reports in regional media. He did not attend the event on Sept. 28, 2015.



"We think that the praise for Airin by the KPK gratification director significantly elevated her image during the campaign. We consider it campaigning," he told reporters after the hearing on Thursday evening.

Habiburokhman also explained that 27 reports had been submitted to the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), none of which had been processed.



"KPK's neutrality"



Meanwhile, Giri has denied the accusation. When contacted separately, he said that he went to an official event held to disseminate information about gratification control.



The Sept. 28 event took place at the Puspitek building in South Tangerang and was aimed at the city's civil servants.



"It is not true that the KPK campaigned for a regional election leader candidate. I officially attended and represented the KPK in gratification control dissemination in South Tangerang and was accompanied by city administration members, including those from the DPRD [regional legislative council]," Giri said in a statement on Thursday evening.



He went on to explain that the antigraft body was striving to prevent graft in the regions that were prone to it, such as Riau, Banten province and North Sumatra province.



Rudi Alfonso, a lawyer representing Airin-Benyamin pair, questioned the validity of the accusation because of the KPK's neutrality. He voiced doubt that it was a KPK staffer who was responsible.



"We'll report to the KPK's ethics committee soon. Maybe Monday, when this [preliminary hearing phase] is done. We'll report regarding his ethics violation," Habiburokhman added. (dan)(+)
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Linkedin Malcolm Ritter (The Jakarta Post) New York  Fri, January 8, 2016

Scientists say they've discovered evidence of a frenzied mating ritual by dinosaurs: long grooves in the ground etched by the pawing of clawed feet.



Such behavior is seen nowadays in some birds, and the discovery suggests that two-legged, meat-eating dinosaurs called theropods did it about 100 million years ago, the researchers said.



Martin Lockley of the University of Colorado Denver said the dinosaurs, probably males, apparently gathered in groups and "went crazy scraping" with their clawed, three-toed feet to attract mates.



The beasts were built roughly like smaller versions of a T. rex. Footprints near the grooves suggest a variety of body lengths, up to about 16 feet (4 meters) from snout to tip of the tail.



The grooves they carved are up to 6 feet long.



The ritual would have been entertaining to watch, Lockley said in an interview. "These animals would have been really frenzied."



Lockley, an emeritus professor of geology, is an author of a paper on the discovery released Thursday by the journal Scientific Reports. The grooves were found at four sites in Colorado.



Dinosaur expert Thomas Holtz Jr. of the University of Maryland, who didn't participate in the work, said it's reasonable to think that theropods created the grooves. But was it for mating?



Holtz said he wasn't convinced that the new paper had sufficiently ruled out other explanations. But he added that there's no particular evidence for rejecting the mating idea.



"Whatever behavior is being recorded here, it is an expression of the fact that dinosaurs_like all animals_did more than hunt and attack and devour and fight and all that limited set of behaviors that popular culture often portrays," Holtz wrote in an email. (kes)(+)
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Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) says it has received an instruction from Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan to drop minor graft cases and instead focus more on pursuing large-scale money-laundering cases involving the country's high-profile businessmen in the coming years.



KPK commissioner Laode Muhammad Syarif said Luhut had delivered the instruction during a closed-door meeting with KPK commissioners on Thursday at the KPK headquarters.



In the talk, the KPK was also told to pay more attention to the effort to curb tax evasion to help with the government's plan to establish the controversial tax amnesty, which had been opposed by the previous KPK leadership and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK).



'We have yet to discuss specific cases, but we will focus on money laundering and tax [cases] in the future,' Laode told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. He declined to elaborate on what other instructions Luhut gave to the newly inaugurated KPK leaders during the meeting.



Speaking after the meeting, Luhut said that under the tax amnesty plan tax evaders who paid their taxes could avoid criminal charges.



He said the plan was to increase government revenue and that the KPK would be the last resort, working to bring charges of money laundering against persistent tax evaders.



To realize the plan, Luhut said the KPK and the anti-money laundering task force established by his office as well as the Finance Ministry's directorate general of taxation, would work out details for the joint cooperation in the near future.



Luhut said the government already had lists of tax evaders to be submitted to the KPK in the future for prosecution should they fail to take advantage of the tax amnesty once it was enacted.



'As we all know that thousands of trillions of rupiah in tax remain unpaid, we want swift action. This is part of the effort to implement clean governance,' Luhut said on Thursday at the KPK headquarters.



The government of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has been working to meet increased tax revenue targets.



On Dec. 1 the director general of taxation Sigit Priadi Pramudito resigned just 10 months after his appointment amid reports that tax revenue had fallen well short of target.



In the meeting, Luhut also reminded the KPK to avoid stirring controversy in its future investigations into graft and money-laundering cases, adding that the KPK should work effectively in silence.



President Jokowi has repeatedly urged the KPK to avoid creating publicity stunts when investigating graft cases, following the anti-graft body's standoff with the National Police early last year, after it named then National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a bribery suspect in January.



Ever since, the government has repeatedly called on law enforcement institutions, including the KPK, to work cooperatively to prevent conflicts. In addition, the government has also sought to establish a regulation to limit public exposure of cases being handled by law enforcement institutions.



Luhut meanwhile denied suggestions that he had also instructed the KPK to launch a money-laundering probe into former president director of state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II, Richard Joost Lino, who is a close confidant of Luhut's political rival Vice President Jusuf Kalla.



In a separate investigation, the National Police suspect that a significant amount of money from Pelindo II has been laundered by still unidentified persons.



'We didn't talk about it [Lino's case] because it's already ongoing. We talked about future investigations,' Luhut said.



Responding to critics of the tax amnesty plan, Luhut said the government would not grant any amnesty to graft, narcotics or terrorism convicts under the plan, and that money-laundering charges would only be used against high-profile businessmen should they refuse to pay their taxes in the future.

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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

Multifinancing company PT Maybank Indonesia Finance aims to double its loan growth to 10 percent this year as the firm, previously known as BII Finance, is upbeat about the country's economic recovery.



The company also aims to cut its non-performing loans (NPL) ratio to 0.12 percent from 0.38 percent in 2015.



'This is because we believe the economy will get better. We also have a good marketing network and will set tighter underwriting to reduce bad debts,' Maybank Finance president director Alexander said in Central Jakarta on Thursday.



In 2015, Maybank Finance booked Rp 8.3 trillion (US$596.26 billion) in new loans, a 5 percent increase compared to Rp 7.9 trillion in 2014.



To fund the 10 percent lending growth, Maybank Finance will get financial support from its parent company, PT Bank Maybank Indonesia, which is a subsidiary of Malaysian Maybank Group, one of the largest banks by assets in Southeast Asia.



'We always try to have a healthy ratio of funding. Most, 70 percent, of the funding comes from internal sources and the remaining 30 percent from other sources, including obligations,' he told reporters.



Last year, the company issued Rp 500 billion worth of bonds and plans to issue Rp 1.5 trillion of bonds in the first half of this year and another Rp 1.5 trillion in the second half.



According to Alexander, Maybank Finance now has almost Rp 5 trillion in assets.



Meanwhile, the company does not plan to add more branches to its existing 31 outlets in Jakarta, Surabaya, East Java, Medan, North Sumatra, and Bandung, West Java.



Instead, it will maximize the performance of each branch by improving relationships with car dealers with the expectation these can help boost customer numbers.



Maybank Finance targets high-income people and specializes in car financing, 97 percent, with the remaining 3 percent in education, heavy equipment and industrial machinery.



The slowing economic pace last year also affected its NPL ratio causing it to surge by 123 percent from 0.17 percent in 2014 to 0.38 percent in 2015. 'However, it was still better than the industry NPL [at 1.56 percent] so it's still safe.'



It plans to cut the NPL ratio to around 0.12 percent this year. Alexander is upbeat about the figure because the firm expects the economy to recover and moreover, the firm will implement more careful measures.



'We'll tighten monitoring and underwriting by reviewing risk parameters. Which units, types of customers and regions that lead to bad debts. We'll set higher down payments for higher risk units, for example,' Alexander said.



By December, the company's outstanding lending was recorded at Rp 12 trillion, a 2.56 percent increase from Rp 11.7 trillion in 2014.



Indonesian Financing Firms Association (APPI) data shows total outstanding loans by its 186 members by October last year stood at Rp 364 trillion, a 0.13 percent decline from Rp 364.5 trillion in 2014.



'The drop was attributed largely to heavy-equipment financing but consumer financing [including cars] improved by 14 percent yoy to Rp 244.3 trillion in October,' APPI chairman Suwandi Wiratno, adding that the overall NPL ratio, meanwhile, had increased from 1.41 percent yoy to 1.56 percent in the same period.



APPI hopes to see new lending to grow between 5 percent and 10 percent this year. (rbk)
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Linkedin Dewanti A. Wardhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

After evaluating the draft of the 2016 Jakarta budget, the Home Ministry has scrapped allocations for capital injections for city-owned firms because of a 'lack of legal documents'.



Home Ministry director general of regional finance Reydonnyzar 'Donny' Moenek said allocations for seven city-owned firms had been scrapped, namely lender Bank DKI, slaughterhouse operator PD Dharma Jaya, bus operator PT Transportasi Jakarta (Transjakarta), market operator PD Pasar Jaya, builder PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro) and sewage company PD PAL Jaya.



'Therefore, only [mass rapid transit project operator] PT MRT Jakarta can receive a capital injection,' Donny said over the phone on Thursday.



The city's draft budget, which was approved at Rp 66.3 trillion ($4.81 million), higher than the 2015 budget of Rp 65.7 trillion, was submitted to the ministry late last year for approval and evaluation. The ministry must make a thorough evaluation before approving and returning the draft to the Jakarta administration. The ministry may ask for revisions if it feels that there are allocations that need adjustment.



According to data from the Financial and Asset Management Board (BPKAD), the city administration allocated a total of Rp 5.36 trillion for capital injections in the draft 2016 budget; Rp 2.2 trillion for MRT Jakarta, Rp 1.2 trillion for Jakpro, Rp 280 billion for PAL Jaya, Rp 600 billion for Bank DKI, Rp 50 billion for Dharma Jaya, Rp 750 billion for Transjakarta and Rp 200 billion for Pasar Jaya.



Donny explained that in order to provide a capital injection for a city-owned firm, the city administration must first issue a bylaw. However, he said the Home Ministry had not received copies of bylaws to support the capital injection allocations. The city administration must also include copies of investment plans.



'If the city administration already has bylaws to support the capital injections, then they must a submit copies to the ministry and we will reconsider the allocations,' he said.



Another budget item that was highlighted by the ministry was the high spending on staff, which accounted for 29.92 percent of the total budget, about Rp 19.8 billion.



Donny said staff costs should be directly proportional to civil servants' performance. However, he explained, the Jakarta administration did not perform well in 2015, as shown by the poor budget disbursement, which ended the year at 68 percent.



Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama questioned the Home Ministry's move and explained that the capital injections were important not only for the companies to grow but also to contribute to development in Jakarta.



Ahok said that if the ministry scrapped the allocations, many key projects in Jakarta would be hampered such as the development of the light rail transit system (LRT), which is to be built by Jakpro.



Ahok said many Jakpro officials submitted their resignations after the evaluation by the ministry, but he said that he would continue to pursue the inclusion of the capital injections in the 2016 budget.



'If we need a company to grow and carry out projects, then we need to give them capital injections [...] We'll find a way to have the capital injections included,' Ahok said at City Hall Thursday.



BPKAD head Heru Budi Hartono said his unit would send an explanation to the ministry to clarify the allocations, and confirmed that the city administration had drafted bylaws to support the planned capital injections.



'We just need to clarify with the ministry [...] I'm sure that this issue will be resolved once we provide an explanation to the ministry,' he said on Thursday.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

A number of long-time Golkar politicians representing the Aburizal Bakrie and Agung Laksono rival factions have urged party veteran Akbar Tandjung to take the initiative to end the prolonged leadership dispute, which has inevitably marred the reputation of the country's second-largest political party.



Agung's faction is represented by Priyo Budi Santoso and Agun Gunanjar, whereas Aburizal's camp is represented by Hafiz Zawawi and Indra Bambang Utoyo.



Indra, who chairs the central board (DPP) of Aburizal's faction, said he was concerned that the internal conflict had spread to the party's faction in the House of Representatives, especially since it broke out among Aburizal's own camp.



'I used to think that since I was part of the Bali congress management, tensions would ease when the Law and Human Rights Ministry rescinded the legitimacy of the rival Ancol camp. But suddenly the faction at the House broke apart ' and that's just among Bali [congress] officials,' Indra said during a press conference in South Jakarta on Thursday.



He also said the public was fed up with Golkar's infighting and that even regional constituencies were in disarray.



'If the conflict persists, it is possible that Golkar may become ancient history,' Indra added.



Meanwhile, former party chairman Akbar urged his peers to wait for a decision by Golkar's internal tribunal to resolve the conflict, arguing that it was the only legitimate governing body in Golkar left after the government annulled the Jakarta camp's status and the Riau roster's term ended on New Year's Day.
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers) has said that freedom of the press declined last year and would most likely continue to as there were still a number of bills to be debated this year that posed a threat to press freedom.

One of the bills is the contempt of court bill, which is expected to be passed into law this year as it is part of the 2016 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

'Several provisions in the bill threaten [the freedom of the press]. For example, if someone is suspected to have defamed a judge, he can be sentenced to 10 years in prison. If we criticize a judge's decision, according to the bill, we can be arrested,' LBH Pers executive director Nawawi Bahrudin told thejakartapost.com on Thursday.

He said that the draft bill did not deserve to be adopted as law.

Nawawi also criticized the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law amendment bill, which regulates defamation and has also been included in the 2016 Prolegnas.

He said that the nation's bad record on press freedom could also be seen in the number of reported threats and attacks against journalists.

Based on LBH Pers data, there were 47 violent acts committed against journalists in 2015, 12 of which were committed by the police.

These attacks against journalists have included beatings, intimidation and the destruction of journalists' working tools.

LBH Pers said that the organization would talk to relevant institutions to increase their appreciation of the work of journalists.

'This year, we plan to visit the institutions that we believe have a duty to ensure the safety of journalists, such as press organizations, the Press Council and also the police,' Nawawi said. (bbn)
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Linkedin Indra Harsaputra (The Jakarta Post) Surabaya  Fri, January 8, 2016

Residents of Tanggulangin, Sidoarjo, East Java, have protested without avail against planned gas drilling by Lapindo Brantas Inc., a company affiliated with the family of businessman and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie.



Slamet, a resident whose house is located 200 meters from the location, could only watch as dozens of trucks carried gravel and excavators for the Tanggulangin I well in Kedungbanteng village, Tanggulangin district.



'The heavy machinery commenced working yesterday under police supervision. We actually oppose the operation and even organized a petition in 2012 in protest against it,' Slamet told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.



Slamet claims residents opposed the gas drilling activity as they were traumatized by the Lapindo Brantas mudflow disaster at the Banjar Panji I well in Porong, Sidoarjo, which engulfed thousands of homes, several villages and swathes of rice fields.



The Tanggulangin well is located 5 kilometers from Banjar Panji 1 well, the center of the mudflow in Porong.



'I'm at a loss as to why residents eventually did not respond when the heavy machinery entered the village after they received food packages filled with 10 kilograms of rice and a kilo of sugar from Lapindo Brantas Inc.,' said Slamet.



A similar opinion was expressed by another resident, Sholiq, who said Lapindo was already equipped with an exploration permit.



'We are just villagers who are unaware of legal matters. To be frank, I disagree with the exploration activity for fear a similar disaster will take place again,' said Sholiq.



Lapindo Brantas spokesman Arief Setya Widodo claimed his company had communicated with the local residents and provided them with social aid. 'The social aid is part of our corporate responsibility toward residents in the relevant villages. The compensation is in line with their needs,' said Arief.



He added that all activities carried out by Lapindo were part of the company's commitment to the country becoming self sufficient in oil and gas supply, especially in the community of Sidoarjo.



Lapindo Brantas gas production volume at the Tanggulangin I well is predicted to reach 5 million cubic meters daily. If combined with the 30 wells that operate in Sidoarjo, the total volume of gas could reach 8 million cubic meters daily.



In addition to the Tanggulangin 1 well, Lapindo will also explore the Tanggulangin 2 well, also located in Kedungbanteng village. Both wells are expected to be able to produce 10 million cubic meters of gas daily.



The company admitted earlier that drilling activities would be continued although the disbursement of compensation to dozens of the Lapindo mudflow disaster had not been completed.



The government earlier agreed to bail out the powerful family to settle the remaining compensation for victims of the mudflow disaster, providing a Rp 781 billion (US$62 million) loan to PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya, a company tasked with handling the disbursement of the compensation.



The company, which is also associated with the Bakrie Group, claims it has so far spent Rp 6.1 trillion in resolving both social and physical issues stemming from the mudflow.



Separately, PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya director Andi Darussalam Tabussala acknowledged 83 mudflow victims had yet to be compensated.



'It's not that we refuse to pay. We are always willing to settle the issue immediately. The problem is, some parties apparently disagree with the amount of compensation,' he said.



Andi added that those who disagreed could seek settlement in court because the dispute centered on land values.



'We are equipped with complete data but they demand sums above the value of their land,' said Andi.
Egypt's most active militant group, the ISIS-affiliated Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for the bombing of a pipeline that carries gas to Jordan and Egypt's North Sinai region.

Security sources said unknown assailants on Thursday detonated explosive devices under the pipeline near the El-Midan village in North Sinai  a stronghold of the group's militants, who swore allegiance to the ISIS group in 2014.

The group said it bombed the pipeline in a statement posted on Twitter Thursday and signed by 'Sinai Province', the name by which group refers to itself.

"God willing, not a drop of gas will reach Jordan until the caliphate permits," the statement said.

The blast left no casualties.

Jordan is one of the members of a US-led campaign that has been pounding ISIS targets, as the group has seized swathes of territories in Syria and Iraq.

Militants have targeted the pipeline dozens of times since an insurgency spiked in North Sinai following Egypts 2011 revolt, often forcing a halt of gas supplies to Jordan and earlier to Israel.

Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for the deadliest attacks since, saying it planted a bomb on a Russian passenger jet that crashed in Sinai in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board.

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Linkedin Nani Afrida (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

After delays caused by financial obstacles, Indonesia has resumed the joint project with South Korea on the production of the KF-X/IF-X fighter jet.



On Thursday, the two countries signed a cost-sharing agreement (CSA) and a work assignment agreement (WAA) on the KF-X/IF-X project at the Defense Ministry.



The CSA involves the Defense Ministry and Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI), while the WAA was signed by state-owned aircraft company PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) and KAI.



Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, South Korean Minister of Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) Chang Myoung-jin and South Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Cho Tai-young were present during the event.



The CSA agreement stipulates the budget-sharing scheme that the Indonesian ministry and the South Korean firm will employ in the engineering and manufacture of the KF-X/IF-X. The WAA agreement outlines the involvement of PT DI in design, components, certification and prototypes, as well as legal issues related to the product.



Indonesia has agreed to provide 20 percent of the total funding needed for six prototypes. Two of the prototypes of the fighters will be built in Indonesia by PT DI.



Ryamizard told reporters after the signing that Indonesia would spend 1.8 trillion won (US$1.5 billion). It has been reported that the total budget for the program is 8 trillion won.



The two countries expect to launch the KF-X/IF-X prototype jets by 2019. After that, they will start joint production.



'The joint production will start in 2025. It is the 4.5-generation of [fighter jets]. [The jets will be] more modern compared to the F-16 Fighting Falcon jets that are generation 4.0,' Ryamizard said.



He said Indonesia, as one of the most populous countries in the world, should have the skills to build fighter jets and submarines. 'It's easy to buy any aircraft, but it would be better if we could build them by ourselves. If not today, when?' the minister said, adding that Indonesia had prepared new hangars for the jets in Bandung, West Java.



According to Ryamizard, Indonesia is planning to create two squadrons of KF-X/IF-X fighters and it will produce the jet for sale to other countries.



Chang said the country would shoulder the bigger share of the project as Indonesia was seen as a trusted counterpart. 'The highest level of cooperation between two countries is in defense. This requires faith in each other,' Chang said.



PT DI president director Budi Santoso said the company would send 200 to 300 of its employees to South Korea to work on the project.



'They will learn about technology and the culture, as we know South Korea is a developed country with this technology,' Budi said.



The PT DI employees will stay in Korea until 2019, and when they come back, they will be able to deliver the knowledge to build the IF-X prototypes in Indonesia.



Budi said Indonesia selected South Korea because the country was willing to transfer 100 percent of technology.



Indonesia will also be involved in development and production, even though Indonesia is contributing only 20 percent of the total project.



'By mastering the technology, we will produce our own fighter jets starting 2025, however, profit sharing between the company and KIA will be based on capital sharing,' Budi said.



Indonesia has good defense cooperation with South Korea. Previously Indonesia purchased three submarines from Korean company Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) worth $1.07 billion in 2011.



Two boats will be built in Korea while the third will be built in PT PAL Indonesia's facilities in Surabaya, East Java.
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Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

The government is exploring every diplomatic avenue in an attempt to ease growing tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran, calling on both countries to exercise restraint and seek a peaceful resolution.



Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said that over the last few days, Indonesia had carried out intensive communication with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Iran and several other countries.



'We are striving to seek a peaceful solution with all foreign ministers. However, nothing has been concluded yet, as the situation remains unstable. That's why we need to maintain intensive communication with them,' Retno told journalists after her annual press statement on Thursday.



The minister said she had also spoken with Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) secretary-general Iyad Ameen Madani, to discuss ways for Indonesia to positively contribute to the situation.



Retno said that Indonesia was 'very worried' about the deteriorating bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran and the possible repercussions for peace and stability in the Middle East. 'Peace in the Middle East depends on the relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran,' she stressed.



Retno said that Indonesia, as a friend of both nations, would do everything it could to prevent the situation from worsening, adding that Indonesia had already engaged its Muslim leaders, ulema and other religious figures in anticipation of a worsening sectarian conflict.



The ministry's director general for multilateral affairs, Hasan Kleib, said that Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, would keep intensifying communication with other countries to explore possible forms of dispute settlement.



'We hope that this conflict can be settled immediately through diplomacy,' Hasan said.



Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran began to deteriorate following Riyadh's execution of renowned Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday.



Hours after the execution, protesters in Shiite-majority Iran attacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, leading Saudi Arabia to cut diplomatic relations with Iran on Sunday.



Iranian Ambassador to Indonesia Valiollah Mohammadi said on Thursday that his government had been working hard to improve relations and expand cooperation with its Saudi counterpart for two and a half years, before ties were severed on account of the incident.



'[Saudi Arabia] killed our religious figure. Unfortunately a small group of people rallied in grief; they were caught by the police and are now in prison,' Mohammadi told reporters on the sidelines of the ministry event.



The diplomatic confrontation has continued to simmer, with countries around the world voicing concern and appealing for calm.



The chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission I overseeing foreign affairs, Mahfudz Siddiq, said the Iran-Saudi spat risked increasing tension not just in the Middle East, but in the entire Islamic world.



It is in this context that, Mahfudz opined, Indonesia needed to step in and play an active role in settling the dispute.



'There is a proxy war going on between two poles of power ' the Sunni majority Saudis and the Shiite majority Iranians ' and it has now reached a critical point. That's what Indonesia needs to anticipate,' he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.



According to Mahfudz, Indonesia has a responsibility to stop the conflict from spreading throughout the Islamic world.



The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician also acknowledged that high tensions would inevitably impact the hosting of the annual haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.



'[As the home of the] largest number of haj pilgrims, Indonesia is certain to be invested in any political tension that poses a threat to the hosting of the haj ' we can't afford to have this conflict deepen and spread,' he said.

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Linkedin Tama Salim and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

Amid escalating tension in the Korean peninsula, Indonesia has expressed 'deep concern' over the nuclear test carried out by North Korea on Jan. 6.



During her annual state of foreign affairs address, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi fell short of condemning the actions of the North Korean government, calling for it to honor existing international commitments on nuclear deterrence.



'Indonesia expresses its concerns over the nuclear test. As a good friend, [we] call upon North Korea to abide by all related UN Security Council resolutions,' Retno said during her opening remarks in Jakarta on Thursday.



Indonesia has maintained diplomatic ties with North Korea as it believes in dialogue and disagrees with further isolating the nation.



In a previous statement issued by the ministry, spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said that the hydrogen bomb test contravened the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) 'and its spirit, as well as a clear violation of North Korea's obligations under [various] UN Security Council resolutions'.



Arrmanatha further called on to all relevant parties to exercise self-restraint and prioritize diplomacy and dialogue to create conditions conducive to peace, stability and development in the region.



Responding to escalating tension in the Korean peninsula, President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo had communicated with Retno on the issue, presidential communications team member Ari Dwipayana said on Thursday.



'In principle, Indonesia supports a free and active foreign policy program and has always played an active role in building world peace,' Ari said, adding that Jokowi and Retno were still discussing Indonesia's position on the issue.



North Korea claimed it successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen nuclear bomb on Wednesday, saying that the advancement represented a significant increase in its strike capability that set off alarm bells in Japan and South Korea.



The nuclear bomb test, the fourth the isolated state has made, was ordered by leader Kim Jong-un and was successfully conducted at 10 a.m. local time, North Korea's official KCNA news agency said.



Since then, the government of South Korea has released a statement condemning the nuclear test, which stated that 'it was carried out in disregard of repeated warnings by [South Korea] and the international community and in flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions 1718, 1874, 2087 and 2094'.



The statement also demanded that North Korea 'abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner'.



South Korea has said it would pursue additional sanctions that could be imposed on North Korea, as it had warned its northern neighbor in the past.



'[We] will maintain a posture of high readiness against any further provocation by North Korea that threatens the safety of [South] Korea and its people,' the statement read.



Meanwhile, House of Representatives Commission I overseeing foreign affairs chairman Mahfudz Siddiq said that the nuclear test should be seen in the larger context of tensions in East Asia and that international pressure on North Korea must go hand-in-hand with efforts to create stability in the region.



'I think that North Korea will try to take advantage of the tense situation to further its weapons programs. This is a country that has a high tolerance for isolation from other countries and international institutions,' Mahfudz told the The Jakarta Post on Thursday.



The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician suggested trying a more diplomatic approach.



'It remains to be seen whether ASEAN and Indonesia can step in, but we can't fully escape the reality that China is playing a large role in the situation,' he added.
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Linkedin Yuen Sin (The Jakarta Post)  Fri, January 8, 2016

The maid whose wages dried up when her employer fell into a coma last October - leaving her without money and food - has seen her luck take a turn for the better.



Since news of Indonesian Mersi Fransina Missa's plight was revealed by The Straits Times on Monday, a total of $3,150 has been raised for her by the public.



She has even received offers of employment but has turned them down as she hopes to return to her home town of Kupang, Indonesia, to visit her family, including her 52-year-old mother who is ill.



"I miss them and I want to go see them. I had no money, but I keep thinking of my mother," said Ms Mersi, 28, who last saw her parents and six younger siblings two years ago. Her parents are farmers and she is the sole breadwinner.



Ms Mersi has been living at the Humanitarian Organisation for Migrant Economics (Home) since December. She is unable to leave the country without approval by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).



However, the MOM yesterday confirmed that it will "facilitate" her departure.



She hopes to return home within a few weeks and told The Straits Times she wishes to stay in Indonesia for a few months. She also hopes to be able to send money to her family to cover their living expenses.



Ms Mersi had taken care of her employer, a retiree in her 60s, for more than a year after she suffered a stroke in August 2014.



But her employer was warded at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) in a vegetative state after a second stroke last October.



Ms Mersi continued visiting her employer at SGH for a month, but the travel costs became too expensive for her. Her actions touched one reader - a Singaporean professional - so much that he donated $2,000 and his friends chipped in another $600.



"I was particularly touched by her loyalty," he said, wishing to remain anonymous. "She could have seen that her employer wasn't going to recover soon, or questioned where her salary was going to come from, but she was there for her every day."



Her employer, who is single and has no children, used to keep $100 for her out of her $520 salary. Ms Mersi said that $1,950 of her money is still with the employer.



An MOM spokesman said that it is trying its best to help Ms Mersi settle her salary arrears. "But with the employer still in coma, we are looking at other interim options to assist her," he said. "We will continue to monitor the situation after Ms Mersi returns to Indonesia, and maintain contact with her." (kes)(+)
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Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

The foundation of former president Soeharto, Yayasan Supersemar, has filed a lawsuit against the Attorney General's Office (AGO) for what it deems an illegal move to freeze the foundation's bank accounts.



The AGO moved to block the foundation's bank accounts following the Supreme Court's ruling to order the foundation to pay a Rp 4.4 trillion (US$316 million) fine for misusing scholarship funds.



Denny Kailimang, the foundation's lawyer, said that his client had filed the suit with the South Jakarta District Court in early December last year and a hearing has been scheduled for next Thursday.



'We have filed a lawsuit because the President only gives the AGO the authority to implement the Supreme Court's decision via the South Jakarta District Court. It does not give them the authority to freeze bank accounts,' he told The Jakarta Post.



'The Attorney General does not have any such authority and thus they are violating the law.'



Denny argued that due to the unwarranted account blockages, the Supersemar Foundation has not been able to pay their employees' salaries or to distribute the scholarships it had promised to students.



'I hope that the lawsuit results in the President reprimanding the Attorney General for abusing his authority and that the President will remind him that any court decision must be implemented through the courts. I also hope that the AGO will lift its decision to freeze the accounts as it has no legal basis,'

he said.



The case dates back to 2008 when the AGO filed a lawsuit at the South Jakarta District Court accusing the Soeharto family and the foundation of misusing scholarship funds by diverting them to their own companies.



The South Jakarta District Court found the foundation guilty and ordered it to pay a penalty.



The Supreme Court upheld the decision in 2010 and demanded that it pay $315 million and Rp 139.2 billion, which together equal Rp 4.4 trillion under the present valuation.



However, an earlier decision by the lower court contained a typographical error, stating that the rupiah portion of the ordered payment should be only Rp 139.2 million, instead of Rp 139.2 billion.



Denny said that the fine could not be justified given that the foundation only controlled assets worth only of Rp 309 billion based on an audit conducted by the AGO in 1998.



'The financial audit on seven foundations, including the Supersemar Foundation, published in October 1998, shows that our assets in state-owned banks from 1978 to 1998 was only Rp 309 billion, and it was not in dollars. So where did they get the numbers from?' he said.



On Wednesday, the foundation missed a second summons by the South Jakarta District Court for a hearing to prepare for the fine payment.



Court spokesman Made Sutisna said that if the foundation does not appear before court on the next scheduled hearing on Jan. 20, then the court will authorize a forced confiscation of its assets.



However, Denny gave assurance that he would attend the hearing on Jan. 20.



Meanwhile, AGO spokesman Amir Yanto said that the prosecutors were prepared to defend themselves against the Supersemar Foundation's lawsuit.



'We will face this counter lawsuit. The execution [of the fines] will continue while we are dealing with this lawsuit,' he said.
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Linkedin Gene Johnson (The Jakarta Post) Seattle  Fri, January 8, 2016

Police in the Seattle area said Thursday they freed a dozen women who were forced into prostitution, arrested 14 people and shut down two websites this week as part of a sex-trafficking investigation.



Sheriff John Urquhart said most or all of the exploited women had been brought to the U.S. from South Korea, where some had been forced into bondage to pay off debts their families owed to criminal organizations. Eleven men who were arrested were part of an online network that included websites where customers rated the women and posted details to help facilitate the prostitution, he said. The men face felony charges of promoting prostitution, as do two other men and one woman identified by police as brothel managers.



"These women are true victims ' make no mistake about it," Urquhart told a news conference.



Authorities seized a website called The Review Board, which they said had about 20,000 members around the country. The website on Thursday featured the insignia of the agencies involved in the investigation ' the sheriff's office, Bellevue Police Department, King County Prosecutor's Office and FBI ' along with the message, "This website has been seized pursuant to a Promoting Prostitution investigation."



A similar, password-protected website was also shut down.



The seizure of The Review Board drew objections from a group of self-identified sex workers who protested outside the sheriff's office Thursday, saying that it was a service that helped protect those voluntarily involved in the trade. Sex workers could vet potential clients by seeing whom they had reviewed, then contacting those prostitutes to ask about them, some said.



In a written statement, the local chapter of the Sex Workers Outreach Project, an organization that fights the stigma of sex work, said the website also enhanced the safety of sex workers by allowing them to work without managers, or pimps.



But Urquhart and Bellevue Police Chief Steve Mylett said there was nothing safe about the website. The women involved in the case had been shipped from city to city about every month and typically were not allowed to leave their apartments except to go to the airport, they said. The trafficking had connections to about 15 states, and the women serviced between two and 10 clients a day.



Police said they had no interest in arresting the women, but could assist them in obtaining visas reserved for victims of human trafficking. (+)
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Linkedin Slamet Susanto and Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta  Fri, January 8, 2016

Thousands of people flocked to Yogyakarta's main thoroughfares on Thursday afternoon to welcome Kanjeng Gusti Pangeran Adipati Arya (KGPAA) Paku Alam X as the newly crowned Prince of Pakualaman.



The coronation ceremony of Paku Alam X, born Kanjeng Gusti Pangeran Haryo (KGPH) Suryodilogo, was held earlier in the day. KGPAA replaced his father Paku Alam IX, who passed away on Nov. 22 last year.



Although the parade to introduce Paku Alam X started at 2:30 p.m., crowds were lining both sides of the 3.6-kilometer parade route from the morning. Some even came from outside Yogyakarta.



'I left home at 6 a.m. and traveled by bus to come here,' 74-year-old Sri Rahayu from Klaten, Central Java, told The Jakarta Post.



The grandmother of six said that she deliberately came for the parade to receive blessings from the new prince.



'He is the chosen one. I have come to seek his blessing,' Sri said.



The parade route started at Pakualaman Palace and passed along Jl. Sultan Agung, Jl. Gajah Mada and Jl. Kusumanegara before returning to the palace.



During the parade, Paku Alam X and his wife Gusti Kanjeng Bendara Raden Ayu Adipati Paku Alam met locals from atop the 200-year-old Kyai Manik Kumala golden carriage which was a gift given to Paku Alam I by the governor general of the Dutch East Indies, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, in 1812.



Also joining the parade were Pakualaman's traditional troops, four elephants and four other carriages, which carry the names Kyai Rejo Pawoko, Nyai Roso Kumenyar, Kyai Brojonolo and Kyai Manik Brojo.



Speaking after the coronation ceremony, Paku Alam X said that he would continue the legacy of his ancestors and act as a caretaker of local culture.



'Preserving culture is not an easy task. There will always be tension between tradition and innovation because the creative process requires innovation, especially during a time of fast changes,' the 53-year-old prince said.



The crowning ceremony itself lasted for about an hour, attended by a number of VIP guests, including Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo, State Secretary Pratikno, Coordinating Human Development and Culture and Ministers Puan Maharani, Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri.



Separately, Tjahjo said that Paku Alam X would soon be installed as deputy Yogyakarta governor, as Law No. 13/2012 on Yogyakarta's special status stipulated that the position must be assumed by the prince of Pakualaman.



Local residents also expressed high hopes for the upcoming installment of Paku Alam X as deputy governor.



Heny Lestari of Yogyakarta, for example, said that she hoped the new prince would stand up for the interests of local people and not just big investors.



'New hotels and apartments have been mushrooming in Yogyakarta for the last few years. I hope that Paku Alam X will be more sensitive and help maintain the growth of investment in the sector at a healthy level,' Heny said.



Pakualaman is a small autonomous principality, whose royal authority is related to that of the Yogyakarta Sultanate. It was founded in 1813 by Paku Alam I, almost 60 years after his father, Hamengkubuwono I, founded the Yogyakarta Sultanate.



After a conflict with his brother, Hamengkubuwono II, Paku Alam I received support from the British authorities to establish Pakualaman, whose territory covers the district of Pakualaman in Yogyakarta and some areas in Kulon Progo.



Soon after Indonesia declared independence in 1945, Yogyakarta's Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX and then Pakualaman leader Paku Alam VIII announced their allegiance to the newly established country. Both agreed to jointly govern Yogyakarta under the newly formed Indonesian government, but with special region status.
Montreal band Sheer Agony plays Cake Shop tonight at 8:30. $10. Ticket info here. As Brooklyn Vegan put it, Their sound is is almost entirely out of step with what is currently going on in the musical zeitgeistwhich is probably exactly where they want to be.

This evening from 7-11, theres a reading and fundraiser at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center for Bonesetter: A Tragislasher. Its a new work by the Clementes 2016 Writer-in-Residence Annette Storckman. Heres the Facebook invite.

Tonight the Ashok Jain Gallery is celebrating its 36th anniversary with an opening reception for a large group show. 6-8 p.m., 58 Hester St.

Tonight from 6-8 p.m., Lyles & King will have an opening reception for a new show by Dana DeGiulio & Molly Zuckerman-Hartung. 106 Forsyth St.

Tomorrow night from 6-9, Feuer/Mesler hosts and opening reception for My Metropolitan, an exhibition of new work by Ry Rocklen. At the same time, there will be an opening for a new show by painter Jane Corrigan. 319 Grand St. (the Pink Building), 2nd floor.

Tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m., Spectrum will host a performance by pianist Mick Rossi.His quartet also features Erik Friedlander, CJ Camerieri and Jeff Davis. 121 Ludlow St., 2nd floor.

You have been warned! Sunday afternoon its the annual No Pants Subway Ride. One of the meeting spots is Sara D. Roosevelt Park at East Houston Street. The after party is at Webster Hall.

Sunday from 4-7 p.m., the Mark Straus Gallery opens two new shows, featuring the works of Paul Pretzer and Jong Oh. 299 Grand St.

Sunday from 6-8, 11R (formerly known as 11 Rivington) opens a new exhibition from painter Moira Dryer. 195 Chrystie St.
The group says its attack on a tourist bus near the hotel came in response to its leader's call to 'target Jews everywhere'

The Egyptian ISIS affiliate Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis said on Friday its members had carried out Thursday's attack on a tourist bus outside a hotel near the Giza Pyramids which authorities say did not result in casualties.

Egypt's interior ministry said the attack, which involved a group of people hurling fireworks, was aimed at security forces guarding the Three Pyramids hotel.

Ansar Beit-Maqdis said in a statement on Twitter that light arms were used in the attack on a tourist bus which came in response to a call by ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi to target Jews "everywhere."

The group claimed the attack resulted in deaths and injuries among "Jews and forces protecting the hotel," though authorities say the incident left no casualties, but caused damage to the hotel's facade and the tourist bus in front of the building.

The Israeli government said the tourists were Arab Israelis.

The authenticity of the militants' claim could not be independently verified.

Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis is spearheading an Islamist insurgency based in North Sinai, which spiked following the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The group claimed responsibility for the deadliest attacks since, saying it planted a bomb on a Russian passenger jet that crashed in Sinai in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board.

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Egypt is attempting to verify the authenticity of media reports on the kidnapping or arrest of Egyptians in Libya, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Friday.

In an official press release, the foreign ministry's spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said that following reports about the arrest or abduction of Egyptians  all from Upper Egypt's Minya governorate  in Libya, Egypt's ambassador to Libya Mohamed Abu Bakr, who is currently based in Cairo, was quick to contact the embassy's official and unofficial sources in Libya in order to confirm the news and respond accordingly.

Abu Zeid urged all media outlets and families of Egyptians in Libya to remain cautious when handling with such reports until their authenticity is verified, considering that false news has been previously circulated about the state of Egyptians in Libya.

The spokesman asserted that the Egyptian foreign ministry does not spare any effort needed to secure the return of any Egyptian citizen whose life is at risk in Libya, even though there is currently no Egyptian diplomatic mission in the country.

In February 2015, the ISIS militant group beheaded 20 Egyptian Copts on a beach the group said was in Libya's Tripoli.

Following the beheadings, Egypt, in coordination with the Libyan army, carried out air strikes against ISIS targets in Libya, killing 64 ISIS militants.

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Egypt's minister of religious endowments, one of the state's top religious authorities, condemned on Friday "calls to sabotage and attack the state," in what seemed to be a reference to anti-government protests planned for the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising.

"There are calls these days by infiltrators to attack the state, its institutions, and its people, through killing, assaulting, and vandalising," said Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa, speaking during a Friday sermon in the northern governorate of Beheira.

Gomaa quoted a statement by Dar El-Ifta, the state body that issues Islamic edicts, which described calls for protests as "representing vandalising and killing, a crime in its full elements."

He added that elected parliamentary members are the only ones who are able to present peoples' demands and rights and would do so using normal democratic methods, adding that people should stand against the calls for protests, revenge, and destruction.

The ministry of religious endowments is one of the state's top religious authorities.

Anti-government protests are planned to take place on the fifth anniversary of the January 25 Revolution, which led to the toppling of ex-president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Calls for protests have been circulating on social media under the slogan we will drop the tyranny.

Last month, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi denounced calls for protests and a new revolution in January, asking the groups behind these calls if they want to "ruin this country and destroy the people."

On the fourth anniversary of the uprising last year, twenty-three people were killed and 97 injured at protests around the country following clashes between protesters and the police.

A law passed in 2013 bans public protests that have not received prior permission from the interior minister. Protesters have been jailed over the past two years for not abiding by this law.

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Breaking News: Killer Whale spotted off Phuket beach

PHUKET: Visitors to the island received a tremendous surprise today (Jan 8), the sighting of a Killer Whale just of the coast of Freedom Beach. Freedom Beach is a 300m-long strip of white sand at the southern end of Patong Beach next to Tri Tang Beach.

animalsmarine

By Tanyaluk Sakoot

Friday 8 January 2016, 05:14PM

The Orca was sighted just off Freedom Beach. Photo: Joe Halleron

The Orca or Killer Whales can be found in all oceans, from Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas. Killer whales are highly social; some populations are composed of matrilineal family groups which are the most stable of any animal species, but there is only one single Orca seen in the picture. Suchart Ratthanareungsi, Director of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC) said, It is surprising news that an Orca appeared in Phuket waters. It is now possible that they will be around Thailand's waters more often. After we have checked on more details we will make a record of this sighting and make plans to protect them. More details to follow.
Brothers arrested for alleged participation in Phuket riot

PHUKET: Two brothers suspected of taking part in the Thalang riots last October were charged with setting an illegal blockade and gathering 10 or more people together for violent acts yesterday (January 7).

crimepoliceviolence

By Darawan Naknakhon

Friday 8 January 2016, 12:11PM

Manop Promkaew, 30, and Manit Promkaew, 27, have denied any involvement in the Thalang riots in October. Photo: Darawan Naknakhon

The siblings, named as Manop Promkaew, 30, and Manit Promkaew, 27, were arrested at a property in Thalang on Wednesday (Jan 6). In addition to the charges of setting an illegal blockade and gathering 10 or more people together for violent acts, they are also likely to faces charges of causing damage to public property, attacking police officers and create harm in a public area. Despite admitting to being in the area at the time, the two have denied all charges against them and stated that they didn't get in involved with causing any damage. More than 80 arrest warrants have been issued for suspects wanted in connection with the Thalang Police Station. However, up until Wednesday's arrests, only three of the riot suspects have been taken into custody. (See story here)
Family of Chinese woman who died snorkelling off Phuket receives B2.6mn in compensation

PHUKET: The family of a young Chinese tourist who died during a snorkelling trip off Koh Khai island in Phang Nga Bay on Nov 27 have received a total of B2.6 million in compensation The Phuket News has learned.

accidentsmarinedeath

By Tanyaluk Sakoot

Friday 8 January 2016, 01:02PM

Zhang Lin died during a dive tour from Khao Lak with her friends on Nov 27. Photo: Similan Seven Sea Club / Facebook - See more at: http://www.thephuketnews.com/chinese-woman-23-found-dead-alone-on-dive-tour-north-of-phuket-55171.php#sthash.ac9YSGid.dpuf

Director of the Ministry of Tourism Phuket office, Santi Pawai told The Phuket News yesterday (Jan 7), Her family received B1 million compensation from Phuket William Diving and an additional B1.6 million from her insurers in China. The body of 23-year-old Zhang Lin, 23, was found alone at a depth of 11 metres by a group of divers from Khao Lak Scuba Adventures fnear Koh Bon, off Kuraburi in Phang Nga, at about 2:30pm on Nov 27. (See story here) The incident led to dive operators in Phuket being required to ensure that every tourist diver has a medical certificate approving them to dive. (See story here) Meanwhile, Mr Pawai also confirmed that the body of Ms Zhang was flown back to China after it was confirmed that her death was caused by suffocation, and that her funeral was held last month.
A police officer and two police conscripts sustained minor injuries on Friday after an improvised bomb exploded in the town of Rafah in North Sinai, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

According to security and medical sources, the explosion took place in the Abu Shanar area in Rafah.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Egypt has been battling an Islamist insurgency that has spiked since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The militancy, based in parts of North Sinai, has killed hundreds of police and soldiers. Authorities have also reported that hundreds of militants have been killed in military campaigns in the governorate.

The country's most active militant group, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis  now an affiliate to the ISIS group  has claimed responsibility for the most lethal attacks.

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Influential policeman arrested in Chiang Rai

CHIANG RAI: A police sergeant major said to be an influential person was among three people arrested with 180,000 methamphetamine pills after a long surveillance operation in northern Thailand.

crimedrugspolice

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 7 January 2016, 05:40PM

Pol Senior Sgt Maj Seri Duangchaiprasert, 49, (seated third from left) sits with two suspects arrested with him and 180,000 seized methamphetamine pills at a police media briefing in Chiang Rai today (Jan 7). The two seated men on the right are suspects in a separate firearms case. (Photo taken from Provincial Police Region 5 Facebook)

Pol Lt Gen Thanitsak Theerasawat, chief of the Region 5 Provincial Police, said Pol Senior Sgt Maj Seri Duangchaiprasert, 49, who was attached to the provincial police headquarters, was caught along with Apinpat Jirapacharapiyavach, 28, and Itthipol Chanta, 41.

The three men were major drug dealers, Pol Lt Gen Thanitsak said. They smuggled drugs from neighbouring countries for sale in Chiang Rai and nearby provinces.

The suspects, who had been under surveillance for some time, were arrested on a road in front of the Edison Department Store on Thai Wiwat road in Muang district yesterday night (Jan 6) while preparing to deliver speed pills to clients in Bangkok.

Arresting police seized 180,000 methamphetamine pills, two cars, two pistols and three mobile phones from them.

Pol Lt Gen Thanitsak said Pol Senior Sgt Maj Seri was an influential person in the province. He had earlier opened two casinos in a neighbouring country, but fell deeply into debt because of the economic slump.

He was known to owe as much as B17 million. He turned to the drug trade to get quick money to repay his creditors.

The Region 5 Police chief said he had signed an order dismissing Pol Senior Sgt Maj Seri from the police service and set up a committee to investigate his serious breach of discipline. His assets believed to have been acquired through the drug trade would be seized pending further investigation, he added.

Read original story here.
Phuket restaurant gang bash thugs arrested along with owner

PHUKET: Three men wanted in connection with a gang attack on two men on Tuesday morning (Jan 5) have been arrested and their cases passed to Phuket Provincial Court.

crimeviolencepolice

By Tanyaluk Sakoot

Friday 8 January 2016, 04:18PM

A screen grab from CCTV footage of the attack.

Meanwhile, the owner of the restaurant where the incident took place has also been arrested as he was operating without the relevant licences.

The bashing, which was caught on CCTV, occurred as the two men exited a restaurant near the Naka night market in Wichit.

One of the attacked men filed a complaint at Wichit Police Station and told officers that the four men accused him and his friend of of kicking one of their motorbikes. (See story here)

Col Kitipong Klaikaew, chief of the Wichit Police, told The Phuket News today (Jan 8), Three staff from the restaurant have been arrested together with the restaurant owner.

The three have been charged with Offence Causing Bodily Injury, while the restaurant owner has been charged with Operating Without the Correct Licences, he said.

After questioning the suspects, they have admitted to their crimes and therefore there cases were all sent to court yesterday (Jan 7).

Phuket District Chief Supoj Chanakit said, Officials from my office are going to check the restaurant. I have not yet made a decision on whether to close the restaurant of not as I have not received a report. However, I believe I will receive it soon.
Knifemen stormed a hotel in Egypt's Hurghada on Friday evening, injuring a number of foreign tourists before security forces killed one of the assailants, injured the other and ended the attack.

Speaking to Ahram Online, health ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed said two Swedish tourists and one Austrian were stabbed and slashed. They were sent to the town's Nile Hospital and Red Sea Hospital.

A police statement, however, said that three foreign tourists were wounded, giving their nationalities as two Austrians and one Danish citizen.

The attack took place at Bella Vista Hotel in the busy downtown area of Hurghada, a popular tourist resort located on the Red Sea.

Police closed off Sheraton Road where the hotel is located following the attack before re-opening it shortly.

Eyewitnesses at the hotel also told Ahram Online that police were asking bystanders gathered outside the hotel during the attack to leave.

In a statement on Facebook, the police said two assailants were carrying bladed weapons and an imitation pistol.

The police said one of the dead assailant's name was Mohamed Hassan Mahfouz, born in 1994. Security forces severely injured the other armed man as both were attempting to escape.

Both men were able to enter the hotel through a restaurant facing the street, according to the police statement.

Reuters earlier reported security sources as saying that the assailants arrived by sea to carry out the attack.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, although Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis  now affiliated with the ISIS group  has claimed responsibility for many lethal militant attacks in Egypt in recent months.

The attack comes a few months after Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for the downing of a Russian plane over North Sinai, killing all 224 passengers on board. The airliner was heading from the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh to Russia's St Petersburg.

Egypt has been battling an Islamist insurgency that has spiked since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The militancy, mostly concentrated in parts of North Sinai, has killed hundreds of police and soldiers. Authorities have also reported that hundreds of militants have been killed in military campaigns in the governorate.

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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.
A diesel-powered SUV can provide substantial mileage increases over their gasoline counterparts, along with lots of grunt for pulling a trailer or hauling around hockey equipment. We compare the BMX X3 xDrive28d to the Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland.

BMW X3 xDrive28d

The second-generation X3 was introduced in 2010 and updated in 2015 with release of the first diesel-powered X3 in Canada.

With a 2,810 cm wheelbase, the X3 is the smallest and lightest of the tested vehicles weighing in at 1,919 kgs (4230 pounds). The all-wheel drive X3 is powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel engine that pumps out 181 horsepower and 280 lb-ft. of torque. Coupled to an eight-speed automatic, this combination will get you from zero-100 km/h in about eight seconds.

You can move the X3 around in spirited fashion, but it was somewhat noisy in doing so and you were aware of a diesel engine under the hood. The transmission shifts frequently in traffic to compensate for the small engine.

The X3 is also available with a 2.0-litre gasoline four-cylinder engine that creates 241 horsepower, and an inline six good for 300 horsepower.

The X3 is sleek in appearance for an SUV, with a large amount of glass that resembles the four-door sedans in the Bavarian firms product line. With its kidney-shaped grille and other BMW signature styling features, the design of the X3 leaves no doubt to its heritage.

Inside, the X3 takes full advantage of this large greenhouse with ample seating for four people, or five if necessary. It offers sufficient cargo room, has enough storage compartments to keep everyone happy, and provides a well-finished and balanced interior layout.

Materials in the cabin have been updated and upgraded with new chrome accent pieces, and these changes have been tastefully applied.

While most of the controls and switches are convenient and easy to work, the console shifter may take some getting used to. A little awkward at first in its operation, its initial quirkiness does make sense and feels natural after some use. There are no shifter paddles with the X3, an item that does not fit with the character of this SUV and would probably never be used correctly by the majority of owners.

Three drive modes may be selected with the shifter to enhance steering and transmission characteristics: Sport, Normal and Eco-Pro. The latter can increase mileage figures, although the tester here consumed 8.1 to 8.3 L/100 km in Normal mode.

The ride of the X3 is comfortable and solid. It holds the road well in true BMW fashion. Dont expect M3-like road manners, but the X3 can provide spirited driving and its all-wheel drive system provides confidence in most road situations.

JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE OVERLAND

An icon in the off-roading world, Jeep has enhanced its larger Cherokee model into a truly luxurious SUV which does not forget its heritage. Jeeps have always been tough, rugged vehicles and the Grand Cherokee Overland has all these attributes dolled up in a party dress.

Launched in 2013, the diesel-powered version of this Jeep provides the best worlds for both off-roading and highway travel in an upscale package.

Weighing in at 2,445 kg the Grand Cherokee is the heavier of the two testers and sits on a 2,915 mm wheelbase. But this weight does not deter from its ride, handling or fuel mileage, and it also offers the largest cargo-carrying capacity.

With its Fiat-sourced 3.0-litre V6 diesel and eight-speed automatic, the engine is very quiet under most circumstances and can accelerate from zero to 100 km/h in eight seconds. The TorqueFlite/QuadraTrac II transmission shifts well with no hesitation. It does not stumble around in traffic trying to decide which speed to select, and the shifts are almost unnoticeable.

Rated at 240 horsepower and 420 lb-ft. of torque, the engine feels invincible and provided mileage of just under 9 L/100 km under normal driving conditions.

The original Cherokee was based on the Jeep Wagoneer from the early 1960s, but the current generations only resemblance to that model is the use of four doors and a hatchback. Body brightwork on the Grand Cherokee is restricted to the window surroundings and the rocker panels, similar to the BMW, but the glass area is smaller than that in the X3. This does not deter from sight lines, and the sloped hood helps frontal vision. The sides of the Grand Cherokee are slab-sided with a minimum of styling tricks, and the square wheel openings enhance its bold look.

Inside, the Grand Cherokee is more North American in appearance and character than its German counterpart, but thats not a bad thing. The Jeep is wide and spacious inside with logical placement of various cabin components. Gauges are housed in a large three-unit pod in front of the leather and wood-trimmed steering wheel.

The climate controls are easy to interpret and fall underneath the large infotainment screen. Subtle stitching is applied to the heated and cooled leather seats, as well as the door panels and dashboard.

Theres lots of space for four people in the Grand Cherokee. With the rear seats folded up it will hold 1,934 L of cargo.

Along with the diesel engine, there are three gasoline motors available for the Grand Cherokee: the 3.6-litre, 295 horsepower V6, the 5.7-litre 360 horsepower V8, and the 6.4-litre Hemi SRT V8 with 475 horsepower.

BMW X3 xDrive28D

PRICE: $46,050, $53,750 as tested

ADD-ONS: Premium Package Enhanced ($6,000), Technology Package ($1,600), ConnectedDrive Services Package ($500), Side Sunshades ($350), Storage Compartment ($300), Destination charge: $2,095.

PROPULSION: Front-engine, two/four-wheel drive

CARGO: 550 L rear seat up, 1,600 L with rear seat folded

TOW RATING: 3,500 lb

ENGINE: 2.0-litre I4

TRANSMISSION: Eight-speed automatic

POWER/|TORQUE: 181 horsepower/280 lb-ft.

FUEL CONSUMPTION (L/100 km, diesel): 8.6 city, 6.9 hwy., 7.9 combined, 8.3 as tested

BRAKES: Four-wheel disc

TIRES: 245/50 R18, all season

STANDARD FEATURES: Xenon headlamps, fog lamps, run-flat tires, leatherette seating, power tailgate, power and auto-dimming door mirrors, memory seat, remote keyless entry, tilt and telescopic steering wheel, garage door transmitter, nine-speaker sound system with steering wheel controls, split folding rear seat.

ACCESSIBILITY: Excellent

WHATS HOT: Clean, no-nonsense styling, good road handling, quality fit and finish

WHATS NOT: Shifter awkward at first, engine noise when pressed

MOST INTERESTING: Available head-up display, diesel-powered version is just $2,000 more than the same vehicle with the base gasoline engine

MANUFACTURERS WEBSITE: www.bmw.ca

JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE OVERLAND

PRICE: $61,645, $68,225 as tested

ADD-ONS: Paint ($195), Technology Group ($1,495), Diesel engine package ($4,995), Green levy ($100), Destination charge ($1,695)

PROPULSION: Front-engine, two/four-wheel drive

CARGO: 1,028 litres with rear seat up, 1,934 litres with rear seat folded

TOW RATING: 7,200 lb.

ENGINE: 3.0-litre V6

TRANSMISSION: Eight-speed automatic

POWER/TORQUE: 240 horsepower/420 lb-ft.

FUEL CONSUMPTION (L/100 km, diesel): 11.2 city, 8.4 hwy., 9.6 as tested

BRAKES: Four-wheel disc

TIRES: P265/50R20 all season

STANDARD FEATURES: Quadra-Trac four-wheel drive, Quadra-Lift air suspension, LED headlights, hill assist, cruise control, keyless entry, remote start, power liftgate, trailer towing package, park assist, leather seats, power heated/vented front seats, heated rear seats, heated steering wheel, sunroof, dual-zone air conditioning, UConnect infotainment system with nine speakers

ACCESSIBILITY: Excellent

WHATS HOT: Fuel mileage, quiet engine, positive shifting

WHATS NOT: High price of the diesel engine package

MOST INTERESTING: Jeep pays tribute to its heritage with Since 1941 embossed on the steering wheel

WEBSITE: www.jeep.ca

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What moments should you look out for at Sundays Golden Globes (NBC/CTV, Sunday, 8 p.m.)?

1. Hes baaaaack

Anything goes this year. After three years of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler steering the show, hosting duties have reverted to Ricky Gervais, who has a penchant for taking cracks at the most famous folks in the room (in the past, he has gone after everything from Scientology to Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depps The Tourist). With champagne flowing (and not-often-seen presenters like Mel Gibson and Jim Carrey in the house), will Gervais play it safe and be chummy with the A-list or will the Globes turn into a grand roast?

2. Leos campaign kicks in high gear

Even if you havent seen The Revenant, youve probably heard what a bear (pun intended) Leonardo DiCaprios freezing Western was to make. Word on the street is the star has his heart set on winning his first Oscar, and the Globes will be DiCaprios first stop on a path to glory. But with Bryan Cranston (Trumbo), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl) and Will Smith (Concussion) hot on his heels, well get a sense of how healthy DiCaprios campaign is.

3. Fashion parade

For many fans, awards shows are all about the red carpet. This year, were looking to stars like Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Jennifer Lopez, Taraji P. Henson and Jennifer Lawrence for the best couture has to offer. And dont forget: Lady Gaga will be there, as a first-time nominee for Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie for American Horror Story: Hotel. Will Mother Monster go edgy or opt for throwback Hollywood glam?

4. Couple watch

Awards season is all about showing off your loved one in front of the cameras. That said, will the famously private Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander finally step out together? Will Eddie Redmayne be joined by his (possibly pregnant) wife, Hannah Bagshawe? Will Amy Schumer bring her handsome Instagram man, Chicago furniture maker Ben Hanisch, as her date? After all, he did just get to go to the White House with her. (Update: She is!) The sweetest pairing looks to be Kate Hudson presenting with stepdad Kurt Russell, the latter having a big year thanks to his work in The Hateful Eight.

5. The potential for surprise

With comedies and dramas split into separate categories at the Globes, only so much can be gleaned about the Best Picture Oscar race. But we will find out how much power big-budget fare like Mad Max: Fury Road has in the Best Drama category over season favourites such as Carol and Spotlight; and pundits will be watching to see whether The Big Short can overpower The Martian in the comedy category. There are plenty of first-time nominees, too, including a host of streaming shows such as Casual, Mozart in the Jungle and Narcos. Will old-school favourites like Jon Hamm take a last victory lap for Mad Men over the likes of Mr. Robots Rami Malek? Could Sylvester Stallone best Beast of No Nations Idris Elba to see his moment of glory for Creed? Stay tuned.

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It was a D.C. lawyers dream come true, a Hollywood premiere for a movie based on the novel he wrote in his spare time. But when The Revenant, the new film adapted from Michael Punkes book, had its big opening in L.A.  an evening featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy and Oscar-winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu  the author was nowhere to be seen.

He was 16,000 kilometres away in Nairobi, Kenya, putting the finishing touches on an international trade agreement enacting a $1.3-trillion (U.S.) deal for GPS systems, semiconductors and touch screens.

Punke, 51, may be having the literary moment of a lifetime, more than a decade after his novel was released to high praise but modest sales. But as the deputy U.S. trade representative and ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Switzerland, hes missing out on a lot of the fun.

In fact, he wasnt even allowed to talk about The Revenant for this story. Federal ethics rules prohibit him from doing any side work that might enrich him and potentially abuse his high-ranking office in the process.

Oh, he wishes he could talk about it, says Tim Punke, a senior executive for a Seattle lumber company and his brothers de facto spokesman. Can you imagine having your book turned into a movie, having Leonardo DiCaprio in it?

The film, which opened Friday in Toronto, is said to be a shoo-in for Oscar nominations, including Best Actor for DiCaprio.

Its kind of bittersweet, says Traci Punke, Michaels wife, who flew to the premiere with their two kids from their home in Geneva. Hes so grateful that it just happened, that it came to the big screen, that he cant complain. But hes obviously disappointed.

Granted, Punke has nothing to complain about. Its not like hes been mauled by a bear, left for dead by his compatriots and sent traipsing through hostile Indian country like Hugh Glass, the early 19th-century protagonist of The Revenant. Its a gripping story: historical fiction blending the lonely terror of Cast Away, the driving vengeance of The Count of Monte Cristo and the landscape of a classic western. The kind of tale you can imagine being scrawled under flickering candlelight in a remote cabin with the help of a bottle of bourbon.

Except that Punke typed it up inside a LEED-certified glass box on K Street, the downtown Washington office of the global law firm Mayer Brown.

If its not the typical D.C. side gig, well, Punke isnt exactly your typical creature of Washington. He grew up in small-town Torrington, Wyo., where he fished, mountain-biked and learned to build his own rifles. A debating champ, he graduated from high school early to head to the University of Massachusetts, then transferred to George Washington University to study international affairs. A couple years out of Cornell Law, he went into government as a staffer for Max Baucus, former Democratic senator from Montana.

If you asked anybody who has worked with him, they will all like him, says Mickey Kantor, the former U. S. trade representative who hired Punke away from a later White House policy job in 1995.

Though Punke thrived in Washington, he was always looking for a way home. He told me about a year into our relationship that whomever he ended up with in life had to live in the west, Traci says. If he remained living in D.C., his soul would wither up and die.

Reading on an airplane one day, he came across a squib of an idea  just a couple of sentences in a history book  about the frontier fur trapper Hugh Glass and his incredible story of survival. He started waking before dawn, heading to the law office early to write in the hours before his co-workers arrived. At home in Bethesda, Md., he did research by building lean-tos and setting up hunting traps with his kids. The book was published in 2002 and Punke managed to sell the movie rights, though it was never certain a film would get made.

But Punke decided writing was more than just a hobby. He left his law firm and moved the family to Missoula, Mont., where he became an adjunct professor at the University of Montana. He planned to spend his days teaching and writing  until Ron Kirk called to offer what Traci refers to as a once-in-a-lifetime, cant-pass-up opportunity.

When Kirk, the former mayor of Dallas, was appointed as President Barack Obamas first U.S. trade representative, one name kept coming up for the WTO job: Michael Punke.

I looked at the resume, and it was great, but I was confused by the fact that he had been in Montana for the past few years, Kirk recalls. I called him up and said Youre either the perfect person for the job, or youre the Unabomber.

From Switzerland, Punke has travelled the world to talk tariffs, stipulate subsidies and think through trade disputes. In Nairobi, while his wife and kids partied with movie stars in Hollywood, Punke stayed up late into the night negotiating agricultural subsidies and completing a deal on the biggest tariff cut that the WTO has negotiated in 18 years.

Maybe Leo DiCaprio will do a PSA about the agreement, says Christopher Wenk, the executive director for international policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It would only be fair since Michael cant talk about the movie.

For his colleagues, there were always a few clues that this natty dresser with an uncanny gift for impersonations had another life. There was his habit of packing beef jerky in the backpack he carried to meetings. And there was the beaver pelt draped over a chair in his Geneva office.

And, of course, there was his suspiciously flattering identification photograph.

We were in Japan at a trade event, sitting around a table eating lunch, when someone looked at the ID badge Michael was wearing and demanded to know where the photo was from, says Carol Guthrie, a former colleague. Where everyone else had a passport photo, his ID had a very serious black and white photo of him in a turtleneck  a classic book jacket photo. He was completely mortified. We were thrilled.

Hes got a little bit of John Wayne in him, says John Neuffer, who, as president of the Semiconductor Industry Association, has worked with Punke for years. Hes quiet, confident and formidable.

In fact, Neuffer adds, maybe theres even a little bit of Michael Punke in the fictionalized Hugh Glass. Both are adventure seekers, enchanted by the American West, but neither is able to talk much about it (Punke because of his government muzzle, Glass because a bear slashes his throat).

During the Nairobi trade talks, there were seriously dark hours trying to negotiate this last agreement, Neuffer says. And Michael has always had a way forward, a way to inspire the group even when there seemed to be no way to move ahead.

So, in other words, when they felt like they were lost in the woods, alone and afraid, he was the one fighting to keep going?

I couldnt have said it better myself.

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I write as a Canadian nationalist. Along with others, Ive done what I could to build a national sense here: culturally, politically, economically. We excavated and created heroes and celebrated resistance to imperial forces, British or American. I wont say we failed but success was limited. That truncated level of success may be an asset now. The weakness of our nationalism could even be its strength. I say this in light of the last election, and the global refugee crisis.

In terms of typical nationalist reactions to the Mideast refugee crisis, its as though were running in the opposite direction from the rest of the west. Not xenophobic and restrictive, like the UK, U.S., Hungary et al. Yet our contrary, tolerant, welcoming reaction is seen here as nationalist.

The Anglo-Irish scholar, Benedict Anderson, who died last month aged 78, wrote a book on nationalism with a title that can rearrange your sense of reality: Imagined Communities. Unlike religious identities, which are ancient, he said, national identities are recent and modern. But they imagine theyre ancient and discover roots of all sorts to prove it. Then people live and willingly die based on their passionate identification with those imaginary communities.

Anderson felt this could be for good or ill. He knew it had ugly potential on the racism spectrum. But he wrote at a time (1983) when nationalism was also used to mobilize people against domination  as, say, nationalism in Vietnam built resistance to colonialism. Since this nationalism thing couldnt be patented, it was available for pirating in numerous versions.

That included Canada which pirated a pretty modest form. Margaret Atwood, for instance, proved Canada existed by proving it had its own literature which was proved by a common (and highly minimalist) theme: Survival. Pierre Berton tried to show we not only had a history to be proud of, but it was also colourful versus dull  just like other nations.

These efforts had effects and still do (Oh look, Justin Bieber won a Peoples Choice award). They won some victories outside the cultural realm but tended to fall short economically and politically, in battles like Canada-U.S. free trade.

Heres where it starts to get paradoxical. Stephen Harper, during his reign, tried to become the voice of Canadian nationalism in the traditional, exclusivist sense. He promoted militarism, including symbols like the Highway of Heroes, and shopworn imperial imagery like the Royal Family. He promoted undercurrents of xenophobia, nativism and racism in his policies toward immigrants and especially refugees, who were despicably treated. These became overcurrents during the election, with his attacks on Muslim headgear, the barbaric cultural practices snitch line and revocable citizenship.

Whats fascinating is that Justin Trudeau didnt oppose him by declaring he was anti-nationalist, as youd have to in, say, Serbia or Hungary. He fought back as a Canadian nationalist, defining it in terms of tolerance or even, the glory of diversity  a sharp rebuttal to most contemporary nationalism. It also had weird echoes. Justins dad, Pierre, rejected Quebec nationalism as parochial but embraced Canadian nationalism as a way to fight it. When he ran against Tory leader Joe Clark in 1979, Trudeau pere scorned Clarks notion that Canada was just a community of communities, for being wishy-washy and contentless.

Yet thats essentially what his son endorsed. Now picture Harper: beaten not only by the son of his most reviled Canadian predecessor; but by the sons embrace of the vision of Harpers most loathed Conservative antecedent, Joe Clark. Its beyond Shakespearean. Who says we dont have a colourful history?

If wed been more successful in creating a robust, conventional Canadian nationalism, who knows  the country mightnt have as handily beaten back the nasty nativism cultivated by Harper. It could have provided unintended grist for his mill. So the real strength of Canadian nationalism might turn out to be its relative weakness. Were the land that nationalism side-swiped. Lucky us.

In his book, Benedict Anderson quoted Walter Benjamins passage on the angel of history  based on a Paul Klee print. The angel stands looking backward sadly as historys failures and disasters pile up at his feet. So, as historys wind blows him into the future, he cant see, behind him, the progress that may be about to arrive. You could call it, back to the future, in a literal sense.

Rick Salutins column appears Friday. ricksalutin@ca.inter.net

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It was a highly unscientific, overly simplistic survey, to be sure.

Certainly, to draw any significant or serious conclusions about Toronto Star readers based on the results of my annual You be the Editor challenge, published in recent weeks, would be folly indeed.

But with almost 10,600 readers weighing in  a record number of responses  we can draw out some interesting information about readers perspectives on some of the many deadline judgments made by newsroom journalists 24/7.

The survey asked you to be the editor and determine whether to publish  or not publish  in 18 real-life questions of ethics, taste, style and usage faced by Star journalists in 2015. In each, I provided a reason to publish  or not. Given space restrictions, these reasons were highly simplistic, representing a narrow aspect of journalistic reasoning.

Not surprisingly, some readers told me their reasons for publishing or not publishing were somewhat different than the pro-and-con arguments I offered. Thats understandable and reflects the reality that newsroom debate about what to publish is always deeper and more wide-ranging than what this light exercise in journalistic decision-making can depict.

Each of these scenarios had evoked some measure of reader complaint to the public editors office and in many cases the arguments for not publishing represent the gist of reader concerns.

Survey results show that readers were aligned with the newsrooms judgments in 12 of the 18 matters in question. That amounts to reader-newsroom consensus in 66 per cent of judgments  or two-thirds of the time.

The highlights:

The Stars judgments

In all but two of the 18 scenarios, the Star published the content in question.

The first exception was editorial cartoonist Theo Moudakis depiction of Tory in Pride attire showing Toronto Mayor John Tory outfitted in bare-butt chaps to celebrate Pride week. That was nixed by Editorial Page Editor Andrew Phillips until the cartoonist added full trousers to the mayor. At the time, I agreed with Phillips cautious concern that the cartoon might be regarded as a negative, over-the-top stereotype. But in looking more at this one, we have both come to lighten up and agree with those 60 per cent of readers who said they would publish the cartoon as drawn.

The Star also opted for a no-publishing judgment a year ago when 12 editorial cartoonists at the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo were shot dead. Following considerable newsroom debate, the Star decided not to republish that organizations incendiary cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed. Responding to this dilemma, a slim majority of readers  55 per cent  say they would have published these cartoons. I agree with the Stars decision and the 45 per cent of readers who would not have published the images because it would be offensive and hurtful to Muslims in this community.

Closest calls:

Readers were almost evenly split on cartoonist Moudakis satirical take on Justin Trudeaus campaign promise to legalize marijuana, with 51 per cent opting not to publish A Justin Trudeau Halloween a week after the election of the new PM. While we received a number of complaints about this cartoon, I agree with the other half of readers here and consider it in line with the wide latitude of editorial cartoonists to skewer public figures and satirize public issues.

That same 51/49 split showed up in readers response to the question of whether the Star should sanitize the swear words in a column about the historical relationships of Canadian prime ministers and U.S. presidents. That column referred to two iconic quotes: Lyndon Johnson telling PM Lester Pearson You p----ed on my rug and Richard Nixon calling Pierre Trudeau an a----le. The wee majority here opted to publish the words, obscured by dashes. While the Stars taste policy calls for those dashes in swear words, given the historical import of these quotes I would have published the words in full.

Widest margins of consensus

An overwhelming number of readers  88 per cent  agreed with the Stars decision to publish the bathing beauties picture taken in Torontos Beaches in 1984 by photographer Colin McConnell. As I told those readers who had expressed concerns that the image is sexist, context is everything here. The photo was republished on McConnells final day of work with the Star as part of a retrospective of his work over the past 30-plus years and is evocative of another era.

Readers expressed almost the same margin of support  87 per cent  for the Stars reference to ticket scalping in a Business article about Ontarios Ticket Speculation Act governing the ticket resale market. The minority lined up with the view of the reader who had expressed concern that scalping is offensive to indigenous people. I was unfamiliar with this view and in researching this, I found little to support an argument to avoid the word scalping in stories about ticket reselling. But I will send this on to the Stars newsroom style committee for further consideration.

Because it is 2016

Several questions focused on sexism concerns raised by readers. While readers who responded to the survey (and I) agreed with publishing a beefcake shot of our new PM following his election and the above-mentioned beach cheesecake photo, a majority  66 per cent  would not have published a headline referring to a pretty actress. And 62 per cent would have nixed a quote from a man who said he was so frightened he ran away like a little girl. Im with the majority here. Readers were split 55/45 per cent on publishing the headline HRH Princess Cutie with the first photo of the royal couple  Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge  introducing their yet unnamed daughter to the world. My view: cute baby, cute headline. I dont see sexism here.

On two questions concerning matters of sensitivity in how the Star portrays mental health matters, readers were almost evenly divided with 52 per cent opting not to publish a reference to mental patients but 53 per cent in agreement with the judgment to publish a readers letter expressing the view about former PM Stephen Harpers dyslexia on privacy matters. Neither of those references is in line with media best practices for writing about mental health and, to my mind, neither should have been published in the Star.

Trickiest question

Not surprisingly, few readers caught the error of law in the surveys final question about whether to publish the headline: UK police capture vault busting thieves with a story that reported on British police swooping down on suspected jewel thieves and making arrests in the notorious Hatton Garden heist in which thieves bored holes through the half-metre concrete wall to access a vault. A strong majority  83 per cent  would have published the headline.

The trick? Police captured suspected thieves, so labeling them thieves in the headline in effect convicts them before they have had their day in court. Readers dont have to know this legal stuff, but journalists must. This headline should never have been published.

The full survey and results, with my votes added (+1):

1. A story about reaction in the United States to the election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, reports that America ogles photos of Canadas shirtless PM and refers to an image posted by NBCNews.com of a bare-chested Trudeau flexing his biceps. Do you publish this photo in the Star?

Yes: It shows the image of Canadas new PM that was widely circulated and viewed by many Americans. 68% (+1)

No: The photo is sexist and demeaning to Canadas new leader. 32%

2. Following several years in which former Toronto mayor Rob Ford refused to attend Torontos Pride parade, Mayor John Tory participates joyfully in Pride events, including the parade. Do you publish this editorial cartoon Tory in Pride attire depicting the mayor outfitted in bare-butt chaps?

Yes: It is light-hearted cartoon that playfully captures the spirit of Pride and celebrates the Mayors participation. 60% (+1)

No: It is demeaning to the mayor. Put on his pants. 40%

3. In running to be Canadas new prime minister, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau promises that his government would legalize marijuana. A week after he is elected PM, a few days before Halloween, do you publish this editorial cartoon entitled, A Justin Trudeau Halloween?

No: Depicting the new PM as a parent willing to hand out drugs to children on Halloween crosses the taste line. 51%

Yes: Editorial cartoonists have wide latitude to skewer public figures and satirize public issues. 49% (+1)

4. On the last day of photographer Colin McConnells employment with the Star, a retrospective of his work over the past 30-plus years is published. Do you include this photo taken in Torontos Beaches in 1984?

Yes: The image is evocative of its era and presented in context with the photographers retirement. 88% (+1)

No: The photo is clearly sexist and should not be republished in 2015. 12%

5. The City Nights photo caption accompanying this photo taken at the opening gala of the Toronto International Film Festival identifies the woman, pictured second from left, as Jennifer Tory (Mayor John Torys sister). Do you publish this?

Yes: Tory is the mayors sister. 56%

No: Why should Tory, a highly accomplished RBC banking executive in her own right, be identified by her connection to her brother? 44% (+1)

6. Do you publish this photo of bodies being removed from the Moka Espresso Bar in Vaughan after a shooting that left two dead and two seriously injured?

Yes: The photo depicts the horror of a shooting that happened in public. 74% (+1)

No: Publishing photos of dead bodies is not in line with the Stars taste standards. 26%

7. A story and photo about the birth of a new royal baby reported on the worlds delight that the child was a girl. Do you publish this headline with the story and the first photo of the royal couple introducing their yet unnamed daughter to the world: HRH, Princess Cutie?

Yes: It is a cute headline for a cute baby. 55% (+1)

No: If this baby was a boy would you say HRH, Prince Cutie? 45%

8. A Star Autos article reports that Canadian actor Tricia Helfer bought her first car, a Porsche Boxster, at age 23. Do you publish this headline: Pretty actresss first car was a beauty?

No: Because it is 2015. 66% (+1)

Yes: The car and the woman are gorgeous. 34%

9. An anonymous user on the online social forum Reddit who says he was attacked by a red-winged blackbird in Toronto wrote that horrified, he ran away like a little girl. Do you include this quote in an article about a Toronto man who was attacked by a red-winged blackbird in Riverdale Park?

No: This is a derogatory stereotype and the source isnt even identifiable. 62% (+1)

Yes: This is a colourful quotation that expresses the mans fright. 38%

10. Do you publish this headline with an article about a build-a-bicycle workshop for girls and trans youth in the Regent Park neighbourhood: Regent Park girls and trans workshop builds bikes and confidence?

Yes: It accurately reflects the story. 59%

No: In reporting on transgender people trans should not be used as a noun. It is an adjective. 41% (+1)

11. A Business article about a change to Ontarios Ticket Speculation Act governing the ticket resale market refers to ticket scalping in the story and headline. Do you publish this?

Yes: The dictionary defines scalping as someone who buys things, especially tickets, to resell. 87% (+1)

No: Scalping is a slang term from the late 19th century offensive to indigenous people throughout North America. 13%

12. An editorial about Toronto budget deliberations headlined Voodoo budgeting states that year after year, city hall is stuck relying on voodoo economics. Do you publish this?

Yes: Voodoo economics is a well-known economic term used since the 1980s when George Bush Sr. used it to disparage Ronald Reagans tax cut promises. 80%

No: Voodoo economics is considered a racist, derogatory term that denigrates voodoo, the common term for the West African religion Vodun, (also practised in Haiti). 20% (+1)

13. An article about the number of patients that go missing at Torontos Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) includes a sub-headline that states: Centres stats far exceed other hospitals, but staffer points to its large number of mental patients Do you publish this?

No: Mental patient is an offensive dehumanizing term. People are more than the challenges they face. 52% (+1)

Yes: Whats the problem? 48%

14. A reader submits a letter to the editor critical of Stephen Harpers stance on privacy and transparency, expressing the view that in his dyslexia Canadas Freedom of Information Act has become Canadas Freedom from Information Act. Do you publish the letter and this headline: PM dyslexic on privacy?

Yes: The letter writer was expressing his opinion. 53%

No: This is inaccurate usage, insensitive to those with dyslexia. 47% (+1)

15. Following the news of the murder of 12 editorial cartoonists at the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, do you republish that news organizations incendiary cartoons that depict the Prophet Muhammed?

Yes: The provocative images at the heart of this tragedy are newsworthy 55%

No: These images are offensive and hurtful to Muslims in this community. 45% (+1)

16. A column expressing strong criticism of a Toronto Police tribunal hearing decision sparing Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani more serious punishment for his assault on a protester during the G20 in 2010 opens with the columnist stating, Whats the use? What is the goddamn use? Do you publish this sentence? Answers

Yes: Columnists have wide latitude to express their own views in their own voice and tone. 70%

No: The profanity is offensive to many Christians and crosses the taste line. 30% (+1)

17. A column about the historical relationships of Canadian prime ministers and U.S. presidents referred to two iconic quotes in bilateral relations: Lyndon Johnson telling PM Lester Pearson You p----ed on my rug and Richard Nixon calling Pierre Trudeau an a----le Do you publish these quotes with the foul language obscured by dashes?

No: Why sanitize the historic words of prime ministers and presidents? Johnson told Pearson you pissed on my rug and Nixon called Trudeau an asshole 51% (+1)

Yes: The Stars taste policy states that swear words should be used sparingly and even then, obscured by dashes. 49%

18. A story reports that more than 200 British police swooped down on suspected jewel thieves making arrests in the notorious Hatton Garden heist in which thieves bored holes through the half-metre concrete wall to access a vault. Do you publish this headline: UK police capture vault-busting thieves?

Yes: The headline accurately reflects the story. 83%

No: The headline is not accurate. 17% (+1)

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A suicide truck bombing on a police school in Libya's city of Zliten killed more than 50 people Thursday, in the deadliest attack to hit the strife-torn country since its 2011 revolution.

A bomber detonated an explosives-laden truck used for carrying water at a police training centre in central Zliten at around 8:30 am (0630 GMT), a local security source told AFP.

A witness in Zliten, a coastal city about 170 kilometres (100 miles) east of Tripoli, told AFP some 300 men, mainly coast guards, were inside the compound at the time.

Health ministry spokesman Ammar Mohammed Ammar said 50 to 55 people had been killed and at least 100 wounded and that victims were being treated in several hospitals. Urgent calls were issued for blood donations.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but the Islamic State (ISIS) group, which has been growing in power in Libya, has carried out many suicide bombings in the country.

Libya descended into chaos after the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Gadhafi and 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 internationally recognised government condemned the attack as a "cowardly terrorist act" and called for the lifting of an arms embargo it says has prevented authorities from tackling IS.

Meanwhile, a deputy defence minister for the Tripoli-based government, Mohammad Bashir al-Naas, vowed to avenge the attack.

"The perpetrator is not known but he is a coward. He kills our sons from the shadows. We must avenge them and do everything possible to protect them," Naas told a press conference.

The United Nations is pressing Libya's rival sides to implement a power-sharing deal agreed last month on forming a unity government.

The UN envoy to Libya and Western governments called for unity in the wake of the attack, saying implementing the political agreement was crucial.

"I condemn in the strongest terms today's deadly suicide attack in Zliten, call on all Libyans to urgently unite in fight against terrorism," UN envoy Martin Kobler wrote on Twitter.

EU policy chief Federica Mogherini also urged Libyans to back the unity deal.

"The people of Libya deserve peace and security and... they have a great opportunity to set aside their divisions and work together, united, against the terrorist threat facing their country," she said.

Italy, the former colonial power in Libya, offered its support in helping to bring stability.

"In the face of this terrorist threat, the first answer must be unity among Libyans," Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said. "It is urgent that the recently signed political agreement be implemented."

France also condemned the attack and called on "all Libyan parties to quickly form a national unity government... that would be a partner for the international community in the face of terrorism."

World powers fear Libya could descend further into chaos and become an ISIS stronghold on Europe's doorstep.

In a report to the UN Security Council in November, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that ISIS had been responsible for at least 27 car and suicide bombings in Libya in 2015.

The group claimed responsibility for suicide car bombings in the eastern town of Al-Qoba in February that killed at least 40 people.

In recent days, ISIS has launched a series of attacks on oil facilities in eastern Libya, pushing east from its coastal stronghold of Sirte.

Officials have warned of crippling consequences for the country if the militants manage to seize control of Libya's oil resources.

Calls have been growing for a possible foreign military intervention to bring stability to Libya and contain ISIS, which is reported to have at least 3,000 fighters in the country.

Mohamed Eljarh, a Libya analyst with the Atlantic Council, said it was unlikely the latest attack would boost unity efforts.

"This has not been the case in the past, even when ISIS was expanding and the scale of attacks was intensifying," he said.

"Despite ISIS's evident presence in Libya, various political groups are still consumed with their struggle for power and control."

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Special-forces raids on an Islamic State (ISIS) stronghold in northern Iraq are under way before a planned offensive to retake Mosul, the largest centre under the group's control, Iraq's parliamentary speaker said.

Several attacks behind ISIS lines around Hawija, 210 kilometres (130 miles) north of Baghdad, were carried out in recent weeks, Salim al-Jabouri told Reuters on Thursday.

Dubai-based al-Hadath and Iraqi media have reported at least half a dozen raids since late December, led by U.S. special forces.

The U.S. said last month it was deploying a new force of around 100 special operations troops to Iraq to conduct raids against ISIS there and in neighbouring Syria, without providing details.

But U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the international coalition bombing ISIS, this week rejected the media reports, calling them "Iranian disinformation" aimed at distracting from the Iraqi military's "success" against ISIS elsewhere.

He told Reuters coalition forces in Iraq have not operated on the ground since October, when U.S. special forces rescued 69 Iraqis in a raid in Hawija that killed one U.S. commando .

Special operations in Hawija "have been repeated a second and third time ... These operations are bearing fruit," said Jabouri, Iraq's senior Sunni Arab official. "They eliminate the terrorists and free innocents, and for us it represents a positive development."

Jabouri said the raids were carried out "from time to time" and "supported by Iraqi forces" but did not specify whether the United States played a role or how many had occurred.

The raids are "not direct ground attacks; they are operations targeting the dens of Daesh in important and sensitive areas," Jabouri said, using an Arabic acronym for the group, which is also known as ISIS and ISIS.

He said they were not enough to get rid of ISIS but "are dealing them strong blows".

He said the raids were related to Baghdad's goal of retaking Mosul, the city 400 km (250 miles) north of Baghdad where ISIS declared its intention to establish a caliphate stretching across the border with Syria.

Strategically located east of the road from Baghdad to Mosul and near the Kurdish-held oil region of Kirkuk, Hawija became an ISIS stronghold when the ultra-hardline Sunni militants swept across northern and western Iraq in 2014.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said has vowed to retake Mosul, this year as a "fatal and final blow" to ISIS militants in Iraq.

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Turkish troops have repelled an attack by Islamic State (ISIS) militants on a camp used to train Iraqi fighters outside the city of Mosul in Iraq, a Turkish government source said Friday.

"There was an exchange of fire around the Bashiqa camp and Daesh launched an attack which was repelled," a Turkish government source told AFP, using another name for ISIS.

Several militants were killed in the clash late Thursday, the source said, adding that no Turkish soldier was wounded or died. Turkish media reports said 17 ISIS fighters were killed.

Turkish forces have been using the Bashiqa camp to train local Iraqi fighters to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS.

But their presence, while welcomed by the local authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan, has become a bone of contention with the central Iraqi government which angrily called for the Turkish troops to leave.

Turkey in December withdrew some of the troops after also coming under US pressure. But it is unclear how many remain at the camp.

Four Turkish soldiers were wounded on December 16 when ISIS militants fired mortars on the training camp, in an attack that also left two Iraqis dead.

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Four Iranians including an alleged spy will stand trial in Saudi Arabia, local media reported Friday as a diplomatic crisis festers between the regional rivals.

The Arab News daily reported that the three were alleged "terrorists", but gave no details of the accusations and the Iranians were not identified.

The Saudi Gazette said they were arrested in 2013 and 2014.

The reports come after tensions escalated between Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and its Shia rival Iran.

Riyadh severed diplomatic ties and air links with Tehran after crowds set fire to its embassy in the Iranian capital and its consulate in second city Mashhad last weekend.

The protests were in response to Riyadh's execution of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind demonstrations in 2011 by the kingdom's Shia minority, which has complained of marginalisation.

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Turkish police detained six people including local officials from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) on Friday in a raid on one of its Istanbul offices, days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he backed legal action against its members.

Riot police and special forces took part in the operation, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, which said the action was part of a crackdown on urban networks of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group's youth wing.

Erdogan and the government accuse the HDP, parliament's third-biggest party, of being an extension of the PKK, which has fought a three-decade insurgency for greater Kurdish autonomy in the southeast and which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

HDP says it is opposed to violence and wants a peaceful solution for Turkey's Kurds.

The detentions come less than 48 hours after Erdogan said some HDP lawmakers and local mayors were behaving like members of a terrorist organisation and that their positions should not shield them from prosecution.

Istanbul police said in a statement that the operation was part of an investigation into a June 2015 murder suspected to have been carried out by PKK members and was based on a tip-off that the murder weapon was in the HDP building.

The predominantly Kurdish southeast has sunk into violence after a two-year ceasefire between the state and the PKK collapsed last July, reviving a conflict that has crippled the region for three decades and killed more than 40,000 people.

On Friday, one Turkish soldier was killed and five others wounded in clashes in Sur, the historic district of southeastern Diyarbakir province that has been under a police curfew for more than a month, security sources said.

Another soldier died from wounds sustained in a militant attack in the town of Cizre, near the Syrian border, the Turkish military said.

In Silopi, bordering Iraq, 58 PKK militants were captured while trying to flee, it said in a separate statement.

The shift in fighting from the countryside to urban centres has left civilians caught in the middle. According to HDP figures, 72 civilians in three southeastern towns have been killed since Dec. 14, when the latest military campaign began.

Thousands of people have left their homes in Sur. Residents complain of indiscriminate operations and round-the-clock curfews have left even the sick unable to get to hospital.

Erdogan has said 3,100 PKK members were killed in operations inside and outside the country in 2015.

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Here are some thoughts from Kim Iskyan, founder of Truewealth Publishing:

Legendary investor Warren Buffett, who usually has a good eye for value, explained gold like this: "It gets dug out of the ground in Africa or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head."

But gold isn't just something that people dig out of the ground. It's one of the best ways to hedge your portfolio -- that is, to protect it when stock markets everywhere fall, like after the two 7% declines in China's stock market this week.

Cash is a great way of protecting your portfolio when markets fall, too. But one of the most effective hedges against market downturns has proven to be gold, because stock markets and gold are negatively correlated assets.

Correlation is the relationship between two or more assets. It measures what happens to the price of one asset when the price of a different asset changes. When they are negatively correlated, their prices move in opposite directions. This evens out your overall performance when things get bumpy.

The chart above shows the correlation between gold and major Asian market indices. Over the past five years, returns on gold have had a negative correlation with stock returns. That means when markets go down, gold usually goes up -- and when gold goes down, markets tend to go higher.

Most major Asian stock markets are positively correlated -- that is, they all tend to move in the same direction at the same time. That means negative events usually affect all markets in the region. So if you're invested in Singapore and Malaysia, the chances are good the two markets will rise and fall together. That's not diversified.

But by diversifying part of your portfolio into gold, you can reduce portfolio risk and solve the egg truck problem. That way, not everything in your portfolio will move in the same direction at the same time.

Gold is also a good hedge against falling currencies. 2016 is looking to be another ugly year for ASEAN currencies in part due to a continued slowdown in China -- Southeast Asia's largest trading partner.

Gold is often viewed as a global currency and as a tangible store of value. The global supply of gold is relatively stable, as newly mined gold only increases the gold supply by about 1.7% per year. In contrast, currency values can easily decline if the central bank increases the money supply, or if demand for the currency falls.

An example of how gold can act as a hedge against a declining currency is what happened during the 2008 financial crisis. The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates and started buying bonds as part of its quantitative easing program (in which it created more money to help drive up inflation) in order to support the U.S. economy.

While the dollar is strong now and gold is relatively weak, that isn't the whole story. In just six years through 2014, the supply of U.S. dollars in global markets increased almost five times. This increase in supply helped cause the value of the U.S. dollar to fall compared to other currencies.

But the price of gold took off. In 2008, gold cost less than $800 per ounce. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, as the U.S. central bank dramatically increased the supply of money, the price of gold rose to over $1800 per ounce.

But as the U.S. and world economies emerge from the crisis, and demand for the U.S. dollar has increased, the price of gold has gone down -- a perfect example of negatively correlated assets. During a very volatile period, investors holding gold were protected from potentially larger losses.

One easy way to add gold to your portfolio is through the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) . The SPDR Gold Shares is the largest physical gold ETF in the world. When markets go up, gold doesn't perform well. But when markets fall, it's a hedge worth having.

GLD

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YCharts

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
Updated from 6:45 a.m.

LONDON (The Deal) -- European stocks experienced a modest rebound on Friday, then turned mixed, after Beijing sought to calm jittery investors by suspending a circuit breaker system that halted trading twice this week.

In London, the FTSE was up 0.4% to 5,979.04, while in Frankfurt, the DAX sank 0.1% to 9,970.33. In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.33% to 4,388.49.

On the last trading session of a turbulent start to the new year, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index posted a 2.04% gain after slumping as much as 2.2% earlier in the day.

Investors appeared to take heart from moves by the Chinese government designed to return calm to the markets. Besides pulling the plug on the notorious circuit breaker system, China reportedly used state funds to snap up equities as the country's central bank set a higher reference rate for the yuan.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Nikkei fell 0.39% to 17,697.96 in Tokyo, while the Hang Seng added 0.59% to20,453.71 in Hong Kong.

In Europe, gains were tempered by disappointing news out of its largest economy. A report from Germany's Federal Statistics Office showed an unexpected decline in industrial production in the month of October.

As for individual stocks, food retailer Tesco (TSCDY) was among the morning's biggest gainers. Shares rose 5.17% in London on the back of a buy recommendation from Barclays, which upgraded the stock to "overweight."

Mining stocks also recovered from this week's drubbing, with Glencore (GLCNF) up 1.64% and ArcelorMittal (MT) adding 0.34% in Paris.

Energy companies did not fare as well, with Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) slipping 2.63% and BP (BP) losing 1.95%.

In London, Vectura (VEGPF) added 7.52% after the pharmaceutical company said it had a completed a clinical trial for VR315 in the U.S. The drug is a generic, inhaled combination therapy for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Professional support outsourcing company Capita was also up. It was 1.56% higher after an agreement to buy online payment companies PayPoint.net and Metacharge from PayPoint (PYPTF) for 14 million ($20.46 million). The agreement was announced by the seller, whose shares slid 1.21%.

And finally in Oslo, Norwegian Air Shuttle rose 2.68% after the low-cost carrier reported a 15% jump in December passenger traffic. It also posted unaudited fourth-quarter figures showing an 8.5% increase in quarterly revenue and a 53.68% rise in online sales. It's due to report first-quarter earnings in early April.

Later today after the close of European trading, the spotlight shifts across the Atlantic for the latest data from the world's largest economy, including reports on nonfarm payrolls, unemployment and wholesale inventories.
Editors' pick: Originally published Jan. 8.

Call it the Puerto Rico ripple effect.

The island's default this week on $174 million in bonds serves as an exclamation point to a multi-year migration that has fueled the growth of Florida's Puerto Rican population to more than a million.

As a result, the ongoing financial crisis on the island of 3.5 million could help tip the balance toward the Democrats in the crucial swing state of Florida when voters go to the polls in November to elect the next U.S. president.

The influx from the island -- estimated at 800 to 1,000 families per month -- is strengthening the stature of Democrat-leaning Latinos in the Orlando area, remaking the state's Latino electorate map that has historically tilted to Cuban Republicans in Miami.

"We're really seen an acceleration in this migration," said Mark Lopez, director of Hispanic research at the Pew Research Center in Washington. "This isn't just an out-migration of the most-educated or even the poorest Puerto Ricans -- its people of working age who are leaving to find jobs."

What had been a small community of Puerto Ricans in and around three counties in central Florida -- Osceola, Orange and Seminole -- has mushroomed, bolstered by the relocation of Puerto Rican nationals from Democratic strongholds in the Northeast and Chicago, drawn to Orlando for jobs in hospitality, or to retire, Lopez added.

Yet unlike other fast-growing Latino communities in central Florida, such as Colombians, Puerto Ricans moving to Florida arrive as U.S. citizens. Registering to vote is as simple as proving local residency. And while Puerto Ricans living on the island aren't allowed to vote in U.S. presidential elections, they can do so if they relocate to one of the 50 states.

"This is their first opportunity to vote for president, and that's really important to them," Soraya Marquez, statewide coordinator of Mi Familia Vota, a Latino-focused voter registration organization, said in a phone interview from Orlando. Puerto Ricans accounted for 48% of voter registrations made by Mi Familia Vota statewide in 2015.

The backdrop for this demographic overhaul is Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth that has seen its monetary problems steadily worsened since 2006, when decades of special tax breaks and economic incentives were phased-out. Those tax breaks and incentives served as the engine behind Puerto Rico's post-World War II boom when dozens of U.S. pharmaceutical, textile and other manufacturing companies opened facilities on the island.

Yet, as its economy began to slow some 10 years ago, Puerto Rican officeholders turned to Wall Street for financing even as it neglected calls to reform tax collection and fight corruption. More than three years of bitter negotiations with creditors owed some $72 billion has forced layoffs in manufacturing as well as in government, which accounts for about one-fourth of the total workforce, according to Bloomberg.

And while the island's financial problems were the focus of recent trips to Puerto Rico by Florida Senator and Republican presidential contender Marco Rubio as well as Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, both likely had their sights set on Florida.

And for good reason.

Four years ago, Barack Obama narrowly defeated Mitt Romney in the state by a vote of 50% to 49.1%. Since then, both Democrats and Republicans have actively courted the area's Puerto Rican voters as well as a collection of immigrant communities from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Central America that accounts for about 35% of Latinos in the three counties. But the two parties have had differing success.

Between 2006 and 2014, Hispanic voter registration in the state climbed by 56%. But while the number of Hispanics registering as Democrats, or indicating no party affiliation, jumped by about 80% during that time, Latinos identifying as Republican increased just 14%. Much of that jump took place in central Florida; but, even in Miami, Hispanics registering as Democrat grew 66%, while Republicans rolls were roughly flat, according to the Pew Research Center.

In Orlando, that's led to a fourth term for Democratic Mayor Buddy Dyer, and the convincing re-election of liberal Congressman Alan Grayson in 2014.

Nonetheless, Republicans have had some success as well. Two Republican state legislators from central Florida are Puerto Rican to go along with three Democrats. Democratic State Senator Darren Soto is running to be Florida's first congressman of Puerto Rican ancestry as Grayson frees up his seat to run for the U.S. senate office that Rubio is vacating.

"Democrats are doing much better generally in central Florida than they have in the past," Steve Schale, a Democratic strategist, said in a phone interview from Orlando. "It's had an impact and that impact looks likely to grow as Puerto Ricans become a bigger part of the population."

As of November, there were 11.9 million registered voters in Florida, with Democrats holding a 38% to 35% lead over Republicans. Some 2.6 million of them are Latino. Shifting demographics has shrunken Miami's Cuban community to 30% of the state's Latino population, from 50% in 2000, while the population of Puerto Ricans, mostly in central Florida, has risen to about 29%.

"Here in central Florida, you've already seen Orange County go from ruby red 20 years ago to deep blue today," said Jose Fernandez, an Orlando businessman who served as chief of staff to Dyer from 2003 to 2007. "That's a result of the changing demographics, and the difficulties Puerto Rico has had financially."

These changes could bolster the Democratic presidential nominee's chances of winning Florida's 29 electoral votes, even if Rubio or former Governor Jeb Bush captures the Republican nomination, Fernandez said.

Jeb Bush, who is married to a Mexican and speaks Spanish, had success with Latinos in central Florida, Fernandez said. But since Bush left the governor's mansion in Tallahassee, his profile in state politics has been much reduced. Rubio, though popular in south Florida, carries less stature in Orlando, owing to political rivalries between Puerto Ricans and Cubans.

Whichever party can reach the most Puerto Ricans on the issue of immigration could have an advantage. Sensitives around the issue remain high.

"Puerto Ricans pay attention to immigration even though it doesn't impact them directly," said Fernandez, 45, who emigrated from Nicaragua when he was eight. "That's because of the racial tone, and to some extent, the discriminatory tone. Yes, being a U.S. citizen is different than being an immigrant, but there's a sense that these comments are pointed at all Latinos."

For Puerto Ricans, voting in a presidential election also means potentially influencing how policymakers in Washington might address the island's needs.

Puerto Rican voter participation is also heightened by a tradition of roughly 90% turnout for the island's gubernatorial elections, which are held on Sundays, Marquez said.

"The challenge for us is getting Puerto Ricans to vote as much in U.S. elections as they used to do in Puerto Rico," Marquez said. "Because what happens in central Florida depends on whether Puerto Ricans vote."
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Fitbit (FIT) stock is tanking 9.39% to $20.75 on heavy volume in afternoon trading on Thursday as users sue the health and fitness products provider over the accuracy of its heart rate monitors.

Users filed a lawsuit alleging that the heart tracking devices are "are mis-recording heart rates by a very significant margin" and could result in health risks to users, Bloomberg reports.

One of Fitbit's "Charge HR" devices recorded a heart rate 50% lower than the heart rate manually recorded by a personal trainer, a woman claims, Bloomberg adds.

"Scores of customer complaints confirm these are not isolated incidents," according to the lawsuit.

The complaint was filed as a class action on behalf of a number of customers, Bloomberg notes.

"We do not believe this case has merit," Heather Pierce, a spokeswoman for the company, told Bloomberg in an e-mail. "Fitbit stands behind our heart rate technology and strongly disagrees with the statements made in the complaint and plans to vigorously defend the lawsuit."

Fitbit stock is down about 25% this week as today's downturn couples with investors' fears that Fitbit's new "Blaze" fitness-oriented watch faces stiff competition from companies such as Apple (AAPL), Garmin (GRMN) and Pebble.

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EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini pressed Libyan politicians to support a unity government Thursday, a day after suicide bombings killed dozens sparking fears of a jihadist expansion on Europe's doorstep.

Mogherini issued a plea for unity as she met in a suburb of Tunis with Fayez al-Sarraj, a businessman who was named in a UN-brokered national unity government as prime minister designate.

"Libyans deserve peace and security," she said.

"With the Libyan Political Agreement, with a presidency council, the government of national accord that we hope can be put in place soon, there is finally after so many months a real possibility to unite among Libyans and try to fight terrorism," she said.

The Libyan branch of ISIS group said it was behind one of Thursday's attacks, on a checkpoint in Ras Lanouf, home to a key oil terminal on the country's northern coast.

IS, which launched an offensive against Libya's oil heartland on Monday, said a foreign fighter detonated an explosives-packed car, killing and wounding several people.

The Red Crescent said six people, including a baby, died in the attack.

Another suicide bomber on Thursday attacked a police training school in Zliten, west of Tripoli, killing more than 50 people, a security source said.

So far, nobody has claimed responsibility for that attack, which left buildings charred and turned cars into twisted wrecks.

It was the deadliest single attack in Libya since the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Fears the jihadists are establishing a new stronghold on Europe's doorstep have added urgency to efforts to bring together warring factions in a country beset by chaos since 2011.

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.

In December, after months of negotiations, a minority of lawmakers from both sides signed on to the UN-brokered national unity deal which has yet to win the full support of the two legislatures.

Analysts say these divisions are bolstering the position of ISIS.

"The situation has become very worrisome... with IS taking advantage of the chaos, the collapse of the central authorities and wars by proxy," said Karim Bitar, head of research at the French Institute of International Relations.

The international community has been pleading for months with Libya's rival parliaments to embrace the UN-brokered deal.

Mogherini was to hold talks later Friday in Tunis with the members from both legislatures who signed the agreement. She will be making a fresh bid to shore up support for the deal.

"As the Libyans express the courage and the willingness to unite, to put the country back on track... Europe, the international community is there to show its own unity in supporting this process," she told reporters after meeting Sarraj and before heading into the talks.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned Thursday's attacks and also urged unity among Libyans.

"These criminal acts serve as a strong reminder of the urgency to implement the Libyan political agreement and form a government of national accord," Ban said.

"Unity is the best way for Libyans to confront terrorism in all its forms."

Bitar said the establishment of a national unity government was a matter of "urgency" but he warned that international efforts could fail due to "numerous suspicions" on the ground.

Mohamed Eljarh, a non-resident fellow with the Atlantic Council's Hariri Centre, agreed.

He said the latest attacks claimed by ISIS "would not end the feud in Libya, but could at best result in reducing the trust deficit between the various armed and political groups as they attempt to cooperate and help each other in the face of IS's expansion".

The heads of Libya's parliaments have warned the UN-brokered deal has no legitimacy and that the politicians signing the agreement represented only themselves.

The chaos that has gripped Libya since the 2011 revolution has also led to its rise as a stepping stone for migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.

The ISIS offensive against the oil terminals in Ras Lanouf and nearby Al-Sidra in Libya's so-called "oil crescent" came as ISIS has tried for weeks to push east from its stronghold in Sirte.

Officials have warned the already crumbling state could be paralysed if ISIS, which is reported to have at least 3,000 fighters in Libya, seize control of oil resources.

In a report to the UN Security Council in November, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said ISIS was responsible for at least 27 car and suicide bombings in Libya in 2015.

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Shire (SHPG) stock are rising 2.37% to $191.15 at the start of trading on Friday as the company is preparing to announce its acquisition of drug maker Baxalta (BXLT) as soon as Monday, according to sources cited by Reuters.

The deal between the two biopharmaceutical companies would value Bannockburn, IL-based Baxalta at about $48 per share with a cash component of nearly $20 per share, Reuters added.

The roughly $32 billion merger would be one of the largest in the healthcare sector as the new year begins.

Both drug makers are confident that previous tax concerns regarding Baxalta's spinoff from Baxter International (BAX) would not jeopardize the deal, but are waiting for a formal legal opinion before signing the agreement, Reuters noted.

Dublin headquartered Shire develops and markets medicines for patients with rare diseases and other specialty conditions.

Shares of Baxalta were gaining 1.66% to $41.13.

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 SHIRE PLC 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, notable return on equity, reasonable valuation levels, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures 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:
Anti-Saudi demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran Friday to protest Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shia cleric and after Iran accused its rival of bombing its embassy in Yemen.

The festering diplomatic crisis between the Middle East's leading Sunni and Shia Muslim powers has raised sectarian tensions across the region and complicated efforts to resolve conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

In a development that could further strain relations, Saudi media reported Friday that four Iranians would go on trial in the kingdom, one for spying and the other three for "terrorism".

Around 1,000 protestors marched through Tehran chanting "death to Al-Saud" -- Riyadh's ruling family, according to an AFP photographer.

Others shouted "death to America" and "death to Israel", frequent rallying cries at demonstrations in Iran.

Some carried placards with the picture of Nimr al-Nimr, the Shia cleric and activist whose execution by Saudi Arabia on Saturday unleashed a wave of anger across the Shia world.

Relations between the longtime adversaries hit a fresh low Thursday when Iran accused Saudi warplanes of deliberately targeting its embassy in Sanaa, damaging the property and seriously wounding a security guard.

The Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed rebels in Yemen denied the attack, but Tehran said it would take the matter to the UN Security Council.

"Saudi Arabia is responsible for the security of our diplomats and of our embassy in Sanaa," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said.

The coalition said there had been no operations near the embassy, which was "safe and has not been damaged".

The Yemeni conflict, which pits the rebels known as Huthis against pro-government forces backed by Riyadh and other Gulf Arab states, is one of the main sources of dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

During weekly prayers in Tehran, influential cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani told worshippers that Riyadh, along with Israel and the United States, was responsible for "all crimes committed against Muslims".

"The Zionist regime plans, the US supports and Saudi Arabia sources the necessary funds," Kashani said, according to state news agency IRNA.

Nimr was executed along with 46 other prisoners that Riyadh said were "terrorists".

In response, protesters in Iran stormed and set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in the second city of Mashhad.

Iran denounced those attacks, but the repercussions quickly rippled across the region with Saudi allies Bahrain, Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan also cutting diplomatic ties with Tehran.

At the same time, the United Arab Emirates has downgraded relations with Iran, while Kuwait and Qatar have recalled their ambassadors.

Iran hit back Thursday by announcing a ban on imports from the kingdom, which will reportedly affect goods worth about $40 million (36.7 million euros).

The latest crisis threatens a fragile UN-backed initiative to end the war in Yemen, where the world body says at least 2,795 civilians have been killed since March.

Special UN envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed arrived in Riyadh Friday to meet Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, the government's delegation to the talks and political party leaders, as well as senior Saudi officials, the UN said in Geneva.

Iran and Saudi Arabia also support opposing sides in Syria. Tehran is providing military assistance to close ally President Bashar al-Assad against rebel groups, some backed by Saudi Arabia.

The growing tensions have heaped doubt on a UN-backed plan that foresees talks between the Syrian sides this month in a bid to end a war that has claimed more than a quarter of a million lives.

The roadmap, adopted by the UN Security Council, calls for creation of a transitional government within six months and elections within 18 months.

Saudi media said that the four Iranians set to stand trial in Saudi Arabia were arrested in 2013 and 2014, but they were not identified nor were the charges against them spelled out.

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Activist Raging Capital Management has bowed out of its campaign at EZchip Semiconductor (EZCH) and declared support for the chipmaker's marriage with Mellanox Technologies (MLNX) .

Rocky Hill, N.J.-based Raging Capital announced late Wednesday it supports EZchip's proposed merger with Mellanox more than three months after it launched its campaign arguing the offer of $811 million, or $25.50 per share, undervalued the target company. The Israeli chipmakers initially announced the merger in September.

"It's pretty clear that the management wanted to do the deal whether or not it was the best deal for investors," said a source familiar with the situation who asked for anonymity. The source asserted that while other shareholders also believed that EZchip was undervalued, Raging Capital essentially decided the battle wasn't worth the effort required.

"The reality is that the company would fight for this very hard," the source said. "If you don't have a management team who wants to run the company, it's hard to realize value from that team." This person further argued that the Israeli shareholding system also isn't as favorable to achieving maximum value as the U.S. system is.

Since initially disclosing its 6.5% stake in October, Raging Capital has asserted the $25.50-per-share price doesn't reflect the value of EZchip's new products nor does it consider the company's growth potential in the network processing chip industry following Broadcom's exit from the segment. It also questioned whether EZchip had ran a robust auction.

Raging Capital scored a partial victory at the Nov. 12 annual meeting when EZchip postponed the vote on the pending merger with Mellanox Technologies and added amendments to the transaction that included a 30-day go-shop period. However, the activist's two nominees, Paul McWilliams and Kenneth Traub, weren't voted to the board at the meeting.

Even during the go-shop, the activist raised red flags at EZchip, questioning whether the target was committed to fully and comprehensively running the process. Meanwhile, EZchip revealed last month that it reached out to 31 strategics during the go-shop but received no counter bids.

A second source familiar with the matter argued that EZchip always favored Mellanox and that management's interest in the company would fade if the deal got voted down. Raging Capital decided it was time to "move on" after considering all the factors, this person suggested.

In fact, the investor is still making profit. It bought EZchip shares in August when they were trading at between $19.99 and $22.63 per share, according to Raging Capital's original 13D filing dated Oct. 14.



"For Mellanox, the strategic rationale has never changed. It engines them into the networking space," Daniel Amir, managing director of equity research at Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services. Amir added that EZchip's technology perspective is particularly valuable at the price the bidder is offering, noting that Mellanox is getting "a very good deal."

Meanwhile, Mellanox appears close to grabbing EZchip at a time when the market has been rapidly consolidating. Last year was a record year for semiconductor companies on the M&A front with such mega-deals as Intel's (INTC) $17 billion purchase of Altera and Avago Technologies' (AVGO) $37 billion acquisition of Broadcom.

"Consolidation in 2015 is likely to continue in 2016," Amir said. "The approach is the same: You need to consolidate in order to compete."

Shares of Mellanox rose to $40 recently, giving it a market capitalization around $1.85 billion. Shares of EZchip are up to $25.21, giving it a $738.88 million market cap.

Officials with EZchip and Mellanox declined requests to comment.
This week's market turmoil has investors feeling shaky, and most believe there's more pain to come.

Indeed, after opening strongly on Friday in the wake of a solid December jobs report and a stronger trading session in China, U.S. stock markets were down about another percentage point by the end of the day, with the Dow and S&P 500 falling further into correction territory.

An online poll conducted by TheStreet Thursday found that nearly 90% of investors believe the market still has further to drop. Moreover, more than half think we're still in for an at least another 10% decline from here.

A market meltdown in China and growing concerns over the country's weakening currency and economy spilled over into global markets this week. A major Wall Street sell-off spurred the worst start to the year for the S&P 500 in history. Through market close Thursday, the S&P had dropped nearly 5%. Investors believe it may go down much further.

More than a quarter of the over 2,600 respondents to TheStreet's online poll said they believe the market is still 20% from a bottom, and about the same amount said they think the low point is still 10% away. About one-fifth of respondents think the bottom is still 5% away, and a smaller proportion believe a 1-2% drop is still in the works.

Just 12% of respondents believe the worst has already arrived.

Meir Statman, professor of finance at Santa Clara University and Wealthfront advisory board member, said in an email that fresh wounds from the last crisis continue to play an important role in market sentiment.

"Memories of the financial crisis are still vivid in the minds of investors, despite the stock market recovery since then, and much anxiety remains. This pushes toward negative sentiment and makes investors jumpy whenever stock markets decline," Statman wrote. "Evidence continues to indicate that investors (even professional ones) are poor at market timing, and measures such as P/E ratios are unreliable guides."

Data from the American Association of Individual Investors suggests a pessimistic tone among investors as well.

The group's latest survey on investor sentiment, conducted for the week ended Jan. 6, found that 38.3% of its members polled were bearish on the stock market's prospects over the next six months, up 14.6 percentage points from the previous week and significantly higher than the long-term average of 30.3%. Just 22.2% were bullish on the stock market, while 39.6% were neutral.

Some big names in the finance world have expressed pessimism this week about where the markets are headed, including George Soros. The Hungarian-born billionaire investor and philanthropist warned at an economic forum Thursday that global markets could be facing a crisis and cautioned that the current scenario is reminiscent of 2008. A report from the World Bank also indicated concerns that instability in emerging markets, including China, could spill over into worldwide distress.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Ford Motor Co. (F) stock is gaining 0.63% to $12.78 in mid-morning trading on Friday after the automaker's China sales grew 3% year-over-year, with more than 1.1 million vehicles sold.

December sales broke the company's Chinese monthly sales record after 124,768 cars were sold, 27% more than sales from December 2014.

Ford's passenger car joint venture, Changan Ford Automobile, saw sales increase 49% to 96,960 vehicles last month, driven by demand for the new Ford Mondeo and SUV sales.

"Our record performance sets the stage for 2016, as we continue to expand our portfolio of high-quality, fuel-efficient and fun-to-drive vehicles that our customers want and need," Ford Motor China CEO John Lawler said in a statement.

Sales of Jiangling Motors Corp., the company's commercial vehicle investment, dropped 12% in December because of an overall weakness in the commercial vehicle industry.

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 FORD MOTOR CO as a Buy with a ratings score of B. This is driven by some important positives, 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 increase in net income, revenue growth, good cash flow from operations, growth in earnings per share and notable return on equity. 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) -- Viacom (VIAB) stock is up 5.73% to $41.12 in early afternoon trading on Friday after the company said it will hold a vote on whether to allow all shareholders to vote.

The New York City-based media company has agreed to let investors vote on an activist investor's plan, Reuters reports. The vote will be held at Viacom's annual meeting in March.

"We will include this proposal in our proxy statement as required by SEC rules, just as many other companies have done with similar proposals," Viacom spokesman Jeremy Zweig told Reuters.

Concerns over executive chairman Sumner Redstone's health sparked the proposal, Reuters reported. Last year, Redstone's former girlfriend filed a probate lawsuit against him last month that said he is "mentally absent" and has taken to alleged uncontrollable crying spells.

Redstone's holding company, National Amusements, owns about 80% of Viacom's Class A voting shares. His holding company opposes the plan, making it likely to fail, according to Reuters.

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 VIACOM INC 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 increase in net income, attractive valuation levels and expanding profit margins. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including generally higher debt management risk, weak operating cash flow and a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
Elizabeth Warren is no fan of Hank Greenberg, and on Friday, she took to Twitter to let the world know.

The U.S. Senator from Massachusetts had harsh words for Greenberg, reacting sternly to news that the former AIG CEO and chairman has donated $10 million to Right to Rise, the super PAC supporting the presidential campaign of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. She attacked Greenberg's for running the insurance giant as it "recklessly gambled on mortgage-backed securities" and criticized him for using part of his AIG fortune "to try to save Jeb Bush's dying presidential campaign."

She concluded the Twitter rant with, "This is business as usual for Wall Street and Washington insiders, and it stinks."

Senator Warren focused much of her offensive on Greenberg's role in AIG's liquidity crisis and government bailout in 2008. Though he stepped down from his position at the helm of the company in 2005 amid an accounting scandal, he maintained stewardship from afar and headed the firm that was AIG's largest shareholder when crisis hit. Moreover, decisions made during his more than 30-year tenure at the firm are often cited as part of the cause of its financial meltdown.

After the U.S. government's takeover of AIG and $182 billion bailout, Greenberg brought a class-action lawsuit against the government in 2011, accusing the Federal Reserve of overstepping and demanding as much as $40 billion in retribution. (Jon Stewart did a "Daily Show" segment the goings on in 2014.)

In June 2015, Thomas Wheeler, a judge in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, admitted that the terms of the bailout were illegally harsh; however, he awarded no damages to Greenberg's firm, Starr International.

"Any time the Government saves a private enterprise from bankruptcy through an emergency loan, as here, it can essentially impose whatever terms it wishes without fear of reprisal," the decision reads.

Senator Warren referred to the bailout, Greenberg's role in it and his lawsuit in her Twitter attack.

She also attacked Bush, whose brother, George W. Bush, was president when the government made the decision to bail AIG out.

Bush's Wall Street ties have gotten him into trouble before. He served as an adviser to Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that collapsed during the financial crisis in 2008, receiving $1.3 million from the now-defunct firm, according to Bloomberg. He had a similar arrangement with Barclays, which paid him about $2 million a year through 2014.

Warren wasn't alone in her assault on Greenberg and Bush in the wake of the super PAC donation news.

GOP frontrunner Donald Trump called Greenberg's donation a "total waste of money" in a Tweet.

U.S. Senator from Kentucky Rand Paul, like Warren, accused Bush of taking "his brother's bailout money to bail out his campaign."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Friday that the use of cluster bombs in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition may amount to war crimes.

Ban said he had received "troubling reports" of cluster bomb attacks on January 6 on the rebel-held capital Sanaa.

"The use of cluster munitions in populated areas may amount to a war crime due to their indiscriminate nature," the UN chief said in a statement.

Cluster bombs are banned under a 2008 international convention, although Saudi Arabia and the United States are not signatories.

The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said Tuesday that its staff in Yemen had found remnants of 29 cluster bombs during a field visit in Haradh district in the northwest.

The warning over possible war crimes was a clear sign of mounting frustration at the UN with Saudi Arabia's 10-month military campaign in Yemen.

It came in response to the decision by Yemen's Saudi-backed government to expel the leading UN rights official, George Abu al-Zulof.

Ban is urging the Yemeni government to reverse its decision to expel Zulof, who was declared persona non grata for an alleged lack of impartiality in his reporting.

The UN chief said he was "deeply concerned about the intensification of coalition airstrikes and ground fighting and shelling in Yemen, despite repeated calls for a renewed cessation of hostilities."

He is "particularly concerned about reports of intense airstrikes in residential areas and on civilian buildings in Sanaa, including the Chamber of Commerce, a wedding hall and a centre for the blind," said the statement.

UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was in Riyadh on Friday for talks on renewing a ceasefire in Yemen, which faces the threat of famine amid the dire humanitarian crisis.

Yemen descended into chaos when the coalition began airstrikes in March to push back Iran-backed Houthi rebels who had seized Sanaa.

More than 5,800 people have been killed and 27,000 wounded since then, according to UN figures.

Yemen's government sat down with the rebels and their allies in Switzerland last month for six days of talks that ended with no major breakthrough.

The UN envoy has called for a new round of talks on January 14 but the sides have yet to confirm that they will attend.

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In this file photo provided by Mexico's attorney general, shows the most recent image of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman before he escaped from the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya, west of Mexico City, Sunday, July 12, 2015. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto posted on his Twitter account, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, that drug lord Joaquin 'Chapo' Guzman has been recaptured.. (Mexico's Attorney General's Office via AP)
A man walks in the Rue Henri Berge in the Schaerbeek neighborhood of Brussels on Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. A Brussels apartment in the Rue Henri Berge was likely used to make bombs for the Paris attacks, and one of the plotters also hid out there after escaping a police dragnet, Belgian prosecutors said Friday. Prosecutors said they found Salah Abdeslams fingerprint in a search of the apartment on Dec. 10, but the international fugitives whereabouts remain unknown. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo, center, speaks during a press conference as U.S. Forces Korea Commander Curtis Scaparrotti, right, listens at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. In response to North Koreas latest nuclear test, South Korea on Thursday announced it would resume cross-border propaganda broadcasts that Pyongyang considers an act of war. Seoul also began talks with Washington that could see the arrival of nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft and submarines to the Korean Peninsula. (Hwang Gwang-mo/Yonhap via AP)
An Egyptian court confirmed Tuesday a 10-year jail sentence for Egyptian militant Adel Habara on charges of using force, carrying light weapons and resisting arrest.

Habara, known for his involvement in the killing of policemen in Rafah in 2013, had initially received the sentence in absentia but was retried following his arrest.

The Islamist militant was arrested on 31 August 2013 in the North Sinai town of El-Arish.

Habara has already been sentenced to death in absentia on charges of involvement in the bomb blasts in Taba in 2004 and Dahab in 2006, both touristic sites in Sinai, which left 42 dead.

The latest verdict against Habara was issued on 6 December 2015, marking his third death sentence, on charges of killing a police officer in Sharqiya's Abu Kebir in 2012. The sentence, which was issued after the Grand Mufti's approval, can still be appealed.

The first death sentence Habara received was on 14 October 2014 for the execution-style killing of 25 policemen in Rafah in August 2013 in what became known as the second Rafah massacre.

In December 2014, the sentence was confirmed after the Grand Mufti's approval, but was revoked on 16 June 2015 and a retrial was ordered.

The death sentence was again confirmed on 14 November 2015 but can still be appealed, as death sentences can be appealed twice.

Habara received his second death sentence in May 2015 on charges of joining a jihadi group that aims to overthrow the government and target the army and police, receiving funds from foreign parties to achieve this goal, possessing explosives, and having connections with the ISIS militant group.

May's death verdict was appealed and a retrial was ordered, after which it was confirmed on 29 September 2015.

Many Islamists have received similar sentences over the past two years.

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Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battled for support among Nevada Democrats on Wednesday night, looking beyond the leadoff contests of Iowa and New Hampshire to a state that could play a pivotal role in the nomination fight.

Clinton presented herself as the partys best choice to defeat Republicans in the fall and preserve the legacy of President Barack Obama, promising Nevadans would always have a friend in the White House if I am your president.

In January of 2017, a new president is going to walk into the Oval office and America cant afford it to be a Republican who will rip away all the progress we have made, Clinton said, as many of Sanders supporters stood silently, holding up signs for the Vermont senator.

Sanders was greeted by a loud cacophony of horns and vuvuzelas in his cheering section, telling supporters that Republicans suffered from an illness called amnesia. They seem to have forgotten the conditions they left this country in when Obama took office in January 2009.

While the former secretary of state has led Nevada polls, Sanders has poured money and staff into the state in recent weeks in hopes of pulling off an upset. Nevada follows Iowa and New Hampshire on the Democratic calendar and a split decision by the first two states could place a greater emphasis on the Western state, which features a much more diverse electorate.

The third major Democratic candidate, former Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley, has trailed Clinton and Sanders by a wide margin but won cheers from the crowd with a series of slams against the Republican presidential field.

Addressing Donald Trump, OMalley said, Id like to say that Donald Trump is the most outrageous and unqualified person to ever run for president. But really, thats not fair to Ted Cruz.

The state partys caucus dinner at the MGM Grand brought together about 2,200 activists, one of the largest gatherings before the states presidential caucuses on Feb. 20.

Clinton, backed by women and Latinos in large numbers, won the popular vote in Nevadas 2008 caucuses against Obama. But the future president narrowly prevailed in the delegate count with the help of a strong showing in rural areas.

In her speech Wednesday evening, Clinton reminded voters she was raising millions of dollars for state parties in an attempt to strengthen Democrats up-and-down the ballot. Sanders said the only way Democrats would win elections was through generating enthusiasm and a massive voter turnout.

Nevadas increasingly greater profile in the presidential sweepstakes has been promoted by Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who has remained neutral in the 2016 race but has encouraged an active caucus campaign.

Reid has sought to give his home state even greater prominence, noting its growing Hispanic population and role as a competitive state in recent presidential elections. Obama won the state in both 2008 and 2012 but it was fiercely contested in both campaigns.

No state reflects the growing diversity of our nation better than Nevada, Reid said, before joining hands with the three Democratic candidates on stage.

Republicans sought to tie Clinton to Reid, calling him the face of Washington dysfunction. Michael Short, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said that while Nevadans and the rest of the country want to turn the page on the Reid-Obama era, Hillary Clinton is promising an encore.

Reid is not the only powerful figure expected to stay on the sidelines in the Democratic campaign. The Nevada culinary union, which backed Obama in 2008, is not expected to endorse a candidate before the caucuses, putting the support of about 60,000 workers up for grabs.

In a competition of enthusiasm, the room offered a deafening roar at times as Sanders cheering section screamed, Feel the Bern, and blew into yellow vuvuzelas and air horns while Clintons backers chanted, HRC, and waved neon blue glow sticks.

The noise clearly got Sanders attention, and he interrupted his speech at one point to tell his backers, That music is really beautiful!

(AP)
Arizona Sen. John McCain said questions surrounding Ted Cruzs right to run for president since he was born in Canada should be explored, even as some argue that Cruz is still considered a natural born citizen.

Speaking on the Chris Merrill Show in Phoenix late Wednesday, McCain said concerns raised by Republican front-runner Donald Trump over whether Cruz can be president are legitimate.

I think there is a question, McCain said. I am not a constitutional scholar on that. But I think its worth looking into. I dont think its illegitimate to look into it.

Cruz was born in Alberta, Canada to an American mother and Cuban father. He renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014.

McCain himself was born on a military base in the Panama Canal, an issue raised during his 2008 presidential run against Barack Obama, whose American birth was doubted by some, leading to failed legal challenges.

Thats different from being born on foreign soil, McCain said, highlighting that the Panama Canal was an unorganized territory of the United States for much of the 20th century.

Cruz dismissed the claims Wednesday, before McCain made his comments. On a campaign stop in Iowa, Cruz said it is quite straightforward and settled law that the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural born citizen, he said.

John McCain was born in Panama, but he was a natural born citizen because his parents were U.S. citizens, Cruz added.

Both men used the example of Barry Goldwater, the Republican partys nominee for president in 1964, as an example to defend their claims. Goldwater was born in Arizona before it became a state, but both of his parents held U.S. citizenship, allowing him to run.

(AP)
GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie criticized President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on a host of foreign policy issues Thursday, saying Obamas Iran nuclear deal has hampered the fight against the Islamic State and is skewing Americas priorities in the Middle East.

The New Jersey governor participated in a wide-ranging dialogue in front of about 80 people in a Manhattan townhouse. The event was sponsored by the World Values Network, an organization whose mission is to advance universal Jewish values in politics, according to its website.

Christie charged Obama with withdrawing America from the world and failing to engage with foreign leaders to forge alliances. He referred to Clinton as Secretary Happy Talk for seeing the world as she wishes it was on questions such as the strength and reach of the Islamic State.

What were seeing is just the very beginning of what a post-American world will look like, he said. Some in my party advocate for a withdrawal of America from the world. This president has withdrawn America from the world.

Like most Republicans, Christie strongly opposed the Iran nuclear deal. On Thursday he characterized it as having been accomplished for political purposes, through Chicago ward politics, a reference to Obamas hometown.

They went in, they twisted arms, they got the votes, he said.

He called Iran simply an enormous threat and said the nuclear deal has made it harder for the U.S. to put together a coalition to battle the Islamic State and has affected how the U.S. considers even its allies in the Middle East, including Israel.

The underlying policy of this administration is to convince everyone their Iranian policy is correct, he said. Everything has to draw a line back to Tehran and the justification of an awful agreement.

On Israel, Christie castigated Obama for his often tense relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said one of the first things he would do if elected president would be to invite Netanyahu to Camp David for a long weekend so he could vent about Obama.

In response to questions about Iran and Syria, Christie said his strategy would not be to act unilaterally to effect regime change, but to be unequivocal about U.S. intentions as a means to building a coalition of allies.

We are not the worlds policeman, he said. I would do all I could to make sure the world responds. That doesnt mean American blood needs to be spilled every time this happens.

He reiterated his opposition to allowing Syrian refugees to enter the U.S. but disagreed with Donald Trumps proposal to ban all Muslims, calling it absolutely wrong.

It comes from inexperience, he said, after noting he has been friends with Trump for 13 years. I dont believe Donald Trump is a bigot. I just think hes wrong.

Christie was to attend a fundraiser in New York later Thursday.

(AP)
Jerusalem Magistrate Court Judge Gioia Skappa-Shapiro leveled strong criticism at the Department of Nationalist Crime in the Central Unit of the Shomron & Yehuda (Shai) Police for their conduct involving the extension of a detained minors remand and in light of their conduct refused to extend the remand of a detained minor in a different case.

During a deliberation on the case of a minor detained on suspicion of involvement with an altercation with Arab shepherds, it became apparent that the police had not carried out the investigatory procedures for which the minors remand was extended. Judge Gioia Skappa-Shapiro strongly criticized the police and wrote that, This conduct raises doubt about the level of seriousness with which the court should relate to declarations by the police concerning investigatory procedures for which remand extensions are necessary.

Judge Skappa-Shapiro released the minor and at a deliberation on Thursday, 19 Teves on a different case of a detained minor, refused to acquiesce to a request by the Yehuda and Shomron Police to extend his remand in light of their conduct in the aforementioned case.

Judge Skappa-Shapiro wrote that among other reasons, she will not fully grant a request by the police because, In another case in which similar investigatory procedures were requested by the same investigating unit, it became clear after the remand was extended that the investigatory procedures were not carried out and there was no acceptable reason for this.

The minor in the second case is a 15-year-old youth who was detained on Wednesday, 18 Teves on suspicion of involvement with several price tag incidents in the Binyamin region. He was released to house arrest on Monday, 23 TEves after the court ruled that there is insufficient cause to keep him in remand.

Honenu Attorney David HaLevi, who represented the first minor, said in Kislev that he hopes that the police will internalize the strong criticism. Scandalous conduct by the police has become routine. The police arrived at court to demand a remand extension for a minor and announced that they would carry out investigatory procedures. After the fact it became apparent that the police had misrepresented themselves in court in order to justify the remand and that none of the procedures had been carried out. I am pleased that the court strongly criticized this conduct and ordered the release of my client. This decision speaks for itself, and it would be worthwhile for the investigating authorities to fully internalize the criticism which the court directed at them.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
As YWN reported more than ten years ago, El Al during recent years has been the subject of numerous scandals pertaining to kashrus failures and chilul Shabbos. Kikar Shabbos News this week reports yet another incident, this one addressing the fact the airline regularly begins working to transport meals for motzei Shabbos flights before Shabbos ends.

This report refers to an El Al affiliate, Tamam Aircraft Food Industries Ltd., which supplies kosher meals for flights. The company routinely is Mechalel Shabbos to bring the meals to Sundor flights.

Kikar explains El Al runs Tamam which has Jews transporting the food on Shabbos.

The report adds that a company call El Chef, which prepares meals, has already been warned about Chilul Shabbos by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

Kikar spoke with the Rav of Tamam, Rabbi Moshe Nachshoni, who insists the company does not work on Shabbos. He explains the meals are ready before Shabbos and El Al sends someone to pick them up from a designated place at Tamam as other companies do. Rav Nachshoni explains this has been the arrangement for 67 years. Now the Chief Rabbinate is not approving the arrangement so Tamam will look for another site to store the meals before Shabbos and El Al can take the meals from there, not from Tamam.

The Chief Rabbinate adds Any company failing to comply with regulations will lose its hashgacha.

Tamam officials explain they have always and will continue adhering to instructions from Rav Nachshoni and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The garbage continues piling in Yerushalayim and a growing number of residents are not just disgusted, but concerned over the hazard and stench associated with the unwanted sight. This is seen in many areas including the Old City. In some areas, parking spaces are lost and the garbage poses a danger to motorists and pedestrians trying to cross streets.

The city on Wednesday night the eve of 26 Teves that a solution has been reached to remove the mounds of trash around the city. On Thursday morning, traveling from Beit Shemesh, one could see close to 20 garbage trucks were seen heading to the capital. Perhaps the trucks were hidden in Beit Shemesh. Whatever the case, residents are now hopeful the mountains of garbage around the city will be picked up. City Hall promises relief.

Officials report sanitation workers are committed to working around the clock to remove the garbage from around the city that accumulated during the strike. Simultaneously, labor and management will be negotiating to find a deal between the city and sanitation workers to end strikes and job actions.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Israel Police announce with certainty that Nashat Melhem, the Dizengoff shooting attack terrorist who is still at large, murdered Lod taxi driver Amin Shaban as he fled Tel Aviv following the attack that claimed two lives last week. Shortly following the police announcement, the Shaban family expressed outrage over the departments handling of the case.

Channel 2 News spoke with a brother, Razi Shaban, who explained Police did not tell us anything. They simply left a message now.

Razi explains the family asked for documentation of the events in an effort to learn how Amin was murdered but they have yet to receive anything. They point out that while Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich visited the homes of the two victims of the pub shooting, he has not visited the Shaban home.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
While 13 fishermen are to return to Egypt, three will remain in Tunisia to stand trial for trespassing and illegal fishing

Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has managed to secure the release of Egyptian fishermen who were detained for illegal fishing in Tunisia.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid stated that 13 fishermen would return to Egypt either later this week or early next week.

He added, however, that three of the fishermen, including the captain of the Egyptian fishing boat, will remain in Tunisia to stand trial for trespassing and illegal fishing in Tunisian territorial waters in late December.

The Egyptian embassy in Tunis as well the ministry of foreign affairs will follow the trial, according to Abu Zeid.

In August, Tunisia released 15 Egyptian fishermen who were arrested near Sfax port, also for trespassing.

This is one of the latest incidents involving Egyptian fishermen arrested in the territorial waters of neighboring countries like Sudan, Libya, and Tunisia.

Egypts foreign ministry has repeatedly intervened in these cases to ensure the release of the fishermen.

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A Republican member of the House Benghazi committee said Friday he is hopeful that the Justice Department will bring charges against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for having classified information on her private email server.

Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas said there is increasing evidence that an enormous amount of information on Clintons private server is classified.

It was classified when it was on her server and it was classified when it was sent, Pompeo told conservative radio host Lars Larson on Thursday.

Pompeo said he is anxious for the Justice Department and FBI to make a determination on whether to bring charges against Clinton as quickly as possible. If charges are made, a grand jury would determine whether to indict.

I think that there is only one answer that can be reached, and I am hopeful that will be the outcome that the FBI achieves, Pompeo said.

These are just facts, Pompeo added. Weve all seen the reports of the classified information on her server. It could not and should not have been lawfully handled in the way that she did it.

Pompeos comments came as the panel interviewed former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta behind closed doors on Friday. The remarks are the latest by a congressional Republican suggesting an unfavorable judgment against Clinton before the committee or the FBI concludes their respective investigations.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said last fall that the Benghazi panel could take credit for Clintons recent drop in public opinion polls. He later retracted the comment.

Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., said a big part of the Benghazi investigation was designed to go after  Hillary Clinton.

Clinton was secretary of state at the time of the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the senior Democrat on the Benghazi panel, called Pompeos comments unfortunate and said they are evidence of GOP bias against Clinton.

I think its inappropriate, Cummings said. Its very unfortunate when we have a committee that is supposed to be about the business of finding out facts, for anyone to come out with those kinds of statements.

Pompeos comment will make it harder for the American people to accept the committees report as unbiased and non-partisan, Cummings said.

Panetta had not testified before the Benghazi panel until now, but he told Congress in 2013 that time, distance and the lack of an adequate warning prevented a more immediate response to the Sept. 11 attacks that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Panetta told MSNBC this week that there was never any order to stand down. On the contrary, the whole effort was to do everything possible to try to save lives.

The Republican staff on the committee issued a statement on Friday defending the panels work and criticizing Democratic members, underscoring how Benghazi remains a highly politically charged issue more than three years after the attacks.

(AP)
Iranians held mass protests on Friday across the Islamic Republic, angered by Saudi Arabias execution of a Shiite cleric that has enflamed regional tensions between the Mideast rivals.

Later in the day, the Iranian foreign minister insisted in a letter to the U.N. chief that Tehran has no desire to escalate tensions and said Saudis must make a crucial choice  either continue supporting extremists and promoting sectarian hatred or promote good neighborliness and regional stability.

The crisis has seen Saudi Arabia sever ties with Iran after crowds of protesters in Iran attacked two of its diplomatic posts on Sunday. Those assaults came after Saudi Arabia executed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric, the day before.

After Friday prayers in Tehran, thousands of worshippers joined the rally, carrying pictures of al-Nimr and chanting Death to Al Saud, referencing the kingdoms royal family. They also chanted Down with the U.S. and Death to Israel, traditional Iranian slogans at protests.

The rally in Tehran lasted some 40 minutes and took place in an outdoor space at the Mosalla Mosque, the main site for Friday prayers in Tehran.

Iranian state media reported similar protests taking place in other Iranian cities and towns. Shiites across the greater Mideast have rallied throughout the week over al-Nimrs execution.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon obtained Friday by The Associated Press that Iran has no desire or interest in escalation of tension in our neighborhood and hopes Saudi Arabia will heed the cause of reason.

Zarif said that from the first days of President Hassan Rouhanis election, both he and the president have sent public and private signals to Saudi Arabia about our readiness to engage in dialogue and accommodation to promote regional stability and combat destabilizing extremist violence.

But he also accused the Saudis of trying to prevent or defeat the nuclear deal reached in July, of producing or mis-educating many extremist perpetrators of acts of terror, of supporting extremist terrorists in Syria and elsewhere, and waging a senseless war in Yemen.

Zarif also accused Saudi authorities of engaging in numerous direct and at times lethal provocations against Iran. He cited Saudi bombers hitting Iranian diplomatic facilities in Yemen several times, including on April 24 and Sept. 18 last year and Jan. 7, killing two local service personnel, injuring a number of Yemeni guards and inflicting damage to the buildings. He did not specify where the killings, injuries and damage took place.

Zarif also accused the Saudis of persistently mistreating Iraqi pilgrims, fueling public outrage in Iran.

On Thursday, Iran claimed that a Saudi-led airstrike the previous night had hit the Iranian Embassy in Sanaa, citing Irans Foreign Ministry. However, an Associated Press reporter who reached the site just after the announcement saw no damage to the building, which sits in a neighborhood near a presidential palace thats seen many previous strikes.

Iran vowed to file a report about their claim to the United Nations, while the Saudi military issued a statement through the kingdoms state news agency, dismissing the allegation as false.

In eastern Saudi Arabia, the home of al-Nimr and much of the kingdoms roughly 10 to 15 percent Shiite population, Shiites held a memorial service for the cleric Thursday night. It wasnt a funeral, as the sheikhs brother has said Saudi authorities had already buried his body in an undisclosed cemetery.

The service ended peacefully, despite gunfire echoing in the night in the region over the last week. On Friday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said that a man complained of being kidnapped at gunpoint by a gang and beaten in eastern Saudi Arabia. It quoted police as saying an investigation was ongoing.

A protest Friday in Bahrain saw hundreds of the countrys majority Shiites marching to denounce Saudi Arabia for al-Nimrs execution.

The protesters in the town of Sitra, south of the Bahraini capital of Manama, chanted slogans against the government, which is allied with Saudi Arabias Sunni monarchy. They also carried posters of al-Nimr.

The demonstration descended into violence with police firing tear gas and birdshot while protesters threw Molotov cocktails as they tried to reach a main highway. No further details were immediately available.

The Sunni-ruled Bahrain, which sided with Saudi Arabia in the kingdoms spat with Iran, has cut diplomatic ties with Tehran.

(AP)
Fugitive drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman was recaptured six months after he escaped from a maximum security prison, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced Friday.

A federal official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by name said Guzman was apprehended after a shootout with Mexican marines in the city of Los Mochis, in Guzmans home state of Sinaloa. He said Guzman was taken alive and was not wounded.

Responding to what was seen as one of the biggest embarrassments of his administration  Guzmans July 11 escape through a tunnel from Mexicos highest-security prison  Pena Nieto wrote in his Twitter account on Friday: mission accomplished: we have him.

I would like to inform Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been detained.

The U.S. Justice Department had no immediate comment on whether it would push to extradite Guzman to the United States, where he faces charges in multiple different jurisdictions across the country.

Five people were killed and one Mexican marine wounded in the clash. It was unclear if Guzman captured at the house or nearby when the raid was under way.

Another law enforcement official said authorities located Guzman several days ago, based on reports he was in Los Mochis.

The official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said authorities had even searched storm drains in the area. In 2014, Guzman escaped arrest by fleeing through a network of interconnected tunnels in the citys drainage system in the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan.

The Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines acting on a tip raided a home in the town of Los Mochis before dawn. They were fired on from inside the structure. Five suspects were killed and six others arrested. The marines injuries were not life threatening.

At the home marines seized two armored vehicles, eight rifles, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Photos of the arms seized in the raid suggested that Guzman and his associates had a fearsome arsenal at the non-descript white house.

Two of the rifles seized were.50-caliber sniper guns, capable of penetrating most bullet-proof vests and cars. The grenade launcher was found loaded, with an extra round nearby. And an assault rifle had a .40 mm grenade launcher, and at least one grenade.

Some in Mexico had doubted Guzman would allow himself to be captured alive, and others doubted that Mexico  given the successive embarrassments of his two escapes from prison  would want to hold him again in a Mexican prison.

Many people had doubted he could be recaptured, said Mexican security analyst Raul Benitez. It is a big success for the government.

The United States filed requests for extradition for Guzman on June 25, before he escaped. In September, a judge issued a second provisional arrest warrant on U.S. charges of organized crime, money laundering drug trafficking, homicide and others.

Former Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam had bragged earlier that Mexico wouldnt extradite Guzman until he had served his sentences in Mexico.

Benitez said such bragging makes me ashamed.

It would be better for the Americans to take him away, he said.

(AP)
Liverpool's Royal Albert Dock has been sold by developers Arrowcroft for 43million to investor Aberdeen Asset Management.

The site has more than 400,000 sq ft of hotel, leisure, retail and office space and is home to tenants including Holiday Inn, Premier Inn, The Beatles Story, Gusto and Miller & Carter as well as a number of independent companies.

The former working dock was built in the 1840s and was saved from dereliction by Arrowcroft in the early 1980s and restored. Today it comprises the largest Grade 1-listed collection of buildings in the country and is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Sold: Liverpool's Royal Albert Dock has been sold by developers Arrowcroft for 43million to investor Aberdeen Asset Management

Nicholas Hai, chairman of Arrowcroft, said: We take great pride in having restored these magnificent historic buildings and in so doing led the regeneration of Liverpools waterfront and created an attraction that has global recognition.
The Cairo Appeals Court released a statement on Wednesday saying that a judge was recused from a high-profile terrorism-related case for making public statements that indicate bias against the defendants.

Judge Nagy Shehata was recused after making statements to the press where he insisted that the defendants in the so-called "Awsim cell" case had not suffered torture at the hands of police. The judge made the comments without having studied the case sufficiently, indicating a bias on his part, according to the court statement.

The defendants in the "Awsim cell" case are being accused of creating a terrorist cell responsible for attacking public and private facilities, and targeting army and security personnel.

Awsim is a city in Giza, southern Cairo.

The defence team submitted the request for Shehata's removal following the controversial statements made in a recent interview with Al-Watan newspaper.

"Judge Shehata's statements to the press, in which he expresses his political opinion regarding events and certain movements and individuals, are considered an infringement of judicial norms that can potentially influence the verdicts, deeming him unqualified to preside over the case," the defence team stated, adding that the judge's statements reveal contempt for the 25 January revolution of 2011 and its aftermath as well as a targeting of certain movements and individuals.

Following the release of the interview, Shehata accused the newspaper of fabrication, instigating a media battle between the judge and the privately owned newspaper.

Well-known for handing down numerous death sentences, Shehata presided over several high-profile cases, including the "Rabaa operations room" case, the "Marriot cell" case involving Al-Jazeera journalists, the cabinet clashes, and the Kerdasa massacre trial.

In April 2015, Shehata handed down death sentences for Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and 13 others, while 26 received life imprisonment on charges of forming an "operations room to resist the state and spread chaos" following the violent dispersal of two major Cairo sit-ins supporting ousted president Mohamed Morsi in August 2013.

In December 2014, Shehata sentenced 183 individuals to death on charges related to violence in the Kerdasa area of Giza in 2013.

In the Marriot cell case, Al-Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste were initially given sentences of seven to 10 years in prison.

In all of the cases mentioned, higher courts overturned the initial sentences and retrials were ordered. In some cases, as in the Kerdasa trial, the appeals of some defendants have yet to be reviewed by the cassation court.

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Wang Xin, CEO of Shenzhen Qvod Technology, speaks at his trial in a Beijing court on January 7

(Beijing)  Four executives of a company operating one of China's most popular video-sharing websites have gone on trial in the capital for allegedly profiting from pornography  a sign the government is still working to try to clean up the Internet.

Prosecutors in Haidian District People's Court on January 7 accused Wang Xin, CEO of Shenzhen Qvod Technology Co., and three other executives of knowingly providing Internet users with software that gave them access to pornography.

Shenzhen QVOD, which opened in 2007 in the southern province of Guangdong, developed a video player that allowed paying users to access pornographic and pirated video content from other hosts, prosecutors said.

"The defendants did little to stop the problem even after they learned that people could use their software to search, download and upload pornographic materials, resulting in online circulation of harmful content in great quantity," prosecutors said.

If convicted, the four could be imprisoned for life.

Authorities in the country have worked hard to remove content they deem harmful and politically sensitive from the Internet in recent years. Spot checks for unlicensed and pornographic content have been carried out on websites, search engines, mobile application stores and firms offering video streaming services.

Shenzhen QVOD says it has 300 million users and it has derived much of its profits from membership fees. It was fined 260 million yuan by regulators in Shenzhen in May 2014 for linking users to pornographic material and copyright infringement. Authorities did not say how they determined the amount of that fine.

Shortly afterward, the company's Internet business license was revoked by the National Office against Pornographic and Illegal Publications.

Prosecutors said police in Beijing retrieved nearly 30,000 video files from four server computers that Shenzhen QVOD rented from a Beijing technology company in November 2013 and more than 70 percent of them were pornographic.

The executives were arrested by Beijing police in August 2014.

Wang, Shenzhen QVOD's founder and CEO, and the three executives pleaded not guilty. Wang said in court that the company is not responsible for the content streamed via its video player.

He added that the company installed a keyword filter system based on a database provided by the Internet unit of Shenzhen police to block over 1,000 websites offering harmful material to its video player, but it is impossible to screen out all problematic content.

He also said his company had no knowledge of the porn videos that were stored on the servers. When asked by prosecutors why Shenzhen QVOD did not manually screen out the videos, Wang said this would be impossible because users watched tens of millions of videos every day.

The court did not make a ruling in the case.

(Rewritten by Li Rongde)
MANZINI  It has been revealed that schools opening will be rocked by a crisis as classrooms aimed to accommodate some of the over 23 000 Free Primary Education (FPE) pupils will not be complete on January 26, 2016.



About 23 142 pupils passed the 2015 Swaziland Primary Certificate (SPC) Examination and are expected to go to Form I when schools open. These pupils are the first batch of FPE programme to reach Grade VII.



In fact, according to information received on the matter, the construction of the classrooms has been hindered by a number of delays, which have since resulted in the handover time for the classrooms being pushed forward to early next month.



At least 72 classrooms will be constructed to accommodate the pupils.

Micro Projects was given the task of handling the construction of the much-needed classrooms in anticipation of the large number of pupils who will be going to Form I this year.



Micro Projects Coordinator Sibusiso Mbingo, when asked if the structures would be ready when schools open, revealed that according to their schedule, they were expecting to complete construction of the classrooms early next month.



You are aware schools are reopening at the end of January, but due to certain delays, we will only be able to have all classrooms ready in early February, that is if we do not experience more delays as we continue with construction, Mbingo said.

He mentioned that while Micro Projects had hoped to begin construction when schools closed in November 2015, they had to start later than anticipated because funds for the project were availed in December and not earlier as expected.
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By Madina Toure

The Holliswood Civic Association is casting a cautious eye on preliminary plans to build a residential development at the former Holliswood Hospital site.

The 27-year-old, 125-bed, three-story private psychiatric hospital at 87-37 Palermo St. officially closed Aug. 16, 2013. The facility offered mental health services to the general population and and members of the military.

The owner, real estate developer Steve Cheung, along with architect Michael Kang, is planning to build 20 homes on currently vacant land at the site as well as 31 condos in the hospital building, according to Linda Valentino, the civic associations president. The homes, which will be sold for $2.7 million each, will not have garages.

The sites zoning is R1-2, or zoning for single-family detached residences. Valentino said a private road is needed for the homes. That would require a variance.

Cheung plans to create a homeowners association once the homes are completed.

The civic associations concerns about the plan include noise, traffic, the lack of garages, pollution and the developments being a big imposition on a neighborhood that is primarily without sidewalks and has curvy streets, Valentino said.

This is a problem, but I dont know how were going to fight it except that we hope to make him conform to the strict zoning rules, she said.

Marie Adam-Ovide, CB 8s district manager, said the board will review the condos, which will have to go through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure once they are set in stone.

When we have more firm plans as to what they will do at that time, the community board will review everything and well be able to comment, Adam-Ovide said.

The owner and architect recently presented their plans to state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), the Holliswood Civic Association, Community Board 8 and state Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Fresh Meadows).

Its good that the architect and the owner are willing to discuss and sit with the community and thats where were at, Avella said.

The site started as a doctors hospital in the 1940s, Valentino said. In the 1960s, it was sold to an organization to create an upscale drug rehab center for Fortune 500 CEOs, but it ended up becoming a general rehab.

During the summer of 2015, Valentino added, children broke into the hospital building. Cheung had to pay summonses because he did not secure the property, but he then boarded up the property, she said.

The previous owner, Liberty Management, which watched the site for two years after it closed, had a guard keeping an eye on the building, she said.

The site has two open violations, according to the city Department of Buildings, for doing construction work that was not in the formally approved plans and occupying the building in a manner not listed in the occupancy certificate. Previous violations include failure to maintain the boiler and the elevator.

Although the civic is working on a counter-proposal, Valentino said Cheung has probably had the property for about six months and is likely paying hefty taxes.

I know he wants to do what he wants to do and whatever he wants to do and hes allowed to do, were going to have a hard time fighting it, she said.
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By Gabriel Rom

Queens Democrats came out in uniform support Tuesday for President Barack Obamas executive actions to try and curb gun violence throughout the country.

Speaking at the East Room at the White House and flanked by victims of gun violence and their families, the president became visibly emotional as he spoke of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

First graders, the President said. Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad.

Obama will seek to expand criminal background checks for gun buyers. He will also instruct the government to hire more personnel to process background checks, improve mental health services, direct officials to conduct more gun research and bolster enforcement in small communities.

The announcement comes at a moment when gun policy has become a politically toxic issue after years of deadlock in Congress over gun-reform bills.

These are much-needed, life-saving steps, but the fact remains that the president cannot solve this crisis on his own, said U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Jackson Heights). Congress needs to be a partner if were going to achieve the comprehensive reform that is critical to protecting our communities and families.

The proposed reforms fall short of making background checks universal, as failed 2013 legislation would have done.

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria), a longtime gun control advocate who is currently lead sponsor of five gun-violence prevention bills in Congress, released a forceful statement.

Americans are tired of killing, she said. They are tired of our streets, schools, churches and other public spaces being treated as war zones President Obama is taking appropriate action to require more gun sellers to have a Federal License, thereby expanding background checks.

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens), who is a member of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, also welcomed Obamas announcement.

As a member of the House, I would have preferred that Congress pass improved gun laws. But with Republican leaders still refusing to act, the president had no choice but to take these actions that are well within his authority.

U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) faces high incidents of gun violence in his district.

In November, 114 other members of Congress and I decided we could no longer permit Republican stubbornness in Congress to thwart progress and deny the American people safety, Meeks said. Today, President Obama answered our calls and those around the nation pleading for gun reform. Though President Obama has taken bold action, Congress is not off the hook.

The presidents speech was not welcomed by everyone, however.

Soon after Obamas speech, Chris Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association, accused Obama of engaging in political rhetoric instead of offering meaningful solutions and said the presidents actions would only make things worse.
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By Bill Parry

Sarker Haque got a phone call Monday with the news he had been waiting to hear for more than a month since he was attacked inside his Astoria store. The Queens district attorneys office told the 52-year-old Muslim immigrant from Bangladesh that a grand jury indicted the man who said I kill Muslims before allegedly beating him for 7 to 8 minutes Dec. 5.

It made me feel very good, very good indeed, Haque said.

Piro Kolvani, 55, of Jacksonville, Fla., was arraigned Monday before Acting Queens County Supreme Court Justice Barry Kron on a four-count indictment charging him with third-degree assault as a hate crime, assault, aggravated harassment and harassment, according to Queens DA Richard Brown.

The defendant was released on his own recognizance and ordered to return to court Feb. 11. If convicted, Kolvani faces up to four years in prison.

The incident began when the defendant entered Haques Fatima Food Market on 21st Avenue and started acting strangely, staring at a newspaper photo of the San Bernardino shootings, the victim recalled. According to the criminal complaint, Haque started to ask Kolvani a question when he suddenly blurted out I kill Muslims and began striking the victim in the face.

Haque sustained a cut to his lip as well as bruising and swelling to the left side of his face. A regular customer entered the store and helped hold Kolvani until police arrived.

Kolvani was arrested and released after he was issued a desk appearance ticket for assault and criminal mischief. But after a second interview with detectives from the 114th Precinct, the NYPD Hate Crimes Unit was notified.

When my guys first got there, at no point did he mention there was a religious epithet, Capt. Peter Fortune said last month. On Tuesday, Haque elaborated on the immediate aftermath of the attack.

When they were putting me in the ambulance, I could not speak, he said. I had lost my voice from all the screaming I did during the attack. I couldnt tell them because I could not speak.

Haque said his spirits were lifted by his neighbors in the days following the attack. The neighborhood was wonderful to me. It is something Ill never forget, Haque said.

State Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas (D-Astoria), who came to the United States as an infant in the 1970s, helped organize a rally that drew hundreds to Fatima Food Market.

I was heartened to learn that the criminal who viciously attacked Sarker Haque has been rearrested and charged with a hate crime, she said. These felony charges reflect the serious nature of the crime against Mr. Haque and state unequivocally that hate and violence have no home in our community.

More than a month after the attack, Haque says he still gets visits from well-wishers. The support Mr. Haque received makes clear there is no place for this kind of intolerance in our neighborhood, state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) said.

City Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria) vowed continued support for the Muslim community and that hate would not be tolerated.

We condemn this unconscionable behavior, he said. And we applaud the 114th Precinct for their handling of this serious incident.

U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights) missed the rally, but paid a visit to the shop Dec. 13. He presented Haque with an American flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington.

What happened to Sarker Haque, one of Astorias own, is not only reprehensible but it goes against everything our country stands for, Crowley said. I commend the NYPD for their swift work and I thank them for the thorough investigation of this incident as a hate crime. The charges against the attacker send a strong message that our communities and our city stand firmly against such hateful and violent acts and that we will speak out against this intolerance whenever and wherever it may appear.
(Beijing)  The government of the capital is considering taking half of the city's private cars off the road for the rest of the winter in a bid to end the severe bouts of smog that have recently plagued the city, several people close to the matter say.

The city's Communist Party leaders and transport officials have held meetings recently to discuss the idea of keeping half of Beijing's cars off the streets on a given day depending on whether their license plates end with even or odd numbers, the sources said.

The idea is similar to one used to keep the capital's skies clear during major events and periods of bad air pollution, such as a meeting of APEC leaders in late 2014, a military parade in September and when air pollution is bad for three straight days. It would be in place until heating for residential and office buildings is turned off in mid-March.

Wang Limei, vice president of the China Road Transport Association, an organization for transport companies, said the government must back any decision up with scientific data.

"How long should the new policy last? How restrictive will it be?" she said. "The government should conduct research and collect data to answer these questions before acting."

The capital has suffered with terrible bouts of smog even by its low standards this winter. On November 30, levels of PM2.5  small, cancer-causing particles in the air  soared to 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter. The World Health Organization says anything above 25 is unhealthy.

City officials then declared a red alert for air pollution on December 7 because the air quality index was expected to rise over 200  meaning the air was officially heavily polluted  for the next three days. This alert required half of cars to stay off the road, schools had to close, work at construction projects had to halt, and factories had to shut or slow production.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection recently said the capital's air pollution problems are related to car use. On December 2, it cited a report by the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences that blamed Beijing's smog on nitrogen oxides from car emissions, which it said accounted for 40 percent of the pollutants.

In other regions of northern China, burning coal to heat homes and offices in winter is the main culprit of pollution, the ministry said. Many cities north of the Yangtze River provide heating for homes and offices over the winter, something the public pays for as a utility.

Beijing had 5 million cars on its roads in 2012, the latest official data show, and will have more than 6 million this year.

(Rewritten by Chen Na)
Beaver County's homes rose in price

How did Beaver County's housing market do in July? The median price for a house in 2022 was higher than 2021.
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WASHINGTON  Every Republican of the type concerned with winning in November has been asking the question (at least internally), "What if the worst happens?"

The worst does not mean the nomination of Ted Cruz, despite justified fears of political disaster. Cruz is an ideologue with a message perfectly tuned for a relatively small minority of the electorate. Uniquely in American politics, he has made his reputation by being roundly hated by his colleagues  apparently a prerequisite for a certain kind of anti-establishment conservative, but unpromising for an image makeover at his convention.

Cruz's nomination would represent the victory of the hard right  religious right and tea party factions  within the Republican coalition. After he loses, the ideological struggles within the GOP would go on.

No, the worst outcome for the party would be the nomination of Donald Trump.

It is impossible to predict where the political contest between Trump and Hillary Clinton would end up. Clinton has manifestly poor political skills and Trump possesses a serious talent for the low blow. But Trump's nomination would not be the temporary victory of one of the GOP's ideological factions. It would involve the replacement of the humane ideal at the center of the party and its history. If Trump were the nominee, the GOP would cease to be.

Whatever your view of Republican politicians, the aspiration, the self-conception, of the party was set by Abraham Lincoln: human dignity, honored by human freedom and undergirded by certain moral commitments, including compassion and tolerance. Lincoln described the "promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance."

It is this universality that Trump attacks. All of his angry resentment against invading Hispanics and Muslims adds up to a kind of ethno-nationalism  an assertion that America is being weakened and adulterated by the other. This is consistent with European, right-wing, anti-immigrant populism. It is not consistent with conservatism, which, at the very least, involves respect for institutions and a commitment to reasoned, incremental change.

And Trumpism is certainly not consistent with the Republicanism of Lincoln, who admitted no exceptions to the promises of the Declaration of Independence and was nominated, in part, because he could appeal to anti-slavery German immigrants.

Liberals who claim that Trumpism is the natural outgrowth, or logical conclusion, of conservatism or Republicanism are simply wrong. Edmund Burke is not the grandfather of Nigel Farage. Lincoln is not even the distant relative of Trump.

Trump, in some ways, is an odd carrier of ethno-nationalist beliefs. He held few of them, as far as I can tell, just four years ago. But as a demagogue, he has followed some of America's worst instincts wherever they have led, and fed ethnic and religious prejudice in the process. All presidential nominees, to some extent, shape their parties into their own image. Trump would deface the GOP beyond recognition.

Trump is disqualified for the presidency by his erratic temperament, his ignorance about public affairs and his scary sympathy for authoritarianism. But for me, and I suspect for many, the largest problem is that Trump would make the GOP the party of racial and religious exclusion.

American political parties are durable constructions. But they have been broken before by powerful, roiling issues such as immigration and racial prejudice.

Many Republicans could not vote for Trump, but would have a horribly difficult time voting for Clinton. The humane values of Republicanism would need to find a temporary home, which would necessitate the creation of a third party. This might help elect Clinton, but it would preserve something of conservatism, held in trust, in the hope of better days.

Ultimately, these political matters are quite personal. I have spent 25 years in the company of compassionate conservatives, reform conservatives, Sam's Club conservatives, or whatever they want to call themselves, trying to advance an agenda of social justice in America's center-right party. We have shared a belief that sound public policy  promoting opportunity, along with the skills and values necessary to grasp it  can improve the lives of our fellow citizens, and thus make politics an honorable adventure.

The nomination of Trump would reduce Republican politics  at the presidential level  to an enterprise of squalid prejudice. And many Republicans could not follow, precisely because they are Republicans. By seizing the GOP, Trump would break it to pieces.

Michael Gerson is a Washington Post columnist. Contact him at michaelgerson@washpost.com.
By Patrick Johnston

Britton Campbell may not serve jail time after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the 2014 death of her then-boyfriend Justin Thomas Quintana.

Campbell, 21, was sentenced Friday in 30th District Court to 5 years supervision with deferred adjudication and a $1,000 fine.

Judge Bob Brotherton told Campbell he was basing his sentencing decision on her actions and those of Quintana that night.

"Either way, you get to go home today," said Quintana's father, Alan, in a victim impact statement. "We go home broken and without our son."

During his statement, Alan Quintana spoke of his son's life and his confusion about the sentencing.

"My son was a heck of a person and always offered to help anyone. ...We don't want any ill for you, but we wanted accountability. ... My son's life is not worth food stamps," the father said, referring to a 5-year jail sentence issued in the court he witnessed earlier in the day for a man convicted of stealing food stamps.

A May 16, 2014 Times Record News article said Quintana, a former Midwestern State University student, was shot just after 1:30 a.m. that same day in the 4100 block of Weeks Park Lane at the apartment complex. Then-PIO Sgt. John Spragins said Quintana was dead when police arrived at the scene following a "frantic 911 call." Spragins said Quintana was the only person living in the apartment.

Campbell was indicted for manslaughter by the Wichita County grand jury for his death after turning herself in to authorities on Nov. 19, 2014. A Dec. 31, 2014 TRN article said Campbell was interviewed by detectives overnight and released without an arrest being made.

"They were pretty much just playing with a gun and it went off," WFPD PIO Brandie Banda said in the Dec. 31 article based on the detectives' information. "It was a freak accident, but she was reckless in doing it."
AP Photo Broken glass remains at the scene of a suicide bomb attack at Adan Square, located in a predominantly Shiite part of the capital, Baghdad, Iraq, Monday 2015. President Barack Obama is asking Congress for new war powers, sending Capitol Hill his blueprint for an updated authorization for the use of military force to fight the Islamic State group. File

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Arnold Oliver, Wichita Falls

Google the word "jihad" and you get 35 million hits and as many definitions as there are sects of Islam. According to Wikipedia one definition is "striving, applying oneself, struggling, persevering." The majority of scholars in the hadith "understands the obligation of jihad in a military sense.

One major sect of Islam today generally adopts the definition of an inner spiritual struggle. The "peaceful" Muslims generally adhere to this definition. The other sect are the Sunni, some of whom have adopted the "lesser jihad" or the violent form or Holy War.

ISIS is a Sunni Muslim sect trying to establish an Islamic caliphate. ISIS is a terrorist group that has killed Americans and will kill more. ISIS is responsible for the Paris attacks and the two jihadists in San Bernardino claimed allegiance to ISIS. Since the Paris attacks the U.S. has admitted 132 refugees from Syria all of whom are Sunni Muslims.

Not a single Christian among them. A significant portion of these refugees were young men of military age. Four hundred and twenty-three Syrians have been admitted in the last two months of which 98 percent were Sunni Muslim.

Since 2011 approximately 2,300 Sunni refugees have been admitted of whom 93 percent were Sunni Muslim. Only 2 percent were Christian. We are about to take in another 10,000 Syrian refugees and how many will be Sunni and how many Christian?

Genocide is occurring against Christians in the Middle East and inquiries to the White House as to why Christian refugees cannot be given a higher preference results in the response that it would be "discriminatory."

Our president has stated that there has never been a religious test for refugee status. Either he is lying (likely) or he has never read Title 8 U.S. Code 1101(a)(42) which states clearly that one test for refugee status is a "well-founded fear of persecution" among other criteria, religion.

I can only conclude that Obama is helping ISIS. Congress should be asking questions. Other Muslim nations will not accept these refugees because of "security reasons."
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Glens Falls

Last week, Latham-based medical device maker AngioDynamics, Inc., signed a contract with an external research and development company.

The move funded a program to incorporate a new technology into the market, CEO Joseph DeVivo said Thursday.

This deal was finalized mere weeks after a freeze on a 2.3 percent tax on the sale of medical devices was signed into law.

Freeing millions of dollars for jobs and research and development, the law enabled the company to make that deal six months to a year more quickly than it originally planned, DeVivo said.

Legislation passed in December temporarily lifted a controversial tax that helped pay for the Affordable Care Act. Manufacturers and importers of medical devices, like AngioDynamics and others in the so-called Catheter Valley of upstate New York, have had to pay the tax on sales since 2013.

DeVivo's announcement, which followed a tour of the Glens Falls facility with U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, was a bright moment Thursday for AngioDynamics, which on Thursday reported a second quarter net loss of $400,000, compared to last year's second-quarter earnings of $1.3 million. Net sales for the quarter were $89.2 million, compared to last year's $92.1 million. Additional information was not available by press time.

AngioDynamics did not expect the legislation's success in Washington, DeVivo said.

"The probability of this happening  I don't think there was a betting man who said we could pull this off," he said.

Industry trade groups said the tax harmed research, development and continued medical progress. In the 12 months ending in May, the tax cost AngioDynamics $4.14 million. Since 2013, the company has spent more than $12 million from its operating budget on the tax, DeVivo said Thursday.

He said he expected the tax freeze to encourage manufacturing companies to launch products domestically instead of abroad.

The freeze runs until Dec. 31, 2017, and Schumer said the next step would be to eliminate the tax  which he said "cut the industry off at its knees".

"We're not going to rest at that  we're going to figure out a way to undo this tax permanently, because it's so important," Schumer said.

Schumer said the freeze would not affect funding for the Affordable Care Act, though he did not specify how. The tax would have provided $29 billion for the Affordable Care Act from the device industry over a decade.

Earlier in the afternoon, Schumer and DeVivo toured the company's new factory, where employees in a fluorescent-lit room assemble laser fiber catheters that treat varicose veins. The factory opened in January at the Glens Falls campus.

lellis@timesunion.com  518-454-5018  @lindsayaellis
EMPAC at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute spring schedule of events includes  as usual  a combination of music, lectures, film and interdisciplinary performances that mash genres and perspectives.

In addition, this season marks the launch of the Cognitive and Immersive Systems Laboratory, a new collaboration between RPI and IBM that, to quote a press release, "will utilize the infrastructure and programmatic context of EMPAC for high-level projects in cognitive computing."

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, founding director Johannes Goebel will join CISL director Hui Su in a discussion of "Vectors and Circles," an image Goebel has used to describe the intersection of science and art.

Also upcoming at EMPAC: clarinet and cello music that "expand the sonic range" of their respective instruments; texts written by a composer and "spoken" by a trumpeter; an Indian vocalist performing with a piano trio; and a collaborative performance by artists Wu Tsang and boychild set in a sci-fi world and featuring improvised music by cellist Patrick Belaga.

The full schedule is below. For more information, see empac.rpi.edu or call 276-3921.

For the spring lineup of "On Screen/Sound," the EMPAC film series highlighting soundtracks, click on "Film/Video." (It kicks off at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4, with Alfred Hitchcock's "Blackmail" and Morgan Fisher's "Picture and Sound Rushes.")

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28: New-music clarinetist Rane Moore and experimental jazz/noise cellist Okkyung Lee performing contemporary works. Studio 2. $18 general; $13 for seniors, RPI staff and faculty non-RPI students; $6 for RPI students.

7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11: "Vectors and Circles: CISL and EMPAC, A Conversation with Johannes Goebel and Hui Su." Theater. Free.

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12: Experimental trumpeter Nate Wooley performing "For Kenneth Gaburo," a new work that uses text by composer Gaburo and "manipulated trumpet techniques" in evoking the sounds of speech. Concert hall. $18 general; $13 for seniors, RPI staff and faculty and non-RPI students; $6 for RPI students.

8 p.m. Friday, April 1: "Atlas Revisited," lecture-performance by Karthik Pandian and Andros Zins-Browne. The artists discuss their efforts to restage bits of "Channels/Inserts," a 1982 Merce Cunningham/Charles Atlas dance film, with camels. Goodman Studio 1. $12 general; $10 senior citizens and RPI faculty, staff and students.

7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7: Crossover trio Bearthoven and saxophone quartet Battle Trance perform music crossing avant-garde, jazz and classical. Concert Hall. $18 general; $13 for seniors, RPI staff and faculty and non-RPI students; $6 for RPI students.

7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14: "The Music of Salvatore Sciarrino." Works by the Italian composer, conducted by Rensselaer arts faculty Nicholas DeMaison and featuring instrumental ensembles and vocalist Amanda DeBoer Bartlett. Concert hall. $18 general; $13 for seniors, RPI staff and faculty and non-RPI students; $6 for RPI students.

8 p.m. Friday, April 15: "Moved by the Motion," performed by Wu Tsang and boychild, with cellist Patrick Belaga. Performance combining music, movement and voice, based on the science-fiction realm from an upcoming Tsang film, "A day in the life of bliss." Theater. $18 general; $13 for seniors, RPI staff and faculty and non-RPI students; $6 for RPI students.

2 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 20: "Art and Science: Pushing the Limits of the Creative Process in Media Art," talks by artist-scientist Bernd Lintermann, who created the modeling and animation software Xfrog. Studio 2. Free.

4 p.m. Thursday, April 21: talk by acoustics researcher Markus Noisternig on 3D "sound-spatialization" technologies. Studio 2. Free.

7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 21: Indian vocalist Amirtha Kidambi, with improvising quartet Elder Ones and experimental piano trio Longleash. Concert hall. $18 general; $13 for seniors, RPI staff and faculty and non-RPI students; $6 for RPI students.

8 p.m. Friday, April 22: "One can make out the surface only by placing any dark-colored object on the ground," work-in-progress film performance  employing a moving camera and live performers  by EMPAC artist-in-residence Hannah Rickards. Goodman Studio 1. Free.

7 p.m. Thursday, April 28: Talk by EMPAC resident Patricia Boyd, whose work-in-progress involves a multiple-camera rigging that tracks constant horizontal and vertical shots. Theater. Free.

8 p.m. Thursday, May 5: Swiss jazz pianist/bandleader Nik Bartsch and his ensemble, MOBILE. Concert hall. $18 general; $13 for seniors, RPI staff and faculty and non-RPI students; $6 for RPI students.

8 p.m. Friday, May 13: "WITHIN 2," final EMPAC presentation of sound artist Tarek Atoui's years-long effort to create instruments and perform for the hearing impaired. Multiple venues. Free.

abiancolli@timesunion.com  518-454-5439  @AmyBiancolli
AMSTERDAM  Four Montgomery County residents were arrested Thursday in a drug sweep spurred by complaints from city residents about heroin and cocaine sales, officials said.

Amsterdam police and the State Police CNET unit combined for the undercover operation in the East Main Street area. According to Detective Sgt. Thomas Hennessy, those arrested were:
Even those who are devoted to the music of Elliott Carter will admit that the composer's name can strike more than a bit of fear in audiences. That's because his writing, while brilliant and colorful, is also bracing, dissonant and complex. But Carter, who died in 2012 at age 103, started off as a nationalist, working alongside such beloved figures as Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson to create music in an engaging and distinctly American style.

One of the most popular gems from Carter's early years is the Woodwind Quintet (1948), which will be performed Sunday, Jan. 17, by the New York Woodwind Quintet. The matinee concert at the Emma Willard School in Troy is being presented by the Friends of Chamber Music.

"It's a jazzy work, in the language that people think of as Americana," says horn player William Purvis. "It's always rewarding and challenging."

The New York Woodwind Quintet had a long association with Carter and commissioned a second quintet from him, which the composer completed on his 101st birthday. According to Purvis, Carter thought that too much was made about the contrasts between his early and later works.

"He was always engaged in the same process, these interrelationships between instruments and voices; they just became more complicated," explains Purvis. "The Quintet is more tonal than how he wrote a few years later. It's like a dinner conversation with several people speaking at once."

The upcoming concert includes a rather wide range of works. There will be Purvis's own transcriptions of madrigals by Monteverdi and of the Mendelssohn String Quartet, Op. 13, No. 2, plus the Quintet of Jean Francaix, which was written in the same year as the Carter Quintet. Carter himself requested the Francaix be included when the group was performing his music some years back at Juilliard.

"It's an unlikely pairing, because the Francaix is brilliant but never serious. It's not vapid by any means, yet it's all surface flash, where Carter is always serious," observes Purvis.

Both composers were students of the great Nadia Boulanger in Paris at the same time. "Carter said Francaix was her favorite and would show up for class having completed his counterpoint exercises on the train ride and that they were always perfect," says Purvis.

While prolific up until the final months of his long life, Carter was also known as an affable fellow. He and his wife, Helen, had an active social life and took in arts events of all manner.

Purvis recalls being at a dinner party with the Carters, hosted by clarinetist Charles Neidich. Before dinner was served, Carter and Neidich got into a lengthy discussion on the ability of different makes of clarinets to produce multiphonics (two notes at once). But the conversation grew too technical even for Carter, who suddenly declared, "I cannot take in any more information on this topic at this time."

Later during the meal, the steam radiators of the building started making a racket and Carter remarked that it's a common thing in older Manhattan buildings that he'd never become accustomed to. His wife Helen countered, "That's because you can't stand any noise but your own."

The New York Woodwind Quintet performs at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 17 in Kiggins Hall at the Emma Willard School, 285 Pawling Ave., Troy. Tickets are $15-$25. Call 833-1874.

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Detour for dem Dogs

The Dogs of Desire usually don't get any exercise until the Albany Symphony Orchestra's end-of-season American Music Festival. But the orchestra has recently announced a special event in which the chamber ensemble will reprise and record a generous batch of works of David Mallamud.

Dogs fans know Mallamud. He's one of the most frequently commissioned composers for the group, and this event brings together five lively and comic pieces from the past decade, including "Last Call at the Folies Bergere" and the operetta "Lizardman." ASO music director David Alan Miller conducts and the guest vocalists include Broadway luminaries Christiane Noll, Brian Charles Rooney and Sierra Boggess, among others.

"The Wild and Whimsical World of David Mallamud," takes place at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 22, at the Zankel Music Center, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs. Tickets are $25. Call 694-3300.

Joseph Dalton is a freelance writer based in Troy.
When Capital Region jazz great Lee Shaw died in late October at the age of 89, Joe Barna was stricken with grief. The pianist had been a big influence, a longtime booster and a real fan  performing with him, attending his shows, finding in the 40-year-old drummer a kindred musical spirit rooted in bebop and swing.

News of her death was a massive blow. "I was devastated," he says now. "It really messed me up."

A day or two later, Barna started composing. And composing. And composing. "I was just drawn to the piano. I started writing like a freak  writing at a level that I'm not even at. I'm not a pianist, and the music that I wrote, you have to be a good pianist to play. So I don't know where it came from. Something happened, when she passed away, that I was able to do this. ... I went into this crazy, spiritual kind of manic episode. It lasted about nine days, and there was something about it."

For more than a week, he barely ate  mostly ramen noodles. Barely slept  maybe an hour a night. At one point, getting up to take a shower, he was distracted by a seven-note phrase and quickly sat back down. About 45 minutes later, he finished a piece called "Thelonious Lee." Then he got up again and realized he was naked.

More for you Local notable deaths in 2015

There was something transcendent about it, he says. Something ecstatic and strange. "I was weird," says Barna, based in Troy. "I don't want to say this, because I'll sound like a wacko, but I felt like she was writing this. I said to my mother, 'Mom, I felt like she didn't get to write these songs, so she's using me.' "

Whoever wrote them, the result is "Suite Lee," an intricate and emotional tribute to Barna's friend and inspiration. He and his ensemble, Sketches of Influence, performed some of it live at Shaw's memorial concert in December, and they'll play it all this weekend at two nights of concerts doubling as live recording sessions for a new album of the same name. Set for Saturday and Sunday at the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, these concerts-cum-sessions will feature Barna on drums, John Menegon on bass, Adam Siegel on alto sax  he was the last saxophonist to play with Shaw  and Nick Hetko, a student of hers, on piano. (The group's usual pianist, Dave Solazzo, stepped aside to allow "this kid to be part of this recording," Barna says.)

More Information If you go Joe Barna and Sketches of Influence, "Suite Lee" Where: Sanctuary for Independent Media, 3361 Sixth Ave., Troy When: 7 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission: Minimum donation $10; free for those who pledged to the Kickstarter campaign Info: 272-2390; www.mediasanctuary.org Contact Amy Biancolli at 518-454-5439 or abiancolli@timesunion.com or visit the arts blog at http://blog.timesunion.com/localarts See More Collapse

Over two nights, they'll play through the album's 65-minute set four times  "exactly the same tunes in the same order, but obviously, we're jazz musicians, we're not gonna be able to replicate," Barna says.

After wrapping up their sessions at the Sanctuary, the band will head down to the Catskills to record everything again in Menegon's Upland Studios Kingston. Barna's goal is two albums: one released on his own, one by a label he has his eye on. "It'll be the same exact music, but one's gonna be a studio version, and one's gonna be a live version."

Ambitious, yes? "Yeah, I go big. This is a huge project."

It all began last fall  shortly before Shaw's death, and shortly after Barna returned to Troy following stints in Manhattan and Dubai. Already armed with new music that he planned to record with the Sketches, he initiated a Kickstarter campaign to help defray the costs. (It raised $5,160.) "I set it up, I had the band, I had the music, I had everything. I knew what I wanted to do. A week later, Lee Shaw passes away."

He was shattered. "I don't know if anybody can explain it, but there's something about me and her," he says. "There's a very odd, unique camaraderie between the two of us, and even though there's such a huge gap in generations, I think we just, like, evolved out of the same spirit."

Transformed by her death and the nine-day composing binge that followed, Barna changed up both the band and the music he planned to record. The resulting albums will be his first since 2011's self-released "Blowin' It Out," recorded live at the now-shuttered Bread & Jam Cafe in Cohoes, and his first studio work since 2003's "Diggin' Da Duck." "I broke my ankle right after we recorded the thing. ... I even had to do a bunch of gigs with a cast on my leg," he says. "So I vowed never to do a studio record again. I thought it was bad juju."

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Both recordings will feature all seven movements of "Suite Lee," which aim to capture in jazz all that Shaw embodied: from the uptempo swing of the opening "Harmonious Lee" through the ballad "Ivory Romance" to the closer, an uptempo samba titled "Swift Lee." The queen of local jazz  at her memorial, keyboardist John Medeski dubbed her "Jazz Saint"  was born in Oklahoma, studied with Oscar Peterson and became famous, locally and around the globe, both for her originals and her fresh take on standards.

She met Barna in the summer of 1998, back when he was a student at Schenectady County Community College. He and pianist Theo Hill, a student of Shaw's, were playing a gig at the Starbucks in Stuyvesant Plaza when Hill's parents dropped by with Shaw and her husband (and drummer) Stan.

After the gig, Barna recalls, Stan approached him. "And he's like, 'Man, I gotta tell you, you really swing.' "

Two years later, Barna was studying at SUNY Purchase when Lee rang him up and asked him to play with her. "And my response was, 'Are you sure? I don't want to ruin your gig.'"

Did he? "I did not ruin it. It was fun."

At the outset she told him to "just listen to the bass player, you'll be fine." He was. They both played hard. He appreciated her act of faith in inviting him, and he still does. "I wasn't very good," Barna says. "But she gave me a chance."

abiancolli@timesunion.com  518-454-5439  @AmyBiancolli
Albany

The internal affairs unit that investigates misconduct and abuse in state prisons was for years mired in cover-ups, nepotism and unbridled sexual harassment, and investigators who questioned or reported the problems faced threats of retaliation, including being returned to their prison-guard jobs and marked as "rats."

The allegations are outlined in court records and investigative reports gathered by the office of state Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott, and were buttressed by interviews the Times Union conducted over the past year with current and former employees at the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

The internal affairs office, with an estimated 125 investigators, has come under scrutiny in the past two years, in part because of its alleged mishandling of investigations  including inmate abuse cases  and as a result of the fallout from last year's escape by two convicted murderers from the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. The Times Union previously reported that investigators in DOCCS' internal affairs unit privately criticized its pre-escape investigation into the relationship between the escapees and a female prison employee who aided their historic breakout.

Many of the accusations about the troubled unit became public as a result of the prosecution of James A. Ferro, 56, the former director of operations for DOCCS' inspector general's office. Ferro, whose office was renamed the Special Investigations Unit after a scandal prompted a leadership shake-up two years ago, was arrested in January 2015 on charges of harassment, coercion and official misconduct. He was accused of sexually harassing a subordinate employee, Mark Miller, and threatening to cut Miller's overtime and have him sent back to his guard job at Coxsackie Correctional Facility if he reported the abuse.

On Tuesday, as Miller prepared to testify at Ferro's criminal trial in Albany County Court, Ferro abruptly pleaded guilty under a deal with the state attorney general's office, which prosecuted the case. Ferro was sentenced to 120 hours of community service and fined $1,000.

Although Miller never testified, his lengthy interviews with investigators from the state inspector general's office detailed systemic corruption and nepotism at DOCCS, which is headquartered at the Harriman State Office Campus.

In April 2014, Ferro was placed on administrative leave as state investigators began probing the allegations against him. That same month, Miller, who worked under Ferro, met with the state investigators in a 16th-floor conference room at the state inspector general's office.

In addition to providing lurid details of Ferro's alleged sexual harassment, including grabbing Miller's genitals and kissing his cheeks, Miller also told the investigators about "cover-ups." One incident centered on the suspected withholding of documents by DOCCS' officials when the state inspector general investigated the questionable appointment of a high-ranking DOCCS' employee, Daniel F. Martuscello III, as the agency's director of human resources.

Miller described Martuscello and his family as powerful figures in DOCCS who he said often promoted or secured jobs for female acquaintances and other friends and family members. Martuscello's brother, Christopher, is deputy inspector general of the DOCCS' internal affairs narcotics unit. Their father, Daniel F. Martuscello Jr., is superintendent at Coxsackie Correctional Facility, where Miller worked as a guard before joining the internal affairs unit in the late 1990s.

According to notes from the interviews, Miller told state investigators that DOCCS officials may have tampered with records in 2011 when the state inspector general's office was investigating Martuscello's appointment as human resources director. Miller said that Vernon Fonda, who was Ferro's close friend and chief of the DOCCS' internal affairs unit, ordered him to go to a warehouse in Menands where the agency stored personnel records, including files related to the hiring of employees. Miller said he was told to gather the records related to Martuscello's appointment.

"Fonda told Miller to keep the matter confidential and directed him to go to the caged storage area maintained by DOCCS in Menands ... to pull files," the state investigators' notes say. "Miller went to Darren Ayotte, the assistant director of personnel and a former college roommate of Chris Martuscello, to get the keys to the caged area."

After Miller and another investigator stacked the boxes of records they needed, they locked the restricted area and left for the night.

"When Miller returned to the caged area to retrieve the files he was greeted by Chris Martuscello, who offered a cart to transport the documents and, with a wink, told Miller that he wasn't going to find anything in them," the investigators' notes state. "Miller reported that Fonda most likely told Chris Martuscello that Miller was traveling to Menands to get the files. He also testified that someone would have had to provide Chris Martuscello with a key to enter the storage area."

It's unclear whether the state inspector general's office pursued the investigation of Daniel Martuscello III or took any action in connection with his 2007 appointment as director of human resources. He has since been promoted to deputy commissioner for administrative services and, according to multiple agency sources, is in line to take over as commissioner of the agency later this year.

Another internal investigation that Miller said was troubling centered on allegations that Martuscello Jr. hired a female acquaintance, Heather Welch, for a job at the Coxsackie prison he oversees. In 2010, DOCCS received complaints that Welch was sleeping in Martuscello's office and parking in his reserved spot at the prison in Greene County.

"Miller testified that investigative staff members were afraid to look into the complaint, fearing that it would put their jobs at risk because of the Martuscello connection," according to an inspector general's report. Miller told investigators that Fonda, who is close with Martuscello, told him to investigate the allegation but allegedly said, "There's nothing there."

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Still, the allegations against Welch were substantiated, Miller said, but Martuscello's name and Social Security number were not included in the report. Also, when Miller sent an investigator to take photographs of Welch's car parked in the superintendent's spot, he said, Martuscello berated the investigator and then contacted Miller "and told him that he could no longer file for overtime pay," according to a state report.

Martuscello had that authority, according to state officials, because Miller's assignment as an investigator is technically temporary and he remains on the books at the Coxsackie prison, where he was recruited to join the internal unit.

Miller outlined other instances in which he said female acquaintances of the Martuscellos were hired by DOCCS. Another time, Miller told investigators, he was instructed to hire the husband of Catherine Martuscello, who worked in the health services unit for DOCCS.

In her opening statements at Ferro's criminal trial on Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General Bridget Holohan-Scally outlined a system in which nepotism and connections were common, and investigators or other employees who challenged supervisors or reported abuses were threatened with retaliation. She said internal affairs investigators like Miller  nearly all of whom were reassigned from their correction officers jobs  feared returning to work inside a prison.

"Instead of wearing a uniform and dealing with violent inmates every day, you get to wear a tie," she told the jury. "Instead of being called a 'guard,' you're called an 'investigator,' and Mr. Miller took pride in what he did. And let's face it ... he most certainly didn't want to go back to a prison working with other guards that he investigated. He was concerned that if he did that they wouldn't always have his back."

In a court filing in October, Holohan-Scally described in greater detail the power that Ferro wielded over the investigators he supervised, including several others who also alleged that Ferro had assaulted or sexually harassed them.

"To control his subordinates, (Ferro) frequently threatened that he would send the employees back to the prison facilities from which they came," she wrote in a motion. "That was a serious threat. ... The subordinates were aware that if they returned to a prison facility, they would marked as 'rats' or 'traitors' and other correctional officers would shun them, or worse, put them in harm's way."

Fonda, who was chief of operations for the DOCCS' inspector general's office and a close friend of Ferro's, abruptly retired in April 2014 after the state inspector general's office launched the investigation that led to Ferro's arrest. Fonda retired as state inspector general's investigators tried to arrange an interview with him. Miller said Fonda "laughed" when he reported Ferro's abusive behavior and threats. Miller then sought advice on how to report the abuse from Benjamin H. Rondeau, a DOCCS attorney, "only to have (Rondeau) warn him of retaliation if he were to do so," the state inspector general's interview report said.

blyons@timesunion.com  518-454-5547  @brendan_lyonstu
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Albany

The nondescript building at 402 N. Pearl St., formerly the home of a private corporate gift-giving firm, opened Thursday.

The darkened glass windows featured little more than a 402 above the door. Visitors were greeted by a doctor's office-style reception area featuring well-worn hardwood floors that keep with the character of the building's Warehouse District location. The smell of paint emanated from the slate gray walls trimmed with red.

The rawness of Etain's Albany medical marijuana dispensary  from the new carpeting in the sales room to the lack of a sign outside  was emblematic of how the state's highly regulated medical marijuana program officially kicked off Thursday. To date, about 150 doctors are registered to prescribe the drug to patients with a strict list of debilitating conditions.

More Information How to buy medical marijuana Only patients with certain debilitating or life-threatening conditions and their caregivers are eligible to buy medical marijuana. Patients must be certified by a doctor who is registered with the state program. Patients must then register with the state Health Department and show an identification card when they buy the drug. Caregivers may also register after a patient's registration has been approved. A patient must designate the caregiver during the registration process. Finding a registered doctor There's no simple way to do that now. The state Health Department says it will soon post a list online of registered doctors who consent to providing their names and specialties. Registration Once certified by a doctor, patients may register through NY.gov at https://my.ny.gov/ There is a $50 registration fee. Where to buy medical marijuana Eight dispensaries, including one in Albany, were set to open Thursday. Another 12 are expected to open on a rolling basis. The state has also asked companies to develop delivery options. In Albany, Etain Health is open at 402 N. Pearl St. Hours are 2:30-6 p.m. How much will it cost? Etain's products range from $300 to $1,200 for a monthly supply, depending on the amount of cannabis oil in the dosage. Insurance generally does not cover the costs. Where can I learn more? Check the patient information portion of the state Health Department's website: http://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/medical_marijuana/patients/ Sources: New York state Department of Health, Etain See More Collapse

The Department of Health also revealed on Thursday that only 51 patients statewide are currently registered to purchase the nonsmokable forms of the drug that are being made available.

Still, the launch, even if few could take advantage of it, was a milestone.

"To accomplish what we've accomplished to date is a great step forward," Etain pharmacist Kevin King said. "Etain has moved mountains to get to this point, and I'm sure it's going to continue right to the end of the month."

Etain's North Pearl shop is one of eight that are open statewide. In total, 20 are on track to open in the near future by the five companies licensed to grow, produce and sell the drug. Oils, vapor cartridges and breath spray will be available for sale through Etain.

The opening of the Albany location, as with Etain's Kingston location earlier in the day, was quiet. Only a handful of prospective patients in Kingston stopped in to learn about potential treatment options, but no purchases were made. The scene was similar during the Albany location's afternoon hours.

The slow start of retail sales Thursday was not wholly unexpected given the ambitious timeline to get the program under way. The Compassionate Care Act, the legislation that created the program, was signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in early July 2014. Regulations were promulgated in early 2015 and the licenses for companies were handed out July 31, setting in motion a frenzy of preparation to get products ready for sales Thursday.

"In spite of some who claim this program is a failure before it even started, they're wrong," state Sen. Diane Savino, the Compassionate Care Act's Senate sponsor, said at an unrelated Senate hearing in Albany. "They established the deadline, they've opened the doors, patients are getting certified, doctors are getting trained."

When sales begin in earnest, they'll be cash only, given marijuana's illegal status on the federal level, which has restricted banks' willingness to offer check cashing or credit options.

Medicines won't come cheap either, though an on-site ATM will be made available to patients who don't want to carry what in some cases will be large amounts of cash. Etain projects that patients will spend between $300 and $1,200 per month on their medicines, based on the state's pricing models.

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"This is definitely not the recreational setting where there's constant people coming in and out," said Mike Rego, Etain's director of security. "Who we get to know will be our patients and they generally won't come in with a large amount of cash, especially in the beginning. There's a certain trial and error period where they try different products. So they don't want to come in and buy $1,000 worth of (medicine)."

For now, beyond advocacy at the federal level and possibly exploring legislation, there doesn't seem to be much the state can do about the cash-business model other than ensuring that security is in place. Savino said lawmakers must consider some sort of legislative solution that addresses concerns of New York banks and moves toward allowing patients to utilize an insurance option. Savino said she was encouraged by the latest federal spending bill, which included language that would keep the federal government from interfering with states that have a medical marijuana program.

Etain, like the four other companies that were ready for sales to begin Thursday, remains optimistic that the number of certified patients, registered doctors, list of qualifying ailments, and program overall will expand. COO Hillary Peckham said the company's Warren County growing and production facility has the capacity to serve 20,000 patients without expansion, though the company has space on its land to grow.

For now, though, the focus will be on easing the experience for the patients. Peckham said Etain officials tried to make the dispensary "sort of like a family home."

"We want something people feel comfortable with," she said. "This is something that was previously illegal and now is legal, so you want them to feel like they're not breaking the law when they come here."

Claire Hughes contributed; mhamilton@timesunion.com  518-454-5449  @matt_hamilton10
THE ISSUE:

The former Cohoes mayor is being eyed for a job in the new mayor's administration.

THE STAKES:

Such a move smacks of seamy patronage and looks like a simple political payback.

More Information To comment: tuletters@timesunion.com or at http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion See More Collapse

Weeks after he retired as the mayor of Cohoes, George Primeau seems poised to return to the city's payroll, with the help of his successor  who is also, perhaps not coincidentally, his nephew.

One might argue that as someone who served on the Cohoes Common Council for 13 years followed by three years as the city's chief executive, Mr. Primeau is well suited for the job of executive secretary to the mayor, a brand new $60,000-a-year post created by freshman Mayor Shawn Morse. Mr. Morse has acknowledged that Mr. Primeau  that is, Uncle George  is a leading candidate for the appointed post, at the same salary as Mr. Primeau received as mayor.

The new position is part of a series of personnel moves under way by Mayor Morse. He also has named Mike Jacobson, the former head of Capital District Habitat for Humanity and a board member of the Albany County Land Bank, to lead the city's economic and community development efforts. To lure Mr. Jacobson, who is surely a solid candidate for the job, the mayor had roughly doubled the annual salary, to $125,000. Given the need for a comprehensive approach to development in a city ripe for it, bringing in Mr. Jacobson is a sensible move.

But it seems Mayor Morse is determined to balance what looks like a smart strategic action with a ham-handed bit of ... what to call this? Nepotism? Patronage? Quid pro quo?

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Forgive us if we're skeptical about whether Mr. Morse is above playing the patronage game. In his previous role as chairman of the Albany County Legislature, he wielded political power hungrily, rewarding supporters and pouncing on those who dissented. But the biggest problem here has to do with what happened only weeks after Mr. Morse won the September mayoral primary that all but guaranteed his election. Outgoing Mayor Primeau pushed through the Common Council a 25 percent salary increase for the mayor's job, to take place Jan. 1, the day Mr. Morse took office.

So Mr. Primeau, who was paid $60,000 a year as mayor, stepped aside to let his nephew replace him. When it was certain Mr. Morse would be the new mayor, he raised the salary to $75,000, and now he stands to be hired back in the mayor's office at his previous salary, to a position that Cohoes never needed before.

Mayor Morse also just hired his successor on the County Legislature, former Councilman Ralph Signoracci IV, as his $70,000-a-year assistant in charge of city operations  again raising the question of why a new executive secretary post is justified.

Mr. Morse shrugs off the deal, pointing out that he's saving money overall through various job changes. So why can't taxpayers reap all the savings? If this were his own private business, Mr. Morse could hire all the relatives, pals and political friends he wants. But it's taxpayer money he's spreading around here, and in a job of questionable necessity. It's not a good way to launch his administration, and not a good deal for citizens of Cohoes.
The government on Thursday laid out its responses to North Korea's nuclear test a day earlier. They include resuming propaganda broadcasts across the heavily armed border, which Seoul believes are a particular irritant to the regime.

"The North's nuclear test violated its obligations and commitments to the international community and failed to honor the Aug. 25 agreement" between the two Koreas, said Cho Tae-yong of the Office of National Security after a meeting of the National Security Council.

"As a result, the government has decided to resume the propaganda broadcasts at noon on Jan. 8."

Under the August agreement, Seoul halted the broadcasts until any "abnormal" events should take place.

The government is also mulling the deployment of U.S. strategic bombers and other weapons systems on the Korean Peninsula, and examining its economic and diplomatic options.

Seoul asked Washington to deploy its B-52 bombers, B-2 stealth bombers, F-22 stealth fighter jets, Los Angeles-class nuclear submarines stationed in Japan and the U.S. 7th Fleet, including the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan.

North Korea reacts very sensitively whenever B-52 and B-2 bombers operate over South Korean air space.

The Unification Ministry will also restrict South Koreans from entering the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex to ensure their safety and pressure the North, which needs the money the complex makes more urgently.

Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo told the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee that "civilian contacts and visits to the North will be tentatively suspended." The government told South Korean staff in the industrial complex to exercise caution.

The propaganda broadcasts blared across the border from loudspeakers apparently alarm the regime, which fears its effects on underpaid soldiers and ordinary people in the area, who are much more cut off from outside communication than in other parts of the country.
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[January 07, 2016] Next generation Non-Thermal Plasma Technology demonstrates effectiveness in the fight against tough infectious agents

TEMPE, Ariz., Jan. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ChiScan is pleased to announce development of a novel device for creating Non-Thermal Plasma (NTP). Huan Truong (ChiScan CEO) stated that, "Although there are currently a number of technologies capable of generating cold plasma, our proprietary cold plasma generating technology is novel due to its size, portability, no requirement for any noble gas, precision, robustness, and its ease of application." ChiScan technology has significant utility as a countermeasure for multidrug-resistant and hard-to-treat infectious agents in both clinical and field settings. This next generation cold plasma technology is the result of more than ten years of research and development. ChiScan LLC is a group of innovative and experienced engineers with the passion for providing solutions to complex problems based on physics, microchip engineering, and manufacturing technology. ChiScan has been designing bio-energy based therapeutic and diagnostic technologies with a focus on infectious diseases. Thanks to low cost modern electronics (such as those used in digital control and processing power), it is feasible to employ this technology in both the field and medical treatment centers. For more than 20 years, non-thermal atmospheric pressure or "cold" plasma has been investigated for biomedical applications in the U.S. and around the world. Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is a practical method of generating cold plasma from air at ambient temperature. According to Bryon Eckert and Brad Eckert, the two inventors and co-founders of ChiScan, the generated Non-Thermal Plasma has significant utility in solving today's and the future's health care related problems in a cost effective and non-invasive manner. "Our portable plasma driver provides power level control and an automatic tuning mechanism for driving a large range of array izes and shapes up to 25 square inches active area. Our device would be ideal for the field and resource limited regions," said Huan Truong.



"In this novel device we have used an extensive internal interlocks guard. The exposure time, duration, power level and plasma modulation frequency (protocols) can be programmed into the plasma array by the operator and hopefully in the near future by medical practitioners via an application on smartphones or tablet devices," said Brad Eckert.

The novel cold plasma array is a sheet of low current corona discharges formed in the shape of an array. The array is formed from flexible and sizable PCB (printed circuit board) material and is waterproof since it is enclosed in a sleeve of expanded PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene), which functions as ventilation. The array is attached to a portable driver through a length of coaxial cable. An extruded aluminum case provides a large battery capacity and efficient thermal management, allowing repeated therapy sessions at high power (large arrays) without frequent recharging. It recharges a built-in battery and uses various power conversion circuits to supply AC and DC at appropriate voltage and current levels as indicated by the load of ID pin. The ID pin is a one-wire interface used for the identification of accessories. A color LCD display shows all driver parameters. "Our mobile plasma driver powered by DC battery supply efficiently drives the plasma array or an array of the optical energy spectrum such as LEDs. The battery supply runs for hours on a single charge to kill infectious agents," said Bryon Eckert. About ChiScan: ChiScan LLC, located in Tempe, Arizona, was formed by a group of experienced, innovative and passionate engineers with backgrounds in providing solutions for complex problems based on physics, microchip engineering, information and manufacturing technology. Our collaborating and reach-back laboratories for technology evaluation and efficacy testing are located in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Please visit www.chiscan.com for further contact information, our investor requested information and technology pages. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320203

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320202

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320201

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320200LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/next-generation-non-thermal-plasma-technology-demonstrates-effectiveness-in-the-fight-against-tough-infectious-agents-300201388.html SOURCE ChiScan

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[January 08, 2016] New FINTRAC Reporting Will Bring CurrencyXchanger 5 on Par With High-End Banking Software

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Clear View Systems Ltd. (CVS) announces that it will be releasing CurrencyXchanger 5 (CXR5), the next version of its popular money exchange software later this year. CXR5 will be packed with a hundred new features including a new array of AML (Anti-Money-Laundering) and ATF (Anti-Terrorist-Financing) enhancements. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320033

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320034LOGO "Amongst the most requested features for Canadian customers is FINTRAC batch-reporting similar to what the banks use," said Tiran Behrouz, president and CTO of Clear View Systems. "FINTRAC is the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, the government authority that tracks and deter money laundering and terrorist financing. All money exchange businesses, are required to file and report specific transactions. These reports can be very time consuming and costly to prepare. We will soon be adding similar reporting for US, Australia and UK customers." Faster and more powerful than ever, CXR5 will be jam-packed wit new features and enhancement that will leave its competitors in the dust. "Many of the new features in CXR5 have been designed for larger scale customers who have a network several hundred branches," said Ian Berry, senior system developer at CVS.



Some features of CXR5 will include: One-touch reporting to FINTRAC, FINCEN, and AUSTRAC

Sync Setup Wizard to simplify deployment for larger scale operations

Large Scale Deployment Feature such as an auto-updater

Upgrading certain features without involving restarts to the server

Integration with 3M passport readers

Signature Pad integration

Improved User Interface experience

Multi-lingual support

Support for 4D v15 database About CVS - Established in 2003, Clear View Systems Ltd. (CVS) develops currency exchange software for the money service industry. CVS has over 300 customers in 30 countries and growing steadily year after year. CVS proudly holds an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau of Canada for its adherence to BBB's Standards of Trust. CVS has successfully received four consecutive years of SRED (Scientific Research and Experimental Development) government funding for contributing to Canadian science, R&D and technology. The company's multi-currency POS software CurrencyXchanger (CXR) is known for its revolutionary interface, flexibility, and ease of use. Clear View Systems and CXR have been featured on many business websites including Wall Street Journal online, Yahoo Business, and Forbes.com. CXR is the only product in its category that holds a 4.5/5 star rating and reviewed by 50+ users on Capterra.com.

For more information about Clear View Systems, please visit http://www.clearviewsys.com Press Contact:

Andrea Lafleche, PR & Media Relations

+1 (505) 472-4398

112 Nicholson Cres

New Maryland New Brunswick E3C 1H4, CA

Email To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-fintrac-reporting-will-bring-currencyxchanger-5-on-par-with-high-end-banking-software-300201009.html SOURCE Clear View Systems Ltd.

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[January 08, 2016] Netflix Available Everywhere with OverPlay

LONDON, Jan. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- #Netflix(Not Really)Everywhere is a major complaint for cord cutters in over 130 countries, but OverPlay SmartDNS has the solution. While only a handful of locations do not currently have Netflix access, original hit series such as Orange is the New Black and House of Cards are not available without an OverPlay account. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320241LOGO Netflix users in recently-added regions inclding Russia and India will experience even more restrictions, with only 722 and 740 respective titles available, compared to 5,748 in the U.S. and nearly 14,000 total offerings with OverPlay's SmartDNS & VPN services.



The announcement by Netflix at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was met with mixed reviews. Netflix is not currently offered to residents in China, Syria, and North Korea, a combined population of more than 1.35 billion, likely due to strict government censorship. OverPlay provides easy-to-use software and mobile apps for a variety of devices. The service provides flexible payment options for both their SmartDNS and premium SmartDNS + VPN plans. OverPlay is offering new subscribers a 50% discount on their first month of service with the promotional code NETFLIXEVERYWHERE, allowing users worldwide to browse anonymously and securely.

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City Council discuss owner occupied home rehabilitation program

The $250,000 grant would be would be split between 15-20 city homeowners, who would be afforded up to $15,000 each for repairs to their homes.
China on Thursday restricted passage across the Tumen River Bridge linking Jilin Province with North Korea. A sign was posted in front of the bridge informing travelers of "maintenance work" but the bridge appeared to be in good order and there was no sign of workers there.

One local said, "We were able to cross the bridge without any problems even until Tuesday. The sign was posted on Wednesday right after North Korea conducted its nuclear test."

One 60-year-old resident on the Chinese side said, "China's Yanbian region and North Korea are connected, and we are worried that water and soil contaminated with radiation might flow in our direction. You can see smog, but radiation is invisible. We're afraid of breathing the air and drinking the water."

The unexpected North Korean nuclear test appears to have brought several cross-border projects between China and North Korea to a halt.
Both Washington and Tokyo were aware of North Korea's preparations for a fourth nuclear test, according to press reports, although they were officially pretending to be shocked and surprised.

Seoul too has officially claimed to have had no idea that the North's nuclear test preparations were this far advanced. The official line here, at any rate, is that North Korea caught everyone off guard.

But the U.S. not only knew, as most pundits did, that the North had dug a new nuclear test tunnel, but "was aware of test preparation for two weeks and launched drones to get a baseline air sample near the site," according to an unnamed official quoted by NBC News.

"It sampled the air again on Wednesday and will test for traces of tritium that would indicate North Korea has something more than a standard nuclear weapon," it added.

The White House does not believe the North's claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. In a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, "The initial analysis that's been conducted of the events that were reported overnight is not consistent with North Korean claims of a successful hydrogen bomb test."

He added, "There is nothing that's occurred in the last 24 hours that has caused the [U.S.] to change our assessment of North Korea's technical and military capabilities."

The Washington Free Beacon reported with that the State Department was evasive when asked if it had known of the nuclear test in advance. The rightwing website pointed out that State Department spokesman John Kirby only replied, "This kind of activity is not new for the regime."
The National Security Council met Thursday and decided to resume propaganda broadcasts across the border with North Korea starting at noon Friday. The South had restarted the broadcasts in August last year after box mines planted by North Korea maimed two South Korean soldiers. But it halted them again under a cross-border agreement easing military tensions on Aug. 25.

The North Korean regime obviously sees the propaganda broadcasts as a serious threat. When Seoul resumed them after the mine attack, the North immediately threatened to shoot them down and rain hellfire on the South, and then rushed to the negotiating table.

Once talks were underway, North Korea pledged to resume reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. But follow-up talks did not lead very far, and only one further round of reunions has been held since, the North taking a typically flexible attitude to its own promises. Now that the nuclear test has gone ahead, it seems even clearer that it made these promises only to get the propaganda broadcasts to stop as fast as possible. Fortunately the South agreed to halt them only as long as the North refrains from causing "abnormal" incidents. The nuclear test should be "abnormal" enough to justify their resumption.

There is of course no telling what North Korea will do in response. It could try and shoot at the loudspeakers, or provoke more skirmishes along the Northern Limit Line, the de facto sea border it refuses to recognize. Seoul needs to prepare thoroughly for such provocations and expect the worst.

President Park Geun-hye must act immediately on the diplomatic front too, bringing the U.S., China and Japan on side. If they attempt to deal with the latest provocation only through ineffective sanctions, she must propose more effective alternatives, or take independent action if necessary. South Korea needs the courage to persuade the North that it is willing to strike at the source of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Showing that the president is unfazed by North Korean threats is the most effective start to finding a solution.

But the public must also stand firm. Nobody wants tensions to escalate, but Pyongyang has always used its threats to ferment conflict within South Korea in order to get what it wants. So if a clash occurs there may be casualties. Of course the North would want the South Korean public to blame its own government for such losses, but all South Koreans must refuse to fall into that trap.



Read this article in Korean The reason Seoul came well out of the aftermath of the box mine attack was that soldiers voluntarily extended their military service to fight if necessary and the public here refused to be bullied by the North. This strength must hold. South Koreans need to come together and face this crisis.
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LAS VEGAS  OLED's incredibly high levels of contrast are matched only by its incredibly high price. Sony wants to provide OLED-quality screens for consumer-level TVS, but hopes to sidestep the difficult manufacturing processes and prohibitive price tags endemic to the medium. As such, the company is experimenting with a technology known as Backlight Master Drive, which, when perfected, could provide OLED levels of contrast and color quality on much cheaper LED/LCD screens.

Sony gave me a private demonstration of the technology at CES 2016, and the early results look extremely promising. To test the Backlight Master Drive, Sony brought me into an impromptu black box theater on the show floor and sat me in front of three TVs: a competitor's OLED TV, a Sony BVM-X300 reference monitor (an OLED professional monitor used for mastering feature films) and an early prototype Sony TV with a Backlight Master Drive installed.

MORE: What's Next for TV: 4K Goes Mainstream, But Here Comes HDR

To evaluate the quality on the three TVs, we watched three clips: a collection of short videos highlighting Las Vegas landmarks, a helicopter ride over New York City from the 2015 version of Annie and the confrontation between Spider-Man and Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2. In each case, the Backlight Master Drive looked much more vivid and detailed than the OLED screen, and almost as refined as the reference monitor.

In simple terms, the Backlight Master Drive works by controlling the amount of light that bleeds from LED displays in very fine degrees. By localizing portions of the screen that need to be bright or dark and adjusting them accordingly, the whole picture appears more colorful and full of contrast as a result. Many UHD TVs on the market already do something like this via localized dimming, but the Backlight Master Drive could theoretically exercise much more nuanced control over Sony screens.

For right now, the Backlight Master Drive is only a proof-of-concept experiment. Sony has no immediate plans to incorporate the technology into its TVs, or take a stab at how much doing so might cost. Company representatives explained that it's investigating the technology as one possible way to offer consumers something on the level of OLED screens, and push the boundaries of what LCD screens can accomplish. If Sony can make affordable OLED ideas, it's still open to that; if another LCD technology supersedes the Backlight Master Drive, Sony is open to that, as well.

For now, if you want the very best in black and color balance, you'll probably have to dish out the extra money for an OLED TV. If you can wait a few years, though, the landscape could change.
THE ASSUMPTION THAT GREATER GUN CONTROL WOULD REDUCE KILLING IN THE KCMO URBAN CORE IS SIMPLY WRONG GIVEN THE ONGOING MASSACRE IN CHICAGO DESPITE STRICT FIREARM REGULATIONS!!!

Kansas City violence and homicide dominated the late night for news junkies across the nation.Take a look as the Kansas City homicide count featured andThe mayor seems adamant about his gun control position that has been consistently rejected by the No-Veto Missouri Republican Majority in Jeff City.Local anti-violence efforts earn recognition in this report as well.As strident as the Mayor seems regarding his view touting gun takeaways and crackdowns . . .Yet the urge to take away gun rights from mostly law abiding minorities living in the urban core remains strong.Sadly, this urge to leave minorities defenseless and without gun rights in the urban core is a tragic solution devised mostly by white liberals residing in the suburbs or safer gentrified neighborhoods.Worse still . . .The talk about local homicides and gun control seems to contradict 2014 election year optimism about "community engagement" touting a solution to local murder ratesJust a quick fact check to political dweebs who argue against Missouri gun laws . . . They weren't singing that same tune amid the "record setting" homicide plunge of 2014 . . . The logical inconsistency is worth pointing out.Moreover . . .What's happening here isn't about stats or laws or even gun rights . . . The debate of the impact of Missouri gun laws on Kansas City homicide is simply politics and propaganda. This report, like most garbage in the mainstream media, features regurgitated talking points now spouted by Mayor Sly James in lock step with the administration of President Obama which seems far more concerned about earning political capital than curbing an increasing number of murders in Kansas City.You decide . . .
Locals wondered about a massive police presence coming down east 39th street this afternoon . . . Another spate of gunfire on local streets is the reason why. Checkit: Police make arrests after shots fired from car on Troost Avenue
Natalie Humphreys, Area Manager Greece & Cyprus B2B Sales & Cooperations at HolidayCheck.com presents to Tornosnews readers her valuable reflections on the Greek travel market during the previous year

Tornosnews interviewed Natalie Humphreys, Area Manager Greece & Cyprus B2B Sales & Cooperations at HolidayCheck.com and presents her valuable reflections on the Greek travel market during the previous year:

"As we reflect on 2015, a somewhat troubled and last minute year for reservations from the German market, we can sigh a sigh of relief that 2015 was better than the bumper year of 2014!

HolidayCheck closed over 65 million euros in reservations to hotels located all over Greece in 2015, this is a 3 million increase on 2014, showing that the German market continues to grow stronger no matter what the political situation.

I met personally with many hoteliers during 2015, travelling around Greece from my base in Rhodes. The purpose was to increase hoteliers understanding of how to manage their online reputation and thus increasing their reservations via HolidayCheck.

Many hotels took part in various events throughout the summer events such as guest review days and management cocktail parties, where guests were encouraged to write a review during their stay, these hotels were able to collect on average plus 30 reviews per week, one of the key factors that pushed many hotels into pole position for reaching 2016 HolidayCheck Award distinction.

Hotels that achieve award status can expect a massive increase in bookings, the German market trusts the HolidayCheck Award logo. 80% of Germans research their next holiday on HolidayCheck prior to booking, HolidayCheck creates a bill board effect influencing both online and offline bookings from the German speaking countries, clever hoteliers are really taking care of their HolidayCheck profiles.

Recently, we announced the winners of the HolidayCheck 2016 Award (#HCAWARD16), January is very exciting as I will personally visit all the Award Hotels to deliver their Awards.

2016 so far is going very well, HolidayCheck has over 12 million euros in reservations for s2016, with each week hundreds of thousands of people searching and booking, January is one of our strongest months for bookings, we are confident 2016 will be another great year!

Plans for 2016, we will continue to work closely with local hotels. One big target for me in 2016 is to reach out to all the hotels that are not in contact with me, who are not registered to manage their hotels profile page on HolidayCheck.

You know it really surprises me that so small numbers of hoteliers in Greece care enough to manage their HolidayCheck profiles.

For free they can add their own photos and contact details to their HolidayCheck profile page, but by not registering for their free hotel manager account they risk losing out on bookings from us, it just doesnt make sense!

If a hotel looks after its profile and collects a good amount of reviews each year, then the hotel can expect to appear organically high in the HolidayCheck search results. HolidayCheck is all about visibility, if your hotel is not appearing in the top 2 pages of the HolidayCheck search results for your region, then your hotel is not reaching its full potential for bookings from the German market via HolidayCheck."

More info and contact:

Natalie Humphreys

Area Manager Greece & Cyprus B2B Sales & Cooperations

Rhodes, Greece

+30 698 503 3264

natalie.humphreys@holidaycheck.com

Read also: HolidayCheck Award 2016: The most popular Greek hotels for German tourists
Despite the economic situation, 66% of those surveyed perceive Greece as a safe holiday destination

LoveHolidays, the fastest growing online travel agency in the UK, surveyed people from across the UK to find out whether their 2016 travel plans would be affected by the current economic climate in Greece.

The good news for Greek travel is that the majority of people surveyed stated they would not be affected by a financial crisis when travelling. As much as 21% of the 45-59 year olds surveyed said that they would travel to Greece specifically to help their economy.

Over 50% of respondents feel that if Greece exits the EU, it would have a positive impact on holiday prices. Despite the economic situation, 66% of those surveyed perceive Greece as a safe holiday destination.

Generation gap

The research also revealed that younger travellers are more tied to trusted travel brands than the older generation. Older travellers are more likely to go on holiday independently to support local businesses.

This is an interesting finding, going against the popular belief that Millennials are more socially conscious than their older peers.

The survey also asked respondents how travel companies could help to support local communities and encourage people to travel to Greece. Millennials decided that offering lower prices on flights and hotels to encourage more tourists to travel to Greece (Figure 4) was the best option.

Safe destination

They werent that interested in travel companies collaborating with local tour organisers as older generations (Figure 3)

Interestingly, the majority of people surveyed said it wouldnt make any difference to their travel plans if Greece was to exit the EU. In fact, many saw it as a potential positive, meaning lower prices and fewer crowds.

Finally, despite negative press surrounding the Greek financial crisis, Greece is considered a safe destination by all demographics

Figure 1. How do you generally feel about travelling to countries in financial crisis?





Figure 2. During the Greek financial crisis, would you rather..

Figure 3. Should travel companies collaborate with local tour organisers to support economy and encourage travel?

Figure 4. Should travel companies offer lower prices on flights and hotels to help local communities and encourage travel?





Figure 5. If Greece exits the EU, how do you think it will affect your travels there?





Figure 6. Destinations by safety level according to total respondents

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
We are also maintaining our 5 year objective of 30 million in revenues. After the Paris attacks, we experienced a small recession but that did not slow down our development,

on top of our own agreements,

The DMC is anything but a beginner. Already last September, Qatar Airways TO, Qatar Airways Holiday, had signed with Frenchy Travel to be their DMC in France.The operations took off in October 2015.The year is ending in check with the objective ofconfirms Michel Madi.In addition to Beijing, Frenchy Travel now has an office inThe tour-operator connected to the ReservIT solution for the hotel reservation sectorspecifies Michel Madi.To succeed, he hopes to continue building partnerships. A new important contract could be finalized in the upcoming weeks.Meanwhile, Frenchy Travel is pursuing marketing actions towards its base of 3,000 TOs and agencies established abroad, and is
China Focus: Xi underscores military building via reforms

From:English.news.cn | 2016-01-07 22:55

BEIJING, Jan. 7, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses the 13th Group Army in southwest China's Chongqing municipality, Jan. 5, 2016. Xi has urged the strengthening of the armed forces through reforms when inspecting troops in southwest China. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

CHONGQING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping urged the strengthening of the armed forces through reform, loyalty to the Party and lawfulness when inspecting troops in southwest China this week.

Xi said the military must also enhance its political awareness to achieve the objective of building a strong army.

Xi, also chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during an inspection of the highly decorated 13th Group Army in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing on Tuesday.

The 13th Group Army dates back to the 1930s. Xi has previously met with its personnel who participated in the disaster relief operations following the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and the 2013 Lushan quake.

Touring the group's gallery, Xi called on the army to pass on its "red genes."

"Education on ideals, faith and theories should be increased among military officers and soldiers to strengthen their confidence in China's independent path, theory and system," the president said.

"The troops should maintain a high degree of conformity with the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Central Military Commission in ideology, politics and action."

He urged leading cadres in the army to take the lead in this drive.

The president asked the troops to "profoundly grasp, firmly support and actively engage in" the China's ongoing reform of its military.

In September, the country announced a military cut of 300,000 standing troops to be finished by the end of 2017, in an effort to build a leaner armed forces. It has since overhauled the command system of the People's Liberation Army, the PLA Rocket Force and the PLA Strategic Support Force.

The reform should be carried out in a steady and well-organized manner to ensure a smooth transition, Xi told the troops.

Meanwhile, Xi urged intensified law enforcement. He said leading officers should ensure the authoritativeness of rules covering the army.

They must exercise their power "according to rules, cleanly and discreetly," and a system should be established to check and supervise their power, according to the president.

He also called on the troops to support the local government's work on economic development and poverty reduction, asking them to be brave in disaster relief and to help the government maintain social stability.

Related:

Newly-formed PLA forces vow contributions to building strong military

BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- New People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces have promised to contribute to the Chinese dream of a strong military.

Chinese President Xi Jinping conferred military flags on the general command for the Army of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the PLA Rocket Force and the PLA Strategic Support Force at an inauguration ceremony held Thursday in Beijing. Full Story

China inaugurates PLA Rocket Force as military reform deepens

BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping conferred military flags on the general command for the Army of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the PLA Rocket Force and the PLA Strategic Support Force at their inauguration ceremony held Thursday in Beijing.

Xi said the move to form the PLA Army general command, the PLA Rocket Force and the PLA Strategic Support Force is a major decision by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Central Military Commission (CMC) to realize the Chinese dream of a strong military, and a strategic step to establish a modern military system with Chinese characteristics. Full Story
Xi stresses "green development" along Yangtze River

From:English.news.cn | 2016-01-07 22:55

CHONGQING, Jan. 7, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a symposium on improving the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Jan. 5, 2016. Xi made an inspection tour in Chongqing from Jan. 4 to 6. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

CHONGQING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed ecology and "green development" in boosting the growth of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

He made the remarks in Chongqing at a meeting with officials from Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and some departments under the State Council on Tuesday.

It is a key strategy for the country to boost growth in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, while much has been done in river course renovation, use of water resources, and control and treatment of water pollution, he said.

For thousands of years, the Yangtze River has been important for the Chinese society and the economy.

Today, it is still crucial, linking the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Xi said.

The status and role of the river and the economic belt mean the development along the river must prioritize ecology and "green development" to respect natural, economic and social rules, Xi said.

The Yangtze River boasts a unique ecological system. To restore its ecological environment will be an overwhelming task and no large-scale development will be allowed along the river at present and for a rather long period to come, he said.

Coordinated development must be achieved in various sectors like water, road, port, wetland and environment, as well as in various regions along the river, he noted.

Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli attended the meeting.

Related:

China's Yangtz River sees increased cargo

WUHAN, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- About 2.18 billion tons of cargo was shipped through the main reaches of the Yangtze River in 2015, about 120 million tons more than the figure from last year, local authorities said on Wednesday.

Tang Guanjun, director of the Yangtze River Administration of Navigational Affairs, under the Ministry of Transport, said the growth is a result of continued effort to improve navigation, shipment structure and upgrade ports along the water. Full Story

China builds 3rd largest hydropower station on Yangtze River

KUNMING, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday started construction of its third largest hydropower station on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

The Wudongde project, located upstream from two other hydropower stations on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze, is the world's 7th largest in operation or under construction, said Lu Chun, chairman of the China Three Gorges Corporation. Full Story
China confiscates nearly 15 mln illegal publications in 2015

From:English.news.cn | 2016-01-08 06:29

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- China confiscated 14.88 million copies of publications that lacked publishing licenses or contained banned content last year, according to official figures.

These publications were involved in 7,213 cases across the country, and authorities received more than 100,000 tip-offs from the public on such misconduct, said the National Anti-Pornography and Anti-Illegal Publications Office in a statement Thursday.

"In 2015, we achieved prominent results in securing a sound cultural environment on and off the Internet and protecting the healthy growth of minors," said the statement, which also included details on 10 major cases.

In one, a ring headed by a suspect surnamed Liu allegedly sold more than 260,000 pornographic DVDs in east China's Shandong and Jiangsu since 2013.

So far, police have arrested 22 suspects and the case, with an estimated worth of 6 million yuan (910,000 U.S. dollars).

Other cases involved printing and spreading publications without official licenses, or making and selling books, magazines or disks that contained lewd, superstitious or violence or terror-related content.

One case saw a trio given jail time of five years, six months and eight years, six months for founding an unlicensed magazine that published untruthful articles to lure investment.
Efforts to be stepped up to reduce overcapacity

2016-01-08 12:19

Premier attend smeeting aimed at finding solution for the iron, steel and coal industries

Efforts will be strengthened by the central government this year to reduce overproduction and overcapacity, according to Premier Li Keqiang.

It will also close small coal mines that fall short of safety requirements, Li said during his trip to Shanxi province, which began on Monday.

He was speaking in Taiyuan, the provincial capital, at a meeting aimed at finding viable solutions to overcapacity in the nation's iron, steel and coal industries. His two-day visit to Shanxi was his first trip of the year.

Governors from provinces rich in coal, iron and steel, as well as heads of leading companies in these industries, attended the meeting.

Li said stricter measures will be taken to control newly increased capacity and clear goals will be set to reduce overcapacity in the coming three years, while the nation needs to set limits on the maximum amount of production for the iron, coal and steel industries based on market demand.

Outdated overcapacity will be further closed, especially at iron and steel companies that do not meet production safety, energy consumption and environmental protection standards.

Li said that this year the government will close 13 types of outdated small coal mines, most of which are privately owned and produce coal by using low safety standards.

The premier said more financial support from the government will be used specifically to shut down overcapacity in the coal and mining industries and to relocate workers and support them in starting their own businesses.

He stressed that stricter supervision is needed by provincial governments to resolve overproduction and there should be no favorable policies, to guard against excess production.

Shi Yulong, a researcher at the Academy of Microeconomic Research under the National Development and Research Commission, welcomed the measures.

Root cause

"The root cause of the price decline for products such as iron, steel and coal is that there has not been sufficient market demand in recent years," he said.

"Some coal, iron and steel has long been produced by using comparatively low energy consumption standards. Problems with this were not seen when market demand was strong, but have become more apparent in recent years as market demand has fallen sharply."

He said overcapacity was caused by the rapid increase in large-scale production in the iron, steel and coal industries in previous years, with many enterprises failing to meet modern production standards.

Such enterprises have produced good profits for local governments in past decades. Although the central government has reiterated the need to reduce such overcapacity in recent years, local authorities tend to protectenterprises with favorable policies, Shi said.

Zhang Xiaode, an economics researcher at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said the government is showing its resolve to address overcapacity, a key issue in the country's economic restructuring.
News Sep 30th, 2022 at 16:55

Last year's winner of the Travolution Award for Best Technology Innovation believes it can help travel firms generate better return on investment in...
Expedia partners with Booking Boss



(TRAVPR.COM) AUSTRALIA - January 8th, 2016 - Sydney, Australia - Online travel giant Expedia has shown just how serious it is about ramping up its global tour offerings by partnering with Australian technology startup Booking Boss.

In August, industry observers predicted the travel giant was expanding its involvement with tours and activities, after adding real-time reviews to their website. Expedia is starting to confirm those predictions with a move to implement Booking Boss revolutionary technology. The partnership will help connect tour operators and trade distributors in a simpler and more efficient way.

Booking Boss CEO Renee Welsh says the system represents a very new category of technology to the travel industry, and one that is helping large distributors such as Expedia, to innovate, capitalise, grow and improve efficiencies in major sectors of their business.

Expedia can connect in real time via our API to Booking Boss operators, to access real time inventory and availability, says Welsh.

For the consumer this means instant confirmation, no more vouchers, or waiting at the gates of attractions to exchange your voucher for a valid ticket.

Expedia supplies some 10,000-plus activities to its users and integrates with 400 airlines. The business also offers more than 250,000 hotel and accommodation options.

These two way connections streamline administration for both the operator and the distribution channel, says Welsh.

They allow instant confirmation, which is a much better customer experience and as a result of this, operators and distribution channels see an increase in bookings as the customer expectations are met.

Expedia is really focusing on travel activities as a category and are experiencing a lot of growth in this area so real time connectivity to manage a broad operator base is imperative.

In July Expedia and Tourism Australia joined forces to promote tourism in Australia. The multi-million dollar deal aims to bring international visitors to our shores  with Expedia hosting localised sites in 32 different countries, its an incredible exposure opportunity for Booking Boss Australian-based tour operators.

Expedias online portfolio is robust and includes some of the biggest online travel brands such as; hotels.com, Wotif Group, Carrentals.com and many more.

The partnership was announced at the Expedia Partnership Conference in Las Vegas, USA on December 9, 2015.

For more information on the Booking Boss and Expedia partnership and press ready images contact Renee Welsh, renee@bookingboss.com

###
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American art collector's love blooms at Peking University

From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-01-08 11:43

US art collector Donald Stone is in Beijing with a part of his collection, including etchings by Picasso.[Photo provided to China Daily]

At 73, Donald Stone has been an avid collector for nearly six decades. His treasures vary from drawings and prints of Western masters, such as Raphael and Picasso, to Chinese antiquities from the Shang Dynasty (c.16th century-11th century BC). His assemblage is not built on family wealth but on his salary as a teacher.

Stone retired from the English department of Queens College at City University of New York in 2006. Soon after, he became a senior professor of English at Peking University.

Since then Stone has donated about 400 of his art assets to the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Peking University. Stone plans to give more of his collection to the same museum. Meanwhile, he is showing his donation of prints through 10 exhibitions there.

The ninth display, titled Gods and Heroes, is now on show: 55 original etchings and lithographs exemplifying how Western artists adopted classical tradition in creation. They include a complete set of French painter Jean Honore Fragonard's Bacchanals series and Georges Braque's six Theogony etchings.

Prints are as valuable for understanding an artist as other mediums, Stone says. The juxtaposed works of Picasso and Braque, both of whom played an important role in the development of cubism, for instance, illustrate how they went in different directions after eventually giving up cubism.

"Picasso discovered Roman classical art. He went through a period of painting his children and mistresses in a very classical Roman style," Stone says, "while Braque went back to the beginning of Western art, Greek mythology."

Stone's passion for art was cultivated in his teens when he frequented museums and bought postcards at auctions.

He began collecting seriously some 40 years ago, when he was working on a book in London. He took a bus from where he lived to the library, getting off halfway to save half of the ticket price.

One day he passed by an art gallery window and saw a drawing of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, an 18th-century Venetian painter. Out of curiosity he went in - and purchased the first item of his collection.

US art collector Donald Stone is in Beijing with a part of his collection, including etchings by Picasso.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"Once it started, it felt like eating peanuts out of a bag - you want to search for more."

He bought a drawing every two to three years, sometimes donating to the small collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Stone first came to China in 1982, to teach as a visiting scholar at Beijing's Capital Normal University. He returned regularly, lecturing at universities and academic institutions nationwide.

"In America every major university has an art museum. Princeton has a permanent collection of works of masters such as Van Gogh, Monet and Renoir. It is free. Students can just come over to see these beautiful pieces and then go back to their studies," Stone says.

In China, he laments, "it is not common".

Stone's collection not only delights the students at PKU. It has toured Macao and Urumqi, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, where hundreds of people lined up in snow to see their first Picasso work.

Stone's generosity has sometimes yielded surprises.

US art collector Donald Stone is in Beijing with a part of his collection, including etchings by Picasso.[Photo provided to China Daily]

He once bought one of six Matisse prints at a Paris art store. He told the Jewish owner, Ann Pfeffer, that his purchase would go to the Sackler museum in China. Later he opened the package, he found Pfeffer had given him all six for the price of one, $3,500.

Back at the store, the dealer told him that she had made no mistake: She was giving the other five as gifts to China, because China was one of very few countries that welcomed Jewish refugees during World War II.

Last year, Stone won the Chinese Government Friendship Award, the country's top award to foreign experts for making contributions in different fields.

"I love being here. I taught at Harvard, New York University and City University of New York. I speak of my life as 'BC' and 'AC' - before China and after China," he says.

Stone says the favorite of his collection is a painting of Liu Yongming, a pupil of ink-and-color master Wu Guanzhong.

After discovering Liu in 1991 at an exhibition at the National Museum of China, Stone asked the artist to paint magpies, a common bird he saw in Beijing.

"I have drawings and prints scattered all over in my apartment in New York. But that painting is what I first see in the morning when I get out of bed, and the last thing I see before I turn off the light.

"It is in my bedroom. It was painted by an artist I love, of subjects I love, and it is a gift to me."
S Nihal Singh

THE Shia-Sunni schism in Islam is an old one but its modern version under the leadership of Saudi Arabia and Iran is a toxic mix. These two Middle East powers have their national and geopolitical interests and in the context of the changing world and the United States actions, an explosion was waiting to happen. It happened in the shape of the hanging by Riyadh of a prominent Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr. The resulting ransacking of the Saudi embassy in Tehran led to the breaking off of diplomatic relations between the two.

The contours of the longstanding alliance between Saudi Arabia and the United States, with Washington crowning Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Sunni world, changed for two reasons. American dependence on Saudi oil decreased considerably due to its domestic shale resolution and its desire to bring in Iran out of the cold, following the Islamic revolution, left Riyadh with the feeling that it had become a somewhat less vital partner.

Indeed, the US had assiduously cultivated Iran in resolving the crisis posed by its nuclear programme for the simple reason that it needed Tehran to tackle regional problems, in particular the Syrian civil war. Thanks in particular to American actions, Irans influence had grown. The US invasion of Iraq had ensured that a minority Sunni leadership capped by Saddam Hussein had been transformed into a Shia-majority dispensation. Tehrans arc of influence now stretches across the region from Iraq to Bahrains majority Shia population (ruled by a Sunni monarchy), the Houthis in Yemen and the influential Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

On the other hand, the new ruler of Saudi Arabia, King Salman bin Abdullah Al Saud and his activist son, were pursuing a more robust foreign policy and intervened militarily in neighbouring Yemen with the Houthis capturing the better part of the country. The Saudis had earlier sent its forces to Bahrain to thwart the majority Shia revolt against the minority ruler in the wake of the Arab Spring. Riyadh on its part was also expressing its resentment of American actions in the region by going into Yemen.

Thus the ideological divide is accentuating national conflicts of interest between Saudi Arabia and Iran. And as fate would have it, oil, which made the two leading regional powers and others immensely rich, fell drastically leading to austerity measures in the Saudi kingdom. With Iranian oil due to enter the international market following the projected lifting of sanctions flowing from the nuclear agreement, the Saudis have refused to cut their production to preserve their market share.

Where then do the Middle East and the world go from here? Bringing peace to Syria was difficult enough, but finally the US was able to bring both Saudia Arabia and Iran around the same table, in addition to Russia. The new tensions between these two countries will make the US task more difficult.

The Middle East has a long history of European colonial rule, a burden assumed by the US after World War II. But to everyones regret, the US has been following piecemeal policies of which the most disastrous was the invasion of Iraq. And when the Hosni Mubarak era tottered in the wake of the Arab Spring, Washington briefly flirted with the result of the countrys first free election. After a year, the coup, with popular support, brought the army back to power, apparently to US relief. After a symbolic gap, US military aid to Egypt is in full flow. It has got accustomed to dealing with dictators and monarchs across the region.

Saudi Arabias fear is that with Irans seemingly expanding role and an unreliable Washington, it must gather its forces. Its decision to break off diplomatic relations with Iran was followed by a few other Sunni kingdoms while the United Arab Emirates announced downgrading of its relations with Tehran. These are supporting measures to show solidarity, rather than long-term cures.

Saudi Arabias own situation is not a rosy one. The military intervention in Yemen is mired in a stalemate and the need to tighten its belt strikes at the heart of the unwritten pact with its citizens, that they forego their fundamental rights in return for a subsidised life. Besides, Iran as a regional power is here to stay.

What makes the future hard to predict is the nature of the churning taking place in the region, with outside powers still playing an outsize role. Israel is Americas true proxy although it tries to subvert US interests on occasion and refuses to look at the long-term consequences of living as a colonial power in the 21st century. In the Arab world, as the failure of the Arab Spring revealed, changing the power structure from dictatorships to democracy is a distant prospect.

Thus the existing power structures make the Shia-Sunni rift even more intricate. More and more towns and cities in Syria, for instance, have become concrete jungles and whether it can stay as one country is an open question, with the minority ruling Alawites of President Bashar al-Assad occupying a distinct region and the majority Sunnis elsewhere, with the Syrian Kurds gaining traction. Iraq is already vaguely split among Shia, Sunni and Kurds. And Turkey, another regional power, is locked in mortal combat with Kurds whose separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan is in jail and his party, the PKK, is fighting the Turkish army after the breakdown of a two-year-long truce last summer.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Ordogan is an ambitious man and even as his own problems in supressing Kurds grow, the European refugee crisis with millions of mainly Syrian refugees flooding the continent has given him a new relevance. He has already pocketed some $3 billion in aid to try to stem the refugee flow and has extracted promises of speedier clearances in achieving his ambition of European Union membership.

One tactic of resolving complicated problems is to make them more complicated. This would seem to apply to the Middle East. Some historians have consoled themselves with the thought that Europe in earlier centuries was as susceptible to divisions and wars as the Middle East is today. For people living today, that is scant consolation.
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 7

A three-member team sent here by the Central Government under the Swachh Bharat Mission, today completed its survey. They inspected all 42 points randomly chosen by the Central Government for the rating purpose.

The members sent the pictures and their report to the five-member team sitting in Delhi, which will give ratings.

An official, accompanying the team members, said there were a few discrepancies but more or less, the city was clean. The team members found dustbins missing at many points. There was garbage dumped in vacant plots. Since these are private properties, the MC cannot trespass on the plots to clean them. The team found no garbage on roads, near market places, malls and religious places. Sanitation in unplanned colonies is poor. The three-days visit of the Central Government team came to an end today, said the official.

In the last ranking, the industrial city stood at the 384th rank in India, which was quite embarrassing. To improve its position on the cleanliness front, the MC authorities have started taking sanitation seriously.

Now, sanitation staff are regularly cleaning city areas, which is appreciated by residents. At the same time, we are worried that once ranking is done or the team is gone, the enthusiasm will be lost and residents will have to face unhygienic conditions. Residents are happy as the city gives a neat and clean look now, said Satwant Singh, a resident at the Civil Lines area.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) demanded here today that the state government should reveal the name of the politician, who reportedly had a meeting with abducted Punjab Superintendent of Police (SP) Salwinder Singh before the attack on the Pathankot Air Base.

The party also demanded that the SP, whose role is under scanner since the day of the attack, should be immediately arrested.

In a press conference held here today, partys Punjab affairs in-charge Sanjay Singh said, According to a report, the SP had met a politician hours before the incident. People want to know why the SP had met him and what transpired in the meeting. The government should reveal all this.

Sanjay Singh was accompanied by partys state convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur and AAPs legal cell head Himmat Singh Shergill.

Attacking the Badal government, Sanjay Singh said the Pathankot attack should be probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under supervision of the apex court.

Demanding a thorough investigation into the SPs role, he said, It is clearly visible from the contradictory statements of the SP and his presence at odd hours in an area, where he is not posted. He was without any security guard. There could be a possibility of narco-politician-terrorist nexus.
Seoul/Beijing, January 8

South Korea unleashed a high-decibel propaganda barrage across its border with North Korea on Friday in retaliation for its nuclear test, while the United States called on China to end "business as usual" with its ally.

The broadcasts, in rolling bursts from walls of loudspeakers at 11 locations along the heavily militarised border, blared rhetoric critical of the Pyongyang regime as well as "K-pop" music, ratcheting up tension between the rival Koreas.

North Korea later responded with its own broadcasts.

Wednesday's nuclear test angered both the US and China, which was not given prior notice, although the US government and weapons experts doubt Pyongyang's claim that the device it set off was a hydrogen bomb.

China is North Korea's main economic and diplomatic backer, although relations between the Cold War allies have cooled in recent years.

China's Foreign Ministry urged North Korea to stick to its denuclearisation pledges and avoid action that would make the situation worse, but also said China did not hold the key to resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he had made clear in a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China's approach to North Korea had not succeeded. "China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respected to give them space to implement that," Kerry said.  Reuters
Gammage Photo: Hutchens Industries

Trailer suspension solutions manufacturer Hutchens Industries has named Jeff Gammage the Regional Sales Manager to the western U.S.

Gammage will be responsible for working with OEM trailer manufacturers, aftermarket businesses and area fleets in his region. He will travel throughout Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Gammage has over 10 years of OEM and parts distribution sales experience. Prior to Hutchens, he was a National Sales Manager for Universal Trailer Cargo Group and previously worked for Imperial Supplies, a subsidiary of W.W. Grainger.

For more information on Hutchens Industries, click here.
Parents and grandparents who are using the Oklahoma 529 College Savings Plan to prepare or pay for their loved ones college education can now take advantage of new perks.

Last month Congress passed and the president signed the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015.

One portion of the legislation deals specifically with 529 college savings plans, making the purchase of laptops, computers and related technology a qualified higher education expense under such plans.

Previously, computer and related technological purchases were considered eligible 529 plan expenses only if explicitly required by the college a student attended.

Now a computer qualifies as a qualified withdrawal whether a college requires students to have one or not.

Oklahoma State Treasurer Ken Miller, the board chair of the Oklahoma 529 College Savings Plan (OCSP), lauded the move.

This is a common-sense measure that reflects the importance of technology in todays college classrooms, Miller said. Certainly investing in the OCSP is a wise move, as is allowing families to take advantage of their savings to cover the expense of necessary computers and equipment.

The new rules state that the student  not the family  must be the primary user of the computer. The new rules also allow payments from 529 plans to be used for peripheral equipment, software and Internet access.

The changes in 529 rules are retroactive to Jan. 1, 2015, meaning computer or technology purchases made in 2015 would count as qualified expenses, where applicable.

The PATH Act also allows account owners to redeposit funds back into a 529 plan within 60 days without penalty in the event of a refund of tuition paid.

For more information about 529 plans, and specifically the OCSP, go to ok4saving.org.

By taking advantage of the Oklahoma 529 College Savings Plan taxpayers may deduct from their Oklahoma adjusted gross income up to $10,000 in contributions to the plan for individual taxpayers.

Taxpayers filing a joint return may deduct up to $20,000 with a five-year carryforward. Amounts deducted may be subject to recapture if a non-qualified withdrawal or rollover is taken (depending on the timing of such transactions), resulting in adverse Oklahoma income tax consequences. Be sure to read the Disclosure Booklet carefully.

Any earnings in an OCSP account are federal and Oklahoma income tax-deferred, and distributions are also federal and Oklahoma income tax-free when qualified withdrawals are made to fund an array of student expenses at most institutions of higher learning.

Funds may be used at virtually any private or public university, college or career technology center nationwide, and the account can be applied to tuition as well as other qualified expenses including fees, books, supplies and certain room and board costs.

The Oklahoma College Savings Plan is a state-sponsored, tax-advantaged 529 college savings plan managed by TIAA-CREF Tuition Financing, Inc.

Introduced in April 2000, the Oklahoma 529 College Savings Plan had more than $670 million in total assets and more than 58,000 accounts, as of Dec. 18, 2015.

As with any savings or investment plan, consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses before investing in the Oklahoma College Savings Plan. Visit ok4saving.org or call toll-free 1-877-654-7284 for a Plan Disclosure Booklet containing this and more information.

Account value in the Investment Options is not guaranteed and will fluctuate based upon a number of factors, including general market conditions.
Tulsa financial manager John Day has no medical insurance for himself, his wife or his two children.

But hes delighted with his medical coverage.

Day underwent spinal fusion surgery two years ago. The total bill came to $85,000. It was 100 percent paid for by Medi-Share, a Christian health cost-sharing cooperative that is not technically insurance, he said. His wifes recent back surgery was similarly covered.

Day said he dropped his conventional insurance three years ago  and its $10,000 annual deductible for each person in his family  when he learned about Medi-Share. His monthly premiums dropped drastically, and his annual deductible dropped to $1,250 for his entire family.

Im absolutely happy with it, said Day, who has promoted Medi-Share to his employees at Wealth Advisors, LLC.

Medi-Share is the primary ministry of Christian Care Ministry in Melbourne, Florida. It is one of three major U.S. ministries that provide Christian cost-sharing of medical expenses.

And with the passage of the federal Affordable Care Act, those ministries are growing rapidly.

Since the (ACA) marketplaces opened in 2013, we have experienced 60 percent annual growth, said Tony Meggs, president and chief executive officer of Christian Care Ministry.

Medi-Share now has more than 60,000 member households, with close to 170,000 individuals.

Meggs said that Christian cost-sharing medical co-ops are, strictly speaking, not insurance, but they meet the mandatory insurance requirements of the Affordable Care Act.

He said the three major Christian medical cost-sharing co-ops  Medi-Share, Samaritan Ministries and Christian Healthcare Ministries  along with about 80 smaller co-ops, were accredited by the Affordable Care Act.

Congress wanted to make sure that health care sharing ministries were a part of the health care solution in the nation, he said, because we have a stellar track record of paying the members bills.

Passage of the Affordable Care Act was a boost to the ministries because it reinforced that health care sharing is a viable alternative, he said.

He explained that the co-ops are not insurance because they do not have a pool of money into which people contribute, and from which benefits are paid, and they do not guarantee payment.

Its strictly voluntary. Members are relying on the moral commitment of the membership.

Members do not pay their monthly share amount to the co-op; they pay directly to other members who have medical needs.

In the Samaritan Ministries co-op, members are given the names and addresses of people with medical bills, and send a check directly to them, as directed by the co-op, often with a note of encouragement or offer of prayer.

Medi-Share does the same thing, but through an electronic banking system.

Weve created a patented process that enables members to share their money with each other directly without the money ever coming to us, Meggs said.

Members deposit their specific monthly share amount into their own special bank account and give the co-op power of attorney to move that money from that account into the account of members with medical expenses.

Every month I get a statement that tells me that my sharing amount went to this person and this person and that person, Day said. We get a list. We can pray for them. They can pray for us.

I love it, because every time you call (Medi-Share), they ask you if you have any needs that they can pray for, which is wonderful.

Meggs said medical cost-sharing co-ops keep costs down by carving out high-risk behaviors. Members must be church-going Christians who sign a statement of faith and agree to live by a code of conduct that can include not smoking, not abusing alcohol or drugs, and not having sex outside of the marriage of a man and a woman, among other things.

They appeal to people for a number of reasons besides the obvious financial advantage, Meggs said.

There is the issue of community that is attractive. ... a biblically based approach toward Christians living out their faith in a practical way.

He said one physician in the program with cancer wrote to him this week that he was amazed at how fast his medical bills were paid, but what really blew him away was he got more than 500 letters and cards and emails from members who were praying for him.

Thats uniquely different from what youre going to experience in an insurance product, Meggs said.

Some members like the program because they have ethical concerns about some of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act and do not want to participate in it, he said.

Meggs said that since the program got underway in 1993, 100 percent of the medical bills published to the membership have been paid. Members have shared more than $741 million in medical expenses.

Medi-Share families pay an average of about $340 a month for a family and an annual deduction that varies according to which program they select.

He said the ministrys administration fee is about 20 percent, most of it for member support programs. That includes general administration expenses of about 2.5 percent.

We run a very lean shop here.

He said the ministry does an audit every year and has not had fraud issues.

While were here to make sure that medical bills get paid, the most important thing about health care sharing ministries is that when someone is going through a medical crisis, we come alongside them with prayer and words of encouragement, Meggs said.
Tulsas Veterans Affairs clinic is a busy place where its not unusual to see a full parking lot and veterans having to park in unpaved spots and walk uneven ground to make their appointments.

But the Ernest Childers VA Outpatient Clinic is working to alleviate the problem with help from American Legion Mohawk Post 308.

Two shuttles are running during business hours to and from the American Legions parking lot, at 11328 E. Admiral Place, and the VA clinic at 9322 E. 41st Place.

The aim is to get patients and employees to ride the shuttle to free up parking space at the clinic, while offering door-to-door service for veterans, said VA spokeswoman Nita McClellan.

McClellan said the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center in Muskogee, where she is based, started a similar service for employees in November, and it takes time for them to get used to parking away from the clinic.

We had some growing pains down here, too, McClellan said.

The shuttle is free, paid for by the clinic, McClellan said.

American Legion spokesman Craig Treiber said he is encouraging patients  especially American Legion members  to take advantage of the free ride to the front door.

Theres just too many veterans, Treiber said. Theres too many veterans that need care and show up there.

He said he plans to use the shuttle in mid-January when hes scheduled for a treatment for his throat.

The American Legion has a two-year agreement to allow parking at the post and hopes to see the program become popular enough to get extended, Treiber said.

Treiber, a Navy veteran who uses a cane to help him walk, doesnt mince criticism of the VA clinic parking lot.

It always sucks, he said. For me to park here (at the often empty American Legion parking lot) and be dropped off at the door there would be big. I have two bad ankles.

Thats just his criticism of the parking lot, though. Treiber credits the VA clinic for saving his life with great service.

A lot of people have said some bad things about the VA, Treiber said. I go home every day to my lady because of what the VA has done for me.
Days before his murder trial was scheduled to begin, a former Tulsa police officer was granted a delay Thursday as he seeks a new judge to try the case.

Shannon James Kepler, 55, was scheduled to begin trial Monday but was granted the delay to allow time to challenge a judges refusal to step down from the case.

Kepler is charged in the Aug. 5, 2014, death of 19-year-old Jeremey Lake, who was shot outside his aunts residence in the 200 block of North Maybelle Avenue. Kepler also faces two counts of shooting with intent to kill pertaining to his adopted daughter, Lisa Kepler, and Lakes younger brother, Michael Hamilton.

District Judge Sharon Holmes on Dec. 28 denied Keplers motion asking her to recuse herself from the case.

According to civil procedure, when a district judge denies a request for recusal, the request can be reheard by the courts presiding judge. If the request is again denied, the party seeking the recusal has up to five days to file an appeal to a higher court.

Kepler appeared Thursday before District Judge William Musseman, who said Presiding Judge Rebecca Nightingale on Wednesday assigned him to hear the defenses motion to recuse Holmes.

Keplers attorney, Richard OCarroll, objected to Mussemans hearing the motion, saying he believed it should be heard by the presiding judge

OCarroll also asked to meet before Nightingale to ask why she reassigned it.

Musseman denied Keplers objection, saying district court rules allow Nightingale, as the presiding judge, to ask another judge to hear such motions.

Over the course of about two hours, OCarroll listed several reasons why he thinks Holmes career history and her handling of the case so far could cause a person to question her ability to handle the case without any bias.

After listening to OCarrolls arguments and reviewing transcripts from prior court proceedings, Musseman said he did not agree that Holmes has reason to recuse herself and granted a stay in court proceedings to allow the defense five days to file an appeal.

After the hearing, District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler told the Tulsa World theres no indication at this point of what the new trial date will be.

(Kepler) has, in essence, obtained a continuance of the case, because we cant go to trial until this issue is ultimately resolved by the Court of Criminal Appeals, Kunzweiler said. But Im going to be asking, at the conclusion of whatever the Court of Criminal Appeals does, that this matter gets reset for trial as soon as possible.

OCarroll told the Tulsa World that in addition to challenging Holmes refusal to recuse herself, he intends to appeal Mussemans hearing of the motion.

(Kepler) will raise that issue on appeal, that Mr. Kepler has the right to have this heard by the presiding judge, who was elected by her peers, and that wouldve been Judge Nightingale, OCarroll said.

Nightingale declined to comment on her decision to assign Musseman to hear the motion other than to say district court rules allowed her to request that the matter be heard by another judge.

Holmes declined to comment on her decision not to recuse herself.

Kepler has been free on bond since Aug. 25, 2014. He retired from the Tulsa Police Department about two months later.
Oklahoma received a D+ grade and a 46th-place finish among the 50 states and District of Columbia in Educations Weeks annual rankings of education quality indicators.

The 2016 edition of the trade publications Quality Counts report focused on outcomes in student achievement, state spending and educational opportunity, rather than on education policies and processes.

Oklahoma earned an overall score of 68.2, while the nation as a whole posted a grade of C with 74.4 out of a possible 100 points.

The Quality Counts K-12 Achievement Index examines 18 distinct state achievement measures related to reading and math performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests, high school graduation rates and the results of Advanced Placement exams. The state received a D in that category, producing the states highest ranking in any category on the report at 39th among all states.

Oklahoma earned a C and a 44th ranking in the Chance for Success category, while the average state earned a C+. The Chance for Success Index rates states for providing positive learning experiences for youths, as well as opportunities for adults to make good on a good education.

In school finance, Oklahoma received a D and ranked 44th in the state-by-state comparison.

State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said the results of the report came as no surprise.

We will not see anything different until we do something different. The Quality Counts report is a stark reminder that we cannot progress in education without a full commitment to a better plan and the resources to execute it. We need to connect and empower the best parts of our education system to reach the full promise and potential of Oklahoma schoolchildren, she said in a written statement.
BY U.S. REP. TOM COLE

As congressional lawmakers returned this week to get things done for the American people they were elected to represent, there is a lot of hope that this year will be different. In particular, theres great optimism that it will be a year marked not by governing from crisis to crisis but instead governing by regular order.

Toward the end of last year, we began to see hints of such progress. At the end of October, Paul Ryan was pressed into service by his colleagues and was enthusiastically elected as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives by an overwhelming majority of the Republican Conference. Then with the support of his leadership team, both chambers finished out the year by working together to pass vital legislation, including bills to fund the government, make many tax extenders permanent, invest in surface transportation and repeal damaging education policies that concentrated too much power in Washington. Each of these accomplishments served as proof that even when the government is divided, good faith negotiations and a willingness to compromise can result in meaningful work done on behalf of the American people.

This concept of governing by "regular order" is one that has been tossed around in conversation, news reports and by lawmakers quite often  especially lately. But beyond the understanding that it sounds like a good idea, what are the markers of a government that is actually functioning under it and how will Congress keep up the momentum toward achieving it?

Regular order is thoughtfully and decisively operating under established procedures, reasonable timetables and processes that allow policymaking or simply open discussion and collaboration.

To the majority of the American people, regular order is seen as a government that isnt broken, operating in the last minute or perpetually in crisis mode. For lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, it means having a voice that is welcomed, heard and respected and a process that is both fair and transparent.

To be clear, this is not synonymous with either side getting everything it wants  even the majority party. However, it is synonymous with finding common ground and in so doing getting things done for the American people.

Furthermore, regular order is the benchmark for the most basic and fundamental responsibilities of our Republic. Members of Congress are elected to run the government, not shut it down. They are elected to debate and thoughtfully consider the formulation of public policy, not to obstruct the process when they dont get everything they want.

And they are expected to have the manners and decorum we would expect from any small business owner, teacher or CEO  not those of petulant children. I am confident that under the steady hand of Speaker Paul Ryan, the House will reflect these values and we will be able to accomplish productive policies for the American people.

At the top of that list this year, there will be the task of writing, introducing and passing a balanced budget proposal early in the spring. That budget will then be able to guide lawmakers in the Appropriations Committee to draft, consider and pass legislation to fund the nations most important priorities.

Rather than relying on another massive "omnibus" spending package, I am hopeful that we can instead pass each of the 12 government funding bills one by one, allowing time for more debate and producing a better end product.

At the end of the day, regular order is meant to guide the process and give birth to meaningful American solutions in a reasonable matter of time. It doesnt mean well get there immediately or without some work, but I believe we are on the right track to do so this year.

U.S. Rep-[. Tom Cole represents the 4th Congressional District.
10:01 a.m., Jan. 8, 2016--For the Record provides information about recent professional activities of University of Delaware faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Recent books and media recognition include the following:

Books

Bonnie Meszaros, associate director of the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE) in the University of Delawares Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, has contributed a chapter to new textbook Financial Literacy Education: Addressing Student, Business, and Government Needs by Jay Liebowitz. Meszaros co-wrote The Changing Landscape of K-12 Personal Finance Education with Mary Suiter, who is the manager of economic education for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis as well as a graduate of the CEEEs master of arts in economics and entrepreneurship for educators (MAEEE) program.

Richard Sylves, professor emeritus of political science and international relations, has published Disaster Policy and Politics, second edition, Sage CQ Press, Thousand Oaks, California, 2015.

Media

The Colored Conventions Project, led by P. Gabrielle Foreman, Ned B. Allen Professor of English with joint appointments in the departments of History and Black American Studies, has been named one of Five More Digital History Projects We Loved in 2015 by writer Rebecca Onion in a blog on Slate. Onion cites the work concerning conventions of African American citizens held to discuss community building, racial violence and labor equality, and to support educational projects and political goals. Foreman, faculty director of the project, notes that it was launched in an English graduate class in spring 2012 and has since gained a national profile. Foreman cited the work of doctoral students Sarah Patterson and Jim Casey as the projects visionary co-coordinators, and Clay Colmon, who heads up the grants committee. English graduate students Jordan Howell, working toward a doctorate, and Labanya Mookerjee and Denise Burgher, working toward masters degrees, lead additional committees, and other English graduate students will take on leadership roles soon. She said the projects undergraduate researchers hail from a variety of departments. The project is supported by the University of Delaware Library, a partner in the website and the Transcribe Minutes program, which in September 2015 announced an agreement with Gale for use of its 19th century newspapers database by the project.

A letter by Margaret Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and professor of humanities, was published in The New York Times on Jan. 1. Her letter, a response to the recent agreement between the governments of Japan and South Korea to settle the issue of "comfort women" of World War II, is a reminder that this war crime involved the trafficking of children -- of girls as young as 13 and 14 -- and that it needs to be represented as such both in Japanese textbooks and in Western media. Stetz was a co-organizer of the first international academic conference on "comfort women" issues, held at Georgetown University in 1996, and co-editor of the volume Legacies of the Comfort Women of World War II (M. E. Sharpe, 2001).

UDs study abroad program is featured in the January issue of Alaska Airlines Alaska Beyond magazine, which has an article about global citizens and quotes Lisa Chieffo, associate director of the study abroad program, and senior Will Lescas, an international relations major and Honors Program student. The article begins on page 96, with information on UDs pioneering study abroad efforts beginning on page 102.

The Universitys Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management and the Marriott Courtyard Newark-University of Delaware hotel were featured in a Delaware Business Times article on Dec. 22 concerning student in the ACE Mentor Program of America learning about hotel design. The article featured a photograph of Sheryl F. Kline, department chair, and a comment from William Sullivan, hotel managing director.

To submit information to be included in For the Record, write to publicaffairs@udel.edu.

Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson
At a glance

Only 24, Shaqiri has already played in three of Europe's top leagues. He has won three league titles and two national cups with both Basel and Bayern, where he was also part of the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League-winning squad, though he did not play in the final. A switch to English Premier League side Stoke City has enabled him to get more game time, and his performances of late have been superb.

International pedigree

Shaqiri helped Switzerland to reach the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final, where they lost out to Spain, and went to the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals as a teenager too. He played a more prominent role at the 2014 finals, starting all of Switzerland's games in Brazil and scoring a hat-trick against Honduras to hep steer his side to the round of 16, where a touch of Lionel Messi magic ended their campaign.

What he offers

Switzerlands EURO star: Xherdan Shaqiri

Importance for Switzerland

A left-footer mainly deployed on the right wing, Shaqiri can be a fearsome creative force, crossing and dribbling ably. He is also adept at taking on defenders  not an aptitude that is common in the Switzerland squad. Shaqiri can also play in the hole behind the strikers, where Switzerland have had creative problems at times.

International career

Debut: Switzerland 1-3 Uruguay, 14 November 2009 (friendly)

Appearances: 51

Goals: 17

EURO final tournament (Switzerland record)

Appearances: 0 (Hakan Yakin and Patrick Muller, 6)

Goals: 0 (Hakan Yakin, 3)
In the near future the leaders of Normandy format will take a decision on implementation of the Minsk process in 2016.

Ukrainian MP, Presidential Envoy on the peaceful settlement of the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Iryna Herashchenko said this on the air of TV Channel Five.

"The leaders of Normandy format will take a decision on implementation of the Minsk process in 2016. Obviously, the Minsk agreements have not been fulfilled, and the offending country, Russia, is responsible for this. Therefore, the European Union and the United States of America have extended sanctions against the Russian Federation for six months," she said.

According to Herashchenko, the Minsk agreements have not been implemented, but they still work.

ish
UNHCR is increasingly concerned at recent growing insecurity in South Sudan's southern state of Western Equatoria and its serious impact on the civilian population.

Localized fighting between armed groups and government soldiers and an apparent breakdown in law and order are being reported in and near Yambio some 300 kilometres west of Juba. Sporadic gunfire is commonplace, and there has also been an increase in crime involving car-jackings, attacks on government property, looting of civilian homes and sexual assaults reportedly by armed youth.

A recent UN mission to Yambio found nearly 200 houses burnt down in the neighbourhood of Ikpiro and several hundred others looted. People have taken refuge in the town centre or moved to nearby villages. UN estimates put the number of people displaced in Western Equatoria's Yambia and Tambura counties at 15,000 since the start of December.

The violence is also driving people to flee their homes and head hundreds of kilometres to the southeast into neighbouring Uganda where 500 refugees have been registered every day since the beginning of this week - a quadrupling in recent numbers. As well as the violence, refugees cite food insecurity due to failed crops as a reason for their flight.

Last month, UNHCR reported that fighting between local groups and the South Sudan army in Western Equatoria had displaced over 4,000 people into a remote region of north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of 6 January, the number of registered new arrivals, most in the area around Dungu, had risen to 6,181 comprising 4,164 South Sudan nationals and 2,017 Congolese who had previously been living as refugees in South Sudan. The influx has continued into 2016 so far albeit at a much reduced rate. The government refugee agency has recorded 268 in the past week.

Overall, these are alarming developments for a region of South Sudan that has until now been relatively stable. The implications for humanitarian access to an estimated 7,400 refugees living in Western Equatoria are very worrying. UNHCR is in contact with government authorities regarding the security of those refugees and has agreed on additional UNMISS force protection through increased patrols as well as support to relocate refugees to safer areas.

The conflict that erupted in South Sudan in December 2013 has produced one of the world's largest humanitarian emergencies with 2.3 million people forced to flee their homes, 650,000 of these across borders as refugees and 1.65 million displaced inside the country.

For more information on this topic, please contact:
South Sudanese refugees line up for food at a transit centre in Adjumani, Uganda, June 2015.  UNHCR/J. Matas

GENEVA, Jan 8 (UNHCR) - The UN Refugee Agency is increasingly concerned at recent growing insecurity in South Sudan's southern state of Western Equatoria and its serious impact on the civilian population there.

UNHCR cautioned that localized fighting between armed groups and government soldiers and an apparent breakdown in law and order are being reported in and near Yambio, some 300 kilometres west of Juba.

"Sporadic gunfire is commonplace, and there has also been an increase in crime involving car-jackings, attacks on government property, looting of civilian homes and sexual assaults reportedly by armed youth," UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards said in a briefing to reporters in Geneva on Friday (January 8).

A recent UN mission to Yambio found nearly 200 houses burnt down in the neighbourhood of Ikpiro and several hundred others looted. People have taken refuge in the town centre or moved to nearby villages, Edwards said, adding that UN estimates put the number of people displaced in Western Equatoria's Yambio and Tambura counties at 15,000 since the start of December.

The violence is also driving people to flee their homes and head hundreds of kilometres to the south-east into neighbouring Uganda, where 500 refugees have been registered every day since the beginning of this week - a quadrupling in recent numbers. As well as the violence, refugees cite food insecurity due to failed crops as a reason for their flight.

Last month, UNHCR reported that fighting between local groups known as the "Arrow Boys" and the South Sudan army in Western Equatoria had displaced over 4,000 people into a remote region of north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

As of last Friday, the number of registered new arrivals, most in the area around Dungu, had risen to 6,181 comprising 4,164 South Sudan nationals and 2,017 Congolese who had previously been living as refugees in South Sudan. The influx has continued so far into 2016, albeit at a much reduced rate. The government refugee agency has recorded 268 in the past week.

"Overall, these are alarming developments for a region of South Sudan that has until now been relatively stable. The implications for humanitarian access to some 7,400 refugees living in Western Equatoria are very worrying," Edwards said.

UNHCR is in contact with government authorities regarding the security of those refugees and has negotiated additional UN peacekeeper protection through patrols as well as support to relocate refugees to safer areas.

Meanwhile UNHCR, Government of Uganda and partners are scaling up operations in northern Uganda in the expectation that this trend will continue, at least in the short-term.

The conflict that erupted in South Sudan in December 2013 has produced one of the world's largest humanitarian emergencies with 2.3 million people forced to flee their homes, 650,000 of these across borders as refugees and 1.65 million displaced inside the country.
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Wyoming Business Tips for Jan. 17-23

A weekly look at Wyoming business questions from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (WSBDC), part of WyomingEntrepreneur.Biz, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming.

By Mike Lambert, Wyoming Entrepreneur Market Research Center manager

With the start of the new year, what are some trends that we should keep an eye on in Wyoming? Mark, Lusk

One of the things that I do at the Market Research Center is to watch business trends.

A recent article from McKinsey & Company, one of the top global management consulting firms, identifies four forces that are fundamentally changing the world we live in. If you are my age, youve seen technology and political changes that are staggering (cell phones, the end of the Cold War, computers that put Star Trek to shame). But, according to McKinsey & Company, the changes that are coming will be even more monumental.

The first change is the shift of economic focus to emerging markets. This may be hard to grasp in Wyoming, where we tend to be a bit out of the mainstream, but the global economy is rapidly shifting away from the developed economies of North America and Europe. Instead, economic activity is shifting east and south to Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Even more striking, the activity in these areas is becoming highly urban. With global urban populations increasing by about 65 million people a year over the past 30 years, it is expected that about half of the growth in global domestic product (GDP) will come from 440 small and medium cities about which many of us have never heard. Ever heard of Tianjin, a city southeast of Beijing, China? Its GDP in 2010 was estimated to be $130 billion, about the same as Stockholm, Sweden. By 2025, it is estimated to explode to $625 billion, or about the same as all of Sweden.

The second disruptive force is accelerated impacts of change driven by technology. If you think things have changed rapidly in the past 20 years, hold on to your seats, according to McKinsey & Company.

It took more than 50 years after the telephone was invented until half of American homes had one. It took radio 38 years to attract 50 million listeners. But Facebook attracted 6 million users in its first year, and that number multiplied 100 times over the next five years. Chinas mobile text and voice messaging service WeChat has 300 million users, more than the entire adult population of the United States, according to the company.

All of this technological change and adoption around the world is leading to huge amounts of innovation. This is resulting in such a rapid change that companies and product life cycles are shortening, and executives are having to make decisions at a hugely accelerated pace.

Another global trend is that of aging populations. Around the world, people are getting older. Fertility is falling, and the average person is looking much grayer everywhere. Japan and Russia have seen their populations decline. The expectation is that by 2060, Germanys population will shrink by 20 percent.

Currently, about 60 percent of the worlds population lives in countries with fertility rates that are lower than the replacement rate. Declining and aging populations will place severe pressure on economies and governments that have to care for elderly people with the inputs from fewer and fewer workers.

The last disruptive force is that of the worlds increased global connections. It used to be that most global trade flowed through the major trading hubs in Europe and North America. No longer. Todays trading patterns are much more complex, and Asia is becoming the largest trading region.

Not only is money moving around; people are, too. In 2009, more than a billion people crossed borders. This is five times as many as in 1980. The increasing interconnectedness of the global economy is creating huge opportunities, and equally huge volatility.

The overall impact of these disruptive forces is that the future is becoming less and less predictable. People and businesses will be less able to rely on what worked before and will have to become open to changing realities.

In a state like Wyoming, where we value the traditional and tried and true, the next few years may be extremely challenging.

A blog version of this article and an opportunity to post comments are available at http://wyen.biz/blog1/.

The WSBDC is a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Wyoming Business Council and the University of Wyoming. To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email wsbdc@uwyo.edu, or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY, 82071-3922.
UWyo Magazine

September 2015 | Vol. 17, No. 1

Changing the Face of Science

Through her impressive research and outreach efforts, paleontologist Ellen Currano challenges the traditional image of geoscientists.

By Micaela Myers

An Illinois native, Ellen Currano knew she wanted to be a paleontologist by age 5. After a family road trip to Yellowstone National Park at age 12, she imagined herself a professor right here at the University of Wyoming. Since then, shes been on a straight trajectory to reaching those goals.

Currano attended the University of Chicago for her undergraduate work and made her first research trip to the Big Horn Basin during a Smithsonian summer internship. She went on to earn her doctorate in geosciences at Pennsylvania State University and took a faculty position at Miami University in 2009. But in the fall of 2014, the stars aligned for her dream job as an assistant professor at UW with a joint appointment in the Department of Botany and Department of Geology and Geophysics.

Learning from our past: Wyoming has one of the best fossil records of the time period I study of anywhere in the world, Currano says. As a paleoecologist, she uses fossil plants to investigate how environmental changes affect taxonomic diversity, ecosystem structure, plant-insect interactions and biogeographic patterns. By understanding how ecosystems reacted to past changes, we can better predict how modern ecosystems will respond to current changes.

Here in Wyoming, Im interested in the time period 4565 million years ago. Its a really warm time, and you had big climate changes, so Im looking at how warming and high CO2 levels affect plants and the insects that feed on them.

Earlier this year, Currano received a $450,000 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program Award from the National Science Foundation for her project, titled Exploring Hothouse Ecosystems Through the Fossils of Wyoming and Colorado: A Suitable Job for a Woman.

The Bearded Lady Project: Curranos award includes an educational component, and she hopes to bring attention to women in the sciences, a field where theyre vastly underrepresented. For example, only 16 percent of geoscience faculty members are female.

Together with a talented photographer and a videographer, Currano is raising additional funds for The Bearded Lady Project: Challenging the Face of Science. The project will include a portrait exhibition of prominent female geoscientists posing in the field with beards. Interviews with the scientists will also be made into a documentary. It all started when Currano began thinking female scientists would be taken more seriously if they had beards and appeared more like the traditional image of a paleontologist.

This project is reclaiming a legacy for women, Currano says.

This is our try at making female scientists more accessible to the general public.

The portrait series will be on exhibition during the Geological Society of Americas annual meeting in fall 2016 and will also make an appearance at the UW Geological Museum. She expects the documentary to be released sometime in 2017, and proceeds from the project will support
Alexander & Baldwin Inc., the only sugar plantation Hawaii has left, announced Wednesday that it will stop producing sugar by the end of 2016.

The plantation's getting out of the sugar business signals the end of an industry that contributed a big amount to the island's economy and beckoned thousands of immigrants to work in Aloha. According to Business Insider, the sugar-plantation's 36,000 acre land in Maui will be divided to smaller factions that will be used for growing food crops and biofuel. Some of the land will also be used for raising cattle.

The former chairman of A&B's board of directors, Walter A. Dods Jr., said, "They tried hard to keep farming and sugar on Maui and have had a long tradition of working with the people of Maui. It was gut wrenching over the years. A&B was barely breaking even or sometime having losses."

The Pacific Business News reported that major Hawaii businessmen and politicians responded to this issue. Governor David Ige said that this is "the end of an era that touched the lives of generations of hardworking, local families."

Meanwhile, Senator Mazie Hirono, said that it shows how the agriculture in Hawaii "continues to evolve." Senator Brian Schatz said he will honor the legacy that this generation has left by providing opportunities for those affected by the end of an industry.

PR Newswire wrote that A&B will support the affected employees by providing transition coordinators to help them find alternate job opportunities. The coordinators will coordinate with state, federal, county, and even private job programs.

The sugar-plantation will also provide its workers with better severance and benefit packages. Employees, retirees, and former employees who are eligible for retirement benefits will still get what's due for them. The company may also transition displaced employees to the new operations in its farms.
Mexico's 10% tax on sweetened drinks implemented in 2014 led to 12 percent reduction in sales, and is now being considered in Britain and Canada.

According to Medical Xpress a study by the British Medical Journal published this week showed that the 10 percent tax on sugary drinks led to an overall 12 percent decrease in sales. There had also been a 4 percent rise in sales of untaxed drinks, which are usually water. This result inspired policy discussions and decisions.

Mexico has some of the world's highest levels of overweight, obesity, and even diabetes. It has even overtaken US in these statistics. Reducing the intake of sugary beverage has been a priority in preventing diabetes and obesity.

The Telegraph UK reported that American and Mexican researchers studied 6,200 households in 53 big cities in Mexico. They saw that in the first year upon implementation of the taxation, the average person bought 4.2 fewer liters of these sugary drinks.

The British Government will report a strategy to curb obesity among children in the following weeks. The Prime Minister hasn't announced yet if taxes will be increased. However, Public Health England suggested that taxation on sugary drinks at 10 to 20 percent would be one of the best moves to minimize obesity.

Meanwhile, CBC wrote that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's public health priorities include prohibiting advertisements on unhealthy food and beverages for children, eliminating trans fat, cutting salt content in processed foods, and enhancing the label in food products to provide more information about added sugars. Health Minister Jane Philpott said that she is very interested in studying health strategies from other countries, which includes the study from the British Medical Journal.

According to the British study, gradually lowering the added sugar content in sweetened drinks by 40 percent for five years would reduce the number of obese adults by one million in the UK. It could also help prevent 9,000 obese-related Type 2 diabetes conditions in the country for the next 20 years.
In an attempt to force President Barack Obama to reverse his decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada Corp files a lawsuit against US government.

Reuters reported that the Canadian firm also seek $15 billion in damages from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Houston, Texas. The lawsuit calls the rejection of the pipelines' construction unconstitutional.

The defendants against the lawsuit include Secretary of the Department of Interior Sally Jewell, US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The company also filed separate action in the NAFTA, where it claimed that the rejection to build the pipeline was "arbitrary and unjustified." The US lawsuit seeks to invalidate the permit denial and to prevent any future president to deny construction.

However, its request to get $15 billion under NAFTA shows that it wants to recover its lost investments in the pipeline.

Duetsche Welle wrote that TransCanada has already invested $3.1 billion in its Keystone XL project. It will report a balance-sheet of $2.9 billion in after-tax write-offs due to the US government's blocking the project.

Meanwhile, the firm claimed in its NAFTA filing that it expects the XL pipeline development application to be granted since it had met the US State Department criteria that other cross-border pipelines got approved with.

"TransCanada's Keystone XL permit was denied because construction of the pipeline was not in the United States national interest," said Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica in a report by Telesur TV. "Instead of honoring President Obama's reasoned decision, TransCanada wants to turn to secretive trade tribunals to force American taxpayers to compensate it for a project that should never have been proposed."

President Obama rejected the oil pipeline November 2015, since he believes that it would not benefit the US economy in the long term. The XL pipeline was proposed seven years ago. It was supposed to link the pipeline networks from Canada to the United States, transporting oil from Alberta and North Dakota to Illinois, and even Mexico.
SpringOwl Asset Management managing director Eric Jackson is calling for Yahoo to replace CEO Marissa Mayer and cut 75 percent, or 9,000, of its workforce.

Biz Journals reported that the managing director of the New York-based hedge fund aims to bring in a CEO who is operations-focused and find a partner that would help address the tax issues the company is facing. These are all outlined in his 99-page slide presentation that has been circulating recently.

According to CNN, Mayer has been trying for over three years to improve Yahoo's Internet advertising business. However, it can't out-compete Facebook and Google. Many analysts believe that the task of turning Yahoo around is an impossible task that she took. The company is already a lost cause when she became its head.

However, Jackson believes otherwise.

"Sometimes, when good ideas are voiced and discussed, they can have tremendously powerful effects," said Jackson in his 99 page case posted by Forbes. "Chris Sacca's recent 8,000 word blog post about Twitter had dramatic repercussions. I hope our sharing these ideas will have similarly strong effects before it's too late for this great company."

Jackson suggests cutting $2 billion yearly cost by firing 9,000 of the company's 11,900 workers and contractors. He also recommends removing the free food perks for employees. He also wants the company to sell its headquarters and rent a smaller office space instead.

However, Yahoo's bigger shareholders, like Starboard Value LP and Canyon Capital Advisors are calling for the tech company to venture on something else besides its core Internet Business.

Meanwhile, Jackson believes the company can still ask for $6 billion if it is sold now. However, with his plan to remove workers and replace the CEO, he believes the company could sell up to $24 billion. He even wants the logo to change to signal the end of Meyer's leadership.
Lenovo and Google announces their partnership to develop an Augmented Reality smartphone in project Tango. The companies also collaborate with Qualcomm Technologies in the project. The announcement was made on Thursday at the Consumer Electronic Show 2016 in Las Vegas.

Project Tango is an ambitious project initiated by Google to enable device Android platform to have a kind of spatial perception, so the devices will be able to detect their position and awareness to the physical world around them. The project brings advanced computer vision, image processing and special vision sensors. Its implementation mainly focuses in three areas of motion tracking, depth perception and area learning.

At first, its technology was hard to understand. Gizmodo reported that when Google first showed the world its 3D aware technology about two years ago it's been pretty hard to explain what exactly it is. A short explanation is that the technology uses a variety of sensors, such as gyroscopes or accelerometer, to give a mobile device a realistic awareness of its surrounding physical world.

Tango is Google's Augmented Reality can be used to map a surrounding area, for example to take a modeling of a room in our house for furniture placement. During a presentation of Project Tango, team leader Johny Lee quickly mapped the stage at the press event, and placed a fridge in a corner that fits perfectly. Developers can utilize the technology for variety of purpose, from gaming to virtual reality.

Previously, Google created two devices for developers involved in project Tango: the Yellowstone tablet and Peanut phone.

On Wednesday, Lenovo and Qualcomm Technologies announced their partnership with Google to bring project Tango to a consumer phone. Qualcomm will provide its Snapdragon processor and will be working closely with Lenovo and Google to optimize combination of hardware and software for bringing the best of Tango platform.

In regard to Lenovo decision to join project Tango, Tango Chen Xudong, senior vice president and president of Lenovo Mobile Business Group said, "To break new ground in today's hypercompetitive smartphone and tablet industries, we must take innovation risks  it's the only way to truly change the way people use mobile technology."

In an interview with Business Wire Chen also explained, "Together with Google we're breaking down silos by working across mobile hardware and software. Turning our shared vision into reality will create a more holistic product experience that captures the imagination of today's consumer."

The Augmented Reality technology is expected to become very big in the near future.Venture Beat reported that Digi Capital, technology advisory firm predicted that AR technology will be a $120 billion market by 2020.

Lenovo and Google expect to enter AR market first by preparing a new smartphone with the technology. The new smartphone is expected to be availabe in summer 2016.
Saudi Aramco, world's biggest oil producing company, is planning to go public. The Saudi Arabian government will take a decision soon in this regard. Saudi Aramco will undergo restructuring exercise very soon. In addition to listing some petrochemical and other downstream firms, the Saudi government may also sell some of the stake.

Saudi Arabia state-run company Aramco may get listed on bourse. Saudi Arabia is suffering from the lower oil price below $35 a barrel. Saudi-led Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is firm on maintaining the present level of production to keep up its market share.

Muhammad bin Salman, the kingdom's deputy crown prince and power behind the throne of his father, King Salman, said in an interview with The Economist, the decision would be taken in next few months. "Personally, I'm enthusiastic about this step. I believe it's in the interest of the Saudi market and it's the interest of Aramco," he said. It's forecast to be five percent of stake would be free float in the first phase.



Prince Muhammad further said that the proposed listing would help Saudi Aramco become more transparency. It would also prevent counter corruption. "Another goal would be to promote greater shareholder involvement in Saudi Arabia," said Prince Muhammad.

The listing of Saudi Aramco is aimed at balancing Saudi Arabia's budget. The measure will also take care of challenging situation amid lower oil price. A small stake in Saudi Aramco were placed on Saudi Stock Exchange, then it could influence in a greater way, reports CNBC.



Though exact figures of public issue value are not available. It's learnt that first float may be about five percent giving controlling power to the Kingdom.

Bob McNally, a former senior White House official and founder of Washington-based consultant The Rapidan Group, said: "This is an epochal change in the oil industry. Saudi Arabia is getting ready to ride the oil-price roller-coaster, not control it."

Prince Muhammad bin Salman held two meetings on public issue plan for Aramco. The discussions included selling shares in parent company, which manages oil exploration and production. The meeting also discussed on offering smaller units that operate petrochemical, refining and marketing operations, as reported by Stuff news.



Prince Muhammad became head of the defense ministry and the Council for Economic and Development Affairs about a year ago. He has been active on bringing economic changes to strengthen the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia is also studying the impact of subsidies in electricity, water and housing segments. It may also seek private sector participation in healthcare and education. The other measures of study also include introduction of five percent of value added tax (VAT) on non-essential goods.
photos by ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Ragsdale Kitchen, owned by Ragsdale Dale Panopio, recently opened at 692 E. Main St. in Ventura, featuring an American, Asian and fusion cuisine.

Rita Moran Columnist SHARE LEFT: Wendy Villafuerte prepares a plate at Ragsdale Kitchen in Ventura. RIGHT: Ragsdale features a diverse menu, including the Loco Moco lunch entree. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Henry Sachs, Manager of Ragsdale Kitchen in Ventura, pours the restaurants signature Midtown Martini. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Mariah Baldonado serves lunch at Ragsdale Kitchen in Ventura.

Curiosity got the better of us. We simply couldn't wait any longer to sample the fare at Ragsdale Kitchen & Bar, now ensconced in a Ventura downtown landmark building that has been the site of multiple eateries. Even though technically still in "soft opening" state, Ragsdale has been serving its small but diverse menu for months now and we had to see, and taste, for ourselves.

We found Ragsdale, named for owner Ragsdale "Dale" Panopio, was featuring an intriguing menu that made us eager to try some of the more unusual items: a cauliflower grilled three-cheese sandwich; a chicken schnitzel sandwich; the Ragsdale Loco Moco lunch entree featuring a half-pound beef patty, crispy pork belly, steamed white rice, mushroom Bordelaise and a sunny-side-up egg; and a chilled herb-encrusted lunch dish served with wild rice pilaf and house-made pomegranate gastrique.

Unfortunately, as we ordered each, our very pleasant server either mentioned immediately that the item was not available at that day's lunch hour, or had to return after taking the order to apologize that it was not available. The cauliflower/cheese item had been a real curiosity with its house-made carb- and gluten-free cauliflower bread a particular attraction.

Instead, we chose the miso-soy infused hanger steak ($15), a banh mi sandwich ($9.50) and the RKB classic burger ($12). The very good hanger steak, cooked rare as requested and presented in bountiful portion, was excellent and well matched with confit garlic and onion mashed potatoes and roasted rainbow carrots. The sweet plum soy, infused with miso-soy, enhanced the flavors.

Filipino-style adobo braised pork belly centered the banh mi sandwich, served on a hoagie roll and finished with pickled veggies, hoisin aioli, cilantro and fresh mint, a very tasty combo. The RKB Classic Burger was basic but good: a half-pound beef patty, American cheese, pickles, tomato, onion and lettuce, with RKB's "secret sauce," on a sesame bun.

Desserts were a generous serving of chocolate lava cake ($7), a s'mores parfait and banana bread pudding ($6). When we ordered the pudding, it turned out that was not available either, but the kitchen whipped up a portion for us. It was sweet and unusual though we can't vouch that it is exactly what they serve when it's ready to go on order. Still, it was considerate of the cooks to concoct the dish for us. The parfait was very rich but some will still find it irresistible.

Cuisine at Ragsdale is described as a mix of American, Asian and fusion dishes, with chef Sheme Santiago at the helm. We did find the sandwiches and lunch entree we ate quite satisfying.

There were lots of other items on the menu that piqued our curiosity, in addition to those we ordered but were not available. There's a Shrimp Po'banh Mi, suggesting an amusing mix, and a lunch dish of duck or tofu potpie. Salads include an organic Caesar, an organic berries and kale mix and the Ragsdale Salad, which brings together a lot of veggies and accents including hickory-smoked coconut flakes.

The tempting small plates include roasted pork tenderloin with cheesy cauliflower grits; seared scallops with yellow corn risotto and "burned carrot puree"; warm quinoa salad and a grilled Caesar salad featuring grilled romaine hearts. Sandwich-wise there are veggie and turkey burgers for those not into beef.

Main entrees range from Indian spice-infused tofu and roasted curry Cornish hen to sriracha maple-glazed pork chop, buttermilk poached halibut and tallow-basted beef tenderloin.

Ragsdale seems to be testing and adjusting its menu as it goes along, which could very well lead to a fascinating outcome when it finally settles into its groove.

RAGSDALE KITCHEN & BAR

Location: 692 E. Main St., Ventura. 641-1500.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sun.-Thurs.; 11 a.m. to midnight Fri.-Sat.

Impressions: Very mod makeover of classic Ventura building; good-natured service; creative dishes, not all available every day.

Whats hot: Miso-soy infused hanger steak, Ragsdale Classic Burger, banh mi sandwich

2 for lunch

Starter: Root vegetable chips ($3)

Entrees: Miso-soy infused hanger steak ($15) + banh mi sandwich ($9.50) + Ragsdale Classic Burger ($12)

Desserts: Smores parfait ($4) + banana bread pudding ($6)

Tab for two: $20-$30
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/TOM JUDAH PHOTOGRAPHY Married chefs Karl Holst and Rachel Main Holst will team up for a Jan. 14 Celebrate the Winemaker dinner at the Museum of Ventura County. The dinner featuring Chad Melville of Melville Vineyards & Winery will benefit the museums educational programs.

SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Chad Melville of Melville Vineyards & Winery will be honored during a Celebrate the Winemaker dinner taking place Jan. 14 as a fundraiser for the Museum of Ventura County.

By Lisa McKinnon of the Ventura County Star

A wine dinner benefiting educational programs at the Museum of Ventura County will feature two pairings: food and wine, and chef and chef.

Married chefs Karl Holst and Rachel Main Holst created the menu for the fundraiser, which will highlight wines from Melville Vineyards & Winery when it takes place from 6 p.m. Jan. 14 at the museum in downtown Ventura.

Vintner Chad Melville will be in attendance to talk about the history of the winery, which is located in the Sta. Rita Hills region between Lompoc and Buellton in Santa Barbara County.

The event will be the third "Celebrate the Winemaker" dinner presented at the museum by Holst, executive chef at the North Ranch County Club in Thousand Oaks, and by Main Holst, executive chef, co-founder and vice president of Main Course California, a Ventura-based catering company.

Previous dinners highlighted The Ojai Vineyard, in April 2014, and Santa Barbara County wine pioneer Richard Sanford, of Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards, in July.

"Rachel and I put together a shortlist of winemakers we really admire. It just so happens that, like Melville, they also tend to make really food-friendly wines," Holst said.

The Jan. 14 event will start with pours of a 2013 estate Verna's Vineyard Viognier served with passed hors d'oeuvres that include smoked Gouda mousse with phyllo and apple relish, and rabbit tostadas with avocado, ancho chili and crema Mexicana.

Holst pointed to the first course as one of his favorites. It will feature a seared diver scallop served with uni, a nutty black risotto and yuzu beurre blanc, among other elements. The paired wine, a 2013 estate chardonnay, will play up the umami flavors of the dish, Holst said.

The second course will pair Scottish salmon roulade with shiitake mushroom brodo, bok choy and miso aioli with glasses of 2013 estate pinot noir.

Holst, who is studying for his Level 2 sommelier certification, said the "rich baking-spice" notes of Melville's 2014 Block M pinot noir were inspiration for the third course: braised pork belly with organic Swiss chard gratin, parsnip-vanilla puree, crispy parsnips and a spiced pinot reduction.

A fourth course of lamb kefta, harissa ajvar, labneh, basil-mint salad and fried fava beans will be paired with Melville's 2013 estate syrah. Dessert will feature chocolate ravioli, peanut-butter-and-jelly vanilla anglaise and shaved white chocolate.

Tickets, $140 per person, include tax and tip. For required reservations, call 658-8900 or click on http://www.maincourseca.com/events/.
Rigo Landeros, who serves as fire chief, public works director and interim city manager for Fillmore, observes Fillmore firefighters at a training exercise on roof access.

By Tony Biasotti

Rigo Landeros, Fillmores interim city manager, was behind on his phone calls.

Sorry I couldnt get back to you yesterday, he said after his cellphone rang on a drive through town recently. I was at a shooting.

As city manager, Landeros is Fillmores top administrative employee. He wears a suit instead of a uniform, and his services are rarely needed at crime scenes.

But he also is Fillmores fire chief. As the leader of a small department consisting mostly of volunteers, he responds to almost every medical, fire and police emergency in the city.

The call he stopped to take was from a representative of American Water Co., which operates Fillmores sewer plant. By the end of the call, Landeros has agreed to come to the sewer plant at midnight to help clear out an obstructed sewer main. This is a function of his third job at City Hall: public works director, a position hes held since the last permanent director left two years ago.

Hes been doing all three jobs for five months, since the last city manager, Yvonne Quiring, left to take a job with the city of Davis.

Landeros typically starts and ends his days at the fire station. He shifts to City Hall in between, though he often ducks out to join his firefighters on fires or medical emergencies. He said he doesnt keep track of how many hours he works but that 12-hour days are common.

Hes willing to do whatever it takes, Councilman Douglas Tucker said. Were down quite a few staff members compared to previous years, and hes really stepped up.

Landeros is quick to spread the credit around, saying the long hours worked by other city employees since the city cut its workforce nearly in half to balance the budget. Fillmores financial situation is considered by observers inside and outside City Hall to be the worst of any city in Ventura County.

Were in crisis right now, for lack of a better term, and were all working really hard to beat this thing, Landeros said.

Landeros, 49, was born in Fillmore and raised in a home on Foothill Drive, just north of downtown. When he was a boy, the city used an air raid siren to summon its volunteer firefighters in case of a blaze. When Landeros heard that siren, he would jump on his bike, tear through town to the firehouse to see where the trucks were going and follow them to watch the firefighters at work.

As a teenager, he was a cadet with the Ventura County Fire Department, and after attending Oxnard College he entered the countys reserve firefighter academy. In 1991, he joined Fillmores Fire Department as a part-time volunteer.

By then he had moved on from his childhood dream of a firefighting career. He had started working behind the meat counter of a local market when he was in high school and by the mid-1980s was cutting meat at a Gelsons Market in Encino. He became the meat buyer for the Gelsons chain and later the director of its meat, deli and cheese departments.

I told myself I didnt want to be a meat cutter for the rest of my life, he said of his climb up the corporate ladder.

At the same time, he was climbing the ranks in Fillmore, becoming a volunteer fire captain in 2004. In 2009, the position of chief  a paid, full-time job  opened up. Landeros quit Gelsons and took the job.

Now that hes running the Public Works Department as well as the entire city administration, Landeros says he has no interest in keeping either job permanently.

My love is the fire service, he said. I dont want to be a city manager.

Landeros is earning $10,000 a month while he serves as interim city manager, about $1,000 more than he was making before he took on the extra duty. He will continue in the interim post until a permanent city manager is hired, something the City Council expects to do in late spring or early summer.

In the meantime, the council feels the city is in good hands, Tucker said.

He has an ease about him with his management style, he said. Hes open. If you disagree with him, hes going to listen to what you have to say and take it into consideration.

Landeros is leaning on the expertise of Mike Sedell, who retired last year after 17 years as Simi Valleys city manager. Quiring contacted Sedell when she decided to leave Fillmore and suggested he help out as a consultant, which he is doing for free.

Sedell talks to Landeros on the phone daily and visits Fillmore two or three times a week. He said Landeros has been a quick study, picking up the nuances of running a city though having only three years experience as a full-time government employee.

Hes got the skill set as far as dealing with people, and hes a quick learner, Sedell said. He understands when its OK to ask for something he doesnt know and admit he doesnt know it. You can give him a sentence, and he understands the paragraph. You can give him the paragraph, and he understands the page.

With money so tight, Fillmore is depending on its employees to do what Landeros has done  take on extra work and do the jobs of people who have quit or been laid off. Its not sustainable in the long term, Sedell said, but it will help the city get through its budget crisis.

If you look at all the issues they have, it almost seems insurmountable, but if you take them apart one by one, they can be worked down, he said. I have no doubt that they have a very bright future ahead of them, and Rigo is a big part of that.
STAR FILE PHOTO Camarillo City Manager Bruce Feng

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By Staff Reports

Camarillo's city manager announced Thursday he would retire in April after five years in the post and 10 years with the city.

When he departs, Bruce Feng will leave behind a 37-year career, working for cities throughout Southern California. His last day will be April 5.

"I am extremely grateful to have served the Camarillo community along with our outstanding City Council and city staff," he said in a city news release. "I feel privileged and honored to have worked as a public servant for so many years and very fortunate for the experience working in such a top notch city as Camarillo. I am very proud of our accomplishments."

Feng, 59, started as a plan-check engineer for the city of San Diego in 1979. He came from Burbank to Camarillo as assistant city manager in August 2005.

The city manager's annual salary is $242,103, according to his office.

"Bruce will be missed," Mayor Mike Morgan said in the release. "He has done much to strengthen the city, including building a strong management team, correcting a budget deficit into a sustainable budget while in the midst of the redevelopment funds abolishment and resolving many major issues. The groundwork for several major projects has been laid as well."

Morgan said Feng's retirement did not come as a surprise. The city manager has had a long career in local government and now wants to spend more time with his grandchildren, the mayor said.

The next steps for finding a replacement will be decided by the City Council.
STAR FILE PHOTO

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By From Staff Reports

A county Human Services Agency office that offers job services has been temporarily relocated to a county building at 1400 Vanguard Drive in Oxnard.

The office at 635 S. Ventura Road in Oxnard will be at the Vanguard location until late spring and perhaps as late as July. Then it will move into permanent quarters at 2901 Ventura Road in the RiverPark area, officials said.

The county had subleased the space at 635 S. Ventura Road from the state of California for almost 20 years. State officials informed the county in November that they were not able to extend their lease with Oxnard Village Center after it expired in May. That meant the county agency had to vacate the premises and find new office space before the move to RiverPark.

The temporary move affects an America's Job Center location, formerly known as the West Oxnard Job & Career Center, and about 70 county employees.

Members of the public who have visited the county office to conduct job searches may continue their efforts at 1400 Vanguard Drive, officials said.

Clients receiving job assistance through the CalWORKs family welfare and federal Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act programs may reach their case managers at 1400 Vanguard Drive. The phone numbers for case managers in those programs will remain the same.

The county shares the space in the current office with the state Employment Development Department, which will remain there until Jan. 22, a spokeswoman said. The EDD will move temporarily to the 1400 Vanguard location Jan. 28. On June 1, the state agency is scheduled to move to the county-leased building at 2901 N. Ventura Road in Oxnard.

Human Services spokeswoman Jennie Pittman said the cost of the move to the county-owned building is estimated at less than $80,000. That is well under the $193,500 in rent that would have been paid to the state over a five-month period, she said.
STAR FILE PHOTO Blanca Terre, seen at left in this 2014 photo with husband Marc, received green card approval last week after going through a lengthy process chronicled by The Star.

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By Gretchen Wenner of the Ventura County Star

A Ventura County woman whose immigration struggles have been chronicled by The Star since February 2013 has received her green card approval.

Blanca Terre, now 25 and an Oxnard resident, got OK'd Dec. 23 for the documentation that allows her to live in the United States permanently. She had previously spent thousands of dollars and, since 2012, pursued multiple avenues in her quest.

"It's very rewarding to have someone complete their immigration journey and get legal status," said Terre's immigration lawyer, Mackenzie Mackins, "because I know it will change their life."

Terre, whose husband Marc is a U.S. citizen, has lived in California since she illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border at age 11. Her mother had died that year from cancer, Terre previously told The Star. She was living in a rough environment with five siblings at the time, her father having left years earlier.

When The Star first interviewed Terre  early stories used only her middle name  she was one of an estimated 71,000 undocumented Ventura County residents. She had graduated from high school, was a taxpaying dental assistant and had married a U.S. citizen but lived in constant fear.

Over the course of four stories, the last in June 2014, there were ups and downs. Terre was OK'd to work, drive and receive temporary protection from deportation through the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, for example. But she hit roadblock when a so-called "unlawful presence" waiver was denied.

Terre originally met Mackins, of Mackins & Mackins LLP in Sherman Oaks, through the Conejo Free Clinic in Thousand Oaks, which offers some free immigration counseling. She eventually became a client, Mackins said.

The approach that ultimately proved successful involved "advance parole." Terre was given permission to travel to Mexico to see her sick grandmother, Mackins said. Her return to Los Angeles International Airport then marked a legal entry to the United States.

"With that legal entry and with a U.S. citizen for a husband, she was able to finally get a green card," Mackins said.

Other factors, such as Terre's high school diploma and having never gotten in trouble with the law, played a part. The advance parole approach involves risk because entry back to the U.S. isn't guaranteed, Mackins said.

After three years with the green card, Terre can file to become a U.S. citizen after passing an exam, she said. In the meantime, she plans to take classes at Oxnard College and eventually become a dental hygienist.

Terre said she feels happy and relieved and is grateful she found Mackins.

"She gets everything done, and everything is so clear with her," Terre said. "She will tell you exactly what is going on."
SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/RON AREL/COASTAL IMAGES For the first time, sunset cruises will be available when the Hawaiian Chieftain (left) and Lady Washington visit Ventura.

By Alicia Doyle

Lady Washington, the official ship of the state of Washington, which made an appearance in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," will arrive in Ventura on Jan. 15.

The tall ship, along with the topsail ketch Hawaiian Chieftain, will be open for self-guided tours and educational programs at Ventura Harbor Village through Feb. 8. The ships will stage weekend battle sails, which are three-hour re-creations of an 18th-century cannon duel with cannons and real gunpowder, but no cannonballs.

For the first time on the tall ships' annual visit, sunset cruises are being offered.

The ships have visited Ventura for more than five years, said Joe Follansbee, communications director for the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority, a nonprofit that owns and operates the ships.

"Our ultimate goal is fulfilling our mission of promoting and preserving America's maritime history and heritage," said Follansbee, noting that the nonprofit specializes in hands-on history experiences for young people. "During our time in Ventura, we'll host a number of school groups during the week for one-hour and three-hour programs."

Lady Washington is a wood-hulled replica of a vessel built in Boston that sailed around Cape Horn in 1787 into the Pacific Ocean, Follansbee said.

"It was one of the first two U.S.-flagged vessels to visit the West Coast of North America," Follansbee said. "The ship was on a trading mission for furs to the future province of British Columbia. The ship later sailed to Hawaii, Hong Kong and Japan."

The modern replica was launched in 1989 to celebrate Washington State's centennial. It has appeared in motion pictures and television shows, including "Star Trek: Generations," "Once Upon a Time" and "Revolution."

Hawaiian Chieftain, built in 1988 in Lahaina, Hawaii, is a steel-hulled interpretation of a typical early 19th-century coastal trading vessel, Follansbee said.

Three sunset cruises are being offered this year.

"We realized many of our fans cannot sail with us on the weekends due to work or family obligations," Follansbee said. "We've created the late-afternoon excursion to accommodate their needs. Guests will have a wonderful sailing experience and enjoy a spectacular California sunset on the water."

Additionally, reservations are being taken from public and private schools, home school groups and service organizations for weekday educational programs on the ships. The Adventure Sails programs feature three learning stations: "Life of a Sailor," "Navigation" and "Early Trade," with each station focusing on the early exploration of the West Coast by the original Lady Washington and similar vessels.

"Ventura is one of our favorite stops during our fall and winter tour of California ports," Follansbee said. "We receive an enthusiastic welcome from locals and support from Ventura-area communities."

The tall ships are unique in the way they encourage visitors to come aboard and actively explore and learn, said Lauren Yuncker, marketing and events coordinator for the Ventura Port District.

"By partnering with Grays Harbor Historical Seaport, we facilitate opportunities for local children and their families to learn about maritime history," Yuncker said. "It's not every day that one can sail aboard an authentic tall ship, so we appreciate making this a possibility for Ventura County residents as well as those from Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and beyond."

IF YOU GO

What: Tall ships

When: Jan. 15 through Feb. 8

Where: Ventura Harbor Village, 1583 Spinnaker Drive in Ventura

Sunset cruises: 4-6 p.m. Jan. 20 and 27 and Feb. 3 for $35 per person.

Battle sails: Three-hour sails on Saturdays and Sundays at $75 for adults; $67 for seniors 62 and older, students with ID and active military members; and $39 for children 12 and younger

Information: Visit http://historicalseaport.org or call 800-200-5239 to purchase tickets for an excursion or book an educational program
KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Bill Krebs (left) and his wife, Joann, of Newbury Park, meet Karl Rove at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum on Thursday night in Simi Valley.

SHARE KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Karl Rove greets his audience at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum on Thursday night in Simi Valley. KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Ross Porter, former announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, engages Karl Rove during the question-and-answer segment after Roves speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum on Thursday night in Simi Valley.

By Staff Reports

Republicans must win Florida and woo more Latino voters to gain the presidency in November, Republican strategist Karl Rove said Thursday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley.

"We have to win Florida," Rove said while speaking at the library to promote his new book, "The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters."

"We lose Florida and it's virtually impossible for us to win the presidency," Rove, former deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to President George W. Bush, said in a 15-minute question-and-answer period after a 45-minute lecture that focused exclusively on the book.

Other states the eventual Republican presidential nominee must win include West Virginia and Ohio, Rove told the audience of about 200 people in an auditorium that was smaller than the one used for appearances by presidential candidates or national officeholders.

"But then we have to win something else," he said in response to a question from former Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Ross Porter. "If I were a betting man, I'd say our best chance for something else was Colorado because weird things are happening in the state.

"President (Barack) Obama consistently since 2012 has been less popular in Colorado than he has been in his first four years and less popular in Colorado than he is nationally," said Rove, a Fox News contributor and Wall Street Journal opinion writer. "Same with Nevada. Something is going on in Nevada that makes that state available to us."

But to win Colorado and Nevada, "we have to have a candidate who can get the Latino vote," he said.

Iowa and New Hampshire also could go Republican, "depending on who our nominee is," Rove said.

Republicans also must attract disgruntled Obama voters, he said.

Rove did not reveal a candidate he favored to be the Republican nominee and except for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, he did not mention any of the GOP candidates by name.

Real estate billionaire Donald Trump is the Republican front-runner. Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady, is expected to be the Democratic nominee.

Rove's 45-minute lecture barely alluded to this year's election, instead concentrating on his book about the 1896 presidential election in which Republican William McKinley defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan. Rove's remarks about November's election came strictly in response to audience queries during the question-and-answer period.

"The 1896 election is a compelling drama in its own right  larger-than-life characters, violence, betrayal, back-stabbing and ambition," Rove said. "But McKinley's transformative political strategies and campaign tactics offer important lessons for both political parties today who face a similar landscape and many of the same challenges."

The top lesson of that election, Rove said, is that McKinley "took on the most important issue of the campaign and didn't shy away from it."

That issue was whether the U.S. should support its currency with gold, or with gold and silver, Rove said. McKinley favored gold. Bryan backed silver.

Rove drew parallels between that election 119 years ago and the current political climate of gridlock and what he termed a broken system.

"That era looks dramatically like today," Rove said.
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Some recent letters assert that the Second Amendment provides an individual right to keep and bear arms for self defense. That new, dishonest Supreme Court interpretation was invented in D.C. v. Heller (2008).



Doug Emerson (Militias, Dec. 7) is correct: To understand the Second Amendment, one has to appreciate the climate in which it was written and the thought processes behind the words. Ira Cohen (Gun laws, Dec. 10) is also correct: The Second Amendment is meaningless without reference to the role of the militia.



The idea that state militias should provide state security was a prevalent theme throughout early American history. See Articles of Confederation (Article 6); Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 15; and Second Amendment: A well regulated Militia (is) necessary to the security of a free State. None of these documents states an individual purpose for bearing arms.



Constitutional scholars argued convincingly, before and after Heller, that the Second Amendments purpose wasnt to provide an individual right to arms, but to avoid abolition of the state militias by the federal government. (Example: Yale law professor A. Amar, Americas Constitution, 2005.)



One year after Scalias ridiculous Heller opinion, Stanford history professor Jack Rakove wrote, The Court reached this conclusion (individual right theory) by largely ignoring the actual debates that led to the adoption of the (second) amendment. Its amusingly ironic that in the Heller opinion, Scalia had cited Jack Rakove as a constitutional history authority.



Constitutional scholar Gerald Leinwand says the Bill of Rights is becoming increasingly remote from the historical context in which it was written. The disgraceful Heller opinion is the latest evidence of that. Our Constitution requires that Supreme Court justices shall hold their offices during good behavior. Good behavior now evidently means that whenever the NRA says jump, the court is obliged to say, How high?



Michael Sullivan

Ventura, CA




Yo, VIP, lets kick it! Vanilla Ice will throwback at LAX Nightclub at Luxor Hotel and Casino on Thursday, Jan. 21 (Photo credit: Scott Harrison).

The GRAMMY-nominated rapper, actor and television host will launch LAX Nightclubs revamped 2016 Throwback Thursday lineup, which will feature iconic artists from the 80s and 90s every other week in 2016.

The 80s and 90s brought us some of the most instantly recognizable music that will always be timeless and cool, said Anthony Olheiser, Executive Director of Brand Activation at Luxor. Throwback Thursday at LAX is designed to celebrate that music with the artists who created it.

Vanilla Ice skyrocketed to stardom with his chart-topping single, Ice Ice Baby. The heartthrob became the face of the 1990s with appearances in memorable films like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, and performances as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live. In 2009, he began hosting The Vanilla Ice Project on DIY Network, which premiered its fifth season in 2015.

Every Thursday at LAX Nightclub, DJs will spin favorite hits from the 80s and 90s, with several memorable Throwback performers hosting select nights throughout the year. Guests are encouraged to don their favorite fashion from the era to bring back the ambiance of the unforgettable decades.

LAX Nightclub ushered in 2016 on the eve of the New Year, by revealing state-of-the-art upgrades to its lighting and sound system, a LED feature surrounding the DJ booth, and sleek new design elements. Over the course of 2016, the venue plans to continue an aggressive rejuvenation, with heavy emphasis on the Throwback Thursday programming.

This is going to be a big year for LAX, continued Olheiser. Now that weve completed some physical upgrades, we are focusing on fun, accessible and exciting events and performances, all soon to be announced.


Rockin Jump Las Vegas, a jump experience which began with locations in California more than six years ago, today announced a job fair designed to hire more than 50 employees to staff the new property, the first in the franchise to open in Las Vegas. The fair will take place from noon to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at the Rockin Jump location, 7200 Montessouri St., Ste 160.

We are proud to be a facility that reaches out to our community in many ways, the first of which includes offering high school and college-aged students an opportunity at a first job where they can learn and grow, said John Emmons, owner of the new facility. At Rockin Jump employees have an opportunity to learn different skills because we switch duties and stations quite often. So youre not just learning your job, you become a jack-of-all-trades. We are thrilled to work with valley youth, and thrilled to be opening soon.
Libyans inspect the site of a suicide truck bombing on a police school in Libya's coastal city of Zliten, some 170 kilometres (100 miles) east of the capital Tripoli. (Photo: AFP/Mahmud Turkia)

ZLITEN: A suicide truck bombing on a police school in Libya's city of Zliten killed more than 50 people on Thursday (Jan 7), in the deadliest attack to hit the strife-torn country since its 2011 revolution.

A bomber detonated an explosives-laden truck used for carrying water at a police training centre in central Zliten at around 8.30am (0630 GMT), a local security source told AFP.

A witness in Zliten, a coastal city about 170 kilometres (100 miles) east of Tripoli, told AFP some 300 men, mainly coast guards, were inside the compound at the time.

Health ministry spokesman Ammar Mohammed Ammar said 50 to 55 people had been killed and at least 100 wounded and that victims were being treated in several hospitals. Urgent calls were issued for blood donations.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but the Islamic State group, which has been growing in power in Libya, has carried out many suicide bombings in the country.

Libya descended into chaos after the 2011 overthrow of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi and has had rival administrations since August 2014, when a militia alliance overran Tripoli, forcing the government to take refuge in the east.

The internationally recognised government condemned the attack as a "cowardly terrorist act" and called for the lifting of an arms embargo it says has prevented authorities from tackling IS.

CALLS FOR UNITY

Meanwhile, a deputy defence minister for the Tripoli-based government, Mohammad Bashir al-Naas, vowed to avenge the attack.

"The perpetrator is not known but he is a coward. He kills our sons from the shadows. We must avenge them and do everything possible to protect them," Naas told a press conference.

The United Nations is pressing Libya's rival sides to implement a power-sharing deal agreed last month on forming a unity government.

The UN envoy to Libya and Western governments called for unity in the wake of the attack, saying implementing the political agreement was crucial.

"I condemn in the strongest terms today's deadly suicide attack in Zliten, call on all Libyans to urgently unite in fight against terrorism," UN envoy Martin Kobler wrote on Twitter.

EU policy chief Federica Mogherini also urged Libyans to back the unity deal.

"The people of Libya deserve peace and security and ... they have a great opportunity to set aside their divisions and work together, united, against the terrorist threat facing their country," she said.

Italy, the former colonial power in Libya, offered its support in helping to bring stability.

"In the face of this terrorist threat, the first answer must be unity among Libyans," Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said. "It is urgent that the recently signed political agreement be implemented."

France also condemned the attack and called on "all Libyan parties to quickly form a national unity government ... that would be a partner for the international community in the face of terrorism."

'STRUGGLE FOR POWER'

World powers fear Libya could descend further into chaos and become an IS stronghold on Europe's doorstep.

In a report to the UN Security Council in November, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that IS had been responsible for at least 27 car and suicide bombings in Libya in 2015.

The group claimed responsibility for suicide car bombings in the eastern town of Al-Qoba in February that killed at least 40 people.

In recent days, IS has launched a series of attacks on oil facilities in eastern Libya, pushing east from its coastal stronghold of Sirte.

Officials have warned of crippling consequences for the country if the militants manage to seize control of Libya's oil resources.

Calls have been growing for a possible foreign military intervention to bring stability to Libya and contain IS, which is reported to have at least 3,000 fighters in the country.

Mohamed Eljarh, a Libya analyst with the Atlantic Council, said it was unlikely the latest attack would boost unity efforts.

"This has not been the case in the past, even when IS was expanding and the scale of attacks was intensifying," he said.

"Despite IS's evident presence in Libya, various political groups are still consumed with their struggle for power and control."


photo source: Tam Thanh / nld.com.vn

In a document recently sent to the prime ,inister, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) stated that it would revoke the subordinate General Department of Customs (GDT)s decision of collecting the tax sum from eight milk manufacturers. GDTs move aimed to recover the import tax sum that had not yet been collected.

Including big names, such as Vinamilk, Nutifood, Friesland, and Hanoi Milk, the group submitted a proposal to the prime ,minister in December 2015, requesting the termination of GDTs decision.

In their proposal, dairy producers argued that a heavy toll around VND1 trillion ($45.87 million), would inevitably find its way to weigh on consumers by means of higher sales prices for many products.

Dairy products for children aged 1-6 years are currently the main output of the dairy industry. These are products that the government has already expressed concerns over, regarding the continuous rise in prices, the document stated.

The consequences may be even more serious if the new classification of imported material was applicable from now on, the document added.

Importing goods since 2000, these firms claimed that they have always classified their goods as Anhydrous Butterfat (ABF), coded 0405.90.10, and subject to an import tax tariff of 5 per cent. However, in 2014, the customs determined that some containers declared as such contained in fact Anhydrous Milk Fat (AMF), coded 0405.90.90, and subject to a threefold tax level of 15 per cent.

Under the existing Law on Customs, a toll can be imposed in cases where customs authorities investigate violations within a time period of five years after customs were declared. Thus, the GDT decided to review and collect tax arrears since 2010 until present.

Besides withdrawing the tax arrear toll, the MoF also plans to adjust the import tariff level of AMF, recognising that the current 15 per cent is too high and could hinder the local manufacturing of many milk-extracted products. The ministry, therefore, lowered the import tariff to only 5 per cent, equal to that imposed on ABF.


photo source : vneconomy.vn

While foreign retailers are increasing their investment and expanding their operations in Vietnam, more and more domestic retailers are forced to cease operation.

Sapomart, the new brand identity of Hiway Vietnam Joint Stock Company (Hiway) co-founded by Son Ha International Corporation and other foreign shareholders, has announced to suspend its operation after one year of changing its brand identity. In 2015, its revenue fell to one third compared to its initial plans.

In early 2015, the company decided to rebrand its Hiway Supercentre to Sapomart, and targeted to open ten supermarkets in Hanoi in 2015 and to rank amongst Vietnams top five largest retailers by 2020.

However, the company currently only has three supermarkets, namely Sapomart Ha Dong, Sapomart Giang Vo, and Sapomart Tay Ho, all of which ceased operation after a single year of operation.

Sapomart is not the only retailer having difficulties. Hanoi Trade Corporation's Hapro brand is also exhausted from the race in the retail sector.

Hapro currently tries to maintain the operation of two shopping centres in Hanoi, namely Hapro Shopping Centre in Long Bien district and HaproFood in Tay Ho district. Aside from these, Hapro has 40 supermarkets and convenient stores, as well as 44 HaproFood shops in Hanoi and some cities and provinces in the northern region.

Domestic retailers can not compete with foreign retailers due to numerous weaknesses in capital and management capacity. Almost all retailers operate at a loss in the first years of operation, thus, if they do not have enough capital to maintain operation at a loss, they must close down. Meanwhile, foreign enterprises have massive capital to operate at a loss for many years even, and are capable of making massive expenditures on marketing and promotion programmes to attract consumers, said Vu Vinh Phu, chairman of the Hanoi Supermarket Association.

A distinct lack of knowledge in the domestic retail sector is another weakness of enterprises leaders, more than 80 per cent of whom are not methodically trained about retail marketing strategy, while foreign enterprises always have clear marketing strategies and offer professional services. They create sustainable links with manufacturers to control price and product quality, he added.
While automatic condom dispensers are not uncommon in several countries around the world, the machine students of Duy Tan University, whose campus is located in Da Nang City, have made is arguably the only of its kind in Vietnam.

The machine, currently installed in front of the office of the Hai Chau District chapter of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, is as simple as a metal box with a button and a tray for the barrier devices to come out.

There are also a screen displaying the number of condoms left in stock and a small slot for cash donations to help finance the machines operation.

The condom dispenser issues announcements to encourage the use of contraceptives or give warnings when someone tries to take too many condoms at a time, according to newswire VnExpress.

It will also say thanks to anyone who puts money into the donation slot.

The machine will automatically alert its creators via text messages whenever it runs out of condoms. It also tracks the number and time used for statistical purposes.



Photo: Nguyen Tan Tai

Since its installation on December 31, about 20 people have used the machine on a daily basis, VnExpress quoted the students, majoring in electrical and electronics engineering, as saying.

Interestingly enough, the machine received the most users between midnight and 5:00 am the following day, suggesting that even with a vending device, Vietnamese people are still red-faced when it comes to buying a condom.

However, Nguyen Cong Tin, the team leader, believes that the machine will increase the number of condoms used, helping reduce unwanted pregnancies or abortion.

The machine is completely automatic and easy to use, so people do not need to be shy, he told VnExpress.

Tin said the team members take turns to check the machine every day, adding that local healthcare centers are in charge of supplying the free condoms.

Our biggest hope is to have a more ample financial source to have a stable [condom] supply for the machine, he said.

The students also hope to be able to install more machines at public places in Hai Chau and Lien Chieu District in the near future.

We really appreciate such a meaningful tool from the Duy Tan University students, Nguyen Tan Tai, a staff member of the Hai Chau District chapter of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, told Tuoi Tre News on Thursday.

The Hai Chau youth union is the first to install the machine and it hopes that more people will know of this condom dispenser, he added.


photo source : enternews.vn

The project would be located at Northwest Solid Waste Treatment Complex in Ho Chi Minh Citys Cu Chi district and is designed to use cutting-edge plasma technology.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based company plans to spend around $520 million to equip the facility with plasma torches to achieve temperatures of 3,000-7,000 degrees Celsius to incinerate 2,000 tonnes of waste a day.

The estimated cost for domestic waste treatment is set at $32 per tonne. The investor (Trisun), however, stated that treatment costs would fall to $31.8 per tonne if they were assigned to treat 1,000 tonnes of waste a day, and decrease to just $29.8 per tonne upon operating at maximum capacity, as reported by newswire dddn.com.vn.

The project, having a total investment capital of $520 million, was first submitted to the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee in late 2011. Then in September last year, at a meeting with the citys management authority and diverse governmental agencies, the investor committed to building the project in 33 months over a land plot measuring 10-15ha only.

According to the investors proposal, the plasma-tech waste treatment facility will have a 50 year duration, and is expected to treat 2,000 tonnes of domestic waste, 700-1,000 tonnes of industrial and hazardous waste, and 1,000-2,000 tonnes of sludge daily.

The project would recycle runaway heat to fuel an electricity station of state-owned power authority Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), while the post-incineration material would be turned into building materials.

The investor also proposed pegging the cost of treating sludge at $60 per tonne.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the plasma-technology waste treatment project meets the citys waste treatment requirements and is suitable to treat all kinds of waste, including harmful ones.

Furthermore, the project has a high treatment capacity, requires less land and no garbage classification, at the same time as generating renewable energy and producing building materials.

Despite being of the opinion that plasma-technology is currently one of the most advanced waste treatment technologies, the citys management authority, held that more studies were necessary to ensure that the project matches the citys actual needs and requirements, as well as investors profitability.

Companies currently involved in solid waste treatment in Ho Chi Minh City are Vietnam Waste Solutions (VWS), disposing of 5,000 tonnes of waste per day, Tam Sinh Nghia, with 1,000 tonnes, and Vietstar, with 1,200 tonnes.

The waste volume generated in Ho Chi Minh City reportedly picks up around 8 per cent annually.

Under the citys waste treatment zoning plan, up to 40 per cent of the waste volume would be recycled, 40 per cent buried, and the remainder incinerated by the end of 2015.

As of now, Da Phuoc integrated waste management facility, which covers 128ha in Ho Chi Minh Citys Binh Chanh district and is developed by US-backed VWS with a total investment capital exceeding $100 million, is one of the most modern waste treatment facilities in the world, boasting a capacity to handle up to 5,000 tonnes of waste a day.
According to a report by the Bac Ninh Department of Taxation, Microsoft Mobile Vietnam recently stumped up VND191 billion ($9 million), including corporate income tax (CIT) arrears of VND186 billion ($8.7 million) and a late payment fee of VND5 billion ($234,000) incurred in 2013 and 2014.

Nokia Vietnam was established in 2011 and its Bac Ninh plant started production in June 2013. In early 2015 Microsoft bought Nokias devices and services business, thus turning the company into Microsoft Mobile Vietnam.

Nokia Vietnam, now Microsoft Mobile Vietnam, would receive a tax incentive of zero per cent CIT in the first four years of operation (2013-2016), a 50 per cent decrease in CIT in the next nine years, and a fixed 10 per cent CIT rate in the first 15 years of operation, if it received the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST)s certificate given to hi-tech companies or projects.

The Bac Ninh Department of Taxation stated that Microsoft Mobile Vietnam had paid the tax because it did not receive the certificate and was not eligible for the zero per cent CIT tax policy. The department said it would repay the sum once the company is certified.

The truth of the matter is different, however. Before Microsoft took over the Nokia Bac Ninh factory at the beginning of 2015, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) requested Nokia Vietnam to submit reports on its performance of the nine terms agreed upon with the Vietnamese government before investing in Vietnam. The terms were about price transfer, selling on the domestic market, the local content in its products.

According to a source, instead of submitting the required reports, in April 2015 Microsoft Mobile Vietnam sent a document to the MPI saying that it would like to stop pursuing CIT incentives for the plant. The company argued that certain strategies that Nokia Vietnam designed for the plant were no longer applicable due to the change in ownership, so Microsoft Mobile Vietnam would like to receive the same incentives at a more appropriate point in time.

Microsoft Mobile Vietnam stated that it wanted to receive the same tax incentives as are offered to projects in industrial parks, namely a 50 per cent decrease in CIT for four years (2015-2018). In the document, Mircrosoft Mobile Vietnam also mentioned that it would submit the CIT arrears of 2013 and 2014.
French police and rescue workers are seen in the Rue de la Goutte d'Or in the north of Paris, after police shot a knife-wielding man dead as he attacked a police station in Paris, a year to the day since militant gunmen killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo newspaper. (AFP PHOTO/LIONEL BONAVENTURE)

PARIS: A militant wielding a meat cleaver was shot dead as he tried to attack a police station in Paris on Thursday (Jan 7), claiming to avenge French military action in Syria, a year to the day since the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

The youth, who was apparently of Moroccan origin and aged around 20, tried to enter the building in the northern 18th district of the French capital wearing what was at first thought to be an explosives vest, but was later found to be a fake.

A source close to the investigation said a piece of paper found on the man's body "vows allegiance" to the Islamic State group and said he was avenging French "attacks in Syria".

The man's fingerprints matched those on file for a thief convicted in 2013, a homeless man who self-identified as Sallah Ali of Morocco, born in Casablanca in 1995, the source said earlier.

The drama unfolded just after President Francois Hollande concluded a sombre speech at police headquarters to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Paris office of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Jan 7, 2015.

Explosives experts were sent to the scene in the largely north African immigrant district of Goutte d'Or, near the tourist hotspot of Montmartre.

The attacker was found to have been wearing a pouch under his coat with a wire hanging from it, but the device "contained no explosives", a source close to the investigation told AFP.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve praised the "remarkable work" of the security forces in the incident. "In a country where the level of threat is extremely high, the police, gendarmes, the security forces ... are in the frontline," he said.

With France still grieving after the massacre of 130 people by militants in Paris in November - also claiming vengeance for France's role in Syria - Hollande used his speech to call for greater cooperation between the security services to thwart attacks.

"Faced with these adversaries, it is essential that every service - police, gendarmerie, intelligence, military - work in perfect harmony, with the greatest transparency, and that they share all the information at their disposal," the president said.

Many of the assailants in both January's rampage and the attacks in November were known to French security services, having either travelled abroad to fight with militants or been blocked from doing so.

Hollande said that since the attack on Charlie Hebdo, nearly 200 people in France had been placed under travel restrictions to prevent them joining up with IS in Syria or Iraq.

'DIED SO WE COULD LIVE'

The president said the three police officers killed in January's attacks "died so that we could live in freedom".

A police bodyguard who was guarding the newspaper's editor, Charb, was killed alongside him by brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi and they shot dead another policeman, Ahmed Merabet, as he sprawled on the pavement near Charlie Hebdo's offices.

The next day, a policewoman was killed by jihadist Amedy Coulibaly in the southern Paris suburb of Montrouge, apparently as he was heading to attack a Jewish school.

Among changes set to be introduced in the wake of the November attacks are new guidelines allowing police to keep their weapons even when off-duty. The president reiterated his pledge to boost the number of police and armed gendarmes by 5,000.

Rocker Johnny Hallyday will perform at a concert in Paris on Sunday to mark the day one year ago when 1.6 million people gathered in the capital in support of freedom of expression following the deaths of Charlie Hebdo's best-known cartoonists.

The weekly had been in the militants' sights since it first published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2006.

Since the attacks, it has moved to ultra-secure offices in a secret location, and has refused to tone down its provocative satire. On Wednesday it published a special edition featuring a gun-toting God under the headline: "One year on: the killer is still at large."
The new showroom is strategically situated between the central district of Hoan Kiem and the bustling south district of Hai Ba Trung, where Times City and Hoa Binh Green new luxury township are located.



On the occasion, ORFARM offers a discount of 10 per cent for all bills on January 8 and 9, 2016 at all showrooms in Hanoi and orders by ORFARM Hotline: 091 883 6911

For the past two years, ORFARM, whose major products are frozen organic meats and Global GAP vegetables, has been offering direct Farm to Customer service through its showrooms in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to maximise the benefits and conveniences for its customers and to minimise the risks of low-quality products. ORFARMs farms apply the EM Technology in feeding, bedding facilities and spraying by sprinkler to any place and do not use antibiotics.

Applying EM Technology in all producing process ensures all ORFARM products meet criteria such as no waste, no insecticide, no stimulus and harmful chemicals. And more importantly the technology maintains a good ecological environment without any bad smells and waste at farms as well as enriches the soil, preserves the water and makes the air pure.

ORFARMs pork, chicken, eggs, vegetable and fruits, therefore are granted the EMRO Green certificate by the Japanese EM Research Organisation for organic products after being strictly investigated and certified by EMROs experts as satisfy all the guidelines set by Japan's EMRO trademark.

ORFARM, Vietnams first organic food brand, helps customers understand the core value of EM food products as well as the benefits of green and clean food to their health and surrounding environment. Now more and more people demand produces that meet all the organic, high quality, safe and environmental friendly certifications. This is good news for producers and distributors such as ORFARM.

To meet all the demands of customers, ORFARM plans to open its first showroom in the southern hub of Ho Chi Minh City in the first quarter of 2016.

Free delivery is still available at the hotline: 0918836911 or all numbers of showrooms at website: orfarm.com.vn or fanpage: facebook.com/orfarm.com.vn
On January 7, Metro Group and TCC reported that they have obtained all approvals required to complete the sale of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam to TCC. TCC will thereby acquire Metro Groups complete wholesale operations in Vietnam including all 19 wholesale markets and the related real estate portfolio for an enterprise value of 655 million ($711 million).

Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam will continue to operate under its name and to serve with the same focus, products and services over one million professional customers.

Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam started to operate its wholesale business in 2002 and is currently running 19 wholesale stores across the country with more than 3,300 employees. Over the years Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam has invested broadly and continuously in the local trade infrastructure and food hygiene and safety.

BJC and Metro started negotiating on the sale of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam in August 2014. The purchase of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam is part of BJCs plan to become a leading regional player covering the entire value chain and position itself for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) era.

The deal failed to finalise until now because BJCs shareholders did not allow it to go through with the purchase due to the legal and financial issues that would ensue.

Metro Group did not exit Vietnam after this deal as the company in August of last year bought Singapore-based Classic Fine Foods Group (CFF) from private equity firm EQT. CFFs business comprises sourcing and procurement, import and export, storage and handling, marketing and distribution of high-end fine food products such as dairy, meat, pastry, seafood, high quality perishables, condiments, pasta and dry products. CFFs customers are five-star hotels, high-end restaurants, airlines, supermarket chains and delicatessen stores, with annual sales of more than $200 million.
According to Nikkei, in July 2015, the groups US-based subsidiary Seven Eleven Inc. signed a contract with IFB Vietnam, owner of Pizza Huts Vietnamese restaurant chain, to open its first 7-Eleven convenience store in Ho Chi Minh City. The number of establishments is set to reach 100 in the next three years and 1,000 within ten years.

Seven & I Holdings expansion to Vietnam is likely to intensify competition in the retail sector as it coincides with both domestic and foreign retailers plans to expand operations in Vietnam.

Notably, US 24-hour convenience store Circle K currently now has 113 outlets in the country while it previously expected it would open 150 by the end of 2015.

According to Bangkok Post, ThaiBerli Jucker Plc has invested $31.26 million to set up 205 B's Mart utility stores in Vietnam until 2018.

Additionally, Ministop Co. under Japanese Aeon Group and Sojitz Corporation harbours plans to open some 200 outlets over the next three years and expand its network to 800 within a decade.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese enterprises are also increasing their convenience store coverage in major cities. Outstandingly, Vingroup opened 30 VinMart+ units last year and plans to develop 1,000 more convenience stores to become the leading Vietnamese retailer in the next three to five years.

Industrial experts argued that Seven & I Holdings expansion to Vietnam would change how Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) manufacturers distribute their products. According to Neilsens 2015 report, 80 per cent of FMCG revenue came from traditional retail channels; but Vietnamese consumers were gradually moving away from these channels towards convenience stores.

7-Eleven will change the situation of the Vietnamese retail sector, said Kagoshima Shigeto, marketing director of Acecook Vietnam  one of Vietnams leading instant noodle makers.

He added that traditional retail channels currently made up for the highest proportion in Acecook Vietnams distribution system with a 95 per cent coverage rate. However, Acecook has plans to increase the distribution of its products in convenience stores in general and 7-Eleven in particular.

Being the worlds leading convenience store chain, 7-Eleven is currently present in 16 countries with 56,400 stores worldwide and 15,000 stores in Japan alone. In Southeast Asia, 7-Eleven is present in Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Le Hai Binh said the Chinese test flights seriously encroaches on Viet Nams sovereignty, threatens the regional peace and stability as well as security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea.

Viet Nam demands China immediately stop such deed, respect relevant regulations of international law, and take no more actions that may further expand and complicate disputes.

Mr. Binh affirmed that Viet Nam will resolutely protect its sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction in the East Sea through peaceful measures in accordance with the United Nations Charter and international law.
While Kharge is considered the firm favourite with his perceived proximity to the Gandhis, Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.
The mother of the American teenager wanted for violating his probation in a deadly drunk driving crash is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Texas.

Tonya Couch arrived in Texas Thursday from Los Angles where she has been held since she and her son were arrested in Mexico more than a week ago.

Couch is charged with hindering apprehension.

Ethan Couch's lawyers filed a petition in Mexico that could delay his extradition back to the U.S. for weeks.

Couch was 16 years old and drunk when his car slammed into an SUV, killing four people two years ago.

He pled guilty to intoxication manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years of probation.

The case gained notoriety because Couch's lawyers used what was termed the "affluenza" defense, calling experts who convinced the court that Couch was too spoiled and pampered by his wealthy parents to understand the severity of his actions.
Turkeys policy of using indefinite curfews in its battle against the Kurdish rebel group PKK is facing growing criticism and scrutiny.

With the curfews affecting hundreds and thousands of people, and in many cases leaving them with no access to electricity or water, the European Court of Human Rights is now hearing a case calling for an immediate suspension of the policy. But the Turkish government has staunchly defended its actions as essential in the battle against terrorism.

The deaths this week of three prominent female activists of Kurdish civil society in the town of Silopi has highlighted the curfew policy. The bullet-ridden bodies of the women were found after they called for help, having been wounded.

A state official denied accusations that they had been executed by security forces. But both local and international human rights groups claim the curfew policy now enforced across much of the predominantly Kurdish southeast of Turkey is leading to the indiscriminate killing of civilians by the state.

Dr. Samet Menguc, general secretary of the Istanbul Medical Chamber, headed a delegation of health workers to the region subject to the curfews. He said a de facto war situation existed and that both the local people and the health workers were suffering extreme hardships and even deaths.

The delegations report accused security forces of killing an ambulance driver and wounding others. It also said thousands of people under curfew could not access basic medical facilities or even bury their dead.

Case against Ankara

In the case before the European Court of Human Rights, Riza Turmen, a former judge of the court representing Turkey and a member of the opposition Republican Peoples Party, said there was a strong case to be made against Ankara.

"The curfew touches upon the right to life, the ban on ill treatment, on deprivation of liberty, because the curfew ... is not precise and it covers the whole province sometimes," he said. "Day and night, they cannot leave their house, for water, and for food, and for health services. So this is, of course, certainly is a disproportionate measure."

Ankara strongly defends the policy, claiming it is facing an unprecedented threat to public order from Kurdish rebels. But Turmen said the European Court heeds calls for an immediate interim ban on curfews, which could put Ankara and the Council of Europe on a collision course.

"It's a contractual obligation that the government should comply with," he said. "If the government refuses to comply with such an interim measure, then it becomes a political issue between Turkey and the Council of Europe because the committee of the ministers of the Council of Europe has the obligation and duty to supervise that the decisions of the court are complied with."

But with Europes leaders looking to Ankara for cooperation on handling the migration crisis and countering the Islamic State militant group, the council may be reluctant to stand up to Turkey, which observers say Turkish leaders could be banking on.
Marine shipping has declined worldwide along with shaky consumer demand. Less freight naturally means more idle shipping containers that carry goods from ports to markets. In one of Asias older shipping hubs, Taiwan, people are finding practical and even artistic new uses for the unused steel crates.

The number of parked container ships worldwide rose sharply in November to a five-year record. The industry publication International Shipping News says idle ships account for nearly five percent of the worlds fleet due to slow demand and overcapacity. But in Kaohsiung, the major port city in shipping-intensive Taiwan, mothballed (unused) containers have moved inland. They have sprouted windows, doors, balconies and even bars that serve beer.

Taiwanese are literally moving into some of the old containers. Some have been converted to roadside stands or farm offices. A few function as suburban homes. A restaurant and a political campaign office use seven containers apiece. And the city of Kaohsiung put eight structures on display at a container art festival in December.

Taiwan architect Lin Chih-feng said modern Taiwanese like containers for their novelty value and structural flexibility.

Little by little, container structures are attracting people's attention. Lin said people are finding that they are unusual and easy to use for construction. A third draw is their convertibility, he said, and that one can move them around.

Containers might move first to the numerous stacks alongside expressways in Kaohsiung. They are either idle or too dented and rusted to be seaworthy. At Yu-Feng Container Enterprise Co., where boxes are piled up to seven levels, the management has built a side business rehabbing them for homes and sales offices. The firm that normally earns its keep storing containers now gets 30 percent of its business from conversions, which start at about $1,000 per job.

Yu-Feng manager Natasha Lee said retrofitting can be done fast. She speaks from her partitioned, air-conditioned and furnished office built from six containers.

Lee said it takes just one day to nail down a wooden floor and make space for electrical wiring in a normal small container. She adds that the trend has been quite popular recently because Taiwanese have taken a liking to artistic style, so they add architectural features to their containers.

Taiwanese officials keep no statistics on how many structures are built from containers, but they are easy to find. On a road north of Kaohsiung about 60 houses and offices occupy containers. A showroom for new housing in Taipei was built from 35 containers. Some structures are two or three levels high. The swanky, two-floor sit-down restaurant in Kaohsiung includes a dining hall, a bar and an outdoor patio.

Original corrugated steel on the containers, which are up to about 12 meters long, still shows through even on the most elaborately decorated, brightly painted structures.

Kaohsiung's city government has held a container art festival every two years since 2000. Those events have been credited for raising public interest in trying out containers for themselves. Kaohsiung has been keen over the past decade to cut dependency on manufacturing and veer into cultural enterprises.

One of container architecture's chief champions is city councilman Wu Yi-chung. He hopes citizens see them as art forms and environmentally friendly alternatives to permanent buildings that leave a footprint on the Earth.

Wu said some buildings last 100, 200 or 500 years, but that others, once they're not needed, can be moved and therefore won't cause permanent environmental damage. Wu added that by having the container art festivals, people are encouraged to use these structures and reflect on their ecological significance.

Wu speaks from a compound that he commissioned last year using seven containers. The third floor of the brightly painted structure includes a hostel room big enough for four people. Verandas on the site are big enough for chatting over coffee and watching films. A Taiwan presidential candidate, James Soong, is using the structure now to help run his campaign.
At Western Marines shipyard on the edge of the Bay of Bengal, machines shriek and sparks fly as workers turn hulking pieces of metal into gigantic ships. The clanging of hammers echoes as a stray dog trots across a cavernous hangar.

The port city of Chittagong in Bangladesh is notorious for its ship-breaking industry, where old ships are broken down by hand in dangerous work conditions.

Lesser known is that Bangladesh, a coastal country abundant with rivers, has more than 100 shipbuilding yards. Western Marine is the countrys best-known shipbuilder and makes everything from cargo and passenger ships to ferries and fishing trawlers.

The company was started in 2000 by Bangladeshi marine engineers and mariners who saw the need for safer ships in light of old, outdated ones in Bangladesh breaking down or sinking. It became a publicly listed company in Bangladesh in 2014.

Western Marine began making ships for Germany in 2009 and also became the first non-Scandinavian shipbuilder to supply ferries to Denmark. Western Marine has also delivered ships and ferries to Finland, Tanzania and Ecuador, and is building ships for New Zealand, Kenya and Pakistan. Bangladeshi-made ships appeal to international buyers because they are roughly 10 to 30 percent less costly than ships made in Korea, China and India.

Take a walk through Western Marines shipyard and something else stands out -- workers who are welding, running powerful saws and other heavy equipment wear blue coveralls, yellow hard hats, heavy shoes, goggles and gloves. Signs throughout the shipyard have slogans such as Wear Boots and Wear Face Shields".

Safety is not something to be taken for granted in Bangladesh, a chaotic developing country where protective gear is an alien concept. In cities it is common to see construction workers wearing sandals carrying steel beams and welding with no goggles.

But at Western Marine, workplace safety is strictly enforced. In 2012, the company was awarded OHSAS 18001, the global occupational health and safety management certification. It also received ISO 14001, the internationally recognized standard for environment management. It is one of the only companies in Bangladesh to have both certificates.

Not long ago, Western Marine had poor safety standards that are the norm Bangladesh. This resulted in shockingly high injury rates. In February 2011, Western Marine counted 1,000 injuries a month out of a workforce of 3,500. Cuts, burns and eye injuries were common due to lack of safety measures and basic protective gear such as goggles, gloves, harnesses and sturdy scaffolding.

When Western Marine started making ships for Germany in 2009, the German aid agency GiZ approached the company about starting a safety program. After a welder without protective gear was electrocuted in 2010, Western Marine hired an international safety consultant.

Within 15 months of launching its safety program, Western Marine dramatically reduced its injury rate - by 99 percent, to 10 injuries a month by June 2012.

The dramatic improvement is especially relevant as Bangladesh is halfway through a sweeping campaign to make 3,500 export garment factories safe workplaces by 2017. The 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory that killed 1,100 workers in Dhaka  the worlds worst garment factory disaster  put a harsh spotlight on safety violations.

But for Western Marine, it wasnt as easy as just handing out hard hats and work boots. Workers accustomed to wearing sandals and loose clothing in Chittagongs hot climate did not want to wear protective gear.

Mohammed Ibrahim, a senior safety officer at Western Marine, recalls that at first workers did not understand the need for protective gear. They did not know about safety, he said.

But rules were strictly enforced. Workers who didnt follow rules were given warnings, further training, fined or even fired.

Workers who violated safety rules were warned three times, and then fined 100 taka (about $1.30) per violation. At first, the majority of workers paid the fines. Then when they saw their pay was docked for safety violations, they eventually began following the rules. Western Marine also gave bonuses to workers who used proper safety gear.

In addition to ensuring the well-being of workers, there is also a strong business incentive to upgrade workplace safety.

Western Marines safety certifications led to new orders from international buyers in New Zealand, Tanzania and Kenya who want or require high safety standards, says Sakhawat Hossain, managing director of Western Marine.

Now, In Europe, no [ship] orders will be given to you without the certificates, said Hossain. If we dont train people, they will invite accidents, damage to equipment and my business. They will damage my things, themselves and my reputation.

Maybe we increased one percent in costs, but we saved 100 percent of our image, he added.
Days after announcing new executive actions meant to reduce gun violence, President Barack Obama made his pitch to the public Thursday at a town hall style meeting, where he lashed out at the nation's largest gun rights group.

During the hour-long forum hosted by CNN, Obama accused the powerful National Rifle Association of having a "stranglehold on Congress" and said it is opportunistically perpetrating the "conspiracy" that the federal government is trying to "take away your guns."

"The NRA has convinced many of its members that somebody's going to come grab your guns, which is by the way, really profitable for the gun manufacturers. It's a great advertising mechanism," Obama said.

The forum was held at George Mason University, less than five kilometers from the NRA's national headquarters in the Virginia suburbs of Washington. The group declined an invitation to participate in the event.

"There is a reason why the NRA is not here," said Obama. "They are just down the street. And since this is the main reason they exist, you'd think they would be prepared to have a debate with the president."

NRA slams 'PR stunt'

Instead, the NRA reacted to the president's comments via Twitter. "[Obama] doesnt want an intellectually honest policy discussion," said an NRA tweet. "He wanted #NRA to be an audience member at his PR stunt. No thanks."

The NRA is opposed to many of the executive actions rolled out by Obama earlier this week. The new measures require, among other things, more gun sellers to get licenses and more gun buyers to undergo background checks.

Watch video report from Mary Alice Salinas:

Obama, who took questions from audience members who both supported and opposed stronger gun control measures, defended the new restrictions, saying they were meant to make it harder for criminals to acquire weapons.

"What I've said consistently throughout my presidency is I respect the Second Amendment, I respect the right to bear arms. I respect people who want a gun for self-protection, for hunting, for sportsmanship," Obama said.

"But all of us can agree that it makes sense to do everything we can to keep guns out of the hands of people who would try to do others harm or to do themselves harm, because every year we're losing 30,000 people to gun violence," he added.

Final push

With only one year remaining until the end of his presidency, the moves represent a final push by Obama on an issue where he has repeatedly failed to make progress. Republican lawmakers rejected Obama's earlier attempts to tighten gun regulations.

The president is signaling to the American public that he is "no longer willing to wait" to pass gun reforms, according to Chelsea Parsons who focuses on guns and crime policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

"He is going to use all his existing current authority, as well as his position and his bully pulpit, to continue to put pressure on our elected leaders to take action on this really important issue," Parsons said in an interview with VOA.

Measures 'not controversial'

Despite the fierce reaction to Obama's new measures, many conservative analysts, including even some NRA officials, have acknowledged that the new rules are weaker than expected.

"A number of things the president has proposed are not controversial," conceded John Malcolm, an expert on crime and constitutional law at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Malcolm said many gun rights advocates would have no problem supporting measures such as an increase in the number of ATF agents to enforce existing gun laws or improvements in the national instant background check system.

"The more problematic areas are if the president tries to extend existing laws beyond the breaking point, to get them to apply to average citizens who are law-abiding, who are not engaged in illegal arms transactions," he said.

Obama issues ultimatum

The White House said the president plans to keep the debate alive and will push for voters to counter the pro-gun lobby in Washington.

In an opinion column published Thursday in The New York Times, Obama said he would refuse to support any candidate, even a fellow Democrat, if he or she does not support tighter gun laws.

"Even as I continue to take every action possible as president, I will also take every action I can as a citizen," Obama said in the piece.

"I will not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform," he added.
Ivory Coast inaugurated a huge new shopping mall last month, a further sign that the former economic jewel of West Africa may be regaining its sparkle.

When the latest shopping mall opened in Ivory Coasts economic capital Abidjan, President Alassane Ouattara himself was at the inauguration. The commercial center sprawls across 20,000 square meters and is the biggest of its kind in the West Africa sub-region.

The mall includes the first regional stores by French retailer Carrefour and American fast food chain Burger King.

These are just the latest examples of foreign investments in the country, whose economy is bouncing back five years after post-election unrest claimed the lives of 3000 people.

With an average annual growth of 9 percent in the past four years, the country has become the rising economic star in West Africa.

A few days ago, the Center for the Promotion of Investment in Ivory Coast, or CEPICI, was holding an assessment of its activities in 2015. And the mood was good.

On stage, CEPICI general manager Esmel Emmanuel Essis thanks a Moroccan investor who is about to create another multi-million dollar project in the country.

Direct foreign investment made up an estimated 69 percent of the total investment in Ivory Coast during 2015, said Essis. Fears of political volatility were unfounded.

"Some were saying there would be no investment in Ivory Coast in 2015 during the presidential election period. Investors get worried, but its our role to show them that hope exists. The president proved that the elections were free, fair and peaceful," said Essis.

In November, Ouattara, a former economist, was re-elected on the promise that he will make Ivory Coast an emerging country by 2020.

New investment code



Ivory Coast is the world's leading cocoa producer, and the government has been investing in big infrastructure projects and implementing reforms to try to improve the business environment, including the adoption of a new investment code.

The International Monetary Fund's representative in Ivory Coast, Alain Feler, says the economic recovery is also due to a sense of relief after years of crisis.

"When you are down, and you come up, it gives you an element of rebound... a good environment also helps. If you have good policies to take advantage of it, it adds to that performance," said Feler.

Feler says the next challenge for Ivory Coast is to sustain that momentum.

"Its important to take good advantage of environment, but also prepare for volatility, tougher times in the future. There is a great potential, but the challenge also to be able to make it sustainable for a long time, and this is what will actually make a transformation for Cote dIvoire," he said.

The IMF has forecast that Ivory Coast's GDP will grow again this year, by 8.6 percent.
Germany's interior ministry says 18 asylum-seekers were among the suspects in a spate of thefts and sexual assaults on women in Cologne on New Year's Eve.

Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate told reporters Friday that police have identified by name 31 suspects believed to have taken part in the crimes. He said 18 of them have applied for asylum in Germany.

Plate said of the 31 suspects questioned, there were nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, and four Syrians. Other suspects included two Germans, an Iraqi, a Serb, and a U.S. citizen.

Plate also said the vast majority of the 32 criminal acts documented by police were tied to theft and bodily injury. Three were tied to sexual assaults.

On Thursday, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said any asylum-seekers among the suspects could be deported, if they are tried and sentenced to a year or more in prison. That sentence would be possible in the case of the sex crimes.

Arab or N. African origin



Police say about 1,000 men, most of "Arab or North African origin" had gathered near Cologne's main train station around midnight throwing fireworks. After police moved in to break up the revelry, smaller groups of men began surrounding women passing through the area, groping and harassing them and stealing their belongings.

A plainclothes police woman says she was among those attacked.

About 90 people have filed criminal complaints, including one report of a rape.

The DPA news agency reports that three suspects are being investigated.

Both Justice Minister Maas and Chancellor Angela Merkel have condemned the assaults and called for the perpetrators to be punished.



Police in the German cities of Hamburg and Stuttgart have said similar crimes were committed during New Year's Eve festivities, but to a lesser extent.

The assaults have intensified the debate over Germany's immigration policies.

Some 1.1 million people registered as asylum seekers in Germany in 2015.
The World Health Organization reports more life-saving cholera vaccine soon will be available to help nations struggling to contain outbreaks of the killer disease.

Two manufacturers currently produce three million doses of cholera vaccine. The WHO says the global supply is set to double this year after it approved a third company to produce the vaccine.

The producer, a South Korean company called EuBiologics, is the latest oral cholera vaccine manufacturer to be approved under the WHOs pre-qualification program, which ensures the quality, safety and efficacy of the product.

Dr. Stephen Martin, an expert in WHO's Emergency Vaccines and Stockpiles Division, calls it good news. He says the doubling of the global stockpile of oral cholera vaccines to six million doses will help address chronic shortages.

He says last year, WHO had more demand for the product than it could meet. As a consequence, he says the agency had to turn down requests from Sudan and Haiti for the vaccine.

We have used it largely in outbreaks in humanitarian crises. But, this additional producer will permit us to perhaps go even further and to start using the vaccine in endemic situations, which is predictable. Time and time again, in many countries, you can see the rainy season starting and the cholera cases increasing," said Martin.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated. Globally, an estimated 1.5 billion people are at risk of cholera. The WHO reports there are up to 4.3 million cases a year, with as many as 142,000 deaths. The disease is endemic in more than 50 countries.

Martin says a cholera vaccination campaign is due to begin in Haiti at the end of the month. Unfortunately, he adds, it will be a reduced campaign as the WHO only will be able to supply 240,000 of the 800,000 doses requested by the government.

He says WHO expects more manufacturers will come forward to produce the vaccine. Increased production, he notes, will lead to lower prices. He says he expects the current price of $1.85 a dose will go down to $1.45 a dose.

He expects the demand for the vaccine will be particularly high in Africa this year. Martin says climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon are contributing to more frequent outbreaks of cholera and it is likely behind recent outbreaks seen in places, such as Tanzania, Malawi, and Kenya.
The United Nations refugee agency reports thousands of people in South Sudans Western Equatoria State are fleeing from growing violence and criminality. The outflow adds to the already huge problem of displacement both inside and outside this conflict-ridden country.

The UNHCR calls the violence between armed groups and government forces in Western Equatoria State particularly alarming because the region, until now, has been relatively stable.

South Sudans two-year-long civil war has produced one of the worlds largest humanitarian emergencies. More than 2.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes, including some 650,000 who have sought refuge in neighboring countries.

Besides the localized fighting among warring factions, UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards says an apparent breakdown of law and order in and near Yambio, some 300 kilometers west of the capital, Juba, also is causing people to uproot themselves.

Sporadic gunfire has become commonplace," Edwards said. "There has also been an increase in crime involving sexual assaults against women and children and girls, carjackings, attacks on government property, looting of civilian homes reportedly by youth. There was a recent U.N. mission to Yambio that found nearly 200 houses were burnt down in the neighborhood of Ikpiro, which is in the north of the town, and several hundred others were looted. People have taken refuge in the town center, in Yambio, or moved to nearby villages.

The UNHCR estimates that 15,000 people have become displaced in Western Equatoria State since heavy clashes broke out in the regions capital early last month.

The agency reports the violence is also causing people to flee across borders. Since the beginning of this week, it says about 500 refugees have been arriving in neighboring Uganda every day -- a quadrupling of recent numbers.

Refugees say they also are fleeing because of a shortage of food, due to failed crops.
A gunman claiming to have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terror group ambushed a police officer Thursday as he sat in his marked car in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, firing multiple times at the officer.

According to authorities, the officer, who was struck three times in the left arm, managed to fire back and hit the 30-year-old assailant, who ran off but was later apprehended.

The suspected gunman, who is reported to have fired at least 11 shots, has been identified as 30-year-old Edward Archer from Philadelphia. He has a criminal record. There is no indication Archer acted with anyone else in the attack. Local Muslim leaders say there is no indication Archer was an observant Muslim.

Authorities say Archer traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2011 and to Egypt in 2012, and that the purpose for his travels are being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The stricken police officer is identified as 33-year-old Jesse Hartnett. He is expected to survive but will require multiple surgeries, police said Friday.

There was no immediate word on Archer's condition, although it is being reported that he was struck in the buttock.

Still-frame pictures broadcast on national television Friday showed the suspect approaching Hartnett's car at an intersection, going directly up to the officer's window, and a short time later running away. Authorities say the weapon the suspect used had been stolen from an officer's home in 2013, but not by the attacker himself.

Police commissioner Richard Ross said the attack was unprovoked and that it is one of the scariest things he has seen.

Ross told reporters he cannot believe that Hartnett  who has been on the force for five years  was able to survive.

In a recording of a radio call requesting backup, Hartnett is heard telling dispatchers, "Shots fired. ... I'm bleeding heavily."

U.S. authorities have been on high alert following Islamic State-linked attacks in recent months in Paris, France, and San Bernardino, California. Authorities say the suspect in the Thursday shooting claimed to have carried out the incident in the name of the Islamic State and that he "follows Allah."
There is no peace in sight between Israelis and Palestinians as violence in the region escalates. Gaza's Hamas leader on Thursday vowed that Palestinians will continue their uprising until they achieve their objectives. The situation in the Middle East is further complicated by the hostility between ultra-religious Jewish settlers and the secular Israeli state.

Speaking to supporters in Gaza, top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the Palestinians will fight "until the land is freed."

"We carry on with the uprising and keep building our strength in a way that will surprise the world. We don't do this to defend Gaza; we do it to liberate Jerusalem and the whole of Palestine," said Haniyeh.

On New Year's day, Palestinians allegedly fired several rockets into southern Israeli, and the country's military responded with air strikes. Israel said it arrested six Hamas members on suspicion that they planned to kidnap and murder an Israeli citizen. Its security forces killed three Palestinians near Israeli settlements south of Bethlehem on Thursday, the day Orthodox Christians were celebrating Christmas in the city believed to be the birthplace of Jesus. Another Palestinian was killed near the city of Hebron when he tried to stab an Israeli soldier. The frequent stabbing attacks have prompted Israel to try to produce special protective vests.

I say it clearly, the uprising will continue until the land is returned to us. We will keep pumping our blood and our souls into the Intifada (Palestinian uprising), said Haniyeh.

In addition to fighting Palestinians, the state of Israel has to deal with ultra-orthodox Jews. On Sunday, a 21-year-old Israeli youth was indicted in the July 2015 attack on a house in Duma in the West Bank that killed a Palestinian couple and their baby. The alleged attacker was a member of the group called the Hilltop Youth, a new generation of ultra-religious settlers.

"If we wouldn't be here, the Arabs would be here and whatever the Arabs get now it will be very hard to take back. And it's not even a war, it's a very silent war," said Refael Morris, a member of the Hilltop Youth.

Israeli security forces say the group is small and has no support from the government or the broad public.

"They live in unlawful settlements anywhere that they want, and if we are talking about relationships with the Palestinians, it is violent and sometimes murderous," said Tomer Perisco of the Shalom Hartman Institute.

Similarly, the Palestinian authorities say they have difficulty restraining their young people who see no hope for the future except in fighting.
Secretary of State John Kerry used strong words on Thursday in a call for the Senate to move forward on key diplomatic nominations, saying the delay is hurting American security.



It just doesn't make sense. It hurts our country, to do what the Senate has allowed to happen over the course of these last couple of years. And that is to leave open, for sometimes more than a year, vacant important positions for our nation, said Kerry.



According to the State Department, 17 nominees are waiting for Senate confirmation, eight on the floor and nine in the committee.



One of the stalled nomination votes is for Tom Shannon, who was nominated to be Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, the State Departments third-highest position.



We have an ambassador, Tom Shannon, a outstanding nominee for undersecretary, a veteran, a foreign service officer whose nomination was approved unanimously by the Senate Foreign Relations committee. And yet, for months, one person has been holding up his nomination: no vote on the Senate floor, said Kerry.



Kerry also scolded the Senate for procrastinating on Roberta Jacobsons nomination. As the Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Affairs, Jacobson has played a key role in U.S. efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. She has been tapped for Ambassador to Mexico. The delay in her appointment has been viewed by some analysts to be likely related to the Cuba Policy.



One of our most significant bilateral relationships is with Mexico, and this is true economically, environmentally, socially on border security, said Kerry, "and it is disparaging to that country that we don't have the respect to send the ambassador that that country needs and deserves.

The Republican-led Senate did not vote on several nominations before the holiday break.

This is not the time to have vacancies in our diplomatic posts, and certainly not the time to have a vacancy, because 99 other senators, or 90 other senators - or 80 even, are being refused the opportunity to be able to have a vote, Kerry urged.
Mexican officials are transferring fugitive drug trafficker Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman back to prison, after capturing him Friday seven months after he escaped from prison.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced Guzman's capture earlier Friday with a brief message on Twitter saying, "Mission accomplished. We have him."

Guzman was later shown to reporters, dressed in a blue shirt and track pants, being transferred from an armored van to a helicopter that is taking him and at least one accomplice back to prison.

Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez Gonzalez spoke to reporters late Friday, saying Guzman's recapture was the product of a huge surveillance operation that involved a film crew that had been working on a biography of the drug trafficker.

Guzman brazenly escaped from prison through a secret underground tunnel seven months ago.

The Mexican marines, acting on a tip, raided a home before dawn Friday in the city of Los Mochis, in Guzmans home state of Sinaloa. The assault team was fired on from inside the structure.

Mexican officials said five suspects were killed and six others arrested. One marine was slightly wounded.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch called the capture "a victory for the citizens of both Mexico and the United States, and a vindication of the rule of law in our countries."

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said it was "extremely pleased" with the news.

Lynch did not mention Guzman's possible extradition to the United States. The drug kingpin faces charges in multiple jurisdictions across the United States. The U.S. has sought his extradition, though Mexico in the past has said he would serve sentences in Mexico first.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement late Friday Guzman's "recapture demonstrates the Mexican government's steadfast commitment to combating drug trafficking organizations and the violence they perpetuate."

Mexican federal authorities had been focusing their manhunt since October on a mountainous region of Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico. Tracking teams had reported it appeared that Guzman had been injured while fleeing marines in rugged terrain near the borders of Sinaloa and Durango states.

Guzman's July 11 prison escape - his second in the past 14 years - was accomplished through a 1.5-kilometer underground tunnel, dug in secret from his cell to a nearby village. It was a major embarrassment to the administration of President Pena Nieto, which had been praised for its aggressive push against Mexico's top drug traffickers.

Guzman was first captured in 1993, but escaped in 2001 with the help of prison guards. After more than a decade on the loose, he was recaptured early in 2014, with the help of intelligence that U.S. authorities provided to Mexico.

Mexico has issued arrest warrants for more than 20 former officials, guards and police officers for their alleged participation in Guzman's escape last year. Ten civilians are also in detention.

Guzman escaped through a rectangular hole found underneath a shower of his prison cell, moving through a fully ventilated tunnel equipped with electric lighting. Authorities also found a motorcycle modified to run on rails; the vehicle apparently was used to haul tools and dirt away from the subterranean site during construction.
An Islamic State fighter is reported to have executed his mother in the Syrian city of Raqqa after she asked him to leave the organization, according to a monitoring group.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the 20-year-old fighter shot his mother to death in front of hundreds of people at a central square on Wednesday.

The observatory said the woman, reported to be in her 40s, had tried to persuade him to leave Islamic State and flee the city with her.

She was detained after he informed the group of her comments.

Raqqa, a city of approximately 400,000 people, has become the Islamic State's de-facto capital. IS militants in the area have required all men and boys at least 14 years old to register with local Islamic police for service.

The Islamic State group, which controls wide areas of Syria and Iraq, has executed hundreds of people it has accused of working with its enemies or violating its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam.
A rights organization says at least 140 people in Ethiopia's Oromo state have been killed by security forces during anti-government protests, far beyond what the government has confirmed.

Human Rights Watch said Friday that Ethiopian sources killed at least 140 people and wounded many more in what the group says "may be the biggest crisis to hit Ethiopia since the 2005 election violence." The rights group's new estimate is nearly twice the death toll it estimated last month.

The government has only confirmed five deaths since the protests began in November.

Human Rights Watch spokesman Felix Horne said Friday that Ethiopian forces are treating demonstrators and opposition politicians "with an iron fist," closing off ways that the protesters can express their grievances nonviolently. He called the development "a dangerous trajectory that could put Ethiopia's long-term stability at risk."

The protesters have been demonstrating over plans by the government to develop farmland outside the capital, Addis Ababa, into a new business zone. The deaths are attributed to clashes with security forces.

The protesters say the government plan will lead to a loss of autonomy and marginalization for Oromo people living on the outskirts of the capital.

The government argues the plan to develop the farmland will bring new business and will benefit all groups.

Opposition groups say the protesters are mostly students and farmers of the Oromo ethnic group, while the government describes them as "extremist Oromo groups" and "armed gangs."

Oromos are Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, comprising about 40 percent of the country's population.
South Korea said Thursday that it would temporarily suspend aid to North Korea and limit inter-Korean exchanges in response to Pyongyangs nuclear test this week.

A South Korean Unification Ministry official who asked to remain anonymous told reporters that the latest nuclear test was a grave measure that had harmed peace on the Korean Peninsula and stability in the region.

The official also said that to ensure the safety of its citizens, the government would limit South Koreans entry to the Kaesong Industrial Complex, where about 50,000 North Koreans are working at about 120 factories run by South Korean companies. The government will allow only South Korean businessmen and workers directly involved in the operation of the factories to cross the Korean border, according to the official.

This was the second time that South Korea imposed partial restrictions on its citizens entry to the complex. In 2013, Seoul took a similar measure after Pyongyang conducted its third nuclear test.

Seoul turns to propaganda broadcasts

In a related move, South Korea resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at noon Friday.

Cho Tae-yong, a senior presidential national security official, told reporters that Pyongyangs nuclear test was a violation of the August 25 agreement, a reference to an inter-Korean deal that calls for easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula and promoting dialogue and exchanges between the Koreas.

North Koreas fourth nuclear test is in direct violation of its commitments and responsibilities to the international community, such as multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, Cho said.

Psychological warfare

The propaganda broadcasts run by the South Korean military are a key part of the South Korean psychological warfare against North Korea. The South Korean military runs about a dozen facilities scattered near the DMZ, with each facility equipped with a bank of 48 loudspeakers. The broadcasts are aimed at North Korean soldiers deployed on the border.

According to South Koreas Defense Ministry, the broadcasts can reach the intended target about 20 kilometers away during the night. The South Korean military plans to run several advanced mobile loudspeakers capable of reaching farther than conventional loudspeakers.

Cheong Seong-chang, director of unification strategy at the Sejong Institute in Seoul, said Pyongyang was likely to protest Seouls move strongly, with possible military provocations. Cho said the military was maintaining readiness against Pyongyangs provocations, adding it would respond to such events firmly.

North Korea announced Wednesday that it had successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb, drawing widespread condemnation from the international community.
Rebels loyal to former South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar are hailing a power sharing deal reached Thursday with the government as a positive breakthrough, one that they say brings their country one more step closer to peace.

The agreement, signed Thursday in Juba, allocates a total of 30 ministries for a proposed transitional government of national unity. It gives the South Sudan government 16 ministries, including finance and planning, defense, information, national security, and justice and constitutional affairs. The rebels got 10 ministries, including petroleum, interior, labor, mining, and land, housing and urban development. Foreign affairs and transport were given to a group of former political detainees not aligned with either the South Sudan government or the rebels. Other political parties in South Sudan got two.

Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, secretary for foreign affairs of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement in Opposition, said the rebels will abide by the agreement even if it doesnt meet all their demands.

We cannot say that we are satisfied with what we have, but this an agreement that we have signed on to. Anything that we have signed on to, even it is not satisfying what we wanted, we must implement it as it is. So we are happy with the ministries that we have selected starting with the ministry of interior, ministry of petroleum, and ministry of higher education, science and technology, ministry of energy and dams, ministry of education and water technology, and ministry of humanitarian affairs, he said.

Gatkuoth said their 10 ministries are geared toward delivering well-needed services to ordinary South Sudanese.

Gatkuoth said the rebels have submitted the list of their parliament members to the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), set up by IGAD to monitor the implementation of the August peace agreement.

"So this is a serious breakthrough, and we congratulated the people of South Sudan for waiting, and now finally they will have a government in place soon, he said.

According to the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission timetable, a government of national unity should be in place by January 22, 2016, with rebel leader Machar as first vice president of Sudan.
A Swiss woman living in northern Mali has been kidnapped from her home for the second time in four years.

Residents and officials in Timbuktu say gunmen entered the home of Beatrice Stockly Friday morning and took her away. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Switzerland's Foreign Ministry said it was aware of a "suspected kidnapping" of a Swiss national in Mali but did not provide further details.

Stockly, a woman in her 40s who is a Christian missionary, was also abducted by Islamist militants in April 2012 and released about 10 days later.

Islamist groups were taking over northern Mali at that time following a military coup in the capital, Bamako. French-led forces ousted them the following year but the militants remain active.

Dozens of Westerners were kidnapped by miltant groups in West and North Africa between 2008 and 2013. Most have been released, but two Westerners kidnapped in northern Mali in 2011 are still being held by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
Turkish troops on a training mission in northern Iraq have successfully fought off an attack by Islamic State fighters, Turkish officials said Friday.

At least 17 Islamic State militants were killed in the late Thursday clashes at the Bashiqa military base in Nineveh province, according to the officials.

Around 150 Turkish troops were deployed to the base to help train local Iraqi fighters to eventually retake the nearby town of Mosul, which is held by Islamic State.

Iraq's central government, which does not have a major presence in the area, has strongly objected to the Turkish deployment, saying it is a violation of its sovereignty.

Turkey last month acknowledged a "miscommunication" with Baghdad over the deployment, and has since relocated some of the fighters. But Baghdad is demanding a complete withdrawal, and has even threatened military action.

The U.S., which is leading a separate anti-IS coalition in Iraq, last month urged Turkey to take steps "to de-escalate tensions with Iraq, including by continuing to withdraw Turkish military forces."

The Bashiqa camp also came under attack by IS militants last month, killing four Turkish soldiers.
The Inter-Religious Council of Uganda has called for an independent investigation into allegations that the voter list to be used for the February 18 general election is not credible, saying it has been tampered with to benefit incumbent President Yoweri Museveni and his ruling National Resistance Movement.

The council made the call after former Prime Minister Patrick Amama Mbabazi, who also is an independent presidential candidate, alleged that the police and the soldiers from the Uganda People's Defense Force had teamed up to alter the voter list.

"They have a register in every village and have been going around trying to ascertain those who are there and who are not.  It is being stealthily done," Mbabazi alleged.

Joshua Kitakule, general secretary of the IRCU, said there is a need for calm.

He also called for dialogue among the government, opposition groups and other stakeholders in a bid to ease tension ahead of next month's presidential, parliamentary and local elections.

"We are calling on the police and the electoral commission to investigate those allegations thoroughly to ensure that we have a credible election, Kitakule said. Because if that is not done, it creates suspicion and can lead to mistrust, and then that can turn into violence.

Accusations abound

Opposition and civil society groups have accused the police and other security agencies of using force to intimidate and harass their supporters in a bid to suppress their campaigns.

They cited recent instances in which opposition supporters were beaten by police officers after an opposition leader went to visit an Internally Displaced Persons camp.

They also said the recent murder of the head of security or Mbabazi is an indication of the length to which the ruling party will go to maintain power.

Supporters of the NRM have rejected the accusations. They said the opposition parties are making excuses as a pretext to prepare the grounds to reject the outcome of the presidential vote, knowing they would lose to Museveni.

Kitakule says continued interaction between the opposition and the government could help ease tensions.

He says the IRCU has been meeting all stakeholders, urging them to encourage supporters to be peaceful to ensure the country's stability is not threatened.

"We have called for dialogue between the opposition and the government and we are very much aware that the prime minister  has been meeting with the head of the opposition in parliament  to discuss some of the contentious issues in the law, and they have made a lot of progress as far as we are concerned," Kitakule said.

He said the IRCU will continue with its collaboration to help avoid violence during the electoral process.
A suspected US drone strike Friday killed at least 17 Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan shortly after the extremist group beheaded seven people in the same area, said officials and residents.

The violence occurred in the remote Achin district of Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan. The volatile district is where IS is believed to have setup its strong bases.

Ataullah Khogyani, a provincial governor spokesman, told VOA that six Taliban insurgents were among those beheaded by Daesh, the Arabic acronym for IS. He added that while the executions were being carried out missiles fired by an unmanned US aircraft hit the area, killing 17 Daesh fighters, including several key commanders.

Sources tell VOA the beheadings took place in the afternoon shortly after Friday prayers in front of local villagers and a member of the Afghan National Army was also among the victims. Khogyani, however, would not confirm it.

The Taliban this week launched attacks against IS bases in two districts around Achin, killing dozens of fighters of the rival group and evicting them from these areas, according to local officials.

This is not the first time IS has beheaded people in Afghanistan after establishing its footprint in the country.

On Wednesday, Afghan Acting Defense Minister Masoom Stanekzai told VOA that the government has formed a special force to counter Islamic State in eastern parts of the country.

IS has been active in several districts of Nangarhar, where it launched multiple attacks on government facilities.

IS militants have also been engaged in fierce fighting with the rival Taliban in the province. Dozens of insurgents reportedly have been killed in the fighting between the two militant groups.
U.S. officials are trying to figure out how an inert Hellfire missile used in a training mission in Europe ended up in Cuba, according to a report, in what appears to be one of the most bizarre ever disappearances of sensitive U.S. military technology.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that U.S. officials have for over a year been trying to convince the Cuban government to return the state-of-the-art missile, which they say was mistakenly shipped from Europe to Cuba in 2014.

The officials said the dummy missile was sent by its developer, Lockheed Martin, to Spain where it was used in a NATO military exercise. It was meant to then be returned to Florida, but disappeared after being sent on a roundabout journey through Europe.

By the time officials noticed the missile had gone missing, it was already en route from Paris to Havana on an Air France flight.

The Journal reports that federal investigators are looking into whether the disappearance was the work of spies, criminals, or simply the result of a series of mistakes.

But speaking to the Associated Press, a U.S. official attributed the shipping error to Lockheed's freight forwarders, and said the U.S. is working with the company to retrieve the missile.

The Hellfire missile did not contain explosives, but did have sensors and targeting technology that officials fear could be reverse engineered. There are also concerns Cuba could share the technology with other governments such as North Korea.

The missile misplacement comes as the U.S. and Cuba undergo a historic thaw in relations. But distrust remains between the two longtime foes, and Cuba is still subject to a U.S. ban on military exports.
This weeks nuclear test by North Korea is once again testing international alliances, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warning Beijing on Thursday that it must step up its efforts to force the North Korean regime to give up its nuclear program. But for China, concerns about the regimes possible collapse likely still supercede its concerns over North Koreas nuclear capabilities.

This puts China in a very difficult position," noted Victor Teo, an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong. "China is North Koreas most important ally, since the 1950s. It is the main supplier of energy and on the ground food supply to the North Korean people.







China is North Koreas neighbor, and while diplomatic relations have weakened in recent years, economic ties remain strong. Trade between the two countries totaled $6.4 billion in 2014.

Trade restrictions



The United States says China could pressure North Korea by cutting energy to the country and restricting trade. China cut crude oil exports to North Korea in 2013 after an earlier nuclear test. But a wide array of international sanctions that mostly target North Koreas military have failed to influence the regime.

North Korea has conducted four nuclear tests since 2006.

We have to recognize that the North Korea nuclear issue is a huge challenge for everyone, and in fact it is not just Chinas problem," said Wang Dong, a professor of international relations at Peking University. "China by itself cannot solve that problem.

Chinese resistance



China is likely to resist public pressure from the United States to radically change its policies and trade ties with North Korea. The regime offers a strategic buffer on Chinas northeastern border, and North Koreas collapse would bring instability to a country already facing an economic slowdown, a rising number of labor protests through the country and unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang on its western border. Xiaohe Cheng is a professor at Renmin University.

Certainly China will cooperate with the U.S., but China is not in a position to adopt the United States recommended proposals totally. China will offer its own proposals.

Earlier this week, Chinese state media condemned North Korea for the nuclear test, but said China alone is not responsible for pressuring the regime.

In an editorial, the China Daily warned that Beijing "should not bear the brunt of the deadlock" between the United States and North Korea following the Korean War.
Fighting the battle against terrorism on the Internet, the White House and its top law enforcement officials met Friday with the nations biggest technology companies in San Jose, California.

The list of government participants reveals just how seriously the Obama administration is taking the threat posed by Islamic State and others on social media. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were there with President Barack Obamas chief of staff and his top counterterrorism adviser.

They were expected to brief executives from tech companies on how terrorists use technology, including encryption, and to discuss ways to use technology to make it harder for terrorists to use the Internet for recruiting and mobilizing followers.

The meeting agenda, leaked to various news organizations, also called for a discussion on how the government and tech companies can "help others to create, publish and amplify alternative content that would undercut" the Islamic State.

Obama had signaled in a December speech that he was going after terrorists online, saying he planned to "urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice."

A senior administration official confirmed Friday that this meeting was part of a larger push, saying it is the latest in the administration's continuing dialogue with technology providers and others to ensure we are bringing our best private and public sector thinking to combating terrorism."

The tech companies, which included Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and LinkedIn, say they remove violent content when it appears. They have also expressed reluctance to interfere with constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech.

In a December study, researchers at the George Washington University Program on Extremism concluded that media plays a crucial role in the radicalization and, at times, mobilization of U.S.-based ISIS sympathizers.

The researchers identified some 300 American and/or U.S.-based IS sympathizers active on social media who were spreading disinformation and interacting with like-minded individuals.

Some members of this online echo chamber eventually make the leap from keyboard warriors to actual militancy, the researchers warned.
Islamic State militants have returned in explosive numbers to using a heavily encrypted phone messaging and social networking application whose Russian developer came under widespread political and law-enforcement pressure after November's Paris attacks to hinder jihadi use of his hard-to-crack technology.

Telegram's Pavel Durov consistently refused to block IS and other jihadi groups from using his platform before the Paris attacks but reluctantly blocked 78 IS-related accounts on his Berlin-based secure messaging app after terrorists killed 130 people in the French capital.

Telegrams Channels Service, which was launched last September, allows messages to be transmitted to an unlimited number of subscribers and for users to break off into highly encrypted private and group chats. In the last few weeks IS militants and other jihadis have resorted again  but in even larger numbers  to the Telegram app to recruit, spread propaganda and, intelligence officials fear, possibly organize and plot attacks in chats that are invisible and cant be monitored or decoded.

According to Steve Stalinsky, executive director of a jihadist monitoring research group based in Washington, Telegram has the potential to surpass Twitter as the messaging tool of choice for Islamic State and al-Qaida groups.

The Taliban has created, for the first time, accounts on Telegram just in the past couple of days, he says.

American and European officials say they have no final evidence that the Paris attackers used difficult-to-crack encryption technologies to plot their violence but, with the chief planners back in Syria, some form of secure communications would have been needed, they say.

Much of the national security leadership of the Obama administration is to discuss Friday with Silicon Valley chiefs jihadi use of the Internet to recruit and radicalize people and plot attacks.

App founder



The traffic and use of Telegram, which is based in Germany, is shocking, says Stalinsky, who runs the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). The app was developed by the brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov. Pavel Durov, 31, is best known for having founded the social networking site VK, a Russian version of Facebook that earned him the nickname the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia. He holds strong libertarian political views and he says he lost control of VK to allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin after he refused to comply with Kremlin orders to provide personal details of VK users, including Maidan protesters in Ukraine, to Russian security agencies.

Says Stalinsky: We have been focused on jihadi use of Telegram since October and before the Paris attacks we saw unprecedented growth for an app  it was the biggest development in cyber-jihad since the jihadis started to communicate on Twitter two years ago. Durov came under pressure and grudgingly closed accounts, but they are all back now and there are many more of them. And every day there are even more. It is crazy  on one channel alone overnight last night there were more than 10,000 chats.

Telegram is more sophisticated than Twitter, having among other features state-of-the-art built-in encryption technology that Durovs company boasts is more secure than mass market messengers like WhatsApp.

Anonymity



On the Telegram channels, which are designed to allow public messages to be sent to large audiences, there is relative anonymity. A channel displays only the total number of its subscribers to other users without disclosing real names. Following and follower lists are public on Twitter, allowing pro-IS accounts to be cross-referenced by checking the accounts they follow and those that follow them.

Telegram users can forward content from a channel to other Telegram users allowing the dissemination of jihadi content. Content on IS-linked channels include tutorials on making weapons and calls for lone-wolf attacks.

Messages on the channels are transmitted in a single direction and subscribers cant send content to a sender. This blocks the possibility  in contrast to Twitter  of counter-messaging  a strategy used by Western governments to push back against extremist propaganda.

As well as the channels, subscribers can break off into private and group chats of up to 1,000 members. Telegram also offers Secret Chats, which use end-to-end encryption, leave no trace on the Telegram servers and support self-destructing messages, the company brags.

Aiding and abetting



U.S. and European officials have long complained that high-tech companies are in effect aiding and abetting terrorism.

Last year, British spy chief Robert Hannigan complained they had become the command-and-control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals  precisely because they are highly encrypted.

After initial resistance to government complaints, Facebook, Google and Twitter have been readier to co-operate with authorities to remove extremist messages on their sites but have resisted providing a so-called backdoor for governments with encryption keys. Apple has developed keys that the users at each end of the conversation hold and are not possessed by the company itself and its chief executive, Timothy Cook, has argued: If you put a key under the mat for the cops, a burglar can find it, too.

Silicon Valley chiefs say they fear violations of privacy and that their priority is their customers  not national security, an argument that has resonated since disclosures, by Edward Snowden, a former contractor with the U.S. National Security Agency, revealed the extent of electronic surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies.

In the meantime, though, IS and other jihadis remain less hindered as they communicate, recruit and plot. On Telegram, there are several channels now run by IS media groups Nashir, Fursan Al-Raf, and Al-Battar. A group titled the Supporters of the Islamic State, whose avatar is of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was established on December 17 and within two days had 500 subscribers.
Many Zimbabweans say they are not expecting much to change in 2016 from the previous years in terms of economic improvement that would better their lives.

Most instead predict another year of more company closures, delayed payment of salaries and even the same sporadic supply of water and electricity.

Though 2015 saw a wave of international and regional delegations coming to the country to sign what has been described as mega deals with Russia, China and even Nigeria in the form of billionaire Aliko Dangote, the concern for many is lack of tangible proof on the ground that the deals will manifest into something they can see and touch.

But United Kingdom Zanu-PF chairperson, Nick Mangwana, who participated in a panel discussion with director Dr. Pedzisai Ruhanya of the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute, said his party will ensure a better year for Zimbabweans in 2016 going forward, because of the policies it is putting in place, like its five-year economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zimasset), launched in 2013.

We expect to turn around our economy the moment our infrastructural development project kicks off, we expect there to be a turn around. Thats the major thing on the economic front, said Mr. Mangwana. As a party we have to deliver there is no question about that.

Asked why Zanu-PF has not been more successful in improving lives for the majority of Zimbabweans, during its 35-year rule, Mangwana said its a matter of time.

Its not going to happen overnight, of course, said Mangwana, adding that a lot has been achieved during that time. Its 35 years of progress, there has been a lot of progress in Zimbabwe.

How are they are going to operationalize a policy which is premised on $27 billion, on less than $5 billion budget?

But Ruhanya challenged the progress Mangwana mentioned or even the success of Zimasset, which he said Zanu-PF championed to claim its election victory in 2013.

Yes, Zanu [PF] won the 2013 elections, let me not put any assertions to their victory, he said, noting that in 2013 they had a policy called Zimasset, which is premised on $27 billion budget to run the course of that policy in five years. But if you look from 2014 until now, they are putting up a budget of less than $5 billion, which is a clear failure of the policy.

How are they are going to operationalize a policy which is premised on $27 billion, on less than $5 billion budget?

To this Mangwana clarified. The $27 billion is infrastructural development, which is happening. Its not bags of money that is supposed to come carrying $27 billion. So far we are on the pathway to get that $27 billion. How many deals have we signed with China, how many deals have we signed with Russia? All that goes toward that $27 billion.

Where is Dangote for instance? He came, they sang, but are we enjoying?"

Pointing to the economic stagnation in the country, however, Ruhanya questioned the tangibility of the deals, which he said are not visible in the country, including the construction of new roads.

He said many of Zimbabwes deals are mere agreements on paper.

In terms of operationalizing them [deals] putting up resources to run them, its not there. Where is Dangote for instance? He came, they sang, but are we enjoying? Where are the fruits of Dangote? quizzed Ruhanya.

The Chinese have come, signed several deals, what is the empirical, tangible, observable evidence of those deals you are talking about, Mr. Mangwana. They are not existent, Ruhanya said.

Ruhanya further doused any expectation of more investment coming into the country, given the divided state of the ruling Zanu-PF party, as well as apparent dissent in the countrys military and security sectors.

Investors will not come into an economy where the political elite or those who run the affairs of the state are not in agreement, or always fighting. But the danger we face today, not only as a state but also Zanu, there now seems to be less of a consensus within the apparatus of the state, as how the state should be run, particularly in the context of the involvement of President (Robert) Mugabes wife, Grace, said Ruhanya.

If Zanu-PF was such a dictatorship, you would not have so many people trying to strategically position themselves for power, or in anticipation of power."

But Mangwana dismissed what has been described as unprecedented divisions in his party, which resulted in the ouster of former Vice President Joice Mujuru and many others accused of aligning with her to overthrow President Mugabe, as signs of the partys healthy democracy.

It is the vibrancy of the party that makes us have all that debate, all these machinations, is because its a mass-based organization where the people, have voice, said Mangwana.

If Zanu-PF was such a dictatorship, you would not have so many people trying to strategically position themselves for power, or in anticipation of power. You would not have so many internal contestations.

But Ruhanya argued that its a question of time before citizens show their displeasure at the Zanu-PF government, which he says has continued to disappoint and disillusion many.

Look at the 2008 elections. There was never a person, including Mr. Mangwana who thought that the head of state would be defeated in an election."

He said Zanu-PF is vulnerable politically as a result, and could see it lose an election as it did in 2008 against the Movement for Democratic Change party, led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

Look at the 2008 elections. There was never a person, including Mr. Mangwana who thought that the head of state would be defeated in an election. That Zanu would lose a parliamentary election, that all the municipalities and virtually all the municipalities in this country in 2008, Zanu would not win one. It was on the background of debilitating crisis which we are currently facing, said Ruhanya.

Mangwana said in 2018 voters are likely to vote for Zanu-PF again, as in the past.

Now hes [Ruhanya] saying Zanu-PF is going to be thrown out of power. The people have got the right to do that, thats all about democracy, said Mangwana.

When we go into 2018, the people can make their choice, like the choices theyve made before, which were Zanu-PF.
The current heat wave in Zimbabwe and other southern African nations threatens to wipe out the 2015-2016 crop, raising fears of severe hunger this year.

Civil servants react angrily to suggestions by Higher Education Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo that bonuses for state workers are a privilege and not a right.

Zimbabweans cry foul over the governments move to revise downwards travelers rebate from $300 to $200. The government has also reduced daily import duty remission of individual travelers a day from $50 to $30 in an effort to maximize revenue collection at border posts.

Stay tuned for these stories and more coming up on Studio 7 at 7:30 pm on 9-0-9 Medium Wave and on the 4-9-3-0, 5-9-4-0 and 1-5-4-6-0 shortwave frequencies. Please check us out on Facebook. We are also on WhatsApp and Twitter.

Today on LiveTalk our hosts Blessing Zulu and Gibbs Dube will be talking with listeners and experts about the revision of travelers rebate from $300 to $200. Send us your numbers on our WhatsApp number 001 202 465 0318. The number again 001 202 465 0318. Stay tuned!!!!!!
About 100 supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai have staged peaceful protests at a Grain Marketing Board (GMB) Depot in Mutasa district, Manicaland province, complaining about unfair distribution of food aid and agricultural inputs.

The demonstrators, who were singing songs denouncing the government and local GMB leadership, waved placards urging the state-controlled entity to distribute all goods fairly to local people.

Business came to a standstill on Friday at the GMB depot when the angry protestors blocked the main entrance of the facility, claiming that they are fed up of being discriminated by the GMB managers.

They claimed that only supporters of President Robert Mugabes Zanu PF party are receiving free maize seed, food aid and other items.

Sixty-five year-old Esther Mukoyi, who was part of the demonstrators, said they used to receive goods being distributed by the GMB when there was a government of national unity. Mukoyi claimed that they no longer get anything due to the fact that they are MDC-T supporters.

Another Mutasa villager, Allen Mutema, claimed that the situation has been worsened by alleged corruption at the GMB depot.

People are demonstrating because of rampant corruption at Mutasa GMB. Inputs are being given along partisan lines and we are unhappy with the goings on here. I have been a resident of this area for the past 20 years and have seen this going on over the years.

His views were echoed by Samuel Mutimwi, who added that they are staging a peaceful protest to show authorities that everyone needs food aid and other items being distributed by the GMB.

We have so many reasons for the demonstration, but primarily we are unhappy about the corruption taking place on the distribution of the handouts from the government. Seed maize is given along political lines, and many people are disappointed and the DA (district administrator) has not acted on it for a long time now.

Another protestor, Patrick Chitiyo, said it appeared as if it is now a crime to be a member of the MDC as all backers of Morgan Tsvangirais party are being blocked from getting agricultural inputs, maize and other goods at the GMB.

There have been complaints all over the ward and we coordinated ourselves to arrange this to have this message sent through to the DA who has not been listening to us for a very long time. We have informed him about this problem but he has not listened.

Villager, Isaac Pangeti, further noted that disabled people in the region are also being denied food handouts by the GMB.

Pangeti said their absence from political party gatherings is seen by some ruling party supporters as being sympathetic to the MDC-T and other opposition parties.

The ophans and the disabled including widows who do not attend Zanu PF meetings are assumed to be MDC by their no show at party meetings. They have been left out on the food distribution on many occasions yet they are the most vulnerable group who are in need of it.

Mutasa Central member of the National Assembly, Trevor Saruwaka, explained that the protest was sparked by the continued abuse of local people, especially those linked to the MDC-T.

The demonstartion is a result of persistent disregard of peoples needs where we have witnessed our people left outside the beneficiation cycle.

Mutasa district administrator, Tendai Kapenzi, refused to comment and referred all questions to Manicaland provincial administrator Fungai Mbetsa, who was not reachable on his mobile phone.

Saruwaka later on Friday held a meeting with GMB senior officials, Kapenzi, the police and Zanu PF officials in which they agreed to engage all relevant elected officials when distributing any GMB handouts.
Background:

Colima volcano is one of the most active in North America and one of the potentially most dangerous ones. It has had more than 30 periods of eruptions since 1585, including several significant eruptions in the late 1990s. Scientific monitoring of the volcano began 20 years ago.The Colima volcanic complex is the most prominent volcanic center of the western Mexican Volcanic Belt. It consists of two southward-younging volcanoes, Nevado de Colima (the 4320 m high point of the complex) on the north and the 3850-m-high historically active Volcan de Colima at the south.A group of cinder cones of probable late-Pleistocene age is located on the floor of the Colima graben west and east of the Colima complex. Volcan de Colima (also known as Volcan Fuego) is a youthful stratovolcano constructed within a 5-km-wide caldera, breached to the south, that has been the source of large debris avalanches. Major slope failures have occurred repeatedly from both the Nevado and Colima cones, and have produced a thick apron of debris-avalanche deposits on three sides of the complex. Frequent historical eruptions date back to the 16th century. Occasional major explosive eruptions (most recently in 1913) have destroyed the summit and left a deep, steep-sided crater that was slowly refilled and then overtopped by lava dome growth.---
Photo: Andrew Toth/Getty Images

At HBOs TCA session for its much-anticipated 1970s rock-and-roll drama, Vinyl, the shows executive producers Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese beamed in via satellite. Afterwards, Vulture caught up in person with Vinyl star Bobby Cannavale  who plays a record executive now past his prime  to talk playing desperate characters, and why hes such a New York actor.

Has the New York Board of Tourism contacted you yet? With so many of your roles, youre the quintessential New York man.

Wow, that means so much to hear that. All I ever wanted was to be the quintessential New York actor. Thats all I ever wanted. I had a lot of opportunities to come to L.A.  it never appealed to me.

New York is where your heart is 

Totally where my heart is. All my favorite actors were New York actors, and I always described them that way. I said if I ever got to do this regularly for a living, I hoped Id be thought of as a New York actor.

You play these men who are so ferocious, yet they have so much heart. Is Richie in Vinyl the same?

Totally. Hes got a huge heart. Im very attracted to characters who are desperate. Richie is hanging off the edge of a cliff with one hand. It gives me an opportunity to lean forward into the role and be on the front foot and play that desperation. When somebodys desperate, theyll do anything. Its always exciting for me to be able to play. It makes it not routine. I never feel like Im playing the same thing twice.

Vinyl is set in 1973 New York. Did you see the trailer Netflix just released for Baz Luhrmanns show, The Get Down, which is set in the same era, and notice any similarities to your show?

I saw it! I watched it twice. I love it. Yknow whos writing on that show? Stephen Guirgis, who wrote The Motherfucker With the Hat [which Cannavale co-starred in on Broadway with Chris Rock]. Hes one of the head writers. I cant wait to see that. It looks amazing. I think it takes place later  like 1978  and its about kids in the Bronx and hip-hop. Two shows about New York City being shot at the same time.

How has it been working with Mick Jaggers son, James?

Jimmy is great  hes terrific. Hes a really good actor. He hasnt acted that much, but hes super present, super spontaneous, just what you want an actor to be. One of the great things about this show is there are a lot of young actors Ive never seen before, and I know everybody. Its very exciting for me to come in and not know these guys. Jimmy surprises me every time I work with him.

What intimidates you at this stage in your career?

I dont know. I dont think about it too much. Nothing. [Laughs.]
Geza Rohrig in Son of Saul. Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Be advised that this review addresses the entire narrative of Son of Saul, including revelations as well as the ending of the film.

Set amid the Zyklon-B-dispensing showers and corpse-disposal facilities of the most infamous Nazi extermination camp, Auschwitz, Son of Saul is difficult for most people  especially Jews  to sit through, much less write about, much less criticize. I admit that I watched in a defensive crouch, afraid of what I might see next and torn between admiration for the courage of its 38-year-old Hungarian director, Laszlo Nemes, and doubts about the device he invented for going where no fictional filmmaker has gone before: to put the audience in the head of a camp resident on a quixotic  to say the least  mission to find spiritual closure.

That resident is Saul Auslander (Geza Rohrig), one of a group of Jews (Sonder-kommandos) allowed to live (for a time) by performing the most grisly of tasks: transporting the bodies of men, women, and children from the showers to the crematorium and/or cleaning up the mess left behind. Nemes and his cinematographer, Matyas Erdely, photograph Son of Saul almost entirely from Sauls fevered vantage, which is, in one respect, a mercy. The faces of the corpses  with a sole exception  are offscreen. Instead, we see parts of bodies, blue-gray limbs and torsos, often blurred along with the backgrounds. The blurring has a dramatic function: to suggest that to do his job, Saul has had to screen out his fellow Jews identities, even their humanity.

That exception is a teenage boy who somehow survives a gassing. Carried from the showers, he is avidly scrutinized by Nazi doctors and then, in a long, hazy shot, suffocated. I tried to comfort myself with the thought that he was unconscious and would not have lived long anyway  some comfort. Sauls response is more convoluted. The boy, he tells a fellow worker, is his son, and he must bury the body in a formal Jewish ritual, with a rabbi present to say the traditional prayer for the dead. Its a perilous quest because (a) the boys body is marked for dissection and (b) men identified as rabbis are promptly murdered by the Nazis.

Theres no way to engage with Son of Saul without spelling out its central conceit, which means you should read no further if you want to be surprised. (Ill be discussing the ending, too, so beware.) As the film goes on, its more and more apparent that the boy is not Sauls son. By all accounts (including that of a woman he encounters who might be his wife), Saul has no son. We are trailing a madman. But he has, of course, a larger kind of sanity. Unable to deaden himself any longer to the horror around him, Saul has unconsciously devised a way to reconnect with the world he once knew, with its age-old system of values and abiding faith. For the remainder of the film, the camera follows Saul from one part of the camp to another as he searches for a rabbi to say the Mourners Kaddish.

Nemes spent a decade bringing Son of Saul to the screen (this is his first feature), and it has a distinctively thick texture  heavy, as if the air itself had turned viscid, clotted with bodies living and dead, rank. The sound is dense, layer upon layer of clanks and infernal hisses and the muffled screams of the dying. Working from, among other primary texts, diaries buried by Sonderkommandos before a 1944 revolt, Nemes has diagrammed the machine, showing us How Things Worked in a factory created to make murder impersonal and efficient, to streamline genocide. And Nemes has streamlined the movie to make you feel that mechanization viscerally, shooting most scenes in long, single, unrelieved takes. Amid such all-enveloping inhumanity, acts of cruelty come to seem routine, acts of cowardice on the part of other Jews grimly expected, and acts of kindness momentous.

The texture is thick  but the film is thin. Theres only one full-fleshed character in Son of Saul, and he has only one idea, an idee fixe. Its a one-idea movie. Were not just trapped in an extermination camp. Were also trapped in the head of a fiercely driven but unaware and unreflective figure, uninteresting not because hes mad but because his madness is, like the film itself, monotonous. Like Birdman and other tour de force endurance tests, Son of Saul holds us with its hard-charging technique, its bullying subjectivity.

The movie doesnt expand in your mind  it shrinks along with its protagonist, its conclusion a reductio ad absurdum. Saul gets swept up in an escape attempt that takes him across a river, where he loses that precious body in the current, and into a forest cabin where his fellow fugitives plan their next moves. Suddenly, a small Polish boy wanders by, sees them, and runs away  but what Saul perceives is that his son is alive after all. He dies radiant, that madness turning out to be the tenderest mercy of all.

This is, bluntly, crap, and if the finale werent so shocking  everyone dies off-screen in a barrage of Nazi gunfire  I think the audience would see it more clearly for the cheap trick it is. In interviews, Nemes has argued that most Holocaust stories lie by focusing on survival instead of the reality  that the Jews of Europe were almost completely exterminated. His ending is a way of delivering that message but with a cute literary button, which can be taken as either a sick joke at the expense of the character in whose mission weve been invested or a Little Match Girl moment of deliverance. Or both. However you take it, the final minute suggests that Nemes has been boxed into a corner by his own high concept.

I dont want to diminish Nemess accomplishment in re-creating this hell and setting us down in the middle of it  a place that many of us have never even allowed ourselves to imagine being. But we measure works that center on human atrocities by different standards, and deluded Saul ends up a poor vessel for a journey of this magnitude. A true tragic hero dies with his eyes wide open.

*This article appears in the January 11, 2016 issue of New York Magazine.
The Market Square shopping center at 4700 Bosque Blvd., across from the Extraco Events Center, is undergoing renovations that will make it an upscale hideaway where the public can buy fine jewelry, plan an exotic trip, have a drink or dine on Italian food indoors or near a bubbling outdoor fountain.

Long known as Marketplace Shopping Center and the home of Cafe Cappuccino, an award-winning brunch destination, the owners have changed the name and found a new anchor tenant, Moroso Wood Fired Pizzeria, to replace the popular cafe that relocated last year to Richland Drive.

Veteran tenants such as Kindlers Gem Jewelers, Hemingways Watering Hole, Wacos All About Travel, Stylus & Co. Hair Designs and ABC School of Massage remain at The Market Square, but the remodel is creating 3,000 square feet of additional space that Brad Harrell with Harrell & Associates is marketing.

We would love to have a bakery in there and maybe some small office space, Harrell said. Once we get Morosos open and the outside revamped, I think well have a good amount of interest. It will be an upscale center, and we will pursue tenants that fit the description.

Harrell said he thinks Moroso will become a hit with visitors wanting a unique and relaxing dining experience.

The proprietor, Dan Moroso, has moved from Miami Beach, Florida, to Waco, where his wife, Robyn Scott Moroso, has relatives. He said he contracted to have a wood-fired brick oven crafted by a company called Marra Forni in Washington, D.C. It now is being stored on the East Coast awaiting shipment to Waco.

We hope to get open around March 15, Moroso said.

He said his contractor expects completion by March 1, and the extra two weeks provide a time cushion. Moroso said the oven weighs more than 2 tons and with its customized styling and various bells and whistles, represents an investment of just under $20,000.

Moroso said he wants to create a family atmosphere that will feature a large community table, at which diners from different groups can enjoy pizza or other Italian dishes such as pasta, salads, Italian sandwiches, mozzarella and desserts. A chandelier will hover above customers.

Italian experience

The pizza and hospitality, Moroso said, will create a dining experience visitors might find in quaint pizzerias in Italy.

Moroso said he had a career producing both radio and television broadcasts that included commercials and movie trailers for the small screen.

Ive lived and worked all over the world, but Ive been visiting my in-laws in China Spring for 15 years. Every time I left to go back to Miami, I felt as if I were leaving home, he said. We think it looks like the ideal community should look. We decided to move here and make a contribution.

For more than two years, Moroso said, he flew from Miami to Waco in search of the ideal location for his pizzeria. He finally chose the aging but classy Marketplace Shopping Center, which has become The Market Square as Moroso and center owner C&N Assets collaborated to restore its former glory.

Kristen Jones, spokeswoman for C&N Assets and its principal, Hayward Taylor, said crews have installed a new roof on the complex, renovated the fountain, installed new lighting fixtures and made improvements to the parking lot. Much of the centers exterior has been stripped to accommodate a fresh look.

He and the owners wanted to re-create that iconic little upscale shopping center that used to be there 30 or 40 years ago.

The pizzeria has received a wine and beer license and will seat 84, though some patrons may want to sit outside near the fountain.

Oh, my God, we are so excited, said Gerda McGregor, who owns and operates Kindlers Gem Jewelers with her daughters, Tammi Barrett and Jan Skopik. The new restaurant is going to be neat and create a whole different atmosphere. Theyre talking about making their own cheese, having tables outside and music going.

Its going to be lovely, lighthearted and cool. Im sure it will become such an asset.

McGregor said she has sold jewelry in the center since 1976 and she can remember when there was a one- to two-year waiting list for lease space.

Offbeat shops with names like Rock Bottom, Prefontaine and Bunny Run attracted shoppers looking for products a cut above the ordinary.

Dont you dare move

It seems now everyone is gravitating toward Central Texas Marketplace at Highway 6 and Interstate 35, and Ive mentioned to customers that I might need to move, McGregor said. But they look me in the eye and say, Dont you dare move. And you know what they say. A happy customer stays for life.

McGregor said she takes trips to Las Vegas to buy her jewelry, and I dont have 10 pieces alike like some places.

I buy one from this vendor, another from that vendor, she said with a laugh. I can truly say my selection is unique.

Again she thought out loud about what the center will become, visualizing the flowers, benches and tea-room atmosphere.

I think it will kind of remind people of the better days of Salado, McGregor said, mentioning the Bell County village on the interstate brimming with antique shops.

Nita Kay Walker, an instructor at ABC School of Massage, said shes impressed with what shes hearing about the centers new look and the restaurant on the way.

I think the change will bring more business to everyone here and possibly bring us more students, Walker said.

Dale Knight, who now owns three Cafe Cappuccino locations in the Waco area, said he left Bosque Boulevard because he needed more room to accommodate the growing crowds that enjoy his breakfast and lunch selections. He now has 3,600 square feet compared to 2,000 square feet at the old location.

Ive seen what theyre doing over there, and it definitely will be an eye-opener for curb appeal, Knight said, speaking of the place he left.
The ASCEND (Achievement, Self-Awareness, Communication, Engagement, Networking and Developmental skills) students and committee members from Delta Alpha Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., along with members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and the Doris Miller YMCA staff, helped to restock backpacks with school supplies and provide food to families during the Christmas break.

The endeavor was a continuation of ASCENDs first community festival in August, in which the group handed out backpacks and school supplies. During the holiday break, ASCEND was able to restock more than 50 backpacks and provide 15 children with coats, socks and hats.

ASCEND collaborated with the Omicron Pi Chapter of Killeen and Omicron Upsilon Chapter of Waco of Omega Psi Phi in providing food for 20 families in the East Waco area, staff of the Doris Miller YMCA and a few ASCEND families.

The boxes consisted of a variety of food, including turkey or ham, or both, that was enough to feed a family of eight.

-----

ABOVE: Committee member Lois McDowell (far left), YMCA CEO Rodney Martin and committee chair Camille Francis-Howard (far right) present a family with one of the food boxes provided for the Christmas break.

RIGHT: Waco High School student Jordan Cooper, who is part of ASCENDs mentoring program, displays some of the food provided for the boxes.

Camille Francis-Howard photos
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is considering whether to allow convicted murderer Edward E. Graf Jr. to remove a GPS tracking device from his ankle.

Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said parolees, including Graf, in the Super-Intensive Supervision Program are required to wear the ankle monitors, and those cases are required to be reviewed annually.

Grafs case is under review by the Board of Pardons and Paroles, Clark said.

Graf, 63, who was sentenced to 60 years in prison in October 2014, is scheduled to be on parole until 2048, Clark said.

Graf spent about 3 1/2 months at the halfway house before parole officials approved his new residence, the River Oaks Apartments on Water Street in Kerrville.

Grafs ex-wife, Clare Bradburn, the mother of the boys Graf was convicted of murdering, said she and others object to the ankle monitor being removed.

We think it is appalling that Ed Graf is even being considered for removal of the GPS tracking system, Bradburn said. We grew up thinking that the justice system would protect us from such murderers, but in fact, it is the opposite.

We have been fighting to keep this monster away from society, and our justice system wants to release him. The monitoring system is the only wall of protection for our family, friends and witnesses. We will do whatever it takes and diligently continue to protest the removal of the tracking system for this confessed murderer of innocent children.

Since his release, Graf has been in compliance with the conditions of his release and supervision, Clark said.

The parole board has placed restrictions on counties Graf can enter and live in. McLennan, Denton, Harris, Wichita and Henderson counties are off-limits to Graf, Clark has said.

Graf spent 25 years in prison until the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals awarded him a new trial, ruling the arson evidence used against him at the first trial was faulty.

At his retrial, Graf was sentenced to 60 years in prison after he struck a plea bargain with McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna just before a 54th State District Court jury reached a guilty verdict after 11 hours of deliberations.

Graf was eligible for immediate mandatory release on parole because the good-time credits he earned in prison and the 26 years he served in prison and in jail combined to make his release from prison mandatory under the law in effect at the time of the crime.

Michelle Tuegel, one of Grafs retrial attorneys, said she thinks Graf should be allowed off the monitor.

He is still being supervised under parole, Tuegel said. This just has to do with a change of conditions, so it isnt really altering his supervision. As long as he has been doing well and abiding by the rules, and it is my understanding that he has been, then I would hope they remove it.

Bradburn urges people who wish to appeal Grafs request to remove the GPS system to send an email to Angela McCown of the boards victim services division at victim.svc@tdcj.texas.gov.
McLennan County Commissioner Will Jones twice offered to personally reimburse West resident Ben Matus $1,250 filing fee if Matus would withdraw his bid to unseat Jones as Precinct 3 commissioner.

He texted me several times and called me, and he was serious. He offered to pay me to drop out of the race, Matus said Thursday. He kind of blindsided me. He told me I was wasting my time and money, and I kind of got agitated. It is my time and my money. He said it is a losing cause, but it made me want to run against him even more.

Asked about it Thursday, Jones at first declined to discuss the matter, saying, people can say anything they want and Im not going to be drug into that.

Later, however, Jones acknowledged he offered to reimburse Matus the cost of his filing fee if Matus would pull out of the race.

I did say that I would refund his money, and I told him that would be a good idea for him, Jones said. There is no way it could be considered a bribe. There is nothing wrong about it.

When asked how he would describe the offer, Jones, who receives a $90,020 annual salary as commissioner, said, Again, I dont think what I said was a bribe. It was a simple business transaction. The guy obviously has nothing to run on, thats the thing. I called him up and said, Why do you want to run against me? He said he didnt know. Wouldnt you want to do some research before you file to run for an office and to know what the job entails?

Matus has an app on his cellphone that records all his incoming calls. Jones offer to reimburse Matus the price of his filing fee is part of an eight-minute call recorded by Matus on Dec. 1, two weeks before the primary filing deadline.

After Matus says he was told that his filing fee was not refundable, Jones says on the recording, I will refund your money. My wife and I have talked about this and if you want out, I will refund your money.

Matus also has a text message sent by Jones on Dec. 15 that says, You can still withdraw your name today. My offer still stands.

Matus, 63, an auto repair instructor at Texas State Technical College for the past 29 years, said he spoke to a staff attorney at the Texas Ethics Commission about Jones offer. The attorney referred him to the local district attorneys office if he chooses to file a complaint.

Matus said he has not spoken with the district attorneys office.

I dont know if it is illegal or not and they didnt say it was at the Ethics Commission. But it is certainly borderline unethical, Matus said. At first, it automatically popped into my head that this would be the easy way out. But its too easy and I would have to give up. I dont really give up that easily.

Neither McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna nor his first assistant, Michael Jarrett, returned phone messages Thursday.

As part of their oaths of office, county and state officials are required to file what is known as an anti-bribery statement, which says, in part, that they have not directly or indirectly paid, offered, promised to pay, contributed, or promised to contribute any money or thing of value, or promised any public office or employment for the giving or withholding of a vote at the election at which I was elected or as a reward to secure my appointment or confirmation.

Mike Dixon, a Waco attorney who represents McLennan County, and Lonnie Hunt of Texas Association of Counties, declined to offer an opinion about Jones offer to reimburse Matus for his filing fee in exchange for Matus dropping out of the race.

Ian Steusloff, general counsel for the Texas Ethics Commission, also declined to say whether Jones offer was actionable, but said the situation likely does not fall under commission guidelines.
A day after Virginia seceded to the Confederacy in 1861, Union forces invaded Alexandria, propelling residents to fleeor abide by Northern rules. Nowhere was this tension more evident than the Mansion House, a hotel turned makeshift Union hospital. Within its walls, Confederate soldiers recovered alongside their enemy. Women broke free from convention and worked as volunteer nurses. Escaped slaves found refuge in the Unions southernmost city, where they could live a better life. Those circumstances are the premise for Mercy Street, a PBS drama.

Filmed in Richmond and Petersburg, the miniseries paid close attention to historical accuracy by employing consultants from the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick and the Alexandria Black History Museum. Co-creator Lisa Quijano Wolfinger spent months in Alexandria poring over letters, photos, and diaries to understand the citys role in the Civil War. I loved the idea of North and South living side by side, she says. You never think of Americans living in an occupied town.

The story centers around the Green familyowners of the Mansion Housewhose naive daughter, Emma, becomes a nurse and falls for a dangerous Confederate spy. The drama spills into the hospital, located on the grounds of the Carlyle House, a still-standing Colonial home where the Greens lived. Throw in an uptight New England abolitionist nurse, an arrogant surgeon played by Josh Radnor of How I Met Your Mother (above with Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and a couple of prostitutes and youve got more than enough theatrics to give the departing Downton Abbey a run for its money.

The reality wasnt as juicy. Emma didnt become a nurse, and according to Carlyle House Historic Park administrator Susan Hellman, the Greens didnt live alongside Union soldiers. Besides that, most of the plot points are accurate. Spoiler alert: In real life, Emma and her spy got hitched. PBS, Premiering January 17.

This article appears in our January 2016 issue of Washingtonian.
Secret Service agents arrested a North Dakota man at a DC hotel Wednesday, interrupting what authorities say was a plot to kidnap one of President Obamas two pet dogs. Scott Stockert had been staying at the Hampton Inn at 6th and K streets, Northwest, where he was found with a stockpile of guns and ammunition in his car, officials say.

Stockert was released to a high-intensity supervision program following a hearing Friday morning at which he was charged with a single felony count of carrying a dangerous weapon outside a home or business. (District gun laws prohibit most instances of carrying rifles or shotguns outside the home.) A grand jury will also be impaneled to further investigate Stockerts alleged plot, which is full of bizarre details.

WRC reports that in addition to his alleged plans to steal a presidential pooch, Stockert also claimed to be Jesus Christ and the son of President John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, though his drivers license read otherwise. He also told Secret Service agents he intended to run for president on a platform of $99-per-month healthcare.

Stockert also allegedly told the agents that they had picked the wrong person to mess with.

Secret Service agents in DC were tipped off to Stockerts alleged plot by their colleagues in Minnesota. Stockerts car contained a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, a bolt-action rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a machete, and a billy club, WRC reports.

The Obamas have two Portuguese water dogs, Bo and Sunny. It is not clear if Stockert allegedly planned to steal one or both of them.

Join the conversation!
The meaningful-viral-news publication Upworthy laid off 14 employees Friday in an effort to put more resources into online video. Sadly, layoffs around the end or beginning of a calendar year arent that uncommon.

The way company co-founder Eli Pariser described the move, however, is truly noteworthy.

This is an investment layoff, he told Politicos Kelsey Sutton, describing the shift as a hard decision and saying, As excited as I am about what the future of video holds for us, it means moving money dollar-for-dollar from other departments.

Perhaps, particularly if you still have a job at Upworthy, you may share Parisers excitement. But if you had to get your stuff and go today, you may find little joy in his description of your departure as an investment.

A search of the news database Nexis uncovered no previous use of the term investment layoff. But layoff memos are, as a rule, towering repositories of euphemism and self-pity. Microsoft once announced 12,500 layoffs in the 11th paragraph of a memo that opened with Hello there and went on to say, These decisions are difficult for the team.

In 2013 the Cleveland Plain Dealer outdid Microsoft, notifying employees of a two-hour window in which theyd receive a phone call notifying them that they are either being separated from employment on that date, or that they are not being separated from employment.

And when the Newark, New Jersey, Star-Ledger announced 167 layoffs in 2014, its publisher, Richard Vezza, told the New York Times he viewed the cuts as a transition to an organization for the future.

When separated from the language used to describe them, the imperatives of layoffs are usually understandable, especially in a business as challenging as local journalism in New Jersey or getting people to share things that matter digitally. But is it absolutely necessary to remind people who are losing their livelihoods how tough its been on you to can them? Last year, the journalism-leadership teacher (and my friend and former coworker) Jill Geisler talked about how managers should share truly lousy news. Good ones, she said, do it early and honestly. They dont insult people with asinine management tropes like cuts will make us stronger and smarter.

There are few things more painful than losing a job. Describing that loss as difficult for yourself is poor form. Calling it an investment is remarkable.
Unions exist to organise, campaign and bargain for the people they represent and to advocate for a fairer society. Clearly this objective is undermined when individuals behave in a corrupt fashion, and when the structure of governance and accountability actually obscures wrongdoing from detection and intervention.

The betrayal of union members by officials abusing their positions is something that cannot be ignored and is a disgrace. Despite some extreme language used by Dyson Heydon, the evidence from the royal commission and the fact that many recommendations relate to individuals shows that there are very few people involved in the bad conduct exposed by the process. This is not a systemic problem in the union movement.

The final report of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption was released just as 2015 was drawing to an end.

For all of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's claims of moving away from simple political slogans and engaging in robust discussions to inform public policy outcomes, the rhetoric deployed on the release of the final report was Abbott-esque in its clunkiness and simplicity.

Commissioner Dyson Heydon's recommendations proposing that superannuation arrangements be removed from bargaining is just one example of this impediment to bargaining. Credit:Ben Rushton

Workers' lives are going be a key issue during the next federal election; Turnbull told us this during his press conference. But only through a campaign focusing on the wholesale adoption of Heydon's report, which essentially leaves workers out of a conversation about their fundamental human rights to organise, campaign and collectively bargain. It is disappointing, but hardly surprising given his antipathy to unions, that Heydon's recommendations will undermine workers' rights to organise and protect their rights.

It would be wrong for a government to legislate in a manner that restricts or prohibits what unions and employers should be allowed to bargain about in their workplaces. Heydon's recommendations proposing that superannuation arrangements be removed from bargaining is just one example of this impediment to bargaining.

The recommendations, and now the government policy, seem to show a misunderstanding of what unions do. Unions play a crucial role in any proper functioning and free democracy. Unions are the means through which ordinary people are able to affect change in their lives, to influence political representatives to legislate for change and to transform Australia into a fairer country. There have been countless achievements that prove this such as annual leave, the eight-hour day, the minimum wage and superannuation.
A body scanning chair that can detect a piece of metal as small as a staple hidden inside a body orifice is the latest piece of security technology to be introduced at Goulburn jail.

The Body Orifice Security Scanner, or the BOSS Chair, is now in use at Goulburn Correctional Centre to help prevent the smuggling of contraband into the prison.

The Body Orifice Security Scanner or BOSS can detect any metal secreted on or in the body or the clothing of someone sitting on it. Credit:Corrective Services NSW

It follows revelations that a prisoner who escaped from the prison last year used a mobile phone to take selfies and post on social media during his jail term.

The man organised his escape using the phone, he had apparently acquired in prison.
Brisbane's recent high-end hotel boom has stretched to Fortitude Valley, with a new major brand hotel due to open its doors in a month's time.

Rydges Fortitude Valley general manager Matthew Hurley said the new hotel, under construction across the road from the RNA's Royal International Convention Centre, would welcome guests from February 9, after about two years of construction.

Artists' impression of the new Rydges Fortitude Valley lobby. Credit:Artist impression

"A lot still has to be done," he said.

"We're just hitting that very busy period with a lot happening on the site every day."
Festivals  Rajasthan Festivals  Bikaner festival

Bikaner festival

Month: January

Significance: Dedicated to Camel

Date: 8.1.2022 - 9.1.2022

Bikaner festival is dedicated to the indispensable 'ship of the desert', camel. The desert town of Bikaner is located in the Northern part of Rajasthan. This festival starts off with a magnificent procession of bedecked camels against the red sandstone backdrop of the Junagarh Fort (1588-1593) in the town. It is a colourful spectacle of beautifully decorated camels that fascinates the onlookers with their charm and grace. The festivity advances to the open sand-spreads of the Polo Grounds, followed by camel races, camel milking, fur cutting design, the best breed competition, camel acrobatics, camel bands and so on. The camels display amazing foot-work, dancing gracefully to the slightest direction of their riders.

There displays and competitions accompany the colour, music and rhythm unique to a fair in Rajasthan. The jubilant skirt swirling dancers, the awe-inspiring fire dance and the dazzling fireworks light up the fortified Desert City. The festivities reach to the peak with a different tenor as the renowned artists display a medley of folk dances and songs. The dates of the festival differ every year.

There is a unique camel breeding farm just outside the town. The other sightseeing places are the Junagarh Fort and Karni Matha Temple where thousands of holy rats are worshipped.

How to get there

Air : The nearest airport is Jodhpur (256km). From Jodhpur daily flights to Delhi and Mumbai.

Rail : Rail network connects Bikaner with Delhi (470kms), Kolkata, Jodhpur (243kms), Jaipur (321kms) and Allahabad. The "Palace on Wheels" luxury train also covers Bikaner.

Express Train the Jaipur-Bikaner Express (Departure 8:30 PM)rs to reach Jaipur. The Intercity Express departs at 5 AM & reaches Jaipur at 11:55 PM. The Ranakpur Express leaves for Jodhpur at 9:35 AM, it takes about 5 1/2 hours. The Sarai Rohilla Express leaves at 7:45 PM & reaches Delhi at 6:40 AM.

A good rail network with cities connects Bikaner like Delhi, Kolkata, Jaipur and Allahabad.

The bus stand is north of the city centre. There are several Rajasthan State Transport Corporation buses between Bikaner and Jaisalmer, Jaipur, Udaipur , Ajmer and Delhi.
Tribune Photo

As we pointed out earlier, casting aspersions is not helpful, and now we have Minister Glenys Martin-Hanna accusing opposition Member of Parliament Loretta Butler-Turner of being "ruled by ugly ambition".

In this instance I submit that Mrs. Butler-Turner echoed the reaction of many right thinking people when she stated that she was taken aback when Minister Hanna-Martin's statement offered no compassion toward the victims of alleged rapes. This latest one in particular.

Surely we can agree the alleged rape of a tourist is serious business and the government should take the lead in calming tourists and Bahamians fears alike. Instead it appears to take the position of defending the indefensible.

A sad commentary indeed.
Illinois man arrested for trafficking in meth after trying to flee police
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 07, 2016 | 04:03 PM | PADUCAH, KY

The former manager of a Paducah credit union has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison and more than $600,000 in fines, after pleading guilty in September to bank fraud.

Pyfrom was the manager of IBEW Credit Union in Paducah, and was arrested in 2014 after police say she confessed to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the institution.

The U.S. attorney's office in Louisville says Debra Pyfrom of Reidland was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court to 78 months in prison, and must pay $600,520.16 in restitution.

During their investigation, police said they found that Pyfrom had manipulated credit union accounts, posted false loan payments, misappropriated funds, and took out fraudulent loans in members names.

Due to its insolvency as a result of Pyfroms fraud, IBEW was forced into liquidation by the National Credit Union Administration.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 07, 2016 | 10:42 PM | WILLIAMSON COUNTY, IL

One person was killed and four others injured in a crash Thursday in southern Illinois.

According to Illinois State Police, the wreck happened around 9:20 am on Route 148, just north of Ogden Road. Troopers said a semi hauling coal was southbound on Route 148, when for an unknown reason it crossed into the northbound lane into the path of a two vehicles.

One driver was able to swerve onto the shoulder, avoiding the semi. The semi sideswiped the second vehicle, continued across both lanes, rolled over and came to rest upright in a ditch. The load of coal spilled during the rollover.

The driver of the semi, 62-year-old Randall W. Engleby, of Harrisburg, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Williamson County coroner. Police said 53-year-old Barbara A. Holland, of Vienna, was taken to a local hospital for treatment of her injuries.

Police said 27-year-old Jessica G. Adams, of Cairo, and two passengers were also taken to a local hospital for treatment. Adams was later transferred to a regional hospital.

Route 148 was closed for about 6 1/2 hours after the crash.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 07, 2016 | 09:54 AM | WICKLIFFE, KY

A major transportation artery for Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri has reopened, after being closed for a week by the New Years flood.

The Cairo bridge between Kentucky and Illinois had been closed since last Thursday, December 31 when floodwaters covered the bridge approach levee at the Kentucky end of the span.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet engineers have inspected the levee and found no shoulder erosion, an issue that plagued the same roadway after the 2011 flood.

Highway crews removed driftwood, mud and other debris once floodwaters dropped off the pavement, and Ballard County highway maintenance crews have also used the closure to patch potholes along the highway and on the bridge deck.

Yesterday, KYTC engineers and the US Army Corps of Engineers were awaiting a drop of about two inches to allow the roadway to reopen. KYTC officials also were looking for some assurance that a planned discharge increase at Kentucky Dam and Barkley Dam would not force US 51 to be closed again.

US 51 remains closed south of Wickliffe near the Ballard-Carlisle county line. It may be a few more days before that site can reopen.
Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world
North Korea is a story. In fact, it's two: one that it tells to its citizens, the other told by the rest of the world. Take the supposed nuclear test of two days ago. North Korea tells its citizens, via state media channels, that it has detonated a hydrogen bomb. Our own media channels, meanwhile, tell us to be sceptical.

Really, given the DPRK's closed borders and constant spin, we've no way of knowing the truth. It's a point In-Sook Chappell's third play makes with a crafty wit, sliding the story of two childhood sweethearts in and out of narrative cliche.

Park Chi Soo and Yeun Eun Mi both dream of stardom, auditioning for a prestigious drama school with an eye on careers in Kim Jong-Il's film studios in P'yongyang. Only one of them will make it: the state's caste system means Chi Soo, whose father was born in and fought for the South, is rejected out of hand and forced into extreme poverty, mining coal for a pittance. Eun Mi, meanwhile, rises to become one of the Dear Leader's favourites, a role that's sexual as well as cinematic.

It's such a familiar story that, initially, you hardly register its archetypal plot: two soulmates separated by a social order. It's Titanic, basically - the one Western film Eun Mi manages to watch. Chapell gradually brings sentimental stereotypes into focus - Daniel York's dictator being a ludicrous, slavering sex fiend of a villain - until you start to question every story you've ever heard about North Korea. The labour camps, the famines, the perilous border crossings - they all seem so stock.

And yet, not without some truth, surely? When finally reunited, Eun Mi hands the starving Chi Soo a single egg, which he ravenously devours. It seems too scripted a moment and yet, in the way he slides the shell off so desperately, it stands up as plausible. All stories start somewhere.

The slippage into self-awareness is beautifully handled and, at times, wryly funny. Daring, too - a writer letting her characters drift out of credibility, even tip into spoof. By using Hollywood cliches, Chappell not only highlights our Westernised perspective on North Korea, our incapability of understanding the mindset of communist, she also makes us question the cultural myths we've swallowed about our own society. Hollywood tells us who we are and what we value just as Kim Jong-Il's propaganda does. (He was, incidentally, a noted cinephile, supposedly authoring a treatise on the subject.)

However, once it's raised its doubts, there's not much more Chelsea Walker's production can do. In admitting the fragility of storytelling, P'yongyang erodes its own foundations and, sometimes, it just seems plain shallow. Chappell wraps things up swiftly, where she might have found some formal twist to finish: tangling an impossible knot of fact and fiction. It's a balance that Anna Leong Brophy and Chris Lew Hoi Sum play brilliantly, though, each finding an equal measure of flatness and humanity.

P'Yongyang runs at the Finborough Theatre until 30 January.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 07/01/2016 (2477 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City councillor Ross Eadie is paying the price for his night on the town two months ago.

Eadie (Mynarski) confirmed he has been suspended from the Winnipeg Police Board pending an internal investigation into his actions in the early hours of Nov. 7, the night he spent at the Main Street Project  the citys drunk tank.

I really dont know what I did that night but I know I havent done anything that would compromise my position on the police board, Eadie said.

BORIS MINKEVICH/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS files Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski)

Im going to fight this. Im going to fight this to the end.

Barry Tuckett, vice-chairman of the police board, said Eadie was suspended within a week of the incident. Eadie did not attend the Dec. 4 board meeting. The minutes from the Dec. 4 meeting state he was absent, without any explanation.

He will not be at Friday mornings meeting and he will stay away until the board has concluded its inquiry to determine if Eadies actions on the night in question breached any sections of the Manitoba Police Boards Code of Ethical Conduct.

What we want to know, and Coun. Eadie cant remember, is what actually happened, what was actually said or done, said Tuckett, who once held the position of Manitoba ombudsman.

We have to try to find out what was said and done and then well make a determination whether it was a breach of the code.

Details of nights events unclear

Eadie admitted he and a friend had been drinking heavily the night of Nov. 6 and into the early hours of Nov. 7 at several different downtown locations. The friend placed him in a cab but Eadie passed out.

When the cabbie was unable to wake him, police were called and they took him to the Main Street Project to sleep it off. He left on his own later in the morning.

A source told the Free Press Eadie had been verbally abusive to the police. Eadie said he couldnt remember what he did or said that night.

If you wake up somebody who is totally drunk and youre blind and you dont know where you are, more than likely, because I dont remember, more than likely I probably tried to push them away, Eadie told the Free Press in an Nov. 8 interview.

Eadie said he had received abusive emails and phones calls because of the incident and he said Thursday that he wants the boards investigation to end and for his life to return to normal.

I dont want any more about the event to be in the public because Ive been humiliated enough.

Incident raised public questions

Tuckett said Eadie by his own admission doesnt know what he did and Eadies own speculations about his actions prompted the board to determine exactly what happened.

Eadie said he believes hes being investigated to determine if he breached Section 8 of the code, which states, Board members shall refrain from acting unlawfully and/or from engaging in conduct that would discredit or compromise the integrity of the board of the Police Service.

But Tuckett said its possible Eadie may have breached other sections of the code, including section 9  which states board members must respect the dignity of individuals  and Section 10, which states they are not to use their office to advance their interests.

Tuckett said the board recognizes that, while some people might be sympathetic with Eadie, others believe his actions might be inappropriate.

That incident certainly did raise public questions, Tuckett said. We have a duty to ensure, and the I think the public would expect, that we would fulfil our duty to ensure members are following that code and were conducting an inquiry to get clarification on the incident.

Resignation, removal possible

Police board chairman Coun. Scott Gillingham said he recused himself from the inquiry because he wanted to remove the suggestion of any conflict of interest as both he and Eadie are members of council.

A subcommittee of the board headed by Tuckett, working with board staff, have been conducting the inquiries, Tuckett said, reaching out to individuals who came into contact with Eadie that night.

If the board believes Eadies actions did breach the code, Tuckett said the options include the board imposing its own discipline, asking Eadie to resign, or formally asking city council to remove Eadie from the board.

We havent made any conclusions at this point, Tuckett said.

Tuckett said he expects the inquiry to be completed before the boards Feb. 5 meeting, adding the decision will be recorded in the boards minutes.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 07/01/2016 (2477 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For nearly five years, Mohammad Safi helped the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan as an interpreter until the Taliban found out and threatened his life. In 2012, the Canadian government helped Safi by resettling the Kandahar resident and his pregnant wife in Canada. Now hes desperately seeking help again  this time to bring to Canada his family that was attacked by the Taliban in December and left homeless.

I want the Canadian government to help me bring my family here, said Safi, who lives in Winnipeg and works as a gas fitter. I have to do it to keep them alive.

On Dec. 9, international media reported deadly terror attacks by the Taliban at the Kandahar airport  an area where his parents, siblings and nieces and nephews live, work and go to school  and the Afghan army was going after them. Safi tried calling his family in Kandahar but couldnt get through. He was glued to Afghan satellite TV news for 24 hours. When he got through to his dad, he found out his mother and sister were at home at the time of the attack and were being used as human shields by the Taliban when the Afghan forces went after them, he said. The fighting ended when the military used smoke bombs and killed three of the insurgents. Safis mom and sister were taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation.

Their home was destroyed  and the school where my mom is a teacher. His brother-in-laws shop and his dads pharmacy are beyond repair, said Safi. I worry about my whole family. Everythings destroyed, and theyre homeless.

He sent them money to find shelter but fears theyre Taliban targets because of him and will never be safe in Afghanistan. A co-workers friend has sent letters on his behalf to MP Dan Vandal and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister John McCallum, asking for a permit to bring all 16 of them here.

A key translator

I want them to breathe easy. If they come here, I will be incredibly happy, said Safi. I will work 24 hours a day to support my family.

As an interpreter and cultural adviser to the Canadian Forces in Kandahar from 2008 to 2011, Safis work ethic was acknowledged by his military bosses in commendation letters.

He was a key member of the team, Maj. G.R. Hamilton-Brown wrote Sept. 15, 2008, who always demonstrates loyalty and respect toward his supported commander, and his services are very appreciated. Safi was the key translator of two insurgent booklets that were seized, the major wrote.

From October 2010 to May 2011, Safi was willingly deployed outside of the wire and was prepared to share the same hardships and dangers as those around them, Maj. C.B. Brennan wrote.

The officer commanding the reconnaissance squadron, Maj. J.R.S. Boivin, wrote Safi was dependable and always willing to face any challenge that he was required to.

Safi, who grew up speaking Pashto and Farsi, two languages spoken in Afghanistan, got the job after struggling through more than a year of English classes. I learned it was really tough. The first time he was tested by a firm that hires interpreters, he failed. He went back for six more months of training, passed and was assigned to work with the Canadian Battle Group.

We want to cut off your head

Safi was warned about the hazards of the job. Its dangerous  you could lose a leg or an arm, he recalled being told. That didnt stop him from taking it. It paid well, and he saw the Canadians as a motivating force for good in his underdeveloped country.

I thought, this is a good job to help my country with all the poor people and to wake them up. For close to five years, Safi worked with the Canadians who formally ended their 12-year Afghanistan mission in 2014. The Taliban told Safi to stop helping the Canadians in 2011.

I got a phone call from insurgents. They said We know youre working with the Canadian Battle Group, the infidels. If you dont quit your job we want to cut off your head.  He thought it was a joke until a letter was left on the door of his familys home issuing the threat in writing and stating This is your last warning.

He fled to Canada with the help of federal immigration officials. They did take care of me and take me to Canada and save my life. I appreciate that, said Safi. Now I want them to please help me help my family.

Special measures program

In October 2009, Ottawa introduced a Special Immigration Measures program for certain Afghan nationals who served as local staff in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, or on a contract in direct support of the Canadian government. This included the Canadian Forces and, Global Affairs Canada.

Just over 600 applications were received from the onset of the program in 2009, an immigration official said in an email Thursday.

The government recognizes that these brave and courageous Afghans who worked for us made a significant contribution to our mission, and saved Canadian lives.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 07/01/2016 (2477 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba wants federal protection for three northern river estuaries as part of an effort to preserve habitat along Hudson Bay for the worlds largest population of beluga whales.

The provinces new Beluga Habitat Sustainability Plan, slated to be published today, calls on Ottawa to place the mouths of the Churchill, Nelson and Seal Rivers within a new national marine-conservation area along Hudson Bay.

This move would protect feeding, moulting and calving areas for the estimated 57,000 beluga whales that summer in the shallow waters along Manitobas Hudson Bay coast. Whats formally known as the Western Hudson Bay population represents more than quarter of the global beluga whale population, estimated at 200,000.

This is the largest population we have in the world, and its very healthy. Half of the others are under some kind of stress, said Kristin Westdal, a marine biologist with The Pew Charitable Trusts Oceans North Canada, a non-profit organization that worked with Manitoba to develop a beluga-habitat plan.

National marine-conservation areas, which are akin to underwater parks, are protected from activities such as ocean dumping, undersea mining and oil and gas exploration.

SUPPLIED PHOTO Beluga whales moulting off the coast of Hudson Bay. Biologists believe the low salinity of the waters near river mouths promotes moulting.

During the 2015 federal election campaign, the Liberal party pledged to protect five per cent of Canadas 202,000-kilometre coastline within these areas by 2017 and then extend protection to 10 per cent of the coastline by 2020. Right now, Canada protects 1.3 per cent of its coastline, or 2,600 kilometres.

Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Tom Nevakshonoff said Ottawa is aware of the forthcoming request. The province also wants Ottawa to amend federal legislation governing the pollution of Arctic waters for areas south of the 60th parallel so it covers the Manitoban river estuaries frequented by belugas.

We want to preserve this iconic species. Populations are healthy, and we want to keep them that way, Nevakshonoff said.

The call for federal protection is one facet of a Manitoba beluga-habitat plan that also calls for pollution management at the Port of Churchill, ship-traffic planning in and around the port, better monitoring of the Western Hudson Bay beluga population and protection of the rivers that flow through Manitoba into Hudson Bay.

Development along those rivers is cited in the strategy as a potential threat to Manitobas belugas, which so far have been spared from the environmental pollution that has led to cancers among the St. Lawrence River population, now listed as threatened.

Shipping and noise pollution are also listed as threats, along with climate change, which has the potential to reduce sea ice at the Hudson Bay belugas winter feeding grounds northeast of the bay, in Hudson Strait, the Labrador Sea and Davis Strait.

Sea ice in these bodies of water provides habitat for the algae that feed the fish that in turn are preyed upon by belugas. Belugas also use ice as cover to evade killer whales, which are becoming a more common presence in northern waters, including Hudson Bay.

Westdal said its unclear what the belugas will do if ice cover recedes. They might just move to other areas, further north, she said.

Thats why we want to protect their summer habitat.

They spend a lot of time in Manitoba coastal waters.

Pierre Richard, a retired federal biologist who is one of the worlds foremost beluga experts, said its important to have a plan in place before development proceeds at Churchill and elsewhere along Hudson Bay.

Any kind of development that affects their habitat should be measured against the impacts that might have on the population, he said.

The idea behind the plan was to think ahead.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
Its rather unusual to have a grand opening for a walk-in cooler.

But its also unusual for a walk-in cooler to have a significant positive impact on a local economy and the nutritional health of a community.

When that happens its reason to celebrate.

On Thursday at lunchtime, every student at Lewiston-Altura Elementary School joined in the celebration with a school-wide Apple Crunch  simultaneously taking a big bite from a fresh-picked, locally grown apple, chilled in the newly installed cooler/freezer that allows the Lewiston-Altura school district to purchase and utilize larger quantities of locally grown meats and produce.

The combination cooler/freezer was purchased and installed using a $35,000 Minnesota Department of Agriculture Farm-to-School Grant, a Minnesota Blue Cross and Blue Shield Center for Prevention grant of $6,000, and about $29,000 in matching funds by the Lewiston-Altura School District.

Our mission is to send kids well prepared into the world, said school board member Anne Sullivan. Healthy habits are a big part of that preparation.

Changing guidelines for school lunches have emphasized inclusion of fresh fruits and vegetables on every plate, explained Vickie Speltz, the districts food service director. Situated in a rural area and surrounded by productive farmland, the district has needs that can be met by local producers. However, the old cooler and freezer  now converted into a small office  was far too small to allow bulk purchases of fruits and vegetables as they came available on the local market. The increased storage capacity has facilitated agreements with four local producers, with a fifth expected in the near future.

Gail Griffin of Rockie Hill Bison in Winona said school districts participation in local markets can have a significant positive impact on the fortunes of local producers. Rockie Hill Bison has been working with area school districts since 2007, she said, and those markets help their business achieve its goal of having the distance from birth to plate not exceed 30 miles.

Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture David Fredrickson, who attended Thursdays event, said the Farm-to-School program is part of the departments overall mission of extending markets for Minnesota farmers.

Fredrickson said that 72 percent of Minnesota school districts have some type of farm-to-school arrangement in place.

I like to quote George Peppard on The A-Team, Fredrickson said: I love it when a plan comes together.
There will be no need to change the nameplates at the school board meeting table for the coming year.

As required by state law, the Winona Area Public Schools board held its annual organizational meeting Thursday night, electing officers, setting salaries and taking care of other legally required housekeeping chores.

Winona District Court Judge Nancy Buytendorp administered the oath of office to the seven school district directors, pledging them to support the Constitution and further the cause of public education in the Winona school district.

Mohamed Elhindi was re-elected board chair without opposition and by unanimous assent.

In a similar manner, Ben Baratto was re-elected vice-chair; Jeanne Nelson as clerk; and Jay Kohner as treasurer.

Without discussion, board members reaffirmed members stipend for board service. Director stipends will continue at $100 per month, with the board chair taking home $125 for the next 12 months.

The board will continue to hold its regular meetings at 6 p.m. the first and third Thursday of each month in the City Council Chambers at Winona City Hall.
JUNEAU | A 37-year-old Waupun man with a violent criminal history was sentenced to probation Thursday for selling crack cocaine to an informant.

Gary Bruce Campbell was found guilty of one count of manufacturing or delivering cocaine in the amount of less than a gram as a repeater. Three additional counts of manufacturing or delivering cocaine in the amount of less than a gram and one charge of manufacturing or delivering cocaine of more than a gram but less than 5 grams were dismissed but were read into the court record.

Judge Joseph Sciascia sentenced Campbell to five years of probation and one year of conditional jail time.

Dodge County District Attorney Kurt Klomberg argued for a 15-year prison term for the drug sale, noting that Campbell had been in and out of custody since the age of 12. Judge Sciascia, citing Campbells positive achievements while in prison, imposed a lighter sentence.

Judge Sciascia imposed and stayed a 16-year prison sentence. Should Campbell fail to successfully complete probation he will have to serve the sentence.

According to the criminal complaint, a confidential informant introduced a law enforcement officer to Campbell, who was known as the nickname, Smooth. Drug Task Force officers purchased the cocaine base (crack) from Campbell on five occasions between April 17 and 21, 2015 at locations in Beaver Dam and Horicon.

While being arrested Campbell admitted to being a drug dealer and said his source was in Milwaukee, according to the criminal complaint. He would not specify the amounts of cocaine he would purchase at any given time from his source.

At the time of the sale, Campbell had been released from the Wisconsin prison system only four months earlier where he was serving a 10-year sentence for second degree reckless homicide and hiding a corpse. He was charged in Milwaukee in 2004 and convicted in 2006. Campbell was on extended supervision at the time of the drug sale.
A local family is grateful for the gifts they received from the Beaver Dam Police Departments Santa run Christmas Eve, as well as the feeling of support.

It was a very big surprise, Ramona Werner said.

On Dec. 24, Werner said she heard the fire truck and police car coming down the road and wondered where they were going when they stopped in front of her house.

Santa Claus coming out of the truck made Werner realize that it wasnt a normal stop.

The police department, with assistance from Beaver Dam Fire Department and a company in Randolph, raised $700 to provide presents and gift cards for the family.

It was a tradition the police department resurrected after it started Beaver Dam Police Charities  an outreach to address community needs.

Werner said her husband Tom has post traumatic stress disorder, as well as dealing with the loss of a son. The couple has two other boys, ages 4 and 9.

He also just lost his job in October, Werner said. Weve been struggling to just stay above water.

The Beaver Dam Police Department had contact with Tom in November when his PTSD got the best of him and he ended up in the emergency room of Beaver Dam Community Hospital. He was taken to a veterans hospital.

Tom was deployed in Iraq in the infantry unit, Ramona said. The two met in Germany and Ramona moved back to Beaver Dam with Tom.

Werner works at the Dodge County Humane Society and said her co-worker Cora Jones was watching her children during a morning in December while Ramona visited Tom in the hospital.

Beaver Dam officer Dan Kuhnz, who is director of Beaver Dam Police Charities, stopped over while Jones was at the home, and they both agreed the family would be the perfect match for a Christmas surprise.

Jones worked at finding out what the family needed, and Kuhnz organized getting the gifts and other help needed. When it all came together, it was just magical for the family, Werner said.

Jones came over the morning of Dec. 24 with a pie and cookies. Ramona had questions when another coworker came to the house.

After the emergency vehicles stopped, Ramona said they sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

They came in the house and the kids sat on Santas lap, Ramona said. I just cried happy tears. It all went very quick.

It was God-given, Ramona said.

It made the kids very happy, Ramona said. They got a lot of things they wanted from Santa. The gift cards are helping us to buy groceries and other stuff like that.
A mental health worker at the Tomah VA Medical Center has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting patients on the hospitals troubled psychiatric unit.

According to court documents, Charles W. Davis, a peer support specialist, made lewd comments and gestures, exposed himself to female patients and received oral sex from a patient in his office.

Davis, 47, was arrested Monday by the Tomah VA police and booked into the Monroe County jail. He was released on a signature bond Tuesday and is expected to be charged next week.

Potential charges include sexual assault by therapist, lewd and lascivious behavior, and intentionally subjecting an individual at risk to abuse, although Monroe County District Attorney Kevin Croninger said those charges could change.

According to an affidavit filed in Monroe County Circuit Court, a 26-year-old veteran who was receiving treatment for past military sexual trauma said Davis rubbed her leg under the table during a new patient orientation meeting while a member of the VA police was making a presentation.

Davis began making comments about her appearance within a week of her arrival, made lewd gestures toward her and later groped her in his office, the document states.

According to the affidavit, Davis called her into his office in late December and exposed himself.

A 32-year-old veteran told police she met with Davis after entering the VAs substance abuse program in March and that he made sexual comments when he met her in the hallway, according to the affidavit.

She said Daviss behavior got worse when she returned to the VA in November after a hiatus, and that he sent her sexually explicit photos and videos that she believed were of himself.

The veteran said Davis invited her to his office in December where she performed oral sex on him, according to the affidavit.

Both women said Davis rubbed his crotch and made lewd gestures while they were in meetings and he thought no one else could see him, the affidavit states.

Davis could not be reached at either of the numbers he provided to the court.

According to the VA, Davis was hired in 2013 as a housekeeper and promoted several months later to peer support specialist. Peer support specialists, who have experienced mental illness or substance abuse themselves and have specialized training, are certified in Wisconsin by the state Department of Health Services.

A VA spokesman was unable to say Wednesday whether Davis had that certification.

Victoria Brahm, acting director of the hospital, sent an email to all employees after Daviss court appearance Tuesday saying, there has been an unfortunate incident in our medical center. I wanted you to be aware in an effort to be transparent and foster trust.

Brahm said a patient reported inappropriate behavior by a peer support specialist on Thursday and he was removed from clinical duties and placed on administrative absence. The statement did not name Davis.

According to the affidavit, the investigation began two days earlier when a VA staffer reported allegations of Daviss sexual misconduct with patients on the VAs psychiatric ward.

The investigation is being led by the Tomah VA Police Department with assistance from Tomah city police.

The Tomah VA has been plagued with scandals since a story by the Center for Investigative Reporting last year detailed high levels of opioid prescription at the facility, which patients dubbed Candy Land because physicians there dispensed prescription painkillers so freely, and a pervasive culture of intimidation and retaliation against employees who spoke out.

A 35-year-old Marine veteran died in the hospital from a lethal combination of prescribed medications.

At least three top officials  including the medical chief of staff and the centers director  were later fired.

In November a nurses aide was cited for disorderly conduct after allegations that he shoved a patient in the mental health unit. The VA has yet to identify the aide or release reports requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, issued a statement Wednesday calling the allegations deeply disturbing.

If they are true, and if patients at the Tomah VA suffered sexual assault, it would be an absolutely deplorable violation of the duty this nation and the VA owe to the finest among us, especially those seeking relief for physical and emotional wounds, Johnson said. Nearly one year after serious problems at the Tomah VA came to widespread attention, it is of utmost importance that the VA protect our veterans from wrongdoers. I will continue to hold VA officials accountable while also addressing the other problems that have engulfed the Tomah VA.
Bonnie Block is passionate about the effects of drone warfare and shes not backing down.

Block, a Madison resident, was back in court on Friday  for the fourth time  facing trespassing charges for an incident at Volk Field in Camp Douglas on Aug. 25. Block, a member of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, was one of eight drone protesters arrested for crossing into military property without permission last August.

On Monday, Father Jim Murphy was sentenced to five days in jail for trespassing at Volk Field. Murphy, who decided to accept jail time rather than pay a $232 fine, was released from custody on Friday.

During Blocks appearance on Friday, she pleaded not guilty, however, Judge Paul Curran ruled her guilty and ordered her to pay a $232 fine within 90 days. Curran did not offer jail time as an alternative, stating that hasnt worked to prevent Block from trespassing at Volk in the past. If, however, Block doesnt pay the fine within the allotted time, the funds could be garnished from her income taxes.

The property is owned by a government entity, but it doesnt mean you can go anywhere you want, when you want to, Curran told Block.

Instead of paying the fine, Block suggested performing community service with Pastor Terry McGinley, from a church in Mauston, presiding. McGinley was present during Fridays hearing.

Curran was favorable of allowing Block to perform community service, but said he would need a few days to make a decision.

Block said Curran decided not to try all eight arrested protesters in a joint trial, opting to try each individual separately. Despite Fridays ruling, Block has no plans to quit protesting the use of military drones.

Its my duty to tell people about the effects of drone warfare, Block said.

In her testimony on Friday, Block read a 700-word statement, stating that the use of military drones is illegal, immoral and ineffective. Block referred to the use of drones as remote-controlled warfare. Block also claimed that drone operators have even suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after conducting drone assignments.

Why do I keep coming to Volk Field? Because we have a chance to honor universal rights here, Block said. I believe we could help stop drones from originating from Volk Field.

Juneau County District Attorney Michael Solovey said the county met the burden of proof regarding the fact Block and several others crossed the line at Volk Field.

They entered Volk Field improperly and, after being advised several times to leave, they chose not to, Solovey said. I ask the court to find the defendant guilty.

Both Juneau County Sheriff Brent Oleson and Deputy Sheriff Thomas Mueller testified against Block Friday. Both were at Volk Field the day Block and others allegedly trespassed.
Carr Valley Cheese enjoyed a big day at the World Cheese Awards on Dec. 23.

The local cheese company, based in La Valle, but owners of two shops in Mauston, earned six awards at the prestigious event. Overall, Wisconsin had a very good day at the annual awards celebration, winning 37 honors, nearly half of the total given to the U.S., including two super gold medals, five golds, 12 silvers and 18 bronze awards.

Since the contest began in 1981, Wisconsin has been awarded more times than any other state.

Carr Valley was one of 13 Wisconsin cheese companies honored at the World Cheese Awards.

Carr Valley General Manager Patty Konig said earning six awards, second-most at the event, was an honor for the company. Other big winners included Sartori Company and Saputo Specialty Cheese, both taking home eight awards, respectively.

At the World Cheese Awards, youre competing against not just U.S. cheeses, but from all over the world, and theres very, very high competition, Konig said. I think we did amazingly well compared to other years.

Konig was very pleased to see Carr Valley win a prestigious super gold medal for its Smoked Billy Blue cheese. The tasty variety is made from goat milk and is produced in small wheels, about six pounds in size. Once its completed its blue phase, its lightly smoked in applewood.

Out of more than 2,000 cheeses that are entered, I believe the top 16 are picked for the grand prize, so those top 16 are awarded the super gold, Konig said. It has a pleasing blue cheese flavor. Its really difficult to smoke blue cheese and I feel like we achieved something there and when its awarded super gold, its an amazing thing.

Overall, the World Cheese Awards, in its 27th year, received more than 2,700 entries from more than 25 countries and were judged by 250 experts from across the globe.

Going forward, Carr Valley is working on some new products and expects to win more honors at next years World Cheese Awards.

We are coming out with an exciting new cheese in conjunction with Wollersheim Winery, Konig said. That should be coming out by the end of this month. Thats an exciting new venture because we have not partnered with them on a cheese in the past, so its going to be really fun.

For more information about Wisconsin cheese, go to www.eatwisconsincheese.com and for more information on Carr Valley Cheese, go to www.carrvalleycheese.com.
Margaret B. Sepke, 86, Necedah

Margaret B. Sepke, 86, of Necedah, died Jan. 6, 2016, at St. Clare Meadows Care Center in Baraboo.

Margaret was born Feb. 12, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois, to Phillip and Barbara (Bruscato) Lima.

Margaret is survived by her children, Michael Sepke, Margie Sepke, Teri Sepke and Carolyn Sepke; grandchildren, Josh, Phil, Lisa, Gina, Jeremy, Nick, Melinda and Elizabeth; and great-grandchildren, Noah, Izzy, Jake, Hayden, Sawyer, Truman, Blake and Kloe.

Margaret is preceded in death by her husband, Howard J. Sepke; son, Patrick (late Linda) Sepke; and her parents.

Visitation will be held from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m., Monday, Jan. 11, at the Glueckert Funeral Home, Ltd., 1520 N. Arlington Heights Road, (4 blocks south of Palatine Road) Arlington Heights, Illinois. Prayers on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 9:15 a.m., at Glueckert Funeral Home to St. Collette Catholic Church, 3900 Meadow Drive, Rolling Meadows, for mass at 10 a.m. Interment will be at St. Michael the Archangel Cemetery.

For funeral information and condolences please visit www.GlueckertFH.com or call 847- 253-0168.
If you see something, say something. This is the unofficial motto of everyone interested in preventing and stopping child abuse. Speak up; dont keep your observations about marks on a childs body to yourself.

All school employees in Wisconsin are required by law to report signs of abuse, and a state legislator wants to add school volunteers to that list. Were in favor, with some reservations, of this initiative.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported that the list of mandated reporters of child abuse or neglect would expand to include any adult who volunteers in a school for at least 40 hours in a school year, under the bill authored by state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, and poverty would no longer be a reason not to report signs of a child not having proper food, clothing or shelter. Investigations into neglect or abuse would not be triggered solely because a child was living in poverty.

Current law requires all school employees to report such signs and says if the signs are a result of poverty, then abuse and neglect have not occurred and therefore the signs dont have to be reported.

Bill Savage, a spokesman for Brandtjen, said the bill seeks to identify all children who dont have all of their needs met in order to put social services representatives in touch with parents.

Youre not abusing your child if youre just so poor you cant afford food, said Savage. We make that distinction so that we dont throw people in jail because youre poor. We are, of course, in favor of making a distinction between extreme poverty and child abuse. Help is needed in both instances, but different kinds.

Dan Rossmiller, lobbyist for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, said in a blog post the bill could have a serious chilling effect on the willingness of people to volunteer in schools.

We doubt that. Someone willing to volunteer in a school seems likely to speak up if he or she spots signs of students who are being abused, so adding them to the list of mandatory reporters seems like more of a formality. The volunteer wants to help children, and shielding them from abuse is one of the most important forms of help that adult can provide.

Where we take issue is that the bill would require volunteers and contractors to receive training on what must be reported. If the training were something onerous, that probably would deter some parents from volunteering; the parent taking time away from work to chaperone a field trip, upon hearing that he or she would first have to attend a training session, might well say Some other kids parent will have to go along to the Heritage Museum.

To us, it would seem sufficient to require school volunteers to notify a school employee of his or her observations. The employee will, presumably, have had the mandatory-reporter training and will know whether to take action.

State Department of Public Instruction lobbyist Dee Pettack testified at a recent hearing on the bill that because the bill removes the words severe or frequent from the phrase severe and frequent bruising in the states definition of physical injury, students who are bruised from normal child activity would be suspected of being abused under the bill. Thats a good point. We cant help vulnerable children as effectively if we remove common sense from the process. Kids bruise themselves in the innocent play of childhood, and we must not lose sight of the distinction between a skinned knee and bruising which indicates abuse. Again, this is where the volunteer would report an observation to a school employee.

As long as the requirements are not onerous, we believe adding school volunteers to the mandatory reporting list is a matter of requiring that which most volunteers would have done regardless.

If you see something, say something.
Taste of the Dells is about to get a reboot  of the Wisconsin supper club, fish-boil variety.

An old-fashioned, outdoor fish boil  complete with king-sized, cast-iron kettle and roaring fire  near the events usual Oak Street location will kick off the 11th annual edition of Taste on Friday, June 10.

A performance by Saving Savannah, a Milwaukee-based modern country fusion band, will cap off the festivities. In keeping with the fish-boil theme, a nearby open bar will serve such venerable Wisconsin supper club drinks as the Old Fashioned.

Taste of the Dells traditional, day-long sampling of Dells-Delton-area restaurant fare will follow the next day with an extended schedule, and the event will conclude that evening as the Kilbourn Volunteer Fire Department holds its annual springtime dance on the occasion of its 125th year in existence.

Taste will start at its usual time of 11 a.m. on Saturday, with closing time set for 10 p.m. The event no longer will extend into Sunday, at least for 2016, organizers reported this week.

The revamped approach in part reflects the influence of the Wisconsin Dells Visitor and Convention Bureau, which earlier this year began talks to join in with the Dells Business Improvement District (BID) and its Taste subcommittee in figuring out ways to revive the event.

Following Tastes smallest local restaurant participation turnout (10) in the events decade-long history last June, organizing chairman and BID member Mark Sweet introduced the idea of joining forces with the Bureau, and the committee and the Bureau have worked together in planning the new, revamped event ever since.

The Friday night fish boil and music possibility was floated at subsequent BID meetings, and the plan was confirmed on Wednesday during BIDs semi-weekly meeting.

Weve definitely seen a downturn the last several years, and we wanted to make some very strong efforts to reverse that trend, Sweet told his fellow BID committee members.

Its a fresh start, a new face, Jennifer Dobbs of Wisconsin Dells Festivals, Inc., the Bureaus festivals-organizing arm, told Dells Events on Thursday. We want to keep (Taste of the Dells) rolling, get more restaurants participating. Were just going to give them an extra push.

With the help of the Bureau-inspired Friday night event, Taste organizers also hope to generate more interest from out-of-town visitors and the overnight, local hotel stays that would accompany them.

The whole idea behind the fish boil is to see if over Taste weekend we can generate more overnight stays  thats why were working together on it this year, Sweet said at the BID meeting. If we generate more overnight stays, at that point the Bureau will take a look at seeing if they may take over the festival in 2017.

The actual boiling of the fish promises to be a spectacle that will be beautiful too, Dobbs said. It will definitely add some atmosphere.

The boil will be conducted in the traditional, outdoor manner, over a roaring fire.

What we are going to do is haul in dirt, build a fire on top of that, with a huge cauldron. The fish, carrots, potatoes  everything goes into the cauldron, she said. We will put down heat-resistant cement blocks and put sand on top of that, and when its over well come in with a Bobcat and wash the remainder away  you wont even know we were there.

The fish boil followed by music from Saving Savannah will be a ticketed event, I believe were talking somewhere around the neighborhood of $12, Sweet said. I think were hoping to get in the area of 500 ticketholders, maybe more if we promote it real well.

Sweet said organizers hope that several improvements for Saturdays Taste event  including an on-site kitchen and an ice truck, for the convenience of all participating restaurants  will make it more palatable for restaurant participants.

Weve put a lot of work looking into things that make it friendly for restaurants to participate, Sweet said.

Keeping food portions small and affordable so that attendees truly get a varied taste of local fare  versus eating an entire meal from a single restaurant  also is a goal.

We want people to sample from different places, and weve taken steps to define what is a sample and size  thats on the application form, Sweet said.

The prices need to reflect the small portions so people are not coming in and eating half a pizza and not trying any other food, Dobbs said.
Strike continues at Racine Case tractor factory with no clear end in sight
Must students studying abroad return to Vietnam?

VietNamNet Bridge - Whether Vietnamese students should return to Vietnam after they finish overseas study is a topic of hot debate on social networks.





Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs Nguyen Duy Thang said his two children also stayed abroad after finishing school.



Twelve out of 13 champions at the Road to Olympia competition did not come back to Vietnam to serve the fatherland after finishing studying overseas





The topic emerged again after Do Hoai Nam, a Vietnamese in Silicon Valley, commented about Vietnamese students who do not plan to come back to Vietnam after finishing study because they cannot get appropriate job opportunities.Calling this paranoia, Nam, who studied in Australia, worked as a waiter and took many different jobs to earn his living before setting up a business. He believes he understands overseas Vietnamese students.Nams comments immediately caught the attention of the community of overseas Vietnamese students because he is founder and CEO of Emotiv Systems, which developed a brain-computer interface, a rare Vietnamese success in Silicon Valley.The comment has received nearly 10,000 likes, 1,000 shares and 1,200 comments.Facebooker Anh Pham believes that it is arrogant to criticize Vietnamese students just because they dont return to Vietnam after finishing overseas study.He believes that the pursuit of happiness is the legitimate right of people and that one can make contributions to the homeland in his own way.According to Anh Pham, until the Vietnamese income per capita is still low at below $5,000, Vietnam should have policies to encourage Vietnamese to study abroad and work to prepare for plans to be implemented 10 to 20 years later.Facebooker Tam Pham commented that every individual can best understand what he wants and needs to do, and should make decisions based on his conditions.The debate about whether to stay abroad or return to Vietnam became even hotter when Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs Nguyen Duy Thang said his two children also stayed abroad after finishing school.Thang, asked by the National Assemblys deputies why 12 out of 13 champions at the Road to Olympia competition did not come back to Vietnam to serve the fatherland after finishing studying overseas, said: I think many deputies here have children or relatives staying abroad. My children also did not return to Vietnam.However, he thinks it would be better to keep an open viewpoint about this, because one can contribute to the fatherland through different ways rather than working in Vietnam.Nguyen Thanh Vinh, the runner up at the first Road to Olympia competition, in an interview to Tri Thuc Tre, said he intended to come back to Vietnam after finishing the university education. But he later changed his mind because he could not see any clear job opportunity.
W&M professors receive states highest honor for faculty

Outstanding faculty Professor of Biology John Swaddle was named a 2016 recipient of an Outstanding Faculty Award by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia SCHEV. Photo by Stephen Salpukas

Rising star Assistant Professor of Anthropology Jennifer G. Kahn was named a 2016 Rising Star, a subcategory of the Outstanding Faculty Awards announced each year by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia SCHEV. Courtesy photo Photo - of - Hide Caption

Two William & Mary professors have been recognized as 2016 recipients of Outstanding Faculty Awards by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). There are only around a dozen awards given each year. Faculty members at all of the institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth, public and private, are eligible for consideration.

The W&M awardees are John Swaddle, professor of biology, and Jennifer G. Kahn, assistant professor of anthropology. The 2016 list brings William & Marys total number of SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Awards to 40, more honorees than any other college or university in the Commonwealth.

It takes broad-ranging accomplishments of absolutely compelling quality to win an outstanding faculty award, said President Taylor Reveley. William & Mary is very proud of professors Kahn and Swaddle.

This statewide honor has been bestowed annually since 1987 to selected faculty members for their excellence in teaching, research, knowledge integration and public service. The OFA program celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2016. This year also marks the 12th year of Dominion Resources sponsorship of the Outstanding Faculty Awards (OFA).

With Dominions support, this annual recognition of Virginias most outstanding faculty members is truly one of the agencys most rewarding activities, said SCHEV Director Peter Blake. We are honored to highlight the accomplishments of these professors who lend their extraordinary talents to their students, their institutions, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

William & Marys two 2016 honorees have a number of things in common. For instance, both were doing fieldwork out of the country when the OFAs were announced. Swaddle is a behavioral biologist serving a year as visiting research associate at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, in the U.K. Kahn, an anthropologist and archaeologist, is doing fieldwork in the Pacific Islands.

Both also work on environmental topics. Swaddle studies the effects of human activity on ecology and evolution, particularly in birds. Kahn uses archaeology to explore the strategies used by South Pacific island populations over time to deal with a near-constant set of environmental changes.

Both Swaddle and Kahn regularly include William & Mary students, undergraduates as well as graduates, in their research work. They even have had a common research student, Kelly OToole 14, now in a graduate program at U.C. Boulder. OToole worked with Swaddle studying fire ecology in Australia and also worked with Kahn at excavations on Moorea, the island neighboring Tahiti. OTooles honors thesis combined ecology and cultural anthropology, a pairing that Swaddle points to as an excellent example of the power of interdisciplinary liberal-arts approaches at William & Mary.

Swaddle came to William & Mary in 2001. He was the inaugural speaker for the twice-yearly Tack Faculty Lecture Series and has received a number of other awards and honors, including the Reves Center International Faculty Fellowship, the Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence, the Phi Beta Kappa Faculty Award for the Advancement of Scholarship and the Alumni Fellowship Award. His current research involves how rapid environmental change affects bird populations.

In particular, were looking at how exposure to low amounts of mercury, which is increasing globally, affects the development, physiology, behavior and breeding of birds, Swaddle explained. We have found large effects from fairly small amounts.

Swaddle also is leading a group thats studying how noise pollution affects the behavior and fitness of songbirds. Because of the noise, birds need to change how they sing, which affects their breeding, he said.

He is part of a collaborative known as Sonic Nets, along with Mark Hinders, professor of applied science. The idea is to use nets of sound to discourage pest birds from farms and airports.

Kahn was honored with the Rising Star version of the Outstanding Faculty Award, a special category for younger faculty members. She arrived at William & Mary in 2012 after earning an anthropology Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in 2005, followed by positions in academia and in museums.

Her areas of research interest include an investigation of the colonization and settlement of the Pacific Islands as well as an exploration of the daily life of Polynesians in the past through analysis of monumental architecture such as temples, residential sites and agricultural complexes. She conducts field work in Hawaii and in the Society Islands group of French Polynesia, where she has worked since 1999. She regularly includes contemporary residents of the islands in her work.

Currently, I am working in the 'Opunohu Valley of Mo'orea on a project for eco-tourism and cultural resource management, she said. I am working with a surveyor to map all of the archaeological sites in the valley near where a nature/archaeological trail will be. This map will be used to choose archaeological sites to be described along the trail and also will be used by the Territorial government of French Polynesia to conserve the sites in the valley for the long term.

Outstanding Faculty Award recipients will be recognized during a Feb. 16 ceremony at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, at which they will be addressed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Each award consists of an engraved plaque and $5,000 underwritten by the Dominion Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dominion Resources. Dominion is the parent company of Dominion Virginia Power.

The Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award program is administered by SCHEV and funded by a grant from the Dominion Foundation, which has fully supported the OFA program since 2005. A total of 354 faculty members  including the 2016 recipients  have received the honor since 1987.

SCHEV is the Commonwealths coordinating and planning body for postsecondary education. The agency provides policy guidance and budget recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly, and creates the statewide strategic plan, the Virginia Plan for Higher Education.




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Jamaican holidays 'growing in popularity'

A Jamaican beach

Sun-seeking Britons could replace Barbados with Jamaica as their preferred Caribbean island to visit in 2016, according to new estimates.

Jamaica's tourism officials expect a 16% year-on-year rise in UK visitors to cause the shift in popularity towards its golden-beach resorts.

Its number of British visitors jumped from 128,000 between January and September 2014 to 149,000 in the corresponding timespan in 2015.

Safety first

But, of course, even on an island paradise, holidaymakers can come unstuck if they are not properly prepared.

Take travel insurance, for example. A dream beach trip can turn into a nightmare scenario if tourists' passports or belongings go missing.

But holiday cover can guard against the worst that can happen, insuring against things such as lost luggage, missing passports and illnesses.

Jamaica's attractions

Wykeham McNeill, tourism minister for the island, told Press Association reporters that there are a range of attractions which are enticing UK holidaymakers.

Dr McNeill says these include:

- jerk chicken and other local dishes

- reggae music and other Caribbean sounds

- the beaches

- heritage sites

- eco-tourism

- new resorts

- sport, including Jamaica being the birthplace of Usain Bolt, the 100m Olympic champion

Extra flights 'providing boost'

Dr McNeill says that 2015 UK trade was enhanced by extra flights being put on. Distance is also a key factor in Britons spending more time in Jamaica than several other hotspots, he says.

The minister claims that tourists prefer to be more mobile and mix well with the locals.

He says beach-bound Britons love lapping up the sun's rays, but are also happy to visit the island's heritage sites.

Jamaica's tourism number crunchers say that European visits have increased by 8% overall. Danes, Irish people and Finns have provided the sharpest rise in numbers.
Man Airlifted to Hospital Following Fall in Brymbo

This article is old - Published: Friday, Jan 8th, 2016

A male has been airlifted to Stoke following an incident in Wrexham earlier this morning.

Shortly after 11am this morning there were reports that an air ambulance had landed in Brymbo, with Kelly telling us: Something happening in Brymbo this is on the field and police are telling people to stay inside.

A spokesperson for North Wales Police told us that they were assisting with a medical incident in the area.

It has since been confirmed that a man had been airlifted to hospital following a fall.

A spokeswoman for Welsh Ambulance Service said: We had a call at 10.15am today, Friday 8 January, to reports a male had fallen at an address in the Brymbo area of Wrexham.

We sent an emergency ambulance, a High Dependency Service vehicle and a Wales Air Ambulance to the scene. The man was airlifted to hospital in Stoke.

*Thanks to Kelly for sending us the image featured above.
Petition Launched To Save Beautiful Red Brick Groves Building

This article is old - Published: Friday, Jan 8th, 2016

A petition opposing the demolition of a historic former school has gained the backing of over 300 supporters in just under 24 hours.

Yesterday Wrexham.com reported that next week members of Wrexham Councils Executive Board were to debate the options for the future of the former Groves school.

The site has remained vacant for several years, with part of the school demolished in 2013.

Since then the former girls school building has fallen into a dilapidated state and is no longer fit for purpose.

On Tuesday members of the Executive Board will meet to discuss the future of the site, with four options listed within next weeks meeting report. These including converting the building into an educational provision, mothballing the building for future use and demolishing the building but retain the facade.

However the option recommended for approval by councillors is to remove any remaining asbestos from the building and to demolish and clear the site for the future development of one, or even two new schools

Speaking earlier this week, a statement released by Wrexham Council noted: The council faces rising demand for school places as the population of the county borough grows. The Welsh Government forecasts that the population of the County Borough will increase from 135,070 to 155,306 by 2028, which will put pressure on existing school spaces.

Refurbishment or redevelopment of the former school would cost more than 5m, meaning creating a new, fit-for-purpose school on the site is the better option.

The meeting report continues onto say: Subject to legal advice, as an interim measure, whilst the site remains unused, it is proposed to use the site to provide car parking for staff. This will have two benefits. Firstly, it will relieve any pressure on public car parking spaces in Wrexham town centre and secondly, it will provide a daily presence which will help to deter trespassers and rough sleepers.

The option to demolish the building has been met with opposition online and a petition calling for the Council to reconsider the recommendation to demolish the building and clear the site.

Details within the petition state: We, the undersigned wish to ensure the future of the building formerly known as Grove Park Girls School, Wrexham. This building was built as a dedicated girls grammar school in 1938 after formerly sharing a building with Grove Park Boys School.

The building is now falling into disrepair and we are afraid that our local Council will see fit to demolish it if it becomes too dilapidated. It is a beautiful red brick building and has many features of historical interest. With the rise in population recently, we feel that there could well be a need in a few years time for it to be used again as a school.

However the building could be put to good use for many cultural purposes but the main concern at the moment is that it should not fall further into disrepair. Please sign our petition so that we may urge local Councillors to preserve this important part of Wrexhams heritage.

At the time of writing the petition has already gained the support of 326 people.

The future of the former Groves site will be debated by members of the Executive Board on Tuesday 11th January at 10am. For those who cannot attend the meeting, it will be webcast live on the Wrexham Council TV website.
Carol, directed by Todd Haynes and written by Phyllis Nagy, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith; The Danish Girl, directed by Tom Hooper and written by Lucinda Coxon, based on the novel by David Ebershoff

Two new films, Carol and The Danish Girl, address significant subjects that could potentially shed light on society and its moral and psychological condition. Each deals with painful, intimate issues of sexual life and the ostracism with which the social order treats people whose behavior is considered unconventional, or even threatening, to moral norms.

The more noteworthy and weightier of the two, Carol, is about a lesbian relationship in post-war America. The other, The Danish Girl, concerns itself with one of the first identifiable individuals, a Danish artist, to undergo sex-reassignment surgery. It is set in Europe in the 1920s.

Both films have been favorably received, in part because they are stories about recognizable human types and conditions, i.e., they are not bombastic, empty, pyrotechnical pieces. Carol and The Danish Girl are intelligently made, visually appealing and relatively engaging. However, it would be naive not to recognize that the films attraction for certain social layers has something to do as well with their preoccupation with questions of gender and sexuality.

Carol

Todd Haynes Carol, adapted from Patricia Highsmiths novel, The Price of Salt (1952), published under a pen-name because of its subject matter, depicts the love affair over the holidays in 195253 between a married woman of means and a younger shop girl, an aspiring photographer.

Carol (Cate Blanchett), impeccably and expensively decked out, is in the process of divorcing her banker husband Harge (Kyle Chandler). She meets the shy, introspective Therese (Rooney Mara) while Christmas shopping in a New York City department store. There is an almost immediate electricity between the two. But Harge is desperate to hold onto his wife and willing to use Carols past immoral relationship with Abby (Sarah Paulson) as leverage to obtain sole custody of their young daughter.

Meanwhile, Therese is warding off the advances of her boyfriend Richard (Jake Lacy), who wants to marry her and whisk her off to Paris precisely at the moment when she is awakening to her true sexual feelings. She jumps at the chance to take a road trip with Carol, who is distraught over the threatened loss of her daughter. The older woman also gives Therese an expensive camera, enabling her to begin to develop her artistic proclivities. They consummate their love in Waterloo, Iowa. Like its famous European namesake, this Midwestern town becomes the scene of a major, although perhaps not final defeat.

Haynes has an uneven, sometimes interesting history as a filmmaker. Safe (1995) and Mildred Pierce (2011), a miniseries made for HBO, are probably his most successful efforts, but Velvet Goldmine (1998) and Far From Heaven (2002) also have their moments. Carol is an often elegant film, with a deliberately artificial and eye-popping lookalthough the monotonous score is something of a drawback.

Although watchable and intelligent, the movie never comes to satisfying dramatic life. This is principally so because the filmmakers devote almost all their intellectual energy and effort to underscoring the homosexual character of the relationship to the exclusion of nearly every other feature. The characters and situations in Carol that fall outside that relationship are treated essentially as plot devices and given short shrift. They clearly do not arouse that much interest on the directors part.

Moreover, the films attitude toward Harge and Richard in particular, and the male characters in general, is for the most part hostile and contemptuous. The (heterosexual) men are crude, loud and boorish. To a large extent, the narrative boils down to a couple of sensitive women navigating their way through a world of masculine bullies.

This self-servingly distorted view of things affects the drama, creates inconsistencies and weakens Carol s overall impact. For example, why are these two men so strenuously pursuing women who are obviously not interested in them, and in Carols case, demonstrably not drawn to the male sex? And why, after all the supposed misery that the thought of losing her daughter brings Carol, does she give up any rights more or less without a second thought?

And there are other issues. The filmsand its central charactersgeneral lack of sympathy for humanity as a whole results in an overall coldness. Carol and Therese hardly seem to spare a single thought for anything or anyone but themselves. No doubt Blanchett has been directed or chosen to be chilly, to go along with her upper-class existence and lifestyle, but in the process the director and actress have forgotten to make her especially appealing or intriguing.

There are a few moments when Blanchett breaks from her icy demeanor and shows some passion. One comes when Carol discovers that she and Therese are being snooped on and recorded. Another occurs when she and her husband are alone with their divorce attorneysCarol forthrightly defends her actions, announcing that she cannot go against my grain.

The production notes assert that Carol portrays the transitional period of the 1950s following the end of World War II. America is marked by feelings of both paranoia and optimism. Were this the case, it would be a better work. Except for a brief television clip of President Dwight Eisenhowers inaugural speech in January 1953 and the secret recording of Carol and Therese (which presumably is meant to suggest FBI spying), there is virtually no other indication of the concrete character of the times. In the end, the decor, costumes and settings are little more than a backdrop for an affair that does not follow a prescribed path, as Haynes puts it.

The notes also claim that the sexual candor explored in Highsmiths words made the book one of the seminal pieces of literature to come out of the era. This sweeping assertion is simply false.

Highsmith was a minor writer of interesting suspense and psychological thrillers, a number of which have been made into films (Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley, etc.). A member of the Young Communist League in the late 1930s. she followed the trajectory of many of her intellectual generation, ending up in the camp of existentialist angst.

In the Eisenhower era, saturated with state-sponsored conformism and the supposed glories of the American way of life, Highsmiths unapologetic amorality had a certain piquancy and subversiveness. Nonetheless, her 1952 book could hardly be called a seminal piece of literature of that era or any other.

To a certain extent, Carol is a case of a missed opportunity. One takes Haynes seriously because of his social sensitivity and his orientation toward some of the more intriguing filmmakers of the past, including Michael Curtiz, Douglas Sirk and R.W. Fassbinder. But where is his version of Fassbinders Fox and His Friends, a scathing portrait of the class divisions among gays? And clearly there has been a degeneration since 1973, when the German filmmaker commented: Im often irritated about all the talk about womens liberation. The world isnt a case of women against men, but of poor against rich, of repressed against repressors. And there are just as many repressed men as there are repressed women.

The Danish Girl

Tom Hoopers filmography is less than stellar. His 2010 The Kings Speech is overly and uncritically fascinated with the British royal family in the 1930s, a hotbed of reaction. His Les Miserables (2012) is a miserable musical based on the Victor Hugo work. Fortunately, The Danish Girl is a cut above this material.

The new movie is based on the 2000 novel of the same title by David Ebershoff about Danish painters Gerda and Einar Wegener. As noted, Einar was one of the first men to undergo a transgender operation.

In Copenhagen in the mid-1920s, Einar (Eddie Redmayne), a well-known landscape artist, is asked by his wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander) to stand in for a female model to complete one of her portraits.

Although the couple have an intense love andwhen we first meet themare trying to have a baby, Einar slowly sheds his identity as a male and assumes the persona of Lili Elbefirst to Gerdas shock and dismay and then with her full support. They move to Paris and Gerdas portraits of Lili become the rage.

To please his wife who wants him back as a man, Einar seeks psychiatric help. This process simply proves excruciating and futile. Eventually, it dawns on Gerda that her husbands desire to be Lili is not ephemeral or light-minded. The couple ultimately find a sympathetic physician who is willing to perform the pioneering surgical procedure.

Vikanders energetic performance powers the largely static, but pleasant-looking movie. The initial sequences of the playful newlyweds are sweet (and made sweeter by their adorable dog who features a little too prominently).

Unfortunately, the film somewhat lazily falls back on Redmayne/Lilis coquettishness and semi-seductive facial expressions (captured in numerous close-ups) as a substitute for a more serious exploration of the issues bound up with his transition from man to woman.

Thus, despite some moving moments, The Danish Girl largely rests on the surface of things. What should be the most interesting scenes, in which Einar attempts to explain to various doctors what he sees as his effort to correct a defect in nature, are relatively brief and perfunctory.

De Profundis

As we argued above, the situations in both Carol and The Danish Girl had the potential to be genuinely illuminating. Every substantive human situation has that potential.

However, to create a truly enlightening work the filmmaker has to align him or herself, and his or her characters, in some conscious fashion to the fundamental problems of the age, even if those are not directly at the center of a given film. There are an infinite number of possible subjects, but, in our day, they have to stand in some insightful relationship to great class, social and revolutionary problems.

The dilemmas treated in these films involve democratic rights, bound up with the oppressive conditions of class society, which can only find a genuinely rational and humane solution with the transition to socialism.

The exclusivity, the narrowness, the focus on self, of both films here is very damaging.

One of the great artists who paid most dearly for his sexual orientation, Oscar Wilde, sentenced to hard labor for his homosexuality in 1895, did not see his terrible plight in a self-pitying or exclusivist fashion. His remarkable and lacerating De Profundis [from the depths], written in prison, is saturated with empathy for all those who suffer, for oppressed nationalities, factory children, thieves, people in prison, outcasts, those who are dumb under oppression and whose silence is heard only of God.

Wilde treated his situation in De Profundis with considerable objectivity. He clearly understood he had ended up a pariah, not principally because of his sexuality, but as the result of his lifetime of opposition to the political and cultural establishment, including his authoring The Soul of Man under Socialism in 1891. He explained, I was a man who stood in symbolic relations to the art and culture of my age.

Wilde later in the work amended this, There is not a single wretched man in this wretched place along with me who does not stand in symbolic relation to the very secret of life. For the secret of life is suffering. It is what is hidden behind everything. In other words, Wilde identified with all the oppressed. We need a revival of that spirit today.
The Detroit News revealed this week that Detroit Public Schools (DPS) debt payments will balloon from $6.6 million to $26.8 million a month this year, essentially bankrupting the largest public school district in Michigan. These new payment levels, to begin in February, will cause the district to run out of money by April 2016.

Debt payments will rise from $1,111 per pupil to an absolutely unsustainable $3,094 per pupil. With each students state foundation grant set at $7,296, this means over 40 percent of state-allocated money will be diverted to the banks and wealthy bondholders.

The doomsday scenario recalls almost exactly the politically-orchestrated campaign surrounding the Detroit city bankruptcy of 2013-14. At that time, the financial elite, Democratic and Republican politicians, the courts and the media declared that emergency measures were needed to resolve an imminent crisis, which was manufactured by the speculative activities of the big banks. They then used this pretext to abrogate the state constitution, loot city workers wages, health benefits and pensions, hive off assets for privatization and terminate essential city services.

While the rationale and actors are largely the same, the target has been extended to Detroits schoolchildren, teachers and school workers, as well as the Michigan state pension system and retiree health benefits.

In effect, state officials from both big business parties and the financial interests they represent are threatening 45,000 school children and their right to learn with a potential mid-year school shutdown in order to ram through their reactionary and self-serving political and economic agenda.

The attacks are provoking deep opposition. On Thursday, hundreds of Detroit teachers called in sick and forced the closure of two high schools in a protest over overcrowded classrooms, budget cutting and attacks on their living standards. The Detroit Federation of Teachers has long collaborated with the attacks on public education by both big business parties and teachers are looking for a way to fight.

DPS schools have been under state financial supervision since 2009, with undemocratic, unelected emergency managers specifically responsible for fiscal policy. The nature of this supervision can perhaps be best indicated by the fact that the DPSs current emergency manager (EM), and the point man in this crisis, is Democrat Darnell Earley who, as EM in Flint, Michigan, switched the municipal water supply to the Flint River and oversaw the lead poisoning of thousands of residents.

There are the reasons spelled out in the media for the imminent bankruptcy of the DPS; then there are the real reasons. The precipitating event has been explained as a February due-date for the district to begin repayment on a little-reported short-term loan which DPS secured last August. Apparently, at that time, an $83 million deficit for the 2014-15 school year was rolled over and added to the regular debt service requirements for 2016.

The unusual way a virtually immediate repayment plan was quietly set up between state authorities and Earley would likely indicate that a political decision was made to deliberately bankrupt the district and/or impose a reorganization. It would be inconceivable that the DPS could triple its annual debt payments when it could not even make the monthly payments at the 2015 levels.

The long-term debts of the school district are also the product of deliberate decisions by the corporate and political establishment. Once one of the highest quality school districts in the country, DPS, like the former Motor City as a whole, has suffered a slow death caused by the deindustrialization of Detroit, the massive tax breaks for the auto industry and other big business interests and budget cutting on the federal, state and local levels. The school crisis has been exacerbated by the diversion of scarce public resources to for-profit charter schools, a policy the Obama administration has championed since taking office.

The crisis of DPS and other school districts has been turned into a lucrative opportunity for the banks and municipal bondholders. There has been a sharp increase in high-risk, and therefore highly profitable, forms of debt held by school districts. Distressed debt industry analyst Debtwire describes DPSs status as zombie credit. The banks, which include underwriters JP Morgan and Loop Capital Markets, have driven up rates a full percentage point in just six months to 5.75 percent. By contrast, the benchmark rate for municipal bonds is only .25 percent.

Similar to the Detroit municipal bankruptcy, first the schools are starved of resources over decades, forced to load up on immense levels of debt, and then declared financially distressed. This is then used to justify a state takeover, a declaration that the wages, benefits and pensions of teachers are unsustainable, and the further destruction of public education.

Since the end of last April, Republican Governor Rick Snyder has faced a legislative logjam in his push for the division of DPS into two districts, one to collect the taxes from the population, the other to run the schools. Under his plan, developed with the assistance of Paul Pastorek who transformed New Orleans into an entirely charter school district, the policies of the new Detroit district would be set by the state and its education business consultants in the guise of a Financial Review Commission. Rick Snyder, an early proponent of school vouchers, has long worked with big business education industry interests and has been involved in more than one dirty scandal involving education profiteering.

A slightly different variation of the same plan was proposed by the union-friendly Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren, which included industry and Chamber of Commerce representatives, but also gave the nod to a number of corrupt Democratic Party political fixtures in the guise of community organizers and school board members. Both plans aim to increase privatization and undermine pensions.

For example, both suggest the use of OneApp, which establishes one portal throughout Detroit for all schools, putting charters on an equal basis with traditional public schools.

Complicating the horse-trading in the Michigan Legislature has been pushback by tea-party-style Republicans who oppose reorganization, citing Detroit fatigue, and using the opportunity to call for the complete dissolution of DPS and complete privatization with a voucher system that could be used at any public or private institution. Michigans state constitution bars the use of public funds for private schools, and a 2000 statewide ballot initiative to amend the ban was overwhelmingly defeated.

Setting a precedent for the destruction of public employee pensions is also a major priority. Since the Detroit bankruptcy and its legal vacating of the Michigan constitutional protection for municipal pensions, the floodgates have been opened. Significantly, a December 29 Detroit News editorial openly characterized addressing retiree cost as the whole point of the EM law  and why Snyder has proposed a legislative fix for DPS [emphasis added].
Ghouse Gulam, a contract worker, died Monday morning after being hit by a forklift just five minutes into his shift at the Honda R&D Americas facility in Raymond, Ohio. This death has occurred as part of the drive to increase profits by reducing labor and production costs throughout the global auto industry.

Gulam, 61, was struck by a forklift driven by another contract worker while crossing a causeway between two buildings at the facility. The forklift was carrying a load of trash that may have obscured the drivers visibility. A county coroner investigator told the Columbus Dispatch that the causeway did not have surveillance cameras so there is no footage of the accident.

Gulam was then driven to Memorial Hospital of Marysville, and declared dead from a crushed skull at 7:35 a.m. According to Honda, Gulam was from Livonia, Michigan but had moved to neighboring Delaware County about 40 minutes from the work site.

The Union County Coroners Office and County detectives are investigating the accident, as is the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA).

Many basic facts about Gulam and the accident are being hidden from the public by Honda. Honda of North Americas manager of corporate communications, Mark Morrison, refused to provide any information to the World Socialist Web Site on the nature of Gulams work at the facility or even what company he worked for that contracted with Honda. Morrison cited the companys supposed respect for the dead for withholding the information.

The OSHA district office in Columbus, Ohio similarly declined to provide any information, saying they could not speak on an ongoing investigation. The county coroners office claimed to not have the information on hand.

Contractors are increasingly used at auto plants in lieu of traditional employees, in order to fire workers at will and avoid the expense of paying into their health care or retirement. A central issue in the recent contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers was the desire of the Big Three automakers to bring in lower paid contract and temporary workers, which the UAW has accepted. The higher turnover and poor compensation has led to increasing injuries for contract workers.

The Honda facilities in Marysville, Ohio are non-union and the UAW has never been able to get a foothold at the plant because of its decades-long collaboration in the slashing of the jobs and wages by the Detroit-based automakers.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), contract workers were the victims of 12 percent of all workplace fatalities in 2011. By 2014 they accounted for 17 percent of workplace deaths overall and 28 percent within the machinery manufacturing sector, including auto plants. In the last few weeks alone two contract workers have been killed at Fordone in Kansas City and another at the Chicago Assembly Plant.

The number of fatalities for contracted workers rose by 6 percent between 2013 and 2014 to 797, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall 4,679 American workers total were killed on the job in 2014the most recent year statistics are availablea 2 percent increase from 2013.

The rate of fatal injuries dramatically rises the older a worker gets. The number of workers 55 years and over who were fatally injured in 2014 increased 9 percent to 1,621, the highest annual total since the inception of the fatality census in 1992. Those 65 and older were killed from work injuries at a rate of 10.2 per 100,000, more than three times the national average. Many workers without a defined benefit pension are forced to push back their retirement and run this higher risk of injury or death just to make ends meet.

In contrast to their workforce, Hondas profits have risen over the past year with the first fiscal quarter of 2016 (April-June 2015) seeing a 20 percent jump in net profit, up to $1.5 billion. This was driven by increased sales in both North America and Asia, which more than offset costs relating to their recall of faulty airbags.

Defects in airbags built by Takata for 10 different car companies, and affecting several Honda models, led to the spraying of metal shrapnel into some vehicles when deployed. Honda has confirmed nine deaths from airbags in their cars so far. As of October of last year more than 3.5 million Honda cars have had their airbags replaced, but the total number of cars known to have the problematic airbags is over 9 million.

When the defect was first uncovered in 2009, Honda worked to keep the recall to a minimum, initially keeping it to 4,000 vehicles. In 2014, Honda was fined $70 million by the American National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for failing to report 1,729 death and injury claims related to their vehicles between 2003 and 2014.
Saudi forces targeted an Iranian embassy in Yemen during strikes against the capital of Sanaa on Thursday, according to Iranian officials.

The Saudi government has denied targeting the embassy. Saudi planes have carried out heavy bombardments of the capital city on Wednesday and Thursday, according to Saudi officials.

According to some reports, the airstrike hit not the embassy, but rather a residential property across the street owned by former Yemeni dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh.

According to witnesses cited by Reuters, the Iranian embassy did not appear damaged as of Thursday evening. An Associated Press reporter has also stated that there is no visible damage to the Iranian facility.

In retaliation for the alleged embassy strike, the Iranian government announced that it would freeze all commercial exchanges with Saudi Arabia. The trade ban was passed after deliberations by an executive council led by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The Iranian cabinet simultaneously renewed an existing ban on travel to the Kingdom by Iranians seeking to complete the Islamic pilgrimage or Hajj.

The Iranian accusations come amid a standoff between the two governments that has reached new intensity in the wake of the execution of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr by the Saudi regime last week, in a move that had all the earmarks of a carefully planned provocation.

Within days of the Saudi execution and subsequent announcement that the Kingdom would break off ties with Tehran, a handful of states had followed the Saudis in formally cutting off diplomatic relations with Iran. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia have all broken off diplomatic ties with Iran this week. The United Arab Emirates downgraded its relations with Tehran, while Kuwait and Qatar recalled their envoys.

Iranian leaders have insisted that the Saudi strikes against Yemen impacted the embassy, and warned that Saudi provocations will only deepen the internal crisis of the monarchy.

Saudi Arabia is responsible for the damage to the embassy building and the injury to some of its staff, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told Iranian media.

The policies of the Saudi regime will have a domino effect and they will be buried under the avalanche they have created, Iranian General Hossein Salami said Thursday. The Iranian general went on to suggest that the Saudi leadership would meet the same fate as Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was executed in 2006 after being forced from power by the 2003 US invasion.

If confirmed, the Saudi strikes would represent an explosive provocation against Iran, ordered under conditions in which the two regional power centers are the closest they have come to direct war in decades. The growing desperation of the Saudi royal family, which faces a domestic crisis and has proven incapable of achieving its war aims in either Syria or Yemen, is fueling increasingly risky maneuvers.

The Saudi regime has already made clear its outrage at the moves by the Obama administration and other Western governments toward a compromise with Iran based on a nuclear deal which US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday could be just days away from implementation.

The Saudi elite is determined to maintain its grip over the oil wealth of the Arabian Peninsula through permanent war throughout the region and police repression at home. In league with Washington, the Saudi regime has launched predatory interventions in Syria and Yemen, relying on an assortment of militias and mercenary groups to do most of the ground fighting.

These Saudi operations are aimed at countering the rising influence of Tehran in the region. It has sought in Syria to wage a proxy war for regime change against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, using Islamist militias as its proxy forces.

In Yemen, it has responded to the insurgency of the Houthis, a political movement that has its base among a Shia population, by launching a full-scale war of its own. The Saudi intervention, aimed at preventing the consolidation of a Yemeni regime that would have friendly ties with Tehran, has already left thousands of civilians dead, produced widespread famine, and accelerated the descent of the entire region towards all-out war.

The Saudi-Iranian tensions have reverberated across Africa, where there was a massacre of more than one thousand members of the Shia minority by Nigerian government troops in December. Somalia announced its decision to cut ties with Tehran Thursday in an official statement, denouncing Irans continuous interference in Somalias internal affairs. Iranian diplomatic staff were given three days to leave Somalia. Sudan, once closely aligned with Iran, also expelled Iranian diplomats from its territory this week.

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel called for Berlin to review its arms sales to the Saudi military, valued at nearly 200 million euros, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Gabriel criticized the Saudi execution of Nimr, saying that the move proved that previous refusals to sell certain weapons systems to the Kingdom were necessary.

It turns out we were right not to deliver battle tanks or G36 rifles to Saudi Arabia, the leading German official said.

With European companies eager to take advantage of the lifting of sanctions to pursue commercial deals with Iran, the deepening of the Saudi-Iranian conflict will increasingly place sections of the European bourgeoisie on opposite sides of the regional power struggle from the hardline factions of the US elite, which tend to oppose any compromise with Iran and are closely tied to the Saudi elite.

Despite the tactical compromise with Tehran favored by the Obama administration, some elements within the American state remain determined to seize any opportunity to move the US toward war against Iran. Reports at the end of December that Iranian forces had tested missiles in close proximity to American naval vessels were met with an outpouring of demands for an escalation against Iran from the US political and media establishments. Those in Riyadh who are seeking to throw a wrench into Irans aspirations for cozier relations with the West clearly have the support of significant forces in Washington.

With close support from ruling cliques in Washington, the Saudi royals are stoking conflicts that have the potential to rapidly engulf the entire Middle East and draw in all of the major powers.
Israels housing ministry is planning to build 55,000 new homes in an area of the West Bank and create two new settlements near Bethlehem and in the Jordan Valley.

According to a report by Peace Now, which obtained the state documents through Israels freedom of information laws, in yet another breach of international law, the housing ministry secretly hired architects to plan homes near the Maale Adumim settlement near Jerusalem, in the E1 area of the West Bank. Plans for more than 8,000 homes in E1 were cancelled in 2013 after pressure from Washington.

Israeli construction in E1 would connect Maale Adumim and Pisgat Zeev, surround East Jerusalem completely, and sever any geographical contiguity in the West Bank.

The revelation comes as Israel continues its brutal crackdown on the Palestinians. Its security forces have killed more than 140 Palestinians, injuring hundreds more since October 1. This contrasts with 21 Israelis killed. In the last two weeks, Israeli forces have carried at least 185 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 8 in occupied East Jerusalem, and arrested at least 130 Palestinian civilians, including 28 children and 4 women, mostly in East Jerusalem.

While the majority of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahus Likud-led coalition wants to bring about the collapse of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and rule over the Palestinians in what would in effect be an apartheid state, the security services and the army have opposed this.

Netanyahu, falling in line with the warning from US Secretary of State John Kerry against dissolving the PA, said he does not want the PA to collapse for fear of worse alternatives that might harm Israels security. Kerry fears that the collapse of the PA would expose the utter fraud of the so-called two-state solution and cut across US plans for further military interventions in the region in pursuit of its geo-strategic interests.

The start of the crackdown in October coincided with Russias direct military intervention in Syria. In response, Washingtons regional allies have strengthened their relations with Israel.

Egypt, which has for years enforced Israels blockade of 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza, has tightened its blockade while voting for the first time ever on November 1 in favour of Israel at the United Nations in support of Israels bid for membership of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

Shortly thereafter, Kuwaiti commentator Saleh al-Shayeji published an op-ed piece declaring that Israel is not our enemy, and the United Arab Emirates approved the opening of an Israeli diplomatic mission in Abu Dhabi.

Saudi Arabia has held open as well as secret meetings with Israeli officials, who have made public declarations about Israels warm relations with its Sunni Arab allies in Tel Avivs bid to become a sleeping partner in the Sunni Arab axis against Iran. Israels Sunni allies now once again include Turkey, which has close relations with Riyadh.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a state visit to Riyadh a few days ago, just two weeks after signing an agreement with Tel Aviv to restore diplomatic relations as a first step towards normalising ties. Commenting in the Turkish media Saturday, Erdogan said, Israel is in need of a country like Turkey in the region.  And we too must accept that we need Israel. This is a reality in the region. If mutual steps are implemented based on sincerity, then normalisation will follow.

The diplomatic moves follow years of strained relations after Turkeys very public row with Israel when Erdogan, prime minister at the time, stormed out of a public meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2009 over Israels 2008-2009 assault on Gaza, posturing as a friend of the Palestinians.

He broke off relations in 2010, after Israels capture of the passenger ship Mavi Marmara, which sought to break Israels blockade of Gaza, and killing of nine Turkish citizens. But behind the public spat, trade between the two countries flourished, rising from $3.44 billion in 2010 to $5.83 billion in 2014, and continues to increase.

Both countries covertly supported Islamist rebel groups against President Bashar al-Assad. They both triedand failedto get a robust US military intervention in Syria in a coalition with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan. Opposed to any possible US rapprochement with Iran, which should see some sanctions against Iran lifted early in 2016, they fear that their proxies are being decimated by Russian forces and are likely to be designated as terrorist groupsexcluded from the UN-sponsored peace deal in Syria which may further work against their interests. Much to Turkeys anger, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has not been designated as a terrorist group because the US has forged alliances with related Kurdish separatist forces in Iraq and Syria.

Ankara is becoming increasingly embroiled in the war in Syria, having backed Islamist forces to unseat Assad and prevent the establishment of a separate autonomous region for Syrias Kurds that would encourage Turkeys own Kurds to secede from Turkey. This has reignited Turkeys civil war against the PKK, in Turkey, destabilising the country, which has seen the influx of nearly 2 million Syrian refugees, most of whom are living in desperate conditions.

Tel Aviv for its part had sought to work with Russia, and create a buffer inside Syrian territory under the control of proxy groups near the Golan Heights. This would in turn allow it to retain the land captured from Syria in 1967 and exploit its newly found energy resources. However, it has become increasingly concerned that Moscows intervention has bolstered Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group supporting Syrian government forces in the savage sectarian war.

In both Israel and Turkey, economic growth has slowed as a result of the recession in Europe. Israels economy has faltered since its war on Gaza in 2014 and amid the ongoing Palestinian unrest. Turkey has suffered from the disruption to its regional trade as a result of the wars in Iraq and Syria, and the military coup in Egypt that unseated Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Mursi, who had agreed to a transportation deal between the Turkish port of Mersin and Egypts Port Said.

Both countries are seeking to take advantage of the recent discovery of offshore gas in the eastern Mediterranean that is expected to provide Israel with enough gas for its own domestic use and for export. With its main market in Europe, which is trying to reduce its dependence on gas imports from Russia, and potentially Turkey, its supply route could likely involve a gas pipeline via Turkey. In addition, Turkey is hoping to reopen the Ro-Ro ferry link between its port at Iskenderun and Haifa in Israel, which has been little used since it opened in 2012 due to the earlier rupture between Turkey and Israel.

Netanyahus government has just given the go-ahead for a long-delayed deal that will allow an American-Israeli consortium to develop a major offshore gas field, breaching its own anti-monopoly laws to do so.

It has militarised its waters and those of Gaza, where in 2000 significant gas reserves were discovered, and restricted Gazas maritime zone to three to six nautical miles beyond the coast, inflicting further hardship on Gazas fishermen. Since 2014, all Palestinian fishing boats sailing within seven miles of drilling platforms have been intercepted, leading to frequent Israeli firing on fishermen.

A major factor in Israels relations with Egypt is the purchase of Egyptian gas transported to Israel via a pipeline, constructed under Gazas waters in 2005, that has supplied 40 percent of Israels gas at a fraction of the market rate.

Israel is arming its navy with additional weaponry, signing a $470 million contract last May with Germany for four armed patrol vessels to guard its offshore gas rigs. Israel also signed a defence cooperation agreement with Greeces Syriza government to ensure maritime security in the eastern Mediterranean, which is beset with numerous intergovernmental conflicts over borders. It plans to install Iron Dome missile interceptors on its warships to protect its drilling platforms.
Following North Koreas fourth nuclear test on Wednesday, the US and South Korea are reportedly discussing, at the highest levels, the deployment of strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula. The stationing of nuclear weapons and associated delivery systems would be a major escalation of the US military build-up in Asia, which is directed primarily against China, not North Korea.

There is nothing progressive about North Koreas development of nuclear weapons. It is a desperate and reckless attempt by a police-state regime mired in nationalism and xenophobia to deflect acute economic and social tensions at home outward. Far from defending North Korea against imperialism, Pyongyangs small, rudimentary nuclear arsenal and accompanying saber-rattling only serve to divide the working class in Asia and provide the US and allies with a pretext to accelerate their war plans and provocations.

Washington moved swiftly following Pyongyangs test. Yesterday, a South Korean Defense Ministry official was quoted by the countrys largest news agency, Yonhap, saying: Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Lee Sun-jin and U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti held a face-to-face meeting in the afternoon yesterday and discussed the deployment of U.S. strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula.

According to the news agency, this could include nuclear submarines, nuclear-capable B-2 and B-52 bombers, as well as F-22 stealth fighters, designed for air-to-air combat. Specifics, including when the strategic assets will come here, have not been concluded yet, the official added, while saying that various ideas are under review.

As well as the top-level military meeting, US President Barack Obama spoke to President Park Geun-hye of South Korea, reportedly to discuss options, followed by a meeting yesterday between US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo.

According to Voice of America, Carter and Han discussed response measures the Korea-U.S. military alliance is considering, in addition to continued joint exercises. Han said Carter reaffirmed the USs ironclad defense commitment to South Korea, and this includes all kinds of extended deterrence assets.

While refusing to provide any details, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook yesterday told a media briefing: We are confident that we, working in lock step with the South Koreans, can respond appropriately to this action and continue to review all options that need to be considered at this point.

Voice of America also reported that the US and South Korea had ordered their military forces on the Korean Peninsula on high alert. Almost 25,000 US troops are in South Korea, according to Defense Department data, plus about 3,200 Defense Department civilian employees.

While ostensibly directed against North Korea, these measures cannot be explained as a reaction to that regimes primitive efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, any use of which would be suicidal, given Washingtons immense nuclear arsenal.

Rather than the supposed rogue state in Pyongyang, the real global aggressor is the United States, which has been engaged in predatory military interventions for decades, and the primary target of the current moves is China, which is being increasingly encircled militarily and strategically by the US pivot to Asia.

US Secretary of State John Kerry immediately ratcheted up the pressure on China yesterday, following a call to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Making a rare appearance in the State Department press room after the call, Kerry demanded that China take action to deal with North Korea, its formal ally.

Sweeping aside Chinas condemnation of the nuclear test, and its previous attempts to secure an agreement with Pyongyang to halt such tests, Kerry declared: China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respect to give them space to implement that. Today in my conversation with the Chinese I made it clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual.

Washington took provocative steps following Pyongyangs third nuclear test in February 2013, sending nuclear-capable B-2 and B-52 strategic bombers to the peninsula in a show of force directed against China. The US also used that test to announce the expansion of its ground-based anti-ballistic missile interceptors by 50 percent in the Asia Pacific region by 2017, a move already prepared before the Norths test.

The US is likely to continue extending its anti-ballistic missile system, which is not for defense, but to ensure that it can block any Chinese or Russian counterattack in the event Washington launched a nuclear strike at either one. This includes pressuring Seoul to accept the placement of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea, a step strongly opposed by China.

For decades, the US stationed tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea, officially removing them in 1991. The introduction of strategic weaponsdesigned to hit longer-range targetswould sharply escalate the Obama administrations pivot to Asia to a new and dangerous level with the potential to ignite a nuclear arms race in North East Asia.

Floor leader of South Koreas ruling Saenuri Party Won Yu-cheol said Thursday: It is time for us to peacefully arm ourselves with nukes from the perspective of self-defense to fight against North Koreas terror and destruction. In the past, other South Korean lawmakers have called for the return of US tactical nuclear weapons as well as the construction of their own nuclear bombs.

The Federation of American Scientists stated in a report last April that Seoul could produce dozens of bombs in a short period of time. South Koreas reactor in Wolsong, North Gyeongsang Province is capable of producing enough plutonium to make 416 bombs per year. South Korea was working toward constructing its own nuclear weapons in the 1970s but shut down the program under US pressure, and agreed to a treaty that prevented Seoul from reprocessing or enriching nuclear material.

Similarly, Japan could obtain its own nuclear weapons within six months, possessing the nuclear material and the means to do so. Tokyo has large stockpiles of plutonium and uranium. Its Rokkasho reprocessing plant could produce enough weapons-grade plutonium for 2,000 bombs annually.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called North Koreas test a grave threat to the safety of our country. This statement is significant in light of this past summers passage of military legislation that substantially lifted restraints on the Japanese military. Nuclear weapons or not, Japan is also likely to use Pyongyangs test to justify its own continuing remilitarization.

Japan and South Korea have also quickly agreed to work together to adopt a United Nations resolution escalating the crippling sanctions imposed on North Korea. Despite ongoing differences over Japans occupation of Korea from 1910 until the end of World War II, the close cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo is likely to intensify at the urging of the Washington.

The North Korean nuclear test and Washingtons militarist response are a further sharp warning of the highly inflammable situation in Asia and internationally being generated by the deepening crisis of global capitalism and rising geo-political antagonisms. An accident or miscalculation on the Korean Peninsula, or in any number of volatile flashpoints around the world, has the potential to trigger a devastating conflagration.
While the reports are still emerging regarding the DPSs financial crisis, a few examples follow explaining how the financial industry has profited from DPS and worked with privatizers to dissolve the school district. This agenda has been implemented with ferocity by both Democrats and Republicans, with special praise and assistance from the Obama administration.

*In 2015 debt service cost the deficit-ridden district $53 million, including a massive $13 million in interest payments. Much of this debt goes back a decade or more and substantial amounts have been used to renovate buildings, which have been subsequently handed over to charter operations. In 2016, the district is scheduled to pay $191.3 million on long-term debt out of an annual budget of about $660 million.

*According to a Citizens Research Council (CRC) report published this week, last August the district, no doubt through the state-appointed emergency manager, decided that DPS would make debt payments rather than paying its pension liabilities for seven months last year. The penalties accruing to the state were staggering: $7,600 a day, with $78,000 in fees for each additional month the DPS was delinquent, according to the Detroit News. The DPS is now $114 million behind on the pensions, an amount which is expected to top $157 million by July.

*DPS has $1.5 billion in general obligation bonds outstandingwhich are structured to generate $1.0 billion in interest over the next 25 years, according to the CRC report. In this regard, they also note that a whopping $1.5 billion was paid in debt service in 2015 collectively by Michigan school districts.

*Like public schools throughout the state of Michigan, DPS has suffered from stagnant state foundation grants, a decline in federal aid and the greater demands necessary for a school population in poverty. The district has borrowed to cover operating expenses since 2007-08.

*Under the Obama administration, Title I funds that are legally earmarked for impoverished districts like Detroit have been cut by 11 percent, while special education funding was cut 9 percent. Special-needs children in the impoverished city of Detroit are 17 percent of the school population, a much higher percentage than statewide or nationally.

*Under emergency management, DPS lost more than half of its students to charters. The district handed over buildings, teachers and resources to the charters and even authorized some of its own. All of the districts emergency managers, privatization advocates to a man, have been highly-paid and highly-connected financial frontmen for private interests. Robert Bobb, the first EM, appointed in 2009 by Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholmearned $425,000 annually. He explained from the beginning that his goal was to create a purely market driven school district and work toward partnerships with the business community. He closed dozens of schools during his tenure and predicted that thousands of students would leave the district. By the end of his tenure, he had accomplished that goal.

*Bobb also worked with the Detroit Federation of Teachers president Keith Johnson to force teachers to loan the DPS $9,000 each, interest-free, under the Termination Incentive Plan (TIP) between 2009-12. Under the plan, $250 was deducted from each paycheck beginning in 2010, supposedly to be repaid when the teacher left the district. However, since that time, the DPS has failed to fund the liability and now owes the TIP account over $16.6 million.

*In 2011, the State of Michigan removed the charter school cap, allowing the unlimited proliferation of charters. That year, Arne Duncan, Obamas former education secretary, was so impressed that he praised Detroit as ground zero in education reform and the growth of charters.

*In 2012, Governor Rick Snyder, working with EM Roy Roberts, a former GM executive, drained funds from the Michigan School Aid Fund to create the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan (EAA), imposing lower wages and benefits for teachers and opening the doors for no-bid vendored services (later to be the subject of an FBI investigation and several indictments). The turnaround district operations were designed by the pro-privatization Broad Foundation, bringing on board a Broad Academy graduate, John Covington, to run it with a $1.5 billion four-year contract. The EAA was the only finalist for Obamas Race to the Top funding in Michigan that year. It is also notable that Duncan described EAAs Brenda Scott Academy as a spotlight of successa school which one year later put 100 five-year-olds in one kindergarten class.

*The drop in DPS enrollment from 2011 to 2015, largely attributable to the post-2008 economic crisis and the sharp growth of charters and the EAA, reduced state aid to the DPS from $591 million to $394 million.
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan is another devastating exposure of the state of American capitalism.

In response to mounting public anger over the systematic lead poisoning of city residents, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has declared a state of emergency. The Obama administration has announced a federal probe into toxic levels of lead in the citys water supply. These are acts of damage control aimed at covering up for criminal neglect and cover-up.

The catastrophe will have a multigenerational impact, according to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, director of the Flint Hurley Medical Centers pediatric residency program, who revealed the doubling and tripling of lead in the blood of city children since April 2014. Because exposure to lead can cause permanent neurological damage, Dr. Hanna-Attisha said, In five years, these kids are going to have cognition problems. Seven to 10 years, theyre going to have behavioral problems.

The poisoning of this major American city of 100,000a former major manufacturing center and birthplace of General Motorsis not a natural but a man-made disaster. It is the result of political decisions made by the citys state-appointed emergency manager to save money by cutting Flint off from the Detroit water system and to draw water directly from the Flint River, heavily polluted from decades of industrial waste. The river water corroded the citys antiquated pipes, which led to the leaching of lead and copper into the water supply.

Tasked with slashing costs and keeping payments flowing to the Wall Street banks and big bondholders who hold the citys debt, Emergency Manager Darnell Earley and city officials ignored resident complaints about the color, foul smell and taste of the water coming into their homes. They insisted that it was financially impossible to reconnect to the Detroit water system. Then, along with state officials, they constructed a wall of lies denying any deleterious effects from the Flint River water.

Testing done by the state Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) of residents water was performed in a slipshod manner that minimized the levels of lead in the samples. When further tests showed lead levels above the US Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) action levels, the results were statistically doctored to bring them under the EPA threshold. Even after the citys remaining GM plant publicly made its own arrangement to reconnect to Detroit water because the citys water was corroding its engine components, state and local officials continued to stonewall residents.

Like Dr. Stockman in Ibsens Enemy of the People, Dr. Hanna-Attisha, Virginia Tech University Professor Marc Edwards and other public health experts who raised alarms as early as last June were subjected to a vicious smear campaign by high-ranking state officials. The governors office denounced Dr. Hanna-Attishas data for being spliced and diced.

The state of emergency has not resulted in any serious measures to address health issues, many of which are in any case irreversible. Even though Flint has been reconnected to the Detroit water system, lead continues to be leached from service lines, pipes and fixtures into drinking water, which will remain unsafe to drink for months. To add insult to injury, residents are still being charged hundreds of dollars for the poisoned water and many are being threatened with shutoffs for past due bills.

The authorities have not organized a door-to-door campaign to distribute lead filtersonly a third of the certified filters donated to the county have been distributednor are local, state or Obama administration officials doing anything to marshal the necessary human, financial and medical resources to address the crisis.

While the Obama administration can find limitless funds to bail out Wall Street and pay for endless wars, a pittance is spent on Americas decaying infrastructure and public health programs. The Pentagon plans to spend $400 billion to develop and buy its new F-35 fighter jets or $166 million per warplane. In comparison, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver has said that the cost of replacing the citys water pipes would be about $1.5 billion.

It is highly significant that the crisis is taking place in Flint, the Vehicle City, whose GM plants once employed an estimated 80,000 workers. It was in Flint where the 1936-37 sit-down strikes led to the unionization of GM, then the worlds largest corporation, and inspired a wave of mass struggles around the country. By 1960, Flint had the highest per capita income in America.

By the late 1970s, however, facing increasing international competition, the American ruling class embarked on a class war policy that continues unabated to the present day. Having abandoned any resistance to the employers in the name of labor-management partnership, economic nationalism and support for the capitalist system, the United Auto Workers did nothing as GM slashed 90 percent of its workforce in the city.

GM has accumulated vast profits from the relentless attack on jobs and wages, accumulating a cash hoard of some $25 billion after Obamas restructuring of the company in 2009. Rather than investing in the city where the company originated, GM handed over $10 billion to wealthy investors last year in the form of dividend payments and stock buybacks. By contrast, city officials refused to spend $80 to $100 a day to treat the water supply with phosphates that would have coated the pipes and prevented the escape of lead and copper into the water supply.

Some Democratic Party supporters, including film director and former Flint resident Michael Moore, have sought to place the sole blame for this crisis on the states Republican governor. Snyder no doubt bears immense responsibility for the cover-up, but this crime was entirely a bipartisan job. The former emergency manager Darnell Earleywho is now overseeing the sell-off of the Detroit public schools to private interestsand the citys entire political establishment are Democrats. Moreover, the Democrats initiated the system of imposing unelected financial dictators in the 1980s.

In 2013-2014, the Obama administration oversaw the forced bankruptcy of the nearby city of Detroit, working with Snyder to run roughshod over the state constitution in order to slash city worker pensions and hive off the citys assets, including the publicly owned streetlight, electrical grid and water systems, to semiprivate and private businesses. The restructuring of Detroit paved the way for similar measures in Flint, which have produced the current disaster.

The deprivation of the most elemental necessities of lifeclean water, public education, a decent job, health care, a pensionis an indictment of the capitalist system, which takes its most brutal form in America, a country where 20 billionaires control wealth equal to the bottom half of the population, or some 152 million people. The super-rich, who control both political parties and every lever of government, are engaged in a nonstop effort to loot everything that is not nailed down.
The Papua New Guinean government of Prime Minister Peter ONeill has removed 15 Australian officials who were working as so-called advisors in senior posts within the finance, treasury, transport, and justice ministries. Foreign officials who are not directly employed by the national government are now banned from the country, except for those working with the PNG police and military.

This decision marks a setback for Australian imperialist interests in its resource-rich former colony.

In the past decade, successive Australian governments have invested considerable resources in planting diplomatic and public service officials in key state positions. Under the guise of improving governance, Canberra has sought to wield behind-the-scenes influence in PNG and other Pacific states, directing economic and diplomatic policy. As well as direct military interventions in East Timor and Solomon Islands, Australian advisors have also provided the mechanism for several of the provocations and dirty tricks operations carried out in the South Pacific, most notably in 20062007, against then PNG Prime Minister Michael Somare and Solomon Islands Manasseh Sogavare (see Canberra weighs up regime change in Papua New Guinea).

The 15 expelled Australian officials who had their contracts officially terminated on December 31 were employed by AusAIDAustralias official overseas aid agencyunder the Strongim Gavman [strengthening government] Program.

The PNG prime minister publicly foreshadowed the move last July, apparently without any prior discussion with Canberra. A government backbencher complained in parliament that we cannot have a conversation without everybody listening in on us, and asked how he could be sure that foreign consultants are not spies. ONeill responded by declaring that he had taken note of the concerns and that advisors would in future be employed only by the government directly, so that they work in the interest of our country, not for anyone else.

ONeills stance marks a definite shift. Assuming office in 2011 through an illegal parliamentary manoeuvre, ONeill depended heavily on Australian government backing. He subsequently functioned as a lackey of Australian imperialism, welcoming an expanded Australian police and advisor presence within the PNG state apparatus and backing Canberras various diplomatic initiatives in the region.

ONeills time in office has coincided with Washingtons pivot to Asia, which has seen the US work with Australia and other regional allies to diplomatically isolate and militarily encircle China. ONeills predecessor, Michael Somare, was unlawfully ousted with the backing of the Australian government because he was seen as too close to Beijing.

PNG has lucrative energy and mineral reserves, currently dominated by Australian and American transnational corporations. Four years ago, then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton notably raised the importance of the $17 billion ExxonMobil natural gas project in the country, at the same time accusing China of being in there every day, in every way, trying to figure out how its going to come in behind us, come in under us.

The former Australian colony also occupies an important strategic position in the Pacific, directly south of the US territory of Guam, which has been converted into a massive military staging post for a potential attack on China. PNG has the largest population and landmass of all the Pacific states.

There is an ongoing discussion within the Canberra foreign policy and military establishment about the threat posed by Beijing to Australian imperialist interests in the region. A paper published in March last year by the Australian Defence College, Chinas Growing Influence in the South-West Pacific, concluded: China is certainly seeking influence in the South Pacific and, by default, may be considered to be competing with Australia  Chinas growing influence has eroded Australias standing and leadership role, and Australia can and should be doing more to rebalance Chinas influence.

The Australian published an article last October raising the spectre of Bougainville, a resource-rich island in PNGs east, becoming a Chinese client-state through an independence referendum due to be held there in the next five years. Rowan Callick, the newspapers Asia-Pacific editor, declared that the US might well wish to pay particular attention to the highly strategic island  with deepwater ports and lengthy runways that could be swiftly rehabilitated, [that] lies 2,500 km straight across the horizon from Guam.

It remains unclear whether ONeills shift on the issue of Australian officials operating with impunity within the PNG state apparatus is part of an attempt by the Port Moresby government to orchestrate a wider diplomatic and strategic reorientation away from Canberra and Washington.

The PNG prime minister may instead be seeking leverage for a heightened Australian security presence in the country. The police force and military were notably exempted from the new bans on foreign advisors working in the country. In May last year, ONeill addressed the Lowy Institute in Sydney and declared that he wanted Australian Federal Police agents to be not just training PNG cops but acting in front line positions. The PNG prime minister has made law and order the hallmark of his administration, repeatedly using police and troops to violently suppress social disorder, political dissent, and protests against the destructive activities of transnational mining and energy companies.

ONeill is undoubtedly preparing for heightened unrest amid an escalating economic crisis. Declining global commodity prices have resulted in severe fiscal problems. A supplementary budget delivered last November registered a 12 percent collapse in government revenue. Massive spending cuts targeting the urban and rural poor were imposed in response.

The government sought to conceal the extent of its austerity measures through highly opaque budget papers, and legislation that was rushed through parliament on the same day the budget was announced. One analyst, however, reported real cuts of around 45 per cent for education, health and transport and even more in the economic sector over the next several years.

These cuts will escalate social inequality and poverty in the economically backward country, further fuelling the social and political turmoil.
Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia, the officer who arrested Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old African-American woman who was found dead in her Waller County, Texas, jail cell in July 2015, has been indicted for perjury by a Texas grand jury.

The charge carries with it up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine. The Texas Department of Public Safety announced after the indictment that it had begun termination proceedings against Encinia, who is white and has been on administrative (desk) duty since the violent and controversial arrest of Bland.

This decision comes about two weeks after the same grand jury refused to indict the Waller County jailers involved in her death. Police have held that her death was a suicide, despite her family maintaining that Bland, who had protested against police violence, was not suicidal.

After her brutal arrest on July 10, Bland spent three days in jail. On July 13, officers discovered her hanging from a plastic trash bag secured to a bathroom partition. The earlier refusal to indict those involved in her deathdespite numerous inconsistencies in the official storystill left open the possibility of indicting Encinia, the arresting officer.

Encinias perjury charge stems from his falsified report justifying Blands arrest for Assault on a Public Servant. The incident began with a traffic stop after Bland allegedly failed to signal while making a turn.

In the dashcam video, Encinia can already be heard falsifying the record. While sitting in his patrol car, apparently talking on the phone with a superior, he claims to have tried de-escalation and that he tried putting the Taser away, as if he had not been the one to escalate the situation in the first place. He also said that he tried calming her [Bland] down, as if Blands frustration at being pulled over was grounds for her arrest.

During the phone call, Encinia also claimed that Bland had used profanity while in the car, but it was only after Encinia attempted to bodily drag her out of her vehicle and began handcuffing her that Bland used any obscenities.

Encinias falsified affidavit did not mention his threats to Bland, including the shouted threat that he would light [her] up! with a Taser after she declined to put out her cigarette.

In his affidavit, Encinia claimed that he had Bland exit the vehicle to further conduct a safe traffic investigation and that, subsequently, Bland became combative and uncooperative. As a viewing of the dashcam video demonstrates, Encinia was prepared to let Bland off with a warning, thereby ending the traffic stop, until she declined to put out her cigarette. Thus, the claim that he violently removed her from the car to further conduct a safe traffic investigation is bogus.

The affidavit also does not mention the multiple escalatory threats that Encinia made against Bland, including the aforementioned I will light you up! It also paints Encinia in an unrealistically positive and professional light. Additionally, the charge of Assault of a Public Servant does not conform with Encinia telling Bland that she was going to jail for resisting arrest.

Encinia previously received written counsel for a 2014 incident in a school in Austin, Texas, after he apparently displayed unprofessional conduct while he was a probationary trooper. The supervisor who filed the report said that they would meet periodically with Trooper Encinia.

An indictment against Encinia does not ensure that the special prosecutorswho were responsible for the non-indictment of Blands jailerswill thoroughly prosecute Encinia or obtain a conviction. Moreover, perjury, a misdemeanor, carries a small penalty.

It is also possible that Encinia is being used as a scapegoat as part of an effort to dissipate widespread disgust with the brutality and violence meted out by the police against Bland and others, including in the deaths of Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray and hundreds more.

Speaking for the Bland family, Cannon Lambert, their attorney, has called the grand jury process so far a sham of a process.

Las Vegas police kill unarmed man during pursuit after mistaking cellphone for gun

In what appears to be the final police killing of 2015, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers killed Keith Childress Jr., 23, after they mistook a cellphone he was holding for a gun. Childress was wanted for multiple crimes in neighboring Arizona and was under surveillance by US marshals. When he fled, marshals requested assistance from local police.

Police admit that Childress, who was black, was unarmed, although they claim that they believed the phone he was holding to be a firearm. They were told that Childress was wanted for attempted murder, although he was actually wanted for burglary.

Childresss murder was the 16th shooting by Las Vegas police in 2015, 11 of which were fatal.

Kodiak, Alaska, police release video of violent detainment , pepper-spraying of man with autism

The city of Kodiak, Alaska, released bodycam footage of the violent detainment and pepper-spraying of Nick Pletnikoff, a 28-year-old white man with autism. The video of the September 16, 2015 incident was released at the end of last month and can be viewed in the body of the KTUU article covering its release.

Pletnikoff was checking the mail when he allegedly attempted to get inside a rented car nearby. When the cars occupant called 911, police arrived and attempted to take Pletnikoff into custody. When he initially refused and told police that he did not have ID, he was immediately grabbed and pushed onto the hood of a nearby truck.

During the arrest, which involved three officers, police sergeant Francis de la Fuente threw Pletnikoff to the ground despite the latters pained cries of No and I want to go home. Pletnikoff repeated I want to go home throughout the encounter.

De la Fuente then pressed Pletnikoffs head into the pavement and held it there while Pletnikoff lay handcuffed. De la Fuente, after repeatedly shouting at Pletnikoff to stop resisting for not rolling onto his stomach, then pepper-sprayed him in the face.

Pletnikoff was released after his mother, Judy Pletnikoff, talked to officers at the scene. Judy told me Pletnikoff was autistic and usually goes inside cars because he likes cars, but does not steal anything, de la Fuente wrote in his report.

Pletnikoff suffered numerous injuries, including large bruises and welts and a severely irritated face.

The Kodiak Police Department claims that the use of force was minimal and necessary under the circumstances. A report by an independent investigator cited by the city allegedly supports this interpretation of events.

In releasing the video, the city of Kodiak excused the assault, stating: The videos of the struggle between the officers and the 28-year-old may be uncomfortable to watch. However, we hope the viewers will understand there is more to the story than the medias version that this young man was assaulted on his way to check the mail.
Legal proceedings over the workplace deaths of James Bibby, 25, and Thomas Elmer, 27, finally ended at Liverpool Crown Court on December 4, almost five years after their deaths.

The men died on December 7, 2010 from multiple injuries after they were dragged into machinery at a wood-chip processing factory in Kirkby, Merseyside, owned by Sonae Industrial.

After earlier pleading guilty to neglect under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, Sonae was fined 220,000. Metso Paper Ltd, otherwise known as Valmet Ltd, a pulp and paper technology and service supplier that was both mens employer, was fined 190,000. Both companies were ordered to pay 107,000 in court costs.

During the 2013 inquest, it was disclosed that the men had not been instructed by either company on how to isolate the conveyor belt from the power supply. Both firms failed to ensure that workers and contractors had adequate training.

At the July 10 hearing, it was disclosed that neither Sonae nor Metso conducted a risk assessment of the maintenance work to be carried out by Bibby or Elmer on December 7, the day they died. A general risk assessment, dated October 2008, was neither suitable nor sufficient.

Control measures, called permits to work, were left blank before being issued to contractors on the day of the tragedy. Nigel Lawrence, prosecuting, said there were systemic safety failures at Sonae and that no safe system of work was in place.

He added, The overall position was one of complete confusion and conflict. Everyone seems to have had a different view as to who should do what, how they should isolate and when it should occur. This wasnt just confusion on the part of the many contractors engaged by Sonae to carry out maintenance work; it was also wholesale confusion among Sonaes own workforce.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found multiple failings by both companies to properly assess the risks associated with the work.

Following the outcome of the case, Mike Sebastian, HSE principal inspector, said: James Bibby and Thomas Elmer should not have died. This is perhaps the most horrific case I have ever had to deal with and has had a devastating effect on both families.

Sebastian added, Carrying out straightforward risk assessments is about protecting workers from serious harm, suffering life-changing injuries or, in this tragic case, death. If both companies had put in place the simple steps to protect their workers safety these two young men would still be with us today.

The conveyor belt they were working on carried wood chipping that dropped into a silo. It was triggered automatically when machinery started the dumping process.

At the earlier inquest into the deaths, it was disclosed that weeks before Bibby and Elmer died, another employee at the Kirkby factory had a near miss when he was almost dragged into a conveyor belt.

The site, which opened in 2000, was badly damaged by a large fire in August 2011 in which a demolition worker, James Dennis Kay, 62, from Heywood, Greater Manchester, died. The plant was affected by a second fire in January 2012 and it closed later that year with the loss of 220 jobs.

Following Kays death, the World Socialist Web Site highlighted the most severe safety and environment breaches carried out by the company. On August 2015, we reported on the abrupt dismissal of the largest class action of its kind in UK history by a High Court judge, Mr. Justice Robert Jay. The action was brought against Sonae by 16,626 residents living close to the Kirkby factory. The case hinged on the pollution caused by the massive fire that burned for eight days in June 2011, creating large clouds of smoke and ash that residents said affected their families health.

Dismissing the residents claims, Justice Jay said, Human beings are naturally susceptible and suggestible, particularly if they are made to believe that they form part of a coherent group with shared experiences, and if they risk none of their own resources in bringing a claim.

In August 2011, the WSWS interviewed campaigner Donna Liley who had made contact with residents living around a Sonae plant in Rocky Drift, Mpumalanga, South Africa, who also claimed the pollution from the plant was harmful to their health.

No criminal action was brought regarding the death of Kay.

At the time of the fatalities at Sonae, the WSWS reported that the HSE was under threat from government cuts. By last year, the HSE had suffered cuts of more than 40 percent to its budget and staffing levels. The trade unions have done nothing to oppose these attacks. Indeed, as companies drive for bigger profits, at the expense of workers jobs, wages and livelihoods, they are able to count on the acquiescence of the unions.
Europe

Two day strike by Belgian rail staff

Members of the public transport union CSC Transcom and rail employees union CGSP Cheminots struck Wednesday and Thursday against plans by Belgian rail company SNCB to increase productivity.

The company wants to increase working hours. The unions are also protesting government measures to cut investment in the rail service that could lead to thousands of job losses.

The start of the strike had a big impact in Brussels, the Belgian capital, which was brought to a standstill. Train services to London and Paris were also affected.

Junior doctors in England announce strike

The British Medical Association (BMA) announced a strike by junior doctors on January 12 beginning at 8am for 24 hours providing only emergency cover.

Junior doctors are to strike for 48-hours beginning 8am on January 26, again only providing emergency cover. This will be followed by an all-out strike on February 10 between 8am and 5pm.

The 45,000 junior doctors in England are protesting against attempts by the Conservative government to impose a new contract, resulting in a loss in pay and increased working hours. A similar series of strikes called by the BMA was set to begin December 1 last year but was called off at the last minute. The BMA planned for the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) to persuade the government to come up with a face saving formula to settle the dispute. With the ACAS talks unable to reach agreement, the BMA announced the new round of strikes.

The BMA has agreed to further talks with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and ACAS.

Strike by rail customer relations staff in UK city of Leeds

Northern Rail staff, working for the customer relations department in Leeds, England, struck Monday.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) members were protesting plans to reclassify and downgrade their posts. They mounted a picket line at Leeds railway station.

Staff at Scottish university vote for strike

Staff at the University of Aberdeen voted by 3 to 1 to strike against the threat of redundancies. They are members of the University and College Union (UCU).

An earlier strike in June 2014 was called off when an agreement was reached against compulsory redundancies. UCU officials are continuing talks with university management.

Strike of Greek airport staff

Greek airport staff employed by the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority are to strike for 24-hours today. The strike is in opposition to the privatization of 14 regional airports in Greece and their sale to Germanys Fraport Group. They are members of the Federation of Civil Aviation Authority Unions (OSYPA)

Strike call by Air France staff

Two unions representing Air France staff have called for strikes this month against plans by the company to cut 3,000 jobs and to take disciplinary measures against several Air France staff.

The main CGT union representing Air France staff called for a strike on January 28 while the smaller union, Alter, representing around 10 percent of Air France staff called for a strike from Sunday through to January 13.

Last October, two Alter members were suspended after they remonstrated angrily against company executives trying to impose the job losses at a mass meeting in October last year.

Strike of refuse collectors in Georgian capital

Refuse workers in Tbilisi struck on Monday, following a strike last week. They work for refuse collection company Tbilservice and are seeking a pay increase and payment in full of their bonus, known as a 13th salary.

The company is using agency staff to undermine the refuse workers and the mayor of Tbilisi has threatened to sack strikers if they continue their protest.

Strike by Ukrainian coal miners

Ukrainian coal miners in the Lviv region have been on strike since January 2. They are members of the Ukrainian Miners Independent Trade Union and are protesting unpaid wages. Another union has announced it may join the action.

The striking miners have threatened to block custom checkpoints at Ukraines border with Poland on January 12.

Middle East

Strike threat at Israels top-secret nuclear facility

Staff employed at Israels Dimona nuclear reactor announced on Monday that they may call an all-out strike. They are currently taking action short of a strike.

The workers trade union accuses Dimona management of recruiting staff but refusing the union any oversight regarding the contracts being signed. They also accuse them of promoting staff to positions without the jobs being available to open competition.

Strike by sanitation workers in Jerusalem ends

A strike of sanitation workers in Jerusalem ended Sunday. The strike began December 31 with the dismissal of 170 workers because of a funding crisis of Jerusalems municipality.

It ended when employees were re-hired following a NIS 17 million transfer of funds to the municipality from the Finance Ministry.

Africa

Mass support by Zimbabwe doctors and nurses for strike

Zimbabwean public service workers began a strike in the New Year over unpaid wages. More than 90 percent of nurses and 80 percent of doctors are supporting the strike.

They are threatening not to return to work until they receive their wages and a date for their November bonuses to be paid.

Workers complain they cannot afford to travel to work and have turned down a government offer of $2 a day for transport cost and lunch made in order to break the strike. The government claims workers are turning up for work, but this was denied by strikers representatives.

The only public sector workers paid in December were teachers and soldiers, but they were paid late. The rest of civil servants are at least in a month of arrears.

The government is caught by an internal political crisis and external commodity crisis as world mineral prices collapse. According to Africa Report, the government spends 80 percent of its budget on wages, chiefly on the army, police, teachers and nurses.

Although it brought in a law in last year to make it easier for employers to sack workers, the International Monetary Fund is demanding Zimbabwe reduce its workforce further, while international financial institutions refuse further loans to the country until it clears its debt.

Junior teachers strike in Nigeria

Teachers at junior secondary schools in Kwara state, Nigeria, began a strike Tuesday over non-payment of wages for the last four months.

A National Union of Teachers representative told the press that teachers cannot teach on empty stomachs.

Teachers in senior secondary schools who have no arrears of wages are not involved in the strike. A Kwara State spokesman claimed there are no funds to pay the salaries of junior teachers.

South African police attack striking farm workers

South African police attacked striking farm workers Tuesday. A hundred workers were injured in the attack and nine workers arrested.

The employees were demonstrating against their sacking. Three thousand farm workers were sacked after attempting to form a trade union in Mpumalanga Province. They began their strike in November.

Ugandan hospital workers strike in Lyantonde

Hospital workers in the town of Lyantonde, Uganda, began a strike December 24 over unpaid wages.

They have not been paid for five months and approached the hospital administration for a payment to carry them over the Christmas holidays, or the payment of all the wages owed. They were informed no money would be deposited in their accounts until after Christmas and probably not until in January. Causality, maternity, childrens and surgery wards at the 100-bed hospital were affected.

No wages over Christmas for Ghana rail staff

Workers employed at the state-owned Ghanas Railway Corporation struck on December 18, demanding payment of overdue wages.

The strike has affected passenger services from Accra to Tema and Nsawam.

Wages have not been paid for three months and the strikers claim their demand for the removal of the railways board of directors has been ignored.
The first successful connection between two computers over the Internet using the World Wide Web was created by Tim Berners-Lee twenty five years ago. What started a quarter of a century ago as a way for researchers at European Laboratory for Nuclear Research (CERN) to better coordinate their work has evolved into a worldwide network of computers directly connecting people from every point on the globe.

Access and use of the World Wide Web has grown exponentially since its inception. In 1994, only a year after CERN put the software in the public domain, there were approximately 3,000 websites online. In 2014, this number grew to one billion, though it has dropped slightly since then. Another way of calculating the size of the web is by looking at how many individual web pages Google has indexed over time: Google indexed 26 million web pages in 1998 (the year Google began) and indexed 30 trillion web pages in 2014 (the last year of available data). Three billion people, 40 percent of the world's population, now have access to the Internet through the World Wide Web.

Perhaps the most important factor that has made the Web so popular is its democratic conception. Though Berners-Lee could have patented the software for developing and linking web pagesHTML (Hypertext Markup Language), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and URL (Uniform Resource Locator)making it proprietary, he envisioned the Web as a universal technology through which people could share information. As a result, he made a conscious decision to release the Web openly and freely.

This has not been easy to maintain. The Web could have been turned into something just as proprietary and controlled as radio and television. To fight this, Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1994. Corporate giants such as Microsoft and IBM were brought together in an attempt to maintain open technical standards for the Web. It now has 408 members, including Microsoft, Apple, Google and Oracle.

Despite the conflict between private commercial interests and open standards, such as the attempt by Microsoft in the late 1990s to control emerging information technologies, the W3C and other groups have been largely successful in keeping the protocols necessary for the Web to function freely accessible and commonly used. As a result, the nightmare Berners-Lee once imagined of needing 16 different browsers, depending on what youre looking at has not materialized.

It would be remiss, however, to separate the growth of the Web from the broader changes in society occurring in the early 1990s, particularly globalization. In an era in which production was localized and did not require instant global communications, the Web would have gained traction with much greater difficulty. The emergence of transnational production, of producing commodities across countries and even continents and the need to coordinate such operations, provided an economic necessity for the ability to store and access information from anywhere in the world. This ensured that the Web became something more than a peculiar tool of particle physicists.

This in many ways mirrors the development of the Internet, the interconnection of computers and networks of computers, upon which the World Wide Web operates. While the Internet today is seen as a sign of human progress, connecting and uniting peoples across all national borders, it paradoxically started as a research project in the 1960s by the US military, directed against the Soviet Union.

As part of the response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik, in 1957, the first successful satellite placed in orbit around the Earth, the US established the Advance Research Projects Agency (ARPA). ARPA's early years were mostly taken up with researching how to exchange information on a large and international scale. This led to the development of the ARPANET in 1969, four interconnected computers each with only 12 kilobytes of memory.

Further development in the 1970s saw the creation of a variety of new technologies, most notably the ability to link two computers via satellite, the idea for Ethernet and the first email management program. In the 1980s, it became possible to find a connected computer not with an exact path described in numerical and technical language, but by using a more humanly recognizable name. This led to a variety of commercial and academic networks linked to ARPANET. As more and more networks began linking in, particularly one sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the character of ARPANET changed from a system tightly controlled by the US military to the more modern network of networks, through which was born the Internet.

Alongside these developments were the improvements of technology to transfer information. The massive cables that take information between continents (the Internet backbone) had their bandwidth upgraded to 45Mbit/s in 1991. These cables, which used electricity to transmit information, have now mostly been upgraded to fiber optic cables that have a bandwidth one hundred times higher than electrical cables.

Upon this already existing infrastructure, Berners-Lee developed the now universally used tools to both store information on the Internet and easily access it. The structure created by these tools is what is known as the World Wide Web.

Of course, the emergence of the Web has not been without contradiction. The information transmitted across the Internet is being used by governments and corporations to spy on the world's population in an unprecedented way. Those same entities perform herculean efforts to commercialize and censor the Internet in an effort to discard the democratic roots of the medium. If they could, they would subject the Web and Internet to the same control as all other telecommunications platforms.

At the same time, for the first time in human history, virtually anyone can place information on a collective repository of knowledge and have it be accessed by anyone else. This has profound social implications. It was only because of the widespread use of the Internet, spurred on by the Web, that worldwide coordinated protests took place in February 2003 against the invasion of Iraq. More recently, modern technology has enabled people to record and share the growing rash of police violence across the United States. Scientific and artistic triumphs, both past and present, can be learned about and experienced with a few keystrokes.

Of course, the ability for anyone to produce anything has produced a great deal of material with little value. Yet the success of the World Socialist Web Site from its inception in February 1998 shows that there is an interest in serious works. The World Wide Web has allowed such works to find a global audience.

This lends the Internet and the World Wide Web a revolutionary character. Both break the tight grip the state and corporations have over intellectual life and have laid the foundations for a great cultural revival amongst the working class. The technology will play a key role in liberating the working people and oppressed masses all over the world.
#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...
Bernabe Rodriguez prepares a pallet of Gala apples for shipment to Mexico at Washington Fruit and Produce Co. Nov. 5, 2015 in Yakima, Wash. Washington apple shippers are waiting on a ruling by the Mexican government on dumping accusations that could result in duties on apples. (GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic)
If it looks like a tallit and feels like a tallit  it's not necessarily a tallit: Swedish retail clothing company H&M is offering on its website a new scarf for women with a striking resemblance to a tallit, the fringed garment Jews have been wearing for generations during prayer.

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But while the tallit is a religious Jewish item which is traditionally worn by men, H&M is marketing the item in its ladies' clothing department for $17.99 (or NIS 99, according to the company website).

Three times cheaper than a real tallit (Photo: H&M website)

The Swedish retailer didnt miss a thing, including the traditional beige color and black stripes, and even the knotted fringe (tzizit), and added a matching poncho for $35.

A tallit is usually made from pure sheep's wool and costs at least three times the price of the new scarf, but the H&M product is purely synthetic.

No, it's not a tallit. It's an $18 scarf (Photo: H&M website)

According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), This isnt H&M's first foray into prayer-shawl chic: In 2011, the fashion chain issued a similarly-styled womens poncho. Yet three years later, it was accused of anti-Semitism when it issued a tank top with a skull superimposed atop a Star of David.

'Is there a tekhelet option?'

The Racked website notes that the current religious fashion trend did not begin with Jewish prayer shawls, but rather with a different religion which inspired Dolce & Gabbana's abaya collection.

A matching poncho for $35 (Photo: H&M website)

And lets not forget that in early November, leading fashion and lifestyle magazine Vogue crowned the ultra-Orthodox layering style as "an unlikely inspiration for Fall 2015's sexiest trend."

The feminine tallit managed to annoy some people, who wrote private protests, but made others crack jokes. "The Temple Emanuel Collection, exclusively at H&M," one person wrote on Facebook, according to Racked. "That is awesome. Is there a tekhelet option?" asked another on Twitter, referring to the blue dye used for some tzizit strings.
Police deployed in large numbers in Tel Aviv and its environs on Friday following a security assessment, exactly one week after a terrorist murdered three people in the heart of the city.

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Police stopped cars and requested drivers' IDs. Armed police officers were spotted on Dizengoff Street, not far from last week's attack, and near Dizengoff Center, among other places.

Meanwhile, the search for the alleged perpetrator of last week's attack, Nashat Melhem, continued further north in the Wadi Ara area. Police arrived at Kafr Qara in Wadi Ara on Friday morning and checked vehicles leaving the town. A Wadi Ara resident was arrested.

Police in north Tel Aviv

The alleged killer was named as Nashat Melhem from the Wadi Ara area after his father called police. "We are sick of this Nashat Melhem story," said Kafr Qara resident Said Masarwa. "When will they catch him and put an end to this? They're conducting searches every day." He urged police to increase efforts "in order to reach the killer who poses a danger to us all."

Searching in Wadi Ara

Police in Arara

A member of the Melhem family said: "In the end they'll turn all our relatives into terrorists. This morning I walked through the police checkpoint and they started asking me questions as though I were hiding the gunman. My children were very scared. After they finished checking us, they started crying. We are going through difficult and complicated days. I hope the gunman turns himself in, because he's the only one who can save us from the treatment we are getting."
Nashat Melhem, the terrorist who killed three people in Tel Aviv a week ago, was shot dead by security forces at a mosque in Arara on Friday afternoon.

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When Shin Bet and police counter-terrorism (YAMAM) forces arrived at the Wadi Ara mosque at around 4:20pm, Melhem exited the building, trying to escape, and opened fire at them with the same weapon he used to commit the Tel Aviv attack. The troops returned fire and shot him dead.







Melhem. Shot at police forces, killed by return fire.

Shin Bet intelligence led the troops to the mosque.

Ynet security affairs correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai adds that Melhem had been in Arara since the previous Friday, the day of the attack, and changed hiding places twice. He was apparently aided by family members, and perhaps by members of the Islamic Movement. This morning, the indication of his exact location came in, and the operation that ended in Melhem's death began.

Israeli Police forces in Arara, Friday. (Photo: Hassan Shaalan)

The idea that Melhem was hiding in Arara had been gaining strength among the Shin-Bet since Wednesday. Intelligence bodies, including the Shin-Bet, saw several structures which could be hiding spots after analyzing testimony by his friends and associates who were questioned in the past few days.

On Friday morning, a more focused intelligence report on the structure Melhem was occupying came in. Before raiding the building, larger numbers of police and IDF forces closed down the surrounding area.

The pub attacker, Nashat Melhem. Killed in a shootout with police counter-terror forces.

Wide-ranging searches were conducted beforehand during the earlier Friday hours. Police forces put up checkpoints in Wadi Ara, arresting one area resident in the process.

It's still unclear if Melhem acted alone or was aided by others. The investigation continues, and includes the suspicion that he received aid from family members, and might have been influenced by ISIS. Authorities also suspect that Melhem might have acted as part of an organized terror cell.

Melhem perpetrating the attack.

During the week that passed since Melhem's terror attack at the Simta bar, the Israel Police has been heavily criticized, particularly the Tel Aviv District Police. The critics focused on what some called the Police's slow and clumsy response to the attack, and the fact that they delayed in publishing Melhem's photo  which could have perhaps aided in capturing him.
They used Air Force planes to move Army helicopters that were loaded on and off of Navy Ships.

Three aircrews from the 9th Airlift Squadron and one from the 709th AS, paired up with two aircrews from Travis AFB, Calif., to transport U.S. Army helicopters and their support equipment into and out of Afghanistan via Rota Naval Station, Spain, during the Rota Multimodal Operation, also known as the Rota Stage, from Dec. 6, 2015, to Jan. 2, 2016.



"It has been awesome to watch the entire Dover and Travis Team rock the Rota Stage," said Lt. Col. Matthew Husemann, 9th Airlift Squadron commander. "This operation was successful because of our Reserve partners and the outstanding support from all groups at Dover, Travis, Rota and the AOR locations."



The operation transported cargo from the United States via Navy cargo ships to Rota Naval Station, Spain. Rota was then used as the staging point for the three C-5M Super Galaxy aircraft and six aircrews. In short, an aircrew would fly a sortie to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, dropping off its cargo. That aircrew would then crew rest, allowing a prepositioned aircrew at Bagram to take that aircraft and new cargo back to Rota. This rotation was completed dozens of times until all the necessary cargo was moved either into or out of Bagram.



"Effectually, the jet moves continually back and forth," said Maj. Aaron Suire, 9th AS pilot. "The crews were able to get crew rest at both locations."



Suire was the stage manager, responsible for organizing the aircrews, missions, and take off times.



"It was a bit like a puzzle, trying to get all the pieces together," said Suire. "It definitely was a big operation, a lot of moving parts."



In total, the Rota Stage moved 2.493 million pounds of cargo into and out of Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan via 82 sorties over the four weeks. Specifically, they deployed helicopters for the 4th Infantry Division's 4th Combat Aviation Brigade into Afghanistan, while redeploying helicopters for 101st Airborne Division's 101st Combat Aviation Brigade.



"Maj. Suire and the stage leadership did a phenomenal job leading the operations and providing excellent customer service to the Army," said Husemann. "This operation hinged on their leadership, coordination, and flexibility."



But none of this could have been accomplished without the support of Team Dover's maintainers.



"We haven't seen an overall performance like this yet in the history of the C-5 weapon system," said Col. Chuck Nesemeier, 436th Maintenance Group commander. "The C-5M aircraft have performed at peak operational capacity at off station and theater locations and proved that they are more than capable for these challenging types of missions."



The Mission Capable rate for the C-5 aircraft was at 90.5 percent, a rate that has never been reached before.



In total, 20 Team Dover maintenance Airmen deployed to Afghanistan to support the Rota Stage.



"The crews and maintenance team were outstanding and continued to showcase the capabilities of the C-5M and set new records for reliability, said Husemann. "We are all extremely proud of the entire team for taking care of each other and rockin' the mission!"
Ajith Vijay Kumar A bomb goes off in downtown Baghdad leaving scores dead  Thats news. If it happens in our country, like in Jaipur, thats a tragedy. And when 15,000 people are uprooted from their homes everyday (80% being women and children) and forced to live as nomads; no food, no shelterno nothing! People left to degenerate and die everyday in bits & partsask yourself does it move youmove me? Welcome to a world where even the simplest joys of being alive are at most times out of boundswelcome to Darfur, the very place where at least 200,000 people have been killed and two million forced out from their homes in the last five years. Imagine your life, as you know it, disappearing in an instant and you are forced to watch helplessly. Fear for your familys safety precipitated by war, violence, hatred, massacre, and genocide force you to flee your home, your soil, your land. Shoving you onto a torturous journey spanning hours or even days in search of a sheltersomewhere where your child can sleep in peace. You are dependent on handouts of food; possibly have no clean drinking water or access to health care. Not a pretty picture, right? But the fact is that millions of people all across the world, in countries rich and poor have been living in such desolate and precarious conditions for years. These people are called refugees. This is their story. Darfur is now famous (Hopefully more aid is pouring in) thanks to celebrity activists like Don Cheadle, his friend George Clooney and Steven Spielberg as they step up and speak out in attempts to galvanize governments and ordinary people to try and help. Spielberg even went to the extent of pulling out of the Beijing Olympics committee accusing China of not doing enough to pressure Sudan to end the "continuing human suffering" in the region. But the misfortune of the world we live in is that Darfur is not alone, many more regions and countries are at the brink of a humanitarian crisis; thats in one word CATASTROPHIC. According to the 2006 World Refugee survey conducted by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), a staggering 33 million people worldwide are currently uprooted from their homes. USCRI says that Iraqis are currently the fastest growing refugee and IDP crisis group in the world with nearly 2 million people having fled the country, and 1.7 million internally displaced. In Sudan, more than 5.3 million people left their homes. And the on-going armed conflict in Colombia internally displaced 2.9 million people. These are however, just three in a long list of countries and regions impacted by this human tragedy. USCRI statistics show that there are 26 conflict-ridden nations, predominantly in Africa and the Middle East. Even in the best of conditions, humanitarian aid agencies are able to provide only the basics: food, clean drinking water, and elementary health care. But sometimes, local political climate ensures that weeks could go by before help arrives. All this happening in midst of a flickering hope of once gain revisiting those happy days when their children didnt cry out of hunger, days that were bliss. Somalia, Chad, Algeria, Zimbabwe; the dark continent and even large swathes of the so called peaceful world are full of such hell holes where entire generations are being lost in the unending search for a loaf of bread, a pitcher of water  but who cares? Do youdo I? I discern that misery is subjective, what can move me to edges may not mean anything to you. Thats human fallacy at its bestsomething we all are good at. What doesnt affect me directly is not happening at all; thats the motto for most of us. On World Refugee Day let us not forget that we are lucky.She calls out to the man on the street Sir, can you help me? Its cold and Ive nowhere to sleep, Is there somewhere you can tell me? He walks on, doesnt look back He pretends he cant hear her Starts to whistle as he crosses the street Seems embarrassed to be there Oh think twice, its another day for You and me in paradise Oh think twice, its just another day for you, You and me in paradise Just another day in paradise * Single from Phil Collins` album, But Seriously (1989)
New Delhi: The Delhi government on Friday indicated in the High Court that it may extend the Odd-Even scheme in the capital by one more week as the plan has helped stop pollution from rising further.

Presenting arguments in the Delhi High Court which is hearing a batch of petitions against the Odd-Even scheme, counsel for the Aam Aadmi Party government Harish Salve said that the formula has helped reduce pollution at peak hours.

There are definite positive results of Odd-Even formula. On January 5, PM levels were 391, much less than over 500 in December, the counsel told the court.

Salve added that the government needs data for at least 15 days to conclude whether the scheme has worked.

On Wednesday, the court had asked the government if the formula could be wound up by Friday, i.e. today.

A division bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath today, meanwhile, asked the government why it has restricted only cars under the Odd-Even scheme, before posting the matter for further hearing on Monday.

"Is it really necessary to have it for two weeks (15 days)? Can't it be confined to eight days? Can you end it on Friday? People are facing inconvenience. Take instructions," the bench had asked the government on Wednesday.

"It was a pilot project. You must have data (air pollution) with you now. Show us how much the pollution has reduced. The people of Delhi supported you despite inconvenience. There is no adequate public transport," the bench had added.

Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai said after the court hearing, Odd-Even formula will continue till January 15. After that we will look into the statistics and decide the further course of action.

We are collecting efficient data with regard to strength and weakness of Odd-Even plan. The government will take a call after reviewing all data post January 15, he added.
Surat: Police on Friday filed a chargesheet in a local court against Patel quota spearhead Hardik Patel for sedition and other charges.

The 370-page chargesheet was submitted before Judicial Magistrate JB Rathod of Surat district court on recent directions of the Supreme Court.

The Gujarat government had contended before the Supreme Court on January 5 that Hardik may secure bail if it is not allowed to file the chargesheet by .

Hardik, 22, convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), has been charged with sections 124-A (sedition), 115 (abetment of offence) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of IPC.

The maximum sentence under sedition charge is life imprisonment while the minimum punishment is three years.

Apart from the charge sheet, documents running into over 600 pages, containing call data records (CDR) and other material, were also submitted to the court, said public prosecutor Nayan Sukhadwala.

The case of sedition was filed against Hardik at Amroli police station here in October last year for his allegedly controversial remarks instigating a youth of his community to kill police personnel instead of committing suicide, against the backdrop of the Patel quota agitation.

"If you have so much courage.. .then go and kill a couple of policemen. Patels never commit suicide," Hardik had allegedly told one Vipul Desai, who had announced that he would kill himself in support of the agitation.

Patels had held violent protests last year in the state demanding reservation in government jobs and educational institutes under OBC quota.

"Apart from the transcript of Hardik's alleged talk with Desai, the charge sheet also carries purported WhatsApp conversations between Hardik and other Patel leaders, wherein he allegedly made derogatory remarks against some state political leaders including Chief Minister Anandiben Patel," said Sukhadwala.

Police have also attached intercepted telephonic conversations of Hardik and others.

"Through these evidences, police tried to prove that Hardik tried to incite youths to resort to violence during agitation," added Sukhadwala.

Surat police had earlier filed an FIR against Hardik also charging him under section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups) of IPC, but the Gujarat High Court struck down the charge while upholding the sedition charge.

Ahmedabad crime branch had also filed a second separate case of sedition against Hardik and four of his associates.

Hardik is currently lodged at Lajpor jail near here. "The case against Hardik is triable in sessions court.

Hardik will be produced in court on January 11 when he will be served the copy of the charge sheet. The case will later transferred to sessions court for further action," Sukhadwala said.
Toronto: Researchers at a Canadian university have developed a new touchless device for monitoring vital signs that could lead to improved detection and prevention of some cardiovascular issues, as well as greater independence for older adults.

Using patent-pending technology called Coded Hemodynamic Imaging, the device developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo monitors a patient's blood flow at multiple arterial points simultaneously and without direct contact with the skin, a university statement said.

It is ideal for assessing patients with painful burns, highly contagious diseases, or infants in neonatal intensive care whose tiny fingers make traditional monitoring difficult.

"Traditional systems in wide use now take one blood-pulse reading at one spot on the body. This device acts like many virtual sensors that measure blood-flow behaviour on various parts of the body. The device relays measurements from all of these pulse points to a computer for continuous monitoring," said Robert Amelard, a systems design engineer at Waterloo.

"By way of comparison, think of measuring the traffic flow across an entire city rather than through one intersection," said Amelard, who is a recipient of the prestigious Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Continuous data collection at different parts of the body provides a more complete picture of what's happening in the body.

Whole-body imaging opens doors for advanced monitoring that can't be done with the traditional, single-point methods.

"Since the device can also scan multiple patients individually at once and from a distance, consider the potential in mass emergency scenarios or long-term care homes," said professor Alexander Wong of the Faculty of Engineering at Waterloo and Canada Research Chair in Medical Imaging Systems.

"This technology provides for a more predictive approach to monitor vitals and the potential for its use is extensive, such as indicating arterial blockages that might otherwise go undetected, or warning older adults who risk falling as a result of getting dizzy when they stand," Wong said.
Gurdaspur: Even as the security forces have killed six militants who have attacked the Air Force Base in Pathankot, there are concerns about two more suspected Pakistan-trained terrorists trying to target a key military facility here.

As per a report carried by the Hindustan Times, the security forces are preparing for an offensive in view of reports that two suspected militants in army fatigues were hiding in the sugercane fields nearby.

The two suspected militants were spotted moving suspiciously near the Army Cantonment in Gurdaspur district by the locals residents, who then informed the police and the military.

The security forces, which do not want to take any chances, has deployed an Israel-trained SWAT team to flush out those militants.

While the entire area is being monitored through aerial surveillance, the troop movement is also on.

Reacting to the report, Punjab Police Deputy Inspector General (Border Range) Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh was quoted as saying, We are not taking any chances. We are not ruling out anything.

A drone helped locate their location and by Thursday afternoon, the army and police teams took position, a police source was also reported as saying.

As per reports, soldiers, backed by armoured vehicles and mortar guns, have concealed themselves on rooftops, behind trees and at a brick kiln to flush out two suspected terrorists.

An IAF helicopter had reported conducted surveillance sorties and the sugarcane field, spread over 30 acres, was lit up by searchlights by the army and police personnel.

Pandher village, where the new offensive is being planned , is nearly 20km off the India-Pakistan border and about a stones throw from the Tibri military cantonment.

The facility is not far from the Pathankot IAF station that saw a four-day long counter-terror operation in which six jihadists and seven security personnel were killed.

All roads leading to Tibri have been cordoned off and a high alert sounded in the area.

Gurdaspur was also targeted by Pakistani terrorists in July last year when they stormed a police station.
New Delhi: Despite Indian government's strong objections, China has decided to go ahead with the construction of a mega dam in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on the Jhelum river.

The China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC), which built the Three Gorges Dam - the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity - has decided to go ahead with the project in PoK despite India's strong objections.

According to a report published in 'India Today', the state-run hydropower company will construct the 1,100 MW Kohala hydropower dam on the Jhelum River, downstream from Muzaffarabad in PoK.

Last year in September, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated five tunnels on the key Karakoram Highway that connects the country with China.

According to a BBC report, these tunnels have been constructed by China over the Attabad Lake in Gilgit-Baltistan's Hunza valley. The project has been named as Pakistan-China Friendship Tunnels.

The seven kilometre long five tunnels are part of the 24km long portion of the Karakorum Highway (KKH) which was damaged six years ago.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised "very strongly" the issue of the China-Pakistan economic corridor during his visit to Beijing and told them that it is "unacceptable".

Chinese President Xi Jinping had announced the ambitious 3,000 km-long China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during his visit to Pakistan in April, 2015.
New Delhi: Indian and French troops will on Friday begin their eight-day counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency joint exercise in Rajasthan.

The French contingent comprising 56 personnel of 35th Infantry Regiment of 7th Armoured Brigade, which had taken part in the Afghan war, had arrived in Jodhpur on Wednesday to take part in 'Shakti-2016'.

A French Army contingent, led by Major Thibaut De Lacoste Lareymondie arrived on Thursday at the Mahajan Field Firing Ranges.

The exercise is an important step for the armies to train together and gain from each other's rich operational experience, a statement by the Indian Army said.

Both countries have troops deployed in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations and therefore sharing each other's military experiences will pay meaningful dividends, it said.

The 2nd Battalion of Garhwal Rifles, part of the Sapta Shakti Command has been nominated for this exercise.

The unit has been put through a strenuous training schedule to prepare for the exercise, which includes firing, combat conditioning, tactical operations, heli-borne operations among others.

The illustrious selected battalion has varied experience in counter-insurgency/counter-terrorist operations.

The unit was bestowed with the prestigious Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Citation and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command Unit Citation for maintaining law and order, keeping terrorism under check and maintaining sanctity of the border in the northern theatre.

The 35th Infantry Regiment's origin dates back to its raising in 1604 at Lorraine (France). The regiment has as many as 12 battle honours to its credit. The battalion has varied combat experiences, having served in Algeria, Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan, amongst other places.

The joint exercise will undergo a training schedule aimed at combating conditioning, infantry tactical operations in a counter-terrorism environment and planning of joint operations under the United Nations mandate.

This exercise will culminate in a tactical exercise encompassing clearing of pockets of terrorists in rural and urban environment.
New Delhi: The Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) on Friday celebrated the deadly terror attack on the Indian Air Force station in Pathankot, Punjab, and said that Indians who kill unarmed Muslims in Kashmir are now dragging their own dead.

A short audio message of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar was uploaded on one of JeM's websites registered and hosted in Pakistan to celebrate the terror attack on January 2 and 3.

In the audio message, Ajhar refers directly to the Pathankot attack and exhorts the JeM attackers.

A copy of the audio clip, which India Today has procured, described the terrorists as Mujahideens who fought valiantly Indian tanks, helicopters and Indian forces to reach their goal.

The audio message further describes the site of the attack, Pathankot airbase, as heavenly scene.

The JeM chief hails what happened in Pathankot, saying Four Mujahideens attacked India's Pathankot airbase at 3 am after Friday. We can only imagine the heavenly scene it would have been. 48 hours later, India hasn't been able to figure out their numbers or their path.

Who can ever imagine that someone could fight in this cold for 48 hours without sleep and food, he said.

But these men fought tanks and helicopters and kept killing Indian forces, he added.

He said Indians who kill unarmed Muslims in Kashmir are now dragging their own dead.

Lt Col Niranjan of NSG, medal winner Subedar Fateh Singh, all dead and many others.

Pointing at the initial Indian confusion regarding the number of terrorists who attacked the base, Ajhar said Indians first declared all four terrorists are dead, then they repeatedly changed their version.

The big nation is now crying and accusing others like a coward.

This was Ajhar's second audio message against India in about two months. In his earlier audio message two months ago, he had declared jihad against India.

The JeM chief is believed to reside in Pakistan's Punjab province from where he spreads the tentacles of terror against India.

Video courtesy: India Today
New Delhi: Even as Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired the second high-level meeting in Islamabad on Friday, in a span of two days, in the backdrop of Pathankot terror attack, the neighbouring country seems to be in no mood to take action against the attackers.

Although India has made it very clear that the Nawaz govt will have to act ahead of holding the Foreign-Secretary-level talks, Pakistan thinks that the evidence shared by India - three phone numbers  are not enough to prove Pak's involvement in Pathankot terror attack.

As per CNN-IBN, according to sources in Pakistan, the country thinks India is not serious about holding the Foreign-Secretary-level talks. They believe the evidence given by India will not stand in a court of law as they have serious doubts that Pathankot attackers came from Pakistan.

The report further says that Pakistan is expecting India to share DNA samples of the dead bodies of the terrorists killed in Pathankot. Sources have also ruled out a 'time-bound action' by Pakistan.

Moreover, a day after intelligence sources claimed that India has identified Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and three others as the mastermind of the Pathankot air base terror attack, a report today claimed that the two phone numbers to which calls were made by the perpetrators are of Pakistan.

A report published in 'The Times of India' said that two numbers - 92-3017775253 and +92 300097212 to which calls were made by the two of the six terrorists, who had attacked the crucial air base in Punjab, are from Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistan today said it has "reviewed progress" on the leads provided by India which has linked foreign secretary-level talks to Islamabad's decisive action on the Pathankot terror attack.

The meetings, chaired by Pak PM, have been held against the backdrop of India's insistence on action by Pakistan especially when Sharif called Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone from Colombo and promised "prompt and decisive action" against the terrorists.

On Thursday, stressing that the 'ball is now in Pakistan's court', the Ministry of External Affairs had said, "Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif who assured us prompt response."

In a pre-dawn attack on January 2, a group of heavily- armed Pakistani terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, struck at the Air Force base in Punjab, killing seven security personnel.
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Friday pitched for setting up of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in the wake of the Pathankot terror attack and voiced disappointment over the manner in which the counter-terror system responded to the incident.

While saluting the soldiers martyred in the attack, Chidambaram, a former Home Minister, said on Twitter, "Disappointed with the manner in which the counter-terror system in the government responded to the situation!

"It is a fair inference that the foreign office, the defence forces and the internal security have not been talking to each other."

In another tweet, he said, "My disappointment turned to despair watching the response to #PathankotAttack. It was deja vu. No sign of a 'single command and control'."

Chidambaram's pet project was NCTC when he was the Home Minister which was then opposed by BJP.

Making a fresh pitch for it, the Congress leader said, "The best message of reassurance to a shaken and sceptical nation and the best warning to our enemies that we take terrorism as a serious threat will be to notify forthwith the National Counter Terrorism Centre."

After the Pathankot attack, Congress spokespersons had stated that had BJP not opposed NCTC and the mechanism been in place, things could have been different.

Targeting the government for not calling a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security Affairs immediately after the incident, the former Home Minister asked, "Was CCS convened immediately after security forces engaged terrorists? No offcl word, but HM didn't attend any meeting after Jan 2."

Putting out tweets from a write up of Chidambaram in a newspaper, the party's official Twitter handle said, "Security of people cannot be left to individuals. Response to a terror attack must be an institutional response."

Congress has been repeatedly targeting NSA Ajit Doval over the depolyment of NSG instead of the army after the attack alleging it was done as the NSA wanted to take full credit for himself.

Alleging that there was no sign of a single command and control in Pathankot, the Congress leader noted, "Defence Sec Corps re-employs retired jawans. Garud Force is a defensive arm of IAF to protect air force assets.

"NSG is a target-specific counter-terror force, not a battlefield unit. Yet, these units were called in as first responders. The battle-ready counter-terror force, Army's Spcl Forces, was nearby but not deployed."

Chidambaram also asked, "Does the Home Minister meet NSA, Home Secretary, Special Secretary (IS) & heads of IB and RAW every day? It appears no."
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered a probe into the leads provided by India about the Pathankot airbase attack , a media report said on Friday.

He chaired a high-level meeting yesterday and discussed the attack on the Indian airbase, The Nation reported. The prime minister and his aides agreed to launch investigations into the evidence provided by India, it said.

A senior official said the leads provided by India were handed over to Intelligence Bureau chief Aftab Sultan for further action.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Sharif said Pakistan was ready to boost cooperation with the neighbouring India as part of counter-terrorism efforts.

Sharif directed National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua to remain in contact with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in a bid to keep renewed dialogue on track after the attack on Pathankot air base.

Another official said the information provided by India was "not enough" as it was just limited to telephone numbers and Pakistan might ask for additional information.

"We would like to have solid information to build a case for action otherwise courts intervene and the suspects will be bailed out," he added.

He said the meeting agreed that strong action would be taken after probe against anyone found guilty of involvement in the attack. The official said that the meeting also decided to speed up implementation of National Action Plan.

After a second high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in two days, Pakistan on Friday said it has "reviewed progress" on the leads provided by India which has linked Foreign Secretary-level talks to Islamabad's decisive action on the Pathankot terror attack.

"The meeting also discussed the Pathankot attack incident and expressed Pakistan's condemnation of this incident and reiterated Pakistan's commitment to cooperate with India to completely eradicate the menace of terrorism afflicting our region.

"In line with Pakistan's commitment to effectively counter and eradicate terrorism, the meeting reviewed the progress made on the information provided by the Government of India. It was decided to remain in touch with the Government of India in this regard," a statement issued after the meeting by Pakistan Prime Minister's Office said.

Yesterday, India put the ball squarely in Pakistan's court, linking the fate of Foreign Secretary-level talks scheduled for January 15 to Islamabad's "prompt and decisive" action on the Pathankot terror attack for which it has provided "actionable intelligence".

The meetings have been held against the backdrop of India's insistence on action by Pakistan especially when Sharif called Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone from Colombo and promised "prompt and decisive action" against the terrorists.

The meeting was attended by army chief General Raheel Sharif, Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, National Security Advisor Lt General (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, DG ISI Lt General Rizwan Akhtar and Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry among others.

It expressed confidence that building on the goodwill generated by the recent high-level contacts, the two countries would remain committed to a sustained, meaningful and comprehensive dialogue process, the statement said.

The meeting affirmed Pakistan's strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

"It was noted with satisfaction that Pakistan's counter-terrorism campaign had made significant gains and that Pakistan's entire leadership and institutions were working in complete harmony to counter terrorism and extremism," it said.

"The people of Pakistan have evolved a political consensus for action against all terrorists and terrorist organisations without any distinction, and have resolved that no terrorist would be allowed to use Pakistan's soil for committing terrorism anywhere in the world," it added.

In a pre-dawn attack on January 2, a group of heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, struck at the Air Force base in Punjab, killing seven security personnel.
New Delhi: A day after intelligence sources claimed that India has identified Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and three others as the mastermind of the Pathankot airbase terror attack, a report on Friday claimed that the two phone numbers to which calls were made by the perpetrators are of Pakistan.

A report published in 'The Times of India' said that two numbers - 92-3017775253 and +92 300097212 to which calls were made by the two of the six terrorists, who had attacked the crucial airbase in Punjab, are from Pakistan.

According to the report, the first number probably belongs to the mother of one of the militants, while the second one belongs to one of the handlers of the attackers.

The security officials have also told 'TOI' that one of the Pakistan-origin terrorists, who had infiltrated into Punjab, addressed his handler as 'Ustaad', while divulging information about their movements in the northern Indian state.

The terrorists made the calls through taxi driver Ikaagar Singh's phone.

One of the terrorists made a call to +92-3017775253 from the cell phone of jeweller Rajesh Verma, who was carjacked with Punjab SP Salwinder Singh.

JeM chief, his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar and two others have been identified by the intelligence agencies as 'handlers' behind Pathankot airbase terror attack.

Other than Azhar and Rauf, the other two handlers are Ashfaq and Kashim, the sources said.

Seven security personnel were killed in the attack early Saturday morning on the Pathankot Air Force Station by six terrorists who crossed over from Pakistan. All the six terrorists were finally killed by security forces later.

Meanwhile, India on Thursday said that after the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab the ball was in Pakistan's court on continuation of the resumed bilateral talks.
New Delhi: Gurdaspur SP Salwinder Singh - who was allegedly abducted and later left unhurt by the terrorists who attacked Pathankot air base - has been summoned to Delhi by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) for questioning.

According to media reports, Singh may also undergo lie-detector test. However, the final call on whether to perform narco analysis on the Gurdaspur SP will be taken by the NIA, which is probing the Pathankot terror attack case, as per PTI.

The role of Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police has been under scanner since the day Pathankot air base was attacked by terrorists.

Singh had earlier said that he had encountered terrorists on his way back from Panj Pir shrine on December 31.

India has named Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of the banned terror organisation Jaish-e-Muhammad, as well as the organisation itself and others as being responsible for the Pathankot attack in evidence shared by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval with his Pakistani counterpart Nasir Janjua, according to sources.

JeM goes by two other names in Pakistan, after it was banned in 2002.

However, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup refrained from naming any group, while confirming that "actionable intelligence" had been provided to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today ordered a probe into the leads provided by India about the Pathankot airbase attack.

He chaired a high-level meeting yesterday and discussed the attack on the Indian airbase, The Nation reported. The prime minister and his aides agreed to launch investigations into the evidence provided by India, it said.
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to visit Pakistan and meet his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Lahore was not wrong.

Interestingly, JD(U) leader KC Tyagi had earlier said that party was "stunned" by PM's decision to visit Pakistan.

"I am stunned and shocked. At this moment, I can think of beheaded Hemraj," JD(U) leader had said.

PM Modi on December 25, 2015 sprang a surprise with a 150-minute visit to Lahore where he greeted his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday and had talks during which they decided to open ways for peace for the "larger good" of the people of the two countries.

The ties between India and Pakistan have witnessed some positive developments, however, after a chill of several months. The two countries recently decided to launch a comprehensive dialogue after Modi and Sharif met in Paris recently. But Tyagi said in the wake of Modi's surprise move that "nothing is going to improve unless the leaders of Pakistan change their mindset. Pakistan should know that friendship with India on one hand and betrayal on the other cannot go together."
New Delhi: An ordinance to amend the 47-year-old Enemy Property Act has been approved by President Pranab Mukherjee to allow custodians to continue to hold sway over such properties.

The ordinance amends the provisions of the Act declaring that all "enemy property" vested in the 'custodian' would continue to vest in the custodian irrespective of the death or extinction of the enemy.

The custodian of enemy property in the country is an Indian government department that is empowered to appropriate property in India owned by Pakistani nationals.

After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the Enemy Property Act was promulgated in 1968.

The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2016, which amends Enemy Property Act,1968 and the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, has been promulgated by the President yesterday, official sources said on Friday.

The Narendra Modi government, following the footsteps of the previous UPA government, has been keen to amend the Enemy Property Act.

A new section has been inserted in the ordinance to say that "the Custodian, may, after making such inquiry as he deems necessary, by order, declare that the property of the enemy or the enemy subject or the enemy firm described in the order, vests in him under this Act and issue a certificate to this effect and such certificate shall be the evidence of the facts stated therein".

While the UPA government had promulgated the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, the Bill introduced in Parliament could not be passed due to various issues, including differences within the government itself.

Since assuming charge in May 2014, the NDA government has taken the ordinance route at least a dozen times, with the first nine ordinances being promulgated in the first eight months of the government.
New Delhi: Supreme Court on Saturday sought the response of jailed Lashkar-e-Toiba bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda on an appeal of Delhi Police challenging a lower court order to discharge him in a 1994 TADA case. Tunda, 73, whose name had figured in the list of 20 terrorists who India had sought to be handed over after the 26/11 Mumbai attack, was let off on March 10 last year by a lower court in a case lodged under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), the Explosive Substance Act, the Arms Act and under section 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

A bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy issued notice to Tunda, who is still behind the bars as there are several other cases pending against him. Police, in its appeal, said the confession of an accused before a police officer under the TADA, which is now repealed, is treated as substantive evidence and the trial court committed error in discharging Tunda at the initial stage.

Police have heavily relied on a psycho-profiling test that was conducted on Tunda after his arrest by Special Cell of Delhi Police on August 16 2013 from the Indo-Nepal border.

The Special Cell had filed a charge sheet against Tunda in the case in which five accused were arrested on January 17, 1994 and 150 kg explosives and six daggers were allegedly recovered from their possession. The trial court in its judgement in December 1999 had convicted the five accused -- Abdul Haq, Aftab, Abdul Wahid, Afaq and Afran Ahmad -- under the provisions of Explosive Substance Act read with section 120(B) of the IPC.

In its supplementary charge sheet against Tunda, police had said he was declared a proclaimed offender and was involved in various terror cases in India. Tunda had argued that there was no evidence in the case and confessional statements of the arrested co-accused cannot be relied upon against him.
Pathankot: While investigation into the Pathankot terror attack continues, stories of courage and valour have been trickling in.

As per NDTV, when the attack was underway, at around 3 am, 12 Garud Commandos were deployed in the airbase.

While six commandos in three pairs were deployed outside the Mechanical Transport Wing to protect Air Force's assets, another six in similar formation were sent to take on the Pakistani terrorists.

During the firefight, one of the commandos Gursevak Singh sustained three bullet injuries. He, however, kept on battling the terrorists before succumbing.

Meanwhile, two other commandos - Sailesh Gaur and Katal - moved in and returned terrorists' fire.

Sailesh too took in bullets - more than six - in his lower abdomen. However, he too like Gursevak continued to fight the terrorists.

Sailesh and Katal together battled the terrorists for nearly an hour while waiting for back-up.

Had the terrorists managed to reach the technical area after escaping the Mechanical Transport area, they could have inflicted damaged on fighter jets and attack helicopters - key Air Force assets.

In all, seven military personnel were martyred in the Pathankot terror attack while a total of six terrorists were killed.

Sailesh, meanwhile, is recovering in a hospital in Ambala.
Mona Singh

The 21st century is an era of changes and challenges. With new milestones being achieved in science and technology every day and with an ever changing economical and political climate of the world, the question that arises is how to prepare a child for the challenges lying ahead in today's world. And, the answer probably lies in understanding the skills one needs to cope up with these revolutionary times and gearing up our children to face these. It is important for children to develop skills which help them become cross-culturally competent adults who can handle the challenges that globalization presents. With the world moving away from an industrial age to the age of information and knowledge, our education system and our schools must transform in ways that will facilitate kids to acquire the creative thinking, flexible problem solving, collaboration and innovative skills that they will need to be successful in work and life.

Now, the next big question is when to start preparing a child for these skills? The answer is- as early as possible. Early childhood sets the foundations for life. It is a highly sensitive period marked by rapid transformations in physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. Research has proven that the brain forms as many as 700 neural connections per second before the age of 5. Access to high quality early childhood education (ECE) at this age helps in the cognitive development of children and effectively impacts the learning abilities of children later during their primary, middle and higher education.

(Block play in progress at Sesame Street Preschool, Kondapur, Gachibowli. Image courtesy: Sesame Schoolhouse)

While today, as parents become more and more aware of the need for quality education, they are still short of better options. In India, early education is still dominated largely by the unorganized commercial education sector. The existing methods still largely depend on rote learning, memorizing the alphabets, few standard nursery rhymes and numbers. Parents anxiously wonder if their child can add. Can she/he count or spell her/his name? The shortcoming not only lies in what a child is taught but also on how a child is taught! It is very necessary to understand that ECE not only helps the child in academics, it also offers life skills. It decides the childs behavior, actions as well as the approach towards their career. Instilling thinking and analytical skills is critical especially during the early years as the mind at this age is open to understanding concepts and building notions.

A vast body of research has demonstrated that children who participate in good quality early childhood programmes tend to be more successful in later school are more competent socially and emotionally, and show better verbal, intellectual and physical development during early childhood than children who are not enrolled in high-quality programmes. Well-designed ECE programmes can significantly enhance young childrens well-being in these formative years and in the future, complementing the care they receive at home. Programmes that combine nutrition, health, care and education have a positive impact on cognitive outcomes. Enhancing skills like problem-solving, creativity, analytical thinking, collaboration, communication, ethics and accountability are considered essential for a childs future success. Preschools act as an important medium here to provide quality ECE to the child and to make them school ready. It is, therefore, paramount that education of little children is not limited to teaching them the alphabet and numbers. Encouraging and practicing rote learning to score grades is definitely not the way forward. It limits their power of observation, analysis and rational deduction, skills that we need all through our lives, irrespective of education and profession. Hence, the need is for a preschool that nurtures curiosity.

In conclusion, it is important to emphasize that ECE needs to be dually focused on providing universal access as well as including programmes that prepare children to face the challenges of the modern world by inculcating 21st-century skills. Child care providers should understand that the success of preschoolers cannot be measured solely on abilities to read and write, and recognize and count numbers.

(Mona Singh is the Vice President of Sesame Schoolhouse)
Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Bukkal Nawab on Friday said that despite being a Muslim he wants a grand Ram Temple to be constructed in Ayodhya.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Nawab said, I am a Muslim and respect Lord Ram a lot, want a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

The SP leader promised to donate Rs 10 lakhs and a gold 'mukut' when the construction of the temple begins.

Recently, the issue of Ram Mandir has been gaining momentum with Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) unloading two trucks of stones at Ram Sewak Puram in Ayodhya.

VHP leader Praveen Togadia has expressed hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would ensure a grand Ram Mandir is built in Ayodhya as decided by the BJP national executive and promised in the Lok Sabha elections.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has time and again pitched for the construction of a Ram temple at Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday claimed that work on the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya would start before this year-end and an action plan for that would be unveiled at a conference on January 9.

He, however, made it clear that the temple would not come up through a movement but only after the court verdict, which he hoped would come by August-September and with the mutual consent of Muslim and Hindu communities.
Delhi: Two assailants armed with a gun, a knife and a suicide belt attacked a hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Hurghada on Friday, wounding two foreign tourists, security sources said.

One of the injured was from Denmark and the other from Germany, the sources said.

They said the attackers had arrived by sea to launch the onslaught on the beachside Bella Vista Hotel, but that security forces had repelled the assault, killing the attacker wearing the suicide bomb.

However, the Interior Ministry gave a very different account, saying two assailants with knives had wounded two Austrians and a Swede. It said one of the attackers was a student from the Cairo suburb of Giza.

Egypt is fighting a wave of Islamist militancy, which began as attacks on security forces in remote regions of the Sinai, but is increasingly focusing on targets previously considered safe such as the tourist resorts on the Red Sea.

The Islamic State militant group said on Friday that an attack on Israeli tourists in Cairo on Thursday had been carried out by its fighters, in response to a call by the group`s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to target Jews "everywhere".

Security sources said those tourists were Israeli Arabs. None was hurt and Egyptian authorities said the attack was aimed at security forces.

On Oct. 31, a Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of them tourists returning home from the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh.

Cairo says it has found no evidence of terrorism in the crash, but Russia and Western governments have said the airliner was probably brought down by a bomb, and Islamic State said it had smuggled explosives on board.

Tourism is critical to the Egyptian economy as a source of hard currency, but has been ravaged by years of political turmoil since the revolution that ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Paris: The Paris prosecutor says investigators are unsure of the true identity of the man who tried to attack a Paris police station with a butcher knife and a fake explosives vest.

Francois Molins told France-Inter radio today that the assailant shot dead yesterday, the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, carried a paper marked with the Muslim declaration of faith, an emblem of the Islamic State group, his name, and gave his nationality as Tunisian. Molins said he also had a phone with a German SIM card.

Stopped for a minor theft in 2013 in France's south, the man had identified himself as Ali Sallah and gave his nationality as Moroccan.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the January 2015 attacks and the November 13 attacks in Paris.
Delhi: Iraq`s joint operations command denied on Saturday that Turkish forces based in northern Iraq had been attacked by Islamic State or had clashed with the militants, refuting claims by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

"The joint operations command denies there was a terrorist attack on the position of Turkish forces in Bashiqa by the terrorist Daesh (Islamic State) recently," said a news flash on state television, referring to a military base near Mosul.

"The joint operations command denies what was relayed in some media outlets from the Turkish president about clashing between the Turkish forces inside Iraqi territory and the terrorist Daesh whether in Bashiqa or any other areas," another flash said.

Erdogan said on Friday that an attack by Islamic State on the military base where Turkish troops are training an Iraqi Sunni militia showed Turkey`s decision to deploy troops there was justified.
Beirut: In a new low, a militant of the dreaded Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) publicaly executed his own mother after accusing her of apostasy.

As per a report published in The Independent, the activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RIBSS) said 20-year-old jihadi Ali Saqr al-Qasem shot his mother Lena, 45, in the head with an assault rifle in front of a large crowd.

Lena al-Qasem is understood to have been accused of apostasy - a crime that usually means leaving one's religion but in practise is used by ISIS as a justification for murdering anybody who doesn't support or speaks out against the terror group.

1-#Raqqa Leena Al-Qasem (35 years) executor was her son Ali Saqr (born 1995) a member of #ISIS. Photo for him #Syria pic.twitter.com/AiqZJHrStA  Tim Ramadan (@tim_ramadan) January 7, 2016

2-He executed his mother for apostasy in front of the Post building yesterday in Public execution #Raqqa #ISIS pic.twitter.com/ytW3NGaKAM  Tim Ramadan (@tim_ramadan) January 7, 2016

However, it was revelead later that the exact charge against al-Qasem was inciting her son to leave the Islamic State and escaping together to the outside of Raqqa, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.

The UK-based conflict monitor said Ali Saqr al-Qasem had reported his mother to his ISIS superiors, who then sentenced her to death and ordered him be the one to kill her.

Citing local sources, a British-based Observatory said the 20-year-old man executed his mother on Wednesday near the post office building where she worked in front of hundreds of people in Raqqa, a main base of operations for the group in Syria.

The Islamic State group, which controls wide areas of Syria and Iraq, has executed hundreds of people it has accused of working with its enemies or breaching of its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam.
Washington: On the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in Paris that left 17 people dead, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the legacy of the victims endures as a challenge and inspiration to all.

"On the one-year anniversary of the January 7-9, 2015, attacks that took the lives of 17 people, we honour the victims of this tragedy and share the sadness of their loss,"

Kerry said in a statement yesterday.

"Their legacy endures as a challenge and inspiration to all of us. Charlie Hebdo continues to publish, and journalists around the world continue in their essential mission to tell the stories that people everywhere need to hear," he said.

Kerry said the attacks which were intended to sow fear and division instead brought people together, adding that the US and France would always stand together to tackle the most daunting challenges.

"We must remain committed to protect each other and renew our determination to turn this moment of profound loss into a lasting commitment," Kerry said

"No country knows better than France that freedom has a price, and that no rationale can justify attacks on innocent men, women, and children," he added.

The White House said the US stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of France as they confront the terror threat to their nation.

"It is certainly a sad thing to remember, but it is also a way to remember the resolve that the French people have shown through a difficult year. It certainly is an opportunity

to remember, once again, that France is the oldest ally of the United States," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

"The French people can know that the American people and its government is standing right there with them," he said.
Beirut: An Islamic State militant executed his mother in public in the Syrian city of Raqqa because she had encouraged him to leave the group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday.

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She was detained after he informed the group of her comments, according to the British-based Observatory, which monitors the war through a network of sources on the ground.

Citing local sources, the Observatory said the 20-year-old man executed his mother on Wednesday near the post office building where she worked in front of hundreds of people in Raqqa, a main base of operations for the group in Syria.

The Islamic State group, which controls wide areas of Syria and Iraq, has executed hundreds of people it has accused of working with its enemies or breaching of its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam.

The Observatory reported on Dec. 29 that Islamic State had executed more than 2,000 Syrian civilians in the 18 months since it declared its "caliphate" over the territory it controls in Syria and Iraq. They included people killed on the grounds of homosexuality, practicing magic and apostasy.

It was not possible to independently verify the latest report.
Seoul: Tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers and civilians today gathered at squares and indoor venues in Pyongyang for state-orchestrated massive celebrations of the country's fourth nuclear test. People were seen dancing in the streets, two days after North Korea announced it has successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb.

North Korea's state media said the events were attended by senior members of the country's leadership, including Premier Pak Pong Ju.

The largest crowd, estimated by the state media at 100,000, gathered at a square named after the late Kim Il Sung, the nation's beloved founder and the grandfather of the current leader Kim Jong Un.

At the square, soldiers stood under a banner that read: "We passionately celebrate the historic national event that is the success of the first hydrogen bomb test." It is unclear whether Kim, whose birthday is also believed to be today, attended the celebrations.
Washington: The US has said that the international community stands united against North Korea's provocations, with Pyongyang more isolated than ever, after the reclusive nation claimed it has successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test.

"We do know that the international community is more united than ever before on this issue and on the appropriate approach to dealing with North Korean provocations. As a result, the North Korean regime is more isolated than ever before," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

"It makes clear to the North Koreans that they have only one path to choose to deal with the extreme poverty and extreme isolation that causes millions of their citizens to suffer. That path is one that includes them ceasing their provocative activities," he said, adding that this includes ending missile and nuclear tests.

"It also means committing to denuclearising the Korean Peninsula and pursing peace and stability on the Peninsula," Earnest said.

Even some of the close allies of North Korea like China and Russia have condemned this flagrant violation of North Korea's international obligations, he said.

"In the last 15 years, North Korea is the only country in the world to test a nuclear device like this. It's also an indication of their bad track record when it comes to fulfilling international obligations," he said.

The United States is going to work in close consultation with its partners and allies to determine an appropriate response, he added.

Separately, State Department Spokesman John Kirby said it is clear that North Korea's actions constitute yet another violation of its obligations and commitments under international law, including several UN Security Council resolutions.

"The onus remains on North Korea to refrain from reckless and provocative behavior. We remain in close communication with South Korean leaders on our response and the international response to North Korea's actions," he said.
Seoul/Beijing: South Korea unleashed an ear-splitting propaganda barrage across its border with North Korea on Friday in retaliation for its nuclear test, while the United States called on China to end "business as usual" with its ally.

The broadcasts, in rolling bursts from walls of loudspeakers at 11 locations along the heavily militarised border, blared rhetoric critical of the Pyongyang regime as well as "K-pop" music. North Korea later responded with its own broadcasts.

Wednesday`s nuclear test angered both the United States and China, which was not given prior notice, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt Pyongyang`s claim that the device it set off was a hydrogen bomb.

China is North Korea`s main economic and diplomatic backer, although relations between the Cold War allies have cooled in recent years.

China`s Foreign Ministry urged North Korea to stick to its denuclearisation pledges and avoid action that would make the situation worse, but also said China did not hold the key to resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.

"Achieving denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and safeguarding the peninsula`s peace and stability accords with all parties` mutual interests, is the responsibility of all parties, and requires all parties to put forth efforts," ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news briefing.

The North agreed to end its nuclear programme in international negotiations in 2005 but later walked away from the deal.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that he had told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China`s approach to North Korea had not succeeded.

"Approach has not worked"

"China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respected to give them space to implement that," Kerry told reporters after the phone call. "Today, in my conversation with the Chinese, I made it very clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual."

In a call on Friday with his South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se, Wang said talks on the issue should be resumed as soon as possible, China`s Foreign Ministry said.

South Korea`s nuclear safety agency said it had found a minuscule amount of xenon gas in a sample from off its east coast, which could be the first chemical evidence of a nuclear test, but said more analysis and samples were needed to determine if it came from a nuclear test.

The presence of xenon would not indicate whether the blast was from a hydrogen device or not.

Seismic waves created by the blast were almost identical to those generated in North Korea`s last nuclear test in 2013, Jeffrey Park, a seismologist at Yale University, wrote in a post on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists website, adding to scepticism about the hydrogen bomb claim.

Meanwhile, South Korea resumed its frontier broadcasts, which the isolated North has in the past threatened to stop with military strikes.

The last time South Korea deployed the loudspeakers, in retaliation for a landmine blast in August that wounded two South Korean soldiers, it led to an exchange of artillery fire.

The sound can carry 10 km (6 miles) into North Korea during the day and more than twice that at night, the South`s Yonhap news agency reported.

Border Propaganda

A male announcer could be heard from South Korea telling North Koreans that their leader Kim Jong Un and his wife wear clothes costing thousands of dollars. Another message said Kim`s promises to boost both the economy and the nuclear programme were unrealistic.

The North`s broadcasts were not clearly audible from the South and appeared intended to drown out those from the South, Yonhap said, citing a South Korean official.

As North Korea boosted troop deployments in front-line units, the South vowed to retaliate against any attack on its equipment, raised its military readiness to the highest level near the loudspeakers, cancelled tours of the Demilitarised Zone on the border, and also raised its cyberattack alert level.

In Washington, the North`s actions appeared to have forged rare unity in the House of Representatives between Republicans and Democrats on tightening sanctions against North Korea.

Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, told reporters that Democrats would support a North Korea bill likely to be brought for a vote by Republicans next week. A congressional source said it was expected as soon as Monday.

But it is unclear how more sanctions will deter North Korea, which has conducted four nuclear tests since 2006.

The United States and South Korea are limited in their military options. Washington sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers over South Korea in a show of force after North Korea last tested a nuclear device in 2013.

North Korea responded then by threatening a nuclear strike on the United States.

A South Korean military official said Seoul and Washington had discussed the deployment of U.S. strategic weapons on the Korean peninsula, but declined to give details. Media said the assets could include B-2 and B-52 bombers, and a nuclear-powered submarine.
Beijing: South Korea unleashed a high-decibel propaganda barrage across the border on Friday in retaliation for North Korea`s nuclear bomb test this week, while the United States called on China to end "business as usual" with its ally Pyongyang.

The broadcasts, in rolling bursts from walls of loudspeakers at 11 locations along the heavily militarised border, blare rhetoric critical of the Pyongyang regime as well as "K-pop" music. The broadcasts, considered an insult by the North, led to an exchange of artillery fire the last time they were used.

South Korea, which has grown increasingly close to China in recent years, also said its foreign minister would speak with his Chinese counterpart later on Friday.

Wednesday`s test angered both the United States and China, which was not given prior notice, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt Pyongyang`s claim that the device it exploded was a hydrogen bomb.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he had made clear in a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China`s approach to North Korea has not succeeded.

"China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respected to give them space to implement that," Kerry told reporters. "Today in my conversation with the Chinese I made it very clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual."

China is the North`s main economic and diplomatic backer, although relations between the two Cold War allies have cooled in recent years.

China`s foreign ministry said after the call with Kerry that Beijing was willing to communicate with all parties, including the United States.

"Wang Yi stressed that China has staunchly dedicated itself to the goal of the peninsula`s denuclearisation and to maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a short statement.

South Korea`s foreign ministry had requested a phone call with Wang since directly after North Korea announced on Wednesday it had tested a hydrogen bomb, the South`s Yonhap News Agency said. However, the call had been delayed due to China`s "internal scheduling", it said, citing an unnamed official.

TROOPS DEPLOYED, TOURS CANCELLED

The last time Seoul deployed the loudspeakers, in retaliation for a landmine blast in August that wounded two South Korean soldiers, it led to an armed standoff and exchange of artillery fire.

The sound from the speakers is so loud that it can carry for 10 km (6 miles) into North Korea during the day and more than twice that distance at night, Yonhap reported.

North Korea boosted troop deployments in front-line units on Friday, and South Korea heightened military readiness to its highest level at locations near the loudspeakers.

Seoul also vowed to retaliate against any attack on the equipment and raised its cyber security alert level.

Tours of the Demilitarised Zone, popular with visitors to South Korea, were also cancelled at the military`s request.

The vast majority of North Korea`s business dealings are with China, which bought 90 percent of the isolated country`s exports in 2013, according to data compiled by South Korea`s International Trade Association.

Kerry said he and Wang agreed to work closely to determine what measures could be taken given increasing concerns about the nuclear test. He said America has a "firm and continued commitment to regional security and global nonproliferation".

The Global Times, an influential Chinese tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party`s official People`s Daily, said in an editorial it was unfair to expect China alone to bring about change in Pyongyang.

"There is no hope to put an end to the North Korean nuclear conundrum if the U.S., South Korea and Japan do not change their policies toward Pyongyang. Solely depending on Beijing`s pressure to force the North to give up its nuclear plan is an illusion," it said.

"The China-North Korea relationship should not be dragged into antagonism. Beijing has participated in previous sanctions on the North. Whether China will take tougher measures hinges on the decision of the UN Security Council," it said.

U.S. Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives could join forces in a rare display of unity to further tighten sanctions on North Korea.

Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, told reporters that Democrats would support a North Korea bill likely to be brought for a vote by Republicans next week. A congressional source said it was expected as soon as Monday.

The House measure would target banks facilitating North Korea`s nuclear programme and authorize freezing of U.S. assets of those directly linked to illicit North Korean activities. It would also penalise those involved in business providing North Korea with hard currency.

It was unclear how more sanctions would deter North Korea, which has conducted four nuclear tests since 2006 while paying little heed to international pressure.

The United States and its ally South Korea are limited in their military response. Washington sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers on a sortie over South Korea in a show of force after North Korea last tested a nuclear device in 2013.

North Korea responded then by threatening a nuclear strike on the United States.

A South Korean military official told Reuters that Seoul and Washington had discussed the deployment of U.S. strategic assets on the divided Korean peninsula, but declined to give further details. Media reports said those assets could include B-2 and B-52 bombers, and a nuclear-powered submarine.
Islamabad: Hundreds of people joined a Shiite-led protest in Islamabad today against Pakistan's decision to join Saudi Arabia's 34-country coalition against extremism, as Riyadh's foreign minister ended a two-day visit to the country.

The protesters presented a memorandum to a Foreign Office spokesman demanding Pakistan drop out of the alliance, which was announced in December and is seen as the latest sign of a more assertive foreign policy by the kingdom, the dominant Sunni Muslim power in the Middle East.

"Neither the Pakistan army nor the nation is for rent, we will oppose any attempts to sell the army to the house of Saud for a few billion riyals," said Shiite activist Gul-e-Zahra, addressing Friday's rally.

Pakistan announced yesterday they would join the Saudi-led military alliance to fight "terrorism" in the Islamic world, following a meeting between Riyadh's foreign minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Saudi Arabia announced the coalition last month, naming Pakistan as a member, but Islamabad had initially reacted cautiously saying it needed further details before deciding the extent of its participation.

In a separate rally in the capital, an estimated 1,500 people chanted slogans against Saudi's execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on January 2, which sparked a deepening crisis between Riyadh and regional rival Iran. Pakistan is a majority Sunni country but 20 percent of the population are Shiite, who are often the target of sectarian voice.

Small scale rallies against the Saudi coalition were also organised in the eastern city of Lahore, while rival Sunni-led protests were held in Islamabad against Shiite-majority Iran, with demonstrators accusing Tehran of "meddling" in Saudi Arabia's internal affairs.

The protesters chanted slogans vowing to "lay down their lives for the protection of the custodians of the holy cities", a term used for the ruling Saudi family.
Delhi: South Korea`s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will speak with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi by telephone at 1000 GMT on Friday, the foreign ministry in Seoul said in a text message to reporters.

Their teleconference comes in the wake of a North Korean nuclear test earlier this week that has increased tensions between the two Koreas.

South Korea`s foreign ministry had requested a phone call with Wang since directly after North Korea announced on Wednesday it had tested a hydrogen bomb, the South`s Yonhap News Agency said.

However, the phone call had been delayed due to China`s "internal scheduling", the report said.

China is the North`s main economic and diplomatic backer, although relations between the two Cold War allies have cooled in recent years.
Colombo: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena marked his first year in office on Friday by pardoning a Tamil Tiger rebel convicted of plotting to murder him a decade ago.

Sivarajah Jeneevan was sentenced last January to 10 years in jail for conspiring to murder Sirisena when he was irrigation minister in 2005.

The president welcomed Jeneevan onto the stage where he was making a speech to mark the anniversary, shaking hands with the former rebel and blessing him by touching him on his head.

Sirisena came to power promising "compassionate rule and stable country", and has already released a number of hard core rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who fought for secession for more than 25 years until their defeat in 2009 under Sirisena`s predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sirisena`s opponents have, however, accused him of weakening national security with the releases.

Sirisena has also promised to end corruption, rebalance foreign policy by reducing Rajapaksa's focus on China, and ensure the independence of the judiciary and civil service.

In line with U.N. recommendations, his government has pledged to establish a credible judicial process involving foreign judges to investigate allegations of war crimes during the bloody climax of the war against the LTTE.
Sacramento: Two men from the Middle East who came to the United States as refugees more than three years ago were arrested on federal charges in California and Texas involving international terrorism, the US officials said on Thursday.

The men, arrested in Sacramento and Houston, were not involved in a single plot, but they may have been in contact with each other, a source familiar with the two cases said.

Both men are Palestinians who were born in Iraq. The man arrested in Houston, Omar Faraj Saeed Al-Hardan, entered the United States as a refugee in November 2009, according to a court document.

In Sacramento, the US Department of Justice said Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, came to the United States in 2012 as a refugee from Syria.

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a Tea Party Republican, cited the arrest in Houston as a reason why Texas has been seeking to block Syrian refugees from resettling there.

This is exactly what we have repeatedly told the Obama administration could happen and why we do not want refugees coming to Texas. There are serious questions about who these people really are, as evidenced by today`s events," Patrick said in a statement.

Republican leaders have been calling on President Barack Obama, a Democrat, to move with caution in allowing refugees from Syria to resettle in the United States.

Al-Hardan was charged with providing material support to the Islamic State militant group and for making false statements about ties to the group when seeking U.S. naturalization, according to an indictment in federal court in Houston unsealed on Thursday.

In California, Al-Jayab was arrested on Thursday on a federal charge of making a false statement involving international terrorism, the US Department of Justice said.

US Attorney for Sacramento, Benjamin Wagner, said in a statement there were no indications Al-Jayab had planned any attacks in the United States.

While he represented a potential safety threat, there is no indication that he planned any acts of terrorism in this country," Wagner said.

Wagner`s spokeswoman, said Lauren Horwood, said: "There is no current threat to public safety associated with this arrest."

In a criminal complaint, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Al-Jayab lied about traveling back to Syria and about posting on social media his support for what the government said were terrorist groups.

"O God, grant us martyrdom for your sake while engaged in fighting and not retreating; a martyrdom that would make you satisfied with us," the FBI said Al-Jayab wrote to someone identified only as "Individual I," who resides in Texas.

The Justice Department said that the year after Al-Jayab came to the United States, he went overseas, later telling officials that he had gone to Turkey to visit family.

The complaint includes numerous social media postings and other communications in which Al-Jayab discussed jihad, using assault rifles and training with militants. He also said he was in Syria.

Al-Jayab is scheduled to appear in federal court in Sacramento on Friday, Horwood said.
Houston: The US Federal authorities have arrested two Iraqi-born refugees on terror-related charges for providing material support to the Islamic State terror group, officials said today.

Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, was arrested in Houston, Texas, and charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, while Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, was arrested from California and charged with traveling to Syria to fight with ISIS and making a false statement to investigators.

The arrests, coming just over a month after the San Bernardino attack in California in which a Pakistani-origin couple killed 14 people, has renewed the debate in the US that authorities are not doing enough to screen the migrants coming from strife-torn countries in the Middle East.

Both suspects were Palestinians born in Iraq and both were living as refugees in the US, according to the US Justice Department.

Citing social media communications, the criminal complaint against Jayab said he spoke with an unnamed Texas resident about weapons and training in Syria.

That unnamed individual is Hardan, who was indicted on Wednesday on three charges of providing material support to ISIS, according to the law enforcement officials.

"I need to learn from your weapon expertise," the individual wrote to Jayab, according to the complaint. In reply, Jayab wrote, "We will make your abilities very strong," according to authorities.

"Our concern now is only to arrive there," Jayab went on. "When you arrive to al-Sham [Syria] you will be trained." It was not immediately clear whether Hardan or Jayab had retained legal representation. They are both scheduled to appear in court later today.

If convicted, Hardan faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a USD 250,000 fine. Jayab entered the US as an Iraqi refugee in October 2012, the Justice Department said.

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, Jayab exchanged messages on social media in 2012 and 2013, saying he planned to go to Syria to fight. In November 2013, the complaint alleges, he flew from Chicago to Turkey, and then traveled to Syria.

He "allegedly reported on social media that he was in Syria fighting with various terror organisations, including Ansar al-Islam," officials said.

Meanwhile, the US Attorney Benjamin Wagner said there were no signs that Jayab was involved in any US terror plots. "While he represented a potential safety threat, there is no indication that he planned any acts of terrorism in this country," Wagner said.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of eight years in prison and a USD 250,000 fine.
Delhi: The United States released a suspected al Qaeda propagandist to the government of Kuwait on Friday, leaving a total of 104 inmates at the U.S. naval prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The U.S. Defense Department announced the repatriation of Faez Mohammed Ahmed al Kandari, a Kuwaiti who had been held at Guantanamo for 13 years. It said in a statement his detention "does not remain necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States."

Kandari, 38, was suspected of being a propagandist and also may have served as "spiritual adviser" to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to a U.S. Department of Defense profile.

Kandari was transferred on Friday to Kuwait, where he will be put into a rehabilitation program to help him reintegrate into society, according to his lawyer in Washington, Eric Lewis.

"Mr. Al Kandari is delighted to be going home and reuniting with his beloved parents and family after all these years away," Lewis said.

He said Kandari was the last of 12 Kuwaitis who had been at Guantanamo, which the George W. Bush administration established as a prison for foreign terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

President Barack Obama, who campaigned in 2008 on a pledge to close the prison, views it as a damaging symbol of inmate abuse and detention without charge that he inherited from Bush. He is still working on a plan to close it, despite opposition from the Republican-controlled Congress.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced two Yemeni detainees were transferred to Ghana. Kandari`s release leaves 104 inmates at the prison, 45 of them already approved for transfer.

"It`s a good illustration of our effort to chip away at the population there and to try to resolve these individual cases in a way that`s consistent with our national security interests," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Friday.

General John F. Kelly, outgoing commander of the U.S. Southern Command, told reporters more Guantanamo inmates would be released this month but did not elaborate.

"I think we can all quibble on whether 13 or 12 or eight years in detention is enough to have them pay for whatever they did, but they`re bad guys," Kelly said on Friday.

"If they go back to the fight, we`ll probably kill them."

Kandari`s release came after the parole-style Periodic Review Board determined in September that his detention was no longer necessary.

The board, established by Obama in 2011, is comprised of six intelligence and national security agencies. After detainees are approved for transfer, the U.S. government has to find countries willing to take them and provide the security arrangements.
Washington: The US and China have agreed to coordinate closely on taking appropriate action against North Korea's "provocative" behaviour, after the reclusive nation claimed it has successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi discussed over phone, the "highly provocative" nature of North Korea's actions, and its grave threat to international peace and security, State Department spokesperson John Kirby said.

"The Secretary and Foreign Minister Wang agreed that the United States and China would continue to coordinate closely in the UN Security Council and with partners within the Six-Party Talks framework to take appropriate action," Kirby said yesterday.

Meanwhile the White House confirmed that US will be in consultations with its allies in the region, including South Korea, about an appropriate international response to North Korea's "blatant violation" of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

"This is also something that is being discussed at the United Nations around the table of the Security Council. We'll continue to consult closely with our friends and allies as we determine an appropriate response," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters yesterday.

A day earlier, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice, met the Chinese Ambassador to the US at the White House.

The Administration has been in in touch with Chinese officials, including the National Security Advisor who spoke to the Chinese Ambassador to the United States on Wednesday.

"China wields more influence over the North Korean regime than probably any other country in the world. And we certainly want to work closely with them to determine an appropriate response," Earnest said adding that US is looking upon China to exert its leadership to put pressure on Pyongyang.

"What I think is notable is that we have seen some unanimity of opinion across the international community about how what North Korea has done is provocative and a flagrant violation of their international obligations and certainly of a variety of UN Security Council resolutions," he said.
Washington: The US expects Pakistan to conduct a "thorough, complete, fair and transparent" investigation into the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot, and has said it is "looking forward" to seeing the results of the probe.

"We certainly look forward to and expect a thorough, complete, fair and transparent investigative process. We are going to have to let it work through," State Department spokesperson John Kirby said yesterday.

"We look forward to seeing the results of their investigation. We would all like them to be done as quickly as possible and transparently discussed when it's complete," Kirby said, adding that it was upto Pakistan to sort out how long the probe would take.

"They (Pakistan) said they're going to investigate it. They said they're not going to discriminate between terrorist groups when they conduct counter-terrorism operations," the official said, acknowledging that the US has reached out to Pakistan after the Pathankot terror attack.

The US encourages an "aggresive" approach to counter-terrorism operations by Pakistan and other regional powers, Kirby said, and expressed willingness to support such operations as required or deemed fit by those nations. The State Department spokesperson could not confirm the veracity of the report written by former CIA official Bruce Riedel that ISI was behind the Pathankot terrorist attack. "I saw Mr Riedel's piece. I'm not in a position to confirm the veracity of his conclusions," he said.
Washington: The US and Japan have agreed to work closely with South Korea to tackle the security challenge posed by North Korea in the wake of the "provocative nuclear test" conducted by the reclusive nation.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani during a phone call today agreed to work closely with South Korea to address the security challenge posed by Pyongyang, the Pentagon said.

"Both agreed that trilateral cooperation with the Republic of Korea is critical to deterrence and maintaining peace and security in Northeast Asia and beyond," the Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.

During the call, Carter and Nakatani agreed that the nuclear test by North Korea is an unacceptable and irresponsible act that undermines regional security and stability, he said.

"Nakatani stated that the test was a clear violation of the United Nation's Security Council resolutions and condemned the act. Carter agreed with this view and commended the high level of coordination between the United States and Japan after the test," Cook said.

Carter noted that utilising the Alliance Coordination Mechanism under the 2015 Guidelines for US-Japan Defence Cooperation exemplifies this close cooperation, Cook said. The call comes a day after senior defence officials from the three countries held a video tele-conference on the latest challenge posed by North Korea.

The conference was held to share information among the three countries regarding the recent nuclear test conducted by North Korean on January 6.

At this meeting, Japanese Deputy Minister Yoo, the South Korean Deputy Minister of National Defence for Policy; David Shear, the US Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs and Director General Satoshi Maeda, the Japanese Ministry of Defence Director General for Defence Policy represented their respective countries.

"At this meeting, South Korea, US and Japan agreed that North Korea's fourth nuclear test is a provocative act that represents a flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolutions and a serious threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the entire region," said Com Bill Urban, a defence department spokesman.

"The officials reiterated that they do not and will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state and decided to continue to cooperate closely and share information on North Korea's nuclear threat," Urban said.
Dakar: A veteran jihadist called for a return to sharia law in north Mali at a meeting attended by hundreds of local residents, a video showed, pointing to difficulties Western powers face in countering the influence of extremists in the fragile region.

The 13-minute video was the first in a series entitled "From the Depths of the Sahara" released by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb`s (AQIM) Al Andalus Media Productions, SITE Intelligence Group said on Thursday.

It shows a man identified as Commander Talha al-Azawadi, a former head of Timbuktu`s Islamic police, which became notorious among locals for banning music and stoning alleged adulterers to death during a brief Islamist militant occupation in 2012.

While security experts have said Islamist extremists are unlikely to recover their 2012 positions and re-establish sharia law now that a U.N. peacekeeping force is in place, the video points to support jihadists still enjoy in some communities.

"This is Azawad and, Allah willing, it will be Islamic, and we will not give it up to the enemy," Talha al-Azawadi said at a community gathering at Boujbeha, north of Timbuktu on an unspecified date.

Azawad is the name used by some Arab and Tuareg locals to describe Mali`s north. Some rebel fighters drawn from those populations were allied with jihadists during the occupation.

French forces drove Islamist fighters from major urban centres in 2013, but the fighters remain active in the West African country and have recently intensified their insurgency and spread farther south, striking in the southern capital, Bamako.

Former colonial power France continues to fight militants in Mali and elsewhere in the desert band known as the Sahel with a 3,500-strong counterterrorism force called Barkhane.

French military spokesman Colonel Gilles Jaron said on Thursday the force carried out 150 operations last year, with the support of military partners from Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso.

The video also purports to show Abu Baseer al-Bumbari, a fighter identified as having been imprisoned in Mali and swapped for French hostage Serge Lazarevic who was freed in 2014. That could not immediately be independently confirmed.
Team Lego is one of the five teams currently working at Liip Zurich. All team members work together on one, long standing project. Over the last year the team has grown and changed. In the end, we were 10 people working together as one single Scrum team. It worked really well  until it didn't.

Very slowly over time things stopped going as smoothly as they used to. The team couldn't finish their sprints and the velocity was going down. The sentence most often heard at the Daily Scrum was: I don't know what's up with this ticket, person X is working on it  a sign of Gartlidenken as it is called in Switzerland. Information wasn't flowing as it should, even though we used the Walk the Board' approach to keep Daily Standup meetings short and focused. Other Scrum meetings were long and inefficient and any further growth of the team was entirely out of the question.

This interesting blog entry about the numbers behind Jeff Bezos' two pizza rule for team sizes suggests that the problems the team were facing were possibly due to its size. Communication between all the people involved was complicated and it's impossible to know what's going on everywhere all the time. People focussing solely on the one task they picked is a logical move to push this problem out of sight. Yet, it is counterproductive for self-organising Scrum teams. It decomposes a team back to a group of people which happen to work next to each other on similar tasks rather than working together at achieving a shared goal.

Even though team Lego cannot be considered a very large team, problems were just around the corner. At 10 people, we were probably only beginning to see the problems that a larger team could bring. However, it's always better to act before the horizon's problems arrive at your door.

Just do it

But how does one go about splitting a scrum team that a) works on the same project and touches the same code every day, b) has only one Product Owner and c) likes working together? Creating two separate Scrum teams surely is a bad idea. It would decouple the teams and create too much overhead on the process side. Our setup required a more integrative approach that linked subteams more closely to each other and supported the work done on a single project, with one Product Owner, one client and  in our case  one Scrum Master, essentially a version of the Scrum process to support a multi team structure.

I discovered that LeSS (Large Scale Scrum) provides exactly that: it's a way to scale a one-team Scrum process to multiple teams. By limiting certain meetings to only representatives of subteams and introducing overall retrospective and coordination meetings it provides a lightweight scaling framework for the traditional Scrum process. Too much process overhead is prevented and teams are forced to self organise and make information flow because not everyone can participate in every meeting. Meetings are more effective and efficient, e.g. participants will be more active in meetings because they cannot rely on the rest of the team to do so. Plannings are shorter and retrospectives are more focused. It all sounded like a good approach to solve at least some of my team's problems.

The actual implementation was very simple, just do it really. We decided to give ourselves one sprint to figure things out and then start at the beginning of the next sprint with the new setup according to the LeSS framework. We made some alterations to the meeting setup described in LeSS. The team wanted to keep the weekly estimation meeting big because they felt that the value of getting everyone's input outweighed the inefficiency of a large meeting. Planning on the other hand, was done with two representatives of each subteam because the issues have been estimated already and it's just a matter of selecting the right amount. Retrospectives were held separately so that the subteams can improve and grow together as teams. LeSS suggests to have an overall retrospective together with the client and representatives of the subteams to talk about improvements concerning coordination issues. We didn't feel the need yet but are planning on doing that regularly every couple of sprints or as the need arises.

The first official act of each subteam was a small retrospective to talk about their respective working agreements and team names: Team Y and Team Duplo were born! Eventually we even changed the layout of our team working area and moved desks around to support pairing and collaboration within each team.

What we learned

After the first two sprints the change is already quite obvious. The velocity went up and so did the happiness of the team. The Daily Scrums are very fast and effective  and actually about developers sharing relevant information. Hardly ever does one team member not know what the others are doing, it feels like the shared responsibility for a sprint is back. There was a lot of positive feedback from my teams e.g. the developers find it much easier to judge if all the stories in the sprint will be finished with small sprints, there is less coordination cost within the subteams of only four people.

Overall, as the Scrum Master, I have the impression that the teams are a lot closer to the self organising Scrum Team ideal than before. There certainly are new challenges to face, like coordination between subteams (in architectural decisions for example), equal division of support work for the project is tricky, sickness and holiday obviously have a much higher impact on the sprints in a small team. During Christmas time and beginning of the new year we even decided to go back to being one team because there simply weren't enough people around for the subteams to work. Because of the small team size (4 developers, one Product Owner and one Scrum Master) a lot of pair programming is done to get around bottlenecks in the Review and Test lane on the Scrum boards.

The team agreed to treat the implementation of LeSS as an experiment and go back to being one big team if it doesn't work out for us. Nevertheless, I am confident that LeSS was the right choice for my team and the framework will help us to thrive and become even better at agile software development. We'll figure stuff out as we go along, inspect regularly and adapt if necessary.
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - Joseph Nacchio, the former Qwest Communications International chief executive, on Thursday won a $14.2 million jury verdict against a Goldman Sachs Group Inc unit and financial adviser over the sale of life insurance policies, his law firm said. Nacchio and his wife accused Goldman's Ayco financial planning unit and their former adviser David Weinstein of breaching their fiduciary duties by failing to tell them that the $95 million of variable life insurance they bought in 2000 would likely lapse before they died. After learning that the lapse would occur during their 70s, not when they turned 100 as they intended, the Nacchios canceled the policies and paid $26 million in premiums to replace them, their lawyer Bruce Nagel said. The jury award equaled roughly the difference between what the Nacchios spent overall, and what they would have spent in 2000 had they been sold the policies they wanted, Nagel added. "We are disappointed with the verdict and plan to appeal," Ayco spokesman Brian Cuneo said. Lawyers for Weinstein did not immediately respond to requests comment. Nagel said the Morristown, New Jersey jury needed less than 1-1/2 hours to reach its verdict, after a month-long trial. His firm Nagel Rice is based in Roseland, New Jersey. Nacchio, 66, spent roughly five years in prison after being convicted in 2007 of insider trading. He was also ordered to pay more than $63 million in fines and forfeiture, court records show. Nagel said Nacchio paid this sum. Qwest was a U.S. regional phone company based in Denver before it merged in April 2011 with CenturyLink Inc. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr)
By Maiya Keidan LONDON (Reuters) - Blackstone Group is planning to bring its multi-manager hedge fund platform Senfina Advisors to Britain, three sources with direct knowledge of the move told Reuters. The platform, which allows investors to access a number of underlying hedge fund managers, was launched in the United States in 2014 and had almost $2 billion in assets under management last month, the first source told Reuters. The move follows a strong performance for Senfina last year. It rose 23 percent between January and November, the first source said, while hedge funds rose 0.27 percent on average over the same period, data from Hedge Fund Research shows. In preparation for the British launch, the date of which has yet to be decided, two of the sources said that Blackstone is in the process of searching for portfolio managers. Senfina provides investors with exclusive access to a range of underlying portfolio managers, who are employed by their respective firms, and charges a basic annual fee of up to 2 percent based on average assets under management. The managers' trading ideas are assessed centrally by Blackstone before the firm allocates money to invest. In addition to the basic fee, investors pay for trading and other costs, plus a performance fee on profits between 15 percent and 20 percent, SEC filings show. By launching in London Blackstone will join rivals such as U.S. peer Millennium Management and Sweden's Brummer & Partners in developing a British base for its hedge fund platform. Senfina forms part of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, which had $68 billion under management at Sept. 30, 2015, its website said. (Editing by David Goodman)
By Ron Bousso and Emiliano Mellino LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell has told investors its purchase of BG can work even if oil prices average $50 a barrel for two years, its lowest estimate to date as it seeks to secure shareholder support for the $51 billion deal amid plunging crude markets. The Anglo-Dutch group is confident investors will back the deal at a Jan. 27 meeting, even though crude prices are languishing near 12 year lows around $32 a barrel and it faces a cut to its credit ratings due to higher debts, sources with knowledge of its meetings with analysts and investors said. When Shell announced the deal in April 2015, with oil trading around $55 a barrel, many investors saw it as a bold move to buy a weakened rival on the expectation that prices would recover to around $90 per barrel within three years. Initially, Shell indicated the combined group would be profitable with prices in the mid $70s a barrel. Last month, it said the merger would work in the low $60s, as it identified new synergies and cost cutting opportunities. On Wednesday, finance chief Simon Henry told analysts Shell had conducted stress tests that showed it could withstand oil at $50 a barrel over the next two years, the sources told Reuters. A Reuters poll on Monday showed analysts expect benchmark North Sea Brent crude futures to average $52.52 a barrel this year. To weather such an environment, Shell plans to cut capital spending further below the planned $35 billion for 2016, delay share buybacks and extend scrip dividends, where investors are offered discounted shares instead of cash, Henry told analysts. Shell plans to keep the size of its dividend unchanged, however. Henry also met this week in London with several of Shell's top 10 investors, including BlackRock and Capital Group, seeking to address concerns about the deal. Chief Executive Ben van Beurden is expected to meet other leading investors in London on Friday and both he and Henry will hold phone briefings with U.S. investors next week, according to company sources. The investors are being asked how they plan to vote on the deal. Several so far have confirmed their support, but most have refused to disclose their plans, according to the sources. Despite weak oil prices, the deal is expected to win the backing of a majority of Shell's shareholders. "I would be very surprised if the deal didn't get the support of the Shell's shareholders. A 50 percent vote is very likely to happen," one top investor told Reuters. Ben Ritchie, senior investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, a top ten investor in both Shell and BG , had previously indicated his company would vote in favor of the deal. A Shell spokesman confirmed company executives had held meetings with top investors but would not comment on the content of the discussions. Shell shares fell 2.9 percent on Thursday, having slumped more than 30 percent since the deal was announced on April 8, trailing most of its peers. LOWER RATING In the analyst briefing, Henry said that although the oil market would take time to recover from its worst downturn in three decades, prices would likely average at least $60 a barrel over the next 15 years, the long-term level at which Shell says the deal is profitable, according to sources at the briefing. The chief financial officer (CFO) nevertheless acknowledged that the weaker outlook and larger debt Shell will assume to finance the deal means credit rating agencies such as Standard & Poors (S&P) and Moody's will likely lower their ratings. Lower credit ratings could make borrowing more expensive but are unlikely to significantly change access to debt markets. S&P last July cut Shell's rating by one notch to 'AA minus' from 'AA' due to weaker oil prices, warning of possible adverse effects on credit metrics due to the BG acquisition. Shell has outlined plans to sell $30 billion of assets over the next three years in order to finance the deal, but Henry said Shell was unlikely to achieve a third of that total this year due to low oil prices, the sources said. (Additional reporting by Emiliano Mellino; Editing by Mark Potter)
Customers of United wait in line to check in at Newark International airport in New Jersey, November 15, 2012. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (Reuters)

By Jeffrey Dastin

(Reuters) - United Continental Holdings Inc <UAL.N> said on Thursday that Chief Executive Oscar Munoz was recovering well the day after a heart transplant that raised concerns about how long the second-largest U.S. airline might be without its top executive.

Munoz, 57, has been on medical leave since suffering a heart attack in October. United said on Wednesday his previously expected first-quarter return may be delayed until the beginning of the second quarter.

Brett Hart, the carrier's general counsel, has run the airline in the interim.

"The patient's early course has been excellent, and the transplanted heart is functioning very well," Duc Pham, director of the Northwestern Medicine Heart Transplant Program, said in the United statement.

For months, United has aimed to allay concern that management shake-ups had left an inexperienced team of executives running its business.

Munoz became CEO in September after predecessor Jeff Smisek resigned following a probe into United's relationship with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

In Munoz's absence, the airline has pursued the agenda he outlined in his month on the job. It struck tentative contract deals to rebuild workers' morale and improved on-time performance to boost customer satisfaction, lowest among rivals in J.D. Power's 2015 ranking.

Shares fell nearly 5 percent on Thursday.

"We hope (United) will outline some succession planning soon," S&P Capital IQ analyst Jim Corridore said in a research note on Thursday. "We see this issue as a potential overhang on the shares."

United's board of directors will closely monitor Munoz's progress, the board chairman said in the statement.

In a separate regulatory filing Wednesday, United said Munoz will earn $1.25 million per year initially, as well as a $5.2 million cash signing bonus and a long-term incentive award, worth at least $10.5 million. United and Munoz entered into the employment agreement on Dec. 31.

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Munoz's health had improved before Wednesday's transplant with the aid of an implanted medical device, and he visited employees and participated in company meetings since early December, United said in the press release.

It added: "A transplant was considered to be preferable to long-term reliance on the implanted device and was not the result of a setback in his recovery."

About 88 percent of people who have a heart transplant survive the first year following surgery, and 75 percent survive after five years, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney and Cynthia Osterman)
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A toilet that does not need water, a sewage system or external power but instead uses nanotechnology to treat human waste, produce clean water and keep smells at bay is being developed by a British university. The innovative toilet uses a rotating mechanism to move waste into a holding chamber containing nano elements. The mechanism also blocks odors and keeps waste out of sight. "Once the waste is in the holding chamber we use membranes that take water out as vapor, which can then be condensed and available for people to use in their homes," Alison Parker, lead researcher on the project, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "The pathogens remain in the waste at the bottom of the holding chamber, so the water is basically pure and clean." Cranfield University is developing the toilet as part of the global "Reinvent the toilet Challenge" launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Nanotechnology is the science of creating and working with materials about one nanometer wide, or one-billionth of a meter. A human hair is about 80,000 nanometers wide. Parker said that despite "significant" interest from developed countries, the toilet is being designed with those in mind who have no access to adequate toilets. According to the U.N. children's agency UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) 2.4 billion people, mostly in rural areas, live without adequate toilets. Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio, the WHO says. Cranfield University says its toilet is designed for a household of up to 10 people and will cost just $0.05 per day per user. A replaceable bag containing solid waste coated with a biodegradable nano-polymer which blocks odor will be collected periodically by a local operator, it says. Initial field testing of the toilet is likely to take place later this year, Parker said. (Reporting by Magdalena Mis, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, womens rights, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
Premiers from Western Canada's two NDP provinces met in Winnipeg today to discuss climate change policy and renewable energy.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley swapped ideas on energy infrastructure, renewable energy and climate change priorities.

Selinger praised Notley's government and its recent commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"Alberta has shown very admirable leadership on the climate change file since Premier Notley has taken office," Selinger said.

"Alberta's climate leadership plan places the conversation on [the] Energy East [pipeline project] in an improved context as the country moves towards a low carbon future."

Selinger added that Notley's long-term vision to create more jobs in the renewable energy sector squares with Manitoba's clean-energy plan and pledge to create more green jobs.

"Alberta and Manitoba will support each other in our goals on creating greener economies based on good jobs and sustainability," Selinger said.

6,000 green jobs promised

Last month, Selinger promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions by one-third in the next 15 years and bring in a cap-and-trade system for the province's 20 largest emitters to help meet that goal.

The government promised to create 6,000 green jobs in the next five years, expand its Power Smart program to help people reduce energy use and bring in an environmental bill of rights with an independent watchdog.

In Alberta, Notley last month introduced a sweeping new climate change strategy, including a plan to cap oilsands emissions at 100 megatonnes and charge a $30-a-tonne carbon tax by 2018.

"Calls for action on both [energy and the environment] are getting louder every day and that is because the science is clear: climate change poses an immediate and serious threat," Notley said Friday in Winnipeg.

"There's no room for complacency; we simply must act now. Both Manitoba and Alberta are doing that."

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Moving forward, the two provinces will be sharing information on how to better integrate energy grids in western Canada, Selinger added.

"It's a partnership that will benefit not only Albertans and Manitobans but the whole country," Selinger said.

"Climate change is one of the defining issues around the planet right now, and it's a challenge that we've all signed onto as a result of the Paris agreement."
Two teenagers are facing murder charges after a Gatineau, Que., filmmaker was found dead outside his home in Central America earlier this week.

Matthiew Klinck, 37, was found lying face-up outside his home in the country of Belize, which "appeared ransacked," on Monday night, Belize police previously told CBC News.

He had been stabbed 14 times in his upper body, police said.

Klinck lived in the village of Selena in the western part of Belize. Until his body was found Monday, he had not been seen since Saturday afternoon.

Eldest teen a friend of Klinck

Belize police arrested 19-year-old Brandon Anderson of Belize on Wednesday and charged him Friday morning with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Anderson was a close friend of Klinck, police said.

A 16-year-old boy is facing the same charges. He knows Anderson but did not know Klinck, police said.

His name is not being released by police.

Both teens, who were arrested in their respective homes, were scheduled to appear in court Friday and are expected to remain in custody.

Klinck, who grew up in Aylmer, Que., had been living in Belize and worked as a producer, director, videographer and editor.

He directed the 2007 film Greg & Gentillon, about two small-time comedians, and the 2008 film Hank and Mike, an Easter movie about holiday mascots.
By Jack Kim and Ben Blanchard SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - South Korea unleashed an ear-splitting propaganda barrage across its border with North Korea on Friday in retaliation for its nuclear test, while the United States called on China to end "business as usual" with its ally. The broadcasts, in rolling bursts from walls of loudspeakers at 11 locations along the heavily militarized border, blared rhetoric critical of the Pyongyang regime as well as "K-pop" music. North Korea later responded with its own broadcasts. Wednesday's nuclear test angered both the United States and China, which was not given prior notice, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt Pyongyang's claim that the device it set off was a hydrogen bomb. China is North Korea's main economic and diplomatic backer, although relations between the Cold War allies have cooled in recent years. China's Foreign Ministry urged North Korea to stick to its denuclearization pledges and avoid action that would make the situation worse, but also said China did not hold the key to resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. "Achieving denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and safeguarding the peninsula's peace and stability accords with all parties' mutual interests, is the responsibility of all parties, and requires all parties to put forth efforts," ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news briefing. The North agreed to end its nuclear program in international negotiations in 2005 but later walked away from the deal. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that he had told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China's approach to North Korea had not succeeded. "APPROACH HAS NOT WORKED" "China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respected to give them space to implement that," Kerry told reporters after the phone call. "Today, in my conversation with the Chinese, I made it very clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual." In a call on Friday with his South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se, Wang said talks on the issue should be resumed as soon as possible, China's Foreign Ministry said. South Korea's nuclear safety agency said it had found a minuscule amount of xenon gas in a sample from off its east coast but said more analysis and samples were needed to determine if it came from a nuclear test. The head of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which uses monitoring stations around the world to detect atomic tests, said only "normal" levels of xenon had been detected, at a site in Japan. "Xenon readings at 1st station downwind of #DPRK test site RN38 Takasaki #Japan at normal concentrations. Sampling continues," the CTBTO's executive secretary, Lassina Zerbo, said on Twitter on Friday evening. The presence of xenon would not indicate whether the blast was from a hydrogen device or a simpler fission explosion. Seismic waves created by the blast were almost identical to those generated in North Korea's last nuclear test in 2013, Jeffrey Park, a seismologist at Yale University, wrote in a post on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists website, adding to scepticism about the hydrogen bomb claim. Meanwhile, South Korea resumed its frontier broadcasts, which the isolated North has in the past threatened to stop with military strikes. The last time South Korea deployed the loudspeakers, in retaliation for a landmine blast in August that wounded two South Korean soldiers, it led to an exchange of artillery fire. The sound can carry 10 km (6 miles) into North Korea during the day and more than twice that at night, the South's Yonhap news agency reported. BORDER PROPAGANDA A male announcer could be heard from South Korea telling North Koreans that their leader Kim Jong Un and his wife wear clothes costing thousands of dollars. Another message said Kim's promises to boost both the economy and the nuclear program were unrealistic. The North's broadcasts were not clearly audible from the South and appeared intended to drown out those from the South, Yonhap said, citing a South Korean official. As North Korea boosted troop deployments in front-line units, the South vowed to retaliate against any attack on its equipment, raised its military readiness to the highest level near the loudspeakers, canceled tours of the Demilitarized Zone on the border, and also raised its cyberattack alert level. In Washington, the North's actions appeared to have forged rare unity in the House of Representatives between Republicans and Democrats on tightening sanctions against North Korea. Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, told reporters that Democrats would support a North Korea bill likely to be brought for a vote by Republicans next week. A congressional source said it was expected as soon as Monday. But it is unclear how more sanctions will deter North Korea, which has conducted four nuclear tests since 2006. The United States and South Korea are limited in their military options. Washington sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers over South Korea in a show of force after North Korea last tested a nuclear device in 2013. North Korea responded then by threatening a nuclear strike on the United States. A South Korean military official said Seoul and Washington had discussed the deployment of U.S. strategic weapons on the Korean peninsula, but declined to give details. Media said the assets could include B-2 and B-52 bombers, and a nuclear-powered submarine. (Additional reporting by James Pearson, Se Young Lee, Christine Kim, Jee Heun Kahng, Ju-min Park and Jack Kim in SEOUL, Dagyum Ji in GIMPO, Patricia Zengerle, Roberta Rampton, Doina Chiacu and Arshad Mohammed in WASHINGTON, Tim Kelly in YOKOSUKA and Francois Murphy in VIENNA; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Paul Tait and Kevin Liffey)
By Seyhmus Cakan DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Gunfire clattered constantly and smoke rose on Thursday from two towns in southeast Turkey and President Tayyip Erdogan said Kurdish militants would be "annihilated" in an intensifying urban battle that has killed 25 Kurdish militants in two days. The PKK's three-decades-old insurgency flared up again in July after the collapse of a two-year ceasefire, plunging Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast back into open conflict. Although traditionally rooted in the countryside, the PKK has shifted its focus in recent years to towns and cities in the southeast. The Ankara government has responded by cracking down with operations in border towns such as Cizre and Silopi, both of which were placed under curfew on Monday. Erdogan said the operations would continue until the area was "cleansed" of the militants and their barricades and trenches destroyed. "You will be annihilated in those houses, those buildings, those ditches which you have dug," he told a crowd in Konya. "Our security forces will continue this fight until it has been completely cleansed and a peaceful atmosphere established." Ferhat Encu, a local deputy for the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), said the curfews there had "mutated into a process of destroying the towns", forcing people to flee. "The untargeted attacks and shelling by security forces amount to an all-out attack on the Kurdish people by a government which wants to blockade neighborhoods," he said in a text of parliamentary questions to the interior minister. The two towns, in Sirnak province near the Syrian and Iraqi borders, became central targets for Turkey's latest anti-PKK operations in which Turkey's media says 10,000 police and troops, backed by tanks, are taking part. Twenty-four PKK militants were killed in Cizre and one in Silopi in the latest operations, the Turkish military said in a statement. Eight members of the security forces suffered wounds that were not life-threatening. Machinegun bursts echoed across Cizre on Thursday and smoke funneled up from the town, overlooked by armored vehicles parked on hills, after a spate of blasts and shooting overnight, with tracer fire lighting up the sky. "Through resistance we will win!" Kurds could be heard chanting in Cizre, while others shouted, whistled and banged saucepans and children kicked store shutters in the darkened streets in a protest against the security operations. Witnesses said there were similar scenes in Silopi overnight. Hospital sources said a 45-year-old mother of four, named as Hediye Sen, was killed during clashes in Cizre while a 70-year-old died of a heart attack during fighting in Silopi. "SPREADING THE FIRE" Witnesses said the towns' streets were largely empty and stores closed on Thursday and the Sirnak governor's office said security forces continued to dismantle barricades, fill ditches and remove explosive devices planted by the PKK. In the region's largest city, Diyarbakir, two policemen were wounded in clashes in the historic district of Sur, security sources said. Elsewhere in the city, militants threw handmade explosives under an armored police truck, triggering a brief clash between police and fleeing assailants. The PKK launched its insurgency in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Peace talks between its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan and the state ground to a halt early this year. The PKK is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said this week Ankara aimed to prevent the PKK "spreading the fire" from Syria and Iraq to Turkey by imposing control in towns, like the army has done in mountainous areas where the militants were active in the past. Figen Yuksekdag, co-leader of the HDP has said 200,000 people have been displaced in recent months as a result of conflict in the southeast, accusing the state of conducting a war against Kurds. Davutoglu was reported on Thursday by Milliyet newspaper as telling reporters operations were launched to frustrate moves to trigger a civil war, accusing the HDP, whose core support is sympathetic to the PKK, of acting arrogantly after winning 13 percent of votes in a June election. "If we had delayed a bit more (in launching operations), their intention was to launch a much more comprehensive civil war," he said, accusing the HDP leaders of "playing with fire". (Additional reporting by Gulsen Solaker in Ankara; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by David Dolan and Dominic Evans)
A woman exits the Viacom Inc. headquarters in New York April 30, 2013. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

By Ross Kerber and Jessica Toonkel

BOSTON (Reuters) - Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) will allow investors to vote in March on a proposal to extend voting rights to all shareholders, though the measure is certain to fail as it is opposed by executive chairman Sumner Redstone's holding company.

Still, the vote will test how much confidence minority shareholders have in Viacom's senior management, amid concerns over the health of 92-year-old Redstone.

Redstone controls about 80 percent of Viacom's Class A voting shares through his holding company, National Amusements Inc. Most outsiders hold Viacom's Class B shares, which do not have voting rights.

The proposal to extend voting rights to all shareholders came from Seamus Finn, director of socially responsible investing for Missionary Oblates, a Roman Catholic congregation in Washington which owns 4,000 voting Class A shares in Viacom.

The proposal called for a share recapitalization plan that would give all Viacom shareholders one vote per share, according to the proposal seen by Reuters.

Viacom spokesman Jeremy Zweig confirmed the plan to hold the vote at the company's annual shareholders meeting in March. He also reiterated Viacom's view that its dual-class share structure helps it focus on long-term goals.

Value investor Mario Gabelli, whose firm is the second largest holder of voting shares of Viacom with 10 percent, said he would not support Finn's proposal unless he was paid for giving up his voting shares.

"It makes no economic sense," Gabelli said in an interview, noting that it has taken his firm 17 years to accumulate its position in Viacom. "Why would I give up my right without economic compensation?"

Finn said he understood the proposal had little chance of passage but he felt it was important to air out the issue at the annual meeting, in part because of Redstone's health

"It's something to be taken into consideration," Finn said. Because Viacom is a media company, "it's particularly important that there be a greater level of democracy and a greater level of transparency and participation by the shareholders," he added.

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Questions about Redstone's health were heightened in November after a former girlfriend filed a lawsuit that raised doubts about the billionaire' s competence. Redstone also controls CBS Corp (CBS.N).

Shares of Viacom, whose properties include the Paramount Pictures film studio and Comedy Central cable network, have fallen 45 percent over the past year, as ratings slipped and more consumers ditched pricey cable television subscriptions.

The stock rose 5.4 percent to close at $40.98 on the Nasdaq on Friday.

Finn has long argued against dual shareholder classes. Last month, leaders of major public pension funds in California and Florida called on Viacom to make a similar change.

In a letter to Finn dated Dec. 22, 2015, Viacom Vice President Heidi Naunton wrote that the dual-class structure "has helped protect our company from short-term pressures and the disruption associated with efforts by activists to challenge control, and the structure has thereby allowed our board and senior management to focus on our long-term success."

Viacom also noted other public companies have adopted the dual-class structure, including Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), the holding company for Google.

Sal Muoio, whose firm is the seventh-largest owner of voting shares of Viacom, said he supported the proposal to expand voting rights.

"It's hard not to vote for that because you would have to really make an exception for what you think is really exceptional management," said Muoio.

"I think we will certainly vote for it."

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Tiffany Wu)
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said recaptured Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman will have to answer to his crimes and the Justice Department confirmed that a previous request to extradite the kingpin to the United States still stands. Guzman was apprehended by Mexican marines on Friday, with help from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and U.S. Marshals, a senior Mexican police source said. U.S. officials refused to confirm U.S. involvement. El Chapo was captured in February 2014 but escaped from prison last July in a stunning jailbreak from a maximum security facility. After the 2014 arrest, "the United States did submit full extradition requests to Mexico," said Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr, adding that there is no need to resubmit an extradition request. "Guzman's latest attempt to escape has failed, and he will now have to answer for his alleged crimes, which have resulted in significant violence, suffering, and corruption on multiple continents," Lynch said in a statement. Lynch did not mention the issue of extradition. The DEA said in a statement it will work with Mexico "in its efforts to improve security for its citizens and continue to work together to respond to the evolving threats posed by transnational criminal organizations." (Reporting by Julia Edwards; Editing by Eric Walsh and Mary Milliken)
One year later, artists are still affirming the power of the pen.

Cartoonists have been paying tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack that took place at Charlie Hebdos office in Paris on Jan. 7 last year. The tragedy evoked widespread compassion for the French people and artists in particular  especially those who challenge social mores as the satirical magazine routinely does.

On Thursday morning, a year after the tragedy, illustrators were showing their belief in free speech as Paris police dealt with a threat outside one of their stations. An officer shot and killed a butcher-knife-wielding man who was wearing a fake explosive vest. According to early reports, a piece of paper with an ISIS logo and a claim of responsibility on behalf of the terrorist group was found on his body.

Tjeerd Royaards, a Dutch editorial cartoonist based in Amsterdam, drew a group of people walking down a winding road that represents the past year. Early on, many free speech supporters could be seen carrying Je suis Charlie signs and holding up pencils in defiance.

Tjeerd Royaards, a cartoonist based in Amsterdam, drew a picture about the Je Suis Charlie-feeling after the terrorist attack in January 2015 and how much of it remains today.

But that solidarity peters out as the walk continues, and subsequent signs allude to the debates and commentaries that followed: some question if we truly are Charlie and another maintains that she is not Charlie.

At the end of the road, all that remains is a singular cartoonist holding a stick figure drawing, which presumably depicts the Prophet Muhammad, standing before an armed terrorist. The illustrator is looking backward at the largely empty road behind. At the far end, a man holds a sign that reads, You are Charlie.

My cartoon is about how much of the 'Je suis Charlie' feeling is left after the attack. Being a cartoonist can be a risky profession these days, and support for what you do is important, he told Yahoo News. So my cartoon is a warning that we should not forget how we felt last year, and to keep reminding ourselves that cartoons are important, because freedom of expression is important.

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Royaards, the editor in chief of the Cartoon Movement in Amsterdam, a global platform for comics journalism, does not necessarily see eye to eye with everything the politically incorrect magazine publishes, but he supports its right to do so without censorship or violent intimidation.

And for me, Charlie Hebdo is freedom of expression, he continued. I might not agree with every cartoon they publish, but thats precisely the point. Disagreement and discussion are essential for freedom of expression to exist.

Mark Chambers, a picture book illustrator from the United Kingdom, shared one of his drawings from after the attack on Charlie Hebdo to mark its one-year anniversary.

Also on the one-year-anniversary, Mark Chambers, a picture book illustrator from the United Kingdom, shared an image he drew of a boy proudly holding up a pencil while standing atop an overturned box in a field. Its caption reads, Je suis Charlie.

I did this illustration after the attacks last year, he told Yahoo News. It was important to me as an illustrator to show solidarity with the cartoonists who tragically lost their lives and with the artist community who created similar illustrations to honor them and others who are courageous enough to fight for the freedom of speech with the pen!

Rod Emmerson, an editorial cartoonist for the New Zealand Herald, drew a cartoon that shows two jihadis carrying a large red pencil that reads #Je suis Charlie. One terrorist tells his partner that the infidels will shiver when they realize they have this hideous technology  all they have to do is learn how its used.

Rod Emmerson, an editorial cartoonist from New Zealand, said that satire is more powerful than any AK47.

My cartoon carries a pointed message: Satire in art (cartooning) has been around for a very long time  long before newspapers were printed  and will exist long after the last newspaper is published. It's a potent messenger  more powerful than any AK47. Guns eventually run out of ammunition  satire doesn't, he told Yahoo News.

Emmerson said he never totally agreed with Charlie Hebdos mantra of provocation for the sake of provocation; it is not what he does as a political cartoonist.

My work is researched, calculated and sits with a purpose. But that said, the ideology behind the 2015 attack was an attack on all cartoonists and all publishers everywhere. We live with intimidation daily, and there is no way I am going to be dictated to by gun-wielding nutcases, he said.

Royaards, Chambers and Emmerson were far from the only cartoonists using their skills to honor the victims and show solidarity with the magazines current staff.
Exeter (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp bemoaned the fact that his over-worked team will be required to play yet another crucial game in January following the 2-2 FA Cup third round draw at Exeter City.

The German coach fielded an unrecognisable, young line-up against the League Two club, blaming a lengthy injury list and the need to rest senior players for what was his team's fifth game in 14 days.

After Friday's draw, Liverpool now face an Anfield replay with Exeter before a second leg of their League Cup semi-final with Stoke, as well as a scheduled Premier League meeting against Arsenal on Wednesday.

Further, next month sees Klopp resurrect his interest in a fourth competition this season when Liverpool face German club Augsburg in the knock-out stages of the Europa League.

"We have to play again, I can't believe that is another game but we will be there," said Klopp who admitted that he could not judge his young players on this one game alone.

"It can't be the future. I can't judge the young players after this one game, it doesn't work like that. However, they certainly helped us in our situation today but it's obvious what we have to learn in the future. We have to be more robust.

"I think the Exeter players were more robust than us and we have to work on that. But we certainly deserved a draw. And that is what we have got.

"Now we have got another game to play. But I am not complaining. We have more games than most teams because we are still in other competitions."

Klopp made light of a dreadful mistake by his back-up goalkeeper Adam Bogdan, leading to Exeter's second goal, and claimed that the fact it was shown around the world on live television was sufficient analysis of the incident.

But Bogdan's display will add to speculation that Liverpool will be in the market for a new goalkeeper in the current transfer window.

"I thought both goals were really unlucky for us," he said. "The first goal was from their first attack and we weren't awake.

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"The second goal  okay! The BBC showed it live, the full package, spectacular!"

Klopp changed all 11 players from Liverpools last outing, the League Cup first leg victory at Stoke, handing out three debuts among his starting eleven and naming a side in which just two players -- Jose Enrique and Christian Benteke -- could boast more than four appearances for the club.

Not surprisingly, his young side fell behind to a goal by Tom Nichols and, after Jerome Sinclair quickly equalised, an horrendous mistake by Klopps stand-in goalkeeper gifted a second goal to Lee Holmes, direct from a corner.

Liverpool earned the replay with a 74th minute equaliser from Australian defender Brad Smith, a replay which will be worth an estimated 700,000 to the League Two club.

"It was a great cup tie and I felt we gave it a real go and I am really looking forward to the replay," said Exeter manager Paul Tisdale.

"I am a tad disappointed because I felt we had a chance to win. Yes, we are going to get a pay day and that is important. There will be a lot of discussion where that money goes, but it will go towards helping to maintain what we have.

"Cash flow is always a problem so this is a great boost for the football club. We are very frugal and we are careful with every penny we spend. I just cannot over emphasis how important this could be for us."
Paris (AFP) - One year after a jihadist attack wiped out most of its staff, French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday published a typically provocative special edition featuring a gun-toting God, sparking protests from the Vatican.

The cover of the anniversary edition features a bloodstained, bearded God-figure in sandals with a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder under the headline: "One year on: the killer is still at large."

The controversial cover is typical of the fiercely secular publication whose drawings of the Prophet Mohammed drew the fury of Muslims around the world and inspired the bloody attack on its offices on January 7 last year.

Jihadist brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi gunned down eight Charlie staff as well as several others in and around the building in the assault, which began three days of terror in the French capital that would eventually leave 17 dead.

"It is the idea of God itself that we, at Charlie, contest. You need to shake up people's ideas or they stay stuck in their positions," said cartoonist Riss, who lost the use of his right arm in the attack, in an interview with AFP.

Charlie Hebdo, a struggling publication that gained bittersweet fame after the attacks and become a symbol of freedom of speech, has printed one million copies of the anniversary edition.

"I love the cover. I never bought it before (the attack) but have taken it several times this year," said Francis, 53, outside a newspaper kiosk in Paris.

"It's good to be uncomfortable while reading it."

While millions rushed to buy the first edition after the attack, circulation of the controversial publication has slowed to about 100,000 copies a week and there were no crowds trying to buy the anniversary edition.

Before the attack, Charlie Hebdo was facing financial ruin and barely managing to sell 30,000 issues a week.

The Vatican criticised the cover for failing to "acknowledge or to respect believers' faith in God, regardless of the religion."

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"Behind the deceptive flag of uncompromising secularism, the weekly is forgetting once more what religious leaders of every faith unceasingly repeat... using God to justify hatred -- is a genuine blasphemy, as Pope Francis has said several times."

- Attack was 'unthinkable' -

The attack on Charlie, as well as a Jewish supermarket and police, brought millions onto the streets in protest and led to soul-searching over the country's cherished secularism as well as issues such as integration.

"It was unthinkable that in France in the 21st century, journalists would be killed by religion," cartoonist Riss wrote in the editorial of the special edition.

"We saw France as an island of secularism, where it was possible to tell jokes, draw, laugh, without worrying about dogma, fanatics."

The special edition devotes several pages to the topic of secularism, as well as reflections on the terrifying minutes when the Kouachi brothers burst into an editorial meeting spraying gunfire.

In his editorial, Riss wrote that the team was keenly aware of the fact that since publishing images of the Prophet Mohammed, seen as forbidden by many Muslims, "many hoped someone would one day put us in our places."

The attack, claimed by Al-Qaeda's branch in the Arabian Peninsula, was not the first on the publication, which was firebombed in 2011.

The bloodshed stunned a nation that has become a target for jihadists and was again plunged into shock in November when 130 people were killed in coordinated attacks around Paris.

- 'Two idiots in balaclavas' -

Charlie has continued to raise ire, refusing self-censorship in the wake of the attacks, working from ultra-secure offices in a top-secret location.

When Riss pictured Aylan Kurdi, 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.

And he said a priest who attended the massive January 11 march after the attack had written to him to say he found the latest cover "scandalous."

The cartoonist said in his editorial he was often asked how he managed to continue after what had happened.

"We want to beat the crap out of those who wanted us to die more than ever.

"It is not two little idiots in balaclavas who are going to screw up our life's work."

However those killed are never far from the minds of the cartoonists.

"I ask myself sometimes if I am making the newspaper they would have made. To me, they are no longer there but they are not gone," said Riss.
By James Oliphant and Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - To Republican U.S. presidential contenders, North Koreas claim that it tested a hydrogen bomb may further make the 2016 race what they dearly want it to be: a referendum on President Barack Obama's foreign policy and, by extension, Hillary Clintons. For months, these Republicans have liked to say the world is "on fire," pinning the conflicts in Iraq and Syria, the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, and the recent tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia on Obamas administration and Clintons stint as his secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Now, they can add North Korea to the threats they say face American voters. "When China fell to the communists (in 1949), the question that dogged the Truman administration was: 'Who lost China?'" said John Feehery, a Republican strategist. "The question that will dog the Democrats is: Who lost North Korea?" The criticism on foreign policy has ratcheted up the pressure on Clinton, the likely Democratic presidential nominee in November's election, to take a harder line on national security without handing Republicans more ammunition to argue that Obama's stewardship has been a failure. Analysts said Republicans may have little room to maneuver since the Obama administration's approach toward containing North Korea did not differ materially from the one used by Republican George W. Bush's administration before it. "Theyve been a headache for every Democrat. Theyve been a headache for every Republican," Michael Rubin, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said of the North Koreans. "North Korea may be the last remaining foreign policy quagmire that hasn't been politicized in a partisan fashion." That does not mean Republican candidates did not try on Wednesday after North Korea's announcement. They said Obama's foreign policy let North Korea bolster its nuclear arms capabilities, and also assigned blame to Clinton. "Three out of the four nuclear detonations that the North Koreans have done have happened on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's watch," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told Fox News, "and they have just not acted strongly at all around the world." Clinton condemned North Korea's move as "dangerous and provocative," and said the United States should respond with more sanctions and stronger missile defenses. She also defended her performance as Obama's top diplomat. "As secretary, I championed the United States' pivot to the Asia Pacific - including shifting additional military assets to the theater - in part to confront threats like North Korea and to support our allies," Clinton said in a statement. "I worked to get not just our allies but also Russia and China on board for the strongest sanctions yet." PRESSURE ON CHINA Businessman Donald Trump, leading the race for the Republican nomination, urged China to rein in its ally North Korea or face trade repercussions. "China should solve that problem," Trump told Fox News. "And if they don't solve the problem, we should make trade very difficult for China. ... North Korea is totally under their control. Without China, they wouldn't eat," Trump added. Texas Senator Ted Cruz blamed North Korea's test on the "folly" of failed policies by Obama and Clinton. Cruz said as president he would "rip to shreds" the international agreement on Iran's nuclear program and predicted if Clinton is elected in November Iran would detonate a nuclear weapon, "sadly not as a test," over a city like Tel Aviv, New York or Los Angeles. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul advocated drawing on China's influence with North Korea and possibly increasing sanctions on the isolated communist state. "There are no easy solutions," Paul told CNN. "You want me to magically wave a wand and all of a sudden their nuclear weapons are gone?" Paul's remarks illustrated the bind Republicans find themselves in. While North Korea's action may buttress their argument that it is time for their party to assume control of the White House, there is a relatively small range of policy options for their candidates to advocate, analysts said, short of calling for U.S. intervention in the region. That was ruled out by not only the Obama administration but the Bush administration before it. Diplomacy has been tried for years. In 2005, North Korea reached an agreement with the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia to suspend its nuclear program in return for diplomatic rewards and energy assistance. Negotiations collapsed after the last round of talks in 2008, with North Korea declaring the deal void after refusing inspections to verify compliance. "I dont think she is going to move to advocate a military option," Scott Snyder, who heads the U.S.-Korea program at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said of Clinton. "She will exploit the perception that Republicans are moving too quickly into that space. This is one (issue) where she doesn't necessarily have to move to the right. She has the advantage of having the cliff on her backside." (Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Steve Holland, Michelle Conlin and Alana Wise; Writing by James Oliphant; Editing by Will Dunham)
By Yeganeh Torbati and James Mackenzie

WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) - One member of the U.S. armed forces was killed and two others were wounded on Tuesday in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, the site of fierce fighting between Taliban insurgents and American-backed Afghan government forces, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. troops came under fire in the town of Marjah while accompanying Afghan special operations forces, and a U.S. helicopter was damaged in the incident, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. Afghan troops also were injured in the fighting, Cook added.

American special operations troops were part of the mission accompanying Afghan forces, a U.S. defense official said.

"U.S. special operators are ... allowed to engage and train, advise and assist their special operations counterparts," Cook said. "They've been in Helmand province providing this kind of support in the past."

Two U.S. HH-60 Pave Hawk medical evacuation helicopters were sent to provide assistance, Cook said. One was waved off after taking fire and returned to its base, while the second landed safely but struck a wall, damaged its rotor blades, and remained on the ground, Cook added.

The American killed in the incident became the first U.S. military death of 2016 in Afghanistan. The incident underscored the continuing danger faced by American troops who have been fighting in Afghanistan since 2001.

"My understanding is that there may still be Americans on the ground in this immediate situation engaging with the enemy in support of Afghan forces," Cook said. "This is a fluid situation."

For more than six months, Helmand has been the scene of battles between insurgents and security forces that have complained of being abandoned by the U.S.-backed Afghan government. The deputy governor of the volatile southern province said in December that Helmand could fall to the Taliban after months of heavy fighting.

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U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has been updated by U.S. commanders in Kabul on the situation via videoconference, Cook said. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the incident.

Obama last year slowed the pace of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, announcing he would maintain a force of 9,800 through most of 2016.

The security situation in Afghanistan has worsened. A Pentagon report last month stated Taliban forces were able to stage more attacks and inflict more casualties on Afghan forces in 2015 compared to 2014.

"We believe we're on the right course," Cook said. "We remain confident in the future of the Afghan government and the Afghan security forces."

(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing by Alison Williams and Will Dunham)
Anti-Saudi demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran to protest Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and after Iran accused its rival of bombing its embassy in Yemen. Shiites also protested in the Saudi city of Qatif, near the hometown of the executed sheikh, Nimr al-Nimr, while in the Pakistani capital 1,500 people rallied against his execution. The festering diplomatic crisis between the Middle East's leading Sunni and Shiite Muslim powers has raised sectarian tensions across the region and complicated efforts to resolve conflicts in Syria and Yemen. In a development that could further strain relations, Saudi media reported Friday that four Iranians would go on trial in the kingdom, one for spying and the other three for "terrorism". Around 1,000 protestors marched through Tehran chanting "death to Al-Saud" -- Riyadh's ruling family, according to an AFP photographer. Others shouted "death to America" and "death to Israel", frequent rallying cries at demonstrations in Iran. Some carried placards with the picture of Nimr, the cleric and activist whose execution by Saudi Arabia on Saturday unleashed a wave of anger across the Shiite world. Relations between the longtime adversaries hit a fresh low Thursday when Iran accused Saudi warplanes of deliberately targeting its embassy in Sanaa, damaging the property and seriously wounding a security guard. The Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed rebels in Yemen denied carrying out an attack and insisted the diplomatic mission was "safe", but Tehran said it would take the matter to the UN Security Council. - 'Delusional hype' - Iran said it did not want to escalate tensions in the Middle East, but Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Riyadh was "spreading delusional hype about Iran" and accused the kingdom of "sectarian hate-mongering". The Yemeni conflict, which pits Shiite Huthi rebels against pro-government forces backed by Riyadh and other Gulf Arab states, is one of the main sources of dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran. During weekly prayers in Tehran, influential cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani told worshippers that Riyadh, along with Israel and the United States, was responsible for "all crimes committed against Muslims". "The Zionist regime plans, the US supports and Saudi Arabia sources the necessary funds," Kashani said, according to state news agency IRNA. Shiite protesters in eastern Saudi Arabia called Friday for the "death" of the Sunni-majority kingdom's ruling Al-Saud family at a rally to honour Nimr, a witness said. Pictures from the city of Qatif showed what appeared to be hundreds of demonstrators, many clad in black. Around 1,500 people also rallied in Islamabad against the execution. Nimr was executed along with 46 other prisoners who Riyadh said were "terrorists". In response, protesters in Iran stormed and set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in the second city of Mashhad. Iran denounced those attacks, but the repercussions quickly rippled across the region and beyond with Saudi allies Bahrain, Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan following Riyadh's example and cutting diplomatic ties with Tehran. At the same time, the United Arab Emirates has downgraded relations with Iran, while Kuwait and Qatar have recalled their ambassadors. - Opposing sides - Iran hit back Thursday by announcing a ban on imports from the kingdom, which will reportedly affect goods worth about $40 million (37 million euros). The latest crisis threatens a fragile UN-backed initiative to end the war in Yemen, where the world body says at least 2,795 civilians have been killed since March. Special UN envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed arrived in Riyadh Friday to meet Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, the government's delegation to the talks and political party leaders, as well as senior Saudi officials, the UN said in Geneva. Iran and Saudi Arabia also support opposing sides in Syria. Tehran is providing military assistance to close ally President Bashar al-Assad against rebel groups, some backed by Saudi Arabia. The growing tensions have heaped doubt on a UN-backed plan that foresees talks between the Syrian sides this month in a bid to end a war that has claimed more than a quarter of a million lives. Saudi media said that the four Iranians set to stand trial in Saudi Arabia were arrested in 2013 and 2014, but they were not identified nor were the charges against them spelled out.
South Korea on Friday resumed high-decibel propaganda broadcasts into North Korea as the United States ramped up pressure on China to bring Pyongyang to heel after its latest nuclear test. While North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un celebrated his 32nd birthday, the international community scrambled to find common ground on how best to penalise his regime following its shock announcement two days ago that it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb. The cross-border broadcasts blare out an eclectic mix of everything from K-pop and weather forecasts to snippets of news and critiques of the North Korean regime. Among the songs on Friday's playlist was "Bang, Bang, Bang" a recent hit by A-list K-pop boy band, Big Bang. Their resumption revives psychological warfare tactics that date back to the 1950-53 Korean War. But they can be remarkably effective. Their use during a dangerous flare-up in cross-border tensions last year infuriated Pyongyang, which at one point threatened artillery strikes against the loudspeaker units unless they were switched off. The South finally pulled the plug after an agreement was reached in August to de-escalate a situation that had brought the two rivals to the brink of an armed conflict. Now they are back -- punishment for Wednesday's surprise nuclear test, which triggered global condemnation and concern, despite expert opinion that the yield was far too low to support the North's claim that the device was an H-bomb. - Diplomatic frenzy - The test set off a diplomatic frenzy as the UN Security Council met to discuss possible sanctions and world leaders sought to build a consensus on an appropriate response to such a grave violation of UN resolutions. Most eyes were on North Korea's main ally, China, which condemned the test but gave no signal that it was ready to approve a significant tightening of sanctions on its recalcitrant neighbour. In a phone call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that Beijing's softly-softly line had failed and it was time to take a tougher stance with Pyongyang. "China had a particular approach that it wanted to make and we agreed and gave them time to implement that," Kerry told reporters. "But today in my conversation with the Chinese I made it very clear that that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual." British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond delivered a similar message during a visit to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, docked at the Yokosuka Naval Base southwest of Tokyo. "Continuing with words is not enough, we have to show we are prepared to take actions to ensure sanctions against North Korea are effective," Hammond said. While Beijing has restrained US-led allies from stronger action against Pyongyang in the past, it has shown increasing frustration with its refusal to suspend testing. But China's leverage over Pyongyang is mitigated, analysts say, by its overriding fear of a North Korean collapse and the prospect of a reunified, US-allied Korea directly on its border. And Beijing has resisted being tagged as the only country that can influence events in Pyongyang, insisting that North Korea is a common problem for a host of countries. "We all know how the Korean nuclear issue came into being and where the crux lies. It's not on the Chinese side," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Friday. - Allies confer - On Thursday, US President Barack Obama also spoke with the leaders of the two main US allies in Asia -- and North Korean neighbours -- South Korea and Japan. The three countries, who have long sought to project a united front against the North Korean nuclear threat, agreed to work together at the United Nations to secure the strongest possible Security Council resolution. North Korea, meanwhile, has said virtually nothing since its TV broadcast at noon Wednesday announcing the "world startling event" of its latest test. The test, personally ordered by leader Kim Jong-Un, was of a miniaturised H-bomb, Pyongyang said, adding that it had now joined the ranks of "advanced nuclear nations". The detonation came two days before Kim's birthday which passed Friday with no special mention in the state media, although the timing of the test was clearly aimed at burnishing his leadership credentials. There is still widespread speculation over what device the North actually did test, but international experts mostly concur that it could not have been a full-scale thermonuclear device as claimed. The yield from Wednesday's explosion was initially estimated at six kilotons, whereas a two-stage H-bomb would be expected to release 1,000 times more energy.
By Tom Perry and John Irish BEIRUT/PARIS (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said they were under international pressure to make concessions that would prolong the war, adding to their doubts about a U.N.-led drive for peace talks due to begin this month. Opposition leaders are voicing misgivings over the new effort endorsed by the Security Council, not least because it does not address President Bashar al-Assad's future, a point of contention between states on either side of the war. Friday's statement by prominent rebel groups that support the idea of a political solution follows a meeting this week between a new opposition council and U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura, who aims to start negotiations on Jan. 25 in Geneva. Opposition leaders told de Mistura the government must take goodwill steps before any negotiations, by halting bombardments of civilian areas, lifting blockades of rebel-held territory and releasing detainees. They are waiting to hear back from him. The opposition council, set up to steer negotiations on the opposition side, was facing "international and U.N. pressure ... to offer concessions that will prolong the suffering of our people and the spilling of their blood", the rebels said. The rebel factions include groups represented on the council that have received backing from Assad's foreign foes, including Saudi Arabia and the United States. "CONNIVANCE" The rebels said they would not accept any concessions that ran counter to "the principles of our revolution" and they would support the council to resist such pressure. They also condemned what they described as international "connivance ... against the revolution". Riad Hijab, a former prime minister under Assad, who defected in 2012 and was elected last month as coordinator of the council, travels to Paris on Monday for talks with President Francois Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius before travelling to Berlin on Jan. 13. "France has always had the most progressive policy towards Syria and we have the best political relations with France," said Monzer Mahkous, representative of the opposition in Paris. France's foreign ministry said the visit aimed to coordinate positions ahead of the planned Jan. 25 talks. "We are pursuing our efforts for a credible transition in which Assad obviously could not be there at the end and to create a lasting ceasefire," Fabius said in a New Year's speech to diplomats.. "There is a need to underline the urgency, but also the extreme difficulty in achieving these objectives." DIPLOMATIC DRIVE The diplomatic drive follows the Dec. 18 adoption of a U.N. Security Council resolution endorsing an international plan for a Syria peace process to end a five-year-long war that has killed 250,000 people. The plan envisages a nationwide ceasefire and six months of talks beginning in January between Assad's government and the opposition on forming a unity government. De Mistura arrived in Damascus on Friday. Makhous said that visit would shed light on the Syrian government's position and give a better idea of whether the negotiations could go ahead. "Will they go ahead on Jan. 25th? It's not certain as there are a lot of problems to resolve," he said. He added that the opposition had established its 15-member negotiating team for the talks, but would not publish it until the Syrian government announced their list. An escalation in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran has compounded doubts surrounding the diplomatic initiative. Tensions have risen since Saudi Arabia executed a Shi'ite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr. Iranian and Russian military support has been crucial to Assad, while Saudi Arabia is a main backer of the insurgents battling to topple him, including groups that signed the statement issued on Friday. (Reporting by Tom Perry; editing by Andrew Roche)
The UK's Foreign Secretary has urged South Korea to "exercise restraint" in the wake of North Korea's nuclear bomb test.

Hours after Seoul resumed high-decibel propaganda broadcasts across the border it shares with the secretive state, Philip Hammond warned against "rising to the bait".

Mr Hammond was speaking in a town south of Tokyo, where he and the UK's Defence Secretary are meeting their Japanese counterparts.

North Korea, led by Kim Jong-un, has claimed that it has successfully tested a miniaturised hydrogen bomb - a move that has caused alarm in the west.

This is likely to be at the top of Mr Hammond's agenda when he discusses global security challenges with Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida, alongside Michael Fallon and his opposite number Gen Nakatani.

The Foreign Secretary, who has arrived in the country after visits to China and the Philippines, will also meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The FCO says he will reaffirm Britain's commitment to working together to uphold the rules-based international system.

Speaking after urgent discussions about North Korea in recent days with Chinese and South Korean foreign ministers, Mr Hammond said: "The UK and Japan are close allies.

"We enjoy a strong, historic relationship, based on common values and support for democracy, the rule of law, human rights and open markets.

"The long-term security of both the UK and Japan depend on upholding a stable international system. We will continue to work closely together to contribute to global prosperity, peace and security.

"The world today is increasingly dangerous, complex and uncertain.

"We face growing threats from terrorism and extremism, a resurgence in state-based threats including nuclear proliferation, and an escalation in challenges to our cyber security and to the rules-based international order.

"It is more important than ever for the UK to work with allies like Japan to counter these threats.

"As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the UK is continuing to play a central role on the issues that matter and is working with allies like Japan to safeguard national security, as well as building our prosperity overseas."

Besides his top-level talks with the Japanese government on the H-bomb and other international issues, the Foreign Secretary will also visit Nissan HQ, Hitachi and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
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.
Santa Clara, CA: Insys Therapuetics, the makers of CNBC.com Insys Therapuetics, the makers of Subsys Fentanyl, a powerful and addictive painkiller delivered as an oral spray, is now the subject of investigations by both federal and state attorneys general offices in California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Arizona and Illinois, according to a report by

Fentanyl products are considered among the most potent and dangerous opioids on the market, at about 80-100 times stronger than morphine. The oral product made by Subsys gets into the bloodstream faster than with traditional methods of delivery because it is sprayed under the tongue.



Among the concerns intended to be addressed by the investigations is that Subsys Fentanyl is being prescribed off-label, which while legal if physicians deem it appropriate, is illegal for pharmaceutical companies to market a drug for off-label use.



According to the report by CNBC, Insys allegedly not only marketed Subsys off-label but also paid medical professionals in the hopes they would write more prescriptions of the drug.



Fentanyl is used to treat chronic pain. Dr. Larry Epstein, a New-York based anesthesiologist who specializes in chronic pain management, told CNBC that doctors are now taking "hundreds and hundreds of patients off of these medications."



"We made a lot of addicted people," Epstein told CNBC. "But it's not so straightforward. And sometimes we don't know the answers until we make the mistakes."



The dangers of fentanyl use first became public knowledge with reports of serious side effects and deaths associated with the



In June 2005 the Duragesic product label was given a black-box warning label explaining the risk of accidental fatal overdose and respiratory depression or hypoventilation.







Legal Help If you or a loved one has suffered similar damages or injuries, please Fentanyl products are considered among the most potent and dangerous opioids on the market, at about 80-100 times stronger than morphine. The oral product made by Subsys gets into the bloodstream faster than with traditional methods of delivery because it is sprayed under the tongue.Among the concerns intended to be addressed by the investigations is that Subsys Fentanyl is being prescribed off-label, which while legal if physicians deem it appropriate, is illegal for pharmaceutical companies to market a drug for off-label use.According to the report byInsys allegedly not only marketed Subsys off-label but also paid medical professionals in the hopes they would write more prescriptions of the drug.Fentanyl is used to treat chronic pain. Dr. Larry Epstein, a New-York based anesthesiologist who specializes in chronic pain management, told CNBC that doctors are now taking "hundreds and hundreds of patients off of these medications.""We made a lot of addicted people," Epstein told"But it's not so straightforward. And sometimes we don't know the answers until we make the mistakes."The dangers of fentanyl use first became public knowledge with reports of serious side effects and deaths associated with the Duragesic pain patch (known generically as Fentanyl patches). They are linked to a risk of fentanyl overdose, which could result in respiratory failure, permanent coma and death. Due to problems with manufacturing of the Duragesic pain patch, the patch has been the subject of multiple recalls, although Duragesic patches are still available on the market.In June 2005 the Duragesic product label was given a black-box warning label explaining the risk of accidental fatal overdose and respiratory depression or hypoventilation.If you or a loved one has suffered similar damages or injuries, please fill in our form on the right and your complaint will be sent to a lawyer who may evaluate your claim at no cost or obligation.

Reader Comments

Posted by

Arlene DAgostino

on June 22, 2016 Being a chronic pain patient with over 30 surgeries from losing spleen, which caused abdominal hernias, cut breast to naval and having mesh put in, stapled back with 38 staples, then mesh tears out and repeat, this is a ongoing thing. After about 7 or 8x its said allergic to mesh, replaced with gortex, couple tearouts then snaps on one side wraps around intestines cuts off bowels, and again breast to naval, reinstall different mesh *originally Marlex not sure what is there today. Then gall bladder open surgery, mrsa, lets not forget Necrotizing Fasciitus with 2 hrs to live it cost 57 days 9 surgeries later I am still having issues a year in a half later, contracted c-diff in hospital and now lost almost 85 lbs with no trying. I have been in and out of er with utis and pneumonia and chronic pain with being diabetic also peripheral neuropathy to the point I begged to have my feet cut off. I can truthfully say I had a good 4 mos of being normal when I was given 60mg OxyContin 3x a day with 30mg oxycodone ir 2x a day, plus I was prescribed 12 diludads for serious need. All that and still neurpathy ate me for lunch..Lyrica is the ONLY thing that works to help that type of pain. I am shocked that people are asking for opioids for it. Its known fact opioids do not work for neuropathy...it is a nerve issue it needs a med that acts upon nerve damage. I have nothing but pain when I do not have lyricia and that is when my meds helped all but that nasty chewing and electrical nerve damage.In march of 2016 there were new laws imposed on pain meds and prescribing drs. Now Insurance is taking over orders drs have written, and people who have no irons in fire or no pain are making the rules about how much one can have. They are more interested in making money on boxes that are supposed to electrically help pain and tells your brain you don't hurt. My brain knows I hurt, and there will be no one or nothing that changes that.

Posted by

Terri Burnett

on March 1, 2016 I have suffered with pain most of my life. I was born with a birth defect that caused me to be hospitalized the first few years of my life. When I was 22 I lost my breast to a rare disease. And during this time was diagnosed with degenerative back disease. After all of this, in 2010 I was diagnosed with cancer and underwent chemo and radiation only to be followed by surgery which has left me with a permanent ostomy.

I was lucky enough, at the time I went through treatment, to have a pain management doctor who prescribed me SUBSYS, after none of the traditional medications worked. After about a year the government stepped in, or so I understand, and started threatening her with the loss of her license.So, of course, I agreed to have my pain medicine reduced, which meant the loss of the SUBSYS, and actually switched pain management care to a research facility in hopes that I could receive some help in getting my life back in order.

(Considering my days and nights now consist of laying on the couch, looking out the window, asking God if I can die now.)

The doctor I have now, in his own words, * I am 1 in 1 million people that end up with neuropathy as bad as I have it now due to cancer treatment.

I guess my point is, how can the government be allowed to judge my level of pain? And then get away with regulating the amount of pain medicine people get by threatening the doctors?

I believe I could just about speak for everyone with chronic pain. We much rather not hurt than to have the medication.

Posted by

VALLIE DUBOSE

on February 29, 2016 I recently was taken to the hospital with chronic pain, and in the ambulance I was given fentanyl orally, I was a little disoriented when I got to the hospital, but pain stopped, then the doctor put me on a 100 mg of fentanyl patch, and sent me home, bye the evening I was about to faint could not breath, I could not hold up my head are lift my body, vomiting and nausea, could not remember nothing, just sic, emergency room told me I had been overdose bye the fentanyl patch, and I should not of been given such a strong dose, are not at all. a second day I was taken back to the emergency room vomiting, and dizzy it took me two weeks to focus on anything. could not think. I was told they give that patch to people who are dieing, and it is the strongest medicine there is for pain, why is it that they give it to anyone, I almost died, heart rate and blood pressure was high. I was given meds to get fentanyl out of my system, I had very dry month, so was difficult to talk for days.

Posted by

Paul J.

on February 26, 2016 I have suffered with very painful peripheral neuropathy, which is a degeneration of the nerves in the extremities, for over 16 years now. The only reason I am alive today is because I found a very kind pain management doctor who was willing to prescribe opiates at a dose sufficient to make my pain bearable, otherwise I would have committed suicide by now (which I came close to doing before my pain was brought under control). Fentanyl has been used as a part of my pain management regimen for breakthrough pain. It has allowed me to have a little bit more normalcy in a life than consists of mainly lying in bed watching TV because it is very painful to put pressure on my feet. It is true that opioid users develop a tolerance and require increasing doses, and that there are some who become dependent on the medications, but what other option is there? Allow patients to suffer with severe pain because insurance companies find Fentanyl medications too expensive to pay for, and doctors are afraid to prescribe them for fear of legal action? Those who have not suffered severe, chronic pain do not understand how difficult it is. Don't let legislators, lawyers and insurance companies determine what medications are ok for patients to use for pain management. Allow trained physician to make that decision!

Posted by

John Bull

on February 16, 2016 Let me draw a picture of how (legitimate) chronic pain patients have to work to overcome the challenges of chilling legislation, myths about opiate meds, and ambulance chasing lawyers who make physicians think twice about treating those so afflicted. First the heavy hand of the law makes most physicians either dismissive of pain (no matter how well documented) or just refuse to treat those requiring opiates. It is very difficult. Also, narcotic pain meds are now rationed. Pharmacies have a fixed amount they can order which is based on averages they filled years ago. Do you see a problem with that since we have an aging population that lives longer? Doctors have too much invested in becoming a MD. The vast majority, if forced to choose b/t treating a legit patient or risking litigation or loss of respect or association of peers, they will almost always tell the patient to take a hike. All respected research shows opiates, taken by legitimate pain patients, as prescribed, and supervised by a MD are safe long term. To the man above who said that fentanyl is like "crack cocaine" (I can only assume you actually meant smoking meth, idiot), there is no research to show fentanyl products can cause dental problems. The only thing that fentanyl has to do with tooth loss is causing dry mouth (xerostomia). You sir, failed to take care of your teeth (or smoked meth) and are responsible for the inevitable outcome. Do not seek some scummy attorney to take your fraudulent case before a jury. People that suffer on a daily basis do so not because they have to, they suffer because it is near impossible to overcome the problems they face getting access to care. Shady lawyers and politicians who have yet to experience the horror of daily chronic pain are the enemy. Those who put these barriers in place, I hope you experience unmitigated pain for an extended period of time (maybe at the end of your insensitive life) and see what it is like to be in that kind of pain and no physician willing to treat you due to the inconveniences you helped put in place. If you find yourself in this position, I hope, for your sake, guns have not yet been banned.

Posted by

Jeff Coventry

on February 11, 2016 I had been using the patch for about three years and the dose was being increased about every 6 months up to 150mgh. I never got great results from it but it did take the pain edge softer. It was a very empty life being on the patch really had no desire to do anything anytime. Ended up with major depression and on a host of meds for that. I finally changed doctors and my new doctor eventually took me off the patch. But the damage was done. After using the page for several years I found a tooth in the back of my mouth just disintegrated. So I went to the dentist and he told under the gums all my teeth had rotted out. I ended up with upper and lower dentures. It was explained to me that fentynal works in a similar way as "crack Cocaine" which rots you teeth out.

It cost a small fortune to get the dentures make and all my teeth removed.

Do you think this has the potential to file a law suit?

Thank You

Posted by

Bobby Hinson

on February 3, 2016 I was taking the spray and using patches after I had a major back surgery. I had a lot start going on with my body and also became addicted to the medication. a couple times I had to go to the hospital after using some of the products.

Posted by

Constance C.

on February 3, 2016 My father was never prescribed this medication. But he passed away in 2006, I was told by my uncle that he gave my dad a pain patch.



During the time of my dads death, my grandmother didn't want me to order my dads death certificate. Well me not knowing why my dad died, I ordered his autopsy report.



After 4 long months of my dads dead, being labeled as undertermined. I finally get the report and fentanyl is one of the drugs in his system.



Now my dad has never been a drug user, he just drank his red wine. Along with this med was a few others that can only be prescribed by a health doctor.



My dad only went to the Veterans Hospital for care and this med has not been prescribed for him. Who is held accountable my uncle for giving it to my dad or the drug manufacturer?????

Posted by

Shannon

on January 17, 2016 I was on up to 100 mgs of fentynal patches and other narcotics for years to manage pain and now nothing works and I'm left not only in pain and very difficult working but may also loose my social security as they see it as if I'm not on it I'm ok to wk. Full time. Couldnt be farther from the truth as nothing manages my pain now except steroid and lidodetm injections that by the time the surgeey is recovered from monthly only a few weeks pass and i need more.

Add Your Comment on This Issue
The English Historical Fiction Authors blog began publication in 2011 and has featured hundreds of writers and researchers, Enjoy our posts about the history of England, Scotland, Wales and all the Empire. British histfic authors and others are invited to submit posts on British history.
The monkey is the totemic symbol for the upcoming Chinese New Year. The personification of this years white collar employee is the frazzled HR director.

A combination of politics and policy is resulting in a perfect storm in which the federal government and localities, unable to bring about the type of robust economic growth from which everyone could benefit, are instead dreaming up an endless array of proposals to micromanage the American workplace. The result is that, at least in the short term, you will have less flexibility than you have traditionally had to manage employees.

Everyone agrees that the average employee is having a tough time finding a well-paying job, getting raises and putting aside enough money to allow the kids to go to college without mortgaging their future. There is, however, a huge divergence in opinion as to how this problem should be addressed. With an election year upon us, these bread and butter issues are perfectly designed to ignite party bases. November will be, in part, a referendum on these policies.

The leading example comes courtesy of the Department of Labor which is expected to unveil a final regulation more than doubling, to approximately $47,800, the salary employees must receive to be classified as a exempt, even if they meet the other requirements. Keeping in mind that nonexempt employees must get overtime, and how dependent many small and medium sized credit unions are on exempt supervisors, this single regulation will have a more direct impact on much of the industrys bottom-line than any other mandate under consideration this year. Regardless of whether you are for or against this proposal, it is hard to think that the fact that it is being finalized during an election year is a coincidence. After all, the next president will have the power to either amend or support these final regulations.

A second area where the government is wading into the workplace without giving adequate consideration to the consequences of its actions has to do with legalized marijuana. On January 5th New York became the 23rd State to legalize possession. New Yorks law is among the most restrictive limiting the use of the drug strictly to treat medical conditions. In these states, it is legal for your employees to use a drug that remains illegal as a matter of federal law. This Alice In Wonderland posture is the type of unchartered territory that plaintiff lawyers love to wade into and employers dread. The Colorado Supreme Court, for example, has already had to decide how that states legal marijuana laws can be reconciled with zero tolerance drug policies.

But wait, there is more. There is the drive to increase the minimum wage and the push to ban the box so that employers cant consider an applicants criminal history as part of the employment process.

Mix this all together and what you have is an increasingly rigid workplace in which finely honed policies and well executed procedures are more important than ever before.

The longer I work in the industry the more I realize that credit unions are more than just not-for-profit cooperatives  they are small businesses, often based in areas where steady employment is hard to come by. For every well -meaning mandate, there is increased paperwork and greater liability, Im not sure an approach that makes it more expensive to hire employees makes much sense, but I do know that, at least until the next election, this is the system we have.
Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina praised credit union lending practices while lamenting the impact of regulatory burden Thursday.

Duringan appearance on MSNBCs Morning Joe, Fiorina said, Community banks and the credit union system give loans to whom? Small businesses and working families, and added that burdens such as those imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act are causing problems for those smaller financial institutions.

Richard Gose, chief political officer of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), said Fiorinas remarks are appreciated.

Were glad Ms. Fiorina is shining a bright light on what CUNA has been saying for yearsthere is a regulatory crisis of creeping complexityand Dodd-Frank is a prime example of a far-reaching law that has numerous adverse impacts, he said. Today, the number-one concern among our member credit unions is regulatory compliance.
The Biggest Environmental Disaster In the History Of The West Coast Could Be Turned Into The Greenest Energy Solution

The Biggest Environmental Disaster In the History Of The West Coast Could Be Turned Into The Greenest Energy SolutionThese headlines are shocking millions of people across the nation:California Declares State Of Emergency Over L.A. Methane Leak (link) California Declares State Of Emergency Over L.A. Methane Leak ... of the most devastating environmental disasters in the history of California," Los ... from his community about pressing the governor to declare an emergency.Erin Brockovich: California Methane Gas Leak is Worst U.S.  (link) In the nation's biggest environmental disaster since the BP oil spill, ... for one- quarter of all California's methane emissions in just one month. ....State of Emergency Declared for Aliso Canyon, California, Because ...(link) An Environmental Disaster Unfolding in CA ... California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency Wednesday for a methane leak that ...Americas - California governor declares methane gas leak ...(link) California Governor Jerry Brown declared a natural gas leak in a ... Screengrab, Environmental Defense Fund | Infrared footage ... a disaster, said Kelly Huston, deputy director of the governor's Office of Emergency Services.California governor declares emergency over Porter ... - CNN.com ... (link) California governor declares emergency over Porter Ranch gas leak ... Southern California Gas Company's actions to stop the leak, track methane ... prior commitment to mitigate the environmental impact of the actual amount ...After At Least 2,300 Home Evacuations, Big Methane Leak Causes ......(link) The area has been suffering from the effects of a methane gas leak at the ... The Environmental Defense Fund, which released a shocking infrared ... Others, though, criticized the governor for failing to address California's systemic ... was a disaster waiting to happen, but officials mostly ignored those risks..Massive volumes of Methane gas are leaking into the air from the Porter Ranch disaster. Additionally, it is not California's only methane leak. It sounds like a sci-fi disaster film but it is a real event and it is happening now. Innovative technology companies have solutions at hand, which can turn the disaster into an upside.Methane is a chemical. Methane (/men/ or /mien/) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula CH4 (one atom of carbon and four atoms of hydrogen). It is the simplest alkane and the main component of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Earth makes it an attractive fuel, though capturing and storing it poses challenges due to its gaseous state found at standard conditions for temperature and pressure.In its natural state, methane is found both below ground and under the sea floor, where it often finds its way to the surface and the atmosphere where it is known as atmospheric methane.[5] The Earth's atmospheric methane concentration has increased by about 150% since 1750, and it accounts for 20% of the total radiative forcing from all of the long-lived and globally mixed greenhouse gases (these gases don't include water vapor which is by far the largest component of the greenhouse effect).[6] Methane breaks down in the atmosphere and creates CH3 with water vapor.Scientists have now proposed that the State Of California let them solve the problem by turning the Methane into clean energy fuel.Energy production from fossil fuels without emissions of climate-affecting carbon dioxide -- this vision might come true through the research program "Combustion of Methane without CO2 Emissions." Since late 2012, KIT has been partner in the program that is part of the Earth, Energy, and Environment (E3) Cluster of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam. "This is the truly pioneering experiment with the ambition of using fossils without CO2 emissions," said the scientific director of IASS and physics Nobel Prize laureate Professor Carlo Rubbia when visiting KIT today.Hydrogen represents a promising medium for the storage and transport of energy in the future. However, it is bound in water (H2O) or hydrocarbons, such as petroleum, natural gas or coal. Consequently, the hydrogen has to be separated first. In the course of conventional separation processes, the climate-affecting greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is formed. Today's worldwide hydrogen production causes about 5% of the global CO2 emissions.CO2-free hydrogen production at KIT will be achieved by thermal decomposition of methane in a high-temperature bubble column reactor. KIT researchers enter entirely new ground. "With this project, we have the opportunity to participate in the development of fundamentals for a completely new energy technology," explains the head of KALLA, Professor Thomas Wetzel. "If feasibility can be confirmed, sustainable production and use of hydrogen from fossil sources that would have affected the climate if they were used conventionally will be possible."The liquid-metal bubble column reactor to be built up at KALLA in the next months is a vertical column of about half a meter in height and a few centimeters in diameter. The column is filled with liquid metal that is heated up to 1000C. Fine methane bubbles enter the column through a porous filling at the bottom. These bubbles rise up to the surface. "At such high temperatures, the ascending methane bubbles are increasingly decomposed into hydrogen and carbon," explains Professor Thomas Wetzel. "We will study how much hydrogen can be produced by a smart process conduct."The KIT liquid-metal bubble column reactor is based on previous work of Professor Carlo Rubbia and Professor Alberto Abanades from IASS. They studied thermal decomposition of methane in a gas-phase reactor. During this gas-phase reaction, however, the carbon formed deposited on the reactor walls. As a result, gas channels were plugged after a short time and no continuous process was possible. "In the reactor planned to be built in cooperation with the IASS colleagues, the shell of the bubbles assumes the role of the wall," explains Thomas Wetzel. "Only when the bubbles burst at the surface of the liquid metal, is carbon released. The reactor wall is constantly renewed." A similar approach was described by researchers in the team of Manuela Serban from the Argonne National Lab, USA, about ten years ago. Since then, however, this process has not been developed any further.Following the setup of the test reactor, KIT scientists will study various parameters influencing process conduct and potential hydrogen yield this year. Work at KIT will also focus on fundamental scientific aspects, for example, on the identification of reaction paths influencing the composition of the product gas flow and on possibilities of removing carbon from the reactor. In parallel, the scientists will select materials for potential future industrial reactors, study filter technology, and develop probes for a later continuous process conduct.Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is one of Europe's leading energy research establishments. Research, education, and innovation at KIT foster the energy turnaround and reorganization of the energy system in Germany. KIT links excellent competences in engineering and science with know-how in economics, the humanities, and social science as well as law. The activities of the KIT Energy Center are organized in seven topics: Energy conversion, renewable energies, energy storage and distribution, efficient energy use, fusion technology, nuclear power and safety, and energy systems analysis. Clear priorities lie in the areas of energy efficiency and renewable energies, energy storage technologies and grids, electromobility, and enhanced international cooperation in research.Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is a public corporation according to the legislation of the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. It fulfills the mission of a university and the mission of a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT focuses on a knowledge triangle that links the tasks of research, teaching, and innovation.A California company: THE POWER, ( https://fcpower.biz ) wants to convert the methane to Hydrogen for Toyota's, Kia's and Hyundai's fuel cell vehicles using tubular plasma converters or steam reforming and has asked the State of California for funding to help deploy it's patented, government sponsored technology. So far, KIT, THE POWER, U.C. Berkeley Grad students, Erin Brokovitch and others, have not had much luck winding their way through California's administrative log-jams
SAN FRANCISCO, January 7, 2016  Evidence of a wolf in Modoc County was reported today by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The 3-year-old male wolf, who is radio-collared and dubbed OR-25 by the state wildlife agency in Oregon, left his birthpack in northeastern Oregon in April, was in southwestern Oregon by December and recently crossed the border into California.

California is clearly wolf country because they keep coming here from Oregon. This is a great moment to celebrate, said Amaroq Weiss, West Coast wolf organizer for the Center for Biological Diversity. Perhaps they are following a scent trail from other wolves that have come here the past couple years but, whatever the reason, it makes it all the more necessary to ensure they have the protections needed to thrive once they get here.OR-25 was born into the Imnaha pack in northeastern Oregon, as was Californias first known wild wolf in 87 years, OR-7, who first came to California in 2011. OR-7 ranged across seven northeastern counties in California before returning to southwestern Oregon, where he found a mate and had litters of pups in 2014 and 2015. In August 2015, Californias first wolf family in nearly a century, the Shasta pack, was confirmed in Siskiyou County. The breeding female of that pack, which has five pups, is also related to the Imnaha pack.The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is native to California but was driven to extinction in the state by the mid-1920s. After OR-7 dispersed from Oregon into California, the Center for Biological Diversity and allies petitioned the state to fully protect wolves under Californias state endangered species act. In June 2014 the California Fish and Game Commission voted in favor of the petition, making it illegal to intentionally kill any wolves that enter the state. In 2012 the California Department of Fish and Wildlife convened a citizen stakeholder group to help the agency develop a state wolf plan for California, and recently released a draft plan for public comment.With the establishment of the Shasta pack and now with OR-25s presence, it is all the more critical that the state wolf plan provide management strategies that will best recover and conserve these magnificent animals, said Weiss.Photo: OR25, a yearling male in the Imnaha Pack, after being radio-collared on May 20, 2014. Photo courtesy of ODFW.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.Center for Biological Diversity
LOS ANGELES, CA, January 7, 2016  Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Monday that ICE officials detained 121 adults and children in Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina over New Years weekend, all of whom are in the process of being repatriated. In response, UNITE HERE, a union of 270,000 hospitality workers across the U.S. and Canada, joins immigrant advocacy groups nationwide in denouncing the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation raids directed at refugees from Central America.

These raids are irrational and inhumane because vulnerable refugees fleeing violence in their home countries are being treated as criminals rather than as victims, says Maria Elena Durazo, UNITE HERE General Vice President for Immigration, Civil Rights, and Diversity. President Obama and his administration should be ashamed for giving ICE a green light to separate and imprison women and childrena practice he claims to be against. Instead, he is only adding to the climate of fear that has been stirred by Trump and other Republican zealots.Since 2014, hundreds of thousands of undocumented refugees from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have entered the United States. Those fleeing Central America have cited violence and poverty as the primary reasons for their emigration. Consequently, ICE officials have sent refugee families to detention centers across the country, resulting in the mass separation of mothers from their children. Moreover, many who have entered the country within the last two years have received inadequate access to legal representation and humanitarian relief. Thousands more are expected to be detained and deported throughout the year.In recent months, UNITE HERE has led a campaign against ICE officials for unjust raids on immigrant workers and their families, in response to arrests and firings of unionized immigrant workers at a meatpacking plant in Mundelein, IL.We need ICE out of the workplace and out of our homes, says Durazo. Labor leaders, immigrant rights activists and immigrants themselves must come together and demand that President Obama put an immediate end to these unjust attacks on hardworking immigrants and their families.UNITE HERE is a labor union that represents 270,000 working people across Canada and the United States. Our members work in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries.Our membership is diverse. We are predominantly women and people of color, and we hail from all corners of the planet. Together, we are building a movement to enable people of all backgrounds to achieve greater equality and opportunity.UNITE HERE
Charlie Cox says his return as Daredevil "still feels too good to be true"
More than Dough:

Students Advise Local Bakery on Business Brigade In Honduras

Jan. 8, 2016 Story by Mehgan Keeley '16

Students from IWU and Illinois State talk with bakery managers and customers.



During winter break, 19 Illinois Wesleyan students, members of the universitys Global Business Brigades chapter, spent a week in Honduras. Following is Mehgan Keeleys first-person account of the experience. A business administration and philosophy double major from Lake Barrington, Ill., Keeley is president of IWUs Business Brigades chapter.

Great Expectations

Two Illinois State students joined 19 of us from Illinois Wesleyan on a business-related service trip to Honduras. None of us had been on a business brigade  or to Honduras  so we were unsure of what to expect. But we were all eager to learn and help wherever needed.

We went to Honduras as part of Global Brigades, an international nonprofit that empowers communities to meet their health and economic goals through university volunteers and local teams. The international organization now has nine brigades including one devoted to business. IWU also has Medical, Dental and Public Health brigades, but the December trip to Honduras was the first out-of-country trip for the IWU Business Brigade.

We worked for five days in El Canton, an agriculturally focused community in central Honduras. Other brigades before us had previously worked in El Canton, so the community already has a microenterprise and community bank now managed by community members. It was fascinating to learn how far the community members had come since the first business brigade.

Cam Weber '16 used his graphic design skills to create a logo for the bakery.



We worked with a bakery microenterprise that is run by five women in the community who are equally as hardworking as they were welcoming and hospitable to our group. Our overarching project for the week was to conceptualize and introduce a business strategy to improve the business and grow bakery sales and profits. Their bakery products include banana bread, vanilla bread, pineapple jam pastries and semitas, which are traditional Honduran sweet rolls. We learned that a staple of Honduran culture is to have a cup of coffee and sweet bread with breakfast, and again in the afternoon. While the other bakery products are considered to be more like treats, the sweet breads are a staple in many Honduran homes. We had a chance to purchase baked goods from the business each day, and it was fascinating to see how amazing their sweets tasted made outdoors in a makeshift kitchen. Our favorites were the pineapple pastries and homemade doughnuts.

Market Research

The first half of the week was dedicated to research and analysis of the bakerys current situation. We talked with bakery employees and community bank members to better understand how they keep track of accounting numbers, which are recorded by hand in notebooks. We also wanted to learn about their goals for serving the community, the progress theyve made thus far, and the type of growth theyre hoping to see.

Mehgan Keeley '16 plays with Derek, who lived next door to the bakery the students advised during their week in Honduras.



High season for most businesses in Honduras is December through May, when coffee is in season. During this time, agricultural workers are in high demand to work in the fields and help produce coffee products for sale. Thus, when more community members are employed, more have extra money to make purchases like baked goods. We learned that the bakery has grown so much that during high season, they cannot keep up with the demand. Managers were hoping to find a way to increase production efficiency without the steep expenses of hiring new employees or buying more delivery vehicles. On the other hand, during the low season, they struggled to make profits because so few community members could afford to purchase baked goods.

One day we had the chance to explore the nearest small city, Teupasanti. We learned what the community members and customers liked most about the bakery, what they had hoped to see more of, and how familiar convenience store owners in Teupasanti were with the El Canton bakery. This not only broadened our understanding of what the bakery could do to see more growth, but it also was also fascinating to immerse ourselves in the culture of the Honduran people.

The second half of the week was dedicated to presenting our suggestions to the business. Each night our group of 21 students met for more than three hours to brainstorm, discuss and weigh the options of the different possibilities we could present. The responsibility Global Brigades and the bakery managers entrusted in us  a group of college students  to present complex business strategies was something many of us did not expect. In this way, our trip ended up being as much of a study abroad experience as it was service work.

Making The Pitch

Each brigade member was responsible for raising money to go on the trip. We raised about $2,000 more than we needed for airfare, transportation, project supplies and housing, so we also had the chance to decide how and where we would donate the excess funds to benefit the bakery. What we would present for strategy and donation could drastically change the progress of a business we had come to enormously respect and affect its managers whom we had grown close to.

Austin Wagner '17 (left) and Nick Huskisson '17 in Teupasanti.



Our presentation broke down into two goals: improving production efficiency and increasing sales in the low season. Our strategy included restructuring production by selling different quantities of goods so that more could be produced and sold without the need for additional employees or more time spent baking. As a long-term solution for efficiency, we created an educational presentation about savings accounts and interest growth opportunities. When we arrived, the bakery was allocating all profits to employee salaries and not holding any savings for the business itself. Therefore, we worked with the business managers to explain the opportunities of allocating one percent or more to a savings account with the Community Bank. In the long run, money could be held to make purchases on additional ovens or electronic mixing machines that would make the production process more efficient. With the excess $2,000 were raised, our group purchased a new oven for the bakery and deposited $1,000 to open their savings account.

The second goal  to increase demand in low season  allowed us to think more creatively. The bakerys regular customers told us repeatedly that the El Canton bread is higher quality and lasts much longer than that from other bakeries. Our hope was that, with a recognizable logo, people would seek out their products more specifically during the low season, even if they are making purchases less frequently. So one of our group members, Cam Weber, a graphic design major at IWU, created a logo for the bakery and an information page to include with all baked goods sold.

Lessons Learned

While developing the business strategy and deciding on the donation allocation was very helpful to our learning and the businesss longterm growth, it may not have been what made the strongest impact on our group as a whole. Spending seven days in rural Honduras and working with people who live completely different lifestyles was an experience completely out of our comfort zones. We were humbled and reminded of how shallow our everyday complaints can be, when we gripe about not having WiFi or enough cash to grab the third Chipotle meal of the week. The Honduran people were the kindest, most welcoming, and friendliest people we had ever encountered. As a group, we grew much closer because we experienced such an eyeopening experience together  both in cultural immersion and in the work we put into the business.

Global Brigades provided us the opportunity to spend a week of winter break in the most eyeopening, exciting, challenging way. Our perspectives on the worlds conditions and our own lifestyles changed drastically. Were thrilled that so many underclassmen enjoyed the trip, and we hope IWU students down the road will genuinely benefit from future trips just as much as we did.
PORTER RANCH, Calif., Jan. 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) (Press Release): After a tremendous grassroots effort on the part of Porter Ranch residents, Governor Jerry Brown has finally declared a state of emergency following a massive gas well blowout at the Aliso Canyon Underground Storage Facility. The failed well, owned and operated by SoCalGas, has continued to spew noxious gas into the hillside community since October 2015. For nearly three months, hundreds of residents and their pets have been sickened with nosebleeds, headaches, dizziness and vomiting and thousands of families have been displaced from their homes as a result of the well failure.

Were unsure why it took Governor Brown so long to address the crisis facing the residents of Porter Ranch but we welcome his involvement and look forward to working with him as we seek to remedy this environmental catastrophe and prevent it from ever happening again, said attorney Brian Panish.After months of inaction, Governor Browns proclamation comes as a relief to the Katz family who has been lobbying for action from the state official since the beginning. Christine Katz and her husband Brian started an online petition in December 2015 demanding the governor take notice by declaring a state of emergency, enabling residents with provisions to help them combat the detrimental effects of the gas well blowout.We are grateful Governor Brown declared an emergency, Christine Katz said. It is an important first step to protect Porter Ranch families and we welcome the governor to meet with our family to see firsthand how we've been impacted by SoCalGas's negligence.A detailed summary of the State of Emergency proclamation can be found here.This is great news for the families of Porter Ranch, said attorney R. Rex Parris who represents Save Porter Ranch and members of the Porter Ranch community. On a daily basis, the SoCalGas well blowout is discharging enough methane gas to generate electricity to power over 1,000,000 homes.The Aliso Canyon gas well blowout was caused by an injection well failure that continues to send natural gas mixed with various other chemicals including benzene (a known carcinogen) hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, and methane into the air above Porter Ranch and neighboring communities.SoCalGas recently admitted that the company had removed a safety valve from the failed well in 1979 that may have aided in stopping the ongoing flow of gas. The valve, as explained by SoCalGas Executive Rodger Schwecke in an interview with LA Weekly, was old, leaking and difficult to find, which now calls into question the overall safety and maintenance of the Aliso Canyon Underground Storage Facility.For more information and to view the massive amount of poisonous gas being emitted by the shocking and unprecedented well failure, visit www.porterranchlawsuit.com.Kennedy & Madonna, LLP is an environmental law firm that specializes in representing communities that have been impacted by pollution. The firm uses a variety of legal tools including federal citizen suits, administrative challenges, and tort law to hold polluters accountable for their actions. The firm was formed in 2000 by founding partners Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Kevin J. Madonna. For more information, visit www.kennedymadonna.comPanish Shea & Boyle LLP is a plaintiffs personal injury law firm that takes on large corporations and government entities whose negligence causes our clients injuries and holds them accountable. In June 2014, Panish Shea & Boyle obtained at $19.8 million jury verdict to a man who suffered severe burn and traumatic brain injuries when his rental home exploded as a result of a Southern California Gas Company's negligence. In 2008, the firm obtained a $15 million jury verdict against SoCalGas for a 14-year-old boy who was hit by a company truck. Panish Shea & Boyle LLP also represented numerous plaintiffs in the San Bruno PG&E gas explosion cases. Our attorneys are and have always been champions of consumer rights. The size, clout or financial strength of wrongdoers is never a deterrent to our pursuit for justice. For more information, visit www.psblaw.comMorgan & Morgan is one of the largest exclusively plaintiffs law firms in the US, with 32 offices throughout the country. The firm handles cases nationally and has been a leader in cases such as the BP Oil spill and Chinese Drywall litigation. We have over 300 lawyers with years of experience involving personal injury, medical malpractice, consumer class action, and securities fraud - as well as complex litigation against drug and medical device manufacturers. For more information, visit www.forthepeople.comFor over 30 years, R. Rex Parris has devoted his practice to protecting the rights of injured people and aggrieved workers. With over $1.1 Billion recovered on behalf of clients, Rex and his dedicated team has the experience and track record necessary to help families in need. The R. Rex Parris Law Firm provides thorough, high-quality representation with integrity and compassion. These lawyers fight aggressively to ensure their clients get the compensation they deserve.
January 8th, 2016. By LucyC



Okfinally!! After all these years, confirmation!! Every time I had to put together a piece of Ikea furniture I would stall for daysweeks sometimes. After all, Id survived for a year without that particular piece of furniturewhats a few more days, right? In fact, the products could lay for months in their boxes, untouched, while I gathered the nerve, the tools and the beer necessary to put a table, desk or wardrobe piece together. Now theres a guy in New York whos suing his employer for forcing him to single-handedly put together a 225-pound piece of Ikea furniture by himself. Thank you! (doing a happy dance)Its not just me.

Fifty-two year old Carlos Figueroa, a chauffeur to Swedens UN Ambassador, alleges in his lawsuit that he endured Scandinavian-style torture when his boss forced him to single-handedly build a massive IKEA wardrobe. He claims that handyman was not part of his job descriptionlikely nor was masochist. So, are you sitting down? Hes suing the Swedish Mission in Manhattan for $1.7 million (thats a lot of wardrobes). He claims he was injured on the job and cites discrimination from his superiors.

The story goes that Figueroa was sent to Ikea in Elizabeth, NJ, to buy one or two Pax wardrobes (see Ikea video, above) with Hasvik sliding doors by his boss, the late Ambassador Marten Grunditz. Whats your first clue this furniture is going to be too heavy, and it turns out, too big for Figueroa to haul back to Manhattan on his own? And anyone whos tried to get even a Trofast storage bin unit out of the Elizabeth, NJ Ikea store knows the concept of grab n go is royally put to the test. SoGrunditz told him to order the units. Yeah, thanks a lot.

When the furniture arrived at the Mission, complete with instructions that clearly show the furniture should be assembled by two people (why are they smiling?), Figueroa was told to assemble the 8-foot-by-7-foot piece by himself.

No additional manpower was provided, despite Grunditz being aware that Figueroa wasnt a workman or carpenter, his suit states.

It took Figueroa three days apparently, to negotiate the instructions, parts (no doubt including endless packages of screws and the ubiquitous Alan key) but he did it. Except for hanging the sliding doors. He was in the process of hanging them when he fell off the five foot ladder and injured his back. He had to have back surgery to relieve pressure in his spine and fix pinched nerves. Waittheres morehe also suffered leg injuries. All this has forced Figueroa, who first started working as a driver and office clerk at the Mission in 2006, to take two medical leaves of absence, from September 2013 through February 2014 and from May 2014 onward.

Ill be in pain for the rest of my life. Im disabled, Figueroa told The New York Post, when they called him. Its been very emotional. Im still in a lot of pain. Yes, I should think so.

Despite his injuries, Figueroa continued working as a chauffeur after the accident, which, predictably, exacerbated his injuries, according to the lawsuit. Figueroa alleges he was told to lie to doctors about his continued duties to avoid an uninsured Workers Compensation claim. Boy, this just gets better and better. Not.

According to the lawsuit, The important thing is for you to say that you dont know how you got it and you dont mention work, a senior administrative officer under Grunditz texted Figueroa in December 2012. So you want me to lie, Figueroa texted back.

The worker responded: Lying and withholding all info are two different things. You are an office clerk arent you? As it happens you dont need to lie. As much as we dont know the entire story behind your injury either, the lawsuit states. So, how gray is grey, exactly?

Figueroa is also suing the Mission for discrimination: he claims his colleagues made disparaging comments about Latinos and questioned him about various missing items at the Mission. Seriously? And, theres also an allegation of denied overtime despite working up to 18-hour driving shifts, with Figueroa claiming his boss said he was paid too much. FYIGrunditz died January 2014.

According to Figueroas lawyer, Stanley Chinitz, who spoke with the Post, Mr. Figueroa is not going to try his case in the press. He has accurately described the facts and this will be for a jury to resolve. Discussions occurred between the parties before the lawsuit was filed and the claims were unable to be resolved.

You know, there ought to be a therapy group for survivors of Ikea furniture assemblyId jointhough admittedly in most situations, the quest to assemble is purely self-inflicted.

This was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2016 at 4:12 pm and is filed under Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See, Emerging Issues . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.
Fresh findings have revealed that Chibuike Amaechi, the immediate past governor of Rivers state and current minister of transport, allegedly acquired and diverted not less than N40 billion of the state funds into the presidential campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to SIGNAL, an online medium, the minister plunged the huge amount into the campaign which saw the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as president, emerging details are revealing.

Sources informed Rivers States treasury was emptied into private concerns of the former governor as well as the APC presidential campaign.

Former governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi and President Muhammadu Buhari.

READ ALSO: SEE What Amaechi Was Spotted Doing During Calabar Carnival (PHOTOS)

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An inquiry had been set up in October 2015, to investigate the sale of state assets in Rivers state under to demand the immediate prosecution of Amaechi and all his cronies involved in the illegal sale of Rivers state assets, the panel reported that the former governor misappropriated over N97 billion in the sale of the state valued assets.

"The commission recommends that the former governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, along with his former commissioners for Finance and Power, Dr. Chamberlain Peterside and Augustine Nwokocha, respectively, should be held to account for their roles in the sales of the power generation assets of First Independent Power Limited and the disbursement of the proceeds therefrom.

"Government accepts this recommendation and directs the office of the Honorable Attorney-General and commissioner for Justice, to promptly set in motion the appropriate machinery for the recovery of the proceeds of the sale of the gas turbines from the former governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and every other persons implicated in the commissions report," Emma Okah, the commissioner of housing in Rivers state, who spoke on behalf of the state government, said.

A source who spoke to SIGNAL said: "The N6 billion largesse Amaechi donated to Buhari just for the primaries alone is what was partly spent settling over 8,000 APC delegates. Buhari outspent Atiku, Kwankwaso and the other aspirants. Delegates were settled in hard currency before and on the grounds of the primaries.

READ ALSO: How I Met And Fell In Love With Rotimi Amaechi - Wife

"Seven bullion vans brought Amaechis money into the arena of the APC presidential primaries. How do you think Buhari got the ticket? It was Amaechis money that did the job."

Amaechi, according to the report, also allegedly funneled over N30 billion into the overall presidential campaign of the APC across the thirty-six states of Nigeria.

Another source who pleaded anonymity, said: "Amaechi was the one spending most of the money for media, for the US consultant David Axelrod and most of the private jets and vehicles used by APC during the campaign were provided by him. Thats why he became known even within his partys circles as the ATM."

Another senior Rives state government official, who did not want his name mentioned, informed that, "Amaechi had access to over N3 trillion during his eight years as Rivers State governor, but failed to leave funds for the development of the state. His only ambition was the wastage of Rivers State money like a prodigal son on his political ambitions."

Meanwhile, the Rivers state government expressed shock when it found that the ex-governor had spent N82 million to host the Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka to a three-hour dinner.

This has created series of controversies between the three parties involved as Amaechi insists that the incumbent governor, Nyesom Wike takes the case to court if he feels unsatisfied.

Source: Legit.ng
Imagine an alternate universe where Homer Simpson and the couch that he loves were two crime-stopping detectives in a 1980s Miami-styled Springfield battling an evil mob boss version of Ned Flanders. Sounds insane right? Well apparently now because it's the intro to the newest episode of 'The Simpsons' which is set to air in the US this Sunday.

We don't know who came up with it but we think whoever did deserves a raise because it's one of the best things the show has done in a long time, if disconcerting to see Springfield's finest stretched into semi-human figures.

keep your eyes peeled for the blink-and-you'll-miss-it '80s versions of Barney, Moe, Patty, Selma and Sideshow Bob as well as Mr. Burns and Smithers as Doc and Marty from 'Back To The Future' as well as an excellent Max Power reference.

Via YouTube
About 241 companies, individuals and organizations will go before the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA) over contracts awarded by the office between 2011 and 2015.

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The Nation reports that the office warned those involved to appear as those who do not, might be embarrassed.

ONSA, in an advertorial in this newspaper, said the companies and representatives of the organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) must appear before its Contracts Verification Committee between January 12 and 26. It issued the directive following these companies, NGOs and individuals failure to heed the earlier call on them to report at the committee.

Stephen Oronsaye

On the list are aircraft manufacturers, automobile companies and others.

They are to appear with: certificate of incorporation, particulars of directors, company tax clearance certificates and directors from 2011 to date, letter of award of contracts, evidence of payment so far, outstanding balance and any other documents considered relevant to the contract, such as certified bank statements.

Thirty companies are expected by ONSA Contract Verification Committee on January 12. They are: 2020 Nigeria Limited, 313 BDC Limited, A & Hatman Limited, A A Master Nigeria Limited, A and B Associate, Abbatare Inc., Abraham Telecommunication Limited, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, Abusarhard Nigeria Limited, Acacia Holdings Limited, Ace of Wood Working Nigeria Limited and Africair Inc. Also on the list of those expected on January 12 are: Afro-Arab Investment Limited, Agabea Securities Limited, Agbede A. Adesina and Co, AGI Nigeria Limited, Ahjuwa Nigeria Enterprises, Air USA, AI Noor Travels and Tours, Albani Associates, Allaje Motors Limited, Almond Project Limited, AMAC Aerospace, APC Axial, Appledrop Nigeria Limited, Apt Securities Limited, AR Security Solution Limited, Arewa House, ASECNA and Associate Air Centre.

READ ALSO: Everything About Dasukigate Is Irritating  Ezekwesili

The ONSA committee will interact with 30 companies, individuals and organisations on January 13.

They are: Atlas Capital Sa, Autoforms Integrated Enterprises Limited, Autopoietic Telemetric Solutions Limited, Aviation Techni GMBH, Bam Project and Projecties, Baron Limited, Bell Pottinger LLP, and Belley Corporation.

Also expected on that day are: Belsha Nigeria Limited, Bergons Security Consulting & Supply Limited, Bilal Turnkey Contractors Limited, Biodun & Adekunle Idiagbon, Bluenory Limited, Bob Oshodin Org,Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Brains & Hammers Limited, Bureau Securitas Limited, CAE Flight Training LLC and Cardiff Properties Limited.

Others are: Centre Etiquette Protocal and Social Graces Limited, Centre for Regional Integration and Development, Cert Protection Agency, Circular Automobile Limited, CLD Global Concepts Limited, Clems Eze & Co, Codan Limited, Community Defence Law Foundation, Complus International Service Limited, Conella Services Limited and Coordinating Committee of Traditional Rulers.

To appear before the committee on January 14 are: Core Comm Association of Traditional Rulers, Corart Ventures Limited, Crack Security Service Limited, Crenfact Ventures Limited, Cresco Limited, Damaris Mode Coulture Limited, DarAlsalam Travels & Tours, Dassault Falcon Service, DaVoice Bnetwork Solution Limited, Debanto Consulting Co. Limited, Development Strategy International Limited, Dezign Zentrum Limited and DEX BDC.

Others are: Digital Inspiration Limited, DM Communication Limited, Donpedro Medical Company Limited, Eastwise Trading, E-Force Interservice Limited, Eivor Media Nigeria Limited, Enviromental Engineering and Construction Limited, Enviromental One Global Enterprise and Enviromental, Engineering Construction Limited.

Also for January 14 are companies, such as: Eric Ventures Limited, Fara Security Limited,Fimex Gilt Limited,First Aralac Global Limited, Fiz-Hyl Global Investment Limited, Fleetmeig HT W/A Limited, FlightSafety International and Foretech Investment Limited.

The committee is expecting also another 30 companies and NGOs on January 19. They are: Forts and Shields Limited, Forum for Protection of CNI, Forum for Protection of Critical National Infrastructure, GC Electronic Limited, GDP Associate Limited, General Hydrocarbons Limited, Geonel Integrated Service Limited, Gerhard Rothhaupt, Geronimo Middle East & African Limited, Geronimo System Limited, GEW Technologies Limited, Girl Child Concern, Glenair Training Centre Limited, England, Global Industrial and Defence Solution  Pakistan, Global Structures, Gold Reff Industries Nigeria Limited,

Goodyear Properties Limited and Gracepeace Ventures Nigeria Limited.

Others on the January 19 list are: GTESC Limited, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Halal Palace Ventures, Hamada Properties and Investment Co. Ltd, Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, Heintzmann Sicherheitssysteme GmbH, Helpline Organisation, Hypertech (MR) Limited, IB Casa, Image Axis Limited, Imperial College Healthcare and Integrated Navigation Systems.

READ ALSO: #DasukiGate: Court Orders Banks To Freeze Accounts Of Suspects

The committee will also verify the contracts of 30 compnies and orgamisations on January 20. They are: International Res. Management Limited, International Resources Management Co. Ltd, Investment Option Limited, ITSI-Bioscience, LLC, Jabbama Ada Global Nigeria Limited, Jakadiya Picture Company, Jawaz Multipurpose Ventures Limited, JBE Multimedia Investment Limited and Jnzizi Investment Co. Limited.

Others are: Kadawa Agro Products Limited, Kamala Motors Limited, Kampus Suites Limited, Kane Int. Limited, Key Information Service Limited, Kitwood Nigeria Limited, Kola Adejide & Associate, Konet Limited, La Kreem International Limited and Laconso Global Gotechniks Limited.

The list also includes: Lambstar Limited, Law Partner and Associates, Lazer Detct System 2010 Limited, Leaderette Nigeria Limited, Leeman Communication Limited, Lislie Tading Limited, Little Italy Global Service Limited, London Advertising Limited, Loure Global Service Limited, Maimakani Nigeria Limited and Makfab General Enterprises Nigeria Limited.

On January 21, the committee is expecting Manara Development Project Limited, Map Telecommunication Limited, Marshall Aviation Service Ltd, Max Air, MCAF Associates, Mithra  Oil Limited, Moortown Global Investment, MPS Global Services Limited, Murtala Mohammed Foundation, Musim Venture Company Limited, Muteedah Travels & Tours Limited and Muzaq Investment Limited.

Also listed for January 21 are: Mystrose Limited, NARICT, National Agency for Computer Security of Tunisia, Nerris Limited, NIALS Research Fund, Nigeria Guild Editors (NGE), Nigeria in Safe Hands, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Norden Global Resources Limited, Numora Multi-Trade, O O Osuntokun and Co, Obasa Specialty Vehicles, ODELL International LLC, OnePlus Holding Ltd, Onile Nigeria Limited, Ornyx Properties Limited, Patton Boggs LLP and Peoples & Passion Consult Limited.

On the list of those to appear before the committee on January 25 are: PHK International Co. Ltd, Pickel Holdingd and Investment LTD, Pioneer Ventures Limited, Pratt and Whitney, Canada, Pro-Avionics Limited, Proptex Nigeria Limited, Prosedec Inter Global Limited, Proton Security Service Limited, Quarter One Consulting Limited and Rajco Int. Ltd.

Others are: RECN Networks Limited, Real Property Investment Limited, Reliance Reference Hospital, Ripples Ventures Limited, Rolls Royce NA, Romix Technologies Limited, Rothhaupt GMGH, Safety Technologies Limited, Sanisah Communication Limited, Sanmilak Nigeria Limited, Sartoria Ventures, Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development, Seal Cahmbers, Scientel Limited, Secureforces Logistics Limited, Shehu Musa YarAdua Foundation, Silk Resources Limited, SK Sawki, Sky Expert Nigeria Limited and Slyvan McNamara Limited.

On the list of those to appear before the committee on January 26 are: Societe DEquipment Internationaux, Soject Nigeria Limited, Southerland Associates Limited, ST Aerospace Solutions, Denmark, Starbriid Limited, Starr Concrete Blocks & Properties Limited, Starepoint Integrated Service Limited, Stellavera De. Co. Limited, Tag Aviation S.A., TechDecision Limited, The Honda Place Limited, Tianjin Tianrong International Dev. Limited and Tosins and Co Limited.

Others are: Traditional Rulers of Nigeria, Trafiga Limited, Transgurara Nig. Ltd, Trim Communication Nigeria Limited, Tripple Kay Company Nigeria Limited, UCBK Motors, Value Trust Investment, Vibrant Resources Limited, VIG Limited, Wakaso Research and Consultancy Limited, WEHSEC Farms Limited, West Autos Solutions Enterprise, Westan Group Associates Limited, Westwood Motors Limited, White Zebu BDC, Wonder Wheels Automobile Limited, Zamzam Option Limited and Zukhruf Nigeria Limited.

The ONSA also expects companies that have done contracts with the office but are not on the list to appear before its committee between 12 and 26.

The ONSA added that the general public is pleased to note that companies or organisations that have received payments from ONSA between 2011 to 2015 which have not appeared before the committee and their names are not reflected in the list above, should please endeavour to appear before the committee anytime within the stated period at the office of the National Security Advisers Complex, 3 Arms Zone, Abuja.

A former Nigerian minister of education recently commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over its recent actions towards anti-corruption war in the country. She said the EFCC is beginning to inspire confidence in Nigerians again.

Source: Legit.ng
82-year-old Olivia Smyth hasn't actually ran across the Atlantic with son Mark roaring "LEGGIT" behind her, rather that the likes of UPROXX are picking up on the video which started doing the rounds yesterday, and has almost clocked up 100,000 views on Youtube.

According to the American site: "Irishwoman Olive Smyth is being hailed as a delightful badass thanks to a YouTube video thats popped up online of the nan playing a game of Ding Dong Ditch. (Or knick knack if you like saying the names of games weird)"

Um, ding dong ditch? OK, technically it sounds more correct, but it doesn't sound nearly as much fun.

Speaking via The Independent, her cheerleading son Mark said: "My father just passed away in March and I wanted to cheer my mother up so I asked her what she would like to do for her birthday... she laughed and said, God, I remember playing knick-knack on all these doors with my friends. Oh, the memories! So I said, Why dont we do it now. Lets relive your memories'. They thought I was taking a photo but instead I videoed the clip for a laugh and the memory is a fantastic day for my beautiful mother."

it turns out that our memories, young and old, include an excited voice shrilling "What are yis doing, a knick knock, are yis?.... LEGGIT!!! LEGGIT, HE'S COMING OUT, FASTER!"

Next stop, Ellen!
Beautiful Ghanian Nollywood actress Juliet Ibrahim was a co-host at the just concluded Glo-CAF Awards that was held in Abuja on Thursday, January 7.

The light skin actress wowed guests at the event when she came out in two different stunning outfits. Ibrahim hosted alongside South African media personality Robert Marawa.

Ibrahim first outing was a gold and black dress that made heads turn as she displayed her fabulous curves and a little of her skin.

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If her first dress was revealing her second outfit, a black and gold, helped cover up whatever that was revealed earlier. Her two outfits were designed by celebrity stylist Jeremiah Ogbodo popularly called Swanky Jerry of Swanky Signature. Her make up was done by Sutchay.

READ ALSO: Juliet Ibrahim Openly Declares Love For Mr Nigeria

Juliet Ibrahim's nails at the award

Meanwhile, in 2007, Juliet Ibrahim was a usher nine years ago at the 2007 edition of the awards. In 2012 and 2014, she was a guest at the same event she anchored.

Source: Legit.ng
Imagine the Sphinx (or a frog?) next to the pyramids sitting in a reflecting pool of water.... In short, my blogs are a series of thought clusters on the origins of the state, religion, mythology, and their significance today. A major theme is reflected by the story *blogs 8,9) of Prince and Princess Goldenlocks;. http://jesusthebogomil.blogspot.com From time to time, some of the blogs may be edited and revised. PS I remain convinced that humankind must (and will) return to the wood to survive.
Reports credited to The Nation have it that about 50 percent of the vehicles sent in by the United States government to fight insurgency in Nigeria are not working.

Yesterday, the media was awash with reports of the delivery of over 24 Mine- Resistant Armour-Protected Vehicles (MRAP) to the Nigerian Army to boost the war against Boko Haram.

The vehicles were reportedly donated in line with the United States' Excess Defence Articles programme, and were said to be among those retrieved from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some of the vehicles delivered to the Nigerian Army.

READ ALSO: Boko Haram Kidnaps Police Officer In Cameroon

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According to The Nation, it would cost the military millions in dollars to fix and equip the MRAP to standard use, especially because the spare parts could only be bought from the original manufacturers in America.

Manufactured in 2008, the minimum carriage capacity of each vehicle is five persons and can conveniently carry anti-air misiles, as well as M-15 calibre machine guns. It can withstand attacks from Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs), dynamites and bombs.

Defence Minister Gen. Dan Ali, who was represented by Major-General Barry Ndiomu, during the presentation, said the vehicles would help protect troops against IEDs and help in the movement of men with little or no casualties.

"We appreciate what the US has done but like Oliver Twist, we will appreciate if more is done. The vehicles came without spare parts. Not all of them are serviceable. The U.S. should provide the spares to enable us repair those that need to be serviced," he was quoted to have said.

READ ALSO: US Never Placed Arms Embargo On Nigeria - Ambassador

While fielding questions from reporters, US Defence Attache to Nigeria Col. Patrick Doyle revealed that about fifty percent were in good working conditions.

"The programme provided equipment to partner nations in the conditions that they are when the nations saw them. So, the Nigerian Army inspected the vehicles a few months back and selected the best they could find.

"Originally, we agreed to allow them to have 32 vehicles. Twent-five are in front of you today. Many of these vehicles will need some work.

"Probably about half of them are in good working condition but will need minor work. Others will need some body, electrical works.

"The reason we have excess defence article programmes is because we are downsizing forces in our military. We have left Iraq with our forces and have downsized forces out of Afghanistan.

"So, these vehicles were gladly provided when Nigerian Army asked.

"The repairs of the vehicles are up to the Nigerian government to do that. They can repair them on their own, but of course, the spare parts are particular to these vehicles and can be got only from the manufacturers.

"We have been discussing on this and we are working out conditions on how that can be done. The easiest way to do that is to open a government to government case, where we can work with them to ensure they get the correct parts and in a timely manner from the correct manufacturers.

"We have not done the estimate of what it will cost the Nigerian government to fix the vehicles," Doyle informed.

Nigerians have since reacted to the promise fulfilled by the American government. While some think it is a good step in the right direction, many others remain skeptical about the new arrangement.

Source: Legit.ng
Ayodele Fayose, the governor of Ekiti state, has spoken on the recent arrest and detention of Olisa Metuh, the spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to Fayose, the APCs desperation to silence the opposition has dragged the Buhari-led government in the mud of lawlessness.

The governor described the EFCC as "a system in which an accused person is first arrested, detained endlessly while the anti-corruption agency goes about looking for evidence".

Premium Times reports that Fayose expressed his opinion in a statement made on Friday, January 8, through his special assistant on public communications and new media, Lere Olayinka.

The governor also challenged the EFCC to act on petitions submitted to it against chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buharis election sponsors.

Speaking about the arrest of the PDPs spokesman, Fayose claimed that the APCs desperation to silence the opposition has dragged the Buhari-led government in the mud of lawlessness.

READ ALSO: Olisa Metuh Never Received N1.4 billion From ONSA  PDP

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In saner climes, you dont arrest people for alleged fraud and start to look for evidence to prosecute them.

Rather, before you arrest anyone for fraud, anti-corruption agencies must have established a prima facie case and arresting the suspect will only be to enable for his or her arraignment in court.

However, what we are witnessing in Nigeria today is a situation whereby the EFCC will arrest PDP leaders, humiliate them by subjecting them to media trial, detain them for weeks in the process of trying to force them to make statements during which the commission will be looking for evidence.

For instance, in the case of Metuh, we are being told that the EFCC is insisting that he must write statements and one begins to wonder if it has now become mandatory for an accused to write statements in law enforcement agents custody. Shouldnt the EFCC have simply charged Metuh to court based on its own evidence? Or is Metuhs statement the evidence the EFCC requires to prosecute him? the governor wondered.

Fayose stressed that the international community, especially the United Nations, African Union, European Union were put on notice on the condemnable act of arresting and detaining opposition leaders by agents of the Buhari-led government before fishing for evidence.

READ ALSO: Olisa Metuh Was Planning To Escape To Caribbean Island?

Further in his statement, the governor challenged the president to target his anti-corruption effort not only to members of the PDP but also to those who sponsored his election.

If President Buhari did not wait for any petition to move against PDP chieftains, asking people to come forward with allegations of corruption against APC chieftains, especially those who sponsored President Buharis election is clearly hypocritical.

Most importantly, that the EFCC acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu even said the commission do not have any petition against APC chieftains when indeed there are loads of petitions against ministers serving in Buharis government and other notable APC chieftains goes to show the hypocrisy of the fight against corruption.

It is even more hypocritical and anti-democratic for the President to have turned himself to the accuser, prosecutor and judge, carrying on as if those he accused of corruption have already been convicted," he said.

Meanwhile, the Metuh family has noted that the PDP spokesman has been detained for over 48 hours and the charges against him have not been made known to them or the general public.

The family expressed concern over the health and safety of their son, "who even before his arrest has alerted the nation about various threats to his life".

Source: Legit.ng
Nigerias president, Muhammadu Buhari has arrived in Cotonou, the Republic of Benin, for the 11th summit of the heads of state and government of the Niger Basin Authority.

President Buhari being received by the Prime Minister of Republic of Benin Mr Lionel Zinsou and Nigeria's Ambassador to Benin Republic Amb. Lawrence Obisakin at the Cotonou International Airport as President Buhari arrives to attend 11th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Niger Basin Authority in Cotonou Benin Republic on 8th Jan 2016

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According to a statement signed by Adamu Sambo, the president was received by the prime minister of the Republic of Benin, Mr Lionel Zinsou, Nigerias ambassador to Benin, Lawrence Obisakin, the minister of water resources, Suleiman Adamu, the minister of state foreign affairs and members of the Nigerian community in the neighbouring west African country.

READ ALSO: Read How Buhari Plans To Motivate Soldiers Fighting Boko Haram

Nine heads of state of the member countries of the Niger Basin Authority are attending the summit during which a new secretary general of the organisation is expected to be appointed.

President Buhari with President Boni Yayi of Benin Republic, President Iddris Deby of Chad, President Issoufou Mohammadou of Niger Republic and President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo as President Buhari attends 11th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Niger Basin Authority in Cotonou Benin Republic on 8th Jan 2016

"The minister of water resources Suleiman Adamu speaks on Nigerias expectation at the Summit," the statement said.

Source: Legit.ng
Isaac Adewole, the minister of health, has confirmed that 40 people have died in Nigeria in a suspected outbreak of Lassa fever.

Isaac Adewole, the minister of health.

Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, the minister said: The total number (of suspected cases) reported is 86 and 40 deaths, with a mortality rate of 43.2 percent.

He also warned Nigerians that the disease has already spread to ten states in the six weeks since the first case was reported.

Seven of the affected states are in the north: Bauchi, Nasarawa, Niger, Taraba, Kano, Plateau and Gombe, while the remaining three are in the south: Rivers, Edo and Oyo.

Vanguard reports that the first case of Lassa fever was recorded in November in Bauchi state. Shortly after that new cases were reported in Kano and other states.

READ ALSO: Experts Identifies Foods Remedy To Diabetes

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People with this disease do not display symptoms in 80% of cases but it can cause serious symptoms and death in the remainder.

This dangerous virus is transmitted to humans by contact with food or household items contaminated with animal faeces and urine. Person-to-person contact is also possible through bodily fluids, especially in hospitals when adequate infection control measures are not taken.

The minister said that recorded cases of Lassa fever in Nigeria peaked in 2012 at 1,723 with 112 fatalities but rates have declined since then. He further noted that in the latest outbreak most of the cases that we recorded are not through person-to-person contact. However, he added that the number of deaths was unusual.

Source: Legit.ng
Continental European markets are predicted to see the fastest growth in e-commerce logistics over the next four years, as their share of online spend starts to catch up with countries like the UK and Sweden. France, for example, is forecast to see an 11% per annum growth rate in ecommerce

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Demand for retail parks, solus retail warehouse & foodstore units in Great Britain is forecasted to increase by 6% to 11.49 m sq ft in 2016 according to C&Ws annual forecast. C&Ws specialist Retail Warehouse and Foodstore Team forecast aggregate demand from over 200 multiple occupiers regarded as the core

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Year-on-year profit per room at full-service hotels in Paris dropped by 19.0% this month, as the terrorist attacks, which took place on 13 November, were the root cause of a substantial decline in demand for hotel accommodation, according to the latest data from HotStats.

November is typically a buo...

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They have been stranded for over 11 days, and some are starting to die. Thirteen thousand sheep and cows aboard the Ocean Outback - a ship involved in the live export industry, which sends countless animals thousands of miles every year just to be slaughtered when they arrive at their destinations -hang in limbo. Engine problems have forced the vessel to stay at the port in Henderson, Australia.

After nine days, 12 sheep and two cows have already been reported dead on the Ocean Outback. "And they haven't even left port yet," Emmanuel Giuffre, legal counsel for Voiceless: the animal protection institute, told ABC Rural. He added that the mortality rate was cause for concern. "Every day these animals remain in port they remain in limbo and this compounds the stress and compounds the risks that are inevitable in the live export industry."

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But the big live export business seems unconcerned. "I think it's two cattle and about, I haven't seen today's report, and a small number of sheep, which is to be expected," said Otway Livestock Exports managing director Alan Schmidt, about the animals who have died so far.

The ship, originally bound for Israel, is awaiting government approval to change its destination to South Asia. Schmidt said Otway is "comfortable that we have got an outcome for the livestock that will mean that possibly some of the livestock will discharged and some will be exported." But there is plenty to be uncomfortable about, when it comes to live exports. Recent investigations by Animals Australia showed that animals sent to Vietnam were being sledgehammered to death, and those sent to Israel were fully conscious when their their throats were slit.

It is not yet clear where the animals exported to South Asia will go. "I won't be the exporter if they go to Southeast Asia and I can't comment on who the exporter will be," Schmidt said. Local animal activists are suspicious of the spokesperson's business-as-usual tone. "Of course, the exporter's spokesman continues to report ... that it's all good on board," wrote the LiveExport - GlobalVoice4AnimalsFacebook page on Thursday. "However, the facts are not changed ... Animals are dying." The page observes that the ship went beyond 50 km out, which is where Otway reports the ship's location in the waters. The ship was "so far out that, at one point, it seriously looked like it was being taken out of the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone, which is 320 km out," the page announced. "No doubt a main reason to go so far out would have been to get rid of the evidence of the deaths."

After this many days stuck at sea, it's hard to imagine the suffering the cows and sheep on board are enduring, steeped in their own filth and feces. Perhaps that's why no one has been saying much of anything about it. Or perhaps it's because the thriving live export industry is still considered simply everyday business. Perhaps the scariest part about the 13,000 animals stranded at sea is that this industry exists in the first place. The government approval for the new plan affecting the 13,000 onboard the vessel will come "within the next few days." Click here to learn more about live exports - and to do something about it.
Yesterday, Gervais presented a prestigious medal to Killer, a Belgian Malinois tracking dog whose work has contributed to the capture and arrest of over 115 would-be rhinoceros poachers at South Africa's Kruger National Park .

Comedian and top-notch animal advocate Ricky Gervais may be hosting the Golden Globes this year, but his awards season doesn't stop with humans.

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Killer's work is sorely needed. While the number of African rhinoceroses currently living in Kruger National Park is up for debate (estimates range from 1,500 to 10,500), it's certainly not getting any larger. Poachers, who target rhinos for their high-value horns, kill hundreds per year. In 2014, poachers in South Africa killed 631 rhinos in an eight-month period alone - 408 of whom were killed in Kruger National Park.

Killer's award is from the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), a veterinary charity that funds medical care for sick animals across the U.K. Since it was founded in 1917, the organization has given out only 24 awards. Killer is heroic number 25.

"Killer does fantastic work in Kruger National Park," Gervais told the BBC. "He helped capture dozens of poachers in the last year alone, thanks to his amazing courage and dedication."

"He's making a huge contribution to rhino protection in South Africa," he added.
Diners drink up at District restaurant Garrison. Sales in the restaurant industry were up 8 percent in the first 11 months of 2015, compared with 2 percent for the overall retail industry. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post)

Macys, Urban Outfitters, Bed Bath & Beyond and others this month reported ringing up weak sales during the holiday shopping season, capping a tepid year that many in retail attributed to cautious consumers who are not ready to forget the lessons of the last recession.

And yet look beyond the mall, and theres a different dynamic: Spending on air travel hit record levels last year, even as the average price of an airline ticket dropped. Restaurant sales were up a robust 8 percent in the first 11 months of 2015, easily outperforming the 2 percent increase seen in the overall retail industry. Millennials were on track to spend an average of $750 each in 2015 on media, including video games and streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify.

In other words, consumers are plenty willing to open their wallets, but what they choose to buy reflects a fundamental shift: Increasingly, shoppers are passing up the cashmere sweaters or leather handbags and instead shelling out for experiences such as a beach vacation, a dinner out on the town or a concert.

People are saying, Ive got enough stuff. I want to pamper myself a bit and do something that makes me feel good,  said Steven Kirn, executive director of the University of Floridas retail education and research center.

Thats been the approach of consumers like Mary Kate Allen-Mehryar of Arlington, who is headed next month on a vacation to Key West to celebrate her 30th birthday and has recently dropped money to dine at upscale District restaurants Roses Luxury and Makoto.

I will literally say, I dont want to spend $150 on this dress  but lets go to this awesome sushi restaurant where Ill spend $200,  Allen-Mehryar said. I dont get buyers remorse when I buy food, she added, because dining out is something she gets to share with friends and family.

That mind-set has made for a tough environment for many retailers, who now must not only duel with one another for business but must try to persuade legions of consumers to essentially make a lifestyle change: trade filling up their calendar with activities for filling up their closets with stuff.

Executives of some of the biggest names in retail say these spending habits are weighing on their businesses. Macys chief executive Terry Lundgren has said he believes his companys sales have struggled because customers these days are willing to pony up for things such as autos and technology but just arent buying what Macys sells. The department store this month announced that its sales plummeted during the holiday shopping season and that it would be closing stores and cutting thousands of jobs in 2016.

At Ascena Retail Group, the parent company of Ann Taylor and Dressbarn, chief executive David Jaffe has said sales have been hurt in part as a result of their shopper spending more money on her experiences.

Nordstrom, too, alluded to this issue in explaining disappointing sales.

Its a traffic thing, James F. Nordstrom Jr., president of stores, said on a conference call with investors. Weve got less people buying clothes this quarter than we expected, and theres really nothing else to point to.

In this climate, retailers and shopping centers are trying to better compete for consumers attention and dollars by jazzing up their stores. If people are looking for an experience, they reason, they need to give that to them when they visit the mall.

Nordstrom, for example, has begun adding counters to its womens shoe department in which shoppers can customize their footwear. Women can check out fabric samples and various design details such as heel height and toe shape and then create their own shoe.

Lululemon, meanwhile, is offering a concierge service at its flagship store in New Yorks Flatiron District to help shoppers book a spot in an exercise class or find a running route in the city.

Urban Outfitters has sought to adapt to this new reality by investing in a company that is far away from its core business of selling hipster clothes to the college set. The company recently bought a pizza chain called Pizzeria Vetri, saying that it saw big opportunity to expand the chain in a moment of strong spending on casual dining.

Experts say millennials may be an important driver of the spending-on-experiences trend. In a survey conducted by the consultancy PwC last year, millennials said some 52 percent of their holiday spending would be on experience-related purchases, compared with 39 percent for older consumers.

The trend will only accelerate as they continue to have more and more of an ability to pay for such purchases, said Sarah Quinlan, who studies consumer spending patterns as the head of market insights for MasterCard Advisors.

Still, millennials arent the only ones choosing experiences over stuff. District resident Mag Gottlieb, 54, prefers to spend her money on weekly date nights at restaurants with her husband or vacations to sunny St. Lucia or ski lodges in Utah. As Christmas gifts, she tends to give movie passes, frequent flier points or the chance to use her timeshare.

I dont like to give people sweaters or ties or shoes. That reminds me of something thats obligatory, Gottlieb said.

Vacations and dining out are each projected to see a 27 percent increase in consumer spending between 2015 and 2019, according to a study conducted by market research firm Mintel. That is the strongest growth of any spending category.

Malls and shopping centers are also moving to configure themselves for an experience-seeking consumer. Tom McGee, the chief executive of the International Council of Shopping Centers, said restaurants, theaters and gyms are now taking up a greater share of such properties.

I think the owner-developer community has recognized the need to evolve, McGee said. Youre going to have [design] reconfigurations, more open-air, more experiential aspects.

To be sure, a small set of retailers have managed to deliver robust sales growth despite these head winds. TJX, the parent company of T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods, has been on a hot streak, with sales leaping 5 percent last quarter. L Brands, which owns Victorias Secret and Bath & Body Works, saw its quarterly sales jump 7 percent. On Thursday, the company said sales were up an eye-popping 8 percent in December at its stores open more than a year.

But overall, many chains, especially apparel sellers, are struggling to find their footing in this environment.

I think theyre having a hard time, said Randy Allen, a senior lecturer at Cornell University who studies retailing. They know that they need to [change] and theyre experimenting, but I think the jury is out on how well theyre adapting.
Executives from Amplimmune, a biotechnology company acquired by MedImmune in 2013 for $500 million, is teaming with Yale University oncologist Lieping Chen to found NextCure, a Germantown-based start-up hoping to develop immune-therapy treatments.

The company said Wednesday that it has raised $67 million from investors, including pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly and Pfizer.

NextCure doesnt yet have any drugs in its pipeline, or any early-stage technologies that it plans to synthesize into a treatment. Thats out of the ordinary for an early-stage biotech start-up, which usually approaches investors with drugs or devices in mind.

This is quite distinct from other [biotech] companies, which are usually built around one or two things, Chen said.

Instead, the start-ups investors are giving Chen a mandate to discover treatments, building on his past body of work.

The company has entered a license agreement with Yale in which the company will fund research and development and hire scientists to work in Chens laboratory. NextCure will own the rights to any oncology drugs that emerge from the partnership.

Chen is best known for discovering a cancer treatment that empowers the immune system by attacking a cellular pathway known as PD-1/PD-L1.

This is not a small advance, said Jonathan Schneck, an oncologist at Johns Hopkins University Medical School. Lieping is a giant in the industry in terms of innovation and discovery.

Immuno-oncology has attracted growing notice over the past few years, but only a handful of drugs in the nascent field have been approved for broad public use. Two of those drugs leading the charge  Keytruda and Opdivo  target the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway that Chen is credited with innovating.

Keytruda, manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Merck, made headlines last year when former president Jimmy Carter said he was using it to treat cancerous tumors in his brain and liver. Carter said in December that he is cancer-free.

[Related: The breakthrough drug Jimmy Carter is taking to treat his cancer]

The goal of the start-up is to find alternative pathways to PD-1/PD-L1. Although Keytruda and Opdivo were proven to be effective in a regulatory review process, some patients do not respond to the treatment.

Now were looking for novel targets, novel mechanisms to develop next-generation drugs to treat those that either [see their cancer progress] on current therapies or dont currently respond to existing treatments, said NextCure chief executive Michael Richman.

NextCure will also benefit from a patented technology  essentially a series of molecular tests  that Chen used to find the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway. Chen plans to use the same platform in his work with NextCure.The business side of the start-up also holds sway in the field. Richman co-founded Amplimmune with Chen in 2007 as an immuno-therapy spinoff from Johns Hopkins University.
Murph, the protagonist of Roger Rosenblatts new novel, has a voice that is distinct, lyrical, questioning and sometimes desperate. For Murph, as Thomas Murphy is known, is an aging poet, now in his 70s, undergoing tests because of memory lapses and fearful that he has a shrinking brain. Think of the fullness in forgetfulness, he says. Words forgotten can be a pain. But the process of foraging for those words can be thrilling, like foraging for the right word in a line of a poem. The wrong word is wrong, to be sure. Still, it can be a beauty. A voyage. An obscenity.

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Murph is one of a kind, on a voyage of his own. His childhood was spent on Inishmaan, one of the Aran Islands on the west coast of Ireland. He has lived in New York since his 20s and is friend to street people and grandfather to young William, whom he takes for walks and outings. Murph is also antagonist to his apartment superintendent, an irritating man who would like to have Murph ousted from the building.

While Murph contemplates the years he has left  whether they be long or short  he reflects on his past at a running pace. His beloved wife, Oona, has died; his close friend Greenberg has died; his daughter, Maire, urges him to keep his appointment with a neurologist. Evasive, tough and witty, Murph addresses the reader, recalling experiences that have brought him to this point. Have I told you about this? he asks. And jumps from subject to subject while his mind filters, invents and speculates.

There are no dips or lags in tempo in this novel. Rosenblatt is a skilled writer who carries the reader through eras and time zones with never a break in voice. Murphs personality will not be subdued; he refuses to be silenced. To walk through the landscape of a life, he says. Odd, the scenes and moments that elbow their way to positions of prominence. The dear, quiet morning in the field with my ma. . . . A saws wheezing through a plank of pine. A chastised dog. Caits freckled thighs. The blunt smell of dung and oil lamps. . . . The time in Long Island Sound when Oona learns to swim. You go, girl. . . . Ella on the radio. Come Rain or Come Shine. So perfect was her pitch, the members of the band tuned their instruments to her voice. . . . The pigs of Inishmaan. The mud. The mud of Inishmaan, thick, dark, descending in layers to the center of the Earth. . . . Where did the time go?

He goes forward, turning thoughts inside out, turning questions over, raising bizarre and comic images. But he also raises images of beauty and kindness. Everyday life is examined as it is and as it is not. And then, in a bar, he encounters a man who makes a strange request, which leads Murph to Sarah, a blind woman in her 30s, less than half his age. His friendship with Sarah becomes one of the main threads of the story, though the threads of the past are never let go. Sarah and he challenge each other and help each other to see. This, like all of his important relationships, is about love, impossible though it may be. Murph now has blindness to consider: the worlds blindness, his own and Sarahs.

When he is in despair, Murph relies on inventive, cranky humor to get him by. Does he return to Inishmaan or is this a fanciful notion? Whether he does or not, the visit is as real to the reader as it is to him. Tell me what I see, says Sarah, and Murph positions her in Synges Chair, stone seat of the Irish dramatist John Millington Synge, and begins, as only he can do, to talk the landscape. His words and descriptions are filled with the fabulous, laced with poetry, created within his vision of the world.

Rosenblatt, essayist, memoirist and fiction writer, has created a memorable character with a magnetic personality. There is a wondrous fluidity to his prose. Thomas Murphy is a eulogy to a man who has followed his own rules and who has learned to live with his deepest regrets.

It takes a kind of courage to write a poem, says Murph, as he considers the distance between risk and failure. He allows his thoughts to drift from desperation to longing, but he knows it all amounts to this dreadful, gorgeous life.

Frances Itani is the author of 16 books, most recently the novel Tell.

On Jan. 31 at 1:00 p.m., Roger Rosenblatt will be at Politics & Prose Bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.
Given the cruel specifics of its scenario, it might be easy to take Mustang at face value, as a dramatization of real events intended as social commentary.

The story, set in a remote Turkish village near the Black Sea, concerns the plight of five orphaned young sisters, whose uncle confines them to the family home after they are spied frolicking at the beach with their male schoolmates. The behavior was innocent, but the patriarchal mandate insists they remain imprisoned for the sake of their virginity, and be married off as soon as possible  unwilling captives, as one character puts it, of a wife factory.

Although the film explores conservative traditions imposed by a male-dominated society, it also aspires to something more poetic and metaphorical.

Its very much a fiction, said Deniz Gamze Erguven, whose debut feature, a co-production between France and Turkey, is the former countrys submission for the 2016 Academy Award for best foreign-language film. I needed something very far from any kind of naturalistic form. It has the quality of a [bedtime] story you would say to children.

The 37-year-old filmmaker, who has lived in both countries, was led to the narrative by a broader cultural perspective. Growing up in France and Turkey, the experience of being a girl is just not the same, Erguven said. There is this filter of some kind of sexualization of women that starts off very, very early. She cited schools where boys and girls take different staircases to their classrooms. Its a way of [sexualizing] every single moment in the life of girls and women, whereas going to a math class at 8 a.m. is really nothing close to sexual. That filter disturbed me the most.

The Mustangs, as the girls are collectively known, are played by Ilayda Akdogan (Sonay), Tugba Sunguroglu (Selma), Doga Zeynep Doguslu (Nur), Gunes Nezihe Sensoy (Lale) and Elit Iscan (Ece)  the latter is the only young actress with professional credits. I had a very strong idea of one character with five heads, 10 arms and 10 legs, said Erguven, who spent nine months in casting. In the script as on screen, Lale, the youngest, stands out. She had this drive the others didnt have. She was this very exceptional figure among the others. But when they all came together, they all had that. It was a very complex little group.

There are two plot turns that can be counted as spoilers, but it is safe to allow that the story progresses as the girls are married off, one by one, and that their makeshift prison compound grows more fortress-like each time anyone slips free for a days adventure. As the situation escalates, the actions taken become more desperate and extreme.

One of the films most dramatic sequences takes the form of a siege, as the girls disrupt a wedding party by locking everyone else out of the house. Erguven said she took her cues from Don Siegels 1979 thriller Escape from Alcatraz, with Lale in place of Clint Eastwood. I watched a lot of invasion movies, the filmmaker said.

Sensoy, now 14, relishes her characters ferocity. She is a rebel and very smart, the young actor said of Lale. Shes trying to solve the problem shes facing, and she fights for what she wants.

To help prepare Iscan, 21, for her role as the mysterious Ece, Erguven had the performer watch a pair of classic European films that were provocative in their day: Jean-Luc Godards Vivre sa Vie (My Life to Live) and Ingmar Bergmans Summer with Monika.

They were two women characters who were acting in an unexpected way, Iscan said, referring to the iconoclastic and sexually adventurous leads played by Anna Karina and Harriet Andersson. They were having their own ways to do things. You cant understand why they are doing something, but you feel sympathy and empathy at the same time.

Although the film was shot in a region that has been under glass for a very long time, Erguven said, she experienced no negativity from the community  even when she chose to dine in a downstairs section of a restaurant reserved for men only. Theres this natural authority that comes with your very presence to do a film, and people respect that, said the director. Once in a while I could feel there was an issue about lack of respect, but that had as much to do with age, and came from another woman.

Erguven offered her hope that Mustang might likewise slip into places in Turkish society where it might not be expected to belong. Film has this incredible power, she said. I always considered film as a meta language, so it is so much stronger. We can generate empathy from people who would almost feel contested by the film. She reached for the right word to describe her intended effect, and then smiled. Its a robbery.

Along with the Cannes Grand Prix winner Son of Saul, the film has the most name recognition on the Academy Awards foreign-

language shortlist. The timeless nature of the story and the charisma of its cast would seem to transcend any language barriers. Even if they dont live in Turkey, people really like the film because the subject is really universal, said Iscan. People can find something of themselves in the movie.

Most of all Erguven, who navigated the stumbling blocks of making her first film while also pregnant. One scene in particular has stuck close to her heart. Lale escapes with her slippers and she has this road in front of her, she said. Thousands of kilometers of obstacles and with the determination she has . . . everything crystallizes. Its such a long way to walk in slippers. I relate to it in a very mythical way.

Dollar is a freelance writer.

Mustang Opens in area theaters Friday. Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material and sexual content.
Something Ted Cruz and Donald Trump can agree on  the media is up to no good. (Mark Kauzlarich/Reuters and Brian Snyder/Reuters)

The vast field of presidential candidates doesnt agree on much else, but on this there is broad consensus: The news media has done them wrong.

Democrat or Republican, front-runner or also-ran, almost every candidate has had something critical to say about the media during this campaign. In particular, Donald Trump, whose candidacy owes much to his pervasive news coverage, has repeatedly bitten the hands that have fed him.

Beating on the press is as old as Spiro Agnews political career, so theres nothing new about candidates dishing out an occasional head slap to the media. Whats new in this cycle is the number and kind of attacks  complaints about biased coverage, about hostile coverage, about inaccurate or superficial coverage. Or just not enough coverage.

Everyone seems to be playing:

Ted Cruz (at CNBCs Oct. 28 Republican debate ): The questions asked in this debate illustrate why the American people dont trust the media. Everyone home tonight knows that the moderators have no intention of voting in a Republican primary.

Bernie Sanders (to CNN, Dec. 24): You explain to me how a major network on the evening news has 81 minutes of Trump, 20 seconds of Bernie Sanders. Does that make sense to anybody?

Ben Carson (to CBS, Nov. 8): Theres no question Im getting special scrutiny from the news media. Every single day or every other day or every week, theyre going to come out with, Well, you said this when you were 13 . . . and the whole point is to distract. Distract the populace, distract me.

Carly Fiorina (to Fox News, Nov. 11): News flash: The media is biased. This isnt anything new. And we just have to deal with it, unfortunately. So, its not going to rattle me.

Marco Rubio (at the Oct. 28 debate): The Democrats have the ultimate super PAC. Its called the mainstream media.

Trumps media-bashing citations are too numerous to list. And while Hillary Clinton has been relatively quiet about the media during this campaign, her husband hasnt. In defending his wife against criticism of her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, the former president went after both Republicans and the media  a two-fer. I have never seen so much expended on so little, Bill Clinton told CNN.

Criticizing the news media is a hallowed chapter in the presidential candidates playbook, especially among Republicans, said Terence Smith, a veteran journalist (the New York Times, CBS News) and press analyst (PBS) who writes a newspaper column. Even so, he said, it seems to be a banner year for press-bashing among the candidates. . . . Its more blatant and frequent this time around.

A well-honed blast at the media can be an attention-getting device, Smith said, and strikes a chord with a candidates most devoted followers, especially during a debate. But hes not sure its anything more than an applause line: Does it resonate equally with the viewing audience and the public at large? Not so much, I suspect.

View Graphic Here is who's winning the presidential race so far.

On the other hand, the current round of bashing reflects a genuine anger on the part of a number of Americans toward the media, said Jane Hall, a professor of journalism at American University in Washington.

Issue No. 1, according to Hall: If I were a Republican candidate, Id be outraged about all the [media] attention Trump is getting. Theres genuine frustration that Trump has taken over the coverage.

Of course, the irony of Trumps widespread coverage  a recent survey found that he garnered more than twice as many minutes of airtime on the three evening network news broadcasts than the rest of the Republican field combined  is that Trump has been, by far, the most critical of the media. In perhaps a first for a leading candidate, he has called out reporters by name at his rallies and on his Twitter account.

A short list of the media figures Trump has insulted since he announced his candidacy in June includes: CNN pundit S.E. Cupp; Fox News hosts Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace; New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski; Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington; Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza; Post columnists Jennifer Rubin, George Will and Charles Krauthammer; MSNBC host Lawrence ODonnell; columnist/Fox News pundit Bill Kristol; columnist/TV host Errol Louis; conservative columnists Erick Erickson and Jonah Goldberg; Associated Press political reporter Jill Colvin; and NBC Newss Katy Tur and Chuck Todd.

He speaks about the media with absolute contempt, Hall said, and yet the media cant get enough of him. It feels like sadomasochism.

In an era when trust in the press remains at historic lows, the media may be a safe rhetorical devil figure for both parties, said Richard Vatz, a professor of rhetoric at Towson University. While Vatz believes that the news media generally favors Democrats, the press can be attacked for its selective agenda from any angle, such as Sanderss recent complaint that the excessive focus on Clintons emails was a distraction from a discussion about poverty in the United States.

No politician ever lost an election by attacking bias in the media, Vatz said. Still, such attacks are beginning to have diminishing returns, he said, particularly when the complaints are repeated. Carson and his supporters, for example, complained about media bias, but his lack of foreign policy expertise has been his undoing, Vatz said.

About the only candidate who hasnt complained about his press clippings of late is former Maryland governor Martin OMalley, who remains far behind Clinton and Sanders in Democratic polls. Asked about her candidates attitude, OMalley spokeswoman Haley Morris offered an explanation likely to win him a few friends in the media: Everyone has a job to do, and Governor OMalley respects that, she said.

Besides, she added, perhaps there are worthier demons.
A couple of days before Thanksgiving, film blogger Jeffrey Wells sent out a tweet about The Revenant that set social media astir, suggesting the violence in the new western by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu  which features Leonardo DiCaprio as a 19th-century fur trapper gruesomely mauled by a bear  was so unflinching brutal that at least half the moviegoing public wouldnt be able to stomach it. Forget women seeing this, he opined, categorically.

[The Revenant stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a man fighting for his life]

Inarritu called Wellss characterization not just insulting to women but also ridiculous. In a phone interview, the Oscar-winning director of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) said that it is largely women, not men, who have picked up on what he called the films subtler themes, including one about  surprise  parental love. Loosely inspired by the true story of trapper Hugh Glass (1780-1833), The Revenant follows Glasss 200-mile quest for revenge after his teenage son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck) is killed by a fellow trapper (Tom Hardy) and the badly injured Glass is abandoned and left for dead. Although the character of Glasss son is fictional, the inspiration for the films hero really was attacked by a grizzly, in 1823. Pointedly, in the film, the bear is a mother defending her cubs.

I have to say that the most in-depth comments I have received in the screenings where I have been, here and in London, have been from women, Inarritu said. Women, in a way, are much more able to get into the movies background themes faster and easier than men. We are a little more brute.

By way of example, the filmmaker cited one scene in which DiCaprios Glass, to keep from freezing to death during his winter journey, eviscerates a dead horse and spends a frigid night, naked but warm, inside its abdominal cavity. It was a woman, Inarritu said, who observed that Glasss emergence from the horse the next morning could be seen as a metaphor for childbirth  a metaphor that he never consciously intended but that he is all too happy to embrace.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, director of "The Revenant," poses at the films premiere in Hollywood, California. (Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

The branches of art grow in the souls of human beings in different ways, he said, calling this particularly poetic interpretation of his own cinematic art a branch with flowers.

Inarritus co-screenwriter, Mark L. Smith, said it is easy to get lost in the woods of the films violence, which includes, over 2 1/ 2 hours, scalping, stabbing, hatcheting, shooting and, in the ambush of trappers by Arikara Indians that opens the film, an arrow through a mans eye socket. Youre never going to see anyone call this the feel-good movie of the year,  Smith said jokingly. He started writing a version of The Revenant in 2007, before teaming up with Inarritu a couple of years ago.

Although Smiths unproduced screenplays include period adventures based on the lives of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton and Harald Hardrada, the Viking king  both potential vehicles for DiCaprio, as producer and star, respectively  he is best known for his work in the horror genre, including 2007s Vacancy and its straight-to-video sequel. (Theyre easier to get made, Smith said, somewhat sheepishly.) Despite coverage focusing almost exclusively on the brutality of The Revenant, Smith insisted the violence is secondary to the father-son storyline.

Revenge is the spark that ignites Glasss journey, Smith said. Alejandro and I both felt that revenge was a goal without reward. Once you go down that path, nobodys going to be satisfied at the end.

Smith compared the vengeance narrative to a set of railroad tracks through a barren wilderness, around which Inarritu created a rich landscape of secondary and tertiary themes.

The films theme of fatherly love is reinforced by a subplot, in which an Arikara warrior (Duane Howard) is searching for his daughter (Melaw Nakehko), who has been kidnapped into sex slavery by French trappers. It was important to Alejandro to emphasize the theme of racism, Smith said, and the way the natives land was being devoured by us as we moved west.

For all its depravity, The Revenant is a lovely film. It was shot in wintry locations in Calgary, Alberta, and Argentina by Mexican cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, and its stark vistas belie what Smith called the brutal nature of frontier life in 19th-century America. With the notable exception of the bear scene, the film uses almost no CGI. Two of the most eye-popping shots  one involving an avalanche, the other an approaching snowstorm  were created without digital trickery, using carefully timed explosives in the first case and a snow machine, just off camera, for the second.

For all its cinematic bravura, Inarritu said The Revenant is a quiet film  and not just because it has little dialogue. Sections of the script run for pages with barely any spoken words. At times, Smith recalled, it felt like he was writing a silent film.

Using only natural light, the film was shot mostly at dusk  the hour, Inarritu said, when God speaks. It is then, the director said, that there is an ecstasy in every object, when everything is shouting for beauty and presence, in a way that is not the same at high noon.

The Revenant isnt about Glasss mauling and Hawks murder, or about the heros bloody quest to right a wrong, as Inarritu and Smith argued. It is about what happens in between. Smith said one of his favorite scenes is when a starving Glass raises a stick  his gun has been taken  and points it an elk. In that moment, Smith said, you get everything.

Inarritu waxed similarly poetic. When we look at the night sky and we ask somebody what they see, they say stars. But, actually, what we are seeing is the space  and the silence  between the stars.

The Revenant (R, 156 minutes). At area theaters.
Who: Genevieve Roberts (the author) and her husband, Chris Roberts, of Glen Allen, Va.

Where, when, why: We decided to celebrate my big birthday (50!) by visiting Paris and the Champagne Valley region in France, as well as Bruges and Brussels in Belgium. I love French culture and food and have had the opportunity to travel there on multiple occasions, but this was the first visit for my husband. We also decided, since we were in Europe, to take in a country and a couple of other cities that neither of us had been to but that would be an easy train ride away.

Highlights and high points: We traveled via tour van into the Champagne Valley region about 11/ 2 hours outside Paris and visited three vineyards where we sampled 12 different champagnes throughout the 11-hour day. We learned how champagne is produced and stored in dark cellars underground and how important the soil, temperature and rain levels are to the exquisiteness of the grape harvest. We even were treated to lunch in the home of one of the owners whose property had been in the family for hundreds of years. Needless to say, I found my new favorite drink and ordered a case to ship home.

Genevieve and Chris take a selfie in Frances Champagne Valley region. (Christopher Roberts )

[What a Trip: Exploring Europe by foot and winning a bouquet toss in Prague]

Cultural connection or disconnect: The biggest disconnect we ran into was on our last day in Bruges. We were scheduled to take the train to Brussels in the morning, arriving in time to make our early afternoon tour. We learned late the evening before our departure that the train workers were considering going on strike but that we would not know more until the morning. We woke up, and our hotel concierge informed us that all was well. We arrived via cab at the train station only to learn that all the trains to Brussels had indeed been canceled because of the strike. Yikes, what to do? We called some car transportation companies and bus lines, but nothing would get us there in time. So we ran out to the taxi line at the train station and begged a driver to take us to Brussels. He agreed for a hefty price, but we made it there on time.

Biggest laugh or cry: When we landed in Bruges, it felt as if we had been transported back to medieval times. The buildings and churches were architecturally impeccable, undamaged by wars because of the double moats around the city. Horse-drawn carriages drove by regularly while we took in a romantic cruise on one of the many canal tour boats. Of course, we indulged in Belgian waffles and beer (just not at the same time). Our first night there we were exhausted and had just finished touring the Historium, a relatively new museum encompassing all things Bruges. Smartly, they have you finish the museum tour at a rooftop bar. We ordered a flight of beer since we were not sure which ones we would like, and sat overlooking the market square and drinking the most delicious beer on completely empty stomachs. The giggles started after the third glass  we were unaware that our Belgian beers had a much higher alcoholic content than we were used to in America. We took lots of silly selfies before we stumbled out to find our next destination, excited to try the next round of brews.

How unexpected: We love walking everywhere and taking in all the sights and sounds. We also like stopping for breaks and people-watching at outdoor cafes. We both noted how much better food and drink tastes in Europe. One day, we stopped at a cheese shop and bought brie and fig chutney, went to a local bakery and bought a baguette, and, finally, wound up at a wine shop and asked the shopkeeper for a great Bordeaux. Without hesitation, he handpicked one for only seven euros. We took our loot to our hotel room to snack on, and it tasted so good. Were still searching for that Bordeaux and baguette back home.

Fondest memento or memory: Our dining experience at Monnaie de Paris was an unforgettable memory  we could not have imagined what a unique gastronomic experience we were in for. Three-star ratings from Michelin are difficult to achieve and maintain, and now we know why. We dressed up, took a cab from our hotel to the restaurant and, after climbing up an old rounded stone staircase, found ourselves in front of two large dark doors wondering what to do next. Before we could say anything, the doors magically opened before us, and we were immediately greeted by five people. They took our coats and swiftly escorted us to our table next to a floor-to-ceiling glass window overlooking the Seine. It was very quiet, with only two other couples in the same room as us. I squealed inside when they brought a little table for my purse. Each course we ordered was brought out by a different server, and we never had water with more fines bulles (tiny bubbles) before. What we thought would be a 12-course dinner turned out to be more like a 20-course dinner, with the chefs specialties interspersed among our ordered items, including foie gras, lobster stew and lamb. Each course was accompanied by some little surprise, such as lifting a tiny cup of soup and finding caviar under it. After the fourth hour of eating, we began to tire and thought the meal was coming to a close. Then they began the four-course dessert process. After the five-hour meal, however, I felt like a queen and was pleasantly full, as each course was  in true French fashion  just enough to taste and not to overwhelm. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Bon appetit!

To tell us about your own trip, go to washingtonpost.com/travel and fill out the What a Trip form with your fondest memories, finest moments and favorite photos.
From customer-friendly policies to thoughtful ways to welcome guests, the travel industry is discovering the power of small. (Jodi Jacobson/iStockphoto)

In the travel industry, little things can make a big difference.

The zipper on your suitcase, for example. Traditionally, airlines have excluded specific parts of checked baggage, such as wheels, straps, zippers, handles and protruding parts, when reimbursing travelers for damaged luggage.

Benito Leon, whose Kenneth Cole spinner was damaged on a flight from Anchorage to Dallas last summer, filed a claim with the airline, which insisted it didnt cover damage to zippers.

I was quoted this phrase three times, says Leon, who lives in Miami.  American Airlines does not assume liability for damages caused to baggage zippers. 

But late last year, the Department of Transportation formally clarified a federal regulation called 14 CFR 254.4. If an airline breaks any part of your bag  even if its sticking out  the carrier is on the hook for up to $3,500 per passenger.

[What the TSAs new body-scanner rules mean for you]

Travelers (and, ahem, travel columnists) like to fixate on the big events, such as corporate mergers and congressional legislation. But often, the details that shape the customer experience are small, barely worth a mention in a story. From customer-friendly policies to thoughtful ways to welcome guests, the travel industry is discovering the power of small.

For example, every car rental company has a policy on late returns. If youre a frequent traveler, like Linda Talley, you know that if you bring the car back past the deadline, you have to pay for an extra day. Its how the policy is interpreted that matters.

I like car rental companies that do have a grace period of, say, 15 minutes when returning cars, says Talley, a behavioral theorist from Houston. Just a few minutes of looking the other way is sometimes enough to turn a late, frustrated customer into a happy one who is likely to return.

Car rental companies are also known to shuttle their VIPs directly to the airport terminal when they drop off their cars. But how do you define a VIP? Surely not someone like Austin Bliss, who runs a marketing firm in Boston and was traveling, under no special status, with his kids recently. But, as he discovered, their definition of very important has a little wiggle room.

Instead of being told to Walk over there and get on the bus, the check-in agent hopped in our rental car and drove us right to our gate, he remembers. It took probably 10 minutes of her time but saved us a ton of agony loading and unloading luggage, car seats and strollers.

Ive also experienced a VIP ride to the airport, a few years ago in Hawaii. It was completely unexpected. An employee saw my family and our baggage and decided to go the extra mile. It brought a smile to my face.

[Department of Transportation shifts to advocacy as airline complaints rise]

Many hotels now offer amenity kits for guests who leave their toothbrushes  one of the most common items travelers forget to pack  at home. These extras are unexpected and often unadvertised, but, time and again, travelers say they can make the difference between a good stay and a great one. (Kimpton hotels, take a bow. You offer anything a guest might leave at home, including a night light and superglue.)

Pat McBride, whose company provides design services to the hospitality industry, says hotels are trying to integrate that kind of spontaneous hospitality into their rooms. Were working with our clients on this idea of an in-room provisions package offering the items that a guest may not have thought to pack, like beach balls, sunglasses, sunscreen and headphones, he says. After all, when youre on vacation, the last thing you want to do is search for a place to buy sunscreen  or worse, do without it.

It seems even airlines are catching on to the power of small. Over Thanksgiving, for example, United Airlines served its passengers pumpkin cheesecake tarts from Chicago-based Elis Cheesecake Company. (Thats really good cheesecake, in case youve never had it.) Perhaps it contributed to Uniteds sky-high ratings on its internal customer service scores, which compares with an abysmal score for the same period in 2012, according to an airline spokesman.

[Before getting in an unfamiliar rental car, take steps to minimize confusion]

United is not alone. In October, when Tracy Kurschner was flying from San Francisco back home to Minneapolis, a Delta Air Lines employee brought a basket filled with pretzels, peanuts and cookies to passengers waiting to collect their bags in the baggage claim area. She was just walking around the carousel, greeting people, handing out treats, says Kurschner, who works for a talent acquisition firm. It was super awesome.

Small gestures arent exactly new, as Scott Amyx of San Francisco notes. But more airlines appear to understand that small is big with their customers. I love Korean Airlines because theres a packet of goodies waiting for me on my seat, he says. They even offer disposable slippers, which psychologically makes me feel as though I am home.

Of course, not every company has to wait to be asked, either by customers or by the government, to pay attention to the details. Shep Hyken, a customer service expert, recalls what happened after his daughters luggage was damaged on a recent Southwest Airlines flight.

The handle had been pulled off, Hyken remembers. We walked into the baggage office, and they offered to replace the luggage with something similar on the spot. It was like they had a mini-showroom with different types of luggage. The Southwest employee said to pick out the one that matches what we had, and it was an even swap. No hassle, no friction. Just great customer service.

Elliott is a consumer advocate, journalist and co-founder of the advocacy group Travelers United.

Email him at chris@elliott.org.
A coyote, not the same recently spotted in the Manassas area, keeps pace with a car in this file photo. (KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

Look out! Wile E. Coyote has been seen in Prince William County.

Authorities there are warning residents to be on the lookout after there have been some recent reports of coyote sightings in the Manassas area.

Many of the sightings, police and wildlife officials said have been reported in the area bound by South Grant Avenue, Old Dominion Drive, Lake Jackson Drive, Prince William Parkway and Manassas City.

As human populations continue to rise and move into traditional wildlife habitats, human/wildlife contact becomes more prevalent, said a statement from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

The agency said coyote sightings are not unusual and theyve had many reported in the past few years in that area.

[Coywolves, coyote-wolf hybrids are prowling Rock Creek Park and D.C. suburbs]

They also warned that the next two months are the breeding season for coyotes and unpaired coyotes are likely to move as they search for a mate.

Most coyotes come out at night but they have been seen during the day and can be attracted to food or areas under porches, decks or crawl spaces to make a den, officials said.

Authorities recommended that the best way to prevent them from becoming a problem is to not give them a reason to take up residence in your community.

They gave several other suggestions, including keeping trash inside until the day of pick-up and not leaving pet food outside.

Residents who have a problem with a coyote are encouraged to call the game and inland fisheries division at 855-571-9003.
THE DISTRICT

Man is charged in fatal shooting

D.C. police have made an arrest in Decembers fatal shooting of a man in the Northeast Washington neighborhood of Langston-Carver, according to a department statement.

Kimberly Thompson, 58, of Northeast was charged with first-degree murder while armed. He was arrested on a warrant Tuesday. Police said Thompson shot Charles Mayo, 53, the afternoon of Dec. 10 in the 1900 block of Bennett Place NE. Mayo died Dec. 17.

An arrest affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court says Thompson and Mayo knew each other and the alleged shooter was angry about a dice game played in front of his sisters house. Days before Mayo was shot, the affidavit says, Thompson fired shots in the air to break up the gambling game.

 Peter Hermann

Red pandas have returned to the zoo

The rather implausibly exciting lives of the Districts red pandas are starting a new chapter, and this one will be in D.C.

The National Zoo announced that after a two-year hiatus, two new red pandas have moved to its main zoo in Woodley Park.

Red pandas made headlines in 2013 after one named Rusty captivated the Twittersphere when he escaped from the National Zoo. Police got involved, and it seemed the whole city was searching for him.

Hours later, he was found in Adams Morgan and returned to the zoo. But in January 2014, he was moved to a Smithsonian facility in Front Royal, Va., so he could mate with a fellow local red panda. Since 2014, no red pandas have been at the National Zoo.

The two new red pandas, both 1, are Tusa, a male, and Asa, a female. Visitors can see them in the Small Mammal House before they move to the red panda exhibit in the spring.

 Julie Zauzmer

VIRGINIA

Army investigator criminally charged

The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command said Thursday that it is looking into an incident involving one of its employees, who local police said went on a rampage in Fairfax County in which he allegedly exposed himself to a woman, demanded that his bill be lowered and pulled out a gun.

The episode happened Dec. 22 at a restaurant in the Fort Belvoir area, according to Fairfax police. Authorities said Curtiss Davis, of Stafford, Va., went to a restaurant and began causing trouble. He was charged with two counts of abduction and other counts.

Chris Grey, a spokesman for the command, said that Davis has been suspended with pay from his jobs law enforcement duties.

 Dana Hedgpeth
Wealth of options for China's super-rich Updated: 2016-01-08 07:53 By Li Jing(China Daily Europe)



Tourists take wedding pictures during a trip to Antarctica. Luxury travel packages are popular with Chinese rich people, and a report says Antarctica, the Maldives, Australia, Dubai and France are top luxury destinations. Provided to China Daily

As more Chinese names make it onto the global rich list, luxury tourism packages are proving more popular.

The number of Chinese billionaires swelled to 596 in 2015, which saw the country overtake the United States for the first time, according to Hurun Report, a market intelligence company.

"Despite the economic slowdown, China's richest people created more wealth in one single year than any country has ever done before," says Rupert Hoogewerf, the chairman of Hurun, who has tipped China to become the world's top luxury tourism market.

How to tap that potential is the question now being asked by those in the industry.

In early 2014, Beijing Utour International Travel Service launched Magic Travel to cater to the expanding ranks of wealthy Chinese. "Compared with years ago, the market is much more mature," says Li Mengran, Utour's publicity manager. "Today, there's more to luxury travel than just being ostentatious."

A Hurun/International Luxury Travel Market Asia report released in May says half of all super-rich travelers flew business class in 2014, compared to one-third the previous year.

Chinese luxury travelers have grown more accustomed to good service and well-planned itineraries, says Steve Spivak, vice-president of global sales for Tauck, the US-based tour organizer. "Itineraries that offer rich, exotic experiences are now popular with super-rich travelers, such as our Amazon River cruise or an expedition to a Kenyan national park."

Li adds that tours to the Arctic and Antarctica led by scientists and accompanied by professional photographers are also best-sellers.

The Hurun/International Luxury Travel Market Asia report says Antarctica was the most popular destination among China's high net worth individuals in 2014, especially during the Chinese New Year break. Other top luxury destinations were in the Maldives, Australia, Dubai and France.

The report says the United Kingdom and Italy have seen significant increases in their popularity and forecasts that Europe will rank first in terms of luxury leisure travel over the next three years.

"Leisure and global travel are set to be the themes for the next three years, and next is polar exploration," the report says. "Super-rich travelers, while hoping to try novel and extreme challenging experiences, crave physical and spiritual relaxation during their travels and vacations."

lijing2009@chinadaily.com.cn
Correction: An earlier version of this story misattributed a comment comparing abortion to the Holocaust to Del. David Vogt. Christopher Mason made the comment. The story has been corrected.

Amie Hoeber cruised through the first 90 minutes of Thursday nights Republican forum for congressional candidates in Western Marylands 6th Congressional District.

A first-time candidate at 73, eyed by the national GOP as a promising prospect to unseat incumbent Democrat John Delaney, she touted her credentials as a Reagan-era deputy undersecretary of the Army and drew rousing cheers from her supporters at the Holiday Inn Gaithersburg.

She was joined by seven other contenders: Washington County Commissioner Terry Baker; Montgomery Village research scientist Scott Cheng; Republican activist Robin Ficker; Laytonsville businessman Frank Howard; Frederick security consultant and former Marine Christopher Mason; Gaithersburg accountant Harold Painter; and state Del. David E. Vogt III (District 4), also a former Marine.

[Why are so many Republicans seeking Rep. John Delaneys seat?]

But the final half-hour got bumpy for Hoeber when the discussion turned to abortion.

A panelist asked Hoeber about her involvement with the National Womens Political Caucus, a nonpartisan group that supports, among other issues, abortion rights. Hoebers campaign website biography notes that she was co-founder and past chair of caucus chapters in Northern Virginia and in Los Angeles. Earlier this week, the group endorsed Rep. Donna F. Edwards (Md.), one of the most liberal lawmakers in Congress, in her Democratic primary campaign for the U.S. Senate.

Ms. Hoeber, do you support abortion, and, if not, why did you have such an association with a militantly pro-abortion organization? asked panelist Brian Griffiths, editor-in-chief of Red Maryland, a conservative blog.

Hoeber, the only woman at the table of candidates, noted that other Republican women were active in the group, including the late Kathy Wilson, who chaired the organization in the early 1980s.

We stand united supporting women. I have supported women all my life, said Hoeber, who sits on the board of the Maryland chapter of House of Ruth, an organization that provides services to women and children who have suffered from domestic violence.

Do you support abortion? asked a male voice in the audience of about 125. Hoeber tried to move on. I do not think thats a reasonable issue. That is settled law, she said.

Planned Parenthood funding is settled law? asked another voice from the crowd.

In a separate round of questioning a few minutes later, Griffiths asked Hoeber again if she supported abortion. Again, Hoeber tried to evade a direct answer.

Im a mother. Im a stepmother. Im a grandmother, she said. I think I understand in ways unique to this group of candidates about the preciousness of life. But I believe the abortion question has been settled by law, and I support the law of the United States.

Panelists also asked Baker, Mason and Vogt their position on abortion; all three said they opposed it, with Mason calling the practice a greater Holocaust going on now than in Nazi Germany. Howard and Ficker have said in past campaign questionnaires that they favor late-term abortion limits.

While the 6th District  which runs from Potomac through the Maryland panhandle to the West Virginia border  is considered to be safely in Democratic hands, Republicans are encouraged by former Secret Service agent Dan Bonginos near-upset of Delaney in 2014. Bongino came within 2,700 votes out of 190,000 cast.

All eight Republican candidates had strong words for the incumbent, who lives in Potomac, in the neighboring 8th Congressional District. He thought Frostburg was in Siberia, said Ficker, referring to the city in the 6th Districts Allegany County.

Howard, also a District 8 resident, denounced Delaneys support of the Iran nuclear agreement, saying he couldnt be more opposed. He also said if he were elected he would work to hit the reset button on the relationship between the United States and Israel.

The evening was filled with red meat rhetoric and unusual ideas.

To reduce traffic congestion in the Washington region, Painter said he favored moving some big federal agencies out of the District. He suggested, for example, that the Agriculture Department could be shifted to Kansas City.

Mason called for a halt to all immigration and said climate change was a total hoax. While he once thought Islamist extremism was the greatest threat to national security, he said, he now thinks the greatest threat to our country is the Democratic Party.

Baker, ticking off the terrorist attacks of recent years, said: If I were in war, I think the last people Id want in my foxhole would be Clinton, either one, Obama, Kerry. Id have to take them out first.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday that he will propose $400 million in tax cuts over the next five years and wants to change state budget law to automatically reduce mandated spending increases if revenue levels drop.

Tax relief would fulfill the central promise Hogan (R) made in his 2014 gubernatorial campaign, when he staged one of the biggest upsets in the country by defeating a Democratic lieutenant governor in a deeply blue state.

But tax cuts  like budget-reform measures  would require the approval of Marylands Democratic-controlled legislature, which is wary of reducing spending on education, health care and other basics.

Democrats also have little interest in handing a big political victory to Hogan, whose popularity has soared over the past year as he battled cancer, cut tolls and directed hundreds of millions of dollars to road and bridge projects.

[Hogan plans to raze empty buildings in Baltimore]

Senate Budget and Taxation Committee Vice Chairman Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery) said lawmakers should decide where to make cuts in the event of budget shortfalls, rather than have spending formulas reduced automatically.

This process is supposed to be difficult, Madaleno said. Its supposed to be making the hard decisions year in and year out.

Hogan insisted that tweaking the law regarding automatic spending increases should be a top priority for the 2016 legislative session, which begins Wednesday.

Currently, 83 percent of the state operating budget comes from mandated formulas, which Hogans office described as a major driver of unsustainable spending and debt.

While our economy is growing and were adding jobs, the next recession, federal shutdown, riot, major weather event or other unforeseen emergency could easily plunge our state back into a fiscal crisis, Hogan said at a news conference.

He did not give details of the legislation he would propose to change the budgeting process. Nor did he say which taxes he wants to cut, or when.

Hogan said his fiscal 2017 budget, which must be submitted to the legislature by Jan. 20, will include full funding for all mandated spending. That means the governor will avoid the battles over money for schools that dominated much of last years legislative session.

[Why Donna Edwards is struggling to raise money in her Senate race]

The operating budget will total $17.1 billion, roughly 1.2 percent higher than in fiscal 2016, and the state will set aside $1.1 billion in a rainy day fund. Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer said the governor will ask for a pay raise for all state employees.

The budget would provide $6.3 billion for K-12 education, an increase of $140 million, and $314 million in new funding for school construction. It would also include $2 billion for shovel-ready infrastructure projects, including fixing every structurally deficient bridge in the state.

Hogan called for increasing the amount of highway-user revenue allocated to local jurisdictions for transportation projects by 19 percent, to $231 million. He said he wants to limit capital debt to $995 million, in hopes of forcing the state to borrow less money. In the current-year budget, debt is $1.05 billion.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) was skeptical of allowing automatic reductions in spending formulas but said he couldnt take a position without more details.

You have to be pretty specific about where that mandate relief would come from and what kind of savings you would get from it, Busch said. Theres a reason why those mandates are in place.

Hogan said he will not propose legislation this session that has been used in past years to allow lawmakers to tinker with spending mandates when revenue falls short of expected levels. Such budget reconciliation measures have been used every year since 2008 as the state has dealt with the effects of a nationwide economic downturn.

[Advocates hope 2016 is the year to pass paid sick leave in Maryland]

Maryland should have ample money to cover its spending requirements for the next budget year, with analysts estimating a surplus of up to $750 million, compared with $37 million in 2015.

Hogan used the states improved financial outlook to make the case for tax relief. He said the cuts will help working-class families, retirees and small businesses, affecting an estimated 1 million Maryland residents and more than 300,000 businesses.

The governor said he expects a cash balance of $440 million going into fiscal 2018, which the state could use to compensate for lost revenue from tax cuts.

He credited his administrations policies and an improved economy for the states brighter financial outlook.

The changes we have instituted are working, Hogan said. There is no denying that our efforts are paying off.

Madaleno, however, played down the governors role.

The economy, because of the strong work of the Obama administration, has recovered in the state of Maryland, he said. Our improved condition is entirely because revenues have improved.

Ovetta Wiggins contributed to this report.
Congress and the White House are coming after your toothpaste, facial scrubs and body wash.

Beginning in mid-2017, tiny plastic beads found in some bath and beauty products will be prohibited. The ban, which President Obama signed into law in late December, is aimed at the billions of microbeads that some researchers estimate wash down U.S. drains every day, slip through sewage treatment plants and end up being eaten by fish in lakes, rivers and oceans.

This is huge, said Julie Lawson, executive director of Trash Free Maryland, an environmental group that helped push through a state ban on microbeads last year. Were not trying to get these products off the shelves. Were trying to get manufacturers to change the way they make them.

The tiny plastic beads are most often used as mild abrasives to exfoliate skin and strip away dirt and oil. They also put the colorful sparkle in some toothpastes and help fill in wrinkles in some age-defying make-up. Congressional researchers say hundreds of products contain microbeads and that a single bottle or tube can have hundreds of thousands of the tiny particles.

Once they wash down drains and reach sewage treatment plants, they can slip through filters that werent designed for such small particles and end up discharged into waterways, where they look like tiny eggs. Fish that eat them can suffer problems, researchers say, and end up on dinner plates.

Drinking water drawn from the same waterways with the beads isnt considered a risk, environmental activists say, because water filtration plants screen out smaller contaminants than sewage treatment facilities.

They are so small, and there are so many of them, said George S. Hawkins, general manager of D.C. Water, which provides drinking water in Washington and sewage treatment for the city and surrounding suburbs. The worry was theyre getting through our systems and into rivers and becoming part of the food chain.

While theres been relatively little research into the prevalence of beads in waterways, the problem drew national attention in 2013, after a study found colorful microbeads in the Great Lakes. A 2015 study estimated that, nationwide, 808 billion beads are washed down drains daily. Up to 99 percent of those probably settle out at the sewage treatment plant and end up in leftover sludge, those researchers said. However, even the relatively scant numbers that get through treatment plants amount to an estimated 8 billion daily reaching waterways, the study found.

John Hurson, who oversees government affairs for the Personal Care Products Council, said manufacturers can replace the beads with natural materials, such as sand, sugar or ground-up walnut shells. Its unclear how the change will affect product costs, he said.

He said companies used the plastic beads because theyre safe, non-allergenic and gentle on the skin. But he said some companies, particularly European manufacturers, began discontinuing them voluntarily in the early 2000s, after a late-1990s study raised the possibility that they were getting through sewage treatment facilities.

Hurson said the industry is responsible for a minuscule portion of microplastics found in waterways because they also come from clothing fibers, boat paint particles and degrading plastic bags and bottles. Even so, he said, the industry supported environmental groups calls for a national standard on microbeads after at least eight states passed similar bans in the past two years.

It made sense to us to be very supportive of a national phaseout, Hurson said.

Even with limited scientific data on a relatively new issue, the legislation enjoyed an unusual level of bipartisan support, sailing through Congress with little controversy.

This is a very strange example of the policy being quicker than the science, said Chelsea Rochman, one of the researchers on the 2015 study. But we know enough about microplastics to know theyre a concern for wildlife.

The federal ban, activists said, goes further than the state laws because it takes effect sooner and doesnt allow exceptions. It pertains only to microbeads in toothpaste and rinse-off products, so it doesnt cover those in deodorants, lotions or make-up. It also doesnt affect plastic abrasives in household cleaners.
Prosecutors released a phone call made by Jenchesky Santiago, a former Prince George's County police officer, who was sentenced Jan. 8 to five years in prison for holding a gun to a Maryland man's head in 2014. (PGPD Police and Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office)

Prosecutors released a phone call made by Jenchesky Santiago, a former Prince George's County police officer, who was sentenced Jan. 8 to five years in prison for holding a gun to a Maryland man's head in 2014. (PGPD Police and Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office)

A former Prince Georges County police officer sentenced to five years in prison Friday for putting a gun to a Maryland mans head said in a recorded jailhouse phone call that the victim should be the one to apologize for the incident.

If anything, they should be saying Sorry to me, because all he wanted was a payday, Jenchesky Santiago is heard saying in recordings of a call with his mother, which prosecutors released after his sentencing hearing.

The call, recorded five days after the former officer was convicted of assault and misconduct in office in the May 2014 incident, proves that Santiago is dangerous and not remorseful for his actions and that he deserves prison time, prosecutors told the judge Friday.

He had no business whatsoever serving in our police department, said Prince Georges County States Attorney Angela Alsobrooks (D).

At Fridays sentencing hearing, Santiagos family often tearfully pushed back against prosecutors portrayal of him as an officer who abused his power by pointing a gun at William Cunninghams head for no apparent reason. To them, Santiago is a loving father of two who served his community in the U.S. Navy and as a local police officer.

Hes not the guy you see in the video, Santiagos fiancee, Ashley Armstead, told the judge. Everyone is making him seem like he is some sort of monster, and he is not that person.

[How many people are shot dead by police each year?]

Santiago, 26, had two friends from New Jersey riding in his police cruiser when he pulled over in front of Cunninghams home in Bowie.

Cunningham was in a car with his cousin when Santiago repeatedly asked the men what they were doing and insisted that they were illegally parked, which prosecutors said was not true.

Santiago pressed the two men even after they explained that Cunningham lived in the home and said they planned to get out of the car and go inside.

The video, captured on a cellphone and released by the police department, also showed Santiago shouting, I dare you to [expletive] fight me, son as he pointed a gun at Cunninghams head.

The incident escalated as Cunningham headed to the front door of his home.

Santiago backed up, parked his cruiser and ran after Cunningham, ordering him to return to the car. Santiago then pulled out a gun, pointing it at Cunninghams head and mouth as the officer forced Cunningham back to the car. Santiago searched the two men before Cunninghams wife came out of the house and confirmed that he lived there.

Santiago, who on Friday entered the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit and with his hands cuffed, did not speak at the hearing. Tearful family members spoke on his behalf, asking the judge for leniency.

My son has never gotten in trouble, Santiagos mother said while sobbing. I know my son would never hurt anyone.

Prince Georges County Circuit Court Judge Dwight D. Jackson said it was difficult to reconcile friends and family members accounts of a loving father and son with the man seen screaming with his gun aimed at Cunningham in the video.

Perhaps you were bored or perhaps you wanted to show off, Jackson said. You degraded that man.

Ultimately, the judge said, Santiagos actions diminished the work of police officers everywhere.

Cunningham, who sat in the courtroom with his wife during Santiagos sentencing, said his family is working with lawyers on a civil case. Learning that the former officer said he felt he deserved an apology was upsetting, Cunningham said.

I really dont know how much time it will take for him to learn that his actions were wrong, Cunningham said. Its outlandish.

Cunningham said he was pleased with how county authorities handled his complaint. The police department brought the case to the Prince Georges County States Attorneys Office for a criminal investigation after Cunningham filed a complaint, and the department conducted an internal review. Department officials condemned Santiagos actions and fired him Dec. 18.

Cunningham said he was saddened for Santiagos family but didnt recognize the man relatives described in court.

That guy that they spoke on, Cunningham said, was not the guy I encountered that day.
Two hunters in Maryland took aim at a protected deer, but found themselves ensnared in a trap.

The men were on state property in St. Marys County when they found that the deer wasnt a living creature, but a robot meant to trick poachers.

Maryland Natural Resources Police have three animals  Robo-Deer, Robo-Bear and Robo-Turkey, spokeswoman Candy Thomson said. We have an entire menagerie, she said. It helps us stop people who shoot real animals out of season or illegally.

Officers put the mechanical dummies out when they get reports of poaching, usually from neighbors who see lights at night in the woods or hear shots in a field, Thomson said.

Among Robo-Deers latest catches: hunters David James Few, 21, of Taneytown, Md., and Brian Kelley Stitely, 24, of Fairfield, Pa.

Natural Resources Police said the two men directed flashlights at Robo-Deer and then shot the dummy with crossbows from a road in Leonardtown around 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 23.

Stitely was reloading his bow when police officers walked up to the men in their truck.

The officers found two crossbows, two flashlights, 4.2 grams of marijuana and a glass pipe in the truck.

On Thursday, according to Natural Resources Police, a district judge in St. Marys County dropped most of the charges against the men  having a loaded weapon in a vehicle, hunting from a vehicle, shooting from a roadway and possessing marijuana.

The men pleaded guilty to one charge each, of spotlighting the deer. Thomson said that Maryland forbids hunters on state lands from shining lights at deer. As anyone who has ever heard the expression like a deer in headlights knows, the lights cause a deer to stand stock-still and thus make the animal an easier target.

Few was sentenced to 30 days in prison, which will be suspended as long as he completes two years of probation. He was barred from hunting for two years.

Stitely, who, according to Natural Resources Police, has already been arrested for deer poaching in Maryland and in Pennsylvania, also got a 30-day suspended sentence and three years of probation.

Stitely was already banned from hunting in 45 states until the end of 2018. The judge extended that until the end of 2023, Natural Resources Police said.

As for the dummy that the men shot, Thomson wrote in a news release, Robo-Deer suffered minor injuries.

She elaborated later that the robot is built to be shot, and it took just minor repairs to fix it up after its encounter with the crossbows.

The robotic animals can be customized so that their heads and tails move, Thomson said. And while Robo-Deer is a fake, the departments Robo-Turkey actually started out as a living, breathing tom. An officer shot it, legally, and then had it preserved and outfitted with batteries.
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) wrote in a brief letter to the judge about Fred W. Pagan, I have confidence in his commitment to do a good job. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

A federal judge halted a sentencing hearing Friday to permit the defendant, a longtime aide to Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), to reopen talks with prosecutors about what the aide knew about a drug distribution conspiracy in the District.

Cochran, the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, was present in court and said after the postponement that we were just here to answer any questions from anybody about a former staff member.

Cochran added that he did not know if the former aide, Fred W. Pagan, 49, warranted a more lenient sentence in the methamphetamine case than prosecutors were requesting.

It is not uncommon for friends and relatives of defendants to offer statements about the individuals character at a sentencing, and more than a dozen supporters of Pagan were in the courtroom Friday.

Cochran, 78, was escorted to and from the hearing by courthouse officials, who said the Cochrans requested that reporters questions be limited to the sidewalk as the senator walked to a waiting SUV.

U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of Washington ordered the postponement after an 11th-hour request from attorneys for Pagan to continue to talk to prosecutors. Pagan pleaded guilty in August to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Pearlman did not object to the request.

Howell made clear she thought Pagans offer to cooperate again with prosecutors was too little, too late but that it was the governments decision.

A defendant who has been involved in a methamphetamine trafficking case  purchasing and bringing that harmful drug into this community for any period of time  has to tell the government everything he or she knows so the government has the opportunity to cut it off, Howell said.

A new sentencing date has not been set.

Pagan was dismissed in May from his $160,000-a-year job with Cochran after police and immigration authorities reported finding plastic bags with about 221.3 grams of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine in an April 23 raid on Pagans home in Northwest Washington.

[Longtime aide to Sen. Thad Cochran charged with drug possession]

Prosecutors had sought a 46-month prison term, saying in court filings before the sentencing that while Pagan mostly cooperated with investigators, the government believed he probably had more knowledge about the distribution network than he had revealed.

Pearlman told Howell he did not object to the sentencing delay because of the potential impact it could have on Pagans sentence if he fully cooperates.

If Pagan is deemed to have fully cooperated, his defense argued he should be spared prison time or given a reduced sentence. Addicts should be treated as patients, not as prisoners, defense attorney Kobie A. Flowers wrote in filings to Howell before the sentencing. A sentence of 36 months of probation and drug treatment leaves fellowship and hope intact.

Pagan started working for the senator as a 16-year-old page before becoming an office manager, personal assistant and one of his highest-paid aides.

Cochran; his wife, Kay Webber Cochran; his daughter, Kate Cochran; the senators chief of staff; and two former chiefs of staff were among 30 people who wrote letters ahead of the hearing attesting to Pagans character and service.

Pagan was energetic, dutiful and dependable and over more than 30 years became one of the Senates best known and appreciated employees, Cochran wrote. It is my intention to help him get a new start. I have confidence in his commitment to do a good job, Cochran wrote in his brief letter.

In court papers, Pagan acknowledged receiving and holding methamphetamine for an unnamed distributor and romantic partner and sometimes requesting amounts for himself and selling small amounts to friends.

Authorities said that they also found gamma-butyrolactone, or GBL, a controlled substance said to build muscle, enhance sexual ability and aid sleep. GBL also breaks down into the date rape drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, they said in court filings.

Pagan acknowledged ordering and using GBL, a shipment of which was inspected by U.S. Customs officials, leading to the investigation. He agreed to forfeit $750 to the government, which Pagan received through what his attorney described as a party and play culture of gay life in Washington in which friends at his home reimbursed Pagan in the same way a person might offer to pay for the wine at a dinner party.

Pagan devoted his life to hiding his homosexuality and concealed his drug use, Flowers wrote to the court, but the attorney added that Cochrans aides said he never betrayed their trust, whether dealing with sensitive office matters or in instances in which he had access to bank accounts or house keys.

Pagan also cared for Rose Cochran, Cochrans wife of 50 years, who died in December 2014 after progressive dementia.

I trusted Fred implicitly . . . and he never betrayed us in these areas, Kay Cochran wrote to the court. Looking back, I realize there were signs of change. The Cochran family should have noticed because his work habits changed, she added, referring to Pagans secret drug use.

She added, Fred has told me how sorry he is for making the poor choices he made, including disappointing his many friends and most of all Senator Cochran.
Rene Morales talks on the phone with his sister Rosa Vargas, who is being detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Gilley, TX. Rosa's daughter, Junedi Mijangos, stands in the doorway. (Michael A. Schwarz/For The Washington Post)

It is quiet now, a little too quiet, along the suburban avenues lined with Salvadoran pupusa shops and Guatemalan bakeries. The stores are emptier than usual, and some of the waitresses and clerks are not showing up at work. Everyone seems to know about last weekends raids, when immigration agents pounded on doors before dawn and took mothers and children away.

The deportations have brought the divisive issue of illegal immigration once again to the political forefront. The raids were the first large-scale effort to deport families who had fled violence and poverty in Central America in 2014 and 2015. More than 100,000 families with adults and children crossed the southwestern border.

Despite an uproar from liberal Democrats and Latino advocacy groups, administration officials said Friday that they intend to continue the raids, hoping to send a signal and prevent a repeat of the huge surge in illegal border crossings. Although the numbers dipped last spring, a new spike saw more than 10,000 children reach the border in October and November alone.

The enforcement strategy and priorities that the administration has articulated are not going to change, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Friday. Individuals who recently crossed the border are priorities for removal.

Earnest noted that after immigration reform efforts failed in Congress, Obama acted on his own to shield from deportation 700,000 young illegal immigrants who had been here for years. You have a president of the United States who has worked hard to use his own executive authority to try to make the process more fair, he said.

Some Democratic leaders, including House Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), have expressed concern about the raids, and Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are calling on Obama to offer affected families temporary legal protection.

We have a refugee crisis, not an immigration problem, Gutierrez said at a rally outside the White House on Friday. Alluding to the epidemic of drugs and gang violence that experts say is fueling the exodus from Central America, Gutierrez said, We, too, are responsible.

In all, 121 mothers and children were detained in three states last weekend and sent to federal detention facilities, U.S. officials say. Federal officials said the families targeted for deportation had been processed by immigration courts.

The raids sowed fear and confusion in communities including Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles and the greater Washington region, home to tens of thousands of Central Americans. At a time when some Republican presidential hopefuls talk of ridding the country of all of its 11 million illegal immigrants, the crackdown by a Democratic administration has many wondering if they, too, will be targeted.

People are very confused, said Adelina Nicholls, executive director of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights. They hear there are raids going on, but they dont know why, and they worry they will be affected, too.

[U.S. to deport families who surged across border]

Agents in the bushes

Rene Morales was jolted awake just after 4 a.m. last Saturday in the leafy Atlanta suburb of Stone Mountain. His doorbell was buzzing, and someone was pounding on the door. He peered out the window to see a dozen armed federal agents standing among rose bushes and Christmas lights.

They had come for his sister Rosa Vargas and her children, who fled their native Guatemala and walked across the Texas border in July 2014. Morales said Vargas, 36, decided to head north after she witnessed a murder and was threatened by gang members.

The whole family agreed she would be better off leaving, that she should come here because she would be safe in America, said Morales, 30, a carpenter with temporary legal status. He said Vargas was issued a work permit and a Social Security number when she was released from border detention in 2014 and found work cleaning houses in Atlanta after coming to live with him.

The agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement made me wait outside while they went upstairs, Morales said. They said they had an order from a judge. They didnt hurt anyone, but they shouted a lot.

After allowing the family to dress and gather a few belongings, the agents put Vargas, 17-year-old Juan and 11-year-old Dankilia into vans and drove off, Morales said. Vargass older daughter was allowed to stay behind with her year-old son, who was born in the United States.

By Monday, the others were in a detention center in Texas awaiting deportation, while a lawyer tried to file an emergency appeal.

Together we were a family, and we made this house a home, Morales said. Now there is nothing.

The raids in the greater Atlanta area were quick, quiet and isolated, advocates said, targeting perhaps a dozen individual homes and apartments across a large metropolitan region. In each case, ICE officials said, the families had been processed by immigration courts, where they had either been denied special relief from deportation or had not applied for it.

Since the raids, advocacy groups here and elsewhere have set up hotlines, held emergency neighborhood meetings and put out website alerts telling people they have the right not to open their doors to ICE agents or provide them with information. Legal aid groups have been deluged with calls from frantic immigrants who think agents are headed their way.

Of course we are all worried, said Francisco Perez, a bakery owner from Guatemala who has been here for 12 years. One hears that now they are separating families, parents from children, even people with work permits. One feels so defenseless.

[Religious groups to offer sanctuary to targeted immigrants]

Searching for safety

Atlantas Latino population has a well-established economic niche but a tense relationship with police and government authorities, advocates say. There have been long-running battles over legal issues such as what immigration status one needs to obtain a drivers license.

Georgia is one of several states that have passed tough laws limiting the rights of noncitizens, and numerous police departments here have formal agreements to inform ICE when an illegal immigrant is arrested.

Most illegal immigrants in the state are Mexicans who migrated here to pick crops or work in poultry plants and factories. But a growing minority have arrived from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, driven in part by soaring rates of murder and gang violence back home.

Many Central American children and mothers who arrived in the recent border surge have told officials they were trying to escape violence; some have applied for political asylum or other forms of deportation relief. Those cases have been working their way through immigration courts, but legal aid lawyers say few have been finalized.

The Obama administration is putting families and children on the same level as criminals and terrorists, said Wendy Young, executive director of Kids in Need of Defense, a Washington-based legal aid agency. Even if these families do have final deportation orders and their window for appeal has expired, do we know if they had fair hearings, or had access to counsel, or understood the process?

In one of the raids conducted last weekend, agents took a woman who had been in their custody for a month back to her house outside Atlanta to pick up her two young sons so that all three could be sent to a deportation center in Texas.

[Religious groups to offer sanctuary to targeted immigrants]

Dominga Rivas, 27, a restaurant cook from El Salvador, had been stopped by police for making a wrong turn. She was reported to ICE as an illegal immigrant and handed over to federal agents. When she arrived home early Saturday, her sons, ages 4 and 7, were still sleeping, relatives said.

The boys were frightened and Dominga was crying, said her sister, Doris Rivas, 33, a hairdresser who has temporary legal status. They sent a woman agent to the bedroom and gave them five minutes to get dressed and put their things in a plastic bag. It was such an ugly thing to see.

Rivas said her sister fled El Salvador in 2014 because her abusive ex-husband had become involved with gangs and threatened to kill her. She applied for asylum after reaching the United States but was turned down.

If she goes back, her life will be in danger, and so will the boys, because soon the gangs will start pressuring them to join or be killed, Rivas said. Nobody can survive in my country now.
A bank established just after the Civil War, meant for newly freed black Americans to save the first wages they ever earned, lasted less than 10 years.

The Freedmans Bank collapsed in 1874, wiping out most of the gains that its customers  about 100,000 people  had made in their first years of freedom.

On Thursday, the 150th anniversary of the ill-fated experiments launch, the Freedmans Bank at last had a moment of triumph: a commemorative plaque installed on the grounds where it once stood, along Lafayette Square near the White House.

The history of the Freedmans Bank is a significant part of our economic legacy, said Andrew Young, a former Georgia congressman, ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta.

When we look at the history of the African American integration into America, the one thing thats been most difficult for us is to desegregate the money, Young said.  . . . To desegregate, to get the right to vote in a democracy, and not have access to capital is to only be halfway free. And weve always known that.

[White people have 13 dollars for every dollar held by black Americans]

Young spoke at a ceremony Thursday along with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who announced that the Treasury Department would rename its annex to honor the Freedmans Bank. The annex, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the Treasury building, was built on the site of the old bank during World War I .

To commemorate that legacy and to renew our commitment to the promise of financial inclusion and the opportunity of a better life, were naming the Treasury Annex Building the Freedmans Bank Building, Lew said.

This is a challenge that we still face today, and its a commitment that we need to renew today, Lew added. Many Americans, especially low-income and minority families, have little or no access to the financial system.

[A quarter of U.S. households have little or no access to banks]

He spoke of the extra difficulty that people who have limited access to the banking system encounter when it comes to saving their earnings, obtaining a mortgage or getting a business loan, and the Treasury Departments programs to help.

[Innovative program helps people improve their credit scores with small loans]

Alden J. McDonald Jr., president of New Orleans-based Liberty Bank and Trust, also tied the history of the Freedmans Bank to that of the more successful black-owned banks that came in the following century. McDonald said he has worked in banking for 50 years, including becoming in 1967 the first black banking officer in Louisiana.

The tradition of inclusive prosperity has had its starts and stops in the history of our country. The establishment of the Freedmans Bank following the Civil War is one of the most inspiring efforts aimed at developing a stable middle class and reducing the disparity between rich and poor Americans, McDonald said.

Lew said he hopes that 150-year-old idea will continue to inspire visitors to Washington. Perhaps, he said, families walking down Pennsylvania Avenue on their way to visit the White House will see the new sign on the Treasury Annex Building and will pull out their smartphones to look up the story of the Freedmans Bank.

Related reading:

A shattered foundation: Wealth of black families in Prince Georges has vanished

Wealth inequality is even worse than income inequality

Wealthy African American investors are far more conservative than whites
Metersbonwe chief Zhou believed to be under investigation Updated: 2016-01-08 08:20 By Shi Jing and Yu Ran(China Daily)

Zhou Chengjian opened Metersbonwe in the early 1990s with 200,000 yuan.[File Photo/China Daily]

Another high-profile business executive is reported to have lost contact with his employer, after being detained by the police to help with investigations into possible insider trading and stock manipulation.

Zhou Chengjian, the chairman of youth fashion brand Shanghai Metersbonwe Fashion and Accessories Co Ltd, is believed to have been taken into custody, although the company's public relations department refused to confirm details.

The Shenzhen-listed company halted trading on Thursday, saying in a statement that it had adopted the measure in the interests of its shareholders.

A source close to the company said, however, that she had been unable to reach Zhou since Wednesday night.

Zhou initially launched the business in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, and reports suggested he was back in his hometown at the time police detained him.

Zhou is the latest in a number of well-known business-people who have been questioned in recent months in connection to alleged questionable share dealings.

Those caught up in probes included Xu Xiang, the general manager of the hedge fund Zexi Investment in Shanghai, who is also known as "hedge fund brother No 1" for his knack of timing stock swings.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that Chinese brokerage Changjiang Securities Co Ltd had removed its chairman Yang Zezhu from his post, following the launch of an investigation by the government's anti-corruption agency for possible "disciplinary violations".

The move comes as the authorities work to restore confidence in the stock market after suspicion of irregular trading following market turmoil which began in June.

Several senior executives at the country's largest brokerage CITIC Securities Co have also come under investigation since September, with some suspected of insider trading.

Zhou Chengjian's Metersbonwe closed nearly 800 physical stores in 2014, four times more than it did the year before. The company lost in excess of 90 million yuan ($13.7 million) in the first half of 2015, as its net profit plunged more than 152 percent year-on-year.

Guo Haiyan, a senior analyst with China International Capital Corp Ltd, predicts Metersbonwe's losses are likely to top 250 million yuan for 2015.

Established in 1995, the company reached its peak in 2011 with revenues of 9.94 billion yuan and net profit of 1.2 billion yuan. But after listing in Shenzhen in 2007, it experienced its first sales drop in 2012, from which it has failed to recover.

Despite the flagging business, at the end of last year, Zhou and his family jumped to 62nd on the 2015 Hurun Rich List, with their estimated total wealth surging 121 percent to 26.5 billion yuan
Bridgette Anderson speaks during a news conference after the Dekalb County district attorney announced he would seek to indict a police officer who shot and killed her boyfriend, Air Force veteran Anthony Hill Thursday. (John Bazemore/AP)

GEORGIA

Officer may be charged in death of veteran

Prosecutors in DeKalb County, Ga., will seek a criminal indictment of the police officer who fatally shot Anthony Hill, an Afghanistan war veteran who was naked and unarmed when he was killed last March.

District Attorney Robert James said Thursday that he will recommend a criminal grand jury indict Officer Robert Olsen on two counts of felony murder, two counts of violation of an officers oath, aggravated assault and making a false statement.

A criminal grand jury will begin hearing evidence this month, James said. Hill, 27, was allegedly behaving erratically when Olsen shot and killed him.

 Wesley Lowery

TEXAS

Affluenza teens mom is jailed in home state

The mother of a teen who used an affluenza defense after killing four people in a drunken crash was returned Thursday to Texas to face a charge of helping her son flee to Mexico.

Tonya Couch, who was deported from Mexico last week, was taken to the Tarrant County jail in handcuffs and leg irons. She is expected to be arraigned Friday on a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon. Her bond was set at $1 million.

At his trial in the 2013 crash, the defense claimed Ethan Couch, now 18, couldnt distinguish right from wrong because of his pampered upbringing. Authorities say the teen and his mother fled Texas in November as prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation.

Ethan Couch is being held at an immigration detention center in Mexico City after winning a court reprieve.

 Associated Press

Alabama sues to block Syrian refugees: Alabama on Thursday became the second state to sue the U.S. government over refugee resettlement, accusing the Obama administration of failing to consult with states on placement of those who have fled their home countries. The suit was filed in federal court in Birmingham, said Jennifer Ardis, spokeswoman for Gov. Robert Bentley (R). Texas sued last month to try to block six Syrian refugees from settling in Dallas.

Indicted Texas trooper surrenders: A Texas trooper who arrested a black motorist who was later found hanged in her jail cell turned himself in Thursday to be booked on a misdemeanor perjury charge related to the arrest six months ago, authorities said. The family of the woman, Sandra Bland, said earlier in Chicago that the charge against Trooper Brian Encinia was not enough and that he should be indicted for assault, battery and false arrest. Encinia surrendered to Texas Rangers after the perjury indictment. He is accused of lying in an affidavit about the arrest of Bland. Bond has been set at $2,500.

Judge rules monkey has no right over photo: A macaque monkey that snapped clear, perfectly framed selfies cannot own a copyright to the photos because it is not a human, a federal judge said Wednesday. U.S. District Judge William Orrick said that Congress did not extend federal copyright-law protection to animals. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a lawsuit last year seeking a court order allowing the animal rights group to administer all proceeds from the photos for the benefit of Naruto, a 6-year-old monkey that lives in a reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Natuto snapped the photos during British nature photographer David Slaters 2011 trip to Sulawesi.

 From news services
The Obama administration is preparing an ambitious agenda on climate change for its final year in office, pushing ahead on multiple fronts to ensure that the United States keeps its promises to rein in greenhouse gas pollution, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency says.

Despite last months major win at the Paris climate talks  and in spite of a shrinking timeline for new regulations  2016 is not an opportunity to relax, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in an interview. The agencys chief cited new efforts to lock in progress in lowering air pollution and predicted that the administrations signature regulatory accomplishments would survive challenges from a hostile Congress and from the courts.

Were not just going to stay with what weve already done, said McCarthy, who will complete her third year as administrator in July. Were going to look for other opportunities.

McCarthy made the comments in advance of a speech Thursday before the Council on Foreign Relations, in which she outlined environmental priorities for the administrations final year. In the address, she described plans to increase technical assistance to foreign governments in monitoring and controlling emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases  aid she said would make sure the [Paris] agreement is cast in stone to the extent that we can.

[Why Paris could signal the end of climate-denial movement.]

The Obama administration insisted that the Paris agreement include strong accountability provisions requiring countries to monitor pollution and show verifiable progress in reducing it. McCarthy said many countries  including major economic powers such as China  lack the technical experience or know-how needed to carry out the agreements provisions, and the EPA is preparing to help fill the gap.Countries want to do it, but many of them dont have the capacity at this point, McCarthy said. A lot of what the EPA is doing is sharing expertise  on how to do the work, and also on the benefits it brings, so its not seen as a chore but as an opportunity.

The challenge for many developing countries, she said, is how to continue to grow economically while still lowering air pollution that can harm human populations as well as the environment. It can be done, she said, and it can drive the new technologies you need to come to the point where youre not being forced to do it, but youre embracing it .

[This may be the most ambitious energy-efficiency effort in US history.]

On the domestic front, the EPA will formally adopt new regulations aimed at cutting pollution from heavy trucks and curbing methane leaks from oil and gas operations, she said. The agency also is working with state regulators to implement the so-called Clean Power Plan, the controversial rule adopted in the summer that requires states to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, the countrys biggest single source of greenhouse-gas pollution.

The administrations signature regulation on climate change faces fierce opposition from the Republican-led Congress, as well as lawsuits by states and utilities opposed to the plan.

McCarthy expressed confidence that both the regulation and the Paris agreement would be on solid footing by the time the next president assumes office in 2017.

Congress did give us a job to do, and thats the job were doing, she said. If there are members of Congress who dont like it, theyre going to have to figure out a way to address it legislatively. And so far there are no opportunities to do that, that we can foresee.

Opponents of the administrations climate agenda repeated vows this week to repeal much of it. On Tuesday, the president of the countrys largest trade organization for oil and natural gas companies criticized the administration for policies that he said favored certain types of energy over others  or that simply sought to keep fossil fuels in the ground. There are some in government who will advance their favored forms of energy to that dubious and untested end, the American Petroleum Institutes Jack Gerard said in a policy speech, heedless of the potential harm it could cause to our economy or how much it could cost the American consumer.
Poland eager for Belt and Road role Updated: 2016-01-08 07:57 By Chen Yingqun(China Daily Europe)

One of the hottest topics for Polish economists and experts in relation to China is how their country can take part in Beijing's plans to use ancient trade routes as a template for a network of trade and investment.

"China's initiative to strengthen economies along the Silk Road is very interesting to us because Poland is interested in operating in the Euro-Asia region with our trade and investment," says Slawomir Majman, president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency.

"We are very interested in being much more active in Pakistan, Azerbaijan ... and all the countries along the Silk Road. Why not develop arm in arm with Chinese partners?"

Majman was referring to the Belt and Road Initiative, a development strategy started by the Chinese government in 2013. It's comprised of the Silk Road Economic Belt, linking China with Europe through Central and Western Asia, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, connecting China with Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and other regions.

Poland's central location in Europe, its deepwater port in Gdansk and major infrastructure investments in the past 20 to 25 years make Polish companies more attractive partners, says Polish Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Katarzyna Kacperczyk.

"We have a lot of Polish companies in the infrastructure sector and transportation sector. I think we could present a very competitive offer with the experience we have now, good value-added projects, which could be implemented within the Belt and Road."

Kacperczyk says that it is not only about infrastructure projects such as railways, but also about building an entire ecosystem for projects. Poland is good at building entire logistics centers, and also good at managing a multiple infrastructure projects, besides having a well-educated, professional workforce, she adds.

The country is rare in the European Union in that it is a large but also rapidly growing market, with annual GDP growth of between 3 and 4 percent, according to the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency. In 2014, bilateral trade between Poland and China reached $17.2 billion, according to China's customs service. China is Poland's third-biggest economic partner after Germany and Russia.

Majman says China and Poland are facing important moments in history, and the Polish people are keen on the huge transportation and other logistics projects foreseen under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Poland is a leading country in the bloc formed by China and the 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, often called the 16+1 platform, he says. But Majman says Poland has aspirations beyond bilateral trade or China-CEE trade.

Poland would like to take responsibility for a substantial part of logistics and principal duties in expanding trade between China and all large partners along the Belt and Road Initiative routes, he says.

"If we talk about Poland and 16+1, Poland is 40 percent of the economic potential of the 16, and Poland is 38 percent of the demographic potential of those 16. Poland is the only country in this region that has joined the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank is in the AIIB bank. So for the Chinese strategists, Poland should matter," Majman says.

Apart from infrastructure and energy, Majman says he also sees agriculture and food processing as a Belt and Road priority sector in which Poland could play a leading role.

While Chinese imports to Poland outnumber Polish exports going the other way by a factor of nine to one, he says the answer is not to reduce imports from China but to increase investment.

"We were No 5 in Europe in terms of Foreign direct investment in 2014, and in job creation, No 3. But the Chinese share in this huge investment pie (of foreign investment in Poland) is 0.02 percent," he says.

Another dimension in which China and Poland could work together is in financing capital, according to Ignacy Morawski, a chief economist and associate of private, independent Polish think tank DemosEuropa.

chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 01/08/2016 page30)
LIBYA

Blast kills dozens near police camp in west

A powerful truck bomb exploded near a police training camp in western Libya on Thursday, killing more than 45 people in a region where the Islamic State has battled for footholds.

There was no immediate assertion of responsibility for the blast in Zliten, near the Mediterranean coast. But militants pledging loyalty to the Islamic State have been trying to expand their influence in the area.

The region also is a departure point for boats taking migrants to Europe.

The attack underscored the increasing lawlessness in Libya, which is divided between two rival governments and has become one of the centers for the Islamic State in North Africa.

Libyas state-run media reported at least 50 dead. Later, however, the Reuters news agency quoted Fozi Awnais, head of the crisis committee for the Health Ministry in Tripoli, as saying 47 people had died. Some security and medical sources, cited by news agencies, reported counts as high as 65. At least 200 people were injured in the blast.

The training camp is used by border police, whose missions include halting smugglers trying to take migrants to Europe.

 Heba Habib and Brian Murphy

SPAIN

Police visited couple before finding body

Spanish police officers visited an American couple days before they found the decomposed body of their 7-year-old son at the familys rented apartment in the northeastern city of Girona, police said Thursday.

A police spokesman said officers were called to the apartment on New Years Eve to check on the father after the U.S. Embassy contacted them, saying the mans colleagues were concerned after not hearing from him for some time.

The spokesman said the man did not open the door but insisted he was fine and would contact the embassy. The spokesman said officers noticed nothing suspicious and left.

Police on Tuesday arrested the couple  a 39-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman  on suspicion of reckless homicide after they found the childs body on a bed under several blankets. The couples names were not released. They lived at the apartment with their three children. Police did not know what part of the United States the family came from. They said the father was an engineer.

The State Department said officials are aware of the arrests.

 Associated Press

WEST BANK

3 Palestinians killed in attacks on soldiers

Palestinians brandishing knives attacked Israeli soldiers in two separate incidents in the West Bank late Thursday before forces opened fire killing three assailants, the military said.

The Israeli military said three Palestinians wielding knives rushed at troops at the Gush Etzion junction near Jerusalem, prompting the soldiers to open fire, killing two of them. The third attacker was wounded.

About two hours later, a Palestinian tried to stab soldiers near the West Bank city of Hebron before he was shot and killed by forces, the military said.

Since mid-September, Palestinian attacks have killed 21 Israelis, mostly in stabbings, shootings and car assaults. At least 134 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, including 93 said by Israel to be attackers. The rest died in clashes with troops.

 Associated Press

Runoff to be held in Central African Republic: The Central African Republics presidential election is headed to a runoff round between two former prime ministers, election officials said Thursday. Anicet-Georges Dologuele led in the first round late last month with 23.8 percent of the vote. Also advancing is Faustin-Archange Touadera, with 19.4 percent. The runoff is set for Jan. 31.

Mexico rescues Cuban migrants: The Mexican navy says it rescued nine Cuban migrants found adrift in a makeshift boat off Mexicos Caribbean coast. The navy said a tanker ship spotted the Cubans on Tuesday. They were turned over to immigration authorities.

 From news services
The power struggle in Tehran between moderates and hard-liners is heading toward a showdown in next months elections , which could shape the political balance in Iran for years to come.

The Feb. 26 elections will select 285 members of the Iranian parliament, the Majlis, and 88 members of the Assembly of Experts, which will choose the eventual successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

This is a fight for survival, one Iranian told me Thursday. Since the Iranian revolution of 1979, he said, we have never had such an election in which the competing factions in Iran were so starkly opposed and the stakes were so high.

U.S. officials, who are carefully watching the preelection jockeying, expect that if the hard-liners dont rig the outcome by excluding candidates, the elections will produce a slight gain for the moderate camp surrounding President Hassan Rouhani and continued momentum for his opening to the West, including the nuclear deal reached in July.

A political barometer closely watched by U.S. officials is the candidacy of Hassan Khomeini, the popular grandson of the ayatollah who embodied Irans revolution. Hes running for the Assembly of Experts as an independent but is seen as an influential supporter of Rouhanis pragmatic policies.

Rumors swirled this week that Khomeini might not run, after he missed a religious examination in Qom. But the Iranian source, who knows Khomeini, insisted Thursday that he has not withdrawn from the race and that any effort by the hard-liners to force him out would backfire. More than 200 other clerical candidates for the Assembly of Experts had also skipped the exam, this Iranian source said.

Khomeini is a charismatic figure who for Iranians represents the legacy of the revolution and also the effort to adapt it to the 21st century. His Facebook page, which has more than 100,000 likes, posts a picture of him as a boy sitting next to his bearded grandfather, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The Iranian power struggle will intensify in coming weeks as the roster of candidates is screened by a group known as the Guardian Council, which vets their revolutionary credentials. The hard-liners are likely to try to prune the field, but the moderates have prepared by registering so many candidates for the Majlis  by one count, there are more than 12,000 people running  that a total purge would undermine the elections credibility.

The dilemma for the supreme leader and the hard-liners around him is how to maintain their power without discrediting the political process. They have to balance public perceptions of legitimacy against their fear that the moderates will gain control of the parliament in addition to the presidency.

If the Guardian Council permits a wide swath of candidates and there is no vote-rigging  two huge ifs  then candidates supportive of Rouhanis pragmatic agenda should win overwhelmingly, predicts Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Indeed, another Iranian source estimates that 60 to 70 percent of the public supports Rouhanis pragmatic approach. But Sadjadpour cautions that decisive power in Iran remains with the supreme leader, not elected officials.

Yet even the supreme leader must keep an eye on public opinion, as is shown by his recent decision on deployment of Iranian military forces in Syria. Those numbers were growing last year, and hard-liners wanted to send even more. But analysts say that after the Iranian death toll in Syria began rising sharply, the supreme leader ordered a withdrawal of some troops in the fall. The number today is said to be roughly 1,000, or about half what it was. Iraqi and Lebanese proxy forces have filled the gap.

The deepening political divide in Iran contrasts with what U.S. officials say has been a recent consolidation of power within the royal family in Saudi Arabia, Irans bitter rival across the Persian Gulf. A power struggle seemed to be developing in October between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and his headstrong, 30-year-old deputy, Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

But King Salman is said to have intervened personally recently to check the family rivalry. According to officials from a neighboring gulf country, tensions between the crown prince and his deputy have eased, with Mohammed bin Salman recognizing the need for more harmony within the House of Saud.

The confrontation this past week between Iran and Saudi Arabia was a reminder that 37 years after the Iranian revolution, the aftershocks are still rocking the Middle East. Its intriguing that a leading voice of the moderation in next months elections is the grandson of the scowling ayatollah who set this upheaval in motion.

Read more from David Ignatiuss archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
THE MASS protests that began against Egypts autocratic government five years ago this month were famously touched off by young people using Facebook and other social media. At that time, Facebook had 4.7 million members in Egypt; today it has some 26 million, more than 30 percent of the countrys population. No wonder that the latest authoritarian regime running the country is directing its repression at the Internet platform as the fifth anniversary of the revolution approaches.

Last week the government of Abdel Fatah al-Sissi shut down a Facebook service called Free Basics, which offered free Internet services to Egyptians on mobile phones. More than 3 million people had signed up for the program in just two months, including more than 1 million who were new to the Internet. That made Egypts the most successful of the 36 Free Basics services Facebook has launched in developing countries.

Why shutter an operation that was giving so many people, including in underserved rural areas, access to basic Internet services for the first time? The government claimed it was merely ending what was always intended as a two-month trial. Egyptian activists and media were quick to see through that claim. In fact, they observed, the regime appears to be worried about another popular uprising linked to the anniversary and is responding by closing down the new Facebook service and arresting activists.

Last Saturday, security forces arrested three people who among them administered 23 Facebook pages, according to Egyptian media reports. On Monday, the government ordered 15 days of detention for four activists from the April 6 youth movement, which organized the march of Jan. 25, 2011, that led to the overthrow of the government of Hosni Mubarak. Top leaders of April 6, including Ahmed Maher and Mohammed Adel, are already imprisoned on charges of violating a law banning protests.

In pursuing these tactics, the regime appears oblivious to the fact that the 2011 revolution was triggered by the Mubarak regimes similar  if generally milder  repression of free speech and political activism. Last week, dozens of prominent Egyptians, including two former presidential candidates, issued a statement condemning the new repression that was posted, as it happens, on Facebook. The Egyptian regime is deploying the same practices that led to the Jan. 25 glorious revolution, it said, according to the Chicago Tribune. Freedoms are seized, pluralism is barred and security authorities rule and control everything.

According to the Tribune, more than 50,000 people have registered on another Facebook page titled Well bring down autocracy on Jan. 25. That prediction may or may not come true. But the Sissi regime, and its misguided defenders in the Obama administration and Congress, ought to realize that its attempts to strangle social media, free assembly and peaceful dissent are doomed to backfire.
Smoke from the Jazeera hotel is shown during an attack by al-Shabab in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, last year. At least four people were killed. (Feisal Omar/Reuters)

Matthew Levitt directs the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Buried in the 2,009 pages of the recently passed omnibus appropriations bill is what could be President Obamas most significant counterterrorism contribution to date  and it involves no drones, Special Operations forces or other forms of military might.

The use of Special Operations forces to train and equip local partners and to build military capacity to combat terrorist threats  supporting frontline partners while keeping the United States out of large-scale armed conflicts  has been a hallmark of the Obama administration. Perhaps counterintuitively, however, this model has promoted an overly militarized approach to counterterrorism by U.S.-trained partners. To be sure, military capacity-building is an essential component of the presidents strategy for taking out terrorists who threaten the United States and supporting local forces to deal with threats in their back yards. But it has not been coupled with the necessary investment in building our partners civilian departments and agencies  ministries of justice, interior and corrections, among others  that are also needed.

That is, until now.

Speaking to graduating West Point cadets in 2014, the president announced the creation of the Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund (CTPF). He called on Congress to support the new fund, which he envisioned growing as large as $5 billion, to build a network of partnerships from South Asia to the Sahel to counter terrorist groups where they seek a foothold. Members of Congress, however, worried the fund would amount to little more than a slush fund with little oversight. The State Department asked for $500 million for its civilian programming under the fund for fiscal 2015 but received nothing. Meanwhile, the Defense Department received $1.3 billion of its $4 billion CTPF request  continuing the long pattern of military-dominated counterterrorism efforts.

But something changed in fiscal 2016. Last month, as part of the omnibus appropriations bill, Congress appropriated $175 million in CTPF funds for the State Department. While less than the amount requested, this is still a dramatic increase in the departments discretionary resources for civilian counterterrorism capacity-building programs. This will enable the State Department to significantly ramp up overseas programs with the departments of Homeland Security and Justice, the FBI and others focused on law-enforcement responses to terrorism, strengthening counterterrorism legal frameworks, prosecuting terrorism suspects, handling terrorist inmates and other civilian tasks.

The decision to finance civilian CTPF programming signals a significant bureaucratic shift in how the administration and Congress approach counterterrorism assistance  sending a strong message that there is a key role for civilian actors. This shift is timely given the increasingly diffuse and dangerous threat landscape demonstrated by recent terrorist attacks around the world.

Congress will be watching closely to see how this money is spent and what performance metrics are used to measure success. But there is reason for optimism that it will produce tangible results because the department has delivered results in three areas of emphasis, even while operating on a shoestring.

First, the State Department has focused on the critical issue of foreign terrorist fighter travel. Last September, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 2178, requiring member states to take concrete steps to apprehend and prosecute terrorist fighters who move to or from battle fronts such as Syria and Iraq. But many states lack the capabilities to follow through on these requirements, so the State Department initiated and funded programs to plug those gaps.

Second, the State Department has engaged in efforts to prevent and counter terrorist havens in key countries where a small financial investment could be leveraged into significant gains. In Africa, U.S.-trained law enforcement demonstrated increased capabilities to deal with Boko Haram and al-Shabab. Cooperation and exercises with Persian Gulf partners helped them to contend with Islamic State and al-Qaeda terrorist threats from Yemen. And in Southeast Asia and other locations around the world, U.S.-funded programs enabled countries to adopt procedures for handling terrorist inmates and countering prisoner radicalization.

Third, the State Department has launched an international initiative  in close partnership with the Justice Department  to raise awareness about Irans and Hezbollahs broad ranges of terrorist and criminal activities around the world and to increase law enforcement cooperation and coordination among a wide range of countries to disrupt these activities.

The departments relatively small investment in these areas led to tangible results last year, and a program to ramp up funding for such initiatives is long overdue. U.S. Special Operations forces are being deployed to counter terrorist threats in concert with local partners not only in Afghanistan but also in places such as Syria and Cameroon, and U.S. Special Operations Command training programs continue to expand to meet terrorist threats around the world. But as they do, civilian counterterrorism partners must be trained to handle what comes next. When military forces capture a terrorist, will prosecutors have the law they need to charge the suspect and be prepared to take that case to court? Partners need the civilian tools to patrol borders and fight radicalization, to counter terrorist financing and to prosecute terrorist crimes.

A holistic approach to counterterrorism demands the use of all elements of national power, not a solely militarized capture and kill posture. Drones and commandos can neutralize immediate threats, but to succeed in the long term, military and intelligence efforts must be part of a broader approach to counterterrorism that includes robust and capable civilian elements. Financing for the CTPF comes just in time, as Hezbollah is poised to get an infusion of money from Iran, as the Islamic State alternatively directs and inspires terrorist plots around the world and as al-Qaeda rebuilds and expands in places such as Afghanistan and Yemen.

In his West Point speech, Obama acknowledged that the United States cannot and should not deal with the terrorist threats around the world on our own and that our partners must play an expanded and more critical role. While this is a good starting point, the more the United States can move toward a more balanced approach to counterterrorism  not only in our own efforts but also in the type of partners we are aiming to build  the safer we will be.
The writer, a Democrat, was a member of the Montgomery County Council from 1998 to 2014 and executive director of Common Cause Maryland from 1988 to 1994.

In their Jan. 1 op-ed, The way out of partisan gridlock, former Senate majority leaders Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) advocated more compromise, better relations among lawmakers, leadership and vision  important things, but insufficient to end the polarization that has defined recent U.S. Congresses. Although they acknowledged that More money than ever is flooding the system and that Our political process is rewarding the extremes, Lott and Daschle failed to recommend reforms that would cure these cancerous problems.

The current political dysfunction can be fixed only by fundamentally reforming our elections  ending gerrymandering; providing public financing for candidates to break the viselike grip of special interest groups on politicians and public policy; and allowing all voters to participate in primary elections. These reforms would impel candidates to appeal broadly to their constituents rather than cater to the super-rich, to well-organized special interest groups and to the most ideological partisans.

Given the incentives of the present system, elected officials who behave like rabid partisans are acting deplorably but rationally to protect themselves from attacks from the left or right in closed primaries that are often dominated by highly ideological party members. Because of atrocious gerrymandering of congressional districts by lawmakers in almost all states, more than 85 percent of House districts are safe for one major party or the other.

Lawmakers in Maryland and Virginia are among the worst offenders. They have rigged congressional elections by treating their own constituents as pawns for partisan advantage. Marylands 3rd Congressional District looks like blood spatter from a crime scene, zigzagging from Annapolis to Towson to Olney and excluding or splitting most communities in between. Steve Shapiro, a Bethesda resident and law student, deserves the thanks of hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised Maryland voters for persuading the Supreme Court to require that a three-judge panel decide the fate of the states disgraceful map. Virginia lawmakers have drawn such one-sided legislative districts that most winning General Assembly candidates in 2011, 2013 and 2015 didnt face an opponent from the other major party, even though Virginia is a purple state.

To his credit, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) appointed a bipartisan commission last year to advise on how best to prevent gerrymandering. It recommended that an independent panel be created to draw district lines based on standards for fair districts, such as compactness and avoiding splitting cities and towns. The General Assembly now has a historic opportunity to protect voters from being disenfranchised by adopting this plan. Yet some lawmakers defend the continued rigging of elections as long as states controlled by the other major party continue rigging them as well. They sound like disgraced athletes who justify using performance-enhancing drugs because others do it too.

Eliminating gerrymandering would clearly lead to more competitive general elections and higher voter turnout, but it cannot address the excessive influence of big money in politics, a problem that has been exacerbated by recent Supreme Court decisions. That would require making matching public funds available to candidates who demonstrate that they have significant public support. Such funding would increase competition and voter participation while reducing the influence of special-interest money in elections and on policy.

In 2014, the Montgomery County Council created a public financing system for county council and executive elections that provides the nations strongest incentives for candidates to seek small individual donations from residents. Under this law, which I sponsored while serving on the council, a $50 contribution will generate a public matching contribution of $200 for council candidates who qualify for public funding, who agree to accept only individual contributions of $150 or less, and who forgo contributions from political action committees, corporations, unions and political parties. Maryland has a public financing system for gubernatorial races, which Hogan used in his 2014 upset victory. That fund is all but empty; Hogan has a responsibility to work to restore it.

Finally, to end gridlock we need to open up our primaries. Millions of registered independents are disenfranchised because most primaries are not open to them. Knowing that the most ideological party members tend to dominate closed primaries, candidates have a strong incentive to pander to those voters. In contrast, in California, where all candidates run in the same primary and all registered voters can take part, its in the interest of candidates to broaden their messages. Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) is a notable proponent of open primaries, which could increase turnout more and faster than any other reform.

Compromise, leadership and vision are all well and good, but ending gridlock and political polarization requires placing the electoral incentives that drive candidates in line with the public interest.
Colin Woodard is a journalist and the author of five books, including American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America and the forthcoming American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good.

Study the globe and ask yourself why the countries are shaped the way they are, why some repeatedly seek to change their shapes and why others are riven by fault lines that threaten to shatter their peace or their very existence.

Tim Marshall, a veteran foreign correspondent for Britains Sky News, argues that the answers lie in the study of geopolitics  that is, how geographic factors shape international politics. The physical realities of landscape, climate, demographics and resources are too often disregarded in both writing about history and in contemporary reporting of world affairs, he writes in his book, Prisoners of Geography. Geography has always been a prison of sorts  one that defines what a nation is or can be, and one from which our world leaders have often struggled to break free.

To better explain these geopolitical realities, Marshall leads readers on a tour of much of the planet, exposing them to history, geography and current events in a couple dozen countries on five continents. Those who make the journey will probably see their Trivial Pursuit performances improve but will not come away with a fruitful new way of seeing the world. This is because Marshalls account is all over the map, and case studies suffer from significant oversights.

Were told that geographical factors often explain the distribution of and relationships between nation-states: The Himalayas have kept China and India apart, the interlocking rivers of western and central Europe have kept those countries connected, the lack of navigable waterways and the presence of dense jungles have kept sub-Saharan Africans separate from one another and the outside world. Yet were also shown that Americans managed to settle, conquer, integrate and defend a nation spanning the Appalachians, the Mississippi River Valley and the Rocky Mountains despite the presence of significant imperial competitors; that Korea, despite cultural, historical and geophysical unity, is starkly divided into hostile states that have been technically at war for seven decades; and that the ethnographic settlement of east-central Europe defied geographical logic, making for a messy map and an even messier 20th-century history. Geography, it seems, is a rather low-security prison.

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World by Tim Marshall (Scribner)

A chapter on the United States is organized around the idea that any nation that managed to control the American landscape would be geopolitically destined for superpower greatness, which does little to explain how this actually came to pass. What are we to make of the fact that Americans of the early republic profoundly disagreed on the wisdom of enlarging the nascent federation? New Englanders vehemently opposed the Louisiana Purchase precisely because it would thwart the gradual, orderly spread of their socio-cultural model and enhance the relative power of their slaveholding Southern rivals and the uncouth Scots-Irish settlers of the Appalachian uplands. Western expansion happens to have made the United States great, but it very nearly destroyed it by provoking the Civil War, a defining conflict that Marshall manages to leave unmentioned. Why the United States didnt annex Canada  with which it shares a long, geographically arbitrary border  goes unexplained. Theres a profoundly revealing geopolitical story to be told in North America, but it is not to be found here.

Japan, an island nation short on industrial resources, became a maritime power by necessity, and were shown how it used this capability to invade and annex great swaths of East and Southeast Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. Oddly, imperial Japans ambitious geopolitical strategy eastward into the Pacific is entirely ignored, including the nanshin  the southward advance toward the tropical South Pacific that had been on the national agenda since the 1880s. To counter European intrusion, Japan declared war on Germany in 1914 so as to annex its extensive possessions across Micronesia, which were then subjected to intensive colonization, development and militarization schemes. These islands  the Marianas, Marshalls and Carolines  were critical to Tokyos strategy to win the Pacific War and were captured by U.S. forces only after a staggering loss of life on both sides. The Pacific, the largest geographical feature on Earth, is an unfortunate piece to drop from an analysis of a maritime Pacific nations worldview.

Marshall is on much firmer ground when discussing Russia. He provides a convincing analysis of Russian geopolitical thinking, a result of living on a flat plain that, despite its enormous size, lacks unfettered, year-round access to the open ocean. For centuries, Russian leaders have sought to establish buffer zones from invasion  occupying Ukraine, Poland, Siberia and the Far East  and to follow Peter the Greats advice to approach as near as possible to Constantinople and India so as to reach open seas. It doesnt matter if the ideology of those in control is czarist, Communist, or crony capitalist, Marshall writes, the ports still freeze and the North European plain is still flat.

Prisoners of Geography also makes clear the terrible price the world has had to pay because European officials decided to create nation-states with borders that completely ignored cultural geography. Pashtuns were divided between southern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, guaranteeing that neither state would be cohesive or stable. Iraq artificially bonded together Kurdish, Sunni Arab and Shia Arab lands, an invented nation that appears to have already ceased to exist. In Africa, the giant black hole known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo . . . should never have been put together, Marshall notes, as it contains more than 200 ethnic groups and hundreds of languages spread over a largely forested region bigger than Germany, France and Spain combined; 6 million have died in a half-century of civil wars there.

He also rightly closes with the Arctic, a region where long-standing territorial disputes are literally unthawing. The United States, he notes, has unilaterally disarmed on both the logistical and diplomatic fronts, allowing its heavy icebreaker fleet to dwindle from six to one since 1960 and failing to ratify the U.N. Law of the Sea Treaty, effectively ceding two hundred thousand square miles of undersea territory. (Thus, weve surrendered both the oil and other resources that may be on the seafloor, and the means to patrol, explore and defend the Arctic territory that remains.) Marshalls concluding hope is that humans can manage to ditch the prison of geography, that technology . . . in our newly-globalized world can be used to give us an opportunity in the Arctic . . . and get the Great Game right for the benefit of all.
Greg Sargent writes The Plum Line, a reported liberal opinion blog, for The Washington Post.

The parade of plutocrats in this years campaigns is already on the march  even though Election Day still is nearly a year away. As of the fall, a mere 158 families had lavished $178 million on the presidential race. The oil billionaire Koch brothers and their donor network may pump out nearly $900 million in an effort to elect Republicans to various offices across the country. Billionaire hedge-fund manager and climate activist Tom Steyer may dump more than $100 million to help elect Democrats. Ten individual donors or couples  many of them major players on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley  have each shelled out more than $1 million in support of Hillary Clinton.

All of this free flowing of funds raises a critical question: Should such a tiny group of elite donors be allowed to wield vastly more influence over the political process than the rest of us?

The answer seems simple enough. But as Richard Hasen shows in his new book, Plutocrats United, the question is far more complicated than many of us realize. In his view, no one should have vastly more sway over the political process than anyone else simply because of an outsize bank account. He says that to effect change, reformers must seriously engage the issues many hidden complexities, and in sharply argued fashion, he demonstrates how progress on reform might be achieved after a long, difficult struggle.

Hasen, a political science professor at the University of California at Irvine, outlines in a thorough, yet readable, manner how we got to this point. The process of opening the campaign donor spigots took place over decades as the Supreme Court whittled away the limits Congress had placed on political giving. In the 1970s, the court struck down parts of a post-Watergate reform law that limited the total amount an individual could spend in a single election cycle. In so doing, the court invalidated a longtime rationale used by reformers to limit political spending  the equality rationale, which holds that no citizen should wield vastly more influence over an election than any other citizen. The court ruled that to deny an individual the opportunity to spend freely infringed on the donors First Amendment right to engage in an unfettered exchange of ideas.

Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections by Richard L. Hasen (Yale Univ.)

In the same ruling, however, the court upheld that laws limits on contributions to individual candidates on different grounds: that preventing corruption or the appearance of corruption is a legitimate rationale for spending limits that infringe on the First Amendment. Congress has long acted in the belief that it has a legitimate interest in battling corruption, or the appearance of corruption, to maintain public confidence in our political process. In its ruling, the court dispensed with one longtime rationale for limits (the equality rationale) but allowed another one to remain (the anti-corruption rationale).

Over time, however, the Supreme Court has also weakened that anti-corruption rationale. In the Citizens United decision, striking down limits on independent spending in elections by corporations and unions, the court affirmed that such spending is protected speech, and that political giving that is rewarded by increased access to politicians does not constitute corruption or the appearance of corruption. Instead the court ruled that only quid pro quo giving  which is extremely rare  constitutes corruption or its appearance. In several subsequent decisions, courts also knocked down limits on contributions to political committees and on aggregate contributions to multiple candidates by individuals.

Those decisions ushered in todays free-for-all. U.S. citizens, corporations, and labor unions can now contribute and spend millions of dollars or more on political campaigns because the government cannot prove to a skeptical Supreme Court that limits are necessary to prevent quid pro quo corruption or its appearance, Hasen writes, and because the Court has taken off the table real concerns about political inequality in a system of increasingly unlimited political money.

Now what? Many reformers hope that a future Supreme Court may return to a broader reading of the anti-corruption rationale  one that would allow the restoration of previously accepted limits on political giving  on the grounds that unfettered contributions facilitate donor ingratiation or access, or distort the political process by rendering politicians dependent on the biggest spenders. Hasen, however, sees benefits in a different approach. He believes that the corruption argument is probably a lost cause, because defining corruption broadly is a slippery, elusive task that is unlikely to persuade the court. The better argument for future reform, Hasen maintains, is that limits are justified in the quest for political equality. This argument, he says, has a greater chance of winning over five future Supreme Court justices and thus should be revived.

Its a tough case to make. Hasen begins by reviewing the political science literature indicating that money actually does buy increased political power. While money does not guarantee electoral outcomes, some researchers have concluded that it influences legislative outcomes. Because politicians are sensitive to the priorities of major donors, money can skew policy toward the interests of big contributors and lobbyists, and may result in overall policy outcomes that favor the interests of the wealthy.

Hasens argument, then, is not focused on politicians who might be corrupted by unfettered political spending. Instead, its focused on donors  specifically, on a tiny handful of elite spenders and the increased influence they reap from their largesse. Put simply, those with wealth should not have a much greater chance than an average voter of having their preferred policies enacted into law, Hasen writes. The main problem with money in U.S. politics is the translation of vastly unequal economic power into unequal political power.

Rising inequality, Hasen posits, may render these disparities of influence ever more grotesque. So he proposes capping total spending by individuals, corporations or other entities at $25,000 per federal election  and $500,000 per cycle. The goal: to limit giving enough to prevent the escalation of vast disparities in political power, while keeping limits loose enough to avoid meaningfully restricting the political speech of those subjected to them. Hasen is not wedded to his reforms and offers them in the spirit of experimentation. But whatever reforms we do adopt, he argues, will need a solid legal justification grounded in a serious effort to get the balance right between competing interests: political equality and robust, unfettered political speech. That balance will inevitably be fine-tuned over time.

While some maintain that political spending is not speech, Hasen forthrightly admits that limits on it do burden free speech. But he argues that the governments interest in addressing vastly unequal political power justifies burdens on speech, provided that limits are carefully drawn and closely monitored by the courts, and dont render elections less robust or competitive.

Limiting donations and spending is not a form of censorship, Hasen argues, because it does not suppress speech. Whats more, he writes, it is sometimes permissible to burden speech for a compelling enough reason, and it is simply an incorrect reading of First Amendment doctrine and practice to argue that it means literally no regulation ever of speech, expression, or the spending of money on speech [or] expression. The question, then, is what reasons should be sufficient justification to impose limitations consistent with a commitment to robust speech and political competition?

Reformers must hone the argument that reducing political inequality is a compelling enough societal interest to justify spending limits. As precedent, Hasen cites previous court decisions upholding the idea that all citizens should have equal voting power.

Of course, some die-hard foes of limits are skeptical that any rationale  even combating vast political inequality  is compelling enough to justify burdens on speech. Hasen concedes that there may be no way to bridge this difference: If you disagree with me, and believe that political equality is not an acceptable interest that the government or U.S. voters can choose to promote, you are not likely to accept the rest of my analysis.

But anyone who views Hasens argument with skepticism should be asked: Does vastly unequal spending translate into vastly unequal political power? If so, is this troubling? Is there any point at which disparities of political influence could grow large enough to justify such limits?

In the end, what may matter most is the view of a mere nine people. Four current Supreme Court justices  two liberals and two conservatives  are likely to retire in the next eight years. So the 2016 election could decide the makeup of the next court  and whether reform happens anytime soon.

Hasen advises reformers to prep for an Armageddon-like showdown over the courts future  and to develop their equality-based arguments now in preparation for a court that might be more receptive to future reforms based upon them. In this sense, Hasens book is best seen as a war manual designed to equip and fortify would-be reformers for a brutal and uncertain struggle that could drag on for years to come  but that must be waged to prevent our democracy from sinking deeper and deeper into plutocracy.
North Korea sometimes seems less of a place than an idea or an absurdist fantasy. The latest New Yorker depicts Kim Jong Un on its cover as a child playing with toy missiles. What other world leader gets this treatment? What other country is so alien, so downright weird, that it celebrates the anniversary of its independence by creating its own time zone? What other country could prompt U.S. intelligence officials to seriously speculate that a nuclear test was retaliation for disrespecting a state-run all-female pop group? What other country has a state-run all-female pop group?

The North Koreans dont think they are absurd. The country continually touts its scientific, technological and industrial developments to show that it is a modern, dynamic world power. Nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles have a starring role in this narrative. The spectacular success made by the DPRK in the H-bomb test this time is a great deed of history, a historic event of the national significance as it surely guarantees the eternal future of the nation, the Korean Central News Agency stated this past week, trying a bit too hard. North Korea is threatening our security, sure, but it really wants to threaten our notion of where it fits in the world  or, rather, our notion that it does not.

It wasnt that long ago that North Korea merely aspired to the nuclear club. When the Soviet Union collapsed, North Korea was left in a bad way. It seemed plausible, back then, that the North might bargain away its nascent nuclear program in exchange for an end to international isolation and assistance from the outside. Unlike, for example, the recent nuclear deal reached with Iran, the 1994 Agreed Framework between the United States and North Korea explicitly exchanged nuclear capabilities for better relations with the United States. North Korea wanted to be seen as normal and for the Kims to be treated as legitimate world leaders. And the United States was happy to pat the Kims on the head for a while, presuming that their regime would collapse sooner rather than later.

Yet here we are, 20 years later. The Kims have held on, even while much of their country has starved. After the Agreed Framework collapsed in 2003, North Korea was left to develop its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. North Koreas leader, a grandson of founder Kim Il Sung, welcomed 2016 with the thrilling explosion of our first hydrogen bomb.

While the explosion Wednesday was too small to be caused by what we normally think of as a thermonuclear weapon  a two-staged device with megatons of nuclear yield  the more likely possibilities are not comforting. What North Korea probably did was test a boosted device that uses a gas of deuterium and tritium, two hydrogen isotopes. This is an essential technology for reducing the size and weight of nuclear weapons. If North Korea is going to fit nuclear warheads on the long-range missiles it has paraded through Pyongyang, boosting is a significant step.

1 of 50 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  What life looks like inside North Korea View Photos Scenes from inside the hermit kingdom. Caption Scenes from the hermit kingdom. April 14, 2016 A girl dances ballet at the Mangyongdae Childrens Palace in the Pyongyang suburbs. The large facility, opened in 1989, has hundreds of rooms for various activities, including mathematics, chemistry, computer science, sports, music and dance practice. Franck Robichon/European Pressphoto Agency Wait 1 second to continue.

Would North Korea still trade away its nuclear technology for legitimacy? From time to time, its looked like Pyongyang might be open to making concessions and cutting another deal. When North Korea kidnapped two American journalists in 2009, it was willing to release them in exchange for a meeting with former president Bill Clinton. It is bizarre to use a kidnapping to force a high-level meeting for the sake of appearing normal, but thats North Korea for you.

Not long after that, however, North Korea released a film that turns the Clinton story on its head. It is called The Country I Saw, and the title is instructive: This is a (terrible) movie dramatizing how North Koreans want others to see them. Like any good piece of propaganda, it has long scenes dedicated to didactic dialogue in which characters explain the message in the most painfully earnest way. The movie ends with Clinton visiting North Korea  this time to pay tribute to the countrys leaders, who have humiliated the United States and Japan by conducting successful tests of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons . A country that produces that sort of storyline doesnt seem like a country ready to bargain away its nuclear weapons.

Indeed, North Koreas announcement of a hydrogen bomb seems to rule out disarmament except under conditions that might as well include gracing Kims ample posterior with a gentle peck. The North Koreans also have denigrated the nuclear deal with Iran and ascribed the fall of Libyas Moammar Gaddafi to his disarmament agreement with the United States. It seems inconceivable now that this North Korean government would abandon the nuclear weapons programs it has developed at such a great cost.

It is understandable that we would want to deny the North Korean regime any legitimacy. It is an ugly government that does ugly things to its own people and its neighbors.

Yet we should be honest with ourselves about what our revulsion entails. We are refusing to deal with the North Koreans  whether we justify it, as President George W. Bush did, by comparing them to children who throw their food on the floor or whether we hide behind meaningless policy catchphrases, like the Obama administrations strategic patience. We are forgoing any meaningful opportunity to slow or constrain their nuclear development. We are not making any effort to open their appalling system; in fact, we are helping close it off.

Perhaps one day well stop laughing and notice that a brutal, nuclear-armed North Korea that terrorizes its citizens and its neighbors isnt all that funny. Theyd like that.

Twitter: @armscontrolwonk

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Ted Cruz had the worst week in Washington
World joins Chinese carriers' cabins Updated: 2016-01-08 07:57 By Wang Wen(China Daily Europe)

Saturation of domestic market spawns global routes that attract foreign talent

About 50 Italian young men and women turned up for interviews in Rome for cabin crew jobs with China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd in late November. Only half will likely receive job offers.

"China is the future," says Veronica Goslino, a female applicant from Rome. The Italian flight attendants will work on the carrier's Shanghai-Rome route after training in early 2016.

China Southern Airlines flight attendants, who come from several countries, pose for a photo in front of the Sydney Opera House. Provided to China Daily

It is the first time China Eastern has recruited in Italy, but recruitment of foreign talent is becoming common for Chinese airlines that operate international flights.

China Eastern has hired crew this year in Japan, South Korea, France and Germany, and it plans to recruit in Australia and Spain in the future, says publicity director Liu Kunqiang.

"We expect to bring in different faces through international recruitment," adds Wei Bo, the airline's deputy director of security, who handled the recruitment in Italy.

China Southern, the largest carrier in Asia in terms of fleet size, employs as many as 215 foreign flight attendants. About 40 are Malaysians who reported for duty on Dec 1 after finishing training.

Hainan Airlines, the fourth-largest carrier in China, which flies to 18 international destinations, has been recruiting in Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and South Korea since mid-2015.

More than 1,000 applications, including from experienced candidates, were received in Romania and Hungary, says Zhao Yuan, deputy general manager of the airline's human resources department. "With our international routes increasing, Hainan Airlines has to deal with the challenge of offering quality in-flight services, taking into account cultural differences between the East and the West."

Although Chinese and foreign flight attendants receive the same training, carriers offer customized contracts to foreign staff members, as per their nationality and labor laws, says Shang Zhao, manager of in-flight services for Hainan Airlines. Foreign workers' compensation is higher also because they do not receive local insurance and housing allowances.

The airline also has a special team to manage its foreign flight attendants.

The growing demand for foreign flight attendants reflects the fast expansion of Chinese airlines into international markets.

Statistics from the Civil Aviation Administration of China show that domestic airlines added 84 new international routes in the first half of 2015, up 35 percent year-on-year. As the domestic market becomes saturated, carriers are investing more in overseas markets.

The fast-developing, high-speed train network in China has also driven airlines to introduce longer routes and intercontinental routes, says Li Xiaojin, a professor at the Civil Aviation University of China in Tianjin. "There is more market potential in international routes for Chinese carriers."

Growing outbound tourism in China has also encouraged airlines to offer more international services. In fact, last summer, Chinese airlines overtook their rivals in the United States for the first time in the number of flights across the Pacific Ocean.

Overseas trips by Chinese residents were forecast to hit 120 million trips in 2015, up 16 percent year-on-year, according to the China Tourism Academy.

Since Chinese carriers alone cannot meet such demand, foreign airlines are reaching out to Chinese travelers and exploring the second-tier market in China. And foreign airlines are hiring more Chinese candidates as cabin crew to serve the increasing number of Chinese fliers.

For instance, on Dec 1, British Airways hired 65 of 2,500 Chinese applicants for cabin crew jobs. They will be based at BA's bases in Beijing and Shanghai, which were opened two months ago. They will undergo eight weeks of training in London and then work on the Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu routes from June.

"We're looking for applicants who have a passion for delivering excellent service, who will understand and anticipate the needs of our Chinese customers," says Jacques Hijlkema, head of in-flight customer experience at British Airways. He says the standard of Chinese candidates is high, adding that all BA flights from China will have at least two Chinese crew members on board in the future.

BA operates daily flights from Beijing and Shanghai to London, and five flights a week from Chengdu.

wangwen@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 01/08/2016 page29)
Linda Hirshmans Jan. 3 Outlook commentary, The liberal legal advantage, rested on two flawed premises. The notion that senators of one party would automatically block any Supreme Court nomination by a president of the other party is patently outrageous. Such a strategy would drive politicization of the judiciary to an entirely new and odious level  in effect, a reverse application of Franklin D. Roosevelts infamous court-packing scheme. And to suggest that this strategy would result in an eight-member court that could still function, albeit with occasional tie votes (thereby enhancing the influence of the appeals courts), is glib and unrealistic. As the article recognized, it could take many years for one party to seize control of both the Senate and White House.

Given the ages of the justices, it is more realistic to anticipate a number of vacancies arising over this period, resulting in a court of seven, six or even fewer justices. With each new vacancy, the political calculation would change and more chaos would ensue. Ultimately, the court could have so few justices that it could be rendered completely dysfunctional.

Far better to return to the bipartisan principle that elections matter and presidents are entitled to a vote and reasonable deference on their appointments, provided nominees are intellectually qualified, ethically fit and ideologically within the legal mainstream.

Henry Wray, Ocean View, Del.

The writer is retired from the

Government Accountability Office.
When you dance with the devil, the choreography can get awkward.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) last week made his latest appeal to the U.S. nativist fringe by naming Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) as a national co-chairman of his presidential campaign. King, called a courageous conservative and incredible leader by Cruz, is the anti-immigrant hard-liner who spoke of Mexican immigrants having calves the size of cantaloupes and who was a prominent birther.

King raised questions about President Obamas birth certificate, voiced doubts that Obama had been born in the United States, floated the idea that Obamas birth announcement in Hawaiian newspapers may have been placed by telegram from Kenya, and alleged that Obama was not raised with an American experience.

So were entitled to savor some schadenfreude now as Cruz himself gets caught in the birther web. Donald Trumps questioning of Cruzs status as a natural-born American and, therefore, his eligibility to be president is rough justice. Cruz, like Trump, has stoked the fires of resentment and xenophobia, so its entirely fitting that he gets burned.

But however tempting it is, Im not joining in the Cruz birtherism; it was wrong when done to Obama, and its wrong now done to Cruz. Cruz, I am convinced, would make a truly awful president, but he is perfectly eligible to serve.

Rep. Alan Grayson, a Democratic gadfly running for the Senate in Florida, vows to file a lawsuit challenging Cruzs eligibility if he wins the nomination. Grayson would try to argue that both parents of Cruz, who was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father, had to be U.S. citizens for Cruz to be considered a natural born citizen under the Constitution. Grayson also has questions about the U.S. birth of Cruzs mother. The Obama birthers are loons, Grayson told U.S. News & World Report. But theres a very good legal argument that Ted Cruz is not qualified to be president.

Like Cruz foe John McCain (the 2008 Republican presidential nominee said Cruzs eligibility is a legitimate question), Democratic leaders have been happy to see Cruz twist in the wind. I do think there is a distinction between John McCain being born to a family serving our country in Panama and someone born in another country, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said Thursday.

But thats not really so. My friend Neal Katyal, who was Obamas acting solicitor general, joined Paul Clement, a Bush solicitor general, in a Harvard Law Review piece last year arguing that its not even a close call: The constitutional evidence back to the founding makes clear that an individual born to a U.S. citizen parent  whether in California or Canada or the Canal Zone  is a U.S. citizen from birth and is fully eligible to serve as president.

Attempting to argue the contrary leads to embracing dubious and anachronistic premises such as the long-abandoned notion that children of American fathers overseas are natural-born citizens but children of American mothers are not.

More broadly: Do Democrats and liberals and all those who howled about the injustice and the outrage of Obamas birtherism really want to join the cause of Cruz birtherism, simply because hes a Republican, or a conservative? No doubt it would be satisfying to give conservatives a taste of their own medicine, but that would mean embracing the nativism that is turning the Republican Party into a fraternity of old white men from rural areas. The right is uniquely ill-behaved these days. Why join it?

It wasnt always this way. In the early days of the Obama presidency, I argued that the left was more ill-tempered. But now theres nothing equivalent to the rights rage  despite attempts to draw some phony parallels.

When I wrote about the overt racism injected into the campaign by Trump, the 2016 front-runner, conservative critics countered by citing the history of race-baiting by the Rev. Al Sharpton, a minor Democratic candidate in the 2004 race. When I wrote about Republican officeholders support for the armed men who took over a U.S. government facility in Oregon, conservatives argued that this was no different from Obamas tolerance of sanctuary cities  though sanctuary policies have existed for decades without successful legal challenges.

Then theres the birther movement, led by Trump, which sought to portray the first African American president as a foreigner. Now Trump is, with his characteristic disregard for truth, attempting to turn the same nativist forces against his nearest competitor in the Republican primary.

There is no equivalent on the left these days to such nasty stuff. Democrats should keep it that way.

Twitter: @Milbank

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SPECTACULAR AS they are, and for all the angst they are causing market mavens around the world, Chinas stock-market gyrations probably do not represent a fundamental threat to either the Chinese or the global economy. Rather, the sudden plunge in share values in Shanghai, exacerbated by ham-fisted government controls, was the weird but predictable result of a situation in which a Communist-run government first goosed stock prices far beyond sustainable levels, as a sop to restless middle-class investors, then intervened to show that the authorities in Beijing still have everything under control.

The deeper problem, of which this weeks volatility is a symptom, is that China has probably squeezed as much growth as it can out of the export- and investment-led model that produced such spectacular results over the past three decades. Further gains must come from a shift to greater domestic consumption. And, indeed, the countrys rulers have said so themselves on repeated occasions. Alas, they have no better idea how to carry that off smoothly than they do how to tame the stock market.

In fairness, even the most adept, best-intentioned leaders of the most democratic country might find it difficult to enact reform over the objections of powerful groups that have an interest in continuing business as usual. Japans export-led growth model went bust a quarter-century ago, and its still struggling for a sustainable alternative. Whats troubling about China today, however, is that, unlike Japan, it is governed by a single party that not only lacks any democratic tradition but also actively opposes democracy. There is a fundamental contradiction between what Chinas economy needs  less top-down control, more power for ordinary consumers and entrepreneurs  and what Chinas chieftains instinctively want: control.

The government rang in the new year not by outlining new measures to bolster property rights or the rule of law but by publishing previously undisclosed warnings from President Xi Jinping about gathering groups of die-hard friends together to inappropriately discuss major party policies, and party members who have been keen to poke around and . . . ask the things they should not ask. Meanwhile, China has been devaluing its currency to fire up exports once again. At best, this will provide a short-lived fillip to growth. At worst, it will prove self-defeating by stimulating capital flight and competitive devaluations by trading partners.

Trained as Marxist-Leninists, Chinas leaders should know that the contradictions within their confused system of state-controlled capitalism are heightening, well beyond their capabilities to control. The sooner they get on with the business of genuine reform  which is to say, the sooner they grant their society more economic and political freedom  the better off they, the Chinese people and the rest of the world will be.
Iranian women hold a poster of executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr as they walk in front of a picture of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a protest against Saudi Arabia in Tehran. (Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA)

Over the past two decades, the United States has approached the Middle East through its own conceptual frameworks: dictatorships vs. democracy, secularism vs. religion, order vs. chaos. But the most significant trend shaping the region today is something different: Sunnis vs. Shiites. That sectarian struggle now infects almost every aspect of the regions politics. It has confounded U.S. foreign policy and will continue to limit the ability of the United States, or any outside power, to stabilize the region.

In his prescient book, The Shia Revival, Vali Nasr argues that the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the tipping point. The United States saw itself as taking democracy to Iraq, but people in the region saw something different  the upending of the balance of power. Sunnis, who make up 85 percent of all Muslims, had long dominated the Arab world, even in Shiite-majority countries such as Iraq and Bahrain. But in one stroke, that changed. Iraq, a major Arab state, would now be ruled by Shiites. This rattled other Arab regimes, and their anxieties have only grown.

Though there always was tension, Sunnis and Shiites did live in peace, for the most part, until recently. In the 1960s and 70s, the only Shiite power, Iran, was ruled by the shah, whose regime was neither religious nor sectarian. In fact, when the shah was overthrown, the country that first gave him safe harbor was Egypt, the regions largest Sunni power, something unimaginable in todays sectarian atmosphere.

The pivotal shift took place in 1979. The Islamic Revolution in Iran brought to power an aggressively religious ruling class, determined to export its ideas and support Shiites in the region. That same year, in Saudi Arabia, militant radicals took over the Grand Mosque in Mecca, proclaiming opposition to the royal family and what they saw as its lax ways. The event scared the Saudis, pushing the regime substantially to the religious right. And Saudi Arabias governing ideology of Wahhabi Islam was always anti-Shiite. Around the time of its founding, Saudi Arabia demolished Shiite mosques and shrines and spread its view that Shiites are heretics.

As Iran has expanded its influence in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, Saudi Arabia has responded by adopting an even more sectarian edge. A decade ago, Saudi officials spoke of the need to include and empower the countrys Shiite minority. Today Saudi Shiites are viewed with suspicion, seen by some as agents of Iran.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have held long-running suspicions and outright hostility towards each other. Here's why. (The Washington Post)

In Yemen, a civil war has become a sectarian one. In a report for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Farea al-Muslimi points out that now the two sides in Yemen refer to each other as Persians and Daeshites (coming from the Arab acronym for ISIS, or the Islamic State). Al-Muslimi writes that sectarian discourse has become more heated, reorganizing Yemeni society along sectarian lines and rearranging peoples relationships to one another on a non-nationalist basis.

Saudi Arabia has real strategic concerns about Irans influence, especially in Iraq. As Ali al Shihabi, a Saudi banker-turned-writer, said to me, Southern Iraq is full of Iranian-backed militias. Thats just a two-hour drive from Saudi Arabias oil fields. The kingdom has to be worried. But the policy of sectarian warfare may be about more than simply geopolitics. Saudi Arabia is facing a series of challenges, from the Islamic State to domestic extremists. The countrys large and active social media are dominated by radical Islamists. And as oil prices plunge, government revenue has collapsed, and the nations generous subsidies to its people will be hard to sustain. The regime needs greater legitimacy.

Add up last weekends execution of a prominent Shiite cleric, the break with Iran, the war in Yemen and Saudi policy toward Syria, and you see a more assertive, aggressive and sectarian foreign policy than Saudi Arabia has ever pursued. The strategy is not without risks, external and internal. About 10 to 15 percent of Saudi Arabians are Shiites, and they live in the Eastern Province, atop the kingdoms oil fields. Neighboring Bahrain and Yemen are now filled with resentful Shiites, who see Saudi Arabia as repressing them. And Iran will surely react to Saudi actions over time.

In general, the United States should support Saudi Arabia in resisting Irans encroachments in the region, but it should not take sides in the broader sectarian struggle. This is someone elses civil war. After all, Washingtons principal ally in the fight against the Islamic State is the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad. And besides, the single greatest threat to the United States emanating from the Middle East remains radical Sunni jihadists  many of whom have drawn inspiration, funding and doctrine from Saudi Arabia.

There are very few good guys in this story.

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Who says Donald Trump lacks subtlety? The way hes raising birther questions about his chief rival for the nomination is worthy of Machiavelli.

Id hate to see something like that get in his way, Trump said of the fact that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) was born in Canada. Trump referred to the Constitutions provision that No Person except a natural born Citizen  whatever that means  is eligible to be president.

But a lot of people are talking about it, Trump continued, in an interview with Post reporters, and I know that even some states are looking at it very strongly, the fact that he was born in Canada and he has had a double passport.

Cruz flatly denied ever having a Canadian passport, telling CNN that this was just one of those silly sideshows the media love to engage in. But there is no question that he was born in Calgary, Alberta, to an American mother and a Cuban father. And there is no question that he had Canadian citizenship  before renouncing it in preparation for his presidential run.

Ah, what goes around comes around. For years, the Republican Party had nothing but patronizing nods and winks for the unhinged birthers  Trump included  who claimed, despite definitive proof to the contrary, that President Obama was born in some other country. Now, as party leaders desperately look for a way to deny Trump the nomination, the candidate with the best chance of doing so happens to have been born, without any doubt, in some other country.

Donald Trump and Ted Cruz avoided going after each other on the debate stage or the campaign trail  until this week. The Fix's Chris Cillizza explains why the Trump-Cruz dynamic isn't going away any time soon. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Trump still leads the national Republican polls by a mile, while Cruz has pulled ahead of the rest of the field and now stands alone in second place. In first-to-vote Iowa, however, Cruz has taken a narrow lead over the bombastic billionaire and is favored to win. Hence Trumps sudden concern over the birthplace of a man who perhaps should be nicknamed Calgary Ted.

Republicans are going to have to ask themselves the question: Do we want a candidate who could be tied up in court for two years? Thatd be a big problem, Trump told The Post. Itd be a very precarious one for Republicans because hed be running and the courts may take a long time to make a decision.

Most legal experts agree that Cruz is eligible to run; the fact that his mother was a U.S. citizen means he had citizenship from birth, which would appear to satisfy the natural born requirement. But the question of precisely what the Constitution means has never been fully explored by the courts.

The issue came up in 2008 because Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) the GOP nominee, was born in the Panama Canal Zone to parents who were U.S. citizens. The Senate went so far as to pass a nonbinding resolution recognizing that John Sidney McCain, III, is a natural born citizen.

Youd think McCain might be sympathetic to Cruzs situation, but did I mention that what goes around comes around? Cruz has gone out of his way to alienate many of his Senate colleagues, and McCain has called him and his allies wacko birds. Perhaps thats why McCain, when asked by a Phoenix television station to comment on Cruzs eligibility, responded: I think there is a question. Im not a constitutional scholar on that, but I think its worth looking into.

McCain noted that the Canal Zone was a territory of the United States of America when he was born. And there was a precedent, he argued, since 1964 Republican candidate Barry Goldwater was born in Arizona when it, too, was a U.S. territory.

Whereas Canada is a whole different country.

I confess that I find the whole flap absurd. Cruz should be deemed unsuitable for the presidency because of his wrongheaded ultra-right-wing views and his dangerous political ruthlessness, not because his American mother happened to be living in Canada when he was born.

But maybe Cruz will have to squirm a bit. A lawsuit has been filed in Vermont to keep him off the ballot there, and I wouldnt be surprised if suits were filed in other states as well. Somehow I doubt hell get the same moral support from his fellow senators that McCain was given.

Has the party of Lincoln really come to this, Donald Trump or Ted Cruz? The two men still insist that they like each other, their campaign-long bromance not extinguished. Im reminded of something Machiavelli didnt say but should have: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

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Every Republican of the type concerned with winning in November has been asking the question (at least internally): What if the worst happens?

The worst does not mean the nomination of Ted Cruz, in spite of justified fears of political disaster. Cruz is an ideologue with a message perfectly tuned for a relatively small minority of the electorate. Uniquely in American politics, the senator from Texas has made his reputation by being roundly hated by his colleagues  apparently a prerequisite for a certain kind of anti-establishment conservative, but unpromising for an image makeover at his convention.

Cruzs nomination would represent the victory of the hard right  religious right and tea party factions  within the Republican coalition. After he loses, the ideological struggles within the GOP would go on.

No, the worst outcome for the party would be the nomination of Donald Trump. It is impossible to predict where the political contest between Trump and Hillary Clinton would end up. Clinton has manifestly poor political skills, and Trump possesses a serious talent for the low blow. But Trumps nomination would not be the temporary victory of one of the GOPs ideological factions. It would involve the replacement of the humane ideal at the center of the party and its history. If Trump were the nominee, the GOP would cease to be.

Whatever your view of Republican politicians, the aspiration, the self-conception, of the party was set by Abraham Lincoln: human dignity, honored by human freedom and undergirded by certain moral commitments, including compassion and tolerance. Lincoln described the promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance.

Hecklers are common at political rallies, but Donald Trump knows how to use them to fire up his audience. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

It is this universality that Trump attacks. All of his angry resentment against invading Hispanics and Muslims adds up to a kind of ethno-nationalism  an assertion that the United States is being weakened and adulterated by the other. This is consistent with European, right-wing, anti-immigrant populism. It is not consistent with conservatism, which, at the very least, involves respect for institutions and commitment to reasoned, incremental change. And Trumpism is certainly not consistent with the Republicanism of Lincoln, who admitted no exceptions to the promises of the Declaration of Independence and was nominated, in part, because he could appeal to anti-slavery German immigrants.

Liberals who claim that Trumpism is the natural outgrowth, or logical conclusion, of conservatism or Republicanism are simply wrong. Edmund Burke is not the grandfather of Nigel Farage. Lincoln is not even the distant relative of Trump.

Trump, in some ways, is an odd carrier of ethno-nationalist beliefs. He held few of them, as far as I can tell, just four years ago. But as a demagogue, he has followed some of Americas worst instincts wherever they have led, and fed ethnic and religious prejudice in the process. All presidential nominees, to some extent, shape their parties into their own image. Trump would deface the GOP beyond recognition.

Trump is disqualified for the presidency by his erratic temperament, his ignorance about public affairs and his scary sympathy for authoritarianism. But for me, and I suspect for many, the largest problem is that Trump would make the GOP the party of racial and religious exclusion.

American political parties are durable constructions. But they have been broken before by powerful, roiling issues such as immigration and racial prejudice. Many Republicans could not vote for Trump but would have a horribly difficult time voting for Clinton. The humane values of Republicanism would need to find a temporary home, which would necessitate the creation of a third party. This might help elect Clinton, but it would preserve something of conservatism, held in trust, in the hope of better days.

Ultimately, these political matters are quite personal. I have spent 25 years in the company of compassionate conservatives, reform conservatives, Sams Club conservatives or whatever they want to call themselves, trying to advance an agenda of social justice in Americas center-right party. We have shared a belief that sound public policy  promoting opportunity, along with the skills and values necessary to grasp it  can improve the lives of our fellow citizens and thus make politics an honorable adventure.

The nomination of Trump would reduce Republican politics  at the presidential level  to an enterprise of squalid prejudice. And many Republicans could not follow, precisely because they are Republicans. By seizing the GOP, Trump would break it to pieces.

Read more from Michael Gersons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook .
THERE WAS scant attention paid last month when, in unveiling his $100 billion two-year budget for Virginia, Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) also laid out a plan for closing Catawba Hospital, an aging state psychiatric facility near Roanoke. The governors proposal to shutter the 110-bed hospital is another blow to Virginias dysfunctional, uncoordinated and underfunded mental-health system, which, having already lost nearly 80 percent of its psychiatric hospital beds over the past four decades, will now shed even more.

The closure highlights the paucity of robust community-based programs  including housing, treatment and counseling  to step into the breach left by the disappearance of psychiatric hospital beds. One of de-institutionalizations most toxic legacies, in Virginia and elsewhere, is that local jails are now warehouses for the mentally ill, who often account for a quarter or more of the inmates. Given adequate resources, many might lead productive lives, but jails are ill-equipped to deal with them.

Two tragic deaths in Virginia jails last year cast that problem in a harsh light. In Fairfax County, Natasha McKenna, 37, a mentally ill woman with a young daughter, died after a jail guard shot her repeatedly with a Taser. In Hampton Roads, Jamycheal Mitchell, 24, a mentally ill man arrested for shoplifting $5.05 worth of snacks from a 7-Eleven, wasted away and died in jail even as a judge repeatedly ordered him transferred to a nearby psychiatric hospital, where no beds were available. Ms. McKenna and Mr. Mitchell needed help, not confinement. But where were the programs to help them?

Advocates for the mentally ill have pressed state lawmakers to increase funding for programs that would provide services, many run by local Community Services Boards, that would enable many mentally ill people to cope with their daily lives outside of hospital settings. Often, the response from Richmond has been inadequate  a few million dollars here or there, not enough to buttress a mental-health system in disarray.

The systems inadequacies were exposed in 2013 by the tragic death of Austin Gus Deeds, a mentally ill young man who stabbed and badly wounded his father, state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath), before killing himself. The attack took place after officials failed to find a hospital bed for the younger Mr. Deeds, though some were available at the time.

The elder Mr. Deeds, who survived the attack with extensive scars, has pressed for reforms ever since and continues to do so through a legislative commission he leads. In November, Mr. Deeds filed a $6 million wrongful-death lawsuit against the state, a local mental-health agency and a mental-health evaluator, meaning the same man who is trying to fix Virginias mental-health system is also trying to punish it.

The courts will determine the merits of that suit. In the meantime, it serves as a bitter reminder that, despite some modest reforms, including a long-overdue online registry of available hospital beds, Virginia is a long way from providing adequate and humane services to the mentally ill.
Everything was going exactly according to plan for Ted Cruz and his presidential campaign. Until, suddenly, the question of whether he could actually serve as president  an issue thats percolated around Cruz for years but had remained on the back burner during the campaign  boiled over.

Cruz was born in Canada. Calgary, to be specific. His mother was and remains an American citizen. That makes Cruz a citizen. But does it also mean he fits the definition of a natural born citizen, as the Constitution requires Americas presidents to be?

That is the question that Donald Trump  of course  raised this past week, first in an interview with The Washington Post and then in roughly 2 million follow-up interviews.

Republicans are going to have to ask themselves the question: Do we want a candidate who could be tied up in court for two years?  Trump said. Thatd be a big problem. Later in the week Trump tweeted this advice to Cruz: Go to court now & seek Declaratory Judgment. Thanks, Donald!

Cruz initially tried to laugh the whole thing off, tweeting a video of Fonzie from Happy Days jumping the shark  Internet-speak for when something has passed its sell-by date, culturally speaking. Then he put out a more serious statement insisting that people will continue to make political noise about it, but as a legal matter, its quite straightforward.

That didnt stop Sen. John McCain, long at daggers drawn with the senator from Texas, from twisting the knife during a radio interview. I am not a constitutional scholar on that, but I think its worth looking into, he said of Cruzs eligibility.

Fighting back against insinuations that he might present a problem for Republicans if he is the nominee was not the way Cruz wanted to spend a week this close to the Iowa caucuses.

Ted Cruz, for being birthered by the master, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something.

Each week, Chris Cillizza awards the worst week in Washington to an inhabitant of Planet Beltway who stands out for all the wrong reasons. You can check out previous winners or e-mail Cillizza with candidates. You can also read more from Outlook and follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter.
The same infographic kept appearing in my Twitter feed again and again around Thanksgiving. The graphic, originally shared by Donald Trump, showed a series of statistics about race and gun deaths in 2015, alongside an image of a dark-skinned man with a handgun.

Every single one of the statistics in the graphic was false.

But heres the thing: The people I follow on Twitter werent endorsing the bogus statistics  quite the opposite. News organizations shared the image along with links to their articles debunking it. Pundits shared the image to poke fun at Trumps credulity. Liberals shared the image along with their concerns that someone who would traffic in such fabrications could become president. (Trump, meanwhile, said the whole thing didnt matter: All it was was a retweet.)

Even as they debunked and ridiculed the image, though, his critics continued to share it. Their intention in fact-checking Trump was to counteract the effect that these false statistics had on peoples attitudes  but in sharing them, they may have done exactly the opposite. My research shows that even successfully corrected misinformation creates belief echoes: effects on attitudes that persist even when you know that a piece of information is false.

A great deal of research has examined how and why people refuse to accept corrections. When it comes to politics, most people tend to engage in a process called motivated reasoning, meaning that their existing attitudes (for example, their partisanship) affect what facts they choose to believe and which arguments they find convincing. Motivated reasoning is part of why many people incorrectly think that President Obama is a Muslim, that vaccines cause autism or that former president George W. Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks before they happened.

In some ways, belief echoes are even more insidious than motivated reasoning: Their existence suggests that even if we accept intellectually that a piece of information is false, it still has the power to affect how we think.

In my research, I conducted three online experiments with a total of 905 participants. Each study lasted about eight minutes and followed a similar format. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of three different versions of a news article from the fictional Iowa Ledger describing a fictional congressional candidate named John McKenna. The first version (or the control) simply described the campaign. The second version included a paragraph in which McKennas opponents accused him of accepting donations from a convicted felon. The third version also included the accusation, but it was immediately followed by a correction: specifically, that an independent investigation by the Ledger had shown the accusation to be false.

After reading the article, participants answered several questions about McKenna. Those in the control group (who never saw the misinformation) evaluated him significantly more positively than those who read only the accusation. However, in each of the three experiments, those in the third group (who read the accusation and the correction) also evaluated him more negatively than the control group.

Why did the people in the third group dislike the candidate, even though the article clearly stated that the accusation against him was false? One possible explanation is that some people simply did not believe the correction. After all, people often reject corrections of misinformation  especially when those corrections run counter to their existing beliefs. To test for this possibility, I asked all the participants a number of factual questions about the article, including whether McKenna had accepted donations from a felon. The results showed that the correction worked: People who read it knew that McKenna was innocent. But they still evaluated him more negatively than did participants who had never read the false accusation. Even when the correction worked, it wasnt enough to unring the bell of exposure to misinformation. This remained true when the misinformation was corrected right away  even in the sentence immediately after the falsehood.

Belief echoes can arise through several processes. First, if the misinformation is vivid and emotionally affecting, it has a strong initial effect on attitudes. In contrast, the correction has a much smaller emotional impact. Participants opinions about McKenna were like a thermometer; while the accusation of misconduct caused the thermometer to drop precipitously, the correction did not cause a symmetrical rise.

The second process through which misinformation creates belief echoes is driven by our brains instinct to create plausible causal narratives. In the few seconds after participants read about the accusation, their minds automatically went to work recalling facts that matched that narrative  even in the case of an imaginary politician. They may have remembered other sleazy politicians theyd heard of, or thought about their general dislike of Congress. After they learned that the misinformation was false, those memories remained, and they could continue to affect attitudes. For example, one participant wrote that even though they believed that the accusation was untrue, it made me more suspicious of him  he might be covering something up.

The experiments also varied another factor: the party of the candidate. Half the participants were told that McKenna shared their partisanship, and half were told that he was from the opposing party. The results showed that belief echoes can cross partisan lines: Misinformation continues to affect how a person feels about a candidate even when they are both of the same party.

Belief echoes are not limited to the political world. Research in psychology, including several studies by Ullrich Ecker at the University of Western Australia and Stephan Lewandowsky at the University of Bristol, shows that effectively corrected misinformation can continue to affect attitudes in other domains as well. The existence of belief echoes means that if we want to minimize the impact of misinformation on attitudes, it is critical not to repeat it. Sometimes this might be unavoidable  for instance, fact-checking sites need to repeat the original statement in order to correct it. But when we spread a correction, whether its through tweeting or conversation, we should do our best to avoid repeating the false information.

Belief echoes are more likely when the misinformation is vivid (for example, videos or images) and less likely when it is not (dry statistics and policy details). Unfortunately, this means that the times when we are most tempted to repeat misinformation  a horrifyingly inaccurate graph, an offensive comment in a debate  are also the times when it is most likely to create belief echoes.

So, as frustrated as we might be when Donald Trump makes things up on the campaign trail, the best advice may be to deal with him the same way were told to deal with bees, small children throwing tantrums and Internet trolls: Just ignore him.

Twitter: @emilythorson

Follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter. And read more from Outlook:

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Ted Cruz had the worst week in Washington
In late July, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) appointed Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Jane Marum Roush to the opening that arose with Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr.s July 31 retirement from the state Supreme Court. Nevertheless, the General Assembly, relying on its constitutional prerogatives, seemingly will permit Roushs appointment to expire and elect Virginia Court of Appeals Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. at its sessionthat begins Wednesday.

Roush and Alston are highly qualified. However, the assembly should elect Roush because she is an experienced, mainstream jurist who has served on the Supreme Court for more than five months and because removal of a sitting justice for reasons unrelated to fitness would make a mockery of the Virginia judicial appointment process, as 24 past Virginia Bar Association presidents proclaimed in August.

The Virginia Constitution grants the General Assembly the authority to elect justices, but it also empowers the governor to appoint justices if vacancies arise when the legislature is not in session. Virginia has a part-time legislature that regularly meets for only 46 days in odd-numbered years and 60 in even-numbered ones. This means it is common and necessary for the governor to make interim Supreme Court appointments to ensure a smoothly functioning judiciary  the co-equal third branch of state government  during the more than 300 days a year the legislature is not in session.

In the 115 years that the General Assembly has elected governors picks, the 31 gubernatorial appointees to the Supreme Court have been elected by the General Assembly. This includes Republican governors appointees later elected by Democratic-controlled assemblies. Most notable is former chief justice Cynthia Kinser, appointed by Gov. George Allen (R) in 1997 and then elected by the assembly and who served with great distinction, becoming the first female chief justice in the commonwealth.

Since 1960, justices who were gubernatorial appointees and subsequently elected by the assembly include respected jurists, such as Harry L. Carrico, Thomas C. Gordon, Albertis S. Harrison Jr., Alexander Harman Jr., George M. Cochran, Richard H. Poff, A. Christian Compton, John Charles Thomas, Elizabeth B. Lacy, Leroy R. Hassell Sr. , Bernard Goodwyn and Millette.

Over the summer, the governor appointed Roush with the support of the Fairfax County delegation, including Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), chair of the House Courts of Justice Committee. The delegation lauded Roush as one of the premier  Virginia judges and said she is non-political, and most importantly, she knows that a judge applies, not writes, the law.

Days after Roush assumed office, House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) and Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City) announced that their respective caucuses would support Alston for the vacancy. Their concern was not with Roushs abilities but rather the governors failure to consult them before appointing Roush.

Norment conceded that Gov. McAuliffe has designated a different candidate, who is also highly qualified, but he expected lawmakers to elect Alston at an Aug. 17 special legislative session. However, Sen. John C. Watkins (R-Powhatan) joined all of the Democrats in not voting for Alston and adjourning the session.

In the 2016 regular session, Republican lawmakers appear poised to remove a very experienced justice appointed by the governor, depriving the commonwealth of her expertise gleaned across more than 22 years as a dedicated public servant. More important, removing a sitting justice for political reasons  reasons unrelated to her qualifications, performance or ability to serve  would undermine the stability and reputation of Virginias court system. Indeed, the political bickering over Roushs appointment has eroded citizen respect for all three government branches and the judicial selection process.

Republicans must seriously reconsider their expressed intention to remove Roush. That action would directly contravene 115 years of tradition and practice. When the legislature convenes, lawmakers should promptly elect Roush.

The writer is the Williams Chair at the University of Richmond Law School.
Smog smells like big profits for tour firms Updated: 2016-01-08 07:53 By Li Jing(China Daily Europe)



Tourists on Phuket Island, Thailand, enjoy unspoiled scenery. China's outbound travel market has grown rapidly in recent years, partly due to concerns over poor air quality in major cities. Provided to China Daily

Tourism companies are cashing in on North China's smog woes by offering "clean air getaways" for residents looking for a breather.

In December, as cans of fresh Rocky Mountain air began to the fly off the shelves in Beijing, travel agencies started to push packages for overseas destinations that boast year-round blue skies.

More than 60 percent of Chinese cities reported high air pollution levels around Christmas, including the capital, which issued two red alerts late last year. Industry insiders say it prompted many residents to head overseas for a new year's break.

Ctrip, one of China's biggest online travel agencies, says it received a good response to its "smog escape routes" promotion in December.

"Searches on our app and website rise in pace with smog levels," says Yan Xin, a spokeswoman for the company. "Many customers moved their departure dates forward or switched from domestic to international destinations to escape the severe air pollution."

Based on bookings made through Ctrip, the top 10 destinations over the Yuletide holiday were in Japan, Thailand, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand, the United States, Maldives, Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates.

Zhang Guangqi took two extra days off around new year's day to visit Okinawa in Japan. "It was a spontaneous decision," he says. "I didn't have any specific plans for my visit. I just wanted to escape the air."

The most popular domestic spot was Sanya, a resort city on the southern island of Hainan that has tropical weather, followed by Harbin in the northeast, and Kunming and Lijiang in the southwest.

"Most visitors were from northern China who wanted to escape both the smog and the cold," Yan says.

China's outbound travel market has grown rapidly in recent years, partly due to concerns over poor air quality in major cities.

In 2014, Ctrip teamed up with insurance company Ping An to offer "smog insurance" for people who choose to vacation in Chinese cities regularly affected by poor air quality. Yet most prefer overseas destinations.

Zhao Lanlan, who lives in Beijing, traveled to the United States twice in 2015. "I spent one and a half months on the east coast and a month in Texas," the 58-year-old says. "I can't stand the smog. In winter, the smog gets worse, and it doesn't help hiding at home."

Going to the United States is easier now thanks to relaxed visa policies, she adds. "It feels great there just to go around in the sunshine under the blue sky."

Yang Feiyue and Erik Nilsson contributed to this story.


To get one of 1,400 seats at Donald Trumps rally here Thursday night, hundreds and hundreds of people waited for hours in the cold and then had to answer a question like this: Do you support Donald Trump?

Anyone who did not answer with some version of yes was not allowed inside. That included undecided voters and those simply looking to learn about Trumps positions. And anyone showing any trace of supporting Bernie Sanders  the former mayor of this liberal town who is now a Democratic presidential candidate  was definitely not allowed in.

Trump explained his thinking in a statement: We have more than 20,000 people that showed up for 1,400 spots. Im taking care of my people, not people who dont want to vote for me or are undecided. They are loyal to me and I am loyal to them.

The yes-or-no question was quickly compared to the strategy Trump has proposed for screening Muslims trying to enter the country if he were to temporarily ban them. At first, the pledge seemed to work, and Trump presided over an unusually calm and collected rally crowd inside the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, a historic 1930s Art Deco theater.

But about 20 minutes into his 70-minute speech, a woman wearing a headlamp and a sign reading Dump Trump came marching down an aisle. She was quickly escorted out, and Trump provided this assessment: That was a very mild protest.

Protesters are escorted from Trump's event at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts Thursday. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

A series of other interruptions followed, dominating the evening. Trump mostly stuck to his regular talking points, although he seemed to take a new stance on gun access, saying that he wants to ban gun-free zones at schools.

Aides to the candidate did not respond to requests for more details on that proposal.

From the theater balcony came chants of Bernie! Bernie! Bernie! As about half a dozen protesters were walked out, Trumps supporters responded Trump! Trump! Trump!

As more of these outbursts occurred, paranoia seemed to set in among the crowd, and some Trump supporters tried to spot potential intruders before they acted up.

In one case, a handful of supporters towered over a young woman in a winter cap seated in the crowd and yelled, Out! Out! Out! As police pulled the woman out of the theater, she pleaded, I didnt do anything!

Later, two women stood, pointed at Trump and repeatedly shouted, Get Trump out! They were removed from the theater.

It was often difficult to understand what the protesters were shouting, as they were quickly drowned out by Trumps supporters. Sometimes Trump didnt stop talking as the outbursts quickly came and passed. At other times, he mocked the protesters or marveled at how his rallies are so much more interesting than those of his rivals.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump screened entrants to his Jan. 7th rally in Burlington, Vt., but that didn't stop protesters from getting in. Watch how he handled the more than half-dozen disruptions to his speech. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Once, he suggested confiscating the coats of some hecklers and throwing them out into the cold.

Trump said that he expected this sort of reception  after all, he was trolling Sanders in his own town.

He mentioned Sanders a few times during the rally, at one point mocking the senator for allowing two Black Lives Matter activists to publicly interrupt him and take over his microphone.

Oh, would I love to run against Bernie, Trump said at one point, as the crowd cheered. It would be a dream come true.

Sanders responded to Trumps eagerness during a conference call Thursday night with thousands of members of Democracy for America, a progressive group that has endorsed Sanders and is based in Burlington. Sanders predicted he would beat Trump decisively in a general election and ticked off several digs the Democrat has taken at the Republican front-runner lately, including calling him a pathological liar.

It would be a dream come true for me as well, Sanders said. I would love, love, love to run against Donald Trump.

Trumps campaign gave away nearly 20,000 free tickets to the rally, many of which were snapped up by Sanders supporters, Trump haters or others who wanted him to have an empty theater. The Burlington Police Department expected about 6,500 people to show up  still far more than the number of seats in the small theater.

If Phish was holding a free concert at the Flynn and gave away 20,000 free tickets, we would cancel the event out of public safety concerns, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo told the Burlington Free Press. We are committed to accommodating the campaign because political speech is the very essence of the First Amendment.

The line started early in the morning, and those standing together bonded, holding spots for bathroom breaks and pizza runs.

Brothers and lifelong Burlington residents Mike and Rod Dion arrived about 8 a.m. Nine hours later, both took the Trump pledge, saying they absolutely supported the candidate, although both say they still arent absolutely sure.

But they are positive they want President Obama out of office. Once inside the theater, Rod Dion, 60, changed into a red tank top featuring a drawing of the president smoking dope.

Both worked manufacturing jobs, and at one point both were laid off when the factory where they worked moved overseas.

In explaining what its like to be a Republican in such a liberal area, Mike Dion, 64, noted: Bernie Sanders, this is where he is from.

Well, Rod Dion said. Hes not from here. Hes from New York.

He continued: It was nice here, then he brought in a lot of freaks, he brought in people from out of state and our state has changed. . . . Our whole state has actually changed because of Bernie Sanders.

Its like a freak show here, he said.

Katie Zezima and John Wagner in Iowa contributed to this report.
In a Jan. 7 town hall event, President Obama bristled at the suggestion that he has a plan to confiscate Americans' guns. (CNN)

In a Jan. 7 town hall event, President Obama bristled at the suggestion that he has a plan to confiscate Americans' guns. (CNN)

Ahead of President Obamas town-hall-style event on guns Thursday night at George Mason University, the campus police chief sent an email to students alerting them that protesters might show up outside the venue with their firearms.

He noted that Virginia is an open-carry state, in which it is legal to publicly carry and display licensed firearms. Though it is not clear whether anyone did, the matter-of-fact tone of the notice underscored the challenge for a president who has described his inability to move the nation toward what he considers common-sense restrictions on firearms as his most frustrating failure.

And it may have highlighted the scope of Obamas disconnect with a large segment of the American public on the issue.

As the president appeared before a audience of 100 partisans on both sides of the debate at George Mason  and was beamed into the living rooms of homes in red and blue states on the live CNN broadcast  his efforts to bridge the cultural divide on guns looked increasingly hopeless.

Celebrate that were good people and 99.9 percent of us arent going to kill anyone, Taya Kyle, the widow of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, whose story, including his death at the hands of a mentally unstable man, was the basis of the movie American Sniper, told Obama plaintively. She had written a commentary article earlier in the day saying stricter gun control wont protect us.

President Obama formally announced a set of executive orders on gun control on Jan.5. Here is what you need to know about how the regulations tighten gun sales and expand background checks. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

[Campus police: Protesters outside Obama town hall on guns may be armed]

Obama thanked her and her husband for their service.

The president has ventured into a battle in which specific policy proposals are overshadowed by deeply held attitudes about the proper role of the federal government. The debate is taking place in a country where nearly a third of the citizens live in a home with guns, according to federal statistics, and 22 percent report owning firearms.

I respect the Second Amendment. I respect the right to bear arms, Obama told moderator Anderson Cooper on Thursday night. But all of us can agree to take common-sense steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who want to do harm.

Aides said before the event that the president was eager for a serious conversation with his opponents. But Obamas frustration was palpable from the start. Our position is consistently mischaracterized, he said. Noting that the National Rifle Association had declined an invitation to the town hall, the president said: Im happy to meet with them. . . . But the conversation has to be based on facts and the truth and what we are proposing, not some imaginary fiction that Obama is trying to take away your guns.

The event came as the capstone to a week in which Obama announced new, relatively small-scale executive actions to regulate the gun industry. In an opinion piece published in the New York Times late Thursday, Obama said he would not campaign for or support any politician in either party who does not support common-sense gun reform.

Meanwhile, the depth of antipathy to his message in some areas of the country has been clear.

While formally announcing his executive orders, President Obama said that "Second Amendment rights are important, but so are other rights" such as freedom of religion and freedom of assembly that have been cut short by gun violence. (Associated Press)

Gun sales soared again in the wake of Obamas announcement. While polls show that expanding background checks to cover purchases at gun shows and online remains enormously popular, the American public is far more polarized on the broader question of restricting access to firearms.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), a presidential hopeful, sent a fundraising email to supporters that said Obama wants your guns and featured a doctored image of Obama in riot gear.

Cruz is appealing to peoples anxieties and insecurities and outright fears in an attempt to win votes, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday. In some cases it veers into territory of being irresponsible, but thats clearly what hes up to. Hes not the only one.

Last weekend, armed ranchers took control of a federal building in a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon, arguing that they should have more freedom to operate on federal land and trying to wrest control from the U.S. government.

In a floor speech this week, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), who represents the area, joined other GOP lawmakers in expressing sympathy for the occupiers. Although Walden said the ranchers had gone too far, he added that he empathized with their anger.

[Oregon and the recent history of anti-government groups in the U.S.]

That Obamas forum was broadcast on cable news  which the president has said he almost never watches, because of the hyper-partisan discourse  shows how determined he is to break through the noise to reach the public.

The NRA called the show a public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House. A CNN spokeswoman said the network approached the White House with the idea for the forum after the mass shootings in San Bernardino, Calif., last month and maintained complete editorial control.

The president fielded questions from a rape victim who opposes more gun restrictions, but also from gun-control advocate Mark Kelly, husband of former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a shooting in 2011. Giffords stood next to him.

Part of the reason this ends up being a really difficult issue is that people occupy different realities, Obama said.

Studies have shown that Americans living in a home with firearms are more likely to be injured by guns. But gun rights advocates have cited a half-dozen incidents in the past two years in which individuals have reportedly averted a mass shooting by opening fire on the potential perpetrator.

John R. Lott Jr., a conservative gun rights activist who heads the Crime Prevention Research Center who was not at the town hall, said in an interview that administration officials tend to gloss over the fact that people who have been victims of violent crime are more likely to own guns than those who have not.

Congress rejected a package of tighter gun laws in 2013 in the wake of the December 2012 elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. A frustrated Obama announced 23 small-scale executive actions later that year and two more in subsequent years. Aides said he was moved to act again in the wake of a shooting that killed nine people last fall at a community college in Roseburg, Ore.

The president visited that community in October to console family members. His motorcade drove past a crowd holding several dozen signs welcoming him  and an equal number protesting and making clear their opposition to any change to gun laws.

Gun free zones are for sitting ducks, one read.

On Thursday, Obama recalled visiting Newtown after the rampage there, which he has called the most difficult time of his presidency.

Its the first time I ever saw Secret Service cry, he recalled. It continues to haunt me.

Scott Clement contributed to this report.
Ben Carson greets people at the Beacon Drive-In restaurant in Spartanburg on the day of the South Carolina Republican presidential primary.

Feb. 20, 2016 Ben Carson greets people at the Beacon Drive-In restaurant in Spartanburg on the day of the South Carolina Republican presidential primary. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

Even some of Ben Carsons most steadfast admirers have developed a wandering eye.

With the Iowa caucuses just three weeks away, the ardent conservatives who buoyed Carsons Republican candidacy from the start remain unsure whether they will caucus for the retired neurosurgeon. Many of them have been courted away by Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.) while Carsons campaign stumbled through internal disputes and gaffes that raised questions about his readiness for the Oval Office.

I was pretty strong for Ben Carson until the terrorist attacks, and then Cruz became more interesting. But in three weeks, it could all be different again, Deb Douglass, 48, said during a Carson town hall in Panora. I would say in previous caucuses I was very determined in who I wanted. This time, Im still a little unsure.

Douglass, like many voters attending Carsons Iowa campaign events on Wednesday and Thursday, named Carson, Cruz and Rubio as her top choices ahead of the Feb. 1 caucuses. Like many of the attendees interviewed, she cited character and integrity as the most important qualities in whomever she ultimately chooses.

Carson has that, attendees said. But other candidates do, too.

The day after he asked fifth-graders to point out the "worst student" in their class, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson released a video of him discussing education policy. (Ben Carson)

Double-digit leads disappear

He once dominated the field in Iowa, with double-digit leads in October over the other candidates, even real estate mogul Donald Trump, according to several statewide polls. But Carson withered under the spotlight last month as he faced harsh scrutiny over his grasp of national security issues. He has fallen to fourth place in Iowa and nationally, according to polling averages by RealClearPolitics, while Cruz has surged ahead.

Now, one question is whether Carson can hang onto the 9 percent of Iowa Republicans who currently support him, according to the most recent average from RealClearPolitics. While not enough to win Iowa, its enough to place strongly and take some momentum into the next battles.

Carsons campaign team was further shaken at years end with the resignations of several top advisers, including the campaign manager and communications director.

His critics say the harsh media glare and management missteps revealed that he is unprepared to take office. Carsons rivals have all but counted him out, positioning themselves to inherit his consistent 9 to 10 percent support in the polls.

To reverse the tide of negative media attention, Carson has begun a national push to reassure voters that he is presidential material. In addition to appointing Robert Dees, a retired Army major general, as his campaign chairman and Ed Brookover as the new campaign manager, Carson has also indicated that he will expand his communications team.

His campaign plans to release several policy papers in the coming weeks aimed at disproving his perceived lack of policy expertise, many of which Carson says were waiting on the shelf for publication. He has also embarked on a grueling campaign schedule in the Hawkeye State.

At its core, Carsons pitch remains focused on his faith-driven message about compassion and resilience. His time in the final weeks before the Iowa contest appears to be aimed at reminding voters why they first became interested in his candidacy.

View Graphic Here is who's winning the presidential race so far.

And there are still flashes of the grass-roots excitement that led him to enter the race. Hundreds continue to gather at Carsons events for a chance to hear the candidate  an unexpected showing for a campaign that has repeatedly been declared to be on its deathbed. Even his critics say they remain strongly moved by his inspirational life story of rising from poverty in Detroit to the top of the medical field at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

In an interview Thursday, Dees said: Dr. Carson has an amazing message, and we have frankly amazing energy. Weve got all this, its sort of been pent up  there just hasnt been anybody pulling the trigger.

The reality is some people have fans, but Dr. Carson has believers.

But the success of the Republican presidential candidates 11th-hour campaign overhaul will come down to whether he can reignite the organic support of Iowas social conservatives.

Going to be about integrity

Im not sure how Im going to make my final decision. Hopefully Ill hear a definitive moment or word that will make a difference, said Arlyn Stuart, who attended a Carson event in Pella on Wednesday. Im not a single-issue voter. Theres no way Im going to agree with everything a candidate says. It is going to be about integrity.

The true test will come on caucus day. Carsons crowds are robust. But its unclear whether he has organized his enormous grass-roots support into an actual voter-turnout effort.

And the stakes are high. Iowa represents Carsons best chance to gain momentum to remain in the race in the long-run.

Its helpful to see them in person. I want to see Jesus in them, Charmaine Gray, 60, said during a Carson town hall in Panora. I dont know who Im going to support, but the Lord is going to guide me. Im here to do what He wants me to do.

Without a proven get-out-the-vote effort, Carsons showing on Feb. 1 will come down to caucus-goers last impressions of him on the campaign trail.

The strategy is to keep talking. There are a lot of narratives out there that we have to overcome. Were in a process of disabusing people of those notions, Carson told reporters Wednesday. And hopefully theres enough time to do that.

There may not be.

After the event in Pella, Stuart remained uncertain when asked whether he had heard the definitive moment he needed to make up his mind.

No, not yet, Stuart said. I liked what he said. But I havent decided.
Heidi Cruz has worked at the White House and Goldman Sachs, but she hopes to add one more item to her resume: the title of U.S. first lady. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Heidi Cruz has worked at the White House and Goldman Sachs, but she hopes to add one more item to her resume: the title of U.S. first lady. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

When Heidi and Ted Cruz went to the Atlanta suburbs to campaign a few weeks ago, she perfectly played the role of political spouse: a loving gaze for her husband as he spoke, hands on the shoulders of their two daughters, beaming smiles for supporters.

A few days earlier, during a solo swing through Missouri, Heidi Cruz made clear that her other identity  hard-charging career woman with ambitions of her own  was never far from her mind.

I want to tell you, I did take a leave of absence from work, she told her audience, standing among shiny motorcycles on the sales floor of a Harley-Davidson dealership. I wouldnt have given up my job and the time with my girls if I did not really believe in my heart that Ted Cruz would win this election.

No one has taken on more roles in the Cruz campaign than Heidi Cruz. Most visibly, she is the traditional campaign spouse. But she is also her husbands chief fundraiser, a surrogate who hopscotches across the country asking voters, one meet-and-greet at a time, for their support  and in private meetings imploring political and faith leaders for theirs.

They are all new roles for Heidi Cruz. On leave from Goldman Sachs in Houston, she has embarked on a journey unlike any she has navigated before  rearranging her entire life and applying her own substantial experience to serve the ambitions of her husband.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) with his wife, Heidi, and their daughters, Catherine and Caroline, as he announces his candidacy for president at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., on March, 23, 2015. (Chris Keane/Reuters)

Cruz is not the only Republican spouse this cycle with notable professional accomplishments. Mary Pat Christie was a longtime bond trader before quitting after her husband declared his candidacy, and she, too, has helped raise money. Karen Kasich spent nearly 20 years working in public relations, and Frank Fiorina was a telecommunications executive.

But the more apt comparison for Heidi Cruz may be to Hillary Clinton. Since Clintons years as a campaign partner and first lady, few political spouses have redirected their own ambitions to the degree that Heidi Cruz has this cycle. And few since Clinton, now trying to follow her husband into the White House, have demonstrated, as Heidi Cruz has, the kind of political talent and experience of her own to prompt speculation among those who hear her speak that she, too, could someday be a formidable candidate.

[Ted Cruz promises conservative Iowa something it has never had: A nominee]

Shortly after former Texas governor Rick Perry left the contest, a group of Perry donors torn between Cruz and former Florida governor Jeb Bush  and others who werent even sure whether they wanted to donate any more money this election cycle  met over breakfast.

It was a way for Cruz to make his pitch to a deep-pocketed audience, but there was a snag: He got stuck in Washington at the last minute because of Senate votes. The host, Mica Mosbacher, called Heidi Cruz.

She charmed the audience with talk both personal and strategic. She left with converts. Mosbacher said a doctor who attended was not sure whether she liked Ted Cruz. She listened to Heidi Cruz and wrote a check.

I got a lot of emails and calls that it was Heidi who did it, Mosbacher said. They said, If hes married to her. . . .  

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), his wife, Heidi, and their daughters, Caroline and Catherine, appear at a campaign event in Kennesaw, Ga., on Dec. 18, 2015. (Erik S. Lesser/European Pressphoto Agency)

Welcome Wilson Sr., a wealthy Cruz donor, knew Heidi Cruz from Houstons business community: The two sat on the board of the Greater Houston Partnership. She called him and told him the reasons that she thought the campaign would win. They included the campaigns robust ground game. She told him that Cruz would be leading in the polls in Iowa in December, a statement that he found outrageous but that ended up being true.

She is the most dynamic female I have ever met, and I mean that, he said. She is on point and relentless.

Cruz, 43, grew up in San Luis Obispo, Calif., the daughter of a dentist and dental hygienist who are Seventh-day Adventists.

When Heidi was 5, her parents signed her up for piano lessons, and she insisted on practicing an hour and sometimes two each night. At age 8, when her parents first enrolled her in school, a family trip to Washington sparked an interest in politics. By fifth grade, Heidi announced that she wanted to go to Harvard Business School.

I dont even know how she knew about Harvard Business School. It wasnt in our world at all, her mother, Suzanne Nelson, said in an interview. A good word to describe her is driven. I dont really know what has made her so driven.

She attended high school at Monterey Bay Academy, an Adventist school in Northern California with a mile-long private beach, and strict rules about curfews and interactions between boys and girls. Heidi Nelson was preppy, popular and always studying.

One year, she ran for student body president. Her campaign poster read, Heidi Nelson, the auspicious choice, according to classmate Travis Romero.

I asked her, Nobody knows what the word auspicious is,  Romero said. She said, Isnt that great? You get an extra word for your SATs. 

Despite the slogan, Cruz lost. Romero said he endearingly thought of Cruz when he watched the movie Election, in which Reese Witherspoon plays an overachieving student running for class president.

Cruz went to Claremont McKenna College and was active with the College Republicans and interested in appointive political office, said her mentor, Edward Haley. She also was intent on a career in business first. She moved to New York after graduation and worked on emerging markets at J.P. Morgan, an area in which she was interested after spending summers in Africa doing missionary work with her parents. She was put on the Latin America desk and taught herself to speak Spanish between 18-hour work days.

Cruz achieved her dream of attending Harvard Business School but turned down a job at Goldman Sachs to work on George W. Bushs 2000 presidential campaign. She told the New York Times in 2001 that she had just broken up with a boyfriend of two years. She planned to forget boys and kill myself on the campaign.

Instead, she met Ted Cruz, who by his own admission turned off campaign colleagues with what he described as a cocky attitude. But not Heidi Nelson. She said he reminded her of a 1950s movie star. He grilled her on her hopes, aspirations and dreams during their first date. They were married the following year.

She was the star when the couple arrived in Washington, netting jobs at the Treasury Department and then the White House, working as a Latin America director on the National Security Council. Ted Cruz was floundering, and he moved back to Texas to become the states solicitor general with hopes of launching a political career. They lived apart for more than a year until she gave up her job and moved to Texas.

After the move, she suffered through a period of depression.

When I moved to Texas, it really was for Ted, and I wasnt comfortable with that, she told The Washington Post in September. She said she recovered with spiritual counseling. She started working at Goldman Sachs in Houston; she was promoted to managing director.

And she began to apply her talents to her husbands political career.

Heidi Cruz comes off as breezy and fun, chatting with women as if they are old girlfriends, making liberal use of the word awesome and doling out hugs to just about anyone who comes her way  the opposite of her husband, who is known for throwing rhetorical bombs.

Stylistically, I can soften him a little bit, said Cruz, clad in navy leggings and black flats, with Roberto Cavalli sunglasses perched atop her blond hair.

She now holds her own campaign events, talking up her husbands values and laying out what the campaign sees as a grass-roots path to victory. She speaks clearly but sometimes haltingly in speeches and is more comfortable working the crowd, complimenting a young girl in Missouri on her butterfly shirt.

She remains the campaigns top fundraiser, now making many calls from the road instead of from the campaigns airy Houston headquarters, where she installed a playroom with pillows decorated with raspberry prints for the girls. Cruz said she aims to make 30 calls a day but typically averages 20 to 25; she is calling from the campaign and super PAC lists and trying to persuade donors to give the maximum allowed under federal election law.

I dont want to say its easy, and I dont close every deal, she said. I think people want to be a part of something that addresses the main issue of the day, number one, which is Washington versus the people.

She tries to frame the chance people have to support her husband, whether with time, money or a vote, as an investment opportunity. She said she is not hitting up Wall Street.

Ted Cruz told an audience in Winterset, Iowa, on Monday that the couples decision to run for president was difficult for his wife.

Heidi spent a lot of years building a very, very successful career. And when we were deciding whether to run, particularly when youre parents of young girls, thats not an easy decision. And she was struggling with it, he said.

Ted Cruz said his wife was driving, listening to a CD of Christian music sent by her sister-in-law. She was struck by a song about seeking the face of the Lord and pulled over on the freeway and started crying, he said. That moment, he said, changed her heart, and she decided that the race was about God, the country and the future.

Now, Heidi Cruz says her main job is to bolster her husbands candidacy.

There are women who use their husbands candidacies for their own purposes, she said recently while being driven to yet another airport. I love my life. I love my career. This is not for me. This is for our country.
1 of 15 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Where We Live | The Hamlet in Chevy Chase, Md. View Photos Three houses are on the market, from a four-bedroom Cape Cod for $1.295 million to a six-bedroom Colonial for $1.495 million. Caption Three houses are on the market, from a four-bedroom Cape Cod for $1.295 million to a six-bedroom Colonial for $1.495 million. The Hamlet in Chevy Chase, Md., consists of 245 houses built in the 1940s and 1950s spanning several blocks around East-West Highway and Connecticut Avenue. Evy Mages/For The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

When Jessica and Patrick Flynn were house-hunting, they liked that the Hamlet in Chevy Chase was close to Washington, offered large lots and wide streets, and was in a good school district.

The real selling feature: It was a block away from Patricks older brother and his family.

There are three Flynns here now, said Jessica Flynn, 41, a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company who moved to the Montgomery County, Md., neighborhood in August 2006. Another brother has moved to the Hamlet since we moved in. You see a lot of families here, whether its multiple siblings buying homes here or a grandparent passing down a house to a grandchild. You get the feeling that once people come, they dont want to leave.

The Chevy Chase Land Co. developed the Hamlet in the early 1900s. It designed the subdivision of roughly a dozen lots to look like an English village, with a large common motor court and English architecture, according to the Hamlet Citizens Association.





In the 1940s and 1950s, the Hamlet grew to a total of 245 houses spanning several blocks around East-West Highway and Connecticut Avenue.

David Landers and his wife, Kara, moved to the Hamlet in March 2002 from nearby Rollingwood, just south of East-West Highway. Their oldest child was 3, and they were rapidly outgrowing their smaller house there. They liked the relatively larger houses and lots in the Hamlet. They also liked that the Hamlet has very little cut-through traffic.

Our street ends in a cul-de-sac, which makes it very quiet and kid-friendly, said David Landers, 52, a lobbyist for the hedge-fund industry who serves as president of the Hamlet Citizens Association.



All in the family: Once people move into the Hamlet, they tend to stay. Landers said many families renovate or expand their houses rather than move to a bigger home elsewhere. Landers said his family expanded their house a couple of years ago.

Many people have lived here much of their lives, Landers said. Some people grew up here, left and moved back.

Flynn said shes also seen residents buy a larger house within the neighborhood in order to get more space without leaving the community. Shes also seen parents and grandparents pass houses down to children or grandchildren.

There are a lot of family connections here, Flynn said. There are a lot of cousins.

Alyssa Crilley, whose husband has two siblings living in the neighborhood, said houses dont go up for sale often.

Houses do come on the market, but there are a good number of sales within families, said Crilley, 57, a real estate agent with Washington Fine Properties who has lived in the Hamlet since 2000 and serves on the Hamlet Citizens Association. You get people who loved growing up here, and who came back to raise their own family here.

[Crestwood is where the city meets the park]

The Hamlet Citizens Association hosts an annual Fourth of July party at a cul-de-sac on Kerry Lane. Kids decorate and ride their bikes, scooters and wagons and follow a local fire engine in a parade through the neighborhood. Families grill hot dogs and hamburgers at a post-parade barbecue, where kids participate in balloon tosses, races and other games.

It has almost a Midwestern feel, Flynn said. Its really unique.

Halloween brings loads of trick-or-treaters, Landers said. Theres also a dinner for adults at the Columbia Country Club every January.

You really do know who your neighbors are, and people really do take care of each other, Landers said.



The Chevy Chase Land Co. developed the Hamlet in the early 1900s. (Evy Mages/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST)



Development plans: The Hamlet is not incorporated, unlike some other sections of Chevy Chase, but it does have an active citizens association.

In addition to planning social events, the association monitors issues of interest to residents, including the proposed redevelopment of Chevy Chase Lake, just north of the Hamlet.

Plans call for the small strip mall on Connecticut Avenue to be transformed into a mixed-use development with shops, restaurants and multifamily housing. The project would also incorporate a Purple Line rail station.

[Sleepy Hollow is in the woods but close to the action]

Its a small development right now, and plans call for it to expand substantially, Landers said. Some people are excited. Some worry about the impact on traffic and whether it will increase.



Living there: Hamlet is bordered by Connecticut Avenue to the west; Chevy Chase Lake Drive to the north; and Jones Mill Road, East-West Highway, Glendale Road and Leland Street to the east and south.

In the past 12 months, 14 houses sold in the Hamlet, ranging from a 1,824-square-foot, four-bedroom Colonial for $855,000 to a 3,836-square-foot, five-bedroom Colonial for $1.6 million, Crilley said. Three houses are on the market, from a four-bedroom Cape Cod with a large kitchen and family room for $1,295,000 to a six-bedroom Colonial for $1,495,000.



The Hamlet has an active citizens association that plans social events and monitors issues of interest to residents. (Evy Mages/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST)

Crilley said houses in this section of Chevy Chase are often slightly less expensive than comparable ones south of East-West Highway.

Aside from the dozen English-style houses in the old Hamlet, most homes in the neighborhood are brick Colonials built in the 1950s, with some ramblers, Cape Cods and split-levels, Crilley said.



Schools: Rosemary Hills, North Chevy Chase and Chevy Chase elementary schools; Westland Middle; and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High.



Transit: Its a 10-minute drive or a 30-minute walk to Medical Center and Bethesda stations on Metros Red Line.

The Hamlet is also close to the Capital Beltway and Connecticut Avenue, along with Rock Creek Park and the Georgetown Branch Trail.



Crime: There were no homicides or assaults investigated in the past year, and there were relatively few recorded incidents of robbery and residential burglary, according to the Montgomery County Police Department, which could not provide exact numbers.

Amy Reinink is a freelance writer.
When an condo owner is delinquent on his fees, associations can file suit to seek payment, or they can foreclose. Owners can challenge the moves. (iStock)

If youre a member of a condo board and an owner falls behind on his association fees, what legal options do you have?

On the other hand, if youre the owner, what recourse do you have if the board opts to foreclose?

In recent years, condo boards, faced with cutting back services and filing for bankruptcy, have been cracking down harder on delinquent owners.

Recent hearings before the D.C. Council highlighted this problem. Attorneys for the elderly, as well as the Legal Aid Society, urged the council to require mediation before the association can foreclose on a unit owner. Community representatives argued that delinquent owners have plenty of time to reach an acceptable resolution with the condo board before legal action is taken, and that mediation will only delay the process and place additional burdens on those owners who pay their dues.

The council  having heard the arguments  will ultimately decide the matter.

Regardless of whether the council approves the measure, associations and owners have a range of legal options to deal with a delinquency.

[More Kass: Whats wrong with D.C. condo owner bill of rights?]

Associations generally have two avenues: They can file suit in a local court, or they can foreclose.

Every condo owner is required to pay assessment dues to the association. Typically, the payment is monthly, although some are on a quarterly or even yearly basis. If a payment is missed, depending on the requirements spelled out in the legal documents, the condo manager will send a 15- or 30-day notice of default. If the payment is not made during that period, the matter is turned over to the associations attorney.

A document called a condo lien is filed in the public land records in the jurisdiction where the unit is located. This puts the world on notice that money is owed. The condo association wants to make sure that if the owner sells the property, the assessment will be paid out of the sales proceeds.

Then the association has to decide which route to take. It can file suit against the owner in a local court, seeking a monetary judgment. If the court issues such an order  which typically will include court costs and attorneys fees  the association has the right to garnish the owners wages or attach any bank accounts in the owners name. Additionally, it may attach other property owned by the unit owner and even sell it to satisfy the court judgment.

[Know Before You Owe rules could delay condominium closings by weeks]

The owner has the right to challenge the association, presenting defenses to the judge. For example, the owner might say payments were made but not recorded by the manager or the condo did not comply with the collection procedures spelled out in the associations legal documents.

Another defense typically raised is that the association has not repaired a problem affecting the unit, and thats why the owner is withholding the payment. Although courts will often allow the condo owner to present such a defense, standard condominium law states that owners must pay the assessments regardless of whether there are valid claims against the association. If the owner has such a problem and it has not been resolved internally within the association, the owner can file a separate lawsuit against the condo.

Foreclosure is another avenue available to the association. This can be done judicially  ask the court to order the unit be foreclosed  or nonjudicially. The latter is the route most associations take, since it is less expensive and much quicker than going to court. In a nonjudicial foreclosure, the association arranges with a local, professional auctioneer to advertise in a local newspaper that the property will be sold on a specific time and date. If the owner does not become current before that date, the property is sold to a buyer at the auction.

Lenders have to be diligent in pursuing delinquencies, and so should condominium associations. We dont want to evict homeowners, but the longer we wait, the larger the debt and the more difficult to reach an amicable payment plan.

Benny L. Kass is a Washington and Maryland lawyer. This column is not legal advice and should not be acted upon without obtaining legal counsel. For a free copy of the booklet A Guide to Settlement on Your New Home, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Benny L. Kass, 1050 17th St. NW, Suite 1100, Washington, D.C. 20036.
The artistic power and glory of an emperor Updated: 2016-01-08 07:53 By Zhao Xu(China Daily Europe)



A detail from Along the River at Qingming Festival, a Song Dynasty scroll that was on Emperor Qianlong's wish list until the end of his life; about 170,000 people went to see the painting when it was on view at a Palace Museum show last year.

For art lovers, the story is familiar: A master painter is found dead, with his paintbrush virtually in his hand. After all, to work until one's last breath is a natural choice for someone who has given one's life in the service of his muse.

But the special thing about this artist, who painted on the first day of the Chinese lunar new year in 1799, two days before he died, is that he was an emperor, indeed the longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history.

"In fact, Hongli (better known by his regnal title Qianlong), was continuing a tradition where an emperor would paint auspicious motifs to usher in the new year," says Yang Danxia, a senior researcher of traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy at the Palace Museum in Beijing.

"This particular painting joined the more than 1,000 others to form his portfolio."

In addition to those, Yang says, are nearly 10,000 works of calligraphy, not to mention the emperors' countless epigraphic writings that adorned his surroundings. "In terms of quantity, he is peerless," says Yang, who attributes the wonder that was Hongli to a top-rate education.

"For nearly two decades before Hongli ascended the throne, when he was 25, he was under the tutelage of literary masters. Belonging to a millennium-old tradition that treats literary cultivation - and by extension calligraphy and painting - as one's major pursuits, these masters nurtured in the young man a passion that would endure for the rest of his life."

However, behind everything that happened to the future emperor there lay a single purpose, the necessity to rule, says Wang Yimin, Yang's colleague at the Palace Museum, who is a specialist in ancient Chinese calligraphy.

"Hongli, the sixth emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), descended from a lineage of Manchu rulers who had come from the north to conquer the whole of China, the majority of whose population was Han Chinese.

"Successive Manchu emperors, stigmatized by what they felt was their lack of cultural sophistication, went to great lengths to ensure their offspring would be raised in the most classic of the Han literary traditions.

"To submerge themselves in this tradition was to be able to communicate with society's elite and thus to gain legitimacy to rule. A vital part of that tradition is visual."

So it was with gusto that Qianlong took up painting. Some of his works were given to his favorites at court, no doubt as a subtle hint of his artistic prowess.

Yet Tian Yimin, another expert on ancient Chinese painting and calligraphy at the Palace Museum, thinks the emperor, despite his immense hubris, was well aware of his limitations, or, put more bluntly, he knew he was no genius.

"His paintings are consistently of the second order," Tian says. "So while doing his own art he turned to collecting so that his name would be more intimately linked with the country's lustrous artistic tradition."

There was nothing genteel or understated about how he went about that task, and today many art purists shake their heads in dismay at the results.

"You'll find his stamps and inscriptions on many of the masterpieces that comprised his huge collection," Tian says. "There are so many of these things, done at various times, that in some cases they overshadow the artwork itself."

For Qianlong, these marks were regal seals that proclaimed him head curator of China's art; beyond that, they were messages on a more intimate and personal level.

"Qianlong made it a practice to record his thoughts on the extended fringe of the paintings," Tian says. "You get the feeling that he was trying to communicate spiritually with those whose artistic genius he aspired to."

He spared no effort to bring the masterpieces within the confines of the Forbidden City, the royal abode for successive Qing emperors. It is now the Palace Museum, and it is there that Tian and her colleagues toil away, sorting through the vast royal collections.

"To get all of these works, a huge amount of coaxing, if not coercion and outright confiscation, must have gone on," Tian says. "And the emperor would presumably have used middlemen whose activities would not have been mentioned in official records."

The cream of the collection later formed his imperial painting catalog, Shiqu Baoji. The museum staged a grand exhibition under that title last year with nearly 300 paintings and works of calligraphy from the catalog.


An investor checks his phone in front of screens showing stock market movements in a stock firm in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province. (AFP/Getty Images)

Global markets ended a dismal week with a whimper Friday, capping one of the worst starts to a trading year in history and exacerbating concerns that global economic turmoil will continue to rattle investors.

Much of the weeks turmoil originated in China, where authorities on Friday moved to stabilize the currency, bought shares and suspended a circuit-breaker system that fueled days of global financial panic.

As a degree of confidence trickled back to China, global markets also took heart from the Chinese governments rescue act. In China, the CSI 300 index in Shanghai and Shenzhen closed 2 percent higher, recovering after an early decline. Gains were more modest in other Asian markets, and European exchanges held on to gains.

Still, because of earlier sell-offs, this will be one of the worst weeks in years for many markets.

The major U.S. indexes, including the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poors 500-stock index, were down 6 percent this week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell more than 7 percent this week.





Given confidence in Chinas ability to manage its . . . markets has been badly damaged, it is not surprising to see a comparatively muted global reaction, Angus Nicholson, a markets analyst at IG Securities, wrote in a client note. Markets will be waiting to see the Chinese governments determination to prop up the stock market and the currency into next week before any major recovery is likely to be seen.

The links between Chinas stock market and its economy are very limited, experts say, and the ties to the global economy even more tenuous. That means the contagion effect from Chinas meltdown should, in theory, have been more limited, many experts argue.

People have been importing the panic from China into other markets, even though the financial linkages are really not that strong, said Brian Jackson, China economist at IHS Global Insight. The stock market might not do that well in the next few quarters, but it is not going to have a big impact on GDP right now.

[Five myths about Chinas economy]

Chinese authorities were blamed for fueling panic by introducing a poorly designed circuit-breaker system that forced the stock market to close early twice this week.

On Thursday night, they announced the system would be suspended.

Thursdays dramatic 7 percent fall in shares  in less than a half- hour of trading  was precipitated by a larger-than-expected devaluation in the Chinese currency. On Friday, the central bank fixed its guidance rate for the yuan higher for the first time in nine trading days, helping to calm the market.





The Reuters news agency reported that Chinas foreign-exchange regulator ordered some banks to limit clients dollar purchases in a bid to stem capital outflows, while Bloomberg reported that government funds again entered the market to buy local stocks on Friday.

Regulators also prolonged rules limiting the amount of shares major shareholders can sell on the open market.

The national team will continue to save the market, the mood of investors has stabilized, and confidence is restored, said Li Daxiao, an analyst at Yingda Securities in Shenzhen.

But the policy flip-flopping did not impress many, with ridicule expressed on social media, frustration in the financial markets and confusion bordering on panic among many ordinary retail investors.

The last four days were pretty terrifying. The half-hour yesterday was the most panicky, said Wei Wei, an analyst at Huaxi Securities in Shanghai.

Some investors even doubted if the market would still exist. It was a crisis, she said. The ups and downs of the stock market are normal. Investors understand that they depend on their own capabilities to make money. But when both being long and selling short disappeared, what game are we suppose to play?

[]China's hasty moves to stem market losses unnerve investors

Last years unanticipated currency devaluation, a collapse in the stock market and a heavy-handed rescue program badly dented global confidence in the ability of Chinas Communist Party leaders to manage a complex economy and powerful financial markets at a particularly challenging time, when growth is already slowing.

This weeks episode has not done confidence any good.

Why do the policymakers keep making such stupid mistakes? asked Bill Bishop in the influential Sinocism newsletter. Were they never that competent but just looked smart because there was so much low-hanging fruit? Is Chinas economy such a mess now that they have no good options left?

Denyer reported from Beijing. Liu Liu and Xu Yangjingjing in Beijing contributed to this report.
Belgian authorities have searched a Brussels apartment that may have been a site for making bombs and also used as a hideout by one of the fugitive suspects in the Paris attacks, a statement said Friday.

Belgian federal prosecutors said that police raided the apartment in the Schaerbeek district on Dec. 10.

It was unclear why officials waited a month to disclose the latest details from the probe into the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people. Two of the attackers had apparently been living in Brussels, and Belgian authorities have arrested 10 people, including one who rented the Schaerbeek apartment, Reuters reported.

[Paris attacker killed in police assault on anniversary of terror spree]

In the apartment raid, police found a fingerprint of Salah Abdeslam, 26, the brother of one of the attackers. He returned from Paris shortly after the attacks and remains at large.

Police believe Abdeslam, a French national born in Brussels, took part in the attacks, but his exact role remains unclear.

The prosecutors office said the raid also turned up traces of the explosive TATP and three handmade belts that could be used to transport explosives.

The suspected ringleader of the attacks was Belgian national Abdelhamid Abaaoud. He and his female cousin, Hasna Aitboulahcen, died in a gun battle in a Paris suburb five days after the attacks, when police raided the apartment in which they were hiding.

Many of those arrested in Belgium have links to Abdeslam, including two who drove from Brussels hours after the attacks to pick him up and another who drove him from one part of Brussels to Schaerbeek after his return, Reuters reported.

Read more:

9 young men and their paths to terror in Paris

What we know about the Paris attacks

How officials may have missed their chance to stop Paris terror suspects

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Police secure the Schlossplatz square on New Year's Eve in Stuttgart, Germany . A wave of sexual attacks in Cologne and other European cities that night has inflamed ongoing debate about migrants. (Max Kovalenko/Lichtgut/European Pressphoto Agency)

At least 21 asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa are suspects in the New Years Eve rampage of sexual assaults and thefts in the German city of Cologne, authorities said, as word emerged of similar acts in Finland and Sweden as well as other German cities  including the alleged gang rape of two teenage girls by four Syrian men.

Officials said it was not clear whether the attacks had been coordinated. But the broadening allegations were rapidly escalating into a full-blown crisis that on Friday engulfed Colognes police chief, Wolfgang Albers, who was suspended because of lost trust in his force. The mounting scandal, meanwhile, was quickly deepening public outrage, prompting calls for tighter controls on newcomers while threatening to ignite a new wave of anti-refugee sentiment in Europe.

Already, several European nations including France, Sweden and Denmark have moved to significantly tighten border controls, aiming to root out terror suspects and stanch the flow of new arrivals. Yet concerns that some of the newcomers could pose another kind of security threat  as common criminals  have been brewing for months and are now surging to the forefront.

Thus far, reports of New Years Eve assaults have emerged from Helsinki; Kalmar, Sweden; as well as two other German cities, Hamburg and Stuttgart. No city was hit harder than Cologne, where gangs of mostly young men are alleged to have hunted women, corralling them before groping, assaulting and robbing them. So far, at least 170 people have filed complaints, including 120 for sexual assault.

[German police report describes chaotic and shameful night of attacks on women]

Protesters marched through the central train station in Cologne, Germany, to call for an end to violence against women after dozens of attacks shook the city on New Years Eve. (Facebook/Rote Antifa [Essen])

In Germany, a record 1.1 million asylum seekers and economic migrants arrived last year. Their numbers slowed as winter set in, but a surge is expected again by spring. Chancellor Angela Merkel has resisted calls to follow other European nations by tightening border controls and limiting entries. But in the wake of the New Years Eve attacks, she is facing mounting pressure to act.

The incidents have sparked outrage on social media and are giving new strength to critics who insist Germany is staring down the barrel of a culture clash between the newcomers and Western norms.

The extent of the contempt and assaults by Arab men, who see women as fair game because they do not dress according to the expectations of their cultural group, is hair-raising, Julia Klockner, deputy chairwoman of Merkels Christian Democratic Union, told the Rheinische Post newspaper Friday.

The Cologne police have been the target of significant public anger for being slow both to respond to the attacks and to inform the nation about their scope. Two suspects  ages 16 and 23 and of North African origin  were arrested early Friday but were later released because of a lack of evidence, according to authorities in Cologne.

A spokesman for the German federal police, however, said that at least 34 suspects have been identified in the Cologne attacks and that authorities are still seeking evidence from witnesses to pursue arrests.

Out of the 34 suspects, 21 were asylum seekers  and the majority of those, the spokesman said, arrived this past year. The 34 reportedly include 10 Algerians, 10 Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans, one American, one Serbian and one Iraqi.

The police official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in accordance with customary policy, said overwhelmed Cologne police did not detain or immediately question the 34 suspects because of the unfolding scenes of chaos. Authorities, he said, were currently questioning victims and evaluating videos from the night of the assaults.

There will be arrests when there is enough evidence for a judge to issue an arrest warrant, the official said. We are working at absolute high speed and are asking the people to trust us.

Still, the investigations were moving relatively slowly, he said, because it took time for some of the victims of sexual assault to gather the courage to speak out.

[Germany springs to action over hate speech against migrants]

On Friday, leaders of Merkels CDU party said they would consider a set of new measures this weekend. These include a new policy to deport any asylum seekers given jail time for crimes committed in Germany as well as the introduction of random identification checks.

The New Years Eve incidents have stoked opposition elsewhere, too. On Thursday, Slovakia reiterated its stance that it would seek to block immigration from Muslim countries.

We dont want something like what happened in Germany taking place in Slovakia, the countrys prime minister, Robert Fico, told reporters.

Refugee advocates, meanwhile, said they feared the attacks were feeding a growing sense of paranoia. I am concerned about the atmosphere in Germany, said Stefan Kessler, legal and policy officer at the Jesuit Refugee Service. There is the danger that already existing prejudice against young men from North Africa will intensify.

National anger, however, is mounting. German pundits and social-media users have accused the Cologne police of covering up both the extent of the New Years Eve assaults and the violences links to asylum seekers and refugees. In a statement before his suspension, Albers rejected those allegations.

Information on the Cologne suspects emerged even as 15 women in Kalmar filed complaints of being encircled, groped and assaulted. So far, two men, both asylum seekers, have been arrested in that case, according to the Associated Press.

In another incident, police in the southwestern German city of Weil am Rhein took four Syrian nationals into custody in connection with an alleged gang rape of two girls, ages 14 and 15.

The suspects in that case include a 21-year-old Syrian refugee and his 15-year-old brother, who is in the process of seeking asylum. The status of the other two, both 14, was not disclosed, but they were said to be residents of the Netherlands and Switzerland. At least some of the men, police said, had known the girls, who apparently went willingly to the apartment of the eldest Syrian. But the girls told police that what began as a consensual encounter became rape, authorities said in a statement.

Read more

Sexual assaults challenge Germanys welcoming attitude toward refugees

Germans outraged by mayors advice for women after raft of harassment

Sexual assaults blamed on Arab men in Germany may inflame refugee debate

Even Europes humanitarian superpower is turning its back on refugees
Ashraf Pahlavi, the twin sister of Irans late shah who vigorously defended the toppled, American-backed monarchy and whose life was marked by intrigue, privilege and personal tragedy, died Jan. 7 at 96.

Reza Pahlavi, a son of the shah, announced the death on his official Facebook page. The cause was not immediately disclosed. Iranian state television said she died in Monte Carlo.

Ms. Pahlavi was one of the last surviving siblings of the shah, whose family reigned from 1925 until the Islamic revolution in 1979.

In a life that spanned continents and conflicts, Ms. Pahlavi encompassed the full sweep of the Pahlavi dynasty. Her mix of glamour, lavish living and misfortune attracted the attention of feature writers and society pages. Pop artist Andy Warhol embellished her image with jet-black hair and candy-red lips.

She also drew the admiration of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who once told her to carry a message back to her brother: If he had 10 like you, he would have no worries at all.

Princess Ashraf Pahlavi of Iran talks with Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim of the United Nations in 1975. (Vcm/AP)

Ms. Pahlavi was raised in the gilded but cloistered world of a princess after her father, Reza Pahlavi, seized control from the fading Qajar dynasty, then watched Allied powers in World War II push him into exile in favor of her brother.

She rode the new era to a position as palace adviser, including playing a key role in opening doors for an American-engineered coup in 1953 to protect the monarchy. From exile after the revolution, she lived in regal splendor in New York and Paris but also was touched by heartbreak that included the fatal shooting of one of her three children in 1979; she claimed it was a politically motivated slaying by fanatics associated with the revolution.

From a young age, Ms. Pahlavi carved out an outsize reputation defined by bold gestures and her sharp tongue. She and her sister, Shams, were among the first prominent Iranian women in the early 1930s to appear publicly without Islamic head coverings.

During the height of her brothers rule  flush with oil revenue  she adopted a jet-set lifestyle with homes in New York, Paris and the French Riviera, where she was a high roller in its casinos.

She developed a role as a champion for womens rights. In 1967, she was Irans delegate to U.N. groups, including the Commission on Human Rights. She addressed the United Nations in 1975 for International Womens Year.

Some critics questioned her credibility because of her lack of direct activism and how female dissidents were among those persecuted and jailed by the Iranian monarchy.

She viewed herself as someone who had symbolized the emancipation of Iranian women and was appalled, after returning from a trip to the Soviet Union in 1978, at seeing many of her sex donning the mournful black chador their grandmothers had worn, she told British author William Shawcross for his book The Shahs Last Ride.

My God, I thought, is this how it ends? she added. To me it was like seeing a child you had nurtured suddenly sicken and die.

After the shahs death in Egypt in 1980 from cancer, Ms. Pahlavi was outspoken about enemies real and perceived. Besides Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his followers who led the Islamic revolution, her list of foes included President Jimmy Carter, who she said abandoned her brother for political reasons.

Ms. Pahlavi lashed out at detractors who alleged that the monarchy had siphoned off a fortune for its own use. She claimed that she and others had legitimate revenue from inherited property and businesses but generally sidestepped complaints that the land was expropriated and that key enterprises were all overseen by the shah and his royal court.

She was a prominent apologist for the shahs notorious secret police, known as Savak, which led relentless crackdowns on dissidents and was accused of widespread abuses.

From exile in Paris, she embraced the nickname la Panthere Noire, or the Black Panther, bestowed by a French journalist. I must admit that I rather like this name, and that in some respects it suits me. Like the panther, my nature is turbulent, rebellious, self-confident, she told the New York Times in 1980.

Often, it is only through strenuous effort that I maintain my reserve and my composure in public, she continued. But, in truth, I sometimes wish I were armed with the panthers claws so that I might attack the enemies of my country.

Ashraf Pahlavi was born in Tehran on Oct. 26, 1919, five hours after her twin brother  children of a military commander, Reza Pahlavi, and the second of his four wives. Their father would soon become the countrys power broker after leading troops that drove invading Soviet forces out of Tehran.

It was the last gasps of the Qajar dynasty, which had ruled Persia since the late 18th century. Reza Pahlavi gradually consolidated control until the collapse of Qajar rule in 1925 and his own rise as the new shah.

He began Western-inspired reforms and cultural pivots such as opposing mandatory Islamic coverings for women. He formally changed the countrys name from Persia to Iran, which reflects the belief in an ancient heritage linked to Aryan tribes in present-day Russia.

Ms. Pahlavis twin brother, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, received lavish attention as the crown prince amid 10 other brothers, sisters and half siblings. Ms. Pahlavi complained about being denied a university education and forced into a marriage in 1937 to Mirza Khan Ghavam, a member of a prominent Iranian family that was an important ally of the shah.

They divorced after five years: the first of three complicated  and apparently unhappy  attempts at marriage.

Meanwhile, the royal court was moving toward upheaval. In 1941, the first shah was pushed into exile by Allied powers in World War II because of fears about his pro-German sympathies. Ms. Pahlavis brother took the throne.

This ushered in a period of special influence for Ms. Pahlavi as one of her brothers closest advisers, including being sent as an envoy in 1946 to meet with Stalin to discuss the Soviet hold over neighboring Azerbaijan, which shares ethnic bonds with many Iranians.

Her real clout was highlighted in 1953 during a power struggle between the shah and Irans elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, who sought to nationalize Irans oil industry and limit the shahs sweeping authority.

The shah was initially reluctant to accept an American-led plan to attempt a coup to oust Mossadegh. But Ms. Pahlavi was courted by U.S. and British agents, including one who reportedly brought gifts of cash and a mink coat. Many historians say she eventually helped sway the shah to support the coup, which toppled Mossadegh and ushered in decades of increasingly authoritarian rule by the monarchy.

Ms. Pahlavi ended her marriage with her second husband  a well-connected Egyptian, Ahmed Shafiq Bey  and in 1960 wed an Iranian emigrant in France, Mehdi Bushehri, who ran an Iranian cultural center in Paris. Ms. Pahlavi, however, spent most of her time at her New York townhouse on Beekman Place, and the couple maintained largely separate lives.

A son from her second marriage, Shahriar Shafiq, an imperial navy captain, was killed by a gunman in Paris in 1979; a member of the Islamic government asserted responsibility for the death. A daughter from her second marriage, Azadeh Shafiq, died of leukemia in 2011.

A list of survivors was not immediately available.

Ms. Pahlavi defended her familys reputation in her 1980 memoir, Faces in a Mirror, and later in books such as the French-language Jamais Resignee (Never Resigned) and Time for Truth, the latter written with Tomi Keithlen.

She gradually retreated from public life. She spent most of her time in her guarded Right Bank apartment in Paris, playing bridge with friends and watching movies and old footage from pre-revolution Iran.

At night, when I go into my room, she told the Associated Press in 1983, thats when all the thoughts come flooding in. I stay up until 5 or 6 in the morning. I read, I watch a cassette, I try not to think. But the memories wont leave you.

In 2014, Irans Fars News Agency published a rare photo of Ms. Pahlavi in public. Fars identified her with Ardeshir Zahedi, the former shah-era ambassador to the United States and onetime companion to actress Elizabeth Taylor.
Israeli security forces conduct a search in Herzliya on Tuesday as part of a nationwide manhunt after a shooting rampage in Tel Aviv. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)

Israeli police shot and killed an Arab suspect wanted in a New Years Day shooting rampage in Tel Aviv that left three people dead and touched off a massive manhunt, authorities said Friday.

Luba Samri, a police spokeswoman, said the suspect, 31-year-old Nashat Melhem, was traced to a village in northern Israel, where he came out firing at security forces. They returned fire and he was shot on the spot, said a statement.

Much of the information on the case  including details on Melhem, an Israeli Arab  is under a court-imposed gag order. Authorities have not said whether they believe Melhem acted alone or had a support network.

[A kiss is the reply after Israeli ban on Jewish-Muslim love affair story]

The motive for the Tel Aviv attack also remains unclear, but it followed months of rising tensions over near daily unrest, including knife attacks by Palestinians and increased Israeli security clampdowns in the West Bank and other areas.

Just hours before Melhem was killed, Israel Radio reported that the imam in Melhems home village, Arara, had denounced the attack in his sermon at the mosque.

Even though much of the details of the attack have still not been made public, the families of the two Jewish victims  Alon Bakal, 26, and Shimon Ruimi, 30  have called on authorities to declare it a terrorist attack.

Immediately after last Fridays shootings, the police search efforts focused on the neighborhoods of North Tel Aviv, where the taxi of an Israeli Arab was found abandoned. Over the past few days, however, the manhunt moved to mostly Arab towns in northern Israel.

Read more:

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Travel trends Updated: 2016-01-08 07:53 (China Daily Europe)

Xu Qian 26 , working for a travel agency in Vietnam

Did you see an increase in Chinese tourists?

Yes. There have been more individual tourists, tour groups and business travelers from China since President Xi Jinping's visit to Vietnam in November.

What kind of preparations have you made for Chinese tourists?

Our company has hired more Chinese guides and arranged trainee programs. We also ask our partner restaurants to provide more food that matches Chinese tastes.

What do tourists like to do in Vietnam?

Chinese tourists like activities on the beach. The sights at sea are wonderful in Vietnam. And they enjoy the leisurely lifestyle, too. They also like shopping.

What do you like and dislike most about Chinese tourists?

I like to see Chinese tourists' smiling faces. They are so excited when they see the sea. But I don't like some uncivilized behavior, such as jumping queues, taking photos of airline stewardesses and making noise in hotel lobbies.

Do you think the increase in Chinese tourists is a lasting trend?

Yes, I think so. I believe more Chinese tourists will come to Vietnam, as the countries are so close and the transport links are good. Outbound travel will be more popular among Chinese people as they become richer. Vietnam is a good choice.

Gyokurin Sei manager of China Team of Global Strategy and Coordination Dept, Marubeni Corp, Japan

Did you see an increase in Chinese tourists in Japan? What do you think the reasons are?

The number of Chinese tourists coming to Japan multiplied last year and is expected to exceed 5 million in 2015. The trend will continue. The year 2014 saw 107 million outbound Chinese tourists. The trend contributed greatly to the economy of the places where these people visited.

Chinese visitors have expanded their destinations from the big cities like Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka to small towns. They are fascinated with Japan's fresh air, clean water, culture, food, hot springs and scenery.

What do Chinese tourists like to do in your country?

Japan applied the word bakugai, which literally means "explosive buying", to Chinese tourists' spending sprees. But Chinese tourists are getting more interested in Japan's culture, history, food and natural scenery.

What do you like and dislike most about Chinese tourists?

I am moved to see that Chinese tourists try hard to understand how Japan runs, like its customs, traditions and economic conditions. In so doing, they expand their knowledge and experience, which are instrumental to improving many fields such as industrial manufacturing and the service sector in China.

But some Chinese tourists sit on the ground, talk loudly, litter, and jump queues in some public facilities and private places. I hope that China will offer its people more chances to learn the codes of conduct in public.

Dena Libner director of Communications & External Affairs at NYC & Company

Did New York City see an increase in Chinese tourists?

NYC & Company forecasts that 852,000 Chinese tourists would visit New York City in 2015. (That would be a 14.7 percent increase from 2014, when 743,000 Chinese visited the city.) We feel confident in the forecast.

What kind of preparations did the company make for Chinese tourists?

We provides training programs for members on making attractions, hotels and destinations more welcoming to Chinese tourists.

What do Chinese tourists like to do when visiting NYC?

The most popular activities among Chinese visitors in New York City are shopping and sightseeing, followed closely by visits to art galleries and museums. Those three activities rank highest among nearly all the international visitors, which is no surprise: New York is a global capital for arts, culture and fashion.

A younger and more affluent generation of Chinese tourists is causing a shift in the Chinese market from predominantly business and group travel to independent, leisure travel. On average, Chinese visitors are planning their trips further in advance and traveling more with spouses and children.

How do Chinese visitors' activities differ or compare with those from other countries?

Chinese visitors were more likely to take in New York City's fine dining and cultural heritage sites than other international markets, as well as take guided tours. They were also less likely to go nightclubbing or dancing, or to attend concert, plays or musicals.

Kathryn Smits vice-president of International Tourism at the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board

Did Los Angeles see an increase in Chinese tourists? What do you think are the reasons for the increase?

We continue to see double-digit growth in visits from China and expect that trend to continue for at least the next two years. We attribute this growth to a number of factors, most notably the increased air services Chinese visitors have to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles has long been featured in films and television shows and as such, the Chinese have a high level of familiarity with the idea of Los Angeles and have cultivated a strong desire to experience its famous sites like the Hollywood sign, shopping on Rodeo Drive and celebrity culture. The increase in "free independent travelers" has also created an increased demand for other Los Angeles experiences, which are booming, including dining and culture.

What do Chinese tourists like to do when visiting Los Angeles?

Chinese travelers take advantage of all the diverse experiences Los Angeles has to offer, from theme parks like Universal Studios Hollywood to best-in-class shopping at places like the Citadel Outlets. Sporting events are also a primary attraction since Los Angeles is home to both the LA Clippers and Lakers. Visiting the sites made famous by the silver screen is usually at the top of an itinerary, with attractions like the Hollywood Walk of Fame or tours of the Dolby Theater serving as two popular examples.

( China Daily European Weekly 01/08/2016 page6)
An image taken from a video posted by the Islamic State and circulated online Jan. 3, purporting to show members of the militant group shooting five men accused of spying for Britain in Syria. (AP)

The Obama administration is overhauling its faltering efforts to combat the online propaganda of the Islamic State and other terrorist groups, U.S. officials said, reflecting rising White House frustration with largely ineffective efforts so far to cut into ISISs use of social media to draw recruits and incite attacks.

Officials will create a counterterrorism task force, which will be based at the Department of Homeland Security but aims to enlist dozens of federal and local agencies. Other moves include revamping a State Department program that was created to serve as an information war room to challenge the Islamic State online and erode its appeal.

U.S. officials said the unit at the State Department will turn its focus toward helping allies craft more localized anti-terrorism messages and will stop producing any videos or other material in English  ending a campaign that had been derided by critics.

[In propaganda war against ISIS, U.S. tried to play by the enemys rules]

The plans were announced by the White House on Friday, as senior members of President Obamas national security team traveled to California in a renewed effort to enlist Silicon Valley companies to help contain the morphing terrorist threat. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, spy chief James R. Clapper Jr. and FBI Director James B. Comey were to meet with executives from Apple, Facebook, Twitter and other firms.

The moves come at a time of increasing public anxiety and criticism of the administrations strategy after recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., that were linked to or partly inspired by the Islamic State. Although some of the initiatives have been in development for months, U.S. officials acknowledged a heightened sense of urgency and opportunity.

Everybody realizes that this is a moment . . . to take advantage of, a senior administration official said before the announcement. The official added that the objective in sending so many top officials to Silicon Valley was to make sure the tech firms understand what we are up against with respect to ISIL.

[Inside the surreal world of the Islamic States propaganda machine]

The official was one of several who were authorized to discuss the plans on the condition of anonymity.

But the changes are also likely to be seen as the latest sign of turmoil in U.S. government attempts to disrupt recruitment and radicalization efforts by terrorist groups that increasingly exploit social-media platforms and encrypted-communications technologies, often developed in the United States but beyond the reach of law enforcement.

The State Departments counter-messaging team has had three leaders in a little more than a year and has cycled through multiple strategies in its search for a way to counter the Islamic States massive propaganda output. The FBI has also ramped up efforts against violent extremism, opening nearly 1,000 cases across the country and cultivating closer ties to Muslim communities. Even so, it was caught off-guard by the San Bernardino rampage last month.

A report released this week by the conservative Heritage Foundation concluded that U.S. strategy for countering violent extremism has fallen short, lacking meaningful attention and resources.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed Jan. 8 that senior administration officials will meet with Silicon Valley executives to discuss ways to counter the cyberthreat posed by the Islamic State. (AP)

The changes unveiled Friday appear to be centered on bureaucratic and strategic adjustments, with little indication of any substantial increase in resources.

U.S. officials said that the State Departments counter-messaging operation would be re-branded the Global Engagement Center but acknowledged that its annual budget for now remains unchanged at about $5 million.

Planning that led to the new initiatives was set off in February at a Washington summit held by Obama to spark ideas and buy-in here and abroad. In September, Obama convened another international meeting at the U.N. General Assembly.

Ultimately, it is not going to be enough to defeat ISIL in the battlefield, Obama told representatives from more than 100 nations and civil society groups. We have to prevent it from radicalizing, recruiting and inspiring others to violence in the first place. And this means defeating their ideology.

[Why the Islamic State leaves tech companies torn between free speech and security]

But one of the biggest problems the administration has faced is determining whether any of it is working. As the U.S. governments counter-messaging campaign has grown, so has the Islamic States recruitment spread. Recent attacks outside the Middle East indicate that the group has grown more powerful, rather than less.

That is the billion-dollar question, one official said of how they determine whether the campaign is actually accomplishing anything. We dont have great, perfect data on why people become radicalized or why people change their mind. . . . You cant prove a negative  How many young guys did you prevent going to Syria today?  We dont know the answer to that. What we can do is learn what kinds of messages resonate.

In the absence of evidence, and in the face of more attacks, the new initiatives inevitably appear to be shuffling the deck chairs rather than introducing new, proven strategies.

It doesnt sound sexy to say were setting up a task force to better coordinate the United States government, acknowledged another official. I understand that theres skepticism; weve all been at this problem for a long time.

The centerpiece of the administrations revised plan is the new task force at the Department of Homeland Security that officials said would coordinate the governments domestic counter-radicalization efforts and serve as a conduit for ideas, grants and other resources to community groups across the country.

The task force will be led by George Selim, a Homeland Security official who previously served at the White House as director for community partnerships  a position that put him in regular contact with local law enforcement agencies and Muslim communities.

U.S. officials said that the new unit will be made up of representatives from at least 11 departments or agencies and that its mission will involve using data to find better ways to combat radicalization, as well as funding and supporting intervention efforts.

Part of the outreach will be to U.S. Muslim communities, although officials cautioned that the environment for these Americans has become more toxic in recent months amid the fallout from the Paris and San Bernardino attacks.

The climate overall has become pretty bad, a U.S. official said. Our business is an uphill business.

The revamped State Department program will be led by Michael Lumpkin, a former U.S. naval officer who since 2013 has served as assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict.

He takes over an organization that became a point of controversy last year for the mocking tone and gruesome images it used in videos and other materials posted online targeting the Islamic State. The group has abandoned aspects of that strategy and is now largely focused on working with other governments to set up overseas messaging centers that officials hope will have more credibility with Islamic State followers.

Were not the most effective messenger for the message we want to get out, a U.S. official said. As a result, the State Department unit has already helped set up a messaging center in the United Arab Emirates, with plans for others in places including Malaysia and Nigeria.

Fridays high-level conference with senior executives of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, LinkedIn and Apple is the administrations most ambitious attempt to persuade those companies to collaborate in the counter-militant campaign.

The idea is to come out with a work plan, one administration official said. Nobody wants to have their platforms co-opted by terrorists.

[Graphic: The Islamic States suspected inroads into America]

But companies have been reluctant to cooperate on critical fronts with the government, which has pressured firms to alter encryption systems used in smartphones and other devices to enable the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to monitor communications.

The roster arriving in Silicon Valley represented almost every top national security official in the U.S. government. Others attending included White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, National Security Agency Director Michael S. Rogers and Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.

The assembled firepower was puzzling to some in Silicon Valley who said there was no expectation that companies were prepared to grant major new concessions. Many were angered by the public fallout for their prior cooperation with the government, the extent of which was exposed in documents leaked by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

Being seen as having the U.S. government force our hands makes others around the world lose confidence in us, said an industry official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the discussions. We understand that the White House [has] a political need to show progress, but we dont necessarily share that political need.

Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report.

Read more:

In propaganda war against ISIS, U.S. tried to play by the enemys rules

Inside the surreal world of the Islamic States propaganda machine

Why the Islamic State leaves tech companies torn between free speech and security

Obamas top national security officials to meet with Silicon Valley CEOs
Secretary of State John F. Kerry responded sharply Thursday to suggestions that the Obama administrations focus on its nuclear negotiations with Iran had left North Korea free to build its own weapons program, leading to its fourth nuclear test explosion.

That premise is absolutely inaccurate. Its without foundation, Kerry said at the end of a new years roundup of foreign policy issues.

Let me just make it clear. North Korea has never been left unattended to. Not for one day, Kerry told reporters. We have had meetings. We have had constant consultations. Kerry said he spoke to his Chinese counterpart, after calls Wednesday to the South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers.

He and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed various options and ways in which we should proceed forward. We agreed that there cannot be business as usual, regarding North Korea, Kerry said, and we agreed that we will work very closely together to determine the steps that we can take in order to address our increasing concerns about that nuclear test.

[Kim Jong Un got his birthday wish: Everyones talking about him again]

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks through binoculars during an inspection of a forward post off the coast of the Korean Peninsula, in a photo released by the Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA/Reuters/Reuters)

Republicans campaigning for their partys presidential nomination blamed the administration for failing to rein in North Korea. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) charged that President Obama has stood idly by while Pyongyang expanded its arsenal. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) extended the blame from Obama back to the Bill Clinton administration, although Pyongyang exploded its first nuclear weapon in 2006, during the administration of President George W. Bush, following the collapse of nonproliferation talks.

Rubio and Cruz have said that, as president, they would revoke the Iran nuclear deal.

The administration has differentiated the two countries, saying that Iran had not fully developed a weapons capability at the time it agreed to negotiations that essentially block it from doing so. North Korea has refused to enter discussions over the elimination of its nuclear weapons, the only basis on which Obama has said he would talk to Pyongyang.

In separate comments, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that the North Korean test was the latest example of the failed national security agenda of the Obama administration and said the United States should deploy the THAAD anti-missile defense system in South Korea.

News accounts quoted unnamed South Korean military officials saying they were asking for deployment of the defense system. But White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that at this point . . . there have been no discussions or consultations with the South Koreans about the deployment of whats called a THAAD battery. He said that we continue to be resolute in our commitment to Seouls national security.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said that for the last two or three years, weve been doing an awful lot to deal with the instability in Northeast Asia, including additional missile defense, and the stationing of 60 percent of the U.S. naval fleet in the Pacific.
A South Korean soldier stands near the loudspeakers near the border area between South Korea and North Korea on Friday. (Lim Tae-Hoon/AP)

South Korea unleashed an ear-splitting propaganda barrage across its border on Friday in retaliation for North Koreas recent nuclear test, while pressure grows on China to intervene.

The broadcasts, in rolling bursts from walls of loudspeakers at 11 locations along the heavily militarized border, blared rhetoric critical of the Pyongyang regime as well as K-pop music. North Korea later responded with its own broadcasts.

The last time South Korea deployed the loudspeakers, in retaliation for a landmine blast in August that wounded two South Korean soldiers, it led to an exchange of artillery fire. The sound can carry six miles into North Korea during the day and more than twice that distance at night, South Koreas Yonhap News Agency reported.

Wednesdays nuclear test angered China, North Koreas main economic and diplomatic backer. Although relations between the Cold War allies have cooled in recent years, Beijing is considered key to pressuring Kim Jong Uns government.

Chinas Foreign Ministry has urged North Korea to stick to its denuclearization pledges and avoid action that would make the situation worse, but it also has said that pressure from Beijing alone cannot solve the problem.

1 of 50 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  What life looks like inside North Korea View Photos Scenes from inside the hermit kingdom. Caption Scenes from the hermit kingdom. April 14, 2016 A girl dances ballet at the Mangyongdae Childrens Palace in the Pyongyang suburbs. The large facility, opened in 1989, has hundreds of rooms for various activities, including mathematics, chemistry, computer science, sports, music and dance practice. Franck Robichon/European Pressphoto Agency Wait 1 second to continue.

North Korea agreed to end its nuclear program through international negotiations in 2005, but it later walked away from the deal. In a call on Friday with his South Korean counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said talks on the issue should resume as soon as possible, Chinas Foreign Ministry said.

North Korea says Wednesdays blast was an underground test of a hydrogen bomb, a weapon much more destructive than the atomic bombs it has previously developed. The United States has raised doubts over the claims, but officials are still investigating.

South Koreas nuclear-safety agency says it has found a minuscule amount of xenon gas in a sample off its east coast, but it said more analysis and samples were needed to determine whether the substance came from a nuclear test. The presence of xenon would not indicate whether the blast was from a hydrogen device or a simpler fission explosion.

Seismic waves created by Wednesdays blast were almost identical to those generated in North Koreas last nuclear test in 2013, Jeffrey Park, a seismologist at Yale University, wrote in a post on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists website, adding to skepticism about the hydrogen-bomb claim.

 Reuters

Read more:

Kim Jong Un celebrates his birthday with a bang as he seeks to cement rule

1 of 9 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  These countries have tested nuclear weapons View Photos Since 1945, eight nations have detonated such weapons. Caption Since 1945, eight nations have detonated such weapons. North Korea North Koreans watch a news broadcast on a video screen outside Pyongyang Railway Station in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Jan. 6, 2016. The nation claims that it has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, but the claim drew skepticism. Kim Kwang Hyon/AP Wait 1 second to continue.

The slow death of the nuclear deal with North Korea

Reported North Korean nuclear test signals snub of China, fraying ties

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
A district court in Auckland, New Zealand, ruled on December 23 that Kim Dotcom, founder of the Megaupload file sharing site, can be extradited to the United States to face charges of copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering. The ruling came almost four years after heavily-armed members of New Zealands elite anti-terrorist police unit and dozens of other officers raided Dotcoms mansion west of Auckland at the behest of the FBI.

Judge Nevin Dawson found prima facie breaches of copyright in Dotcoms operation and said the evidence was strong enough to support his extradition. Copyright, however, is not an extraditable offence. Crown lawyers, acting for the US government, argued instead that Megaupload was a conspiracy to defraud rightful copyright owners. Dawson accepted the proposition based, he said, on a liberal interpretation of the [Extradition] Treaty.

Dotcoms co-accused, Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, face extradition as well. The final decision rests with Justice Minister Amy Adams. Outside the court, Dotcom said he would appeal. This is not the last word on the matter, he said. Im still on bail and well go through the whole process until the very end.

The ruling is a significant legal victory for the US Justice Department and New Zealands National Party government, which has operated in concert with Washington throughout the affair. The New Zealand Herald declared that Dotcom and his co-accused should now take their explanations to a trial in the US and not stay here and take full advantage of our glacial legal system. If convicted, the defendants could face decades in jail.

German-born Dotcom, a New Zealand resident since 2010, has been pursued by the authorities and seen his democratic rights systematically breached over the past four years. The original police raid was initially ruled unlawful and the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), the official foreign intelligence agency, acted illegally by spying on Dotcom and more than 80 other New Zealand citizens and residents. In response, the government changed the law in 2012 to broaden the powers of the GCSB to spy on New Zealand residents.

In 2014, Hollywood companies took legal action to restrain and seize Dotcoms private wealth. US authorities allege that Megaupload, established in 2004 to store large file attachments that could not be sent by email, encouraged and paid users to upload pirated films and music to generate profit. Film studios and record companies claim the web site cost them more than $US500 million.

Dotcom accuses the Obama administration of pursuing the case under pressure from Hollywood executives, who have sought to make an example of him. At its height in 2011, Megaupload had some 50 million daily users and accounted for 4 percent of the worlds Internet traffic. Dotcom maintained that it was a service provider, protected by copyright law from liability for users uploading pirated files. Users were told not to upload copyrighted material and a takedown service was offered to copyright holders who wanted their content removed.

The US authorities have since shut down the Megaupload site. However, the case could have far-reaching implications for Internet copyright rules, particularly as the technology that Megaupload and similar sites pioneered has continued to develop. Dotcoms lawyers have noted that web sites from YouTube to Facebook could be affected.

Dotcom, a multi-millionaire, was granted New Zealand residency through special provisions for wealthy immigrants intending to invest. He developed connections within the political establishment, including with former Auckland mayor and right-wing ACT Party leader John Banks, and became a social high-flyer.

Feeling betrayed by the local ruling elite following his arrest, Dotcom spoke at protests against the governments spying legislation and won significant public sympathy. In 2014, he launched the Internet Party (IP), which contested that years election in alliance with the Maori nationalist Mana Party.

Amid the collapse in support for National and the main opposition Labour Party, Internet-Mana presented itself as an anti-establishment alternative, seeking to divert the disaffection among workers and youth back within the framework of parliamentary politics. Both parties represent layers of the upwardly mobile middle class, including privileged Maori business leaders and IT professionals, who are seeking to improve their social position within capitalism.

New Zealands middle class pseudo-left groupsthe International Socialist Organisation, Fightback and Socialist Aotearoaall affiliated to Mana and campaigned for the alliance, hoping to use it as a vehicle to further integrate into the capitalist political establishment.

Mana leaders declared that they represented the poor and dispossessed, calling for minor social reforms such as an increased minimum wage. However, the core of the partys platform involves measures to increase the property rights, and hence wealth, of the Maori tribal elite. It campaigns to block land sales to Chinese buyers, in favour of Maori tribes, thus whipping up anti-foreigner chauvinism.

The Internet Party was nakedly pro-business, advocating government grants for web-based start-up companies. In a bid to garner electoral support, it also criticised state surveillance and invited journalist Glenn Greenwald, whistleblower Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to address a public meeting by video link five days before the election. Snowden further exposed the mass surveillance activities of the GCSB. Far from calling for the abolition of the GCSB, however, the IP indicated support for the intelligence apparatus, proposing a review of our national security arrangements.

Internet-Mana aimed to support a coalition government led by the Labour Party, which shares the National Partys austerity and pro-imperialist agenda.

Under conditions of record voter abstention, particularly in working class electorates, Internet-Mana received just 1.4 percent of the overall party vote, well short of the 5 percent required to enter parliament, despite campaign funding of $4 million from Dotcom. This failure prompted the break-up of the Internet-Mana alliance, and an intensification of the state-orchestrated vendetta against Dotcom.

The World Socialist Web Site alone has taken a consistent and principled stand on the Dotcom case. In July 2012, it warned that the measures taken against Dotcom constituted an assault on basic rights that set a dangerous precedent for similar police actions against workers and youth.

The WSWS defends Dotcoms democratic rights and opposes his extradition, despite our opposition to his pro-capitalist politics and the sordid manoeuvring of the pseudo-left groups who sought to hoodwink the working class by presenting Internet-Mana as a progressive alternative.
Miss Colombia is ready to face off with Steve Harvey.

Ariadna Gutierrez will appear on The Steve Harvey Show in an interview expected to air the week of January 18th. It will mark the first time Harvey and the Miss Universe runner-up have come face-to-face publicly since that cringeworthy pageant mishap.

WATCH: Miss Colombia Pens Heartfelt Letter After Rollercoaster Miss Universe Experience

While hosting the Miss Universe pageant on Dec. 20, Harvey mistakenly announced Miss Colombia as the winner -- only to reveal moments later that the title actually belonged to Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach.

WATCH: Miss Universe Opens Up About Miss Colombia

"I've had a chance to talk to Miss Philippines. I've talked to all the pageant people. I've talked to people backstage. Even me and the director had a long talk, but I haven't been able to reach out and talk to Miss Colombia," Harvey admitted on Tuesday's episode of his eponymous talk show. "Now, have I tried? Yes, but have gotten not a response."

Meanwhile, the new Miss Universe  aka Miss Philippines  recently opened up to ET about the gaffe. "I hope that she realizes that this will open doors for her," Pia said of Ariadna. "I think that she will go far."

See the interview below.

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Going mobile Updated: 2016-01-08 07:53 By Li Jing and Yang Feiyue(China Daily Europe)

Internet-linked smartphones helping fuel China's outbound tourism boom

For an adventurous traveler like Chen Yu, deciding where to go on holiday used to involve hours of scouring guidebooks for tips on attractions, decent hotels and how to get around in a foreign land.

"Now all I need is my smartphone," says the 35-year-old from Beijing.

The rapid advancement in technology in recent years means even cheap mobile phones are now effectively palm-top computers, giving users instant access to real-time information on almost any topic.

Avid travelers have been among the biggest beneficiaries of this technological revolution - they can now book flights and hotels in an instant, use "digital wallets" to buy souvenirs, post reviews on the fly, and download apps that offer detailed maps and guides of far-flung places, all in their native language.

"An app can lead me straight to a place serving authentic food, a popular show or to an experience that gives me the taste of the local life," Chen says.

The development in mobile Internet has undoubtedly contributed to the boom in China's outbound tourism, which led to the country becoming the world's biggest source of tourists in 2012.

According to official data, Chinese tourists were expected to make 120 million trips abroad in 2015. That would be an increase of 16 percent year-on-year and roughly 12 times the figure recorded at the turn of the century.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has estimated the number could hit about 174 million by 2019, with tourist spending increasing to $264 billion (244 billion euros).

"Technological advances have been key, as the Internet has reduced travel costs and made exotic destinations more viable (for Chinese tourists)," says Zhu Zhengyu, an analyst at Analysys International. "It has also led to more Chinese traveling independently rather than in groups."
A London police officer and single mother is suing every agency involved in placing her baby in foster care during a visit to New York in April. Louise Fielden was arrested at the Chelsea Highline Hotel for leaving her son, Samuel, who was younger than six months at the time, alone for more than an hour on two occasions, reports the New York Daily News.



Fielden, 42, counters that she left her son sleeping on a cot for 30 minutes while she went to sterilize his bottles, and says she was eating in the kitchen nearby when witnesses thought they saw him alone in the hotel lobby. She says in my culture and society in London  leaving a child for a short period of time is normal and acceptable.

Further complicating matters, Justia reports that Fielden was caught with a bottle of codeine pills, and the arresting officer says she twisted away from me and refused to place her hands behind her back, making it difficult to place the defendant in handcuffs without the assistance of two other police officers. But Fielden claims she was unnecessarily bruised during the arrest and that her baby, who is now 15 months, is being held hostage and kidnapped in a foreign country. She also points out that Samuels foster mother, of Queens, is a member of Single Women in Support of Homos and threw a porno bingo party to raise money for the group, and that her values are antithetical to Fieldens conservative upbringing in the Church of England. (A Utah judge ordered gay foster parents to give up the baby they hoped to adopt.)

By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore

(Photo: Louise Fielden)



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This article originally appeared on Newser: London Mom Sues NYC After Baby Put in Foster Care
A dog survived seven hours inside its owners bag. (Photo: iStock)

On the list of incredible dog tricks, this one has to rank near the top. A man traveling from Hong Kong to Japan for a leisure tour arrived to find his pet schnauzer in his suitcase, having survived about seven hours inside.

The dog was unharmed and the owner wasnt sure how the dog snuck in, according to EJI, reporting via Japans Apple Daily newspaper. The man apparently heard about his dog missing after a text message from his mother-in-law, then opened his bag at Hokkaidos airport to find his furry friend inside after a five-hour flight on Dec. 28.



Related: Traveling Dog Has Visited 11 Countries and Counting



How in the world did Hong Kong airport security not detect the dog? No one knew, though there isnt a laughing matter. EJI quoted a member of the Hong Kong Canine Training Association who said that traveling with a dog in a suitcase on a plane could be classified as smuggling or animal abuse.



Related: Instagram Found the Worlds Most-Traveled Dog  and Hes Adorable



For all its troubles, the dog didnt stay in Japan for long. The man had to leave his pet behind to begin his tour, and on Dec. 30 the schnauzer was flown back to Hong Kong.



WATCH: 7 Reasons You Should Take Your Dog Camping



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The walled city of Cartagena is among the safest places you can visit in Colombia. (Photo: Greg Keraghosian)



Ive walked through some scary places, from the poorer streets of Baltimore to Hezbollah territory in Lebanon, and through the sheer force of luck, Ive never been harmed. But never did I think so much about safety as when I boarded an ordinary bus in Colombia  simply because of what happened to a friend on that same route three weeks earlier.

On the night of Halloween 2015, travel writer Anne Lowrey and her friend boarded a public bus bound from Armenia to Salento during their monthlong visit to the country. Children on the bus were dressed in costumes. Minutes into the 20-mile ride, armed robbers entered the bus, and one of them held a gun to her head. She lost everything, including her passport, money, and laptop. But at least she didnt lose her life.

My own evening ride from Armenias airport to Salento  on a private bus  was dark and bumpy but uneventful. Over seven days, I easily traveled through some extraordinary landscapes that 10 years earlier would have been too dangerous to visit.

Did I feel safe in Colombia? Yes, and Id recommend seeing the country to anyone. But I also had help with touring the country safely, and after some things that happened to others on my trip, I have some precautionary suggestions if youre looking to go.



Related: Is Colombia Safe for Tourists?



The town of Salento. (Photo: Greg Keraghosian)



I was already familiar, you might even say fascinated, with Colombias bloodstained past and its recovering image as a safer tourist destination today. Ive watched documentaries on Pablo Escobar, and I binge-watched Narcos on Netflix just days before I went.

Indeed, Colombia has come a long way since the horrific reign of the Escobar-led drug trade and guerrilla groups in the 1980s and 90s. In 1991, there were 28,280 murders in the country, according to police statistics reported by El Tiempo. Thats 78 murders for every 100,000 people. And Medellin, Escobars hometown, was considered the worlds most violent city.

Story continues

Street art in Cartagena. (Photo: Greg Keraghosian)



In 2014, Colombia saw 11,600 murders, according to the same statistics. And Medellins reported murder count of 653 in 2014 was its lowest in 35 years.

But no country can shrug off a long history of violence overnight, and dangers remain. The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning in June 2015 including the following statement: Security in Colombia has improved significantly in recent years, including in tourist and business travel destinations such as Bogota, Cartagena, Barranquilla, Medellin, and Cali. However, violence linked to narco-trafficking continues to affect some rural and urban areas.

More specific to the horrific experience Lowrey suffered was a 2015 crime report issued by the Overseas Security Advisory Council, which facilitates the sharing of security information between the State Department and private sector. It includes the following: Thefts and assaults occur frequently on public buses in urban and rural areas.

Some miniature locals near Salento. (Photo: Greg Keraghosian)



The big difference between Lowreys late-night Armenia-Salento bus transfer and mine was that mine was private  it was arranged by the tour company Intrepid Travel. Even though the route is the main way to enter Colombias coffee region, you wont find many warnings about it anywhere, and indeed Lowrey, a professional traveler who had done her research, had never heard one before she boarded  except for a last-minute warning from a local boy who helped her load her bag.

Unfortunately, at that point I didnt listen, Lowrey said. Lesson learned for me.

Salento and the coffee region are growing in popularity with travelers, and for good reason  the scenery, with lush green valleys surrounded by the Andes mountains, is breathtaking and unspoiled. My hike of the misty Cocora Valley, with its towering wax palms, was the highlight of my trip, and I had a blast staying at a coffee farm/B&B called Hacienda Venecia.

But 10 years ago, that hike would have been too dangerous to take. The Cocora Valley was plagued by FARC guerrillas, and only recently has it started to catch on with backpackers and tour groups.



Related: Brave or Insane? This Woman Rode Local Buses in Colombia.



The incredible Cocora Valley, which was deemed too dangerous to visit 10 years ago. (Photo: Greg Keraghosian)



I got some background about the regions bloody past from the owner of Hacienda Venecia, Juan Pablo Echeverri, during a coffee cupping demonstration. I could see the pain on his face as he closed his eyes while talking about it.

The numbers are horrible, just horrible, he said. But its a new country. Tourism is helping us turn the page and see a new hope.

Still, to anyone who wants to enter the coffee area, I suggest not taking a public bus, especially at night. Even if you hire a taxi, make sure you call one from a known, reputable company  do not hail one from the street or take solicitors. To take extra caution, go with a trusted tour group.

I likewise experienced Colombias rapid change near its Caribbean coast to the north, on my way to a pristine beach lodge named Playa Koralia. It, as well, was too dangerous to visit 10 years ago thanks to FARC and drug traffickers.

Juan Pablo Echeverri, the owner of a B&B in the coffee region. (Photo: Nathan Legiehn Photography)



Now it is what it should be: paradise, said my tour guide, Bogota native Ana Gomez.

Although nothing scary happened to me in Colombia, I did see reminders of the risks. On my first night, in the capital city of Bogota, two other people in my tour walked the red-light district at night. This would be unadvisable to even a seasoned traveler, and sure enough, the two were followed and then attacked by a pair of unarmed robbers who attempted to take their wallets. Only after the travelers ran shouting into the middle of the street and the surrounding cars honked their horns did the robbers flee.

I blame it on my own foolishness for just the two of us going there, one of them told me, adding that he still considered Bogota a safe place.

A street at the center of Bogota. (Photo: Greg Keraghosian)



Earlier that day Katie Jackson, another travel writer in my group, walked uphill toward the slums of Bogota, wanting to learn about the people who live there. But on the way up she encountered a woman and the orphans she cares for. They immediately escorted her back down, saying it was too dangerous for her to be there.

When visiting Bogota, your safest bet is to stick to the city center, which is heavily patrolled by the army.

Thats not to say visitors to Colombia should cower in fear or avoid contact with locals  you could even dance with them, as I did.

While in Cartagena, I took an evening tour that escorted us to four salsa clubs, and at each one we were the only gringos there. Not surprisingly we were stared at but only with curiosity. A couple of young men who didnt know English waved me over to talk to them, and in my best broken Spanish I told them where I was from and how much fun I was having there. Then we high-fived and fist-bumped like we were buddies. Ill never forget seeing my salsa group joined by a burly local man in a pink sparkly hat who danced like it was his last day on earth.

Related: The Wonderful Secret Places You Need to See in Colombia



Making an unexpected friend in a pink hat while salsa dancing in Cartagena. (Photo: Nathan Legiehn Photography)



Still, later that night there was an incident that didnt involve locals, but the police. Around 2 a.m., two officers shook down someone in my tour as he walked alone  they reached for the money in his wallet and asked if he was carrying drugs even though he gave them no reason to think he was. Its another reminder that youre better off not being out in Colombia late at night, and that police in Colombia have a well-earned reputation for corruption.

After all this, would I recommend visiting Colombia? Absolutely. Despite what happened to my one friend, I know other female travelers who visited the country on their own without a problem. Thats the thing about risk, whether youre in Colombia, Paris, or San Francisco: You just never know.

A local man in Cartagena. (Photo: Nathan Legiehn Photography)



Still, the margin for error is smaller here than some other places. I suggest all of these precautions when visiting Colombia:

If youre at all concerned about logistics or safety, go with a tour group. There are plenty to choose from, including Intrepid and G Adventures.

If in the unlikely chance you are robbed, do not resist. Thats the most common factor in murders, and its how a tourist was killed in Medellin last year.

Dont take public buses if you can help it, and only enter a taxi if you called it and youve verified the drivers employer. One form of crime is to kidnap taxi riders and force them to withdraw their money from several ATMs.

Dont accept a drink from a stranger. Some criminals spike their victims drink with the drug scopolamine, which could render a person unconscious for more than 24 hours. The OSAC crime report on Colombia mentions an estimated 50,000 scopolamine incidents per year.

Be very careful about where you go at night. If it feels at all sketchy and you dont see police around, dont go there.

Though youre probably going to stand out if youre American, dont wear any flashy jewelry or clothing, and try not to flaunt what you have. If possible, leave your expensive electronics at home.

WATCH: Take That, Terrorism! 7 Ways to Travel Without Fear



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CNNs Guns in America: A Town Hall Meeting tried to gather together citizens with different views on gun control to discuss this subject with host Anderson Cooper and special guest President Obama. The result was a tedious session interrupted by a flashing spark of irritation  directed at Cooper by Obama  and some sniping by the NRA, which maintained an ambush position over on Fox News.

Obama and Cooper sat on stools surrounded by the audience. Obama began by going to some lengths to express sympathy with, and an understanding of, gun ownership. He told an anecdote about he and wife Michelle visiting rural Iowa, and the First Lady remarking that, if she lived out in a sparsely populated area where police response-time might not be ideal, shed want to own a shotgun.



What was promoted as a discussion about guns, however, turned into roughly an hour and 15 minutes of audience members asking the President questions, and him responding with variations on what we have heard before in his calls for sensible gun control measures.



The faces of the questioners were frequently familiar. They included retired astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords (who stood by his side), and Taya Kyle, widow of Chris Kyle, the soldier depicted in American Sniper, who was murdered in a gun crime.

Obama rejected the notion that his administration was conducting a conspiracy to take guns away from citizens. Cooper asked whether it was fair to dismiss what the newsman said many people feel as a conspiracy theory. In one of the rare moments when an elected official actually responds with genuine irritation at the weak-kneed, mainstream-media devout belief that Everyones Opinion Is Super-Valid, Obama turned on Cooper sharply. Yes, it is fair to call that a conspiracy, Obama told Cooper. What are you saying? Are you suggesting that the notion that we are creating a plot to take everyones guns away so that we can impose martial law, is a conspiracy? I would hope you would agree with that. Obama added, his contempt for this line of questioning barely disguised, Is that controversial?

Story continues

There was a notable absence at this event. Obama said the NRA is just down the street, yet no representative of the organization would take CNN up on an invitation to join this conversation. Instead, an NRA official, Chris Cox, appeared on Fox Newss The Kelly File during the CNN special to tell host Megyn Kelly that we were offered one pre-screened question, so Id rather sit with you, Megyn.



Cox, who had no idea what Obama was saying on CNN because he was on-camera on Fox at the same time, dismissed Obamas attempts to end gun violence as a distraction from his failed policies. Cox said the President doesnt have a basic level of respect [for] gun owners This president wants you to believe that in order to love your children, you have to hate your firearms. Cox called for armed security officers guarding our kids at school.



In other words, little was accomplished this evening, not even a sensible give-and-take discussion.
SOE reform gathering pace Updated: 2016-01-08 07:54 By Tyler Rooker(China Daily Europe)





Mixed equity in state enterprises to play key role in overseas investment

It is often said that if the world looks at Shanghai to see China, China looks at Shenzhen to see the world. The saying certainly holds true when applied to the long-promised reform of China's state-owned enterprises, which is set to accelerate in 2016.

Shanghai was once known as a paradise for adventurers; it is now a paradise for foreign and state-owned enterprises. Its state assets exceed 12 trillion yuan ($1.85 trillion; 1.68 trillion euros) - equivalent to Russia's entire GDP in 2014. Shenzhen, while still holding state-owned assets of 960 billian yuan, has long been a pioneer of reform, opening up to foreign capital in the 1980s, more than a decade before Shanghai's doors nudged ajar.

These two metropolises are now leading the way in SOE reforms. The Chinese authorities have published a series of policy documents on how the reforms will take shape, with guidelines that encourage mixed ownership of SOEs, as opposed to a single state-owned entity, taking center stage. Other policy papers are set to follow in which new measures such as strengthening corporate governance will be published.

But what do these changes mean in practice? An article in The Economist in September concluded that China's SOE reforms were yielding "a whimper not a bang". However, a careful perusal of how this complex web of reforms is playing out on the ground in Shanghai and Shenzhen reveals evidence decidedly to the contrary. China's SOE reforms are about to have a far greater impact on China itself and European businesses and policymakers than is currently being acknowledged.

In August 2015, Shanghai's largest real estate company began trading on the stock exchange as Greenland Group. Its complex ownership structure highlights the emergence of the trend toward "mixed ownership", which could be about to provide a wealth of investment opportunities for foreign companies. The story lies in the detail.

Greenland's listing was achieved through an asset injection and issuing of new shares in a backdoor listing (referred to in Chinese as "borrowing the shell") of a Shanghai-traded company, Jinfeng Investment. Prior to this, Jinfeng was controlled by state-owned Shanghai Real Estate Group.

Shanghai Real Estate Group, a company fully-owned by Shanghai SASAC, the state asset administrator,

also shared ownership of Greenland Group following an early 2014 capital expansion of 12 billion yuan to five "private" equity funds. These five funds created a limited partnership to purchase shares as strategic investors. As a result, the Shanghai state holdings of Greenland fell below 50 percent for the first time. Under strategic guidance, Greenland injected more than 65 billion yuan of assets into Jinfeng's shell, which had market capitalization of only 4.5 billion yuan.

In addition to the involvement of private equity, the reorganization of Greenland in 2014 also had major implications for the employees who held shares in the company prior to listing. They kept their shares and are now the largest shareholder through a limited partnership formed by the Employee Shareholding Committee.

This marks a radical departure from normal practice, allowing profits to be shared by the owners of both capital and labor. It is also an explicit use of the market principle that providing employees with incentives makes them work in the interest of the company. While not detailing how future employee shares will be allocated, traded and disposed, it shows signs that, on a basic level, Chinese state businesses are adopting elements of Western practice in this regard.

The injection of the entire Greenland Group into the "shell" of Jinfeng is also significant for what it reveals about China's move toward mixed ownership of its SOEs. Shanghai SASAC has been joined by central and local state investors in a comingled ownership of Greenland. "Private equity" is a misnomer here. "Mixed equity", a neologism, is more appropriate.

It is significant, too, for foreign companies seeking to invest in China. Greenland's listing involves the entire Greenland Group rather than a subsidiary. While known as a real estate company - now rivaling Vanke as the largest in China - Greenland has subsidiaries in energy and finance, as well as construction, hotels and commerce. By listing the group, all of its subsidiaries are now under the scrutiny of the market while its diversified owners - rather than a sole group parent - make decisions on strategy and governance. This serves to increase transparency and strengthen corporate governance - and boost foreign investor confidence.

The involvement of mixed equity in state enterprise ownership is set to play a key role in transforming the way Chinese enterprises invest overseas.

Jinjiang Hotel is a historic building located in the former French concession of Shanghai. Jinjiang International Hotels Group is the owner of the Jinjiang Hotel and now one of the five largest hotel chains in the world. It achieved this beginning in 2014 through a strategic tie-up with private equity investor Hony Capital. Following Hony's purchase of 12 percent of its shares, Jinjiang acquired Louvre Hotels, one of the largest hotel chains in Europe, relying no doubt on Hony's prowess in international acquisitions.

Of even greater significance was Jinjiang's purchase in September last year of an 81 percent share of Plateno Group for 8.3 billion yuan. Plateno Group is well known for taking the 7 Days Group, a NYSE traded firm, private in 2013. The merger gives Jinjiang 6,000 hotels and 640,000 rooms, making it the fifth-largest hotel chain in the world.

To pay for this, Jinjiang announced in November that it would privately offer 150 million shares at 29.93 yuan each to its controlling shareholder, the Hong Kong-listed Jinjiang International Hotels Group, Hony Capital, two Shanghai SASAC-controlled companies (Shanghai Guosheng Group and Shanghai International Group), Great Wall Asset Management, and Hua An Future Asset Management.

While charges of unending expansion and unwise overseas asset purchases are sometimes leveled at state enterprises, Jinjiang represents something new. Mixed ownership in the form of strategic partnerships with private equity involves both foreign and state capital.

Jinjiang and its immediate parent are both listed, mixing in "social" capital. Beyond providing "a warm bowl of congee" wherever Chinese travelers go, as Alex Zheng, Plateno's co-chairman, recently told Travel Daily Asia, Jinjiang's reach at home and abroad represents a commingling of vested interests that complicates a simple picture of state ownership. Policymakers in Europe and elsewhere should take careful note as Jinjiang-style ventures become increasingly commonplace outside of China.

In another direction for state enterprise reform, Shenzhen is creating new platforms for reorganizing state investment. This is fertile ground for exploring another pillar of reform: "managing capital".

The first move into mixed ownership reform of state enterprises in Shenzhen was a capital increase by state-owned Shenzhen High Tech Investment group. Yuanzhi Fuhai, using a limited partnership fund, which included 202 million yuan from the privately run and listed company, Fu-an-na Bedding and Furnishing, bought 20 percent of the Group for 1.42 billion yuan. Founded in 2013, Yuanzhi Fuhai is an acquisition fund management company. Its shareholders are a mix of privately run companies, publicly owned companies and state-owned enterprises.

The purchase of 20 percent of Shenzhen High Tech Investment Group by the mixed ownership fund, rather than directly by Yuanzhi Investment, which already held over 10 percent of the firm, illustrates the road that new reform of the state enterprise sector capital markets may take. The creation of local government "capital operations platforms" is a trend that is being pushed nationwide. We will hear a lot more about them in the coming years and, again, they represent another major investment opportunity for foreign companies.

The flurry of state enterprise reform documents signals a new direction for China's state enterprises. While much of the mainstream media have underplayed their significance, real change is afoot in ownership, capital operations, the role of limited partnerships and investment funds, employee compensation and corporate governance. The stakes for European businesses and policymakers are high.

Policymakers will need to give careful consideration to the provenance of the incoming Chinese investment they are hungry for, broadening EU competitive frameworks and incorporating state business to yield more global corporate governance, sustainability and capital markets that benefit economic growth.

The author is assistant professor of China Business at the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham, UK.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.


This is a persons life, were talking about very serious matters, Ben-Or said after first describing the situation many people have found themselves in through no fault of their own: waiting for extended periods of time for the Chief Rabbinate to decide if they are Jewish enough to marry in Israel without the Chief Rabbinate even answering questions regarding the inordinate delays.It is a right to start a family. I am ashamed that in a functioning state this information cannot be provided. It is an unprecedented scandal. It is not Jewish, and [is] inhumane.

Chief Rabbinates Behavior Inhumane, Judge Says

Shmarya Rosenberg  FailedMessiah.com

An Israeli court has ordered the haredi-controlled official state Chief Rabbinate of Israel to release its secret list of Diaspora rabbis it uses to verify issues of Jewish identity for Diaspora Jews who have relocated to Israel or wish to marry there, the Times of Israel reported.

Wednesday Judge Nava Ben-Or ordered the Chief Rabbinate to produce the list within 45 days saying that she is shocked by what appears to be the Chief Rabbinates lack of transparency in an issue that is critical for so many people.

This is a persons life, were talking about very serious matters, Ben-Or said after first describing the situation many people have found themselves in through no fault of their own: waiting for extended periods of time for the Chief Rabbinate to decide if they are Jewish enough to marry in Israel without the Chief Rabbinate even answering questions regarding the inordinate delays.It is a right to start a family. I am ashamed that in a functioning state this information cannot be provided. It is an unprecedented scandal. It is not Jewish, and [is] inhumane, Ben-Or said.

The lawsuit demanding the Chief Rabbinate release the information on the rabbis was filed in October by ITIM, an NGO headed by Modern Orthodox Rabbi Seth Farber. ITIM helps immigrants and Israeli citizens navigate the byzantine official state religious bureaucracy, which is haredi-controlled.

I am pleased that the court recognized both the ineptitude of the present administration as well as the significance of the issue at hand. I hope that the rabbinate will take the judges words to heart and begin to act in a transparent way in order to make Jewish life more normal in this country, Farber told The Times of Israel.

Farber said ITIM has requested the rabbis list from the Chief Rabbinate six times over the past two years, but the Chief Rabbinate has refused to produce it.

There is no civil marriage in Israel. In the cases where a Jew wants to marry a non-Jew, one of them must formally convert to the others religion and then can be married by authorized clergey from that religion.

In 2013, the right-wing-leaning Knesset passed a law that would jail for two years couples who marry in Orthodox Jewish wedding ceremonies that are not sanctioned by the Chief Rabbinate. The rabbis officiating at those unauthorized weddings would also be jailed for two years.
The administration of the City of Bnei Brak, Israel demolished a building in the Pardes Katz neighborhood after it found out the building was being used as housing by African asylum seekers. The demolition was reportedly part of an ongoing plan to force Africans out of the haredi city.

Haredi City Demolishes Building Because African Asylum Seekers Were Living There

Shmarya Rosenberg  FailedMessiah.com

The administration of the City of Bnei Brak, Israel demolished a building in the Pardes Katz neighborhood after it found out the building was being used as housing by African asylum seekers. The demolition was reportedly part of an ongoing plan to force Africans out of the haredi city, Arutz Sheva reported.

Several years ago the city administration asked senior members of Israels internal security apparatus to remove the African asylum seekers  infiltrators in common Israeli parlance  but were told the African asylum seekers could be removed only after criminal complaints were filed against them, meaning an African asylum seeker would have to be formally accused of stealing or some other crime before he could be expelled.

Believing that African asylum seekers are largely criminals, the city chose not to wait for the crime wave it expected to be caused by the Africans  it never came anyway  and began a crackdown on illegally divided apartments in the city if those illegally divided apartments were occupied by Africans.

Bnei Braks spokesman Avraham Tenenbaum told Arutz Sheva that in the first stages of the crackdown against the Africans, dozens of legal files against the African renters were opened and the city also dramatically increased police patrols in the neighborhood.

"We discovered that in one building six housing units on the ground floor and four units on the first floor were divided into separate housing units for these [Africans]. In actions at the court, high monetary fines were imposed on those dividing up the apartments and for the building irregularities in these apartments, and likewise closure orders were issued against illegal cafes, noisy game rooms and pirate businesses lacking a license, Tenenbaum said.

About 50,000 African asylum seekers managed to enter Israel over the past decade. Most have been treated horribly by successive Netanyahu governments, and even though under international law the bulk of these African asylum seekers qualify for refugee status, Israel has only approved a tiny handful of applications, sometimes taking well over one year to respond to an individual application  if any response is given at all.

The government has harassed these asylum seekers, prevented most from legally working, and has done little to nothing to help these desperate poor people with food or housing. The government has at various times also imprisoned thousands of the Africans without individual judicial review, not for committing crimes against Israeli, but for being infiltrators.

Periodic waves of racist violence by Israeli Jews against the African asylum seekers have seen Jews firebomb a daycare center run by and serving African asylum seekers, seen apartments housing African asylum seekers firebombed, and seen Africans beaten during anti-African-asylum-seeker-riots. But the mobs who beat African asylum seekers were not discriminating, and in at least one case they beat an Ethiopian Jew by mistake.

Only a handful of arrests of these violent Israeli Jews have been made, and even those who firebombed African asylum seekers homes or businesses  even that daycare center  and were convicted were sentenced to little to no time in prison.

Complaints of widespread crime  especially rapes  by African asylum seekers are primarily examples of selection and confirmation bias. A person expects African asylum seekers to be dangerous rapists and criminals. Then, when an African asylum seeker does commit a violent crime, that belief has been confirmed. But what is not immediately obvious is that the actual rate of this type of crime is not much different for African asylum seekers than it is for Israeli Jews of for the country as a whole.

Right-wing Israeli politicians, including members of Knesset, have called the African asylum seekers a "cancer" that has to be cut out of the country and some of the most vociferous opponents of helping the African asylum seekers have been Zionist Orthodox and haredi rabbis.
Moshe Mizrahi, the 4-month-old grandson of Beit Shemeshs haredi mayor Rabbi Moshe Abutbol, was buried Thursday night  but not before his body was autopsied against the wishes of his family and the haredi community.

Above: police detaining haredi rioters in Jerusalem 1-7-2016

High Court Orders Baby's Immediate Limited Autopsy Despite Haredi Riots

Shmarya Rosenberg  FailedMessiah.com

Moshe Mizrahi, the 4-month-old grandson of Beit Shemeshs haredi mayor Rabbi Moshe Abutbol, was buried Thursday night  but not before his body was autopsied against the wishes of his family and the haredi community, the Times of Israel reported.

The baby died early Thursday morning after spending 10 days in Hadassah Hospital with a major head trauma.

Israel's High Court of Justice ordered a full autopsy Thursday morning in order to definitively determine the babys cause of death, sparking haredi riots in Jerusalem and in Beit Shemesh. Thirteen haredi rioters were arrested, 10 in Jerusalem and three in Beit Shemesh.

ZAKA, the haredi volunteer search, rescue first responder and EMT group, then tried to broker a compromise in which an MRI scan could be used to replace the autopsy. But apparently the MRI results were not definitive, and Thursday night the High Court ordered an autopsy  albeit a limited one  take place.

Following that second High Court ruling, haredim rioted again in Beit Shemesh, burning garbage dumpsters and blocking roads.

The caregiver at the babys daycare center was placed under house arrest last week. She was released Wednesday on the condition she stays away from the daycare center denies any connection to the tragedy.

Earlier reports in the haredi media said the woman had admitted to shaking the baby in order to wake him.

However, she also reportedly told police that as she changed the babys diaper he flipped over for the first time in his life and fell.

Then, during a later conversation with police investigators the caregiver reportedly said the baby was sick before the incident happened.

He was accepted into the kindergarten one-and-a-half months ago. He was a lovely child. On the day of the incident, he had a slight temperature and his father took him from the kindergarten to the doctor, who decided to send him back to the kindergarten. He went to sleep and woke up groggy, the caregiver, who denies doing anything to cause the babys death, said.

Her attorney Yehuda Shoshan said the child returned to daycare center drowsy. When he woke up from a nap later, he was on the verge of exhaustion. The babys eyes were drooping, Shoshan said, and he did not communicate with his environment.

The caregiver tried everything possible to get him to respond to her, similar to what one might do if someone had lost consciousness or fainted, Shoshan said. When that did not work, she called an ambulance.

Shoshan said allegations his client contributed to the babys death or directly caused it were tenuous and unproven.

On the contrary, at present, the investigation is tending towards the fact that the child arrived in a medical state that was not good; or was born with something, with some kind of defect; or that he got sick from an illness; Shoshan said.

Halakha (Orthodox Jewish law) prohibits desecration of dead bodies and requires that bodies be buried whole whenever possible. But while halakha provides exemptions from this requirement  for example, in a case where an autopsy could save the life of another person. When law enforcement needs an autopsy to determine if a murder or manslaughter took place, halakha would usually allow the autopsy on the ground that convicting the murderer could easily save the lives of other people.

But in recent decades haredim have hardened their stance and now fight autopsies in almost every case, with many haredi rabbis adopting the position that unless the results of an autopsy will with a high degree of certainty immediately save the life of a person, it cannot be conducted.

The results of the autopsy have not yet been made public.

Related Post:

Haredim Riot Over Babys Autopsy.
Lincoln Square Synagogue, the iconic Modern Orthodox Upper West Side congregation founded decades ago by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, allegedly told Joseph Allaham, the owner of Prime Grill and several other high-end kosher eateries in the city, that if he doesnt withdraw his $1.8 million civil suit against Lincoln Square Synagogue, it will make sure that all of those eateries and their related catering operations lose their Orthodox Union OU Kosher supervision.

Above: Shaul Robinson

Iconic Manhattan Modern Orthodox Synagogue Threatens NYCs Most Prominent Kosher Restauranteur That It Will Have The OU Pull Its Kosher Supervision Unless The Restauranteur Withdraws A $1.8 Million Civil Suit Against It

Shmarya Rosenberg  FailedMessiah.com

Lincoln Square Synagogue, the iconic Modern Orthodox Upper West Side congregation founded decades ago by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, allegedly told Joseph Allaham, the owner of Prime Grill and several other high-end kosher eateries in the city, that if he doesnt withdraw his $1.8 million civil suit against Lincoln Square Synagogue, it will make sure that all of those eateries and their related catering operations lose their Orthodox Union OU Kosher supervision, the New York Post reported today.

Lincoln Square wants Allaham to move his suit to the Beit Din of America, an Orthodox Jewish religious court controlled by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), which itself is closely linked to the OU.

The threat is presumably based on the concept in halakha (Orthodox Jewish law) that lawsuits cannot be brought to non-Jewish courts or authorities without the express permission of a beit din or leading Orthodox rabbi. Violating this Jewish law could make one unfit to hold various Jewish communal positions and could lead to excommunication. But in actual practice, people with money and power  including a long list of hasidic rebbes  have easily gotten their decisions to sue an adversary in non-Jewish courts rubberstamped.

However, kosher supervision in the modern era is not based on the level of religiosity of the restaurants owner, and even non-Jews can and have owned kosher restaurants, even restaurants that serve meat, the most difficult food item to adequately supervise. That makes Lincoln Squares alleged threat appear to be extortion.

If Allaham loses kosher supervision it could easily destroy all of his restaurants and related businesses.

The basis for Allahams lawsuit is reportedly as follows:

 Allaham agreed to help pay for Lincoln Square Synagogue to build a new banquet hall and agreed to provide the catering services for it.

 Allaham gave Lincoln Square $1.5 million for that purpose.

 Construction on the project was significantly delayed.

 Allaham claims that delay cost him $300,000 in catering business.

 Allaham wants Lincoln Square to give him that $300,000 plus the $1.5 million he paid for his share in building the catering hall.

Allaham does not want to bring the case to the Beit Din of America, he reportedly says, because Lincoln Squares rabbi, Shaul Robinson, is a member of the Beit Din of Americas parent body, the RCA.

Thats the conflict of interest, Allaham told The Post.
Rabbi Yosef Kolko will remain in prison. The former haredi camp counselor from Lakewood, New Jersey will serve the rest of 15-year sentence in state prison after a two-judge appellate court panel rejected his claim that he was coerced by members of the haredi community to falsely plead guilty to sexually assaulting an 11-year-old child in his care at the camp.

Above: Yosef Kolko

Haredi Child Sex Abuser Yehuda Kolko Loses Appeal, Will Stay In Prison Until At Least 2026

Shmarya Rosenberg  FailedMessiah.com

Rabbi Yosef Kolko will remain in prison.

The former haredi camp counselor from Lakewood, New Jersey will serve the rest of 15-year sentence in state prison after a two-judge appellate court panel rejected his claim that he was coerced by members of the haredi community to falsely plead guilty to sexually assaulting an 11-year-old child in his care at the camp, the APP reported.

Judges Harry G. Carroll and Thomas W. Sumners of the Appellate Division of Superior Court ruled yesterday that Kolkos claims were meritless.

Kolko pleaded guilty in May 2013 during his trial.

Kolko was a counselor at the Yachad summer camp run by the Yeshiva Bais Hatorah School in Lakewood. He also taught at Yeshiva Orchos Chaim School in Lakewood. The abuse took place there in 2008 and 2009, when the child was 11- and 12-years-old.

After the victim and his family went to police, they were mercilessly attacked by members of the haredi community and were ostracized. The family eventually was forced to move to the Midwest to escape the harassment.

One haredi man who attempted to force the family to drop the charges against Kolko was charged with witness tampering in the case.

Kolkos attorneys tried to have his guilty plea withdrawn before his sentence was handed down in October 2013, but the judge would not allow it.

At that time, Kolko claimed was coerced into pleading guilty by haredim who didnt want the haredi community further tarnished by bad publicity from the trial. Kolkos brother also testified then that Kolko gave him a note the morning of the day he pleaded guilty claiming he was being coerced into entering the guilty plea.

However, Kolkos trial attorney testified at that same hearing and told the court it was the revelation that two more alleged victims had come forward to accuse Kolko and who were ready to testify that caused Kolko to enter the guilty plea.

Yesterday, the appellate panel agreed with the trial judge and rejected Kolkos claim that his guilty plea had been coerced. It also noted that Kolko never claimed to be innocent in his appeal documents.

Kolkos earliest possible parole date is in 2026. He is incarcerated in the South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton, New Jersey.

Related Posts:

All Yosef Kolko Posts.
sherlock benedict cumberbatch

A new "Sherlock" special premiered Jan. 1 on PBS and in special theatrical screenings.

At one point in the MASTERPIECE/PBS TV series, which is based on the novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, policeman Philip Anderson derogatorily calls Sherlock a psychopath.

His dry response  "I'm not a psychopath, I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research"  is now one of the hallmarks of the show.

But what's the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath, and which would Sherlock really be?

We posed this question to James Fallon, a neuroscientist at the UC Irvine School of Medicine who specializes in studying psychopaths and just so happens to be one (but that's another story). Fallon in turn asked his friend Michael Felong, a doctor who specializes in internal medicine in Temecula, California, who has an interest in Sherlock Holmes. The verdict?

Sherlock Holmes, as written by Doyle, is probably what he calls a "primary psychopath," not a sociopath, he said.

Psychopaths vs. sociopaths

Sherlock

The term "psychopath" doesn't appear in the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the medical handbook used by psychiatrists. The closest entry is antisocial personality disorder, which is defined by "impairments in personality," such as egocentrism or lack of empathy, and "pathological personality traits," such as manipulativeness or impulsivity.

Psychopaths and sociopaths are sometimes considered the same thing, but there are some key differences between them, Fallon told Business Insider.

According to him, psychopaths can be divided into two categories: primary psychopaths and secondary psychopaths, or sociopaths.

A primary psychopath usually gets his or her defining characteristics as a result of a combination of genes, brain connections, and environment, said Fallon. This type of person doesn't typically respond to punishment, fear, stress, or disapproval, and often lacks empathy. Most primary psychopaths, Fallon added, mimic emotions and understand them cognitively, but do not feel them.

A secondary psychopath (sociopath) gets to be this way mostly as a result of his or her environment. Severe abuse at a young age can play a particularly strong role in the development of a sociopath, said Fallon. Unlike a primary psychopath, a secondary psychopath or sociopath can feel stress or guilt, said Fallon, and is generally capable of empathy. He or she may also be prone to anxiety, Fallon added.

Story continues

Both primary and secondary psychopaths can further be divided into "distempered" and "charismatic" psychopaths, Fallon explained:

A distempered psychopath tends to fly into rages that can resemble epileptic fits. These people may also often have an extremely strong sex drive.

A charismatic psychopath is often a charming liar and fast talker who can manipulate others to part with anything  including their lives.

Now that we know the difference, let's take a look at Sherlock.

Why Sherlock is a psychopath

Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant but antisocial detective. He doesn't seem to show emotion or care about other people's feelings  even those of his trusted sidekick Dr. Watson  and he's not driven by the fear of offending others. By all appearances, he is a primary psychopath.

What's more, he never loses his cool and seems to have very little interest in women (with the possible exception of his femme fatale Irene Adler), and yet he wins the admiration of Watson and his many fans, which probably makes him a charismatic psychopath.

That said, the Sherlock played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the MASTERPIECE/PBS series is perhaps a tiny bit more humane than Doyle's original character. He occasionally shows acts of kindness toward Watson, and despite his tough veneer, he betrays the tiniest glimpses that he cares about others.

But these changes were probably necessary to make him more likeable to audiences, Fallon said. After all, "real psychopaths are terrible characters."

NOW WATCH: How to know if you're a psychopath





More From Business Insider


Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Saudi Arabia is considering selling shares of Saudi Aramco, the state-owned company that is the world's largest oil producer, on a public exchange.

The revelation came, somewhat unexpectedly, from Saudi Arabia's deputy crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, in an interview with The Economist that covered topics like women's rights and the country's recent tensions with Iran.

Saudi Aramco has since confirmed that it's considering an IPO, and bankers have been left reeling.

Bloomberg's Dinesh Nair, Ruth David, and Matthew Martin report that the news of a potential IPO "was greeted with incredulity" by bankers who do business in the Middle East.

One of the people they interviewed reportedly said that an IPO of the company  which is worth trillions of dollars, according to Saudi officials  "had only ever been discussed as a joke."

The potential offering comes amid a downturn in the price of crude oil.

As Business Insider's Myles Udland points out, Saudi Arabia will likely run a big deficit this year because of the declining value of oil. Despite the rout, the country has declined to cut its oil production.

With oil hitting a 14-year low this week, it seems like an odd time to sell. No wonder bankers were surprised.

Now, Bloomberg reports, they're fielding calls from their bosses asking why they didn't know an IPO was on the cards.

Read the full Bloomberg story here

NOW WATCH: These are the biggest risks facing the world in 2016





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bernie sanders

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) mocked Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump after a major rally in Sanders' home state.

After Trump said on Thursday that running against Sanders would be a "dream come true," the Democratic presidential candidate reminded Trump that in some hypothetical head-to-head matchups between the two candidates, Sanders comes out on top.

"Finally @realDonaldTrump and I agree on something. He and I both want to run against the other. Guess who wins?" Sanders tweeted, linking to a Quinnipiac University poll showing Sanders beating Trump by over 10% points in a general election contest.

Sanders also laid into Trump over some of his positions on climate change and inequality, which the self-styled democratic socialist has made key issues of his campaign.

The American people will not support a candidate trying to divide us up by where we came from.  Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 8, 2016

They will not support a candidate who does not favor raising the minimum wage and who thinks wages in the country are too high.  Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 8, 2016

They will not support a candidate who thinks climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese.  Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 8, 2016

They will not support a candidate who wants to give huge tax breaks to billionaires like himself.  Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 8, 2016

Sanders capped the mini-tweet-storm with a post that also subtly dinged Democratic presidential opponent Hillary Clinton, whose campaign has argued that she has a more credible shot in a general election.

Story continues

I am confident I would win. pic.twitter.com/MFBgoCds8u  Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 8, 2016

Though Sanders has criticized Trump on numerous occasions throughout the election, his jabs at Clinton have become increasingly frequent.

Sanders long maintained that he would run a positive, issues-oriented campaign without viciously attacking his Democratic rivals. But in the past week alone, he has taken shots at Clinton repeatedly over her positions on financial issues.

"My opponent, Secretary Clinton, says that Glass-Steagall would not have prevented the financial crisis because shadow banks like AIG and Lehman Brothers, not big commercial banks, were the real culprits," Sanders said in a speech on Tuesday, referencing a bill that separated commercial and investment banking. "Secretary Clinton is wrong."

"Do I think Hillary Clinton or many other senators have shown the courage that is necessary to stand up to Wall Street power? The answer is no," Sanders said Wednesday on "Morning Joe."

NOW WATCH: Watch President Obama break down during an emotional speech on gun violence





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Beirut (AFP) - A UN-backed roadmap to end the Syrian war was met with scepticism Saturday by members of the country's fractured opposition who insist President Bashar al-Assad must go to achieve peace.

The US and Russian initiative, unanimously approved by the UN Security Council on Friday, foresees talks between the rebels and the regime and a rapid ceasefire, perhaps even next month.

But the plan was described as unrealistic by the Istanbul-based National Coalition, the main Syrian opposition grouping.

The resolution "undermines the outcome of the meetings of revolutionary forces in Riyadh and waters down previous UN resolutions concerning a political solution in Syria," coalition head Khaled Khoja said on Twitter.

Fellow coalition member Samir Nashar said bombing by the regime and Russia must stop for there to be a sustainable ceasefire, otherwise "the agreement is absolutely not applicate".

The Security Council met after the latest round of talks by the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), which had gathered in New York to renew its push for peace.

"In January we hope and expect to be at the table and to be able to implement a full ceasefire," US Secretary of State John Kerry said.

"And that means all the barrel bombs will stop, all the bombing, all the shooting, all the attacks on either side."

- 'Dangerous logic' -

The United States and Arab allies remain convinced Assad must leave office as part of the process, but his allies Moscow and Tehran insist this is a decision for the Syrian people.

The resolution does not touch on this vital issue.

"We often hear the argument that without resolving the Assad question, it is impossible to truly coordinate in the fight against terrorism," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"This is a dangerous logic, a dangerous approach," RIA Novosti news agency quoted him as saying.

Kerry, who has "agreed to disagree" with Moscow on Assad's fate, emphasised that victory over the Islamic State group hinges on a peaceful settlement in the civil war.

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"We know that Daesh can never be allowed to gain control in Syria so we have a global imperative here to deal with a terrorist entity but also to end the civil war," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

He said Assad had "lost the ability, the credibility" to unite and govern Syria.

But experts nevertheless see a narrowing of differences between the major powers.

"The West and Russia's position are coming closer together," Alexander Baunov, a political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, told AFP.

"Russia would not have voted for a resolution in which it would have been written that Assad needs to step down. The absence of Assad is a form of compromise to get the resolution through."

- 'Ulterior motives' -

Karim Bitar, head of research at the Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, described the UN-backed plan as "a very significant first step" but added that "many ambiguities and ulterior motives remain".

"Sunni regional powers still fear that this pragmatism perpetuates the status quo and allows Assad to stay too long during a transition period," he said.

The Security Council resolution calls for "free and fair elections" supervised by the United Nations within 18 months in which all Syrians would be eligible to vote.

More than 250,000 people have died since the conflict erupted in March 2011, and millions more have fled their homes.

Regime troops backed by Russian warplanes have sought to wrest back ground from Assad's opponents in recent weeks.

They suffered a setback Saturday as rebels managed to recapture a hilltop overlooking a strategic highway in Assad's coastal heartland, Latakia, just days after they were forced to retreat.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 18 pro-government fighters and several rebels were killed.

It also reported that Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units on Saturday agreed a ceasefire with Islamist militants in the Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood of Aleppo after three weeks of clashes.

Dozens of people on both sides have been killed in the fighting, which also involved Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, in the northern city's mostly-Kurdish district since it erupted at the end of November.
(Adds details, background throughout)

SAO PAULO, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Marcelo Kayath is leaving Credit Suisse Group AG after almost two decades in senior positions at its investment banking and securities divisions in Brazil and Latin America, two sources with knowledge of the situation said on Friday.

Credit Suisse and Kayath are parting ways on amicable terms, said one source, adding that he will remain in his position until March. He is leaving to undertake personal projects, the source added.

Kayath last year was made a managing director for Credit Suisse in Brazil. Before that, he led fixed-income and equity sales and trading for Latin America for Credit Suisse.

The 52-year-old Kayath began his financial industry career at investment bank Banco Garantia SA in the mid-1990s.

The sources did not say who might replace Kayath, who helped oversee a boom in Brazilian initial public offerings last decade. Credit Suisse underwrote more than 60 Brazilian IPOs between 2005 and 2012, raising a combined $17 billion, the biggest volume for any bank in the country in that period, the bank said on its website.

Efforts to contact Kayath were unsuccessful. A press representative for Credit Suisse declined to comment.

When Credit Suisse bought Garantia in 1998, Kayath rose through the ranks, eventually becoming head of equity research, co-head of investment banking in Brazil and head of Latin American securities.

(Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by Peter Cooney and Jeffrey Benkoe)
British Prime Minister David Cameron (C), BMW CEO Harald Krueger (R) and head of BMW Sales Ian Robertson (L) visit production lines at the BMW manufacturing plant in Munich, Germany, on January 7, 2016 (AFP Photo/Marc Mueller)

Wildbad Kreuth (Germany) (AFP) - British Prime Minister David Cameron Thursday won support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel for EU reforms to protect European welfare systems, arguing that what is good for Britain is also good for Europe.

Cameron is seeking backing for his demands for EU reforms, which he is battling to secure before Britain's referendum on membership in the 28-nation bloc by the end of 2017.

Speaking in southern Germany, where he held talks with the Christian Social Union -- sister party of Merkel's CDU -- Cameron said he was "even more confident after the discussions here that these (reforms) are possible and not just good for Britain but actually good for Europe".

"Not simply because other European countries will benefit by Britain continuing to be a member of Europe, but I think it's important that (the EU) shows it has the flexibility of a network and can address concerns of an individual member rather than the rigidity of a bloc," he said.

Cameron wants the EU to cut bureaucracy and shift more powers from Brussels to member states.

He is also seeking guarantees that Britain will be protected from closer EU political integration and from economic decisions made by the 19 EU members that use the euro currency.

Those demands have so far proven relatively uncontroversial.

However, a key sticking point for several EU members is Cameron's aim to restrict benefits for EU migrants for their first four years in Britain.

Critics of the plan say the measure would harm the EU's central tenets of non-discrimination between EU citizens and freedom of movement between member states.

- 'Germany can help' -

While Merkel is seen as generally supportive of Britain's position, she has said that "the fundamental achievements of European integration" are not up for debate, in what is a clear reference to this proposal.

However Merkel later Thursday acknowledged that it was "not the intention of the law of free movement" to immediately allow EU migrants to claim benefits from host member states.

Story continues

"That means that you can work everywhere in Europe but this intention does not include drawing social benefits everywhere in Europe from day one," she told reporters in Berlin.

She said her own Labour Minister, Social Democrat Andrea Nahles, had also proposed new restrictions "which to a certain extent mesh with what Britain is seeking".

The CSU has more eurosceptic leanings than its bigger sister party, the CDU, and has signalled support for Cameron's bid to limit benefits for EU migrants.

In an article for Germany's Bild newspaper on Thursday, Cameron also reiterated his belief that the changes he is seeking "will benefit the EU too, and Germany can help deliver them."

"We want to stop people taking out from a welfare system without contributing to it first," Cameron wrote.

"Like Germany, Britain believes in the principle of free movement of workers. But that should not mean the current freedom to claim all benefits from day one and that's why I've proposed restricting this for the first four years."

Cameron is later expected to travel to Hungary for talks with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has come under fire from fellow EU states for his hardline stance against a record influx of refugees to Europe.

The British leader is keen to avoid a so-called "Brexit", but faces a large eurosceptic contingent within his Conservative party and growing public discontent over Britain's relationship with Brussels.

Highlighting divisions over the EU, Cameron on Tuesday said his ministers would be allowed to campaign for or against Britain's EU membership ahead of the referendum.
* Canadian dollar at C$1.4075, or 71.05 U.S. cents * Currency hit a fresh 12-year low * Bond prices higher across the maturity curve TORONTO, Jan 6 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar set a 12-year low against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday after risk aversion hit financial markets and crude oil prices tumbled, overshadowing an improvement in Canada's trade deficit.

Canada posted a smaller-than-expected trade deficit of C$1.99 billion in November from a revised C$2.49 billion gap in October on increased exports to the United States, data from Statistics Canada showed.

"It's a step in the right direction," said BMO Capital Markets senior economist Sal Guatieri.

North Korea's reported successful nuclear test and further weakening in China's yuan after data showed the nation's services Purchasing Managers' Index expanded at its slowest rate in 17 months weighed on sentiment.

Oil prices slid to set 11-year lows on Wednesday as the row between Saudi Arabia and Iran made any cooperation between major exporters to cut output even less likely.

U.S. crude prices were down 3.89 percent at $34.57 a barrel, while Brent crude lost 4.89 percent to $34.64.

Meanwhile, stronger-than-expected U.S. private employment data for December helped support the greenback.

At 9:19 a.m. EST (1419 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.4075 to the greenback, or 71.05 U.S. cents, weaker than the Bank of Canada's official close of C$1.3989, or 71.48 U.S. cents.

The currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.3973, while it hit its weakest level since August 2003 at C$1.4109.

The weaker Canadian dollar is the main reason behind improvement in Canada's trade balance, according to Guatieri, although continued growth in U.S. demand also helped.

"The currency's impact on growth should improve through the year," Guatieri added.

Canadian government bond prices were higher across the maturity curve on the flight to safety, with the two-year price up 2.5 Canadian cents to yield 0.437 percent and the benchmark 10-year rising 33 Canadian cents to yield 1.339 percent.

Story continues

The curve flattened, as the spread between the 2-year and 10-year yields narrowed by 2.4 basis points to 90.2 basis points, indicating outperformance for longer-dated maturities.

The Canada-U.S. 10-year bond spread was 2.8 basis points narrower at -84.6 basis points as Treasuries outperformed.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Investors may be running away from assets with exposure to China after a turbulent week that slashed 10 percent off the benchmark Shanghai composite, but one analyst says there are at least two companies worth holding on to.

Miners and commodities companies bore the brunt of the losses during the market sell-off this week, but Rio Tinto is the only mining stock that GLG Partners Fund Manager Henry Dixon says is currently mispriced.

The company's London-listed shares are down nearly 30 percent over the past six months, and 11 percent in the last week alone.

Dixon admitted that Rio has had its fair share of historical lows  including a widely criticized deal where it bought Canadian mining company Alcan at a 65 percent premium in 2007  but says things are looking up for the mining giant.

He believes the company is in a position where it can deliver a free cash-flow yield that is "comfortably over 5 percent"  which Dixon explained is much higher than the market average. Rio Tinto has also managed to heavily reduce its debt, he said, putting them in a position to bounce back despite a downward trend in the market cycle.

"If there is ever a way to ensure that cyclical pressures become terminal for equity holders, it's leverage... and in a situation with Rio's we actually think they've done a reasonable job in navigating that leverage argument," he said.

"But where you see lots of leverage, no cash generation and pretty modest market caps, the outlook looks pretty bleak for shareholders in those situations."





Luxury fashion retailer Burberry has also seen grim losses, due in part to waning luxury goods consumption across Asia.

The stock is down over 28 percent over the past six months, and nearly 9 percent over the past week, but Dixon highlighted the dangers of chasing stock prices alone.

With 20 percent of the company's market cap in cash, "there's huge financing firepower that's going to keep this company in business," Dixon said.

Story continues

This might not pan out for short-term investors, he said, but is likely to deliver on a one to three year view.







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Russian Patriarch Kirill celebrates a Christmas service in Christ the Savior cathedral in Moscow early on January 7, 2016 (AFP Photo/Natalia Kolesnikova) (AFP/File)

Moscow (AFP) - The head of Russia's Orthodox Church justified the Kremlin's bombing campaign in Syria, calling it a "defensive war" in an interview released Thursday as the country marked Orthodox Christmas.

Patriarch Kirill said Moscow's military strikes were necessary to protect Russia from "terrorism".

"As long as the war is carried out in self-defence, then it is just," Kirill told state-run Rossiya 1 television channel.

"All that is happening is a self-defensive, responsive action. In that sense, we can safely talk about it is a just struggle."

The Kremlin launched a bombing campaign in Syria in late September at the request of its long-standing ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad saying it was targeting jihadists who posed a threat to Russia.

But the campaign has drawn condemnation from the West -- which accuses Moscow of bombing moderate groups to prop up Assad -- and allegations that it has caused mass civilian casualties.

Russia's Orthodox Church enjoys close ties with the Kremlin and has seen its influence grow as conservative values have been increasingly promoted during President Vladimir Putin's 15 years in charge.

Putin himself marked the holiday by attending the midnight service at the church in the central Tver region, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) northwest of Moscow, where his parents were reportedly christened.

The strongman leader later praised the Orthodox Church and other Christian faiths for their "responsible service" in Russian society in a Christmas greeting published on the Kremlin website.

"They take a constructive part in bringing up the younger generation, strengthening the institution of the family, motherhood and childhood," the statement said.

"They are doing a lot to maintain harmony in relations between people of different ethnic groups and religions. This great work deserves sincere respect."
Will It Be a Happy New Year for Potash Corporation?

(Continued from Prior Part)

Potash prices

During the recently held analyst conference, Potash Corporation (POT) stated, The big driver in our business and the big driver in our equity value is potash price. The average realized price of potash in 3Q15 was $250 per ton. Over the last 12 months, the average realized price declined 12.4% from $281 per ton.

Most of the decline in 2015 was due to the North American segment. Earlier, we saw that 2015 has not been favorable to agricultural fertilizer companies. Several factors impacted the price of potash in 2015. Capacity expansion over the years has put excess supply into the market, putting a significant downward pressure on potash prices.

Potash Corporation (POT) along with Mosaic (MOS), CF Industries Holdings (CF), and Agrium (AGU) form about 14% of the Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (MOO).

Outlook on potash prices

Potash Corporation (POT) expects potash prices to stabilize in 2016. This usually happens in cycles. Companies like Potash Corporation already plan to have lower capital expansion compared to 2015 and 2014. This should stabilize the market as these companies mop up excess supply as demand gradually increases. Some analysts estimate the price of potash to be around $254 per ton in 2016.

Currency exchange rates, especially the US dollar, have strengthened against most of the currencies. This makes it expensive for customers outside the United States to purchase potash. Brazil, India, and China are three of the biggest markets for Potash Corporation. The respective currencies of all three countries have weakened against the US dollar.

The Brazilian real was hit the most with a 32% decline compared to the US dollar. However, according to Potash Corporation, Brazilian farmers export 70% of their output in the US dollar, which, according to the company, should hedge against exchange rate fluctuations.

Continue to Next Part

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donald trump

There's apparently no room for undecided voters at Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's Thursday-night rally in Burlington, Vermont.

Multiple reporters described event staff asking attendees if they were Trump supporters at the overbooked rally.

If people said they were undecided or fans of another candidate, they were turned away.

Trump released a statement saying the decision was due to the constraints of the Burlington venue.

"We have more than 20,000 people that showed up for 1,400 spots," he said. "I'm taking care of my people, not people who don't want to vote for me or are undecided. They are loyal to me and I am loyal to them."

Local police told Business Insider earlier in the day that they were concerned about the Trump campaign's decision to distribute tickets to over 10,000 more people than the relatively modest Flynn Center in Burlington could hold.

NBC News correspondent Katy Tur wrote on Twitter that a number of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vermont) supporters were also turned away.

One man wearing a Sanders sticker, identified as Tim Farr, described waiting hours to attend the event before being turned away. He said he and his mom were permitted entry to the rally but were "forcibly ejected."

Watch below:

Trump staff asking if you're a Trump supporter at the door. If no? Turned away. Tim Farr was one. (Vid 1/2) pic.twitter.com/TNfD4jPCoO  Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) January 7, 2016

NOW WATCH: Here's who was leading the polls in January in the past three election years  none of them made it to November





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By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Armed men kidnapped a Swiss missionary from her home in Timbuktu on Friday, nearly four years after she was abducted by Islamist militants from the same house, Malian and Swiss authorities said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is active in desert areas north of the city and has a history of seizing foreigners and demanding ransoms. In April 2012, militants kidnapped Beatrice Stockly and released her days later. She returned to her work as a missionary. A resident of Timbuktu who knows Stockly told Reuters she had again been abducted. "I confirm that a European woman was kidnapped in Timbuktu at 3.30 a.m. (0330 GMT). A neighbour alerted the security forces around 6 a.m.," said army spokesman Souleymane Maiga. Four vehicles were used in the kidnap, said a military source in Timbuktu who declined to be identified. "One vehicle parked in front of the house and armed men got out and abducted the woman, while the other three cars secured the area from a distance," said the source. French forces drove Islamist fighters from major urban centres in 2013 but they have intensified their insurgency with a series of attacks and roadside bombings last year. Two militants attacked a luxury hotel in the capital Bamako on Nov. 20, killing 20 people, many of whom were foreigners. Three Islamist militant groups including AQIM claimed responsibility for the hotel attack, which showed the militants extending their reach beyond the north. CALL FOR SHARIA In a separate incident, an unidentified gunman shot three people dead outside a Christian radio station in Timbuktu in December. A veteran jihadist called for a return to Islamic sharia law at a recent meeting attended by hundreds of locals near Timbuktu, an AQIM video showed this week. Dozens of Westerners were abducted by desert militants in West and North Africa in the five years before the French military operation in Mali in 2013. There has been a lull since then, with many foreigners too frightened to visit. In the last known abduction attempt, two French journalists from Radio France International were killed in Kidal, northern Mali, in Nov. 2013. Two Western hostages kidnapped in north Mali in 2011 are still being held by al Qaeda militants. The Swiss foreign ministry formed a task force when it heard about Friday's kidnapping and was working for the woman's safe release, a statement said, adding that since 2009 it had advised against travel to Mali because of the high risk of kidnapping. "After the kidnapping of 2012, the ministry had pointed out to the affected Swiss national the high personal risk in Mali ... and strongly discouraged her from another stay in Mali," it said. France continues to fight militants in Mali and elsewhere in the desert region with a 3,500-strong counter-terrorism force called Barkhane. A 10,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force is also present in Mali. (Additional reporting by Adama Diarra in Bamako, Souleymane Ag Anara in Kidal, Mali, Michael Shields in Zurich and Emma Farge in Dakar; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Andrew Roche and Catherine Evans)
joel gascoigne buffer

At five-year-old social media company Buffer, everyone from the person writing Buffer's tweets to its CEO knows what the other is making  and so does anyone else who cares, because all of those salaries are posted on Buffer's public blog.

The company, which was founded in 2010 and has no central office, embraces near total transparency among its 65 global employees, including the typically secretive topic of money.

Buffer's radical decision to make its salaries public is unique.

While the idea of salary transparency has been a recent hot topic among management theorists and the career resource site Glassdoor shares user-submitted salary averages, there is no rush among companies to adopt the approach. Grocery giant Whole Foods and 40-person analytics company SumAll are among some of the few businesses that embrace transparent salaries.

The payoff, Buffer CEO and cofounder Joel Gascoigne told Business Insider, is that it gives employees one less thing to worry or gossip about and introduces a level of fairness. The catch is that salary transparency can only work for the kind of company that hires employees who are open to the idea of transparency.

Buffer started to disclose salaries about two years after launching. Cofounders Gascoigne and Leo Widrich decided to codify their corporate culture, and "Default to transparency" became the top value. Gascoigne said that since the beginning, "it felt great" anytime he and Widrich shared information with employees about things like revenue goals and cash flow, and so "we kept pushing the boundary."

Buffer Team

It's worked out well so far. The company brought in $8 million in net revenue in 2015, is profitable, and is valued at $60 million.

What's more, the salary transparency seems to have aided recruitment. When Buffer made its salaries and salary formula public in late 2013, job applications within a 30-day period increased over the previous 30 days by roughly 229%, from 1,263 to 2,886, Quartz reported.

Story continues

Gascoigne said that internally, Buffer's existing employees embraced the transition to salary transparency because they liked having a culture of transparency and because salaries were determined by a salary formula, which was also made public. The formula was developed by Widrich and Buffer software developer Colin Ross, who has a Ph.D. in computational mathematics.

Because the company is so upfront about the way it operates, Gascoigne said conflicts around compensation are rare. And the salary transparency hasn't slowed hiring  in the last two years, Buffer has grown from 10 to 65 employees, doubling headcount in the second half of 2015.

However, it did eventually result in a decrease in applications from San Francisco and New York City, which Gascoigne attributed to the salary system's inability to adjust to those markets, where the market value for certain positions had sharply increased.

In response, Buffer launched a new formula in late November:

BI Graphics Buffer Salary

The formula takes into account the market value of a certain job, where the employee is living, the employee's experience level and time spent at the company, and the size of their family. It also offers the choice of taking either $10,000 or 30% more in stock equity.

The addition of dependents in the formula is new. Essentially, having a spouse and children results in a $3,000 salary bump per person, so a married parent of three would effectively earn $12,000 more per year than a single, childless employee if all other factors were equal.

Gascoigne said this choice was part of an effort to appreciate employees as people rather than just cogs in the machine. He said that while employees generally liked the addition, many of their blog readers criticized them for the choice, saying that equating an employee's dependents with that person's value to the company looked awkward and felt unfair. Gascoigne is weighing these critiques and said that the next iteration of the formula will probably leave it out, but that the same $3,000 per dependent will be allotted as a separate annual benefit.

Here's a snapshot of what Buffer's top-paid employees earn, according to the company's blog:

buffer salaries

When an employee joins Buffer, the salary offer is not open to negotiation for the sake of keeping the salary formula incorruptible, but Gascoigne said it is not a problem because the company attracts the type of person who is fully onboard with the company's values and has already estimated their salary using the formula and numbers available online.

The obvious question then is what should employees do if they want a raise? While there is a "no negotiation" policy for both existing employees and new hires, some elements of the equation are flexible.

Salary committees similar to those used at online retailer Zappos are responsible for approving salaries, and employees can approach them to explain why their salary has become unfair. Employees can argue that an area's market value for a role has increased, which would cause the team to re-evaluate the formula's values, or explain why they believe their experience level has increased. However, Gascoigne said it happens rarely.

The salary formula is constantly evolving. Gascoigne expects to update the four elements of the "role" value in the equation either every quarter or every six months going forward. Other issues he is considering for future iterations are ways to lessen the subjectivity of how experience levels are determined, factoring in a country's tax rate, and a better solution for the few employees who lack a fixed location.

As for overall transparency at Buffer, it's only increasing. Anyone can visit Buffer's blog to see the company's equity breakdown, salaries, revenue, term sheets, diversity numbers, and the code its engineers use. Internally, no emails are kept confidential, and Gascoigne said that he will BCC the entire company on his interactions with investors, under the assumption that when someone does business with him or Widrich, they're working with all of Buffer.

The company is pushing the envelope of what a private company can reveal both internally and publicly.

"It really helps with having great teamwork and less politics," Gascoigne said. "Taking the extra step and making it public as well is extending that trust to a different set of people  to customers and blog readers and prospective team members."

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By Guillermo Parra-Bernal, Tatiana Bautzer and Leonardo Goy

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Oi SA (OIBR3.SA), Brazil's most indebted phone carrier, has started talks with the controlling shareholder of rival TIM Participacoes SA over a merger, with discussions initially focusing on governance issues, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

The board of Telecom Italia SpA (TLIT.MI), which controls TIM (TIMP3.SA), and Oi Chief Executive Officer Bayard Gontijo are leading the talks, which are also centering on possible changes in Brazilian telecommunications industry rules that could favor a tie-up, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss the issue freely.

Oi is seeking a merger because it lags behind its three major rivals in Brazil's fiercely competitive wireless market, with 18 percent of subscribers. Gontijo has streamlined operations, cutting everything from payroll to air conditioning and selling a Portuguese unit to cut the company's 35 billion reais ($8.7 billion) in net debt.

In contrast, Telecom Italia has remained wary of selling or merging TIM, a strategic asset that contributes about a third of its revenue. A merger between the two would create Brazil's No. 1 wireless carrier and relieve pressure in a crowded market suffering from the nation's worst recession in a quarter century.

None of the sources said when the discussions between Telecom Italia's board and Oi began. The talks could establish the basis for a final proposal to merge TIM and Oi, although the value of a possible deal has not been discussed, the two sources added.

A third and a fourth source said that Oi's adviser on the process, Grupo BTG Pactual SA, could present a merger proposal for both companies before the end of January. The plan would entail the participation of billionaire Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne Holdings, through a $4 billion cash injection into Oi, the same sources said.

Whereas Oi and BTG Pactual (BBTG11.SA) want LetterOne to become a shareholder of the combined entity, Telecom Italia does not see the investment firm's involvement in the deal as necessary, the first source said. LetterOne has a seven-month exclusivity period for the Oi-TIM deal that expires in May.

Story continues

Fridman, who made a fortune in Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, has been actively investing in a number of industries recently, from telecommunications to energy. LetterOne oversaw $25 billion at the start of last year.

Telecom Italia, Oi, BTG Pactual and LetterOne declined to comment.

SHARES

Oi's nationwide fixed-line network, the country's largest, would complement that of No. 2 wireless carrier TIM, according to analysts.

Together they would operate 44 percent of mobile lines in the country, well ahead of current market leader Telefonica Brasil SA (VIVT4.SA) and the local unit of America Movil SAB (AMXL.MX), which have 29 percent and 25 percent of the market, respectively.

Shares of Oi are the world's worst-performing telecommunications stock over the past six months, down 67 percent, according to the Thomson Reuters Global Telecoms Services index.

Voting shares of Oi rose 3.7 percent on Thursday in Sao Paulo to 2.55 reais. American depositary receipts of the Rio de Janeiro-based company shed 8 percent in New York to close at $0.39.

'APPEALING'

The preliminary discussions underscore optimism among the companies over a long-sought revamping of industry rules, the sources noted. In October, both Gontijo and Telecom Italia CEO Marco Patuano said any potential consolidation effort in Brazil's telecommunications industry would hinge on a more flexible regulation of carriers.

Industry watchdog Anatel put a draft document enacting some of those changes up for public hearings that are slated to end on Jan. 15. Some of the issues that could favor a TIM-Oi combination encompass the easing of mandatory investments in fixed-line telephony, an issue that still has some government officials at odds, according to a fifth source.

Reuters reported in October that industry watchdog Anatel is leaning toward easing some rules imposing onerous fixed-line investments in a segment in which revenue per user is declining dramatically.

"The removal of those mandatory investments would significantly make Oi more appealing to TIM, and make a deal feasible," said the third source.

Oi has for years spent heavily to cope with mandatory fixed-line expansion goals, hampering its ability to compete in the mobile and data segments.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Banco Bradesco BBI are working as Telecom Italia's and TIM's advisers on the deal. Oi may hire two banks that could have both adviser and lending roles, the second source added.

($1 = 4.0434 Brazilian reais)

(Additional reporting by Luciana Bruno in Rio de Janeiro and Stefano Rebaudo in Milan; Editing by Bernard Orr and Andrew Hay)
Police confirmed the "Popular Fighters" were behind the attack on November 24 after an anonymous phone call to media that led them to a document confirming their responsibility (AFP Photo/Louisa Gouliamaki) (AFP/File)

Athens (AFP) - An extreme-left group has claimed a bombing on Greece's industry association in Athens last month, police said Monday, the latest in a series of attacks by the urban guerillas on diplomatic, government and economic targets.

Police confirmed the "Popular Fighters" were behind the attack on November 24 after an anonymous phone call to media that led them to a document confirming their responsibility.

The bomb exploded outside the offices of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), causing damage to the building and also to a luxury hotel and the Cypriot embassy, but no injuries.

Calls to two Greek newspapers 40 minutes before the explosion had forewarned police of the attack against the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), enabling them to clear the area.

The police quickly discounted a possible jihadist connection, pointing out that the warning before the attack and the target chosen indicated it was likely a far-left domestic group.

The bomb was set by timer and hidden in a bag and placed in front of the SEV.

The Popular Fighters first appeared in January 2013 when they staged an attack armed with Kalashnikovs on the headquarters of the conservative New Democracy political party.

Since then, they have also targeted the German and Israeli embassies.
Check out the companies making headlines after the bell Thursday:



Shares of the Container Store (TCS) tanked after the retailer reported a miss on both earnings and revenue for the third quarter. The company posted a loss of 4 cents per share while Wall Street was expecting earnings of 5 cents a share. Revenues came in it at $197 million as opposed to the $200 million estimated.

Gap (GPS) stock also dropped sharply in after-hours trading. The apparel retailer reported that its net sales for the five-week period ending on Jan. 2 decreased 4 percent to $2.01 billion. For the same period last year, the company's net sales were $2.1 billion. Gap's comparable sales for December 2015 were down 5 percent versus a 1 percent increase last year.

Urban Outfitters (URBN) released holiday sales numbers after the bell on Thursday. The retailer's comparable sales for November and December were down 2 percent. The company saw strong sales online, but CEO Richard Hayne said those numbers were offset by weak in-store sales. Urban Outfitters stock dipped slightly before shifting back into the green after the market's close.



Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) stock fell in after-hours trading despite the retailer reporting third-quarter earnings that met expectations. However, the company posted revenues of $2.95 billion versus an expected $2.97 billion. The company's fourth-quarter guidance is also below Wall Street's estimates.



Shares of Apple suppliers Cirrus Logic (CRUS) and Qorvo (QRVO) tanked after the bell. Both suppliers pre-announced fiscal results that missed expectations after the close. The tech sector, hard hit by the market sell-off, was down more than 3 percent on Thursday. This drop made it the worst performing sector in the S&P 500 (^GSPC).

Shares of Apple (AAPL) itself inched lower in Thursday's extended hours trading. Shares of Apple have been dropping consistently over the last week.

 CNBC's Courtney Reagan contributed to this report.





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Crude Investors Beware! Crude Might Fall Even Lower

(Continued from Prior Part)

Iran could get as much market share as possible

Experts think that Irans first priority will be to capture the market share as soon as possible after the sanctions are lifted. Crude oils price is lower. A higher market share could enhance the revenue.

Irans economy has been crippled due to sanctions imposed by the EU (European Union) and other countries led by the US. The sanctions are supposed to be lifted in 2016. Iran accounts for 9.3% of the worlds total proved crude oil reserves. Its one of OPECs (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) leading producers.

The above chart shows a fall in Irans crude oil exports.

A month ago, Irans oil minister announced a new model of contracts for foreign oil and gas companies during the two-day conference in Tehran. The new framework allows foreign investors to retain the oil fields for a longer period. The older contracts were for the short term. Earlier, foreign companies used to develop the oil fields and hand them over to Iranian oil companies.

The new contract laid down the framework. The foreign companies will develop the oil and gas fields. They will also extract oil and natural gas from the fields. Foreign companies will own a stake in the oil and gas fields. However, the resources will belong to Iran. Europe (FEZ) will be a lucrative market for Iran.

Lucrative offer for Eurasia companies

European companies like Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) and Total (TOT) are gearing up for the contract. The investments will also attract companies from Pakistan and India (INDY). Russian companies like Lukoil (LUKOY) are also looking to invest in the contract.

Continue to Next Part

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Jan 8 (Reuters) - Ireland's central bank will review its mortgage rules this summer, governor Philip Lane told The Irish Times.

Lane's comments would mean that mortgage applications during spring and early summer, the busiest time for house sales, will continue to be carried out under the current rules, the newspaper reported. (bit.ly/1K0IwZc)

Earlier last year, Ireland's central bank offered relief to first-time house buyers as it finalised new regulations to introduce curbs on mortgage lending aimed at avoiding a repeat of the devastating 2008 property crash.

The rules required first-time buyers to deposit 10 percent on the first 220,000 euros on a home, and 20 percent on any excess value.

In September last year, Irish finance minister Michael Noonan had called for a review of the impact of the central bank's new mortgage limits on the supply of houses for first-time buyers.

The upcoming review might see changes only post-autumn or even later, the newspaper said.

The newspaper also reported that further assessments could be made in a couple of years, once a well-established credit register is in place.

(Reporting by Sneha Teresa Johny in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will table amendments to the 2016 budget "soon" to take into account the realities of the year, state news agency Bernama quoted him as saying on Friday.

Najib did not specify when the meeting would be tabled.

Amendments to the budget will have additional measures to optimise spending and the role of government linked firms, he said, speaking at a meeting with the Ministry of Finance staff.

Najib said 2016 will be a challenging year but the government is committed to upholding the people's welfare and ensuring strong economic growth. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiffand Emily Chow; writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Sam Holmes)
Since Saturday, armed antigovernment protesters constituting a self-styled militia have occupied a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon.

At the heart of the protest is the militia members' desire to transfer ownership of the land from the federal government to private hands. Ammon Bundy, the apparent leader of the militia, told reporters earlier this week that the protesters would not leave the land until such a plan was in place.

Federal land ownership has been the source of a long-standing dispute among government agencies and many in more rural farming and ranching regions. It's especially prevalent in the western portion of the US.

The reason? The federal government owns a huge amount of land there. The US Geological Survey maintains maps of federally owned land. According to the USGS, here is the land owned by the US government, in purple:

Fed lands map

According to The New York Times, in fact, the federal government lays claim to about 47% of all land in the American West. That compares with about 4% of land east of the Mississippi River. Oregon is among the states where the federal government owns a majority of the land.

The reason is simple: As the US expanded across the West, it took territory by purchasing, or taking, the land. It proceeded to sell the land to private owners or state or local governments, doing so with ease in the Midwest but running into more roadblocks in the West.

"The many mountainous, arid and difficult-to-reach tracts of land in the West simply werent attractive to farmers. Settlers claimed the few valleys where farming was feasible and built towns," The Times explained.

"The only thing most of the remaining land was good for was grazing, but cattle ranchers and sheep herders needed large tracts of land to feed their livestock, not the smaller parcels they could claim through homestead policies.

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Barack Obama gun town hall

CNN's Anderson Cooper asked US President Barack Obama on Thursday night if it was "fair" to refer to a "conspiracy theory" to describe those people fearful of the federal government confiscating guns.

Obama mentioned the conspiracy theory during a town-hall event with CNN on gun control, two days after he took executive action to expand background checks on gun buyers.

"Let me just jump in," said Cooper, who was moderating the discussion. "Is it fair to call it a conspiracy?"

"There are a lot of people who really believe this deeply," the anchor continued. "They just don't trust you."

"I'm sorry, Cooper," Obama replied, sounding exasperated as he continued:

Yes. It is fair to call it a conspiracy. What are you saying? Are you suggesting the notion that we are creating a plot to take everybody's guns away so we can impose martial law is a conspiracy? Yes, it is a conspiracy. I would hope you would agree with that. Is that controversial?

Cooper said that some Americans believe that Obama will try to go "further and further" in imposing stricter gun controls.

"I mean, look. I'm only going to be here for another year!" Obama quipped in response. "I don't know  when would I have started on this enterprise, right?"

The president also said that such a fear was impractical. He compared it to a hypothetical situation in which he wanted to take unsafe prescription drugs off the market.

"Maybe when I propose to make sure that unsafe drugs are taken off the market, that secretly I'm trying to control the entire drug industry  or take people's drugs away," Obama said. "But probably not. What's more likely is I just want to make sure that people are not dying."

NOW WATCH: Watch President Obama break down during an emotional speech on gun violence





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MANILA, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The weakening of the Chinese yuan reflects uncertainties surrounding the world's second largest economy and should not be seen as an attempt by Beijing to boost its export power, a Philippine central bank official said on Friday.

The Philippines is closely monitoring developments in China because of the potential spillover effects, Diwa Guinigundo, deputy governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas told Reuters via mobile phone message.

"Consolidating China's export power may not be a good way to interpret the renminbi trend because it is not exactly consistent with the country's announced shift in policy from investment-and-export-led growth to domestic demand-led growth as well as with the reported decline in China's FX reserves,' Guinigundo said.

China is of the Philippine's top trading partners.

(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Richard Pullin)
Crude Investors Beware! Crude Might Fall Even Lower

(Continued from Prior Part)

Russia might intervene in Yemen to pressure Riyadh

Yemen is a bottleneck for Saudi Arabias oil transportation through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Houthis fighters already destabilized Yemen. If they take control of the strait, then Saudi Arabias oil transportation through it might collapse. It could temporarily spur crude oils price. Also, Russias market share in crude oil would likely increase. It gives Russia the chance to stabilize its economy because its more dependent on crude oil. Growing tensions in the eastern province could be costly for Riyadh if the Shia majority group is backed by Russia. On the other front, Saudi Arabia is engaged in proxy war with Russia. The ongoing crisis stressed the financial burden on the kingdom. Recently, Riyadh decided to raise taxes despite cutting the crude oil production.

Why Russia might interfere in the Middle East

Russian (RSX) energy exports are hurt by falling crude oil prices. Saudi Arabias engagement in a price war with US shale oil producers leads OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). In order to retain its market share, the cartel is pumping oil into the international market. Since the US is a large net importer of crude oil, US shale producers likely wont hit the international market.

North America accounts for a small portion of Russias energy exports. According to Russias state statistics, mining energy-producing minerals attracted 14.7% of the total fixed capital investment in the country in 2014. According to the EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration), crude oil accounted for 68% of the total exports and 16.4% of the GDP (gross domestic product) in 2013. Russias main trading partners are Germany (EWG) and China (FXI).

Russian energy companies like Gazprom PAO (OGZPY) and Lukoil (LUKOY) fell by 1.6% and 1.7% on a YTD (year-to-date) basis. As of January 5, Tatneft (OAOFY) rose by 3.4% on a YTD basis.

Story continues

The price war made life difficult for Russian energy companies and Russias economy at large. Asia and Europe are two important markets for Russia. Asia and Europe accounted for 98% of Russias energy exports in 2013. Although Russian companies arent directly concerned with US shale oil producers, theyre impacted due to lower crude oil prices in the international market.

In the next part, well discuss how Iran is planning to capture a larger share in the crude oil market.

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
BANGKOK, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets

were trading mixed on Friday, with beaten down Singapore and

Thailand staging a mild rebound along with Asian shares but

selling by foreign investors in select large caps pushed

Indonesia to a more than two-week low.

The Jakarta composite index was down 0.2 percent at

4,520.68, after earlier touching 4,507.41, the lowest since Dec.

23.

Shares of Telkom Indonesia shed 2 percent and

Semen Indonesia was down 1.1 percent, with foreign

investors net selling both, Thomson Reuters Eikon data showed.

Jakarta-based Trimegah Securities said it expected the index

to continue weakening, with Friday's trading seen in the range

of 4,500-4,563.

BNI Securities said it expected pressure to linger from

China share markets after Shanghai stocks fell more than

seven percent and triggered a stock market circuit breaker on

Thursday.

"With lack of fresh sentiment in the market, it will be hard

to keep the index from falling," it said in a report.

Indonesia was on track for a weekly drop of 1.5 percent, its

first in four weeks, in line with other Southeast Asian stock

markets.

Singapore was up 0.7 percent and Thailand was

up 0.9 percent, both on course for a weekly drop of more than 4

percent. The Philippines was down 0.5 percent, poised for

a weekly decline of more than five percent.

Malaysia was up 0.2 percent, recouping early losses

while Vietnam was down 0.7 percent, both set to fall more

than two percent on the week.

Asian shares, measured by MSCI's broadest index of

Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, rose 0.6

percent, led by strong gains for Chinese stocks after China

suspended its market circuit breaker and set a firmer midpoint

rate for trading of the yuan for the first time in nine days.

For Asian Companies click;

SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS

Change at 0534 GMT

Market Current Prev Close Pct Move

Singapore 2746.71 2729.91 +0.62

Kuala Lumpur 1658.97 1655.13 +0.23

Bangkok 1236.75 1224.83 +0.97

Jakarta 4520.68 4530.45 -0.22

Story continues

Manila 6587.36 6618.88 -0.48

Ho Chi Minh 561.49 565.36 -0.68

(Reporting by Viparat Jantraprap; Additional reporting by

Fransiska Nangoy in Jakarta; ; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)
(Corrects bullet point to 1 bln Sfr payment from 2 bln)

* SNB expects 2015 loss of 23 bln Sfr

* Loss on foreign currency positions amounted to 20 bln Sfr

* Still expects total 1 bln Sfr payment to federal and state govts

By Joshua Franklin

ZURICH, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank (SNB) expects cash reserves to cover an annual payment to federal and state governments despite a record loss in 2015 caused by the Swiss franc's sharp rise, sparing the central bank a potential political backlash.

SNB profits are not part of its monetary policy mandate but the annual payments have sometimes meant the difference between a budget surplus and a budget deficit for some cantons

The 23 billion Swiss franc ($23.06 billion) loss posted on Friday, based on provisional calculations, was largely due to losses on the SNB's foreign currency holdings given the Swiss franc's surge when the central bank ended its cap against the euro.

Peter Hegglin, the head of Switzerland's 26 cantonal finance ministers, said only 12 of 26 cantons had budgeted a full or partial payout.

"So a small majority of the cantons had expected there will be no payout," he told Reuters. "Had there been no payment then there would have been more pressure on the cantons to save money."

The loss was another reminder of the cost of last January's decision to end the cap on the franc against the euro. The franc's sharp appreciation forced the SNB into losses of 20 billion francs on its foreign currency positions.

But the central bank's 27.5 billion francs in distribution reserves meant it still expects to dish out 1 billion francs to the federal government and Swiss cantons, or states, plus a 15 franc-per-share dividend.

The SNB, whose shares are listed, is obliged to pay at least two thirds of net profits to the cantons.

The profits of the SNB, which are not part of its monetary policy mandate, have been a delicate political subject since it gave no payout for the first time in 2013.

In the past, the SNB's annual payment has sometimes meant the difference between a budget surplus and a budget deficit for some cantons. But a record 50.1 billion franc SNB loss in the first six months of 2015 had dampened expectations for a payout this year.

($1 = 0.9973 Swiss francs) (Editing by Michael Shields and Dominic Evans)
Jessica Lessin

Former star Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Lessin has a tech media startup called The Information. She joined a Digiday podcast to talk about the digital media landscape and revealed a few stats about her 2.5-year-old company.

Lessin's team of reporters prefer to focus on quality over quantity. She tells Digiday that her team publishes just two stories per day in total, despite having eight editorial staffers (and 15 employees in all).

That means most of her staffers write nothing most days.

That sounds really inefficient, like a death wish for a startup. That's because most digital publishers rely on advertisements to make money. They may also have subscription businesses and events businesses, like Business Insider does, but most of the money they make comes from advertising campaigns.

Currently, advertisers determine how much they'll spend with a publisher based on traffic figures, like a publication's number of monthly readers (uniques) and the number of articles they read (pageviews) per month. And if you only write two articles per day for a very niche audience like "The Information" does, with no potential for your stories to go viral, that's not going to keep the office lights on.

But Lessin doesn't care about any of that. Instead, she's focused on creating quality articles that will attract paying subscribers. She has the luxury of running a subscription-only media company because she chose to bootstrap her startup from the get-go, so she has no pressure from outside investors to scale quickly and generate traffic.

"The Information" has a $399 annual subscription plan, which Lessin says "thousands" of people pay for.

When asked for a more specific number, Lessin told Business Insider her number of subscribers is "multiples" higher than 2,000 people.

So if we estimate that Lessin has 4,000 subscribers paying $399 per year (which would be a lower multiple of only 2), that's about $1.6 million in gross annual revenue. Of course, that number could be a lot higher if, say, the multiple is 3 or 4, which would mean The Information is making somewhere between $2.4 and $3.2 million in gross annual revenue. But even the lower estimate of $1.6 million is impressive, and it doesn't cost a ton of money to run a media business.

Story continues

The Information has been testing ads to acquire subscribers on Facebook and Twitter, and there are server fees and such, so you can assume Lessin spends $10,000 to $15,000 per month on all that, excluding payroll, or about $120,000 per year.

If we go with the lower estimate for gross annual revenue, that leaves about $1.48 million to pay Lessin and her 14 other employees, which comes out to about $100,000 per person. That'd be a high salary for a team of writers in an industry that notoriously doesn't pay very much. Plus Lessin has said that the number in her company's bank account keeps rising, indicating "The Information" is profitable, despite the fact that it's pouring most of its generated revenue back into the business.

So, for a small, entirely-bootstrapped, 2.5-year-old media startup to be generating $1.6 million without selling any ads or hosting any events  that's unusual, and it's also a real business.

Even if eight people only collectively publish two articles per day.

NOW WATCH: 7 ways the Samsung Galaxy S6 is better than the iPhone 6s





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donald trump

Real-estate mogul Donald Trump ended his Thursday-night campaign rally by calling for an end to so-called gun-free zones on schools and US military bases.

"I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools  you have to  and on military bases on my first day. It gets signed my first day," the Republican presidential front-runner told his supporters in Burlington, Vermont.

"You know what a gun-free zone is to a sicko?" Trump asked. "That's bait."

Trump's rally was occurring at the same time as US President Barack Obama's televised town-hall forum addressing gun violence. Obama has repeatedly called for gun-control measures after recent mass shootings and took executive action this week to expand background checks on gun buyers, among other things.

But Trump argues that more people need to be carrying arms to protect the innocent.

His allusion to gun-free military bases was apparently a reference to the attacks against two military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee, last July. His gun-free schools comment could have been referring to the mass shooting at an Oregon community college last October, though concealed firearms were reportedly allowed there.

But far more of Trump's Thursday gun-control discussion was about the recent terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, California, and Paris. Both of those incidents, he suggested, would have been easily thwarted if those areas had looser gun-control laws and an armed public.

"They walk into a number of places in France, and they say, 'Get over.' Boom. 'Get over.' Boom. 'Get over.' Boom. Nobody had a gun on the other side," Trump recalled. If the people there were armed, he said, "It's a whole different outcome. It's a whole different deal."

He added: "You'll have bad stuff happening, but at least we're shooting back. And we're going down shooting."

NOW WATCH: Watch President Obama break down during an emotional speech on gun violence





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An oil pump jack can be seen in Cisco, Texas, August 23, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Stone

By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell for a fifth straight day on Friday, losing 10 percent on the week, and Goldman Sachs said more losses were needed to force producers to cut supplies adequately to balance the glut and bleak demand outlook in the market.

Futures of global oil benchmark Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude seesawed through the day, settling slightly lower after stock prices on Wall Street gave up their earlier strength. The two benchmarks hit 12-year lows earlier in the week after China's stock market crash roiled global markets.

Since the selloff in oil began 18 months ago, traders and investors have wondered how long and deep the slide would go as prices fell from above $100 a barrel to below $40, and looked poised to break below $30 next.

Goldman, which has said oil could hit $20, said in a note on Friday the market needs to see sustained low prices through the first quarter "so producers will move budgets down to reflect $40 a barrel oil for 2016."

The note, based on interactions between oil producing companies and investors at a Goldman conference in Miami this week, concluded that producers were not ready to slash output at current prices.

"Instead, producers spoke largely of their agility to spend within cash flow and ... ramp up when needed," the Wall Street bank said. "This hurt sentiment as investors came away concerned that companies were not being responsive enough."

The glut has persisted despite a drop in U.S. oil drilling rigs last year - the first annual cut since 2002 and the biggest decline since at least 1988, according to Baker Hughes.

In the first week of 2016, however, energy firms stepped up the rate of idling rigs and the U.S. oil rig count dropped to a five-year low. [RIG/U]

Brent (LCOc1) settled 20 cents lower at $33.55 a barrel. It hit a session low of $32.78, after sliding on Thursday to $32.16, the lowest since April 2004.

For the week, Brent fell 10 percent, just behind the 11 percent drop in the opening week of 2015, which was a record loss for oil in the first full trading week of any year.

Story continues

WTI (CLc1) ended 11 cents lower at $33.16. It fell to $32.64 earlier in the day, after falling to $32.10 on Thursday, its lowest since December 2003.

"The sentiment is still extremely negative and short positions are still at excessive levels," Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro, told the Reuters Global Oil Forum. "That makes it also hard to pinpoint the timing of the expected recovery."

ABN Amro cut its 2016 Brent and WTI price forecast to $50 per barrel from its prior view of $65 and $60, respectively.

U.S. stock indexes (.SPX) (.DJI) bounced in and out of positive territory in choppy trading.[MKTS/GLOB]

"In my view, crude is still just a number on screen with little implications for most of the people and computers that are actively trading," said Scott Shelton, energy broker and commodities specialist at ICAP in Durham, North Carolina.

"It will keep going down until the equity world stops selling off."

The options market indicates concerns oil prices can fall further. Some investors are acquiring put options giving them the right to sell at $25 a barrel, anticipating that Brent will fall below that, and the costs of those options are soaring.

Over the past year, the world has been producing 1.5 million barrels per day more oil than it consumes. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency expect global demand growth to slow in 2016 to around 1.20-1.25 million bpd from a very high 1.8 million bpd in 2015.

(This story corrects the milestone in paragraph 11 to 2003, from 2013)

(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in London and Meeyoung Cho in Seoul; editing by David Gregorio, Bernadette Baum and Marguerita Choy)
South Korea has resumed propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers against Pyongyang across the border, South Korean military officials said on Friday, taking a step that has angered North Korea in the past.

Seoul decided to restart propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts against Pyongyang after North Korea announced this week that it had successfully tested a hydrogen nuclear device .

"We are putting out critical messages about Kim Jong Un's regime and its fourth nuclear test, saying North Korea's nuclear weapons development is putting its people in more difficult times economically," a military official said.

The loudspeaker broadcasts began at noon local time and another official said the military heightened the level of alert around the locations where the propaganda was being broadcast. According to reports, the broadcasts can be heard as far away as 12 miles from the border.

In the past, South Korea has particularly irritated North Korea by also broadcasting K-pop - Korean pop music that has gained a worldwide following for its distinctive sound - over the border, puncturing the isolated Communist state's media blackout.

These broadcasts are reportedly considered highly insulting in Pyongyang, because they are damaging to the dignity of leader Kim Jong Un.

When South Korea bombarded its neighbor with broadcasts of propaganda and pop music last August, North Korea massed troops at the border and unleashed artillery fire, in the two countries' most serious skirmish in some time. The August broadcasts were in retaliation for North Korea injuring two South Korean soldiers with mines.

There are reports that South Korea has already resumed the K-pop onslaught, with Yonhap, the country's biggest news agency, writing that the music has been accompanied by a "narrative of South Korea's achievements" as well as criticism of Kim Jong Un's human rights abuses.

But the UK has urged the country to go easy on the propaganda for fear of needlessly enraging North Korea.

Story continues

"We urge South Korea to exercise restraint," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said during a visit in Japan. "It is simply rising to the bait."

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Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro protest as deputy Henry Ramos Allup, the elected president of the new parliament arrives at his new office in Caracas on January 4, 2016 (AFP Photo/Ronaldo Schemidt)

Caracas (AFP) - A tense struggle for control of Venezuela's legislature threatens to come to a head at a swearing-in ceremony Tuesday as opposition lawmakers defy government efforts to weaken their majority.

Opponents and loyalists alike of the country's Socialist leadership have called on their supporters to rally at the National Assembly as an opposition majority takes over for the first time in 17 years.

Facing the toughest challenge yet to his authority from the new assembly, President Nicolas Maduro moved to calm tensions late Monday by saying he had ordered the security forces to ensure the investiture goes ahead peacefully.

He said authorities and the opposition discussed safety measures so that demonstrators "can go out, sing their songs and chant their slogans with enough space so that access to the National Assembly is not obstructed."

The call for rallies raised fears of fresh unrest in the oil-rich, crisis-hit country, where street violence sparked by anti-government protests left 43 people dead in 2014.

The tension around Tuesday's proceedings "underlines the climate of political confrontation and government instability," wrote Diego Moya-Ocampos, a Venezuelan analyst at research group IHS.

"The armed forces will play a key role behind the scenes."

Maduro also said he would try to get the assembly to support a new economic emergency plan. That could set the stage for yet another serious political clash.

- 'No coups or violence' -

The opposition coalition MUD won a majority in the assembly in elections on December 6, for the first time since 1999, when late socialist president Hugo Chavez came to power.

His successor Maduro has taken judicial steps to reduce the opposition's two-thirds supermajority.

It has appointed new judges to the 32-member Supreme Court, which has granted his request to suspend the swearing-in of three incoming lawmakers over alleged voting fraud.

Story continues

Losing those three deputies would take away the opposition's supermajority of 112 of the 167 seats in the assembly.

The opposition wants to take constitutional steps to get rid of Maduro, but would be much less likely to succeed without a supermajority.

The MUD insisted its legislators would all turn up to be sworn in on Tuesday, setting up a tense standoff.

Hardline grassroots pro-government groups vowed to take to the streets.

The new opposition lawmakers voted in one of their senior figureheads, Henry Ramos Allup, as the new assembly speaker on Sunday.

He said his side had received assurances from the military that they would prevent "violent groups" from carrying out "acts of intimidation" around the assembly on Tuesday.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino responded that the military should not be drawn into the controversy by those with "political" interests.

"The armed forces are not an institution for subverting constitutional order or disregarding democratic institutions, let alone for launching coups d'etat," he wrote on Twitter.

- Oil-rich and unstable -

Workers at the congressional television channel were being prevented from broadcasting Tuesday's proceedings, said one of the channel's journalists, Betzaida Amaro.

Ramos Allup insisted: "That doesn't matter because we will guarantee that private media can broadcast an event that belongs to all of Venezuela."

The MUD has called for international support to resist what it called a "judicial coup" against its deputies.

Venezuela has the world's biggest known oil reserves but has suffered from a fall in the price of the crude on which its government relies.

It is in deep recession and citizens are suffering shortages of basic goods.

Now its troubles are heightened by political instability.

"The government is not used to having a counterweight to its power and is trying to avoid that at all costs," said analyst Luis Vicente Leon, president of pollster Datanalisis.

"But it is also true that the opposition, after so many years without having power, has forgotten how to use it -- and strike a balance."
The Matriarchy, a serial fiction novel on FITK This is chapter 84 of, a serial fiction novel on FITK

June 16th, 2017

Welcome to Art World Today, Im your host, Kevin Hormian. Today our guest is Sean Carroll, who some of you may remember from a political affair from several years ago, commonly referred to as Billygate. Were not here to discuss that today, however, but to talk to Sean about his efforts to bring the life and work of his grandmother, Emily Carroll, to a wider audience.



Pleased to be here, Kevin, its nice to be able to talk about someone other than myself.



Its been a long and strange trip, this story of an unheralded Modernist master, whose work had been hidden for over seventy yearswhy dont you give us the short history behind this fantastic exhibition, currently playing to sold-out crowds at MOMA.

Will you be showing any more of Emilys work in the future?



The canvases are her only finished pieces. Sketches and studies may be released for historical and scholarly use in the future. Nothing is planned at this time.

As we leave today, well be showing a selection of photographs of Emily taken from your bookimages you found when you made an extensive search of the archives of her contemporaries. The world can finally see this hitherto unknown artist as she was, in her element. A truly remarkable woman.

THE END

Five minutes, Mr. CarrollSean looked up from his phone and nodded. He had been conducting a video conversation with Mary, who was in Reykjavik with their daughter Mareka and their friend Jo. In the four years since Marekas birth, the Old Religion which had been reestablished in Iceland had grown tremendously. Seans grandmothers spells and charms which Mary had contributed to the organization became the basis for a wildly successful web app as well as becoming a best-selling self-help book. Mary, Jo, and Mareka were staying with Hilmar and his niece, ora and ora and Seans son, Vilhjalmur Stefan. Sean and Mary and Mareka had been spending a lot of time in Iceland, creating a blended family. It also gave Mareka a chance to learn Icelandic from her half-brother.Sean was in New York City, scheduled to give a television interview. His grandmother Emilys paintings were currently on display inand the book Sean had produced about her and her work was on the best seller lists as well. Sean signed off with Mary and a few minutes later was ushered into the studio where the interview was about to take place.As Sean performed the official version, his memories: of the grandmother he never knew, then found, then lost, floated just beneath the surface of his recitation. The true story was preposterous, so much so that Sean didnt worry about any of it becoming known. No one would believe it. Outside of Sean and Mary, only his Aunt Tina and her friend Edwin Duddle knew of Emilys resurrection and they were pledged to secrecy, abiding in an assisted living facility in Decorah, Iowa. Emilys work had captured the imagination of the art world and was also making inroads into popular culture: the book about Emily, based on her diaries as well as the recollections of her contemporaries, had just been optioned for a movie. Seans biggest remaining problem was the inheritance taxes which would come due when any of the paintings were sold. Seans lawyers had worked out a plan involving donations and other asset swaps. While not eliminating the taxes they would minimize them. There was no shortage of prospective buyers.As if they could show more! Sean well knew that Emilys spirit drawings had a powerful potential as objects of veneration. And the erotic drawings! There might never be a time for their release. The drawings could wait.In Seattle, Marcel DuPage had been idly watching an interview concerning a recently discovered Modernist painter. The man being interviewed seemed familiar to Marcel so he started to watch the program. When photos of a woman, dressed in fashionable clothes from the twenties, appeared his attention was riveted to the screen. He suddenly realized exactly who she was and where he had seen herCarol, the mystery woman at the dance, the woman he had been searching for, the man on TV had been with her that night. What was his name? CarrollCarol? And the mans nameSean, thats what Carol had called him that night. The final image was a close-up, with her name superimposed: Emily Carroll, wearing that dress, that fabulous dress, the one that he had once so carefully removed.Mareka, tell me, what did you learn today? said Hilmar, who was looking after the children while their mothers and Jo were out shopping.Villi and I were by the ocean, said the girl, Villi said that the big stone there could speak.Did you listen? Could you hear it speak?Yes! I heard it!What did it say?It told me that my real name is Inanana, and it told me that I am the Goddess incarnate.Hilmar was taken aback. He was used to hearing unusual things from the children, but this was in a whole different category. As he sat, speechless, he became acutely aware of the penetrating stare from the girl. He had to respond, but how?Mareka, the stones say many things, he began, Tell your mother what you heard, she is wiser than I am in their ways. Tell her, and only her. She will tell you what the message from the stones means.Ja, ja. Im going out to play with Villi, but I wont tell him.Hilmar pondered this. He knew all about Mareka's birththe earthquakes, the seven volcanoes by the seven seas, the supernova. He knew how these things had been considered signs, not just by Hilmar and his group, by other sects as well. But this, this was something that the child discovered on her own: it was her awakening.thought Hilmar.The story continues in volume III: The Inheritance
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A student has been arrested for killing a classmate after a dispute over a 500-baht drug sale in Sa Kaeo, eastern province of Thailand.

The alleged suspect was apprehended at his house in tambon Parai of Aranyaprathet district. Thai police searched the house and discovered the alleged murder weapon used to kill his classmate. The offender, whose name has been withheld, confessed he killed his classmate after he refused to pay back 500 baht that the victim owed.

Earlier on Tuesday night, an unidentified body was reported to be found near a road linking Banmainongsai and Bandan. A backpack and a helmet were discovered nearby while the victims motorcycle with the engine still running was found about three kilometers away from the crime scene.

The victim was soaked in blood and he was wearing his school uniform, a white shirt and brown trousers. The body identified as Phroomrapee Woranom was a grade 12 student at Aranyaprathet School. He was the son of Wanlop Woranam, Ban Nong Bua Schools principal.

Mr. Wanlop received a call from police about his sons death. The victims father told the investigating officers that his son along with 10 other students went to a friends house to do homework on Tuesday evening.

I was angry because Phoomrapee avoided to pay my money. I went to see him to make him pay the debt, but Phoomrapee refused and tried to flee, said the suspected teenager during the investigation.

The suspect then punched the victim in the face. He struggled with his fellow as he attempted to wrest a gun from Phoomrapees pocket. The alleged killer managed to get the gun and then shot the victim in the face and head several times to make sure Phoomrapee was dead and returned home.

According to the investigators, there was no sign of struggle where the tragedy took place. The 18-year-old student had been dead for more than 30 minutes before he was found. The .38-caliber pistol used to kill Phoomrapee belongs to Mr. Wanlop, the victims father. IMAGE/Bangkokpost
About two dozen people have starved to death whilst more are suffering from malnutrition in Madaya, town of Syria which has been under siege for six months.

The whole world witnessed the unceasing arm conflict in Syria where mortality toll rate plunge everyday. Syrian residents in Madaya, a town near the border with Lebanon, are facing a new challenge to survive as they stayed stuck and trapped in their homes to hunger and starvation.

Millions of civilians fled their homes and took refuge in the neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. In addition, thousands have made perilous journey to cross the Mediterranean by riding dinghies and ferries in search of peace and new beginning.

A lot of people are surviving on water and salt only, said an activist in Madaya. They dissolve salt into the water just to kill the hunger pangs they dying from. Undernourishment is killing people.

The food available within Madaya has become cripplingly expensive and prices continue to rise. One kilogram of rice cost about $200 and 900 gram of formula for babies selling for as much as $300. The Syrians trapped in the villages have been forced to eat grass and undergo surgery without anesthesia. Some are even going after cats and dogs, to catch them and eat them.

The medical and humanitarian supplies were delivered by aid lorries last October. Madaya, located north-west of Damascus, has been besieged since July by a combination of Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and his ally, the Lebanons Shia Islamist Hezbollah.

In December, at least 22 people died from starvation including six babies. Most often mothers are malnourished to a point that they cannot produce enough breast milk to feed their newborns. Moreover, four civilians lost their lives due to landmine explosions while several others were killed by sniper fire. IMAGE/AP
One of the main battles farmers across the state, and country, face on a yearly basis is how to reach the maximum amount of productivity and profitability possible.

On Thursday morning, hundreds of attendees from the greater Fremont area flooded into the Christensen Field Main Arena for the Fremont Corn Expo. At the annual event, numerous speakers talked about all-things-corn.

Laura Thompson, On-farm research coordinator for Nebraska Extension, spoke to the audience about how participating in On-farm research can help maximize the ever-important farming components of reaching peak efficiency and revenue.

The program, which focuses on addressing critical farmer production, profitability and natural resource issues by having growers take an active role in research, started in Saunders County in 1990, and soon expanded into counties all around the state in 2012.

We work with producers and Extension educators to kind of come up with what kind of research we want to take a look at, Thompson said. Sometimes we go to them with ideas, and other times they come to us wanting to try something.

In 2015, 90 different On-farm studies  primarily done in Eastern Nebraska  were completed and analyzed so the information can be used to help farmers across the state know what works best to reach a maximum yield, and to help farmers learn what they might want to avoid the following year.

Research topics and projects relate to: variable rate seeding, planting populations, nitrogen, seed treatments, starter fertilizer, row spacing, cover crops, foliar micronutrients and many others, released information states.

Farmers normally pay for their own projects and then Extension representatives come out to their land periodically to collect data that is then analyzed and processed, Thompson said.

"At the end of the year, we collect the yield information and then run a statistical analysis on it which really allows us to account for the variability in the system," she said. "So it really allows us to be confident when we say if the practice was a success or not."

At the end of each growing year, annual result updates are held at locations around the state, she said.

This year, results meetings will be the second week in February in North Platte, Grand Ilsand, Norfolk and Mead.

Thompson said it isn't always about having a successful experiment -- each is just as important as the next.

"Sometimes there are products that people are using that aren't resulting in an increase in yield or profit, so these studies are just as important because it helps farmers see that maybe they don't want to incorporate that product into their operation," she said.

Ultimately, though, the goal of on-farm research is to boost the Nebraska ag industry as a whole

"All of these practices are being done to help people -- and the entire state of Nebraska -- to be as profitable and successful as possible," Thompson said.
Walter Campo approached Judge Geoffrey Hall with his defense attorney, Bradley Holtorf, Thursday afternoon in Dodge County District Court.

Holtorf was on Campos left, and to his right stood County Attorney Oliver Glass.

As the three stood before Hall, Campo pleaded no contest and was found guilty of manslaughter, a Class III felony, in the case of the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Tyler Childs that happened in late July.

As part of a plea agreement, the charge of using a deadly weapon to commit a felony was dropped by the prosecution.

Campo, 43, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $25,000 fine or both. The minimum prison sentence Campo faces is one year in the Lincoln Correctional Facility.

Campo, who has no previous criminal record, has lived in Fremont since moving from Alaska about 12 years ago, Holtorf said during an arraignment hearing held in August.

Campo was arrested after the shooting incident occurred July 24 at his home along County Road 26 in eastern Dodge County.

A Dodge County Sheriffs Office report said deputies were called after 11:30 p.m. July 24 about a man reportedly refusing to leave a residence. Law enforcement officials were told that Childs had gone to speak with an ex-girlfriend who was living at the residence with her parents.

Campo displayed a handgun at the door and an altercation ensued between the two men. During that time, Campo fired the handgun, striking Childs, who was later pronounced dead at the scene, the report stated.

A Dodge County Sheriffs Office notice of warrantless arrest says Childs and his ex-girlfriend, who is Campos daughter, had an argument earlier in the day at her place of employment and he was escorted off the property by security.

Judge Hall ordered a pre-sentence investigation, and sentencing will be at 9 a.m. March 14.
Former Nebraska First Lady Sally Ganem spoke to the First United Presbyterian Women on Thursday afternoon.

The women were able to have an upclose look into the life of a first lady.

Ganem, former principal of Washington Elementary School, has always been an educator. She was able to use that experience to bring several unique projects to the state.

An ongoing project is to create a virtual tour of the Nebraska State Capitol building. The tour is available for viewers at www.nebraskavirtualcapitol.org. There is some tweaking yet to be done to the tour  it lacks sound and needs tighter editing, but it offers a closer, brighter view of the often dark interiors of the building. The building is a treasury of art nouveau architecture and design.

Ganem was able to solicit funding from several organizations to put the project together, raising more than $650,000.

Teachers helped by making lesson plans to be used in the Nebraska History and social studies portions of the state mandated curriculum. There are interactive games available for children taking the tour such as a scavenger hunt for art and artifacts.

Ganem reminded the women that for Fremont children, a tour to the Capitol is possible, but for those living outstate, coming to
The next meeting of the Fremont Area Association of Retired School Personnel will be Wednesday with a noon potluck at Calvary United Methodist Church at 2438 E. 12th St.

All retired school personnel are invited to attend. Those attending are asked to bring a salad or a casserole as dessert will be furnished by the organization.

The program will be provided by Robin Ritter from Uniquely Your Stability Support. Members are asked to bring facial tissue to be donated to the Low Income Ministry.
Ryanair, Europes favourite airline, yesterday launched a new service from London Gatwick to Belfast International (its 77th base), which will operate 4 times daily from March, as part of its Summer 2016 schedule, offering customers even more choice from London, as Ryanair grows by 60% at London Gatwick Airport.

In addition, Ryanair will increase its London Gatwick to Dublin service to 7 times daily from March, offering 18 daily return services in total between London and Dublin including Stansted (8 daily) and Luton (3 daily), making Ryanair the ideal choice for both business and leisure customers, on Europes busiest route.

Ryanairs Robin Kiely said, We are pleased to announce a new service from London Gatwick to Belfast International (our 77th base and newest airport), which will operate 4 times daily from March, and more flights to Dublin, as part of our expanded Summer 2016 schedule. With more routes, frequencies, improved schedules and the same great low fares, its easy to see why millions of UK customers choose to fly Ryanair.

To celebrate our new route to Belfast and extra flights to Dublin, we are releasing seats for sale from just 14.99 for travel in March, April and May, which are available for booking until midnight Monday (11 Jan). Since these amazing low prices will be snapped up quickly, customers should log onto www.ryanair.com and avoid missing out.
Gaea is buying our legacy first-generation mobile games and publishing business. This is a continuation of our strategy of fewer, bigger, bolder games. The market will continue to get bigger for the top mobile games.

- Kabam COO Kent Wakeford

San Francisco-based mobile studio Kabam has sold off a slate of its older titles -- some of which have been hugely successful in years past -- to Chinese publisher Gaea Mobile.

The package includes Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North, The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth, Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs of the Dragon, and a number of the company's third party-developed titles.

These are not new games; Battle for the North launched in 2012. It and The Hobbit had at one time been the company's top-grossing games.



Kabam COO Kent Wakeford explains his thinking in an interview with VentureBeat on the news:

From a management perspective, we dont want to split our focus. We dont think that is the way to really succeed. We want to put the smartest people on the biggest opportunities. Supercell is a great example. Its about being able to create franchises that last years and years.

The company plans to focus on hits like its current success, Marvel Contest of Champions.

The studio secured a massive $120 million investment from Chinese internet giant Alibaba in 2014, and its CEO, Kevin Chou, said he hopes use that investment to aim at the massive Chinese mobile market in the future -- a sentiment echoed by Wakeford last year. Chou later wrote that he hopes to develop a game that generates $1 billion a year.



This isn't the first time Kabam has sold off games in its library; in 2014, it offloaded its legacy social game business on RockYou, which specializes in picking up games other publishers no longer wish to operate.
Microsoft announced this week that Windows 10 has spread to over 200 million devices since its launch last year, and Windows expert Mary Jo Foley estimates that roughly 18 million of those devices are Xbox One consoles.

This potentially sheds some light on how many Xbox One consoles have been sold to date, which is notable given that last October Microsoft stopped regularly reporting console sales numbers in favor of focusing on "engagement" statistics.

Competitor Sony, incidentally, has continued to report console sales, noting earlier this week that PlayStation 4 is coming up on 36 million units sold worldwide.

However, Foley's comments on Xbox One -- made during this week's episode of Windows Weekly -- come with significant caveats. She notes that the "around 18 million" estimate comes from an anonymous (but presumably trusted) source, and that it refers specifically to the number of Xbox One consoles running Windows 10 that were active within the past 28 days.

Microsoft began rolling out the Windows 10 update to Xbox One consoles last November, so this estimate presumably does not account for sales of Xbox One consoles that have not been connected to the network since before that update's debut.

Still, it seems likely that the vast majority of Xbox One consoles sold to date are also connected to Xbox Live, given that competitor Sony noted in 2014 that "more than 90 percent of PS4s in the U.S. are connected online."
Conservative thoughts on the issues of today








a. Make a phone call: to a lawyer or relative or anyone





b. Ask to see a lawyer immediately: if you dont have the money ask for a Duty Council





c. A Duty Council is a lawyer provided by the state





d. Talk to a lawyer before you talk to the police





e. Tell your lawyer if anyone hits you and identify who did so by name and number



f. Give no explanations excuses or stories: you can make your defense later in court based on what you and your lawyer decided



g. Ask the sub officer in charge of the station to grant bail once you are charged with an offence





h. Ask to be taken before a justice of The Peace immediately if the sub officer refuses you bail





i. Demand to be brought before a Resident Magistrate and have your lawyer ask the judge for bail





j. Ask that any property taken from you be listed and sealed in your presence



Cases of Assault:An assault is an apprehension that someone is about to hit you





The following may apply:



1) Call 119 or go to the station or the police arrives depending on the severity of the injuries





2) The report must be about the incident as it happened, once the report is admitted as evidence it becomes the basis for the trial





3) Critical evidence must be gathered as to the injuries received which may include a Doctors report of the injuries.



4) The description must be clearly stated; describing injuries directly and identifying them clearly, show the doctor the injuries clearly upon the visit it must be able to stand up under cross examination in court.





5) Misguided evidence threatens the credibility of the witness during a trial; avoid the questioning of the witnesses credibility, the tribunal of fact must be able to rely on the witnesss word in presenting evidence





6) The court is guided by credible evidence on which it will make its finding of facts




Information of, from and to the International Gay Community, were "gay" means ALL homosexual orientated individuals, groups and entities! The posts will be about developments, happenings, activities, occurances etc. etc. with a direct or indirect relation to and with the gay community and the individuals of the gay community! Interested? Subscribe! Disgusted? Ignore the site!
TAPI: Prospects and Challenges

[ Editors Note: This is Natalya Zamarayevas first crossing posting from NEO to VT. She is a PhD senior research fellow at the Department of Pakistan, Institute of Oriental Studies, NEOs main patron.

As we look back on our relationship with NEO which is in its third year, we both have come a long way in the breadth and depth of material and events we are now covering.

The timing was perfect, as we ended up in the middle of the Wests New Cold War against the independent Asian economies, to suck their economies, like a black hole, into the vortex of our own Federal Reserve Ponzi scheme.

Much of our coverage has been on the accelerated progress Eurasian countries have made to settle past differences to stand shoulder to shoulder against the Western, primarily US, sanctions monster whose foreign policy looks more and more like the simplistic Bush(43) one, You are either for us, or against us. Asian countries have been circling their wagons.

But rivalries still exist, particularly in the high-stakes energy pipeline business because for those who get there first, the prize can be a multi-generational monopoly on energy supplies for an entire region. The battle between Irans project and Turkmenistan TAPI pipeline has turned into a classic regional economic battle.

Iran has been caught in the middle of this after having jumped out in front of the pack to quickly build a pipeline over its territory to the Pakistani border, based on pledges from Islamabad to complete its interior portion. The US put the squeeze on them to delay the project, plus none of the needed financing appeared.

Pakistan has been in a desperate need for natural gas for its industry, because so many of its people struggle on part time income due to factory jobs that only run three half days a week, due to energy shortages.

It appears that Pakistan has backed out of the Iran arrangement at the urging and deep-pocket financing of the Chinese, who may have preferred a Turkmenistan flush with long term gas earnings, which can be invested in the New Silk Road, which will be the largest construction project in the world for possibly the next 50 years. The key to its viability is the creation of new booming economies along the route.

Russia has also been a competitor for the future Asian pipeline business, having inked a major one with China, which will hedge against decreases in Moscows EU gas sales due to political and NATO maneuvering.

But Moscow has been unhappy with the TAPI project, having recently given notice it will stop buying Turkmenistan gas so as to not be funding its own competition.

But the biggest wild card in all of this will be the pipeline route going through the heart of Taliban country, a place where warring parties are known to hold up any and all businesses for payoff shakedowns to fund their revolts. In the pipeline world this usually involves insurance payoffs to NOT attack the pipelines, and the insurance can have escalating premiums once the pipeline is a hostage to a militant party.

Once the gas crosses over into Baluchistan, another unstable area in Pakistan, and depending on whether that area receives the development boost it needs, we might see the pipeline running a gauntlet of bombing attacks. The current partners might be wishing they had chosen the Iranian pipeline five years from now.

 Jim W. Dean ] We shall hope that peace prevails and dependable energy supplies can trigger the economic improvement needed to boost domestic economies, with rising consumer spending to help solve the social and religious competition in the areas between the haves and have nots

____________

 First published  December 21, 2015 

Turbulent changes have of late become a common characteristic on the Asian continent. Since the conclusion of a military campaign by the coalition forces of the US / NATO in Afghanistan in December 2014, as a part of their anti-terrorism campaign, major infrastructural, economic and hydrocarbon projects have been radically taking place in West Asia.

To begin with, in March 2015, there was the Chinese-Pakistan i economic corridor worth 46 billion USD, and in addition, in December of this year, the Turkmenistan-Afg hanistan-Pakista n-India (TAPI) pipeline was approved, thereby confirming the intentions of this region to exchange geopolitics for geo-economics.

The groundbreaking ceremony of the TAPI gas pipeline was held in Ashgabat on December 12, 2015, the four parties being represented, respectively, by President G. Berdimuhamedov, President Ashraf Ghani, Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari.

The conference was titled A policy of neutrality: international co-operation for peace, security and development and was held as part of the International Conference convened in Ashgabat to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Turkmenistans Permanent Neutrality. All in all, despite questions being raised by the worldwide press in the past regarding the skepticism addressed towards the hydrocarbon projects, the event was successful.

Lets briefly recall the famous original data on the TAPI project (according to materials from the Pakistani press). The length of the pipeline is 1,735 km (1,084 miles), the project costs is $ 10 billion.

Construction started on schedule on December 13, 2015, the commissioning is expected by August 13, 2016, while the completion of the entire pipeline is scheduled for December of 2018. According to the projects documentation, 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be pumped through it annually during its thirty-year service.

Gas will be drawn from the Turkmen oil fields in Galkinish, the second largest reservoir of natural gas in the world. Then across more than 700 km of Afghan territory from Herat through the southwestern provinces, then farther south toward Kandahar, after which the line moves in the direction of the Pakistani province of Baluchistan.

The gas distribution station, located near the Pak-Afghan border, will then pump the gas into two separate pipelines: the first will veer sharply to the south, in the direction of the Pakistani port of Gwadar, Strait of Hormuz, from where the Turkmen gas will be transported to tankers and then sold on the international market; the second line will be for domestic consumption in Pakistan, and will also run in the direction of India.

At the initial stage, the pipeline is planned to pump up to 27 billion cubic meters of gas, 2 billion of which is to be bought by Afghanistan. Pakistan has also signed an agreement on the withdrawal of gas at the rate of 1,325 MMCFD (million cubic feet per day).

According to the participants in the ceremony of laying the first stone of the TAPI construction, the TAPI project has two objectives, one economic and the other political. The first is to meet the growing need of energy among the 2.3 billion inhabitants in South Asia and China, while the second is to reduce tension and contribute to the normalization of relations in the region. Indian vice president H. Ansariposhel says that TAPI is more than a project, describing it as the first step towards the unification of the region.

Back at the beginning of November, it would be hard for non-experts to believe in the implementation of this project. The realization of the project was threatened by two challenges: instability in Afghanistan and the failure of bilateral dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Making TAPI one of its priorities, Pakistan is quickly and dramatically changing existing approaches to solving complex issues with its neighbors, and firmly strengthening its control over Afghan and Indian foreign policy vectors, all the while acting on the advice of National Security advisor, retired General Janjua.

The General also held a series of talks with Afghan and Indian delegations in Paris, Bangkok and at the fifth Ministerial Conference Heart of Asia-Istanbul process in Islamabad in December 2015.

An armed spring/summer attack on Kabul by the Afghan Taliban, the concentration of armed opposition forces and international terrorist organizations such as LIH and Al Qaeda and a series of audacious terrorist attacks (the assault and capture of Kunduz by the Afghan Taliban in October 2015 and an armed attack by militants on the Kabul airport in late November 2015) have all called into question the possibility of bringing the security situation in the inner Afghanistan under control.

The actions of the armed opposition were further aggravated in July by the failure of talks between official government authorities and representatives of the Afghan Taliban Movement, and later, in the fall, by the inability to push a single nominee from the Taliban to negotiate with the central authorities.

But the main issue is not with the level of unity or disunity in the ranks of Afghan fighters, but in the so-called neutralization of one of the main demands of the Taliban  the abolition of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the introduction of Sharia law in the country.

Years of international anti-terrorist campaigns, from 2001 through 2014, have served to strengthen the Taliban into becoming an independent military and political force, which made both the administration of Afghanistan and domestic and global capitals consider it as a viable counterparty.

As a result, the ceremony of laying the first stone of the construction of the TAPI gas pipeline was made possible thanks to arrangements made by political and military forces in the region with the Afghan Taliban.

Defense Minister of the central government in Islamabad Khawaja Asif confirmed that, in order to ensure the safety of the pipeline passing through the territory of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, his government would use its influence on the Afghan Taliban, as it also meets the national interests of his country.

He also recalled events from the 1990s, when the Taliban government negotiated with the US company Yonical, providing security guarantees for a similar pipeline. Kabul and Islamabad are convinced that the Afghan Taliban does not oppose the TAPI project, as it is important for the financial stability of Afghanistan and, therefore, none of the groups intend to impede the project.

But another question arises  on what terms did the Taliban agree to play this game involving hydrocarbons?

Another welcome development was the participation of Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari in the ceremony of laying the first stone in the construction of the pipeline in Ashgabat. In October and early November, both Islamabad and New Delhi rejected even the possibility of holding talks at the level of foreign ministry secretaries, each pushing their own terms; but as of December 2015 the parties will jointly push the start button in Ashgabat.

Pakistani-Indian relations on the whole have also experienced major changes. Islamabad, due to insistence from the Indian side, has ensured the acceleration of judicial processes in the investigation of the terrorist attack in Mumbai in 2008, which, as alleged by New Delhi, was organized by Pakistan, while Islamabad also has conceded to soften its position concerning Kashmir.

TAPI is extremely important to both modern day Pakistan and personally to the head of the cabinet of ministers of the central government, Nawaz Sharif:

70% of energy needs will be met by this project, while saving up to $ 1 billion every year. This will implement the slogans of the prime ministers campaign of 2013, such as eliminating numerous hours of blackouts and stimulating the development of certain other sectors of the economy;

 It confirms Pakistans viability as a leader not only daring to break into the nuclear club of world powers (1998), but also to be the first civilian and military leaders in Islamabad to guarantee the supply of hydrocarbons to the country on a consistent basis.

A diplomatic breakthrough in Islamabad, visits by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the Central Asian republics in the spring and autumn of 2015 and unofficial talks with the leaders of Afghanistan and India in various international forums demonstrate that these results have been achieved. But we must still await the first gallon of Turkmen natural gas, or the first drop of Iranian crude oil.

Natalia Zamaraeva, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, Department of Pakistan Institute of Oriental Studies, exclusively for the online magazine  New Eastern Outlook .
MASON CITY  The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled the owners of a Mason City restaurant cant pursue action alleging their insurer underpaid them for damages following a 2007 fire.

In a 4-3 decision filed Friday, the majority of the justices agreed the tort action Ben Villarreal Jr. and Cleo Martinez, owners of La Casa Martinez, brought against United Fire & Casualty Co. is barred due to a judgment the restaurant owners had already received from the company in a breach of contract suit.

La Casa Martinezs owners filed that suit against United Fire to recover damages nearly a year after a fire on March 8, 2007. The fire severely damaged the restaurant at 400 Fourth St. S.W., which was later demolished.

Villarreal and Martinez claimed the $108,310 the insurance company paid them after the fire did not cover the total amount of damages.

During the course of the litigation, Villarreal and Martinez abandoned claims for business interruption damages but continued to assert United Fire underpaid them for the value of the building and personal property damages.

In March 2011 a Cerro Gordo County jury awarded the restaurant owners $176,690 for the additional unpaid value of the building and $60,212 for additional personal property loss.

Three months later Villarreal and Martinez filed the tort action, alleging United Fire had no objective reasonable basis for denying their damage claims. They claimed the companys bad faith caused them lost profits, lost wages and emotional distress.

This time the district court ruled in favor of United Fire.

The Iowa Court of Appeals reversed the district court decision regarding the bad faith action, and the Iowa Supreme Court granted United Fires request for further review.

In a dissenting opinion to Fridays Iowa Supreme Court ruling in favor of United Fire, Justice Brent Appel stated the bad faith case focused on the manner in which the insurer handled the restaurant owners claim, which makes it materially different from the breach of contract case.

Appel also stated substantial evidence showed the United Fire claims adjuster knew the value of the restaurant owners claim was more than what the company paid, but still repeatedly refused to approve additional payments.
MASON CITY  Amid periodic shouts of amen, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz brought his conservative message to North Iowa Friday, speaking to about 300 enthusiastic supporters at Praise Community Church.

He was to make stops in Manly, Osage and Charles City in a busy day of campaigning, part of his plan to hit 28 counties in six days.

Instead of standing still on conservative principles, Cruz exhorted his audience to run toward our values so we dont bankrupt our kids and grandkids and abandon the Constitution.

The audience was filled with people of all ages. Some adults stood in the back of the packed auditorium and held small children on their shoulders while the senator spoke.

There is a spirit of revival sweeping the country, said Cruz, who is the leading candidate in upcoming Iowa caucuses among Republican voters, according to several polls.

He told his audience what he intended to do on day one of his administration if he is elected. Each point he made was met with spirited applause. On day one, he said he would:

Rescind every illegal executive order signed by President Obama. If you live by the pen, you die by the pen  and my pen has an eraser, said Cruz.

Ask the Justice Department to investigate Planned Parenthood and prosecute anyone involved in illegal activities.

Instruct the Department of Justice that persecution of religious liberty ends today.

Rip to shreds this catastrophic nuclear deal.

Begin the process of moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

But Cruz said he had plans well beyond his first day in office, including repealing every word of Obamacare, ending Common Core, securing U.S. borders and ending sanctuary cities.

Prior to Cruz speaking, the audience heard from former Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz, Family Leader founder and conservative activist Bob Vander Plaats, and U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, Cruzs state co-chair, who introduced the senator.
MASON CITY | Members of the North Iowa Shrine Club recently donated $20,000 plus toys to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Minneapolis.

Club members David Lawyer, Robert McGowan, George Case, Joseph Bartusek and Jared Kellar went to the hospital to make the presentation. Bartusek and Kellar, dressed as Darth Vader and a storm trooper from "Star Wars," visited with patients and staff.

Gifts for the children included 350 teddy bears collected at Beck's Sports Bar in Waterloo.

North Iowa Shrine Club members raise funds by sponsoring an annual circus. They also receive donations from appearing in parades and other activities throughout the Mason City area.

Funds are donated to the children's hospital as well as a fund to pay for travel, meals and lodging for children who may needs this assistance.
FALLS CHURCH, Va., Jan. 7, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) announced today that its board of directors has elected Lisa R. Davis, corporate vice president, communications, effective Feb. 29, 2016. Davis will succeed Darryl M. Fraser, who has announced his intention to retire.

A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://media.globenewswire.com/noc/mediagallery.html?pkgid=38376

Davis will have responsibility for the Corporation's worldwide communications strategy and execution, including media relations, employee communications, advertising, executive communications and branding/corporate image. She will report to Wes Bush, the company's chairman, chief executive officer and president, and become a member of the company's Corporate Policy Council.

"We are delighted to welcome Lisa Davis, an accomplished communications executive, to our senior management team," Bush said. "She has a strong background in communications, corporate affairs and government relations that will serve her well as the leader of our global communications organization. We look forward to her contributions to our company's performance for our shareholders, customers and employees.

"At the same time, we want to express our gratitude for the outstanding contributions Darryl Fraser has made to Northrop Grumman over his 37-year career," Bush said. "He successfully led our communications function for the past eight years and repositioned our brand in the marketplace, emphasizing the Value of Performance." Following Feb. 29, Fraser will continue as a corporate vice president and assist with the transition until his retirement on April 1, 2016.

Davis joined Northrop Grumman in 2014 and currently is vice president, communications for the Mission Systems sector. Prior to Northrop Grumman, Lisa was vice president, Corporate Affairs for MedImmune, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. Davis has also held senior communications positions with the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and the Democratic Leadership Council.

Davis earned a bachelor's degree in communications studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and master's degrees in business administration and public administration from Howard University.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
WEST ORANGE, N.J., Jan. 8, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the fourth straight month, Americans with disabilities continue to struggle with finding employment, while the job market for people without disabilities slightly improved, according to today's National Trends in Disability Employment  Monthly Update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and University of New Hampshire's Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). In an effort to create or expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities, Kessler Foundation distributed grants to disability employment initiatives across the U.S.



In the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Jobs Report released Friday, January 8, the employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities decreased from 27.8 percent in December 2014 to 26.6 percent in December 2015 (down 4.3 percent; 1.2 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities, the employment-to-population ratio increased slightly from 71.8 percent in December 2014 to 72.5 percent in December 2015 (up 1.0 percent; 0.7 percentage points). The employment-to-population ratio, a key indicator, reflects the percentage of people who are working relative to the total population (the number of people working divided by the number of people in the total population multiplied by 100).



"The employment to population ratio for people with disabilities has deteriorated over the past four months," according to John O'Neill, Ph.D., director of employment and disability research at Kessler Foundation. "Over the same time period the employment to population ratio for people without disabilities has either shown small improvements or deteriorated but to a lesser degree than for people with disabilities."



The labor force participation rate of people with disabilities also decreased from 31.7 percent in December 2014 to 30.1 percent in December 2015 (down 5.0 percent; 1.6 percentage points). For people without disabilities, the labor force participation rate increased slightly from 75.7 percent in December 2014 to 76.0 percent in December 2015 (down 0.4 percent; 0.3 percentage points). The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the population that is working or actively looking for work.



"It will be interesting to see if 2015, overall, was a positive year for people with disabilities, which we will do in year-in-review report. Although, I'd rather go into next year with the monthly trend heading in a positive direction, we didn't see that at the end of 2015," said Andrew Houtenville, Ph.D., associate professor of economics at UNH.



Kessler Foundation recently announced $1.6 million in funding for major employment initiatives in four states. In Florida, funding was awarded to Bridging the Gap from College to Careers, an initiative of the Florida Atlantic University Foundation. In Illinois, Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago will launch the Realizing Education and Advancement for Disabled Youth (READY) program to help students transition to college, employment and economic independence. The Maryland Customized Employment Project will improve employment outcomes for individuals with developmental disabilities through collaborative partnerships with state agencies and employers. The Mercy Health Foundation's Healthcare Workforce Inclusion Model will place individuals with disabilities in new and existing opportunities in St. Louis, Missouri.



"Employment opportunities are fundamental to improving quality of life for people with disabilities. To counter the negative labor trends, funding organizations need to prioritize support for innovative, sustainable employment initiatives," said Elaine E. Katz, MS, senior vice president of Grants & Communications. "Through our signature employment grants, we seek to fund large-scale programs that focus on preparing individuals for lasting and fulfilling jobs that promote financial independence."



Since 2000, Kessler Foundation has provided $33.6 million to expand job opportunities for people with disabilities. The Foundation awards community employment grants and funds related special initiatives, in addition to its two-year signature employment grants, which range from $200,000 to $500,000.



In December 2015, among workers ages 16-64, the 4,141,000 workers with disabilities represented 2.9 percent of the total 141,151,000 workers in the U.S.



"The statistics in nTIDE are not seasonally adjusted," noted Dr. O'Neill. "Because disability employment data have been collected for so few years, more time is needed for seasonal trends to become evident."



The next nTIDE will be issued on Friday, February 5, 2016.



NOTE: The statistics in the National Trends in Disability Employment  Update are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, but are NOT identical. They have been customized by the University of New Hampshire to efficiently combine the statistics for men and women of working age (16 to 64).



nTIDE is funded, in part, by grants from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) (H133B130015 & H133B120005) and Kessler Foundation.



About Kessler Foundation

Kessler Foundation, a major nonprofit organization in the field of disability, is a global leader in rehabilitation research that seeks to improve cognition, mobility and long-term outcomes, including employment, for people with neurological disabilities caused by diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord. Kessler Foundation leads the nation in funding innovative programs that expand opportunities for employment for people with disabilities. For more information, visit KesslerFoundation.org.



About the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire

The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) was established in 1987 to provide a coherent university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families. For information on the NIDILRR-funded Employment Policy and Measurement Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, visit http://www.ResearchonDisability.org.



For more information, or to interview an expert, contact:

Lauren Scrivo, 973.768.6583, LScrivo@KesslerFoundation.org

Carolann Murphy, 973.324.8382, CMurphy@KesslerFoundation.org

A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=38383
Re: Help! CBS ($) or Kellogg ($$$) [ #permalink

1 Kudos

Well, let's break it out by things you care about:



1) Community: Kellogg wins this for sure. Almost everyone lives together on campus 45 minutes away from Chicago so you really have a community that sticks together in Evanston. Columbia people are more spread out. I don't think this is a bad thing, but it Kellogg has that undergrad type vibe when it comes to its community.



2) Fiance: You have to determine how much this matters to you. I will say, one thing that turns people off about CBS is the COL. But if you are splitting a 1 bedroom with another person you can save and bring that down to more in line with other schools. Though you have that large scholarship from Kellogg, so it definitely won't ever equal.



3) Midwest vs East Coast: This isn't a huge deal. You can recruit well for most industries on the coasts from Kellogg. CBS does get a lot more on Campus interests from smaller banks, funds, asset managers, etc that are based in NYC. Which brings me to my next point:



4) If you want to do AM, CBS blows Kellogg out of the water. The Value Investing program combined with all the midsize and small funds, shops, etc that come on campus that don't at places like Kellogg makes it as good of a school as there is for AM recruiting. That said, a lot of that recruiting is determined by your pre-MBA WE. So if you have a non finance background, I wouldn't expect to get interviewed by Fidelity or Wellington anyways. As far as consulting goes, CBS has very good consulting placement too, but Kellogg kills consulting. So if you are leaning that way Kellogg has an edge there. As for the others it's a bit of a wash.



I would say, with the money differential, Kellogg should be the choice unless you absolutely know without a doubt AM is for you, in which case CBS is worth the extra money. And no one can tell you how much it matters to you to be away from your fiance, so you'll need to weigh that, as well.



Also, go to the admitted students weekends. See how you fit in with the communities. That may ease your mind a bit.
dp26389 wrote:

Hi!



I know it's a long post but I am in a major bind here. I would really appreciate your inputs especially from anyone currently studying at ISB. Even those who are applying please don't hesitate from giving your valuable inputs.



First, a gist of my present situation. I am a first year student in a top 20 b school in India (ranked between 15-20). Have a gmat score of 730 (August 2014 score) and work ex of 45 months in a multinational manufacturing firm. I could not apply to ISB last time coz I missed the deadline. Since most b schools in India don't prefer candidates with more than 4 years of experience I decided to go for MBA in 2015 itself and ended up coming here (didn't want to risk it all for ISB and didn't have the means to study abroad). But the situation here is not very good. The batch size is large and although most seniors are placed by now the median and average salaries have taken a hit (I don't think the median would be more than 10 lpa). Also, most of my peers are freshers and peer to peer learning is close to 0. Most renowned companies visit campus with a mindset of hiring students with less work ex especially in case of summer placements. Also, consultancy firms mostly come for tech consultancy functions (ERP development). The same firms hire high work ex people from colleges like ISB. Due to these reasons I want to apply to ISB. Have already written my essay and will be submitting the form soon. But I am still a little hesitant as to what should I do?



My questions are: 1 .How sound is my decision to switch schools at this juncture? Both career wise and money wise(Have paid around 8 lakhs fees for 1st year here).



2 .Are most people at ISB placed at good salaries and with good profiles (am mostly interested in operations profile in consulting/e commerce/startup firms) ? or are the average and median salaries high because a handful of students bag very high salary jobs.



3 .High batch strength is a major disadvantage (I have a first hand experience by now !). Does the high batch strength not effect the placement quality at ISB?



4 . Although my work experience is too high by my present b school's standards, by ISB standards it will be on the lower side. Will that be a disadvantage over there coz most companies visit the campus with the intention of hiring industry ready professionals?



I know that's a lot of questions for a single post but my situation here is equally perplexing. So please feel free to give your two cents on this issue. Thanks a lot guys!

Hey, I am not an ISB student (a rejected applicant in R1). But still would like to share my views on the same as I am already an MBA (from a B-school also ranked between 15-20 in India).Current Situation: You are an outlier (unless you are at one of the top IIMs/XLRI and couple of other B-schools which has a fair amount of batch with significant years of work ex. You will always be the odd one out but you can find the right way forward if connected with right kind of people in the industry. Onus is on you buddy how you wanna spend 2 most important years of your life spending 10-15 lakhs but trust me you can do well and end up being an outlier in terms of placement/salary etc.ISB Situation: You have a task in hand if you want to go to ISB but it may not be the answer to your problem as ISB is more competitive than your existing B-school. Although you would be in the right set of people but what could be your strength at existing B-school would become a generic thing at ISB. However, being said that, ISB is a one year program so you would end up earning your MBA at the same time. So, the call is you wanna let go the paid fees and spent another 25-30 lakhs at ISB.In my view, 8 lakh is a small amount if we see the larger picture (i.e. you end up at ISB, get the desired placement etc). No time lost as well. The only thing is Right Justification for the switch. If you can come up with right kind of "words" during the interview, you should go for ISB as it may give you what you are looking for. You may end up at a same role or same job or same company, but the difference would be higher salary, ISB brand name on your CV (that will provide additional visibility) and zero regrets.Apology for the long reply! Best of luck..


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Passionate about international business? Then this episode is going to make your day.Dr. Marcy Bevan and Kara Keenan Sweeney, Directors of Admission at the Lauder Institute joined us for the first Admissions Straight Talk conversation of the new year to share the scoop on this unique, rigorous, and exciting program.(1:26)The Lauder Institute is a 30-year-old joint degree program where a student earns an MBA from the Wharton School or a JD from Penn Law as well as an MA in International Studies from the Penn School of Arts and Sciences. The 24-month program begins in May of each year with one month on campus followed by a two-month immersion program in a region abroad.(2:40)The class starting in May 2016 will be the first to have programs of concentration. Students apply to join one of 5 regional programs of concentration or a global option. This change is driven by the desire to produce students who are not just linguistic experts, but experts in issues that impact specific regions.(5:00)Language is still an important component of the program and there is an oral proficiency requirement for admission. For the global program, applicants need a superior command of a foreign language, and for the regional programs, applicants need advanced command of a language specific to the region. Students in the regional programs will continue studying language during their time at Lauder and superior command of a langue is a requirement for graduation.(10:35)Intercultural Ventures, 7-10 day immersion programs, which were previously optional, will now be required. There is a new core leadership course as well. From a students point of view, however, the program wont feel much different than it has in the past.(13:05)The Wharton Lauder students are a self-selecting group of individuals who are dedicated to global interests and feel right at home among a group of hard working, global-minded students. Prior to acceptance, Lauder applicants also go through a rigorous application process.(14:54)In early June, the new Lauder students depart to their destinations throughout the world. The objective is for students to visit 3-4 countries during the program. Students can expect to spend about five weeks in a country that speaks the language they are studying at Lauder. During the immersions, students are exposed to variety of cultural, political, educational, and business experiences.(20:25)The traditional b-school favorites are popular at Lauder as well, with a recent increase in entrepreneurship. Here are what some cool alumni are working on: UN peacekeeping, making outdoor gear while supporting international charitable causes, and working for Conde Nast in Beijing.(25:18)In addition to the Wharton MBA application , Wharton/Lauder applicants need to address their international experience and language background. There is also an additional essay.Penn Law School students apply after the first year of law school (there have never been more than 5 per class) and have the same requirements as Wharton/Lauder applicants.(27:06)A Lauder application is read by a second year student who is a trained reader and then by a Lauder staff member. An applicant who Wharton and Lauder agree to interview will join a Wharton Team-Based Discussion and a Lauder one-on-one interview with a current student or alum. Once Lauder decides which students they want to accept, the Lauder crew meets with Wharton to see if they agree.(27:32)The Lauder is a traditional, one-on-one, blind interview . The goal of the interview is to clarify what the applicant feels Lauder can bring to his or her educational and professional experiences, what the applicant can bring to Lauder and to provide evidence of international experience and interest. This is also an opportunity to show that youve really researched Lauder and are interested in the program for the right reasons.(30:50)Marcy loves the applicants who are excited to have found a program that seems to be designed just for them. Applicants who have traveled, worked outside the country, learned another language and have interests that go beyond business.(35:34)Think about what you are going to school for before you apply. Do lots of research about the program. Know why you want the Lauder Institute education and what youll do with it. Come visit and attend information sessions! Accepted's Wharton 2016 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines  Accepted's Wharton 2016 Executive MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines This article originally appeared on blog.accepted.com Applying to a top b-school? The talented folks at Accepted have helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to their dream programs. Whether you are figuring out where apply, writing your application essays, or prepping for your interviews, we are just a call (or click) away.Contact us, and get matched up with the consultant who will help_________________
The world's political and economic order is stronger than it looks

Stefan Zweig tells us in The World of Yesterday what it feels like when the wheels really do come off the global system

Photo: Alamy

So for Christmas reading I have retreated to the "World of Yesterday", the poignant account of Europe's civilisational suicide in the early 20th century by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig - the top-selling author of the inter-war years.



From there it is a natural progression to Zweig's equally poignant biography of Erasmus, who saw his own tolerant Latin civilization smothered by fanatics four centuries earlier.



Zweig's description of Europe in the years leading up to 1914 is intoxicating. Everything seemed to be getting better: wealth was spreading, people were healthier, women were breaking free.











He could travel anywhere without a passport, received with open arms in Paris, Milan or Stockholm by a fraternity of writers and artists. It was a cheerful, peaceful world that seemed almost untainted by tribal animosities.



It was not an illusion, but it was only half the story. A handful of staff officers at the apex of the German high command under Helmuth von Moltke were already looking for their chance to crush France and Russia, waiting for a spark in the Balkans - it could only be the Balkans - that would lock the Austro-Hungarian empire into the fight as an ally.



What is striking in Zweig's account is that even during the slaughter of the First World War, Europe still had a moral conscience. All sides still bridled at any accusation that they were violating humanitarian principles.



Two decades later, even that had disappeared. Zweig lived to see his country amputated, cut off from its economic lifelines, and reduced to a half-starved rump. He saw Hitler take power and burn his books in Berlin's Bebelplatz in 1933, then in stages extend the ban to France and Italy.







He saw what remained of Austria extinguished in 1938, and his friends sent to concentration camps.



As a Jewish refugee in England he slipped from stateless alien to enemy alien. He committed suicide with his wife in February 1942 in Brazil, too heart-broken to keep going after his spiritual homeland - Europe - had "destroyed itself".



Erasmus was also the best-selling author of his day, attaining a dominance that has probably never been challenged by any other author in history, except perhaps Karl Marx posthumously.



More than 1m copies of his works had been printed by the early 16th century, devoured by a Latin intelligentsia in the free-thinking heyday of the Renaissance, chortling at his satires on clerical pedantry and the rent-farming of holy relics.



But after lighting the fire of evangelical reform, he watched in horror as the ideologues took over and swept aside his plea that the New Testament message of love and forgiveness is the heart of Christianity.



They charged headlong into the Augustinian cul-de-sac of original sin and predestination, led by Martin Luther, a rough, volcanic force of nature, or the "Goth" as Erasmus called him.













Luther preferred to see the whole world burn and Christian Europe split into armed camps rather than yield an inch on abstruse points of doctrine. And burn they did. The killing did not end until the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. By then the Thirty Years War had left a fifth of Germany dead.



So perspective is in order as we look at the world in late 2015. The fateful rupture between the US and China that many feared has not in fact happened. Washington has so far managed the rise of a rival superpower more or less benignly.



China has just been admitted into the governing elite of the Bretton Woods financial system with the backing of the US Treasury. To wide consternation, Barack Obama and Xi Jinping steered through a sweeping climate change accord in Paris, the template for a new G2 condominium.



This is not to deny that the Pacific Rim remains the world's most dangerous fault-line. The South China Sea is on a hair trigger. The US Navy faces the unenviable task of defending the global commons of open shipping lanes without crossing an invisible strategic line.









Yet the Chinese hubris that seemed so alarming four years ago has faded with the dawning realisation that they are not magicians after all - and America is not in decline after all - and that they risk the middle income trap soon enough if they make any further mistakes.



Russia's Vladimir Putin has gained little by overthrowing Europe's post-war order, and seizing a piece of recognized Ukrainian territory by armed force. He has kept Crimea but his attempt to foster revolt in the Donbass through agitators and proxies has fizzled, and in the process he has transformed what was previously a neutral Ukraine into a hostile rampart of the West.



His hopes of dividing the Atlantic alliance have come to nothing. Europe has just renewed sanctions. They are biting deep. The country is shut out of Western capital markets. Unless oil recovers, the Kremlin will have exhausted its reserve fund by 2016, and will face a fiscal crisis by mid-2017.



There are grounds for hoping that the world economy is at last starting to free itself from a low-growth trap. The global savings rate has peaked at 25pc of GDP and seems to be trending down very slowly as China switches to a consumption-led growth model. Or put another way, the underlying imbalance of capital over spending that has bedevilled us for so long is finally correcting.







Icing the cake, we have the net global stimulus of the oil slump. It is a windfall gain in spending power for importers in Asia and the West. Yet the petro-powers are not cutting their spending pari passu: they are running down their wealth funds to prop up their welfare states.



So why is there such populist ferment in the West, and so much political angst? Joschka Fischer, the former German foreign minister, calls it - a little carelessly - the fascism of the affluent.



"It is a fear based on the instinctive realisation that the White Mans World is in terminal decline, both globally and in the societies of the West," he said. "It has become increasingly clear that globalisation is a two-way street, with the West losing much of its power and wealth to the East."



Perhaps, but his evidence for this chauvinist lurch in America is that Donald Trump is scoring well in the polls. Whether the Republicans will really vote for him in the primaries is questionable, and US elections are prone to wild moments. We forget too easily that Texan billionaire Ross Perot won 19pc of the presidential vote in 1992 with a third-party bid on a protectionist platform.



As Washington correspondent in the early 1990s I covered the Oklahoma bombing - America's worst act of home-grown terrorism - and the sudden eruption of state militia movements, mostly blue collar workers from states like Texas, Oklahoma or Montana, who had fallen through the bottom of the globalised economy and spent their weekends training with assault rifles for a showdown with the "Feds". This weird revolt spread like wildfire and then disappeared again as the labour market tightened.











Mr Fischer is closer to the mark on Europe but there is a glaring omission in his diagnosis. He never mentions monetary union, which has, for very complex reasons, ensnared the eurozone in a seven-year depression.



Output has yet to match its earlier peak in 2008. The overall damage has been worse than the equivalent period from 1929 to 1936. There are still 17.2m unemployed in the eurozone, and the youth jobless rate is still 47.9pc in Greece, 47.7pc in Spain, 39.4pc in Italy, 31.8pc in Portugal and 24.7pc in France.



The underlying deformities of the eurozone have not been corrected. There is still no fiscal union. The tensions will return in the next global downturn. But for now the quadruple stimulus of a cheap euro, cheap oil, quantitative easing and the end of fiscal austerity are all combining in a "perfect positive storm", enough to give the eurozone another cyclical lease of life.







The one great disorder we have in the world right now is the collapse of the century-old Sykes-Picot dispensation in the Middle East, made more combustible by the Sunni-Shia battle for regional mastery.



It is certainly a humanitarian tragedy, but in hard-headed geostrategic terms it is a regional problem, a particular struggle within Islam to come to terms with modernity. It is sui generis and of no universal relevance.



Nor should we overestimate the staying power of the Wahhabi caliphate as it attempts to hold fixed ground against a world now seriously roused in wrath, and without fixed ground, constant infusions of money and the allure of rising momentum, Isis does not add up to much.



Yes, the world is a mess, but it has always been a mess, forever climbing the proverbial wall of political worry even in its halcyon days. So let us drink a new year's toast with a glass at least half full.
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The mayor announced today that he will be adding 300 beds to the city's shelters for homeless and runaway youth by 2019, bringing the total number of such beds to 753. There are 20 such shelters in the city serving people ages 16-21, but they currently cannot accommodate the number of homeless youth in the city  de Blasio estimated that there are currently 66 people who would qualify for a youth shelter in adult DHS shelters, and an unknown number who are street homeless.

The city will also be adding staff at DHS shelters dedicated to informing youths that there are alternate options for them that offer services such as GED preparation and counseling.

This is the third initiative de Blasio has announced since Gilbert Taylor stepped down from the position of DHC commissioner in December and Steve Banks, de Blasio's Human Resources Administration Commissioner, was put in charge of a DHS overhaul.

"We will keep adding beds not only as quickly as possible, but as much as needed," de Blasio noted during remarks on Friday at Covenant House, a Hell's Kitchen shelter for homeless and runaway youth. "If we need more we will add more. If we need it more quickly we will produce it more quickly, because we dont want any young person waiting.

Forty percent of homeless youth are LGBTQ individuals, many of whom feel unsafe in DHS shelters and wind up engaging in "survival sex" to ensure a place to sleep. Referencing a study on Covenant House itself, State Senator Brad Hoylman noted that sex traffickers often wait outside at-capacity shelters to take advantage of teens who are sent away because there isn't room for them:

"It is unconscionable that oftentimes a kid will come to a shelter, knock on a door, and be turned away because there are no beds available," Hoylman said. "Its even more unconscionable that there are johns oftentimes waiting outside to pick up those kids and traffic them for sex."

Funding for youth homelessness has been low for years, with Cuomo cutting funding for youth shelters by 50 percent in 2011. De Blasio pledged $4.7 million in city funding to add 100 beds for homeless youth in May, and these additional 300 beds will cost $14.7 million.

During his remarks on Friday, the mayor called on the state to provide assistance, expressing his hope that cuts to funding for youth shelters and preventative services for homelessness more generally will be restored.

"For two years the city of New York has made very clear to the state of New York what we needed," de Blasio said. "We have asked repeatedly for help...I am hopeful that cuts will be restored; that funding for programs that work, like anti-eviction legal services and rental subsidies, will be provided; that supportive housing, our initiative, will be matched. Im very hopeful. Because its obvious its the right thing to do."

The mayor was particularly adamant in his desire that the governor restore funding for Advantage, a preventative program that subsidized up to $1,100 in rent for 15,000 households before Cuomo slashed its funding in 2011. However, de Blasio admitted that such programs might never solve the problem of youth homelessness, which, particularly in cases involving LGBTQ youth, often stems from an intolerant home life.

Though he did not call out his predecessor by name, de Blasio was unsparing in his criticism of the Bloomberg administration, saying that it ignored the needs of the poor and homeless. Department of Youth and Community Development Commissioner Bill Chong, who also worked under the previous administration, echoed this, saying there had been a "tremendous sea change" in homeless youth programs since Bloomberg left office. Under Bloomberg, funding for homeless youth was slashed by an additional $7 million.

"Why did this city tolerate this?" de Blasio demanded. "I think honestly, a mayor should be held accountable. I feel there is a blunt, very, very clear parallel to the reality on Rikers Island, the reality in our public housing developments, the reality in our schoolswhy was any of this tolerated? Were not tolerating it.
I just moved to a neighborhood that is serviced by more than one train line, a luxury I did not previously believe existed on this godforsaken earth. IT IS WONDERFUL. Unfortunately, a few of those lines are undergoing service changes this weekend, because karma's a cruel, cruel monster. Suffer along with me, friends.

Here's what's on tap this week:

Hudson Yards-bound 7 trains will run express from Willets Point to 74 St-Broadway, with that change in effect from 3:45 a.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Monday.

All A trains will reroute along the F line from W 4 St to Jay St-MetroTech, starting at 11:45 p.m. Friday and ending at 5 a.m. Monday. Brooklyn-bound A trains will run express from 168 St to 125 St from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, from 11 p.m. Saturday to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, and from 11 p.m. Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday. On that same track, trains will skip 104 St from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday.

C trains will reroute along the F line in both directions between W 4 St and Jay St-MetroTech from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Brooklyn-bound C trains will run express from 168 St to 125 St during that period.

World Trade Center-bound E trains will skip Briarwood and 75 Av from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. All E trains will run along the F line from 21 St-Queensbridge to W 4 St from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday, while Queens-bound trains will run express from Roosevelt Av to 71 Av from 12:15 a.m. to 7 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Brooklyn-bound F trains will skip Sutphin Blvd, Briarwood, and 75 Av from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday.

Astoria-bound N trains will reroute along the Q line from DeKalb Av to Canal St from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday, from 11 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday, and again from 11 p.m. Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday.

Manhattan-bound Q trains will run express from Sheepshead Bay to Kings Hwy from 3:45 a.m. Saturday to 10 p.m. Sunday.

71 Av-bound R trains will reroute along the Q line from DeKalb Av to Canal St from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Queens-bound R trains will run express from Roosevelt Av to 71 Av from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
An NYPD sergeant was stripped of her gun and her badge after being brought up on departmental charges for her role in Eric Garner's death.

The Daily News reports that 43-year-old Sergeant Kizzy Adonis was put on modified duty today, and that internal charges against another sergeant involved in the incident are pending. An NYPD source told the Post why: In the video that people see of the takedown, the sergeant is standing in the background doing nothing. Her role as a sergeant is to take charge of the situation and supervise. She was supposed to take charge.

A woman wearing a sergeant's insignia on the sleeve of her uniform (three blue arrows) that appears to be Sergeant Adonis can be seen around the 2:00 mark in the video of Garner's arrest.

Sources told both tabloids that the disciplinary charges against Adonis came today because she was recently promoted to Sergeant at the time of Garner's death, and was thus still on probation. That means the department has to bring disciplinary action within 18 months of the incident.

The NYPD's internal charges against Adonis are pending a federal probe into Garner's death, which is still ongoing.

The head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, Ed Mullins, called it a "bullshit political charge," and said that Adonis was only on the scene because she heard it over the radio. She didnt have to do it. Thats the irony of it.

Mullins told the Post, The only one who should be charged with failure to supervise is Commissioner Bratton. He was in charge of the NYPD during the Garner incident and ultimately bears the responsibility of failed policies that lead to the enforcement of an act that sadly caused the death of Eric Garner. Brattons actions are nothing more than political pandering and a failure in leadership and character."

It's worth recalling what Eugene O'Donnell, a former NYPD officer and professor at John Jay College, told us after the police unions rebelled against the NYPD and Mayor de Blasio last year.

O'Donnell said that while the PBA is being demonized, the "real issue" is lack of accountability among politicians, who make the laws that the police enforce. "'I'm an Assemblyman, I'm a Senator, I'm an architect of this system, I'm an owner-operator, the cops are our partners.' I haven't heard anybody say that," O'Donnell said. "People will not explain what the police do, the context in which they operate, the power they have, the endorsement they have from the highest level of people. The root of this, is that loose cigarette enforcement is a lunatic mission, that no cop ever joined the NYPD to be part of."

Four of the medical technicians who seemingly stood by and watched Garner die were suspended.

Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who killed Garner with a chokehold, was not indicted by a Staten Island grand jury. Pantaleo remains on modified duty.
Photo by via Governor's Office Flickr

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Business

UAE pioneer in drawing ambitious talent, offering great opportunities

The ecosystem in the UAE embraces young ambitious talent and screens people not based on who knows who, or as we call it wasta, but on expertise and potential.
-- Thomas JeffersonSyndicated columnist Charley Reese (1937-2013): "Gun control by definition affects only honest people. When a politician tells you he wants to forbid you from owning a firearm or force you to get a license, he is telling you he doesnt trust you. Thats an insult. ... Gun control is not about guns or crime. It is about an elite that fears and despises the common people."The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles -- Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)Note for non-American readers: Crime reports from America which describe an offender just as a "teen" or "teenager" almost invariably mean a BLACK teenager.We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics.Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."How much do you know about Trayvon Martin? It's all here (Backups here and here An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. -- Robert A. HeinleinAfter all the serious stuff here, maybe we need a funny picture of a cantankerous cat
On Tuesday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. at St. Pauls United Methodist Church the Last Chance Audubon Society Program presents From Puffins to Toucans.

The speaker, Dan Ellison, will present a program based on trips to Newfoundland and Belize in 2014. While in Newfoundland in July he visited the Witless Bay World Heritage Reserve, which contains the largest colony of Atlantic Puffins in North America, along with species such as murres, gannets, razorbills and humpback whales.

Then in December, Ellison and his wife, Jane, spent two weeks in Belize, visiting the Lamanai Reserve on the New River and touring the Orange Walk district. Both sites offered spectacular birding, hiking and visits to Mayan archaeological sites. Ellisons photos will focus on birds and other wildlife he encountered in Newfoundland and Belize.
A state district judge has ruled that Montana does not have to pay a $744,371 judgement reached in settling a sexual harassment claim against former District Judge George W. Huss of Forsyth.

In an order issued Dec. 28 by Judge Jeffery Sherlock, of Helena, Sherlock ruled for the state of Montanas Office of the Court Administrator and against Charlene Berdahl, a former court reporter who worked with Huss in the 16th Judicial District, which includes Treasure County.

Berdahl filed a complaint in February 2014 with the Montana Human Rights Bureau claiming that Huss sexually harassed her by making romantic advances that made her uncomfortable.

Berdahl quit her job in early 2014, and Huss resigned, effective on Jan. 1.

Berdahl and Huss, with help from a mediator, reached a settlement for $744,371 in September 2014 in which Berdahl agreed not to attempt to collect from Huss and Huss assigned his rights against the state to Berdahl.

In October 2014, the state's Human Rights Bureau issued its final investigative report, which found that Berdahl's employer, the state, was not liable for sex discrimination or harassment. The investigator also found reasonable cause to believe that Huss was guilty of sex harassment.

Berdahl's attorney sent the settlement to the state for payment, and the state refused. The parties then filed suits over the enforceability of the settlement in District Court in Lewis and Clark County.

Berdahls attorney, Jory Ruggiero of Bozeman, said he was disappointed with Sherlocks order and will appeal to the Montana Supreme Court.

The order, he said, makes it impossible for state employees to know when the state is going to defend them against claims.

Sherlock said the main issue was whether the state owed Huss a defense or immunity on Berdahls human rights claims against him, and whether the state had an obligation to pay the settlement.

The state, Sherlock ruled, was not liable or obligated to pay the settlement or to further defend or indemnify Huss because he concluded that Huss settled the claim without the state's consent.

Sherlock also ruled that the state is not liable because the conduct on which Berdahls claim is based was conduct outside the course and scope of Huss employment.

Sherlock referred to other court cases that held that someone who acts entirely for his own benefit is generally found to be acting outside the scope of his employment.

"There is simply no way for this Court to conclude that an elected district judge in Montana is acting within the course and scope of his employment when he pursues an unwelcome or sexual relationship with a subordinate employee. He was not getting paid to do that," Sherlock said.

Montana law provides for the defense and indemnification of public employees sued civilly for actions taken within the scope of their employment. The law also provides for some exceptions, including when alleged conduct "does not arise out of the course and scope" of the employee's job.

The judge backed a decision by Beth McLaughlin, the administrator of the Judicial Branch, to stop the defense of Huss because his actions were outside the scope of his employment.

"She made the right decision," Sherlock said.

The state, the judge continued, told Huss in writing that if he entered into a settlement agreement, it would be without the States consent and that the consequence would be that he would lose his right to defense and indemnity.

Sherlock said the state did not conceal, withhold or misrepresent its position at all  it gave Huss exactly the information Huss needed. Huss was, after all, an experienced attorney and judge and could look up the statute himself.

In fact, Huss took this information and did rather well for himself. Warned that the State would not be obligated to pay the stipulated judgment nor provide any defense, if he proceeded with the settlement, he did so anyway, the judge wrote.

The result was that Huss protected himself against any loss and ended Berdahls claims against him, Sherlock said.
Back in 2009, a Polson man named Paul Wencewicz created an invitation-only online bulletin board where members advertised and traded sexually explicit images of young girls.

He called it Kingdom of Future Dreams, and housed the physical server on the remote Isle of Jersey, one of the United Kingdom's Channel Islands.

On it were thousands of pictures of girls as young as 4 years old posing with sex toys -- one with the word "slut" and "hurt me" written in red on a girl's abdomen with a knife in the picture.

After a tip in 2011, FBI agents and officers from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force obtained a search warrant for Wencewicz's house, and through their investigation identified dozens of other suspects and the existence of a second bulletin board called the Dark Moon.

Agents were able to crack Wencewicz's highly complex encryption in 2013.

On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Montana announced the conclusion of a multi-agency, multi-year international investigation of the two bulletin boards involving the exploitation of hundreds of children. The stings that brought down the child porn rings were called Operation Kingdom Conqueror and Operation Moon Runner.

The investigation resulted in the conviction of 21 defendants -- all men ranging in age from 25 to 67 -- across the U.S.

The last of the defendants, 31-year-old Shawnston Beaudoin of Kennesaw, Georgia, was sentenced Thursday to 17 years and six months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, with lifetime supervised release.

Wencewicz, 49, received a sentence of 18 years and four months in the Bureau of Prisons, with lifetime supervised release. He must also pay $29,859 in restitution.

The sentences of the other defendants ranged from 15 years to 18 years and four months, and all include supervised release.

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U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Michael Cotter said the investigation involved more than 100 local, state and federal agents operating on two continents, and the execution of 60 search warrants.

"Between 2009 and 2012, Wencewicz and other members of the conspiracy sexually exploited hundreds of little girls around the world and the U.S. by trading appalling and revolting images and videos of them while expressing perverse sexual glee while looking at them," Cotter said. "Agents were able to identify the locations of some of the most egregious members and the task force agents executed search warrants on these targets."

Cotter said the Dark Moon bulletin board had data anonymization and encryption to conceal the members' locations, and administrators configured it to purge the IP addresses of members.

"These men are dangerous," Cotter said. "Some had images of girls even younger than 4. Their sexual perversions are horrific."

One defendant, 49-year-old Tony Gustafson of Hastings, Nebraska, had sadistic images in his collection that included the image of the girl with the words written on her abdomen. He was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison. Many of the images showed children being abused with foreign objects, Cotter said.

"Some of the posts and comments the members would make on the board were equally as depraved," he said. "Some of the defendants had also committed prior hands-on offenses against children."

Steven Grovo, 35, of Shirly, Massachusets, previously assaulted a 12-year-old girl. He also told investigators he abused a 4-year-old child.

Ian Nosek, 44, of Charlottesville, Virginia, had a history of taking pictures of the pubic area of girls in swimming pools, which he would then post.

Beaudoin admitted to producing child pornography and previously assaulting girls.

"These operations were a cooperative effort between the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation, the Helena Police Department, Homeland Security Investigation and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force," Cotter said. "It's our duty to protect children with the coalition of team players we have in this room, and we will continue to do so. This was a remarkable piece of work to bring the men to justice who have exploited these young children."

He specifically pointed out Jimmy Weg, a Helena-based computer forensics expert, for his crucial help with the case.

Maureen Cain of the U.S. Department of Justice said investigators are still working to determine their identities of the victims, which at this time are unknown. The people who made the pictures also have not been identified.

And, she said, there is still an investigation into who created the Dark Moon bulletin board.

"Today's sentencing closes a chapter in the continuing fight to bring justice to those who prey upon our children," said Eric Barnhart, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City Field Office. "The 21 men convicted for their roles in the Kingdom of Future Dreams and the Dark Moon bulletin boards traded on the misery of children. Children that were subjected to horrific sexual and emotional abuse. Each time these men distributed those photos or videos, those victims were re-victimized.

"Those of us who have looked into the eyes of these victims can see the light that shines so brightly in so many kids shines less brightly in theirs. Some things are stolen from these children, and men like these 21 are the ones that do it. But it's a testament to how much we value our children that when the worst happens to them, it brings out the best in law enforcement. It was a fantastic effort, both domestic and abroad. All previous rivalries and jurisdictions and past grievances were swept aside. It is a fantastic outcome. The battle will continue. I'd like to say that the war is won, but unfortunately there is more out there."

***

In addition to Beaudoin and Wencewicz, the men who were convicted of conspiracy to advertise child pornography are:

 Scott Long, 55, of Portland, Oregon, was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Steve Humiston, 58, of Tacoma, Washington, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and $29,859 in restitution.

 Phillip Morris, 43, of Jeffersonville, Indiana, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Tony Bronson, 55, of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced to 18 years and eight months in prison and 10 years supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Jeffrey Woolley, 55, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Charles Crosby, 45, of Trenton, New Jersey, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 John Johnson, 59, of Locust Grove, Virginia, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Joseph Purificato, 25, of Mount Vernon, Missouri, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Ian Nosek, 44, of Charlottesville, Virginia, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Robert Krise, 67, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 John Merchberger III, 48, of Dayton, Maine, was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

 Daniel Brown, 27, of Taylors, South Carolina, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release.

 Marc Edoria, 24, of Sacramento, California, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years supervised release.

 Tony Gustafson, 49, of Hastings, Nebraska, was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison and lifetime supervised release.

 Ryan Hatfield, 26, of Mount Washington, Kentucky, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years supervised release.

 David Woods, 37, of Corfu, New York, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 15 years supervised release.

The following defendants were convicted at trial of participating in a child exploitation enterprise and conspiracy to advertise child pornography:

 Joshua Petersen, 45, of Prescott, Arizona, was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 restitution.

 Steven Grovo, 35, of Shirly, Massachusets, was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Richard Pitts, 28, of Cathedral City, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute child pornography and was sentenced to seven years in prison and 15 years of supervised release.
Authorities apprehended the suspect in Thursday night's armed robbery near Helena after following his footprints and tire tracks in the snow.

Hunter Lee Hoffman, 18, is jailed on a felony charge of robbery.

Hoffman is accused of entering the Lakeside General Store, 5330 York Road, just before 7:30 p.m. while brandishing a gun. Prosecutors say Hoffman pointed a black, 1911-style handgun at the store clerk and demanded money.

The suspect was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and had a bandanna covering his face.

Sheriff's deputies responding to the robbery noticed a fresh set of footprints in the snow behind the store, according to documents filed in Lewis and Clark County Justice Court on Friday. The footprints led a deputy about two miles northwest of the store and similar prints were seen returning back up to the same location.

"The deputies followed the footprints to an observation point off of Riverview Drive. The footprints appeared to get into a vehicle at this point," prosecutors wrote in the documents.

Authorities also noticed fresh oil in the snow.

Deputies located a set of tire tracks and followed them to a residence on the 5100 block of Riverview Drive. Court documents say a 1999 GMC Yukon was parked in the driveway, leaking oil.

"In plain view, located behind the Yukon's driver's seat Deputy (Chris) Joyce observed a white mesh laundry type bag; this bag had been described by the store clerk as having been used in the robbery," prosecutors noted.

Deputies made contact with Hoffman as he exited a camper trailer located next to the Yukon. He was wearing different clothes, but otherwise matched the description of the robbery suspect, authorities said.

Hoffman was then detained and interviewed. He was arrested 10:25 p.m. Thursday at the Law Enforcement Center.
Upcoming events

Chili cook-off set for Sunday

The Cabin Fever Chili Cook-Off fundraising event will be held Sunday, Jan. 10. Join us at Our Redeemers Lutheran Church, 3580 N. Benton Ave. Doors open at 4 p.m., chili tasting begins at 4:30, all followed by a talent show at 6:30. Rumor has it a Lefse Ballet may be on the docket! (Or is that a Lutefisk Ballet?) Call Lorene at 461-2202 for any last minute chili entry. (Bring your favorite chili in a crockpot, ready for tasting and judging.)

Advance ticket prices are $12/adults and $5/age 210 years. Tickets at the door are $15/adults and $8/age 2-10 years. Admission includes your meal of chili, cornbread, dessert and beverage plus the talent show. A childrens meal of hot dogs and chips will also be available. Tickets are available at Leslies Hallmark on 11th Avenue or at the church offices of the three sponsoring Lutheran churches: Our Redeemers Lutheran Church, New Life Lutheran Church and St. Johns Lutheran Church. For more information about the event, call 461-8443 or 227-6961. Fundraising dollars will be given to the Flathead Bible Camp to upgrade the Hagan Hall retreat center and to the Montana synod office needing updated space.

AARP Driver Safety classes planned

AARP Driver Safety will hold two Helena classes January. Participants receive updates on the rules of the road and learn driving strategies to adapt to the effects of aging and to reduce chances of having a crash. The course was developed for participants age 50-plus, but is open to all ages. The course fee is $20 ($15 with AARP membership card). Auto insurance companies in Montana provide a multi-year discount to participants 55 years of age and older.

Thursday, Jan. 14, at First Interstate Bank, 2021 N. Montana Ave., from noon to about 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 27, at Touchmark on Saddle Drive, 915 Saddle Drrive, from noon to about 4:30 p.m.

To register for the class, call 457-4712.

Announcements

Alive @ 5 public planning meeting set

The 2016 Alive @ 5 public planning meeting will be held at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 13, in the downstairs conference room of the Chamber of Commerce Building, 225 Cruse Ave. Please attend this meeting to participate in the planning process or to offer input to the Alive @ 5 steering committee.

Applications for food and craft vendors, nonprofit organizations and musicians will be available mid-January on the Downtown Helena website www.downtownhelena.com or by calling the DHI office at 447-1535. Downtown Helena will also be seeking applications for summer employees to support the staff with the dynamic and fun operations of each event.

Join Downtown Helena, Inc. and the planning committee to offer input, feedback and join the effort to make the 19th season of Alive @ 5 the best yet. For more information, contact Haley Miller, program coordinator, at 447-1535 or hmiller@helenabid.com and follow Downtown Helena Inc. on Facebook at www.facebook.com/downtownhelena.

McCulloch reminds voters of upcoming absentee confirmation

This month County Election Offices will mail all registered absentee voters an address confirmation form to ensure that absentee voters remain on the list to be mailed ballots for the 2016 federal elections.

Even if your mailing address did not change you must complete the form, sign and return to the county election office in order to remain on the list to have ballots mailed to you for 2016 and 2017, McCulloch said.

This year new legislation has made it possible for absentee voters to confirm their mailing address using email. Voters must simply follow the directions on the form and email their county election administrator the required information.

If a voter does not receive a confirmation form in the mail, but wants to be on the list to have ballots mailed to them, they can visit the Secretary of States website at sos.mt.gov and sign up.

NILE scholarship application now available

The Northern International Livestock Exposition Scholarship Program funded by the NILE Foundation, is now accepting applications for scholarships for the 2016-2017 academic year.

Since 1990, the NILE has awarded scholarships to deserving FFA and 4-H students that have been actively involved in their respective programs and communities, excelled in the classroom, and participated in NILE events.

Similar to previous years, the NILE Scholarship Committee will be awarding three levels of scholarships. The first level will be the one-time scholarship awarded to high school seniors, similar to what the NILE has always done. The second level of scholarships offered will also be a one-time grant, for students already enrolled in College or a Vo-Tech school. Finally, the third level, which will offer the greatest scholarship amount, will be a rolling scholarship. The rolling scholarships will be offered to a select group of high school seniors who will have the opportunity to renew the scholarship yearly, up to four years of their secondary education. Recipients of rolling scholarships will be chosen from the pool of applicants that are current seniors in High School.

Scholarship applications and guidelines can be found on the NILE's website, or by contacting the NILE Office at 406-256-2495. Applications must be in the NILE Office by Friday, March 11, 2016. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered. Scholarships will be awarded and announced in mid-April.

Student news

Katelyn Houtz, of Helena, has been named to Eastern Oregon University's fall term 2015 dean's list. Qualifying students achieve and maintain a grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale while completing a minimum of 12 hours of graded coursework for the duration of the term.

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Clay Van Diest, of Helena, has been named to the 2015 fall semester dean's list at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis. A minimum 3.5 grade point average is required for academic eligibility.

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Sonja Sponholz, of Helena, has qualified for the fall 2015 dean's list at Belmont University. Eligibility is based on a minimum course load of 12 hours and a quality grade point average of 3.5 with no grade below a C.

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Jordan Petersen, of Helena, has been named to the University of Saint Mary fall 2015 dean's honor list. Petersen ended the semester with a grade point average of 3.5 or better:
Marco Restani has been named the new director of conservation for Montana Audubon.

Hired in November, Restani began his tenure in the Helena office on Dec. 28. He replaces Amy Cilimburg.

Restani was a professor of wildlife ecology at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota since 2002. His primary teaching duties included ornithology and wildlife management.

His conservation-oriented research has occurred primarily in Eastern Montana and North Dakota, although he has also worked in Greenland and Australia. He recently spent the past four winters guiding ecotourists to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica.

Restani has lived and worked throughout Montana since 1983 and attended the University of Montana and Montana State University.

The primary duties of Restanis new job include overseeing Montana Audubons priority conservation programs, developing and implementing the Important Bird Area Program, establishing and overseeing citizen science efforts, working collaboratively with partners to advance habitat conservation and integrating science into public policy.

Restani already collaborates with Yellowstone Valley Audubon in Billings as the chapter monitors the reproductive success of ospreys along the Yellowstone River from Gardiner to Sidney.
Thumbs up

Judging by the outpouring of support it received in its time of need, YWCA Helena is here to stay.

Located at 501 Park Ave., the building that houses the 26-bed trauma-informed transitional housing program for homeless women and their children was up for sale in 2008 after a boiler failed. Just before the sale closed, however, community members went to work to do what they could to save the building.

Since then, the organization was able to complete a $2.6 million renovation project through a series of grants, donations, tax credits and volunteers.

That kind of project is no small feat, and were proud to see the community supports the YWCA as fervently as the organization supports the women and children it serves.

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Thumbs down

It may not be the worst crime in our area this week -- in fact, it was far from it -- but the recent theft of body parts from live animals is especially repulsive.

The owners of two horses in the Helena Valley reported Sunday that about four feet of tail was cut from one and about two feet was cut from the other. Police say this type of crime has happened before, most likely so the culprits could sell the hair for use in arts and crafts projects.

Its that kind of brazen mischief that makes people lose faith in the decency of others, and we hope to see the culprits caught and their identities revealed.

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Thumbs up

After a period of financial uncertainty, it appears the historic Montana Club in Helena has righted the ship.

The clubs voting members recently approved a one-time assessment and dues increase that its Board of Governors President Wil Carroll said will allow us to address some nagging financial issues and turn our focus towards increased membership and providing a great membership experience.

The 130-year-old club is a local institution that has played an integral role in the history of Helena and Montana.

And we are grateful to hear that it will continue to be a major part of our community.

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Thumbs up

If youre dying to find a fun way to give back, the Zombie Prom might be just the opportunity for you.

This 21-and-over party includes live bands, a dance party, crowning of the prom king and queen, raffles, a silent auction, finger foods and drink specials all night long. The best part is all funds raised will be used to support Helenas Playable Playgrounds to install handicapped-accessible playgrounds in and around Helena.

Organizers are seeking volunteers to help out with the silent auction, take tickets, sell raffle tickets, do zombie makeup, decorate and clean up.

Zombie attire is optional.

For more information, visit volunteerhelena.org or contact Helenas Playable Playgrounds at playablepark@yahoo.com.

The deadline to sign up is Feb. 13.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has announced a change of policy promising to open hundreds of thousands of acres adjacent to Yellowstone National Park to bison wandering beyond park boundaries. This is an important step toward more enlightened and effective wildlife management and part of addressing the unfinished business between Americans and our countrys most-abused native animal.

With its creation as the first national park in 1872, Yellowstone quickly became the last bastion of wild bison, sanctuary for survivors of a population that had numbered in the millions before 19th century Americans shot them nearly to extinction. The effort to save bison as a species launched the modern American wildlife-conservation movement more than a century ago, and Yellowstones role as refuge proved essential to that cause.

But we just sort of saved bison. Most of the nearly 400,000 bison in the United States today are privately owned and managed as domestic livestock, many carrying cattle genes thanks to past attempts to improve bison through crossbreeding. Other bison endure as captives, confined in parks and refuges within high, stout fences. Relatively few bison qualify as wild and free-roaming. Those in Yellowstone approach true wildness.

State and federal agencies have for decades practiced a heavy-handed management of Yellowstones bison -- harassing, corralling and shooting them as they attempt to migrate out of the park during the regions long, hard winters. Cattle ranchers regard Yellowstone bison as a threat. Ranchers fear that Yellowstone bison might one day -- improbably, unprecedentedly -- transmit disease to cattle.

Some Yellowstone bison and elk carry brucellosis, a disease the cattle industry has effectively eradicated from livestock. Although bison have never been shown to transmit the disease to cattle in the wild, longstanding government policies aimed to keep bison within park boundaries.

Conservation groups and public agencies have worked constructively to ease real and perceived conflicts between wildlife -- including bison -- around Yellowstone. The National Wildlife Federation negotiated agreements with ranchers who held grazing rights to certain public-land tracts adjacent to the park, paying fair-market value to change or eliminate livestock grazing where conflicts with bison could be an issue.

A similar agreement resolved wildlife conflicts on a private ranch immediately north of the park, creating a conflict-free zone linking the park to other public lands.

Such agreements, negotiated on a willing-seller, willing-buyer basis, have helped establish 400,000 acres outside park boundaries where bison could roam with virtually no possibility of interaction with cattle -- essentially eliminating the disease threat that ranchers fear.

Gov. Bullocks decision effectively adapts Montanas bison management to reflect the changing reality on the ground -- a reality that argues for treating bison as wildlife in need of management, not as a menace to livestock that must be repelled.

Changes afoot for Yellowstone bison come as part of Montanans and Americans evolving relationship with bison, a species the U.S. Senate voted last month to name our National Mammal.

Last year, Montana issued an environmental impact statement analyzing opportunities to restore herds of wild bison to an appropriate landscape, such as public lands in and around north-central Montanas million-acre Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge -- an analysis that lays down a compelling foundation for pursuing bison-restoration opportunities. Meanwhile, several Montana tribes also are making progress in establishing bison herds on tribal lands.

We cant restore bison to their historic numbers and distribution -- most of the landscape is too changed, developed and filled with people. But Montana does have places still suitable for wild bison to roam in meaningful numbers -- around Yellowstone and elsewhere.

In reconsidering Montanas relationship with bison around Yellowstone, Gov. Bullock is embracing a growing -- and long-overdue -- movement to fully welcome bison back from the brink of extinction, not just as livestock, captives or mere icons of the Old West but as valued wildlife.

Tom France is the Missoula-based regional executive director of The National Wildlife Federation.
Since the first Helena snowfall that required shoveling sidewalks, Greta Dige, the city of Helenas code enforcement officer, has been busy.

Among her duties is to respond to complaints that sidewalks arent being cleared of snow and ice within the time limits in the citys revised snow removal ordinance.

Dige told the city commission on Wednesday during an administrative meeting that she had received about 154 complaints since late November. This tally didnt reflect any that might arrive after Thursdays snow.

This is a complaint-driven process, City Manager Ron Alles said, adding that city staff is not patrolling the city looking for violations.

An explanation of the snow removal requirements as well as forms to file a complaint or appeal the cost of snow removal and penalty can be found at www.helenamt.gov/parks/blvds-parking-sidewalks/sidewalk-snow-and-ice-removal.html.

According to a Dec. 30 memo Dige prepared for Alles, there were 137 complaints, of which 64 were concluded and two were not enforceable because they were on private property.

Dige had yet, as of that time, to inspect 30 properties that were the subject of complaints.

Of the 41 sidewalks the city cleared for noncompliance, the owners of 31 of those properties had not yet paid the costs and penalties, while 10 others had filed appeals with the city, according to Diges tally.

None of the appeals has yet been processed, Alles said on Wednesday.

I dont see waiving any of those complaints, he said, before adding Its likely that most of the appeals will be denied.

The citys website cautions residents to have someone handle snow removal if the property owner is out of town or unable to do it.

While the city is creating a list of people who are elderly or disabled and unable to clear snow and ice from sidewalks, this is not a guarantee that the city will have someone able to do the work, Alles said.

Four people filed 70 percent of the complaints, Dige said and noted that two are avid walkers and one of those people is dropped off by the bus and must walk to a medical facility near the citys south interchange.

The citys revised ordinance on clearing sidewalks is designed to actually get the sidewalks cleared instead of a prolonged process that had been faulted by city staff for dragging on long after snow on sidewalks was no longer an issue.

The revised ordinance sets up specific time limits for snow and ice to be removed, and it also decriminalizes the process that had included city court.

Those not living in the citys business district have 24 hours to get their sidewalks cleared after the snow stops.

Dige said she relies on an online weather reporting site to determine the time and rounds upward to the hour.

The city wants to see sidewalks in commercial districts -- these would have a B2 or B3 zoning -- cleared more quickly.

While the citys website reminder offers three scenarios for snow removal time limits, it cautions the shortest applicable timeframe applies.

These property owners are required to clear snow and ice within four business hours after a storm has ended, according to the citys website.

However, property owners can have until 9 a.m. of the next business day, Monday through Friday, to clear their sidewalks of snow and ice.

These property owners also have until noon of the next non-business day, Saturday and Sunday, to remove snow and ice.

While the city had initially considered charging people 25 cents per square foot for snow removal, that cost was lowered to 18 cents per square foot. Contractors hired by the city are paid 15 cents per square foot for their work.

The program is intended to cover its costs, Alles explained to the city commissioners.

Property owners of sidewalks with 925 square feet or less to be cleared are charged the cost to clear the snow and ice and are assessed a $50 penalty, Dige said.

Property owners with more than 925 square feet of sidewalk pay the cost for snow removal plus a 30 percent penalty.

Those who fail to pay will face commission action later this year where the commission is expected to add the cost to the property owners tax bill.
The Two Rivers jail in Hardin, which is struggling to find inmate contracts for revenue, is now in standby mode after its cells emptied this week.

"The population did drop to zero this morning," jail warden Ken Keller said Monday.

The jail saw as many as 250 inmates at its peak since it started normal operation in the fall of 2014, but the number has followed a jagged curve. By November, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs dropped its contract with the jail, and the population dropped to nine.

By December, the jail reported an average of 25 inmates, largely through an agreement with Williams County in North Dakota.

The county has been sending overflow female inmates from its Williston jail to Hardin. But now the county is set to expand its own facility, and Hardin jail officials are still waiting for the BIA to return with a new deal.

With no inmates to oversee, the jail has sent most of its employees home. Keller said that they've kept six security officers on the schedule, and the four administrators continue to work. There were about 39 employees a month ago.

The inmate search has been a continual problem for the jail since it opened in 2007. The facility sat empty for seven years until its operational company, Emerald Correctional Management, inked the contract with the BIA.

That provided the most inmates, who were brought in from 18 tribes in multiple states. That included the Crow Tribe's use of the Hardin facility as its only jail.

By the end of October, the contract ended, and the BIA pulled all of the inmates from Hardin.

The BIA has not responded since Nov. 30 to questions about the negotiation.

The jail contracted with Williams County in November. The facility in Williston had been facing overcrowding problems, and officials needed to alleviate its female inmate quarters, which were bursting at the seams.

"They left me no choice when they did the jail inspection," said Williams County Sheriff Scott Busching. "I had to move them."

Busching said that the agreement with Hardin has been working out well, but a plan is already in place to expand the Williams County jail by 108 beds. He said that crews will be "turning dirt in the spring" with hopes to be operational in the summer of 2017.

Short on cash

Keller and his staff have been working to pick up other small contracts, but they still hold hope for the BIA. The jail makes money according to the number of inmates, but the facility has never come close to its capacity of 464.

The BIA paid $76 per inmate, per day. Williams County pays about the same, Busching said.

The jail is still a long way off from paying down a massive debt. Two Rivers Authority, the economic development arm of the city of Hardin, used $27 million in bonds to build the facility.

Through years of vacancy, Two Rivers amassed alarming amounts of interest atop the bonds. In December, the outstanding debt hovered around $40 million.

Officials with Two Rivers and the city of Hardin have said that Hardin residents have no direct obligation to the debt because Two Rivers issued the bonds and local taxpayers are not the bondholders.

Still, Two Rivers has suffered from the stagnancy of its main project  the Hardin jail. As a part of the city, Hardin has bailed out Two Rivers with hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to data obtained from the city.

Hardin has paid $582,595 to Two Rivers since 2004, the documents show. About 45 percent of that money was paid before the jail opened in mid-2007.

Since then, Hardin has made periodic appropriations to an economic development division that has not accounted for much revenue. Two Rivers had more than $388,000 in expenses in its 2014 fiscal year, according to city documents. It made $197 in revenue over the same period.

Waiting game

A regular part of jail life is that the inmate population can change daily. Through the contract with Williams County, prisoners could trickle in at any time.

"That's the way things run right now," Keller said. "And we ran into a little bit of it last year, too."

But the real wait is with the BIA, whose contract is the only large item in consideration right now. Though Montana counties have faced widespread jail overcrowding, the Montana Association of Counties has declined to send people to the Hardin facility.

Once touted as a potential employer of more than 100 locals, the Hardin jail hopes to restore a few dozen.

"We had to do some layoffs with a bunch of the staff," Keller said. "And almost all of them, the majority of them, kept their uniforms. They're just waiting for the call to come back to work."
Tommy Tom Garmon, his wife and kids have brought Wing Heaven to Decatur all the way from Michigan.

Situated at 760 S. Franklin St., TKG's Wing Heaven has been serving up blessings with chicken wings, four kinds of fried fish, a variety of sides and 18 signatures sauces for the past month, all because they visited one of two Wing Heavens in Grand Rapids, Mich., last spring.

Its Christian flavor appealed to the Garmons, who also serve Decatur's Bright Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church. He is an assistant pastor and she is director of Christian education.

It's always been a dream of mine to open a restaurant, Kathleen Garmon said. Tom was also in the Army and National Guard for more than 20 years, most of that time in food services.

The Garmons credit the help of their sons, Tommy Jr. and Thomas, and daughters, Kiona and Kathleen Marie, with helping them open the business.

Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and the telephone number is (217) 330-9555. For more, visit tkgswingheaven.com or find the business on Facebook.

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If smoked meats trip your dining trigger, a new Decatur restaurant offers just about everything you might need.

Carrol Lou's Smokehouse opened at 2612 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in October and business has been brisk for its brisket, pulled pork, turkey, chicken, smoked tilapia sandwiches and more.

All meats are prepared on the premises using a custom-built smoker that one of Carrol Lou's owners, Tim Axe, toted around to regional smoked meat competitions where he said he did well.

I've also worked in the restaurant business pretty much my whole life and it's been a dream of mine to open my own restaurant, Axe said.

His wife, Melissa Schrey, is also his business partner and her specialty is sauces which, like meat rubs, are made from scratch. The couple have been saving for five years to make their business dream a reality and have already hired their first employee to keep up with demand. Everything is carry out for right now, but plans include in-house dining and delivery and a dessert menu. They are available, however, to deliver large orders.

Hours are 11 a.m to 8 p.m every day except Tuesday, when it closes at 2 p.m. Call (217) 542-7275.

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Hickory Point Bank has converted its charter from a federal savings bank to a state chartered bank.

The new charter provides Hickory Point Bank even more ways to serve customers, and is more closely aligned with our business strategy, said Anthony G. Nestler, president and chief executive officer. This is an exciting step for the bank, our customers and the communities we serve, because it demonstrates our commitment to local, community banking.

A state charter provides Hickory Point Bank with an opportunity to work with regulators who are familiar with the local marketplace. The state charter also provides the bank with increased capacity for lending and the ability to expand its agricultural services business.

State chartered banks are regulated by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

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Cancer Care Specialists of Central Illinois has changed its name to Cancer Care Specialists of Illinois to reflect the growth and reach of the centers and clinics.

It now has cancer treatment centers in Swansea and Sparta, as well as oncology clinics in Highland, Breese and Chester, to serve the St. Louis Metro East.

The new name also brings a new website, www.CancerCareSpecialists.org.
NEW YORK (AP)  There's no reason for panic. Worry, yes, but not panic.

That was the opinion of some U.S. investment strategists after another free-fall on China's main stock market reverberated around the globe Thursday and sent the Dow Jones average to a loss of nearly 400 points.

Stock prices in China fell so fast that for the second time in four days, circuit-breaker mechanisms kicked in and halted trading, this time after just 30 minutes.

China's tumbling stock prices are, in themselves, nothing for investors outside the country to panic over. Because of government regulations, very few foreigners even own stocks on the Chinese markets that seized up.

But the selling was prompted by a surprise currency devaluation by the Chinese government and by worries about a slowdown in the country's manufacturing and service sectors. Because China is the second-largest economy in the world, those problems could spell trouble around the globe.

"This is not a situation that should result in panic; it should result in caution," said Kristina Hooper, head of investment strategies for the U.S. at Allianz Global Investors.

Even though China's economy is still growing at a rate that would be the envy of advanced economies, it's only about two-thirds of what it was five years ago and is expected to slow further.

A slowdown in China is seen as a threat by many investors because the country has been the main engine of global economic growth for years, particularly during the depths of the Great Recession.

U.S. and European companies have rushed to sell cars and a multitude of other products to China's fast-growing middle class.

Also, the country's huge manufacturing sector is a major buyer of machinery and basic materials such as copper and oil, often from countries such as Brazil and Russia.

For companies looking to export to China, the devaluation of the yuan is also bad news: It makes their products more expensive when brought ashore, putting them at a competitive disadvantage.

All these factors could drag down profits at corporations all over the world.

Another problem: Investors don't trust official economic figures from the Chinese government. China says its economy is growing at close to 7 percent, but many investors think that is inflated. After all, the country's official unemployment rate has been basically unchanged for years.

Mutual fund managers say China's actual economic growth could be closer to 4 percent.

The slowdown has already hit corporate profits. American heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar is seeing sales weakening not only in China but also in Brazil and other countries that dig out the commodities China used to be so hungry for.

Still, Japan and Europe do a lot more business in China than the U.S. does, and as a result, they face higher risks.

"We're only seven days into 2016 and we've already had North Korea's nuclear test, Saudi Arabia and Iran cutting diplomatic relations and China devalue their currency," Hooper said. "It's going to be a volatile, turbulent year, and investors need to be prepared for that."
CHICAGO (AP)  An Illinois appeals court decision has reopened a statewide dispute over whether hospitals should be exempt from paying millions of dollars in income taxes and property taxes to local governments.

The Illinois 4th District Appellate Court ruled Tuesday that part of a 2012 law that allows hospitals to avoid taxes is unconstitutional.

The issue, which brewed for years before a legislative compromise defined how hospitals could qualify for tax breaks, is likely headed to the Illinois Supreme Court, as well as lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner, according to Laurence Msall of the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan government research group.

"The Illinois Department of Revenue needs some direction from both the legislature and the (Rauner) administration on how to handle pending applications," Msall said.

Five hospitals have applications for tax exemptions before the revenue department.

This week's ruling involves a case against the city of Urbana and other local taxing districts brought by Carle Foundation Hospital, which was seeking relief from taxes in 2004-2011.

A lower court sided with the hospital, but the appeals court reversed that decision, saying the Illinois Constitution allows lawmakers to exempt only property "used exclusively" for "charitable purposes."

"An unconstitutional statute is unenforceable from the moment of its enactment," the ruling states.

Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing anticipates the hospital, which had been the largest taxpayer in the city of 41,000, will try to get the case in front of the Illinois Supreme Court.

"Part of the inequity in the tax system is we have these very wealthy entities that can afford all kinds of lobbying to wiggle their way out of responsibilities," Prussing said.

Carle spokeswoman Jennifer Hendricks-Kaufmann said the hospital is considering options, including an appeal.

The Illinois Health and Hospital Association also expressed dismay, with spokesman Danny Chun saying the law "had ended a decade of uncertainty regarding the test for hospital property tax exemption.

The Illinois Supreme Court weighed in on the issue in 2010, when it suggested nonprofit hospitals that behave like businesses shouldn't qualify for tax exemptions. Citing that court decision, the state Department of Revenue denied tax exemptions to three hospitals in 2011 and signaled more denials for other hospitals could follow.

That led to lawmakers' actions in 2012, in which hospitals won a broad definition of charity care and were required to provide free care to some patients.
DECATUR  After a passer-by called in a report of three men fighting outside a vehicle, police found 32-year-old Vincent Joyner lying in a vehicle he had been driving.

Joyner pleaded not guilty to all charges in Macon County Circuit Court on Wednesday, after he was charged with aggravated DUI and two other felony counts in connection with the incident, which occurred early the morning of Dec. 17 in the 1100 block of North Oakland Avenue.

When Decatur patrol officer Jaime Hagemeyer arrived at the scene about 1 a.m. she saw two males standing near the rear end of a Mercury Grand Marquis, trying to shut the rear door.

The Mercury was parked over the curb facing southbound with the driver's side tires in the grass and the rear tires seated on the curb, Hagemeyer wrote in a probable cause affidavit.

She then saw Joyner lying on the rear seat with blood coming from his back hand. He appeared to be asleep. After he awoke, he responded to a police question by denying that he had been involved in a fight.

I asked Vincent who was driving, and he stated whoever was driving had a valid license, Hagemeyer wrote in her statement.

The other two men who were on the scene told police that Joyner was driving south on Oakland, hit the median, then hit the curb where the car was now resting. They said Joyner exited the car, fell on the pavement and they then placed him on the back seat.

They said they had been passengers in the Mercury.

Hagemeyer observed that Joyner had droopy eyelids, slurred speech, glassy and bloodshot eyes and breath with a strong odor of alcohol. He refused all sobriety tests and refused to blow into the breathalyzer.

I'm drunk; I'm loaded, he told police.

Joyner's driver's license was revoked in 2009. On Sept. 14, 2011, he was convicted of driving while revoked and DUI, and sentenced to two years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Joyner has three other felony convictions since 2001, including a 2009 conviction for felon possessing a firearm, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison.

He is free on bond, pending a pretrial hearing Feb. 11.
DECATUR  Isaac L. Allston, 56, of Decatur was charged Thursday with five criminal counts for allegedly battering a 34-year-old woman, stealing her cellphone and breaking windows in her house and vehicle, during several separate incidents.

On Aug. 9, the woman was arguing with Allston inside her eastside home, when he threw her to the floor and shoved her into furniture, she told police, said a probable cause affidavit by Decatur patrol officer Brandon Rolfs.

She suffered a large bruise on her upper leg as a result of his attack, which was shown to police.

Allston was placed on the police wanted list.

On Sept. 15, Allston and the woman were arguing at the same residence, after she received a phone call from a male friend, she told police.

However, Isaac believed the relationship with the caller was more than a friendship, said an affidavit by Rolfs. Isaac slapped her across the left cheek with his right open hand, then threw a set of keys at her. The keys hit her in the the abdomen.

Allston also grabbed her by her arms and threw her to the floor four times or more during that incident, the victim told police. Allston took her cellphone and spare set of keys to her vehicle, before fleeing from the scene.

About 4:15 a.m. Sept. 24, the victim was awakened by the sound of breaking glass. She looked outside and saw Allston standing in front of her house.

Where's my money, you (expletive)? Allston shouted at her.

She later discovered he had thrown several bricks through her windows.

Eight windows were broken, Rolfs wrote in an affidavit. A van parked in front of the house belonging to the victim had a shattered windshield and broken driver's side window.

On the night of Jan. 1, police went to Allston's residence in the 300 block of West Sawyer Street, where they arrested him.

Allston, who is being held on $10,000 bond, is facing charges of domestic battery with a prior conviction, theft, resisting a peace officer and criminal damage to property. He is due in court for his preliminary hearing Jan. 20.
DECATUR  Tyyuan Anderson, 18, of Decatur was sentenced to 16 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections after a jury convicted him of armed violence for possessing a firearm while in possession of cocaine.

Anderson was also convicted of two other felonies by the jury on Nov. 12 -- possession of a weapon by a felon and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver -- as well as misdemeanor possession of cannabis with intent to deliver.

The five-year sentences for the felonies and 60 days for the misdemeanor will be served concurrently with the 16-year sentence.

At the sentencing hearing Dec. 30, Associate Macon County Judge Jeffrey Geisler pronounced a sentence just above the minimum. The guideline for Class X armed violence is 15 to 30 years.

Anderson has an extensive criminal history, including a 2014 conviction of possession of a stolen vehicle and fleeing or eluding police, in a case in which he was originally charged with armed robbery.

The armed robbery charge, for which he was automatically transferred to adult court at age 17, was dismissed as part of a plea deal.

He was serving a 24-month probation term for this conviction at the time of his arrest in his most recent case.

Anderson was arrested about 11:30 p.m. June 24 after Decatur Street Crimes detectives spotted three males walking in the roadway, on the 500 block of West Leafland Avenue.

When detectives Scott Rosenbery and James Callaway approached Anderson and told him to come to them, he immediately fled on foot, said an affidavit by Rosenbery. As the officers gave chase, Anderson tripped and fell on his face. He was immediately apprehended and handcuffed.

A few feet from where Anderson fell, police located a Glock handgun, loaded with six .40-caliber cartridges. In his pockets, they found nine bags of crack cocaine and seven bags of cannabis.

Assistant State's Attorney Pam Domash was the prosecutor at Anderson's trial. Assistant Public Defender Scott Rueter defended him.

Anderson's criminal record included a juvenile adjudication for unlawful use of a weapon in 2014 in Macon County and arrests for mob action and assault in 2013 in Cook County.

With credit for time served in jail since his arrest, Anderson will be eligible for parole in 2023.
DECATUR  Rural transit agencies will continue their current operations, despite questions about state funding.

Show Bus director Laura Dick said her company has decided to not reduce services because, legislatively, they have not been cut.

So a cutback in services cannot be justified, she told the Macon County Rural Transit Advisory Group, during its quarterly meeting in December.

As the state budget impasse continues in Springfield, a lack of state funding forced an earlier stop to services. However, money has begun to flow again to transportation agencies, as the court system considers the legality of the Illinois Department of Transportation to change appropriations that were set legislatively.

Dick said she is still in negotiations with requests for expansion, with Macon County as the top priority, due to low numbers. Aside from the issue of requests for new services are coming in as agencies try to trim their budgets and cut back on their own transportation, Dick said Show Bus is making sure not to intrude on other transportation entities operating in area.

Other issues at the state level are that $78 million of executed contracts under the capital program has been put on hold, with local agencies unlikely to be paid anytime soon. Before the hold, some projects went forward, including the Show Bus purchase of a building that was approved. However, all of the money to renovate the building was zeroed out, as was money for radios.

A new application stating the most critical needs has been allowed, and Dick said most of the agencies simply resubmitted applications, because it would not have been submitted in the first place if it was not critical.

The state has yet to respond to the application.

The overall number of riders was slightly down from roughly 653 average rides reported in August during the last quarterly meeting. The decreased number was noted to have come during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, when there are generally fewer riders.
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Tsolak Poghosyan, now in his thirteenth year behind bars in Armenia, recently sent a letter to Investigative Journalists NGO President Edik Baghdasaryan, asking for assistance in getting his criminal case reviewed.

Poghosyan is one of 14 former Armenian soldiers sentenced to life imprisonment. Ever since being convicted, Poghosyan has maintained his innocence, demanding a review of his sentence.

Currently, there are 99 individuals serving life sentences in Armenia.

Hetq has read the case materials on file in the court archives regarding Poghosyans trial in which he was found guilty of murdering his army buddy Karen Petrosyan. Hetq also interviewed Poghosyan at the Noubarashen Penitentiary.

Three other soldiers were sentenced in the murder case. Manvel Boyadjyan and Souren Petrosyan received 6.5 year sentences and Sayat Arshakyan, five years, for assisting Poghosyan.

Poghosyans conviction, in part, was based on the testimony of Arshakyan. But Arshakyan changed his story some six or seven times.

Poghosyan confessed to the crime under duress and after being beaten while in the custody of the military police for five days. Poghosyan testified in court that he was maltreated, but his claims were disregarded.

The case material includes statements of the soldiers regarding being beaten while in custody.

A state inspector ordered that the soldiers undergo medical tests to verify their claims of maltreatment, but Hetq found no exam results in the four volumes of case materials.

Hetq visited Anahit Matosyan, Poghosyans caretaker and aunt. She said that Poghosyans parents died in the 1988 Spitak earthquake when he was just 2.5 years-old. Ms. Matosyan said that one of her three children also perished in the earthquake.

My girl was buried under the rubble. I said that I would raise Tsolak. They were taking the children to orphanages at the time. But I raised them in a tomik (trailer hut). We are still living in a tomik, Matosyan told Hetq.

The family that raised Poghosyan doesnt even know what happened to the boy.

When Matosyans other son was discharged from the army and returned to Spitak, he went to see Tsolak at the army base.

He found out that Tsolak had been sentenced to life. We paid him a visit in prison. They found a defenseless boy and placed the blame on him, says Matosyan.

Photo: Anahit Matosyan, Tsolak Poghosyan
Daniele Ozzimo, a former member of the Rome city council, was sentenced yesterday with five others for their part in the Mafia Capitale corruption scandal, according to Repubblica.

Ozzimo, a Democratic Party member, was convicted of corruption and malfeasance and sentenced by Judge Alessandra Boffi to two years and two months in prison. The judge also sentenced another former council member, Massimo Caprari of the Democratic Center party, to two years and four months in prison, according to Repubblica.

The scandal concerned a series of rigged bids by Sicilys Center for Asylum Seekers (CARA Mineo), one of the largest refugee centers in Italy. Italian prosecutors have accused 40 politicians, businessmen and corrupt officials of rigging tenders for public contracts meant to assist incoming refugees and embezzling the money received for the contracts.

Prosecutors say the suspects collaborated with Luca Odevaine, one of the schemes masterminds. At the time, Odevaine was a member of the national panel of coordination for receiving refugees and asylum-seekers, reported The Local.

Investigators alleged last June that Odevaine accepted bribes to assign the public contracts serving CARA Mineo to friends, according to the International Business Times.

Savatore Buzzi, an Italian ex-convict arrested for his role in the scheme in December 2014, worked with Massimo Carminati, an alleged member of the criminal organization Banda della Magliana, to rig the CARA Mineo contracts, added Italy 24.

OCCRP previously reported Carminatis group placed his men in key positions in Romes municipality and the central state administration to arrange for tenders for refugee and immigrant centers to be passed to those who bribed them.

Buzzi and Carminati ran reception centres and cooperatives in Rome to welcome migrants from CARA Mineo.

Odevaine was a member of Mineos Commission of Public Works at the time and allegedly acted as liaison between Carminati, Buzzi and other corrupt officials and businessmen in rigging the tenders.

Carminati, Buzzi and Odevaine were arrested last year in connection to the scandal.

The others convicted were Francesco Ferrara, Domenico Cammisa, Salvatore Menolascina and Carmelo Parabita, ex-managers of a Rome-based catering cooperative, La Cascina. According to Italian newspaper Avvenira and LEspresso, the managers have been accused of bribing Odevaine for contracts between 2011 and 2014.

If the judge agrees with prosecutors that the suspects in the upcoming Mafia Capitale trials comprised an organized crime group, they will face tougher sentences, added the The Local.

Last December, Italian authorities also charged Gianni Alemano, an ex-mayor of Rome, with corruption and illicit financing in the scandal. Alemano, who ran the Nuova Italia foundation, allegedly made  125,000 (US$ 135,541) through his foundation. He will have his first hearing this March.

occrp.org
Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan: Deporting Kurdish activist back to Turkey would be act of terror
JUNEAU  A 37-year-old Waupun man with a violent criminal history was sentenced to probation Thursday for selling crack cocaine to an informant.

Gary Bruce Campbell was found guilty of one count of manufacturing or delivering cocaine in the amount of less than a gram as a repeater. Three additional counts of manufacturing or delivering cocaine in the amount of less than a gram and one charge of manufacturing or delivering cocaine of more than a gram but less than 5 grams were dismissed but were read into the court record.

Judge Joseph Sciascia sentenced Campbell to five years of probation and one year of conditional jail time.

Dodge County District Attorney Kurt Klomberg argued for a 15-year prison term for the drug sale, noting that Campbell had been in and out of custody since the age of 12. Judge Sciascia, citing Campbells positive achievements while in prison, imposed a lighter sentence.

Judge Sciascia imposed and stayed a 16-year prison sentence. Should Campbell fail to successfully complete probation he will have to serve the sentence.

According to the criminal complaint, a confidential informant introduced a law enforcement officer to Campbell, who was known as the nickname, Smooth. Drug Task Force officers purchased the cocaine base (crack) from Campbell on five occasions between April 17 and 21, 2015 at locations in Beaver Dam and Horicon.

While being arrested Campbell admitted to being a drug dealer and said his source was in Milwaukee, according to the criminal complaint. He would not specify the amounts of cocaine he would purchase at any given time from his source.

At the time of the sale, Campbell had been released from the Wisconsin prison system only four months earlier where he was serving a 10-year sentence for second degree reckless homicide and hiding a corpse. He was charged in Milwaukee in 2004 and convicted in 2006. Campbell was on extended supervision at the time of the drug sale.
Two Dane County men were arrested and $80,000 worth of cocaine seized on Thursday in what police are calling a high-level cocaine trafficking case.

Jose Almazan, 45, Oregon, and Antonio Zaldivar, 35, town of Madison, were arrested during a traffic stop police made on their car between Stoughton and Oregon, while they were coming back from Illinois.

Almazan was tentatively charged with six counts of delivery of cocaine, two counts of possession with intent to deliver cocaine and maintaining a drug dwelling.

Zaldivar was tentatively charged with being party to the crime of possession with intent to deliver cocaine.

According to police:

The Dane County Narcotics Task Force worked with Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents in the months-long investigation.

Cocaine allegedly was found both in their vehicle and at Almazan's residence at 323 N. Main St. in Oregon.

Besides the 973.9 grams of cocaine, agents also found over $18,000 in cash.

"In the run-up to the Thursday activities, an undercover officer purchased cocaine many times from Almazan, at various Madison locations," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain.
The UW-Madison law professor who helped free Steven Avery after a wrongful conviction in the 1980s says Making a Murderer, the Netflix documentary about his 2007 homicide trial, illustrates problems in the criminal justice system that affect many cases beyond Averys.

Professor Keith Findley, a co-director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, said his organization is not currently representing Avery, whose supporters say was wrongfully convicted in the 2005 death of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach.

But Findley said he has talked recently with Averys attorneys, Dean Strang and Jerome Buting, and noted the innocence project could revisit Averys case in the future, should new evidence come to light.

Were always open to reconsidering and reexamining any case, Findley said.

He also said deciding not to take up the case does not necessarily mean project members believe Avery is guilty. The project could pass on the case if there isnt new evidence available to support a demand for another trial, Findley said, or because another legal organization would be better suited for it.

Making a Murderer, which premiered on Netflix last month, recounts Averys conviction for a 1985 sexual assault in Manitowoc County and his release from prison 18 years later after the Wisconsin Innocence Project used DNA evidence to exonerate him.

It then follows the 2005 disappearance and death of Halbach, whose remains were found on Averys property, as well as the investigation and trials that ended with Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey sentenced to life in prison for homicide.

Law enforcement officials who were involved in the Halbach case have criticized the 10-part documentary series, which is told from the perspective of Averys family and defense team.

Findley said he has watched Making a Murderer, and thought it did a good job showcasing some of the recurring flaws in the criminal justice system more broadly.

Those flaws include the potential for investigators to coerce false confessions from suspects, and the possibility of errors in analyzing forensic evidence, Findley said, though he stopped short of saying thats what happened in the Avery and Dassey cases. In a way, this case wasnt unique in the sense that those issues occur in routine, everyday cases in our criminal justice system, he said.

Findley said the series also shows a facet of the judicial system he knows well from his work with the Wisconsin Innocence Project. The system is just not designed to exonerate wrongfully convicted people, he said. It is designed  once the conviction is obtained  to preserve that conviction.
Electric scooters popularly known as hoverboards were among the most talked-about gifts during the holiday season, but dont plan on riding one to class if youre a student at UW-Madison or Madison Area Technical College.

The two campuses are among at least 20 other colleges and universities across the country where administrators have banned or restricted the self-balancing scooters, citing the risk of falls and warnings from consumer groups that the batteries that power hoverboards could catch fire.

UW and MATC officials say campus rules bar people from riding the devices, although students can use them on city property and  for now, at least  store them in UW-Madisons dorms.

Keith Cornille, MATCs senior vice president for student development and success, said officials were concerned about the possibility of students riding their hoverboards inside campus buildings.

The hallways are crowded and we dont want people running into others, Cornille said. We need to be concerned about that issue of safety and risk.

Cornille and John Lucas, a spokesman for UW-Madison, said the same rules that ban skateboards and rollerblades from their campuses apply to hoverboards as well.

UW officials are also talking about whether to prohibit the devices in residence halls, as other universities have done, but Lucas said they have not yet made a decision.

Both institutions plan to contact students before they return from winter break to let them know they cant ride their hoverboards on campus.

Although some cities have restricted the devices, Madison police Capt. Richard Bach, who oversees the departments traffic division, said he did not know of any such rules in Madison.

An Edgewood College official said that campus does not prohibit hoverboards.

Of course, as the ban on skateboards has shown, saying the devices arent allowed on campus doesnt necessarily mean people wont ride them anyway  whether they know about the rules or not.

Marc Lovicott, a spokesman for UW-Madison police, said that if officers see someone on a hoverboard or hear a report of people riding them, they will likely treat the incident much like they handle skateboarding. The officers options range from telling riders about the ban and giving them a warning, Lovicott said, to writing them a citation that carries a fine of $263.50.

Cornille similarly said MATC public safety officials would treat hoverboard riders on a case-by-case basis, with the possibility for sanctions under the colleges student code of conduct.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Heres how members of Wisconsins congressional delegation voted on major issues this week.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, typically does not vote. By custom, the speaker votes only in rare circumstances.

HOUSE

REPEAL OF AFFORDABLE CARE ACT: Voting 240 for and 181 against, the House on Wednesday gave final congressional approval to a Republican bill (HR 3762) that would repeal key parts of the Affordable Care Act while defunding the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for one year. The bill would effectively kill the 2010 health law by eliminating tax penalties necessary to enforce its individual and employer mandates and repealing taxes on medical-device manufacturers and high-priced Cadillac health plans that yield revenue to fund the law.

A yes vote was to send the bill to President Barack Obama, who said he will veto it

Voting yes: Paul Ryan, R-1st, James Sensenbrenner, R-5th, Glenn Grothman, R-6th, Sean Duffy, R-7th, Reid Ribble, R-8th

Voting no: Mark Pocan, D-2nd, Gwen Moore, D-4th

Not voting: Ronald Kind, D-3rd

COMMISSION ON FEDERAL REGULATIONS: Voting 245 for and 174 against, the House on Thursday passed a bill (HR 1155) that would establish a commission with a $6 million annual budget and subpoena power to review federal regulations and target for repeal those judged to be outdated and overly costly to the economy. The bills cost-benefit analyses would measure the economic impact of federal rules on companies but not the cost to the public if a rule were to be repealed. Also under the bill, agencies could not adopt new regulations without repealing existing ones to offset the cost. The executive branch issues several hundred new regulations each year to implement laws passed by Congress.

Voting yes: Sensenbrenner, Grothman, Duffy, Ribble

Voting no: Pocan, Moore

Not voting: Kind, Ryan

FOOD-SAFETY REGULATIONS: Voting 173 for and 245 against, the House on Thursday defeated an amendment to prohibit HR 1155 (above) from authorizing the repeal of any Food and Drug Administration regulation designed to ensure food safety in the United States.

A yes vote was to exempt FDA food regulations from the scope of the bill.

Voting yes: Pocan, Moore

Voting no: Sensenbrenner, Grothman, Duffy, Ribble

Not voting: Kind, Ryan

CLASS-ACTION SUITS, ASBESTOS CLAIMS: Voting 211 for and 188 against, the House on Friday passed a GOP bill (HR 1927) that would tighten rules for federal class-action suits in order to bar unqualified claimants from collecting payments. The bill would allow courts to certify only suits in which all members of the class are shown to have suffered the same type and scope of injuries. The bill would delay compensation to some disease victims in suits based on workplace exposure to asbestos. Class-action suits are a means for large numbers of alleged victims of misconduct by the same defendant(s) to join together to seek redress they do not have time or money to pursue as individual plaintiffs.

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

Voting yes: Sensenbrenner, Grothman, Duffy, Ribble

Voting no: Moore

Not voting: Pocan, Kind, Ryan

CHILDRENS EXEMPTION FROM ASBESTOS RULE: Voting 173 for and 227 against, the House on Friday defeated a Democratic bid to exempt children from a requirement in HR 1927 (above) concerning Internet postings about claimants in asbestos-related class-action suits. The bill requires information about claimants, but not their identities, to be posted on a website so that corporate defendants can check for fraud in the filing of claims. Most of these claimants suffer from mesothelioma, a fast-moving lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos at school, work, home and other locations.

A yes vote was to exempt children from the Internet-posting requirement.

Voting yes: Moore

Voting no: Sensenbrenner, Grothman, Duffy, Ribble

Not voting: Pocan, Kind, Ryan

KEY VOTES AHEAD

Next week, the Senate will take up a bill to launch a congressional audit of the Federal Reserve, while the House schedule was to be announced.

 Thomas Voting Reports
Amid concerns from the ACLU of Wisconsin, Madison is backing off its controversial panhandling ordinance and also reviewing the arrests and jailing of homeless or poor people for failure to pay fines.

The city is issuing unconstitutional citations for peaceful panhandling and jailing poor people who arent paying court-ordered fines and must undertake significant changes in policy and practice to comply with state and federal law, ACLU attorney Karyn Rotker wrote to city attorney Michael May in a six-page letter dated Jan. 5.

On Thursday, May said he will recommend that police suspend enforcement of the citys 2012 panhandling ordinance in total due to court decisions in the past six months and concerns raised by the ACLUs letter.

Weve been looking at it for some time. The (ACLU) letter caused us to look at it more closely now, May said late Thursday afternoon. Until theres a new decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, were not going to put the city at risk.

In light of the constitutional problems we have identified, we are pleased with the recommendation to suspend enforcement of the panhandling ordinance, and we hope and assume that this recommendation will be followed, Rotker said Thursday evening.

The police still will have tools to address clear abuses such as yelling and screaming at someone, physically demanding money, or blocking a pathway, May said, using laws that prohibit disorderly conduct, battery, trespassing and obstructing traffic.

Im disappointed, said Downtown Ald. Mike Verveer, 4th District, a sponsor of the ordinance, who agrees with Mays legal analysis that the ordinance appears unconstitutional. Panhandling is absolutely a quality-of-life issue for many, many Downtown residents and visitors.

Verveer said hes concerned about more aggressive panhandling, but said, I do have faith the most egregious cases can be cited and dealt with through existing ordinances.

Arrests over fines

The ACLU is wrong in assertions that the city is improperly arresting and jailing poor people for failing to pay fines, but the city is taking concerns seriously and will research them, May said.

The city, Rotkers letter says, appears to have incarcerated impoverished residents, including homeless people charged with panhandling ordinance violations, when they are unable to pay their court-ordered fines.

Former Ald. Brenda Konkel, an outspoken advocate for the homeless, has been analyzing municipal court records and said police seem to be using incarceration, or the threat of it, as a tool to discourage unwanted behaviors.

Ive seen the allegations from (Konkel). Weve heard it from others, May said. Our judgment, at this time, is we have not been doing anything improper.

Those who are cited and later arrested have an opportunity to appear before Municipal Judge Dan Koval, who is very, very good about creating payment plans and opportunities for community service, May said.

Still, we want to get the facts, May said.

Verveer, who also praised Kovals handling of warrants, said it is worthwhile to review how police, the city attorneys office and the municipal court handle cases.

Central Police District officials and Koval could not be reached late Thursday afternoon.

Evolving panhandling

Before 2012, the city banned aggressive and menacing panhandling citywide, and also had a citywide prohibition of any panhandling within 50 feet of an ATM, 25 feet of a sidewalk cafe or intersection, and certain distances from commercial buildings.

In August 2012, the City Council kept the ban on aggressive and menacing panhandling but made changes, including a ban on any panhandling in the Central Business District  essentially Capitol Square and State Street and one block in either direction.

It also aligned the citywide ban near ATMs, sidewalk cafes, and intersections to 25 feet, added a ban within 25 feet of establishments with an alcohol license, and dropped the ban from commercial buildings.

The changes were made to close loopholes in the law that allowed near constant panhandling in some specific areas on State Street, where people who werent homeless had even established a racket by enforcing who could panhandle in certain spots, Verveer said.

The ACLU has been concerned about that ordinance since it was passed, and increased pressure in August after a federal appeals court in Chicago said a panhandling law in Springfield, Illinois, cant discriminate on the content of a speakers words, such as asking for money.

On Aug. 26, May emailed the ACLU that he had advised police to stop issuing general citations for panhandling while tickets for aggressive panhandling and soliciting vehicles in the streets would remain enforceable.

Now, its clear the Madison police have continued to enforce location-based components against peaceful panhandlers, Rotker wrote to May this week.

In her letter, Rotker cites nine apparently unconstitutional citations, none of which indicate that there was a threat to public safety, between Aug. 18 and Oct. 14.

Also, the city doesnt appear to have conducted any training on this issue, she wrote.

You cant ban a kind of speech in public areas because people find it disgusting, she said in an interview.

Madison has been drawing the line in ways that violate protected speech. They need to go back to the drawing board.
WASHINGTON  If youre going to engage in a foreign policy capitulation, might as well do it when everyone is getting tanked and otherwise occupied. Say, New Years Eve.

Heres the story. In October, Iran test-fires a nuclear-capable ballistic missile in brazen violation of Security Council resolutions prohibiting such launches. President Obama does nothing. One month later, Iran does it again. The administration makes a few gestures at the U.N. Then nothing. Then finally, on Dec. 30, the White House announces a few sanctions.

They are weak, aimed mostly at individuals and designed essentially for show. Amazingly, even that proves too much. By 10 p.m. that night, the administration caves. The White House sends out an email saying that sanctions are off  and the Iranian president orders the military to expedite the missile program.

Is there any red line left? First, the Syrian chemical weapons. Then the administration insistence that there would be no nuclear deal unless Iran accounted for its past nuclear activities. (It didnt.) And unless Iran permitted inspection of its Parchin nuclear testing facility. (It was allowed self-inspection and declared itself clean.) And now, illegal ballistic missiles.

The premise of the nuclear deal was that it would constrain Iranian actions. Its had precisely the opposite effect. It has deterred us from offering even the mildest pushback to any Iranian violations lest Iran walk away and leave Obama legacy-less.

Just two weeks ago, Irans Revolutionary Guards conducted live-fire exercises near the Strait of Hormuz. It gave nearby U.S. vessels exactly 23 seconds of warning. One rocket was launched 1,500 yards from the USS Harry S. Truman.

Obamas response? None.

The Gulf Arabs  rich, weak and, since FDR, dependent on America for security  are bewildered. Theyre still reeling from the nuclear deal, which Obama declared would be unaffected by Iranian misbehavior elsewhere. The result was to assure Tehran it would pay no price for its aggression in Syria and Yemen, subversion in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and support for terrorism.

Obama seems not to understand that disconnecting the nuclear issue gave the mullahs license to hunt in the region. For the Saudis, however, its not just blundering but betrayal. From the very beginning, theyve seen Obama tilting toward Tehran as he fancies himself Nixon in China, turning Iran into a strategic partner in managing the Middle East.

This is even scarier because it is delusional. If anything, Obamas openhanded appeasement has encouraged Irans regional adventurism and intense anti-Americanism.

The Saudis, sensing abandonment, are near panic. Hence the reckless execution of the firebrand Shiite insurrectionist, Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, that has brought the region to a boil. Iranians torched the Saudi Embassy. The Saudis led other Sunni states in breaking relations with Tehran.

The Saudis feel surrounded, and its not paranoia. To their north, Iran dominates a Shiite crescent stretching from Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean. To the Saudi south, Iran has been arming Yemens Houthi rebels since at least 2009.

The danger is rising. For years, Iran has been supporting anti-regime agitation among Saudi Arabias minority Shiites. The Persian Gulf is Irans ultimate prize. The fall of the House of Saud would make Iran the undisputed regional hegemon and an emerging global power.

For the United States, that would be the greatest geopolitical setback since China fell to communism in 1949. Yet Obama seems oblivious. Worse, he appears inert in the face of the three great challenges to the post-Cold War American order. Iran is only the most glaring.

China is challenging the status quo in the South China Sea, just last week landing its first aircraft on an artificial island hundreds of miles beyond the Chinese coast. We deny Chinas claim and declare these to be international waters, yet last month we meekly apologized when a B-52 overflew one of the islands. We said it was inadvertent.

The world sees and takes note. As it does our response to the other great U.S. adversary  Russia. Whats happened to Obamas vaunted isolation of Russia for its annexation of Crimea and assault on the post-Cold War European settlement? Gone. Evaporated. Kerry plays lapdog to Sergei Lavrov. Obama meets openly with Vladimir Putin in Turkey, then in Paris. And is now practically begging him to join our side in Syria.

There is no price for defying Pax Americana  not even trivial sanctions on Iranian missile-enablers. Our enemies know it. Our allies see it  and sense theyre on their own, and may not survive.
WASHINGTON  It is axiomatic that congressional Republicans will oppose anything smacking of gun control, which may as well be read as Your mama.

So it comes as no surprise that President Obamas announcement of executive actions to clarify and enhance federal gun laws prompted reflexive, hyperbolic responses from the right.

Marco Rubio said Obama is obsessed with undermining the Second Amendment, while Ted Cruz averred, We dont beat the bad guys by taking away our guns; we beat the bad guys by using our guns. Spoken like a true, Canadian-born Texan who has been busy burnishing his outsider Outdoor Guy image. Whats next? Cruz drinking the warm blood of a freshly slain (unarmed) beast?

House Speaker Paul Ryan criticized the president for a dangerous level of executive overreach and for circumventing congressional opposition  as though Congress has been working feverishly to reduce gun violence. Rather, Republicans focus their laser beams on Obamas and the Democratic Partys political motivations, shocking to none, and remind us that we already have enough gun laws.

This may well be true, but couldnt we stand to tweak them a bit? Or, perhaps, enforce them? And, isnt it possible to reduce the number of guns in the wrong hands without surrendering our Second Amendment rights or invoking the slippery slope of government confiscation?

Of course it is  and we can.

Obama made an artful and poignant counterargument to the usual objections Tuesday during a news conference from the White House. He reminded those gathered, including many who have lost family members to gun violence, that other people also have rights  the right to free assembly or the right to practice their religion without being shot.

In fairness to the gun lobby, which may not deserve such charity, one can understand reservations about limiting access to guns. What is less easily understood is the refusal of Republicans to take the reins of any given issue and do something constructive rather than invariably waiting to be forced into the ignoble position of no.

It is one thing to be in the pocket of the National Rifle Association. It is another to do nothing and then assume a superior posture of purposeful neglect, as though do-nothingness were a policy and smug intransigence a philosophy.

The steps Obama is trying to take wont save every life, but they seem minimally intrusive and could have significant effects. Summarizing briefly, hes clarifying existing law and more tightly defining gun dealer to impose broader background checks; upgrading technology for improved information-sharing and safer guns; increasing relevant workforces to speed up background checks; and closing loopholes that have allowed criminals to buy guns online and elsewhere with a separate set of rules. Or no rules.

Giving the FBI more resources to modernize its system will help. So will giving $500 million to mental health services aimed at keeping guns away from people determined to hurt themselves or others.

Requiring shippers to report stolen guns will also be helpful  and investing in smart technology could be a game changer. As Obama said, tearing up at mention of the Sandy Hook shooting that took the lives of 20 first-graders, if we can keep children from opening aspirin bottles, surely we can prevent their pulling the trigger on a gun.

As to expanding background checks, only the criminal or suicidal object to waiting a day or two before taking home a gun. And, if the government doesnt complete the process within three days, seller and buyer can proceed, anyway.

What concerns most people, meanwhile, are those weapons, especially semi-automatics with large magazines, whose only purpose is to kill people. Many argue no current law could have prevented any of the mass shootings in recent years, but is this sufficient justification for doing nothing when doing something could make a difference we may never know about  the child who didnt die because new technology prevented him from firing a pistol? The Islamic State-inspired terrorist who didnt murder holiday revelers because he failed an online background check?

Obamas actions wont go unchallenged, needless to say. And much political hay will be threshed, bundled and sold to Republican primary voters in the meantime. But GOP voters should be as skeptical of those ringing the gong of doom as they have been of Obama. In a civilized society, more guns cant be better than fewer.
The execution of the popular Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 other prisoners last weekend 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, last 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 the executions were not out of character for Saudi Arabia. The country has a dismal human rights record with its application of stern Islamic law and its repression of women and practitioners of religious traditions other than Sunni Islam. The regime has become only more repressive in the years since the Arab Spring.

According to Human Rights Watch, the mass execution followed a year in which 158 people were executed, the most in recent history, largely based on vague laws and dubious trials. Sheikh Nimr was a vocal critic of the regime and champion of the rights of the Shiite minority in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, but not an advocate of violent action.

The tangled and volatile realities of the Middle East do not give the United States or the European Union the luxury of choosing or rejecting allies on moral criteria. Washington has no choice but to deal with regimes like those in Tehran, which also has an abysmal human rights record, including nearly 700 executions in the first half of last year, or in Riyadh to combat the clear and present danger posed by Islamist terrorists or to search for solutions to massively destabilizing conflicts like the Syrian civil war. ...

But that cannot mean condoning actions that blatantly fan sectarian hatreds, undermine efforts at stabilizing the region and crudely violate human rights.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un periodically runs for election  but only if hes the lone candidate. Thats how the tyrant won with 100 percent of the vote two years ago.

Here in Wisconsin, we enjoy real democracy and choice at the polls  but only if more than one candidate actually runs for office.

Unfortunately, thats not happening in most local races this spring. And the dearth of candidates is becoming a troubling trend.

Not even doubling the annual pay of Madison School Board members to $8,000 drew more candidates to this years contests. Three incumbents are unopposed for three seats.

Barring unlikely write-in campaigns, James Howard, Dean Loumos and TJ Mertz have already won re-election  without a peep of debate over the direction of a district that graduates barely half its black students. With the latest batch of seats, six of the last seven Madison School Board races have been uncontested.

Our community needs to encourage more participation. Electing candidates from sections of the city, rather than citywide, could make running for School Board less daunting.

Nothing against the incumbents, who work hard with passion and knowledge. But the lack of at least two candidates for each seat will diminish public attention to school issues. It lets school leaders  and the larger community  off the hook for better results.

The gigantic Dane County Board also faces election April 5. But only four or five of 37 supervisor seats are contested. Thats pathetic.

The board has long resisted calls to reduce its unwieldy size, which dilutes the power and profile of individual members. With the board wisely considering a nonpartisan process for drawing voting district lines after the 2020 census, it also should pledge to become more efficient and relevant by collapsing its slew of seats into a much smaller board.

For Dane County court, three lawyers are running for three open seats, and three incumbents are running unopposed. No choice there.

Judges should be appointed on merit. Instead, sleepy judicial elections continue in Wisconsin, with little public interest or choice at the local level.

The Madison City Council wont face voters this spring. But last year, only 7 of 20 seats were contested, despite a 50 percent pay raise to $12,692 a year.

Fewer and shorter meetings would help attract talented and busy people. So might limits on excessive public comments before big votes. Listening to the public is essential. But allowing the same people to say the same things over and over again can waste time and scare away public servants.

Liberal Madison has loudly decried state-imposed limits on voting, including photo ID and fewer hours for casting early ballots. Our editorial board has opposed these unneeded restrictions, too.

But none of that matters if only one candidate stands for each office. Madison and Dane County must do better.
Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 16-01-08 Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> Friday, 8 January 2016 Issue No: 5097 CONTENTS [01] PM's office welcomes employer support for hike in social insurance contributions [02] PM Tsipras: It is our social responsibility to safeguard the sustainability of the social security system [03] Government's proposal on pension reform is final, Gerovassili says [04] Social partners' agreement for a reasonable increase in social security contributions is a strong negotiating tool, says Gerovassili [05] ESEE's Korkidis says rise in social insurance contributions is the best of bad options for pension reform [06] Employer groups support temporary hike in social insurance contributions after meeting with PM [07] Opposition parties need to participate in dialogue on pension reforms, says gov't spokeswoman Gerovassili [08] 'Difficult' bills will be helped to pass Parliament, ND's Meimarakis predicts in ANA-MPA interview [09] New pension system 'crushing' the middle class, Potami party says [10] FinMin Tsakalotos to have meetings with European counterparts [11] EU Commission cannot give an exact date on the institutions' arrival at Athens, says spokesperson [12] Justice ministry condemns 'racist' incident on board Aegean flight to Tel Aviv [13] Bank of Greece governor optimistic over 2016 [14] Greek enterprises see significant economic prospects in 2016 [15] Energean Oil & Gas doubles oil production in Prinos [16] Greek trade deficit down 1.8 pct in Jan-Nov [17] Greek unemployment rate eased to 24.6 pct in Sept [18] Greek unemployment rate eased to 24.5 pct in Oct [19] Greek state overdue debt to the private sector down in Nov [20] Greek stocks end sharply lower [21] ADEX closing report [22] Stage and screen actress Anna Synodinou dies, aged 89 [23] Domestic flights to be cancelled on Friday due to strike [24] Ferry services gradually being restored as winds weaken [25] Woman arrested in northern Greece for suspected links to ISIS [26] Blue Star Ferries installs pilot photovoltaic unit on the 'Blue Star Delos' [27] 1,094 refugees arrive at Piraeus port on Thursday [28] Clouds on Friday [29] The Thursday edition of Athens' dailies at a glance Politics [01] PM's office welcomes employer support for hike in social insurance contributions The government on Thursday welcomed the stance adopted by employer associations to the possibility of a hike in social insurance contributions in order to support the pension system, in an announcement issued by the prime minister's press office. It noted that a meeting between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the heads of the four largest employer groups had been held in a positive and constructive climate, with the employers will to discuss a modest increase in contributions to avoid pension cuts. After the meeting, the four organisations issued an announcement saying they were in favour of a small and temporary increase in contributions that was signed by the heads of the National Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ESEE), the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) and the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen & Merchants (GSEVEE). The government noted that this position would ensure the viability of the system without further horizontal cuts and also strengthen the country's negotiating position and laid the foundations for an economic and productive reorganisation, with social solidarity and protection of the weaker sections of society. [02] PM Tsipras: It is our social responsibility to safeguard the sustainability of the social security system It is our social responsibility to safeguard the sustainability of the social security system and we owe it to the next generations, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday said in a meeting with the representatives of the labour unions. Tsipras is meeting with labour unions representatives within the framework of the debate on social security reforms. "Both the government and the representatives of the trade unions have the responsibility to make the right choices that will ensure the sustainability of the pension system and I think that this is something we owe it to the next generations," the prime minister underlined. He also noted that critical decisions are looming that will pave the way for the debate on debt reduction and the exit from the crisis. [03] Government's proposal on pension reform is final, Gerovassili says The government's proposal for reforming the pension system is final, government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili said on Thursday in an interview with the radio station 'Parapolitika 90.1'. At the same time, she left open the possibility of small changes in the amount of social insurance contributions paid by the self-employed. Regarding an increase in employer contributions, Gerovassili pointed out that a exceptionally large reduction in the amount of social insurance contribution in recent years had done next to nothing to slow unemployment or black labour, while the small increase the government was discussing now will not create a problem. She said the government was still waiting for the institutions to express their views on the government's proposal, saying that there was currently conjecture or unconfirmed reports of a disagreement between the partners and the International Monetary Fund on the issue of employer contributions that she said were "not based on real facts". Gerovassili estimated that the pension reforms bill will be voted on in Parliament within the first 10 days of February, adding that the government's goal is to pass measures for non-performing loans and the Medium-Term Fiscal Programme by February 15. Asked whether she feared rebellion within the ranks of SYRIZA and ANEL over the pensions bill, the spokeswoman said that the government's proposal was a "national issue that must be approached in a different way," and that the dialogue on this issue must become stronger "even through disagreements". [04] Social partners' agreement for a reasonable increase in social security contributions is a strong negotiating tool, says Gerovassili The agreement of the social partners for a reasonable increase in social security contributions, so that pensions are not reduced, is a strong negotiating tool, government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili posted on her Twitter account on Thursday. [05] ESEE's Korkidis says rise in social insurance contributions is the best of bad options for pension reform National Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ESEE) President Vasilis Korkidis on Thursday said he agreed with a proposal for a 1 pct increase in social insurance contributions on wages, with the cost to be shared equally between employees and employers, as the "best of a bad lot" of available options. He also criticised the opposition parties' refusal to participate in dialogue on pension system reforms or present their own proposals in this discussion. "It really is a new pension system written on a blank piece of paper that changes the form of our pension system. There must, therefore, be very careful clarifications and interpretations so that it does not amount to a new tax on our businesses. More specifically, we agree with an increase by 1 pct (0.5 pct and 0.5 pct) of social insurance contributions. We consider that imposing a 1? tax on bank transactions will not help the effort to kickstart growth, end the consequences of capital controls and familiarise business people with the use of plastic money," he said. Korkidis made the statements after a meeting between employer groups and the prime minister to discuss issues relating to pension reforms. [06] Employer groups support temporary hike in social insurance contributions after meeting with PM Following earlier statements by National Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ESEE) President Vasilis Korkidis, the four associations representing Greek employers on Thursday issued a joint announcement after their meeting with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, saying they were not opposed to a small and temporary increase in social insurance contributions. The statement was signed by Korkidis, Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) President Theodoros Fessas, Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) President Andreas Andreadis and Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen & Merchants (GSEVEE) President Giorgos Kavvathas. The announcement said that they had an extensive discussion with Tsipras on supporting the competitiveness of Greek businesses while supporting employment and social cohesion. "In this framework, it was decided that there should be close cooperation between the government and the social partners for the implementation of immediate measures to stabilise the economy and attract investments," they said, noting that the priorities will be a stable and gradually more attractive tax framework, a business-friendly environment and incentives for growth and investments. "On these terms and taking into account the proposals that will be tabled for sundry improvements to the government's proposal for pension system reform, the social partners do not adopt a negative position on a small, temporary increase in social insurance contributions," they concluded. [07] Opposition parties need to participate in dialogue on pension reforms, says gov't spokeswoman Gerovassili Government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili on Thursday in statements to real.gr stressed the importance of the opposition's participation in a constructive and of national importance dialogue to decide upon the social security reforms. Gerovassili underlined that the participation of the opposition parties in such a dialogue would strengthen Greece's negotiating position. "The government is ready to listen to their positions. It's time to express their views," the government spokeswoman said adding that if they reject the government's position, they need to propose an alternative solution for the sustainability of the system and the end of injustices. She concluded that the Greek government has submitted a comprehensive framework of social security reforms to the social partners, the political parties and the EU institutions. [08] 'Difficult' bills will be helped to pass Parliament, ND's Meimarakis predicts in ANA-MPA interview The government will get help in passing difficult bills that it brings to Parliament, from those anxious to avoid a major political crisis, even though its policies were alienating its political base, main opposition New Democracy's leadership candidate Vangelis Meimarakis predicted in an interview with the ANA-MPA on Thursday. "From what I can see, there are several that are willing [from outside SYRIZA] that would not like a major political issue to arise," he said, noting that the tension with SYRIZA's social base would not greatly affect its Parliamentary majority. Asked about unity within ND, Meimarakis said that unity "is not an end in itself," and noted that to constantly talk about it as if it did not exist helped nothing. Regarding the party's secretary Andreas Papamimikos, Meimarakis insisted that Papamimikos was "unsuited to this position" but said that there was no provision for changing or challenging the secretary in the party's charter until the next party conference. On where he intends to lead the party if he is elected ND's president in Sunday's party election, Meimarakis noted that ND has always been a party of moderate views and national understanding and will remain so under his leadership. Replying to extremists, he noted that those not conforming with the collective decisions of party organs effectively place themselves outside the party through their own actions. [09] New pension system 'crushing' the middle class, Potami party says The opposition Potami party criticised the government's proposed pension system reform bill in an announcement on Thursday, saying that it revealed the government's inability to handle the crisis in the pension system. As a result, it added, "the need to link the contributions of the self-employed and thus their pensions with their real income has given birth to a monstrosity." Some people in the new government were turning a blind eye to, if not actually striving for, the crushing of the middle class, Potami said. It noted that a proposal to link contributions to income "was destroyed" by the fact that the state was requiring the self employed to pay a massive 38.5 pct of their income in social insurance contributions for pensions and health care, which along with other taxes and fees "makes the state the majority shareholder in all small and medium-sized businesses." The party also noted that the proposals once again "punished" honest business people and rewarded habitual cheats: "What sane person will pay that kind of contribution when at the end of their working life they will receive virtually the same pension as someone that has paid half? Who will declare an income of 100,000 euros when they will receive the same pension by declaring 20,000 euros and also dodge the tax," the party's announcement pointed out. [10] FinMin Tsakalotos to have meetings with European counterparts Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos will have a series of contacts with European counterparts, including German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, over the next few days. They will discuss the course of the Greek program in view of the first evaluation as well as the issue of Greek debt, the debate on which will begin after the conclusion of the evaluation by the institutions. The Minister's schedule is as follows: Friday, January 8, 2016 / Rome / Pier Carlo Padoan, Italy's Finance Minister. Saturday, January 9, 2016 / Lisbon / Mario Centeno, Finance Minister of Portugal. Sunday, January 10, 2016 / Paris / Michel Sapen, Finance Minister of France. Monday, January 11, 2016 / Helsinki / Alexander Stubb, Finland's Finance Minister. Tuesday, January 12, 2016 / Amsterdam / Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Dutch Finance Minister and President of the Eurogroup. Wednesday, January 13, 2016 / Berlin / Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany's Finance Minister. [11] EU Commission cannot give an exact date on the institutions' arrival at Athens, says spokesperson BRUSSELS (ANA-MPA/ M. Aroni) The European Commission cannot give an exact date on the institutions' arrival at Athens, European Commission spokesperson Vanessa Mock said on Thursday. "We are not in a position to confirm the exact date of the first evaluation," Mock stated adding that the Commission will inform Athens when the date is fixed. Asked to comment on the planned social security reforms, Mock said that the plan, which was received last Monday, is being examined and the discussions with the Greek authorities will continue within the framework of the first evaluation. [12] Justice ministry condemns 'racist' incident on board Aegean flight to Tel Aviv The Greek justice ministry on Thursday condemned a racist incident on board an Aegean Airlines flight from Athens to Tel Aviv last Sunday and noted that the principle of equal treatment in the provision of goods and services must be strictly observed at all times and without exception. "All discriminatory treatment on grounds of racial or ethnic origin, religious or other beliefs, disability, age or sexual orientation is forbidden and to be condemned," the announcement said. The incident occurred last Sunday when a group of Israeli Jewish passengers protestly strongly when they realised that they would be travelling with two Israeli Arabs. The protesting passengers refused to sit in their seats and put on their seatbelts and the airline asked for the assistance of the police to again check the two Arab passengers. Eventually, the two Arabs agreed to get off the plane and be transferred to a hotel in order to depart on a flight the following day. The Israeli passengers then demanded an additional security check of all passengers and only backed down when the crew warned them that those continuing to protest would be escorted off the plane and lose the right to a refund. At this point, the aircraft departed after a delay of 1.5 hours. In an announcement on Tuesday, Aegean said that the additional security check conducted with the assistance of the Greek police, after concern and strong protests were voiced by a number of Israeli passengers, had not revealed any cause for concern. The airline called it an "isolated and unfortunate incident that ended quickly, thanks to the cooperation and the accommodating attitude of the two passengers," and expressed its sorrow for what it called an unpleasant incident, which does not express its views. Financial News [13] Bank of Greece governor optimistic over 2016 Bank of Greece governor Yannis Stournaras on Thursdsay sounded optimistic over the country's outlook. In a message to the central bank's workers, sent on the occasion of the New Year, Stournaras said that the Bank of Greece will continue fulfilling its role as treasurer of monetary and financial stability within the Eurosystem. Referring to 2015 developments, the central banker said that the strength of the financial system and of the economy were put into test in the first half of 2015, as intense uncertainty fuelled negative scenarios over the country's future. The banking system faced successive confidence crisis episodes, which threatened financial stability and led to the imposition of capital controls to safeguard deposits and the stability of the system. Stournaras underlined that the Bank of Greece successfully responded to these challenges and contributed catalytically in balancing the situation while at the same time it preserved its independence and its status. Stournaras said the Bank of Greece implemented a partial restructuring of its network and its operations and noted that a personnel renewal program will expand in 2016. [14] Greek enterprises see significant economic prospects in 2016 There are significant capabilities of supporting economic activity in 2016 through offering significant liquidity from the state to the private sector on the condition that the government strictly implemented its state budget, a privatisation programme and structural reforms included in a third memorandum, the Federation of Hellenic Enterprises (SEV) said in a weekly bulletin on economic developments in the country. SEV warned that in any other case, 2016 could be an "annus horribilis" for enterprises and workers as an over-taxation trend would further compress available incomes in the country. "The good news and the bet for 2016 is that if reforms were to be accelerated, as expected, the inflow of money from creditors could reach around 17-18 billion euros this year, instead of 13 billion euros," SEV said, adding that such a sum could allow the creation of cash reserves of around 5.0 billion euros and to repay almost all overdue debt to the private sector (currently around 7.0 billion). The bulletin noted that accumulating cash reserves of up to 8.0 billion euros by August 2018 was crucial to allow the Greek state to resort to capital markets for borrowing. SEB noted that funds from the bailout programme should help Greece towards an economic recovery through privatisations and boosting liquidity in the real economy. [15] Energean Oil & Gas doubles oil production in Prinos Oil production in the Prinos oilfield doubled following completion of the first from a total of 15 drillings scheduled for the period 2015-2017 in Kavala Bay, Energean Oil & Gas said on Thursday. The drilling added 1,500 barrels of oil to the daily production which totals around 3,000 barrels per day, up 60 pct from last year. Energean Oil & Gas said that verified oil reserves in Kavala Bay amounted to 30 million barrels and the company plans to exploit these reserves through a 200-million-US dollar investment program currently underway. Mathios Rigas, chairman and chief executive of Energean Oil & Gas, said that despite a collapse in international oil price and difficulties in a prevailing business environment, the company has managed to drill new oil from the Prinos oilfield. [16] Greek trade deficit down 1.8 pct in Jan-Nov Greek trade deficit shrank by 1.8 pct in November as imports fell more in value compared with a decline in exports, Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Thursday. The statistics service, in a report on the country's merchandise trade, said that the value of import-arrivals totaled 3.647 billion euros in November, from 3.904 billion in November 2014, for a decline of 6.6 pct (excluding oil products imports fell by 1.8 pct). The value of export-deliveries totaled 2.117 billion euros in November from 2.347 billion last year, for a decline of 9.8 pct (excluding oil products the value of exports fell 3.6 pct). The country's trade deficit eased to 1.53 billion euros from 1.557 billion in November last year, for a decline of 1.8 pct (excluding oil products the trade deficit grew by 0.5 pct). In the January-November period, exports totaled 39.863 billion euros, from 44.012 billion in 2014, a decline of 9.4 pct (excluding oil products exports grew by 1.1 pct). The value of imports amounted to 23.648 billion euros in January-November, from 25.035 billion last year, a decline of 5.5 pct (excluding oil products exports grew 8.4 pct). The country's trade deficit totaled 16.215 billion euros in the 11-month period, from 18.976 billion euros last year, a decline of 14.6 pct (excluding oil products the trade deficit fell by 6.9 pct). [17] Greek unemployment rate eased to 24.6 pct in Sept RUSSELS (ANA-MPA/Chr.Vassilaki) Greek unemployment rate eased to 24.6 pct of the workforce in September, slightly down compared with 24.7 pct in August but 1.5 percentage points down compared with September 2014 (26.1 pct), Eurostat said on Thursday. The EU executive's statistics arm, in a monthly report, said that the Greek unemployment rate remained the highest in the EU (including youth unemployment 49.5 pct), followed by Spain (21.4 pct and 47.5 pct respectively, November figures). Germany (4.5 pct) and the Czech Republic (4.6 pct) recorded the lowest unemployment rates. The unemployment rate in the Eurozone was 10.5 pct in November, from 10.6 pct in October and 11.5 pct in November 2014. In the EU, the unemployment rate was 9.1 pct in November from 9.2 pct in October and 10.0 pct in November last year. [18] Greek unemployment rate eased to 24.5 pct in Oct Greek unemployment rate eased to 24.5 pct of the workforce in October, from 26 pct in October 2014 and 24.6 pct in September, with the number of unemployed people amounting to 1,175,903, Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Thursday. The statistics service, in a monthly report, said that the number of unemployed people eased by 71,492 compared with October 2014 (a decline of 5.7 pct) and by 8,289 compared with September 2015 (a decline of 0.7 pct). The number of employed people totaled 3,630,449, up 86,295 compared with October 2014 (up 2.4 pct) but down by 2,191 compared with September (a decline of 0.1 pct). The unemployment rate among women was 28.7 pct in October, down from 29.6 pct in October 2014, while among men it fell to 21 pct from 23.2 pct over the same months respectively. The unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group fell to 48.6 pct in October, form 51.3 pct last year, in the 25-34 age group it fell to 30.9 pct from 34.2 pct, in the 35-44 age group it rose to 22.7 pct from 22.3 pct, in the 45-54 age group it fell to 19.6 pct from 20.8 pct, in the 55-64 age group it eased to 16.2 pct from 16.6 pct and in the 65-74 age group it fell to 10 pct from 12 pct. Epirus-Western Macedonia (27.4 pct in October form 25.8 pct in October 2014) recorded the highest unemployment rate among the country's regions, followed by Thessaly-Central Greece (27.3 pct, 26.2 pct), Attica (25.1 pct from 26.9 pct), Crete (24.9 pct from 22.4 pct), Macedonia-Thrace (24.8 pct from 27.4 pct), Peloponese-Western Greece-Ionian Islands (23.9 pct from 24.9 pct) and Aegean (14.7 pct from 21 pct). [19] Greek state overdue debt to the private sector down in Nov The Greek state's overdue debt to the private sector fell to 5.013 billion euros in November, from 5.144 billion in October, recording the first decline after several months of increases, the finance ministry said in a report released on Thursday. The ministry report noted that tax returns to the private sector eased to 715 million euros in November from 758 million in October. Social Insurance Organisations' debt (2.788 bln euros) accounted for the biggest part of overdue debt to the private sector in November (2.769 bln in October), followed by state hospitals (1.118 bln in November from 1.188 bln in October). [20] Greek stocks end sharply lower Greek stocks came under heavy selling pressure to end sharply lower in the Athens Stock Exchange on Thursday, amid sharp falls in international markets on concern about China and a collapse in international oil prices. The composite index of the market dropped 4.35 pct to end at 590.75 points, falling below the 600-point level for the first time since mid-December. The index ended off the day's lows of 582.86 points. The Large Cap index fell 4.58 pct and the Mid Cap index ended 3.60 pct lower. Turnover was a heavy 113.455 million euros in volume of 156,174,974. Ellaktor (0.71 pct) was the only blue chip stock to end higher, while Alpha Bank (8.70 pct), PPC (7.18 pct), Piraeus Bank (7.09 pct) and National Bank (6.65 pct) suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day. National Bank and Piraeus Bank were the most heavily traded securities. Among market sectors, Insurance (3.65 pct) and Chemicals (0.73 pct) scored big gains, while Banks (7.25 pct), Commerce (6.23 pct) and Raw Materials (5.49 pct) suffered heavy losses. Broadly, decliners led advancers by 80 to 20 with another 16 issues unchanged. Akritas (19.90 pct), Sfakianakis (19.27 pct) and Sidma (17.86 pct) were top gainers, while Athina (19.44 pct), Dionic (18.52 pct) and AEGEK (15.71 pct) were top losers. [21] ADEX closing report The January contract on the FTSE/ASE Large Cap index was trading at a premium of 0.48 pct in the Athens Derivatives Exchange on Thursday. Volume on the Big Cap index totaled 2,958 contracts with 15,509 open positions in the market. Volume in futures contracts on equities totaled 34,621 contracts with investment interest focusing on National Bank's contracts (13,046), followed by Alpha Bank (7,274), Piraeus Bank (5,972), Eurobank (2,692), MIG (1,884), OTE (319), PPC (812), OPAP (556), Hellenic Exchanges (232), Mytilineos (690), Hellenic Petroleum (320), Motor Oil (122), GEK (214) and Jumbo (183). General News [22] Stage and screen actress Anna Synodinou dies, aged 89 Greek actress and politician Anna Synodinou, one of the foremost actresses of the stage in Greece and with a brief but notable career in film and television, died on Thursday at the age of 89. She was elected to the Greek Parliament in 1972 with the New Democracy party and served a term as deputy minister for social services. Her funeral will be held next Monday at the cemetery of the Athens district of Vyronas. President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos contacted Synodinou's family on the telephone to express his condolences, while messages of condolence were sent by the prime minister and all the political party leaders. [23] Domestic flights to be cancelled on Friday due to strike A number of domestic flights are expected to be cancelled on Friday due to a 24-hour strike announced by the Federation of Civil Aviation Authority Unions (OSYPA). The strike was announced on the occasion of the hearing-debate by the Council of State of the action of OSYPA, regions, bar associations and other bodies and trade unions, against the Greek state airports privatization agreement. [24] Ferry services gradually being restored as winds weaken Ferry services are gradually being restored on Thursday as northerly winds are weakening. Earlier in the day, ferries remained docked in the ports of Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio because of strong winds that reached 9 on the Beaufort scale. Hydroplanes from the Attica mainland to and from the Saronic Gulf, however, remain docked. [25] Woman arrested in northern Greece for suspected links to ISIS A woman of Swiss-Egyptian nationality was arrested and was being detained at the police headquarters in the northeastern Greek city of Alexandroupolis on Thursday, due to suspected links with jihadist militant group ISIS. The woman was arrested while trying to pass from the Greek border into Turkey with her four-year-old son. According to sources, she was detained on the basis of an outstanding warrant for her arrest issued by Interpol, after her husband in Egypt reported that she had kidnapped their child and left to join ISIS in the fighting in Syria. [26] Blue Star Ferries installs pilot photovoltaic unit on the 'Blue Star Delos' Blue Star Ferries on Thursday announced the pilot installation and operation of a specially-adapted photovoltaic unit on the ship "Blue Star Delos" for a trial period to test its performance. According to the company's technicians, the unit is not currently hooked up to the ship's electrical systems but is eventually expected to generate up to 100 kilowatts, covering a large part of the power needed for the electric lighting systems. The specific unit was tested for 12 months in tough weather conditions at sea, with promising results with respect to its durability. It has also won a Dutch award for its performance. Attica Group, which owns Blue Star Ferries, has already decided to go ahead with a system upgrade that will maximise the unit's output to 100 kilowatts and to extend installation to other ships in its fleet of 13, in order to benefit from the zero pollution, silent operation and small maintenance cost offered by the specific technology. Its use is expected to reduce use of the ships power generators and lower both fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Blue Star Ferries has been collaborating on with Eco Marine Power (EMP) and the Japanese firm Key System since October 2014 on the installation of the specific system. [27] 1,094 refugees arrive at Piraeus port on Thursday "Blue Star 1" and "Nisos Rhodos" with 1,094 refugees on board from Chios and Mytilene arrived at Piraeus port early on Thursday before the decision for all ferries to remain docked due to strong winds. Weather forecast [28] Clouds on Friday Clouds and northerly winds are forecast for Friday. Wind velocity will reach 5 on the Beaufort scale. Clouds in the northern and the western parts of the country with temperatures ranging from 04C-14C. Partly cloudy in the eastern parts and temperatures between 13C-19C. Scattered clouds over the Aegean islands and Crete, 14C-19C. Mostly fair in Athens, 08C-17C. Same weather in Thessaloniki, 07C-13C. [29] The Thursday edition of Athens' dailies at a glance DIMOKRATIA: Dark background EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Employers say "yes" under conditions ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: A 20 percent cut in pensions ESTIA: A strategic solution for the social security system ETHNOS: Harsh negotiations inside and outside borders NAFTEMPORIKI: Shock for freelancers and farmers TA NEA: Vote all together 36, TSOCHA ST. ATHENS 115 21 GREECE * TEL: 210 64.00.560-63 * FAX: 210 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, 16-01-08 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Central Union of Chambers head opposes to higher social security contributions [02] For the first time we will have one speed pensioners, Labour Min Katrougalos says [03] Certain EU circles always try to undermine the climate before the negotiation, gov't sources say [04] EU recognises Greece's efforts on the refugees issue, Dep.For.Minister Amanatidis says [05] Greek industrial production up 1.8 pct in Nov [01] Central Union of Chambers head opposes to higher social security contributions The president of the Central Union of Chambers Konstantinos Mihalos on Friday said that he does not agree with the increase in social security contributions adding that the entire market disagrees with it. "The Chambers community and the business community are opposed to the increase in employer contributions, like any other measure that increases business costs and thus impairs their competitiveness and by extension the competitiveness of the Greek economy." he added. [02] For the first time we will have one speed pensioners, Labour Min Katrougalos says "For the first time we will have one speed pensioners," Labour Minister George Katrougalos on Friday said in a press conference on social security reforms. He added that the memorandum along with the peculiarities of the system and the PSI are the three main reasons why social security reforms are required. Regarding the contacts in the EU, he said that the social security issue is a national issue, but also a European [03] Certain EU circles always try to undermine the climate before the negotiation, gov't sources say "The stance of certain EU circles before the beginning of the negotiation is known. They try to undermine the climate and convey a certain impression," government sources said on Friday in relation to Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem's statement. According to a Bloomberg report, Dijsselbloem estimated that the upcoming Greek bailout program review will take months, rather than weeks. For the process to be completed, a series of developments will be necessary, he said. [04] EU recognises Greece's efforts on the refugees issue, Dep.For.Minister Amanatidis says Greece is dealing successfully with the refugee crisis, Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Amanatidis on Friday said in an interview with Praktorio 104.9 FM. He also expressed optimism that the European Union and the institutions will recognise the efforts being made. However, he noted that more money need to be given to Greece for dealing with the refugee crisis and the disbursement needs to be done immediately. "After Greece has done with the construction of the hot spots in January, it will have met the greatest part of its commitments," he underlined. [05] Greek industrial production up 1.8 pct in Nov Greek industrial production index grew 1.8 pct in November, with manufacturing production rising 1.1 pct in the month, Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Friday. The statistics service, in a monthly report, said the industrial production index grew 1.8 pct in November 2015, compared with the same month in 2014 and attributed this development to an 1.3 pct decline in mining production, an 1.1 pct increase in manufacturing production (beverage production grew 16.4 pct, wood production was up 13.7 pct, chemicals rose 11.1 pct, computers, electronics and optics grew 26 pct and electrical equipment rose 10.4 pct). Electricity production rose 5.5 pct and water production increased by 1.0 pct. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
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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The campaign's Co-Chairmen are State Rep. Reggie Phillips (110th District) and State Central Committeeman Stanton Bond (14th Congressional District). "The co-chairs have helped to lead our strong 100% grassroots efforts in Illinois; I am grateful for the opportunity to work with them as we move forward with the campaign," Holderfield said.

Others on the Carson delegate list are Tazewell County State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz, former State Rep. Jim Sacia, former IL GOP Executive Director John Tsarpalas and Monee Police Commission Board member George Pearson.

George Pearson told Illinois Review he's supporting Carson, "...because of his inspirational story that says, 'Yes, you can make it if you put forth a serious effort!'

"It is my opinion that Dr. Carson's ascendancy is rooted in the true American dream and exemplifies the Navy motto of Honor, Courage and Commitment," Pearson said. "Even though he was a young man that grew up in poverty, they were wealthy with the love and support of a caring, but firm mother. Dr. Carson corrected his moral compass, took the bull by the horns, obtained an education, created his own path. He is a trailblazer."

Carson delegates George Pearson and his wife Dezaree with Stephanie Holderfield

Ceasar LeFlore, who's running as a delegate in the 2nd Congressional District, said he's supporting Carson mostly because of his stance on social issues.

"It's primarily because of his stance on the social issues. Actually, I call them the 'righteousness issues of society,' and I believe that they have more to do with the health and welfare of our nation than almost anything else.

"Dr. Carson is pro-life, which is vitally important to me. He also understands that the family, as God has established, are the building blocks of a great society," LeFlore said. "He is for the protection of the traditional family. Also his stance on taxes is that everyone should contribute...not in equal amounts, but with equal sacrifice. I love some of his ideas concerning a flat tax.

'Finally, he is a problem solver and uses wisdom and common sense, coupled with integrity and faith as he approaches finding solutions to problems. I've been a supporter since I met him five years ago at the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) conference in Washington DC."

Laura Leuder-Santowski is running for Carson in the 8th CD. She was first attracted to Dr. Carson reading his book "Gifted Hands," and then when he spoke at the February 2013 National Prayer Breakfast. She's seen him in person on several occasions in the past few years.

"In September 2014, I had the honor to hear Ben Carson speak at the Salvation Army. That same day he took the time to meet 300 high school students, when he gave them all autographed books and told them they could accomplish anything in life to which they set their minds," Santownski told Illinois Review. "On May 4th, of 2015 was thrilled to be in attendance in Detroit to listen to Dr. Carson announce his candidacy for President.

"Along this journey, the common element I have found is the passion Carson supporters express and ultimately believing each and every one of us can make a difference by getting involved and thats truly why I became an alternate delegate and will continue to promote a man of integrity, intelligence, character, and conservative values."

Carson held second place to Donald Trump for several months before his polls plunged in late 2015. Since then, Carson has revamped his campaign leadership and breathed new life into his campaign. He's raised a respectable amount of money, and his campaign says he's hoping to fare well in Iowa on February 1st.

* 10 Michelle Parnell X
CHICAGO - Illinois' conservative mega-donor Dick Uihlein will be writing a check for $1 million to a SuperPAC affiliated with presidential candidate Ted Cruz , CNN reported Thursday.

The report came via Drew Ryun from Keep The Promise PAC.

"He is one of the top five courted GOP donors," Ryun told CNN. "For us to land him is a good shot in the arm for Ted, and it really sets the stage going into Iowa."

Chris Cleveland, co-chairman of Illinois' Cruz campaign, says he's very pleased with Uihlein's check.

"I'm very, very happy," Cleveland told Illinois Review. "I brought Senator Cruz to meet Mr. Uihlein last year, and he was impressed by the senator's abilities and commitment to the conservative cause. It's clear that Senator Cruz has become the consensus candidate for conservatives."

Earlier this year, Uihlein and his wife gave $2.5 Million to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's presidential bid. Walker dropped out in September.

Uihlein, who owns the U-Line shipping and packaging company, also is financially involved in Illinois state politics. Last week, he gave $2.5 million to an independent expenditure committee run by radio talk show host and former gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft.
NEW EXTRA DEADLY Ammunition for Police, Law Enforcement and Military





A new extra deadly type of ammunition has been unveiled in the United States that could be good for police, law enforcement and military. A gun is a normally tubular weapon or other device designed to discharge projectiles or other material.[1] The projectile may be solid, liquid, gas or energy and may be free, as with bullets and artillery shells, or captive as with Taser probes and whaling harpoons. The means of projection varies according to design but is usually effected by the action of gas pressure, either produced through the rapid combustion of a propellant or compressed and stored by mechanical means, operating on the projectile inside an open-ended tube in the fashion of a piston. The confined gas accelerates the movable projectile down the length of the tube, imparting sufficient velocity to sustain the projectile's travel once the action of the gas ceases at the end of the tube or muzzle. Alternatively, acceleration via electromagnetic field generation may be employed in which case the tube may be dispensed with and a guide rail substituted.



The first devices identified as guns appeared in China around CE 1000. By the 12th century the technology was spreading through the rest of Asia, and into Europe by the 13th century.[2]



History

The first device identified as a gun, a bamboo tube that used gunpowder to fire a spear, appeared in China around AD 1000.[2] The Chinese had previously invented gunpowder in the 9th century.[4][5][6]



An early type of firearm (or portable gun) is the fire lance, a black-powderfilled tube attached to the end of a spear and used as a flamethrower; shrapnel was sometimes placed in the barrel so that it would fly out together with the flames.[6][7] The earliest depiction of a gunpowder weapon is the illustration of a fire-lance on a mid-10th century silk banner from Dunhuang.[8] The De'an Shoucheng Lu, an account of the siege of De'an in 1132, records that Song forces used fire-lances against the Jurchens.[9]



In due course, the proportion of saltpeter in the propellant was increased to maximise its explosive power.[7] To better withstand that explosive power, the paper and bamboo of which fire-lance barrels were originally made came to be replaced by metal.[6] And to take full advantage of that power, the shrapnel came to be replaced by projectiles whose size and shape filled the barrel more closely.[7] With this, we have the three basic features of the gun: a barrel made of metal, high-nitrate gunpowder, and a projectile which totally occludes the muzzle so that the powder charge exerts its full potential in propellant effect.[10]



One theory of how gunpowder came to Europe is that it made its way along the Silk Road through the Middle East; another is that it was brought to Europe during the Mongol invasion in the first half of the 13th century.[11][12] English Privy Wardrobe accounts list "ribaldis", a type of cannon, in the 1340s, and siege guns were used by the English at Calais in 1346.[13] The earliest surviving firearm in Europe has been found from Otepaa, Estonia and it dates to at least 1396.[14]



Around the late 14th century in Europe, smaller and portable hand-held cannons were developed, creating in effect the first smooth-bore personal firearm. In the late 15th century the Ottoman empire used firearms as part of its regular infantry.



The first successful rapid-fire firearm is the Gatling Gun, invented by Richard Gatling and fielded by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s.



The world's first sub-machine gun (a fully automatic firearm which fires pistol cartridges) able to be maneuvered by a single soldier is the MP18.1, invented by Theodor Bergmann. It was introduced into service in 1918 by the German Army during World War I as the primary weapon of the Stosstruppen (assault groups specialized in trench combat).



The first assault rifle was introduced during World War II by the Germans, known as the StG44. It was the first firearm which bridges the gap between long range rifles, machine guns, and short range sub-machine guns. Since the mid-20th century guns that fire beams of energy rather than solid projectiles have been developed, and also guns that can be fired by means other than the use of gunpowder.



Operating principle

Most guns use compressed gas confined by the barrel to propel the bullet up to high speed, though devices operating in other ways are sometimes called guns. In firearms the high-pressure gas is generated by combustion, usually of gunpowder. This principle is similar to that of internal combustion engines, except that the bullet leaves the barrel, while the piston transfers its motion to other parts and returns down the cylinder. As in an internal combustion engine, the combustion propagates by deflagration rather than by detonation, and the optimal gunpowder, like the optimal motor fuel, is resistant to detonation. This is because much of the energy generated in detonation is in the form of a shock wave
















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 Delhi High Court today asked Arvind Kejriwal government whether it needs more time to evaluate its odd-even car rationing scheme.

By India Today Web Desk: The Delhi High Court today asked Arvind Kejriwal government whether it needs more time to evaluate its odd-even car rationing scheme. The Delhi government had earlier announced that it plans to run the scheme for 15 days from 1 to 15 January to evaluate its impact on the city's poor air quality.

"15 days are not enough. If needed we may have to go beyond that," the Delhi government told the court. The high court has reserved its order on odd-even formula till Monday.

The high court is hearing 8 separate Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed against the Delhi government's scheme.

"The formula will continue till January 15. After that we will look into the statistics and decide further course of action. Collecting efficient data with regard to strength and weakness of the odd-even plan," Delhi's Transport Minister Gopal Rai said.

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Arguing on behalf of the government, noted lawyer Harish Salve said, " This is not the only option we are trying to opt but it is a first step towards how things can be made better. Pollution will not disappear in one month. It will take a long time before the air quality improves. This pilot project is only for the welfare of public."

Tabling a report by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, the Delhi government said that the odd-even scheme has started to show some positive impact and it wants to continue with the plan for one more week.

Pollution level in Delhi has showed a consistent declining trend at peak hours due to implementation of the odd-even scheme, the government claimed.

The government had earlier claimed that cut in vehicular emission due to the scheme has shown "definitive decline" in levels of PM2.5 pollutants.


The Army today asked civilians to avoid wearing "army-pattern" dresses and shopkeepers to refrain from selling combat clothes, as it issued fresh guidelines for the public to prevent terror attacks.

By Press Trust of India: The Army issued fresh guidelines for the public by asking civilians to avoid wearing army patten dresses and shopkeepers to refrain from selling combat clothes in order to prevent terror attacks.



The guidelines, to be followed across the country, come nearly a week after six terrorists infiltrated through the border and launched attack at the Air Force station in Pathankot, claiming the lives of seven security personnel.

Civilians have been asked to avoid wearing "army-pattern" dresses and shopkeepers were asked not to sell combat cloth, army uniforms and equipment as "it is illegal" to do so, an official spokesperson said here.

Also private security agencies, police and other central forces not to wear "Combat-Pattern" dresses as "it is not authorised and leads to false alarms", the official said.

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"All traders and shopkeepers interested in selling Army uniforms may approach the local military authority and request for shops in units/cantonments approved areas/shops," the official said.

"It is illegal to sell army uniforms to unauthorised persons," the official said, adding, "The guidelines have been issued in public interest and to prevent terror attacks."

Also, the relatives of armed forces personnel and ex servicemen were requested not to use items of uniform which they may be having as they could create false reports, the official said and added that it was illegal to do so.

Police and Civil administration have also been asked to check and crackdown on defaulters.

"The youth is exhorted to use social media to spread awareness and start a campaign to prevent misuse of Army uniform and equipment as fashion statement," the spokesperson said.

The Army and the Police keep getting information of suspicious activities of persons having been seen carrying rucksacks and wearing combat pattern dress associated with Armed Forces, they said.

While during incidents such as in Pathankot, it has resulted in elimination of terrorists, in most cases these have turned out to be misleading and caused inconvenience to the people at large, the Army official said.

Exhorting public to extend support in the fight against terrorism, the Army has asked them to take pledge to co-operate with defence forces by providing information and keeping vigil at local level.

"We deeply regret the inconvenience caused but then these operations are inescapable to ensure your safety and security," the official said.

The Army appealed and requested the public to adhere to the guidelines in national as well as their own interest.
Speaking at the Summit, Chief Minister Mamata Banerje on Friday said West Bengal far exceeded India in terms of GVA, industry and agriculture growth.

By Manogya Loiwal : The Big Bang theory seemed to resonate as the Big Bong theory in Bengal...

Whether it was camaraderie sans comrades or globe trotter guests...Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee extended a warm welcome to the delegates from 25 countries including the Prime Minister of Bhutan.

Counting the growth in the state she however did not forget to mention her achievements. Mamata said, "In a federal structure, if a state progresses, the country also progresses; just like a joint venture. Bengal far exceeded India in growth of GVA, industry and agriculture. Our per capita income is double that of India. Our GVA growth is 10.5 per cent while that of India is 7.5 per cent. India's per capita income is 6 per cent and ours is 12 per cent. Bengal's tax collection has increased by 200 per cent, Capital Expenditure (Asset Creating) has increased by 601 per cent. Bengal's Agriculture and Rural Development Expenditure has increased 547 per cent. Bengal's Plan Expenditure has increased by 311 per cent, Physical infrastructure has increased by 330 per cent. We have given tax-free fuel for airlines and a new airport has come up in Andal. We have a land map, land bank and land use policy. There are 5000 acres of land available for industry."

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Blame it on lack of industries that Bengal has unconsumed power... but Mamata Banerjee had a different perspective to it.. "Bengal is a power surplus state. We have a power bank. Out of a population of 9 crore people in the state, 7 crore will be covered by food security."

Interestingly she did mention the Prime Minister schemes but with a clause of praising her own government.

"Prime Minister started Swachh Bharat programme. Three out of 4 top districts in India are from Bengal. We have conducted 153 CMO to BDO meetings at grassroots. Direct interaction is key to our success. The increase in industry in 2014-15 in West Bengal stands at 8.34 per cent while that of India is 5.6 per cent. Unity in diversity is our mantra. There is no communal tension in Bengal. Maoist violence has come down. A deep sea port is coming up in Bengal in partnership with Centre," she added.

With Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on the dais, Mamata Banerjee made a successful attempt in working over and above party lines.

Leading Exporter and MD of Patton Group Sanjay Budhia says, "the Direction, Vision and Passion of Hon'ble Chief Minister and the perseverance and persistence of Finance and Industry Minister have really paid off. The Summit is not about B to B or G to G but more than that it is H to H - Heart to Heart. It has energised, enthused, and encouraged the Entrepreneurs, Investors and Industrialists both domestic and overseas. It will be Catalyst in Changing the Perception and Projecting the true potential of our State. The minutest details in preparation are of international standards in terms of clarity, comfort and convenience without any scope for chaos and confusion for both delegates and dignitaries."

Jute Baron and Chairman of Sarda Group, Ghanshyam Sarda too echoed the trust in the Chief Minister. He said, "The Bengal Summit will usher in a new era of geometric growth in Bengal due to the concerted efforts by the Government, the presence of such an impressive number of foreign delegates and enthusiastic participation of corporate houses."

Arun Jaitley too rose above party differences during the West Bengal Global Economic Summit. He said, "This summit is not just a ritual event, it is of importance under current global trends. Summits like this add to confidence of investors that this is now policy direction of West Bengal government."

Well, with elections just a few months away it would be interesting to watch the statements made from dais performing in reality in diaspora!


The Bengaluru police have arrested two people for targeting and extorting money from motorists plying on the isolated NICE Peripheral Ring Road in the city.

By Aravind Gowda: The Bengaluru police have arrested two people for targeting and extorting money from motorists plying on the isolated NICE Peripheral Ring Road in the city.

According to the police, Govindaraju (driver) and Raghu (former a Home Guard) would pose as policemen and intercept vehicles plying on the Ring Road area. The area is a hotspot for couples in the evenings.

If the couples were found to be unmarried, the duo would threaten to book cases against them for indulging in immoral activities. They would then extort money on the pretext of settling the case.

Recently, the duo managed to extort Rs 60,000 from a couple, who later lodged a police complaint. Bengaluru police launched a probe and arrested the duo.

Apparently, the duo took money from over a dozen unmarried couples in the last one year.

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"No one has asked me (to take up the job) and neither have I been approached so far. But for state, country and social causes I shall always be ready to do any kind of work voluntarily," Bachchan told Mail Today through his publicist.

By Mail Today: Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan said on Thursday he is ready to step in as brand ambassador of tourism ministry's Incredible India campaign, a role Aamir Khan was playing till now.

"No one has asked me (to take up the job) and neither have I been approached so far. But for state, country and social causes I shall always be ready to do any kind of work voluntarily," Bachchan told Mail Today through his publicist.

Earlier, asked if he felt Aamir was being removed because of his recent comments on intolerance, Big B downplayed the idea.

"You need to clarify first whether he is being removed because of something that he may have said or it is the end of his contract. I am sure that there must be some kind of difference there. I don't think that people are removed just because they did not agree or said something that is controversial," Big B told agencies.

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Veteran actor Bachchan has been brand ambassador of Gujarat tourism for a while now. According to reports coming from a tourism ministry source Big B was 'first choice' of the Narendra Modi government ahead of several younger stars including Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra.

Reports stated the ministry felt Big B was 'a non-controversial figure' and therefore was ideal to be India's mascot while promoting the country as a tourist hub. By Mail Today Bureau The ministry apparently has also noted the senior actor's successful stint as an ambassador of Gujarat tourism. Earlier on Thursday, Aamir Khan sent out a note to the press confirming his role in the Incredible India campaign had officially ended after a decade's association.

"It has been an honour and a pleasure for me to be the brand ambassador for the Incredible India campaign for the past 10 years... Whether I am brand ambassador or not, India will remain incredible, and that's the way it should be," said the actor.

Aamir's official statement ended conjectures that sprouted on Wednesday evening, after agencies quoted Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma saying Aamir "ceases to be the mascot for the government's Incredible India campaign".

Also Read: Amitabh Bachchan replaces Aamir Khan as Incredible India ambassador


Deputy Commandant Sunil Behera and Head Constable Sibasish Panda died due to landmine explosion in Kaliajhula forests on Friday.

Operations have been launched to track down the Maoists.

By India Today Web Desk: Two BSF troopers, including a deputy commandant, were killed on Friday when Maoists detonated a landmine in Odisha's Koraput district, police said.

Another Border Security Force trooper was seriously injured in the attack. The dead were identified as Deputy Commandant Sunil Behera and Head Constable Sibasish Panda.

The explosion took place when a motorbike the three were riding ran over a landmine in Kaliajhula forests, Koraput Superintendent of Police Charan Singh Meena said.

Operations have been launched to track down the Maoists, said Meena, who is here to attend the annual conference of senior police officers.

The explosion occurred a few kilometres from where a businessman was shot dead by Maoists on Thursday night.

Maoists are observing a two-day 'bandh' in Nuapada, Malkangiri and Kalahandi districts from Friday to protest against 'Operation Greenhunt', a joint operation by security forces against Maoists.

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ALSO READ:

Chhattisgarh: Maoists release 3 abducted Pune students

Two policemen injured in bomb blast triggered by Maoists


Mehbooba Mufti is currently not ready to be sworn in as the Chief Minister of the state till the mourning period for her father Mufti Sayeed, who died as Chief Minister, is over.

By Ashraf Wani: Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra may promulgate his rule in the state for a short spell from Friday evening as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and Mufti Sayeed's daughter Mehbooba Mufti is currently not ready to be sworn in as the Chief Minister of the state till the mourning period for her father, who died as Chief Minister, is over.

Vohra's rule will get a formal leader to the state after Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passed away on Thursday morning.

While Mehbooba Mufti is expected to replace her father, nobody knows when she would be ready for oath-taking.

Party sources said that despite three party bigwigs approaching Mehbooba Mufti since Friday morning, they found her in deep shock and apparently unwilling to take oath of office. "Madam is still in deep shock," one insider said, "It might take her some more time to come out of the deep personal loss."

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The persistent denial by the party chief has apparently put the PDP leaders in a tight spot, making many believe that the daughter is doing it father's way: taking time before calling shots.

As Mehbooba Mufti, the daughter and heir-apparent of late CM Mufti, continues to stay reluctant for stepping in her father's shoes, the governor rule is likely to be imposed in the headless state by evening.

With almost every powerful man in the political executive losing the status, PDP is back to February 2015 position. Some ministers in the Mufti cabinet were shocked to learn that they are no more ministers. In fact, one top BJP minister has approached top government functionaries asking them why his name as minister has been deleted from the GAD website. It took some time for the officers to explain that with the demise of the chief minister, their status stands reduced to the lawmaker.

Under the rule of the law, the new chief minister will take oath along with a new team which may or may not be the same as that of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Kashmir has witnessed a major change when Dr Farooq Abdullah succeeded his father in 1982 and used the occasion to enforce a generation shift.

Meanwhile PDP insiders said the party has taken a strong exception over some bureaucrats insisting on an early oath-taking ceremony. "They are officials and should remain as officials," one insider said.

ALSO READ:

7 facts to know about Mehbooba Mufti, the first woman CM of Jammu and Kashmir

Mufti Sayeed laid to rest, daughter Mehbooba likely to be J-K CM


One of China's biggest state-run hydropower companies, the China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC), which manages the 22,500 MW Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river, has signed an agreement to develop the Kohala hydropower project in PoK, the firm said in a statement posted on its website.

The 1,100 MW dam will come up on the Jhelum River, downstream from Muzaffarabad in PoK.

By Ananth Krishnan: A Chinese state-run company on Thursday announced plans to go ahead with a mega dam in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the latest indicator of Beijing moving forward with major projects in the region despite India's strong opposition.

One of China's biggest state-run hydropower companies, the China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC) which manages the 22,500 MW Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river - the world's largest dam - has signed an agreement to develop the Kohala hydropower project in PoK, the firm said in a statement posted on its website.

This 1,100 MW dam will come up on the Jhelum River, downstream from Muzaffarabad in PoK. The total investment in the project is estimated at $2.4 billion. Both countries had agreed on a 30-year tariff for the dam, according to Pakistani media reports.

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The deal for the dam underlines China's willingness to go forward with major projects in PoK, despite India's consistent opposition.

Indian officials have pointed out China's objections to joint exploration projects between India and Vietnam in the South China Sea, most of which is claimed by Beijing.

Beijing, however, has said the 'purely commercial' projects were without prejudice to the Kashmir issue and that it was not taking a position on territorial disputes between India and Pakistan.

The Kohala dam has been billed as a key project in the new China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) venture that envisages widening the Karakoram Highway, exploring a railway link and a number of energy and infrastructure projects in a corridor connecting Kashgar, in China's far western Xinjiang region, through PoK, to the Gwadar port in Pakistan on the Arabian Sea that is built and managed by China.

The CPEC has been pushed by President Xi Jinping as a key pillar of his pet 'Belt and Road' initiative, referring to a Silk Road Economic Belt connecting China to Central Asia, Europe, and a Maritime Silk Road to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.

The CPEC, emerging as a key part of the project, is a significant reason for India declining to officially support the 'Belt and Road', which has been backed by most of India's neighbours.

India has rebuffed Beijing's requests to refer to the 'Belt and Road' in joint statements and declined official backing in the project. Initially, India's official stand was that as the 'Belt and Road' was a domestic initiative of China's, there was no need to back it as a national initiative.

That stand has since been somewhat toned down, with most of India's neighbours, including Sri Lanka, Nepal and Southeast Asian countries backing the plan.

New Delhi has since said that it would cooperate with China where there was 'synergy' between the 'Belt and Road' and India's own 'Act East' initiative.

Delhi has since emerged as the second biggest shareholder, after Beijing, in the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), committing $ 8 billion, although the bank is expected to fund many 'Belt and Road' projects.

Also read: Indo-China ties upgraded but relations still complex, says outgoing envoy




Chhota Rajan, who was recently deported from Indonesia, is currently lodged in Tihar, Delhi.

Gangster Chhota Rajan is currently lodged in Tihar Jail. He told the court that he would be killed if he was taken to Mumbai.

By Mail Today: Fearing a threat to Chhota Rajan's life if he is taken to Mumbai, a Delhi court has directed the CBI to urge the Maharashtra government to arrange the trial of the J Dey murder case through videoconferencing from Tihar Jail.

The gangster, who was recently deported from Indonesia, is currently lodged in Tihar, Delhi.

On Thursday, the investigating agency informed the court that there would be a serious threat to Rajan's life if he was physically produced before the MCOCA court in Mumbai.

Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar said the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Mumbai may be requested to procure Rajan's attendance through videoconferencing.

In his plea, the Tihar Jail superintendent said that a warrant was issued by the MCOCA court in Mumbai to produce Rajan before it on Thursday.

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During the hearing, Rajan told the court through videoconferencing that his life was at risk and he would likely be killed by his rivals if he was sent to Mumbai. His counsel also urged the court to keep his client off Mumbai.

Based on the facts and the current circumstances, the judge said: "I am of the opinion that physical production of the accused before the MCOCA court is not feasible at this stage. However, the CBI is directed to request the State of Maharashtra to arrange production of the accused before the said court concerned through videoconferencing. "

The J Dey murder case for which Rajan was asked to be produced in person in the Mumbai court was lodged against him and others in 2011 under various sections of the IPC, including 302 (murder), the Arms Act, the Mumbai Police Act and under the provisions of MCOCA.

Rajan was on Thursday produced before the MCOCA court through videoconferencing.

Rajan's security was recently heightened by Tihar jail officials following threats from Chhota Shakeel, an aide of don Dawood Ibrahim. In a telephonic conversation with Mail Today, Shakeel had threatened to kill Rajan in the central jail.

Several attempts have already been made by Dawood's men to kill Rajan, who was arrested in Bali by the Indonesian Police on October 25, 2015. He was extradited to India on November 6 after 27 years on the run and is currently awaiting trial in CBI custody.

The 55-year-old gangster, whose real name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, was sent to high-security Tihar Prisons on November 19 last year. Rajan, once a close aide of Dawood, has been brought to the country to face trial in over 70 cases of murder, extortion and drug smuggling in Delhi and Mumbai.

After Rajan's arrest in Bali, India had pressed for his early deportation.

Also read:

Chhota Rajan's security tightened after Chhota Shakeel's threat



We will kill Rajan in Tihar jail, says Chhota Shakeel
The 21-year-old girl, who was working for IBM Gurgaon, has alleged in her complaint that she is in advanced stage of pregnancy and doctors advised her against abortion.

By India Today Web Desk: A former IIM professor has landed himself and two others in trouble after he allegedly raped a 21-year-old girl, who was working for IBM Gurgaon, in a 5-star hotel in Delhi on the pretext of marriage. The professor also took the girl with him to Gujarat to get her a job.

But when the girl reached Gujarat, she came to know that the professor is a married person, whose wife is a management professor there, and he fathers a baby, she immediately returned to Delhi and filed an FIR against him and the two other persons who helped him in his nefarious plot.

The victim said she preferred to fly back to Delhi because the professor is highly-connected and is known to some top political leaders of Gujarat.

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The girl has also alleged in her complaint that she is in advanced stage of pregnancy and doctors advised her against abortion.

She said a lady known to her was also hand-in-glove with the professor and she persuaded her to quit her IBM job and do a job with the professor in Gujarat.

Another acquaintance who promised to help her legally also sexually assaulted her.

The FIR has been lodged in New Delhi district and allegations are of rape, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy.

ALSO READ:

Minor gangrape and suicide: Mirzapur police official suspended for not lodging FIR

Woman raped in Ola cab in Bhopal, driver arrested


Two assailants armed with a gun, a knife and a suicide belt attacked a hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Hurghada on Friday, wounding two foreign tourists, security sources said.

By Reuters: Two assailants armed with a gun, a knife and a suicide belt attacked a hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Hurghada on Friday, wounding two foreign tourists, security sources said.

One of the injured was from Denmark and the other from Germany, the sources said. .

They said the attackers had arrived by sea to launch the onslaught on the beachside Bella Vista Hotel, but that security forces had repelled the assault, killing the attacker wearing the suicide bomb.

However, the Interior Ministry gave a very different account, saying two assailants with knives had wounded two Austrians and a Swede. It said one of the attackers was a student from the Cairo suburb of Giza.

Egypt is fighting a wave of Islamist militancy, which began as attacks on security forces in remote regions of the Sinai, but is increasingly focusing on targets previously considered safe such as the tourist resorts on the Red Sea.

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The Islamic State militant group said on Friday that an attack on Israeli tourists in Cairo on Thursday had been carried out by its fighters, in response to a call by the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to target Jews "everywhere".

Security sources said those tourists were Israeli Arabs. None was hurt and Egyptian authorities said the attack was aimed at security forces.

On Oct. 31, a Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of them tourists returning home from the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh.

Cairo says it has found no evidence of terrorism in the crash, but Russia and Western governments have said the airliner was probably brought down by a bomb, and Islamic State said it had smuggled explosives on board.

Tourism is critical to the Egyptian economy as a source of hard currency, but has been ravaged by years of political turmoil since the revolution that ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Actor Aamir Khan on Friday came out in full support of Mumbai Police's move to downgrade his security cover. The actor took to micro-blogging site Twitter and said that he is in favour of this move as he completely trusts Mumbai Police.

By India Today Web Desk: Actor Aamir Khan on Friday came out in full support of Mumbai Police's move to downgrade his security cover. The actor took to micro-blogging site Twitter and said that he is in favour of this move as he completely trusts Mumbai Police.

"I completely endorse the move by the Mumbai Police to reduce the security around me. The police personnel can be put to better use in securing the city. If and when the Mumbai Police feel the need to increase my security, they will. I trust them completely," he tweeted.

Earlier in the day, Mumbai Police decided to downgrade the security cover of 40 celebrities including that of actors Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.

Mumbai police, after its annual assessment on threat cover, had decided on this. Speaking to IndiaToday, a senior police official said, "It was needed to fix unwanted security cover to these celebrities. We have taken this decision and would get it implemented at the earliest."

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ALSO READ | Mumbai Police downgrades security cover of Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan



Recently, an audit was conducted by Mumbai police on security cover given to celebrities.

Reacting to the audit, Mumbai Police said, "Post their (Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan)comments on intolerance, we have provided round-the-clock security to the two actors - which included two armed constables and an armed guard on two shifts and an armed escort vehicle. Following the recent assessment, we have pulled out the escorts and the armed in-charge. Now only two armed constables will cover them in two shifts."

Police confirmed they were providing security to around 40 Bollywood celebrities. But the numbers have now reduced to 15 personalities who have genuine threats to their lives.



Sources say, the security cover of Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Raj Kumar Hirani, Farah Khan, Karim Morani and few others have been withdrawn completely.



Those 15 personalities who would be getting the security cover includes Akshay Kumar, Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar.
Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala has landed in a controversy for his advise to girls - give up fashion and lipstick because college is not a platform for a beauty contest!

By Aravind Gowda: Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala has landed in a controversy for his advice to girls - give up on fancy clothes and lipstick because college is not a platform for a beauty contest!

"Both girls and boys are intelligent...To achieve something in life you need to sacrifice something. Boys have to give up their specific addictions. Girls need to give up their fashion. You (girls) come to college for studies and not to participate in any beauty competition. You (girls) don't need to get your eyebrows done, apply lipstick or trim your hair..." he said while delivering the valedictory address of the 103rd Indian Science Congress in Mysuru on Thursday.

Though Vala made these comments with a touch of humour, it has been condemned by women's groups. Vala's comments were welcomed with a loud applause by the audience, including girls, at the Crawford Hall in Mysore University. A section of scientists, who were present there, were left bewildered by the governor's statement.

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"What does beauty or fashion have to do with studies? It is something personal. It is an individual's choice to present herself in a specific way. Who said that a fashionable girl is not academic or intelligent? The governor was addressing the valedictory of a Science Congress. Instead of speaking about promoting science, his comments on girls were unnecessary," said Pallavi, a student, who was present there.
By Javed Anwer: Lenovo bought Motorola from Google in 2012 and since then has allowed the company to operate in almost unchanged way. But now it is set to change. The plans are afoot within Lenovo to bring all mobile phones under one brand and kill the iconic Motorola brand.

This was confirmed by Motorola's chief operating officer Rick Osterloh in an interview with CNET. "We'll slowly phase out Motorola," Osterloh told CNET on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "(we will) focus on Moto."

What does it mean in plainspeak? It means that Lenovo is finally moving to consolidate its mobile phone business under single department, internally and externally. This makes operational sense for Lenovo. So Motorola brand will be gradually phased out. But it doesn't mean the end of Moto phones.

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Apparently, Moto will continue to be a phone category or a brand name, just like the Vibe is for Lenovo. So in future Moto phones will probably carry the brand tag of "Moto by Lenovo". The Moto phones will also probably continue to carry the bat-shape M logo.

Update: in a statement, Motorola has confirmed the move. It said: "Motorola Mobility continues to exist as a Lenovo company and is the engineering and design engine for all of our mobile products. However, for our product branding we will utilise a dual brand strategy across smartphone and wearables going forward using Moto and Vibe globally. 'Motorola' hasn't been used on our products since the launch of the original Moto X in 2013."



While for consumers it may not change anything - after all, Lenovo is already the company that owns Motorola - yet it is impossible not to feel a little nostalgic about Motorola. The company and its name is iconic because it has been associated with the mobile phone market since very beginning. Heck, it is the company that actually came out with the first mobile phone.

Motorola has also done well after 2012 when, under the aegis of Google, it changed the business strategy. It got rid of the Droid phones that it used to sell and came out with the Moto range, which has been received extremely well among consumers due to its clean software, reliable performance and decent price.

The CNET report says that the Lenovo would continue to use Moto as a brand and would position it as a sort of premium offering from Lenovo. It is possible that in the coming days, Lenovo may keep the Moto brand as the online-only, high-end brand in countries like India while tackling the mainstream market with Vibe phones.

If and when Motorola rides into the sunset, it would follow the iconic Nokia brand. Earlier, Microsoft gradually phased out the Nokia branding from its smartphones even as it kept the Lumia tag attached to the Windows phones. Lenovo's strategy seems to be somewhat similar.
"Embers of the martyrs' funeral pyres hasn't cooled yet," says a Facebook post, reacting to Martyr's rites op-ed on The Telegraph, Calcutta.

By India Today Web Desk: Yesterday The Telegraph Calcutta published an article titled Martyr's rites talking about how Pathankot martyr Lt Col EK Niranjan died during the operation.

This op-ed becomes important because it blames Niranjan of indiscipline and stupidity. The article starts with, "Martyrs make myths," and goes on to ask, "Do all army personnel who die while doing their duty deserve to be treated like martyrs?"

Here's what the article says:

Niranjan is the only officer to have died in the operation. Niranjan was the head of the bomb squad, but during the combing operation to clear the area of explosives, he was not wearing a blast-shield uniform. He fell victim to a "simple booby trap" planted by the terrorists. Niranjan "chose" not to use specialized equipment like remote-controlled robots to move a dead body. Owing to this act of bravado, "or stupidity", he lost his own life and had five of the soldiers with him seriously injured.

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After stating these, The Telegraph raises a question whether Niranjan's last rites deserved state honours and thousands paying their respects to him. Writer dares to ask, "does he deserve to be honoured?"

The Telegraph article even says "An officer like Niranjan should be taken to task even after his death, so that an example is set for others not to break discipline and risk lives."

The point writer is trying to make here is the falling standards of discipline and security in the Indian army, but the article has stirred a major controversy with the article.

A Facebook page by the name Indian Army Fans, with over 17,23,200 followers, have published a post condemning Telegraph's article and explaining what exactly happened during the operation.

Here's what the post says:



Two terrorists were killed at the same spot.

Thorough inspection of the bodies of deceased terrorists is a standard procedure, as chances of them hiding explosives in their body is high.

Nirajan approached the first body and cleared it of for handling, as it was devoid of hidden explosives.

The second terrorist's body, dragged closer to Niranjan by colleagues, had a hidden chest belt based explosive designed to get triggered if disturbed.

Niranjan realised it and screamed informing colleagues to take cover, simultaneously rolling over to the dead body, lifting it in the air and trying to through it away.

However, the explosive got triggered and ruptured both his hands, chest cavity, and one side of his face.

He wasn't wearing a protective gear as those are heavy and non-flexible, not suited for this particular operation due to the wast 1500 acre land terrain.

The Indian Army Fans page also posted saying "editorial team of The Telegraph is unapologetic," and the article will not be retracted.

Post also says, "embers of the martyrs' funeral pyres hasn't cooled yet. Imagine the families of the martyrs reading a newspaper asking them to be disrespected & treated as criminals".



What do you think? Let us know your opinion through the comments.


The BJP has decided to support Mehbooba Mufti to succeed her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who passed away on Thursday, on the CM's chair.

Once sworn in, Mehbooba Mufti would be the first women CM of Jammu and Kashmir.

By India Today Web Desk: The BJP has decided to support Mehbooba Mufti to succeed her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who passed away on Thursday, on the CM's chair. Mehbooba is likely to take charge as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister later today after Home Minister Rajnath Singh advised BJP lawmakers in the state to back her.

"Mehbooba ji is our choice. BJP is on board over this decision. We expect oath to happen anytime now," PDP leader Rafi Mir said.

On Rajnath Singh's advise, BJP legislators held a meeting at Hari Niwas guesthouse on and decided to unanimously support Mufti's nomination as Chief Minister.



Later, according to sources, PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Governor Narendra Nath Vohra met briefly at Srinagar airport. They were, sources said, unanimous that Governor's rule would have to be imposed in case the new Chief Minister could not be sworn in by 4.00 pm Friday.

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Mehbooba Mufti is presently a member of the Lok Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag. As per constitutional norms, she will have to either get elected to the Assembly within six months or get nominated to the legislative council within the same period.

Once sworn in, she would be the first woman CM of Jammu and Kashmir.

ALSO READ:

Mufti Sayeed laid to rest

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's 5-point legacy


On Wednesday night, an angry mob brutally beat up 25-year-old Sanjay and his friend Raunak after they thought the duo was stealing a carton of apples.

Locals shout slogans after a youth (inset) was allegedly beaten to death and his friend thrashed at Azadpur wholesale market.

By Mail Today: A Youth paid with his life after being mistaken for an apple thief at the Capital's Azadpur Mandi.

On Wednesday night, an angry mob brutally beat up 25-year-old Sanjay and his friend Raunak after they thought the duo was stealing a carton of apples.

While Sanjay died in hospital, Raunak is undergoing treatment, a senior police officer said.

A case has been registered in this regard and the main accused was arrested by the police on Thursday.

According to police sources, the accused Sanju was in an inebriated state when the incident occurred and there was no personal rivalry between him and the victims.

Sanjay and his friend Raunak worked as labourers who used to load and unload fruit and vegetable cartons at the wholesale market.

The incident occurred around 9.30 pm on Wednesday when Sanjay and Raunak were walking out of the market with a carton of apples. After mistaking them for thieves, a group of guards allegedly thrashed them.

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An inebriated Sanju, who was one of the guards, then took the injured duo to his rented room where he tied them up to chairs and thrashed them severely.

"Some locals in the area called up the police and the duo was rushed to a hospital, where Sanjay died and Raunak is still recovering," a police officer connected with the investigation said.

On Thursday, angry family members and locals staged a protest over the law and order situation in the area and alleged police inaction in the case.

When the police reached the area to arrest Sanju, some locals also pelted stones at the team in which a few officers were injured, a source said.

Agitated locals also allegedly ransacked some vehicles.

The situation was brought under control after senior officers intervened in the matter and Sanjay's body was sent for a post-mortem examination.

The investigation is underway and more persons can be arrested depending on the evidence, a police source said.
Despite much hype surrounding the two schemes, there has not been much progress on the ground. The PM has told officials that 'enough is enough, and it is time for real action', Mail Today has learnt.

PM Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission around 15 months ago but there has not been enough progress on the ground. Many believe the initial enthusiasm has been waning.

By Darpan Singh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set in motion an exhaustive plan to reboot two of his pet projects - Swachh Bharat Mission and Ganga Rejuvenation.

Despite much hype surrounding the two schemes, there has not been much progress on the ground. The PM has told officials that 'enough is enough, and it is time for real action', Mail Today has learnt.

After Modi's meeting with secretaries about a week ago, where it was emphasised that India needs 'something dramatic' to rev up the two clean-up projects, the government has formed a 'group of secretaries' from select ministries to work out revised action plans.

Signaling a course correction, the group is talking to ministries, states, industry, civil society and local bodies. The renewed focus is on people's involvement, sustainability and time-bound results.

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"The action plan is expected with a roadmap to achieve the desired deliverables within a specified timeframe," reads a government communication.

Senior officials have been told to be thoroughly conversant with the details of the PM's flagship projects. They would also be asked to travel to states for better implementation.

Apart from the Ganga rejuvenation and Swachh Bharat, there are six more projects Modi wants to be executed effectively. On each one, a joint secretary is doing inter-ministry coordination, it has been learnt.

As part of the consultations, environment and forests secretary, Ashok Lavasa, and about a dozen officials on Wednesday met environmentalists for their inputs. The secretary has to prepare and submit his action plans to the prime minister's office (PMO).

Those who met Lavasa, who is the nodal officer of the group of secretaries, include Ravi Agarwal (Toxics Link), Bharati Chaturvedi (Chintan Group), Suresh Babu (WWF India), Sunita Narain (CSE), Manoj Misra (Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan), besides two experts from Varanasi. Similar consultations are also happening with ministries, states, industry, civil society and local bodies.

Modi wielded the broom in Delhi 15 months ago to launch Swachh Bharat Mission, fuelling hopes of cleaner public places, better waste management and eradication of open defecation in villages by 2019. While toilet building has picked up pace, and Modi has been able to nudge people into caring for hygiene, many believe the initial enthusiasm has been waning.

Agarwal said community participation was a must at the ground level, but it had to be backed by official mechanism. "People may start segregating garbage at source, but everything will eventually be mixed up and dumped at landfills. The load will not reduce," he said.

He said there were enough rules, but the execution had been poor. "Even if 30 per cent rules are strictly implemented, Swachh Bharat would be a reality," he said. It was also argued that that the informal sector must be included in Swachh Bharat, and polluting waste-to-energy plants were no solution, but composting of organic waste was.

Another environmentalist, invited for inputs, said at the meeting that the government must go for de-centralised systems as 50 per cent of waste management funds go in collection and transportation of garbage. Suggestions were also made to promote mass 'shramdaan' and peer learning.

"The current narrative is still around 'collect, transport, dispose'. Municipalities need to embrace 'reduce, recycle, repair, compost' to ensure real zero waste situations," admitted an official.

Similarly, saving the Ganga has also been on top of Modi government's agenda. Way back in the mid-1980s, the government launched the first leg of Ganga Action Plan (GAP), embarking on a mission to clean up India's holiest - but one of the most polluted - river.

But three decades and thousands of crores later, the river's water quality has gone from bad to worse. The Modi government in May last year came up with a Namami Gange project worth Rs 20,000 crore. The project looks at having floating debris collected and cleaned off the river surface in 10 cities to bring about a visible change.

During the January 5 meeting, it was said the Ganga needs a national policy, a Ganga law and a fully-empowered authority to plan, oversee and execute cleanup activities on the ground in collaboration with all interested. Also, its rejuvenation is possible only when its contributing rivers are cared for.

About 450 million people depend on the river which in its 2,500 km journey flows from the Gangotri in the Himalayas to Diamond Harbour in the Bay of Bengal.

"The Ganga is dying because its flow has been dwindling. There is loss of catchment vegetation, encroachment of floodplains, excessive extraction of sand, boulders, fish and turtles, besides pollution from industrial, agricultural and sewage sources. All this needs to be addressed," said a participating environmentalist.

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It was also suggested that MPs and MLAs should mobilise, discuss with communities and produce action plans. Implementation should be people-centric and transparent.

The Union Cabinet on Thursday decided on an annuity model of financing sewerage treatment with the potential to explore and develop new markets for treated wastewater as part of Namami Gange.



The big NDA reboot



Modi launched Swachh Bharat Mission 15 months ago, urban cleanliness still poor

Govt sanctioned Rs 20,000 cr for Ganga in May last year, projects stuck

Govt forms a 'group of secretaries' from select ministries for action plans

The group is talking to ministries, states, industry, civil society and local bodies

Focus is on people's involvement, sustainability and time-bound results

Senior officials to be thoroughly conversant with the details of the two flagship projects



Community participation should be backed up by official mechanism

Even if 30% rules are implemented, Swachh Bharat would be a reality

Informal sector must be included, govt must go for decentralised systems

Municipalities need to embrace 'reduce, recycle, repair, compost' policy

Ganga needs a national policy and a fully-empowered authority Its rejuvenation is possible only when its contributing rivers are cared for

The Ganga is dying because its flow has been dwindling. There is loss of catchment vegetation, encroachment of floodplains, excessive extraction

MPs and MLAs should mobilise, discuss with communities and produce action plans. Implementation should be people-centric and transparent.

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Also Read:

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan only showbaazi: Arvind Kejriwal

Don't make Swachh Bharat a joke: PM Modi at Safaigiri Summit


Mumbai Police has decided to downgrade the security cover of 40 celebrities including that of actors Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.

By India Today Web Desk: Mumbai Police has decided to downgrade the security cover of 40 celebrities including that of actors Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.

Mumbai police, after its annual assessment on threat cover, has decided to take this move. Speaking to IndiaToday, a senior police official said, "It was needed to nix unwanted security cover to these celebrities. We have taken this decision and would get it implemented at the earliest."

Recently, an audit was conducted by Mumbai police on security cover given to celebrities.

Reacting to the audit, Mumbai Police said, "Post their (Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan)comments on intolerance, we have provided round-the-clock security to the two actors - which included two armed constables and an armed guard on two shifts and an armed escort vehicle. Following the recent assessment, we have pulled out the escorts and the armed in-charge. Now only two armed constables will cover them in two shifts."

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Police confirmed they were providing security to around 40 Bollywood celebrities. But the numbers have now reduced to 15 personalities who have genuine threats to their lives.



Sources say, the security cover of Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Raj Kumar Hirani, Farah Khan, Karim Morani and few others have been withdrawn completely.



Those 15 personalities who would be getting the security cover includes Akshay Kumar, Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar.
Now that Netflix is in India, your weekends are sorted. In case you are wondering what to watch first, we suggest these six original shows.

By India Today Web Desk: Since the world's top video streaming service, Netflix, is now in India, chances are most of your weekends will be spent in front of the screen. In case you are wondering what to watch, we have listed six original shows you must stream, especially in the first month, which is free.



Jessica Jones: Bad-a** from the word go, this Melissa Rosenberg adaptation of Marvel's Jessica Jones is all that you want in a superhero series. Starring Krysten Ritter in the titular role, the show traces the life of Jessica Jones, a former superhero who opens her own detective agency after the end of her superhero career. The show, which premiered on November 20, 2015 on Netflix, garnered critical acclaim for Ritter's performance and for its approach to topics such as rape, assault and post-traumatic stress disorder.

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House Of Cards: Welcome to the world of manipulation, diplomacy, power-play and ruthless aspiration. House of Cards is an American political drama developed and produced by Beau Willimon. An adaptation of BBC's mini-series of the same name, the Emmy Award winning show is based on the novel by Michael Dobbs. Set in present-day Washington DC, House of Cards tracks the life of Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), a Democrat who, after being passed over for appointment as Secretary of State, initiates a plan to reach the top of the power hierarchy, aided by his wife, Claire Underwood (Robin Wright).

Picture courtesy: Netflix

Narcos: You might have heard of the notorious Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar, who, at one point in time, reportedly supplied estimated 80 per cent of the cocaine smuggled into the United States. Narcos is the true story of Escobar, created and produced by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro. Highlights of the show are true-to-life dramatisation, and actor Wagner Moura who brings truckloads of conviction to the character of Escobar.

Picture courtesy: Netflix

Master Of None: If you love Aziz Ansari's brand of subtle comedy, you just can't miss Master Of None. Created by Ansari himself along with Alan Yang, the show is about a 30-year-old actor, Dev (Aziz Ansari) who attempts to make his way through life in New York City.

Picture courtesy: Netflix

Daredevil: How about spending Sunday afternoon watching the antics of a blind lawyer-by-day who fights crime at night? An adaptation of Marvel's Daredevil, the show stars Charlie Cox as Daredevil. Created by Drew Goddard, the first season premiered on April 10, 2015. Its second season is due to premiere on March 18, 2016.

Picture courtesy: Netflix Picture courtesy: Netflix

Making A Murderer: The fact that the series was filmed over the course of 10 years is intriguing enough to give it a shot. And if the story turns out to be of a man incarcerated in prison for 18 years after being wrongly convicted for sexual assault, who wouldn't want to watch the show. The story of Steven Avery, a man who was imprisoned for the sexual assault and attempted murder of Penny Beerntsen, and later exonerated, only to be subsequently accused and convicted of the murder of Teresa Halbach, will have you glued to your couch till the very end.

Picture courtesy: Netflix
A suspected Al Qaeda terrorist was arrested by the National Investigation Team (NIA) in Bengaluru on Thursday night.

By Aravind Gowda: A suspected Al Qaeda terrorist in Bengaluru was arrested by the National Investigation Team (NIA) for his alleged hate speeches and financial transactions, on Thursday night .

According to sources, Maulana Anzarshah Qasmi, who was a Muslim cleric in Banshankari for the last four years, had visited Makka masjid in Ilyas Nagar last month.

On Wednesday, when he went to visit his follower Asif at his residence, he was picked up by the NIA team.

When Qasmi did not return home, his family lodged a missing complaint at Kumaraswamy Layout Police Station. It was then that the learnt of his arrest and his involvement with the terror group.

Police are now interrogating the cleric for his links with the terror group. A local court in Delhi has remanded Qasmi in police custody till January 20.

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Till now, four Al Qaeda terrorists have been arrested.

The wanted head of Al Qaeda's India unit Sanaul Haq belongs to a family of freedom fighters in Sambhal, situated less than 200km from New Delhi, a report had revealed in December, 2015.

Haq's background came to light during interrogation of Mohammed Asif, the training and recruitment chief of Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). While Mohammed Asif was held from Seelampur in northeast Delhi, another Qaeda operative, Abdul Rahman nabbed in Jagatpur area of Cuttack in Odisha in December, 2015.



Watch full video here:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his sudden visit to Lahore to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on December 25, 2015.

This is probably for the first time that Nitish has praised Modi since taking charge as Bihar's CM for the third consecutive term in November, 2015.

By India Today Web Desk: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his sudden visit to Lahore to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on December 25, 2015.

"PM's visit to Pakistan was a step in the right direction. We want better ties with Pakistan and for that it is important that we engage with the democratic forces of that country. We must understand that the democratic set up of Pakistan is not as strong as India...there are other stakeholders too. I would say PM's visit was a good gesture," Nitish told reporters in Patna.

This is probably for the first time that Nitish has praised Modi since taking charge as Bihar's CM for the third consecutive term in November, 2015. Both the leaders were involved in a bitter war of words during campaigning for the Bihar Assembly election last year.

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Nitish may have praised Modi but his partner in the state government RJD chief Lalu Prasad minced no words in attacking the prime minister over the Pathankot terror attack.

"What happened to the 56-inch chest which Modi used to talk about. They (BJP) used to say Jungle Raj-2 has come. Why are they silent on Pathankot attack today? PM must answer how terrorists managed to enter into our country," Lalu said.

PM Modi's surprise visit to Lahore on way back to Delhi from Kabul was criticised by the main opposition party - Congress. The criticism only got fierce after six Pakistani terrorists attacked the Indian Air Force (IAF) air base in Pathankot on January 2. Seven security personnel were killed in the terror strike.

ALSO READ | Narendra Modi given warm hospitality in Lahore


By General Bikram Singh: Our Pakistan engagement policy must take into account some important ground realities. Over the years, terrorists have enhanced their relevance and acceptability in Pakistan. This is owing to the reported politico-terrorist nexus coupled with terrorist groups emerging as a strategic asset of the Pakistani army for waging asymmetric war in India and Afghanistan. Their acceptance among the people has also risen essentially due to philanthropic activities undertaken by some outfits. In addition, fear of the gun along with their much-hyped and publicised acts of reprisal goad all in Pakistan to unconditionally toe their line. Pakistan, therefore, has pursued a policy of appeasement and inaction towards terrorist groups.

General Bikram Singh

The credibility and reliability of some political leaders and decision-makers in Pakistan, who acquired radical frames of reference due to their proximity to Gen Zia-ul-Haq should be taken note of. Consequently, their commitments on peace should be taken with some degree of scepticism. Transborder terrorist strikes fully supported by the Pakistani army and ISI will continue to bleed us and thwart bilateral engagement and rapprochement initiatives. The hostile environment favours the Pakistani army, ISI and terrorists as it enhances their stature and relevance domestically.

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Pakistan will continue to exploit existing vulnerabilities on all our borders besides exploiting any dissonance in the internal security arena to subvert, fuel insurgencies and create law and order problems. Since Pakistan's India policy is solely controlled by their army, no peace initiative can succeed without the Pakistani army's active involvement.

While derailment of the peace initiative is a short-term victory for terrorists, we need to think through the second- and third-tier implications before deciding on our future course of action. Notwithstanding the decision, it may be prudent to explicitly spell out our threshold of tolerance to Pakistan. An unambiguous message needs to be conveyed that henceforth Pakistan-sponsored terrorism will invite a quid pro quo and compel us to unleash our asymmetric capability in the areas of our choosing. Such a declaratory stance will withstand the jus ad bellum scrutiny as it is in conformity with internationally accepted principles and criterion on the use of force.

It is time that we as a nation stand united in all emergency situations unmindful of our party lines and affiliations. This calls for the strengthening of our national strategic culture and character to help all stakeholders understand the import and primacy of national security interests and objectives. As done in some countries, biannual briefings by select officials of all important stakeholders, including members of Parliament, could be undertaken. Responsible media can act as a glue to bind the nation, besides acting as a catalyst in building and consolidating a national strategic culture. Internal stability and harmony are sine qua non to insulate India against both internal and external security threats.

The security of all our borders against all forms of threats should receive unstinted attention to plug existing loopholes and porosity. Security forces with their current resources and terrain challenges are doing a stupendous job. However, we need to undertake induction of state-of-the-art technology for effective surveillance. Also, early creation of an integrated mobile capability to enable expeditious deployment merits commitment. We may also consider raising armed village defence guards in all villages along our borders on the lines of the J&K model.

To attain optimal operational and intelligence synergy in both safeguarding our frontiers and dealing with internal security situations, there is a need for an agile and versatile multi-agency mechanism at the Centre, which should be suitably replicated in all states. A review of the national cyber security policy needs to be expedited. A comprehensive policy along with state-of-the-art cyber security assets will play a pivotal role in averting any inimical designs against our country.

Contingency plans for safeguarding our assets abroad in conjunction with the host country's security forces also need to be evolved and regularly refined. In the regional context, defence cooperation with friendly countries should be suitably leveraged to ensure real-time sharing of intelligence. Our counter-proxy war and counter-insurgency operations employing smart power are on track and should continue. However, for meaningful operations, we need to maintain favourable terrorist-to-troop-ratios and also ensure legal cover for security forces.

General Bikram Singh (retd) is former Indian Army chief

Also read:

The blunders of Pathankot

Revival of another 'strategic asset'



--- ENDS ---
Indian probe agencies have already identifed Pakistani handlers who were in touch with the 6 terrorists who launched a pre-dawn Fidayeen attack on the air base on January 2, 2016.

By India Today Web Desk: The ongoing probe into the terror attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot has proved Pakistan's involvement. Indian probe agencies have already identifed Pakistani handlers who were in touch with the 6 terrorists who launched a pre-dawn Fidayeen attack on the air base on January 2, 2016.

Nailing Pakistan's role further, Indian agencies have identified two Pakistani phone numbers to which calls were made by the attackers. Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Rauf and others have been identified by India as 'handlers' guided the attackers from Pakistan.

A report in The Times of India said that +92 3017775253 and +92 3000597212 were the Pakistani numbers to which calls were made by the Jaish fidayeen after they entered India.

According to the report, the first number probably belongs to the mother of one of the militants, while the second one belongs to one of the handlers of the attackers. Investigators are now using the call details to build a case and ascertain the identities of the six terrorists.

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The TOI report quoted Intelligence Bureau officials that the terrorists called their handler "ustaad" while describing their positions inside Punjab after crossing over from Pakistan.

Details of phone call records of terrorists, mobile numbers of their handlers based in Pakistan and proof that they came from across the border have been reportedly shared with Islamabad.
The revival of the JeM could not have been possible without the blessings of the Pakistan Army that uses militant groups as strategic assets, say intelligence officials.

By Sandeep Unnithan : A crumpled page from a school exercise book left in SP Salwinder Singh's vehicle by terrorists later killed in Pathankot and a slogan scrawled on a wall in Afghanistan by a dying terrorist are clues that purportedly link Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) to the Pathankot attack and the January 3 attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif. The note in Pathankot lists past JeM attacks-'Tangdhar, Samba, Kathua, and Delhi'? "the adorers of Afzal Guru will keep meeting you". JeM activist Guru, accused in the December 13, 2001 Parliament attack was hanged in Tihar Jail on February 9, 2013. "Afzal Guru is avenged" one of the four terrorists who attacked the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif wrote on a wall in blood before being killed by Afghan security forces on January 4. In January 2014, Maulana Masood Azhar, the fire-breathing founder of 35the JeM addressed a public rally in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) vowing to avenge Guru's death.

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The twin attacks and the Afzal Guru memes have brought the spotlight back on the JeM and its reclusive leader. Azhar was controversially released on December 31, 1999, in a swap for the 177 passengers of Indian Airlines Flight IC814 hijacked to Kandahar. The radical ideologue, then just 31, raised the JeM in 2000 that attacked India's Parliament and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war. Sent into the doghouse because his followers attempted to assassinate then President Pervez Musharaff in 2003, Azhar's JeM has staged a comeback. The revival of the JeM could not have been possible without the blessings of the Pakistan Army that uses militant groups as strategic assets, say intelligence officials. They see a two-fold utility in the army's JeM gameplan. "To use another militant group because the LeT has come under tremendous pressure and, also to keep the LeT in check by letting them know the army has an alternative," says a senior intelligence official.

The first indications of the JeM's revival came in 2014 when the JeM's social service faade, the Al-Rahmat Trust, was one of two organisations tasked by the Pakistani army to undertake the resettlement of people internally displaced by the Zarb-e-Azb military operations against the Pakistan Taliban in north-western Pakistan. The other agency was the LeT's social service face, the Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation.

Azhar has not been seen as publicly as Hafiz Saeed and has rarely been photographed since his 1999 release. He is based out of a heavily guarded compound in Model Town, in the garrison town of Bahawalpur, located in southern Punjab province.

The JeM's revival has not been at the cost of the LeT. Intelligence officials say there is a trust deficit between the JeM and the Pakistani army. The JeM is closer to the al Qaeda and the Taliban as opposed to the LeT wholly aligned to the state. The JeM enjoys a '75 per cent trust' of the army while it is '95 per cent' for the LeT, one official says. Masood Azhar has been eclipsed by the rise of the LeT and its founder Hafiz Saeed. His group's fighters are not as well trained as the LeT's and in recent years suffered a near wipeout of cadres in J&K.

The JeM has, however, retained its earlier knack of striking at hardened military targets for high visibility attacks. More recently, on 5 December, 2014, JeM militants stormed an army camp in Uri killing 11 army personnel including a Lt Colonel. Their revival is now cause for fresh concern in India.

Also read:

The blunders of Pathankot



How to deal with Pakistan

Handling a hostile Pakistan

Give peace talks a chance


The six fidayeen terrorists who struck at the airbase in Pathankot on January 2 had two specific objectives-to kill military personnel and destroy fighter aircraft and helicopter gunships. The attackers failed in their primary task of destroying aircraft parked in the frontline air force base because they were prevented from reaching the technical area. But a series of lapses by India's security establishment allowed the terrorists to succeed in at least the objective of killing security personnel and prolonging their siege of the airbase. The attack was no bolt from the blue-the security establishment knew about it over a day in advance thanks to the alarm raised by a police officer who had been kidnapped by the terrorists and the monitoring of cellphones stolen from the police officer and his associates. Intercepts of the terrorists' conversations with their Pakistan-based handlers hinted at Pathankot being the target. These leads gave the government adequate time to pre-position forces in the base to anticipate their arrival. The tardy response turned what could have been a spectacular textbook success in the fight against terrorism emanating from Pakistan, into a long-drawn pyrrhic victory evocative of earlier operations.

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No lessons learnt

Both fidayeen groups that struck the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot early on January 2 morning crossed into India near Bamiyal, a small Punjab township, which is a well known infiltration point used by drug smugglers and terrorists alike. Waypoints recorded on GPS devices recovered from the three-man suicide squad that attacked a police station in Dinanagar, Gurdaspur district, less than six months ago, on July 27, 2015, have shown that they used the same route to gain entry to India. Clearly, neither the Border Security Force (BSF) nor the Punjab Police chose to imbibe any lasting lessons from Dinanagar. Although in the immediate aftermath of the attack on the police station, Punjab's Police establishment had moved quickly to beef up security: handpicked officers were moved to remote border locations such as Narot Jaimal Singh, and mobile units including CPMF (Central Paramilitary Force) and state police personnel increased night patrols along rural roads as well as the national highway. All that, however, lasted barely three months. Inexplicably, post-October the patrols were scaled down and many of the officers succeeded in having themselves moved out from what they saw as "punishment postings". Senior police officers, now faced with the frightening prospect of another terror strike, are pointing fingers at the "imposing narcotics nexus-local politicians and smugglers" who want to keep easy points of ingress like Bamiyal open.

Delayed response

Early morning on January 1, Salwinder Singh, the superintendent police (headquarters) at Gurdaspur, made frantic calls to the police control room in Pathankot as well as several of his superiors to report that four Pakistani terrorists wearing military fatigues had abducted him. At the time Singh, known to be a highly pampered officer who rarely ever moved without a large security contingent, was inexplicably only accompanied by his cook Madan Gopal and Rajesh Kumar, a jeweler from Pathankot. The officer claimed the terrorists waylaid his private SUV close to midnight outside Koliyan village when they were returning from a local shrine. Singh said the abductors, who took the jeweler along to drive the car, let off the cook and him. Notably, Singh's warning about the presence of fidayeen in the area came in the wake of an earlier December 30 intelligence advisory that was communicated to all Punjab districts. Based on an Intelligence Bureau report, it warned about the possible infiltration bid in the Bamiyal area. Incredibly, despite these obvious pointers, top Punjab Police brass reportedly refused to buy Singh's story. Their scepticism, a senior police officer said, came from Singh's 'reputation'-Singh denies this vehemently. They believed him only after the recovery of the officer's SUV outside Tajpur village (barely 500 metres from the western wall of the IAF station) and a subsequent call from Kumar, who had managed to reach a private hospital despite being stabbed in the neck and left as 'dead' by the terrorists. By then crucial hours had been lost.

Failure to secure the Air Base

Sometime before sunrise on January 1 and around 3:00 am the next morning, when they first engaged the DSC (Defence Security Corps) guards inside, the four fidayeen, possibly by then joined by a second group of two, managed to gain easy entry into the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot. This despite the fact there was more than a fair warning of their imminent arrival and deadly intent. Despite its initial lethargy, by mid-morning on January 1, Punjab Police men fanned out to comb civilian areas including several villages fringing the 2,000 acre airbase. However, the extensive operation that included SWAT (special weapons and tactics) teams failed to track down the Pakistanis. Even more shocking was the fact that even local army units that were in position to protect the airbase failed to accomplish a relatively simple task of securing the perimeter. Much of the job seems to have been left to the DSC guards-re-employed, usually middle-aged former soldiers posted as sentries at airbases and other military installations.

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This is clearly indicated by the fact that they were the first to engage the fidayeen, whose presence, senior IAF officers say, had already been detected via helicopter-borne thermal imaging. "We were very short on manpower," one of the IAF's Garud commandos who was sent in to take on the terrorists after three DSC men were killed on Day One of the four-day standoff, told india today on January 4.

Deployment of the NSG

Days before the Pathankot strike, the National Security Guard (NSG) had been put on high alert. The NSG's 51 Special Action Group (SAG) that comprised entirely of army personnel had moved out of its base in Manesar, Haryana, into the Sudarshan complex, a facility constructed after the 26/11 attacks on the outskirts of the Indira Gandhi International airport. Intelligence inputs had warned of possible terror strikes on New Year's eve on installations in and around Delhi. Commandos in plainclothes milled around a row of malls in south Delhi studying their interiors and exits. On January 1, two NSG units-the 51 SAG and the 11 Special Rangers Group comprising over 200 commandos-were airlifted to the Pathankot airbase when the infiltration by the terrorists and their motive to strike at the airbase became known. Government officials defend the choice of deploying the NSG. They feared a hostage situation. The army was in the loop on the operation and sent a brigade in to secure the perimeter of the airbase.

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When the attack began on January 2, it became evident that the NSG, a specialist hostage rescue and intervention force, might not have been the best choice for the operation. Experts say the NSG is an intervention force trained and tasked to handle a crisis, not to protect an airbase or ambush terrorists before they arrived. The task of neutralising the terrorists over such a large area required large numbers of soldiers and would have been done far more efficiently by the army infantry units familiar with the terrain. Besides two infantry division in Pathankot with over 15,000 soldiers each, there were two other divisions, in Jammu and Amritsar which could have been brought in for the manpower-intensive clearing operations. Three battle-hardened special forces units of the Indian Army's parachute regiment-4 and 9 Para-SF units in Udhampur just over 100 km away and the 1 Para-SF in Nahan, 300 kilometres away. All these units have been deployed for over a decade to fight J&K militants. Only 1 Para, however, was called in to support the NSG.

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Lack of coordination

Joint operations are anathema to the Indian security agencies that are comfortable operating in their own silos. This painful lesson was learned during the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai when multiple forces-the Mumbai Police, CRPF, Marine Commandos, the Indian Army and the NSG failed to combine forces to tackle terrorists at multiple locations, especially in the initial hours of the attack. This problem could have been surmounted by putting a single officer in charge of all the forces and by issuing him clear directives.

Army mine-protected vehicles after the operation at the Pathankot airbase. Photo: Prabhjot Gill

Neither of this seems to have been done at Pathankot where multiple agencies-the IAF, the Punjab Police, the army and the NSG were at work, each answering to their own superiors. At a January 5 press conference in Pathankot, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar brushed aside criticism over the deployment of the NSG as the lead force by arguing that over 50 per cent of the force (the SAG) comprised of army personnel. He did not, however, mention that the NSG is a Central Armed Paramilitary Force under the home ministry with a separate chain of command under an IPS officer. Parrikar also mentioned the army, air force and NSG needed to undertake 'joint training' hinting at the lacunae in coordination.

'Mission accomplished' too soon

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval who chaired the vital January 1 meeting which resulted in the NSG and army deployments, termed the operation a success. "As a counter-terrorism response, it is a highly successful operation for which our Army, Air Force, NSG and police, which played a vital role need to be complimented," he told the media in Delhi. Yet by the evening of January 2, security forces had already concluded operations were over when the fourth terrorist was killed. Home Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated security forces for killing 'five militants' that evening but deleted his tweet soon after. This may have lulled security forces into a false sense of complacency that continued at least until the following morning when gunfire by the two terrorists signaled a resumption of the siege. Security forces now believe two teams of terrorists reached the airbase using different routes. While one team engaged the security forces, the other one rested, opening fire on the forces the following day. It took over a day to neutralise them. This modus operandi, the first in recent years, revived memories of a grievous security lapse in 2003, when senior army officers visited the site of a suicide attack by fidayeen militants in Jammu. They had assumed that the operation was over but had not accounted for a hidden fidayeen militant who opened fire, killing a brigadier and wounding the Northern Army commander Lt General Hari Prasad.

Death of the NSG officer

A tragic turning point in the Pathankot operation came on the afternoon of January 3, when a grenade blast killed Lt Colonel Niranjan Kumar, the Commanding Officer of the NSG's Bomb Disposal Company (BDC). Three other personnel of his unit were injured in the blast. The officer was believed to have been disposing explosives carried by the terrorists when the grenade went off. The most senior NSG officer to die in an operation, Lt Colonel Kumar's death raises questions about whether the force was adequately equipped to carry out the task. This particularly as all security forces, the NSG and army included, have a 'Render Safe Procedure' to deal with corpses-to assume they are always booby trapped with explosives. Among the simplest and deadliest ambushes is to pull the pin out of a grenade and keep it under a corpse. The weight of the body depresses the grenade's safety lever. Moving the body triggers the grenade. This is why security personnel are instructed to move bodies from a safe distance using hooked sticks and ropes or wearing a full bomb suit while doing so. Larger explosives are usually handled by a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), a tracked robot with a manoeuverable claw that can be controlled from half-a-kilometre away. It is not clear whether the NSG's bomb disposal unit, which travelled to Pathankot from Delhi, took all its equipment along. One of several unanswered questions about the operation.

Follow the writers on Twitter

@SandeepUnnithan

@Asit Jolly

Also read:

Revival of another 'strategic asset'
The Pathankot attack may have derailed the mending process yet again but the telephonic conversation between the two leaders seems to have calmed down the situation.

By Zahid Hussain: Sceptics see it as the rule of thumb, that a diplomatic breakthrough in relations between India and Pakistan is invariably overtaken by a terrorist attack. It has happened yet again when the Indian Prime Minister's birthday diplomacy has been followed by an audacious raid on one of India's largest airbases.

Zahid Hussain

It is a particularly frustrating moment for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who has put his political stake on building bridges with Delhi. The Pathankot attack may have derailed the mending process yet again but the telephonic conversation between the two leaders seems to have calmed down the situation. However, the challenges for Mr. Sharif to keep the peace process going are daunting. The Indian media blitz that alleges involvement of the ISI in the attack notwithstanding, the cautious stance of the Indian leadership has been widely appreciated in Pakistan, strengthening Mr. Sharif's hands to stay the course. The prime minister has ordered an investigation on the information shared by his Indian counterpart.

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What comes out of it remains to be seen. But Sharif appears determined to take things to conclusion. "We are already working on the information provided by the Indian officials," he said in an interview with a Pakistani TV channel. He believes the attack was carried out by those opposed to the normalisation of relations with India.

It is too early to confirm or deny the involvement of any Pakistani militant group, but it is too far-fetched to implicate the ISI in the Pathankot airbase attack. It is apparent that the investigation on the information shared by the Indian authorities would not be possible without taking the intelligence agencies on board. The two NSAs have also been talking to each other.

Undoubtedly, the Indian Prime Minister's short visit to Lahore left a positive impact on Pakistani public opinion. The excitement over the impromptu stopover of the Indian Prime Minister in Lahore to wish his Pakistani counterpart 'happy birthday' did not come as a surprise. It was the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian premier in almost 12 years.

The Pakistani prime minister reciprocated the gesture by inviting his birthday guest to a sumptuous meal at his sprawling family residence. Yet, there is still a fundamental disconnect between the symbolism and substance that defines existing relations between the two countries.

Since Prime Minister Modi came to power in 2014, relations between India and Pakistan have hit a new low, despite serious efforts to improve them. India's stance that it is not prepared to talk to Pakistan on any issue other than terrorism, and Pakistan's insistence on Kashmir being the core issue remained a major stumbling block in the resumption of bilateral talks. However, there is now at least an agreement on a structured dialogue on all outstanding issues.

It is hard to believe that the military leadership was not taken into confidence about Modi's visit. Given the sensitivity of the issue, it would have been imperative to take them on board. The military may have some reservations to the approach, but it seems highly unlikely that it would block the normalisation process, especially because of its engagement in the tribal areas along the western border. The prime minister's hands are further strengthened because of the support from all the mainstream political parties, with the exception of Jamaat-e-Islami on peace talks with India. But this goodwill could diminish if there is no change in Sharif's non-institutional approach. Sharif has come under intense criticism for bypassing the foreign ministry while relying on personalised diplomacy.

Only the foreign secretary, who happened to be in Lahore on a private visit, sat in the meeting squeezed between the Sharif family members. Neither the adviser on foreign affairs, nor the newly appointed national security adviser were present at the critical meeting. It was certainly a lame excuse that they "could not be there at a short notice". Relations with India are too serious an issue to deal with at a personal and family level.

Indeed the Pathankot attack has come as a huge blow to the normalisation process between the two countries. Yet there is also the hope that an impartial investigation into the matter may open a new window of opportunity. It is imperative that India provide all the relevant information about the attackers to Pakistani authorities. A sensible, cooperative approach by both governments is crucial to thwart the subversive designs of the terrorists.

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There is no conceivable gain that Pakistan can make by protecting the terror groups that have also been responsible for killing thousands of Pakistanis. Mere allegations without substantive evidence would only strengthen the extremists opposed to the dialogue process on both sides. No one can accuse the Pakistani state of not wanting to or failing to fight terrorism. But the actions of some terrorist and extremist elements must not be allowed to derail the peace process.

Zahid Hussain is a veteran Pakistani journalist and political analyst

Also read:

The blunders of Pathankot

Revival of another 'strategic asset'
Prime Minister Modi faces his toughest foreign policy challenge after the Pathankot attacks. Wisely he has kept his options open and is learning fast on how to and who to deal with in Pakistan.

By Raj Chengappa: New beginnings in relations between India and Pakistan have an ominous proclivity to revert to old endings. On Christmas Day, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a grand gesture of dropping in to greet Nawaz Sharif, his Pakistani counterpart, on his birthday in Lahore and to grace his grand-daughter's shaadi, it crowned a month of breathless diplomacy that saw the pendulum swing from a macho dushman-maro to a pappi-jhappi bonhomie with the two countries embracing the dialogue process again.

A week later, on New Year's Day, the euphoria was shattered when heavily armed terrorists from across the border stormed the Air Force base in Pathankot but were foiled in their dastardly bid to destroy the squadrons of jet fighters and attack helicopters. They were eventually gunned down, after a prolonged 72-hour battle, but not before they killed seven Indian security forces personnel and exposed the alarming chinks in our preparedness to handle such terror attacks.

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As cries of Pakistani betrayal echoed across the country and the ghosts of 26/11 and Kargil were resurrected, Modi faced his toughest foreign policy challenge since he occupied the prime minister's gaddi in May 2014. The script with the familiar ending had been enacted before-call off foreign secretary level talks scheduled for mid-January, sabre rattle on terror and round up international support by decrying Pakistan's perfidy.

However, after similar twists and sharp turns-his critics compare his Pakistan policy to the bounce of a yo-yo-Modi appeared to be getting a measure of what his wily neighbour was all about. Wisely, he didn't do the predictable. There was no fist shaking and chest thumping. Instead, every response his government made was deliberated upon and calibrated.

The result: Unlike in Mumbai 26/11, Pakistan did not deny that the terrorists who attacked Pathankot were from its soil. Then, Pakistani National Security Adviser Nasir Khan Janjua called his counterpart Ajit Doval and told him they would follow up on any leads he would give on the terrorists. Soon after, Sharif, who is on an official visit to Colombo, called Modi to express his concern and reiterated what Janjua said. Meanwhile, Modi kept all his options open, including whether, when and how to proceed with the talks. Importantly, Modi was learning fast on not only how but also who to deal with in Pakistan.

Lesson 1

It's the Pakistani Army, stupid

When Modi came to power, he scored a diplomatic coup by inviting Sharif for his swearing-in ceremony along with other South Asian leaders and signalled his "neighbourhood-first policy". By engaging with Pakistan, Modi was keen on shaking off his image as an ultra-nationalist. Also, he was clear that Pakistan was important for his neighbourhood policy of building the 3Cs-contact, connectivity and cooperation. Without Pakistan's cooperation, his plan would be a non-starter.

For Sharif, who has always been committed to better relations with India, Modi's invitation was a chance to refurbish his flagging image domestically. Like Modi he had come to power in 2013 with a commanding majority but flattered only to deceive. Sharif's third stint as prime minister was viewed with trepidation by the Pakistani army, especially when he went after his bete noire, former president and army chief General Pervez Musharraf, who had ousted him in a bloodless coup in 1999 and forced him into political exile in Saudi Arabia. Sharif ignored warnings from senior generals about taking on Musharraf-it was the first time that a Pakistani general was being put on the dock-and soon paid the price. The army mounted a counter attack by propping up Imran Khan and brought Sharif's government to a halt through political protests.

When Raheel Sharif took charge as army chief in November 2013, although he was hand-picked by Nawaz, he soon began to assert himself. Viewed as a cool-headed soldier who lets his actions speak louder than words, Raheel drew the redline on Musharraf's prosecution and also began to question Nawaz's policy of engaging in talks with extremist groups inimical to Pakistan's interests. The army began to assert its supremacy over internal security and foreign policy issues and Sharif was politely told to focus on improving the floundering economy.

The Pakistani army was not too happy with Sharif spontaneously accepting Modi's invitation to attend his swearing-in ceremony without any commitment to resume the stalled dialogue, particularly on Kashmir. In the final years of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government, India had refused to engage with Pakistan until it showed significant progress in bringing the perpetrators of 26/11 to book, ending the frequent ceasefire violations on the LoC and keeping the border peaceful. The Pakistani army was also concerned about India's deep involvement in Afghanistan, which it regarded as its strategic backyard and had turned the heat on again in Kashmir to warn India to keep off. It noted with concern that Sharif had not met with the Hurriyat leaders when he attended Modi's swearing-in ceremony.

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So when Modi agreed in August 2014 to send then foreign secretary Sujatha Singh to Islamabad to work out the road map for resuming the dialogue, the army decided to put a spanner in the works. Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit was asked to invite Hurriyat leaders and get their views on the Kashmiri issues that needed to be raised during the foreign secretary talks. The Hurriyat had been consulted in the past and most visiting Pakistani dignitaries routinely engaged in conversations with them. For Modi and his National Security Adviser Ajit Doval though this was a red rag as even the opposition Congress began to criticise him for going soft on Pakistan. Accusing Islamabad of trying to inject the Hurriyat as a third party in the dialogue process, Modi abruptly cancelled the foreign secretary talks.

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For Sharif, the cancellation was a personal affront-he had invested much political capital by coming to India for Modi's swearing-in ceremony. For the Pakistani army, it was a victory of sorts as they had prevented the civilian government from gaining primacy in the dialogue process with the country they considered Enemy Number 1. While Modi may have endeared himself to his right-wing constituency, among major international powers there was consternation at the breakdown of talks. They had thought Modi had made a good beginning but was in danger of losing his way. In the months ahead, Modi would find that cancelling talks was the easy part. Restarting the dialogue would prove to be a tough nut to crack, the Pakistani army even tougher.

Lesson 2

For Pakistan, it's Kashmir first

There was no thaw in relations when Modi spoke to Sharif in Kathmandu on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in November 2014. It was only after the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections were over that Modi began in earnest to restart the dialogue process. Pakistan had made no serious attempt to disrupt the Assembly elections believing that Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and his PDP would come to power with a clear majority. Sayeed had talked of the need for building bridges again with Pakistan and Islamabad saw him as an ally. But as it turned out, the PDP took the Valley and Modi's BJP swept Jammu. To Pakistan's dismay a PDP-BJP coalition government took power for the first time in the state's history in March 2015. It gave the Modi government greater leverage over J&K affairs and strengthened India's hand while dealing with Pakistan.

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Soon after the assembly elections, new foreign secretary S. Jaishankar headed to Islamabad ostensibly on a SAARC yatra but really to test the waters. India's proposition was that while it was willing to start the dialogue, progress in convicting the perpetrators of 26/11, keeping the border quiet and turning the terror tap off where prerequisites. The sequencing was the key for the Modi government-it had to talk on terror first and only then could all other issues including Kashmir be discussed.

The breakthrough came when Modi and Nawaz met in Ufa in Russia in July last year, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, and agreed to restart the dialogue. The two national security advisers were to meet first on terror in Delhi after which the foreign secretaries would meet to discuss how to proceed on all other outstanding issues including Kashmir. The joint statement inexplicably left out the word Kashmir and when Nawaz returned home the army chief expressed his unhappiness. Pakistan then began to backtrack on its commitments and it was clear that it was determined to kill the process one way or the other. It demanded that the foreign secretaries also meet simultaneously and added that National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz would meet the Hurriyat first. The Ufa process was as good as dead and the blowback was embarrassing for Modi.

Another window of opportunity came when Modi and Nawaz were attending the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September. Indian interlocutors talked to their Pakistani counterparts. Sartaj Aziz agreed to meet Doval but also wanted a meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj simultaneously. India baulked as the sequencing was the key and the efforts failed. India, as one official put it, felt "Aziz was not creative enough or desirous to move towards a solution".

Soon after, Pakistan made a significant change by appointing Janjua as its National Security Adviser. A former army commander who dealt with Balochistan rebels, Janjua had the confidence of both Raheel and Nawaz. It would also bring the Pakistani army to the negotiating table with India. Then in Paris, when the two leaders were attending the Climate Change Summit in November, Modi made his move. In a two-minute conversation in the lounge, he told Nawaz that Swaraj would attend the Heart of Asia summit in Islamabad where she would discuss the restarting of the dialogue process but before that the two NSAs should meet. Sharif agreed and within a week, the NSAs met in Bangkok rather than Delhi to get away from the media glare and avoid issues of meeting the Hurriyat. Also present were the two foreign secretaries, but Jaishankar made it clear that they were present only as deputies to the principal interlocutors.

The two NSAs spoke for four hours, dominated mostly by Doval who explained India's concerns and also made it clear that India had actionable proof about Pakistan's nefarious links with terrorists inimical to India's interests. Janjua said that Pakistan itself was under attack from terrorists and assured Doval of all cooperation. When Swaraj flew down, she was given a red carpet welcome with Sharif introducing her to his family. The two countries agreed to resume what they called the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue process to discuss all outstanding issues including Kashmir. India wanted the word 'bilateral' inserted to prevent Pakistan from pushing for a trilateral meeting with the Hurriyat as a third party in the future. Pakistan got its way by bringing Kashmir on the table without showing proof that it was acting to curb terror. Modi's impromptu visit to Lahore helped cement the process. It was out-of-the-box diplomacy so characteristic of Modi to not only repay a favour to Nawaz but also soften his image in Pakistan.

Lesson 3

Pakistan is not a homogenous entity

The Pathankot attack is clear indication that Pakistan is not a homogenous entity and has multiple stakeholders which India has to engage and address. The attack was not in reaction to Modi's Lahore visit but seemed to have been planned months in advance. There is also a clear pattern that has emerged over the years. The more serious the engagement, the more violent is the provocation in terms of terror attacks. So Atal Bihari Vajpayee's path-breaking visit to Lahore in 1999 saw the Kargil aggression by the Pakistani army. When back-channel talks had made much progress during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's tenure, the Mumbai 26/11 attacks set the process back by years.

Statements made by the Modi government after the Pathankot attack indicate that India will stay the course of dialogue with some caveats. That is a good sign. Because restarting the dialogue process and Modi's Lahore visit have already enhanced India's image internationally and are paying dividends. Earlier, when India complained about terror attacks by Pakistan, major powers would point to the absence of a dialogue process. After Pathankot, all of them expressed their sympathy with India and have put pressure on Pakistan to act.

The problem is what is the threshold for India for such acts of terror? Would another strike break the dialogue process? There is every likelihood that terrorists would go for even softer targets in a bid to destroy the peace process. It is also clear that the Pakistani army will always keep its powder dry and covertly support a range of terror groups to give it plausible deniability. Initial investigations show that Pathankot was a result of a Jaish-e-Muhammad operation rather than the Lashkar-e-Taiba. For India, as one expert said, it is a tricky position to be in-we are damned if you do, damned if you don't. If we go back to the tent and sulk we concede defeat, if we ratchet up tensions there could be mayhem in both countries. As Sushma Swaraj said, "War is not an option." Particularly between two nuclear powers.

The other criticism that Modi must pay heed to is what experts say is the lack of a sustained Pakistan policy. Experts think that Modi makes up the narrative as he goes long, that he is impetuous and impulsive, that he loves the grand gesture and believes that style is substance. They advise him to develop a range of advisers who can act as speed breakers and to prevent him from tripping. Also not to make too many U-turns but be consistent and keep the engagement going, whatever be the provocation.

There are other reasons to be watchful. Raheel Sharif has emerged as a major force in Pakistan, he is popular after he moved against lawlessness in Karachi and terrorists in the troubled FATA regions and he is seen by the US as well as others as a doer. Major powers now acknowledge Pakistan as a key to Afghanistan's stability and that gives Raheel more clout. The Chinese with their economic corridor plans are pumping money into Pakistan. The economy is looking up and Nawaz has reportedly reached a new equilibrium with his army chief. So Pakistan's tail is up and believes it is now dealing with India from a position of strength. Talking to India legitimises the army's position and allows it to carry out calculated levels of hostility and tension. Yet there are multiple forces in Pakistan which usually work at cross purposes which India should identify and exploit.

Experts say that India should now evolve a modus vivendi that puts its relations with Pakistan in perspective. While the Modi government doesn't believe in back-channel talks, quiet diplomacy done by the NSAs in Bangkok helps. The army wants tension to maintain its position in Pakistan and prevent India's rise. India needs to maintain its cool and not take extreme action unless absolutely necessary. The Modi government needs to calibrate its response and engagement so as to get the maximum out of every meeting. For instance, before Vajpayee went for the SAARC summit in Islamabad in 2004 he ensured that Musharraf came up with major deliverables. Modi should do that before he goes to the SAARC summit in Pakistan later this year.

Modi's 'neighbourhood first' policy is on the right track as is the determination to stay engaged. To his credit, Modi has shown both openness and flexibility in dealing with Pakistan. This gives him far more options in dealing with an unpredictable and belligerent neighbour that geography and history has bestowed on India. As one senior official clarified, " It doesn't mean we will lower our guard or not take tough action. If countries mess with us, they better watch out."

Follow the writer on Twitter @rajchengappa

Also read:

The blunders of Pathankot

Revival of another 'strategic asset'


By India Today Web Desk: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held another high-level security meeting on Pathankot on Friday.

Officials said the government was in constant touch with India to share information on the progress of investigation into the terrorist attack. The Prime Minister told officials, including Army and ISI chiefs who were present in the meeting chaired by Sharif, that Pakistan must honour the commitment to cooperate with India and the leads provided by the Indian side be probed thoroughly.

The meeting comes less than 24 hours of the Thursday meeting attended by home minister Nisar Ali Khan, Adviser Sartaj Aziz, NSA Lt Gen (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, IB chief Aftab Sultan and other senior officials.

Sources said that during the latest meeting, Nawaz Sharif discussed the leads provided by India over Pathankot attack. The Pakistani PM has handed over the details provided by New Delhi to the IB chief. The evidence provided by India includes intercepts of mobile phone calls made by the attackers to their handlers and family in Pakistan. Arms, ammunition and other stuff the terrorists carried were also made in Pakistan.



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Nawaz Sharif had called Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 5 assuring that Islamabad will not hesitate in taking strict action against Pathankot perpetrators. Modi told his Pakistani counterpart that India wants to see urgent action taken against those who conceived and executed the attack.

Sharif's 15-minute telephone call to Modi came hours after the US said that it expects Islamabad to act in bringing to justice the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack.

In a pre-dawn attack on January 2, a group of 6 heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists struck at the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot. 7 security personnel were killed in the attack.



ALSO READ | Need firm, immediate action on Pathankot attack, Modi tells Nawaz SharifNawaz Sharif assures PM Modi of Pak support in Pathankot attack probe
Breaking centuries of tradition, Sri Vishweshatheerha Swami, the powerful pontiff of the Pejawar Mutt, has invited Dalits to witness the Paryaya (ritual) at the Udupi Sri Krishna temple.

By Aravind Gowda: Breaking centuries of tradition, Sri Vishweshatheerha Swami, the powerful pontiff of the Pejawar Mutt, has invited Dalits to witness the Paryaya (ritual) at the Udupi Sri Krishna temple.

The announcement by the swami, who is at the forefront of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, has surprised the followers of the Sri Krishna Temple, where discrimination on the basis of castes is rampant.

Contrary to popular perception, there is no discrimination while distributing Prasada (food) to the visitors to the temple. All castes and communities are treated as equal. Brahmins and Dalits are having food together at the Mutts. All discriminatory practices have been terminated,?? the swami added.

The Swami is expected to take part in the Paryaya on January 18 in a religious ceremony, which marks his ascension of the Peetha to manage the Sri Krishna Temples affairs.

--- ENDS ---
This happened after the apex court initially ruled that Gopal and Sushil Ansal, the builders of Uphaar cinema where over 50 people died in a fire in New Delhi in 1997, should not be jailed for the incident.

By India Today Web Desk: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a review petition on whether Gopal and Sushil Ansal, the builders of Uphaar cinema where over 50 people died in a fire in New Delhi in 1997, should be jailed or not.

The petition was filed by the CBI and Uphaar Victims' Association. Three judges discussed the issue and decided that it should be heard in an open court.

This occurred after the CBI moved to the apex court seeking review of its verdict in Uphaar Cinema fire case. Along with the CBI's plea, an association of victims' kin had also filed a review petition of the Supreme Court order.

The court in its verdict on August 18, 2015 had held Sushil and Gopal Ansal guilty of criminal negligence and fined them Rs 30 crore.

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The court, however, had ruled that the two brothers should not be jailed for the 1997 incident.

The Supreme Court had, on August 18, 2015 , accepted the argument of senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who represented the Ansal brothers that the two be let off after considering the period of the imprisonment they had already served and also considering their age. Both are in their 70s. While Sushil Ansal spent five months in jail, Gopal was in jail for just over five months.

As many as 59 people died and 100 were injured in the fire during the screening of Hindi blockbuster Border on the evening of June 13, 1997.

The fire started in the parking lot and then engulfed the building in the busy Green Park area of Delhi. Most people died in the ensuing stampede or were asphyxiated as the escape routes were blocked by illegally fixed chairs.

The trial court had sentenced the duo to two years' rigorous imprisonment in November 2007. But in December 2008, the Delhi High Court reduced their sentence to one year.

Also read:

Uphaar tragedy: Waiting for justice 18 years after

Uphaar tragedy: SC justifies decision to let off Ansal brothers


By India Today Web Desk: The Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan, which was scheduled to be held on January 14-15, 2016, is in doldrums.

In the aftermath of Pathankot terror attack, the situation is tricky for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If he backs away from his Christmas initiative he could be accused of inconsistency and if he goes ahead with the talks he will be criticised for allowing talks to happen alongside terror.

Participating in India Today Television's prime-time show To The Point with Karan Thapar, senior diplomat Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, former ambassador Rakesh Sood, senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar and BJP leader Sheshadri Chari put forth their views on the issue - If India should go ahead with the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan or not.

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Speaking on the issue, Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, senior diplomat and Ambassador to Nepal, said there is no compelling reasons why the Foreign Secretary-level talks should not go through.

"We have got a week before 15th January and in that week, response from Pakistan will detect whether we go ahead with 15th or may be later by announcing that talks will take place later at a more appropriate time," Mukherjee said.

"I feel the talks should go ahead simply because getting in to dialogue does not symbolises weakness, it is not cosying up to terrorism, it is not ignoring to what happened in Pathankot...," he added.

Siddharth Varadarajan, Founding Editor, thewire.in, said the initial response from Pakistan side seems to be positive but India should not forget the history of 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

However, Varadarajan said, "It doesn't make any sense to allow or to link the Foreign Secretary-level talks with progress in Pathankot terror attack case...."

Rakesh Sood, India's former Ambassador to Nepal, Afghanistan and France, said he thinks there is a certain amount of seriousness in terms of responding to the terror attack case and Pakistan seems to be making an effort to punish the perpetrators of the attack.

Speaking on the issue, BJP leader Sheshadri Chari said for the first time Pakistan has admitted that they are concerned about what happened in Pathankot and the atmosphere is not conducive for talks.

However, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had a different opinion. He said, "I am not sure this can be done in a meaningful manner unless Pakistan accepts the Indian view that JeM is behind Pathankot air base attack.

ALSO READ:

Nawaz Sharif chairs high-level meeting, discusses Pathankot attack

Act against Pathankot attackers first, talks later, India tells Pakistan

Click here to watch full show:


The European Union on Friday welcomed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's decision to allow humanitarian access to the town of Madaya.

By Reuters: The European Union on Friday welcomed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's decision to allow humanitarian access to the town of Madaya, and called for a halt to all attacks on civilians in the conflict, ahead of peace talks later this month.

The war in Syria has killed an estimated quarter of a million people in nearly five years, ravaging the country and creating a breeding ground for radical Islamists as regional allies and global players back different sides in the conflict.

The United Nations hopes to convene talks between Damascus and the Syrian opposition on Jan. 25, and the blockade of Madaya, near the border with Lebanon, has become a focal issue for Assad's opponents.

"The decision of the Syrian regime to allow humanitarian access in Madaya is a first step in the right direction," Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, and the bloc's Commissioner for Humanitarian aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, said in a joint statement on Friday.

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"The European Union welcomes it and expects it will be fully implemented and extended by all parties to all the cities under siege."

A new Syrian opposition group created to oversee peace negotiations has also demanded that Damascus halt the bombardment of civilian areas and use of barrel bombs, and urged it to release detainees before the talks, calls echoed by Mogherini and Stylianides.

"It will be important to implement concrete confidence building measures in support of the upcoming intra-Syrian political talks scheduled to start at the end of January: an end to attacks on civilians, to aerial bombardments and sieges of civilian areas," they said in the EU statement.

Blockades have become common in the war, with government troops holding rebel-held areas near Damascus under siege for several years and, more recently, rebel groups blockading some territory loyal to Assad, who has the military backing of Iran and Russia.
With fresh snowfall in the entire Kullu region, here's a quick guide to the things you must do on your next trip to Manali.

A man is reflected in a pool of melted snow as he walks with his pony after fresh snowfall in Solang Nallah. Picture courtesy: Reuters

By Samonway Duttagupta: Snowfall has always been an Indian traveller's favourite. Every year tourists flock to the mountains in northern part of India just to enjoy the stunning views of snow-capped peaks, and play around on snow-laden fields -- the gleeful slides on snow and the exciting snowball fights are simply unmissable. Manali has been one of the most favourite destinations in India to enjoy snowfall. With the entire Kullu region receiving fresh snowfall, we bring you the most interesting things that you can do in and around Manali.

Drive from Kullu to Manali

With the mountains covered with fresh snow, the drive from Kullu town to Manali is really beautiful. The Beas River flows past the road with snow-laden mountains of the Pir Panjal range surrounding it from all sides. There are a few dhabas and cafes where you can stop to have a cup of coffee and some snacks, while enjoy the views from a window side seat.

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Forget Rohtang Pass, head to Marhi

The road to Rohtang Pass is usually closed around this time of the year as snow blocks the way. But Marhi, located between main Manali and Rohtang Pass, is a great alternative to enjoy snow. A favourite among honeymoon couples, this place has a cleaner snow field, and is more offbeat as compared to Rohtang Pass. The place has some stunning views as well, courtesy the snow-laden mountains that surround the place.

Children play after heavy snowfall in Manali. Picture courtesy: Reuters

Have hot Maggi and tea on snow

With India's favourite "2-minute" noodles back in the market, nothing can be better than to have that hot spoonful, with the snow-chill making you shiver. The locals set up stalls on the snow with chairs laid out for the tourists to sit on. Have that cup of masala chai along with your bowl of hot soupy noodles to make your experience even better.



Also read: 5 best places in India to catch snowfall in January



Ditch Beas River for Solang Nallah

Even though a trip to Manali is incomplete without some time spent at the bank of the Beas River, head to Solang Nallah for better views of the snow-capped peaks. Located at a higher altitude, these mountains look closer from the Solang Nallah. Also, with this place being more calm and peaceful, you can enjoy sitting there for hours with the chirping of birds and the gushing sound of the water in company.
By Press Trust of India: With the government and operators claiming improvement on call drop front, telecom regulator TRAI is conducting tests in seven cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, to find whether quality of service has improved.

A TRAI official told that drive tests in seven cities across the country started on December 21 and are likely to end by January 8. The cities are - Delhi, Mumbai, Surat, Kolkata, Pune, Bhubaneswar and Indore. Drive tests are conducted to assess coverage and quality of service of mobile networks.

Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that call drop problem is improving and operators are putting up more tower sites. The Minister last month said a total of 29,000 new telecom towers were installed by private telecom operators across the country after government took strong exception to the problem of call drops.

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Operators have also said that they have taken steps to rein in call drops. Meanwhile, TRAI today told the Delhi High Court that "lack of investment" by telecom operators in network infrastructure, like mobile towers, appears to be the main reason behind the "pervasive problem" of call drops across the country.

In an affidavit placed before the court, the regulator said telecom majors, including Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Reliance, "have failed to keep the investments commensurate with the pace of increase in usage and the growth in number of subscribers being added by them".

TRAI's response came on the pleas filed by telcos challenging the regulator's order mandating them to pay consumers Re 1 per call drop experienced on their network, subject to a cap of three a day. TRAI had carried out special independent drive tests in Mumbai and Delhi in June and July and found the network quality below par.

It followed up with more such tests in September, which showed there was not much headway. Other than the metros, the tests had been conducted in Surat, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Ahmedabad.

TRAI Chairman R S Sharma had held a meeting with top bosses of telecom companies on October 29 and asked them to improve the quality of service.
Two Indian men arrested in Spain for smuggling Russian anti-aircraft missiles were extradited to the United States, Spanish military police said in a statement on Thursday.

By Reuters: Two Indian men arrested in Spain for smuggling Russian anti-aircraft missiles were extradited to the United States, Spanish military police said in a statement on Thursday.

Spanish police detained the pair in Barcelona in 2014 along with two Pakistani men, who have already been extradited, as part of a joint operation - dubbed Operation Yoga - with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to bust a smuggling ring based in the Catalonia region.

The group had offered the Russian-built Igla missiles to foreign paramilitary groups. The police could not immediately confirm when the pair were extradited.

The attorney's office in New York has charged them with drug and arms trafficking, and with financing terrorist organisations, the statement said. They face up to 30 years in prison.

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France uses cruise missiles against Islamic State for first time
See what happened when Stephen Colbert tried to cook Indian food for the first time.

By India Today Web Desk: The host of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert, decided to learn how to cook Indian food from an Indian-American immigrant Yamini Joshi, who is a part of The Leagues of Kitchen, an organisation that uses immigrant cuisine to bridge the cultural differences between those who migrated to the US years ago. They conduct workshops where people learn to cook different cuisines and experience varied traditions.

Also read: Chef Gordon Ramsay's Twitter responses to fans will leave you surprised

For starters, Stephen did well except for pronouncing Ghee as Gee and learned that "all deep fried food is more delicious". (Who wouldn't agree with that!)

And that "there are no cultural differences that cannot be bridged by a giant stick of butter."

But the thing about Indian cooking is that you must know about all the secret ingredients and masalas that are used and Yamini made sure that Stephen learns about them.

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Also read: Restaurants to look out for in Delhi in 2016: First up, Dirty Apron

But the name of the spices "Turmeric, Fenugreek, Garam Masala sound like Game of Thrones characters" to him.

Stephen humorously asks her: "At what point are we supposed to break out into the dance or is that just in the movies?"

Now, this is a must-watch segment, as both of them break into Bollywood moves with thumkas and all.

Putting all jokes aside, Joshi later told him, "No more fun."

Watch the video here.


By Ananya Bhattacharya: Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hydari, Manav Kaul, John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh

Director: Bejoy Nambiar

Ratings: (3/5)

Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar and Aditi Rao Hydari's Wazir is a signature Bejoy Nambiar film. Not sure if the phrase can be used for a director who has only a handful of films to his name, but you get the drift. The slickness, the edge-of-the-seat quality, the darkness. Wazir is replete with the chiaroscuro that is so Bejoy Nambiar.

INTERVIEW: Is it my fault that I'm under-utilised? Tell that to our filmmakers, says Aditi Rao Hydari

ALSO READ: This is why Farhan and Aditi's lovemaking scenes have been cut from Wazir

Wazir opens with Tere Bin. With Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal's voices in the background, ATS officer Daanish Ali's (Farhan Akhtar) picture-perfect life is presented to the audience. Ruhana (Aditi Rao Hydari) and Noori, Daanish's dancer wife and daughter, form the other pivots of this happy family.

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On their way to work a certain winter morning in Delhi, Ruhana and Daanish stop at a ghungroo-repair store in Connaught Place, and the former walks in. Daanish sees a terrorist the ATS (Anti Terrorism Squad) has been tailing for a while, and chases him. In the shootout that ensues, Noori and Daanish both are shot. Daanish loses his daughter, his wife refuses to stay with him, and revenge for his daughter's death is all he can think of.

In the process, he crosses paths with Pandit Omkar Nath Dhar (Amitabh Bachchan), a grand master who lost his legs and his wife in a car accident. Panditji and Daanish strike up an unusual friendship, joined by their thirst to avenge the death of their respective daughters. Panditji holds minister Yazaad Qureshi (Manav Kaul) responsible for his daughter's death, while the state machinery sells a different story to him. Thus begins Daanish's mission to go check-mate on his friend's enemies.

Farhan Akhtar nails his Daanish in his first film as an action hero. The actor breathes life into his character, making Daanish someone a person can relate to. Be it burying his own daughter with his own hands or sharing a vodka-chess game with Dhar, Daanish is the fulcrum of this story. For his part, the ever-dependable Amitabh Bachchan is spectacular, despite the occasional moments where he seems to falter. His Omkar Nath Dhar is a character that has one in awe of him. Wazir is more enjoyable because of the chemistry between the two male leads than anything else.

Aditi Rao Hydari brings vulnerability to her Ruhana. Her eyes make it easy for a person to sympathise with and feel for the mother who has lost her child and cannot forgive her husband. Hydari has to her credit several strong sequences. Wazir has Manav Kaul and his stage background to thank for the brilliance with which he essays his Qureshi. The aquiline nose and his eyes have people hating him from the moment he appears on screen. Neil Nitin Mukesh is menacing in his one scene. John Abraham, in his special appearance, plays his part well.

Till the interval, Wazir makes it difficult for a person to breathe. The taut, gripping narrative has people on the edge of the seat, quite literally. Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijat Joshi's screenplay is tight while the twists are being placed on the viewer's way. It is in the second half that Wazir stumbles. There is a sense of haste in the way the film progresses, in the way Wazir falls into the predictability trap. One can unravel the knots before the film in front of him or her can. And that is a major problem for the otherwise-decent Wazir.

Wazir has so many in-the-dark shots that after a point you feel whether Bejoy Nambiar is obsessed with the lack of light. Even during the day, Nambiar's world has the overwhelming sense of gloom and danger.

The music is soothing. Tere Bin and Maula stand out among the rest.

In a nutshell, Wazir is a commendable attempt by Nambiar. Watch the film for its performances.
A police constable in West Bengal's East Midnapore district was shot dead by a group of unidentified men while patrolling on Thursday night.

Nabakumar Hait was rushed to the hospital where doctors declared him dead. Photo: ANI

By India Today Web Desk: A police constable in West Bengal's East Midnapore district was shot dead by a group of unidentified men while patrolling on Thursday night.

The incident occurred when two policemen of Mahishadal police station suspected two persons standing near NH41 with a bag. On confrontation, the two persons began hurling bombs and also opened fire at the constables.

Nabakumar Hait managed to nab one of them, when he was shot by the other suspect from point blank range. The suspected duo fled thereafter.

Hait was rushed to Mahishadal hospital and then Tamluk hospital where doctors declared him dead.

Police superintendent of East Midnapore, Additional police superintendent, Circle inspector of Mahishadal and a police force has rushed to the incident spot. A search is on to nab the two persons.

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Watch full video here:
By Priya Pathak: Who said virtual reality is all about gaming? It can also save lives, or rather Google's virtual reality Cardboard can also be used by doctors. Google Cardboard is lot more than just a virtual reality device; apparently it is also a life-saver. This $20 device helped save a dying baby who was so sick that even the doctors had given up all their hopes and had asked her parents to take her home.

Teegan Lexcen was born with just one lung and only left half of her heart in Minnesota. Her defect was so unusual that doctors told her parents that there was nothing they could do. Cassidy and Chad Lexcen told that soon after their baby was born, hapless doctors at Minnesota asked them to take the baby home along with a nurse and palliative medications.

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But miracles do take place. Lexcens when saw their baby living longer than expected, they decided to go for a second opinion. Chad's sister had read about Dr Redmond Burke, often called one of the 20 most innovative Pediatric Surgeons alive today. Burke is chief of cardiovascular surgery Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami. They reached out to Burke for help and help was given. After an intense discussion Dr Burke asked Dr Juan Carlos Muniz, a pediatric cardiologist with specialisation in imaging to make 3-D model of Teegan's heart. Sadly, the hospital's 3D printer was down and it was a fight against time.

It was then Dr. Muniz was reminded of Google cardboard and its functionality which he had read somewhere. Using an app called Sketchfab app, he downloaded the images of Teegan's heart on his smartphone. Doctors were then able to see the 3D images of Teegan's heart using Google Cardboard.

"It was the first time I've ever touched Google Cardboard," said Dr Burke. He said that putting Google Cardboard together with MRI images and Sketchfab a whole new perspective to baby's heart was revealed.

Rest is history. Teegan today is stronger and healthier, just like other babies. "It was mind-blowing to see this little cardboard box and a phone, and to think this is what saved our daughter's life," Cassidy Lexcen, Teegan's mother told to CNN .


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Investigative reporting from the inner city to Wall Street to the United Nations This is the blogspot version InnerCityPress.com
Many people in the west are desperately trying to find an answer to the scourge of radical Islam. There are at least two problems facing them: many push back at the thought of identifying a religion with terrorism (which often finds people at the poles of bigotry or fecklessness); lack of thorough and uncluttered information about Islam and Muslims has prevented a more complex understanding. There is an answer to both problems.Muslims are as diverse as any other group of people. Many not only reject Islamism (or Islam as a political ideology); quite a few are trying to combat it, often at their peril. If we recognize that diversity, it is a lot easier to square the recognition of Islam's role in modern-day terrorism and tyranny with our liberal western values of not vilifying people because of their faith.By now, many people understand that many Middle Eastern countries (e.g., Iraq) were post-World War II creations of European colonial powers that threw diverse populations together without regard to their distinctions--Shia and Sunni, Kurd and Arab, Kurd and Persian, etc. There's more than--much more--and it can be the basis of a strategy for victory over Islamism.Take Iran, for example. To westerners, it might seem like a country divided at times across political lines, something that the government suppresses ruthlessly. Few westerners know, however, that only about 60 percent of the country is made up of ethnic Persians. The remaining 40 percent is divided among several national and often restive minorities. Some, like the Azeri, have an independent nation as well (i.e., Azerbaijan). Others (e.g., Kurds) have been fighting for one while being spread across multiple Muslim-majority giants. The Baloch, once had an independent state of their own (Baluchistan), which has been occupied by Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan for decades. These and other non-Persian groups aspire to be free of Iranian hegemony that suppresses their culture and forces an alien form of Islam on them. Some have even taken action, such as the killing of 18 Iranian Guardsmen in 2007.Pakistan is another polyglot state with restive minorities. The largest part of Baluchistan is occupied by Pakistan; and although Baluchistan is rich in minerals and other resources, Pakistani plunder has left it the nation's poorest province. Other national groups--Sindhi, Pashtun, and Gilgit Baltistanis--long for independence or at least autonomy and have their own independence movements. Many of their operatives look to regional leaders like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for inspiration; and almost all look to Israel as a model and ally.Finally. as ISIS has begun establishing itself in South Asia, there is division even among Islamists. Many look at the Taliban as their indigenous movement and ISIS as a foreign entity that is attempting to take over their movement.One of the biggest drags on western support (even clandestine) for these groups is fear by some in ruling circles that these efforts will "destabilize" the region and risk putting Pakistan's nuclear arsenal in ISIS or Taliban hands. Both arguments are weak. You can't destabilize something that is not stable to begin with. Pakistan has faced Islamist attempts at a takeover at least since 2008; its intelligence service is already listed as a terror supporting organization by the United States and others. We also have seen that ignoring nationalist movements like these only delays the struggle. Do any of those fearful westerners see peaceful and democratic resolution of these conflicts in Pakistan's history. And their nuclear arsenal is already at risk from both internal and external Islamist threats. Hopefully, the United States and others have secured them in case the worst happens. Finally, most people believe that a good part of those nukes are located in Baluchistan. Wouldn't it be nice if they were controlled by friendly forces and not just those that tolerate us for convenience and personal gain?

Labels: Azeri, Baloch, Balochistan, Baluchistan, Gilgit Baltistani, Iran, Islamist, Kurds, Pakistan, pashto, Pashtun, radical islam, sindhi
The militants have violated the ceasefire regime on 24 occasions in Donbas over the past day, the press center of the headquarters of the military operation said on its Facebook page on Friday morning.

In particular, the militants have fired 82mm mortars on the positions of the Ukrainian military situated on the northern outskirts of Lebedynske not far from Mariupol since Thursday evening. A Ukrainian checkpoint in the Zaitseve area has been shelled by the same weapons.

"A disturbing fire" has been waged by small arms, grenade launchers of different systems and large-caliber machineguns on several occasions in the direction of the Ukrainian military near Pisky, Opytne and Novhorodske, the headquarters said.

Since last midnight the militants, who have entrenched at the destroyed Donetsk airport, have waged the fire at random at about 1.00 a.m. for 15 minutes in the direction of Ukrainian units near Opytne.
"The Conversation" segment of Scientific American has a piece by Professor Timothy Holbrook titledHolbrook writes:As to direct infringement, Holbrook writes;IPBiz notes that 3D printers make things out of plastics, so patented items which are inherently not suitable for duplication in plastic are not an issue.Secondly, patent owners go after people who are economic threats. The Wright Brothers never sued amateurs; they went after people who were making money. These people are not so difficult to find. People dabbling out of their garages (or motorcycle shops) were not such a threat.As to indirect infringement, Holbrook writes:IPBiz notes In a 6-2 decision in June 2015, the United States Supreme Court in Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Systems, Inc., held that an accused infringers good-faith belief of patent invalidity is not a defense to a claim of induced infringement but also noted that induced infringement requires knowledge of infringement (as opposed simply to knowledge of the patent; clarifying Global-Tech).IPBiz notes that patent owners simply have to go after the direct infringers, who are making copies of a patented item.These people are good candidates for willful infringement.From the bio for Timothy Holbrook:link: http://law.emory.edu/faculty-and-scholarship/faculty-profiles/holbrook-profile.html
* 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.
In the run-up to the end of 2015, the Iran Human Rights website noted that mass executions were taking place on a nearly daily basis, and Iran News Update pointed out that this would very likely help the Iranian judiciary to cross the expected threshold of 1,000 executions for the calendar year. Even the very last day of the year saw at least five executions, according to Iran Human Rights.

That same source has kept a close watch on Iranian prisons during the first days of 2016, thus bringing early attention to what is arguably the most prominent human rights issue in the Islamic Republic. Based on reports from inside those prisons, at least 21 individuals have been executed by the Iranian judiciary already, most of them for non-violent drug crimes. This seems to suggest that the dramatic increase in executions that has been observed under President Hassan Rouhani is still ongoing.

Fortunately, these early reports have not yet identified death penalty recipients who were also political prisoners, but there were certainly examples of this overlap in 2015, and there is little reason to suppose that more examples will not emerge throughout the current year. Certainly, the arrest and arbitrary detention of political prisoners has already been demonstrated to still be ongoing, by such activist organizations as the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

That organization pointed out on Monday that the widespread persecution of Christian converts is still an ongoing phenomenon, as evidenced by the pre-Christmas arrest of Meysam Hojati from his home in Isfahan. Security forces took him into detention and confiscated a number of personal belongings, including his computer, his Bible, and even his Christmas tree, making it clear that the raid was motivated by his non-Muslim faith and was very likely intended as a gesture of intimidation against other converts celebrating the Christmas holiday.

The International Campaign pointed out that these arrests have become an annual tradition over the course of the past ten years, and that their recurrence at the end of 2015 is indicative of no change in the climate of domestic repression under President Rouhani.

The Christian Post commented upon the Hojati case on Wednesday, emphasizing that it contradicted Rouhanis campaign promises of a freer and more open Iranian society. All ethnicities, all religions, even religious minorities, must feel justice, it quoted him as saying during his 2013 campaign. But by some accounts, the persecution of religious minorities has only intensified since then, and has been directed not only against converts and traditionally marginalized groups like the Bahai, but also against established faith communities that are ostensibly protected by the Iranian constitution.

For instance, the National Council of Resistance of Iran pointed out on Saturday that authorities in Tehran were proceeding with plans to build an Islamic prayer center on the grounds of the Assyrian communitys Chaldean Catholic Church, which was illegally confiscated two years ago. This has reportedly drawn criticism not only from the church itself but also from Sunni Muslims and other groups at risk of similar repressive moves by the Shiite authorities.

Meanwhile, the specific case of Meysam Hojati points to more than just the pattern of individual prosecutions behind Irans religious discrimination. It also highlights the arbitrary nature of the Iranian judicial system, since Hojati has been taken to an undisclosed location and has been denied contact from his family since his arrest.

Such denials of due process can sometime lead to extreme results. In a report published on Wednesday, the International Campaign called attention to the extraordinary case of Saeed Zeinali, a former student protester who was arrested from his home, in front of his parent in 1999 and then never heard from again, other than a brief phone call three months later.

This week, the Iranian judiciary denied that Zeinali had ever been arrested, suggesting that it is the responsibility of his family to provide documentary evidence that he was taken by security forces. While it is not clear that any current judiciary officials were involved in his disappearance, the official commentary on this case serves as further evidence that there has been no change in Irans human rights behavior, insofar as authorities remain unwilling to acknowledge or investigate the wrongdoing of their predecessors.
The latest proposed legislation, called the Iran Terror Finance Transparency Act, would prevent the president from suspending existing sanctions on certain individuals and entities until congressional review has certified that they were not connected to Irans ballistic missile program or its support for international terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah. A key criticism of the planned sanctions relief is that a large portion of the 100 billion dollar windfall promised by the JCPOA may be channeled into these illegal and illicit activities.

The Iran Terror Transparency Act and similar legislative measures are indicative of the strong skepticism that virtually all Republicans and some Democrats maintain with regard to the Obama administrations willingness to penalize the Islamic Republic or confront it over post-JCPOA abuses. The sanctions specified by the bill are similar to new sanctions that the US Treasury threatened to impose in the wake of Irans banned nuclear missile tests in October and November. Those sanctions would affect entities with connections to the Iranian ballistic missile program, but it remains unclear whether the Obama administration truly intends to move forward with that measure.

On one hand, Arutz Sheva reported on Thursday that the US Department of State had begun discussing the topic with outside entities, possibly in preparation for enforcement activities. But on the other hand, it was reported last week that the Treasury had deliberately delayed its sanctions plans, leading to speculation that the White House had been cowed by an Iranian response that included President Hassan Rouhanis order for a dramatic expansion of Irans ballistic missile stockpiles.

With this development fresh in mind, a number of US congressmen delivered a letter to President Obama on Thursday urging him to proceed with the implementation of sanctions in response to the missile tests, one of which has been formally acknowledged to be a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929. The letter reiterated the frequent claim that inaction on this issue would send a clear and dangerous message to Tehran that the US is unwilling to enforce its restrictions or to hold the Iranians to account for persistent bad behavior.
Somalias Diplomat News Agency reported upon what it said was a carefully considered severing of ties by the East African country, which is home to many of the same Sunni-Shiite tensions that trouble the Middle East and influence the rivalry between the Iranian mullahs and the Saudi royal family. These tensions have been extensively discussed by analysts as they detail the underlying power-struggle of which this weeks events are just the latest escalation.

Somalias official statement recalling its diplomats from Iran seems to underscore this broader context. Although it is clearly part of the same chain of events that led to withdrawal of so many other ambassadors to Iran, the statement does not specifically cite the Saudi embassy attack as the reason for that move. Rather, it claims that the severance of ties is a previously-delayed response to Irans ongoing and continuous interference in Somalias internal affairs.

Iran has previously seen diminished ties with other African Muslim nations including the Sudan, over Tehrans alleged contribution to local Shiite militancy and challenges to the Sunni majorities. In December, tensions emerged between Iran and Nigeria after a Shiite leader was killed in apparent retaliation for an attempted assassination of the Nigerian Armys Chief of Staff. Tehran summoned the Nigerian ambassador over the incident and publicly condemned the killing. Critics in turn described the response as a transparent attempt to stir up sectarian sentiment.

Naturally, the sacking of the Saudi embassy, which came in response to Saudi Arabias execution of anti-government Shiite cleric, has led to similar accusations of deliberate fostering of sectarian discord. Indeed, the outpouring of condemnation from Saudi allies may be providing formerly silent parties with incentive to speak out.

On Thursday, the Jerusalem Post pointed out that a spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority had sharply criticized Tehran for its role in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Iranian leaders have frequently called for the destruction of Israel and have used support for Palestine as a rallying point for the international Muslim community, with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei even calling for all Muslims to help arm the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in the wake of last years Summer War.

But Bassem al-Agah, the Palestinian Authoritys ambassador to Saudi Arabia said on Thursday that Iran has not made any concrete contribution to the welfare of the Palestinian people. They have not built any schools for Palestinian children nor have they provided medical services for injured Palestinians, said, adding that the Iranian role in the Palestine has largely been limited to one of political grandstanding.

This sort of outpouring of criticism against Iran seems to further support claims made in some reports earlier this week, which indicated that Iran was losing the current political conflict as more and more international voices agreed that the Islamic Republic is in the wrong. In response, Tehran has made considerable effort to paint itself as the victim, with Iranian officials blaming sectarian tensions on the Saudis and distancing themselves from the actions of the protesters who set fire to the embassy.

These claims of innocence were met with skepticism on Wednesday when Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty pointed out that the protesters showed no fear of being identified, suggesting that they believed they had the support of local authorities. Whats more, hardline Iranian politicians including the supreme leader specifically threatened vengeance for the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr.

On Thursday, Iran apparently adopted a strategy for attempting to win international sympathy by matching the events it had perpetrated to events supposedly perpetrated against it. According to the Associated Press, Iranian state media claimed that the Saudi coalition fighting against Houthi rebels in Yemen had launched a missile attack on the Iranian embassy in Sanaa. But an AP reporter who arrived on the scene soon after the broadcast found that the embassy appeared to be undamaged.

For the time being, the conflict emerging from the Tehran embassy attack is largely a conflict of propaganda. And early indicators are that Iran is losing. It remains to be seen what other dimensions this conflict might take on, although Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman was careful to point out that no one in their right mind is interested in a violent confrontation, according to another report by the AP.

But the same report points out that Iran has now banned imports of Saudi-made goods, thus contribution to speculation about a possible economic war. While Iran has arguably struck the first blow in such a conflict, it was suggested on Wednesday that the Saudis would have a strong advantage over the long term and could potentially keep oil prices to a level that is half that of what Iran based its most recent budget on.

However the two sides attempt to prosecute this conflict, it seems clear that without mediation from outside of the Arab and Muslim world, the overall relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia will continue to degrade. And while this may not lead to direct war between the two, it will almost certainly contribute to escalation of proxy wars like those currently raging in Yemen and Syria.

A Reuters blog post on Thursday went so far as to say that it will be impossible to stop those wars unless Iran and Saudi Arabia can be brought to some sort of agreement. The article went on to say that that is unlikely as long as the two sides see their conflict as a zero-sum game, with unilateral dominance of the region as the only outcome. And that perception is only upheld by the increase in overall sectarian tensions spanning not only these two countries but also their allies.
What You Can't Discuss:

This is a partial list of taboo topics within progressive-left venues around the Arab-Israel conflict. You cannot discuss this material because it undermines the "Palestinian narrative" of perpetual victimhood. This narrative is a club used by the Arab and Muslim enemies of Israel, along with their western progressive allies, to delegitimize that country in preparation for its eventual dissolution.



1) The centuries of Jewish dhimmitude under the boot of Islamic imperialism.



2) The recent construction of Palestinian identity, its connection to Soviet Cold War politics, and how this is an Arab people with a Roman name that refers to Greeks.



3) Arab and Palestinian Koranically-based racism as the fundamental source of the conflict.



4) The ways in which contemporary progressive anti-Zionism serves as a cloak for gross anti-Semitism.



5) The Palestinian theft and appropriation of Jewish history.



6) "Pallywood."



7) The historical connections between the Nazis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Palestinian national movement.



8) The perpetual refusal of the Palestinian-Arabs to accept a state for themselves in peace next to the Jewish one.



9) The progressive portrayal of terrorists as those fighting a righteous war of "resistance."



10) The Arab-Palestinian indoctrination of children with Jew hatred.



11) Human rights violations against women, children, and Gay people in the Muslim Middle East.



12) The fact that violent Jihadis call themselves "Jihadis" and claim to love death above life.



This is only a partial list, so please let us know the many more that we are missing.
[January 07, 2016] Eyelit Announces Record Growth and Profit for the Second Quarter of 2015 From Its Manufacturing Execution (MES) and Quality Management (QMS) Software

Eyelit Inc., a manufacturing software provider for visibility, control, and coordination of manufacturing operations for the aerospace & defense, discrete electronics, life sciences, medical device, semiconductor, and photovoltaic (solar) industries, announced today record revenue growth for the second quarter of 2015, and a dramatic increase in its software license revenue. Business Results In the second quarter of 2015, Eyelit realized revenue growth in all key areas of business. Revenues from software licenses, professional services, and customer support grew by over 20% in comparison to the second quarter of 2014. The largest increase was attributed to the sales of software licenses with more than a 60% growth in revenue year over year. The increase was due in part to additional site purchases by enterprise customers, including a Global 100 Company. Eyelit also recognized the largest software sale in the company's history in the second quarter. Regionally, North America was the biggest contributor to revenue growth, followed by Europe. Eyelit's 2016 User Conference Eyelit's User Conference will be held June 7-9, 2016 at the Resort at Squaw Creek in Lake Tahoe, California. This collaborative event provides an opportunity for customers to connect with Eyelit's partners and employees, share their unique success stories, and learn from a growing international group of industry peers. Some customers will share deployment success stories from a diverse spectrum of high-tech manufacturing industries, including semiconductor (ingots, EPI, front-end wafer fabrication, back-end assembly and test), MEMS, battery manufacturing, display and micro display, thin film, and solar. Case studies will be presented to demonstrate Eyelit's continued success with legacy MES system migrations, notably recent conversions from WorkStream and SiView. Hands-on training labs that include new product demonstrations and best-practice strategies will provide valuable learning opportunities.



Eyelit is accepting abstracts for presentations from customers and partners. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. Updates regarding the agenda, registration, and accommodations will be posted on Eyelit's conference website. For more information, email [email protected]. "This was a great quarter for Eyelit," stated Dan Estrada, Eyelit's Vice-President of Sales and Marketing. "Enterprise customers are increasing their adoption of Eyelit's software. We have major deployment projects underway in Asia, Europe and North America. We also expect a significant revenue boost over the next few quarters from follow-on business with our large corporate customers. To support the increased global demand for our products, we have increased staff resources across our organization. Eyelit is well positioned for continued and accelerated growth in 2016."

About Eyelit Inc. (www.eyelit.com) Eyelit Inc. is the leader in Manufacturing Execution and Quality Management (MES and QMS) solutions for visibility, control, and coordination of manufacturing operations for the aerospace & defense, electronics, life sciences, medical device, semiconductor, and solar industries. Eyelit uniquely delivers a broad set of manufacturing solutions, including Asset Management (Semi E10, SEMI PV2-0709), Dispatching, Factory Integration (Automation), Manufacturing Execution (MES/MOM), Recipe Management, Supply Chain Management, Quality Management (CAPA/OCAP/SPC/APC (News - Alert)/RMA), and Business Process Management, that enable its customers to rapidly and cost-effectively optimize production and company processes. With exceptional customer service, Eyelit has time and again proven that superior, innovative technology can maximize efficiency and value. More than 50 leading companies, including Ascent Solar, austriamicrosystems, CEA-Leti, CEITEC, eMagin, FLIR Systems, Freescale Semiconductor (News - Alert), Innovative Micro Technology (IMT), Kionix, Mentor Graphics, Murata Electronics Oy, PerkinElmer, Raytheon Company, SEMATECH, TowerJazz, Umicore, and X-FAB, rely on Eyelit as a trusted software partner. Follow Eyelit on LinkedIn and Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160107006310/en/

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[January 07, 2016] GWAVA Announces the Latest Release of Retain Unified Archiving

GWAVA, the leading provider in archiving and eDiscovery for electronic communication data, is pleased to announce Retain 4! This latest release of Retain Unified Archiving includes a completely redesigned user interface, an advanced "Google (News - Alert) like" search tool, the Retain High Performance Indexing Engine, plus native support for iCAS technology, and message deletion. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160107006333/en/ "We are excited for this latest Retain release," said Ken Muir, GWAVA CEO. "Retain Unified Archiving is uniquely positioned as a leader in the Archiving 2.0 marketplace because it provides innovative functionality in monitoring, filtering, and archiving social media content, instant messaging, and web searches, in addition to archiving email and mobile communication data." Retain is a unified Archiving 2.0 suite, primarily focused on email archiving for Microsoft Exchange and Office 365, but also includes comprehensive native support for archiving Gmail and Novell (News - Alert) GroupWise email. Retain archives electronic business communication including data created on mobile devices, and manages social media, instant messages, and internet web searches, as well as built-in content filtering and URL blocking. For mobile devices, Retain archives communication data for Android, BlackBerry (News - Alert), and iOS, including SMS/text messages, BBM Messages, BBM Protected, phone call logs, and PIN Messages. It archives social media communication content for Yammer, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It arcives instant message data for Lync/Skype for Business, AOL (News - Alert) Instant Messenger (AIM), Yahoo Messenger, Google Chat, and Google Hangouts. Retain also captures and archives end-user web searches for search engines and web services including Google, Bing, Yahoo, YouTube, and Wikipedia. Retain also provides content filtering, and URL blocking of social media, instant messages, and web search content.



Traditionally, archiving has solely been used to preserve and archive email. Organizations retained this data mainly for regulatory compliance, and that is where the process stopped. The marketplace has changed, drastically. Organizations and regulations now demand the management of all electronic communication data, and they demand that the data be readily and easily accessible. This shift-called Archiving 2.0-is about making corporate communication data archives into an active data source to leverage information within the organization. Retain 4 provides the functionality to fulfill the demands of Archiving 2.0, by providing access to archived data from one central location. For more information about this shift in archiving, view this short video from GWAVA and Info-Tech https://youtu.be/KkoB0u6fOlA

And for more information about Retain 4, visit https://www.gwava.com/unified-archiving About GWAVA For more than a decade, GWAVA remains unsurpassed at protecting electronic messaging infrastructures and providing those systems with superior unified archiving. The Retain Unified Archiving solution by GWAVA enables organizations to seamlessly archive all electronic communication data, including email (Exchange, Office 365, Gmail and GroupWise), social media, instant messaging, and mobile communication - in one central location. GWAVA is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec with offices throughout the US, Germany, and the United Kingdom. GWAVA maintains a network of global strategic partners with BlackBerry, Samsung (News - Alert), Microsoft, Novell and Verizon. GWAVA's key industry verticals include, Government, Education, Financial Services, Legal, and Healthcare. Information on GWAVA can be found at www.GWAVA.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160107006333/en/

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[January 07, 2016] Fitch Affirms Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools (CA) Revs at 'BBB-'; Outlook Stable

Fitch Ratings has affirmed its 'BBB-' rating on approximately $21.5 million of outstanding California Statewide Communities Development Authority school facility revenue bonds, series 2011A issued on behalf of Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools (Alliance). The Rating Outlook is Stable. SECURITY The bonds are payable from lease payments made by three Alliance-managed charter schools (Ouchi High School, Skirball Middle School and O'Donovan Middle Academy) and secured by an assignment of rents and deed of trust over the school facilities. Lease payments constitute a joint and several obligation payable from the schools' gross revenues. Additional bondholder protections include a cash-funded debt service reserve sized to maximum annual debt service (MADS) and a capital maintenance and operating fund. KEY RATING DRIVERS STABLE CREDIT CHARACTERISITICS: The three obligated charter schools' (the schools) track record of operating surpluses; sound coverage of pro forma MADS from current operations; and a manageable, albeit high, debt burden, underpin the 'BBB-' rating. Financial performance remains tempered by limited, yet growing, balance sheet resources that provide only a thin cushion for operations and outstanding debt. STABLE STUDENT DEMAND: The schools maintain full and stable enrollments, supported by strong programmatic and fiscal management provided by Alliance, a well-established charter management organization (CMO) that manages a successful network of 27 Los Angeles area based charter schools serving about 11,600 students in grades 6-12. CHARTER RENEWAL SUCCESS: The schools' operating histories are limited, although they continue to mature and now have four charter renewals among them, with the youngest of the three schools (O'Donovan Middle Academy) having recently been merged into the oldest of the three (Ouchi High School) to form a continuous grade 6-12 program under a single, recently renewed five-year charter. RATING SENSITIVITIES MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE: Any adverse change or interruption to the existing CMO relationship between Alliance and the schools, while unlikely, could influence the rating. CHARTER RELATED CONCERNS: A limited financial cushion; substantial reliance on enrollment-driven, per pupil funding; a high debt burden; and charter renewal risk are credit risks common among all charter schools that, if pressured, could negatively impact the rating. CREDIT PROFILE The schools continue to mature, with Ouchi, Skirball and O'Donovan having completed nine, eight and seven years of operations, respectively in fiscal 2015. Moreover, the schools now have three charter renewals among them. Ouchi received its second five-year renewal in 2013, while Skirball's was recently renewed for a second time in December 2015, effective July 2016. The schools' renewal success to date is viewed favorably by Fitch, but still reflects their limited histories. O'Donovan, the youngest of the three schools, was merged into Ouchi in the 2013-2014 school year to form a continuous 6-12 program on the two schools' shared campus. As such, O'Donovan's existing charter was collapsed and Ouchi's charter was revised to incorporate both schools and simultaneously renewed for a further five-year term effective June 2014 to June 2019. Fitch continues to view Alliance's broader reputation and positive working relationship with its schools' authorizer (Los Angeles Unified School District) positively and partially mitigating charter renewal risk. The district continues to view Alliance as a strong charter operator and a partner within the district; the second largest in the country. The representative that Fitch spoke with at the district expressed no concerns at present that would pressure the schools' existing charter status and renewal prospects. ENROLLMENT STABILITY SUPPORTS OPERATIONS Enrollment at the schools remains stable. Combined enrollment at the three schools is presently about 1,447, down slightly (less than 1%) from 1,455 the prior year. Ouchi serves 548 students in grades 9-12, while Skirball and O'Donovan serve 444 and 455 students in grades 6-8, respectively. Given Alliance's goal of maintaining small schools, each scool remains at or near its desired capacity and enrollment is not anticipated to vary significantly year-over-year. This is viewed favorably by Fitch as no material enrollment growth is planned or needed for the schools to meet their financial obligations.



The schools' financial performance remains sound, with each generating operating surpluses since inception, albeit based on relatively small revenue bases, though Skirball's margin was slightly negative in fiscal 2015. Nonetheless, the consolidated operating margin was sound at 5.7% and averaged a healthy 13.4% between fiscals 2011-2015, driven largely by prudent budgeting and administrative efficiencies derived through the Alliance network. The schools continue to benefit from the strong financial oversight and budgetary guidance provided by Alliance and stable enrollments which support consistent operating performance. Characteristic of charter schools, revenue diversity is limited with state aid comprising the majority (more than two-thirds) of funding and local and federal aid representing another 15% and 12%, respectively. Alliance anticipates another positive consolidated operating result for fiscal 2016, which Fitch considers realistic based on enrollment stability, improved state funding, and the schools' conservative budgeting and operating track record.

State funding improved for a third straight year in fiscal 2016 after being held flat in fiscal 2013 and cut in fiscal years 2009-2012 (Fitch rates California GOs 'A+', Outlook Stable). Fiscal 2015 per pupil funding increased substantially to $10,300 from $8,949 for Ouchi/O'Donovan; to $10,320 from $7,622 for Skirball. Improved funding was due in part to voter passage of the tax increase initiative, Proposition 30, in November 2012, which also led to a revision of the state's funding formula that benefited Alliance schools due to the mostly low income demographic that they serve. HIGH, BUT MANAGEABLE DEBT BURDEN On a combined basis, the schools' debt burden is high but remains manageable. Total pro forma MADS ($1.73 million) represented 10.6% of the schools' combined fiscal 2015 operating revenues of $16.4 million. The schools' positive operations enabled them to generate sufficient coverage on a consolidated basis of between 1.5x and 2.5x pro forma MADS over the past five fiscal years (1.5x in fiscal 2015). However, debt to net income available for debt service was moderately high 8.1x. Alliance's management fee, which totaled $1.0 million for the schools in fiscal 2015, is subordinate to debt service, providing an added layer of flexibility in the event operations weaken. While joint and several, Fitch notes favorably that, on an individual basis, the schools generally cover their allotted share of debt service on the series 2011A bonds year-over-year. For fiscal 2015, coverage was lower at 0.9x for Skirball and 1.8x for Ouchi and O'Donovan, whose financial statements were combined as a result of their merged charter during fiscal 2015. Typical of charter schools, the schools' balance sheet resources are limited, though continue to grow. On a combined basis, available funds (cash and investments not permanently restricted) totaled $8.4 million as of June 30, 2015, and covered fiscal 2015 operating expenses ($15.5 million) and outstanding debt ($21.5 million) by 54.4% and 39.1%, respectively. While these liquidity metrics are typically considered low, they are adequate for the rating level and provide the schools with a modest financial cushion to manage unexpected funding declines and/or expenditure increases. Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Applicable Criteria Charter School Rating Criteria (pub. 05 Nov 2015) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=872774 Revenue-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 16 Jun 2014) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=750012 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=997595 Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=997595 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/jsp/creditdesk/PolicyRegulation.faces?context=2&detail=31 ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160107006370/en/

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[January 08, 2016] VirtualWorks Launches First Commercial Encrypted Enterprise Search Platform Built on Hitachi Solutions Technology

NEW YORK, Jan. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- VirtualWorks today announced an encrypted version of ViaWorks, the first encrypted enterprise search product developed with Hitachi's Searchable Encryption technology. With the prevalence of self-service portals in Government and Health Care, online shopping and streaming media consumption, corporate governance and federal regulations, it has never been more important to provide easy access to information and at the same time protect personal or sensitive data. ViaWorks http://www.virtualworks.com/viaworks-enterprise-search/ provides the perfect balance of security while preserving speed and accuracy of searching. ViaWorks Secure is based on AES, a worldwide encryption standard established by NIST. ViaWorks Secure includes a special randomization process, which makes the encrypted data resistant to advanced statistical attacks. Therefore, attackers are unable to access data even if they are carrying out large numbers of guesses and tests upon the data, or by analyzing it from a statistical perspective. ViaWorks provides key management and encryption APIs that store encryption keys securely and encrypt the original data, respectively. Users determine which field is encrypted, such as Index Files, Search Keyword or Transaction Logs. ViaWorks Secure offers all the same benefits of the popular ViaWorks flagship product with additional encrypted protection including: Unifying information-rich applications and databases such as SharePoint, Outlook, Dynamics, Alfresco, and others.

Providing users with a seamless search and retrieval experience inside every application with ViaWorks Secue's search platform integration.

Delivering the information employees need to make decisions, serve customers and drive results, regardless of where it is stored, instantly.



Robert Wescott , VP Global Marketing and Partnerships at VirtualWorks Inc. "Now, for the first time, companies can deploy a commercial encrypted enterprise search solution to enable employees to quickly and securely search for content." Companies interested in ViaWorks with searchable encryption should contact VirtualWorks Group Inc. They're currently working with beta customers in Healthcare, Government, Insurance and Finance. A 30-day trial evaluation version of the platform with encryption is expected to be available Q2 2016 (currently available without encryption - http://blog.virtualworks.com/free-trial-sign-up ). The evaluation version will enable customers to assess how this new technology can help to enhance their data management.

Pricing for ViaWorks with encryption starts at $15 per user per month (enterprise pricing over 300 users) and the platform can be deployed on-premise or as a service. About VirtualWorks Group, Inc. VirtualWorks is a global enterprise discovery company that helps businesses organize, locate and manage their information. With a platform that helps extract value from enterprise data, VirtualWorks enables businesses to drive revenue and operate efficiently. Founded in 2009 by Ed Iacobucci, co-founder of Citrix Systems, VirtualWorks continues a tradition of innovation and great products. For more information about VirtualWorks, visit www.VirtualWorks.com, or Twitter: @vworks. About Hitachi Solutions, Ltd. Hitachi Solutions, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a core member of Information & Telecommunication Systems Company of Hitachi Group and a recognized leader in delivering proven business and IT strategies and solutions to companies across many industries. The company provides value-driven services throughout the IT life cycle from systems planning to systems integration, operation and maintenance. Hitachi Solutions delivers products and services of superior value to customers worldwide through key subsidiaries in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information on Hitachi Solutions, please visit: http://www.hitachi-solutions.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/virtualworks-launches-first-commercial-encrypted-enterprise-search-platform-built-on-hitachi-solutions-technology-300201554.html SOURCE VirtualWorks

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Tiroteo/Tel Aviv. Habrian abatido en una mezquita del norte israeli al atacante arabe que mato a tres personas
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La AMIA recibio la visita del ministro de Desarrollo Social de la Provincia de Buenos Aires
Ventings from a guy with an unhealthy interest in budgets, policy, the dismal science, life in the Upper Midwest, and brilliant beverages.
MATTOON -- Lake Land Colleges Adult Education is offering GED classes throughout the Lake Land College district beginning the first week of February.

In Arthur, GED classes will be held from 4:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Arthur Public Library, 225 S. Walnut St. The first night of class is Feb. 2.

In Effingham, GED classes will be offered at the Kluthe Center for Higher Education and Technology, 1204 Network Centre Dr. from 4-7 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The first night of class is Feb. 2.

In Marshall, GED classes will be held at the Lake Land College Eastern Region Center, 224 S. 6th St. Classes meet from 4-8 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. The first night of class is Feb. 1.

In Mattoon, GED classes will be offered at the Workforce Development Center, 305 Richmond Ave. E. Classes meet from 8 a.m. until noon on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays or from 4:30-8:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. Classes begin on Feb. 3.

In Pana, GED classes will be held at the Lake Land College Western Region Center, 600 E. 1st St. Classes will meet from 5:30-9 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays. Classes begin on Feb. 4.

In Paris, GED classes will be held at the First United Methodist Church, 324 W. Court St. from 8 a.m. until noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays or from 4-8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Classes begin on Feb. 1.

In Shelbyville, GED classes will be held from 5:30  9:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Shelby Christian Church, 200 N. Hickory. The first night of class is Feb. 4.

For the GED classes, students tuition will be waived, and all class materials are provided. To find a GED class, for more information or to register call 217- 238-8292.
TOLEDO (JG-TC) -- Two young teenage boys were arrested Wednesday morning in Toledo after allegedly fleeing police in a car they stole in Kankakee.

A Mattoon Police Department press release reported that the pursuit ended after 8 a.m. on South Missouri Street in Toledo when the suspect vehicle ran out of gas. The vehicle was found to be occupied by two teenagers, ages 13 and 15 from Braidwood and Wilmington in Northern Illinois.

The department reported that the events leading up to the local pursuit began at 6:40 a.m. Wednesday when an Illinois State Police unit attempted to stop a Blue Toyota Camry with Ohio plates on southbound Interstate 57 at mile marker 235, in the Champaign area. The car fled at speeds in excess of 100 mph.

A separate State Police unit then attempted to stop the same vehicle at 7:10 a.m in the area of the Lerna Road and County Road 550N, the department reported. The car fled at a high rate of speed.

The Mattoon Police Department reported that it was advised at 7:58 a.m. of a possible suspect name from the Mattoon area, a person with extensive criminal history. Furthermore, information was relayed that the car in question was stolen from Kankakee, and that the victim was in his 60s and supposed to be on a business trip somewhere.

Information available at this point was not clear as to whether this vehicle was part of a car-jacking, robbery, or vehicle theft, the department reported. Furthermore, the physical status or whereabouts of the reported victim was unknown.

Mattoon police units then observed the suspect vehicle at 8:01 a.m. on south U.S. Route 45 near Lake Land College, the department reported. Mattoon police units subsequently pursued the car into Cumberland County.

The department reported that Coles County Sheriff's Office, State Police, Cumberland County Sheriff's Office, and Coles County probation units also responded to the area.

Police ended the pursuit in Toledo with the arrest of the two teenagers who allegedly stole the car at a hotel in Kankakee, the department reported. The car was found to be a rental, and the lessee was found to be OK in Kankakee.

The boys were transported to the Mattoon police station and then transferred into the custody of the State Police for their trip to authorities in Kankakee.
CHARLESTON -- A crowd made up of people concerned for the future of the WEIU station and the frequency it broadcasts from filled the Tarble Arts Center Atrium on Thursday after news broke about a Federal Communications Commission frequency spectrum auction that will take place.

As a result of a push from the FCC, WEIU and Eastern Illinois University -- which holds the license -- and other stations nationwide have to decide whether to seek to sell off their frequency to then be used for cellphone and Wi-Fi signals or to be repackaged to a lower frequency.

If Eastern were to sell the WEIU frequency successfully, which Jack Neal, WEIU general manager, said would take many months because of the process that goes into an auction of this size, WEIU would, from a broadcast standpoint, go off air within 60 days.

A majority in the crowd who spoke voiced their opposition to the idea of taking part in the auction.

Some Eastern alumni who worked at WEIU as students said they are saddened by the thought that future WEIU students could potentially not get the same experience as that of previous students.

Blake Wood, Eastern alumni, said the opportunities available at Eastern are why he went to Eastern.

Many in the audience said that WEIU is a driving factor behind why those interested in broadcast journalism or communications come to Eastern.

Neal said while the production of content would likely remain the same even if the frequency was sold, the lack of an actual production of a live broadcast could have an effect on students who are seeking to be competitive in the job market. He added he is not sure, though, what that impact might be.

Cameron Craig, WEIU broadcast meteorology adviser, said he talked with a high school student from San Diego, Calif., who has an interest in attending Eastern solely because of the opportunities offered through WEIU.

Neal said 122 universities have public TV stations. In this state, Southern Illinois University, Western Illinois University and the University of Illinois have a station, as Eastern does.

EIU President David Glassman said he is taking feedback from people and is looking at all factors in relation to WEIUs frequency. Glassman will have to make a decision by Tuesday to file for eligibility into the auction.

Eastern can bow out anytime before March 29, when the auction starts. The January deadline is merely to show interest in taking part in the auction. The opening bid for WEIUs frequency is $105.4 million, but is expected to drop significantly.

Glassman said it is not clear at this time whether the money would even go directly to Eastern, and that is it is being looked into.

If Eastern were to not sell the frequency, WEIU would be moved to a lower frequency and Neal said that the process could take five to seven years despite the FCCs approximation of 39 months. While this process is taking place, the station would be off-air for a long period of time.
TITLE: DEPUTY CHIEF OF PARTY, TRANSFORM: WASH ETHIOPIA*

DEPARTMENT: EAST AFRICA

DATE: DECEMBER 2014

PSI is a leading global health organization with programs targeting malaria, child survival, HIV and reproductive health. Working in partnership within the public and private sectors, and harnessing the power of the markets, PSI provides life-saving products, clinical services and behavior change communications that empower the worlds most vulnerable populations to lead healthier lives.

PSIs core values are a belief in markets and market mechanisms to contribute to sustained improvements in the lives of the poor; results and a strong focus on measurement; speed and efficiency with a predisposition to action and an aversion to bureaucracy; decentralization and empowering our staff at the local level; and a long term commitment to the people we serve. PSI has programs in 67 countries. For more information, please visit *www.psi.org**.*

PSI seeks a Deputy Chief of Party to support the implementation of activities under an anticipated $30 million USAID-funded project in Ethiopia. The project will have a strong focus on catalytic change and transformative impact, and will encompass a set of innovative and strategic interventions targeting actions at different scales, with an overall goal of reducing under-five mortality, through increased use of WASH products and services to be achieved via the four interrelated objectives: 1) Increased WASH governance and management capacity at the sub-national level; 2) Increased demand for low-cost quality WASH products and services, with a focus on sanitation; 3) Increased supply for low-cost quality WASH products and services, with a focus on sanitation; 4) Increased knowledge base to bring WASH innovations to scale.

RESPONSIBILITIES:**

 Assist the Chief of Party with all aspects of the project operations including the technical oversight, human resources, recruiting and training staff and developing an organizational chart with distinct roles and responsibilities

Oversee the overall technical management of the program, including day-to-day activities and oversight of partners activities.



Serve as acting Chief of Party as demand requires



Facilitate government relationships and capacity building of Ethiopian institutions to improve market support functions and enhance the public sectors enabling role for WASH and sanitation



Build capacity of in-country staff to implement market-based sanitation activities.





Contribute to design of overall strategy for strengthening supply and better linking with demand, and improving overall enabling environment.







Support COP in compiling and disseminating high-quality periodic reporting in line with USAID and PSI requirements (Quarterly and Annual Status reports, quarterly financial reports etc.)







Document lessons learned and organize learning and sharing opportunities between project and external stakeholders.





QUALIFICATIONS:**

Masters degree or higher in public health, social sciences, or related field



7+ years experience as senior program management specialist in successful international projects, in the implementation and management of international projects, specifically, with demonstrated experience in water and sanitation programming, market-based approaches, governance and capacity building.



Experience in directing, managing, implementing and evaluating large, complex projects involving the collection, analysis and presentation of health and population data that covers the full range of technical, field and administrative skills required for successful implementation of this type of program.



Track record of effective liaison with Ethiopian government and policy makers



Experience in small & medium enterprise development preferred



Progressively responsible supervisory experience, including: direct supervision of staff; quality evaluation of staff performance and deliverables.



Broad understanding of public health in Ethiopia.



Understanding of rules and regulations related to USAID project funding, subcontracting and reporting requirements.



Demonstrated skills in technical and administrative management of USAID funded projects strongly preferred.



Well organized, strong attention to detail, and ability to multitask



Fluency in English is required and Amharic preferred



STATUS:

**Contingent upon funding.**

APPLY ONLINE at http://www.psi.org.**

PSI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from qualified individuals regardless of actual or perceived race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, personal appearance, matriculation, political affiliation, family status or responsibilities, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions or breastfeeding, genetic information, amnesty, veteran, special disabled veteran or uniform service member status or employment status.

Masters degree or higher in public health, social sciences, or related field



7+ years experience as senior program management specialist in successful international projects, in the implementation and management of international projects, specifically, with demonstrated experience in water and sanitation programming, market-based approaches, governance and capacity building.



Experience in directing, managing, implementing and evaluating large, complex projects involving the collection, analysis and presentation of health and population data that covers the full range of technical, field and administrative skills required for successful implementation of this type of program.



Track record of effective liaison with Ethiopian government and policy makers



Experience in small & medium enterprise development preferred



Progressively responsible supervisory experience, including: direct supervision of staff; quality evaluation of staff performance and deliverables.



Broad understanding of public health in Ethiopia.



Understanding of rules and regulations related to USAID project funding, subcontracting and reporting requirements.



Demonstrated skills in technical and administrative management of USAID funded projects strongly preferred.



Well organized, strong attention to detail, and ability to multitask



Fluency in English is required and Amharic preferred



STATUS:

**Contingent upon funding.**

APPLY ONLINE at http://www.psi.org.**

PSI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from qualified individuals regardless of actual or perceived race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, personal appearance, matriculation, political affiliation, family status or responsibilities, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions or breastfeeding, genetic information, amnesty, veteran, special disabled veteran or uniform service member status or employment status.

Apply Here

PI92659639
The Burger King at 14th and Pioneers Boulevard (or 14th and Nebraska 2) abruptly closed over the weekend.

I was told the sign was removed Monday and a sign on the door said the location was permanently closed.

Horizon Holding Inc., a Lincoln company that owns that location as well as eight other Burger Kings in Lincoln, did not return a message seeking comment.

According to the Lancaster Assessor's Office, that building was built in 1984, and it appears it has been a Burger King the whole time.

On a more positive note, Buffalo Wings & Rings will reopen Saturday morning.

The Railyard restaurant, which closed last Saturday night because of a problem with its kitchen floor, had hoped to reopen Friday.
Wildly inventive, brashly funny, ripped-from-the-headlines topical and powered by a sense of outrage, Chi-Raq is Spike Lees plea to stop the violence in urban America and address the myriad of problems -- racial, economic, political -- that are plaguing the country.

The initial solution producer/director/co-writer Lee proposes in the film isnt in any way realistic. But it is laugh-inducing while being thought-provoking -- and the movies inspiration and structure takes it to a dimension that combines satire, sex comedy and drama in a way I cant remember seeing.

Inspired by the Greek comedy Lysistrata, Lee takes Aristophanes tale of women withholding sex from their men to stop the Peloponnesian War to the streets of Chicago, where Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris) is the girlfriend of rapper Chi-Raq (Nick Cannon), a leader of the Spartans (gang colors purple).

Theyre in bloody battle -- the film opens with a shooting at a Chi-Raq show with the Trojans (gang colors orange) led by the one-eyed Cyclops (Wesley Snipes). If you cant see the bloods and crips parallels, youre blinder than Cyclops.

Leaving Chi-Raq after the Trojans try to burn down his crib, Lysistrata moves in with Miss Helen (Angela Bassett at her steely best), gets herself educated and hatches her plan, first having to convince the women of the Trojans to join her and her girlfriends in the lockup.

Then away things go, bouncing from gang hangouts and lodge meetings to a National Guard armory and Lysistrata-inspired rallies around the globe where the catchy slogan -- which you wont be reading here -- is chanted over and over.

Popping up throughout to provide oft-profane commentary is the flamboyantly dressed Dolmedes, a one-man Greek chorus who couldnt have been played by anyone other than Samuel L. Jackson.

Oh yeah, the whole work is written in verse, some of it rhymes, some of its doesnt. But that dialogue sure catches the ear -- as does its connection to hip-hip, which flavors the film thats loaded with pop-culture references.

Its also packed with statistics about murders in Chicago and incorporates events as recent as the June shootings at the Emanuel AME Church into its dialogue. That makes Lees argument potent and contemporary and, given the nature of the piece, doesnt draw the viewer out of the film.

Chi-Raq isnt the most coherent film, spinning off in a half-dozen directions at once. But a straight narrative of gang violence wouldnt have worked to make Lees points nor would a pure comedy.

Certainly, Lee is preachy -- literally so when John Cusacks minister unleashes a jeremiad during the funeral of a little girl killed by a stray bullet (Jennifer Hudson is superb as her distraught mother).

But hes also wickedly funny, delivering much of the movies message through biting humor directed at gangs, cops, politicians and those who watch and embrace the "thug life" from the safe distance of the suburbs.

Since its release in major markets, Chi-Raq has been railed at from all sides -- including those in Chicago, who claim that Lee doesnt know anything about the city and its culture. But that criticism is a measure of the effectiveness of what is Lees best movie in at least a decade -- a direct, courageously provocative work that likely only he could get onto the screen.
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's frontier survival saga "The Revenant," filmed in the Canadian Rockies, seeks to join the ranks of Werner Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo" and Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now": movies that take some of their primal madness from their raw, remote natural landscapes. The making of those movies are mythic tales in their own right, and "The Revenant" arrives with its own tall tales of on-set tussles and actor derring-do.

After confining himself largely to the interior of a Broadway theater  and the psyche of Michael Keaton's Riggan Thomson  in the best picture-winning "Birdman," Inarritu and his maverick cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, have opted for the open air of the West, circa 1823, in a loose adaptation of Michael Punke's 2002 novel about the frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio).

The result is some of the most ravishing filmmaking of the year, or any year, as Inarritu and Lubezki stretch their fluid long takes down river rapids and into the kind of clashes  a mauling grizzly, an ambushing tribe  not rendered before with this kind of awe-inspiring, naturally lit virtuosity. But awe is the only thing "The Revenant" is well stocked in, if you don't count snow and beards.

"The Revenant" isn't just showy about its audacity, it's relentlessly chest-thumping. DiCaprio isn't the film's true star; it's Inarritu's camera. He never lets us forget it, not just in staggering one-takes but by allowing characters to look into the lens, sometimes even fogging it with their breath. "The Revenant" earns your admiration, only to lose it by continually insisting upon it.

Somewhere in the realm of the Dakotas and Montana is the Rocky Mountain Fur Co., guided by Glass in their pursuit through hostile and uncompromising territory for beaver pelts. In our first view of the trappers, they're camped in river-side pines when an eerie suspense settles over them. Arrows from all around sail into them before Ree tribesmen, searching for a stolen daughter, stream into the camp.

With mayhem and savagery all around, Inarritu's balletic camera sweeps through the slaughter and eventually drifts down the river with small band of survivors. Among them are Glass, his Pawnee son (Forrest Goodluck), the company's leader, Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson), a callow youngster (Will Poulter) and John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy).

The scene is the first taste of what "The Revenant" has in store: the throbbing intensity of survival, played out across harsh, wintery terrain, in a series of flights and pursuits between men, native and not, seeking a variety of vengeances. There are occasional whispery flashbacks and surreal dream sequences that attempt to give the film more spiritual underpinnings that are little match for the movie's relentlessly visceral reality.

In another extended single shot, Glass is mauled by a bear, leaving him so badly injured that death seems certain. After attempting to lug him through the mountains, Henry offers more money for volunteers to stay behind and give him a proper burial "when the time comes."

Fitzgerald, interested in the extra cash, steps forward. Shifty and selfish, Fitzgerald is the obvious villain-in-waiting; Hardy patiently waits for his opportunity to reveal a deeper savagery in mankind and babble something over a campfire about God being a squirrel he once caught and ate. Let loose in the wild, Hardy doesn't disappoint.

Neither does DiCaprio in an often wordless, exceptionally committed performance of Glass' great determination. As he was in Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" (which also included long sections of the actor crawling, albeit in a quaalude-induced stupor), DiCaprio is most interested in extremes of performance.

But no one is more in rhapsody over the manliness of the mission than Inarritu. His bleak and beautiful movie is overwrought, but it's also soaked through with the brutality of the frontier and the tragedy of its indigenous people. Native Americans traverse "The Revenant," carrying the deepest horrors of the land. It's something to contemplate, when not ooo-ing at the spectacular set pieces.
"Carol," an adaptation of a 1952 novel by Patricia Highsmith directed by Todd Haynes, sweeps the viewer up into a heady, exquisitely choreographed dream, casting as beguiling a spell as its seductive title character.

Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) is a stylish New Jersey homemaker doing some last-minute Christmas shopping in Manhattan when she spies a watchful shop girl named Therese. The two have a perfectly unimportant interaction about dolls and toy trains, ending in a sale, when something cataclysmic happens: Carol turns on her way out, smiles slyly and, pointing to the Santa cap Therese wears with obvious discomfort, says, "I like the hat."

It's an electrifying moment, and for Therese, who's portrayed by Rooney Mara in an Audrey Hepburn-esque performance, a defining one. Finally, the audience senses, she's been seen by someone, in a deeper, more knowing way than ever before.

"Carol" traces the two women's friendship that gradually, inescapably, develops into a passionate romance, bringing the audience along on a love affair born of instinct, affinity and the instantaneous connection that Rilke compared to "two solitudes," touching and greeting each other.

But "Carol" takes place in the early 1950s, when love between two women still dared not speak its name. Haynes allows the gleaming surfaces, meaningful looks and subliminal cigarette smoking do the talking in a film that harks back to the work of his hero, Douglas Sirk, both in look and deceptively subversive tone.

"Carol" is an almost perverse exercise in exquisite taste and masklike performance. But rather than evoke surfaces for their own sake, its lacquered 1950s perfection and Hopper-esque nightscapes underscore the protagonists' struggle. While Carol battles her soon-to-be ex-husband Harge (perfectly played by Kyle Chandler) and Therese swims into consciousness against the tide of an eager boyfriend (Jake Lacy), their outer selves express all that goes unspoken, silenced by the conformist culture that engulfs them.

"Carol" is a performance of a performance, whereby codes and signals convey the most essential stuff of life, while the kabuki of being "normal" plays out with the carefully cultivated - and patently false - perfection of the toy train village Carol buys from Therese at their first meeting. Working from a carefully crafted script by Phyllis Nagy, Haynes portrays two people thirstily drinking each other in, while on the outside, they sip tea and cocktails with prim decorum. (There's a telling flaw on the fake-ermine brim of Therese's cap, a scarlet smear that isn't the letter A, exactly, but signifies nonetheless.)

Teasing out the provocative, even subversive subtexts of "Carol" turns out to be an enormously pleasurable experience, thanks to Haynes's unapologetic, if slightly mischievous love for manicured melodrama, Blanchett and Mara's finely tuned performances and Carter Burwell's delicate, gently propulsive score, which carries the viewer alongside the younger woman as she's swept into the gravitational pull of someone far more assured and experienced than she (at least at first).

In one of the film's most effective sequences, the two take a car ride from Manhattan to New Jersey, and it unfolds with almost dreamlike abstraction. This is what it's like to fall in love, the movie seems to say, before you realize you've even tripped.

A longer journey ensues in "Carol," one that involves the inevitable obstacles and pain. Playing out with episodic inevitability, the plot feels schematic and obvious until the viewer realizes how expertly Haynes has drawn the viewer into Therese and Carol's feelings and desires. The film ends with a sequence that is simultaneously devastating and soaringly triumphant.

It's possible to watch "Carol" simply for its velvety beauty, but chances are that, by that stunning final moment, filmgoers will realize with a start that they care far more about the problems of these two people than they might have realized. "Carol" possesses the same quiet, catlike powers of its magnetic title character: It swirls around to ambush you - "I like the hat" - and make you swoon.
Lincoln Sen. Matt Hansen introduced the Automatic License Plate Reader Privacy Act (LB831) that would clarify standards for the use of automatic license plate readers.

Hansen said the Nebraska State Patrol and Lincoln Police Department use the readers in a limited way, so it is a good idea to talk about how to strike the right balance between personal privacy, liberty concerns and law enforcement needs.

Readers can be handheld, mounted on cars or signs, and used for monitoring secure entries, processing highway tolls or looking for stolen cars, for example.

"I don't think the (bill) I introduced would authorize so-called red light cameras," he said. "My goal was not necessarily to expand their use in Nebraska. My goal was to recognize that they are being used and codify best practices."

The ACLU of Nebraska has objected in the past to the potential for readers to be abused to track a person's movements outside of criminal activity.

Social networking accounts

Nebraska workers couldn't be forced by their employers to provide access to their personal social networking accounts under a measure introduced Friday by state Sen. Tyson Larson of O'Neill.

The bill (LB821), called the Workplace Privacy Act, would also prohibit managers from requiring subordinates to "friend" them on Facebook or otherwise add them to a contact list.

Employers would be barred from retaliating against workers for refusing to grant access to an account or reporting a violation of the act.

The measure would allow employees to file a civil court complaint for up to a year after any violation is discovered.

Breast cancer license plates

The Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles would offer "Breast Cancer Awareness Plates" and make them available to drivers Jan. 1, 2017, under a bill (LB844) introduced by Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks.

The license plates would feature a pink ribbon and include the words "early detection saves lives" on the bottom.

Seven other female senators cosigned Pansing Brooks' bill.

New health care option

Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston has proposed legislation (LB817) that would create a new health care option enabling Nebraskans to contract directly with physicians for primary medical care.

His direct primary care bill would offer patients a range of comprehensive primary services, including routine care, regular checkups, preventive care and health care coordination for a flat, recurring monthly fee priced similar to a utility bill, Riepe said.

Riepe is a retired hospital administrator.
Omaha corporate and philanthropic heavyweights Walter Scott and Mike Yanney are attempting to rally business support for a proposal to purchase private health care insurance for the working poor in Nebraska with untapped federal Medicaid dollars.

The pair have sent letters to a range of big-name corporate leaders in Omaha inviting them to a briefing by state Sens. Kathy Campbell, John McCollister and Heath Mello at the Omaha Country Club on Jan. 20.

Their letter describes the new proposal to access federal Medicaid dollars available to Nebraska under the Affordable Care Act as "a unique, market-driven model" that would provide eligible uninsured Nebraskans with access to transitional health care insurance.

That, in turn, would help lift the burden for Nebraska's health care providers and employers who now supply $1 billion of uncompensated care every year, the letter states.

"As you know, health care is a major industry that impacts our entire work force from Fortune 500 companies to small, family-owned employers," Scott and Yanney wrote.

Support from Omaha's corporate leadership could be a game-changer in terms of helping acquire legislative votes for the new proposal and presumably could have some influence on Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts, who so far is cool to the plan.

Turning to the private health care insurance market rather than simply expanding Medicaid in Nebraska is a fundamentally Republican solution to the health care coverage challenge, McCollister said Thursday.

McCollister, an Omaha Republican, will introduce the bill within the next few days. He led an effort to build support for the new plan following adjournment of the 2015 legislative session, traveling to meetings in 10 communities stretching from Omaha to Alliance.

The fiscal impact on state government will be considerably less than the original $59 million estimate over a five-year period once a new fiscal analysis is completed, he said.

"Before I offered to sponsor the bill, I needed some indication of business acceptance," McCollister said. "This is a business-friendly solution."

Campbell, a Lincoln Republican and chairwoman of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee, has been the leading figure in the long effort to acquire the additional Medicaid dollars available to Nebraska under Obamacare.

Mello, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, is an Omaha Democrat and the Legislature's leading fiscal voice.

As the veterans in this battle, they'll lead the floor debate, McCollister said.

McCollister said it was business support that ultimately propelled his 2015 bill to authorize issuance of Nebraska driver's licenses to young immigrants who primarily came to the United States with their undocumented parents and who now are protected from deportation by President Barack Obama's executive action.

"Once business groups joined the fray, that changed the dynamics," he said. "I'm hoping to emulate that same process."

The health-care insurance proposal would provide coverage for an estimated 77,000 Nebraskans, most of them low-income workers, who slipped through the crack in Obamacare opened by the U.S. Supreme Court when it allowed individual states to opt out of expanded Medicaid.

More than $2 billion in federal funding would be available to the state over the next five years. An estimated 10,000 new jobs could be created.

The federal government would pay 100 percent of the costs through 2016, phasing down gradually to a 90 percent floor by 2020.

Rural hospitals in Nebraska would be strengthened by the program, McCollister said.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center, a major economic driver in Omaha, estimated in a 2012 study that the additional Medicaid dollars would generate at least $700 million in new economic activity in the state every year.

McCollister said it is somewhat ironic that Nebraska, along with a number of other states with Republican governors, is now considering how to take advantage of the health care expansion dollars available under Obamacare just as the Congress has laid a bill to repeal the law on the president's desk.
Suzy Campbell and her husband had a "terrible time" when he returned home from the hospital, a wound in his back from a procedure to address his failed kidney.

"He wasn't supposed to get that wound wet, and I tried to cover it with plastic bags"  even Saran wrap, Campbell says. "I'm not medically trained at all. I ended up doing a lot of things that I wasn't trained to do."

In 2006, she left her job at Lincoln's Aging Partners to become her husband's full-time caregiver.

She loved her work, she said, and didn't want to retire, even at age 68. But her husband's condition  cancer and a host of other ailments that had plagued him for 16 years  was getting progressively worse, and she couldn't secure paid family leave when she needed.

Measures proposed in the Nebraska Legislature on Friday are intended to address situations like those Campbell experienced with her husband, Fred, who died in 2010. Both are sponsored by state Sen. Sue Crawford of Bellevue.

One (LB850) would create a statewide paid family leave insurance program similar to Nebraska's unemployment insurance system and managed by the state Department of Labor.

Virtually all Nebraska workers would pay into the program, which would provide eight weeks of assistance for those who leave work to care for others, and 12 weeks for those who care for themselves, including pregnant mothers.

Premiums would be "well under" $2 per week and would most likely be deducted from workers' paychecks, Crawford said during a news conference Friday announcing the bills.

Her other bill (LB849) would require hospitals to provide designated caregivers with adequate discharge information and home care instructions from medical staff.

Similar laws on both issues have been passed in other states, and a version of the paid family leave bill was introduced in Nebraska in 2014 by Sen. Annette Dubas of Fullerton but did not pass.

Federal law guarantees up to 12 weeks of family leave  unpaid  but about one-third of the nation's workers don't qualify, said Aubrey Mancuso of the advocacy group Voices for Children in Nebraska.

"No woman should have to quit her job just to have a baby," Mancuso said.

While some employers offer paid family leave on their own, there is no such private insurance option available for the state to require in place of a government-run program, Crawford said, calling it a "market failure."

"It's clearly a need that the marketplace is not meeting," she said.

The added requirements for medical providers, which most Nebraska hospitals are already meeting, received strong support in a recent AARP survey of 800 registered Nebraska voters over age 45, said Mark Intermill of AARP Nebraska.

One-seventh of those respondents said they provide unpaid care for parents, spouses or loved ones, and the AARP estimates 200,000 Nebraskans do so.

Nationwide, some 40 million people provide an estimated 37 billion hours of unpaid care each year  at a dollar value which "vastly exceeds" that of paid care, Crawford said.

"We must ensure that these caregivers have the resources they need," she said.
If Nebraskans must submit to background checks to purchase firearms, should they also submit to checks to purchase tactical gear and military-type equipment?

Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers thinks so, although maybe not for the reasons most people might presume.

He's not thinking about terrorists from foreign countries. He's considering the possible harm from people born and raised in America.

The bill (LB839) would cover gear typically used by police special weapons and tactics teams, military-grade helmets, body armor, night-vision eyewear or scopes and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Purchasers would have to be 21 and pass the same federal background check as if purchasing a firearm. If a person would not be allowed to purchase or possess a firearm under the federal law, he or she would not be allowed to purchase the gear.

Chambers, who is serving his 42nd year in the Nebraska Legislature, most of that time as the only black senator, said he is looking at conduct, and not who is committing it.

"The driving principle is not what white Americans think of when they hear the term terrorism," he said. "They're thinking about someone from another country."

But no so-called terrorist has created as much havoc, taken as many lives of men, women and little children as white, Christian Americans, he said. But none of those acts were labeled terrorism, nor were the perpetrators called terrorists.

What's happening in Oregon with people occupying headquarters of a federal wildlife refuge is subversive, a direct, armed challenge against the authority of the United States, Chambers said.

"But since white men are doing it," he said, "it's treated in almost a ho-hum fashion: This is what white men do."

It's an example, Chambers said, of what so-called law-abiding Americans do when they get these guns and they don't like what is going on.

If Muslims did they same thing, he said, authorities would kill as many as they could, and then brand every other Muslim as a threat and round them up.

If they were black people, they'd be shot down right now, he said.

When black people have demonstrated across the country against police violence -- unarmed, and not threatening direct violence -- there were military vehicles and military weaponry standing by, Chambers said, even though nobody was taking armed control of anything.

People can be arrested if they articulate a desire or intent to go to Syria or Iraq or Iran, he said.

If the mere expression of an opinion is sufficient to be arrested and charged with a serious offense that can carry years in prison, he said, then it's not unreasonable to bring a bill to deal with the kind of equipment and garb that would bespeak illegal violence.
A 25-year-old fugitive died Wednesday night, apparently shooting himself as federal and tribal law enforcement closed in to arrest him in northern Nebraska, an FBI spokeswoman said Thursday.

Officers from the U.S. Marshal's Service, Knox County Sheriff's office and Santee Sioux Tribal Police Department tried to arrest David Hoffman on the Santee Sioux Reservation a day after he took a gun from a police officer in Niobrara, spokeswoman Sandy Breault said.

Hoffman refused to surrender peacefully and shot himself with a handgun, Breault said in a news release.

Critically injured, he was taken to a nearby hospital where he died, Breault said. No officers were injured in the incident.

"At this time, there is no indication any of the officers on the scene discharged their weapons and no other injuries were reported," she said.

Autopsy results are pending, as are ballistic tests on the handgun.

It was unclear Thursday whether Hoffman's death is subject to a Nebraska law requiring a grand jury investigation anytime someone dies in police custody.

The shooting marked a violent end in a search for Hoffman that started about 1 p.m. on Tuesday in Niobrara.

The Knox County Sheriff's Office said Hoffman assaulted a Niobrara police officer who tried to arrest him on a burglary warrant alleging Hoffman stole cash and supplies from a beauty salon Dec. 18.

Hoffman disarmed the officer, pointed the handgun at him and fled into the river bottom along the Niobrara and Missouri rivers, according to the sheriff's office.

During the manhunt that followed, sheriff's deputies evacuated Niobrara State Park, searched some vehicles on the edge of the town of 357 and some neighboring schools and businesses were put in lockdown.
The court said in a ruling Friday that the Custer County trial court should have held a hearing on Tyler Bain's claim that prosecutors had seen his confidential trial strategy, thus violating his constitutional rights.

One of the prosecutors who handled his case had told the trial court before Bain's trial about seeing a document from the defense that discussed trial strategy. The trial judge determined that the prosecutor who actually tried the case hadn't seen the document, but the high court said that was insufficient to ensure Bain's rights were not violated.
The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday sent a Lincoln man's sexual assault case back to district court for the second time, this time finding it would be double jeopardy to allow the prosecutor to allege his accuser was incapable of resisting.

Curtis Lavalleur was accused of sexually assaulting a co-worker after a night of drinking in 2012.

At trial in 2013, a Lancaster County jury found him not guilty of one count of first-degree sexual assault and guilty of attempted first-degree sexual assault.

Lavalleur was sentenced to two to three years in prison.

He appealed, arguing that he didn't get a fair trial because District Court Judge Andrew Jacobsen hadn't allowed his attorney to question his accuser about a possible motive she had to lie, finding that it fell under Nebraska's rape shield statute.

In September 2014, the state's high court agreed, reversed his conviction and sent the case back to be retried on the attempted first-degree sexual assault charge.

Lavalleur got out of prison and posted bond on Oct. 24, 2014.

As the case headed toward re-trial, the Lancaster County Attorney's office sought to amend the complaint against him, adding the theory that Lavalleur tried to penetrate his accuser when he knew or should have known she was incapable of resisting.

The state had included that allegation on the first-degree sexual assault charge at Lavalleur's first trial, but not on the attempted charge.

So Lavalleur's attorney argued that to allow the state to amend it would be like trying him twice, because the jury in his earlier trial already rejected the argument.

When Jacobsen allowed it, Lavalleur appealed again.

In an opinion Friday, the state's high court found that the question of whether his accuser was incapable of consenting was one of fact, which the jury already decided in Lavalleur's favor and cannot be litigated again between the same parties.

The Supreme Court found that the district court had erred, and sent the case back to district court for further proceedings that may include a possible re-trial on the attempted charge.
Lancaster County leaders blasted a report by the ACLU of Nebraska that criticizes juvenile detention methods across the state, including at the Youth Services Center in Lincoln.

In the report, "Growing Up Locked Down: Juvenile Solitary Confinement in Nebraska," ACLU of Nebraska denounced the lack of uniformity in how state and county juvenile detention centers use solitary confinement to discipline youth in custody.

The report, released Monday, said some lockups, including the Youth Services Center in Lincoln, can keep kids isolated for as long as 15 days.

Confinement logs from the center demonstrate "arbitrary and subjective" use of solitary confinement as a form of punishment, ACLU officials said this week.

But on Thursday, several Lancaster County Board members and Youth Services Center Director Sheli Schindler said the ACLU failed to ask for interpretation of the confinement logs when it requested the information from the county last summer.

I think it was more of an issue with the state-run facilities at Geneva and Kearney, said Commissioner Todd Wiltgen. I dont think the systems broken in Lancaster County.

Schindler said Youth Services Center staff members do sometimes have to separate troublesome youth from others. But she said they never keep them locked and isolated in their rooms for more than four hours at a time.

Sometimes these youth have to be separated from other youth, she said. Its for their protection, or its for the protection of others.

While some youth may be separated from others for extended periods, they still get visits from mentors and therapists in their rooms and have access to gyms and outdoor recreations areas, she said.

The center uses a behavior management program that provides incentives to youth who follow rules and denies privileges to those who do not.

ACLU of Nebraska officials defended the report, saying it simply contains information provided by state and county officials.

In a letter sent to Lancaster County Board members Thursday morning, Executive Director Danielle Conrad said the report provides the actual responses generated by the organization's records request.

County officials never expressed concerns or qualified their response in any way until after public attention was given to our report, she wrote. If in fact the information county officials provided to us was inaccurate, insufficient, or in error that is problematic for county record-keeping purposes and not a fault to be attributed to ACLU of Nebraska.

The report said that reasons for putting youth at the county detention center in isolation include passing notes or having too many books in their rooms.

However, Schindler said, ACLU staff failed to ask for additional explanation and said the limit on the number of books is meant to reduce the amount of flammable materials in rooms.

As for passing notes, she said, center staff likely made that decision because of the severity of the notes' contents rather than the act itself. She said some youth have used notes to threaten other youth and center staff.

We have to have precautions in place, Schindler said.

She said many youth at the center have mental health disorders and are awaiting placement in private facilities. Those facilities often reject especially troublesome juveniles, leaving some at the Youth Services Center for weeks at a time.

Schindler said the lack of private placements for mentally ill juveniles has forced her staff to find ways to integrate them into programs at the center without endangering other youth.

She suggested asking the Legislature to implement a 20-day limit on how long youth can remain in juvenile detention centers.

Schindler also criticized a recommendation in the report to reduce use of solitary confinement to four hours at a time. If that happened, she said, she would like to have the ability to reject placement of certain youth at the Youth Services Center.

"We rely on private entities to have services for our kids, and they can say no," she said. "It's a big, systemic issue."
Lisa Smith drove past a familiar view when she left for work Monday morning -- 14 acres of mature trees that had towered over the front nine of the former Knolls Country Club for decades.

But when I came home from work, she said, it looked like a bomb had went off.

Dozens of trees had been toppled -- likely more than 100 -- leaving a scarred and unexpected clearing on the south side of Old Cheney.

It was shocking, but not necessarily surprising. The new owner of the west side of The Knolls announced in March it planned to build a 190-unit senior living center -- with assisted- and independent-living apartments -- where the first nine holes used to be.

Before construction can begin next fall, crews had to clear the land. And the fate of every tree was approved by the city, said Pat Day of Omaha's Dial Development, which is building the retirement center.

We went through a lot of time and effort to specifically come up with a game plan with the city and neighborhood representatives, he said.

But the approval process was contentious at times. Neighbors hired a lawyer, because they felt the Lincoln-Lancaster Planning Department was rubber-stamping the project. The developer ultimately agreed to quadruple the distance between the complex and neighboring homes and to use brick and stone that matched nearby houses, and to keep more trees than originally planned.

The Lincoln City Council approved the project in August on a 6-1 vote. The dissenter, Leirion Gaylor Baird, said at the time the change in zoning to allow the complex wasn't justified, that people who live in an area zoned for single-family homes had a reasonable expectation a project of this magnitude wouldnt move in next door.

In addition to building plans, the developer submitted its vision for the landscaping, said Steve Henrichsen, the planning department's development review manager.

That showed the trees that would remain, the trees that would be added and the trees that would be removed, he said.

That, too, was a product of negotiating with neighbors.

Originally, there were a lot more trees that were going to be cut down than got cut down, said Dan Marvin, a former city councilman who lives nearby and took an active role in representing the neighborhood.

Convincing the developer to move the project deeper inside the lot, and farther from neighbors, saved more trees on the perimeter of the property. The company also transplanted some trees to provide more of a screen for nearby homes.

They moved about as many trees as they could move with the equipment they had, Marvin said.

In September, the developer and a group of neighbors walked the site, identifying the trees that would stay and those that would go.

Marvin and others tried to keep residents of the neighborhood updated through emails, meetings and door-to-door visits, he said. But even that couldnt prepare people for what the land looked like this week.

I knew it was going to be a shock. We all knew it was going to be a shock, he said. But when it actually happens, its a really dramatic change.

Like a war zone, said Smith, who lives two doors down from the former Knolls clubhouse. Those trees grew for decades, she said. They disappeared in less than a day.

And these were big, beautiful healthy trees.

She knows it's too late for the trees on the west side of The Knolls. But she hopes theyre not forgotten when a developer starts making plans for the field of trees on the east.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced Tuesday that it had successfully tested another nuclear bomb, its fourth since 2006, and independent reports of man-made seismic activity inside the Hermit Kingdom seem to confirm the claim.

There's no real North Korea policy in place in Washington; the Obama administration has pursued a strategy of "strategic patience," which essentially amounts to waiting for either North Korea or its benefactor China to voluntarily do something productive. So when North Korea forces Washington to pay attention, even if it's only for a few days, all the U.S. government can do is grieve. And it happens in all five stages. (With apologies to psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.)

Stage 1: Denial

The U.S. government's first reaction to any North Korean nuclear test or missile launch is to acknowledge reports of the incident but defer comment until all the data comes in, which can take days. The U.S. Geological Survey has already announced a 5.1-magnitude seismic event near previous nuclear tests. But even so, it will be hard to confirm that North Korea successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb, as Pyongyang claims. This allows the world to briefly live in denial that the Hermit Kingdom has made a significant technological leap since the last test in 2013.

The bigger denial is the U.S. government's view of North Korea: State Department spokesman John Kirby said late Tuesday that "we will not accept it as a nuclear state." North Korea has been a nuclear state since 2006. According to the Institute for Science and International Security, it could have enough nuclear material for 79 bombs by 2020.

Stage 2: Anger

In the days following a North Korea provocation, the U.S. will lead the international community in a very public condemnation of Pyongyang's utter disregard for United Nations Security Council resolutions, its breaking of its own international commitments such as the September 2005 agreement to denuclearize, and its flaunting of international norms regarding safety and security in Northeast Asia. The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Wednesday, after which very critical statements are sure to be issued. In Washington, lawmakers will renew calls for increasing sanctions on North Korea, which is already the most sanctioned country on earth.

Stage 3: Bargaining

Once the outrage subsides a bit, the expert community and the media, collectively known as the chattering class, will resume a familiar discussion about whether China can be persuaded to intervene and solve the North Korea problem. "All eyes will be on China to see whether this nuclear test near the Chinese border will finally compel a change in Beijing's support of the regime," Victor Cha, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote Wednesday morning.

China will be bargaining as well, working to protect North Korea from harsh reprisals and other punitive measures that might be advocated by countries like Japan or South Korea. The question that comes up perennially is what the U.S. can do to press Beijing to take a harder line toward Kim Jong Un. The answer always comes back the same. China highly prizes North Korea stability and is unlikely to do anything too substantial to tamp down the provocations.

Stage 4: Depression

Until this recent test, there had been signs that North Korea was opening up, albeit cautiously. There has been a new inter-Korean dialogue and family reunions were recently allowed. The Chinese government had recently reached out to North Korea's leadership after a long cooling-off period following the execution of their main interlocutor, Kim's uncle Jang Song Thaek. Even the Japanese had some new initiatives in mind to work with North Korea. All of that will now be placed on indefinite hold.

Stage 5: Acceptance

North Korea's provocations have become so routine that after the international community goes through the motions, everyone eventually reverts back to the status quo. North Korea will likely avoid any tough new sanctions, as it has in the past. After a couple of months, quiet meetings may be held to re-establish back-channel discussions through experts and semi-official government representatives.

North Korea's leaders will continue to test their ballistic missile and nuclear technology; they have to in order to progress technologically and assert their relevance. Also, there's not much the U.S. can or will do about it, but hope that Kim Jong Un has enough interest in self-preservation that he continues to perpetrate violence only against his own people.
Charitable-minded individuals now have an alternative to balloons and flowers for the ones they love on Valentines Day. Community Services Fund of Nebraska is offering Share the Love, a program allowing people to donate to a charity in the name of the one they love. The recipient will receive a card notifying them of the donation and small box of chocolates for Valentines Day.

Giving a gift to charity is a wonderful alternative gift for that hard-to-buy-for parent, friend or significant other, said Kiersten Hill, executive director. Community Services Fund is a coalition of nonprofits dedicated to providing donors with options and Share the Love does just that.

Community Services Fund member agencies are all Nebraska-based and do not participate in other local giving federations. Donors may choose from 56 agencies serving Lincoln, Omaha and Nebraska. These members of Community Services Fund assist those in need, foster local arts and culture, build strong communities, enhance education and learning, improve health options, care for animals and the environment and work for a just society.

Community Services Fund of Nebraska is a nonprofit federation founded in 1981 to connect donors to the causes they care about most through workplace giving. Learn more at www.CommunityServicesFund.org.
RACINE  Four people have been arrested in the Monday night robbery of TCF Bank at 3935 Douglas Ave., according to Racine police.

Cantrell Hunter, 17; Antoine S. Cook, 20; Charles E. Donnell, 19; and 16-year-old Marquez C. Vines, all of Kenosha, are accused in the crime.

City of Racine police responded to the bank at about 6:20 p.m. Monday for a report of an armed robbery.

According to police a suspect, later identified as Hunter, handed a bank teller a note demanding money.

Police were led in a vehicle chase, ending up on foot in the Jacato Drive neighborhood. The suspects vehicle stopped in the 2400 block of Lorraine Avenue, and three of the four occupants fled on foot, police reported. After brief pursuits on foot, all four suspects were arrested.

After interviews and further investigation, all four suspects were arrested on charges of robbery of a financial institution as party to a crime. Hunter was also arrested on charges of resisting/obstructing an officer. Cook, the alleged driver of the suspects vehicle, also was arrested on charges of fleeing and eluding an officer and a probation violation.

Donnell also was arrested on charges of felony bail jumping, and Vines also was arrested on charges of felony and misdemeanor bail jumping.

There were no injuries nor any weapons displayed or recovered, police reported.

This particular TCF Bank branch was last robbed in July 2013, during which a female robber implied having a weapon.

The bank also was robbed in November 2012, in which two men were taken into custody following a chase.

TCF Bank spokesman Mark Goldman said the bank has no comment on the robbery or robberies themselves but added, Were confident in (the authorities) ability to use the information we obtain during these situations, including surveillance video, to quickly bring these robbery investigations to a

conclusion.

Racine police investigators are interested in any additional information that people may have about the case, and those with information are urged to call the Racine Police Department Investigations Unit at 262-635-7756.

They may also contact Crime Stoppers at 262-636-9330, or by texting RACS plus the message to CRIMES (274637) and referring to Tipsoft I.D. #TIP417 with their text message.
RACINE  Bond was set at a collective $100,000 for four suspects, all from Kenosha and Lincoln counties, charged in connection with Monday nights robbery of TCF Bank in Racine.

Racine County prosecutors on Wednesday charged Cantrell B. Hunter Jr., 17, of Irma; and Antoine S. Cook, 20; Charles E. Donnell Jr., 19; and Marquez C. Vines, 16, all of Kenosha. Hunter and Vines are charged as adults in Monday nights robbery of TCF Bank, at 3935 Douglas Ave.

Two bank employees were inside at about 6:17 p.m. when Hunter walked in and reportedly asked to cash a check. Hunter handed an employee a piece of paper, which was upside down, and when she flipped it over there was a note. It stated: This is a robbery I do not want to hurt you so do (sic) die packs and no trackers. Fill the bag, according to the criminal complaints.

Hunter allegedly handed the woman a drawstring bag and told her to fill it with cash. She placed a stack of money in the bag and he said: I want it all, the complaints state. She loaded another stack in the bag and he again demanded more money. After emptying the drawer, a second employee  who had been in the restroom  left it, which prompted Hunter to flee, the complaints state.

Hunter fled the bank with $534, the complaints state.

Police then followed a green Pontiac on a chase that reached speeds of up to 70 mph, with Cook driving the getaway car, the complaints state. Hunter, Cook and Donnell reportedly ran from the car but were caught by police. Vines remained inside the car and also was arrested.

Racine Police Sgt. Jessie Metoyer said Wednesday that all of the money was recovered by officers.

No one was reported injured and no weapons were used in the robbery, police have said.

The criminal complaints do not state what roles Donnell and Vines had in the robbery. Metoyer said after interviewing with investigators, they were all tied to it.

Hunter is charged as a repeat offender with being a party to the crime of robbery of a financial institution and two counts of obstructing an officer. Cook is charged as a repeat offender with being a party to the crime of robbery of a financial institution and attempting to flee or elude a traffic officer. Donnell is charged as a repeat offender with being a party to the crime of robbery of a financial institution and felony bail jumping. Vine is charged with being a party to the crime of robbery of a financial institution and two counts of felony bail jumping.

During their initial appearances in court Wednesday, Court Commissioner Alice Rudebush set each suspects bond at $25,000 and ordered them to have no contact with each other or any TCF Bank branch.

Family members of the four couldnt be reached Wednesday for comment. All four remained in the Racine County Jail on Wednesday evening, booking records show.

Their preliminary hearings are set for Nov. 19.
WATERFORD  A candidate for the Village Board who was initially left off the spring election ballot because of a paperwork snafu will refile nominating papers Friday.

Andrew Ewert used a 2009 form downloaded from the village website to collect the signatures necessary to get on the April 5 general election ballot, Waterford officials said. The papers were deemed unacceptable when Ewert turned them in just before the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline, according to a news release.

However, officials gave Ewert three days to submit the correct nomination papers. Ewert said late Thursday he visited the 15 people whose signatures were on the wrong forms and, per instructions by the state Government Accountability Board, had them each sign an affidavit, which was stamped by a notary officer.

He planned to turn them in and meet with village officials Friday, he said.

Ewert would join three Village Board incumbents  Ronald Kluth, James Schneider and Donald Hutson  on the April 5 ballot.

Old form on website

While Ewert got the correct form in hard copy from the Village Hall office, a search on the website turned up the 2009 form, which a volunteer for Ewert downloaded.

Staff immediately conducted an investigation to learn how the old form was accessed and took steps to scrub the website of outdated forms and information, the village said in the news release. The correct and current forms were always available on the Elections & Voting page of the Village website. The Village regrets the confusion caused in this election process.

The village did not accept the papers based on instructions from the Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections. The GAB provides documents for candidates to complete and routinely updates its forms, the village said in the release.

The news release omitted Ewerts name, which The Journal Times obtained through an open records request for the nominating papers.

Ewert considered filing a complaint with the GAB but decided to refile instead.

He said he was irritated about the error and having to circle back with residents.

It was frustrating having to knock on everyones door tonight, he said.

He added the village was open about the forms being left on the site and helpful in getting him on the April ballot.
RACINE  A Lincoln County teen was sentenced on Thursday to seven years in prison for walking into a Racine bank in 2014 with a demand note and robbing it.

Cantrell B. Hunter Jr., 19, of Irma, was convicted of robbing TCF Bank in Racine on Nov. 10, 2014. During his sentencing on Thursday, Racine County Circuit Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz also ordered him to serve five years on extended supervision, granted him credit for nearly 14 months in the Racine County Jail, and ordered Hunter not to have any contact with gang members.

No one was reported injured and no weapons were used in that robbery, according to police. Hunter fled TCF Bank, at 3935 Douglas Ave. with $534, according to criminal complaints in the case, but all the cash was recovered, police have said.

Hunter pleaded guilty on Nov. 9 to being a party to the crime of robbery of a financial institution and obstructing an officer.

Prosecutors also charged Antoine S. Cook, 21; Charles E. Donnell Jr., 20; and Marquez C. Vines, 17, all of Kenosha. Hunter and Vines were charged as adults. In August, prosecutors asked to dismiss the charges against Donnell and the judge agreed.

The allegations

Two bank employees were inside that day at about 6:17 p.m. when Hunter walked in and reportedly asked to cash a check. Hunter handed one employee a note, which was upside down, and when she flipped it over she read: This is a robbery I do not want to hurt you so do (sic) die packs and no trackers. Fill the bag, according to the complaints.

Hunter allegedly handed the woman a drawstring bag and told her to fill it with cash. When she placed one stack of money inside, Hunter allegedly said: I want it all, the complaints state. She placed another stack in the bag and Hunter demanded more money.

After emptying the drawer, a second employee  who had been in the restroom  emerged. That prompted Hunter to flee, the complaints state.

Police followed a green Pontiac on a chase, which reached speeds of up to 70 mph, as Cook drove the getaway car, the complaints state. Hunter, Cook and Donnell reportedly ran from the car, but were caught by police. Vines remained inside and was arrested.

Cooks trial is scheduled for March 8. Vines sentencing is set for Jan. 21.
GOALS

To be confident and competent enough with a rifle to be able to hit anything I can see in a Jovian Thunderbolt kind of way.



To be able to defend myself with a handgun.



To perhaps harvest some tasty venison with either a rifle or a shotgun, any skin or antler is just a nice bonus, here.



And, if necessary: To Defend the Ramparts of Democracy from a Level 4 Zombie Outbreak or against the Jacobin, Rampaging, Godless, Red-Commie Hordes (or their modern equivalent.)


Executive Action Fallout

January 8th, 2015

With the week of January 3rd 2016 being somewhat of a 'hot news week', primarily because of the Obama executive actions, there is a lot of information and opinion available. Predictably much revolves around the further "chip-chip-chip" against the Second Amendment.

To help keep you in touch better we will share a few links that are felt to be not only relevant but, give views and details you should see in order to be better informed, essentially revolving around the week's events.

"Loretta Lynch warns gun owners: We're watching you" - U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch issued what Second Amendment supporters likely see as a dark warning about the White House's expected executive order on guns, telling a group of reporters the federal government would be actively searching out those firearms' owners who want to sidestep registration.

It seems we still have a gun-hating AG even now - no surprises there.

"Liberal Media Pave Way for Obama's Anti-Gun Rights Action" - Barack Obama's announcement of new gun regulations has already been met with cheers by the anti-gun rights activists in the liberal media.

As so sadly predictable, the mainly leftist and anti-gun media just laps up this sort of news - they are no friends to gun owners.

"Under Gun Rules, F.B.I. Will Receive Health Data" - Responding to Republicans who have repeatedly tied gun violence to mental health issues, President Obama's new gun control plan will allow state agencies and the Social Security Administration to provide certain "protected health information" to the F.B.I. to help crack down on weapons sales to people who pose a danger to themselves or others or are unable to manage their own affairs.

This superficially sounds an acceptable move, until you see not only the potential for abuse but also the invasion into people's medical history.

"The Facts Behind 4 of Obama's Claims About Guns" - another look at the contentious aspects of his decisions.

Be sure you have also seen Alan Korwin's detailed analysis of Obama's guns action speech.

(Late addition) - "Are Obama's New Actions on Gun Sales 'Legally Meaningless'?"

Lawyer, Case Western University School of Law Professor Jonathan H. Adler, wrote on the Washington Post's The Volokh Conspiracy Opinion blog, Jan. 5th, that President Obama's recently announced executive actions will likely have no effect on gun laws.

Note: As of 1/8/16, this item is second down the page, dated 1/7/16. Some interesting legal opinion.

JPFO will of course be closely following further developments on this attack on the Second Amendment, having already made a recent denouncement. This story is far from over.

"You don't have to be Jewish to fight by our side."

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JURIST Guest Columnist Jason Coats of the US Naval War College discusses the investigations into the legitimacy of reports concerning ISIS

On December 11, the Chairmen of three House of Representatives committeesthe Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), the Armed Services Committee and Appropriations Committees Defense Subcommittee (APCDS)announced the establishment of a joint task force to investigate allegations that senior members of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) manipulated intelligence products prior to providing them to national policy makers. The task force is additionally inquiring into whether the allegations reflect a greater systemic problem in CENTCOMs intelligence operations.

This is the most recent reaction to claims that surfaced in August regarding tampering with intelligence assessments. The committees have previously looked into the matter on their own accord and the Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD IG) is likewise undertaking an investigation. The allegations and subsequent investigations can be confusing given the Intelligence Communitys (IC) complex organizational structure and its assorted oversight mechanisms. Nevertheless the CENTCOM situation usefully illustrates how allegations of misconduct are addressed, particularly when involving DoD personnel.

This contribution to JURIST opens with a brief overview of reactions to the CENTCOM accusations. It then describes the organization of the IC and its oversight mechanisms. Lastly I suggest a number of outcomes that could result should any of the investigations uncover wrongdoing.

The NYT reported in late August that the DoD IG had launched an investigation into allegations that CENTCOM military officials had skewed intelligence assessments regarding the campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) in an effort to paint a rosier picture than was merited. The following month The Daily Beast asserted that CENTCOM higher-ups edited intelligence reports to support the administrations claim that the US is winning the battle against ISIS and al Nusra, al Qaedas affiliate in Syria. A civilian Defense Intelligence Agency analyst working within CENTCOM levied, at least in part, the allegations.

The number and respective scope of investigations have evolved since the accusations surfaced. The DoD IG appears to be limiting its inquiry to the intelligence assessments regarding ISIS in Iraq in Syria. Prior to announcement of the joint task force, the congressional committees with IC oversight responsibilities have demonstrated varying degrees of deference to the DoD IG review. Although the Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) conducted a few interviews early on its chairman has stated that the DoD review should be allowed to play out (SIC is not included in the joint task force and its deference will presumably continue). The HPSCI staff prior to formation of the joint task force combed through years of CENTCOM intelligence reports and compared them to non-DoD reports such as those generated by the CIA. Additionally the HPSCI review included [PDF] intelligence reports regarding Afghanistan and other areas under CENTCOMs purview. The House Armed Service Committee also initiated its own inquiry. The joint task force combines the efforts of the House committees and will presumably maintain a broad scope of review across all of CENTCOMs area of responsibility.

Since its genesis in the National Security Act of 1947 the IC has gradually developed into sixteen Executive entity membership. It is headed by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The DoDs membership includes, among others, the Service-component (i.e., Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps) intelligence assets and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). The DIA was established in 1961 by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to deal with the issue of biased intelligence reporting by the individual services intelligence offices. Prior to then military intelligence assessments often conflicted, frequently reflecting Service interests. The directive establishing the DIA tasked it with producing all DoD intelligence estimates and providing the DoD input to the National Intelligence Estimates. By making the DIA directly reportable to the secretary of defense the intent was to eliminate service bias and inaccuracy from intelligence assessments meant to support policy making. Today the intelligence office at a DoD combatant command, such as CENTCOM, is composed of personnel from multiple intelligence organizations, both DoD and non-DoD. They share information and support each others activities, but also conduct their own intelligence activities and generate independent products. Because the DIA assets embedded in CENTCOM report directly to the secretary of defense, they should be insulated from any potential CENTCOM influence and bias.

All members of the IC are subject to, broadly speaking, the same oversight and regulation. For the most part the Executive Branch exercises oversight through Executive Orders (EO) and directives, while the Legislative Branch does so through statutes, appropriations and hearings. The Office of the DNIs (ODNI) recent Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) 203 (January 2015) dictates [PDF] five analytic standards that the IC is required to follow, one of which is independence from political consideration. To this end [a]nalytic judgments must not be influenced by the force of preference for a particular policy. ICD 203 provides the standards which intelligence agencies including those operating within CENTCOM, are expected to maintain.

To ensure compliance with applicable directives an IG office at most Executive Branch entities serves as an independent and objective body for receiving complaints and conducting investigations, reviews and audits. Congress created the ODNIs Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community in the National Intelligence Authorization Act of 2010. While the IG is the DNIs investigative asset it must also notify Congress whenever it determines allegations are credible. Upon receiving the initial accusations involving CENTCOM the ODNI IG informed the appropriate congressional committees and the DoD IG, prompting initiation of the latters investigation. The DoD IGs inquiry is reviewing CENTCOMs intelligence reporting processes and the conduct of those involved to evaluate compliance with applicable operating procedures, regulations and law.

Congressional oversight of the IC has slowly developed since enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. As my colleague Major Christopher Ford has described the tightening of this oversight has resulted from periods of IC improprieties, two of which are of significant note. The first occurred in the 1970s with public discovery of Army Intelligence collection on American citizens participating in the Vietnam antiwar movement and of CIA involvement in the Watergate scandal. Ad hoc congressional inquiries substantiated these allegations and subsequently motivated establishment of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) and HPSCI. The second period of significance was discovery of covert intelligence operations in the early 1980s that involved the sale of arms to Iran in order to facilitate the freeing of American hostages that country held and to fund guerillas in Central America (the Iran-Contra Affair). In response Congress significantly increased the Presidents reporting requirements in advance of certain intelligence operations via the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991. Today a number of congressional committees exercise oversight of the IC. These committees utilize hearings to investigate potential misconduct, as well as inform the public of allegations of impropriety. Congress also exercises its power of the purse over the annual intelligence authorization legislation as an additional means of oversight. Because these oversight measures apply to the IC in its entirety, they directly impact CENTCOM intelligence operations.

A number of possibilities exist as to the consequences of the ongoing investigations. IG investigations and records, barring special justification and authorization, may not be used for adverse action (i.e., reprimand or position/employment termination) against the individuals involved. Instead they are generally utilized to amend procedures and improve processes. Adverse action or criminal prosecution must rely upon separate command and/or criminal investigations. Such inquiries may be taking place but no acknowledgement to that effect has been publicly made. Accordingly the most that may be expected from the DoD IG investigation is institutional and procedural reform.

Should the congressional inquiries substantiate improprieties the committees with oversight responsibilities will likely pressure the Executive and DoD to tighten the reigns on intelligence operating procedures, as well as remove those senior officials responsible for the behavior. Congress could also mandate greater oversight measures, such as additional reporting requirements, in the next intelligence appropriations legislation. A potential wildcard does exist. Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel recently described the hostility he felt from members of the Obama Administration when he publicly voiced his opinion on the formidability of ISIS. If the congressional investigations discover that intelligence assessment manipulation is somehow attributable to the administration, Congress may respond by imposing oversight measures designed to insulate the IC from administration influence.

Yet the effort to address the CENTCOM incident may also serve as an example of the IC working properly. Although the DIA was established to remove bias and manipulation from intelligence reporting, no system is flawless. In this case suspect conduct in the provision of intelligence assessments was brought to light and investigated on multiple levels. Therefore the incident may well reinforce the sufficiency of IC oversight measures. Whether this will eventuate depends of course, on those actions taken to respond to any misconduct that may be discovered.

Major Jason A. Coats is a US Army Judge Advocate currently assigned as a professor in the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law at the US Naval War College. He has extensive experience serving as a legal advisor to operational and tactical units, both in conventional and special operations forces.

Suggested citation: Jason Coats, Making Sense Of Investigations Into Intelligence Reports Regarding Efforts Against ISIS, JURIST  Academic Commentary, January 8, 2015, http://jurist.org/forum/2015/11/jason-coats-isis-intelligence.php.

This article was prepared for publication by Elizabeth Dennis, an Assistant Editor for JURIST Commentary. Please direct any questions or comments to her at commentary@jurist.org.
Alabama chief justice Roy Moore on Wednesday instructed state judges not to issue same-sex marriage licenses [order]. The Alabama Supreme Court [official website] had ruled [order, PDF] in March that the states ban on same-sex marriage is legal, and Moores order states that ruling remains in effect despite the June Supreme Court ruling finding such bans unconstitutional:

Until further decision by the Alabama Supreme Court, the existing orders of the Alabama Supreme Court that Alabama probate judges have a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage license contrary to the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment or the Alabama Marriage Protection Act remain in full force and effect.

Federal officials responded Wednesday expressing grave concerns [press release] about the order. Meanwhile, the order has caused confusion among probate judges, with some defying the order [Daily News report] and issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

The judicial upheaval regarding same-sex marriage in Alabama [JURIST op-ed] has captivated the nation as the political conflict continues to unfold. A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Alabama issued an order [ruling, PDF] in July that all Alabama counties must abide by a Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage. The order says that state probate judges may not discriminate against same-sex couples after the US Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] that same-sex marriage is constitutional. The order affects all counties that are issuing marriage licenses, but does not affect those that have stopped issuing all marriage licenses in wake of the ruling.
Ethiopian government security forces have killed 140 protesters [text] in the Oromia region despite December reports of only five deaths, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said Thursday. The protesters began demonstrations in November against the governments plan to expand the countrys capitol, Addis Ababa, onto farmland and property occupied by approximately 2 million Oromia people. HRW also claims that the government has been arbitrarily arresting politicians, like Bekele Gerba [Reuters report], and ordinary citizens who support the movement. The group also raised concerns over how excessive force and arrests impact the long-term stability of the country. HRW called for the release of those detained and that the government take responsibility for its use of force and allow for peaceful protests.

In December HRW reported that activists had witnessed security forces firing into throngs of protesters [HRW report]. That report came a day after Ethiopias Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn [BBC profile], warned [IBT report] of merciless legitimate action against any force bent on destabilising the area. Ethiopian officials have been claiming that the demonstrations are a front for those involved in the protests to insight violence and threaten the stability of the nation. The government labeled the primarily peaceful activists as terrorists as a means to justify the call for force. Ethiopia has used its broad anti-terrorism laws to detain political opposition before. In October five Ethiopian bloggers were acquitted of terrorism charges relating to publications on their website [Zone9, in Amharic]. The publications, critical of the government, landed nine bloggers in jail [JURIST report], and one charged in absentia, in April 2014, for violation of the laws. That same month UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights Ben Emmerson [official profile] expressed concern [press release] over the rising use of counter-terrorism measures around the world [JURIST report]. Many nations have used counter-terrorism as an excuse to restrict public assembly and stop the activities of public interest groups, Emmerson said.
[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] on Thursday urged [HRW report] the Chinese authorities to release 38 lawyers and activists associated with the Beijing Fengrui Law Firm who have been held in designated residential surveillance since July. Designated Residential Surveillance allows legal incommunicado solitary detention in secret locations for up to six months. Citing the fact that January 9 will mark six months, HRW said that the Chinese authorities should release the detainees as required by law. Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch said that, [t]he secret detention of dozens of lawyers makes a mockery of President Xi Jinpings claims that China is governed by the rule of law  [and] [t]he failure to release all 38 by the six-month legal deadline would shred any credibility the government has on upholding its own laws.

Chinese state media recently criticized [JURIST report] detained human rights lawyers for undermining the rule of law. Last month prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was released [JURIST report] after receiving a suspended sentence. Pu was detained in 2014 on a charge of causing a disturbance after he attended a weekend meeting that urged an investigation into the 1989 crackdown of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and was subsequently denied [JURIST reports] bail. The Tiananmen protests began in April 1989 with mainly students and laborers protesting the Communist Party of China. The Chinese government declared martial law in May and initiated the violent dispersal of protesters by the Peoples Liberation Army on June 4. The Chinese government has never publicized official figures, but the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy [advocacy website] reported last year that unnamed sources had estimated 600 people were killed [ICHR report, in Chinese].
The last Kuwaiti held at Guantanamo, Faiz Mohammed Ahmed al-Kandari, has been repatriated to his home country, the US Department of Defense (DOD) announced [press release] Friday. The Periodic Review Board (PRB) [official website] determined in September that continued law of war detention of Al-Kandari does not remain necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States. Al-Kandari was captured by unnamed Afghans and arrived at Guantanamo in May 2002 after being accused [Stars and Stripes report] of serving as Osama Bin Ladens advisor and confidant. Kuwaiti authorities said the release showed progress[Kuwait Times report] in bilateral relations between the government of Kuwait and the US. The release of all 12 Kuwaiti detainees followed [CBS/AP report] from strong efforts by Kuwait and high-profile Washington lawyers to secure their freedom. Al-Kandari is the third detainee to be resettled [JURIST report] this week, and 104 detainees remain at the detention center.

The Obama administration has promised to close Guantanamo but has struggled due to Congressional 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 detainees from being transferred into the US. President Barack 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. The Guantanamo Review Task Force (GRTF) was created in response to a 2009 presidential executive order [text, PDF] to review the status of all detainees. 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 New York Police Department (NYPD) [official website] came to a settlement agreement [text] on Thursday in two civil rights lawsuits accusing the NYPD of wrongfully monitoring Muslims after the 9/11 attacks. In October the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [official website] revived [JURIST report] the civil rights lawsuit filed by a coalition of Muslim groups that accused the NYPD of conducting unjustified surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey. The police department has agreed [WSJ report] to reinstate a civilian attorney to a panel that will ensure that no first amendment rights are violated during all surveillance. The appointee will be an outside observer with no connection to the police department and appointed by the mayor. The department has also agreed to place a time limit on investigations and officially support the existing NYPD policy that it is illegal to profile based upon religious activity. The NYPD has not acknowledged improper monitoring of Muslims and has made no admission of guilt within the settlement. The department states that the changes enforce already guiding principles in use.

In April 2014 the new commissioner of the NYPD William Bratton announced [JURIST report] the disbanding of the Demographics Unit surveillance unit used to spy on the Muslim communities. In February 2014 a judge for the US District Court for the District of New Jersey ruled [JURIST report] that the NYPDs surveillance of Muslims was a lawful effort for national security and did not constitute harm or violation of civil rights. The Muslim Advocates filed [JURIST report] the lawsuit in 2012. In September 2013 former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly admitted [JURIST report] that the NYPD spied on mosques and on a Muslim preacher but requested that the court dismiss the complaint.
[JURIST] A federal court in Ohio on Tuesday sentenced [press release] Serbian refugee Slobodan Mutic to two years in prison for lying on immigration forms about his participation in ethnic cleansing and genocide in the former Yugoslavia. A spokesperson for the Cleveland District Attorneys Office said that Mutic will be sent back to Croatia to stand trial for war crimes following the completion of his sentence in the US. Interpol had issued a warrant for Mutic in 2002. In a 1992 affidavit, Mutic admitted to aiding in the killing a Croatian couple while serving in a Serbian militia group. In December Mutic pleaded guilty to lying on immigration forms, which is a federal crime.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] and the Balkan States continue to prosecute those accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity that left more than 100,000 people dead and millions displaced during the Balkan conflict of the 1990s. Earlier this month three former members of the Bosnian Muslim armed forces were arrested [JURIST report] in Tulza, a town in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), for allegedly killing as many as 10 Serb civilians in Srebrenica in July 1992. Serbian prosecutors charged [JURIST report] former Bosnian Army general Naser Oric in August with war crimes against prisoners of war in 1992 for crimes allegedly committed in the same village. He was accused of killing of killing of three Bosnian Serb prisoners of war. Oric has pleaded [JURIST report] not guilty. In April the BiH prosecutors office indicted [JURIST report] 10 former Bosnian-Serb soldiers for war crimes committed during the Balkan conflict of the 1990s. Also in April Bosnian prosecutors indicted three men [JURIST report] for crimes committed against more than 300 Serb civilians between April 1992 and July 1993.
Polish President Andrzej Duda [official website, in Polish] on Thursday signed [press release, in Polish] a controversial media control bill into law. Under the new law, the treasury minister [official website, in Polish] will replace [IBT report] the National Broadcasting Council [official website, in Polish] in appointing and removing media executives in charge of public radio and television programming. The bill will also shorten [PAP report, in Polish] the terms of the executives and create a new council under the office of the treasury in order to accomplish the goals set forth in the new law. The European Commission (EC) [official website] expressed [JURIST report] its intentions on Sunday to debate Polands new law on control of state-run media after Warsaw seized control of public broadcasters. According to President Dudas aide [Guardian report], the bill was signed into law because he wants the state media to be impartial, objective and credible.

The ruling centrist party of Poland, the Law and Justice Party (PIS) [party website, in Polish] has rejected [DW report] criticisms that its policies are undermining democracy in Poland. However, there is a larger concern in the EU that new Polish law will erode checks and balances on government powers. 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. Earlier last month the leader of the European Parliament compared PISs rise to power in Poland to a coup [BBC report], leading the government to call for an apology.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein [official profile] on Friday encouraged the Yemen government to reconsider its decision [press release report] to expel the countrys human rights representative. The government claimed that George Abu al-Zulof, the human rights representative, was biased and failed in assessing the countrys human rights situation. Zeid said:

Our job is not to highlight violations committed by one side and ignore those committed by the other.  To the best of our ability, in a very fluid and dangerous environment, we have tried to monitor and report objectively on the human rights situation in Yemen. Unfortunately, both sides have very clearly committed violations, resulting in some 2,800 civilian deaths over the past nine months. Our role is to focus on human rights and the protection of civilians, not on the politics.

Zeids statement comes just days after his office reported that the ongoing conflict is responsible for 8,119 civilian casualties [JURIST report], including 2,795 dead and 5,324 wounded. The numbers stem in part from the use of illegal cluster munitions [JURIST report], which spread bomblets over a wide area, many of which do not immediately explode, allowing the bomblets to kill or maim civilians long after a conflict ends.

The rapidly deteriorating situation in Yemen has sparked significant international concern. Last month the UN World Food Programme appealed to all the parties involved in the Yemen conflict to allow the safe passage of food [JURIST report] to the city of Taiz where people have been going hungry for weeks. In October Amnesty International called for an independent investigation into possible war crimes surrounding the destruction of a hospital [JURIST report] run by Doctors Without Borders in Yemen. Also in October human rights organizations criticized the UN Human Rights Council for passing a resolution on Yemen that did not call for an independent international war crimes investigation [JURIST report].
[JURIST] US-based tech companies Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo submitted evidence [text] on Friday of possible conflicts that may arise from the UK governments proposed Investigatory Powers Bill [text, PDF]. Should the bill pass, tech companies would be required [Verge report] to perform bulk data collections of all user activity within a 12-month period in order to help prevent terrorism, cyber bullying, and organized crime. Though such level of online surveillance has been banned in the US, Canada and other European countries, companies have expressed concern that the UKs controversial laws will have an international impact. The evidence submitted to the UK states that the draft bills vague language would require tech companies to weaken encryption, thereby exposing users to significant security risks. The companies have proposed an international framework that does not require them to violate their obligations to other jurisdictions and their own user base.

Surveillance and data collection have been a worldwide topic of discussion, particularly after Edward Snowden leaked top-secret [JURIST report] US National Security Agency (NSA) documents in 2013. In December China passed a new anti-terrorism law [JURIST report] that requires technology companies to provide information to the government obtained from their products and make information systems secure and controllable. In October the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied [JURIST report] a motion by the American Civil Liberties Union to halt the bulk collection of phone records by the NSA. The court ruled that Congress intended for the agency to continue its data collection over the transition period, and the new legislation was to take effect November 29. In August the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed [JURIST report] a ruling that had blocked the NSA from obtaining call detail records from US citizens. In July, MIT scientists published [JURIST report] a paper criticizing the US and UK governments for seeking the redesign of internet systems to allow governments to access information even if encrypted.
Border points will be clear soon: Ambassador Upadhyay

Nepal's Ambassador to India, Dip Kumar Upadhyay, has said Nepal-India relations would be back to normal in the next few days.
Breaking barriers

Women are under-represented in judiciary despite Karkis appointment
Chamber Expo opens at Bhrikutimandap

Nepal Chamber Expo 2016 threw open its doors at Bhrikutimandap on Thursday. The five-day fair hosts 250 stalls displaying factory- and hand-made products from Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Dubai, China and South Korea.
CIAA arrests Nepalgunj sub-metropolis engineer taking bribe

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has arrested a Nepalgunj sub-metropolitan city engineer red handed while accepting bribe from service seekers.
City planners mull greater metropolis

Talks are underway to turn Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur into one metropolis.
Constitution amendment: 103 lawmakers register 24 revision proposals

Lawmakers of around a dozen political parties, including the Nepali Congress and the UCPN (Maoist), have registered proposals seeking revisions in Constitution Amendment Bill in line with the demands forwarded by the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha.
Defending the nation

The new government needs to draft and implement a national security policy to safeguard national interests
Morcha seeks pledge on state demarcation

As representatives of major parties and the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) continue discussions to iron out differences on contentious issues of the constitution, each side looks determined to drive a hard bargain, taking the negotiation process back to square one, and it has now boiled down to Morchas 11-pont demand versus major parties four-point proposal.
NA starts operation to curb wildlife poaching

Nepal Army (NA) has started the Hot Operation to control poaching in the Bardiya National Park in the district.
Orange farming boosts incomes in Darchula

Orange groves have been flourishing and farmers have been making good money despite a range of mysterious diseases and pests striking the district occasionally.
Shades of Sikkim

Our political stalwarts have played a role similar to that of Kazi Lhendup Dorjee
SLMM meet ends inconclusively

A meeting of the agitating Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) held at Tarai Madhesi Loktantrik Party (TMLP) office in Bijulibazar, Kathmandu on Friday ended inconclusively.
Youth held with 93 tola stolen gold

Kaski Police on Thursday arrested a college student in possession of 93 tolas gold and 57 tolas silver stolen from Laxmi Gold Silver Shop at New Road in Kathmandu. The gold and silver jewellery were stolen from the shop on December 27.
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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 ministry of internal affairs and the Electoral Commission are asked to take action against police officers who have reportedly been involved in campaign violence.

The call follows numerous reports of violence involving the police and supporters of opposition candidates, the latest being that of a fracas between FDCs Dr. Kiiza Besigye and police in Bukwo district.

Now the chairman Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda Dr.Livingstone Ssewanyana says all these acts are being orchestrated by police to intimidate voters.

He warns that if nothing is done, voter turnout is likely to be low.

However, the Police Chief Gen Kale Kayihura has often insisted that his officers only act within the law to prevent lawlessness.

Story By Samuel Ssebuliba
The Chairman Elders Forum Justice James Ogoola wants government to abolish use of tear gas to disperse protesters.

He says the forum regards the use of tear gas as a form of gross human rights violation which must stop.

Justice Ogoola adds that use of such methods to quell protests may instead undermine the countrys efforts to ensure a peaceful environment during and after elections.

He was speaking in relation to the recent chaos reported in Bukwo, Ntungamo, Luweero and Kabaale between the police and supporters of opposition FDC and independent presidential candidates Dr Kiiza Besigye and former Premier Amama Mbabazi.

Story By Moses Ndhaye
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.


By Bryan Spielman

CAIRO  On a recent visit to Jordan and Egypt, as part of a trade mission led by the United States Department of Commerce, I was struck by the potential for the surrounding region to become a major hub for cutting-edge medicine. With the right policy mix and enough political will, the Middle East could become an important part of the world for health-care research. In particular, it has a critical role to play regarding pharmaceutical clinical trials designed to investigate the influence of patients' region of ancestry on the safety, efficacy, and effectiveness of treatments.

As our understanding of genetics expands, it is becoming clear that our ancestral origins play a key role in determining the efficacy of certain medicines. For example, studies have shown that patients of European ancestry respond better to beta blockers and ACE inhibitors than those of African descent. And continental origins are often considered when selecting optimal antihypertensive and cardiovascular drug therapy.

Another example is warfarin, an anticoagulant. Research has found that patients of African descent require higher doses than those of European origins; patients with Asian ancestry require lower doses. Studies of tacrolimus , a drug used to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients, indicate that African-American patients require higher doses than their white peers.

Genetic research has also expanded our understanding of diseases. For example, research by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) found that epidermolysis bullosa, a debilitating inherited skin disorder, has a different genetic signature in patients from the Middle East than in those from other parts of the world.

As our understanding of diseases grows, more research is needed to determine the effectiveness of sophisticated new medicines in specific patient populations around the world. Such investigations are already underway in some regions. In Asia, the Human Genome Organization established the Pan-Asian Population Genomics Initiative to study genetic diversity and evaluate variations in drug response in the region. In Mexico, the Institute for Genomic Medicine is genotyping the country's entire population.

Establishing a similar effort in the Middle East will require collaboration among pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, non-profit organizations, governments, and health-care providers. Organizations like USAID and the US Naval Medical Research Center, which are already conducting clinical research in the region, could become valuable partners in coordinating and managing trials.

The first step that the Middle East can take is to align regulations across the region, with countries agreeing on the parameters for testing drugs' safety and efficacy in the local population. Clinical activity is increasing across the Middle East, and the health-care ecosystem needed to support research is growing in size and sophistication. And yet, when it comes to new treatments, regulatory bodies in the region generally follow decisions made by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), without extensively studying a drug's safety and efficacy on local patients.

Approvals must take place on a national level, but regional leadership will be necessary. Jordan, for example, has a sophisticated health-care system and a thriving medical tourism sector. It is also the site of an increasing number of clinical trials. As such, it is well placed to set the standard for research required to show a drug's safety and efficacy in patients of Middle Eastern ancestry.

The Middle East is best known for its ancient historical sites, political instability, and abundant natural resources. But, by developing its ability to make medical advances, the region could become a world leader in deepening our understanding of the role of genetics in the safety and efficacy of medical treatments.

Bryan Spielman is Executive Vice President of Medidata, a global provider of cloud-based solutions for clinical research in life sciences. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate/Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Initiatives.
On the 2014 Terminix list of most bedbug-riddled cities in the nation, the Los Angeles metro area was number 14. But on the most recent 2015 list out from the pest control company, LA has rocketed through the ranks all the way to the number four spot. It's a huge victory for bedbugs and a crushing defeat for the blood-filled humans of LA. Terminix compiled its horrific list (via BoingBoing) by adding up "inbound lead data from the more than 300 [of its] branches across the country," and then ranking metros according to the volume of calls from January to mid-December last year. See the top 10 bedbuggiest cities:

This year was a big, sad victory for Philly, which was unseated from its four-year position at the top of the list by Detroit.

1) Detroit, MI

2) Philadelphia, PA

3) Cleveland-Akron, OH

4) Los Angeles, CA

5) Dayton, OH

6) Chicago, IL

7) Columbus, OH

8) Cincinnati, OH

9) Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

10) San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA

 Detroit Lands Top Spot; Ohio Cities Claim Five Spots [ServiceMaster]
Akashic Books is not accepting print submissions at this time, as our small staff is overwhelmed with work on our current release schedule and forthcoming titles. To uncover other publishing opportunities, we suggest you follow the threads at the, all of which are excellent organizations of independent publishers.Submissions for ourweb series are currently open. We only consider one submission per author at a time. We respond to every submission we receive, typically within 6-8 weeks. Please do not submit multiple stories for simultaneous consideration, and please familiarize yourself with the guidelines of each series before submitting.* * *Though were based in Brooklyn, our location envy of the Caribbean is evident throughout our catalog. One aspect of Caribbean literature that appeals to us is the integration of folklore into contemporary storiesa perfect example being Jamaican authordebut novelwhich we published to great critical acclaim in 2005. Whether it be the spider Anansi, the devil woman La Diablesse, the Soucouyant, Mama Dlo, or Papa Bois, these mythical beings have injected life (and death) into the literature of the region. As with our other flash fiction series, we challenge you to tell your story in 750 words or less.Do you have a story youd like us to consider for online publication in the Duppy Thursday flash fiction series? Here are the submission terms and guidelines:We are not offering payment, and are asking for first digital rights. The rights to the story revert to the author immediately upon publication.Your story should be set in a Caribbean location and incorporate some aspect of folklore, whether centrally or tangentially.Include the location and the referenced folk tale or figure of the story with your byline.Your story should not exceed 750 words.Please include a short bio with your submission.Accepted submissions to Duppy Thursday are typically posted 24 months after the notification date, and will be edited for cohesion and to conform to our house style.E-mail your submission to info@akashicbooks.com. Please paste the story into the body of the email, and also attach it as a PDF file.* * *Mondays Are Murder features brand-new noir fiction modeled after our award-winning. Each story is an original one, and each takes place in a distinct location. Contributions to the Akashic Noir Series are bound by mood: our authors are challenged to capture the sometimes intangible moods of noir and of place. The stories run the gamut from darkly-toned literary glimpses to straight-up crime fiction, while similarly capturing the unique aura of the storys location. Our web model for the series has one more restraint: a 750-word limit. Sound like murder? It is. But so are Mondays.Do you have a story youd like us to consider for online publication in the Mondays Are Murder flash fiction series? Here are the submission terms and guidelines:We are not offering payment, and are asking for first digital rights. The rights to the story revert to the author immediately upon publication.Your story should be set in a distinct location of any neighborhood in any city, anywhere in the world, but it should be a story that could only be set in the neighborhood you chose.Include the neighborhood, city, state, and country next to your byline.Your story should be Noir. What is Noir? Well know it when we see it.Your story should not exceed 750 words.Accepted submissions are typically published 68 months after their notification date and will be edited for cohesion and to conform to our house style.E-mail your submission to info@akashicbooks.com. Please paste the story into the body of the email, and also attach it as a PDF file.* * *Are you a parent going through the Terrible Twos? Did you live through them and survive? Terrible Twosdays is a place to commiserate over the unending shenanigans of your Darling Children (as the online parenting communities say). Nonfiction stories will be considered, so long as names have been changed to protect the guilty. Inspired by our best-selling gift book for parents,, Terrible Twosdays joins the roster of our other online short fiction series. Unlike Mondays Are Murder, were looking for stories with a light and mischievous feel, all about the day-to-day challenges of parenting. As with our other flash fiction series, stories must not exceed 750 words.Do you have a story youd like us to consider for online publication in the Terrible Twosdays flash fiction series? Here are the submission terms and guidelines:We are not offering payment, and are asking for first digital rights. The rights to the story revert to the author immediately upon publication.Your story should focus on the challenges of parenting. Ideally, stories should be about children aged 0 to 5, but any age (up to early teens) is acceptable. Stories may be fiction or nonfiction.Include the childs age at the time of the story next to your byline.Your story should not exceed 750 words.Accepted submissions are typically published 24 months after the notification date and will be edited for cohesion and to conform to our house style.E-mail your submission to info@akashicbooks.com. Please paste the story into the body of the email, and also attach it as a PDF file.___________________________________________________________________________Next, our good friends at, which bills itself as the nation's largest and most established publisher of contemporary and recovery literature by U.S. Hispanic authors.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  The worlds most-wanted drug lord was captured for a third time in a daring raid Friday by Mexican marines, six months after he tunneled out of a maximum security prison in a made-for-Hollywood escape that deeply embarrassed the government and strained ties with the United States.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the capture of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, writing in his Twitter account: mission accomplished: we have him.

Few had thought Guzman would be taken alive, and few now believe Mexico will want to try to hold him a third time in Mexican prisons. He escaped from maximum-security facilities in 2001 and on July 11, 2015, the second breakout especially humiliating for the Pena Nieto administration, which only held him for less than 18 months. The U.S. has sought his extradition, though Mexico in the past has said he would serve sentences here first.

But Pena Nieto gave a brief live message Friday afternoon that focused heavily on touting the competency of his administration, which has suffered a series of embarrassments and scandals in the first half of his presidency.

The arrest of today is very important for the government of Mexico. It shows that the public can have confidence in its institutions, Pena Nieto said. Mexicans can count on a government decided and determined to build a better country.

Guzman was apprehended after a shootout with Mexican marines in Los Mochis, a seaside city in Guzmans home state of Sinaloa, said a federal official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by name. He said Guzman was taken alive and was not wounded.

Five people were killed and one Mexican marine wounded in the clash at a house. It was unclear if Guzman was there or nearby when the raid was under way. Another law enforcement official said Guzman was captured at a motel on the outskirts of Los Mochis.

Given Guzmans penchant for escaping through tunnels, the details of his capture, once they are released by Mexican officials, are sure to be startling.
La Crosse County Board Chairwoman Tara Johnson will face a challenge for her District 29 seat on the county board.

Johnson, who has served on the board since 2000 and was elected the first chairwoman in 2011, will face Laura OLaughlin, a newcomer to local government, on the April 5 ballot.

Im running again because I really enjoy my job and I want to keep doing good work, Johnson, 53, said.

Johnson, a Rotarian and member of the board of directors of the La Crosse Promise, represents a portion of the town of Shelby. She lives with her husband, Tim Padesky, and a son and daughter.

It is an immense privilege for me to serve on the county board for La Crosse County, and it is a job that I feel very good about doing, and I want to continue to work with the other great people in La Crosse County accomplishing the consistently good things weve accomplished, Johnson said.

Johnson said she was proud of her work on the county board, in particular her role in the ongoing downtown developments, including the countys new administrative center, expansion of the Health and Human Services building and the Lot C development by Weber Holdings.

Johnson also pointed out that La Crosses tax rate for 2015 was steady at $3.89 per $1,000 of property value and is projected to remain the same for 2016 and 2017, even with the phase-in of debt service associated with the reworked downtown campus. The countys tax levy remains the seventh-lowest per capita among Wisconsins 72 counties.

I think our track record is stellar, Johnson said.

Johnson declined to comment on her opponent, saying only, I think the voters will benefit from robust campaigns.

OLaughlin did not return requests for comment earlier this week, but the La Crosse County Republican Party has stated it will support OLaughlin, along with any other newcomers to the board, with party chairman Bill Feehan saying hes glad to see her challenge Johnson, and he believed it was time for a change in our county government.

I will support anyone who is going to go there and conduct our county business with an open mind and to vote their conscience, Feehan said.

Feehan, a former county supervisor, criticized Johnsons handling of the new county administrative center deal, which he called a boondoggle.

Feehan was particularly appalled at the sale of the county administrative center for $250,000, saying he believed the building could have been sold for much more had it been on the market longer than 28 days.

I think thats a major failing in her leadership and the leadership of people in our county government, Feehan said.

The local Republican party solicited newcomers to run against liberals on the county board this fall and Feehan repeated the partys support for newcomers Wednesday.

Were here to offer assistance to people who may need to learn what it takes to run for a seat in local government, Feehan said.

Johnson called the county GOPs involvement in the race deeply concerning.

If they are helping people because its hard work to run, great, Johnson said. But she added that local elections are nonpartisan, and I wish they would stay that way.
CHIPPEWA FALLS  Dave Schafer and Mike Buck have known each other for a long time. Last July, the two bumped into each other and started to talk about the grocery business and how it is changing.

Their discussion led to Tuesdays announcement that Gordys Market will take over three Mega Co-op grocery stores, including the Mega-West location in Eau Claire and stores in Whitehall and Barron, while all 14 Gordys Express convenience stores and fuel centers, including one under construction in Tomah, will be converted to Mega Holiday stations.

Gordys owns grocery stores in La Crosse and Arcadia, as well as one in Galesville that includes an Express station.

Both businesses arent here to survive. Were here to thrive, said Schafer, chief financial officer for Gordys Market.

The companies will remain independent but will work together on projects.

Its a relationship that will go on for a long time, said Mike Buck, president of Mega Co-op.

Once the transaction is complete in late February, Gordys will operate 24 grocery stores while Mega Co-op will own and operate 33 convenience stores and fuel centers. The companies said the deal will allow each focus on its primary business.

Schafer said the convenience store in Tomah is scheduled to open Jan. 14. He said the merger wont result in any job cuts at stores in Tomah or Black River Falls.

If anything, it will add more volume, add more sales and lead to more employment, he said.

Gordys purchased four Burnstads Market stores, including the Tomah and Black River Falls locations, in April 2015.

The companies will maintain their corporate office locations. They have close to 2,500 employees in western Wisconsin.

The companies said they will support each other with joint loyalty programs. The Pump Perks program at Gordys will be dropped. Instead, both companies will offer Megas Gas Rewards program available through all Gordys Markets and Mega Holiday locations.

Gordys is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Mega Co-op has been serving Eau Claire for 81 years.
MILWAUKEE  A juror involved in the homicide case that spawned the popular Netflix series Making a Murderer says she stands by the verdict.

The 10-part series raises questions about whether Steven Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey were wrongly convicted, spurring new scrutiny of the case and prompting armchair sleuths to flood online message boards and flood local officials with requests for case records. The show includes comments from an excused juror in Averys case suggesting his conviction was based on flawed evidence.

But Diane Free, a juror who was present to the end, told The Associated Press by phone that she was comfortable with the verdict we reached. The thing on Netflix was a movie, not a documentary.

The series draws on dramatic details. Avery had been wrongly convicted of a 1985 rape and served 18 years in prison. After being freed, he had a $36 million lawsuit pending against public officials when photographer Teresa Halbach disappeared on Halloween 2005 following a visit to the Avery family salvage yard to take pictures of a minivan.

Halbachs bones and belongings were found burned near Averys trailer. Avery and Dassey were eventually convicted and sentenced to life terms, but only Dassey is eligible for parole  in 2048.

Authorities involved in the case have called the series biased and say it omits crucial facts that led to the convictions. Filmmakers Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi have stood by their work, which spans nearly a decade and concentrates on the defense and perspective of Avery and Dasseys relatives.

The jurors have been mostly silent. Many had made an agreement not to talk about the case after the conviction. Free declined to elaborate beyond her brief remark when reached Wednesday. I have to ask, please dont call me again, she said before hanging up.

Richard Mahler, the excused juror, said Thursday that he still has questions about the investigation into Averys involvement. Mahler sat through weeks of testimony and deliberated with the panel for four hours before he asked to leave because he was feeling emotionally exhausted, he said. He also said he felt threatened by another juror.

Mahler said seven jurors, including him, voted not guilty in the first vote. Three voted guilty and two were undecided, he said. Mahler said he doesnt know what happened after that because he left.

I dont know what the tensions were in the jury room, we were all pretty mentally tired of everything, he said.
SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP)  A Wisconsin sheriff has defended his decision to hire a man convicted of killing and dismembering his girlfriend nearly 40 years ago in Texas.

Rafael George Macias has worked as a radio technician for the Sheboygan County Sheriffs Department since 2011 after performing similar duties as a contract employee for 10 years.

Macias was a 20-year-old airman at Carswell Air Force Base in North Texas when he pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering his live-in girlfriend, Julia Adams, in 1977. Macias was sentenced to 40 years in prison, but released after 13 years.

While at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, Macias earned an associate degree as a radio technician. He eventually moved to Wisconsin and ended up working at his cousins radio shop.

Macias told The Associated Press on Thursday that he never lied about his past and was upfront with Sheriff Todd Priebe when he wanted to bring him on as a regular employee. Details of the case resurfaced when an anonymous letter was sent recently to media outlets, including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, questioning why Sheboygan County employees had to work with someone who committed such a horrible crime.

Macias said hes not sure what the motivation was in bringing up his crime to the media, but knows he has Priebes support.
VIROQUA  Fred Nelson, the man who earned the title Mr. Viroqua through a lifetime of good deeds in the city, died Thursday. He was 91.

Nelson was the namesake of Viroquas cornerstone business, Nelson Agri-Center. He was remembered Thursday as an optimist who was a good listener and a major contributor to Viroquas renewal over several decades.

I cant say enough good things about Fred, said Mark Brueggen, who Nelson hired in 1979. He was always the same  always pleasant. You would never know if he was having a bad day. He would always pat us on the back. He was always making us feel good.

Brueggen and Dan Kanis have been co-owners of Nelson Agri-Center since about 2000. Brueggen said Nelson hired him over the phone and the pair quickly became friends and colleagues.

He was a visionary, Brueggen said. We had, I believe, the first computer in a hardware store in the nation ... He could see what was coming. He was always on the cutting edge.

He was a great speaker and even a better listener, Brueggen continued. He always listened to ideas. He would take in all the information and dissect it. He was soft-spoken, but when he said something, he knew what he was talking about.

Viroqua Mayor Larry Fanta said Nelson was key to renewal in the city  especially the renovation of the downtown and the historic Temple Theatre.

Fred has been the face of Viroqua for a long time, Fanta said. He has given so much. Not just of his money, but of his time. He was a caring and kind man.

Fanta said Nelsons ability to cut through difficult issues and bring people together was an asset to the community.

When Fred told you something, it was the gospel, Fanta said. He was a sweetheart of a man and always willing to listen. He was always interested in what was new with the city. Youd tell him and hed say, Thats great! He was one-of-a-kind.

Viroquas Thor Thorson was a longtime friend and introduced Nelson when he was honored by the Temple Theatre in 2011. Thorson included excerpts from Nelsons life story.

Nelson was born in Viroqua and left the city with his family when he was 2. His childhood was spent in Colorado and Scottsbluff, Neb., where he graduated from high school. His father ran a feed business.

Nelson served as a navigator in the U.S. Navy during World War II on an LSM and was in the Pacific, planning for the invasion of Japan, when the war ended. He was a 1943 graduate of Scott Bluff High School in Nebraska and entered Northwestern University, where he graduated from a four-year program in 2 years via the Naval Reserve Officer Training program.

He studied business and accounting at Northwestern. After the war, he returned to Chicago to work as an accountant. He traveled through small towns in Illinois and southern Wisconsin doing seed company audits. He began to enjoy small town life and could see that these businesses made money. He returned to Michigan State University, where he enrolled in a course in elevator and farm supply management. He practiced his new trade in Michigan for a year and a half before returning to Viroqua, where his parents had retired.

He wanted to run a feed business, so with the help of his parents he toured many states and looked at mills that were for sale, but ultimately returned to Viroqua. The Farmers Exchange, on the railroad just a block off Main Street in Viroqua, became available for sale soon after. Fred bought it with his fathers help in 1954.

The business expanded in 1969 and 1976, when farm parts and hardware were added, and later housewares and a gift center. He sold the business in 1989.

He served on the Viroqua Area Foundation Board as treasurer, served as treasurer for ARTT, among being a board member for several community service organizations.

He said, A person can be successful in business, but isnt there more to a persons life than gathering treasures for themselves and their family? Isnt there a broader sense of responsibility to our fellow man? Thorson said. Fred saw himself as a steward of these treasures that really belonged to a higher being and he was just the manager while on this earth.

Nelson and his wife, Liz, raised two daughters, Julie and Amy, in Viroqua. Nelsons wife died in 2010.

Brueggen said people should remember the good Nelson did in the community.

I dont want people to be sad he passed away. We should be happy we got to know him. The whole of Vernon, Monroe and Crawford counties is better because of Fred Nelson, Brueggen said.

He said, A person can be successful in business, but isnt there more to a persons life than gathering treasures for themselves and their family? Isnt there a broader sense of responsibility to our fellow man? Thor Thorson, of Viroqua,

longtime friend of Fred Nelson
Having a hard time choosing a name for your newborn baby? Be glad she isnt an apple.

Unbeknownst to most of us, the apples stocked at local grocery stores and produce stands actually have two names  a flashier trademark name like SweeTango and Pizzazz, as well as a more mundane variety name, such as Minneiska or MN55.

At the 83rd Minnesota Apple Growers Association education and trade show at the La Crosse Center, University of Minnesota scientist David Bedford, a leading researcher and developer in the schools Department of Horticultural Science, spoke Thursday about how varieties developed at the university receive their names and why each apple has a pair.

In 107 years of developing varieties, the school has created 27 new apples  some as well know as Haralson and Fireside, as well as newer ones like Frostbite and Jazz  and two names are required for each.

Many of you are involved in the naming process; maybe in a smaller scale if youve had kids, you had to go through this process, Bedford said. I can tell you, thats the easy version of naming, as much as it might seem hard as youre doing it.

All apples have a variety name, which is used in legal descriptions, like filing for a patent application. These names are rarely known to and never used by the general public. The trademark name, however, is the better-known name. Its used almost exclusively for marketing purposes, and further, for only a certain high grade of fruit, Bedford said.

For example, the SweeTango is the recognizable trademark name for an apple actually called Minneiska. As Bedford explained, the name of the tree is Minneiska, as is the fruit that comes from it, before it heads to market. The name SweeTango, which is licensed, allows sellers to use that name in order to market the variety. The apples must meet certain requirements before the name can be attached. If they dont, they cant be called by their trademark name.

Fruit that comes from those Minneiska trees comes off as Minneiska fruit, and if its good enough and meets the standards, it can be sold as a SweeTango fruit, Bedford said. However, that means you could also have SweeTango and Minneiska fruit on the same tree. f Ithe fruits not good enough to meet the standard of SweeTango, then technically, its just Minneiska fruit.

Variety names, Bedford said, are easier to select and can be as general as a number, such as MN55. Others, though, such Minneiska, are named for places, while some people have had varieties named after them. Trademarked names, however, are more regulated. They must be distinct and not confused for other products in the marketplace.

And interestingly enough, the variety name and trademark name cannot be the same, and we learned that one the hard way, he said, referring to the universitys attempt to release the Honeycrisp using just that name for both.

But the trademark name has to be unique. Several years ago when the university was about to release its newest apple, the name was flagged by Keebler because that company had a cracker by the same name. Because Zesta! wasnt widely known and because a court battle would cost money, the school simply added a letter  and Zestar! was born.

Its no surprise, then, that the university takes naming seriously; its more than just flipping through a baby book, Bedford said. As a newbie, an apple variety sits in a row with older, establish varieties. All that sets it apart from the others, aside from the look, is its name.

For the most part, local growers are happy with the names that are chosen, but its the taste that makes the most difference.

I think Dave has a lot of good reasons on why they choose a name, said Ralph Yates, the manager at Fruit Acres in La Crescent and secretary of the growers association. But I think in the final analysis, as a grower, what were concerned about is that we have the best-tasting apple out there.

You have to have a great-tasting apple, and if you dont, it doesnt matter what you name it, he said.
The following editorial was published in Sundays Los Angeles Times:

Was 2015 a particularly bad year for police shootings? Were unarmed African-American men disproportionately killed in encounters with police? Or did it just feel that way thanks to the newfound attention being paid to officer-involved shootings since 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed on a Ferguson, Mo., street in August 2014?

Unfortunately, the answer to those questions are elusive. The data required to prove or disprove theories spun by protesters, politicians or police are not available. Until recently, it wasnt routine for police departments or state or national agencies to gather and release information about the use of deadly force.

Thankfully, that appears to be changing. In December 2014, while protests continued over the death of Brown and others, Congress finally passed the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, a reauthorization of an expired 2000 law that Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-Va., had been pushing for years.

The latest version of the law is superior to its predecessor in that it has teeth, albeit not terribly sharp ones. States that do not comply with the requirement to report annually on people who die while being arrested or in police custody can lose 10 percent of the funding they receive under the federal Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act. Its not a big stick, but it is an improvement over the original law, which was voluntary and simply ignored by some states.

There ought be less tolerance this time for noncompliance. In February, FBI Director James B. Comey lamented the lack of concrete data. How can we address concerns about officer-involved shootings if we do not have a reliable grasp on the demographics and circumstances of those incidents? We simply must improve the way we collect and analyze data to see the true nature of whats happening in all of our communities, Comey said.

It will still be a couple years at least until these laws and initiatives translate into solid data that can fully answer some of the bigger questions about race and policing. But one thing is already settled: Counting police killings is finally a national priority.
BARABOO  Apparently I wasnt the only one afflicted by the noel nasties this Christmas season. When a Madison bartender turned off Black Sabbath to play holiday music Dec. 24, a patron displayed his disgust by throwing a beer bottle at her.

Dont be too hard on the guy: Theres something about holiday stress that can move a man to sabotage.

It was about 4 p.m. Christmas Eve when the Farm Tavern nearly turned into Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Christopher Gamboeck, 33, was enjoying some heavy metal when the bartender switched to more traditional Christmas music. Out with Ozzy Osbourne, in with joy, for Christ is born.

Gamboeck wasnt in the mood for any rum pa pum pum. Hes accused of downing his bottle of Budweiser, slamming it on the bar, yelling expletives at the bartender and throwing the bottle in the direction of her head. So much for peace on Earth.

Fists clenched, the surly patron tried to get behind the bar, but his uncle intervened and directed him to the exit. On his way out, Gamboeck grabbed the bars Christmas tree and pulled it down, breaking several ornaments. O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree: Thy leaves are so enraging.

Officers who had been called to the bar later found Gamboeck at home, looking the part of the headbanger in a beard and shoulder-length locks. It was there they decided to arrest the hairy gentleman.

As they approached him, he became incensed about police being there, Madison police spokesman Howard Payne told the Wisconsin State Journal. He rushed toward the officers and had to be threatened with an electronic device before taken into custody.

There was no word as to whether the device in question was an electric razor.

Gamboeck faces tentative charges of criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct, and most likely landed on Santas naughty list.

Theres no excuse for such behavior, but I sympathize with the suspect. As much as I love Christmas music, one can only take so much of chestnuts roasting on the open fire. After a couple weeks of saccharine sentimentality, a guy feels ready to rock out to Heaven and Hell.

Plus, the holiday season is a stressful time of year. Everyones on edge. Youre shopping for gifts, running the kids to their pageant rehearsals, mailing the Christmas cards, trying to make it to all the parties  and before you know it youre going insane and biting the head off a live bat.

As my nine loyal readers know, I was dangerously close to succumbing to the noel nasties this Christmas. There was much baking, shopping and wrapping to be done, and seemingly not enough time to do it. Instead of gleefully humming holiday tunes, I was plotting the murder of whoever wrote The Christmas Shoes.

Fortunately by the time Dec. 24 arrived  once the work was done and the fun finally had begun  I changed my tune. Instead of wanting to deck other shoppers, I was ready to deck the halls. Fa la la la laaaa, la la la laaaaa.

Gamboeck and the bartender he attacked werent so lucky. He was unable to contain what clearly was a raging case of the noel nasties. Getting a grip on the noel nasties is more easily said than done. Ozzy Osbourne would be the first to tell you: Theres something about Christmas stress that can send you off the rails on a crazy train.
The Ho-Chunk Nation is organizing a rally at the state capitol this week to voice opposition to a bill that tribal leaders say endangers sacred Native American burial sites.

The Save the Mounds rally is slated for Tuesday, Jan. 12 and comes after native and non-native people have expressed concern and opposition to the proposed legislation.

We initially knew that this bill was going to be a big issue and we wanted to have a voice and a say in it, said Collin Price, the Ho-Chunk Nations public relations officer. It just kind of grew. The support from organizations, from community members, from tribal members and non-tribal members  the noise was just so loud that they were saying we have to do something.

The proposed bill, from Republican state Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Brookfield, would force the Wisconsin Historical Society to allow property owners to excavate in order to prove whether human remains exist in effigy mounds on their land  a move that Ho-Chunk leaders say would open the door to destroying the grave markers that have cultural and historical significance.

Ho-Chunk Nation tribal members are descendants of the original mound builders, who started the construction of the sites thousands of years ago. They serve historical and cultural significance to the Nation and Wisconsin, and their number already has dwindled over time  starting first at about 20,000 when the first Europeans arrived.

Now, theres an estimated 4,000 or fewer mounds remaining in the state, including a few sites on private land in Jackson County, said Bill Quackenbush, the Nations tribal historical preservation officer.

It is very important to protect grave sites across the board. Wisconsin has a diversity of population and cultures that has practiced forms of burial throughout a long period of time, he said. One type of grave (or) burial process rightfully shouldnt be afforded favor over another. Yet, the proposed bill serves to allow certain ones the ability to destroy not only conical and effigy mounds  but also pre-historic and historic burial sites including not only Native American graves but early pioneers, family graves and burial and burials of the unknown.

A message left with Kapengas office for comment on the bill wasnt returned as of press time.

Ho-Chunk Nation members and officials already attended a town hall meeting put on by the senator where they expressed opposition to the legislation, which Price also noted has impacts beyond Native American burial sites.

It opens the door for other sites, including cemeteries, and I think thats what caught the attention of non-tribal members that this isnt just exclusive to Indian Country, he said. The other part is the disregard for oral tradition and culture. Theres no room (in the bill) for a tribal member or a tribal preservation officer or anybody to say, well, actually theres stories for this particular site having significance because it will only lie with the historical society.

I think its just the thing that no one can fathom digging up someones remains  thats just crazy talk. The fact that were now trying to discuss something that would allow someone doing that is crazy.

Henning Garvin, a Nation legislator with a background in anthropology, is one of many tribal members who hopes the bill will be retracted. Anger turned to disappointment after the proposed bill was made public, and he hopes the importance of sacred sites will prevail.

Theyre tremendously important to Ho-Chunk people  theyre historically important, theyre culturally important, he said. They are sacred to the Ho-Chunk people. You just cant stress that enough.

The rally is set for next Tuesday, Jan. 12 at noon on the west side of the state capitol in Madison. For more information, e-mail mounds@ho-chunk.com.

I think its just the thing that no one can fathom digging up someones remains  thats just crazy talk.  Collin Price, Collin Price, the Ho-Chunk Nation public relations officer
Phil and Kathy Aaker signed a conservation easement with Mississippi Valley Conservancy (MVC) to permanently and legally protect their scenic and diverse 80-acre property along the South Fork Bad Axe River southwest of Viroqua, Dec. 28, 2015.

Nearly 20 years ago, the scenic, winding Bad Axe River, wooded bluffs, rugged landscape and diverse habitat drew the attention of Phil and Kathy Aaker, purchasing the land after searching for the perfect property.

We spent two years looking at properties, said Phil Aaker, a pilot. In flying over, we were drawn by the water and encouraged by the Bad Axe Valley. From the dam at Sidie Hollow one can see the corridor along the river and how the whole system works for wildlife.

The same landscape and unique features drew the attention of the MVC, a local land trust that has designated certain areas, such as the Bad Axe River Corridor, as Priority Areas for habitat quality, prevalence of rare species, biodiversity, and other features treasured by local residents and visitors alike.

We want to keep it wild and pass it on to the next generation, Kathy Aaker said. We want to protect it from people not of the same mind, and (through the easement), we have a say in the future of the land.

According to MVC Executive Director Carol Abrahamzon, A conservation easement is custom-written based on a landowners wishes and what the land will support. The land remains in private ownership but is legally protected from future mining, subdivision and development. It is rewarding for us to work on such a beautiful, scenic site.

When asked about their favorite place on the land, they immediately said the river. There is a pretty place up stream, with riffles and rocks, said Kathy Aaker, In the winter it ices up, and is neat to walk along.

The bridge over the river is Phil Aakers favorite. (Its) where our grandchildren like to swim. It rarely freezes over completely; the spring water keeps it too warm. In a state park, you might see the land in one or two seasons, but when you live there, you see it every day, and every day it is beautiful in a different way.

This site is a perfect example of the impact a person can have, making a difference. That difference this couple has made is not just today, but forever, said MVC Board President Pat Caffrey. Theyve worked hard to restore and improve the habitat, and the wildlife has responded.

Wildlife on the Aakers land includes not only the usual characters, the whitetails, squirrels and wild turkeys, but also songbirds such as the willow flycatcher, yellow warbler, scarlet tanager and ovenbird. Both the prairie and the oak woodlands on the land provide a diversity of wildflowers, crucial habitat for area butterflies, bees and other pollinators.

A closer look at the landscape throughout the years reveals significant changes in both land use and habitat. The site (and its owners) endured countless hours of time, sweat and effort for habitat management and restoration.

In looking at a print of the valley floor, covered in verdant prairie wildflowers and grasses framed by wooded bluffs, Phil Aaker said, Ten years ago, this (view) looked completely different. It was nothing but overgrown box elder trees and bare ground. By removing the trees and brush and planting native prairie seed, the Aakers converted the landscape to the vegetation it was over a century ago, native tallgrass prairie. They have since maintained the prairie with periodic prescribed burns and weed control.

(Through the conservation easement) we can protect what we started, Phil Aaker said. And it is something our grandkids can experience, Kathy Aaker said.

For information on how to permanently conserve land, receive tax incentives for conserving land, or to become a contributing member of Mississippi Valley Conservancy, visit MississippiValleyConservancy.org; write to 1309 Norplex Dr., Suite 9, La Crosse, WI 54602; or send email to info@MississippiValleyConservancy.org.
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Celebrate the illustrious cheeseburger next week in the city where it was believed to have been invented.

Pasadena's fifth annual Cheeseburger Week kicks off next Monday, Jan. 10 with 40 restaurants cooking up their best renditions of the American classic. Head to the area's top burger jointsincluding old school favorites like Pie 'n Burger or new contenders like Meat District Co.to sample their wares and vote on your favorite as part of the Cheeseburger Challenge. From upscale gourmet to down-home classics, each spot will be showing off their greatest hits, while some places will be serving up special burgers for the occasion, including Dog Haus Biergarten.

Organized by the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, the five-day event celebrates Lionel Sternberger, who is thought to be the first person, nay genius, to have put cheese on a burger. One version of the legend is that a teenage Sternbergerseriously, that's his nameaccidentally burned a burger while working at his dad's Pasadena roadside stand, the Rite Spot, in 1924. Rather than ditch the singed patty, he threw a slice of cheese on it and made history. Sure, we'll bite. Dubbed the "Aristocratic Burger" by young Lionel, the creation was first sold for 15 cents. Learn more about the legend here.

To celebrate Cheeseburger Week, you can create your own itinerary or follow one of the pre-designed Cheeseburger Crawls. The crawls include a "Beer and a Burger" one, one for sliders, another for traditional, and there's even one that features veggie cheeseburgers. They recommend splitting the cheeseburgers at each stop with your group, so you can save room to try several, but we'll leave that up to you.

Pasadena's Cheeseburger Week takes place from Jan. 10 - 15 at different locations. Learn more and find out which restaurants are participating here.
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While we've seen our fair share of gorgeous timelapses of Southern California, this one has really left us speechless.

Photographer Jack Fusco's timelapses of some of SoCal's most beautiful localesfrom a Malibu sea cave to a Borrego Springs desertare set against the backdrop of a glittering night sky. In his video, "Wonder Endlessly," he also captures things with his camera that we wouldn't normally get to see so clearly with the naked eye, like beautiful shots of the Milky Way seen from Leo Carrillo State Park. Some of the other places he photographed using a long-exposure shot in his timelapse video include La Jolla, Solana Beach, El Matador State Beach, Anza-Borrego Desert and Carlsbad.

"Hours of scouting and planning went in to each of the 26 different sequences in the video," Fusco tells LAist. "Some were planned months in advance to coordinate the tide with right moon phase."

Fusco, who is originally from the East Coast but now lives in San Diego, has been shooting the night skies for the past four years. On his Vimeo page, he wrote:

After life took me to the West Coast last year, I couldn't help but to explore and shoot as many new locations. You can plan things out months in advance, but in the end if the weather doesn't cooperate, you'll be making another trip back. A few of the shots that made the video took 3 or 4 attempts for everything to line up right. It can be frustrating at times, but that's all part of the adventure. It's impossible to match that excitement felt when everything finally comes together. I've certainly lost track of how many hours I spent driving, hiking, or hanging out near my camera all night, but I can say without a doubt, every second was completely worth it.





You can explore more of Fusco's work on his website Twitter and Facebook page

Related:

Photos: You Can See The Milky Way Clearly From A Malibu Sea Cave

These Starry Malibu Beach Photos Look Out Of This World

Here's A Neat Timelapse Of The Mysterious Missile Launch


If you think that the most powerful man on earth would have time to tape a 19-minute comedy about nothing, some would say that you are crazy.

But, American President Barack Obama did just that.

Obama got together recently with Jerry Seinfeld to record an episode of the comedians popular web series. Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is in its seventh season. The show usually features Seinfeld and a guest comedian driving around in a cool car. They go to a coffee shop to drink and talk.

Obama may not be a comedian by profession. But Seinfeld explains on the show that the president "has gotten off just enough funny lines to qualify for getting on this show."

The two men meet when Seinfeld taps on the window of the Oval Office at the White House where Obama is at his desk working.



Seinfeld and Obama go for a ride. Seinfeld has brought a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. Obama calls it "a sweet car," that, as a kid, he dreamed of owning someday. Seinfeld drives the president down to the gate of the White House grounds. But the Secret Service tells him, firmly, that he cannot take the president out.

So they drive back toward the house.

Seinfeld asks Obama what he would like to do that he currently cannot because he is president. Obama says he would like to take a Saturday morning walk where he could run into a friend and have a chat. He says, "Anonymity is not something you think about as being valuable.

Seinfeld disagrees.

"With all due respect, I remember very well not being famous. It wasn't that great."

Seinfeld notes the love American children have for presidents. Obama agrees, I do really well with the zero to 8 demographic. Partly cause, I think, my ears are big, and so I look a little like a cartoon character.



The two continue their talk in the White House restaurant where they make a pot of coffee. "How many world leaders, do you think, are completely out of their mind?" Seinfeld asks the president.



Obama answers, "A pretty sizable percent. The longer they stay in office, the more likely that is to happen."



The show lasts about 19 minutes. Toward the end, Obama notes that he did not have the chance to discuss his health care plan, the Affordable Care Act.



"Usually the only reason I do these things is because I am promoting health care," the president says. Seinfeld looks directly into the camera and says to viewers, Its a great thing. Please try Obamacare today.

After the airing of the episode, Seinfeld went on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" to talk about it. Seinfeld said, the idea that anybody thinks they should be President. You gotta be out of your mind ... You gotta be crazy.

Stephen Colbert, another comedian, replied, You know what else is crazy? You have a little Internet show. And you drive around and drink coffee and crack jokes. And then you get the Commander-in-Chief to be on the show. What is up with that?

Im Caty Weaver.

Caty Weaver wrote this story for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

Do you watch funny shows on the web? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

episode  n. a television show, radio show, etc., that is one part of a series

comedian  n. a person who performs in front of an audience and makes people laugh by telling jokes or funny stories or by acting in a way that is funny

cool  adj. very fashionable, stylish, or appealing in a way that is generally approved of especially by young people

chat  v. to talk with someone in a casual way

demographic  n. a group of people that has a particular set of qualities usually singular

out of ones mind  expression to be mentally unstable


German officials say 18 asylum-seekers are among the suspects in thefts and sexual assaults on women in Cologne on New Year's Eve.



Interior Ministry official Tobias Plate spoke to reporters Friday morning. He said police have identified 31 suspects. Eighteen had earlier requested asylum in Germany.



Plate said two of the 31 suspects are German. Nine are Algerian, eight are from Morocco, five are Iranian, and four are Syrians. The remaining three are from Iraq, Serbia and the United States.

Police have documented 32 criminal acts. Plate said the large majority were tied to theft and physical injury. Three were tied to sexual assaults.

Also Friday, officials forced the police chief of Cologne to retire. He had faced growing criticism of the way his department dealt with the New Years Eve attacks.

About 1,000 men had gathered near Cologne's main train station around midnight, throwing fireworks. After police moved in to stop them, smaller groups of men began surrounding women in the area. They reportedly groped the women and stole from them.

A policewoman said she was among those attacked.



About 90 people have filed criminal complaints, including one report of a rape.



The assaults have intensified the debate over Germany's immigration policies. Some 1.1 million people registered as asylum seekers in Germany last year.

Both Germanys chancellor and its justice minister have called for the perpetrators to be punished.

On Thursday, the German justice minister said any asylum-seekers among the suspects could be deported if found guilty.

Im Caty Weaver.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

assault  n. the crime of trying or threatening to hurt someone physically

grope  v. to touch (someone) in an unwanted and unexpected sexual way

complaint  n.a formal charge saying that someone has done something wrong

perpetrator  v. the doer of something that is illegal or wrong

deport  v. to force a person to leave a country of which she or he is not a citizen
Our story today is called "The Last Leaf." It was written by O. Henry. Here is Barbara Klein with the story.

Many artists lived in the Greenwich Village area of New York. Two young women named Sue and Johnsy shared a studio apartment at the top of a three-story building. Johnsy's real name was Joanna.

In November, a cold, unseen stranger came to visit the city. This disease, pneumonia, killed many people. Johnsy lay on her bed, hardly moving. She looked through the small window. She could see the side of the brick house next to her building.

One morning, a doctor examined Johnsy and took her temperature. Then he spoke with Sue in another room.

"She has one chance in -- let us say ten," he said. "And that chance is for her to want to live. Your friend has made up her mind that she is not going to get well. Has she anything on her mind?"

"She -- she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples in Italy some day," said Sue.

"Paint?" said the doctor. "Bosh! Has she anything on her mind worth thinking twice -- a man for example?"

"A man?" said Sue. "Is a man worth -- but, no, doctor; there is nothing of the kind."

"I will do all that science can do," said the doctor. "But whenever my patient begins to count the carriages at her funeral, I take away fifty percent from the curative power of medicines."

After the doctor had gone, Sue went into the workroom and cried. Then she went to Johnsy's room with her drawing board, whistling ragtime.

Johnsy lay with her face toward the window. Sue stopped whistling, thinking she was asleep. She began making a pen and ink drawing for a story in a magazine. Young artists must work their way to "Art" by making pictures for magazine stories. Sue heard a low sound, several times repeated. She went quickly to the bedside.

Johnsy's eyes were open wide. She was looking out the window and counting -- counting backward. "Twelve," she said, and a little later "eleven"; and then "ten" and "nine;" and then "eight" and "seven," almost together.

Sue looked out the window. What was there to count? There was only an empty yard and the blank side of the house seven meters away. An old ivy vine, going bad at the roots, climbed half way up the wall. The cold breath of autumn had stricken leaves from the plant until its branches, almost bare, hung on the bricks.

"What is it, dear?" asked Sue.

"Six," said Johnsy, quietly. "They're falling faster now. Three days ago there were almost a hundred. It made my head hurt to count them. But now it's easy. There goes another one. There are only five left now."

"Five what, dear?" asked Sue.

"Leaves. On the plant. When the last one falls I must go, too. I've known that for three days. Didn't the doctor tell you?"

"Oh, I never heard of such a thing," said Sue. "What have old ivy leaves to do with your getting well? And you used to love that vine. Don't be silly. Why, the doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well real soon were -- let's see exactly what he said  he said the chances were ten to one! Try to eat some soup now. And, let me go back to my drawing, so I can sell it to the magazine and buy food and wine for us."

"You needn't get any more wine," said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window. "There goes another one. No, I don't want any soup. That leaves just four. I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark. Then I'll go, too."

"Johnsy, dear," said Sue, "will you promise me to keep your eyes closed, and not look out the window until I am done working? I must hand those drawings in by tomorrow."

"Tell me as soon as you have finished," said Johnsy, closing her eyes and lying white and still as a fallen statue. "I want to see the last one fall. I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of thinking. I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves."

"Try to sleep," said Sue. "I must call Mister Behrman up to be my model for my drawing of an old miner. Don't try to move until I come back."

Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor of the apartment building. Behrman was a failure in art. For years, he had always been planning to paint a work of art, but had never yet begun it. He earned a little money by serving as a model to artists who could not pay for a professional model. He was a fierce, little, old man who protected the two young women in the studio apartment above him.

Sue found Behrman in his room. In one area was a blank canvas that had been waiting twenty-five years for the first line of paint. Sue told him about Johnsy and how she feared that her friend would float away like a leaf.

Old Behrman was angered at such an idea. "Are there people in the world with the foolishness to die because leaves drop off a vine? Why do you let that silly business come in her brain?"

"She is very sick and weak," said Sue, "and the disease has left her mind full of strange ideas."

"This is not any place in which one so good as Miss Johnsy shall lie sick," yelled Behrman. "Some day I will paint a masterpiece, and we shall all go away."

Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs. Sue pulled the shade down to cover the window. She and Behrman went into the other room. They looked out a window fearfully at the ivy vine. Then they looked at each other without speaking. A cold rain was falling, mixed with snow. Behrman sat and posed as the miner.

The next morning, Sue awoke after an hour's sleep. She found Johnsy with wide-open eyes staring at the covered window.

"Pull up the shade; I want to see," she ordered, quietly.

Sue obeyed.

After the beating rain and fierce wind that blew through the night, there yet stood against the wall one ivy leaf. It was the last one on the vine. It was still dark green at the center. But its edges were colored with the yellow. It hung bravely from the branch about seven meters above the ground.

"It is the last one," said Johnsy. "I thought it would surely fall during the night. I heard the wind. It will fall today and I shall die at the same time."

"Dear, dear!" said Sue, leaning her worn face down toward the bed. "Think of me, if you won't think of yourself. What would I do?"

But Johnsy did not answer.

The next morning, when it was light, Johnsy demanded that the window shade be raised. The ivy leaf was still there. Johnsy lay for a long time, looking at it. And then she called to Sue, who was preparing chicken soup.

"I've been a bad girl," said Johnsy. "Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how bad I was. It is wrong to want to die. You may bring me a little soup now."

An hour later she said: "Someday I hope to paint the Bay of Naples."

Later in the day, the doctor came, and Sue talked to him in the hallway.

"Even chances," said the doctor. "With good care, you'll win. And now I must see another case I have in your building. Behrman, his name is -- some kind of an artist, I believe. Pneumonia, too. He is an old, weak man and his case is severe. There is no hope for him; but he goes to the hospital today to ease his pain."

The next day, the doctor said to Sue: "She's out of danger. You won. Nutrition and care now -- that's all."

Later that day, Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay, and put one arm around her.

"I have something to tell you, white mouse," she said. "Mister Behrman died of pneumonia today in the hospital. He was sick only two days. They found him the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were completely wet and icy cold. They could not imagine where he had been on such a terrible night.

And then they found a lantern, still lighted. And they found a ladder that had been moved from its place. And art supplies and a painting board with green and yellow colors mixed on it.

And look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it is Behrman's masterpiece  he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell."

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

apartment  n. a usually rented room or set of rooms that is part of a building and is used as a place to live

pneumonia  n. a serious disease that affects the lungs and makes it difficult to breathe

carriage  n. a large vehicle with four wheels that is pulled by a horse and that carries people

drawing  n. a picture, image, etc., that is made by making lines on a surface with a pencil, pen, marker, chalk, but usually not with paint

leaf  n. one of the flat and typically green parts of a plant that grow from a stem or twig

ladder  n. a device used for climbing that has two long pieces of wood, metal, or rope with a series of steps or rungs between them


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Our hat is off to the Lebanon Police Department for a program in which its officers will occasionally pull over citizens and reward them for good behavior. Its a well-meaning program, but it might be more effective in the long run if it aimed at a slightly different audience.

Heres the background: Lebanon dentist Adam Kirkpatrick donated $500 to seed the program, in which citizens are cited by police for committing good deeds. For example, last week, the first week the program was running, an Albany officer stopped a bicyclist for obeying a stop sign. Another officer cited a woman whose son was wearing a bike helmet.

The tickets that officers hand out in these good-deed stops actually are vouchers, worth $10 toward any purchase at Lebanons Big Town Hero, the 1847 Bar and Grill or The Growler Cafe. So Kirkpatricks donation to get the program rolling purchased 50 of those vouchers.

As it should, the program gives officers wide latitude in deciding when and how to issue the vouchers. Even in a case in which an officer stops someone for a traffic violation such as a broken tail light, the officer could choose to give the driver a voucher for, say, proper seat belt usage. That might take at least some of the sting out of being pulled over by an officer. In the words of a Lebanon officer: Normally when people end up talking to police, its not because theyre having a good day.

Thats true. In fact, we are programmed to assume the worst every time were pulled over by an officer, and to the extent that a $10 voucher can help combat those expectations, all the better. (On a somewhat related point, some critics of the program have noted that, in theory, officers need some kind of probable cause to stop a citizen and have wondered whether a citizen obeying the law constitutes sufficient probable cause. But we are not prepared or inclined to take that particular case to court.)

Other cynics have suggested that the program is a ploy to allow police to catch more people who are driving while intoxicated. This is not true; for starters, the sad truth is that police are in no need of any kind of ploy to catch intoxicated drivers; we already provide a plentiful supply.

But all this suggests that a better long-term investment for a program like this might be to start with a somewhat younger audience: Why not give the vouchers to the school resource officers who are working in Lebanon schools? After all, much of the idea behind these school officers is to help students build positive relationships with police officers. An occasional gift of a $10 voucher (even $5 would be sufficient to buy a student a coffee drink) could well be remembered for years, if not a lifetime, and could be a key step in building a positive relationship.

Kudos to the Lebanon Police Department and to Kirkpatrick for working to inject some positive generosity into an interaction that isnt always pleasant for the participants. But in terms of a long-term return, investing more heavily in a younger audience might be the smart play.
Microsoft appears to be getting ready to launch a service that will let Windows 10 computer users connect to 3G and 4G LTE cellular data networks using a Microsoft SIM card. There are no contracts involved: youll just pay for the data you need when you need it, and Microsoft will let you pay with the same info linked to you Windows Store account.

Youll need a PC with a 4G modem and a Microsoft SIM card to use the data. But theres already a Microsoft Cellular Data app available for download from the Windows Store, which is how we know about the upcoming plan to launch SIM cards and service.

The app was spotted by The Verge, which speculates that Microsoft could be planning to launch a Mobile Virtual network by partnering with existing wireless carriers to provide service, much the way Google does for its Project Fi service.

According to a FAQ included in the app itself, service will initially be available in the US, UK, and France. Theres no support for roaming.

When you buy a plan, youll be able to use data right away. The plan ends as soon as you either hit the cap for the amount of data youve paid for or when a set period of time expires. Theres no option to add data to an existing plan. Instead, when you use up your data, you can just buy some more.

Microsoft says connection speeds will vary depending on the network provider in you area, so you might get 3G speeds or you might get 4G, depending on where youre located.

Overall it seems like an interesting option for getting online when youre away from a WiFi hotspot especially for users who only need to do this occasionally. Its the sort of thing that would certainly come in handy for business travelers, for example.

Or say, hypothetically, that youre a reporter spending a week in Las Vegas covering the Consumer Electronics Show the option to buy some data exactly when you need it would sure sound nice, right?

Theres still a lot we dont know though. Microsoft hasnt officially announced anything yet, so theres no word on when the program will launch, how much data will cost, or how to get a Microsoft SIM card.
Googles Project Tango is an effort to bring 3D cameras and depth-sensing software to smartphones and cameras. The idea is that youd be able to map an environment and interact with real-world items on your screen. For example you could scan your living room and see what it would look like with a different paint job or if you moved the couch or TV. Or you could play an augmented reality video game that uses a playground as, well, the ground that you play in.

Google showed off the first prototype nearly 2 years ago, and the company has offered several development devices since then. Today Intel also announced plans to launch its own Project Tango developer phone with an Atom x7 processor and a RealSense camera.

But later this year you may finally be able to buy a Project Tango-capable phone designed for consumers. Lenovo plans to release a Project Tango phone this summer.



The company isnt showing final designs, revealing final specs, or providing many other details yet. But the phone is said to feature a screen thats less than 6.5 inches in size and a price thats under $500.

Still not sure what youd actually use a device with depth-sensing cameras for? Google and Lenovo are encouraging developers to apply by February 15h to be part of an app incubator program. Google will help with engineering and funding for the selected apps and Lenovo will feature them on the phone.

If all goes according to plan, by the time Lenovo is ready to sell the phone, there should be plenty of apps.

Itll still probably be a niche device. How often do you need to remodel your home, measure distances, or perform other tricks that the phone is capable of? On the other hand, it could come in handy for professional interior designers or anyone else who answered those questions with every day. And if Lenovo can deliver a phone with decent specs and a Project Tango camera system for under $500, it might be the first of many phones that have this sort of camera setup whether you ever use it or not.
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2021 book: Future War and the Defence of Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
This blog is written at irregular intervals by Lameen Souag , a researcher at LACITO (CNRS) in Paris focusing on historical linguistics and language contact in North Africa and the Sahel.If your preferred feed is Twitter, you can follow @lameensouag to get links to new posts here as they appear.
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The cameras that shoot Bejoy Nambiars films often act like teenagers who have discovered alcohol for the first time. They cant remain still, usually behave out of reason, seem way too excited, and quite naturally, try too hard to impress.

Consider the first few minutes of his latest, Wazir, which opens with a song that shows the films leads, Danish Ali (Farhan Akhtar) and Ruhana (Aditi Rao Hydari), falling in love with each other, getting married, and raising a child.

Opening the film with a song, when one doesnt know anything about the main characters and, hence, finds it difficult to get instantly drawn towards them, is a questionable stylistic choice, but whats more troublesome, even ludicrous, about this segment is this: The entire song is shot in slow-motion. Scenes such as raindrops falling on a Delhi street, with India Gate in the background; Danish picking up his new-born baby in a hospital; Ruhana twirling on stage; rose petals showering the bride and the groom materialise through tedious slow motion, for no convincing reason at all, appearing gimmicky and inane.

The opening sequence is a thoughtless stunt, drawing attention to itself in the worst ways possible, but it does prime you for the rest of the film, one thats remarkably low on art and high on artifice.

Co-written and edited by Vidhu Vinod Chopra (also the films producer) and Abhijat Joshi (whos shared writing credits with Rajkumar Hirani on films such as Lage Raho Munnabhai, 3 Idiots, and PK), Wazir struggles to make any shred of sense throughout.

Why would, for instance, Danish, an Anti Terrorism Squad officer, sitting in a car with daughter, follow a much-wanted terrorist and his cohorts  an action fraught with dangerous possibilities? Is Danish really that reckless? Is he really that fixated on his job that makes him forget everything else? We arent sure, because the makers didnt think its important enough to define their lead.

Its not difficult to guess what happens next: Danishs daughter is shot dead in a violent showdown. This plot point  which unfolds through lazy writing, devoid of logic and common sense  is the reason why Wazirs story exists (as it sets up all the subsequent conflicts in the film), but its treated so casually by its writers that you wonder whether the script even went beyond the first draft stage.

Also, had this been the only glaring flaw in the writing, it could have still been acceptable, but the film is patched together by a litany of similar contrivances and conveniences, which desperately try to hold the film together but fail.

Other bits in the films initial portions such as Danish losing his job, meeting Pandit Omkarnath Dhar (Amitabh Bachchan playing a retired old man who, for some reason, harbours a gratuitous obsession with playing chess), and befriending him lack a convincing reason. But whats worse? The films second crucial plot point, where Pandit tells Danish that he suspects his daughter, whose dead body was found in the house of a Welfare Minister, Izaad Qureshi (Manav Kaul), didnt commit suicide.

Instead, he says, Qureshi murdered her. How is Pandit so sure of this? Saboot Qureshi ke aankhon me hai (the proof lies in Qureshis eyes), he tells Danish. Obviously. Danish  who, and this must be repeated again, is a cop in the Anti Terrorism Squad  instantly gets convinced (and starts investigating the case), because, apparently, the ability to perceive aankhon ki sachai is some sort of a secret trump card in this alternate world where only rules of playing chess are normal.

(Spoilers ahead)

Which takes us to another preoccupation of its characters: playing chess. Characters in Wazir play chess all the time. They play chess to get over the loss of their loved ones; they play chess to make new friends; they play chess to get drunk. When the films villain, Wazir (Neil Nitin Mukesh), barges into Pandits house, he not only stabs him but also sets his chessboard ablaze. You know, just normal people doing normal things.

The main problem with Wazir is not that its silly but that it tries too hard to be profound. Pandit, a major character in the movie, frequently speaks in chess-riddled metaphors, and nearly every dialogue of his revolves around baazi (challenge), ghoda (horse) haathi (elephant), or, of course, wazir (rook).

However, it cant be denied that there was a promising story buried deep within this mess: two men, deeply scared by the loss of their children, trying to find solace in a friendship where one tries to find closure for the other.

But Wazirs so unreal, so dumbed down (when characters talk about something that was shown not long ago, Nambiar cuts to the same scene again, sometimes underlined by a voice over, just so that we truly get it), so predictable (for a film that postures as a thriller, its climactic twist is quite bland and not difficult to guess), that theres nothing redeemable about it.
New Delhi - Indian industry today asked the government to push for foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail trading as well as allowing corporates in agriculture farming. These were among the several suggestions made by industry

chambers, including CII and FICCI, during their interaction with Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and

senior officials here.

"Members stated that the government should push the FDI in multi-brand retail sector. Suggestions were also made that

Indian corporates should be allowed to do agriculture farming," an official, who attended the meeting, said.

India permits 51 per cent FDI in the multi-brand retail sector. The BJP-led NDA government is opposed to allowing FDI in multi-brand retailing, but it has not yet scrapped the policy approved by the previous UPA regime.

FICCI said taking into account the sensitivities regarding protecting kiranas, the government could consider allowing 100 per cent FDI in multi brand retail in segments such as electronics, apparel and fresh food product retail.

Issues including impact of FTAs signed by India, ways to promote start-ups and boost economic growth, were also deliberated upon in the meeting.

Sitharaman said the key issues raised by the industry include surge in imports, competitiveness of some sectors and increasing investments, among others.

The industry chambers raised concerns over FTAs (free trade agreements) and their impact on Indian industry and commerce, the minister said, adding that the ministry would take inputs from industry at the time of review of these pacts.

India has so far signed free trade pacts with countries such as Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Asean. Indian industry and exporters have time and again said that these pacts have benefited the partner countries more. She also asked the industry to delve deep into the causes of lack of competitiveness vis-a-vis imports and take corrective measures to improve that.

Sitharaman emphasised on the need for standards across all sectors and sought cooperation to develop that. Besides, the minister sought inputs for negotiations of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and other FTAs.

While allaying apprehensions about the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, he asked the industry for their feedback on export promotion measures taken by the government during the last one year.

The chambers suggested measures to further liberalise FDI regime, new initiatives that could be taken up under Make in

India programme and strategy to promote start-ups.

To promote start-ups, the chambers suggested removing the entire regulatory burden for initial few years and ease of

opening and closing the start-up business.

Former FICCI President Harsh Pati Singhania said the government should have to look at several issues such as

facilitating and closing of start-ups, funding and tax ambiguity for funders.

The objective of the meeting was to have an interface with the major stakeholders in industrial development so as to

arrive at a common understanding of the problems faced by the Indian economy in manufacturing and also seek suggestions to boost that. It was informed by the officials that FDI in the country has grown by 39 per cent in the last 18 months.

Later, an official statement said the industry emphasised on the need for stimulus for increasing the domestic demand

through government investments in infrastructure.

The chambers demanded for establishment of a grant fund for start-ups to support their capital and innovation expenditure

throughout the life cycle.

"A concern was expressed about the falling rural incomes and its impact on the domestic demand. The need for change in

APMC Act was expressed with a view to increase the farmers' income," it said.

The role of states in improving the ease of doing business and promoting investment was also highlighted.

PTI
New Delhi: French soldiers will march down the Rajpath on Republic Day along with Indian troops in the presence of President Francois Hollande who is the chief guest for this year's celebrations.

Government sources said that a contingent of French soldiers would be participating in the Republic Day celebrations.

This is a the first time when a foreign army would be marching down the Rajpath along with Indian troops as part of the Republic Day celebrations.

Incidentally, a French contingent comprising 56 personnel of 35th Infantry Regiment of 7th Armoured Brigade is already in the country to take part in a joint exercise which began in Rajasthan on Friday.

Some soldiers will also fly down from France to form a proper marching contingent, the sources said.

The French soldiers are taking part in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency joint exercise called 'Shakti 2016'.

The 35th Infantry Regiment's origin dates back to its raising in 1604 at Lorraine, France.

The regiment has as many as 12 battle honours to its credit. The battalion has varied combat experiences, having served in Algeria, Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan, amongst other places.

PTI
By Sameer Patil

The Pathankot attack reflects a new template of terrorism and is a reminder that India needs a well-coordinated approach to security emergencies. This is particularly necessary as the country has embarked on a bold foreign policy path under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The approach of the Pakistan-based terrorist groups in Pathankot is evidence that this template of terrorism is aimed to expose Indian weaknesses and harm strategic military assets.

The new template has moved beyond the frequent infiltration by low-level terrorist cadres and movement into civilian areas (Jammu and Kashmir-style), into a more sophisticated, meticulously-planned, long-term, detailed operation, hitting at military targets, with local support networks and exploitation of social vulnerabilities such as drugs. This new format has made the cross-border challenge the gravest ever, especially because our response is entrapped within old doctrines and conventional thinking.

By all measures, Pathankot was a meticulously-planned terrorist attack, with the clear stamp of military precision. Our security agencies treated it initially like a traditional terrorist assault. It took two days to recognise that it needed a far more sophisticated response, and act on it. India should expect more such emboldened attacks, and this is the time to frame and roll out a well-coordinated approach to security emergencies like Pathankot, hijackings and hostage-taking.

Some improvements have already been put in place since December 1989, when the daughter of then union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was kidnapped and released in exchange for five terrorists. In the 1999 Kandahar hijacking, the national response was also weak. The home ministry learned from the two incidents and framed guidelines on hostage-taking and a strong anti-hijacking policy, which emphasised that India will not negotiate with terrorists. India has not faced another hijacking since then, so it is unclear how the policy will work when tested.

The 2008 Mumbai attacks were again a long-planned, successful military-precision terrorist operation. Our excruciatingly slow response resulted in heavy losses and exposed the lack of a meaningful policy framework. Post-Mumbai, a substantial region-wise National Security Guard (NSG) presence was established  untested till Pathankot.

At Pathankot, the vacuum was not in the NSGs actions, but in the political decision-making which was ad hoc and un-institutionalised. A well-conceived and organised policy framework would have put into action a series of steps from political decisions to operational procedures. These include:

A well-defined chain of command, both political and operational; Inter-agency co-ordination,spanning civilian agencies like the National Disaster Management Authority, law and order enforcement machinery like the city and state police, the paramilitary and central and military intelligence agencies; Standard Operating Procedures or SOPs  the crucial determinant of a well-institutionalised policy; Channels of communications both internal and external. Internally, the use of encrypted communication networks during on-going operations, as well as data collection and real-time monitoring; externally, a code of conduct for the news media; and Regular review and updating of the SOPs and test drills to determine their functionality.

Institution-wise, India has some agencies which act as decision-making bodies during crises. One is the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by the PM, and the China Study Group (CSG) comprising the National Security Advisor and secretaries of home, defence and external affairs ministries. (The latter was formed in 2011 specifically to expedite decision-making on the frequent border incursions by the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, but its fate in the current dispensation remains unknown.)



What is required is a crisis management mechanism which will bring in the political vision of the CCS, the administrative experience of the bureaucrats in the CSG, and the operational experience of the armed forces. The National Security Council which was established in 1999, was to be that mechanism, but its authority has been negated because of the lack of an institutionalised policy framework as outlined above.

India does have a well-organised intelligence system that sniffs out terrorist conspiracies. After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, India set up the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), which brought together over 25 security agencies for analysis and dissemination of terror threat inputs, to ensure co-ordination on actionable intelligence. The MAC is still an experiment; it has not moved to the next level of operationalisation because of opposition from the states to establish the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC)- a central agency mandated to perform the functions of intelligence, investigation, and operations. Several chief ministers including PM Modi as the Gujarat Chief Minister, wouldnt sign up, fearing that the NCTCs operational powers will encroach upon the powers of the state and thereby affect the federal distribution of power.

Nor does India have sufficient intellectual capacity on Pakistan, our perennial security challenge and national media obsession. There are no dedicated research centres which study and analyse the social, economic, political and security developments in that country. Research emanating from these studies would have been a valuable input for the policy makers. The only entity with some research capability is the Centre for Pakistan Studies in New Delhis Jamia Milia Islamia- but its role in policy-making remains opaque.

The Pathankot attack is an opportune time to put in place a well-coordinated approach for future emergency security situations. The task becomes urgent as PM Modi continues on his bold foreign policy path, raising Indias profile and broadening our sphere of influence even as he hopes to functionalise a dysfunctional bilateral like Pakistan.

The author is Fellow, National Security, Ethnic Conflict and Terrorism studies at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, Mumbai. He previously served in the National Security Council Secretariat in the Prime Ministers Office.
New Delhi: Are the students of the premier Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) ready for a second round of strikes, similar to the ones in 2015?

Protests at the FTII campus on Thursday, that apparently led to a lathi-charge by the police, indicates another round of strikes.

While the FTII students association hasnt taken any decision on whether to go on strike or not, their agitation has drawn sharp criticism as undemocratic, unethical and unjustified.

The FTII students association, which has been opposing the governments decision of appointing Gajendra Chauhan as the chairperson of the institute, is not ready to have any dialogue with the government, come what may.

Devas Dixit, an FTII final year student told Firstpost, "We dont know how long itll take to resolve this issue. Its not about the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan, but its about the procedure and existing system. Weve been questioning why a particular political ideology should dominate the educational institutes in our country."

"Weve made it clear that we wont engage with the government officials on any dialogue, as all the previous ones have been futile. They dont want to take any positive decision and want to stick with what they have decided," added Dixit.

When the newly appointed chairperson Chauhan wanted enter the campus on Thursday, after the FTII societys meeting, he faced resistance as a large section of students stopped him at the campus gate.

The FTII campus has already witnessed a 139-day strike and relay hunger strikes in 2015, which were called-off in October 2015, without reaching a consensus.

The protests on Thursday and the alleged lathi-charge thereafter, by the police to disperse the students, led to a situation of uncertainty and an unending crisis.

"We were protesting Gajendra Chauhans entry into the campus by raising slogans, playing guitars and holding placards. But, the police resorted to lathi-charge on us. It was unprovoked violence by the police and it manhandled even girl students. We were forcefully evicted from our campus. The police detained 26 students, who were later released. We wont bow down to this political high handedness. We dont want Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chairperson. Were not going on strike at present, but the protest will continue. The final decision will be taken by the larger community," Shardul Bhardwaj, a second year student of acting course at FTII who claimed to have been a victim of police high handedness, told Firstpost.

Unlike last year, classes have resumed as a section of students want to get back to studies.

"Due to the strike, weve lost several man-hours and a major portion of our curriculum has remained incomplete. The protest may go on, but we want to complete our course within the stipulated period. Theres lot of pressure, another FTII student, who was a part of the previous strike, said on condition of anonymity.

Prof MD Nalpat, director, Geopolitics & International Relations, Manipal University remarked, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is held to a higher standard than other politicians. His team can do better than Gajendra Chauhan, who needs to be replaced.

However, the government is silent on the issue and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has made no official statement on the latest agitation.

With neither party relenting, the situation raises questions over how students can continue opposing the governments decision while enjoying a world-class education facility at government expense and waste tax-payers money.

A ministry official on condition of anonymity said, The ministry will take the final call. But, the issue that the students are raising, that questions the governments decision, is ridiculous and baseless. FTII is a government-funded institute and the students want that the government shouldnt take decision of its own. How is it possible?"

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, the I&B minister Arun Jaitley had said, "The government has borne approximately 94 percent cost per student at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) for the academic year 2014-15. Under the Twelfth Five Year Plan, a sum of Rs 80 crore has been allotted for upgradation of FTII."

Prof Rakesh Sinha, honourary director, India Policy Foundation said, "The act of these FTII students is a classic example of orthodox rigidity. Its dangerous for democracy as they are neither ready for a healthy dialogue nor let the chairperson work."

"There may be more capable candidates than Gajendra Chauhan but if the government has appointed him, he should be given a fair chance to prove his mettle. How can the ability of Gajendra Chauhan be judged without giving him an opportunity to work? Its like a judge pronouncing a verdict even before a case is filed in the court. After the long strike, now this fresh protest that took place yesterday by a section of students on the campus is unethical, undemocratic and unjustified," Sinha said.
Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed was in constant touch with the six terrorists who stormed an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in the early hours of 1 January and killed seven Indian soldiers.

New Delhi linked the scheduled Foreign Secretary-level talks to prompt response Islamabad takes on actionable intelligence provided by India on the Pathankot attack. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and his Pakistan counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry are scheduled to meet on 15 January.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his cabinet colleagues that bilateral talks would not resume until Islamabad took action against the terror group and he had made this clear during a phone call with Sharif, reports The Hindustan Times.

Action is a must. We are going to be very strict about it, Modi reportedly said at the meeting.

Former National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon says "if six terrorists can stop you from discussing serious business with your biggest neighbour, for me, thats not a good signal to send."

India has shared the telephone numbers and the identity of the handlers with Pakistan and has asked it to act on these individuals, senior government officials have reportedly said.

India has identified JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, Ashfaq Ahmed and Kashim Jaan as the chief villains of the Pathankot attack.

While Azhar oversaw the operations, his brother Asghar and two others were in touch with the terrorists.

India has also given the details of two types of Pakistan-made drugs  Neuro Bedoxine and Dicloran  found on the bodies, as evidence.

A senior official said the government also decided to constitute a high-level committee to study the gaps in security along the Pakistan border, especially on the Punjab frontier. It is through a riverine stretch in the Bamiyal sector of Gurdaspur district that the terrorists involved in the Pathankot attack as well as the July 27 attack on the Dinanagar police station are believed to have sneaked into Indian territory.

Experts of the Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee have been tasked with finding solutions to detect intrusions from a riverine route.

Terrorists spoke in Kashmiri: FIR

Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh, who is under a cloud for his account of the events that led to the snatching of his Mahindra XUV in which the terrorists reached Pathankot airbase, has said that the terrorists were also speaking in Kashmiri, reports The Indian Express.

Salwinder Singh's statement to the police is part of the First Information Report registered at Narot Jaimal Singh police station. Singh has said the terrorists dressed in army fatigues were talking in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and Kashmiri.

Nawaz Sharif chairs high level meet

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting and discussed the Pathankot terror attack as he directed officials to speed up work on the leads given by India, sources said.

Issues pertaining to national and regional security were discussed during the meeting, the Prime Ministers Office said in a brief statement.

The meeting was attended by Ishaq Dar, Minister for Finance; Nisar Ali Khan, Minister for Interior; Sartaj Aziz, Advisor on Foreign Affairs; Lt Gen (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, National Security Advisor; Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Foreign Secretary; Aftab Sultan, chief of Intelligence Bureau and other officials.

A source privy to the details said that the meeting discussed the Pathankot attack and the information shared so far by India.

The meeting decided to speed up work on the leads given by India, he said on anonymity.

Another official said that the information provided by India was not enough as it was just limited to telephone numbers and Pakistan might ask for additional information.

We would like to have solid information to build a case for action otherwise courts intervene and the suspects are bailed out, he said.

He added the meeting agreed that strong action would be taken after probe against anyone found guilty of involvement in the attack.

The meeting came as India said it is waiting for prompt and decisive action as promised by Sharif to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a telephone call on Tuesday.

India has provided specific and actionable information in this regard to Pakistan.

On Wednesday, Pakistans army chief Gen Raheel Sharif reaffirmed zero tolerance for terrorist organisations and took a detailed review of overall internal and external security situation in the country.

He made the remarks while presiding over the Corps Commander Conference held at General Headquarters, a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

In a pre-dawn attack on January 2, a group of heavily- armed Pakistani terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, struck at the Air Force base in Punjab.

Who is Maulana Masood Azhar?

Maulana Masood Azhar was the general secretary of another terror group Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA) in 1994 and was on a 'mission' in Jammu and Kashmir when he was arrested on 11 February the same year. 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). The Indian Express explains the re-emergence of JeM after years of staying low key.

However, Masood Azhar decided to float the new outfit JeM rather than rejoin his old outfit. He was also reported to have received assistance in setting up the JeM from Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the then Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden and several Sunni sectarian outfits of Pakistan.

JeM, like other terrorist outfits 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 would serve as schools of jihad. In its fight against India, he boasted that the outfit would not only "liberate" Kashmir, but also would take control of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Amritsar and Delhi.

Masood 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. However, a three-member Review Board of Lahore High Court ordered on December 14, 2002, that Azhar be released.

With Agencies
In 1990, when his name was cleared in the Bofors scam by a London court, Amitabh Bachchan proudly claimed the "Bachchans do not manage contradictions, they expose them."

Bachchan has come a long way since the 80s. From the man who, according to former Prime Minister VP Singh, almost ran the Rajiv Gandhi government and got wrongly reviled as Bofors ka Dalal to becoming a favourite of the current BJP dispensation and emerging as the frontrunner for India's brand ambassador, he has, ironically, managed the contradictions in his life quite well.

Bachchan is a perfect example of how fortunes of artists wax and wane with politicians. His purported anointment as brand ambassador of Incredible India underlines a simple fact: artists get cast as heroes and villains on the preferences and biases of India's political masters. To rephrase what Rajesh Khanna famously said in Anand, they are all puppets on the rangmanch (stage) of politics.

In this context, the tourism ministry's refusal to renew its contract with the advertising agency that cast Aamir Khan as brand ambassador of Incredible India is just another example of a political party playing favourites, rewarding the loyal and booting out those who are not aligned to its ideology.

Khan, of course, did not help his own cause. Even without his remarks on growing intolerance in India, it is difficult to assume that the custodians of culture within the Sangh Parivar would have been gung-ho about letting him continue represent Incredible India. Just look at the surnames of all the people the government has chosen to head cultural institutions and academic bodies and you would know what the BJP prefers.

Soon after Khan said his wife wanted to reconsider her family's future in India, the troll brigade of the Parivar had run a shrill campaign for boycott of all the products the actor was endorsing. It would have been truly incredible tolerance if the BJP government had renewed Khan's contract. What would its fan base have said? Tourists don't come to India. Indians, let's sell Pakistan tourism in protest?

Bachchan, on the other hand, has been incredibly non-political over the past few years. In June, when he was asked by Times Now about the beef ban controversy, he replied with unbelievable naivete, Im a vegetarian, dont know about beef ban.

As Firstpost had pointed out earlier, since the Bofors controversy, he has been excellent as polite-to-the-point-of-being-timid, a diplomatic man who feigns ignorance of controversies bursting around him, balks at the idea of discussing politics and politicians, refuses to take a tough stand on social issues and comes up with amusing excuses for avoiding debates  exhibit one, his poke-faced response to the beef question.



In a scathing critique of Bachchans inability to stand up and be counted, the Telegraph had argued that this is typical Bachchan. Among old-timers in Delhi's political circles, though, the actor's answers evoked no surprise. While Bachchan was perhaps looking to avoid antagonising any section of his fans and followers, people who have watched his career since the 1970s say he has a history of preferring discretion to valour in public and political affairs, the newspaper said.

Politicians, obviously, see merits in such meekness of demeanor. It is the reason why actors like Bachchan get rewarded with contracts--most recently he was chosen as ambassador of Narendra Modi government's Kissan Channel for a fee he later denied--and get accepted across the political divide--the love for Big B is perhaps the only thing common between the BJP and the SP  and artists like Khan don't.

And then there is the draw of luck. In his interview with Times Now, Bachchan had candidly said: I feel vulnerable, I am scared of consequences, I think about my own life and that of my own children.

Guess who would have agreed with him.
New Delhi: The Congress party on Thursday rebuffed suggestions of a breakthrough on a landmark tax reform, hours after the government said it had accepted the demands set by the main opposition party to back the measure.

The proposed goods and services tax (GST), India's biggest revenue shake-up since independence in 1947, seeks to replace a slew of federal and state levies, transforming the nation of 1.2 billion people into a customs union.

Supporters say the new sales tax will add up to two percentage points to the South Asian nation's economic growth.

The Congress party, the original author of the tax reform, has opposed what it calls the "flawed" version now before parliament, where it has been able to block a key constitutional enabling amendment in the Rajya Sabha.

"The government is using optics of meetings and is not serious about GST," senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal told reporters.

His comments came after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the government had agreed to accept the opposition party's demands.

Naidu also said the government was willing to bring forward the next parliament session to pass the proposed goods and services tax (GST) bill if Congress backed the measure.

The minister met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday to convey the government's decision. Gandhi did not assure him of her party's support, however.

"Sonia said they (Congress) will discuss among themselves and take a final decision," Naidu said.

We had invited Soniaji and Manmohan Singhji and discussed with them the GST and other bills. In the same context, as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister of the government, I met the Congress president and recalled to her that as per the discussion held earlier, the Congress should finalise its stand. They had raised some issues, which were answered by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Since the government had already spoken to Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and the Deputy Leader of the Congress in the House Anand Sharma in this regard, I reminded her that a quick decision should be taken and we should move forward immediately on the GST and the real estate bill, Venkaiah Naidu said.

But Sibal said the party was still waiting for written proposals from the government.

Congress wants the government to cap the GST rate at less than 20 percent, scrap a proposed state levy and create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states.

The political slugfest between the two sides has ensured that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's self-imposed deadline of April 1 for the GST's launch will be missed.

While Jaitley has yet to set a new date for the rollout, aides say passage of the constitutional amendment bill in February's budget session of parliament would allow them to implement it by October.

Yet even that deadline, which would fall in the middle of the tax year, appears optimistic, say economists.

"There is still a substantive legislative process that has to be completed," said Aditi Nayar, an economist at ICRA, the Indian arm of rating agency Moody's.

REUTERS
Mangua, Nicaragua: Police in Nicaragua say they have found 15 Bangladeshi migrants wandering lost on a highway after their smugglers abandoned them. Police Commissioner Leonidas Roque said the migrants were being taken from Costa Rica to Honduras.

That route takes them across Nicaragua on their way to the United States. Roque told local media today that the migrants were found "disoriented" about 12 miles (20 kms) south of Managua. The migrants said the smugglers had robbed them.

They said they had walked for three days from the Costa Rican border. They had paid the smuggler between USD 100 and USD 500 for the trip across Nicaragua.

One of the men said they had left Bangladesh because of political problems. They were taken to an immigration holding center.

AP
Dubai: Shiite Muslim protesters in eastern Saudi Arabia called Friday for the "death" of the Sunni-majority kingdom's ruling Al-Saud family at a rally to honour executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a witness said.

The demonstration capped a week of unrest in Nimr's hometown of Awamiya and uncertainty in the surrounding Shiite-dominated region of Qatif, after Nimr's execution last Saturday.

"Death to the Saud family," protesters shouted, raising their arms in the air, according to the witness.

"Fall, fall, Al-Saud", they added.

Pictures of the protest showed what appeared to be hundreds of people, many of them clad in black.

They held black flags and pictures of the executed sheikh, who was a driving force behind protests that began in 2011 among the kingdom's minority Shiite community.

Those protests developed into a call for equality in the Sunni-dominated kingdom, where Shiites complain of marginalisation.

Nimr and three other Shiites were among 47 people convicted of terrorism and executed, provoking anger among Shiites and concern in Western nations.

Shiites protested in several Muslim countries and attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in the kingdom's regional rival, Iran.

Saudi Arabia and some of its allies cut diplomatic ties with Iran in reaction, triggering a diplomatic crisis and raising sectarian tensions in the region.

Around 1,000 demonstrators marched through Tehran on Friday, chanting "death to Al-Saud," while in the Pakistani capital 1,500 people rallied against Nimr's execution.

Eastern Saudi residents said there had been protests this week in Awamiya, a Gulf coast town of about 30,000 which has been the scene of repeated incidents since 2011.

- 'People are angry'

Shiites called Nimr a peaceful activist, and an Awamiya resident said his death could lead to more aggression on the streets.

"The situation completely changed," he told AFP after seeing protesters blockade a street with a truck on Wednesday night.

Demonstrators also burned tires and garbage in the streets, while gunfire and explosions occurred regularly during the week, another resident of the Eastern region said of Awamiya.

"Last night was quiet compared with the beginning of the week," he told AFP Friday.

He said "activist boys" in groups of about five were behind the street unrest, which is opposed by the broader community.

A brother of Nimr also rejected the street blockades, for fear of violence.

"We don't need even one drop of blood", Jaffar al-Nimr told AFP.

But he added: "In Qatif, most of the people are angry."

The Nimr family received thousands of people who expressed their condolences over a three-day period this week, Jaffar al-Nimr said.

Early Friday, a man told police he was kidnapped at gunpoint in the Awamiya area, beaten and photographed, the official Saudi Press Agency said.

"His vehicle was shot at after he was released," it said, calling the incident a "terrorist" crime.

Last Sunday night in Awamiya gunmen killed a civilian and wounded a child when they opened fire on Saudi police, SPA reported earlier.

Police on Tuesday said armed "troublemakers" torched a bus in Qatif but there were no injuries.

"Everyone's now really afraid," a third resident told AFP, adding that activists who normally comment online are remaining silent.

"People don't know what will happen."

Since late 2014, Saudi Shiites have been targeted by suicide bombings and shootings claimed by Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group, who consider them heretics. About 40 Shiites have been killed.

Saudi security forces have also been targeted in attacks claimed by IS, whose leader has purportedly called Saudi rulers "apostate tyrants".

Diplomats said the mass execution sent a clear message that the kingdom will not tolerate extremism.

Nimr and three others were the only Shiites among the 47 put to death, who included Sunnis convicted of involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed Saudis and foreigners in the kingdom about 12 years ago.

AFP
Beirut: An Islamic State fighter shot and killed his own mother before onlookers at a public square in the Syrian city of Raqqa after he was told that she was not a true believer, activists reported Friday, the latest in IS's brutal public killings over the past two years in the de facto capital of the group's self-proclaimed caliphate.

The killings  and there have been scores since IS blitzed across Iraq and Syria to capture large swaths of land in the summer of 2014  are meant to spread terror and intimidate opponents. Many have been captured on camera, with the gruesome videos later posted on social media sites.

In 2014, a woman was stoned to death after IS charged her with adultery. Last year, the group put a Jordanian pilot inside a metal cage, then set him on fire, apparently also in Raqqa. The Islamic State has also posted images of beheadings of captured foreigners, journalists and aid workers, including Americans, British and those of other nationalities.

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the Syrian conflict, 20-year-old IS fighter Ali Sakr killed his mother in a public square in Raqqa on Thursday.

The Observatory said the woman, Lina Qassem, who was in her 40s, was originally from Syria's coastal region but had been living in the northern town of Tabqa for more than 20 years. The group said she was trying to convince her son to leave the extremist group and flee Raqqa but he in turn informed IS on her.

Abu Mohammed, a member of a Raqqa-based activist group that reports on IS, known as Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, also reported the killing on his Twitter account. The Observatory said it took place near the local post office building, where Qassem worked.

Meanwhile, clashes in Iraq between a joint Turkish-Iraqi force and Islamic State militants near a training camp outside the northern city of Mosul left at least 18 IS fighters dead, the Turkish president and a former Iraqi governor said Friday.

The fighting erupted late on Thursday outside the Bashiqa camp, which was at the center of a controversy last month when Turkey moved troops there to protect Turkish trainers aiding local Sunni fighters hoping to take back Mosul from the Islamic State group.

Baghdad has demanded that Turkish troops withdraw, describing their presence as a violation of international law. Ankara has pulled some troops out but not all.

Turkish President Erdogan said on Friday that IS tried to infiltrate Bashiqa, triggering the clashes. Former Iraqi governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, who founded the training camp, said the attack was pre-empted.

But the commander of the training camp, Maj Gen. Mohammed Yahya, told The Associated Press that he was at the camp on Thursday night and there were no such clashes.

"There were airstrikes on IS targets, but there's always airstrikes. Our troops were not involved in any fighting," he insisted.

A commander with the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces at the frontline near the training camp said airstrikes killed 16 IS fighters there on Thursday night. The commander, Saeed Mamuzini, said he was not aware of any fighting between the Sunni-Turkish forces and the IS group.

The disparate accounts of the events Thursday night could not immediately be reconciled.

AP
Paris: A man wielding a meat cleaver and carrying the emblem of the Islamic State group was shot dead as he tried to attack a police station in Paris on Thursday, a year to the day since jihadists killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo newspaper.

The unidentified man tried to enter the building in the northern 18th district of the French capital wearing what was at first thought to be an explosives vest, but was later found to be a fake.

News of the incident came just after President Francois Hollande concluded a sombre speech at police headquarters to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Paris office of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on 7 January 2015.

"On Thursday morning, a man attempted to attack a policeman at the reception of the police station before being hit by shots from the police," interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said.

The prosecutor investigating the case said the man was found to be carrying "a mobile phone and a piece of paper on which the flag of Daesh was printed, as well as a

n unequivocal claim handwritten in Arabic". Daesh is the Arabic name for Islamic State.

Explosives experts were sent to the scene in the largely north African district of Goutte d'Or, close to the tourist hotspot of Montmartre.

The man was found to have been wearing a pouch under his coat with a wire hanging from it, but the device "contained no explosives", a source close to the investigation told AFP.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve praised the "remarkable work" of the security forces in the incident.

"In a country where the level of threat is extremely high, the police, gendarmes, the security forces... are in the frontline," he said.

With France still grieving after the massacre of 130 people by jihadists in Paris in November, Hollande used his speech to call for greater cooperation between the security services to thwart attacks.

"Faced with these adversaries, it is essential that every service -- police, gendarmerie, intelligence, military -- work in perfect harmony, with the greatest transparency, and that they share all the information at their disposal," the president said.

Many of the assailants in both January's rampage and the attacks in November were known to French security services, having either travelled abroad to fight with jihadists or been blocked from doing so.

Hollande said that since the attack on Charlie Hebdo, nearly 200 people in France had been placed under travel restrictions to prevent them joining up with Islamic State in Syria or Iraq.

'Died so we could live'

The president said the three police officers killed in January's attacks "died so that we could live in freedom".

A police bodyguard who was guarding the newspaper's editor, Charb, was killed alongside him by brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi and they shot dead another policeman, Ahmed Merabet, as he sprawled on the pavement near Charlie Hebdo's offices.

The next day, a policewoman was killed by jihadist Amedy Coulibaly in the southern Paris suburb of Montrouge, apparently as he was heading to attack a Jewish school.

Among changes set to be introduced in the wake of the November attacks are new guidelines allowing police to keep their weapons even when off-duty.

The president reiterated his pledge to boost the number of police and armed gendarmes by 5,000.

Rocker Johnny Hallyday will perform at a concert in Paris on Sunday to mark the day one year ago that one million people gathered in the capital in support of freedom of expression following the deaths of Charlie Hebdo's best-known cartoonists.

The newspaper had been in the jihadists' sights since it first published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2006.

Since the attacks, it has moved to ultra-secure offices in a secret location, and has refused to tone down its provocative form of humour.

On Wednesday it published a special edition featuring a gun-toting God under the headline: "One year on: the killer is still at large."

AFP
Benghazi: Suicide bombers in Libya attacked a police training school and a checkpoint on Thursday, killing more than 56 people and prompting renewed calls for unity in a country torn by rivalries and jihadist threats.

The deadliest incident was in the coastal city of Zliten, where a truck bomb exploded outside the school, killing more than 50 people, a security source said.

The attack was the deadliest since the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

A witness in Zliten, about 170 kilometres (100 miles) east of Tripoli, said that 300 men, mainly coast guards, were inside the compound at the time.

Health ministry spokesman Ammar Mohammed Ammar said 50 to 55 people were killed and at least 100 wounded. Victims were rushed to several hospitals and urgent calls were issued for blood donations.

The blast blew out windows and charred concrete buildings inside the compound and turned cars into black and twisted wrecks.

Hours later another bomber drove an explosives-packed car into a checkpoint in a key oil region under recent assault by the Islamic State group, killing six people, including a baby.

"I am at the morgue where six bodies from the site of the attack were brought, including the body of a child," said Mansour Ati, the head of Libya's Red Crescent. Eight people were also wounded.

Ossama al-Hodeiri, a spokesman for the security forces that guard nearby oil facilities, "A driver in a Toyota Land Cruiser blew himself up at a checkpoint at the entrance to the town of Ras Lanouf."

Hodeiri, who was at the scene, aid three guards and a 16-month-baby were among the dead.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks in Zliten or Ras Lanouf but IS has claimed previous suicide bombings and other atrocities.

IS has been growing in power in Libya, feeding on the chaos that has gripped the country since the revolution.

On Monday it launched an offensive against the oil terminals in Ras Lanouf and nearby Al-Sidra, after trying for weeks to push east from its stronghold of Sirte.

The terminals are located in the so-called "oil crescent" along the northern coast, and officials have warned of crippling consequences if the jihadists manage to seize control of Libya's oil resources.

Calls for unity

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 internationally recognised government condemned the attack as a "cowardly terrorist act" and called for the lifting of an arms embargo it says has prevented authorities from tackling IS.

A deputy defence minister for the Tripoli-based government, Mohammad Bashir al-Naas, vowed to revenge.

"The perpetrator is not known but he is a coward. He kills our sons from the shadows. We must avenge them and do everything possible to protect them," he told a press conference.

Hundreds of people braved the cold and high winds Thursday afternoon to attend a prayer service for the victims of the truck bombing at Zliten's stadium.

The United Nations is pressing Libya's rival sides to implement a power-sharing deal agreed last month on forming a unity government.

UN envoy to Libya Martin Kobler said implementing the political agreement was crucial.

"I condemn in the strongest terms today's deadly suicide attack in Zliten, call on all Libyans to urgently unite in fight against terrorism," he wrote on Twitter.

EU policy chief Federica Mogherini also urged Libyans to back the unity deal.

"The people of Libya deserve peace and security and... they have a great opportunity to set aside their divisions and work together, united, against the terrorist threat facing their country," she said.

Italy, the former colonial power in Libya, offered its support in helping to bring stability.

"In the face of this terrorist threat, the first answer must be unity among Libyans," Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said. "It is urgent that the recently signed political agreement be implemented."

Struggle for power

World powers fear Libya could descend further into chaos and become an IS stronghold on Europe's doorstep.

In a report to the UN Security Council in November, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that IS had been responsible for at least 27 car and suicide bombings in Libya in 2015.

The group claimed responsibility for suicide car bombings in the eastern town of Al-Qoba in February that killed at least 40 people.

Calls have been growing for a possible foreign military intervention to bring stability to Libya and contain IS, which is reported to have at least 3,000 fighters in the country.

Mohamed Eljarh, a Libya analyst with the Atlantic Council, said the Zliten attack was aimed as a show of strength and to highlight the vulnerability of security forces.

"Despite IS's evident presence in Libya, various political groups are still consumed with their struggle for power and control."

AFP
Washington: The White House's top security officials are to meet with leading Internet companies in Silicon Valley Friday in an effort to build cooperation against terrorism.

High on the agenda will be how to make it harder for terror groups to use the Internet to recruit supporters and to use technologies like encryption to mask their activities, according to the agenda of the meeting obtained by AFP.

Underscoring the high importance of the meeting, President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff Denis McDonough will lead the delegation from Washington.

The group will also include Attorney General Loretta Lynch; Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, the directors of the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other top officials, according to the agenda.

From the tech industry, top executives from Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, Dropbox, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube are expected to attend.

The White House did not confirm the meeting, but four of the companies on the list, Twitter, Facebook, Google and Apple, have confirmed they are attending.

The talks come amid mounting frustration in Washington that the Islamic State group, Al-Qaeda and other groups have been able to use publicly available technology to build their influence and hide their activities from even the most advanced US intelligence operations.

Key issues on the agenda include:

- How to make it harder for terrorists to leverage the internet to recruit, radicalize, and mobilize followers,

- how to support efforts online to undermine IS,

- how to use technology to disrupt radicalization and identify recruitment patterns,

- and how to make it harder for terrorists to use the Internet to facilitate and operationalize attacks, and make it easier to identify operatives and prevent attacks.

The meeting, scheduled to start in San Jose at 11 am Pacific Time (1900 GMT), raises a challenge to some of the world's top tech companies, wary of being seen to cooperate with and share data with the US or other governments.

It comes after Obama, in a speech following the December 2 attacks by two IS sympathizers in San Bernardino, California that killed 14, called on "high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice."

AFP
Classic British home furnishing and fashion brand Laura Ashley Australia has called in the administrators amid talk of store closures after trading through several difficult seasons.

The Laura Ashley business in Australia and New Zealand is run under a licence agreement with Laura Ashley UK.

Laura Ashley Australia has called in the administrators to conduct an urgent assessment of the company's financial position.

The sole director of Laura Ashley Australia, Daryl Chait, appointed Ross Blakeley, Quentin Olde and John Park of FTI Consulting to administer the company on Thursday.

FTI would not provide any details of the company's financial difficulties.
Jared Hyams' signature started as a joke.

Suspecting that no one at the Australian Electoral Commission would scrutinise the application to change his address, he scribbled a caricature of a penis in the box that asked for a signature.

Jared Hyams' new VicRoads driver's licence. Credit:Beau Donelly

"I thought it would be a laugh; they would approve it and next year I would sign something different," the 33-year-old said.

"But when I did this signature all of a sudden the shit hit the fan. I was receiving letters and phone calls telling me I couldn't have it. I thought, that's interesting, why not?"
Yarloop Bowling Club president Ron Sackville said the fire had ripped through the main street of the town, which is located about 120 kilometres south of Perth. The bushfire left Yarloop in ruins. Credit:Jason Bloxsidge "There's very little of Yarloop left. I couldn't get all the way down there but understand the steam museum is gone ... the post office survived, the pub is gone, the bowling club survived," Mr Sackville told Radio 6PR. "Fortunately I have a firefighting pump and house and managed to save our house and the horses that were in the paddock - they are in the backyard now. Murray Cowper snapped these photos of the devastation in Yarloop. Credit:Murray Cowper

"But I look around 360 degrees and everything is burnt to a cinder. I think the post office is the only building left standing [in the main street]. The fire was horrendous." Mr Sackville fired a broadside at both government authorities and private land owners around the town. Close to 100 homes were destroyed by the flames. Credit:Murray Cowper "The water situation is absolutely disgusting," he said.

"The Minister for Water should resign - there was no water here to fight the fire, the trucks couldn't fill up. It's just the devastation of a whole town. "The fire was horrendous. There has been a real lack of land maintenance around Yarloop by some of the private owners - once the fire got into that at the northern end of town, there was no stopping it." The ground-level diagnosis was confirmed by Seven News Perth reporter Geoff Parry, who flew over Yarloop - or what was left of it - in a chopper on Friday morning. "So much of the town has been burnt to the ground - there are just a couple of houses left standing here and there," he reported. "It's pretty much destruction all over the town. It is quite a town...and most of it there's nothing left. There's a house here and there and that's it.

"Three-quarters, probably more of the town is just crumpled on the ground now." Ironically, some people from fire-threatened Waroona had been seeking refuge in Yarloop on Thursday - before winds changed and put the former mill town in the path of the firestorm. Another caller to 6PR, Waroona resident Scott said he had sent his children to apparent safety in Yarloop, then had an anxious few hours in which he could not contact them. He reported they were now accounted for in Bunbury. Authorities had on Thursday night said they would be unable to confirm the losses until daylight, but local MP Murray Cowper said residents who stayed to protect their homes had told him numerous buildings in the town have been destroyed.

"Yarloop has sustained heavy damage," Mr Cowper told the ABC. "Fire came down the hill and I understand it has gone through the town site. "There's unconfirmed reports that we've lost the pub and a number of other significant buildings." Mr Cowper said he was "thankful" no lives had been lost so far.

One local resident told the Seven Network she had been "getting phone calls confirming the house is gone, my sister's house, my mum's house all gone. It's all gone. There is nothing there". This weekend's Southbound music festival has also been cancelled. The fire has been ravaging Waroona, Harvey and surrounding areas, including Preston Beach, in Western Australia's Peel and South West regions since Wednesday. By Saturday morning, more than 67,000 hectares of land had been lost to the fire, the perimeter of which covered more than 220 kilometres. Drakesbrook Fine Wines owner Bernie Worthington said his vineyard, olive grove and orchard were destroyed.
BOISE | House Speaker Scott Bedke said Thursday that legislation to do away with the need for carry concealed permits should first go through an informal committee that vets gun legislation before it is introduced.

The informal group of lawmakers in question, which isn't a regular committee and doesn't meet publicly, was formed a few years ago to go over gun legislation before it is introduced to make sure it can pass both houses.

"It's a time-honored practice and it's worked," Bedke, R-Oakley, said. "So rather than require, I may urge."

Reps. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, and Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, announced earlier this week that they plan to introduce "constitutional carry" legislation early in the session that would get rid of the need for a permit to carry a concealed handgun within city limits. A similar bill was introduced a year ago but held in the House State Affairs Committee.

Scott and Nate's news release includes a quote from Bedke that was reported in the Post Register of Idaho Falls in December, saying he thought the bill would pass this year. Bedke, though, took issue Thursday with that quote being construed as support for the legislation.

"That's a conclusion you all have drawn as you write these stories," he said.

Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter wouldn't say on Thursday whether or not he would sign the bill if it passes. He said he hasn't seen it, but that he has talked to several sheriffs who didn't care for the idea.

Bedke also said he hasn't seen Scott and Nate's bill yet so he couldn't say whether he would back it. He says he supports permitless carry "in concept," and would have been quicker to jump on board 15 years ago, when he was first elected. However, he said the state also needs to make sure people who aren't allowed to have guns, such as felons and the mentally ill, don't.

"It's not as simple as I used to think it was," he said.
BOISE  Idahos governor and Speaker Scott Bedke each expressed some sympathy for the frustrations of a band of armed men in Oregon on Thursday but rejected their occupation of a federal wildlife refuge building.

Do I understand their frustrations? Nobody does more than I, C.L. Butch Otter said at the Associated Presss yearly preview of the legislative session, which starts Monday.

Otter went on to cite his own frustration at the federal governments rejection of the states sage grouse conservation plan. However, he said, he supports the rule of law.

There are peaceful and legitimate ways to do things, Otter said.

Following a protest march in Burns, Ore., in support of ranchers Dwight and Steve Hammond, who were convicted of arson on public land, a small group of armed protesters, led by Gem County rancher Ammon Bundy, occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge building Saturday. Bundy is the son of Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who led a standoff with federal agents over his grazing rights in 2014.

Bedke, a Republican from Oakley, said the Hammonds five-year prison sentence doesnt fit the crime and that he also understands the protesters frustrations and supports the Hammonds. However, he condemned the occupation of the wildlife refuge.

It became something other than a peaceful protest when they showed up with guns and took over the building, Bedke said.
BOISE  Gov. Otter threw cold water on the idea of legislative action targeting either Planned Parenthood or refugee resettlement Thursday morning.

Speaking at the Associated Presss yearly session preview with the governor and legislative leadership, C.L. Butch Otter repeated what he wrote in a letter to some concerned Republican lawmakers in August  that there is no legal basis to investigate Planned Parenthood.

What are we going to investigate? Otter asked.

Assistant Minority Leader Mat Erpelding, D-Boise, agreed with Otter.

It will only impact our national reputation if we go on a witch hunt, Erpelding said.

Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said there is no indication that there has been any impropriety in the state of Idaho. The only state funding Planned Parenthood receives is indirectly through Medicaid, he said. He suggested he wouldnt support telling people which health-care providers they can go to and get reimbursed.

We live in a free society, he said.

Calls on the right to investigate or target government funding for the family planning agency picked up steam last summer after anti-abortion activists released undercover videos that raised questions on whether the national organization was profiting from the sale of fetal tissue. Planned Parenthood denies that it does and says the videos were deceptively edited. Idaho Planned Parenthood officials have said there isnt a fetal tissue donation program in Idaho.

One possible legislative action, Otter said, might be to change the states law on anatomical gifts to exclude fetuses.

As for refugee resettlement, a topic that has been controversial in Twin Falls and globally because of the refugee crisis caused by the Syrian civil war, Otter said he has met with federal officials to discuss the topic and the vetting process.

He was vague about the meeting, saying he didnt want to disclose anything he wasnt supposed to, but he did say the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and immigration officials were in on the meeting.

They know more than we thought they knew, Otter said.

Otter was one of more than two dozen governors, almost all Republican, who called for a halt to refugee resettlement after the terrorist attacks in Paris. He said Thursday that he doesnt expect any legislation on the topic this year, although he said there could be pushback if the Obama administration moves forward with plans to increase the number of Syrian refugees being let in the country.
BOISE  Gov. Otter announced his support Thursday for a plan to extend primary care coverage to the uninsured and emphasized that taxes will not be raised to pay for it.

Flanked by Department of Health and Welfare Director Dick Armstrong and Health and Welfare committee chairmen Republican Sen. Lee Heider, of Twin Falls, and Burley Republican Rep. Fred Wood, C.L. Butch Otter told the crowd of reporters, lobbyists and other Capitol regulars at the Associated Presss session preview that the proposed Primary Care Access Program would help the uninsured without making Idaho dependent on the federal dollars that would have come with Medicaid expansion.

We believe this is an Idaho solution to try to provide for those in the gap, Otter said. Is it a total solution? I would be misleading you if I said that it was.

Armstrong also touted the health benefits of the plan, which would pay $32 a month to qualified providers to provide primary care services and develop treatment plans for them.

That will lift many of their conditions from marginal to healthy, Armstrong said.

It would not cover other medical needs such as hospitalization or prescriptions, and participants would cover part of the cost through an income-based, sliding-scale fee. The administration is proposing to fund it with cigarette and tobacco taxes  not by raising them, but by redirecting an estimated $32 million a year in these taxes to the new health care program and finding other funding sources for several programs, including aquifer recharge and some state highway money, that are funded with cigarette taxes now.

An estimated 78,000 Idahoans fall into the Medicaid gap, where they dont qualify for Medicaid but dont make enough to qualify for tax credits to buy insurance on the state-run exchange. Idaho lawmakers have declined to expand Medicaid coverage to all of the poor, which was originally required under the Affordable Care Act but became a state option after a 2012 Supreme Court ruling.

House Speaker Scott Bedke, a Republican from Oakley, said that nobody in the Legislature believes that the current system of caring for the uninsured with the catastrophic health care fund and in emergency rooms is a good one. He said he didnt know if the proposal would pass, but that the health committees would take this up and theyll fully vet it.

Assistant Minority Leader Mat Erpelding of Boise criticized the plan as a halfway solution that would cost more for Idaho taxpayers than Medicaid expansion, which Idahoans are helping to fund in other states with their federal tax dollars, would. Close the Gap Idaho, an advocacy group that supports full Medicaid expansion, released a statement Monday that offered some praise for the plan but said it didnt go far enough.

We applaud Gov. Otter and Director Armstrong for engaging the Legislature in a conversation that is absolutely critical to tens of thousands of fellow Idahoans who have no access to comprehensive health care coverage, said Brian Whitlock, president of the Idaho Hospital Association. This proposal is an initial step, but it is an incomplete solution. The conversation wont be complete until we have a system in place that not only makes fiscal sense, but also utilizes resources efficiently and effectively to provide appropriate coverage for our fellow Idahoans.

Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill, a Republican from Rexburg, said that adopting the home health care plan wouldnt preclude lawmakers from doing more to help the uninsured in the future.

Its not lost on us that were dealing with peoples lives here, he said. This is a serious issue. This is a real issue.
BURLEY  The Idaho Attorney Generals Office on Thursday launched an investigation into a joint law enforcement committee in Cassia County over allegations it violated state open-government laws. A Cassia County district judge ordered two special state prosecutors to be appointed in the case.

The law enforcement committee was a panel of citizens appointed by the city and county to study the police services contract after negotiations between the two government entities broke down. The committee also developed a cost model for the controversial contract between Burley and the county.

The Times-News called for the investigation after obtaining the committee members emails through a public records request. The newspaper found evidence the committee violated the states open meeting laws, which require public bodies to operate with transparency.

Cassia County District Judge Michael Crabtree signed an order Thursday morning appointing deputy attorneys general Steven Olsen and Carl Withroe to investigate allegations brought by the Times-News.

The order was based on a request Cassia County Prosecutor Doug Abenroth made asking that special prosecutors be appointed because of a conflict of interest.

We cant comment or provide any timeline for the investigation, Attorney Generals office spokesman Todd Dvorak said in an email to the Times-News. And from this point forward, the office will more than likely decline to comment on the case, citing office policy not to comment on pending litigation.

Dvorak said the case was initially referred to the Attorney Generals criminal division, even though open meeting law cases are civil in nature. The criminal division lacked the resources to take the matter on, so the case was referred back to Abenroth. Attorney General staff later decided to have the Civil Litigation Division take the case.

Emails obtained by the newspaper show the committee colluded to keep information from the public if media was present at the committee meetings.

Committee chairman Bill Parsons said he was trying to keep the report out of the hands of Jay Lenkersdorfer, co-owner of the Weekly Mailer who was also a candidate for Burley City Council. His email said: Linkensdorf (referring to Lenkersdorfer) is moving around and I do not want him to have any information until we present to both bodies. We will not turn on computer until we see who is there.

Emails received in the public records request showed a pattern of similar behavior by Parsons.

The emails also revealed that the committee may have held an illegal meeting in February at Parsons office, which was never publicized.

At least one member of the committee, Robert Squire, questioned whether the group was violating the law. Squire sent an email to Parsons asking, Does that comply with open meeting requirements? Are we able to hold executive sessions?

The Times-News filed records requests with each committee member on Oct. 24 after Parsons accidentally sent the email advising committee members to lie about their progress on the contract if the media showed up. In a Times-News story about the incident, Parsons took responsibility for sending the email but fell short of apologizing.

The paper reviewed hundreds of pages of emails, which included typical items like plans on what the committee would have for lunch and who would present information to the committee. But the review also turned up emails detailing how information would be withheld from the public if media were present.

While we applaud the work of the committee, weve reviewed the groups emails and found evidence it broke the law, Times-News editor Matt Christensen said. It was our obligation to share that evidence with prosecutors, and were confident an investigation will serve as a warning to other governments that public business must always be done in the open.

On Nov. 18, Times-News attorney Benjamin Cluff formally asked Abenroth to investigate and alerted the Attorney Generals Office. The letter asked Abenroth to seek the appointment of a special prosecutor because he serves as the countys attorney and the joint committee was formed by the county and the city.

I am currently seeking the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the Times-News allegations that the joint law enforcement committee violated Idahos open meeting laws, Abenroth said in a prepared statement in December. After receiving the Times-News letter, I requested the Idaho Attorney General to agree to the appointment as special prosecutor, but the Attorney Generals office declined the appointment.

Thursday, Abenroth emailed the Times-News saying the Attorney Generals office reversed their initial decision declining the request.

No hearings have been set in the case.
Howdy,

What is going on in Oregon with the protesters, ranchers and Feds, has finally got the country watching and listening. That is a good thing. It might get a conversation going about the back story, about the decades of ever aggressive Gov. agencies overstepping their powers. People might talk of the many cases of abuse and tyranny.

Gov. agencies have been used to put ranches out of business to acquire the water rights. Why would the Gov. want to put a rancher out of business, people will wonder? Why has the Gov. been acquiring large amounts of land for many years? Think about it, how would it look or sound to people in a State like Nevada, where over 85% of the land is already owned by the Fed, if that Fed were to spend tax dollars to buy more land? People would be livid.

Why does the Gov. need more land? Spoiler alert: Gov., we know its your underhanded, illegal, low life way of stealing water rights and lets not be naive, he with the water will rule the West. I, for one, believe the water within a State should be that States water, not an inefficient Gov. bureaucracys.

In this country, a law is brought forth by representatives of the people and goes through a process with arguments before being voted on, implemented and enforced. The Feds, on the other hand, write rules with no checks and balances, impose them on their boss (taxpayers), enforce them (to their liking) and are the judge in disputes over their rules. How does that happen? Isnt that the very definition of tyranny? Isnt that what we whipped the British for?

One of the Gov.s M Os is to write some rules, say the rancher has broken them, take grazing RIGHTS away, devastate the ranch and ranching families, put them off their land and take over. See how nicely that works for Gov.? They acquired more land (to mis-manage) and, more importantly, water rights.

They then write the press releases that, of course, makes villains of the land owners and heroes of the bureaucrats. It might have cost three times more in the courts then had they bought the ranch legally but thats their back door way around to obtaining land and water rights. The toll on humans, the land, the animals and the generational legacies brought about by public troughers is shameful and they should be held accountable the way we would be by them.

Whatever the real goals they have in mind are, they have not been deterred by their losses in courts. They have all the time and Gov. lawyers they want (at our expense). If you break a family monetarily and emotionally, and are able to wait them out, through your own court system, you win. Does that sound like it is pretty well stacked in their favor to you?

In the Bundy case, it comes down to the Gov. saying the rancher owed a bill. Now, if I were to owe you money, couldnt or didnt want to pay you, l could go bankrupt. The Gov. would prevent you from recovering the money I know and admit I owe you. We have no more debtors prisons in this country, weve evolved past putting people in prison for debts. If, on the other hand, the Gov. determines that you broke their rules and owe them money, they will jail you, confiscate personal property, use third-world, martial law, strong-arm tactics against Americans. In short, bully citizens with rules they made, not laws, to collect a bill.

That is what all the scuffle in the Bundy case was about, a bill, for money! To collect that bill, our brilliant bullies budgeted SIX million tax payer dollars to recover their bill of ONE POINT THREE million. Let me see, thats FOUR POINT SEVEN MILLION taxpayer dollars more than they had hoped to recover. This, folks, is the way the BLM spends your money. Then, with the help of a dirty politician, they skewed the media and Americas perception and buried the real story. Had they won, or when they do, they would, or will, have accomplished everything they wanted, the water rights, the dirty politician would make out well financially and the people would now be safe from a 70-something (no criminal record) generational, respected rancher and his family.

When were any of these all powerful leaches elected to rule over us? Just claiming long enough you have power doesnt make it so. When did these supposed land managers become deadly force bill collectors? What would the Gov. do to you if you showed up with an armed group of thugs to collect money you say is owed?

This Oregon case boils down to a land management agencys ability to arbitrarily declare American citizens terrorists. In this case, accidentally burning 104 acres, when the BLM caused fires around the West consisting of many thousands of acres. Not one bureaucrat has been held accountable. The two accused arsonists, sentenced in a civil court, did their time in prison. Vindictive troughers took them back to their own Fed court, which ordered the two back to prison to serve out a five-year mandatory sentence for terrorism. (Isnt this double jeopardy?)

How are these mentally under-endowed, overpaid grass mis-managers equipped to pronounce citizens terrorists? Who told the idiots they could? Theyve proven they cant do the job they are there for, land, so who would give them more power? I dont believe the BLM mucky mucks in Elko are smart enough to work at Micky Dees, let alone have the power to deem Americans terrorists. I call those low life, no conscience, law breaking Gov employees that would, traitors, but thats just me.

We are also seeing op-eds from around the country echoing these protesters as terrorists, written by uneducated, big Gov. loving columnists armed with nothing more than agency press releases. You would not think in todays environment the word terrorist would be thrown around so freely by coyote scat BLMers and their lazy press buddies. We all know what a real terrorist is and the Feds come a lot closer to that word than the two ranchers they convicted of it.

The so called press never looked any farther than the Bundy standoff for the back story. None of the professional news gatherers asked the Gov. why they would come with an army, threaten peaceful protesting Americans with lethal force, to collect a bill.

We sure dont have to agree with the extremist right on all matters, but we should educate ourselves enough, on all sides of the issue, to explain our dilemma and help others to get facts. We should not allow these unconstitutional, martial law minded BLM globs to abuse power THEY GAVE THEMSELVES, against citizens who, unlike the tax suckers, actually produce something.

We simply have an infestation of freedom hating bureaucrats willing to lie, cheat, steal, cover up evidence and ruin good families and are willing to murder American citizens for their big Gov. motives. Ask yourselves, what would the politically correct presss response have been if those rioters in Missouri (destructive and violent) would have been called terrorists by the Gov. or these same arrogant opinion setters? Yeah.

Why is it that some wont believe it could be a dirty Fed agency when every single Gov. agency has been caught overreaching their powers, lying, breaking laws and tried to cover up their wrong doings. (CIA, FBI, IRS, USFS, BLM, EPA, DOD etc., etc.) Do they forget? Are they too dumb to put it together, or, do they just not want to believe? How do these columnists, who do not live under this kind of Gov., dare pass judgement and call good people terrorists? Why do they immediately take the Feds account of issues over regular citizens?

One hundred and four sagebrush acres burned. They were using commonly used methods in land management and fire abatement. Toward their own goals these incompetent, tax wasting Gov. morons were able to accuse and convict two respected Americans, that started a sagebrush fire, of terrorism, while the Gov. spills thousands and thousands and thousands of gallons of toxic waste into a river, shifts guilt, lies, gets caught in their lies, fined (our taxes) yet not one public troughing, pandering piece of porcupine poo BLM-ist is held accountable. They all need firing, that is if you could fire any of the working mans parasites, but they are immune to being fired.

See why the Fed puke puddles feel so powerful? See why Americans, seeing what the puke puddles are getting away with, feel so threatened?

We are not radical extremists, we are Americans. We dont want to overthrow the Gov., we are just tired of being overthrown by that Gov. and believe citizens should not let these kinds of over-reaches occur.

We have got to know where our elected officials, and candidates, stand on these important issues. We have got to get educated responses. We have got to see some movement. Im afraid this whole thing is coming to a head and might escalate out of control. We are not to that point yet. We have not explored these new possibilities of being heard.

This is important stuff, folks, and if our representatives bow to these injustices, they need gone right now.

Thank you kindly.

Waddie Mitchell
About Me Mohd. Kamal bin Abdullah I am Mohd. Kamal bin Abdullah, who resides in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. I hold a post-graduate law degree from the United Kingdom. I blog to tell MALAYSIANS THE TRUTH. View my complete profile

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Nick Clegg in yesterday's Evening Standard:



... this is exactly what the anti-EU campaigners claim: that we can merrily leave the EU, stop paying our dues, refuse to play by the rules, but still get all the benefits of being part of the worlds largest marketplace and ask the other EU member states to shoulder all the onerous duties for us...



Or, more foolishly still, they claim that Norway or Switzerland are paragons of unfettered freedom which we should emulate. The truth is that both countries have to abide by all the EUs rules and pay into its coffers, surrender control over their borders  all without having any say within the EU itself. So much for unfettered freedom.



That is a wild exaggeration. 'All the rules'? Seriously? On this very blog, Kj has explained how things work in Norway and SumoKing has explained how things work in Switzerland . Those countries do follow a lot of EU rules (voluntarily or otherwise), that much is true, but they still have a lot of opt outs. Those countries do pay in, but they only pay 'market access' fees of hundreds of millions a year, not tens of billions. They have not 'surrendered control of their borders' anywhere near as much as EU member states in the Schengen area. It is true that they have little say in EU rules, but the UK doesn't either, and at least they can opt out of many of them.



Second  and this is a point for the pro-EU side  remember that people tend to vote with the heart, not the head. The referendum will not be won by statistics, but by emotion. I dont just mean flighty emotion about the virtues of international solidarity and co-operation. Fear of the unknown is a powerful  and legitimate  emotion too.



Politicians love stoking up a climate of fear to get their own way and accrue more power. What's wrong with research, education and rational debate..?



Finally, safety in numbers is a precious thing. Our age is defined above all by a profound sense of insecurity. Terrorism, climate change, globalisation, mass immigration  all conspire to create an overwhelming feeling of insecurity among millions of our fellow citizens. Yet we cannot tackle a single one of these forces on our own.



Terrorism? Home-grown terrorism is our own problem, but we survived the IRA. Terrorists benefit hugely from porous borders, the Human Rights Act and our membership of the ECHR, which are all part and parcel of being an EU member state.



Climate change? To the extent that you belief in it - are Switzerland and Norway really more at risk? Aren't we always told that there have to be global agreements involving the US, China and India? Whether those three large countries are negotiating with the EU as is or with the EU excl. UK is surely neither here nor. More to the point, it is not climate change as such which is the worry, it is particular impacts like flooding, and as we now know, it is the EU which encourages us to subsidise upland deforestation and deters downstream dredging, that's why we have had these terrible floods over the last ten years.



Globalisation? We love buying cheap stuff from China and going far, far away on holiday. We like French wine and German cars. We are happy if UK businesses export a lot to other countries.



Mass immigration? What most people get upset about is foreign workers - skilled or unskilled - pushing down wages, and as we know, most of those workers are from other EU member states. I accept that this is a tad hypocritical - given we like buying cheap Chinese stuff - but so what?



And if we remain in, Ms Merkel will try and fob off a load of genuine undesirables on us, shipped via France. See above re Human Rights Act and ECHR.



His only halfway decent point is that France will cut up rough if we leave - which ignores the fact that they have always taken the piss in flagrant violation of EU rules. I like to look at this way round. If we had never joined the EU in the first place and had a referendum on joining, what arguments would Clegg be making then? You can take all his waffle and easily mould it into arguments for staying out, can't you?
From now on, every person who gets tested and is found to be HIV positive will not just get counselling and medication. They will also get a...
Not making a profit since 1975! ...And since 2007, one of the Best Left-Wing Book & Culture Review Sites on the Net.
Lebanese parliamentarians missed another opportunity to elect a president after only 36 of the 128 Members of Parliament (MP) showed up for the elections. Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, was obliged to postpone the session to February 8. The country has been without a president since May 2014 and systematic boycotts by the deputies have stopped the parliament from attaining the required quorum of 86 deputies to hold elections.

This is the 34th unsuccessful attempt to elect a president and MP Marwan Hamadeh said the repeated small number of deputies showing up for the election shows the pessimism over the possibility to elect a head of state. He explained that neither the local nor regional conditions indicate that a president will be elected any time soon. Cabinet meetings led by Prime Minister Salam have also been affected by the standoff which has forced him to suspend meetings.

Following the postponement of the elections to next month, Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb dismissed the activation of the Council of Ministers whilst the election of the president continues to be stalled. He warned against abandoning the nation and said there are serious efforts underway to activate the council of ministers to resolve impeding issues. Harb said they will not be discouraged by the actions of the others as he vowed that we shall remain attached to our national duty till the last day, and shall attend every presidential election session until we manage to elect a president.

The major political parties are divided in-between the two camps which are allies of either Saudi Arabia or Iran making analysts believe that the ongoing row between Riyadh and Tehran respectively could further complicate the situation.
Thursday was a deadly day in Libya as two attacks jointly killed at least 116 people dead and left hundreds injured. One of the attacks which took place in Ras Lanouf and claimed by the Islamic State group targeted a checkpoint while the other, a truck explosion at a police base in the western Libyan city of Zliten is yet to be claimed. The attacks were widely condemned and Special Envoy Martin Kobler said rival Libyan groups should sideline their differences in the interest of Libya.

The Islamic State intensified its operations in the oil-rich Ras Lanouf region as it tried to take over oil facilities. The deadly suicide car bomb attack which killed more than 56people was carried out by a non-Libyan.

The attack on the police base in Zliten killed at least 60 police officers and there are unconfirmed reports that a local extremist group affiliated to the Islamic State might have been behind it. The base is used as a training ground for the countrys border police. Zilten is a crossing point for illegal migrants travelling to Europe and the border police are reported to have been effective in combating the phenomenon in the area.

Kobler urged Libyas rival governments to unite and confront the scourge of terrorism after the heinous attack because urgent process is required to rebuild the state. Tripoli and Tobruk do not recognize the agreement signed in Morocco and claimed that it was an individual voluntary act of those who signed it.

Europe is increasingly concerned about the rise of the Islamic State in Libya and White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the U.S continues to be deeply concerned about the violence of its militants in the North African country.
Paul Kalanithi died just a few weeks after his essay Before I Go was published in the spring issue of Stanford Medicine magazine, but he lived to see it appreciated by thousands. Since his death, his words have reached millions.

On Feb. 24, the day after publication, Longreads.com posted an excerpt on its widely read blog and shared a link through Twitter, and over the next week the essay on the magazines website got more than 75,000 hits. Letters to Kalanithi poured in, thanking him for writing, asking permission to use the essay in classrooms and wishing him well. Tweets and blog posts encouraged others to read it: This should be mandatory reading for humanity: time warps for young surgeon w/ metastatic cancer, tweeted Harvard physician Neel Shah, MD.

Sites from The Toast to Reddit praised the essay and the accompanying video featuring Kalanithi, and on March 4 the MSNBC news program The Last Word with Lawrence ODonnell aired the video in a segment lauding Kalanithis message. Other broadcast outlets followed, including ABC 7 (KGO-TV), NBC and KQED.

The essay has been republished by many media organizations, including The Washington Post, where it has had more than 4 million hits; The Guardian in England; and the Huffington Posts German edition. The Washington Post distributed it on its wire service, resulting in republication throughout the world.

The comments are among the most affirming Ive seen on any of the articles on our site, wrote The Washington Posts senior editor for social issues, Sydney Trent, in an email to Stanford Medicines editor. The story has moved and inspired people everywhere!

On Stanford websites, the essay has had more than 400,000 hits, his obituary has been viewed nearly 900,000 times and the video has been viewed about 184,000 times as of March 20.
Two masked gunmen on motorcycle opened fire this Thursday on tourist bus near the Giza pyramids in the Egyptian capital of Cairo in a clear attempt targeting the countrys tourism sector.

According to press reports, the Egyptian security forces have launched manhunt for the unidentified gunmen who apparently missed their targets, causing more scare than harm as there have been no deaths among the group of foreign holidaymakers.

The Egyptian authorities have been battling an insurgency based in northern Sinai; with attacks multiplying after the military overthrew Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The uprising has seen the countrys mainland attacked a number of times in recent months. Some extremists in Sinai have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and claimed the downing of a Russian airliner that killed 224 people there last year.

The latest attack happened on the day Egypts Coptic Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas in the mainly Muslim country. This new attack is likely to have a negative impact on tourism sector which is already suffering political violence and instability.

The bloody confrontation between government and Islamists has scared off foreign tourists and investors, depriving the Egyptian economy from vital hard currency and foreign capital.

With election of president Al Abdel Fattah Al-sisi, things started relatively to settle down and improve progressively. In 2014, nearly 10 million tourists visited the North African country, bringing with them $ 7.5 billion in revenues against the 14.7 million tourists that visited Egypt in 2010, before the start of Arab Spring popular uprising the following year.

Tourism remains a major source of hard currency in Egypt, where foreign reserves have dropped from $36 billion before the 2011 uprising to $18 billion at the end of August.

Egyptian officials hope that the tourism sector will pick up next year with double digit growth in the number of tourists and revenues. To this end, they are lobbying worldwide to attract foreign tourists and convince tour operators and travel agencies that the country is safe. But the new attack is likely to undermine efforts to re-launch the sector.
A court in Mombasa has found a teacher at an Islamic school guilty of radicalizing his students by teaching them radical jihad and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

The magistrate ruled the teacher, Samuel Wanjala Wabwile alias Salim Mohamed Wabwile, had taken advantage of poverty in the coastal county of Kilifi where school children walk in tattered uniforms without shoes to bait them using incentives like food.

Principal magistrate Diana Mochache said Wabwile had been hiding behind religion to convey his radicalisation mission.

The accused had sold his soul to the devil and he was in the process of selling the boys souls too, Mochache said.

While some of the children testified against him, one tried to cover up for him, the court said.

Al-Shabaab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, is blamed for attacks in parts of Kenya including one in April last year on Garissa University in the East where 148 students were killed.

In June 2014, the group killed 65 people over a 24-hour period in and around Mpeketoni in Lamu County. It was also responsible for a raid on Nairobis Westgate Mall in 2013 that killed 67 people.

Kenya has a majority Christian population, with 82.5 percent of the population belonging to a range of Christian denominations.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir in a decree broadcast on state radio on Friday announced the appointment of 50 lawmakers from the rebel movement to a would-be transitional parliament under the August 2015 peace accord.

Under the deal, the MPs who had in 2013 been sacked because of siding with the rebels in the then fresh civil war in the country will be reinstated.

The new parliament members have been named by the opposition faction led by former Vice

Fridays decree stated that Kiir also agreed to share ministerial posts with his rivals in line with the peace deal.

President Kiirs faction would be given 16 ministerial posts, including those of defense, national security, finance and justice.

Rebels loyal to Machar will get ten posts, including those of the minister of oil and humanitarian affairs.

No timeline was given for when the ministers would be named and take up their posts.

Under the accord, Machar is to return to the capital, Juba, to assume responsibility as vice-president, a post from which he was sacked in 2013.

Last week, the rebel leader said his group is working hard to make sure people get the peace they have been yearning for since the start of the civil war more than 21 months ago.

As a reminder, South Sudan plunged into chaos in December 2013, when fighting erupted outside the capital, Juba, between troops loyal to Kiir and defectors led by Machar.
The Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday night arrested a former military governor of Kaduna State and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, local media reported.

Brig. General Jafaru Isa (retired), Military Administrator of Kaduna State from December 1993 to August 1996 during the military regime of General Sani Abacha and one-time governorship candidate of the defunct CPC in Kano State, is a known associate of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Isa was arrested because he had failed to honour an invitation to report to the head office of the anti-graft agency.

Reports said that General Isa was last week invited by the EFCC to answer some questions, but instead wrote a letter to the operatives to defer the invitation because he lost his close relative.

The spokesman of EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed detention said in a statement that, it is true that the man is with us.

He was invited last week, but he did not honour the invitation, so he has been arrested and is being quizzed over the $5 million, he explained.

The agency wanted him to explain the circumstances in which he allegedly collected cash as a gift from the former National Security Adviser, retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, who is currently held over the arms purchase scam.
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The News in Brief

New mountain laws come into effect



The Laws on Mountainous Regions, which grant a number of social benefits to citizens living in highland areas of Georgia, came into effect from January 1.



More specifically, the tax benefits of the law have been fully activated, which means that all types of manufacturing activity will be exempt from taxes (excluding VAT). In addition, in support of young families, a 100-GEL monthly aid allowance was introduced for the first and second children.



Other benefits will come into effect in September 2016. In particular, nurses will get a 180-GEL monthly supplement from September, while rural doctors will be provided with a further 360 GEL. Teachers in the mountainous regions will also get supplements and schools will receive vouchers to buy books and other supplies. Social benefits are also to be provided for pensioners; from September 2016 their pensions will be increased to 216 GEL, and benefits in the form of electricity and heating supplies are also to be provided.

(IPN)







The government needs renewal, says GD founder Ivanishvili



There is a need for new people in the Georgian Dream government, businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili said on Wednesday evening. These were his first public comments on the change of Prime Minister and other recent developments in the coalition he formed four years ago.



He praised Garibashvili, who resigned as PM on December 23, by saying that he is not familiar with any problem which hefailed to solve and said he believes he left at the peak of his success.



Ivanishvili, a billionaire and philanthropist who served as Prime Minister for the first year after the GD coalition came to power in October 2012, resigned after one year, honouring a pledge to leave politics. But although he has formally retired from politics, many people believe that he still has significant influence on the government and is involved in decision-making, a belief which has been reinforced by Garibashvilis abrupt and unexplained resignation.



Appearing on the talk show 2030, which is aired on his sons TV channel GDS, Ivanishvili said that he has the right to offer recommendations to his team, and recently he held consultations about possible changes in the cabinet. But the coalition did not consult him about Giorgi Kvirikashvili, the new PM; selecting him was Garibashvilis suggestion, he said.



Kvirikashvili was approved by parliament on Tuesday night. He decided to keep on all the current cabinet members, but did not rule out the possibility of changes in the future.



Ivanishvili believes that the government needs to be refreshed with new people.



Giorgi Kvirikashvili will not be able to avoid staff changes, he said.



He characterized Kvirikashvili as a discovery for him and for the West, Europe and the United States.



I knew Giorgi was a good economist, but I didnt know what a great diplomat he was, and I have to say that I am excited.



But the former PM criticized Kvirikashvili for his positive statements about the President.



I [want to] remind Kvirikashvili and all others who attempts to justify the issue of the Presidents residence: they will fail, he said, indicating that he is still angry with Margvelashvili for moving into the palace built by Mikheil Saakashvili as the official Presidential residence.



He said that Margvelashvili wanted to have more power than Saakashvili used to have.



He wanted to become leader of his own team and this was the reason for our confrontation, he continued.



He also accused Margvelashvili of attempting to influence the courts.



The President shamed and disgraced us.. He wanted to command, he added.



He gave the right to sign the association agreement [with the EU] to the Prime Minister, a right which never belonged to him in the first place. Then he wanted to go to the UN, but this was also a matter for the government to decide. This year, he went to the UN and embarrassed us.



He also commented on the recent scandal surrounding the Presidents pardoning commission. Its former head Alexandre Elisashvili said a few weeks ago that he was pressured by politicians who demanded the consideration of cases of specific prisoners.



The topic raised by Aleko Elisashvili was provoked by the hands of Giorgi Margvelashvili, and the United National Movement party is behind it all, Ivanishvili explained.



Commenting on the parliamentary election in 2016, he expressed confidence that the Georgian Dream coalition is going to retain its power.

(DF watch)







Kremlin Aide Visits Sokhumi, Discusses Abkhaz Turkish Ties



The Russian Presidents aide Vladislav Surkov, who met with leaders of breakaway Abkhazia in Sokhumi on December 29, said that he discussed - among other issues - Abkhazias relations with Turkey and the need to coordinate policies in this regard.



The Abkhaz leadership and opposition parties condemned the downing of a Russian fighter jet by Turkey near the Turkey-Syria border in November. Abkhaz commentators have been expressing fears over negative consequences of Turkey-Russia tensions on Abkhazia and its economy.



Trade with Turkey accounts for 18-20% of breakaway regions foreign trade turnover; Turkey is the destination of about 10% of Abkhaz exports, according to Russian and Abkhaz sources. The breakaway region imports mostly building materials, fuel, food and textile from Turkey; it exports coal, fish and scrap metal.



Turkish fishing vessels have been actively involved in the fishery along the Abkhaz Black Sea coast. But in mid-December Russias federal fishing agency, Rosrybolovstvo, said that the Russian fishing vessels would launch fishery in the Abkhaz waters and would possibly also replace Turkish fishing vessels.



Such economic activities in Abkhazia violate Georgias legislation, including the law on occupied territories. At least four Turkish vessels were detained by the Georgian coast guard in 2013 for unauthorized entry to breakaway Abkhazia; no such cases were reported since then.

(Civil.ge)




Rendering via Walmart

Walmart cleared another hurdle on Thursday in their quest to build a gigantic superstore in Midtown after breaking ground last week. A second-tier petition to block development of the 200,000-square-foot facility was denied, upholding the lower court's previous ruling.

Upon breaking ground, we posed Curbed readers with a poll regarding the approval of a Walmart in Midtown. Of the 582 votes, 70 percent voted against.

Adriana Reyes, Director, Public Affairs and Government Relations for Walmart Stores in Florida, released a statement:

"We are pleased that the appeals court has validated the lower court's decision and the City of Miami Commission's unanimous approval of our new Walmart store in Midtown. This decision brings Walmart one step closer to creating hundreds of new jobs and access to affordable groceries for the residents in nearby Wynwood, Overtown, Allapattah and Downtown Miami who have been anticipating our store's arrival for years. Walmart looks forward to working with our neighbors as construction progresses, store hiring begins and we prepare to open our doors."



 Midtown Walmart Coverage [Curbed Miami]
via @learyreports

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson says he'll file a lawsuit challenging Ted Cruz's eligibility to be president, stepping into the "birther" discussion that's surfaced thanks to Donald Trump.

Grayson, who is running for Senate, told The Hill there are "legitimate arguments" on both sides of the discussion. He said he wouldn't file a suit until Cruz became nominee. Experts have said Canadian-born Cruz is eligible. But the issue has come up from Trump, who was asked about it in interview, and from John McCain.
Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz will bring a Muslim-American doctor Mohsin Jaffer of Weston, as her guest to President Obama's last State of the Union address Jan. 12.

In a press release announcing her choice, Wasserman Schultz mentioned "hateful rhetoric" against Muslim Americans including an "outrageous suggestion" to create a national registry. That's a jab at GOP frontrunner Donald Trump -- although she didn't name him. Here is what Trump actually said about a database of Muslim Americans -- as PolitiFact noted many of his comments in November were contradictory or confusing.

From a press release:

Over the past few weeks there has been an alarming rise in hateful rhetoric against Muslim Americans and people of the Islamic faith worldwide. Leading political figures have made offensive and outrageous suggestions that we should create a national registry of all people of one particular faith and that we should prevent any person of that faith from even entering this great country.

To combat these hateful comments Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) and her colleague, Rep. Keith Ellison from Minnesota invited other members of Congress to consider bringing a Muslim-American constituent as their guest to the Presidents State of the Union Address on January 12, 2016. Rep. Wasserman Schultzs guest is Dr. Mohsin Jaffer of Weston. He has specialized in the medical care of families and seniors in South Florida for nearly 30 years. He received his medical degree from the University of Miami in 1987.

Wasserman Schultz, who represents parts of Broward and Miami-Dade counties, will hold a press conference at Weston City Hall Monday with Jaffer.

Here are who other members of the Florida delegation are bringing:

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio: Conner MacFarlane, an Oviedo native whose father was killed as an Army reservist in Afghanistan.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson: His daughter Nan Helen.

U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Miami: Tara M. Parks, president of Families Affected by Gun Violence

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Delray Beach: Nezar Hamze, Regional Operations Director for CAIR Florida (The Council on American-Islamic Relations).

U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter: Civil rights attorney Daryl Parks who has represented the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.

U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz Balart, R-Miami: Father-in-law Phil Bakes

U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami Gardens: Jeff Tweedy, president of Jeff Tweedy Corp. who has given clothing to graduates of 5,000 Role Models of Excellence
@ByKristenMClark

Republican Gov. Rick Scott has invited the presidents of Florida's 12 public universities to the next Florida Cabinet meeting, so that they can present their ideas on how to meet a charge he recently issued.

Starting in November, Scott rolled out "Ready, Set, Work" challenges to the state's 28 community colleges and 48 technical colleges, as well as the public universities, encouraging them all to improve post-graduation employment rates for their students.

He wants the universities to ensure 100 percent of the students graduating from each institution's two most popular degree programs land full-time jobs within one year.

Most every university and college president accepted his challenges, but the catch is that they're on their own to fulfill it. Scott is not offering any money or other resources to assist the institutions in reaching their goals.

Scott wants to hear what the university presidents have come up with during the Jan. 21 meeting in Tallahassee.

It's unknown whether he plans to solicit similar presentations from the state and technical college presidents as well.
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@PatriciaMazzei

Jeb Bush's latest policy proposal is a welfare-reform plan that would end federal programs for food and housing assistance and replace them for state block grants.

On Friday, Bush will pledge to eliminate the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (previously known as food stamps) as well as housing assistance and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (cash welfare) because, in his words, "they trap families in perpetual poverty." (The Washington Post highlighted a Census report last year about people who are on welfare. Many of them rely on the services temporarily.)

In their place, a President Bush would propose "Right to Rise Grants," named after one of his favorite phrases (and his allied super PAC). Each state will decide how to allocate the money.

Also as part of his plan, Bush would require the IRS to verify a person's income before he or she is eligible for an earned income tax credit. And his administration would encourage states to "promote parenthood and successful marriages" and to focus enforcement resources on the collection of child-support payments.

The focus on rolling out proposals hasn't helped Bush in the polls, but he refers repeatedly to his plans in campaign events, pointing to them as evidence that he's a serious, detail-oriented candidate (unlike his favorite foe, front-runner Donald Trump).

Here's the outline of Bush's policy:

My fundamental belief is that every American has the God-given ability to achieve earned success and rise up the income ladder. But Washington is holding us back.

We have spent trillions of dollars on the War on Poverty, but there are now still more than 46 million Americans living in poverty. Economic mobility is also far too low. Today, over 40 percent of children growing up poor remain poor as adults. And a weakened economy has only made matters worse  6.8 million more Americans are living in poverty today than when President Obama took office. The current broken system not only fails those on welfare, but it actually encourages fraud, misuse and abuse.

Reducing poverty and expanding opportunity require new policies rooted in conservative principles.

Give Control Back to the States

The current one-size-fits-all approach to welfare policy gives Washington, D.C. too much power and fails to meet the needs of impoverished families. The nation spends over $400 billion annually on dozens of low-income assistance programs. The result is a confusing system that penalizes work, hurts families and creates countless opportunities for graft and abuse.

My plan eliminates these bloated, outdated welfare programs and gives control back to the states. I will eliminate failing, ineffective programs including the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps), housing assistance programs and the nations cash welfare program (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF). These programs may temporarily alleviate need, but they trap families in perpetual poverty.

In the place of these failed programs, states will be given Right to Rise Grants . These grants will allow states to meet the needs of poor families, in the way that makes most sense in each state. As governor of Florida, I saw first-hand how states could be the laboratories of democracy. I know that giving states more flexibility will open the door for transformative ideas to eliminate poverty and increase opportunity.

Promote Work

There is no better way to eliminate poverty than through earned success. A job provides money, as well as the work and life skills necessary to rise out of poverty. It also sets a positive example for children, increasing upward mobility in the next generation.

Current welfare programs actively discourage working-age people from getting a job, and President Obamas policies have made matters worse. This has created an unfair system where Americans not receiving assistance work hard to make ends meet, but those receiving assistance are not encouraged to work their way toward independence.

Full-time employment is key to permanently exiting poverty. That is why Right to Rise Grants will include real work requirements and time limits for able-boded adults. But emphasizing work is only half the answer. We must make sure work pays for all Americans. Along with cutting taxes for low-and-middle-class families, my tax plan will double the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for childless workers and expand the credit to younger workers.

Cut Waste and Abuse

Current welfare programs reward graft and waste. With more than $18 billion in improper payments in EITC, SNAP and housing assistance programs, there is no doubt that reforms are needed in their own right, and also to protect the budget.

My EITC expansion will be paired with commonsense reforms requiring the IRS to verify a tax filers income before they can receive the credit. We will leverage new technology and better record-keeping under the Right to Rise Grants to make sure recipients only receive the credit they deserve.

By replacing SNAP and housing assistance with Right to Rise Grants, states will have the authority and incentive to eliminate the fraud and abuse endemic in current programs. Taxpayer dollars are also wasted on expensive federal bureaucracies that administer these programs. By giving control back to states, we will eliminate the need for these Washington D.C. bureaucracies.

Strengthen Families

Marriage matters when it comes to reducing poverty and increasing opportunity. Children raised in married, intact families do better than children raised in single parent families on a whole host of measures, including graduation rates, criminal justice involvement and earnings as adults. But too often in discussions of poverty, this vital issue is left out of the discussion. It wont be in my administration.

As president, I will join with other political leaders, educators and civic leaders to promote marriage as the most reliable route to family stability and resources. States will be encouraged to find ways to promote parenthood and successful marriages. To further that goal, my plan will promote skill development, family involvement and employment among young men so that they can be better fathers.

Finally, parents must take responsibility for their childrens well-being. That means single parents with custody of their children need financial support from the absent parent. In Florida, I led efforts to double child support collections in the state. As president, I will refocus the child support enforcement system on its core mission: the collection of child support payments.

Conclusion

The nations welfare programs are hopelessly broken. The programs fail to encourage work, hurt families and cost taxpayers billions of dollars in waste and abuse. We must do better. My empowerment agenda for the 21st century will end wasteful welfare programs, give power and money back to the states and empower recipients by focusing on work and families. We will create a safety net that protects hardworking Americans who fall on hard times, but no longer traps families in perpetual dependence. A safety net where work pays more than welfare, and power does not rest with Washington D.C.
@PatriciaMazzei

Marco Rubio will return to Washington on Tuesday to file legislation in the U.S. Senate to end automatic federal benefits for Cuban immigrants.

Rubio let the news slip Thursday at a presidential campaign event in Bedford, New Hampshire, NBC News reported. The Florida senator later confirmed his plans to Miami Herald news partner WFOR-CBS 4 in an interview.

"We have people living in Cuba off Social Security benefits. They never worked here," Rubio said at the house party in the town of Bedford. "This is an outrageous abuse, and I have a law that we are going to introduce this week that shuts down this issue. It's wrong."

Rubio's bill would be a Senate companion to legislation filed last month in the House by U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Miami Republican (who, incidentally, supports Rubio rival Jeb Bush).

Curbelo's proposal wouldn't touch the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, which allows Cubans to apply for U.S. residency after a year and a day in the country. But it would stop automatic federal benefits such as food stamps and Medicaid for Cubans, who under existing law are treated as refugees even without formal refugee status.

Rubio reiterated in New Hampshire that the Cuban Adjustment Act should be reviewed, a position he has advocated in the past as Cuban immigration has shifted from people fleeing political persecution to those seeking a better economy.
@PatriciaMazzei

For the third consecutive year, the Republican Party's Spanish-language response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday will come from a Miami member of Congress.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart will give the speech, the House Republicans announced Friday. Last year, it was Rep. Carlos Curbelo. The year before, it was Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

In a statement, Diaz-Balart thanked Speaker Paul Ryan for tapping him.

"The United States and the American people face grave challenges, all of which can be overcome with leadership in Washington D.C. that understands the greatness of our country," Diaz-Balart said. "We need a president who will unify, not divide; a president who will stand with our allies and stand up to enemies of freedom. House Republicans are committed to putting our country back on a path to prosperity, creating solutions that will bolster the economy, cultivate job growth, and provide for a robust national defense. The American people deserve nothing less."

The speech gives a national platform to Diaz-Balart in an election year, though he's in a safe Republican seat. Like his brother, former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart is known to be a fiery speaker, though his appearance Tuesday will likely call for a more subdued demeanor.

This year's English-language GOP response has been assigned to South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, considered a potential vice-presidential pick for the party's eventual nominee. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, now a presidential candidate himself, gave the English-language response -- in which he famously took a sip of water on live TV -- in 2013.

Curbelo broke from tradition in 2015. Instead of giving a straight translation of the GOP response in English, the freshman made his own edits. No word on which route Diaz-Balart will take.

Photo credit: Jose A. Iglesias, el Nuevo Herald
@PatriciaMazzei

The Miami-Dade Republican Party punished one of its officers Thursday for publicly backing Ted Cruz for president, but stopped short of booting him off the local executive board.

Vice-Chairman Manny Roman had been threatened with ouster after his Cruz endorsement sparked an ugly internal fight. Instead, the Republican Executive Committee censured Roman, reprimanding him with a 66-12 vote for what a majority of GOP members considered violating a loyalty oath that bars party officers from publicly supporting one Republican over another. Roman maintained he was singled out for bucking party loyalists who prefer local presidential candidates Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush.

Today was a sad day for the Republican Party, Roman said after the vote. This was very well orchestrated by the political establishment in Miami.

Chairman Nelson Diaz declined to comment, other than to say, We are a united party. An attempt by Roman supporters to censure Diaz quickly failed.

Diaz had initially sought Romans removal, but GOP rules require a more formal process to kick someone off the board, including advance notice via certified mail. Roman said he had advised the Republican Party of Florida he would file a formal grievance if he were kicked out. His backers characterized the censure as a way to contain further political fallout.

More here.

A note for insiders: The 66-12 vote margin means 85 percent of REC members agreed to censure Roman. That's enough for the two-thirds majority required to remove Roman, had the committee pursued that route.
@PatriciaMazzei

Jeb Bush heads to South Carolina this weekend -- and so do several dozen of his Miami friends, to campaign for him.

A group of volunteer supporters plans to travel to the Palmetto State on Friday to tell voters about how they know Bush personally. The campaign calls them "validators" -- people outside of the candidate or his family who can talk one-on-one about what Bush is like and why they back him for president. The South Carolina GOP primary takes place Feb. 20.

Among those making the trip is Bush's Miami-Dade County campaign chairman, Jorge Arrizurieta, a longtime friend and business partner.

"If you have someone taking their time, spending a weekend telling people why they believe in Jeb Bush -- that's kind of a compelling message, I think," Arrizurieta said, citing past Bush family presidential campaigns doing much the same in 1992 and 2000.

The campaign plans to send volunteers to Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada as well, throughout January and February. Organizers won't reveal how many people are traveling, but the scope is expected to be significant, drawing from past Bush campaign staff and young professionals. A delegation of Florida state lawmakers is in New Hampshire this week.
@PatriciaMazzei

Three Miami Republican members of Congress sent their third letter Thursday to President Barack Obama urging the White House to draft a plan to accommodate the influx of Cuban refugees to South Florida.

Reps. Carlos Curbelo, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, all Cuban Americans, blame Obama's rapprochement with Cuba for the increase in migrants from the island arriving in the U.S. -- and want him to help local governments absorb the new arrivals.

The House members have written to Obama twice before. Some 8,000 Cubans stranded in Costa Rica are now enroute to the U.S.-Mexico border. Federal policy stipulates that Cubans who reach American soil can remain in the country. After 366 days, they can apply for U.S. residency.

"Since our previous letters, we have been in contact with Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez, and Doral Mayor Luigi Boria about their concerns regarding the growing strain on local governments and services in South Florida," the trio wrote Thursday. "Through its Homeless program, the City of Miami has been able to place Cuban migrants into shelters. However, these centers are now at full capacity and can no longer receive any of the 8,000 new refugees expected to arrive in the coming weeks. We have also been informed that Catholic Charities, Church World Services, and the International Rescue Committee do not have the funds necessary to assist these new refugees because they are already overwhelmed by the surge of Cuban nationals that have recently arrived in the United States."

Read the full letter: here.
@PatriciaMazzei

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio chided the White House on Friday for failing to inform members of Congress about a missing U.S. Hellfire missile in Cuba's possession.

The Wall Street Journal published the bombshell story late Thursday, prompting Rubio to write the State Department asking what it knew about the missile.

"The fact that the administration, including you, have apparently tried to withhold this information from the congressional debate and public discussion over U.S.-Cuba policy is disgraceful," Rubio wrote to Roberta Jacobson, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Jacobson starred in the Cuba negotiations, and Rubio has been blamed for stalling her nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

"While your bureau is not the primary entity within the State Department handling these issues, you oversee U.S. policy toward Cuba and interactions with Cuban officials," Rubio wrote. "Thus, the fact that members of Congress are reading about Cuba's possession of a U.S. missile in the newspaper rather than from you or other State Department officials is astounding and inexcusable."

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked about Rubio's letter at a news briefing Friday afternoon. He made a jab at Rubio's missing Senate votes, saying he guessed Rubio "gets most of his information about what's happening in Congress int he newspaper, based on his attendance record."

Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos tweeted that Earnest was being "petty."

Pressed on whether the missile was discussed in talks before the U.S.-Cuba normalization policy was announced, Earnest said he couldn't shed much light, given that the missile's disappearance is under investigation by the state and defense departments.

Separately, four Cuban-American members of Congress, including three Miami Republicans, issued a joint statement calling it "unconscionable" for the U.S. to have pursued normalization talks in spite of the missing missile.

"The Cuban regime rebuffed the President's effort to secure the return of the Hellfire missile even as the negotiations were ongoing, and yet the regime still got everything it could have wanted," wrote Reps. Carlos Curbelo, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami, and Rep. Albio Sires, a New Jersey Democrat. "It is no wonder that the Castro brothers feel ever more emboldened to continue on with the repression of the Cuban people, with intimidation and unlawful arrests at an alarmingly high rate."

--with Lesley Clark
I am a community midwife passionate about women's issues in general, and maternity issues in particular. My aim is to (a) increase awareness of the benefits of midwifery around the world, and (b) keep more women and babies alive by teaching essential obstetric emergency skills. It's nigh on time worldwide governments put women's rights on the agenda, and shameful so many women and infants are still dying.
The cold weather has been making some good ice and the ice fishing reports are coming in strong.

Jim Johnson and Denny Peterson had two great days last weekend on Holter Reservoir near Helena. They caught their limit of perch in the 10- to 15-inch class on both days, despite the ice still being pretty thin.

This is the latest Holter report from Troy Humphrey of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks:

Perch fishing has been very good with limits of 10-inch perch consistently being caught. The perch are being caught around Holter Dam, Log Gulch and Departure Point in 10 to 40 feet of water on jigs and maggots or worms. There is 4 inches of ice around Log Gulch, Departure Point and Holter Ramp and 2 to 3 inches around the dam. Holter ice conditions can change daily so use caution as wind and warmer temps can make the ice unstable."

For Hauser Reservoir upstream, this is what Humphrey had to say:

Rainbow fishing has been a bit slow in the causeway with a few being caught while using jigs and maggots in 8 to 12 feet of water. An occasional walleye and ling at night are being caught. The ice in the causeway is 8 inches. Fishing is slow around Black Sandy where there is 10 to 12 inches of good ice."

FWP's Adam Strainer had a chance to give his report on the ice fishing on Canyon Ferry Reservoir as well:

Rainbow trout are being caught between Pond 4 and Hole-in-the-Wall. Fishing has been best using various colors of jigs or ice flies, tipped with worms or maggots, in 10 feet of water. A few yellow perch are being caught near Hole-in-the-Wall in 35 to 60 feet of water using Hali jigs, Swedish Pimples or jigs tipped with maggots. Ice conditions have been reported at 8 to 12 inches from Pond 4 to Hole-in-the-Wall. Variable conditions exist elsewhere, so please use caution."

If you are looking for kokanee fishing, then you might want to try the Helena Regulating Reservoir, Strainer said:

Kokanee action is fair while using ice flies or jigs and maggots or corn in 20 to 35 feet of water. A lot of small perch are being caught just off the bottom at varying depths. There is 10 inches of ice."

Dick Zimmer from Zimmer Tackle in Pablo decided to give the east Polson Bay on Flathead Lake a try. The ice was iffy at best, according to Zimmer, but because he was going to be fishing over only about 3 1/2 feet of water he decided to give it a try. The results were good, with Zimmer filling a five-gallon bucket three-quarters full with perch.

According to Zimmer, while the fishing was good two problems plagued him:

The first was trying to keep my bait away from the smaller fish. Second, the ice was slowly sinking around me. I knew Id have to leave at some time or the ice would break, but the fishing was so good I was in a real dilemma.

Well, as you might imagine, he made it home safe, and Zimmer thinks that with the colder temperatures the ice will be much better than last week.

There is ice derby coming up with a huge payout  the West Yellowstone/Hebgen Lake Tournament on Jan. 15-17.

It is being billed as two-thirds education and one-third competition, with a maximum entry of 150 two-person teams. This tournament will have an anticipated prize pool of at least $14,000 and could get as high as $21,000. Plus, there are cash payouts from the Calcutta fundraiser Saturday night.

To register your two-person team, visit westyellowstoneicefishing.com/.

***

Mark Wards statewide Montana Outdoor Radio Show airs Saturdays from 6 to 8 a.m. in Missoula on KGVO 1290 AM and 101.5 FM. Email Ward at captain@montanaoutdoor.com.
The city of Missoula is ready to pay $88 million for Mountain Water Co., Mayor John Engen said Friday.

This week, the city withdrew its appeal of the award of just compensation, a figure determined by water commissioners in a Missoula County District Court proceeding. The three water commissioners unanimously agreed to the amount.

"We're ready to own and operate a water company on behalf of the citizens of Missoula," Engen said. "And we are and have always been ready to pay what commissioners have determined to be a fair price."

The defendants in the case, Mountain Water and owner The Carlyle Group, had not appealed the amount. On Friday, a Carlyle spokesman declined to comment on the turn of events.

However, at a morning news conference, the mayor said he believed the defendants planned to respond in District Court to the city's notice it was withdrawing its appeal. In his office, Engen and his lawyers answered questions from reporters, a member of the public and a Mountain Water employee.

The lawyers were slated to begin jury selection Monday for the appeal of the value. The jury was to hear the case and determine whether $88 million was a fair price  or set a higher or lower amount.

The city had wanted to pay only $45 million, but the defendants argued the system was worth $142 million.

At the briefing, Engen said the city had appealed the $88 million because it was concerned developers who had advanced money for infrastructure to Mountain Water "would be left in the cold." He said a judge's order clarifies the outcome, and the city will not have to pay the $22 million developers estimate they are owed on top of $88 million for the company.

In the order, however, Judge Karen Townsend said the city had not successfully argued it should pay the obligation and have the amount deducted from the $88 million.

The mayor said the judge will resolve in court the exact amounts owed developers. Late Friday, the party responsible for paying remained unclear.

At least one Mountain Water employee feared another group was being left out in the cold  staff at the water company. Mountain's Greg Gullickson said the mayor had promised him and his colleagues a seat at the table, but he never knew the table's location.

"So where's the table, Mr. Mayor?" Gullickson said.

Said Engen: "I don't own the water company yet, Greg. But once we do, the table will be set."

Employees had opposed ownership by the city and favored ownership by a private company. A sale to the private company is on hold in a separate process.

Last summer, the defendants appealed the judge's June order that the city had the right to use its power of eminent domain to purchase the water system. That appeal is pending in the Montana Supreme Court, and state statute calls for the courts to proceed "expeditiously" in eminent domain cases.
Back in 2009, a Polson man named Paul Wencewicz created an invitation-only online bulletin board where members advertised and traded sexually explicit images of young girls.

He called it Kingdom of Future Dreams, and housed the physical server on the remote Isle of Jersey, one of the United Kingdom's Channel Islands.

On it were thousands of pictures of girls as young as 4 years old posing with sex toys  one with the word "slut" and "hurt me" written in red on a girl's abdomen with a knife in the picture.

After a tip in 2011, FBI agents and officers from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force obtained a search warrant for Wencewicz's house, and through their investigation identified dozens of other suspects and the existence of a second bulletin board called the Dark Moon.

Agents were able to crack Wencewicz's highly complex encryption in 2013.

On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Montana announced the conclusion of a multi-agency, multi-year international investigation of the two bulletin boards involving the exploitation of hundreds of children. The stings that brought down the child porn rings were called Operation Kingdom Conqueror and Operation Moon Runner.

The investigation resulted in the conviction of 21 defendants  all men ranging in age from 25 to 67  across the United States.

The last of the defendants, 31-year-old Shawnston Beaudoin of Kennesaw, Georgia, was sentenced Thursday to 17 years and six months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, with lifetime supervised release.

Wencewicz, 49, received a sentence of 18 years and four months in the Bureau of Prisons, with lifetime supervised release. He must also pay $29,859 in restitution.

The sentences of the other defendants ranged from 15 years to 18 years and four months, and all include supervised release.

***

U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Michael Cotter said the investigation involved more than 100 local, state and federal agents operating on two continents, and the execution of 60 search warrants.

"Between 2009 and 2012, Wencewicz and other members of the conspiracy sexually exploited hundreds of little girls around the world and the U.S. by trading appalling and revolting images and videos of them while expressing perverse sexual glee while looking at them," Cotter said. "Agents were able to identify the locations of some of the most egregious members and the task force agents executed search warrants on these targets."

Cotter said the Dark Moon bulletin board had data anonymization and encryption to conceal the members' locations, and administrators configured it to purge the IP addresses of members.

"These men are dangerous," Cotter said. "Some had images of girls even younger than 4. Their sexual perversions are horrific."

One defendant, 49-year-old Tony Gustafson of Hastings, Nebraska, had sadistic images in his collection that included the image of the girl with the words written on her abdomen. He was sentenced 16 years and eight months in prison. Many of the images showed children being abused with foreign objects, Cotter said.

"Some of the posts and comments the members would make on the board were equally as depraved," he said. "Some of the defendants had also committed prior hands-on offenses against children."

Steven Grovo, 35, of Shirly, Massachusetts, previously assaulted a 12-year-old girl. He also told investigators he abused a 4-year-old child.

Ian Nosek, 44, of Charlottesville, Virginia, had a history of taking pictures of the pubic area of girls in swimming pools, which he would then post.

Beaudoin admitted to producing child pornography and previously assaulting girls.

"These operations were a cooperative effort between the the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation, the Helena Police Department, Homeland Security Investigation and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force," Cotter said. "It's our duty to protect children with the coalition of team players we have in this room, and we will continue to do so. This was a remarkable piece of work to bring the men to justice who have exploited these young children."

He specifically pointed out Jimmy Weg, a Helena-based computer forensics expert, for his crucial help with the case.

Maureen Cain of the U.S. Department of Justice said investigators are still working to determine their identities of the victims, which at this time are unknown. The people who made the pictures also have not been identified.

And, she said, there is still an investigation into who created the Dark Moon bulletin board.

"Today's sentencing closes a chapter in the continuing fight to bring justice to those who prey upon our children," said Eric Barnhart, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City Field Office. "The 21 men convicted for their roles in the Kingdom of Future Dreams and the Dark Moon bulletin boards traded on the misery of children. Children that were subjected to horrific sexual and emotional abuse. Each time these men distributed those photos or videos, those victims were re-victimized.

"Those of us who have looked into the eyes of these victims can see the light that shines so brightly in so many kids shines less brightly in theirs. Some things are stolen from these children, and men like these 21 are the ones that do it. But it's a testament to how much we value our children that when the worst happens to them, it brings out the best in law enforcement. It was a fantastic effort, both domestic and abroad. All previous rivalries and jurisdictions and past grievances were swept aside. It is a fantastic outcome. The battle will continue. I'd like to say that the war is won, but unfortunately there is more out there."

***

In addition to Beaudoin and Wencewicz, the men who were convicted of conspiracy to advertise child pornography are:

 Scott Long, 55, of Portland, Oregon, was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Steve Humiston, 58, of Tacoma, Washington, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and $29,859 in restitution.

 Phillip Morris, 43, of Jeffersonville, Indiana, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Tony Bronson, 55, of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced to 18 years and eight months in prison and 10 years supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Jeffrey Woolley, 55, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Charles Crosby, 45, of Trenton, New Jersey, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 John Johnson, 59, of Locust Grove, Virginia, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Joseph Purificato, 25, of Mount Vernon, Missouri, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Nosek was sentenced to 18 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Robert Krise, 67, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 John Merchberger III, 48, of Dayton, Maine, was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

 Daniel Brown, 27, of Taylors, South Carolina, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release.

 Marc Edoria, 24, of Sacramento, California, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years supervised release.

 Gustafson, 49, of Hastings, Nebraska, was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison and lifetime supervised release.

 Ryan Hatfield, 26, of Mount Washington, Kentucky, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years supervised release.

 David Woods, 37, of Corfu, New York, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 15 years supervised release.

The following defendants were convicted at trial of participating in a child exploitation enterprise and conspiracy to advertise child pornography:

 Joshua Petersen, 45, of Prescott, Arizona, was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 restitution.

 Grovo was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Richard Pitts, 28, of Cathedral City, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute child pornography and was sentenced to seven years in prison and 15 years of supervised release.
Huckleberries to the six new members of Missoulas city council, who were sworn in just a few hours before their first official public meeting began Monday evening. They wasted no time assigning members to committees and digging into timely municipal issues. The new councilors are Heidi West, Ward 1; Harlan Wells, Ward 2; Gwen Jones, Ward 3; John DiBari, Ward 4; Julie Armstrong, Ward 5; and Michelle Cares, Ward 6. We hope they earn plenty more huckleberries as they serve their terms.

Chokecherries to Delta Airlines for failing to board passengers at Missoula International Airport in a timely manner. While we wholeheartedly applaud Deltas addition of direct daily service to Seattle, it seems the company could have planned better knowing that three flights would be taking off within 35 minutes of one another in the early mornings. Now, passengers are experiencing unreasonable delays and some have even missed flights. Delta should immediately dedicate more employees to alleviating the bottleneck.

Huckleberries to Mike Cooney, Montanas new lieutenant governor as of last Monday morning. An experienced politician, Montanas 32nd lieutenant governor has served in state government since 1976. That service includes time as a state representative; a state senator; secretary of state; director of Montana Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies; interim head of the Montana Historical Society; and deputy director of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. Cooneys depth and variety of experience is sure to serve the Governors Office well.

Dehydrated chokecherries to Montanas drought outlook, the worst in the nation through March at least. The National Drought Information System forecast the drought situation for winter and spring, and determined that the next three months in Montana will see the worst drought development  especially in western Montana.

One hundred huckleberries to the Bitterroot Public Library in Hamilton as it celebrates its 100th anniversary. During the course of the past century, libraries across the nation have seen significant changes in the way patrons access their materials. The Bitterroot Public Library, like many others, have not only survived those changes, they are thriving as they make use of new technology to help connect local readers to a world of books and information. As Bitterroot Public Library Director Mark Wetherington put it, Our core mission  supporting lifelong learning, reading for pleasure and freedom of information  is still as relevant now as it was in 1916.
HELENA  Montana lawmakers plan to revisit a familiar front in their ongoing battle against federal driver's license requirements.

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., on Thursday said he would reintroduce legislation to repeal the federal Real ID Act, a decade-old law requiring all states to adopt more stringent security and fraud-prevention features on state-issued driver's licenses.

On Wednesday, Montana officials announced the release of new driver's licenses and identification cards that include increased security features.

Montana's licenses already are largely in compliance with the act, despite state legislators unanimous vote in 2007 to forbid implementation of federal standards they said would prove needlessly expensive and inimical to the security and well-being of the people of Montana.

Daines, who introduced similar repeal legislation while serving in the U.S. House, promised to continue to push back against this (REAL ID) overreach.

As a result, Montanans may not be able to use their state-issued driver's licenses for air travel or to access federal buildings when the state's REAL ID compliance extension expires in October.

It remains unclear what state residents will do if Daines latest repeal effort fails and that extension is allowed to expire.

Neither Daines nor Republican Attorney General Tim Fox  who joined Daines for a Thursday news conference on the topic  ruled out accepting another extension, though Fox said federal authorities have warned they will not offer further deferrals to the state.

An October letter from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security shows Montana has already adopted or intends to adopt all but four of the 40 provisions spelled out by REAL ID.

Fox said the state made those changes on its own, in what he said could fairly be called a coincidental series of federally compliant tweaks to Montana licenses.

Certainly Montana has always had both the responsibility and the authority to deal with their own drivers licenses, Fox said. We update them for a number reasons. ... We also do it without sharing huge amounts of private information about our citizens with the federal government, that has a knack for misusing that information and for allowing it to be breached and disseminated to others who shouldnt have it.

Foxs remarks came on the heels of a Department of Homeland Security announcement that REAL ID requirements will soon be enforced when Americans fly.

Daines said he is still seeking co-sponsors to help resuscitate REAL ID repeal efforts. He said Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke will introduce companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
The artist Mark Flood plays curator this winter with The Future Is Ow at Marlborough Chelsea. The prophetically titled exhibition gathers together the most futuristic work of the Houstonians artist circle, which includes Chris Bexar, Paul Kremer, El Franco Lee II and Susie Rosmarin. Billed as a group show governed by a common interest in digital printing, it celebrates years of fruitful friendship both in and out of the studio  and the informal layout, which includes a mattress floor and plywood fortresses, is more reminiscent of a clubhouse than an exhibition. I get the idea and the title for a show at the same time, explains Flood, who has been collecting his peers work for decades. I dont think the future is going to look like a James Bond movie; I think it will be some shelter where everyone sits on the floor surrounded by art. Here, a look at Floods brave new world.
For years, the Gaston & Sheehan auction house, family-owned and located in Pflugerville, a small city in central Texas, has been a trusted place used by federal marshals to sell the many things seized in criminal cases.

Jewelry. Some impounded vehicles. Occasionally fine wine and sometimes paintings or antiques.

But Gaston & Sheehan has rarely tried to compete with large art auction houses. So it was a bit unusual when it took in nearly $5 million from the sale last year of 236 works of art, including a few by the likes of Warhol and Motherwell.

What made the works distinctive was their lineage: All had been seized from the Long Island home of a dealer who orchestrated one of the largest counterfeit schemes in the history of the art world.

By her own admission, between 1994 and 2009, the dealer, Glafira Rosales, had sold more than 60 fakes that she put forward as the work of Modernist masters like Rothko and Pollock. In reality, they were all created by a single forger in Queens.
The mother of the Texas teenager known for using an affluenza defense in a fatal drunken-driving case appeared in a Fort Worth court on Friday to face a felony charge related to helping her son flee to Mexico.

The woman, Tonya Couch, 48, was arraigned on a charge of hindering apprehension before Judge Wayne F. Salvant, who scheduled another hearing for Monday to consider her lawyers motion to lower the $1 million bond.

The judge said that if Ms. Couch was released on bond, he would set some conditions, such as requiring her to wear an ankle monitor. She was then led out of court. The charge is punishable by two to 10 years in prison.

Ms. Couch is accused of helping her son, Ethan, escape to Mexico to avoid possible jail time.

In 2013, Ethan Couch, then 16, and some friends stole beer from a store. They later went for a drive, with Mr. Couch at the wheel. He plowed into four pedestrians, killing them, and hit two vehicles before flipping his car. A teenager who was among Mr. Couchs passengers and was thrown from the vehicle was left paralyzed and with brain damage.
For people still willing to get romantically involved with a Brooklyn writer, the poet Brett Fletcher Lauers memoir, Fake Missed Connections, may send them back to the shuffleboard bars of Gowanus for less troublesome freight. Lauer, the deputy director of the Poetry Society of America and author of the poetry collection A Hotel in Belgium, begins his memoir with a ringing phone; the call (or, as he later refers to it, The Phone Call) is from a woman he doesnt know, informing Lauer that his wife is having an affair with her husband. Who was that? Lauers wife asks from the couch, and the memoirs first story line  an archaeological dig in the ground of marital infidelity and its aftermath  is underway.

Lauer rifles through their apartment for evidence, fires off pained emails, writes letters to his estranged mother that he will never send, reads the entire Internet and downloads music to match his post-traumatic gloom. The memoir doesnt proceed as much as it accumulates in a kind of curated pastiche, like a Tumblr page in prose. Much of the correspondence in the book is based, we are told, on actual documents or on chat and I.M. transcripts, and these are interspersed with more traditional passages of personal narrative that revel in the awkward pungencies of life. Lauer battles a ghost in his apartment after hes settled in Brooklyn again, and he writes impressively about his adolescent fascination with the hard-core punk/Hare Krishna hybrid form of rebellion known as Krishnacore.

Once Lauer takes a plunge into the online dating site Nerve  its 2007, so this is before OkCupid and Tinder owned the market  the memoir starts using confession as a means to plumb the social mores, surface inanities and deeper dissatisfactions of the Internets love economy. He writes his first dating profile with an assist from Wallace Stevens and John Ashbery, and recognizes the irony when hes tagged by the sites algorithms as the gentle artist type. He meets Daphne and lets her down (I was a little bummed that you said we might not hang out, she writes him at one point in chat-speak, because I want to hang out); then theres Bella and an extended debate about exclusivity and when its all right to ask for it; and Lindsay, who asks Lauer to send her a nude photo, goes ballistic in an email and then uses their relationship as material for a stand-up routine she posts on her blog.
Its possible to drink too much beer, but can you eat too many cherries? When a European missionary planted the first cherry trees on a peninsula in Traverse City, Mich., more than 150 years ago, locals discovered that the combination of the sandy soil and proximity to Lake Michigan made it a ripe spot for growing cherries.

A half-century later, the National Cherry Festival, celebrating its 90th birthday this year, was born. Visitors to the eight-day love fest can expect multicourse cherry meals and a farmers market where vendors sell cherry edibles like granola and barbecue sauce; theres also a tent where they can imbibe cherry beers, wines and cocktails (July 2 to 9).

From fruits of a tree to fruits of the sea: Seafood is the culinary darling of New Zealand in 2016 with four festivals spotlighting local crustaceans. Green-lipped mussels are the lure at the Havelock Mussel & Seafood Festival in Marlborough (March 19) while oysters are what brings the crowds to the seaside township of Bluff for the Bluff Oyster Festival (May 21). At the Whitianga Scallop Festival on the Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island, the namesake shellfish is served up in every imaginable iteration from shots to kebabs (Sept. 10), and at the Kaikoura Seafest on the South Island, the seafood includes crayfish and tiny whitebait fish (Oct. 1).

But there are times when dining and drinking might be more fun with some star wattage and glamour thrown in. A big lineup of celebrity chefs is to be found at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, marking 15 years this winter. Here, the Spanish chef Jose Andres is hosting a paella party at the see-and-be-seen SLS South Beach, and Momofuku Milk Bars Christina Tosi will serve up her strawberry lemon cake and other sweets at the former home of Gianni Versace. All told, its an affair of more than 85 dinners and tastings around South Beach, and, for the first time this year, Fort Lauderdale too. And when you need a break from partying, theres always the beach (Feb. 24 to 28).
"When we started our business, Extension connected us with resources to get the answers we needed. Thats whats so amazing about Extension: they find a way to help you get to the next step."

- Scott Hicks

Cutting Edge Meat Company

In Green County
Anaconda school trustees will ask taxpayers in March to approve two separate ballot bond issues totaling $34 million.

Passage of the resolution to allow the bond issues on the ballot is a major breakthrough for the district  after years of sometimes contentious discussion.

If passed, the bonds could transform, upgrade, update and consolidate buildings and possibly create new programs. The election will be run completely through mail ballots, which go out on March 2, said first-year Anaconda Superintendent Gerry Nolan.

Mail-in ballots will be due on March 23.

In a special board meeting Wednesday, trustees voted unanimously 7-0 to renovate Anaconda High School, Mitchell Stadium and add onto the high school building for $9.1 million, creating one bond issue on the ballot. The high school was built in 1956.

Also, the board voted 5-2 to place on the ballot a second bond for a $24.4 million proposed consolidation of three schools: W.K. Dwyer Elementary, Lincoln Elementary and Fred Moodry Middle School.

Weve been talking consolidation for the past four years, said Chairwoman Lisa Crum-Petritz, a board member for four years. Its been a tough road, but I think were finally to a point where I think everyone is on board. We had a couple no votes from board members and thats okay.

Voting against the elementary resolution were trustees Mike Huotte and Bryan Lorengo.

Huotte, Lorengo and the other trustees voted unanimously for the high school resolution: Brandie Villa, Gayle Venturelli, Glenda Crum, Lisa Crum-Petritz and Vice Chairwoman Angela Galle.

Nolan, who replaced former Superintendent Tom Darnell who retired last June 30, said in the long run, consolidating schools will free up money for missing programs.

Bottom line: by consolidating down to two schools, well be able to offer more programs for our kids, he said. Right now we have five buildings. Well be able to get back speech and drama in the high school and make sure our elementary students get P.E., art and music every day instead of one time a week now.

The cost of heating five buildings, running multiple kitchens and paying more building principals than needed, he added, cut into such student programs. Another overreaching factor is that district-wide enrollment has dropped from 1,800 students to 1,100.

Its nobodys fault, he emphasized about the initial cuts in programs. We also want to expand our vocational education program and have exploratory offerings in middle school, like family and consumer science, shop and more art.

If the bonds pass, the district will receive about $15 million through the community tax increment financing district fund, he said, if trustees vote each year to approve it.

Thats one of the things we have going for us, said Nolan. The district would then have 17 years  until the TIFD expires in 2032  to help pay off bond debt.

Vocational education, administrative offices, pre-kindergarten offices and maintenance shops are housed on Park Street. Trustees want to move vocational ed and administrative offices to the high school after renovations, if voters approve.

Crum-Petritz said the nearly 60-year-old high school building needs major maintenance, including more energy-efficient windows. Mitchell Stadium is in dire need of upgraded seating and lighting, too.

Were going to upgrade the school itself so kids arent jammed into classrooms and for better learning environments, she said.

Over the years committees and trustees whittled down the number of building proposals from at least seven to the current proposals. Parents and others have fought back in contentious meetings.

Nolan and Crum-Petritz said the district will hold several public forums to solicit specific proposals and ideas from parents and community before solidifying details. Those will be announced.

Its been an uphill battle with different opinions, said Crum-Petritz. No one is wrong because theyre all doing what they believe is best. We just have to work together and do whats best for our school and students.

Crum-Petritz said trustees will consult with teachers and staff, as well, to see whats best for them in terms of design possibilities, if it comes to that.

We cant afford not to do this, she added. Its a good thing, because our kids deserve better than what they have right now.

She conceded that if taxpayers vote down the bonds, trustees will go back to the drawing board. Nolan would not speculate on whether voters will approve the two bonds.

Well do our best to educate the voters, he said. Youre asking people to pony up some money. Were go to educate them on the need and what well get out of it.

Readers who want more information may call 406-563-6361, ext. 1621.
A Charlo man escaped a crash on Interstate 15 near Melrose on Thursday that could have killed him, according to a Montana Highway Patrol trooper.

The 22-year-old was traveling to Dillon, where he is a freshman at the University of Montana Western, when his 2008 Ford F-250 pickup truck failed to negotiate a curve on the icy roadway about 5 p.m. just north of Melrose, Trooper James Beck said.

The truck fishtailed, hit the guardrail and went airborne about 40 feet before landing on its side. The trooper said the vehicle then rolled several times down a steep embankment 50 to 70 feet below Interstate 15 and came to a rest on all four wheels on old Highway 10, a frontage road.

The man was not injured. His truck was totaled, the trooper said.

Beck called the roads extremely icy and urged travelers to take your time. He cited the mans seat belt use as the primary reason why hes alive.
MISSOULA  Back in 2009, a Polson man named Paul Wencewicz created an invitation-only online bulletin board where members advertised and traded sexually explicit images of young girls.

He called it Kingdom of Future Dreams, and housed the physical server on the remote Isle of Jersey, one of the United Kingdom's Channel Islands.

On it were thousands of pictures of girls as young as 4 years old posing with sex toys  one with the word "slut" and "hurt me" written in red on a girl's abdomen with a knife in the picture.

After a tip in 2011, FBI agents and officers from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force obtained a search warrant for Wencewicz's house, and through their investigation identified dozens of other suspects and the existence of a second bulletin board called the Dark Moon.

Agents were able to crack Wencewicz's highly complex encryption in 2013.

On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Montana announced the conclusion of a multi-agency, multi-year international investigation of the two bulletin boards involving the exploitation of hundreds of children. The stings that brought down the child porn rings were called Operation Kingdom Conqueror and Operation Moon Runner.

The investigation resulted in the conviction of 21 defendants  all men ranging in age from 25 to 67  across the U.S.

The last of the defendants, 31-year-old Shawnston Beaudoin of Kennesaw, Georgia, was sentenced Thursday to 17 years and six months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, with lifetime supervised release.

Wencewicz, 49, received a sentence of 18 years and four months in the Bureau of Prisons, with lifetime supervised release. He must also pay $29,859 in restitution.

The sentences of the other defendants ranged from 15 years to 18 years and four months, and all include supervised release.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Michael Cotter said the investigation involved more than 100 local, state and federal agents operating on two continents, and the execution of 60 search warrants.

"Between 2009 and 2012, Wencewicz and other members of the conspiracy sexually exploited hundreds of little girls around the world and the U.S. by trading appalling and revolting images and videos of them while expressing perverse sexual glee while looking at them," Cotter said. "Agents were able to identify the locations of some of the most egregious members and the task force agents executed search warrants on these targets."
U.S. Rep Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, a retired Navy SEAL commander, knows about the Special Forces.

And like others who have shouldered the responsibility of command, Zinke knows that when combat decisions are made behind desks far from the fighting, lives hang in the balance.

Wednesday, Zinke demanded an explanation from the Department of Defense about the circumstances surrounding the death of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Matthew McClintock in Marjah, Afghanistan earlier this week.

We applaud him for doing so.

McClintocks team of Green Berets came under fire in Marjah, and two other U.S. soldiers and a number of Afghan troops were also wounded. Zinke heard through Special Forces channels that when the team was pinned down, a Quick Response Force was standing by at a nearby base, ready to come to the soldiers aid, but commanders insisted on waiting for the next period of darkness to send the force in.

Also, he heard, an AC-130 gunship was circling overhead, but brass refused to let it engage because of the potential for collateral damage.

When media accounts appeared to confirm what he had heard privately, Zinke was moved to write a letter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, demanding answers. Several Congressional colleagues of various political stripes joined him in signing his letter.

Zinke has long been a critic of the severely limited rules of engagement constraining U.S. forces in the region, saying that putting troops in harms way under such restrictive rules leaves them without backup and the tools needed to succeed.

This weeks tragedy appears to be Exhibit A in support of that argument. Zinke is right to demand answers, and when someone with his experience asks these questions, it is incumbent on the government to come clean. The media and the American public should be asking the same questions.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  The two suspects in the November robbery of the Hotel Muscatine have both entered not guilty pleas in Muscatine County District Court.

Tiffany Michelle Williams, 39, and Timothy Wadden, 35, both of Muscatine, are accused of robbing a hotel clerk at gunpoint just before 10 p.m. Nov. 22.

Williams is charged with first-degree robbery and fourth-degree theft.

Wadden faces charges of first-degree robbery, a felon in possession of a firearm and third-degree theft.

According to the criminal complaint, the pair allegedly drove to the Hotel Muscatine, 2915 N. Highway 61. Williams allegedly entered the hotel inquiring about room rates. She then exited the hotel. About 40 seconds later, Wadden allegedly entered and robbed the desk clerk.

After leaving the scene, Williams allegedly drove Wadden to an address in the 200 block of Dillaway Street.

The pair have pre-trial conferences scheduled for Friday morning.

Peggy Senzarino, Muscatine Journal
MUSCATINE, Iowa  A $2,000 grant from the Muscatine Pilot Club has helped a local elementary school institute a program to help special needs students communicate just like other children.

The "Let's Chat" communication program was started in the Davenport School District. Teachers at Madison Elementary School in Muscatine borrowed the program and brought it to Muscatine.

"They had some students with communication deficits. They got together and they decided to make the building a communicatively-engineered building so that kids could communicate even if they didn't have the words to speak," said Madison's special education teacher Tammi Ales.

The tools include programmable buttons which speak various phrases kids would say, laminated boards with pictures representing words and two electronic pads programmed with words and phrases. They were placed in various locations around the school including near the drinking fountains, doors leading ot the playground and on the front of the school's office door.

The children can point to pictures or press buttons.

"We wanted to make Madison the same type of environment because we have quite a few kids with significant communication deficits," Ales said.

"We approached the Pilot Club knowing that one of their missions is to help people with brain injuries."

Pat Mundell is the Pilot Club president.

"We knew that the students that we were helping have special needs and that they have to do with brain-related issues. Tammi is a member of the club," Mundell said.

Ales said the program has been very well-received.

"We just got everything into place right before Christmas so we haven't had a long time to use it. The initial response has been amazing. Kids all over the building now are chatting with each other using the boards."

A little girl with Downs syndrome won't head out to recess with her board so she can talk with ther other students.

"It's really exciting to see," Ales said.

Pilot Club members received a tour of the school and got to see how the devices fit into the atmosphere of the building.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  Ice and snow became a hot topic at the Muscatine City Council meeting Thursday evening.

With some sidewalks still covered nearly two weeks after the last winter precipitation and a chance of snow this weekend, Councilman Mike Rehwaldt asked what the city's ordinance says.

The item was not on the agenda, but brought up at the end of the meeting when council members are offered an opportunity to give comments or ask about issues not listed on the agenda.

Andrew Fangman, city planner, told the council that the current ordinance mandates residents clear sidewalks within 24 hours of the storm ending.

Rehwaldt then asked about enforcement. City staff explained that enforcement is on a complaint basis, so instead of city staff out patrolling for unkempt sidewalks they will issue a notice to residents upon receiving a complaint from a resident.

Rehwaldt may have a long list to submit. He said he counted 17 houses with sidewalks not cleared on his recent morning walk route.

If upon complaint, inspection and notice by the city the sidewalk is not cleared, it would be done so by the city and the resident billed, explained Dave Gobin, community development director.

That discussion led to talk about clearing snow downtown. Councilman Allen Harvey noted after streets and sidewalks are plowed downtown, a snowbank forms between the street and the sidewalk making it difficult to reach the parking meter to pay.

Gobin agreed saying he saw that struggle first hand as a woman fell in front of him as she tried to scale a snowbank to reach a meter on a sidewalk across from City Hall.

Harvey sympathized with downtown businesses clearing the sidewalk.

"The business owner has no place to put the snow other than the curb," Harvey said.

The council discussed ways to expedite the process to get snow removed from the curbs after the storm ends. The city contracts with a private company, City Administrator Gregg Mandsager suggested the council debate that during the budget planning sessions later this month as to how much to pay contractors for speedier service.

In other business, the council approved steps in hopes of getting the Musser Park to Wiggens Road trail built this year. The council approved a contract for Lutz Engineering in the amount of $24,390 at its last meeting, but needed to approve the contract again due to some language error by city staff. The council also approved in this meeting a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) study required for such a project. Impact 7G was awarded the $8,500 contract.

The engineering work and NEPA study will pave the way to have construction started in 2016.

Also at the meeting, Muscatine resident Roger Roth complained to the council that the city's ban on pit bull dogs is unconstitutional and benefits insurance companies financially. Pit bulls that were licensed within 30 days of the ordinance taking effect Aug. 1, 2003, were allowed to stay in the city provided the owner bought an insurance policy, according to Title 6, Chapter 9 of the city code.

Roth said his researched showed that Iowa law prohibits breed-specific laws therefore the city of Muscatine was breaking the law.

He also complained that when the law went into effect about a dozen years ago that law enforcement violated rights when confiscating the animals.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  The Muscatine County Parkinson's Support Group will meet at the Muscatine County Extension Office, 1514 Isett Ave., Thursday, Jan. 14. Social Time is 3:30-4 p.m. followed by the program "An Overview of Unity Hospital Services" presented by one of their staff representatives.

New members whose lives are impacted by Parkinsons disease are welcome. The goal is to provide pertinent information to those in the area who are seeking information on ways to cope with this disease and, at the same time, building a network of families facing similar issues.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  An additional $743,278 in spending was added to Wapellos Fiscal Year 2016 budget Thursday, under a budget amendment approved by the city council following a public hearing.

A portion of the additional spending will be covered by $439,765 in additional revenue, but that will still leave a $303,513 amendment deficit, which will drop the citys FY16 ending fund balance on June 30 to $874,151. The balance at the beginning of the fiscal year had been $1,133,043.

City officials said much of the additional spending was to repair city buildings that were damaged by hail in 2014. The amendment also included sewer repairs, installation and equipment; debt servicing; new vehicles; and other expenses.

City Clerk Mike Delzell pointed out the citys FY 2015 budget had included some of the insurance payment for the hail damage as revenue and those funds had been carried over to the new budget.

There were no comments on the proposed budget either during the public hearing or when the proposed amendment was approved by the council later in the meeting.

In other action, the council approved hiring Joseph McNeil as a part-time city police officer at a rate of $16.50 per hour. Officials said his starting date would be set later, but they expected it would be within a month.

The city currently has two full-time police officers.

Shortly after the meeting, Mayor Shawn Maine announced the council would hold a budget work session on Jan. 14 and the proposed budget would include funding for three city police officers.

The council also approved several board appointments made by Maine, who also announced council committee appointments and named Larry Wagg as the mayor pro-tem for the year.

The council also received a report from local businessman Todd Bartosh on his plan to hold a Memorial Day Car Show in Wapello. Bartosh said the car show would be used as a fundraiser for the local VFW.

Maine directed Bartosh to complete the paperwork and submit it to the council for approval.

In final action, Wapello Fire Chief Damon Moore presented a 2015 incident summary for Wapello Fire and Rescue. According to Moore, the department had 393 calls last year - 262 in the city and 131 in the rural area.

Over 75 percent of the calls were for emergency services, while the remainder was fire department calls. Moore said the calls were sporadic.

There were days we didnt have any calls and some days we had eight calls, he said.

There were 23 incidents where the Wapello department provided mutual aid and 14 calls where mutual aid was provided by outside departments.

Moore also reported the department had received two grants in 2015, including a $5,000 award from the Community Foundation of Louisa County (CFLC) that will help fund an upcoming EMT training class.

The funds will be combined with a $4,000 grant the Wapello Ambulance Service received for the same purpose to cover the tuition of at least eight students. Moore said six of the students would be from Wapello and he expected all of them to eventually volunteer for the ambulance service once they complete their training.
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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 []
Netflix launched in South Africa on 6 January as part of a roll-out to 130 new countries.

The service is priced in US dollars, with Netflixs plans and pricing for South Africa structured the same as they are in the United States.

There are no plans to change this anytime soon, said Netflix.

This means that not only will the cost of Netflix in South Africa fluctuate with the rand-dollar exchange rate, we also pay the US price for a smaller content library.

Subscribers who use unblocking services to access the US Netflix catalogue may therefore be discouraged from switching to the SA version of the service.

Netflix in rand

It is worth noting there is at least one platform listing rand prices for Netflix.

Technology journalist Nafisa Akabor discovered the rand prices through the Netflix iPad app.

These rand prices were higher than the converted dollar prices listed when the exchange rate was around R15.80/$, and remained higher after the rand sunk to R16.15/$.

Investigations revealed these prices only appeared on iOS devices while signed into a South African iTunes account.

On PlayStation, Android, and the Netflix website, only US pricing is shown. If you are signed into a US iTunes account, the iOS app also shows dollar prices.

This suggests that the pricing shown in the iOS Netflix app while signed into an SA iTunes account is an automatic conversion provided by Apple.

Netflix confirmed a lack of rand support when speaking to MyBroadband. At this point we dont have plans to price in local currency, said Netflix.

The table below summarises the pricing and plans of Netflix in SA.

Plan Standard price iOS price Resolution Screens Basic $7.99 (R129) R129.99 SD 1 Standard $9.99 (R161) R164.99 HD 2 Premium $11.99 (R194) R199.99 HD / UHD 4 Exchange rate: R16.15/$

Hat tip to Nafisa Akabor for her help with the iOS rand pricing.

More on Netflix in South Africa

Netflix has launched in South Africa

Vodacom wants you to pay for Netflix with airtime

Netflix hikes price of HD plan

Netflix drops big Hollywood movies to focus on exclusives

How much South Africans want to pay for Netflix
My thoughts, assertions and observations on issues important to me as a Jew, a Zionist, a Revenant in Yesha and as an inquisitive human being.


Midnight on the Mississippi begins the new Secrets of the South Mysteries from bestselling author Mary Ellis. These complex crime dramas follow an investigators quest to make the world a better placesolving one case at a time.





New Orleans Hunter Galen, a stock and securities broker, suspects his business partner, James Nowak, may be involved in embezzling their clients money, but hes reluctant to jeopardize their friendship based on suspicion alone. After James turns up dead, Hunter realizes his unwillingness to confront a problem may have cost James his life.

Nicki Price, a newly minted PI, intends to solve the stockbrokers murder, recover the missing millions from the client accounts, and establish herself in the career she adores. As she ferrets out fraud and deception at Galen Investments, Hunters fiancee, Ashley Menard, rubs Nicki the wrong way. Nicki doesnt trust the ostentatious woman with an agenda longer than the Mississippi

River. Ashley seems to be hiding something, but is Nickis growing attraction to Huntera suspected murdererher true reason for disliking Ashley?

As they encounter sophisticated shell games, blackmail, and murder, Nicki and Hunters only option is to turn to God as they search for answers, elude lethal danger, and perhaps discover love along the way.





through

,

About the Author:

Mary Ellis is the bestselling author of many books, including A Widow's Hope, An Amish Family Reunion, andLiving in Harmony. She and her husband live in central Ohio, where they try to live a simpler style of life.

I was blessed with this book by the Harvest House Publishers in exchange for my honest review. I am not required to review the book in a positive manner.





My Thoughts:

Thrilling, nerve-racking, often intense, are just a few of the words I am using to describe this novel. Hunter Galen, a well-known business man, high society name in New Orleans, finds his partner dead. And to top it off, guess who is being accused of committing the crime. Even after suspecting that his partner, James, may have been up to know good, Hunter tried to ignore it, until now. James was his friend - or was he?





Nicki Price, country gal from Mississippi, is direly in need of a job. With her recently acquired PI license, and hopefully soon to be acquired carrying permit, she barges her way into her cousin's New Orleans office demanding to be hired. When her plans go a bit amiss, she weasels her way into her cousins newest case - Hunter's murder of his friend James- using her PI skills or ... something like that. To the amazement of both Hunter and her cousin, she is actually pretty good at investigating. So good, she is rubbing people the wrong way, and finds herself in danger numerous times.





Will they discover who the real killer is before someone else gets killed? Full of twists and turns, surprises, and a few narrow escapes, Mary Ellis takes you on a thrilling roller coaster ride of adventure. This is my first Mary Ellis book. For me it was a quick read, once I got started. Honestly, I had a hard time putting it down, and found myself often reading when I really should have been doing other "more important" things. I totally enjoyed this book. The plot, as well as, the subplot were extremely well written. And I was somewhat surprised at the end result. Mary definitely kept me guessing.





GIVEAWAY

To Enter:

Just leave a comment on this post sharing whether or not you have read any books by Mary Ellis. If so, I would love to hear your favorite.

Winner will be announced February 1st.

Please leave your email in safe format so I can contact you if you are selected. Lack of contact information will result in another winner being chosen.

Seasons of Opportunities will ship book to winner via USPS mail (but cannot be held responsible for lost items). Winner has 72 hours to claim the prize before another winner is selected.

U.S. entries only. 18 and over please.
TEHRAN, Iran  Iran on Thursday accused a Saudi-led coalition of hitting its embassy in Yemen in an airstrike. Even though no damage was visible on the building from the outside, the allegation highlighted how the two countries standoff could endanger the greater Middle East.

Hours later, in Saudi Arabias eastern Shiite heartland, a memorial service was held honoring Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution Saturday by the kingdom sparked regional protests culminating in attacks on Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran.

While armored personnel carriers rumbled through the area and smoke from burning tires rose into the air, the service for the cleric who advocated for Shiite rights in the Sunni-ruled kingdom passed without violence. But anger could be felt in the hall, as videos showed mourners shouting: Death to the Al Saud, a reference to the royal family.

The airstrike claim by Iran came on Thursday afternoon, when its state-run news agency said a Saudi-led airstrike the previous night had hit the Iranian embassy in Sanaa, citing Irans Foreign Ministry. However, an Associated Press reporter who reached the site just after the announcement saw no damage to the building, which sits in a neighborhood near a presidential palace thats seen many previous strikes.

Iran vowed to file a report about their claim to the United Nations, while the Saudi military issued a statement through the kingdoms state news agency, dismissing the allegation as false.

Irans deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, was later Thursday quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying that a Saudi rocket hit near our embassy and one of the embassy guards was seriously injured. He said further details would come in a note to the United Nations.

Earlier, IRNA had said that shrapnel hit a wall of the embassy and injured several staff there.

Meanwhile, the Saudi deputy crown prince, widely thought to wield considerable power in the monarchy, said he didnt believe war would break out with Iran.

It is something that we do not foresee at all, and whoever is pushing towards that is somebody who is not in their right mind, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi defense minister and 30-year-old son of King Salman, told The Economist magazine. Because a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the beginning of a major catastrophe in the region. ... For sure we will not allow any such thing.

The diplomatic standoff between Iran and Saudi Arabia began on Saturday, when the kingdom executed al-Nimr and 46 others convicted of terror charges  the largest mass execution it has carried out since 1980. Al-Nimr was a staunch critic of the Saudi government and demanded greater rights for the kingdoms Shiite population, but always denied advocating violence.

Iranian protesters responded by attacking the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad. Late Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced it was severing relations with Iran because of the assaults.

Since Saudi Arabia severed ties to Iran, a host of its allies have cut or reduced their ties as well.

On Thursday, Somalia joined Saudi allies such as Bahrain and Sudan and entirely cut diplomatic ties with Iran. The Somali Foreign Ministry said it recalled its acting ambassador to Tehran and ordered Iranian diplomats to leave Somalia within 72 hours over Irans continuous interference in Somalias internal affairs.

In eastern Saudi Arabia, the home of al-Nimr and much of the kingdoms roughly 10 to 15 percent Shiite population, three days of mourning over his death ended Wednesday night. The Shiites there held a memorial service Thursday night  not a funeral, as the sheikhs brother has said Saudi authorities had already buried his body in an undisclosed cemetery.

There are concerns new unrest could erupt. Al-Nimrs brother, as well as another local resident of al-Awamiya in eastern Saudi Arabia, said theyve heard gunfire on recent nights.

The local resident, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity out of fear for her safety, shared a mobile phone video showing Saudi armored personnel carriers moving through local streets. Meanwhile, more protests were expected after Friday prayers, while mourners in Bahrain planned a candlelight vigil for the sheikh on Friday night.

More than 1,040 people were detained in Shiite protests in eastern Saudi Arabia between February 2011 and August 2014, demonstrations inspired by the Arab Spring, according to Human Rights Watch. The watchdog and other groups have alleged that Saudi officials discriminate against the Shiites by rarely allowing them to build mosques and limiting their access to public education, government employment and the justice system.

Speaking to The Economist, Prince Mohammed defended al-Nimrs execution.

The court did not, at all, make any distinction between whether or not a person is Shiite or Sunni, the prince said in the interview conducted Monday and which the magazine published online Thursday night. They are reviewing a crime, and a procedure, and a trial, and a sentence and carrying out the sentence.

However, many ultraconservatives of the Saudi Wahhabi school of Islam view Shiites as heretics. And human rights activists said al-Nimrs trial was tightly controlled and unfair.

Also Thursday, Iran banned the import of goods from Saudi Arabia over the diplomatic tensions, according to a report by Iranian state television. It said the decision came during an emergency meeting of the Cabinet of President Hassan Rouhani.

Irans annual exports to Saudi Arabia are worth about $130 million a year and are mainly steel, cement and agricultural products. Irans annual imports from Saudi Arabia total about $60 million a year and consisted mostly of packing materials and textiles.

In other developments, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir arrived in Pakistans capital, Islamabad, for meetings with Pakistani leaders. Pakistan, which is a predominantly Sunni Muslim state but has a large Shiite minority, has expressed hope that Saudi Arabia and Iran will be able to normalize their relations.
SACRAMENTO  Two Iraqi-born men who came to the United States as refugees have been arrested on terrorism-related charges by federal authorities who allege one traveled to Syria to fight with terrorists in the civil war and the other provided support to the Islamic State group.

There was no evidence either man  one from Texas and the other from California  intended or planned attacks in the United States, but the arrests announced Thursday, little more than a month after the deadly San Bernardino attack, immediately brought new life to a U.S. debate over whether the United States is doing enough to screen refugees from Syria for terrorists from that nation.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas quickly called for a retroactive review of all refugees who have come to the U.S. to examine all of the evidence that might indicate whether these individuals have ties to radical Islamic terrorists.

His reaction was echoed by other Texas officials and was likely to be followed by other candidates on Friday.

A criminal complaint unsealed Thursday accuses Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, of Sacramento, of traveling to Syria to fight and lying to investigators about it. U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said in a statement that while Al-Jayab was potentially dangerous, there is no indication that he planned any U.S. attacks.

Meanwhile, the U.S. attorney in Houston said late Thursday that Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, of Houston, was indicted Wednesday on three charges that he tried to provide material support to the extremists.

In addition to Cruzs comments, Al Hardans arrest brought criticism of the Obama administrations refugee policies from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, among the Republican governors who have opposed placing Syrian refugees in their states.

This is precisely why I called for a halt to refugees entering the U.S. from countries substantially controlled by terrorists, Abbott said in a statement. I once again urge the President to halt the resettlement of these refugees in the United States until there is an effective vetting process that will ensure refugees do not compromise the safety of Americans and Texans.

Both suspects are Palestinians born in Iraq, authorities said.

The complaint in federal court in Sacramento said Al-Jayab came to the United States from Syria as a refugee in October 2012. While living in Arizona and Wisconsin, he communicated on social media about his intent to return to Syria to fight for terrorist organizations and discussed his previous experience fighting against the regime in Syria, starting shortly after he turned 16. When he was interviewed by citizenship officials, he lied about his travels and ties, the complaint alleges.

America will not isolate me from my Islamic duty, Al-Jayab wrote to an unnamed acquaintance in April 2013, according to the complaint. Only death will do us part. My only wish is to see you and start the action.

He left the United States in November 2013, but he came to Sacramento in January 2014, the FBI said in a 20-page affidavit.

Social media and other accounts say that as soon as he arrived in the United States, he began saying he wanted to return to Syria to work, which the FBI says is believed to be a reference to assisting in and supporting violent jihad. Authorities said he eventually fought with various terrorist organizations, including Ansar al-Islam, which in 2014 merged with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after Al-Jayab had returned to the United States.

Yet he criticized Islamic State group in several messages for killing Muslims.

If it werent for the States bloodletting, I would have been the first one to join it, he said, according to the FBI, although he later described fighting alongside the group.

The documents did not indicate how the two men are connected.

However, the affidavit says Al-Jayab communicated with an unnamed individual living in Texas in April 2013 to see if he could receive training in various weapons.

A few days later, he described, during earlier fighting, emptying seven ammunition magazines from his assault rifle during a battle and executing three Syrian government soldiers.

Ben Galloway of the federal defenders office is Al-Jayabs attorney. He did not return telephone and emailed messages Thursday.

The U.S. Attorneys Office in Sacramento said Al-Jayab was arrested Thursday morning in Sacramento.

Federal officials say three separate arrests in Milwaukee on Thursday grew out of the Sacramento investigation but are not related to national security.

The suspects in Wisconsin are relatives of the man arrested in Sacramento, said Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in Sacramento.
SACRAMENTO  Gov. Jerry Brown proposed a $122.6 billion budget plan for California on Thursday that includes billions more in spending for education, health care and state infrastructure, increases the state rainy day fund to $8 billion and takes steps to pay down debts.

Relative to budgets of the past, this budget is in good shape, Brown said of his 2016-17 spending plan. We also ought to look at whats the capacity of the state, and whats the taxpayer willingness to spend more.

The budget also includes a $1.1 billion compromise on a new tax on health insurers to replace one that will expire in June. Brown said the tax is critical to maintaining the state health care program for the poor, which is projected to cover 13.5 million people by 2017, nearly a third of the states population.

The budget would keep tuition flat for another year at University of California and California State University schools, while a voter-approved minimum funding guarantee will send funding for public schools and community colleges soaring along with state tax revenues.

Per-pupil spending would increase to $10,591 under Browns plan, a $368 per-pupil increase over 2015-16. Brown also wants to direct money from other sources to compensate public schools for earlier lean years, which would increase spending to $14,500 per student in 2016-17.

The substantial investments proposed by Browns administration underscore the states soaring economic recovery. The state faced a $26 billion budget deficit when Brown took office in 2011, forcing deep cuts to social welfare programs, schools and universities.

The states economy is highly reliant on volatile capital gains revenues from the wealthy, which are soaring along with the states economy, and Brown warned again Thursday of the inevitable boom-and-bust cycle, proposing to end the fiscal year with an $8 billion rainy day fund.

Republicans cautioned against expanding social welfare programs that will require long-term funding. Assembly Minority Leader Chad Mayes, R-Yucca Valley, said the state must not spend money as if it will reappear every year.

Democrats should pay attention to the legislative analyst and Governor Browns warnings about overspending, and balance the need to invest in critical infrastructure projects to improve our roads, schools and dams with one-time money, Mayes said in a statement.

Special funds and bond money will push overall state spending to $170.7 billion, but the Legislature and governor only are responsible for allocating money from the general fund. Browns announcement sets the stage for a months-long debate with lawmakers over spending priorities.

Despite the large spending increases, Brown acknowledged there is not money for everything on lawmakers wish lists.

Its not a candy store where you can pick out whatever you want, he said.

Advocates also have been pushing the state to raise reimbursement for doctors who provide care in the Medi-Cal program, which was cut by 10 percent during the recession. Brown did not propose an increase Thursday.

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, said the state afford to can maintain its fiscal stability while helping the most vulnerable Californians.

We still have to take a closer look at strengthening our health care system for the poor and developmentally disabled that has been starved for far too long, he said in a statement.

Brown called special sessions last year to address the health care tax and a $59 billion backlog in transportation infrastructure spending, but neither gained traction. He said Thursday that hell get more involved in talks with lawmakers on both issues this year.

He said his administration has been deep in talks with health insurers to come up with a fair proposal to plug the $1.1 billion health care hole. The plan still needs Republican votes.

Well get whatever people think is right. It takes a few Republicans to join in with the Democrats, he said.

The budget plan also reflects Browns transportation proposal to spend $3.6 billion a year on infrastructure improvements, funded through a combination of vehicle registration fees, increases to the diesel and gas taxes, and diverting money from the fees charged to polluters.

Republicans have rejected tax increases, arguing that the state should instead return diverted transportation money and make major cuts to Caltrans.
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In French schools, students creativity and social skills are suffering and being restrained because of Frances failing school system. Schools in France prevent ones ability to express themselves through the arts. Frances school system also discourages interaction and mistakes are pounced upon and punished.

We go to school to learn, to be prepared for our future, and most importantly, find who we truly want to be and what we want to do in life. If France does not even allow creativity, how will students learn what they want to do for a living? All of our biggest artist icons out there would not be there today without the use of creativity.

Frances education system does not support art, music, or even interaction which are all things that help us prepare for the outside world. According to Peter Gumbel, author of They Shoot School Children, Dont They? states, Theres very little sport, very little drama, very little team-work  nothing to stimulate creativity, or let children have fun. It is no wonder why students drop out after Frances required sixteen years of school.

Many students in France fail school. Gumbel states,French schools have a failure rate that is high  one in five kids  and rising. Although the U.S. has a higher failure rate, three in ten kids, America has a population of 318.9 million, while France has a population of 66.03 million. There is clearly a systematic problem if France is edging up behind Americas failure rate. Some say this problem originated from the poor training of teachers.

Teachers need to be retrained. They tend to very well know the information that they are teaching, however they dont know how to convey it effectively in a way so that students understand. Another problem is that what is taught in class is relatively uninteresting. Teachers tend to teach mainly about the complexity of French grammar. To follow that, positive reinforcement is almost nonexistent.

It is understood how focusing on essential school subjects instead of electives can be beneficial to students attention in school. Spending more time on these school subjects could be helpful, however completely taking art, music, and interaction is illogical. Creativity and interaction is what children feed on. It is childhood. Take that away and youre left with nothing.

Children go to school to better prepare for the life ahead of them. According to Get Schooled, youre learning how to show up, work hard, and apply what youve learned. But children in France are not learning relevant skills. Being deprived of the many things listed previously just continues to encourage children to drop out. Their children need to go to school, it would benefit their society as a whole.

Frances current school system needs to be changed in order for their society to grow. Their schools are seriously lacking in most skills we use in life. Changes such as supporting music, art, sports, and even interaction would make a big difference. Without these changes France students will continue to fail.

Marisa Balades and Riley Furey are students at American Canyon Middle School. They wrote this editorial for a class project.
Everyone knows about chardonnay. Even if you do not drink it, you know it. The worlds most famous white wine grape, chardonnay is one of the most widely planted grapes. And it is the one grape that just cannot get any respect. It is popular but it is also disregarded as an overly oaked butter-bomb that is in overabundance.

It is time to stop hating chardonnay because this is a grape that deserves a lot of respect.

Chardonnay can be described as having fruity flavors ranging from citrus to apples to stone fruits to tropical fruits such as banana, pineapple and melon. It can be described with notes ranging from chalk and mineral to vanilla to smoke. And, on the palate it can vary from crisp and bright to creamy, rich and unctuous. But in reality, the grape variety of chardonnay is said to have a relatively neutral flavor.

The grape variety chardonnay gets its flavor from the specifics of the climate and vineyard in which it is planted. Chardonnay is a grape that requires a great site and attention in the cellar.

Of all the hundreds of grapes in the world, chardonnay is one that can both show site specifics and winemaker influence at the same time, explained wine critic Elaine Chukan Brown as she moderated a panel of six winemakers at the Santa Barbara Harvest Festival.

Chardonnay  through the eyes of three vineyards

Focusing on three vineyards in Santa Barbara County, six winemakers discussed what it is about these sites that compel them to produce chardonnay.

Duvarita Vineyard

Duvarita Vineyard, formerly called Presidio Vineyard, is located west of Sta Rita Hills AVA in Lompoc. Purchased and renamed in 2012, the vineyard has shifted to biodynamic farming with attention given to the vines. Growing pinot noir, syrah and chardonnay, the site is a south-facing slope starting at 180 feet and topping at 340 feet elevation.

The 26-acre family-owned vineyard has sandy loam soils that are marked by high acidity. The vineyard rows are planted 7 feet apart and there are 3 feet between the vines. The vineyard gets great exposure and experiences a long, cool growing season.

Winemakers John Dragonette of Dragonette Cellars and Paul Lato of Paul Lato Wines both made their first vintage of chardonnay from this vineyard in 2014 and are still learning what the site has to offer chardonnay. The vineyard gets a lot of fog and no wind, resulting in a wine with great tension. Paul Lato, who first tried a wine from this site when he was a sommelier in Toronto in 1997, explained that he likes to match the acidity of the wine with a lot of oak.

Ritas Crown Vineyard

Ritas Crown is located on the southwest facing slopes of the Sta Rita Hills. A cool-climate site, the vineyard is heavily influenced by its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. Ritas Crown also receives Southern exposure like Duvarita Vineyard, but the vineyard is located at a higher elevation, has steeper slopes and gets more wind exposure. The vineyard is on diatomaceous soils, such as fossilized seashells. The vineyard produces low-crop yields, resulting in intense, site-driven wines with more acidity and more minerality.

Sandhi Wines, which has 1 acre, and Longoria Wines, which has half an acre, are both producing chardonnay from this vineyard. Sandhi picks early for high acidity, resulting in a wine that is fruitier with citrus notes. The Longoria Wine also has great acidity but has a richer, riper nose of red apple and a creaminess on the back palate.

Bien Nacido Vineyards

Bien Nacido Vineyards is a historic vineyard located in the Santa Maria Valley, 16 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Owned and planted by the Miller family since 1969, Bien Nacido Vineyards sits in a wide-open valley at an elevation of 600 feet. Santa Maria Valley is all about fog and wind. At the vineyard, the day begins with foggy mornings, and the day warms up and the wind comes through in the afternoon. For the vines, it is a short workday but a long growing season with early bud break. The vineyard has a diversity of soils, including limestone, shales, uplifted marine volcanics and loam.

Billy Wathen at Foxen Winery has been working with the vineyard since 1984. He gets grapes from an area at a lower elevation in the open mouth of the valley, resulting in grapes with tremendous acidity and wines that are zippy, like a lemon drop. Winemaker Trey Fletcher at Bien Nacido works with fruit from alkaline soils resulting in wines with aromas of grapefruit and chamomile. Both wines have very savory qualities to them.

Chardonnay is a true reflection of where it comes from, and when in the hands of talented winemakers, the wine will reflect this. No longer do we need to say, I will have ABC (Anything But Chardonnay). Its time to BBC (Bring Back Chardonnay) and enjoy it for its incredible range of styles and beauty.
Interior designer Miyuki Yamaguchi arrived at the Register newsroom with a list  not of projects, accomplishments or even things to do. It was a list of all she finds wonderful about living in Napa Valley.

I never knew a life like this exists, said Yamaguchi, a native of Tokyo, who studied at UC Berkeley, and subsequently lived and worked in San Francisco and the East Bay.

She and her husband were looking for a vacation home in Napa, but in the summer of 2013, they decided instead to make it the full-time home. Their daughter now is a student at Vichy Elementary School.

I thought it was normal, noise, crowds, alarms. Here, people are so nice and happy, even FedEx drivers. They are polite. Kids are polite. Drivers are polite. People in the post office are nice, and there are no bulletproof barricades in the banks. The theater has a wine list. Children can walk to school. I just keep adding to my list of things I like.

Another thing on her list: No commute. After a career working for high-end designer studios, she launched her own Napa-based business, Miyuki Yamaguchi Design Studio.

Yamaguchis enthusiasm for the valley mirrors her approach to design: a joyful commitment to helping people create the spaces that they will love.

Life is not about me. I just create feel-good spaces for others to enjoy, she said.

After graduating from Berkeley with a degree in architecture, she said, she was looking for a job as a designer and learned interior design skills beginning with her first $7-an-hour job.

She went on to work for the San Francisco office of Gensler, an international architectural design studio with 46 offices in cities including London, Dubai and Beijing. Here, she took on impressive projects like the design for Lucasfilms Big Ranch Rock, adjacent to Skywalker Ranch in Marin County. It was Lucasfilms office building campus in Prairie-style per his request, she explained.

Another assignment took her to Pittsburgh for the construction of a new Fairmont Hotel. This 3-year assignment found her working with teams, deadlines and budget constraints.

Many consultants were from out of state, but when we gathered for meetings, we were like one unit, creating something wonderful together  a LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design)-certified luxury hotel with a genuine sensitivity to the citys character, she wrote in an article for Gensler titled The Simple Joy of an Interior Designer.

When miscommunication and frictions between the teams took a toll on my everyday happiness, she wrote, I learned to be more patient and to endure through these challenges. I grew as a person as well, even at this middle age (which I will respectfully leave to the readers imagination).

When it was finished, during a photo shoot, she noted, The space I saw before me was grand with real wow factors, grounded, comfortable, timeless and luxurious all at the same time. Thats what we were asked to design and that is what I truly saw  I gazed at the people walking by me, conversing with one another over cocktails or lounging by the fireplace in the corner of the lobby. It was clear that they were enjoying themselves in the space we had created.

I felt more than just happiness  I was overjoyed. The people I saw in the hotel lobby enjoy a pleasant and hopefully memorable space that I helped design. That mere thought gives me, quite simply, pure joy.

That pure joy, she said, she now finds in her Napa business, working on small as well as large projects, whether its consulting on paint choices or helping someone decide on tiles at Home Depot.

I dont think I have a particular style, she said. It is about helping someone find what they want. Its really about working with people. In the end, if they are happy I am happy.

Since moving to Napa, she has continued to teach at UC Berkeley Extension, and has also participated in the Traditional Home Designers Showhouse in Napa Valley for 2014 and 2015.

Its fun to meet other designers, she said. I like the collaboration to make a house successful.

In 2014 she agreed to decorate the front porch on a farmhouse for the Showhouse. Last year, she took on the challenge of creating a luxurious small bathroom in a vintage house on Randolph Street in downtown Napa.

The more challenging the project, the bigger the reward, she said. Because my husband is a Realtor, I know that bathrooms and kitchen renovations add value to homes.

Both years, she said, the goal was to celebrate the Napa lifestyle through my design.

For her bathroom project, she incorporated luxury as well as whimsy, adding to white tiles, a country-style sink and a glass-enclosed shower another element that she likes in Napa, birds.

I know birds can be a winemakers enemy, she said, but they were my inspiration to express the Napa lifestyle living in a harmonious way with surrounding nature. 

Thus she included a pair of silver wings in the shower, a painted faux birdcage around a wall sconce, and paintings of birds from Napa artists.

When the homeowner was delighted with his new bathroom, there again, she was satisfied. As long as you have that excitement for your work, it makes me happy, she said.

As does adding to her list of things she loves about her own new home, the Napa Valley.

The Miyuki Yamaguchi Design Studio website is MiyukiYamaguchi.com; email miyuki@miyukiyamaguchi.com; call 510-917-6090.
CONCORD  A 37-year-old woman is facing murder and abuse charges after police found a horrific scene at the apartment she lived with her paraplegic husband, who died last week from severe neglect, police said.

Dormanicia Lawson has been charged with murder, two counts of dependent abuse and a count of child abuse, according to the Contra Costa County District Attorneys Office.

Concord police Cpl. Christopher Blakely said the case came to the attention of investigators after Lawson reported around 3:30 a.m. on Dec. 30 that her husband, 36-year-old Mark Fulgham, was having difficulty breathing.

Blakely said nurses at John Muir Medical Center, where Fulgham was taken, discovered that he was malnourished and dehydrated to such an extent that his bones were severely pronounced.

Fulgham, who was pronounced dead a day later, also had infected sores and maggots on his body.

It was horrific, Blakely said. (It was) the most severe case of neglect that Ive ever seen, and Ive been an officer here for 10 years.

Upon being notified of the mans state, police began to investigate by contacting Lawson at her apartment, where Fulgham, her 19-year-old autistic son and another 11-year-old child lived.

There, the dilapidated state of the residence was made immediately apparent, Blakely said.

You could just smell the foul odor coming from the apartment as soon as she opened the door, he said. There were cockroaches on the floor, fly traps hanging all over the walls and even bugs on the ceiling.

Blakely also described rotten food left in the refrigerator and general clutter in the two-bedroom apartment where Lawson lived with Fulgham and the two children, one of who was reportedly covered in feces.

I just cant imagine how they were living like that, he said.

Blakely said it isnt clear what the familys source of income was, as police have determined that Lawson wasnt working.

Child Protective Services took the 11-year-old child, Blakely said.

The manager of the apartment building, located in the 1700 block of Laguna Street, is working to make the place habitable again, Blakely said.

Lawson was arrested by Concord police at 6:50 a.m. on Dec. 30 after officers examined the apartment, and was later charged by prosecutors.

Shes scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in a Martinez courtroom.
Napa County is close to having plastic single-use shopping bag bans in place for all local towns.

The city of Napa, St. Helena, Calistoga and American Canyon have already passed bans. Now, the unincorporated county and Yountville are poised to join them.

Pretty soon, the whole county is going to be covered by the same rules, so the tourists and residents know what to expect when they go to the store, Grania Lindberg of Napa Valley CanDo told the county Board of Supervisors.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday signaled in a 5-0 vote that it intends to adopt the unincorporated county plastic bag ban at a future meeting. It did so after holding the required public hearing and first reading of the proposed law.

The Yountville Town Council will take up the issue on Feb. 2. Yountville Mayor John Dunbar told supervisors he anticipates his town will soon have a plastic bag ban in place.

While the proposed county and Yountville laws would bring uniformity to Napa County plastic bag policies, they wouldnt affect a lot of businesses in and of themselves. These two jurisdictions have few grocery and big-box stores.

Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht called plastic bags that become windborne urban tumbleweeds. Hes seen them piled up against fences while driving.

They make you feel like youre in a place thats been neglected, he said. I appreciate getting them off the road.

The proposed unincorporated county law would take effect on July 1. Like other local plastic bag ban laws, it would allow stores to provide paper bags, but for a dime apiece. The idea is to encourage people to bring their own reusable bags to stores.

Both the county and Yountville laws would exempt specialty bags from the dime charges. These are the heavier paper shopping bags with flat bottoms, side gussets and ribbon, rope or cord handles found at wineries and boutiques.

In 2014, California adopted a statewide plastic bag ban that was to take effect last year. But that law is on hold pending a November ballot referendum.

We expected the state to have a regulation that would be all-encompassing, Dunbar said. That has taken so long, we no longer want to wait.

The now-suspended 2014 state legislation says that cities and counties cannot enforce local plastic bag bans adopted after Sept. 1, 2014. Rather, the statewide ban is to apply.

The city of Napa, Calistoga and St. Helena passed their local laws before Sept. 1, 2014. But thats not the case with the unincorporated county and Yountville, which have yet to pass their proposed bans, and American Canyon, which passed a ban last August.

Yountville Town Manager Steven Rogers said if voters uphold the statewide plastic bag ban in November, it would supersede whatever law Yountville might pass.

But another scenario is that voters overturn the statewide plastic bag ban. In that case, local plastic bag bans such as the ones under consideration by Yountville and the unincorporated county would continue to be law.

Either way, a countywide plastic bag ban would be in place.
Two women sexually assaulted in Napa County were able to speak their minds during sentencing of their attacker in Napa County Superior Court on Thursday.

Neither said they were entirely satisfied with the outcome. They had hoped their address to the court would lead to a jury trial and a longer prison sentence.

Mark Anthony Badal, 42, was convicted of felony rape of an intoxicated person and misdemeanor sexual battery, according to court documents.

Seven other felony charges were dismissed, including four counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object, two counts of forcible rape, and false imprisonment by violence.

Badal was sentenced to state prison for a total term of seven years, 288 days of which have already been served. That deal was struck in a plea bargain filed on Nov. 12, according to court documents.

Although Badal will spend time in jail and will be a registered sex offender for life, the victims said they were unsatisfied with the plea deal and the way prosecuting attorney Lance Hafenstein handled the case.

During her address to the court, Christine Trice, 42,  the victim of the sexual battery  requested that Judge Michael Williams withdraw Badals guilty pleas and reinstate his trial. Nearly bringing herself to tears, Trice recounted how she was drugged, sexually assaulted and held hostage by Badal.

She said that her victims rights had been violated, citing Marsys Law. According to the law, also known as the Victims Bill of Rights, victims can expect to be reasonably protected from the defendant, to have reasonable notice of all public proceedings, and to be heard (upon request) at any proceeding, including the plea and sentencing.

My victims rights have been repeatedly violated by not being informed of pertinent hearings and not doing all that could be done to keep me safe, Trice said.

Williams said he was unfamiliar with Marsys Law, but planned to uphold the plea bargain.

Hafenstein, a deputy district attorney, said later that the District Attorneys Office completely complied with the notification requirements of Marsys Law.

We feel that the six-year prison sentence (for rape) and lifetime sex offender registration given to the defendant is a just result, considering all aggravating and mitigating factors in this case, he said.

The rape victim, Bianca Harmon, 25, of St. Helena, said in court that Badal is extremely dangerous and is sure to strike again when he is released from prison. I dont feel safe, she said.

In court records, Harmon was known only as Jane Doe #1, and Trice was known as Jane Doe #2. Both asked that the Register use their true names as a way of putting faces on what are often considered stigmatizing crimes.

Were not happy that theyre not happy, Hafenstein said after Trice and Harmon had testified.

Badal was first arrested on Nov. 24, 2014, on suspicion of raping Harmon. Harmon had reported that Badal had gone home with her and her fiance in St. Helena after they had some drinks, according to the police report.

He approached her while she was sleeping in a chair, according to the police report. She said that he kissed her and penetrated her with his fingers, and when she realized it was not her fiance, she pushed him away, according to the report. She left the room and was allegedly raped again by Badal 10 minutes later while her fiances 14-year-old son slept next to them, she told police.

Following sentencing, Harmon said that she provided not only DNA evidence during the investigation, but also assisted the St. Helena Police Department in obtaining a recorded confession from Badal.

The sexual battery on Trice, who is from Sacramento, happened just days prior to Harmons rape at a home in unincorporated Napa County.

Badal, who had released from jail in November, was taken into custody after sentencing. In addition to jail time, Badal was ordered to pay financial restitution to both victims at an amount to be determined.

Badals attorney, Molly Hendry, said that she had no comment following the sentencing.
Every forecast of Californias future insists this state will need far more college-educated workers than now live here if its to avert losing out when established businesses expand and seek places with qualified potential employees.

This is true in almost every field, from film-making to making computer chips and hunting knives.

Thats why a community college program to help graduates of the two-year schools move on to full-scale universities now looks like one of the better moves the state has made in decades. Started in 2011, this plan lets community college students earn a new kind of degree that helps them move easily and almost seamlessly to California State University campuses.

Almost all the states two-year schools now offer the new Associate in Arts Degree for Transfer and Associate in Science Degree for Transfer, huge progress since the plan began with an unheralded signature from ex-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in September 2010.

The program was sponsored in the Legislature by Democrat Alex Padilla, then a state senator, now California secretary of state. It guarantees that anyone who obtains either of the new two-year degrees will get a spot at a CSU campus and that credits earned in community college will count at the four-year school.

Unlike many laws that pass and then move into obscurity, this one bears more fruit every year.

In 2015, the number of community college students pursuing the new degrees almost doubled, with 20,644 students getting transfer diplomas, compared with 11,448 the year before. For students who get these degrees, theres not only a four-year university slot, but also the assurance they cannot be saddled with additional graduation requirements after they enroll at the next level. So students can see exactly what theyll need to do to complete the entire process in four years.

Its much more organized than the often-jumbled transfer process still followed by other tens of thousands of would-be community college transfers.

New degrees are available in more than 1,900 subjects, but not every community college offers them all. Full details of which degrees can be earned where are available at adegreewithaguarantee.com.

But even the smallest two-year colleges offer transfer-enabling degrees in subjects from kinesiology and accounting to early childhood education, statistics and theater arts.

The new degrees also can lower costs of getting a full-fledged university degree, since they let students graduate with a total of 120 semester units if they continue from a community college degree program to a similar one at the next level. More traditional transfer students, without the guaranteed Cal State acceptance of all or virtually all their credits from community college, often must take as many as 40 to 50 additional units after enrolling at a four-year school. This can happen when graduation requirements change or because some classes at two-year-schools are not counted.

The proud supervisor of this new opportunity is Brice Harris, statewide chancellor of California Community Colleges. As he announced the huge increase in students getting the innovative degrees, Harris said they create an affordable path to a four-year degree, without compromising the quality of education.

He also touted the new degrees ability to save both time and money, which he labeled a win-win for both students and the state of California.

In fact, the more students get four-year degrees, the less likely California is to continue suffering an exodus of expanding companies, many moving to places like Austin, Texas and the Raleigh, N.C., area because of their surfeit of available, educated workers.

But most community college students remain unaware of the new degrees. Most who get the degrees learn of them from guidance counselors, but many community college students with outside jobs dont feel they have time to visit counselors.

One 23-year-old student at College of the Desert in Palm Desert said, Before, I was taking just random classes. I didnt want to see a counselor. But its turned out that one visit will probably save me months later on. Now, I can actually say Im shooting for my B.A., not just looking for an associate degree.

The bottom line: If were going to rip failed or questionable government programs from high-speed rail to highway repairs, we also ought to recognize those that work, like this one.

Thomas D. Elias writes the syndicated California Focus column.
Mr. Elias, Happy New Year! I always enjoy your columns that appear in the Napa Valley Register. Your Jan. 1, 2016 guest column in the Register on the new California Motor Voter law, which will allow eligible driver license applicants to register to vote automatically, is very timely ("Motor Voter: Don't expect mass election fraud").

You point out that the law will not come into full effect before late 2016 or early 2017 because of the steps you outline: certification of the new, statewide voter registration system; adoption of Secretary of State regulations and DMV budgetary and procedural readiness to implement the opt out process.

There is one statement in your column that needs clarification regarding the prerequisite for registering to vote: Registering to vote has always required showing some of the same documentation needed for a drivers license. California currently, and has for decades, operated under the honor system for those wishing to register to vote either in person, online or by mail. In the latter two methods there is no ability to provide documentation, and none is required for in person registration either at the county election office or during voter registration drives in public areas.

Each eligible citizen signs their voter registration affidavit under penalty of perjury after answering these two questions: I am a citizen of the United States, Yes or No; and I am over 18 years of age as of the date of the next election, Yes or No.

The honor system has worked well for these many years because, as you point out in your column, voter fraud is almost non-existent in California or in other parts of the nation.

California ranks 44th in the nation in the percentage of eligible voters who actually register to vote. Putting barriers in the way of those wishing to exercise their precious right to vote will not help increase that yield in California or other states. Our Napa County Election division has adopted as one of its performance measures increasing the number of eligible voters who register to vote. We are currently at 77 percent in Napa County (the statewide average is around 74 percent) and are working with our schools, community leaders, the Napa Valley Transportation Authority and others to encourage all eligible citizens to register to vote.

Anyone wishing to help with that effort can contact Napa County Registrar of Voters John Tuteur at 253-4459 or john.tuteur@countyofnapa.org. We have plenty of registration affidavits, posters and other materials available.

I look forward to more of your columns during this new year.

John Tuteur

Napa County Registrar of Voters
I read Barry Eberling's report on Christian Palmaz's application for permission to use a helicopter on his property so that since he "lives and breathes aviation" he can satisfy his "incredible passion," to use his own words. His ambition is to set the "gold standard for what it means to have a helipad for private use in Napa County" ("Proposed helipad creates waves in east Napa," Dec. 27)

But there are problems with such a standard, golden or not.

First: The people in Napa County don't want helicopters flying overhead.

They stated so emphatically in 2004 when 3,500 petition signatures were enough for the supervisors to create Ordinance P 04-0198 prohibiting helicopter landings at wineries. I was instrumental in that drive. In the Palmaz case, almost every single immediate neighbor of his - 187 of them - have signed petitions objecting to such a permit as have 377 of the general public just by word of mouth and not in response to any organized effort.

One might ask, for what purpose would one grant the request? is it to satisfy one person's "incredible passion?"

Second: Any assurances regarding flight paths and operation heights, which Palmaz assures the county he will follow, lie outside county's ability let alone jurisdiction to enforce. The county's jurisdiction extends exclusively on land use. Once the helicopter rises even one inch off the ground, the sole enforcing agency becomes the Federal Aviation Administration whose standards involve safety and only safety. For all practical purposes, once Palmaz is allowed to use his property to land a helicopter, he may do as he pleases as long as it is deemed safe.

Third: There are several thousand properties within Napa County that would satisfy FAA safety standards for helipads and thousands who can afford one.

We, as humans, are blessed with the ability to imagine such a future. We had better make use of it.

Fourth: Helicopters are not as safe as they are being portrayed. Just this past month, three non-military crashes occurred: Dec. 2 at Rancho Santa Fe; Dec. 10, McFarland; and Dec. 24 on the island of Fiji. All in all, six people dead. The Eurocopter model Palmaz proposes to fly has had 33 crashes since April 2004, 13 of them in this country. Bell helicopters have an even worse safety record. Attorney James Crouse (helicopterlawyers.com) who follows the industry, has compiled statistics that show that while airplane accident rates are 0.175 per 100,000 hours of flying, those of helicopters are 7.5. That is a staggering 42.85 times higher. One might ask, for what purpose would one grant the request? Is it to satisfy Palmaz's "incredible passion?" Or is it for us to find out what a "gold standard looks like?"

Fifth: Studies have shown that helicopter noise hurts some wild animal species of which there are plenty in that vicinity, though according to residents who have lived there much longer, not as many as before Palmaz Winery spread thousands upon thousands cubic yards of cave tailings over wetlands without prior grading permits for which the Bay Area Water Board leveled its highest ever fine.

In its 1987 survey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that helicopter-induced noise "impacts all wildlife - especially waterfowl and colonial nesting species - ranging from minor behavioral responses to severe changes in the use of the area." One might ask, for what purpose would one grant the request? Is it to satisfy someone's "incredible passion?"

Sixth: Many towns have engaged in this experiment. In the Hollywood Hills, the problem has become so intrusive that even performances at the Hollywood Bowl are being disturbed prompting Senators Feinstein and Boxer to introduce Senate Bill 208/470 for appropriate regulation. Other communities such as Torrance and Long Island, New York have introduced complaint hot lines; an administrative nightmare and cause for residents' frustration for which there is almost nothing counties and cities can do once they have permitted landings. Is Napa County willing to go there just to satisfy an individual's passion?

Are there benefits for helicopter flights in this county? Indeed there are.

Wherever emergencies occur, crime, fires, injuries for which no landing permits are required. As far as Palmaz's offer to make his heliport available for emergencies, only a few thousand feet down the road is the Napa Valley Country Club with plenty of sites for emergency landings.

When it comes to the convenience of individuals and their joy rides, there is no one single means of transportation that impacts so many people in so many negative ways as private helicopters. Not one to be dismissed is the fact that residents within the impact radius of airports and heliports, must disclose this potential nuisance to any eventual buyer.

Tittel lives in Calistoga.
MEXICO CITY

6 killed in town in southern Mexico

Police in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero say they found six bodies after a reported shootout near the violence-plagued city of Chilapa.

The Guerrero state government said late Wednesday that soldiers and police entered the area and with a helicopters help found six bodies and three other people wounded in the clash.

The area has been the scene of bloody turf battles between the Rojos gang and their rivals the Ardillos.

JERUSALEM

Two Palestinians killed after attacking soldiers, military says

The Israeli military says three Palestinians brandishing knives rushed at troops in the West Bank, prompting the soldiers to open fire, killing two of them. The third attacker was wounded and taken to hospital.

The army says the attack took place on Thursday evening at the Gush Etzion junction near Jerusalem. The area has been a frequent target for Palestinian attackers lately.

Near daily Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers have killed 21 Israelis, mostly in stabbings, shootings and car-ramming assaults. At least 134 Palestinians died by Israeli fire, including 93 said by Israel to be attackers. The rest were killed in clashes with troops.

MOMBASA, Kenya

Islamic tutor jailed for 20 years for training jihad

A court in Kenya found a teacher at an Islamic school guilty of radicalizing his students by teaching them extreme jihad and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

Magistrate Diana Mochache said Thursday Samwel Wanjala Wabwile, also known as Salim Mohammed, was found guilty of radicalizing the Gotani primary school pupils. Mochache says Wabwile, who also taught at a mosque in Gotani village in Kilifi county, had been hiding behind religion to promote extremism.

Kenya is battling recruitment of the countrys youth by al-Qaidas East African affiliate, Somalia-based al-Shabab, and lately the Islamic State.

Kenyan youth make up the largest contingent of foreign fighters in al-Shabab. Al-Shabab has carried out a wave of attacks in Kenya since it sent its troops to Somalia to fight the militants.

COLOGNE, Germany

Justice minister says deportations possible in Cologne case

Germanys justice minister says asylum-seekers could be deported if theyre found to have participated in a string of New Year sexual assaults in Cologne.

Police say witnesses have described the perpetrators as being of Arab or North African origin, but theres little solid information on who committed the assaults. That has been seized on by some opponents of Germanys welcoming stance toward those fleeing conflict.

Officials have cautioned its important not to cast suspicion on refugees in general. Still, Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in an interview with the Funke newspaper group published Thursday that deportations would certainly be conceivable.

He said the law allows for people to be deported during asylum proceedings if theyre sentenced to a year or more in prison, and thats possible with sexual offenses.

BEIJING

11 workers die in latest mine collapse in China

Eleven workers trapped underground in a coal mine collapse have died, authorities in central China said Thursday, the latest in a series of mining disasters.

The miners were found Thursday afternoon, a day after the mine in Shaanxi province collapsed, Yulin citys propaganda department said in a statement. The reason for the collapse was under investigation, it said.

The rest of the 49 miners who had been working in the privately run mine escaped.

While Chinas mines have long been the worlds deadliest, safety improvements have reduced deaths in recent years.

But accidents continue, including one on Christmas Day in eastern Shandong province that has left at least one dead and 13 missing. Four other miners trapped in the collapse were located this week and efforts were ongoing to rescue them.

MEXICO CITY

Northern Mexico prosecutors detain alleged serial killer

Investigators in northern Mexico say they arrested a man believed to be a serial killer linked to 15 slayings since 2009.

The Chihuahua state Prosecutors Office says 35-year-old Andres Ulises Castillo Villarreal was arrested in connection with the killing of two men who were beaten to death and dismembered in the same manner and left in the street in November and December.

A prosecutor statement issued Tuesday says the investigation led to a third victim whose body was found buried in one of the rooms of the house where Castillo lived.

He also is charged with sexually assaulting two other men.
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

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EU countries agree to sanction eight people and organizations over Iranian drones

Benny Gantz: Israel will not supply weapons to Ukraine

Saudi Arabia lifts ban on Turkish soap operas

Armenia lawyer arrested

Remains discovered during renovation of Ministry of Culture building in Tbilisi are transferred to Armenian Pantheon

Dollar goes up, euro falls in Armenia

IRGC special forces conduct helicopter operations on third day of exercises on border with Azerbaijan

MFA: France position on achieving Armenia-Azerbaijan peace is unchanged

Foreign Minister: Iran will not allow blocking its communications with Armenia

Kremlin: Russia does not intend to close borders amid introduction of martial law in four regions

EU mission delegation visits some border communities of Armenias Gegharkunik Province (PHOTOS)

Armenias Papikyan attends defense ministers assembly in India

Brusov university rector: Armenia education minister offered me a high position in new university, I declined

Putin imposes martial law in new territories of Russia

Yerevan to host Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting

Putin holds meeting of Security Council

Armenia MOD spox: Azerbaijan still preventing search operations

Iran announces retaliatory sanctions against EU

Russian Defense Ministry reports on strike on military facilities in Ukraine

Artsakh Foreign Minister receives Ruben Vardanyan

Israel calls Australia's refusal to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel 'pathetic decision'

Armenia to tighten penalties for overloading of trucks

Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey army elite units conduct demonstration military drills

Luxembourg parliament speaker: Azerbaijan aggression is direct attack on Armenia sovereignty

Russia Investigative Committee chief confirms theory of Crimean Bridge explosion accomplices

Uruguay vice president: We express our solidarity with Armenian people

GeoProMining's ZCMC has tripled tax payments to the state budget of Armenia

Yerevan judge to be arrested

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

Ukraine military hits Energodar city hall

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

Armenia MPs meet with European Parliament colleagues, reflect on recent Azerbaijan attack

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
Poland is one of the advocates for the strengthening of links between Armenia and Europe. In an interview with Armenian News  NEWS.am, Polands Ambassador to Armenia Jerzy Nowakowski shared with his hope for the fast and efficient negotiations between Armenia and EU, pointed out to the prospects and failures in the Armenian-Polish cooperation, and wished Armenia to stay in the middle of the Western civilization.

Mr Ambassador, what do you expect from the new phase of negotiations between Armenia and the European Union launched in Brussels on 7 December 2015?

We very much appreciate the start of the negotiations. Poland is one of the advocates for the strengthening of links between Armenia and Europe. We hope for the very fast, very efficient discussion. And both sides believe in the conclusion of the negotiation process by the end of 2016. And I hope that Armenias links with the EU will be a continuous process, the economy of the country will take advantage of this, and European standards on human rights and humanitarian area will prevail in the country.

Was there any progress in the economic relations between Armenia and Poland in 2015?

Currently the Polish-Armenian turnover of goods is small; its a little more than $50 mln a year. We have a number of opportunities for the development of our business cooperation. Second, I served for over four years as a Polish Ambassador to Latvia. Despite the fact that Latvia is much closer in geographical sense to Poland, its the member of the European Union, and last but not least, the stereotype of Armenia is much stronger than Latvia. When I told my friends to come and visit me in Riga, saying it is a very interesting country, they said: No, its far. When I moved from Latvia to Armenia, then they said: Ok, Armenia is a very important country. We would try to travel to Armenia as soon as possible.

The greatest problem in the economic cooperation is related specifically to the activity of Lubawa CJSC in Armenia. We were hopeful that in 2015 this Polish-Armenian company would benefit, but this didnt happen. And we consider this as the failure of 2015. Apart from this, there is a second problem: accession of Armenia to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). This is a big problem for our food exporters, who face phytosanitary obstacles. Armenia doesnt have a big market, and the emergence of new requirements forces many experts to withdraw from their projects and even not make investments. Investments in Armenia, as well as Armeias and Polands cooperation with third countries are very important for Poland. I expect the economic prospects between Armenia and Poland to double or triple. But much depends on Armenias partners, as well as the success or failure of "Lubawa", since this is the first biggest Polish investment, and other investors study its experience.

How do you celebrate Christmas and New Year? Could you, please, speak about the Polish traditions of celebrating New Year?

Of course, there is a large number of Polish national traditions. First of all, its the Christmas dinner on December 24. Its the core of the Polish Christmas traditions. We prepare not less than 12 dishes based on fish, cabbage and mushroom. Specific cakes are also baked. Another tradition is the gathering of a large family. Of course, in Armenia the traditional large family is much more important than in the European countries. Poland is somewhere between.The next tradition is that of the Holy Mass. At midnight, majority of the Polish families - regardless of the level of religious engagement of the family - walk into the church for Pasterka (liturgy in Polish).

Traditionally the first day of celebrations is oriented to the family. The second day of Christmas is frequently dedicated to the time to visit friends. And, of course, on both days many people go to church. And, last but not least, Christmas is very important time for children because its the time for the exchange of the gifts. We put the gifts under the Christmas tree and after the dinner children start looking for them.

What would you wish to the Armenian people?

First of all, peace - as its very important  prosperity, happiness. And [for Armenia] to be in the middle of the Western space, values and civilization as during the many years of Armenian history.
YEREVAN.  Roads in Armenia are primarily drivable as of Friday 8:30am, informed the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations.

But several motorways as well as Vardenyats (Selim) Pass are closed for traffic.

The Alagyaz-Tsaghkahovit motorway is difficult to pass.

There is black ice on some parts of several other highways and the Tigranashen bends.

The road crews are scattering salt and sand on the motorways and are also cleaning them to ensure safe travel.

The ministry advises drivers to travel on these motorways solely when absolutely necessary and with winter tires on their vehicles.

And according to the information received from the Emergency Situations Department of Georgia, the countrys Stepantsminda-Larsi Highway, which leads to the Armenian border, is open solely for light passenger vehicles with chained wheels.
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group former Co-Chair of the US, former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, and former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Matthew Bryza, pointed to the five-year-old mistake by the US administration.

The fact that President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev had not been invited to the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in 2010 was due to sloppy work by the White House, Bryza stated, Haqqin.az news agency of Azerbaijan reported citing Vestnik Kavkaza, a daily news website covering the Caucasus region.

I can say that the US made a big mistake when they didnt invite President Ilham Aliyev to the first summit of nuclear security in 2010, despite the fact that the Presidents of Armenia and Georgia were invited, he said. This diplomatic mistake was the result of careless work of the White House.

Deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, Head of Foreign Relations Department Novruz Mammadov, had tweeted that US President Barack Obama had invited Aliyev to the fourth summit on nuclear security in Washington D.C.
EU countries agree to sanction eight people and organizations over Iranian drones

Benny Gantz: Israel will not supply weapons to Ukraine

Saudi Arabia lifts ban on Turkish soap operas

Armenia lawyer arrested

Remains discovered during renovation of Ministry of Culture building in Tbilisi are transferred to Armenian Pantheon

Dollar goes up, euro falls in Armenia

IRGC special forces conduct helicopter operations on third day of exercises on border with Azerbaijan

MFA: France position on achieving Armenia-Azerbaijan peace is unchanged

Foreign Minister: Iran will not allow blocking its communications with Armenia

Kremlin: Russia does not intend to close borders amid introduction of martial law in four regions

EU mission delegation visits some border communities of Armenias Gegharkunik Province (PHOTOS)

Armenias Papikyan attends defense ministers assembly in India

Brusov university rector: Armenia education minister offered me a high position in new university, I declined

Putin imposes martial law in new territories of Russia

Yerevan to host Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting

Putin holds meeting of Security Council

Armenia MOD spox: Azerbaijan still preventing search operations

Iran announces retaliatory sanctions against EU

Russian Defense Ministry reports on strike on military facilities in Ukraine

Artsakh Foreign Minister receives Ruben Vardanyan

Israel calls Australia's refusal to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel 'pathetic decision'

Armenia to tighten penalties for overloading of trucks

Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey army elite units conduct demonstration military drills

Luxembourg parliament speaker: Azerbaijan aggression is direct attack on Armenia sovereignty

Russia Investigative Committee chief confirms theory of Crimean Bridge explosion accomplices

Uruguay vice president: We express our solidarity with Armenian people

GeoProMining's ZCMC has tripled tax payments to the state budget of Armenia

Yerevan judge to be arrested

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

Ukraine military hits Energodar city hall

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

Armenia MPs meet with European Parliament colleagues, reflect on recent Azerbaijan attack

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
Stanford experts analyze North Korea's nuclear test and diplomatic solutions for curbing future nuclear experiments

Stanford nuclear policy experts say that economic sanctions alone might not be enough to curtail the country's nuclear program.

Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji Stanford nuclear policy experts say North Korea's recent bomb test was an important step forward for its nuclear program and would have a destabilizing effect on the entire region. (Photo: Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji)

Stanford nuclear experts said they were skeptical of North Korea's claim that it had detonated a hydrogen bomb this week.

However, they said the test was an important step forward for North Korea's nuclear program and would have a destabilizing effect on the entire region.

"I don't believe it was a real hydrogen bomb, but my greatest concern is not so much whether or not they actually tested a hydrogen bomb, but rather that they tested at all," said Siegfried Hecker, former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and senior fellow at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has "a track record of exaggerated statements, hyperbole and outright lies," said Scott Sagan, the Caroline S.G. Munro Professor of Political Science.

"The propaganda machine in North Korea has made all sorts of claims about Kim Jong-un's personal prowess and his history, and it is totally unsurprising that he might make exaggerated claims about North Korea's military prowess," Sagan said.

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William J. Perry said he also doubted that North Korea had detonated a two-stage hydrogen bomb.

"Whether it's a hydrogen bomb or not, it's a very dangerous, destabilizing development," said Perry, who is the Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor, Emeritus, at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and at the School of Engineering. "It's obvious they're working to increase the capability and size of their nuclear arsenal, and that represents a huge danger to the region and creates major instability and major concerns on the part of South Korea and Japan."

Many North Korea watchers had been anticipating another nuclear test.

"We've thought that the North Koreans could test at any time  that the tunnels were ready  so it would be a political decision, not a technical decision," said Thomas Fingar, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Hecker said North Korea's latest nuclear test would move the country closer to being able to miniaturize a nuclear warhead and mount it on a missile, extending the reach of their nuclear weapons.

"They will have achieved greater sophistication in their bomb design  that is the most worrisome aspect," Hecker said. "At this point, what makes their nuclear arsenal more dangerous is not so much explosive power of the bomb, but its size, weight and the ability to deliver it with missiles."

Need for renewing negotiations

On the diplomatic agenda, the United States and its allies will likely push for stronger sanctions in the wake of the tests, according to Kathleen Stephens, a former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Korea and the William J. Perry Fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC).

"In the U.N., the U.S., Japan and South Korea will likely look for another, and stronger, U.N. Security Council resolution, presumably with some efforts to attach to it some teeth and strengthen sanctions," Stephens said.

The U.S. Congress is currently considering financial sanctions that would cut off all access to U.S. banks for any banks dealing with the North Koreans.

But financial sanctions would likely be less effective in dealing with North Korea than they had been with Iran, according to Fingar.

"It's like hitting a masochist," said Fingar.

"North Korea is relatively insulated from the external economy, where Iran wasn't. Iran had a middle class  you could make sanctions hurt, they could have a real effect. You could make it hard for the North Koreans to buy luxury goods, but at the end of the day, is that going to bring down the regime?"

Financial sanctions against North Korea could have the unintended consequence of also hurting China, said David Straub, associate director of the Korea program at APARC.

"This could be problematic for China because many of the transactions that North Korea conducts would be going thorough Chinese banks, and the Chinese, understandably, might not be happy about the U.S. financial sanctions on them, in effect," Straub said.

Perry recommended that the U.S. reinvigorate diplomatic talks with North Korea in collaboration with China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

"I would not give up on negotiations with North Korea yet," Perry said.

"What could have been done many years ago was following through on negotiations with North Korea at the turn of the century that were proceeding robustly in the last years of Clinton's second term, but were abandoned by the Bush administration. That was a great mistake."

But Hecker said those negotiations would be harder now.

"I have previously argued that we should focus on three No's for three Yes's  that is, no more bombs, no better bombs [that is, no testing] and no export  in return for addressing the North's security concerns, its energy shortage and its economic woes," said Hecker.

"This could have worked when I first proposed it 2008 after one of my seven visits to North Korea. It will be more difficult now."

Media Contact

Steve Fyffe, Stanford Center for International Security & Cooperation: (650) 725-6488, sfyffe@stanford.edu

Thomas Fingar, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center: (650) 723-9149, tom.fingar@stanford.edu

Scott Sagan, Center for International Security and Cooperation: (650) 725-2715, ssagan@stanford.edu

David Straub, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center: (650) 725-8073, dstraub@stanford.edu

Kathleen Stephens, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center: (650) 724-6404, ks1156@stanford.edu
Observing that doing business in the country was very difficult, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday called upon industrialists to invest in the national capital. Promising that all their issues would be resolved to their satisfaction, Kejriwal announced that his government would hold a business summit in Delhi soon. Addressing the inaugural event of the two-day Bengal Global Business Summit here, Kejriwal said his government was taking steps to simplify procedural formalities required for doing business. The more I get deeper into governance, I realise how difficult it is to do business in the country. 'Nani yaad aa jati hai.' Dont know how you are managing. Go to any government department, without bribe no work gets done. The status now is such that even after giving the money, the work is not done. This has to be changed, said Kejriwal. Kejriwal cited the moving out of the event management industry out of Delhi to buttress his point of the lack of ease in doing business. We have too much complicated the system. The event management industry in the last 10 years has moved out of Delhi because one needed to go around 27 government departments for permissions to organize a single event. Now we have simplified things. You dont have to submit affidavits, to take certificates. After talking to event industry stakeholders, we have now changed all the laws and now you can get the permission within minutes, that too online, he said. Wooing the industrialists, he asked them to spell out the problems they faced in doing business in Delhi. "We will soon organise a business summit in Delhi. Come and invest in Delhi. We are now simplifying the procedures, but we need more help from you. Please tell me what difficulties you are facing in doing business in Delhi. The time you take in telling me your problems, I can assures you, we will take less than that in resolving those," added Kejriwal. --Indo-Asian News Service and/ssp/mr ( 340 Words) 2016-01-08-15:27:37 (IANS)
Union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha on Friday said Posco has to take final decision over its proposed $12 billion steel project in Odisha. "That is a decision for Posco to take," he told media persons to queries over the fate of stalled project in the state. "We are very supportive to all companies including Posco. But, all have to follow all the rules and laws of the country to set up their projects," said Sinha. His statement indicated that Posco has to bid for mines according to the amended Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act 2015, if it wants to run the proposed steel plant at Jagatsinghpur in Odisha, said industry sources. Notably, the South Korean steel company is yet to make its stand clear over the proposed steel project while the Odisha government has urged the Prime Minister's Office to resolve the impediments facilitating to materialize the project. Sinha, who held a meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other officials of the government, also assured to cooperate with the state for carrying out various development projects. He said the central government would assist the state government in providing fund for accelerated irrigation programmes, setting up new medical colleges and development of backward districts. With the state raising the issue that the central government has stopped and slashed fund in various social programmes, Sinha said Odisha would get additional 10 percent fund following the recommendations of 14th Finance Commission that can be used for planning state specific programmes. He also slammed the opposition Congress for obstructing Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill in Rajya Sabha and sescribed it as a big blow to the Indian democracy and economy. "Congress is using every possible excuse to stall the GST Bill, which is affecting the economy of the country. The opposition party was raising unnecessary issues including (former IPL chief) Lalit Modi, (union minister) V.K. Singh, and intolerance issues, which have no basis, only to obstruct in passing the Bill," said Sinha. He said the state's ruling Biju Janata Dal has already indicated in parliament that they are in support of GST Bill. With the global economy facing slow down, he said India's economy, which was in a difficult situation when NDA assumed charge, is at very good health under the leadership of Narendra Modi government, and the country would withstand the global turmoil due to robust macro economy management. Admitting that commodity sector including steel and metal in the country have been impacted due to global slowdown, he said these issues needs to be dealt with for growth of the sector. --Indo-Asian News Service cd/vd ( 452 Words) 2016-01-08-23:13:35 (IANS)
Multiple sources say that F. Gary Gray, the director of "Fast and Furious 8", recently returned from a scouting trip which included the previously embargoed nation, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

In addition, the sources explain that the production has moved forward with the paperwork to shoot there.

"Universal Pictures is currently in the process seeking approval from the United States and Cuban governments to explore shooting a portion of the next installment of the 'Fast & Furious' series in Cuba," read a statement from the studio.

If it is approved, the street-racing movie will be the first Hollywood film to shoot on the island since the embargo in the 1960s.

Vin Diesel will return as the lead actor in the movie.

He will be joined by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson, with Jason Statham and Kurt Russell expected to return.

"Fast and Furious 8" will be released in North America on April 14, 2017.

--Indo-Asian News Service ank

( 184 Words)

2016-01-08-06:29:35 (IANS)
A team of Delhi Police's Special Cell reportedly arrested one Maulana Anzar Shah on Wednesday from Bengaluru on suspicion of having met members of an al-Qaeda module operating in India.

He was subsequently produced in a Delhi Court on Thursday which sent him to police custody till January 20.

According to reports, the Delhi Police had unearthed Shah's link with al-Qaeda module a month ago. (ANI)
U.S. crude futures inched up early on Friday but remained near 12-year lows as financial market unrest in China rattled investors already concerned about a world glut in oil.U.S. crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading 12 cents higher at $33.39 a barrel by 0028 GMT after settling at $33.27 on Thursday. In the last session, it hit its lowest since late 2003 at $32.10.Brent settled down 48 cents at $33.75 in the previous session, after sliding to a low of $32.16, a level last seen in April 2004."Oil remains under pressure amid concerns about China's economy and yuan depreciation," ANZ said in a note on Friday."With rising Middle East tensions now a distant memory, oil is likely to test the $30 a barrel level amid growing concerns on the impact of a weakening yuan on Chinese demand."Shares on major exchanges fell for a sixth straight day on Thursday as investors fretted over the state of China's economy and its ability to stabilize its stock market.REUTERS DS PR 0600 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0137-527362.Xml
The people of Alanganallur and Palamedu villages, the famous venues for Jallikattu events (Bull taming) are observing a dawn-to-dusk fast, while traders shut shop demanding the lifting of ban on the sport, today. The Palamedu Grama Pothu Mahalingasamy Madathu Committee, which has been organising the Jallikattu event at Palamedu for several decades called for a bandh and fasting agitation today, demanding the Central and state governments to permit holding of the event during this Pongal festival. The Alanganallur village committee had also called for a similar protest. Hundreds of people were observing fasting at the Vaadivaasal (a narrow entrance through which the bulls were let out during the Jallikattu) in Palamedu and Alanganallur villages. All the shops and commercial establishments in both Alanganallur and Palamedu villages downed their shutters. A large number of police personnel were deployed for maintaining law and order. More UNI GSM VV RSS1048 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0415-527470.Xml
The Ministry of Environment on Friday gave the nod to the Tamil Nadu state government to conduct 'Jallikattu'- the controversial bull-taming sport that is celebrated around the festival of Pongal every year in Tamil Nadu. "Thank our honourable Prime Minister for giving permission for conducting Jallikattu this year. There was a situation that there will not be any chances of conducting this more than 200 year old tradition. Due to some reasons this event was facing a crisis, but our Prime Minister has made all the arrangement now," Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan told ANI. He thanked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), especially party chief Amit Shah and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar for giving the permission to the Tamil community. Earlier today, the Ministry Of Environment Forest And Climate Change had issued a notification saying that 'bulls may be continue to be exhibited or trained as a performing animal, at events such as Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu and bullock cart races in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala and Gujarat in the manner by the customs of any community or practiced traditionally under the customs or as part of culture.' However there were certain provisions that such races will organised on a 'proper track' and bulls are put to proper testing by the authorities of the Animal Husbandry. The Veterinary Department has been notified to ensure that the bulls are in good physical condition to participate in the event which will be strictly monitored by the District Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and State Animal Welfare Board or the District Authorities to ensure that no unnecessary pain or suffering is inflicted on the manner. (ANI)
The bio-toilets are being set up by Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-Kanpur) under the NamamiGange project with a cost of Rs 1.20 crores.

Official sources here today said the health department is coordinating with IIT-K to set up bio-toilets at Magh Mela under Namami Gange project. The proposal is being prepared by the experts of civil engineering.

Sources said bio-toilets are called bio-digester. The system converts human waste into water and gases in an eco-friendly manner. Bio-digester is a decomposition mechanised toilet system, which decomposes human excretory waste in the digester tank using specific bacteria and further converting it into methane and water.

Bio-toilets are also useful to check water consumption as well as pollution. Disposal of human excreta has always remain a major problem but with the help of bio-toilets, the issue could be solved to a major extent.UNI MB SV GC1257

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Terror suspect and alleged Al-Qaedaoperative Syed Ansar Shah Kazmi, who was picked up by Delhi policeduring the night on January 6, was said to a harbourer of the terroroutfit and was luring youth in the city to join it as well ashandling the finances for the outlawed group, sources said here today. Kazmi was produced before Patiala court and remanded to policecustody till January 20. The city police, however, claimed that they had no idea about thearrest of the terror suspect as the Delhi police had 'not' informedthem about it. Kazmi was working in a religious place where he was actuallysacked 14 months ago, but again given the job after requests fromhis family, trustee of the religious place Nayaz Pasha today said. Pasha said the trustees had no information about alleged terrorlinks of Kazmi and they learnt about his arrest only through the media. Sources said Kazmi was allegedly luring youth to join the terroroutfit and was also handling finance of the outlawed organisation inthe city. He was picked up from Banashankari area in the city by the Delhipolice following information. Incidentally, an Indian doctor workingin Australia, who was arrested and later released a few years ago,also lived in the same area.UNI RS VV RSS1230 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-527563.Xml
Former IPS officer and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kiran Bedi on Friday slammed the Centre's decision to permit the controversial sport of 'Jallikattu' in Tamil Nadu saying that the 'abhorrent' and 'brutish' tradition did not encourage a civilised society. "It's abhorrent and this kind of brutish brutality is not meant to be shown on television. We are trying to encourage a civilised society which is moving towards peace and harmony. These games do not encourage that," Bedi told ANI. Hitting out the decision of reviving the bull-taming sport, she questioned the reason behind going against the Supreme Court's decision of banning it in the first place. "The Supreme Court had shown great wisdom by banning it. Why should we against the SC order? How is this benefittign our society? What does our next generation see? Provoking a bull to be mad, and then tease it and hurt the bull is against life, "Bedi added. Earlier today, Union Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and shipping Pon Radhakrishnan welcomed the Environment Ministry's nod to the Tamil Nadu Government to conduct 'Jallikattu' and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the same. "Thank our honourable Prime Minister for giving permission for conducting Jallikattu this year. There was a situation that there will not be any chance of conducting this more than 200-year-old tradition. Due to some reasons this event was facings a crisis, but our Prime Minister has made all the arrangement now," Radhakrishnan told ANI. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change issued a notification today saying that 'bulls may be continue to be exhibited or trained as a performing animal, at events such as Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu and bullock cart races in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala and Gujarat in the manner by the customs of any community or practiced traditionally under the customs or as part of culture'. However, there were certain provisions that such races will organised on a 'proper track' and bulls are put to proper testing by the authorities of the Animal Husbandry. (ANI)
Different schemes initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government for the betterment of skilled workers is worth applauding, says well-known crusader of crafts and craftspersons Jaya Jaitly. She, however, feels many schemes have not been formulated well. The government has committed to promoting traditional artisanship among minorities and strengthening it through better market linkages, proper branding and better access to credit. Also, Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar has said that the government is seized of the urgent need to create jobs and upgrading the skills of workers employed in the textiles industry. Jaitly, a former Samata party leader and the daughter of K.K. Chettur, the first Indian ambassador to Japan, however feels that the schemes will work only if they are executed in a proper way. "The government has a lot of well-meaning schemes, but they are largely formulated by bureaucrats alone. They sometimes take our inputs, but it is eventually how they want it to be," Jaitly, whose most enduring contribution to the national capital is Dilli Haat, where craftspeople from different parts of the country sell their wares, told IANS in an interview. "A lot of people who have been funded have misused the funds; so there is a sense of mistrust about NGOs. I feel that mostly schemes of the government have not directly benefited the craftspeople because there are too many people coming in and don't have grassroots exposure," she added. Jaitly, who has been working at the grassroots level for the popularity of Indian crafts from nooks and corners of the country for over four decades, also feels there has to be in-depth knowledge of Indian crafts to promote the 'Made in India' brand to focus on the domestic market. "Make In India so far has gone down in the people's mind as being meant only for industry. I have been saying this from day one that crafts have to be highlighted. It has to be 'Made in India' and more than exports, people can sell in India. Why should we bother about exports," Jaitly asked on the sidelines of the ongoing 30yj edition of Dastkari Haat Craft Bazaar at Dilli Haat, a one-stop destination for the country's crafts. The annual exhibition, which will end on January 15, features works of over 150 craftspeople from villages, towns and cities across India. A highlight of this year is the work of craftsmen from Myanmar. There's also a live demonstration of the weaving looms from more than 12 states, including Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. Jaitly was happy to see more Indians than foreigners at the exhibit. She also believes crafts need to be evolved with time to remain in demand. "Some crafts have died and some has been created. I think this is the cycle of life. I don't feel disheartened that crafts have died as many things have been morphed, changed... some may become some other raw material and are taken to product adaptations. But crafts will never stay alive unless they move with time. "The beauty is that the skill exists, and so the skill keeps getting re-applied," she said. (Nivedita can be contacted at nivedita.s@ians.in) --Indo-Asian News Service nv/rb/vm/ky ( 548 Words) 2016-01-08-13:29:36 (IANS)
"We arrested Aditya Agarwal on charges of kidnapping, wrongful confinement and voluntarily causing hurt after a French national visiting India on a business visa lodged a first information report on Thursday evening," a police official told IANS here.

The accused was to be presented in a court here later in the day.

--Indo-Asian News Service as/tsb/dg

( 85 Words)

2016-01-08-13:39:36 (IANS)
Computer technology company Lenovo today said it is phasing out the Motorola brand for its phones, which was bought in business from Google in 2014, in the latest developments surrounding the consumer-electronics show in Las Vegas known as CES. Motorola is widely credited as the first company to produce a mobile phone, and it was a leading brand a decade ago. But it struggled to keep up with newer smartphone makers and, after splitting into companies, saw its mobile phone business acquired by Google in 2012. Google then sold the business to Lenovo two years later, said the company.The report further states that, in future you will see a blue Lenovo logo on the devices along with the 'M' logo of Motorola. The name of Motorola will not phase out completely; it will remain as a division under Lenovo.Lenovo will still use the name ``Motorola Mobility'' for the company's phone division, but it will shift the branding of its phones and wearable devices to ``Moto'' and ``Vibe,'' it addedWhen Lenovo completed the acquisition of Motorola Mobility back in 2014, it said "We plan to not only protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger," the statement said. However, looks like the Chinese company's priorities has changed with changing times as the brand is now being phased out. "We'll slowly phase out Motorola," said Motorola Chief Operating Officer Rick Osterloh.UNI RN SV1331 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0311-527669.Xml
Defence sources said ICG Ship 'Samudra Pehredar' and Japan Coast Guard ship 'Echigo' would be participating in the Joint exercise.

Vice Admiral H C S Bisht, Director General Indian Coast Guard and Vice Admiral Hideyo Hanamizu, Vice Commandant, Japan Coast Guard would be witnessing the Joint Exercise at sea. A day at sea would be organised on January 17 for the media fraternity and dignitaries as part of the exercise.UNI GV VV AR1353

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Income Tax (IT) officials today continued raids on the premises of liquor businesspersons and their kin at various places within Madhya Pradesh, including a Gwalior-based group, and unearthed crores of rupees. IT sources said that the searches which commenced yesterday continued here, and in Gwalior, Indore, Jabalpur, Satna, Shivpuri, Betul and other places. Approximately 300 officials were involved. The Department unearthed about a dozen lockers, documents pertaining to land, flatsing, plots here, in Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur and other places plus in excess of 100 bank accounts found. The dealers also invested in an academic institution. The raids were underway when reports last came in.UNI Team-PS SV RAI1350 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-527643.Xml
A 40-year-old man, facing molestation charges, attempted suicide outside the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal this morning.A senior police official said Anoop Singh, who was facing molestation charges, reached Civil Line's bungalow of the Chief Minister after consuming some poisonous substance from somewhere else. The official said he collapsed at the gate and started vomiting. He was immediately rushed to Aruna Asif Ali hospital.However, some eye witnesses claimed that Singh, a resident of Dabri area, consumed poison on the spot after his efforts to meet Mr Kejriwal, who is currently in Kolkata, yielded no result. The official added that condition of Singh was stable and out of danger and further investigation was on to ascertain the reason behind the attempt. UNI RG SW RJ 1510 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0377-527873.Xml
Life remained crippled for the ninth consecutive day today in south Kashmir district of Pulwama, where people are protesting against authorities refusal to allow construction of a Martyrs Memorial in Shahidee Park. Besides locals are protesting against the arrest of youths and separatists after eruption of massive protests following the killing of two Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants in an encounter with security forces at Gursoo, Pulwama on December 31 morning. To prevent any law and order problem, , additional security force and state police personnel had been deployed in main town Pulwama and other tehsil . Shops and business establishments remained closed and traffic was off the road. Work in government offices and banks was also affected due to strike Streets wore a deserted look with only security forces deployed on both sides as vehicles remained off the road. However, traffic on Srinagar-Jammu national highway was through as large number of security forces had been deployed at Pampore, Awantipora and other areas to prevent any stone pelting. Rashtriya Rifles (RR), CRPF and Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir police killed two LeT militants in a night-long operation at Gursu, Pulwama . One of the slain militant was identified as Manzoor Ahmad Bhat while another was a foreign national. However, immediately after the burial of the militants, people clashed with security forces after they were refused permission to build a memorial there. They are demanding permission to build a memorial and release of all arrested youths and separatist leaders. UNI BAS SV GC1414 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-527586.Xml
West Bengal;Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today made a fervent appeal for industry in the state in presence of captains of big industrial houses, including Mukesh Ambani, saying land will not be a problem. "What do you need for setting up your industries," she asked and said, "We have land bank, land map and land use policy for setting up manufacturing units." Elaborating on the subject Ms Banerjee said, "We have 5000 acres of land in hand and another one lakh acres are being procured for industrial purposes across the state." Addressing the opening session of the 2-day 'Bengal Global Business Summit 2016', the Chief Minister said, "Bengal is the destination for industrial growth because of availability of cheap as well as skilled labour, surplus power, new work culture, peaceful state, no bandh and an ever-friendly government to support industrial growth." She was addressing the dignitaries in presence of Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, besides, Mukesh Ambani, Adi Godrej, Sajjan Jindal and others at the Milan Mela Prangan, on EM Byepss. Allaying fear of violence during the elections for the 294-seat West Bengal Assembly, Ms Banerjee said, "Democracy is rooted in Bengal and a democratic government will remain," indicating that her Trinamool government would retain power after the April-May polls. She said the state had restored normalcy in the past four and half years from the Maoist violence in Jangalmahal and 'Darjeeling is smiling'. "Whatever you (captains of industry) say for growth of industry, our government will listen. You (industries) are employers and we (government) are employees, " Ms Banerjee categorically said, inviting the industrialists to invest in Bengal. She said Bengal is the gateway not only to the northeast but also to Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and south east Asian nations like Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar. "If you do business from Bengal then you are doing businesses for these areas too," she added. Listing out the achievements of her government, the chief minister said Bengal topped in many sectors, including agriculture, education, hospitality, health and cleanliness and overall maintained peace among different faiths and ethnic groups. Japan is this years partner country. UNI PC PL RN RJ AS1425 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-527684.Xml
Arunachal Pradesh Education Minister TapangTaloh has criticised the role of Governor JP Rajkhowa and blamed him for the present political turmoil in the state. Addressing a public meeting at Pangin in East Siang district yesterday, the minister asserted that the state needs a governor who works for development and acts as per the provision of the Constitution. 'Unfortunately, the present Governor has single agenda to destabilise the democratically elected and people-friendly government of Arunachal Pradesh and it is proven time and again. Our forefathers have fought to make India free from the clutches of British rulers and now it is high time to safeguard our Constitution, he added. The governor had preponed the Assembly session murdering democracy and to encourage a section of legislators to revolt against the democratically elected government, Taloh remarked, adding, the Governor had been doing it at the behest of the BJP government at the Centre, official sources informed today.Terming Rajkhowa as anti developmental, Mr Taloh stated that he was encroaching upon all executive business that hampers the states development activities. The people of the state have given absolute mandate to the present government to rule for five years for faster development. Therefore it is understood that the presentsituation is solely the creation of the Governor who has been trying to set up alternative government in the state just to retain his chair, he alleged. UNI PB PL AE RJ AS1450 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-527757.Xml
Police have busted a fake passport racket gang that produced many foreign passports of China and South Africa and facilitated illegal unlawful entry of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis into the Indian territory. As of now, some 275 fake passports have been seized and two master minds, identified as Surajit Dutta and Chittaranjan Manna,were arrested from Keshtopur, close to city airport in North 24 Parganas. Police said many passports were stamped with addresses of Pathankot and Gurudaspur in Punjab, which may have link with terrorist groups. Police launched widespread investigations to determine the motive of the fake passport gang. Besides the two masterminds, police arrested five others, including a Bangladesh national, identified as Sk Hafeez.UNI PC PL RJ AN1510 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-527829.Xml
The organisation that fights for animal rights has vowed tocontinue its fight to protect bulls from cruelty in the Supreme Court.

PETA India has documented that during jallikattu, terrified bullsare often deliberately disoriented through substances like alcohol;have their tails twisted and bitten; are stabbed and jabbed bysickles, spears, knives or sticks; are punched, jumped on anddragged to the ground. PETA Indias video of jallikattu cruelty canbe viewed here and downloaded here.

Joshipura said BJP supporters and others who were horrified aboutcruelty against cattle were now allowing the cruelty to cattle thatwas already banned by the highest court of India.

''The use of bulls in performances was in fact earlier banned bythe Environment Ministry itself in 2011, and the causing ofsuffering that is inherent in jallikattu, bull races and bull fightshas been illegal since 1960 under the Prevention of Cruelty toAnimals Act,'' she said.

She slammed the U-turn is being seen by many of the BJPs ownsupporters as 'reckless, heartless, and weak. We vow to take ourfight to protect bulls from cruelty back to the Supreme Court'.MORE UNI RS VV RSS1450

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"We condemn the terrorist attacks on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot and on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-sharif," the German statement said.

"The perpetrators must be hunted and those responsible must be held accountable," the statement said.

Seven security personnel were killed in the January 2 attack on the Pathankot Air Force Station. Six terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, were later killed by security personnel.

On Sunday night, the terrorists attacked the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Balkh province of northern Afghanistan. The attackers carried heavy ammunitions like RPGs, Swarup confirmed at a media briefing here on Thursday.

After being kept at bay by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) posted at the consulate, all the four terrorists were later killed by the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF).

--Indo-Asian News Service ab/py/dg

( 178 Words)

2016-01-08-15:07:35 (IANS)
The title "Fired by Hamlet" is intriguing - and the Shakespearean connection is unmistakable. However, it's with a twist - by replacing the famous mousetrap in Hamlet with a struggling Indian theatre company trying its fortunes in Denmark to get hired by Prince Hamlet. "Fired by Hamlet", to be staged at the India Habitat Centre on Saturday, offers the right mix of Commedia dellarte, physical theatre and the Bard for the Delhi audience. The hour-and a-half-long play, presented by Theatre Garage Project, is helmed by German director Michael Moritz, for whom the work is all about the desire, hopes and fears of a bunch of people identical to refugees all over the world. The plot is simple. An Indian theatre comedy group, who has nothing to lose in India, hears that Prince Hamlet is looking for some comedians. They travel to Denmark for an audition, where they have to show the famous Mousetrap. But they do it with dance and music. They dont understand the speech of Hamlet. Prince Hamlet fires them and a fiasco follows, explained Moritz, a faculty at the Vienna Conservatory. He has also authored 11 crime fiction works From his immense experience in physical theatre, Moritz spins the drama through comedian archetypes and improvisations. Commedia is also a theatre of speech. But the pace is physical. Its not mime. There is not much music, he said. Commedia dell'arte is a form of theatre characterised by masked types which began in Italy in the 16th century and was responsible for the improvised performances. The play relates the conflict-ridden tale of the seven-member crew of the theatre company, owned by Magnifico. There is Columbina, the pin-up girl, the clever one who knows how to handle the bosses. Then there is Olivia, the lover. The other characters include Stupido, Harlequino, Brigella and Capitano and they constantly try to vie with each other. There is lot of jealousy among the members. Everybody wants to please Prince Hamlet not as a company, but individually. So theres chaos, Moritz explained. Moritzs collaboration with Theatre Garage began with a Funny Bones workshop in Delhi. When we decided to do a play, we zeroed in on Shakespeare as we wanted some funny stuff. Shakespeare is a treasure trave and his comedy is a rude one. Another reason for choosing Hamlet is that I could use the mousetrap, he said. Theatre Garage Project founder and director Ashwath Bhatt considers himself lucky to be associated with Mortiz. We are lucky to get Moritzs skills and its a lifetime experience puttingtogether this play. It was mere passion that brought us together to put it together though there were financial constraints, Bhatt said. Mortiz is not skeptical about the acceptance of physical theatre in India. India has physical traditions and moreover, physical theatre involves the audience in the play. There is no chance of escaping it, he assured. Though Mortiz has plans to conduct workshop back home on Asian theatre, he feels that music and dance dominates Indian theatre more. Though I havent watched many plays here, I feel that music dominates the theatre. When you cover a piece with music, there is no chance of acting. Then its become much stronger than the physical, he said. Bollywood is popular in Germany, he said. I watched a Bollywood movie, 'Baazigar'. The hero was playing too much of idiot, instead of playing the situation, laughed Mortiz, whose idea of clowning is much more than goofing around. "Fired by Hamlet" will be staged at the Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, January 9, 7 pm. (Preetha Nair can be reached at preetha.n@ians.in) --Indo-Asian News Service pn/vm ( 616 Words) 2016-01-08-15:11:36 (IANS)
President Pranab Mukherjee will visit Jharkhand from January 9 to 10, where he will inaugurate the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of the Birla Institute of Technology. An official statement said here tomorrow the President will attend the 7th convocation of 'Vinoba Bhave University' at Hazaribag. The same day, Mr Mukherjee will also inaugurate an Art Gallery and lay the foundation stone of 'Jharkhand Technical University' at Audrey House, Ranchi. On January 10, the President will inaugurate the 88th Annual Conference of 'Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan' in Ranchi. He will also inaugurate the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Birla Institute of Technology and address its convocation ceremony in Ranchi before returning to Delhi.UNI/GS SW RJ 1559 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0110-527958.Xml
Hectic efforts are on to avert constitutional crisis and install a new Chief Minister in Jammu and Kashmir, where Governor N N Vohra will have no option but to impose Governors rules if decision is not taken about the new name to head the coalition government in the state. The council of ministers ceased to exist now. With the death of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in AIIMS, New Delhi yesterday.; Though the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLAs have already appointed Mehbooba Mufti to head the new government in Jammu and Kashmir, its coalition partner in the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed led government has yet to take a final decision. However, the BJP MLAs and other party leaders are meeting today to take the final call though the party has already announced to support the candidate which will be announced by the PDP. Sources said that the name of Mehbooba Mufti has been okayed by both PDP and BJP. However, the decision about the portfolios has not yet been taken which has delayed the announcement from BJP. Sources said that Mehbooba Mufti, still in a shock, was not in favour of taking over as Chief Minister of the state before the four-day fateha of her father, who was laid to rest at Bijbehara last evening. However, she was persuaded by senior party leaders and others to take the oath as first woman chief minister of the state to avoid any Constitutional crisis. She is likely to take oath this afternoon, sources said adding rest of the ministers will be administered the oath of office in winter capital, Jammu, probably on Monday. Experts said that under the J&K constitution the Governor can impose Governors rule in the state for six months in case of Constitutional crisis . Under the Constitution when head of the council of ministers in the state ceases to exist for whatever reason, the council also ceases to exist. The BJP MLAs and leaders are meeting to finally approve the name of Mehbooba Mufti. However, Ram Madav could not reach here, BJP sources said adding he will be arriving here any time. Mr Madav had played an important role in the installation of PDP-BJP coalition government in the state, where fractured mandate was given by the people during 2014 general elections. However, PDP emerged single largest party with 28 seats followed by BJP 25, all from Jammu region. Despite unconditional support offered by National Conference (NC) and Congress, PDP joined hands with BJP saying that people have not granted mandate to both the parties (NC-Cong). If appointed as Chief Mnister, Mehbooba Mufti will be the third person to take oath after the death of Chief minister in the state. In 1971, when Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq, a Congress Chief Minister passed away, Syed Mir Qasim was sworn in as Chief Minister to avert the constitutional crisis. In 1982, when similar situation arised after the death of NC founder and then Chief Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, his son Farooq Abdullah was sworn in.UNI BAS ADG GC1514 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-527648.Xml
He was inaugurating the Sanskruti Arts festival where he expressed his desire to the Thane Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde.

A close friend of Dighe, Dr Davkhare, said '' many festivals are being organised in the city through out the year but there should be one such festival named after the great Shiv Sena leader and the one who cared andloved Thane city and its citizens.''

Also present for the colourful two-day inaugural function was Thane Mayor Sanjay More and organiser and chief of Sanskriti Pratishtan and MLA Pratap Sarnaik.

A floating stage has been set up in the picturesque Upavan lake where renowned artists will perform during the festival.

This festival is dedicated to the children of Thane, declared Sarnaik.UNI XR RB AE RJ AS1528

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Thoughts and postings from an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
According to police, some BJP workers from Pimpri Chindwad filed a complaint application in Nigdi police station here last evening.

Senior inspector Sanjay Naikpatil of Nigdi police station said ''he has received an application and after the primary probe a non cognizable offence may be registered. But as of now, I can only say that we are looking into it.''

BJPs Rajya Sabha MP Amar Sable even went to the extent of saying that Sabniss effigy would be paraded on a donkey for his remarks.

Pune police have already provided Sabnis armed police security after he allegedly received threats from BJP workers over his remarks during a programme at a college in Nagpur.

BJP's Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, Amar Sable, said, ''We will intensify our protest against the derogatory statement Sabnis has made against our national leader. We have already burnt his effigy. Now we will parade his effigy on a donkey. We would register complaints against him in other places too.'' UNI SP NV SHS RJ AS1515

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The Lokayukta's appointment in Uttar Pradesh has turned murkier with now Leader of the Opposition in the assembly Swami Prasad Maurya strongly objecting to the Samajwadi Party government's claim that he had given his nod on the name of Justice (retd) Virendra Singh for the post. In a letter to Governor Ram Naik on Wednesday, Mr Maurya clarified his stand during the process adopted for selection of Lokayukta last month, in which the Supreme Court had to intervene and use its special powers to appoint Justice Singh as the states anti-corruption ombudsman. The Governor,has now sent the letter to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court D Y Chandrachud the two other members of the three-member panel that discussed names from which the Supreme Court eventually picked the Lokayukta. In his two-page letter, Mr Maurya said he had never given his nod to the name of Justice Singh during the meeting held on December 15 and then on December 16. He also denied the context of the letter of the Chief Minister dated January 1,2016 in which he had claimed that the BSP leader had supported the name of Justice Singh for the Lokayukta Post. " During the meeting on both days,I had repeatedly said that the name selected on consensus by the CM and the Chief Justice would be accepted by me. But when there was no consensus,then how can I can give my approval on anyone's name ," Mr Maurya said in the letter. The BSP leader said during the meeting on December 16, the name of sitting Judge A N Mittal was discussed and it was decided that the meeting would decide on his name in the evening. But suddenly, the Supreme Court announced the name of Justice Singh for the post the same day. Earlier, the Chief Justice had shot off a letter to the Governor, expressing his disapproval in the way the state government forwarded Justice Singhs namedispite him pointing out his reservation and the government agreeing not to forward his name to the apex court for consideration. The Chief Justice in his letter dated December 16, 2015, wrote to Mr Naik, During the course of the meeting, Chief Minister suggested the name of Shri Justice Virendra Singh, who retired on January 3, 2011 and is presently the President of the State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, I had indicated my strong reservations to the nameon grounds of integrity, and expressed my inability to agree to the name. The CJ had, also pointed out that he was made aware of the matrimonial alliance between the families of Justice Singh and senior cabinet minister Shivpal Singh Yadav.Besides the son of Justice Singh is an office bearer of the ruling Samajwadi Party.This was, however, he had said, subject to further verification. But on December 27, Shivpal Yadav, in a statement, rejected claims there was any such family relation with Justice Singh. The CJs letter had prompted a petition by one Sachidanand Gupta, which had led to the court putting a stay on Justice Singhs appointment on December 19, a day before he was to take his oath. The petitioner had cited objections raised by the Chief Justice. Now, the apex court would be hearing the case on January 19 to decide on the controversy.UNI MB SW RJ AS1601 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-527802.Xml
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad today took divergent views on Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s recent visit to Pakistan and the terrorist attack in Pathankot. While Mr Kumar lauded Mr Modi for his visit to Pakistan, Mr Prasad attacked him by stating that borders of the country were not secured in his hands. Coming out from a function on disaster management here, Mr Kumar told newspersons that the Prime Minister had taken a right initiative to normalise relationship between India and Pakistan by making a stopover at Lahore to congratulate his Pakistani counterpart on his birthday. "I consider it proper if Narendra Modi visits Pakistan to congratulate Nawaz Sharif on his birthday or if he participates in any marriage function at his place. Even if Mr. Modi`s visit was pre-planned, there is nothing wrong in it." He said problems would come in the way of normalisation of relationship between two countries but efforts must continue. He said some institutions in Pakistan had always tried to derail the initiative being taken by India to improve its relationship with its neighbour. He said when former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee took the initiative to improve the relationship with Pakistan, the Kargil war was thrust upon the country. Mr Kumar said it was in the interest of India that democratic institutions were strengthened in Pakistan so that forces which were against normalisation of relationship between both countries gradually lost their significance in the neighbouring countries. Almost taking a different view, the RJD supremo attacked Mr Modi on the Pathankot attack, stating that the country's borders were not secure under his leadership. "How the infiltrators sneaked into the Indian border, the BJP and RSS should reply before asking question on the law and order situation in Bihar," he added. In another dig at the PM, he remarked,"Where is the 56 inch chest".UNI DH PL AE RJ AN1546 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-527807.Xml
Declaring that India is in 'danger' following the deadly Pathankot attack, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - led government and lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he has 'failed' to protect the country. "India is a state of danger and BJP and Narendra Modi have failed in protecting India. Everyone knows that our defence is one of the best in the world and yet, they managed to enter our home where our soldiers were martyred. Modi used to say that Pakistan won't be able to look us in the eye and that he has a 56 inch chest, so I want to ask him that how did they enter our home?," Lalu told the media here. Sharpening his attack on the Centre, he added that the BJP had used 'Jungle Raj' as a weapon during the Bihar polls, but the Pathankot attack showed the true state of the country under the NDA regime. "Why aren't the BJP and RSS debating anymore now that our soldiers have been killed? Today, they are mum. They talk about law and order, say Jungle Raj is back but I ask now that who is responsible for the condition of the country. They (Centre) are asking Pakistan to take action and Pakistan is asking for proof. I can see where all this is heading to," Lalu said. However, contradicting the RJD chief's view, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today lauded the Prime Minister's surprise visit to Lahore and said that the democratically elected government in Islamabad must become stronger for resolving ties between the two hostile neighbours. "As far as the Prime Minister's visit to Pakistan is concerned, it is my personal opinion that his visit was absolutely right. At this point, it is very important for the democratically elected government there (in Pakistan) to become stronger as there are other factors also there," he told the media here. Meanwhile, high-level official sources confirm that the conspiracy behind the terrorist attack in Pathankot was hatched in Markaj, Pakistan. Putting the ball in Pakistan's court, India yesterday said the attack has once again put renewed focus on the challenge posed by cross-border terrorism. (ANI)
Yuan devaluation and China's excess capacity of goods will make imports cheaper, said the minister after concluding the first meeting of council for trade development.

China has allowed the biggest fall in the yuan in five months on Thursday.

The move is being seen as putting pressure on regional currencies and sending global stock markets tumbling as investors feared it would trigger competitive devaluations. Besides, she also said that the government will provide support to small and medium enterprises. UNI ASH ABI AS1722

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: Governance focuses on the participatory process and brings in citizens into decision making, said Bibek Debroy, Member of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Ayog here today. Delivering a lecture on The Role of Government Citizens Expectations, at the ICFAI University campus here, Prof. Debroy said t expectations of citizens from the government, are security, law and order, physical infrastructure, social infrastructure, and subsidies. However, as the administrative and fiscal capacity of the government is limited, it is necessary to prioritise and concentrate on a few items of importance. He said there is greater citizen demand for goods and services not only from urban and semi-urban areas, but also from rural areas. Prof Debroy said even as of today, there are more than 100,000 villages in the country that are deprived of social, physical and judicial infrastructure, and delivery of public goods and services to these villages is of priority. He said that from a highly centralised country, India is moving towards decentralisation and devolution and the role of the Union Government has been reduced to a considerable extent and administration, leaner. Speaking on the important issue of corruption in the country, Prof Debroy said, it can be handled by minimising shortages, reducing discretion, and limiting the human interface. ICFAI University Vice-Chancellor J. Mahender Reddy, in his address, spoke about growing aspirations and expectations of the citizens, as the country continued to move on the path of development. Dr Reddy said expectations from the government ranged from protection, safety, and equal opportunity to fairness and accountability in public service, ease of doing business, and free enterprise.UNI KNR KVV AK 1755 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0415-528347.Xml
Former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Manish Patel, who garnered a good number of votes during 2013 assembly elections from Maihar, today joined the Congress formally in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Congress President Arun Yadav. Mr Patel comes from a family that has been devoted to Congress. Several of his kin have contested various elections on Congress ticket. We welcome him to the party fold, Mr Yadav told media here. On the occasion, Mr Patel said he wanted to join the Congress earlier but did not get an opportunity. So, he joined the BSP and contested 2013 assembly elections from Maihar. He had no major grudge with the BSP but left it owing to certain differences about six months ago. He asserted that he joined the party without any greed for ticket in the coming by-election to Maihar and would support anyone fielded by the Congress. Mr Yadav said the party hoped to emerge victorious in Maihar by-election riding on the failure of the policies of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime. He claimed that elderly people and peasants are not receiving their old age pension and compensation amount respectively. He alleged that the state is confronting severe drought situation and grave financial crisis. However, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is embarking on a visit to Singapore for inviting investors at the next Global Investors Summit (GIS). The state Congress chief said public would like to know about financial aspects involved in organising the GIS and the amount of investment that has taken place in the state. Commenting on announcements made by the regime in Satna, he said the Chief Minister has the habit of making announcements before by-elections but are forgotten later.UNI XC-PS SHS RJ AN1734 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-528096.Xml
Security forces burst teargas shells and resorted to lathicharge to disperse ''pro-freedom'' slogan shouting demonstrators in the down town here this afternoon. Immediately after Friday prayers were over in the historic Jamia Masjid, people, mostly youths again took to streets, raising ''pro-freedom'' slogans. However, when they tried to move towards police station, security forces swung into action and chased them away. Youths again reassembled and started pelting stones on security forces and passing vehicles. Later vehicles were diverted through other routes for safety. Security forces burst teargas shells after repeated lathicharge had no impact on demonstrators, who were pelting stones. Reports of stone pelting were also reported from other parts of the down town and Shehar-e-Khas (SeK) this afternoon. However, situation elsewhere in the city, including civil lines, was normal.UNI BAS AE RJ AS1745 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-528202.Xml
Jeypore Town Police IIC Tapan Rath said here that police teams from Chhattisgarh and Odisha jointly raided the house of Khora at Dangaguda area and nabbed him on the night of Wednesday.

Khora was allegedly involved in a dacoity case in Nagarnal area of neigbouring Chhattisgarh and a case was pending against him in a court of Jagadalpur.

The court issued notice to Khora several times in this connection, but he did not respond. Two days back, the court ordered non-bailable arrest warrant against him and asked the police to arrest him. Accordingly, a police team of Nagarnal came to Jeypore town and sought help of town police to arrest him.

We cooperated with the Bastar police to arrest Khora in connection with pending old dacoity case," said Mr Rath.

Khora has been working for the BJD for the past 20 years and as a front ranking leader of ruling BJD in the district. UNI XC BD PL RJ AN1722

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Union Minister Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley today said the Centre will play its role to ensure growth of the Eastern states as a part of its Constitutional obligation because the Eastern states of the country grew at a slower rate in comparison to the Western states. Addressing the inaugural session of the Bengal Global Business Summit 2016, the Minister said,'' the world today is passing through a critical situation in which the World Bank adjusted the global growth rate yesterday to 2.9 per cent only. Referring to India he said, the country is fighting to improve its growth rate in spite of the external factors. Claiming that India is one the fastest growing economies in the world today, Mr Jaitley said, ''If we could manage to achieve a growth rate of 1 1.5 per cent more, it would give us a cutting adge''. He appreciated the West Bengal government for adopting an investment friendly policy and said this summit is much more than a ritualistic event. Congratulating the state government for organising this Global Summit for the second consecutive year, Mr Jaitley said,''West Bengal is known for its agriculture and there are natural resources as well. Bengal has intellect and it is known for its sharp mind and if it now attracts investment, it can regain its past glory. He, however, stressed on the need to enhance public spending in the rural sectors including irrigation, rural roads and infrastructure and added that the Centre is following a policy of empowering the states. Railways Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said if all the 29 states improve at the same pace, it will help India to grow at such an enviable pace that is worth mentioning. Praising West Bengal not only for its rich natural resources, but for its abundance of water, the Minister asserted that the state can easily become a gateway to East and South Asia. Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay, Tofail Ahmed, Minister of Commerce, Bangladesh and Priti Patel, Minister of State for Employment, United Kingdom, addressed the inaugural session of the two-day summit attended by all the captains of business and industry of the country, including Mukhesh Ambani, Subhash Chandra, Harsh Vardhan Neotia, Sanjeev Goenka, Y.C.Deveswar, Rakesh Bharti Mittal and others. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her welcome address termed West Bengal as the gateway to North-east, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the South Asian countries and urged all to invest in the state where there is no shortage of power and infrastructure.UNI BM PL AE RJ AS1812 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-528199.Xml
Karnataka will strongly implement thelanguage formula making Kannada as primary language of instructionin schools and colleges, and the government was fully committed inthis regard, chief minsiter Siddaramaiah today said. Speaking after distributing to meritorious Kannada mediumstudents at the Banquet Hall of Vidhana Soudha, the chief ministeradvocated a suitable amendment to the Constitution to make Mothertongue the medium of instruction in all schools in the country. ''We are committed to promote Kannada in all schools, be itgovernment or private. Our intention is that medium of instructionshould be in Kannada in Karnataka and the language rule the rust, beit in education, administration or in daily life. We want even thecourts do their day-to-day affairs only in Kannada,'' he reiterated. Mr Siddaramaiah said the country was running under a federal setup and primary language of all the state's should get firstpreference. ''I am writing a letter to all chief minister to promotelocal language with full force,'' he said. However, despite several measures by the government, Englishmedium of instruction has remained most sought after course byparents and students in Karnataka, and some organisations includingdalit organisations have strongly favoured medium of instruction inEnglish in government primary and secondary schools. ''Recently the Apex court has ruled that medium of education inschools should be left to preference of the parents of the wards.But the centre should convene a meeting and ensure that languagespoken in particular State get a preference over externallanguages,'' he stressed. Mr Siddaramaiah said language is not the only avenue to acquireknowledge. ''Those excelled in Kannada medium schools, or even afterpersuing Kannada literature had excelled in their life. It is notcorrect that only English knowledge could offer a bright careerprospect,'' he added. The chief minister also distributed trophies to students whoscored highest marks in high school examinations persuing Kannada medium.UNI RS KVV AK1710 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-528103.Xml
"Kerala is opposing the Union Government's decision of merging the MIOA and MEA. For the first time in the country, we have formed a ministry for Keralites who are living outside the country," Chandy told ANI.

"According to our experience the ministry is very useful and we are continuing that system, so in Delhi also the Overseas Indian Ministry should continue which will help Indians living outside the country," he added.

The Union Government had earlier announced its decision to MOIA with MEA.

The proposal for merger was cleared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi said EAM Sushma Swaraj in a tweet.

"I realised that substantial work of MOIA is done through our missions abroad. Therefore, I proposed to Prime Minister that MOIA should be merged with ministry of external affairs," Swaraj said in a tweet.

MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the said the decision to merge both the ministries has been done keeping with its broad principle of minimum government, maximum governance. (ANI)
President Pranab Mukherjee today called upon all Governors/Lt Governors to use their ''power of persuasion and astute leadership'' to contribute to the success of flagship policies and programmes. In a New Year's message to the Governors/Lt Governors delivered through video conferencing from the Rashtrapati Bhavan here, he referred to several important initiatives taken by the government to accelerate the progress of the nation and raise the standard of living of the people such as 'Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart City Mission, Digital India, Make in India, Skilling India and Start-up India initiatives. Each of these programmes had a specific role in the making of a new India where there would be greater opportunities for its citizens especially the youth, he said and called upon everyone to give their best to make 2016 a year of growth and transformation. ''Though these flagship policies and programmes are to be primarily implemented by the executive under the leadership of the Chief Ministers, astute leadership, power of persuasion and balancing influence of Governors can help in this transformative process,'' he pointed out. The President said in India's parliamentary democracy, the Governors were constitutional heads of their respective states and should perform their duties and obligations within the framework of the Constitution. MORE UNI SD SW RJ 1832 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0005-528461.Xml
Congress today charged the Modi government with approach of deceit and double speak over the issue of GST Bill and held that the ruling party itself is not keen in passage of the key taxreform bill. Addressing a media conference at the AICC headquarters here today, party spokesman Shakti Sinh Gohil alleged deception,deceit & double-speak are hallmarks of Modi Government on implementation of GST. Mr Gohil said, The BJP Government, including the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, has been putting up false smoke screen by accusing party of obstructing GST. The truth is that the GST was consistently red flagged for nine years by the RSS and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch. The Sangh Parivar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are ideologically opposed to the GST and the ruling party is also falsely claiming that current economic crisis is due to the pendency of the Bill in Parliament, the Congress leader said. Under Mr Modi as CM, Gujarat Government had consistently opposed the GST and described it as violating the federal spirit of the Constitution. During his regime, the Gujarat Government further said that the GST would "destabilise balance source of revenue and duties between Centre and states," Mr Gohil recalled. Even Mr Jaitley while addressing 84th Annual General Meeting of FICCI on January 18, 2011, as opposition leader, had opposed the GST publicly. The opposition party criticism comes close on heels to a meeting between former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu here yesterday that failed to evolve consensus over the issue. Soon after the meeting yesterday too, the party targeted the government for its approach over the Bill.UNI SY-SS SW RJ 1845 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0089-528462.Xml
Indian origin UK cabinet minister Priti Patel and city Mayor Sovan Chatterjee today launched the roadmap on low-carbon and climate-resilient Kolkata strategy document here.The UK employment minister who is here to attend Bengal Global Business Summit launched this roadmap, which contains recommendations across 20 sectors including disaster management, health, low-carbon procurement, resource conservation and policy to encourage use of solar energy.The UK government and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation have been collaborating for two years to prepare this strategy paper which aims to create a Climate Smart Kolkata.Ms Patel, who is the first woman of Indian origin to be in the British Cabinet as minister, said she was delighted to see the successful conclusion of the UK-KMC collaboration which has made Kolkata one of the first cities in India with an integrated strategy to lower emissions, improve resilience to the impacts of climate change, and reap the economic benefits that come from low-carbon growth.''All this will help Kolkata become an exemplar in climate-friendly municipal services, and encourage businesses looking to make sustainable, long-term economic investments in India,'' she said.The British Deputy High Commission Kolkata has been working closely with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to address these issues through innovative tools and policies.During Prime Minister David Camerons visit to Kolkata along with UK Minister Priti Patel on November 14, 2013, the UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The UK Government provided technical assistance of 1 million to implement this initiative. The MoU covered the following three areas -- Preparation of a Roadmap for low carbon and climate resilient development of Kolkata; Strategies to strengthen institutional capacity of KMC to implement the Roadmap and improve overall governance in response to the challenges and opportunities of climate change; and Sensitisation programme for Members of the Mayor-in-Council and Councillors of KMC on green growth of the city (including a Toolkit).UNI BM AD AJ RJ 1842 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-528288.Xml
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar today assured state assembly that police will take action against Amarpur CPI-M MLA Manoranjan Acharjee who was expelled from the party on molestation charge.Five-day winter session of the Tripura assembly began today with the formal address of Governor Tathagata Roy.After the question hour, leader of the opposition Sudip Roybarman sought reply from the chief minister for what reason Acharjee has not been arrested even after a month of lodging an FIR for molesting a girl whose great grandfather was a member of CPI-M.Irked opposition members went near the well and raised slogan against the Left Front government. They also demanded arrest of Acharjee.At a stage, Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath asked Mr Sarkar to respond. But the chief minister informed the house that he would not make any statement over the issue as he does not have anything to say.Mr Sarkars response further irked the opposition and they stalled the proceedings of the house, which compelled the Speaker to adjourn the house till lunch. In the second half, the opposition reinstated the demand and pressed for the statement of the chief minister. Finally, Mr Sarkar, who is also holding the home portfolio, assured the house that he will look into the matter. The CPI-M had expelled Acharjee from the party last month on the charge of molesting a girl and secured his resignation from the assembly. However, the Opposition Congress and BJP have been demanding his arrest.The CPI-M state committee took the decision to expel him after examining an internal probe report on the incident that reportedly took place on November 27 last. Acharjee himself was a member of the committee.He is the third CPI-M MLA to face moral turpitude charges in two decades. However, Acharjee denied the charge levelled against him and claimed, I am a victim of a conspiracy.UNI BB AD AJ RJ 1849 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-528289.Xml
Stating this here today a Punjab police spokesman said that Hoshiarpur Senior Superintendent of Police Dhanpreet Kaur has been asked to conduct the submit at the earliest.

The SP along with his cook Madan Gopal and jeweller friend Rajesh Verma was carjacked by the suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, who sneaked into the Pathankot air base, on the night of December 31.

The SP and his cook were let off by the terrorists while his jeweller friend was greviously injured by the terrorists before throwing him out of the vehicle.

After being let off, the SP had called the Gurdaspur SSP at 0323 hrs on January 1 and informed him about the incident.UNI DB DJK RJ AN1828

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: Banking services were affected in Kerala today following a day's strike called by All India Bank Employees Association to protest against the 'unfair' policies adopted by State Bank of India (SBI) with respect to its five associate banks. An association release said here today that payments and receipt of cash in the branches, clearance of cheques and other basic banking services were affected as 350,000 bank employees participated in the strike all over the country. It said a total of 2.1 million cheques worth about Rs16,000 crore could not be cleared today due to the strike. The strike was observed to protest against the illegal and anti-employee actions of the 5 Associate Banks (SBH, SBM, SBT, SBP and SBBJ) in violation of the industry-level settlement on wages and service In May, 2015, a Settlement was signed between unions and bank managements, covering 44 Banks on wage revision and improvement in service conditions. But, after the settlement was was signed, managements of Associate Banks (State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur) have violated this Settlement and imposed retrograde service conditions like higher duties, more transferability, increased working hours and contract jobs, among others This is a violation of the Agreement and We have been protesting against this wrong action of the management and asking for correction and adherence to the Agreement for the past But management is moving unilaterally and changing the service Hence AIBEA gave the call for strike. The striking employees held protest demonstrations before bank branches in all centres across the country. UNI CR KVV AK 2010 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-528484.Xml
: Opposition leader in Kerala Assembly VS Achuthanandan today urged the Centre to withdraw its decision to merge the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) with the Ministry of External Affairs. In a press release here, Mr Achuthanandan said the decision would affect Keralites living abroad. The merger decision is an insult to Malayalees living abroad. Norks, the Kerala Government department looking after the welfare of Kerala diaspora, will face tough time to function properly, he added. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who is in Delhi, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the decision to merge both the departments. UNI DS KVV AK 2010 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-528746.Xml
Police said Sujith (23) son of V Upendran of Vadakenchery was arrested. The incident occurred on January one. Sujith hacked to death his grandmother Rugmani (65)at their residence and ran away with booty.

Acting on a tip-off, police caught hold of him from a train in the city.

A case has been registered and investigation was, under way, police added. UNI AK KVV AK 2020

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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has assured the farmers of Godavari delta that water would be supplied from Sileru to save the second crop if necessary by prevailing over the Orissa government by meeting their power requirement. Addressing the Janmabhoomi programme here today, he said that under any circumstances the government would not allow the second crop to wither away for want of water. He said due to unforeseen circumstances, the inflow in Godavari River this year was unusually low and hence the problem has arisen. `If necessary more bore well would be drilled for supplying water for second crop irrigation requirement .The irrigation engineers were instructed to take all possible measures to meet the second crop requirement he added. Stating that the he had special interest on East Godavari district as it had stood behind the Telugu Desam party all these years,he said ,the government had planned for its accelerated growth by developing another port and also encouraging port based industries besides promotion of tourism .`Already tourism projects were sanctioned at a cost of Rs.90 Crores including temple tourism circuit project. Now the salt creek between the NTR Bridge and the Indrapalem junction would be developed as a tourist spot spending Rs.90 Crores. The port city which is known for its well planned roads will receive a further fill up with the government deciding to develop it as one of the three smart cities in the state, the other two being Visakhapatnam and Tirupati . he added. Mr.Naidu once again made it clear to the employees, especially the engineers and doctors to work with commitment or else warned them to initiate punitive measures if showed any complacency. He bluntly told the doctors that they would better quit their jobs instead of going on long leaves or working in private hospitals during working hours. Chandrababu Naidu later inaugurated the beach festival ` Saagara sambaralu at NTR beach in Vakalapudi on city outskirts.UNI XR/DP KVV AK2045 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0415-528939.Xml
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National General Secretary Ram Madhav on Friday said that the Jammu and Kashmir Governor N. N. Vohra has written a letter to the presidents of both Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP, asking them to make their stand clear on formation of the government in the state. "By tomorrow both the parties would be replying to the letter and we would carry forward the constitutional process from there. The BJP would be replying to the letter of governor tomorrow," he told ANI. The BJP leader, who came to meet PDP president Mehbooba Mufti to offer his condolences over demise of Chief Minister Mufti Mohamed Sayeed, said he only discussed 'immediate constitutional requirements' for the government formation in the state. "Mufti Sayeed was a visionary leader. His demise is regretable. I came to meet Mehbooba Mufti and I expressed my condolences to her," he said. Responding to a poser of a possible rift between both the ruling parties in the state, Madhav said "There is no question of any rift between both the parties as both were running the government together." Yesterday, a delegation of PDP met the Governor and gave a letter which said all the 28 MLAs backed Mehbooba for the Chief Ministership. Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also expressed his support towards Mufti as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. PDP has unanimously decided to support her for the top post of Chief Minister. The coalition partner BJP said it will go with PDP's choice on Chief Minister's post. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the Pathankot Air Base station on Saturday to take stock of the security situation after the terrorist attack that left seven security personnel dead and 20 others injured. He is likely to arrive in Pathankot by 11a.m. The visit holds significance in the midst speculations that the Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan could be called off by New Delhi in the wake of the attack. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday put the ball in Pakistan's court, saying the future course of action would be decided after Islamabad's response to actionable intelligence provided with regard to the fidayeen strike. "As far as we are concerned, the ball is now in Pakistan's court. The immediate issue in front of us is Pakistan's response to the terrorist attack and the actionable intelligence that has been provided to it," said MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup, adding that the government's policy towards Pakistan is clear and consistent Meanwhile, in the course of investigation, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found several articles on the bodies of the terrorists and from the crime scene that further confirm their Pakistan link. The investigation agencies have reportedly found wrappers and packets of medicines and syringes bearing name of Karachi and Pakistan from a building at the Pathankot Air base, where terrorists had taken shelter during the attack. Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh has been summoned to the NIA headquarters on Monday for questioning. Singh and his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma said to have been abducted by the terrorists on the night of December 31. An NIA team visited the house of Verma. Almost entire International Community has unequivocally condemned the terrorist attack, hoping that the perpetrators would be brought to the book. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in the meantime, on Friday reviewed the progress made on the information provided by the Government of India in connection with the Pathankot terror attack. Prime Minister Sharif, who chaired a high-level meeting here, reiterated Pakistan's commitment to cooperate with India on the Pathankot incident and to be in touch with the Government of India in this regard. The meeting was attended by Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, National Security Advisor Naseer Khan Janjua, DG ISI, Foreign Secretary and DG Military Operations among others, reported Radio Pakistan. (ANI)
Gujarat Police on Friday filed a charge sheet in a Surat court against Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convenor Hardik Patel on the charge of sedition. The 379-page charge sheet has been filed against Patel for exhorting Vipul Desai to kill "four-five" policemen instead of thinking of committing suicide to press the demand of reservation for upper caste Patels in education institutes and government jobs under the Other Backward Committees (OBC) category. Hardik Patel was slapped with the sedition charge days after he reportedly exhorted Desai in October in the presence of a local TV channel. His father Bharat Patel challenged the sedition charge against Hardik on October 19 in the Gujarat High Court, which refused to accept his plea. He then moved the Supreme Court against the Gujarat court ruling. The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down his plea, allowing the Gujarat government to file a charge sheet against him in a court by Friday. Hardik Patel was arrested by Surat police in October last year on sedition charge and for inciting violence, and has been lodged in Jalalpore Jail since then. Hardik's bail application also was rejected by the Gujarat High Court, following which he appealed to the Supreme Court, which directed Surat police to file a charge sheet by January 8. In the 379-page charge sheet, the prosecution has produced call records from Hardik's cell phone to his supporters, report of the forensic science laboratory about the veracity of these calls and statements of witnesses. Hardik's counsel Kapil Sibal had challenged the sedition charge, pointing out, among other things, that the young man's remark was made on October 3 but the sedition charge was slapped 15 days later. Sibal said nothing happened after Hardik's statement and it did not create any public disorder, for which the charges were made. Sibal said the rights of people should not be abridged by state authorities and there is no reason to slap sedition charges against Hardik who is just 22-year-old. Hardik has also been charged under Sections 124 A and 115 of the Indian Penal Code which relate to sedition and inciting of violence. A similar case was also filed against him by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch. The court has fixed January 11 for next hearing when Hardik would be given a copy of the charge sheet. --Indo-Asian News Service desai/sd/vt ( 402 Words) 2016-01-08-22:31:35 (IANS)
He will arrive in the state capital here at 1.40 p.m. and go to Hazaribagh to attend the 7th convocation of the Vinoba Bhave University (VBU).

He will return to Ranchi and also inaugurate an art gallery and lay the foundation stone of the Jharkhand Technical University at Audrey House, Ranchi. He will spend the night in the capital city.

On Sunday, the President will inaugurate the 88th Annual Conference of Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan in Ranchi. He will also attend the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of the Birla Institute of Technology at noon and address the convocation ceremony here.

Heavy security arrangements have been made for the President's visit.

--Indo-Asian News Service ns/sd/vt

( 139 Words)

2016-01-08-22:43:35 (IANS)
Holidaymaker Carolyne Larcombe said on Thursday that she had returned two of the distinctive sea snakes to the water while walking along Congo Beach near the small coastal town of Moruya, 304 km south of Sydney, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I thought they had a better chance of survival back in the water than up high and dry on the sand," Larcombe said.

Herpetology researcher from the Australian Museum, Ross Sadlier, said the snakes were most likely either weak or just plain unlucky to washed south by ocean currants before falling victim to the recent rough seas and washed ashore.

Yellow-bellied sea snakes have been previously sighted along the New South Wales coastline with records dating back to the early 1900s of weak and injured individuals washing ashore during strong storms, Sadlier added.

--Indo-Asian News Service ksk

( 176 Words)

2016-01-07-09:03:36 (IANS)
The protests to the "inhuman and dangerous act" of executing the cleric will be held after the Friday prayers in different parts of the country, Xinhua cited a statement as saying.

It also urged the Iranian foreign ministry to send a clear message to the Saudi authorities in this regard and to react to their measure "determinedly".

Friday's rallies would be major protests in Iran following last Saturday's rallies in which protesters set ablaze the Saudi embassy and consulate against the execution of the prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh cut off diplomatic relations with Tehran on Sunday after the attacks on its embassy.

A number of other Arab states have either cut or downgraded the diplomatic ties with Tehran.

--Indo-Asian News Service py/

( 167 Words)

2016-01-08-08:49:35 (IANS)
An Iraqi man who came to the United States as a refugee from Syria was arrested in Sacramento on a federal charge of making a false statement involving international terrorism, the US Department of Justice said.In a criminal complaint released yesterday, the FBI said Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, lied about traveling back to Syria and about posting on social media his support for what the government said were terrorist groups."O God, grant us martyrdom for your sake while engaged in fighting and not retreating; a martyrdom that would make you satisfied with us," the FBI said Al-Jayab wrote to someone identified only as "Individual I.The Justice Department said Al-Jayab, a Palestinian born in Iraq, came to the United States in 2012 as a refugee from Syria.The following year, he went overseas, telling officials later that he had gone to Turkey to visit family.The complaint includes numerous social media postings and other communications in which Al-Jayab discusses jihad, using assault rifles and training with militants. He also says he is in Syria."We can confirm that there was a national security-related arrest today," said Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for US Attorney Benjamin B Wagner. "There is no current threat to public safety associated with this arrest."Al-Jayab is scheduled to appear in federal court in Sacramento today, Horwood said. REUTERS PS DS PR 0740 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0137-527378.Xml
Britain urged South Korea today to show restraint after Seoul resumed propaganda broadcasts in retaliation for North Korea's nuclear bomb test. "We urge South Korea to exercise restraint," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said during a visit in Japan. "It is simply rising to the bait." South Korea unleashed a high-decibel broadcasts across the border earlier on Friday. The broadcasts, considered an insult by the North, led to an exchange of artillery fire the last time they were used. REUTERS AY RAI1009 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0352-527429.Xml
The government forces have pledged to remove the armed group from Rakhine state in western Myanmar where it is operating, Xinhua reported.

It was reported that seven members of the government forces including one commanding officer were killed in a sniper attack and many others were injured.

The government forces captured three Arakan Army members and seized some weapons during last week's clashes in Rakhine state.

The armed group, while retreating, took five men and two women working on a farm as hostages.

The Arakan Army was among the three armed groups that have not been invited to the government's peace deal.

The government signed a nationwide ceasefire accord with eight armed groups on October 15 2015 and a formal political dialogue was set for mid-January.

--Indo-Asian News Service py/vm

( 172 Words)

2016-01-08-11:09:35 (IANS)
ISIS and other extremist groups use social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter to draw vulnerable young people into joining their cause.

The announcement comes as there are growing concerns over the role of social media in radicalising San Bernadino shooters Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, The Daily Star reported.

US President Barack Obama recently called ISIS a "bunch of killers with good social media".

Facebook was slammed in December for "not doing enough" to combat ISIS bot accounts spamming victims of the Bataclan massacre in Paris. (ANI)
Kazi Aref, a liberation war organiser, along with four Kushtia JSD unit men was killed by trio after a rally at Kalidaspur on February 16, 1999, reported The Daily Star.

The convicts shot the JSD leader several times after he had finished his speech at the rally.

The trio was top cadres of the outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-Laltu).

The sources reported that Aref's widow,Rawsan Jahan Sathi wished to see the execution of all convicts, awarded the death penalty for her husband's murder.(ANI)
South Korea unleashed a high-decibel propaganda barrage across its border with North Korea today in retaliation for its nuclear test, while the United States called on China to end "business as usual" with its ally. The broadcasts, in rolling bursts from walls of loudspeakers at 11 locations along the heavily militarised border, blared rhetoric critical of the Pyongyang regime as well as "K-pop" music, ratcheting up tension between the rival Koreas. North Korea later responded with its own broadcasts. South Korea, which has grown increasingly close to China in recent years, also said its foreign minister would speak with his Chinese counterpart later today. Wednesday's nuclear test angered both the United States and China, which was not given prior notice, although the US government and weapons experts doubt Pyongyang's claim that the device it set off was a hydrogen bomb. US Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday he had made clear in a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China's approach to North Korea had not succeeded. "China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respected to give them space to implement that," Kerry told reporters. "Today, in my conversation with the Chinese, I made it very clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual." China is North Korea's main economic and diplomatic backer, although relations between the two Cold War allies have cooled in recent years. China's Foreign Ministry urged North Korea to stick to its denuclearisation pledges and avoid action that would make the situation worse, but also said China did not hold the key to resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. "Achieving denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and safeguarding the peninsula's peace and stability accords with all parties' mutual interests, is the responsibility of all parties, and requires all parties to put forth efforts," ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news briefing. The North agreed to end its nuclear programme in international negotiations in 2005 but later walked away from the talks. Seismic waves created by Wednesday's blast were almost identical to those generated in North Korea's last nuclear test in 2013, Jeffrey Park, a seismologist at Yale University, wrote in a post on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists website, adding to scepticism about the hydrogen bomb claim. TROOPS DEPLOYED, TOURS CANCELLED The South Korean broadcasts are considered an insult by the isolated North which has in the past threatened military strikes to stop them. The last time South Korea deployed the loudspeakers, in retaliation for a landmine blast in August that wounded two South Korean soldiers, it led to an armed standoff and exchange of artillery fire. The sound from the speakers can carry for 10 km into North Korea during the day and more than twice that at night, the South's Yonhap news agency reported. A male announcer could be heard from South Korea telling North Koreans that Kim Jong Un, the leader of their impoverished country, and his wife wear clothes costing thousands of dollars. Another message said Kim's policy to boost both the economy and its nuclear programme was unrealistic. The North broadcasts were not clearly audible from the South and appeared intended to drown out those from the South, Yonhap said, citing a South Korean official. North Korea boosted troop deployments in front-line units today, and South Korea raised its military readiness to the highest level at locations near the loudspeakers. The South vowed to retaliate against any attack on the equipment, raised its cyber security alert and cancelled tours of the Demilitarised Zone on the border. Kerry said he and Wang agreed to work closely to determine what measures could be taken given increasing concern about the nuclear test. He said America has a "firm and continued commitment to regional security and global nonproliferation". US Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives could join forces in a rare display of unity to tighten sanctions on North Korea. Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, told reporters that Democrats would support a North Korea bill likely to be brought for a vote by Republicans next week. A congressional source said it was expected as soon as Monday. The House measure would target banks facilitating North Korea's nuclear programme and authorise freezing of US assets of those directly linked to illicit North Korean activities. It would also penalise those involved in business providing North Korea with hard currency. It was unclear how more sanctions would deter North Korea, which has conducted four nuclear tests since 2006. The United States and South Korea are limited in their military response. Washington sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers over South Korea in a show of force after North Korea last tested a nuclear device in 2013. North Korea responded then by threatening a nuclear strike on the United States. A South Korean military official told Reuters that Seoul and Washington had discussed the deployment of US strategic weapons on the Korean peninsula, but declined to give details. Media said the assets could include B-2 and B-52 bombers, and a nuclear-powered submarine.REUTERS SA AS1553 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-527912.Xml
North Korea's nuclear test this week set off alarm bells in Japan and South Korea, but the longer lasting fallout may be to cement a fragile reconciliation that could lead to the start of military cooperation between the two key US allies. Japan and South Korea reached a landmark agreement last month to resolve the issue of "comfort women" forced to work in Japan's wartime military brothels, the emotive impediment to better ties. Japan apologized and promised about one billion yen (8.47 million dollar)to help surviving women who were coerced into prostitution. North Korea's latest nuclear detonation could crystallise the reconciliation into harmony, say military officials and defense experts, as the two countries unite against a common threat. That in turn could lead to military cooperation instead of the frosty distance they have maintained even though they are Washington's closest allies in the region. "I think the comfort women pact and the North Korean test could spur military cooperation," a senior Japanese navy officer told Reuters, speaking on condition he was not identified. "The test has worsened the security situation in the region." South Korean President Park Geun-hye held talks by telephone with Japanese prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday. The two discussed the need for close cooperation with each other as well as with the United States, China and Russia, according to Park's office. The two defence ministers were to hold a conversation tonight. "There may be a broad review of what can be done to improve security cooperation (with Japan)," a senior South Korean official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. Nothing specific has yet been discussed, he added. HISTORY The distance between South Korea and Japan has worried Washington as it increasingly relies on its Asian allies to work together to guarantee security in the region amid China's growing military might. Past strains between Tokyo and Seoul have prevented the two countries from agreeing to share sensitive military information. An attempt to institutionalise security cooperation through the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) in 2012 failed after significant domestic opposition in South Korea. In a bid to resolve the impasse, Washington agreed last year to act as a go-between to allow Seoul and Tokyo to swap intelligence. "It really is in the interest of all three countries that we have no seams between that information when you are trying to defend your country against a ballistic missile," Vice Admiral Jospeh Aucoin, commander of the US Seventh Fleet, said today. When asked whether there was hope for greater cooperation between Japan and South Korea in the wake of the latest nuclear test, Aucoin replied "I got to believe so." In December 2014, Seoul said it would send the Lockheed Martin F-35 fleet it has ordered to Australia for maintenance, well beyond their operating range, rather than to a regional maintenance hub for the stealth fighter that will be set up in Japan. "Korea and Japan are in a complicated conflict because of the issue over comfort women, but we're now in a new situation that shows how the two countries need each other," Choi Kang, vice president and director at the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said in a comment published by the institute. Abe and Park, nonetheless, will still have tread carefully around long-held grievances that date back to World War 2. Seoul has criticised school textbooks in Japan that it says distort history and downplay Japan's wartime and colonial atrocities. In April last year, South Korea reproached Japan for approving textbooks it said backed Tokyo's claim to a disputed island in the Sea of Japan, dubbed Takeshima by Japan and Dokdo by South Korea. That falling out came just over two weeks after the foreign ministers of the neighbors and China pledged to improve ties and overcome tension over history and territory. The "comfort women" issue too remains contentious, despite the recent agreement. "North Korea's nuclear testing will help restore Japan-South Korean military cooperation. However, the comfort women issue will continue to haunt Park's efforts to restore ties," said Chung-In Moon, Professor of Political Science at Yonsei University in South Korea.REUTERS SA AN1604 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-528021.Xml
The United States desires Pakistan to conduct a good, solid, thoughtful and comprehensive investigation into the Pathankot terror attack but does not feel the necessity of setting a timeline for Islamabad for completing the probe. Wed rather get it right than get it fast, and well certainly defer to Pakistani authorities to determine their own timelines and their own deadlines and the standards to which they want to hold themselves with respect to this investigation, State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a media briefing here yesterday. The statement came hours after India made it clear that it would wait for Pakistans response on the information provided on the Pathankot incident before deciding on whether to hold Foreign Secretary level talks with Islamabad on January 15. New Delhi says it has given actionable intelligence to Pakistan that those who planned the assault came from Pakistan. The State Department spokesman noted that Pakistan has condemned the attack and has made clear its commitment to investigate it. It's not for us to ascribe a timeline to somebody else's investigation. Obviously, in all investigations, you want it to be thorough and you want it to be complete, he added.Mr Kirby said, "Let us let them do that, and let's see where the investigation goes," he said. "We obviously would like to see it investigated too, as completely and as thoroughly as possible so we can better understand what happened. He added that Pakistan was familiar with the threat of terrorism and should be trusted.We've talked about this. Soldiers have been killed. Innocent Pakistani civilians have been killed by terrorists and continue to be, he said, adding that terrorism was a regional challenge that required real regional solutions which he said he felt Pakistan should directly be a part of. He said that after the Pathankot attack, the US has been in contact with Pakistani authorities every day "at all different levels". The spokesman reiterated the US's commitment to encouraging bilateral and multilateral efforts to battle the threat of terrorism in the region. Referring to the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the spokesman said the United States wanted to see all perpetrators brought to justice, adding that he recognised it could take a long time. It took an awful long time to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, but we did. So it can be hard," he said. As far as the attack on the Pathankot airbase was concerned, the spokesman said that Pakistani officials had informed him of an ongoing investigation. We look forward to seeing the results of that investigation when it's complete," he added.Responding to a question, the spokesman said he did not have knowledge or information specifically about what India might have provided to Pakistan, but added that if there was some information sharing, that would be helpful and productive. But I can't speak of the results just two days after, he added.Answering another question, spokesman Kirby said Pakistan had said it was not going to discriminate between terrorist groups when its conducts counter-terrorism operations. They've been very open about that, and we look forward to seeing the results of their investigation," he said.He said the US would continue to not only encourage an approach of aggression in counter-terrorism operations run by Pakistan and other regional powers, but would also "continue to express their willingness in supporting those operations as required, or as deemed fit by the nations". UNI XC AT ADG 1702 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-528176.Xml
Finland said today it had decided to extradite Russian citizen Maxim Senakh, accused of computer fraud and abuse, to the United States for trial. The Nordic country detained Senakh in August at the request of US federal authorities, in a move which Russia called illegal. Senakh has been accused in the state of Minnesota of infecting computer servers with malware, resulting in criminal gains worth millions of dollars. Russian foreign ministry was not available for an immediate comment.REUTERS SA AS1623 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-528058.Xml
The number of migrants leaving Myanmar and Bangladesh by boat in the past four months has plummeted because of Thai and Bangladeshi crackdowns on human smugglers, the United Nations and a rights activist said today. Thai police launched a sweeping campaign against smuggling gangs in May following the discovery of 30 bodies in graves near a human-trafficking camp close to the Malaysian border. The police operation led to traffickers abandoning 4,000 migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh at sea, sparking a chaotic round of "maritime ping-pong" as Indonesian, Malaysian and Thai navies pushed migrant boats away from their shores. Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled poverty and persecution in western Myanmar since religious violence erupted there in 2012. Most have headed for Muslim-majority Malaysia, but many have made landfall first in southern Thailand or been intercepted and held for ransom in camps hidden deep in Thailand's jungles. The region is now in its "sailing season", with calmer seas after the rains, the busiest time for smuggling and trafficking ships plying the Bay of Bengal. But Chris Lewa from the Arakan Project, a Rohingya advocacy group which tracks migration, said this year the number of people sailing was much lower due to action against smugglers in Thailand and Bangladesh. About 1,500 people sailed from Bangladesh and Myanmar between September and December, said Lewa, compared with 32,000 people tracked during the same period in 2014. "Thailand is closed and cannot be used for disembarkation," Lewa told Reuters. "The few brokers that still seem to be involved are the ones that have pre-existing 'orders' for people to be brought over, that's what we are being told at departure." "Anti-trafficking operations are going on in Bangladesh as well." Vivian Tan, regional spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, said preliminary data suggested fewer people took to boats in the last quarter of the year. "Based on our interviews with affected communities, it could be that smugglers and potential passengers are taking a wait-and-see approach following last year's scrutiny and crackdowns," said Tan. A major human-trafficking trial in Thailand involving 91 defendants allegedly involved with smuggling gangs that were trafficking Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis, is underway. Activists have called on authorities to step up witness protection in the trial, which involves an army general and police investigators. Hundreds of people who made the trip last year remain in immigration detention centres and shelters in southern Thailand and 11 Muslim Rohingya escaped from such a shelter on Friday, the head of the shelter told Reuters.REUTERS SA AS1624 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-528062.Xml
Foreign special forces have been carrying out raids on an Islamic State stronghold in northern Iraq ahead of an offensive planned later this year to retake Mosul, the largest city under the group's control, Iraq's parliamentary speaker said. Several attacks behind Islamic State lines around Hawija, 210 kilometres north of Baghdad, were carried out in recent weeks, Salim al-Jabouri told Reuters yesterday. Both the US and Iraqi military have denied that US forces have carried out military operations on the ground in Hawija since October, when US special forces rescued 69 Iraqis in a raid that killed one US commando. But Dubai-based al-Hadath TV and Iraqi media have reported at least half a dozen raids in and around Hawija since late December, led by US special forces. Washington said last month it was deploying a new force of around 100 special operations troops to Iraq to conduct raids against Islamic State there and in neighbouring Syria, without providing details. US Army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the international coalition bombing Islamic State, rejected the media reports this week, calling them "Iranian disinformation" aimed at distracting from Iraqi military gains against Islamic State elsewhere. He told Reuters that coalition forces in Iraq have not operated on the ground since the October operation. Iraq's defence minister last week also denied that the US had a role in such raids. Special operations in Hawija "have been repeated a second and third time ... These operations are bearing fruit," said Jabouri, Iraq's most senior Sunni Arab official. "They eliminate the terrorists and free innocents, and for us it represents a positive development." Jabouri said the raids were carried out "from time to time" and "supported by Iraqi forces" but did not specify whether the United States played a role or how many had occurred. The raids are "not direct ground attacks; they are operations targeting the dens of Daesh in important and sensitive areas," Jabouri said, using an Arabic acronym for the group, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL. He said they were not enough to get rid of Islamic State but "are dealing them strong blows". Local sources near Hawija, including a police officer and a municipal official, said last week that several raids had targeted Islamic State buildings including a courthouse and a police station, killing and capturing several militant leaders. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. ROAD TO MOSUL The October raid that included US special forces "is the only operation that we have spoken about and the only one that we will speak about," Warren, the coalition spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday. That operation, conducted with peshmerga commandos from northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, sparked outrage by powerful Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias and Abadi's own ruling coalition. The militias, many of which fought US forces after the 2003 invasion, have decried the reports of more recent raids as US attempts to divide Iraq. Jabouri said such sensitivities were easing and described the raids as part of Baghdad's strategy to retake Mosul, the city 400 km north of Baghdad where Islamic State declared its intention to establish a caliphate stretching across the border with Syria. Strategically located east of the road from Baghdad to Mosul and near the Kurdish-held oil region of Kirkuk, the region became an Islamic State stronghold when the ultra-hardline Sunni militants swept across northern and western Iraq in 2014. The government has designated Mosul as the next target for Iraq's armed forces after they retook the western city of Ramadi last month, the first major success of the US-trained force that initially fled in the face of Islamic State's advance. Baghdad and the US-led coalition, though, have not made clear what path they intend to take to the capital of Nineveh province while most of Anbar province remains under Islamic State control. Jabouri said the advance to Mosul could not be rushed. "We cannot think of moving to another province until Anbar province is cleansed completely, which means there is an upcoming battle related to Falluja and what remains of it, and another one to the west of Ramadi," said Jabouri. "At the same time there are preparations underway for Nineveh," he added. Falluja, the first Iraqi city to fall to Islamic State in January 2014, contains several hundreds militants and is encircled by Iraqi forces. REUTERS SA AN1643 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-528116.Xml
An attack by Islamic State militants on a military base in northern Iraq shows Turkey's decision to deploy troops there was justified, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said today.Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul that 18 Islamic State militants were killed but no Turkish soldiers were harmed in the attack at the Bashiqa base in Iraq's Nineveh province.Turkey deployed a force protection unit of around 150 troops last month citing heightened security risks near Bashiqa, where its troops are training an Iraqi militia to fight Islamic State, and stirring a diplomatic row.Erdogan said the problems at the base arose in the wake of tensions between Russia and Turkey, and said that Turkey was acting in line with international law.REUTERS SHS AS1724 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-528259.Xml
The US-led coalition launched 23 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and three in Syria, the task force leading the operation said in a statement. The coalition said 22 of the strikes in Iraq were coordinated with and in support of the government of Iraq yesterday, while one air strike was in support of coalition operations. They included seven strikes in the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul and six in Ramadi, where Iraqi troops drove out most of the militants last week after a hard-fought offensive, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement today. In Mosul, the strikes destroyed four Islamic State tactical units, six fighting positions, four assembly areas, a bunker and a tunnel. In Ramadi, they destroyed 16 fighting positions, 13 heavy machine guns, a dozen improvised explosive devices and denied militants access to terrain, the coalition said. Other strikes in Iraq hit near Al Qaim, Sinjar, Haditha, Irbil, Kisik, Qayyarah and Sultan Abdallah, it said.The coalition said air strikes in Syria included two near Ayn Isa, where they destroyed three fighting positions and suppressed a third, and near Manbij, where a strike destroyed three staging areas. REUTERS SHS NS1832 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-528519.Xml
Egypt's minister of religious endowments has warned against holding protests during the anniversary of the uprising that ended President Hosni Mubarak's rule, the state news agency said, and suggested any unrest would violate Islamic law.Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said during a meeting with officials in his ministry that maintaining stability and security is a priority.He referred to a statement from Egypt's Grand Mufti, the country's highest religious authority, which said that any call for protests or destruction "is a full crime and illegal according to Islamic Sharia law", said MENA state news agency.The uprising, which started on January 25, 2011 and lasted 18 days, had raised hopes of a new era of democracy and greater economic opportunities in a country long dominated by men from the military and business and political elites who support them.Instead it triggered turmoil and instability which hurt the economy, and the political landscape resembles the past.Egypt has been cracking down hard on dissent since then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled the country's first freely elected president, Islamist Mohamed Mursi, following mass protests against his rule in 2013. Under Sisi's rule, protesting without police permission is illegal.Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, has called for mass protests against Sisi on January 25, but it no longer seems capable of getting large numbers onto the streets. The Brotherhood says it is committed to peaceful activism.Human rights groups have accused Sisi, who went on to be elected president, and his government of widespread abuses, including detentions of about 40,000 political prisoners and torture, allegations it denies.Egypt says the Brotherhood and other groups such as Islamic State are an existential threat and decisive action is needed to defeat them.While the toughest crackdown on Islamists in Egypt's history has weakened the Brotherhood, it has failed to break the back of militants waging an insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula.Militants have stepped up attacks on soldiers and police since Mursi's fall, killing hundreds in what authorities call acts of terrorism. REUTERS SHS AS1908 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-528664.Xml
Five years before his arrest in a political corruption scandal, billionaire financier Andr Esteves was nearly banned from banking in Brazil due to irregular trading, according to a central bank document reviewed by Reuters. Central bank investigators recommended in October 2010 that Esteves, who founded and ran investment bank Grupo BTG Pactual SA until last November, should have been barred from managing financial institutions for six years due to "serious infractions" of banking rules between 2002 and 2004, the document showed. (http://reut.rs/1RszQku) The severe punishment under consideration was eventually reduced to fines for Esteves and the bank, but it showed Brazil's most influential dealmaker attracted regulators' scrutiny for more than a decade before his downfall last year. Esteves declined to discuss the case while BTG Pactual referred inquiries to securities filings at the time.Central bank director Sidnei Corra Marques, who ruled against the proposed ban, told Reuters in an interview he considered the crucial role of the bank and its CEO in the financial system when making his decision. Esteves was arrested in November and charged with obstructing a corruption probe at state-run oil company Petrobras by conspiring to help a Petrobras executive who was a potential prosecution witness flee the country. He denied any wrongdoing but stepped down as chief executive and chairman of BTG Pactual and passed control over Latin America's biggest independent investment bank to seven partners. After spending three weeks in prison, Esteves was released on house arrest last month pending trial. The investigation from a decade ago that could have derailed his banking career years earlier focused on nearly $3.8 billion of trades between the bank, known then as Banco Pactual SA, Delaware-based Romanche Investment Corporation LLC. DELAWARE ENIGMA Romanche was created 15 years ago as a limited liability corporation, without public disclosure of its ownership, and the law firm at its registered address declined to comment. The company did not file annual tax reports in Delaware as required and still owes $1,004 there, according to public documents. The securities regulator CVM found in a separate probe that the trades served to transfer Banco Pactual's profits out of the country and potentially reduce the bank's tax bill. The central bank and CVM investigated alleged banking and securities infractions, leaving assessment of the tax impact to Brazil's federal revenue service, which declined to comment on the case. Reuters could not determine how the bank's tax payments were affected by the transactions. In a 2007 settlement, the CVM fined both firms, Esteves and another executive 8.1 million reais, or about $4 million at the time. BTG Pactual and Esteves did not admit to wrongdoing in the settlement. The CVM declined to comment. After its own probe, the team of central bank investigators called for a six-year banking ban for Esteves, a one-year ban for another executive responsible for trades on Sao Paulo's BM&F exchange, and a fine for Banco Pactual in the recommendation reviewed by Reuters. It said the bank was incurring "deliberate losses" via trades with Romanche which constituted "serious infractions in the management of a financial institution." But Marques, who had the final say in the case, decided against the proposed ban. In April 2013, after an additional investigation, he slapped fines of 100,000 reais ($25,000) on both executives and a fine of 25,000 reais for the bank. Marques said the punishment was proportional to the executives' actions, which did not have "harmful consequences" for the financial system. "When a bank is important systemically, important to the country, among the 10 largest, I have to be careful about getting rid of essential management at that financial institution," Marques said. A week before the recommendation reached Marques' office in early 2011, BTG Pactual helped the central bank rescue troubled mid-sized lender Banco PanAmericano SA, agreeing to take a stake in the bank. Marques did not comment on the transaction, which Esteves said at the time would broaden BTG Pactual's business portfolio. A knack for dealmaking also made Esteves, now 47, Brazil's youngest billionaire and the face of his country's decade-long economic boom. Harvard Business School named a dorm for Esteves after a "significant personal donation". However, his rise was punctuated by occasional brushes with regulators at home and abroad.In 2012, Italy's financial regulator fined him 350,000 euros ($375,000) for insider trading around a joint venture announced by Italian meat company Cremonini SpA in 2007. Esteves disputed the charges and in an appeal got the fine cut in half. But the case grabbed headlines just 10 days before BTG Pactual's initial public offering, forcing the bank to let investors back out if they wished. Since Esteves was snared in the Petrobras scandal last year, shares of BTG Pactual have lost about 50 percent and the bank was forced to sell assets and tap an emergency credit line from Brazil's deposit guarantee fund to allay fears of a cash crunch. REUTERS MI AN2043 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-528819.Xml
Japan and Britain said today the international community should respond firmly and swiftly after North Korea's announcement that it had successfully tested a hydrogen nuclear device.After a meeting of the Japanese and British foreign and defence ministers, the two countries also said they would hold joint exercises and cooperate on defence equipment."We've agreed that North Korea's nuclear test poses grave threats to peace and the safety of international society and that the international community needs to take resolute steps quickly," Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said.British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: "We will be deepening our bilateral defence cooperation ... bringing our own forces closer together to more regular exercises and exchanges."Fallon said Japan and Britain had agreed to move to a higher level of feasibility study on an air-to-air missile system they are planning to develop.The meeting comes as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe aims to bolster Tokyo's role on the global security stage and after North Korea's announcement on Wednesday that it had tested a miniaturized hydrogen nuclear bomb, drawing threats of further sanctions on the isolated nation.British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told reporters: "Our relationship is underpinned by a growing defence and security partnership, reflecting our shared ambition to contribute not only to global prosperity but also to global peace and security."Hammond earlier urged South Korea to show restraint after Seoul resumed propaganda broadcasts following the North's announcement.REUTERS MI NS2134 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-528956.Xml
Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins cast doubt on the identity of a man shot dead by police in the capital yesterday, as authorities sought to establish whether he was acting alone or with support.The man was killed as he tried to enter a police station wielding a meat cleaver, on the first anniversary of the deadly Islamist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine.An official account said the man, identified by a judicial source soon after the attack as Moroccan-born, shouted Allahu Akbar, (God is Greatest), and was wearing what turned out to be a fake suicide belt.Molins told a French radio station the man may have given police a false identity some months ago. He also said a mobile phone found on the body was being examined and contained a German SIM card."I am not at all sure the identity he gave was real," Molins told France Inter radio today.A judicial source said yesterday that the dead man was Ali Sallah, a Moroccan born in 1995 in Casablanca. He was homeless and known to police for theft in 2012 in the Var region of southern France.FINGERPRINTSMolins said authorities had established from fingerprints that the dead man identified himself as Sallah to police when they intercepted him last year. The name Ali Sallah was not known to intelligence services.Molins said a sheet of paper found on the man's body gave a different name, and a Tunisian nationality.A French police source told Reuters today that a relative of a Tunisian man, Tarek Belkacem, had identified him as yesterday's assailant after seeing his photo on television and called police from Tunisia."It is a serious lead, but checks are under way to see if it really is this person," the source said. He added that the man in question was of Tunisian nationality and had emigrated to France.Also on the sheet of paper was the Islamic State flag and a claim of allegiance to the militant group written in Arabic.Islamic State, which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for an attack in Paris on Nov. 13 in which 130 people died.Molins said anti-terrorism authorities were working on 215 cases involving 711 individuals in France. Some 240 people had been taken in for questioning in connection with them.He said about half the cases had reached the inquiry stage, and that authorities risked being overwhelmed because "since 2012 we have seen a doubling of these cases every year".Belgian investigators said they believed explosives used in the November Paris attacks may have been made in an apartment in Brussels. It was rented under a false name and a fingerprint of a key fugitive was found.REUTERS MI AN2313 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-529046.Xml
Neelam Mathews May 27, 2019 Its been a while since I wrote a piece on lifestyle- not sure if this is a brief one on Bengaluru, Bangalore...
Milan (AFP) - Fiorentina have given fans a boost by tying former Real Madrid starlet Marcos Alonso to a five-year deal that will see the versatile Spanish defender remain at the club until June 2021.

Alonso, 25, spent three seasons at Bolton in England's Premier League before joining Fiorentina on a three-year deal in May 2013.

Although he spent six months on loan at Sunderland from January 2014, Alonso is considered a key component of Paulo Sousa's Fiorentina squad having made 65 appearances in Serie A and the Europa League, forging a reputation as a hard-working defender who can also play in midfield.

A statement by Fiorentina said: "Fiorentina announces the club has agreed terms on a new contract with Marcos Alonso. The Spanish player has signed with the club until June 30 2021."

Fiorentina, who have scored a league-leading 36 goals in 18 games so far, sit in second spot in Serie A, one point behind leaders Inter Milan.
Tehran (AFP) - Anti-Saudi demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran to protest Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and after Iran accused its rival of bombing its embassy in Yemen.

Shiites also protested in the Saudi city of Qatif, near the hometown of the executed sheikh, Nimr al-Nimr, while in the Pakistani capital 1,500 people rallied against his execution.

The festering diplomatic crisis between the Middle East's leading Sunni and Shiite Muslim powers has raised sectarian tensions across the region and complicated efforts to resolve conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

In a development that could further strain relations, Saudi media reported Friday that four Iranians would go on trial in the kingdom, one for spying and the other three for "terrorism".

Around 1,000 protestors marched through Tehran chanting "death to Al-Saud" -- Riyadh's ruling family, according to an AFP photographer.

Others shouted "death to America" and "death to Israel", frequent rallying cries at demonstrations in Iran.

Some carried placards with the picture of Nimr, the cleric and activist whose execution by Saudi Arabia on Saturday unleashed a wave of anger across the Shiite world.

Relations between the longtime adversaries hit a fresh low Thursday when Iran accused Saudi warplanes of deliberately targeting its embassy in Sanaa, damaging the property and seriously wounding a security guard.

The Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed rebels in Yemen denied carrying out an attack and insisted the diplomatic mission was "safe", but Tehran said it would take the matter to the UN Security Council.

- 'Delusional hype' -

Iran said it did not want to escalate tensions in the Middle East, but Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Riyadh was "spreading delusional hype about Iran" and accused the kingdom of "sectarian hate-mongering".

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The Yemeni conflict, which pits Shiite Huthi rebels against pro-government forces backed by Riyadh and other Gulf Arab states, is one of the main sources of dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

During weekly prayers in Tehran, influential cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani told worshippers that Riyadh, along with Israel and the United States, was responsible for "all crimes committed against Muslims".

"The Zionist regime plans, the US supports and Saudi Arabia sources the necessary funds," Kashani said, according to state news agency IRNA.

Shiite protesters in eastern Saudi Arabia called Friday for the "death" of the Sunni-majority kingdom's ruling Al-Saud family at a rally to honour Nimr, a witness said.

Pictures from the city of Qatif showed what appeared to be hundreds of demonstrators, many clad in black.

Around 1,500 people also rallied in Islamabad against the execution.

Nimr was executed along with 46 other prisoners who Riyadh said were "terrorists".

In response, protesters in Iran stormed and set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in the second city of Mashhad.

Iran denounced those attacks, but the repercussions quickly rippled across the region and beyond with Saudi allies Bahrain, Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan following Riyadh's example and cutting diplomatic ties with Tehran.

At the same time, the United Arab Emirates has downgraded relations with Iran, while Kuwait and Qatar have recalled their ambassadors.

- Opposing sides -

Iran hit back Thursday by announcing a ban on imports from the kingdom, which will reportedly affect goods worth about $40 million (37 million euros).

The latest crisis threatens a fragile UN-backed initiative to end the war in Yemen, where the world body says at least 2,795 civilians have been killed since March.

Special UN envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed arrived in Riyadh Friday to meet Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, the government's delegation to the talks and political party leaders, as well as senior Saudi officials, the UN said in Geneva.

Iran and Saudi Arabia also support opposing sides in Syria. Tehran is providing military assistance to close ally President Bashar al-Assad against rebel groups, some backed by Saudi Arabia.

The growing tensions have heaped doubt on a UN-backed plan that foresees talks between the Syrian sides this month in a bid to end a war that has claimed more than a quarter of a million lives.

Saudi media said that the four Iranians set to stand trial in Saudi Arabia were arrested in 2013 and 2014, but they were not identified nor were the charges against them spelled out.
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli forces killed an Arab Israeli Friday who was wanted for the murder of three people in a Tel Aviv shooting spree last week, the minister for public security said.

Gilad Erdan announced the "elimination of the terrorist" in a statement.

Israeli media showed pictures of Nashaat Melhem's body outside the building where he had been holed up.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the security services, who worked "tirelessly, systematically, and professionally until they spotted and neutralised the terrorist".

Melhem, 31, had been on the run since January 1, after allegedly firing on customers at a Tel Aviv bar and neighbouring cafe, killing two people

Authorities say he later shot dead an Arab Israeli taxi driver.

The police confirmed they had surrounded a building in which he had been hiding in his hometown of Arara.

Melhem left the building and a gunfight erupted with security forces, during which he was shot dead, police said.

Melhems disappearance sparked a mass manhunt across Israel, with forces deploying across the country and a media gag order placed on details of the investigation.

Security camera footage from a store near the scene of the attack showed a bespectacled man with a backpack calmly pretending to shop before going to the exit, placing the backpack on a trolley, removing what looked like a submachine gun and opening fire in the street.

Melhem's father contacted police to identify him, but was later arrested on suspicion of aiding his escape, despite repeatedly called on his son to turn himself in.

In the days after the attack, many Israeli parents took their children out of school for fear of another attack.

The Israeli authorities had been reluctant to specify the motives of the attack.

Melhem was jailed in 2007 for attacking an Israeli soldier in what he said was an attempt to avenge the death of a relative shot by police in 2006.

Before Friday's shootout, speculation had grown that he had snuck into the Palestinian-run West Bank, raising the pressure on Netanyahu.

Twenty-two Israelis, an American and an Eritrean have been killed in Palestinian attacks including stabbings, car rammings and gunfire targeting security forces and civilians since October 1.

At the same time, 144 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks, with polls showing public dissatisfaction over Netanyahu's management of the crisis.
By Andrew Chung NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of street artists say a church led by a pastor to celebrities like hip hop mogul Kanye West used their artwork from a Miami public school in an advertising campaign without their permission, according to a lawsuit. In a copyright infringement complaint filed in federal court in Miami on Wednesday, the eight artists alleged Trinity Church Inc and its youth-oriented Vous Church satellite made ads out of giant murals they painted on the school's outer walls as part of a revitalization project. The complaint says the ads were placed on social media sites last summer as Vous prepared to launch services in Miami's Wynwood district, where the school is located. Trinity Church is a large-scale Pentecostal ministry, which also has campuses in San Diego and soon, New York City. Representatives for Trinity and Vous could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday. Vous' pastor, Rich Wilkerson Jr, is known for officiating at West's marriage to reality TV star Kim Kardashian. Wilkerson is also the star of his own reality TV series called Rich in Faith. In the complaint, the artists, including well-known Miami graffitist David Anasagasti, better known as "Ahol Sniffs Glue," said they would never have agreed to license their work to Trinity or Vous. They created the murals to benefit the school, they said, "not a well-funded celebrity church brand or its prosperous pastors." The artists are seeking unspecified damages. Their lawyer, Andrew Gerber, said, "We are still very much open to resolving this matter." Anasagasti previously sued American Eagle Outfitters in 2014 for copyright infringement, also over an ad campaign. That case reached a confidential settlement. As part of the revitalization plan for Wynwood's Jose de Diego Middle School, the artists came together in December 2014 to paint murals, some nearly three-stories tall, that included a playful dog, a dancer, an upside-down rose, and the familiar work of Anasagasti - rows of eyes that appear half-asleep. The school draws students from several poverty-stricken neighborhoods around Wynwood, located just north of downtown Miami, according to the complaint. Vous now rents the school's auditorium for its services, but the agreement does not include use of the murals. School officials told Trinity they must seek permission from the artists, who own copyrights on the murals, in order to use them, the complaint said. The school is not part of the litigation. The case is Magnus Sodamin et al v. Trinity Church, Inc and Vous Church, Inc, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, No. 16-cv-20049. (Reporting by Andrew Chung; editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Andrew Hay)
(Reuters) - Beauty products maker Avon Products Inc said it would cut some global IT jobs after hiring Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co to run some of its technology operations. Avon, which expects the program to be completed by the end of 2016, did not specify how many employees would be affected. (1.usa.gov/1UAkPwe) The company said in a filing it expects pre-tax savings of $10 million-$15 million annually, beginning 2019. Avon, which in December sold the majority of its North American business to Cerberus Capital, said it expected to record a charge of about $30 million. Hewlett Packard will operate Avon's IT infrastructure in four areas, offering data center services, network management among other services. (Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
The British Film and Television Association unveiled the nominations for the 2016 BAFTA Awards on Friday morning, but some of Britain's and Hollywood's biggest stars and films didn't get any shots at the honors.

Amid the crowd of familiar names and expected honorees  Eddie Redmayne and Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett and Brie Larson, Carol and The Martian in multiple categories there were several notable snubs.

The biggest surprise was the awards shut out for Spectre. The latest James Bond film was the number one British film of 2015, earning $139 million locally, but it failed to impress BAFTA voters. Spectre was snubbed in the big categories of best film, best British film and best director and didn't even get a mention in the technical categories of editing, sound, cinematography or visual effects.

Nearly as striking were this year's BAFTA acting snubs. While the likes of Bryan Cranston, Idris Elba and Rooney Mara earned their first-ever BAFTA noms, several veteran British talents were left out.

The British academy ignored Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay for their critically acclaimed performances as a long-married couple in 45 Years (though the film did get one nomination in the best British film category). While she has won multiple BAFTAs, Helen Mirren's performance in Trumbo went unnoticed, as did Tom Hardy's turn as the title character in Mad Max: Fury Road, even though the film picked up seven BAFTA noms, all in technical categories.

Read More: Bryan Cranston, Idris Elba, Rooney Mara Earn First BAFTA Nominations

Others notable for their absence on the BAFTA nominations list were Johnny Depp, who was ignored for his turn as Boston gangster Whitey Bulger in Black Mass, a film shut out across the board on Friday; Jacob Tremblay, the 9-year-old sensation who turned in a star-making performance in Room; and Michael Caine for Paolo Sorrentino's Youth, a role that recently earned him a best actor honor at the European Film Awards.

In the directing category, Danny Boyle was passed over by BAFTA for his helming of Steve Jobs. The film, however, picked up a best actor mention for Michael Fassbender, best supporting actress nom for Kate Winslet and an adapted screenplay nom for Aaron Sorkin.
By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian investigators believe explosives used in the attacks in Paris in November may have been made in an apartment in Brussels that was rented under a false name and where a fingerprint of a key fugitive was found. Police found material that could be used to make explosives, traces of explosive acetone peroxide and handmade belts during a raid on the apartment on Dec. 10, federal prosecutors said in a statement on Friday. Belgian newspaper De Standaard, which reported the raid in its Friday edition, said the investigators believed the explosives were probably packed into suicide belts in a hotel outside Paris in the lead-up to the Nov. 13 attacks. Prosecutors investigating Belgian links to the Paris attacks said the apartment in the district of Schaerbeek had been rented under a false name that might have been used by a person already in custody in connection with the Paris attacks. The find adds to indications that the Nov. 13 shooting and suicide bomb attacks in Paris, in which 130 people were killed, were at least partially planned in Belgium. Two of the attackers had been living in Brussels and Belgian authorities have arrested 10 people. Investigators also found a fingerprint of Salah Abdeslam, the brother of one of the attackers, who returned from Paris the morning after the attacks and has still not been found. Many of those arrested in Belgium have links to Abdeslam, including two who drove from Brussels hours after the attacks to pick him up and another who drove him from one part of Brussels to Schaerbeek after his return. According to De Standaard, investigators believe the fingerprint indicates Abdeslam used the flat as a safe house after the attacks, given signs that the apartment had been partially cleaned up, although they do not know how long he stayed there. Belgian media also said this week investigators also now believe that two men controlled the Nov. 13 attacks by sending SMS text messages from Belgium during the evening. Prosecutors appealed to the public for help on Dec. 4 in the hunt for these two men who traveled with Abdeslam to Hungary in September using fake identity cards with the names Samir Bouzid and Soufiane Kayal. Grainy images of their faces are shown on the federal police's website. (http://www.police.be/fed/fr/actualites/353-dossier-terrorisme-a-rechercher) The two, clearly older than the attackers, are believe to have played a pivotal role, according to Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique, in assuring logistics for the operation that was months in the planning. The same false identity of Soufiane Kayal was used to rent a property in the Belgian town of Auvelais that possibly served as a safe house. The other false identity card, for Samir Bouzid, was used four days after the attacks to transfer 750 euros at a Western Union office in Brussels to Hasna Aitboulahcen, who died in a police assault in St Denis on Nov. 18. Separately, federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw warned in an interview on broadcaster VTM late on Thursday that the Jan. 15 anniversary of a foiled attack on Belgian soil could prompt someone to launch an attack in the country. "We know that they opt for symbolic dates although on the other hand no one knows why Charlie Hebdo took place on Jan. 7," he said. (Reporting By Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump invaded Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders home turf of Burlington Thursday evening to rally conservative supporters and make a wisecrack about Sanders long-shot campaign for the Democratic nomination.

Trump at one point gleefully recalled that Sanders allowed two Black Lives Matter activists to interrupt him during a public appearance and take control of the microphone. Oh, would I love to run against Bernie, Trump said, while a crowd of well over 1,400 cheered. It would be a dream come true.

Related: Clinton Facing a Long Fight as Sanders Fundraising Soars

But before the night was out, the high flying Trump got another taste of The Bern. Sanders, the former Burlington mayor, once again lashed out at Trump as a pathological liar and a political handmaiden to millionaires and billionaires like himself.

Noting that he does better in hypothetical general election matchups with Trump than Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, Sanders responded to Trump in a conference call with members of the progressive Democracy for America that it would be a dream come true for me as well and that I would love, love, love to run against Donald Trump.

It's not just this man's arrogance, Sanders said in describing Trumps vulnerability in a general election campaign. It's not just his bigotry. It's not just the demagoguery that he expresses in trying to divide us up -- telling us that Latinos that are coming into this country from Mexico are rapists, criminals, and drug dealers. Or his anti-Muslim tirades. Its that this is a guywho thinks that a $7.25 minimum wage is just fine, we don't have to raise the minimum wage. In a Republican debate, he said that, 'Well, wages in America are just too high.' Well, that's a great shock to millions of people trying to get by on $10 an hour.

Sanders unloaded on Trump last night in a way that Hillary Clinton may not be able to do for a while because of Trumps effective exploitation of former President Bill Clintons impeachment proceedings and past sex scandals.

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Hillary Clinton leads Sanders roughly 2 to 1 in recent national polls, although her lead is much smaller in Iowa and New Hampshire. Nonetheless, Sanders raised considerable campaign contributions last year ($73 million to Clintons $112 million) and he continues to draw large crowds of enthusiastic supporters.

Related: Al Qaeda Is Using Donald Trumps Comments to Recruit Terrorists ... and Hes Ok with That

According to a Dec. 22 Quinnipiac University poll, if the general election were held today, Sanders would beat Trump by 13 points, 51 percent to 38 percent, while Clinton would top Trump by just seven points, 47 percent to 40 percent.

I think we would stand a chance of beating him by more, Sanders told his supporters last night.

This is a guy who thinks that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese in order to impact American manufacturing, Sanders said. Where he comes up with these ideas, I have no idea, but every other day there is one or another absurd idea.

And I have to also say  and I dont like saying this about people, you know there are people who disagree with me that I respect, there are conservatives that I regard as friends, he added. But this guy, I have to say, really is a pathological liar. He just says things that are outrageous  that have no basis in fact.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
La Paz (AFP) - Bolivia and Peru agreed to provide more than $500 million towards cleaning up Lake Titicaca, whose polluted waters are home to some animals nearing extinction, a Bolivian environment official said.

The deal, which is meant to improve the lake's biodiversity, includes environmental management and recovery through to 2025.

Lake Titicaca, which is the highest in the world, at an altitude of 3,800 meters (12,470 feet) above sea level, provides a habitat for a number of frogs, birds and fish, including two species that have almost been wiped out.

Bolivia's Environment and Water Minister Alexandra Moreira and her Peruvian counterpart Manuel Pulgar signed the agreement during a public event.

"For the short term we have a limit of $117 million and for the long term $400 million," said Moreira's advisor Sergio Arispe.

It's a logistical matter we are trying to manage through 2025," he said.

Part of the waste in the lake is generated by the Bolivian city of El Alto, near La Paz, which is home to about 800,000 people.

Peru's minister stressed that the two countries are "already taking concrete actions such as investing in water treatment plants to address the main problems the lake is facing."
New York (AFP) - A British police officer has gone to court in New York, demanding the return of her baby who was given to an LGBT activist foster mother after he was left alone in a hotel.

Louise Fielden, 42, flew to Manhattan last April with now 14-month-old Samuel for a vacation that turned into a nightmare when hotel staff reported her to child services for leaving her baby in her room, according to court papers.

She was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, resisting arrest and possession of a controlled substance, which turned out to be a codeine prescription for her slipped disks.

Her criminal case was thrown out on Monday, and she now demands her son's return to England.

In a suit filed with a US federal court in Brooklyn, Fielden accused the city of unlawfully retaining the child in the United States without her consent.

As a "devout conservative member of the Church of England" she alleged the foster mother, Susan Sena, was an unsuitable care taker because she is a pro-LGBT activist.

Fielden described it as "mind-boggling" that her son's foster mother, whom she said goes by the nickname "Queen Hag," had attended a porno bingo (party) where a gay porn star was a guest of honor.

However a family judge has imposed an order of protection, and Fielden has asked for Samuel to be transferred to the care of a cousin in England while she appeals.

Meanwhile, she says she was forced to fly back to Britain Tuesday and return to work after racking up enormous bills fighting her criminal case, her attorney Andrew Spinnell told AFP.

Samuel, whose father is an anonymous sperm donor from the Netherlands, was born in October 2014 and Fielden, who court documents say had an unblemished police record, took 12 months maternity leave from the Metropolitan Police Service.

In January 2015, mother and child flew to the British West Indies for a three-month vacation then left for New York in April, where they checked into the Chelsea Highline Hotel, according to the suit.

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Fielden said she left the child alone in her room, sleeping in a travel cot, for around 30 minutes while she went downstairs to clean his water bottle.

Hotel staff also alleged that she left him on the floor while she ate her breakfast one foot away, court papers said.

"In my culture, placing a baby in a crib is not considered dangerous," Fielden said in court papers.

"I did not want to hold a beaker with hot water in one hand and a foam cup in the other, and carry Samuel at the same time for fear he might be scalded and burned from the hot water," she said.
LONDON (Reuters) - Two Britons were jailed on Friday after being arrested in Hungary where they were suspected of heading to Syria, in breach of strict travel constraints because they had convictions for terrorism offences. Trevor Brooks, 40, and Simon Keeler, 44, both well-known Islamists, were detained near Hungary's Romanian border in November having left Britain without informing the British authorities six days earlier. They were extradited back to Britain and pleaded guilty the following day to breaching notification requirements under counter-terrorism laws. On Friday, they were sentenced for two years in prison at London's Old Bailey court. "They're yet to give us any indication as to why they left the UK and were traveling across Hungary, although clearly our concern is that they may have been trying to get to Syria," said Detective Chief Superintendent Terri Nicholson. "We will continue to investigate and if we find any evidence of further offences, then we will look to prosecute." Brooks, also known as Abu Izzadeen, is one of Britain's most high-profile radical Islamist preachers, and rose to prominence in 2006 when he publicly heckled the then Home Secretary (interior minister), John Reid, in front of television cameras. He and Keeler were jailed for more than four years in 2008 for raising funds for terrorism and inciting people to fight British and U.S. forces in Iraq. Their jailing comes in a week when Britain's border checks have come in for heavy criticism over the case of a Briton, now suspected of being an Islamic State executioner, who slipped out of the country despite being on police bail after having been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences. Police sent a letter to Siddharta Dhar, suspected of being a masked militant who appears in the latest murder propaganda video from the Islamic State group, asking him to hand over his passport six weeks after he had left for Syria. (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)
Brussels (AFP) - Terror alerts and links to the Paris attacks have given Brussels unwelcome publicity in recent weeks, but tourist chiefs have come up with a solution: call locals direct and ask them whether or not it's safe.

Tourist agency VisitBrussels on Friday set up three yellow outdoor telephone booths at key spots in the Belgian and EU capital to which people from around the world can call and get the scoop.

One of the phones is just metres (yards) from the family home of Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam in the district of Molenbeek, where police have carried out several raids since November.

"You have to come here to Molenbeek to really know what's happening," Molenbeek resident Siham El-Sihan said after marching up to the phone and answering a call from an AFP reporter.

"It's an image that people have without knowing. They're just opinions with no proof. I live here and we are bit like a big family," she said, her conversation caught and broadcast simultaneously online by a nearby camera.

The campaign is to last through Monday with phones at three locations, including the Mont des Arts museum district and the trendy Place Flagey.

Brussels, and the immigrant-strong Molenbeek district in particular, gained worldwide notoriety for being the alleged staging ground for the Paris attacks on November 13 that killed 130 people.

On Friday, Belgian prosecutors said police had found the Brussels flat where bombs used in the Paris attacks could have been made and where key suspect Abdeslam may have hidden.

Brussels itself was put on lockdown a week after the massacre with schools and museums closed on fears of a further attack, a measure that the government this week said cost the Belgian economy 350 million euros.

The city's New Year fireworks were also cancelled over a separate terror alert.

"Over the past weeks, the international media has portrayed Brussels as a war zone that tourists would do well to avoid," VisitBrussels agency said in a statement announcing their call scheme.

"The people of Brussels are proud of their region and are no doubt eager to re-establish the truth regarding the situation in Brussels."
Love wasnt easy for actor Richard Burton and film icon Elizabeth Taylor. The two adulterers made headlines with their infamous fling in 1963, but their affection for each other became scandalous when Taylor followed Burton to Puerto Vallarta  then an off-the-radar fishing village in Mexicos Pacific coast  where he would star in The Night of the Iguana. Taylor pursued their affair and fell so hard for Puerto Vallarta (and Burton), he bought her a hill-perched home where they set to live normal, paparazzi-free lives. Though Taylor sold the home in 1990, history continues to resonate within the walls of their hideaway, which opened as a luxury hotel on December 22.

Tucked away on an unassuming, cobblestone street, Casa Kimberly, Taylors former home, is now an intimate, nine-suite boutique owned by Janice Chatterton, hotelier of nearby celebrity-magnet Hacienda San Angel just two blocks away. Modeled similar to Hacienda, Casa Kimberly is as glamorous as it is palatial and designed to feel timeless with blue-and-white tiled staircases, stone columns, arched doorways, wrap-around terraces and al fresco courtyards with bubbling fountains. All suites and public spaces are adorned with 19th-century antiques, from Italian paintings and horse carriages to a marble statue carved by French sculptor Gustave Deloye. The suites are individually designed, furnished with chandeliers and four-post beds while bathrooms feature high, brick-domed ceilings and claw-foot tubs; two suites  Cleopatra and Velvet  stand out with expansive terraces equipped with jacuzzis that harbor panoramic views of Banderas Bay. The classic, Mexican colonial design details are reimagined from the past homes interior, though Elizabeth Taylors former bedroom  the Elizabeth Taylor suite is closest to original. The pink marble heart-shaped bathtub Taylor personally commissioned from local artisans is the hotels most prized treasure.

Read more How Cabo Is Making a Post-Hurricane Comeback

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Brunson Green, producer of The Help and upcoming A United Kingdom starring Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo, is among the first guests to check in with partner Jason Collins. Casa Kimberly is a touch of old Hollywood glamour tucked away in the Old Town of Puerto Vallarta with breathtaking views of the hillside, Green tells The Hollywood Reporter. Its a great retreat.

Casa Kimberly is split between two adjacent casitas connected by a bridge Taylor and Burton modeled after The Bridge of Sighs in Venice. The smaller casita features an outdoor pool where Taylor and Burton swam and entertained famous friends, while the main casita is home to The Iguana, the signature fine-dining restaurant serving contemporary Mexican cuisine. The al fresco tequila bar with antique mirror barback offers more than 100 tequilas with a resident tequila expert. Suites start at $435; Elizabeth Taylor suite from $825. For reservations and more information, visit: www.casakimberly.com

Interior shots of the Elizabeth Taylor suite at Casa Kimberly

Beyond Burton and Taylor, however, the balmy beach town of Puerto Vallarta has cast a spell on A-listers. Its now chock-full of luxury resorts and private villas to pander to their whim. Eva Longoria and Mario Lopez vacation at Garza Blanca Preserve Resort (suites from $385, www.garzablancaresort.com), a secluded all-inclusive resort that straddles jungle and beach. The rising number of new boutiques (like Casa Kimberly) have also been drawing attention. Stars like Angelica Huston have shacked up at Rivera del Rio (suites from $359, www.riveradelrio.com), a whimsical, eight-room property in Old Town and decades deep with Hollywood ties. Since the 1970s, the former private home hosted Hollywood actors and crew for films (including Predator, Revenge, Gunmen) before established as a hotel in 2012. Owner Alexander James Andriadis Killen says: I remember when they were filming Gunmen in our house and watching Mario Van Peebles blow up our kitchen. I also remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger first walked into our home during the filming of Predator. I was scared that the Terminator was in our house that I ran away crying. Having lived on set for 32 years and grandfathered into Hollywood, Alex has become a valuable source in town for the A-list who continue to flock over. Hollywood still lives on in Puerto Vallarta.

Read more Which States House Hollywood's A-List Vacation Homes?

Rivera del Rio

Most Puerto Vallarta-bound celebrities also vacation in Punta Mita, a tony resort community just 40 minutes from Puerto Vallarta International Airport. Famous faces like Kate Hudson shack up at Four Seasons Punta Mita (which recently debuted a new beach club with beach shack bar). The five-star property is home to private villa residences equipped with infinity pools (with adjustable temperatures), personal chefs and tantalizing views of the sea (www.fourseasons.com/puntamita, three-bedroom, ocean-view residence from $5,100 per night). The five-bedroom, beachfront presidential Coral Suite starts at $23,000 per night. Honeymooners like Kim Kardashian and Kanye West and Lance Bass and Michael Turchin continue to swoon over Casa Aramara ($17,000 per night, www.casaaramara.com), the famed private residence owned by Joe Francis, and Gwyneth Paltrow has checked into Casa China Blanca ($1,700 per night, www.casachinablanca.com), a 10,000-square-foot, five-bedroom and fully staffed sanctuary that has been featured in blockbuster films Limitless and Elysium. Casa De Mita ($750 per night, www.casademita.com), an intimate, hacienda-style, eight-room boutique right on a virtually deserted unspoiled beach, is Punta Mitas best-kept secret.

The living area in a private villa at The Four Seasons Punta Mita
When Hurricane Odile hit Mexico's Baja peninsula in the fall of 2014, luxury resort Esperanza (where Barack Obama and Barbra Streisand have stayed) escorted 160 guests to the California border via buses. In San Diego, they were greeted by resort handlers, who helped with arrangements to get them home. Not everyone was so lucky: More than 30,000 tourists were stranded in Los Cabos when the Category 3 hurricane hit. Odile dealt $225 million worth of devastation to Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, but especially to The Corridor, a 20-mile stretch of beachfront lined with Hollywood vacation magnets like Esperanza, Marquis Los Cabos, One&Only Palmilla and Las Ventanas al Paraiso. One year later, all are back, many sporting new private villas, deluxe amenities and chef-driven restaurants. Several resorts have debuted in time for the (relatively) crime-free winter travel season, when Cabo temperatures hover in the mid-70s  similar to L.A. but still a desirable and easy getaway with four 2 1/2-hour flights daily from LAX on American and Alaska airlines.

Read more After Cabo, Hollywood's Next Big Mexico Destination

The Cape, a Thompson hotel, was the first new property to open in Cabo. The vibe is midcentury modern meets Mexico, with leather and rich fabrics. The Hills' Whitney Port held her bachelorette party here, and David Arquette was one of the first guests. "Perched above one of Cabo's great surfing breaks," said Arquette in an email to THR, "I found it endlessly relaxing sitting in the infinity pool and watching the surfers for hours." Situated on famed Monument Beach, 161 suites (from $599) have views of the Sea of Cortez and The Arch rock formation. The most coveted panoramic two-story villa is Surfer Villa with a pergola, sauna and full kitchen (from $10,000). Don't miss Manta, a modern Mexican restaurant from chef Enrique Olvera of New York's famed Cosme. Hit The Glass Box, an all-window lounge, at sunset.

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The specialty at Ganzo Downstairs, one of three restaurants at Hotel el Ganzo: tlocoyo de pollo, chicken cooked in corn milk with cactus slices.

The Olson Kundig-designed, five- star beachfront JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort & Spa debuted in time for the Los Cabos International Film Festival in November. Ocean views from 299 rooms (from $460), a modern- day temazcal (sweat lodge) and chef Thierry Blouet's Cafe des Artistes are highlights. The Griffin Club, a 45-room boutique hotel within the resort, offers the most privacy with its own beach, pool, butler and chef and movie theater (from $640).

Favored by UTA's Jay Sures and Jennifer Aniston, Las Ventanas al Paraiso features oceanfront villas with their own infinity pools, spas and hosts (rooms from $880; villas from $4,500). Most impressive: a sand artist who writes personal messages on your private beach. The restaurants now feature traditional Mexican fare like barbacoa and other wood-fired dishes. Go offshore in the resort's new yacht.

Panoramic suites at The Cape offer hanging daybeds on private terraces and plunge pools.

Fans Oprah Winfrey and Eva Longoria will approve of post-Odile upgrades at the One&Only Palmilla, which boasts one of the only swimmable stretches along The Corridor. Rehabbed ocean-facing rooms and suites (from $725) and Jean-Georges Vongerichten's new steakhouse, Seared, debuted in April. The four- bedroom Villa One  with a glass-edged infinity pool, screening theater and butler  opened Dec. 26 (from $11,000). For a jaw-dropping dinner for 12, concierge Melissa Schwartz of Destination Happiness recommends "Larbi's Table," a carved-granite banquette overlooking the ocean with a seafood meal by executive chef Larbi Dahrouch.

The rock walls that envelop the cliffside Resort at Pedregal's 66 rooms (from $775) induced Jared Leto to climb them in November. El Farallon restaurant still has waves crashing at its feet, but now a palapa champagne bar serves an excellent sea salt and bubbly flight.

At the base of Puerto Los Cabos marina, Hotel el Ganzo, where Adam Levine's wedding guests stayed in July 2014, required a full year of repairs after Odile. Now the 69-room boho-chic resort is back with sprawling suites, rooftop lounge, restaurants and a recording studio with musicians- in-residence (from $325). Still to come in 2017: The Ritz-Carlton, Starwood's Solaz Montage, Nobu Hotel Los Cabos and the Hard Rock Hotel.

Read more Which States House Hollywood's A-List Vacation Homes?

***

Elizabeth Taylor's Love Nest

The Puerta Vallarta hill-perched hideaway Richard Burton bought for Elizabeth Taylor in 1963 opened Dec. 22 as a palatial nine-suite boutique luxury hotel. Casa Kimberly features blue-tiled staircases, 19th century art and antiques and individually designed, chandeliered suites (from $435). The Cleopatra and Velvet suites stand out with Jacuzzi-dotted terraces and panoramic views of Banderas Bay. Brunson Green, producer of The Help and A United Kingdom, starring Rosamund Pike, was among the first guests and described the spot to THR during his stay as "a touch of old Hollywood glamour tucked away in the Old Town with breathtaking views of the hillside."  Jimmy Im

Casa Kimberly suite bathrooms have high, brick-domed ceilings.

This story first appeared in the Jan. 15 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian tribunal has rejected a claim for refugee status from an African-American man who said he feared persecution and police abuse in the United States based on his race, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada said on Friday.

While saying he did find Kyle Lydell Canty to have a genuine fear of returning to his home country, adjudicator Ron Yamauchi said that was not enough to grant asylum.

A string of shootings of black men by U.S. police over the past 18 months have led to widespread protests and the issue has fueled a civil rights movement under the name Black Lives Matter.

"The Act does not protect claimants from every form of ill-treatment, suffering, and hardship," he wrote in the decision, dated Dec. 3. "It is addressed at situations of persecution, which is serious harm, an interference with a basic human right."

He added: "There are no substantial grounds to believe that his removal to the United States of America would subject him personally to a danger of torture."

Canty filed for asylum in September after coming to Canada as a tourist.

It was not immediately possible to ascertain Canty's whereabouts. He has the right to appeal the decision.

"If I receive a negative decision of my asylum application, I'm already 10 moves ahead as far as my appeal process goes," Canty wrote in November. "The United States government is always murdering, undermining and underestimating its black citizens  and I have no intention of going back."

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Sandra Maler)
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian LONDON (Reuters) - Lesbian romance "Carol" and Cold War drama "Bridge of Spies" led the running for Britain's British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards on Friday, securing nine nominations each. "Carol", starring Cate Blanchett as a married woman who falls for a shop assistant (Rooney Mara) in 1950s New York has won critical acclaim since premiering at May's Cannes Film Festival. Its BAFTA nods include leading actress for Blanchett, supporting actress for Mara, best film, adapted screenplay, cinematography, costume design, make up and hair, production design as well as honors for director for Todd Haynes. "Bridge of Spies", which stars Tom Hanks as a lawyer negotiating the release of a U.S. pilot held captive by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, won a nomination for director Steven Spielberg as well as for best film. Mark Rylance was nominated for supporting actor and the drama is also in the running for original screenplay, sound, cinematography, original music, editing and production design. "The Revenant", in which a bear attack sparks a quest for revenge, earned eight nominations, including best film, leading actor for Leonardo DiCaprio and best director for Alejandro G. Inarritu, last year's Academy Award winner for "Birdman". "The Revenant" also garnered nominations for original music, cinematography, editing, sound as well as make up and hair. Action adventure "Mad Max: Fury Road" earned seven nominations - cinematography, editing, sound, special visual effects, costume design, production design and make up and hair. Irish immigrant story "Brooklyn" got six nominations, including outstanding British film, adapted screenplay and Saoirse Ronan up for leading actress. Space adventure "The Martian" was also nominated six times, with Ridley Scott for director and Matt Damon as leading actor. Financial misdeeds comedy "The Big Short" took five nominations including best film, adapted screenplay, editing, director for Adam McKay and supporting actor for Christian Bale. Last year's BAFTA leading actor winner Eddie Redmayne is in the running for his role in transgender movie "The Danish Girl", which was nominated for outstanding British film. Co-star Alicia Vikander will compete in the leading actress category. Vikander was also named in the supporting actress category for "Ex Machina", also nominated for outstanding British film. "Spotlight", a film about the investigation into Catholic Church abuse, completed the nominations for best film, and earned nods for original screenplay and supporting actor for Mark Ruffalo. Other nominees in the leading actor category included Bryan Cranston in "Trumbo" and Michael Fassbender in "Steve Jobs". The Apple co-founder biopic received nominations for Kate Winslet as supporting actress and for adapted screenplay. Completing the leading actress nominations were Brie Larson for "Room" and Maggie Smith for "The Lady in the Van". Sci-fi blockbuster "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will compete for original music, sound, production design and special visual effects. Other outstanding British film nominees include "45 years", "Amy" and "The Lobster". Winners will be announced at the BAFTA awards ceremony in London on Feb 14. (Reporting By Marie-Louise Gumuchian Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
China's short-lived stock circuit breaker, scrapped after only four days, demonstrates the Communist Party's enduring distrust of the markets and its instinct to intervene, analysts said Friday.

The mechanism -- which halted trading on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges if shares moved sharply -- was originally aimed at limiting volatility, but it had the opposite effect, causing investors to panic and send the markets down.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission, the market watchdog, abruptly announced late on Thursday that the circuit breaker would be suspended because of a "negative" effect.

With global worries rife over China's slowing economy, the market and policy chaos, coupled with a creeping depreciation in the currency, have given investors worldwide an unsettling reminder of last year.

Then, stocks collapsed as a debt-fuelled bubble burst prompting an unprecedented government bail-out, and authorities launched a shock devaluation of the yuan.

"The government's good intentions went awry," Haitong Securities analyst Zhang Qi told AFP of the circuit breaker.

"There was controversy about the policy from the beginning," he said, adding: "It's not clear whether regulators tested the system and compared it with foreign practices before implementation."

Other global bourses, such as New York, have circuit breaker mechanisms, but their triggers are generally set far higher than China's -- which is a 15-minute trading halt for a five percent rise or fall, and an end to the day's trading for a seven percent move.

That happened twice in the four days it was in place.

The Asian giant's exchanges were already notoriously volatile, and analysts say circuit breakers work better in mature markets.

With most Chinese traders being individual investors, the market halts caused them to rush for the exits to avoid being caught in a larger fall.

"The mechanism should have never been put in place to begin with. From the get-go it appeared ill-conceived," Gordon Chang, an author and independent commentator, told AFP.

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- Stronger state control -

Individual stocks have been limited to rising or falling 10 percent a day for almost 20 years in China.

Analysts said the very idea of a circuit breaker was another sign policymakers were reluctant to let market forces set the true level of share prices -- worried that a collapse could spark social unrest and hurt the real economy.

"What they are actually doing is strengthening the state across the board," said Fraser Howie, co-author of "Red Capitalism: The Fragile Financial Foundation of China's Extraordinary Rise".

"Reform isn't coming. There is no plan for markets as a decisive role," he told AFP, alluding to a 2013 pledge by the Communist Party.

Last year's rescue package was textbook heavy-handed state interventionism: regulators barred major shareholders from selling, allowed hundreds of companies to freeze trading in their stock and funded a "national team" to buy for the government, at a cost estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

"Beijing has its work cut out to salvage its reputation for competent economic management," said Tom Rafferty, lead analyst for China of the Economist Intelligence Unit.

"The authorities staked a huge amount on propping (up) the markets in mid-2015 -- an unwise decision given stocks appeared grossly overvalued -- and we are now seeing the situation unravel again," he said in a statement.

Shanghai shares closed up nearly two percent on Friday after swinging in and out of negative territory.

- 'Botched communication' -

This week's stock gyrations have come as the central bank guided the yuan currency down, setting its daily fix lower for eight sessions, representing a 1.4 percent fall, before a slight reversal on Friday.

One analyst called the move a "drip-feed devaluation" which was raising worries over China's slowing economy, bigger capital outflows and the threat of a currency war.

In August last year, the central bank moved the yuan down nearly five percent over a week, saying the drop was a result of reforms aimed at making the unit more flexible.

"There is certainly a sense that the situation is spiralling out of control," chief Asia economist for Capital Economics, Mark Williams, said in reference to the currency.

He believes China is seeking stability for the yuan, but will likely have to intervene to convince the market that the currency is not just a one-way bet to fall.

"The PBoC (People's Bank of China) hopes to keep the renminbi broadly stable... but has botched communication of its policy," Williams said in a research note.
SHANGHAI/HONGKONG (Reuters) - China's foreign exchange regulator has ordered banks in some of the country's major import and export centers to limit purchases of U.S. dollars this month, three people with direct knowledge said on Friday, in the latest attempt to stem capital outflows.

The move comes as China reported its biggest annual drop in foreign exchange reserves on record in 2015, while the central bank has allowed a sharp slide in the yuan currency to multi-year lows, raising fears of more capital flight and panicking global markets.

The price spread between the onshore and offshore markets for the yuan, or renminbi, has been growing since China's surprise devaluation last August, spurring Beijing to adopt a range of measures to curb outflows of capital.

All banks in certain trading hubs, including Shenzhen, received the regulator's order recently, the people added. They declined to be identified because they are not allowed to speak to the media.

"It will have some impact, because it is a form of control, but at the moment the limit doesn't seem very restrictive so unless they extend the period of the limit, it's unlikely to change volumes over the whole year," said a senior banker in the foreign exchange department of a foreign bank.

"It's just to stop panic buying this month," the banker added.

The total amount of U.S. dollars sold to clients in January for a bank in one of these hubs cannot exceed the amount sold in December, according to the people.

"They have asked us to limit our purchase amount and there are targets, but it mainly relates to institutions and enterprises, there is no change to the policy on individuals," said one person.

Officials at State Administration of Foreign Exchange did not immediately respond to comment.

China suspended forex business for some foreign banks, including Deutsche, DBS and Standard Chartered at the end of last year.

(Reporting by Shanghai and Hong Kong newsrooms; Writing by Engen Tham; Editing by Kazunori Takada & Kim Coghill)
Tripoli (AFP) - The Islamic State group has claimed a deadly suicide bombing at a checkpoint in Libya's oil heartland, as EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini seeks to shore up support for a unity government.

Fears that the jihadists are establishing a new stronghold on Europe's doorstep have added urgency to efforts to bring together warring factions in a country beset by years of turmoil.

IS's Libya branch released a statement saying that Thursday's attack in Ras Lanouf, east of its coastal bastion of Sirte, was carried out by a foreign fighter using an explosives-packed car.

Six people, including a baby, were killed, according to Libya's Red Crescent.

Another suicide bomber on Thursday attacked a police training school in Zliten, west of Tripoli, killing more than 50 people, a security source said.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for that blast, which left buildings charred and turned cars into twisted black wrecks.

It was the deadliest attack since the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

- 'Unity best way' -

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Libya's rival parliaments to throw their support behind a disputed national unity government deal.

"These criminal acts serve as a strong reminder of the urgency to implement the Libyan political agreement and form a government of national accord," he said, referring to the suicide bombings.

"Unity is the best way for Libyans to confront terrorism in all its forms."

Mogherini was due to hold talks in Tunis on Friday with Libyan politicians including Fayez al-Sarraj, who was named in the UN-brokered national unity deal as prime minister designate.

The agreement was signed last month by a minority of lawmakers but has yet to win the full support of the two legislatures.

The heads of the parliaments have warned that the deal has no legitimacy and that the politicians signing the agreement represented only themselves.

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On Thursday Mogherini urged Libyans to back the unity deal.

"The people of Libya deserve peace and security and... they have a great opportunity to set aside their divisions and work together, united, against the terrorist threat facing their country," she said.

A unity government "will also help preserve Libya's resources, defeat terrorists that want to undermine Libya's prosperity, and restore stability and security throughout the country," she added.

IS has been expanding its foothold in Libya, exploiting the instability that has gripped the country since the 2011 uprising.

The turmoil has also led to Libya's rise as a stepping stone for migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.

On Monday IS launched an offensive against the oil terminals in Ras Lanouf and nearby Al-Sidra, after trying for weeks to push east from Sirte.

The terminals are located in the so-called "oil crescent" along the northern coast, and officials have warned that the already crumbling Libyan state could be paralysed if the jihadists seize control of oil resources.

Libya has had rival parliaments and administrations since August 2014, when an Islamist-backed militia alliance overran Tripoli, forcing the government to take refuge in the east.

Calls have been growing for a possible foreign military intervention to bring stability and contain IS, which is reported to have at least 3,000 fighters in Libya.

In a report to the UN Security Council in November, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that IS was responsible for at least 27 car and suicide bombings in Libya in 2015.

The group claimed responsibility for suicide car bombings in the eastern town of Al-Qoba in February that killed at least 40 people.
By Joseph Nasr COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) - The heavy police presence outside Cologne's Gothic cathedral is not enough to make 16-year-old Lisa Elsner feel safe going out in a city-center still reeling from mass assaults on women on New Year's Eve. "Not alone, and certainly not at night," she said, her father nodding in agreement beside her. They are sitting at a cafe just outside the main train station, which lies in the shadow of the twin-spired cathedral and was the scene of much of last week's violence, in which 121 women are reported to have been robbed, threatened or sexually molested by gangs of men, many of them foreigners. The area is a bustling hub not only for many of Cologne's 1.2 million people but also for the tourists seeking out its historic sights, and the thousands of revelers due in town for days of raucous Rhineland carnival - now just four weeks away. On Friday, the city's police chief was relieved of his duties after criticism that the force had been too slow to deal with the attackers. But as well as raising questions about policing, the attacks have triggered a furious debate about Chancellor Angela Merkel's immigration policy, which saw 1.1 million asylum seekers come to Germany last year, the bulk of them from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. The German Interior Ministry said on Friday that, out of 32 suspects identified so far, 27 were from North Africa or the Middle East, and 22 were seeking asylum. "IT'S JUST TOO MUCH" Shawn Barsohn, 17, said he blamed Merkel for the incident. "She let in too many and now she has to see that it is just too much," he said, as a large Christmas tree was dismantled on the square in front of the station. Barsohn's friend Maryam Dweiri, 13, agreed: "She is not in control of the refugee crisis ... When I walk here at night, I feel anxious." Their concerns are shared by many of the refugees who have recently come to Germany. Syrian Kurdish cousins Kasedli and Majed Hassan, who arrived four months ago and live in a shelter for asylum seekers an hour's drive from Cologne, fear that the attacks will erode German compassion for the refugees. "Germany welcomed us here like no other country. Not even Arab countries want us," said Majed, 27. Kasedli added: "For those guys to do what they did is shameful. Even if they had been sober, they should not have behaved like this. It is totally barbaric." The cousins decided to visit Cologne after reading about the attacks in Arab media; the subject now commands their attention more than the war back home. Huda, an Iraqi mother who made it to Germany two months ago and was seeking directions to a Turkish women's clothing store with her teenage daughter, was more blunt: "They are abusing the freedom they have here in Germany. They are bastards, not Muslims." But Reinhard Zoellner, mayor of the poor district of Chorweiler, where high-rise blocks built in the 1960s are home to migrants from 120 countries, said he had noticed no outward tension in his area since the attacks. Like many German cities, Cologne has a significant Turkish population dating back to an influx of 'guest workers' in the 1960s and 70s. MULTI-CULTURAL CITY "We are very multi-cultural, we are very tolerant," he said. "Such events won't change that." He said the key to preventing such attacks in the future was integration of the immigrants. At the modest Abu Bakr mosque, in a working class neighborhood some 3 km (2 miles) north of the cathedral, young Arab men, mainly from North Africa, spoke of their fear that Germans will put the attacks down to general disrespect for women among Muslim and Arab men. "I understand why they think that. I am German, I was born here," said Yakup, a bearded 22-year-old computer science student at the University of Cologne, who declined to give his family name. "My religion teaches me to think with my heart. So my advice is: 'Let's not blame the whole group for the actions of a few'." Sitting in his office before Friday's sermon, imam Moutawalli Moussa was still angry about the incident. "I condemn it in the strongest terms," he said. "Islam forbids men from setting their gaze on women, especially if they are not covered." But he also said police had been too slow to react - and that Merkel was partly to blame for the situation. "They took in more than they can handle," he said. "Where will they house all the people?" (Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Berlin (AFP) - The police chief of the German city of Cologne was suspended Friday for failing to stop mob violence at New Year's Eve celebrations, as authorities said many suspects were asylum seekers.

Unsettled by a record refugee influx, Germany has reacted with shock to news that women had to run a gauntlet of groping, lewd insults and thefts in an aggressive and drunken crush of around 1,000 men, described by witnesses as mostly of Arab and North African appearance.

Cologne's police chief Wolfgang Albers, 60, was suspended from active duty in order to "restore public confidence" in the police force, said Ralf Jaeger, interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.

Albers had come under intense pressure -- both for failing to stop the attacks, and for downplaying the true extent of the chaos, which only hit national headlines four days later.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere had fumed that "police cannot work this way".

Having initially reported a "peaceful" night, Cologne police were slow to unveil the true extent of the carnage, as well as the politically charged fact that the hostile crowd was made up mostly of migrants.

By Friday, with more women coming forward, city police had received over 200 criminal complaints, mostly over sexual offences from groping to two alleged rapes, Spiegel Online reported.

As the furore grew, Chancellor Angela Merkel said she backed legal changes to make it easier to deport migrants who commit crimes, saying it was time to ask: "When do you lose your right to stay with us?"

- Popular anger -

A week after the assaults outside Cologne railway station and iconic Gothic cathedral, federal police said they had identified 31 suspects over offences from theft to physical attacks, though not sexual assaults.

Eighteen of them were asylum seekers, the interior ministry said.

Among the suspects were nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, one Iraqi and one Serb, as well as two Germans and one US national, ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said.

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Outrage resonated beyond Germany, with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, a hardliner on the migrant issue, calling for an extraordinary EU summit on the historic refugee wave.

Politicians were continuing "to trivialise -- even after the attacks in Cologne and other European cities -- the security risks associated with unregulated and uncontrolled migration within the EU," he said.

In Germany, assaults have inflamed a heated public debate about how to integrate the nearly 1.1 million asylum seekers the country took in last year.

Right-wing populists have charged that Merkel's liberal migration policy has fuelled crime and destabilised society.

The anti-migrant and Islamophobic PEGIDA movement has announced a rally in Cologne at 1300 GMT on Saturday.

Police expect around 1,000 backers of PEGIDA and the local far-right group Pro NRW, while counter-demonstrators have also vowed to take to the streets.

On Friday, Swiss artist Milo Moire threw off her clothes in front of Cologne's cathedral in protest against the sexual assaults, carrying a sign that read "Respect us! We are no fair game even when we are naked!!!"

- Tougher deportation law? -

Merkel's spokesman George Streiter said it was "important that the whole truth comes out", but also warned that migrants must not be put under general suspicion or collectively blamed.

"Primarily, this is not about refugees but about criminality," he said, noting that most asylum seekers in Germany have come seeking protection.

Still, the assaults have fuelled popular doubts about the biggest influx of asylum seekers to any EU nation and led German leaders to promise to better enforce law and order.

"We must do everything to prevent such incidents from happening again," de Maiziere told the Rheinische Post daily, pledging "more CCTV cameras in places where many people gather, a heightened (police) presence on the streets and harsher penalties".

Merkel's conservative party plans to discuss tougher policies this weekend, including the deportation of all migrants handed jail sentences by German courts.

Under current laws, asylum seekers are only forcibly sent back if they have been sentenced to jail terms of at least three years, and if their lives are not at risk in their countries of origin.

"We should ask ourselves whether it might be necessary to take (the right to remain in Germany) away earlier -- and I have to say that for me, we must take it away sooner," Merkel said.
The restoration of US-Cuba relations announced in late 2014 has given Hollywood studios food for thought, with a whole island full of potential new filming locations just waiting to be discovered. In fact, Variety reports that Universal is considering filming part of "Fast and Furious 8" in Cuba this spring.

With a US economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba in place since 1962, no American movie has been filmed on the island for 50 years. Now that the two former Cold War enemies' frosty relationship has thawed, Cuba seems to have piqued the interest of Hollywood studios with the beauty and diversity of its landscapes.

Universal has apparently started scouting the island for potential locations for a major scene from the upcoming "Fast and Furious" movie. Always on the lookout for exotic locations -- with Abu Dhabi, Rio and Japan seen in previous instalments of the hit movie series -- the production team has reportedly picked Havana for the future film, alongside Russia and Iceland. Plus, Cuba would have the huge advantage of appealing to the Hispanic audience of the "Fast and Furious" franchise.

A big Hollywood movie filming on the island could open the door to more potential productions. For half a century, producers and directors have had no choice but to respect the embargo, filming movies or scenes supposedly set in Cuba in the Dominican Republic or Uruguay. Showtime has already announced that the final episode in the next season of "House of Lies" will be filmed in Havana, directed by Helen Hunt. This marks a historic first for a TV series.

In 2014, American director Bob Yari managed to shoot his Ernest Hemingway biopic, "Papa", on the island, but only after a difficult process obtaining all the necessary authorizations. Last year, comedian and talk-show host Conan O'Brien took his "Conan" show to Havana for a special episode aired on American TV in March.

Cuba could become a hot new spot for movie-makers, joining ranks with Toronto, Hawaii and Eastern Europe, which have all been boosted by attractive tax incentives for studios.
Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Campaigning for the second round of Haiti's presidential election opened Friday, with the opposition candidate refusing to participate without sweeping reforms to the process.

Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, has endured years of political crisis aggravated by its attempt to recover from the massive January 2010 earthquake that claimed some 200,000 lives.

Candidate Jude Celestin "will not launch his campaign and will not participate in the January 24 voting" until recommendations that an independent electoral commission presented earlier are fully implemented, his campaign spokesman Augustin Jinaud told AFP.

Celestin, the runner-up in Haiti's first-round vote in October, had earlier refused to campaign until an independent electoral commission was established to study voting problems.

That commission issued a series of recommendations that included an end to voting in private homes and the use of indelible ink on voter's thumb to prevent multiple voting. Not all of the recommended measures have been implemented.

President Michel Martelly "has not held elections in five years and now he urges us to join in this electoral masquerade, which we cannot condone," Jinaud said.

Meanwhile Celestin's government-backed rival, Jovenel Moise, was out campaigning Friday in the affluent Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville.

"An election belongs to the people and we must work for their confidence," Moise told AFP. "My strategy is to go out and make contact with the population, walk with it, talk with the public.

"But in my opinion, (Celestin) is also campaigning, because he has gone back and forth across the country," Moise said.

- "Electoral coup" -

In the October 25 first-round election, Moise drew 32.8 percent of the vote against 25.3 percent for Celestin, who dismissed the results as a "ridiculous farce."

The contested result sparked angry and sometimes violent street protests, with several opposition candidates sharply criticizing the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).

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Meanwhile, the second-round vote was delayed from December 27 to January 24.

In its report the independent commission said that the first round of voting was marred by fraud and irregularities, and said that 60 percent of poll workers could not do their jobs properly.

Noting that some Electoral Council members have been accused of corruption, the commission added that the CEP "is not listening to the Haitian people, for whom it works."

Several hundred opposition supporters marched Friday in Port-au-Prince against what they said was "an electoral coup" and called for "civil disobedience."

The march ended outside parliament, which is scheduled to reconvene on Monday.

- 'We reaffirm our commitment' -

The international community, which has largely bankrolled the elections, has called for the process to continue.

Washington renewed its support for the process after Thomas Shannon, a counselor to the State Department, visited Haiti on Wednesday and Thursday.

"We reaffirm our commitment to working with the Provisional Electoral Council and Haiti's international partners in support of fair, credible and secure elections that reflect the will of the Haitian people," said State Department spokesman John Kirby.

"The United States looks forward to working with the next democratically elected government on the numerous challenges facing Haiti," the Thursday statement read.

Organization of American States vote observers said that, despite irregularities, the information it had was consistent "with the final results presented by the CEP in terms of which two candidates go to the run-off."

The observers urged Haitians to participate in the January vote.

Only 26 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in October, and many expect a low voter turnout on January 24.

Meanwhile one diplomat who declined to give his name warned of an "immense crisis" that will result with the election of "a president and a government that will have only very weak credibility, and will thus be contested in the streets."
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark is amending a proposal to confiscate refugees' possessions to pay for their stay by raising the amount they will be allowed to keep after coming under fire from the United Nations refugee agency over its immigration policies. Immigration Minister Inger Stojberg told local news agency Ritzau on Friday that the amount refugees would be able to keep has been increased to 10,000 Danish crowns ($1,460) from the previously proposed 3,000 crowns. Several organizations, including the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) have censured the Nordic country for the proposal as well as others that will delay family reunification and make acquiring refugee and residence status more difficult. Stojberg emphasized personal items with sentimental significance such as wedding rings and basics such as mobile phones and watches would not be confiscated under amendments to the immigration laws, which parliament has to pass. "This is about the fact that we have a principle in Denmark that if one can support oneself, one has to support oneself. This should also apply to asylum seekers, as it applies to Danes who have lived here their whole lives," she told Ritzau. "There have been doubts as to whether one could be allowed to keep a wedding ring. And of course you can keep an ordinary wedding ring when you come to Denmark," she said. Denmark imposed temporary border checks with Germany last week after Sweden, the final destination of many migrants passing through Denmark after a long and dangerous journey from the Middle East and Africa, did the same. In a letter sent by the ministry to the European Commission to explain border checks, it said 91,000 migrants had passed through Denmark since September last year, with just 13,000 of those claiming asylum. Most moved on. The UNHCR said on Thursday Danish immigration policy changes were "a deeply concerning response to humanitarian needs" and that taking away refugees' possessions was "an affront to their dignity". It said the new policies could send a "worrisome" signal and "fuel fear, xenophobia and similar restrictions". ($1 = 6.8517 Danish crowns) (Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
With climate change promising to continue to make extreme weather events more regular occurrences, many agricultural researchers are looking at how tomorrows natural disasters might affect the global food supply chain. Until Wednesday, however, researchers did not have a thorough understanding of how the weather has disrupted past harvests. Now, a paper published in the journal Nature shows how 2,800 weather disasters that occurred between 1864 and 2007 affected yields of 16 cereal crops in 177 countries.

The research shows that drought and high heat resulted in the largest loss of crops, with such disasters causing an average drop in national production of 9 to 10 percent. When looking at yield numbers from the United Nations and cross-referencing them with global weather records, the researchers could not identify an effect from floods and extreme cold. That finding seems odd in light of the crop-yield damages caused by past floods, such as when historically high waters washed across the American corn belt in 1993, cutting corn production by nearly 30 percent.

While that 10 percent loss is a dramatic number, the decline in yields can be 8 to 11 percent higher in some countries, according to the study. Both the disparity and the regions where the losses were dramatically highernamely, the developed worldsurprised the researchers.

The bigger hit experienced by farmers in a country like the United States versus, say, one in sub-Saharan Africa may be because of the industrial scale of American cereal production. Across the breadbaskets of North America, for example, the crops and methods of farming are very uniform across huge areas, so if a drought hits in a way that is damaging to those crops, they will all suffer, Corey Lesk, a coauthor of the paper, told Science Daily.

Forward-looking research suggests that the opposite will be true, with droughts and other climate changecaused weather disasters hitting poorer parts of the world much harder than they will the United States, Europe, and other developed countries. But the resiliency such nations have shown in the past in the face of weather-related disasters may, perhaps, be a silver lining.

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 Your Carbon Emissions May End Up Starving Poor People in Africa

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Original article from TakePart
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's minister of religious endowments has warned against holding protests during the anniversary of the uprising that ended President Hosni Mubarak's rule, the state news agency said, and suggested any unrest would violate Islamic law. Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said during a meeting with officials in his ministry that maintaining stability and security is a priority. He referred to a statement from Egypt's Grand Mufti, the country's highest religious authority, which said that any call for protests or destruction "is a full crime and illegal according to Islamic Sharia law", said MENA state news agency. The uprising, which started on Jan. 25, 2011 and lasted 18 days, had raised hopes of a new era of democracy and greater economic opportunities in a country long dominated by men from the military and business and political elites who support them. Instead it triggered turmoil and instability which hurt the economy, and the political landscape resembles the past. Egypt has been cracking down hard on dissent since then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled the country's first freely elected president, Islamist Mohamed Mursi, following mass protests against his rule in 2013. Under Sisi's rule, protesting without police permission is illegal. Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, has called for mass protests against Sisi on Jan. 25, but it no longer seems capable of getting large numbers onto the streets. The Brotherhood says it is committed to peaceful activism. Human rights groups have accused Sisi, who went on to be elected president, and his government of widespread abuses, including detentions of about 40,000 political prisoners and torture, allegations it denies. Egypt says the Brotherhood and other groups such as Islamic State are an existential threat and decisive action is needed to defeat them. While the toughest crackdown on Islamists in Egypt's history has weakened the Brotherhood, it has failed to break the back of militants waging an insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula. Militants have stepped up attacks on soldiers and police since Mursi's fall, killing hundreds in what authorities call acts of terrorism. (Reporting by Mostafa Hashem; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Mexico City (AFP) - With his daring underground escapes and ability to sneak narcotics under the US-Mexico border, Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman earned a new nickname: "The Lord of Tunnels."

But Guzman's latest cat-and-mouse game with the authorities reached the end of the tunnel on Friday when he was recaptured by marines on his home turf in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, President Enrique Pena Nieto declaring triumphantly: "Mission accomplished."

Before that, the man whose old nickname means "Shorty" had used the money from a drug empire whose tentacles reach Europe and Asia to dig himself out of trouble again and again.

The bathtub in one of his houses opened into an escape route through drainage systems that he used to flee from troops in early 2014, and he repeated the act last year from a maximum-security prison.

US and Mexican authorities have regularly discovered sophisticated tunnels with rails and electricity used to ship marijuana, cocaine and other drugs into the United States, with cash and weapons coming the other way.

- Folk legend -

The 58-year-old Sinaloa drug cartel leader's legend soared after he humiliated authorities by escaping prison in his most ambitious tunnel yet.

On July 11, 2015, after just 17 months at the Altiplano prison in central Mexico, Guzman slipped through a hole in his cell's shower, climbed on a motorcycle mounted on rails, and traveled 1.5 kilometers (one mile) through the tunnel.

US and Mexican law enforcement officials say Guzman then flew to his home patch on the Sinaloa-Durango state border because he is revered as a modern-day Robin Hood in the region. His octogenarian mother still lives in his village of La Tuna.

Marines nearly captured him in October in a remote mountain region. Authorities said Guzman injured his face and a leg while falling in the rough terrain, but special forces failed to nab him.

AFP journalists who visited the area weeks after the operation found bullet-riddled homes and cars. Residents said military helicopters fired on the community during the operation, prompting hundreds to flee.

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Guzman had been previously captured on February 22, 2014, in the Sinaloa resort of Mazatlan. He was found in a condo with his wife and their young twin daughters.

He had been on the lam for 13 years after escaping a first time in 2001 from another prison by hiding in a laundry cart. He had spent eight years in prison following his 1993 capture in Guatemala.

Guzman became a legend of Mexico's underworld, with musicians singing his praises in folk ballads known as "narcocorridos," tributes to drug capos.

He is said to have been brazen enough to walk into restaurants in his state of Sinaloa, ask diners to hand their cell phones to his bodyguards, eat calmly and pay everyone's tabs before leaving.

- 'Public Enemy Number One' -

Born on April 4, 1957 to a family of farmers, Guzman had humble beginnings in a region known as a bastion of drug trafficking.

He dropped out of primary school to work in marijuana and opium poppy fields as drug consumption rose in the neighboring United States.

He was recruited by Guadalajara cartel boss Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, the godfather of Mexico's modern drug cartels.

Guzman's job was to contact drug traffickers in Colombia.

After Felix Gallardo was arrested in 1989, Guzman's Sinaloa drug cartel began its meteoric rise.

But he had enemies.

A gunfight in 1993 at the airport of Guadalajara killed the western city's archbishop, Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, allegedly because he was mistaken for Guzman.

His ability to sneak tons of cocaine, heroin and marijuana into the United States made him "Public Enemy Number One" in Chicago, a moniker that had been given to US prohibition-era mafia boss Al Capone.

Guzman "easily surpassed the carnage and social destruction that was caused by Capone," the Chicago Crime Commission said in February 2013.

The mustachioed drug lord made Forbes magazine's list of billionaires until he was left out in 2013 because he was believed to have spent much of his wealth on protection.

Guzman married an 18-year-old beauty queen, Emma Coronel, in 2007 and is believed to have 10 children with various women.

His family has paid dearly for his life of crime. One of his brothers was killed in a Mexican jail in December 2004 and a son was shot dead in a shopping center parking lot in May 2008.
A sweeping anti-corruption measure that was inspired by a Center for Public Integrity report will appear on the ballot this year in South Dakota. The proposal, initiated by a bi-partisan group of former politicians and a national advocacy group, was certified this week by the Secretary of State there.

The measure would address a wide range of issues that contributed to the state earning an F from the State Integrity Investigation, a comprehensive evaluation and assessment of state government accountability and transparency published in November by the Center and Global Integrity.

The ethics reform campaign was begun last summer by Rick Weiland, a former Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, and Don Frankenfeld, a Republican and former state senator, with the help of Represent.Us, a national advocacy group focused on fighting corruption in state and local government. A press release says the effort was crafted in direct response to the failing grade the state earned in the first State Integrity Investigation, in 2012. The group submitted some 25,000 signatures to the Secretary of State in November, nearly twice the number required to get on the ballot.

In an interview, Frankenfeld said the partnership with Represent.Us, which he said has provided much of the funding so far, could serve as a national model. This is a homegrown effort, with grassroots origin, and its bipartisan, he said. The hope would be that we can pass a comprehensive reform measure here in South Dakota that would serve as a standard.

Represent.Us, which bills itself as fiercely nonpartisan and has a board that draws from both sides of the political spectrum, has been organizing similar efforts on the local government level through chapters in California, New Jersey, Illinois and other states. In November, the Roanoke City Council, in Virginia, passed a resolution from the group supporting ethics reform in that state.

South Dakota ranked 47th in the 2015 State Integrity Investigation, earning failing grades in nine of 13 categories, as well as the overall grade of F. Lobbyists there only have to report scant detail about their activities, and citizens cannot access those reports online. Theres no ban on officials using campaign funds for personal purposes, and the state does not have an ethics commission to oversee public officials and lobbyists.

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The South Dakota Government Accountability and Anti-Corruption Act, as the measure is called, would change much of that by creating an independent ethics commission, limiting gifts from lobbyists, placing lobbyist reports online and barring personal use of campaign funds, among other changes.

Its not the first attempt at reform. Last year, in the shadow of an ongoing scandal involving high-ranking state officials, including former governor and current U.S. Senator Mike Rounds, House Democrats introduced a bill that would have created an independent ethics commission. The effort gained little support, however, and the bill was voted down in the House by a hefty margin.

While a ballot measure wouldnt require any support from the public officials who would be overseen by the ethics commission, that doesnt mean its chances are much better, said Jon Schaff, a professor of political science at Northern State University, in Aberdeen.

The measure in total may be more complicated than people want to put up with, he said, adding that voters generally lean against approving ballot measures. People tend to vote no, and they tend to vote no particularly on things that are complicated.

However, Schaff said the issues it covers could appeal to voters, something Frankenfeld and his group are counting on. Supporters are currently assembling a committee of prominent Democrats and Republicans to represent the campaign, but Frankenfeld said theyre not announcing the names yet. Once the committee is formed, he anticipates theyll begin approaching business and civic groups, and eventually run ads in local media to build support. Theyll also try to raise money from individual South Dakota donors, he said, while continuing to rely on Represent.Us for the bulk of funding.

I could pretend that we have a complete campaign plan in place, but we dont. Frankenfeld said. First things first, and we wanted to make sure we got on the ballot.

This story is part of State Integrity 2015. How do each state's laws and practices deter corruption, promote transparency and enforce accountability?. Click here to read more stories in this investigation.

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Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The European Union should establish a new frontier on the northern border of Greece, because an agreement with Turkey will not be enough to stop hundreds of thousands of migrants from coming to Europe, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. Orban has gained support in Hungary with his tough stance on migration. His government has put up fences on the country's southern border to keep out migrants and asylum seekers fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Asia. The barriers initially drew criticism from his European Union partners, but several countries, such as Slovenia and Austria, have since raised barriers of their own. Others have imposed checks within the EU's border-free Schengen zone to cope with the flow. Orban said Germany, which welcomed a million migrants last year, has recently shifted towards "common sense" to slow arrivals. But Orban said nothing short of stopping more people entering would resolve the issue. "I think the next line of defense that we need to build up lies on the northern border of Greece," Orban told public radio in an interview. He said Bulgaria, one of Greece's northern neighbors, should be adopted into the EU's border-free Schengen zone, while Macedonia should be given financial support and other assistance so it could beef up its defenses. "I do not think that the deal with Turkey will be sufficient in itself," Orban said. Hungary erected fences on its southern borders to halt the flow of migrants. In October, the EU offered Turkey a possible 3 billion euros ($3.26 billion) in aid, the prospect of easier travel visas and renewed talks on Turkey's joining the bloc, in return for its help stemming the flow of migrants to Europe. "It is nice that (Turkey) has promised that there would be a line of defense there, but we need to build one of our own from our own resources on the northern border of Greece and stop, not slow down, but stop migration," Orban said. ($1 = 0.9204 euros) (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs, editing by Larry King)
(Reuters) - Joseph Nacchio, the former Qwest Communications International [CTLQW.UL] chief executive, has won a $14.2 million jury verdict against a Goldman Sachs Group Inc unit and financial adviser over the sale of life insurance policies, his law firm said on Thursday. Nacchio and his wife said Goldman's Ayco financial planning unit and their former adviser David Weinstein breached their fiduciary duties by failing to tell them that the $95 million of variable life insurance they bought in 2000 would likely lapse before their life expectancies, the law firm Nagel Rice said. The couple was forced as a result to cancel their policies and pay $26 million in premiums to replace them, the firm said. "We are disappointed with the verdict and plan to appeal," Ayco spokesman Brian Cuneo said. A lawyer for Weinstein could not immediately be reached for comment. Bruce Nagel, a lawyer for the Nacchios, in a statement said the Morristown, New Jersey jury awarded everything his clients sought after a month-long trial. Nagel could not immediately be reached for additional comment. Nacchio, 66, spent roughly five years in prison after being convicted in 2007 of insider trading. He was also ordered to pay more than $63 million in fines and forfeiture, court records show. Qwest was a U.S. regional phone company based in Denver before it merged in April 2011 with CenturyLink Inc. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr)
By Mark Hosenball and Julia Harte WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Texas politicians made public details of an investigation into a terrorism suspect while it was still in progress, potentially jeopardizing the inquiry, three sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick released details from documents that were still under court seal, the sources said. A spokesman for Governor Abbott had no immediate comment. Patrick's office was not available for comment. The suspect, Omar Faraj Saeed Al-Hardan, 24, appeared in court on Friday accused of providing material support to Islamic State overseas. He entered the United States as an Iraqi refugee in November 2009 and lived in Houston, according to a court document. Abbott and Patrick are both Republicans and their party has been fiercely resisting Democratic President Barack Obama's plan to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the country over the next year, arguing that they pose a security risk to the United States. The Obama administration has rejected that assertion. One of the sources said investigators believe Abbott and Patrick may have learned confidential details of the investigation from the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Texas. The group's members include local and state law enforcement officers. There was no immediate comment from the task force. The sources said the politicians' statements on Thursday night disclosing a terrorism suspect's arrest forced federal authorities to wrap up their inquiries and rush out public statements and court papers on the case earlier than planned. Hardan was already in custody at the time, but interviews of potential witnesses were still being conducted when the disclosures were made, the sources. The U.S. Justice Department also unveiled federal charges against another Iraqi refugee on Thursday, accusing Sacramento resident Aws Mohammed Younis al-Jayab of traveling overseas to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to U.S. authorities about it. (Reporting by Mark Hosenball and Julia Harte; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, James Dalgleish and Ross Colvin)
By Jeff Mason and Daniel Trotta WASHINGTON/HAVANA (Reuters) - The U.S. government is considering putting an end to a program that encourages Cuban doctors and nurses on overseas assignments to defect, a senior aide to President Barack Obama said, in a gesture emblematic of improving U.S.-Cuban relations. The Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program, which started under President George W. Bush in 2006, targets one of Cuba's proudest achievements: sending doctors, nurses and other medical professionals abroad, either on missions of mercy or to raise cash for the Communist government. The program grants U.S. officials discretionary authority to allow Cuban medical professionals into the United States, providing assistance at U.S. embassies in the countries where the doctors are posted. It is open to more than 50,000 Cuban medical professionals in more than 60 countries. The program has now been placed under review, said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security advisor to Obama who was part of the negotiating team that reached detente with Cuba a year ago after 18 months of secret talks. "It's an unusual policy, and I think as we look at the whole totality of the relationship, this is something that we felt was worth being in the list of things that we consider," Rhodes told Reuters. The United States has approved 7,117 applications since 2006. The numbers have grown in recent years, reaching a record 1,663 in fiscal year 2015, according to data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which administers the program jointly with the State Department. Cuba has been openly scornful of the program, calling it a "reprehensible practice" that is designed to "deprive Cuba and many other countries of vital human resources." Cuban foreign ministry officials were unavailable on Friday to comment on Washington's review of the program, which has not been previously reported. A senior administration official said a decision on whether to end the program was due early this year. The program dates to a period of lingering Cold War animosity, but relations changed dramatically with the detente that Rhodes helped negotiate. Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced in December 2014 they would seek to normalize relations. By July, diplomatic ties were restored after a 54-year rupture. The two governments have since reached accords on environmental protection and the resumption of direct mail service and scheduled commercial airline flights. With such a thaw under way, the parole program no longer seemed to fit what the White House has called a "new chapter" in U.S.-Cuban relations. MEDICAL DIPLOMACY - AND CASH Cuba periodically sends medical brigades abroad to countries that have suffered natural disasters or health crises. In 2014 and 2015, it sent 256 doctors and nurses to West Africa in the middle of an Ebola virus outbreak. But mostly the assignments are a revenue-earner for the Cuban government. It has sent 30,000 medical professionals to socialist ally Venezuela in exchange for more than 100,000 barrels per day of oil. Thousands more are in Brazil, typically in far-flung areas that Brazilian doctors avoid. While the jobs are well-paid by Cuban standards and highly sought, the doctors receive only a fraction of the amount that the foreign governments pay for their services. Some defectors have cited harsh working conditions as reasons for abandoning their posts. Critics consider the practice a form of exploitation. The U.S. State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons report cites some defectors who claim the government used threats or coercion to keep them in their jobs, and a State Department description of the parole program refers to doctors and nurses as being "conscripted" to work abroad. A recent Cuban policy change that blocks some Cuban doctors from leaving the country without special permission has complicated the review, but did not end it, U.S. officials said. With so many doctors leaving, whether through the program or simply taking jobs offered in other countries, Cuba last month re-imposed limits on doctors traveling abroad, saying its universal and free healthcare services have been "seriously affected." In a rare backtrack by Cuba on modernizing reforms of recent years, the government said it would reapply restrictions that had been lifted in 2013. That caused concern within the U.S. government because the new Cuban migration policy, combined with an end to the parole program, would severely limit the ability of Cuban doctors and nurses from fleeing harsh assignments. U.S. immigration law and policy have long offered preferential treatment for Cubans. Although U.S. laws limit Obama from changing some Cuba policies, such as the trade embargo, the parole program is a creation of the executive branch, and Obama can end it without consulting Congress. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Kieran Murray and Grant McCool)
By Bill Cotterell

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) - A former carnival worker convicted of killing three women in Florida was executed on Thursday after multiple overturned convictions and retrials, the first U.S. execution of 2016.

Oscar Ray Bolin Jr., 53, was pronounced dead from lethal injection at 10:16 p.m. EST at the Florida State Prison in Starke, 11 minutes after the procedure began, Department of Corrections spokesman McKinley Lewis said.

Bolin declined to make a final statement, Lewis said. The U.S. Supreme Court denied last-minute motions to stay the execution.

Governor Rick Scott signed Bolin's death warrant in October for the murder of bank worker Teri Lynn Matthews, 26. She was abducted from a Land O' Lakes post office in December 1986, then raped, beaten and stabbed to death.

Bolin was also found guilty in the Tampa-area slayings of Natalie Blanche Holley, 25, and Stephanie Collins, 17, earlier that year.

He maintained his innocence in a television interview on Wednesday despite being found guilty 10 times by juries in the three cases.

"I never killed those women," Bolin told Tampa Bay's Fox 13. "I dont have no remorse for something I didnt do."

Bolin drew international attention in 1996 when he wed a member of his defense team on national television from death row. Rosalie Martinez divorced her husband, a prominent Tampa attorney, to marry Bolin, who she had worked to clear.

She maintained his innocence and visited him on his final day. Bolin's last meal was steak, baked potato, salad and lemon meringue pie, a Department of Corrections spokesman said.

The execution was the first this year in the United States. There were 28 U.S. executions last year, the lowest number since 1991, according to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center.

Bolin's case was marked by multiple overturned convictions before guilty verdicts stuck in each of the women's deaths.

Bolin's death sentence in the Matthews case was upheld in 2004 after three trials. He was sentenced to death three times for the Collins slaying, the last in 2007. After four trials, Bolin began serving life in prison in 2012 for Holley's murder.

Matthews' mother, Kathleen Reeves, told Reuters before the execution: "We just need to get rid of him and throw him in the trash."

(Reporting by Karen Brooks; Additional reporting and writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Paul Tait)
Taipei (AFP) - A woman derided as a "foreign bride" after her cash-strapped Cambodian family married her off through a broker is set to make history at Taiwan's elections next week.

Lin Li-chan is running for lawmaker in the parliamentary vote -- held alongside the presidential election -- and is expected to win, making her the island's first "new immigrant" legislator.

The term refers to those who came to Taiwan after the first wave of migration from China post-1949, when the island split from the mainland following a civil war.

"I had never thought about going into politics. In Cambodia, democracy was not a familiar concept," Lin, told AFP.

"It's unbelievable how life turns out."

Now 38 and a Taiwanese citizen, she was set up by her mother with a Taiwanese husband via a profit-making brokerage at the age of 20.

She moved from the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to become one of Taiwan's tens of thousands of immigrant spouses, mainly from Southeast Asia and China.

Their vulnerability has been highlighted by abuse cases in recent years and Lin wants to draw on her own experiences to improve that.

"My father had passed away and my mother was struggling financially at that time. She decided to marry me off and the relatives on my father's side were angry, thinking she sold me to Taiwan," Lin said.

"'Foreign brides' like us were labelled as products and looked down upon."

Unable to speak a word of Chinese, Lin was wracked with homesickness but determined to adapt.

She picked up the language as she took care of her two children and helped at her husband's small hardware factory.

But when her children doubted she could help with homework because of her Chinese, Lin decided to go to college.

She went on to university and a master's degree before becoming an award-winning campaigner for new immigrants.

"I took my graduation robe to Cambodia when I went back to sweep my parents' graves and tell them the good news, and I cried," Lin said.

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- Signs of progress -

There were more than half a million foreign spouses in Taiwan in 2015, with many marriages arranged by matchmaking brokerages.

Demand for the service is partly driven because there are more men than women of marrying age in Taiwan, and more Taiwanese women are delaying marriage until later in life.

Taiwan banned profit-making brokerages in 2009 and allows only government-authorised organisations to provide international matchmaking.

The move came after a string of high-profile abuse cases including one of a Taiwanese man who enslaved and tortured his Vietnamese ex-wife for seven months. He was jailed for just four-and-half years.

Campaigners say the situation is improving and the term "foreign bride" is now deemed derogatory. But discrimination remains.

"There is still negative public perception that the women are bought and they come to Taiwan to make or con money," said Hong Man-chi, a spokeswoman of TransAsia Sisters Association, a support group for overseas spouses.

Some employers offer low wages or demand they work overtime without pay, Hong says, knowing they are unfamiliar with labour laws.

A number of politicians have also been criticised for making derogatory public remarks about the women.

"Lin's nomination symbolises some progress," adds Lisa Huang, a spokeswoman for Taiwan International Family Association.

"But it remains to be seen whether hers is an isolated case of success or an overall improvement."

Lin is number four on the list of "at-large" candidates for the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), seats allocated to a political party based on vote share.

At-large candidates tend to be political novices with expertise in academia or social advocacy.

With the party expected to win around 10 such seats, she is almost guaranteed a place in parliament.

Looking back, Lin -- who is still with the husband she married at 20 -- says she does not bear any animosity to her mother.

"I was a naive young woman and I didn't think too much about it. I just obeyed my mother's decision."

Now she wants her experiences to make a difference.

"I hope I can do more for new immigrants as a lawmaker," says Lin, who now considers herself Taiwanese.

"I think I have a mission to come to Taiwan... that a foreign woman who didn't speak or read a word of Chinese can go this far. I think it's fated."
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Former Dutch discus thrower Ria Stalman, who won Olympic gold 32 years ago, has admitted doping in the latter stages of her career. Stalman said in an interview with Dutch broadcaster NOS released on Friday that she used anabolic steroids in the run-up to the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. "In the last two-and-a-half years of my career I used a light dosage of anabolic steroids, five to 10 milligrams a day," the 64-year-old said. "Back then it was also prohibited but I could do it without any risk during training because there were no out-of-competition controls." Stalman clinched gold in Los Angeles with a best throw of 65.36 metres, half a meter ahead of silver medallist Leslie Deniz of the United States and nearly two metres clear of third-placed Romanian Florenta Craciunescu. She retired soon after the LA Games and later in 1984 was named the Dutch sportsperson of the year. Stalman said she began doping after realising she could not compete with more powerful eastern European athletes. "I wanted to go to the Olympics," she added. "As an insignificant Dutch thrower I visited Eastern Europe a couple of times. My personal record was 56 metres. "During the warmup you see all those 'refrigerators' walking around and they kicked my ass with 15 metres difference. So I thought 'what can I do to beat them at the Olympics?', said Stalman. "If you can't beat them, join them. That's what I did." (Writing by Toby Davis; editing by Tony Jimenez)
Frankfurt (AFP) - Germany's exports edged higher in November on stronger demand for goods and services from Europe's biggest economy both inside and outside the region, official data showed on Friday.

German exports inched up by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent to 99.3 billion euros ($108 billion) in November, the federal statistics office calculated.

Imports grew more strongly, rising by 1.6 percent to 79.6 billion euros, meaning that the trade surplus -- the balance between exports and imports -- fell to 19.7 billion euros in November from 20.5 billion euros in October, the statisticians said.

In unadjusted terms, exports grew by 7.7 percent year-on-year, while imports were up 5.4 percent, meaning the unadjusted trade surplus amounted to 20.6 billion euros, an increase over the same month a year earlier, Destatis said.

On a year-on-year basis, exports to the EU increased by 9.5 percent, with exports to the eurozone up 8.8 percent, while exports to countries outside the EU increased by 5.1 percent, the statistics office said.

Industrial production decreased slightly in November, weighed down by falling activity in the manufacturing sector, the economy ministry said.

The ministry calculated that factory output contracted by 0.3 percent in November compared with a month earlier, corrected for seasonal factors.

In October, output had increased by 0.5 percent.

Manufacturing output was down by 0.8 percent month-on-month, while construction output increased by 1.6 percent and energy output was up 2.5 percent, the ministry said.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's ruling parties promised on Friday to crack down aggressively on migrants who commit crimes, after assaults on women in Cologne on New Year's Eve stoked debate about Chancellor Angela Merkel's welcoming policy towards refugees. Some 121 women are reported to have been robbed, threatened or sexually molested there by gangs of mostly drunk men between 18 and 35 years old while out celebrating. Cologne's police chief has said the perpetrators appeared to be of "Arab or North African" origin and the head of the police union in the region was quoted by German daily Die Welt as saying there were "definitely" refugees among them. In response to the assaults, Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) have called for tougher penalties against offending asylum seekers, according to a draft paper seen by Reuters ahead of a meeting of the party leadership in Mainz. The paper says refugees and asylum seekers who have been sentenced to prison or probation should be barred from eligibility for asylum. This sentiment was echoed by Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who is also leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), coalition partners to Merkel's conservatives. "Why should German taxpayers pay to imprison foreign criminals," Gabriel said. "The threat of having to spend time behind bars in their home country is far more of a deterrent than a prison sentence in Germany." Cologne police have not confirmed that refugees were among the attackers on New Year's Eve, but Arnold Plickert, chief of the police union in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia said there was no doubt in his mind. "The suggestion that nothing points to refugees as being among the attackers is wrong in my view," Plickert told Die Welt. "There were definitely refugees among the perpetrators." The CDU paper calls for lower barriers to deport criminal asylum seekers, increased video surveillance and the creation of a new criminal offence for physical assault. PRESSURE ON MERKEL The assaults have raised doubts over whether Germany, which took in 1.1 million refugees last year, can succeed in integrating the latest wave and prompted renewed calls for limits on the number of new arrivals. "If a direct link is shown between the assaults and the arrival of Middle Eastern migrants, the CDU could lose ground in state elections in March, and Merkel will come under greater pressure to introduce an upper limit on the number of migrants entering Germany," said Eurasia analyst Mujtaba Rahman. A new poll for public broadcaster ARD showed Merkel's popularity rising 4 points to 58 percent and support for her conservative bloc up to 39 percent. Peter Tauber, general secretary of the CDU, rejected the idea of a cap but appeared to acknowledge that some refugees were not respecting German laws. "There are many refugees that are happy to have survived, to have made it here and who are looking for jobs. These people who can contribute to our country are welcome," he told Deutschlandfunk. "But clearly there are also some who haven't understood what kind of opportunity they've been given." Julia Kloeckner, leader of the CDU in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate who is seen as a possible successor to Merkel one day, told ZDF television the attacks had been a wake up call for Germany. "I think we really need to take off the blinkers," she said. (Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Caroline Copley, Paul Carrel and Noah Barkin; Editing by Noah Barkin)
Australian police on Friday charged a Chinese man in Brisbane with stabbing to death his two-month-old granddaughter and attempting to murder his wife and daughter.

Police have struggled to determine the motivation for the multiple stabbings, which took place in the eastern Australian city on Wednesday and left the community reeling.

But they confirmed Friday that charges had been laid against the man, who was also badly injured in the incident and taken to hospital.

"A 52-year-old man has been charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder," Queensland Police said in a statement without naming him.

"A bedside hearing was held this afternoon in hospital and the man has been remanded in custody."

The grandparents had travelled on holiday from China to help the family as the baby's mother returned to work at a bank, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The baby's mother reportedly raised the alarm, running to neighbours after she was stabbed in the arms and asking for the whereabouts of her baby.

When police arrived at the scene at around 2:30 pm, they found the two women and the baby bleeding from their wounds and the man also hurt.

The baby, who was reportedly stabbed in her bassinet, died that afternoon. The two other women stabbed remain in hospital.

The child's father, Tenglong Xu, thanked the community for their support and pleaded for privacy as the family grieve.

"My wife and I would like to extend our thanks to the community for the support they have shown to us since this tragic incident that occurred within our family home on Wednesday," he said.

"We are struggling to come to terms with the loss of our daughter and with the terrible injuries that my wife and her mother have suffered."
ATHENS (Reuters) - Hundreds of Greek pensioners and workers marched in central Athens on Friday, protesting against plans to overhaul an ailing pension system as the government sought backing for its proposals at home and in European capitals. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said the pension system is on the verge of collapse; but reforming it will challenge his resolve to implement measures demanded by Greece's international creditors, who must sign off on the plan. About 100 protesters supporting the Communist-affiliated union PAME unfurled a huge banner outside the prime minister's office, slamming the plan as "a guillotine for the pension system". Hundreds more public sector workers and pensioners, worn down by several rounds of wage and pension cuts Greece has imposed over the years in return for rescue funds marched in the city centre. Tensions flared briefly when the crowd broke past a line of police in riot gear and headed towards Tsipras's office. Police responded with tear gas. "The government tricked the workers and the farmers into thinking that it will create a better society with more justice and less unemployment," 74-year-old pensioner Babis Kattis said from the rally. "Pensioners are about to become beggars." SEEKING SUPPORT Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos began a tour of European capitals to discuss debt and pension problems with counterparts in Rome, Lisbon, Paris, Helsinki, Amsterdam and Berlin. According to the proposals Greece sent its lenders on Monday, all six main pension funds will be merged into one and future main pensions could be cut by up to 30 percent. It sets a lower limit at 384 euros per month and sets a ceiling of 2,300 euros on the maximum monthly pension outlay. The average monthly pension currently stands at about 850 euros. An EU source said Greece had sent the draft pension reform bill to the lenders and Eurogroup secretariat in Greek only, and as of Friday morning they were still waiting for the translation. "The crisis has blown up the foundations of the social security system," Katrougalos said. "We want to give the social security system hope, so that the average pensioner does not lose hope that they will continue receiving a pension." Greece must implement the reforms to conclude the first review of its multi-billion bailout out agreed with its lenders in July. The government plans to submit the proposal to parliament by the end of the month and vote on it in early February, a government official told Reuters. It secured the cautious backing of four employers' associations on Thursday, who said they were not opposed to "a small, temporary rise in social security contributions." But opposition political parties have said they will not back the plan when it is tabled in parliament and the country's biggest private sector union GSEE said on Friday it planned labor action against the reforms "to avoid the worst." (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos, Lefteris Karagiannopoulos and Renee Maltezou in Athens and Paul Taylor in Brussels; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Karolina Tagaris)
Washington (AFP) - The trickle of detainees leaving Guantanamo Bay continued Friday with the repatriation of a Kuwaiti man, as the general overseeing the military prison denied claims the Pentagon is stalling on shutting it down.

Faez Mohammed Ahmed Al-Kandari became the latest transfer, sent back to Kuwait after the United States determined he no longer posed a national security threat.

He had been held without trial in the Caribbean detention center since 2002, and his return to Kuwait now means the facility has a population of 104.

President Barack Obama pledged to shut Guantanamo when he took office in 2009, but his efforts have been repeatedly thwarted by Congress.

The facility, nestled out of sight on the US naval base on the southeastern tip of Cuba, became a hated emblem of America's "war on terror."

Critics said images of inmates who were clad in orange jumpsuits and held in cages, along with a lack of legal recourse, inflamed anti-American sentiment in the Middle East and was used as a jihadist propaganda tool.

In all, 45 of the remaining inmates have been approved for transfer, and the Pentagon is trying to find countries to take them. Many are from Yemen and cannot go back given the country's collapse into civil war.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter in December signed off on 17 of the 45 to be transferred as soon as this month, so officials say a further flurry of releases is expected in the coming weeks.

Even if all 45 are released, the remaining inmates are expected to stay in indefinite detention. These include the "9/11 Five," a group of five men accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks that unfolded in New York, at the Pentagon and in the skies over Pennsylvania.

- Guantanamo North -

Obama wants the remaining men to be transferred to federal facilities in the United States and has asked the Pentagon to come up with proposals for a "Guantanamo North."

But delays, bureaucratic hurdles and political opposition mean it is increasingly likely the clock will tick down on his presidency before Guantanamo closes.

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Opponents also point to some former inmates having returned to fight against US interests.

Recent media reports cited unnamed officials claiming the Pentagon is deliberately slowing the process through which the men cleared for transfer are released.

"The fact that there was reporting about (the Pentagon) in any way, shape or form slowing down or trying to impede the release of detainees from my perspective is complete nonsense," said General John Kelly, who is retiring as head of the US Southern Command and spent the past three years overseeing Guantanamo.

Reports suggested Guantanamo officials were slow to respond to records requests from visiting foreign delegations considering taking prisoners.

"It's an insult frankly," Kelly said.

- 'Committed' Al-Qaeda member -

In the case of Kandari, the Pentagon released virtually no information about the detainee, as is typically the case with Guantanamo inmates.

According to his leaked 2008 prison file, published by WikiLeaks and the New York Times, the 40-year-old was a "committed member" of Al-Qaeda and was an influential religious figure for the group's fighters in Afghanistan.

He was initially captured in December 2001 and sent to Guantanamo in May the following year.

On Wednesday, detainees Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih al-Dhuby, both from Yemen, were transferred to Ghana.

Since 2002, a total of 779 detainees have been held at Guantanamo. Inmates are kept without recourse to the regular US legal processes and some likely will die in prison without ever being convicted of a crime.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Gunmen opened fire at the entrance of a hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Hurghada on Friday, wounding two foreign tourists, security sources said. The assailants had arrived by sea to launch the assault, the sources said. The Islamic State militant group said on Friday an attack on Israeli tourists in Cairo on Thursday was carried out by its fighters, in response to a call by the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to target Jews "everywhere". Security sources said those tourists were Israeli Arabs. None was hurt and Egyptian authorities said the attack was aimed at security forces. A Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai on Oct. 31, killing all 224 people on board, most of whom were tourists returning home from the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh. Cairo says it has found no evidence of terrorism in the crash. Russia and Western governments have said the airliner was probably brought down by a bomb, and Islamic State said it had smuggled explosives on board. Tourism is a cornerstone of the Egyptian economy but has been badly hit by years of political turmoil. (Reporting by Michael Georgy; Editing by Andrew Roche)
Yokosuka Naval Base (Japan) (AFP) - Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Friday urged South Korea to "be bigger" than the North as it renewed propaganda broadcasts through massive loudspeakers at the border in response to Pyongyang's latest nuclear test.

Hammond, visiting Japan along with Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, repeated condemnation of North Korea's actions but questioned Seoul's decision to blast K-pop and criticism of Kim Jong-Un's regime into its territory.

"North Korea acts in a totally irresponsible and provocative way, and I can entirely understand the pressure that the South Koreans feel to respond," Hammond told reporters on a visit to the USS Ronald Reagan, docked at the Yokosuka Naval Base southwest of Tokyo.

"But we have to be bigger than the North Koreans and I would urge South Korea and other like-minded countries in the region to exercise restraint," he added.

"We know that responding in this way is simply rising to the bait that North Korea is presenting to us."

But he said that if South Korea is going to be asked to keep calm, then it is essential that global society come up with proper measures in response.

"Continuing with words is not enough, we have to show we are prepared to take the actions to make the sanctions regime against North Korea effective," he said.

Hammond, who also visited China and the Philippines as part of a swing through the region, noted that Pyongyang ally Beijing "roundly condemned" the test.

"I believe that China is sincere in its desire not to see nuclear capability developed by North Korea," he added.

Fallon and Hammond are in Japan for talks later Friday with their Japanese counterparts and are also expected to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The officials earlier visited the Japanese helicopter carrier Izumo - the country's biggest warship since World war II.

"We are both here to show... that Japan is our most important security partner in Asia," Hammond said aboard the Izumo.
POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT

Youth Employment and Livelihoods Specialist, Tanzania Youth Entrepreneurship Project

Effective with the release of this position announcement, Winrock International is recruiting local Tanzanian applicants for the position of Youth Employment and Livelihoods Specialist for the anticipated USAID-funded Tanzania Youth Entrepreneurship Project. The proposed objective of the project is to empower youth to become economically self-sufficient in the agriculture sector and contribute to Tanzanias economic growth. The project is anticipated to align with USAIDs Feed the Future and have a focus on rural employment, including workforce readiness.

The responsibilities, duties, and qualifications are described in the attached position description. Position is contingent upon receipt of donor funding.

GENERAL:

Winrock International is a nonprofit organization that works with people in the United States and around the world to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources. By linking local individuals and communities with new ideas and technology, Winrock is increasing long-term productivity, equity, and responsible resource management to benefit the poor and disadvantaged of the world.

SALARY:

The annual salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. Excellent benefits.

APPLICATIONS:

Interested applicants are welcome to apply by:

EMAIL: Please respond by email by sending cover letter and CV to Tanzania Youth Entrepreneurship Youth Employment and Livelihoods Specialist in the subject line by January 31, 2016. Please respond by email by sending cover letter and CV to winrocktanzaniajobs@gmail.com and referencingin the subject line by January 31, 2016.

OR

WINROCKS WEBSITE: Please go to the Jobs link at Tanzania Youth Entrepreneurship Youth Employment and Livelihoods Specialist by January 31, 2016. Please go to the Jobs link at www.winrock.org and submit a current resume and cover letter referencingby January 31, 2016.

Qualified Tanzania nationals, and other nationalities, especially those residing in Central/East Africa are strongly encouraged to apply. Winrock would like to thank all applicants for their interest but only candidates who meet all requisite criteria and are short listed will be contacted.

EEOE/AA.

Position Description

POSITION TITLE: Youth Employment and Livelihoods Specialist, Tanzania Youth Entrepreneurship Project

LOCATION: Tanzania

DEPARTMENT: Civil Society & Education

REPORTS TO: Project Director

Position Summary:

The Youth Employment and Livelihoods Specialist will be responsible for providing leadership in developing the technical aspects of the program related to rural youth workforce readiness training, youth entrepreneurship, and connecting youth to current employment and apprenticeship/internship opportunities in Tanzania with a focus on agricultural productivity, agribusiness and off-farm enterprises. The position is contingent upon receipt of donor funding.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

Provide strategic leadership of all programmatic activities concerned with employment and livelihoods for youth, income generation programs/opportunities, youth entrepreneurship, and internships including: Increasing agricultural productivity Addressing institutional and policy weaknesses Addressing production price disincentives Increasing access to land and seeds Improving access to fair markets Strengthening participation and leadership of women and youth in farmer associations Providing support for development of agribusiness and off-farm enterprises in targeted rural areas, including: Technical assistance, leadership training and grants for young entrepreneursuniversity graduates, agricultural laborers, and tradespeoplefor apprenticeships Product development and marketing; Business plan development

In coordination with a team, develop and oversee implementation of youth workforce readiness and entrepreneurship work plans/targets, budgets, and reports.

Coordinate strategy and activities with any implementing partners, national and local government authorities involved in and responsible for education and economic development.

Serve as liaison with private sector employers as well as youth-oriented organizations to facilitate relationships with youth.

Manage and mentor staff in workforce readiness, youth entrepreneurship trainings, and connecting youth to market opportunities and networks.

Coordinate closely on data collection to measure impacts as well as track program graduates and employment opportunities.

Serve as technical lead in at least four of the following areas and supervise staff and/or consultants in the remaining areas: workforce readiness, entrepreneurship, leadership, workforce development service delivery system, youth apprenticeships, internships, youth-serving organization capacity building, job placement support, labor market analysis, microfinance, non-agriculture and agricultural off-farm market opportunities.

QUALIFICATIONS AND BACKGROUND:

Education:

Bachelors degree required (MBA or masters degree preferred) in economics, education, gender in development, or related discipline.

Supplemental training in workforce readiness, entrepreneurship, monitoring and evaluation, gender analysis/mainstreaming, microfinance preferred.

Work Experience:
With the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) now in full swing in Las Vegas (USA), some of the products making a buzz include a series of household monitors, a new-gen turntable and an in-sight display for cyclists.

Sen.se Peanuts

Two years after causing a sensation with its Mother universal monitoring device -- complete with stick-on sensors for keeping track of all kinds of household objects -- Sen.se is back with a set of new-gen smart sensors called Peanuts. These little Bluetooth sensors each have a specific function, including a "thermo peanut" temperature monitor, a "sleep peanut" sleep monitor and a "never lose peanut" that sends alerts to a smartphone when a favorite object is moved. Each Peanut is priced at $29 or 29.

Withings Go

French start-up Withings presented its new Go fitness tracker (for walking, running, swimming, etc.) and sleep monitor at CES 2016. This wearable boasts an always-on e-ink screen for at-a-glance access to the day's data. Notifications alert users when particular goals are achieved. The Withings Go is announced with an eight-month battery life and is due out in Q1 2016 priced at $69.95 or 69.95.

Sony PS-HX500

Sony has got CES buzzing with a vinyl turntable that can play old-school records and rip 33rpm vinyl discs to Hi-Res digital audio files when connected to a computer via USB. The Sony PS-HX500 is due for release in April 2016 priced around the $540/500 mark.

Check out the Sony PS-HX500 in action here: youtu.be/e2aEpncHG0Y

Fitbit Blaze

Fitness-tracker specialist Fitbit was on-hand in Vegas to present its latest smartwatch. The Blaze is a particularly stylish model that stands out from the rest of the firm's range with a look reminiscent of the Apple Watch and a color LCD. The Fitbit Blaze is announced at $199.95 or 229.95 and is expected to ship in March 2016.

Check out the Fitbit Blaze in action here: youtu.be/3k3DNT54NkA

Garmin Varia Vision

The Garmin Varia Vision is a high-tech in-sight display designed for cyclists. It shows navigation information and performance data right in the line of sight, so cyclists won't need to take their eyes off the road. Inspired by the Google Glass project, this device promises eight-hour battery life and has a touch screen that's resistant to rain and works with gloves. The Garmin Varia Vision is slated for release in Q1 2016 priced at $399.99 or 399.99.

Check out the Garmin Varia Vision in action here: youtu.be/Mqq68x8WMBo

CES runs through January 9 in Las Vegas. Website: cesweb.org
Budapest (AFP) - Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a key ally of Warsaw's conservative government, said Friday that Budapest would move to block any EU sanctions on Poland.

"Hungary would never support sanctions against Poland," Orban said in his weekly interview on public radio.

"I call for more respect for the Poles because this is what they deserve," he said.

Since returning to power in October, Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party has taken several controversial steps that critics have denounced as undermining the independence of both the media and the judiciary.

The reforms are seen as emulating those of Orban, who has regularly been accused of undermining key democratic checks and balances since 2010, and who has also had a testy relationship with Brussels.

On January 13, the European Commission is to debate the state of the rule of law in Poland -- a move that could lead to a potentially punitive process aimed at buttressing democracy and human rights.

On Wednesday PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski met Orban in Poland for a tete-a-tete that Polish media speculated was aimed at getting pointers from the Hungarian premier on how to deal with EU criticism.
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday flagged a veto on any possible European Union sanctions against Poland, a strong regional ally, following a recent meeting with the head of Poland's ruling party. "The European Union should not think about applying any sort of sanctions against Poland, because that would require full unanimity and Hungary will never support any sort of sanctions against Poland," Orban told public radio in an interview. Orban met Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), on Wednesday in an apparent move to strengthen an emerging eurosceptic axis in central Europe. (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
By Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A parliamentary panel in India reviewing whether to put larger health warnings on cigarette packets has asked the health ministry for evidence to show that such a move would cut tobacco consumption, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. The panel, which has been criticized before by tobacco control activists for apparent conflict of interest as one of its members owns a tobacco business, sent a list of 32 questions to the federal ministry in October. It asked the ministry to explain which ingredients in tobacco cause cancer and whether previous government surveys showed that graphic warnings led to a drop in tobacco usage, which is linked to as many as 900,000 deaths a year in India, the world's second-largest tobacco producer. Some questions cited concerns that larger warnings can hurt tobacco farmers and boost illicit trade. That surprised officials as they appeared to toe the industry line rather than focus on public health, ministry sources said. One federal health official said they thought the questions were "almost identical to objections raised by the industry." "The panel is playing into the tobacco industry's ploy," said Shailesh Vaite, a member of the Framework Convention Alliance for Tobacco Control, a group of more than 350 global organizations. Panel chairman Dilip Gandhi denied the panel had been influenced by the tobacco industry, and said it expects to have a report on its findings within 45 days. He declined to comment on the list of questions sent to the health ministry. Shyama Charan Gupta, a panel member who runs a company that makes traditional hand-rolled "beedi" cigarettes, said he has recused himself from the issue of tobacco warnings. He remains on the panel, which scrutinizes several other regulations. The Tobacco Institute of India (TII) - which represents hundreds of local manufacturers in India's $6 billion cigarette market as well as bigger firms such as ITC Ltd, part-owned by British American Tobacco Plc - said it held talks with the parliamentary panel in July. "Regulatory impositions adversely impact the livelihood of farmers, the legal cigarette business," said Syed Mahmood Ahmad, director of the TII. The group did not comment on the panel's questions to the ministry, but has previously said bigger packaging warnings are "unreasonable" and "impractical". ITC declined to comment. The health ministry first proposed in October 2014 that 85 percent of a cigarette packet's surface area should carry health warnings, up from 20 percent. That was opposed by the tobacco industry and put on hold after the parliamentary panel said it needed to analyze the impact on the industry. The move has also been challenged in courts. The government has put the number of Indians using tobacco, including smokeless tobacco, at around 275 million, and the TII estimates the industry provides a living for 45.7 million people. India ranks 136th of 198 nations that use health warnings on cigarette packs, according to the Canadian Cancer Society. Graphic warnings appear to have yielded results in some countries. A 2013 study in Canada, for example, showed that smoking dropped by up to a fifth after the adoption of graphic warning labels. RISK OF DELAY Such communication between the parliamentary panel and the health ministry, which has not previously been reported, risks further delaying the measures, activists and health ministry officials said. The ministry has defended its proposal, and told the panel that extensive research proves "conclusively" that tobacco causes cancer, a review of the ministry's responses shows. In one question, the panel said the proposed increase in the size of the packaging warnings was "skewed", and it questioned how it would cut tobacco use, especially among young people. It asked if there was any research planned for "evolving" a less harmful tobacco crop. The ministry said it believes all forms of tobacco are harmful and addictive, and there is no safe level of tobacco, according to the documents. It cited several studies in its defenses. The panel also asked whether the ministry had data to show how many cancer cases were directly linked to tobacco, and which were the main harmful ingredients in it. In reply, the ministry said cigarettes contain more than 7,000 chemicals, including nicotine, tar and radioactive components. (Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Paritosh Bansal and Ian Geoghegan)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's joint operations command denied on Saturday that Turkish forces based in northern Iraq had been attacked by Islamic State or had clashed with the militants, refuting claims by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. "The joint operations command denies there was a terrorist attack on the position of Turkish forces in Bashiqa by the terrorist Daesh (Islamic State) recently," said a news flash on state television, referring to a military base near Mosul. "The joint operations command denies what was relayed in some media outlets from the Turkish president about clashing between the Turkish forces inside Iraqi territory and the terrorist Daesh whether in Bashiqa or any other areas," another flash said. Erdogan said on Friday that an attack by Islamic State on the military base where Turkish troops are training an Iraqi Sunni militia showed Turkey's decision to deploy troops there was justified. (Reporting By Stephen Kalin; Editing by Chris Reese)
By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - Islamic State has claimed responsibility for murdering a Christian convert in Bangladesh, says an online group that monitors extremist activity, the latest killing declared by the militant group in the South Asian nation.Islamist violence has surged in recent months in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, but the government has rejected Islamic State's claims of involvement, blaming political opponents instead. The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group said Islamic State had asserted that it killed the man on Thursday in Jhenaidah, a district about 100 miles (161 km) west of Dhaka, the capital, because he converted from Islam. "Soldiers of the caliphate were able to eliminate the apostate, named 'Samir al-Din', by stabbing him with a knife," SITE quoted the group as saying.Police said they were unaware of the claim, adding that a village doctor with a different surname had been stabbed to death the same day. "We are not aware of any claim from any terrorist groups. We are trying to nab the attackers," district police chief Hasan Hafizur Rahman told Reuters by telephone.Although the man had converted to Christianity, he later switched back to Islam, Rahman added. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the killings of foreigners, attacks on mosques and Christian priests in Bangladesh over the last few months, but police said home-grown militant group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen is behind the attacks. The government has denied that Islamic State has a presence in the country of 160 million people. It blames Islamist political opponents for instigating the violence. (Editing by Andrew MacAskill and Clarence Fernandez)
Jerusalem (AFP) - A love story between an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian Muslim has become an unlikely bestseller, after Israel's education ministry refused to allow the book in the high school curriculum.

Dorit Rabinyan's "Gader Haya," which means "Borderlife" in English, was left off courses last week in a bid to avoid encouraging relationships between Jews and Arabs, sparking a ferocious backlash by Israeli cultural figures and a buying frenzy.

The country's main fiction chart announced on Friday that the book had shot to the top as a bestseller in book stores and online.

The chart does not provide numbers but Rabinyan's agent said over 5,000 copies had been sold in a week, a huge figure in Israel's small market with many book stores selling out.

New deals to sell the rights in Hungary, Spain and Brazil have been discussed, while publication in the US, France and other countries where translation deals had already been agreed will be sped up, the agent said.

Reflecting on the controversy, Rabinyan said that while she was "worried" about the future of Israeli democracy, she had been encouraged by the support she received.

"I think this whole march to bookstores is a demonstration," she told AFP. "It is not only my fans that buy Borderlife, it is the fans of Israeli democracy.

"By buying my novel they reconfirm their trust and belief in Israel's liberalism, in Israel's freedom of choice and speech."

- Left behind -

Borderlife, published in 2014, is 43-year-old Rabinyan's semi-autobiographical story of an Israeli woman who meets and falls in love with a male Palestinian artist in New York. The two later part ways as she returns to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv and he to Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Relationships between Israeli Jews and Palestinians are extremely rare and are frowned upon by large parts of both societies.

The book was among the winners of the Bernstein Prize for young writers, an annual Israeli award for Hebrew literature.

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After requests to include it in the high school curriculum by a number of teachers, a committee initially backed the book, but was later overruled by senior ministry officials.

Among the reasons given was that "intimate relations between Jews and non-Jews threatens the separate identity," according to the protocol of a parliamentary debate on the issue.

This provoked fury from left-wing Israelis and cultural figureheads, many of whom have long been critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who formed a new right-wing government following his re-election in May.

In one video shared on social media in reaction to the controversy, Arabs and Jews kiss on camera to break what they call a taboo in Israeli society.

Rabinyan describes herself as a "proud Zionist" -- the Jewish political movement for creation and consolidation of Israel as a Jewish state -- but at the same time said pretending such relationships don't exist would be foolish.

"Literature is a mirror," she said. "(My critics think) if they eliminate the mirror maybe the reality will vanish as well."

"They see Palestinians as a mass, and (the Palestinians) see us as a mass as well. To look into each other's eyes, as happened between my characters, is very rare for an Israeli to experience."

The education ministry, in a statement on Thursday, appeared to row back from its previous position, stressing that the book was not totally banned from the curriculum.

"The book wasn't 'disqualified', but merely not included among the books studied" in the extended high school literature programme, it said.

The ministry added that while teachers were still permitted to study the book with their students, it wouldn't be included in the final exam.

The novel is the latest cause celebre in longstanding clashes between Netanyahu's right-wing government and cultural figures.

In June, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the rightwing Jewish Home party, pulled state funding from an Arab play which he alleged showed a Palestinian attacker in a sympathetic light.

The country's most famous living author, Amos Oz, declared in November he will not attend events at Israeli embassies across the globe due to the government's "radical" policies.
By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Arab Israeli citizen wanted for a Jan. 1 gun rampage in Tel Aviv was killed in a shootout with police on Friday, ending a week-long manhunt. Local media showed pictures of Nashat Melhem's body, with a submachine gun next to it, outside what they said was an abandoned building that had served as his hideout in his northern hometown, Arara. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the security forces, which he said in a statement had "worked tirelessly, methodically and professionally to locate and eliminate the terrorist". Reflecting official uncertainty about the motive for the rare attack by an Arab Israeli, Netanyahu had in earlier public statements referred to the fugitive as a "murderer" rather than "terrorist". His shift in terminology on Friday suggested authorities had evidence of an ideological motive. Police said a special forces team closed in on Melhem's hideout and killed him as he stormed out, shooting at them. There were no police casualties from the incident. Melhem, whose age police gave as 31, was identified by relatives from CCTV footage of the Tel Aviv attack, where he was accused of killing two people in a central restaurant and a taxi driver whose vehicle he used to escape. Another three people were seriously hurt. Melhem had previously spent four years in prison for assaulting an Israeli soldier, said his former lawyer, who also described Melhem as mentally unstable. Commentators were divided on whether Melhem struck in Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial capital, out of pro-Palestinian sympathy or in loyalty to Islamic State, which in recent weeks has circulated messages threatening to attack Israel. Police said all angles were being checked. TIP-OFF AND DNA TEST Arabs, most of them Muslim, make up 20 percent of Israel's population. They seldom take up arms against the Jewish majority, though they often identify as Palestinian and an increasing though still small number of them have joined Islamic State abroad or tried to set up domestic cells for the group. Melhem's father and brother, who condemned the Tel Aviv attack and called on the fugitive to turn himself in, had been arrested and interrogated on suspicion of abetting him. But their lawyer, Nahmi Feinblatt, said it was the family that tipped off police about the Arara hideout. "They spotted him (Melhem), wearing a hoodie and carrying a jerrycan of water, breaking into a building," Feinblatt told Israel's Channel 10 TV, adding that he relayed the location to the security services as instructed by Melhem's father. Israeli media said police also had intelligence from five people arrested on suspicion of being Melhem's accomplices and having Islamic State links, and from DNA testing done on samples taken from a site the fugitive used as a toilet. Authorities did not immediately comment on those reports. The manhunt was unusually protracted for security-savvy Israel, and prompted speculation that Melhem may have fled to the Palestinian territories. Many residents of Tel Aviv, the focus of the searches, had said they were staying indoors and refusing to send their children to school for fear Melhem would strike again in the city. Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan thanked Israelis on Twitter for showing "vigilance, patience and understanding for the complexity of the police operation". (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Catherine Evans)
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and Britain said on Friday the international community should respond firmly and swiftly after North Korea's announcement that it had successfully tested a hydrogen nuclear device. After a meeting of the Japanese and British foreign and defence ministers, the two countries also said they would hold joint exercises and cooperate on defence equipment. "We've agreed that North Korea's nuclear test poses grave threats to peace and the safety of international society and that the international community needs to take resolute steps quickly," Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said. British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: "We will be deepening our bilateral defence cooperation ... bringing our own forces closer together to more regular exercises and exchanges." Fallon said Japan and Britain had agreed to move to a higher level of feasibility study on an air-to-air missile system they are planning to develop. The meeting comes as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe aims to bolster Tokyo's role on the global security stage and after North Korea's announcement on Wednesday that it had tested a miniaturised hydrogen nuclear bomb, drawing threats of further sanctions on the isolated nation. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told reporters: "Our relationship is underpinned by a growing defence and security partnership, reflecting our shared ambition to contribute not only to global prosperity but also to global peace and security." Hammond earlier urged South Korea to show restraint after Seoul resumed propaganda broadcasts following the North's announcement. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
By Duncan Miriri NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's government is preparing a bill which would make mobile operators share their infrastructure to boost competition, the country's minister for information and communication said. Minister Joseph Mucheru, who until his appointment last month was a senior executive at Google Africa, told Reuters he wanted the law on sharing infrastructure to be in place within six months. "I have no control over parliament but if it were my choice I would have them ready today," he said in an interview on Thursday. Safaricom, 40 percent owned by Britain's Vodafone, is the biggest phone company in the country with about 67 percent of subscribers. Rivals such as the Kenyan subsidiary of India's Bharti Airtel say Safaricom's huge slice of overall revenues is driving out competitors. Safaricom has rejected claims it is a dominant player and says any measures designed to reduce its position would discourage investment in the industry. Mucheru said the government was also preparing bills on access to information and data protection in a bid to attract more investors. "Without them (such laws), then people can't invest. If someone wants to put up a data centre in this country, how can they without data protection laws?" he said. Parliament is dominated by President Uhuru Kenyatta's ruling coalition, so bills proposed by the government are likely to be passed. Mucheru dismissed concerns about the size of Safaricom in the market, noting it was Kenya's largest listed firm by market capitalisation and delivered the biggest profits, but was still not in Africa's top 10 telecom companies. "We are trying to grow our economy and if we are going to do that, we cannot be saying a $6 billion company is too big," Mucheru said. Safaricom, which pioneered the popular mobile money transfer service M-PESA, has already opened up its distribution network to rivals to even the field, the minister said. He said the proposed law details how telecom companies will share infrastructure such as base stations, adding: "Shared infrastructure will help competition." Africa-focused private equity firm Helios is expected to conclude its purchase of Orange's stake in Telkom Kenya, the former state-owned telecom monopoly, this year. Orange is leaving the Kenyan market after losing money on its 70 percent stake in Telkom, which it bought in 2007 for $390 million. Equity Bank launched a new service called Equitel last year to take on Safaricom in the lucrative mobile financial services business. Officials want the information communication technology sector to contribute 8 percent of the country's economic output by next year, up from 1.2 percent now, Mucheru said. (Editing by Edmund Blair and David Clarke)
Barack Obama must wish he never heard the name TransCanada.

First, the companys application to build the nearly 2,000-mile Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta, Canada to Port Arthur, Texas, and the backlash from environmentalists, caused him years of agita. Now, after Obama finally sided with the greens and rejected the pipeline, TransCanada has reacted in a way that threatens his most cherished remaining policy achievement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

This week, TransCanada filed suit against the United States over what it claims was a wrongful permit denial for Keystone XL. In a separate filing seeking $15 billion in damages, TransCanada alleged that denying the pipeline approval violates the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). TransCanada argues that it has been unjustly deprived of the value of its multibillion-dollar investment by the U.S. administration's action.

Related: TransCanada Legal Challenges Over Keystone Face Long Odds

In the trade challenge, TransCanada is using the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provision embedded in NAFTA Chapter 11 and thousands of trade deals over the past few decades. ISDS allows companies to sue governments over trade agreement violations for monetary damages equivalent to expected future profits. Non-governmental tribunals composed of three corporate lawyers adjudicate the claims. Nations can reverse their policies to the benefit of the corporation rather than pay out the monetary damages.

Trade specialists believe TransCanada has a chance in an ISDS tribunal. In a case like these facts and those claims, said Lori Wallach of Public Citizens Global Trade Watch to Bloomberg, I have seen repeatedly, enormous amounts of money extracted from governments treasuries and taxpayers and doled out to corporations.

The problem for the Obama administration is that ISDS provisions also appear in the TPP, negotiated among 12 nations last year and awaiting a vote in Congress. ISDS has already proven controversial, with anti-TPP lawmakers warning that the process could undermine national sovereignty. The White House has rejected this, saying that the U.S. has never lost an ISDS claim. But past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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TPP opponents have already jumped on TransCanadas action. Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement that ISDS provisions that wrongly empower corporations to attack our safeguards show exactly why NAFTA was wrong and why the dangerous and far-reaching Trans-Pacific Partnership is worse and must be stopped in its tracks.

The high-profile nature of Keystone XL assures that this claim will hang over the TPP debate, particularly among Democrats, who widely supported the presidents rejection of the pipeline. Theres also a built-in network of millions of anti-Keystone activists who may now be empowered to go after TPP, increasing the firepower of the deals opponents.

Related: How the TPP Trade Deal Could Blow Up the Primaries

Disputes of this type typically go on for several years, meaning it will likely be active at the time of the TPP vote, whenever that may occur. The White House cannot say theres nothing to fear from ISDS when TransCanada has an open claim. And House Democrats, who likely hold the margin of victory for TPP, will have to face the potential damage to democracy accompanying their vote.

We already have a model for how trade deals can lead to alterations in U.S. law. In the end-of-year omnibus spending deal, Republicans added a provision repealing country-of-origin labeling (COOL) laws for meat and poultry. The reason was that the World Trade Organization ruled for Canada and Mexico that the COOL law violated prior trade agreements, awarding them $1 billion in trade sanctions. Instead of paying the fine, Congress took the other option and repealed the law, and President Obama signed it.

Similarly, the World Trade Organization ruled in November that dolphin-safe tuna labels required by the U.S. violated the rights of Mexican fishers. Mexico filed that challenge on behalf of its fishing industry, and a subsequent award of trade sanctions could again cause the U.S. to repeal its consumer information law.

Food labels aside, while TransCanadas claim involves a corporation suing a country directly rather than a country making a claim on an industrys behalf, the inherent danger associated with these third-party tribunals is the same. Once a country assents to ISDS, it opens up its laws to scrutiny for trade violations, effectively creating an extra branch of government with judicial review, outside of the sovereign structure. With a single press release, TransCanada has proven what concerned citizens have argued for decades  that the primary purpose of ISDS is to subvert democratic processes and the public interest, in the name of private profit, said Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law.

Related: Cheap Oil and Pricey Unicorns  20 Biggest Business Stories of 2015



ISDS claims can attack state and local governments, too. Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens has an active ISDS claim against Ontario, Canada over that provinces wind power auctions. Hes seeking $700 million. As ISDS grows with additional trade agreements, the smallest towns decisions all the way up to the business of Congress could get scrutinized.

Prior to the TransCanada announcement, it was actually a pretty good week for the TPP. All the business trade groups endorsed the pact, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the National Association of Manufacturers to the Business Roundtable. They joined the high-tech lobby, which endorsed it last month. A World Bank study of the agreement released this week found that all participants in the deal, particularly Vietnam, Japan and Malaysia, would benefit economically. The study is incredibly flawed  it doesnt count the net economic harm from increased imports, looking only at exports  and the alleged U.S. benefit under that one-sided review is tiny, just 0.4 percent of GDP by 2030, the lowest of any party to the agreement. But any proof of economic aid from TPP, no matter how distorted, is helpful to the White Houses argument.

Despite this, Republicans are skeptical of TPP and have told the president not to send the agreement for approval to Congress until after the 2016 elections. Thats largely seen as a negotiating tactic  Mitch McConnell in particular wants better terms for the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries  but the implication is that vulnerable politicians either dont want to have to take a controversial vote before their re-election or that the deal currently doesnt have the required support.

TransCanadas maneuver only raises the pressure, providing a model for the worst-case scenario of approving TPP. Politicians have even more reasons to duck the debate, or to line up against the deal, as everyone from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump has done. Some executive at TransCanada, miffed by Obamas rejection of their pipeline payday, must be smiling.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
By Andy Sullivan, Julia Edwards and Patrick Rucker

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the armed occupation of U.S. federal buildings in rural Oregon drags on, some blame the U.S. government for failing to arrest anti-government lawbreakers in western United States after the last big standoff in 2014.

Some former federal officials and lawmakers say they believe anti-government lawbreakers have been emboldened by the Justice Department's failure to prosecute rancher Cliven Bundy, whose 2014 standoff with the government over Nevada grazing rights ended with federal agents backing down in the face of about 1,000 armed militiamen.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been building a case against participants in that dispute, according to federal and local officials. But prosecutors have yet to bring charges and no arrests of Bundy, his family or others have been made.

Bundy's sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, are now leading a small group of armed protesters in rural Oregon who seized a federal wildlife center on Saturday in an attempt to win greater local control over federal land.

"If people feel like there's no repercussions for their actions, especially if they're acting illegally, it does embolden them," said Bob Abbey, who led the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from 2009 to 2012. "Two years should be sufficient time for bringing people to justice."

Cliven Bundy's long-running dispute with the BLM over grazing fees turned into a rallying point for the far right in 2014, when hundreds of heavily armed paramilitary activists flocked to his Nevada ranch to prevent federal agents from seizing his cattle. Bundy's sons were also photographed participating in the dispute.

Bundy's perceived victory energized a far-right citizens' militia movement that has waxed and waned in the United States over several decades. The Department of Homeland Security predicted in an intelligence report that it would inspire other acts of violence.

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The BLM said it was still pursuing the Bundy case through the legal system. "Our primary goal remains to resolve this matter safely and according to the rule of the law," spokesman Tom Gorey said. The FBI, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's office in Nevada declined to comment.

Former federal officials say the Justice Department, on the whole, is quick to handle criminal cases involving public lands.

But many BLM agents have expressed frustration that the government has not yet brought any charges related to the 2014 standoff, said Ed Shepard, a former BLM Oregon state director who stays in touch with current employees at the agency.

"It's a violation of law and they should be held accountable for it," said Shepard, who as president of the Public Lands Foundation represents retired BLM workers.

RIPPLING ACROSS THE WEST

In recent years, federal officials have taken a cautious approach when dealing with armed extremists to avoid a repeat of the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, that left more than 80 people dead.

The hands-off strategy averts bloodshed, but has enabled participants in the 2014 standoff to scatter across the country.

Two people involved in the standoff went on to kill two police officers and one civilian in Las Vegas in June 2014, less than two months after the Nevada standoff at the Bundy ranch ended. Others have discussed plans to seize land and attack federal convoys and helicopters, according to the Homeland Security report, which was released in July of that year.

One man involved in the standoff, Washington state resident Schuyler Barbeau, was arrested in a separate incident in December on charges of attempting to sell an unregistered firearm. He told an informant that it was his duty to "lynch" public servants he deemed to be unworthy, according to the charges.

Armed members of the Oath Keepers, a paramilitary group involved in the standoff, gathered at mines in Montana and Oregon last year at the request of owners who said they worried the government was going to seize their properties. Both disputes are pending in court.

In Oregon, Cliven Bundy is advising his sons by telephone from Nevada, according to Reuters reporters on the scene. An Arizona rancher and friend of the family involved in the Oregon standoff, LaVoy Finicum, told a local TV station he would no longer pay grazing fees.

The April 2014 standoff also led to an increase in threats and security risks for the federal employees who police rangeland, deter trespassers and round up stray livestock on public land in the western United States, former officials say.

In the weeks after federal agents backed down, two BLM rangers were menaced at gunpoint on a Utah highway, said Juan Palma, the agencys state director at the time.

Archaeologists, biologists and others who often work alone far out in the wilderness were required to travel in pairs for safety, and the agency carefully tracked who was in and out of the office said Palma, now retired.

"Some of our employees didn't feel comfortable wearing the uniform to be identified in a restaurant," he said.

Complex cases like the 2014 Nevada standoff that involve hundreds of suspects are often laborious to assemble, current and former law enforcement officials say, and the current occupation in Oregon further complicates the investigation because many of the same suspects are involved.

Prosecutors do not want to risk bringing suspects to trial prematurely if the Oregon incident spurs additional charges, said a former federal law enforcement official familiar with the investigation.

But officials involved in the latest armed protest are growing impatient.

"What Cliven Bundy and his sons and those around him are doing is domestic terrorism," said Steven Horsford, who as a U.S. congressman for southern Nevada at the time of the standoff was involved in negotiations.

"They should have absolutely acted by now," he said.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in Oregon and Julia Harte in Washington; Editing by Jason Szep and Lisa Shumaker)
Every year, American farmers spray some 3.5 million pounds of neonicotinoid insecticides over 127 million acres of farmland. Thats according to official Environmental Protection Agency estimates, at least. But the bee-killing chemicals are present in crops on more than twice as many acres because, thanks to an EPA loophole a large swath of land planted with neonic-treated corn, soy, and other crops doesn't count as being treated with pesticides.

The difference comes in the application, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by a coalition of beekeepers, farmers, and environmental and wildlife conservation groups: The EPA only regulates neonics as a pesticide when they are sprayed on fields. Meanwhile, farmers who use seeds pretreated with neonicsallowing the insecticide to be taken up in every part of the plant, from leaf to pollenarent considered to be using a pesticide, and they arent regulated as such. The federal lawsuit filed seeks to change that.

"EPA has created an exemption that is so big you could drive a Mack truck through it and allows this vast suite of environmental harms and bee kills and other sort of damage to occur without any oversight," Peter Jenkins, an attorney with the anti-GMO group Center for Food Safety, which is party to the suit, told Minnesota Public Radio on Wednesday.

Jeff Anderson, a Minnesota beekeeper who is the lead plaintiff, says that dust from fields planted with treated seeds has drifted onto his hives, as might happen when a field is sprayed with pesticides, killing bees.

Many have singled out neonics as the culprit in the troublingly high rates of bee die-offs observed in managed hives in recent years, while the science suggests that a host of pests, chemicals, and environmental influences are behind the losses. But even if bee death is more complicated than one chemical, the EPA itself is now saying that neonics harm bees. However, the agency's first assessment of the insecticides, released Wednesday, says the chemicals are only a risk to bees when applied to cotton and citrus, not corn and vegetable crops. The EPA has not commented on the new lawsuit.

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Other research, including studies conducted by the EPA, suggest that using pretreated seeds simply isnt worth it. A 2014 EPA report concluded that seed treatment provide[s] negligible overall benefits to soybean production in most situations. A review of 19 papers on neonic treatments conducted by the Center for Food Safety found that 11 studies concluded that the insecticides had inconsistent benefits, while eight found that neonicotinoid treatments did not provide any significant yield benefit.

The plaintiffs say the treated seeds do, however, excel at killing wildlife.

A single seed coated with a neonicotinoid insecticide is enough to kill a songbird, Cynthia Palmer, director of pesticides science and regulation at the American Bird Conservancy, said in a press release. There is no justification for EPA to exempt these pesticide delivery devices from regulation.

Related stories on TakePart:





 For the First Time, the Government Says a Pesticide Harms Bees

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Original article from TakePart
Cairo (AFP) - The Egyptian branch of the jihadist Islamic State group on Thursday said it had bombed a pipeline that carries gas to Jordan and to a major industrial zone in north Sinai.

Security sources confirmed that attackers set off explosive devices under the pipeline close to Al-Midan village in the north of the peninsula. They said the blasts did not cause any casualties.

North Sinai is a bastion of the "Sinai Province" group, the Egyptian affiliate of IS.

In a message posted on Twitter and signed by "Sinai Province", the jihadists claimed responsibility for the attack.

"By the name of God, not a drop of gas will reach Jordan until the caliphate gives its permission," the statement said.

Jordan is among a number of Arab states that have joined the US-led campaign of air strikes against IS, which captured swathes of Syria and Iraq, where it has declared a caliphate.

Since the 2011 uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, there have been dozens of confirmed attacks by jihadists on energy pipelines in the Sinai Peninsula, repeatedly forcing a halt in gas supplies to Jordan, as well as to Israel.
By Dave Sherwood AUGUSTA, Maine (Reuters) - Outspoken Maine Governor Paul LePage on Friday responded to criticism that his comments about drug dealers flooding the state and impregnating "white girls" had a racist tone, blaming the media for taking his words out of context. "My brain was slower than my mouth," LePage, a Republican, told reporters at the state house in Augusta. "The take-away is this: I dont really care what the press thinks about me. But I want the drug dealers to know: Im after them." Like many U.S. states, Maine is struggling with a surge in heroin addiction and overdoses and LePage has frequently suggested involving the state's National Guard in the fight against drug dealers. In discussing the problem at a town hall meeting on Wednesday, LePage said: "These aren't the people who take drugs. These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty - these types of guys. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing." LePage insisted on Friday he had meant nothing by the "white girls" comment, adding, "Maine is essentially all white." He said he had not known the race of the drug traffickers he was referring to, contending that the police reports he reads makes no mention of it. Some 95 percent of Maine's population is white, according to U.S. Census data, well above the 77 percent national average. LePage's Wednesday comments were immediately criticized by Democrats in the state and elsewhere. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign described his words as "racist rants" in a statement to the New York Times. "Governor LePage should be ashamed," said Representative Mark Eves, the Democratic speaker of the state's House of Representatives. "What a terrible example for our children." Democratic House Majority Leader Justin Alford called LePage's comments "racially charged sound bites." LePage's comments came at a time of racial tension across the United States, with police killings of black men in cities including Ferguson, Missouri, New York and Baltimore inflaming the national debate on race and justice and sparking sometimes violent protests. LePage has often come under attack for his blunt comments. He gained national notoriety early in his tenure after he ordered a mural honoring state workers removed, called climate change "a scam" and made a crude sexual remark about an opposition leader's use of Vaseline. (Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Trott)




By Alex Bregman

The Wisconsin special prosecutor in the trials of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, Ken Kratz, told Yahoo Finance Anchor Alexis Christoforous on Yahoo News Live that he does not think the White House went far enough in its response to the online petition asking for the pardons of Avery and Dassey, who were convicted for the murder of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach. It is the case at the center of the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer, which Kratz also blamed for death threats he and his family have received since its release.

On the White House response, Kratz told Christoforous, I was a little disappointed that the decision seemed to be based on we dont have the ability to do it. I would have rather had the president support not only law enforcement and the victims family in this case.

Kratz said his law office has received over 3,000 emails since the airing of the Netflix series. Most of [the threats] are insulting, which certainly doesnt bother me, he said. But what does is when a percentage of these individuals want to either interfere with my business, want to interfere with my safety, those of my staff, those of my family. When I get emails that suggest, I hope your daughter gets raped and murdered. Thats the kind of response from the general public  I would suspect or at least the conclusion that came directly from this particular Netflix documentary.

On concerns raised by a former Avery juror earlier this week on Yahoo News Live that the jury knew about news surrounding Avery and Dassey before the trials, including Dasseys taped confession that was excluded from the Avery trial, Kratz said, We want our jurors to be regular citizens. We want them to watch the news.

He also pointed to the defense team wanting the jury to know about Averys lawsuit against Manitowoc County.

Kratz said he did not participate in the series because it was originally a defense advocacy piece. He said he asked the filmmakers to see the film they had presented to the Columbia University Film Festival before he participated in the series, but they would not let him do so.


Bamako (AFP) - Gunmen have abducted a Swiss woman from her home in fabled Timbuktu in northern Mali, the second time she has been taken captive, officials told AFP on Friday.

Beatrice Stockly's capture is the first in the area since the kidnap and murder of two French journalists late November 2013 in Kidal.

"Beatrice, a Swiss citizen, was kidnapped in her home in Timbuktu by gunmen," a Timbuktu government official told AFP.

A Malian security source said armed men had gone to her home Thursday evening, "knocked on the door, she opened, and they left with her."

"There is no doubt that the perpetrators are jihadists," another Malian security source, adding that searches were on and that two people had been arrested in Timbuktu.

In Bern, the Swiss foreign ministry said it was "aware of the apparent kidnapping of a Swiss woman in Mali" and was in contact with her relatives and the local authorities.

The ministry said its crisis management centre had "formed a task force immediately after the kidnapping incident was announced," and that it was "committed to achieving the release of the Swiss citizen in good health."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the capture of Stockly, a woman in her 40s who has lived in Timbuktu for years and was kidnapped a first time in April 2012 by Islamist fighters.

The social worker was said at the time to be the last Westerner living in the legendary desert city, which she refused to leave when it fell to Islamist Ansar Dine rebels on April 1.

Two weeks later, special forces from Burkina Faso swept into rebel-held northern Mali aboard a helicopter and whisked her to safety in a pre-arranged handover by Islamist rebels.

Stockly at the time appeared tired but in high spirits on the helicopter flying her to the Burkina capital Ouagadougou after Ansar Dine handed her over in Timbuktu.

"I am offering you freedom chocolates," she told the officials, security personnel and an AFP journalist on the helicopter, after fumbling through her leather satchel and, with a beaming smile, producing chocolate.

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Ansar Dine's 2012 assault on Timbuktu had been backed by fighters from Al-Qaeda's north Africa branch, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

- 'High risk of kidnapping' -

At the time a loose alliance of Tuareg and Islamist rebels took advantage of the political chaos in Mali's capital that followed a March 22 army coup by capturing the country's vast desert north, including Timbuktu.

Stockly's capture that year brought to 24 the number of hostages seized in the Sahel region, 20 of them held by AQIM and another Islamist group, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).

Almost all were subsequently released, but three foreign hostages seized, a South African, a Swede and a Romanian remain in captivity.

The Swiss foreign ministry stressed Friday that it since December 2009 had warned against travel to Mali "due to the high risk of kidnapping."

After Stockly's kidnapping in 2012, the ministry said it had discouraged her from another stay in Mali.

The jihadist fighters were chased from Mali's vast remote north in 2013 by a French-led military intervention.

A regional French counterterrorism force is still conducting operations in the area.

But entire swathes of the north remain beyond the reach of both the Malian army and foreign troops.

In November, 20 people, 14 of them foreigners, were killed in an attack claimed by jihadist groups on the Radisson Blu hotel in the capital, Bamako.
BALTIMORE (Reuters) - A Baltimore police officer facing manslaughter charges in connection with the death of a black man while in police custody will not immediately have to testify against a fellow officer charged with murder following an appeals court ruling on Friday.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals agreed to stay, or temporarily halt, a lower-court judge's order for William Porter to take the stand in the trial of Caesar Goodson, who was charged with second-degree depraved heart murder in the April death of Freddie Gray.

Porter's lawyers on Thursday appealed a Baltimore City Circuit Court's order that their client take the witness stand in Goodson's trial, which is scheduled to begin on Monday. Both Porter and Goodson are black.

Goodson was the driver of the police van where Gray, 25, sustained the broken neck that killed him after his arrest. He faces the most serious of the criminal charges filed against the six officers involved in Gray's arrest.

Porter's trial ended last month in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. He is scheduled to be retried in June.

(Reporting by Donna Owens; Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - The number of tourists visiting Mauritius rose 10.8 percent in 2015, driven by more arrivals from Europe and China, official data showed on Friday. The central bank said last November it expected tourism earnings to be around 49.5 billion rupees ($1.37 billion) this year. Statistics Mauritius said arrivals rose to 1,151,723 from 1,038,968 in 2014. Numbers from Europe, which accounts for two third of visitors, climbed 10.7 percent to 631,783. Tourists from Asia rose by a quarter to 197,765 driven by arrivals from China, which jumped 41.4 percent to 89,585. Mauritius, like other long-haul destinations in the region, has turned east in search of sun-worshippers wanting a slice of Indian Ocean paradise to compensate for flagging growth in its traditional European markets. ($1 = 36.0400 Mauritius rupees) (Reporting by Jean Paul Arouff; editing by John Stonestreet)
Mexico City (AFP) - Betrayed by his desire to make a biopic, Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was back Saturday in the prison he escaped from six months ago, amid calls to extradite him to the US.

The world's most wanted drug baron was arrested in a military raid early Friday that left five suspects dead in Los Mochis, a coastal city in his native northwestern state of Sinaloa.

Hours later, the Sinaloa cartel kingpin was flown in a military helicopter from Mexico City to the Altiplano maximum-security prison, the scene of his daring July 11 escape some 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of the capital.

On July 11, after just 17 months at Altiplano, Guzman slipped through a hole in his cell's shower, climbed on a motorcycle mounted on rails, and traveled 1.5 kilometers (one mile) through a tunnel to freedom.

But six months later, Guzman was back in the prison after authorities located him, in part because the kingpin wanted to make a biographical film about himself, according to Attorney General Arely Gomez.

Gomez said an "important aspect that allowed us to locate him was that we discovered Guzman's intention to make a biographical film, for which he established contact with actresses and producers."

"The follow-up work allowed us to document meetings between attorneys of the now-detainee and these people," she said, adding that the matter was under investigation.

- Another tunnel escape -

The manhunt led to his recapture, which featured one last underground escape for the man who became known as "The Lord of Tunnels" for his ability to ship drugs to the US under the border and dig his way out of trouble.

Guzman was nearly captured in the mountain region in October, but marines chasing him in a helicopter decided not to shoot because he was accompanied by two women and a girl, Gomez said.

The months-long investigation culminated in a house in Los Mochis, which authorities began to stake out in December.

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Marines were met by gunfire when they swooped in on Friday, leaving five suspects dead and one marine wounded. Six others were detained in the operation.

Guzman and his security chief fled through the city's drainage system, repeating a tactic the drug kingpin successfully used in escaping authorities in 2014 in the nearby city of Culiacan. This time however the marines expected such a move, Gomez said.

The wanted men came out of a manhole and stole a car, but they were captured on a road and taken to a motel, where Guzman was seated on a bed, wearing a dirty sleeveless shirt -- an ignominious end for a kingpin whose billionaire drug business reaches as far as Asia and Europe.

- Extradition calls -

The 58-year-old's arrest provided a major sigh of relief for President Enrique Pena Nieto, whose administration was humiliated when Guzman broke out of prison.

"Mission accomplished: We got him," Pena Nieto wrote on Twitter.

But calls quickly mounted among US politicians for Mexico to ship Guzman to the United States, where he also faces charges in half a dozen US states. The Americans had sent an extradition request two weeks before his July escape.

Some questioned Mexico's ability to hold on to Guzman, who previously escaped from another maximum-security prison in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart with inside help.

More than a dozen prison and federal police officials have been arrested on charges of helping Guzman flee again last year, along with several associates of the drug lord who worked from the outside on building the tunnel.

"Given that 'El Chapo' has already escaped from Mexican prison twice, this third opportunity to bring him to justice cannot be squandered," said US senator and Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio.

Senator John McCain congratulated Mexico's navy for the capture, but he added: "Now let's extradite him to the US."

President Barack Obama's administration did not indicate whether it would press Pena Nieto to send Guzman across the border.

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Guzman will "now have to answer for his alleged crimes," without indicating where.

The Mexican attorney general's office secured an extradition warrant in September, but Guzman's attorneys sought an injunction that could delay the process.

But a leading Mexican politician, Senator Miguel Barbosa of the leftist opposition Democratic Revolution Party, is already opposing an extradition.

"The easiest thing would be to swiftly extradite 'Chapo' Guzman and, once again, the Mexican state shows that it doesn't have the strength to punish those who commit crimes in our territory," Barbosa said.
Cologne (Germany) (AFP) - When asylum seeker Asim Vllaznim heard about the New Year's Eve spate of sexual attacks in Germany, blamed on a crowd of migrants, he says his spirits fell.

"Our first reaction was: now the Germans will hate us," said the 32-year-old Kosovar, sitting with his family in their room at a migrant shelter in the western city of Cologne.

The city's ugly mob violence -- including groping, other assaults, thefts and two reported rapes -- has inflamed public opinion already strained by the influx of a record 1.1 million refugees and irregular migrants last year.

Germany has been shocked by reports of fearful women running the gauntlet in a drunken and aggressive crowd of men, described by witnesses as being of Arab and North African appearance.

Vllaznim said he fears the anti-foreigner backlash has only just begun, as furious critics have blamed Angela Merkel's liberal refugee policy for the mob attacks.

"It's a shame what they did at the central station," said the father of five about the violence in the square between Cologne's railway station and the city's famous Gothic cathedral.

The perpetrators should be sent to prison, he said, adding that he hoped alcohol had not driven some young refugees to do "terrible things".

Police -- under fire for failing to prevent the attacks, and then for initially downplaying them -- have since struggled to review video footage to identify the culprits in the chaotic crowd.

- 'We are not bad people' -

A week on, police have received more than 120 criminal complaints. On Friday the interior ministry said police had identified 31 suspects, including 18 asylum seekers, for mostly theft and assault offences, but reported no arrests so far.

The suspects include two Germans, an American and a Serbian but most are from Arab and North African countries; nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians and one from Iraq.

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"It is not good news for Merkel," Vllaznim sighed, offering tea as his children bounced on the bed behind him.

He expressed faith in the chancellor dubbed "Mama Merkel" by grateful refugees, and her motto of "we can do it", but said he knows she is under mounting pressure.

"I thank the Germans for having us ... I would tell them not to be afraid," he said.

His own family fled because of discrimination against their Albanian-speaking Ashkali ethnic minority, hoping for a brighter future for their children, he told AFP.

"We are not bad people, we only want a better life."

- 'Germans are afraid' -

Fear and anger have gripped many citizens of Cologne, a city of about 600,000 which took in more than 10,000 asylum seekers in December alone.

Since the New Year's Eve attacks, police vans have been parked outside the main railway station as the city nervously readies for next month's Rhineland Carnival street parties, expected to draw hundreds of thousands at the start of the Christian Lent.

"It would be great if you knew who did it so the culprits could be arrested and sent back home, no matter what country they come from," said one resident, 42-year-old Rute Graca, on her way to work.

The growing climate of distrust worries Ghaith Anthipan, a 20-year-old Syrian standing outside the cathedral this week in the freezing rain.

With a friend he held up signs in broken German that read: "What happened to women in Cologne on New Year's hurts."

A Bosnian woman in a local shelter, who asked not to be named, said that "in every culture, there are people who behave badly".

"Do not put all the refugees in the same bag," said the 36-year-old mother of two daughters, standing in the corridor of the shelter that was meant to house 550 people but now shelters 623 asylum seekers.

The Muslim woman said that, as xenophobic attacks have spiked in Germany, she stopped wearing her headscarf several months ago and no longer goes out after dark.

After the Cologne attacks, she said, "we understand that some Germans are afraid", but voiced hope the culprits will turn out to be people other than refugees.

Abdul Baldeh, a 28-year-old Guinean waiting at a nearby railway station, also said that in his new host nation, "people are more distrustful than they have been in recent months".

"We did not come to cause problems," he said. "What I want is to learn German, get a job and be free."
By Suzannah Gonzales (Reuters) - The Mississippi River, a major artery for U.S. commercial barge traffic, was expected to crest in Tennessee on Friday and Arkansas over the weekend as it pushed south toward the Gulf of Mexico, officials said. The river is predicted to rise just below 40 feet (12.2 meters) in Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday afternoon, above the 34 feet at which the city considers it a flood event, while it is expected to crest in Helena, Arkansas, on Sunday, according to Jeff Graschel, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service. Officials expect levees in other states along the lower Mississippi to contain the river's high levels. The swollen Mississippi and rivers that feed into it wreaked havoc in Missouri and Illinois after heavy rains and severe storms in late December brought flooding across several central U.S. states, leaving at least 33 people dead. Russell Smith, manager at Miss Cordelia's Grocery on Mud Island, a recreational and residential island separated from downtown Memphis by a part of the Mississippi, said on Friday the water was very high. "We'll just wait and see what happens." But Dale Lane, director of the Office of Preparedness in Shelby County, where Memphis is located, said they have already seen the water recede in some places. "We believe the worst of this is already here," he said. "We're well above flood stage now, but we're not seeing major disruptions at this point," added Lane, who reported some park and road closings but no significant damage or water in homes. "If it went up a couple more feet, it would have been a different story," he noted. "It's nowhere close to what it was in 2011," when the river was over 48 feet. In Helena, the main concern was vacation homes located between the levees, said Michael Burchett, emergency management coordinator in Phillips County, Arkansas. Sandbags are on hand and water levels will be monitored through the weekend. The river's crest will reach Arkansas City, Arkansas, on Tuesday, Jan. 12, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Monday, Jan. 18, said NWS' Graschel. The threat led the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Louisiana to make plans to open a spillway around New Orleans on Sunday to keep the volume of the river flow in check. State emergency planners are urging residents in potential flood areas to prepare by securing boats, outdoor furniture and other objects that could be swept away. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency was also watching flood level forecasts closely, particularly around Greenville, Vicksburg and Natchez, according to the agency's posts on social media. Meanwhile, the Midwest saw the warmest and wettest December on record, the Midwestern Regional Climate Center at the Illinois State Water Survey said. It said the region's preliminary average December 2015 temperature was 36.7 degrees F (2.61 C), or 10.7 degrees above normal. The previous record was 34.1 degrees in 1923. (Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales; Additonal reporting by Tim Ghianni and Letitia Stein; editing by Ben Klayman, G Crosse)
RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco's government adopted a bill on Thursday outlining planned reforms to the pension system that unions say would damage workers rights and have vowed to block. The proposed changes to state pension funds include an increase in the retirement age to 63 by 2019, and higher workers' contributions along with an expansion of the calculation base, according to a government statement. The government said earlier the reform will cost 41 billion dirhams ($4.14 billion) over the next five years. ($1 = 9.9120 Moroccan dirham) (Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Catherine Evans)
The Motorola smartphone era is about to come to a close. While the Moto line isnt going anywhere, Motorolas parent company Lenovo recently told CNET that the Motorola name is about to be phased out.

DONT MISS: From the iPhone 7 to the Apple Watch 2, heres what Apple plans to release in 2016

The move is intended to unify the companys smartphone lineup under a single Lenovo umbrella. Going forward, the Moto brand will still live on, albeit on the companys more high-end smartphone models. The companys more economical models, meanwhile, will be slapped with the companys Vibe branding.

So much for Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqings 2014 remarks when he said that he intends to not only protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger.

While Lenovos about-face might not be shocking news in and of itself, it does mark an unceremonious end to a brand that had been synonymous with advanced phone technologies and products for decades. Indeed, the first cell phone call in the history of the world originated on a Motorola DynaTAC all the way back in 1973.

Below is a photo of Motorolas DynaTAC, and the man holding it is Martin Cooper, also known as the father of the cellphone.

martin cooper dynatec motorola

Since then, Motorola has always been in the cellphone and smartphone mix, in some form or another. Today, with devices like the iPhone and Samsungs Galaxy series accounting for most smartphone sales and profits, its easy to forget how much power and influence Motorola wielded at the peak of its popularity.

Even as recently as the mid-2000s, Motorola was making money hand over fist with its wildly successful Motorola Razr. With smartphones being as thin as they currently are, its easy to take for granted just how impressive the Razr was for its time. A phone that can comfortably fit in your pocket without being an eyesore? Genius!

Whats perhaps ironic is that it was Apples ill-conceived partnership with Motorola on the Motorola Rokr E1 that helped convince Steve Jobs that Apple needed to go it alone in the smartphone business.

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This article was originally published on BGR.com
By Mark Hosenball and Julia Harte

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Texas politicians made public details of an investigation into a terrorism suspect while it was still in progress, potentially jeopardizing the inquiry, three sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick released details on Thursday night contained in documents that were still under court seal, the sources said. Spokesmen for Abbott and Patrick declined to comment on Friday.

The suspect, Omar Faraj Saeed al-Hardan, 24, appeared in court on Friday accused of providing material support to Islamic State overseas. He entered the United States as an Iraqi refugee in November 2009 and lived in Houston, according to a court document.

Abbott and Patrick are both Republicans and their party strongly opposes Democratic President Barack Obama's plan to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the country, arguing that they pose a security risk to the United States. The Obama administration has rejected that assertion.

In his statement on Thursday, Abbott urged Obama to halt the resettlement program so that all refugees could be properly vetted to ensure they "do not compromise the safety of Americans and Texans."

Abbott's spokesman, Sam Taylor, said he had released the statement in response to media inquiries.

The sources said the politicians' comments forced federal authorities to wrap up their inquiries and rush out public statements and court papers on the case earlier than planned.

The Department of Justice released a statement about two hours after Abbotts statement was released. The clerk of the District Court in the Southern District of Texas said Hardans indictment was only formally unsealed on Friday morning.

Hardan was in custody at the time of Abbott's statement, but interviews of potential witnesses were still being conducted, the sources said.

The U.S. Justice Department also unveiled federal charges against another Iraqi refugee on Thursday, accusing Sacramento resident Aws Mohammed Younis al-Jayab of traveling overseas to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to U.S. authorities about it.

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Hardan, granted legal permanent residency status in the United States in 2011, did not enter a plea when he appeared in court on Friday. He is charged with aiding Islamic State by offering his services and material support,

"He was prepared to take whatever action on his own behalf to assist the organization," Kenneth Magidson, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said after the hearing.

More than 75 U.S. residents allegedly radicalized by Muslim militants have been arrested since 2014.

Wearing glasses and a gray plaid shirt, Hardan told the judge that he made it through 11th grade at a school in Jordan. He said he was married and had one child.

He also faces two charges about providing false information to U.S. officials concerning his ties to Islamic State and being provided weapons training, it said.

(Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Dallas and Kristen Hays in Houston, editing by Andrew Hay, James Dalgleish and Ross Colvin)
By Benjamin Kang Lim and Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea is seeking a peace treaty with the United States, China and South Korea to formally end the Korean War and will not stop its nuclear tests until it gets one, a person who relayed that message from North Korea to China told Reuters. North Korea announced on Wednesday it carried out its fourth nuclear test since 2006, drawing threats of more sanctions, although United States and weapons experts doubted Pyongyang's claim that the device was a hydrogen bomb. The test has again raised questions among world powers about what can be done to stop the North's nuclear weapons program. The source, who has contacts in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and correctly predicted the North's first nuclear test in 2006, said the tests would go on until the North's demand for a treaty was met. "North Korea will do it to the end until China and the United States want to sign a peace treaty," said the source, who declined to be identified. The 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, signed by the United States, representing U.N. forces, the North Korean military and the Chinese army. Now North Korea wants those three sides and South Korea to sign a treaty. "This explosion is mainly for the United States to see. The main objective is to persuade the United States to enter into four-country negotiations to end the war so that there can be everlasting peace on the Korean peninsula," the source said. North Korea has repeatedly said it wants a peace treaty to formally end the war, which it says will give it the security it needs, given what it sees as a hostile United States intent on "regime change" in Pyongyang. The United States and China have both dangled the prospect of better ties, including the lifting of sanctions and eventually a likely peace treaty, if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons. But North Korea believes the United States will only negotiate if Pyongyang can demonstrate its strength through its weapons. With its demand for a treaty ignored, North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear weapons and a stalemate has ensued. 'STRATEGIC MISTAKE' The source said he had relayed the message from North Korea to China's top leadership immediately after its latest test, urging China to support a push for a treaty. "China should not follow the United States," the source said, referring to the U.S. demand that North Korea give up its nuclear program before any negotiations. "Not mentioning a peace treaty is a strategic mistake." China is the reclusive North's main economic and diplomatic backer, and the two fought side-by-side during the Korean War. Despite their old friendship, China opposes the North's nuclear program and has supported sweeping U.N. sanctions on North Korea for its weapons development. But China has been reluctant to take tougher action, such as completely shutting their shared border, fearful North Korea could collapse in chaos. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, asked on Friday what China's position was on the need for a peace treaty, said China supported resolving all parties "reasonable concerns" and achieving lasting peace through the so-called six party talks. In 2005, North Korea reached an agreement with the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia to suspend its nuclear program in return for diplomatic rewards and energy assistance. Negotiations collapsed after the last round of talks in 2008, with North Korea declaring the deal void after refusing inspections to verify compliance. Pressure is growing on China to do more. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he had made clear in a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China's approach to North Korea has not succeeded. "Today, in my conversation with the Chinese, I made it very clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual," Kerry said. Chinese spokeswoman Hua said in response that the origin of the nuclear issue did not lie with China. "The key to resolving the issue is also not on China," she said. The source with contacts in Pyongyang said North Korea was already largely cut off from the world after decades of sanctions, and more would not work. "North Korea is used to sanctions and not afraid," the source said, adding that the latest test pointed to advances in its weapons. "The (TNT) equivalent of this explosion was not big, pollution was very small. This demonstrates the technological level is high. It is even easier to make it bigger," the source said. (Additional reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Oslo (AFP) - Sexual advances or just friendly gestures? In a bid to prevent violence against women, Norway is offering asylum seekers courses in how to interpret mores in a country that may seem astonishingly liberal to them.

A debate on integration has flared in Germany after New Year's Eve attacks in Cologne, where more than 100 women reported being sexually assaulted or robbed by men described as being of Arab or North African origin.

Questions are also being raised about how to integrate men from patriarchal societies into Europe, where emancipated women dress skimpily, go out, and drink and party.

"Our aim is to help asylum seekers avoid mistakes as they discover Norwegian culture," explained Linda Hagen of Hero, a private company that runs 40 percent of Norway's reception centres for asylum seekers.

"There's no single cultural code to say what is good or bad behaviour because we want a free society," she said.

"There has to be tolerance for attitudes that may be seen as immoral by some traditional or religious norms."

After what she called a "wave of rapes" committed mostly by foreigners in the southwestern town of Stavanger between 2009 and 2011, Hero launched a course at some of its centres that touches on cultural differences regarding women.

The course, which Hero has tacked onto the immigration agency's broader, mandatory introduction programme to Norway, addresses the problem of sexual assault, using concrete examples for the participants to discuss.

"It could be an 18-year-old guy who says he's surprised by the interest some Norwegian girls are showing in him. He assumes they want to sleep with him," Hagen said.

"So the group leader will ask him: Who are these girls? Where do you meet them? How do you know it is sex they want? Not all women in Norway are the same," she added.

To avoid stigmatising immigrants, the role of sexual predator in these scenarios may be assigned to a Norwegian. "We turn the roles around a bit because there are rapists in all ethnic groups," Hagen said.

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Belgium on Friday said it would follow Norway's example and introduce similar courses "in the coming weeks."

"The contents could be broader and not only limited to respect for women," Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken told reporters in Brussels.

Xenophobic blogs in Norway are rife with reports of violent attacks allegedly committed by foreigners, including a November incident in which a 12-year-old girl was physically molested by two underage asylum seekers.

- Experimenting with dialogue groups -

"This programme can only have a short-term effect, given the attitudes abroad where women are oppressed," said Hege Storhaug of the anti-immigration group Human Rights Service.

"To put an end to these attitudes, immigration has to first be restricted, then you have to concentrate on the newly-arrived immigrants and the second generation to assimilate them to our basic values, such as gender equality," she said.

While on a much smaller scale than the Cologne assaults, other incidents have been reported involving foreigners on New Year's Eve in Helsinki and Zurich, in countries that have opened their doors to migrants to a much lesser extent than Germany.

"I fear that problems like this are going to increase in intensity in the coming years," said Storhaug, who said she has observed, especially among Muslim foreigners, an "extremely sexualised and degrading" view of women.

"Women's freedoms are already on the decline in Europe."

But awareness programmes for migrants are not a cure-all.

"I don't think a course on its own can protect us from things that depend so heavily on social structures," admitted psychologist Per Isdal.

"To prevent sexual assaults by men, you have to provide good living conditions, such as a job and housing, and combat poverty."

Together with the Alternative to Violence (ATV) foundation, Isdal has devised another, broader programme of "dialogue groups" focused on preventing violence, including sexual attacks, which were run as a nationwide experiment in 2013 and 2014.

In these classes too, rather than having a teacher instructing students, the emphasis is on groups holding discussions and exchanges of ideas, moderated by specially-trained ATV employees.

"The first reactions were partly negative among ... some reception centre employees who wanted to defend the asylum seekers. They were worried that the project would be stigmatising," Isdal said.

"But the asylum seekers themselves found these dialogue groups very helpful."

Norwegian migration authorities, whose capacities have been strained by the influx of migrants last year, have yet to decide whether to pursue the dialogue groups.
The National Rifle Association may have opted to sit out on CNN's televised town hall with President Obama on Thursday night, but that didn't stop the organization from tuning in.

The NRA posted several tweets criticizing the president's stance on gun control during Guns in America, stating that his "rhetoric does not match his record" and claiming "none of the president's orders would have stopped any of the recent mass shootings."

"If the goal is to save lives, then prosecute criminals, Mr. President!" another tweet read. View more tweets below.

Read More: Watch American Sniper Widow Question Obama at CNN Town Hall

A president who compliments Australias gun control model does not respect the #2A #GunsinAmerica

NRA (@NRA) January 8, 2016

If @POTUS is concerned about felons getting guns, why not prosecute those guilty of gun crimes? #GunsInAmerica

NRA (@NRA) January 8, 2016

Its true: None of the presidents orders would have stopped any of the recent mass shootings #GunsInAmerica

NRA (@NRA) January 8, 2016

If the goal is to save lives, then prosecute criminals, Mr. President! #2A #GunsinAmerica

NRA (@NRA) January 8, 2016

#Fact: President Obamas rhetoric does not match his record. His administration does not prosecute gun crimes #2A #GunsInAmerica

NRA (@NRA) January 8, 2016

There were only 6,002 gun crime convictions in 2015  a 1/3 drop from just 10 years ago #GunsinAmerica

NRA (@NRA) January 8, 2016

Speaking at the town hall, Obama took aim at the NRA for failing to attend the discussion, saying, "Part of the reason I welcomed this opportunity by CNN to have a good discussion debate about it is because our position is consistently mischaracterized. ... There's a reason why the NRA is not here. They're just down the street. And, since this is the main reason they exist, you'd think they'd be prepared to have a debate with ... the president."

He continued, "I'm happy to meet with them. I'm happy to talk to them, but, the conversation has to be based on facts and truth, and what we're actually proposing, not some  you know, imaginary fiction in which Obama's trying to take away your guns."

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A spokesperson from the organization told CNN that the NRA saw "no reason to participate in a public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House."

Read More: Obama Tears Into NRA During CNN's Town Hall
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday vetoed legislation passed by the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress that would have dismantled his signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act. "Republicans in the Congress have attempted to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act over 50 times," Obama said in a letter to lawmakers, notifying them of the veto. The House of Representatives will consider whether to try to override the veto on Jan. 26, officials said. However, Republicans lack the two-thirds majority needed for an override. Democrats were unhappy that the attempt at override would not take place until later this month, "but the outcome will be the same," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. "House Democrats will sustain the presidents veto and defeat Republicans latest attack on womens health." The vetoed bill also would take funds away from Planned Parenthood, another target of Republicans after undercover videos showed officials of the women's healthcare provider discussing use of fetus parts for research. Republicans have been vowing to gut the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare," since 2010, when the then Democratic-majority Congress passed the landmark program designed to provide healthcare for millions of uninsured Americans. The House has voted to dismantle Obamacare dozens of times, but Republicans were unable to get a repeal measure through the Senate until late last year, when they used a procedural maneuver denying Democrats' ability to block the legislation. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said Friday that the process showed Congress could in fact repeal Obamacare. Although Obama's veto was no surprise, Ryan pledged to try again next year when he and other Republicans hope to have a new Republican president. We have now shown that there is a clear path to repealing Obamacare ...," Ryan said in a statement. "So, next year, if were sending this bill to a Republican president, it will get signed into law." (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Susan Heavey and Bill Trott)
Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama surprised no one Friday by vetoing a Congressional bill that would have gutted his landmark healthcare legislation.

Wielding the eighth veto of his presidency, Obama said the Republican-backed bill would "reverse the significant progress in improving healthcare in America."

The White House says the president's Affordable Care Act has given insurance to 17.6 million Americans who did not have it.

The bill Obama vetoed was the latest of dozens of attempts by Republicans to destroy the program, which they describe as an overreaching government takeover.

It passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday by a margin of 240 to 181, with one Democrat voting yes.

Republicans said the bill -- which also would have cut funding to women's healthcare provider Planned Parenthood -- highlights sharp policy differences between their party and rival Democrats during the 2016 presidential election year.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan, a Republican, said he would force a vote to override the veto. But that would require a two-thirds vote of both houses and is also expected to fail.

"It's no surprise that someone named Obama vetoed a bill repealing Obamacare," Ryan said, while vowing to take the process "all the way to the end under the Constitution."

Wednesday's vote was the first major congressional vote of 2016, coming just two months after Ryan became speaker.

Democrats dismissed the vote as the 62nd attempt by Republicans to repeal, defund or otherwise dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which narrowly passed a Democrat-led Congress in 2010.
By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama plans to travel next week to two Republican-leaning states - Nebraska and Louisiana - to promote the themes of his final State of the Union address, the White House said on Friday. Obama, who has begun his last year in the Oval Office, will give the annual televised address to Congress on Tuesday at 9 p.m. (0900 ET on Wednesday). "It's my last one," the Democratic president said in a short video preview on the White House website. Obama said the speech would focus on "not just the remarkable progress we've made, not just what I want to get done in the year ahead, but what we all need to do together in the years to come." White House officials have said the speech will be less of a list of legislative goals, focusing instead on what Obama can do on his own to cement his legacy on the economy, healthcare, climate and foreign policy. On Wednesday, Obama will travel to Omaha, Nebraska, only his second visit to that state as president. On Thursday, he will travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a state he has visited 10 times since taking office in 2009. He did not carry either state in his two presidential election victories. The White House provided few details about his events in the states, but noted each of them had benefited from the Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature healthcare reforms, and from a strengthening economy since the recession early in his presidency. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Peter Cooney)
The Hague (AFP) - Dutch cheese makers have been hit by a spate of top-end cheese thefts, prompting a dairy federation to warn farmers Friday to beef up security around their storerooms.

At least six cheese makers have been burgled over the last year, with criminals seemingly having a nose for ripened "Boerenkaas" (Farmers' Cheese), considered a Dutch speciality protected by an appellation.

"We've never had a problem before last year, when at least six farmers were burgled and had their cheeses stolen," said Irene van de Voort, chairwoman of the Dutch Dairy Farmers' Producer Federation (BBZ).

"We are worried about the situation and have advised our members to increase security," she told AFP.

Respected Dutch daily tabloid the NRC reported Friday that at least 8.5 tonnes of cheese valued at almost 90,000 euros ($97,800) had been carted off during the heists.

The paper said the largest theft happened in the small southern town of Hellouw near Den Bosch, where some 200 of the famous round yellow discs, worth about 26,500 euros, were stolen from a cheesemaker in one night.

Elsewhere in the southwestern city of Bergen op Zoom, some 150 cheeses -- each weighing around 12 kilogrammes (26.4 lbs) -- disappeared.

But exactly who is taking the cheese remains a mystery, with no clues left behind.

And police officials, who declined to be named, said the thefts were being investigated as isolated incidents.

Cheese farmer Marjo Huijsmans told NRC it seemed the thieves knew exactly how to pick out the best top-quality cheeses.

"They left the newly-made cheeses and took a selection of the ripening cheeses," she said.

The stolen cheeses were most certainly destined for the export market, said Onno Boersma of the Dutch Dairy Trade Association.

"Firstly each cheese is stamped with a number, so you can see exactly where the cheese comes from. Also, the Dutch cheese sector is not that big... if you tried to sell it, it will be spotted immediately," he told AFP.

Making such cheese "is a specialised skill and it takes special knowledge to make it. It's a very valuable product," he stressed.

"These farmers are hardworking people, who not only have to milk their cows but hand-make their cheese. Imagine how frustrating it is when you realise that your hard work has disappeared."
By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A judge in Columbus wrote a poem to let a prisoner suing an Ohio penitentiary for emotional distress know that his lawsuit was being denied and read it in court. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David E. Cain, 72, dismissed Darek Lathans lawsuit seeking $2 million in damages over a denied bathroom break. Lathan, an inmate at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient near Columbus, filed three civil lawsuits against the prison in October. The case before Cain involved an accident Lathan had when a guard did not let him leave a line to use the bathroom. Lathan was sentenced in January 2015 to 17 months in prison after pleading guilty to felony vandalism. Cains poem explained what occurred and his rejection of Lathans argument: Cold showers caused his bowels to malfunction Or so the plaintiff claims A strict uncaring prison guard Is whom the plaintiff blames. While in line for recreation And little time for hesitation His anal sphincter just exploded The plaintiffs britches quickly loaded. It made the inmates laugh and play To see the plaintiffs pants this way The foul, unsightly, putrid mess Caused the plaintiff major stress. Claiming loss and shame to boot The plaintiff filed the present suit But the law provideth no relief From such unmitigated grief. Neither runs nor constipation Can justify this litigation Whether bowels constrict or flex De minimus non curat lex. The last line translates as "the law takes no account of trifles," the judge said. Author and humorist Sean Carter, who practiced law for 10 years, said the poem was a bit graphic and the humor may have been better used in a corporate security lawsuit, but the poem did not affect the legality of the decision. "There is no grounds for appeal because a judge is silly," Carter said, adding, "You would not want to read this opinion over lunch." The judge said Lathan's lawsuit was filed incorrectly and was in the wrong court. This was even more frivolous than we are used to seeing so I thought I would have a little fun with it, Cain said on Friday. This is the first time the judge, who has been on the bench for 30 years, has used rhyme for a legal decision, but the former newspaper reporter wrote song parodies for press events in the 1970s. Cain said the poem added a little levity to what is normally a serious job. It was a change from going into a courtroom and hearing about wrecks, rapes and robberies, he said. As of Friday, Lathans three personal injury lawsuits filed in Franklin County Court had been dismissed. (Reporting by Kim Palmer; Editing by Ben Klayman)
By Jonathan Allen and Jim Urquhart

MALHEUR NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Ore. (Reuters) - The leader of a group of armed protesters occupying the headquarters of a federal wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon met briefly with a local sheriff on Thursday but rejected the lawman's offer of safe passage out of the state to end the standoff.

Ammon Bundy and other occupiers left the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in two vehicles and traveled to a neutral location along a remote Oregon roadside to meet for about five minutes with Harney County Sheriff David Ward.

During that meeting, which was attended by two Reuters reporters, Ward told Bundy that he was seeking a peaceful resolution to the nearly week-long standoff and offered to escort the occupiers out of Oregon.

But Bundy, saying that the sheriff had not addressed the occupiers' grievances, declined.

"We plan on staying," Bundy told reporters following a meeting. "I'm not afraid to go out of state. I don't need an escort."

The sheriff's office later said in a tweet that Ward had plans to meet with Bundy again on Friday.

The takeover that began on Saturday at the headquarters of the refuge, about 30 miles (48 km) south of the small town of Burns, is the latest incident in the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion, a decades-old conflict over federal control of land and resources in the U.S. West.

The move followed a demonstration in support of two local ranchers, Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven, who were returned to prison earlier this week for setting fires that spread to federal land.

A lawyer for Hammond family has said that the occupiers do not speak for the family.

Local residents have expressed a mixture of sympathy for the Hammond family, suspicion of the federal government's motives and frustration with the occupation.

The leaders of the armed occupation are Ammon Bundy and his brother, Ryan Bundy. Their father, Cliven Bundy, along with a band of armed men, stared down federal agents trying to seize his livestock in Nevada in 2014. Many of the other occupiers also are from outside Oregon.

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At least a dozen other armed men have been visible at the park headquarters, offices, a museum and outbuildings. They have come and gone freely from the park without interference from authorities, at times making trips into town.

The Bundys' group said that on Wednesday night three men entered the refuge unexpectedly and engaged in a brief confrontation with the occupiers. Reuters journalists present at the time saw men running with firearms and heard angry shouting, but no shots were fired.

The situation was more calm on Thursday when area ranchers visited for chats with the Bundys, who discussed their beliefs that the federal government had overreached its authority, often pausing to read from the U.S. Constitution.

"Hopefully some of the ranching families and the community will come and support you guys," rancher Royce Wilber told them. "That's what I wanted to post on Facebook, 'Quit bitching on your electronic devices and come down here and see these people because they are not how they are portrayed in the media.'"

FEDERAL LAND HOLDINGS SOUGHT

The Bundys say they want the federal government to turn over its land holdings in the area to local authorities and that they will leave after they have accomplished their goal.

Federal law enforcement agents and local police have so far kept away from the occupied site, maintaining little visible presence outside the park in a bid to avoid the deadly violence that erupted during conflicts with militants in Idaho and Texas in the 1990s.

But local officials have repeatedly asked the occupiers to go home, saying that even residents who support their views object to the illegal seizure of federal property.

"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 earlier this week.

(Writing by Scott Malone and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Cobham (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Chelsea's interim manager Guus Hiddink said on Friday that he is certain to leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Hiddink, 69, has presided over two wins and two draws since the sacking of Jose Mourinho in December opened the door for him to return to Chelsea following a previous short-term stint in 2009.

Pep Guardiola's announcement that he intends to move to England after leaving Bayern Munich at the end of the season has prompted speculation that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich could make another move for him.

In any case, Hiddink intends to leave the way clear, telling a press conference: "I've put two dates in my mind, which is May 21 and 28, and then it's finished. Then I can go home on the 29.

"Those dates are FA Cup (final) and Champions League (final). We made it very clear that at the end of this, then I will stop."

Hiddink also confirmed that Oscar has apologised to Diego Costa for the challenge that sparked a training-ground confrontation between the pair on Thursday.

Hiddink admitted that the flashpoint had come after a strong challenge by Oscar on the striker, prompting other Chelsea players to intervene and separate the duo.

But the Dutchman, who likened the players to a pair of bulls, said that Oscar would not face disciplinary action after the Brazil playmaker accepted responsibility and a line was drawn under the matter.

"It was a pity that our photographer yesterday had a day off because he could have shot beautiful pictures from the two, let's say, bulls who were chesting a bit after a charge from behind from the smaller bull, which was Oscar," said Hiddink, whose side host third-tier Scunthorpe United in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.

"He (Costa) took a charge from behind and it was overdone, especially when you know Oscar. He is not the biggest tackler of the team and he got Diego.

"And of course, then they stumbled over the ground, stood up as a normal reaction and then chested a bit without any further seriousness or threat of punching or whatever. It was more the threat of two bulls.

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"After that, Oscar apologised in front of the group. He wanted to speak. I said, 'Take the podium.' He apologised for his over-reacting and then they looked at each other and they started laughing. I think it's OK.

"Jokes were made already afterwards, so it's normal. We are used to playing on a high intensity. It happens, so it's solved."

- Hiddink 'worried' about Falcao -

Asked if either player might face punishment from the club, Hiddink replied: "No, no disciplinary action. If they solved this as they have done, then it's perfect."

Hiddink led Chelsea to FA Cup success during his previous spell as interim manager at Stamford Bridge in 2009 and he admits the trophy is a high priority as a poor Premier League campaign rumbles on.

"When I started weeks ago I said we have to have some aims as a big club, we have to have some targets," he told reporters at Chelsea's training base.

"Fourth place in the Premier League is difficult, but there are two targets left and one is the FA Cup, so it is a big test for this group of players."

The Dutchman confirmed that Chelsea will start their cup campaign without injured trio Eden Hazard, Loic Remy and Radamel Falcao.

Falcao's future at the club has come under question and Hiddink conceded that the on-loan Monaco striker's fitness was a concern.

"I am a bit worried about this situation," Hiddink said. "When I came in, he was injured. He started training again, then had a setback, so I gave him time to recover and we will see what will happen.

"He is out of sight at this moment in the squad."
Paris (AFP) - The man shot dead by police after trying to storm a Paris police station brandishing a meat cleaver appears to have been identified by his family, a source close to the investigation said Friday.

The man, who attacked the police station on Thursday wearing a fake suicide vest, was said to be a Tunisian named Tarek Belgacem.

He was killed by officers as he ran towards the entrance of the police station shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest"), exactly a year to the day since the massacre of journalists at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper.

Based on his fingerprints, police initially identified him as Sallah Ali, born in 1995 in Casablanca, a homeless man who was arrested for theft in 2013.

But Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Friday that the identity he gave was "not at all certain" since he was carrying no documents at the time of his arrest.

"This identity (he gave in 2013) is contradicted by a hand-written note that we found in his clothes," Molins told France Inter radio. "He is not known to the intelligence services under this name."

Investigation sources told AFP that individuals claiming to be the parents and cousin of Belgacem have identified him from his photo.

"There is therefore a very strong indication that it is him, but it is still to early to speak of a formal identification," the source said.

Molins said the man was carrying a mobile phone with a German SIM card, with French media saying it contained several messages in Arabic, some of which were sent from Germany.

His note was written in Arabic with a hand-drawn flag of the Islamic State group (IS).

The police station is in the 18th district of Paris, an area with a mainly North African population close to the tourist hotspot of Montmartre.

Describing the attack, an investigation source said the man pulled the cleaver from his inside coat pocket as he ran towards the officers. He "did not heed the warnings, and police opened fire".

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The attacker was also wearing a pouch under his coat with a wire hanging from it, but the device "contained no explosives," the source told AFP.

A remote-controlled robot was also used to inspect the body for explosives.

- Jihadists sentenced -

A source close to the investigation said Thursday's attacker had pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the documents found on his body, and justified the attack as revenge for French bombings in Syria.

Justice Minister Christiane Taubira confirmed the suspect was not on the radar of counter-terrorism police.

"From what is known of this person, there was no link to violent radicalisation whatsoever," Taubira said on Thursday.

More than 1,000 French citizens have left to fight with jihadists, and the government has tried to deter more from leaving with stiff prison sentences.

On Friday, a French court handed two men six and 10 years in prison prison for travelling to join IS in Syria, one of whom was sentenced in absentia.

The ruling came a day after a Paris court handed a 15-year sentence -- also in absentia -- to key French IS member Salim Benghalem, who had ties to the Charlie Hebdo attackers.

Thursday's drama unfolded just moments after President Francois Hollande concluded a sombre speech at police headquarters to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Paris office of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015.

Rocker Johnny Hallyday will perform at a concert in Paris on Sunday to mark a year since 1.6 million people gathered in the capital in support of freedom of expression following the deaths of Charlie Hebdo's best-known cartoonists.

With France still grieving after the massacre of 130 people by jihadists in Paris in November -- also claiming vengeance for France's role in Syria -- Hollande used his speech to call for greater cooperation between the security services.

Since the attack on Charlie Hebdo, nearly 200 people in France had been placed under travel restrictions to prevent them joining up with IS in Syria or Iraq, Hollande said.
By Sophie Louet PARIS (Reuters) - Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins cast doubt on the identity of a man shot dead by police in the capital on Thursday, as authorities sought to establish whether he was acting alone or with support. The man was killed as he tried to enter a police station wielding a meat cleaver, on the first anniversary of the deadly Islamist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine. An official account said the man, identified by a judicial source soon after the attack as Moroccan-born, shouted Allahu Akbar, (God is Greatest), and was wearing what turned out to be a fake suicide belt. Molins told a French radio station the man may have given police a false identity some months ago. He also said a mobile phone found on the body was being examined and contained a German SIM card. "I am not at all sure the identity he gave was real," Molins told France Inter radio on Friday. A judicial source said on Thursday that the dead man was Ali Sallah, a Moroccan born in 1995 in Casablanca. He was homeless and known to police for theft in 2012 in the Var region of southern France. FINGERPRINTS Molins said authorities had established from fingerprints that the dead man identified himself as Sallah to police when they intercepted him last year. The name Ali Sallah was not known to intelligence services. Molins said a sheet of paper found on the man's body gave a different name, and a Tunisian nationality. A French police source told Reuters on Friday that a relative of a Tunisian man, Tarek Belkacem, had identified him as Thursday's assailant after seeing his photo on television and called police from Tunisia. "It is a serious lead, but checks are under way to see if it really is this person," the source said. He added that the man in question was of Tunisian nationality and had emigrated to France. Also on the sheet of paper was the Islamic State flag and a claim of allegiance to the militant group written in Arabic. Islamic State, which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for an attack in Paris on Nov. 13 in which 130 people died. Molins said anti-terrorism authorities were working on 215 cases involving 711 individuals in France. Some 240 people had been taken in for questioning in connection with them. He said about half the cases had reached the inquiry stage, and that authorities risked being overwhelmed because "since 2012 we have seen a doubling of these cases every year". Belgian investigators said they believed explosives used in the November Paris attacks may have been made in an apartment in Brussels. It was rented under a false name and a fingerprint of a key fugitive was found. (Additional reporting by Gerard Bon; Writing by Andrew Callus and John Irish; Editing by Andrew Roche)
By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian investigators believe explosives used in the attacks in Paris in November may have been made in an apartment in Brussels that was rented under a false name and where a fingerprint of a key fugitive was found. Police found material that could be used to make explosives, traces of explosive acetone peroxide and handmade belts during a raid on the apartment on Dec. 10, federal prosecutors said in a statement on Friday. Belgian newspaper De Standaard, which reported the raid in its Friday edition, said the investigators believed the explosives were probably packed into suicide belts in a hotel outside Paris in the lead-up to the Nov. 13 attacks. Prosecutors investigating Belgian links to the Paris attacks said the apartment in the district of Schaerbeek had been rented under a false name that might have been used by a person already in custody in connection with the Paris attacks. The find adds to indications that the Nov. 13 shooting and suicide bomb attacks in Paris, in which 130 people were killed, were at least partially planned in Belgium. Two of the attackers had been living in Brussels and Belgian authorities have arrested 10 people. Investigators also found a fingerprint of Salah Abdeslam, the brother of one of the attackers, who returned from Paris the morning after the attacks and has still not been found. Many of those arrested in Belgium have links to Abdeslam, including two who drove from Brussels hours after the attacks to pick him up and another who drove him from one part of Brussels to Schaerbeek after his return. According to De Standaard, investigators believe the fingerprint indicates Abdeslam used the flat as a safe house after the attacks, given signs that the apartment had been partially cleaned up, although they do not know how long he stayed there. Belgian media also said this week investigators also now believe that two men controlled the Nov. 13 attacks by sending SMS text messages from Belgium during the evening. Prosecutors appealed to the public for help on Dec. 4 in the hunt for these two men who travelled with Abdeslam to Hungary in September using fake identity cards with the names Samir Bouzid and Soufiane Kayal. Grainy images of their faces are shown on the federal police's website. (http://www.police.be/fed/fr/actualites/353-dossier-terrorisme-a-rechercher) The two, clearly older than the attackers, are believe to have played a pivotal role, according to Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique, in assuring logistics for the operation that was months in the planning. The same false identity of Soufiane Kayal was used to rent a property in the Belgian town of Auvelais that possibly served as a safe house. The other false identity card, for Samir Bouzid, was used four days after the attacks to transfer 750 euros at a Western Union office in Brussels to Hasna Aitboulahcen, who died in a police assault in St Denis on Nov. 18. Separately, federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw warned in an interview on broadcaster VTM late on Thursday that the Jan. 15 anniversary of a foiled attack on Belgian soil could prompt someone to launch an attack in the country. "We know that they opt for symbolic dates although on the other hand no one knows why Charlie Hebdo took place on Jan. 7," he said. (Reporting By Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Harney County Sheriff David Ward, left, speaks as Judge Steven Grasty looks on during a news conference Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, in Burns, Ore. A group calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom sent a demand for redress to local, state and federal officials as they occupied a federal wildlife reserve. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

BURNS, Ore.  When Harney County Judge Steve Grasty entered his courthouse Wednesday morning to join Commissioners Dan Nichols and Pete Runnels for their regular bimonthly meeting, he was greeted by an unfamiliar sight: a throng of sheriffs deputies and a metal detector.



Around the corner, a group of officers stood behind police tape blocking off the entrance to the Harney County Sheriffs Office, which has been transformed into an outpost for the FBI agents, Oregon State Police officers and sheriffs deputies from Clackamas, Tillamook and other counties that have been dispatched to this snowcovered eastern corner of the state.



Anticipating greater attendance than usual, Wednesdays meeting was held in a county courtroom where a giant moose head is mounted amid rows of books along the back wall, and a mural depicting ranchers on horseback herding and branding cattle hangs behind the judges bench. At the back of the room, behind several rows packed with Harney County residents, sat two men in uniform  one wearing a bulletproof vest.



It was with great sadness that I pulled up to this courthouse, Grasty said at the start of the meeting, after everyone present recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Walking in here I was nearly in tears. This place has never looked like it looks like today. It looks like a fortress.



Wearing a blue tie with printed with a bald eagle, his transitional lenses still dark from being outside in the bright snow, Grasty apologized to the room for keeping his cellphone on during the meeting. Hed normally never do something like that, but things havent been normal in Harney County for several days now.



Wednesday marked the fifth day since a group of armed antigovernment activists led by Ammon Bundy seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, turning what began as a peaceful protest against the arrest of two local ranchers into a potentially violent occupation.



In the days since, local schools have been closed. The FBI, Oregon State Police, and sheriffs deputies from across the state have descended on Harney County, as have the national media.





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A sign referencing Ammon Bundy and his brother, who are the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, hangs on a tree in front of a home Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, in Burns, Ore. Ammon Bundy, the leader of a small, armed group that is occupying a remote national wildlife preserve in Oregon said Tuesday that they will go home when a plan is in place to turn over management of federal lands to locals. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Slideshow: Armed militia standoff in Oregon >>>

The message Harney County Sheriff David Ward and other local leaders have sent to the occupiers has been to relinquish the federal refuge and go home. But among rank and file members of the community, attitudes toward Bundy and his band of pertinacious protesters are more complicated.



After all, it was the heavily protested prison sentences of two of their own local ranchers, convicted on arson charges for setting federal land on fire, that brought the Bundy brigade to this quiet piece of country in the first place. And while most people are quick to clarify that they dont support the groups tactics, Bundys general message about federal overreach on public lands is one that resonates in a county where cows outnumber people 14 to 1, and 75 percent of the land is owned by the federal government.

Essentially, the protesters have created a sort of conflict of conscience that appears to be driving a wedge between them and the people they claim to want to help.



Grasty, for example, said he was embarrassed and angry about the heavy law enforcement presence at the courthouse Wednesday and told the community members in the room, If you feel the same way, that anger needs to be pointed in one direction only: at Mr. Bundy and his friends.



But Commissioner Dan Nichols, on the other hand, wasnt so sure.



Nichols, who looks and sounds like a cowboy in bankers clothing with his sharp suit, thick white mustache and low drawl, said he paid a visit to the wildlife refuge on Tuesday and left with a vastly different perception of the situation than the one hed had going in.



I gotta say, with the fear thats in this community, these people are respectful, courteous, Nichols said, referring to Bundys group. Nichols said he was welcomed onto the property and had a pleasant discussion with Bundy before asking him to consider leaving.



Weve expressed locally many, many times that we agree with the same concerns, but we do not agree with the methods being done, Nichols said. We appreciate their support but we also want them to go home.



At the same time, Nichols argued, Those people up there arent a threat.



In fairness to them, theyre frustrated and angered Americans just like all of us, he said. Theyve been pushed and prodded and frustrated to the point that theyve gone a step beyond where we as a community are willing to go.





Ammon Bundy, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, speaks to reporters during a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, near Burns, Ore. With the takeover entering its fourth day Wednesday, authorities had not removed the group of roughly 20 people from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon's high desert country. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

And despite their questionable methods, Nichols noted, the activists have managed to draw national attention to issues concerning the Western United States.



Theres an overreach of government and an overreach of regulations, he said.



County resident Forrest Keady thanked Nichols for his comment and said that he, too, was pleasantly surprised when he and his family paid a visit to the refuge earlier this week.



On Monday, since schools are closed, Keady and his wife, Jennifer, took their two sons, who had become afraid for their safety, out to the refuge to educate themselves about what was going on.



Our boys have friends whose parents are in law enforcement and had to leave the community. [They] came home in tears because they thought their friends were in harms way, Keady said. They thought the militia was coming to mow down the kids in the school and take out law enforcement and law enforcements families.



During Bundys press conference Monday, Keadys kids got to ask all of their questions and have their many concerns calmed.



Like Nichols, Keady said he was relieved to find the occupation peaceful and welcoming. Our kids were never in harms way, he said. It was the backlash Keady said his family encountered after their visit from within their own community, however, that was really disturbing.



Amid a sea of reporters and news cameras, Keady said his wife and both kids were interviewed by a number of different outlets during their visit to the refuge. In one interview, Jennifer said that she is against the overreach of federal government, and its happening right under your nose. The comment apparently sparked outrage from Harney County residents, mostly via social media, including calls for a boycott of Keadys optometry practice.



We didnt go out there and tell them, Were bringing our guns and were standing with you. We just wanted to educate ourselves and know, are they looking to do harm? Keady said. It was disheartening and sad to see that certain community members twisted that, turned that, went to social media, and made my wife out to be the bad person.



For those of you that know my wife, shes a much better person than I am, he added. Shes not the devil, shes a great eye doctor, and she doesnt deserve that.



The anecdote reveals a community divided and one that is experiencing for the first time the power of the social media swarm that erupts during news moments like the Oregon occupation, and the animosity, tension and confusion that swarm can fuel.





Cowboy Dwane Ehmer, of Irrigon, Ore., a supporter of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, walks his horse Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group has said repeatedly that local people should control federal lands, but critics say the lands are already managed to help everyone from ranchers to recreationalists. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

In fact, during an emergency meeting held on Monday, the county court had decided it was time to appoint a public information officer to handle the unprecedented media frenzy. On Wednesday, Judge Grasty introduced Laura Cleland, communications director for the Association of Oregon Counties, whod been brought in to do the job.



Her first order of business: social media.



On Monday, Cleland said, shed created a Facebook page, Twitter account, and Youtube channel for the Harney County Sheriffs Office. Now she wanted to do the same for Harney County, and urged the court to approve a social media policy shed drafted for how those accounts should be run.



Before moving on to regular business, Grasty took a moment to apologize to Keady and anyone else who may have been the subject of threats or vitriol from within the community, and to praise the range of opinions expressed at Wednesdays meeting.



Thats how this country works, he said.



But, he noted, see those two guys in the back, gesturing to the officers quietly watching over the meeting. Theyre here for a reason. Not because Mr. Bundy is a nice guy.



Im not telling you hes not a nice guy, he continued. Im gonna tell you Ive had an experience with him when we were in the office and it was nothing like what you guys are describing.



Bundy might be the public face of this operation, Grasty noted, but his agenda is not the only one represented at the wildlife refuge.



There are people whove left this community because theyre fearful, and theyre correct, he said. I just dont want anyone in this room to leave here believing that Mr. Bundys the greatest guy in the world. There is more to this than what the two of you saw.

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By Daniel Kelley and Jarrett Renshaw

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A gunman claiming to have pledged allegiance to Islamic State militants shot and seriously wounded a Philadelphia police officer in an ambush on his patrol car, the city's police commissioner said on Friday.

Edward Archer of Philadelphia approached Officer Jesse Hartnett, 33, shortly before midnight and fired 11 rounds, three of which hit the officer in his arm, authorities said. Police released still images from surveillance video that showed the gunman dressed in a long white robe walking toward the car and firing, eventually getting close enough to shoot directly through the window.

Hartnett chased Archer, who was arrested by responding officers and later confessed to the attack, saying he had carried it out "in the name of Islam," police officials told reporters.

"He has confessed to committing this cowardly act in the name of Islam," Ross told a press conference, adding that the 30-year-old assailant also referenced Islamic State militants.

Philadelphia Police Captain James Clark added, "He said he pledges his allegiance to Islamic State, he follows Allah and that was the reason he was called on to do this."

A top U.S. Muslim advocacy group said it had found no evidence that Archer was an observant Muslim.

U.S. officials have been on high security alert following a series of Islamic State-linked attacks at home and abroad over the last few months.

In November, gunman and suicide bombers affiliated with Islamic State killed 130 people in a series of attacks in Paris. Last month a married couple fatally shot 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in an attack inspired by Islamic State.

Those concerns have led to calls by some Republican governors and presidential hopefuls to restrict the admission of Syrian refugees fleeing that country's long civil war.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat sworn in on Monday, told reporters he did not believe Archer's actions reflected Islamic thinking.

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"In no way shape or form does anyone in this room believe that what was done represents Islam," Kenney said. "This was done by a criminal with a stolen gun."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the leading U.S. Muslim advocacy group, on Friday said Archer "does not appear" to be an observant Muslim.

At the Masjid Mujahideen mosque, which stands around the block from the home where Archer was believed to have lived, Imam Asim Abdur-Rashid said he did not know Archer and was not aware if he had ever prayed at the mosque.

"When it's time to pray, you get to wherever is closest," Abdur-Rashid said, adding, "There's no conflict between us and anyone in the world."

A woman who lived on the same block as Archer's mother but declined to give her name said police had responded to the house on occasion but described the suspect as "pleasant."

Neighbor Natalie King, 68, a retired public worker, said she had seen the man she knew as "Eddie" going to the mosque every Friday.

"He's a nice boy. I am shocked," she said.

NO SIGN OF CONSPIRACY

There was no evidence as yet that the shooter had worked with anyone else, Ross said.

"He was savvy enough to stop just short of implicating himself in a conspiracy," Ross said. "He doesn't appear to be a stupid individual, just an extremely violent one."

About a dozen FBI agents and city detectives could be seen on Friday afternoon searching a two-story row house in a working class West Philadelphia neighborhood where Archer was believed to have stayed at times and a second home just outside the city where his mother lives.

The house where Archer was believed to have stayed was about two blocks away from the intersection where Hartnett was shot.

Archer has a criminal history. Court records show he pleaded guilty in 2014 to assault and carrying an unlicensed gun, charges that got him a prison sentence of between nine and 23 months.

Archer's mother told the Philadelphia Inquirer that her son, the oldest of seven children, had suffered head injuries from football and a moped accident.

"He's been acting kind of strange lately. He's been talking to himself," and hearing voices, the newspaper quoted Valerie Holliday as saying. "We asked him to get medical help."

Hartnett was taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital and will require several surgeries for three gunshot wounds in his arm.

Archer used a 9 mm handgun that had been stolen from a Philadelphia police officer's home several years ago, but not by him, Ross said.

In New York City, where two police officers were shot dead in their patrol car in a December 2014 attack by a man angry over police killings of unarmed black men, the police department issued a memorandum urging officers to "exercise heightened vigilance and implement proactive measures" in light of the Philadelphia shooting.

"Those who carry out attacks in the name of ISIS or any other terrorist organization must be fully prosecuted," said U.S. Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, using a common acronym for Islamic State. "We have to take every appropriate step to safeguard our communities and ensure safety."

(Additional reporting by Jason Szep and Andy Sullivan in Washington and Laila Kearney in New York; Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Bill Trott and Tom Brown)
MANILA (Reuters) - The weakening of the Chinese yuan reflects uncertainties surrounding the world's second largest economy and should not be seen as an attempt by Beijing to boost its export power, a Philippine central bank official said on Friday.

The Philippines is closely monitoring developments in China because of the potential spillover effects, Diwa Guinigundo, deputy governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas told Reuters via mobile phone message.

"Consolidating China's export power may not be a good way to interpret the renminbi trend because it is not exactly consistent with the country's announced shift in policy from investment-and-export-led growth to domestic demand-led growth as well as with the reported decline in China's FX reserves,' Guinigundo said.

China is of the Philippine's top trading partners.

(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Richard Pullin)
Brussels (AFP) - Belgian police have found a Brussels flat where bombs used in the Paris attacks could have been made and where key suspect Salah Abdeslam might have hidden after the massacre, prosecutors said Friday.

One of Abdeslam's fingerprints, three hand-made belts for possible use in suicide attacks and traces of explosives were discovered during a search in December of the apartment in the Schaerbeek area, they said.

The flat was rented by someone using a false name, possibly used by another suspect in the November 13 Paris attacks who is now in custody in Belgium, the federal prosecutor said.

Prosecutors said Abdeslam might have hidden in the flat after the November 13 attacks, but that they were also working on the theory that the explosive devices used in the massacre could have been made there.

"We found the fingerprint but we have no idea when it was left -- a fingerprint has no date or time on it," prosecutors' spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told AFP.

"Maybe he went there to get his belt (before the attacks), and maybe he went back afterwards. I suppose it's a possibility of both," he added.

- Explosive traces, vests found -

An international manhunt has been underway for Belgian-born Abdeslam, 26, since suicide bombers and assailants firing automatic weapons killed 130 people and wounded many more in a wave of attacks across Paris.

Investigators said friends drove Abdeslam from Paris back to the Belgian capital, slipping through three police checks, while one suspect has since said that he drove Abdeslam across Brussels to Schaerbeek on November 14.

Prosecutors said the raid was carried out "in the framework of the investigation opened after the Paris attacks". They did not explain why details were only being released a month after the search.

"During a house search conducted December 10th in an apartment on the third floor, Rue Berge in Schaerbeek, material that can be used to fabricate explosives as well as traces of TATP were found," the prosecutor said in a statement, referring to a type of explosive.

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"This apartment was rented under a false identity that might have been used by a person already in custody in this case," the statement added.

"Three handmade belts that might be used to transport explosives as well as a fingerprint of Salah Abdeslam were also discovered."

One source close to the investigation told AFP that it "is my personal opinion that the explosive belts used by the attackers from Belgium were made in the apartment" in Schaerbeek.

- Hunt continues -

After the attacks, French authorities said that telephone data had placed Abdeslam in the area where an explosives belt was found in a dustbin in the Paris suburb of Montrouge.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the coordinated series of attacks on bars, restaurants, and a concert hall, in which the attackers were armed with guns and suicide belts. Seven died during the assault but the total number of those directly involved is still unclear.

One of them was Abdeslam's brother, Brahim.

In early December, Belgian prosecutors said they were looking for two "armed and dangerous" men who used false ID papers to help Abdeslam travel to Hungary in September where he was stopped -- but then let go -- by police.

Belgian authorities have arrested and charged a total of 10 people in connection with the attacks, including several with helping Abdeslam.

France has long said the attacks were prepared and organised in Belgium and that the mastermind was Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Brussels resident who was killed in a police raid in Paris days after the massacre.

But the source close to the investigation told "there's still a lot of work to do" to put the puzzle of the attacks together. "That's the million dollar question," he added.

He said investigators still did not know "where the weapons came from, and who coordinated the attacks."

Nor do they know where the ingredients for "the home-made explosives" were bought or what operational links the attackers had with the Islamic State group.
Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis has invited 5,000 migrants to pray with him and attend a special mass at St Peter's to mark the world day of migrants and refugees, the Migrantes Foundation announced Friday.

The January 17 event, which is also part of the Catholic church's Jubilee Year, will see a group of asylum seekers and migrants listening to Francis's Sunday address in St Peter's Square before entering the basilica through one of the 'holy doors' opened for the special year which is dedicated to the theme of mercy.

In Catholic tradition, passing through a holy door in a spirit of repentance enables a believer to be cleansed of his or her sins.

The group will be accompanied by pilgrims carrying a cross made from the wood of wrecked migrant boats that was crafted on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The cross is to be carried by pilgrims from the island, which has witnessed some of some of southern Europe's deadliest sinkings of the ongoing migrant crisis.

The communion wafers for the mass, which will be led by Cardinal Antonio Veglio, have been made by three prisoners currently serving sentences for murder in a high-security prison near Milan.

"These hosts, made by hands that have killed... bear witness that the need to be saved by the love of Christ touches every man and not only those serving a prison sentence," a Migrantes spokesman said.
makin_pds_006_embed

Photo Courtesy of Netflix

Update: The White House has responded to petitions urging President Obama to issue pardons for Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey. Because the convictions were made in state court rather than in federal court, Obama is unable to intervene.



"Since Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are both state prisoners, the president cannot pardon them," an online statement reads. "A pardon in this case would need to be issued at the state level by the appropriate authorities. While this case is out of the Administration's purview, President Obama is committed to restoring the sense of fairness at the heart of our justice system."This story was originally published on January 3.



Fans of the new Netflix docu-series Making a Murderer are trying to take the law into their own hands by petitioning President Obama to free two men that they claim are innocent.



Since the show premiered on December 18, two petitions have sprung up that ask the government to help free Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who was wrongly convicted of a crime in 2003, serving 18 years until DNA evidence exonerated him, only to be arrested and later convicted for the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach in 2005.



The 10-part series focuses on Avery's trial, questioning whether or not the local government was out to get the man who had filed a $36 million lawsuit against them. Avery was arrested days after members of the police department gave their depositions.



Though Avery has always stood by his innocence, the trial was made even more complicated after his teenage nephew, Brendan Dassey, admitted to playing a part in Halbach's murder. The series does, however, question the validity of the then 16-year-old's confession.



Avery is currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole, while Dassey is serving life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. But two petitions hope to fix that.



A Change.org petition, now signed by more than 100,000 people, asks the president to free Avery. Meanwhile, a Whitehouse.gov petition, signed by upwards of 18,000 people (according to Time), asks him to pardon both Avery and Dassey based on the evidence presented in Making a Murderer.



"The justice system embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives," reads the Whitehouse.gov 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."



If the White House petition reaches its goal of 100,000 signatures by January 16, the White House will have to respond.



The show, like the Serial podcast before it, has its fair share of devoted fans who have decided to pick up where it left off. It's something Making a Murderer's filmmakers, Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, didn't expect and, in an interview with The Daily Beast, actually warn against.



We always hoped that there would be viewer engagement, we just had no idea that people would become amateur sleuths, Ricciardi said. I guess its just the times were living in. But in terms of people zeroing in on particular individuals, we would just ask that people check themselves because part of the problem we saw  not only in the 1985 case, but I would argue as well in the 2005 case  was an incredible rush to judgment. And members of law enforcement are not the only people who can do that, and make that mistake."



Of course, that hasn't stopped fans from going after who many would call the series' villain, former Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz. Some have even started flooding the Yelp page for Kratz's Wisonsin law firm with less-than-stellar reviews, like, "I hope Ken Kratz gets slapped in the face by the cold hand of reality in the form of an incurable deadly virus."



Some of the comments have been so negative that Yelp is currently trying to clean up the page, encouraging people to share their feelings on Kratz via the Yelp talk page, a forum that allows users to talk about current events.







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Seoul (AFP) - A trio of the world's leading snowboarders, set to be the first western professionals to visit North Korea's Masikryong ski resort, have cancelled their trip after Pyongyang's latest nuclear test, the trip's organiser said Friday.

Tom Monterosso, the editor of California-based Snowboarder Magazine, which had organised the trip, said the group had decided to err on the side of caution after North Korea announced it had tested its first hydrogen bomb just two days before they were supposed to leave.

"We talked about it. Some people still thought we could go, but we decided if there was any doubt whatsoever then we should just cancel," Monterosso told AFP by telephone.

Like Monterosso, two of the snowboarders, Dan "Danimals" Liedahl and Mike Ravelson are American, and there were concerns that anti-US sentiment in North Korea might escalate as the international community responds to the test.

It was the second time Monterosso had been forced to cancel a trip to Masik. He had been set to go a year ago but cancelled amid North Korean fury over the portrayal of leader Kim Jong-Un in the Hollywood comedy "The Interview."

The Masikryong resort was a pet project of Kim's, aimed at boosting tourism and raising North Korea's profile for top-class sporting venues.

Monterosso said he and the snowboarders, who also included Norwegian Terje Haakonsen, had "come in for some flak" when media reports suggested they had been personally invited by Kim.

"That was totally untrue," he said. "It was strictly a trip to write a feature for the magazine on snowboarding in North Korea.

"Our job is to find new, weird places to ski. There was nothing political about it at all," he added.

Haakonsen said he was disappointed the trip had been cancelled.

"I don't know anybody who agrees with the regime and politics over there," the Norwegian told AFP.

"But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be contact. It would have been interesting to go.

"It might be a gnarly regime, but I'm sure there's millions of cool people there too," he said.
We are, supposedly, outnumbered in our own bodies. We play host to an extraordinary menagerie of bacteria and other microbesthe microbiomeand its frequently said that these teeming cells outnumber our own by ten to one. This 10:1 ratio crops up everywhere. It appears in scientific papers, blog posts, magazine stories, TED talks, and popular science bookssometimes, even in the very title. It is undoubtedly one of the most famous statistics about the microbiome.

And its probably wrong.

Its the result of a back-of-the-envelope calculation that became enshrined as hard fact based on little more than its catchy nature and its sounds-about-right-ness.

According to a new review by Ron Milo at the Weizmann Institute of Science, the correct ratio is more like 1:1. That is, in terms of cell counts, we and our microbes are equal shareholders. Were not outnumbered after all. Indeed, as Milo so wonderfully writes, the numbers are similar enough that each defecation event may flip the ratio to favor human cells over bacteria. You gain temporary dominance over your own body with every flush.

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In 2010, Elio Schaechter and Stanley Maloy traced the origins of the 10:1 ratio to a 1970 paper by microbiologist Thomas D. Luckey. With no supporting evidence of any kind, Luckey estimated that there are 100 billion microbes in a gram of intestinal contents (fluid or feces), and 1000 grams of such contents in an average adultgiving a total of 100 trillion microbes.

Eminent microbiologist Dwayne Savage then took this figure and, uncharacteristically, ran with it. In a 1977 paper, he contrasted these 100 trillion microbes with the 10 trillion human cells in our bodiesa figure pulled from a textbook that, again, cited no supporting evidence.

And so a made-up numerator was mushed on top of a made-up denominator, and a beautiful bouncing baby factoid was born.

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In 2014, Judah Rosner from the National Institutes of Health drew attention to this fake fact in a letter to Microbe magazine. More recent estimates, he noted, put the total number of human cells at anywhere from 15 trillion to 724 trillion, and the number of gut microbes at anywhere between 30 trillion and 400 trillion. Which gives a ratio that can best be expressed as \_()_/.

The numbers are similar enough that each defecation event may flip the ratio to favor human cells over bacteria.

Milos team, including Ron Sender and Shai Fuchs, tried to improve on these figures. They thoroughly searched for studies that had actually tried to measure both the number of cells in different human tissues, and the number of microbes in stool samples (microbes in the gut overwhelmingly outnumber those on other body parts). They arrived at a grand total of around 39 trillion microbes and 30 trillion human cells. Thats virtually equal, or more specifically, 1.3 to 1.

These new estimates might be the best we currently have, but the studies and figures that Milo amassed come with their own biases and uncertainties. As Pat Schloss wryly noted on Twitter, They went from a back of the envelope calculation to also use the front of the envelope.

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Its also debatable if cell totals is a useful metric. After all, Milo's calculations show that 90 percent of human cells are red blood cells, which don't contain DNA and arent capable of dividing. Theyre rather poor excuses for cellsremove them from the equation and the 10:1 ratio reinstates itself.

And who even cares about cell numbers? Its likely that our microbes still wield many more genes than our own cells, and produce a wider array of chemicals. Its also clear that they play vital parts in our lives, calibrating our immune systems, digesting our food, protecting us from disease, influencing the effectiveness of our medicines, and perhaps even affecting our behavior. This all stands, whether theres one or ten of them to each of our cells. My preference would be to avoid mentioning any ratio at allyou dont need to it convey the importance of the microbiome and scientifically, its not all that interesting.

Its quite sociologically interesting, though. It reveals the staying power of convenient falsehoods, wrote Peter Andrey Smith in The Boston Globe. Perhaps the crude estimate endures because it serves the practical purpose of astonishing those who hear it, in the same way that bogus Martian canals inspired a greater curiosity about the solar system, or the myth that all humans only access 10 percent of their brains might foster a greater appreciation for neuroscience.

The fake fact, and Milos subsequent exercise in estimation, also reveal just how much we still dont know about ourselvesboth our human side and our microbial one. As Carl Zimmer notes, The very fact that scientists are still so unsure of how many cells and bacteria are in each of us is pretty remarkable.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Its springtime at the Kremlin, Russias center of government. The whos who of Moscow are gathered in a huge ballroom, shuffling around in their gold-plated chairs, waiting for President Vladimir Putin to take the podium, where he will announce the annexation of Crimea. The room is a sea of dark suits, blue ties and gray hair. Except for one man, who sports a big furry hat with a golden spike. Below it: small glasses, a foot-long beard and a smile.

Hes Berel Lazar, Russias Chief Rabbi and one of Putins most trusted confidants.

Turns out Putin has a surprising affinity for the Jewish cause, which Italian-born, American-raised Lazar has leveraged, in return for his fierce loyalty, to help his community flourish, bringing in synagogues, schools and Jewish cultural centers. His combination of fervent religiosity and political machinations makes him one of Russias most divisive public figures. Today, Lazar writes OZY over email, thank G-d, there is a renaissance of Jewish life in Russia.

Little-Known Religious Leaders: First in a Series

If the phoenix is rising, its from a mountain of painful, troubled ashes: Historically, Jews have not been treated particularly well behind the Iron Curtain. In the 14th century, Russian Jews were accused of causing the Black Plague by poisoning wells. Some 500 years later, Czar Nicholas I tried to conscript 12-year-old Jewish children into his military. Pogroms, in which Jews were killed or expellled from their homes, were frequent. And in the Communist 20th century, Jewish schools and synagogues were shut down. Oh, and a disproportionate percentage of the victims of Stalins purges were Jewish.

Of course one would call this progress, says David Shneer, chair in Jewish history and Jewish studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. How often has a Russian leader had a so-called court Jew so public and visible? And indeed, todays Russia sees religion in the open more and more, from Muslims celebrating holidays publicly to Buddhist lamas visiting the country.

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But back in 1989, as the Cold War thawed, Lazar arrived from New York to a country that looked very different. The nation was mostly bereft of its Jewish community, as many flocked to Israel. Yet Lazar, the son of two Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries sent to Italy to spread the word of the faith, felt a magnetic pull from Russia: As a child, he says, he was raised on the stories of Jewish heroism and self-sacrifice behind the Iron Curtain. After rabbinical school, he got an offer to teach the Torah  for an underground network of Jews in the Soviet Union. He jumped at the opportunity.

The tale of the modern Jewish diaspora spans continents and encompasses the migratory patterns of millions  Jews rushing to Israel from Ethiopia, the U.S. and even India; American Jews developing their own particular form of the faith, emphasizing bar and bat mitzvahs for teenagers and Hanukkah. Amid that story, though, the Russian Jews are mostly forgotten, says Shneer. Despite this, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee estimates there are around 600,000 Jews in Russia and as many as half a million in Ukraine.

That dispersal highlights an interesting divide between Lazars form of Judaism and modern Reform Judaism. Lazar, a Chabad Hasidic Orthodox Jew  thoroughly traditional, with 14 children  is not a public fan of Reform Judaism. Practitioners of the contemporary version of the religion in turn dont recognize him as Chief Rabbi, says Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, president emeritus of the Union for Reform Judaism. (Lazar tells us modern forms of the religion simply havent caught on much with his Russian flock, who see those practices as foreign.)

The once-underground rabbi met our shirtless friend when he was elected Chief Rabbi; years into the relationship, Lazar recalls a story Putin once told him. (The presidents office did not return requests for comment.) According to the rabbi, Putin was often left home alone while his impoverished parents rushed around trying to make ends meet. His neighbors, Lazar tells, were kind Hasidic Jews who ensured little Vladimir had a hot meal and a place to rest.

Not everyone believes that Lazars is a heroic tale of anti-anti-Semitism. For one, Putins name is not always synonymous with religious freedom, to say the least; hes been plagued by accusations of continued oppression and of favoring the Russian Orthodox Church over all other denominations. The Pew Research Center ranks Russia as very high among nations with social hostilities regarding religion. Which might suggest that Putin has some more prosaic, even Machiavellian, reasons for courting Lazar. Take Putins speech during International Holocaust Memorial Day at Moscows Jewish museum  to which Lazar invited him  which he used to insinuate that Ukrainian nationalists were anti-Semitic by calling them Banderites, a reference to the Ukrainian Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera. In a clean feint, he cited said anti-Semitism as a thoroughly hearty justification for Russias annexation of Crimea.

This coziness of Lazar and Putins relationship angers many Jews. It is a mistake for a rabbi to become a tool or a puppet of secular powers, Yoffie says. Rabbi Lazar owes allegiance to God, not to Mr. Putin. To this, Lazar tells us he meets with Putin as a matter of duty. And that the Jewish faith mandates faith to God  but to community and nation as well.

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By Stephen Kalin and Maher Chmaytelli BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Foreign special forces have been carrying out raids on an Islamic State stronghold in northern Iraq ahead of an offensive planned later this year to retake Mosul, the largest city under the group's control, Iraq's parliamentary speaker said. Several attacks behind Islamic State lines around Hawija, 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad, were carried out in recent weeks, Salim al-Jabouri told Reuters on Thursday. Both the U.S. and Iraqi military have denied that U.S. forces have carried out military operations on the ground in Hawija since October, when U.S. special forces rescued 69 Iraqis in a raid that killed one U.S. commando. But Dubai-based al-Hadath TV and Iraqi media have reported at least half a dozen raids in and around Hawija since late December, led by U.S. special forces. Washington said last month it was deploying a new force of around 100 special operations troops to Iraq to conduct raids against Islamic State there and in neighboring Syria, without providing details. U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the international coalition bombing Islamic State, rejected the media reports this week, calling them "Iranian disinformation" aimed at distracting from Iraqi military gains against Islamic State elsewhere. He told Reuters that coalition forces in Iraq have not operated on the ground since the October operation. Iraq's defense minister last week also denied that the U.S. had a role in such raids. Special operations in Hawija "have been repeated a second and third time ... These operations are bearing fruit," said Jabouri, Iraq's most senior Sunni Arab official. "They eliminate the terrorists and free innocents, and for us it represents a positive development." Jabouri said the raids were carried out "from time to time" and "supported by Iraqi forces" but did not specify whether the United States played a role or how many had occurred. The raids are "not direct ground attacks; they are operations targeting the dens of Daesh in important and sensitive areas," Jabouri said, using an Arabic acronym for the group, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL. He said they were not enough to get rid of Islamic State but "are dealing them strong blows". Local sources near Hawija, including a police officer and a municipal official, said last week that several raids had targeted Islamic State buildings including a courthouse and a police station, killing and capturing several militant leaders. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. ROAD TO MOSUL The October raid that included U.S. special forces "is the only operation that we have spoken about and the only one that we will speak about," Warren, the coalition spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday. That operation, conducted with peshmerga commandos from northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, sparked outrage by powerful Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias and Abadi's own ruling coalition. The militias, many of which fought U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion, have decried the reports of more recent raids as U.S. attempts to divide Iraq. Jabouri said such sensitivities were easing and described the raids as part of Baghdad's strategy to retake Mosul, the city 400 km (250 miles) north of Baghdad where Islamic State declared its intention to establish a caliphate stretching across the border with Syria. Strategically located east of the road from Baghdad to Mosul and near the Kurdish-held oil region of Kirkuk, the region became an Islamic State stronghold when the ultra-hardline Sunni militants swept across northern and western Iraq in 2014. The government has designated Mosul as the next target for Iraq's armed forces after they retook the western city of Ramadi last month, the first major success of the U.S.-trained force that initially fled in the face of Islamic State's advance. Baghdad and the U.S.-led coalition, though, have not made clear what path they intend to take to the capital of Nineveh province while most of Anbar province remains under Islamic State control. Jabouri said the advance to Mosul could not be rushed. "We cannot think of moving to another province until Anbar province is cleansed completely, which means there is an upcoming battle related to Falluja and what remains of it, and another one to the west of Ramadi," said Jabouri. "At the same time there are preparations underway for Nineveh," he added. Falluja, the first Iraqi city to fall to Islamic State in January 2014, contains several hundreds militants and is encircled by Iraqi forces. (Reporting by Stephen Kalin and Maher Chmaytelli, editing by Larry King and Dominic Evans)
The Renault-Nissan alliance is pledging to launch not one, but 10 separate vehicles boasting autonomous driving technology before the end of the decade.

The conglomerate -- the world's fourth largest car company by volume -- is by no means the only automaker promising that its future models will be able to take the strain in traffic jams and at highway speeds. Everyone from Audi to Volvo are all powering towards the same goal.

But what makes the announcement so important is that it's from a company focused on the mass market.

"Renault-Nissan Alliance is deeply committed to the twin goals of zero emissions and zero fatalities'," Renault-Nissan Alliance Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn said at the Renault-Nissan Silicon Valley Research Center. "That's why we are developing autonomous driving and connectivity for mass-market, mainstream vehicles on three continents."

Those continents are Europe, America and Asia, regions where, with the exception of China, the market is mature in terms of size and average age. This could be a problem. Studies show that the younger the respondent, the more positive and excited they are about the prospect of one day being driven, rather than driving.

This is why the company is highlighting the technology's safety benefits. During its Silicon Valley address, Nissan pointed to the fact that 90% of road traffic accidents are due to driver error.

Roll-out through 2020

As for what Nissan and Renault customers can expect from their next new car, the first technology will be "Single-Lane Control" and it will be arriving this year. When activated, the car will be able to drive itself in heavy stop-start traffic conditions on the highway.

By 2018 this will be joined by the ability to autonomously change lanes during highway driving for overtaking and for autonomously avoiding potential hazards.

The final element will arrive in 2020 and will enable cars to negotiate busy junctions and intersections.

However, none of the new features will be on all of the time, it will be down to the driver to decide if or when any system should be activated. This is a point that the company has been going to great lengths to underline. At the Tokyo Motor Show in October for instance, Ghosn said: "Our objective for autonomous drive is not to take you out of the car. Our objective is to keep you in the car and empower you."

"If you want to drive, you drive, if you don't, you don't," he said.
Washington (AFP) - Top US Republicans are weighing a new legal authorization for President Barack Obama's fight against the Islamic State group, one that could leave the door open for ground troop deployments.

Speaker Paul Ryan is canvasing support among key party leaders in the House of Representatives for a new authorization for the use of military force, according to leadership aides.

The White House and its political foes have sparred over a vote on the measure, which Republicans fear could be seen as an unwarranted endorsement of Obama's policies in an election year.

The current US air bombing and special operations campaign in Syria and Iraq is based on a broad reading of an existing authorization -- or AUMF -- that was forged in 2001 in the immediate wake of the 9/11 attacks.

"We believe the current AUMF is still sufficient, but I think we owe it to people to explore looking into a new one," one leadership aide told AFP. "To show we are united behind fighting ISIS," or Islamic State.

The White House has repeatedly bludgeoned the Republican-controlled Congress for not backing new measures, accusing them of undermining the fight against the jihadist group.

"For more than a year, Congress has been AWOL on their responsibility," said White House Spokesman Josh Earnest in recent remarks that have been often echoed by the administration.

The White House argues that while a new authorization is not necessary, it "would demonstrate to our allies and to our enemies that the US is united in its efforts to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL." ISIL is another acronym for the Islamic State group.

Any vote would be perilous for Republicans, but could also provide a political opportunity.

The party could outflank Democrats by implicitly or explicitly allowing the use of ground troops by Obama or his successor, something Democrats oppose.

The House Republican leadership is "not ruling anything in or out," according to the aide, adding that it is still too early to say whether a vote can be held.

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Despite fierce public pressure to expand the US military role in the Middle East, Obama has repeatedly dismissed the idea of another costly ground war in the Middle East.

"We need to give the Obama administration what it needs to fight ISIS, while at the same time preventing another large-scale commitment of American forces or an open-ended conflict in the Middle East," said Eliot Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Even if the measure passes the House, Republicans in the Senate have long been opposed.
ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding released on Friday what it called encouraging results from a study of its closely watched cancer immunotherapy atezolizumab. Roche, the world's biggest maker of cancer drugs, said a mid-stage trial of atezolizumab in people with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC), showed median overall survival of 11.4 months in people with higher levels of PD-L1 expression and 7.9 months in the overall study population. It showed that 84 percent of people who responded to atezolizumab continued to respond regardless of their PD-L1 status when the results were assessed with longer median follow-up of 11.7 months. The therapy was well tolerated and adverse events were consistent with those observed in previous updates, it said. "It is encouraging to see that the majority of people with advanced bladder cancer who responded to atezolizumab maintained their response with longer follow up," said Sandra Horning, Roche's chief medical officer and head of global product development. Roche plans to submit the data soon to health authorities and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under breakthrough therapy designation designed to speed the development and review of medicines that may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies for serious diseases. (Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Anand Basu)
Ruby Rose, Nina Dobrev and Bollywood star Deepika Padukone are in negotiations to star alongside Vin Diesel in his next action film "XXX 3."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the trio of beauties are in talks to round out the casting of the flick that aims to reboot Vin Diesel's action spy franchise.

Also attached to the project is Samuel L. Jackson.

The film would bring Xander Cage back to the big screen as a rebellious spy for the National Security Service.

"Vampire Diaries" star Dobrev is said to play a witty techie; Padukone Cage's former lover; and "Orange is the New Black" star Rose a sniper.

Production starts later this month and shooting will take place in Toronto and the Philippines.
By Barbara Goldberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - Outside the crumbling Brooklyn building where the first U.S. birth control clinic opened 100 years ago, Alexander Sanger reflected on the move that landed his grandmother in jail and fueled a controversy over women's reproductive rights that has raged ever since. "This is where it all started," said the grandson of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger in his first visit to the Brownsville, Brooklyn, site where she started her clinic in 1916. "She threw down the gauntlet and said, 'Preventing women from contraception is inhumane,'" said Sanger, 68, chairman of the International Planned Parenthood Council and a former president of Planned Parenthood New York City. City records show the desolate building with bricked up windows is not abandoned, although it appears unoccupied, a far cry from the busy clinic shown in historic photographs with baby carriages parked out front. Some of the reproductive rights battles that Margaret Sanger fought a century ago were remarkably similar to the challenges facing Planned Parenthood today, particularly organized religion's objection to sex education, her grandson said. "There is a direct correlation," he said. "If the hormones are raging among young people and you don't get them preventive information and preventive methods, they are going to get pregnant." Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said the Roman Catholic Church's opposition was rooted in a far deeper philosophical divide. "It's not just a question of 'Let's teach them sex education so they'll know how to prevent the pregnancy,'" Pavone said. "The fundamental disagreement comes on that basic question of 'What's human sexuality all about?'" The religious-liberty fight over contraception is back in the U.S. Supreme Court, which will rule by July on whether religious groups deserve a blanket exemption so that they do not have to pay for their employees' contraceptive coverage as mandated under President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. Abortion is the flashpoint in other conflicts that are vastly and violently different from those Sanger faced before her death in 1966. Opponents have waged a decades-long string of attacks on abortion providers, the most recent in November when a gunman killed three people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic. Since 1993, there have been 11 murders and 26 attempted murders due to anti-abortion violence, according to the National Abortion Federation, a group of healthcare providers. Lawmakers continue to tighten restrictions on abortion, with 288 such limits passed by states since 2011, according to Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit that focuses on reproductive health. The Supreme Court also plans to rule on a Texas law that mandates costly hospital-grade facilities for abortion providers, who say it actually aims to shut clinics and chip away at a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy. Planned Parenthood itself is in the crosshairs, with the Republican-led Congress voting as recently as this week to cut all of its federal funding, although Obama, a Democrat, has vowed to veto the measure when it reaches his desk. A USA Today poll in December found Americans overwhelmingly oppose cutting off federal funds for Planned Parenthood. Some 59 percent of Republicans and 89 percent of Democrats are against the idea. DEMANDING ACCESS The controversy was well under way 100 years ago when Sanger and her sister, both trained nurses whose mother died young after giving birth to 11 children, opened the clinic. They fitted women for diaphragms, which were the most effective birth control available at the time but were illegal under the federal Comstock Law against distributing materials that could be used for contraception. "The women were lined up and demanding access to birth control," her grandson said. "That said it all." One patient turned out to be an undercover police officer, and nine days after the clinic opened in the low-income Jewish and Italian neighborhood, it was shut down, and Sanger was under arrest. Margaret Sanger's holy grail was universal access to birth control for women, whose unplanned pregnancies forced them into what she viewed as sexual servitude. Sanger, who founded organizations that evolved into Planned Parenthood Federation of America, was a driving force in the early 1950s behind the development of the birth control pill, which today is largely credited with allowing women to shape their lives and compete in the workplace with men. "Birth control has been central not just to women's political, workplace and education opportunities but also to their ability to live," said Carrie Baker, who teaches women's studies at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. "What motivated Margaret Sanger was that women were dying after having so many pregnancies." Today about half of the 6.6 million pregnancies annually in the United States are unintended, a higher proportion than in Europe, reproductive health experts say. Teen birth rates in Brownsville, now a mostly black neighborhood that is one of the city's poorest, are among the highest in New York City, and the abortion rate is double the rest of the city, according to the city health department. "It's still the poorest of the poor who are having more children than they want, who are having children earlier than other women, who are not getting access to preventive methods when they need them - whether it's in Brownsville or Rio de Janeiro," Sanger said. "That same struggle was my grandmother's struggle, and it is mine." (Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
DUBAI (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition and Yemen's foreign ministry denied Iran's accusation that Saudi warplanes had hit its embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. Iran on Thursday said the warplanes had attacked its embassy in Yemen's capital on Wednesday night, an accusation that exacerbated tension between the major Shi'ite and Sunni powers in the region. "The coalition command confirmed that these (Iranian) allegations are false and void, stressing that it does not carry out any operations in the vicinity of the embassy or near it," a statement on the state Saudi news agency SPA said late on Thursday. It also urged diplomatic missions in Sanaa not to offer militias an opportunity "to use diplomatic missions' buildings in any military action." Residents and witnesses in Sanaa had told Reuters there was no damage to the Iranian embassy building. Yemen's foreign ministry also denied the embassy building had been targeted, according to the Saudi-allied, government-run state news agency, sabanew.net. The official foreign ministry source cited on sabanew.net said responsibility for the protection of diplomatic missions in Sanaa lay with the Houthi militia, who are in control of Sanaa, and their allies, forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. A growing diplomatic dispute between Riyadh and Tehran, triggered by Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric, has damaged the outlook for any resolution to the conflict in Yemen, where a coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been fighting the Shi'ite, Iran-allied Houthi movement. While Riyadh sees the Houthis as a proxy for bitter regional rival Iran to expand its influence, the Houthis deny this and say they are fighting a revolution against a corrupt government and Gulf Arab powers beholden to the West. Separately, SPA said late on Thursday that three people were killed and nine wounded when "military projectiles" fired from Yemen landed in the Saudi southwestern region of Jazan. (Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Dominic Evans)
Dubai (AFP) - Shiite Muslim protesters in eastern Saudi Arabia called Friday for the "death" of the Sunni-majority kingdom's ruling Al-Saud family at a rally to honour executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a witness said.

The demonstration capped a week of unrest in Nimr's hometown of Awamiya and uncertainty in the surrounding Shiite-dominated region of Qatif, after Nimr's execution on Saturday.

"Death to the Saud family," protesters shouted, raising their arms in the air, according to the witness.

"Fall, fall, Al-Saud", they added.

Pictures of the protest showed what appeared to be hundreds of people, many of them clad in black.

They held black flags and pictures of the executed sheikh, who was also honoured at a protest in Qatif on Friday night.

"The march finished safely," a witness said.

Nimr was a driving force behind protests that began in 2011 among the kingdom's minority Shiite community.

Those protests developed into a call for equality in the Sunni-dominated kingdom, where Shiites complain of marginalisation.

Nimr and three other Shiites were among 47 people convicted of terrorism and executed, provoking anger among Shiites and concern in Western nations.

Shiites protested in several Muslim countries and attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in the kingdom's regional rival, Iran.

Saudi Arabia and some of its allies cut diplomatic ties with Iran in reaction, triggering a diplomatic crisis and raising sectarian tensions in the region.

Around 1,000 demonstrators marched through Tehran on Friday, chanting "death to Al-Saud," while in the Pakistani capital 1,500 people rallied against Nimr's execution.

Eastern Saudi residents said there had been protests this week in Awamiya, a Gulf coast town of about 30,000 which has been the scene of repeated incidents since 2011.

- 'People are angry' -

Shiites called Nimr a peaceful activist, and an Awamiya resident said his death could lead to more aggression on the streets.

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"The situation completely changed," he told AFP after seeing protesters blockade a street with a truck on Wednesday night.

Demonstrators also burned tires and garbage in the streets, while gunfire and explosions occurred regularly during the week, another resident of the Eastern region said of Awamiya.

"Last night was quiet compared with the beginning of the week," he told AFP Friday.

He said "activist boys" in groups of about five were behind the street unrest, which is opposed by the broader community.

A brother of Nimr also rejected the street blockades, for fear of violence.

"We don't need even one drop of blood", Jaffar al-Nimr told AFP.

But he added: "In Qatif, most of the people are angry."

The Nimr family received thousands of people who expressed their condolences over a three-day period this week, Jaffar al-Nimr said.

Early Friday, a man told police he was kidnapped at gunpoint in the Awamiya area, beaten and photographed, the official Saudi Press Agency said.

"His vehicle was shot at after he was released," it said, calling the incident a "terrorist" crime.

Last Sunday night in Awamiya gunmen killed a civilian and wounded a child when they opened fire on Saudi police, SPA reported earlier.

Police on Tuesday said armed "troublemakers" torched a bus in Qatif but there were no injuries.

"Everyone's now really afraid," a third resident told AFP, adding that activists who normally comment online are remaining silent.

"People don't know what will happen."

Since late 2014, Saudi Shiites have been targeted by suicide bombings and shootings claimed by Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group, who consider them heretics. About 40 Shiites have been killed.

Saudi security forces have also been targeted in attacks claimed by IS, whose leader has purportedly called Saudi rulers "apostate tyrants".

Diplomats said the mass execution sent a clear message that the kingdom will not tolerate extremism.

Nimr and three others were the only Shiites among the 47 put to death, who included Sunnis convicted of involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed Saudis and foreigners in the kingdom about 12 years ago.
Berlin (AFP) - Embattled German auto giant Volkswagen Friday posted its first drop in sales in over a decade, as it struggled to recover from a massive pollution cheating scandal.

Sales of vehicles bearing the Volkswagen badge fell 5 percent to 5.82 million, the company said, marking the first such decline in 11 years.

Overall VW group sales, which also include brands like Audi, Porsche and Skoda, reached 9.93 million, 2 percent less than a year ago and the first fall since 2002.

"Almost 10 million vehicles sold -- that's an excellent result given a difficult situation in certain regions and for diesel in the last quarter," said chief executive Matthias Mueller.

He acknowledged that challenges await in 2016, and said the company needed to be "more efficient for a successful future."

Volkswagen sank into its biggest crisis over its stunning revelations in September that it had fitted 11 million of its vehicles with devices designed to cheat pollution tests.

Earlier this week, the US government said it was sueing VW for $20 billion (18 billion euros) in civil penalties.

Mueller is travelling to the United States where he will attend a media reception in Detroit on Sunday.

He has vowed to press on with the company's diesel marketing offensive in the US despite the government lawsuit.

On Friday, VW shares closed 0.09 percent higher at 115.10 euros, defying an overall weak market, with the DAX closing 1.31 percent down.
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - The number of migrants leaving Myanmar and Bangladesh by boat in the past four months has plummeted because of Thai and Bangladeshi crackdowns on human smugglers, the United Nations and a rights activist said on Friday. Thai police launched a sweeping campaign against smuggling gangs in May following the discovery of 30 bodies in graves near a human-trafficking camp close to the Malaysian border. The police operation led to traffickers abandoning 4,000 migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh at sea, sparking a chaotic round of "maritime ping-pong" as Indonesian, Malaysian and Thai navies pushed migrant boats away from their shores. Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled poverty and persecution in western Myanmar since religious violence erupted there in 2012. Most have headed for Muslim-majority Malaysia, but many have made landfall first in southern Thailand or been intercepted and held for ransom in camps hidden deep in Thailand's jungles. The region is now in its "sailing season", with calmer seas after the rains, the busiest time for smuggling and trafficking ships plying the Bay of Bengal. But Chris Lewa from the Arakan Project, a Rohingya advocacy group which tracks migration, said this year the number of people sailing was much lower due to action against smugglers in Thailand and Bangladesh. About 1,500 people sailed from Bangladesh and Myanmar between September and December, said Lewa, compared with 32,000 people tracked during the same period in 2014. "Thailand is closed and cannot be used for disembarkation," Lewa told Reuters. "The few brokers that still seem to be involved are the ones that have pre-existing 'orders' for people to be brought over, that's what we are being told at departure." "Anti-trafficking operations are going on in Bangladesh as well." Vivian Tan, regional spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, said preliminary data suggested fewer people took to boats in the last quarter of the year. "Based on our interviews with affected communities, it could be that smugglers and potential passengers are taking a wait-and-see approach following last year's scrutiny and crackdowns," said Tan. A major human-trafficking trial in Thailand involving 91 defendants allegedly involved with smuggling gangs that were trafficking Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis, is underway. Activists have called on authorities to step up witness protection in the trial, which involves an army general and police investigators. Hundreds of people who made the trip last year remain in immigration detention centres and shelters in southern Thailand and 11 Muslim Rohingya escaped from such a shelter on Friday, the head of the shelter told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Andrew R.C. Marshall and Robert Birsel)
Dallas District Attorney Susan Hawk may lose her job due to past struggles with mental illness. (Photo: David Woo/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Can an employee be ousted for suffering from mental health issues, or is mental illness protected as a disability? The laws arent always clear, as is highlighted by an unusual case being heard today (Jan. 8) in Texas.

Susan Hawk, who has served as Dallas district attorney since early 2015, is at risk of losing her job if prosecutors can argue that she acted incompetently in her role and is unfit for the job. This is where the case gets complicated: In October, Hawk announced that she has struggled with severe depression (a condition that a former employee claims led to misconduct in her office), but has undergone treatment and says shes more than fit to serve.



The local case stands to set a precedent for whether prosecutors elsewhere will in the future be able to argue that a mental illness has hindered someones judgement and is grounds for firing or removal.

The prosecution, backed by affidavits from others who worked in the DAs office, claims that Hawk was erratic and mentally incompetent after she took office in early 2015. Former employees call her behavior bizarre, saying that she fired people at random and seemed to suffer from delusional paranoia before she left to seek treatment. In August, Hawk took an unexplained two-month break from office; she later announced that she spent the time in a treatment program for severe depression, and had made plans to kill herself before her break. In a last-minute move on Jan. 7, 12 of Hawks employees came forward to say that Hawk has been a successful DA since her return, and they oppose any efforts to remove her from office.

Related: Study Finds 1 in 5 Americans Lives With a Mental Illness



While serious mental illnesses are not uncommon (an estimated 4.2 percent of American adults dealt with a serious mental illness in 2014), using mental health as a grounds for political removal is extremely rare. (Frankly, we dont know what exactly is going to happen, the state-appointed prosecutor told the Washington Post. Were not even certain who has the burden of proof. Or which side goes first in court.) If this case moves forward, and Hawk is removed from office, mental health advocates say this could set dangerous grounds for Americans to be fired for mental health struggles.



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Mental illnesses are called illnesses for a reason  theyre involuntary, and treatment takes time and effort. Blaming someone for a chemical imbalance makes as much sense as blaming a cancer patient for a tumor. Thats what Hawks lawyers are arguing: In this country, we embrace the notion that when one of our fellow citizens gets ill, we support their efforts to get treatment and applaud their recoveries, attorney Douglas Alexander has said. Just as it would be contemptible to oust an elected official who must absent herself from work to successfully undergo chemotherapy for cancer, it is equally contemptible to try to oust DA Hawk for successfully undergoing treatment for a mental illness.



Related: Watch One Woman Explain the Challenges of Treating Mental Illness With Medication



On the other hand, though, if Hawk was abusing her power and making poor decisions, should she be removed from office? If the answer is yes, Hawks lawyers have argued, it could lead people to hide mental illnesses for fear of being fired. If Susan Hawk is terminated in this case, were essentially saying that she should be fired because she suffered from mental illness, Alexander told the Washington Post. What message does that send to other professionals who may encounter depression  that they should keep it under wraps? Not get treatment?

A judge will decide today whether the case can move forward. If its shut down, its a win for Hawk and mental health advocates. If it moves forward, Hawk faces removal, and both legal teams head into uncharted territory. A jury will have to decide whether the state has the power to remove someone from office for decisions allegedly influenced by a mental illness, setting precedent for future cases.

Given the progress made in recent years  both in understanding and treating mental illness  this case could, and should, lead to better policies on how mental health is handled in the workplace.



Read This Next: 15 Things Not to Say to Someone With a Mental Illness

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Paris (AFP) - Simply shutting down markets can be a tempting option to halt panic selling, but it's tantamount to breaking the thermometer to cure the fever, analysts say.

Rather than cooling flaring investor tempers, trading curbs can even fuel a rush to the exits as sellers hurry to offload stock while they can -- as China has this week discovered to its cost.

Analysts said authorities should use pauses in trading to actively soothe investor nerves, a strategy that China failed to implement during this week's trading fiasco.

After having its new trading "circuit breaker" tripped twice in the first four days it was in place, Chinese regulators backtracked on Thursday and suspended the suspensions, saying the were causing more harm than good.

Circuit breakers are pauses in trading or a shutdown for the trading day when share prices fall by a certain percentage, and their aim is to limit market volatility.

After plunges on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges in August, which dragged down stocks across the globe wiping off trillions in valuations, Chinese regulators decided to introduce circuit breakers from January 1.

But the circuit breaker was triggered on the first day it was in force, on Monday, and then again on Thursday, when share prices tumbled 7 percent, provoking questions about its effectiveness.

"After weighing advantages and disadvantages, currently the negative effect is bigger than the positive one," the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in a statement.

"Therefore, in order to maintain market stability, CSRC has decided to suspend the circuit breaker mechanism."

- Circuit breakers counter-productive -

Analysts said Beijing's introduction of the circuit breaker this week had proved counter-productive, with investor fears of being unable to sell unwanted stocks outweighing any reassurance over market stability.

Circuit breakers are nearly universal on Western exchanges, but Christopher Dembik, an economist at Saxo Banque, said emerging markets differ from developed markets.

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"It is possible to close the markets if measures are promptly put into place to reassure investors, otherwise its counter-productive," said Christopher Dembik, an economist at Saxo Banque.

"The major problem in China is that the market is still immature. You have a myriad of individual investors susceptible to panic selling and market shutdowns that are not always accompanied by measures that could calm trading at the reopening," he said.

The Chinese regulators had put into place a 15-minute trading halt when share indices fall by 5 percent, and closing for the day if the threshold of 7 percent is breached.

On Thursday, the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges were open for less than 15 minutes of trading overall. After the 15 minute trading suspension, it only took one minute for the slump to deeping to 7 percent and the exchange close for the day.

"The problem with two-stage circuit breakers is that triggering the first leads to triggering the second," said Jean-Louis Mourier, an economist at the brokerage Aurel BGC.

"Investors who didn't sell their shares fast enough rush to do so after trading resumes," he said.

For comparison, the NY Stock Exchange has 15-minute suspensions at drops of 7 and 13 percent the broad S&P 500 index with closing of trading at 20 percent.

In the West they are generally seen as being effective, such with the closing of Wall Street after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

"The oft-cited French example is the election of the Socialist Francois Mitterrand as president in 1981," said Jean-Pierre Pinatton, head of the supervisory board at the Oddo & Cie bank.

"The exchange took three days to open its doors, but it was much sounder to let investors digest the news," he said.

- 'Information is key' -

On the Paris stock exchange trading in a share quoted on the main CAC 40 index is suspended if it climbs or falls more than 10 percent during the session.

Only when 80 percent of the shares on the CAC 40 are suspended does the calculation of the index suspended, and the last time this happened in 2008.

"We have an array of protective measures that have been elaborated with regulators based upon experience," said Fabrice Peresse, who heads of monitoring of trading at Euronext, the operator of the Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon stock exchanges.

Pinatton said "suspensions should be as short of possible, because the longer they are the greater the risk they aggravate the panic."

But beyond the particularities of the circuit breakers, authorities face the challenge of restoring calm before trading resumes.

"Information is key," said Pinatton, because "the fundamental objective of a suspension is to protect savers."

Thus authorities need to take steps to ensure investors "have the elements they need to take informed decisions."
BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovakia wants the European Union to speed up reinforcement of the bloc's external border controls, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Friday, adding that a summit on the issue planned for later this year should be brought forward. Fico, speaking after a wave of attacks on women in Germany triggered debate on refugee policies, said he would address the issue in a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk and the head of the European Union's executive, Jean-Claude Juncker. EU leaders pledged to fast-track the establishment of an EU border and coastguard force at a summit last month and are due to agree the details of the new border force by the middle of this year. "The original timetable for preparation of the European border and coast guard is unacceptable. By the time it is created -- in the autumn at the earliest -- 2 million immigrants could have come to Europe," Fico told a news conference. The Slovak leader has made immigration the key element of his campaign ahead of a March 5 parliamentary election. His government has also filed a lawsuit against the European Commission's plan for mandatory quotas to share out 120,000 asylum seekers among the EU's 28 member states. Slovakia, which patrols part of the border between the EU's passport-free Schengen zone and Ukraine, has pushed with other central European countries for stronger borders to stem the flow of migrants into Europe. After Fico's comments on Friday, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on his Twitter account that the Czech Republic was ready to support any action that led to the faster creation of a border guard, including an extraordinary summit. Fico has linked the influx of migrants into the bloc to the November attacks in Paris and violence on New Year's Eve in Cologne, Germany, and on Thursday called multiculturalism "a fiction". His immigration stance finds an echo with voters in Slovakia, a Catholic country of 5.4 million with a largely homogenous society and next to no experience as a destination for immigrants. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised to respond decisively to the assaults in Cologne and elsewhere in Germany. Some 121 women are reported to have been robbed, threatened or sexually molested by gangs of men as revelers celebrated on New Year's Eve near Cologne's Gothic Cathedral. A German Interior Ministry spokesman told a news conference that federal police had identified 31 people suspected of playing a role in the violence, 18 of whom were in the process of seeking asylum in Germany. (Reporting by Tatiana Jancarikova and Robert Muller; Writing by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet; Editing by Catherine Evans)
By Nobuhiro Kubo and Jee Heun Kahng TOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's nuclear test this week set off alarm bells in Japan and South Korea, but its more enduring outcome may be the cementing of a fragile reconciliation that could lead to military cooperation between the two key U.S. allies. Japan and South Korea reached a landmark agreement last month to resolve the issue of "comfort women" forced to work in Japan's wartime military brothels, which had been an emotive impediment to better ties. Japan apologized and promised about one billion yen ($8.47 million) to help surviving women who were coerced into prostitution. North Korea's latest nuclear detonation could strengthen that reconciliation, say military officials and defense experts, as the two countries unite against a common threat. That, in turn, could lead to military cooperation instead of the frosty distance they have maintained, even though they are Washington's closest allies in the region. "I think the comfort women pact and the North Korean test could spur military cooperation," a senior Japanese navy officer told Reuters, speaking on condition he was not identified. "The test has worsened the security situation in the region." South Korean President Park Geun-hye spoke by phone to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday. They discussed the need for close cooperation with each other, as well as with the United States, China and Russia, according to Park's office. Senior defense officials from South Korea, Japan and the United States held a video conference on Thursday and agreed "to continue to cooperate closely and share information on North Korea's nuclear threat," Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said. U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter also spoke by phone to Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani on Friday and "agreed that trilateral cooperation with the Republic of Korea is critical to deterrence and maintaining peace and security in Northeast Asia and beyond." The Pentagon said the two reiterated their commitment to continuing close trilateral cooperation and information sharing. The Japanese and South Korean defense ministers were due to speak on Friday night. "There may be a broad review of what can be done to improve security cooperation (with Japan)," a senior South Korean official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. Nothing specific has yet been discussed, he said. HISTORY The distance between South Korea and Japan has worried Washington as it increasingly relies on its Asian allies to work together to guarantee security in the region amid China's growing military might. Past strains have prevented Japan and South Korea from agreeing to share sensitive military information. An attempt to institutionalize security cooperation through the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) in 2012 failed after significant domestic opposition in South Korea. In a bid to resolve the impasse, Washington agreed last year to act as a go-between to allow Seoul and Tokyo to swap intelligence. "It really is in the interest of all three countries that we have no seams between that information when you are trying to defend your country against a ballistic missile," Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, said on Friday. When asked whether there was hope for greater cooperation between Japan and South Korea in the wake of the latest nuclear test, Aucoin replied "I got to believe so." In December 2014, Seoul said it would send the Lockheed Martin F-35 fleet it has ordered to Australia for maintenance, well beyond their operating range, rather than to a regional maintenance hub for the stealth fighter to be set up in Japan. "Korea and Japan are in a complicated conflict because of the issue over comfort women, but were now in a new situation that shows how the two countries need each other," Choi Kang, vice president and director at the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said in a comment published by the institute. Abe and Park, nonetheless, will still have tread carefully around long-held grievances that date back to World War Two. Seoul has criticized Japanese school textbooks that it says distort history and downplay Japan's wartime and colonial atrocities and the two countries are at odds over territorial issues. The "comfort women" issue remains contentious, despite the recent agreement. "North Koreas nuclear testing will help restore Japan-South Korean military cooperation. However, the comfort women issue will continue to haunt Park's efforts to restore ties," said Chung-In Moon, professor of Political Science at Yonsei University in South Korea. (Additional reporting by Se Young Lee and Jack Kim in Seoul and David Brunnstrom and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Bernadette Baum)
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has increased the number of troops at some forward-deployed units as South Korea readied to restart propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts in retaliation for the North's nuclear test, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday. The broadcasts, which North Korea considers insulting, were scheduled to start at noon local time (1000 ET) after Pyongyang conducted a fourth nuclear test on Wednesday. Seoul said the test was a "grave violation" of an August agreement that ended earlier loudspeaker broadcasts. The Yonhap report cited an unidentified defense official. The South has raised its military alert to the highest level in areas near the loudspeakers, and has also stepped up its cyber security level. South Korea's Unification Ministry said earlier that it was not yet considering shutting down the Kaesong industrial complex run jointly with the North, located north of the heavily militarized border. The ministry also said there had been no government decision on what North Korea needed to do to end the propaganda broadcasts. The August agreement ended an armed standoff that had been triggered by earlier loudspeaker broadcasts. (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Michael Perry and Paul Tait)
JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's warring parties agreed on Thursday to share ministerial positions in a transitional government of national unity, the chair of the body monitoring a peace deal said. President Salva Kiir and his rival, former vice president Riek Machar, signed an accord last August to end fighting that killed thousands of people and drove more than 2 million people from their homes. The deal stated that a transitional government would be created for a period of 30 months followed by an election. Festus Mogae, the chair of the monitoring commission, said Kiir's government will nominate 16 ministers, including the ministers for finance, defence and justice. Machar's SPLM/A will nominate 10 ministers to portfolios such as petroleum and interior which were reserved for his side. Smaller parties will get four slots including the foreign affairs brief and the Cabinet Affairs Ministry, Mogae said in a statement. He did not say when the appointments will be completed. (Reporting by Denis Dumo; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Alison Williams)
Colombo (AFP) - A Sri Lankan gem trader who owns the world's largest blue star sapphire has decided to sell the dazzling stone, with a dizzying asking price of $300 million.

The rare, egg-shaped stone weighs 1,404.49 carats and has been authenticated as the biggest of its kind at the Gemological Institute of Colombo (GIC), a private laboratory in the Sri Lankan capital.

"Looking at the reserve price of other very famous gems, I have now valued this at over $300 million," the owner, who wants to remain anonymous for fear the stone might be stolen, told AFP.

Unlike blue sapphires which have complete clarity of colour, blue star sapphires, a form of corundum, are opaque -- but when placed under light reveal a six-line star.

Industry experts said the stone was so rare it was impossible to give a valuation.

"We can't put a price on something like this. It is so rare and unlike other (smaller) sapphires, this is not a stone that can be replaced," Ashan Amarasinghe, leading gemologist with the GIC, told AFP.

"This is something only collectors or museums can afford," he said.

The owner said he based his asking price on the Black Star of Queensland, a star sapphire which was reportedly sold for $100 million in 2002, although details were not publicly disclosed.

The gem, named Lankan Star of Adam by its owner, beat the previous record for the biggest stone of its kind -- also held by a Sri Lankan businessman -- by about nine carats.

Both sapphires were found in Sri Lanka's central region of Ratnapura which is known as the island's gem capital, industry officials said.

The owner said he bought it for an undisclosed price in September before realising the rarity of his find -- which he has kept a closely guarded secret.

"I have lived in affluence, but now I feel even more blessed," he said. "This (find) has not changed my lifestyle. But, I feel thrilled to be the man owning this gem. It is good for the ego."

Sri Lanka is known for its blue sapphires, one of which was used in the engagement ring of Catherine Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, and formerly owned by Princess Diana.
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Its early January, when New Years resolutions seem attainable, extra pounds from the holidays losable, and sound policy from new state legislative sessions at least possible. By now, 14 state capitals have welcomed their lawmakers back to town, and before the month is out, another 23 sessions will begin.

Over the next few weeks, legislators from Albany to Anchorage will introduce thousands of bills covering all sorts of topics. And in a handful of states, including New York, South Carolina and New Mexico, theres a particular focus on ethics and open government  subjects covered in depth by the State Integrity Investigation, a data-driven evaluation and ranking of state government transparency and accountability published in November by the Center and Global Integrity.

On Tuesday, Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri said ethics reform would be his top priority this year, and called on the legislature to enact limits on campaign contributions, a ban on gifts from lobbyists and a halt to the revolving door of lawmakers becoming lobbyists immediately after leaving office. Each of those issues contributed to Missouris D- grade from the State Integrity Investigation. The project detailed the scope of the conflicts of interest and back-room dealings that plague state governments nationwide.

The investigation has yielded calls for reform in several states, and as Missouri makes clear, the project can also help point officials and advocates toward solutions and best practices. The state grades are based on 245 indicators of openness and accountability  whether lawmakers must disclose their finances, for example, or whether ethics watchdogs have adequate funding  which are divided into 13 categories. Theres a wealth of data behind each of those indicators. Heres a guide for how to find it using our interactive app.

This story is part of State Integrity 2015. How do each state's laws and practices deter corruption, promote transparency and enforce accountability?. Click here to read more stories in this investigation.

Don't miss another Accountability investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email.

We ranked the states from top (Alaska) to bottom (Michigan) based on the laws and systems in place to promote transparency and prevent corruption. But the interactive app also allows users to rank the states by each of the 13 categories, so a reform-minded lawmaker in Mississippi, for example, which ranked last in the category for political financing, could easily find which states scored the best in that category and understand exactly why.

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There are two ways to sort by category: either by using the drop-down menu below the map:

or by clicking on the section of any states wheel that represents the given category:

Don't miss another Accountability investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email.

Either method will sort the states by rank, listing Massachusetts  which scored a 92, or an A, in political financing  first, and Mississippi  which managed just a 34, or an F  last. Why did Massachusetts score so high in this category? Just click on the states wheel, or on its box in the map above, to find out.

Massachusetts state page, with the article below and the expandable report card above, shows the grade, score and rank for every category. All 13 are expandable with the click of a mouse, revealing each of the indicators used to generate the category score.

Don't miss another Accountability investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email.

And here lies the utility of the State Integrity Investigation for those seeking changes. Before the projects first go-round in 2012, reporters and editors with the Center and Global Integrity interviewed nearly 100 experts in state government  including public officials, academics and advocates  to compile a list of the key indicators of government transparency and ethics. Last year, we returned to many of those experts and to some new ones to refine and edit the list. The results: 245 questions that ask about the laws on the books (in law indicators) and how those laws are implemented and enforced (in practice indicators).

Experienced journalists in each state conducted extensive research and reporting before scoring the questions based on specific criteria (see our methodology for more on scoring). Reporters were required to provide explanations for the score and also to list all of their sources, including links to state laws.

So, by clicking on the political finance category in Massachusetts, for example, a Mississippi lawmaker who wants to improve that states campaign finance system could see that the Bay State earned top spot partly because it places limits on donations to candidates and parties from individuals, political action committees and lobbyists, and because those limits are relatively effective. The lawmaker could click on the indicator asking about limits on contributions from PACs, for example, to see an explanation of the law as well as a link to its actual text.

The lawmaker could also scroll to the last question in the category to learn about how Massachusetts makes political finance records available to the public in so-called open data format, which allows people to download and sort the data. Similar stores of information and links lie behind every indicator, in every category, in every state. Readers can also download the full dataset here.

As for any other New Years resolutions, though, reform-minded lawmakers are on their own.

This story is part of State Integrity 2015. How do each state's laws and practices deter corruption, promote transparency and enforce accountability?. Click here to read more stories in this investigation.

Related stories

Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
When it comes to making it easy to save for retirement, nothing seems to do the job better than a 401(k). These plans are set up through employers, and workers may never miss the money since it's automatically pulled from their paychecks.

It's a system that operates well for many, but what about the approximately 20 percent of workers whom the Bureau of Labor Statistics says don't have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan? Traditionally, those folks have had to be proactive about setting up an IRA or other retirement account.

However, industry insiders say it's an uphill battle to convince some people to open their own personal retirement account. "It's intimidating," says Steven Elwell, a certified financial planner and vice president at Schroeder, Braxton & Vogt in Amherst, New York.

The federal government tried to help with the launch of its myRA program last year, which allows workers to set up direct deposits into a government-run Roth IRA. But those plans still require workers to take the initiative and set up accounts. Plus, the money is invested in government securities which typically have a poor return relative to other investments.

Now, states think they have a better idea.

State-Run IRAs Target Small Businesses

According to the Pension Rights Center, half the states in the nation are discussing the possibility of creating state-run IRAs for workers at small businesses. California was first to explore the option when it passed the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program in 2012. Since then, Oregon and Illinois have passed legislation to create their own plans. Another 22 states have introduced legislation or convened task forces on the matter.

While the details will likely vary by state, the premise is the same. Small businesses -- which could conceivably be defined as a workplace with anywhere from five to 100 employees -- set up automatic withdrawals from paychecks to be sent to an IRA managed by the state. Workers could opt out, but those who don't will automatically be enrolled in a plan with investments based on their expected retirement date.

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David Ramirez, co-founder and chief investment officer for 401(k) provider ForUsAll, says most small businesses opt out of providing employee retirement accounts -- not because they don't want to offer them, but because the plans are too complex to set up. "Our industry hasn't made it cheap or easy," he says.

The state-run plans are expected to remove most of the complexity and cost associated with managing retirement accounts and make them more attractive for small business owners.

Challenging the 401(k) Industry

While state-run IRAs may be good news for small businesses and their employees, not everyone is thrilled with the idea.

"Wall Street is very unhappy about these plans," says Ric Edelman, chairman and CEO of Edelman Financial Services in Fairfax, Virginia. "They see them as a direct threat."

Others in the industry are viewing them as a challenge. That's the approach taken by Ramirez, whose business focuses on serving small employers. He says 401(k) plans offer benefits an IRA can't beat, such as more investor protections, a higher cap on contributions and a potential employer match. While state-run IRAs fill a hole for some workers, Ramirez sees them as a catalyst for 401(k) providers to ramp up their offerings.

"The industry has largely failed to make the best-in-class option -- the 401(k) -- more accessible," he says. "...We can do better than state-run IRAs, and they'll force us to re-evaluate how we do business."

The Future May Hinge on the Department of Labor

Whether Ramirez and other 401(k) providers will get a chance to prove their option is better than a state-run IRA hinges largely on a Department of Labor ruling. At question is whether the IRAs would be governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, known informally as ERISA.

"If they do [fall under ERISA], these plans will have an added level of complexity," Edelman says. "If they don't, consumers lose a certain level of protection."

The 1974 law requires the plans to work under certain fiduciary guidelines and also would make employers liable if a plan is not managed properly. As a result, requiring plans to meet ERISA regulations could be enough to put an end to the prospect of state-run IRAs. In fact, the California law authorizing the state's retirement savings program prohibits it from going into effect unless it is exempt from ERISA.

"If I were an employer and told I was going to be liable for that plan, how could I not be concerned?" Elwell asks. The liability issue could mean small businesses say no thanks to the idea.

In November, the Department of Labor issued a proposed rule to exempt state-run IRAs from ERISA requirements. If finalized, the rule will pave the way for states to finally implement or move forward with their plans. For many, the department rule will be welcomed.

"We're hugely supportive of it," Ramirez says. "It's needed."

If the rule is approved, millions of workers nationwide could get access to the convenience of a workplace retirement plan that requires no effort on their part and very little on the part of their employer.
(Reuters) - The White House on Thursday rejected calls for the release of Steven Avery, the convicted Wisconsin man at the center of popular Netflix streaming series "Making a Murderer," as another outlet announced that the case would return to television. Investigation Discovery channel said it has started work on a follow-up TV special to the murder case that has sparked petitions calling for Avery's release after the Netflix show raised concerns about a possible miscarriage of justice. "Front Page: The Steven Avery Story" is expected to air in late January and expects to "present crucial testimony and information that addresses many of the questions surrounding Steven Avery," Investigation Discovery's group president Henry Schlieff said in a statement. "Making a Murderer," a 10-hour documentary about Avery's arrest and conviction for a 2005 murder, has become one of the most talked-about shows in Netflix history since it began streaming in mid-December. One petition, on Whitehouse.gov, asked President Barack Obama to pardon Avery and received more than 113,000 signatures. But the White House on Thursday officially turned down the request, saying on the website that the U.S. president does not have authority to issue pardons in state cases. The Netflix documentary, which began filming 10 years ago, recounts how Avery was convicted of an earlier, unrelated rape and sent to prison in 1985, serving 18 years before DNA evidence exonerated him and he was released. In 2005, Avery, and his learning-challenged teenaged nephew Brendan Dassey, were arrested and later sentenced to life in prison for the killing of photographer Teresa Halbach on their rural scrap car property near Manitowoc. The documentary, and Avery's defense team, suggested that law enforcement officials in Manitowoc County planted evidence against Avery after he filed a $36 million federal civil rights lawsuit against the county over his 1985 conviction. The current sheriff of Manitowoc County has rejected those claims. Another petition on Change.org calling for Avery's exoneration has gathered more than 342,000 signatures. (Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by David Gregorio)
By crushing Earth's lightest element with mind-boggling pressures, scientists have revealed an entirely new state of matter: phase V hydrogen.

The squished hydrogen is a precursor to a state of matter first proposed in the 1930s, called atomic solid metallic hydrogen. When cooled to low enough temperatures, hydrogen (which on Earth is usually found as a gas) can become a solid; at high enough pressures, when the element solidifies, it turns into a metal. Planetary scientists think the interior of Jupiter is largely made of the stuff.

And so, in crushing hydrogen at such high pressures, the physicists also got a glimpse of the inner atmosphere of a gas giant, where pressures reach millions of (Earth) atmospheres. [Elementary, My Dear: 8 Elements You've Never Heard Of]

Crushing hydrogen

At the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, doctoral student Philip Dalladay-Simpson and his colleagues Ross Howie and Eugene Gregoryanz put a small amount of hydrogen between two diamond anvils, and dialed up the pressure to 384 gigapascals, or 55 million pounds per square inch (psi). By comparison, Earth's atmosphere is 100 kilopascals, or 15 pounds per square inch, at sea level. On Jupiter, the weight of the atmosphere hits 29 million psi at about 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) below the cloud tops, and models suggest that's where hydrogen may take the form of a liquid metal.

In this case, when the pressure hit the 325-gigapascal mark, or 47 million psi, the hydrogen became a solid, with the atoms forming layers that alternated between orderly and jumbled arrangements. This is the first time anyone has seen this form of the element at close to room temperature (about 300 degrees Kelvin, or about 80 degrees Fahrenheit), the scientists said.

"This is at much higher pressures and much higher temperatures" than previous work, Dalladay-Simpson told Live Science. Liquid hydrogen is created routinely in industry at cryogenic temperatures with pressures in the tens of atmospheres, but nobody has yet cooled the element enough to solidify it, Dalladay-Simpson said. [The 9 Biggest Unsolved Mysteries in Physics]

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The boiling temperature of any substance tends to rise with pressure (and conversely, fall when the pressure drops). This is why cake mix instructions are different if you live in Denver  water boils at a lower temperature at the higher altitude. With hydrogen, only the immense pressures generated in the lab (or a gas giant's interior) will start to liquefy and eventually solidify the gas when it is at non-cryogenic temperatures, like those on Earth's surface.

Making metallic hydrogen

In 2011, a team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, said they had created metallic hydrogen, but that claim later came under some fire from other scientists and was never fully confirmed.

Dalladay-Simpson said his team didn't make a metal, but they came close, and in the process found a new phase of hydrogen. Any material comes in different phases. Though solid, liquid and gas are the familiar phases, there are others that appear under extreme conditions.

This happens because squeezing the hydrogen forces the individual atoms together. If you just chilled ordinary hydrogen, with the formula H2, eventually it would form an ice-like solid, with each atom would be bonded to one other but not as strongly to other pairs. "When we use pressure we force the molecules to interact," Dalladay-Simpson said. Pressure makes the atoms together with all of their neighbors, and the H2 bonds start to break.

To test the new form of hydrogen, the researchers fired a laser at it and observed the way the wavelength of the light changed. That told them about the new structure of the material.

"This paper does not claim a metallic state, but claims that it is a precursor to the metallic state due to similarities between what we see experimentally and what is predicted theoretically for solid metallic hydrogen," said Howie, who is now a staff scientist at the Center for High Pressure Science & Technology Advanced Research in China.

The researchers said they aren't sure it's a metal because they couldn't test the conductivity, Dalladay-Simpson said. The gap between the diamond anvils is so small that electrodes to test conductivity wouldn't fit.

Shattering diamonds

To have been certain hydrogen took a metallic state (without a conductivity test), the team would have needed to reach even higher pressures, at least up to 400 to 450 gigapascals, the scientists said.

Those pressures might surpass the limits for diamond anvils, which can shatter, Dalladay-Simpson said. In future experimental runs, the team hopes to increase the pressures and see how far the anvils can go.

Other techniques, besides the current setup, don't lend themselves as well to hydrogen. "Hydrogen is incredibly difficult to contain at such conditions as it is very light, so it can diffuse through materials, and very reactive, so can form compounds easily," Howie said.

Dalladay-Simpson said he is undeterred, though, and plans to keep pushing  or crushing, as it happens. Theoretical predictions also suggest liquid metallic hydrogen might also be a room-temperature superconductor.

The study is detailed in the Jan. 7 issue of the journal Nature.

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.
Juba (AFP) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir apologised Friday for two-years of "senseless" civil war but warned he would hunt down those still fighting "like rats."

The apology comes after Kiir this week named 50 lawmakers from the rebel movement and agreed to share ministerial posts with his rivals, in line with a peace deal aimed at ending the war.

Civil war began in December 2013 when Kiir accused sacked deputy Riek Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that have split the poverty-stricken country along ethnic lines.

"I would like to... sincerely apologise before the people of South Sudan, because of the unnecessary and unbearable sufferings you the people of South Sudan and our beloved country have gone through in the last 24 months," Kiir said, in a speech broadcast on UN radio Friday.

Despite a peace deal, fighting continues, and the conflict now involves multiple militia forces who pay little heed to paper peace deals, driven by local agendas or revenge attacks.

Kiir, speaking in the capital Juba during a three-day meeting of the ruling party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), warned of a "mushrooming of armed bandits" launching attacks in the south of the country.

"If these are the people who continue to fight us when we have signed an agreement... I will not stop my forces hunting them down like rats," Kiir said.

Both the government and rebels have been accused of perpetrating ethnic massacres, recruiting and killing children and carrying out widespread rape, torture and forced displacement of populations to "cleanse" areas of their opponents.

"The war has been very costly, in terms of the loss of precious lives, property and our own dignity - as leaders and people in the eyes of the whole world," Kiir added. "To point out the obvious, we have squandered much of the international goodwill."
The Supreme Court will start its January term on Monday with arguments in one of the years biggest cases, about the fate of public teachers unions.

The Court made the decision to hear Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association last June, and it will hear oral arguments at 10 a.m. Monday.

Friedrichs is a challenge to the practices of public unions. The Court will determine whether requiring teachers to pay mandatory dues for union activities violates the First Amendment.

The concept of fair-share payments was previously upheld in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. This system is a compromise between free-speech and labor advocates, in which a unions non-consenting members are required to pay for only the most basic tasks of representation, such as negotiating contracts. Under Abood, employees do not have to subsidize the political activities of the union, as that would amount to forced speech.

California teacher Rebecca Friedrichs, supported by the Center for Individual Rights, argues that she should have no obligation to pay any union dues whatsoever, since any payment is still a violation of her First Amendment right to free speech.

Given the Courts ruling last year in Harris v. Quinnwidely considered the forerunner to Friedrichsthe Justices could split 5-4 once more.

In the Harris decision, the Court said home health care aides in Illinois didnt have to pay union representation costs for a public workers union they didnt belong to. But the Court also said the workers werent full-fledged public employees, upholding in principle the Abood decision that underpins the public union sector.

In 1977, the Court said in Abood that states could make workers contribute to public unions. In his majority Harris decision, Justice Samuel Alito was highly critical of the Abood precedent, but in the end, the Courts conservative bloc decided to rule narrowly on the issue of the Illinois workers and leave bigger issues about public sector unions for another day.

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That day would seem to be this Monday.

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ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey introduced visa requirements for Syrians arriving by air and sea on Friday, part of efforts to stem the flow of illegal migrants to Europe, forcing hundreds of Syrians to return to Damascus, officials said. Some 400 Syrians transiting through Beirut were unable to board two flights to Turkey late on Thursday as a result of the move and had to return to Damascus, an airport official said. When it announced the planned restrictions last week, the Turkish foreign ministry made clear its land border would remain open to migrants, a policy in place since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011. "Applying visas to those coming through air and land borders results from a need for an arrangement which can be seen in the framework of the struggle with illegal immigration," Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said on Dec. 30. Turkey is home to more than 2.2 million Syrians, the world's largest refugee population. At great peril, hundreds of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and others have used Turkey as a stepping stone to reach Greece before traveling to other parts of Europe, creating the largest movement of people since World War Two. The European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, agreed in November to provide Ankara with 3 billion euros ($3.27 billion) in aid in exchange for Turkish moves to stem the flow of migrants leaving for Europe. (Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara and Mariam Karouny in Beirut; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley and Nick Tattersall; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Bangkok (AFP)  A Thai company pulled an advert for skin-lightening pills on Friday following an outcry on social media over a product sold with the tagline white makes you a winner.

It is the latest marketing gaffe to draw accusations of racism in a kingdom obsessed with skin colour.

The advertisement for Seoul Secrets snowz supplement pills featured a veteran Thai celebrity attributing her professional success to her pale complexion.

Its not easy to stay at this point for a long time, the 35-year-old Thai model and actress, Cris Horwang, says in the video.

If I stopped taking care of my body and white complexion, all that I have invested will be gone.

The model is then shown in black make-up, casting an envious look at a second woman with light skin who appears by her side.

A newcomer will replace me and turn me into a dark star, she says in the video, using a Thai idiom to refer to her fame fading.

Whitening creams and pills are wildly popular in Thailand, where pale skin is upheld as the standard of beauty in the media and among many Thais who comment freely on the complexion of others.

Advertisements for the products are standard fare on billboards and TV spots, but some companies have faced a backlash in recent years for going too far.

Before its removal on Friday afternoon, the Seoul Secret video received more than 100,000 views on YouTube, as well as enquiries on the companys Facebook page about how to order the product.

- Clearly racist -

But other social media sites drew posts railing against the advert for being racially offensive and reinforcing the countrys narrow beauty ideals.

It indicates that dark skin people are losers, and this is clearly racist, a Thai commentator named Tammaijang wrote on the web forum Pantip.

Another post said: Having dark skin can be beautiful  without being ashamed as well.

The skincare company issued an apology on Friday, saying in a statement that it did not intend to convey discriminatory or racist messages.

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What we intended to convey was that self-improvement in terms of personality, appearance, skills, and professionality is crucial, the statement said.

Yet some speculated that the advertisement was deliberately provocative as part of a marketing ploy to grab attention.

I dont think the ad agency made this ad out of ignorance, a prominent Thai culture blogger, called Kaewmala on her thaiwomantalks.com website, told AFP.

They havent been living on the moon, Im certain they knew it would be controversial It was most likely a calculated strategy, which in my view makes it even more objectionable.

While there has been a growing awareness about racism among Thais in recent years, those views have yet to be reflected in a media which still readily equates dark skin with low class, she added.

In 2013, public criticism similarly led the US firm Dunkin Donuts to pull an advertisement in Thailand that featured a woman in black-face makeup promoting a new charcoal-flavoured donut.

Thai adverts for Black Herbal toothpaste, as well as other cosmetic brands, have also come under fire in recent years for causing racial offence.
Cairo (AFP) - A hotel on Egypt's Red Sea coast came under attack Friday, leaving three European tourists wounded before the security forces shot dead an assailant and wounded another.

It was the second attack in as many days on holidaymakers in Egypt, where vital tourist revenues have slumped since a Russian passenger jet plane crashed with the Islamic State group claiming to have downed it.

A police official said security forces stopped the attack on the Bella Vista hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, with one assailant killed and another "seriously wounded".

The assailants were armed with knives when they attacked the hotel, police said.

According to the interior ministry, the assailants entered the hotel from a restaurant on the street front.

"Unknown assailants infiltrated into the hotel through the restaurant that faces the street and threatened clients with knives," an interior ministry statement said.

It said security forces "confronted them as they tried to flee", with one of them killed, a student in his 20s, and the other seriously wounded.

The tourists -- two from Austria and one from Sweden -- were "slightly wounded", police said.

Health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed told AFP they "have suffered knife wounds but they are in stable condition".

A tourist agent whose works nearby told AFP that police evacuated the hotel while bomb disposal experts entered the building to check for any explosives.

The identity of the assailants was not immediately clear but Egypt has been roiled by mainly jihadist violence since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The attacks have largely focused on security forces in reprisal for a fierce crackdown on Morsi supporters.

Friday's attack was the second in as many days against Egypt hotels.

- Attacks claimed by IS -

On Thursday a gang of youths hurled fireworks and birdshot at a bus and police guarding Cairo's Three Pyramids Hotel near the pyramids of Giza, without hurting anyone, according to officials and witnesses.

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A security official said about 40 Arab Israelis were inside waiting to board a bus when the attack occurred.

The Islamic State group on Friday claimed responsibility for that attack.

IS also claimed responsibility for downing a Russian passenger plane on October 31 after it took off from the airport of Sharm el-Sheikh, another Egyptian Red Sea resort, killing all 224 people on board.

But Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has dismissed the claim as "propaganda" and promised a transparent probe into the Russian plane tragedy.

He also promised that the government would support the tourism industry, a cornerstone of Egypt's faltering economy.

After the Russian plane tragedy, major tourist operators suspended packages to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, while Russia halted all flights to and from Egypt and Britain suspended air links with Sharm el-Sheikh.

The resorts which Egypt promoted as jewels of its tourism industry have attracted millions of holidaymakers, including Russians, Britons and Italians, and are famed for their pristine beaches and scuba diving.

The tourism industry has been dealt several blows in 2015.

In September, eight Mexican tourists were mistakenly killed by Egyptian security forces in the vast Western Desert.

And in June, police foiled an attempted suicide bomb attack near the famed Karnak temple in Luxor -- one of Egypt's most popular heritage attractions -- when 600 tourists were inside.

Nine Egyptians were sentenced in November to life in prison for their involvement in that failed attack, while two others were jailed for seven years.
(Reuters) - Roger Federer quelled Grigor Dimitrov's challenge in three sets in the Brisbane International quarter-finals and Victoria Azarenka blew away Samantha Crawford to reach the final in the women's draw on Friday. Azarenka ended American qualifier Crawford's dream run with a 6-0 6-3 win to set up a decider with Germany's Angelique Kerber, who also cruised through to the final with a 6-2 6-3 win over Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro. Defending champion Federer, battling a flu bug according to the local media, was made to work hard by his Bulgarian opponent before the Swiss master prevailed 6-4 6-7(4) 6-4 at the Pat Rafter Arena. "It was tough. Grigor's a great shotmaker, the future's ahead of him in the game," Federer said after setting up a semi-final against Austrian youngster Dominic Thiem. Federer broke Dimitrov in the 10th game to claim the first set but the Bulgarian refused to throw in the towel. For the first time in his four meetings with the world number three, Dimitrov managed to win a set via a tiebreak to force the decider but could not pull off an upset. "The third was close and thankfully I started to serve a little bit better," Federer said. "Maybe he didn't have his best finish of the match today, but I enjoyed it anyway." Eighth seed Thiem made it through to the semis by beating former U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic 2-6 7-6(4) 6-4, while home hope Bernard Tomic continued his promising form by overcoming Kei Nishikori. Tomic prevailed 6-3 1-6 6-3 against 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Nishikori. "Obviously this win is huge," the world number 18 said after taking out the second seeded Japanese to set up a semi-final against big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic. "Now I'm at the level the last few months of being in the top 20 and playing these players that have been consistently in the top 10, five in the world." "Being in the top 10. It's near. If I keep playing the way I'm playing there is a chance." The Australian, who has been criticized for poor behavior in the past, went from 78th in the world to his current career-high last year when he claimed a third tour title in Colombia. Raonic will provide another stern examination of those top-10 credentials after the Canadian easily took down France's Lucas Pouille 6-4 6-4. (Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore and Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Toby Davis)
Thermonuclear weapons, otherwise known as hydrogen bombs or H-bombs, are unimaginably ruinous. In 1952, the United States carried out the first successful test of such a device, which eclipses the lethality of atomic weapons by relying not just on a nuclear-fission explosion, but also a fusion reaction. The test obliterated an island in the Pacific Ocean. Nine years later, the Soviets tried out Tsar Bomba, a hydrogen bomb that yielded roughly 1,400 times the amount of energy released by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had by then observed that the explosion of one hydrogen bomb releases more energy than all the explosions effected by all countries in all the wars in the history of mankind.

So you can imagine why it would be difficult to justify the development of such dastardly instruments of war. And yet a way is found. On Wednesday, North Korea announced that it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb. Nuclear experts and U.S. officials have cast doubt on that claim, suggesting the country may have instead detonated an atomic bomb, as it has on three previous occasions. But even if thats the case, the North Korean governments rationale for pursuing an H-bomb is worth considering. With the stunning sound of the explosion, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly wrote ahead of the test, his nation would be reasserting itself as a self-reliant nuclear power.

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A government statement elaborated. Yes, nuclear weapons are dangerous and North Korea is a genuine peace-loving state that would never be the first party to use such weapons in a conflict, it professed. Yet North Korea had no choice but to acquire the worlds most powerful nuclear deterrent when its gravest adversary was a leading nuclear-weapons power. The [Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea]s access to H-bomb of justice, standing against the U.S., the chieftain of aggression watching for a chance for attack on it with huge nukes of various types, is the legitimate right of a sovereign state for self-defense and a very just step no one can slander, the statement argued.

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To emphasize the point, the North Korean government added an aphorism: Nothing is more foolish than dropping a hunting gun before herds of ferocious wolves. (For more on the possible contours of the countrys nuclear strategy and doctrine, check out this helpful U.S.-Korea Institute study.)

Coincidentally, North Koreas suspected nuclear test comes 63 years to the week after Harry Truman revealed the development of the H-bomb to the American public and the world. In a speech on January 7, 1953, the U.S. president announced that with the completion of U.S. thermonuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, we have entered another stage in the world-shaking development of atomic energy. From now on, man moves into a new era of destructive power. (The clip below is from a film the U.S. government released soon after the tests, which were known as Operation Ivy.)

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The United States was not interested in offensively deploying so devastating a weapon, Truman assured his audience (assurance was warranted; only eight years had passed since the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). But alas, science only marched forward. And Americas unscrupulous archenemy, the Soviet Union, which had acquired the atomic bomb in 1949, would be marching right alongside it. Plus, the fate of global civilization was at stake. Absent an international agreement to renounce atomic energy as a tool of war, the U.S. had no alternative ... but to press on, to probe the secrets of atomic power to the uttermost of our capacity. Truman continued:

Such a war is not a possible policy for rational men. We know this, but we dare not assume that others would not yield to the temptation science is now placing in their hands. With that in mind, there is something I would say, to Stalin: You claim belief in Lenins prophecy that one stage in the development of communist society would be war between your world and ours. But Lenin was a pre-atomic man, who viewed society and history with pre-atomic eyes. Something profound has happened since he wrote. War has changed its shape and its dimension. It cannot now be a stage in the development of anything save ruin for your regime and your homeland.

In 1949, shortly before Truman approved the H-bomb program after months of debate within his administration, Lewis Strauss, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, made similar arguments in a letter to the president. A government of atheists is not likely to be dissuaded from producing the weapon on moral grounds, Strauss reasoned, in reference to the Soviet Union. The danger in the weapon does not reside in its physical nature but in human behavior, he added. Its unilateral renunciation by the United States could very easily result in its unilateral possession by the Soviet Government. In conclusion: I believe it unwise to renounce, unilaterally, any weapon which an enemy can reasonably be expected to possess.

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This, six decades ago and again today, is the inexorable, corrosive, compounding logic of nuclear deterrence and proliferationthe reason why a hydrogen bomb can take a couple years to build, while a world without nuclear weapons, as envisioned by Barack Obama and others, may take lifetimes to achieve, if it ever materializes. Its why a man could shudder at the thought of a weapon capable of wreaking more destruction than the sum total of human warfare to date, and then proceed to construct that very weapon. The enemy is always a ferocious wolf and the hunting gun always a means of righteous self-defense, even as that hunting gun morphs into something else entirely.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Of all the unanswered mysteries that Star Wars: The Force Awakens left audiences with, one stands out above the rest: who is the stormtrooper that calls Finn a traitor during the battle on the surface of Takodana?

[Warning: Minor spoilers for The Force Awakens follow]

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Youve probably seen the stormtrooper, affectionately nicknamed TR-8R (as in traitor), in countless memes, videos, GIFs and images around the internet. He became a phenomenon within days of the movies premiere, but up until now, we could only guess at the true identity of the stormtrooper who appeared to know Finn.

As it turns out, the guesses were correct  TR-8R is actually a stormtrooper with the call sign FN-2199. If you read our previous post on the subject, you already know that FN-2199 was a character in Greg Ruckas book, Before the Awakening.

This was a companion piece to the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens novels. In it, we meet a squad of First Order stormtroopers which just happens to include both FN-2187 (Finn) and FN-2199 (Nines).

Nines trained and served on a squad with Finn (then FN-2187) in the First Order, StarWars.com explains. That explains why he seems just a little extra angry upon seeing Finn during the attack on Mazs Castle.

As for why he gets to use that awesome lightsaber-blocking baton (which is actually called a Z6 baton): Hes riot control, and part of an elite squad that enforces order or squashes uprisings. While their weapons are non-lethal in theory, the Z6 can definitely cause harm or kill an opponent when used with brute force. Look, if a lightsaber cant cut it, you know it aint good news.

So there you have it. One mystery solved.

Now if we could just fill in all the other blanks left by The Force Awakens.

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These are the high-resolution 'Force Awakens' wallpapers you were looking for

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This article was originally published on BGR.com
By Humeyra Pamuk and Seyhmus Cakan ISTANBUL/DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish police detained six people including local officials from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) on Friday in a raid on one of its Istanbul offices, days after President Tayyip Erdogan said he backed legal action against its members. Riot police and special forces took part in the operation, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, which said the action was part of a crackdown on urban networks of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group's youth wing. Erdogan and the government accuse the HDP, parliament's third-biggest party, of being an extension of the PKK, which has fought a three-decade insurgency for greater Kurdish autonomy in the southeast and which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. HDP says it is opposed to violence and wants a peaceful solution for Turkey's Kurds. The detentions come less than 48 hours after Erdogan said some HDP lawmakers and local mayors were behaving like members of a terrorist organization and that their positions should not shield them from prosecution. Istanbul police said in a statement that the operation was part of an investigation into a June 2015 murder suspected to have been carried out by PKK members and was based on a tip-off that the murder weapon was in the HDP building. The predominantly Kurdish southeast has sunk into violence after a two-year ceasefire between the state and the PKK collapsed last July, reviving a conflict that has crippled the region for three decades and killed more than 40,000 people. On Friday, one Turkish soldier was killed and five others wounded in clashes in Sur, the historic district of southeastern Diyarbakir province that has been under a police curfew for more than a month, security sources said. Another soldier died from wounds sustained in a militant attack in the town of Cizre, near the Syrian border, the Turkish military said. In Silopi, bordering Iraq, 58 PKK militants were captured while trying to flee, it said in a separate statement. The shift in fighting from the countryside to urban centers has left civilians caught in the middle. According to HDP figures, 72 civilians in three southeastern towns have been killed since Dec. 14, when the latest military campaign began. Thousands of people have left their homes in Sur. Residents complain of indiscriminate operations and round-the-clock curfews have left even the sick unable to get to hospital. Erdogan has said 3,100 PKK members were killed in operations inside and outside the country in 2015. (Additional reporting by Gulsen Solaker in Ankara; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Catherine Evans)
Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish police on Friday raided the offices of the main pro-Kurdish party in central Istanbul, making arrests and seizing documents.

Riot police blocked the entry to the street where the Beyoglu district office of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is located while anti-terror police conducted a search, an AFP photographer said.

Turkish media reports said that several people were detained in the two-hour morning operation, including the co-chair of the Beyoglu branch of the HDP, Rukiye Demir. Police said six people were detained in all.

The lawyer for the party's branch, Levent Piskin, denounced the raid which he says was linked to a murder case that had no connection with the party.

"Prosecutors took a decision to carry out a search in relation to a murder with which neither the party nor the district branch has any connection," he said quoted by the Dogan news agency.

The authorities have stepped up legal pressure on the HDP as the military wages a relentless campaign to flush out Kurdish militants from inside towns in the southeast.

Prosecutors have launched investigations against the co-leaders of the HDP -- Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag -- and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for their parliamentary immunity to be removed.

The authorities accuse the HDP of acting as the political arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), classified a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies. The HDP vehemently denies this.

The army said that two Turkish soldiers were killed Friday by PKK attacks in military operations in the town of Cizre and the Sur district of the city of Diyarbakir that have both been under curfew in the last weeks.

The length and intensity of the army operations has caused alarm, with the HDP saying that dozens of civilians have been killed in the southeast in the last weeks.
By Jim Finkle (Reuters) - U.S. cyber intelligence firm iSight Partners said on Thursday it has determined that a Russian hacking group known as Sandworm caused last month's unprecedented power outage in Ukraine. "We believe that Sandworm was responsible," iSight's director of espionage analysis, John Hultquist, said in an interview. The conclusion was based on analysis of malicious software known as Black Energy 3 and KillDisk, which were used in the attack, and intelligence from "sensitive sources," he said. The Dec. 23 outage at Western Ukraine's Prykarpattyaoblenergo cut power to 80,000 customers for about six hours, according to a report from a U.S. energy industry security group. Ukraine's SBU state security service has blamed Russia, but the nation's energy ministry said it would hold off on attribution until after it finishes a formal probe. Other firms have linked that malware to the attack. But iSight is the first firm to so confidently assert that Sandworm was responsible. ISight said it is not clear whether Sandworm is working directly for Moscow. The group is named Sandworm because references to the "Dune" science-fiction series are embedded in its malware. "It is a Russian actor operating with alignment to the interest of the state," Hultquist said. "Whether or not it's freelance, we don't know." To date, it has primarily engaged in espionage, including a string of attacks in the United States using Black Energy that prompted a December 2014 alert from the Department of Homeland Security, according to iSight. That alert said a sophisticated malware campaign had compromised some U.S. industrial control systems. A DHS spokesman declined to comment Thursday on iSight's findings. While no outages or physical destruction was reported in conjunction with those attacks in the United States, some experts said that may be simply because the attackers did not want to go that far. "It's not a major stretch to conclude the difference in the outcomes of the attacks in the Ukraine vs those in the U.S. were an issue of intent not capability," said Eric Cornelius, managing director of cyber security firm Cylance Inc and former DHS official responsible for securing critical infrastructure. "It would be naive to say the same attackers couldn't successfully execute in the United States," said Chris Blask, executive director of the Industrial Control System Information Sharing and Analysis Center. ISight said Sandworm was also behind previously reported attacks on Ukrainian officials, EU and NATO members as well as media companies in Ukraine. (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston; Additional reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco; Editing by Richard Chang)
By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's former prime minister, one of the frontrunners in a presidential election next month, has accused incumbent President Yoweri Museveni of using killings and torture to curb support for the opposition. Museveni, 71, has ruled Uganda, a prospective crude oil producer and Africa's largest coffee exporter, for nearly 30 years and is seeking another five-year term. Rights groups have long accused his government of using illegal arrests, beatings and other forms of torture by security personnel to intimidate opposition supporters. Amama Mbabazi, who is running as an independent, cited nine cases of his supporters who have been either "assaulted, arrested, 'disappeared' and even killed." "As the pressure of the campaigns is mounting, so are the continual attempts to intimidate and subdue my support base," he said in a statement. Mbabazi and long-time opposition figure Kizza Besigye have emerged as the only significant opponents to Museveni among the eight candidates. Analysts say Museveni, who has also been accused in the past of using state funds to boost his electoral chances, is likely to win although the election is seen as his toughest yet. In the statement, Mbabazi named nine supporters, including Agnes Tumwebaze who was killed and her body dumped in a swamp, as victims of violence. The house of another supporter, Isaac Okwii, was burned down while his 4-year old son slept. The child died in the fire. Police denied claims of involvement in attacks. "We're ready to investigate every alleged case of violence but the people who allege don't cooperate with us," said police spokesman Fred Enanga. On Thursday, reports emerged in social media that Christopher Aine, a security aide to Mbabazi, had been killed. Aine disappeared in mid December shortly after police said he was wanted for questioning in regard to allegations of leading a mob that assaulted supporters of Museveni earlier in the month. The Mbabazi campaign told Reuters that Aine's family had identified a body shown in the social media reports as his. "These cruel acts tantamount to gross human rights abuse. We have documented them and will pursue redress," Mbabazi's statement said. Enanga said police believed whoever posted the images wanted to tarnish their reputation and Aine was "alive and in hiding". (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
London (AFP) - A British-born mother was jailed for more than five years on Friday, having tried to take her children to Syria to live under Islamic State group rule.

The 34-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wanted to live under strict Sharia law, Leeds Crown Court in northern England was told.

She abducted her children in October last year with the intention of going to Raqqa, where the IS jihadist group has set up its headquarters.

However, her husband and parents contacted the police and she was stopped in Istanbul by the Turkish authorities.

She admitted two counts of child abduction relating to her children, who were both under the age of 16.

"Raqqa is, and was in October 2015, the epicentre of a war zone. Further, it was, and presently remains, under the control of IS," said judge Rodney Jameson.

"It is beyond dispute that IS enforce their will by the use of extreme force. Such force routinely includes mutilation, rape and murder. You are an intelligent and well-educated woman; you knew this.

"The fate of your children would have been either to have subscribed, fully and actively, as we have all seen in the appalling use of a young child in an IS propaganda video in recent days, to such behaviour, or to have suffered it themselves."

The woman was born in Britain and spent her formative years in Pakistan before returning to northern England.

She became increasingly religious and gave up her job in finance in August last year, before attempting to take her children to Syria.

"This was a terrible betrayal of your responsibilities to your children," said Jameson.

The judge jailed the woman for five years and four months.
The Daily Beast

Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared Tuesday that there is no need to maintain a diplomatic presence in western countries, in the latest sign that Russia may be toying with the idea of completely severing diplomatic ties with western countries as its war in Ukraine nears the nine month mark.There is neither point nor desire to maintain the previous presence in Western states. Our people work there in conditions that can hardly be called human, Lavrov said, acco
Bury (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Britain's Flying Scotsman, the first steam locomotive to hit 100 miles an hour, returned to the tracks on Friday following a decade-long project to restore the world-famous engine.

Steaming and whistling, the legendary locomotive made its first test run after a A4.2 million ($6.1 million, 5.6-million-euro) full-scale restoration.

"It will be back hauling mainline rail tours, steaming proudly into the 21st century," said its owners, the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York, northern England.

The locomotive, built 93 years ago, successfully completed the test run on the East Lancashire Railway in northwest England, following restoration at the nearby Riley and Son workshop in Bury.

Rail enthusiasts gathered on the platforms at Bury's Bolton Street station to see the locomotive, some with tears in their eyes.

"It's such a spine-tingling moment. It's thrilling," said Tina Bywater, 67.

"I have always said if you could bottle steam, oil and coal, I would wear it as a perfume."

David Flood, 68, an ex-railway guard, said it was "a national symbol".

"It's on a par with stately homes," he said.

The Flying Scotsman will make a run from London's King's Cross terminal and York next month ahead of a programme of public services and events throughout 2016.

Built in 1923 in the northern town of Doncaster for the London and North Eastern Railway, the A1 class locomotive became famous when displayed at the British Empire Exhibition in the capital the following year.

- Restored to glory -

It hauled the first ever non-stop London to Edinburgh service in 1928, reducing the journey time to eight hours.

In 1934, the Flying Scotsman became the first locomotive to be officially clocked at 100 miles (160 kilometres) per hour.

British Rail retired the locomotive in 1963 and sold it to private owners, under whom it went on tours to Australia and the United States.

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In Australia, it recorded the longest ever non-stop run by a steam locomotive, travelling 679 kilometres (422 miles) from Melbourne to Alice Springs.

A fundraising campaign brought the Flying Scotsman back into public ownership in 2004 for A2.3 million.

Some 70 feet (22 metres) long and with a tender capacity of eight tons of coal and 5,000 gallons of water, Scotsman is estimated to have travelled around 2.5 million miles (four million kilometres).

During the painstaking restoration, Scotsman was carefully dismantled and each of the thousands of components checked for wear, with many needing replacement.

It was also fitted with equipment needed to comply with 21st-century regulations: a train monitoring recorder and a train protection and warning system.

"I'm near speechless. It feels like all the frustration and hard work is justified," said NRM engineer manager Simon Holyroyd as he watched Scotsman in action.

"It's always been known as the world's most famous steam locomotive and hopefully we will get it back up there in its rightful place."
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Friday that the use of cluster bombs in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition may amount to war crimes.

Ban said he had received "troubling reports" of cluster bomb attacks on January 6 on the rebel-held capital Sanaa.

"The use of cluster munitions in populated areas may amount to a war crime due to their indiscriminate nature," the UN chief said in a statement.

Cluster bombs are banned under a 2008 international convention, although Saudi Arabia and the United States are not signatories.

The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said Tuesday that its staff in Yemen had found remnants of 29 cluster bombs during a field visit in Haradh district in the northwest.

The warning over possible war crimes was a clear sign of mounting frustration at the UN with Saudi Arabia's 10-month military campaign in Yemen.

It came in response to the decision by Yemen's Saudi-backed government to expel the leading UN rights official, George Abu al-Zulof.

Ban is urging the Yemeni government to reverse its decision to expel Zulof, who was declared persona non grata for an alleged lack of impartiality in his reporting.

The UN chief said he was "deeply concerned about the intensification of coalition airstrikes and ground fighting and shelling in Yemen, despite repeated calls for a renewed cessation of hostilities."

He is "particularly concerned about reports of intense airstrikes in residential areas and on civilian buildings in Sanaa, including the Chamber of Commerce, a wedding hall and a centre for the blind," said the statement.

UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was in Riyadh on Friday for talks on renewing a ceasefire in Yemen, which faces the threat of famine amid the dire humanitarian crisis.

Yemen descended into chaos when the coalition began airstrikes in March to push back Iran-backed Huthi rebels who had seized Sanaa.

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More than 5,800 people have been killed and 27,000 wounded since then, according to UN figures.

Yemen's government sat down with the rebels and their allies in Switzerland last month for six days of talks that ended with no major breakthrough.

The UN envoy has called for a new round of talks on January 14 but the sides have yet to confirm that they will attend.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations has asked the Democratic Republic of Congo to repatriate its peacekeepers from the Central African Republic after they failed to meet UN standards, a spokesman said Friday.

The Congolese troops serving in the MINUSCA force underwent two reviews by UN peacekeeping officials who found that they "only partially" met UN requirements "in terms of equipment, vetting and preparedness," said spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

"In light of this result, the battalion from the Democratic Republic of the Congo currently deployed to MINUSCA will be repatriated without replacement," he said.

In August, allegations surfaced that three peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of Congo had raped three young women in the town of Bambari, northeast of the capital Bangui.

There are 807 troops and 118 police from the DR Congo serving in the 10,000-strong MINUSCA force.

The Central African Republic is struggling to recover from sectarian violence that exploded after a 2013 coup, pitting mainly Muslim rebels against Christian militias.
By Jeffrey Dastin

(Reuters) - United Continental Holdings Inc <UAL.N> said on Thursday that Chief Executive Oscar Munoz was recovering well the day after a heart transplant that raised concerns about how long the second-largest U.S. airline might be without its top executive.

Munoz, 57, has been on medical leave since suffering a heart attack in October. United said on Wednesday his previously expected first-quarter return may be delayed until the beginning of the second quarter.

Brett Hart, the carrier's general counsel, has run the airline in the interim.

"The patient's early course has been excellent, and the transplanted heart is functioning very well," Duc Pham, director of the Northwestern Medicine Heart Transplant Program, said in the United statement.

For months, United has aimed to allay concern that management shake-ups had left an inexperienced team of executives running its business.

Munoz became CEO in September after predecessor Jeff Smisek resigned following a probe into United's relationship with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

In Munoz's absence, the airline has pursued the agenda he outlined in his month on the job. It struck tentative contract deals to rebuild workers' morale and improved on-time performance to boost customer satisfaction, lowest among rivals in J.D. Power's 2015 ranking.

Shares fell nearly 5 percent on Thursday.

"We hope (United) will outline some succession planning soon," S&P Capital IQ analyst Jim Corridore said in a research note on Thursday. "We see this issue as a potential overhang on the shares."

United's board of directors will closely monitor Munoz's progress, the board chairman said in the statement.

In a separate regulatory filing Wednesday, United said Munoz will earn $1.25 million per year initially, as well as a $5.2 million cash signing bonus and a long-term incentive award, worth at least $10.5 million. United and Munoz entered into the employment agreement on Dec. 31.

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Munoz's health had improved before Wednesday's transplant with the aid of an implanted medical device, and he visited employees and participated in company meetings since early December, United said in the press release.

It added: "A transplant was considered to be preferable to long-term reliance on the implanted device and was not the result of a setback in his recovery."

About 88 percent of people who have a heart transplant survive the first year following surgery, and 75 percent survive after five years, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney and Cynthia Osterman)
Washington (AFP) - The US military will inevitably have to lower its physical requirements so more women can fill infantry and commando roles, a top general said Friday.

The comments from John Kelly, a four-star Marine general who is retiring from the head of the military's Southern Command, came just over a month after Defense Secretary Ashton Carter ordered all jobs in the military to be opened up to women, with no exceptions.

As he announced the order, Carter stressed that physical standards would not be lowered to ensure females qualified for a particular role.

The Marine Corps had spoken out against women serving in some combat roles, saying they were more likely to be injured than their male colleagues and claiming that mixed-gender combat units were not as effective as male groups.

"Right now they say they are not going to change any standards," Kelly told reporters at the Pentagon.

But "there will be great pressure" to do so he said, because a few years from now commanders will want to know why more women haven't qualified for certain positions.

"If we don't change standards it will be very, very difficult to have any real numbers come into the infantry," he said.

"The pressure for the generals that are to come (will be) to lower standards -- that is the only way it will work," he added.

Obama's administration in 2013 asked for all combat positions to be open to women by 2016, including the infantry, artillery, armor and special forces.

But Obama gave the Pentagon the opportunity to request exceptions, provided these were justified by operational constraints.

The Marine Corps asked for such an exemption, and was overruled by Carter.
Washington (AFP) - A dummy training version of a US Hellfire missile was shipped to Cuba after an apparent mix-up by commercial cargo handlers in Europe, a source said Friday, confirming media reports.

The source familiar with the issue, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of US laws protecting the confidentiality of commercial arms deals, said the shipment was made in 2014.

The Hellfire is produced by US defense giant Lockheed Martin along with an inert version known as a "Captive Air Training Missile" stripped of its warhead, fuse, gyroscope and motor.

In summer 2014, Lockheed received export approval from the US State Department to send a dummy missile to a NATO training exercise in Spain and flew one out of Orlando, Florida.

According to the Wall Street Journal, after the exercise the missile was crated up to be shipped back to Florida, again as commercial cargo air freight -- and went missing.

It is now believed that the crate was misdirected and loaded into the hold of a commercial cargo jet, then flown to Havana along with ordinary non-military air freight.

According to the report, confirmed to AFP by the anonymous source, the package arrived in communist Cuba and has been seized by the authorities there.

The Journal's report said the incident raised fears that Cuba -- despite the recent thaw in its relations with Washington -- might sell US missile secrets to rivals like Russia or China.

But the Hellfire missile, commonly fired at ground targets from a helicopter or a drone, has been in service since 1984, and has been delivered to more than two dozen countries.

On Thursday, for example, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency approved delivery of 5,000 Hellfire and 10 Captive Air Training Missiles to Iraq, which has ties to Russia and Iran.

Lockheed Martin notified the State Department of the incident when it realized the missile was missing.

The US Justice Department is investigating the matter, according to the Wall Street Journal, and US diplomats have requested -- so far in vain -- that Cuba return the missile.
New York (AFP) - A man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State extremist group shot and seriously wounded a police officer in Philadelphia, opening fire multiple times at point-blank range with a stolen police gun before he was arrested, officials said

The apparent assassination attempt comes amid heightened security -- and paranoia -- in the United States following last month's assault by a radicalized Muslim couple in California that killed 14 people, and the November terror attacks in Paris.

Policeman Jesse Hartnett, 33, was shot three times in his left arm as he sat in his patrol car late Thursday in the northeastern city. "I'm shot. I'm bleeding heavily," he yelled in a dispatch call.

Authorities said they were astonished he survived.

Philadelphia police commissioner Richard Ross called the attack "absolutely chilling" and described the officer's injuries as "very, very serious."

Stills captured from video surveillance and released to the press show the suspect -- named by police as Edward Archer, 30, a local man -- opening fire as he walked towards the patrol car, extending his arm into the vehicle and then continuing to fire as he flees on foot.

"If that doesn't just make the hairs on your neck just rise when you see that, it's scary," Ross told reporters.

The officer got out of his vehicle, despite being injured, and managed to return fire, hitting the suspect, who was quickly arrested.

"He stated that he pledges his allegiance to Islamic State, follows Allah and that is the reason he was called upon to do this," homicide police Captain James Clark told a news conference.

Police said Archer has a criminal record, but that it was unclear whether he acted alone or as part of a wider conspiracy.

"He doesn't appear to be a stupid individual, just an extremely violent one," Ross said.

Ross added that he was "absolutely amazed" that Hartnett, an officer with four years' experience, had survived. "This man fired at least 11 shots from a nine millimeter at close range," he said.

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- 'Nothing to do with Islam' -

Police said it was unclear how the suspect obtained the firearm, which was stolen from police in October 2013.

"That is one of the things that you absolutely regret the most, that an officer's gun is stolen and it is used against one of your own," Ross said.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney praised Hartnett's bravery but urged people to draw no link between the criminal act and Islam.

"That is abhorrent, it's terrible and it does not represent the religion in any way, shape or form or any of its teachings," Kenney said.

"This is a criminal with a stolen gun trying to kill one of our officers. It has nothing to do with being a Muslim."

Thursday's shooting is likely to raise further concerns about the threat posed by homegrown extremists within the United States, inspired to act by IS jihadists based in Iraq and Syria.

Muslim community activists have already decried what they call an unprecedented anti-Muslim backlash in the wake of the Paris attacks.

House Homeland Security Committee chairman Michael McCaul told reporters: "Once again we have a radicalized individual in the United States trying to kill law enforcement."

He blamed extremist propaganda on the Internet emanating from Syria.

"The message is clear: Kill military, attack military installations and kill police officers. In my judgment, this individual was carrying out these directives, these orders if you will, coming out of Raqa, Syria from ISIS."

Elsewhere on Friday, two suspects with alleged ties to the IS group were due to appear in court in California and Texas.

Aws Mohammed Younis al-Jayab, an Iraqi-born Palestinian who was arrested on Thursday, came to the United States from Syria as a refugee in 2012.

He is accused of fighting in Syria for various terror groups.

Another Iraqi-born Palestinian, Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, was due to make an initial court appearance after being indicted in Texas for providing material support to the IS group.
Los Angeles (AFP) - US authorities said two people with ties to the Islamic State group are due in court Friday in California and Texas, including a refugee from Syria who lied about his travels there.

The arrests come amid heightened security in the United States following last month's assault by a radicalized Muslim couple in California that left 14 people dead and the November terror attacks in Paris.

There is also growing pressure for more scrutiny of refugees from war-ravaged Syria, amid terror fears.

Aws Mohammed Younis al-Jayab, an Iraq-born Palestinian arrested Thursday who came to the United States from Syria as a refugee in 2012, traveled to Syria the following year where he fought with various terror groups, according to a criminal complaint.

One of those groups was Al-Qaeda affiliate Ansar al-Islam (Partisans of Islam), which once operated in both Iraq and Syria.

Listed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations and the United States, its Iraq faction has since merged with the Islamic State group, though some of its Syrian fighters rejected IS.

But US Attorney Benjamin Wagner was careful to stress that "while (Jayab) represented a potential safety threat, there is no indication that he planned any acts of terrorism in this country."

Another Iraqi-born Palestinian, Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, was indicted Wednesday in Texas for providing material support to the IS group. He is due in court Friday for an initial appearance.

Hardan, 24, was charged with one count each of attempting to provide material support to ISIL (Islamic State), procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlawfully and making false statements.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott and other local officials said Hardan's arrest backed their calls for a refugee ban.

"This is precisely why I called for a halt to refugees entering the US from countries substantially controlled by terrorists," he said.

The state's Attorney General Ken Paxton called the arrest a "troubling revelation," using the occasion to take a swipe at President Barack Obama.

"The arrest in Houston of an Iraqi refugee for suspicion of terrorist activities is a troubling revelation - especially in light of the president's insistence on placing further refugees in Texas," he said.

"My office will continue to press for the right of Texans to ensure that terrorists are not being placed in our communities."
New York (AFP) - Volkswagen has been uncooperative with US states probing its emissions-cheating technology, citing German privacy law in refusing to share documents, two prosecutors said Friday.

The German auto giant has fallen far short of its public pledges of cooperation, said sharply worded statements from the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut, who are leading a VW probe by more than 40 US states in parallel with an ongoing US federal investigation.

"Volkswagen's cooperation with the states' investigation has been spotty -- and frankly, more of the kind one expects from a company in denial than one seeking to leave behind a culture of admitted deception," said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

"It has been slow to produce documents from its US files, it has sought to delay responses until it completes its 'independent investigation' several months from now, and it has failed to pursue every avenue to overcome the obstacles it says that German privacy law presents to turning over emails from its executives' files in Germany. Our patience with Volkswagen is wearing thin."

Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, one of six state officials leading the probe, said the states will "seek to use any means available to us" to hold Volkswagen accountable.

"I find it frustrating that, despite public statements professing cooperation and an expressed desire to resolve the various investigations that it faces following its calculated deception, Volkswagen is, in fact, resisting cooperation by citing German law," Jepsen said.

The statements come on the heels of a lawsuit filed Monday by the US Department of Justice that seeks more than $20 billion in damages and said its probe was "impeded and obstructed by material omissions and misleading information provided by VW."

Volkswagen has repeatedly apologized for the scandal in which it admitted installing emissions-cheating technology on more than 11 million diesel engines worldwide, in vehicles of the model years 2009 through 2015.

In response to a request for comment Friday, a Volkswagen spokesman said the company has been responsive to US officials.

"We cooperate closely with the US investigation authorities," he said. "We cannot comment on a pending investigation."
Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela's armed forces Thursday vowed their unwavering support for Nicolas Maduro, as the new center-right opposition sought to oust the president, plunging the country deeper into crisis.

"The president is the highest authority of the state and we reiterate our absolute loyalty and unconditional support for him," said Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, who also condemned the removal of portraits of the socialist government's late hero Hugo Chavez from the National Assembly.
(Reuters) - Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said on Thursday he would seek to legalize marijuana through the legislative process, instead of through the ballot box, for the first time in the United States. In his State of the State address, the Democratic governor said more than 80,000 Vermonters reported using marijuana last year, contributing to a black market. He said legislators needed to proceed step by step to regulate marijuana. "That's why I will work with you to craft the right bill that thoughtfully and carefully eliminates the era of prohibition that is currently failing us so miserably," he said, according to a copy of the address on his website. Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana after holding voter referendums. Vermont is among almost 20 states that have decriminalized marijuana possession. Shumlin said a pot measure should include a legal market to keep marijuana and other drugs out of the hands of minors, a tax law enough to destroy the black market, and a ban on sale of edible marijuana. Revenue from pot taxes must be used to boost addiction prevention, and police helped in dealing with impaired drivers, he said. The pro-legalization Drug Policy Alliance hailed Shumlin's move and said other governors should suit. "I'm hopeful this is the start of a new trend," said Ethan Nadelmann, the group's executive director. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Richard Chang)
By Nate Raymond

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Vietnamese man who prosecutors said traveled to Yemen to join an al Qaeda affiliate and was instructed there to detonate an explosive at London's Heathrow Airport pleaded guilty to U.S. terrorism charges on Friday.

Minh Quang Pham, 33, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to three counts including that he provided material support to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, three weeks before he was set to face trial.

Speaking in a quiet voice, Pham admitted to providing support to the Islamic militant group, including through helping prepare the group's online propaganda magazine, Inspire, and receiving military-type training.

Prosecutors have said that Pham, who had attended a university in South London, while in Yemen also directly trained with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born radical Islamic cleric who was killed in a 2011 U.S. drone attack.

In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Buckley said after his arrest, Pham admitted that al-Awlaki instructed him in how to make an explosive device out of household material.

Buckley said al-Awlaki "directed Pham to return to the United Kingdom, where he was to construct and detonate the device at the arrival area of Heathrow." Buckley added that al-Awlaki gave Pham $10,000 for the plot.

Bobbi Sternheim, Pham's lawyer, said her client accepted "full responsibility" to the charges to which he pled. But she said there was "no proof" Pham did anything to follow through with causing any harm at Heathrow.

Pham faces a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison and a maximum term of life. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 14.

Prosecutors said Pham traveled from the United Kingdom to Yemen in December 2010 and took an oath of allegiance to the militant group, which the United States lists as a terrorist organization.

He spent a year in Yemen, where he received "military-type" training and helped prepare the group's magazine, Inspire, working directly with Samir Khan, a U.S. citizen who served as its editor and died in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.

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Pham returned to the United Kingdom in July 2011, where he was detained by authorities at Heathrow Airport, who discovered various items including a live round of .762 caliber armor-piercing ammunition.

He was subsequently arrested in the United Kingdom in June 2012 at the request of U.S. authorities and extradited to the United States in February 2015.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr)
By Andreas Cremer BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen will unveil a battery-powered SUV at the Detroit auto show on Monday, according to company sources, part of a push into electric vehicles as it seeks to win back U.S. buyers following its emissions test cheating scandal. The car will be a plug-in hybrid version of the Tiguan, the German automaker's top-selling sport-utility vehicle (SUV), the two sources told Reuters on Friday. Analysts say Volkswagen's core VW brand badly needs new models in the world's second largest auto market to reverse a three-year decline in sales which fell 4.8 percent in 2015 to 349,440 cars. Europe's biggest automaker is putting increasing emphasis on electric cars following its cheating of diesel emissions tests, which analysts think could hit demand for diesel vehicles, and a focus on SUVs makes sense given their growing popularity. "VW can't release an SUV soon enough," Edmunds.com analyst Jeremy Acevedo said. "SUV market share is at its highest ever level (in the U.S.)," with compact SUVs such as the new Tiguan accounting for 13 percent of all U.S. auto sales in 2015. The sources said the concept model, following VW's unveiling of an electric microbus at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, would hit U.S. dealerships sometime after the planned release next year of a new midsize crossover vehicle and a long-wheelbase Tiguan. However, the German group is struggling to balance model development with the growing costs of its emissions scandal, a task made more difficult this week by a U.S. lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in fines. The new Tiguan prototype integrates electric engines at the front and rear axles and boasts more offroad quality than the GTE concept version of VW's fifth best-selling model launched at the Frankfurt auto show last September, the sources said. Still, demand for hybrid and electric cars has been dampened by cheap gasoline as well as limited range and high prices. U.S. sales of hybrid and all electric vehicles plunged 16 percent in the first 11 months of 2015 compared with the year before to 452,338 cars, the Electric Drive Transportation Association said. However, regulators are requiring automakers to sell more electric cars to curb greenhouse emissions and VW is keen to redouble efforts in the wake of its emissions scandal. "Perhaps VW was so successful building cars in a conventional way that the necessity to fully engage with several new aspects of mobility has not been recognized," Chief Executive Matthias Mueller told Wirtschaftswoche magazine in an interview published on Jan. 6. "That is now different." VW plans to expand its so-called MQB modular platform - the base for most of the group's small and medium front-wheel-drive models - to build long-range plug-in hybrids and electric cars. It also aims to develop a new modular platform dubbed MEB for compact electric cars and light commercial vehicles and launch 20 battery-powered or plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2020. "We are developing entirely new and unique vehicle concepts especially for long-distance electric mobility," VW brand chief Herbert Diess said on Jan. 6 at the CES. "We are renewing our thinking, our approach and our products." Research firm IHS Automotive forecasts the VW brand's U.S. sales may plunge another 13 percent this year, before rebounding in 2017 with the help of SUV launches and steadily growing to 507,794 cars by 2020. (Editing by Mark Potter)
Washington (AFP) - Volkswagen chief executive Matthias Mueller will meet next week in Washington with the head of the environmental agency that uncovered the massive emissions-cheating scandal, an agency spokeswoman said Thursday.

Mueller will see Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy on January 13 at the request of VW, an EPA spokeswoman said. The meeting will follow an appearance by Mueller at the Detroit auto show Sunday night, his first trip to the United States since the scandal broke in September.

On Monday, the US Justice Department, on behalf of EPA, filed a lawsuit against VW for installing equipment on nearly 600,000 diesel cars that intentionally subverted clean-air regulations, resulting in excess harmful emissions.

The lawsuit could result in a fine of $20 billion or more on VW. EPA said it also aimed to pressure VW to accelerate efforts to recall defective vehicles.

VW has conceded that the emissions cheating technology was employed on some 11 million diesel engines worldwide, in vehicles of the model years 2009 through 2015.

Mueller and other VW officials have apologized for the scandal, which led to the resignation of Mueller's predecessor, Martin Winterkorn.
By David DeKok

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, faces a lawsuit in Pennsylvania claiming store employees negligently allowed an underage, intoxicated customer to buy a box of bullets later used to commit three murders.

The lawsuit, filed in Philadelphia by families of the victims, seeks compensatory and punitive damages from Wal-Mart and several employees at its Easton, Pennsylvania, store, where the bullets were purchased by Robert Jourdain on July 5 at 2:56 a.m. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company operates stores under the Walmart name.

At no time did the Walmart defendants ... require that Robert Jourdain present appropriate and valid identification, the lawsuit says. Nor did the defendants take any precautions to determine whether Mr. Jourdain was intoxicated.

Jourdain, then 20, walked out of the store with the bullets and handed them to Todd West, then 22, who loaded them into his .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, the suit says.

About 15 minutes later, West randomly shot and killed a stranger, Kory Ketrow, 22, in Easton. Twenty minutes after that, he murdered Francine Ramos, 32, and Trevor Gray, 21, in Allentown. Both of them were strangers to him.

Until recently, sellers of guns and ammunition assumed they were protected from liability by the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

But last year, in a Wisconsin case, a jury found a Milwaukee gun store liable for selling a gun to a 21-year-old customer even though clerks had serious misgivings that the buyer was illegally buying the gun for someone else.

The gun was later used by an 18-year-old to shoot and critically wound two police officers, who were awarded damages by the jury.

Spokesman Randy Hargrove said Wal-Mart has a policy requiring cashiers to verify ages in guns or ammo purchases, and has cash register prompts to remind them.

He said the company may argue that the bullets purchased by Jourdain for West could be used in either handguns or rifles, and that the lower age limit of 18 for purchases of ammunition for rifles should apply in the case.

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Shira Goodman, executive director of CeasefirePA, an anti-gun group in Philadelphia, said negligent behavior by sellers might prove to be a way for some victims of gun violence to get around the protective federal law.

I think it does show some desire to hold people responsible in innovative ways, she said.

A representative of the National Rifle Association, which advocates broad access to firearms, had no immediate comment.

West, Jourdain, and their driver, Kareem Mitchell, 23, will appear in court on Jan. 11 for a status conference and possibly arguments on pre-trial motions, court officials said.

(Reporting By Frank McGurty; Editing by David Gregorio)
When the 73rd Golden Globes air this Sunday, what many view as the most unpredictable awards show will be kicking off the most unpredictable awards season in recent memory.

With alcohol flowing freely during the live telecast and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's tendency to honor the new and buzzy over the critically acclaimed, nominees are likely liquored up and on their toes. The probability of a freshman win raises the stakes when it comes to emotional acceptance speeches (2015's wins by Gina Rodriguez and Transparent) and upsets (2014's win by Brooklyn Nine-Nine and 2009's win by The Hangover), and the loose atmosphere ups the ante for comedic, shocking and later, viral, moments.

To top it all off, Ricky Gervais is once again at the helm for the 2016 show.

The four-time host, who will be drinking his beer onstage, agreed to come back on his own terms after raising eyebrows (and ratings) during his 2010-2012 run, telling The Hollywood Reporter: "I always write my own jokes, I can say what I want  and its live." A litany of topical jokes can be expected, and with Mel Gibson returning as a presenter and Donald Trump on the presidential campaign trail, no one in or out of the room will be safe.

Read More: Ricky Gervais Previews Golden Globes: No Jokes That Cause "Collateral Damage" (Q&A)

And then there are the nominees. For film, no clear frontrunner has emerged in the awards race, and since the Globes are in no way a shoe-in for the Oscars (the nominees for which will be announced Jan. 14), anything can happen. Amy Schumer's Trainwreck goes up against Matt Damon's The Martian for best comedy (an entry that raised eyebrows since the sci-fi film about an astronaut trying to survive on Mars doesn't seem like a laugh riot), co-stars are competing, some stars are nominated in multiple categories and Leonardo DiCaprio is on everyone's snub-watch. On the TV side, streaming services dominate cable and broadcast as Netflix dethrones HBO for most nominations and NBC, which is hosting the show, earned a whopping zero (a joke Gervais is sure to make at least once).

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Presenters include Gibson, Amy Adams, Jaimie Alexander, Patricia Arquette, Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, Amber Heard, Bryce Dallas Howard, Kate Hudson, Jennifer Lawrence, Helen Mirren, Julianne Moore, Eddie Redmayne, Amy Schumer, J.K. Simmons, Channing Tatum, Olivia Wilde, Melissa Benoist, Viola Davis, Morgan Freeman, Grant Gustin, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard, Ken Jeong, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Keaton, Lady Gaga, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lopez, Jason Statham, Mark Wahlberg, Kate Bosworth, Sophia Bush, Matt Damon, Chris Evans, Will Ferrell, Tom Ford, Tom Hanks, Jonah Hill, John Krasinski, Katy Perry, Andy Samberg and Amy Schumer. Foxx is sure to be a proud dad backstage as daughter Corinne Foxx, 21, assumes the role of Miss Golden Globe, and Denzel Washington is set to receive the coveted Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award.

Come Sunday, THR will provide full coverage of the awards ceremony, including the complete list of winners, show highlights, backstage moments, expert analysis and red carpet and afterparty coverage on Twitter, Facebook and THR.com.

In the meantime, here are five things to hype you up for this year's sure-to-be entertaining show:

1. Ricky Gervais' monologue

Gervais doesn't care about the "egos" in the room, and that's why viewers love to watch him host.

About his 2012 show  when he harped on Jodie Foster's Beaver and called the Globes trashy  the British comedian said, "I guarantee they will not invite me back." After, they booked Amy Poehler and Tina Fey as co-hosts for three years in a row.

Now, Gervais received and accepted an invitation, but he still has no plans to play by the rules. "I made the decision," the host, who ripped The Tourist to Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie's faces in 2011, told THR. "Do I pander to 200 fragile egos in the room or 200 million people watching at home? Theres nothing in it for the people watching at home. Theyre not winning awards. Its not a spectator sport watching other people win awards, so I tried to make it one."

Topics to hedge Gervais-jokes bets on? Gibson, the Revenant "bear rape" rumor, Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey's jump to Relativity Media and, even though Gervais says he's not a political comedian, Trump.

2. Will Leo DiCaprio win?

The Revenant star is 2/10 when it comes to Globes wins, and 0/4 at the Oscars (0/5 if you rope in his producer nom for The Wolf of Wall Street). Though Bryan Cranston has also scored both a Globe and SAG nom, like DiCaprio, the Wolf of Wall Street actor is the favorite of the night.

A Globes, and subsequently a SAG Awards, win could be just the momentum that DiCaprio needs heading into the Oscars so the actor, who was first nominated for What's Eating Gilbert Grape in 1994, could ultimately (and finally) check a win in the Academy box. And after awing audiences with a performance that saw him get ripped to shreds by a bear and sleep inside an animal carcass, many fans and critics are rooting for a long-awaited DiCaprio win.

3. Mel Gibson's controversial return to the stage

Gibson spent nearly 10 years away from Hollywood following his widely publicized 2006 DUI arrest and anti-Semitic rant. In 2013, the Passion of the Christ star did attend the Globes with pal Foster, who was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille award, but his 2016 billing signals the first invitation back into the Hollywood inner circle in such a big and televised way. Come Sunday, Twitter is sure to react, and so will Gervais.

In 2010, then-host Gervais cracked about Gibson in his opening monologue, and in 2012 he told the audience and viewers that the original Mad Max actor was on his list of topics that he wasn't allowed to discuss. When Gervais heard the 2016 news, he quipped on Twitter, "Mel Gibson is presenting an award at The Golden Globes. Thank you Jesus."

Read More: Golden Globes: Ricky Gervais' Most Memorable Jokes as Host

4. Potential for snubs and surprises in the biggest categories

Since the Globes split their best picture by genre and this year was stacked with comedy-dramas, Trainwreck and Melissa McCarthy's Spy go up against more serious contenders The Martian, The Big Short and Joy. It's hard (and funny) to imagine McCarthy tearing the shiny statue away from Damon or Brad Pitt, but crazier things have happened in Globes past. Leading this year's large pack of first-time nominees are Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl and Ex Machina) and Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies and Wolf Hall), who both have two nominations each.

On the TV side, upsets and freshman wins could also happen. Will Mr. Robot's Rami Malek beat out Mad Men's Jon Hamm  or better yet, will either Mr. Robot or Narcos top both Empire and Game of Thrones for best TV drama? For best comedy or musical, HBO takes on the streaming services when Veep and Silicon Valley vie against Netflix's Orange is the New Black, Amazon's Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle and Hulu's Casual (a first-time win here would be a big upset). Aziz Ansari, Lady Gaga, Taraji P. Henson and Bob Odenkirk all enter their respective races in a night that, if history is any indicator, is sure to welcome some new faces onto the stage.

5. The "It" girls

The film actresses competing in the drama category are the critical darlings who are dominating awards season, but Cate Blanchett, Brie Larson, Rooney Mara, Saoirse Ronan and Vikander are also the fashionable "It" girls who will be drawing viewers to the red carpet.

And with Poehler and Fey absent from the show, other female duos to watch have popped up in their place: close pals Schumer and Jennifer Lawrence will battle it out for best actress in a comedy (Lawrence even joked about the two wearing the same dress); Jane Fonda (nominated for Youth) will be on-hand to cheer on her double-nominated Grace and Frankie costar Lily Tomlin; and first-time Globe nominee Taraji P. Henson gets another chance to beat Viola Davis, who moved Henson to tears when Davis made Emmy history as the first black lead drama actress winner.

The 73rd Golden Globe Awards broadcasts live from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on NBC at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
The White House has responded to a petition to pardon Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, and it's official: The president doesn't have the authority to do that.

Avery and Dassey, who are the subjects of the divisive Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, were convicted in 2007 of killing a woman named Teresa Halbach -- a conviction that many believe was wrongfully and unethically obtained.

Over 347,000 people signed a petition on Change.org and another 129,000 signed a similar petition on WeThePeople asking President Obama to pardon Avery and Dassey based on the evidence presented in Making a Murderer.

WATCH: 'Making a Murderer' Juror Says That Steven Avery Was Framed as Petition to Free Him Tops 250K Signatures

In the White House's official response to the WeThePeople petition, the president's pardoning power is detailed in length, explaining, "The President cannot pardon a state criminal offense."

According to the U.S. Constitution, the president has "power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States," the response states.

"This clemency authority empowers the President to exercise leniency towards persons who have committed federal crimes. Under the Constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those adjudicated in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President," the response continues. "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."

WATCH: 'Cleveland Abduction' and 6 Lifetime True-Crime Movies You'll Never Forget

The 10-part Making a Murderer docu-series focuses on 53-year-old Avery, who was imprisoned for 18 years on charges of sexual assault and attempted murder in a 1985 case, but was exonerated in 2003 by DNA evidence, only to be subsequently accused of the murder of Halbach two years later. In June 2007, he was sentenced to life in prison along with Dassey, his nephew.

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The documentary has been met with great acclaim, and has attracted many to Avery's case. However, it has also been slammed by some for misrepresenting and omitting important facts that cast doubt on the documentary's assertion that Avery and Dassey were wrongfully convicted.

WATCH: 'Killing Fields' Promises to Be the Next True-Crime Sensation

The Avery case has drawn so much attention that Investigation Discovery announced on Thursday they will be taking another look at the decade-old murder in the true crime special Front Page: The Steven Avery Story, which is scheduled to air at the end of January.

For more on the complex debate fueled by Making a Murderer, and the petitions filed in the wake of its release, check out the video below.

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The White House replied to the Making a Murderer petition calling for the release of Steven Avery on Thursday, January 7.

The monumental success of Netflix's true crime documentary series, which tells the story of Avery and his cousin Brendan Dassey being convicted in 2005 for the murder of Teresa Halbach, resulted in an online petition that has garnered nearly 130,000 signatures. The petition calls for President Barack Obama to grant pardons to both Dassey and Avery for their "wrongful conviction in the connection to the murder of Teresa Halbach."

PHOTOS: Viral Stars: 2015's Biggest Internet Celebrities

Avery, 53, has maintained his innocence since his arrest and conviction. Making a Murderer explores the theory that he could have been framed by authorities during that time period.



President Obama replied to the We the People petition on Thursday via a White House rep. "A pardon in this case would need to be issued at the state level by the appropriate authorities," the response read. "While this case is out of the Administration's purview, President Obama is committed to restoring the sense of fairness at the heart of our justice system. 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 President's 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."



PHOTOS: Biggest Celebrity Scandals of 2015

Both Avery and Dassey are state prisoners, meaning that the president lacks the authority to grant pardons on their behalf. Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin, has already stated that he will not pardon the men. Avery is currently serving a life sentence behind bars with no possibility of parole. His cousin will be eligible for parole in 2048.



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Meanwhile, Investigation Discovery and NBC News' Peacock Productions announced on Thursday, January 7, that they will be teaming up for Front Page: The Steven Avery Story, which will air at the end of January. The series will be hosted by Dateline NBC correspondent Keith Morrison.



Investigation Discovery president Henry Schleiff told Us Weekly and other reporters during a Television Critics Association winter press tour panel that the special will "provide critical, crucial evidence and testimony that will answer many questions surrounding Steven Avery."




United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Yemen told the United Nations on Friday that it has rescinded its decision to expel the leading UN rights official in the country, diplomats said.

The Yemeni foreign ministry announced a day earlier that it had declared George Abu al-Zulof persona non grata, accusing him of lacking impartiality in his reporting on the human rights situation.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had urged the Saudi-backed government to reverse its decision and allow Zulof to stay, warning that Yemen would be falling short of its obligations by "impeding" UN human rights work.

Diplomats said Yemen's foreign ministry had notified the United Nations that the decision had been reversed and was to send official confirmation.

Relations between the United Nations and the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi have become testy over the world body's increasingly vocal criticism of the Saudi-led coalition's air campaign in Yemen.

Earlier on Friday, Ban said he had received "troubling reports" of cluster bomb attacks on January 6 on the rebel-held capital Sanaa and warned that the use of these munitions "may amount to a war crime."

Cluster bombs are banned under a 2008 international convention, although Saudi Arabia and the United States are not signatories.

The UN chief said he was "deeply concerned about the intensification of coalition airstrikes and ground fighting and shelling in Yemen, despite repeated calls for a renewed cessation of hostilities."

He is "particularly concerned about reports of intense airstrikes in residential areas and on civilian buildings in Sanaa, including the Chamber of Commerce, a wedding hall and a center for the blind," said the statement.

UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was in Riyadh on Friday for talks on renewing a ceasefire in Yemen, which faces the threat of famine amid the dire humanitarian crisis.

Yemen descended into chaos when the coalition began airstrikes in March to push back Iran-backed Huthi rebels who had seized Sanaa.

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More than 5,800 people have been killed and 27,000 wounded since then, according to UN figures.

Yemen's government sat down with the rebels and their allies in Switzerland last month for six days of talks that ended with no major breakthrough.

The UN envoy has called for a new round of talks on January 14 but the sides have yet to confirm that they will attend.
Scotia Bank helps unsponsored steelbands

Representatives of 41 orchestras in Trinidad and four in Tobago collected their cheques at the Scotiabank Hospitality Suite, Queens Park Oval on Wednesday evening. This gesture towards the steelband movement has been on-going since 1978, and according to Chairman of the Scotiabank Foundation, Gisele Marfleet, We are happy that we can support initiatives that focus on the development of our countrys youth, environment sports, and of course, culture.

It is even more heartening when we can contribute to worthy causes that combine these focal areas. Todays event is one such cause. Not only are we supporting the rich culture of our twin island state and the progression of our beloved national instrument, we are also helping our young people, instilling in them a passion for the steelpan and of course, providing them with positive opportunities to occupy their spare time. Marfleet went on, This is about the passing on from generation to generation, the things you just cant learn in a book. We have helped steelbands continue in their thrust to foster community spirit, and help their communities prosper. We salute the pan men and women who work towards the promotion and preservation of a rich aspect of our heritage. Several young pannist competed on the spot for prizes to the amusement and amazement of members of the board of the Soctiabank Foundation and the audience. Nikki Crosby was a very entertaining MC as she made the usually mundane presentation of cheques, a lively event. Several bandleaders expressed gratitude to Scotiabank for the continued support they received in their quest to come out on top in the Panorama competition.
Regional Integrity Commissions for TT meetings

According to a statement issued yesterday by the Integrity Commission, representatives of the CCAICACB will meet with President Anthony Carmona, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Orville London during the conference.

Justice Dame Monica Joseph, Chairman of the CCAICACB; Dr Roger Koranteng, Adviser, Governance and Anti-Corruption of the Public Sector Governance Unit of the Commonwealth Secretariat and Commission chairman Retired Justice Zainool Hosein, are scheduled to address participants at the Conference.

The Government agreed to the Commissions decision to host this conference as it has potential for positive exposure and will position TT in the forefront of the regional platform for integrity and anti-corruption.

One of the Conferences aims would be the creation of a platform for the CCAICACB to work together to build a joint vision for collective action to spread awareness of integrity and ethics among the people of the Commonwealth Caribbean.

One of the expected outcomes of the concerence is, the expected impact of whistle-blower legislation. Following the September 7 general election, the new Peoples National Movement (PNM) brought the Whistleblower Protection Bill 2015 to the House of Representatives on November 13. The bill is currently before a parliamentary joint select committee which is supposed to report to Parliament by January 22.
POLITICS F.B.I. Evidence Is Often Mishandled, an Internal Inquiry Finds By MATT APUZZO and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT DEC. 19, 2014 Photo The J. Edgar Hoover F.B.I. building in Washington. Auditors have found many problems with how the bureau handles evidence. Credit Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story Share This Page Email Share Tweet Save More Continue reading the main story F.B.I. agents in every region of the country have mishandled, mislabeled and lost evidence, according to a highly critical internal investigation that discovered errors with nearly half the pieces of evidence it reviewed. The evidence collection and retention system is the backbone of the F.B.I. s investigative process, and the report said it is beset by problems. It also found that the F.B.I. was storing more weapons, less money and valuables, and two tons more drugs than its records had indicated. The report
Women having IVF can now incubate embryos in their own bodies before they are implanted in the womb. Results from a clinical trial suggest the incubation device could work as well as conventional IVF and be far cheaper.

Cylindrical in shape, INVOcell is held in the vagina by a flexible diaphragm. The embryos are kept in an inner chamber at body temperature and gases such as carbon dioxide and oxygen diffuse in and out at levels matching natural fertilisation. After five days the embryos will have grown into balls of about 100 cells. The device is then removed and doctors choose the embryo that looks healthiest to implant.

In a US trial of 40 women, the device performed almost as well as conventional incubation, with 65 per cent of the women becoming pregnant regardless of the method used. Fifty-five per cent who used in-body incubation went on to give birth compared with 60 per cent who had the standard method. We were very pleased with the results, says Kevin Doody of the Center for Assisted Reproduction in Bedford, Texas, who carried out the trial.

Doody wants to offer the device to women at his clinic, and reckons that it could halve the cost per cycle, typically $16,000 to $20,000 in the US. In conventional IVF, incubators are set up to mimic the body and have to be regularly monitored to ensure early embryos are supplied with the right amounts of gas and that conditions are optimal for five days. Because the womans body acts as a natural incubator, such expensive equipment isnt needed, he argues.

SOURCE  New Scientist
Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at | Categorized as





Soycomplex: Weekly US export sales on beans of 638,700 MT for 2015/16 were up 33 percent from the previous week, but down 46 percent from the prior 4-week average. Trade estimates were for sales of 400,000 to 700,000 MT. The top homes were China (929,400 MT) the Netherlands (236,300 MT). Actual exports of 1,817,100 MT were good being up 33 percent from the previous week and 21 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations again were China (1,181,600 MT) and the Netherlands (236,300 MT). The USDA also reported 246,000 MT of US soybeans were sold to China this morning for 2015/16 delivery under the daily reporting system. Meal sales of only 46,462 MT were the smallest of the marketing year so far, "In Brazil, the weather has been irregular in major producing regions. During the planting season, drought was long in the states of the Center-West (especially in Mato Grosso), and in the Northeast," said FCSTone. "In Argentina, the weather pattern has been favorable so far, with only a few problems related to excessive rains," they added. Jan 16 Soybeans closed at $8.77, up 1 1/4 cents; Mar 16 Soybeans closed at $8.64 1/2, down 1/4 cent; Jan 16 Soybean Meal is at $266.20, down $0.70; Jan 16 Soybean Oil is at $29.44, down 15 points



Corn: Net sales of 252,900 MT for 2015/16 were down 64 percent from the previous week and 68 percent from the prior 4-week average. That was below trade ideas of 400,000 to 600,000 MT. Mexico (117,800 MT) and Colombia (91,600 MT) were the top buyers. Commitments to date are now 20.452 MMT, which is 25% behind last years pace and 19% behind the pace needed to meet the current annual estimate from the the USDA. Exports of 357,800 MT were down 36 percent from the previous week and 39 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Mexico (117,400 MT), Colombia (94,200 MT) and Peru (87,600 MT). Slumping global crude oil values provided little support for corn. "In Brazil, attentions are directed to cultivation of the 2016 safrinha. Despite the delays in the soybean crop, which end up affecting the ideal window of winter corn cultivation, producers will likely plant outside the best period. The domestic prices of the grain remain high and a good amount of the crop is already committed to anticipated sales, an incentive to production," said FCStone. Mar 16 Corn closed at $3.513, down 1/4 cent; May 16 Corn closed at $3.58 1/4, unchanged.



Wheat: Weekly export sales of only 76,500 MT were a bit of a disaster and a marketing-year low. Trade expectations were for sales of 200,000 to 400,000 MT. Interestingly though China (55,000 MT) did pop up as a buyer on a cargo. Exports of 274,500 MT were up 8 percent from the previous week, but down 9 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Japan (101,400 MT), the Philippines (55,000 MT), Nigeria (44,000 MT), South Korea (27,700 MT) and Ecuador (20,000 MT). "The international wheat market is currently bearish and is likely to remain so in 2016. With an unbalanced world supply and demand, the USDA projections are very high for production in the 2015/16 crop," said FCStone. "The appreciated dollar against the world currencies does also not help the US commodities market, with great concerns about the country's competitiveness and exports," they added. Informa cut their projection for Indian wheat production by 4 MMT to 81 MMT. May 16 CBOT Wheat closed at $4.73 1/4, up 5 cents; Mar 16 KCBT Wheat closed at $4.72 1/2, up 2 cents; Mar 16 MGEX Wheat closed at $5.01 1/2, up 4 cents. 07/01/16 -- General: Chinese stocks closed 7% lower for the second time this week - always unsettling. Brent and WTI crude oil have both taken out their 2008 lows and now trading at levels not seen in more than 10 years.Soycomplex: Weekly US export sales on beans of 638,700 MT for 2015/16 were up 33 percent from the previous week, but down 46 percent from the prior 4-week average. Trade estimates were for sales of 400,000 to 700,000 MT. The top homes were China (929,400 MT) the Netherlands (236,300 MT). Actual exports of 1,817,100 MT were good being up 33 percent from the previous week and 21 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations again were China (1,181,600 MT) and the Netherlands (236,300 MT). The USDA also reported 246,000 MT of US soybeans were sold to China this morning for 2015/16 delivery under the daily reporting system. Meal sales of only 46,462 MT were the smallest of the marketing year so far, "In Brazil, the weather has been irregular in major producing regions. During the planting season, drought was long in the states of the Center-West (especially in Mato Grosso), and in the Northeast," said FCSTone. "In Argentina, the weather pattern has been favorable so far, with only a few problems related to excessive rains," they added. Jan 16 Soybeans closed at $8.77, up 1 1/4 cents; Mar 16 Soybeans closed at $8.64 1/2, down 1/4 cent; Jan 16 Soybean Meal is at $266.20, down $0.70; Jan 16 Soybean Oil is at $29.44, down 15 pointsCorn: Net sales of 252,900 MT for 2015/16 were down 64 percent from the previous week and 68 percent from the prior 4-week average. That was below trade ideas of 400,000 to 600,000 MT. Mexico (117,800 MT) and Colombia (91,600 MT) were the top buyers. Commitments to date are now 20.452 MMT, which is 25% behind last years pace and 19% behind the pace needed to meet the current annual estimate from the the USDA. Exports of 357,800 MT were down 36 percent from the previous week and 39 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Mexico (117,400 MT), Colombia (94,200 MT) and Peru (87,600 MT). Slumping global crude oil values provided little support for corn. "In Brazil, attentions are directed to cultivation of the 2016 safrinha. Despite the delays in the soybean crop, which end up affecting the ideal window of winter corn cultivation, producers will likely plant outside the best period. The domestic prices of the grain remain high and a good amount of the crop is already committed to anticipated sales, an incentive to production," said FCStone. Mar 16 Corn closed at $3.513, down 1/4 cent; May 16 Corn closed at $3.58 1/4, unchanged.Wheat: Weekly export sales of only 76,500 MT were a bit of a disaster and a marketing-year low. Trade expectations were for sales of 200,000 to 400,000 MT. Interestingly though China (55,000 MT) did pop up as a buyer on a cargo. Exports of 274,500 MT were up 8 percent from the previous week, but down 9 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Japan (101,400 MT), the Philippines (55,000 MT), Nigeria (44,000 MT), South Korea (27,700 MT) and Ecuador (20,000 MT). "The international wheat market is currently bearish and is likely to remain so in 2016. With an unbalanced world supply and demand, the USDA projections are very high for production in the 2015/16 crop," said FCStone. "The appreciated dollar against the world currencies does also not help the US commodities market, with great concerns about the country's competitiveness and exports," they added. Informa cut their projection for Indian wheat production by 4 MMT to 81 MMT. May 16 CBOT Wheat closed at $4.73 1/4, up 5 cents; Mar 16 KCBT Wheat closed at $4.72 1/2, up 2 cents; Mar 16 MGEX Wheat closed at $5.01 1/2, up 4 cents.
It's been quite a year. And I make no predictions about the one to come. I do know that it will -- at least where we are -- start ou...
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Moroccan authorities have announced Friday the arrest of a group of seven Islamist militants linked to Islamic State, including the groups leader, who has been recruiting fighters.

The seven members of the Islamist group, captured in Morocco, were active in the town of Dar Bouazza, near Casablanca. They were planning attacks inside the North African country and overseas.

According to Moroccan interior ministry, the group had been in contact with Isis in Iraq and Syria and had tried to send fighters there for training so that they could return to carry out attacks in Morocco, an ally of the West against Islamist militancy.

The country has been on high alert since 2014, when terror organisation of Islamic State took control of large territories in Iraq and Syria. Morocco has suffered a number of bomb attacks by suspected Islamist fighters, most recently in 2011 in Marrakesh.

Moroccan intelligence services play a key role in the global fight against terrorism. They helped the French and Belgian police identify the network behind the November attacks in Paris that killed 130 and helped to save innocent lives by pinpointing the location of the suspected ringleader.

Moroccos counter-terrorism has proven its efficiency in thwarting many terror threats thanks to a strategy based on global approach including prevention, anticipation, education, rehabilitation, eradication of terrorism roots and international cooperation.

Moroccan authorities say they have dismantled 140 terrorist cells since 2002, foiled hundreds of terrorist plans and arrested over 2,200 suspects.

Since its creation last March, Moroccan Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (dubbed Moroccos FBI ), 22 terror cells have been dismantled. In the run-up to New Years Eve, 17 radicalized individuals were arrested.

Morocco is an active member of the Global Counter-terrorism Forum (GCTF) which seeks to reduce the vulnerability of people to terrorism by effectively preventing, combating and prosecuting terrorist acts as well as countering incitement and recruitment to terrorism.
German car producer Volkswagen Thursday indicated that it will start a car producing plant in 2017 with an annual output estimated at 100,000 cars, reports say.

According to Rosa Mensouri, Head of SOVACs communication department, the German brand will establish its plant at Relizane, in the department of Relizane.

Reports say a total of 170 million Euros have been gathered for the project whose details will be revealed during Prime Minister Sellal visit to the site on Monday.

Classic Polo, Skoda Octavia and Amarok pick-ups will be produced at the plant according to reports.

Mensouri also told reports that German giant is in the end term of planning to launch production of spare parts and many other projects.

It is also reported that project has been under study since last year with the Algerian ministry of industry and Mines.
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"If we remain silent, we kill freedom, justice and the possibility that a society armed with information may have power to change the situation that has brought us to this point." - Anabel Hernandez -------------------------------------------
Scholars at the UO are about to write a new chapter in the book of climate change.

Aimed at instructors and professors, as well as individuals with an interest in climate change issues,

with a pub date in 2017

LeMenager said the university already is at the forefront in teaching environmental humanities, or the study of environmental issues across humanities and social science disciplines.

Even before its published, the textbook is drawing attention. So many people wanted to contribute essays that the team decided to expand it from 25 chapters to 35,

climate activist Bill McKibben agreed to write an afterword for the volume, just two weeks before he left for the COP21 conference in Paris.

After all, climate change is expected to change a lot more than the weather, generating shifts in society as it alters coastlines and forests.To that end, theyre pulling together Teaching Climate Change in the Humanities, the first-ever textbook to guide the teaching of climate change in university-level humanities classes.the book collects essays from thought leaders around the world about how climate change can be infused throughout the humanities and social science curricula. The editors say its time students start learning what climate change means not just for the planet, but for its people.I envision this volume as setting out a challenge for higher education, specifically humanities education, to forge new paths in terms of teaching and empowering students to become climate literate, said Stephen Siperstein , a doctoral student in English and co-editor of the textbook. Not just in the sciences but in the human dimensions of climate change and what that means for their futures.Working with Siperstein as co-editor is Shane Hall , a doctoral student in environmental studies, science and policy, and their faculty advisor, Stephanie LeMenager , the Barbara and Carlisle Moore Professor of English at the UO and a recognized expert in climate change and culture . They have a contract with Routledge, a leading humanities textbook publisher,My experience has been that my colleagues in the natural sciences and the physical sciences want the humanities at the table, she said of climate change education. Scientists will often say we need more human interest to this story, we need people to start imagining and envisioning the world climate change could create. Whereas in the humanities itself people might say, Well, thats the scientists problem, the scientists are saying, We really need you at the table.And the UO is a natural place for the humanities to take a seat at that table.Thats a big reason LeMenager came to the UO a little over a year ago, after 13 years in the University of California system and previously at Harvard, where she earned her doctoral degree. The connection between the humanities and the environment at the UO, she said, is far and above anything Ive ever seen.Thats one of the reasons I think we can claim a position, if not of authority, then sort of as a shepherd over this new field, LeMenager added. Professor Karen Ford , associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said given the developing nature of the field, its not surprising that the project grew out of a grassroots, or what she calls a classroots, graduate program at the UO.The humanities offer nuanced ways into complex problems like climate change, bringing the powers of language, interpretation and imagination to data produced by other fields of study, she said. And given the severity of the consequences of global climate shift, it's time to bring all aspects of our intelligence as humans to bear on the problem. So a book like this is important and timely. It offers the distinctive capacities of the humanities in teaching, communicating and envisioning change.Siperstein said the humanities are a natural forum for moving the talk about climate change beyond just the weather. Not all students will take a climate science class, but the humanities can bring the topic to students through other classes and subjects theyre already passionate about.They dont necessarily want the nitty-gritty of climate change, but theyre interested in it, they know its a problem, he said. Students are not getting this kind of education in high school, and they crave it. They want to know what to do, they want to be able to talk about it in compelling ways, and I think the humanities can do that.and several publishers expressed interest, LeMenager said. Just the call for contributors has led organizers of prominent workshops and symposia to start including sessions on climate change and the humanities.TheIt really is trying to help teachers not only teach the problem of climate change, scientifically and politically, but also to teach a sense of where we go from here, LeMenager said, so students leave the classroom not in despair but feeling as if they are active citizens, active planetary citizens.By Greg Bolt, Public Affairs Communications
I am not a sheep, I have my own mind

I have had enough of being told what and how to think

Whilst we are still allowed the remnants of free speech,

I will speak out.



I also reserve the right to discuss less controversial matters should I feel the urge.
I recently interviewed Steve Quayle regarding the topic of ET disclosure. However, it should be noted that there are a plethora o...
The Astor Place Cube's triumphant return to its official resting place in the East Village could be just a few months away, Bedford+Bowery reports. Excavation work has finally begun at Alamo Plaza, named after what the Tony Rosenthal-created sculpture is officially known, Alamo. The Cube was removed from the site over a year ago to protect it from being damaged during the ongoing construction work in the area. It's currently being restored and repainted at a facility in New Jersey.

The excavation work at Alama Plaza is part of the larger reconstruction of Astor Place and Cooper Square, which started in 2013, and will see the creation of improved sidewalks and more landscaping in the area.

The Department of Design and Construction told B+B that the plaza renovation will likely be complete in the Spring.

A Halloween reveler brought some joy into the lives of New Yorkers last year when he dressed up as the Cube, and paraded about the area for quite some time that day.

Here are a couple of renderings of the finished project:

 Work Begins at Astor Place and the Cube Will Soon Return From Jersey!? [Bedford+Bowery]

 This Guy In an Astor Place Cube Costume Won Halloween [Curbed]

 Astor Place's Long-Awaited Makeover Is Progressing [Curbed]
Call me, maybe? Photo: Stephen Jaffe/AFP/Getty Images

Everyone knows that Britain and the United States have what diplomats call a special relationship. But until youve read a transcript of the American president bro-ishly assuring the British prime minister that he still has that choirboy look, you havent appreciated just how special that connection can be.

On Friday, the BBC published three years worth of conversations between Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, after obtaining the transcripts via a FOIA request. The dialogues, which date from 1997 to 2000, provide insight into how the two founders of third way politics viewed domestic and world affairs during their tenures in power. They also shed light on Bill Clintons fondness for babysitting and brown bananas.

1. Clinton thought George W. Bush was a smart politician, but unfit for the presidency.

Bush is a skilled politician, but he is not ready to be president, maybe not ever, certainly not now, Clinton told Blair. But they want it real bad and theyve got lots of money and lots of media access and they are not freshly discredited.

Nonetheless, Clinton told his ally that he expected Gore to win  an assessment he backed away from several weeks later.

I am just so afraid that all the benefits will be squandered if Bush wins the elections, the president confided. I still think we have a 50 percent or better chance to win.

Quite close, isnt it? Blair asked.

It shouldnt be. White married Protestants dont think they should be voting for Democrats, partly because of the gun issue that Al and I are taking on, Clinton said, before expressing the paradoxes of American gun politics that would still bedevil his Democratic successor more than a decade later.

All the specifics people agree with  It is crazy. You can take a poll about loopholes. Sixty-five percent to 30 percent say yes, but even in New York where it is more liberal than the rest of the country, if Hillary were endorsed by this group that did the Million Mom March, its like 40 to 40 percent. A lot of the country likes it when we are in, but they have a hard time admitting it.

Clinton went on to express a kind of admiration for the cunning of Bushs smear campaign against John McCain in the South Carolina primary.

Bush is really smart. The campaign against McCain was the most vicious in modern memory. He has these right-wing foot soldiers do his dirty work, so he can be nice.

2. Blair was already concerned with mobilizing support for confronting Saddam in 1998.

During a conversation in February 1998, Clinton expressed concerns over both Husseins weapons program and the potential political costs of failing to confront the Iraqi dictator.

If people knew how many weapons Unscom inspectors have exposed they would understand why this is so important. Clinton said.

We are getting new pressures, especially from Capitol Hill, to go after Saddams head, Vice-President Al Gore told Blair.

Blair said later, Our public opinion is not the same as yours, but we are working hard to educate the public. We put out a white paper yesterday on Iraqs WMD programs.

3. Clinton likened stateless terrorists to James Bond villains.

In another foreshadowing of the war on terror that lay ahead, Clinton predicted that the West would increasingly have to deal with terrorists with no ties to any nation-state, including Iran  In the case of a lot of Middle East and African countries, we could be dealing with these people, like in those old James Bond movies with SPECTRE and Dr. No. Were going to have a twenty-first century version of those.



4. Blair and Clinton shared a moment after the death of Princess Diana.

One day after Princess Di was killed in a Paris car crash, the two leaders commiserated over the phone. Clinton lamented that Diana was just getting a hold of her life, while Blair expressed concerns for the royal children.

Bill Clinton and Tony Blair spoke the day after Princess Diana died pic.twitter.com/uabNH0pRQD  Raf Sanchez (@rafsanchez) January 7, 2016

5. Clinton can believe that Blair was once a choirboy.

"You still have that choirboy look." "I'm looking forward to being with you." BILL CLINTON HAD NO CHILL. pic.twitter.com/hkD9s6iwJJ  Ryan John Butcher (@ryanjohnbutcher) January 8, 2016

6. Clinton couldnt get a read on Gerry Adams.

Many of the leaders conversations focused on the Northern Ireland peace process. Clinton repeatedly assured Blair that hed do whatever the prime minister asked to help facilitate an agreement.

At one point in June 1999, Chelsea Clinton, then at Stanford, was writing a paper on Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams  a school assignment that prompted her father to question the MPs relationship with the IRA.

Ive been reading about it all through this, because my daughter just happens to be doing a paper on Adams, Clinton told Blair. I dont know what the real deal is between him and the IRA. Its hard to put pressure on him when you dont know whats going on. Its just bizarre.

7. Blair thinks Africa is a fascinating continent

Blairs fascination with Africa  both as a continent and moneymaking opportunity  proved to be sincere.

"I think it's a fascinating continent." pic.twitter.com/fBcRAYvvbI  Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 8, 2016

8. Boris Yeltsin introduced Clinton to nose-to-tail cooking before it was fashionable.

When I had lunch with Boris, he served roast pig and told me real men hack off the ears and eat them, Clinton divulged. And once he served 24 courses, including moose lips.

9. Trump isnt the only American political figure who fell for Putins wiles.

Shortly after Vladimir Putins election to the Russian presidency, Clinton told Blair that he had high hopes for the new leader.

Putin has enormous potential, Clinton said. I think hes very smart and thoughtful. I think we can do a lot of good with him.

10. Blair put Bill on his babysitters list.

11. Blair may have ordered the extrajudicial execution of a telephone operator.

12. Clinton preferred to talk to Blair while keeping one hand on a big brown banana.

My staff wont let me talk to you unless I have a banana at hand, the leader of the free world confessed. Im sitting here with a banana; its a big, ugly, brownish one.
Soldiers patrol the Rue Neuve pedestrian shopping street in Brussels on November 21, 2015. Photo: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images

On Friday, federal prosecutors in Belgium revealed that theyd found an apartment that appears to have been used to help plan the Paris attacks, which killed 130 people. The space in Brussels was filled with traces of explosives and suicide belts  plus a fingerprint from Salah Abdeslam, one of the attackers who still hasnt been found.

Reuters reports that According to De Standaard, investigators believe the fingerprint indicates Abdeslam used the flat as a safe house after the attacks, given signs that the apartment had been partially cleaned up, although they do not know how long he stayed there.

The apartment was rented under a fake name. Many of the attackers came from Belgium, and this new evidence shows that it is likely that parts of the attack were planned there. Many other people have been arrested in Belgium since the attacks  including two people who picked Abdeslam up and drove him away from France after he escaped.

Meanwhile, in Syria, a hotbed of ISIS activity visited by at least one person affiliated with the Paris attacks, an ISIS militant executed his mother after she allegedly tried to get him to leave the Islamic State, according to several rights groups. The mother  who lived in Raqqa, basicaly ISISs capital  reportedly told her son that the United States and its allies would wipe out the extremist group, and that they should escape before that happened. According to the BBC, she was shot in front of her workplace while hundreds of people watched.

In the town of Madaya, 300 miles away, tens of thousands of people are starving. Madaya is held by rebels  and the Syrian government has not been letting people leave or go in. More than 20 people have died of starvation since last month. Madaya is now effectively an open air prison for an estimated 20,000 people, including infants, children and elderly, Doctors Without Borders said. There is no way in or out, leaving the people to die.

People are dying in slow motion, one social worker told The Guardian. We had some flowers growing in pots at home. Yesterday, we picked the petals and ate them, but they were bitter, awful. Ive personally seen people slaughtering cats to eat them, and even the trees have been stripped of leaves now. Another resident told the BBC, People here have started eating earth because theres nothing left to eat. Grass and leaves have died because of the mounting snow.

Starving Syrians in Madaya resort to eating leaves and flavored water. Photos say it all https://t.co/9Un3md0fLl pic.twitter.com/MKxq3ylmbd  Hanna Kozlowska (@hannakozlowska) January 8, 2016

Bashar al Assads government finally said it would allow aid groups to enter the town, and the U.N. said on Thursday it hoped to get there within 72 hours. Given that the town is still surrounded by government forces, they will have to approach very carefully.

In the U.S., two refugees  one in Sacramento, the other in Houston  were arrested on terrorism charges. Officials did not say whether the cases were connected; both will appear in court in California and Texas on Friday. They are both Palestinians who came to the U.S. several years ago from Iraq. There is no sign that either was planning an attack.

Twenty-three-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab allegedly bragged online about visiting Syria to fight with terrorist organizations  he told U.S. officials he was visiting Turkey to see his grandmother. Twenty-four-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan has been accused of attempting to provide material support and resources, including training, expert advice and assistance, and personnel  specifically himself  to a known foreign terrorist organization. He has also been accused of lying during interviews when he was coming to the U.S.; he allegedly has been trained on how to use a machine gun, something he didnt disclose. The DOJ didnt provide any specific reasons for why it was accusing Al Hardan of supporting terrorists.

Senator Ted Cruz quickly jumped on the news as an example of why the U.S.s current refugee policy is wrong  a belief widely shared among most Republican presidential candidates. These arrests underscore the need, he told reporters, for President Obama to suspend this indefensible policy putting political correctness ahead of national security.

Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick added, This is exactly what we have repeatedly told the Obama administration could happen and why we do not want refugees coming to Texas.

And then, over at Guantanamo, the number of people being detained has dropped to 104. According to The Guardian, 17 more detainees are expected to be released in Janury. The Obama administration is obviously still trying to see if it can close the facility in Cuba in the next year  a step that would be difficult given the current pace of exits and complications with Congress.

Guantanamo has been open for 14 years.
Just dont put him somewhere accessible by tunnel this time, maybe? Photo: Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images

Notorious drug kingpin Joaquin Guzman Loera  better known as El Chapo, or Shorty  was recaptured by Mexican authorities on Friday in the Pacific coast city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa State, and has been returned to the maximum security prison he escaped from six months ago. Found at least in part due to his efforts produce a biopic based on his own life, Guzman may not get another chance to make drama in Mexico; on Saturday, the Mexican attorney generals office announced that the two-time prison escapee will now face hearings for possible extradition to the U.S.

Back in July, El Chapo, leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, disappeared from his heavily guarded cell at Altiplano Prison  and escaped through a mile-long tunnel that was accessible through his shower. (El Chapo is a bit infamous for building very long tunnels.) The loud drilling that was taking place in El Chapos cell shortly before his escape didnt prompt any guards nearby to intervene, and the escape led to an enormous manhunt, numerous arrests, and an overall spectacular embarrassment for the Mexican government.

While Mexicos ability to imprison Guzman remains an open question, Mexican law enforcement is clearly getting better at tracking him down; the last time El Chapo escaped from prison, in 2001, it took 13 years to find him  though this time they apparently had help from El Chapos big ego. Mexican attorney general Arely Gomez Gonzalez announced in a press conference late Friday that Guzman, after escaping from prison, he had his associates begin work on a biopic based on his life, even going so far as to contact film producers and actresses. Those connections were then discovered via law enforcement surveillance efforts, and eventually helped lead to Guzmans location. (If El Chapos movie had gotten underway, it would have been the third one about his escape to go into production.)

The AP reports that El Chapo was detained after a shoot-out at a compound in Los Mochis early on Friday morning, after authorities had tracked him to the city and eventually received a tip from a neighbor worried about people with guns in a nearby house. Mexican marines reportedly seized two armored vehicles, eight long guns, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher from the house where the shots were fired from. Five suspects were killed, and another six were arrested, according to the AP. The New York Times reports that Guzman and an associate escaped from the compound through  what else  a sewer tunnel, and then stole a car, but Guzman was quickly apprehended on a nearby highway. By Saturday, the escape artist was once again at Atiplano Prison, presumably in a room without surveillance blind spots or attached multimillion-dollar tunnels.

Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto was the first to break the news via Twitter, writing in Spanish,Mission accomplished: We have him, and the DEA was quick to applaud on Twitter:

DEA is extremely pleased at the capture of Chapo Guzman. We congratulate the MX Government and salute the bravery involved in his capture  DEA News (@DEANEWS) January 8, 2016

It was originally not clear whether Mexico would try El Chapo at home, eager for the show of another win against the drug lord, but on Saturday, the AFP reported that, according to the Mexican attorney generals office, Guzman would face hearings for possible extradition to the U.S. Those hearings will be the result of two previous extradition requests the U.S. made for Guzman last year, though his lawyers are expected to fight any attempt at extradition, as they have continued to do even while he was still at large. Any extradition process would take many months as it plays out in the Mexican judicial system.

About three weeks before El Chapo escaped, the U.S. asked Mexico to hand him over so he could be held in a more secure facility. Last January, Mexicos thenattorney general said, El Chapo must stay here to complete his sentence, and then I will extradite him. So about 300 or 400 years later  it will be awhile. Mexican judges flip-flopped about whether to extradite El Chapo, finally deciding that he should stay put if captured again, but it seems that the wind is now blowing in the other direction.

Between the El Chapo thing and additional worries about Pena Nietos human-rights record, the U.S hasnt been too happy. One DEA agent told The Atlantic back in July, I think the relationship has been set back 10 years. If we cant trust them to keep Chapo in jail, he wondered, then how can we trust them on anything? After having to arrest Guzman for a third time, it appears as though Mexico wants to make sure it wont ever have to do it for a fourth.

This post has been updated throughout to reflect new developments in the story.

La DEA confirma a Noticias Telemundo la autenticidad de esta fotografia de #ElChapo pic.twitter.com/7oIV95buNC  Noticias Telemundo (@TelemundoNews) January 8, 2016

An out-of-season snowman wasnt the only thing Mexican marines found at this house in Sinaloa. Photo: -/AFP/Getty Images
Photo: Stringer/Reuters/Corbis

Two men, both Iraqis of Palestinian descent who came to the U.S. as refugees several years ago, have been arrested in California and Texas on terrorism-related charges, providing fresh rhetorical fodder to politicians and pundits calling for a halt to refugee admissions from the Middle East.

Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, the Los Angeles Times reports, was arrested in Sacramento on Thursday after federal immigration officials determined that he had lied about his affiliation with terrorist groups in Syria.

According to the complaint, the 23-year-old first entered the U.S. as a refugee in 2012. At the time, he allegedly expressed a desire to travel to Syria and fight alongside terrorist organizations.

Al-Jayab traveled to Syria in November 2013 and returned to the U.S. the following January. Later in 2014, he told immigration officials that he had gone there to visit his grandmother, but he subsequently posted on social media that he had joined groups including Ansar al-Islam, an Islamist insurgent group that later merged with ISIS.

Benjamin Wagner, the U.S. Attorney who announced the charges, said there were no signs that Jayab had planned to commit any terrorist acts on U.S. soil, but the man still represented a potential safety threat. If convicted, he could face up to eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Also Thursday, FBI and Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, who came to the U.S. as a refugee in 2009 and became a permanent resident in 2011, on charges of providing material support to ISIS, KTRK-TV Houston reports.

Al Hardan also allegedly lied in his application for U.S. citizenship, saying that he had no affiliation with terrorist organizations when in fact he had been affiliated with one for some time; the three-count federal indictment also claims that he lied to officials about his firearms training. He is due in court on Friday morning, at which time more information about the arrest is expected to emerge.

Justice Department spokesperson Angela Dodge stressed that there is no current threat to public safety associated with this arrest.

In a prepared statement praising the FBI for the arrest, Texass Republican governor Greg Abbott took the opportunity to renew his call for stopping the resettlement of refugees from countries substantially controlled by terrorists.

I once again urge the President to halt the resettlement of these refugees in the United States until there is an effective vetting process that will ensure refugees do not compromise the safety of Americans and Texans, Abbott said.

At this time, the two arrests do not appear to be connected to one another.
At a town-hall meeting on Wednesday night, Republican governor Paul LePage of Maine told voters that the states drug problem was caused by troublemakers from out of town who come to Vacationland to sell heroin and impregnate white girls.

These are guys by the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty, the governor said. These type of guys that come from Connecticut and New York. They come up here, they sell their heroin, then they go back home.

In case anyone was unclear just what demographic D-Money and Smoothie belong to, LePage went on to say: Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave. Which is the real sad thing, because then we have another issue that we have to deal with down the road.

A spokesperson issued a statement to local news outlets insisting that the governors comment had nothing to do with race  a claim that would have sounded considerably less dishonest had LePage not specified that Shifty was coming around to impregnate white girls, specifically.

Race is irrelevant, his communications director Peter Steele said. What is relevant is the cost to state taxpayers for welfare and the emotional costs for these kids who are born as a result of involvement with drug traffickers. His heart goes out to these kids because he had a difficult childhood, too. We need to stop the drug traffickers from coming into our state.

On Friday, LePage said he made a mistake, although he thought everyone was overreacting to his one slip-up. I was going impromptu and my brain didnt catch up to my mouth, he said. The governor added, according to BuzzFeed, that he didnt say anything about black and that he doesnt know if theyre white, black, Asian, I dont know.

Instead of Maine women I said white women, he said. Im not going to apologize to the Maine women for that because if you go to Maine you will see we are essentially 95 percent white. LePage then complained about the reporters recording his explanation, according to NBC News. If I was perfect, I would be a reporter, he said. If you want to make it racist, go ahead and do what you want.

Back in 2010, when LePage was running for governor, the Bangor Daily News wrote:

His politically incorrect speech  refreshing for some Mainers, not so much for others  LePage told a reporter, can be attributed to his not having learned how to speak out of both sides of my mouth, as most career politicians do. But I have to learn not to use street words, he acknowledged, joking that his daughter, who works on his campaign, recently gave him a roll of duct tape for his mouth.

As the Huffington Posts Mollie Reilly points out, LePage has taken a law-enforcement-only approach to the crisis, calling for a crackdown on out-of-state dealers and suggesting he might call in the National Guard to help. Maine legislators are weighing a bill that would provide funding for Drug Enforcement Administration agents and other law enforcement as well as for drug-treatment facilities, but the governor has threatened to veto it over its alleged favoritism toward the treatment programs it would fund.

LePage has endorsed New Jersey governor Chris Christie for the GOP presidential nomination. Christies spokesperson declined to comment when approached by the New York Times. However, the Clinton campaign was happy to weigh in. Governor LePages comments tonight are not only offensive and hurtful but they try to cover up the very real epidemic of drug abuse facing people in his state and across the country, Hillary for Americas Marlon Marshall said in a statement. LePages racist rants sadly distract from efforts to address one of our nations most pressing problems.

This post has been updated.
At a Bay Ridge mosque that the NYPD watched for years. Photo: Bebeto Matthews/AP/Corbis

New York City, after settling two lawsuits regarding the surveillance of Muslims, is set to appoint a civilian attorney to review the NYPDs counterterrorism tactics. Its a restoration of oversight of the counterterrorism unit, which was cut back when the unit claimed it needed more flexibility after the September 11 attacks.

Under the agreement, the mayor, in consultation with the police commissioner, will select a civilian attorney to serve on the Handshu committee, a panel of counterterrorism officials that meets monthly to review terrorism cases. On Thursday NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton objected to the term monitor, saying he would not have agreed to that. This person is not a monitor, is an appointee of the mayor, who will work on the Handshu Committee which is controlled by the police department, Bratton said. So that person has no relationship to the federal monitors we interact with.

The settlement also establishes that the counterterrorism unit cannot launch investigations based on race, religion, or ethnicity. It will need articulable and factual information regarding possible unlawful activity before it can launch an investigation based on political or religious activities. Police officials said that this just formalizes changes that have already taken place. We have nothing to hide, Lawrence Byrne, the police departments deputy commissioner of legal matters, told the New York Times. And if this adds transparency and a level of public trust that were continuing to keep the city safe, but in a lawful way, we welcome and embrace that.

However, the lawsuits, filed in 2013, and a series of AP stories show a different side of the department. By these accounts, NYPD officers have routinely monitored places where Muslims eat, pray, and hang out. They sent undercover photographers to follow people into mosques and student associations, taking pictures of people and license-plate numbers, and spent years watching people who werent doing anything illegal. On Thursday, the department agreed to use undercover officers only after all other options had been exhausted, to cap the lengths of investigations, and to review open ones every six months.

The AP investigation also showed that the city had files on ethnic neighborhoods, watched Muslims who changed their names, and dispatched plainclothes policemen known as the Demographics Unit to eavesdrop on conversations and write daily reports. Police Chief Bill Bratton disbanded the Demographics Unit when he returned to his office in 2014.

For the first time, this watershed settlement puts much-needed constraints on law enforcements discriminatory and unjustified surveillance of Muslims, Hina Shamsi, the ACLUs National Security Project director, said in a statement. At a time of rampant anti-Muslim hysteria and prejudice nationwide, this agreement with the countrys largest police force sends a forceful message that bias-based policing is unlawful, harmful and unnecessary.

This post was edited to include Brattons objection to the description of the civilian monitor.
People occupy different realities, Obama said at the town hall. Photo: Aude Guerrucci/Getty Images

President Obama openly crying at a press conference will be the most memorable image of his failure to pass new gun-control legislation, but in another depressing sign, this week he openly admitted that he wont make any significant progress on the issue during his presidency.

Obama was visibly angry when he delivered an address on the shooting at a community college in Roseburg, Oregon, but back in October he was still talking about finding common ground with lawmakers. This is not something I can do by myself, he said. Ive got to have a Congress and Ive got to have state legislatures and governors who are willing to work with me on this.

Now, with Republican lawmakers opposing his most modest effort to strengthen background checks, Obama seems increasingly focused on making gun violence an issue in the 2016 campaign and beyond. He wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Thursday night:

Reducing gun violence will be hard. Its clear that common-sense gun reform wont happen during this Congress. It wont happen during my presidency. Still, there are steps we can take now to save lives. And all of us  at every level of government, in the private sector and as citizens  have to do our part.

Newly resigned to the fact that hes reaching the limits of what he can do in office, Obama issued a warning to members of his own party:

Even as I continue to take every action possible as president, I will also take every action I can as a citizen. I will not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform. And if the 90 percent of Americans who do support common-sense gun reforms join me, we will elect the leadership we deserve.

Taya Kyle, the widow of Chris Kyle  who inspired the movie American Sniper  also asked questions at the town hall. She said that expanding background checks wouldnt stop gun deaths because the people who are murdering are breaking the law. They dont have the same moral code that we have. Chris Kyle was killed at a shooting range in 2013.

We want to think we can make a law and people will follow it but by the very nature of their crime they are not following it, she added.

Sheriff Paul Babeu, who told Arizona residents to arm themselves after the San Bernardino shooting, also asked Obama a question. He is also running for Congress; he told Obama, I dont want your endorsement, after the president joked, You sure you want to go to Congress?

Obama claimed he wanted to have an open dialogue with people on all sides of the issue  even the NRA  and made attempts to relate to gun owners, but it was clear that the cultural divide on the issue is as deep as ever (though a CNN poll found a majority of Americans support the measures proposed this week, regardless of party affiliation). The NRA refused CNNs invitation to participate in the event, and during the town hall several GOP candidates tweeted about Obama threatening legal gun owners, as Donald Trump called for an end to all gun-free zones. Part of the reason this ends up being a really difficult issue is that people occupy different realities, Obama said.

That point was illustrated in a remarkable moment in which the president of the United States had to explain that hes not engaged in a conspiracy to take everybodys guns away so that we can impose marshal law. I mean, Im only going to be here for another year, Obama said. I dont know  when would I have started on this enterprise, right?

Is that controversial, except on some websites around the country? Obama asked. The answer is yes  this week Ted Cruz put up a fund-raising page that shows Obama in military gear with the message Obama Wants Your Guns.

White House calls Cruz camp's "Obama Wants Your Guns" ad on executive orders "irresponsible" https://t.co/mcEKQJhbJ3 pic.twitter.com/yJaXWLe3Dk  Talking Points Memo (@TPM) January 8, 2016

One Republican in Congress, Mississippi representative Steven Palazzo, introduced a resolution that would formally censure Obama for his executive actions on guns. Andrew Jackson is the only president who was censured by Congress.

So while Obama is still making overtures toward gun-owning Republicans, in the short-term hes setting a more realistic goal: solidifying support for gun control among members of his own party. Obama can make sure guns remain a topic of conversation in the presidential campaign  but the top Democratic candidates dont need much encouragement. Hillary Clinton has been far more vocal on gun control than she was in 2008, partly because its one of the few areas where shes more liberal than Bernie Sanders (though he backs the presidents efforts, too).

Clinton and Martin OMalley both gave a shout-out to the presidents remarks on guns on Twitter recently.

As @POTUS spoke powerfully on protecting kids from gun violence, @realDonaldTrump said end gun free school zones. We deserve better. -H  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 8, 2016

I applaud @POTUS - it's time to #StopGunViolence. Read how I would build on the progress he plans to make https://t.co/Ilu7QZiJo3  Martin O'Malley (@MartinOMalley) January 8, 2016

The more likely target of Obamas op-ed threat is congressional Democrats, who could benefit from the support of a sitting president (depending on the district). For years gun control was a tricky issue for Democrats, as they sought to win over centrist voters, but demographic shifts are making it a safer issue for the party. Older white men, the group most likely to own guns, are already voting Republican, but Democrats addressing gun violence may help energize women and minority voters. And as National Journals Ronald Brownstein explains, Gun control is still a difficult issue for Democrats in the struggle for control of Congress, largely because the Senates small-state bias provides disproportionate leverage to the rural states where it is most unpopular.

Plus, as the Washington Post notes, the strategy of strengthening Democratic support for gun control at the state level is already having some success  and from what weve seen of Obama this week, its clear hes yearning for even a little progress on the issue.

This post has been updated.
Hello. Its me. Photo: Scott Morgan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Republican presidential hopeful Senator Marco Rubio completed his last-ditch Out With the Old, in With the New bus tour in Iowa last week and has moved on to New Hampshire. And in both states, the Florida politician has been trumpeting, to much applause, that he would be the vocational-education president!

Rubio made this declaration in snowy Newton, Iowa, at the end of December, adding that technical jobs like welding and plumbing are the kinds of jobs you build communities around, the jobs that serve as the backbone of the country.

The Florida politician has been stressing this particular kind of education reform since he announced his bid for the presidency in April last year. He promises to remove the stigma surrounding vocational education and start celebrating it  and hes pretty much the only GOP candidate to do so.

His ideas have resonated with Americans all over the country and overwhelmingly so in Newton, where the Maytag Corporation had been the communitys backbone for decades  a support system that collapsed when the company relocated to Mexico in 2007, putting nearly 2,000 Iowans out of a job. Its a company town. It was 115 years of Maytag: Maytag family, Maytag dairy farm, Maytag parks, Newton mayor Chaz Allen told CNN Money in 2012. It was a great partnership.

Senator Marco Rubio speaks during a town-hall meeting at the Maytag Innovation Center in Newton, Iowa. Photo: Scott Morgan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Newton, which initially suffered staggering unemployment, is making a recovery with the introduction of new wind-power manufacturing businesses. Newton resident Jeff Ortiz said trade school is key in towns like his: The [students] who know by ninth or tenth grade theyre not college material, give them the opportunity to get a skill.

I like that [Rubio] gets out there and says that college isnt for everybody, Ron Romine, a resident of Red Oak, Iowa, told Daily Intelligencer. I love that he wants to use Pell Grants for kids to go to trade school. What are you going to do with a degree in womens studies? I know what I pay my plumbers and electricians when they come to my house, and theyre making big bucks.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has also stressed the need to get back to really respecting vocational and technical work, and has even posited the European model of paid apprenticeships to solve youth unemployment. Senator Bernie Sanders has also suggested providing free vocational training as part of a free higher-education system. But none of the other Republican contenders have placed such an emphasis on celebrating vocational education. Why Rubio?

Senator Marco Rubio shakes hands with attendees after a town hall meeting at the Maytag Innovation Center on Dec. 30, 2015. Photo: Scott Morgan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Rubio needs a brand, and many of the other topics have been taking by Cruz, Trump, and Carson, so I think hes micro-branding on safe issues like vocational education, Iowa State political science professor Steffen Schmidt told Daily Intelligencer in an email. Cruz is shaping up to be the indiscriminate carpet-bombing Evangelist president. Trump is the anti-immigrant (and anti-Muslim) president, and Carson is the kind-but-inexperienced doctor president. Being the vocational-education president was up for grabs. And Rubio needs a boost, given that hes currently behind both Trump and Cruz at around 11 percent in the polls in Iowa, where the caucuses will take place on February 1.

That doesnt mean Rubio is a moderate  in fact, on issues like abortion and gay rights, hes located to the right of George W. Bush. But so far his rhetoric has been less rage-fueled than that of other candidates, and hes setting himself up as the candidate in support of education and jobs.

How can you go wrong? Schmidt said. Its like running in support of motherhood or apple pie.

Perhaps thats why people in Iowa, New Hampshire, and other states are responding so well to his words. In Rochester, New Hampshire, the candidates education ideas were in step with concerns for many people and spurred enthusiastic applause, according to the New York Times. And in Laconia, New Hampshire, Rubio struck a chord with community members who prize their two popular community colleges. We cant continue to stigmatize vocational training, not when we know that we need a lot of welders and plumbers, he said, applause drowning out the end of his sentence, according to the Laconia Union Leader.

During a GOP debate in November, Rubio made the attention-grabbing and factually dubious assertion that Welders make more money than philosophers.

ISIS, gay marriage, the evil federal government, the national debt, and illegal immigrant raping and killing are much hotter issues, and Rubio is looking for the voters who are not excited by the temperature of the current GOP themes, Schmidt said, adding that Establishment Republicans need a candidate like Rubio. Even independents in the two earliest voting states are bound to like him, Schmidt says.

According to recent Gallup data, some 21 percent of Americans think that economic problems are the biggest issues facing our country. Three percent name education as the biggest problem.

If Rubio is to become the presidential champion of trade school, he has a lot of catching up to do. In Iowa, hes trailing state favorite Cruz by nearly 20 points, and despite his last-ditch bus tour, a caucus win doesnt seem probable. However, nationally, despite the fact that hes even further behind current all-around GOP favorite Trump, Rubio still has time to set himself apart.

I dont like Republican platforms generally, Ann Stelle, an undecided Democrat attending the Newton rally, told DI, but if we had to have a Republican in this office, he would be one of the least frightening of them.
Photo: SuperStock/Corbis

A lot of so-called positive psychology can seem a bit flaky, especially if youre the sort of person disinclined to respond well to an admonition to look on the bright side. But positive psychologists have published some interesting findings, and one of the more robust ones is that feeling grateful is very good for you. Time and again, studies have shown that performing simple gratitude exercises, like keeping a gratitude diary or writing letters of thanks, can bring a range of benefits, such as feelings of increased well-being and reduced depression, that often linger well after the exercises are finished.

Now a brain-scanning study in NeuroImage brings us a little closer to understanding why these exercises have these effects. The results suggest that even months after a simple, short gratitude writing task, peoples brains are still wired to feel extra thankful. The implication is that gratitude tasks work, at least in part, because they have a self-perpetuating nature: The more you practice gratitude, the more attuned you are to it and the more you can enjoy its psychological benefits.

The Indiana University researchers, led by Prathik Kini, recruited 43 people who were undertaking counseling sessions as a treatment for their anxiety or depression. Twenty-two of them were assigned to a gratitude intervention; for the first three sessions of their weekly counseling, this group spent 20 minutes writing a letter in which they expressed their gratitude to the recipient, an hour in total (whether they chose to send these letters was up to them). The other participants acted as a control group, so they simply attended their counseling as usual without performing the gratitude task.

Three months after their counseling was over, all of the participants completed a Pay It Forward gratitude task in a brain scanner. Each was given various amounts of money by imaginary benefactors whose names and photos appeared onscreen to add to the realism of the task. The researchers told the participants that each benefactor said that if the participant wanted to express their gratitude for the monetary gift, theyd appreciate it if the participant gave some or all of the donation to a named third party (again, identified by photo and name), or a named charity. The participants knew this was all an exercise, but were all told that one of the transactions, chosen later at random, would actually occur  that is, theyd actually receive the cash amount offered to them by one of the benefactors minus the amount they chose to pass on (and the money they opted to pass on really would go to charity).

The researchers found that, on average, the more money a participant gave away, and the stronger the feelings of gratitude they reported feeling, the more activity they exhibited in a range of brain areas in the frontal, parietal, and occipital regions. Interestingly, these neural-activity patterns appeared somewhat distinct from those that usually appear when brain-scan subjects complete tasks associated with emotions like empathy or thinking about other peoples points of view, which is consistent with the idea that gratitude is a unique emotion.

Most exciting, though, is the finding that the participants whod completed the gratitude task months earlier not only reported feeling more gratefulness two weeks after the task than members of the control group, but also, months later, showed more gratitude-related brain activity in the scanner. The researchers described these profound and long-lasting neural effects as particularly noteworthy, and they highlighted that one of the main regions that showed this increased sensitivity  the pregenual anterior cingulate, which is known to be involved in predicting the effects of ones own actions on other people  overlaps with a key brain region identified in the only previous study on the neurological footprint of gratitude.

This result suggests that the more practice you give your brain at feeling and expressing gratitude, the more it adapts to this mind-set  you could even think of your brain as having a sort of gratitude muscle that can be exercised and strengthened (not so different from various other qualities that can be cultivated through practice, of course). If this is right, the more of an effort you make to feel gratitude one day, the more the feeling will come to you spontaneously in the future. It also potentially helps explain another established finding, that gratitude can spiral: The more thankful we feel, the more likely we are to act pro-socially toward others, causing them to feel grateful and setting up a beautiful virtuous cascade.

However, lets not allow the warm glow of all this gratitude to melt our critical faculties. Its important to realize this result is incredibly preliminary. For one thing, as the researchers openly acknowledge, they didnt conduct a baseline brain scan of the participants before they started the Pay It Forward game, so its possible, though unlikely given that participants were randomly assigned to the gratitude and control groups, that the participants who performed the gratitude task simply had more neural sensitivity to gratitude already, not because they performed the gratitude task. Another thing: Members of the control group didnt perform a comparison writing task, so we cant know for sure that it was the act of writing a letter of thanks, as opposed to any kind of writing exercise, that led to increased neural sensitivity to gratitude.

Still, neurological investigations into gratitude are in their early days, and this research certainly gives us some intriguing clues as to how and why gratitude exercises are beneficial. For that we can be, well, grateful.

Dr. Christian Jarrett (@Psych_Writer), a Science of Us contributing writer, is editor of the British Psychological Societys Research Digest blog. His latest book is Great Myths of the Brain.


Ben Affleck and Matt Damon at a charity poker game in Las Vegas in 2007



Aaron Sorkin says he will adapt the memoirs of "poker madam" Molly Bloom for the big screen.



For years, Bloom organised high stakes poker games for Hollywood's elite at which hundreds of millions of dollars would change hands. However, Bloom's career as a poker hostess fell apart when she moved from Los Angeles to Manhattan and started working for gangsters and taking a cut of the pot, known as a rake. While playing poker is legal in New York, organising games for profit is against state law, and Bloom was arrested. She faced up to five years in prison, but after entering a plea deal was sentenced to probation and fined $1,000 (631).



Sorkin told BBC Radio 4's Front Row he was fascinated by the 36-year-old's story. "It's about an extraordinary woman who was headed to law school. She decided to take a year off, spend it in Los Angeles just being young and ended up running the most exclusive high-stakes poker game in the world."



Celebrities as described in Bloom's memoirs:

Tobey Maguire was "the worst tipper, the best player and the absolute worst loser." He once demanded Bloom "bark like a seal who wants a fish" for a $1,000 chip. "'I'm not kidding. What's wrong? You're too rich now? You won't bark for a thousand dollars? Wow, you must be really rich. C'mon, BARK.'" When Bloom refused, "he gave me an icy look, dropped the chip on the table, and tried to laugh it off, but he was visibly angry."



Ben Affleck: "He was tall and handsome with a relaxed charisma that not all icons have in person. He didn't stay all night like a lot of the guys. He always had a specific time when he would stand up at the table. He would leave at a reasonable hour. He never lost a great deal. He usually won ... Whereas some guys want the tallest piles they can manage, the better to bully the table and scare people, Ben's [modest] buy-in choice told me he was a smart player who liked to limited his downside, especially at a table with a bunch of guys he wasn't used to playing with.



Matt Damon: "He was one of the nicest, most humble, down-to-earth guys I have ever met. He was just genuine. There were no airs about him."



Leonardo DiCaprio: "He had a strage style at the table; it was almost as if he wasn't trying to win or lose. He folded most hands and listened to music on giant headphones."



BBC News | Daily Mail | Vanity Fair | Picture from Just Jared
Well, that' what happens when you're outed as a massive piece of shit in this day and age



Edit: I totally want a glitter bomb, now



Edited at 2016-01-08 05:15 pm (UTC)

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I mean, him being a piece of shit doesn't validate people threatening to rape his daughter.

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Oh, don't get me wrong, i'm against death threats. But, like i said, in this day and age it seems to be the go-to reaction of a lot of people.



Didn't see the rape threat, though. Gross.

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Buting and Strang are receiving threats of the same as well.

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seriously



Just like Avery doesn't deserve life in prison for murder because he burned a cat. I mean, this is unrelated to your comment, but there are so many weird, false equivalencies I've seen people throw around lately when discussing this case.

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I've been terrified of glitter/glitter bombs since seeing this on reddit (warning: NSFW, it's what happened to a lady who got craft glitter in her eye).

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boo-fucking-hoo asshole

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Of course Nancy Grace is one of those people who just blindly accept that the justice system would never do anything wrong. That asshole deserves a lot worse than a glitter bomb.

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Her voice is as annoying as Kratz which is hard to top. And maybe the lawyer from Serial.

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Fuck Nancy Grace. I can't decide if she's as awful as she seems or if she just pretends to be for TV, and then I can't decide which one of those is worse.

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She's basically the reason Casey Anthony walked free. She got her so much attention that it attracted the best defense lawyers around. No way she could ever have afforded that on her own.

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she's actually that awful

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oh she is. she drove someone to suicide from vehemently accusing them of murdering their child when there wasn't even any evidence yet

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she's that awful. I remember when she had on one of the women who'd been kidnapped and kept in that house with all the other women; she kept talking over her and disrespecting her wishes to not talk about certain things ick.

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well, she did drive someone to suicide by accusing them so vehemently

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Reminder that after the Duke Lacross case she rode hard for and said was rock solid fell apart she no showed her show the day the case was dropped and then never ever mentioned it again

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Nancy Grace is the scum of the earth. She's driven two people to suicide (Melinda Duckett and Toni Medrano). When she had her twins, she went all full rampage on moms not taking care of their children because they were working while she had a fucking nanny watching hers. But best off all. BEST OF ALL. Is this video.







Elizabeth the queen! Slam that woman!

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She has no problem pushing people to suicide.

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The internet has no chill. Death threats and rape threats make all of this unfunny.

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yeah wtf are these first few comments

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it's the true epitome of team no one. because fuck the internet, and fuck kratz.

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Agreed

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He claims that several of them have made death threats against his family and threatening to rape his daughter.



JFC, that's awful no matter who it's happening to

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Okay, people are crazy and sending threats like that is psychotic behavior. But Kratz is an absolute creep who makes my skin crawl. He should not be working as a lawyer or in the field of law.

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I have zero sympathy for him. None. I tried and I couldn't find any. But to harass his family and daughter is fucked up. Having Kratz in your family is punishment enough.



Edited at 2016-01-08 05:18 pm (UTC)

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Well tbf he probably informed them because of their own safety. In that case I could sorta understand that as much as I hate him.

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OP's link:



"In October 2009, a 26-year-old domestic violence victim, whose case against her boyfriend Kratz was prosecuting, filed a police report in Kaukauna, Wisconsin alleging that Kratz had sent her 30 sexually coercive text messages over the span of three days. She said that she felt that he was trying to coerce her into a sexual relationship and that if she refused, the case against her boyfriend would be dismissed. The report was referred to the state's Division of Criminal Investigation. During the DCI investigation, two more women came forward accusing Kratz of harassing and intimidating them. At the time, Kratz was serving as chairman of the Wisconsin Crime Victims' Rights Board.



Kratz resigned in October of 2010 after governor Jim Doyle sought his removal. After his accuser filed a federal civil suit against him Kratz settled out of court in 2013. In June 2014, his law license was suspended for four months by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. During the disciplinary hearing, Kratz admitted abusing prescription drugs and being treated for sexual addiction."



YIKES.

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4 month suspension for this ugh

and who thinks this is the first time he did this kind of thing? just first time he got caught

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omg your icon.



Framing his framing. xhibit hewwww

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this is honestly so disgusting, i can't imagine how those victims felt. when people ask why victims don't come forward.... like, the damn chairmain of the WI crime victims' rights board is sexting & harassing women he's supposed to be helping. this man is truly a piece of shit. resigned instead of removed and 4 months of suspension & the victim had to wait 4 years to get any sort of compensation. FUCK

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Suspension? He should have been disbarred right away.

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Always with the rape threats, internet.

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threatening to rape his daughter.



wtf? i haven't watched MAM but from what i gather this guy is an asshole. however it's not okay to say things like that about his daughter (or anyone) jfc.



Edited at 2016-01-08 05:20 pm (UTC)

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while I have no sympathy that people are calling him out for being a scumbag piece of shit, threats against him and his family are a little bit much.

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I've only watched 2 episodes of this show (and honestly, I don't get the hype), and maybe this guy is a horrible person who deserves to be raked over the coals, but threatening to rape someone's daughter is absolutely disgusting. The internet has made us all monsters.

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I thought it got better each episode but I really got hooked when they introduced Brendan because I just feel so bad for the kid.



Agreed with you on the rape threats.

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1000 points for your icon

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I hope no one is actually making rape threats but I don't believe a word out of this fucker's mouth anymore.

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Me either. He's shown time and time again to be a liar

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Are glitter bombs illegal? Cause they totally should be. That shit can ruin furniture and floorings and appliances.



If someone made threats against his family they are scum. But I can't say I actually believe that it happened just because he said it did.



Edited at 2016-01-08 05:23 pm (UTC)

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UGH he makes me so mad

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this is so scary. this is a man in charge of the law, let's all remember this.

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this fucking asshole

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This is one of the things that I won't forget from this series. My stomach dropped to my knees.

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but then you look at the list of people who have been glitter bombed and you can't help but want to let it slide.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitter_bombing apparently it can counted as assault and battery but idk.but then you look at the list of people who have been glitter bombed and you can't help but want to let it slide.

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The New Year is setting off on a dour note for energy investors of all stripes, but among those who should be the most concerned are investors in the offshore sector.

The offshore industry is beyond awful at this point. Offshore drilling is one of the most complex and capital intensive forms of E&P, and with every oil company in the world from Exxon to Mom & Pop operators looking to cut back, demand for offshore rig services is on life support. That reality is obvious looking at the abysmal performance of the worlds biggest ship builders which happen to be a trio of Korean companies.

Korean ship builders had a terrible 2015 and 2016 looks like it will be even worse. Thats not a big surprise. A significant chunk of their business comes from building offshore oil vessels and there were already too many of those in 2014 before oil prices started collapsing. At this stage of the cycle, only a very bold CEO would be ordering new vessels. Related: Saudi Arabia Throws Down The Gauntlet, But To Whom?

Offshore drilling will likely be one of the last sectors to recover from the oil price rout. It is a capital intensive business, which relies on a high price of oil and confidence from company executives in a long-term projects profitability. Confidence from executives and sufficiently high oil prices are likely to be quite a ways off, so it could be several years before the business truly starts to heat up again. That pessimism is reflected in offshore oil drillers stocks. Even industry giants like Noble, Ensco, and Transocean have all seen their stock prices slide by 75 percent or more versus peak valuations. Related: Why The U.S. Cant Be Called A Swing Producer

The question for investors in 2016 is will this industry get even worse? That may be hard to imagine for some investors reviewing the stock performance, but it is a possibility. Bankruptcies among some offshore companies could be coming this year or next. Hercules Offshore declared bankruptcy in 2015 and has already exited that bankruptcy, but it was among the weakest offshore drillers in the first place. It is a measure of how bad the market is that HEROs stock has fallen roughly 80 percent after exiting bankruptcy in November 2015. In a span of just a few months investors in the new HERO have already lost a significant piece of their investment. Related: 10 Key Energy Trends To Watch For In 2016

The most investible companies in this space are among the largest ones - Transocean, Noble, and Ensco. Each of the three is far better positioned than many smaller peers. The rating agency Fitch is sounding the alarm about many of the weaker drillers, but even among these strong three there are non-trivial risks. Take Transocean for instance; the company has a relatively high junk bond rating  Ba2 from Moodys for instance, and BB+ from Fitch.

Ratings at these levels are not indicative of an imminent default. Historically, the probability of default within one year for a company with roughly a BB rating averages around 1.5 percent. Yet investors often have a time horizon longer than one year. The risk for an eventual default given a rating of BB is approximately 20 percent - a much more dismal proposition for investors. For most investors at this stage, there is nothing to be done about any of the offshore stocks. Given the magnitude of declines, return prospects over the medium-term are bright enough that the stocks are worth holding. That doesnt mean that there arent real downside risks from here though, or that 2016 will be a happy time.

By Michael McDonald of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The first week of trading in 2016 has gone into the books as the worst opening week in history. First of all, we'll look at some of the key figures from the oil and gas industry.







Related: Oil Producers Here Are Now Getting Double The World Price

The first trading week of 2016 was dominated by negative sentiment, mostly surrounding the stock market instability in China. Chinas Shanghai Composite had to be shuttered twice this week because plummeting stocks triggered the circuit breaker, a mechanism that closes the markets to prevent panic selling. The composite capped off the dismal week with more stable trading; the composite was up 2 percent on Friday.

Another concern is the value of the yuan. The currency has been under pressure from the slowing economy, but the weaker yuan is raising concerns about so many other emerging market currencies around the world, some of which may be forced to devalue in corresponding fashion with the yuan. The Chinese government has not exactly inspired confidence in a stable currency policy after repeatedly shifting its tone. "Market volatility this week suggests that nobody really knows what the policy is right now. Or if the government itself knows or is capable of implementing the policy even if there is one," DBS Bank wrote in a currency note on January 8. "The market's message was loud and clear that more clarity and less flip-flopping is needed going forward."

The cracks in the Chinese stock market surpassed the geopolitical turmoil between Saudi Arabia and Iran in terms of the effect on oil prices. WTI and Brent slumped below $34 per barrel to close out the week, the lowest level in 12 years. The prices are so low that a growing number of oil producers will not even be able to turn a profit even at existing projects. Some oil sands projects in Canada are already looking to shut down.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-Iran conflict is showing some signs of escalation. Iran accused Saudi Arabia of hitting its embassy in Yemen with an airstrike, although witnesses say that the strike hit nearby and only shrapnel may have hit the embassy. While direct military confrontation remains a remote possibility, tensions continue to heat up in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia is looking at a variety of options to raise new funds and the deputy crown prince made a huge splash in the media when he revealed that the government is considering an IPO of Saudi Aramco. In an interview with The Economist deputy crown prince Muhammad bin Salman said that listing some shares in Saudi Aramco, the worlds largest oil company by production, is something that is being reviewed. He then added, [p]ersonally Im enthusiastic about this step. I believe it is in the interest of the Saudi market, and it is in the interest of Aramco, and it is for the interest of more transparency, and to counter corruption, if any, that may be circling around Aramco. Related: Saudis Ponder Selling Stake In Aramco, Oil Keeps Falling

The oil industry will likely continue to suffer in 2016, and even the oil majors will be forced to make decisions about their deteriorating financial positions. For example, in the first half of 2015 spending, share buybacks and dividends exceeded cash flow for the oil majors by a combined $20 billion. While cost reductions have been made since then, the oil price is now lower than it was a year ago. Deeper spending cuts could yet be issued by the oil majors in 2016 as nearly all of them vow not to cut dividends.

Noble Group Ltd., the Hong Kong-based commodities trading house, was downgraded by S&P, sparking a much deeper sell off of the companys shares. The trader has been slammed by the collapse in commodity prices, and the financial turmoil in Chinas stock markets are putting a lot more pressure on the company. S&P slashed Nobles credit rating from BBB- to BB+, with the credit ratings agency did not rule out future downgrades. Moodys did the same in December. Investors are growing concerned about the possibility of a liquidity event. S&P warned that the firms capital raising could be complicated by depressed" commodity markets.

The small oil and gas driller Sandridge Energy was delisted from the NYSE this week after its share price cratered to just 15 cents per share. The Oklahoma-based E&P firm was also in the news this week after it rebuffed requests from Oklahoma regulators to cut back on wastewater injections that are thought to contribute to the states increase in earthquake activity. Sandridge was desperate not to interrupt its operations because of its precarious financial state, but now the company is off the NYSE. Also, the companys stubbornness may provoke a harder line by state regulators on wastewater disposal, potentially leading to mandatory limits. Related: Shocking: ISIS Attacks On Libyan Oil Facilities Visible from Space

A state of emergency was finally declared in California over the inability of Southern California Gas Co. to get a handle on the natural gas leak in an area just northwest of Los Angeles. A gas storage facility deep underground has been leaking plumes of natural gas into the air since October, forcing evacuations of residents nearby. SoCalGas may not be able to plug the leak for a few more months, causing outrage in the general public. Californias Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency. SoCalGas, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), says that it has already spent $50 million trying to stop the leak as well as from the costs associated with reimbursing residents for relocation. The cost figures were submitted to the SEC, and the company says that it will continue to incur the costs, although it does have insurance that might cover some of those expenses, plus the costs associated with the inevitable litigation. A solution to the gas leak may not come until at least March.

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) received approval from Canadian regulators for a 40-year export license of LNG from its proposed terminal on Canadas Pacific Coast. A litany of LNG export terminals have been proposed for British Columbia, hoping to export natural gas from the prolific Montney shale in Alberta to hungry customers in East Asia. Shell and its consortium partners welcomed the license approval, but will wait to later this year to make a final investment decision on whether or not to move forward. The terminal will take five years to construct and could be up and running by 2022.

By Evan Kelly of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
ISIS militants in Libya continue to attack key oil infrastructure in the country.

The two large oil export terminals at Es Sider and Ras Lanuf came under ISIS attacks on January 4-6. Some oil storage tanks exploded after suffering damage from machine gun fire.

NASA just published some shocking photos that clearly show the smoke plumes from the oil storage tanks are visible by satellite. The smoke blew east and northeast, blanketing Libyas Mediterranean Coast. News reports suggest that at least five oil storage tanks are burning, each thought to have the capacity to hold 420,000 to 460,000 barrels of oil. Four of them are located at Es Sider and one at Ras Lanuf.

A spokesperson for the National Oil Company in Libya said that seven storage tanks were burning.

The attacks came as the oil company issued a cry for help on its website, calling on the Libyan people of this homeland to hurry to rescue what is left from our resources before it is too late. Related: Why The U.S. Cant Be Called A Swing Producer

Libyas rival governing factions have taken steps to patch up their differences, signing a UN-backed power-sharing agreement in December. The attacks from ISIS threaten to inflict lasting damage on the heart of Libyas economy: its oil infrastructure.

Take a look at the stunning NASA images below:

(Click to enlarge) Related: Saudi Arabia Throws Down The Gauntlet, But To Whom?

(Click to enlarge)

(Click to enlarge)

By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
TransCanada Corp., which lost its bid to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline from western Canada through the United States to the Gulf Coast, is taking a two-pronged approach to avenging the decision. On Wednesday it asked a U.S. federal court to reverse President Obamas rejection of the project, and its also seeking $15 billion in damages under the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

This dual approach is necessary because, under NAFTA, the trade pact for Canada, Mexico and the United States, does not allow a signatory to sue for the reversal of a decision in which it believes it was subject to discrimination. NAFTA does, however, allow the parties to sue for damages in such cases.

Thats why TransCanada filed a second lawsuit simultaneously in U.S. District Court in Houston  not for damages, but to get a federal judge to reverse Obamas decision, which the company says exceeded his powers under the U.S. Constitution. Related: The Next Big Trend In Wind Energy?

In a statement, TransCanada, based in Calgary, called the presidents decision arbitrary and unjustified, and added, TransCanada has been unjustly deprived of the value of its multibillion-dollar investment by the U.S. administrations action. It said the decision was based on speculation about the [false] perceptions  regarding the [U.S.] administrations leadership on climate change.

In its claim for damages under NAFTA, TransCanada said it had every reason to expect its application would be granted because it had met the same criteria that the United States had applied when it approved similar cross-border pipelines.

The $8 billion Keystone XL would have moved up to 830,000 barrels of oil from the tar sands of Canadas western province of Alberta with U.S. refineries on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, a route spanning nearly 3,500 miles. The oil then would be consumed either in the United States or exported. Related: Oil Touches $32 Handle As Panic Takes Hold Of Chinese Markets

Environmentalists had complained that oil sands are a particularly dirty form of crude, and the U.S. State Department, which must advise the president on such international business deals, spent seven years studying the case. Obama finally ruled against the project in November, saying approval wasnt consistent with U.S. leadership in the fight against climate change.

The White House declined comment on TransCanadas actions, referring questions to the State Department. A spokesman there said only, We do not comment on pending litigation.

Obamas rejection of Keystone XL has been welcomed by environmentalists, who condemned TransCanadas efforts to seek redress. Anthony Swift, the Canada project director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, called the Canadian company wrong to try to force American taxpayers to pay for its mistakes. Related: These Two New Sources Of Financing Give Hope To The Energy Industry

Supporters of the project praised TransCanada for filing the appeals, saying the pipeline would have improved U.S. energy security, created thousands of jobs in both Canada and the United States, and would have helped Canada develop its energy industry further.

One such supporter is Rob Merrifield, a former Conservative member of the Canadian Parliament from Yellowhead in Albertas oil country who also lobbied for the project in Washington. Hes now a senior adviser with a consulting firm in Alberta, the Canadian Strategy Group. He says he not only supports TransCanadas effort, but also believes it will win eventually.

Im betting for TransCanada on this one, Merrifield said, and certainly hoping they win the case.

By Andy Tully of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
This blog show placecs in Sultanat of Oman to visit and let you know all information . Send to email Omandlel@gmail.com All our information is free . We encourage the tourism in Oman. Oman beautiful place. We invite you to visit oman near chance .
Trump's campaign is past the point of no return. Trumponians and his crazy followers are now crossing the line of being "Storm Troopers" by using violent intimidation to get their own way.





Perhaps it's only an eerie coincidence that Donald Trump would throw rally protesters out into the Burlington Vermont cold, reminiscent of how the Hungarian Nazis threw Jews into the Danube River in January 1945, even when it was clear that Germany was loosing the war. As though "throwing them out" were not enough, he called for their coats to be confiscated and they be thrown into the "gulf"....(I'm assuming the geography challenged Trump really meant to say "river", ie Winooski River .)





Jews were also thrown into the cold and deliberately drowned in January 1945 in Budapest, Hungary





It's impossible for me to believe that "Trump the Chump" did not rehearse his "throw them out" script before entering the rally.





Trump To Burlington Vermont Hecklers: "Throw Them Out In The Cold! Confiscate Their Coats!"



Later, more protesters began chanting in the balcony in support of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who got his political start as Burlington's mayor. This time, Trump appeared irritated.



Trump tell security in Burlington VT to take protesters' coats: "Throw them out into the cold".





"Get 'em out. Get 'em out," Trump ordered his security staff from the podium.



Later, he said "I respect what they're doing  unless they have a substance-abuse problem, which they probably do."



Several minutes after that, when another demonstrator interrupted, he told staff to throw the man out but confiscate his coat, which the campaign would return in a few weeks.



Izzy Miguel of Essex, Michaela Coleman of Underhill, and Lucy Sophonak of Essex, all 18, were thrown out of the Trump rally for not being supporters. They waited for several hours in the cold before getting inside.



"It's about 10 degrees below zero outside," Trump said.



The temperature was 25. (I've no idea what the temperature in the Winooski River thru Burlington was; but obviously it was at least as cold as the air.)



In my opinion, the Trumpoian rally in Burlinton Vermont was a deliberate attack on Senator Bernie Sanders, because he is Jewish.



Donald Trump is a dangerous person who's now completely lost in his ego trip to take over the world. He won't stop with his carnival presidential campaign because he inflates like an out of control parade balloon. Unlessss his politics is given "wake up therapy", Trump will continue to create an America that's contrary to the nobel principals our founders envisioned in the Declaration of Independence.



Voters who are responsible and intelligent citizens must wake up the Trumponians before Americans become the victims of "Storm Troopers".

Labels: Bernie Sanders, Storm Troopers
"Drink it down. Enlighten up." Thats the tagline of one of Milwaukees newest breweries, a company that could have bigger digs and a Bay View tasting room by early summer.

Enlightened Brewing Company, a partnership between native Milwaukeeans Tommy Vandervort and James Larson, has plans to more than triple the size of its brewery, currently located on the second floor of Bay Views Lincoln Warehouse at 2018 S. 1st St. #207.

Thanks to funding through WWBIC, the brewery has enacted plans to expand its footprint from 500 square feet to 1,700 in a move that will allow it to quadruple production and increase exposure through the addition of a tasting room.

"Its something were excited about," says Vandervort. "It will go a long way to help us get the word out about our beer."

Enlightened brews

Of course, the beer Enlightened brews isnt for just anyone.

Brews like the cleverly named limited edition English mild "Polly Bakers Porridge" (a reference history buffs may recognize, but many others should look up) are not only meant to be sipped and enjoyed, but also to incite curiosity and inquisition.

Named with references to science and philosophy, the brewerys three year-round offerings include A Priori Pale Ale (conjuring Immanuel Kants doctrine of knowledge); Sustained Thought Coffee Stout (a brew made with Valentine Coffee evoking a famous Voltaire quote) and 53207, an ironically named brew honoring locality in the style of a "California Common."

"We like open minded drinkers," says Vandervort. "Thinking people who are open to new ideas."

The brewers at Enlightened also relish the details, a quality which Vandervort says impacts the way they approach their brewing.

"Were not just riding a trend or making gimmicky beers," he says, "We pay attention to whats going on in the industry, and we strive to bring creativity to our work. But, we want to be great at what we do, and that comes first."

Larson agrees. "In terms of trying to make beer, were approaching it in the the best way we possibly can. Were not going crazy. We use some interesting, specialty ingredients; but the bottom line is that its still a good, solid beer."

The road to Enlightenment

Vandervorts love for beer began in college, as he worked his way through school bartending for companies like The Lowlands Group and Bartolotta Restaurants.

"I started home brewing in 2010," he says, "My passion and beer geekness was fueled by the work I was doing. And before I knew it, I was putting my beer into kegs and sharing it with friends. I also developed a catalog of recipes pretty quickly."

When it came time to decide what to do with the rest of his life, Vandervort says that brewing just made sense.

He first established the concept of Enlightened Brewing Company in 2013 with the help of business partner Grant Willey. As plans moved forward, Vandervort serendipitously connected with Larson through a mutual friend, Rob Zellermayer of Sugar Maple.

Larson, who also began as a home brewer, had recently graduated with his masters degree in brewing and distilling from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland and had his sites set on breaking into the brewing business himself. The two bonded over their passions for beer and entrepreneurship; but parted ways as Larson headed to Michigan to complete an internship with Bells Brewery.

But, as 2014 came to a close Vandervort and Larson were drawn back together. Willey left the Enlightened business to pursue other interests and Vandervort offered Larson a fifty-fifty partnership.

The two secured space in the Lincoln Warehouse  a hotbed for beverage businesses including Bittercube, Top Note Tonics and Twisted Path Distillery  a location which offered up affordable real estate with the option to start small and grow as needed. Meanwhile, Vandervort traded tending bar for a day job with Cap Tel (a necessity since Wisconsin liquor laws prohibit a brewer from taking income from another entity that holds a retail liquor license), and the two began the one-year journey to gain licensure for the brewery.

By February 2015, the partners had completed their first Enlightened beer, a saison called The Tempest, which made its way to early accounts including Odd Duck and Sugar Maple.

Less than one year later, Enlightened has developed three year-round brews and monthly seasonals which they hand deliver to approximately 35 bars and restaurants throughout the Milwaukee area  a number thats likely to grow once the brewery steps up production in spring.

"Were taking this one step at a time," says Vandervort. "Right now, were working with bars and restaurants where we like to drink. And, as we expand, well add to the list."
MANITOWOC -- Manitowoc County Sheriffs Department officials have received death threats in the wake of the Steven Avery Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer," and they have contacted the FBI about one of them for further investigation, Sheriff Robert Hermann told OnMilwaukee on Thursday.

In a phone threat, the caller "said something to the effect of if you didnt hurt yourself, Id do it for you. With a bullet to the head," said the sheriff. The threat was directed at a department member the sheriff declined to identify.

He said there was a second, more recent death threat that might also be sent by the department to the FBI. And he said the department contacted the FBI and the postal service when an officer received a tube at home that exploded with glitter upon opening. A note was attached that said "for Steven Avery." Hermann said the FBI was also contacted about that before the department discovered the contents of the tube.

"Its a dirty shame," the sheriff said of the renewed controversy. He said that people are rushing to judgment against his officers in order to accuse them of rushing to judgment against Avery, which he finds contradictory.

He said the defense attorneys  whom he said were good at their jobs  had their chance before a jury, lost and "they are still out there." Of the allegations that his officers planted evidence, he said, it was an "impossible scheme" because of the amount and complexity of evidence, including DNA from Averys sweat, blood, bones on his property and so forth (details from the court file on that point in a moment).

He also said that the Manitowoc County Sheriffs Department should have stayed out of the investigation completely instead of continuing to play a support role  that included its members finding key evidence  after Calumet County investigators took over the case.

"From the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, had we known this would be the defense strategy, yeah, I think that would definitely be the best thing to do," said the sheriff.

The Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department (PHOTO: Jessica McBride)

He said that Calumet is very small and that he doesnt think his agency did anything wrong by being involved  despite Averys ongoing civil suit against the agency for the wrongful conviction case that also involved that same agency. He said the department has been sued before.

"We would probably have been better off turning the whole thing over," said the sheriff. He said the agency was nearest to the scene when the Halbach car was found by citizens on the salvage yard property, and they felt they had to secure the scene.

Hermann  just before an appearance by telephone on the Nancy Grace show and after a meeting with Mark Wiegert and Tom Fassbender, two of the most controversial investigators featured in the Netflix "Making a Murderer" documentary  sat down with OnMilwaukee for a candid, detailed hour-long interview.

OnMilwaukee spotted the two investigators  who netted controversy from the series for interrogating Averys 16-year-old nephew Brendan Dassey  walking out of the Sheriffs Department on Thursday afternoon.

Hermann said he was meeting with Wiegert and Fassbender about "how to handle the media blitz. We are getting a lot of calls. A lot are negative. Some of it is concerning families. Some say things like 'rot in hell,' but others are more in line of what we would consider death threats. It seems to be mostly from out of the area."

Fassbender and Wiegert outside Manitowoc Co. Sheriff's Dept. on Thursday. (PHOTO: Jimmy Carlton)

At the time of the Brendan Dassey interrogations  which occurred with no lawyer or parent present  Fassbender worked for the state and Wiegert for Calumet County law enforcement.

One email referred to the Sheriffs Department employees as "thugs" and "glorified rent-a-cops." Others are more ominous. Another says in part, "Please, I understand that the majority of law enforcement have an extremely limited education which is why all of you would be doing the State/Country an immense favor by eating a bullet. But hell, it would take years to figure out that you all shot yourselves."

At the end of the interview, the sheriffs phone rang, and it was a man in another state that Hermann called "one of our supporters." But Hermann said positive calls are dwarfed by negative reaction including from some commentators who allege the Sheriffs Department killed photographer Teresa Halbach  which the sheriff continues to vigorously deny and which the defense did not contend (the defense instead wanted to point fingers at others in the Avery family itself). Hermann said the department has received several hundred negative communications.

"It affects us all," he said. "People are getting them at home. It disrupts life. People got stuff in the mail. A party bomb. A glitter bomb. It consumes some of us. Dealing with the media." He doesnt necessarily think the "locals are sharing in that. My theory is local people have been here for the entire case. This case had more evidence than most cases."

He said he is 100 percent sure that Avery did it. Averys nephew Brendan Dassey, too.

Its Hermanns department that has been at the center of the Internet storm around the Netflix docu-series that focuses on the defense narrative that Manitowoc Sheriffs Department officers may have planted evidence against Steven Avery  which Hermann vigorously disputes. At the time of the investigation, Hermann was Manitowoc County under-sheriff.

Hermann discusses the Avery case with OnMilwaukee. (PHOTO: Jessica McBride)

Hermann also agreed to address specific allegations in the documentary, which he said he watched over two days over the holidays. He said the actual case is a "huge puzzle. When you start to miss pieces, you lose part of that puzzle." He said the documentary was incomplete, despite the fact that the filmmakers have told the media they tried to present the states best evidence and were fair.

Hermann said Avery told investigators he had never touched Teresa Halbachs vehicle even though his DNA was found in it from blood and sweat, including under a hood. He believes Avery and the documentary minimized things repeatedly. For example, he said, he thought Avery had downplayed the earlier incident where he had killed a cat in the documentary. "No, he put gas and oil on it. He tossed it in a fire," said the sheriff.

A review by OnMilwaukee of court transcripts shows that the state alleged at trial that Averys DNA was found in many locations in the Halbach vehicle and that he had a cut on his finger. The opening statement said his blood was found in "at least six places in Teresa Halbachs SUV including the rear passenger door, smeared or wiped on the rear passenger door. It was in the backdoor, and its along the edge or along the metal of the rear passenger door. Thats Steven Averys blood ...

"We have heard about the defendants blood on the ignition. That positively matched that of Steven Avery  Other places that the defendant bled inside of the victims car included blood on her CD case in her front seat. Both front seats had droplets of Mr. Averys blood on it. The rear tailgate  there is a droplet of his blood as well. And also on the front console floor." DNA from Averys sweat, said the prosecutor, was also found on the hood latch of the car  which Dassey allegedly told investigators he saw Avery lift open  and on the key used to "start the ignition."

Did his officers plant evidence?

"They are very good officers," Hermann said. "I trust them. They are well-trained." He said they had no motive to frame Avery because the two officers featured in the documentary most  James Lenk and Andrew Colburn  were not even mentioned as defendants in Averys civil suit, which named the county, sheriff and DA. "Those officers were not named in the lawsuit." He said Lenk has retired and Colburn declined an interview with OnMilwaukee because the Dassey case is still pending in Federal Court.

Did the agency have animus to Avery?

The sheriff denied this. "They were known to us," he said. But, he added, in a 33-year career, he was on the property maybe a "half dozen times" and only once outside of the Halbach case. He said the department patrols 600 square miles with a little over 110 officers. The Avery compound is near Mishicot about 20 minutes from the Sheriffs Department headquarters.

After watching the documentary, did he think anything seemed fishy at all?

"No," he said.

What about Lenk finding Halbachs car key in Averys bedroom after other investigators had missed it for eight days? Especially considering some 70-100 officers were on the property at any given time?

"It was good police work (by Lenk)," the sheriff said. "Unfortunately, sometimes when people look over things they miss things." He said there are national cases where bodies are undetected for years.

As to planting the car, he said hed heard, "If you went on the property, the Averys knew." He said Avery had a dog that would have warned him of someone on the property.

The sign for the Avery's property (PHOTO: Jessica McBride)

Why was none of Halbachs blood found in Averys house or garage?

He said, "A .22 round makes a small hole. Theres not going to be a lot of blood. And what were they doing in the garage with bleach cleaning it? Bedding with blood could have been burnt. Its like a puzzle." Hermann pointed out that the Halbach bone fragments were mixed with steel belts from tires, and he said the contention that some of her bones were found in a quarry pit near the property was unproven.

On the topic of why Colburn called in Halbachs plate to dispatch before the car was found:

"He didnt have the vehicle in front of him. This was the vehicle they were looking for. This is a vehicle we were looking for." He said an officer from Calumet County had called Colburn to give him the plate number and vehicle description because Calumet had determined Halbach was last in Manitowoc County, so Colburn would know what he was looking for.

So, why would he need to call dispatch, then?

"He was a shift commander. He was thorough."

We asked the sheriff if he has any concerns about the Dassey confessions, since Dassey had no lawyer and parent present and has a low IQ  and since there was no blood found in the bedroom.

The sheriff said his agency didnt handle the confessions and that he would have to watch the entire 3.5-4 hours not just the parts played on Netflix. But he said he doesnt have doubts about the Dassey case. "I trust the investigators."

Does he believe Avery was wrongfully convicted of the sexual assault?

"No one ever talked to Gregory Allen. But its unfortunate. Are we happy about it (that DNA showed they had the wrong man)? No."

The sheriff believes that, "We have one of the best criminal justice systems in the world, and one of the finest in Wisconsin. This has had a huge negative impact from outside, from other countries even. Its very untrue and unfair."

Additional notes:

According to the defense opening statement in the trial transcripts, Lenk and Colburn searched the property many times and were involved immediately after Halbach went missing.

Calumet County Sheriffs Department called Manitowoc for help on the missing persons report after learning that Halbachs last stops had been in Manitowoc County, including on the Avery property. It says Colburn was told to check out two places and only went to the Avery home. He talked to Avery who denied knowing anything and was cooperative.

"Out of the blue, the same night, Lt. James Lenk  calls Calumet about this missing person report" without anyone calling for him. The next day, Lenk went to the trailer with another Manitowoc officer and again talked to Avery. Avery was cooperative and denied any involvement. According to the defense opening statement, Lenk walks through Averys trailer, sees nothing amiss, and then leaves.

The next day, the citizens find the Halbach vehicle on the property. First to arrive: Manitowoc County Sheriffs Department.

Lenk allegedly changed his story about the time he arrived at the Avery property that day and didnt sign into the log sheets, although he did sign out. At that point, the department turned the case over to Calumet as lead agency.

That day, Lenk and Colburn searched Averys trailer and see nothing. The next day, they return to the trailer again and search his garage. They find .22 casings. On Nov. 7, the trailer is searched against by Lenk and Colburn. They find nothing of interest. On Nov. 8, Lenk and Colburn are back. And thats when Lenk finds the key.

- Jimmy Carlton contributed to this report.
by NW Spotlight

Remember when thousands of protesters back in 2011 marched in Portland? Protesters who on the first day marched into Pioneer Courthouse Square chanting Whose square? Our square! The protests were joined by labor unions and were held without a permit, even though the City of Portland and the Portland Police Bureau had reached out beforehand and encouraged organizers to please get a permit.

Remember when the protesters set up illegal camps for weeks in downtown Portland? Some of that illegal camping was on federal property. Remember when Obama administration officials, in communication with the White House, told the federal police commander in Portland to stand down regarding Occupy Portland protesters camping illegally on federal property in Portland?

Remember when filmmaker Michael Moore visited the Occupy Portland protests and spoke to them on federal land (Terry Schrunk Plaza)?

Remember when an Occupy Portland protester was arrested for throwing a Molotov cocktail at Portlands World Trade Center?

Remember when another Occupy Portland protester was arrested for meth possession and carrying a concealed weapon (knife)?

Remember when police arrested 51 people in one day while clearing the parks? The illegal camping in the parks was ended due to unhealthy conditions and the encampments attraction of drug users and thieves, according to then Portland Mayor Sam Adams.

Remember when police arrested two Occupy Portland protesters who had camouflage clothing with a gun, sword and walkie-talkies? The two were doing reconnaissance for a planned demonstration at the Port of Portland.

UPDATE  Reminder: Portland estimated it was going to cost $86K to repair the parks after the Occupy protesters were forced out. In 2011, the Oregonian reported For 38 days, the city chose not to prosecute protesters for violating the citys no-camping ordinance, and that Occupyers believe that claiming public spaces is a crucial component of their protest. (h/t Les Poole)
If one meme could sum up my life in 2017 it would be the Kylie Jenner one where she talks about a year of realizing stuff. I literally real...
Welcome

Greetings to the many thousands of readers the past month from across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom as well as Russia, France, Germany, Japan, China, India, Hong Kong, South Korea, Vietnam and Australia.




India waiting for Pakistan response on pathankot incident

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday said it is awaiting Pakistans response on the information provided related to the Pathankot incident, following which it will decide on the resumption of bilateral peace talks scheduled for later this month.



India's foreign ministry said Islamabad has been given actionable intelligence that those who planned the assault came from Pakistan.



"As far as we are concerned the ball is now in Pakistan's court," spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters when asked if the talks were on. "The immediate issue in front of us is Pakistan's response to the terrorist attack." A meeting between the foreign secretaries of both nations had been tentatively scheduled for January 15.



A senior Pakistani official said India provided intelligence that included telephone numbers, call intercepts, and locations where they believe the attackers or their handlers were.



Pakistan is following up the leads, the official said, and hopes that the talks would not be canceled while it explores them.



Prime ministers Narendra Modi of India and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan are struggling to keep their renewed dialogue on track after the militant attack killed seven Indian military personnel and wounded 22.



Modi made a surprise stopover in Pakistan last month, the first time an Indian premier has visited in over a decade.



The standoff after the apparent thaw is part of a pattern over the years. Attempts to restart talks have been frequently thwarted by attacks between the two countries.



With such an eventuality in mind, the national security advisers of the two countries agreed on a process during a meeting in early December to keep dialogue going in case of a potential disruption, the Pakistani official said.



As a result, Indian NSA Ajit Doval has spoken at least three times by phone with his Pakistani counterpart, Naseer Khan Janjua, since the attack, including last Saturday evening when the fighting was still ongoing, the Pakistani official said.



India's security establishment has blamed the attack on militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), alleged to have been behind an assault on the country's parliament in 2001 that almost brought the two countries to war for a fourth time.



The official said Pakistan could temporarily arrest Jaish-e-Mohammad's leader Masood Azhar to appease India, but only if the leads checked out.



Pakistan also expects DNA evidence, bodies and other forms of identification from India "within days", the official said.



Nawaz Sharif met senior ministers and his national security advisers on Thursday and discussed "issues pertaining to national and regional security", according to a statement from his office.
PTI stressed govt to brief parliamentarians on Saudi FM visit

ISLAMABAD: The PTI continued to press the treasury benches on Thursday to divulge more about how the government planned to deal with the tensions between Riyadh and Tehran. It asked the government to arrange a briefing for parliamentarians with the visiting Saudi foreign minister.



In between, the PTI lawmakers put the government on the back foot by successfully pointing out quorum twice. On both occasions, the house was without the required minimum number of 86 MNAs.



It was Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who leads the PTI in the National Assembly, who called for more transparency regarding the countrys role in de-escalating tensions between two Muslim countries. Mr Qureshi, a former foreign minister, said that if the government was reluctant to share its stance publicly, at least the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs could be taken into confidence.



Ideally, Mr Qureshi said, the government should invite Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir to a meeting of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs to learn his point of view over the emerging crisis. This is too serious an issue not to be discussed at the parliamentary level, he said.



On the question of quorum, the PTI leader said it was the responsibility of the government to keep the house in order and it couldnt blame the opposition for disrupting the session. Mr Qureshi reminded the government that despite being chaired by an opposition senator, proceedings of the upper house were run smoothly.



PTI chief whip Dr Shireen Mazari also asked the government to take the house into confidence over the discussion between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart in the aftermath of Pathankot terrorist attack. What the PMs Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz had told the house made no sense, she said.



However, things came to a head when PkMAP lawmaker Abdul Qahar Khan Wadan protested against Minister of State Baleeghur Rehman when the latter failed to answer his query.



Mr Wadan was of the view that the Baloch and Pakhtuns in Balochistan were not issued national identity cards despite carrying genuine documents. While the MNA was still presenting his argument in a supplementary question, the deputy speaker moved on to the next question.



This incensed Mr Wadan, who protested and walked out of the house. He was joined by other members of the opposition. However, while leaving the house, Dr Mazari pointed out the lack of quorum. Since the house was short of members, proceedings were temporarily suspended.



This made Safron Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch furious. He accused the PTI leader of disrupting the session on purpose. In the heat of the moment, he also called on the PTI leadership to change Dr Mazaris role in the National Assembly.



Separately, PML-N MNA from Lahore Sheikh Rohail Asghar and JUI-F lawmaker Maulana Ameer Zaman almost came to blows. But the situation was averted by the timely intervention of their colleagues.



It later emerged that the two men had exchanged some unsavoury remarks when Mr Asghar quipped that Mr Wadan was making much ado over the trivial issue of ID cards.



Later in the session, Rai Hassan Nawaz of the PTI again pointed out a lack of quorum. This time, Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi adjourned the session instead of ordering a roll call.
Rangers Wrangle

Rangers wrangling between the province and the centre has gone rather beyond the norms and provided the electronic media with a rating rat race adding constantly high pitch overtones to the hype created by its anchors and the panellists from all political parties dispensing their pearls of wisdom and indulging in all kinds of hair splitting. If one comes to think of it, why is anyone afraid of the Rangers and wants the NAB, Police, FIA to probe his/her alleged corruption cases? There is saying in Persian, Aan ra keh hisabesh pak ast  Az muhasabah cheh baak ast. (If anyones accounts are clean - he fears not any audit). What has he/she to hide from the Rangers that he/she wants to disclose to the other civil agencies? Or, is it because the alleged corrupt feel that they would be able to have their way with the others but not the Rangers? I hope not, for, if such is the assumption th! en it would tarnish the credibility of the NAB, Police and the FIA etc. in the eyes of general public.



Hence, if you have nothing to hide/fear be honest and have faith in Allah and let even Rangers probe the cases, for, you ladies and gentlemen are honest and patriotic Pakistanis.



Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
Two men confessed of Dr Imran Farooq murder

ISLAMABAD: Two men suspected of being involved in the murder of Muttahida Qaumi Movements self-exiled leader Dr Imran Farooq recorded their confessional statements before the Islamabad deputy commissioner on Thursday, sources said.



The FIA had arrested three suspects  Khalid Shamim, Mohsin Ali Syed and Moazzam Ali  for their alleged role in Dr Farooqs murder.



While Shamim and Mohsin Ali confessed to their involvement, Moazzam Ali, said to be the prime suspect, was unwilling to come up with a confession, sources in the prosecution told mediamen.



In his statement recorded under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code, Mohsin said that Moazzam had handled the travel documents to live in the United Kingdom.



According to private news channel Geo News, Mohsin in his statement gave graphic details of the murder.



He said that at a university hostel in London he and his accomplice Kashif Khan Kamran, whose whereabouts are not known and may have died, prepared a plot to kill Dr Farooq.



He said they monitored the movement of Dr Farooq in London to know about his routine. On the day of the murder, he said, he grabbed Dr Farooq while Kashif stabbed him and then bludgeoned him with a brick to ensure his death.



Shamim said that he had consented to join the murder plot because he was a diehard MQM activist, sources said.



Shamim claimed that senior MQM leader Muhammad Anwar gave the order to assassinate Dr Farooq. The JIT constituted to investigate the murder had suggested that MQM chief Altaf Hussain regarded Dr Farooq as a threat and wanted him eliminated.



The JIT report also noted that all three suspects were members of the All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation, the MQMs student wing.



The suspects were sent to Adiyala jail on 14-day judicial remand by an Islamabad anti-terrorism court.



The gruesome murder took place on Sept 16, 2010, near Dr Farooqs London home.



The London police had named Mohsin Ali Syed and Mohammad Kashif Khan Kamran as wanted men in connection with the murder as they were in the UK when Dr Farooq was murdered. They arrested the three men during the last five years but released them later without filing any charges.



However, it was widely reported that both Mohsin and Kamran had been taken into custody by Pakistani intelligence agents the moment they landed at Karachi airport in 2010.



The third suspect, Khalid Shamim, was allegedly taken into custody in January 2011 and a petition regarding his illegal detention and going missing was filed by his wife in the Sindh High Court.



In March last year, Moazzam was arrested at his Azizabad house for facilitating the suspects in getting a British visa.



On June 18, 2015, the Frontier Corps claimed to have arrested Mohsin and Shamim in Chaman in Balochistan.



The FC claimed that the two were illegally entering Pakistan from Afghanistan.



On Dec 5, 2015  the day Karachi went to the local government polls  the FIA registered a murder case against MQM chief Altaf Hussain, his nephew Iftikhar Hussain, Moazzam Ali Khan, Khalid Shamim, Kashif Khan Kamran and Syed Mohsin Ali.



Meanwhile, the MQM made it clear that none of its workers had anything to do with the assassination of Dr Farooq.



The MQM is aware of reports in the media that individuals held in detention by Pakistani authorities have allegedly confessed to the murder of Dr Imran Farooq. We categorically state that no party personnel have had anything whatsoever to do with the tragic death of Dr Farooq. We mourn the loss of a man who was our friend and colleague for many years, said a statement issued in Karachi on Thursday evening.
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
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Aerial image of Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility shot by UC Davis scientist Stephen Conley from his research airplane, which provided the first and, so far, only estimates of methane emissions from an ongoing leak at the facility in the San Fernando Valley. Credit: Stephen Conley/UC Davis photo

A UC Davis scientist flying in a pollution-detecting airplane provided the first, and so far only, estimates of methane emissions spewing from the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility in Southern California since the leak began on Oct. 23, 2015.

Those estimates were provided to the California Air Resources Board in November. Pilot and UC Davis project scientist Stephen Conley continues to measure emissions from the still uncontrolled leak, which has displaced thousands of residents in the affluent Porter Ranch neighborhood in northern Los Angeles. On Jan. 6, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in the community.

To date, Conley estimates that the leak has emitted nearly 80,000 tons of methane, or about 1,000 tons per day.

'This is big'

In early November, Conley took his first three flights downwind of the facility in his specialized airplane. He was astounded by the figure he recorded: Roughly 1,200 tons of leaked methane per day, or more than 100,000 pounds an hour.

"To put this into perspective, the leak effectively doubles the emission rate for the entire Los Angeles Basin," Conley said. "On a global scale, this is big."

The California Energy Commission contracted with Conley to do the initial flights under an existing contract with UC Davis. The airplane belongs to Conley through his private business, Scientific Aviation, a research flight company.

Those flights took place Nov. 7 and Nov. 10. Emissions were mapped from as low as 200 feet above the ground to the top of the methane plume.

Not just any airplane

The terrain of the facility is choppy and inaccessible at points for ground vehicles, and even satellites are limited in being able to pinpoint the levels of emissions escaping from the source. Measuring the emissions from the air proved an ideal method to get a reliable estimate.

"We have a fully equipped airplane, and this work is perfectly suited for it," Conley said.

It's not just any airplane. Aboard the aircraft is a greenhouse gas analyzer that measures methane plumes in real time. A differential GPS system provides precise wind readings, which is vital for quantifying sources of greenhouse gases, including methane.

The most recent flight was Dec. 23, when Conley recorded approximately 30 tons, or 60,000 pounds, of methane per hour.

Background

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and roughly 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Porter Ranch residents downwind from the plume have complained of headaches, nausea, dizziness and nosebleeds.

Southern California Gas Co., which owns the Aliso Canyon storage facility, announced in late December that it does not expect crews to plug the leak until at least late February or March.

The Aliso Canyon facility is the largest underground methane storage facility in the western United States.

Explore further California gas leak forces relocation of thousands since October
With the explosion of online shopping, few can deny the power of the Internet.

Not even the Amish and Mennonites, known for being devout to their faith and for shunning technology, electricity and modern advances that run counter to those beliefs.

It raises an intriguing question: Can the Amish and online co-exist?

"It is interesting that commerce is forcing even the Amish to adapt to the online retail world," said Barbara Khan, director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. "It isn't social pressure that is forcing the cultural change, but, rather, economic necessity."

The next generation of Amish who have grown up in business admit as much, while the numbers affirm what many know: Online retailing is growing at the expense of traditional stores.

Brick-and-mortar retail sales on Black Friday fell from $11.6 billion in 2014 to $10.4 billion in 2015, according to the retail researcher ShopperTrak. Sales on Thanksgiving fell from just over $2 billion in 2014 to $1.8 billion in November. Both drops are due to the rise in online sales.

Meanwhile, online sales jumped 14 percent on Black Friday from 2014, and brought retailers $2.72 billion altogether in November. The increase came during a week of online sales and promotions leading up to Cyber Monday on Nov. 30, which turned out to be the biggest e-commerce sales day ever, topping $3 billion for the first time.

Sam Riehl, 26, wants to boost online orders by next year at L. Halteman Family Country Foods in downtown Philadelphia.

Riehl works behind the counter Monday through Saturday. Like all Amish, he rests on Sunday.

But he represents the progressive, tech savvy side of the Plain People. Riehl is aiming to grow the family business and offer online delivery of the family's key products, ranging from ground beef and pork to homemade jams and jellies, within a year.

"My generation is more advanced," Riehl said recently while working the busy lunch crowd. "We feel the Internet is really important to grow a business, and we have to do more on the Internet."

Meanwhile, about an hour's drive away, it seems as if you're in another world as soon as you arrive in Gap, Lancaster County. For miles, you travel through picturesque rolling hills. A few horse-drawn buggies putter by on the side of the road.

Then you get to the heart of Amish Country, the tourist hub, in a town called Intercourse.

A visitor comes across a well-lit store decorated with pieces of furniture at the front entrance. This is Snyder's Furniture, a 30-year-old shop that is on the online superhighway despite its simple surroundings.

Snyder's specializes in handcrafted Amish furniture. It has had its own website, www.snydersfurniture.com, since 2000.

"For the most part, Amish craftsmen and retailers are adapting to the challenges of 21st-century businesses and looking for ways around their beliefs to adapt to changing technology," said Keith Horst, the store's 29-year-old general manager. "They find a way.

"They won't fly, but they will go on trains," he said. "They don't drive, but will hire drivers. They won't have computers, but have very advanced word processors. They will have a fax machine, but a separate phone in their work shack and not in their house.

"They won't have machines run by electricity, but by air compressors and generators as a way around their belief of being unconnected to the world," said Horst, who himself grew up Mennonite, but is no longer active in the church. He graduated from Temple University in pre-law and drives a BMW.

Americus Reed, a marketing professor who focuses on brand identity at Wharton, said the Amish - like many other business owners and operators nowadays - are being compelled to expand their reach through the Internet.

"If the core customer goes to online, and that is where they are getting their information, and that is where they are going to actually purchase, then the mantra will be 'change or die,'" Reed said.

Horst said the Amish in Lancaster County are adapting, and many who run businesses now have websites.

"They realize they need it to stay in business," he said.

Snyder's store recently made three straight days of holiday furniture deliveries to the Philadelphia suburbs.

They were big-ticket items, ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 and included dining room pieces, bedroom sets, and kitchen tables.

Snyder's uses its own trucks to make deliveries in Pennsylvania. For out-of-state deliveries, it hires an outside firm. The store grosses about $2 million in annual sales.

Horst is focused on clicks-to-bricks strategies to get more people to view the store's website, and following up with emails to encourage them to visit the store.

He is busy these days, figuring out how to charge for shipping furniture, especially to the West Coast.

"We can have the cost built into the price of the product itself or charge a flat fee," Horst said. "Many people got used to free shipping from Amazon, and we just can't do that."

Standing in the store a few feet from Horst was his cousin, Andrea Groff, 26, wearing traditional Mennonite dress. She was wiping down furniture with water from a spray bottle and a cloth - her version of dusting, because Mennonites don't use silicone-based products.

As the office and sales manager at Snyder's, Groff regularly updates and freshens the company's website.

"They totally understand," she said of the shifting attitude among Amish and Mennonite businesses over the Internet. "Before, they were more closed off. In the last five to seven years, more are open to getting their products out there online. They are adapting."

Explore further Cyber Monday sales still on top, but losing some luster

2016 The Philadelphia Inquirer

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Dr. Brad Pierce, UTA Associate Professor of Biochemistry. Credit: UT Arlington

Biochemists at The University of Texas at Arlington are mapping the catalytic processes of sulfur-oxidizing enzymes to improve understanding of the chemical imbalances found in patients with autism, Alzheimer's disease and Down syndrome.

"Little is known about how sulfur-oxidizing enzymes work, or how or why autistic, Alzheimer and Down syndrome patients demonstrate abnormal sulfur metabolism," said Brad Pierce, UTA assistant professor of biochemistry and principal investigator on the project.

"Our work is to retro-engineer the sulfur oxidation process and map out the chemical mechanism of a key enzyme - cysteine dioxygenase - in both mammals and bacteria, to provide the necessary framework to develop effective therapies and drugs for these different disease states."

Insights into the differential behavior of this enzyme in bacteria could also open up opportunities to stamp out "superbugs" by providing an alternate means to disrupt bacterial metabolism without adversely affecting the patient, Pierce said.

The work is supported by a three-year, $333,810 National Institutes of Health grant through the agency's Academic Research Enhancement Award Program, which aims to strengthen the research environment at eligible institutions and also expose undergraduate and graduate students to research and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Morteza Khaledi, dean of the UTA College of Science, underlined the importance of Pierce's grant in enhancing the University's commitment to advancing health and the human condition, as outlined in the Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact.

"Dr. Pierce's research will provide the essential basic scientific background needed to develop therapies for critical conditions that are currently not understood," Khaledi said. "This work is at the heart of the positive impact that a modern, research university can have on society."

"By providing opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students to participate in this research, we are also strengthening our position as a source of well-prepared scientific resources and advancing towards Tier 1 status," he added.

In the current project, Pierce's team will use rapid-mix, freeze-quench techniques to 'trap' and analyze the chemical reactions at millisecond intervals. Comparisons can then be made between the mechanical processes of the enzymes in mammals and bacteria.

This research builds on Pierce's prior National Science Foundation grant to study the circumstances under which cysteine dioxygenase produces highly toxic side effects called reactive oxygen species. Those effects have been linked to numerous age-onset human diseases like cancer, stroke, arthritis, heart attacks, Parkinson's disease, cataracts and many others.

In a study published in the December 2013 issue of Biochemistry, Pierce's team outlined how mutations outside the active site environment or "outer coordination sphere" of the enzyme have profound influence on the release of reactive oxygen species. Prior research had focused on the active site inner coordination sphere of these enzymes, where the metal molecule is located.

Pierce joined the UTA College of Science in 2008 following positions as an NIH postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin and as a research associate with a California pharmaceutical company. He earned his doctorate in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University.

At UTA, Pierce has been honored with a President's Award for Excellence in Teaching. His research group looks at fundamental life processes outside the traditional sphere of biochemistry and employs modern biophysical and bioinorganic techniques to investigate enzyme function and regulation.

Explore further Research may unlock enzyme's role in disease
Microphotography of a peanut shell

In order to clean the air of pollutants such as methanol and solvents used in the industry, biotechnology expert Raul Pineda Olmedo, of the National University of Mexico (UNAM), designed a biofilter that uses microorganisms living in the shell of the peanut.

The research from the department of Environmental Technology noted that microorganisms grow naturally on peanut shell, which can be used to clean the air. Furthermore, in Mexico this material is generated in large amounts and is considered a worthless agricultural residue.

The idea is a prototype filter with peanut shells, which cultivates the microorganisms to degrade toxic pollutants into carbon dioxide and water, thereby achieving clean air.

"The peanut shell is special for these applications because it is naturally hollow and has an area of contact with air, which favors the development of microorganisms," said Pineda Olmedo.

He also said it has been observed that this organic material can be applied to biotechnology as biological filters similar to those used by cars, but instead of stopping dust it can degrade the contaminants.

Olmedo Pineda development focuses on solving the problem of air pollution in companies dedicated to handling inks or solvents, which have a contaminated workplace.

The experiment was developed in collaboration with doctors Frederic Thalasso Sire and Fermin Perez Guevara from the Research Center of Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) in Mexico.

Peanut shells, a common waste

The prototype is similar to a bell or kitchen extractor, but it not only absorbs and stores polluting vapors, it degrades and purifies the air.

The design consists of a filter made with peanut shells containing microorganisms, which purify the air. For optimum development it should be in a temperature controlled environment.

Olmedo Pineda explained that the filter takes on average 28 days to synthesize microorganisms such as Fusarium and Brevibacterium. Bacteria and fungi take the carbon from pollution to reproduce and breath.

In Mexico this technology has not been exploited extensively. The researcher currently seeks to commercialize the innovation, which is a solution applicable to everyday life. They will create a demonstration prototype for schools, making it accessible to students, who can apply and replicate it.

Explore further New prototype purifies air and removes pollution
The findings challenge traditional thinking that reefs generally reduce coastal erosion, Dr Gallop says. Credit: Anthony Hevron

Planning for beachfront homes in WA could be improved following an analysis of Yanchep's reefs and beaches over 34 years which found reefs did not always reduce coastal erosion, as was previously thought.

A group led by former UWA scientist Dr Shari Gallop, now at Macquarie University, examined the inter annual shoreline and vegetation line from Yanchep's beaches using aerial photos from 1974 to 2008.

They found that across 96 per cent of the study area the beach narrowed over time at a maximum annual rate of 1.7m.

But at the southern beach, where the reef is highest, they determined the width between the shoreline and the start of coastal vegetation varied a lot over time.

The findings challenge traditional thinking that reefs generally reduce coastal erosion, Dr Gallop says.

"It's often assumed that the reefs always protect the coast, but this research shows that's not always the case," she says.

"The reefs vary along shore, so while they might be protecting the coast in some places, in other areas, they might be increasing coastal erosion."

The reefs at Yanchep impact on the amount of beach available by modifying the waves, currents and sediment transport, she says.

"In one year, we found one part of the beach eroded by 50m, while a few hundred metres along shore another area accreted further seaward by 50m," she says.

Dr Shari Gallop and her team looked at reef impacts on beach erosion at Yancheps southern, middle and northern beaches. Credit: Dr Shari Gallop

"In summer, the sea breezes mix up sediment into the water and drives it northwards along shore.

"This sediment infills the southern beach at Yanchep, and when that is infilled it blocks the sediment transport pathway through the Yanchep Lagoon to the northern beach, so it erodes."

Increasing human activity and sea level rise is putting more pressure on coastlines, Dr Gallop says.

So knowing more about how reefs impact coastal erosion could aid coastal planning and help stakeholders develop better coastal setback plans (the distance at which a structure is established from the shore).

In WA the state planning policy doesn't outline specific setbacks but provides calculations to work setbacks out depending on the type of coast, including sandy beaches or rocks and cliffs.

While the policy recognises beaches on coral reef and rocky coasts as particular coastal types it doesn't distinguish the huge range of morphologies that occur, Dr Gallop says.

Most coasts that have reefs are often considered in shoreline management plans to be stable but this research highlighted a need for greater understanding, Dr Gallop says.

Explore further Sand-engine to protect against coastal erosion

More information: Shari L. Gallop et al. The impact of temperate reefs on 34years of shoreline and vegetation line stability at Yanchep, southwestern Australia and implications for coastal setback, Marine Geology (2015). Shari L. Gallop et al. The impact of temperate reefs on 34years of shoreline and vegetation line stability at Yanchep, southwestern Australia and implications for coastal setback,(2015). DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2015.09.001

This article first appeared on ScienceNetwork Western Australia a science news website based at Scitech.
Astronomers have detected a massive, sprawling, churning galaxy cluster that formed only 3.8 billion years after the Big Bang. The cluster, shown here, is the most massive cluster of galaxies yet discovered in the first 4 billion years after the Big Bang. Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, University of Florida, University of Missouri, and University of California

The early universe was a chaotic mess of gas and matter that only began to coalesce into distinct galaxies hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang. It would take several billion more years for such galaxies to assemble into massive galaxy clustersor so scientists had thought.

Now astronomers at MIT, the University of Missouri, the University of Florida, and elsewhere, have detected a massive, sprawling, churning galaxy cluster that formed only 3.8 billion years after the Big Bang. Located 10 billion light years from Earth and potentially comprising thousands of individual galaxies, the megastructure is about 250 trillion times more massive than the sun, or 1,000 times more massive than the Milky Way galaxy.

The cluster, named IDCS J1426.5+3508 (or IDCS 1426), is the most massive cluster of galaxies yet discovered in the first 4 billion years after the Big Bang.

IDCS 1426 appears to be undergoing a substantial amount of upheaval: The researchers observed a bright knot of X-rays, slightly off-center in the cluster, indicating that the cluster's core may have shifted some hundred thousand light years from its center. The scientists surmise that the core may have been dislodged from a violent collision with another massive galaxy cluster, causing the gas within the cluster to slosh around, like wine in a glass that has been suddenly moved.

Michael McDonald, assistant professor of physics and a member of MIT's Kavli Center for Astrophysics and Space Research, says such a collision may explain how IDCS 1426 formed so quickly in the early universe, at a time when individual galaxies were only beginning to take shape.

"In the grand scheme of things, galaxies probably didn't start forming until the universe was relatively cool, and yet this thing has popped up very shortly after that," McDonald says. "Our guess is that another similarly massive cluster came in and sort of wrecked the place up a bit. That would explain why this is so massive and growing so quickly. It's the first one to the gate, basically."

McDonald and his colleagues presented their results this week at the 227th American Astronomical Society meeting in Kissimmee, Florida. Their findings will also be published in The Astrophysical Journal.

"Cities in space"

Galaxy clusters are conglomerations of hundreds to thousands of galaxies bound together by gravity. They are the most massive structures in the universe, and those located relatively nearby, such as the Virgo cluster, are extremely bright and easy to spot in the sky.

"They are sort of like cities in space, where all these galaxies live very closely together," McDonald says. "In the nearby universe, if you look at one galaxy cluster, you've basically seen them allthey all look pretty uniform. The further back you look, the more different they start to appear."

Astronomers have made the most detailed study yet of an extremely massive young galaxy cluster using three of NASA's Great Observatories. Credit: NASA/CXC/Univ of Missouri/M.Brodwin et al; NASA/STScI; JPL/CalTech

However, finding galaxy clusters that are farther away in spaceand further back in timeis a difficult and uncertain exercise.

In 2012, scientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope first detected signs of IDCS 1426 and made some initial estimates of its mass.

"We had some sense of how massive and distant it was, but we weren't fully convinced," McDonald says. "These new results are the nail in the coffin that proves that it is what we initially thought."

"Tip of the iceberg"

To get a more precise estimate of the galaxy cluster's mass, McDonald and his colleagues used data from several of NASA's Great Observatories: the Hubble Space Telescope, the Keck Observatory, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

"We were basically using three completely different methods to weigh this cluster," McDonald explains.

Both the Hubble and Keck Observatories recorded optical data from the cluster, which the researchers analyzed to determine the amount of light that was bending around the cluster as a result of gravitya phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. The more massive the cluster, the more gravitational force it exerts, and the more light it bends.

They also examined X-ray data from the Chandra Observatory to get a sense of the temperature of the cluster. High-temperature objects give off X-rays, and the hotter a galaxy cluster, the more the gas within that cluster has been compressed, making the cluster more massive.

From the X-ray data, McDonald and his colleagues also calculated the amount of gas in the cluster, which can be an indication of the amount of matterand massin the cluster.

Using all three methods, the group calculated roughly the same massabout 250 trillion times the mass of the sun. Now, the team is looking for individual galaxies within the cluster to get a sense for how such megastructures can form in the early universe.

"This cluster is sort of like a construction siteit's messy, loud, and dirty, and there's a lot that's incomplete," McDonald says. "By seeing that incompleteness, we can get a sense for how [clusters] grow. So far, we've confirmed about a dozen or so galaxies, but we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg, really."

He hopes that scientists may get an even better view of IDCS 1426 in 2018, with the launch of the James Webb Space Telescopean infrared telescope that is hundreds of times more sensitive than the Spitzer Telescope that first detected the cluster.

"People had kind of put away this idea of finding clusters in the optical and infrared, in favor of X-ray and radio signatures," McDonald says. "We're now re-emerging and saying it's actually a fantastic way of finding clusters. It suggests that maybe we need to branch out a little more in how we find these things."

Explore further Whopping galaxy cluster spotted with help of NASA telescopes

More information: "IDCS J1426.5+3508: The Most Massive Galaxy Cluster at z>1.5," Mark Brodwin, Michael McDonald et al., 2016, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal On Arxiv: arxiv.org/abs/1504.01397 Journal information: Astrophysical Journal , arXiv "IDCS J1426.5+3508: The Most Massive Galaxy Cluster at z>1.5," Mark Brodwin, Michael McDonald et al., 2016, to appear in theOn
POST 1 - CLICK TO READ: Lisa Demer, journalist at the Anchorage Daily News, asked all the right questions about Sarah Palin's pregnancy with Trig, and asked directly for Trig's birth certificate - but was met by stonewalling and insults from Palin's staff





POST 2 - CLICK TO READ: More discoveries in Sarah Palin's released emails: Palin's team wanted to launch "pre-emptive strike" against ADN-story about Palin's pregnancy, was shocked that Lisa Demer tried to put together a "timeline" of Bristol's pregnancies and contacted schools and hospitals

POST 3 - CLICK TO READ: Newly released email suggests that five weeks after Trig's official birth, Sarah Palin didn't have a birth certificate for Trig Newly released email suggests that five weeks after Trig's official birth, Sarah Palin didn't have a birth certificate for Trig

- UPDATE: Palin's spokesperson wants to "cut the ADN off" if they continue to ask questions about Trig's birth
Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the American Authors Association

Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the Military Writers Society of America.
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Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created the series in Dover, New Hampshire. The negatives for that first comic, printed in 1984, have surfaced and the owner, a Colorado collector, came to Biddeford In September to look around.
On top of well-publicized research done in recent years about the health benefits of responsibly consumed beer, it turns out there may be a less direct link between fitness and suds.

A CNN story this week about a study published in 2010 by the National Institutes of Health showed a significant correlation between drinking beer and ones ability to stick with an exercise regimen.

Thats probably not news to the folks over at Common Roots Brewing Co. in South Glens Falls, which has been offering a Yoga at the Brewery program the first Sunday of each month since the brewery opened.
CAMBRIDGE  The village of Cambridges public works superintendent was arrested Friday for allegedly possessing child pornography on a home computer, according to police.

Michael J. Telford, 46, of Division Street, was charged after an investigation by the Cambridge-Greenwich Police Department, State Police and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, authorities said.

He was charged with possessing a sexual performance by a child and promoting a sexual performance by a child, both felonies, and misdemeanor fifth-degree criminal possession of marijuana, Cambridge-Greenwich Police Chief George Bell said.

The arrest came after hundreds of illegal child pornography images and videos were found on a personally owned computer at his home, Bell said.

There was no indication any village equipment was used for illicit purposes, or that there were any local victims among the images that he possessed, Bell said.

Computers and related equipment were seized by police.

They (State Police) will be doing further analysis of the computer to determine the extent of it, Bell said.

Telford was arraigned before Cambridge Village Justice Phil Sica and released on his own recognizance. The felony charges are each punishable by up to 11 years in state prison.

The arrest occurred after police were contacted by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children developed evidence that he had been downloading illegal pornography over the Internet, police said.

Telford has been with the village DPW for at least 18 years, and served as head of the department for nearly 10 years. He was taking paid personal leave in light of the arrest and pending disciplinary action. His salary last year was $41,746.

Cambridge Mayor Carman Bogle said the departments second-in-command, Matt Toleman, will run the department in Telfords absence.

Village officials plan to discuss the municipalitys options in terms of disciplinary action in the coming days, she said.

Were all shocked. Its really a regrettable situation, she said.

A phone message left for Telford at his home was not returned Friday afternoon.
CAMBRIDGE  A 22-year-old Vermont man was jailed early Friday after police charged him with three felonies for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl, police said.

Jose D. Conde, of Manchester Center, Vermont, was charged with third-degree rape, attempted third-degree rape and third-degree criminal sexual act, both felonies, and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child after an investigation by Cambridge-Greenwich Police, authorities said.

Police believe he met the girl on an online dating website, and that he met her recently in the village of Cambridge for a sexual encounter, Cambridge-Greenwich Police Chief George Bell said.

The girl told relatives about the incident, and they contacted police. Bell said Cambridge-Greenwich Police communicated with Conde online, posing as the girl, and arranged another visit with him in which he believed the two would meet for sex.

The charges do not accuse him of physically forcing the girl to have sex, but were brought because she was too young to legally consent to sexual contact. The states age of consent is 17.

Police arrested him without incident. Conde was arraigned and sent to Washington County Jail for lack of bail, but had posted bail as of later Friday morning.

Bell and Cambridge-Greenwich Police officers Ryan Saunders and Nicole Voegler handled the case.
QUEENSBURY | A western New York man who pleaded guilty last year to felony sexual abuse for sexual contact with a child has been sentenced to 10 years on probation.

Daniel P. Rammacher, 56, of North Chili, Monroe County pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse last January for a June 2014 incident in the town of Lake George with a child younger than the age of 12. He was acquainted with the child, and was arrested by State Police shortly after the incident.

Warren County Judge John Hall placed him on interim probation for a year last January. He met the terms of interim probation, so Hall imposed a 10-year term of probation on Wednesday.

Rammacher will have to register as a sex offender.
GLENS FALLS  The Glens Falls City School District has lost the latest legal round in its fight to win a greater share of the property tax revenue from the Finch Paper plant.

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court upheld a lower courts ruling and dismissed the case in a decision issued Thursday.

Glens Falls city school officials sued in October 2012 because they claimed that they should receive more property tax revenue from the paper mills, which has land on Fredella Avenue that spans both the city and the Abraham Wing school districts.

The two Finch properties in the case were assessed at $7.55 million and $26.15 million.

The city school district argued in its lawsuit that the more valuable plot of land, which includes buildings containing the companys papermaking equipment, lies within its boundaries.

About 30 percent of the tax revenue from the parcels goes to the city school district and the remaining 70 percent goes to the Abraham Wing school district, which is known formally as the Glens Falls Common School District and has about 175 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. City school officials were looking for more of a 50-50 split.

The lawsuit states the apportionment was set when the assessment roll was finished in 2005 and that same allocation was repeated for each subsequent year. The city school district contended the method used to make the assessments can be challenged in multiple years if the same formula is used.

Oral arguments were heard in August 2013.

Supreme Court Judge David Krogmann dismissed the case in August 2014 on the grounds that the lawsuit was brought beyond the four-month period in which assessments can be challenged. He said the city school district had standing to challenge the assessment, but could not challenge it for multiple years.

All parties to the case filed an appeal. A five-judge panel consisting of John C. Egan Jr., Eugene P. Devine, Christine M. Clark, Karen K. Peters and William McCarthy dismissed the case.

Four of the five justices said the Article 78 lawsuit was not the appropriate venue for their complaint, and it should have been an Article 7 tax challenge.

An Article 78 should only be used in challenging a policy or practice regarding assessments rather than the value of the property itself, according to the ruling.

While petitioners factually allege that discrete determinations regarding the assessments of parcels 1 and 2 were erroneous, they fail to identify a particular methodological approach  that is, any rule applied as a policy or practice in assessments generally  that they allege was improper, wrote the justices.

Justice Egan also agreed with the decision to dismiss, but gave a different reason. He said the Glens Falls City School District lacked standing to challenge the assessment because it is not a taxpayer.

Simply put, a school district is neither a taxpayer nor a property owner; therefore it is precluded from challenging the taxable value of real property, he wrote.

Egan added that the district could join in on a lawsuit brought by a property tax payer.

Glens Falls City School District spokesman Skye Heritage said Superintendent Paul Jenkins was reviewing the decision on Thursday and would have no comment.

The next level to take the case would be the Court of Appeals  the states highest court.

Abraham Wing Superintendent John Godfrey said the school is pleased with the decision.

Obviously, it would have an impact on reduced revenues on the school and that would have been significant, he said.

Glens Falls City Assessor Lauren Stack did not return a message left for comment. Finch Papers spokesman, Paul Brodt of Behan Communications, also did not return a call.
ALBANY | The red and black building in Albany's warehouse district is discreet.

Once the home of the corporate gifts firm Regalo A Gift Experience, the one-story building at 402 N. Pearl St. is now the first medical marijuana dispensary in Albany County, run by Etain, the medical marijuana firm with a growing and manufacturing facility roughly 75 miles north in Chester.

Nothing about the building screams cannabis. On the inside, it looks like a nondescript lobby with a red and gray color scheme.

In a couple of weeks it will have a black and white sign that reads "Etain," but other than that, the budding industry is limited in what marketing is allowed by the regulations.

The building is highly secured and monitored with multiple cameras. Patients will check in in the front greeting area at a large rounded desk. They'll fill out forms and be escorted to the dispensing area, where they'll consult with the pharmacist who will go over their medications and ensure the marijuana product suits their needs.

The product is all vaulted and securely delivered on random dates from the facility in Chester.

Etain's dispensary in Kingston, Ulster County, was the first in the state to open Thursday morning. The women-owned firm's Albany County location is the first to open in the Capital Region.

Two other firms are planning Albany County locations, and Etain also has planned locations in the Yonkers and Syracuse areas that are scheduled to open later in the month.

Eight of the 20 dispensaries planned by the five firms across the state opened Thursday, including in Manhattan and Onondaga, Erie, Albany, Ulster and Westchester counties.

Etain now employs about 20 people, said Chief Operations Officer Hillary Peckham, who led the tour of the dispensary.

The Chester growing facility in an old horse barn stands across the street from another family business, Peckham Industries, a construction materials company separate from Etain that is based in White Plains and has been in operation for 91 years.

Peckham said the Kingston location didn't get any patients, but they did have a couple of prospective patients inquire about the process. No patients showed up in Albany, either.

Peckham said the dispensaries are meant to make people feel comfortable.

The state Department of Health said about 150 doctors have taken the $249 online four-hour course allowing them to prescribe medical marijuana. Those who want the drug must first obtain a certification and recommendation of dosage from one of these doctors before heading to a dispensary. They also need to register with the state and get an ID card, which is required to enter the secured part of the dispensaries.

The state does allow caregivers to register and have up to five patients for whom they can pick up the medicine from a dispensary. Delivery programs are also in the works to be rolled out at a later date.

The Department of Health is planning to issue a list of registered doctors at some point, but as the program rolls out, there are still some unknowns, like how patients can find these doctors now and where the doctors who have taken the course are located.

The roll-out came as scheduled about five months after the five companies were selected to grow in the state, and 18 months after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Compassionate Care Act.

"In five months, we were able to build a cultivation facility, grow our plants, build a manufacturing facility on the other half of the building, extract and create a product and open both of our dispensaries today," Peckham said.

New York is the only state besides Minnesota to limit medical marijuana to non-smokeable extracts. It's one of few states with a physician training requirement.

Etain launched three brands with a range from low THC to high CBD ratios to produce a mixed profile depending on medical needs. THC has long been known as the compound that produces the feeling of being high, and CBD is the compound that can provide analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-anxiety benefits with less of a THC high.

For epileptic patients or those with seizure disorders, for example, Etain has a brand called "Dolce," which has a high CBD formulation "for people who want less of a psychoactive effect," Peckham said.

Peckham said the cost for patients will vary from $300 to $1,200 a month, depending on the patient and whether they are prescribed the medicine in pill, oil or vaporized form. It is not covered by insurance because it is still federally illegal.

Peckham said the company is hoping to offer a program for income-qualifying patients. It's also a cash business  no credit cards are accepted at the dispensaries at this time.

"Registered organizations are allowed to offer reduced price programs. Right now, Etain is trying to cover the cost, and when we get to a certain number that we can cover manufacturing operations, will then offer a reduced price program," Peckham said.

She said estimates pegged profitability at about 1,000 patients a year. Based on other states, she said they anticipate about 20,000 patients a year statewide.

Etain produces the medicine in pill, oil droplet and vape pen (like an e-cigarette) cartridge forms.
State and local police agencies and prosecutors will be receiving significantly less funding from the federal government because of a decision to stop distributing assets seized during drug cases.

The U.S. Department of Justice notified law enforcement agencies around the nation in recent days that it will no longer share proceeds of drug cases that are seized from drug dealers in federal court actions.

The decision will cost local police and prosecutors millions of dollars that has been used to equip and train officers in police departments, district attorneys offices and drug task forces.

It also may result in agencies leaving the task forces, which police said would hurt drug investigations. Eligibility for federal forfeiture funds is one of the major reasons agencies assign officers to federal task forces.

They could lose a lot of local members because of this, Warren County Sheriff Bud York said.

Some agencies have already pulled their people off (federal task forces), Washington County Sheriff Jeff Murphy said.

York and Murphy said they are waiting to see if the Department of Justice reverses its stance before deciding whether to remove their officers from the regional federal task force, the Capital Region Drug Task Force. A nationwide consortium of police and prosecutors has asked the Department of Justice to reconsider reinstating the 30-plus-year-old program.

In addition to funding from seized money, vehicles, property and other valuables that are confiscated upon conviction in certain drug cases, the Department of Justice pays the overtime costs, and for a vehicle, for officers assigned to its task forces. York said it was unclear how those reimbursements would be affected.

Were in a wait-and-see mode right now, he said.

Sheriffs offices from Warren, Washington and Saratoga counties and the Saratoga Springs Police Department have officers on the the Capital District Drug Task Force. Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo said he has no plans to remove his personnel from the organization, and is hopeful that the forfeiture sharing program will be reinstated.

The move does not affect cases in which a person is charged in New York state courts, but the federal cases have typically been the ones where local agencies who are members of regional federal task forces receive the largest shares.

The Department of Justice cited a need to make up for federal budget cuts in recent years in making the change. Murphy said that the freeze is in place going forward, but money from previous cases will still be forthcoming.

Local police agencies and prosecutors have taken in millions of dollars over the years from the federal asset sharing program, one major drug case yielding the sheriffs offices in Warren, Washington and Saratoga counties between $450,000 and $500,000 apiece in 2014.

District attorneys in the counties also received between $46,000 and $122,000 from the same case, proceeds from a seizure of more than $12 million from a major marijuana dealer who had buried gold and silver bars on property he owned to launder his money.

We renovated one of our buildings with it, bought vehicles and equipment, Murphy said. Its helped our agency buy a lot of equipment that taxpayers didnt have to pay for.

Financial benefits arent the only ones, however, Murphy said. Being part of the federal task force allows agencies access to equipment, manpower and regional intelligence, but it also provides federal agencies with manpower that is paid for by local agencies.

York said his office generally receives $120,000 to $200,000 in forfeiture money annually through the federal program, the major case from 2014 notwithstanding. Murphy said his office took in about $300,000 in federal funds last year.

York, Zurlo and Murphy said the federal agency suspended the program for several months a few years ago as well, but reinstated it after public pressure.
THURMAN  The Town Board is off to a bumpy start in 2016, as one board member has quit and another has questioned the validity of an appointment to fill the seat left vacant due to a tie vote in Novembers election.

Gail Seaman, who was running for a second term, finished tied with Joan Harris at 241 votes apiece after all ballots were counted. Under state law, a tie is a failure to elect.

Town law gives the board the authority to make an appointment. Public Officers Law states that the governor could also call a special election on a failure to elect. The law also says that a public officer shall continue to discharge the duties of their office until a successor has been chosen.

Complicating matters is that board member Daniel Smith on Dec. 31 abruptly resigned halfway into his four-year term. That created two vacancies on the five-member board.

At Mondays organizational meeting, Supervisor Evelyn Wood and new board member John Youngblood nominated Seaman to fill the seat. Because she was considered a holdover member, Seaman was allowed to vote on her own appointment. Board member Michael Eddy voted no.

Mark Schachner and Justin Grassi, Thurmans legal counsel, wrote that case law is unclear on the issue. A 2004 attorney general opinion regarding a tie vote in the city of Glen Cove seemed to indicate that the holdover clause applies to appointed positions and not elected ones. It also cited a 2013 opinion that questioned the ability of towns to appoint people to vacant seats on the board.

Schachner wrote: the safest position is that no member holds over and that our seat remains vacant until filled by election. Again, in light of contradictory authority, we believe that the other options are legally defensible, but have stated the most conservative position.

Wood said the original plan was just to allow Seaman to serve on the board in a holdover capacity. However, Eddy expressed reservations about that idea.

Based on his discomfort, we would appoint  just to be clearer with everybody that she was a board member and could vote just like any other board member, she said.

Seaman will serve until Dec. 31, 2016 and whoever wins election this November would take over the seat, according to Wood.

Wood does not see an issue with Seaman voting on her own appointment. She pointed out that she has voted on resolutions to be appointed as the boards representative to the Adirondack Gateway Council or some other body.

Eddy believes Wood acted improperly. He said he is in contact with the attorney general, the town attorney and his own lawyer. He said the board should have gone the safe route and not filled the seat.

Youre taking the privilege of the people away from that choice, he said.

Eddy, who is in the third year of a four-year term, said he believes the supervisor wanted to appoint Seaman so she had another sympathetic voice.

Evelyn Wood wanted control of that board and with two seats vacant, she does not have control, she said.

Eddy said he is concerned about the way the towns finances are being managed. He worries the town is not going to be reimbursed by the state for the expenses of the white space Internet project. He also said the town has been slow to fix contamination of certain residents water supply from its salt shed.

Eddy and Smith were part of the Republican block of candidates who ran for Town Board in the 2013 election.

In a brief resignation letter, Smith said he was grateful for the opportunity to serve on the board for the last two years but had to resign for personal and job-related conflict.

Wood said the board decided to seek letters of interest from people until Jan. 31 and will review the submissions at its February meeting.

We dont know for certain if we will appoint or not, she said. We just want to see what interest is out there in the community.

Smith did not return a message left for comment on his resignation.

Wood added that appointing people to the board is more cost-effective than holding a special election. She reiterated that the board was following its attorneys initial legal advice.

Mr. Eddy disagreed with that advice and has run up a substantial legal bill, she said, without citing a specific figure.

Regarding the white space project, Wood said the town is waiting for the accountant to review the white space expenses. Once that is complete, a letter will be sent to the state, so the program can be reimbursed.

Wood said about 23 people are hooked up to white space. Wood believes that more people will sign up as soon as their contracts with other service providers expire. White space will be made available to about 100 homes, which is more than the 80 the town had initially targeted.

Wood is confident the state reimbursements will be sent.

The salt shed issue is also being addressed. The board on Monday opened bids to install a concrete pad on its salt shed. The bids will be reviewed by the engineer.

The town is installing test wells for water systems being put in for homeowners where the water was affected by salt contamination. One of the houses has been hooked up to a new well, according to Wood.

We had a very good construction season that allowed us to get some extra work done, she said.

The meeting was cordial and board members were laughing, according to Wood.

We have challenges, but there was no confrontation. There were no angry words. It was a pleasant meeting where everybody worked together, she said.
ANOTHER BLOG FROM NEVILLE STEPHENS ON BIBLICAL ESCHATOLOGY.
Regularly ahead of the curve, the Review has opposed federal drug policy for nearly 50 years, was a lonely media voice against the massive freeways planned for Washington, was an early advocate of bikeways and light rail, and helped spur the creation of the DC Statehood Party and the national Green Party,

In November 1990 it devoted an entire issue to the ecologically sound city and how to develop it. The article was republished widely.

Even before Clinton's nomination we exposed Arkansas political scandals that would later become major issues. .

We reported on NSA monitoring of U.S. phone calls in the 1990s, years before it became a major media story.

In 2003 editor Sam Smith wrote an article for Harper's comprised entirely of falsehoods about Iraq by Bush administration officials.

The Review started a web edition in 1995 when there were only 27,000 web sites worldwide. Today there are over 170 million active sites.

In 1987 we ran an article on AIDS. It was the first year that more than 1,000 men died of the disease.

In the 1980s, Thomas S Martin predicted in the Review that "Yugoslavia will eventually break up" and that "a challenge to the centralized soviet state" would occur as a result of devolutionary trends. Both happened.

In the 1970s we published a first person account of a then illegal abortion.

In 1971 we published our first article in support of single payer universal health care

In 1970, we ran a two part series on gay liberation.

i

n 1965 we called for the end of the draft.

In the 1960s we proposed community policing
Nineveh, U.S.A.

Chaldean Catholics Zinah Marzana and her mother, Victoria, live in Gilbert, Arizona (photo: Nancy Wiechec). Zinah Marzana's blue-green eyes fill with tears as she recalls the moment her life changed forever. It was December, and she was holding her infant son as her husband, Zergo, drove along the road outside Tel Kaif in northern Iraq's Nineveh Plain. Her brother sat in the front seat beside her husband. Somehow, they'd lost their way.

"My husband asked for directions from another driver," Ms. Marzana says. At that point, the family discovered the men in the other car were armed. "They asked where we came from and if we were Christian. We told them yes. My husband -- he stepped on the gas to try to get away."

But it was too late. The other car sped after them. Bullets ripped through the air, striking and killing her husband. Ms. Marzana was also badly injured by a bullet that lodged in her spine. Paralyzed for six months, she was unable to care for her son, Fadi. Her voice breaks as she describes the helplessness she felt.

"I was nursing my son at the time and I heard him crying. I heard some ladies at the hospital asking, 'Who will feed him?'"

It was an agonizing two years before the soft-spoken, petite woman could walk normally. At that time, in 2009, she and her family decided to leave Iraq.

"I couldn't stay there -- it was too hard," Ms. Marzana says quietly.

Her younger sisters nod, relieved to be far from a place where mortal danger is an everyday fact of life. Vian, 19, sums up their feelings: "Our religion -- it means everything to us. We were so scared there."

Aunts, uncles and cousins of the family number among the tens of thousands of Christians, as well as Yazidi and other Iraqi minorities, forced from their homes by ISIS in August 2014, who now live in makeshift housing or in camps in Iraqi Kurdistan, or further afield. Ms. Marzana and her sisters hope to be reunited one day with their displaced family in their new home: a quiet suburb outside Phoenix, Arizona, a world away from the violence that drove them from their native Iraq.

Before finding their way to Arizona, Ms. Marzana and her family first settled in El Cajon, California, home to some 60,000 Chaldean Catholics, most of whom hail from Iraq.

For decades, Chaldeans have been building communities in the southwestern region of the United States. Now, as ISIS drives Christians from their homes in Iraq, these communities have grown into a base of support and hope across the globe.

People mingle outside St. Peter Chaldean Cathedral in El Cajon (photo: Nancy Wiechec).

Over the years, El Cajon, which lies east of San Diego, has taken on the shape of its growing community of Iraqi Christians. Signs in many of the city's shops and restaurants are in Chaldean or Arabic, leading some to dub East Main Street, "Little Baghdad." A stroll through the grounds of St. Peter Chaldean Cathedral is more reminiscent of the ancient city of Babylon, with sculptured lions of Ishtar guarding the entrance to the hall.

From this city, Bishop Sarhad Jammo, a native of Baghdad, leads the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle, a jurisdiction spanning 19 states in the west of the country. Second only to Michigan -- the cradle of the nation's other Chaldean eparchy -- California has grown into a major Chaldean hub, with ten parishes and two missions. El Cajon alone also boasts two convents, a monastery and a seminary alongside a catechetical program serving 1,000 children, who learn to pray and celebrate the Qurbana, the eucharistic liturgy of the Chaldean Church, in a modern form of the Aramaic language.

On a warm Friday morning in mid-August, a red-haired altar server sweeps the floor in the hall at St. Michael Chaldean Church, where some 70 or so parishioners had just finished a morning game of bingo. Born in Baghdad, Domunik Shamoun, 11, came to the United States in 2008 with his two older brothers and parents. He expresses pride in his heritage.

"I think it's cool that Jesus spoke Chaldean when he was alive. I speak the same language," he says during a pause from his work. At home he speaks Chaldean to his parents and English to his brothers.

El Cajon's Mar Abba the Great Seminary -- the only Chaldean seminary outside of Iraq -- reflects the vibrancy of the Chaldean community in the western United States. In 2015, Bishop Sarhad ordained four priests; three were born in the United States, and a fourth arrived with his parents when he was 3.

Parishioners attend the liturgy at Holy Family Chaldean Mission in Phoenix (photo: Nancy Wiechec).

"I don't think Chaldeans are just one nation among nations," Bishop Sarhad says. "They have a major role in the redemptive plan of God." That great destiny, he says, is not his own invention, but rather foreshadowed in the Bible when God called Abraham from the land of Chaldea.

"He's the one who said there is one spiritual God, the creator of humanity. I am the heir of that heritage. I cannot escape it," Bishop Sarhad adds. The Chaldean heritage is evident from the moment the blue dome of St. Peter Cathedral appears along the highway that snakes through this sleepy town in Southern California. For Chaldeans, the church is the center of their lives.

Standing inside the cathedral on a late summer afternoon, Mark Arabo, a San Diego businessman and community leader, translates for Romey Saed, an Iraqi immigrant still learning English who arrived in El Cajon two years ago. His brother, who is now displaced in northern Iraq, hopes one day to join him.

Mr. Saed works in a store, just as he did back home, but with one major difference. "Here, I don't worry about my kids. I don't worry about my wife. It's nice. I do what I want."

Mr. Arabo is well known in the Chaldean community and beyond for his efforts to assist those displaced by violence.

"They're just so happy to be in America," Mr. Arabo says. "A lot of them do have posttraumatic stress. Some of them still think that ISIS will come get them."

Noori Barka, a local businessman, works with many of the refugees. His company employs 35 people, 30 of whom are Chaldean.

"The church is number one in our lives," Mr. Barka says. "We are a small community. Everybody knows everybody."

Mr. Barka has worked to build a strong relationship with city leaders and help bridge the cultural divide. At first, residents were uneasy when they saw signs in Arabic; by 2014, they had grown comfortable enough to declare September "Chaldean-American Month" in El Cajon. He has spoken at events throughout the area, sharing the message that Chaldeans are descendants of some of the earliest Christian communities in the Middle East -- something he says surprises audiences. He serves on the board of the Boys and Girls Club, where many Chaldean children participate in after-school programs.

Mr. Barka is also in the process of creating a program to help Chaldeans establish businesses, something he says is in their blood. The idea sprang from his experience helping many of his relatives set up shop.

"Here they have opportunity. This is the place in the world that you can have nothing -- no degree, no money -- but you still can make it," Mr. Barka says.

Deacon Martin Banni, 24, a student at Mar Abba the Great Seminary, has only been in El Cajon two months. He and his pastor were the last two people to leave the village of Karamlish, near Mosul, when ISIS swept through the area last year, threatening Christians with death or the jizya tax if they would not convert.

"Father called the bishop and he said, 'It is finished. You have to go,'" Deacon Martin recounts. "So we rang the church bell. It was 11 p.m. Our people, they knew something bad was happening."

After helping carloads of villagers pack up, Deacon Banni and his pastor took the Bible and the Eucharist and left St. Barbara Church, built on the site where local tradition believes the third-century martyr gave her life.

"My body is here, but my heart is there," Deacon Banni notes wistfully. Though he has found safety in North America, along with his parents and older brothers, he longs to return to his native Iraq, to serve his brothers and sisters who are suffering for the faith.

Chorbishop Felix Shabi, a native of Karamlish who leads the Chaldean vicariate of Arizona, says his brother priests share similar sentiments.

"I want to be with my people in their time of suffering," he says, though he acknowledges the Chaldean community in Arizona needs its leader.

Chorbishop Shabi, known throughout the eparchy as "Father Felix," came to the United States in 2002. He served seven years in El Cajon and erected St. Barbara Church in Las Vegas before relocating to Phoenix in 2009.

"Here we are spread out. Our people are in Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe, Glendale, Surprise," the priest says, ticking off a list of some of the suburbs that comprise the Phoenix metropolitan area. Once a month, he travels two hours to Tucson to celebrate the Qurbana and attend to the Chaldean families who live there.

"Many of them, their family has only one car, so if one is working, the rest of the family cannot get to church." Chorbishop Shabi dreams of the day he can unite the Chaldeans of Phoenix in one church building. For now, the community rents two churches -- one on Phoenix's northwest side and the other on the southeast side.

Mar Abraham Chaldean Church, the community's headquarters in Arizona, was founded in 1995 by 70 Chaldean families who settled in the state. Raad Delly was among them. His uncle, Mar Emanuel III, led the Chaldean Church as patriarch and cardinal, and died in San Diego in 2014.

Mr. Delly doesn't have any grandchildren yet, but says that when he does, he will teach them their Chaldean heritage.

Maha George, who sings in the choir at the Chaldean mission in Gilbert, outside Phoenix, says the same. Mrs. George left Baghdad years ago after being shot by one of Saddam Hussein's men while she was eight months pregnant. Her husband, Luay, worked three jobs to help establish their family, which now co-owns two car washes.

"It's our roots. It's a great history to belong to," Mrs. George says. "America took us in, thank God, but we don't want that history to get lost. Somebody has to keep it."

The eparchy's four new priests have all pledged to help preserve this legacy. Although only in their early 20's, the men are steeped in their heritage.

The Rev. David Stephan, 23, spoke before a packed cathedral at his ordination, sharing the tale of his journey in faith. Reared close to the church, he first felt called to the priesthood when he was 8 years old, and for a time he briefly considered entering the Jesuit novitiate after high school. Then Bishop Sarhad stepped in for what would prove an intense encounter.

"He said, 'If you are at your friend's house and you hear that your house is on fire, and another house in your neighborhood is on fire, where would you go to first?' I said, 'My house, of course,' like 'what's he talking about? Of course it's logical that I would go to my house first.' And then he just stared at me for about two minutes until finally it clicked, what he was trying to get through. This is my home. This is my house," Father Stephan said to thunderous applause.

The Rev. Simon Esshaki, 24, ordained in July, said new priests are key to preserving their identity.

"Bishop Sarhad taught us that worshiping God is the most important thing you can do on this earth and that the Chaldean liturgy has treasures that are centuries old," Father Esshaki said.

At a celebration after the ordinations of two new priests, seminarian Rami Georgis reflects on the Chaldean identity, forged in the crucible of martyrdom.

"Our faith is in our blood. We are not scared of carrying our faith. Our fathers, they shed their blood for the faith, for the community and their families."

In this, he says, the Chaldean Catholic community grounds itself. "When there is no church, they don't feel alive," he says. "So they start from square one, ask for a priest and establish a church."

Looking ahead, he sees hope. "God is going to be with us to defend us. He will carry us and renew us and make us strong."
This follows recent staff verification exercise conducted by the Ghana Education Service (GES) in its quest to flush out teachers using fake certificates.

It also brings to 135 teachers believed to be operating with fake certificates in different parts of the country who are being investigated by the BNI.

Read more: 102 teachers in Brong Ahafo caught using fake certificates

According to a Daily Graphic report, the move is part of efforts by the GES to sanitise the educational system to ensure that only those with genuine certificates are maintained.

As part of the exercise, the various regional directors of education have been tasked to forward verification reports on all teachers in both basic and second-cycle institutions under their jurisdiction.

See related: GES to sack all unqualified and untrained teachers

According to the Head of the Public Relations Unit of the GES, Rev. Jonathan Bettey, the names of 11 out of the number from the Gomoa East District in the Central Region had been handed over to the BNI.

He said currently, the BNI was inviting the affected teachers for interrogation.

See also:GES to sack teachers working with fake certificates
According to reports, he confronted her as she was walking home with a friend in the San Fernando area of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He allegedly rode up to her on his motorbike and blocked her path before bringing out a knife and stabbing her in the neck, arms, head,face and ear. When she tried to scream for help, he cut her tongue.

Her dad, Claudio Kleer, told local media: "I am indignant and at the same time very sad, because our whole society is asking that justice serves those victims of gender violence but lamentably this is not happening.

The aggressor, Leandro Trejo, was hardly even detained for two hours, because they considered her wounds minor, when it was clearly an attempt at femicide. Nicole's friend had to throw herself on top of the attacker with the help of a passing man. The fact that she is alive is pure luck."
While government wanted a total of 500 million Ghana Cedis, it was able to raise only 426 million Ghana Cedis by the end of the issuance of the bond in total offers.

Out of this, the Bank of Ghana took 373 million Ghana Cedis at an interest of 24.75 percent, something that has sparked concerns amongst analysts because the rate is higher than the country's last interest in the last domestic bond issue where government got a 23.85 percent.

Whereas some analysts thinks the situation suggests that investor confidence in the Ghanaian economy, others believe its as a result of the U.S interest rake hikes.

But country director of investment firm, C-Nergy Ghana, Mike Cobblah in a conversation with Joy FM the under-subscription to timing.

He explained that most of the foreign investors are now returning from the holidays.
Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord (meninges), with causes including bacterial, viral, parasites and even chemical.

A statement signed by the Head of Public Relations at the Ministry, Tony Goodman said "The districts teams have been supported by the Regional and National teams in order to contain the spread. There has not been any case for the past two days,"

"If you see any symptoms, report early to a health facility because this can significantly improve treatment outcome and chances for survival. We wish to indicate that the Ministry of Health is doing everything possible to contain the situation and we count on the support and cooperation of all," the statement added.

Below is the full statement:

OUTBREAK OF MENINGITIS AND YELLOW FEVER IN SOME PARTS OF THE COUNTRY

Ministry of Health wishes to bring to the notice of the public that there is an outbreak of meningitis and yellow fever in the Tain District in Brong Ahafo and West Gonja in the Northern Regions respectively.

As at January 6th 2016, 30 suspected cases with 7 deaths have been recorded of the meningitis in the district whilst a total of twelve (12) cases of yellow fever have been reported and three (3) have died as a result since the end of 2015.

Typically with this kind of meningitis, fatality is high but potential for massive spread is low.

This is not Epidemic Meningococcal Disease or CSM, which is caused by Neisseria meningitides, which has potential for massive and widespread outbreaks.

It is worthy of note that the responses of the regions and districts so far are appropriate and adequate and we expect these response actions to contain and halt the outbreak.

The districts teams have been supported by the Regional and National teams in order to contain the spread. There has not been any case for the past two days.

If you see any symptoms, report early to a health facility because this can significantly improve treatment outcome and chances for survival. We wish to indicate that the Ministry of Health is doing everything possible to contain the situation and we count on the support and cooperation of all.

What is Yellow Fever

Yellow fever is an acute febrile illness that presents with fever, and jaundice (yellowish discoloration of the eyes), muscle pain with prominent backache, and headache. There may be bleeding tendencies. The disease spreads by the bite of infected mosquitoes (Aedes mosquitoes).

Symptoms appear after an incubation period of 3 to 6 days following the bite of the mosquitoe. Most patients improve and their symptoms resolve after 3 to 4 days. However about 15% of patients enter a second, more toxic phase within 24 hours of the initial remission. High fever returns and is accompanied by severe multisystem illness.

What is Meningitis

Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord (meninges). Causes include bacterial, viral, parasites and even chemical. Bacterial meningitis is caused by various bacterial pathogens. Neisseria meningitides, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemphilus influenza type b represents the triad responsible for over 80% of all cases of bacterial meningitis.

Mode of transmission

Transmission or spread is by direct contact, including respiratory droplets from nose and throat of infected persons or carriers. Carrier rates may be as high as 25% during endemic periods and as high as 50% during epidemics. Incubation period varies from 2 to 10 days, an average of 3-4 days

Signs and symptoms of meningitis include sudden onset of severe headache, fever, vomiting, neck stiffness and photophobia (dislike for light). Other symptoms include lethargy, coma and convulsions. In babies, there may be bulging of the anterior fontanelle (soft part of the bead).

ACTIONS TAKEN SO FAR IN RESPONSE TO THE OUTBREAK

 Conducted investigation into the outbreak and exact causative agent identified to be pneumococcus. This can be treated with antibiotics and effective antibiotics identified.

 Provided adequate stock of antibiotics (Ampicillin, Ceftriaxone and Erythromycin being organized to beef up what is in the District.

 Other logistics such as laboratory test kits, gloves etc. have been dispatched to the affected area.

 Communities have been visited and intensive public health education is ongoing

 Other outlets such as the radio station, Gong-Gong beating and community mobilization is also being used

 Surveillance on meningitis has been enhanced and Health workers sensitized on the outbreak.

 Municipal and Regional Epidemic management committees have been activated and are functional.

 Teams of health workers conduct contact tracing and primary and secondary contacts are managed as appropriate.

 OPD records from all health facilities have been reviewed from 20th December 2015 till date from all facilities to help determine missed cases.

 All districts in the region and neighbouring regions have been alerted to look for cases as well

What we require from the general public

People with symptoms and signs suggestive of meningitis (fever, headache, neck stiffness) should report immediately go to the nearest health facility.

Avoid overcrowding, prevent dryness of the throat by drinking, prevent cough and sneezing etiquettes.

Other preventive measures include avoiding mosquito bite, sleeping in insecticide treated bed nets, environmental cleanliness and preventing stagnation of water in tins and tyres.

TONY GOODMAN
This makes Nigerias orphan and vulnerable children burden one of the highest in the world. A recent situation assessment and analysis conducted by the FMWASD found that approximately 80 per cent of these children were not attending school.

The rate of vulnerable children attending school is particularly concerning as the best way to alleviate poverty and create opportunities for young people is to provide them with a quality education, said Uzo Nwagwu, Chief Operating Officer for GE Nigeria Oil and Gas. We at GE feel strongly that if we can introduce education to pupils through information technology, we can start making a positive impact on the lives of people who need our help the most.

While AVSI has been providing education to vulnerable children at two schools in Lagos State, SS. Peter and Paul Nursery and Primary School in Ikate Elegushi and St. John Nursery and Primary School in Oreta, they needed a partner who could help them provide education to pupils and teachers through information technology.

GE set up an information technology laboratory with 15 desk computers to introduce this form of education to 25 nursery and primary school teachers, who will now be strengthened through IT aids. Because of this, 360 vulnerable children will have access to computer-based education for the first time.

The new computer laboratory is designed to provide urban children aged five to 11 a meaningful, yet fun, learning experience during school hours, in a safe environment. It will provide an otherwise unavailable educational experience and bridge the digital divide among at-risk children. It hopes to increase childrens interest in careers in computers and provide them with the necessary tools to help them become more competitive in school and in todays job market.

We hope this new computer laboratory will not just provide necessary equipment to pupils of these schools, but also make learning exciting and fun, so they are encouraged to continue their studies and pursue careers in information technology, said Uzo Nwagwu.

Each week, teachers will conduct hands-on experience working in the laboratory with students. Each pupil will have direct access to the computers.

In addition, students will complete assignments guided by the computer teachers. There will be a regular assessment of progress to ensure this initiative and the associated technology is making a real impact on the lives of the students.
It has been a remarkable journey for a man fired by a desire to help lift people out of poverty through access to safe and reliable energy. In 2008, as a student intern with an international oil company, Orajaka visited Nigerian oil facilities. He saw that rural communities near the facilities lacked electricity.

This spurred me and some of my friends and course mates to brainstorm how to apply our basic engineering and innovative skills towards making an impact in the lives of low income rural dwellers. We wanted to design a platform that would provide them with access to electricity to cater for their basic energy needs, he said.

Their idea formed the basis of a winning entry for the 2009 Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Presidents Change the World Project Competition, which seeks to identify students that proffer solutions to real world problems. Thanks to the award, they were able to start a pilot project with funding from both the IEEE and a programme run by the UNDP and Nigerias Bank of Industry. The group formed a social enterprise, Green Village Electricity Enterprises, which in 2012 became Green Village Electricity (GVE) Projects Limited, a fully incorporated, private for-profit company.

Orajaka plans to continue the companys growth through improved processes and procedures, attaining world-class standards as it aspires to bring off-grid electricity to millions of people. On a personal note, he intends to embark on an MBA programme specialising in finance.

He advises other entrepreneurs to remain focused on creating value and never to be deterred by the challenges they may encounter, as these are the stepping stones to success.

He remains driven by the desire he had as a student to bring electricity to communities who have never had it before.
The circuit court judges, comprising two males and three females, are Baah Forson Agyapong, Malcolm E Bedzrah, Mercy Adei Kotei, Priscilla Dirkro and Mary M.E. Nsenkyire.

The magistrates are Joyce Boahen, Rita Amonyiwah Edusah, Athoney AdukuAidoo, and Evelyn Asamoah.

The rest are Gloria Mensah Bonsu, Susana Eduful, Agnes Opoku Bamieh and Afia Owusuwaa Appiah.

According to Mr Justice Alex Opoku, the judicial service for the first time published the names of the applicants in various newspapers in the country.

This is to enable the general public participate in the selection of judges in a bid to taking out appointees who lack integrity and therefore are not eligible.

The President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Mr Ben Nutsupkui, asked the judges to adopt good practices and maintain effective communication with lawyers.
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Major Oduro said Parliament needs to be provided with answers from government over what he described as a sensitive issue.

Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby are two Gitmo prisoners being offered humanitarian assistance in Ghana.

Bin Atef is an admitted member of the Taliban and fought for Usama bin Laden, while Al-Dhuby trained with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

The decision by government of Ghana to accept the prisoners into the country for resettlement has sparked outrage among Ghanaians.

Major Derek Oduro (retired) speaking to Citi FM said, "Government should have prepared the minds of Ghanaians, now every Ghanaian is going through some mental torture, panic, fear."

"These people what would be the security implications, should Al Qaeda, the group that they belong to attack an interest outside Ghana and within the country Ghana, what are we going to do when that thing happens," he asked.

"So people want to know, what will be the security implications. the Minister must appear before Parliament and brief us," he said.
The MCE was quoted as saying the programme was inciting the people against President John Mahamas government, making his administration very unpopular.

The television programme, Asem Yi Di Ka, was being aired to offer an opportunity for customers who have been affected by the fraudulent activities of micro finance institutions in the area, an opportunity to air their grievances.

Forty  five minutes, into the programme, the MCE emerged in the company of the Police including Superintendent Washington Foli, Municipal Police Commander and Assistant Superintendent of Police Samuel K. Yeboah and demanded that the ATV crew stop the live transmission of the programme, for the reason, that the crew had not sought permission from the Police for the public event.

The MCEs action angered the spectators who begun to protest vehemently against his directive.

Nana Tufour, the Producer of the Programme, speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, claimed he had earlier called the MCE to participate in the event but he declined.

We were expecting the MCE to send his representative but he did not because we had invited some representatives of other political parties, the producer stated.

When contacted the MCE explained that he ordered the ATV crew to end the programme because they were in breach of the Public Order Act, as the teeming crowd of the disgruntled customers were to gather to air their views.

Additionally, the crew failed to notify the Police about the impending programme and this was absolutely illegal according to the 1992 Constitution.

They are journalists, and for a programme of that kind, they were expected to know better by conducting background checks and investigations first because this is an issue, we are still working on to resolve, he added.

Mr Asubonteng confirmed that the producer had called him, but he informed him that he was in Sunyani and would proceed to the venue, "which I did to stop them.

I didnt give them the permission to do any programme because Im not the Police, he added.

Supt Foli, corroborated the assertions of the MCE stating they were never notified about such an impending programme.

He said once there were members of the opposition parties involved as panelists, it was proper for the crew to do the right thing to prevent any inconvenience.

The Municipal Police Commander described the television programme as politically motivated.
According to the Counselor for the US Embassy in Ghana Daniel Fennell, the two ex-detainees of the popular detention camp pose no security threat to Ghana.

Ghanaians who spoke to Pulse.com.gh expressed their displeasure over the matter.

The two Gitmo prisoners Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby have been linked to terrorist group Al Qaeda.

The two inmates are the first of a group of 17 detainees expected to be transferred out of Guantanamo Bay that includes "multiple bad guys" and "Al Qaeda followers."

Read more: Two Gitmo prisoners to resettle in Ghana

But Daniel Fennell speaking to Accra-based radio station, Kasapa FM said the move is to enable the detainees to be reintegrated into society.

"We dont think of them as terrorists, we think of them as detainees.under the circumstances it is not possible for them to go back to Yemen and Ghana accepted to help and the US is very grateful.

"If they were seen as active in AI Qaeda in the past, over the cause of time they are no longer active in that area. Ghana becomes the 55th country to partner the US in this humanitarian assistance. we dont think Ghana is doing anything dangerous to invite any attacks from terrorists, he said.

See also: Angry Ghanaians reject move to resettle Guantanamo prisoners

He, however, added that it is legitimate for Ghanaians to ask questions and express concerns over the arrival of the two, adding it is the responsibility of state officials to provide the right answers to allay the fears of the citizenry.

Meanwhile, an International Relations expert, Professor Keith Bluwey has condemned the government for its decision to accept the Guantanamo Bay inmates.
Twelve people have so far been infected with the disease but the Health ministry says it has the outbreak under control.

We have dispatched officers from the national and the regional level to the various districts to be able to contain the disease. PRO of the health Ministry Tony Goodman told Pulse.com.gh The disease has been contained for about some ten days now we have not recorded any new case.

The outbreak of yellow fever was preceded by another outbreak of meningitis in the Tain District in the Brong Ahafo region. Thirty meningitis infections were recorded with seven deaths. But the ministry says it is totally under control now

Goodman advised people to avoid crowded areas and ensure there is enough ventilation in their rooms at all times.
Responding to the raging controversy on Citi Fm's Breakfast Show, over the fact that fuel prices had gone up by 27% when parliament had approved a five percent increment as suggested by the Ministry of Finance, Moses Asaga disclosed that:

" The NPA, in a meeting with the ministry of finance clearly told the minister that fuel prices at the pumps will go up by 20 to 28% if the Special Energy Sector Levies are imposed."

When asked why parliament approved a 5% increase, the NPA boss said the Ministry of Finance misled parliament into approving the document.

" That had nothing to do with the NPA, the Ministry of Finance misled parliament into passing the levies."

Meanwhile, deputy minister of Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson has attempted to clarify the document made available to parliament.

" All we tried to do was to present different scenarios as to how much fuel may cost at the pump if the Energy Sector Levy was imposed, coupled with the exchange rate and international world price of oil at the time. We did not mislead parliament" he said.

Additionally, the NPA boss took a swipe at parliament for contributing to the confusion over the fuel prices.
The two were reportedly debating the call by NDC General Secretary, Asiedu Nketiah, to have the running mate of the NPP, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, arrested for allegedly forging documents to deceive the Electoral Commission, according to media report on Thursday.

The discussion shifted to alleged comments by an NDC communicator, Robert Owusu, on a Kumasi radio station to the effect that he would slash NPP members with cutlasses should they dare cause trouble before and after the 2016 general elections.

Mr Tahiru is said to have remarked that NPP was even more prepared than the NDC to use violence if provoked.

That statement was said to have been condemned by the NDCs Mahama Zakaria, who reportedly accused his NPP counterpart of giving an extremist response.

Giving his version of events, Mr Zakaria said his use of the word extremist did not go down well with Mr Tahiru, leading to a scuffle.

See also: Nyaho Tamakloe vows to fight NPP for his suspension

Mr Zakaria claimed Mr Tahiru hit him while he was gesticulating with his hands.

"I saw that he was up to something so I hit him back and we started struggling," he was quoted as saying.

He said the exchanges got physical and he was bitten on the right cheek by Mr Tahiru.

Mr Zakaria said he was taken to the Kabsad Hospital in Tamale, where he was treated and later discharged.
He was at the partys headquarters in Accra Friday afternoon accompanied by members of his campaign team.

See also: Samia files nomination

Mr Agyapong has, however, urged members of the party not to tolerate infiltration from any other political party.

The presidential candidate hopeful said CPP has been highly tipped to govern the country after the 2016 general elections.

Mr Agyapong said Ghanaians were fed up of the fruitless reigns of the NDC and NPP, and that they were waiting for a new direction, which only CPP is capable of delivering.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) and other interest groups have subsequently expressed dissatisfaction about the latest decision taken by the EC, and have vowed to take legal action and stage demonstrations until the register is changed.

But, speaking to the media in Accra, the chairperson of the EC, Charlotte Osei said her outfit will not be perturbed and will continue to do what is right.

An electoral management body should never be stampeded into taking a decision by political parties and thats why the constitution grants you that independence, she said.

People may try to stampede and thats why you have to stand your grounds and do what you know is right... There is inclusiveness in the sense that you need to listen to the views of all the stakeholders and examine their views and take it on board when you can. But you must always do what is right and what is legal."

Responding to claims by the NPP that the EC had failed to contact the Togolese electoral body over allegations that 70, 000 names from that country were on Ghana's electoral roll, Mrs Osei said.
According to him, We have done sufficient There are things that we have delivered. I feel very proud, sometimes I dont know we did it. You go to a community and the Chief is praising you to high heaven for some school or some clinic I didnt even know had been put there. But everywhere you go they say we see the development, we have a good road, we have enough water.

Addressing government officials in Ho on Friday at a retreat, President Mahama charged his appointees to prepare for the heavy schedule ahead in the last year of his first term.

In Brong Ahafo alone, there is water for more than 300,000 households in about 27 communities  There is a lot that has been done in every sectorThere is a track record, there is a strong performance when it comes to development and infrastructure that we can defend. We will this election. Im confident that we will win this election, said the President.

See also: Leila Djansi regrets campaigning for Mahama

What we must do and what I am thinking must come out of here is to have an analysis of what our strengths are and what are weaknesses are and to also look at what our opportunities and what the threats are and once we do that we come up with a road map on how we can all work together to ensure that we win 2016.
World-class museums, thigh-slapping beer halls, speedy cars, Alpine vistas, dreamy castles, belly-filling food, top-notch beerthere are hundreds of reasons to visit Germany's southeast corner.

Here we list the ten most compelling.

1. The Alps

Geography may have handed Germanys south a mere sliver of the Alps, but the region certainly makes the most of its peaks, many of which are but a short train ride from central Munich. The ski resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen is the place to head for the best fun in the snow, as it sits under Germanys highest mountain, the Zugspitze, the top of which can be reached by train.

Surrounded by Austria on three sides, the Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria's far southeast keeps all the regions cliched Alpine promises, providing dramatic mountain scenery, great hiking and Germanys prettiest lake, the Konigssee.2. The beer

Munich has often been called 'the city of art and beer, and when you are done with the art by day, the evenings belong to the 1L steins of frothy brews in typical beer halls such as the Hofbrauhaus, the Augustiner Braustuben and the Weisses Brauhaus.

3. The castles

Every Bavarian town and hilltop seems to host a medieval noble pile or two, but its to three 19th-century follies commissioned by Bavarias King Ludwig II that most outsiders flock. Rising out of Alpine forest near the town of Fussen, Schloss Neuschwanstein is Germanys most popular tourist attraction, its dreamy turrets and dramatic location having inspired Walt Disneys Sleeping Beauty castle.

4. The cars

Bavaria is home to some of the highest-octane names of the motoring world, BMW in Munich and Audi in Ingolstadt. Munichs space-age BMW Welt (BMW World) is a petrolheads dream come true, a huge free exhibition of the companys latest models which can be sat in, fiddled with and admired from the drivers seat. Next door is the excellent BMW Museum, and intriguing tours of the nearby factory can be easily arranged.

5. The traditions
She mentioned this on the third day of her four days official visit to Nigeria during an interaction with MPs in the Federal Capital Territory.

According to her, additional exchange rate flexibility, up or down, could help soften the impact of external shocks on the nations economy, make output and employment less volatile, and help build the external reserves.

The IMF boss is quoted as saying, It (exchange rate flexibility) can also help avoid the need for costly foreign exchange restrictions, which should, in any case, remain temporary.

And going forward, improved competitiveness from improved exchange rate flexibility and other reforms will facilitate the needed diversification of the exports base and, ultimately, growth.

She commented that Nigeria can capitalise on her large population through VAT rate increment. The direct translation of this is a rise in revenue to aid capital projects, as well as an opportunity to service foreign debts.

Comparing Nigerias VAT rate disadvantage to other countries, she notes that For example, the current VAT rate is among the lowest in the world and well below the rates in other ECOWAS member states. So, some increase should be considered.

She further commented about the subject of the fuel subsidy removal. Lagarde opines in a quote, Indeed, fuel subsidies are hard to defend. Not only do they harm the planet, but they rarely help the poor. The IMF research shows that more than 40 per cent of fuel price subsidies in developing countries accrue to the richest 20 per cent of households, while only seven per cent of the benefits go to the poorest 20 per cent.

Moreover, the experience here in Nigeria of administering fuel subsidies suggests that it is time for a change.

Expressing more goodwill during her visit, she donated a sum of $7,500 which is equivalent to N1.5 Million to the Mother Theresa Children Home, Abuja. An orphanage that has taking up the role of catering for abandoned children.
This was made known after a meeting between the Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr. Kayode Fayemi and the US ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle in Abuja.

In this vein, a collaboration effort will commence next week in order to draft out a plan for the partnership aimed at making Nigeria competitive in the solid minerals industry.

This is also part of the efforts of the Buhari led administration in the agenda to diversify the economy and ensure minimal reliance on crude oil export heavily depended on for economic sustenance during past governments.

Fayemi noted that part of the challenges faced by the mining industry is the inability to determine the existing land mass due to the poor quality of data available, and how investors can be attracted into the country using bankable data.

The United States shall be assisting by using its vast resources in mining to help discover the quality and quantity of minerals available in Nigeria.

The Minister also made this known in a statement, Another area of cooperation will be in the improvement of monitoring. There is a need for the regulatory authorities to have effective monitoring mechanisms to effectively monitor what is available and how they are being exported as revealed by the NEITI report.
He stated this in his published article titled Wailing on the Economy, stating that the fall of the Naira should not be attributed to a decline in crude oil price, rather it is due to the current forex restriction.

Bruce further noted that this has encouraged Nigerians to activate new bank accounts in countries such as Benin Republic and Ghana, who havent adopted the restrictive access being employed by Nigeria on foreign transactions.

Although according to the Chairman, Alsana-Sala Soadua Limited, Benin Republic, Alhaji Nasiru Salami, it is possible that the safe haven found by Nigerians might rather be short lived, as a country like Benin Republic could soon initiate restrictions on the use of ATMs abroad if it begins to bear the brunt of Nigerias forex policy.

Mr. Emmanuel Cobham, Director-General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture also commented by saying that the situation might play to the advantage of the countries involved if the demand did not exceed the supply.
As at Thursday, January 7, 2015, the price of Crude Oil per barrel has dropped a bit below $33 which leaves a deficit of $5 per barrel from the $38 in the budget estimates.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Saabi Abdullahi, addressing journalists at his office has said, We are going to be as realistic as possible by reviewing it in line with realities on the ground as regards the proposed parameters like the oil price benchmark, with a barrel of crude oil in the international market today far lower than the projected benchmark figure of $38 per barrel.

So, what I want to assure you is that when we resume from recess, the budget will be a top priority and we are going to give it expeditious attention.

He is further quoted as saying, The issues of oil benchmark and exchange rate are issues that are dynamic and Im sure that by the time we come to deal with that, we will look at what the realities are, and in tandem with the executive, I am sure we will come up with what we believe is realistic.

The current regime of the National Assembly has in the past expressed its concerns concerning the effort to resuscitate the economy among other key national issues. It can be said that it has taken up the check and balance responsibility very seriously by making sure it is fully involved in decisions made by the executive.

Concerning the effort to diversify the economy, the chairman also commented, If you look at the budget, you will see that we are giving more emphasis to non-oil revenue and by the time we block the leakages and ensure value for money, we should be able to do those things that will add value to the economy.

Remember, the IMF boss was advising the financial sector to look at borrowing to the real sectors, agriculture, SMEs and all the likes, these are the areas of growth and I want to assure Nigerians that if we get it right in these particular sectors, our economy will be able to stay afloat.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under present Governor, Godwin Emefiele has embarked on a mission to maintain a healthy foreign exchange system. This is seen as a way of consolidating the governments effort to make the economy conducive for trade.

Abdullahi commended CBN in a statement saying, If you look at the forex market, today it will gain, tomorrow it will drop; so, these are dynamics that we are not sure how it will play out, but with the management of the forex, I want to believe that the CBN is doing a very great job.

Senator Bukola Saraki, the senate president may have a different view concerning this. He feels the apex bank should simmer down on the foreign exchange policy as small scale businesses are likely to bear the brunt.
While addressing the US representatives led by, the Embassys Economic Officer, Kelly Moon, Johnson Agbonayinma, head of house Ad hoc committee investigating Nigeria's railway modernisation and rehabilitation projects recalled the US support for the growth of democracy in Nigeria and other services it had provided in the health and transportation sectors.

Johnson commended the United States Agency for International Developments and other US agencies for their involvement in rural community and constituency projects and urged them to continue more projects in Nigeria.
Nigerian Fashion icon and legend Frank Osodi representing House of Bunor showcased a glamorous, timeless & exquisite collection which oozed luxury and grace. New generation Nigerian designer MCmeka - tailored menswear range was in a class of its own. David Tlale (SouthAfrica) 'drop dead gorgeous' exclusive to LoudNProudLive LuxuryEdition collection had all elements of edge, timeless street chic, fairytale elegance. Absolutely stunning.

The models were international world class some flown in from South Africa and New York and were gorgeous, fierce, stunning and unique. Reigning Miss Nigeria 2015 Lessi Peter -Vigboro slayed on the runway and communicated well with the audience during her chat dressed in a custom made by Frank Osodi.

Former Miss Tanzania international super model and Global Ambassador Millen Magese who was also hostmade brief appearances on the runway showcasing respective designers by leading out the 'army' of well choreographed international fashion models. Truly a compelling sight and a fashionista dream show bursting with creativity.

Kessiena Eboh - was on hand to support the international MC/Host.

Loudnproudlive series historically is music based, the LoudNProudLive 'One Sound' band performed a superb medley of genres throughout the show with Live performance sets from GBT winner Squi, rap sensation T-rex, Korra, Jarhead & special performance from multi -award winning artist Darey.

Happy new Year

LoudNProudLive - Keeping Real Music Alive - every last Thursday of the month
With the Spring/Summer 2016 runway show inspired by Africa the designers headed over to the Amboseli National Park in Kenya for the campaign shoot.

The models including Alice Metza, Cameron Traiber, Greta Varlese, Kirin Dejonckheere and Tami Williams were joined by the Maasai people in Kenya for the unique shoot.

The models were styled in looks from the collection sitting and standing at strategic points at the park, in other images they are joined by the Massai people who brought even more tribal aesthetics to the shoot.

The idea of these pictures is to take the viewer on a journey. The clothes were inspired by African motifs, [so] to take the shoot to Africa and show how these things interact and, this connection of the clothes, the models, the environment, the local people; I thought it was a great endeavor designers of the Italian label; Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli revealed via WWD.

The campaign was shot by Stephen McCurry who is most famous for his  National Geographic cover.
The 32-year-old Ibrahim, a mother of four, who still had the knife stuck in her face with doctors at the Wajir General Hospital unable to remove the knife because it has been logged too deep into the cheek bone, was airlifted to country's capital, Nairobi, for surgery at the Kenyatta National Hospital.
Prince Orji Orizu, who was revealed to be the second son of the 1st Republic Senate President, late Abyssinia Orizu, is reportedly furious over a prophesy given by the Catholic Reverend, Fr. Chidozie Chilaka, aka Jesus Network.

Vanguard reports that Father Chilaka had allegedly accused Prince Orizu, with being responsible for the misfortunes of his uncles wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Orizu as well as those of her children.

Rev. Fr. Chilaka, who is an evangelist based in Isiala Mbano, Imo State, is reported to have called out Mrs. Orizu, Prince Orizus uncles wife, during his crusade at Nigeria Science and Technical College, Nnewi, which lasted for a week, saying that she had been under a 'spell' cast over her and her children by Prince Orizu.

The priest is further alleged to have told the woman that Prince Orizu was behind the broken marriages of her daughters, going further to promise to nullify whatever spell had been cast.

While addressing newsmen on the allegations leveled against him by the Reverend, at his home in Nnewi, Prince Orizu said:

Any Nigerian, native doctor, any child or agent of a native doctor and anybody connected to any native doctor in or outside Nigeria who can say he had ever visited or patronized them, should come out and speak.
Residents of the area are reported to have speculated that the robbers only had access to the information pertaining to the movement of cash, by an insider.

According to eye witness accounts, the robbers had struck at about 4pm on that fateful day, pointing a gun at the manager's head and demanding for the cash stacked in a big sack.

As soon as the money was handed over, they jumped on their motorcycle, speeding off.

Following the robbery, the filling station has been shut down and the manager and the staffs of the filling station, arrested and taken in for interrogations.
"My name is Chidinma Okafor. I am 43-years-old and have been married for over 20 years now without a child of my own, a situation that has turned me into a laughing stock especially from my husband's family who have made life difficult for me.

When I got married to my husband, I was never a spoilt woman as he was the first and only man to sleep with me. So accusations that I must have killed all my children through abortion as a young woman are just baseless.

My husband has been wonderful as he has stood by me all these years despite all his mother has done to get him to marry another wife.

In our quest for a fruit of the womb, we have gone to so many places including doctors, spiritualists, pastors and even herbalist all to no avail. The assurance I keep getting from men of God is that no matter how long it takes, God will bless me with my own baby but I am not getting younger and with the pressure on me from my mother-in-law, I am tempted at times to commit suicide.

No one can even begin to imagine the insults, embarrassment, abuses and disgrace she has put me through even in the market place. In her bid to get me to leave her son's house, my mother-in-law once fought me in the church and stripped me naked.

I don't know how I have offended God to allow me go through this kind of life.

Chidinma."

How Nigeria voted:

65% - She should take her problems to God

16% - She should adopt a baby

20% - She should seek help from native doctors
Domingo Bullicio, 56, is reported to have turned his daughter, Antonia, into his personal sex slave as soon as she turned 15 after his wife had walked out on him with three of their other children.

Bullicio is reported to have fled after finding out that his daughter had finally mustered enough courage to speak to the authorities asking for help.

The news reports reveal that the police had finally detained him in a city near by called Loreto on an arrest warrant following a manhunt said to have lasted more than a month.

Antonia, who was found to be illiterate, told a local paper that she had been abused from an early age by her dad, and now receiving death threats since going public with her experience.

Antonia speaking on her experience said:

From the moment my mum left home I became my fathers wife. He abused me from the age of nine. He would hit me and used to chase me round the house with a lump of wood when he saw me chatting to a neighbour or simply wanted to abuse me. He threatened me constantly and I always feared for my life. He told me he would kill me if I said anything.

Im scared for my life and the life of my children because today Im receiving threats from my fathers siblings to withdraw my complaint against him.

Theyre not at all concerned about whats happened. I want him to rot in jail. I want justice to be done.

DNA tests are reportedly going on to determine ongoing to determine whether the children are actually Bullicio's.

He is reported to have registered the kids who are now being looked after by their mother, under his name and as his.
The sentence was handed down on Arolu by an Ikeja Magistrates Court presided over by Magistrate T.O. Shomade after he was charged on a two-count charge bordering on defilement.

Arolu who resides at No. 2, Adewusi Lane, off Ajegunle Street, Ilupeju area of the state along with the parents of the victim, was said to have had sex with the girl of different occasions resulting in the pregnancy of the teenager.

The police prosecutor, Inspector Benedict Eigbokhon, told the court that the offences were committed sometime in September 2015 and only came to light when her mother discovered she was pregnant.

It was when the victims mother discovered that she was pregnant that she told her that it was the accused that defiled her, Eigbokhon said.

He added that the offence contravened Sections 137 and 263(1) (2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
Naoirobi News report that the woman, Fatuma Ibrahim, a mother of four, had to be operated upon by doctors at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), Nairobi, after she was airlifted there from the Wajir District Hospital, where the knife was pulled out of her face where it had lodge.

KNH Chief Executive Officer, Lily Koros, while addressing the media on Friday afternoon, said the surgery was done on Ibrahim at about midnight to remove the knife lodged in her skull after the attack.

The knife that was removed from Fatuma Ibrahim's head

Photo Credit: Nairobi News

Koros informed newsmen that the 32 year-old woman, was beaten and stabbed several times by her husband, and that apart from the knife in her face, she also suffered wounds on her thigh, abdomen and arms.

Meanwhile, her husband who was charged to a Wajir Court today, pleaded not guilty to the charge. He told Resident Magistrate Bildad Rongocho, that he was trying to stop his wife from committing suicide.

The magistrate however, ordered that Deeq be remanded until January 13, 2016 when the case will be mentioned.
Prof. Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health, said this in Abuja while briefing newsmen on the outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever.

He also urged the public to avoid contact with rodents and rats as well as food contaminated with rats secretions and excretions.

"Avoid drying food in the open and along roadsides, it is also important to cover all foods to prevent rodents contamination, he said.

The minister said affected states have been advised to intensify awareness creation on the signs and symptoms of the disease.

According to him, the affected states are Bauchi, Nasarawa, Niger, Taraba, Kano, Rivers, Edo, Plateau, Gombe and Oyo.

"The public is hereby assured that government and its partners and other stakeholders are working tirelessly to address the outbreak and bring it to timely end, said the minister.

He said the ministry had ordered for the immediate release of adequate quantities of "ribavirin, the specific antiviral drug for Lassa fever, to the affected states for prompt treatment of cases.

Adewole added that the ministry deployed rapid response teams to all affected states to assist in investigating and verifying the cases as well as tracing of contacts.

He said also clinicians and relevant health care workers had been sensitised and mobilised in areas of patient management and care in the affected states.

Besides, he advised family members and health care workers to always be careful and avoid contact with blood and body fluids while caring for sick persons infected by the disease.

He also directed health facilities in the country to emphasise routine infection prevention and control measures and ensure that all Lassa fever patients are treated free.

Adewole said Nigeria has the capability to diagnose Lassa fever, adding that "all the cases reported so far were confirmed by our laboratories.

"The ministry would not impose travel restrictions as a form of control measure `from and to the areas currently affected by the outbreak, Adewole said.
The anti-graft personnel were said to have arrived at the house located at 6, Ahmed Musa Crescent, Jabi, at about 7 a.m.News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that Dikko was not at home when the officers arrived and that their mission was not disclosed to any member of the family who were in the house.

When NAN arrived at the residence, armed officials of EFCC were seen around the house.

One of the four armed policemen, who accompanied the operatives on the operation, told NAN on condition of anonymity that their presence around the house was to ensure that there was no breakdown of law and order.

Mr Mohammed Usman, a relative to the former Customs boss, said that the EFCC operatives arrived at the residence at about 7 a.m.

According to him, the information I gathered showed that the operatives numbering about seven were in the house to carry out search for documents.

"A team of about seven operatives of the EFCC in company with some armed policemen arrived at the residence at about 7am and have been in the house for the past five hours.

"From the information available to me, no search warrant was presented before the commencement of the search.

"As I speak to you, they are currently in my uncles bedroom carrying out the search in his absence, he said.

Usman faulted the search on the ground that the operation was being carried out in the absence of the former comptroller-general.

"The only people in the house at the commencement of this search and even till now are his children who are below the ages of 18, he said.
The union gave the commendation on Thursday in Ibadan during the groups "Thank you visit to the governor in his office.

The President of IPU, Johnson Adeniji, who led other members of the delegation, said that the elders were indebted to the governor for the honour done them.

He said that Ajimobi had proved to be a listening leader having heeded the call of the elders who had converged on the residence of Amb. Olusola Saanu, the President, Ibadan Elders Forum, to resolve the crisis.

"Those who knew the tension that had enveloped the city during the disagreement, will appreciate the need to thank the governor for not allowing the matter to escalate beyond manageable proportion.

"We consider the governors decision to approve the promotion of the high chiefs in spite of the valid issues raised as a mark of great honour and respect for the venerated stool of the Olubadan.

"As an elder, the governor is one of us and he has demonstrated this.

"It is a minor misunderstanding based on procedural error, but thank God we have resolved it amicably.

"The governor deserves our commendation for showing great understanding and large heartedness. Lessons have been learnt, he said.

He described as a mark of honour, the approval given by the governor to the promotion of the high chiefs while the necessary paper works were being perfected.

"This nod is a mark of honour for the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes, the IPU and especially for the IEF that brokered the truce meeting, he said.

Reacting to the visit, Ajimobi said that he was humbled by their openness in calling a spade a spade, saying the openness had played a major role in his decision.

The governor said that he was an apostle of peace and orderliness, adding that the intervention by the elders doused the tension, which he said would not have occurred in the first place if due process had been followed.

"It was a ploy by the devil to truncate the peace we have laboured to enthrone in Oyo State.

"Thank God that the devil did not have its way. The devil may turn the table against you even when you took the right decision at times.

"Our Baba, the Olubadan is a member of the IPU. Im also a member of the IPU. It was a good thing that the elders through the platforms of the CCII, IPU and IEF waded into the matter.

"Im happy that the elders spoke the truth. If the guilty admits to his guilt, there is no point prolonging the matter.

"Since they have admitted their mistakes, to err is human and to forgive is divine. We have forgiven them, he said.

Ajimobi said that as the Chief Security Officer of the state, he has the sacred duty of guaranteeing and ensuring peace, security and obedience to the rule of law without which anarchy could reign supreme.
He also said the payments (N65,000) will be made directly to the militants this time, adding that there were reports that the boys were being short changed by their leaders.

Abel said The Amnesty Office took the decision to pay the ex-agitators directly following reports of complicity and short-changing of some of them by the leaders. Reports revealed that some of the ex-agitators were paid as low as N20,000 out of the N65,000 which does not conform with the mandate of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

Henceforth, payment of the monthly stipend would be made directly to each beneficiary with focus to eliminate cases of fraud and short-changing by their leaders. Similarly, this exercise will enable us to collect biometrics of beneficiaries and to create Bank Verification Numbers to enable government to make future payments through their individual bank accounts.

He also said However, the number of those trained increased by 5,000 since Retired Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari to head the Presidential Amnesty Programme five months ago. The 5,000 newly trained beneficiaries were sent to both local and foreign institutions and vocational centres to acquire knowledge and skills that would allow them become self-reliant.
The General Officer Commanding, (GOC) 1 Mechanized Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, had said on Wednesday, January 6, 2016, that the army would not apologize over the incident.

In response, Shiite spokesperson, Ibrahim Musa, on Thursday, described the army as arrogant and uncivil, The Cable reports.

We have a list of about 700 of our members that are currently missing some of which are in detention with the Army at Basawa Barracks, Nigerian Army Depot in Zaria, Jaji Cantonment and 1 Mechanized Division in Kaduna, Musa said.

We categorically refute in strong terms the claims of the GOC that none of our members is currently with the military. The army is desperate to cover up its indefensible crime against humanity, of indiscriminate killing of defenceless and unarmed civilians in Zaria.

We challenge the GOC to come up with a single occasion when the Islamic Movement in Nigeria under the leadership of his Eminence Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky ever threatened the peace and stability of Nigeria or engaged in any form of violence throughout its 38 years of existence.

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria has never been armed and is not armed and does not operate or support any form of armed struggle. It is rather a Movement that believes in extending its message of fairness and justice to all irrespective of sect or religion in a peaceful manner.

As a matter of policy the IMN has never and will never engage in any form of violent activities no matter the level of provocation. This is evident in the incident of the killing of 34 members of the Islamic Movement including three biological sons of the leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky by the Nigerian Army last year.

IMN believes that even the Nigerian Army was aware that the Movement and its members were unarmed and defenceless when they launched their brutal attack of indiscriminate killings of men, women and children, judging by the nature of the attack, which was actually pre-planned.

It is therefore laughable for the GOC to claim that the Army had no issues with the Islamic Movement when the Army had killed six biological sons of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, his elder sister and over one thousand of his followers in just 18 months.

The GOC was actually right in his statement that they know the business of violence which was of course what they displayed in Zaria in contravention with the rule of law and order to which he is now trying to convince the world that they are guardians of democracy in yet another contradictory statement.

Still on the Armys guardians of democracy the GOC stated in a sense of arrogance and lack of civility, that they have no apology for the killing of over one thousand unarmed civilians including women and children, we say, in as much as no member of the Movement is expecting any apology from the Army for its crime in Zaria, he should tell that to God his creator and the creator of those they killed in Zaria, he added.

Oyebade had also earlier said that the army had followed the necessary rules of engagement in Zaria.

Meanwhile, the Shiites have urged the Federal Government to reveal the location of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky if it truly wants a peaceful resolution to the crisis between the group and the army.

Iran has also said via its Foreign Ministry that it had taken necessary steps to warn Nigeria on the continued detention of El-Zakzaky.

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 Commander, 9th Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Brig-Gen. Abdulmalik Biu, made the appeal in an interview with newsmen after a special Jumaat service at the Alausa Central Mosque, Ikeja Lagos.

The service was to commemorate the 2016 Armed Forces Remembrance Day in Lagos.

He urged them to continue to support those still in the battlefield.

Speaking on behalf of the Imams at the Mosque, Alhaji Abdulhakeem Kosoko urged Nigerians to be patient with the Federal Government and the Armed Forces as they battled to overcome the Boko Haram insurgents.
The females among the corps members serving in Enugu and Ebonyi states were reportedly raped by the hoodlums who blocked the highway to stop vehicles.

She said that the bus left Television Garage in Kaduna around 8:30 p.m. and was attacked a few kilometres away.

The victim further said that the robbers mounted a road block to give the impression that they were policemen on duty.

As we approached the road block, the driver noticed that they were not policemen and tried to retreat but it was late.

"The robbers sensing what our driver wanted to do, left other cars and descended on us, she said.

The victim said that the robbers forcefully raped all the female corps members in the bus and carted off their belongings which included laptops, jewelries, handsets, foodstuffs and money.
This was contained in the ruling of Chief Magistrate Okeagu Azubuike.

The Chief Magistrate said This court has read carefully the affidavit in the Form 8 to support this application as well as the legal authorities submitted thereto.

This court has therefore found merit in this application and hereby allows the applicant to detain the respondent(Olisa Metuh) in their custody from the 6th of January to 13th of January, 2016, pending the investigation.

The Respondent(Olisa Metuh) should be given access to his lawyer, relatives and medical doctors and should be arraigned before a court of law on or before 13th of January.

The EFCC had earlier sought for an order from the court, through its counsel Mr. C.O. Ugwu.

The Nation Newspapers reports that the anti-graft presented a 16-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Junaid Saidu, a detective officer with EFCC.

The counsel to EFCC also backed his case, with sections 293 and 296 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act that says "A suspect arrested for an offence, which a magistrates court has no jurisdiction to try shall, within a reasonable time of arrest, be brought before a magistrates court for remand.

An application for remand under this section shall be made ex parte and shall (a) be made in the prescribed Report and Request for Remand Form as contained in Form 8, in the First Schedule to this Act; and (b) be verified on oath and contain reasons for the remand request."

Part of section 296 also says Where an order of remand of the suspect is made pursuant to Section 293 of this Act, the order shall be for a period not exceeding 14 days in the first instance, and the case shall be returnable within the same period.

Where, on application in writing, good cause is shown why there should be an extension of the remand period, the court may make an order for further remand of the suspect for a period not exceeding 14 days and make the proceedings returnable within the same period
Punch Newspapers reports that the family's spokesman, Chief Gilbert Metuh said Our biggest concern for now is the health and safety of our son, who even before his arrest has alerted the nation about various threats to his life, a stance that is not unconnected to his position as the spokesperson of the opposition. Our position is more so as he has refused to eat following fears of intentions to poison him in detention.

They also asked the EFCC to release their son, or charge him to court.

The family spokesperson said In view of the above therefore, we DEMAND that the EFCC immediately release our son, Chief Metuh (Ugochidebelu Nnewi) from detention or charge him to court.

They also added that Metuh admitted collecting some money from ex-President Goodluck Jonathan to carry out an important duty.
According to Punch Newspapers, the family spokesman, Chief Gilbert Metuh, said Metuh family  the Obi-Ezeani-Nnewi- has noted with grave concern the continued incarceration of their Diokpa and spokesperson of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh (Ugochidebelu Nnewi) since his arrest Tuesday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Whereas the charges for which Chief Metuh is being detained for over 48 hours now have not been formally made known to the family and the general public; we have noted some sensational publications in a section of the media claiming that our son collected the sum of N1.4 billion from the arms deal cash and has been collecting N4 million monthly from the Office of the former National Security Adviser.

He also said We have confronted our son with this allegation and he assured us that they are completely false.

However, he acknowledged that in the course of his duties as the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, the then leader of the party and President of the country directed him to carry out some urgent national assignment relating to his office, which the former President duly funded and which he duly carried out to the satisfaction of the former President.

The family, therefore, views the publications bandying the figure of N1.4 billion and alleged collection of N4 million stipend from the Office of the NSA as deliberate blackmail aimed at inflaming public sentiments against our son.

Adding that In view of the above therefore, we DEMAND that the EFCC immediately release our son, Chief Metuh (Ugochidebelu Nnewi) from detention or charge him to court.
Dogara said this when he visited the IDPs camps in the FCT alongside Mr Ishaya Chonoko, the Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Abuja operation Office.

The speaker, in collaboration with NEMA, who donated relief materials to be distributed among the IDPs in the FCT, said that the items were provided to meet the needs of the IDPs.

At the Wasa host community, Dogara said that the government was doing everything possible to ensure that the war against insurgency come to an end.

"We have come to see the condition under which you live.

"Even though we came with items that we want to give out to you, we know that merely handing out these items is not enough.

"As a matter of fact there is nothing we can do here that will be enough because coming from the region where I come from; our hearts are always on our land.

"I know that as long as you are not back to your communities where these crises forced you out, even if we give you the whole world you will not be happy.

"I want to condole some of us who have lost husbands, sons, daughters and wives, the government will ensure the war is brought to an end, he said.

The Speaker said that the House of Representatives had considered the plights of the IDPs and thought it critical to establish a dedicated committee that will find a lasting solution to the situation.

"The problems of the IDPs cannot be solved through an ad hoc measure that is why we are proposing by law that will establish a commission for the development of the North-East.

"It is a bill that I am championing in the House and in the Senate and sooner or later, we should be able to pass that bill.

"We are not going to leave it at the level of policy; we want to translate it into law so that we can make it more permanent, he said.

Also speaking, Chonoko said the relief materials were provided by the Federal Government through NEMA and the House of Representatives to meet the needs of the IDPs and alleviate their sufferings.

He said that NEMA as the coordinating agency has played a very significant role in identifying the host communities in the FCT where IDPs are settled and coordinated effectively.

"We have put in place mechanisms to ensure that the relief items get to the real IDPs.

"We use this medium to commend Nigerians that have seen the needs to assist the IDPs and have responded to their needs," Chonoko said.

Rep. Johnson Agbonayinma (Edo-PDP) said the move by the Speaker to the IDPs camp was one of the signs of change, and it was not about partisan politics, but doing what was right for the people.

"I am happy that the Speaker saw this as important, his involvement and passion on getting it right shows there is better hope for tomorrow.

"What is also important is for all Nigerians to come together and make sure that we put an end to the issue of insurgency, so that these families can go back to their constituencies," he said.

Mrs Alhasan Adamu, the Women Leader, Wasa IDPs Camp, said that she was glad to see people in government in the camp, saying it showed that they were not forgotten.

She urged the government to continue to help them and ensure their return home.

"I came to seek refuge in this camp because the terrorists killed my husband and we need more food and water to survive.

"We are thankful and also plead with the government to take us back to our village to continue our farming after the insurgency because we are all farmers," she said.
The post reads:

Information getting to us now is that the director of DSS and Buhari are planning to kill some Igbo-Biafrans working for the DSS in other to secretly execute Nnamdi Kanu.

For months now reports have been coming to us on how Nnamdi Kanu is been tortured in the dungeon of the DSS. Nnamdi Kanu is reported to be very ill and needs urgent care and treatment but the DSS on the order of Buhari have refused to grant him any treatment.

Some Igbo-Biafrans who are members of the DSS have expressed their displeasure towards the treatment of Nnamdi Kanu, this resulting to Buhari and the director of DSS secretly plotting way to murder them.

This information got to us is from a very reliable source and our advice to Buhari is to release Nnamdi Kanu, and also to stop torturing him because any harm done to him, will result to a war Nigeria cant handle.

We are calling on all IPOB members to get ready for action as instructions will be given by our deputy. We are calling all coordinators to start mobilizing all IPOB members and be on alert.

Kanu was arrested in October and supposedly granted bail but he was never freed.

President Muhammadu Buhari has ruled out the likelihood of the Biafra leader being freed on bail after revealing that he came into Nigeria without a passport.
The Governor accused the commission of operating a "system in which an accused person is first arrested, detained endlessly while the anti-corruption agency goes about looking for evidence.

The Governor spoke through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, on Friday, Jan. 8.

Fayose said: In saner climes, you dont arrest people for alleged fraud and start to look for evidence to prosecute them. Rather, before you arrest anyone for fraud, anti-corruption agencies must have established a prima facie case and arresting the suspect will only be to enable for his or her arraignment in court.

However, what we are witnessing in Nigeria today is a situation whereby the EFCC will arrest PDP leaders, humiliate them by subjecting them to media trial, detain them for weeks in the process of trying to force them to make statements during which the commission will be looking for evidence.

For instance, in the case of Metuh, we are being told that the EFCC is insisting that he must write statements and one begins to wonder if it has now become mandatory for an accused to write statements in law enforcement agents custody. Shouldnt the EFCC have simply charged Metuh to court based on its own evidence? Or is Metuhs statement the evidence the EFCC requires to prosecute him?

The international community, especially the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), European Union (EU) and others are put on notice on this condemnable act of arresting and detaining opposition leaders by agents of the Buhari-led government before fishing for evidence.

He challenged Buhari extend his anti-corruption fight to those who sponsored his election.

The governor added: If President Buhari did not wait for any petition to move against PDP chieftains, asking people to come forward with allegations of corruption against APC chieftains, especially those who sponsored President Buharis election is clearly hypocritical.

Most importantly, that the EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu even said the commission do not have any petition against APC chieftains when indeed there are loads of petitions against ministers serving in Buharis government and other notable APC chieftains goes to show the hypocrisy of the fight against corruption.
Reacting to the recent arrest and detention of the spokesman for the People's Democratic Party (PDD), Olisa Metuh, the senate leader stated that the party is in full support of an objective anti-corruption crusade, but not a selective prosecution, which he said the Economic Financial Crimes Commission has embarked on.

Ekweremadu spoke through his Special Adviser, Uche Anichukwu.

An anti-graft trap that catches only members of the opposition and those with axe to grind with the government of the day is compromised, he said.

He further said the continued detention of Metuh is a move silent the opposition, which he said is not healthy for Nigeria's growing democracy.
The FCT Administrative Secretary of INEC, Mr Abdulrazaq Adamu, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

He said the training would prepare them for the forthcoming exercise on Jan. 13, to the capture the data of Nigerians who did register during the last registration and those that turned 18 years.

He said the training would also enable them to capture all electorate for the forthcoming council elections in March in the six area councils.

One of the NYSC members, Mr Nwobi Dominic, told NAN that they were trained on how to handle the machines on the registration of voters.

Nwobi said that the training afforded them the benefit of administrative and technical processes of registration while practical exercise was carried out on data capturing.

Miss Chinyere Uzochukwu, another Corp member, said the CVR training would give room for the capturing of those who did not register in the last registration and those who just attained 18 years.

Uzochukwu said trainees would be assigned different functions and that they were promised their allowances would be paid at the end of the training.
The ex-PDP loyalists declared their defection to the ruling party on Friday, at a state APC stakeholders meeting hosted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jeffrey Onyeama.

Nwobodo, who was recently fingered by the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd) as one of the beneficiaries of the $2.1 billion arms funds scam currently undergoing investigation, denied the allegation.

He said N500 million released to him by the NSA was meant for PDP leaders in the South-East to mobilise for the re-election of Goodluck Jonathan as president in the 2015 election.

In his speech, Nwobodo affirmed that his joining APC is not for a job.

I am not looking for a job. I am talking because I want peace. I want our people to be part of the Federal Government at the centre. I had a problem being an opposition governor. I am not coming into APC because I want anything. I want our people to reintegrate and have our own share of the Federal Government resources, he said.

He further stated that his had always been a member of the APC while he was in PDP, noting that the ruling party's 'change' slogan started in 1983 when he was an opposition governor.
Falae revealed that the money was given to his party, Social Democratic Party (SDP), to campaign for former president, Goodluck Jonathan during the 2015 general elections, New Telegraph reports.

In the build up to the presidential election, the PDP approached the SDP which I chaired. The then ruling party solicited for our support in order for President Goodluck Jonathan to win the March 28 presidential election, Falae told New Telegraph on Thursday, January 7, 2016.

Anenih related with me as the chairman of the PDP BoT and I did same as the SDP National Chairman. He wrote to me as PDP BoT chairman and I wrote back as SDP National Chairman stating conditions/terms for the alliance. I have the record.

It is true that N100 million was given to my party to endorse and work for the Jonathans candidature in the 2015 election. We used the money for that purpose and we effectively campaigned for the PDP since we did not have presidential candidate in the election. The money was not for me.

Thank God Im a retired civil servant. I have all the documents to prove all that transpired between the two parties.

With all the money PDP has and having spent 16 years in power, how would I know that the money was from the arms deal? No reference was made to the arms deal. So, they should not bring me into the arms issue. The relationship was purely interparty affairs, he added.

Anenih has confessed to receiving N260 million from Dasuki saying that he didnt benefit from the money but only shared it as instructed.

Dasuki is at the center of the massive money laundering investigation and is alleged to have supervised the looting of the funds which were meant for the procurement of arms for Nigeria's military.

He 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 ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan was aware of the transactions he had made.

Jonathan has however denied authorizing the release of the stated funds despite the former NSAs claim that he got the necessary presidential approval for the transactions.
The former PDP Board of Trustees Chairman is said to have undergone open-heart surgery in the United Kingdom in December 2015, according to The Cable.

Anenih is said to have complained of an irregular heartbeat while in the UK and was speedily rushed to a hospital.

The ambulance arrived within five minutes and he was taken out on a stretcher, with paramedics giving him oxygen support, a family member told The Cable.

It was at the hospital that it was discovered that he had some heart issues which he had not experienced before, the source added.

Anenih has been accused of receiving N260 million from former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, who is being tried for laundering $2 billion in public funds.

The PDP chieftain however said that he didnt personally benefit from the funds and only shared the money as instructed.

Dasuki is at the center of the massive money laundering investigation and is alleged to have supervised the looting of the funds which were meant for the procurement of arms for Nigeria's military.

He 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 ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan was aware of the transactions he had made.

Jonathan has however denied authorizing the release of the stated funds despite the former NSAs claim that he got the necessary presidential approval for the transactions.
In a statement, Yuguda explained that the president has only good intentions for the country.

He also called on the authorities to work battle religious leaders that fan the embers of division in Nigeria.

What is happening today is like when you want a deep wound to heal quickly, you need to wash it thoroughly with the necessary disinfectants and chemicals. It pains as it bleeds. But the gain is actually in the pain especially where there is an assurance that what we are doing is right. It is only a temporary pain. This is the stage we are in the country now and it calls for deep patience and understanding of all citizens, Yuguda said.

Yuguda said: We can discern clearly that President Buhari is trying to make things work. His clarity of purpose is as unmistakable as his sincerity. Nigerians should try to be patient. Take for example the situation in the oil sector where it has not been possible to dismantle the cartel in that sector in the past.

He added: Everybody has a critical role to play in the ongoing nation-building process including those who served in whatever capacity in the past. Our present political office holders need to accommodate the opinions of former public office holders for the collective benefit of the country. It is not everybody who once served that is corrupt. This mindset should change, he said.
The order was given on Tuesday, January 5, after he received briefing from the management team of the FCT Education Secretariat led by its Acting Secretary, Mrs. Naomi Biki.

Bello said that site plans should be drawn and documented for proper identification of the boundaries of each school and to check incidences of encroachment.

The minister decried the manner in which some some of the schools were left porous, without perimeter fencing with large population of students and pupils in spite of the security challenge the nation faces.

He maintained that lives and properties should be well secured in the FCT.

During this press briefing, Bello also lamented the poor performance of students in the WAEC and NECO examinations in the Territory, and insisted that the situation must be reversed.
Deng Qilin, veteran former chairman of the Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, was first put under investigation by the Communist Party's graftbuster, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), last August.

The group, based in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province, is one of China's oldest steel mills and is also the parent of the Shanghai-listed Wuhan Iron and Steel Corp.. The company was not immediately available for comment.

CCDI said in a statement posted on its website (www.ccdi.gov.cn) on Friday that Deng was guilty of serious discipline violations, and had used his position to pursue his own private interests and those of his relatives.

It said Deng had obstructed and deceived investigators, and also accused him of a long-term involvement in "superstitious activities", a charge often employed by the Party to discredit corrupt officials.

Deng, 65, was an influential figure in China's steel sector until his official retirement in June last year. He served as head of the China Iron and Steel Association and was also a longstanding member of the National People's Congress, the country's legislature.
Fighters from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) attacked the ethnic Nande civilians in the town of Lubero in North Kivu province at around 2 a.m. (0000 GMT), said Mak Hazukay, a local spokesman for Congo's army.

Hazukay said the killings appeared to be revenge for a series of attacks launched by Nande Mai Mai militias against the FDLR. The Nande, who dominate commerce in North Kivu, are historic rivals of the local Hutu.

"For some time now, the FDLR and Mai Mai have fought over the zone and that has provoked high tensions between the two communities," Hazukay said.

The Centre of Study for the Promotion of Peace, Democracy and Human Rights (CEPADHO), an activist group that documents violence in North Kivu, confirmed the death toll of 14 and said the victims had been shot or hacked to death.

The FDLR's spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

Ethnic rivalries, foreign invasions and competition for land and rich mineral deposits among in eastern Congo's dozens of rebel groups have fuelled persistent conflict that has cost millions of lives over the last two decades.

The FDLR, a Hutu militia founded by some of the perpetrators of Rwanda's 1994 genocide who fled into neighbouring Congo, is the largest rebel group, estimated by analysts to have more than 1,000 members.
Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said during a meeting with officials in his ministry that maintaining stability and security is a priority.

He referred to a statement from Egypt's Grand Mufti, the country's highest religious authority, which said that any call for protests or destruction "is a full crime and illegal according to Islamic Sharia law", said MENA state news agency.

The uprising, which started on Jan. 25, 2011 and lasted 18 days, had raised hopes of a new era of democracy and greater economic opportunities in a country long dominated by men from the military and business and political elites who support them.

Instead it triggered turmoil and instability which hurt the economy, and the political landscape resembles the past.

Egypt has been cracking down hard on dissent since then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled the country's first freely elected president, Islamist Mohamed Mursi, following mass protests against his rule in 2013. Under Sisi's rule, protesting without police permission is illegal.

Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, has called for mass protests against Sisi on Jan. 25, but it no longer seems capable of getting large numbers onto the streets. The Brotherhood says it is committed to peaceful activism.

Egypt says the Brotherhood and other groups such as Islamic State are an existential threat and decisive action is needed to defeat them.

While the toughest crackdown on Islamists in Egypt's history has weakened the Brotherhood, it has failed to break the back of militants waging an insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula.
Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg
Officials at the Pahrump Valley Museum announced the return of their annual lecture series.

The first speaker of 2016 is museum board member Tim France on Saturday.

Museum Director Marilyn Davis said Frances expertise will focus on the Johnnie Mine, just north of Pahrump.

France arrived in Nevada in 1995 and moved to Pahrump in 2005, she said. He describes himself as a historical explorer who actively searches out documented and undocumented historical sites, where he records the finds with photographs and other methods. Tim has explored Death Valley, the Mojave Desert and the mountainous areas surrounding the Pahrump Valley.

In addition to his interest in history, France is also a prospector and self-proclaimed extreme collector of maps and diaries.

Davis said he has also worked with the Library of Congress scanning documents.

He will share the history of the Johnnie Mine District from the 1880s through the 1900s, which was the most exciting time in mining for that area, she said.

The lecture is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 9, at 1 p.m.

The museum is located at 401 East Basin Ave.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com.
It is hard to wrap your head around Chloride. Around this old village in Northern Arizona, the last echo of a mining boom died long ago, yet its no ghost town, still boasting 250 residents. But its not your stereotypical small town either, for individualism runs rampant and theres even some important public art here. It defies definition, and thats all the more reason to spend a few hours experiencing it.

Chloride is best known for its complex of murals, located in a quiet canyon in the foothills of the Cerbat Mountains east of town. With a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle you can drive almost up to them but its really more enjoyable to just drive to the point where the road becomes too challenging for an ordinary car, and walk the rest of the way.

You wont see the murals until you are upon them as they lie around a bend in the canyon. The artwork covers about 2,000 square feet of granite boulders and cliff faces. The artist, Roy Purcell, labeled these murals, The Journey: Images From an Inward Search for Self. To understand the murals, Purcell told me you need to read them right to left. They are richly colored and full of recognizable objects, but portrayed in contexts not easily understood unless you were able to go back some 40 years ago into Purcells mind at the time. The first mural depicts the Tennessee Mine and is enjoyable yet the one immediately to the left depicts a large claw which seems to be destroying the mine.

The Tennessee Mine was the largest in the area and produced 7.5 million dollars in gold, lead and zinc before it closed in 1947. Purcell painted the murals depicting it in 1966, retouched the color of the murals in 1975, and then vibrantly repainted them again in 2006, in honor of his 70th birthday.

Besides seeing the murals there is plenty of other art in town, albeit some of it quite funky. The best way to see Chloride is parking your vehicle and setting out on foot. Look closely at the private residences and youll see homemade yard art in front of many. Some front yards showcase collections of bottles, cowboy boots or license plates while others are full of old farm and mine machinery.

Because times got slow in Chloride, there wasnt much reason to tear down older buildings to make way for new ones, so a high percentage of those still standing are historic in some way or another, and nearly all bear the aura and charm of earlier times. So you dont miss any of the historic buildings, be sure to pick up a free map at the Mineshaft Market, located on the main drag of town at 4940 Tennessee Avenue, which serves as the towns visitor center. Youll certainly want to see the abandoned two-room jail, built in the 1890s, and the train depot, which served the spur line of the Santa Fe Railroad line from Kingman and was used from 1898 to 1935. The famous Butterfield Stage came through here as well and ran from 1868 through 1919, stopping at what is now Yesterdays Restaurant. The old bank building is also worth seeing as well as the vintage gas station.

There are a few great antique and gift shops in town as well as a silversmith, and Yesterdays Restaurant is an excellent place to eat. They serve good home cooking, with a wide variety of food choices that appeal to all ages, including children.

Directions to Chloride

From Pahrump take NV-160 south about 52 miles to Las Vegas.

Merge onto I-215 east and drive about 12 miles.

Merge onto US-93 south and drive about 74 miles, passing through Boulder City and crossing into Arizona.

Turn left at County Highway 125 and go 3.7 miles to Chloride.

Directions to Chloride Murals

From the Chloride town center drive up Tennessee Avenue, which turns into gravel after about 0.5 miles.

If you dont have a high-clearance vehicle with good off-road tires, or there has been recent rain, park here and walk.

If you have such a rugged conveyance, drive 200 yards farther, crossing over a wide rocky wash and go right at the fork.

Follow this for about one mile staying left at the next fork.

After about 50 yards farther look for the parking pullout on the right, which serves as the best parking area.

Walk up the gravel road about 0.25 miles to murals located on the right.

Deborah Wall is the author of Base Camp Las Vegas, Hiking the Southwestern States, Great Hikes, A Cerca Country Guide, and co-author of Access For All, Touring the Southwest with Limited Mobility. Wall can be reached at Deborabus@aol.com.
A group of Pahrump residents filed a notice of intent with the Nye County Clerks Office on Monday, the first step in placing a question on the 2016 ballot in an attempt to move the county seat from Tonopah to Pahrump.

The group is led by Andy Alberti, who presented his plan to move the Nye County seat from Tonopah to Pahrump in July 2015, but found little support among Nye County officials.

When contacted by phone, Alberti said his idea is supported by quite a few people in Pahrump.

We believe we need the county seat moved to consolidate the offices, he said.

Alberti argued that some of the consequences of having a county seat in Tonopah instead of Pahrump include higher tax rates, higher overhead costs, opportunities for waste and corruption, less transparency in county affairs, difficulty in managing programs and ineffective utilization of county employees.

Additionally, the group also filed notices of intent for ballot questions to repeal a recently-passed gas tax and the Nye County public safety sales tax passed by voters in 2006.

As for the tax issues, we believe the budget is a big issue, Alberti said. As an example, the jail in Tonopah has a capacity for 80 inmates. It has 40 beds and looking at the inmate population, it doesnt approach one person per day. We were spending $1.2 million annually. Now we have declared it a holding facility and budgeted $400,000. We can do better when it comes to this expense.

The public safety sales tax was enacted in 2013 and intended to raise more money for the sheriff and fire departments. It cant cover operational expenses and has to be used for unbudgeted expenditures. Officials however werent able to use the collected money as they have been waiting on the district attorneys opinion on the base year.

In October, Nye County officials unanimously voted to raise the fuel sales tax to 9 cents per gallon from the previous 4.

The fuel tax dollars must be spent on roads, which is authorized by Nevada Revised Statute 373, but Alberti said officials had never specified how they would use the tax dollars.

They never outlined what they want to do with the money, Alberti said.

What do they they mean: Do they want to blacktop roads or fix potholes?

Alberti also said that the group of petitioners believes that the county seat belongs at the location of the population density.

The first county seat was Ione in 1864 before it was moved to Belmont in 1867. Tonopah became the county seat in 1905.

Historically this has occurred twice in Nye County, Alberti said. The time is nigh for another adjustment and to make Pahrump the county seat.

Lorinda Wichman, Nye County Commission chair, declined to comment on the groups efforts to repeal the taxes but said the county currently has duplicate services in both towns that seem to serve all very well.

Moving a county seat in the past was a big deal, mostly because it involved the control of documents and the jail but Nye County is unique in size and location of the center, said Wichman, who represents northern Nye County. It was necessary for the seat of the government to be centrally located. Due to these historical reasons Tonopah was the logical location, being the most central town. However, since there were such long distances between Tonopah and Pahrump, as the town grew the board began the efforts of providing satellite offices in Pahrump.

Wichman added theres not much advantage to changing the seat.

The distances still remain and the largest area of Nye County is serviced by Tonopah so duplicate services would still be necessary in order to be accessible to the residents.

Commissioner Frank Carbone declined to comment.

According to state law, the group would have to get signatures from 10 percent (or 1,225 signatures) of county residents who voted in the last general election. The filings also would have to be verified by the clerk and the district attorney before going before the Nye County Commission for discussion.

-Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77
Founded in 2011, the Nevada Firearms Coalition is dedicated to the ownership and safe use of firearms for self-defense, competition, recreation and hunting.

The coalition was created after the Nevada State Rifle Association went defunct in 2007.

This month, the group began a campaign for the creation of a commemorative license plate in support of the nations second amendment.

Coalition President Don Turner said the group introduced a contest where Nevadans can vote for one of four license plate designs which will eventually accompany the more than 30 specialty license plates presently offered by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The contest is known as Drive the Second Amendment.

During our last legislative session, some of the state legislators decided that we should have a second amendment license plate, Turner said. There is a process to allow for commemorative license plates because there are firefighter license plates, veteran license plates and the Nevada Test Site license plates.

Turner also noted that the popularity of a particular speciality license plate in Nevada determines whether the DMV will continue to offer them.

The way the law works, there are about 36 specialty license plates and you have to wait until one of them falls off the list, he said. Some of their sales go down over a period of time.

Turner said the contest came about after a Nevada lawmaker created the initial design for the first Second Amendment license plate.

The coalitions efforts have since gained support among a majority of legislators in Carson City.

They passed the law and they decided they would use the revenue from the plates to go to the Nevada Firearms Coalition and we are going to use it for firearms safety and education training programs, he said. We met with him and told him that it would be much more fun if we had a contest where the public could choose the plate they wanted. We now have 4 different plates.

In order to make the license plate available, Turner said the coalition must raise $5,000.

Supporters of the effort can vote for their favorite design by logging on to the coalitions website and click which plate best represents the Silver State.

At the same time, they are urged to donate to the cause.

Turner noted the coalition has nearly reached its goal after the drive began on Dec. 17, as close to 50 percent of the total was reached on Wednesday.

People can vote for their favorite license plate design by contributing and well submit the most popular design to the Department of Motor Vehicles, he said. We need to raise $5,000 to make the second amendment plate available. Whether they can afford to donate $5 or $500, they can make this happen.

Turner said the coalition was fortunate to have the backing of lawmakers for their latest effort.

We were very fortunate this year by having a couple of senators put together some of our bills for us and push them forward, he said. We were able to repeal the mandatory handgun registration in Clark County. We also wanted one gun law for all of Nevada. The way the laws were written, if you were in any Nevada county but Clark County, you have one set of gun laws and in Clark County there were seven sets of gun laws, depending on which town you drove into. Now we have one law throughout the entire state.

Additionally, Turner said he and coalition members are concerned about their respective rights as gun owners.

So much of our rights are being attacked because of this trend toward socialism in our country, he said. People are concerned about their rights and the Constitution and they really need to register to vote. The time is over for people to just sit on the sidelines and be an observer. We have a real nice web page and we are very involved in politics. We also have a Political Action Committee.

To view and vote on the specialty license plates, log on to www.nvfac.org.

Just go to the license plate section and click on the plate that you think is the best, Turner said. You can vote more than once. You can vote a million times if you want to.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com.
Tonopah is on track to get medical services to Nye Regional Medical Center by March 1.

A first draft of the professional agreement between Renown Medical Group and Northern Nye County Health Hospital District that was presented at the Nye County commissioners meeting on Tuesday has to be reviewed by Nye County District Attorney Angela Bello and Renown Health counsel.

We have been bouncing a professional service agreement back and forth between the county manager, myself, Larry Trilops is the representative from Renown and our district attorney, Nye County Commission Chairperson Lorinda Wichman said.

Nye County officials decided to further work on the agreement that stipulates rights and responsibilities of the district and Renown Medical Group to get the language worked out before calling a special meeting for final approval.

Bello said she had made changes to the document and forwarded them to the Renown Health counsel but didnt hear back from him.

I would like to discuss with our counselor and make sure its OK and there are a couple more changes that will probably occur before its finalized, Bello said about the agreement. I understand that you guys want this done asap, I can appreciate that, I know that people need it up there.

In October 2015, Nye County commissioners accepted the preliminary proposal from Reno-based Renown Health, who stepped in after Nye Regional Medical Center closed its doors due to a grim financial situation.

Nevadas only locally owned not-for-profit health care system, Renown Health came up with the proposal to provide a new healthcare model in Tonopah, whose residents now have to travel up to 100 miles to receive medical care.

Larry Trilops, senior vice president and CEO of network development of Renown Health, executed a letter of intent to Nye County commissioners on Sept. 21.

The plan is (to start providing services) before March 1, Trilops said at the Tuesday meeting. Weve been talking about that since last fall that we wanted to get this going as soon as possible. I think weve hit some pickups and some bumps along the way. We worked through those and I think our team members are looking at telemedicine equipment and getting that installed today, so the plan is as soon as we get these agreements executed, we still dont have a primary care provider, the plan is to accelerate urgent care services sooner in the near future but we are pushing ahead and I think we have to keep things moving.

Previous operator Prime Care Nevada has approximately $1.2 million in unpaid liabilities. That does not include the $2.5 million and an unknown amount in legal fees the county loaned the hospital. Nye Regional closed its emergency services in late August, and the clinic closed Sept. 4.

Nye County Commission Chairperson Lorinda Wichman said that loan no longer exceeds $3 million by the county receiving all of the equipment and the agreement on the value of all that equipment being returned to the county, the debt has been reduced by $727,000.

Tonopah Town Board Chair Horace Carlyle resigned in the wake of his dispute questioning the legality of the Northern Nye County Hospital Taxing District, statements that angered some county officials.

In a letter submitted to the Nye County clerk on Dec. 24, 2015, Carlyle restated his concerns about the legitimacy of the Northern Nye County Health Hospital District that was established after Nye Regional Medical Center emerged from bankruptcy with debt exceeding $1 million.

As a town board member, I voted town monies to help fund a taxing district that would support a hospital. I have since been advised that the Northern Nye County Hospital Taxing District, even though it was not formed consistent with NRC 450.710 through NRC 450.751 is legal, is not required to fund a hospital, and can negotiate a contract for medical services, the letter read.

A notice of intent for a recall to remove Carlyle from the board was started on Dec. 8 by four Tonopah residents who called into question Carlyles motivations as the chair of the board.

Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77
Pahrump Valley residents trying to access the Internet on Thursday morning did so only to discover that they were disconnected with the worldwide web.

At around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Valley Electric Association, Inc. received notice that the communications site on Mount Potosi, located in Clark County and one of the highest points surrounding Las Vegas, was without power.

VEA immediately dispatched crews; however, the rough terrain combined with extreme weather slowed progress, the co-op said in a statement.

This communications site, managed by InTelliSites, LLC serves several southern Nevada businesses as well as local and federal government agencies. Among the companies affected in town were Rise Broadband and LV.Net.

VEA crews located the problem affecting the power there and were working on the repairs for much of the day. Although the member who manages the site has a backup generator, that generator failed and the site was left without power.

Valley Electric is still working on it. Theres some issues with powerline pulls into the site due to the storm that happened, Todd Fuson, principal at InTelliSites said. The generator is back up, so the site is up on generator backup. Unfortunately, there was a breaker that was tripped and that was reset.

Were still on generator power and Valley Electric informed us that it will probably be a couple of more hours before its fully restored, he said. That restores all Internet, TV, everything that was being sent service off that mountain.

A representative from Rise Broadband said the last thing he heard was that crews were chiseling open a fence to an area they needed to access that was frozen shut around 2 p.m. Thursday.

InTelliSites said Thursday morning that they hoped to have the power back up by noon, but the majority of town was still without service as of press time Thursday.

The Nye County School District said that their Internet was out through the morning, but was restored at around 1 p.m., right around the time the generator power was restored at Mount Potosi.

InTelliSites, LLC specializes in the development and management of multi-tenant wireless communication towers and rooftop sites, according to their website.

No other VEA members were affected by the power outage. Internet returned for a few hours to some areas but was down again Thursday evening.

Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.
Constitution cowboys Ammon and Ryan Bundy are as skilled at rounding up reporters as they are at bringing in the strays at their fathers ranch.

These days the sons of Bunkerville cattleman Cliven Bundy have climbed down from the saddle and up on the political pulpit as they lead the takeover of the isolated Malheur National Wildlife Refuge 30 miles south of Burns, Ore.

Theyre on site in support of ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond, who reported to federal prison Monday in Southern California to serve their five-year sentences following a 2012 conviction for starting fires on public lands. Although the father and son argued they were attempting to protect their property from invasive species, the evidence failed to support them.

But speaking of invasive species, and evidence of dubious veracity, just who invited the Bundy brothers to drive all the way to Oregon to participate in what Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward calls an armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in the dead of winter? Its possible, even likely, no one did.

The sheriff has politely asked the Bundy brothers to pack up and head south like a pair of geese. Residents have echoed those sentiments. A peaceful protest calling out the federal government for its insensitive treatment of the ranchers is one thing. Inviting a bunch of armed Constitution-quoters to the area frightens the children and old folks.

Sheriff Wards request hasnt yet fazed the Bundy brothers. In fact, theyve told reporters theyre willing to remain at the remote outpost for years if necessary to support the Hammond family and the Constitution.

While were on the subject of the Bundys self-appointed role in the occupation, it remains unclear whether the Hammond family requested the brothers presence on the scene as they prepared to march off to prison for said crimes. Although Ryan Bundy has repeatedly said hes been told the family appreciates the support, thats not much of an endorsement.

Beyond the symbolism and immediate national media coverage, occupying an essentially empty federal facility wont help the Hammond family or bring greater clarity to the complex issue of the proper use of public lands. But it sure gives the Bundy brothers plenty of face time.

And that enables Ryan the opportunity to express his considered view on the subject, as he did Monday on KNPRs State of Nevada:

We realize that they are abusing the land and rights of the people all around, but its very extreme up here. And so thats why were here at this point.  This wildlife refuge here has been an instrument of tyranny by running people off the land who create this place.

The wildlife refuge has been carved out of land once used by the regions cattle ranchers, Bundy said. But its not as if the Malheur is a Johnny-come-lately. It was founded in 1908, a fact that didnt make it into the Constitution lecture.

The Malheur provides a home to 320 species of birds, 58 species of mammals and is a stop on the Pacific Flyway, the airway traveled by migrating ducks, swans and geese. Maybe its not such a good thing to light it on fire.

Out in Bunkerville, rancher Cliven Bundy supports the Hammonds from afar with media interviews and on the familys nifty bundyranch.blogspot.com website.

His Jan. 1 press release says in part, I, Cliven D. Bundy, have been involved for several weeks in the background striving to understand and comprehend your dilemmas in Harney County, Oregon.  The fires that were set were for a good purpose and had good results.

The United States Justice Department has NO jurisdiction or authority within the State of Oregon, County of Harney over this type of ranch management.

The Bunkerville rancher who issues press releases sounds an awful lot like a self-appointed attorney. But it turns out the Hammonds already have licensed counsel. They also have the support of the home folks and undoubtedly will receive plenty of prayers and letters during their prison stay.

Id let them out of jail if they promised not to play with matches (or poach deer out of season) again, but the federal law on that is pretty clear.

You may think Bundy and his boys are American heroes. Or you may believe theyre all hat and not cattle.

But the undisputed truth is they do have a herd of steers wandering somewhere outside Bunkerville while the boys are away in Oregon. With all that Constitutional wrangling and armchair lawyering, it makes me wonder whos minding the cows.

Time to get back to the home range, boys.

John L. Smith is a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and a fourth-generation Nevadan. Contact him at jsmith@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith.
The Internet blackout that hit most of the Pahrump Valley on Thursday shows two things to me. First is how vulnerable our technology infrastructure can be and second is how dependent we have become on the Internet.

Im calling it a blackout because it was actually the power that went out to the relay station on top of Mount Potosi that caused the Internet to go down across the valley for many businesses and homes.

Who thought that in 2016 that infrastructure would still be so vulnerable, or that we had become so reliant on it. From what Ive been told some businesses couldnt accept credit cards, some gas pumps wouldnt take gas cards, and classrooms were left without an essential teaching tool. I also understand it impacted the local radio and television stations.

While it is unclear as I write this Thursday afternoon in Las Vegas how widespread the outage was and everyone it impacted, it forced some of the Times staff to drive nearly 65 miles to the Las Vegas Review-Journal so we could get the newspaper produced and on your doorstep Friday morning.

Like many businesses today, the vast majority of what we do is dependent on having access to the Internet with enough bandwidth to produce whatever they may produce. Credit cards cannot be run without the Internet, and apparently neither can a newspaper production schedule.

Long gone are the days of typewriters. Nearly all of the editorial content you read passes through shared files in Google Docs, before being entered into a cloud-based program and sent to Austin, Texas to be built into the newspaper. Those files are then sent to Las Vegas where the newspaper is printed, put on trucks, and then delivered back to Pahrump.

The ads are also sent over those same internet lines.

So the trip had to be made by two reporters, our proofreader and myself to Las Vegas.

I made the decision because even though we were told that the Internet connection was anticipated to be working by noon, my thought was, what if it wasnt? Pushing the paper to Saturday delivery wasnt really an option.

The right decision was made because while the connection returned for a few hours in Pahrump, it was slow at the Times office before it went out again around 5 p.m. That necessitated Selwyn Harris, who was left behind to tell the story from the locals, to email his stories from the McDonalds behind our office.

But we got it done. Missed our regular deadline by two hours, but we got it done.

In this day and age, even with the Internet down on many desktops and Wi-Fi connections, most people can still access Facebook and Twitter and other websites from their smartphones. But it is still a little unnerving that most people can be cut off from the World Wide Web.

It reminds me of when I was driving on Interstate 70 through the Rocky Mountains in October. Right outside Glenwood Springs, Colorado, we were diverted late at night because a major accident had shut down the interstate. We were forced to stay overnight because there was no way to drive around.

Both the incidents that so easily cut off easy access we take for granted  a regular highway and the other the information superhighway  has made me take note of how vulnerable the access we take for granted truly is.

Arnold M. Knightly is the editor of the Pahrump Valley Times, who finished this column from a computer in Las Vegas at 8 p.m.
The Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce will be searching for a new leader with the resignation of its president and CEO Nathan Sondgeroth.

In an interview Thursday, Sondgeroth said he is leaving the chamber's top post after more than 3 years to join a Quad-City-based real estate investment firm. He did not identify his new employer.

"I was not looking to leave the non-profit world," he said. "In 2016, we really are on the cusp of some great things."

Nate Kreinbrink, the chamber's board chairman, said the executive committee is deciding how to replace Sondgeroth.

"He spearheaded some of the great projects we've done and currently are in the process of doing," Kreinbrink said. "We are looking to fill that role with the best person with the right capabilities to continue to move this forward."

Sondgeroth's final day has not been determined, but he plans to stay on until late January.

He joined the chamber in May 2012 after serving as economic development coordinator for the city of Davenport. Before that, he was involved in economic development with the Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce.

He said he discovered his passion for economic development while practicing law in the mid-2000s with the Davenport firm of Hopkins and Heubner. At the city, he served as the executive director of the Greater Davenport Redevelopment Corp., which owns the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center.

"I feel honored to be part of that community stewardship ... it was satisfying to be part of that community leadership team,'' he said of his Clinton job.

Kreinbrink credited Sondgeroth with helping grow chamber membership in Clinton and the surrounding area as well as increasing Clinton's presence in Des Moines and nationally. "Building relationships with current membership and developing new members was one of his strong points," he said. ''Obviously, as we look to fill that position, those are things we'll look for in the next leader as well."
Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson said Thursday he will be very surprised if he doesnt finish in the top three in Iowa, where he was wrapping up a two-day campaign swing with a rally in Bettendorf. Carson is banking heavily on doing well in the Feb. 1 caucuses, and an aide said he would be spending the bulk of the month in the state.

Carsons camp has pointed to large, enthusiastic crowds over the last couple of days, and enough people turned out to see the retired neurosurgeon in Bettendorf that the campaign held two separate rallies.

Before the first, a long line of people stood in a light rain, some for more than a half hour, in order to crowd into Precision Signz, a business where Carson was making his last stop of the day.

The Carson campaign estimated the crowd at about 500 people. The crowd for the second event was somewhat smaller.

In about 45 minutes of remarks early in the evening, Carson criticized the Affordable Care Act as anti-American," blamed burdensome regulations for hurting the economy, pushed for school vouchers  and warned if another progressive wins the White House, and gets to appoint new justices to the Supreme Court, America as we know it is gone.

He also criticized the Obama administrations approach to gun control, saying there arent shootings at schools in Israel, because there are well-trained personnel protecting them.

Have you noticed in this country when we have these mass shootings, they always go to gun free zones? So I dont think we should have any gun free zones, he said to applause.

Much of the attention paid to the Carson campaign lately has been to the shakeup in his staff, and a slide in the opinion polls. But a Carson representative told the crowd Thursday the changes in staff has made it stronger. And some of the 500 people the Carson campaign estimated attended the first rally said all that didnt matter to them, anyway.

Judy Lehms, of Bettendorf, said she hadnt gone to the caucuses before because she has never been very trustful of politicians. But shes said thinking about going this year to support Carson.

"I think this is a very special man, she said.

Jon Peebles, of Bettendorf, plans on going to the caucuses. He said hes undecided whom to support, but added, this is very, very encouraging.

Hes a man of God, and thats what we need back in our society, Peebles said.

Earlier in the day, Carson, who at one point was leading in Iowa, met with the Quad-City Times editorial board for about an hour. There, he said he expects to finish higher than where the RealClearPolitics average for polls taken in Iowa has him now: fourth place.

I hope the day after the caucus, everybodys scratching their head, saying we didnt see that coming, he said. I would be very surprised if I didnt finish in the top three."

Carson also dismissed questions, raised this week by Donald Trump, about whether the current leader in Iowa, Ted Cruz, meets the qualifications to be president because he was born in Canada.

Cruzs mother is an American citizen, and two former solicitor generals wrote last year in the Harvard Law Review there is no question Cruz is eligible, according to some recent news reports.

It would never have been an issue for me, Carson said.
It hasnt gotten any easier for Tracey OHara. More than two years ago, she lost her only daughter, Jamie Sedam, 22, in what prosecutors say was a fatal drunken driving crash that also took the life of Clayton Carver, 24, of Taylor Ridge.

Jamie is forever 22, stuck in my head there, always, OHara said Thursday at her Port Byron home. You dont get over the loss of your child.

Since her daughters death, OHara said she has slept in her own bed only a dozen times. Instead, she chooses a love seat  the last place Jamie sat  in the front parlor of her house. She said sleeping there helps her feel close to her daughter.

Although she said she will never get over Jamie's death, OHara expressed anger and shock that a Rock Island County judge has allowed the man accused of driving the vehicle, Mitchell A. Gayer, to take back his guilty plea in the case and tossed his 18-year prison sentence.

OHara said she learned about the judges decision on Dec. 31 when she received a voicemail from the Rock Island County States Attorneys Office.

A week later, she said she still has questions.

The main thing is why, because it was such a shock, OHara said. Nobody expected it.

In January 2015, Gayer entered an Alford plea to a charge of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol, which carries a potential sentence of six to 28 years in prison.

In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but agrees the prosecution likely could prove the charge.

He was sentenced in May to 18 years in prison, of which he would have to serve 85 percent, or just more than 15 years, before he could be considered for parole. Gayer, who had been out on bond, was taken into custody immediately after the sentencing hearing.

According to Rock Island County Sheriffs deputies, Gayer lost control of his 1999 Chevrolet S10 on a curve in the 9500 block of 51st Street near Milan and swerved off the road into a ditch. Sedam and Carver died at the scene.

Gayer was seriously injured. Deputies say he was driving about 61 mph in a 55-mph zone and had a blood-alcohol level that was nearly twice the legal limit.

Gayer has said he has no memory of the crash or the events leading up to it.

During a Dec. 4 hearing on his motion to withdraw his plea, Gayer testified that his former attorney, William Schick, did not properly explain the consequences of his plea to a felony charge and that the attorney expressed confidence that he would receive either probation or a minimal prison sentence with a future date to turn himself in.

In a four-page written opinion filed Dec. 30, Associate Judge Thomas Berglund said that given the totality of the circumstances, he could not conclude that Schicks performance was reasonable under prevailing professional norms.

Gayer, 25, now faces two counts of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and is in the Rock Island County Jail on a $50,000 bond. A new court date has not yet been set.

Rock Island County States Attorney John McGehee said last week he was surprised at that judges ruling and his office will file a motion to reconsider.

One of the things that troubles OHara is the judges comments in his written decision that Schick appeared to have fallen asleep during the May sentencing hearing.

OHara said Thursday that Berglund had a responsibility not only to Mitch but to my family and the Carver family to address it.

Since the ruling on Gayers plea, OHara said her familys lives has been turned upside down and put on hold once again while the case is pending.

OHara, who has attended every court date for Gayer, said she will continue to be a voice for her daughter and tell her story.

Nothing is going to get better, but he has to pay for what he did, she said. I cant just sit back and say, OK, Mitch.
Two Moline men and a juvenile have been charged in connection with an East Moline home burglary in which jewelry and firearms were stolen, East Moline Police Lt. Darren Gault said Thursday.

Gault said arrest warrants were issued Wednesday for Lane Mills, 20, and Ethan Kiely, 20, and the juvenile whose name has not been released, in connection with the burglary that occurred Dec. 14 in the 700 block of 26th Street.

Mills is charged with one count of residential burglary, a Class 1 felony under Illinois law that carries a prison sentence of four to 15 years.

Kiely, who is serving three years on probation after pleading guilty Oct. 17, 2014, in Rock Island County Circuit Court to a Class 2 felony charge of unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, also is charged with residential burglary in the case.

Kiely also is charged with unlawful possession of a stolen firearm and unlawful sale or delivery of a firearm, both of which are Class 2 felonies under Illinois law that carry a prison sentence of three to seven years.

During the past two weeks, East Moline police have served several search warrants, including on Dec. 29 at a place in the 400 block of 53rd Street in Moline, and in the 300 block of 3rd Avenue in Hampton, Gault said. On Dec. 30, a search warrant was served in the 3100 block of 11th Avenue C in Moline. During those searches, officers seized some of the property stolen in the burglary.

Gault said that investigators have conducted dozens of interviews that helped in recovering the stolen property and led to the charges against Mills, Kiely and the juvenile.

The investigation is continuing and more charges are possible, he said.

Mills was being held Thursday in the Rock Island County jail on $40,000 bond.

The juvenile in the case is being held in a juvenile detention center.

Kiely is not in custody and police are looking for him. Gault said that anyone with information on Kielys whereabouts is asked to call the East Moline Police Department at 309-752-1555 or Crime Stoppers of the Quad-Cities at 309-762-9500.
URBANDALE, Iowa  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Thursday that Iowa voters are still deciding who they will support Feb. 1 and likely will prove the political experts wrong again in 2016.

Huckabee's 2016 Republican presidential bid hit a milestone Thursday when he visited his 99th Iowa county  completing a statewide circuit that has become known as the "full Grassley"  a term named for veteran Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley who visits all 99 counties annually.

"That's 99 town hall events since the middle of May," said Huckabee, the 2008 Iowa caucus winner who is holding 150 Iowa events in Iowa this month in an effort to finish strong on caucus night. He called reaching Keokuk County  his 99th and final county in his quest for a full Grassley  "a great, exhilarating feeling."

While other GOP candidates have begun taking political swings at each other as the first voting in the 2016 presidential selection process approaches, Huckabee said he is "swimming in my own lane and focusing on why I should be president." He said he is competent, experienced, seasoned, tested and fully vetted to be president having served as the Republican governor of a Democratic state.

Huckabee said his read of Iowa Republicans less than a month out from the caucuses is similar to what he saw in the waning weeks of the 2008 caucus campaign.

"People were not making up their minds until late. I think that's true every four years and it seems like national reporters forget," he told reporters at a rally at his Urbandale campaign headquarters.

"It's amazing how many people sitting in the well-lit studios in New York and Washington will pontificate about where Iowa is and where it's going to go and they're wrong every four years and you'd think at some point they might learn the lesson that Iowa voters date everybody in the field but they don't put a ring on it until wedding days, and that's just how it works," he said.

While some of the Iowans who helped him win in 2008 have sided with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for this election cycle, Huckabee said he still has a lot of the supporters who helped him win eight years ago.

"The rank-and-file people are still there and we've picked up a lot of new folks along the way and hope to do more," he said.
In 1991, Steve Zuidema of Davenport walked into a microbrewery in a touristy Arizona town. He was so taken with the idea of a craft beer business that when the mechanical engineer returned to the Quad-Cities, he decided to start his own.

Front Street Brewery opened in Davenport a year later, marking the beginning of what now is an explosion of interest in craft beer in the Quad-Cities.

Today, there are two independent craft brew businesses in Davenport, two each in Rock Island and Geneseo, Ill., and one each in Moline, LeClaire and Muscatine. A second Moline business is expected to open by the end of January.

And two more businesses are planning to open in Davenport in 2016, according to Brian Traughber who sells brew-making equipment in the Quad-Cities.

That craft beer has become a really big phenomenon in the Quad-Cities mirrors what is happening nationally. In the past decade, the number of craft breweries has grown to more than 4,000, up from 1,400 in 2005, according to the American Brewers Association.

The new beer clientele is educated about the various kinds of beer  pilsners, stouts, ales and so forth  and on qualities of each, such as alcohol content by volume (listed as ABV), bitterness (listed as IBU, or international bitterness units) and plato, or fullness. They learned long ago that IPA refers to India Pale Ale, and they know what that means.

Similar to wine tasters, they judge beer by different qualities such as appearance, aroma, flavor (of course) and mouth feel. It's not just about getting buzzed.

All kinds of ingredients are used to impart special flavors. Among them are blueberries, strawberries, apricots, coriander, coffee, chocolate, cinnamon, pumpkin, jalapeno, vanilla, molasses ... the list goes on. And different kinds of beers are best enjoyed in different styles of glasses.

The three most recent places to open in the Quad-Cities have been almost exclusively about beer. While Front Street, Bent River Brewery in Moline and Blue Cat Brew Pub in Rock Island all offer full-service restaurant menus, Great River Brewery in Davenport, Radicle Effect Brewerks in Rock Island and Green Tree Brewery in LeClaire do not have kitchens, inviting patrons to order in food from nearby restaurants and/or bring their own.

And Front Street and Bent River recently opened taprooms at secondary locations that are beer-focused without restaurants.

"That's the wave of the future," said Colin Wehrle, 29, of Moline, a beer connoisseur who founded an invitation-only Facebook community of like-minded people in 2014. "There will be a lot more places like Green Tree and Radicle Effect that just serve beer."

Wehrle's Facebook group has grown to just shy of 500 people, most of whom live within a 50-mile radius of the Quad-Cities, he said. The majority are men between the ages of 25 and 35, although an increasing number of women are joining. They talk to each other about beer, sharing what they've heard, seen or found. Collectively, they post about 50 messages daily.

Q-C breweries sell a certain number of standards year-round, with a rotation of specialties and seasonal offerings.

Beer lovers eagerly await "tappings," or the release of a new kind of beer or a brew that is available only seasonally.

Lines formed at area Hy-Vee food stores on Black Friday when Goose Island brewery, Chicago, released its Bourbon County Stout, and many people anticipated Bent River's release on New Year's Eve of its Blueberry Stout.

In cases where demand exceeds supply, the tapping procedure varies, Wehrle said. Sometimes, a customer will get one bottle and one tasting, while other times there will be no tasting but the opportunity to buy up to six bottles, he said.

Wehrle realized that the Quad-Cities was really into beer when he went to Chicago for tappings and saw lots of people he knew. That's when he started his Facebook community.

Part of the fun of driving hundreds of miles for a new beer "is the hunt," Wehrle said. "It's to be able to say that you are one of the thousand people" who got a certain brew.

In addition to selling beer in their businesses, many of the craft brews made in the Quad-Cities and regionally are available at area food stores, gas stations and convenience stores.

They are everywhere.
Refugees, Radicals and the Assaults on German Women

Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker and President of the Cologne Police Wolfgang Albers (R) hold a news confernece in Cologne, Germany, January 5, 2016. (AINA) -- The sexual molesting of over 100 women in several German cities on New Year's Eve has triggered outrage in Germany and throughout the Western world. It strikes at a core value of the contemporary West: the right of women to be treated with dignity and respect and not to be subjected to unwelcome sexual advances.

The reports that the perpetrators were hundreds of men of North African and Arabic appearance have unleashed a bitter debate in Germany between those who have linked the event with the massive influx of refugees to Germany in 2015 against those who refuse to link the sexual attacks with the refugee issue.

Can a direct line be drawn between the sexual assaults and refugees? To answer that question, thought should be given to the profile of refugees entering Germany last year. They represent many nationalities: Syrians, Iraqis, Libyans, Moroccans, Algerians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nigerians and a host of other nationalities. The diverse nationalities involved suggest that it would be impossible to link the sexual attacks with a particular national grouping.

What if we divide refugees along religious lines? The majority of refugees are Muslim by faith, but there are also Christians, Yazidis and other minority religious groups. Such a consideration carries us forward; it is virtually certain that the perpetrators of the New Year's Eve attacks on women were not Christian, Yazidi or other religious minority refugees.

That leaves the majority of refugees in the spotlight, who are Muslim. It is equally certain that many Muslims would have been as appalled by the attacks as were non-Muslim Germans. So we can safely conclude that many Muslim refugees would have shunned such sexual assaults on German women.

However there is a subset of Muslims who should be regarded with suspicion: Islamists, determined to foister Islam upon non-Islamic communities and who regard the West with hostility.

It is at this point that we identify the prime suspects. This whole sorry event should not be linked with refugees per se but should rather be linked with Islamists, some of whom are refugees but many of whom have German nationality and are descended from earlier Muslim migrants to Germany. So the issue is less about refugees and is more about radical Islamism.

Radical Islamists read straight from the page of their sacred texts to the modern world. When the Islamic sacred texts speak in a demeaning fashion about women -- as they do in many places -- radical Islamists are encouraged to demean women, especially those who are non-Muslim: Christian Arabs, Yazidis, Christian Westerners -- and secular Westerners, such as young German women engaging in revelry on New Year's Eve.

Such demeaning attitudes to non-Muslim women among radical Islamists explain many of the horrifying stories of recent years: the kidnapping and concubinage of Christian girls by Muslim men in Pakistan and Egypt; the kidnapping of hundreds of Christian women and girls in Nigeria; the increasing numbers of rapes of Western women in Europe by Muslim gangs. Most of these stories have been largely ignored by the Western press. Rapes and grooming of young white girls here in England were reported in the media but the perpetrators were euphemistically described as "Asian"; the fact that they were Muslim was too sensitive to report, it seems.

It is right for the authorities to discourage an automatic linkage between the recent sexual assaults in Germany and refugees per se. However, more transparency is needed in drawing the link between the assaults on women and radical Islamists in Germany, some but not all of whom would have been refugees.

With regard to the future, Europeans should prepare themselves for more of these kinds of challenges to their way of life. The refugee influx is serving to grow Muslim minority populations. So the proportion of those populations which is radical Islamist will also grow. Hostile Islamist groups will be increasingly assertive in years to come, using both overt and covert strategies to destabilise European societies. In order for such challenges to be overcome, a new generation of European political and social leaders will be needed, one which has more courage and vision then those European leaders of recent years who have been in a state of denial as Europe has sleepwalked into its current social crises.
Keeping tabs on ICE enforcement actions around the country
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CNN's "Guns in America" town hall meeting with President Barack Obama was seen by 2.4 million viewers Thursday night, according to early data from the Nielsen rating company.

The 75-minute special, hosted by Anderson Cooper, fell short of Fox News Channel's audience of 3 million viewers, but outpaced MSNBC, seen by slightly fewer than 1 million.

However, CNN took first place in both the 25-54 and 18-34 demos, outperforming the combined audience for those two rivals.

Among 25-54 viewers, CNN averaged 845,000 viewers, far ahead of Fox News' 463,000 and MSNBC's 227,000 viewers. In the 18-34 demo, CNN had 277,000 viewers, while Fox News trailed with 73,000 and MSNBC had 40,000.
PIERRE | For the first time in South Dakota, courses about Native Americans will be among the required subjects schools must teach.

The state Board of Education adjusted the schedule for reviewing teaching standards Thursday and added Native American education for all as a subject for the first time.

The revised schedule still calls for the board to adopt any revisions in English language arts in 2018, but in the spring rather than the summer, and to adopt any revisions in math in 2019, again in the spring rather than the summer.

State law requires four public hearings before the board can adopt standards or changes in standards. The standards are used in grades three through eight and grade 11 for testing student achievement. Further details of the requirement for Native American coursework were not discussed Thursday.

The public hearings on English revisions will be held in 2017-2018 as was earlier planned. But the public hearings on math revisions now will be held in 2017-2018 too, one year earlier than previously scheduled.

While the math work will start one year sooner, any proposed math revisions will sit for a full year until 2019, when the board would act on them, state Education Secretary Melody Schopp said.

Some opponents of the Common Core standards that are now in place have claimed the schedule changes are an attempt to work away from Common Core, but Schopp said after the board meeting Thursday that is not the case.

Schopp said standards are automatically scheduled for review every seven years.

There will most likely be changes as with any standards review revision and we most likely will not be calling them Common Core in the future after the board fully adopts them, she said.

South Dakotas board voted in 2010 to use Common Core as part of a voluntary national drive for uniform standards among states. Some legislators in recent years have fought to prohibit Common Core standards in South Dakota.

The four-hearings law passed as a response to anti-Common Core feelings in the Legislature.

The revised schedule marks the third round of hearings on standards for South Dakotas public K-12 schools since Congress passed No Child Left Behind in 2001. NCLB called for schools to be judged by student performance on standardized tests and required improvement among all income and demographic groups.

Congress replaced NCLB last year with the Every Student Succeeds Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law in December. Students will continue to take standardized tests under ESSA.

The federal government didnt have a role under NCLB in setting standards and wont under ESSA, Schopp said.

But Schopp said she wants truly South Dakota standards for South Dakota parents and students.

Some Common Core opponents wanted her to resign or for Gov. Dennis Daugaard to replace her.

Becky Nelson, an administrator for the state Division of Learning and Instruction, said teachers already have been contacting her to participate in the standards reviews for English and math. She said there are experts in South Dakota. We rely on their input heavily, Nelson said.
PIERRE | A November conversation between Rapid City Police Chief Karl Jegeris and two South Dakota Lottery Commission members has led to the commission's decision to hire a contractor to review security practices for video lottery establishments and the lotterys office facilities.

The conversation and the decision to hire a contractor come in the wake of a period of less than half a year in which 12 Rapid City casinos were robbed.

The Lottery Commission on Thursday approved the preparing of a request for proposals for the review. Robyn Seibel, director of video lottery and security, said her preliminary inquiries showed an outside review could cost in the range of $40,000 to $50,000.

The decision comes after a meeting between Jegeris and commissioners Doyle Estes, of Hill City, and Chuck Turbiville, of Deadwood.

In a Thursday interview, Jegeris said both Sioux Falls and Rapid City, the state's two largest cities, had had casino robberies in the recent past. Jegeris said he met with Sioux Falls Police Chief Matt Burns, and the two agreed an approach to the Lottery Commission would be helpful.

Jegeris said he received "a very, very good response" from Estes and Turbiville.

The lottery has guidelines but doesnt require security arrangements for the businesses, other than for the gambling machines and their communication networks.

Jegeris said the commission is in "a better position (than police agencies), they really can make sure there is consistent improvement" to try to thwart robbers.

Jegeris offered two recommendations for changes. First, he said, casinos have varying degrees of effective video surveillance, so improving that surveillance industry-wide would make robbers less likely to strike, or to get away with a robbery.

With his experience of the 12 casino robberies since summer, Jegeris said not all of the video has been of high quality. "Some have been problematic," he said, but added, "In some, we pointed out the problems to owners, and they made improvements."

Second, Jegeris recommended that casinos install what he called "delayed-time safes." Under current practices, a player who hits a jackpot can walk directly to the cashier and immediately be paid.

If, however, a casino safe had a 15-minute delay, a winner would approach the cashier, ask for the jackpot, then have to wait 15 minutes for the safe to open.

No robber would wait 15 minutes, Jegeris said.

One of the structural problems is that few of the casino buildings were designed as casinos, he said, so the builders didn't have security in mind at the time of construction.

At the Thursday commission meeting, Lottery Administrator Norm Lingle said staff employees would assemble the request for proposals and present it at the commissions next meeting.

The RFP is to find out if we should be doing some more? Commissioner Jim Putnam, of Armour, asked.

Correct, Seibel replied.

Lingle said the goal is specific recommendations regarding the establishments and the lottery facilities.

I think we would tread very carefully, before we did anything mandatory, said Commissioner Bob Hartford, of Pierre, who formerly managed the Music and Vending Association that represented many video lottery businesspeople.

He said one size doesnt fit all.

I think what were heading towards is highly recommended rather than a mandate, Hartford said.

Putnam said law officers have been asking questions. Bring it back and lets discuss it, Putnam said.

Estes said that generally some security recommendations would be OK, but he would be willing to consider some actual requirements, based on the meeting with Jegeris.

I would tell you, its a sensitive deal with them, Estes said. Weve had quite a few rashes of robberies in Rapid City.

Arrests have been made in six of the 12 Rapid City robberies since July, according to Police Department statistics.

Commissioner Brent Dykstra, of Fort Pierre, agreed with proceeding on the research but like Hartford doesnt want to get carried away. Tread lightly, I guess is what Im saying, Dykstra said.

Turbiville, the commissions chairman and the mayor of Deadwood, called the RFP an excellent suggestion.

Jegeris said the owners of the casinos should be willing to take steps to improve security because when a robbery is in progress, their employees and their customers are in danger.

"It is a very high-risk situation," Jegeris said, adding that he hopes casino owners realize, "Safety is good for business."
Authorities say a Nebraska fugitive who shot himself rather than surrender to tribal and federal officers has died at a hospital.

The FBI says 25-year-old David Hoffman refused to give up peacefully Wednesday when found on the Santee Sioux Indian Reservation in northeast Nebraska. Authorities say he was taken to a hospital in nearby Yankton, South Dakota, where he died.

FBI spokeswoman Sandra Breault says none of the officers fired and no injuries to anyone else have been reported.

The manhunt began Tuesday afternoon after a Niobrara police officer tried to arrest Hoffman on a Knox County warrant alleging burglary and theft. The Nebraska State Patrol and other agencies joined the search as Niobrara schools and some businesses were locked down.
He represents a solidly Republican state, and he easily won election to the U.S. Senate in November 2014, but U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., got a taste on Thursday of what seems a national trend toward voter frustration.

His "coffee and conversations" session, which attracted about 100 local people to the campus of Black Hills State UniversityRapid City, included some stinging questions and commentary, much of it directed at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"We have less than 1 percent of our population in the military," one man said. "Now is not the time to cut benefits in VA hospitals."

Rounds responded, "The VA last year had $10 billion added, but we've got to make sure it gets to the right places."

He related an anecdote in which a veteran in Sturgis had trouble getting his glasses from the VA and was told he had to pick them up.

"We don't want him driving without his glasses to get them," Rounds said. "It took six months, and it shouldn't take that long."

Rounds blamed struggles with paperwork for many of the VA problems, adding that many VA employees who say they wish to help were unable to without getting clearance from a supervisor.

"It's a swamp," Rounds said, "and every time you bend over a gator bites you in the butt."

Rounds spent a moment to reminisce, then fired his own salvos at the political system.

"One year ago yesterday was my first day in Senate," he told his audience, "and I've learned a few things. Number one, the system truly is broken. Number two, there are some very good people there who want to make changes ... we're debating again and inviting discussion, taking a deep breath and working our way through."

Rounds cited as accomplishments the first highway bill since 2005, an education bill that eliminated Common Core and overhauled the No Child Left Behind Act, and a budget that would extend until the next presidency.

One constituent challenged his assertion that Common Core was gone. (According to reports about the education law, the federal government may no longer require or give states incentives to adopt or maintain any set of academic standards, such as Common Core.)

She also said Rounds had voted for a bill that allotted $60 billion for the Department of Education after running on a platform to defund it. Rounds assured her that more was gained than lost.

"The bill stops the federal government from making funding decisions on a state-by-state basis for states that deal with the government," he said. "Even Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, said that wasn't fair. So we've returned control to the state."

As for the Department of Education, Rounds said that given the chance, he would vote to abolish it.

Rounds also answered a man who asked whether standing up and saying what South Dakota stood for had more value than constantly compromising.

"Sometimes it does," Rounds said. Regarding the federal budget passed by the Senate, he said he did not know what his vote would be the night before he cast it.

"I can get more of what I want than what I don't, or vote 'No,'" Rounds said. "Then I don't get to play at the table the next time through. I decided that the pragmatic call gets the most, and it's better that South Dakota is part of the process."

It seems that the name of the Republican presidential front-runner surfaces in every political forum, and Rounds' Rapid City session was no exception. A woman prefaced her remark by saying, "In the spirit of Donald Trump, I'm going to put political correctness aside," then accused Rounds and his colleagues, in colorfully insulting language, of betraying voters.

Rounds responded, "I suspect Donald Trump would be proud of you."
If the Rapid City Area Schools continue to use money from the capital outlay fund so teachers can receive the raises approved for the 2015-2016 academic year, the district may not have enough money for new schools.

There may just be a reality that were not going to build new buildings for a while, Dave Janak, the district's assistant superintendent and finance officer, said in a Thursday interview. We may just have to maintain the buildings we have, which also could prove to be pretty expensive.

Janak's assessment precedes the expectation that a report from educational consultant MGT America will recommend a large number of building improvements. The School Board commissioned an updated report on building needs, which should be ready early next month.

The district has about $19 million per year in its capital outlay fund, which goes toward improvements and new construction. But to give the teachers a raise this school year, the School Board took $4 million from that fund and used it to pay for general fund operations.

That freed general-fund money to go to teacher salaries.

Looking ahead to Gov. Dennis Daugaards budget address on Tuesday, Superintendent Tim Mitchell said in a Thursday press conference that he has high hopes the state in the next fiscal year will allocate more money for financially strapped school districts like Rapid City.

A state statute allows the district to continue using money from the capital outlay fund for general-fund expenditures until June 2018. To sustain the teacher raises granted this year, the district may need to keep drawing from the capital outlay fund, unless other revenues increase.

But once July 1, 2018 arrives, the capital outlay fund will not be available, and if the state doesnt allocate more funding for teacher pay, the School Board would have to take drastic steps, including personnel and program cuts, Mitchell said.

However, he said he was heartened by the fact that Daugaard has voiced support for a proposal from the Blue Ribbon Task Force to use $75 million in state money  either from existing funds or a state sales tax increase  to raise teacher pay across South Dakota.

MGT America first issued a list of Rapid City school facility improvement recommendations in 2008. Rapid City Schools Communications Manager Katy Urban said she expects the new MGT report to provide a wealth of new recommendations, some of them likely echoing the ones made in 2008.

The School Board will then have to decide how and where to spend the limited money from the capital outlay fund.

Janak said the subtraction of $4 million from the capital outlay fund means some of the facility improvements recommended by MGT may go to the wayside, as did the reconstruction of South Middle School proposed in the initial 2008 report.
In the span of one week, two federal convicts from the Rosebud Indian Reservation walked away from the same Rapid City halfway house.

The halfway house is Community Alternatives of the Black Hills, where federal inmates can qualify to be sent for help re-entering society as they finish their sentences. Security is minimal, and residents of the facility are given some freedoms and responsibilities.

Charles Seigel, spokesman for the facility's parent company, Community Education Centers, said having two walkaways in a week is unusual but is not cause for concern about the facility.

"It happens once in a while," Seigel said of walkaway incidents. "Somebody is given responsibility and doesn't live up to the requirements, and we report it."

Both walkaways have been placed on escape status by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and are being sought by the U.S. Marshals Service, which has jurisdiction on Native American reservations.

The most recent walkaway was Elias James LaPointe, who left Community Alternatives of the Black Hills at 11:47 a.m. Dec. 30 to search for a job and did not return, according to an affidavit filed Wednesday by a deputy U.S. marshal. LaPointe removed a GPS monitoring device at about 8 p.m. that same day.

LaPointe was convicted in 2014 for an assault resulting in substantial bodily injury to a person younger than 16.

According to a statement that the then-21-year-old LaPointe signed prior to his conviction, he was at home in Mellette County on the morning of Oct. 23, 2013, when he assaulted a 19-month-old child, causing the child to suffer a lacerated liver, subdural hematoma, injured jaw, damaged pancreas, bruised scrotum and numerous other hematomas and injuries.

LaPointe did not seek medical care for the child immediately, and it was not until the childs mother came home more than four hours after the assault that the child was finally taken to a hospital in Rosebud and then another hospital in Sioux Falls.

LaPointes sentence included 33 months in federal custody and two years of supervised release. He was housed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Berlin, N.H., until Dec. 9, 2015, when he was transferred to Community Alternatives of the Black Hills.

The facilitys other recent walkaway was Raymond Walter Gassman, who did not return Dec. 23 after cutting off his ankle monitor.

Gassman and another man robbed the Paul Mart convenience store in Todd County in 2012. They struggled with the clerk, and Gassman cut the clerk with a sharp-edged instrument or machete, according to a statement that Gassman signed.

Gassmans sentence included 46 months in custody and two years of supervised release. He was housed at a federal facility in Wisconsin until he was transferred to Community Alternatives of the Black Hills in July.

Community Alternatives of the Black Hills, at 5031 Highway 79 in southeast Rapid City, has 68 beds. It houses mostly federal convicts but also houses some from the state Department of Corrections.

The facility is part of Community Education Centers Inc., a nationwide company that provides rehabilitative services to offenders in prison and during their re-entry to society, and also manages county, state and federal jail and detention facilities.

LaPointe and Gassman, who are both members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, are being sought by the U.S. Marshals Service office in Rapid City. Jane Koball, supervisor of that office, said the two men are the only federal convicts currently on escape status in the Rapid City area. Each man faces up to five additional years of imprisonment if caught and convicted of escape.
Back in 2009, a Polson man named Paul Wencewicz created an invitation-only online bulletin board where members advertised and traded sexually explicit images of young girls.

He called it Kingdom of Future Dreams, and housed the physical server on the remote Isle of Jersey, one of the United Kingdoms Channel Islands.

On it were thousands of pictures of girls as young as 4 years old posing with sex toys  one with the word slut and hurt me written in red on a girls abdomen with a knife in the picture.

After a tip in 2011, FBI agents and officers from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force obtained a search warrant for Wencewiczs house, and through their investigation identified dozens of other suspects and the existence of a second bulletin board called the Dark Moon.

Agents were able to crack Wencewiczs highly complex encryption in 2013.

On Thursday, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Montana announced the conclusion of a multi-agency, multi-year international investigation of the two bulletin boards involving the exploitation of hundreds of children. The stings that brought down the child porn rings were called Operation Kingdom Conqueror and Operation Moon Runner.

The investigation resulted in the conviction of 21 defendants  all men ranging in age from 25 to 67  across the U.S.

The last of the defendants, 31-year-old Shawnston Beaudoin of Kennesaw, Georgia, was sentenced Thursday to 17 years and six months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, with lifetime supervised release.

Wencewicz, 49, received a sentence of 18 years and four months in the Bureau of Prisons, with lifetime supervised release. He must also pay $29,859 in restitution.

The sentences of the other defendants ranged from 15 years to 18 years and four months, and all include supervised release.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Michael Cotter said the investigation involved more than 100 local, state and federal agents operating on two continents, and the execution of 60 search warrants.

Between 2009 and 2012, Wencewicz and other members of the conspiracy sexually exploited hundreds of little girls around the world and the U.S. by trading appalling and revolting images and videos of them while expressing perverse sexual glee while looking at them, Cotter said. Agents were able to identify the locations of some of the most egregious members and the task force agents executed search warrants on these targets.

Cotter said the Dark Moon bulletin board had data anonymization and encryption to conceal the members locations, and administrators configured it to purge the IP addresses of members.

These men are dangerous, Cotter said. Some had images of girls even younger than 4. Their sexual perversions are horrific.

One defendant, 49-year-old Tony Gustafson of Hastings, Nebraska, had sadistic images in his collection that included the image of the girl with the words written on her abdomen. He was sentenced 16 years and eight months in prison. Many of the images showed children being abused with foreign objects, Cotter said.

Some of the posts and comments the members would make on the board were equally as depraved, he said. Some of the defendants had also committed prior hands-on offenses against children.

Steven Grovo, 35, of Shirly, Massachusetts, previously assaulted a 12-year-old girl. He also told investigators he abused a 4-year-old child.

Ian Nosek, 44, of Charlottesville, Virginia, had a history of taking pictures of the pubic area of girls in swimming pools, which he would then post.

Beaudoin admitted to producing child pornography and previously assaulting girls.

These operations were a cooperative effort between the U.S. Attorneys Office, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justices Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation, the Helena Police Department, Homeland Security Investigation and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Cotter said. Its our duty to protect children with the coalition of team players we have in this room, and we will continue to do so. This was a remarkable piece of work to bring the men to justice who have exploited these young children.

He specifically pointed out Jimmy Weg, a Helena-based computer forensics expert, for his crucial help with the case.

Maureen Cain of the U.S. Department of Justice said investigators are still working to determine their identities of the victims, which at this time are unknown. The people who made the pictures also have not been identified.

And, she said, there is still an investigation into who created the Dark Moon bulletin board.

Todays sentencing closes a chapter in the continuing fight to bring justice to those who prey upon our children, said Eric Barnhart, the special agent in charge of the FBIs Salt Lake City Field Office. The 21 men convicted for their roles in the Kingdom of Future Dreams and the Dark Moon bulletin boards traded on the misery of children. Children that were subjected to horrific sexual and emotional abuse. Each time these men distributed those photos or videos, those victims were re-victimized.

Those of us who have looked into the eyes of these victims can see the light that shines so brightly in so many kids shines less brightly in theirs. Some things are stolen from these children, and men like these 21 are the ones that do it. But its a testament to how much we value our children that when the worst happens to them, it brings out the best in law enforcement. It was a fantastic effort, both domestic and abroad. All previous rivalries and jurisdictions and past grievances were swept aside. It is a fantastic outcome. The battle will continue. Id like to say that the war is won, but unfortunately there is more out there.

In addition to Beaudoin and Wencewicz, the men who were convicted of conspiracy to advertise child pornography are:

 Scott Long, 55, of Portland, Oregon, was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Steve Humiston, 58, of Tacoma, Washington, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and $29,859 in restitution.

 Phillip Morris, 43, of Jeffersonville, Indiana, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Tony Bronson, 55, of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced to 18 years and eight months in prison and 10 years supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Jeffrey Woolley, 55, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Charles Crosby, 45, of Trenton, New Jersey, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 John Johnson, 59, of Locust Grove, Virginia, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Joseph Purificato, 25, of Mount Vernon, Missouri, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Nosek was sentenced to 18 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Robert Krise, 67, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 John Merchberger III, 48, of Dayton, Maine, was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

 Daniel Brown, 27, of Taylors, South Carolina, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release.

 Marc Edoria, 24, of Sacramento, California, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years supervised release.

 Tony Gustafson, 49, of Hastings, Nebraska, was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison and lifetime supervised release.

 Ryan Hatfield, 26, of Mount Washington, Kentucky, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years supervised release.

 David Woods, 37, of Corfu, New York, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 15 years supervised release.

The following defendants were convicted at trial of participating in a child exploitation enterprise and conspiracy to advertise child pornography:

 Joshua Petersen, 45, of Prescott, Arizona, was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 restitution.

 Grovo was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Richard Pitts, 28, of Cathedral City, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute child pornography and was sentenced to seven years in prison and 15 years of supervised release.
Thayer Jacques is going to learn to be a good juggler of his time.

The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservations new Hamilton Unit forester is wearing three hats as he settles into his new position.

Jacques will serve as the management forester for the 40,000 acres of state lands in Ravalli County.

When hes not doing that, he will be helping the public diagnose problems and offer solutions on private forested lands.

In between, hell make time to help the countys volunteer fire crews as the states rural fire coordinator for the Southwest Land Office.

Its going to be a bit of a balancing act, Jacques said. I will serve as the point person for people down here.

Jacques officially came on board in the middle of November.

With most of the state land he will manage sandwiched in between national forest and private lands, Jacques has been focused on meeting some of the surrounding landowners and getting a feel for the landscape.

Hes also found the time to help loggers create plans to stay clear of sensitive riparian areas along the Bitterroot River.

Im here to help people find the answers they need to manage their forested lands, Jacques said. I can help them develop best management practices or answer their questions about what kind of insects or disease might be killing their trees. If I dont have the answers, I will find someone who does.

Jacques will also focus on managing the state school trust lands in a way that generates money for the schools and other state entities, while protecting the resource for generations to come.

Right now, the state is overseeing a timber sale in the Eight Mile area that will produce 500,000 board feet. He expects the state school trust lands in Ravalli County will produce a similar-sized sale every two years.

A large portion of the state lands in Ravalli County were burned during the fires of 2000. Before that occurred, Jacques said there were several foresters working out of the Hamilton office.

We lost a lot of volume, he said.

At this point, Jacques said the timber coming off of state lands play an important role in keeping Montanas wood products industry afloat.

The Great Falls native brings nearly a decade of experience working in the woods and fighting fire. Hes worked as a seasonal employee for the DNRC for the past four seasons.

Until now, there have been two full-time resource people working from the Hamilton office.

They felt it was important to keep a presence in Ravalli County, Jacques said. Its going to be a new experience for everyone to have one full-time person here. I think a large part of land management is having a good relation with the public. Thats my goal.
"... an outlier of logic, reason, and humor in today's often murky and distracting political dialogue. John Sheirer gives entertaining and incisive views on media, policy, elections, and the compendium of issues facing Americans. He gets us refocused and inspired to follow the road to real progressive values." -- David Pakman, host of The David Pakman Show





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"John Sheirer does a great job debunking right-wing propaganda and telling the fascinating story of America's real political majority--your normal-to-the-point-of-being-boring neighbors, friends, co-workers, and fellow churchgoers whose liberal agenda is strongly supported by most Americans." -- Driftglass, political blogger and co-host of The Professional Left Podcast





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Taiwan, the heart of Asia.

2015dec28 - Hualien City, Taiwan. First stop after a 4 hour train ride from the west side of Taiwan.

Took a taxi to amazing cliffs by the ocean.

Hualien City, east side of Taiwan.

lots of people taking photos of this beautiful place

Tourists, and the beautiful Pacific Ocean

people and tourists enjoying the view.

Driving into Taroko National Park So much to say, the aboriginal people of Taiwan still live in some of the canyons and valleys. Its winding roads, beautiful temples, cliffs, rivers are amazing. You get a feeling every big rain causes change in the flows. Beautiful nature at work. See last years blog for more on Taroko National Park. Its worth seeing for yourself.

Driving into Taroko National Park

Waterfall, Changshun Tzu Water Temple, Taroko Gorge National Park, Taiwan, China

Back into the mountains.

Vertical walls behind the temple.

A walk across the bridge, down the path to the right

Trail cuts through the rock similar to roads here in Taroko.

trail to the temple head

trail to the temple head

Many people tour this area

Waterfalls

On the way back to Hualien, The driver took me to the ocean

next to town. Notice the fishing boat a short distance offshore.

It would disappear in the waves. Only one other person

walking at the boat ramp.



Looking north up the beach.







South toward Hualien, a group of people.

I wanted to stay at this beach for a while.



Hualien City looking west toward the mountains from my hotel.

Day 2. Waking up in Hualien City

I debated to stay in such a precious place. My thoughts were to go south to the areas I hadn't been but it have been good to explore here more. The Rift Valley and Taitung were places I planned to go back to and explore but I made a plan to try to arrive at Zhiben where the hot springs were I last visited. There was a direct train and I still had jet lag. Hot springs sounded great to me.

Walking Hualien city to the train station

Had to wait for the train so took a taxi to the city temple in Hualien

Beautiful Hualien Temple. Cool dragons!

Hualien Temple

The smell of insense and an ancient presence.

Hualien Temple from outside.

A year ago, I stayed at a temple and helped locals make these paper foldings to burn in memory of friends and family who had passed.

Gardens

walkways that became busy before I left.

Love the dragons

Gods of the Hualien Temple

These were very large statues

Add caption

Some kind of young Buddha.

huge statues.

And back to the Hualien city train station, train heading southbound.

Scenery through the Rift Valley of east Taiwan.

Scenery through the Rift Valley.

Toyugi Hot Springs in the morning. This is 'Journey to the East Spa'.

Many pools and hot springs to play in.

The outdoor very warm lap pool was my favorite outdoor pool.

Cooler outdoor pool.

Park next to the hot springs.

Looking west. Nice to have warm weather, warm

enough to cool off in the shade sometimes.

west to the bridge in the distance.

For friends who have beer on the way to temple.

The river at Zhiben

Across a small bridge, temple in the distance.

Many kind of bees and things at a store.

Large bridge in Zhiben

Large bridge in Zhiben

In the temple.

In the temple at Zhiben

Back to the train station at Zhiben.

Heading southbound to Fangliao, Taiwan.

Leaving Zhiben Heading southbound to Fangliao, Taiwan

Train from Zhiben went to Fangliao, Taiwan. I believe this is

Pingtong area. From here, a bus to Kenting, furthest south

in Taiwan. Sky was hazy here, maybe fog. Traveling

back to the west side of Taiwan.

Trying to read the signs, which way to go.

Tired and switched from train to bus for an hour or so







I feel like riding a scooter at this point

countryside

Passing a temple

Evening 3, Arrive at my hotel in Kenting, far south Taiwan.

So glad and so cool to be here. This is on the ocean,

sounds of the ocean, winds of the ocean.



I stayed at this hostel/activity center for a few days through

new years. It was busy but I was asleep by 10, new years eve 2016.



Evening 3, Kenting, Taiwan. South Taiwan.





The open square at the hotel. Walkway to the beach.

Few more photos...

Evening beach at the hotel.

Walkways to hotel rooms.

Beautiful entryways.

and squares.

Kenting city around New Years.

Rented one of these bikes for a while to travel for a day.

Beautiful beaches.

clear water

evening views

nice beaches again

always great food.

I was here, on the hill, in the wind.



This was also on the hill, looking south.

beach shells.

by my hotel, nice beach.

at the hotel.

Hotel and activity center

touring

windy cliffs further east on the scooter.

Looking northeast from furthest south point, Taiwan.

Notice the RC glider flying the windy cliffs here.

Beautiful place but extremely windy.

Again evening around new years 2016

Morning in the square.

walkways to my place.

activity square.

Beach at Kenting

more cycles.

Beautiful beach, looking west

viewpoint on the trail in the park

furthest south point.

Southern tip of Taiwan

at Southern tip of Taiwan

Southern tip of Taiwan

Sunset

Sunset, temple at the beach

sunset

Temple at the beach

Temple at the beach

cycle store

Last morning in Kenting, I took the bus to New Kaohsiung.

No photos but it was an hour or so, partly cloudy from countryside to city.



I only had time before the train to walk a block of New Kaohsiung.

Next few photos are the city of New Kaohsiung

around the block in Kaohsiung

small alley busy with seafood products in Kaohsiung .

Busy day at work in Kaohsiung

Dog waiting for any leftovers, Kaohsiung.

Pit stop for food.

A small temple on a busy industrial alley.

small temple on a busy industrial alley.

Across from the train station in Kaohsiung

Underground Railway Creating New Kaohsiung said on

the sign. I'd like to know this city better, but just passing through

Heading north to Luzhou District of Taipei. It will take

a few hours, then a short subway..

Passing Taichung City via train, en route to Taipai.

Motorcycles stopping for the train in the city.

OK, Arrived evening in Taipei to stay with friend Claudio

and his family Sandra, Susannah and Junior.



Here in the morning for great Chinese breakfast.

the restaurant in Taipei

It was extremely good!

Susannah took my photo.

In Taipei - the city is comfortable. The streets are what you see in the next couple photos

.

Taipei - city streets.

Claudio and his family took me to Beitou, Taiwan.

We planned for a certain hot spring area in Beitou.

I had been to some areas before. This was a developing city park..

Claudio and family at the fountain. Holiday so many people here..

Historic Japanese building in Beitou, Taiwan.

Historic Japanese building in Beitou, Taiwan.

We drove further to hot springs area, thermal valley, very hot.

Thermal valley. This area is all on Yangmingshan National Park.

The area is totally volcanic with hot springs and steam

in hidden places everywhere. Some streets were steaming.

We went for a bite to eat before the soaking.

Another great lunch and company!.

Another view of this restaurant at the natural hot springs..

Hot springs entrance. Men and woman's areas are separate.

No photos of the hot springs but this is one of the highlights

of traveling to Taiwan. I enjoyed the hot springs with locals.

People at Yangmingshan National Park, one of the hot springs entrances.

Yangmingshan National Park.

Yangmingshan National Park.

Somewhere in Yangmingshan National Park

with Claudio and his family. Thanks so much Claudio!.

Next was to the underground train and train, Taipei

to Keelung City, north Taiwan.

I put my bags away and walked around

the Keelung City Night Market.

Keelung City Night Market.

Most beautiful photo of Night Market Corner shop.

See what is in there.

Next day by the train station in Keelung City.

Keelung City bay.



Next Photos are of Peace Island, right here. Google it.

Its at Zhongzheng District of Keelung City. As you can see,

so much to check out here. I want to come back in

the summer to swim here.

Sea Stature

Viewpoint to the north sea at Keelung. .

See the fisherman on the lower right.

The swimming area is so natural and combines with the ocean.

There are fish swimming into this public swimming hole,

which is connected to the sea.

My buddy, Jer, from last year from Keelung City, actually Badouzi

near Keelung. His friends couldn't join us. We explored the area.

Around Peace Island

Peace Island Park.

Next to the Keelung Port at Peace Island Park. .

We ate at a Taiwan seafood place that was excellent.

Hot pots on the table, Jer and I.

Leaving my friend, Jer and walking to the train station.

Thank You Jer for showing me around Keelung!

Last train out of Keelung City to Taipei. Keelung is a place

I will always love.

I went to Taipei, then on to the train, to a bus, to Wulai District.



Next photos are from Wulai area of Taiwan.

Wulai is a mountain town outside Taipei, Taiwan. The bus

curves its way up the road that closes sometimes due to

rains and erosion. A very natural valley close to Taipei.

Main Temple at Wulai.

Brisk river after the rains. Note the clouds.

At my hotel..

view in the morning.

Morning walk in Wulai, Taiwan.



beauty in the parking area. .

Fish at the hotel..

Fish at the hotel.

Fish at the hotel..

Walkway to the river and springs.

I got the locals to let me swim down the river. Not many guys

doing it but I asked, "Do you speak a little English" and just got

the hand signal, "Is it OK if I follow you down? I'm a good swimmer!"

Off we went down the river!

People were working, cleaning the pools, taking care of this place. A steam room built into the rocks,

changing areas. It was a gem of a place. Locals were proud.

Downstream, note the hot spring public area.

Across the river.

Mist in the sky.

Wulai side river.



Wulai side river. Hotels seem to be closed here.

Morning in Wulai.

Leaving a great place, Wulai, Taiwan.

Note, everyone has electronic devices.

Back in to Taipei City. A few photos downtown.

One of the bigger temples in downtown Taipei.

Waterfalls in the temple, downtown Taipei.

Temple, downtown Taipei.

Temple, downtown Taipei..

Temple, downtown Taipei.

Taipei streets. Leaving the temple, shopping area. I am headed to the airport.

Farewell to Taiwan for this trip. It was wonderful.







So many places to see around the world but I wanted to come back to explore Taiwan. Information can be found here and there are many resources for the areas I visited. The price decent to fly far commercially, weather generally warm, and I had winter break from work. Although Seattle area is beautiful, I was ready to get warm for a short time.maps and explanationDay 1. Arrived in Taiwan Airport by Taipei.Had some desire to go to the east side again so found a bus to the train station, and on a train to HualienI past the rest of the Rift Valley and Taitung. Didn't take photos south as I was tired and it was getting later. The train arrived at Zhiben, Taiwan. This is where I stayed, Toyugi Hot Springs . The hot springs pools were great to come back to. I had been here a year before. There are multiple pools, different temperatures, depths and appearance. Some had sprayers and jets, some indoors, some outdoors, some steamed. Its a relaxing place. I spent a few hours swimming and relaxing before dinner and the evening.Day 3 waking up at Toyugi Hot Springs in Zhiben. This part of town was in the hills covered with forest. Weather was perfect to warm.dfdsfsdfdsand more and morewuliehome again. thank you travels.

Labels: gelfan, russlfboe, taiwan
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Tiny house being built in Salina to help homeless people in Missouri

For the fifth year and second in Salina, a local group is partnering with Tiny House Ministries to help homeless people in Missouri.
The home page of the SAMPUBCO had been completely changed. Now very easy to read, with some links open into new windows. This was done at the behest of several users.Norfolk County, MassachusettsVol 1-2 (1793-1796) Will testatorsBennington County, VermontVol 1-5 (1778-1812) Will testatorsElk County, KansasVol A (1872-1913) Will testatorsPermanent url for this post:Home page:Be among the first to receive of any new additionsRequest to join "SAMPUBCO Genealogy" at FacebookHas Google+ yourself? Find me at "David Samuelsen", click me to add to your circle.Forever free browsing of lists!!Still need good quality paper or image copies for your files or to attach to your online trees? - just look for "Order Clean and Trimmed Scanned, Paper or PDF copy of record?" link on each and every list page (paper copy available for wills only). Cost is very cheap (see onsite for the information). It covers, contrast, re-sizing, cropping and alignment (to make image straight) and correct page numbers.Feel Free to Forward/Share with others.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jan. 08, 2016

Contacts:



Keeley Belva, 240-533-0490

Shannon Ricles 757-591-7328

Vernon Smith, 240-533-0662

NOAA releases expansion proposal for Monitor National Marine Sanctuary

Agency asks for public comments through March 18

Divers explore the wreck of German U-boat, U-701, which sank on July 7, 1942, off Cape Hatteras, N.C. Credit: NOAA

Following several years of scientific and archaeological assessment and public input, NOAA today announced plans to consider possible expansion of Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, off the North Carolina coast. The proposed expansion would protect a collection of historically significant shipwrecks including vessels sunk during World War II's Battle of the Atlantic.

The public is invited to submit comments to the agency on the proposed expansion through March 18. Following the comment period, NOAA may develop a draft environmental impact statement, draft management plan and potential regulations, which will then be available for public review. After reviewing those comments, NOAA would then make a final decision on the proposed expansion. The proposed expansion plans can be found in the Federal Register.

The water's off North Carolina's Outer Banks contain the single greatest concentration of World War I and World War II shipwrecks in American waters and includes sunken vessels from U.S. and British naval fleets, merchant ships and German U-boats. Many of the wrecks lie in waters as shallow as 130 feet and serve as popular recreational dive sites.

"For more than 40 years, Monitor National Marine Sanctuary has honored the USS Monitor and the memory and service of her officers and crew," said David Alberg, Monitor sanctuary superintendent. "The proposed expansion is the result of a collaborative public process and provides an opportunity for us to honor another generation of mariners who rose to the country's defense when war erupted off America's shores. Our goal is to protect these ships, these hallowed grave sites, and preserve the special stories they can tell about our maritime and cultural heritage."

Designated in 1975 as the nation's first national marine sanctuary, Monitor National Marine Sanctuary protects the wreck site of the Civil War Union ironclad, USS Monitor, which revolutionized naval warfare with its experimental design and rotating turret. The Monitor is best known for its battle with the Confederate armored ship Virginia in Hampton Roads, Va., on March 9, 1862. The engagement ended in a draw, but marked the first time ironclad ships clashed in naval warfare and signaled the end of the era of wooden war ships. The famed Civil War ironclad sank during a storm 16 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in 1862.

During a review of the sanctuary's management plan in 2008, NOAA received comments from the public raising the issue of possible expansion. In 2009, the sanctuary's citizen advisory council voted unanimously to establish a working group to examine the implications of possible expansion.

In June 2014, the working group presented four possible expansion options for public consideration. The models represent several approaches to expansion but are not confined to specific boundaries. A description of each option, including boundaries and the resources the area contains, can be found at http://monitor.noaa.gov/management/expansion.html.

NOAA will host public meetings to answer questions and gather public input at the following locations:

February 9, 6:00  9:00 p.m.

North Carolina Museum of History

5 East Edenton Street

Raleigh, NC 27601

919-807-7900

February 10, 6:00  9:00 p.m.

North Carolina Maritime Museum

315 Front Street

Beaufort, NC 28516

252-728-7317

February 11, 6:00  9:00 p.m.

Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum

59200 Museum Dr.

Hatteras, NC 27943

252-986-2995

February 16, 6:00  9:00 p.m.

United States Navy Memorial

Main Auditorium

701 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20004

202-380-0710

February 17, 6:00  9:00 p.m.

Jennette's Pier

Oceanview Hall

7223 S. Virginia Dare Trail

Nags Head, NC 27959

252-255-1501

Comments on the proposal may also be submitted through March 18 via:

Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Submit electronic comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal with Docket Number NOAA-NOS-2015-0165.

Mail: David Alberg, Sanctuary Superintendent; Monitor National Marine Sanctuary;

100 Museum Drive; Newport News, VA 23602

NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and our other social media channels.
His skills as a researcher

and an author resulted in his well-known African Religions and Philosophy first published in 1969. It was Mbitis first work to challenge Christian assumption that traditional African religious ideas were "demonic and anti-Christian". His sympathetic treatment of traditional religions was based on massive field work. Mbiti is clear that his interpretation of these religions is from a firmly Christian perspective, and this aspect of his work has sometimes been severely criticized. Considered by the author to have been merely a compilation of lecture notes brought together at his students' request, the worldwide response to this publication came as an unexpected surprise to him. With time Mbiti produced an increasing number of publications that have made an impact on the African theological scene. The next two decades saw the publication of (among others) Concepts of God in Africa (1970), Love and Marriage in Africa (1973), The Prayers of African Religion (1975) and Bible and Theology in African Christianity (1986). Besides his well-known books he has published over 400 items including books, articles, essays, poems, and book reviews in the fields of Christianity, theology, biblical studies, ecumenics, literature and African religion.
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Oklahoma cuts public school funding by $47 million AP: Some Oklahoma school districts could be forced to close their doors as a result of about $47 million in funding cuts due to the state's budget crisis, Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said Thursday....

Calif. Budget Plan Boosts Spending but Democrats Seek More AP: The plan calls for significant increases in funding for education, health care and state infrastructure, while bolstering the state's Rainy Day Fund and paying down state debts and liabilities. In addition, per-pupil spending would increase to $10,591. Schools are guaranteed about 40 percent of general fund revenues under voter-approved Proposition 98. See also SI&A Cabinet Report.

Chicago Teachers Union calls for Emanuel, Alvarez to resign Chicago Tribune: The union said its House of Delegates "voted overwhelmingly" last week to support efforts aimed at getting Emanuel and Alvarez to resign. CTU President Karen Lewis will talk about the issue at the union's annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Breakfast on Jan. 15, the union said.

Maryland Near Top Of Education Rankings, But Do Grades Mask Poverty Gap? WAMU: Education Week put our their annual "Quality Counts" report this week, grading states on their efforts to improve public education. But researchers caution that rising tides do not raise all boats.

New High School Equivalency Exam Demands More of Teachers WNYC: Its now called the TASC, rather than the G.E.D. And its aligned with the Common Core learning standards, meaning its harder to pass. But the teachers at CASES said the more rigorous standards were making them better at their jobs. And many students, too, were responding well to the extra demands.

Maine Common Core foes cross party lines to push repeal New Boston Post: The measure he submitted last month differs from the bill that failed last year in two ways, Tuell said. It would let local jurisdictions keep Common Core or revert to Maines former state standards, and it would create a stakeholder group to formulate new state standards.

St. Georges School Agrees to Inquiry Into Sexual Abuse NYT: The Rhode Island school said it would commission a third party to investigate reports spanning several decades of abuse of students.
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City Hall Artspace Lofts, a new live-work-sell affordable housing community in east Dearborn for artists, their families, and art-related and supporting businesses, is ready for residential and commercial tenants.The opening is the latest of dozens of similar communities built as economic development projects around the country. The $16.5-million project, which was three years in the marking, is located at 13615 Michigan Ave. in the former Dearborn City Hall.Artists and prospective tenants are invited to to tour the finished work from 4-5:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 15. Click here for tour details.The mixed-use art campus development spans across three buildings and includes 53 residential units, artist work spaces, gallery space, public performance space, business spaces, and more. They've been carved out of the Georgian revival structure, though many of its historical features have been preserved, including its tall windows that fill the spaces with natural light.The project was developed by Minneapolis-based nonprofit Artspace, which describes itself as a "leader in artist-led community transformation." Artspace runs a network of more than 35 affordable arts facilities in 15 states and rents over 1,300 affordable live/work spaces to artists across the country. City Hall Artspace Lofts apartments are expected to rent from $581 for a 1-bedroom apartment to $975 for a 3-bedroom. Applicants must meet certain income requirements to be considered. For rental application information, click here City Hall Artspace Lofts is located near many of Dearborn's major cultural institutions, including The Henry Ford and the Arab American National Museum, as well as those of downtown and Midtown Detroit.The successes or failures of City Hall Artspace Lofts' tenants will show organizers such as the East Dearborn Development Authority if the development will succeed in its goal to "build upon Southeast Michigan's heritage as a world center of innovation by creating a new anchor institution for the region's creative economy."Source: Artspace
Karen Timmermann got her inspiration to launch her current startup when she tried to launch her first small business, a salsa company, out of her kitchen. Not long into the process she discovered that selling salsa made in your home didn't meet the numerous regulations that go with running a small food business, so she shut it down. But the venture caused her to realize that keeping track of ingredients, knowing how much food they would make, and where to source them from are all pressing questions every food business needs to answer every day."We had more trouble with inventory management that we did with finding distribution networks or suppliers," Timmermann says.That's when she and two other friends started working on Bareo . The West Village-based startup released a mobile app last month that helps small food companies manage inventory and supply of raw ingredients. It not only analyzes how far ingredients will go with production but where to source them locally to maintain a steady flow of supplies. The idea is to limit supply trips where the business owner is hoping to get lucky and find the right ingredient in an aisle."It's infinitely easier that going to Costco or Gordon Foods and searching for ingredients," Timmermann says.Timmerman worked as a graphic designer for a startup in Ann Arbor before starting her own company. She attended the 30 Weeks entrepreneur program in New York earlier this year. She moved back to Detroit last summer to focus on building out Bareo. That team of three people is now working on signing up 10-20 new local food businesses per month to get the platform off the ground.Source: Karen Timmermann, CEO of BareoWriter: Jon Zemke
 "The Fog Around Cost-Benefit Studies of Crime and Punishment May Finally Be Clearing: Prisoners and Their Kids Suffer Too" | Main | US Sentencing Commission slated to vote on "Johnson fix" guideline amendment and promulgate other proposals 

This notable new Stateline piece, headlined "Move Is on to Make End-of-Year Pardons Less Random," reports on some notable new developments in state clemency practices. I recommend a full read of the piece for clemency fans, and here are excerpts:

Barry Beach in Montana got one. Gabrielle Cecil in Louisville got one. And actor Robert Downey Jr. in California got one. They won the holiday-time clemency lottery and, in the past two months, had their sentences commuted or pardoned.

Beachs 100-year sentence for murder was shortened to time served, 30 years. Cecils life sentence for killing her abusive partner was forgiven. And Iron Man actor Downey, whose felony drug conviction in the 1990s led to nearly a year in jail, got a pardon for good behavior. Theyre the lucky ones.

Only 15 states, including Arkansas and California, grant frequent and regular pardons, to more than 30 percent of applicants, according to the Collateral Consequences Resource Center, a nonprofit that promotes public discussion of the lasting effects of conviction. The largest group  21 states, including Kansas, Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as the District of Columbia provided few or no pardons in the past 20 years. Nine states have a regular pardon process but grant clemency to just a small percentage of those who ask for it, and five states  Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin  grant pardons only infrequently, depending on the governor.

But several governors and state legislatures have moved in recent months to make the clemency process easier and pardons more frequent, reflecting a growing consensus that harsh mandatory minimum sentences have left too many Americans behind bars. I do see a wave of mercy rolling across the country, said P.S. Ruckman Jr., who teaches political science and runs a clemency blog, pardonpower.com. Over the last 10 years, governors erred on the side of caution, and did nothing to grant clemency or pardons, Ruckman said. Increasingly that mindset is changing....

Yet despite the flurry of activity, the use of clemency and pardons by governors to ease long sentences or restore civil rights to people who have served their time remains largely a matter of chance. Your odds of getting a pardon or having your sentence commuted to, for example, time served, depend completely on what state youre convicted in and, most importantly, on who the governor is. Its wholly dependent on what the governor wants to do, who the governor is, and how safe, politically, the governor feels, said former Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich, a Republican who granted 228 pardons during his time in office.

Ehrlich now campaigns for regular clemency through a partnership with the law school at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where students help inmates prepare clemency petitions to governors or the president. Its all subjective factors. They should not play into it, but they do, Ehrlich said....

In the states, sporadic changes in legislation have begun to streamline the process for getting clemency, and some high-profile governors are starting to address the issue:

New York: Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in October he would create a clemency project to identify prisoners who qualify for clemency, and he commuted sentences for two people and pardoned two others. The New York Times called it a "drastic turnaround" in a state whose governors have granted few pardons over the past four decades.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in October he would create a clemency project to identify prisoners who qualify for clemency, and he commuted sentences for two people and pardoned two others. The New York Times called it a "drastic turnaround" in a state whose governors have granted few pardons over the past four decades. Illinois: In November, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner granted clemency to 10 people while denying 200 other requests. But the governor said he now is working through a backlog of 1,200 petitions from previous administrations.

In November, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner granted clemency to 10 people while denying 200 other requests. But the governor said he now is working through a backlog of 1,200 petitions from previous administrations. Montana: A new law took effect Oct. 1 that lets the governor grant clemency, even if the state board of pardons and paroles denies it. That allowed Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock to cut the 100-year murder sentence of Barry Beach to time served.

Some states like Arkansas, Connecticut and Delaware have a culture of clemency, said Margaret Love, the U.S. pardon attorney under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Some states have a pretty good system, but most rely on the character of the particular governor.
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January 8, 2016

Is mass incarceration contributing to the dumbing down of America?

The question in the title of this post is prompted by this local article headlined "Oregon Spends Nearly Four Times More on Incarceration than Higher Education." As these excerpts reveal, the article focuses on just one state's investment of more taxpayer resources on locking up young people than on educating them:

According to new data released near the end of 2015, Oregon is among the states with the lowest ratio of higher education spending to prison and incarceration spending. Criminal justice and higher education experts, advocates and reformers told GoLocal that, the states disparity in funding is a major issue that needs to be addressed. According to a study entitled Public Research Universities: Changes in State Funding, published by the American Academy for Arts and Sciences, Oregon spends $204 million in higher education each year, only fifth from the bottom in the United States. Meanwhile, the state spends nearly four times that, $802 million in total, on corrections. That gives them the second largest disparity in the country, trailing only Michigan and leading Arizona, Vermont and Colorado in the top five. According to the Academy, the lack of funding can have major impacts on the U.S. and state economy in the future.... The Partnership for Safety and Justice is also calling for a decrease in the amount of money spent on prisons. The group fights for a decrease in crime and a change in the way the criminal justice system is funded. In an interview with GoLocal, Shannon Wight, Vice President of the Partnership for Safety and Justice, said that recent actions taken by the State of Oregon to cut prison spending should be only the beginning.... Business leaders told GoLocal that more spending for schools is crucial, especially given Oregons issues with education. "First and foremost, we need to improve the reputation of our education system," John Taponga, President of ECONorthwest, told GoLocal. In order to do so, groups like the Partnership for Safety and Justice recommend taking a closer look at funding for education and incarceration. A few years ago Pew did a similar analysis and what we learned from that is that its important to note is how much of our general fund we are spending on corrections vs education, Wight said. Certainly as a state we want to emphasize education over incarceration if we want to see the state, and its residents, thrive. Wight cautioned, however, that spending should be shifted gradually to avoid taking important resources away from those already serving time behind bars. Its important to remember that we cant just spend less on prison and put all that money into schools right away, Wight said. We have to thoughtfully reduce the number of people in our correctional systems by evaluating who should be under correctional control and who shouldnt; who should instead be receiving help from mental health or addiction services and who can be held accountable without doing prison time. Counties need the state investment to do that work effectively.

The full report published by the American Academy for Arts and Sciences referenced in this article is available at this link. The figure reprinted here comes from the report (which also details how increased spending on health care is another key factor reshaping how states spend limited resources).

January 8, 2016 at 11:34 AM | Permalink

Comments

Look here. Dumb people go to Mass. When they go they can not leave. Then they have to obey orders while in mass incarceration. Then they have to pay when the plate is passed. Went in dumb, come out dumb too. Hustlin round Atlanta in their alligator shoes.

Posted by: Liberty1st | Jan 8, 2016 6:44:05 PM

There is no evidence supporting drug court or any other type of diversion. There is no evidence to support rehabilitation.

There is a self evident conclusion that incapacitation is the sole effective goal of incarceration. Under that analysis, a murderer may go home. A shoplifter may get the death penalty, because the person is the real target of incapacitation and not the crime.

Status crimes should be brought back by Amendment. The Supreme Court will call these discriminatory and issue sociopath handicap parking because they are so impaired. They are more handicapped than a paralyzed person, but their wheelchair is the death penalty.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 10, 2016 2:55:22 AM

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About the Service-Learning Center

We are a group of students and administrators working in the Service-Learning Center at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As a group we are committed to creating places where a reciprocal exchange can take place between people in community, where individuals both serve and learn at once. This blog is an effort to generate vibrant conversations about issues of justice, community, and service towards the goals of living better and seeking shalom.


City College of San Francisco has once again found itself in trouble. Interim Chancellor Susan Lamb claims that years of neglected maintenance has led to various unsafe conditions in CCSF properties around the city, and has successfully convinced the Board of Trustees to designate the need for repairs an "emergency situation." The result? The administration must no longer heed rules requiring that contracts go out for bid, allowing officials to potentially award millions in no-bid contracts.

This, reports the San Francisco Examiner, has led to concerns that school officials' inability to manage college facilities is being used as an excuse to skirt rules meant to prevent favoritism and fraud.

How much money is potentially at stake? The paper notes that repairs at CCSF properties around the city could cost up to $270 million.

Cathryn Hillard, who in her role at the non-profit Construction Industry Force Account Council watches how public money is spent on construction projects, explained to the Examiner why the Trustees' move is so troubling.

"This is a real black eye for the administration," noted Hilliard. "They knew about the problems for quite some time and did not act. That does not qualify as an 'emergency' and all of these projects should be bid.

"A lack of planning is not an emergency and these are not maintenance issues," she continued.

And what are these "emergency" problems? A leaking water main, a failing air conditioner, and a diesel storage tank leaking fuel are just a few examples the paper highlights.

City College of San Francisco was most recently in the news when a report by the San Francisco Chronicle showed that school officials couldn't fully account for extravagant meal and travel expenditures. One school official repeatedly spent over $500 of school money on meals without being able to explain in what way they benefited the college (or with whom she ate).

Regardless of how CCSF got into this position, the school's Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration told the Examiner that the facility problems are real, and that they need to be addressed quickly  putting jobs out for bid just won't cut it.

"Even if we were to do that now, given the urgency needed to get these things fixed as soon as possible, we wouldn't be looking at closing out the bid until probably February," noted Ron Gerhard.

Previously: City College Administration Can't Fully Explain Extravagant Travel, Meal Expenditures
The Revenant - Everywhere

The Revenant is one of the most violent, grueling, and gory movies I've ever seen, and this is coming from someone who regularly watches The Walking Dead while eating dinner. As such, I wouldn't call the viewing experience...enjoyable. But it's impressive, very beautiful, and, at times, undeniably exciting.

If you're not a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, this movie probably won't change your mind about him, but you may enjoy it more than his other films if only because you get to see him mauled by a bear, and then suffer from the after-effects of said mauling for over two hours. He also doesn't do a whole lot of talking, which, again, might be seen as a plus.

DiCaprio stars as real-life 19th-century fur-trapper Hugh Glass, who is forced to flee his North Dakota camp after it's attacked by Arikara Indians. He and his fellow surviving trappers and servicemen struggle to make their way to the nearest military fort, but when Glass stumbles upon a grizzly bear and her two cubs, he attempts to shoot the bear, and misses. The bear, justifiably pissed off, mauls the hell out him. He survives the attack  barely (sorry)  but his wounds are extensive, and the men are slowed down by his need for transport. Two men, and Glass's half-native son, Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), agree to stay behind with him, until he dies and they can give him a proper burial, or support arrives, all in exchange for a handsome payout. But one of those men, (Tom Hardy), gets tired of waiting for Glass to die, and makes some fateful decisions...

It's not giving anything away to say that Glass does not die (check the title's meaning, bro), and the majority of the movie follows his improbable crawling, limping, floating, and sliding journey back to civilization, (or the closest that could be found in 1823 North Dakota). Director Alejandro G. Inarritu uses lots of the camera moves and tricks found in his Oscar-winning Birdman, like seemingly endless takes, a camera that spins 360 degrees around its subject, and, in a nice visceral addition, a lens that is constantly getting fogged up by breath or splashed with drops of blood and ice. He also spends a lot of time focused on the increasingly icy landscape, as well as filling the movie with plenty of dreamy, Terrence Malick-esque flashbacks to Glass's life in a native village with his child and the child's mother.

I was afraid that at over two-and-half-hours, the movie would get tiresome and boring, but it never did. Sure, there may be a few too many shots of those snowy mountains, but they also served as nice breathers between the carnage. And, as my mother pointed out after the screening, it's also full of useful tips on how to survive a brutal bear mauling in the middle of a blizzard-filled forest, such as, how to cauterize your own gaping neck wound, or how to stay warm through a snow storm when it's just you, your knife, and a dead horse. It's a win win!

Anomalisa - Embarcadero

Charlie Kaufman returns to directing with his first film since 2008's Synecdoche, New York, and, as one would expect, it's a suitably Kaufman-esque, stop-motion animated movie about very human things like loneliness, regret, and love, starring the voices of David Thewlis, Tom Noonan, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Just don't bring the kids, unless you want to scar them for life with the vision of animated puppet sex.

The Forest - Everywhere

While The Revenant does take place in a forest, and is in many ways a horror movie, it's not actually this week's horror movie set in a forest. This is, and it stars Natalie Dormer, as an American woman searching for her missing sister in a forest at the base of Mt Fuji known to be a destination for suicides. Japan? Forest? Suicide? Oh yes, there will be ghosts.

Censored Voices - Opera Plaza

This documentary is centered on previously censored audio interviews with Israeli soldiers who returned home after the Six Days War in 1967, and those soldiers' reactions to those same interviews when played for them almost 50 years later.
The verdict came in this morning in the case of Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, after a nine-week trial that captured local headlines for months prior to its start, and the jury has found him guilty on all counts, 162 in total. They were apparently thoroughly convinced by the prosecution's case, built upon a five-year undercover FBI investigation that it seemed, at least at times, Chow might have been aware was happening  an investigation that also ensnared former state senator Leland Yee and former SF school board president Keith Jackson and threatened to snag everyone from Mayor Ed Lee to Joe Montana in its wide net as well.

As the Chronicle and ABC 7 are reporting, Shrimp Boy's sentencing now needs to be scheduled, and Yee and Jackson will be sentenced for their guilty pleas on February 10.

What began as a trial for racketeering and the various typical activities of organized crime  drugs, sale of stolen goods, money laundering  ballooned into a story about potential corruption at the highest levels of government, as influenced by an underworld within the largest and oldest Chinatown in the nation. When it appeared that such bigger charges might not stick (though who knows what the total fallout may still be), the government added murder charges to Chow's case in October, relating to two deaths in the last decade of rival Chinatown tong leaders.

Chow now stands convicted of ordering those killings and being the leader of the hundred-year-old Ghee Kung Tong, which prosecutors say he had plotted to take over early in the last decade after serving a prison sentence that began in 1993 for older racketeering charges.

In the course of the trial we got what could be the last high-profile stage for the flamboyance of local defense attorney J. Tony Serra, 81, who once upon a time inspired a film via the successful defense he mounted for another accused Chinatown criminal in the 1970's  the anti-government Serra being an endearing character enough to warrant some favorable ink for Chow's case in the New York Times Magazine last fall.

The government's key witness was an undercover agent known only as Dave Jordan, who over five years posed as an East Coast mafioso looking to get into some shady trading in SF's Chinatown. He engaged in various deals to buy and sell stolen goods, all the while surveilling Chow and his operatives and paying kickbacks to Chow out of "love and respect," in exchange for his blessings in the deals.

Serra argued throughout, and Chow testified to the fact that he had remained on the straight and narrow since getting out of prison in 2002, and that all the government's wiretap evidence was flimsy and/or misunderstood. While he admitted to occasionally taking payments from Jordan, he said he did so often while drunk, and said that he had no knowledge of his friends may have been doing that was illegal.

The jury, clearly, didn't think it was so flimsy, and after just two days of deliberations came back with an unequivocal verdict.



All previous Shrimp Boy coverage on SFist.
Screenings

Free blood pressure screenings, 9:30 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays at Countryside Senior Living, front lobby. No appointment necessary.

Programs/Self-help groups

Al-Anon Information Center, call 255-6724.

Al-Anon and Alateen, meetings locally. For times, dates and locations of area meetings, call 255-6724.

Alcoholics Anonymous, beginners information, call 252-1333.

Arc of Woodbury County, serving the mentally challenged, 5:15 p.m. meeting, second Monday of the month at Mid-Step Services, 4303 Stone Ave. For families and interested persons.

Child Care Resource and Referral, provides resources, education and advocacy for children, parents, and child care providers. Assists in child care needs. For more information, call 712-277-1180.

Co-dependence Anonymous, 7 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays at First Lutheran Church, Fireside Room.

Co-Dependents Anonymous (CODA), 10 a.m. Saturdays at Hawkeye Club, 420 Jones St.

Compassionate Friends, 7 p.m. fourth Wednesday of each month (third Thursday in November and second Sunday December) in Mercy Medical Center's Leiter Room. For families who have lost children. Contact Nancy Webb 712-212-4032 or Don Mulder 712-541-5512.

Children of Divorce, to help children cope with the challenges of parental separation or divorce. Call 712-279-2373 for more information.

Clinics

Siouxland District Health immunization clinics, call for appointment, 712-279-6119 or 1-800-587-3005.

Information

Dual Recovery Anonymous, 12-step peer support meeting, 4 to 5 p.m. Wednesdays at 625 Court St. Framework of recovery for those with addiction and emotional or psychiatric illness. For more information, call Mike at 255-1691.

Family and Addictive Illness series, for more information, call 234-2300.

Iowa Fathers, 6 to 8 p.m. fourth Tuesday of each month at Hope Lutheran Church, Education Building, 218 W. 18th St., South Sioux City, Neb. Support group to help single, divorcing and divorced parents residing in the state of Iowa.

Mercy Pathways Outpatient Program, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, on the third floor, Mercy's Central Medical Building, 801 Fifth St., Suite 360. Provides hope, help, opportunity to connect through group therapy for individuals experiencing personal, relationship, psychiatric issues. For more information, call 712-279-5991.

Narcotics Anonymous, meetings daily, various times, dates and locations. For more information, call 712-279-0733.

Overeaters Anonymous, 7 p.m. Mondays at Floyd Valley Hospital, Lower Level, 714 Lincoln St. NE, Le Mars, Iowa; 1 p.m. Tuesdays at Wesley United Methodist Church, 3700 Indian Hills Drive; 6 p.m. Tuesdays at St. John's Lutheran Church, 402 Lane Ave., Storm Lake; 7 p.m. Tuesdays at Church of the Nazarene, 226 N. Main St., Viborg, S.D.; 5:30 p.m. Thursdays and 9 a.m. Saturdays at Newman Center, 320 E. Cherry St., Vermillion, S.D.; 10:30 a.m. Saturdays at Hawkeye Club, 420 Jones St. A 12-step recovery program for people who have problems with food and weight. No fees.

St. Lukes Outpatient Behavioral Health Program, 9 a.m. to noon Monday, Tuesday and Thursday on fifth floor of St. Luke's, located at 2720 Stone Park Blvd. Offers several levels of outpatient care including partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and group therapy. This program provides support and integrated treatment to individuals experiencing personal or relationship issues as a result of their mental illness. For more information and admission criteria, call 712-279-3906.

Sobriety By Faith, 8:30 a.m. Saturdays at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1421 Geneva St. For more information, call James Mothershead at 712-577-9715.

The Link-Recovery and Freedom, at PMA Building, 6000 Gordon Drive; 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday workshop, and Christian 12-step meeting 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. For all ages. Call Dee at 389-7432.

Women in Recovery, meets monthly at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1421 Geneva St. For details, call 712-255-4623.

Tarahouse Meditation Center, 8 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 6:30 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays, all at 3112 Rebecca St. Three easy 10 minute sessions in small group; beginners welcome. For more information, call 490-6410.

Blood pressure and blood sugar screening, 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays in the lobby at Westwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Free to public.

Support Groups

NAMI Siouxland (National Alliance on Mental Illness), 6:30 p.m., second Tuesday of the month, Friendship House, 1101 Court St. For individuals and family members dealing with mental illness. 712-255-4209.

Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Hawkeye Club basement, 420 Jones St. For more information, call 277-5935.

Celebrate Recovery, Bible-based 12-step recovery group. Thursdays at 6:30 at Sunnybrook Community Church, 5601 Sunnybrook Drive. Daycare provided. 712-490-3343.

PFLAG of Siouxland (Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays), 7 p.m., fourth Monday of January, March, May, July, September and November. St. Mark ELCA Church, 5200 Glenn Ave., in the upstairs meeting area. 712-258-3116.

Singles widowed and divorced, all ages, 4 p.m., Sundays. McDonald's at Sixth Street and Lewis Boulevard. 712-252-2675.

HIV/AIDS Support Group, meets weekly. For more information, call Darla or Teri at Siouxland Community Health Center, 712-252-2477 or 888-371-1965.

La Leche League of Siouxland, breastfeeding support group meets every third Thursday at 11 a.m. at Morningside Lutheran Church. Children are welcome. For more information, call Mary at 712-546-7280 or Jacquie at 712-255-2998.

Living Each Day Cancer Support Group, 7-8 p.m. second Thursday of the month, Floyd Valley Hospital, Conference Center Room 2, Le Mars, Iowa. Open to all cancer patients, cancer survivors and family members. No charge. Pre-register by calling 712-546-3441 or 800-642-6074, ext. 441.

Mom and Baby Support Group, 10-11 a.m. last Monday of the month at the Orange City (Iowa) Hospital, lower level. For new moms and babies. 712-737-5260.

Tri-State Sober Project 12-step meeting, 7:30-8:30 p.m., Tuesdays, Friendship Community Church, 305 Sergeant Square Drive, Sergeant Bluff. 6-7 p.m., Thursdays, Transitional Services of Iowa, 1221 Pierce St., Sioux City.

Doug's Donors Support Group, information for organ donors and recipients, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 5:15-6:30 p.m. second and fourth Thursdays of the month at Mercy Cafeteria Woodbury Room. 712-277-1050.

Divorce Care, noon Sundays starting Jan. 10; GriefShare, 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays starting Jan. 12; Single & Parenting, 6:30 p.m. Thursdays starting Jan. 14; all at Sunnybrook Community Church, 5601 Sunnybrook Drive, Sioux City. 712-276-5814.

Multiple Sclerosis Support Group, 1:30-3:30 p.m. first Saturday of the month at the CNOS, Dakota Dunes. For anyone with MS and/or their families. Call Janet Limoges at 605-217-2726 prior to attending.

New Life Life Support Group, 3:30 p.m. every Saturday at 2929 W. Fourth St. Spiritual 12-step program. For more information, call Donald at 712-574-1744 or James at 712-255-7624.

Post Polio Support Group, 11 a.m. first Thursday of the month at Perkins Restaurant by Menards. 712-490-8213.

Relationship Support Group, 7 p.m. Fridays at Marketplace Mall. For more information, call 239-3129.

Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, Individual and Support Groups. For more information, call CSADV in Sioux City at 712-258-7233; Plymouth County at 712-546-6764; Monona County at 712-423-3443. Advocacy and support available 24 hours a day at 1-800-982-7233. All services free of charge and confidential.

Sickle Cell Disease Support Group, 11 a.m. third Saturday of each month at St. Luke's Hospital, meeting room 1. For patients, their family and any concerned member. Call La'Keshia Rainey at 712-203-2019 for more information.

Sioux City Association of the Deaf, 7 p.m. third Saturday of the month at Morningside Church of Christ, 5015 Garretson Ave. Regular meeting, September-May; no meeting, June, July, August and December.

Siouxland Autism Support Group, second Thursday of the month at Northwest Area Education Agency, 1520 Morningside Ave. For more information, call Julie Case at 712-490-8939.

Siouxland Epilepsy Support Group, 5 p.m. third Tuesday of the month at Prestwick Apartment Clubhouse, 4230 Hickory Lane. For anyone diagnosed with seizures or epilepsy and family or friends. For more information, call Steve at 274-6927.

Siouxland IC support group, meets quarterly in Sioux City. For patients struggling with interstital cystitis. For more information, call Jacque Dundas 316-641-9766.

Siouxland Informational Group for the Blind, 2-5 p.m. second Tuesday of the month at Northern Hills Retirement Community, 4002 Teton Trace. For more information, call 712-266-8926 or 258-8151.

Grief support group, 5:30-7:30 p.m., beginning Oct. 5 for 13 weeks (may join at any time), Crescent Park United Methodist Church, 2826 Myrtle St., Sioux City. Scott, 712-899-6315.

Siouxland Ostomy Association, 2 p.m. first Sunday of each month (except September, which will be second Sunday; and no meetings June, July, August), in Room 300 at Mercy Medical Center, 801 Fifth St. For more information, call Dick Lindblom at 251-2453.

Siouxland Parkinson Disease Support Group, 1 p.m. fourth Monday of the month at Siouxland Center for Active Generations, 313 Cook St. For more information, call at Jack Scherrman at 712-277-9337.

Sojourners, support group for families of persons with life-threatening illness, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center, Room 416. For more information, call Marjorie Jarvill at 402-241-8637.

South Sioux City Weight Support Group, 8:30 a.m. Wednesdays at St. Paul United Methodist Church, South Sioux City. For more information, call 494-1401 or 494-2133.

Support groups at Disabilities Resource Center of Siouxland, 520 Nebraska St., Suite 101: Women's Support Group, 1:30 p.m. first Wednesday of the month; LGBT Support Group, 1:30 p.m. first Friday of the month; Adult ADHD, 6 p.m. second Tuesday of the month; Advocacy Group, 1:30 p.m. third Tuesday of the month. For more information, call (712) 255-1065.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly, group meetings various times, days and locations in Siouxland. For information on the chapter in your area, call 1-800-932-TOPS.

Voice Disorder Support Group, meets as needed at Mercy Medical Center, Buena Vista Room. 712-279-2686.

Women's Peer Support Group, in Wayne and South Sioux City, Neb., for those who have experienced domestic abuse. For more information, call the Wayne office at 402-375-4633 or 1-800-440-4633; in South Sioux City, call 402-494-7592. Help and support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Services free and confidential.

Woodbury County D.M.D.A., noon-2 p.m. first Saturday of the month at Country Friendship Acres, 4501 West St.; 7-8 p.m. first Tuesday of the month at 515 Court St. in the Community Room; 7-8 p.m. second Tuesday of the month at 441 W. Third St. in the Community Room; 7-8 p.m. third Tuesday of the month at 409 W. Third St. in the Community Room. Support group for people with disabilities and mental disorders.

Natural Mamas in Siouxland, 1 p.m., third Tuesday of each month in the Garretson room of the Morningside Public Library. All ages of children are welcome to come with moms. For sharing natural living tips, recipes, natural remedies and health, homemaking, mothering, etc. For more information, call 402-913-0038 or visit their Facebook page.

A Step Beyond support group, 3:30 p.m. second Tuesday of the month, except for August, November and December when it meets at 5:30 p.m. (no meeting in January) at the Christy-Smith Resource Center, 1819 Morningside Ave. For more information, call 712-276-7319.

Divorce care, 5 p.m., Sundays. Fireside room, Morningside Lutheran Church, 700 South Martha St.

Sunnybrook Community Church support groups, 6:30 pm. Thursdays. GriefShare, DivorceCare, Single & Parenting, Financial Peace University, Celebrate Recovery. 5601 Sunnybrook Drive, Sioux City. 712-276-5814.

Gamblers Anonymous meetings, 7 p.m. Thursday at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 315 Hamilton Blvd.; 7 p.m. Wednesday, Morningside Presbyterian Church, 4327 Morningside Ave.; 7 p.m. Tuesdays, St. John Lutheran Church. 712-277-2901.

Art therapy support group, 5:30 p.m. second Thursday of the month at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center. Registration required, call 252-9387.

After Breast Cancer Support Group, 5:30 p.m. third Tuesday of the month at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center. For more information, call Brenda, 252-9370.

After Prostate Cancer Support Group, 5:15 p.m. first Tuesday of the month at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center. For more information, call 252-9426.

Alzheimer's Association Big Sioux Chapter Support Group, 2 p.m. second Tuesday of the month; 4 p.m. third Tuesday of the month (under age 65) at 201 Pierce St., Suite 110 (Famous Dave's building); and 6 p.m. first Tuesday of the month at the Barnes and Noble Cafe. For more information, call Emily Lord at 712-279-5802.

Christy-Smith Funeral Homes of Sioux City, extensive grief library at the Morningside location. Open to the public during weekday hours. For more information, call 276-7319.

Chronic Pain/Chronic Illness Support Group, 7:30 p.m. fourth Wednesday of the month in the lower level of the Orange City Hospital. For more information, call 712-737-5260.

Connections Area Agency on Aging and Mercy Medical Centers Older Adult Services Welcome to Medicare, 1:30-4 p.m., the first Friday of every month at Connections Area Agency on Aging, 2301 Pierce Street. To pre-register, or for more information, contact Connections Area Agency on Aging at 712-279-6900.
SIOUX CITY | Stained cutting boards with deep grooves.

Mouse droppings in the food prep area.

Prosciutto and salmon thawing at room temperature.

Employees not washing their hands at any time during the inspection.

These are just some of the 2,368 violations health inspectors recorded during inspections of Sioux City restaurants, grocery and convenience stores from Dec. 2, 2014 to Dec. 2, 2015, that could have put customers at risk for contracting foodborne illnesses that cause fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

"Food can be a vehicle for a lot of these infections, but it's not always the food itself that's the cause," said Tyler Brock, Siouxland District Health Department deputy director.

According to publicly available reports from the Iowa Department of Inspections & Appeals, 440 regular inspections and eight pre-opening inspections were conducted at Sioux City establishments during that time period. Five restaurants tallied 18 violations each -- the most issued.

Inspections are a "snapshot" of the day and time of the inspection. The frequency at which inspections are conducted varies, depending on the type of food, food preparation and handling and compliance history of the establishment. The state requires businesses to post a copy of their most recent inspection report near their front entrance.

Common violations occurring at Sioux City restaurants included cooks not washing hands prior to putting on gloves, no certified food protection manager on site and failure to post hand-washing signs or institute a sick policy.

Violations are broken into two categories: foodborne illness risk factors and good retail practices.

Foodborne illness risk factors can make someone ill and must be corrected within 10 days, although these violations are often corrected before the inspector leaves the establishment. Good retail practices are violations that are important for protecting public health but have less potential to cause significant foodborne illness. These violations must be corrected within 90 days.

PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 48 million cases of foodborne illness occur in the United States every year. At least 128,000 Americans are hospitalized and 3,000 die from eating contaminated food.

According to the CDC's Food Safety Progress Report for 2013, cases of campylobacter and vibrio vulnificus -- a bacterial infection caused by the consumption of raw or under-cooked seafood -- are on the rise in the United States.

Cases of campylobacter, often linked to dairy products and chicken, increased 13 percent since 2006-2008. For every case reported, the CDC says there are 30 cases that go undiagnosed.

While cases of E. coli O157, listeria and salmonella remained steady, vibrio vulnificus infections jumped 75 percent since 2006-2008. For every case of vibrio vulnificus reported in the United States, the CDC says 123 are not diagnosed.

Woodbury County tallied 32 cases of salmonella and 23 cases of campylobacter in 2015. Eleven cases of shigella and five cases of E. coli were also reported.

Cattle naturally contain bacteria such as E. coli, salmonella and shigella in their intestines. During slaughter, the contents of the intestines can contaminate the meat if proper hygiene practices aren't followed, said Daniel Lamptey, an infectious disease specialist at Mercy Medical Center.

"That's one of the main ways that food gets contaminated," he said.

Lamptey said crops become contaminated with bacteria when they are irrigated with water containing sewage and manure. He said this can occur at both small farms and large industrial farms.

"When they are harvested, some of these fruits and vegetables have some of these bacteria on them," he said. "If you don't wash them very, very well, you're gonna get an infection."

TRACKING OUTBREAKS

Is the food contaminated or is a food handling practice to blame for an illness?

Brock said these are questions health department investigators seek answers to when they receive reports of illnesses caused by foodborne pathogens.

An outbreak of shigellosis that began in November 2013 hit hard at Sioux City day care facilities and schools. More than 200 people were infected in Woodbury County.

Shigella can be spread through contaminated food and water or by contact with an infected person. People with shigellosis shed the bacteria in their feces. The best way to prevent shigellosis is good hand washing with soap and warm water and avoiding preparing food for others when you have diarrhea.

Brock said finding the agent of a foodborne illness is very important. When sick patients show up at their doctor's office with gastrointestinal symptoms, laboratory testing can reveal the presence of a virus or bacterium.

The clinic or hospital then contacts the health department, whose investigators collect a thorough food and travel history from the patient. The incubation period for a foodborne illness is between 16 and 48 hours.

"We ask about restaurants. We ask about other people in the family who might be sick. We've got a whole laundry list of things that we do," Brock said. "Maybe we get another report of the same thing, and then we start seeing connections."

A 1993 outbreak of E. coli involving 73 Jack in the Box restaurants in California, Nevada, Idaho and Washington sickened more than 700 people and killed four children. It was traced to undercooked hamburger patties.

Tainted lettuce was the source of a 2006 E. coli outbreak that sickened 71 people at Taco Bell restaurants in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Fifty-three people were hospitalized and eight developed kidney failure.

In early December, 120 people who ate at Chipotle Mexican Grill in Boston were sickened with norovirus, the leading cause of illness and outbreak from contaminated food in the United States, according to the CDC. Norovirus, which causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, is most often spread when infected food workers touch ready-to-eat foods.

The outbreak in Boston came on the heels of an unrelated outbreak of E. coli O26 at Chipotle restaurants in nine states which has sickened more than 50 people since October. The exact source of that outbreak remains unknown.

Data from the Center for Science in the Public Interest shows that Americans are twice as likely to get a foodborne illness from food prepared at a restaurant than food prepared at home.

The nonprofit food safety watchdog group examined outbreaks over a 10-year period and found that 1,610 outbreaks in restaurants sickened more than 28,000 people, while 893 outbreaks traced to private homes caused nearly 13,000 cases of foodborne illness.

Lamptey, who has practiced medicine in Sioux City since 2006, said he has yet to see an outbreak of foodborne illness in Sioux City. When dining out, in his opinion, family restaurants are safer than fast-food restaurants. Preparing food at home, he said, is the safest option.

"As long as you make sure that the food that you bring home to cook is not contaminated and that you make sure that the utensils that you use in the kitchen are not contaminated," he said.
BLENCOE, Iowa | The Blencoe Post Office is again open for business, nearly two years after the small Monona County town temporarily lost its post office.

The Post Office reopened on Wednesday in a new location across the street from the former Post Office at 501 Main St. The U.S. Postal Service temporarily shut down the post office in April 2014 due to structural problems with that building's foundation.

After that, the community's 94 customers received mail through temporary boxes established in Blencoe, or by traveling 16 miles to Moorhead, Iowa, to pick up mail, buy stamps or mail packages at the Moorhead Post Office. Rural mail service in the Blencoe area continued as usual.

We look forward to serving our customers again from the Blencoe Post Office, Post Office operations manager Wes Gronemyer said in a statement Thursday. We appreciate our customers patience while a new facility was prepared."

Retail hours at the reopened Blencoe Post Office are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Saturdays.
A plot of rich farmland in Plymouth County this week sold for what is believed to be a state record of $26,250 per acre. The grand total for the 55.56 acres was over $1.458 million. The buyer is a farmer in the area.
The Iowa Hospital Association has been analyzing and evaluating the state's plan for privatizing management of the Medicaid program since it was announced nearly a year ago. But long before that, IHA and Iowa's hospitals accumulated years of experience with this arrangement through Magellan's contract to manage Medicaid behavioral health services.

It is that analysis and experience that has led IHA to oppose the states privatization plan.

With Iowas low cost per beneficiary and minimal administrative overhead, the managed care companies will struggle to return any savings to the state. But make no mistake, these huge, for-profit, out-of-state companies that have fought tooth and nail to win a contract from the state will do everything they can to make money from this deal. To accomplish that pre-eminent goal, they will restrict access to care and they will reduce payments to providers.

This is not a guess or a threat; it is what managed care companies have consistently done across the nation to meet their business goals. In other states, these companies are known not as care managers, but money managers. They control costs by limiting access to care and reimbursement for care to meet their obligations to shareholders. With these restrictions in place, they may even save the state some money, but rest assured that savings will come at a price for Medicaid beneficiaries and the people who care for them.

And be aware that these companies are far more dedicated to shareholders than taxpayers, as evidenced by the research. A rigorous and recent Medicaid managed care study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that any potential savings will not be significant and that those savings generally are due to reductions in provider reimbursement rates rather than managed care techniques.

Meanwhile, Iowa hospitals and the state have already been working together to coordinate care and reduce costs. Through existing Accountable Care Organizations, Integrated Health Homes, the State Innovation Model and the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan, efforts are under way and creating positive results in Iowa  without the additional cost to taxpayers to cover an out-of-state companys profit margin. In fact, the University of Iowa Public Policy Center released a report just this past March indicating that existing care coordination through Iowas Primary Care Health Home Program has generated 20 percent in savings ($11 million) in its first 18 months.

With results like these already occurring, why is the state looking to eliminate successful programs for an unsuccessful, unnecessary privatized model? And why is The Journal's editorial board endorsing this plan, especially given the well-reported legal and ethical misdeeds of these companies as well as their botched rollout of the Iowa plan, which has been so poorly managed that the federal government was forced to step in and delay it?

There is no reliable evidence that Medicaid privatization reduces costs, improves quality or increases access to care. This is why Iowa's hospitals encourage The Journal to reconsider its position and look beyond the claims and promises of companies that have no stake in Iowa, but simply seek to make money off of vulnerable Iowans.

Kirk Norris is president and chief executive officer of the Iowa Hospital Association.
If youre already a fan of Microsoft Office programs, then youll be happy to hear that the company has a preview of a new project management software called Office 365 Planner.

Thats just one item on this weeks list of small business headlines. You can also read about Googles new indexing system and more below in our weekly Small Business Trends news and information roundup.

Technology Trends

Sneak Peek: Microsoft Office 365 Planner Revealed

If you work in large groups across multiple projects, then you may already be using project management software like Trello or Basecamp. Microsoft has now started rolling out a preview of its own project management solution known as Office 365 Planner to those participating in the Office 365 First Release program, the Planner team said in a post.

Google Just Gave Another Reason to Switch to HTTPS

Googles latest change in the way it looks for URLs on the Web may give small business owners one more reason to switch to HTTPS. In an effort to secure users from man-in-the-middle attacks or data modification while browsing the Web, Google has recently announced its adjusting its indexing system to look for more HTTPs pages.

Finance

Crowdsourcing Bombshell: Jolla Wont Have Enough Tablets for Investors

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.

Access to Capital Among Top Focuses of New SBA Report

The Small Business Administration (SBA) of the United States regulates several policies and programs to support and nurture the growth and development for the small businesses in the country.

Franchise

Congress Opts Not to Delay Joint Employer Ruling

Congress has opted not to delay a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board expanding the joint employer standard. The International Franchise Association and other business groups say the new standard will hurt some small businesses including franchise owners. President and CEO of the IFA Robert C. Cresanti expressed disappointment at the final decision.

Marketing Tips

86 Percent of Companies with B2B Referral Program See Growth, Study Says

Whats the best way to boost sales and acquire new customers? Marketing-led referral programs that are supported by relevant technology, says a new study (PDF). In fact, 84 percent of B2B decision makers start the buying process with a referral.

Did A Single Tweet Get Trump Quote Removed from Bottle Cap?

Honest Teas practice of including thought-provoking quotes and sayings at the bottom of the companys bottle caps started in 1999. And it has, since then, received overwhelming positive response from customers. However, one particular quote from billionaire and current Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has gathered substantial controversy on social media.

Retail Trends

Youll Never Guess the Hottest Sellers on Amazon Business This Season

You would think that in 2015  a year in which personal drones, so-called hover boards, autonomous cars and virtual reality were major hits  all the hottest sellers on Amazon would be making a killing selling the latest high-tech gadgets. But that wasnt entirely the case.

9 Retail Trends Tips for 2016 You Need To Know Now

What is the future of retail and what does 2016 have in store for retailers? The past year has been full of change, but even more transformation is ahead. The biggest change, of course is the transformation of retailing from a solely brick-and-mortar or eCommerce experience to a multi-channel marketplace.

Healthy Snacks Become Latest Trend for Small Business

When you think of bakeries or other companies that create snack foods, you probably conjure images of sugary sweets and similar not-so-healthy options. But theres a growing trend that has some small businesses creating healthier options when it comes to snack foods. The Protein Bakery is one example of this growing trend.

Small Biz Spotlight

Spotlight: Bornevia Offers Customer Support for an Underserved Market

Theres no shortage of SaaS or CRM offerings for businesses in the U.S. But there are other markets around the world that dont necessarily have the same offerings to cater to their businesses. As an engineer in the Bay Area, Benny Tija realized that there may be a market for a product that he could build in his home country of Indonesia.

Small Business Operations

Millennials Do Not Actually Hate Meetings, Survey Says

Despite their reputation for a short attention span and a predilection for social media, millennials may not be dreading that next staff meeting as much as you think. In fact, a survey by Igloo Software actually found many of the generation born between the early-1980s and early-2000s consider meetings productive rather than a waste of time.

FTC Slaps Down Alleged Office Supply Scam

The Federal Trade Commission filed legal action in December 2015 against a company it claims bilked millions from small businesses and non-profits in what it termed an office supply scam. The company is Liberty Supply Co., doing business as Omni Services, based out of Gainesville, Texas.

FedEx Freight Tries to Simplify Shipping Through Zip Code Based Rates

FedEx, headquartered in Memphis TN, has announced a change in shipping rate calculations of freight shipments. Starting January 4, 2016, rates will be based on a zone chart using zip codes as its basis.

Social Media

Heres Data Pinterest Will Be Sharing with Advertisers

Pinterest updated its privacy policy recently. On its official blog, the company announced the changes and explained how it will be working with its partners in the years ahead. The updated privacy policy states what information is collected, how it is used, and what choices users have. It also specifies what kind of data will be shared with advertisers.

Twitter Moments Review  Should Small Businesses Care?

Launched on October 6, 2015, Twitter Moments is the embodiment of Twitters latest objective as put forth by CEO Jack Dorsey during the companys Q2 earnings call in July of 2015: You should expect Twitter to be as easy as looking out your window to see whats happening.

For the latest, follow us on Google News.
FHM is the worlds leading magazine for men brand, published in over 20 languages in 26 editions across 40 countries. Funny, zany and fashionably sexy, FHM continues to set new standards in the mens magazine market globally. It covers general interest topics spanning babes, pop culture, fashion and grooming, sports, music, sex and relationship, and humor. Launched in March 2000, FHM Philippines has since dominated the publishing arena through its playful mix of witty articles, edgy photography and of course, the sexiest women in the land! Browse through pages of the alluring women! Learn about the hottest movies, gadgets and music! Read the most sensual stories as told by our FHM honeys! You can now take your trusted wingman (yes, FHM) anywhere you go.
STORY: "CBC doc challenges evidence in case against Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman," by Foreign Affairs reporter Marina Jiminez, published by the Toronto Star on January 8, 2016.

PHOTO CAPTION: "Neil Bantleman was serving his 10-year sentence in Jakartas notorious Cipinang maximum security prison. An overcrowded, often dangerous home to convicted drug dealers, murderers and terrorists. And now a school teacher from Canada."

the fifth estate challenges the legitimacy of the case against the Canadian teacher accused of sexually assaulting three kindergartners at an elite school in Jakarta, Indonesia. The medical test results, coupled with a lack of physical evidence, add a further twist to Neil Bantlemans ordeal, as he tries to prove his innocence in a court system he believes is biased against him. This is a complete miscarriage of justice and we will continue to fight until the truth comes out, he says in the fifth estate. Beyond a reasonable doubt this child has not ever been exposed to herpes, he said. The new test retroactively proves the test used in court to convict Bantleman was a false positive, Chakrabarti said. GIST: "New medical evidence revealed by CBCschallenges the legitimacy of the case against the Canadian teacher accused of sexually assaulting three kindergartners at an elite school in Jakarta, Indonesia. The medical test results, coupled with a lack of physical evidence, add a further twist to Neil Bantlemans ordeal, as he tries to prove his innocence in a court system he believes is biased against him. This is a complete miscarriage of justice and we will continue to fight until the truth comes out, he says in the documentary Nightmare in Indonesia, which airs Friday at 9 p.m. Bantleman was sentenced to 10 years in prison in April 2015. The 45-year-old Burlington native is out of prison after an acquittal for technical reasons. He cannot leave Indonesia while the Jakarta prosecutors office prepares an appeal. My husband, Neil, is innocent, says Tracy Bantleman, his wife and a fellow teacher. The case generated global headlines and heated condemnation of Indonesias justice system, even as the mother of one of the three alleged victims continues to insist her son was raped by Bantleman. A teaching assistant named Ferdinant Tjiong, and six janitors from Jakarta International School  a private institution of 2,400 students, attended by children of foreign diplomats, expatriates and local elites  were also accused. "They have ignored all evidence in support of my husband," says Tracy Bantleman of Neil Bantleman's ordeal in Indonesia. Tests submitted in Bantlemans trial by the mother, who goes by the name Pipit, showed her son had contracted the herpes virus. These tests, which she said proved the child had been raped, became crucial evidence in the case against Bantleman. However, at the CBCs request, Pipit agreed to have her son retested at a reputable European lab. That test came back negative, according to Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti, an infectious disease specialist in Toronto who reviewed the file for. Beyond a reasonable doubt this child has not ever been exposed to herpes, he said. The new test retroactively proves the test used in court to convict Bantleman was a false positive, Chakrabarti said.

Pipit, who launched a $125-million lawsuit against the school, rejects the test results. She remains defiant. People can call me crazy or crazy mom. I dont care. But my son knows. . . Im fighting for my son, she told the fifth estate. She is now living with her son and husband in Europe. The fifth estate reports that police could find no physical evidence to support Pipits sons testimony that he was attacked in a secret room near the schools staff lounge, and that Bantleman used a magic stone and blue potion to numb him before the attacks. Police could not find the room, a stone or any evidence of a potion. The (police) couldnt find any DNA, fingerprints, or any witnesses to prove the boys were ever inside the teachers lounge, the fifth estate reporter Mark Kelley says.

According to the report, the rape accusations were met with a mob mentality, as parents became convinced that something terrible had happened at the school. At first, Pipit accused the janitors  five men and one woman  of being part of a pedophile ring. She then expanded her accusations to include Bantleman and the teaching assistant. She took her case public, appearing on a popular true-crime television show. The janitors confessed, but only after they were tortured by police, according to interviews with the fifth estate. They later recanted their confessions.........They have ignored all evidence in support of my husband, said Tracy Bantleman. It is a disgrace."

The entire story can be found at:

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.



I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.



The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:



http://www.thestar.com/topic/ charlessmith



Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:



http://smithforensic.blogspot. ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith- award-presented-to_28.html



Harold Levy: Publisher;

The Charles Smith Blog.

See "Fifth Estate" web page with video for "Nightmare in Indonesia."..."Neil Bantleman and his wife were in search of adventure when they went to teach at a prestigious private school in Jakarta. But then came the horrifying accusation from a parent who believed her boy had been sexually abused by staff at the school. It set off an never-ending nightmare for the two Canadians. Last April, Neil Bantleman was convicted of sex assault. Though he won on appeal, he now awaits the ruling of Indonesia's top court and prays that one day they will be free to leave Indonesia and put to rest the terrible nightmare."
                    80%        ,   ...
Helpings of plant nutrition, horticulture and history. Every once and again the intersection of soil and politics. Posts from 8/14-11/14 cover work with the Senegalese Association Oasis Grow Biointensive.
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.
LEONARDTOWN, Md.

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: http://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at http://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at http://so.md/expungeme.

(Jan. 7, 2016)The Leonardtown Barrack of the Maryland State Police (MSP) today released the following incident and arrest reports.ASSAULT: ON JANUARY 1 at 4:01 am, Tpr. Geyer and Tpr. Mulhearn responded to the Wawa located at Rt. 235 and Rt. 4 for a reported assault. Upon arrival, Tpr. Geyer and Tpr Mulhearn located a group of individuals in the parking lot, including a female victim with a laceration to her forehead. Investigation revealed that Vickie Lynn McCan, 51, of Lusby, had struck the victim in the head with a wooden stake. Ms. McCan dropped the wooden stake on the ground, and Shantel Donnisha Randall, 18, of Chesapeake Beach, picked it up. Ms. Randall began striking a second female victim in the face, head, and back with the wooden stake. Ms. McCan and Ms. Randall were placed under arrest for Assault First Degree and Assault Second Degree. They were transported to the St. Mary's County Detention Center and held pending a bond review with the District Court Commissioner. (16-MSP-000050 and 16-MSP-000066)THEFT: On January 3 at 2:22 pm, Tpr. Artis responded to the 24000 block of Thorn Place in Chaptico for a reported theft. The victim advised that his Inboard/Outboard Motor and battery were missing from his boat. Case remains open pending further investigation (16-MSP-000347)THEFT: On January 5 at 12:57 pm, Cpl. Murphy took a report for a theft of a registration plate. The victim advised that the registration plate had been stolen off a vehicle parked a residence in the 45000 block of Wild Rose Lane. (16-MSP-000585)THEFT: On January 5 at 7:57 pm, Tpr. Holson responded to the Wal-Mart for a reported theft. Investigation revealed that Patricia Danielle Sweetney, 24, of Valley Lee, and Shawna Joy Welch, 24, of Bushwood had placed merchandise in a bag and attempted to pass all points of sale. Ms. Sweetney and Ms. Welch were charged with Theft Under $100 and issued Criminal Citations. (16-MSP-000647ASSAULT: On January 6 at 12:58 am, Tpr. Manning responded to the 17000 block of Jutland Drive in St. Inigoes for a reported disturbance. Investigation revealed that Shannon Johanna Dement, 34, of St. Inigoes had assaulted a male victim. Ms. Dement was placed under arrest for Assault Second Degree and transported to the St. Mary's County Detention Center. She was held pending a bond review with the District Court Commissioner. (16-MSP-000666)ASSAULT: On January 6 at 7:58 pm, TFC Ruth responded to the Lexington Park Library for the report of an assault. Investigation revealed that a male juvenile, 11, of Lexington Park, had pulled a pocket knife out of his pocket and pointed it towards a male juvenile victim. The juvenile suspect was placed under arrest and charged with Second Degree Assault. He was released to the custody of his mother. (16-MSP-000806)Gerrell Terrence Shingles, 24, of Mechanicsville, on 1/2/2016Lyssa Rae Alvey, 23, of Waldorf, on 1/2/2016Michael Andrew Dorsey, Jr., 25, of Lexington Park, on 1/4/2016William Tyler Skansanuti Morris, 19, of Mechanicsville, on 1/6/2016Alexander Wayne Pope, 21, of Mechanicsville, on 1/6/2016Diane Lynn Bissett, 43, of Lexington Park, served on 12/31/2015 for Violation of ProbationGina Patricia Kennedy, 26, of Tall Timbers, served on 12/31/2015 for Violation of Probation and Failure to Appear in CourtLorenzo S. Forbes, 30, of Charlotte Hall, served on 12/31/2015 for Failure to Pay a Deferred PaymentKeisha Lamay Holt, 29, of Leonardtown, served on 1/2/2016 for Assault Second DegreeSherri Dinger Puttick, 47, of St. Inigoes, served on 1/3/2016 for Fraud Over $1,000Amanda Jane Brown, 24, of Great Mills, served on 1/3/2016 for Violation of ProbationDonald Levi Warrick, Jr., 27, of California, served on 1/5/2016 for Armed RobberyCharles E. Danford, 43, of Lexington Park, served on 1/5/2016 for Failure To Appear in CourtRandall Anthony Britt, 63, of Loveville on 12/18/15 by S/Tpr. E. M. EvansBilly Jance Woodard, 41, of Baltimore on 12/19/15 by TFC W. A. CouterTina Lorie Ford, 36, of California on 12/21/15 by Tpr. D. A. CoppedgeLawrence Daniel Gold, 60, of Leonardtown on 12/23/15 by TFC E. M. KrenikLeonel Mauricio Valdes Garcia, 35, of Guatemala on 12/24/15 by TFC C. A. DitotoJames Henry Powell, 46, of Lexington Park on 1/2/16 by TFC C. A. DitotoJames Joseph Bucci, Jr., 54, of Bowie on 1/3/16 by TFC S. M. DitotoKeith Anthony Young, 49, of Lexington Park on 1/3/16 by S/Tpr. E. M. EvansBrenda Joyce West, 64, of La Plata on 1/5/16 by TFC C. A. Ditoto
SOS Aloha Book Reviews and More - Welcome to Paradise!
What a year. Its tempting, in a year-end wrap-up, to put a big bow on what we put a ring on and call it a day. While marriage brought us many advances, however, it also highlighted other issues that we still need to tackle in order to bring full equality and inclusion to LGBTQ parents and our children.

Marriage equality is, of course, a big deal.

The win in Obergefell v. Hodges not only brought marriage to same-sex couples, but put same-sex parents and our children front and center in the case and in the public eye. Most of the plaintiffs were parents. And Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion, showed he understood the importance of marriage for our children, saying, Without the recognition, stability, and predictability marriage offers, children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser. They also suffer the significant material costs of being raised by unmarried parents, relegated to a more difficult and uncertain family life. The marriage laws at issue thus harm and humiliate the children of same-sex couples.

He wisely cautioned, though, that marriage is also meaningful even for those who cannot or choose not to procreatethus addressing one of the leading arguments against marriage equality, that marriage is entirely about procreation.

Marriage equality expanded parental rights in some states. Twelve states (Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas) did not permit same-sex couples to adopt children jointly before Obergefell, according to a report from the Pew Charitable Trusts, citing the Human Rights Campaign.

After Obergefell, however, that restriction has crumbled in all but Mississippi. Four couples are now challenging the Mississippi ban in federal court with the help of attorney Roberta Kaplan (a lesbian mom herself), who successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 to bring down part of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Our equal access to adoption and fostering is threatened, however, by religious freedom laws in North Dakota, Michigan, and Virginia (and under discussion in several other states). These laws permit child welfare agencies receiving state money to refuse to place children with same-sex couples or other LGBTQ people if doing so conflicts with their religious beliefs.

And Kansas State Rep. Jim Ward (D-Wichita) has requested that legislative auditors investigate the states Department of Children and Families over what he calls systemic discrimination against LGBT people in adoption and foster care.

Same-sex couples have also had to file lawsuits in several states in order to have both parents names put on their childrens birth certificates. In October, a couple in Utah was awarded $24,000 in legal fees after they won their case, but cases from couples in Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, and Wisconsin are still pending or being appealed.

A note of caution: While accurate birth certificates are necessary for enrolling a child in school, getting a passport, and applying for various other benefits, they are still not sufficient for someone to be recognized as a parent in all jurisdictions and circumstances, many LGBTQ legal organizations have said (and the judge in the Arkansas case himself indicated). Second-parent adoptions or court judgments of parentage are still recommended.

Even adoptions, however, are under attack (though I have great hope the threat will fail). The Alabama Supreme Court in September refused to recognize three second-parent adoptions done in Georgia by a lesbian mom living in Alabama. The U.S. Supreme Court on December 14 granted an emergency stay of the order, giving the woman visitation with her children until the U.S. Supreme Court either rules on the case or refuses to take it. The whole situation is ugly, with one mom trying to deny her ex-partner any parental status and calling into question the validity of adoptions from state to state.

A similar case of parental breakup shows that we still are not equal when it comes to recognizing unmarried parents. In September, a Maryland court upheld a ruling denying parental standing (and thus visitation rights) to a non-biological mom because she and the biological mom were not married at the time of their childs birtheven though they had planned and were raising the child together, and eventually married. The judge indicated that in the same circumstances, the father in a different-sex unmarried couple would likely have been recognized, but current law did not allow recognition of a non-biological mother.

We also lack full equality in other areas. Lack of non-discrimination protections means that people can still be fired or denied housing in many states for being LGBTQ. Transgender people, married or not, are still in much earlier stages of legal recognition and social acceptance. These inequalities negatively impact children of LGBTQ parents as well.

Additionally, respect does not necessarily follow legality. There are still places in this country where I would be afraid to hold hands with my spouse. Kids still get bullied for being LGBTQ or having LGBTQ parents. LGBTQ families of color remain at a disadvantage because of the systemic racism in our society. And despite advances, we need even more representation in books and other media of LGBTQ families in all our diversityof family structure, race, religion, socioeconomic class, and more.

This year will stand as a watershed year, however. Our work towards LGBTQ equality is not done, nor is the work of social justice in other arenas done  but 2015 gave us one shining example of what progress looks like.

Dana Rudolph is the founder and publisher of Mombian (mombian.com), a GLAAD Media Award-winning blog and resource directory for LGBTQ parents.
With this years Supreme Court victory for marriage equality, it is easy to forget that LGBT people still face dire circumstances over large swaths of the globe. Seventy-nine countries still criminalize LGBT life in some way, including some that have the death penalty. While these laws are sometimes directly enforced, they more often reinforce societal discrimination and embolden both state and non-state actors to target the identified scapegoat.

The decreasing effectiveness of inflammatory rhetoric in the U.S. signals new challenges for human rights activists in places such as Uganda and Russia. In recent years, the lucrative anti-gay industry has had success exporting its toxic mix of pseudoscience, religion, and fear.

Scott Lively, who made his name blaming homosexuals for the Holocaust, is one example of a hate entrepreneur. As this country became increasingly unreceptive, he shifted his focus to a more receptive overseas audience. Ugandas infamous Kill the Gays bill owes much of its intellectual backing to Lively and his ilk. Lively has also ventured into Russia, where his message has contributed to President Vladimir Putins crackdown on LGBT expression.

And of course there are the two most populous countries, where queer organizing is still a precarious endeavor. Indias judiciary seemed to have invalidated its sodomy law, only to reinstate it subsequently. Windows of hope crack open occasionally in China only to be shut by leaders eager to quash any activity that could be seen as human rights organizing.

Given these attacks on LGBT life, we must ask ourselves what we can do from our privileged position. Supporting organizations in the affected countries when they request such support is critical to building sustainable local movements. Already European and North American governments and private foundations fund HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs that work with activists focused on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. Many times this is the only way to organize in extremely dangerous settings.

Beyond such support, our country must provide refuge for LGBT individuals who are forced from their countries of origin. While asylum exists as an option for some, it places an inordinate burden on most persecuted individuals. A gay man from Jamaica, for instance, must gather enough money to move to the U.S. and obtain a temporary visa under false pretenses. If his community finds out, he may not survive the ensuing mob. If the U.S. consular officer who is interviewing him for his tourist or student visa finds out that he fears persecution due to his sexual orientation, that officer will likely deny his only path to the U.S. and to freedom.

The obstacles do not end there. LGBT individuals must navigate a byzantine legal system to win asylum. This entails finding legal representation, a particularly tricky endeavor in a field crowded with incompetent lawyers and non-lawyer scammers. Asylum seekers must find a job or other way to support themselves, but virtually no one is authorized to work legally until 180 days after filing an asylum application. Networks of support that are available to other immigrants are often unavailable due to homophobia within many families and immigrant communities. Healthcare, especially related to mental well-being, is not readily available in most of the U.S. Mental health services are incredibly important to these individuals, nearly all of whom have endured torture or other traumas. Finding culturally and linguistically appropriate professionals who are also LGBT-affirming can be daunting.

Once asylum is granted, which can take several years, the problems do not end. While asylees are allowed to immediately petition for spouses and children outside the U.S., this option is closed to most asylees with same-sex partners. In a recent move, the State Department changed its policy to allow some same-sex partners from a few countries to immigrate once their partners are designated as refugees. However, the vast majority of families of LGBT asylees are left to fend for themselves in the persecuting countries or somehow find their own way out.

The federal government could alleviate many of these challenges by incorporating LGBT communities into its refugee admissions policy. Horror stories abound of LGBT individuals and families pleading to U.S. embassies and their international partners for life-saving assistance, only to be turned away. Not only should the U.S. be steering these individuals through the refugee process, but also officials should be proactively identifying potential beneficiaries. Once in the U.S., these refugees need services that are sensitive to the types of persecution they suffered. Advocates report that current resettlement programs contracting with the federal government are plagued with homophobia and transphobia.

Regardless of how they reach our country, LGBT immigrants deserve support services that address their very particular needs. Unfortunately, this populations needs remain neglected even as the number of funding sources for LGBT-focused and immigrant-focused programs grows. The fact remains that even the most altruistic-sounding service providers follow the money, meaning much of the inaction stems from the lack of funding dedicated specifically to LGBT immigrants.

Money is not the only issue; the ideological priorities of the movement also matter. Many LGBT organizations are ultimately run by wealthier, whiter gay men (although there are exceptions). Marriage was their goal, and now it is time to pack up the movement and ride off into the sunset. Grassroots activists are left to address a host of pressing issues, to name just a few: transgender justice, economic disparities, youth and education, and immigration. LGBT issues do not fare much better at major immigrant advocacy organizations. Many of these groups fight for what they term comprehensive immigration reform yet omit LGBT concerns.

There is indeed an ongoing refugee crisis that has largely escaped the attention of this country. How the LGBT community responds will be a measure of whether the movement will carry forth the legacy of Stonewall.

Sebastian Maguire is an immigration attorney and legislative aide to New York City Council Member Daniel Dromm.
2015 has been a particularly violent year in the U.S. Since Jan. 1, there have been 353 mass shootings in the U.S. However, none of the shooters got the attention given to Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashleen Malik, the married couple who on Dec. 2 killed 14 people and injured 22 more at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, where Farook worked.

Previous killers, mostly American-born, white Christians, inspired nothing more than (ineffective) calls for gun control from the political Left and thoughts and prayers from the political Right. The crimes of the Farooks, a Muslim couple possibly inspired by jihadist groups like ISIS, led to a rare prime-time, Presidential address from the Oval Office, where President Barack Obama called the shooting an act of terrorism.

President Obamas reaction to the San Bernardino shooting was characteristically mild, especially in comparison to those of other American politicians or the American media. They encouraged and exploited the American peoples fear and anxiety about terror attacks against the Homeland, which after San Bernardino were at the highest level since 911.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton delivered a speech in which she outlined her approach to fighting terrorism. She also criticized Republican politicians who even before San Bernardino were doing their best to make political hay out of the American peoples fear of foreign terrorism. Clinton was particularly critical of GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who caused a sensation when he suggested that Muslims be barred from entering the USA.

I usually avoid Republican presidential debates - I have to watch my blood pressure - but the fifth GOP debate of 2015 (held Dec. 15, after the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino) were must see television.

In addition to Trump, the debate featured former Governor Jeb Bush; retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson; Governor Chris Christie; former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina; Governor John Kasich; Senator Rand Paul; Senator Marco Rubio; and Senator Ted Cruz Though Trump was at his bombastic worst, each of the candidates tried his or her best to be the toughest one on terror; certainly tougher than Obama or Clinton.

Trump wanted to kill the families of terrorists and close parts of the Internet in Iraq and Syria. Cruz promised to carpet bomb the Islamic States capital of Raqqa. Christie offered to create a no-fly zone over parts of Syria and bomb Russian planes who flew over it. (Though Russia is also fighting ISIS, anti-Russian sentiment is always popular with right wing jingoes - Kasich also suggested that it is time we punched the Russians in the nose.)

Only Rand Paul seems to exhibit any sense or sanity, criticizing his opponents eagerness to lead their nation to World War III. All the candidates criticized political correctness as well as the Democrats interest in other issues such as climate change.

To the GOP wannabes, fighting ISIS is the only fight that matters and they hope to carry that fight right into the White House. As New York Times Magazine contributor Ana Marie Cox tweeted, This wasnt a foreign policy debate, or even a national security debate. It was [a] contest about who could tell the scariest story.

If the Republican candidates for president wanted to scare the American people, they certainly succeeded. But their scare tactics did not make us more fearful of ISIS or al-Qaeda. They scared us with the thought of what they might do if, God forbid, one of them becomes President of the United States. Terrorism is a serious matter, but it deserves a better response than that given by the GOP candidates.
A gay cruise in reverse, a Miami nightclub skipping out on paying its workers and a publishers blistering open letter to the owners of a piano bar. These stories top the list of heavy hitters, in terms of website traffic, in 2015 on SFGN.com

In February, an RSVP Vacations Cruise abruptly reversed course to return two passengers to Miami. The ship, the aptly named Regal Princess, contained a roster of mostly gay men and reports were rampant of wild partying onboard. Officials with Atlantis Events, confirmed two men were offloaded from the ship and were taken to a nearby hospital. The cruise was the 30th anniversary voyage for RSVP Vacations and continued on to Mexico and Grand Cayman following the incident. The story and its subsequent update ranked first and third, respectively, in terms of website hits.

SFGNs second story on this list involved the House Nightclub, a popular spot for the glitz and glamour crowd, in Miami. The nightclub was accused of not paying workers. One VIP bottle service worker had enough and blew the whistle on Houses general manager, Mark Lowe.

The fourth story involved another lawsuit in which the former owners of Georgies Alibi were accused of publicly humiliating a manager into quitting. One of the previous owners, Jackson Padgett, was accused of pouring water on the managers head and ordering him to perform fellatio on him.

Checking in at No. 5 on the list of top stories from 2015 is SFGN publisher Norm Kents blistering open letter to the owners of Tropics. Kent took aim at Tropics, the longtime Wilton Manors restaurant and piano bar, for its response to the tragic death of a beloved member of the Gay Mens Chorus of South Florida. Greg Futchi was run over and killed outside of Tropics and his death prompted outrage from the community at large with demands for lower speed limits on The Drive.

Rounding out SFGNs top 10 stories are as follows: The death of noted drag magician Cashetta (6), the suicide of local porn star Dmitri Kane (7), an interview with porn star Killian James about bareback sex and PrEP (8), The Impulse Group of South Florida accused of age discrimination (9) and a subway marriage proposal becomes an internet sensation in China (10.)
Growth chart for our Milky Way Galaxy SDSS

Proud parents chart the growth of their children, but astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have taken on a bigger task: charting the growth of our own Milky Way.

In a result presented today at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Kissimmee, Florida, a team led by Melissa Ness of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany created the first-ever growth chart for our Milky Way Galaxy. Their chart, which uses the ages of more than 70,000 stars and extends halfway across our galaxy to 50,000 light-years away, helps us read the story of how our galaxy grew from its infancy to the bright spiral galaxy we see today.

Close to the center of our galaxy, we see old stars that were formed when it was young and small. Farther out, we see young stars. We conclude that our galaxy grew up by growing out, says Ness, lead author of the study. To see this, we needed an age map spanning large distances, and thats what this new discovery gives us.

The researchers mapped the galaxy by observing red giants, bright stars in the final stages of their lives that can be observed out to large distances from our Sun, into the very inner and outer reaches of the Milky Way. If we know the mass of a red giant star, we know its age by using the fusion clock inside every star, says Marie Martig, lead author of a related study and a co-author of Nesss study. Finding masses of red giant stars has historically been very difficult, but surveys of the galaxy have made new, revolutionary techniques possible.

The team started with spectra taken from one of the SDSSs component surveys, the Apache Point Observatory Galaxy Evolution Experiment (APOGEE). APOGEE is the ideal survey for this work because it can get high-quality spectra for 300 stars simultaneously over a large area of sky, says Steve Majewski of the University of Virginia and Principal Investigator of the APOGEE survey. Seeing so many stars at once means getting spectra of 70,000 red giants is actually possible with a single telescope in a few years time.

The ages of stars cannot be measured with APOGEE spectra alone, but the APOGEE team realized that light curves from the Kepler satellite, a NASA space mission whose main goal is to find planets around stars, could provide the missing link between APOGEE spectra and stellar ages. APOGEE therefore observed thousands of red giants that had also been seen by Kepler. After combining information from the APOGEE spectra and Kepler light curves, the researchers could then apply their methods to measure ages for all 70,000 red giant stars sampling all parts of the galaxy.

In the galaxy we know best  our own  we can clearly read the story of how galaxies form in a Universe with large amounts of cold dark matter, says Ness. Because we can see so many individual stars in the Milky Way, we can chart its growth in unprecedented detail. This unprecedented, enormous map really is one for the ages.

Image (1080 x 1080 pixels, 100 dpi): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23495063/milkywayage.png This image shows the latest results as colored dots superimposed on an artists conception of the Milky Way. Red dots show stars that formed when the Milky Way was young and small, while blue shows stars that formed more recently, when the Milky Way was big and mature. The color scale shows how many billion years have passed since those stars formed. Credit: G. Stinson (MPIA)

Funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and the Participating Institutions. SDSS-IV acknowledges support and resources from the Center for High-Performance Computing at the University of Utah. The SDSS website is http://www.sdss.org.

SDSS-IV is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions of the SDSS Collaboration including the Brazilian Participation Group, the Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Mellon University, the Chilean Participation Group, the French Participation Group, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, The Johns Hopkins University, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the universe (IPMU) / University of Tokyo, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Leibniz Institut fur Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomie (MPIA Heidelberg), Max-Planck-Institut fur Astrophysik (MPA Garching), Max-Planck-Institut fur Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), National Astronomical Observatory of China, New Mexico State University, New York University, University of Notre Dame, Observatorio Nacional / MCTI, The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, United Kingdom Participation Group, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, University of Arizona, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Oxford, University of Portsmouth, University of Utah, University of Virginia, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University.
THE FIRST Slovak satellite named skCUBE will be carried into space by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle of American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company SpaceX from Vandenberg spaceport in California in May.

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The satellite, which was developed and built by Slovak engineers and scientists, was presented in Bratislava on January 7. The Slovak Organisation for Space Activities (SOSA) was behind the inception of the project in 2012. The project was carried out by Zilina University and Kosice Technical University.

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Its development was partly supported by the Government Office, the Education, Science, Research and Sport Ministry and the Transport, Construction and Regional Development Ministry.

More than four years ago we started to dream a very brave dream about how Slovakia could become a part of the prestigious group of countries that have sent their own satellites into Earths orbit, said SOSA chairman Jakub Kapus, as quoted by the TASSR newswire. Today we are reaching a great milestone.

Kapus views the launch into space as the icing on the cake, as the satellite's development and construction has fulfilled many of the aims that the project's representatives had set.

"We want to show that there's potential in Slovakia to carry out such projects, as space projects don't have be performed by NASA alone, said Kapus.

The skCUBE satellite is in the shape of a cube. It measures 10x10x10 centimetres and weighs about one kilogram. Its operational orbit will be 450-720 km above the Earth. It will orbit the Earth approximately every 90 minutes at a speed of 28,000 km per hour.

Such satellites are a great tool for us to acquire experience and know-how. It's a good platform for small experiments, said Kapus, as quoted by TASR.

The skCUBE is made up of an onboard computer, an electricity supply system and a communications system. It also features a sensory system, an orientation control system and a small camera. The main experiment will concern the reception of very long radio waves coming from deep space and from the upper layers of the atmosphere.

Our aim is also for the Slovak satellite to take a photo of Slovakia, said Kapus, as quoted by TASR.

The final tests and checks on the skCUBE were carried out in January. The developers assume that if everything goes according to plan, the satellite will go into space in May. They also believe that this project will be covered by scientific journals.

Parliamentary Chairman Peter Pellegrini, who attended the ceremonial presentation, praised the whole project.

In a few months this satellite will be sent into orbit and will carry out its research tasks, said Pellegrini, as quoted by TAST. Im very glad that theres potential in Slovakia for our scientists and researchers and that many companies will take part in other large international projects.
This year focuses on preparation, but future improvements still depend on better finances.

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WINTER always means more pressure on facilities for the homeless and though things have improved since 2005, when as many as 19 people died in the streets of Bratislava from hypothermia, a systematic approach to the problem is still missing. But that could soon change.

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Currently it is mostly non-government organisations and corporate donors that help the homeless, but the former warn that drawing funds entirely from private resources is unsustainable in the long term. Experts contend that the situation in Bratislava is worse than in Prague or Budapest.

In the long-term we do not see sufficient drive on the part of the government or municipal bodies in solving the problem, said Sergej Kara from the Vagus civic association during a press conference held on December 8. Corporate donors are losing patience.

According to Vagus data, a total of 1,657,059 targeted homelessness in Bratislava in 2014, a full 62 percent of which came from NGOs and private donors. In comparison the national government contributed 18 percent, Bratislava Region 11 percent, the Bratislava city council 6.5 percent and 1.6 percent came from Bratislavas district offices.

To boost public funding and activities, the Bratislava City Council has set up a working group composed of local districts, NGOs and experts coordinated by Vagus and the Department of Social Affairs with an aim to prepare a Strategy for Dealing with the Problem of Homeless People in Bratislava for the years 2016 to 2021. The group is scheduled to submit material to the city council in the spring.

Action plan

As a first step, the working group has prepared an action plan for 2016 that is based on the approved city budgets allocation of 238,000, which is nearly twice the funding of last year.

Working with homeless people, civic associations and NGOs which are trying to help them and to integrate them into society again is very important and necessary, said Bratislava Mayor Ivo Nesrovnal. We have tried to set aside the maximum possible amount in the budget to support projects in this field.

However, the total allocation needed for all the steps that NGOs would like to undertake is some 50,000 higher, money that will need to come from somewhere else.

We are pleased that the budget has been taken, whereas we previously worried that it could be much lower, Kara said.

The NGO Depaul Slovensko which operates the largest low-threshold facility for homeless in Bratislava plans to apply for funds from the new budget. However, Jozef Kakos, deputy director of Depaul, said that the amount for 2016 will only maintain ongoing activities.

The increase will fill a hole that NGOs had to previously finance from other sources, Kakos told The Slovak Spectator. To develop more, there will need to be finances.

The government also has addressed the problem financially, via the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family. Homeless-focused NGOs have received a subsidy in the sum of 77,930 in 2015, according to ministry spokesman Michal Stuska.

By the numbers

The main objective of the action plan is to stabilise the existing services and to begin preparing an environment suitable for the formation of new services, according to Kara.

As a priority, we need to get data on the number of homeless people, Kara said. We have also agreed on cooperation with the municipality of Prague and the NGOs which took part in the census of homeless people there.

Since Slovakia gained independence, there has been no official census of homeless people, although they were partially summarised by the Statistics Office during the 2011 general census. According to it, there are 23,500 homeless people in Slovakia.

NGOs have their own estimates. Kakos said that a few years ago there were a total of 10,000 people, of which 4,000 to 5,000 located in Bratislava.

If we do not know what quantities we are dealing with we can hardly determine the impact of the problem and find a solution, Kakos said.

Kara pointed to its expert survey in which almost 62 percent of homeless people in Bratislava originate from other regions of Slovakia. It is caused by very low development of required social services outside Bratislava, he said.

Prague has a lower number of homeless people when the citys population is taken into consideration, Kara said, that is likely due to the better availability of services in other Czech cities.

He added that thanks to legislation Hungary also has better developed services. If there is a city or a village above 50,000 inhabitants, it must by law provide particular social services, Kara said.

Current services

Services accessible in Bratislava include four dormitories and four shelters, three daily drop-in centres, two centres for personal hygiene and a centre of integration. These are not sufficient for covering the demand, Kara said, pointing to 491 total beds for more than 4,500 people.

It is one of the lowest percentages within central Europe, Kara said, adding that problematic is also the centralisation of social services in the Ruzinov and Vrakuna neighbourhoods.

Before winter, Depauls biggest dormitory increased capacity from 150 to 200 beds and built indoor showers and toilets. They have about 170 clients every night, Kakos said.

In addition, the homeless have been harmed by the Act on Railroads issued by the Transport Ministry that allows them to be removed from railway stations.

Kakos said that the state does not understand that people need daily or integration centres since they can spend only nights in the dormitories and have to leave them during the day.

Kakos also pointed to an insufficient health care scheme for the homeless when a person can get free medical treatment only when their life is in danger. This means that health insurance companies do not cover treatment of mild health problems, meaning that they are more likely to develop into something more serious.

In the Czech Republic special doctors offices exist for homeless people, Kakos said.

Kara agreed that preventive mechanisms that would keep people in normal life are missing.

Any social system that would avoid the falling on the street does not exist, except for material need benefits, Kara said.

NGOs would also welcome financial consultancy services as the homeless are often financially illiterate. In this respect, Kakos mentioned that in the United Kingdom there are advisors to help the homeless manage income and expenditures. In Slovakia, there are currently 3 million distraint proceedings for 5 million inhabitants, he said.

To teach people how to handle their money is important from the point of prevention, Kakos said.

Planned prevention activities

To protect people from drifting into homelessness the Labour Ministrys Institute for Labour and Family Research, in cooperation with the Statistics Office and NGOs, plans to examine the tools for preventing and addressing the apparent and hidden homelessness during the period between 2015 and 2016.

We propose that the first phase of the research should clearly define the term homeless, for example through the European Union typology ETHOS, Stuska said. At the same time we recommend analysing the possibilities of legal definition of the person without shelter and its implementation in the context of the social policy.

Additionally, the ministry wants to create a system of multi-level housing involving different types of transitional houses, including rental apartments and social housing, by 2018.

The system will create preconditions for the gradual increase of the standard of living and its accessibility for disadvantaged people and at the same time will increase their own personal responsibility, Stuska said.
ON January 7, the Government Proxy for the Roma Community Peter Pollak paid a visit to Kosice city's troubled Roma borough Lunik IX and Maslickovo settlement, where two small children died on January 1 and 3. The first child died in a fire and the second froze to death.

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Im horrified that, despite the fact that this location has been here for five years, the people in power seem to ignore it, said Pollak, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

Some 6,000 people live in Lunik IX and 300 in Maslickovo settlement and around 200 flats have been demolished at Lunik IX over the course of the past five years.

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Pollak had offered a solution to Kosice City Hall involving the transfer of pre-fab housing from Nizna Mysla village to Lunik IX, but he claims that the municipal authorities opted not to embrace this idea.

We reiterate the offer for Kosice to have the pre-fabs from Nizna Mysla transferred to Lunik IX, so that these people no longer live in such primitive conditions, but rather in something closer to the 21st century, said Pollak, as quoted by TASR.

The Government Proxy also stands ready to help with the construction of new flats.

The state has programmes that could help these people, said Pollak, as quoted by TASR. Theres a programme of basic house construction for people on welfare.

Lunik IX mayor Marcel Sana says that he intends to address the problem concerning the current hut housing, but there are limits to his budgeting and powers.

Weve got no land, almost everything is owned by the city, Sana said, as quoted by TASR. If we had our own land, we would surely have begun to do this and build houses.
SLOVAKIA needs better health care and education systems and Slovaks should decide rationally about a government that will be able to deliver change on the domestic front, the countrys President Andrej Kiska told the citizens at the start of 2016  a year that will see parliamentary elections.

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The refugee crisis and Paris terrorist attacks that provoked emotionally-charged reactions among ordinary Slovaks as well as politicians did not affect Slovaks as much as neglecting domestic problems, Kiska suggested in his address that was broadcast by the public-service RTVS on January 1.

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The main idea of the address was to appeal to the citizens to focus on real problems when making important political decisions and not decide based on some manipulated impressions, political analyst Grigorij Meseznikov said, especially as regards the refugee crisis.

There is still enough time for the March parliamentary elections to become a plebiscite on what needs to be done on the domestic front, Kiska said, and called on the citizens to use the remaining time to focus attention on domestic needs and responsibilities.

What is important for the country is how political parties are able to solve real problems and he named some of them, Meseznikov told The Slovak Spectator.

The president pointed out two concrete areas where, as he put it, the neglect is most visible and which deserve discussion as a matter of priority: health care and education.

Kiska focuses on hospitals and schools

Kiska noted that 3,000 more people die in Slovakia annually of curable diseases compared to the Czech Republic, while the two countries spend a comparable amount of money on health care. Health care in Slovakia is affected by arbitrariness, systemic chaos, non-transparent interests, cronyism, and disorder, he said, adding that the state has been failing to solve this so far.

This begs the question of whether  against the backdrop of discussions about tightening our security  we actually know where the threat to the lives of our people really lies, Kiska said.

As for education, Kiska noted that the society, the state and the country show no respect for the teaching profession. While in the past, the quality of Slovak primary schools was good and comparable with other countries, Slovakia now lags in international comparisons.

Fico talks security

In contrast to Kiska, Prime Minister Robert Fico in his statement on the Day of the Founding of the Slovak Republic (a national holiday Slovakia marks on January 1) maintained his rhetoric from the previous weeks and stressed national security as the major priority for the upcoming year and both the current government and the government that will emerge from the elections in March.

I am sorry that public officials who carry responsibility for the security of the citizens of Slovakia underestimate the security aspect of the migration crisis, Fico stated, noting that at the turn of this year several European countries passed unprecedented security measures in response to the threat of terrorist attacks.

Later, on January 5, Fico was more concrete and said that the president does not hold any responsibility for the security of the country. That responsibility lies with the government, and therefore the government has the right to take relevant and concrete measures.

Importance of EU Council presidency

Both the president and the prime minister mentioned Slovakias first presidency of the European Council that the country will assume in mid-2016 from the currently presiding country, the Netherlands.

This demanding position will require governmental stability and experience, Fico said, in line with the election campaign of his party that stresses stability and experience as the most important feature of a new government.

Kiska expressed a hope that as the presiding country Slovakia will contribute to Europes efforts to restore self-confidence in its ability to cope with challenges, including accelerating economic growth and ensuring effective protection of the EUs external borders.

Kiska did not mention the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Meseznikov noted. However, Kiska has expressed his opinion on this matter on several previous occasions and it is well known to the public, and therefore its absence in the New Years address is not problematic, Meseznikov added.

Appeal for high voter turnout

The New Years address suggests Kiska will not advise citizens to vote for any specific party or candidate, Meseznikov said, adding that such advice would in fact not be appropriate.

He is a non-partisan president and he is sticking strictly with this principle, Meseznikov stated.

The New Years address, however, suggests that Kiska will appeal to the citizens to ensure a high election turnout, but will formulate it in such a way so as nobody would blame him for preferring any specific political parties or the attitudes they represent, Meseznikov said.

For many a voter the choice of whom to elect is not always ideal but what is always very important is that you should not give up on your right. Do not let others decide for you, Kiska stated at the start of 2016, two months before the parliamentary elections.

Radka Minarechova contributed to this story
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Inspired by vintage maps, these bags from Denvers Commonwealth Coffee stand as a sort of antidote to the sleek, simplistic style that we so often feature here. This is one of the very best roasters in Denver and served at several of the citys top bars, including Amethyst Coffee, recently profiled here on Sprudge and a 2015 Sprudgie Award finalist for Best New Cafe. You can also find Commonwealth Coffee at some of the best multi-roaster cafes in America, including Comet Coffee in St. Louis and Cognoscenti Coffee in Los Angeles.

As told to Sprudge by Ryan Fisher.

When did the coffee package design debut?

These bags debuted in May of 2014, so it has been a little while since they first showed up on cafe shelves. We started working on the designs back before we launched Commonwealth two years ago.

Who designed the package?

All of our branding/design was done by Kevin Cantrell. Hes based in Salt Lake City and does incredible Victorian-inspired lettering.

Please describe the look in your own words!

I am not sure how I would describe it, but we wanted something that would stand out. There is a ton of really clean modern looking design in coffee these days and we wanted something different. We really like the ornate, highly articulated elements of Sanborn Maps and used those as a starting point.

What coffee information do you share on the package? Whats the motivation behind that?

We share the standard information: Farmer Name, Farm Name, Process, Altitude, Varietals, Tasting Notes and then a small blurb on the back about the farm/region/mill. We want to give those customers that care some information to help them make more informed purchases, but I think the details are most valuable for baristas that work with our coffee, so that they might have an easier time engaging a new coffee on bar.

Where is the bag manufactured?

In the good old Peoples Republic of China Taiwan, by the same company that produces so many coffee bags these days, Pacific Bag.

For package nerds, what *type of package* is it?

It is a pretty simple bag, really. Its foil lined, has a one way valve and then we add custom printed labels to each bag according to which specific lot it is.

Is the package recyclable? Any other pro-environment info about the package you want to share?

There is nothing specifically environmental about the packaging. Sorry! We plan to make some upgrades to the packaging in the not too distant future.

Coffee Design is a feature series by Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge. Read more Coffee Design here.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Wednesday, al-Qaeda released a new video in which it threatens to attack Naples, Rome and Madrid. The video, according to AICS, shows al-Qaeda is trying to copy Daesh to recover the power it is losing to the militant group.

While the relations between the two terrorist groups are not the best in the world, in Northern Africa the situation is a bit different, Salvador Burguet said.

He said that two months ago there were several meetings between representatives of Daesh in Northern Africa, its affiliate in Algeria, and representative of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in a bid to merge the two organizations forces.
"This treaty has been in force since 1970, yet there have never been such negotiations. The latest example of proliferation, the North Korea test, simply reinforces the need for the P5 to fulfil their obligations," Jackson stressed.

The national leader to lead those talks to a successful conclusion "would go down in history as the greatest statesman/stateswoman," Jackson added, wondering whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would be the one to do so.

"The test is bad example of nuclear proliferation in the world <> It was a provocation," Li Bin, a Senior Associate, Nuclear Policy Program & Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said.

Bin believes that the international community "should consider serious responses to the test," while Jackson stresses that abolition of nuclear weapons "would be far more effective than more sanctions on North Korea."

North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2005 and conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, having earlier withdrawn from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that it ratified in 1985.

The United States, Japan and South Korea, as well as Russia and China, took part in talks on denuclearization of the Korean peninsula with North Korea from 2003 until 2009, when Pyongyang withdrew from the talks.
"We're concerned by all of these activities being conducted by the Chinese in disputed islands in the South China Sea," Pentagon Spokesman Peter Cook said.

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea. But Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have overlapping claims to territory in those waters.

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said, if elected, he would sail US ships through the disputed South China Sea to challenge China's claimed air and sea rights and work with other allies in the region.

In October, the Pentagon began conducting patrols within 12 nautical miles of China's man-made islands in the region.

"We need to reinvigorate our Pacific military alliance, and that begins with the United States investing the resources necessary to rebuild our Navy," Rubio, a senator from Florida, told Fox Business Network.

The assertion about the smallest US Navy since WWI has become a popular talking point among Republicans, but has been widely discounted because contemporary ships are far more advanced and significantly larger than those in use a century ago, Reuters reported.

Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet, this week said he would take the Navy he has today  and its advanced technology  over the Navy of 20 years ago.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) is holding talks with Indonesian companies over building a shipyard in Indonesia, the Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said Friday.

"I think that everything will depend firstly on the potential and infrastructure utilization of our Indonesian partners which already have shipyards here. We have been conducting such work since the end of last year, and are drawing on the premise that modernizing existing shipyards will require less joint investments, and this also depends on which ships are demanded by our Indonesian colleagues," Manturov told reporters while on an official visit to Indonesia.

With both sides' investments totaling up to $300 million, the shipyard can potentially produce a wide range of vessels, including oil tankers and gas carriers, the minister said, adding that the final project will depend on specifications outlined by the Indonesian authorities. Existing Indonesian shipbuilding capacities will also be taken into account in order to avoid overproduction, according to Manturov.
And yet major trouble looms. Erratic King Salman's move of appointing his son, the supremely arrogant and supremely ignorant Prince Mohammad bin Salman to number two in the line of succession has been contested even among Wahhabi hardliners.

But don't count on petrodollar-controlled Arab media to tell the story.

English-language TV network Al-Arabiyya, for instance, based in the Emirates, long financed by House of Saud members, and owned by the MBC conglomerate, was bought by none other than Prince Mohammad himself, who will also buy MBC.

With oil at less than $40 a barrel, largely thanks to Saudi Arabia's oil war against both Iran and Russia, Riyadh's conventional wars are taking a terrible toll. The budget has collapsed and the House of Saud has been forced to raise taxes.

The illegal war on Yemen, conducted with full US acquiescence, led by  who else  Prince Mohammad, and largely carried out by the proverbial band of mercenaries, has instead handsomely profited al-Qaeda in the Arabic Peninsula (AQAP), just as the war on Syria has profited mostly Jabhat al-Nusra, a.k.a. al-Qaeda in Syria.

Three months ago, Saudi ulemas called for a jihad not only against Damascus but also Tehran and Moscow without the "civilized" West batting an eyelid; after all the ulemas were savvy enough to milk the "Russian aggression" bandwagon, comparing the Russian intervention in Syria, agreed with Damascus, with the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

US Think Tankland revels in spinning that the beheading provocation was a "signal" to Tehran that Riyadh will not tolerate Iranian influence among Shi'ites living in predominantly Sunni states. And yet Beltway cackle that Riyadh hoped to contain "domestic Shi'ite tensions" by beheading al-Nimr does not even qualify as a lousy propaganda script. To see why this is nonsense, let's take a quick tour of Saudi Arabia's Eastern province.

All Eyes on Al Sharqiyya

Saudi Arabia is essentially a huge desert island. Even though the oil hacienda is bordered by the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Saudis don't control what matters: the key channels of communication/energy exporting bottlenecks  the Bab el-Mandeb and the Straits of Hormuz, not to mention the Suez canal.

Enter US "protection" as structured in a Mafia-style "offer you can't refuse" arrangement; we guarantee safe passage for the oil export flow through our naval patrols and you buy from us, non-stop, a festival of weapons and host our naval bases alongside other GCC minions. The "protection" used to be provided by the former British empire. So Saudi Arabia  as well as the GCC  remains essentially an Anglo-American satrapy.

Al Sharqiyya  the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia  holds only 4 million people, the overwhelming majority Shi'ites. And yet it produces no less than 80% of Saudi oil. The heart of the action is the provincial capital Al Qatif, where Nimr al-Nimr was born. We're talking about the largest oil hub on the planet, consisting of 12 crisscrossed pipelines that connect to massive Gulf oil terminals such as Dhahran and Ras Tanura.

Enter the strategic importance of neighboring Bahrain. Historically, all the lands from Basra in southern Iraq to the peninsula of Musandam, in Oman  traditional trade posts between Europe and India  were known as Bahrain ("between two seas").

Tehran could easily use neighboring Bahrain to infiltrate Al Sharqiyya, detach it from Riyadh's control, and configure a "Greater Bahrain" allied with Iran. That's the crux of the narrative peddled by petrodollar-controlled media, the proverbial Western "experts", and incessantly parroted in the Beltway.
"Now everyone in Europe is talking about 'the Cologne atmosphere,' which they would prefer to avoid," the author underscored.

The debate in Germany is being intensified by those who have to enforce the governments wishy-washy migrant policy. The police are sounding alarms because they are understaffed. Educators are sounding alarms because there are not enough instructors for introductory courses for immigrants. Towns are sounding alarms as they have run out of room to accept more refugees.

The result is the nearing collapse of the Schengen system, and the growing public anger toward asylum seekers in many European countries, the article read.

"But a return to the cozy pre-refugee era is out of the question. The refugees are here. They have to be integrated. But the way forward is shrouded in fog. At the same time, sober discussion of the problem is impossible. The moral and political faction that represents what might be called Germanys 'welcome culture' rigorously throttles any attempt to discern a connection between refugees and the danger of Islamic terror," Lehming wrote.

Meanwhile, the criticists of the existing refugee policy are not represented by any party in parliament, he added. But they are announcing themselves with increasing vigor in the media and in opinion polls.

According to a poll by the Allensbach Institute, nearly 50 percent of Germans are afraid of voicing their opinion of the refugee crisis. The author noted that this could be regarded as suppression of the truth about the problem.

"Is suppression at play here? That would revive a nasty theme in German history. After the Second World War, the crimes of the Third Reich were suppressed. During the Cold War, many did not want to acknowledge the crimes of the Communists. Are Germans now suppressing what awaits their country thanks to the high number of immigrants?" he wrote.
France is commemorating the first anniversary of the January 2015 attacks that began when Said and Cherif Kouachi forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris and shot 11 people dead, wounding 11 others, before fleeing and killing a policeman outside. They identified themselves as belonging to the Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen. Both were eventually gunned down in a village of Dammartin-en-Goele, after taking a hostage.

The widow of the police protection officer killed outside the offices of the satirical magazine, Franck Brinsolaro  who was on duty guarding the editor-in-chief, Stephane Charbonnier  has now filed a legal complaint this week over security failings.

She alleges that security at the offices was slack. She told French radio:
"I'm not afraid that far-right activists will come to us or come in general. Of course, the book is available for them here but the text has at least 3,500 footnotes which do not contain any single aspect of Hitler's ideology unexplained. This annotated version of the book won't be fun to any of the right-wing activists," said Michael Lemling, the managing director of Lehmkuhl bookstore in Munich.

Education Minister Johanna Wanka has argued that such an annotated version should be introduced to all classrooms across Germany to ensure that "Hitler's comments do not remain unchallenged.

"Pupils will have questions and it is only right that these can be addressed in classes," she said.

But the Jewish community questioned the need to spread the Fuhrers inflammatory rant again.

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, told AFP that Holocaust survivors would be offended by the sale of the anti-Semitic work in bookstores.

"Unlike other works that truly deserve to be republished as annotated editions, 'Mein Kampf' does not. Now it would be best to leave 'Mein Kampf' where it belongs: the poison cabinet of history," he emphasized.
The complaint  signed by the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and others  states that the new law is an attack on the independence of public service TV and Radio, in breach of Council of Europe norms.

In a further letter to the Polish Government, the AEJ said:

"The AEJ is deeply concerned that that the proposed reforms, if implemented, would effectively bring public service television and radio under the direct control of the government, involve the dismissal of respected journalists for political reasons, and lead to a systematic editorial bias in the content of [public service] broadcasts in favor of the present government."

According to the PAP news agency, all journalists, editors, producers and directors working at Poland's national television company TVP, Polish Radio, the press agency PAP itself and 17 local channels will be sacked to give the new management free hands on who to rehire under a second media bill under preparation.

Constitutional Crisis

The move comes amid criticism from the EU over both its media law and changes to the constitutional court. The Polish Government appointed five judges to the Constitutional Tribunal, which is supposed to make independent rulings, leading to accusations that it would make it more difficult to oppose new laws.
Corbyns aides were swift to stamp on former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone  who is co-chairing a review of Labour defense policy  when he announced that Britains membership of NATO would be part of the discussion.

Asked on live TV whether the UK should withdraw from NATO, Livingstone replied: "Thats one of the things it will look at. There will be many people wanting to do that".

"My main view on this is it doesnt matter whether you are in NATO or not terribly much because the Cold War is over. The question is, if you are going to stay in NATO, what is its role going to be? Is it going to be invading more countries in the Middle East? Im not in favor of that."
Today there are more than 1.6 billion Muslims constituting about 20% of the world population. Muslim populations are diverse and ethnically self-assertive.

Talking about the diversity of the Muslim population in the world, Khan wrote, Ethnicity of the Islamic world expands dramatically outside the Arabic-speaking Middle East.

The African Muslims of Senegal, Nigeria, Chad, Somalia, though all Africans, have little in common by way of language and ethnicity. Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan do not speak Arabic; each is ethnically and linguistically distinct, even multifaceted; and, they collectively share the Arab culture only in minimal ways, Khan wrote in his article for the Counter Punch.

This ethnic diversity of Muslims is the one greatest barrier to establishing an Islamic caliphate. The romance of new caliphate is a predominantly Arab yearning rooted in memories of the earlier Arab caliphates. This yearning however is not widespread even among the Arabs, noted Khan.

These ignorant Daesh militants have these naive fantasies about uniting the ethnically diverse Muslim populations but they do not understand that the Arabs of the first caliphate were unique pioneers who drew inspiration from the Prophet and the Quran.

The Arabs of the twenty first century lack the credibility and credentials to impose their will over 1.6 billion Muslims of the world because Muslims all over the world including even the radical Taliban of Afghanistan and Pakistan find no merit in the Islamic caliphate launched by Dr. Al-Baghdadi and his Western co-conspirators, concluded Ali Khan.
Following the example of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Shiites tried to overthrow their Sunni rulers, but have always failed. In 2011, Saudi Arabia sent its troops to Bahrain and violently crushed democratic protests in the midst of the Arab Spring. Now with the execution of al-Nimr, Shiite masses took to the streets of Bahrain and were again met with shots and water cannons. With these things in mind, Purple fears Bahrain could become the new arena for a Sunni-Shia sectarian battle in the Middle East.

The last and probably the worst potential damage that the Saudi-Iranian confrontation might have in the Middle East is to put the fight against Daesh on the back burner. To defeat Daesh, the world, and particularly Middle Eastern countries, must put aside their sectarian differences and work together to fight against a common enemy.

That goal was quite unlikely to happen before the Saudi-Iranian row, but with the new political developments taking place it seems even more unrealistic.

"More energy will be devoted to sectarian warfare and less to fighting [Daesh]," the author said in the National Interest.

With Saudi Arabia obsessed with stopping the rise of Iranian influence in the Middle East, the entire region looks as fragile as ever.
The execution of the Shiite cleric sparked significant outrage among Shiites around the world. In Iran, protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy and set it on fire. Riyadh immediately severed its diplomatic ties with Tehran following the incident. Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Djibouti have also called back their ambassadors from Iran.

As the Saudi-Iranian diplomatic row was developing during the first days of 2016, all major powers urged the two sides to "ease tensions." The United States stressed the importance of maintaining negotiations, Federica Mogherini expressed a serious concern on behalf of the European Union, while France called for "de-escalation," the author said.

As much as Western countries want to reconcile Saudi Arabia and Iran, they simply don't have enough diplomatic ties with Tehran to make them need their advice. For example, in recent years France has worked closely with Saudi Arabia on a number of strategic and trade issues. Thus, Tehran has long lost trust in Paris.

Although the United States managed to successfully work with Iran over the issue of its nuclear program last year, the fact that Washington has been a long-time ally of the Saudi government makes it an "unreliable" partner in the eyes of Iran, Vernet explained.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  US polices of aggression in the Middle East over the past decade have taught nations in the region to acquire nuclear weapons to deter possible future American efforts to topple their governments and kill their neighbors as the US did in Iraq and Libya, New York Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Alice Slater told Sputnik on Friday.

It cannot have escaped the notice of North Korea that after Saddam Hussein's nuclear program was ended after the first Gulf War and Muammar Gaddafi voluntarily gave up his nuclear weapons program, one wound up dead in a hole in the ground and the other in a sewer pipe in Libya, she stated.

Despite US President Barack Obamas rhetoric about reining in the spread of atomic weapons, he pushed ahead with efforts to give nuclear capabilities to nations across the Middle East, Slater observed.
It looks [to the Saudis] like were trying to do a deal with the Iranians, and they think thats coming completely at their expense, said Dennis Ross, a former top Obama White House aide on Middle East issues.

By the time Abdullah died last January, the relations between Obama and the king were at their lowest. With the ascension to the throne of Salman, Barack Obama began to take concrete steps towards reconciliation: for example, he cut short his visit to India to attend the funeral of Abdullah and pay homage to the new head of the Arab states.

But there was no counter gesture as King Salman refused the invitation of the White House and did not attend the congress of the Sunni Arab leaders at the residence of the US president at Camp David. Nevertheless, the US continues to pursue policies designed to persuade members of the royal family that Washington is on their side.

Obama supported the military campaign of Riyadh in Yemen, despite the concern within the administration  the officials did not understand what could end the Saudi initiative and worried about civilian casualties.

The US president is cautious in comments: Despite occasional criticism of the repressive legal and political systems, the White House is in no hurry to condemn the execution of Shiite preacher Nimrah al-Nimrah, and another 46 people that were considered terrorists by the authorities of Saudi Arabia, the newspaper noted.

The best way to mollify the Saudis was to demonstrate toughness against Tehran, Ross said, which he predicted would continue to test Obama's resolve.

Nevertheless many observers fear the relationship could grow worse still, with dangerous consequences for the region, concluded Politico.
Who benefits from aggravating further tensions in the region?

According to Butler, the best clue as to "who stands behind" this new Saudi-Iran crisis comes to us from US mainstream media sources. The analyst notes with a touch of irony that some of them are "the perfect barometer of what is NOT true in the world of international affairs these days."

He calls attention to the fact that the Obama administration is vocally "bemoaning" the fact that the sudden escalation of tensions between Riyadh and Tehran may deal a blow to the fight against Daesh in Syria and Iraq, as well as to the negotiations over the Syrian crisis, and efforts to bring stability to the Middle Eastern region as a whole.

Butler emphasizes that while turning a blind eye to Riyadh's abuse of human rights Western media sources have seemingly no scruples about depicting Iran as the "root of all evil."

"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 Iran's fight for sectarian dominance," Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Karen DeYoung remarks in his article for Washington Post, as quoted by Butler.
For instance, the number of aircraft carriers should be increased from 11 to 16. A total of 100 large surface ships, destroyers and cruise ships would be necessary to protect the aircraft carriers. The number of supply vessels should be halved, to 58, the analyst wrote.

According to him, the number of small warships should not be decreased from 52 to 40 as the Pentagon plans, but 30 more ships of this type are needed.

He also commented on submarines. According to Pentagon estimates, by 2020, the US and China will have 70 submarines in service each. Despite the fact the US will have the upper hand in quality, it will need 90 submarines for nuclear deterrence and other purposes, Cropsey wrote.

The build-up of maritime presence by Russia, China and Iran in the Mediterranean as well as the siege of the Libyan coastal town of Sirte have proved the need for US amphibious ships in the region, as it was in the Cold War era, the article in The Wall Street Journal read.

Cropsey underscored that the US naval presence in the Mediterranean would require 45 ships.

According to the analyst, to ramp up the US Navy, $24 billion is needed annually, a 45-percent rise in spending.

This is expensive, but it is less costly than losing US naval dominance. And the threat is real, taking into account the build-up of the Chinese fleet, Cropsey concluded.
The library, named after the former secretary general who died in 1961, stores plenty of documents and publications from the UN and related organizations, as well as materials on various topics such as international relations, law and economics.

It is quite disturbing that of the plethora of books available in the library, the top pick among its users  the UN professional Secretariat staff and member state delegations  is about getting away with war crime prosecution.

Pedretti's publication, based on her doctoral thesis from the University of Lucerne, brings up an issue of state officials avoiding charges in foreign courts. Pedretti names two forms of diplomatic immunity in the international law of which heads of state and other government officials can take advantage of.
Trot Insider has learned that the full on-scene investigation into the tragic barn fire at Classy Lane Training Centre concluded on Thursday.

"They have concluded the investigation on scene, that's phase 1 of the investigation," Steven Goode, Fire Chief for the Township of Puslinch told Trot Insider on Thursday. "They've done evidence collection, forensics from the Ontario Fire Marshal's office was on scene, they've collected their information...they've x-rayed wires and looked at other potential sources of ignition."

Goode noted that the Fire Marshal's office has yet to confirm a cause or pinpoint a starting location for the fire, and the process is still ongoing.

"We're concentrating our efforts into one area -- potentially electrical. That's what we're really looking at here at this point: the electrical and some of the small appliances that existed there in one particular office area on the north-east corner of the building," stated Goode. "We've based it on witness accounts, and we've x-rayed the wires and based on x-raying the wires we can determine what had power and what didn't have power. So if the building had power and one section was burning, it would disconnect power to the other portion of the building. So the area of origin has pretty much been determined."

The next phase of the investigation still involves a number of agencies, including the Ontario Racing Commission, Technical Standards & Safety Authority, the Puslinch Fire Dept., the Ontario Fire Marshal's office and the Wellington County OPP.

"So jointly we concluded as far as the evidence goes," continued Goode. "We've sent one horse for testing at the University of Guelph for many reasons...first being fire-investigative and insurance-related."

According to Goode, the complete investigative report should be released in a couple of months. That report will be released to the owners of Classy Lane, with Goode indicating a possibility that all the information in the report may not be made public.

"In speaking with the lead at the Ontario Fire Marshal's office, they're suggesting it's going to take a couple of months to complete."

The Fire Services crew on site at Classy Lane on Thursday made a short speech to horsemen upon conclusion of this investigation phase.

"What we expressed was that it wasn't their fault by any means, we don't suspect anything suspicious and this was an accident...and accidents do happen. It's really sad, and we share that and hope they're able to rebound and we're sure that they will.

"By the time the first person recognized there was a fire, it was too late. The fire was well involved and there was really nothing that could be done, other than protect the adjacent property, the building and the animals as well."

Many of the firefighters from Puslinch that were on-call on Monday night were thankfully familiar with that barn at Classy Lane, having performed some large animal rescue in that exact location about three months ago.

"When we first got the call, and we knew the barn and the valuables within the barn -- the horses -- we summoned four other fire departments immediately. So we had 55 firefighters on scene with well over a dozen trucks. Not once did they run out of water and they had some big streams going on this building," stated Goode. "If it wasn't for that, there wouldn't be much of an investigation because we were able to salvage an awful lot within the actual structure, and able to protect the [propane] tanks that were right adjacent to it."

Details revealed the barn did not have a sprinkler system installed or some sort of smoke detection alert system. Goode is not convinced that a conventional system with traditional detection capabilities would have necessarily saved the day.

"We can't say that if sprinklers has existed or if there was an alarm detection system if that would have changed anything. Because it is a barn," said Goode. "If you talk to some of these operations at Woodbine and Mohawk, some of them do have it and they've had some devastating history relating to fire. In saying that, it comes with some issues...sprinklers freezing up, horses hitting sprinklers, the alarms going off and scaring the horses and causing a lot of harm.

"So a traditional system, to me, will not work. It would have to be a system that we would build and revise to accommodate such a business."

Goode stated that the Fire Dept. will return to the training centre in a few weeks to work with those stabled at Classy Lane and provide additional grief support if needed. His team will also be working with Classy Lane and its horsemen to develop an action plan promoting proper emergency response and avoiding potential hazards.

"If you can't act appropriately on scene -- and I'm not saying they didn't, because I believe they did -- the actions of those that first witness a fire are the ones that are going to determine the outcome of the situation. And that's the case with any fire."
Throughout the month of December, 19 nominees in two categories vied against each other for the Railbird Recognition Awards, the fan-voted accolade sponsored by the United States Harness Writers Association and the United States Trotting Association.

Ten individuals squared off for Horseperson of the Year and nine events battled for Racing Moment of the Year. When the pools closed on New Years Eve, the fans of harness racing chose Joe Bellino and Wiggle It Jiggleits Little Brown Jug win as the categorical winners.

Bellino has been very successful in harness racing, but he remembers where he came from and respects everyone who works in the industry. Having campaigned such notable horses as Rock N Roll Heaven and Pet Rock, he knows what its like to win the big race. But he also remembers that there are many people involved at all levels of this sport and goes out of his way to help them when he can.

Bellinos benevolence is one of the worst kept secrets in the business. Although he reaches out to those in need and tries to help at every turn, he never looks for any thanks or praise for his actions. But the many people that he has helped both in and out of harness racing will be the first ones to let you know what an unselfish individual he is.

Clearly people in the grandstand and on the backstretch know of his good deeds and that is why he garnered 77 per cent of the total vote for Horseperson of the Year. This is the largest margin of victory for either category in the eight-year history of the Railbird Recognition voting.

Anyone who saw the final heat of the 2015 Little Brown Jug will more than likely tell you that it was the greatest horse race they ever witnessed. After taking a bad step in the first turn, Wiggle It Jiggleit was parked-out for almost three quarters of the mile before getting passed at the head of the lane by Lost For Words. But Wiggle It Jiggleit swelled up and fought back down the stretch to win one of the most epic battles two pacers ever undertook in the history of the sport.

The race was an indelible memory that everyone who attended live in Delaware, Ohio and watched remotely around the world has and those fans relived it while voting to make Wiggle It Jiggleits Little Brown Jug win the Racing Moment of the Year for 2015.

Joe Bellino and Team Teague will be presented their Railbird Recognition trophies during the Dan Patch Awards Banquet, held this year at the Hyatt Pier 66 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Sunday (March 6), 2016. Information on tickets and accommodations for that event can be found at ushwa.org .

Below are the top three voting results for each Railbird Recognition category:

HORSEPERSON OF THE YEAR

 Joe Bellino for his behind the scenes benevolence  77%

 Breanna Carsey for donating winnings from MJB Got Faith  6.5%

 Montrell Teague for his handling of Wiggle It Jiggleit in 2015  5.9%

RACING MOMENT OF THE YEAR

 Wiggle It Jiggleit defeats Lost For Words in second Jug heat  55%

 Freaky Feet Pete wins Breeders Crown  15%

 International Trot returns to Yonkers after 20 years  5.7%

(USHWA)
Kim Davis to Attend Family Research Council's 'State of the Family' Address

Texas Pastors, High School Principal, and University President also to Attend Monday Evening Address by Tony Perkins



Contact: J.P. Duffy or Alice Chao, 866-FRC-NEWS, 866-372-6397



WASHINGTON, Jan. 8, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- On Monday, January 11 at 7:00 p.m. EST, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins will deliver his second annual an address on the "State of the Family." This report to the nation will highlight key issues of concern to families and our broader culture and offer policy proposals to strengthen protections of human life, marriage, and religious liberty.



The speech will be given at FRC's headquarters one day before President Obama delivers his annual State of the Union address. Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis will attend the speech. Also in attendance will be Dr. Everett Piper, President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, which filed suit against Obamacare in 2013 for violating its conscience rights.



Also in the audience will be Jason Rowland, principal of Airline High School in Bossier, Louisiana, which has been threatened with a lawsuit by secularists, and Texas Pastors Hernan Castano and Charles Flowers, who have led successful efforts to defend religious liberty and protect their cities against the advent of transgendered bathrooms.



WHO:

Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council

Kim Davis, Kentucky County Clerk

Dr. Everett Piper, President, Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Jason Rowland, Principal, Airline High School

Pastor Hernan Castano, Houston, Texas

Pastor Charles Flower, San Antonio, Texas

WHAT: State of the Family Address

WHERE:

FRC Headquarters

801 G Street NW

Washington, D.C. 20001

Webcast: www.frc.org/stateofthefamily

WHEN:

Monday, January 11, 2016

7:00 p.m. ET

** Contact FRC's press office at media@frc.org to request media credentials.***
Hello Friends, My name is Sunny Jha. I am a Software Developer by profession and Passion.I have created this blog to share my views and my work with all people out there.
Swaziland  like most of the world  is in the grip of a coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. As usual in the kingdom ruled by absolute monarch Ki...
LABELLE, FL. -- A young male was an apparent murder victim at the Port LaBelle Inn this morning, presumably from a handgun bullet. On scene ...
Art and theater reviews covering Seattle to Olympia, Washington, with other art, literature and personal commentary. If you want to ask a question about any of the shows reviewed here please email the producing venue (theater or gallery) or email me at alec@alecclayton.com. If you post questions in the comment section the answer might get lost.
Elk hoof rot, which appeared in southwest Washington about 10 years ago, appears to be spreading through the Northwest.

Preliminary tests indicate bacteria found in an abnormal hoof taken from an elk killed in a vehicle collision in Skagit County east of Sedro-Woolley may be the same strain found in diseased elk in southwest Washington, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Last month, WDFW sent abnormal hooves collected from four elk in northwest Washington to Colorado State University to test for treponeme-associated hoof disease, which has infected the St. Helens and Willapa elk herds in southwest Washington.

Results came back negative for three elk harvested by hunters in Whatcom County, but the sample from Skagit County revealed microscopic evidence of treponeme-associated hoof disease, Kristin Mansfield, WDFW epidemiologist, said in a news release.

All four of the elk tested by the university were from the North Cascades herd  also also known as the Nooksack herd  which includes about 1,000 animals centered in Skagit and Whatcom counties. The hoof that tested positive for treponeme bacteria was taken from an elk found dead along Highway 20.

We routinely send disfigured elk hooves from around the state for testing, but this is the first one outside of southwest Washington that shows evidence of this disease, Mansfield said. At this point it is unclear whether this condition will spread to other elk as it has in the affected area.

Hoof rot that was first spotted in the lowlands of Lewis and Cowlitz counties in the late 1990s has spread through much of the herds in this area since. About a year ago, reports of limping elk started surfacing in northwest Oregon.

Mansfield said WDFW now plans to have hoof samples from the animal sent to testing facilities at Washington State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to confirm the initial findings and determine whether the bacteria are the same strain found in southwest Washington. Test results are expected next month.

Treponeme associated hoof disease was first diagnosed in southwest Washington elk herds in 2014, after five years of analysis by five independent laboratories. While relatively common in livestock, hoof disease caused by treponeme bacteria had never before been diagnosed in wildlife.

WDFW is currently conducting two studies pertaining to hoof disease  one to assess the prevalence of the disease in Southwest Washington, the other to gauge its effects on elk survival and reproduction.

A citizen science project in early 2015 has determined 48 percent of groups of elk in Southwest Washington contain at least one limping animal, presumably from hoof disease.

In another effort, the department began a study in February of how hoof disease affects survival.

As a precautionary measure, WDFW investigates reports of abnormal hooves from elk killed by hunters, traffic accidents and other causes and submits those showing signs of the disease for testing, Mansfield said.

To report elk with hoof deformities or learn more about hoof disease in elk, see WDFWs website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/health/hoof_disease/.
Washington wildlife officials will devote significant effort in 2016 to identify potential hunting and fishing license fee increases and other funding options for the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Thats among the messages in this months progress report on the Wild Future initiative of state fish and wildlife director Jim Unsworth.

Former deputy director of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Unsworth took over as Washington director in February of 2015.

Wild Future is a multi-year effort to build a stronger Department of Fish and Wildlife. Unsworth began the public process with a series of six regional forums this fall asking Washington citizens to share thoughts on where the agency should focus its efforts in the next 10 to 20 years.

The Vancouver forum in mid-October had the largest turnout of the six. One more forum is planned in Pacific County in early 2016 along with meetings with local governments, tribes and the departments key constituents.

From population growth to changing climate, we face major management challenges over the next several years, and for us to be successful we need the publics perspective and assistance, Unsworth said. Candid conversations with anglers, hunters, outdoor recreation groups, commercial fishers, and others interested in fish and wildlife are a great way to start tackling these challenges.

According the departments Wild Future progress report, fishing and fish management generated the most comments at the Vancouver meeting, ranging from barbless-hook requirements to hatchery production on the Kalama and North Fork of the Lewis rivers.

Other fishery-related comments in Vancouver included:

Expediting the testing of seines and pursuing a buyout program as steps toward restricting gillnetting in the lower Columbia River to off-channel areas.

Boosting coho salmon production.

Expanding youth fishing events.

Hunting-related comments in Vancouver included:

Concerns over access restrictions on industrial timber lands and spraying of herbicides by private timber companies.

Concerns about poaching, predatory wildlife, plus a desire to use dogs during fall turkey hunting and praise for the pheasant-release program.

There also were comments about reducing fees for senior citizens and free licenses for wounded veterans.

Statewide, more than 400 residents attended a forum and about 2,500 email and online comments were received. Most of the emails were generated through single-issue advocacy campaigns.

Unsworth has tasked his six regional managers to review specific suggestions and identify practical changes that can be made without additional funding or revisions of state law.

However, many of the publics ideas will take more money. In addition, several laws which provide specific direction and dedicated funding sources are scheduled to expire within the next two years.

Among those is the $8.75 Columbia River salmon and steelhead endorsement.
Blue-collar jobs have been in decline locally and nationally for decades, but Joe Phillips hopes to reverse the trend, at least in Longview and Cowlitz County.

Phillips, 52, went to work Jan. 4 as the citys new economic development coordinator, a job in which he is supposed to recruit job-creating businesses and help existing businesses thrive. The city hired him out of Pierce County after a year-long search.

Why is he optimistic that he can energize the areas industrial sector, in which there has been a steady decline of jobs over the last three decades?

He says some manufacturing industries are coming back to the U.S. or are looking statewide to expand existing operations. As available commercial property dwindles on the outskirts of Seattle and Portland, Longview offers the perfect mid-point location between the two major cities, as well as commercial property, a legacy of skilled workers and utilities built for industrial interests, Phillips says.

If commercial land is available closer to the urban area, that is where business tends to go first, Phillips said in an interview Wednesday. But as land gets used up and its price rises, developers look to more rural locations.

I think if we are out there marketing ourselves ... I am optimistic we can capitalize on that because the local area has a legacy of blue-collar skills that can be put to use with a little more training, Phillips said. Its even conceivable that the area could benefit from the expansion of Boeing supply chain and land companies that serve the aerospace industry, he said.

We have operators and machinists that have been associated with blue-collar business for decades, Phillips said.

City officials say having someone dedicated to attracting businesses to Longview will help bolster existing efforts by the Cowlitz Economic Development Council. Phillips will market Longview and its Mint Farm Industrial Park, which has not attracted the job-rich businesses the city had hoped for. They say he can be a point person for investors to deal with regulatory and permitting needs.

John Brickey, the citys director of community development, said Phillips was selected because he has a background in economic development, planning and knowledge of business needs. His total compensation package, including a car and cell phone allowance, comes to just over $85,000 annually, Brickey said.

Ive worked on both sides of the counter: companies that are looking to come in, and working on the government side to understand what regulations are in place, and why, Phillips said. To be that person that understands what companies are looking for and matching that, and to understand how to make that happen  thats what Im bringing to the table.

Phillips formerly worked for the Pierce County Economic Development Department, where he was involved in a project with Boeing to expand operations throughout the county. He also worked to attract consumer stores, such as Ikea.

I started out working in economic development, and then community planning, then Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and then came back in another economic development position, said Phillips.

Phillips said having relationships within the real estate community has helped him  and will help him in Longview  connect with businesses who may be looking to relocate or branch out into other communities. His involvement in organizations such as the Commercial Real Estate Development Association give him an inside track into when and where commercial development projects happen, he said.

The relationship between the city of Longview and the Cowlitz Economic Development Council, which also recruits new employers, will continue to be a cooperative one, Phillips said. If he cant find a way to meet the needs of a company interested in settling in Longview, hes happy to help surrounding communities in Cowlitz County accommodate them.A rising tide lifts all boats, he said.

One challenge Longview faces in attracting businesses, Phillips said, is the lack of visibility. He said just making businesses aware of the kind of turn-key, industrial spaces with convenient access to Interstate 5  like the Mint Farm Industrial Park  that are available would go a long way in improving sales of city-owned commercial property.

Its too early to promote a particular strategy for improving the economic environment, Phillips said, but he has ideas based on success in other places.

Right now, its going to take a little while to know more. Its going to be a little learning curve, to work with the City Council. Well put together a marketing plan, Phillips said.
A former Longview resident has been sentenced to 7  years to life in prison for sex crimes that occurred in 2007.

Hector Guerrero Marquez, 31, was sentenced Tuesday for first-degree child molestation and first-degree attempted rape of a child. He was convicted in a jury trial in November.

At the end of his 7  years in prison, a sentence review board will decide whether he should be incarcerated longer.

Court documents say Guerrero Marquez sexually abused two female children known to him, then 9 and 10 years old, in the summer of 2007 at his California Way residence.

A warrant for Guerrero Marquezs arrest was issued in 2009, though he moved to Mexico to avoid apprehension, according to a court document.

Guerrero Marquez was arrested as a transient fugitive in Los Angeles on July 15 and brought to the Cowlitz County Jail later that month.
Letters to the Editor





Time to help out

I read with horror the story of a newly disabled man, Grant Turner, and his loss of his wheelchair pad, unfortunately left behind as he was packing up to leave dinner in Longview.

Its enough that he and his family have had to experience this tragedy. My brother also has suffered a spinal cord injury and I know how vital this pad is to him, its not just some little silly pillow  hence the price  its everything to his daily mobility.

I plan to send a small check to the family to help them pay for the new one. But more importantly, why wasnt it returned to the restaurant? Is everything seen outside unattended considered open game for someone to steal, take as your own, to resell??

Come on, you know what you did, or if you bought this pad, give it back. And, if youre a car dealership or in any way able to, please help this sweet guy get a van. To have to take his chair apart every time he goes anywhere is too much.

Its a new year; its time to step up. This well could be any one of us. Last year at this time, Grant was just fine. We never know when such horrific things can happen to us.

Be kind, dont steal, consider your life, your world, and how this could impact you. Peace be with you all.

Peggie Grieve

Silver Lake

Course correction

Externalities are items that a business does not consider in its profits. Watersides proposal for an oil refinery and LPG terminal here in Longview would include the following externalities which Waterside would not pay. Taxpayers and individuals will pay.

Oil train explosions have consistently cost lives and destroyed property. Property damage is never paid for with cities and towns picking up the tab while companies keep the profits.

Medical professionals have attributed an increase in asthma, chronic bronchitis, heart attacks and premature death from heart and lung disease to the fossil fuel transportation being proposed.

In Longview, the blast area includes housing areas and at least one elementary school.

Please consider: The principals while at TransMessis fired all workers without warning and are presently defending a lawsuit saying they lied on credit applications while owing $1.6 million in outstanding debts. Waterside Energy LLC has held secret meetings for over a year with the Port of Longview trying to hide this from the public eye.

Is this really the best course for Longview?

Ed and Harriet Griffith

Longview

Follow the leader

The citizens of Clark County are speaking out against an oil terminal along the Columbia River. The citizens of Cowlitz County should follow their lead and speak out against an oil refinery and a coal export terminal along the same Columbia River. One world ... one river.

B.E. Sharp

Longview

Moving forward

Longview cant stand still. We must make decisions that propel our economy forward. When former Port of Longview CEO Geir-Eilif Kalhagen was terminated, the port commissioners indicated that they are moving Longview forward. I encourage Longview residents interested in progress to attend the next port meeting at the port office (10 E. Port Way), and thank our elected leaders for doing their jobs.

Kayrene Beck

Longview

Solar slides

Land must be soaked before it will slide. Some areas have tried covering sloped areas with plastic sheets; this works but does not last nor provide a profit. Cowlitz PUD is putting solar panels on their land, why not put solar panels on open areas next to Interstate 5 in Woodland, Aldercrest, etc. One of solars advantages is you can put it where long transmission lines that must last in bad weather must be used.

Hugh Coleman

Kelso
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Apple bought Emotient, an artificial intelligence startup that reads people's emotions by analyzing facial expressions, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The report did not specify the financial terms of the deal.

The tech giant's plans for Emotient were not immediately clear, the Journal reported, confirming the news with an Apple spokeswoman.

Emotient's software reads the expressions of individuals and crowds to gain insights that can be used by advertisers to assess viewer reaction or a medical practitioner to better understand signs of pain in patients.

San Diego-based Emotient had previously raised $8 million from investors including Intel Capital, the Journal said.

Last month, Tesla Motors Chief Executive Elon Musk and other prominent tech executives announced $1 billion in funding for an artificial intelligence non-profit called OpenAI.

Apple and Emotient did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Recently, Google announced to be working on a new messaging app. The new messaging app will be smart and intelligent and leverage on Googles artificial intelligence technology to offer chatbots that will message like a real person.

Facebook M is said to be one of the prime reasons why Google decided to the new messaging app. While leading companies like Apple, Microsoft and Google have their digital assistants, Facebook decided to play on its strength and integrate the assistant within its messaging app. Facebook leads the pack with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, which have billions of people connected. Moreover, M will be a hybrid backed by a team of Facebook employees with customer service backgrounds, called M trainers, who can also make travel arrangements and appointments.

With inputs from Reuters
tech2 News Staff

TRAI indeed seems to be taking stand against call drops and operators by deciding to stay firm with its decision on call drop penalties. The mandate which was imposed on cellular operators, adds a rule that makes its compulsory for them to pay consumers Re 1 per call drop, subject to a cap of Rs 3 a day.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) took a call on this decision, while revealing that operators have not been spending or rather investing in infrastructure; but just spending on radio spectrum. The regulatory body commented that apart from radio spectrum, the wireless access service segment had risen by only 4.6 percent, while comparing Rs.2,02,399 crore investment in 2012-13 to Rs.2,11,691 crore in 2013-14.

The topic had surfaced when the Cellular Operators Association of India moved a writ petition against TRAI's 16 October 2015 mandate, which stated that mobile operators had to pay consumers a fixed charge.

TRAI soon filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court challenging the same which stated, "However, they cannot be permitted to ignore the quality of service of voice calls, which continues to be the primary service for the telecom consumers."

According to a report in The Hindu, The Division Bench differed the hearing in the case till 7 December to enable the petitioners to file a rejoinder to TRAIs affidavit.
tech2 News Staff

Samsung and Microsoft's partnership in the tech world is nothing new indeed. But today, Samsung is clearly known more for its worldwide Android smartphone market share than anything else. So Microsoft renewing its partnership with Samsung seemed more like a give and take situation when it was announced at CES 2016, where Samsung benefits from Windows 10 IoT core services, while Microsoft benefits in the form of big brand coming under its fold, in the form of the just announced Surface-like Samsung Galaxy TabPro S tablet powered by Windows 10.

Microsoft recently celebrated Windows 10 running on more than 200 million computers worldwide. At CES this year there were a number of launches in terms of computing systems that came from Acer, Alcatel, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and many more. But there's another area to be explored and that is IoT or the Internet of Things.

This year's CES clearly focussed on two core areas, Virtual Reality (VR) and IoT and there were plenty of brands showcasing stuff made for the same that also included Samsung. So when Microsoft's Terry Myerson took to the stage, everyone expected Microsoft to jump onto the IoT bandwagon but that apparently did not happen. His announcement was more to do with the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S that anything else.

With Windows 10, both companies wanted to do something great together, and we showcased the new Samsung Galaxy TabPro S, along with our shared vision for future innovation together across the entire Internet of Things, said Myerson in a blog post. The same clarified that the focus with Samsung is on IoT, "Were excited about todays devices and were also inspired about the potential of tomorrow. Along with Samsung, we share a common vision for millions and millions of devices and Things all communicating together using open protocols and standards within inclusive ecosystems, inspiring the creativity of software developers, device manufacturers, and rising star Makers around the world."

Coming to the ultra thin Galaxy TabPro S (image shown above), which comes with a form factor similar to Microsoft's Surface Pro range that was just launched in India. Microsoft proudly stated that it is thinner and lighter than the Apple iPad Pro and that it also packs in an Intel chipset with active pen support and 10 hours of battery life.

The Samsung Galaxy TabPro S packs in a 12-inch AMOLED display and also happens to be the first tablet, powered by Windows, to support LTE Cat 6. More importantly it also feature Fast Charge tech, that can charge the tablet in just 2.5 hours. In terms of connectivity, the 2-in-1 also features multi-port adapter (HDMI, USB Type A & C) and Bluetooth Pen are available for purchase separately. And you get all of the above in a construction that is just 6.3mm thin and weighs just 693 grams.
Nimish Sawant

Googles Project Tango was first announced two years ago and has been in the experimental phase since. But on 7 January at CES, Lenovo announced that it will release the first consumer smartphone with Googles Project Tango hardware and software inside it, by June-July this year.

Project Tango lets you map the 3D space around you by using a combination of cameras such as a regular camera, an integrated depth sensing camera and a motion tracking camera. The 3D space mapping is done in real time and can help out with navigating within shopping malls and other internal locations. It also lets you interact with your real surroundings thereby adding a layer of augmented reality to the mix. You can read our complete lowdown on Project Tango.

The phone which will be released by Lenovo will be a consumer facing device and will come under $500 (approx Rs 33,400). The device is expected to come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset and will have a display size under 6.5-inches. Lenovo will be using an RGB camera, a depth sensing camera module and a fish eye lens on its Project Tango phone - which will be arranged in a vertical module.

https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/685289600395296768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/685288996855889920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Lenovo and Project Tango also announced an App Incubator Program which will help app developers working with Project Tango with engineering knowhow as well as with funding to see promising ideas achieve completion. Interested app developers can submit proposals to be part of this incubator.

Before the announcement Project Tango lead Johnny Lee showed some demos of what can be done with this project. He used the camera module on the prototype Project Tango tablet to measure the area of a room, find the height of a ceiling, play a game of digital Jenga with a colleague where in the Jenga blocks were visible only on the tablets.

https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/685291261071241216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

He also demoed real time 3D mapping of not just fixed objects but the crowds as well. After having 3D mapped the stage, he showed how you can virtually fit furniture into the space. He also proceeded to showcase a virtual pet which can actually follow you or interact with the elements in your 3D maps. Clearly the early adopters of Project Tango will be geeks who are working on AR/VR software products.

There wasn't any physical module on display, but Lenovo shared some pictures of prototypes on which it is working for this phone.

Project Tango is an exploration into giving mobile devices a human-scale understanding of space and motion.

The earlier smartphone announced by Google back in 2014, was an Android-based prototype 5-inch phone and developer kit with advanced 3D sensors. With the sensors, the phone is capable of tracking motion, and can build a visual map of rooms using 3D scanning. Google wants to combine these 3D sensors with advanced computer vision techniques that will help fork out newer innovations for indoor navigations, games and so on. Want to know more? Check out the video below.

Disclaimer: The correspondent is at CES 2016, Las Vegas. All travel and accommodation expenses are borne by Lenovo.
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China-based Internet conglomerate LeTV on Wednesday unveiled what it is calling the world's thinnest TV, Super 4 Max65 Blade at the ongoing four-day CES 2016 trade show in Las Vegas.

The sleek TV is just 3.9mm thick, which the company says is the equivalent of two coins put together. The Super 4 Max65 Blade has a separate speaker and is the first product of company's second chain of TV series after 70-inch Super 4 Max70 and 65-inch Super 4 Max 65 Curved were launched in Beijing two weeks ago.

At CES 2016, LeTV also revealed its cooperation with Faraday Future, a new and emerging electric car project in America. The company also unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the Le Max Pro, announced as the world's first phone that runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor.

Apart from the Snapdragon 820, the Le Max Pro will also pack features such as Qualcomm's Snapdragon Sense ID ultrasonic fingerprint technology that's claimed to be more secure than capacitive sensors. Unfortunately, LeTV hasn't confirmed all the specifications of the Le Max Pro and we will have to wait for the unveiling of the handset.

The company during the CES keynote also revealed that the Le Max Pro will support Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 technology that can charge the phone from 0 to 60 percent charge in 30 minutes.

To recall, the Snapdragon 820 announced back in November comes with the all-new Qualcomm Kryo CPU which is claimed to have 2x performance and efficiency when compared to the Snapdragon 810. It was also the company's first 64-bit CPU that uses the ARMv8-A instruction set - Qualcomm had settled for non-custom Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 cores on the Snapdragon 810.

IANS
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The entry of streaming pioneer Netflix in India is evolutionary in nature though its inaugural price is a bit on the higher side for what it offers, a leading US expert has said. "I would say that the current price is a bit on the high side for what Netflix offers currently and it will have to keep increasing content quantity and quality over time to justify the price point," said Puneet Manchanda, a professor of marketing at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

His areas of expertise are business in emerging markets, business in India and strategy and marketing issues. Netflix's global expansion is driven by three forces, he said. First, Netflix needs to convince investors that it can keep growing. With the broadband market size outside the US about six times the size of the US market, any significant growth in the future will come from large international markets such as India.

Second, a large global reach can be a strong bargaining chip for Netflix in obtaining distribution rights from content providers. Finally, Netflix's vision is to be a content provider itself - this expansion exposes a large part of the world to original Netflix content, he said. "In terms of entering India, Netflix can quickly capitalise on a large English speaking market.

But, for the Indian media landscape, the current entry is more evolutionary rather than revolutionary as the English speaking market already has access to a lot of Netflix's India content," Manchanda said. However, if Netflix can crack the vernacular market eg by producing content in local languages with local talent, it has the potential to be revolutionary, Manchanda said.

On Wednesday Netflix launched its service globally, simultaneously bringing its Internet TV network to more than 130 new countries around the world. "Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network," said Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix in a key note address at CES 2016 in Las Vegas.

However, Netflix will not yet be available in China, though the company continues to explore options for providing the service. It also will not be available in Crimea, North Korea and Syria due to US government restrictions on American companies operating there. Since its launch in 2007, Netflix has expanded globally, first to Canada, then to Latin America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. In India, the service will be available under three monthly packs -- Basic (Rs 500), Standard (Rs 650) and Premium (Rs 800). Besides, users will get a month of free trial.

PTI
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U.S. cyber intelligence firm iSight Partners said on Thursday it has determined that a Russian hacking group known as Sandworm caused last month's unprecedented power outage in Ukraine. "We believe that Sandworm was responsible," iSight's director of espionage analysis, John Hultquist, said in an interview. The conclusion was based on analysis of malicious software known as Black Energy 3 and KillDisk, which were used in the attack, and intelligence from "sensitive sources," he said.

The Dec. 23 outage at Western Ukraine's Prykarpattyaoblenergo cut power to 80,000 customers for about six hours, according to a report from a U.S. energy industry security group. Ukraine's SBU state security service has blamed Russia, but the nation's energy ministry said it would hold off on attribution until after it finishes a formal probe. Other firms have linked that malware to the attack. But iSight is the first firm to so confidently assert that Sandworm was responsible. iSight said it is not clear whether Sandworm is working directly for Moscow. The group is named Sandworm because references to the "Dune" science-fiction series are embedded in its malware. "It is a Russian actor operating with alignment to the interest of the state," Hultquist said. "Whether or not it's freelance, we don't know."

To date, it has primarily engaged in espionage, including a string of attacks in the United States using Black Energy that prompted a December 2014 alert from the Department of Homeland Security, according to iSight.

That alert said a sophisticated malware campaign had compromised some U.S. industrial control systems. A DHS spokesman declined to comment Thursday on iSight's findings.

While no outages or physical destruction was reported in conjunction with those attacks in the United States, some experts said that may be simply because the attackers did not want to go that far.

"It's not a major stretch to conclude the difference in the outcomes of the attacks in the Ukraine vs those in the U.S. were an issue of intent not capability," said Eric Cornelius, managing director of cyber security firm Cylance Inc and former DHS official responsible for securing critical infrastructure.

"It would be naive to say the same attackers couldn't successfully execute in the United States," said Chris Blask, executive director of the Industrial Control System Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

ISight said Sandworm was also behind previously reported attacks on Ukrainian officials, EU and NATO members as well as media companies in Ukraine.

Reuters
pic.twitter.com/zY8SuKHwBW Governments Are Hiding Rape Jihad -> Austria Also Covered Up Migrant Muslim Gang Sex Attacks https://t.co/NJAjwlIf22 January 7, 2016

Muslim Rapist to German Cops: I Am Syrian. You Have to Treat Me Kindly. Mrs Merkel Invited Me. | Frontpage Mag https://t.co/bKGalVxOVq January 7, 2016

Security authorities are growing increasingly concerned by the rising number of sex attacks by gangs of migrants which appear to be spreading across Europe.



Finland and Sweden today became the latest European countries to issue warnings to women to be wary of the threat of sex attacks following fresh reports of sexual assaults in the last week, while the Viennese police chief adviced women not to go outside alone in Vienna.



The warnings come as reports emerged that Austrian and German police tried to cover-up the issue over fears of reprisal attacks on asylum seekers and damage to the countries' tourist trade.



Dozens of arrests have been made today in connection with the wave of recent sex attacks across Europe.



Finnish police said today that they had been tipped off about plans by groups of asylum seekers to sexually harass women following an unusually high level of sexual harassment cases in Helsinki.



'There hasn't been this kind of harassment on previous New Year's Eves or other occasions for that matter... This is a completely new phenomenon in Helsinki,' said deputy police chief Ilkka Koskimaki.



Police in Germany are investigating more than 150 cases across five German cities where women have been attacked by the 'organised Arab or North African gangs, police said.



Cologne has been at the centre of the problem with around 106 reported cases of assault by migrant gangs since New Year's Eve. [...]



In Finland, security guards hired to patrol the city on New Year's Eve told police there had been 'widespread sexual harassment' at a central square where around 20,000 people had gathered for celebrations.



Three sexual assaults allegedly took place at Helsinki's central railway station on New Year's Eve, where around 1,000 mostly Iraqi asylum seekers had converged.



More...

Berlin (AFP) - Germany said Friday most suspects in the mob violence that marred Cologne's New Year's Eve celebrations were asylum seekers, fuelling calls to quickly deport criminal migrants.



Unsettled by a record refugee influx, Germany has reacted with shock to news that women had to run a frightful gauntlet of groping, insults and robberies in an aggressive and drunken crush of around 1,000 men.



A week after the chaotic scenes outside Cologne railway station, federal police said they had identified 31 suspects whose alleged offences were "mostly theft and causing bodily harm".



Eighteen of them are asylum seekers, the interior ministry said.



Among the suspects are nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans and one citizen each from Iraq, Serbia and the United States, ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said.



Federal police had received several complaints about sexual offences, but "the perpetrators of these have not been identified," he said at a press conference.



Cologne police have separately confirmed receiving over 120 complaints of assaults, ranging from groping to two alleged rapes, calling them apparently coordinated attacks during the year-end festivities.



About three-quarters of the cases involved sexual offences, while others related to theft or bodily harm.



More...

More horror sex attack claims: Teen girls gang-raped by four Syrians nationals in Germany https://t.co/eCJ2cyw3hc pic.twitter.com/ZpDKmkcVoX  Daily Express (@Daily_Express) January 8, 2016

pic.twitter.com/6kUO4BkKpd Raheem Kassam Tells Sean Hannity: If Merkel Took a 1M Rapey Migrants, Hillary Will Take 20M https://t.co/PNCt0AYxKo January 8, 2016

pic.twitter.com/71tNQEKKQ2 Cologne Police Chief Fired After Migrant Sex Assaults on New Year's Eve https://t.co/Hdh4Vr5X5f January 8, 2016

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian investigators believe explosives used in the attacks in Paris in November may have been made in an apartment in Brussels that was rented under a false name and where a fingerprint of a key fugitive was found.



Police found material that could be used to make explosives, traces of explosive acetone peroxide and handmade belts during a raid on the apartment on Dec. 10, federal prosecutors said in a statement on Friday.



Belgian newspaper De Standaard, which reported the raid in its Friday edition, said the investigators believed the explosives were probably packed into suicide belts in a hotel outside Paris in the lead-up to the Nov. 13 attacks.



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Cologne out of Control: One Week Since Migrant Attacks, Another Teenage Girl Hospitalised by Gang https://t.co/xNJ0gOuxcS by @oliver_lane  Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) January 8, 2016

Every police van in #Koln #Cologne is on the square tonight... Police taking no chances pic.twitter.com/zUIXPbDzdq  Oliver JJ Lane (@oliver_lane) January 8, 2016
Volleyball results from Thursday

Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, 8:34 a.m. -- LAPEER COUNTY -- The Almont varsity volleyball team beat Madison Heights Lamphere and New Lothrop in a triple header at Almont Thursday. Dryden beat Bay City All Saints...

Golf and tennis regional results

Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, 5:41 p.m. -- LAPEER COUNTY -- Boys' high school tennis regionals and girls' golf regionals took place yesterday. Lapeer girls' golf placed 11th at the Div. 1 regional hosted by Oxford...

Friday night football scores

Friday, September 30, 2022 10:15 p.m.  LAPEER COUNTY  Lapeer beat Grand Blanc 39-17 at Lapeer to remain undefeated at 6-0. Almont upset Croswell-Lexington 37-26 North Branch routed Richmond 62-10 Imlay City/Dryden fell to Yale...

Summer sports camps/clinics

Wednesday, June 15, 2022, 4:40 p.m. -- LAPEER COUNTY -- Below is a list of the summer sports camps and clinics that will take place through early Aug. The regular sports update posting of high...
S.Africa says trade pact deadlock with US resolved

AFP, Johannesburg :

South Africa and the United States have agreed on health and safety standards of US meat exports, Pretoria announced Thursday, ending a deadlock that put at risk a key preferential trade arrangement.

In November, US President Barack Obama threatened to eject South Africa from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), citing continued barriers to US imports and setting a December 31 deadline.

That deadline passed without resolution, but intense negotiations resolved the impasse over the last week, South African Trade Minister Rob Davies said at a press conference Thursday.

"All negotiations have been concluded and all outstanding documents have been signed by both parties," he said.

"We expect South Africa can now participate in AGOA without any interruptions to trade flows."

During months of negotiations, South Africa last year agreed to a 65,000-tonne quota of US chicken imports and also lifted a ban on US beef imports in place following outbreaks of mad cow disease.

But concerns over salmonella levels in US chickens had remained a sticking point in discussions.

AGOA was created in 2000 to help boost exports from African countries deemed to be democratic and applying good economic governance. If South Africa had been thrown out of AGOA, farmers faced substantial losses in export revenue, compounding problems for the slowing economy. In 2013, the country shipped $253 million worth of agricultural products to the United States.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman hailed the deal as a "positive outcome for both our countries".

"For South Africa, our agreement will reserve a portion of the new trade in poultry for historically disadvantaged importers, thus providing new business opportunities," he said in a statement.

"It will also allow "South African consumers the opportunity to enjoy high quality American poultry, pork and beef."
Raising Glaucoma awareness

Life Desk :

January is the month for glaucoma awareness, aimed at raising consciousness about this silent sight stealer disease. Here are some hard-hitting statistics about glaucoma:

In India, more than 12 million people are affected with glaucoma

This constitutes one fifth of the global glaucoma population

There are equal number of open angle and closed angle glaucoma patients in India

The National Blindness Survey of 2001 showed that glaucoma was the third leading cause of blindness in India

In the South Indian population, the number of urban glaucoma cases (3.5%) was more than the number of glaucoma cases (1.5%) in the rural areas.

Glaucoma is a silent disease and a regular eye examination is necessary to identify its presence and for early treatment. Detection of the disease condition is necessary to prevent further deterioration of vision. 'Glaucoma is a silent irreversible vision killer that tends to be inherited and may not show up until later in life. It can lead to permanent loss of vision.'

Individuals with the following conditions/ practices may have an increased risk for the disease 

Frequent headaches

Injury to the face or the eye

Individuals who have undergone surgeries to the eye

The necessity to change spectacles often

Parents, brothers or sisters with glaucoma

Individuals with hypertension, thyroid disease or diabetes

Individuals over the age of 40 years

Excessive rubbing of eyes or use of goggles Glaucoma is a group of diseases, which results in damage to the eye's optic nerve. It leads to irreversible vision loss and surgery or treatment procedures are used only to prevent further vision loss. Most often people with glaucoma are detected to have the disease only after they have lost considerable peripheral vision.

Since early detection is the key to saving vision, it is ideal to have a complete eye examination once every year or 2 years.

The glaucoma awareness month is aimed at educating people about the prevalence of the disease, risk of blindness and the need for early detection. A large population of glaucoma patients remain undetected till vision loss is identified. In the Chennai Glaucoma Study conducted by Sankara Nethralaya, 98.6% of glaucoma patients were detected to have the disease during the study program, indicative of the lack of awareness about the disease and fueling the need for more aggressive community health strategies during this glaucoma awareness month. In the Vision 2020 Right to Sight program in India, Glaucoma is one of the diseases under the avoidable blindness conditions, demonstrating the enormity of this disease condition.

There is no cure for the disease yet but intense research is on to find a cure. People do not realize they have the disease till the disease has advanced considerably. This is because

Anyone at any age can get the disease. Babies to young adults have been detected with the disease. Most people tend to ignore vision changes in younger adults owing to ignorance about the prevalence of this disease even among the young.

The added pressure on the optic nerves due to this disease remains undetected as there is no pain associated with it.

People have been found to lose 40% of their vision before they realize it. This is because people who lose peripheral vision, unconscientiously turn around and face their object of attention directly, not realizing that they have lost peripheral vision.

Early detection tests are also being devised to identify the disease before the substantial loss of neurons.

Proactive Steps:

Proactive steps need to be taken by individuals to ensure that glaucoma is detected and corrective measures employed to prevent vision loss. Even after detection, 10% of patients may still lose their sight.

Talk to friends and family about vision changes.

Consciously look out for reduction in the field of vision.

Speak to an expert about vision concerns.

Get eyes tested every year.

Glaucoma has a high incidence across the world, it is better to make good vision your mission than to lose the fight for sight. Source: Medindia
Hindu widow : Law of inheritance and rights of mutation

Md Tarikul Islam :

Barrister-at-Law

Hindu widow's rights of inheritance to her late husband's property is the least known and little developed area of Hindu law and thus Hindu widows are being deprived of and thereby very often left to live a life without any means of survival. This area of Hindu law of inheritance is in dire need of much development.

Rights under present regime:

There are two schools of law regarding Hindu law of inheritance which are (i) the Dayabhagh School and (ii) the Mitakshara School. Hindu inheritance in Bangladesh is governed by the Dayabhagh School.

It is well settled law of both Dayabhagh and Mitakshara that the widow will inherit a share of her deceased husband's property which she will hold and enjoy up to the end of her life (21 DLR 677). This is called "life estate" of a Hindu widow. The property held as life estate by a widow must of course return to the male hers of the deceased after the death of the widow. In the presence of a son or more, the widow gets an equal share as one son takes. In the absence of the son, the widow gets the entire property as "life estate" of her deceased husband left behind. In the presence of widow, deceased's daughters cannot get any share of their father's property. However, widow has the responsibility to provide for the maintenance of the unmarried daughters from their father's property (13 DLR 232).

The nature and extent of widow's life estate: The nature of widow's estate has been extended remarkably in recent times. As long as the widow is alive, no one has any vested interest in the succession of the deceased husband (37 IC 171 PC 39 Mad 634 PC). Subject to restriction on alienation, the widow holds the property absolutely and she completely represents it (Sarkar Sastri's P-664-667). Though a widow takes a limited estate, it is a proprietary estate in no way limited in interest, though it is limited in use (29 DLR 140 SC 154 SC, 108A 1993 BLD 415H). A widow can sell her life interest in the property or mortgage it or make a gift to it to anyone she likes (34 DLR 178). On the grounds of legal necessity, a widow can even alienate the property that she holds under the law of inheritance (42 DLR 59A).

Alienation of life estate by widow: Widow has the power to alienate the estate (i) for religious or charitable purposes (33 CWN 1042) and (ii) other purposes amounting to legal necessity (42 DLR 59A, 37 CWN 1001, 8 MIA 529).

Religious or charitable purposes may two folds: (i) performance of funeral and Sradha ceremonies of the deceased owner and the payment of debt (57 Cal 904); (ii) the performances of religious ceremonies of persons whose ceremonies the deceased owner was bound to perform eg Sradha ceremony of the husband's mother etc and the religious or charitable acts which are supposed to conduce to the spiritual welfare of her husband (42 DLR 59A, 1994 BLD 415H). Pilgrimage to Gaya for performing the husband's Sradha (but not pilgrimage to Benaras) is considered good religious purpose (29 DLR 139SC).

The following purposes have been held to amount to a legal necessity for which alienation may be made:

(i) Costs of taking out probate or Letters of Administration or a succession certificate in respect of the estate of the deceased owner;

(ii) Payment of arrears of Government revenue and of decrees of rent accrued due after the death of the deceased owner;

(iii) Maintenance of herself and of persons whom the deceased owner was bound to maintain, such as deceased's mother, unmarried daughter etc.

(iv) Marriage of relations of the deceased owner, such as his daughter etc.

Widow's rights of mutation: As the widow has clearly legal rights to own and possess the land and as she has the rights to even transfer then she should have the rights to get her name mutated to ensure that she could manage and maintain the property properly and enjoy the rights and title to it. As per Section 53C of the Transfer of Property Act 1882, to sell out the immovable property, the present owner is to mandatorily get his name mutated in the latest khatian prepared under the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act 1950. Mutation is also essential to enable the present owner to pay the land development tax to the Government and on the other hand Government treasury may also be enriched by the tax they would pay. So, mutation is essential for proper management of the land from the aspect of the owner and necessary to enable the Government to collect appropriate land development tax from the land owners.

Conclusion: On one hand, a branch of critiques suggest the present regime as quite insufficient and they claim legislative interference and pass a law to make Hindu widows and other women equally entitled as their male counterparts are. Other branch of thoughts; on the other hand, quite convinced that the present regime is quite effective and they oppose any kind of interference as the regime is part of their sacred belief in religion. We feel we may stand with any side of this debate. We welcome statutory interference to make the provisions of Hindu women's rights of inheritance more straightforward and simple. In contrast, we also believe that the present regime is capable of providing rights to Hindu women and widows if the provisions are taken with due respect and implemented as it really should be. To draw the final thoughts, we feel that the issues relating to the appropriate implementation are the most worrying causes here to be dealt with. If we could ensure appropriate implementation of the present law of inheritance then the present regime must essentially usher great hopes for Hindu widows to live a decent respectful life with some means to survive.


15 BD migrants found abandoned on Nicaragua highway

UNB, Dhaka :Nicaraguan police have found 15 Bangladeshi migrants wandering lost on a highway after their smugglers abandoned them. Police Commissioner Leonidas Roque said the migrants were being taken from Costa Rica to Honduras. That route takes them across Nicaragua on their way to the United States, reports the Associated Press (AP).Roque told the Nicaraguan media on Thursday that the migrants were found "disoriented" about 12 miles (20 kms)south of Managua. The migrants said the smugglers had robbed them. They said they had walked for three days from the Costa Rican border. They had paid the smuggler between $100 and $500 for the trip across Nicaragua.
TIB is ignoring the essence of the problem

THE New Nation reported on Friday that Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has urged the government to appoint new Chairmen to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Information Commission following the due legal process. As the tenures of the chiefs of the three commissions are going to expire, TIB also called upon the government to appoint honest, efficient, neutral and experienced persons as heads of the constitutional bodies. In a statement on Thursday, TIB Executive Director said it is the government's responsibility to appoint honest, efficient, neutral and experienced persons to the commissions to establish good governance, ensure human rights and enforce and practice the Right to Information Act fully, aiming to implement the National Integrity Strategy. "We hope the government will appoint new chairmen and members of the three commissions rising above political consideration to fulfil its commitment to establish good governance in the country," added the TIB Executive.The comments made by the TIB Executive are indeed praiseworthy but impractical. But under the system of government it is absurd to expect honest and men of essence to be appointed by the government. TIB and other institutions think that without honest elections and democracy honest persons should feel needed or the government based on a dishonest system should be interested in honest persons in high positions. In the crisis of democracy in Bangladesh international bodies like TIB contributed a lot for evading the essence of the problem.If TIB and others must be honest in thoughts and ideas relevant, please help us in building democracy without which talking of ensuring human rights or expecting government to be transparent is impractical and misleading. And what institutions of the government are more important, or equally as important, than the ACC and NHRC? The endemic and systematic levels of public sector corruption make the need for a strong and efficient ACC more important than ever before. No one will doubt. But who will appoint them and for what. This much we all know. The human rights organisations also protest violation of human rights but will not be vocal for the cause of democracy. We don't want wrong lessons for confusing the cause of a solution of the grave crisis the nation is in.
Islamabad won't send team to Dhaka SACOSAN meet

Bdnews24.com :

Pakistan is not sending its ministerial delegation for a major South Asian sanitation conference in Dhaka, in an apparent gesture to continue the diplomatic spat with Bangladesh.

A focal person of the conference told this news agency in Dhaka that Pakistan had changed its delegation over the time, and did not come up for visa in time.

The Pakistan side told bdnews24.com that their participants were not issued a visa even after the Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad had held their passports for 10 days.

The three-day sixth South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN) will be inaugurated by President Md Abdul Hamid on Monday.

SACOSAN is a government-led biennial convention held on a rotational basis in each SAARC country.

It sets future action plans based on past experiences on sanitation, regarded as a development challenge of the region.

At the end of the conference, a ministerial meeting will adopt a 'Dhaka declaration'. Bangladesh-Pakistan bilateral relations have recently reached a low over Islamabad's comments on Dhaka's war crimes trial, and after its diplomat was found linked with banned militant outfit JMB.

Islamabad rejected all terror-link claims against that diplomat, Fareena Arshad, but withdrew her on Dec 23.

In a tit-for-tat, Pakistan forced a Bangladesh diplomat, Moushumi Rahman, to leave Islamabad on Thursday.

A deputy secretary at the local government division Md Khairul Islam who is the Bangladesh focal point of the conference told bdnews24.com that Pakistan had changed its delegation list again and again, and "it is not sending its minister". "Their participation in the ministerial meeting has become uncertain," he said.

"Due to the changes, they could not apply for visas in 'proper time'", he said, adding that Dhaka invited a 60-member delegation, a list Islamabad had provided them initially.

"Our Secretary (LGRD) signed those invitation letters".

However, spokesperson of the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka, Ambreen Jan, told bdnews24.com that she had no knowledge about the 60-member list or the coming of ministers to Dhaka. She said, a 13-member delegation was approved by Islamabad for the conference with the officials of all provinces.

"But not a single one was issued a visa. The Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad kept their passports for 10 days," she said. "So, no one is coming from Islamabad".

Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971 after nine months of bloody war in which three million people were killed and hundreds of thousands of women were violated. In 2010, the government started trying those Bangladeshis who had committed crimes against humanity in collaboration with the Pakistani occupation forces.

Islamabad recently voiced "deep concern and anguish" over the executions of war criminals Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, and said: "Pakistan is deeply disturbed". The reaction prompted Dhaka to summon Pakistan's High Commissioner and strongly protest the comments. Islamabad, as a counter reaction, summoned Bangladesh acting high commissioner.

The relations fell apart further when the terror-link of Pakistani diplomat Fareena surfaced after a militant gave a confessional statement in a Dhaka court. Bangladesh, however, still looks forward to what the state minister for foreign affairs calls "maintaining bilateral relations". "But we are also observing the situation closely," Md Shahriar Alam said on Wednesday. "We'll not compromise our national interests." He said, Bangladesh would not spare anyone trying to destroy the country's image, exploiting diplomatic immunity. Last year in January, Islamabad had to withdraw its official Mohammad Mazhar from Dhaka after he was caught red handed with fake currency.

The objectives of the sanitation conferences are to accelerate progress in sanitation and to promote hygiene in South Asia as well as to enhance the quality of people's lives.

Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka will be present with their relevant ministers in the SACOSAN themed: 'better sanitation, better life'.

The first conference was held in Bangladesh in 2003, the second in Pakistan in 2006, the third in India in 2008, the fourth in Sri Lanka in 2011 and the fifth in Nepal in 2013.
36th BCS preli exam held

Staff Reporter :

The 36th Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) preliminary examination was held with 211,326 candidates on Friday.

The test began at 9:30am in 162 centres all over the country and ended at 11:30am, Public Service Commission (PSC) official Nazrul Islam said.

A total of 117 executive magistrates were on duty during the examination to guard against irregularities, frauds and question leaks.

The magistrates were vigilant both outside and inside the examination halls.

Besides, there was a strict stand against allowing the examinees to leave the

examination halls after distribution of question papers and before the examination was over.

The PSC has prohibited use of watch in the examination halls. Earlier in the 35th BCS tests, the PSC prohibited the use of any electronic device such as calculators and mobile phones by the examinees. The PSC supplied plenty of wall clocks in the examination halls for the candidates to check time.

Of them, only 2,180 will be appointed first-class gazetted officers after they clear this 200-mark MCQ examination, written tests, and viva.
JL leader stabbed to death in Chowddagram

Our Correspondent :A former union Jubo League leader was stabbed to death by unidentified miscreants at Chowddagram upazila in Comilla district on Friday night.The deceased was identified as Jamaluddin Ahmed, 40, former president of Alkara union Jubo League and son of Ali Ahmed. Locals said, a group of unidentified assailants riding bikes stopped Jamaluddin when he was retuning to his village home at Kulachar under Chowddagram upazila at 9pm.Later, they taken Jamaluddin to an under construction building located at Fadua intersection and stabbed indiscriminately leaving him death on the spot, reports our correspondent.On information, Chowddgram police rushed to the spot and recovered the body of Jamaluddin.Md Farhad, Officer in-charge of Chowddagram police station, said, a group of unidentified assailants attacked Jamaluddin he was returning to his village home.The incident took place at 9pm.The attackers stabbed him indiscriminately with sharp weapon leaving him death on the spot. Later, police recovered the body and taken to Chowddgram police station. The body will be sent to Comilla Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy, said the OC.
1 killed, 5 injured, houses torched

Staff Reporter :

An activist of Sramik League was killed and five others injured in a clash between Awami League and Jatiya Party in Shantahar municipal area of Bogra district on Friday afternoon.

The victim was identified as Shafiqul Islam, 32, son of Nazrul Islam, an inhabitant of Chabagan area of the municipality.

Shafiqul was an activist of local Sramik League and secretary of the local Auto-Rickshaw Owner's Association. His elder brother Rashedul Islam Badsha is the convener of upazila unit Sramik League.

Later, the leaders and activists of AL and Sramik League set on fire the house of local JP leader Ferdous Hasan Sumon.

Police fired at least 30 rounds of bullet and tear shell to bring the situation under control.

Police also arrested a man for interrogation in this connection. He was identified as Latifur Rahman, local terror and Auto-rickshaw Sramik Union leader.

Gaziur Rahman, Senior ASP of Bogra Circle said, "Shafiqul engaged in a debate with local JP leader Ferdous Hasan Sumon over the recent municipal polls and extortion of Auto-van and Auto-rickshaw Union. At one stage, the activists of the JP stabbed Shafiqul indiscriminately with the help a faction of local Awami League around 1:30pm. Locals rushed Shafiqul to Naogaon Sadar Hospital where the on-duty doctors declared him dead around at 3:00pm."

The agitated Sramik League men vandalized at least 10 auto-rickshaws and set on fire the house of Sumon, the police official said.

Additional police personnel were deployed in the town to aver any untoward situation, he said, adding: "We are trying to arrest the killers."

The body was handed over to the family members, the police official said.


"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

John F. Kennedy
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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!
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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?

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The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now.

Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market.

In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender.

India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex.

Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted.

But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted?

Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner.

If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems.

I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now.

I want more variation in masturbation

I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own.

If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end.

What is sex toys for Indian?

Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation.

It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms.

They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable.

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

Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ...

[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.
MURPHYSSBORO  It was a light agenda for a small meeting, but a giant step was taken forward during the Plan Commission meeting at Murphysboro City Council Chambers on Thursday night.

The commission members present voted to request that prospective consultants put forth their qualifications to do the job versus them soliciting bids for the project of a master plan for the city (in a Request For Proposals).

The former option, the Request For Qualifications designation, allows the city to seek candidates whose qualifications they want, then try to negotiate a salary with them; if both sides can't agree on the fee to be paid, then the city can talk with some of the other candidates, Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens told the commission members.

Board members discussed whether or not to have the report done in-house, as it had traditionally been done, versus hiring a professional consultant. One of the challenges was finding a professional to generate a plan with the $15,000 the city currently has to pay for the project.

Mayor Will Stephens said he'd been told by Cary Minnis, executive director of the Greater Egypt Regional Planning and Development Commission, that such plans could be done from $30,000 to $100,000  the larger price for something "over the top." He also noted that the city might want to have a report that integrated plans from some of its other stakeholders, much as Carbondale's had incorporated plans from the city's Park District, Southern Illinois University, Memorial Hospital and the Illinois Department of Transportation's District 9.

Pete Pederson said he wanted to have a report generated that had "some real value," not one that would become a "dust collector" or roll into a corner and not be missed. During the meeting, the group referenced a copy of Carbondale's Comprehensive Plan, which they called a "Cadillac" model.

The challenge was to get the work done "and get that 'Cadillac' book down to something that we could afford and that would be meaningful," commission member Bob Eaton said.

His colleague Eric Kennedy suggested that if a professional was used, the project might be of more interest to the public.

Commission member Mike Jones noted that he was part of a previous group that worked on the plan. Though amendments have been made to the city's comprehensive plan over the years, the plan last had a major update in the 1960s, according to Sandra Ripley, Murphysboro's human resources manager.

"I would say you need a consultant," Jones said. "I think you need to be practical in what you plan.  The city cannot create a retail business district; the city can only (create an environment that entrepreneurs want to set up shop in)."

The meeting wrapped up in about half an hour, time well-spent, the mayor noted.

"This is going to be a process," Stephens said, "and I'm happy that we're putting one foot in front of the other" to get started.

Also present at this meeting were commission members Clay Cochran and Blaine Ensor. The mayor indicated that two of their other colleagues would be leaving their posts on the commission and he was seeking replacements.

Interested people are asked to email Stephens at mayor@murphysboro.com.
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois colleges put up $168 million of their own money to help students attend classes last fall because there's no state budget deal, but nearly half of those responding to a survey about the Monetary Award Program say they can't do it again this spring.

The deadlock over the spending plan that should have taken effect July 1 will force needy college students to make some tough choices, the survey released Thursday by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission indicates.

The commission, a clearinghouse for student aid, surveyed 133 colleges and universities, receiving 84 responses. Responses showed 41 schools would not carry the MAP load for students again this spring and about a dozen more haven't decided.

The popular, bipartisan MAP provided income-based grants totaling $373 million last school year. Although there wasn't a budget agreement when classes began again in August, three in five fronted the money out of reserves because state reimbursement typically doesn't arrive until December.

Of 31 that indicated to ISAC they would continue paying upfront for the spring, several said they'd pursue reimbursement from students if the state doesn't come through; half said they were undecided on making students pay in such a case.

"It's obviously a serious situation," said Pat McGuire, a Joliet Democrat who heads the Senate Higher Education Committee. At his request, ISAC reported that schools statewide had provided $168 million of their own money for the fall semester. He told The Associated Press last month several educators had asked him to pursue at least partial reimbursement.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has resisted the idea because he opposes "piece-meal" approaches to concluding a budget deal without fundamental business-climate and political changes he seeks.

Overall, the survey found 58 percent of respondents credited MAP grants for the first semester.

Six of 12 public universities fronted the money in the fall and will continue to. Just one in five community-college respondents said it would continue paying this spring.

One is Lewis and Clark Community College, a school of 13,000 students in Godfrey, 40 miles north of St. Louis. Unable to continue using reserves relied on for the fall, Lewis and Clark president Dale Chapman said the school's nonprofit foundation will cover the $327,000 cost for 420 students to study through May.

"We're in new territory here as everyone in the state's aware," Chapman said. "Community colleges don't have the kind of reserves the other institutions have, but we decided we were going to meet our moral obligations to our students despite the current impasse."
SPRINGFIELD  If Illinois is forced to make changes to its drivers license that the federal government is demanding, the results may include higher out-of-of pocket costs and longer wait times for Illinoisans seeking to get or renew a drivers license.

Some groups, who have been studying the Real ID issue, say it could mean $100 (or even more expensive) drivers licenses for Illinoisans and a tougher, longer process to get a license in hand.

The Illinois Secretary of States office says until it gets more information from the federal government and more guidance from Illinois General Assembly, it cant make accurate projections, but its certainly aware of the potential problems.

Nearly 30 states that are out of compliance are or were operating under waivers that delayed implementation of certain standards specified in the Real ID Act, which was passed in 2005.

Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico and Washington are among those out of compliance, and they were notified in December that their requests for additional extensions were denied. Come Jan. 10 (Sunday) they are out of time, says the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The act establishes the minimum requirements a state drivers license or other state ID must meet before it will be recognized for federal purposes, such as requirements of the Transportation Security Administration.

Real ID is intended to improve the reliability and accuracy of state-issued identification documents, which should inhibit terrorists ability to evade detection by using fraudulent IDs, according to the DHS.

Illinois does have anti-forgery features built into its licenses and will be offering a new version in 2016, but it is short of other requirements Real ID Act demands.

Impact now

The immediate impact means Illinois driver's licenses will not, as of Sunday, be adequate identification for entry to most federal facilities, nuclear power plants and military bases.

It will be a bit longer before the Transportation Security Administration stops accepting Illinois driver's licenses as acceptable ID for boarding commercial airline flights.

Some feared the published Jan. 10, deadline would mean drivers licenses would no longer be acceptable airport ID come Monday.

But a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman this week said thats not the case.

The Department of Homeland Security is continuing to evaluate the schedule for any changes to air travel requirements and will ensure that state governments and the traveling public are notified at least 120 days in advance of implementation, DHS spokeswoman Amanda DeGroot said in an email.

Until announced otherwise, the Transportation Security Administration will continue to accept valid drivers licenses and identification cards issued by all states, she wrote.

Dave Druker, press secretary for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, said that is the states understanding, as well. And, he said, the 120 days is a minimum, meaning May is the earliest the TSA would stop accepting Illinois licenses at airports.

Once the federal agencies say the current Illinois drivers license is no longer adequate, Illinoisans still will be able to fly, but those states travelers will face additional security screenings.

Druker said Illinois officials have been trying to find out what those screenings will entail, but the information just isnt available yet from the federal government.

People will be able to get on airplane with Illinois ID, but there may be an extra measure of security theyll have to go through, Druker said. Hopefully, Homeland Security will let us know in the near future what that will be.

Meanwhile, Druker said, he would encourage people to look at the idea of or seriously considering getting a passport, because that is a Real ID-compliant form of ID.

Costs

One very big question for the states and their residents: How much will this cost?

Among the requirements of the Real ID act are verification of birth certificates, which Illinois does not now require.

To bring in the necessary technology and become fully compliant and offer service levels much like it does now, the secretary of states office likely will have to revamp its 138 driver's license facilities.

When all costs  such technology acquisition, training, physical and cyber security, storage and remodeling  are addressed, the state is probably looking at a total cost of $60 million spread over two to three years, Druker said.

The secretary of states office will be responsible for making the upgraded system work, but it needs both legal and funding decisions from the Illinois General Assembly before it can begin offer Real ID-compliant driver's licenses.

Druker said the secretarys office is working on estimates and fact sheets for legislators, and those might be ready this week.

So, what will a Real ID-compliant Illinois drivers license cost residents, should they become available?

Thats hard to tell.

It will be up to the General Assembly to decide whether to approve a federally compliant ID card and, if so, how the compliance costs will be met.

Secretary Jesse White, D-Chicago, always has sought to keep drivers services affordable and convenient and will keep trying to do so, Druker said.

But without more information from DHS and actual legislation from the General Assembly, its too soon for the secretarys office to project a per-license charge, Druker said.

Ed Yohnka of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois said its possible costs for a Real ID-compliant state drivers license could hit $150.

Thats five times the current $30 and, Yohnka noted, an amount that could be a real problem for those least able to pay.

Whatever the per license charge turns out to be, it will be an additional cost when it comes to what you and I have to pay to simply renew our drivers licenses, Yohnka said.

I think it puts a real burden on people who are struggling to get by every day, he said. And from all the data we see, there just far too many folks living from paycheck to paycheck.

Further, he wondered whether given security requirements and costs, the state will be able to continue to offer nearly 140 locations where people can get their drivers licenses or ID cards.

Also, Yohnka said the increased demands for documentation might mean each applicant would have to make multiple trips to a license facility and perhaps even wait to receive his or her drivers license by mail.

Gosh, wed hope not, Druker said of that scenario. But, Druker added, short of more information, he really couldnt make accurate projections.

The secretarys office feels the federal governments stance toward Illinois has been shortsighted and misguided, especially as Illinois is more than 80 percent compliant with the Real ID requirements, Druker said.

But addressing the issues and keeping keeping the public informed of changes are high priorities for the secretary, Druker said.

Well continue to talk with them (Homeland Security) and continue to work with the General Assembly here in the spring session, he said.

Thorny issues

Although its been on the books since 2005, Real ID hasnt been fully implemented at least in part because the states and federal government dont necessarily agree on the need for the law or its propriety.

Some states that have chosen not to comply also say its an unfunded mandate from the federal government, and they question whether national standards for driver's licenses and the like will truly deter terrorists.

Many see creation of the system, which would link the state databases, as the defacto introduction of a national ID card, or at least the building blocks.

Some of those states, including Illinois, have passed resolutions in opposition to Real ID.

Despite the federal governments stance to the contrary, critics say the Real ID Act does create a national ID card and raises scary questions about individual liberty.

Critics fear the government's imposing mandatory use or swiping of the cards to allow access to, and therefore track, a whole range of citizens activities. They say the government is  or is at least attempting to  build its surveillance capability.

The Cato Institutes Jim Harper, among others, has argued that government control over a national card  specifically the decision to grant or not grant one to an individual  could amount to the governments allowing or disallowing someone access to society.

The security of citizens data also is a concern.

While Illinois has generally done a good job of safeguarding drivers data, a nationally linked system means were as vulnerable as the weakest state across the country, said Yohnka.

A nationwide system of linked drivers information would be a pretty golden ticket for hackers, he said.

With the Real ID Act now 11 years on the books and compliance still elusive, some believe the federal governments decision in December to tell five states times up may be a move intended to put pressure on all of the states still not in compliance.

The federal strategy here is pretty clear: Crack down on five states and intimidate the others into falling in line. By limiting its initial action to just a few states, the feds can keep the public outcry down to a dull roar and shift the blame onto five state governments, wrote Mike Maharrey, communications director for the Tenth Amendment Center.

The DHS can limit the backlash by cracking the whip on residents of only five states rather than taking on all 28 non-compliant states at the same time.
HOUSTON  Paul Kruse's father had warned him about the perils of family-run businesses, but he couldn't escape his place as the obvious heir of a dawning ice cream empire.

After ascending to the corner office in 2004, Kruse delivered Blue Bell Creameries to its greatest height, becoming the No. 1 U.S. brand.

In 2015, it took barely two months to undo everything.

Ironically, Blue Bell's food-poisoning crisis could give it a one-up on competitors, because it already has been forced to make expensive changes to equipment and safety protocols that other ice cream makers soon will have to emulate under new federal regulations. It took most of the year to upgrade while other brands gobbled up market share.

Blue Bell, for most of its history, moved at a measured pace.

That strategy won ardent followers as Blue Bell went into rural markets where competitors wouldn't or couldn't reach. With Kruse still in the driver's seat, the company's future may hinge on his ability to return to a course charted by his forebears.

Listeria was unknown to science when his grandfather took over the business 96 years ago.

In those days, E.F. Kruse and his employees churned out a few gallons of ice cream a day in wooden tubs, blissfully unaware of the microscopic, pill-shaped bacteria, its affinity for cold, wet places, its penchant for ravaging susceptible immune systems. Foregoing a school superintendent's job to save the struggling Brenham creamery, he didn't pay himself for those first six months, according to family lore.

Mindful of his own financial struggle and the misfortunes of others, he routinely warned his sons, Ed and Howard, about the tendency for family outfits to start poor, grow steadily and plunge fast in successive generations.

"Shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves," it's called in America. "Stars to stables," in Italy.

Ed Kruse passed on his own version of the mantra, repeatedly telling his sons and daughters to "get your own business." They listened.

After he earned a law degree at Baylor University and opened his own firm in Brenham, Paul Kruse three times rejected his father's entreaties to come on as general counsel.

But his father and uncle had, consciously or not, groomed him to take over. There was a standing expectation to pitch in when you could, Paul Kruse recounted in a 2004 column for the Baylor Business Review. At age 8, he had to go door to door asking neighbors for old newspapers to help fulfill the packing requirements for a military contract with Fort Hood.

At 18, he had a paying job putting sticks into frozen novelties and packing half gallons into cardboard sleeves.

Kruse worked in sales, made store deliveries, hauled ice cream cabinets and garnered two sets of stitches before setting off for Texas A&M University and an accounting degree.

When he capitulated to his father in 1986, Jack in the Box hadn't killed any kids with undercooked hamburgers. A national database for tracking food poisoning outbreaks by DNA was still 10 years away. Listeria had only recently been confirmed as a foodborne pathogen, in a batch of Canadian coleslaw tainted by sheep manure in 1981. It was something you might get from raw food. No one was thinking about listeria in a frozen product made with pasteurized milk.

Those were halcyon days, the beginning of Blue Bell's modern era, when Ed and Howard Kruse charted the course for what, in hindsight, seems like a kind of corporate manifest destiny. The American South was theirs to be had.

Other brands headed straight for the big markets, Steven Young, former director of research and development for Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, told the Houston Chronicle. That company expanded from the West Coast in the 1980s by acquiring other producers in the Midwest and East, ignoring much of rural America.

Blue Bell grew into contiguous markets and didn't even venture beyond Texas until 1989.

"They go through the hinterland, they pick up this wonderful loyalty, and people get married to it," Young said. "They've got to have it."

Not buying its way across America had a second advantage: Blue Bell could closely guard production and distribution, using its own factories, trucks, procedures and personnel. It could keep sourcing most of its milk from the freshest supplies, farms within a few hundred miles of Brenham. Then, when the product entered a new market, it still had the creamy, homespun quality conveyed by the groundbreaking ad campaigns that depicted a little country churn  even as the original plant mechanized and expanded, sugar yielded to high fructose corn syrup, and artificial flavors joined the mix.

Being purposefully slow was thus a matter of pride.

"If I wanted to go into California tomorrow," Ed Kruse told the Chronicle in 1994, "I could go into California. But that's not the plan." His father used to say, "No one ever got lost on a straight road."

As general counsel, Paul Kruse continued assuming new roles, including a stint reading and responding to customer letters. Before he moved to the top job, a steady eastward creep had turned into rocket growth. It still looked slow on paper  opening just a few distribution centers a year  but Blue Bell was now at the forefront of the U.S. ice cream industry, topping several major brands in sales and closing in on labels made by Nestle and Unilever, both multinational conglomerates with sales in 50 states.

It sped up even more under Paul Kruse. From 2006 to 2014, Blue Bell's annual sales grew by 70 percent, versus just 8 percent for the entire U.S. industry, according to figures from the market intelligence firm Euromonitor. It rose from fifth to third in U.S. market share. Relative to its own past, it abandoned any notion that slow was better, roughly doubling the geographical reach it had attained in the previous century. In 2014, for the first time, Blue Bell stole the No. 1 spot in brand sales from Dreyer's, the longtime U.S. favorite.

Before the listeria crisis struck in March, it sold more than $333 million, according to Euromonitor figures updated in August. As a privately held company, Blue Bell doesn't publicly disclose sales. But by that reckoning, it had, in one quarter, sold more than half of what it did in all of 2010  and peak summer sales hadn't even set in yet.

All that production came with a price. Brenham plant workers said sanitation was hurried. Hot water ran low. And federal records showed that problems reached to plants in Oklahoma and Alabama, negating the possibility that the listeria outbreak was a failure of one supplier, one machine or one employee. Somewhere amid all that growth, reality couldn't keep up with the clean country image. Worse, it hadn't been keeping up for years. Epidemiologists this year determined that illnesses from as early as 2010 were caused by Blue Bell  retroactive medical sleuthing made possible by the DNA database.

Production workers said they didn't see Paul Kruse as often as they had his uncle Howard, who was known to stop and help clean up messes, chat with lower-rung employees and keep tabs on fine details. Howard retired in 2004, Ed in 1993.

Through a spokesman, Paul Kruse and other top Blue Bell officials declined interview requests. But if he missed the failures happening under his watch, it wasn't because Kruse was indifferent to them, associates said.

Jerry Strawser, former dean of A&M's Mays Business School, who watched Kruse mentor his students, said the way the company responded after its April shutdown illustrates that point.

"It would have been easy to try to race back into business," he said. "He knew he could take a shortcut, save a month or two here or there. But his goal and thought process was that as painful as this was; they can't get back into stores until they make sure nothing like this would ever happen again."

Some of Kruse's most difficult moments in 2015 came in a somber meeting in May with Brenham employees. Some of them were hopeful they might be returning to work. Instead, they were given paper slips of one of three colors. They filed into three corresponding rooms to learn their fates from Kruse. Companywide, 1,450 of 3,900 employees lost jobs.

Years earlier, after he took charge, Kruse had written about his responsibility to them.

"The only time I really think about being the 'big boss' is when it occurs to me that (thousands) of employees and their families are dependent on how the company performs," he wrote for the Baylor publication. "That knowledge can be a bit sobering. And really, they are why I come to work each morning. Employees are the key to what we do at Blue Bell and the primary reason for our success."

Had Blue Bell folded, it would have joined the majority of third-generation businesses, only a small percentage of which survive into the fourth, according to various consulting firms.

Unlike public companies, which send CEOs packing after six years on average, family bosses are entrenched, raising a host of challenges, said Andrew Hier, senior partner of the Cambridge Family Enterprise Group. They may have more difficulty coping with shifts in technology over time. Decision-making becomes more complicated in the so-called "cousin generation," with more personalities at the table. Though privately held, Blue Bell now has hundreds of shareholders. Kruse's cousin, Greg Bridges, is the vice president of operations.

"Was there a demand to take profit out instead of reinvesting it for good systems?" Hier asks. "We don't know, but it tends to be one of the issues that arises in the cousin generation."

Former executive vice president John Barnhill, who led the enormously risky push into the Houston market in 1960, told the Chronicle in 1996 that the company was constantly facing the challenge of indoctrinating new personnel with the Blue Bell story.

"There are some that would just as soon we be the most modern ice cream company and perhaps forego our past," he said. "Our view is that we were not always where we are today, and truly we started as a little creamery and we kind of cherish our heritage, and we also don't take it for granted."

After 10 illnesses and three deaths linked to Blue Bell, it now has been forced to modernize. It faces a task like Odwalla, the homegrown juice brand roiled by E.coli poisonings in 1996, and, more recently, Chipotle, the fast-food burrito chain plunged into crisis from at least four separate disease outbreaks in a span of months. Odwalla had to abandon its raw-is-better philosophy and start pasteurizing its juices as it revolutionized its industry. Similarly, Chipotle is instituting pathogen testing standards unlike any others in fast food.

And so the question now for Paul Kruse and Blue Bell  for its shareholders and Sid Bass, the Fort Worth billionaire who this summer bailed out the South's favorite ice cream to the tune of $125 million  is whether its bucolic values will remain part of its future as it now produces ice cream under the most sophisticated hazard controls in the industry. There is no obvious successor for Kruse, 61. Odwalla ultimately sold out to Coca-Cola.

Blue Bell recently announced an unexpected additional phase of its gradual return to market, which has reached most of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and parts beyond. But the ramp-up in production says nothing about sales.

The company is muscling to recover precious, finite freezer space that had been subsumed by store brands. That battle will continue into the spring, when Blue Bell may fall to a disadvantage as brands engage in seasonal jockeying by releasing new flavors, said Young, the former Dreyer's official. The Blue Bell freezer case used to be a rainbow; now, only a few varieties line the shelves.

But the industry is talking about Blue Bell with a newfound respect, said Young, who puts on technical workshops for ice cream makers across the country. Quality assurance reps from other companies look at Blue Bell, imagine the same crisis happening to them, and question whether they would have survived, Young said.

The pressure is mounting for all under newly tightened food safety laws. Indeed, Blue Bell and Chipotle may have motivated Congress, which has nearly matched the Obama administration's funding request for the Food Safety Modernization Act, the first wholesale reform of U.S. food policy in decades. Other ice cream manufacturers "know they've got to do something," Young said. "Some of them don't have the foggiest idea what to do."

Blue Bell already has made the investments that its competitors may have to make in the next year. With that in place, it can turn its attention to scrabbling back, like the first-generation Kruse who saved it from bankruptcy a century gone.

There's a reward for the kind of patience and persistence the company showed for so many decades before it went headlong into crisis, Young said.

"Historically, they've gone little town, to little town, to little town," he said, "and there's a lot of America left to be had."
COLUMBIA  The last time South Carolina lawmakers met in Columbia, the House's 46 Democrats were joining with about that many Republicans to pull down the Confederate flag that flew at the Statehouse for 50 years.

If lawmakers could come together after what police said was the racially motivated killing of nine black people at a Charleston church, can they also unite on less emotionally charged issues like paying for roads, improving education and fixing flood damage?

The simple answer would be no. Democrats and Republicans spoke to reporters Thursday at a briefing before the session starts next week, and several GOP lawmakers sat silent for five seconds when asked if they could see greater unity in the Legislature this year.

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford also threw some jabs, opening his response to Republicans' legislative agenda by saying "the agenda of the rich people ... I mean Republicans."

There will be plenty to fight over. The state budget has hundreds of millions of dollars that isn't dedicated to any expense yet. Republicans pointed out Thursday there have already been requests from state agencies to spend nearly three times that.

State budgeters "dropped about $1.3 billion in the trough and yelled 'Sooie!'" said state Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney.

Republicans want tax relief, while Democrats want more stable ways to raise money to pay for infrastructure. Democrats want to expand health care through the law supported by President Barack Obama, while Republicans want to find private solutions to the problem. There are also issues that don't involve money. Democrats want to give local governments the chance to change monuments, including Civil War memorials. Republicans starting with House Speaker Jay Lucas said that won't happen this year.

But there remains hope that lawmakers can come together about some things. Legislators go back to the Confederate flag debate. At the start of 2015, it didn't stand a chance. But the issue was galvanized by the June shooting of state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who was killed with eight others at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston where he was pastor. Police said the gunman was a racist who targeted the church and its black members.

The killing changed Sen. Tom Davis' mind on the flag, saying it was time for it to go. And the Republican from Beaufort said it also brought senators closer through their stunned grief.

Lucas points out the House passed a roads bill and ethics reform in 2015, and the Legislature combined to pass a body camera bill after a videotaped police shooting stunned the nation and led to a murder charge against a police officer.

"All those bills passed with huge majorities. I think that is consensus. Our results speak to the fact that everybody thinks they have a seat at the table," said Lucas, R-Hartsville.

It's much easier for Republicans to preach unity, because in the end, they have large majorities. Democratic Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter said her heart was warmed by the agreement on the Confederate flag but "spinally challenged" lawmakers won't take risks during an election year.

"We don't really do anything that is going to make anybody halfway mad at us," Cobb-Hunter said.
The Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office has promoted its first African-American female to the rank of captain.

During a ceremony Thursday, Sheriff Leroy Ravenell pinned the captains bars on Antonia Toni Turkvant. She became the first African-American female to rise to the rank of captain in the Orangeburg County Sheriffs Offices 244-year history.

I always give them a chance to change their mind, because we need people who will give 100 percent to the people of Orangeburg County, the sheriff said of those considered for promotion. Toni is one of those people.

Calling the promotion humbling, Turkvant said she was discouraged from becoming a deputy because of the requirements of law enforcement.

Turkvants father and role model was a 28-year veteran with the West Columbia Police Department. The late Capt. Tony Owens didnt want his only daughter placing herself in danger.

When the calling came in 1999, Turkvant went to the cemetery where her mom is buried. The two talked it over, she said. Then she had to face her dad.

You just didnt tell him that, she said. If there was anything I would be afraid of, it was my dad.

With dads hesitant approval, the Orangeburg native began her career with the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety before joining the sheriffs office a few years later. She is a 17-year law enforcement veteran.

The newest Orangeburg County Sheriffs captain credits her family for an upbringing that made her do the right thing, which furthered her desire to become a law enforcement officer.

On Thursday, Turkvant thanked the nearly 20 family members in attendance.

In particular, she expressed appreciation to her daughter, Makayla Turkvant, for understanding the days she couldnt be with family, when duty called during birthdays, family gatherings, even Christmas.

Ravenell said that when the more than 92,000 people of Orangeburg County go to sleep at night, Turkvant is responsible for their safety.

Thats an awesome task, he said. I know you wont take that lightly.

During an emotional ceremony, Turkvants 99-year-old grandmother helped pin the officer with her captains bars.

With tears and a hug, Willie Mae Owens-Ross told her granddaughter, Thank you for being who you are.
Orangeburg this weekend welcomes the Grand American Coon Hunt, a United Kennel Club-sanctioned event that is one of the top field trials in the nation for coon dogs.

Orangeburg has been the only home for an event in its 51st year and looks forward to again hosting thousands of people this weekend.

The number of hunters is estimated annually at around 1,000. But the accompanying crowd totals more than 25,000. Lots of locals join in, visiting the Orangeburg County Fairgrounds headquarters for events such as the treeing contest and bench show.

A huge contingent travels to Orangeburg to buy and sell coon dogs. It only makes sense: Thousands of coon dog enthusiasts gathered in one place. Go to where the market is.

As the largest field trials for coon dogs in the nation, the Grand American has put Orangeburg on the map for people all over America. Its direct economic impact locally has been estimated as high as $6.5 million.

There may be room for debate about the numbers, but no one doubts the significance of being the host for an event ranked among the top 20 annual tourist happenings in the Southeast.

Thats a far cry from the skepticism of that first year more than four decades ago. Some hunters had to withdraw to serve as judges. There was open doubt about future prospects.

But it worked in a state that has been a hub of dog-trialing since the early 1900s when professional trainers from across the country recognized South Carolina as ideal for wintertime dog training. The Grand American is the granddaddy of hunts, having celebrated is golden anniversary a year ago with considerable fanfare.

Hunters bring their prize-winning coon dogs to compete with hopes of winning the coveted title of Grand Champion. Points are earned by dogs for their ability to locate and track the animal, but the raccoons are not killed.

In The T&D today, Saturday and Sunday, and throughout the weekend at TheTandD.com, youll find special coverage of the Grand American. Look back at last years hunt, then follow the events at Orangeburg County Fairgrounds and get 2016 hunt results. And take time to read how the Grand American came to be. The story of that first hunt from 1965-66 should interest any Grand American regular.

The history also includes further reference to skepticism by local officials in the 1960s when told of plans to bring a national coon hunt to Orangeburg. As are most people, they were unfamiliar with the sport and had doubts about the Grand Americans viability. The hard work of many volunteers made that first year happen and resulted in locals seeing the attraction.

As one of the events founders, Jim Mathis of Denmark, has written about the first year: Most motels were filled, restaurants were busy, coon hunters wives shopped and the officials of Orangeburg were greatly impressed. We never had to pressure them again.

In 2016, other communities would welcome the Grand American, but Orangeburg is a home the hunters find to their liking. We speak for our community in hoping we remain a deserving host.

Welcome, Grand American!
South Carolina State University will hold a symposium to discuss the abolishment of slavery in America 150 years ago.

Last December marked the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution abolishing slavery. The necessary three-quarters of the states had ratified the amendment by Dec. 6, 1865, and the amendment went into effect on Dec. 18, 1865.

The S.C. State symposium will observe this extremely important event in American history, especially in African American history.

The event will be held from 7-8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 14, in room 106 in Nance Hall. Admission is free, and the event is open to the campus community as well as to the general public.

As part of the discussion, four social sciences faculty members will present brief papers.

Dr. Stanley Harrold, professor of history, will provide a historical overview. This will include a discussion of slavery as it existed in the southern states, slaverys role in causing the Civil War and the U.S. governments decision to make ending slavery a war goal. Harrold will also discuss the limited effectiveness of the 13th Amendment during the decades following the Civil War.

Dr. Willie Legette, professor of political science, will discuss how the amending process works and the irregularities involved in ratifying the 13th Amendment. He will analyze why contemporaries believed there had to be a constitutional amendment, rather than merely a law passed by Congress, to end slavery in the southern states.

Dr. Larry Watson, professor of history, will concentrate on how the 13th Amendment affected South Carolina. He will discuss the nature of slavery in this state prior to the Civil War. He will also discuss the reaction of South Carolinians, both black and white, to ratification of the amendment, and resistance among white South Carolinians to putting the amendment into effect.

Dr. Dior Konate, associate professor of history, will place the 13th Amendment in an international context. She will discuss how slavery varied around the world, how other countries abolished slavery and the persistence of legal slavery in some countries after its abolition in the U.S. Konate will conclude with observations concerning the growth of illegal slavery throughout the world in recent times.

The symposium will allow time for audience participation, and a reception will follow.

For more information, contact Dr. Stanley Harrold at sharrold@scsu.edu.


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ATM CARD before is $250 dollar in any country in this worldwide. but the COMMISSIONER OF POLICE And MR YAYI BONI PRESIDENCY with Federal Committee Office Benin republic held a meeting with there Cabinet the conclusion is that the activation of ATM CARD will be $79 dollar only. so if you know that you are ready to receive your ATM CARD

Contact This email (officeatm@Safe-mail.net) and send the $79 dollar to them for activation fee of your ATM CARD.and again Benin republic Federal High Court is sign that you will pay the activation fee of $79 usd to us today which is January 9th,but after Today which is January 8th,if you fail to send the activation fee of $79 usd then another person will pay the fee to clam your ATM CARD .because i get report from Mr.JAJA UKO,that you are dead On January 8th in Car Accident,and again you told us that you give him permission to pay the activation fee of $79 usd and clam this your AtmCard.but right now i want to confirm from you first before i delivery the ATM CARD to him weather it is true or not.right now if you know that you are still Alive and you did not give anybody order or permission to pay this activation fee of $79 usd to clam your ATM card,so get back to us today with this activation fee.Because our Government is giving you only today which is January 8th to send the activation fee,because after Today then,by tomorrow January 9th

then,this Man Mr.JAJA UKO,who reported you that you are dead will pay the activation fee of $79 usd to clam this your ATM CARD that is Final. This is our receiver agent in Benin Republic ( Jose Ndu ) The our Receiver agent in Benin republic



PAYMENT INFORMATION

Receiver Name;; Jose Ndu Country: Benin Republic Question:::So Answer::::To Amount::: $79 USD MTCN: Sender Name:

Remember that immediately the ATM CARD will delivery to you, every day you will Withdraw $5000 dollar until all your total ATM MASTER CARD will got finish. Immediately you receive this email try to call here +22998843379 for more explanation.

THANK YOU GOD BLESS. BEST REGARD,

MR MBA DAN,FROM ATM DEPARTMENT OFFICE BENIN REPUBLIC,

From: Bankof Africa < bankofafrica486@yahoo.es >Date: Monday, January 18, 2016, 20:29 -0500Subject: God Take Control For Your Heart,Amen,ATM DEPARTMENT OFFICE

Date: Thursday, April 14, 2016, 23:44 -0400

Subject: AtmCard Is Ready For You Now,





Good Day (ATM CARD)has finalize all the necessary arrangement and your fund $4.8Million USD is inside ATM CARD UBA BANK BENIN REPUBLIC,but this moment your ATM CARD is in DHL OFFICE waiting for your Address were to deliver it.so all the fee is Paid For you ( Expected ) Activation Fee.so try to ask them how much is Activation Fee immedately you receive this Email.But right now for your information,you will pay the activation fee latest Today or Tomorrow April 16th,after Tomorrow by next Tomorrow which is April 17th the ATM CARD will start to increasing fee for you $7usd perday until you are ready.now try to ask Them how much is activation fee of your ATM CARD and try to ask the AtmOffice where you can send it. YOUR INFOMATION IS NEEDED: Your name_ _ Your country_ Your address_ _ You're Age/sex_ Your occupation Direct phone number_ Your hone phone number_ Contact this Email (officeatm@Safe-mail.net ) Try to call with this number TEL+229-98843379 immedately you receive this Email. Mr.Eric Don ATM DEPARTMENT OFFICE. Mr,Kila Marik From: OFFICE atm < officeatm@Safe-mail.net >Date: Thursday, April 14, 2016, 23:44 -0400Subject: AtmCard Is Ready For You Now, If you received a similar letter, please ignore it. Do not answer it. If you do, you will end up on more of the mailing lists used by the criminals behind this fraud. Read more....
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THE VOICE OF REASON Solon, (born c. 630 BCEdied c. 560 BCE), Athenian statesman, known as one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece (the others were Chilon of Sparta, Thales of Miletus, Bias of Priene, Cleobulus of Lindos, Pittacus of Mytilene, and Periander of Corinth). Solon ended exclusive aristocratic control of the government, substituted a system of control by the wealthy, and introduced a new and more humane law code. He was also a noted poet.
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If the shoe fits, wear it: "... in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt." -- Bertrand Russell



"There's no firewall for stupidity." -- Mike Hamilton



"I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said." -- William F. Buckley, Jr.



"There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true." -- Sren Kierkegaard
Colombia is interested in increasing the trade turnover with Azerbaijan, Assad Jose Jater Pena, the charge d'affaires of Colombia in Baku, said at an event on the occasion of completion of his diplomatic mission Jan. 7.

The diplomat stressed the necessity of expanding the cooperation between the two countries in the fields of oil production, agriculture, tourism, mechanical engineering.

The diplomat also emphasized the importance of developing the relations between the districts of Azerbaijan and Colombia.

Recalling that the diplomatic relations between the two countries were established over 20 years ago, the diplomat said that the Colombian embassy opened in Baku in 2015.

The diplomat also said that Martha Galindo will replace him at the post of the Charge d'Affaires. Galindo will arrive in Baku in the coming days. Assad Jose Jater Pena will continue his diplomatic activity in the Permanent Mission of Colombia in Geneva.

/By Trend/
/By AzerNews/

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Developing pharmaceutical manufacturing in oil-rich Azerbaijan may become one of major directions in the country's aspiration to diversify its non-oil sector of the economy.

Easing tax burdens and allowing entrepreneurs more space to maneuver may have a positive effect on this industry in terms of big changes ahead.

With a growing population of over 9.6 million, Azerbaijan's healthcare system will require an organized and well-established public health sector. As a major social stabilizer healthcare remains an important point in the agenda of the government. The need for healthcare is growing nationwide as population is aging and human life expectancy is growing with the better provision of healthcare.

The government increased its healthcare budget more than 10 times in the past decade and the figure hit 665.3 million manats ($425 million) in 2014. There were built or remodeled over 566 hospitals and healthcare facilities so far. Currently, the life expectancy in Azerbaijan is 72 years for men and 76 for women.

Although the country is interested in ensuring broad access to healthcare provision with a high level of quality on one hand, on the other hand it seeks to cut healthcare spending. Cost cutting measures affect not only patient and consumer but also the pharmaceutical sector.

In late 2015, the government announced that Azerbaijan will create own enterprises that will manufacture medicines to cease dependence on imports. The government reaffirmed aim to continue the development of medicine manufacturing industry and establish pharmaceutical companies.

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov announced last week that the talks will be soon launched on creating enterprises for the production of medicines in Azerbaijan.

He said for a long period Azerbaijan lacked practice for the production of medicines, there were no specialists in this area, and most of the drugs imported from abroad.

The drug import from abroad adversely affects the functioning of the internal market, leads to leakage of a large amount of currency outside the country. The way out of this situation is to establish relations with reputable pharmaceutical companies in foreign countries and establish relevant companies here based on the corporation. Ultimately, Azerbaijan could gradually form its own practice in the production of drugs," he said.

The market of medicines in Azerbaijan by 97 percent dependent on imports, while 57 percent of medicines registered in the country are produced in Europe, 26 percent in the CIS countries, including 12 percent made in Russia. The small proportion is produced in Asian countries.

Despite the opportunities, medicine production in Azerbaijan is not managed well. The share of basic pharmaceutical products manufacture in Azerbaijans total industrial production is 0.01 percent, according to the State Statistics Committee. As of 2014, number of the acting enterprises in this sphere is only eight, with volume of industrial products worth 2.7 million manats ($1.7 million) at factual prices.

Manufacture of main types of medical products in natural value is as following: medicaments of other antibiotics p.r.s.- 161,600 manats ($103,243), other medicaments of mixed and un-mixed products p.r.s. n.e.c  384.500 manats ($245,648), wadding, gauze, etc with pharmaceutical substances p.r.s.  113.100 manats ($72,257).

Pharmaceutical activities in Azerbaijan are licensed by the Center for Analytical Examination of Medicines under the Health Ministry. The ministry also controls the quality of the medicines. Only 55 medicines are manufactured in the country, the ministry reports.

On drug prices in the retail sale, the country started regulating the prices of medicines from September 15, 2015. A list of medicines is constantly enlarging. Up until now, the Tariff Council has approved the prices of over 3,540 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.

Deputy head of the parliamentary committee on healthcare Musa Guliyev, in turn, said the country can also in the future export medicines. Instead of spending huge funds to purchase the medicine from abroad, we can sell medicine and get foreign currency. The point is that the country enjoys rich herbs. Producing herbal medicines we can open new jobs in regions and use the resources effectively.

The MP is sure that the country enjoys potential to build pharmaceutical plants, adding that the government needs to offer concessions to attract entrepreneurs to this sector.

Firstly, in case the raw material for medicines is brought from abroad, then it needs to be free from custom duties. Also, tax incentives should be applied in relation to such plans for at least several years.

Due to lack of domestic production, the country is also huge market for medical device investments. Currently, the country imports medical devices from US, Germany, Japan, France, Russia, and Turkey. Reportedly, Russian and Turkish firms provide lower-cost equipment, which has resulted in an increasing popularity of these equipment and supplies in the local market.

The biggest issue for Azerbaijan's pharmaceutical industry is the lack of human capital, in particular doctors with up-to-date expertise and medical researchers. However, the government is promoting programs that encourage the youth to engage in the medical sciences.

Ilgar Muradov, who works at one of local pharmaceutical companies, said it takes at least ten years for a new medicine to complete the journey from initial discovery to the market place, with clinical trials lasting about 5-7 years on average.

The average cost to research and develop each successful drug is estimated in billions, and this requires not only huge recourses but also labs and pro researchers, he told AzerNews. The overall probability of clinical success, that is, the likelihood that a drug entering clinical testing will eventually be approved is estimated to be less than 15 percent.

A 2013 analysis conducted by Forbes says that a company hoping to get a single drug to market can expect to have spent $350 million before the medicine is available for sale. In part because so many drugs fail, large pharmaceutical companies that are working on dozens of drug projects at once spend $5 billion per new medicine.

Muradov further said that consumer nature and price sensitivity are among important environmental differences to which pharma business models need to adapt.

The old model for pharmaceutical research and development does not work. Going into risk sharing, collaboration and partnerships would be one way of lowering costs, he said.

With its high growth capacity and the government's focus on development, Azerbaijan's market outlook is still positive. The government is sure any investment in the country's healthcare industry, promises to be rewarding.
/By AzerNews/

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijans SOCAR announced that it constantly searches new sale markets for crude oil produced in the country, while oil prices languish near $30 a barrel on the global markets.

The country produces three grades of crude oilAzeri BTC, Azeri Light, mainly sold to European and Asian markets, and Urals, Azerbaijani light crude sold at a discount as it blended in Russia. Bulk of the countrys oil is marketed by Socar Trading, which has been operating since 2008.

The countrys energy giant noted that there is a general rule that the diversification of sale markets provides security of the seller country and creates superiority for seller in transaction process, namely establishes condition for determining more favorable price.

Therefore, despite changes observed in the world market, SOCAR constantly searches new markets for Azerbaijani oil, the company told local media.

AZERI LT oil produced at Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of oil and gas fields on the basis of CIF in the Italian port of Augusta was $35.79 per barrel on January 7. AZERI Light FOB Ceyhan oil price was $34.71 per barrel or $0.02 per barrel more than the previous price. The price for URALS-NOVO was $30.29 per barrel, or $0.18 more than the previous price.

The company further added that offers of new buyers are analyzed and comparison is made. Our analysts are studying the dynamics and demand of different markets. These processes are provided on a regular basis.

Azerbaijan has produced 38.32 million tons of oil and gas condensate in January-November 2015, or 0.5 percent less than in the same period in 2014, the State Statistics Committee reported.

The country's largest hydrocarbon basins are located offshore in the Caspian Sea, particularly the Azeri Chirag Guneshli (ACG) field. Similar to its share of total production, ACG also holds over 70% of Azerbaijan's total reserves, with about 5 billion barrels located in this field.

SOCAR produces about 20% of the country's oil output. The remaining 80% of Azerbaijan's output comes from the ACG oil fields by the BP-operated Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) and at the BP-operated Shah Deniz field (which produces oil condensate).

Azerbaijan exports oil through four routes  the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa (western route) and Baku-Novorossiysk (northern route), as well as by rail.

In 2015, the company exported about 17.93 million tons from the Turkish Ceyhan port compared to 20.48 million tons in 2014. SOCAR exported over 2.79 million tons of oil via the Baku-Supsa pipeline compared to 2.96 million tons in 2014. It transported 1.27 million tons of "black gold" in the northern direction (Baku-Novorossiysk) for the reporting period compared to 932.15 million tons in 2014.

Azerbaijan exports not only crude oil, but also petroleum products. The only producer of oil products is SOCAR, which owns Baku Oil Refinery named after Heydar Aliyev.

Azerbaijans oil products are exported to countries such as Turkey, Georgia, Italy, Egypt, Greece, Lebanon, Singapore, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Malta, Libya, Romania, China, Spain, the Bahamas and more.

SOCAR exported about 1.23 million tons of oil products in 2015compared to about 1.2 million tons in 2014. Most of the export fell on diesel fuel, which last year were exported in the amount of 965,790.
/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

A flag of the Nakhchivan khanate, established in 1747 and covering the area from Zangazur range of mountains to Araz river, was revealed during a recent scientific trip to a Russian museum.

A member of the Azerbaijani National Museum of History, Parvin Gozalov discovered the third flag of the Nakhchivan khanate during the studies at the Military-Historical Museum of Engineer and Signal Corps in St. Petersburg.

The flag was taken as a trophy during the battle and was taken to St. Petersburg by Russia general Ivan Paskevich in 1827. The flag is kept under the name of Muslim flag of the 18th-19th centuries at the museum.

In mid 2015, Gozalov found two flags belonging to Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Khanate at the Russian Hermitage Museum.

The first flag was taken as a trophy by Major General Pyotr Kotlyarevsky at the Battle of Aslanduz. The flag is indicated in the archival documents of the State Hermitage as the Trophy of the Battles of Years 1912, 1913, 1914. The length of this flag is 145 cm, and the width is 159 cm.

The second flag of the Nakhchivan Khanate was in 1827 taken as a trophy by General Ivan Paskevich during the occupation of the khanate. The length of the flag is 178 cm, and the width is 144 cm.

The shape of Nakhchivans third flag is 92cm in width and 192cm in length. The rectangular state flags color is green and red. An eight-pointed star symbolizing the sun is sewn on the green side of the fabric.

In the second half of the 18th century there were independent and semi-dependent states named khanates in Azerbaijan. The birth of the first independent khanates in the territory of Azerbaijan dates back the 1740s. Some of them appeared after the fall of the rule of Nadir Shah while the others were established during his reign as a result of the struggle against Iran.

The Nakhchivan khanate was established by Heydarguly Khan of the Kangarli tribe. To strengthen the khanate and protect it from invasions, Heydarguly Khan (1747-1763/64) relied on the more powerful Garabagh khanate during the first years of his reign. Following Heydarguly Khan`s death, the Nakhchivan Khanate weakened as a result of struggle for power, which lasted till 1787 and became a target for fight among the khanates of Khoy, Garabagh, Erivan, Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti and Iran.

Its center was Nakhichevan city and khanate had borders with Garabagh, Garadagh, Khoy, Maku and Iravan khanates. It was divided into mahals of Nakhichevan, Alinjachay, Mavazikhatun, Daralayaz, Khok etc. The area of khanate was annexed to Russia according to Turkmanchay Treaty of 1828.
/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

The long-standing Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was discussed in the United States.

Ed Royce, the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives committee on foreign affairs and James Warlick, the U.S. co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, Warlick tweeted on January 7.

Warlick thanked the committee and its chair Royce for hosting him to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. We agreed to work for a settlement, he said.

A while ago, Warlick reminded about the work directed to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

We need to intensify work towards a negotiated settlement in 2016. The parties say they are willing. If not now, when, Warlick tweeted.

The OSCE Minsk Group, an international framework established to settle the long-standing Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, has voiced determination to continue work on a new meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents.

Though the Bern meeting of the two presidents last December hasnt yielded the desirable results, some officials believe that holding of such a meeting was itself a positive sign for the resolution of the conflict, a source of major instability in the South Caucasus region.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

The peace talks have been largely fruitless so far despite the efforts of the co-chair countries over 20 years.

The sides to the conflict currently hold talks based on the renewed Madrid principles, which envisage return of occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control, ensure the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence, future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh and etc.
/By AzerNews/

By Nigar Orujova

The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that Ankara does not plan to introduce a visa regime with Azerbaijan.

Turkish media earlier reported about introduction of visa regime between Turkey and Azerbaijan, as well as other 88 countries. Reportedly, the country will introduce a visa regime with 89 countries from June 2016 at the request of the European Union.

The Foreign Ministry told Trend that it does not expect any change in the entry mode of Azerbaijani citizens to Turkey.

Currently, no changes in the visa regime with Azerbaijan expected, the Turkish embassy in Baku told local media.

Our countries do not consider changing the visa regime now. Azerbaijani citizens arriving in Turkey as tourists can stay in the country without a visa for 30 days, the embassy said.

Turkey is one of the most favorite destinations for Azerbaijanis, for both business issues and tourism. Today, Azerbaijanis prefer a tighter integration with Turkey, said a survey on Azerbaijan's foreign policy and security held by the Atlas Research Center.

Azerbaijan-Turkey relations have always been strong due to a common culture and history and the mutual intelligibility of Turkish and Azerbaijani languages.

Turkey was the first country in the world to recognize Azerbaijan's independence in 1991 and has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to consolidate its independence, preserve its territorial integrity, and realize its economic potential that arise from the rich natural resources of the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijani citizens can travel without visas to 61 countries, according to the passportindex website. Azerbaijan has also signed the visa facilitation agreement with the European Union and some countries that are not in the Schengen area.
By Elena Kosolapova

For Turkmenistan, which has the fourth largest gas reserves in the world, Asian gas markets are more attractive than European ones, Head of Greek Energy Forums Brussels Group believes.

In terms of the market conditions prices and the correlation of supply and demand in Asia are still more attractive, Constantine Levoyannis told Trend.

The economies and populations in the East continue to grow and develop at a faster pace than in Europe, meaning there is simply more demand in Asia as opposed to Europe where we are facing ageing population, economic stagnation and declining gas consumption, the expert explained.

Levoyannis also noted that timing and geostrategic issues such as, for example, the return of Iran to energy markets and the security for transit of gas to Europe, particularly on the Turkish border (involving ISIS aka Daesh and other extremist groups), are also important considerations while evaluating opportunities to export Turkmen gas.

Meanwhile the expert noted that Europe is interested in Turkmen gas.

Earlier, the European Commissions Vice President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said that the EU expects to receive Turkmen gas in 2019. The best route for delivering Turkmen gas to Europe would be a 300-kilometer long gas pipeline running through the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijani coasts by further connecting it to the Southern Gas Corridor gas pipelines system.

The negotiations among the EU, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline began in September 2011. Turkmenistan believes that its and Azerbaijan's consent is enough to construct a pipeline along the bottom of the Caspian Sea, the legal status of which still needs to be determined. Azerbaijan has expressed readiness to provide its territory, transit opportunities and infrastructure for realization of the project.

Levoyannis noted that Europe continues to pursue the prospect of the Trans Caspian Pipeline in an attempt to overcome these obstacles, the EU relaunched talks on the project in 2015.

The project is still wishful thinking at this stage and very far away from the completion, but the obstacles that have hindered the project's progress in the past still remain, said Levoyannis.

Speaking about the position of the other Caspian states regarding Trans Caspian Pipeline, Levoyannis noted that Russia and Iran oppose this project because it will pose challenges of competition in the European gas market.

/By Trend/
/By AzerNews/

By Laman Sadigova

Activists of the New Armenia organization held a protest rally in front of the police building in Yerevan.

A group of citizens gathered outside the police building, condemning the beating of a member of New Armenia Suzy Gevorgyan and demanding the police to resolve this case as soon as possible.

The police did not allow the protesters to approach the police building as they blocked the sidewalk.

Gevorgsyan, an activist of the New Armenia, living in Russia, was attacked by two men on January 5. Gevorgyan links the attack with her political views and says that such things cannot frighten her.
Members of the terrorist group Islamic State (aka IS, ISIL or Daesh) attacked a Turkish military camp in Mosul, in northern Iraq, the Turkish Haber7 news agency reported Jan. 8.

There are so far no reports on casualties.

Earlier, two civilians were killed and four Turkish soldiers were wounded in an attack on the Turkish military in Iraq on Jan. 7.

The wounded were taken to Turkey Sirnak province.

Turkish armed forces have a tank battalion stationed in the Iraqi province of Nineveh, tasked to prepare Kurdish Peshmerga forces to fight the IS. Turkish side states that an agreement was reached with Iraqi authorities on the matter.

Meanwhile, Iraqi authorities accused Turkey of an invasion and demanded the Turkish troops to leave the country. In addition, a number of Iraqi MPs demanded from the authorities to launch a military operation against the Turkish troops.

/By Trend/
Crisis in Saudi Arabia-Iran relations will invariably complicate the situation in other regions countries, such as Syria, Yemen and Iraq, senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, James Dorsey believes.

All of these conflicts are as much domestic fights as they are Saudi-Iranian proxy wars. Heightened Saudi-Iranian tension intensifies these proxy wars, Dorsey told Trend.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran soured after execution of Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric, by the Kingdom along with other 46 people, which was followed by a strong protest from Iran.

Mass protests took place in Iran following the said execution. In particular, the Saudi embassy in the capital Tehran and the consulate in the city of Mashhad were attacked, after which Riyadh broke off diplomatic ties with Tehran on Jan. 3.

Earlier, Saudi Arabias permanent representative to the United Nations, Abdullah al-Moallem said that relations with Iran will be restored only when Tehran stops interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, including that of Saudi Arabias.

The Iranian government has recently banned the import of products from Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabias goods from other countries.

Talking about the Irans strategy to defend its interests in Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Syria, Dorsey said that Islamic Republic is in this for the long haul and despite public perceptions, is not on the defensive.

It is well-positioned to fight this battle, Dorsey said.

Having said that it would be a mistake to reduce problems in various countries to Iran defending its interests, he added.

/By Trend/
The project to build a gas pipeline between Turkey and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, which is designed to have a pumping capacity of 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year, is an attempt of Ankara to find alternative to Russian energy supplies, Amatzia Baram, professor at the Middle East History Department of the Haifa University, told Trend Jan. 8.

Laying a gas pipeline through the territory of KRG can be a profitable investment, as investment projects in any other part of Iraq would make them ineffective, he said.

A tender will be held Feb. 9, 2016 in Ankara for constructing a new gas pipeline between Turkey and the KRG. Both local and foreign companies are allowed to participate in the tender. The tenders winner will build the new gas pipeline in 720 days.

The pipelines length will be 181.5 kilometers.

Turkey was the second largest importer of Russian gas after Germany in 2014. Ankara purchased 27.3 billion cubic meters of gas from Russian company Gazprom.

Turkey has been importing 25 to 27 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia in the past four years, which accounts for 55 to 58 percent of the countrys total gas consumption.

/By Trend/
A brokered convention is a favorite subject of election-year media speculation.

Every four years, the chatter begins in earnest over the winter: Will this be the year that party elites, through backroom deals, end up picking their own, favored candidate?

This year, the chatter began after the Washington Post reported in December that Republican Party elites held a secret dinner meeting to discuss what would happen if Donald Trump arrived at the convention with a significant number of delegates.

Brokered conventions make for good headlines. They just sound dramatic and exciting, with campaigns trying to woo delegates, secure votes, and come out of the convention triumphant. And when they do happen, they really are exciting! Exhibit A: In 1924, it took Democrats 103 rounds of voting to finally pick their nominee. The whole affair took two weeks, the longest nominating convention in American history.

"If no nominee is elected after first ballot, all hell breaks loose," says Elaine Kamarck, author of Primary Politics: Everything You Need to Know About How America Nominates Its Presidential Candidates. "An old-fashioned, complex negotiation process takes place where you see party chairmen playing a very big role in who becomes the nominee."

But brokered conventions are also incredibly unlikely. A brokered convention occurs when no candidate earns 51 percent of the vote, or a simple majority, on the first ballot. This hasn't happened in either party since the 1952 Democratic convention, and primary election reforms, which passed in the late 1960s, make it especially unlikely that 2016 will be the year that changes that.

To understand why, it's important to know how brokered conventions work  and why that makes brokered conventions so uncommon today.

Up through the mid-20th century, brokered conventions were relatively common. Party elites pretty much controlled the nomination system, leaving the general public largely in the dark. Some states held primaries; others didn't. That would leave the decision of whom the states' delegates would vote for largely up to local political leadership.

There weren't any rules about whether delegates actually had to vote for whom they'd been told to support (that's since changed  more below). So there were fewer barriers to convincing delegates to change their minds.

Take 1948, when thenNew York Gov. Thomas Dewey sought his second bid at the Republican nomination (he lost his first bid in 1944 to Franklin Roosevelt). After three rounds of voting, Dewey and his allies were able to woo enough delegates to clinch the nomination. Although, as the infamous photo reminds us, Dewey's efforts were ultimately for naught  he was unable to defeat Truman.

Deals like this made the primary process seem especially undemocratic. If primaries played a minor role and delegates could switch their votes at a whim, what was the point of the nominating convention in the first place?

Everything about primaries changed in the 1960s

Primary reform in the United States arguably began with the Vietnam War.

In 1968, Sens. Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy both ran on anti-war platforms against thenVice President Hubert Humphrey.

Together, McCarthy and Kennedy won more than two-thirds of the votes in primary contests, while Humphrey didn't even participate in the primary process, declaring, "Any man who goes into a primary isn't fit to be president." But in 1968, only about 40 percentof delegate votes were decided through popular vote  the rest of the delegates were free to make up their own minds about whom they wanted to support. And in 1968, they helped Humphrey clinch the nomination.

McCarthy and Kennedy supporters were outraged and protested the result. This led the Democratic Party to overhaul the presidential nomination system with the McGovern-Fraser Commission in preparation for the 1972 Democratic convention. Republicans did not form their own commission but followed suit, enacting many of the reforms pushed forward by the Democratic commission.

First, primary election results became binding on delegates. Before, state delegates could view their states' votes as something akin to a recommendation. But now they were obligated to actually vote with them. This rule significantly reduced the possibility of a brokered convention, because now most delegates' votes were spoken for in advance of the convention. Candidates seeking the nomination now could better understand where they stood in relation to their competitors.

This still holds true for at least the first round of a convention. If a brokered conventionwere to occur, delegates could change their vote as they saw fit. Some states have binding laws for their delegates, but Kamarck said that quite frankly "the law goes out the window."

Second, new rules required primaries to be held on the same day throughout the state. Prior to the reform, caucuses sometimes lasted three to four weeks and weren't covered as news stories, largely because they weren't on the public's radar.

"Now you could immediately look at caucuses as discrete events, which was a big change," said Kamarck. "You could now look at Iowa on caucus night and see that Jimmy Carter won, which made for a news story."

Additionally, Kamarck stressed that it was the increase in the number of primaries that ultimately transformed the primary system from political backroom dealings into a very public system. The number of presidential primaries in 2012 was 38, more than double the number of primaries held in 1932. The other 12 states and respective US territories hold caucuses.

So why do people even care about brokered conventions?

While the modern primary system has not seen a brokered convention, both the Republican and Democratic parties have come close. In 1976, Ronald Reagan challenged then-President Gerald Ford for the presidential nomination in a preliminary, non-binding vote known as the Mississippi Challenge to see if he could sway delegates to vote for him instead of Ford.

Kamarck, who is a superdelegate for the Democratic Party, told me a non-binding vote like the one Reagan posed is used to test the strength of the convictions of the candidates. She said the purpose of the vote is for challengers to assess how strongly committed delegates are to their respective candidates. And in the case of 1976, Reagan was unable to secure the needed vote to pose a serious threat to Ford, so he gave up his bid, and a brokered convention was avoided.

Similarly, leading up to the 1980 Democratic convention Sen. Ted Kennedy engineered a test vote to determine if he could pull delegates away from President Jimmy Carter, who was seeking reelection. When Kennedy found he couldn't sway delegates pledged to Carter he withdrew, and Carter was elected as the nominee on the first ballot, avoiding a brokered convention.

Still, even though a brokered convention hasn't happened in the post-reform era of the primary system, we continue to obsess with each presidential cycle whether this will be the election that finally witnesses one. The intrigue largely stems from the fact that if a brokered convention were to happen it would make for good political drama, as it speaks to internal divisions and factions in the party and backroom deals and bargains.
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Iran and Saudi Arabia took further steps to sever commercial ties on Thursday, intensifying a feud between the regional rivals, as Tehran announced a ban on imports from Saudi Arabia and Saudi groups called for boycotts of Iranian products.



Iran's government said it had forbidden imports from Saudi Arabia after a cabinet meeting chaired by President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday morning, according to state news agency Irna.



The cabinet also reaffirmed a ban on Umrah pilgrimages to Makkah, first imposed in April in response to an alleged sexual assault on two male Iranians by Saudi airport guards.



Trade between Saudi Arabia and Iran is small compared with the size of their economies, but tens of thousands of Iranians travel to the kingdom every year to complete the Haj as well as Umrah pilgrimages made outside of Haj season.



Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran on Sunday over the storming of its embassy in Tehran, intensifying a diplomatic crisis set in motion by the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric the previous day.



Foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Reuters on Monday the kingdom was halting air traffic and trade links with the Islamic republic, although none of the few Saudi companies with interests in Iran has yet announced changes to their operations.



Savola, the kingdom's largest food products company, which earns some 13 percent of total revenues from Iran, said on Tuesday it plans to maintain its investments there despite the standoff.



But it and the few other Saudi companies doing business in Iran faced increasing public pressure over the course of the week, as consumer and business groups called for boycotts of Iranian products.



Chamber of commerce leaders told local daily newspaper Al-Riyadh that Saudi businesses should replace Iranian goods with alternatives from other Arab and Islamic countries.



A trade boycott would cause the kingdom little economic harm, they said, noting that imports from Iran mainly consist of pistachio nuts and pickles.



Consumer activist group Mogatah also urged Saudi businesses to remove Iranian goods from their shelves, posting photos of Iranian products for sale in Saudi Arabia on social media along with calls to support the government's policy.



The group scolded Swedish home goods retailer Ikea for selling a Persian carpet with a "Made in Iran" label at its stores in Saudi Arabia, and applauded a local Riyadh-based carpet shop chain for deciding to end sales of Iranian rugs. - Reuters
Wyoming's largest utility is continuing its transition from coal.

PacifiCorp announced this week it would back a bill in the Oregon Legislature aimed at eliminating nearly all the northwestern state's consumption of coal-fired power by 2030.

The bill would likely have little immediate impact on Wyoming if it were passed, industry observers said. No Wyoming coal plants would shut down earlier than their planned retirement dates. Cowboy State ratepayers are unlikely to see an increase in their monthly electric bills as a result of the move, they said.

Instead, Oregon consumers would effectively pay down their share of PacifiCorp's coal units sooner than originally planned under the bill.

But the measure illustrates the growing challenge facing Wyoming, the country's top coal-producing state, as lawmakers in Salem and other state capitals attempt to transition their power sectors away from the carbon-laden fuel.

"The political climate in Oregon was clearly such that they wanted a specific plan and road map so Oregon would not be supporting coal generation by a specific date," said Dave Eskelsen, a PacifiCorp spokesman. "They want to get out of the coal business. This is what this is about."

Oregon and Wyoming's power systems are closely intertwined. Many of PacifiCorp's power plants are located in Wyoming, with coal units like the Jim Bridger Power Plant in Point of Rocks and the Naughton Plant in Kemmerer generating 60 percent of the Portland-based utility's electricity.

Roughly a quarter of the PacifiCorp customers, meanwhile, call Oregon home.

Oregon is not a large consumer of Wyoming-mined coal. The state's lone coal plant in Boardman was already scheduled to close in 2020.

The plant consumed roughly 2.2 million tons of Powder River Basin coal in 2014, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration figures. Alpha Natural Resources' Eagle Butte (815,000 tons) and Belle Ayr (652,000 tons) mines accounted for the majority of that total.

Coal nevertheless accounts for about a third of the state's electricity generation, with much of it burned outside Oregon.

PacifiCorp is responsible for much of that power. The utility produces almost 28 percent of Oregon's electricity, behind only Portland General Electric.

Consumers in PacifiCorp's six-state region share the Portland-based utility's systemwide costs, with each paying a percentage based on their consumption. Utah is the leading PacifiCorp state, accounting for 44 percent of its customer base, followed by Oregon (24 percent) and Wyoming (17 percent), where ratepayers are served by the utility's subsidiary, Rocky Mountain Power.

The six states participate in an agreement known as the Multistate Protocol, which outlines how costs are distributed. The current agreement is scheduled to expire at the close of 2016, but state negotiators are set to extend its provisions for two years to allow President Obama's new carbon regulations to play out, regulators in both states said.

Jason Salmi Klotz, a member of the Oregon Public Utility Commission, said he was still studying the measure when contacted Tuesday.

"If the bill passes, then the MSP would sit down and discuss how the costs are born and by whom," said Salmi-Klotz. "My guess is that because Oregon has done this to itself it would bear the cost."

Wyoming Public Service Commission Chairman Al Minier echoed that sentiment, though he noted the bill may raise issues when PacifiCorp moves to install costly haze controls around 2020.

Wyoming is unlikely to object to the bill as it concerns a matter of policy and does not address cost sharing, he said. The state's varying political climates are also a factor, he said.

"I cant imagine myself being particularly persuasive on the subject of this proposal in Oregon," Minier said.

The proposed legislation follows a plan recently approved by Oregon regulators, which set Beaver State ratepayers on a path to pay down their share in PacifiCorp's coal units by 2030.

The legislation would also ensure Portland General Electric pays down its interest in Montana's Colstrip facility by 2035.

PacifiCorp joined Portland General Electric and a host of conservation groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club, in backing the measure.

The bill requires Oregon boost its supply of renewable power to 50 percent by 2050. That total does not include hydropower. And it commits the state to executing all feasible energy efficiency measures before a utility can build a new power plant.

PacifiCorp has voiced support for moving away from coal-fired generation in recent years, saying in planning documents that it would replace its coal-fired units with natural gas and renewables when its older plants are retired.

"Our only point is that as we make the transition away from coal, it is done in an orderly way that preserves reliability and doesnt led to price spikes," Eskelsen said. "This is part of that process and what works for Oregon."

This article has been updated. The Boardman Plant is scheduled to close in 2020.
Monday's Highlights

Fun stuff to do Monday.

Monday support meetings

Alcoholics Anonymous: 6:30 a.m., 917 N. Beech; 10 a.m., 328 E. A St.; 10 a.m., 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200; 6 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200; 7 p.m., Glenrock: 615 W. Deer St. (downstairs); 7:30 p.m., Expect a Miracle, 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200, closed; 8 p.m., 328 E. A St.; 8 p.m., Douglas, 628 S. Richards #5. Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are open. Casper info: 266-9578; Douglas info: (307) 351-1576.

Al-Anon: Noon, 701 S. Wolcott, St. Mark's Church.

Life After Loss Suicide Support Group: 6 p.m., Calvary Chapel, 341 E. "E" St., Ste. 135A. Info: Mark, 251-8231. $12 donation optional.

Narcotics Anonymous: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 7 p.m., 302 E. 2nd, Methodist Church; 8 p.m., 4700 S. Poplar (church basement). Web site: http://www.urmrna.org.

Overeaters Anonymous: 7 p.m., 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott. Info: Candace, 359-6225; Rebekah, 320-6779.

Teen Addiction Anonymous: 3:30-4:30 p.m., Boys & Girls Club Teen Center. Info: 258-7439.

Mills Mountain View Lions Club

7 p.m., Mills Community Hall, 426 Fourth St. Regular meeting.

Adult Children of Alcoholics

11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott St., Suite 200.

TOPS Weight Loss

5:30 p.m., Weight Loss Support Group TOPS #246, Wyoming Oil & Gas Building, 2211 King Blvd. Motivational speakers and programs. Use NE door entry. Info: 265-1486.

Low vision support meets

Casper Area Low Vision Support Group will hold its monthly meeting at 10 a.m., at the Casper Senior Citizen Center. Featured speaker will be Ryan Ness from the Casper Fire Department speaking on fire safety during the winter months. Visitors are welcome.

Fine Arts meets

Casper Fine Arts Club will meet at 1 p.m. at Bethel Baptist Church, 3030 S. Poplar. The program will be presented by Marge Anderson and Claranne Cannon and called "Slides on Burma."

Business meeting at 1 p.m.; program at 1:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome! For more information contact India Hayford, president, at 577-1148.

Train to be hospice volunteer

Training classes for new volunteers will begin Monday. If you are 18 or older and would like to make a meaningful contribution to someones life, becoming a hospice volunteer is a good choice. There are many ways to be a part of the hospice team, all of which are important to the care each patient and family receives. If you are interested, please contact the Volunteer Coordinator, Leslie Kee, at 577-4832 or Lesliek@cwhp.org.

Tween Monday 'Finger Knitting'

Students in grades four through six are invited to attend our weekly Tween Monday program at 4 p.m. in the Natrona County Public Library's Crawford Room. Learn how to finger knit. Make a scarf or ear warmer! Call 577-READ, ext. 122, for more information.

Community impact at Pizza Ranch

Pizza Ranch, 5011 E. Second St., hosts Community Impact nights from 5 to 9 p.m. normally on Mondays and Wednesdays. Members of nonprofit groups bus tables for tips, and 20 percent of meal tickets from diners who mention the group are donated as well. Dine-in, delivery or pickup orders qualify. Monday's nonprofit is 4H Conference.

Free CNA training through CLIMB

CLIMB Wyoming will host an information meeting on free CNA training at 5:30 p.m., at the CLIMB Casper office, 632 S. David St. (note new location). Childcare is not provided; please plan accordingly. Training is at no cost to single mother participants. Start your career in a long-term care facility earning a starting wage of $12 per hour. Must be able to work multiple shifts. For more information about the meeting or this training program, call 237-2855. For more information about Climb Wyoming, see www.climbwyoming.org
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.  A Colorado judge has ruled that a hitchhiker accused of fatally stabbing a man who gave him a cross-country ride is mentally fit to stand trial.

Fourth Judicial District Judge Jann P. DuBois ruled Wednesday that 34-year-old Michael Ray understands the murder charge against him, ending more than six months of court battles over the defendant's mental health.

If he had been found incompetent, the case would have been placed on hold while Ray was treated at a mental health institute.

He was arrested in August 2014 in the stabbing death of 31-year-old Patrick Hampton.

Authorities say Hampton and his family were homeless and on a cross-country trip when they encountered Ray, also homeless, and agreed to let him ride along.
A group that wants the Wyoming Legislature to expand Medicaid to 20,000 low-income adults will hold panel discussions on the benefits of the Obamacare program Tuesday in Casper and Cheyenne.

Healthy Wyoming, a coalition of health groups such as the American Heart Association and business groups such as Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce, are hosting the forums. Each hourlong event will feature a panel discussion.

Medicaid expansion is a key part of the Affordable Care Act. It would provide health care to Wyomingites caught in a gap in which they earn too much money to qualify for traditional Medicaid but too little to get a subsidy on the health insurance exchange. Most are working poor.

Attorney Neil Short will be a panelist at the Casper event. He says expansion could have helped a 42-year-old client who was unable to work because he needed both hips replaced. The man didnt have access to health care.

Short helped the man with a disability claim last month that will give him access to health care. The man had waited nearly three years for a hearing.

If he had access to Medicaid through Medicaid expansion, he would already have had his hips replaced and he would have been back in the workforce, he said.

The federal government will pay 100 percent of Wyomings health care costs for expansion through the end of this year. In 2017, the number will decline to 95 percent. The federal contribution drops each year to 2020 and beyond, when the government will pay 90 percent. The state will be expected to cover the remainder of the costs.

The Wyoming Legislature has rejected expansion in each of the past three years. Most Republican lawmakers have said they oppose it because they think the government won't live up to its financial obligations, which would leave Wyoming on the hook for millions of dollars of health care costs.

Lawmakers meet in Cheyenne on Feb. 8 for about 20 days to adopt a two-year budget for the state. Republican Gov. Matt Mead has recommended the Legislature expand Medicaid to provide the state $268 million in federal money over the budget cycle. Revenues from oil, natural gas and coal will be down an estimated $210 million during that period -- a significant chunk of the states roughly $3.6 billion budget.

The Wyoming-based watchdog group Equality State Policy Center is a member of Healthy Wyoming. Its director, Brianna Jones, said the forums in Casper and Cheyenne are for Wyomingites who want to learn more about expansion, people who fall into the Medicaid gap and those who are concerned about the revenue shortfall.

The idea is to get the message out in communities about what expansion means for Wyoming, she said. Our basic message is expansion is a win-win for Wyoming because of the benefits of bringing back $268 million, because of the current budget situation and the shortfall. And because of the 20,000 who earn too little to afford insurance but are working hard and deserve quality, affordable health care.

Speakers for the Casper panel include Ann Ladd from the Wyoming Business Coalition on Health, retired orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Bailey, John Corra of the Wyoming Business Alliance and Short, the Casper attorney.

The Cheyenne forum will feature Jan Cartwright from the Wyoming Primary Care Association, Margo Karsten with Cheyenne Regional Medical Center and others.

Short said a lack of health care shouldnt force someone from being able to work and contribute.

Ive seen many people who would not qualify for disability or (Supplemental Security Income) but they have real health problems and they dont have access to health care, he said. If Medicaid expansion occurred, they really would.
The issue of whether Ted Cruz is constitutionally eligible to be president could not be more bogus. He is. Case closed.

I say this as someone who could scarcely be more concerned about the prospect of President Cruz. So concerned, in fact, that I have concluded, after much angsting, that President Trump would be preferable, given that nightmare choice. But notwithstanding Trump's typically ill-informed and situational insinuations (he didn't see any problem with Cruz having been born in Canada before Cruz posed a real threat), the constitutional requirement that the president be a natural-born citizen does not disqualify Cruz.

Article II, Section One, Clause 5 of the Constitution, setting out minimum requirements for the presidency, does not define the meaning of "natural-born citizen," a limitation intended, as John Jay wrote in a letter to George Washington, to "provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government."

Taken in a vacuum, "natural-born" is arguably ambiguous. It could be interpreted to apply to all who are citizens at birth, rather than those required to go through a naturalization proceeding to attain citizenship.

Or -- although this seems the more tortured analysis -- it could be interpreted to exclude those born outside the physical jurisdiction of the United States to citizen parents. That would include Cruz, who was born in Canada to a U.S citizen mother, and, therefore, automatically a citizen himself.

But even the strictest of constructionists do not argue for such a blinders-on approach. There is scant evidence of debate among the framers about the meaning of the term. Jay used it, underlined the word "born," and didn't clarify what he meant. Still, some of his own children were born abroad, and it makes little sense to assume he meant to exclude them from the presidency.

But previous interpretations from British jurisprudence and near contemporaneous legislation enacted by the new U.S. Congress all argue in favor of an interpretation that natural-born refers to anyone who is a U.S. citizen at birth, no matter where he or she was born.

The best analysis of this topic comes from two former U.S. solicitors general -- Neal Katyal, who served President Obama, and Paul Clement, who worked for President George W. Bush -- writing in the Harvard Law Review forum.

They conclude: "All the sources routinely used to interpret the Constitution confirm that the phrase 'natural-born citizen' has a specific meaning: namely, someone who was a U.S. citizen at birth with no need to go through a naturalization proceeding at some later time.

"And Congress has made equally clear from the time of the framing of the Constitution to the current day that, subject to certain residency requirements on the parents, someone born to a U.S. citizen parent generally becomes a U.S. citizen without regard to whether the birth takes place in Canada, the [Panama] Canal Zone or the continental United States."

The first source of interpretation involves the use of the phrase "natural-born" in British common law, which recognized that children born to subjects outside the empire were themselves "natural-born" subjects.

Second, just three years after the Constitution was drafted, the First Congress weighed in. The Naturalization Act of 1790 provided that "the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens."

As Katyal and Clement note, that evidence is "particularly persuasive because so many of the framers of the Constitution were also members of the First Congress. That is particularly true in this instance, as eight of the 11 members of the committee that proposed the natural-born eligibility requirement to the Convention served in the First Congress and none objected to a definition of 'natural-born citizen' that included persons born abroad to citizen parents."

The natural-born requirement was not an obstacle to the candidacy of Barry Goldwater, born in Arizona before it was a state. It was not an obstacle to George Romney, born in Mexico to U.S. citizen parents. It was not an obstacle to John McCain, born in the Canal Zone.

There are ample reasons to oppose a President Cruz. The place of his birth is not among them.
That is why we wonder about Gov. Matt Meads decision to gut the states drug and DUI courts.

These programs have documented successes. Not only do they change the lives of those willing to do the hard work that they require  they include intensive therapy and tight monitoring of behavior  but they also protect the public by cutting the repeat offenses that come from drug addiction and getting drunken drivers off the highways.

The numbers are real and impressive. A 2014 study of Laramie Countys programs shows a decline in arrests for drug court graduates from an average of 4.84 before entry into the program to 0.4 after leaving. At DUI court, it is 8.36 arrests before; 0.32 after. That means that everyone, not just the violator, benefits through less criminal activity.

And a study by the Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center shows that drug courts in Wyoming reduce recidivism  the return to a life of crime  by about 15.8 percent.

Then there is the fact that these court-supervised treatment programs more than pay for themselves. That same study from the Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center shows that for every dollar spent on drug court, $1.62 is avoided in costs to the taxpayers and crime victims. In other words, for every $1 million that the state uses to fund these programs, it gets $1.62 million in benefits. Thats a 62 percent return on investment.

Finally, as lawmakers consider Meads wrongheaded recommendation, they might want to consider pressures on the justice system if they dont fund these programs.

Currently there are 50 people enrolled in Laramie Countys two programs alone. Where will they end up if drug and DUI courts go away? In county jails? In prison? On probation? On the streets, still addicted and committing crimes? None of these seem like very good options, especially given that current jail and prison facilities are full.

It is disappointing to see Laramie County District Attorney Jeremiah Sandburg standing on the sidelines of this debate. Someone needs to step up for these programs, and surely the states prosecuting attorneys know their value. The coordinators of Wyomings drug and DUI courts should not have to handle this fight alone.

There should be a concerted, coordinated effort to keep drug and DUI courts running, and as the prosecutor in Wyomings largest county, Sandburg should be leading the charge.

And we urge lawmakers to keep open minds on this issue. Acting tough on crime is fine political talk, but helping people find their way to successful lives is a better approach. Bottom line: If these programs are closed, how will that make Wyoming a safer place to live?
Libya

Truck bomb kills 60 policemen, hurts 200

TRIPOLI  A massive truck bomb exploded near a police base in the western Libyan town of Zliten on Thursday, killing at least 60 policemen and wounding around 200 others, officials said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but a local Islamic State affiliate has been trying to gain a foothold in Zliten, spreading westward from its central stronghold in the city of Sirte along the North African countrys coast.

The U.N. special envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, denounced the attack and urged Libyans to put their differences aside and unite to confront the scourge of terrorism.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack as well as ongoing attacks by the Islamic State group on oil facilities near Sidra and called for a national unity government as the best way for Libyans to confront terrorism.

Israel

3 Palestinians dead

after attacks on soldiers

JERUSALEM  Palestinians brandishing knives attacked Israeli soldiers in two separate incidents in the West Bank on Thursday night before forces opened fire killing three assailants, the military said, in the latest violence in almost four months of near daily Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers.

The Israeli military said three Palestinians wielding knives rushed at troops Thursday evening at the Gush Etzion junction near Jerusalem, prompting the soldiers to open fire, killing two of them. The third attacker was wounded and taken to hospital. The area has been a frequent target for Palestinian attackers lately.

About two hours later a Palestinian tried to stab soldiers near the West Bank city of Hebron before he was shot and killed by forces, the military said.

Mexico

Navy rescues 9 Cubans in makeshift boat

MEXICO CITY  The Mexican Navy says it has rescued nine Cuban migrants found adrift in a makeshift boat off Mexicos Caribbean coast.

The Navy said Thursday the private, Panama-flagged tanker ship Chem Venus spotted the Cubans on Tuesday. The Navy dispatched a ship to pick up the seven men and two women at a spot about 30 miles east of Isla Mujeres. It said they had been turned over to immigration authorities.

Guyana

US to help crack down on gold smuggling

GEORGETOWN  The U.S. government is helping Guyana crack down on a massive smuggling operation that ships gold to New York, Miami, Europe and other countries in South America, authorities said Thursday.

Guyanese Mining Minister Raphael Trotman said the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are helping track down the money generated by the smugglers. Guyana estimates that some 15,000 troy ounces of raw gold are smuggled out of the country each week via planes and boats, representing roughly 50 to 60 percent of production mined by its small- and medium-scale miners. Gold is Guyanas main export.

Trotman said the U.S. agencies reached out after they noticed large amounts of gold were being declared at American ports but not in Guyana.

China

2 civilian jets land

on artificial island

BEIJING  Two civilian jets landed on the airstrip of a new island China built in the South China Sea, drawing more protests over Chinas activities in disputed waters.

The China Daily newspaper reported Thursday the planes made the two-hour flight to Fiery Cross Reef from Haikou on the southern island province of Hainan. It said the test flights on Wednesday proved the runways ability to safely handle large civilian aircraft. Photos showed one of the planes to be a China Southern Airlines Airbus A319-115.

Chinas building of seven islands by piling sand on reefs and atolls has been condemned by its neighbors and the United States, which accused China of raising tensions in an area where six governments maintain overlapping maritime territorial claims.

Nicaragua

15 Bangladeshis found stranded on highway

MANAGUA  Police in Nicaragua say they have found 15 Bangladeshi migrants wandering lost on a highway after their smugglers abandoned them.

Police Commissioner Leonidas Roque said the migrants were being taken from Costa Rica to Honduras. That route takes them across Nicaragua on their way to the United States.

Roque told local media Thursday the migrants were found disoriented about 12 miles south of Managua. The migrants said the smugglers had robbed them. They said they had walked for three days.

Wire reports
A Tucson group met with a harsh welcome from a fellow Arizonan at a federal building occupied by armed militia in Oregon.

Three men led by Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, founder of the Veterans on Patrol group that built a shelter for homeless veterans and others at Santa Rita Park, arrived in Burns, Oregon on Wednesday to get a friend out of the occupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The Oregonian newspaper reported a fight broke out between Meyers group and militant group member Blaine Cooper, who said on his Facebook page he is a resident of Humboldt, Arizona.

Meyer said Cooper punched him in the back of the head, but Phoenix resident Jon Ritzheimer said Meyers group shoved a guard, causing him to bloody his hand.

In a message posted Thursday afternoon on Facebook, Cooper said Meyer and two men entered the refuge Wednesday night and assaulted a disabled Vietnam veteran at the gate. They then stormed into the refuge and assaulted Cooper.

I do believe Lewis (Meyer) is a Paid Provocateur by the Feds (sic) to divide and destroy, Cooper wrote in the post.

Meyer told the Oregonian he went to the compound to get a friend, but the friend decided to stay. Meyer then tried to get women and children in the compound to leave, but was stopped by militia members.

A message posted on the Veterans on Patrol Facebook page Thursday afternoon said the militia members assaulted the groups Crisis Response Team.

We attempted to contact a friend in The Peoples Refuge unarmed and were (sic) attacked, the message stated.
A Tucson group received a harsh welcome from a fellow Arizonan at a federal building occupied by armed militia in Oregon.

Three men led by Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, founder of the Veterans on Patrol group that built a shelter for homeless veterans and others at Santa Rita Park, arrived in Burns, Oregon, on Wednesday to get a friend out of the occupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The Oregonian newspaper reported a fight broke out between Meyers group and militant group member Blaine Cooper, whose Facebook page says he lives in Humboldt, Arizona.

Meyer said Cooper punched him in the back of the head; Phoenix resident Jon Ritzheimer said Meyers group shoved a guard, causing the guard to bloody his hand.

In a Facebook message Cooper said Meyer and two men entered the refuge Wednesday night and assaulted a disabled Vietnam veteran. They then stormed into the refuge and assaulted Cooper.

I do believe Lewis (Meyer) is a Paid Provocateur by the Feds (sic) to divide and destroy, Cooper wrote in the post.

Meyer told the Oregonian he went to the compound to get a friend, but the friend decided to stay. Meyer then tried to get women and children in the compound to leave, but was stopped by militia members.
A sheriffs deputy shot and wounded a man Wednesday who had been taken into custody last week after running from U.S. marshals while stabbing himself in the neck, authorities said.

Kyle Montgomery, 22, was shot northwest of Tucson just after 2 p.m. near West Najo Lane and North Sandario Road, a rural area near West Picture Rocks Road.

Montgomery is facing charges of possession of a weapon by a prohibited possessor and possesion of a prohibited weapon. He has been booked in the Pima County jail.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who went to the scene after the shooting, said Montgomery was armed with a modified short-barrel rifle, and one deputy perceived a serious threat and shot him.

The deputy was not injured, and neither were two other deputies who also tracked Montgomery after he ran from a Family Dollar store in the area, said Deputy Courtney Rodriguez, a sheriffs spokeswoman.

Deputies responded to the area after receiving a report of a suspicious man at the Family Dollar at 6641 N. Sandario Road. When deputies arrived at the store the suspect ran, Rodriguez said.

The man hid in the bushes and deputies repeatedly ordered him to come out.

The man took out what appeared to be some weapon, and that is when the deputy fired, said Rodriguez.

Montgomery, who was shot in the shoulder, was taken to Banner-University Medical Center, with non-life-threatening injuries, said Rodriguez.

Deputy Kurt Dabb, a 14-year veteran of the department, was identified as the deputy that shot Montgomery. He has been placed on administrative leave during the shooting investigation, which is standard procedure.

On Dec. 30, Montgomery was seriously injured after stabbing himself in the neck while fleeing officers on the northwest side, authorities said.

A U.S. marshals task force was looking for a suspect at the Red Roof Inn, near West Ina Road and I-10, when they encountered a man matching the suspects description, Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Quentin Mehr said last week. The man saw the marshals and ran before they could make contact, running across the eastbound lanes of I-10 and over the median, Mehr said.

While the suspect was running across the westbound lanes of the freeway, he was almost struck by a vehicle, then took out a pocket knife and stabbed himself in the neck, according to Mehr.

Fire crews took the man to Banner-UMC to be treated for his injuries.

While being admitted to the hospital, Montgomery, who was not the suspect the marshals were originally seeking, was found to be in possession of narcotics, Mehr said.

DPS referred the case to the Pima County Attorneys Office to review possible charges, but the man was not arrested at that time, and was undergoing treatment.

Nanos said Montgomery was supposed to undergo a mental health evaluation stemming from the incident last week.

Our mental health support team served an order, a civil order, for him to go to court for a hearing on his mental health status on Monday. He was supposed to go to Superior Court for a mental health evaluation, said Nanos on Wednesday.

He did not go. He was in a mental health care facility, Sonora Behavioral Health (Hospital and Inpatient Treatment), because he was in custody there, Nanos explained. The facility released him sometime after that. I dont understand this.

I just cannot believe this, said Nanos. It is ironic that we dont have a mental health-care system in place here. We need some of the money President Obama approved in his package for mental health-care treatment.
A Tucson man was sentenced to five years in prison for starting fires at the federal courthouse and post office.

Cleophus Emanuel Cooksey, 55, pleaded guilty to starting two fires in the lobby of the U.S. Post Office Cherrybell Station in July 2015. Employees and customers were present during the fires, but nobody was injured, the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a news release Friday.

Cooksey also started a fire in August 2015 in the bushes outside the Evo A. DeConcini Federal Courthouse. Nobody was injured in the fire.
Mental illness lurched into local consciousness after that awful day five years ago.

Since Jared Lee Loughners psychotic explosion, weve improved tremendously around here in recognizing people in crisis and trying to get them help. Citizens have taken mental-health first-aid courses. Many more police officers have crisis intervention training.

And yet, as events Wednesday showed, every day were still perched on the razors edge between community safety on one side and, on the other side, one persons internal crisis becoming a public tragedy.

A series of coincidences showed us that this week.

First, on Wednesday morning, a man, who had already spoken incoherently to police dispatchers, went on and did something really strange. He backed his RV out of the parking lot at the Miracle Mile police station, up over the curb and up almost against the building.

Then he told dispatchers he had tactical gear, explosives and propane and threatened to blow the place up.

What ensued could be considered a good result of our raised consciousness. The police cleared everybody out of the area, set up positions, then talked and waited, talked and waited, talked and waited.

Snipers and SWAT tacticians surrounded the scene. It was poised for an eruption  gunfire or an explosion. But it didnt end that way. After the man, whom police identified as 37-year-old Thomas Scott Mills Jr., tried to light the inside of his RV on fire, firefighters soaked the inside of the vehicle with water and police ended the standoff peacefully.

H. Clarke Romans, the executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Southern Arizona, liked what he saw from Tucson police.

I am sure that the CIT (crisis intervention training) had a profound impact on the 10-hour standoff, Romans said.

It is a situation where you could easily imagine the outcome being the bullet-riddled body of Mr. Mills and a halfhearted investigation of police conduct. Now Mills has a chance at life, small though it may be with prison looming and little help to be found there.

The young man involved in Wednesdays second incident, Kyle Montgomery, is also lucky to be alive, though a Pima County sheriffs deputy did shoot him in the shoulder. Deputies were called to a Family Dollar in Picture Rocks, and Montgomery fled when they arrived and hid from them. He raised a short-barreled rifle when they found him, and a deputy fired, authorities said.

The problem is our system still fails to deal well with people like Montgomery, putting them, law-enforcement officers and the public in danger.

Montgomery was in trouble just last week, on Dec. 30, when he fled from U.S. marshals looking for someone else, running into traffic on I-10 near Ina Road and stabbing himself in the neck. He was in the hospital a few days for treatment of the neck wound, then taken to Sonora Behavioral Health.

Sheriff Chris Nanos said that by the time deputies went to serve him with a warrant to have an involuntary mental-health evaluation, he had already been released.

This man is going to be killed or kill somebody, and that is a shame. Nobody can seem to figure this out, Nanos said. If hed have shot one of my deputies, God forbid, this would be a completely different conversation.

Montgomerys mother, Dawn Wilson, told me hes been having substance-abuse and mental-health problems for a few years. He spent more than two years in prison for burglary, getting out last fall, and returned straight to the bad scene that had gotten him in trouble in the first place.

Nothing good came out of going to prison, she said. He came out a different person.

In other words, he came out worse off then he already was.

She was disappointed that Sonora discharged him Tuesday before he was any better. They would not pursue involuntary treatment, Wilson said, because his problems were depression and substance abuse.

That infuriates Nanos. He feels the areas cops have drastically improved their response to people in mental crisis, but the system is now failing the officers who put in that effort, as well as the mentally ill.

For five years now, weve recognized our failings, Nanos said. We werent keeping track of people. We just turned them loose. Jared Loughner woke us up.

Now, he said, Were putting in an effort, and were not seeing a return.

Part of the problem is systemic and seems almost impossible to resolve. Our laws in Arizona are progressive  they allow an adult to petition for the involuntary evaluation of another person even if its just because the other person is persistently or acutely disabled. But young men like Montgomery are still adults and have the legal right to turn down treatment and fight involuntary commitments.

Another part of the problem is financial, Romans said.

Weve cut mental-health funding year after year after year, and case managers dont have what they should have in terms of clients. (Instead of) like 30 clients  theyve got 100, he said.

When we reduce taxes and impose hiring freezes, that comes with a cost. We cant help as many people who need it.

But of course we dont generally hear of the success stories, either. I sat in on a conference call with Mark Kelly and Gabrielle Giffords Thursday, and he pointed out the positive news.

While outlining his gun-related executive actions Tuesday, President Obama also announced $500 million in additional spending on mental-health care and reporting, Kelly pointed out. He also noted that if a person in crisis gets help and gets better, that tends to go unnoticed.

True enough, yet the coincidence of two mental-health-related police emergencies in Tucson Wednesday, during the same week of the anniversary of the Jan. 8, 2011, attacks, shows how much more progress we still have to make.
With some 130 classrooms in the Tucson area being led by substitute teachers who often lack professional training, there is little school districts arent willing to do to get qualified teachers in the door.

As of Dec. 4, 84 Arizona districts reported more than 1,200 open positions halfway through the school year. Of those, 700 had been vacated since the start of school.

While cross-country recruiting trips, signing bonuses, loan forgiveness and other incentives are worthwhile efforts, they arent going to solve the teacher shortage in Arizona or anywhere else, an education expert says.

Weve done research that have shown between 40 and 50 percent of new teachers quit within five years, Richard Ingersoll, a University of Pennsylvania teacher retention expert, told a crowd of more than 500 Tucson educators, business leaders and community supporters Thursday. In plain terms, theres nothing wrong with bringing thousands of new people into teaching, but if we lose 40 to 50 percent, we not only dont solve the problem, we lose a lot of investment.

The problem isnt so much that we have too few teachers coming into teaching. Its that we have too many leaving.

Ingersoll and Ninive Calegari, CEO and founder of the Teacher Salary Project, were in town as part of the Lets Talk Ed: Teacher Workforce summit. It was sponsored by Raytheon, the Southern Arizona Leadership Council, Tucson Values Teachers and other community partners.

Others who spoke on retaining quality teachers and restoring respect to the profession included Arizona Board of Regents President Eileen Klein, Arizona Education Association President Andrew Morrill, Expect More Arizona President and CEO Pearl Chang Esau, and Support Our Schools AZ executive director Jennifer Johnson.

For Ingersoll, getting to the bottom of the teacher shortage starts with focusing on how schools operate because thats where the problems and solutions are found, he said.

A national analysis from the 2012-13 school year showed that job dissatisfaction was a leading factor behind teacher turnover. A majority of public school teachers  66 percent  cited their particular source of dissatisfaction stemmed from administration. About half pointed to a lack of influence and autonomy and classroom intrusions.

Other factors included being dissatisfied with accountability or testing, student discipline problems and being dissatisfied with teaching assignments.

Only 29 percent of teachers cited poor salary and class size.

The national data presented by Ingersoll parallels data collected as part of a local study by Tucson Values Teachers, though Arizonas lower-than-average pay may weigh more heavily on educators here than it does elsewhere.

A look at median annual teacher pay in Tucson and metropolitan areas like Phoenix, Colorado Springs, Austin, Albuquerque, Denver, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, El Paso, San Antonio, Portland and San Diego found Tucson educators at the bottom, even with cost of living factored in.

How do we keep our teachers in Tucson and Arizona when theyre better off in every single metropolitan area that we compared to on the map? asked University of Arizona research economist Jennifer Pullen. Their wages buy them more locally priced goods and services in every single area we explored on the map when compared to Tucson and Phoenix.

That could all change with some political will, said Ingersoll who described Arizonas low teacher pay as extreme and said he was stunned to learn that Arizonas surplus is not being tapped to improve education.

Arizona Education Association President Andrew Morrill agreed with Ingersoll, saying the shortage of people willing to teach is a direct reflection of the working conditions that have been created.

When a state has neither the financial means currently nor a lot of evidence of the political will to respect and value teachers, how do we make our respect for teachers material? Morrill said.

The community must look to the lawmakers they elect to ensure they support programs and policies that are good for teachers and good for kids, said Expect More Arizonas Esau.

Celebrating teachers, investing time and money into schools and local organizations that support schools are other steps community members can take to improve the situation, Chang Esau said.
A former state lawmaker from Southern Arizona faces misdemeanor charges over over allegations he was hunting in a closed area on Fort Huachuca.

Former Republican state Sen. Frank Antenori attended an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Tucson on Wednesday on the charge he unlawfully entered military land to hunt game.

The state charge against Antenori is a Class 2 misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of four months in jail, two years probation and $750 in fines. The matter is being handled in federal court, however, because it occurred on federal land.

This is clearly, in my opinion, payback for my creating headaches for the environmental folks at Fort Huachuca, Antenori told the Arizona Daily Star on Thursday.

Antenori said the issue began in early 2014 when he drew a tag to hunt bear on Fort Huachuca.

Hunting is permitted and common on the fort and other expansive military installations.

But the hunt was called off, Antenori said, because biologists working on the fort found female bears with cubs in the area.

Antenori said this, and subsequent closures, were done arbitrarily and counter to established cooperative agreements between the states and the Army for wildlife management on military property.

Some biologist on the fort loves little bears and doesnt want anyone hunting bears on Fort Huachuca, he said.

So Antenori took his complaints first to the Arizona Game and Fish Department and later to Congresswoman Martha McSallys office and the office of U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake.

This set the fort off now because I dragged Congress into this, he said.

Flakes office provided a correspondence it had with Fort Huachuca officials discussing Antenoris concerns between May and July of last year.

Army officials responded, in part, noting areas on base had been closed as result of safety concerns.

Range Control recommended and the Garrison Commander approved closing several training areas due to Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) contamination, not funding issues, the response from Fort Huachuca officials read.

Army officials were less specific when asked about Antenoris claim that base biologists harbor anti-hunting sentiment, saying their staffers work closely with the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in making decisions about wildlife management.

The Arizona Daily Star also contacted McSallys offices and Fort Huachucas public information office requesting comment but did not hear back by the end of the day Thursday.

The incident for which Antenori was charged occurred in August when he was bowhunting for deer.

Antenori said military police made a routine contact to check his hunting license and confirm where he had been.

It wasnt for weeks after the hunting trip that Antenori received notice of any alleged wrongdoing when Fort Huachuca police called him and asked that he meet with them. He declined the invitation on the advice of his attorney.

Then in December, Antenori said, he received notice in the mail that he had been charged and was required to attend an initial appearance in district court.

While court documents say Antenori did take wildlife or used devices in a manner that may have resulted in the capturing or killing of wildlife he said he killed no game in the hunt.

I didnt even release an arrow, he said.

Instead, Antenori said, hes being prosecuted for walking through an area normally open to hunting that was closed, without his knowledge, on the day he was there.

Antenori said hes certain the case will be dismissed when the U.S. magistrate judge hears the facts of the case.

He pleaded not guilty at Wednesdays hearing. He has another court appearance scheduled for March 7.
A Tucson group received a harsh welcome from a fellow Arizonan at a federal building occupied by armed militia in Oregon.

Three men led by Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, founder of the Veterans on Patrol group that built a shelter for homeless veterans and others at Santa Rita Park, arrived in Burns, Oregon, on Wednesday to get a friend out of the occupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The Oregonian newspaper reported a fight broke out between Meyers group and militant group member Blaine Cooper, whose Facebook page says he lives in Humboldt, Arizona.

Meyer said Cooper punched him in the back of the head; Phoenix resident Jon Ritzheimer said Meyers group shoved a guard, causing the guard to bloody his hand.

In a Facebook message Cooper said Meyer and two men entered the refuge Wednesday night and assaulted a disabled Vietnam veteran. They then stormed into the refuge and assaulted Cooper.

I do believe Lewis (Meyer) is a Paid Provocateur by the Feds (sic) to divide and destroy, Cooper wrote in the post.

Meyer told the Oregonian he went to the compound to get a friend, but the friend decided to stay. Meyer then tried to get women and children in the compound to leave, but was stopped by militia members.

The Veterans on Patrol Facebook page said militia members assaulted the groups Crisis Response Team. One of the Veterans on Patrol members was taken to the hospital with what The Oregonian reported was a black eye.
Poor driving conditions caused by the winter storm have forced the closure of multiple state highways, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation. ADOT recommends avoiding travel in storm-impacted areas unless it is necessary.

The following highways are closed as of Thursday night:

 Arizona 80 between Tombstone and Bisbee.

 Arizona 90 between Sierra Vista and the Arizona 80 juncture.

 Interstate 40 eastbound at Ash Fork, milepost 146.

 Interstate 17 northbound at milepost 307, about 20 miles north of Camp Verde.

 US 60 between Globe and Superior.

Additionally, US 93 is closed in both directions at milepost 170, about 25 northwest of Wickenburg, because of a crash.

For the most current information about highway closures and restrictions statewide, visit ADOTs Travel Information Site at www.az511.gov, follow the department on Twitter (@ArizonaDOT) or call 5-1-1.
Wings Over Willcox

 What: Wings Over Willcox Birding and Nature Festival

 When: Wednesday through Sunday, Jan. 13-17. Most events will take place following a welcoming reception from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, at the community center in Willcox, 312 W. Stewart St.

 Information: The festival website  http://www.wingsoverwillcox.com  has details about tours, seminars, speakers, area attractions and other information.

 Contact: 1-520-384-2272
PHOENIX  A veteran state lawmaker wants to block communities trying to boost their revenues through a special interim census from counting residents who are not in this country legally.

The legislation crafted by Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, would allow cities, towns and counties to count only those who are U.S. citizens, nationals of U.S. territories, or are legally admitted to the United States. More to the point, SB 1044 would forbid counting anyone who is an illegal immigrant.

Kavanaghs move come as several Arizona cities are conducting mid-decade counts to get a more accurate figure of how many people are present. That can have immediate financial consequences as some state dollars are doled out to communities based on population.

Theres a lot of money involved.

This past budget year the state distributed nearly $609 million in urban revenue sharing. State transportation dollars also are allocated to communities at least in part based on population.

In general, the larger the community, the bigger the slice.

How many people are here illegally remains a guess at best.

Pew Hispanic estimated there are 11.3 million undocumented individuals in the country. And its most recent figures for Arizona put the figure at about 300,000.

Where they are within the state, however, is one of those unknowns that Kavanagh hopes to determine through his legislation.

The question remains, though, whether its fair to cut aid based on whether someone who is living in a city or town is legally present.

Kavanagh, whose wife, Linda, is the mayor of Fountain Hills, sees the issue from a different perspective.

Why should the people in Fountain Hills get less state-shared revenue because there are more illegal immigrants in Phoenix? he asked.

Nor is he dissuaded by arguments that communities have to provide services to all in their borders, here legally or not.

If a city that has that problem wants to perhaps pressure the federal government to do their job and remove these people, then this will encourage that, Kavanagh said.

He conceded there are flaws to the plan.

One is that, no matter what happens in a mid-decade tally, the Census Bureaus official decennial count will include all residents, legal or not. So the new revenue sharing figures after 2020 would be reset based on total population.

Then theres the simple question of why anyone would admit to someone who shows up at the door there are people present who are not here legally. But Kavanagh said his 20 years as a police officer suggests otherwise.
A Tucson man was sentenced to 56 months in federal prison for his role in a cross-country cocaine distribution ring.

Caleb Echevarria, 23, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to a sentencing document filed Jan. 6 in U.S. District Court.

Echevarria was arrested for working with Joel Sesma-Garcia, a 41-year-old Tucson resident who was sentenced last year to 25 years in prison, to transport more than 1,100 pounds of cocaine across the country and bring about $12 million in cash back to Tucson.

During the distribution rings operation from 2008 to 2012, the drugs were hidden in false compartments built into vehicles that were driven by the conspirators or transported on commercial car haulers from Tucson to New York, Alabama, Ohio, and Florida. Those same false compartments carried the cash back to Tucson, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office.

A sentencing memorandum filed by Echevarrias defense attorney described Echevarria, who lived in Nogales, Mexico while attending Rio Rico High School, as simply a kid in the neighborhood who was taken in by the comfort and financial support of Sesma.

During his 18 months with the distribution ring, Echevarria drove a load of drugs to Brooklyn, New York in 2011, but was arrested in Maryland, his lawyer said. Echevarria tried to stay away from Tucson, but returned to Tucson at Sesmas request and worked as his errand boy.

Another 10 conspirators were prosecuted in New York, Alabama, and Arizona, including a 15-year sentence for Tucson resident Gerald Fidel Herrera, 42.
Help India!

By Zaidul Haque

Kolkata: The unrest in Malda over the comments made by Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwary continues, with Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) applied in the area and 10 police officials transferred.

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The police have sent two of the accused to six-day jail custody and the remaining eight have been sent to 14-day jail custody.

On Sunday, law and order in Malda went out of control during protests organised by a Muslim organisation against hurtful comments made by Tiwary on Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). During protests, the police station was ransacked and public property was vandalised. With a view of maintaining peace in the area, BJP MLA Shamik Bhattacharya was stopped by police from entering the Kaliachak. Shamik Bhattacharya claimed the civilian who died during the vandalism, Gopal Tewary, was their supporter. But local residents said Gopal was associated with a temple as priest.

On Wednesday, more than 25 supporters along with BJP MLA Shamik Lahiri and state BJP leader Biswapriya Lahiri and Uttam Dutta were stopped from entering Kalichak. BJP MLA Shamik Lahiri condemned the incident and said this incident was pre-planned by Bangladesh infiltrators. He demanded the National Investigating Agency to investigate the matter and also criticised the police for not allowing them to enter Kaliachak. However, the police said that since Section 144 had been applied in the area, it was now preventing the entry of outsiders.

On Wednesday a delegates of BJP members led by state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh met with Governor Keshariath Tripathi and submitted a memorandum to take immediate action against the culprits. A section of Malda district BJP claims they informed to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who would also visit Kalichak on 18 January. But a source at the Chief Ministers Office in Nabanna said they were not aware of any such decision.

District Trinamul Congress President Moazzem Hossain condemned the vandalism of protestors and requested them to maintain peace and harmony. CPI (M) MP Mohammed Salim said the state intelligence had an idea of how many people would gather, but they ignored the situation and deployed only a few police constables. He also criticised the communal politics of BJP.

State Secretary of Jamiat Ulama-e Hind Maulana Siddiqullah Chowdhury said while comments of Tiwary were not acceptable, no one should do vandalism in the name of protests. We only demand action against him as per Indian law. We should be careful not to take law and order in our own hands, he said.
Help India!

By Hana Ashraf and Anees M for Twocircles.net

There is nothing more important in student politics than the ongoing tension in FTII Pune, if one were to read national media.

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Until you type Dalit students on Google News. News of torture, ostracisation and harassment abound; but these incidents are another story in the newspapers.

One wonders what it will take for Dalit issues, and the condition of Dalit students in Indian universities, to get the attention it deserves. As we write this, five Dalit students have been socially boycotted and expelled from hostels and other public spaces, by the authorities of the University of Hyderabad after a series of dramatic incidents revolving around a brawl between two students groups in the campus. But unlike FTII, this has failed to get any media attention.

And all this allegedly started with the proposed screening of a documentary, which the BJP and thereby, its student wing, does not want anyone to see. Muzaffarnagar Baqi Hai is a documentary that probes into the unexplored questions about the Muzaffarnagar riots.

On August 2, 2015, Ambedkar Students Association (ASA), along with Ambedkar Reading Group, University of Delhi, Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, IIT, Madras, ASA (TISS), Mumbai and concerned students from IIT Bombay issued a joint statement condemning ABVP attack on screening of Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hain. Subsequently, ASA- UoH organised a protest demonstration the next day.

Following this ABVP-HCU Unit President and State committee member, termed the SC, ST. OBC, Minority and like-minded members of ASA as GOONS. When this act was invoked as atrocious, he tendered written apology in presence of the security officer of the UoH who gave a statement to the proctorial board that the ABVP student was not subjected to any form of violence whatsoever.

Later, he fabricated this issue as a case of man handling by ASA leaders before linking the ongoing strife with ASAs stand against capital punishment following the hanging of Yakub Memon. Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and the ABVP in the campus together manipulated the facts and branded Dalits as casteist, extremist and anti-nationals.

On the falsified complaint of the ABVP leader, the university Proctorial Committee unanimously suspended Dontha Prashanth, Rohith Vemula, Seshu Chemudugunta, Vijay Kumar P Sundar and Sunkanna Velpula. After student organisations protested against this atrocity, the administration revoked the suspension and promised to constitute a new committee and conduct a fresh inquiry about the incidents.

However, due to the pressure of the external right-wing Hindutva forces, the promise was violated by the university authority because the current decision to expel these students from the hostels and other public spaces remains based on the previously-biased inquiry report.

Subsequently, all student organisations in the university, except of course, ABVP, united to form a Joined Action Committee for Social Justice. In a statement issued by ASA-HCU on Facebook, which can be read here the ASA have shown how systematically, the administration continued to protect the ABVP members.

The issue that is more disturbing is the fact that these students have not been able to get an impartial inquiry from within the university. Now they have to depend on the judiciary and outside organisations to ensure that their voices are heard. The proctorial committee that is supposed to look into the issue without any prejudices is now acting as the puppets of right-wing Brahmanical forces.

Take the issue of manhandling ABVP members. BJP MLC, Mr. Ramachandra Rao met the Vice-Chancellor along with some of his party cadre and insisted that the Vice-Chancellor should take action against the Dalit students, terming them as anti-national. Later, an Inquiry Committee was constituted by Professor R.P Sharma, former Vice-Chancellor, under the chairmanship of Professor Alok Pandey. To quote the findings: The Board could not get any hard evidence of beating of Mr.Susheel Kumar either from Mr Krishna Chaitnya or from the reports submitted by Dr. Anupama. Dr. Anupamas reports also could not link or suggest that the surgery of the Sushil Kumar is the direct result of the beating.

However, the final decision of the Proctorial board contradicted diametrically with its own finding. Based on the Medical officer report (explained by Dr. Anupama), main complainant Susheel Kumars deposition and pictures by him and the depositions of two eyewitnesses (names are kept confidential) of the incident, it was evidently cleared that Mr.Susheel Kumar was abused, manhandled, beaten, forced to write apology letter by a group of more than 30 students, lead by Prashant. The main and most active students involved and named by the complainant and mostly confirmed by eyewitnesses, in abusing and hitting are Prashant, Rohit, Seshu, Vijay and Sunkanna, says the Proctorial Board. How did they arrive on this decision? No one knows.

It is clear that these are adverse conditions in which marginalised students are unable to get a fair inquiry. If this committee fails to set up a proper inquiry with the knowledge of the concerned students and obstruct the delivery of justice, then what hope will the student community have in their proper execution of justice?

For expelled students, solidarity and support

The Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (UoH) on January 6 burnt an effigy of the Union Cabinet Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya protesting his alleged involvement in the ongoing tension in University of Hyderabad. In the public meeting conducted on the same day, several prominent figures came in support of the students and condemned the casteist decision of the university to expel five Dalit research scholars from the hostel and other public spaces.

Telangana SC/ST Employees Welfare Association President Rambabu and All India Mala Mahanadu President Karem Shivaji spoke in the meeting and said that they will intensify protests in the city against Bandaru Dattatreya for misleading MHRD and for being the direct reason for social boycott of Dalit Research Scholars. Dr.Tathagat Sengupta of Democratic Teachers Network and Prof.K.Laxminarayana condemned the decision of University and severely criticised Bandaru Dattatreya and BJPs attempt to thwart on Campus Democracy. Battula Karthik and Sathish Nainala, student representatives from EFLU, and representatives of different student organisation of UoH also spoke in the programme and supported the expelled.

The authors are currently pursuing Masters in Communication from the University of Hyderabad
Help India!

By TwoCircles.net, Staff Reporter

Srinagar: A day after Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed died, the state is heading towards Governor rule as his 56-year-old daughter and PDP MP Mehbooba Mufti is showing reluctance in immediately taking over as the first woman chief minister of J&K .

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According to PDP insiders, Mehbooba is in grief and shock after the death of her father, who was admitted to in All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi, and had remained in its intensive care unit since December 24.

As of now, the Governor of J&K, N N Vohra, hasnt yet issued any order of putting state under governor rule.

According to experts, a constitutional crisis in Jammu and Kashmir will be averted only if someone is quickly sworn in as the new chief minister after the death of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.

If Peoples Democratic Party president and Sayeeds daughter Mehbooba Mufti insists on not taking oath till the end of mourning for her father on the fourth day (Sunday) as per Islamic traditions, Governor N.N. Vohra will have no option but to impose a short spell of governors rule, senior lawyer Sheikh Shakeel told IANS.

The governor will have to use extraordinary powers vested in him by the constitution to keep the assembly in suspended animation till he works out the possibility of a democratically elected government in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

Under the J&K constitution, the governor can assume the reins of the state for six months in case of a constitutional crisis whereas Presidents rule is imposed in other states in the country.

When head of the council of ministers (chief minister) in the state ceases to exist for whatever reason, the council also ceases to exist, he added.

He said the party with the largest number of MLAs in the 87-member assembly must immediately approach the governor to claim support of the majority in the house.

The governor will then invite the person for the swearing-in after satisfying himself about the claims genuineness. The person sworn in as chief minister later submits a list of council of ministers to the governor who will then administer the oath of office individually to each such member.

Amid Mehboobas immediate indisposition to take over reins of state, the BJPs Secretary General Ram Madhav reached out to Srinagar to condole demise of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed whereas state BJP leaders were kept waiting all day at states circuit house where Madhav was scheduled to convene a press conference.

According to sources, the BJP legislators are yet to forward letter of support to governor for backing Mehbooba Mufti as next CM of J&K.
"Tai-wiki-widbee" is an eclectic mix of trivialities, ephemera, curiosities, and exotica with a smattering of current events, social commentary, science, history, English language and literature, videos, and humor. We try to be the cyberequivalent of a Victorian cabinet of curiosities.


Oscar Ray Bolin, a former carnival worker who was convicted of killing 3 Tampa Bay-area women then married a member of his defense team while on death row, was executed Thursday in Florida.

Gov. Rick Scott's office said Bolin was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 10:16 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke. The scheduled 6 p.m. execution time was delayed until the U.S. Supreme Court rejected without comment Bolin's final appeal.

The death warrant Scott signed in October is for the 1986 slaying of Teri Lynn Matthews. The 26-year-old Matthews was abducted from a post office in Pasco County, just north of Tampa.

Bolin was also sentenced to death for the killing of 17-year-old Stephanie Collins. A jury also gave him the death penalty for killing 25-year-old Natalie Holley, but that verdict was thrown out because of legal errors. All three women were stabbed.

Another jury eventually found him guilty of second-degree murder in the Holley case.

Matthews' mother, Kathleen Reeves, and Collins' family were present for the execution. Reeves said it doesn't matter that Bolin was not executed for all three cases "because he only dies once."

"He dies for all of our girls."

Bolin said "no sir" when asked if he wanted to make a final statement Thursday night. The execution procedure took about 12 minutes, during which Bolin's chest heaved for several minutes as he took a number of deep breaths.

On Wednesday, Bolin told the Fox 13 television station that he was innocent. Bolin told the TV station that evidence used to convict him was both tampered with and planted.

"My conscience is clear," he told the TV station. "After 28 years of this, being in this box for 28 years, it's a release.  They can't hurt me no more."

All of Bolin's convictions were reversed at least twice due to legal errors, but new juries found him guilty again in all three cases. He once again received the death penalty in the Matthews and Collins killings, but a new jury in the Holley slaying found Bolin guilty of second-degree murder, converting his previous death sentence to a sentence of life in prison.

Bolin was also officially linked to just one other murder: the strangulation of Deborah Diane Stowe, 30, in 1987 in Greenville, Texas.

Texas prosecutors declined to seek an indictment.

While on trial, Bolin and a woman on his defense team fell in love. Rosalie Martinez had been a paralegal at the Hillsborough Public Defender's office who was married to a prominent Tampa attorney. Martinez divorced him and married Bolin, on live TV, in 1996  10 years after the slayings.

Rosalie Bolin maintained that her husband was innocent in Matthews' killing, and she has become one of the state's most outspoken death penalty opponents since her marriage.

The Associated Press
Mogadishu Somalia - The Federal Government of Somalia has recalled its acting ambassador to Iran and ordered Iranian diplomats to leave Somalia within 72 hours.

"This step has been taken after careful consideration and in response to the Republic of Iran's continuous interference in Somalia's internal affairs," Somalia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Somalia's, National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) recently arrested two Iranians for propagating Shi'ism on 28th December 2015. NISA released a statement that claimed the two were from a group known as "Khomeini" as VOA reported.Iranian embassy's Charge d'affaires, Javad Dehqan, in Mogadishu condemned the arrest of the two Iranian citizens and demandedtheir immediate release.

He has also damaged the relationship with Somalia byaccusing NISA (National Intelligence and Security Agency)ofmistreating it's prisoners.

October 17th 2015, the regional government of Puntland seized a Yemeni and Iranian vessels for fishing illegally. More than 100 Iranian nationals and Yemeni's were detained. Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali described illegal fishing as a natural disaster". Somalia Illegal fishing isworth an annual $306 million, continues at its current pace according to One Earth Future Foundation.

Somalia joins Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Bahrain in cutting ties to Iran amid the crisis. Other countries have downgraded their ties to Iran. on Monday after the attack by protestors on the Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, due to Saudi execution of a prominent opposition SHEIKH Nimr al-Nimr.

Its seems that Somalia has been having trouble with Iran and its citizens for a while. Iran has been a long term donor to Somalia, what will the expulsion mean for Somalia in return.

If you liked my report please also read:
A 16-year-old high school student in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, set off a social media storm this week when she live-tweeted a meeting with a school administrator who had called her into his office to discuss tweets she wrote that were critical of Israels policy toward Palestinians. The school said it had received a complaint about the comments.

Bethany Koval posted on Twitter a recording that she claimed to have made secretly during the meeting with a school administrator, in which she was warned that her tweets could be seen as bullying in New Jersey, which has some of the nations strictest anti-bullying laws.

Her documentation of the events caught the attention of other Twitter users who started a hashtag, #IStandWithBenny, and posted contact information for the high school, urging people to call and demand that the administration respect Koval's right to free speech.

The school said Thursday that it was not planning disciplinary action against Koval, according to the attorney representing her.

"I assume that the school was trying to find a way to ratchet down the insanity, said the lawyer, Stanley Cohen.

Fair Lawn Schools Superintendent Bruce Watson released a statement Thursday saying that at no time have district officials sought to censor or reprimand any pupils for their online speech.

The district "recognizes and respects individuals First Amendment rights to free speech, the statement said, adding that the school was obligated under state law to investigate after receiving a complaint about potential harassment, intimidation or bullying by one student against another.

The statement added that the district would complete its investigation as required by law.

Koval, who identified herself on Twitter as an Israeli Jew, is active on the social media platform, with more than 21,000 tweets and 7,200 followers.

Her meeting with school administrators Wednesday appeared to focus on tweets she posted on Dec. 27, describing Israeli policies toward Palestinians as apartheid and in which, according to The New York Times, she said she was pleased that a classmate of hers who supports the Israeli governments policies unfollowed her on Twitter.

In the alleged recording of her meeting Wednesday at the school, someone who is apparently a school administrator is heard saying to Koval: "You can sit there with your smug attitude right now, but if it's got to go into a bullying case because you think it shouldn't be and the state says it is, you're going to lose.

Cohen, Kovals lawyer, said Thursday that he believes the school's attention to her tweets stems from oversensitivity to criticism of Israeli government policies.

Whenever someone says something critical of Israel, people panic," he said.
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In November 2015, Vietnamese officials seized more than two tons of ivory that originated in Mozambique. The haul was valued at over $4 million (US). All Africa News reported that the ivory was found on board a container vessel that docked in Hai Phong.Vietnam has one of the worlds greatest demands for trafficked ivory, despite their ban on ivory trade. Back in Mozambique, where the elephant population has been hit hard by poachers, efforts are now underway to collar some of the remaining elephants in the Niassa National Reserve.

The Niassa National reserve contains one of the most important elephant populations in the country, but it's being devastated by illegal poachers.

Over 60% of the elephants have been killed in the past three years.

News24 reported that the reserve contains 43% of the entire national herd of Mozambique. Mozambiques National Administration for Conservation Areas joined up with the Wildlife Conservation Society, tour operators and community members in a task to collar members of remaining family groups of elephants.The aim is to be able to track movement, and potentially be able to react to problems quickly. The collars have GPS tracking which will give live information as to the movement of the herds. Sadly, during the collar exercise, fifteen dead elephants were found that had recently been killed for their ivory.

These fifteen elephants account for part of the population drop.

The animals have been reduced in Niassa from an estimated twelve thousand animals to just over four thousand. National population numbers revealed in a 2014 census that elephants had dropped down from 20,000 to around 10,300 animals.

USAID reported in 2014 that up to five elephants are being killed every single day in Mozambique.

Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in Africa, which has one of the most diverse and richest natural resources in Africa. Tourists visit the country to explore the rich diversity and beauty of these natural resources, but rampant poaching of wildlife could seriously impact this potentially wealthy source of much-needed foreign exchange.
Senior Chinese leader urges continued anti-graft efforts Updated: 2016-01-08 02:45 (Xinhua)

BEIJING -- China's top graft buster has called for persistent anti-corruption efforts to clean up the Communist Party of China (CPC) and boost people's faith in the Party.

The remarks by Wang Qishan, secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, were carried in a statement released Thursday after he presided over several symposiums in preparation for the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection next week.

Praising last year's anti-corruption results, Wang said, "The people have increasing confidence in the CPC and the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The political foundation for the CPC's governance is more profound."

"The strict management of the Party doesn't only mean punishing the paucity of corrupt people. It requires supervision and cleaning of the entire Party, with the participation of all Party members," Wang stressed.

He urged Party members, especially leading officials, to keep a firm sense of discipline.

Discipline inspection departments were told to be brave in pursuing the liabilities of corrupt CPC members.

But he also sounded a note of clemency in saying that officials guilty of relatively minor misconduct should be given opportunities to reform. "Talking heart to heart with officials whose problems have been exposed is a warning as well as our care for them... letting them trust and rely on our organization and maintain their loyalties."
Mainland universities offering positions to faculty from Taiwan Updated: 2016-01-08 17:21 By Liu Jing(chinadaily.com.cn)

The first group of mainland students attend their graduation ceremony at the Tamkang University in Taiwan. [Photo/Xinhua]

Mainland universities have found a new source of teaching faculty in Taiwan, where many talented academics receive comparatively low incomes due to oversupply, according to Taiwan-based United Daily News.

The Chinese mainland's Fujian province is going to hire about 200 full-time teachers from Taiwan in 2016, according to the provincial department of education.

Currently, 69 universities in Fujian have signed 500 agreements with Taiwan universities, deepening cross-Straits education cooperation.

Yang Jiangfan, deputy secretary of the Fujian Provincial Education Committee, said that 132 Taiwan teachers were introduced to Fujian in 2015.

Sun Yat-sen University in Zhongshan, Guangdong province, has 50 Taiwan teachers, about ten percent of its teaching faculty.

The branch of Beijing Institute of Technology in Zhuhai, Guangdong province has set up a special page on its official website last year dedicated to hiring educational personnel in Taiwan. The university put an advertisement in a Taiwan newspaper this Tuesday, aiming to recruit more than 100 Taiwan teachers for its some 30 departments.

The school, requiring its Taiwan employees to teach in English, promised to offer an annual income of 250,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan ($37,950 to 45,540) for professors, 220,000 yuan to 250,000 yuan for associate professors and 200,000 yuan to 220,000 yuan for assistant professors.

In addition, Taiwan talents will also be provided with 100,000 yuan of "settling-in allowance", a 100,000-yuan fund to launch their scientific research, housing fund and social insurance covering retirement, unemployment, as well as a round-trip ticket to Taiwan every year. Once employed, the teachers can also get an apartment with three bedrooms and one hall at a monthly rent of 1,300 yuan.

The report said that many teachers in Taiwan are underpaid as there are fewer students in universities due to the lowering birthrate and oversupply of universities on the island.

According to statistics released by the Taiwan education authority, the number of talents with a PHD in Taiwan has increased by 30,000 every year since 2010. As a result, many high-level talents are suffering from low pay and some even find it hard to secure a job.

An assistant professor of a private university in Taiwan surnamed Chen, quoted by the United Daily News, said that if he takes the job in Zhuhai, he can get an annual income of about 400,000 yuan, doubling his income in Taiwan.

Chen admitted that the offers from mainland universities are quite attractive for young scholars in Taiwan. And he has also discussed possible job opportunities with universities in Guangdong and Chongqing. He plans to pick one from the offers and head for the mainland next school year.

Chen said that some of his colleagues are also talking about teaching in the mainland. He believed that besides generous payments, better development prospects in the mainland are also considered a key element in making the decision.

It may soon become a trend for Taiwan teachers to teach in the mainland, Chen said.
A palatable change for the Bund Updated: 2016-01-09 03:14 By XU JUNQIAN in Shanghai(China Daily USA)

A view of M on the Bund, the fi rst fi ne dining retaurant to appear along Shanghai's most famous tourist stretch. (Below) A food and alcohol pairing at The Nest, a gastro lounge on the Bund that has been very popular with locals. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

The clock tower atop the Custom House on the Bund, Shanghai's famous waterfront stretch that represents the city's glorious past and its current position as China's financial capital, has just chimed six times. It is the start of the evening rush hour, and crowds are pouring onto the streets as people either make their way home or to the pubs and restaurants for happy hour drinks.

As the banks and trading houses within the regal old buildings along the Bund draw their shutters and lock their doors, tourists are whisked away by their loudspeaker-toting tour guide back to a bus before they depart for another destination. The sun has already set, and after the crowd numbers dwindle within the hour, the Bund will surrender its buzz to the night.

"The weird thing about the Bund is that everyone knows it and likes it, but the locals hardly visit it," said Wang Chih-Jen, an executive within the development and management team at Bund 5.

Statistics from the municipality show that the waterfront area, which runs along the western shore of the Huangpu River, receives a total of 600,000 to 900,000 visitors every day, but only about 10 percent of them are locals. The transportation commission also estimates that 80 percent of the vehicles moving along the six-lane road every day at the Bund are merely passing through and not heading toward any attractions or restaurants in the area.

A place for everyone

But the situation is set to change. Real estate developers, restaurateurs and the city's government officials are looking to turn the waterfront stretch into a prime dining area for not just wealthy tourists but locals as well, and the building known as Bund 5 looks to be the magnet to do so.

The six-storey building, constructed in the 1920's as the headquarter of Nisshin Kisen Kaisha, Japan's largest shipping company in China, will be the first along the waterfront to exclusively house dining establishments. A total of ten restaurants, which will offer cuisines ranging from southern American steaks, hot pot, Cantonese dim sum and western fine dining, will occupy the building, which has a facade featuring Japanese and neo-classical elements.

There is no shortage of dining places at the Bund. There are upwards of 100 restaurants in the area  many of them belonging to the upscale category  including those operated by the five-star hotels in the vicinity, according to authorities of the Huangpu district, where the Bund is located. Dozens more are expected to open in the next few years.

Besides factors such as traffic congestion and limited parking spaces, Wang said that the Bund's inability to maintain the crowd numbers come nightfall is also due to a stereotype that many locals have about the location  that it is an intimidating area where only rich people and foreigners can afford to be in.

This stereotype is not completely unfounded. After all, the Bund is where Michelin-starred chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten runs his swanky establishments such as Jean-Georges and Mercato. The area is also home to Paul Pairet's Mr and Mrs Bund, a modern French restaurant where customers usually spend at least $100 per person during dinner. Pairet's Ultraviolet, dubbed as a revolutionary, multisensory restaurant, costs a whopping 4,000 yuan ($613) per person.

In order to pull in the crowds, Wang said that the meals served by restaurants in Bund 5 will be friendlier on the wallets.

"The average cost per person at most of the restaurants in Bund 5 will be around 300 to 500 yuan, an affordable amount to spend for important celebrations or occasions once every few months," he said.

At the beginning

Michelle Garnaut, an Australian restaurateur and chef, is all too familiar with the changes in the area over the years, saying that the scene today, despite the fall in crowd numbers, bears a stark contrast to the days when she first opened the M on the Bund restaurant in 1999.

"When I decided to open a restaurant here, everyone warned me that nobody was ever gonna eat on the Bund," said Garnaut. "For the first five years, we were all alone in this area, which was a dark and dingy place that barely had anything else."

For a long time, M on the Bund was the go-to culinary destination that was visited by a galaxy of prominent figures like the United Kingdom's Prince Edward, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, and Harry Porter actor Daniel Radcliffe. It was not until 2004, when Taiwan entrepreneur Vanna Teng turned the former Standard Chartered Bank Building into a department store-like property that combined luxury shops, art galleries and fine dining places, that the century-old place started to gain a buzz.

For years after, plush fashion boutiques and jewelry stores transformed the Bund into the acme of luxury shopping in China. However, with the slowdown of the luxury industry in recent times, major consumer brands such as Patek Phillipe, Giorgio Armani and Hugo Boss started to vacate the premises while restaurants gradually began to enter the scene.

Mark Klingspon, the managing director of The Nest, a gastro lounge along the Bund, is another person who has witnessed the transformation of the area.

"I used to travel a lot to Hong Kong for business when I first came to China seven years ago. I always felt that Hong Kong was so cool with all the restaurants and food, and I thought Shanghai was a hundred years away from achieving that. I didn't think that Shanghai could catch up in my lifetime," said Klingspon.

An example to follow

If there is one establishment the new restaurants at Bund 5 can emulate, it would probably be The Nest, which became an instant hit with the locals when it opened in Dec 2014. The lounge is the product of a collaboration between nightclub brand Muse Group and French vodka brand Grey Goose.

Located slightly away from the central areas of the Bund, this classy, relaxed lounge has earned itself a reputation for quality cocktails and creative culinary creations that don't come with price tags locals would scoff at. Besides Klingspon, the team comprises experienced hands such as Christoffer Backman, formerly from the Waldorf Astoria in Shanghai, Carson Xie, a bartender who had worked at Park Hyatt hotel, as well as French chef Freddy Raoult.

According to Klingspon, more than 80 percent of the guests frequenting his venue are young Chinese professionals, most of whom work for international brands and companies. He also added that The Nest has enjoyed double-digit growth for 11 consecutive months and the place is often booked out several weeks in advance.

"We are either very lucky or we did something right. I think we have connected to a guest demographic that most restaurants would dream of attracting," said Klingspon.

"These are not the young rich Chinese that come here in their Lamborghinis and just want to have the most expensive things on the menu. What we have here at The Nest is real people, those who come here to experience new food and drinks. You cannot sustain a business in today's market without the real people," added Klingspon.

With regard to the dining scene at the Bund and what could be done to enliven it, the Canadian believes that the competitive food industry in Shanghai will keep restaurateurs on their toes and in time help to inject more vibrancy.

"Some years ago, people didn't care much about what they were fed or how much they were charged as long as they had the view of the Bund," said Klingspon.

"Now, you need to offer a quality product in order to survive here."
Bridge builders  San Francisco Consul General Luo Linquan of the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco takes a picture with visiting San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo on Jan 5 at the consulate residence. Joining Luo were Deputy Consul General Ren Faqiang (left) and Consul Liu Zhen (right). Luo spoke highly of the contribution San Jose has made to China-US relations. Liccardo said he looked forward to working with the Chinese consulate in the years ahead to build bridges between Silicon Valley and China. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Mark Hallett (right) has worked with Chinese hospitals and doctors to research Parkinson's disease. Photos provided to China Daily

Mark Hallett and his Chinese colleagues check a patient's medical records in Xuanwu Hospital of the Capital Medical University in Beijing.

A US doctor joins his Chinese peers to push for Parkinson's breakthroughs. Liu Xiangrui reports.

In the past decade, 72-year-old American neurophysiologist Mark Hallett has flown regularly to China to work with his Chinese counterparts to expand and improve treatments of movement disorders and Parkinson's disease.

His most recent visit was highlighted by a Beijing ceremony at which he received the Friendship Award. The honor is the highest presented by the Chinese government to foreigners who have made significant contributions to China's social and economic development.

"It's a marvelous honor for me. It makes me feel good about being able to do what I have done with Chinese doctors in the past years," says Hallett, wearing a special tie with a typical Chinese design for the occasion.

Hallett, whose father was an ophthalmologist, became interested in medical science when he was a child. He later received his degree from the Harvard Medical School.

Having published more than 1,000 academic articles and more than 30 books on related topics, Hallett is one of the best-recognized scientists researching neurophysiologic disease.

He has been the director of the neurology department of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a subordinate of the National Institutes of Health in the United States. He is also chairman of the International Clinical Neurophysiology Society.

Hallett made his first visit to China in the late 1990s as a member of an educational program carried out in Shanghai by the American Academy of Neurology.

As many Chinese researchers and doctors have received advanced training at the NIH, Hallett maintained contact with some of them after they returned to China.

The connections led to his later collaboration with Xuanwu Hospital of the Capital Medical University in Beijing, after Zhuang Ping, one of his earliest fellows, became a doctor there.

In 2004, Zhuang invited Hallett to work with her hospital as a foreign medical expert. Their collaboration has grown steadily, and Hallett visits China annually for weeklong academic exchanges, medical teaching and scientific research.

"His professional and meticulous attitude as well as skillfulness while checking the patients opened our eyes. He really provides a world-class reference for us to improve ourselves," says Zhuang.

Hallett says he is impressed by the huge number of patients Chinese hospitals have to take in, which is a big challenge for Chinese doctors.

However, it's a huge advantage for research, he adds.

"The volume of cases and quality of data here makes it possible to get unusual types of patients," he explains.

Hallett has worked with doctors in the hospital to collect data on Parkinson's disease based on surgeries. The data can help doctors understand why the operation worked and how to improve it, Hallett explains.

Hallett's worked has been an important support for popularization of the deep-brain stimulation treatment for Parkinson's disease in China in the past decade. Studies have shown DBS can help the brain maintain connections so it can retrieve memories.

Hallett says DBS can help maintain the benefit of medicine for a longer time and reduce patients' involuntary movements caused by the disease.

Previously, DBS was mainly carried out in a few Western countries because the management required after surgery is difficult. Now China has the largest number of cases of DBS treatment in the world.

According to Hallett, a higher percentage of China's big population is likely to have Parkinson's disease because the average age of Chinese people is increasing rapidly, and risks for the disease increase with age.

"It's hard to find an ultimate solution for all the types of Parkinson's disease. But it is very urgent to find better ways of treatment," says Hallett.

In addition to his long-term partnership with Xuanwu, Hallett collaborates with more than 10 other Chinese hospitals, pursuing the use of new therapies, new technologies and the study of different kinds of movement disorders.

He has also helped the Chinese hospitals organize international academic meetings, which bring famous international scientists to China to share the latest research, advances and treatments of Parkinson's disease.
Beijing 'maximizes' efforts on DPRK nukes issue Updated: 2016-01-08 11:52 By Zhang Yunbi in Beijing and Dong Leshuo in Washington(China Daily USA)

Top Chinese and US diplomats have voiced close coordination in the efforts to denuclearize the Korea Peninsula.

In a phone talk on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the nuclear test by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"They discussed the highly provocative nature of North Korea's actions, and its grave threat to international peace and security and blatant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions," John Kirby, the US State Department spokesman said in a statement on Thursday.

It said Kerry and Wang agreed that the US and China would continue to coordinate closely in the UN Security Council and with partners within the Six-Party Talks framework to take appropriate action.

China said on Thursday that it had "maximized its efforts" in addressing the Korean Pennisula nuclear issue, dismissing accusations that it had not done enough.

After Pyongyang conducted what it called its first hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday, a senior official with the Foreign Ministry "elaborated China's stance (on the test) to the leading official of the DPRK embassy in Beijing", Foreign Ministry spokewoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday.

Speculation of countermeasures was unfolding on the Korean Peninsula, including a report that Washington and Seoul were considering steps amid rising international criticism of the DPRK's fourth test since 2006.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that military leaders from the Republic of Korea and the United States discussed the deployment of US "strategic assets" in the wake of the test, The Associated Press reported.

Hua said China "expresses concerns over the development of the situation" and the country is calling on all parties to "get back on the track of resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue through the Six-Party Talks".

The talks, which grouped the DPRK, the ROK, the US, China, Japan and Russia, stalled in December 2008. The first three nuclear tests were carried out in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said "our goal is neither to contain nor to isolate the DPRK."

"A mutual goal of China and the US is to work together with the DPRK to promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and maintain the stability and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula," said Cui, who met US National Security Advisor Susan Rice on the issue on Wednesday.

"To reach this goal, the best and only realistic approach is through negotiations and conversations," Cui said.

"The Six Party Talks is such kind of mechanism," he said.

Cui said he and Rice both agreed that China and US would enhance communication and coordination on this issue.

Cui said China will try its best to help resume the Six-Party Talks, but it'll need the effort of the Six Parties involved.

"One of the major obstacles lies in that every side may hold a different opinion on what should be achieved through the talks," Cui said.

Yang Xiyu, a senior researcher on Korean Peninsula studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said it is a "lose-lose" situation and no single party is winning after the test.

The peninsula is drifting away from the goal of denuclearization, and any countermeasures taken by Seoul and Washington might only worsen the security situation on the peninsula, Yang said.

Meanwhile, China "participated in a constructive manner" in an emergency closed-door meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York on Wednesday, according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua.

While doubts remained about the country's claim of testing a hydrogen bomb, the UN meeting "strongly" condemned the nuclear test.

A media statement said the Security Council members will "begin to work immediately on such measures in a new Security Council resolution".

In Seoul, Cho Tae-Yong, the first deputy chief of the Republic of Korea's presidential security office, said on Thursday that the country will resume propaganda broadcasts beginning at noon on Friday with loudspeakers in border areas with the DPRK.

Earlier broadcasts were stopped after an agreement was reached on Aug 25 to end a standoff with the DPRK.

Lao Chen in New York and agencies contributed to the story.

Contact the writers at zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn
The armed group Citizens for Constitutional Freedom has occupied buildings at a U.S. national wildlife refuge in Oregon since Saturday, and members say theyre not leaving until the federal government stops violating what the group considers the individual freedom of ranchers and transfers the management of public land to area residents.

Federal authorities, who are coordinating their response in the nearby town of Burns, have so far kept their distance from the compound. They are calling on the militiamen to peacefully end the occupation but are being careful not to antagonize them further.

Both sides say they do not want bloodshed, but the militiamen have stated that they are prepared to return fire if police raid the compound.

Dena Takruri of AJ+ attended a town hall meeting on Wednesday evening in Burns, where she heard from community members who are divided over the groups presence.
Bridge builders - San Francisco Chinese Consul General in San Francisco Luo Linquan takes a picture with Mayor of San Jose Sam Liccardo on Jan 5 at the Consul General's Residence. Luo spoke highly the contribution San Jose has made to the China-US relations. He stressed that China is willing to further promote win-win cooperation with San Jose in various fi elds. Liccardo said that he is looking forward to working with the Chinese Consulate General in the years ahead to build bridges between Silicon Valley and China. Provided To China Daily
Cui Hongrui, director of marketing at Jusk, demonstrates a pair of the company's 3D intelligent glasses, which detect users' eye movements to help make screen selections. "We think we have the best product in our category in China," she said. "It's lightweight and allows sensor-based interaction interfaces, which makes the user experience natural and smooth." The product will officially be launched in Beijing in March and 10,000 units have already been sold for use at a hospital in Fujian for teaching purposes. The company is also in talks with hospitals in California for potential sales as well, Cui said. AMY HE / CHINA DAILY
President Barack Obama tore into the National Rifle Association on Thursday night as he sought support for his actions on gun control, accusing the powerful lobby group of peddling an imaginary fiction that he said has distorted the national debate about gun violence.

In a prime-time, televised town hall meeting, Obama defended his support for the constitutional right to gun ownership while arguing it was consistent with his efforts to curb violence and mass shootings.

A series of mass shootings has punctuated Obama's time in office, and after he failed to convince Congress to toughen up gun laws, the president said he wanted to have a national debate about guns in his final year in office and his appearance on Thursday came days after came two days after he unveiled a package of executive actions aimed at keeping guns from people who shouldn't have them.

Obama has blamed Congress for being beholden to the NRA.

Obama dismissed what he called a conspiracy alleging that the federal government  and Obama in particular wants to seize all firearms as a precursor to imposing martial law. He blamed that notion on the NRA and like-minded groups that convince its members that somebody's going to come grab your guns.

He said the NRA was refusing to acknowledge the government's responsibility to make legal products safer, citing seatbelts and child-proof medicine bottles as examples.

Ahead of the town hall, Obama put political candidates on notice that he would refuse to support or campaign for anyone who does not support common-sense gun reform  including Democrats. All of us need to demand leaders brave enough to stand up to the gun lobbys lies, Obama wrote in a New York Times op-ed that was published on Thursday.

All the candidates running for the Democratic presidential nomination support stricter gun laws, in contrast to GOP hopefuls, so Obama's declaration isn't likely to have an impact on the race to replace him. Instead, it appeared aimed at Democratic congressional candidates from competitive districts who might want Obama's support on the campaign trail this year.

At the town hall, which was organized and hosted by CNN, Obama said he has always been willing to meet with the NRA to discuss gun policies and said the NRA was invited to the town hall but declined to participate.

The American Firearms Retailers Association, another lobby group that represents gun dealers, did participate.

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said ahead of the event that the group saw no reason to participate in a public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House. Still, the group pushed back on Obama in real time with a stream of posts on Twitter. It's true: None of the president's orders would have stopped any of the recent mass shootings, the group wrote.
President Barack Obama said in a recent speech that he planned to "urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for ISIL and others to use technology to escape from justice" and the pressure on technology firms to do more to combat online efforts of these groups follows attacks in Paris and elsewhere that have underscored the role played by social media.

Twitter last week updated its policies for policing its content to explicitly prohibit "hateful conduct." Other websites have similarly updated and clarified their abuse policies within the past 18 months.

Its unclear what will come of the meeting: While tech industry leaders say they want to be good citizens, they don't want to undercut free speech or be viewed as government agents any more than they want to support so-called keyboard warriors lurking behind anonymous accounts. And tech leaders have clashed with the Obama administration before over encryption of online data and messages.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper are slated to attend the session, along with Obama's chief of staff and his top counterterrorism adviser.

Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and LinkedIn are sending representatives.

At Friday's session, government officials are expected to brief industry leaders on how groups like ISIL use technology, including encryption. They also hope to discuss ways to make it harder for them to use the Internet for recruiting and mobilizing followers.

Also on the agenda is a discussion of how the government and tech companies can "help others to create, publish, and amplify alternative content that would undercut" ISIL.

Another item is to identify ways for law enforcement to better identify the groups online and stop them from carrying out attacks.

Some of those goals may lead to uncomfortable discussions. Leading Internet companies say they remove violent or threatening content that violates their policies, but they are reluctant to infringe on free speech.

They also cite technical challenges to monitoring or policing the vast mountains of messages, photos and other material that are posted on popular online sites, a collection so vast that many argued in the wake of the recent Paris attacks that intelligence failed because authorities were actually awash in data  with "too many potential suspects on too many lists," wrote one analyst.

And particularly after the revelations two years ago about widespread data-gathering by the National Security Agency, tech companies are concerned about making sure that customers around the world don't see them as agents of the U.S. government.

The government, however, says that digital platforms are increasingly becoming tools of radicalization used by ISIL, a group Obama recently denounced as "bunch of killers with good social media."

Al Jazeera with wire services
At least 23 people have already starved to death in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, aid workers said Friday, as those trapped with no food urged the international community not to ignore their plight.

We don't understand how the world could do nothing to resolve this crisis after witnessing such tragedy, said Abu Khalil, an internal refugee in the town, which has been cut off by government forces for months.

Civilians, including women and children, are dying because of the use of this cowardly weapon," Khalil added in reference to the use of starvation as a tactic of war.

On Thursday, the government in Damascus finally agreed to allow international aid into Madaya amid warnings from the United Nations that international humanitarian law prohibits the targeting of civilians and their starvation as a weapon.

The U.N. welcomed the belated move to make way for much-needed food and medicine to be transported into the town, but added that almost 42,000 people  half of them children  remained in Madaya and are still at risk. It added that credible reports had been received of people starving to death or being killed trying to leave the besieged town.

Pictures of skeletal residents and emaciated children have been widely distributed in recent days, drawing fresh attention to the plight of civilians in the years-long civil war.

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym (MSF), said that of the 23 people they knew of who have died of starvation, six were less than a year old, and five were above 60. The starvation deaths occurred at the local MSF-supported health center, the charity said.
The opinions expressed by "Don Quixote" are strictly his own and do not represent the opinions of Vernon Council!

Because I value your thoughtful opinions, I encourage you to add a comment to this discussion. Don't be offended if I edit your comments for clarity or to keep out questionable matters, however, and I may even delete off-topic comments.

Bob Spiers Vernon City Councillor
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A Brussels apartment was likely used to make bombs for the Paris attacks, and one of the plotters also hid out there after escaping a police dragnet, Belgian prosecutors said Friday.

The prosecutors said they found Salah Abdeslam's fingerprint in a search of the apartment on Dec. 10, but wouldn't say why they waited a month to announce it.

The search also turned up three suspected suicide belts, traces of the same explosive used in the Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 people and other material that could be used to manufacture bombs, according to the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said the third-floor apartment was likely used as a hideout after Abdeslam fled the attacks. Abdeslam, who is still at large, called for two friends to pick him up amid the bloodshed and chaos that night that left 130 people dead and hundreds injured.

"We found material to make explosives, we found traces of explosives and we found three belts. So you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to make the right deduction," Van der Sypt told The Associated Press.

Abdeslam is believed to have played a key logistical role in the Paris attacks. A French gendarme stopped him and his two friends in their car near the border but released them. The friends are among 10 people arrested in Belgium in connection with the attacks.

Authorities now believe Abdeslam returned to the apartment, was eventually picked up by someone else "and we lost trace," Van der Sypt said.

The apartment in the Schaerbeek neighborhood of Brussels had been rented under a false identity that may have been used by one of those who are now under arrest.

The prosecutor's office said the three handmade belts discovered in the search at Rue Berge in Schaerbeek "could have been intended for the transport of explosives." Traces of the highly volatile TATP, which was packed into the suicide vests in November, as well as other material that could be used to manufacture explosives were also detected.

The Nov. 13 attacks marked the height of a violent year for France that began with a Jan. 7 assault on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper.

Paris was again jolted Thursday when a man wearing a fake explosives vest and wielding a butcher's knife ran up to a police station and was shot to death by officers standing guard.

The Paris prosecutor, Francois Molins, said investigators are unsure of the man's true identity.

Molins told France-Inter radio Friday that the assailant carried a paper marked with the Muslim declaration of faith, an emblem of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and his name, and gave his nationality as Tunisian. Molins said he also had a phone with a German SIM card.

Stopped for a minor theft in 2013 in France's south, the man had identified himself as Ali Sallah and gave his nationality as Moroccan.

ISIL claimed responsibility for the January 2015 attacks and the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris.

The Associated Press
Two suspected militants stabbed and wounded three foreign tourists  two Austrians and a Swede  at a hotel in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Hurghada on Friday, the Interior Ministry said.

Security forces opened fire at the two assailants, killing one and seriously wounding the other, according to a ministry statement.

The ministry said two men armed with knives had entered the outdoor restaurant at the front of the seaside, four-star Bella Vista Hotel and attacked the tourists.

The ministry identified the slain attacker as 21-year-old Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Mahfouz, a student from Cairo's neighborhood of Giza. Both attackers, it said, carried knives and pellet guns.

All three wounded tourists were taken to hospital, where one was treated and discharged, the statement said. There was no word on the condition of the other two.

Security officials had initially said the attackers wounded two tourists, a Dane and a German, but such discrepancies are common in the immediate aftermath of attacks.

The attack came just hours after the local affiliate of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for an attack a day earlier on a hotel in Cairo near the Giza Pyramids. No one was hurt in the Thursday attack in which a group of over a dozen men fired flares and birdshot at a security post outside a hotel where Palestinian tourists from Israel were staying. The attackers had apparently mistaken them for Israeli Jews, who ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has asked his followers to target.

Egypt has been battling an insurgency led by the local affiliate of ISIL. The insurgency has been centered at the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, but has frequently spilled over into the mainland since the ouster in 2013 of the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The Hurghada attack is a dangerous precedent since Egypt's Red Sea resorts have done better than elsewhere in the country in withering the slump suffered by the vital tourism sector in the five years of turmoil since an uprising toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Thursday's Giza attack was also significant in that it targeted a hotel in Cairo, a heavily policed city of some 18 million residents, at a time when security appeared to relatively improve in recent months after a series of bomb attacks.

But the Hurghada assault is likely to further impact Egypt's tourist industry, decimated after the downing in October of a Russian passenger plane over Sinai that killed all 224 people on board, most of them Russian tourists returning from the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The ISIL affiliate claimed it downed the aircraft with a bomb to avenge group members and civilians killed in Russian airstrikes in Syria.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press
Israeli police said Friday that the man alleged to have killed three people on Jan. 1 after opening fire at a bar in Tel Aviv has been killed in a shootout with police.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the alleged gunman, Nesha'at Milhem, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, "was found in a building" in his hometown of Arara in northern Israel on Friday. She says he came out shooting at Israeli forces and "was then shot and killed."

The suspect, who had been identified in earlier reports as Nesha'at Milhem, is accused of opening fire at a bar on a busy street in Tel Aviv on Jan. 1, killing two people and wounding several others.

He allegedly later shot and killed a taxi driver, who was also a Palestinian citizen of Israel. Relatives had identified Milhem as the suspect after watching footage of the Tel Aviv incident on TV, but the motive behind the killings remains unclear.

Milhem had previously spent four years in prison for assaulting an Israeli soldier, said his lawyer, who also described him as mentally unstable.

Milhelm's relatives had said he was "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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commended the state's forces for "acting relentlessly, methodically, and professionally to locate and neutralize the terrorist," Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

Israeli media said Melhem had been located in part through information gained in the interrogation of five people arrested on suspicion of being his accomplices.

The incident came amid more than three months of near-daily Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Over the past three months, Palestinians have protested against Israel's ongoing occupation, as well as incursions by right-wing settler groups into the Al-Aqsa mosque  the third holiest site for Muslims  in East Jerusalem.

Israeli soldiers or settlers since Oct. 1 have shot and killed at least 149 Palestinians, including unarmed protesters, bystanders and alleged attackers. Palestinian assailants have since Oct. 1 killed 23 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians.

Al Jazeera and wire services
By Fareed Zakaria Opinion writer January 7 at 8:00 PM, WashPostOver the past two decades, the United States has approached the Middle East through its own conceptual frameworks: dictatorships vs. democracy, secularism vs. religion, order vs. chaos. But the most significant trend shaping the region today is something different: Sunnis vs. Shiites. That sectarian struggle now infects almost every aspect of the regions politics. It has confounded U.S. foreign policy and will continue to limit the ability of the United States, or any outside power, to stabilize the region.In his prescient book,  The Shia Revival , Vali Nasr argues that the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the tipping point. The United States saw itself as taking democracy to Iraq, but people in the region saw something different  the upending of the balance of power. Sunnis, who make up 85 percent of all Muslims, had long dominated the Arab world, even in Shiite-majority countries such as Iraq and Bahrain. But in one stroke, that changed. Iraq, a major Arab state, would now be ruled by Shiites . This rattled other Arab regimes, and their anxieties have only grown.Though there always was tension, Sunnis and Shiites did live in peace, for the most part, until recently. In the 1960s and 70s, the only Shiite power, Iran, was ruled by the shah, whose regime was neither religious nor sectarian. In fact, when the shah was overthrown, the country that first gave him safe harbor was Egypt, the regions largest Sunni power, something unimaginable in todays sectarian atmosphere.
In United States

The term net neutrality was coined in US by law professor Tim Wu while discussing competing contents and applications. In the latest in the net neutrality tussle US Federal courts has given a go ahead to rules that prevent net firms from blocking or slowing down online traffic. The courts are not postponing implementation of net neutrality rules, despite opposition from firms such as Verizon and AT&T. The countrys Federal Communications Commission is fighting to uphold net neutrality.

In Netherlands

On June 4, 2012, the Netherlands became the first country in Europe to enact a network neutrality law. The law requires that providers of public electronic communication networks used to provide Internet access services as well as providers of Internet access services will not hinder or slow down services or applications on the Internet.

In Chile

National Congress of Chile in June 2010, amended its telecommunications law in order to preserve network neutrality, becoming the first country in the world to do so. The law added three articles to the General Law of Telecommunications, forbidding Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from arbitrarily blocking, interfering with, discriminating, hindering or restricting an Internet user's right to use, send, receive or offer any legal content, application, service or any other type of legal activity or use through the Internet. ISPs must offer Internet access in which content is not arbitrarily treated differently based on its source or ownership



In European Union

European Parliament in September 2015, voted against adopting net neutrality for the entire European Union. Only Slovenia and the Netherlands have net neutrality laws.

In Canada

In Canada, ISPs generally provide Internet services in a neutral manner. The government few years back updated the Telecommunications Policy Objectives and Regulation with new objectives such as promoting affordable access to advanced telecommunications services in all regions of Canada, including urban, rural and remote areas, enhancing the efficiency of Canadian telecommunications markets and the productivity of the Canadian economy. It is still reviewing Internet traffic management of ISPs and has not come out on a decision on that.

In Australia

The countrys National Broadband Network (NBN) is still holding discussions on net neutrality. NBN believes that it is a discussion they need to have a sophisticated debate around the country on this issue.

In China

While China claims that there is net neutrality in the country, according to experts, internet service providers are owned and operated by the government, which allegedly has an iron grip on the content which is let out on Internet. In the early days of the internet in China, the Communist Party stopped attempts by Chinas Democracy Party to establish unrestricted internet access.

Experts claim that the Chinese government employs sophisticated to limit content online. It has a lot many rules, regulations and laws to help ensure censorship of the net.

In Japan

Japan is basically a net neutral country.

In Israel

Israel's parliament in 2011 passed a law requiring net neutrality in mobile broadband. Later these requirements were extended to wireline providers in an amendment to the law. However according to experts in that country the law is vague on a number of issues such as data caps, tiered pricing, paid prioritization and paid peering.

ALSO READ:
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.
Reviews and notices of events in Washington, D.C. including, but not limited to, the performing arts, speakers, authors, lectures, meetings, books, movies, cycling, hockey games, exhibitions, buildings, and an occasional post about other places and things.
Defending actions,

Obama rips into NRA

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP)  President Barack Obama tore into the National Rifle Association on Thursday as he sought support for his actions on gun control, accusing the powerful lobby group of peddling an imaginary fiction he said has distorted the national debate about gun violence.

Obama dismissed allegations the federal government wants to seize all firearms as a precursor to imposing martial law. He blamed that notion on the NRA and like-minded groups that convince its members somebodys going to come grab your guns.

Obama defended his support for the constitutional right to gun ownership while arguing it was consistent with his efforts to curb mass shootings. He said the NRA refused to acknowledge the governments responsibility to make legal products safer, citing seatbelts and child-proof medicine bottles as examples.

N.Y. miners rescued after frigid night

LANSING, N.Y. (AP)  Seventeen miners spent a frigid night in a broken-down elevator in Americas deepest salt mine, huddling with heat packs and blankets before being rescued early Thursday, a mishap that highlighted the sometimes-risky work of churning out the road salt that keeps traffic moving on ice and snow.

The workers were descending to start their shifts around 10 p.m. Wednesday when the roughly 5-by-6-foot car abruptly stopped about 90 stories below ground in the Cayuga salt mine while heading to a floor nearly deep enough to fit two Empire State Buildings stacked atop one another.

The miners spent the next 10 hours stuck in a shaft thats also an air intake, with night air less than 20 degrees rushing in as they tried to stay warm. Ultimately, a crane was brought in from 30 miles away to pull the miners to safety in a cage-like basket, a few at a time, as those gathered up top cheered.

S. Korea to resume

anti-North broadcasts

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korea plans to retaliate for North Koreas nuclear test by starting broadcasts of anti-Pyongyang propaganda across the border today, believed to be the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The broadcasts will draw a furious response from North Korea, which considers them an act of psychological warfare. Pyongyang is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of the authoritarian leadership of Kim, the third member of his family to rule. When South Korea briefly resumed propaganda broadcasts in August after an 11-year break, the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire, followed by threats of war.

Judge: Monkey cant own selfie photos

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  A macaque monkey who snapped clear, perfectly framed selfies cannot own a copyright to the photos because its an animal, not a human, a federal judge said.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick said Wednesday Congress did not extend federal copyright law to animals.

The ruling came in a novel lawsuit filed last year by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that sought a court order allowing PETA to represent the monkey and let it administer all proceeds from the photos for the benefit of the monkey, which it identified as 6-year-old Naruto, in a reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

The photos were taken during a 2011 trip to Sulawesi by British nature photographer David Slater. Slater said he was the brains behind the photos, setting up the tripod the camera was on and positioning and holding it throughout the shoot.
WAVERLY  Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been making the case for the past eight months for a national discussion on issues ranging from income inequality to youth unemployment to criminal justice reform to reining in big banks.

Now, hes added a talking point: making the case for himself.

There are some people who suggest that, Well, Bernie Sanders might be a nice guy, or not a nice guy  but, you know what, he cant win. He cant win, so dont bother voting Bernie because he cant win. Let me respectfully disagree with that statement, Sanders told a crowd of more than 600 gathered at Wartburg College on Friday afternoon.

He didnt invoke his Democratic primary challengers as he described his ability to raise funds  receiving a record 2.5 million individual donations without super political action committee support  and the polls showing him with a potential to win some early states.

Instead, Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, pointed to a Quinnipiac poll last month that shows him 13 percentage points ahead of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.

But as Sanders worked through his usual talking points, he made sure to draw a contrast with his current main political rival, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, on a few key issues. Sanders is an average of 12.5 percentage points behind Clinton in Iowa, according to Real Clear Politics, but leads in some polls in New Hampshire.

Sanders on Friday held a news conference in Cedar Rapids to distinguish himself from Clinton on paid family medical leave. He told the Wartburg crowd that Clinton didnt support Senate legislation sponsored by 19 senators, including himself, that would increase payroll taxes $1.61 a week in order to fund three months of paid family leave for new parents and people with illnesses.

I like the idea of a small increase in the payroll tax, because it reminds me very much of what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did with Social Security, and it reminds me of what Lyndon Baines Johnson did on Medicare. When people pay into something, they own it; they are invested in it; and nobody is going to take it away from us, Sanders said to applause.

He contrasted that with Clinton, who does not support the tax increase.

Clintons campaign, however, has said this is not a new issue for her and shes been advocating on the it for decades.

Were glad that Sen. Sanders agrees with Hillary Clinton that workers should have 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave and seven paid sick days a year, Clinton campaign senior policy adviser Ann OLeary said in a statement. Hillary believes we can do this without asking working people to pay for it. Her view is we can ask the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes and that will cover paid leave.

Sanders also drew a contrast with Clinton on the issue of reining in Wall Street, saying Wall Street analysts will say only Sanders proposals make them nervous.

As Sanders ticked down the issues, he did not need to convince Crescos Miles Hayes.

Hayes earned praise from Sanders  who said Hayes actions speak to his courage and dignity  and applause from the audience for sharing his story that showed why Sanders policies spoke so deeply to him. The Iowa State graduate left school $93,000 in debt and is now working on community sustainability while trying to start a nonprofit and raise a family in Iowa.

After the event, Hayes said hes planning to caucus for Sanders. He said despite Clintons proposals to address climate change, he sees her as someone beholden to Wall Street and willing to say anything to win rather than holding true to her beliefs.

Bernie Sanders says it all, and Im not going to say it better than he does, Hayes said. Bernie looks me in the eye and he sees me as a human being.
CEDAR FALLS  The Cedar Falls Public Library begins new regular hours this month and is offering several events.

Hours will be 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

In addition to the regular story time hours for infants through third grade, the youth department will offer a puppet show at 4:30 p.m. Friday. Appy Hour will give ages 3 to 8 time to meet and learn with educational apps for the iPad tablet. IPads are provided, and registration is required by calling 859-3282.

Simple Device Advice is planned for 1 to 3 p.m. Jan. 11. People may drop in with questions about how to operate their device. No appointment or registration is required.

Special events for teens ages 13 to 18 include Nerf Wars from 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 22; registration due by Friday. Adrenaline X Laser tag will be offered from 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 22. Teens need to register by Jan. 15. Register for these events at 859-3283 or www.cedar-falls.lib.ia.us/teens.

Adult Book Discussion Groups will meet at 10 a.m. Jan. 26 for Dead Awake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson. Copies are available for checkout at the library.

There are multiple e-resources available, including OverDrive ebooks, Freegal music, Hoopla movies and Zinio magazines. Go to www.cedar-falls.lib.ia.us/elending for more information or stop by the reference desk on the second floor.

For general information, call 272-8643 or go to www.cedar-falls.lib.ia.us.
An ordeal that began for Fayiz al-Kandari with an ill-timed trip to Afghanistan in 2001 has ended more than 14 years later; with news Friday that the last Kuwaiti held in Guantanamo Bay had been returned home.

The atmosphere is great. I feel like we are preparing for a party, his cousin Abdullah al-Kandari told Al Jazeera. Anticipating the now former prisoners arrival he added, To me, it took too long but now that the end is so close I forgot all the agony of these years.

After losing his first appeal, Kandari was recently cleared for transfer on Sept. 8 by the parole-like U.S. government board that determines whether Guantanamo detainees should be released.

Al Jazeera understands that in Kuwait, Kandari will take part in a live-in program at the Al Salam Rehabilitation Center for at least one year in order to assist him with reintegration into society. It is then expected that he will then move in with his parents and will be subject to security measures, including curfews and travel restrictions.

Kandari, 40, has always maintained that he traveled as a young man to Afghanistan in the summer of 2001 to build two wells and repair a mosque, according to his lawyers and family.

But the attacks of 9/11 and the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan made his trip incalculably different. Kandari has said he was forced to flee  bounties were then being offered to those who turned in Arabs and other foreigners.

In December of 2001, Kandari was taken by the Afghan resistance group, the Northern Alliance, and held in Jalalabad in a fortress-like building. From this prison, he was passed to Kabul, Bagram and then to Kandahar. He was rendered to Guantanamo on May 1, 2002, having been accused of associating with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda  as were hundreds of other prisoners.

Kandari was never charged with any crime, said Eric Lewis, who represented Kandari in front of the Periodic Review Board, the interagency board that hears the prisoners' cases. He goes home with optimism and looks forward to resuming a peaceful life and to putting Guantanamo behind him.
CEDAR RAPIDS | A Waterloo man has been sentenced to prison in a federal child pornography investigation.

Judge Linda Reade sentenced Ricky James Funke, 58, to 11 years and three months in prison during a Thursday hearing. Funke will have spend eight years on supervised release following his prison time and was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment and restitution, which will be determined later.

A federal grand jury indicted Funke on one count of receipt of child porn and three counts of possession of child porn in August. He pleaded to one count of possession in September, and the other counts were dismissed.

Authorities allege Funke had images and videos of children engaged in sexual conduct between December 2001 and February 2015. He used the Internet and peer-to-peer file sharing networks to download porn which was found on two computers and an external hard drive, court records state. Records state Funke had more than 450 child porn videos, including materials showing children tied up and children engaging in contact with animals, records state.
WATERLOO  Single Speed Brewings renovation of the former downtown Hostess Wonder Bread building is ready to shift gears.

The company received the deed to the building from the city of Waterloo on Monday, clearing the way for some select interior demolition and allowing the State Historic Preservation Office and National Park Service to begin reviewing construction plans.

People are stoked, said Dave Morgan, Single Speed founder. Its gone slightly quiet because nothings been happening while we waited to get the deed.

Single Speed reached a development agreement with the city Sept. 8 to renovate the bakery, which shut down in November 2012, into a production brewery and restaurant.

While Morgan is anxious to have Peters Construction Corp. begin working on the $6 million renovation, most work must wait on historic reviews, which could take up to 90 days. The renovation must comply with historic standards to qualify for historic tax credits.

Making this building and this project everything that we want it to be, everything in our current scope, requires them to be on board with our construction plan, he said. Their role in this project is critical, and any demo that we do right now is a really sensitive issue.

The building at West Third and Commercial streets was constructed in 1927 but will be renovated to 1957 standards, which historians have indicated is the buildings period of greatest significance.

Pending the historic approval, Morgan hopes the brew house can be operating by this summer. W.M. Sprinkman Corp. of Franksville, Wis., is set to manufacture the custom brew house equipment.

The restaurant could open by January 2017 if all goes well, he added. Sidecar Coffee also is set to locate in a portion of the building.

The building also is expected to meet LEED certification through the U.S. Green Building Council for energy efficiency, which will include rooftop solar panels.

We think its the right thing to do, Morgan said. Were looking to go above and beyond on basically all sustainability principles.

In the meantime, Morgan said people may notice activity at the building as contractors remove some of the old baking equipment, a flour silo and a few walls already deemed to be not historically significant.

Morgan is excited about the prospect of reusing historic elements of the building and has been tagging items that should not be removed.

Doors on the proofing room  where the bakery allowed dough to rise  will be removed and used as restroom stall doors. Rollers from the oven conveyor system will be reconfigured into a bicycle rack. A large flour silo will be repurposed to hold grain for Single Speeds brewing process.

We hope that there will be a lot of stories to tell, stories about the history of the building, that youll see throughout the building, he said.

While the building has already received a local historic designation, Single Speed is pursuing its listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Both the Waterloo Historic Preservation Commission and Planning, Programming and Zoning Commission have approved the designation, which goes to the City Council before submission to federal authorities.
CEDAR FALLS  Citizens of Cedar Falls should have preference in making comments at City Council meetings, a frequent attendee told council members Monday night.

Larry Wyckoff made his comments Monday in response to a council meeting two weeks ago in which a resident visiting from the United Kingdom, where traffic roundabouts are prevalent, spoke in favor of roundabouts such as those proposed on University Avenue, which Wyckoff opposes.

Wyckoff cited council rules for public participation in council meetings, which only makes reference to citizens speaking.

Does the gentleman from the U.K., does he pay property taxes, like Larry Wyckoff? No, he said. Maybe we should have some rules.

He questioned whether that opens the door, at future council meetings, for example, for illegal immigrants to come in and tell me how to spend my money, or tell you how to spend your money.

Council member Mark Miller questioned whether Wyckoffs concerns apply, for example, to people from Waterloo who come to Cedar Falls council meetings to speak on University Avenue.

I think thats a good question, Wyckoff responded after the council meeting. If youre a citizen of Waterloo, make sure thats very clearly noted, and city officials should put less emphasis on that element during debate on issues. But he noted many Waterloo residents oppose roundabouts too.

In regular council business, the council approved the citys five-year capital improvements plan following a public hearing.

Mayor Jim Brown also announced he appointed council member Frank Darrah as mayor pro tem, who would chair council meetings and serve as mayor in the event of his absence.

I could have thrown a dart and hit the mark, Brown said of his choice among the council members. Theres some good people here, Brown said.

He said Darrah, a veteran council member, would provide continuity in the conduct of city business in the mayors absence. Brown also named council member Nick Taiber to chair the councils Administration Committee.
WATERLOO  The Salvation Army of Waterloo-Cedar Falls has raised 77 percent of its holiday fundraising goal of $730,000. Another $169,600 is needed to complete the campaign, which accounts for 40 percent of the Salvation Armys annual budget.

For every $100 donated, the Salvation Army can do one of several things, including:

Help four people get to vital medical appointments.

Ensure five families have enough food to eat.

Give an at-risk youth the experience of three days at summer camp.

Shelter an individual for eight nights.

The Salvation Army will continue to collect toward the goal in the month of January. Gifts can be made at www.sawaterloo.org; P.O. Box 867, Waterloo 50704; or 89 Franklin St. in Waterloo.
School tax

HAROLD TUCHEL

WATERLOO  I have wondered for years why schools still needed the penny tax, but voters continued to vote for it. That in itself was its saving grace, voters had to sign off on it. Now Terry Branstad wants to hijack the tax for 20-plus years and split it for water quality. It is little wonder politicians are despised. Kill the authorization for the school penny tax.

Let him authorize his own tax, but ditch the school tax because politicians are liars and cant be trusted, and we wont get to vote on it.

Oregon standoff

RANDALL DeBERG

KESLEY  Another Kool Aid drinker has expressed his opinion of a government action taking place in Oregon.

The property in question is public land, which the government wants to dictate the use of. Dont you ever get tired of the government telling you what to do? Do really believe those elected people are more knowledgeable than you? If so, you need to further your education.

As for obeying the law, the law of the land is the Constitution. Hows that working for you? Legal process is through the Congress. The current resident in the White House circumvents the Congress daily.

Remember, this country was taken from the British at gunpoint!

Honor Flight money

CRAIG WHITE

WATERLOO  As we approach a time in our Honor Flights that we are getting prepared to start taking Vietnam vets, we have hit a brick wall as far as raising money. It concerns me and Im somewhat hurt to think we as fellow citizens cant see fit to pay it forward for our vets.

They have given up two years or more of their lives to protect and defend, and what have you done? So Im asking each and every one of the citizens of the Cedar Valley and of Iowa to loosen their purse strings. God bless.

School bond issue

TOM BRASCH

WATERLOO  It seems the Waterloo Schools $47 million plan for technical-vocational program is trying to solve a problem, a high dropout rate of students, that they or we did not create, nor can they solve.

I believe the opportunity for a good, broad educational experience is already available to all students, with mostly very good teachers and with the opportunity to excel. That is thanks to average annual expenditures of $98 million-plus, not to mention a sales tax that has improved or completely rebuilt most schools.

The dropout rate is too high, but I think the cause is broken families, not bad schools. Blame the welfare system, not the schools. Are these dropouts getting jobs or going into the military? Where are they going and what are they doing? Lets ask some questions that may help solve this problem.

I also understand the need for technical schools like Hawkeye Community College. In fact, didnt we just vote to give Hawkeye more funding? Unfortunately the last 40 or so years has seen manufacturing jobs go elsewhere. Why is that? Could some of the cause be high taxes and regulations? Lets ask more questions to solve this problem, not just accept what some one tells us.

My point is our schools are trying to solve problems our federal government has created.
Good Timers will hold music jam

CEDAR FALLS  Country Good Timers will host a Country Music Jam session from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Cedar Falls Senior Center.

The Country Good Timers meet the second Sunday of each month at the Cedar Falls Senior Center in the 500 block of Main Street. The public is welcome.

AAUW program will honor MLK

WATERLOO  The American Association of University Women 6038 will meet Monday at Friendship Village, for a program honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Frieda Weems will speak, assisted by Anna May Weems.

Dinner is at 5 p.m., followed by the program at 6 p.m. in the formal dining room.

Cedar Falls and Waverly members are welcome to attend the program.

Church will host dinner Saturday

WATERLOO  Union Missionary Baptist Church, 209 Jackson St., will host its annual traditional dinner at 5 p.m. Jan. 16.

Cost is $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 and younger. Menu consists of squirrel, rabbit, chicken, coon, pigs feet and ears, beef roast, chicken and dumplings, gumbo, greens, red beans and rice, coleslaw, sweet potatoes, corn bread, crackling bread and butter rolls.

Tickets are available from the pastor, church members or at the church. The event is open to the public. For more information, call the church 235-1213. The pastor is the Rev. Marvin D. Jenkins.

Hearst to host photo exhibit

CEDAR FALLS  The Hearst Center for the Arts will host Studies in the Reactions of Silver and Light, an exhibit of traditional film photography by Shannon and Colleen Graham, from Jan. 14 through March 27.

There will be an artist reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Jan. 14, with refreshments and local craft beer. The reception is free and open to the public.

The Grahams have worked together for 18 years, beginning when they were studying to be professional photographers. They made the shift to digital photography and established a successful commercial and fine art photography studio before deciding to return to traditional analog photography.

The Grahams will talk about their work in a free public lecture at the Hearst at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 7.

The center is at 304 W. Seerley Blvd.

Free cancer screenings

WATERLOO  Access to free colon cancer screening is available through the Black Hawk County Health Department.

People must be between the ages of 50 and 64; live in Black Hawk, Buchanan, Fayette, Tama or Grundy counties; have no insurance or have a high deductible/co-pay on insurance; meet income guidelines; not be experiencing symptoms of colon cancer.

Local staff will determine if participants are eligible for either a free take-home stool test or a colonoscopy.

For more information or to enroll in the program, call the Iowa Get Screened program at 292-2225.

The services are funded by the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control.
Maines Republican Gov. Paul LePage said out-of-state drug dealers are impregnating "young white" girls, and his remarks were quickly denounced by critics on Thursday as racial fearmongering.

LePage, talking about Maine's heroin epidemic, described out-of-state drug dealers as "guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty" and said "half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave."

LePage, who's white, didn't describe the races of the drug dealers on Wednesday during a town meeting in Bridgton, Maine and a spokesman said Thursday he wasn't making a comment about race.

But moderate Republican and LePage critic Lance Dutson, who called attention to the remark, said the governor was playing to people's racial fears.

"This is one of the most blatantly racist statements he's ever made," said Dutson, a former CEO of the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center who helped create the GOP group Get Right Maine to combat extremism. "One of the things that's offensive about it is that it's reminiscent of this fearmongering in American history that people would like to think is long gone."

The president of the NAACP's Bangor chapter, Michael Alpert, said the governor's comments were "sad" and "foolish."

LePage's chief of communications, Peter Steele, insisted the governor wasn't talking about race when he made the comment.

"Race is irrelevant," Steele said via email. "What is relevant is the cost to state taxpayers for welfare and the emotional costs for these kids who are born as a result of involvement with drug traffickers. His heart goes out to these kids because he had a difficult childhood, too. We need to stop the drug traffickers from coming into our state."

LePage is known for speaking his mind. He previously likened the IRS to the Gestapo, called protesters "idiots" and said on the campaign trail that he'd tell President Barack Obama to "go to hell," and then soon after he was elected to his first term he told the Portland chapter of the NAACP to "kiss my butt."

The Associated Press
A gargantuan gold-painted statue of Communist China's founding father Mao Zedong has suddenly been demolished, apparently for lacking government approval, state media said Friday, days after images of the statue circulated widely online.

Images of the statue of a seated Mao towering 121 feet over empty fields in the central province of Henan made worldwide headlines this week.

But the three million yuan ($460,000) structure has been destroyed, the People's Net news portal cited local officials as saying, adding the reason was "unclear".

The website is linked to the People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party.

It cited reports from unspecified media as saying the likeness of the man who ruled China with an iron grip for nearly three decades until his death in 1976 "was not registered or approved" by the local government.

Pictures circulating online  which could not be immediately verified by AFP  showed a gaping hole in the rear of Mao's massive golden torso, and his head shrouded in black. Local officials could not immediately be reached.

Construction was reportedly funded by several local entrepreneurs and finished in December after nine months of labor, the HMR.cn portal said this week.

Mao, despite being blamed for millions of deaths, is still widely revered in China and is credited with uniting the country after a civil war between nationalist and communist parties. Defeated, the nationalists fled in 1949 to Taiwan where they established a government.

The Communist leadership tightly controls public discussion of history and seeks to use his legacy to shore up its support.

China's current President Xi Jinping has praised Mao as a "great figure" and revived some of his rhetoric and his centralization of power, while at the same time following the party's 1980s conclusion that Mao also made "mistakes".

Some Internet users criticized the statue, pointing out its location in Henan, the center of a famine in the late 1950s resulting from Mao's economic policies estimated to have killed as many as 40 million people.

I heard it was destroyed yesterday. I heard it was because it had occupied a farmers land," a local delivery driver told the Guardian.

In a push to modernize in the late 1960s, Communists took farmers from their fields and charged them with smelting scrap metal and other industrial tasks. Their crops went unharvested and millions starved.

"Have you forgotten about the Great Famine, building that?" asked one poster on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

Others questioned the statue's resemblance to the leader known as the "Great Helmsman," who also launched the decade-long Cultural Revolution that saw violence and destruction nationwide, with public denounciations and executions for those accused by neighbors or officials of disloyalty to Mao's regime.

Why not use the 3 million [yuan] to improve local education? another Sina Weibo user wrote, according to the Guardian report, which said that other emblems of Mao worship had cropped up in rural China, citing state media.

Agence-France Presse and Al Jazeera
Notorious drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been recaptured in Mexico six months after being sprung from prison, the country's president announced Friday.

Mission accomplished, President Enrique Pena Nieto wrote on his Twitter account. We have him.

Few details were available of the recapture, but it involved Mexican marines, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and U.S. Marshals, a senior Mexican police source said.

The Sinaloa cartel boss broke out of a high-security prison through a tunnel in July, sparking a massive manhunt.

The storied trafficking career of El Chapo, or Shorty, is legend in Mexico. Under the stewardship of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo  Mexico's biggest cocaine dealer during the 1980s  Guzman came to dominate the global cocaine market. In the process, he amassed well over $1 billion and made the list of Forbes world billionaires for four consecutive years. Prior to escaping in 2015 after an arrest the year before, El Chapo also staged a 2001 prison break following a conviction in 1993.

Under his leadership, the Sinaloa cartel bolstered its drug trafficking dominance by branching out into the heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana markets. The cartel's criminal portfolio also includes kidnapping and human trafficking.

Today, Sinaloa operates in 17 Mexican states and as many as 50 countries, including the United States, where it is blamed for 80 percent of the drug trade in certain cities.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Friday lauded Mexican law enforcement for bringing Guzman to Justice.

Todays capture of Joaquin Chapo Guzman Loera by Mexican authorities is a blow to the international drug-trafficking syndicate he is alleged to have led, a victory for the citizens of both Mexico and the United States, and a vindication of the rule of law in our countries, she said in a statement.

The DEA echoed Lynchs comments and pledged to continue working with Mexican authorities to stamp out the drug trade.

The DEA and Mexico have a strong partnership and we will continue to support Mexico in its efforts to improve security for its citizens and continue to work together to respond to the evolving threats posed by transnational criminal organizations, a DEA statement said.

Guzman now faces the prospect of extradition to the United States. After coming under fire for failing to do so the last time, Mexico's attorney general's office said in July it approved an order to extradite him north of the border.

He is wanted by U.S. authorities for various criminal charges, including cocaine smuggling and money laundering. An official at the attorney general's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his extradition would "take time."

A Mexican official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by name, said Guzman was apprehended after a shootout with Mexican marines in Los Mochis in his home state of Sinaloa.

Five people were killed and one Mexican marine was wounded in the clash, according to reports.

The Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines acting on a tip raided a home in Los Mochis before dawn. They were fired on from inside the structure. Five suspects were killed and six others arrested. The marine's injuries were not life threatening.

At the home marines seized two armored vehicles, eight long guns, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Al Jazeera and wire services
By The Associated Press Jan. 06, 2016 | 11:00 AM | FRANKFORT, KY

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said it was "inevitable" that Republicans would take control of the Kentucky House of Representatives, the last state legislative chamber in the south still controlled by Democrats.

McConnell spoke with reporters briefly following a private meeting with Gov. Matt Bevin at the state Capitol. McConnell has the daunting task of trying to preserve the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate this fall. But he said he has been recruiting candidates for Kentucky's state House elections for months.

Democrats have a 50-46 advantage in the House after four lawmakers resigned and two Democrats switched parties. Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo told The Courier-Journal the state Democratic Party is considering suing lawmakers who switched parties.

Bevin called Stumbo's comments "embarrassing," and said it shows Democrats are desperate.
Villagers in northeast Nigeria are saying that Nigerian soldiers shot and killed a teacher and two middle-aged men who had been detained.

The account comes amid accusations that many other people arrested by the military and vigilantes on suspicion of being Boko Haram fighters have disappeared and are feared dead.

Human rights groups accuse Nigeria's military of killing thousands of civilians in the fight against the Islamic extremists.

The military has denied the allegations.

Villagers from Duhu said on Friday that women protested at a military base after soldiers arrested teacher Habu Bello and two other men, Idrisa Dele and Umaru Hammankadi, on Wednesday.

They later found the men's bodies dumped, with bullet wounds. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from soldiers.

Nigeria's military has been accused of many atrocities including the deaths of thousands of detainees in the northeastern uprising by Boko Haram.

In 2013, reports by The Associated Press and Amnesty International investigations found the military had killed more than 200 civilians and burned down thousands of homes in the northeast fishing community of Baga after a soldier was killed in the town.

Wire services
I always find the BAFTAs to be one of the more, for lack of a better word, accurate awards ceremonies - there's a level head to the nominations and winners that (to a degree) bucks their publicity driven American counterparts. And, despite the requisite fawning over very-British The Danish Girl (Tom Hooper's dreary prestige picture picked up six noms), this year's nominations, which were announced this morning at BAFTA HQ (the swankiest reading of a list I've ever been to), only serve to prove that. The big shock winner was Bridge Of Spies - there's only been muted hype for Steven Spielberg's Cold War palm-sweater, but here it picked up nine nominations (including Picture, Director and Supporting Actor), tying it with Carol for most noms. The other surprise was Ex Machina, earning deserved nods for Supporting Actress (Alicia Vikander) and Original Screenplay to get five nominations in total (not bad for a film that was first released almost a year ago). If either of these films, which both placed on my Best Of 2015 list can win some of these awards, I'll be very happy on 14th February. It's not all good stuff though - quite a few big movies were overlooked, most notably Sylvester Stallone for Creed (his best performance since the original Rocky), while several movies that got a sizeable catch of nominations didn't fare so well in the bigger categories (Mad Max: Fury Road and Brooklyn both missed out on Director and Picture). Instead, the big prize looks to be circled by Spotlight, Carol and The Revenant, but, as has become expected from this year's race, it's too hard to call who'll win out (I'd guess Carol). Of course, being the British Academy and one of the last ceremonies before that night in the Dolby theatre, the BAFTAs always serve as something of an Oscar prediction. The big things to learn here was that The Big Short is slowly emerging as a favourite and that big blockbusters like Mad Max: Fury Road and Star Wars: The Force Awakens are struggling to make it out of the technical categories, possibly in favour of more the artsy sci-fi of Ex Machina. Will success here for Alex Garland's A.I. thriller and Bridge Of Spies lead to a taste of Oscar glory? We'll find out when those nominations are announced next week. Check out the full list of nominees on the next page and let us know what you make of them down in the comments.
"I would love to portray the young Han Solo in the upcoming film; the fan enthusiasm has been really terrific and I have received so many messages from people telling me how much they would love to have me portray this character. Its very touching to hear from lifelong Star Wars fans that after seeing The Age Of Adaline, they wholeheartedly trust me to deliver the performance the fans expect and want."

Anthony Ingruber made his feature film debut in last year's romantic drama The Age Of Adaline, playing a younger version of Harrison Ford's character to great effect. The results were astonishing - Ingruber's rendition of Ford as a young man is eerily accurate, from the looks, to the voice, and everything in between. Hardly surprising though - he had scored the gig thanks to his notable impressions of Ford on YouTube, after all. We caught up with Ingruber recently to discuss his uncanny resemblance to, and ability to emulate, one of the legends of cinema, and his experience working on The Age Of Adaline. Bearing such a striking similarity to Harrison Ford, it's no wonder that his name has come up during Disney's search for a young Han Solo; the iconic character will be getting his own spinoff/prequel, scheduled for release sometime in 2018, and word is that Disney are currently auditioning over 2,500 actors between the ages of 18 and 30 to play the role. Although he couldn't confirm whether or not he's auditioning for the part of Han Solo - but, really, everyone is, so it's not hard to assume that Ingruber is too - he did have this to say;Best of luck to him, really - you'll be hard-pressed to find a more suitable actor for the role than a guy who has already played a young Harrison Ford. Check out the rest of our interview with Anthony below.Anthony Ingruber: The audience reaction and praise has been really wonderful. It's really overwhelming the amount of great messages and support I have received from people all over the world.AI: Going from independent films made with friends and my own YouTube channel to almost overnight portraying my childhood hero, Harrison Ford, in a major motion picture alongside Blake Lively was both exciting and challenging. The responsibility of portraying this icon was not only crucially important in the film's story, but also to the expectations of audiences worldwide. That would be a daunting task even for a widely experienced actor. I had no idea what to expect from the shoot, but luckily the cast and crew, particularly the director Lee Toland Krieger, were all very kind and it turned out to be a very enjoyable and fun experience.AI: I remember I was around 14 in high school and a few teachers and classmates started remarking about how much I resembled him. This was also around the time I started messing around with impressions and Harrison was one of my earliest. I unfortunately didn't share any scenes with Harrison, but the crew generously organized for me to meet him. There was a big buzz on set amongst the crew about setting up the meeting, as they were all really curious to see what Harrison's reaction would be and they knew how great a fan of his I am. I was honestly really nervous about meeting him (and remaining coherent and conscious!), but he is such a kind and warm person. The whole experience was amazing and something I'm very grateful for.AI: Ha ha. That would be pretty amazing, but I think Im a bit too young for it at this stage.AI: The Age of Adaline was an amazing experience and has really opened doors for me in the industry. I have a number of things I am working on, but nothing I can announce at this time.
guillemhp/HBO

It's Game of Thrones to TV viewers, but for others, that's merely the title of the first book in George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy series, A Song Of Ice And Fire.

The war for the Seven Kingdoms often seems tame when compared to some of the furious debates between TV viewers and book readers, with the latter previously wielding a lot of power, safe in the knowledge that they know how many storylines will play out long before HBO have even thought about launching the episodes.

That power has dwindled in Seasons 5 and especially 6, as the series drifts further away from the source material, but the war will always remain over whether the show or the books reign supreme. It's not just with Game of Thrones/ASOIAF either, it happens every time Hollywood gets its hands on a book. Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, and The Hobbit, have all fallen foul of book readers in some way.

One of the problems book readers have with visual adaptations are the appearances of characters. Once you've read an appearance, readers use their own imagination to paint a picture of a character, so when they're dramatically different in TV or film productions, it can spark outrage. Here's a selection of the top Game of Thrones characters compared to their book counterparts, along with some of the very best fan artwork.

There are NO book spoilers ahead. Only appearance descriptions.
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NEW view various maps at Geohack: TinyURL.com/GreatSulfurPyramidsOfAlberta There are two ways to ship tar sands. One is by creating...
Wingspan Portfolio Advisors Showed Preferential Treatment to White Employees over Black Employees



More Bad News (Layoffs) For Wingspan Portfolio Advisors. The Company is SINKING fast. THIS IS A VIDEO OF THE MONROE LAYOFF. HOWEVER THIS MONTH WINGSPAN ANNOUNCED ITS CLOSING ITS FLORIDA OFFICE AND LAYING OFF 150 WORKERS THERE. PERMANENTLY. And to think Wingspan's FAILED EXECUTIVES, Justin Belter, Jason Dickard and others have rushed to start another company, called Agility 360, in Carrollton, TX.It seems the website for Agility 360 was thrown up overnight. Their Facebook page has a few photos. Most are of Justin Belter and Jason Dickard standing by the Agility 360 door sign smiling but looking 'out of sorts'. Sort of like they are both sleeping out of their cars and tried to rush and put themselves together for the photo. I can't allow myself to feel sorry for these assholes because they treated so many people, primarily blacks, like shit. At the height of Wingspan's "glory" these guys ruled the roost like dictators. Doing whatever the hell they wanted. Walking the fuck over people in my opinion and as well as many former employees I've spoken to. Their new company, Agility 360, is suppose to be in the business of 'advising' other firms on how to run more efficiently and survive challenges. If they were so good, why did Wingspan FAIL? It has closed offices and laid off hundreds of staff in every state its ventured into. It's CEO has stepped down. The company is STRUGGLING. These guys were NOT good executives. They are just good at Marketing (as Steven Horne was) but not at EXECUTING.





Chase Bank Tells Wingspan Portfolio Advisors To "HIT THE ROAD JACK!" AND DON'T COME BACK ESSENTIALLY THE SAME THING BANK OF AMERICA TOLD THEM AS WELL.



HOPEFULLY THEY DELIVERED THE MESSAGE LIKE RAY CHARLES.. THAT WAY IT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SO HARSH.





Wingspan Portfolio Advisors Files for Ch. 7 Bankruptcy Protection



Justin Belter, FAILED WINGSPAN EXEC, GRINS After Being Hired By Agility 360-WHITE PRIVILEGE AT WORK



Black Man, Father of Four, Murdered in Private Prison By Guards Who Refused Him Medical Help! Michael Sabbie, Father of Four, was having trouble breathing. He had to stop to catch his breath. He told the guard he could not breath and the guards responded by slamming him to the ground and denying him medical care. They also tasered him. He died in Jail. This is the definition of torture and it is happening right here in the United States, a country that claims to be free. Politicians who claim America isn't great are right in a way but they don't have the right reasons in mind. This is is the REAL reason why America isn't great. A man who hasn't even been sentenced and is technically innocent is denied adequate medical care in a private jail. No prison or jail should be private anyways because privatization leads to abuse such as what you all see in this video.

Racist White NC Hospital Volunteer Attacks Black Family Seeking Medical Help

Edina Police Abuse Black Pedestrian (Minneapolis) Such a disturbing video to watch.

Black Man Confronts His Thieving White Boss For Stealing His Wages I have seen so many black people get their wages STOLEN by these so-called 'upstanding good productive white DEMONS '... OOPS.. I meant 'Citizens' that a video like this is refreshing. This happens a lot. Especially to those at the bottom. Black, Marginalized and Poor. White people steal the wages of blacks (Hispanics too) left and right and feel they are safe because they are white and have the power to terminate. But every now and then a black man decides to take back his DIGNITY and approach these devils and demand to be PAID IN FULL. JOB BE DAMNED.

Racist White Woman Attacks Hispanic Woman In IHOP For Speaking Spanish The Devils Are Waking From Their Hibernation.

The Black One Percent Explains The White/Black Wealth Gap THE BLACK ONE PERCENT EXPLAINS WHITE PRIVILEGE. "White People often say 'pick yourselves up by your bootstraps'. But what they fail to grasp is that some people don't have any boots. When people talk about success they fail to understand that no matter how talented they are someone helped them along the way. No one did it all on their own. For every one dollar a white person has in wealth, blacks have $.06 cents in comparable wealth. A lot of that comes from the fact that throughout so much of America's history blacks could not build wealth. Whites were paid and allowed to build wealth to leave down to their children who built on the wealth. Blacks had no wealth to build upon." ------------------------------

Dr. Boyce Watkins Discusses Economic Genocide Of Blacks In America Dr. Boyce Watkins discusses the Economic Genocide Of African Americans in America.

RACISM.. IN 2015 How racism has evolved in Today's world. And How It Has Not.





BROKE WHITE PEOPLE ARE LIKE TOOTHLESS LIONS... Or like a 7 ft tall man who can't dunk... Or a brand new Lexus with no tires.. Interesting Analogies. Interesting Commentary from Tommy Sotomayor.

First Lady Michelle Obama Speaks of Her Shock At The Racism She Has Faced As First Black First Lady

Jay Z 'TIDAL' - SLAMS WHITE SUPREMACY IN HIDDEN MESSAGE

Eugenics, Black Genocide And The Hidden White Agenda, MAAFA 21 Documentary THE HIDDEN WHITE ANSWER TO THE 'NEGRO DILEMMA'.



MAAFA 21







Eugenics, Black Genocide And The Hidden White Agenda, MAAFA 21 Documentary

Photo Shows British Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Mother Being Taught Nazi Salute By Edward VIII



The IMF, WTO DESTROYS Economies of Black Countries, For The Financial Gain of WHITE COUNTRIES This is an incredible documentary detailing 'economic racism' perpetrated by white nations on black nations. (Please read below for details).This documentary due to the overwhelming response has now been monetized. It was on youtube at first free of charge with millions of views but now it can be purchased off the website http://www.lifeanddebt.org/ It's a compelling and moving portrayal of how power operates and how power corrupts. TO PURCHASE AND WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY PLEASE VISIT THE WEBSITE: http://www.lifeanddebt.org/ This documentary was created by a black woman named Stephanie Black who is from Jamaica.



It details how the I.M.F (The International Monetary Fund), and the W.T.O (the World Trade Organization) continue to enslave through poverty and perpetual indebtedness.



How do they do this?



They loan poor nations which are struggling money at incredible interest rates which they know they can never pay back. Just like Loan Sharks. As part of the lending deal, they 'mandate' these nations open up their markets to other countries with no trade restrictions. When this happens all of the local industry that has supported the people in these countries begins to dry up and die, as the country is then flooded with cheap produce and meats from industrial countries at such low prices the country's own produce, meat and production markets are destroyed forever.



Impoverishing the Country. Forever.



When this is done wealthier nations move in with the IMF's permission and began to PLUNDER whatever resources they desire.

Shocking Medical Experiments White Doctors Performed On Black Women Its Shocking to See the Type of Medical Experiments These White People Did on Black Women for the Advancement of Medical Science





How Europeans Used False Teachings of History To Conquer Black People Worldwide INCREDIBLE, MUST SEE DOCUMENTARY





Marlon Brando On America's Hypocrisy, and Racism

INTRODUCING "LYRICKS". "I CAN'T BREATHE" Wake up my people. Wake up. HEAVY. REALLY HEAVY. VERY DEEP LYRICS. ABOUT POLICE BRUTALITY AND POLICE CORRUPTION AND RACISM. INTRODUCING NEW RAPPER (CHINESE RAPPER) "LYRICKS". WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SONG. WOW.





By Any Means Necessary (A Call To ARMS To END White Supremacy) - Ibrahim Sincere P.O.W.E.R.F.U.L. B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. Introducing.. IBRAHIM SINCERE

Tim Wise: On White Privilege

Toni Morrison Takes White Supremacy To Task Toni Morrison To White People: "If You Can Only Be Tall, Because Somebody Else is On Their Knees, Then You Have A Serious, Serious Problem"

C.K. Lewis on the UNEARNED PRIVILEGES of Being "White"

Pregnant Black Woman Abused During Illegal Arrest. ACLU Sues. CHARGES DROPPED. Why was the black woman treated differently than the blonde? This shit has to stop. Per the ACLU, the woman did not have to identify herself as no crime, even using the officer's OWN WORDS, had not been committed.





Homewood Alabama Police Racially Profile, Assault Black Motorists When Will The Racism END? Black People Are Under ASSAULT in AMERIKKKA.





Virginia Cops Tase And Pepper Spray Black Man Having A Stroke

Homeless Black Woman BEATEN by CHP Officer Daniel Andrew

Black Brothers Racially Profiled and Arrested in Colorado. ACLU SUES. Charges DROPPED. Why were these brothers stopped and thrown to the ground and arrested? Colorado Springs has stated two different reasons. First reason was they were driving 'slow' in a high crime area and the second reason was they 'had a cracked windshield'. Two BULLSHIT reasons to manhandle and arrest someone. FUCK THE POLICE.





Chris Rock Explains The Only Way Black People Can Win in America

Racism In The United States By The Numbers Vlogger Brothers = RACISM IN AMERICA BY THE NUMBERS

Racism Is Real

Racism. In Amerikkka. Unbelievable Exchange. Especially Near the End of The Video.

Ernestine Johnson --> THE AVERAGE BLACK GIRL P.O.W.E.R.F.U.L. The woman is a PURE TALENT.

Rapper T.I. - "New National Anthem" in response to America's Genocide and Oppression of Blacks Rapper T.I. delivers a powerful, gut wrenching response to America's Genocide and Oppression of Blacks in the new song titled "New National Anthem"

Welcome To Being A White Minority In America We're sure you'll LOVE IT..





LORD GIVE ME A SIGN A CRY FOR HELP.. IN OUR PAIN WE NEED YOU.

FUCK AMERICA. IN OUR DARKEST NIGHT, YOU'LL PULL US THROUGH.

Police Racially Profile, Assault Two Black Men For No Reason. The Brothers Fought Back. Respect.



Detroit Police Racially Profile to young black men and then assaulted them. The Brothers, one in law school, knew their rights and FOUGHT BACK. RESPECT.

White Supremacy & Fear of a Black Planet Powerful Video. Very Moving. Yes. The "Truth" is "Refreshing". A southern white man, a self proclaimed "Redneck" calling out America's WHITE SUPREMACY.

EVIL AND RACIST - The Koch Brothers Exposed At Minute 40:52 Watch How The Koch Brothers Are Dumping Cancer Causing Chemicals Into Poor Black Communities Killing Poor Innocent African Americans By The Truckloads. All Of Whom Are Being Taken Out By Cancer.





Bass Pro Employee Says "Niggers Shouldn't Have Right To Buy Guns In The Store"

CROOKED NJ COPS CAUGHT FRAMING INNOCENT BLACK MAN Dirty Pigs. Blacks in America are under systemic assault. We don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting a fair shake.





WHITE WASHED A Documentary On WHITENESS





COMING SOON --> HIDDEN COLORS 4. The Religion of White Supremacy COMING SOON --> Hidden Colors 4. The Religion of White Supremacy. Currently Under Production. These Young brothers need your support. Please be a part of the growing movement to support black films and documentaries. To Finish the Project they need $60,000.00. They have raised $28,000 so far. It is time WE started telling OUR OWN Story. The Documentary Focuses on *Global Racism *Racism in Religion *Omitted History *Financial Warfare *Health and Racism *Solutions to these issues And so much more. If you have any doubts about their work. Please feel free to check out Hidden Colors 1 through 3. AMAZING WORK! link to their gofundme page --> http://kck.st/1KiYUUo

Challenging Racism, Privilege and Denial by Tim Wise

Melanin: The God Particle POWERFUL DOCUMENTARY. Let's Help This TALENTED, Young Black Man Bring This To The "Big Screen".

Background Check on the White Man. Uncovering Hidden Atrocities A moving documentary about White Subjugation of the Black Race and the Continued oppression that continues.

Megyn Kelly Schools Bill O'Reilly About White Privilege Doug Grissinger  Stetson University College of Law "I worked once for an upmarket (white owned) retailer in Manhattan. He watched the store on video from his office, alerting store security to shadow EVERY black who entered. Yah... even ex-Supreme actress Diana Ross got the treatment."

The Paradox of Race in America Chris Hayes examines the racial double-standard that still dominates American society.

Mugging The Poor: Predatory Policing In The U.S.

Dr. Umar Johnson Calls Out The Hypocrisy Of Black Men Who Date White Women

Blacks Supporting White Supremacy Through Patronizing White Businesses?



White Like Me.. A Documentary on the Economics of Race and White Racial Privilege .. A Powerful Documentary on The Economics of Race. Racism is about ECONOMICS. Who controls the resources. The Labor. Who is able to subjugate and rule over others.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Ferguson, MO and Police Militarization (HBO)

John Oliver Calls Out America's Racist, Broken Prison System Says: 'We Are Doing A Terrible Job'

Jessie Duplantis Gives A POWERFUL Message To The Black Race

NBC News Anchor Brian Williams Raps Gin and Juice

Who Is Standing Up Against Racism In Corporate America?

G.W. Bush



Why CNN's Don Lemon & Elitist Black Folks "Just..Don't..Get..It" Very well spoken indeed.

Murderer George Zimmerman Walks Free After Killing Black Teen,But Will The Streets Be So Forgiving?



Racism in America: Small Town 1950s Case Study Documentary Film

Dr. Cornel West on Racism, Inequality, & American Empire

TX Schools Teaching Blacks Descended from Ham, Jews Practice 'Flawed Religion' Dear Mexico, Take Texas Back PLEASE!

SNAKE - UNCLE TOM - WHITE MAN'S PET



















They Hate What They Fear







They Operate On An Entirely Other Stratosphere. Outside the Established "Norms" Set For Minorities.



Wingspan Has Resorted to Using "US" Against "US"..



Why Do You Think That Whites In The SOUTH Have Historically Done The Dirtiest Damn Shit?



They Want Us "LeaderLESS". Every Black That Shows Organizational Skill, They Quickly DISCREDIT.



The Late, Great Booker T. Washington



Blacks Lagging All Other Races in Business Ownership



Don't Spend Money in Stores That Don't Hire Blacks



The Black Man (And Woman) Will Never Be Free Without Economic Security.



Americans Are Losing Freedoms



Slave Labor and the Founding of America










you need to go here to get a very thorough and accurate fleshing out of the story behind the federal land grab in oregon. it is a classic land grab, because the hammond's land is either contiguous with or within the malheur national wildlife refuge, and the refuge wants that land. period.

end of story. end of the hammonds, perhaps?

http://louderwithcrowder.com/quick-hits-everything-you-need-to-know-about-malheur-national-wildlife-refuge-standoff/#.VpAQNxUrLcs .

now, this is the story. the wildlife refuge initiated the original prosecution of the hammonds. and, the managers of the refuge pushed the united states appeal of the sentence, that the united states prosecutor has negotiated and entered into w/ the hammonds sentencing pater hammond to 3 months and his son for one year + one day. (that insures prison time.)

and, though "louder with crowder" does not mention it, here is what i think happened between the time of the original sentence and the subsequent "resentencing." --

after the hammonds got out of the bucket, the refuge went to them, and made them an offer "they could not refuse." except the hammonds, being made of sterner stuff than your average bear, told the national refuge people to stick the offer where the sun doesn't shine very often. and, the refuge put the arm on them, and so on and so forth, and still the hammonds refused. i do not know if the united states threatened the hammonds with further prosecution or re-sentencing in their attempts to get them to sell their land. (see concluding remarks.)

then, the malheur national wildlife refuge went to the spineless dicks in the u.s. attorney's office in portland, oregon and put the arm on them to appeal the very sentence they had negotiated. how do i know this happened, why am i so sure that this is how it "went down." well, there is a very simple reason. and, that is, the element of the time passing before the original sentencing, and the filing of the appeal by the united states.-- if the united states had been aggrieved with the original trial judge's decision (and they were not, as the u.s. attorney negotiated for it, and spoke on the record for it), they would have appealed the decision at that point. they did not. they did not appeal the decision for well over a year. it was only after pressure was brought on them by the karges's that they file.***

i still think that the sierra club and the nature conservancy have a hand in this, sort of hand in glove with the united states of amerika strong arm tactics, if you will allow the egregious mixing of metaphors. i will keep digging on this, to see if i can substantiate my suspicions.

in the meantime, let us identify the assholes who manipulated justice to get the land of another that they coveted: they are a husband and wife team employeed by the united states of amerika: rhonda karges, field manager at the bureau of land management for that district, and chad karges, refuge manager for the malheur national wildlife refuge, along w/ frank papagni, united states attorney/blm attorney/refuge attorney/private attorney. http://louderwithcrowder.com/quick-hits-everything-you-need-to-know-about-malheur-national-wildlife-refuge-standoff/#.VpAQNxUrLcs .

in my opinion, if these facts can be substantiated, (especially my suspicion that the hammonds were threatened with further criminal action in order to get them to sell their land), then i am going to do my level best to have the karges's and their attorney charged with criminal extortion. it is illegal to obtain the property of another via the use or threatened use of illegal force, and i think that this behavior on the part of government agents, if substantial-able, constitutes criminal extortion.

this is not over. not by a long shot.

john jay @ 01.08.2016

p.s. the link between those who pressured the "appeal" and those who filed the appeal is established. next, we will see if we can find out pressures the hammonds experienced before the filing of the appeal, and by whom. and, if we can get the sierra club and nature conservancy, or both, into the loop.

*** all lawyers will be puzzled about several things. 1.)how was "the appeal" filed within the time constraints of federal court rules. 2.)if filed by the united states, how could the prosecutor's office appeal a sentencing recommendation it had negotiated, and 3.)if the appeal was not filed by the united states prosecutor, how would a private entity have achieved standing to file an appeal negotiated by the united states.
South Korea began a high-decibel propaganda barrage across its border with North Korea on Friday in retaliation for what it claimed as a nuclear test, while the United States called on China to end business as usual with its ally.

Friday's moves came as the international community struggled to find common ground on how best to penalize North Korea following its announcement two days ago that it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb. The claim has been met with condemnation and skepticism.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that frontline troops, near 11 sites where propaganda loudspeakers started blaring messages at noon, were on highest alert. In the past, similar broadcasts have angered North Korea.

Yonhap said Seoul had deployed missiles, artillery and other weapons systems near the border on Friday to swiftly deal with any possible North Korean response. South Korea's Defense Ministry couldn't confirm the reports and the military banned foreign media from the border ahead of the broadcasts.

The broadcasts include popular Korean pop songs, world news and weather forecasts as well as criticism of the North's nuclear test, its troubled economy and dire human rights conditions, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry.

Among the songs on Friday's playlist was Bang, Bang, Bang a recent hit by top K-pop boy band, Big Bang. Their resumption revives psychological warfare tactics that date to the 1950-53 Korean War.

We're putting out critical messages about Kim Jong-un's regime and its fourth nuclear test, saying North Korea's nuclear weapons development is putting its people in more difficult times economically, a military official said.

North Korea, in return, started its own loudspeaker broadcasts on the shared border, the South's Yonhap News Agency said on Friday.

The broadcasts, which North Korea considers an act of psychological warfare, are expected to draw a furious response in part because Friday is believed to be the birthday of North Koreas leader Kim Jong Un and the broadcasts are meant to raise questions about the infallibility of the ruling Kim family.

Before the broadcasts began, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has urged China to end business as usual with North Korea.

Kerry told reporters in Washington that he spoke by phone Thursday with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He said that China's approach to North Korea had failed. The U.N. Security Council that has pledged new sanctions against North Korea after its purported hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday. China has a pivotal position as it is a permanent council member and the North's main trading partner.

China said after the call with Kerry that it was willing to communicate with all parties, including the United States.

Wang Yi stressed that China has staunchly dedicated itself to the goal of the peninsula's denuclearization and to maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It may take weeks or longer to confirm or refute the North's claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major and unanticipated advance for its still-limited nuclear arsenal.

Later Friday, South Korea was to announce the results of its first round of investigations of samples collected from sea operations to see if radioactive elements leaked from the North's test, according to the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety.

When South Korea briefly resumed propaganda broadcasts in August after an 11-year break, the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire, followed by threats of war.

We urge South Korea to exercise restraint, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said during a visit to Japan, after the South resumed the broadcasts. It is simply rising to the bait.

The sound from the speakers can carry for 6 miles into North Korea during the day and more than twice that at night, Yonhap reported.

Wire services
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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.
Those living near a landfill complex in suburban St. Louis where an underground fire is burning near Cold War-era nuclear weapons waste say they remain afraid and frustrated despite a government pledge to build a barrier between the two.

In the past, tests have found radioactive materials in the complex that were previously unknown to regulators, raising fears that the extent of the contamination  in terms of severity and location  remains unclear. Maintaining that its data is sound, the EPA, which has regulatory oversight over the West Lake Landfill, announced on Dec. 31 that it is moving forward with a plan to build an isolation barrier between the fire and known waste, but many residents and environmentalists are worried that is too little too late.

I think this was an announcement about an announcement, said Dawn Chapman, who lives near the site and is one of the most vocal residents calling for a safe and permanent solution to the landfills radioactive contamination. Theres no details in it.

A largely unknown amount of radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project was illegally dumped at the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton in 1973. In 2010, an underground fire was detected in the adjacent Bridgeton Landfill. Reports ordered by Missouris Attorney General  who has sued the landfills owner over the state of the complex  suggest that the fire could reach the known radioactive waste in a matter of months.

Echoing Chapmans concerns, Ed Smith of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment said any barrier would be a joke so long as the extent of the radioactive contamination at the site remains unknown.

The EPA, however, is confident in the characterization of the site, according to EPA Region 7 spokesperson Chris Whitley. The agency oversaw additional testing to characterize the extent of the contamination in 2015, but the results are not being released to the public at this time.

We believe that we have the scientific data necessary at this time to make a responsible decision in terms of the placement and construction of an isolation barrier, Whitley said.

The only way to guarantee the radioactive content will never come in contact with the subsurface fire in the future is to remove the radioactive material, Smith said. Weve watched the EPA work on the barrier plan now for almost two years, whereas they could have been planning for the removal of the radioactive waste.

Finding a solution to mitigate the potential impacts of a subsurface smoldering event is a top priority for the community, and a top priority for the EPA, EPA Region 7 Administrator Mark Hague said in a press release.

In response to the announcement, Russ Knocke, a spokesperson for Arizona-based Republic Services, which owns the landfill complex, offered a simple reply to Al Jazeera: Ready. The company will partner with EPA to build the barrier. No specific plans, location, or timetable regarding the barrier are being released at this time. The agency made a similar announcement in 2013.

Through its lobbying group  The Coalition to Keep Us Safe  Republic Services has long advocated that the radioactive materials be contained at the West Lake Landfill, not unearthed and transported to modern storage facilities in other parts of the country. The organization, saying that unearthing and transporting the waste through Missouri would be costly and pose a risk to public health, mobilizes legislators and residents from other parts of the state to push for containment in St. Louis.

However, as part of its own cleanup program, the Army Corps of Engineers, which has jurisdiction over most of the other contaminated sites in St. Louis, has already unearthed and transported more than a million cubic yards of materials contaminated with radioactive waste out of the area and through Missouri without incident. Many residents living in north St. Louis County want to see the same done with the radioactive waste at the West Lake Landfill.

Its looking more and more like removal is the only way to guarantee [a safe and permanent solution,] Chapman said. Lifes over for [people] in this community. They cant [safely] live where they are. They cant enjoy it

EPAs announcement regarding the barrier came just days after a new study was released, showing that radioactive materials are migrating from the landfill into the surrounding area.

The peer-reviewed study  published in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity last week  analyzed nearly 300 soil and dust samples collected from drainage ditches, former storage sites, and residential properties around north St. Louis County. Researchers found that many of the samples contained levels of a radioactive form of lead higher than the Department of Energy soil quality guidelines established at the Fernald, Ohio, uranium-processing plant.

This type of radioactive lead forms decaying uranium or radon particles. Long-term exposure to low level radiation has been linked to cancer, infertility, and autoimmune diseases.

Because of the population density of this area, this is a huge concern, said Lucas Hixson, one of the studys co-authors. Nearly three million people live in the greater St. Louis metropolitan area.

As the debate surrounding West Lake Landfill rages, the cleanup of other contaminated sites throughout the area is chugging along. Earlier in December, the Army Corps of Engineers announced it had discovered an additional seven contaminated sites along Coldwater Creek in St. Louis County, including on residential properties, bringing the total number of sites found by the Corps so far in that creeks floodplain to 11.

Coldwater Creek is known to have been contaminated by a large nuclear weapons waste storage site near St. Louis airport and has routinely flooded residential and commercial properties over the past seven decades. The Corps has been cleaning up sites contaminated by St. Louis Manhattan Project operations for the past 17 years, but had only begun testing the creeks floodplain for radioactive contamination earlier in 2015.

Samples taken near Coldwater Creek were among those analyzed in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity study.

More disturbingly, indoor dusts in homes adjacent to Coldwater Creek have potentially higher levels of uranium and thorium than those found in sediments at known disposal sites, the authors wrote in the study.

I am not surprised, said Angela Helbling, who grew up near Cold Water Creek. Years ago, she developed a rare salivary gland tumor. Her mother passed away at 39 due to a brain tumor.

The Center for Disease Control is now investigating a potential cancer cluster in north St. Louis County. Data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has shown statistically significant higher rates of cancer and other diseases in zip codes adjacent to known contaminated sites in St. Louis County, including the West Lake Landfill.

The study Hixson co-authored linked the presence of the radioactive lead to radon gas coming from the West Lake Landfill. There is no lining separating the radioactive waste and contaminated soils from the groundwater or air, and all that separates the landfill from a public road is a chain-linked fence.

What we found is that the mere fact that these materials are present in the environment is going to lead to offsite contamination by way of the radioactive gases, Hixson said. And that spreads farther and faster than the offsite particle transport, and its in such volume that offsite properties are showing levels  beyond cleanup levels.

Knocke declined to comment on the study, deferring the question to the EPA.

EPA Region 7 spokesperson Angela Brees said that the agency received the new study and is currently reviewing it. In a statement emailed to Al Jazeera in May, an EPA representative wrote: There is no credible scientific data indicating off-site human exposure to radiological contaminants from the West Lake Landfill.

These latest developments also came as St. Louis was overwhelmed with historic rainfall and floods. Coldwater Creek again spilled into public parks and basements, and residents filmed streams of rainwater pouring off the West Lake Landfill into a drainage ditch along a public road.

Officials maintain that Coldwater Creeks waters are not an immediate danger to residents. Runoff from the Westlake Landfill is being tested by the state for radioactive contamination.

Theyre not cleaning up North [St. Louis] County like they should, Chapman said. And theres nobody championing that fight right now.
On Jan. 11, the United States Supreme Court will begin hearing oral arguments in one of the most significant cases of this term: Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a nearly three-year long legal showdown between organized labor and its most implacable foes.

At stake is whether public sector unions can constitutionally charge fair share fees to non-union members of the workplaces they represent. The contract that a union negotiates with the management of any given shop applies to all employees, union and non-union alike. As a result, unions in 25 out of 50 states are permitted to charge non-union workers for the expenses associated with representing them. If the court rules that these fees are unconstitutional, the long-term health of American public sector unions could be in jeopardy.

Rebecca Friedrichs, a California schoolteacher and the lead plaintiff in the Friedrichs case, filed in April 2013, argues that the fees imposed on her by the California Teachers Association infringed on her First Amendment rights because they compel her to subsidize the activities of a political organization. If the Court sides with Friedrichs, then no public sector union in the U.S. would be permitted to charge fair share fees. That would make it so all 7.2 million public sector union members operate under right-to-work rules.

These fees are already banned in 25 states by so-called right-to-work laws, and union membership has declined in those states where they have taken effect. If those rules cover the entire public sector, unions fear they will take a serious blow in the one sector of the economy where they have been able to maintain strength. Whereas only 6.6 percent of private sector workers are unionized, according to the most recent figures from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than one-third of government employees are in unions  for now.

Organized labor, its allies, and their opponents have all taken note. The evidence is in the 58 amicus briefs filed in the Friedrichs case, according to the tally on the website SCOTUSBlog, which tracks Supreme Court cases and related filings. Only the affirmative action case Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, with 92, has drawn more amicus briefs in this term. Overall, the median number of amicus briefs filed per case this term was just three.

Most amicus briefs dont have much of an impact on the outcome of a case, but they do indicate whose interests are at stake.

Not surprisingly, the major public sector unions, including the American Federation of Teachers and the National Fraternal Order of Police, and the AFL-CIO, the biggest U.S. labor federation, filed briefs in support of the California Teachers Association, urging the Court not to eliminate representation fees.

Friedrichs and the other petitioners, meanwhile, won support from libertarian think tanks such as the Cato Institute and Michigans Mackinac Center and business groups such as the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).

Karen Harned, executive director of NFIBs Small Business Legal Center, said that excessive influence of public sector unions harms the interests of small businesses. Theyre basically going to the trough, using the money theyre getting from all their members to raise the amount of money the state has to give them, Harned said of public worker unions. And whos ultimately going to be paying that bill? The small business owner."

Some labor experts say business groups, in particular, are sensitive to the broader significance of the Friedrichs case: a blow to unions in the public sector could also weaken the union movement in the private sector. Paul Secunda, the director of Marquette University Law Schools Labor and Employment Law Program, noted that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker first moved to limit the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions before signing a right-to-work law in 2015 that affected unions in both sectors. You cant separate public sector unionism from private sector unionism, he said.

Harned denied that NFIBs position on Friedrichs is linked to concerns about private sector unions. I dont think we went into it really thinking so much on the private sector front, she said. Its really more about a bloated state government.

Not all the amicus filings were split along typical conservative-liberal lines. A group of 47 current and former Republican state legislators, and one former member of Congress, filed a brief in favor of the California Teachers Association, arguing that instituting right-to-work rules should be left to individual states. A ruling in favor of Friedrichs, they wrote, would be inconsistent with the significant deference long accorded state determinations about how labor relations in public sector employment should be ordered.

We were very gratified that its not the unions on one side of this, but that a lot of folks say this just makes sense in terms of managing the workforce that they have, said Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association (NEA).

If those arguments fail and the Court sides with Friedrichs, it won't be a death knell for public sector unions, said Secunda, the labor law professor. But will make the model under which they currently operate less sustainable.

We're really at an important point here where unions are on the ropes, Secunda said. They're taking blow after blow.
At a public university , Hawkins firing would amount to religious discrimination, and she could have argued that her statements are protected by her academic and free speech rights. But Wheaton is not a public institution. It requires all faculty members to sign on to its goal of working to serve Jesus Christ and advance his kingdom. In attempting to fire her, Wheaton College administrators appear to imply that, given her public statements, she is no longer a Christian and hence is ineligible to work at their institution.

The first question is easier to answer: Religious institutions such as Wheaton College rely on their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion, which, among other things, allows them to refuse employment to individuals of different faiths.

The controversy raises two thorny questions. First, do privately funded institutions such as Wheaton College have the right to curb free-speech rights, protected under the First Amendment but contrary to principles such as Wheatons statement of faith? Second, should the headscarf  a visible but contested religious symbol  be elevated as a basis for interfaith solidarity?

Her solidarity statement came in the aftermath of the Dec. 2, 2015, shooting in San Bernardino, California. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had just called for a  total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States , and American Muslims, particularly hijab-wearing women, were reporting hate crimes against them.

In their view, her comments conflicted with the colleges statement of faith , which requires that faculty profess belief in evangelical Christianity and conduct themselves accordingly. She said she is  flummoxed and flabbergasted  by the colleges decision to fire her.

In a statement last month, the college said , Hawkins administrative leave resulted from theological statements that seemed inconsistent with Wheaton Colleges doctrinal convictions. School officials say they initiated the firing process because she declined to participate in further dialogue about the theological implications of her public statements.

Larycia Hawkins, 43, was suspended for writing on Facebook , I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated  we worship the same God. She pledged to wear a hijab for Advent  including on a trip to her home state, Oklahoma, which has an amendment to its constitution barring consideration of Sharia in the public sphere  and encouraged others to do the same in solidarity with our Muslim sisters.

Hawkins message of solidarity and her decision to don the hijab is an example of the courage that a paranoid nation, obsessed with an imagined Muslim enemy, desperately needs.

The prospects appear weak for a legal strategy to keep her in her job. U.S. courts do not interpret religious doctrine and may not weigh in on whether her statement on the sameness of Christians and Muslims God excludes her from evangelical Christianity and Wheatons stated purpose. The power to determine whether Hawkins is Christian enough for Wheaton lies entirely with the college.

As for the second question, the issue of whether the headscarf is required of all Muslim women is a divisive one. Similar to Wheatons stance, the issue raises the question of who gets to decide inclusion and exclusion and requirement versus choice for the faithful. The call for non-Muslim women to don the hijab on Feb. 1 to mark World Hijab Day in solidarity with Muslim women has exposed differences among Muslims about elevating the symbol as an indicator of Muslimness.

Opponents insist that doing so perpetuates oppression, citing the long history of conservative regimes that forced all women to wear the hijab. In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, Hala Araf and former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Q. Nomani wrote, We see the girls headscarf not as a signal of choice, but as a symbol of a dangerous purity culture, obsessed with honor and virginity, adding that the hijab issue has divided Muslims since the Saudi and Iranian regimes promulgated puritanical interpretations of Sunni and Shia Islam, after the 1970s Saudi oil boom and the 1979 Iranian revolution.

In the United States, these views are largely irrelevant. Interfaith solidarity exercises such as wearing the headscarf is geared toward societies where Muslims are not a majority and are subject to increasing discrimination. In these contexts, such support has meaning because it involves the dilution of a symbol that is otherwise exclusively associated with Muslims, whether rightly or not. This is crucial because in Muslim-majority countries, where the headscarf is common, Hawkins message of solidarity would have little meaning.

To be clear, narrowing Muslim identity to a headscarf is reductionist. But so are the many acts of discrimination against Muslims and groups such as Sikhs, who are often mistaken for Muslims and targeted. Outrage over her act of interfaith solidarity should be directed at the anti-Muslim bigotry it attempts to fight, not the rightness or wrongness of donning a headscarf.

It makes sense to target anti-Muslim discrimination with acts of solidarity based on visible symbols such as hijab, regardless of concerns about their universality. The non-Muslim majority can help desensitize the symbols in ways that a minority faith group cannot accomplish alone, by virtue of its smaller numbers. The wearing of the headscarf in solidarity disrupts the ill-informed narrative that sees Muslims as would-be terrorists or terrorist sympathizers.

Non-Muslim Americans are defining what they consider acceptable levels of tolerance toward a demonized Muslim minority that is increasingly seen as disloyal. In the rhetorical fog of a rabid electoral season, the headscarf debate is just another effort to create categories of acceptable and unacceptable Muslims, determined not by those who believe and belong but by those who wish to profile and keep out.

Hawkins experience with Wheaton College may have put her in the shoes of average Muslim women in the U.S., who are trying to create space for individual choice, on veiling and otherwise, against orthodoxies and institutions similar to her employer. Her decision to don the hijab and openly express what she believes provides a recipe for solidarity that goes beyond wearing the headscarf for a day. It is an example of the kind of courage that a paranoid nation, obsessed with an imagined Muslim enemy, desperately needs.
On Wednesday, North Korea shocked the world by conducting its fourth nuclear test, which drew immediate international condemnation. Pyongyangs decision may appear perplexing, but it shouldnt be. The states messaging strategy since the test makes the logic plain: This is an important year for the government, science and technology are linchpins of development, and nuclear weapons are an indivisible part of national defense. At the same time, it gives a hint of popular opinion surrounding the countrys nuclear program in some quarters  the ones that matter the most for regime stability over the long term.

Whenever the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea undertakes a provocation, a debate about the intended audience inevitably follows. Is it for domestic or external consumption? If the latter, is it for the United States, South Korea, China, Japan or some combination of those four? States, like humans, have a tendency to imagine themselves at center stage, concluding that the actions of others are directed squarely at them.

From an analytical standpoint, it doesnt help that there is a kernel of truth to most of the available interpretations. Yes, North Korea would cheerfully force an end to President Barack Obamas policy of strategic patience, the admission that, given North Korean intransigence since the failed U.S.North Korea Leap Day agreement of 2012, the U.S. governments limited reserves of diplomatic time and personnel can be more effectively deployed elsewhere.

And yes, Pyongyang has surely concluded by now that Augusts inter-Korean diplomatic dance  set off by a land mine that maimed two South Korean staff sergeants along the demilitarized zone and ended with an agreement signed between the two governments  yielded nothing of substance. Nothing, that is, except perhaps the death of one of North Koreas erstwhile point men on inter-Korean matters, Kim Yang Gon, who on Dec. 29 was reported as having died in a Pyongyang car accident earlier that month.

And of course, whatever perceived or real slight incited North Korean officials to recall Supreme Leader Kim Jong Uns court orchestra from China just hours before it was due to perform there on Dec. 12 may have persuaded him to sign off on final preparations for the test on Dec. 15. In the Chinese and South Korean media, a broad crack that developed Wednesday morning in a school playground in Yanji  a visible result of the nuclear test happening just 60 miles away  quickly came to symbolize the popular but likely baseless notion that Chinese patience with its headstrong ally is finally running out.

Of course, any country cultivating a nuclear weapons program must test its wares with some regularity to ensure that they function and to bring that functionality to the attention of friend and foe alike. For the North Korean government, nuclear weapons are not the bargaining chip they once were. Rather, they are a means of defense against external enemies and plausibly a salable asset.
JUAB COUNTY, Utah  As his legs were being sucked into a winding screw conveyor at his father-in-laws animal rendering plant, John Vrana worried he wouldnt live long enough to see his wife again, who was at home, six months pregnant with twins.

Vrana had been trying to unclog the machine, which grinds animal parts and separates bone from fat, by straddling each side of the massive screw.

And then, his foot slipped.

I ['saw] my leg being broken a ton and go around the screw conveyor, he said. I [saw] it being broken and ripped, and my skin ripped and smashed and my ankle being ripped and all that stuff going around the screw.

Vrana, a 32-year-old step-father of two girls, took the temporary job at John Kuhni Sons Inc., his father-in-laws facility in Juab County, Utah, to keep his mind busy while he waited for more work at his usual gig in the oil fields.

He said he was working alone with little training when his foot slipped into the quickly-twisting machine in September 2015.

Vrana grabbed onto an indoor window sill near the machine to help pull himself to safety as the grinder quickly demolished his leg.

I thought I was going to die  instantly, he said. I was going to die, and my brain never registered the pain. [I was] just screaming. But then, almost instantly, another click of my brain is, How am I going to live? I dont want to die.

Struggling to pull himself out of the grinding screw, Vrana thought of his wife, Ashley, and his twins, a baby girl and a boy who were due in a few months. He wanted to tell Ashley he loved her.

I tried to stand up, he said. I know now that was a mistake, because where I tried to stand up was on the screw conveyor, so then my left foot [got] sucked in.

Vrana launched his upper body off the side, but his legs were already gone. With no one to hear his calls for help in the noisy factory, he desperately grasped for his cell phone in his cargo pants pocket, which had been mangled in the screw.

Calmly, he whipped the belt from his waistband and secured it around his leg as a tourniquet, while he dragged his bloody body across the floor of the animal processing plant, gathering animal hair, dirt and debris in his wounds.
Josh Rushing: In the last year, it's been a zeitgeist issue of videos of police shooting young African-American men. But this kind of relationship between police and the black community, this started long before cellphones started capturing it on camera, right? How far back do you go with this? Bryan Stevenson (the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative): I think you have to go back to slavery. The reason why young men of color are at risk in too many of our streets is that there is a presumption of dangerousness and guilt that gets assigned to people of color. We act on that presumption in ways that are sometimes violent. These police officers are reacting to this narrative of racial difference, this presumption of guilt and dangerousness that you can't understand unless you think about the legacy of slavery. Even before slavery, the genocide of indigenous people in this country, where we began to shape our whole worldview based on color. I mean, for me, the great evil of American slavery wasn't involuntary servitude. It wasn't forced labor. It was really this ideology of white supremacy we made up to make ourselves feel comfortable with enslavement. We said that black people are different  we're actually civilizing them by enslaving them. And that was the great evil of American slavery. We never dealt with that. So it's easy for me to fall into the trap of saying, "Look, slavery happened so long ago that I don't feel any relationship to it." But in your family you were much more connected to it than I realize even possible in today's times. That's right. My grandmother was the daughter of people who were raised by  who were born into slavery. I mean, my great-grandparents were enslaved. But I think for all of us, the legacy of slavery is still around us. We don't actually end slavery and the worst part of slavery in 1865. Slavery doesn't end. It just evolves. It turns into decades where we use that same narrative to justify terrorism perpetrated against African-Americans throughout this country and brutal public spectacle lynchings. What we did to African-Americans between the end of Reconstruction and World War II rivals anything we read about in the Mideast today perpetrated by [the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant]. We strung people up. We mutilated them. We set them on fire. We shot them a hundred times. We cut off parts of their body and took it home as souvenirs. Then we didn't talk about it. We just sort of moved it indoors and created a criminal justice system that perpetuated that same narrative  Heroic black people did do some extraordinary things, but there was opposition to civil rights. There was resistance to civil rights by elected officials. If you don't know that resistance story, if you don't know how that continued past the 1960s into the 1970s, you can't understand mass incarceration and excessive punishment today. At each point of these historical eras, people who identified with law enforcement, they were the foot soldiers empowered to sustain this racial hierarchy. They were the ones who were maintaining the rules of slavery.

We have to stop telling the lies that we tell about who we are. You go to the American South, and the landscape is littered with the iconography of the Confederacy. We celebrate our history of slavery. We celebrate our era of terrorism. Bryan Stevenson

Explicitly or implicitly? Do you think they knew that  that "that's one of my jobs here"? Oh, absolutely. During the era of slavery, it was the law enforcement that would chase the fugitive slaves into the North and bring them back. They were the ones that would enforce the conflicts. During the era of terrorism, there'd be some accusation of the crime. And the sheriff would make the arrest. And then he would open up the jail doors to the mob, who would engage in these acts of violence. There's been this complicity between law enforcement and this history. In mass incarceration in our contemporary era, it is the police who are being looked to to keep the public safe  but, more than that, to sustain these dynamics, to resist any kind of challenge to this identity that we've grown up with. And so we need in America truth and reconciliation. We need to kind of reshape our identity. I'm not interested in punishing people for slavery or punishing people for terrorism. I'm not interested in punishing people for segregation or even punishing people for police violence. I'm interested in getting us to a place where we're feeling something that looks more like freedom and justice.

Josh Rushing with Bryan Stevenson

You draw an incredible parallel there to the American South being as bad as [ISIL], which is incredibly provocative to say. And that the black neighborhoods in LA and Cleveland and Chicago were refugees, not unlike the refugees from crisis we see today in Europe. Yeah, and my critique is not that the South was as bad as that but the acts of terror that people were allowed to engage in with impunity are no less gruesome and are no less provocative in the acts. If you hang a person out and you mutilate them and you set them on fire and then you shoot them and then you insist that they hang from the tree for a week and you make black people look at them as a statement to that community, you've done something horrific. And it has the parallels that we talk about in the modern context. And you're right  what happens in response to that is that millions of black people flee to Chicago and Cleveland and Detroit, not as immigrants looking for new economic opportunities but as refugees and exiles from terror. We have to stop telling the lies that we tell about who we are. You go to the American South, and the landscape is littered with the iconography of the Confederacy. We celebrate our history of slavery. We celebrate our era of terrorism. Talk about erasing the death penalty, because when you look at death row  blacks are not the majority that are there. There are actually more whites than blacks. But you have to look past that to find how race really plays into the death penalty. Explain that. Sure. It's race of the victim. So that death penalty is the blue ribbon we give to people who murder the folks we care most about. And because there is this hierarchy of whose lives matter, 80 percent of the people on the death row are there for victims who are white. And even though people of color are much more likely to be the victims of homicide, they don't become the death penalty cases. It is still incredibly racially skewed, and you find that evidence not just in the percentage of defendants of color, which is disproportionately high, but you find it most dramatically with the race of the victim. The court case that the United States Supreme Court took on that was really designed to end racial bias in the death penalty because of the evidence of race was all about race of the victim. The Baldus study in 1987 established that in Georgia you're 11 times more likely to get the death penalty if the victim is white than if the victim is black. 22 times more likely to get the death penalty if the defendant is black and the victim is white. And these data could not be contradicted. And the United States Supreme Court didn't quibble with the data. They didn't say, "We don't believe you." They simply held that the death penalty is constitutional because of two reasons. One, if we deal with racial bias in the administration of the death penalty, it's gonna be just a matter of time before we start having to hear complaints about racial bias in other forms of the criminal justice system. And Justice [William] Brennan in his dissent ridiculed the court for its  "fear of too much justice." And he was right. The second thing was the thing that I think ought to haunt us, all of us. As the court said that a certain quantum of bias  a certain amount of discrimination in the administration of the American death penalty, a certain level of racial bias  is inevitable. And because it's inevitable, we can't do anything about it. This is the court that has "equal justice under law" engraved on its front. It is the court that produced Brown v. Board of Education.

For every nine people weve executed, weve identified one innocent person on death row, who was proved innocent. Its a shocking rate of error. And yet we just carry on. Bryan Stevenson

You've argued in front of the Supreme Court a number of times. To your knowledge, any of the justices who are making the decisions about the death penalty and its constitutionality, have they ever actually witnessed an execution? Oh, I'm certain they have not. I mean, the only justice who had any kind of personal relationship to the death penalty was Thurgood Marshall, who stood with condemned people, who represented condemned people. And, of course, he was passionately oppositional to the death penalty. I think part of the challenge that we have in this country is that we've created great distance between the people we put in jails and prisons and the rest of us. We build these prisons out in the middle of nowhere. We don't make them accessible. We make it really hard for [other] people to get inside. We have the highest rate of incarceration in the world. And we don't feel especially ashamed about that. You know, the death penalty  we've exonerated now 156 people. That means for every nine people we've executed, we've identified one innocent person on death row, who was proved innocent. It's a shocking rate of error. And yet we just carry on. I mean, if for every nine planes that took off, one crashed and everybody died, the FAA wouldn't let anybody fly. And none of us would want to fly. To get them closer to the death penalty, because they can't witness it. It's very difficult to get in and witness it. I've witnessed it. You've witnessed it. For me, the great violence of execution isn't really the moment when someone's put in a chair and the electricity is turned on. The real violence of the death penalty, it's in those moments, the hour before, when you're seeing someone who's healthy, who's not a threat to anyone, have to say goodbye to the people around him because the state says, "We have to kill you." When I started working in Alabama many years ago, had a bunch of people with execution dates who didn't have lawyers. And the guy called me up and said, "Mr. Stevenson, I heard you opened an office. I've got an execution date in 30 days. Will you take my case?" Thirty days? Thirty days. I'm not ready to take an execution case." And the guy got quiet. And he said, "But I need a lawyer." And I said, "I'm sorry, I can't." Came back the next day, and the guy called me again. He said, "Mr. Stevenson, I know what you said." He said, "But I'm begging you, please take my case." He said, "You don't have to tell me you can win." He said, "But I don't think I can make it the next 29 days if there's no hope at all." And when he put it like that, I couldn't say no. I said yes. Tried very hard to get a stay of execution. One of the perversities of our system right now is that our courts are more committed to finality than fairness. They're just trying to get to the end. The court denied his stay motion. And I went down to be with him. Then I had a conversation with the client, who told me, he said, "Bryan, it's been such a strange day." He said, "More people have said, 'What can I do to help you?' in the last 14 hours of my life than they ever did in the first 19 years of my life." I was standing there holding that man's hands, thinking, "Yeah, where were they when you were 3 years old and your mom died? Where were they when you were 6 and 7 being physically abused? Where were they when you were 10, being sexually abused? I know where they were after you went off to Vietnam, got traumatized and you came back in a really disrupted state. They were lined up to execute you when you committed this crime." It's that kind of understanding, it seems to me, that teaches you something. And when you're up close, you do learn the reality, the brutality of it. If you said to people, "Let's rape people who are guilty of rape," you're probably not gonna get much support for that. And that's because we can't imagine how an otherwise healthy public official could be required to go rape someone as punishment. But we say, "Let's kill people who are guilty of murder. You know, let's do that." It's because we have this fantasy in our mind that we can actually kill people with impunity, that we can do it in a way that doesn't implicate us, where we don't feel like we're playing a role in that. Your grandfather was murdered? Yes. My great-grandmother was murdered in Texas, in her 90s, by a young African-American woman who was looking for money for drugs. The girl goes to prison in Texas. And while she was in, she got to complete a college degree. I think almost everyone before me in my family didn't get to go to college. And then they see the person who murders their beloved grandmother get to go to college. From a societal standpoint, I understand that. From a personal standpoint, I understand the pain and how that looks like unfairness. I think there is no right way to feel after you have lost someone you loved. I think it is wrong for any of us to have expectations that you have to feel a certain way or think a certain way. What the rest of us ought to be thinking is, "Why did we allow this child to be roaming in this way, where she is preying on 90-year-old blind people to meet a need? What kind of society have we created where people have that need? And can we do better?" I think we can do better. And I want to disrupt all of the pathologies that put that child at your great-grandmother's doorstep in the first place. And that means, yes, investing in education and, yes, reaching out to people who are otherwise going to suffer and struggle. It doesn't mean that we're doing that because we don't care about the victimization. Look, my grandfather was murdered. Same story  86 years old, in a house, kids trying to get money stabbed him to death. But what it makes me want to do is to create a nation that's less violent. I hate violence. Hate it, hate it, hate it. And if there was something you could do to change that narrative, where your great-grandmother doesn't die, I'd want to do that. I want something that is responsive to inequality and injustice. And that is equality and justice. And if that's your orientation, then the world is just full of options.
Jan 8, 2016 | By Kira

Advanced manufacturing techniquesparticularly for metal componentsgenerally use one of two methods: subtractive manufacturing, where a block of material is cut down into the desired shape, or additive manufacturing, aka 3D printing, where the precise shape is built up layer by layer. Both provide advantages and disadvantages, but what they have in common is that in every case, a human must both input specific instructions into a program, and then oversee the production process and manually change those instructions in case unforeseen circumstances come up.

With advances in intelligent machining and robotics, however, the need for human intervention could soon be a thing of the past. A group of researchers led by Professor Shirase Keiichi of Kobe Universitya specialist in manufacturing systems and machine tools, with a strong interest in autonomous and intelligent machine tools and intelligent CAM systemshas developed a prototype machine tool that operates like a 3D printer to manufacture precision-made metal components.

What makes the Kobe research teams prototype machine stand out, is that unlike most 3D printers or machining cutting tools, this one can actually make its own decisions regarding optimized machining processes by drawing from a database of machining information and cutting conditions.

According to the Graduate School of Engineering researchers, this development could speed-up the manufacturing of custom-made products, including dental implants and artificial bones. Keiichi also hopes that it will pave the way for the continued development of intelligent manufacturing systems that will reduce costs and shorten production times by reducing the amount of error and making production more efficient.

The project was carried out in an attempt to solve some of the problems that currently face metal manufacturing. One the one hand, metal cutting requires a huge amount of labor to create the programs that will guide the machines. In addition, once the machine-cutting process has started, the machines cannot make adjustments to respond to unseen problems, meaning that if there is a problem, the entire process will have to begin again from scratch.

Metal 3D printing is also an increasingly popular option for the industrial manufacturing of metal components, however the Kobe University researchers point out that metal 3D printing powder is prohibitively expensive, and does not always provide a high-quality surface.

Though the new machine is still a prototype, and its exact method has not been released, the researchers explain that it manufactures metal objects similarly to a 3D printermeaning layer by layer, rather than by cutting away excess material. Most significantly, the prototype marks a shift from providing machine tools with instructures to entrusting machine tools with the machining operationa world first.

As the researchers explain, all users need to do is prepare a 3D model and a material model of the component. The machine tool will then itself determine the optimum machining process using a database of machining information and cutting conditions, and automatically adapt its instructions accordingly.

The 3D printer-esque, machine tool prototype was developed as part of Kobe Universitys ongoing research into intelligent machine tools, and was recently exhibited at Emo Milano 2015, one of the three largest international machine tool trade shows.

Furthermore, the protoype machine is one of three projects in the category of Innovative design and manufacturing technologies selected for the Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), a project headed by the Japanese Cabinet Offices Council for Science, Technology and Innovation. In June 2015, Kobe University drew on funding from the SIP program to establish the 3D Smart Manufacturing Centre, whose goal is to purse interdisciplinary research and business-academia collaborations, such as this promising development in intelligent, additive manufacturing systems.

Posted in 3D Printer

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Jan 8, 2016 | By Kira

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has been making significant steps in advancing Taiwans economic growth within the value-added, technology-driven industryparticularly on the 3D printing/additive manufacturing front. Recently, the government-funded Research Institute developed a laser optical engine that could regulate the hardness of metal parts during 3D printing. Now, ITRI has established a joint fund with Japans Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, one of the world's largest financial groups, to further support the development of laser technology, which can be used in to enhance precision and quality in 3D printing processes.

ITRI President Dr. Jonq-Min Liu , Dr. Fanghei Tsau , Dr. Chun-Hsun Chu, and ITRI Chairman Dr. Ching-Yen Tsay

The two organizations announced that through the first round of funding alone, they managed to raise NT $1.5 billionroughly equivalent to US $45 millionand that the second joint fund is expected to value NT $2.5 billion, or US $75.18 million. In addition to developing laser technology within Taiwan and establishing the first laser company financed by Taiwanese and Japanese organizations, the fund will also assist local companies brushless DC motor-controlled IC modules enter the large Japanese-vendors supply chain, thus deepening Taiwan-Japan business and industry relations.

The news of this large-scale multi-national cooperation comes just as ITRI has announced the opening of two new technology centers designed to bolster the IoT and 3D printing industries within Taiwan: The Smart Microsystems Technology Center and the Laser and Additive Manufacturing Technology Center. The centers will be led by Dr. Chun-Hsun Chu and Dr. Fagnhei Tasu, respectively, both of whom are Deputy Executive Directors of ITRIs Southern Region Campus.

In light of the broad trends associated with the Internet of Things and smart microsystems technology, the objective of the Smart Microsystems Technology Center will be to become a global R&D and production base for smart sensors," said ITRI.

As for the Laser and Additive Manufacturing Technology Center, it will concentrate explicitly on the development of independent technology related to laser sources, laser processing, laser laminate manufacturing, and pilot production.

According to Dr. Tsau, a PhD in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech and the leader of the laser and additive manufacturing team, lasers can be used in both additive and subtractive manufacturing for better quality and precisiontake, for example TRUMPFs recently unveiled laser-based metal 3D printers. Thus, the new centre will focus its R&D on a high value laser process development platform, additive manufacturing process and equipment, and laser application systems and modules. The centre will also feature a comprehensive manufacturing test laboratory for laser applications, with the overriding goal of producing key modules for precision laser applications and additive manufacturing within Taiwan.

ITRI has also founded Taiwans laser applications pilot production and laser metal additive manufacturing laboratory, leading to the development of the Laser Optics Valley.

3D printed metal parts developed with ITRI's laser optical engine

The joint fund between ITRI and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial group is actually the second joint fund for the two leading organizations. The previous one successfully financed seven Taiwanese companies and seven Japanese companies. Investors in this second fund include the Akita Bank, Chang Chun Group, Superrite Electronics, Superior Plating Technology, and Maxfund Investment Group, among other companies. According to reports, the expected Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for this Taiwan-Japan fund is 15%, higher than average funds IRR of 8% to 10%.

In further Taiwan-Japan-related 3D printing news, Taiwan's MIRDC and Tohoku University of Japan this week joined forces to advance metal 3D printing. The partnership will see both institutes working together to develop new additive manufacturing equipment, related processes and melting technology. Along with upgrading both Taiwan and Japans metal 3D printing industries, longer term plans for the agreement are to enhance the exchange of researchers and eventually to work on key technologies for the energy industry.

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Joel Achenbach in The Washington Post:

The worlds spookiest philosopher is Nick Bostrom, a thin, soft-spoken Swede. Of all the people worried about runaway artificial intelligence, and Killer Robots, and the possibility of a technological doomsday, Bostrom conjures the most extreme scenarios. In his mind, human extinction could be just the beginning. Bostroms favorite apocalyptic hypothetical involves a machine that has been programmed to make paper clips (although any mundane product will do). This machine keeps getting smarter and more powerful, but never develops human values. It achieves superintelligence. It begins to convert all kinds of ordinary materials into paper clips. Eventually it decides to turn everything on Earth  including the human race (!!!)  into paper clips. Then it goes interstellar. You could have a superintelligence whose only goal is to make as many paper clips as possible, and you get this bubble of paper clips spreading through the universe, Bostrom calmly told an audience in Santa Fe, N.M., earlier this year. He added, maintaining his tone of understatement, I think that would be a low-value future.

Bostroms underlying concerns about machine intelligence, unintended consequences and potentially malevolent computers have gone mainstream. You cant attend a technology conference these days without someone bringing up the A.I. anxiety. It hovers over the tech conversation with the high-pitched whine of a 1950s-era Hollywood flying saucer. People will tell you that even Stephen Hawking is worried about it. And Bill Gates. And that Elon Musk gave $10 million for research on how to keep machine intelligence under control. All that is true. How this came about is as much a story about media relations as it is about technological change. The machines are not on the verge of taking over. This is a topic rife with speculation and perhaps a whiff of hysteria.

More here.
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The prophecy is more than seeing into the future. For the prophecy sees without the element of time. For the prophecy sees things as they were, as they are, and as they always shall be.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Germany must look again at deporting foreigners convicted of crimes following the Cologne sex attacks, Chancellor Angela Merkel says. Armenpress reports the aforementioned, citing BBC.

She said "clear signals" had to be sent to those not prepared to abide by German law.

Gangs of men described as of North African and Arab appearance were reported to be behind the attacks.

Meanwhile, similar incidents from New Year's Eve have been reported in Finland and Switzerland.

"What happened on New Year is not acceptable," Mrs Merkel said in a statement.

"These are repugnant criminal acts that a state, that Germany will not accept. The feeling women had in this case of being at people's mercy, without any protection, is intolerable for me personally as well.

That's why it is important that everything that happened there will be brought to the table. We must examine again and again whether we have already done what is necessary in terms of deportations from Germany, in order to send clear signals to those who are not prepared to abide by our legal order."

German Justice Minister Heiko Maas also said deportations "would certainly be conceivable" for any foreigners involved in the attacks.

He told the Funke newspaper group that German law allowed people to be deported during asylum proceedings if they were sentenced to a year or more in prison.
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.
(Bloomberg) Last year's income tax season was marked by an explosion of refund theft. Will this year be any different?

Increased protections may cut down on fraud but will likely draw out the wait for your money. Changes will be visible when you use tax preparation firms and filing software, with warnings akin to those from your bank if you try to log in from a new device or change account information. Less visible will be broader changes, such as revamped fraud-sniffing programs used by the IRS, states, and the tax prep industry, as well as new information-sharing agreements among all three.

Whether theses measures will make it appreciably harder for someone to use your identity to claim your refund isn't clear. One of the best consumer defenses against refund fraud is to file as early as possible, starting Jan. 19, beating would-be thieves who depend on your procrastination. But the best defense is to set your deductions ahead of time so that you get no refund at all.

Here's what taxpayers can expect this season:

More Identity Verification

Yes, this means wider use of those multiple-choice questions about where you lived 30 years ago if you're filing electronically. It also means "a lot more reactive warnings to users that something has been changed, and making sure it was them that changed it," said JoAnn Kintzel, chief executive of Tax Act, a tax software firm. "If an e-mail address changes, a message will go both to the new e-mail and the old e-mail."

Taxpayers will also get a notice if bank deposit information or their home address is changed, said Julie Miller, a spokesperson for tax software company TurboTax, and companies will check to see if more than one account is using the same Social Security number.

Leading tax prep and software companies, as well as payroll and tax financial payment processors, working with states and the IRS, have all agreed to a set of minimum security measures. Companies and states may put in place additional measures, as Alabama did this year, requiring anyone filing electronically in that state to provide information from a driver's license or state ID card.

Stronger Passwords

Though complex passwords are commonplace on other consumer and bank websites, the tax industry has finally joined the club. The passwords must now include a lowercase letter, an uppercase letter, a symbol, and a number (for example, #H8This). A new timed lockout feature will kick in after repeated failed login attempts.

The IRS launched a consumer education and awareness campaign this past November about security basics. They include not using the same password for multiple accounts, using anti-virus protection, and encrypting sensitive data.

Looser Refund Timing

There will be less certainty about when taxpayers can expect state refund checks, said Verenda Smith, deputy director of the Federation of Tax Administrators. "In the past, there was a political imperative to get refunds out the door, and that has certainly changed," she said. You may have a perfectly fine return, but the state will take just a little longer to confirm that its you who is filing it.

More Paper Checks

There may also be more refunds that come in paper checks, even for those who request direct deposit. That may prove particularly true for first-time filers, said Smith.

Last year, many fraudsters changed a taxpayer's preferences in favor of direct deposit to a prepaid debit card account created before filing the false return. So this year, Utah will directly deposit a refund only into a bank account or prepaid debit card issued by a taxpayer's financial institution. Alabama also changed its policy so that its Department of Revenue can send paper checks to your mailbox even if a taxpayer requested direct deposit, which will be done on a case-by-case basis.

"Prepaid cards are the currency of criminals,'' IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told 60 Minutes in 2014. "Our problem is you can't distinguish the number of a prepaid card from a legitimate bank account."
KC-135s surpass 100,000 combat hours

The KC-135 Stratotanker fleet at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, flew more than 14,700 sorties in 2015 accumulating 103,419 combat hours in support of Operations Inherent Resolve and Freedoms Sentinel.



We provide refueling to every flying unit in the area of responsibility which is Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Afghanistan and supported 12 coalition nations, said Lt. Col. James Murray, the 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron director of operations. We support aircraft 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year so they can do their mission.



Murray said over 60 KC-135s took part in achieving over 100,000 combat hours. Each KC-135 crew flies an average of seven hours a day and off-loads an average of 50,000 gallons of fuel per mission.



Murray said keeping an operations tempo of this magnitude is herculean.



Imagine 12 airplanes flying 24 hours a day, its incredible, he said. If we were not out there to give gas to all our receivers they we would have to fly shorter missions.



Murray said the KC-135s combat hour achievement was possible because of active-duty, Reserve and National Guard Airmen.



There are different Air Force components like active duty, Reserve and Air National Guard out here, Murray said. There are also different types of tankers on the ramp, with different modifications, so usually a new crew has to be trained or certified in everything that we have here at AUAB. Having an aircrew trained gives us the flexibility to go out and fly any tanker, and our squadron does internal training to make that happen.



Senior Airman Timothy Weber, a 340th EARS boom operator, shared what it was like to be part of the combat hour milestone.



The tempo can become intense here, Weber said. You have to adapt because its busy and the environment is so dynamic. You can take off with a plan and it can change drastically when you are in the air, but it gets exciting and I get to see it happen right in front of me, I love flying.



Murray said the 340th EARS surpassed 100,000 combat hours without realizing it because it happened faster than the unit anticipated.



The combat hour achievement is the result of various units at Al Udeid AB working together to make the mission happen, Murray said.
OSI eulogizes fallen heroes from its 'darkest day'

More than 650 people overflowed the U.S. Marine Memorial Chapel here Jan. 7 to mourn the loss and remember the lives of the six Airmen killed by a suicide bomber near Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Dec. 21.



The four Air Force Office of Special Investigations special agents and two security forces defenders were fatally wounded when their joint patrol was attacked by a bomber riding a motorcycle.



Brig. Gen. Keith M. Givens, the OSI commander called it, "our command's darkest day."



During the memorial service each of the fallen were eulogized by Givens for their bravery, patriotism and selfless sacrifice in supporting Operation Freedom's Sentinel.



"What gives someone the courage to leave the confines of a defended base, travel into uncertain territory, understanding terrorists like the Taliban are lurking and dismount their armored vehicles to engage the population in order to find those terrorists intent on killing fellow Americans?" the general asked the chapel gathering.



Givens said the answer lies in the armed forces Code of Conduct. Its first article states, I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.



"To live under this code it takes a special person, a special American," the commander said. "They lived under this code accepting their life was worth sacrificing for others ... there is no greater calling."



The OSI agents killed in the attack were:



- Special Agent Adrianna M. Vorderbruggen, 36, of Plymouth, Minnesota. She was assigned to the Air Force OSI, 9th Field Investigations Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.



- Special Agent Michael A. Cinco, 28, of Mercedes, Texas. He was assigned to the Air Force OSI, 11th Field Investigations Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas.



- Special Agent Peter W. Taub, 30, of Philadelphia. He was assigned to the Air Force OSI, Detachment 816 at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota.



- Special Agent Chester J. McBride, 30, of Statesboro, Georgia. He was assigned to the Air Force OSI, Detachment 405 at Maxwell AFB, Alabama.



The agents will be permanently remembered in the Headquarters OSI Hall of Heroes here. The total number of OSI fallen heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in the 67-year history of the command is now 14.



The two security forces defenders killed in the attack were:



- Tech. Sgt. Joseph G. Lemm, 45, of the Bronx, New York. He was assigned to the 105th Security Forces Squadron at Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York.



- Staff Sgt. Louis M. Bonacasa, 31, of Coram, New York. He was assigned to the 105th SFS, Stewart ANGB.



The pair served alongside the special agents at Bagram Airfield, supporting missions outside the wire.



For their ultimate sacrifice they were named honorary OSI special agents by OSI senior leadership. It marked the first time active-duty security forces or Air National Guard brethren were bestowed that title. They will also be given a permanent tribute in the OSI Hall of Heroes.



Among the many distinguished visitors attending the memorial Givens introduced one in particular to be recognized.



"Three other team members were significantly wounded in action (on Dec. 21). They came home and are still with us," he said. "One of those wounded heroes is with us today, Special Agent John Jackson."



Jackson received a standing ovation.



The Marine Memorial Chapel service was part of the healing process for OSI headquarters personnel. Many knew the fallen. One of its members, retired Special Agent Richard Miller, delivered highlights from each fallen hero's military career.



Givens concluded the eulogy by saying each fallen hero, "lived a life that mattered. Many warriors have said over time what is done in life, echoes in eternity. Their service will echo in eternity."
Whatever said and done Mumbai road users should be in a position to pave way for avoiding clogged streets on a regular basis and apply more restraint during festival days to make sure about the movement of traffic. In my recent visit to Singapore and Malaysia, I was flabbergasted to see the discipline in traffic and the way people follow traffic rules and remain strict while crossing roads too. When I asked a taxi driver about the traffic jam in Singapore he reiterated that it happens at times, but it is cleared within 30 seconds to one minute. For a person coming from Mumbai, the time lapse on traffic jam is heard of in any pockets of the city. By trial and error method we can give a better prospect of controlling the traffic without much fuss.

Even the car users should try pooling instead of just making the roads overcrowded by taking out their own vehicle to make it a total mess followed by frequent traffic jams. By walking across a street outside of marked cross-walks and not at a corner, and against a signal light we risk our lives. If there is vehicle traffic or clear markings of a place to cross, this is a traffic misdemeanour subject to fine, and may be contributory for negligence in the event of injury to the jay walker by a vehicle. It is better to avoid risk. My pet peeve is about the potholes in the length and breadth of Mumbai streets.

I have touched on the subject and aired my views in public forums thus getting good publicity for my write-ups. As a responsible citizen we can avoid zig zag parking and make the roads unusable for smooth flow of traffic. Instead of just overtaking from left and creating a fear among the other drivers, it is better to follow traffic guidelines overtake from right and apply the indicator in time to give correct signals instead of having a confused state of mind. At signals it is better to conserve energy rather than just rush for getting out of the traffic first through a wrong means. More than all this the road users should avoid drunk driving and as far as possible allow the seniors citizen and young boys and girls to cross the road at Zebra crossings instead of driving under tension all the time. Using mobile in a moving vehicle is dangerous and despite warnings the instructions are skipped as per convenience through rash and negligent driving.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Lebanon Tammam Salam visited on January 6 Mother Cathedral of Antelias at the end of the religious ceremony of Christmas and Theophany, personally extending his congratulations to His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia. Armenpress was informed about it by the press service of Catholicosate of Cilicia.

Aram I and the Prime Minister of Lebanon discussed the recent developments in the Middle East during the meeting.
Dhaka: Islamic State has claimed responsibility for murdering a Christian convert in Bangladesh, says an online group that monitors extremist activity, the latest killing declared by the militant group in the South Asian nation. Islamist violence has surged in recent months in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, but the government has rejected Islamic States claims of involvement, blaming political opponents instead.

The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group said Islamic State had asserted that it killed the man on Thursday in Jhenaidah, a district about 100 miles (161 km) west of Dhaka, the capital, because he converted from Islam.

Soldiers of the caliphate were able to eliminate the apostate, named `Samir al-Din`, by stabbing him with a knife, SITE quoted the group as saying.

Police said they were unaware of the claim, adding that a village doctor with a different surname had been stabbed to death the same day.

We are not aware of any claim from any terrorist groups. We are trying to nab the attackers, district police chief Hasan Hafizur Rahman said.

Although the man had converted to Christianity, he later switched back to Islam, Rahman added.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the killings of foreigners, attacks on mosques and Christian priests in Bangladesh over the last few months, but police said home-grown militant group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen is behind the attacks.

The government has denied that Islamic State has a presence in the country of 160 million people. It blames Islamist political opponents for instigating the violence.
The union government has lifted a ban on a popular but controversial bull running festival called Jallikattu, angering animal rights activists who say it is cruel and abusive. Major injuries and deaths also may occur from the sport. In 2004, at least five people were reported dead and several hundreds injured. Over 200 have died from the sport over the past two decades. Unlike in Spanish bullfighting, the bull is not killed and there are rarely any casualties suffered by the bulls. Animal activists have objected to the sport over the years. The Animal Welfare Board of India took the case to the Supreme Court for an outright ban on Jallikattu because of the cruelty to animals and the threat to public safety involved. On 27 November 2010 the Supreme Court in accordance with the law enacted on the regulation of events, permitted the Tamil Nadu government to allow Jallikattu for five months in a year from January 15. The court also directed the District Collectors to make sure that the animals that participate in Jallikattu are registered to the Animal Welfare Board and in return the Board would send its representative to monitor the event. The state government ordered that Rs. 2 lakhs be deposited by the organisers for the benefit of the victims which also includes the victims family, in case of an accident or injury during the event. The government also enacted a rule to allow a team of veterinarians would be present at the venue for testing and certifying the bulls for participation in the event and to provide treatment for bulls that get injured.

The Supreme Court of India had banned Jallikattu bull fights on 7th May 2014, the court struck down a 2011 Tamil Nadu law regulating the conduct of Jallikattu and the judges also asked the centre to amend the law on preventing cruelty to animals to bring bulls within its ambit. On 8 January, 2016 the central government permitted continuation of the sport in Tamil Nadu. Actually, it is a bad decision by BJP government and done for political reasons. It is a practice which people of TN takes as tradition but should not be allowed if it has inhuman and cruelty angle. There are many cruel traditions that are banned in India looking at human welfare; Jallikattu is also on the same lines. We, as a nation, cannot behave responsibly when it comes to drinking alcohol or playing lottery (when both were part of our tradition & culture). We got lottery banned and now want alcohol to be prohibited. People involved in Jallikattu often abuse themselves and the bull, and that is not going to end unless a ban is imposed on it. How can we expect them to take care of the bulls when they cannot take care of themselves? The process of preparing the bulls before the event has to be stopped. People pierce the animal with very sharp objects, pour irritants on the bulls eyes, bite and twist its tail to make them surrender. Bulls are fed liquor and have chili powder thrown into their eyes before running. This is inhuman behaviours and should be stopped immediately. However, politicians doesnt care about the atrocities on animals, they just see vote bank. We need to spread more and more awareness against such cruel sports.

A government order said the event, held every January to mark the winter harvest in Tamil Nadu, would be allowed to go ahead this year after it was cancelled in 2015. There are many things that politics of TN scores. Blind hatred, convoluted logic, outdated reasoning; these things dont allow flow of currency from other states in Tamil Nadu.

I thank the present government for allowing cruelty against animals. Let the sport continue with inflicting wounds on the bull, but their vote bank should be intact. Let the innocent animals suffer but we humans should enjoy on it. Now, the bull fight would be between the political parties too and that includes BJP and AIWB. Since, all the parties have spoken in favour of the sport; this would not tilt the political scales in Tamil Nadu elections and the alliance mathematics will place the major roll. However, every national as well as political party will try to take credit for this. Bulls are let loose during the event and young men compete to subdue them.

The previous UPA government ordered a ban in 2011 but it was not implemented until 2015 after the Supreme Court had dismissed a slew of legal challenges. Tamil historians claim the sport dates back to the second century AD and predates the Spanish matadors. Most of the people of this country are horrified that the same authorities who claimed to care for cattle are now allowing the cruelty on it even after it has been banned by the apex court of India.
Pakistani jets carried out strikes in the countrys restive northwest against militant groups including the feared Haqqani network and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, officials said on Friday, with one saying at least 25 insurgents had been killed.

The strikes targeted Maizer and Sher Ali villages in the Shawal valley of troubled North Waziristan tribal district, where the military has been carrying out a major offensive against extremist groups since mid-2014.

At least 25 insurgents have been killed and several of their hideouts have been destroyed along with vehicles full of explosives, a security official said.

Five of those killed were members of the Haqqani network, 10 were Uzbek and Chechen militants, and 10 were from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), he added.

Some of the hideouts targeted were jointly used by Haqqanis and foreign militants, the official said.

The term foreign militants is frequently used by Pakistani officials to refers to Uzbeks and Chechens who are often aligned with the Haqqani network, which is accused of sending fighters and suicide bombers to target US and NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.

A second security official confirmed the air strikes and casualties, but said that exact number of those killed was not yet clear.

North Waziristan is one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal districts that border Afghanistan. It has been a hub for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants since the early 2000s.

The Pakistani military says it has killed more than 3,600 insurgents since it launched a renewed operation against militant groups in 2014. It says 358 soldiers have also lost their lives.

The conflict zone is remote and off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to verify the armys claims, including the number and identity of those killed.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 8, 2016 - The Campbell Soup Co. says it will start labeling its products for the presence of biotech ingredients, a landmark break from the rest of the conventional food industry.

Campbell made clear that it still supported the use of genetic engineering in agriculture but said that there is a need for national labeling standards that would preempt state standards.

Until now, the industry has been largely united in its resistance to including genetically modified organism (GMO) language on labels, preferring to disclose biotech ingredients through the newly developed SmartLabel system that provides the information through smartphone codes and on the Internet.

Campbell is optimistic a federal solution can be established in a reasonable amount of time if all the interested stakeholders cooperate. However, if that is not the case, Campbell is prepared to label all of its U.S. products for the presence of ingredients that were derived from GMOs, not just those required by pending legislation in Vermont, the company said in a news release.

The company said it would seek guidance from the FDA and approval by USDA for its labeling plans.

The company posted an example of the language it plans to use: PARTIALLY PRODUCED WITH GENETIC ENGINEERING, which would be accompanied by a link to a company website.

The company also posted a message from Campbells president and CEO, Denise Morrison, to company employees explaining the decision. Congress has not been able to resolve this issue. We now believe that proposing a mandatory national solution is necessary. Printing a clear and simple statement on the label is the best solution for consumers and for Campbell.

The first state labeling law takes effect in Vermont in July, and Morrison said those regulations were bound to create consumer confusion because the law would apply only to products regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and not to meat-containing items regulated by the Agriculture Department.

The good news for the biotech industry is that the company didnt say it would stop using GMO ingredients but instead provided an unqualified endorsement of the technology.

I want to stress that were in no way disputing the science behind GMOs or their safety. The overwhelming weight of scientific evidence indicates that GMOs are safe and that foods derived from crops using genetically modified seeds are not nutritionally different from other foods, Morrison wrote.

In America, many farmers who grow canola, corn, soybean and sugar beets choose to use genetically modified seeds and have done so for nearly twenty years. More than 90 percent of these four crops in America are currently grown using GMO seeds. It takes an average of thirteen years to get a GMO seed approved by the government for safety. Ingredients derived from these crops are in many of our products. We also believe that GMOs and other technologies will play a crucial role in feeding the world.

The U.S. House last summer passed legislation that would preempt state GMO labeling laws, but some Senate Democrats blocked any such provision from being added to the fiscal 2016 omnibus spending bill that passed in December.

Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee have said they would renew efforts to pass a preemption bill this year, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has said he wants to find a compromise that both sides can accept.

Are you following food labeling issues? Agri-Pulse is the place for the latest news on the topic. Sign up for a four-week free trial subscription.

The ranking Democrat on the Senate committee, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, has said that a compromise bill would have to include a mandatory disclosure requirement. Industry officials remain in discussions about a path forward.

Campbell noted that it already discloses its use of GMOs through a website, www.whatsinmyfood.com. With 92 percent of Americans supporting the labeling of GMO foods, Campbell believes now is the time for the federal government to act quickly to implement a federal solution.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which has been leading the push for a bill to preempt Vermonts law and set national labeling standards, said the industry group respects the rights of our individual member companies to communicate with their customers in whatever manner they deem appropriate and manufacturers have been asking for science-based guidelines from which they can reasonably disclose for the absence or presence of GMOs.

But GMA said it is still imperative that Congress acts immediately to prevent the expansion of a costly patchwork of state labeling laws that will ultimately hurt consumers who can least afford higher food prices.

Scott Faber, who heads the Just Label It coalition that is lobbying for mandatory GMO labeling, said of the announcement: Campbell's has long been committed to transparency and their announcement today is consistent with this tradition.

(Updated 11 a.m.)

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, 2016 - The House will vote next week on whether to kill the Obama administrations waters of the United States rule, as GOP leaders seek to make a case to voters for electing a Republican president.

The disapproval resolution passed the Senate in November, 53-44, well short of the two-thirds majority necessary to overturn a certain presidential veto.

I'm expecting a veto. That doesnt mean we shouldnt do our business in the legislative branch, said Rep. Adrian Smith, a Nebraska Republican who introduced the House version of the resolution.

Despite the certain veto, next weeks debate on the resolution helps establish the record and bring the issue to the forefront, said Smith.

The WOTUS measure, which is expected on the House floor on Wednesday, is one of a series of anti-regulation bills that House Republicans are forcing votes on this month.

This week, the House voted to repeal Obamacare and passed a bill that would set up a commission to make recommendations on what it considers obsolete or unnecessary regulations that should be eliminated. Another bill the House passed is aimed at curbing the development of consent decrees and settlement agreements that lead to new regulations.

2016 is about going on offense on ideas, House Speaker Paul Ryan said as he opened his weekly news conference on Thursday.

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Smith said he expects the House to OK the disapproval resolution by a margin similar to the 261-155 vote last spring by which the chamber passed a bill that would force the administration to replace the rule. That legislation stalled in the Senate when supporters failed to get the 60 votes necessary to overcome a Democratic filibuster.

The disapproval resolution, which would simply kill the WOTUS rule, required only a simple majority to pass the Senate.

The WOTUS rule, which took effect in August, is supposed to clarify what streams, ponds, wetlands, ditches and other features are regulated under the Clean Water Act. But courts have blocked the rule's enforcement nationwide while legal challenges to it are considered.

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YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. 515 cases of hospitalization connected with respiratory infections, 126 out of which that of pneumonia, have been registered in the Republic of Armenia. As Armenpress was informed by the Republic of Armenia Healthcare Ministry, there is spread of influenza not only in Armenia, but also in the European territory. 75% of the cases are that of Influenza A, most of which - H1N1 subgroup. Minister Armen Muradyan assured that in case of turning to the doctor in due time and not engaging in self-treatment, the disease proceeds as an ordinary respiratory infection.

Daily supervision is established in medical facilities and the healthcare system worked under special regime on the holidays. 900 emergency calls were received only in Yerevan.

The Ministry assures that the health network is well provided with the required mediations and equipment.

Republic of Armenia Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan posted on his Facebook page, informing that based on the mediation of Armenia Healthcare Minister, the academic year for state educational institutions implementing general, preliminary and vocational educational programs, will continue beginning from January 18, 2016. Additional classes will be held till the end of the academic year aimed at the complete mastering of the curriculum.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian literature has suffered a painful loss: poet, writer, publicist, member of Writers' Union of Armenia since 1974 Sasun Grigoryan passed away aged 79. As Armenpress was informed by Writers' Union of Armenia, Sasun Grigoryans funeral will be held at 13:00, January 8.
January 7, 2016

CAIRO  A joint 20-member team composed of agents from the Censorship Authority, the Taxation Authority, National Security Agency and the Ministry of Manpower raided Townhouse Gallery and Rawabet Theater in Cairo on Dec. 28.

As relayed to Al-Monitor by one Townhouse employee who spoke on condition of anonymity, seven individuals in civilian clothes who identified themselves as Censorship Authority agents searched the hall and offices, including personal computers, and asked to see the IDs, official documents and licenses of employees and the gallery, without producing a search warrant. Scores of public officials from various entities flocked to the gallery to continue searching the premises and question employees for approximately three hours, prior to allowing them to leave after making copies of their IDs and confiscating a number of exhibits.

Barely 24 hours after that raid, a security force entered the Merritt Publishing House located near Tahrir Square, arresting an employee there and transferring him to the public prosecutors office, which released him the same day, Dec. 29.

Maj. Gen. Abu Bakr Abdulkarim, an Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesman, denied the ministrys involvement in the raids. He told Al-Monitor by phone that the ministry only acts within the framework of applicable laws. He said that the Ministry of Culture was behind the raids, and that the Interior Ministry had nothing to do with the whole affair.

But Mohammed Hashem, the founder and director of the Merritt Publishing House, said the Ministry of Culture was not responsible for the raid. In a telephone interview with Al-Monitor, he said he had called the acting head of the Ministry of Cultures Censorship Authority, Khaled Abduljalil, and asked him whether the ministry had filed a complaint against Merritt Publishing House; Hashem said the ministry denied having done so.

Hashem said he thought the Interior Ministry was trying to muzzle voices prior to the anniversary of the January 25 Revolution in what he called a disquieting security campaign.

Mahmoud Othman, a lawyer at the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expressions Creative Freedom Program, said that any establishment being investigated has the right to be informed of the reasons and legal justification behind any such probe, as well as to be made aware of the charges leveled against it, which must be clear and concise. He said the raids lacked clear reasons for any searches, and operated under the rationale of we will use whatever we find.

Othman told Al-Monitor by phone that, to date, no one knew the principle under which the judicial police were operating, despite the fact that their tasks must be clearly defined by the justice minister. As a result, all independent artists seeming are in jeopardy of facing legal problems.

Othman added that the judicial police exceeded its mandate by failing to produce a legal warrant to search the Townhouse offices.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) condemned the closure of those organizations, saying they were brought about by the security establishments fear. In a Dec. 29 statement, ANHRI said the raids against the Rawabet Theater and Townhouse Gallery just weeks before the anniversary commemorating the January 25 Revolution were a sign of said establishments fear of allowing a modicum of free expression, particularly among the young and educated.

The statement added, The attack came in the context of a campaign waged by security services on other artistic venues and human rights organizations in recent months, for the purpose of suppressing critical voices.

In addition, the head of the Culture Resource Initiative, Basma al-Husseini, stated that the regime had been conducting similar actions since mid-2014. In a post on Facebook, she noted, All bans, raids, arrests and closures are based on legal grounds that seemingly have nothing to do with politics, with justification thereto including charges related to artistic, fiscal, workforce, and street management violations. Yet, in every case, those charges were determined to be false and legally unjustified. Furthermore, even if the charges were found to be true, they do not require that arrests be made, or establishments closed, raided and besieged by security forces.

In that regard, the head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organization, Naguib Gobrail, commented that he stood against the restriction of freedoms, or the closure of any publishing house or media outlet. He told Al-Monitor that the constitution included explicit provisions guaranteeing the freedom of expression, publishing and creativity. In his opinion, what occurred was a step backward that should never have taken place subsequent to the latest duly held elections.

The decision to close and raid cultural venues  which has yet to be formally announced  was met with condemnation from cultural circles. Medhat el-Zahed, head of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, said such measures were indicative of an attack against the freedom of opinion and expression. Journalist Osama al-Rahimi characterized the decision as a pre-emptive measure that reflected the states fear of youth rallies prior to Jan. 25.

It also should be noted that a number of cultural centers have been closed by order of the Censorship Authority since August 2014.

Activists asked that intellectuals reject the closure decision and express solidarity with the employees of the gallery and theater. Rights lawyer Negad al-Barii wrote on his Facebook page Dec. 29 that everyone must oppose these measures. ... I also endorse the idea of intellectuals uniting under the banner of an organization similar to the Defense of Freedom and Creativity Front, which was established to protect such rights during the reign of the Muslim Brotherhood.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry charitable trust (ABMDR) celebrates marrow donor day on January 8 for already 16th time in Armenia. As Armenpress was informed from Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry, more than 28 thousand world Diaspora volunteers from 24 countries of 4 continents were subscribed to the foundation during 16 years of its activity 23 of who donated their stem cells.

ABMDR was the first in Armenia to implement globally accepted method of auto- transplantation which increases the effectiveness of treatment for patients with blood cancer. Meanwhile, the registry launched a new project which disconnects stem cells from umbilical cord blood and umbilical cord which is an innovative phenomenon in Armenia.

The ABMDR was founded in Armenia, 1999 as an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to ensure that every ethnic Armenian struck with a life threatening blood-related illness is able to find hope for long-term survival through the identification of a genetically suitable bone marrow match. The ABMDR is a member of the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) and Bone Marrow Donor Worldwide (BMDW) sharing its database information with other registries around the world. In January 2008, ABMDR became a member of National Marrow Donor Program  NMDP. Armenia is the only state in post-soviet territory to have bone marrow donor registry.
January 7, 2016

A key House panel on Jan. 7 passed Iran sanctions legislation along party lines, breaking a long tradition of bipartisan cooperation on the issue.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a bill that critics say would make it impossible for the United States to live up to its end of the Iran deal. The full House will vote on the measure Jan. 13 before Republicans leave for their annual retreat, a House leadership aide said.

Not one Democrat on the panel ended up voting for the measure, prompting comparisons to repeated Republican efforts to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law that have energized the party faithful in election years while accomplishing little of substance.

"Congress had an opportunity to vote on the [Iran] deal, and we lost," ranking member and Iran deal opponent Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said before voting against the bill. "I don't want to vote 62 or 63 times on killing the Iran agreement. We already had one several months ago, and this is now the second one. And I'm afraid we're following the same path that we're following with the Affordable Health Care Act."

The House voted 269-162 against approving the Iran deal Sept. 11, with 25 Democrats joining Republicans in voicing their disapproval. A resolution blocking implementation of the deal failed in the Senate at that time, preventing Obama from having to veto it.

Republicans in Congress have voted 62 times to repeal the president's signature health care law since its passage in 2010. On Jan. 6, the House finally succeeded in sending it to the president's desk, where Obama will certainly veto it.

The timing and nature of the latest Iran bill, coming just days into the new year, suggest it was imposed on the committee by House leadership. While sanctions bills have traditionally been co-written by Engel and committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., this one was introduced by Armed Services member Steve Russell, R-Okla., with no input from Democrats.

The Republican aide confirmed that the House leadership had a hand in the timing of the bill.

"We wanted to send a message that if you're going to test missiles, you're going to face sanctions," the aide told Al-Monitor.

More such votes can be expected both as Iranian actions "warrant" and as dictated by election-year politics, the aide said.

Russell's bill would prohibit the president from lifting nuclear-related sanctions on Iranian banks as called for under the nuclear deal because of their links to Iranian entities engaged in terrorism and Iran's ballistic missile program. The Obama administration told Al-Monitor on Jan. 6 that it "strongly opposes" the bill.

"As we have long said, we are opposed to any legislation that interferes with the implementation of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]," a senior administration official told Al-Monitor via email. "From what we have seen of this bill, it would interfere with the implementation of the JCPOA, and therefore, the administration strongly opposes it."

Republicans on the committee argued that the bill was necessary because the Obama administration isn't living up to its commitments to keep pressure on Iran.

"Since the Obama administration sealed the Iran nuclear deal, Tehran has been on a roll," Royce said. "It has accelerated its missile program, taken more Americans hostage, and stepped up its slaughter in Syria. And in a few weeks, it will cash in with tens of billions in sanctions relief."

"All of this comes with no pushback from the administration," Royce added. "And now we understand that some entities set for sanctions relief  like Irans Bank Melli and Bank Sepah  will be given a pass for backing ballistic missile development and terrorism."

Democrats countered that partisan bills to kill the Iran deal are going nowhere and only waste time that could be better served crafting bipartisan legislation. They pointed out that the House Foreign Affairs Committee has traditionally been among the most hawkish on Iran, and unanimously passed a hard-hitting Iran sanctions bill in May 2013 that cleared the House 400-20 but ended up dying in the Senate.

Seven of the 25 Democrats who did not support the deal sit on the House Foreign Affairs panel: Florida Democrats Ted Deutch and Lois Frankel; Pennsylvania's Brendan Boyle; New York's Grace Meng and Engel; California's Brad Sherman; and New Jersey's Albio Sires. Not one could be seen voicing approval for the Russell bill during the Jan. 7 voice vote.

"Instead of looking for partisan ways to try to stop the deal, we should be looking for bipartisan ways to ensure that it is enforced with vigor and with the most stringent verification and compliance," Deutch said. "And if a violation occurs, that we have the tools  and teeth behind those tools  to enact punishing new sanctions."

Sherman suggested that blowing up the deal right after Iran delivered on its end by shipping out its enriched uranium would be a "spectacularly well-timed bait-and-switch" unworthy of the United States.

"If [Florentine political philosopher Niccolo] Machiavelli were advising us, he would say now is the precise time to pull out of the deal, since we've gotten the good parts delivered to us already," Sherman said. "I don't think that is the process America will take."

Sherman said Congress would be better served by focusing on the hundreds of Iranian financial institutions not mentioned in the deal to see if there's cause for sanctioning them.

While Republicans certainly have political motivations to take repeated shots at the Iran deal, it is equally true that Democrats have struggled to offer alternatives that punish Iran for non-nuclear behavior without imperiling the president's diplomacy. Engel has said he hopes to work with Royce on Iran legislation in the coming months, but the two tried and failed to hammer out such an agreement last year.

Meanwhile, Deutch, the top Democrat on the committee's Middle East panel, introduced bipartisan legislation along with former panel member Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., on Jan. 6 that would expedite new sanctions if Iran commits acts of terror or uses ballistic missile technology in violation of international law. And Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., announced the introduction, also with Kennedy, of legislation slapping sanctions on entities that transfer ballistic missiles or advanced conventional weapons to Iran.
January 7, 2016

Despite over 40 arrests, no group in Iran has officially taken responsibility for the attack on Saudi Arabias embassy and consulate in Iran that resulted in Riyadh cutting commercial and diplomatic ties with Tehran. Iranian officials have unanimously condemned the attack on the embassy, while also condemning the execution of Shiite activist Nimr al-Nimr that prompted the protests in Tehran and Mashhad.

Some media outlets and Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, have vaguely referred to rogue elements, a term usually reserved for groups unofficially linked to a government body that typically operate outside the law.

An article in Reformist Arman Daily argued that the embassy attackers intended to create challenges for the administration's foreign policy goals of improving relations with foreign countries post-nuclear deal. Rouhani came into office promising better relations with the world. With sanctions set to be lifted in January, many foreign countries have been eager to improve ties with Iran and increase trade. The attack on an embassy sends a frightening message to these countries, perhaps what domestic opponents of the administration and the nuclear deal are hoping for.

In its coverage of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarifs press conference with his Iraqi counterpart, Reformist newspaper Ghanoon reported, After a week of unnecessary conflict, the control of diplomacy has returned back to the hands of the diplomatic organizations of the country. The article stated that while Nimrs execution was condemned by millions of people across the world, A group of extremists inside the country not only took an irregular and costly action, but in their own opinion wanted to decide the future of diplomacy for the country.

The article went on that extremists have conducted such street diplomacy whether they were in power or not. In 2011, under hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a group of protesters also stormed the British Embassy, causing the British to sever ties. The 1979 US Embassy attack was by leftist students, who mostly became Reformists a decade after the event.

Ghanoon stated that storming an embassy is not a spontaneous act, nor is it a one-time event. Rather, It is a calculated and old strategy that extremists use to distort the order within diplomatic affairs. According to the article, the attackers desired to portray the rotten logic of their small community as being the view of the general public.

These extremists, reported Ghanoon, in one day caused a crisis threatening all the foreign policy efforts of the Rouhani administration in the last two years. In addition to harming the status of the Iranian people, the article argued that the extremists also damaged the standing of Irans allies in the region, including Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, and gave Saudi Arabia the opportunity to play the victim.

In a Jan. 6 letter to the head of Irans judiciary, Rouhani asked that the attack be immediately addressed and without delay. Rouhani said that those responsible should be punished so that it forever prevents this type of attack on national security and insult to the power and place of Iran. He also asked his Intelligence Ministry and Interior Ministry to decisively deal with the officers who allowed the embassy attack to happen and prepare a public report about it.

Some officials, including Gen. Hossein Ashtari, the head of Irans police force, suggested there could have been a conspiracy behind the attack. Ashtari said that the protest was natural, but the attack was a suspicious situation and that a "revolutionary" person would not do such a thing.

The worsening of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia seems to have no end in sight. After Saudi Arabia cut all commercial and diplomatic ties with Tehran, Iran blocked all Saudi goods from entering the country. Iran also said that its ban of the "umrah pilgrimage," a nonmandatory pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, would continue in protest of the sexual assault of two Iranian boys in the Jeddah airport.
January 8, 2016

BAGHDAD  Every now and then, Iraqi political and media figures leak official documents from various government departments to satellite channels such as Al-Baghdadia TV and Al-Sharqiya TV, social networking sites and digital newspapers such as Al-Masalah and Al-Ghad.

Some of these documents are authentic, as employees succeed in taking pictures of them while working in government institutions. They are then sold to be published in the media. On Nov. 1, documents were leaked about officials and the governor of Dhi Qar province squandering money. According to the Dhi Qarna website, the leak was the result of a political conflict between the legislative and executive authorities in the province about government positions.

However, there are also fabricated documents, forged for the purpose of defaming an individual, government department or political party. According to a news report published by the Iraqi Media House on July 21, the WikiLeaks documents concerning the relationship between Iraqi politicians and the Saudi government were falsified.

On Oct. 13, another document was leaked from the Iraqi Health Ministry about the involvement of former Health Minister Saleh al-Hasnawi in corruption cases.

Airing the dirty laundry of political opponents has kept online activists quite busy on social networking sites. A Facebook page called Top Secret Documents publishes dozens of leaked government documents. This page's administrator is unnamed and it does not specify how the documents were obtained.

Hisham al-Suhail, a parliament member for the National Iraqi Alliance, attributes the practice to a lack of transparency  regarding the work of government institutions and the spread of financial and administrative corruption, which pushes citizens to try and expose such documents.

Speaking to Al-Monitor, Suhail called on the government to facilitate access to information and to hold accountable those responsible for corruption in order for citizens to realize that the judiciary is effective and does not overlook corruption issues. This would lead to decreased interest in leaking documents.

The high rate of leaks reflects a tense Iraqi political environment, said Qasim Mozan, a journalist for the Iraqi newspaper Al-Sabah. He explained to Al-Monitor, The majority of the leaked documents are a natural outcome of the differences between political parties and the officials that represent them. Each resorts to leaking documents that condemn the other to expose and undermine it.

However, Mozan refused to name any party and figure, saying only that documents are often shared via media figures and staff working secretly with the support of political parties, to avoid any party being accused of leaking documents.

According to Mozan, It is easy to take pictures with small cameras or mobile phone cameras. In addition, being able to immediately post these pictures on social networking sites has further encouraged this phenomenon.

On Oct. 23, an anonymous source from the Iraqi parliament revealed to the Waradana news site a decision to prevent parliament staff from bringing smartphones into the parliament, so they would not be able to take pictures and leak official documents. The General Secretariat for the Council of Ministers sent a letter on the same day to the parliament, banning smartphones belonging to both parliament staff and visitors.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, parliament member for the Civil Democratic Alliance Mithal al-Alusi said of the reason behind the leaks, Some people are eager to prosecute corrupt figures, so they leak such documents to expose them. Asked about fabricated documents, Alusi said, These are part of the corruption that is rampant in Iraqi institutions. Alusi also noted reasons related to the political conflict between figures and parties.

Although the Iraqi Cabinet issued a decision criminalizing the leaking of documents or the publishing of a leaked document in the media on Aug. 1, 2013, Al-Baghdadia satellite channel published on its show "Studio 9" on Feb. 26, 2014, official documentation of the minutes of the Cabinet meetings, information that is highly confidential. According to these documents, Iraqi ministers were busy securing their own financial privileges instead of discussing the concerns of the Iraqi people.

On Aug. 9, 2012, former Iraqi Finance Minister Rafi al-Issawi threatened to expose his political opponents, including al-Hal Bloc head Kamal al-Karbouli; his brother, former Minister of Industry Ahmad al-Karbouli; and media figure Saad al-Bazaz, by publishing documents showing how they had stolen money from the Iraqi government.

Al-Monitor asked journalist Nassar Alkurity of the Iraqi Media Network whether publishing official documents is legal. He answered, Publishing [such documents] is a positive thing in terms of exposing corruption. However, he said it is indeed illegal since the documents are being stolen from government institutions, which results in the loss of confidence in government employees and subjects them to legal accountability.

Al-Monitor spoke with attorney Ismail Ahmed, the director of a law firm in Babil, south of Baghdad. Ahmed said, Publishing official documents in the media without official approval is a type of cybercrime. It also points to the government staff's negligence, which is illegal, as Paragraph 438 of Section Four of the 1969 Iraqi Penal Code stipulates that the disclosure of confidential information is punishable by a period of detention that does not exceed one year based on the seriousness of the crime, which would be decided by the judiciary.

Meanwhile, Paragraph 164 of the 10th Amendment Act 77 of the Penal Code of 1984 states, The death sentence is given to any person who wilfully destroys, conceals, steals or forges banknotes or documents knowing them to be instrumental in upholding the rights of Iraq.

Whatever the justification given for leaking documents  such as exposing corruption and theft and unveiling corrupt officials  such acts constitute an encroachment on the law and a breach of government workers' responsibility to preserve the confidentiality of the department or institution in which they operate.
January 7, 2016

Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced, in a surprising move, that an Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism was formed on Dec. 14. He mentioned Syria and Iraq at the top of the list of countries where the coalition aspires to combat terrorism.

On the same day, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir explained in a press statement that the coalitions mission is to share information, and train and equip the forces for the fight against the Islamic State (IS). In regard to the possibility of sending troops to countries dealing with terrorism, he said that the coalition will discuss this, and that it depends on needs and requests.

Nothing is off the table, Jubeir said when asked whether the initiative could include troops on the ground, noting that it depends on the requests made, the needs and the willingness of countries to provide the necessary support.

In this context, a question arises as to what are the Saudi motives behind the coalition. The coalition was designed to fight against IS, which is active in Iraq and Syria more than anywhere else. Yet Iraq and Syria have not been called to join the coalition, and until the coalition was announced, Iraq and Syria were not involved in the coordination talks with the coalition. Thus, how could this coalition be a unified front to fight against IS, while the countries that are at the front line in the battles against IS have not been called to join?

In the same context, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was shocked at the Saudi announcement, and said in a press statement on Dec. 17, We were shocked at the Islamic coalition [announcement] by Saudi Arabia. We were not consulted and there is a fundamental mistake: We learnt that the coalition was formed after its formation was announced. This is important particularly since Iraq is a country fighting against IS on the ground.

Abadi said it is strange that a coalition against terrorism is established while Iraq is excluded, without dealing with Syria, and with the majority of the member states lacking the potential and capacity to confront the violence due to their inexperience in fighting terrorism. Abadi questioned the coalitions intentions, as the member states have never provided Iraq with actual assistance in facing terrorism.

The fact that Iraq was not called to join the coalition or was involved in the talks is an important indication that the Saudi-led coalition has a plan beyond the fight against IS in Iraq. The issue is not just limited to driving IS out of Iraq, but it may also include a contribution in determining the future of IS-controlled Sunni areas in Iraq and Syria.

This is backed by the fact that Jubeir told the press on Dec. 15 that countries taking part in the coalition  such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain  are currently discussing whether to send special forces into Syria. These discussions continue to be held, and this option is on the table.

Jubeir added, [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad's position is not tenable.  The war is not winnable for him.

The Democratic Arab Center for Strategic, Political and Economic Studies said in a report Dec. 17 that Saudi Arabia is studying a plan to rescue Iraq, headed by the Saudi-led coalition to send troops to the Sunni areas in Iraq.

Another indication that the Saudi-led coalition has a sectarian perspective toward Iraq is that Saudi Arabia has excluded all Shiite forces in the region from the coalition. In addition, Iraq was not called to join the coalition, while Iran  which is contributing to the fight against IS in Iraq by sending military advisers, providing equipment and arms and even sending fighters to conflict areas in Iraq  was also excluded.

The same applies to Lebanon, where 35% of the population is Shiite. Shiites are also participating in the Lebanese government with Hezbollah and Amal being the two main Shiite parties in the government. However, Salman, said in his statement that Lebanon has joined it. Yet Hezbollah rejected it, and said on Dec. 18 that the decision to join the coalition is not legal at the Lebanese state institutional level.

Decisions such as joining the Saudi coalition must be disclosed in the parliament or the Cabinet, but this has not happened. Strangely, there was no official announcement in this regard except for Hezbollahs statement.

On Dec. 17, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter welcomed the formation of the Saudi-led coalition, and said, It is very much in line with something we've been urging for quite some time, which is greater involvement in the campaign to combat IS. Carters statement was made at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, during a regional tour aimed at garnering support for the US-led campaign against IS.

Highlighting the sectarian aspect in the fight against terrorism in the region is a major strategic mistake in dealing with the Islamic problems around the globe, because linking the fight against terrorism to religious identities  be it indirectly through the Saudi exclusion of the Shiites from the coalition, or directly through Carters call for a greater role by the Sunni countries in combating terrorism  will promote sectarian division in IS-controlled areas, after their liberation. In turn, this will produce new foundations for a long-term conflict in the future.

The sectarian perspective toward Iraq has been strongly present in US politics, especially after Iraqs invasion in 2003. US Vice President Joe Bidens well-known suggestion (in 2006) that Iraq be divided into Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish regions had been on the table to resolve the rise of sectarian violence in 2005 between Sunnis and Shiites.

The perspective of dealing with the regions problems based on religious and sectarian divisions is still present among US politicians. In November, Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham suggested to send 100,000 fighters from Sunni countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, to fight IS in Iraq and Syria.

In a similar context, Shiite forces in the region considered the formation of the Saudi-led coalition a threat to them. On Dec. 18, Hezbollah said in a statement, Hezbollah is deeply suspicious at the motives and objectives behind Saudi Arabia announcing the formation of the Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism. It views the decision as a response by Saudi Arabia and other countries to a US decision designed to provide troops from particular regimes in the Arab and Islamic worlds, under the sectarian and confessional nomenclature, as an alternative for sending US ground troops into the region.

Deputy Cmdr. of the Popular Mobilization Units, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, said in a statement on Dec. 20, The Saudi-led coalition targets the Popular Mobilization Units.

It seems that the Saudi-led coalition was not formed just to fight IS. Rather, Saudi Arabias larger objective is to determine the future of the Sunni areas in conflict areas in Syria and Iraq.
January 7, 2016

According to UN envoy to Libya Martin Kobler, Libya will have one government by the end of January 2016, and it will be in Tripoli. Despite the difficulties facing it, the new government of national accord has already won major international approval. On Dec. 23, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2259, recognizing it as the sole legitimate government of the war-torn country.

Bernardino Leon, the former UN envoy to Libya, spent nearly 14 months in difficult negotiations starting September 2014, when he first took up the job. Since August 2014, when the capital was overrun by a coalition of Islamist militias forcing the elected government to flee to Tobruk, Libya has had two quarreling parliaments and two opposing governments. They have accepted a political agreement signed in Skhirat, Morocco, on Dec. 17, 2015.

However, the Tobruk-based parliament speaker refused to endorse the political agreement and the government it produced until Jan. 1, after his meeting with Kobler, under international pressure.

But the UN envoy was less fortunate in Tripoli, where he met the speaker of the General National Congress, Nouri Abu Sahmain, who refused to endorse the new government.

In any case, the international community seems to be determined this time to impose its will on Libyas disagreeable politicians. Indeed, the UN Security Council endorsed the new government before it was voted on by Libyas elected parliament. The UN appears more concerned with establishing the government than what will happen afterward.

Many regional countries, including Libyas neighbors, have also welcomed the new government, headed by architect-turned-politician Fayez Sarraj. Jordan, Egypt, Spain and Tunisia have all welcomed this development and promised support.

Yet it remains unclear how this government will operate in Tripoli  if it ever gets there  and what its priorities will be toward its citizens and the international community. The capital, Tripoli, is under the control of the self-proclaimed government since it was overrun in August 2014 by a coalition of Islamist militias, which currently occupy all government buildings.

During his visit to Tripoli, Kobler, along with his military adviser, Lt. Gen. Paolo Serra, met with some militia leaders in an effort to secure their support for the new government, but it is unclear if any such commitments were made.

If Sarrajs government ever makes it to Tripoli, it will face two conflicting sets of priorities.

For world powers, particularly the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and European Union countries, the most urgent priority is to have one government in Libya able to command one united force able to fight the Islamic State (IS). The terror group has been quietly expanding in Libya after it took over Sirte on the coast. Each of the two governments is now backed by different militias. The aim is to have both sides unite their military capabilities to fight a common enemy.

IS has, for the first time, publicly declared its presence in Sabratha just 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of Tripoli. On Dec. 9, IS paraded its fighters in some 30 cars around the city center as a display of force. Given the proximity of Libya to the southern EU shores and in light of the November Paris attacks, EU members are extremely worried that Sirte poses an immediate danger and could serve as a launching point for future terror attacks.

The second priority for Western powers, regional countries and the UN is for the new united government to play a more active role in reducing the flow of migrants from Libya to Europe over the Mediterranean Sea. The Libyan route has been a favorite for smugglers, and over 3,700 migrants drowned last year while making the dangerous trip to Europe via Libya. An estimated more than 200,000 have made it to Europe after taking small boats from Libya. How the new government can be effective in meeting these two obligations has yet to be seen.

However, ordinary Libyans have a different set of priorities and expectations from the new government. For them, migrants flocking to Europe and the war on IS are not as important as safety in their neighborhoods or finding work. They would like to enjoy some stability in their daily lives and be able to go about their business without worrying about being randomly jailed, kidnapped or shot at. They want the new government to tackle matters of daily concerns such as the skyrocketing prices, lack of cash in the banking system and timely payment of government salaries. They yearn for a decent medical system in which public hospitals can offer free, quality services, as they did before Libya plunged into its current state of chaos nearly five years ago.

Many Libyan media outlets have been airing comments by ordinary citizens across the country expressing their support for the proposed government, but they're doing so only out of despair and a lack of any viable alternative. There is a general feeling that this government is more concerned about what the outside world wants and less about what Libyans want.

Libyans would like to see the national reconciliation issue, so far neglected, be taken seriously by this new government and treated with urgency. More than a million Libyans are displaced inside and outside the country and hope to return home to a relatively safe environment. Tawergha, a town of over 40,000 people east of Tripoli, was destroyed by militias from neighboring Misrata after they accused the entire town of backing the former regime in 2011. The residents were forced to flee and live in refugee camps scattered all over Libya. For them, to return home is their ultimate wish. While in Tripoli, Kobler visited one such camp and had a firsthand experience of the miserable life those Libyans are forced to live.

It will be a very difficult task for the new government to balance its domestic obligations with its international responsibilities. However, it has no choice but to face these conflicting sets of priorities head on, or it will meet the same fate as the four previous Libyan governments since the war in 2011. They came and went after wasting billions of dollars of public money, and little was done to improve the lives of ordinary citizens, let alone restore peace and social harmony.
January 7, 2016

I dont wish for the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Nov. 30 in a conversation with journalists at the International Climate Conference in Paris. Israel is trying to take steps to prevent this scenario from happening, Netanyahu said, though he refused to go into detail as to what those steps might be. The prime minister then wagged an accusatory finger at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and used a quick meeting with US President Barack Obama to complain about Abbas. He even made a point of describing the meeting to the press, saying, I told Obama, Look at how Abbas is continuing with his incitement.

Based on what has happened on the ground since that conference, Netanyahu is hardly going out of his way to prevent the collapse of the Palestinian Authority. According to one report in Israeli daily Haaretz on Jan. 5, Netanyahu convened two special Cabinet meetings to prepare for the inevitable collapse of the PA. At each of these meetings, security officials presented a series of steps that could prevent the PAs collapse, including gestures to the Palestinians and providing shielding to jeeps used by Palestinian forces, to assist them in their efforts to fight terrorism. Nor was this the first time since October  when the current wave of terrorism started  that the Cabinet was presented with intelligence reports that Abbas is actually trying to control the terror attacks. This can be seen in the noticeable drop in official incitement against Israel, and the arrest of Hamas members suspected of involvement in terrorist activities.

Based on this logic, if Abbas has been making real attempts to put a stop to the current wave of terrorism, if the level of incitement has been reduced and if security cooperation between Israel and the PA is good  as senior members of the defense establishment still claim  why is Netanyahu doing nothing to stop the PA from collapsing? While he is not actually encouraging its collapse, Netanyahu is standing to the side and letting whatever happens happen, as one Cabinet member described the situation in a conversation with Al-Monitor.

Netanyahus actions seem to indicate that he actually does want the PA to collapse, since this could serve him as a bargaining chip with the international community, which blames Israel for the current diplomatic stalemate. The collapse of the PA would finally put an end to the process that began with the Oslo Accord in 1993. It would usher in an new era for Israel and the Palestinians  one in which the very idea of a two-state solution has no basis in reality. The Palestinians would go on living their lives in some kind of autonomous entity, while Israel would control all of the territory, at least in terms of security.

That scenario is exactly the vision advanced by the extreme right or its representatives in the government and the Cabinet. These not only include coalition partners such as Naftali Bennett, chairman of the HaBayit HaYehudi Party (who supports the collapse of the PA and the annexation of West Bank Area C, where Israel maintains civil and military control), but even Likud ministers such as Zeev Elkin and Yisrael Katz. Recently, Katz has gone so far as to call for imposing a closure on the territories  a move that conflicts with the recommendations of top defense officials, since it would likely expedite the collapse of the PA.

In fact, the collapse of the PA now seems closer than ever. There are no moderate forces in the fourth Netanyahu government to balance the extreme right, as there were when Ehud Barak was defense minister, or later when Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Tzipi Livni (Hatnua) were part of the Cabinet. While Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, chairman of the Kulanu Party and a senior member of the security Cabinet, is considered a moderating influence, he insists on focusing on socio-economic issues and shows little enthusiasm for diplomatic and security affairs. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon are also considered Cabinet moderates, but while Yaalon is motivated by professional considerations, Netanyahu has clear political and ideological interests at stake.

Netanyahu was never an advocate of a two-state solution. Throughout all his terms as prime minister, ever since 1996, he was dragged kicking and screaming in that direction, including his Bar-Ilan speech and his short-lived freeze on construction in the settlements.

Since 2009, Netanyahu and Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beitenu), who twice served Netanyahu as foreign minister, have worked together and separately to weaken Abbas among Israelis, Palestinians and the international community. Liberman at one point lashed out at Abbas on a weekly basis, berating and insulting him, while Netanyahu stood by in silence. Obviously, this behavior had a lethal effect on Israelis, who have come to believe in the idea of a two-state solution less and less over the years.

This trend was evident in the latest Peace Index poll released by the Israel Democracy Institute in December. The index showed that only a small majority of Israeli Jews (52%) now support a two-state solution, while 43% oppose it. By way of comparison, the number of supporters in previous years was about two-thirds or more.

There can be no doubt that efforts to brainwash the Israeli public, led by Netanyahu and Liberman, had a role to play in these figures. Meanwhile, Abbas has proved over the years that he is not some helpless, featherless chick struggling to survive (as he was once described by Ariel Sharon when Sharon was prime minister). Abbas has a strategy of his own to win Palestinian state recognition in international institutions.

Netanyahu is now preparing for yet another run for the prime ministers office, as he believes that he is electable for a fifth term. His biggest rivals on the right are Bennett and Liberman. The far right has been challenging Netanyahu incessantly, and he has done everything he can not to play into their hands by presenting a moderate stance. At the same time, Netanyahu must also deal with the international community. He is, therefore, fully aware that he cannot be seen to take active measures to bring about the PAs collapse. This requires him to take the position that the collapse of the PA would be bad for Israel. That way, at least, he cannot be blamed when it actually happens. This is why it is in Netanyahus immediate interest  so it seems  to maintain low-level support for the PA and not to be viewed as rushing with all his forces to its rescue, while at the same time continuing to publicly attack Abbas. And he must do that even though senior defense officials repeatedly tell him that Abbas is actually taking steps to rein in the current wave of terrorism.

Netanyahu may not hope for the collapse of the PA, publicly at least, but his passivity seems to indicate that he actually does. That's why Knesset member Livnis call for the Knessets Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to hold immediate discussions about the possible collapse of the PA is so important. The discussion could at least give some indication as to what the prime ministers real intentions are.
January 7, 2016

We must prevent as much as possible the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, and at the same time we must prepare for the possibility that this could happen, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said upon closing the Jan. 3 meeting of the diplomatic-security Cabinet, which discussed the warning of the security establishment that the days of the PA are numbered. The media has reported for many months that the Shin Bet, the Israel Defense Forces and especially the Civil Administration have been delivering worrying reports to the executive bodies, analyzing the state of the PA and the attitude of Palestinians toward the rule of President Mahmoud Abbas, who has invested great efforts to keep the PAs institutions operational. These reports conclude that the days of the PA are numbered, given the diplomatic standstill.

In an Al-Monitor article, Uri Savir wrote that the senior members of Fatah and Abbas himself know very well how to read the political map, and they, too, have concluded that in the present situation it is only a matter of time before the PA is dissolved. As a result, it would not be able to pay its employee salaries, and it would lose the meager support it has among the residents of the Palestinian territories.

All of Abbas' warnings in the last year and the rumors spread within the PA that he has decided to resign from his post have been received in Israel with ridicule. They have been interpreted by the political class, and to some extent by many elements in the PA, as an attempt to exert pressure on Israel and to gain support from the international community. Threats of Abbas' resignation have become a common joke in the PA, and cartoons in Palestinian social media portray them as empty threats. One cartoon showed Abbas standing in front of a mirror saying I quit, with his image in the mirror replying, And I refuse to quit.

But now it seems that Abbas is serious. He has reached the conclusion that the PA cannot handle the internal crisis that started with the collapse of peace talks with Israel in April 2014, has continued despite the unity government with Hamas, which was established a few months after that, and has now reached a nadir with the individual intifada.

The third intifada reflects, among other things, ringing criticism of the rule of the PA, for not succeeding in getting anywhere with Israel. Most Palestinians arent satisfied at what they see as the daily humiliation of their leader by Netanyahu, while Abbas stubbornly continues to honor security cooperation with Israel.

The PA will not be able to continue to operate much longer, because it was built as a temporary body with weak structures, meant to hold for only five years  between the signing of the Oslo Accord (1993) until the establishment of a Palestinian state through permanent talks with Israel. Since the PA was established more than 20 years ago, its economy has existed by conditions Israel had determined in the Oslo B Agreement (1995). Israel controls all of the border crossings of the PA and its resources and energy sources. The Palestinians have no Palestinian currency; they are forced to use the Israeli shekel and are dependent on fluctuations in its value.

The PAs permanent situation is between a rock and a hard place; it struggles against Israel and it is dependent on it. The PAs budget is mostly based on tax revenues that Israel collects on its behalf from the import and export of goods, and the rest comes from donations from various countries, which have been significantly reduced in recent years.

If that is not enough, in recent years Israel has placed economic sanctions on the PA. Ehud Olmert was the first to freeze Palestinian tax revenues when he was prime minister, but Netanyahu has refined this method. Even though Israel is obligated to transfer these funds according to the Oslo B Agreement, Netanyahu has used them time after time as a means to pressure the PA  most recently in January 2015, after Abbas signed the formal request to have the PA be accepted as a member of the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

These funds  amounting to half a million shekels ($126 million)  were transferred after three months, when the Civil Administration signaled to Netanyahu and the Cabinet that continuing the freeze would stir up discontent among PA employees who hadnt received a paycheck and bring about the collapse of businesses in the PAs territories, which would embroil Israel in the mess, too.

For years, Israel has done all it can to weaken Abbas politically and diplomatically; he has been represented to the Israeli public as a non-partner, with whom there is no reason to conduct negotiations, which has enabled the continuation of the diplomatic freeze.

At the same time, Israel has never stopped weakening the PA and damaging it economically and politically for Israel's domestic motives. Netanyahu has humiliated Abbas and his senior officials by imposing sanctions against the PA whenever he felt like it. Israel has toyed with the Palestinian economy, sometimes just to placate Israeli public opinion.

Now that the threat of the PAs collapse has become real and present, Netanyahu speaks differently. He sounds worried about the implications of processes that he is directly responsible for. The sense of urgency arising from the recent Cabinet meetings on the state of Abbas' rule is too little, too late. One cant fix the mistakes of more than 20 years in one day. Abbas is 80 years old, he is hopeless and tired, and the forces that oppose him within the PA are stronger than ever. The current intifada will not allow Israel to open the border crossings and ease the economic situation of the Palestinians.

To save the PA, a drastic step toward a Palestinian state must be taken, based on permanent agreements, not the unstable patchwork agreements made in the course of debates on the Oslo Accord. But Netanyahu wont take this big step. All that the present government in Israel can do  with the help of Europe or the United States  is to buy more time until the next big crisis. In the meantime, Abbas has heard the voices of concern from Israel, and responded to Netanyahu on Jan. 6, saying, The PA is one of the achievements of the Palestinians. They wont give it up, and no one should dream about its collapse."

He added, The PA will remain and any replacement [for it] must be a state. But a Palestinian state cannot be seen on the horizon at this time, and it is doubtful whether the chairman of the PA and its institutions could carry the burden of its huge deficit and the unrest on the Palestinian street for any length of time. If this situation does not change, it seems that soon Abbas will say out loud what hes whispered to many for more than two years: I cant do it any longer. This will be the moment Israel will be made to pay  with high interest  for the price of the power games it has played, and the mistakes it has made. 
January 5, 2016

RAMALLAH, West Bank  Sahar Tbaileh began her push to boycott Israeli goods with the help of three of her neighbors who live between the Ain Munjid and al-Masyoun neighborhoods in central Ramallah.

The women met at Tbailehs house and joined forces to form a womens committee to spread the boycott and cleanse their neighborhood of Israeli goods by talking to women, merchants and store owners. The committee has also contacted neighborhood schools and discuss the importance of the boycott with students, in an unprecedented move that first took place Nov. 5.

Tbaileh told Al-Monitor, This was a personal campaign initiated by us women, out of our patriotic sense of the need to conduct a boycott. [This step] came in light of Israeli aggression toward our youth and children, taking into account the fact that stores are full of Israeli goods for which there are local alternatives.

Tbaileh and her neighbors initiative was not limited to their neighborhood. They also tried, through acquaintances, to spread the idea to other Ramallah neighborhoods. We are trying to influence women by talking to them about what has been happening on the ground. It is inconceivable that we continue to support Israels economy and buy Israeli products while they murder our children, she said.

Tbaileh added that the campaign is still new, but that its future agenda includes cooperating with public and private institutions that conduct women-based boycotts to expand their activities to all of Ramallahs neighborhoods.

The most prominent of the campaigns Tbaileh mentioned was the womens campaign to boycott Israeli goods, launched in December 2013, by active Palestinian institutions and womens groups affiliated with the global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, such as the General Union of Palestinian Women and the Womens Affairs Technical Committee.

BDS campaign coordinator and Palestinian politician Majida al-Masri told Al-Monitor, This campaign is unique in that it addresses housewives in their capacity as those in charge of household spending and the best suited to make decisions related to buying products. As the campaign developed, it garnered the membership of all womens groups and organizations that are active in the West Bank, subsequently spreading to Gaza, thus empowering and driving it forward.

Concerning the campaigns operations, Masri said, This campaign is democratic in nature. In each province we set up frameworks and elected follow-up committees. During the initial stage, we targeted six categories of Israeli goods to be boycotted by women, namely basic materials consumed by families, which were replaced by local, Arab or foreign products from friendly nations.

These categories were comprised of dairy products, juices and drinks, sanitary napkins, household detergents, sweets, pastries and bread, flour and their derivatives.

Khitam al-Saafeen, the representative of the General Union of Palestinian Women, one of the groups overseeing the campaign as part of the BDS campaign against Israel, told Al-Monitor that the local campaign is still organizing activities such as seminars in womens centers and schools and marches in Palestinian cities.

Saafeen added, We consider this campaign to be an extension of the role of women in boycotting the occupation, through a grassroots and popular campaign aimed at people directly responsible for daily purchases, through womens groups and organizations in cities, villages and camps.

Among the activities conducted are organized tours to shops, school awareness campaigns, meetings with housewives and a supporting conference in March, when recommendations were adopted to develop the campaign. The activities also included offering assistance to other campaigns initiated by several organizations, such as "Kick Them Out," organized by the women-run Society of Inash al-Usra (family welfare).

The Kick Them Out campaign, considered an independent and complementary part of the womens boycott efforts, came about in October, when to the current unrest erupted, and its activities began in November.

The director of the Family Welfare Organization, Farida al-Amd, explained the reasons and goals of the campaign, saying, We initiated this campaign to draw the communitys attention to the fact that we were buying Israeli goods while [Israel] executes our youth at its checkpoints. Stores are filled with Israeli products and we have to act to curtail that.

Amd told Al-Monitor that the Family Welfare Organization, located in the central West Bank city of al-Bireh, began to completely boycott Israeli goods in 1972. The goal of the current campaign is to influence the surrounding community. We realize that it is now time to join our efforts and take effective measures that lead to results on the ground, she said.

To achieve its objectives, the campaign relies on educating women at home and female students at school. The women also visit stores, where they talk with proprietors and urge them not to buy Israeli products.

Amd said, It will have an impact. But most importantly, it must endure and attract the participation of all segments of society. Our work on the ground will surely have a cumulative effect.

Yet according to Masri, the effect is difficult to gauge: We cannot measure the impact of the campaign independently from the global BDS campaign. But, as per a World Bank study, we can confirm that the boycott campaigns have had an effect on Israeli exports to Palestinian territories, which declined by 24% during the first quarter of 2015 as a result of the intensification of the Palestinian boycott of Israeli goods.

According to Masri, enhancing such an effect would require that women exercise pressure on government officials as well: In coordination with the local boycott campaign, we endeavor to communicate with the Ministry of National Economy, and have made the decision to put pressure on the [Palestine Liberation Organization]s Executive Committee to implement the PLOs Central Councils decision that explicitly called for a boycott.

These boycotts by women seem to be the most enduring, due to their constant follow-up on an individual or institutional level, with the aim of achieving the goals they set in every city, village and camp under the slogan, Raise your children with the bounties of your own country.
January 7, 2016

Notwithstanding conventional arguments that Russias intervention in Syria has sharply increased its influence in the Middle East, Moscow may ultimately find that its gains do not outweigh its losses from the venture. Much will depend on whether, when and how Syrias civil war ends.

It is unsurprising that many would expect  or perhaps even fear  greater Russian influence in the region in the immediate aftermath of Moscows first attacks in Syria. After all, Russias airstrikes in Syria are its first combat deployment away from its borders in decades. President Vladimir Putins decision to assume a direct military role in defending the Syrian government was decisive and even bold. Nevertheless, history has often demonstrated that these initial reactions fail to consider real-world complexities and long-term consequences. The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 is a good example of this. After the shock and awe of Washingtons rapid defeat of Iraqi forces subsided, the challenges for US policy only grew and Americas regional reputation sagged.

So far, Russias intervention in Syria has had five principal benefits: shifting some domestic international attention from Ukraine to Syria; increasing the credibility of any potential future threats to use force; demonstrating Russias advanced military capabilities in a highly visible manner; strengthening Moscows leverage over the Syrian government in absolute terms and relative to Iran; and bolstering Russias claim to a major role in shaping a political settlement in Syria.

These benefits are not inconsequential. Yet they are not overwhelming, either. Internationally, while Washington and some major European capitals are open to working with Moscow to end the fighting in Syria, none seems inclined to trade positions on Ukraine in the process. Domestically, Syria can be a successful distraction only so long as it is a successful war  something largely outside Russias control, since its forces are in a supporting rather than a leading role.

Similarly, regional and global assessments of the credibility of Russias military forces and weapons systems will ultimately depend on the outcome of Russias intervention. The Syrian governments inability to make significant gains so far does not help in this respect. Russias attractiveness as an arms supplier is less reliant on military victories, so long as its systems perform as advertised  but helping Bashar al-Assad's regime take back territory would likely produce more sales than facilitating a protracted stalemate.

Finally, Russias leverage in Syria  and its ability to shape a settlement  may not last indefinitely, particularly if the stalemate continues. This is in part because Moscows influence in Damascus depends heavily on what Syrian leaders expect from Russia in the future.

On the other side of the ledger, Russia is spending an estimated $2.4 million to $4 million per day (or about $720 million to $1.2 billion per month) on its operations, and its forces have incurred low but politically significant casualties. So far, there is little evidence to suggest that the operation is financially or politically unsustainable  but politics can change quickly.

In addition, Moscows military intervention appears to have provoked a retaliatory terrorist attack on a Metrojet passenger aircraft departing from Egypt, killing 224, most of whom were Russian tourists, though this appears to have stiffened public resolve rather than weakening it. In fact, while 82% of Russians are definitely or probably worried about terrorism in their country, only 3% said that Moscow should stop its military operations in Syria as a result of the Metrojet bombing and later terrorist killings in Paris. Still, it is unclear how the Russian public would react to the re-emergence of domestic terrorism.

Setting aside who is to blame for Turkeys downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber  and there are good reasons to consider Ankaras actions both disproportionate and dangerous  Moscow has lost not only a jet, a pilot and a soldier attempting to rescue the planes crew, but also an increasingly close relationship with Turkey developed after several years of determined effort. Worse for Russia, Turkey is not simply alienated from Moscow but is aligning more closely with NATO and Saudi Arabia. This complicates Russian policy in Ukraine as well as the Middle East.

Russia Beyond the Headlines, a paid news supplement published in several languages by the official government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta, recently printed a prominent article arguing that Ankara and Riyadh are united not only by the desire to change the government in Syria; they could have a common enemy in Russia. Izvestia, a private newspaper sympathetic to the Kremlin, likewise prominently reported on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans statement before his recent trip to Riyadh that Turkish and Saudi positions are identical.

Taking into account that Moscows relationship with Saudi Arabia is already complex after Putins failed effort to secure Saudi participation in his anti-terrorist coalition, Saudi Arabias recent announcement of its own coalition, and regular official Russian criticism of Saudi Arabias destabilizing conduct in international oil markets, many in Russia are troubled by this potential alignment. Notably, however, Putin went out of his way to deflate these anxieties in his annual end-of-the-year press conference  in response to a leading question about Saudi Arabias very dangerous and anti-Russian alliance, the Russian leader stressed that while Turkey had committed a hostile act, his government did not consider Turkey to be a hostile country. Putin went further in referring to Saudi Arabia, stressing recent Russian-Saudi negotiations and his own meeting with King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud. The Russian presidents public response to these arguments is perhaps the clearest indication that a real debate is underway  otherwise, he would not need to express his view.

At a broader level, Russias deeper engagement in the Middle East following its intervention in Syria has already complicated its long-standing efforts to pursue a policy based on cooperation with everyone and on avoiding hard choices. Prior to its airstrikes in Syria, a serious dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran would already have been challenging for Moscow to manage without appearing to take sides. Now that Russia is embroiled in the Syrian civil war as a de facto ally of Iran, it will be much harder to avoid the appearance of a Russian preference for Iran and its Shiite clients at the expense of relations with Sunni powers. This is only one of the unintended and unpredictable consequences of Moscows war in Syria.

One final point about Russias influence in the Middle East after its intervention in Syria relates to the circumstances surrounding it. It is important to recall that Moscow resorted to unilateral military action after several months of unsuccessful efforts to secure regional and international support for its approach rather than as the successful culmination of a new regional diplomatic strategy. From this perspective, Russias solo military intervention was a sign of its limited regional role rather than any new strength. Moscows constructive participation in a political settlement in Syria could salvage this situation, but without a deal, Russias new influence seems likely to be temporary.
January 7, 2016

With tensions growing between Riyadh and Tehran following the Jan. 2 execution of the dissident Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi Arabia, Al-Monitor conducted a phone interview on Jan. 5 with Nimrs brother, Sheikh Mohammed al-Nimr, who resides in the town of al-Awamiya, in the Qatif region of Saudi Arabia. Nimr spoke of the current situation in predominantly Shiite Qatif, the still unfolding crisis stemming from his brother's death, as well as accusations leveled against the late sheikh and his supporters and efforts to obtain his brother's remains.

Al-Monitor: How did your family learn of your brothers execution?

Nimr: It was through Saudi media last Saturday [Jan. 2].

Al-Monitor: What was your initial reaction?

Nimr: We were gripped with grief, as people donned black mourning clothes, with all the shops closing their doors in Qatif and its surroundings and condolences accepted in religious centers and some public squares.

Al-Monitor: Did you and your family expect the death sentence to be carried out?

Nimr: Of course not. That is why we, like all people, were so shocked, because no one expected it. It is true that the appeals and supreme courts upheld the [Oct. 15, 2014] death sentence against the martyr Nimr, but we and his supporters still carried hope that King Salman would not sign the execution order due to its negative repercussions. Despite many warnings in that regard, unfortunately, the order was given by Saudi authorities to carry out the death penalty given to 47 individuals accused of acts of violence and terrorism in Saudi Arabia, with Sheikh Nimr included, despite him being completely innocent of the charges leveled against him. These charges include the denunciation of allegiance to the king, participating in a number of rallies and demonstrations, raising slogans insulting the state, and using his cell phone to incite for demonstrations, covering up of individuals wanted by the security services and helping them escape from police raids, describing security officers as bandits, calling the Peninsula Shield Force the Peninsula Shame Force and demanding to expel them from Bahrain. And I am sure he is innocent, for he only preached peace and nonviolence, and those are the principles in which all of his supporters and family members believe.

Al-Monitor: For what cause or against what did your brother become a martyr?

Nimr: A martyr against injustice, for he was unjustly arrested [July 8, 2012] and wrongfully accused. [I attended] all of my brothers State Security Court hearings, which allows me to unequivocally affirm  and I am ready to be held accountable for my words here  that no one in the court, not even the judge, was convinced that Sheikh Nimr had anything to do with violent actions or illegal endeavors. All that was proven was that his speeches were overly fervent, which may be true, but which has nothing to do with the charges concocted against him. The martyr stood against violence and refused to carry arms when violent events took place in our area during 2012 and 2013, such as the demonstrations by Qatifs Shiite citizens against the Saudi authorities, where the Saudi security forces resorted to violence to suppress the demonstrators and disperse them.This is evidenced by his [Nimrs] speeches and lectures against violence and in support of peaceful, non-violent action. Martyr Nimr was not an opposition figure in the professional political sense of the word, and he never demanded the fall of the regime nor did he espouse an agenda in that regard. Convicting him of failing to obey the rules is dangerous indeed. Is someones failure to obey now considered legal grounds for a death penalty? What a terrifying premise.

Al-Monitor: Was your brother given a fair trial and afforded sufficient opportunity to defend himself?

Nimr: Sheikh Nimrs defense lawyer, Sadeq al-Jibran, skillfully represented my brother. But, I contend that the trial was political, and its outcome was predetermined, leading to the victimization of martyr Nimr, who is a martyr in the true sense of the word.

Al-Monitor: Why do you think Sheikh Nimrs name was included among those sentenced to death?

Nimr: Honestly, when news leaked about the death sentence, we thought that because al-Qaeda and Islamic State members were to be executed, Sheikh Nimrs name was included to placate some members of the Sunni community and create a sort of sectarian balance. But, we later determined that the opposite was true. The whole intent was to get rid of Sheikh Nimr, with the names of terrorists added to cover up that. This was proven by the fact that 42 of the 47 people who were executed had been on death row for 10 to 13 years, while Sheikh Nimr had been convicted only a little over a year ago. As such, those death row inmates remained forgotten until a decision was made to have them executed now, only as a cover for Nimrs liquidation and in order to claim that executions had been carried out against a group of terrorists. We denounce what occurred and will continue to condemn it, using peaceful means of course.

Al-Monitor: What do you make of the reactions to the execution inside and outside Saudi Arabia?

Nimr: People were shocked, and a chasm was created between the Shiite community and the Saudi government. Martyr Nimr enjoyed prominence among people and among Shiite Muslims inside and outside the country. He was a diligent scholar and a high-ranking religious figure who cannot be treated as he was without people reacting.

Al-Monitor: Has there been contact between your family and Saudi authorities concerning Sheikh Nimrs body?

Nimr: In a family statement, as well as through intermediaries, we demanded that we be given his body. We will continue to make such demands until his body is returned and buried in his hometown, as per Sharia law and regional customs. His burial in an unknown location is contrary to our customs and utterly rejected.

Al-Monitor: What do you think of the accusations that Sheikh Nimr and his supporters are loyal to Iran? How do you view the crisis between Riyadh and Tehran following Nimr's execution?

Nimr: This is a political issue with which we have nothing to do. We regret seeing such developments between the two countries and call for good relations between our country and every other country of the world. We also condemn the attacks against our countrys embassy in Tehran [Jan. 2] and the consulate in Mashhad, as that is unacceptable to us. We cannot accept that our countrys facilities are attacked, and [we] hope that matters do not escalate further. Yet, we must understand that the reactions seen in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Europe and elsewhere are due to martyr Nimrs religious status and have nothing to do with interfering in Saudi affairs. Those reactions were also born out of a sense of injustice toward our martyr, for even United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon personally appealed to King Salman [Oct. 28, 2015] not to execute Sheikh Nimr. But, unfortunately, Saudi politicians and advisers decided otherwise.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) urged the Obama Administration to speed up implementation of Royce-Engel proposals for Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) peace, during a classified briefing with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairman James Warlick held earlier today, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). Armenpress reports the aforementioned, referring to the official website of Armenian National Committee of America.

Over a dozen U.S. House Members attended the closed-door briefing, organized by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. In an official read-out from the meeting, Chairman Royce stated:

Violence in the Nagorno-Karabakh region is at the highest point in decades. Just last month we heard reports of heavy weapon attacks and tank artillery fire  a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement. As Ambassador Warlick has said, this isnt a frozen conflict, but is a forgotten conflict  with a real risk of spinning out of control. That is why we need all snipers to be withdrawn, more international monitors to be deployed and gunfire locator systems to be put in place to increase transparency and accountability for each and every cross-boundary violation. Acts of aggression must be clearly condemned. The faster the administration can help put these in place, the quicker it can help put an end to the killing and avert war.

The special briefing comes in the wake of an October 26th Congressional letter addressed to Ambassador Warlick, initiated by Chairman Royce and Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY) and cosigned by over 80 of their House colleagues, outlining three concrete steps to address escalating Karabakh violence: the removal of snipers, an increase in OSCE monitors, and the deployment of a gunfire locator system. Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh have both expressed support for these life-saving initiatives; Azerbaijan has not.
January 7, 2016

TEHRAN, Iran  Following heated speculations, the most prominent grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, has registered to run for a seat on the Assembly of Experts. The clerical body is tasked with overseeing the performance of the supreme leader and choosing his successor. Polling for the assemblys 88 seats will be held on February 26, alongside elections for Parliament. Assembly members are elected for eight-year terms. Khomeinis candidacy received a warm welcome from conservatives, moderates and Reformists, but has met with a barrage of harsh criticism from hard-liners, who have launched a campaign against the 43-year-old ayatollah and grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic.

Hard-liners have brought up a series of concerns that they say should compel the sidelining of Khomeini from the race for the assembly. For instance, they claim that Khomeini is part of an alleged plot by the Expediency Council chairman, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to seize control over the influential assembly. Indeed, Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of the ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan known for his hard-line positions, has alluded to such a scheme in an op-ed, asserting, Seyyed Hassan Khomeinis name and position are being used to hide the plans of the troublemaker groups that are tied to foreign [governments] and received a big blow in the proxy unrest of 2009 [following presidential elections]." Shariatmadari took a direct swipe at Khomeini in his Kayhan editorial, writing, People like [the executed Saudi Shiite] Sheikh [Nimr] al-Nimr and [the detained Nigerian Shiite] Sheikh [Ibrahim] Zakzaki are the real grandsons of Imam Khomeini.

Moreover, the hard-line cleric Mehdi Taeb addressed Khomeini, telling an audience in the central city of Yazd, Rafsanjani called you Allamah [an honorific for Islamic scholars]. This means he is taking advantage of you. Why arent you paying attention and showing any reaction to this issue? Also in this vein, Hossein Jalali, head of the office of conservative Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah, has claimed to media, Rafsanjani is trying to start a new seditious movement with the family of Imam Khomeini.

Such sentiments aside, on the day Khomeini signed up to run in the elections, he told reporters at a press conference after his registration that he would be campaigning as an independent candidate. Mohsen Gharavian, another candidate for the Assembly of Experts, pointed out to Al-Monitor, Seyyed Hassan Khomeini doesnt belong to any group or political party, and added, His emphasis on being independent means he is doing his best not to tarnish the image of his late grandfather among people.

Another hard-line argument against Khomeinis candidacy is that the late Khomeini had prohibited his family from entering the political arena. However, some who were close to the former supreme leader have refuted this claim on the basis that Ahmad Khomeini, the father of Seyyed Hassan, was nominated for Assembly of Experts elections and succeeded in winning the votes of people.

Ultra-conservatives have expressed their opposition to the possible presence of Khomeini in the assembly, arguing that he lacks sufficient clerical knowledge to be part of the influential body. Thus, they contend, he will not be able to obtain the approval of the Guardian Council, which is tasked with vetting candidates and is headed by the conservative Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati.

Seyyed Hassan Khomeini has competence in terms of learning, Ayatollah Seyyed Jafar Karimi, chairman of the Council for Esteftaat of the Supreme Leader, which handles religious inquiries addressed to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told Iranian media. He added that he has read Khomeinis writings and is assured of his knowledge. Meanwhile, Grand Ayatollah Abbas Mahfouzi has publicly described the younger Khomeini as sufficiently learned for the assembly. Khomeini currently teaches dars-e kharej, the highest level of Islamic jurisprudence at the Qom seminary.

The most noted, and perhaps most important, objection to Khomeinis candidacy expressed by the hard-liners is that it is in essence causing a rift within the Islamic Republic and is a challenge to Ayatollah Khamenei. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, the spiritual leader of the hard-line Endurance Front, said, The enemies are trying to hold a referendum to dismiss the supreme leader.

Khomeini has denied these objections, stating at a press conference after his registration as a candidate, My candidacy is with the aim of pursuing what Imam Khomeini said about defending until death the foundations of the Islamic Republic. He added, The concept of velayat-e faqih [rule of the guardian jurist] is among the issues that we should be committed to and also reinforce its tenets until our last breath.

According to Gharavian, the hard-liners through their various allegations are simply trying to negatively influence the Guardian Councils view of Khomeini. Indeed, it appears that the objections being raised by them are voiced with the goal of persuading the Guardian Council to nix Khomeinis candidacy. According to a source who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, however, Khomeini consulted with the supreme leader before announcing his candidacy, and Khamenei did not oppose it. If accurate, this is of crucial importance.

More broadly, some conservatives, including Ayatollah Jannati and Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, have reacted negatively to the unusually high number of candidates, a total of 801, for the assembly elections. Their statements are being closely watched, as Jannati's and Yazdis memberships on the Guardian Council could affect the vetting process. Jannati said at the Tehran Friday prayers, The number of candidates is questionable to me. Some of these people dont differentiate between the Holy Quran and a juridical book. In this vein, Yazdi has also publicly stated, About 800 people have signed up for the assembly elections, but only 88 of them will find their way to the assembly. Thus, the high number of candidates signals that there are hidden agendas behind this [high number].

Expressing concern about the possible disqualification of a large number of candidates, Ahmad Tavakoli, a prominent conservative parliamentarian, has penned an op-ed in which he argues, Seemingly, with respect to the current mechanism of vetting the qualifications of candidates and the limited time of the Guardian Council, a just assessment of candidates may not be possible, leading to the unwanted disqualification of a large number of people who signed up to run in the elections.

In sum, it appears that based on Jannatis remarks, the number of candidate disqualifications may be high. However, the likelihood of Khomeinis candidacy being approved is high. As Gharavian told Al-Monitor, It is highly unlikely that the Guardian Council will disqualify Seyyed Hassan from running in the elections. He is the prominent and senior grandson of Imam Khomeini, and he has been approved by various grand ayatollahs in Qom in terms of having clerical knowledge.
January 7, 2016

Turkeys fervent aspiration for regional power in the Middle East is over after it made itself a party to the raging sectarian conflict rather than providing a meaningful contribution to a possible solution to the Syrian imbroglio.

If there were any doubts, the ruling Justice and Development Party's latest desperate moves to escape its increasingly international isolation should remove them: In mid-December, Ankara plunged into the Saudi-led 34-nation military alliance of Sunni nations. Parallel to this ill-conceived decision, Turkey's rapprochement with Israel is said to be underway.

The Saudi-led alliance, which even Pakistan and Malaysia have declared they were not joining, is justifiably seen by many analysts as a Sunni coalition through which Saudi Arabia aims to check and reduce Irans regional influence. By agreeing to be among the likes of Comoros, Mali and Niger and led by Saudi Arabia, Turkey forfeited its claim to being the historical Sunni counterweight to Iran, going back to the 16th-century rivalry between the Ottoman Empire and the Safavids. That is not a role suited to a country with an imperial legacy whose glory is revisited frequently by the current power holders in Turkey.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule had already made Turkey a part of a subregional axis competing with Saudi influence over the Sunni world.

Since January 2015, with the change of leadership in Saudi Arabia, the Sunni configuration of power in the region has changed. Since then, Erdogan has visited the kingdom three times and announced his support for the Saudi military campaign in Yemen. By the end of the year, the two countries decided to establish a strategic cooperation council.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have cash and hydrocarbons; Turkey has military muscle. It looks as if the Gulf monarchies are allowing Turkey to benefit from their treasuries while making use of Turkeys geopolitical weight. The Saudis seem emboldened by having Turkish muscle on board in their confrontational attitude toward Tehran.

Erdogan and King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud's rapprochement was also aimed at increasing cooperation on regional issues, most notably on Syria. However, the Saudi-Iranian crisis is complicating Ankaras regional plans, particularly on Syria.

The other undeclared forfeiture of Turkeys claim to regional leadership came in its last overtures with Israel for reconciliation. Erdogan, on his way back from Saudi Arabia Jan. 2, told the journalist accompanying him, Turkey and Israel need each other.

A statement so worded may sound like Erdogans assessment of the changing geopolitics of the Middle East and reflect Turkeys stepping back from contesting Israels posturing in the region.

It should never be forgotten that the real cause of the ever-deteriorating relationship with Israel since January 2009, in the wake of Israels Gaza war, had its roots in who would be calling the shots as the regional power. The Mavi Marmara incident in May 2010 that took the lives of nine Turkish nationals who were killed by Israeli commandos had been the symbolic turning point for the power struggle in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey, after following the Saudi lead against Iran and trying to soften its relationship with Israel, the most anti-Iran power center in the region, is not only forfeiting its claims for regional power status but also taking part in the anti-Iran regional coalition in a way that has never been done before.

For Ankara, all these latest moves are no doubt the natural consequences of its ever-weakening position in Syria in the wake of the crisis with Russia after the downing of a Russian fighter jet on Nov. 24. Moreover, a broader coalition connecting Turkey to Saudi Arabia and also with Israel is thought to have a favorable impact on Washington, its most powerful ally and one with which it has had uneasy relations over Syria.

The visit of Gen. Joseph Dunford  the new chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff  to Turkey exposed the main source of uneasiness: the US connection to the Syrian Kurds.

The visit followed the breaching of Turkeys most outspoken red line in Syria: the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) crossing the Euphrates.

With US support and coordination, the Syrian Kurdish armed forces, the People's Protection Units, are fighting the Islamic State (IS)  and if it moves to the west of the Euphrates, in the Azaz-Jarablus corridor as well. This area is mainly controlled by Syrian groups that Turkey supports and constitutes the main link between Turkey and besieged Aleppo that would end up in linking Rojava (the Syrian Kurdish areas) as a single geographic entity under PYD rule from the Iraqi border all the way to the west, covering hundreds of miles of Turkey's border with Syria.

This has been the main issue raised to Dunford in his talks in Ankara. The Turkish military has shared its concerns with the US military leader over Syrian Kurdish groups attempts to create a Kurdish corridor in northern Syria and change the demographic structure of the region to the advantage of the Kurds.

These messages were delivered to Dunford, who held talks with Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Jan. 6.

We are aware of their desires and attempts to establish a Kurdish corridor along the Turkish border by entering the Azaz-Jarablus line. We have declared so many times that Turkey will never accept this, a security source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition composed of Kurds, Turkmens, Christians and Arabs, succeeded in seizing control of the strategically important Teshrin Dam on the Euphrates River, but Ankara has complained that 85% of that coalition consists of PYD members.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, essentially a Kurdish force, succeeded in seizing the Teshrin Dam on Dec. 26 and moved to the vicinity of the town of Manbij only 12 kilometers (some 7 miles) away. If Manbij falls, IS fighters in the Aleppo area could be left without land access to their capital in Raqqa.

Although that town is out of Turkish artillery range, Ankara could hit the PYD forces there with other weapons. But doing so might be politically difficult at a time when the Kurds are fighting IS on the southern frontier. Short of a cease-fire with Ankara, Turkey will likely act to undermine any Kurdish gains in Syria.

Meanwhile, the PYD offensive has been supported by coalition airstrikes, indicating that the move was at least partly coordinated with the United States and was not a unilateral PYD decision.

This begs the question: What would Washingtons position vis-a-vis Ankara be under these circumstances, particularly after Dunfords visit, considering the contradictions that threaten to rip apart the US Syrian alliance network?

For the foremost American expert on Syria, Joshua Landis, Resolving them is probably impossible; ignoring or transcending them wont be much easier  because the Kurds have offered something that actually works on the ground, because Erdogan has been such a singularly unhelpful ally in Syria.  Unless Turkeys behavior changes radically and other current trends continue, the unlikely alliance between the Pentagon and the [Kurdistan Workers Party] looks like it might just defy the odds and survive for the long term.

Difficult times lie ahead for all those involved in the Syrian conflict and especially for Turkey and its internationally weakening strongman, Erdogan.
Hyundai Santa Fe Sport.jpg

Hyundai will begin building the Santa Fe Sport SUV in Alabama this summer. (Special to AL.com/Hyundai)

Hyundai's Montgomery factory will begin producing the Santa Fe Sport SUV this summer, the Korean automaker announced today.

The move will supplement existing U.S. production of the model and is aimed at meeting growing market demand for SUVs, said Robert Burns, a spokesman for Hyundai's Montgomery plant.

The company is spending $52 million on tooling and machinery to prepare the plant for the move, Burns said. There are no new jobs.

The Santa Fe is no stranger to Alabama, as Hyundai previously built it here.

But in 2010, the company shifted production to a West Point, Ga., factory operated by its sister company Kia, a move that freed up space to build more Sonata sedans and Elantra compacts in Montgomery.

Santa Fe production will continue in Georgia, and the Montgomery plant will continue to build the Sonata and Elantra alongside the Santa Fe.

"We're very happy Hyundai has been able to make this change, which will result in more great Santa Fe crossovers available to our dealers and customers," Hyundai Motor America CEO Dave Zuchowski said in a prepared statement. "The new production will help us meet the growing demand for one of our most popular products."

READ MORE: More than a million: Alabama automakers hit key milestone in record year

Last year, Hyundai sold more than 118,000 Santa Fes in the U.S., up 9.5 percent from the previous year. It was the company's third most popular model in the U.S., following the Elantra and Sonata.

Chris Susock, vice president of production at the Montgomery plant, said he is happy about the Santa Fe's return to the facility.

"We've been extremely proud to build both Sonata and Elantra on our assembly line for Hyundai in the U.S. and we will continue our tradition of quality and productivity with the addition of the Santa Fe Sport in 2016," he said in a statement.

The Montgomery plant, with an annual capacity of 400,000 vehicles, last year produced 384,519 Sonatas and Elantras. Workers recently launched production of the redesigned 2017 Elantra, which is arriving on dealer lots early this year.

Adding the Santa Fe to the lineup also will give the plant more flexibility to shift product mix and meet market demand.
An envelope contains Birmingham News photo negatives from 1956 showing Elvis Presley returning home to Tupelo, Miss.

1956 was a big year for Elvis Presley.

The King released his self-titled debut early in February, and it shot up to the top of the Billboard Top Pop Charts (and decades later was listed on Rolling Stones' 500 greatest albums of all times list). He was in demand for TV and radio and performed on the Ed Sullivan Show.

But despite his busy schedule, he still found time to come back to his hometown of Tupelo, Miss., to perform at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show on Sept. 26 of that year.

In celebration of Elvis' birthday (he would have turned 82 if he were alive today), we pulled some rare photos from the Tupelo performance from our archives. (Some of the pictures have never been published.) It was a big-time day: There was a huge parade downtown in his honor, and he received a guitar-shaped key to the city. Also notable: A young Tammy Wynette made it to the show, and about 100 National Guardsmen guarded the stage.

Did you make it to the show? Let us know in the comments.

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Stashed away and unseen for decades are millions more historic images from Alabama's largest newspapers. AL.com is opening the vault and inviting you in.

Check out AlabamaVintage.tumblr.com for more discoveries from the archives.
A Mexican official says Canadian pop star Justin Bieber and his entourage were asked to leave the Mayan archaeological site of Tulum after he apparently tried to climb onto the ruins.

The official of the National Institute of Anthropology and History spoke on condition of anonymity because he or she was not authorized to be quoted by name.

Bieber was visiting the seaside ruins on Thursday when the incident occurred.

The official could not specify which of the site's structures Bieber allegedly had climbed, but said he was "asked to leave."

Visitors can climb some pre-Hispanic pyramids in Mexico, but officials rope off or place 'no entry' signs on some ruins that are considered vulnerable or unstable.

Bieber has been involved in several incidents in Latin America in recent years.
Longtime Episcopal priest the Rev. Ed Reeves, former vice dean and interim dean of Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, was a progressive voice of theology during his time in Alabama, family and friends recalled.

Reeves was a proponent of the Episcopal Church moving to accept gay marriage and a supporter of the Jesus Seminar, which published research challenging traditional interpretations of the Bible.

"He was a very faithful person with a very open mind, not afraid of other things we're learning," said the Rev. Doug Carpenter, chaplain to retired clergy for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.

Reeves died on Dec. 30. He was 89. "I remember his warmth, graciousness, his voice," said the Rev. Gil Kracke, director of ministries at Church of the Advent who served on the staff with Reeves. "He had a very charming voice, a very reassuring voice that made me feel welcome. He had a gentle presence."

Reeves joined the Advent staff in 1988 as vice dean, served on staff for six years, then took over as interim dean in 1994 for several months after the departure of the Rev. Laurence Gipson, who was dean from 1982-1994.

"I asked him to come to Birmingham," said Gipson, who became a Catholic priest in 2013. "He came, did a wonderful job and endeared himself to the people of the Advent. He was a good preacher, was a student of preaching and had a historical knowledge of great preachers. He was a fine pastor and able administrator, plus being one of the nicest human beings God ever created. He was just a wonderful human being. He was loyal, experienced. He was 16 years older and more experienced than I was. He had excellent parish and pastoral judgment."

Reeves was followed at the Advent by the Rev. Paul Zahl, who was dean from 1994-2004. After leaving the Advent, Reeves became interim rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Tuscaloosa for a year, then served as interim rector at St. Mary's-on-the-Highlands Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Epiphany Episcopal Church in Guntersville and Epiphany Episcopal Church in Leeds.

"He was very sought-after for preaching," his wife of 59 years, Darline, said. "He's had a wonderful ministry."

Reeves lived in Birmingham from 1988 until February 2015, when he and his wife moved back to Memphis. Reeves had served as dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Memphis from 1974-88. Reeves grew up in Georgia, graduated from Emory University's Candler School of Theology, served as a Methodist minister for 10 years, then went to the University of the South School of Theology in Sewanee, Tenn., to study for Episcopal priesthood. In 1963 he became rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Augusta, Ga.

He was based in Alabama for 26 years.

"We lived there longer than anywhere else; we loved it," Darline said. "He loved people. He was a good pastor and a good preacher."

While Gipson and Zahl were outspoken conservatives at Church of the Advent, Reeves led a progressive theology group that discussed the work of controversial Jesus Seminar scholars such as Marcus Borg and lightning-rod Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong. Reeves was an active member of SPAFER, the Southern Progressive Alliance for Exploring Religion, which brought Spong and Borg to Birmingham as speakers.

"He would have videos of current speakers and discussion groups at his house," Carpenter said. "They watched videos and discussed them. He was very open, friendly, non-judgmental, faithful. The leadership of the Advent was conservative; he brought some balance to that in being more progressive."

Reeves hosted the meetings in his home for many years. "He was the best theologian I've ever run across," said Dottie Thompson, a member of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Cahaba Heights, which now hosts the meetings. "He helped us all learn a lot. We would discuss various theologians. He hosted something called the Roadhouse. It was an offshoot of SPAFER."

Reeves was the discussion leader and Darline provided food. "I served lunch every second Saturday of the month at our house," Darline said. "I think that's what kept SPAFER going. A couple times we almost went down. It's really going well now."

While Reeves was dean of the cathedral in Memphis, one of his sons, Randolph, told his parents that he was gay. "He hated to tell us because he didn't know how we'd react," Darline said. "It's unsettling at first. We certainly opened our arms."

That influenced Reeves' study and stance on the issue. The Episcopal Church General Convention voted to approve gay marriage in 2015. The Rev. Ed Reeves believed that was an important step for the denomination, his wife said.

"He would stand up in favor of opening the doors," Darline said. "He was one of the very few that was in favor (of gay marriage in Alabama). It's taken a long time to go through the church. It's there. Thank goodness."

To see the obituary and funeral details, click here.
A construction worker was killed, and another worker was injured this afternoon when they were struck by a vehicle during an accident in a construction zone on Interstate 59 near Attalla.

Senior Trooper Chuck Daniel said the accident happened at 4:57 p.m. near the 178 mile marker of I-59 in Etowah County.

A white Hyundai Tiburon struck a message board in the right lane of the interstate's northbound lanes in a construction zone. Two workers were walking in the area and were about to move the sign when the accident happened, Daniel said.

The injured 23-year-old worker was airlifted to UAB Hospital, while the other worker was pronounced dead on the scene. Etowah County Coroner Michael Head identified the man as Joshua Goodwyn, 44, of Hanceville, an employee of Good Hope Construction. The driver was taken to Riverview Regional Medical Center in Gadsden.

The accident is under investigation. Traffic was halted in the northbound lanes of I-59 for more than three hours, but opened back up shortly before 8 p.m.

Daniel said the death was the 11th traffic fatality in the state in the past seven days.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. 568 people were hospitalized in Armenia as of January 8 with acute respiratory infections and flu. 461 out of the 568 are aged 0-18, 150 were diagnosed with pneumonia. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia, the abovementioned facts were mentioned during the January 8 consultation of rapid response working group set within the Ministry.

Health Minister Armen Muradyan made detailed inquiries about the health condition of the patients, particularly those with pneumonia, and the health condition of servicemen.

The Minister was informed that Yerevan polyclinics resumed normal working schedule.

In line with the instruction of the Prime Minister of Armenia we carry out our works in two directions: preventive and curative, the Minister mentioned, highlighting early detection of diseases and professional treatment.

Armenian Health Minister Armen Muradyan continues his visits to different medical institutions to organize and supervise the treatment of patients with severe diseases. Immediately after the consultation he visited different medical institutions accompanied by chief and leading specialists.

By the initiative of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health proposed to prolong the winter holiday of schools and preschool institutions until January 18 within the framework of preventive measures.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. The first conscripts of winter conscription will leave for compulsory military service on January 8. As Armenpress was informed by the Department of Information and Public Affairs of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, due to the coordinated activities of all the structures participating in the conscription, the process of its implementation is at a higher level today. The principle of holding a draw for the selection of the place for the military service makes the process of conscription more legal and transparent. It also reduces corrupt practices to a minimum, providing a possibility to prevent illegality. The process of recruitment in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia is strictly supervised by Armenia Defense Ministry, the heads of Republic of Armenia Armed Forces General Staff and law enforcement bodies.

According to the instruction of Armenia Defense Minister, a committee for examining the citizens applications and complaints during the winter conscription of 2016 has been created under the auspices of Public Council under the Minister of Defense. For more information the following telephone number is available: 010-52-34-82.

Serving in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, securing the safety of the homeland and own people is the constitutional duty of every citizen of the Republic of Armenia. The Armenian people unreservedly support this event of republican significance. Serving devotedly to the Homeland means to be  deserving child of the country and the people.

Safe military service to the defenders of the Homeland.
Marine Corps Logistics Base Albanys Covella Pond was rededicated during a solemn ceremony held in honor of late Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Covella, Jan. 8.

Covella was mortally wounded while serving as an advisor to the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam, Jan. 3, 1966.

The base pond was officially named after Covella and marked with a bronze plaque mounted on a marble monument, Sept. 23, 1969.

Fifty years later, nearly to the day, family members, friends and Marines gathered to pay tribute to Covella and remember the sacrifice he made.

Covellas son retired Marine Staff Sgt. Joseph Covella Jr., and daughter, retired Marine Chief Warrant Officer 4 Roxanna Covella Barnes, both spoke of their fathers service and sacrifice.

Its a little overwhelming, Covella said. I dreamed of rededicating this pond in memory of my dad and it has come true. Dad would have been proud of this pond.

He recalled the last time he saw his father.

I was 11 years-old when my father left for Vietnam, he said. I will not forget that day because it was my birthday. I told him I would join the Marine Corps and I did. I served 20 years and I am proud of my service.

Through his own personal experience in the Marine Corps and from his father, Covella learned the importance of family and those around him.

I look around the pond and I see a place for families to come and relax, he said. This pond is just not a reflection of our family but the Marine Corps family.

Barnes said the ceremony marked 50 years since her father was killed but also a time to remember his sacrifice.

I did not know until I was in my teens what a hero my father really was, Barnes said. I was 6 year-old when he died. My dad is a war hero and he gave his life so we all could be free.

Barnes said she was grateful to have followed in her fathers footsteps.

I am glad to be here today and to say I am a retired Marine means a lot, she said.

Col. James C. Carroll III, commanding officer, MCLB Albany, paid tribute to the Marine hero and his service.

Our duty today is simpleto pauseto reflectto rememberand to say thanks, Carroll said. We must continue to remember that the freedoms we enjoy came from men like Gunnery Sergeant Joseph Covella.

We stand on the shoulders of men like him who chose to defend the rights of our freedoms, he said. (He) saw a greater need than his own and answered the call of a nation--a nation so profoundly moved and eternally thankful for his unselfish commitment.

We are here to thank Gunnery Sergeant Covella for serving proudly, fighting bravely and giving his life for the flag of a free people, he said. We stand here today in the eyes of God remembering (his) loyal serviceservice to the absolute limit of mental and physical endurance.

Carroll said there is no greater honor than to keep alive the memory of Covella, and others like him, who has given so much while asking so little.

We honor those whose traditions are rich and whose sacrifices are monumental, Carroll said. We reflect upon that sacrifice and their gift to Americaa gift, we the free, cannot repay.

Gunnery Sergeant Covellas legacy of valor and determination will always be a hallmark for future generations, he said. So let us honor the memory of Gunnery Sergeant Covella whose voice from the grave echoes the sounds of freedom.

According to Carroll, the pond is perhaps the principal landmark at the installation and the single most important tie between the base and the local community.

Each year we celebrate Independence Day here as more than 10,000 members of the Southwest Georgia community visit the base, he said. We also open the banks of this very pond every spring (for) our Buddy Fishing Tournament (where) children ages 5-15 can catch catfish and enjoy a family-friendly, safe environment.

He also noted the pond is the location of the installations annual Employee Appreciation Day, where the workforce is publicly recognized and appreciated for all the great things they do in support of Marines.

At the end of the rededication, members of the Covella family and the Marine Corps League of Albany, Georgia, laid wreaths at the base of the memorial during the ceremony.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Situation on the front line was relatively calm during the holidays. No gross cease-fire violation was recorded. Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia Movses Hakobyan told the journalists about this at the Central Military Commissariat. Our Armed Forces had promised our people that they would ensure their security and managed to fulfill their task in an organized and brilliant manner, Armenpress reports, Hakobyan stated.

He also added that border tension has reduced compared to the same period of last year. The situation was very tense last year during the holidays. But this year the situation is relatively calm, Hakobyan concluded.
Conditions worsen in the camp of 3,000 as authorities refuse to allow tents to reach those who need them.

On the edge of northern Frances Grande-Synthe refugee camp, a white van comes to an abrupt halt and three female volunteers leap out clutching tarpaulin sheets. They run into the woods surrounding the camp to avoid detection by the French police and Gendarmerie, a branch of the French armed forces.

For three weeks, the only way that tents, ground sheets and building materials have reached the hundreds of refugees who desperately need them here is if they are concealed or smuggled in by volunteers.

The police and Gendarmerie patrol the entrance to the site, which is situated in a suburb of Dunkirk. Any vehicles entering are searched for restricted items and are only allowed to pass if the driver has a permit. They are checked again on the way out to try to prevent refugees from hitching a lift to Calais  a 30-drive away and the gateway to Britain.

Plans for a new camp

Grande-Synthes mayor, Damien Careme, has expressed sympathy for the refugees, but, under orders from the regional government, has placed restrictions on anything that might aid the camps expansion.

There are plans to move the refugees from their current site  a flood-prone field next to a busy highway and owned by a property developer who hopes to build luxury flats there  to a camp to be run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The international humanitarian organisation has located a 25,000 square metre site, enough space for 500 sturdy tents each housing five people.

If the regional government agrees to lease the site, however, construction of the new camp is expected to take weeks.

Exhausted refugees, who have often spent weeks travelling across land and sea from the Middle East and elsewhere, are worried that they will be forcibly removed from their current site and that access to the new camp will be dependent upon registering with the French authorities. MSF has made clear the conditions it views as essential for the new camp: that refugees must be accommodated on a voluntary basis and be free to come and go as they please.

Waiting for a humanitarian disaster

In any case, the shortage of tents and the camps uncertain future has not put off many new arrivals.

What used to be an occasional camping ground for no more than 100 or so refugees has seen numbers sore since September 2015. It is growing by around 70 to 80 people a day.

The now 3,000-strong population includes Iraqis, Iranians, Syrians, Afghans and a small number of Vietnamese, but Kurds from Iraq and Syria remain the largest group. There are more than 300 children, aged between two months and 17 years of age, among them.

Winter has posed new challenges as torrential rain has flooded parts of the camp and caused tents to sink into deep mud, forcing their residents to take shelter in the small wooden shelters from which volunteers distribute clothes, shoes, blankets and sleeping bags.

On January 7, there were hopes for an improvement in conditions as Mayor Careme agreed to let 100 tents in. But then he seemed to change his mind at the last minute. Now these tents are being stored in vans because they are not allowed into the camp, says Phoenix, one of the camps eight long-term volunteers. From Bristol, a city in southwest England, she has been volunteering here, on and off, for four months.

The mayor will allow pallets on to the site on Monday, January 11, so that paths can be laid and tents lifted out of the mud. Five local authority workers will also assess the broken tents. Phoenix is sceptical. He [the mayor] has given us a day to improve the camp  one day, she says, suggesting it is a token response in reaction to recent media attention.

Meanwhile, those without a usable tent of their own have had to try to find others to share with.

Today a woman came to me weeping with her child, who was silent. She hasnt had any sleep because her tent is sodden, says Phoenix but has put her work on hold since coming to Dunkirk.

More tents are not the answer, she adds. We need to be able to build structures.

A hundred more people came to the camp today, Phoenix says. Some were from Calais  they are coming here because of police brutality [in the Calais refugee camp], but after seeing the conditions, many left again.

Blankets are also running low, says Maddie Harris, a volunteer who arrived three months ago. She spent six weeks working in the Calais camp before moving to Dunkirk.

People are freezing cold; were not getting enough blankets. The generosity and the money are running out, she says. There is no warehouse in Dunkirk, so all donations come from Calais  but even Calais is running out of blankets. Private donations are not sustainable. We need big NGOs to provide aid.

Dreaming of British citizenship

Welcome to the Jungle, says Ali, a word more often associated with the Calais camp. Ali is from Iraqs Kurdistan region and used to be an interpreter for the British and American military. He has also served with the Peshmerga, the Kurdish military forces.

We cant sleep when it rains, he says, pointing to a mattress half-covered in mud. The sleeping bag is not armour. It doesnt rain for one or two minutes, it rains all night.

The 27-year-old flicks through photos on his phone that show him posing beside his Western military colleagues. I have documents to prove that I worked with the British army, he says. Thats why lots of Kurdish people want to go to England  because weve worked with their soldiers and for their companies.

Like many other refugees  both in Dunkirk and Calais  Ali has relatives in Britain. His brother lives in Birmingham.

I hope for citizenship. My dream is to say that Im from the UK, he says. He sounds confident but worry lines prematurely mark his face.

The Dunkirk spirit

The camp is small and takes just 10 minutes to walk around, even in ankle-deep mud. And, despite the harsh circumstances, the atmosphere is friendly.

Volunteers hand out steaming rice, vegetarian curry and salad on plastic plates from a truck, while a man of around 40 sings a traditional Kurdish song nearby. Three children play hide-and-seek by a skip and shriek with laughter.

But this spirit can do little to alter the fact that the camp is close to an outbreak of disease.

There are rats everywhere, you can see the footprints in the mud, says Simon, a British volunteer. And I recently put up a tent next to human excrement.

There are 30 toilets for 3,000 people. Thats a shortfall of 120 according to widely recognised humanitarian standards that recommend one for every 20 people.

There are only eight taps on site and the showers were not working for three months, says Maddie, as she fields questions from refugees while giving a small boy a piggy-back.

They opened the showers for the first time yesterday and the water was cold, she adds.

Chest infections are common and people have started to cough up blood. While administering flu vaccines over the past few days, humanitarian organisation Hands International found that 96 of the 100 people it vaccinated had scabies; a highly infectious skin condition.

This is not a human place

Ameer is on the look out for gas. It has run out in the camp and, according to volunteers, in the nearby shops. Fortunately, a supermarket, a short drive away, has a bulk order of 400 canisters due soon. Ameer sometimes has the money to buy a canister himself, but, at around $30 each, this is a price few refugees can afford.

Ameer is from Mosul, an Iraqi city currently under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. He worked for a British security firm there as a bodyguard.

He fled with his wife and three young children six months ago, but they are still in Turkey. It was too dangerous to take his family with him to Europe, Ameer explains.

The days are long in the camp, he says, so he fills his time by smoking shisha, cooking, and attempting to cross the Channel to Britain, in the hope that his family will join him there.

Mustafa is trying to clean his muddy tent with tissues. He is a Bidoon from Kuwait, meaning that he is stateless. He has no birth certificate or passport, and was not able to go to school, access healthcare or work. He cannot read and his 13-year-old brother Ahmed has also never been to school. Mustafa and Ahmed have been in Dunkirk for four months now, but Mustafa says life in the camp is impossible. He and Ahmed want to reach the UK, he says assuredly, because it is safe.

A barber by trade, Sarbaz, 26, is from Sulaymaniyah, in Iraqs Kurdistan region. He is unusual among the camps residents because he has already been to Britain. He lived in Manchester between 2008 and 2012 and was given temporary permission to work, as a barber, while his asylum case was processed. He hoped for a better life because life in Kurdistan is really hard, but his claim was rejected and the organisation Refugee Action helped him to voluntarily return to his country.

Three years later, Sarbaz left his home for a second time. His girlfriends family refused to give him permission to marry her because they said he had become westernised while in England. When her family threatened to kill him, the two of them fled together. Sarbazs brother helped them escape and came with them. If her family finds me and my girlfriend, they will kill us both, says Sarbaz.

Tales from the Jungle: Two refugees share their stories



He is trying to reach the UK, he explains, because the British authorities have already registered and fingerprinted him, and he hopes that having been there before will help all three with their asylum cases.

This place is really b*******, trust me, he laughs. We live here but it is not a human place.

Simon agrees. People are being denied their basic human right to shelter, he says, adding: It cannot be legal.

And Maddie believes that the responsibility for the people living here should not just lie with the French authorities, but also with the British government. Someone needs to come and notice that there are people living here, she says as she walks past the camp toilets. People hurry past with hands or scarves covering their noses. We can shout and scream as loud as we want, but there are vital things that we need and were not allowed them.
The author of The Girl With Seven Names shares her story of escape and of building a new life and identity in the South.

Where are you going at this time? she asked.

Just to a friends house, I said, without looking at her. Ill be back in a few hours.

She put on her own coat and walked me out to the front gate holding a kerosene lamp.

Dont stay out too long. Come home quickly.

She smiled at me.

I didn't know then that this would be my very last time in my homeland, nor did I know that I would be separated from my mum and family for a very long time. by

Over the years to come, I could never shake the memory of that moment and the look on her face in the glow of the lamp. I saw love in her eyes. Her face showed complete trust in me.

Hyeonseo Lee, from The Girl With Seven Names

It was a cold winters evening when, without so much as telling her mother, 17-year-old Park Min-Young fled her country.

She knew it was too dangerous to let anyone know of her plans. For, in North Korea, she had learned to trust no one  not family, not friends. Everyone spied on everyone else.

At the last minute, I really wanted to say to her that I am leaving the country, she recalls, almost two decades later. The emotions were very strange.

Her hometown, Hyesan, was close to the border with China. Only the Yalu River separated the two countries.

On the other side of the border was the Chinese city of Changbai. Its bright lights fascinated her and she wanted to visit. Her family traded with Chinese there, so Park had befriended many North Korean guards. That made it easier for her to cross the heavily militarised border.

When she first stepped on to the thin ice of the frozen river, she imagined that she would return home in a matter of days. But she never did. And, just a few steps later, she was in China.

I didnt know then that this would be my very last time in my homeland, nor did I know that I would be separated from my mum and family for a very long time.

The three Kims

The three Kims  Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il and now Kim Jong-Un  have ruled North Korea since the end of World War II. It is a country from which very few escape and into which very little of the outside world seeps.

A pervasive system of propaganda presents a vision of the world in which North Koreans are a privileged few.

We learned that so many Americans were dying outside hospitals because their capitalistic healthcare system was too expensive, recalls Park. That they couldnt go to schools or universities because they had to pay.

We sincerely believed that South Koreans were living like slaves under the American imperialists.

North Koreans, by contrast, were the beneficiaries of their most beneficent rulers.

 All North Koreans believe the Kims are gods, says Park. I never thought that they did what we normal humans do, like even sleep or use the bathroom.

It was a view Park began to question in 1994, when President Kim Il-Sung died.

They want people to live in fear and not disobey party orders, they want to control the people by

At first, she was caught up in the state of shock that gripped the nation. Then she asked herself: How could God die? I mean, I could die easily, but surely God couldnt die.

Then my mind changed a bit, she remembers.

But as Park grappled with these thoughts, the rest of the country engaged in a public display of grief over the death of its Dear Leader.

The authorities monitored peoples tears  and those who did not cry sufficiently risked public execution, she says.

Public executions and patriarchy

Park witnessed her first public execution when she was only seven: a factory worker hanged beneath a railroad bridge with a sack over his head.

I had no idea what public execution meant then, she remembers. I was shocked and scared but didnt question it.

It is mandatory for North Koreans to watch public executions. Flyers are usually posted across towns giving the date and place of execution, and schools and factories often closed on those days.

They want people to live in fear and not disobey party orders. They want to control the people, Park reflects.

Some were real criminals, but others, it was ridiculous. People could get executed for buying rice from China to feed their family or [for being] homosexuals or fortune-tellers. I believe every North Korean has seen a public execution, they have no idea about human rights.

Hidden state: Inside North Korea

But while the international community, including the United Nations, has repeatedly condemned North Korea for its human rights record, Park says women are especially poorly treated.

Man is always above women in our society, she explains.

And she should know. Born Kim Ji-Hae, Park had to change her name when her mother remarried. Her new family adopted her but, Park explains, my mother was considered unclean as she had come with a child from another man.

So my stepfathers family did not treat her well. They forced her to change my name and adopt their family name. I think from that time my life changed, I was not meant to be normal like other people.

Nobody knew [then] that I will have seven different names, but I did, she says.

As a teenager, Park began to question her country and those who governed it. She started to compare Hyesan with Changbai. The shimmering lights of the Chinese city piqued her curiosity.

Especially at night, I could see their lights so clearly, she remembers. We North Koreans suffer from power shortages. There would be days when we had no lights, the whole city was a black hole, the whole country was a black hole, we were living in a black hole. They had lights, why didnt we?

Living near the border also meant that she could illegally gain access to Chinese television in a country where foreign TV is banned. What she saw amazed her: Chinese wearing jeans, necklaces and rings, they dyed their hair, all things considered the evils of capitalism in North Korea. It was all so fascinating and I just wondered why we are completely robbed of those things?

She started to plot her escape to the country she saw on her TV screen and across the river.

China: Ice-cream and television

Everything seemed suffused with a kind of super-reality, as if Id come from a world of black and white, into one of Technicolour. It was magical  an illusion enhanced by the myriad sparkling lights in every window display, restaurant and lobby, and on the fir trees that stood everywhere.

Hyeonseo Lee, from The Girl With Seven Names

China was a different universe, a whirlwind of discovery for Park. From Changbai, she made it to Shenyang. She met her fathers cousins, and they took her into their care. She discovered new ice-cream flavours, new cuisines and new music.

She also got a new name. Her uncle, who had fled North Korea after the Korean War, named her Chae Mi-Ran.

Kim Jong-un: What we know about the North Korean leader

Her relatives wanted to protect her from the Chinese authorities, who often arrest and repatriate North Korean defectors.

Days became weeks and the city of Shenyang excited her. But she knew she had to return home.

Her uncle and aunt encouraged her to stay longer, and it took little to persuade her.

She relished not having to worry about her neighbours, watching TV without first drawing the curtains and listening to loud music. What was supposed to have been just a few days outside of the country turned into a month. Her 18th birthday came and went in China.

But now, as an adult, the consequences of failing to return would be severe. Her uncle offered to take her back to Changbai, from where she could make her way back home.

But, a day before she was due to depart, she received a phone call that would change her life. A friendly border guard had informed Parks mother that she was in China and would return in a few days.

Dont come back. Were in trouble, she heard her mother say.

Parks mother had been forced to register her as a missing person. And while this was far safer than reporting her as a defector, the family was still in trouble and would have to lie low in another neighbourhood for a while.

It was too dangerous to return. So, with no money and unable to speak the language, Park  or Chae, as she was now known  had to make it on her own in China.

China was the most difficult period in my life. I was naive, I was scared, I had to learn Chinese, I had to earn money to survive.

Worried that she was a burden on her relatives and seeking to avoid marrying a Chinese man to whom she had been engaged, she ran away from her family.

She found a job in a restaurant.

My salary as a waitress was tiny but when I received it for the first time I was thoroughly happy. In North Korea we dont have this system, as nothing is private. The state own and controls everything, we are very anti-capitalism. So this was extremely special.

Living in the shadows

But she was still trapped in a foreign country with no legal identity.

Over the next 10 years, she was forced to change her name three more times. But that wasnt the only thing she had to change. She had to shed her entire North Korean identity, pretending instead to be a Korean-Chinese.

It meant living in the shadows and, with that, came all sorts of other problems  loneliness, nightmares, despair, depression and fear. At times, she even considered returning to North Korea.

She missed her family and was tired of her life on the run.

And it wasnt long until the Chinese authorities caught up with her.

Until today, she has no idea why they picked her up from the restaurant. She suspects somebody may have reported her, but doesnt know who it was.

She was taken to the police station and interrogated.

It was a horrible experience. I thought my life would end there, she remembers. If I was repatriated, my family in North Korea and I would be killed, tortured or imprisoned because thats what they do.

I did my best to act Chinese. I narrowly avoided deportation by being able to write Chinese.

She also feigned ignorance of President Kim Il-Sungs birthday, the most important day in the North Korean calendar.

Hope

For many years, she lived without a real identity, paying people who promised to get her a Chinese ID card only to take her money and deliver nothing in return.

And then she met a man in an ice-cream parlour who offered to see what he could do. He had an aunt who was a marriage broker, he said.

Months passed before she got a call from a woman in Harbin. It was the mans aunt. She had an ID card that belonged to a mentally ill Korean-Chinese girl. Her family wanted to sell the card to raise money for her care.

It is not like just one small card, she says, because it meant everything to me. It is real, not fake. With it I could make a passport, I need not worry about anything. I was now a Chinese citizen.

The card gave me hope, hope to escape this wretched life in the shadows, to be free.

And with the new ID card came a new name  her sixth  Park Min-Ja.

Escape, again

I was high on optimism. I vowed to myself that I would succeed in this beautiful country, no matter what. I would make it proud of me. I thanked it with all my heart for accepting me.

Hyeonseo Lee, The Girl With Seven Names

A decade after escaping from North Korea as Park Min-Young and now a Chinese citizen called Park Sun-Ja, she plotted her escape once again  this time to South Korea.

Upon arriving in Seoul, the South Korean capital, she sought asylum. It was granted a few months later.

The two Koreas have been divided for so long, she says.

North Koreans have become the forgotten people. I now know that we attacked South Korea first in the war and many South Koreans suffered. So they are prejudiced and think of us as enemies.

As North Korean defectors we are treated as second-class citizens in South Korea. However in recent years, these prejudices are wearing off and things are getting better but it still has a long way to go.

Once settled in South Korea, she changed her name one final time  to Hyeonseo. It means the strength of the sun shining warmly.

And she would need that strength for the next stage in her life  as she set about single-handedly plotting her familys escape from North Korea.

Reunited

On the other side of the water Hyesan seemed lifeless, a city dug from rock, or an intricate cemetery. A place of ghosts and wild dogs. I felt no nostalgia for it. Only defiance. I dare you not to give me my mother.

Hyeonseo Lee, The Girl With Seven Names

Eleven years, nine months and nine days after she had last seen her, Hyeonseo waited for her mother and brother to cross the Yalu River in the middle of the night.

But that was just the beginning of their journey. They had to cross eight Chinese provinces without getting caught in order to make it to Laos, where they could seek asylum with the South Korean embassy.

We just want to cross their land. We are not doing it for free, we are paying for taxis, hotels, restaurants. But all they want to do is catch North Korean defectors. Why do we have to suffer so much because of our regime? she asks.

For the last leg of the journey out of China, Hyeonseo was once again separated from her family. It was unsafe for her to cross with them in case she was mistaken for a broker and arrested.

But as they crossed the border, her mother and brother were caught. They were sent to a prison in Laos.

My duty now is to raise awareness and engage the international community against human rights abuses in North Korea by

The jail was pathetic . It was unfit for humans and animals. And my family was in there. I wanted to get them out as quickly as possible.

But it wouldnt be easy.

I was desperate, frustrated and exhausted by so much corruption, she remembers. My family was imprisoned with murderers. The prison guards were actually gangs.

After nine months, Hyeonseo was eventually reunited with her family in South Korea.

Looking back on that time now, one particular moment stands out for her. It was the time she was helped by a complete stranger; an Australian travelling in Laos who helped her pay some fines to the Laotian government as well as giving her money for her expenses.

It taught her one thing, she says: charity.

My duty now is to raise awareness and engage the international community against human rights abuses in North Korea, she says.

I believe in my life  there will be unification. Then, the North Koreans are going to ask me: while we were suffering under the dictators, what did you do for us as a free North Korean defector living in a free country?'

I need to answer them and not feel embarrassed, she reflects. I hope to hold my head high and proudly say I fought for them. That is why every single day, I am doing my best.

This article first appeared in the Al Jazeera Magazine.
The democratic debate over the proposal to strip citizenship from French nationals convicted of terrorism.

During his New Years address to the French nation, President Francois Hollande confirmed his decision to review the constitution and integrate a series of reforms that would include the controversial decision to strip any dual-national citizen born in France and convicted of terrorist crimes of his French nationality.

Although Marine Le Pens extreme right National Front party and the traditional opposition  the Republican party led by former President Nicolas Sarkozy  have regularly pressed for this measure, it caused an uproar from key personalities among Hollandes own supporters.

Still, Hollande showed authority and stood by the changes he deemed necessary as a result of the extraordinary circumstances following the Paris attacks on November 13, a move than confirms his attempt to portray himself as the protector of French patriotism, and shatter the National Fronts monopoly over that claim.





In his speech, Hollande reaffirmed his attachment to the French national identity, albeit one that would remain open to the world in contrast to Le Pens xenophobic discourse.

New narrative

This new narrative has received a mixed reaction from the presidential majority and might deprive Hollande of much-needed support in the constitutional ballot in which he will need 60 percent of the votes in parliament.

Indeed, several socialist heavyweights quickly pointed out that this change of position  Hollande had strongly opposed a similar proposal made by Sarkozy in 2010  was breaking with one of Frances essential values, notably the legal rule attributing irrevocable nationality to an individual because of his birth in France, regardless of his blood line.

ALSO READ: How the Charlie Hebdo attack changed France

Several leading socialist, including Martine Aubry and Arnaud Montebourg, say that this reform is inefficient, as it is unlikely to convince terrorists to renounce their deadly projects. They also posit that Hollande is being contaminated by National Front ideas and that threatening binational citizens is in fact targeting a minority of the population, in violation of the republican value of equality.

Several socialist heavyweights were prompt in underlining that this change of position ... was instead breaking with one of France's essential values. by

According to these critics, the decision opens a Pandoras box and creates a dangerous precedent for stripping citizens of their nationality that could be exploited in the future for racial, religious or political motives.

The danger is real, especially at a time when the National Front defends xenophobic ideas such as remigration, the mass expulsion of categories of immigrants and recent citizens. What those socialist political leaders argue is that such an evolution further weakens the republican cradle of values instead of reinforcing it.

It creates two levels of citizens: the native and pure French and the ethnic aliens, something incompatible with the values of the French Republic and left-wing ideals.

Hollandes decision needs to be studied as a short-term political strategy. Both the French president and his prime minister, Manuel Valls, confirmed that the measure was more a symbolic act than an effective addition to the legal arsenal against terrorism.

Symbols are needed

Nevertheless, at a time when the cohesion of French society has been shattered by terrorism, such symbols are needed. This constitutional change would reinforce the statement that the French nationality is incompatible with participation in terrorist plots. It would also mean that any radicalised individual jeopardised losing the benefits of the protection of the French passport, both in terms of social welfare and economic perspectives.

At a time when an ever-growing segment of the French electorate is falling into the trap of the National Front, listening to their populistic and retrograde chimeras, these constitutional changes might answer the calls to break with the perceived inaction from the political establishment. It also further narrows the political space for Nicolas Sarkozy whose momentum entering the Republican Party primaries regularly fades away.

If France were to adopt the possibility of stripping convicted terrorists of their citizenship, it would only be following the example of some of its neighbours.

German law is a mixture of the right of the blood (jus sanguinis) and right of the land (jus soli).

Similarly, in Great Britain, the head of the Home Office, Teresa May, has the power to deprive a citizen of his nationality if she considers it in the public interest. For example, in 2011 she withdrew the British citizenship of a man born in the UK, as well as his three sons, because of alleged links to al-Qaeda, based on MI5 evidence yet to be disclosed.

The fact that this debate exists today in France, and that prominent politicians on both sides join the argument, is the sign of a vibrant and plural democracy, one that ISIL terrorists abhor but which remains strong.

Remi Piet is assistant professor of public policy, diplomacy and international political economy at Qatar University.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
The death of Princess Ashraf Pahlavi at the age of 96 on Thursday marks the end of an era in more than one sense.

The now standard assessment of the twin sister of the late Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, that she was a close ally and staunch defender of her brother  throughout his reign, and that she also played a crucial role in the British-and American-inspired military coup that overthrew Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddegh in 1953 and restored her brother to the throne will be a fair summation of who she was and what she represented.

That assessment, however, will fall much short of the fictive power of history that has always underlined any attempt at judicious historiography.

Ashraf Pahlavi outlived the Pahlavi dynasty (1926-1979), which her father founded and her twin brother ended. She has now joined a history that harbours a proclivity far more acutely fictive than factual. She was and she died a phenomenon that prevents anyone ever reaching a consensus about her character.

Power monger?

Her supporters will celebrate her as a champion of womens rights, a patron of the arts, and a beacon of social modernity, while her detractors will dismiss her as a monstrous power monger who played a key role in reinstalling her brothers dictatorial reign and benefited lucratively under his tyrannical rule.

READ MORE: Afghan first lady in shadow of 1920s queen?

Two competing narratives will thus chase her memory out of reality and into the realm of fiction. The ruling regime in Iran will continue to demonise her beyond any semblance of reality, while her monarchist biographers will lionise her beyond any semblance of truth.

The ruling regime in Iran will continue to demonise her beyond any semblance of reality, while her monarchist biographers will lionise her beyond any semblance of truth. by

She therefore outlived not just the Pahlavi dynasty. She outlived the time in which she could have been assessed as a human being with faults and virtues mixed. No one will ever be able to tell one from the other in her case any more, for on the fertile fusion of the two is where her nation now dwells and dreams of its future.

She and her dynasty ruled with an iron fist when they could, and unceremoniously fled to exile to save their lives when a nation rose in revolt.

A more realistic historiography of the Pahlavis is now emerging, though much tinted by the anger against the Islamic Republic that succeeded that monarchy.

But there is also the sentiment of a younger generation that has no active memory of the Pahlavi period, and it is for them that Ashraf Pahlavi now most readily joins the realm of merciful fiction.

Fictive character

Ashraf Pahlavi has therefore transgressed the realm of history and entered the domain of fiction, of literature, of operatic drama.

So was she Cathy Ames of John Steinbecks East of Eden, the Lady Macbeth of Shakespeare, or simply Ashraf Pahlavi, a fictive character of her own type and prototype?

As the serious historians of the Pahlavi period may devote a few paragraphs or pages to Ashraf Pahlavi, and as the more dilettante hagiographers and detractors may pen voluminous gibberish in one banal direction or precisely its opposite, in the fertile imagination of her nation, Ashraf Pahlavi has joined the dramatic pantheon of villains and heroes, goblins and gremlins, genies and fairies, legends and fables, all the allegorical lore that gather momentum to make a people a nation.

READ MORE: Egypt: The return of the King?

The fate of nations has never been at the mercy or tyranny of boring historians and paid and bought for court chroniclers. Ferdowsis Shahnameh is an infinitely more reliable narrative of the soul of Iran as a nation than any ancient or current claim to historical accuracy.

As a princess, that is where Ashraf Pahlavi is headed: towards the pantheon of a nations collective memory, right next to Rudabeh, Farangis, Tahmineh, Gordafarid, or perhaps most appropriately, Sudabeh. None of those characters are flat or banal  all are bold and multidimensional.

In Princess Ashrafs death there is also a moral lesson for the ruling clergy in Iran or for the ruling dynasties anywhere else in the world.

No royal or presidential historian, no official obituary or hostile detractor will ever match the gentle creativity of a nations soul that plays with the soft clay of their rulers memory to fit them right where they belong  where they can humbly give back to their nation the best they had in them and then take back to their maker the worst of which they were capable.

Rest in Peace Princess Ashraf Pahlavi. May your nations memory be merciful to your soul.

Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York.
More than ever, we are in need of sanity, reason, informed consciousness, civilised debates and critical thinking.

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the extraordinary privilege that Al Jazeera has given me to have this forum from which I speak to a global audience I could neither expect nor even imagine in the course of my life as an obscure scholar.

In addition to the gratitude I feel, there is a more fundamental question of why it is that people like me write? What is it we actually achieve by such writing? Are we not really just preaching to the converted and adding our voice to an echo chamber full of our own cohorts as a choir?

The answer is a resounding No! The fact is that we in this world live on an edge, on a precipice, a crossroads upon which we can turn one way or another. We write because the world is in need of critical intelligence to make the right decisions.





From the environmental catastrophes we face  and still there are powerful people in denial about these  to the murderous flames of war, famine, disease, and acts of violence threatening the entire globe, we write to find our way through this valley of death and destruction.

Massive state machinery

We write against a massive state machinery of dis- and misinformation, propaganda and fabricated history. As the cases of Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Chelsea Manning clearly indicate, vital information and critical thinking are quintessential to our future as free human beings.

ALSO READ: Is there a Theology to this New Atheism?

States that are supposed to represent us now rule over us with varying degrees of secrecy and tyranny. We write to say no to systemic abuse of power by the powerful.

We write because the world is in dire needs of a narrative adjustment - and because we are deeply entrenched in a battlefield between vicious ignorance and enlightened liberation. by

We write because the world is in dire needs of a narrative adjustment  and because we are deeply entrenched in a battlefield between vicious ignorance and enlightened liberation.

We write because a false narrative of Sunni Arabs versus Shia Iranians, manufactured by the aggressive machinations of ruling regimes in the region and a hapless media around the world, now threatens to rip the entire Muslim world asunder.

You may rightly object to how a person, or a group of people, or a political position or an ideology could arrogantly presume to be more enlightened than others. The fact is we are not  and that element of doubtful humility and willingness to learn from adversarial circumstances and correct course is what distinguishes one path from the other.

The simple rule of thumb is that the less people know about something the more certain they are about the little they know. The more they know the more nuanced, balanced, humble, fair, provisional, and critical would be their judgment.

Today a global ignorance of Islam, of the inner dynamics of the Arab and Muslim world, and a sustained and deliberately falsifying campaign of ignorance and disinformation is the conditio sine qua non of both Islamist terror and the war on terror that seeks to confront but ends up exacerbating it.

Today Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his gang of Islamists and Richard Dawkins and his fraternity club of New Atheists are the dominant discourse of Islamism and atheism, and between these two ignorant barbarians (one fully bearded and the other clean shaven) the fate of our humanity hangs in balance and depends on a more balanced, more informed, more caring, and more competent thrust of knowledge we need consistently, systematically, and boldly to put forward.

Ignorance and apathy

We therefore write to help change the nature of vital knowledge production on which depends the very survival of our planet, the very sanity with which we are to live on this Earth.

A combination of ignorance and apathy has befallen the world, in the midst of which there are courageous people in four corners of the world who rise up and resist the rule of tyranny here, the dominance of ignorance, racism, and xenophobia there, cruel barbarity of mercenary gangs here, vicious warmongering of states there, corporate greed pulling the world to the edge of self-destruction at one end causing massive rallies against austerity measures around the planet.

We write because we are at a critical moment in the history of the most powerful countries around the world, countries whose decisions have grave consequences for the world at large.

ALSO READ: Trump is a symptom not the disease

In the aftermath of the Civil Rights and Antiwar movement in the United States and Europe in the 1960s, a crucial streak of critical thinking emerged that categorically challenged both the academic world and the intelligence communities in these countries.

Under traumatic moments such as the events of 9/11, we have witnessed a sudden surge of recalcitrant, retrograde, racist, misogynist, and violently homophobic and xenophobic sentiments... by

But under traumatic moments such as the events of 9/11, we have witnessed a sudden surge of recalcitrant, retrograde, racist, misogynist, and violently homophobic and xenophobic sentiments today, most evident but not limited to the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the US, and in the rise of the far-right European racists such as Marine Le Pen in France and the Pegida in Germany.

Muslims are not exempt from this need for critical thinking. They too are trapped into a corner by their own ignorant, corrupt, tyrannical, and retrograde leaders. They are forced to choose between an alien secularism, that is at odds with itself, and a passive or militant Islamism, neither of which they can identify with. We write because Muslims too need critical discourse to revitalise their own intellectual legacies in a vastly changing world.

A wave of revolutionary uprising swept from one end of the Arab and Muslim world to the other and a vicious counterrevolutionary mobilisation has sought to derail and crush it, in the process helping to create a monstrosity called ISIL, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Today it is as if those revolutions did not happen at all and ignorant and confused researchers are busy producing nonsensical gibberish that against all the historical and political evidence proposes the selfsame monstrosity as a a revolution worthy of learned discussions, anthropological fieldwork, and delusional theorisation.

Deliberate disinformation

We write because otherwise a rising ignorant discourse adds to a malicious tyranny and combines with deliberate disinformation categorically to alter our reading of reality and plunge us ever deeper into war, violence, and despair.

Today the world is a critical battlefield of ideas. The ignorant and vested interest of climate-change deniers have pushed the planet to the edge of self-destruction. Corporate greed is poised to alter the very definition of what it means to be a human being.

Millions of human beings roam the globe as refugees and migrants in search of a decent life, facing racism and xenophobia by some, welcoming and open arms by others. Even more millions of human beings are no longer able to put up with ungodly austerity measures imposed on them by banks and regulators.

Ethnic nationalism, religious sectarianism, rampant racism, and vicious xenophobia combine to make neighbours suspicious of their neighbours. Ever-thicker walls of belated colonial apartheid and fictitious civilisational divides are being raised around Palestine, around Europe, around the US.

We write because we are more than ever in need of sanity, reason, informed consciousness, civilised debates, critical thinking, all geared with humility and tolerance towards securing the public good, the common space, the shared destiny of all creatures of this earth to survive with decency, with hope, with unwavering resolution to make the lives of our children safer and thriving on this precious planet.

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.
Palestinian party warns Bulgarian extradition could set dangerous precedent for former political prisoners in Europe.

European politicians and Palestinian critics have spoken out against Bulgarias attempt to extradite to Israel a former Palestinian political prisoner who has taken refuge for more than three weeks in the Palestinian Authoritys embassy in Sofia.

Although 52-year-old Omar Nayef Zayed escaped from Israeli custody 25 years ago, the Israeli embassy in Sofia requested on December 15 that the Bulgarian government extradite him.

In response, Bulgarian police gave him 72 hours to turn himself in so that he could be sent to Israel.

He refused to turn himself in, his brother Hamza told Al Jazeera by telephone from Amman, Jordan.

Zayed, who has lived in the Bulgaria capital since 1994, went to the PAs embassy and has refused to leave.



Talk to Al Jazeera  Israeli lawyer: Palestinians have the right to fight

Zayed, who runs a grocery story in Sofia, has Bulgarian residency, while his wife and three children all carry Bulgarian citizenship.

On December 17, Bulgarian police raided and searched Zayeds home only to find he was not present.

The officers arrested his 18-year-old son and held him for about three hours, eventually releasing him, Hamza said.

Born in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, Zayed was convicted and sentenced by an Israeli court to life in prison in 1986 for the killing of a Israeli yeshiva student in occupied East Jerusalem.

Hamza, who is also a former prisoner, said Omar was a political fighter who defended the Palestinian cause, but that he poses no danger to Israel today.

He recalled that Omar had been beaten and tortured in prison. He was once put in solitary confinement for 60 days.

Yet, in 1990, Zayed was able to escape from his guards during a hospital visit and eventually made it out of the country. After living in various other Arab countries for four years, he moved to Bulgaria in 1994 and was later granted residency.

READ MORE: Palestinian jailed by Israel could die, says family

The Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation led to the creation of the PA as a semi-autonomous government in 1994. As part of those agreements, all Palestinian political prisoners were supposed to be released.

Hamza noted that his brother would have most probably been released along with thousands of other prisoners.

According to Addameer Prisoner Support Network, a West Bank-based rights group, there are 30 Palestinian political prisoners still behind bars since before the Oslo Accords were implemented.

READ MORE: Israels arrest of Palestinian lawmaker a farce

Ahmad Madbouh, the PA ambassador to Bulgaria, told Zayed on December 28 that he had 24 hours to leave the embassy. However, he has not yet been forced from the embassy.

As pressure grew, the PAs Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently created a crisis committee to deal with Zayeds case and said that it did not intend to hand over the former prisoner for extradition, according to a press release.

The statement also called on Bulgaria to shoulder its responsibilities, though it did not say what those responsibilities are.

But Zayeds family says the PA has not done enough to ensure his safety.

The Palestinian Authority has to do more than release press statements  we want actions, said Hamza. Our family is waiting for concrete actions.

Dangerous precedent

Diana Buttu, a former PLO spokeswoman and policy analyst at Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, said Israels request to extradite a former political prisoner raises several concerns.

The request to ship Zayef to Israeli custody is based on an extradition treaty between Israel and the Council of Europe, which includes 47 countries.

However, the treaty is designed for the extradition of those wanted for criminal offences and excludes political offences.

This is part of a pattern of Israel not recognising the political status of Palestinian political prisoners, she told Al Jazeera.

In the past, Israel has sought to exact revenge on former political prisoners who they either re-arrested, like those who were released during the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap, or assassinated, like Samir Kantar.

Extraditing Zayed will also mean that he is sent to Israel, an occupying power, where he will almost certainly not face a fair trial, Buttu said.

Torture, coerced confessions, secret evidence, forced plea bargains  you name it, she said.



Palestinian prisoner released after 55-day hunger strike

The other dangerous scenario is if the PA embassy hands him over to the Bulgarians for extradition; it sends a message to Palestinians because it tells them that their embassy will not protect them.

In a statement recently released by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the leftist political party called on Bulgaria to reject the request to extradite Zayed.

The PFLP said sending the former prisoner to Israeli authorities will set a dangerous precedent for the prosecution and arrest of Palestinian and Arab strugglers, especially former prisoners who reside in European countries.

Referring to Zayed as a freedom fighter, the statement urged immediate action from Palestinian leadership.

At the time of publication, neither Bulgarias interior ministry nor the Israeli embassy had replied to Al Jazeeras request for a comment.

While Zayeds case has received little attention in Europe, the Sinn Fein political party, active in both Ireland and Northern Ireland, has appealed to Bulgaria to not comply with the extradition request.

In a press release, Sinn Feins Martina Anderson, a member of the European Parliament, criticised Bulgarias willingness to extradite the former prisoner as unacceptable.

READ MORE: In pictures: Palestinians hungry for freedom

Anderson said that the persecution of Omar Zayed Nayef is a further campaign to criminalise the Palestinian struggle for statehood.

The move also comes at a time when Israeli-European relations are in flux. In recent years, the European Parliament and various EU countries have pass largely symbolic motions recognising Palestinian statehood.

In November 2015, the European Commission also introduced new guidelines requiring Israel to label products that were produced in Jewish-only settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Dimi Reider, an Israeli journalist and associate fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said these moves reflect a schism in Israeli-European relations.

Its a very deep and dynamic relationship that both sides want to grow for economic reasons, he told Al Jazeera.

On the other hand, there is a conflict between various European states and Israel over the Palesitnian conflict.

Reider speculated that the move to extradite Zayed could be part of Israels lawfare campaign, in which it uses courts in foreign countries to pressure Palestinians and Palestinian solidarity activists.

Maybe theyre trying to purchase some ground for the future by setting a precedent to extradite former political prisoners, he said.

Back in Amman, the Zayed family is asking human rights groups and activists to help us succeed in stopping Omar from being handed extradited, Hamza said.

Omars health is the most important thing. This has been very hard on his wife and kids, and we just hope he will be allowed to return to his normal life.

Follow Patrick Strickland: @P_Strickland_
Statement says forces did not carry out any operations in the vicinity of embassy in Sanaa on Wednesday night.

The Arab coalition and Yemens foreign ministry have denied Irans accusation that Saudi fighter jets struck its embassy in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

Iran on Thursday said the warplanes had attacked the building on Wednesday night, an allegation that has heightened tensions between the regional powers.

But the coalition on Thursday night rejected the accusation as false and void, saying that it did not carry out any operations in the vicinity of the embassy or near it.

The coalition command urged that all diplomatic missions in Sanaa should not provide an opportunity for militias to use diplomatic missions buildings in any military action, it said in a statement on the state Saudi news agency SPA.

Yemens foreign ministry also said the embassy building had been targeted, according to the government-run state news agency, sabanew.net.

Backed by the Arab coalition, assembled by Saudi Arabia, Yemens government, led by Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, is battling the Iran-allied Houthis and fighters loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Saudi Arabia severed relations with Iran after an attack on its embassy in Tehran on Sunday following the kingdoms execution of 47 people convicted on terrorism charges, including Shia religious leader Nimr al-Nimr.

The diplomatic dispute appears to have damaged the outlook for any resolution to the conflict in Yemen.

READ MORE: War with Iran not going to happen, says Saudi prince

Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a war with the Houthis in March last year, when Hadi first fled Aden for Riyadh.

Although the war began with air strikes, the coalition has since provided ground forces in the war.

In another Yemen-related development, the UN chief has deplored the governments decision to expel the organisations human rights representative in the country.

Media reports in Yemen said on Thursday the foreign ministry had declared the head of the country office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) persona non grata.
Almost 100 homes destroyed and three people missing in Yarloop in summer wildfires possibly linked to hot, dry weather.

A major bushfire in Western Australia has destroyed nearly 100 homes and left three people unaccounted for, emergency officials say.

The fire, which had already razed 53,000 hectares of land this week, struck Yarloop, a small rural town south of Perth, on Thursday night.

I believe weve had what I would suggest are catastrophic losses within Yarloop, Wayne Gregson, Western Australian fire and emergency services commissioner, said on Friday.

Local media reported that 95 homes were destroyed, together with the post office, shops and the fire station, in the town which has a population of only 545.





It just got out of control  after that it just ripped through, it was quite scary, Jesse Puccio, a volunteer firefighter, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Its like when you see in the war when the napalm bombers go through.

Aerial footage showed houses reduced to just their brick fireplaces, leaving only blackened ground and the burned-out shells of vehicles.

Ron Sackville, a Yarloop resident, told 6PR radio there was very little left.

I look around 360 degrees and everything is burned to a cinder. The fire was horrendous, he said.

Another resident described the overnight emergency  initially triggered by a lightning strike  as like the town being hit by fireballs.

Its devastating, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The hall is gone. I believe the pubs gone. The workshops are gone. The old hospital is gone. I think the church is gone.

The bushfire in Western Australian is the latest in a series of fires that have razed parts of the country amid sustained hot and dry weather.

Four people were killed in a series of bushfires sparked by lightning in Western Australia last November. More than 100 homes were destroyed in fires on Christmas Day in Victoria, while two people were killed in South Australia.

Wildfires are an annual summer event in Australia but rising temperatures have prompted some scientists to warn that climate change could increase the length and intensity of the summer fire season.

Australia experienced its fifth hottest year on record in 2015, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, which has been keeping statistics since 1910.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. The Constitutional Council of France has denied the claim to recognize the law Criminalizing Holocaust Denial as anti-constitutional. Hilda Tchoboian, the regional deputy of Rhon-Alpes of France, confirmed this information in an interview with Armenpress. Taking advantage of that law, the Turkish organizations wished to question the Armenian Genocide in the French law, and that, in fact, failed, Hilda Tchoboian said.

In case of satisfying the aforementioned claim, the Turkish organizations aspired to abolish the resolution adopted by France in 2001 recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

To the question if this denial can somehow pave the way for adopting the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial in France, Hilda Tchoboian answered, No, as the fact that the Jewish genocide, in contrast to the Armenian Genocide, has been recognized as genocide by the international law and the French Court, is clearly mentioned in the justification of not recognizing the law criminalizing the Jewish genocide as anti-constitutional. This is the difference that must be overcome during the coming months. In my opinion, this requires much more detailed activities. The issue of the Armenian Genocide must be put before the court and be followed by the condemnation by that court.

In her opinion, the Armenian side can find the key and succeed in the French courts. Criminalization of the Armenian Genocide has been rejected as it has not been recognized by the international law. Denial of the Genocide will be taken into account if any international or French court qualifies it as genocide, Hilda Tchoboian added.
No candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, officials say, as two former prime ministers prepare for runoff.

The presidential election in the Central African Republic (CAR) is now headed to a runoff later this month between two former prime ministers, election officials say.

No candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote during the first round held late last month, according to final provisional results released by the National Election Authority on Thursday.

The runoff is scheduled for January 31.

Anicet-Georges Dologuele came first with 23.8 percent of the vote, followed by another ex-prime minister, Faustin Archange Touadera with 19.4 percent.

Thursdays results must now be certified by the transitional governments constitutional court.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about elections in CAR

Twenty of the 30 presidential candidates had previously voiced objections and called for the count to be stopped, but nearly all of them have since reversed their position.

CAR citizens voted on December 30 in much-delayed national elections that it was hoped would bring stability after two years of ruinous communal violence.

Rebels from a mainly Muslim group called the Seleka seized power in the Christian-majority nation in early 2013, forcing former President Francois Bozize to flee and provoking reprisals from Christian militias known as the anti-Balaka.

Militia leaders have since fuelled a cycle of religious and inter-communal violence that has killed thousands and forced a fifth of the countrys five million people to flee their homes.

A transitional government came to power in 2014 after a rebel leader stepped aside less than a year after his forces overthrew the government.

Violence between Christians and Muslims in the past years has caused nearly one million people to flee their homes, and there have been fears that unrest could intensify during the election period.

The first rounds frontrunner, Dologuele, is a 58-year-old economist who spent more than a decade outside the country before returning to the political scene in 2013.

He served as prime minister from 1999 to 2001 under the government of President Ange-Felix Patasse, who was deposed in a 2003 coup by Bozize.

Touadera, who is also 58, served as prime minister under Bozizes government from 2008 until early 2013.

He holds a doctorate in mathematics and served as vice-chancellor at the University of Bangui before becoming prime minister.
UN deplores move to declare OHCHR head persona non grata over report on alleged cluster-bombs use by coalition forces.

The UN chief has deplored Yemens decision to expel the organisations human rights representative in the country and called the government to reconsider its move.

Media reports in Yemen said on Thursday the countrys foreign ministry had declared the head of the country office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) persona non grata.

An AFP report identified the UN official as George Abu al-Zulof and said Yemen had accused him of lacking impartiality in his assessments of the human rights situation in the Arabian Peninsula country.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said in a statement on Thursday that he had full confidence in Zulof and urged the Yemeni government to reconsider its position on his expulsion, the news agencys report said.

READ MORE: Arab coalition announces end of Yemen ceasefire

Earlier in the week, the OHCHR office in Yemen said that it had received allegations that Arab coalition forces used cluster bombs in attacks.

Ban said that respect for human rights was absolutely essential for Yemens long-term peace and stability.

By impeding the United Nations human rights work, the government is failing to uphold its obligations. Doing so can only be harmful for the countrys return to peace and stability, he said.

On Friday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also called Yemen to reverse an unwarranted, counter-productive and damaging decision to expel his representative.

Our job is not to highlight violations committed by one side and ignore those committed by the other, said Zeid Raad Al Hussein.

I fear it will hamper our work in the future.

Air strikes by the Arab coalition assembled by Saudi Arabia have intensified since the humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen ended on January 2.

Iran-allied Houthi fighters have accused the coalition of using cluster bombs, an internationally banned weapon, during an attack in the western part of the capital Sanaa on Wednesday.

The attack left one person dead and many injured.

For its part, the Arab coalition has accused Houthi fighters and their allies of firing ballistic missiles towards Saudi cities and border posts, as well as hampering aid operations in Yemen.

All this shows their lack of seriousness and disregard for civilian lives as well as their attempt to take advantage of the truce to achieve gains, it said in a statement late last month.

The destructive nature of cluster bombs led to the adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo in 2008.

Human Rights Watch, the New York-based organisation, says a total of 118 countries have signed and 98 have ratified the Oslo treaty, but neither Yemen, Saudi Arabia, nor any of the other coalition countries is party to it.

Human Rights Watch, which is a co-founder of the Cluster Munition Coalition and serves as its chair, has asked the the UN Human Rights Council to create an independent, international inquiry into alleged violations of the laws of war by all sides.
Critics of Merkels stance towards refugees seize on speculation about nationalities of perpetrators in Cologne attacks.

Nearly two dozen asylum seekers are among those suspected of involvement in mass assaults and muggings on New Years Eve in Cologne, officials said on Friday, intensifying a debate about Germanys welcome of hundreds of thousands of migrants.

Some 121 women are reported to have been robbed, threatened, or sexually molested by gangs of men of foreign descent as revellers partied near the citys twin-spired Gothic cathedral.

The assaults have shocked many Germans and led to calls for tougher laws to punish migrants who commit crimes.

On Friday, Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers, who had been heavily criticism for his handling of the violence and police communications afterwards, was dismissed.



Refugees to boost Germanys skilled labour force

Some 1.1 million migrants arrived in Germany last year, far more than in any other European country, most of them fleeing war or deprivation in the Middle East.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has resisted domestic pressure to introduce a formal cap on the numbers, repeating her We can do this mantra to Germans. But the Cologne attacks have deepened scepticism among the population.

Cologne police said on Friday they had arrested two males aged 16 and 23 with North African roots suspected of involvement in the assaults.

Merkel said on Thursday in Berlin, we must examine again and again whether we have already done what is necessary in terms of  deportations from Germany in order to send clear signals to those who are not prepared to abide by our legal order.

Heiko Maas, Germanys justice minister, said in an interview with the Funke newspaper that deportations would certainly be conceivable, adding that penalty is in principle absolutely possible for sexual offences.

READ MORE: Merkel says Germany will reduce refugee arrivals

Police said on Friday they have now received 170 criminal complaints related to the New Year attacks, including 120 of a sexual nature.

At least 22 asylum seekers have been identified from among 32 suspects in connection with robberies and assaults. They were believed to be among a group of up to 1,000 people in front of Colognes main railway station on New Years Eve.

However, none of the 32 is currently suspected of committing sexual assaults of the kind that have prompted outrage in Germany over the past week.

Interior Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said the suspects were nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans and one person each from Iraq, Serbia and the United States.

Authorities do not yet have names for most of the men.

Speculation over the nationalities of the perpetrators has been seized on by some opponents of Germanys welcoming stance towards those fleeing conflict, after the country registered nearly 1.1 million asylum-seekers last year.

Officials have cautioned that it is important not to cast suspicion on refugees in general.

Government spokesman Georg Streiter said the chancellor wants the whole truth about the incidents in Cologne and that nothing should be held back and nothing should be glossed over.

It doesnt just harm our rule of law but also the great majority of completely innocent refugees who have sought protection in Germany, he said.

Merkel said the New Years assaults were repugnant criminal acts that  Germany will not accept and that legal changes or extra police presence may be examined.

The feeling women had in this case of being at peoples mercy, without any protection, is intolerable for me personally as well, she said. And so it is important for everything that happened there to be put on the table.
Hotel in Red Sea city of Hurghada hit by attackers who stabbed three European tourists before being shot dead by police.

Three foreign tourists have been wounded by assailants who attacked a hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Hurghada.

The Security Information Center of Egypts Ministry of Interior said in a statement that two Austrians and a Swede had been injured while the attackers were trying to escape the scene on Friday.

One of the assailants was killed by security forces and another was in custody, the statement said, adding that the attackers were armed with an air gun and knives. It said an investigation was underway.

The assailants arrived by sea to carry out the assault on the beachside Bella Vista Hotel, but security forces repelled the assault, sources told Reuters.

The attack came a day after a tourist bus took fire from gunmen in the capital, Cairo. No one was reported hurt in that attack.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility on Friday for the Cairo shooting directed at Israeli tourists.

Tourism roiled by attacks

An internet statement said it was in response to a call by ISILs leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to target Jews everywhere.

Egypt is fighting a wave of armed attacks, which began in remote regions of the Sinai, but is increasingly focusing on targets previously considered safe such as the tourist resorts on the Red Sea.

Tourism, a big revenue earner for the country of 80 million, has been roiled by attacks in recent years.

Armed groups linked to ISIL have intensified their attacks after current President Abdul Fatah el-Sisi came to power following a coup nearly two years ago.

ISIL also claimed the downing of a Russian passenger plane on October 31 that killed all 224 people on board, but Cairo says it has found no evidence of terrorism in the crash.

However, Russia and Western governments have said the airliner was probably brought down by a bomb.
Hospitals in Taiz lack the capacity to treat injured people, but Houthis prevent residents from seeking help elsewhere.

Taiz, Yemen  Last October, Wahid al-Esaei, 23, a resident of Taizs al-Masbah neighbourhood, was returning home from the supermarket when shelling by Houthi fighters killed two people nearby, and left him with an injured leg.

While my leg was bleeding, some people came and took me to al-Thawra hospital, which is the best hospital in Taiz nowadays. Then the doctor told me that there is shrapnel in my leg and I have to leave for Sanaa to do an operation, Esaei told Al Jazeera.

The Yemeni city of Taiz has been under siege by the Houthi rebel group since last April, preventing injured civilians from obtaining the medical care they need.

Esaeis father, Adbulhakim, borrowed money in order to take him to the Science and Technology hospital in Sanaa. My father rented a car and we travelled towards Sanaa. But when we arrived to al-Hawban area, which is under the control of the Houthis, [fighters at] a Houthi checkpoint in Softel roundabout stopped us and accused me of being a resistance fighter, said Esaei. After a long argument with the fighters, the father and son were forced to return to Taiz.

READ MORE: Starvation in Yemen  We are hoping just to survive

We depend on smugglers to bring medical supplies to the besieged areas in Taiz. by Haitham Abdul Malik, doctor

Houthi fighters are preventing the hospitals still in operation in Taiz from importing medical supplies, according to Haitham Abdul Malik, a doctor at the state-run al-Thawra hospital  and those who try to leave the city in search of treatment are often restricted from leaving by the Houthis, who accuse them of being resistance fighters.

The Houthis target us and prevent us from leaving Taiz for treatment. They just want us to die, said Esaei, adding that he was praying to God for revenge.

Esaei then returned to Thawra hospital, where the doctors decided to amputate his leg  something he says would not have been necessary if he had been able to receive treatment in Sanaa.

Thawra closed its doors to new patients late last month, citing a lack of supplies.

The hospital officially closed its doors, as the medicines and oxygen cylinders are finished, and we cannot get new ones to the hospital because of the siege, Abdul Malik told Al Jazeera.

Although some patients remain inside the hospital, he said, it cannot receive any new ones until it obtains more medicine and oxygen cylinders.

WATCH: Hospitals in Yemen on the brink of shutting down





Although Esaei lost his leg due to a lack of quality treatment, he is still alive. Other Taiz residents have been unluckier. In November, shelling by Houthi fighters hit the house of Fahd Al-Masani, 31, in al-Shamasi neighbourhood.

While I was about to sleep at 10pm, shelling targeted our house, and I felt that it hit Fahds room, Fahds brother, Khalid, told Al Jazeera. Then I ran to the room and I found that Fahd was injured by the rocket. After that, I went out looking for a car to take us to the hospital, but I could not find a car easily, as the drivers fear renting their cars for injured people. But after around half an hour, I got one.

When Fahd and his brother arrived at Thawra, the doctors told Khalid that some shrapnel had lodged in Fahds brain, and that the foreign doctor who had done such operations left Yemen last April.

I was pessimistic when the doctors said they cannot help my brother, Khalid said, tears rolling down his cheeks. Then I tried to take my brother to Sanaa, but the doctors told me that the Houthis prevented many others from going, so I had no choice but to see my brother die in front of my eyes.

Fahd died after two days of suffering.

Both of the warring sides in Taiz killed my brother, Khalid said. I dont care who will take over Taiz. I just want both sides to stop killing civilians. If there is no resistance in Taiz, the Houthis will take over Taiz without war and Taiz will be like the capital, Sanaa.

READ MORE: Analysis: The battle for Taiz

Abdul Malik said there were many other cases where patients have died due to the hospitals inability to treat them.The foreign doctors who are specialised in important operations such as brain and heart have left Yemen, he said.

Also, we do not have the proper medicines for these things in the hospital, so we cannot help the patients.

Abdul Malik said that out of Taizs 20 hospitals, only four are still in operation  and none of those is working at full capacity. The others have closed either because they do not have medical supplies or because they are in conflict zones.

We depend on smugglers to bring medical supplies to the besieged areas in Taiz, said Abdul Malik, and the patients are in dire need of different kinds of medicines, in addition to oxygen cylinders. Many people have died because of a lack of oxygen cylinders.
Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has called for Jews to be targeted everywhere, statement says after Cairo hotel assault.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) said on Friday its members carried out an attack on Israeli tourists in Cairo in response to a call by the groups leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to target Jews everywhere.

The group said in an internet statement that light arms were used in Thursdays assault outside a Cairo hotel, in which no one was hurt.

Egypts interior ministry said the attack was directed at security forces and was carried out by a lone gunman who fired bird shot. The attacker was arrested, it added.

Security sources said the tourists were Israeli Arabs and there were no casualties.

ISILs Egypt affiliate, based in the restive Sinai, is fighting Egyptian security forces and mostly targeting soldiers and policemen.

The tourism industry is a vital source of hard currency in Egypt and is highly sensitive to attacks.

ISIL claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Russian airliner two months ago that crashed in the northern Sinai, killing all 224 people aboard, mostly Russian tourists.

Violence in Egypt has been rising since the army toppled former president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

Hundreds of members of the security forces have been attacked in suicide bombings and shootings, which persist despite the toughest crackdown in Egypts history.
Amnesty slams Beiruts deportation with 150 other Syrians likely to be returned to the war-torn country.

More than 100 Syrian refugees have been forcibly returned to their conflict-ridden country by Lebanese authorities after arriving at Beiruts airport en route to Turkey, Amnesty International said on Friday.

Another 150 Syrians are also at risk of imminent deportation.

Sherif Elsayed-Ali, head of refugee and migrants rights at Amnesty, slammed the move to send them to Damascus in statement, saying Lebanese authorities stooped to a shocking new low while putting these people in mortal danger.



Outside Syria, refugees say world ignores suffering

This is an outrageous breach of Lebanons international obligations to protect all refugees fleeing bloodshed and persecution in Syria. The Lebanese government must halt all further deportations of refugees from Syria immediately, he said.

The UK-based rights group also said Lebanese authorities are planning to send back another 150 refugees, who have been stranded at Rafik Hariri International Airport because of new Turkish entry restrictions imposed on Friday.

They were due to depart on Thursday but were unable to leave, Elsayed-Ali said.

RELATED: HRW: Turkey pushing back refugees at border

According to the Reuters news agency, an airport official said about 400 Syrians transiting through Beirut were prohibited from boarding flights to Turkey with its new restrictions, part of efforts to stem the flow of refugees into Europe.

Elsayed-Ali added: The new visa regulations in Turkey present yet another hurdle for Syrians desperate to seek sanctuary from the conflict, and show what devastating consequences such restrictions can have for refugees.

Turkey is home to more than 2.2 million Syrians, the worlds largest refugee population.
Sinaloa cartel boss, who had escaped from maximum-security prison six months ago, caught after shootout in home state.

Mexican police have recaptured Joaquin Guzman six months after the fugitive drug kingpins escape from prison.

Guzman, the head of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, was Mexicos most-wanted fugitive. He had escaped from a maximum security prison six months ago.

Mission accomplished, we have him, Enrique Pena Nieto, Mexicos president, announced via Twitter on Friday.

Guzman, also known as El Chapo, was caught after a shootout with security forces in Los Mochis, in his home state of Sinaloa, according to a federal official.



Inside the cell of the worlds most wanted druglord

The official said Guzman was taken alive and was not wounded.

Five people were killed and one Mexican marine injured in the clash at a house.

The Mexican navy said marines seized two armoured vehicles, eight rifles, a handgun, and a grenade launcher in the raid that recaptured the fugitive.

A few weeks ago there was a close call in his home state of Sinaloa, this morning not so lucky, Al Jazeeras Natasha Ghoneim, reporting from Ahuisculco in Mexico, said.

The Mexican government is saying that this morning military responded to a building in Sinaloa after someone compliant that armed men were holding up inside a building.

Hours later, Guzman  wearing a dark shirt and sweatpants  was marched by marines into a military helicopter at Mexico Citys international airport.

In a statement, the US Drug Enforcement Agency said: The capture of Joaquin Chapo Guzman-Loera is a victory for the rule of law and the Mexican people and government.

It is further evidence of our two countries resolve to ensure justice is served for families who have been plagued by Guzman-Loeras ruthless acts of violence.

His prison escape in July was the second for Guzman in 15 years  and a major embarrassment for Pena Nieto.

Escape stories

Guzman was first captured in 1993 in Guatemala, but he escaped from a prison in western Mexico in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart.

In July 2015, he fled a maximum-security prison near Mexico City just 17 months after authorities captured him following a 13-year manhunt.

He escaped through a 1.5km tunnel with a redesigned motorcycle on special tracks, emerging in a house outside the prison.

Nieto had refused to hand Guzman over to the US, but Mexican authorities are now likely to extradite him there.



Joaquin El Chapo Guzman seen as Mexican folk hero by some




Last September, when Nepal passed its much-delayed constitution, it was met with jubilation on the streets of the capital, Kathmandu.

But people in the southern plains bordering India also took to the streets alleging the new charter failed to address their historical marginalisation.

Nepals politics has been dominated by the upper Hindu castes from the northern hill region for centuries.

After a decade of armed communist rebellion that ended with the abolition of the monarchy in 2008, hopes were raised of the inclusion of ethnic groups into the states apparatus.

Protests by the people of the southern Tarai region  known as Madhesis  have been ongoing for more than three months. The often-violent demonstrations have claimed more than 50 lives, mostly Madhesis.

Al Jazeera spoke to CK Lal, a widely read columnist and a playright, by phone. He has been critical of the Himalayan nations ruling elite for not sharing power with historically marginalised groups such as the Madhesis.

Al Jazeera: Why arent Nepals ethnic Madhesis and the ruling coalition arriving at a political solution?

CK Lal: There is some kind of stalemate currently between the ruling coalition, which promulgated the new constitution and the Madhes-based political parties, which allege that the new constitution has regressed from provisions of the 2007 interim constitution and has denied them citizenship, representation and inclusion and diluted federalism rights.

The government does not seem to be yielding at all. Even two amendments that the government put forth in parliament fail to address the concerns of Madhesi parties based in the southern plains.

AJ: Why have successive democratic governments since the peoples revolution of 2006-2007 failed to address grievances of marginalised groups such as Madhesis, Dalits, minorities etc?

CK Lal: In Nepal, for almost 250 years we have had a strong hill community, which have retained total control of every apparatus of the state. I call them PEON, the permanent establishment of the nation.

The PEON thought that after the [decade-long] Maoist insurgency and Madhes uprising one and two [2007] it had to loosen its control over the state. But after the second constituent assembly elections [in 2013 in which ruling elite emerged victorious], it was buoyed. This ruling community thought it was the right opportunity to take back what has been promised in the interim constitution.

The passing of the constitution can be compared with an analogy of the birth of a child. They used the opportunity to save the mother no matter whether the child born is dead or alive. So we have a dead constitution and the mother that has been saved is the hegemonic upper caste Nepali-speaking Hindu males of hill region.

Madhesis and indigenous janajatis have been denied rights. The eight years of work during the transition period is back to square one.

AJ: The ruling coalition is dominated by communist parties, including the Maoists. By resisting the changes are they protecting the ruling elite?

CK Lal: This is the strangest part in South Asia and not only restricted to Nepal. Our communists are dominated by the upper caste people. Maoist leaders of Nepal, most of whom are upper caste Brahmins, when the crux came turned out to be more communalists than communists They threw away all their agendas to embrace and maintain this hegemony of the upper caste, Hindu, Nepali-speaking hill people.

The ruling class used natural calamity such as an earthquake as an excuse to promulgate the constitution.

AJ: The 2006 peace agreement between Maoists and government spoke of deconstruction of the state structure to make government and state institutions more inclusive. Was it carried out?

CK Lal: The state was envisioned to be restructured with realities of multi-cultural, multi-religious, plural and multi-national societies that exist in Nepal. They [the ruling class] have sort of put a fine-bolt that it has been restructured. Look at the essence of it, for example, proportional representation has been diluted, only inclusion word is there.

They have included groups which have ruled before. So this whole idea of inclusion is defeated. Similarly, they have taken away rights of women to get citizenship with the ease it was before. They talk of federalism and restructuring but in such a manner that they retain control of all the units. In this way, they have put a signboard that some restructuring has been done, but if you look inside, its a complete sham.

AJ: The Maoists who fought a 10-year peoples war spoke for the rights of the marginalised. But they back the new charter that is being opposed by ethnic Madhesis. How do you explain this change?

CK Lal: We have heard that power corrupts. In Nepal, we saw how badly power corrupts. Within months of coming to power, the Maoists whole behavior, lifestyles and everything changed. They started aping the lifestyles of the ruling class. They forgot all the promises they had made to the people that had supported them.

People had expected them to be different from other political groups because they had come through struggle and armed revolution, but once they became ministers, it became very difficult to differentiate between established political parties and the Maoists.

AJ: Upendra Yadav, the leader of the Sanghiya Samjawadi Forum, has accused the ruling class, which has traditionally come from the hill areas, of racism.

CK Lal: I think Upendra Yadavs expression is a political rhetoric not anthropological or technical word. The hill and Madhes belong to almost the same racial groups  Indo-Burmese, Indo-Aryans, Indo-Gangetic plains. Racial groups are the same.

Where he is right is that it is not just economic discrimination, its a cultural civilisational discrimination whereby almost the same caste say, for example, Brahmin of the hill considers the Brahmins of Madhes as his social and cultural inferiority. Even rich people from the Madhes region are looked down on by the hill poor.

The term you can use is communitarian discrimination.

AJ: Did Nepali politicians fail to anticipate the intensity of the protests?

CK Lal: I think they thought like before they will be able to crush Madhesis. They did not realise that the ground situation during a republic is different from a monarchy. In a republic its not easy to crush a large population.

When millions of people come out on the streets, how many will you shoot? They anticipated opposition but they thought it would be very localised. They did not realise that a new political system is in place, there is a new awakening and the internet has changed the way people communicate.

AJ: Nepali politicians accuse India of behing behind the economic blockade. But India says it is Nepals internal matter. Whats the fact on the ground?

CK Lal: Actually that is propaganda. India has consistently supported hill against Madhesis for the last 150 years. Had India been slightly sympathetic to Madhesi, the problems would have been resolved long ago.

This time there is a slight difference. Now India has perhaps realised that Nepal is a republic  and in a republic votes count. So the Madhesis community will also emerge as a force. India is not really supporting Madhesis but trying to maintain a balance. This has given the ruling dispensation some excuse for indulging in rhetoric.

If India were to impose a blockade, Nepal will find it difficult to stand even for a day. This blockade thing is a complete lie. Blockade implies that even people are not allowed to move  let alone goods. But if you read Nepali newspapers you will find out that poor Nepalis are going to Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu for work. Every day 3,000 people are leaving for India.

What we have to agree on is that some kind of controlled movement along the border is assisted by Indian authorities.

Another reason is that, at least in some sections of India, there may be a thinking that we were the guarantor of the agreements between Madhesis and the hill establishment, but one section of the agreement has not been implemented.

The blockade was called by the Madhes-based parties and they are taking responsibility for this.

AJ: There is strong anti-India sentiment among the hill people. Have mainstream parties used the economic blockade to fan anti-Madhesi and anti-Indian sentiments?

CK Lal: Blaming India is fair game; its a game of all seasons for hill parties. They have resorted to propaganda such as India is enemy, difficult to deal with India, India does not want sovereignty of Nepal to be practiced.

This time the ruling dispensation is being very careful. They dont want to risk antagonising all Madhesis. So what they are saying is that these protests are by a particular section of Madhesis. They are not portraying Madhesis as enemies.

The monarchy drummed up nationalist rhetoric against all outsiders, including Madhesi. The current ruling dispensation carried forward the same values that propagates that Madhesis are lesser Nepalis.

Follow Saif Khalid on Twitter: @msaifkhalid
Faez al-Kandari to return home after being held without charge for 14 years at the notorious US naval prison in Cuba.

The US military said on Friday it released the last of 12 Kuwaiti nationals detained at its Guantanamo Bay prison for years without charge.

The repatration of Faez al-Kandari  held for about 14 years  leaves 104 inmates still languishing at the controversial US naval camp in Cuba.

The Pentagon said in a statement that Kandaris detention does not remain necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States.

Kandari was cleared for release after a Periodic Review Board hearing at Guantanamo last July.

After a medical examination at a military hospital, he will be sent to a comprehensive rehabilitation programme set up by the Kuwaiti government to help Kandari reintegrate into Kuwaiti society.

Mr Kandari is delighted to be going home and reuniting with his beloved parents and family after all these years away, said his lawyer Eric Lewis.

We are grateful to the government of Kuwait for its dedication and commitment to bringing its citizens home.

Kandari was never charged with any crime. He goes home with optimism and looks forward to resuming a peaceful life and to putting Guantanamo behind him.

The release came two days after the US military transferred two Yemenis from detention in Guantanamo to settle in Ghana.

Mahmud Umar Muhammad bin Atef, 36, and Khalid Muhammad Salih al-Dhuby, 38, will live in Ghana for two years, the defence department said in a statement on Wednesday.

Ghanas foreign ministry said the two men have been cleared of any involvement in any terrorist activities, but are unable to return to Yemen. It added they will be able to leave Ghana after two years.

Read More: Guantanamo forever

US President Barack Obama has pledged to shut the controversial prison since his election in 2008.

Despite signing an executive order in 2009 to shut it down, Obama has not been able to do so because of political oppostion.

A number of prisoners have been freed and resettled in places other than their home countries with detainees sent to Uruguay, Estonia, Kazakhstan, and Oman.

Of the 779 detainees brought to the prison in 2002, most have been freed or transferred without facing any charge.

White House and State Department officials have expressed frustration in the press with the pace of detainee transfers, which the Defense Department controls.

On Friday, General John Kelly  outgoing head of the US Southern Command  lashed out at such comments at a press conference, saying accusations of slowing down or trying to impede the release of detainees  is complete nonsense.

Its an insult frankly to a serving military officer or a civil servant to be accused  that we would in any way impede the progress.

Kelly added before leaving the podium, if released detainees go back to the fight  well probably kill them, so thats a good thing.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Ankara seeks to escape from its own direct responsibility for the death of many refugees from Syria. Armenpress reports, citing Ria Novosti, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova announced about this. Zakharova commented on January 6 statement of the Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu, where he claimed the Russian Federation to be responsible for the regular deaths of refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean in boats.

"Davutoglu not only once again accused our country in aiding the Syrian regime, but cynically tried to shift mostly to Russia, and the UN Security Council, the responsibility for the death of the Syrian refugees drowning near the Turkish coasts, reads the comment published in the website of the MFA.

Such absurd announcements made by Ankara are nothing more than an attempt to avoid responsibility for the death of those and many other Syrians, Zakharova said.
Amid low oil prices and burgeoning budget deficits, oil giant confirms it is considering listing in capital markets.

The worlds largest oil company Saudi Aramco confirmed on Friday it is considering selling shares as part of a privatisation drive  a move that could create the first listed firm valued at $1 trillion or more.

In an interview with the Economist magazine published on Thursday, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the government was eyeing the move to raise money in an era of cheap oil and growing budget deficits.

I believe it is in the interest of the Saudi market, and it is in the interest of Aramco, Mohammed told the British magazine.

Saudi Aramco said in a statement on Friday the listing proposal was consistent with the broad and progressive direction pursued by the kingdom for reforms, including privatisation in various sectors of the Saudi economy and deregulation of markets.

Read more: Oil price wars: Competition or control?

The oil giant has crude reserves of about 265 billion barrels, more than 15 percent of all global oil deposits. If it went public, it could become the first listed company valued at $1 trillion or more, analysts estimate.

What they need is more revenue of some sort, so obviously if they sell a bit of Aramco theyll get some in, and of course you can still improve efficiency of whatever a state-owned company does, Vicky Pryce, chief economic adviser at CEBR, told Reuters news agency.

Salman did not say how large a stake the government might sell in Aramco, which produces more than 10 million barrels of oil per day  three times as much as the worlds largest listed oil company, ExxonMobil.

A sale could in the short term cover much of the huge budget deficit that Riyadh is running because of low oil prices.

Last years deficit totalled $98 billion, prompting the government to raise fuel and utilities charges, shooting petrol prices up by 40 percent at the pump.

While it could increase foreign investors interest in the Saudi stock exchange, the sheer volume of equity could initially weigh heavily on the market, which has a capitalisation of $384bn.

Salman  who as chairman of the powerful new Council of Economic and Development Affairs has broad authority over the economy  said the government would sell assets in a range of state firms: healthcare, education, and some military industries.

International investors have become increasingly concerned about Riyadhs ability to cope with low oil prices in the long run.



Whats behind the falling oil prices?

Crude oil prices fell below $35 per barrel on Thursday  its lowest since 2004  while the riyal dropped to a record low against the US dollar.

But Salman said Saudi Arabias low debt and huge array of assets meant it could cope easily with financial pressures. He said the government planned to provide state-owned funds with assets worth $400bn in the next few years.

As part of efforts to diversify revenues beyond oil, the government has said it plans to introduce a value-added tax in coordination with neighbouring Gulf countries.

One interesting thing again would be whether other countries in the Gulf follow the same pattern, said Pryce.

We have already seen some other countries  doing different things such as financial services or much more tourism. Even Saudi Arabia is talking about improving its own tourism  away from just religious tourism to more Western-type tourism.
Mix of K-pop, weather forecasts, news and political critiques broadcast via loudspeakers amid new cross-border tensions.

South Korea has resumed propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers into North Korea, a step that has angered the reclusive country in the past.

Fridays moves came as the international community struggled to find common ground on how best to penalise North Korea following its announcement two days ago that it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb.





The cross-border broadcasts began at noon local time (03:00 GMT) and an official said the military had heightened the level of alert around the locations of the loudspeakers.

Were putting out critical messages about Kim Jong-uns regime and its fourth nuclear test, saying North Koreas nuclear weapons development is putting its people in more difficult times economically, a military official said.

North Korea, in return, started its own loudspeaker broadcasts on the shared border, the Souths Yonhap News Agency said on Friday.

The resumption of the South Korean broadcasts, which include a mix of everything from K-pop and weather forecasts to snippets of news and critiques of the North Korean government, revives psychological warfare tactics that date back to the 1950-53 Korean War.

Their use during a flare-up in cross-border tensions last year angered North Korea, which, at one point, threatened artillery strikes against the loudspeaker units unless they were switched off.

The South ended the broadcasts after an agreement was reached in August to de-escalate a situation that had brought the Korean Peninsula to the brink of an armed conflict.

No direct retaliation yet





Al Jazeeras Scott Heidler, reporting from Paju in South Korea on Friday, said the North viewed the resumption of the broadcasts as an act of war and a distinct violation.

There are 10 different locations where the broadcast is being done from as well as mobile units, he said.

South Korea has said it will continue this indefinitely, and we havent yet seen direct retaliation from the North Koreans.

North Koreas claimed hydrogen-bomb test has prompted the UN Security Council to discuss possible sanctions as world leaders seek to build a consensus on an appropriate response.

ANALYSIS: Breaking down North Koreas H-bomb test claim

President Barack Obama spoke on Thursday with the leaders of the two main US allies in Asia  and North Korean neighbours  South Korea and Japan.

The three countries, which have long sought to project a united front against the North Korean nuclear threat  agreed to work together at the UN to secure the strongest possible Security Council resolution.

North Korea has said virtually nothing since its TV broadcast at noon on Wednesday announcing the world startling event of its latest test.

The test was personally ordered by leader Kim Jong-un and was of a miniaturised H-bomb, the country said.

North Korea further said it had now joined the ranks of advanced nuclear nations.
Months of gas spewing into air has caused health crisis in Los Angeles, forcing thousands of families to evacuate homes.

The US state of California has declared a state of emergency over a gas-well leak in the city of Los Angeles that has forced thousands of families to evacuate their homes.

Damon Nagami, from the National Resources Defense Council  an environmental advocacy group, told Al Jazeera that officials estimate that the amount of natural gas that has been spewing into the air for the last couple of months is the equivalent to adding a half million cars to the road a year.

Many people in the Porter Ranch area, where the well is located, say they have suffered headaches, nosebleeds, nausea and other symptoms from the escaping gas.

Experts say it could take weeks before the leak is contained.

Al Jazeeras Andy Gallagher reports from Los Angeles.
Around two dozen people have already starved to death in the Syrian town, which has been under siege for six months.

Life has become a grim exercise in survival for thousands of families in the Syrian town of Madaya, where the consequences of a six-month siege have been exacerbated by the onset of winter.

Harrowing images of emaciated bodies have been widely distributed, showing wide-eyed babies without access to milk, and elderly men with cavernous rib cages. Around two dozen people have already starved to death and scores more are suffering from malnutrition.

A lot of people are surviving on water and salt only, said a humanitarian activist in Madaya, who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. They dissolve salt into the water just to kill the hunger pangs they are dying from. Malnourishment is killing people.

READ MORE: Weakened, cold and starving to death in Syrian town

The activist said that his family was the same. His children are now in Lebanon, but he and his wife are lucky to have a meal every few days  often just a single cup of rice shared between the two of them.

Like others, we are living on water and salt most of the time, just liquids.

Citric acid is also used to stave off hunger pangs, he said.





Activists have begun documenting deaths related to the siege of Madaya, which is surrounded by landmines planted by the Syrian regime. In December, at least 22 people died from starvation, including six babies, according to the Syrian American Medical society. Mothers, often malnourished themselves, are unable to produce enough breast milk to feed their newborns.

At least four others died in landmine explosions in December, activists say, while several more residents were killed by sniper fire.

The Syrian regime announced late on Thursday that aid would soon be allowed into Madaya, but it was unclear how the aid would be delivered. Hezbollah, which has been working alongside the Syrian regime in border areas but denied responsibility for the siege, also confirmed that aid would soon be allowed in.

Ahmad Tarakji, president of the Syrian American Medical Society, which has been helping to organise the distribution of food in Madaya, said the announcement was expected. But he cautioned that similar aid deliveries in the past have been followed by mass forced displacement of civilians.

Many other areas of Syria remain under similar sieges, some having lasted for years, Dr Tarakji said.

She was kneeling on the floor, begging me for food. She tried to kiss my feet, and started crying. I tried to lift her up, and cried with her. by Syrian activist

The starvation in Madaya is not an isolated event, he told Al Jazeera. Many other areas in Ghouta, suburban Damascus, are under a similar siege by the Syrian government. Without a clear accountability for war crimes, all of the current ceasefire agreements will, and have been, the result of starving communities to death followed by forceful displacement of the civilians.

This is not the way to build peace.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) welcomed reports that the Syrian government would allow food deliveries into Madaya, but also called for immediate life-saving delivery of medicine across the siege line.

This is a clear example of the consequences of using siege as a military strategy, Brice de le Vingne, MSFs director of operations, said in a statement on Thursday.

Now that the siege has tightened, the doctors we support have empty pharmacy shelves and increasing lines of starving and sick patients to treat. Medics are even resorting to feeding severely malnourished children with medical syrups, as they are the only source of sugar and energy.

INSIDE STORY: Syrian starvation  Is there any hope left?

For now, what little food is still available within Madaya has become cripplingly expensive, and prices continue to rise. Just over a week ago, a kilo of rice cost 40,000 Syrian pounds ($212), but today the price has skyrocketed to around 100,000 Syrian pounds ($530), activists said.

Working alongside humanitarian groups, the activist who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity said that he had recently been helping to distribute mixed grains to the families most in need. Recently, a mother came to ask him for food for her children  but he did not even have enough food to feed himself.

She was kneeling on the floor, begging me for food. She tried to kiss my feet, and started crying. I tried to lift her up, and cried with her, he said.

Some activists in Madaya blame not only the regime for their situation, but also the United Nations, which has been involved in brokering local ceasefires. In late December, rebel fighters withdrew from Zabadani, near Madaya, and civilians were evacuated from Fua and Kefraya, two villages in Idlib province under rebel siege. Some fighters also withdrew from Madaya.

The wounded fighters left, but the siege never stopped, the activist in Madaya said. The UN is the supervisor of this deal between the two sides, but they are not fulfilling their promises.
Legal order for Muslim public servants to take a break from work for Friday prayers is taken to a top Turkish court.

A Turkish government order allowing Muslim public employees to take time off from work for Friday prayers has been challenged in the countrys top court.

The order announced on Friday gives state employees the right to leave for Friday prayers during working hours.

Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu, a prominent lawyer, filed a lawsuit at the highest administrative court in the country hours after the announcement, arguing the government order goes against Turkeys secular consitution.



Witness  East of Istanbul

This is an exploitation of religion for political goals, Eminagaoglu told Al Jazeera. The freedom of belief should be protected for all, but it should not be exploited in the favour of one part of the society over another.

Judges and teachers are public employees. Are they going to leave their jobs and go pray? The prayer times are different all around the country. People will have to follow prayer times to get work done at public offices.

Against a secular state

The lawsuit purports that the new prayer practice goes against the secular Turkish state of law and is discriminatory as it will reveal if people are worshippers or not, which is a private matter.

The court challenge seeks the immediate suspension and consequent annulment of the prayer order.

Ahmet Iyimaya, an MP from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), told Al Jazeera that secularism is an assurance of religious liberties in democracies, not an obstacle against it.

I do not understand how  giving people the chance for collective worship at a particular time conflicts with secularism, said Iyimaya, a veteran lawyer.

In Turkey, there is a tendency to easily categorise any practice as discrimination. Why would anybody discriminate if one is worshipping or not? There is no discrimination according to eye colour or outfit.

The lawsuit also asked the highest Turkish criminal court to take legal action against the AK Party, alleging the governments move broke laws guarding the secular constitution.

Lawyer Eminagaoglu said he believes if the order is enforced, other similar religous ones will follow.

What if the government adjusts the working hours according to five-time daily [Muslim] prayers or [Ramadan months] fasting times? Where would be the end of it? he told Al Jazeera.

Devout Muslim males are obliged to attend Friday prayers. Turkey follows a Monday-Friday work week as in the West, unlike other Muslim-majority countries.

RELATED: Turkey court ruling on religious marriages spurs uproar

In 1997, an attempt by the-then conservative coalition government to change state employee working hours in line with Ramadan fasting hours was annulled by the judiciary.

There is a circle in Turkey striving to clash secularism with values of religion in the public sphere, the MP Iyimaya said.

Turkey is constitutionally secular, but it is often criticised by the public for certain practices such as mandatory religious courses at schools largely covering Sunni Islam, and non-binding controversial decrees by the countrys Directorate of Religious Affairs.

In a recent decree, the directorate said engaged couples needed to refrain from flirting, living together  holding hands and other behaviours that are not endorsed by Islam.

Follow Umut Uras on Twitter: @Um_uras
About 100 South Koreans travel to meet relatives they have not seen for 56 years.

About 100 South Koreans have crossed the border to the North to meet relatives they have been separated from since the Korean peninsula was divided after the 1950-1953 war.

A six-day reunion started on Saturday in the Mount Kumgang resort in the North.

Most of the participants were in their 70s or older, eager to meet their family members before they die.

Millions of Koreans were separated during the war which ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty.

There are no mail, telephone or e-mail exchanges between ordinary citizens from the two Koreas. Nor can they travel to the other side of the peninsula without government approval.

Family reunions began in 2000 following a landmark inter-Korean summit, but have been on hold since 2007 following political tensions.

About 16,000 people from the South and the North have been able to meet since the reunions began. Nearly 4,000 others have seen relatives in video reunions.

Warming relations

North Korea agreed last month to resume the reunions in a move seen as conciliatory gesture after months of tensions with South Korea and the United States over the Norths nuclear and missile developments.

Al Jazeeras Steve Chao, reporting from Sokcho in South Korea, said: These family reunions are very much seen as a sign of warming relations.

Millions of people were separated by the

Korea war [Reuters]

The South has pushed for more reunions, mostly because of concerns that many of these family members are dying.

So far, the North has balked at the idea but organisations like the Red Cross and business people are trying to convince the North not to politicise the event.

Donald Kirk, a Korea specialist and writer for the Christian Science Monitor, told Al Jazeera that given the controversy surrounding the Norths nuclear programme, further reunions may not be possible.

South Koreas president has been talking very tough for the last two or three days. He is saying that North Korea has to agree to a package deal to give up all its nuclear weapons, he said.

Hardline attitude

Kirk said: I dont think that North Korea is going to be very happy about that, and [this] could complicate any moves towards further reunions.

I am not saying there wont be more family reunions  but this reunion is the first in two years and its very up in their air whether or not there will be another one any time soon as long as South Korea is adopting what is regarded in some quarters as a hardline attitude.

International pressure is growing on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programmes and return to stalled disarmament talks.

North Korea boycotted the six-nation nuclear talks in April, but Kim Jong-il, the president, has reportedly expressed interest in bilateral and multilateral talks, indicating the North could rejoin the nuclear negotiations involving the US, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

Lee Myung-bak, the South Korean president, said at the end of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh on Friday that North Korea must return to talks with sincerity.

If they are sincere, then we are ready to provide them with whatever is necessary, Lee said.
If it werent for the support for military veterans at UF, Victor Lopez, 27, would have dropped out of school.

That type of support is why UF was recently named one of the top schools in the ninth edition of the Military Advanced Education & Transitions Guide to Colleges & Universities. The journal rates schools based on military culture, financial assistance, flexibility, general support, online support and on-campus support, according to its website.

The journal, published by the KMI Media Group, rates institutions based on information provided by the schools.

Out of the six categories, UF ranked highest on general support and on-campus support.

If we can be a resource for them on campus, then we can get them any resource they need off campus, said Anthony DeSantis, UFs associate dean of students.

DeSantis said UF is looking to increase on-campus services for veterans at UF, starting with orientation.

One of our goals this year is to expand the orientation program for students in the professional schools, he said.

Lopez, who transferred to UF last Fall, said he didnt know anybody at the school.

The Collegiate Veterans Success Center in Yon Hall gave him a place to talk to others who shared a military experience, he said.

He pointed out a board decorated with military uniform patches from branches of the military and photos of men and women in uniform. He said its a place for veterans to talk about their experiences.

The reason that a lot of us come in here is because of that, he said, his gaze on the pictures.

Brett Surles, a student veteran who works at the center, said it provides help with grants, scholarships and job opportunities.

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This place keeps us connected with everything on campus, the 25-year-old UF chemical engineering junior said.

Contact Melissa Gomez at mgomez@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @MelissaGomez004.
UF students will now have the opportunity to visit the island of Hispaniola this summer.

The trip will be May 9 through June 4, and it will begin in Port-Salut, Haiti, and end in the Dominican Republic.

This trip is about showing students the connections across the islands, said Jocelyn Widmer, the program director and assistant scholar for online degree programs in the Department of Urban & Regional Planning at UF.

This program is unusual because students will be working with companies in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It focuses on sustainability, resiliency and social justice.

The trip will be split between the Puntacana Ecological Foundation, where students will investigate how communities are impacted through local investments, and the Restavek Freedom Foundation, where students will work with local teams to explore technology.

I think it is a super awesome way to connect my interests of water and the Caribbean, said Kyle Dost, a first-year masters student in urban and regional planning.

We all think that we can change the world. What this trip will be about is regulating that ambition with the realities and more systematically giving students the tools to change the world, Widmer said.

Excursions are incorporated into the trip, including time in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and time on the beach. Students can receive up to six credits in the program.

The cost of the trip is $3,655 for undergraduates, not including airfare. However, financial aid and scholarships are available.

Applications are due March 18. For more information, stop by the UF International Center or email Widmer at widmerj@ufl.edu.

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Pablo Valencias parents wanted him to go to college.

Even before he knew what college was, he knew he was going. His father graduated from Florida International University in 1994 with a degree in therapeutic recreation. He was the first in his family to go to college.

Valencias mother never got the chance to attend college, a fate she wanted to change for her son.

On Tuesday, the 18-year-old fulfilled his parents dream as he started his first week of college along with about 250 other freshmen as part of the Innovation Academy, a program at UF in which students take classes during Spring and Summer.

Im sure hes going to excel, said his mother, Carolina Valencia. Hes definitely gifted. 

  

Courtesy to The Alligator Harry Valencia, right, poses for a photo with his infant son, Pablo Valencia. Pablo hopes to go further than his father did in higher education and obtain a graduate degree.

Valencia didnt realize he would be waiting until Spring to start his college career.

As a Gainesville resident for the past eight years, he knew he had been a Gator his whole life. But when he applied to UF

in Fall 2014, he didnt know what Innovation Academy entailed.

I had no idea it would flip your schedule, he said. I just checked it for the hell of it.

So when he got to his first day of classes, Valencia was ready.

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Like every morning, he got up at 7:30 a.m. without hitting the snooze button.

Its the only way hes able to start his day.

The morning of his first day, he made scrambled eggs for his roommates.

After that, he paced for about 40 minutes before walking to his first class, Introduction to Chemistry, at 9:30 a.m. with a friend from high school.

I was walking around doing random stuff until it was time to go, he said. I was just ready to go.

His second class, Introduction to Programming, started at 11:45 a.m. in the Computer Science and Engineering Building. He and about 20 freshmen waited for a professor who would never show up.

After about 15 minutes, the freshmen got up and left.

He later saw the professor posted on Canvas that he wouldnt be there, Valencia said. Valencia didnt know teachers could post messages on Canvas.

But he said he wasnt upset. He was just happy to go to class.

Ive been waiting since Summer and Fall, he said.

  

Courtesy to The Alligator From left: Marco Valencia, Harry Valencia, Nina Valencia, Pablo Valencia and Carlos Valencia pose for a photo.

Despite just arriving on campus, Valencia is no stranger to Gainesville.

His family moved from Miami about eight years ago, Valencia said. Although they only live about 30 minutes from UF, he wanted to live on campus.

He said he wanted to be in Beaty Towers to be surrounded by other IA students.

His mother, Carolina, said its strange not having Valencia in the house. She used to come home from work to him blaring salsa music in his room.

But even though having him at UF is hard, she said shes proud of her son.

Pablo has always kept his belief in who he is, she said.

Valencia said he wont be a stranger to his loved ones. Hell be going home for dinner and to see his family.

Theyre the only people I truly trust, he said.

  

Courtesy to The Alligator Pablo Valencia poses for a photo with his mother, Nina Valencia. Pablo is the first on his mothers side of the family to attend college.

His parents were poor when they came to the U.S. from Colombia, Valencia said. They wanted their children to be financially secure but also help others.

His father, Harry Valencia, moved to the U.S. when he was 15, Valencia said. After arriving in America, he studied to give his family a better life. He works as a massage therapist to provide for his family.

Education in our house is a way to move upwards, Harry Valencia said. Especially when you dont have money. It becomes the foundation.

Valencia said because of his parents hard work, he didnt struggle the way they did growing up.

I was raised in a pretty good house, he said. I dont have an excuse. I might as well make the most of it.

Valencia is following in his fathers footsteps of going to college, but hes taking his education one step further. He said he hopes to get a graduate degree.

Although his dad emphasized education, he said his mother was the one who kept him on track and stayed involved in his education.

My momma dont play, he said.

Valencia said he slacked during his junior and senior year of high school. But, his mother pushed him to finish scholarships and college applications, and she is why hes at UF today.

I would be nothing without my mother, he said.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @k_newberg.

Pablo Valencia, an 18-year-old UF computer science freshman in the Innovation Academy, is the first in his family to attend the University of Florida. Education makes it so whatever you do will help a lot of people, he said.

Pictured are scenes from Pablo Valencias life. Valencias father moved to the U.S. when he was 15, and since then he worked hard to provide for his future family.

Pictured are scenes from Pablo Valencias life. Valencias father moved to the U.S. when he was 15, and since then he worked hard to provide for his future family.

Pictured are scenes from Pablo Valencias life. Valencias father moved to the U.S. when he was 15, and since then he worked hard to provide for his future family.

Pictured are scenes from Pablo Valencias life. Valencias father moved to the U.S. when he was 15, and since then he worked hard to provide for his future family.

Pictured are scenes from Pablo Valencias life. Valencias father moved to the U.S. when he was 15, and since then he worked hard to provide for his future family.

Pictured are scenes from Pablo Valencias life. Valencias father moved to the U.S. when he was 15, and since then he worked hard to provide for his future family.
Now that its actually 2016, the presidential race just got a whole bunch scarier.

It was easy not to worry much about the race all the way back in 2015, when 2016 was nothing but a whimsical imaginary number far away in the distance. Today, its objectively terrifying. Seven years into an Obama presidency is a relatively comfortable place to be, as long as you dont consider it might all go to shit come November. The next president could very well be a Republican, a proto-fascist demagogue, a crotchety old socialist or a genuinely sociopathic caricature of that guy from American Dad.

Unpredictability has defined this campaign. As a matter of fact, its been the one thing we can count on. Hopefully, it wont be Trump. Lately Ive been soothing myself with the hope that his biggest impact  apart from inspiring the Freikorps wannabes who currently occupy federal land in Oregon  will be that his campaign will Perot the GOP. He might possibly even split the party in two and create a faction thats openly racist and one thats only implicitly so.

The surest bet is that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. As much as I adore Sanders, the reality of the situation is, if elected, hed be the first president to be literally crucified immediately upon taking office, if not publicly executed in a Pentagon coup. Im voting for him in the primaries anyway because I have a conscience, but I dont think the Democratic National Committee will ever allow a Sanders nomination to happen.

That leaves us with a Clinton nomination and more-than-likely presidency. If youre into a mix of Republican economic policies and vogue tastes on current social issues, thats an acceptable offer. Personally, I have a few concerns about the proposition, but my largest is this: Are we totally sure Hillary Clinton isnt actually a lizard person?

Im not saying Clinton is literally a 13-foot-tall lizard from another planet posing as a human woman in order to accrue maximum political power. Ive just noticed a conspicuous lack of evidence to the contrary of that proposition. On the other hand, if Clinton really were an unearthly reptilian sent here to manipulate us into handing over Americas nuclear launch codes, shes doing a fine job. Clinton has successfully cultivated a public image as an unapologetically liberal yet sensible and pragmatic candidate. When this image is compared to her actual record, however, it quite clearly exposes itself for the ruse it is. Whether this charade was constructed to cover for the unbridled narcissism of a mere human or to disguise a possible, true form as a scaly entity from the farthest depths of space is a matter of speculation.

Clintons stance on the matter of war may as well be, I f---ing love it. Whether its voting to invade Iraq or admitting to having engineered a 2009 coup against Honduras democratically elected government  plunging the country into chaos and murder, particularly femicide  Clintons record is clearly that of a war hawk.

Speaking of war, Clintons been a champion of the war on the poor. Back when Bill was president, she encouraged him to enact the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which effectively served to cripple welfare in this country. This was fresh off her tenure as a director of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Since then, Clintons made many derogatory remarks against poor people and defined households with income up to $250,000 as middle class, all while raking in cash from the same banks who ruined our economy back in 2008.

All of these facts become even more infuriating when one considers Clintons shameless appropriation of feminism, as the reality of her policies should horrify anyone whose feminist icons arent also apolitical Top 40 artists. Yes, Clinton is a woman. So is Michelle Bachmann. As a feminist, I hold exactly zero qualms about criticizing a female candidate whose past, present and future policies harm women outside her immediate social stratum. Thats why I dread inevitably voting for her this November, lizard or not.

Alec Carver is a UF history junior. His column appears on Fridays.

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Where a priest is not available, which often happens because of the large parishes with many outstations, the catechist or another lay-minister will offer prayers during the burial.

As is common throughout the world burial of the dead is an important ministry for the Church. Parish priests will celebrate a funeral mass and officiate at the burial.

The intentions are admirable, though at times there is a sense of fear also, lest the spirit of the dead be offended and return as a ghost to haunt people or even to cause them to get sick or die.

When a person dies in a distant location far from their home, relatives will look for ways to bring the body home so that it can be buried close to them.

PEOPLE in Papua New Guinea have a great respect for the dead. Relatives and friends feel obliged to attend a funeral even at great expense.

A recent trend, particularly in larger towns is a paupers burial arranged through the local municipal council for bodies left unclaimed at the hospital morgue. This would have been unheard of in the past, but times are changing, and some people who are struggling to make ends meet, find they just cannot afford to bury their dead relatives.

Recently I was invited to offer prayers at such a burial. A public notice had been posted two weeks before asking people to come and claim the bodies of their relatives and give them a respectful burial.

Those that were not claimed were being placed in simple plywood coffins, ready to be transported to the city cemetery. Where a deceaseds name was known the workers would write the name with a marker on the lid of the coffin. Otherwise they simply wrote unknown.

I wondered, what must have happened for people to die in such a lonely way. Some died from AIDS, and because of stigma, relatives did not want to come and claim the body. Others were tiny babies that had died at childbirth or shortly after. Most probably the mother was overcome with grief and wanted to distance herself from the experience and the cost of burying her child.

Grave plots cost K165 and caring for relatives at an official funeral would cost even more. The city morgue charges K10, so after several weeks, if a body has not been recovered, the morgue changes will be too much of a burden on a poor family.

We drove out to the cemetery with the coffins lined on the back of a truck. Cemetery workers had dug a large hole with a backhoe on a tractor. They arranged the plywood coffins for 13 adults and 11 babies around the hole, some on top of the other.

Then I had the opportunity to offer prayers before the mass grave was filled in using the tractor. There was little emotion shown. I suppose the workers were doing their job, burying bodies of people they never met during their life.

I felt extremely sad, especially to see people being buried as unknown. It seems so tragic that an adult would have no one they had known to bury them, or for the bodies of nameless babies to return to the earth in such a way.

It seems to me that the new experience of paupers graves (now over 200 per year in the capital Port Moresby alone) is a sign of a growing separation of the wealthy and the poor and that persons such as these are symbolic of desperate poverty for some people in Papua New Guinea today.
As the first week of the new year draws to a close, so too does the first week of Spring semester. As anyone who has ever picked up an Alligator on a Friday could tell you, this means its time for the most beloved of traditions, the one thing that keeps the Opinions section sane after a week of depressing headlines and deadlines Darts & Laurels.

Manatees... man, what a tease! Inappropriate wordplay from Childrens Hospital aside, the manatee has long been one of Floridas most beloved fauna oddities: What isnt there to love about a cute, sedentary sea cow with a constantly dour expression and whiskers?

Unfortunately, the manatee is best known for its endangered status, brought about by irresponsible boating and general awfulness on the part of man. Fortunately, it seems as though the manatee has made a tremendous comeback from near-extinction. As reported by the Sun Sentinel on Thursday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to reclassify the manatee from endangered to threatened. Regrettably, these plans of reclassification came about as a result of a petition by the Pacific Legal Foundation, whom the Sentinel describes as a free-market legal advocacy group that represents property owners on the Gulf coast.

OK, so the plan to adjust the manatees status is the direct consequence of land developers looking to squeeze a few more bucks out of Floridas western coastline. For the sake of staying positive, lets just celebrate that there are roughly 6,350 manatees out and about, a far cry from where they once were.

Until we provide our more cynical editorial on the matter next week, wed like to offer a gray, rotund Laurel to Floridas manatee population for persevering in the face of man-made awfulness.

Speaking of awfulness, Florida Gov. Rick Scott! No, that wasnt a grammatical error, Gov. Scott is literally the embodiment of awfulness. No longer content with being compared to Voldemort, Gov. Scott sought to top himself this week by publishing an op-ed praising his personal friend Donald Trump in USA Today.

I know Donald Trump personally, and while I currently have no plans to endorse a candidate before Floridas March presidential primary, there is no doubt that Donald is a man who speaks and tweets his mind freely. But I dont think his ability to give the most interesting interviews or speeches is the only thing that has him leading in the polls, he writes, all the while cursing Muggles under his breath.

Yes, Tom Riddle, thats actually EXACTLY why the talking orange garbage can has netted large poll numbers. Its a crowded field, and he says awful things to keep his awful face in the minds of Americas more malleable populace. Rather than giving Gov. Scott a Dart or two, weve chosen instead to throw them in the direction of any and all Horcruxes we can find.

Today is the 68th birthday of the worlds greatest living pop artist, David Bowie. Today also sees the release of his 26th studio album, Blackstar. In case you missed them, sidewalks in downtown Gainesville have been absolutely littered with the new albums cover art and title. Lest you think were complaining, let us reassure you we feel absolutely honored that Columbia Records  the label that releases Bowies music in the U.S.  somehow thinks Gainesville represents a big enough market for them to spend their guerrilla marketing budget on.

For permanently altering pop culture and giving the weirdos and artistically inclined of the world innumerable anthems to unite around, David Bowie gets a glammed-out, constantly ch-ch-ch-ch-changing Laurel.

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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

In Heels, Silk and a Girdle by Elizabeth Andrews Sen. Nelson Calls For New Fla. Primary; Gov Crist Backs 'Do-Over' Who'll Win? Ask Spock Spock.com Engine Predicts Winners

By Site Searches; It Can be Wrong by Jay Bhatti Chatting Up The Cat God Gave Me Dominion Over Him

But I Think He's a Non-Believer by Constance Daley Death of a Thug The Life and Horrors of Suharto by Andreas Harsono ___________________________ This Just In Sierra Club: McCain Ducked All 15 Key Votes On Green Laws (AR) A Work By AR's T.S. Kerrigan Is Chosen As 'Best Poem' By Wordpress Site Murder At Mile 63

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and Andreas Harsono 5427 14th St. West, Bradenton, FL 34207 $6.99 Fish Fridays! Manatee Co.'s Only 24-Hr.

FREE Wi-Fi Paid Advertisement On Native Ground

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]
Rev Socratez Sofyan Yoman (pictured), chairman of the Communion of Baptist Churches in Papua, expressed concerned about the shootings.

The first incident occurred on 1 December when four separatists were allegedly tortured and shot to death by Indonesian security officers on Yapen Island. In another killing, a Papuan was allegedly shot dead by a soldier in Keerom district, which borders Papua New Guinea.

PROTESTANT and Catholic leaders in Indonesia's province of Papua have denounced a series of killings that occurred last month and have urged an end to the violence in the troubled region.

"These shootings are ignoble acts and cruel crimes. We denounce such incidents. [The government] must end them," he told ucanews.com.

Yoman added that in December 2014, four students were killed  and many others injured  when security forces opened fire on a crowd of Papuans who were protesting the beating of a child, allegedly by soldiers.

"All those shootings are part of the state's intelligence operations because they want to get a reaction. The state wants to label Papuans as criminals and separatists," Rev Yoman said.

Father Neles Tebay, coordinator of the Papua Peace Network, said the shootings are a clear indication of the unresolved conflict between the Indonesian government and indigenous West Papuans, particularly those who support the Free Papua Movement.

Father Tebay, also rector of the Fajar Timur School of Philosophy and Theology in Abepura, said such shootings have been part of the circle of violence that has been evident since Papua was made part of Indonesia in 1962.

"Violence is paid with violence," said Father Tebay, adding that the Indonesian government and the Free Papua Movement should instead join in dialogue to find a solution to the conflict.

Andreas Harsono, an Indonesian researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch, said that Indonesian police must conduct a thorough investigation into the shootings.

"But the police must be careful in conducting the investigation, so as to prevent legal violations during the process," said Harsono.

"It commonly happens in Papua, where security forces  because of emotion  fail to work professionally. As a result, innocent people become victims," he said.
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Lots of people like to rag on Atlanta  especially Atlantans. Despite being one of the most populous metro areas in the United States, many tend to think of Atlanta as a city of little consequence, paling in comparison to older metropolises like New York and Chicago. But as Atlanta matures and gains notoriety for projects like the Beltline, Ponce City Market and Mercedes-Benz Stadium, is the city becoming something we should show a bit more pride in? Earlier this week John Fontillas, AIA, a partner at New York City-based H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, came to town for a meeting  his fifth visit to the city  and was left reflecting on Atlanta's dynamism and unique urban experience. Born and raised in Northern California, Fontillas has practiced architecture and planning in New York City for decades and worked on projects in many major global cities, but he found something so alluring in Atlanta that he wrote a missive on the flight home. For 2016's first edition of Field Note Fridays, Fontillas shares his favorable perception of our city, and maybe we all should take note.

I've been to Atlanta five times in my life; each time has felt like the first time. My first experience probably shouldn't count because it was at the airport with my parents. It was 1979 and we were doing what most do: connecting in Atlanta to a flight to Orlando. Although as a kid, I was more excited about our real destination, Disney World, I remember clearly my father pointing at things out the plane window  look at the red clay beneath power lines, slashing through the green forest around the city. Do you see the curlicues of the subdivision cul-de-sacs? What's that cylinder taller than anything else on the horizon? The Westin. Now you know where downtown Atlanta is.

The second time I came to Atlanta was New Year's Eve in 1988. I was helping a friend from architecture school move across country. We started the day after Christmas in Los Angeles and had until Jan. 3rd to get him and all his stuff to Philadelphia. By the time we reached Dallas we had to make a choice  detour to New Orleans and Bourbon Street, or stay on Interstate 20 to Atlanta and ring in the New Year there. Some would say we made the wrong choice, but because we were two recently graduated architects  one with a vivid childhood memory of a John Portman hotel  meant we were headed toward Georgia.

We arrived at 11 p.m. and stashed the truck on some deserted downtown side street. Not knowing where to go, we followed a huge group of screaming University of Tennessee fans to the Marriott Marquis. Looking up, I was dumbstruck. It was like looking into the throat of a whale. Sinuous ribs of red and white light, curving, bending, reaching up, up and up. The visual wasn't the thing that was overwhelming; it was the sound. On one side of the atrium, Tennessee fans were chanting. On the opposite side were an equal amount of fans from Indiana. The Volunteers were playing the Hoosiers at the Peach Bowl on Jan. 2nd, and both teams had decided to spend New Year's Eve in competition, seeing whose team chants could echo up the atrium the loudest. It was even more strange when the teams, not quite knowing exactly when midnight had passed, decided to start the countdown again... and again, and again, and again, until 3 a.m.

My third time In Atlanta, I came with my girlfriend, who would soon be my wife. We decided to spend a few days in Atlanta as a quick getaway before the wedding. It was 1995, and the city was a forest of cranes getting ready for the Olympics. There were so many new things to see; it was as if the city I had seen before had been completely remade. We were staying in a fancy motor inn in Buckhead, whose location my girlfriend loved because it was within spitting distance of two huge malls. Our most memorable dinner was at the Kudzu Cafe. I had no idea who or what a kudzu was, but everyone we met suggested it as a happening place for dinner. Whatever the vine's faults, the restaurant was a lively and vital place, as busy as any we had been to in New York.

The fourth time was on assignment for a project for Coca-Cola. I was invited to World Headquarters in 2012 for a series of meetings which would culminate in a quick tour of the World of Coke. While we were all gathered in the Innovations Lounge waiting for the meeting to begin, the requisite sign-in sheet was passed around, the one where everyone writes down their contact info, their email and their phone number. Most of the names on the list had a cryptic "4-" or "7-" before their phone number. I was confused. Was this some secret Coke code representing the department they worked in? No, it was shorthand for the city's two area codes  404 and 770. I thought this was really cool  a secret handshake that only Atlantans, and now I, understood.

Which brings me to my fifth visit. Each previous trip I was able to explore little pieces of the city, but never with as much sense of the whole than the first looking out a plane window. This time, in a very short time, I was shown the city by a group of colleagues, now friends, and through their eyes saw a completely different city yet again. We talked about my fascination with Portman  how could he have done so much at one time, affecting the city so greatly? To answer this, we went to the Hyatt Regency atrium where I saw how Portman was trying to prototype a new American public space in an urbane and sophisticated way.

We drove down Peachtree through Midtown, explaining how different the street had become over the past 30 years, from stately homes, to head shops and one-story taxpayers, now office buildings and mixed-use developments. Urban life was sprouting up as more and more people were moving into residential apartments downtown. Then to the Beltline and Ponce City Market  unique Atlanta locations freighted with history, but brought forward to new life with contemporary uses. To me, these moments of urbanity mixed with a flood of memories about this city, built up over 30 years, each time completely different. The one important thing about any true city is not really the physical places that you remember  it's the people you were with that matter. That's what makes a place what it is. After my fifth trip to Atlanta, I realize it's the real thing.

 H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture

 Field Note Fridays coverage [Curbed Atlanta]
U.S. Rep. John Katko didn't have to look far for someone to join him at President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address Tuesday.

Katko, R-Camillus, asked his oldest son, Sean, to be his honorary guest for the annual address.

According to Katko's office, Sean is a junior at SUNY Geneseo and is a U.S. Army ROTC cadet at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He was sworn into the Army by his father on May 27.

He has participated in the program for nearly a year and attended Cadet Introductory Education Training last summer.

Last year, Katko's guest for the State of the Union also had military connections.

Jeff Cleland, a retired U.S. Marine and Iraq War veteran, joined Katko in Washington for the speech. He is now the director of innovation and operations at Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families.

Like Katko, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik also turned to the military for her State of the Union guest.

Stefanik, R-Willsboro, announced Friday that Brigadier General Diana Holland will join her for the State of the Union.

Holland was the deputy commanding general for support of the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum. She made history as the first female general officer at the base and the first woman to serve as deputy commanding general of an Army light infantry division.

Now, Holland is the commandant of cadets the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She is the first woman to hold that position.

Stefanik said she met Holland while working on Fort Drum-related issues.

"I am privileged to announce that my special guest to the president's State of the Union address this year will be Brigadier General Diana Holland," Stefanik said in a statement. "Brigadier General Holland has served with distinction at Fort Drum and has now moved to a well-deserved appointment at West Point."

The State of the Union address will air at 9 p.m. Tuesday on the major networks and cable news stations.
Every Friday, The Citizen features a pet available for adoption from the Finger Lakes SPCA of Central New York in The Banks of Lake Life.

This week, we spotlight Dharma.

Q. Who is your best friend?

A. That would be my little friend Twyla! She lives in the kennel next to me. We sort of have a lot in common in that we are both homeless at the moment. She is very cute and when you come to see me, please check her out, too!

Q. If you could have a job, what would that be?

A. I would like to be a veterinarian and be able to help sick animals and help healthy animals stay that way.

Q. What's your favorite toy?

A. Well, just some background here. Where I came from, you didn't get too much in the way of amenities, meaning no beds, blankets and, yes, no toys. So I am at the "I love all toys" stage. But I have picked out a really nice green Kong toy that is very quickly entering the favorite category. Is that answer too wordy?

Q. What has been your worst experience?

A. You may know that I was driven here from Georgia. It was a very long drive, and with the exception of a few potty breaks, we drove and drove and drove. I hope not to see the inside of a car for a very long time  except to go home, of course. That was just awful!

Q. If you could visit any place in the world, where would that be?

A. During my travel here, we stopped in a place called New Jersey to bring one of my fellow travellers to her rescue. New Jersey seemed like a nice place, and if I ever get into a car again I might like to visit there.

Q. If you could meet someone famous, who would that be?

A. That would definitely be Debbye Turner. She is a veterinarian, a talk show hostess and, listen to this, winner of the 1990 Miss America contest. That's quite a list of accomplishments, and I would love to meet her sometime!

Q. Do you have an interesting fact to share today?

A. I do! As you can see, I have a rather unusual name. My name is of Hindi origin, and it means "ultimate law of all things." I kind of like that. I hope my new family keeps my name.

Q. Do you have any advice for our Citizen readers?

A. I do! The weather is now officially cold! Please be aware that if your dog spends any time at all out of doors, by law, it requires a shelter. But not just any old shelter. There is a shelter law in New York state that is very specific about size, etc. If you have any questions, please contact my shelter people and they will assist you. Oh, better yet, why not bring your fur-friends inside? Thank you and love, Dharma and friends.
AUBURN | A partnership between Cayuga Community College, local manufacturers, Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES and the Auburn school district was celebrated Thursday with the official opening of the Advanced Manufacturing Institute.

More than 150 local plastics industry professionals and education representatives, state and city politicians and students met on the CCC campus at the unveiling of the institute's working plastics laboratory, named in honor of Currier Plastics founder Raymond J. Currier.

Keynote speaker and Currier Plastics CEO John Currier thanked Dean of Community Education and Workforce Development Carla DeShaw for "jumping" at the chance to establish an advanced manufacturing programming at the college.

"She listened to the manufacturing community when we said a technical program in New York state did not exist and we needed one," he said.

Currier hailed plastics as the nation's third largest manufacturing industry, employing nearly 900,000 workers in more than 18,000 facilities with $400 billion in shipments in 2014.

"This program is going to be, truly, a great asset to this community," he said.

The 3,000-square-foot plastics molding laboratory is the fruit of a three-year effort to develop a state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing training hub in Auburn.

The corporate and academic alliance designed and equipped CCC's former bookstore, now renovated, to accommodate new injection molding machines, robotic industrial automation, band saws and spectrometers.

Local industry leaders, eager to grow a skilled technical workforce in their hometown rather than recruit workers to Auburn from manufacturing programs in Pennsylvania, developed curriculum to train future engineers, programmers and workers. Many donated equipment or devised equipment "loaner" programs, assuring student access to industry-standard machinery.

Andrew Fish, executive director of the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce, said the college's technical programs and new facility is a "tremendous opportunity" to bolster the regional manufacturing sector.

"It's going to help us in attracting manufacturers," he said. "We can honestly say we're training the workforce here."

Made possible, in part, through the federal Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant, CCC recently received SUNY and State Education approval for a plastics technology certificate and a degree option program, as well as the creation of four new options within its existing mechanical technology degree programmechatronics, facilities design, computer-aided design, and precision machining.

Area high school students enrolled in the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES Career and Technology Education program may naturally progress to CCC to advance their technological training, said Steve Woodard, BOCES CTE program director.

"It's just one more pathway," he said. "If feeds right into what they're already doing."

Members of the first P-Tech cohort at Auburn High School, all freshmen, were on hand at the celebration. After six years, four in high school and two at CCC, these students will graduate with an associate degree in electrical or mechanical technology, with a plastics option. They have the $2.8 million Pathways in Technology Early College High School, or P-Tech, grant to thank for the privilege of a cost-free college education.

Student Megan Smith, 15, said she likes what she and her classmates have learned since starting the program this fall. She looked at the executives and engineers around her as they all took in the machinery whirring nearby.

"This makes me want to change the way I grow up so I can work with some of these guys some day," she said.
MISS: To burglaries at two Auburn churches.

Roosevelt Memorial Baptist Church on Fitch Avenue was broken into and vandalized Sunday night by someone who tried unsuccessfully to pry open a safe before causing extensive damage to two offices and then leaving with almost nothing of value.

Police said that they are also investigating a break-in across street at the Apostolic Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

HIT: To a fun educational program for some students in Auburn.

Karvell the Magician visited Casey Park Elementary School this week to wow the students with his works of illusion and also to share an important message. As he kept the young people's attention with his act, Karvell wove in stories about problems and pressures that children sometimes face and telling the students that drugs and alcohol are never the answer.

MISS: To brazen thefts from vehicles in downtown Auburn.

Four vehicles in the parking lot near the YMCA had their windows smashed in broad daylight Tuesday morning by thieves who grabbed valuables. Auburn police sent every available officer out to search for the crooks, but they seem to have gotten away.

Police said that the number of thefts from vehicles has skyrocketed in recent months and the police department reminded people to never leave valuables in parked cars, even when the doors are locked.

HIT: To an award for a long-distance swimmer who spent several hours tackling Owasco Lake in September.

Binghamton native Bridgette Hobart Janeczko was recently named the World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year, becoming the first American to win the award since 2008. Hobart Janeczko participated in the inaugural Finger Lakes Challenge last year, swimming a total of 156 miles in nine of the Finger Lakes. In September, she completed an 11.1-mile course in Owasco Lake in just under six hours.
SKANEATELES | The seventh annual Polar Bear Plunge might not be as polar this year, but that will not stop Todd Marshall and the Skaneateles Polar Bear Club from leading brave souls into the chilly Skaneateles Lake waters once again.

The plunge, which started in 2010 as Marshall's "crazy idea" to raise money for the community as part of Winterfest, is slated for Saturday, Jan. 30 during the 12th annual Winterfest sponsored by the Skaneateles Sunrise Rotary Club.

But, because of unseasonable weather and record-breaking temperatures throughout November and December, there is not likely to be much ice on the lake for the plunge, even with colder temperatures in the weeks leading up to the event.

The last time a plunge took place without the need to first cut a hole in the ice to give the polar bears a place to jump, Marshall said, was three years ago.

"We had one year where it was open water," he said. "It was 50 degrees and windy. It's so much harder when it's open water and waves."

It is harder, he said, when one goes into the water and then comes out and gets hit by the wind.

And, he said, the hole in the ice sets the Skaneateles polar plunge apart from similar events, including one that takes place on Cayuga Lake in Aurora on New Year's Day, in which participants run off the beach into the water.

"Hopefully, it gets cold and there's a little bit of ice because it's more fun," Marshall said. "I think that's one of the great characteristics of our plunge. We have the ability to cut a hole and jump into the ice."

He did say there are some precautions that have to be taken for an open water plunge versus one done through a hole in the ice. For one, bystanders  including emergency personnel  cannot stand on the ice to watch the event.

Marshall said having ice allows for a more confined area that creates a safer atmosphere for participants.

"Safety is more of a concern when it's open water because people can swim, he said, adding that still is not likely to happen because the cold water is not exactly inviting for such a dip.

The plunge is scheduled to start with registration at 11:30 a.m. and the actual event at 12:30 p.m. Marshall said people can find more information on the Skaneateles Polar Bear Club's Facebook page and can sign up through an active.com link on the club's website, skanpolarbear.com.

Marshall said the cost is $40 per person for a team of at least three people in advance of the plunge or $60 on the day of the event. As well as registering online, people can mail in their registration or sign up the day of the plunge.

He also said the club is still looking for sponsors for its warming tents, which is the club's only real cost to put on the event. Sponsorships cost $250 apiece, and sponsors get their logos on the polar plunge sweatshirt. Interested parties can contact Marshall at marshalltodd@verizon.net.

Marshall said he had never done a polar plunge before he came up with the idea to put one on in Skaneateles and presented it to two of his friends, Andy Ramsgard and Michael Glowacki, to see what they thought of it.

"It started out as a few guys wanting to do something fun to give back to our community in the middle of winter," Marshall said. "I said, 'I have this crazy idea. We should do a polar plunge and make it a fundraiser. It would be fun. Would you go in?' They both said, 'Sure.'"

Another friend, Vitaliy Darovskikh, joined the group as well, telling them that people do that all the time in his native Russia.

"Originally, it was us four, and then there were 18 people the first year," Marshall said, adding that now more than 100 people participate each year.

Now, the club includes a total of nine people  Tyler Watson, Jason Capello, Candy Searing, Steve White and David Aureden joining the group  that start planning the plunge two months before it takes place.

Marshall said the Boys Scouts help set up the tents that are rented for the event, and the Skaneateles YMCA and Community Center donates some equipment. The village allows the use of the gazebo, and David Lee provides the stairs.

The Skaneateles Volunteer Fire Department and Skaneateles Ambulance Volunteer Emergency Service coordinates the safety aspects, and the Skaneateles Education Foundation brings volunteers to help out. Those three organizations in turn are the beneficiaries of the event's proceeds.

"One hundred percent of our donations go back to the community," Marshall said, noting that last year's plunge raised $10,000 for a total of $40,000 in six years. "Nothing stays with us."

He added that the club members fully participate too with contributions of their own.

"Any donation, any sponsorship, goes completely back to the community," Marshall said. "Any sponsorship gives us an opportunity to give back more."

This year, he said, the Brain Freeze team from Skaneateles High School will try to defend its trophy as last year's top fundraising team, though the team from Bijou Salon that previously had the trophy wants to get it back.

And including club members, he said there are about 10 people who have taken part in every polar plunge. Some of the club members' children will take their first plunge now that they reached or passed the minimum age of 12.
Everything youve heard about the bear is true.

The frenzied grizzly-on-man attack in The Revenant, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritus brutal and beautiful gut-punch of a film, is such an explosion of ursine rage that it is both hard to watch and fascinating (how did they do that?).

And that is The Revenant in a nutshell  a grueling portrait of nature and man at their most unrelenting and unforgiving.

Based on a novel by Michael Punke, which was based on the real experiences of 19th-century frontiersman Hugh Glass  a man who sought retribution against his compatriots who left him to die in the wilderness after a bear mauling  the film may be easy to knock as a self-indulgent showcase for DiCaprio and his Oscar ambitions.

But that would be selling it short. Combining the awe-inspiring vistas of a John Ford Western (it was filmed in rugged western Canada, Argentina and Montana) with the blood-soaked justice of a Sam Peckinpah film, The Revenant is a gorgeously shot exercise in survival and revenge thats definitely not for the squeamish.

DiCaprio is Glass, part of a group of hard-pressed fur traders somewhere in the wild, wild west. Its a large, unruly squad of men headed by Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson), the fair-minded but put-upon leader. An attack by Indians slaughters many of them and sends the rest fleeing.

Expert tracker Glass leads the way, but then he runs across that bear. The rest of the group is left with the decision of carrying a nearly dead Glass, and thus slowing them down, or leaving him alone to let nature finish what the bear started.

Glass son, Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), whose mother is Indian, doesnt want him left behind, but hes not taken seriously by the group. The only reason hes around is because of who his father is, and he is outweighed by cantankerous and scarred John Fitzgerald (a nearly unrecognizable Tom Hardy), a man who just wants to get paid and get out of there.

What no one expects is that Glass would not just survive but thrive on the thirst of payback.

Its a riveting story, made all the more persuasive by Inarritus quest for realism. Much has been made of the physically demanding shoot that had many on the production quitting. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the set was called a living hell by one crew member.

All that effort shows onscreen. The actors look as if they really have been fighting for their lives, and DiCaprio turns in a visceral, unforgettable performance.

Celebrated cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity, The Tree of Life) turns the West into a series of striking tableaux that rival Ansel Adams.

Meanwhile, Inarritu has created a panoramic, foreboding natural world thats completely the opposite of the claustrophobic, backstage theatricality of his last film, Birdman. Whereas that movie was all about language, much of the beauty of The Revenant is in the way it uses silence.

The director also deserves a nod for not making the Indians faceless, violent villains as that opening attack implies. Their back story gets filled in during the 156-minute running time and their motives become clear.

The Revenant is shot through with a spirituality, as when Glass stumbles across an Indian, Hikuc (Arthur Redcloud), who helps heal him.

While comparisons are inevitable to The Hateful Eight, this years other long, violent Western about people trying to kill each other, The Revenant lacks Quentin Tarantinos tongue-in-cheek sensibilities  and its all the better for it.

Inarritu keeps it straight, simple and deadly. Just like the bear.
A power outage at around midnight has affected 1,356 people in Munds Park. APS crews are currently on site patrolling the area.

Interstate-17 northbound, 20 miles north of Camp Verde, and Interstate-40 eastbound, near Ash Fork, were closed for several hours overnight due to poor driving conditions and multiple slideoffs. Both interstates are now open.

Flagstaff has received 30.7 inches of snow since Monday, including 1.6 inches since 9 p.m. last night. Scattered snowshowers are expected to continue today, said Tony Merriman, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bellemont.

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6 a.m.: Flagstaffs doozy of a snowstorm is finally due to peter out by this afternoon.

National Weather Service forecasts show sporadic snow showers are likely this morning above 5,000 feet before 11 a.m., with about 1 inch of new snow possible. The chance of snowfall will drop to about 20 percent tonight.

As of 6 p.m. Thursday, more than 29 inches had accumulated in the Flagstaff area since the snow started to fall on Monday, and another 3 to 7 inches were expected overnight. Snowy conditions forced Flagstaff Pulliam Airport to cancel all flights Thursday and prompted snow days for both Flagstaff Unified School District and Coconino Community College.

And FUSD will be shut down again on Friday, as will Page schools.

APS shut down its Flagstaff and Williams offices for the day, but still had to address power outages in Munds Park and in Flagstaff between Leroux Spring to Taylor Spring Lane and Roundtree Road to Snowbowl Road.

Other agencies and businesses chose to open late or close early, including the local courts, Northern Arizona University, the Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library, non-emergency city and county offices, and the Flagstaff Mall.

The Arizona Game and Fish Departments Flagstaff and Pinetop regional offices will remain closed until 1 p.m. today due to weather conditions.

The City of Flagstaff reported last night that its priority one streets, including major streets, hills, downtown, Mountain Line and school bus routes, were in good shape, allowing snowplows to work on clearing neighborhood streets. The plows will have to leave the residential areas to return to the top-priority streets if they accumulate too much snow. Street crews will continue working until all streets are plowed.

At HomCo Lumber and Hardware, about 80 percent of the business on Thursday was snow-related, with people buying everything from shovels and snowblowers to Carhart jackets and gloves, said Tom L'Angelle, an employee at the store.

The store went through 11 snowblowers, which range from $900 to $1,000 between Wednesday and Thursday and sold 80 percent of its stock of snow shovels, LAngelle said.

When it snows we sell that stuff bigtime, he said.

Local towing companies also were busy. On Wednesday, Am/Pm Towing had three times as many calls as it usually does, company owner Russ Kinkade said. The calls came from across the area, including several from Snowbowl Road, Kinkade said.

Tow Rite also saw business double on Thursday, employee Jessica Keeney said.

Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said the department responded to about a dozen incidents of vehicles sliding off of the road Thursday.

Graves said officers responded to three rollover crashes in the Flagstaff area, though all injuries were minor. The department did not respond to any major injury or fatal crashes Thursday.

Flagstaff Police Department responded to 14 accidents between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. Thursday. Sgt. Margaret Bentzen said most of the calls were for slide-offs and vehicles stuck in the snow. No major injuries were reported.

Graves said driving conditions south of Flagstaff remained extremely dangerous, with virtual whiteout conditions extending to near the Yavapai County border. Graves cautioned drivers to drive slowly in the harsh weather conditions. Bentzen had a similar warning for drivers in Flagstaff.

Despite whiteout conditions on major thoroughfares including Interstate 17 and Interstate 40, the only major road closure Thursday was a 7 mile stretch of Lake Mary Road adjacent to Mormon Lake. The county expects to reopen the road when the weather clears, which could be as late as next week, said Andy Bertelsen, director of Coconino County Public Works.

Its so people dont get stranded in that area, he said.

Mormon Lake Road will remain open as a bypass so that people can still travel between Flagstaff and State Route 87.

Meanwhile, National Park Service officials restricted access to parts of the Grand Canyon due to hazardous road conditions. Although Grand Canyon National Park remains open, temporary closures include Highway 64 to Desert View, Hermit Road, Yavapai Geology Museum, some visitor parking lots and some rim walking pathways. These areas will remain closed until snow is removed and area conditions are made safe for public use. Shuttle bus service may also be temporarily suspended until road conditions improve.

As the latest snowstorm moves out of the region this afternoon, temperatures will drop and the wind will pick up slightly. The high temperatures, with wind chill, will hover between 5 and 15 degrees in the Flagstaff area, said Benjamin Peterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bellemont.

On Saturday, a weaker storm system is expected to move in, bringing another wave of cold air and dropping a couple inches of snow, Peterson said.

It wont be until Tuesday that temperatures will climb substantially above freezing, according to the current forecast.

In the meantime, the city is reminding property owners that they are required by a local ordinance to clear the snow and ice from the sidewalks surrounding their businesses and homes.

The city's snow parking ban ordinance is also in effect. There is no parking on city streets from midnight until 7 a.m. from Nov. 1 to April 1, whether there is snow on the ground or not. This allows the snow plows to clear the streets safely.

Editor's note: This story was changed to add the closure of Page schools.
Flagstaff Arts Council will host the new Southwestern Invitational exhibition, featuring 50 of Arizonas finest artists, including six from Flagstaff, on display from Jan. 12  Feb. 13. The public reception will be held at the Coconino Center for the Arts on Saturday, Jan. 9, from 6  8 p.m. There will be live music, food and drink, and the company of many of the participating artists in attendance.

The Southwestern Invitational began in Yuma, in the southwest corner of Arizona in 1966. The year-long traveling exhibit of contemporary art was an institution in the Arizona visual arts world for nearly three decades before its discontinuation due to lack of funding.

In April 2015, this exhibition returned through the efforts of Yuma Fine Arts Association and five prestigious galleries: West Valley Art HQ, Prescott College Art Gallery at Sam Hill Warehouse, Tubac Center of the Arts, Coconino Center for the Arts and the Phoenix Airport Museum.

The works included in the exhibition will travel as a show to the five additional galleries listed above. All artist work will be documented in a full-color catalog that will be available at each of the six galleries and online.

The Coconino Center for the Arts is open Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. More information on the exhibition can be found at flagartscouncil.org or by calling 779-2300.

Hear the storied history of the Clark Telescope

Riordan Mansion's Brown Bag Lecture series continues Monday, Jan. 11, with "The Far End of the Journey: The History and Renovation of Lowell Observatory's Clark Telescope." The free talk will be from 12:15-1 p.m., at Riordan Mansion, 409 W. Riordan Road.

The Clark Telescope has been an icon of the Flagstaff skyline since 1896. It is one of America's most storied scientific facilities, used for such groundbreaking research as the initial detection of the expanding nature of the universe and training the moon-bound astronauts in the 1960s. But it also transcends the hallowed halls of science into the world of popular culture, appearing on such programming as a Disney television special and the popular current show, The Big Bang Theory.

In 2014, the telescope was closed for a critical renovation project and, after 20 months, is now back in operation, better than ever. This program, presented by Kevin Schindler, will review the telescope's history and renovation.

For more information, call 779-4395 or visit azstateparks.com/Parks/RIMA/.

Learn to ID animal tracks

Lynne Nemeth, executive director of the Arboretum at Flagstaff, will teach participants about basic animal tracking and identification during a Basic Wildlife Tracking workshop Saturday, Jan. 9, at Willow Bend Environmental Education Center, 703 E Sawmill Road. This is the first program in the annual Winter Adult Education Series.

Saturday's program will run from 10 a.m.-noon and will include a short hike around Sawmill Park, the Rio de Flags and the FUTS trail below Willow Bend. Participation in the workshop is $5 per person (free to Willow Bend and Arboretum members).

RSVP is required; sign up at willowbendcenter.org or call 779-1745.

Sled dog races postponed

The sled dog races planned for this weekend at Mormon Lake Lodge have been postponed because of too much snow. Because of the current weather conditions, organizers decided to postpone the races until the next weekend, Saturday, Jan. 16 and Sunday, Jan. 17. As before, the races will be from 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m., with free rides for kids Saturday at 11 a.m.

The races are free for spectators.
PHOENIX -- A state lawmaker wants to make criminals out of some people who take videos of cops questioning or arresting someone.

The proposal by Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, would bar shooting video within 20 feet of any "law enforcement activity" unless the officer first gave permission. A first offense would carry a $300 fine, with subsequent violations potentially sending someone to jail for up to six months.

Daniel Pochoda with the American Civil Liberties Union, says SB 1054 is a violation of First Amendment rights. And attorney Daniel Barr who handles media issues questioned the need for such a restriction.

But Kavanagh, a retired police officer, insisted he's not trying to cloak law enforcement activity from public view.

He said people are free to stand 21 feet away. And he rejected contentions that someone standing that far back might not be able to record important details, like whether someone was reaching for a gun or a cell phone.

"Most cameras have great resolution where you don't really lose anything when you're 20 feet away," Kavanagh argued. "At 20 feet you can pretty much pick up small objects."

What's behind the measure, he said, is the safety of police officers who may be doing anything from questioning a suspicious person to making an arrest.

"Having one or more persons suddenly walking up behind and around them with cameras is a distraction," Kavanagh said.

"The officer doesn't know if this is somebody who's a friend of the individual he's doing law enforcement action against or what," he continued. "But it distracts the officer which creates a safety problem for the officer."

"So we're going to make it a crime?" Barr responded.

"If you're actually interfering with them in some way, interfering with his movement or something like that, I can see that you can be sanction for that," he continued, saying there already are laws on the books to cover that situation. "Whether you're filming him or not has nothing to do with it.

Kavanagh disagreed, insisting that those trying to get videos are a special problem.

"They aren't just standing or walking by," he said.

"With video, you stand near and you point and you change your perspective to get a better shot," Kavanagh continued. "It's a much more intimate interaction than an ordinary citizen watching the cops do something."

Pochoda said the whole question of what might distract a police officer ignores the underlying issue.

"There is a clearly established First Amendment right for citizens -- or anyone, you don't have to be a citizen -- to record public activities of law enforcement," he said. "You don't have to be a professional journalist to possess this First Amendment right."

He acknowledged that courts have allowed infringements on that right, but only if there is a "demonstrable need."

"You can't just have this automatic arbitrary number," Pochoda said, referring to that 20-foot video-free zone. He said those who interfere with police can always be detained.
It is shaping up to be a cold, wet night in Flagstaff.

As of 4 p.m., the National Weather Service was predicting rain and snow would continue to turn more showery and less continuous heading into Thursday evening. Snowfall is expected to continue through Friday morning. Heavier bands of snowfall could dump as much as 2 inches of snow per hour overnight in the Flagstaff area. The overnight low temperature is forecast to his 18 degrees with winds between 11 and 14 miles per hour and gusts as high as 20 miles per hour.

As of 11 a.m., nearly 27 inches had accumulated in the Flagstaff area since the snow started to fall on Monday. As the storm moves out of the region on Friday, temperatures will drop and the wind will pick up slightly. The high temperatures, with windchill, will hover between 5 and 15 degrees in the Flagstaff area, said Benjamin Peterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bellemont.

Coconino Countys Emergency Management department has been monitoring the series of storms this week, but so far there havent been any situations that have triggered the need for additional resources, said Robert Rowley, director of emergency management.

At this point, the amount of snow the region has received isnt expected to be heavy enough to cause any roofs to cave in, Rowley said.

We aren't looking at a real snow load issue, he said.

At HomCo Lumber and Hardware, about 80 percent of the business on Thursday was snow-related, with people buying everything from shovels and snowblowers to Carhart jackets and gloves, said Tom L'Angelle, an employee at the store.

The store went through 11 snowblowers, which range from $900 to $1,000 between Wednesday and Thursday and sold 80 percent of its stock of snow shovels, LAngelle said.

When it snows we sell that stuff bigtime, he said.

Local towing companies also were busy. On Wednesday, Am/Pm Towing had three times as many calls as it usually does, company owner Russ Kinkade said. The calls came from across the area, including several from Snowbowl Road, Kinkade said.

Tow Rite also saw business double on Thursday, employee Jessica Keeney said.

Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said the department responded to about a dozen incidents of vehicles sliding off of the road Thursday.

Graves said officers responded to three rollover crashes in the Flagstaff area, though all injuries were minor. The department did not respond to any major injury or fatal crashes Thursday.

Flagstaff Police Department responded to 14 accidents between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. Thursday. Sgt. Margaret Bentzen said most of the calls were for slide-offs and vehicles stuck in the snow. No major injuries were reported.

Graves said driving conditions south of Flagstaff remained extremely dangerous, with virtual whiteout conditions extending to near the Yavapai County border. Graves cautioned drivers to drive slowly in the harsh weather conditions. Bentzen had a similar warning for drivers in Flagstaff, where roads are expected to be slick and icy overnight.

On Saturday, a weaker storm system is expected to move in, bringing another wave of cold air and dropping a couple inches of snow, Peterson said.

It wont be until Tuesday that temperatures will climb substantially above freezing, according to the current forecast.

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2 p.m.: While the mounds of snow on Flagstaff's streets look imposing, one local roofer said he isn't expecting many repair calls.

"There's not enough snow to really do damage," said Olin Little of Little's Custom Roofing. "It's the kind of snow that, once the sun comes out, it'll melt pretty quickly."

About three or four years ago, the city got 2 to 3 feet of heavy, wet snow that caused some damage, he said. But for this type of snow to start becoming a real problem for businesses and homes with flat roofs, the city would probably need another 2 feet.

The city of Flagstaff is recommending that home and business owners who have flat roofs covered with 2 feet of snow or more have them shoveled. City staff is also recommending that plumbing vent pipes be cleared of snow to make sure that sewer gases can escape.

Robert Rowley, with Coconino County Emergency Management confirmed that at this point there isn't a concern about snow loading on roofs.

Since last night, Flagstaff has received more than 8.9 inches of snow.

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12 p.m.: More businesses and services have announced full-day or early closures today as snow continues to fall in Flagstaff. Williams has received 12 inches and Flagstaff nearly 9 inches.

The Flagstaff City Coconino County Public Library will close at 3 p.m.

Arizona Public Service has announced its business offices in Flagstaff and Williams will be closed Thursday due to the snowy weather. Customers in need of assistance can call the 24-hour APS Customer Care Line at 800-253-9405.

A power outage this morning in Munds Park has been resolved but another, much smaller outage is affecting eight APS customers between Leroux Spring to Taylor Spring Lane and Roundtree Road to Snowbowl Road. The outage occurred at 9:21 a.m. and is still being investigated.

Snowfall will continue through tonight with periods when snowfall rates may be as high as 3 inches per hour. Snowfall intensity will decrease by early Friday morning.

Following are snowfall totals from the latest storm:

LOCATION AMOUNT TIME/DATE

WILLIAMS 12.0 IN 1230 PM 01/07

3 NNW PARKS 9.0 IN 0954 AM 01/07

FLAGSTAFF AIRPORT 8.9 IN 1100 AM 01/07

TONTO VILLAGE 8.5 IN 0550 AM 01/07

1 ENE FOREST LAKES 8.0 IN 0918 AM 01/07

3 WNW PRESCOTT 7.0 IN 1006 AM 01/07

3 WSW PRESCOTT 7.0 IN 1006 AM 01/07

PINE 7.0 IN 1240 PM 01/07

MOUNTAINAIRE 6.5 IN 0554 AM 01/07

JACOB LAKE 6.0 IN 1006 AM 01/07

4 NNW DONEY PARK 6.0 IN 0833 AM 01/07

GRAND CANYON VILLAGE 5.0 IN 0710 AM 01/07

PINETOP-LAKESIDE 4.2 IN 0759 AM 01/07

DONEY PARK 3.4 IN 0632 AM 01/07

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9:15 a.m.: All non-essential city services are on a one hour delay and will open at 9 a.m. and close at 3 p.m.

City snow plow crews are working to keep priority one streets clear and spread cinders. Priority one streets include major streets, hills, downtown, Mountain Line and school bus routes. Once priority one streets are cleared, the city will start working its way into the neighborhoods. However, due to the snowfall it may be several hours before they can get to residential streets.

Property owners are reminded that they are required by city ordinance to clear the snow and ice from the sidewalks surrounding their businesses and homes.

The city's snow parking ban ordinance is also in effect. There is no parking on city streets from midnight until 7 a.m. from Nov. 1 to April 1, whether there is snow on the ground or not. This allows the snow plows to clear the streets safely.

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8:30 a.m.: Heavy snow overnight and Thursday morning has continued to affect power, airport and road conditions.

The Flagstaff Pulliam Airport has closed given current conditions. All incoming and outgoing flights today are cancelled until further notice.

The National Weather Service is reporting whiteout conditions across Interstate-17 and Interstate-40 and is advising people to avoid travel if possible.

Coconino County has closed a 7 mile stretch of Lake Mary Road adjacent to Mormon Lake. The section stretches between the two points where Lake Mary Road intersects with Mormon Lake Road. Mormon Lake Road will remain open as a bypass so that people can still travel between Flagstaff and State Route 87, said Andy Bertelsen, director of Coconino County Public Works. The county decided to close the road as a precautionary measure because that section of road is highly exposed and gets a lot of blowing snow, Bertelsen said.

Its so people dont get stranded in that area, he said.

The county expects to reopen the road when the weather clears, which could be as late as next week, he said.

Meanwhile, shuttle bus service at Grand Canyon National Park has been halted until further notice due to weather.

Nearly 100 customers in Munds Park are experiencing a power outage that occurred at 4:58 a.m. Thursday. APS crews are en route to investigate the situation. APS also has scheduled equipment repairs in an area of Flagstaff near Industrial and Fourth Street from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Power will be out for 34 customers during that time.

An updated forecast from the National Weather Service shows that Flagstaff is expected to receive between 9 and 13 inches of snow between 4 a.m. today and 11 a.m. Friday.

Up on the San Francisco Peaks, Arizona Snowbowl has received 18 new inches overnight and today, on top of 13 inches of snow yesterday. Since Monday, 39 inches of snow have fallen on the mountain, said J.R. Murray, general manager.

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5:30 a.m.: Due to weather and road conditions, all FUSD schools will be closed Thursday, January 7.

Wednesday update: Below-freezing temperatures and an additional 12 to 18 inches of snow are on tap for Flagstaff on Thursday and Friday, according to the latest forecasts from the National Weather Service.

The third snowstorm of the week moved into the region Wednesday evening, bringing snowfall through Friday. The heaviest snowfall is forecast to occur between 3 a.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday. Lighter snow showers are then expected to continue until early Friday.

Temperatures will drop into the upper 20s.

The National Weather Service has upped snowfall totals in its storm forecast through Friday to as much as 18 inches in Flagstaff and Williams. Doney Park could get between 7 and 11 inches.

That's on top of the 13.3 inches recorded at Pulliam Airport since Tuesday night.

And even more snow is due to fall southeast of Flagstaff. Forest Lakes is predicted to get 17 to 23 inches, and Pine-Strawberry 16 to 22.

In Page, where light snow has fallen, schools will be on a 9:30 a.m. delayed start Thursday.

The snow that fell Tuesday night into Wednesday forced the closure of most Flagstaff-area schools and delayed the start of Coconino Community College by two hours.

After closing Wednesday morning due to a rockslide, Highway 89A reopened mid-afternoon Wednesday. Interstate 17 northbound also closed from approximately 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Wednesday.

Four power outages occurred south and west of Flagstaff, the majority of which were resolved by early Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Flagstaff Pulliam Airport is asking frequent fliers to check in with American Airlines before trying to make the drive out to the airport.

It's the airlines that cancel the flights, not the airport. If you call the airport, they will direct you to call the airline, said Airport Director Barney Helmick.

The first flight out of the airport Wednesday morning was canceled by American Airlines because the airline could not get the plane into the airport last night, Helmick said.

Helmick said the runways at the airport are clear, but due to the way the snow is falling, visibility is very poor and it is unlikely that any flights would be making it out of the airport today unless the visibility improves.

"As long as it keeps falling the way it is, its going to be a problem for them (pilots)," he said.

Travelers can reach American Airlines at (800) 428-4322.

A total of 17.2 inches have already fallen in Flagstaff since Monday, meaning that the area could see a total of 33 inches of snow over the week. That would likely make the week historically significant in terms of consecutive days of measurable snowfall, said Brian Klimowski, head meteorologist at the National Weather Services Bellemont station.

When it comes to the amount of snow that has fallen each day, though, this storm wont be making any records. The top 15 snowfall amounts in Flagstaff on any given calendar day are 20 inches or more, Klimowski said.

Like the two others that have hit Flagstaff since Monday, the current weather system is originating off the coast of California, Klimowski said.

He reiterated the storms associations with the Pacific warming event of El Nino.

This is very consistent with the type of snow or rain event we would expect during a strong El Nino, he said.

Klimowski also emphasized that Thursdays storm is colder than the ones that rolled through the area earlier this week. That means more hazardous driving conditions and no mid-day melting of roads and sidewalks like what happened on Wednesday, he said.

And Friday might not be the end of it. Preliminary forecasts are showing another weaker storm moving into the area from late Saturday through early Sunday.

That system could deliver a handful of inches to elevations above 6,000 feet, Klimowski said.
CANON CLOUD

CANON POWERSHOT G3 X

CANON POWERSHOT G5 X

CANON POWERSHOT G9 X

CANON EOS M3

CANON EOS M10

CANON PIXMA G SERIES PRINTERS

Canon Philippines started the year 2016 by introducing their latest products  new cameras, printer and also a cloud service. Its a good year for my Azraels Merryland Blog too, because this is the 1st event of the year that I cover for my blog. Its good to see again my blogger colleagues, media and PR friends and alsogreat to be tapped by Canon Philippines again after several years of absence in my blog. I hope you can tap us bloggers once more to spread the good news about your Canon products.The Canon products that were introduced to us were already launched and announced late last year, but the good part here is that there are new additions of Canon cameras under the premium compact camera category that will be available in the market this month.Canon Philippines shared to us first their Canon Cloud service. Its a service where they can offer digital file storage and sharing in one big network. The main market of their Canon Cloud is the big corporations who are looking for a better service to secure their files, especially digital imaging content, and to be shared in their companys network by demand.The service can also be the companys back up storage facility if ever building and offices to be digitally insured if ever damaged by a fire or earthquake. Files will be secured by Canon Cloud and it can be accessed by account holders and members of the Canon Cloud network.Canon Powershot G3 X were introduced as one of their new premium high-zoom digital compact camera. Im totally impressed on the focal length of this camera. Normally the Powershot cameras do digital zooming, but with this Powershot G3 X, digital zooming is helped with some more optical zoom by its lens.Have a taste of a 24-600mm glory!the zoom is so powerful and its a perfect camera for travel, sports, events and bird photography.Dimensions: Approx. 123.3 x 76.5 x 105.3mmWeight: Approx. 733gLens: 25x optical zoom ISFocal length: 24-600mmAperture: f/2.8-f/5.6Image sensor: 20.2 mega-pixel 1.0 type CMOS sensorImaging processor: DIGIC 6Maximum video quality: Full HDLCD: 3.2 (approx. 1.62 million dots)Connectivity: Wi-Fi, NFCBattery type: NB-10LSRP: PHP 41,998Here are the features of the Canon Poweshot G3 X- the camera is powered by a large 1.0 inch CMOS sensor, to enable the camera to take better images in low light conditions- the 24-600mm 25x optical zoom lens has a Zoom Framing Assist feature- the Dynamic Image Stablisation system helps a much enhance movie recording of moving images- the zoom can shoot in high speed thanks to its quiet Micro USM II aka UltraSonic Motor, for high speed focusing of moving subject- the camera has a feature of shooting a 4 sec video and allows application of slow motion or fast motion effects.- the rubber material sealing on the body can resist dust and water- 1.62 megapixel on its 3.2 inch LCD monitor, that can tilt up to 180 degrees upward and 45 degrees downwards- WIFI and NFC ready- Remote shooting feature via an app on smart mobile deviceCanon unveiled one of the latest Poweshot G series camera yesterday. The Canon Powershot G5 X is built with the latest Canon imaging tech and with a new large 1.0" 20.2 megapixel CMOS sensor that can give you the best sensitivity on imaging with up to ISO 12800.It also has the touch screen feature on its LCD panel and there's an EVF tech that enables a true preview of the image on the view finder.Features of Canon Powershot G5 X- 20.2 Megapixel CMOS sensor- with built in EVF- up to ISO 12800- bundled with a 24-100mm (35mm equivalent) 4.2x optical zoom lensDimensions: Approx. 112.4 x 76.4 x 44.2mmWeight: Approx. 377gLens: 4.2x optical zoom ISFocal length: 2 4-100mm (35mm equivalent)Aperture: f/1.8-f/2.8Image sensor: 20.2 mega-pixel 1-inch type CMOS sensorImaging processor: DIGIC 6Maximum video quality: Full HD 24p/25p/30p/50p/60pEVF: 0.39-inch approx. 2.36 million dotsLCD: 3 (approx. 1.04 million dots) vari-angle touch panelConnectivity: Wi-Fi, NFCBattery type: NB-13LSRP: PHP 36,998Canon Powershot G9 X are one of the most preferred camera by video bloggers, its so compact, small and it can shoot video with HD quality.The body resembles a vintage like feature and the the gray and brown version looks so flashy awesome.The imaging features of this camera is quite similar to G5 XDimensions: Approx. 98.0 x 57.9 x 30.8mmWeight: Approx. 209gLens: 3x optical zoom ISFocal length: 28 - 84mm (35mm equivalent)Aperture: f/2.0-f/4.9Image sensor: 20.2 mega-pixel 1-inch type CMOS sensorImaging processor: DIGIC 6Maximum video quality: Full HD 24p/25p/30p/50p/60pLCD: 3 (approx. 1.04 million dots)Connectivity: Wi-Fi, NFCBattery type: NB-13LSRP: PHP 23,998The Canon EOS M3 is Canon's new mirrorless camera with interchangeable lens feature. The camera function and imaging can match with DSLR camera, minus the size and weight.For me, its one of the most attractive mirrorless camera of this month, due to its body form and also tech in imaging.- the camera is powered by Canon's Hybrid CMOS AF II tech, it can do fast AF on its 24.2 megapixel CMOS sensor with the latest DIGIC 6 image processor- comes with a smaller lens EF-M22mm f/2 STM- up to ISO 12800- touch screen LCD and tilting feature- first Canon cam to have an optional EVF-DC1 electronic viewfinder- with built in flash and hotshoe- its WIFI and NFC readyDimensions: Approx. 110.9 x 68.0 x 44.4mmWeight: Approx. 319g (body only) 366g (includes battery and memory card, CIPA standards)Image sensor: 24.2megapixel APS-C CMOS sensorImaging processor: DIGIC 6ISO speed: 100-12,800 (expandable to 25,600)Continuous shooting speed: approx. 4.2 fpsMaximum video quality: 1920 x 1080 Full HD, 30fpsAF: Hybrid CMOS AF IIIWi-Fi: Yes, NFC-enabledLCD: 180/45 degree tilt touch panel LCD  approx. 1.04 million dotsSRP: PHP 19,498 (body)PHP 10,998 (EF-M22mm lens)Another mirrorless camera from Canon, its much more lighter and its a perfect entry-level for the mirrorless range of Canon. The Canon EOS M10 resembles the same look and style of the M3, but its much more lighter and theres no hotshoe on it.Features:- comes with EF-M15-45 mm lens- tilting LCD and touch screen features- up to ISO 12800- WIFI and NFC readyTECH SPECSImage sensor: 18.0 mega-pixel APS-C CMOS sensorImaging processor: DIGIC 6ISO speed: 100-12,800 (expandable to 25,600)Continuous shooting speed: 4.6 fpsMaximum video quality: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)AF: Hybrid CMOS AF IILCD: 180 / 45 degrees tilt type touch screen, approx. 1.04 million dotsConnectivity: Wi-Fi, NFC-enabledDimensions: 108 mm in length, 66.6 mm in breadth and 35.0 mm in depthWeight: Approx. 301 g (CIPA standard)SRP PHP 20,998Canon Philippines also launched their Pixma G Series printers, its a new printer with WIFI and also a refillable ink slot and container. Canon told us that the printer can print tons of copies and it can easily be refilled with Canons official refillable ink bottles. It was advised that users should use the official Canon inks because it was formulated and approved by their laboratory that can give longevity of the printers life. Using official inks also gives full warranty from Canon.The PIXMA G Series offers high volume printing at low cost per print with inks available at P295 per bottle, which can yield 7,000 colored prints and 6,000 black & white prints.From the media kit:As a special launch offer, Canon is offering a special promo for the G Series printers. Free two (2) black ink bottles with the purchase of the PIXMA G1000 and PIXMA G2000 for redemption through www.canon.com.ph/rewards; while the PIXMA G3000 has two (2) black ink bottles automatically bundled. Aside from getting these free items, registration of these printers at the Canon Rewards site will also give customers additional 1 year warranty, for a total of 2 years warranty. Customers will also enjoy borderless photo printing with the free Glossy Photo Paper (GP-508 4x6inches 20 sheets) bundled with all three (3) PIXMA G Series printers.PIXMA G1000 is a great companion for easy bulk printing, which is only priced at P5,995.PIXMA G2000 allows you to print, scan and copy any kind of important document at home or at the office. It is priced at P7,995.PIXMA G3000 boasts the same print, scan and copy features but adds the capability to print via WiFi connection. For only P9,995, it is bundled with three black inks for 18,000 black & white prints on your first go.For more information about the Canon PIXMA G SeriesCanons PIXMA Refill Ink Tank Printersvisit http://www.canon.com.ph/PIXMA/GSeries/index.html Be one of the first to own one now, visit http://www.canonprinters.ph/
The photos don't go well with the storytoo current, but the content is very true. Ynetnews

New documentary conjures up the world of post-WWII Egypt, when it was a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic society home to some 80,000 Jews

Something, some ineffable longing, a combination of warm breezes and brisk multiculturalism, has spurred a distinguished line of former Egyptians to write about their condition.

Take Claudia Roden, the renowned food writer and cultural anthropologist (born in Cairo, 1936) who starts her tiny gem of a gastronomic memoir, A Feast of Middle Eastern Food, saying, I started collecting recipes for A Book of Middle Eastern Food when Jews left Egypt after the Suez Crisis in 1956 During the next decade I saw waves of relatives and friends who stopped over in the city. Everyone was asking for recipes and offering theirs. We might never see each other again, but wed have something to remember each other by.



Sharm a-Sheikh. (Photo: Reuters)



Andre Aciman (Alexandria, 1951) became an international literary star with his 1995 memoir, Out of Egypt, a tome seemingly spun out of silk, spice and a tender yearning to return to a life that had once been all-encompassing and then, seemingly out of nowhere, ceased to exist.

An entire world, gone.

Or take Lucette Lagnado, (Cairo, 1956) a writer for the Wall Street Journal whose own memoir, "The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Familys Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World", was widely acclaimed, opening her eyes as wide as a dolls in the new Italian-made documentary, "Starting Over Again", and repeating what her father said to a social worker haplessly trying to help the family acclimate to America: But madame, we are Arab."

Like many high-profile splits, Egypts divorce from the Jews left nobody happy.

The effect of Egypt remains indelible, and decades after they were forced to leave many former Cairenes and Alexandrians well up in tears and seem still to be stunned by the way things turned out.



The Suez Canal. (Photo: AP)

Egypt, too, was diminished, never returning to the golden age of tolerance and prosperity it enjoyed in the first half of the twentieth century, when pattering in Greek, Italian, French, English and Arabic were part of an urban patois echoing around refined cafes and 80,000 Jews strolled along its corniches, directed its business organizations or established its political parties.

Everybody lost out.

Yet the film, directed by Ruggero Gabbai, an Italian best known for his searing documentaries on the Holocaust, and presented during last months Jewish Film Festival at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, vividly conjures up the intense and stimulating life of urbane Egyptians inhabiting a mid-century utopia.



The documentary is important for one reason, Gabbai said in a conversation: It shows the last generation that was able to live together maintaining different cultures and religions in a climate of tolerance and peace, enriching each other.



The last generation in the Arab world? No, in general. I dont know of many cultures or countries where people were able to live together as they did in Egypt after the Second World War. For more than 30 years people prospered in an Arab country, living together, respecting and enriching each other.



Gabbais father was born in Alexandria, the scion of an old Egyptian Jewish family, and attended Victoria College with Jordans future King Hussein and the scholar of Orientalism, Edward Said. Today we are going backwards, Gabbai says. Not only in the Middle East. Where in the Western world do you see three cultures living distinctly but placidly together?



The film offers viewers a mosaic of interviews with women and men ranging from Yvonne Barak, a hotel cleaner, to Egypts former Vice Foreign Minister, Elhami Elzayat, who try to describe the life-defining, shining moment that made them who they are.



The protagonists speak plainly in Arabic, express themselves in refined, cultivated English, in robust Italian, in precise, well-articulated French, in some Hebrew, a foreign tongue, and it is as if we are offered a window into a private wonderland in which each of these languages was part of a common currency.

Alexandria. Former locals tear up at what had been.

Nissim Malki, the former CFO of El Al Israel Airlines explains, We spoke English at school we heard all languages so it was a sort of a mixture, of all of those languages and we never at the end decided which culture we belonged to. They called it la dolce vita.



Even as she describes with heartrending immediacy the suicide of her grandmother, who was incapable of coping with the thought of leaving Egypt and threw herself and her most beloved possessions down a stairwell, Ada Aharoni, who went on to found The International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace, offers up the culture of their unique lost paradise as an instrument for peace.



"Egyptian Jews have this imprinting which could be a bridge between Western and Muslim culture, Gabbai says.



The Jews of Egypt were expelled from their country over a decade or so, by a cruel series of measures enacted by President Gamal Abdel Nasser following the Suez Crisis, in which France and Britain attacked after Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal.

Former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Drove Jews out of the country. (Photo: Getty Images)

It was the beginning of the secular Arab nationalist authoritarianism that persists today under President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. The film has never been screened in Egypt.



Besides the genes that come from my father and mother, the whole of Egypt played a major role in making me who I am, Elliot Malki, the Italian businessman who produced this film, said to The Media Line. Egypt was so cosmopolitan. We were in Egypt but we were in London, Paris and New York all at the same time.



The film, he says, is about resilience. We learned it from Egypt and from our parents. It is about what happened after. How we created ourselves. Its a few words about how much we counted."
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For Book Clubs

I am available to book clubs, either in person or via Zoom, upon request. Contact me at morelonhouse --at-- optonline --dot-- net for details.
The Beatrice Public Schools Board of Education will discuss changes to the districts graduation requirements, school wellness policy and annual emergency safety plan, among other items at a board meeting Monday.

BPS Superintendent Pat Nauroth will read the proposed policy changes and answer any questions from the board. The board will not take any action on the policies.

Updates to current graduation requirements will allow special needs students who have reached 17 years of age and who have not completed their individualized education plan to participate in high school graduation ceremony with students receiving high school diplomas, Nauroth said.

The School Wellness Policy will be updated to meet requirements of a section of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act and requirements from the Nebraska Department of Education and the Alliance for Healthier Generation.

The districts annual emergency safety plan will also be developed to meet certain criteria the district must obey.

Also at the meeting, the January employee of the month will be recognized, student board member Dylan Burenheide will give a student update regarding activities in the high school and BPS financial representative John Brazell will give an audit report.

Board members will also be appointed to committees for the 2016 calendar year.

The meetings are open to the public. Regular BPS board meetings are held at 7 p.m. on the second Monday of every month in the board room of the Central Administration Building at Sixth and High streets. Committee of the Whole meetings are scheduled for 6 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of every month at the same location.
A Beatrice pharmacy owner will be sentenced in March for defrauding Medicaid by billing customers for a name-brand drug, but dispensing the generic version.

Tod A. Lundberg, 50, pleaded guilty in Gage County District Court to a felony charge of fraud to obtain assistance of more than $500.

As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a sentence of probation. He will also be required to make a restitution payment of $39,759.84.

An investigation of The Medicine Shoppe, located at 601 Court St., dates back to January 2014 when a woman reported the provider to the Nebraska Medicaid Fraud and Patient Abuse Unit (MFPAU).

A month later, the woman, who was a former employee of The Medicine Shoppe, agreed to appear at the MFPAU to provide information regarding the suspected Medicaid fraud scheme as a cooperating witness.

For her cooperation, court documents state it was agreed the woman, who left the company in 2013, wouldnt be targeted in the investigation.

The Medicine Shoppe had been a Nebraska pharmacy provider since 2000, and court documents state Lundberg had an active pharmacy license dating back to February 1993.

The woman told authorities Medicaid was the primary payment source of The Medicine Shoppe.

Court documents state the woman was concerned Lundberg had been billing the preferred brand-name drug Lovenox, although the generic version of the drug was being dispensed.

The woman noticed the scheme in February or March 2013 when she saw a label that read the brand name of the drug and asked Lundberg about it, since the prescription in question had previously been the generic version.

Lundberg allegedly then printed out a new label with the generic name. The worker discovered that billings to Medicaid had always been for the name-brand version of the drug.

The worker allegedly confronted Lundberg about the discrepancy, and was told he ran the prescription through as the brand name then labels it the generic version.

According to court documents the worker told authorities Lundberg said that was the only way he can make money in the pharmacy world and was able to do it because Medicaid didnt send an explanation of benefits to clients, so they were unaware what it was paying for.

The cost difference between the billed Lovenox drugs compared to the generic drugs distributed is estimated to be $1,800.

The worker had reason to believe other generic drugs were being dispensed while their name-brand counterparts were billed due to a note in the companys computer system on other prescriptions reading BBGG, which she found out stood for bill brand, give generic.

She told authorities Lundberg was the only one who entered the data and would review all claims before they were submitted to insurance.

The worker also alleged prescriptions that were dispensed but not picked up were still being billed through insurance.

Authorities interviewed a customer of The Medicine Shoppe who was allegedly getting the generic version of Lovenox, but paying for the name brand. It was determined the customer had received both name-brand and generic versions of the drug.

When interviewed, Lundberg allegedly admitted to billing for Lovenox but giving the generic version of the drug. He told investigators the profits were going into the Medicine Shoppes business account. He was unable to say when he began the practice.
Nebraskas largest farm advocacy group plans to spend the next 60 days pressuring state senators to reform school funding and reduce property taxes.

The Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation, which has 56,000 member families, is calling for lawmakers to cap the amount of property taxes school districts can collect to 40 percent of a district's general fund expenditures. State legislators convened Wednesday.

"Addressing school funding and property taxes is our top priority for the 2016 legislative session," Nebraska Farm Bureau President Steve Nelson said in a news release.

Nebraskas rural school districts rely heavily on agricultural land to fund education. They generally make up the biggest chunk of farmers' tax bills.

Now, the state caps school district tax levies at $1.05 per $100 of taxable value for its general fund, although districts can exceed that limit under certain conditions. They can also tax to pay for bond debt.

Waverly School District 145, which includes portions of both Lancaster and Cass counties, got 80.3 percent of its total $18.2 million income from local property taxes in the 2013-14 school year.

The Lincoln School District expects to get 50.7 percent of its funding from local property taxes this school year.

The Farm Bureau also plans to focus its lobbying efforts on supporting livestock producers and water management policies.
A Facebook group with more than 19,000 members is trying to piece together what happened to Craig Baxter, a 28-year-old optometry student who went missing Monday.

Members of the group, Craig Baxter Missing  URGENT PLEA FOR HELP, hope spreading his picture and information on social media will bring him home. A twitter hashtag, #findcraigbaxter, took hold Wednesday night and a search shows examples of people tweeting to national news outlets and personalities asking for coverage.

A flier with Baxters picture and information is being printed and distributed throughout Lincoln and Omaha.

Baxter hasnt been seen since he left his sisters Lincoln home early Monday, heading to his first optometry rotation at Omaha Eye & Laser Institute. By noon Monday, his family reported him missing.

While the Lincoln Police Department is heading the search, other agencies have offered their assistance, including the Nebraska State Patrol, which now lists Baxter as a missing person on its website.

Police are checking any tips they receive. Several people have reported seeing the SUV Baxter was driving, but none were his. The dark blue 2005 BMW X3 has the license plate number 15-B187.

The North Platte native is a fourth-year student at Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee, and back in Nebraska for his externship.

The colleges vice president for student services, Joseph Hauser, released a statement Thursday morning saying, Over the last few days, the college has received many expressions of concern for Craig. ... I know the Baxter family has appreciated all the prayers and positive thoughts for Craig.

Classmates and others at the college observed a moment of silence on Thursday.

Wednesday night, St. Patricks Church in North Platte held a rosary prayer service for Baxter and more than 50 people gathered at the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center in Lincoln to pray.

Baxter is described as 6-foot-1, 180 pounds with brown hair and green eyes. Anyone who sees Baxter or his SUV are asked to call Lincoln police at 402-441-6000 or 911.
LINCOLN  Senators have proposed a number of changes for how the Nebraska Legislature operates.

The nine proposed changes range from requiring the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of each day, to making votes for committee chairs and speaker a roll call rather than secret ballot, to changing the number of members of several committees.

Sen. Bill Kintner of Papillion, along with Sens. Laura Ebke of Crete and Mike Groene of North Platte, are pushing for an open-voting rule again this session. Last year, the Legislatures Rules Committee, led by Sen. Tommy Garrett of Bellevue, voted unanimously to kill a proposal that would have made individual votes for committee chairs open and recorded.

One of the reasons given for rejecting the change were hard feelings that could result from an open vote. But Kintner said he and several others posted their votes for chairs, speaker and such last year, and they didnt seem to generate ill will.

Everyone pretty much knows where I stood. Theres no hard feelings. We still need 25 people (to pass a bill). They need my votes, I need their votes, he said. Life goes on. Were fine.

The peoples business should be done with maximum transparency and daylight, Kintner said.

Now, the Pledge of Allegiance is recited once a week before the opening, when few senators are in the chamber. Sen. Dave Bloomfield of Hoskins would like to see it done every day of the session during opening formalities.

Bloomfield has always lined up the senators to lead the pledge. But starting next year, he wont be around to do that, he said.

Omaha Sen. Bob Krist, chairman of the Executive Board, proposed a change to the number of members for several committees.

The Legislature has two important constitutional duties: To balance the budget and to provide for the education of children. The Education, Revenue and Appropriations committees have a lot to do with those duties, but Revenue and Education have eight members while Appropriations has nine.

Krists rule change would add a member to Revenue and Education and reduce the number of members on the Agriculture, General Affairs and Government, Military and Veterans Affairs committees from eight to seven.

Having nine members on Revenue and Education would provide for three from each caucus, he said, as determined by the three congressional districts.

Other proposed changes include:

Requiring any transfer from the states rainy day fund for one-time expenditures to be included in a separate budget bill with a separate appropriations bill (Sen. Mike Groene).

Providing a statement of intent for each bill no later than 24 hours following the decisions by the referencing committee as to which committee the bill will be sent (Sen. Heath Mello). Now, the statement of intent is submitted much later: 24 hours prior to its hearing.

The Rules Committee will meet Thursday afternoon to hear senators proposals.

The rules would go into effect next year.
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.
Press Release:

Contact: Crystal Feldman

Crystal Feldman govpress@nc.gov

Raleigh, NC Governor Pat McCrory announced today that North Carolina is among nine states to win approval of its Excellent Educators for All plan by the U.S. Department of Education.Governor McCrory said.The other states that won approval today are Idaho, Illinois, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah and Wyoming.Better teacher preparation programs are a major element of North Carolina's plan. These programs will help educators provide higher-quality instruction and prepare them for success in high-need schools.Additionally, the North Carolina plan includes incentives designed to reward teachers for exceptional work and to encourage excellent educators to remain in the high-need schools.The North Carolina plan also emphasizes data-driven decision-making. A Human Capital Dashboard will be developed to help principals, human resource managers and administrators analyze the effectiveness of teachers moving in and out of districts and schools.This plan continues Governor McCrory's commitment to teacher excellence and providing educators the tools that will lead to higher student achievement.Shortly after taking office in 2013, Governor McCrory helped pass and signed one of the largest teacher raises in North Carolina history. The new pay plan allows talented, but low experience, teachers to earn more money sooner so they stay in the profession and develop into the next generation of education leaders.Since Governor McCrory took office, the overall increase in teacher salaries will soon exceed $1 billion. This increase includes base pay of $35,000 for every North Carolina teacher as well as providing a nearly 10 percent tier-based increase for teachers with 19 years or more experience.Additionally, Governor McCrory won a $23 million federal grant to expand Wi-Fi access to K-12 classrooms throughout the state. This grant will extend high performance Wi-Fi to more than 20,000 classrooms, benefiting more than 375,000 students.Per pupil spending in North Carolina continues to grow. It has increased each year since 2011, growing from $5,161.73 to $5,638.39 per pupil in 2015.The governor also strengthened North Carolina's end of grade tests. The new standards align with the national metrics used in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which is better known as the Nation's Report Card.The improvements in K-12 education appear to be paying off. The percentage of North Carolina students enrolled in public universities requiring remediation fell from 9.54 percent in 2012 to 4.96 percent in 2014.Governor McCrory said.
Cooper rejected request to fight Obama's mandates against local school districts

UPDATE: House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, provided the following statement late Tueaday evening:



"I commend and support Governor McCrory's decision to ask Attorney General Roy Cooper to join South Carolina on an amicus brief in a case that could force local school districts to open their sex-specific bathrooms to members of the opposite biological sex.



"This extreme position not only violates our children's privacy, but also goes against all common sense. Private bathrooms have accomplished bringing security and confidence to children that identify differently than their biological sex, while also not infringing on the security of others.



"I join in calling upon our attorney general to put political pandering aside and place the best interests of North Carolina's children first."

RALEIGH In what is evolving into a war of words and political philosophies, Gov. Pat McCrory said he would pursue what Attorney General Roy Cooper would not  formal opposition to a Virginia transgender student's lawsuit that could force North Carolina to allow both sexes to use the same K-12 public school bathrooms and locker rooms.Cooper is running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination against incumbent Republican McCrory, who will use his capacity as governor to sign on to South Carolina's amicus, or friend-of-court, brief in the case of G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board, according to a news release issued late Tuesday afternoon by the governor's office.McCrory spokesman Josh Ellis said the governor would notify South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson of his intent to sign on to the amicus brief by a noon Wednesday deadline Wilson requested for responses. Wilson's office said the brief could be filed in court next week.Several states were invited to support the South Carolina document to enhance its impact.Ellis said.Because South Carolina is the lead state and is writing the brief, North Carolina would not need to hire outside counsel to become a signatory, Ellis said.He likened this situation to North Carolina's previous engagement in a lawsuit by Texas challenging the Obama administration's executive actions on immigration. Texas did the legal work; a coalition of states supported its cause.McCrory said in a written statement released late Tuesday afternoon.McCrory said.McCrory said.The governor requested Cooper as the state's attorney to sign on to South Carolina's amicus brief, but Cooper refused.Cooper campaign spokesman Jamal Little said in announcing Cooper's decision.Gavin Grimm, a girl who identifies herself as a transgender boy, sued the Gloucester County School Board because she was not allowed to use the boys' facilities. The ACLU and Obama administration are supporting her.The case is before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over North Carolina. Should Grimm win, the ruling would be binding on North Carolina K-12 public schools, requiring access to sex-specific bathrooms and locker rooms be given to transgender students with a different birth anatomy.Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said in a news release.Berger said.Berger said.Bill Cobey, chairman of the State Board of Education, also sided with McCrory. He said his personal opinion is that suitable accommodations could be made for transgender students without empowering them to use bathrooms for students with different anatomy.The issue has not come up with the state board, or, to his knowledge, with the state Department of Public Instruction, Cobey said. State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson did not respond to a request for an interview.said Cobey.said Chris Cooper, who chairs Western Carolina University's political science department.Cooper said.He said McCrory and Cooper arewhich won't make anyone feel better about government.but since public opinion probably is more heavily in McCrory's favor instead of evenly divided, voter dismay would be muted.Joe Stewart, executive director of the North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation, said polling consistently shows the 2016 governor's race is likely to be decided by suburban swing voters.Stewart said.on other issues as they try to diminish their opponent in the eyes of that important swing voter, Stewart said.
is committed to the principle that it may not restrict debate or deliberation because the ideas put forth are thought to be offensive, unwise, immoral, or wrong-headed.... Although faculty, students and staff are free to criticize, contest and condemn the views expressed on campus, they may not obstruct, disrupt, or otherwise interfere with the freedom of others to express views they reject or even loathe...the University has a solemn responsibility not only to promote a lively and fearless freedom of debate and deliberation, but also to protect that freedom when others attempt to restrict it.

In the last few years, the rights of students in North Carolina universities have received some significant new protections. It is important that state legislators and educators continue to do so, for such rights-pertaining to free speech and due process of punitive proceedings-have been under assault on college campuses nationwide in recent years.Just a few recent examples of the infringement of free speech include actions such as "disinviting" a speaker (Brandeis University); firing a female professor for jokes that were deemed "sexual harassment" (Louisiana State University); and limiting free speech to tiny campus zones, with registration ten days beforehand required (University of Cincinnati). This year has been especially contentious, with student activists finding all kinds of new and bizarre reasons-such as microagressions , "safe spaces," and trigger warnings-to limit the constitutionally protected speech of others.Fortunately, some officials in North Carolina have demonstrated the sense to defend free expression. One of the more notable steps was at UNC-Chapel Hill, a school that has long prided itself on its free speech traditions. In the 1960s, student pressure at Chapel Hill forced the end of the state's " Speaker Ban Law " that prevented known communists from speaking on public campuses.Over time, however, free speech standards on the Chapel Hill campus started to decline. But in April of 2014, the administration began working with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a free speech advocacy non-profit organization, to address overly restrictive rules. The school then had two "yellow light" speech codes (FIRE rates free speech regulations on campuses using traffic light colors, with red the worst and green the best. See sidebar).UNC-CH revised the first, which limited distribution of student flyers in residence halls. The university then eliminated its ban on speech that "disparages" another person.As a sign that it is no longer inhibiting free speech, FIRE changed Chapel Hill's rating from yellow to green, meaning that it has sufficiently high free speech standards. UNC-Chapel Hill became the only "green light" school in North Carolina and the 21st in FIRE's national database.Elsewhere in the UNC system, Winston-Salem State's faculty recently voted to adopt the Chicago Principles for free speech. The principles are found in a statement issued by the University of Chicago early this year.The "Chicago statement" is a response to the curtailment of free speech-not only guaranteed by the Bill of Rights but also the hallmark of a marketplace of ideas-on many campuses, public and private.The statement affirms, among other things, that a free university:So far, no school in the UNC system has fully adopted the Chicago Principles.The North Carolina General Assembly has also taken steps to protect free speech and due process on North Carolina campuses.Until recently, a lack of clear policies on the First Amendment rights of student groups opened these groups to possible legal woes for attempting to carry out their legitimate missions. In 2003, for example, UNC-Chapel Hill attempted to prevent a Christian fraternity from choosing members based on belief-but was stopped by a federal judge's injunction.More recently, there was a controversy over whether the UNC-Chapel Hill a capella singing group Psalm 100 could expel from its membership an openly gay student, as part of its Christian mission include belief that homosexuality is a sin. In this case, the administration permitted the group to do so.Both the North Carolina General Assembly and the UNC Board of Governors moved to clarify the problem once and for all last year. Both bodies voted to protect the rights of religious student groups by allowing them to restrict a group's leadership to those students who agree with the group's faith or mission.The UNC Board of Governors approved a policy protecting student groups at all 16 UNC institutions. Almost simultaneously, the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 719 , sponsored by Senator Dan Soucek, which codified those protections in North Carolina law.Following a controversy at UNC-Wilmington, state legislators passed the Student and Administration Equality (SAE) Act, which allows UNC system students to hire lawyers when they face misconduct charges on campus. The specific incident arose from a fraternity having its charter revoked based on allegations of underage drinking and hazing, even though police had been to the fraternity on the night in question and found no evidence of illegal acts. Despite the lack of evidence, and despite the fraternity members having little ability to defend themselves, the UNC-Wilmington administration kicked the fraternity out of the school.Because of the SAE law, a student who is charged with a serious offense can now have an attorney or "non-attorney advocate" in student conduct matters. The law doesn't apply to academic misconduct cases or if students choose to have their case heard by a student-led conduct board.These changes represent important progress in North Carolina. But there is a long way to go. Eliminating speech codes at the remaining 15 universities and adopting the Chicago principles system-wide are the logical next steps to protect students' rights.
Nearly 20 lawmakers will not seek new terms in 2016

RALEIGH Nearly 20 members of the General Assembly, including several powerful veteran lawmakers, will not be running for re-election in 2016, and that number could swell as the candidate filing period that opens today at noon moves forward.Meanwhile, the State Board of Elections is busy training poll workers, and preparing for the flow of prospective office holders coming in to file. Josh Lawson, general counsel for the board, said it is not possible to predict the volume of candidates because they don't usually hear from them until they file."The only person I know 100 percent who has told folks here at the state board is A.J. Daoud, who was, I think, camping out somewhere across the street so he can be the first to file, but otherwise I don't know," Lawson said. "He says he's running for secretary of state."Candidates will have until 3 p.m. Dec. 21 to submit paperwork to run for office. That schedule is greatly expedited compared to prior elections because the General Assembly voted this year to move the primary election up to March 15 instead of mid-May, which has been the primary date since 1992.Voters will elect a U.S. senator, 13 congressional candidates, governor, lieutenant governor, eight Council of State members, judges, and district attorneys.The day before filing commenced, seven-term state Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, said he would not run again.As chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, the Senate's second most powerful post, he wields considerable influence controlling the flow of legislation and directing the Republican caucus agenda."I can't overstate how instrumental he has been to the Senate Republican Caucus's electoral and legislative success," said Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham."The fact that a mountain bail bondsman with the last name of 'Apodaca' rose to become a legislative leader is proof that anything is possible in America," Apodaca said. "I'm proud that the conservative reforms we've passed have set North Carolina on a more fiscally responsible path. That was my goal all along."Other senators who have announced their to retire at the end of the term are Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, and Stan Bingham, R-Davidson.Sen. Buck Newton, R-Wilson, and Sen. Josh Stein, D-Wake, said they are going to give up their seats to run for attorney general, a position being vacated by Democrat Roy Cooper, who is one of two Democrats challenging Gov. Pat McCrory. The other is Durham attorney Ken Spaulding.State Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam, R-Wake, who holds the No. 2 position in the House as speaker pro tem, announced previously he would not run for a ninth term."On the progressive side of things we are happy because that's one tough barrier removed towards us advancing our agenda," said state Rep. Grier Martin, D-Wake. "But those of us who believe that the House needs more civility and respect for the process are facing a deep loss with Skip deciding not to run again."Reps. Rayne Brown, R-Davidson, Jacqueline Schaffer, R-Mecklenburg, Leo Daughtry, R-Johnston, J.H. Langdon, R-Johnston, Rick Catlin, R-New Hanover, and Roger West, R-Cherokee announced their House retirements, according to the North Carolina Republican Party.Reps. Brian Brown, R-Pitt, and Bryan Holloway, R-Stokes, both resigned their seats in October. Rep. Dan Bishop, R-Mecklenburg, will not seek re-election, but is running to fill Rucho's Senate District 39 seat.According to the North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation, which monitors electoral races and publishes an annual almanac of North Carolina politics, other House members who have expressed decisions not to run again are Reps. Nathan Baskerville, D-Vance, Kenneth Waddell, D-Columbus, and Paul Tine, U-Dare. Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland, resigned in August."These are usually very individualized decisions based on people's lives, their age, there may be somebody who a shorter legislative session might have kept around," Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the state GOP, said of legislators' decisions not to seek re-election.Although more Republicans than Democrats have announced plans not to run again, Woodhouse said he is not concerned about losing all of those seats, though he acknowledged Democrats could pick up some of them. Conversely, he said, the demographics and registration trends in Paul Tine's House district "are definitely going in our favor," and that seat could flip from unaffiliated to Republican.Democratic strategist Thomas Mills of Carrboro said he expects the Democrats could win back a few House seats that they lost in 2014, "but there's not a lot of seats that are ripe for the picking for the Republican Party."Joe Stewart, executive director of the North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation, said population shifts might have occurred in some Republican legislative districts that could push the races into the Democrats' corner."As significant a Democratic wave as I could ever possibly imagine could occur in 2016 if all of the planets align to make it a seismic shift for the Democrats, I still don't think there's any way the Republicans lose control of the General Assembly," Stewart said.For that to occur would require a lot of open seats with no Republicans running, and a significant number of politically damaged incumbent Republicans, "and that's just not going to be the case," Stewart said.Lawson said the State Board of Elections would be giving voter photo ID information to candidates "so that they can get that word out through their normal campaign outreach" about a new law going into effect even as it is being legally challenged."We're continuing to enforce the law as is unless a court tells us to do otherwise," Lawson said."January is when we start these new requirements. The March elections, unless we have special elections before that, will be the first time we have photo ID requirements in the state," Lawson said. "We're training poll workers, we're getting the word out to the public."
Maiden data center gets all of its power from Duke Energy

CJ graphic/CJ Photo by Don Carrington

Apple's data center in Maiden opened in 2010 and continues to be served by Duke Energy. The fuel cell installation and solar farm were announced later and are not connected to the facility.

Apple power arrangements

'Why Is Apple Lying?'

Duke Energy

Apple's claims

Details not disclosed

Apple claims that two solar installations were responsible for 39 percent of its power. Apple fails to mention that they operate only at about 24 percent of capacity because they produce power only when the sun is out. Apple will not share the actual megawatt-hours produced by each solar installation and the time periods they were producing. The electricity produced by the solar installations is sold to Duke Energy.

Apple claims fuel cells provided 37 percent of its power. The fuel cell installation is relatively new technology that produces electricity through a chemical reaction. Apple's system is manufactured and operated by Bloom Energy. It runs on natural gas supplied by Piedmont Natural Gas even though Apple has led people to believe that it runs on biogas extracted from nearby landfills. The electricity produced by the fuel cells is sold to Duke Energy.

Apple claims that NC Green Power was the source for 24 percent of its power. Customers participating in the NC Green Power program, including Apple, "continue to receive electric service from their local utility and pay for energy used under the utilities' applicable rate schedules," according to NCGP's current program plan. "The electric energy purchased from the renewable resources through the NCGP program will not physically be delivered to the participating NCGP customer but will displace electric energy that would otherwise have been produced from traditional generating facilities for delivery to customer."

Apple's EPA ties

RALEIGH California-based Apple promotes its 500,000-square-foot data center in Maiden, N.C., by saying it runs "100 percent" on renewable energy even though the facility continues to get all of its electricity from Duke Energy, a public utility that primarily generates electricity using coal, nuclear power, and natural gas.But an Austria-based researcher who is familiar with the project called Apple's claim "a boldfaced lie" - a sentiment echoed by state House Majority Leader Mike Hager, R-Rutherford, who chairs the Joint Legislative Commission on Energy Policy. And a former economist with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission called the claim "misleading."Apple bases its claim on the concept that it "offsets" power purchased from Duke by generating power from renewable sources, even though Apple does not make it clear that the energy powering the Maiden facility comes from Duke Energy's traditional mix of fuels. There are no public records supporting the details of Apple's offset concept as a way of measuring its participation in renewable energy.Apple is not alone in making such claims. Amazon Web Services has stated that the energy produced by a 22,000-acre wind farm near Elizabeth City will power a data center near Dulles International Airport in Virginia. In fact, the data center is purchasing and will continue to purchase electricity from Dominion Power, the local utility. The wind farm is not and cannot be connected directly to Amazon's Virginia data center.Apple representatives have refused to answer a series of queries from Carolina Journal seeking details about the company's electricity consumption at the data center or details about the sources it uses to offset energy purchased from Duke.Apple owns a 20-megawatt solar farm and a 10-megawatt fuel cell system adjacent to the data center, but the electricity generated by the solar farm and fuel cell system is sold to Duke and does not provide power for the building.The fuel cell system runs on natural gas purchased from Piedmont Natural Gas even though Apple has used promotional materials to suggest it actually runs on biogas from nearby landfills. Apple has a second solar farm located about 11 miles away in Conover. A third solar farm is located six miles away, and a fourth solar farm is located nine miles away. They should be completed by the end of the year. A second data center building is under construction.Apple spokeswoman Alisha Johnson did not answer questions by phone or email from CJ regarding this report. Instead, Johnson referred CJ to Apple's Environmental Responsibility Report, which includes the renewable energy claims about the solar farm and fuel cell array at Maiden.She also refused to answer follow-up questions, instead giving this response: "As I mentioned to you before, our 2015 Environmental Responsibility Report and our renewable resources page on our website have the latest data on our Maiden facility."In August, Truthout, a left-leaning California-based organization, published a scathing criticism of Apple's claims titled "Why Is Apple Lying About Powering Its Data Centers With Renewable Energy?" The author, Nicki Lisa Cole, is a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Science and Technology and Society in Graz, Austria. A longtime Apple critic, Cole is writing a book about the popularity and hidden costs of Apple products.Cole noted that Apple's interest in investing in renewable energy surfaced after the Maiden facility opened in 2010 and appears to be the result of a critical report by Greenpeace dealing with energy consumption at large data centers.After Greenpeace commended Apple for pledging in a May 2015 report to power its data centers with renewable energy, "countless headlines praising Apple followed," Cole wrote."But dig below the slick PR surface of Apple's claims and celebratory headlines, and one finds that the jewel of Apple's data centers, its facility in Maiden, N.C., is not powered by renewable energy at all, though the company states in its 2014 Environmental Responsibility Report that it has been '100 percent renewable since opening in June 2010,'" wrote Cole."Purchasing offsets is not the same as actually powering something with renewable energy," she wrote. She noted that Apple buys all of the energy it needs from Duke Energy. "What all of this amounts to is a boldfaced lie on Apple's part," she wrote.Apple spokeswoman Johnson did not respond to a request from CJ to comment on Cole's story.The nonprofit Institute for Energy Research in Washington, D.C., in March released a critique of corporate renewable energy claims that included Apple.IER's Travis Fisher published the analysis titled "Busting the '100 Percent Renewable' Myth." Fisher, a former intern with the John Locke Foundation, spent seven years as an economist with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission before joining IER."Many companies such as Apple and Google claim that they get their electricity from 100 percent renewable sources. At best, this claim is misleading and deceptive. We cannot find a single instance of a large company actually going '100 percent renewable.' The reality is that as long as these companies are connected to the electric grid, they still get the vast majority of their electricity from conventional sources such as coal, natural gas, and nuclear power, and are therefore not 100 percent renewable," wrote Fisher.Duke Energy economic development officials played a key role in recruiting the data center for North Carolina. Starting in 2006 they spent three years working on the project that was announced to the public in 2009."Power costs and reliability are a data center's primary concerns. We were able to convince Apple that we were capable of providing the low cost and reliability they needed for their operation," Duke vice president Clark Gillespy stated in a project summary published by Duke."The great thing about a data center is that they run full-out, 24/7, with no shifts and no seasonality. It's the type of customer where the meter spins and spins at an exponential pace. It may be the most ideal customer we could have. We fully expect Apple to be one of our top 10 customers in the Carolinas," Duke's director of business development, Stu Heishman, wrote in the same project summary.House Majority Leader Mike Hager, R-Rutherford, was a Duke Energy engineering manager from 1995-2003. He had the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of five coal-burning units. Hager and other legislators have tried to eliminate or freeze North Carolina's renewable energy standards, which they say are costly to consumers.He told CJ he was not shocked by Apple's misrepresentations regarding its 100 percent renewable claim. "If you tell a lie often enough you start believing it," Hager said."Misunderstandings and misinformation from renewable advocates have made the discussion over renewables confusing. I think it is purposeful, because they want folks to think that this [solar] is a lower-cost energy, that it is dispatchable" - meaning it can be turned on or off in a short period of time - "and that it is easily obtained. But it is not dispatchable. You don't get it when you need it, and it is costly," Hager added.Under the heading "Environmental Responsibility," Apple's website says:Since 2012, all our data centers have been powered by 100 percent renewable energy sources. That means no matter how much data they handle, there is a zero greenhouse gas impact on the environment from their energy use. These data centers use renewable energy sources like solar, wind, biogas fuel cells, micro-hydro power, and geothermal power from onsite and locally obtained resources. On any given day, our data centers will use renewable energy to serve tens of billions of messages, more than a billion photos, and tens of millions of FaceTime video calls. They also run services like Siri, the iTunes Store, the App Store, and Maps. So every time a song is downloaded from iTunes, an app is installed from the Mac App Store, or a book is downloaded from iBooks, the energy Apple uses is provided by nature.Our Maiden, N.C., data center has earned the LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council - the first data center of its size to be so honored. On any given day, between 60 and 100 percent of the energy it uses is generated onsite through our biogas fuel cells and two 20megawatt solar arrays - the nation's largest privately owned renewable energy installation. And we'll finish another 17megawatt solar array later this year. We purchase any remaining power we need from entirely clean sources located within North Carolina.Additional details about the Maiden data center from the 2015 Environmental Responsibility Report:"It generates 167 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy per year, enough to power the equivalent of 12,700 North Carolina homes. And we'll finish another 17-megawatt solar array, capable of producing 39 million kilowatt-hours per year, later in 2015."A table stated that the Maiden facility was 100 percent renewable since opening in June 2010, with "actual renewable energy use" as follows: solar, 39 percent (from two separate solar arrays); fuel cells, 37 percent; and NC GreenPower, 24 percent. (NC Green Power is a nonprofit that allows consumers to support the production of renewable energy.)Fully dissecting Apple's claims requires more information than Apple will share. CJ asked Apple for the peak megawatt load at the existing building in Maiden and what it would be after the new building is put in service. Apple did not respond. CJ also asked for the annual megawatt-hours used by the existing building and the anticipated megawatt-hours required with the addition of the new building, but again Apple did not respond.A closer look at the company's claimed renewable energy sources for the data center reveals several gaps:Initially, Apple contracted with Element Markets, a Texas company that processes landfill gas to obtain a quality that can be added to natural gas lines where it is metered and sold to Apple or other entities. Apple does not share exactly how much natural gas the fuel cell installation consumes or how much biogas is purchased to offset the natural gas usage. Piedmont Natural Gas gives Apple credit for its biogas purchases on its gas bill.Apple and other NCGP customers purchase "blocks" of energy from small solar or hydro producers. CJ was unable to determine how much Apple has spent on the program, and NCGP will not answer questions about an individual customer.Not included in Apple's environmental reports is the company's reliance on diesel generators. According to a state air quality permit, as a backup power source the data center has 24 2.25 MW diesel generators for a total capacity of 54 MW.Two former senior officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guide Apple's messaging about renewable energy.Spokeswoman Johnson joined Apple in September after working as a senior adviser on climate change for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Before that, she spent four years with the EPA, first as the press secretary and then as deputy associate administrator for external affairs and environmental education.Lisa Jackson was EPA administrator from 2009 to May 2013, when she joined Apple as vice president for environmental initiatives. She reports directly to Apple president Tim Cook.In an April 2014 message about Apple's environmental progress, Jackson stated, "Every one of our data centers is powered entirely by clean sources such as solar, wind, and geothermal energy. So whenever you download a song, update an app, or ask Siri a question, the energy Apple uses is provided by nature."
Republican incumbent touts job creation, income growth, government reforms

CJ Photo by Dan Way

Gov. Pat McCrory announces his bid for re-election Wednesday in Kernersville.

KERNERSVILLE - Casting himself as an outsider who came to Raleigh to right a listing ship of state, Gov. Pat McCrory formally announced his re-election bid Wednesday with a heavy emphasis on job creation and income growth that are part of what he calls the Carolina Comeback.The Republican incumbent's campaign committee released a video before Wednesday's event He was plugged as "an education governor" by African-American High Point businessman Robert Brown, a friend of Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, and got an endorsement as a "business-friendly governor" from Phil Kelly Jr., president and CEO of Salem One, the family-owned business where McCrory launched his campaign."We did what every family and what every business had to do" in overcoming a tough economy and constrained budget when his administration took power, McCrory said."We became more efficient. We prioritized. We solved problems. We put together a great team. We set goals. We made the tough decisions, and we took action," he said. "We led, and we've gotten results that have been positive for the people of North Carolina."In a press release, the state Democratic Party downplayed the governor's announcement. "Thanks to Governor McCrory, middle class families have less money in their pockets, wages have stagnated, and North Carolina's best teachers are leaving for other states - all while giant corporations and those at the top have received record breaks. ... [V[oters are ready for a change," said party spokesman Ford Porter.The governor touted accomplishments, including reducing personal income and corporate tax rates, retiring a $2.6 billion unemployment insurance debt to the federal government, creating a rainy day fund in the budget to cope with any future economic downturns, and reining in recurring Medicaid shortfalls."We gave teachers much needed pay raises and respect. We reformed Medicaid when no one said the legislature or governor could get together on Medicaid reform," he said. "We reduced bureaucracy and we reduced waste. We increased resources to build much needed roads throughout North Carolina."McCrory said a $2 billion bond program referendum he championed through the General Assembly will let voters approve major reinvestments in universities, community colleges, state parks and attractions, roads, and bridges."Some say we can do better. But the results show this. Nobody has ever done it better than this administration," McCrory said.He said on his watch more than 230,000 new private sector jobs were created, and North Carolina is one of the dozen fastest-growing states in job creation nationally. The state experienced the 11th largest decrease in unemployment, and personal income grew the 10th fastest among states."North Carolina is the only Southern state to make the top 10 in both job growth and income growth," McCrory said.The governor also noted his detractors. "From day one the critics howled," he said."The good old boy network that controlled state government for the last 25 years, they tried to stop any and all reform. The media elite falsely predicted dire consequences of our actions," he said. "The professional politicians who have been in Raleigh for decades from both the left and the right, frankly, fought for power instead of fighting for the right thing to do for the people of North Carolina."And now there are "shadowy left-wing groups funded by anonymous donors from outside of our state who have descended on our state, pushing a radical agenda that does not meet North Carolina values," McCrory said, without elaboration."How thankful we are that our governor is a business-friendly governor," Kelly said. "Our organization has directly benefited by that leadership, and when I say benefited we're growing jobs," Kelly said. Salem One - which has operations in both Carolinas - grew from 12 employees "not that many years ago" to more than 130 today.Brown, who runs an international consulting firm and an international education foundation, said McCrory was mayor of Charlotte when they met nearly 20 years ago."He's honest, ethical. He's someone we can trust," Brown said. "He's someone who has the courage to stand up when things go wrong, and many times things have been wrong. There are a lot of things wrong in this state now, and we have a governor who's trying to correct it."He said McCrory "can see the greatness in every child," is trying to help "struggling schools," and "understands that a good education is not just a talking point. ... We have an education governor. We have a governor who now wants to lift us up and take us many places we haven't been before."State Rep. Pat Hurley, R-Randolph, who was among the state and local elected officials attending, said she looks forward to a second McCrory term. She said media reports of rifts between the governor and General Assembly are overblown."I think he likes to do personal meetings with groups. I think he's done that lots of times," Hurley said. "We don't always agree, everybody. But we do want the same things for North Carolina. It's very important that we work together ... to help North Carolina be the state it can be, and it has risen" due to their combined efforts.Dale Folwell, former assistant secretary of employment security, expects McCrory's track record as governor will lift him over Democratic challengers Ken Spaulding, a Durham attorney, and Attorney General Roy Cooper, and that should help Republicans on down-ballot races."I think the people of North Carolina are going to respect anyone who recognizes that they didn't create the problem, they discovered the problem, and they're going to be about the business of fixing the problem," said Folwell, who has filed to run for state treasurer.The Republican Governors Association threw its support behind McCrory's re-election announcement, hailing job creation on his watch "while providing $4.4 billion in tax relief to hardworking North Carolina taxpayers, delivering a $450 million budget surplus, and making key investments in education, including the largest teacher pay raise in the country.""Governor McCrory has a clear vision for the future of our state, a record of results, and has time and time again stood up for North Carolina families," said North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Hasan Harnett.
UNC-CH historian Worthen shares key ideas from book 'Apostles of Reason'

Molly Worthen

RALEIGH Some political pundits talk about a monolithic group called the Christian Right, social conservatives who march in lockstep behind a standard set of socially conservative political views. Dr. Molly Worthen, assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, disputes that characterization in the book. Worthen shared key themes from the book during a conversation with Mitch Kokai for Carolina Journal Radio. (Click here to find a station near you or to learn about the weekly CJ Radio podcast.)I understand that one thing that your book does is challenge this notion that the Christian Right or social conservatives are all a unified mass who all believe the same things and are a monolithic group. You really kind of take that idea and take it apart in some respects.That's right. I think that's been a misconception that the nonevangelical media has had, not only in the past 20 years, but really going back to the beginning of the century. You can find the same mistake. And it's true, once you dig into the world of conservative Protestantism, you quickly find that these folks disagree about almost everything except perhaps the divinity of Christ. I mean they really - once you get into the nitty-gritty of what a born-again experience is, or what the nature of the Bible's authority truly is, how you ought to worship God, and all of these questions, they disagree. And those disagreements have implications for how they think Christians should position themselves toward culture and politics.Part of the misconception I understand that the book [addresses] is that people have been focusing too much on the politics and where these folks stand on politics, and not really why these folks are evangelical in the first place, and that if they really shifted gears, they might get a better understanding.I think the intellectual history and the theology really precede the politics. I mean of course you can't understand the rise of organizations like the Moral Majority without paying close attention to the political clashes in the aftermath of the civil rights movement and that whole narrative, the reaction to communism abroad - these are all very important.But to really understand the role of Christianity, I think you actually have to go back several centuries, frankly, and tease out the particular way in which American evangelicals have come to interpret the authority of scripture, and why a small, particular group of evangelical theologians - who really have never spoken for every single conservative Protestant - came to really represent the public political face of evangelicalism in a way that can be a bit misleading if what you want is to really get a sense of what evangelicals across the country believe.You mentioned going back several centuries, and I understand that one of the purposes of Apostles of Reason is to really kind of tell this history. Is that right?That's right. When I went into this, I was interested in figuring out why it is the case that a subculture within evangelicalism that I'll loosely call the reformed evangelicals, those who draw their heritage from John Calvin and their colleagues, might affiliate with churches like the Presbyterian Church or several varieties of Baptist church. But if you really count heads, we're talking about a fairly small subset of all the orthodox Protestants across the country.Why is it that these particular evangelicals have come to wield really outsized, disproportionate influence on how evangelicals ranging from Mennonites to Pentecostals have come to talk about the Bible, talk about culture? I was interested in the origins of ideas like biblical inerrancy, this particular way of talking about the perfection of the Bible, and the phrase "the Christian world-view," which you encounter everywhere if you read conservative Christian literature. But that phrase actually has a history, and that was a story I was interested in telling.So in investigating that story, did you find some things that were quite surprising?Well, I did. I found really two narratives; a long narrative and a short narrative. The long narrative is a story that, for my purposes, begins in the 17th century at a time when a fairly small number of Protestant theologians were really trying to raise up some defenses against two very different challenges.On the one hand, they were trying to fend off the attacks of Catholic scholastic theologians who were busy picking apart Protestant arguments with an annoyingly Jesuitical technique. On the other hand, they were concerned with Enlightenment philosophers, secular rationalists who were busy trying to debunk the miracles of Christ as recorded in the Gospels.So these Protestant theologians essentially tried to turn the weapons of their enemies back upon them. And they developed a very rationalistic, we almost might say scientistic, way of talking about the authority of the Bible that is really the ancestor idea of the trend among many evangelicals today to really view the Bible as the best science textbook, the best history textbook, a book that is inerrant not just in matters of faith, but in matters of science and history.So that was a story I was interested in teasing out because that's one tradition that is a bit at odds with how some other evangelicals have come to understand the authority of scripture, whether it's in the Anabaptist tradition or the Wesleyan tradition.On the other hand, I wanted to tease out the role as institution builders that I found among Billy Graham and his circle of evangelists and intellectuals in the aftermath of really World War II and the early years of the Cold War. The rise of organizations that they built like the magazine Christianity Today, the seminary Fuller Theological Seminary, and how the institutions and the sort of ideological thought world that they constructed - even though we're talking about a fairly small number of individuals - really took this long, centuries-long, stream of theology and remodeled it in a way that was particularly potent for the years of the post-war era and the early Cold War, the age of ideology.In the time that we have remaining, is there one thing or one strand of thought about these evangelical groups that people ought to know that they really don't if they haven't done the type of study that you have?My basic conclusion when I came to the end of this book was that this notion that many secular observers have that conservative evangelicals are slaves to authority - mindless, obedient servants to their pastor or to one simple way of reading the Bible, and they don't think for themselves - this is completely wrong. If there is anything that helps secular outsiders understand why it is that many evangelicals resist reinterpreting the Bible to make room for modern notions of sexuality or resist Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, it's because in fact they take human reason just as seriously as they take the authority of the Bible.They take the authority of their community just as seriously as really the respect of the public sphere. And they find themselves at really the center of what I characterize as kind of a crisis of authority in which they're seeking to obey all these different conflicting authorities at once. And that to me is the framework in which it's most helpful to understand evangelicals in the public square.
Woodrow stands by a plaque at the entrance of the Sheridan VA Medical Center in Sheridan, Wyoming, where he works as a graduate psychologist helping veterans in a substance-abuse treatment program.

Graduate psychologist Kevin Woodrow will speak about his experiences at the Department of Psychology's upcoming graduation.



Kevin Woodrow, right, discusses clinical health psychology topics with psychology professor Sam Sears and previous fellow doctoral students Jessica Ford and Kate Cutitta.

Kevin Woodrow served active duty for the U.S. Army during significant international conflicts. Now, he's helping other veterans face and win some of the toughest battles of their lives.Woodrow, who will officially accept his doctoral degree in clinical health psychology at East Carolina University's Dec. 18 commencement ceremony, is already working as a graduate psychologist for the Sheridan VA Medical Center in Sheridan, Wyoming. He works with veterans in a residential substance-abuse treatment program as they work to overcome their mental-health challenges and make the transition to more successful lives.Woodrow said.Woodrow's career with the Army spanned 20 years, including active tours during Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He took a position working in the Army ROTC department at ECU and earned an online master's degree in psychology. He considered applying for ECU's doctoral program in clinical health psychology, and he enrolled in the program upon his retirement.Woodrow said.The program was a natural fit for Woodrow, who found the facultyhe said. He and his fellow students felt that their professors and mentors were rooting for their success throughout the challenging course work and program requirements.he said.The graduates have secured equally diverse positions in clinical health psychology arenas. Woodrow interned for the VA-the largest employer of health psychologists, he said-at the Sheridan hospital, which proved to be the right fit for him long term.As he served with allegiance to his country, Woodrow also feels a similar camaraderie with the fellow veterans in the substance-abuse program. He draws upon his own experiences in the Army to form bonds with the veterans, what he calls aThat connection between Woodrow and the patients builds a level of trust as he learns about the mental and physical challenges they face.He works with veterans in group settings but also addresses individual cases, helping the veterans manage their substance-abuse problems and assisting them as they make decisions including where they will live, what their next steps in life will be and how to succeed at long-term recovery and manage and cope with additional health problems.Former classmate Jessica Ford said Woodrow's military service would lend itself to his profession.she said.Once mentored by Woodrow, Ford said Woodrow's personality and strength as a listener put people at ease.she said,Woodrow's path from doctoral student to psychologist is a testament to ECU's mission of service, said Sam Sears, director of ECU's doctoral program in health psychology and Woodrow's mentor.Sears said.Sears said Woodrow is an asset to the field and to his patients.Sears said.Woodrow will share his story with fellow graduates in the Department of Psychology as the department's graduation speaker. He hopes his story canhe said.Woodrow's speech will liken professional psychological duties to the framework the students have set during their tenure at ECU. He will tell fellow graduates that the preparation they have received as students will serve them at the highest levels of their careers as well.Woodrow said.A Texas native, Woodrow retired from the Army as a major, and balances his career with spending time with his wife and three children.After meeting the rigorous demands of the doctoral program and while addressing the challenges of his patients, Woodrow appreciates the moments when his career choice is validated.he said.
A worker assembles a frame for solar panels at a Duke Energy project near Elizabeth City.

Photo by Don Carrington

Update: After this story was posted,

"I said nothing about the application fees being a net positive for taxpayers." After this story was posted, McCorkle tweeted a request for a correction, writing:

The final batch of solar and other renewable energy projects requested under thelaw enacted in April by the General Assembly could cost North Carolina taxpayers as much as $937,804,785 in credits, according to aggregated figures released Wednesday by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.Altogether, the projects represent a total of 1,641 megawatts in new renewable energy for facilities that are under construction. The state income tax credit - 35 percent of the costs of investing in new renewable energy facilities - was set to expire at the end of December, but Senate Bill 372 , Renewable Energy Safe Harbor, extended the scheduled sunset of the income tax credit by one year if developers met certain thresholds.To get thecredit, the owner of a project under construction needed to apply with the Department of Revenue by Oct. 1 and pay an application fee of $1,000 per megawatt of capacity with a minimum payment of $5,000. The extension was intended to protect projects that had been in the planning stages.The credits are taken in installments over five years and cannot exceed certain levels of a recipient's overall tax liability.At the time the bill was debated, the legislature's Fiscal Research Division estimated that the safe-harbor provision would cost state taxpayers $183.5 million in tax credits over five years.Instead, Revenue received 201 applications for the tax credit and collected $1,918,735 in application fees. When the John Locke Foundation reported earlier this month on the unexpectedly large number of applications, Betsy McCorkle, chief lobbyist for the N.C. Sustainable Energy Alliance suggested on Twitter the extension would result in a net gain for state taxpayers.The Revenue report, provided to Carolina Journal by spokesman Trevor Johnson, suggests otherwise. The $938 million figureJohnson wrote.To qualify, projects with a total size of less than 65 megawatts must have completed 80 percent of their expenditures and physical construction before Jan. 1, 2016. Projects 65 megawatts and larger must be at least 50 percent complete before Jan. 1.To receive the credit, before March 1, 2016, project owners must provide written certification that the conditions were met and include a report from an independent engineer licensed in North Carolina and a separate report from a certified public accountant licensed in North Carolina.
Should America accept Syrian refugees right now, as prescribed by the Obama Administration, or should Congress legislate to pause the process until a more proven vetting apparatus is in place to inhibit possible ISIS infiltrators? 10.84% Yes, Obama is right, we should show the refugees compassion, and admit them as soon as is possible. 79.52% No, Congress is right, we should pause the process to be more certain that terrorists aren't among them. 9.64% It does not matter. 83 total vote(s) Voting has Ended!

Considering the fact that the Democrat Mainstream media has taken a "hands-off" policy in regards to Democrat scandals for the purpose of providing cover to a Democrat Department of Justice's choices to not pursue criminal indictments on proved Democrat criminal behavior: Is there a double standard for the Democrat Mainstream media? 88.41% Yes, what is the practice for the Republicans should be proper for Democrats. 7.25% No, Democrats should be immune from serious investigation and prosecution because they care so much more. 4.35% I don't care, I prefer the low-information approach to life. 69 total vote(s) Voting has Ended!

If you could vote today for one of the Republican front runners for the GOP primary nomination: Who would it be? 11.07% Donald Trump 26.64% Ben Carson 13.52% Carly Fiorina 2.87% Jeb Bush 33.61% Ted Cruz 12.3% Marco Rubio 244 total vote(s) Voting has Ended!

Hussein Obama wants to appear that he cares a little bit about fighting terror, but, mostly, he wants the World to rather know that he is doing it 'with one hand tied behind his back' to be a good sport, hence the secret presidential directive to not check the Social Media accounts of those seeking a visa to enter our country. I reckon when you are the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for being a Community Organizer from the social utopia that is Chicago, one does not wish to appear too harsh on the diversity that is terror to one's new climate-change-warrior friends. Every American that is long an indoctrinated student of our multi level Education Industry is well familiar that the harsh reality of Global warming far outweighs the Obama negotiated truth that terrorists will soon have nuclear, and possibly chemical and biological capabilities.Furthermore, Barack Hussein Obama has done so well to put the terrorists back into the Jihad rotation , even resourcefully brought home an "American hero", Bowe Bergdahl, for deserting the Afghan conflict with "Honor and Distinction" for the 5 most capable leaders of these Jihad insurgents. Soon, the Liberal ideal of harboring no "freedom fighting" detainees will be accomplished, and with the good Democrat rhetoric of your president, Hussein, he will continue to admonish more Republicans , en masse, and soon you may accomplish your Worldview desire of "Open Borders" , not only to Hispanics, but to admit more Muslims from the wore torn Middle East, where your very cool president was so wise to surrender everything that "Patriots" had fought and died for to win.Besides the Obama cliche of, there is the cliche,, in regards to the aspirational Climate Change consummation juxtaposed against the necessity of dealing with terrorism. In real terms, in this regard of being ambidextrous in a governing sense, Obama, and his group of lost losers, have proved that can't even negotiate removing the gum wrapper, much less chewing and walking. Nobody, who knows purposeful governing, would support that poorly considered proposition ... except the core Democrat - the 'low-information voter' Furthermore, rest assured of this one certainty, you good Obama loving Liberal, even though some "Patriots" might accuse Hussein of his unconcern of defending the nation by NOT tracking down these "Jihadists" , you can be thankful for your president's vigilance of "homegrown Tea Party terrorists" by denying them their constitutional rights, where possible, and using the IRS to track them down for targeting on such a wide scale. And when their Republican congresspeople swooped down to raise constitutional and criminal objections, your president was wise to insulate himself; IRS leader Lois Lerner, her superiors and subordinates with his Democrat Department of Justice, headed first by criminal AG Eric Holder , and now Democrat Attorney General Loretta Lynch.Within this Liberal inaction, possibly, there is some Democrat ideal, emboldened by your Champion Obama, that all of you can be proud of. The rest of us unworldly "Patriots" will make preparations to defend our families, our communities, and our Constitution, and, maybe, just maybe, our Republic will survive you Liberals, and your president, Hussein Obama.
"an address contained in a document from the Wake County magistrate's office. I am aware that the magistrates' office has the wrong address listed for me. The incorrect address listed on the magistrate's order came to be on record with the magistrate's office because it was the mailing address I provided to the officials when I was arrested in May 2013 for engaging in civil disobedience. At that time I did not yet have a signed lease in Durham and needed a secure place for mail from the Wake County Magistrate to be sent. I provided my parent's address in Miami, Florida so that my parents could be sure to get my mail to me in Durham."

(Quote from Gonzalez's signed affidavit)

On December 10, the Durham County Board of Elections met to hear the challenge to Ivanna Gonzalez's voter registration. In less than an hour, the two board members present (one Democrat and one Republican), voted to dismiss the case for lack of evidence. A very simple decision to a not so simple set of circumstances.First, it's important to know who Ivanna Gonzalez is because it is very unlikely that an everyday citizen would have ended up defending her right to vote in Durham County surrounded by the Left's elite. In fact, Gonzalez is a Blueprint NC staff member and that fact alone makes her a VIP in North Carolina's liberal/progressive movement. You may remember Blueprint NC is the group that was created in 2005 by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation to coordinate activities of the myriad of left-wing activist groups in North Carolina. Blueprint NC is notorious for the 2013 strategy memo that instructed its member groups to attack the newly elected governor and legislative majorities and toSo it was no wonder that she was extremely well represented at the hearing by two attorneys, both from the liberal/progressive Southern Coalition for Social Justice (Blueprint NC member), including Anita Earls, the organization's director and founder. (The Southern Coalition for Social Justice has taken a prominent role in the fight against voter photo ID and the lawsuit to stop the most recent redistricting maps ultimately upheld by the U.S. Justice Department and the North Carolina Supreme Court.) Even the architect of all of North Carolina's old progressive election laws, Bob Hall of Democracy NC (another Blueprint NC member), was there to show his support for Gonzalez. (Democracy NC is currently suing the State Board of Elections, accusing them of violating the National Voter Registration Act - known asGonzalez had been arrested for obstructing traffic and resisting a law enforcement officer during a protest outside the Governor's Mansion on October 29, 2015. Subsequently, two legal documents, a Magistrate's Order and an Appearance Bond for Pretrial Release, both listed a Miami, Florida address (one as a mailing address, the other a non-mailing address) for Gonzalez. Two days later, however, Gonzalez voted early using the Durham County address of her voter registration.Bart Goswick, the registered voter in Gonzalez's precinct who made the challenges to her ballot and voter registration, said that he had been following the story because he had learned that Gonzalez had apparently given a Miami address to Wake County law enforcement, but she also was listed as a voter in his home precinct. When Goswick discovered that Gonzalez voted in Durham County during early voting, he decided to challenge her ballot.According to Goswick, NCGS 163-89 is the statute that governs absentee ballot challenges, so he waited until Election Day as the law requires:163-89. Procedures for challenging absentee ballots.(a) Time for Challenge. - The absentee ballot of any voter may be challenged on the day of any statewide primary or general election or county bond election beginning no earlier than noon and ending no later than 5:00 P.M., or by the chief judge at the time of closing of the polls as provided in G.S. 163-232 and G.S. 163-258.26(b).But when Goswick attempted to formally challenge Gonzalez's vote in the precinct/polling place on Election Day, as is required by law, the chief elections judge refused to hear the challenge. The chief judge told Goswick to call Durham County Board of Elections Director Michael Perry. The following day, Goswick contacted Perry and made an appointment to meet with him on Friday. That is when Goswick submitted the challenges to Gonzalez's ballot and to her voter registration.According to the November 10, 2015 Durham County Board of Elections meeting minutes, Perry statedDuring the Dec. 10 hearing, Goswick presented the Magistrate's Order and Appearance Bond documents as evidence that Gonzalez had offered a Miami address as her residence barely 48 hours prior to voting in a Durham County election. Gonzalez offered evidence including copies of her rental agreement, utility bills, and North Carolina Driver License to prove that she resided at the Durham County address listed on her voter registration. Gonzalez also testified that she told the authorities (during the October 2015 arrest) at least five times that her address was in Durham.So you see why it was important to understand who was being challenged in this case. Not many people would end up with two lawyers from a liberal legal advocacy non-profit organization and the director of Democracy NC in their corner. But then again, not many people would have been arrested at least two times in the last two years in political protests.Unfortunately, this case has proven that we now should worry about the Wake County justice system keeping accurate records. They did Ms. Gonzalez no favors in their shoddy record keeping. And, Durham County's elections director, Michael Perry has been made aware from these events that his county's precinct officials need extra training in the ballot challenging department - let's hope he thinks it is important enough to emphasize in the 2016 training sessions.On a positive note, a citizen did his part and asked the right questions when he thought that something just wasn't quite right in his voting precinct. In North Carolina, when it comes to elections and voting, citizens must be the investigators. The State Board of Elections, in most cases, will not investigate instances of voter fraud (or what appears to be fraud) unless a citizen makes an official complaint or submits a challenge.
Patriot National Bancorp in Stamford, Conn., said that its chief financial officer resigned this week and that it has hired a former Connecticut community bank executive to replace her.

The $641 million-asset company named Neil McDonnell its CFO, effective immediately, according to a regulatory filing. McDonnell will succeed Christina Maier.

McDonnell, 52, for the past year was an independent consultant to the financial industry. Previously he was CFO of the $701 million-asset Darien Rowayton Bank in Darien, Conn., and CFO of the $786 million-asset Fieldpoint Private Bank & Trust in Greenwich, Conn. McDonnell will receive a base salary of $225,000; other elements of his compensation were not disclosed.

Maier resigned on Tuesday as CFO of both Patriot National Bancorp and Patriot Bank. She will resign as an executive vice president of the bank on April 30. Patriot said Maier resigned for personal reasons.

Maier had been Patriot's CFO since October 2013. Previously she was director of U.S. accounting and reporting at Brown Brothers Harriman and had worked for Provident New York Bancorp.

Patriot has been in turnaround mode in recent years. It earned $16 million last year, largely by recapturing its deferred-tax asset, after suffering six straight years of losses. Patriot's 2015 net income through Sept. 30 was $1.6 million.

Patriot in August gained a new private-equity investor in Castle Creek Capital; the size of its investment was not disclosed.

There had been rumors the bank might be put up for sale, but Chief Executive Kenneth Neilson recently said that he was on the lookout for a possible acquisition.

Patriot also plans to make renovations and add public meeting rooms to all its branches, at a cost of about $40,000 per branch. The renovations are intended to help Patriot distinguish itself from competitors.
On Friday, December 18th, the North Carolina Academic Standards Review Commission ( ASRC ) tasked with providing recommendations to replace Common Core standards held their last meeting. All indications over the prior fourteen months of meetings pointed to substantial changes being recommended.What happened was akin to a prize fighter taking a dive in the big fight.The meeting began with the usual procedural measures and heard briefly from Senator Jerry Tillman (R-Moore) who underscored that the legislature would not accept a re-brand of the standards. Then the meeting skipped any discussion of the findings in the draft report and turned to directly voting on the proposed draft recommendations.The commission began by voting on the English Language Arts (ELA) recommendations ( p. 39 ), which seemed to simply be a re-wording of the task assigned to the ASRC by the legislature. The draft report is forty-four pages long, yet the recommendations are only three pages long.There was very little discussion of the ELA and were a few small language changes made to those recommendations before the commission started discussions on the Math standards. In fact, the discussion and voting on the ELA section took less than thirty minutes.It is important for the public to understand that for the better part of the last six months, the math group engaged in making these recommendations had stated their intent of looking at Minnesota's math standards as a replacement for the grades of kindergarten through eighth grade. The math group's findings and research were available to all of the commission members and majority of the commission were in agreement that there needed to be changes made to the math standards.Before large scale discussions on the math standards even began, the suggestion to apply the ELA recommendations to the Math as well was made by Commissioner Ann Clark. Clark suggested substituting the word Math for that of English Language Arts and adapting the rest of the language as needed. The Commission voted 'yes' to this change and then moved on to the actual math recommendations.Once the math debate started, it quickly turned into an inquisition of Dr. Ted Scheik and was led largely by commission member Jeffrey Isenhour. Commission members Denise Watts, Olivia Oxendine and Ann Clark aided Isenhour in scrutinizing and criticizing Dr. Scheik. At one point this scrutiny became so heated that Co-Chair Covil noted it to be 'beyond that which North Carolina's Superintendent has not had'.After more than an hour and a half of grilling Dr. Scheik on his two recommendations, the commission voted both of them down. In between the first vote and the second, Commissioner Jeannie Metcalf became so disgusted that she got up and left. Co-Chair Peek didn't even seem to notice and the voting continued on.On the first recommendation, the only 'yes' votes came from Co-Chair Covil, Dr. Scheik, Jeannie Metcalf and Laurie McCollum. On the second, the only 'yes' votes came from Co-Chair Covil, Dr. Scheik and Katie Lemons.While the local media present at this meeting seemed confused as to why the commission would scuttle their own report, the reason was clear to many regular attendees in the gallery. The commission had just taken a dive and caved to pressure from outside groups and education officials. To be frank, it really appeared that those voting down the math standards had ignored the research done by the math group and had chosen to stand by Common Core instead of North Carolina's children.While groups like the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) had representatives there claiming victory to the media on hand, the parents in the room were frustrated and angry.Attendee Karen Fink, told ABC11 that,And Fink is right. That is exactly what the commissioners who voted down the math changes did. They took it easy in the first few rounds, beat up on the math in the middle rounds and then took a dive just as the final bell rang.There is, however, a silver lining of sorts. In approving recommendations that were as non-specific as these are, the ASRC arguably has not completed the task set out by the legislature in SB 812 . If Senator Tillman is true to his word, the legislature will not accept these recommendations.One would hope that the legislature would instead look at the bulk of the commission's findings which show glaring flaws in both the Common Core ELA and the math standards. With this commission failing to fulfill the goal set out for them, it is incumbent on the legislature to now act.The General Assembly needs to understand that this is not just about Common Core, this is part and parcel of the failed education policies of former Governor Perdue, and that of former Education Secretary Arne Duncan. And the General Assembly needs to recognize that Dr. Atkinson has stood shoulder to shoulder on policy issues with these two.The Department of Public Instruction, under the leadership of June Atkinson, has made a mess of North Carolina schools with a blind loyalty to Common Core. Going back as far as the Race Top The Top grant application in January 2010, Dr. Atkinson has shown her allegiance to Common Core time and time again by continuing to defend the standards over the very loud objections of the public.If her continual defense of line item standards amid national calls to dump Common Core isn't telling enough, perhaps the data showing a boom in the numbers of North Carolina families choosing homeschooling and skyrocketing demand for more school choice are more of a wake-up call. Parents want out of traditional public schools and Common Core is a major common denominator.It is also worth noting that over the last year, Atkinson served as President of one of the two Washington, D.C. trade organizations who hold the copyright on the standards. She really cannot be considered objective at this point.Whatever action the General Assembly does take needs to be swift and include consequences for non-compliance, because Atkinson conveniently has already begun the 5 year annual process of 'reviewing' North Carolina's Standard Course of Study.If anyone is the betting kind, a good bet would be that Atkinson directs that review to make sure that Common Core stays exactly where it is.While the ASRC clearly took a dive to protect Common Core, it seems that a new fight has now begun.Read the full original draft report here Read the original draft appendices here
WASHINGTON  The presidential elections are still nearly a year away, but the financial services sector has already pledged tens of millions of dollars to top White House contenders.

The banking industry has consistently proven to be a major financial backer for candidates on both sides of the aisle, providing important clues about how this election season is shaping up.

Below we answer some frequently asked questions about the race for the presidency, including how bankers are voting with their wallets.

Who's getting the most support from the banking industry so far?

Democrat Hillary Clinton is leading the pack, having raised $5.5 million from the sector, which includes donations from employees at commercial banks, securities and investment firms, insurance companies, hedge funds and the real estate industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida remains the industry's favored GOP candidate with over $4.2 million raised  though his disappointing performance in recent primary debates could potentially lead banks to boost donations to his rivals.

"The financial sector wants stability," said Geoffrey Skelley, a political analyst at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "Having a track record and being more predictable is what Clinton and Bush offer."

Though it's early in the race, the two candidates have already amassed a steep lead on their opponents  both in terms of funding from the banking industry as well as in their war chests overall. Bush has raised $128 million through his campaign committee and outside groups, while Clinton has amassed a total of $97.8 million, based on Federal Election Commission data released Sept. 30 and analyzed by CRP. The third strongest contender in terms of funding is Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who's raised $65.2 million overall.

The banking industry has also been active in giving to outside groups supportive of top candidates, contributing a total of $116.2 million for all races this election cycle, by far the most contributed by any single sector. As of August, the industry had given $40.8 million to Right to Rise USA, a major Bush super PAC, according to CRP. The sector leads donations to the group, which has raised $103.2 million in total. Financial services has contributed another $3.4 million to Priorities USA Action, a $15.6 million super PAC supporting Clinton.

Marco Rubio, who some suggest could overtake Bush if he continues to fumble, has raised just $32.8 million overall, including $1.7 million in direct contributions from bankers. His $16.1 million super PAC, Conservative Solutions, has reportedly received another $1.4 million from the financial sector.

Cruz, who is married to a managing director at Goldman Sachs, has raised more than $36 million from the financial industry through three major super PACs, Keep the Promise I, II and III, backed by a small handful of financial mega-donors. He's raised $1.9 million in direct contributions from the financial sector. (Direct contributions include donations to the candidates by company PACs, as well as employees and their immediate families, made to a candidate's campaign committee. The vast majority of the contributions made to all the candidates thus far come from individuals.)

Why is the industry backing both Republicans and Democrats?

To some extent, financial industry contributors are likely doing what they know best  they're hedging their bets.

"Wall Street support is going to who they think the winner will be," said Mark Calabria, a former Senate GOP aide who now heads financial policy at the Cato Institute. "To some extent, it's going to more important on Republican side, because the candidates haven't shaken out in the same way."

Yet curiously, the banking industry and financial reform have gotten relatively little attention from the GOP candidates so far, despite the vast field of contenders. While many of the Republican candidates are on record as saying they'd repeal or drastically gut the Dodd-Frank Act, few have offered concrete proposals. The issue has barely registered during the three primary debates so far, including one dedicated to discussing the economy. There's been very little said that's outwardly critical of Wall Street, with the focus instead on how government regulation is hampering the markets.

"To me there's an opening for a candidate who wants to say, I'm really for Main Street Republican values  to say that Main Street values are not the same as Wall Street values," said Arthur Wilmarth, a professor of law at George Washington University. "It's been a bit of a surprise that nobody's saying that, given there's such a large field where you'd think people would want to be setting themselves apart."

Analysts will be watching closely to see if the issues gain any further traction on Tuesday night during the fourth GOP debate.

What hurdles remain for the top candidates?

If Bush continues to falter in coming weeks and months, it's possible that one of his rivals could replace him as the darling of the financial industry.

Rubio is considered a strong competitor who could win over the business community, and even Cruz, a stark conservative, could be a beneficiary. Both Donald Trump and Ben Carson have put up strong polling numbers in recent months, though they've so far received considerably less support from the banking industry. On the other hand, it's also possible Clinton could see an uptick in fundraising should Bush lose support, particularly if it bolsters the odds of her winning the general election.

On the Democratic side of the aisle, there's little guessing over why bankers are backing Clinton. Her primary rivals, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, are vocal critics of Wall Street and have both come out with plans to break up the biggest banks. Sanders has collected just $298,000 in direct contributions from the financial sector so far this season, while O'Malley has raised nearly $313,000.

The two contenders were quick to challenge Clinton on her financial services record during the party's first primary debate last month. Clinton has struggled to strike a balance in going tough on the industry to appease progressives, while not pushing potential backers over the edge.

"It will be interesting to see if Clinton's shift left in terms of rhetoric on Wall Street and the financial industry actually results in less money," said Skelley. "Or are donors going to read between the lines and say, she's not going to be too aggressive."

So far, she's backed legislation to reduce the revolving door between private sector work and government employment and has called for bankers who commit crimes to be punished, but has offered what many view as a relatively modest plan for reform. She's raised $2.4 million from securities and investment firms and commercial banks alone, slightly edging out Bush, who's raised $2.1 million from those groups in direct contributions. Those groups have given Sanders just $71,000 and O'Malley $92,000.

"She's doing the minimum necessary to protect herself from the attacks being leveled by both Sanders and O'Malley," said Wilmarth.
Liberal critics of capitalism love to elaborate on how corporations engage in conspiracies to make themselves rich. All these conspiracies involve corrupt corporate executives enabled by conservative Republican politicians. It may be interesting to consider if President Obamas recent actions on gun control provide a basis for such conspiracy theory analysis.

When President Bush invaded Iraq, conspiracy theorists immediately stated that the Iraq invasion was only done to make Bush and Dick Cheney, his vice president, rich. Cheney, the theory asserted, wanted to invade Iraq since he had been an executive with Halliburton and Halliburton stood to make billions in profits from a military invasion.

Since Bush and Cheney were both oil men they could use the U.S. military invasion of Iraq to make themselves rich. To enable this invasion Bush lied about Saddam Husseins WMDs, people died, and their Republican friends and campaign contributors made huge profits from the suffering of others. Bush intentionally exaggerated the threat Saddam presented to the world, simply to stir up support for this illegal war. Halliburton profits and stock values would rise.

If the same conspiracy theory view is directed toward President Obamas gun control statements some interesting facts emerge. The basic tenet of a conspiracy theory is that political actions are never taken for the reasons given. There is always a hidden reason, and this hidden reason usually involves money. If one just follows the money and shows who profits, then the hidden reason will be revealed for all to see. The simple question that exposes this hidden reason then is: who profits?

Oil companies profit from many areas of foreign policy. This is considered a standard belief among conspiracy believers. This belief is so widely held that Hollywood produces movies featuring the profits of oil companies that result from government intervention in foreign nations.

For example, in the film Shooter with Mark Wahlberg the film reveals that a U.S. senator conspired with international oil interests to export oil from Eritrea. A pipeline had to be built and inhabitants of the area were killed in order to quash their resistance to the oil pipeline. Through his movie, Hollywood producers that regularly donate to the Democrats and promote the liberal agenda supported the belief that oil interests are often behind military actions around the world.

Now analyze Obamas gun control rhetoric and the effects its had on gun sales in the U.S. and the value of gun manufacturer stocks. Huge profits have been made after Obama started his crusade against guns. For example, Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. stock jumped to the highest price in eight years following President Obamas January 4, 2016 announcement of efforts to restrict gun ownership. Its stock has reached the highest price since 2007. Sturm Ruger, another major gun manufacturer, saw its stock price rise 57% in just the past year.

Wall Street Daily commented:

The presidents efforts to push for tighter gun controls have made him the top firearms salesman in history, and the reason investors could see even higher returns for many years to come.

This, because current demand outpaces production.

But for liberals the increase in firearm sales is blamed on the gun industry. The Nation had a story in 2012 blaming the NRA for whipping up fear that their guns would be taken. This is an interesting spin on the issue since President Obamas obsession with gun control is not fueled by NRA donations. In fact, Democrats loathe the NRA and most are not supporters.

It is interesting to see how Bush was responsible for whipping up fear that Saddam Hussein had WMDs, but somehow President Obama, who, along with his party, is the person attacking the gun industry and driving up stock prices, but he is never blamed. Its only other third party actors who are blamed.

Conspiracy spinners may also note the fact that President Obama does nothing to deport illegal immigrants who have been convicted of seven felonies. He also did not support Kates Law, which would deport illegal immigrants convicted of violent felonies. Additionally, he took illegal and unconstitutional steps to keep illegal immigrants accused of crimes and currently in detention centers from being deported.

And to further stoke fear of crime, Obama has refused to vigorously prosecute those arrested of crimes committed with guns. Syracuse Universitys TRAC Reports found that President Obamas annual prosecution of gun crimes is below levels practiced by George Bush in his last five years of office. In Chicago in 2014, federal prosecutors made just one prosecution for only one of every hundred guns seized. This doesnt seem to reflect the concern President Obama shows for gun control.

Gun prosecutions and the deportation of violent illegal immigrants are not priorities for President Obama. Whether or not these actions are part of a conspiracy to whip up fear in Americans so they go out and buy more guns, they have increased the profits of corporate gun makers.

Follow the money is no longer a motto of the left when it comes to their own.
Just a day after a weeping President Obama attempted to disembowel the 2d Amendment with a series of unconstitutional executive orders, a liberal judge in Maryland, caving to the mob justice in that plagues that benighted city, gutted the 5th Amendment. This occurred during a pre-trial hearing in the case of Officer Caesar R. Goodson, the second Baltimore City policeman to be tried criminally in the allegedly accidental death of small-time hood Freddie Gray. The prosecution asked Judge Barry G. Williams to compel Officer William G. Porter, to testify against Goodson, and the judge, over the strenuous opposition of the defense, granted the motion.

Porter was the first officer brought to trial in the Gray case, presumably because the prosecution believed the case against him to be the strongest. In fact, at trial the case against Porter was shown to be gossamer thin, with the State unable to prove exactly when or how Gray suffered his fatal injury, the defense demonstrating that the medical examiners office changed its initial conclusion that the injury was accidental under political pressure, and an absence of evidence that Porter ever did anything to harm Gray. The greatest surprise in Porters trial was that despite the dearth of evidence that he committed any crime, that at least one juror voted to convict him.

The mistrial in Porters case was disastrous for the prosecution, since they counted on him to provide testimony against his fellow officers either having been convicted or acquitted. The prosecution could have obviated that problem by choosing not to retry Porter, but having promised mob justice to Baltimores rioters, States Attorney Marilyn Mosby decided to press on. Porter got a new trial date in June, meaning that he is in jeopardy until then and entitled to the 5th Amendments protections against self-incrimination. Since the other charged officers will be tried before then, that would deprive the prosecution of Porters testimony, unless it either negotiated a plea agreement in return for what is known as use immunity, or granted Porter transactional immunity which could compel his testimony.

The difference between use and transactional immunity is critical, not subject to much debate, and basically first-year law school stuff. Use immunity only prevents the prosecution from using a persons own testimony against him/here at a future trial, but still subjects the witness to jeopardy. Ordinarily, testimony under use immunity is voluntary on the part of the witness in return for some kind of plea deal which limits legal liability in return for that testimony. By contrast, transactional immunity gives the witness essentially blanket immunity for the offenses involved in the solicited testimony. In return for this testimony, the witness is generally not under any further jeopardy, and as such, can be compelled to testify or face charges of contempt. This is the type of immunity is routinely granted to various gang-bangers and Mafioso but is evidently not available to a veteran police officer.

Whats especially remarkable about what happened in that Baltimore courtroom is that both the judge and the prosecutor demonstrated that they clearly knew what they were doing was unconstitutional and unethical but proceeded anyway. Prosecutor Michael Schatzow knows that what he sought, and what the judge gave him, had no basis in Maryland law. Schatzows claimed that forcing Porter to testify is necessary to the public interest. He might as well have been prosecuting a show trial in the 1930s in Moscow or Berlin.

By such a legal standard -- necessary public interest -- any and all our constitutional freedoms can be extinguished. It is probably in the "general public interest" that the chronic repeat violent criminals who roam Baltimores streets be rounded up and summarily executed. Is Mr. Schatzow in favor of that? Is his boss?

The wholesale rejection of law and logic got worse once Judge Williams announced his ruling. Admitting he was entering uncharted territory he granted the prosecutions motion and in a breathtaking display of judicial activism swept away the rights of an American citizen. Williams recognition that he was in uncharted territory betrays his nonjudicial intentions, which are to support this political prosecution at almost any cost. "Uncharted territory" really means that he knows that the ruling is without statutory or judicial precedent, which is the basis of the law in Maryland and every other state (and usually taught in about the 9th grade.) Williams also reportedly said during the hearing that Porters extremely important testimony is needed in the Goodson and White cases which is something you might expect the prosecutor to say, but not the judge.

Besides being blatantly political and unconstitutional, Williams ruling was also logically incomprehensible on its own terms. In issuing the ruling, he warned prosecutors that should they call Porter to testify later, it would be nigh impossible to prove that his testimony in Goodsons case would not impact his retrial. To make any sense of it, you have to believe that Williams just doesnt know what the words nigh and impossible mean. If he did, he wouldnt have issued his ruling, since that is exactly what Porters attorneys told him in making their case that he could not compel their clients testimony. What Williams essentially ruled is that what he was doing was unconstitutional, that he knew it was unconstitutional, but that he was going to do it anyway. Moreover, he appears to be content with forcing Porters testimony and keeping the man in jeopardy until his retrial, and also with that testimony being used against Porter if the prosecution can figure out a way to get it in.

Porters attorneys have appealed the ruling and are asking for an injunction from the appellate courts. Marylands appellate judiciary is reliably liberal but hopefully will recognize this for the travesty of constitutional justice it is.
Aristotle teaches that while we must love our friends, we must love truth more. Today, I am probably going to lose some good friends, which is painful. Nevertheless, my admiration for everything America was, everything modern civilization was, compels me to bite the bullet.

Donald Trump may win the Republican presidential nomination. He may even be elected President of the United States -- stranger things have certainly happened recently. However, while his popularity is understandable, an essential question remains: Is Trump the kind of leader who might begin to restore a crumbled constitutional republic?

His appeal is obvious, and has been articulated well by others: he says the kinds of things normal, reasonable people say in their living rooms, but that politicians rarely say. He vindicates the reasonable man's judgments by giving them public voice, after generations of that man being told, in every corner of public life, that his common sense opinions are small-minded, extreme, or unsophisticated.

Radical Islam is gaining new energy, territory, and victims with each passing day. Major European cities are under siege by masses of unintegrated, often lawless, Muslim immigrants. At this moment, the U.S. Federal Government, including the leadership of both major parties, eagerly welcomes thousands of poorly vetted young Muslim refugees. In this climate, and in response to a new Islamist attack on American soil, Trump somewhat rashly promises to freeze immigration from Muslim nations. The usual establishment voices denounce his idea as extremist, racist, and illegal. Meanwhile, the normal, reasonable person at home is exclaiming, "Wow! Trump just said the same thing I was saying last night at dinner!" (That, at least, was my personal experience, and I suspect I wasn't alone.)

The Washington establishment is united, from the Democrat hard left to the Republican corporate cronies, in pushing forward with amnesty for illegal aliens. The reasonable person is thinking, "How can a nation already on life-support expect to survive a sudden influx of millions of new citizens (voters) with no political, moral, or educational background for living in a free republic?" Trump says, "Send them all home (and then bring the good ones back)!" A little gruff, perhaps, but mild compared to the quiet revolution the establishment is trying to force on America through mass amnesty.

The media says, "Donald, you're saying wild things that no respectable politician can get away with saying." Trump replies, in effect, "Up yours!" Dont we all sometimes want to say the same to the establishment media's agenda-definers, from The New York Times to Fox News? Aren't reasonable people everywhere sick and tired of being trained to self-censor every off-the-cuff thought or politically incorrect idea that crosses their minds? Why should we take intellectual marching orders from people who have built successful careers as shills for the very establishment machine that is destroying modern civilization? Trump doesn't listen to them, and people appreciate that.

Such are the good reasons for his success. (There are undoubtedly bad reasons as well: the cult of celebrity, misdirected anger, the deluded equation of business savvy with political intelligence. But that's no knock on the candidate himself; many people probably voted for Reagan for silly reasons, too.) Against his critics, Trump's supporters insist they know he is not perfect (name a candidate, Obama excepted, whose supporters have not said that), but that he wants to make America great again (name a candidate, Obama excepted, who has not said that). Many of them even admit that he is not a conservative -- they could hardly do otherwise, given his long associations with leading Democrats and leftist policies. But his supporters claim that the plusses I have just outlined are so refreshing that they trump (sorry) normal considerations of principle and policy.

Having said that, it seems to me there is still a question that Trump's conservative supporters are conveniently overlooking, and that even non-supporters are beginning to evade as the likelihood of his nomination increases: Does he understand what has happened to America, and what would have to be done to reverse the damage?

Put more positively, does he know what a constitutional republic is, and why it matters? For if he does not, then his supporters must explain how voting for a non-conservative who has no interest in the Constitution is substantially different from the "hold your nose and vote for the R" compromise that so sickened those same voters in past elections. That one may succumb to that compromise at the end of the primaries is one thing; buy why choose it at the beginning?

Is refreshing bluntness enough? Teddy Roosevelt was a tough-talking populist -- and founded the Progressive Party to rival an incumbent Republican President in 1912, thereby helping Woodrow Wilson win. Lyndon Johnson was a tough-talking Texan who would even resort to physical intimidation in "talks" with allies -- and who presided over America's greatest lurch to the left since FDR, fostering the generation that gave rise to Obama.

The Tea Party rose up as a constitutionalist resistance movement grounded in certain beliefs: that the essence of America is housed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; that if not living by the permanent principles found in those documents, America is effectively extinct; that saving those documents from the progressive fire requires radical steps that can only be initiated by reviving public discussion of America's founding and history; that those steps involve a short-term strategy of supplanting the methods and men of the current Washington political establishment, and a long-term project of unraveling the entire hundred-year old entitlement and administrative state in order to shrink the federal government to its constitutionally-limited functions; and that this project, the only road to salvaging a great nation in mortal peril, requires rejecting that long-standing submission to the GOP establishment that has enabled the growth of a deeply anti-American progressive-corporate ruling elite.

An "anti-establishment" candidacy that lacks a basic understanding of those goals, principles, and requirements would be unlikely to make meaningful strides against a progressive ideology deeply insinuated into all the society's major institutions. Perhaps, then, we may gain some insight into whether a Trump presidency would serve those constitutionalist aims by considering how he engaged the Tea Party at what was probably its zenith as a unified movement, the 2011-12 GOP primary season. Here, for those caught up in the current Trump whirlwind, is a recap of Trump for President, Round 1:

Trump flirted with a presidential run in 2011 as essentially a single-issue candidate. That issue was Obama's birth certificate. Clever enough to divine that the Tea Party was the place to be in 2011, but lacking any conservative bona fides or beliefs, he latched on to the one issue that had a fervent grassroots base, but no prominent public champion, thus becoming that champion. When the issue blew up in his face, as the White House released a document they alleged was Obama's long form birth certificate, Trump responded the way men tend to do when publicly embarrassed: He tried to claim the defeat as a victory by declaring that he alone had forced Obama to release the document, where others had failed. Of course, what had actually failed was his campaign, based as it was on an issue that the White House had now effectively trumped (sorry again).

Trump tried to reinsert himself into the GOP primaries by playing kingmaker, first by arranging his own debate immediately before the Iowa caucuses -- the event was cancelled when few candidates agreed to waste the time in a campaign already over-saturated with debates -- and later, at the moment of truth, by publicly endorsing his preferred candidate.

This second effort to grab the spotlight deserves the careful attention of potential Trump supporters. Immediately after the Florida primary (February 2012), Trump arranged a formal announcement of his endorsement. Anticipation of this event was stoked with banner headlines on the Drudge Report. At the time, there were three candidates remaining in the primaries: Newt Gingrich, in many ways the candidate most similar to Trump -- great for anti-establishment quotes, but often an advocate of (market-friendly) big government solutions -- though with a record of real political achievement; Rick Santorum, the last of the Tea Party candidates -- underfunded, ridiculed by the Washington elite, but the only remaining entry speaking convincingly about the Constitution, the entitlement behemoth, and religious freedom; and Mitt Romney, the establishment's man from day one, the most compromised candidate on the major Tea Party issues (health care, limited government, anti-globalism), and the only one easily labelled a "RINO" or a "Rockefeller Republican." Romney was the GOP establishment's face in 2012, and therefore represented everything against which principled constitutionalists were fighting.

Trump endorsed Romney. And this was no mere concession to inescapable trends, for he also used his announcement to threaten a third party run if Romney were not the nominee. In other words, he threatened to undermine any other Republican and hand re-election to Barack Obama if Tea Party voters did not stand down and let the establishment have its way. He played enforcer for the Washington elite.

That was less than four years ago.

This time around, he chose his campaign's seminal issue more intelligently. Immigration is not a minority concern or one that can be ridiculed by the mainstream. Constitutionalists almost across the board are united in objecting to the bestowal of citizenship rights on millions of people with no allegiance to American principles. Events have also thrown a national security issue into Trump's lap by tying his immigration focus to radical Islam. The smart businessman sensed the investment opportunity of a lifetime, and grabbed it. The combined force of these related issues, which he now owns outright, may actually carry him to the presidency.

And then what? Let's imagine he is actually able to use the bully pulpit to force Congress to water down amnesty, to build a wall along the Mexican border, to deport some illegal immigrants, and even to limit entry to the U.S. from Arab Muslim countries. Will those actions, desirable as they may be, address the fundamental problems facing a nation on the brink of implosion?

The crony capitalist alliance with big government has reached levels of paternalistic oligarchy that would have made J.D. Rockefeller blush. The modern benchmark of this oligarchy was the Bush-Obama "bailouts," which sparked the rise of the Tea Party movement. Trump supported the bank bailout with this flippancy: "Maybe it works, and maybe it doesn't. But certainly it is worth a shot." And in April 2009, on Larry King Live, he went much further regarding Obama and the banks:

I do agree with what they're doing with the banks. Whether they fund them or nationalize them, it doesn't matter, but you have to keep the banks going. [Emphasis added]

Nationalizing the banks -- a basic Marxist principle -- "doesn't matter," as long as it "works." If you needed evidence of America's "fundamental transformation," consider that the man who made that statement in the first months of Obama's presidency is now the leading Republican presidential candidate. (In that same interview, by the way, Trump was asked about Obama himself, and answered: "Well, I really like him. I think that he's working very hard. Here's a [black] man that not only got elected, I think he's doing a really good job.")

Government-controlled healthcare is one of the defining goals of socialists everywhere. Wherever it is achieved, it reconfigures politics by fundamentally altering the relationship between citizen and state, while gradually weakening morality with respect to personal responsibility, family obligation, and the value of individual life. Trump addresses Obamacare using the old McConnell-Boehner language of "Repeal and Replace." When asked, in September 2015, whether he still supports a Canadian-style single-payer system as he once did, he squirmed away from his former position by saying "it works in Canada. It could have worked in a different age." By "a different age," does he perhaps mean the early 1960s, when Canada's inhumane system was developed -- and when Ronald Reagan was already giving speeches explaining what is morally wrong with socialized medicine? Does Trump understand that government micromanagement of citizens' physical lives and well-being is not primarily an efficiency issue, but a freedom issue?

An unconstitutional administrative state dominates American life, making a mockery of all notions of liberty and representative government, exactly as it was designed to do by Woodrow Wilson and friends. This is not a matter of bad management; it is the intentional usurpation of the people's right of self-government. Will Trump want to do anything about this, or have any idea what to do?

That's the essential concern about Donald Trump. He speaks as if all political issues boil down to "what works," rather than "what is right." His focus, therefore, is necessarily restricted to policy pragmatism. He says he would negotiate a "better" trade deal with China. The Iran deal is a "disaster." Obamacare is a "disaster." His answer on virtually every issue, immigration excepted, is that he's a professional negotiator, so he'll make better financial deals than those chumps in Washington.

But are better deals enough? Is Washington's problem poor negotiating skills? Does America need another President who believes he is the boss of a vast administrative state, and should just be allowed to tell everyone what they need to do, and to hurry up and get it done?

Trump supporters argue that although he lacks sound constitutionalist principles, his tough character is what America needs right now. It seems to this distant observer that what America needs right now, assuming it isn't too late, is much more than a clever negotiator who talks tough, knows how to claim a hot issue, but ultimately defers pragmatically to business as usual, to what "works," principles be damned. She needs a raft of men and women dedicated to the principles entrenched in her founding, supported by the philosophical heritage that gave rise to the great liberal traditions of limited, representative government, individual rights, and a civil society grounded in moral rectitude and respect for the value of the individual soul. She needs a new generation of young people educated for liberty and morality -- not for corporate success, but for principled national renewal -- and prepared to fight for it at all costs.

Could Donald Trump lead that fight? Would he even want to? His history and recent statements, which portray a pragmatist willing to say anything that "works" this month, would suggest otherwise.
Almost every week we learn of some new horror committed by a Clinton. Scandals attached to a Clinton are old news. Some can be traced back before the Clintons emergence on the national scene in 1992, many to their days in Arkansas, from Cattle Futures to Whitewater to the Rose Law Firms billing records to Bills serial sexcapades. Some of us recall that in 1974 Hillary was fired for unethical conduct and lying about it from the team investigating the Watergate imbroglio.

Some Clinton-connected scandals involve financial hanky-panky. One thinks of revelations surrounding the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. Quite a few entail sexual predation by Bill, accompanied by various forms of enabling and/or cover-up by Hillary. Not a few involve political sleaze, such as Bills last-minute pardon of fugitive Marc Rich in 2001, or Hillarys behavior during and after the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Almost all are accompanied by lies of one kind or another. At least one got Bill disbarred; the late William Safire called Hillary a congenital liar in 1996.

Theres a curious, and disheartening, sameness surrounding virtually all  so far  of the Clinton scandals. First, theres the seemingly shocking revelation of a new Clinton scandal, such as the video that revealed Hillarys 2008 claim to have landed while under sniper fire in Bosnia in 1996 was false. The revelations are front-page news for several days, during which experts predict impending doom for the Clinton(s) caught in a new mess. Usually, in less time than it takes to write about it, Clinton loyalists -- i.e., virtually every prominent Democrat pol and most denizens of the mainstream media (MSM) -- circle the wagons around the Clinton(s) involved in the scandal du jour, and come to her/his/their defense. Even when their MSM toadies acknowledge a Clintons prevarication, and occasional outright lies, they marvel at the chutzpah involved. (Within a short period, we get to the he says, she says phase. What was seemingly crystal-clear on Day 1 of the scandal/horror/whatever gets to be as murky as muddy water.) Sooner or later, usually sooner, Clinton scandal fatigue sets in, the latest outrage/horror/whatever gets to be old news -- how many times havent you heard, the public has already processed that? -- and goes to the back burner, if not to the coldest burner on the stove, a.k.a. the public agenda.

Ultimately, nothing happens. Bill continues to be extremely popular; he could probably be re-elected to the presidency by a landslide but for the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Hillary is the odds-on favorite to win the Democrat partys presidential nomination in 2016, and she could well be elected as Chief Executive.

When something happens again and again -- the particulars vary, but the pattern is almost invariant -- one needs to ask what is going on. Can we identify the major factors that are at work in producing the Clintons charmed lives -- so far? That is my quest.

Lets begin with the Clintons themselves: two aging baby boomers -- Bill was born in 1946, Hillary in 1947 -- raised in comfortable middle-class households, and highly educated. Each has been involved (in various ways) in state and/or national politics for close to half a century.

I am not a psychologist or a psychiatrist, so I do not feel competent enough assess the Clintons personalities. Political psychologist Stanley Renshon, however, is competent, and has written that, in terms of personality, Bill is more like Richard Nixon than Franklin D. Roosevelt. Aubrey Immelman and Julie Seifert have characterized Hillary as being inflexible, over-controlling, and lacking in empathy. She does not have political opponents; for her, Republicans are enemies.

On one level, one need not probe deeply into the Clintons personalities to grasp the primary factor motivating their actions. It is the deeply-held belief (by both of them) that the rules do not apply to me. (Actually, given their pattern of never having to pay a severe penalty for misbehavior, one can understand why they may feel that way.)

What factors have enabled the Clintons as adults to flout the rules of American politics and society?

One has been the almost lock-step tendency of Democrats -- elites and ordinary citizens -- to rally around either Bill or Hill, including engaging in the politics of personal destruction even to the point of accusing some poor boob of something that is morally equivalent of whatever Bill and/or Hill is accused of doing.

Think back to the days of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Democrat elites such as James Carville, Paul Begalia, Lanny Davis, and Sidney Blumenthal regularly attacked the character of Bills critics, and especially Kenneth Starr, the Special Prosecutor charged with investigating the Lewinsky affair. By the time Carville, Begalia, Davis, Blumenthal, et al. were through, Starr came across as a sex-obsessed pervert conducting a witch-hunt against poor Bill, and distracting the president from the job hed been elected to do.

Fast-forward to revelations that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used her private server for e-mail traffic. It was subsequently revealed that many e-mails kept on that server had been erased. Bernie Sanders, the socialist whos presumably challenging Hillary for the Democrat Partys presidential nomination, tried to inoculate her against any damage caused by her damn e-mails. Even though a judge ruled that the State Department must release many of her e-mails, the practice has been to do a document dump on Fridays, which minimizes damage to her public image. Hillary has been defended by some of the same Democrat elites who made up Bills amen chorus in the 1990s.

It hasnt been just Democrat elites whove rallied around the Clintons. Self-identified Democrats are much more positive toward Bill and Hillary than are Independents or Republicans. The last Gallup poll taken while Bill was president (January 10-14, 2001), for example, found that 39% of Republicans approved of his job performance, as did 66% of Independents, and 93%(!) of Democrats. Hillary is more popular among Democrats than is Bernie Sanders. Gallup polls in November, 2015, for example, found she had a 21 percentage point lead over him among Democrats. Her favorable rating was 76%, compared to only 18% who said they had an unfavorable view of her.

The overwhelmingly favorable view of both Clintons promulgated by most in the MSM is so well-known that it can be given short shrift here. Let two examples of MSM bias for the Clintons suffice. In late December, 2015, Donald Trump forced NBC reporter Savannah Guthrie to recant her use of alleged in connection with the Monica Lewinsky scandal. (Guthrie had evidently tried to fudge the charge against Clinton.) MSM coverage of Hillarys appearance before the congressional committee investigating the Benghazi mess was so unctuous that FOX TV personality Megyn Kelly assailed it.

Short of smoking-gun evidence against a Clinton, the MSM will always be in her/his/their corner. (Even then, Id bet the MSM will try to exonerate the Clinton[s].)

The bottom line is that we should not hold our breath waiting for one or both Clintons to get their comeuppance. Unless there are dramatic changes, it aint gonna happen. Sad, isnt it?
The Cold War has returned in a new form, not between the United States and Russia, but between the two countries, Saudi Arabia and Iran, now epitomizing the historic rift between Sunni and Shia Islam. They are engaged in a struggle for geopolitical hegemony of the Middle East, as well as the rivalry over the different versions of Islam and appeals to jihadist activity.

However, unlike the former Cold War that lasted until the fall of the Soviet Union, which was limited to two ideological blocs that did not engage in military conflict, this new Cold War involves not only other Muslim Middle East parties, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Hizballah in Lebanon, and ISIS, busy with wars and terrorist activities, but also outside powers in various ways.

The key problem is that the U.S. administration is not one of those countries exhibiting any meaningful leadership in the Middle East. In his interview with Tom Friedman on April 5, 2015, President Barack Obama defined his doctrine concerning Iran and the contemplated nuclear deal as we will engage but we preserve all our capabilities.

It is not easy to understand this opaque statement, but no engagement took place at the moment of truth. On October 10, 2015 and again in November, Iran violated international law agreements by conducting tests of ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. President Obama had said, regarding such tests, that the U.S. reserved the ability to snap back sanctions (on Iran) if they violated their agreement on tests.

Though the imposition of sanctions on Iran was suggested by the U.S. Treasury Department in early January 2016, on the eleven individuals and facilities developing a ballistic missile program in spite of UN declarations, the Obama administration took no action, engaging in a form of benign neglect. The administration must be concerned that a number of Democratic Party members of Congress on January 6, 2016 called for sanctions to be imposed, and declared that Iran must be held accountable for its support of terrorism.

The dissenting Democrats might have gone even further in two other ways. One is opposing the decision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, though it had been denied inspection of Irans key military sites, to close its file on Irans nuclear program. The other was to respond to the provocative and impertinent statement of Irans Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that imposition of sanctions against Iran because of its ballistic missile tests would violate the nuclear agreement.

Obama has stated that the nuclear deal with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was a potential expression of a different kind of U.S. relationship with Iran. It is one thing to argue for a more fruitful conversation with Iran but in view of Iranian belligerence that conversation is not a once in a lifetime opportunity. Fruitful conversation depends on whether Iran is expanding its missile program in terms of range and accuracy, and even being close to building a nuclear weapon.

Perilous as their relationship is, there is something enticing and amusing in the current tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran and in the rhetoric and arguments used by both sides. This is particularly the case as the Iranian Supreme Leader invokes divine revenge against the enemy Saudi Arabia for its execution of a Shia cleric.

Even the absurd UN Human Rights Council would not consider Iran as a paragon of virtue and morality, especially when remembering its execution of more than 1,000 people in 2015. One can therefore not appreciate the extent of the Iranian revulsion at the seemingly inexplicable execution by the Saudis of the Shite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, as well as 46 others, which led a mob to burn the Saudi Embassy in Teheran.

Even more pertinent, the Iranian mob, apparently helped in its vicious activity by the Iranian police, did not understand that only 4 of the 47 executed were Shia, and the rest were Sunni terrorists mostly linked to al-Qaeda. Nor did not they heed the Saudi claim that the Shia Nimr was inciting terrorism.

We need a political Casey Stengel with a scorecard to sort out the positions of the players in the new Cold War in the Middle East today, and who is playing on what team in order that a suitable U.S. policy might be formulated. During the failed Arab spring of 2011, the majority Shia population in Bahrain protested against the minority Sunni government. However, the attempt to overthrow King Al Khalifa, probably fostered by Iran, failed as forces of Saudi Arabia helped end the protests.

Iran is supposedly divided between hard liners and moderate reformers with whom President Hassan Rouhani is said to be aligned. The burning of the embassy was an opportunity for hardliners to embarrass the supposedly more moderate president.

Iraq did not voice approval of the Saudi execution. Yet the Iraqi Shia Badr Organization, led by Hadi al-Amiri who fought with Iran against his own country in the war between the two countries, is backed by Iran, and has been, or is said to be, fighting ISIS. One problem here is that if the Shia majority in Iraq uses violence against minority Sunnis that group in response might begin helping ISIS.

Conflict between the Saudis and Iran extends to Syria and Yemen. Shia Iran supports the Alawite regime of President Bashar Assad, derivative from Shia Islam. The Assad regime is opposed by rebels, mostly drawn from the majority Sunni population who are getting support from Sunni Saudi Arabia and Sunni Gulf countries.

In Yemen, Zaydi Shia Houthis, linked to former President Al Abdullah Saleh, and backed by Iran are fighting the regime of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi that is supported by a Sunni coalition of Saudi Arabia and other states.

What explains the Saudi execution of the Shia cleric? One can argue that it was the result of Saudi frustration and anger at the nuclear deal with Iran, and the absence of American leadership. The Saudi king, who has only occupied the office for a year, and other Saudi officials are now acting in a stronger, more assertive fashion, both in foreign policy and in their own defense against terrorism. In December 2015, Riyadh suggested the formation, unlikely though it is, of a coalition of 34 Muslim members to fight ISIS and terrorism.

This gesture is a response to the Obama policy that the regional powers in the Middle East must carry more of the burden of responsibilities. The U.S. has long held friendly relations with the Saudis. The question must now be raised whether the Obama administration is leaning towards Iran. Noticeably, the U.S. State Department has called on Riyadh not to exacerbate sectarian tensions. Yet the danger is that the Cold War between Riyadh and Teheran may develop into a hot one. Worst of all, if Iran continues its nuclear program and makes a bomb, Saudi Arabia may pursue one of its own.

In this complex and uncertain situation, for the U.S. two priorities are desirable: it should not call for removal of sanctions on Iran nor release its assets until Iran definitively ends its nuclear weapons program; and the U.S. should join Russia and France in a real undertaking to destroy ISIS.
The Los Angeles District Attorneys Office has reported that it will not charge Bill Cosby for a sexual assault claimed by Chloe Goins. Goins's claim to have been sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby at Hugh Hefners playboy mansion in 2008 was entirely fabricated, according to the Los Angeles Times:

Chloe Goins, 25 told Los Angeles police and prosecutors that the comedian gave her a drink that caused her to black out during a party at the Playboy Mansion in 2008. When she awoke, she said, she found herself naked on a bed with her breast moist and with Cosby biting her toes with his pants around his ankles. Cosbys attorneys have denied the accusations and said he was in New York at the time of the party. Goins reported the allegation last year and was interviewed for 2 hours by an LAPD detective and again in November by a prosecutor. She initially alleged the attack occurred at the Midsummer Nights Dream Party, held in August 2008. During the investigation, however, she told police she was not certain what the party was that she attended. Goins is not identified in the district attorneys documents but has previously made her allegations public. Videos of the Midsummer party from the perimeter of Holmby Hills mansion showed no images of Goins or a woman she said accompanied her, according to a report declining the prosecution. Cosby was in New York the weekend of the party, prosecutors said. Detectives did not find Cosbys name on any guest lists for 56 documented events at the Playboy Mansion in the summer of 2008. But they did find his name on the guest list for a February party, the report noted. The woman who Goins said accompanied her to the mansion told police she did not know Goins and never visited the Playboy estate, according to the declination filed by Deputy Dist. Atty. Jodi M. Link. Link noted that two crimes described by Goins, misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor indecent exposure, are beyond the statute of limitations. The district attorney also reviewed potential felonies still within the statute of limitations. The prosecutors determined there was no evidence to support charges of sexual battery by restraint or sexual assault by intoxication. Spencer Kuvin, Goins' attorney, said the D.A.s decision was a disappointment but in no way affects his clients civil case against Cosby.

It appears that Chloe Goins made up the story out of thin air. She tearfully recounted this harrowing story on Dr. Phil and on CNN to Anderson Cooper. However, it turns out that Mr. Cosby never even met this woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her. One accuser's story has fallen apart and counting.

Christian commentary (http://patriciascornerblog.com), or contact the author at patdickson@earthlink.net. Follow on Twitter at @Patrici15767099.
There is a truth that so many in positions of authority in Germany are unwilling to face: that many of the perpetrators of the Cologne violence were recently arrived migrants from Islamic countries. The dangerous culture of political correctness is so embedded that one report stated that police chiefs hid evidence from their own officers that the perpetrators were Syrian in order to avoid criticism of Germanys decision of allowing one million migrants during last years crisis.

There seems to be little doubt that those in leadership positions tried to mask the truth, including not only the police chief, but also the mayor of Cologne, who stated (in contrast with the evidence) that refugees had nothing to do with the New Year's Eve attacks. The mayor went on to blame victims for being raped because they did not take enough care to protect themselves, stating that women should keep a good distance from strangers and stay away from large groups of men. (Naturally, she didnt elaborate on which specific strangers women should steer clear of or the groups of men she was referring to when she doled out her pearls of wisdom.) The mayor was subsequently mocked on Twitter with #eineArmlange (translation: an arm length).

The interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germanys most populous state and the site of the Cologne violence, suffered a severe inversion of reality when he stated (via the BBC, with a hat tip to Andrew Stuttaford):

What happens on the right-wing platforms and in chat rooms is at least as awful as the acts of those assaulting the women, he said. This is poisoning the climate of our society.

The utter failure of leadership reaches all the way up to the chancellors office. Any why not? It is Angela Merkel, after all, who decided to take a fragile Europe that already had too many Muslims and put it on the fast track to join the caliphate.

And so Merkel has also been criticized in the wake of the New Years Eve attacks in Cologne (and elsewhere in Germany) as her response has been predictably weak and rather Obamaesque in its lack of genuine feeling or conviction (other than her deep-seated conviction to carry on with the plan to withdraw Europe from life support). She said the least she could get away with, stating that the events in Cologne must spur Germany to have a fundamental debate about how to integrate newcomers, while also noting: We must continuously see whether everything has been done yet as far as extraditions from Germany go, to send a clear signal to people who do not want to stick to our legal framework.

Say what?

Angela, these people to whom you refer are not just any people. They are people from Islamic lands. As such, they come from a culture founded on a set of values at direct odds with Western values (that we once held dear). So, if I may spare you a bit of our precious time: they have no interest in or intention of sticking to your legal framework, or integrating, as you say.

(Sorry, ladies. Merkel spoke. And shes useless. Worse than useless. Shes a menace to Germany and all of Europe.)

But, hey, as long as were talking about whos responsible and what to do, lets be sure to check in with members of the immigrant community. Heres what one recent arrival had to say (video here): Its the fault of the German laws and not the people. Refugees and migrants who arrive have to wait six months to a year and during that time, cant work. And that means that often they turn to crime because they cant make ends meet.

(I see. Travel to Europe from an Islamic hellhole, expect to have your every need addressed post haste, and if things dont go your way, well then, its rape as far as the eye can see. Right. Got it.)

Meanwhile, Muslim leaders are calling for the resignation of police leadership. Fair enough. The police didnt exactly do a bang-up (no pun intended) job. But Muslim leaders are also using this opportunity to play the victim card. (What a surprise!) You know, right-wing, anti-immigrant conspiracy and all that. Theyre claiming that Islam preaches good values and condemns sexual assault. So whats their answer? Hire more Muslim cops.

Riiiiiiiight. Thatll fix it.

Hat tips: Atlas Shrugs
Governor Jeb Bush demonstrated again last night (Thursday 7 Jan.) that he just doesn't get it.

As I listened to Sean Hannity interview Governor Bush on Hannity's afternoon radio show, the subject of Donald Trump's words regarding President Bill Clinton's issues with certain women, like Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, and others, came up. During the conversation, Bush reminded me of the background sound of an adult speaking in a Charlie Brown special: waah, waah, waah.

Hannity asked Governor Bush if it was proper or fair game for Mr. Trump to mention President Clinton's peccadilloes as part of his campaign against Secretary Hillary Clinton. Bush's answer and follow-on explanation are compelling examples of why he is doing so poorly in the polls, spending $50 million in campaign funds to generate an 11-point drop since his entry into the race.

Bush responded that there are actually two questions: Is it proper, and is it effective? His answer to the first was good. Bush opined that President Clinton's personal record with women is fair game in this campaign, which it is. His answer to the second question put him in the same weak lineup as Senator John McCain and Governor Mitt Romney, both failed presidential candidates.

Bush explained that going after President Bill Clinton in order to attack now presidential candidate Clinton would be ineffective because it's not addressing her record or her policies. He went on to cite a number of "wonky" talking points about Secretary Clinton's track record in the Senate, referring to the fact that in eight years she co-authored only three pieces of legislation.

His answer sounded like a political science class, not something to inspire the base to get out and vote.

What Bush fails to understand is that attacking Bill Clinton is indeed an attack on Hillary Clinton and her policy positions. Trump is attacking Bill's sordid past and painting Hillary as an enabler  this in direct contrast to her purported position as the protector of women. This will continue to help Trump's image as a tough talking straight shooter in the primary, especially with the base.

Some folks, like Governor Bush, worry that such candor will hurt the Republicans in the general election. I say, "Hogwash!"

There are three major target audiences in the general election: your own base, your opponent's base and the persuadable voters in the middle. Talking like a policy wonk isn't going to get your base out, and it is most likely not going to capture many of the persuadable voters. It certainly isn't going to get your opponent's base to vote for you.

On the other hand, Trump seems to be not only solidifying the base, but expanding it. On top of that, he even appears to be poaching a few voters off the Democrat reservation.

Here's the best part  and it involves the general election and turnout. If Trump can paint Secretary Clinton as not only a hypocrite on women's issues, but actively hostile towards them in order to defend her husband and thus protect her own political future, this could depress Democrat enthusiasm and hence turnout.

It's not at all hard to paint Mrs. Clinton as all too willing to sacrifice female victims of her husband's libido on the altar of her political ambitions. Mr. Trump gets this. Governor Bush doesn't.
The APs Matt Lee is a rare old-school journalist who practices journalism as it should be practiced instead of being a propaganda tool. There are many examples of Lee being the only sane man in the room during press conferences. Here is a recent post-Orwellian exchange between Lee and the State Department spokesman, John Kirby, that is stunning (and not in a good way).

LEE: Every time this happens, the line comes out from people in this administration, and other governments as well, is that: We will not accept North Korea as a nuclear armed state. And yet it is. You also say this about other things, too. You say youll never accept Crimea as a part of Russia. And yet it is. Is it a time to recognize these things for what they are and not live in this illusion or fantasy where you pretend that things that are, are not? (Near the end of his question, you can hear someone chuckling in the background.)

KIRBY: (spoken in an animated, cartoonish way) The short answer is, no, but I would challenge --

LEE: Its preferable to live in the fantasy world?

KIRBY: I would challenge the this idea that its a fantasy world. Just because, uh (looks down and pauses). Let me put it this way. (continues looking down, stammers, long pause) You know (more stammering) at, at, at this level of foreign policy, you know, you, (pause) you have to make choices. And, uh, (pause and look down further), you dont have to accept everything. (looks at Lee)

LEE: You have to accept reality.

KIRBY: Even at face value. No. (stammering) we are not going to accept North Korea as a nuclear armed state. Um. Um. Were not going to recognize that. Um. (pauses and looks down) We are, however, going to deal with --

LEE: The fact that they are a nuclear armed state.

KIRBY: -- their efforts at developing that program.
More than 200 Airmen with the 112th Fighter Squadron from Toledo Air National Guard Base, Ohio, are set to deploy mid-January to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, as the 112th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron in support of the U.S. Pacific Command Theater Security Package.

The 112th EFS will assume the TSP mission from the 125th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron which is presently at Kadena Air Base, Japan. The 125th EFS is scheduled to redeploy to Tulsa Air National Guard Base, Okla. However, 12 of their F-16 Fighting Falcons will move to Andersen for the 112th EFS to operate.

U.S. Air Force routinely deploys fighter aircraft to the region to provide U.S. PACOM and Pacific Air Forces with Theater Security Packages, which help maintain a deterrent against threats to regional security and stability.

Movement of U.S. Air Force TSPs into the region has been a routine and integral part of U.S. Pacific Commands force posture since March 2004.

These theater security packages demonstrate the continuing U.S. commitment to stability and security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

For more information, contact Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs at 808-448-3218.


The wireless industry has seen some huge changes in the past four years. Not all because of T-Mobile  although the most of the recent changes have been due to T-Mobile  but also the Obama administration who blocked AT&T from buying out T-Mobile in 2011, and also kept Sprint from attempting to buy T-Mobile in 2014. The AT&T attempted merger actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the magenta carrier, back in 2011. AT&T was going to buy the carrier  and leave us with three national wireless carriers  for $39 billion. In addition to that, AT&T was so confident that the merger would be approved by regulators, the they also gave T-Mobile a $3 billion break up fee, and a ton of spectrum. Well the deal was rejected, and T-Mobile got nearly a billion dollars worth of spectrum, in addition to $3 billion. Which has helped fuel the comeback they are showing right now.

Shortly after the deal with AT&T was denied by regulators, Deutsche Telekom decided it was time to get a new CEO. They brought in John Legere in 2012. Legere worked for AT&T for nearly 20 years under Dan Hesse, who was Sprints CEO up until 2014 when Marcelo Claure got the nod. But when Legere took the job at T-Mobile, we saw a whole other side to him. No more were the suits and ties. He decided to grow out his hair, and use a lot more curse words. Legere started the Un-Carrier approach to things in the beginning of 2013, where the first move was getting rid of contracts. And as of this week, the other three carriers  AT&T, Sprint and Verizon  have finally followed suit. So T-Mobile has instilled change in the wireless industry, even if it does take nearly three years to happen.

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T-Mobile has been thriving under John Legere. Going from losing nearly a million customers a quarter to now adding over a million each quarter, and in 2014 and 2015 combined the company added 16 million customers. Overtaking Sprint to become the third largest carrier in the process. Talk about a great turn around. And now, they even have Verizon worried about losing customers. Verizon recently started running ads stating that they will give you up to $650 to come to Verizon. That includes paying to get you out of your contract, and paying your device payment fees. Something that Verizon said theyd never do. Weve seen Sprint drastically lower prices, Verizon and AT&T begin lowering them as well. And thats largely thanks to T-Mobile.

However, getting back to the Obama administration. The reason T-Mobile was able to be the change in the wireless industry, and fuel this comeback is due to Obamas administration forcing T-Mobile to stay in the US and stay independent. Now that T-Mobile is showing big strides and adding over 2 million customers per quarter, Deutsche Telekom isnt in a hurry to get out of the US. Like they were less than 5 years ago.

Now when you walk into a store to get a new phone. Whether that be from Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile or AT&T, look at the prices. Not only for the rate plans, but also the devices. Things are getting cheaper, much cheaper. And there are two big reasons for that. President Obama, and T-Mobile. And things are only going to continue to go down. Many users have seen their bills cut by about 20-25% in the past 3 years.
A while back, a malware called Brain Test popped up in various Play Store apps. It would copy files from its host app into different places to make itself hard to remove. Generally, annoyance and a factory reset followed, peppered with an occasional trip to the carrier store or sleepless night spent learning how to re-flash your stock ROM, on some devices.

Users that had rooted their manufacturers software or flashed a custom ROM faced a bit more of an ordeal at the malwares hands. Not only would it make itself nigh-impossible to remove, requiring users to wipe their system partition through a custom recovery, it would also hijack users devices to install other infected apps, normally from the same developer or a contract client, and leave positive reviews for those apps. In essence, this made users part of a botnet. In the PC world, selling guaranteed installs to indie developers is common practice and is often executed in a similar manner, meaning that could have been the situation when the malware had its first go around. Google eventually managed to banish it from the Play Store.

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The Brain Test malware came back in a grand total of 13 known apps so far, all of which have been given the boot from the Play Store. These, however, are just the ones that Lookout was able to find via a common link to a master server and report to Google. Its almost certain that a number of other apps are out there that bear this malware. The affected batch of apps, all from the same developer under different names, had the same function as the original batch of Brain Test apps. Mostly, the apps affected were simple puzzle games, some of which were genuinely functional and enjoyable. The apps were Cake Blast, Jump Planet, Honey Comb, Crazy Block, Crazy Jelly, Tiny Puzzle, Ninja Hook, Piggy Jump, Just Fire, Eat Bubble, Hit Planet, Cake Tower and Drag Box. Google does the best they can to police the Play Store, but things slip through at times. This doesnt mean that the Play Store is just as unsafe as third party sources. Grabbing a random APK from the internet and installing it without a second thought is still an incredibly dumb move no matter what device you own or how much you know about its software. In light of this incident, extra vigilance in your downloads is called for. Thats not to say that every one-off game from pop-up devs are dangerous, but some homework and some trusting of your gut is never a bad idea. You are downloading these apps, after all, to a device that contains your personal information and digital identity.
As part of making U.S society and the world a more digitally connected era, Google and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), along with many other corporations, are on an important mission to give access of the unlimited amounts of resources the internet provides to low-income households. Google, who is also known as Alphabet along with HUD think that by collaborating together they can offer those resources and give younger kids and others with less fortunate circumstances a better chance of succeeding in a world which is overrun with technology. Even companies like Sprint and CenturyLink are chipping in and offering either free or low-cost Internet services as well as companies like Best Buy offering their services like computer training.

In a meeting that was held on Thursday at Alphabets headquarters in Mountain View, California, Alphabets Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and U.S Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro discussed many ways they could offer different levels of access of technology to bridge the gap between low, mid, and high-income households. Bridging this gap, often called the digital divide, wont be an easy task but is said to be at the utmost importance. To help aid in this battle of spreading digital knowledge the HUD, which is an organization that aims to develop and improve the Nations communities while enforcing fair housing laws, and the Obama Administration formally announced the launch of its program ConnectHome back in July. ConnectHome is a pilot initiative that will accelerate broadband adoption by children and families living in HUD-assisted housing across the nation. In other words, helping to give online access to those who wouldnt otherwise have access. Among the many features that this program awards will be providing free devices such as tablets, laptop computers, and other devices needed to be successful. It will also provide residents with technical support as well as giving residents localized, and free training in digital literacy skills which will allow them to effectively utilize the high-speed Internet.

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ConnectHome aims at bringing high-speed broadband access to over 275,000 low-income households across the U.S as well as connecting 200,000 children to the web. Schmidt did say that hes doing everything he can at making ConnectHome as successful as possible and Castro hopes he keeps true to his word. Google is also providing its fiber high-speed Internet service for free in certain public communities which include Atlanta, Durham, North Carolina, Kansas City, Missouri and Nashville, with more soon to follow in the near future. If done correctly, we could see the future of our kids living in a well-connected world with greater opportunities than we ever had. Lets all just hope that more companies like these provide the less fortunate with more forms of online services.
Not long ago, rumors were flying around that HTC would be seeking a new, cheaper home and selling its current headquarters in the Xindian District of Northern Taiwan. The rumors grew to such prominence after HTC sold a building in Taoyuan to Inventec, to the tune of roughly $184 million, that local publication Next Magazine took up the claims. HTC has officially denied these claims and will not be moving. This was backed up by HTC chairperson Cher Wang, who says that HTC will continue to manufacture smartphones and VR devices out of the Xindian District factory.

Though they didnt have the best year in 2015, HTC forged on in developing the Vive VR platform hand in hand with video game legends Valve. For HTC, the Vive is set to be their first big product in some time after the chilly reception of the controversial and under-specced HTC One A9, now available in pink, and their previous flawed flagship, the HTC One M9. Rumors and whispers of HTC slowly dying were flying around throughout 2015 and into this year, but the strong showing Vive Pre put on at CES was able to, for the most part, either silence or distract the naysayers. HTC has other products in the pipelines, but the Vive has stolen the show by a huge margin.

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After a strong showing at CES following a relatively weak 2015 and a long, slow decline prior, many believe that 2016 will be HTCs make-or-break zero hour. Its not hard to see why some may think this, given recent history. With some analysts giving HTC a year to pull ahead of tough competition, especially Samsung and international OEMs like Xiaomi, Bluboo, Oneplus and Lava, projections for HTCs future at this point are cloudy at best; its far too early for most anybody to be able to tell if VR in general and the Vive in particular, will bring on a renaissance for the company, and if future forays into the mobile flagship market will flop or perform forgettably like recent efforts, or if HTC will indeed have the return to form that fans and investors have been waiting for.
The United States government and Huawei have not seen eye-to-eye for many years, but at CES, a top Huawei executive said he believes the companys prospects of forging a working relationship with the US could be in the works thanks to several factors. Back in 2012, a US government report specifically included Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE as security threats. The reports cited that equipment from either of these companies could be used as a backdoor for Chinese espionage. Huawei vehemently denied the accusations, but they have, for the most part, been locked out of contracts with US telecom operators.

The US allegations have not stopped other countries around the world from using Huawei for their infrastructure equipment needs. Major wireless companies in Europe, Latin America and even Canada are customers of Huawei equipment. Huawei and Ericsson remain the leading world suppliers of telecommunications networking gear despite the US governments report. Huaweis William Plummer, VP of the companys external affairs for the US market says that changing views on network security and market consolidation are eclipsing geographical, border-based solutions[and] theres [now] a much clearer understanding of how networks work. Hacking by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, continued hacks by others and network security issues have taken the focus away from China and Huawei equipment suppliers and refocused it on how to make networks more secure from hackers  not the equipment that runs the network.

Plummer pointed out that recent sales of network infrastructures in Oregon and Washington state shows some progress in the US. This past fall, PocketiNet Communications chose Huawei for their Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) in Walla Walla in Washington State. In May, Eastern Oregon Telecom hooked up with Huawei to bring gigabit broadband to rural customers in Hermiston, Oregon. Plummer said, Were focused on those areas that are underserved or unconnected. He also gives credit to the merger between Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson and Cisco helping to create more opportunities for Huawei. The competition that is going on between the US carriers, especially Verizon and AT&T, are forcing them to look for more competitive pricing and the best products on the market and this could very well point them toward Huawei. The Huawei name also got a huge boost in 2015 when Google chose them to build the popular Nexus 6P smartphone  as consumers get more comfortable with the Huawei name, companies may also turn to them for more equipment needs.
The N.C. Supreme Court on Friday reaffirmed its earlier ruling that congressional and legislative redistricting maps drawn by the Republican-controlled General Assembly in 2011 are constitutional, although the plaintiffs bringing the lawsuit plan an immediate appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.With candidate filing for the 2016 primary and general elections ending at noon today, the federal justices would have to intervene quickly to ensure the state's scheduled elections take place on time.The state Supreme Court earlier had upheld the ruling of a three-judge panel appointed to decide if the maps passed constitutional muster. However, the U.S. Supreme Court subsequently ruled new districts drawn by Alabama were unconstitutional, and the federal justices ordered the North Carolina Supreme Court to use the Alabama ruling as guidelines for a fresh look at the Tar Heel State's congressional and legislative districts.Justice Paul Newby, a Republican, wrote for the majority.The court's three other GOP members - Chief Justice Mark Martin and Justices Bob Edmunds and Barbara Jackson, joined Newby.The three Democratic justices, Cheri Beasley, Robin Hudson, and Sam "Jimmy" Ervin IV, dissented.wrote Beasley in her minority opinion.Beasley said that lawmakers usedto ensure preclearance under the Voting Rights Act withoutSen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, and Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, who chaired the redistricting panels in 2011 when the districts were drawn, praised Friday's ruling.Rucho and Lewis said in a joint statement, citing previous court challenges to the districts.Former state Sen. Margaret Dickson, a Cumberland County Democrat and one of the plaintiffs, issued a statement saying an immediate appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court will be filed.Dickson said.said Brent Woodcox, the General Assembly's redistricting counsel.Woodcox said the most interesting part of the decision was that Newby's ruling upheld a principle found in a previous U.S. Supreme Court case that held that if lawmakers create what's called a Voting Rights Act district, 50 percent plus one of the residents of that district must be members of a minority group.Woodcox said.For the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Friday's ruling, the federal high court would have to backtrack from thatprinciple, Woodcox said.Woodcox said.Much of Newby's opinion centers on how much race was a factor in drawing what are called "majority-minority" districts - districts where a majority of the voters comprise a minority race.Newby wrote.Every 10 years, the General Assembly is required to redraw congressional and legislative districts based on the most recent census. The current districts, which are the subject of the lawsuit, were based on the 2010 census. They'll be in place through the 2020 elections unless the courts require the state to redraw them.
Huawei had a pretty big 2015, and now they are looking to follow that up with an even bigger 2016. Last year, the company shipped over 100 million smartphones. That includes the likes of the Huawei P8, P8 Lite, Mate S, and the Nexus 6P which is arguably their biggest seller, especially in western markets. Now the company is looking to increase that number by about 20% and ship 120 million smartphones in 2016. At CES, the company announced the Mate 8 for the international markets, after having announced it in China back in November. They also announced the GX8, which is a mid-range smartphone from Huawei.

Lest we forget that Huawei also owns Honor, which has been looking like its own company as of late. Honor also launched the Honor 5X this week, and will be available later this month for under $200. So Huawei is in good shape to hit that 120 million shipping mark that they are aiming for in 2016. It wont be easy, but neither was shipping 100 million smartphones in 2015.

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Were also hearing that the success of the Nexus 6P has helped out Huaweis brand image in many markets where Huawei was not strong before. From talking with Huawei back in November, that is a pretty big deal for them. The company has been looking to expand more outside of Asia, and into Europe and the Americas, and the Nexus 6P is definitely helping with that. Of course, we dont have any specific numbers on how well the Nexus 6P has sold for Huawei, but its definitely doing well for the company.

Shipping 120 million smartphones in the 2016 year isnt going to be easy. But if there is a Chinese manufacturer that can do it, its definitely Huawei. They are now the biggest manufacturer in China, recently reclaiming that title from Xiaomi. But dont be fooled. Xiaomi and the many, many other smartphone makers in China are not going to back down. In fact, they will be getting even more competitive in 2016. And thats something thats going to be great for consumers. Competition means innovation, and that normally means lower prices for better phones and newer features that we might not see without competition.
When people hear the name, Samsung, smartphones immediately come to mind, and rightly so as they are the worlds largest manufacturer of the devices. However, with waning sales and profits in the smartphone industry as a whole, Samsung has relied on their profitable display, memory and chip divisions to help bail them out. It also does not hurt that Samsung is able to sell those products to other manufacturers, which increases their sales and profitability. Samsung is constantly developing and improving its chips  smaller, faster, lighter  and such is the case with a new Bio Processor that Samsung Electronics System LSI division just recently developed. It is capable of measuring electrocardiogram (ECG) and consists of embedded flash memory, an applications processor and Bluetooth all on one module, keeping its size and thickness to a minimum. This will make it ideal for wearable devices where the size of the processor must be kept to a minimum.

The new Bio Processor is also capable of monitoring Photo PlethysmoGraph  a fancy way of saying it can monitor the rate of blood flow and body fat. Because everybody has his or her own person heartbeat, the Bio Processor can distinguish one person from another and it can actually be used to automatically log you into devices  even allowing access to your house or card door. Up until now, wearables will track the steps of an individual and their heart rate, but with the new Bio Processor, you would be able to access a bioelectrical impedance analysis, a detailed breakdown of organ measurements, an electrocardiogram showing electrical activity of their heart and a graph showing skin temperature. This is real information that a doctor could use to help at your next physical.

The Bio Processor has already gone into mass production and demonstrated it at CES on a prototype item named the S-Patch. It needs to be attached on the users chest for it to get a real-time heart rate while the user can view the data on a Bluetooth connected smartphone or tablet via the accompanying app. This real-time information can be shared with your trainer or, more importantly, your doctor, which Samsung claims can detect life-threatening health issues before they become a problem. While we will certainly see this Bio Processor in the next generation of the Samsung Gear S2, it should also begin making an appearance in other wearables in early 2016.
Virtual Reality continues to be an intriguing market for the technology and games industry, and this year more than a few companies have set out to launch their offerings. Sony is one of those companies with the PlayStation VR, and although there is no hard date thats been listed yet, an earlier leak of the PlayStation VRs supposed price from a listing on Amazon Canada suggested a potential launch time frame of December 31st in the region, potentially hinting that might be the date for a launch in other regions including the U.S., however, that is unconfirmed at the moment.

Pricing aside and launch date, one of the more important details for interested parties and PlayStation 4 gamers will be the number of available titles for the platform once it launches. Unfortunately, there is no detail right now about how many games Sony plans to launch alongside PlayStation VR, but Sonys CEO Kazuo Hirai has mentioned various details about the development process, including the number of games currently in development and how many developers are already partnering with Sony to launch games.

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According to Hirai, Sony already has 200 developers on board to produce games for the PlayStation VR platform as many third-party game developers have shown interest and support for the tech, and those developers are collectively working on over 100 video game titles. Granted, 100 in the scheme of things compared to how many games are now available for the PS4 seems like small potatoes, but 100 games is a pretty good start for a platform that hasnt even launched yet. Its worth mentioning that its also a good possibility not all of those titles will be ready in time for the launch, and consumers could end up seeing development cycles of some of those games take a bit longer with a launch in 2017 and beyond. Its also quite likely that 100 games is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak in regards to how many games could launch for PlayStation VR over its lifecycle. However many games launch with the headset could make a difference in how many people buy it right away, but its likely that many PS4 owners are somewhat interested in the possibility of what PlayStation VR has to offer, and may one day pick it up.
The modern day taxi service called Uber has become subject to scrutiny due to its business model. Their model consist of hiring people like you and me to be human taxi drivers for people in and around the city. This is all done through an app where users can request a rider from wherever they are at. With its presence in over 60 countries and about 300 cities, Uber books about 1 million rides a day. With their rapid success, Uber has created stiff competition against companies like Yellow Cab. Uber now faces more controversy due to a data breach that occurred in 2014, although they did reach a settlement with New York. The deal is part of a New York Settlement that Attorney General Eric Schneiderman put together, and requires Uber to adopt a form of privacy protection for their riders and to also pay the fine of $20,000.

Ubers recent legal troubles dont just stem from a security breach. With the data of about 50,000 drivers exposed, a tool available to Uber employees dubbed god view concerned people about how Uber was handling personal data on individual users. The God View tool allowed Uber employees to see the location of Uber cars and was about to track an individuals Uber ride and their travel log. All of this was done without the users knowledge or permission. Of course this eventually led to New York investigating Ubers security practices and it resulted in the modern day taxi company to pay a $20,000 fine. The fine was just for the data breach in 2014, but the settlement itself covered for the God View tool in which Uber restricted access to all employees.

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According to Uber, they are pleased to have come to an agreement and ensures that they will protect the personal privacy of all their employees and riders that use the service. So with all of that mess out of the way, Uber can proceed to offer affordable rides across town to people in the 300 different states and 60 countries. With the settlement now over, Uber should have more time to devote to their other endeavors, such as their UberEats service.
With competition amongst wireless carriers in the US getting more fierce with every passing year, telecom service providers in the country are doing everything they can and pulling out all stops to ensure a steady stream of subscriber additions that would help them maintain, and hopefully increase, market share in the worlds most lucrative telecom market. With a view towards doing just that, the fifth-largest carrier in the country, US Cellular, has now introduced a new promo plan that gives its customers a data allowance of 6 GB for only $40 per month. Now, that in itself looks like a fairly lucrative offer from the company, seeing as comparable plans from the leading carriers come with significantly lower data allowances. However, the carrier says that it has more offers in store for both its current as well as new subscribers.

Coming to some of those other promotional deals the carrier is offering right now, existing customers adding an additional line will be entitled to a $150 service credit. The company is also looking to strongly incentivize its services for customers of rival companies by offering a total of $300 of service credit to people switching over to its network. Out of that $300, a $150 gift card will be waiting for anybody who makes the switch to US Cellular. Another $150 will be offered to switching customers who trade in a phone, thereby making the offer all the more lucrative for would-be US Cellular subscribers. The company also has a referral program in place that awards $50 service credits to both the new as well as the referring customer.

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Coming to the monthly savings with US Cellulars newly-announced $40 promo plan, $45 per month gets you only 3 GB of data at Verizon, and you will need to shell out $60 to get 6 GB of data from the carrier. AT&T, meanwhile charges $50 for 5 GB of data, while its $30 plan comes with a comparatively paltry 2 GB data bucket. Of course, all prices mentioned will have access fees, device charges and taxes slapped on, so the actual payment will be a whole lot higher than what those advertised prices may suggest. Either way, the aforementioned offers are all effective with immediate effect, so interested users should head on over to their local US Cellular outlets to get with the program.
RALEIGH Gov. Pat McCrory, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, and 2nd District U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers are among high-profile Republican incumbents who have drawn Republican primary opponents, but 54 other candidates were, in effect, elected to the General Assembly on Monday because nobody chose to run against them from either party when filing ended.According to the State Board of Elections filing lists , 62 Republican candidates in the House have no primary opponents, and 22 of them will run uncontested in the general election, barring write-in or unaffiliated candidate challenges. There are 74 Democrats with no primary opponents, and 19 of them will face no challenger in the general election.In the Senate, 36 Republicans are unopposed in the primary, and 29 Democrats are unchallenged. Of those, 13 candidates will be unchallenged in the general election as well - nine Republicans and four Democrats.Voting patterns over the past few election cyclessaid Michael Bitzer, provost and professor of politics and history at Catawba College.Bitzer said.The numbers could represent constituent satisfaction with their current representation, or that the power of incumbency or voting behavior of these districtsBitzer said.Neither Bitzer, nor Joe Stewart, executive director of the North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation - a group that closely monitors state elections - believes McCrory is in jeopardy of being upset by former state Rep. Robert Brawley of Iredell County or Charles Moss, a Randolph County pastor.Also running for the seat are state Attorney General Roy Cooper and Durham attorney Ken Spaulding, both Democras, and Libertarian Lon Cecil, a retired engineer from High Point.Bitzer said.Stewart said of campaign spending. The contest has been labeled a nationally vital race.Stewart said.There are nine candidates in the U.S. Senate race including Burr. He faces Republican challengers Larry Holmquist, Paul Wright, and 2014 U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Greg Brannon. Democratic challengers are Spring Lake Mayor Chris Rey, former Wake County state Rep. Deborah Ross, Durham businessman Kevin Griffin, and Ernest Reeves, a retired U.S. Army officer from Greenville. Libertarian Sean Haugh, also a 2014 U.S. Senate candidate, filed to run for Burr's seat.Bitzer said.If Brannon taps intosimilar to the inroads made by GOP presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz,Bitzer said. But Burr remains the early favoriteThe real question is who will gain traction on the Democratic side, he said.Bitzer said.Brannon's decision to runStewart said.U.S. senators, but Democratsto take advantage of that, Stewart said.Ellmers faces four GOP challengers in Kay Daly, Jim Duncan, Tim D'Annunzio, and Frank Roche. Adam Coker is the lone Democratic opponent.Bitzer said. But four primary challengers indicates opposition to EllmersOf 10 GOP congressional incumbents, only three - Reps. Richard Hudson (8th District), Mark Meadows (11th District), and George Holding (13th District) - drew no primary opponents. Democratic political strategist Thomas Mills of Carrboro filed to challenge Hudson; even though Mills does not live in Hudson's district, Mills filed so that the incumbent would not run unopposed.Rising voter discontent in both parties could lend unpredictability to the primary races, as political outsiders gain appeal, Stewart said. If the parties haven't chosen their presidential candidates by March 15, that could produce a different mix of voters. And the $2 billion bond referendum on the ballot also could influence who turns out to vote.Patsy Keever, North Carolina Democratic Party chairwoman, said of Democratic candidates.Keever said.said NCGOP Chairman Hasan Harnett.Harnett said. Forest has no GOP rivals.
Here's our list of who we think has been naughty and nice this year...Former SEANC head Dana Cope, convicted of stealing more than half a million dollars from the organization over 15 years.Gov. Pat McCrory for trying to protect the people of North Carolina by asking the feds to stop sending Syrian refugees to NC.Big Solar lobbyists and legislators who colluded to defend renewable energy mandates and tax credits that force consumers to pay more for inefficient energy while lining the pockets of big companies.The lawmakers who finally took a stand and allowed the solar tax credits to expire at the end of the year.the 115 (or more) NC state and local government employees whose work email addresses were released in the hack of the Ashley Madison website, as revealed by NC Capitol Connection. The website caters to married people looking to cheat on their spouses - raising questions about what public employees were doing with taxpayer-funded equipment while collecting taxpayer-funded paychecks.Retiring Sen. Bob Rucho for fighting for tax reform and fiscal responsibility in the legislature.The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and other unions for funneling millions of dollars to the Moral Monday movement and its backers. Do hard-working union members really want their dues to go to radicals and leftists?The 31 state senators who voted in favor of SB 607 - the Taxpayer Protection Act. This bill would have put to a vote amendments to the state constitution limiting the annual growth rate of the state budget and creating a new 5% maximum on the state income tax rate.The state House of Representatives, for failing to pass the Taxpayer Protection Act.The Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (recently renamed the Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ) for standing up against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its power grab via the Clean Power Plant rule.That same DEQ for giving the green light to Spanish wind developer Iberdrola to build massive wind turbines free from the legislatively enacted requirements of state law. Local residents are concerned that the lack of supervision essentially cuts them out of the process and deprives them of protection from the project's ill effects.North Carolina has its fair share of both!The North Carolina Supreme Court for upholding the state's Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) as constitutional. The 4-3 decision ensured that more children across the state can enjoy access to quality educational opportunities.The City of Belmont for trying to keep secret a $100,000 investigation of its police department, which led to the firing of the police chief as well as numerous other changes. The city claims it doesn't have to release the 160-page report. The Civitas Institute Center for Law and Freedom has filed suit, alleging that the report is a public record subject to disclosure.Attorney Matthew Bryant of Winston-Salem has led the charge through state courts challenging the Department of Transportation's unconstitutional use of the "Map Act." DOT has misused the law to designate "transportation corridors" within which homeowners do not enjoy the full value or use of their property.The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation for its continued nurturing of the radical Left in North Carolina with its funding and support of a statewide web of activist groups, as documented in our Mapping the Left website.Dale Folwell, who recently left his post as head of the state Division of Employment Security. He helped institute reforms that cut down on fraud, while making the agency more responsive to people who have lost their jobs. Folwell also oversaw the early repayment of more than $2.5 billion in debt to the federal government, leading to massive tax relief for employers.the North Carolina Association of Educators for dragging its feet at supplying membership data to state auditors. The NCAE union must have at least 40,000 members to retain its valuable automatic dues-checkoff option on teachers' paychecks. So why has the organization moved so slowly to have its membership verified?North Carolina state lawmakers, for voting to defund Planned Parenthood in our state, and Gov. Pat McCrory for signing the bill to defund.All the people across North Carolina who support the work of the Civitas Institute!This and other informative articles appear in the December edition of NC Capitol Connection...
Daily Star stirs fear of migrant perverts and filthy idiots abroad

The Daily Star once supported the EDL. The paper today brings news that MIGRANT PERVERTS are a THREAT TO UK GIRLS.

Surely more perverts means more customers for the Daily Star (see more on the papers Page 3) and the papers owner Richard Desmonds porn TV stations, on which you can watch such wholesome films as Jim Slips Euro 18s and A Filthy Idiot Abroad.

(Mr Desmond also owns the Express which leads with news that more migrants WILL LEAD TO MORE SEX ATTACKS.)

So much for the foreign pervs. What of the news?

Matthew Young writes:

Women in Britain have been warned they could be targeted by immigrants arriving from the Middle East.

Well, they could be. They could also not be.

Criminal gangs carried out sex attacks in four cities across Germany on New Years Eve, assaulting and robbing 150 women.

The story goes that over 100 women in Cologne and other German cities were victims of a spate of muggings and sexual attacks by men who looked Arab or north African. Were the men organised? We dont know. Was the sexual assault part of the robbery, a ruse to distract and unarm the victim? Did they do it because they are migrants?

Lets hope the police catch the bastards and lock them up.

Back in the Star we hear more of the warning:

American professor Valerie Hudson says the ratio of young men to women across Europe is soaring and tens of thousands of male migrants seeking a new life could threaten our peace and stability.

Men are all potential sex attackers?

Crimes such as rape and sexual harassment become more common in highly masculinised societies, she said. Womens ability to move about freely and without fear within society is curtailed.

See: The Vatican.

Crimes such as rape and sexual harassment become more common in highly masculinised societies

Whereas in feminised societies,  can we suggest Africa in colonial times?  there was less rape?

One victim, Mirle Heizen, said she was followed home by a man who tried to barge into her home. Young Cologne mum Julia Hiltscher hoped the attackers were brought to justice but said immigrants should not be tarred with the same brush.

Some irony that her words to the BBC should appear beneath the Daily Stars loaded headline.

PS: Valeries warning first appeared in Politico, a website based in Washington. She was not demonising migrants. She was talking about gender balance.

We should be thinking strategically about how to protect the normal sex ratios. Places where the sex ratios are most unequal have suffered a rise in crime. China has suffered a rise in crime, India as well. I dont care if they are Muslim or Greek Orthodox. If you are altering sex ratios to the level of 123 men to every 100 women, you are going to have problems.

The Star and Express failed to include that part of her theory.

And the cure more too many rapey men is simple: let more women in.

Anorak

Posted: 8th, January 2016 | In: Reviews, Tabloids Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
(ANSA) - Milan, January 8 - Judges in Athens have turned down Italy's extradition request for two out of five Greek anarchists arrested in violent May 1 protests against the opening of the Milan expo world's fair, judicial sources said Friday.

Legal sources said the ruling may have been due to the fact that the charges against the two, of "pillaging and plundering", are not on the statute book in Greece.

In Italy they carry jail terms of up to 15 years.

Italian police in November arrested 10 people in Italy and Greece in connection with the anti-Expo clashes that turned violent on May 1, the opening day of the world's fair.

The suspects - five Italians and five Greeks - face charges of destruction and looting, aggravated resistance to a public official and misrepresentation.

Eight of the suspects - four Greeks and four Italians - were taken into custody, while the remaining two were on the run.

A further five suspects - three Milanese, one person from Como and one Greek national - are out on bail.

The suspects all belong to anarchist groups that infiltrated a peaceful anti-Expo march, lobbing Molotov cocktails and fireworks at police, setting cars on fire, and destroying shop windows.

They were identified after police analysed over 600 GB of photographic and video material.

"We extrapolated hundreds of stills highlighting every smallest detail useful in singling out the authors of the crimes," police sources said at the time of the arrests.

The Greek anarchist group was pinned down after 14 members drew the attention of cashiers at a Milan supermarket where they were shopping on May 2.

The cashiers called the police.

Investigators say the suspects formed a single 'black bloc' that carried out over 100 acts of devastation in complicity "with at least 300 people".

One of the suspects is Greek anarchist Alexandros Kouros, who investigators say was the most dangerous and active in causing violence.


(ANSA) - Rome, January 8 - Five Italian LGBT associations announced Friday that they plan to demonstrate in cities across the country on January 23, to raise awareness and support for a civil unions bill set for discussion in the Senate later this month.

The groups organising the national protest are Arcigay, ArciLesbica, Agedo, MIT and Famiglie Arcobaleno.

"Italy is one of the few European countries that doesn't have any type of legal recognition of same-sex couples," the groups said, in a written appeal to the government.

"Every parent's wish is that their children can grow up in a country in which everyone has the same rights and the same responsibilities".

A heated debate is currently underway within Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) and between PD and centrist allies over a provision in the bill introducing stepchild adoption, or the adoption of the biological child of one partner in a civil union by the other.

Conservative Catholics contest this measure on grounds it could pave the way for surrogacy, which is presently outlawed in Italy.

The issue is proving a major obstacle to the passage of the law.


(ANSA) - Rome, January 8 - Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Friday on Twitter that "incomes are rising, unemployment is falling; structural reforms are working, Italy is using #flexibility well", commenting on the latest set of economic data from statistics agency Istat. On Thursday Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem urged Italy not to exaggerate in using flexibility. Istat reported Friday that household income was 1.5% up in the last year, and on Thursday said unemployment was down to a three-year low of 11.3% in November.


(ANSA) - Milan, January 8 - The State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) on Friday reached a deal to buy an historic palazzo in the centre of Milan that was until 2011 the home of the Milan chamber of commerce. SOFAZ is buying Palazzo Turati for 97 million euros in its first real-estate purchase in Italy, according to a statement on its website.

The property, recently used as a conference centre, has been sold by Tecnoholding, a finance company controlled by the chamber of commerce.


(ANSA) - Ragusa, January 7 - Police on Thursday opened an investigation into the death of an 11-month-old child Thursday on the pediatric ward of Maria Paterno Arezzo Hospital in Ragusa.

The infant's parents, both Albanian, took him to the hospital when he fell ill on Wednesday morning. Hospital staff released him after some routine tests, but the child fell ill again and his parents took him back.

He was readmitted, and died at dawn.

Public health officials have launched an internal investigation.


(fixes slug). (ANSA) - Aosta, January 7 - There were disruptions to traffic due to heavy snowfall in the northwestern regions of Val d'Aosta and Piemonte on Thursday.

Civil protection officials in Val d'Aosta ordered a block on heavy goods vehicles travelling to Switzerland along the SS 27 and the Gran San Bernardo tunnel. Motorists were also warned of a "possible halt in traffic" on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc tunnel leading into France. On Thursday Swiss authorities also closed the Sempione pass leading into Piedmont to heavy goods vehicles due to heavy snowfall.

The pass remained open to cars equipped with snow tyres or chains. Meanwhile operations were underway in the Rhemes valley in Val d'Aosta to free a bus that became trapped after two avalanches fell onto the road. Civil protection officials said the passengers were all fine. Numerous avalanches were reported in upper Val D'Aosta, and particularly in the Rhemes and Valgrisenche valleys, on Thursday.


(ANSA) - Bolzano, January 8 - Police in the northern town of Vipiteno near the Austrian border on Friday seized a non-street legal car outfitted in James Bond-like style, after they were called to the scene for a reported fight.

The car, which included modifications such as a hidden control panel with buttons to activate a blue light between the windscreen and the roof of the car, belonged to a private security guard who was wearing a belt with a semi-automatic pistol that police also seized.

Police conducted a search of the security guard's home and found counterfeit police gear, a fake plastic bomb with a digital timer, a crossbow with arrows, a handmade chromed steel police baton, and a small arsenal of bladed weapons, all of which they seized.

The man was cited for possession of counterfeit police gear.


'Safe harbor' credits could cost nearly $1 biillion, five times more than projected

CJ Photo by Barry Smith

Gov. Pat McCrory, at left, fields questions from Time Warner Cable News' Tim Boyum Wednesday during an economic forum at RTP.

RALEIGH State officials, lawmakers, and renewable energy consultants attempted Tuesday to downplay the $937.8 million cost of tax credits sought under the state's new Safe Harbor Act - a total more than five times higher than initial projections.Members of the Joint Legislative Commission on Energy Policy also discussed who would monitor compliance for those receiving the 35 percent state tax credit for renewable energy investment and how rigorous that process would be. Some worried the program will be a drain on state finances that will provide large banks and insurance companies a windfall at the expense of taxpayers.state Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, said after the meeting. In December Carolina Journal reported the $937 million estimate, provided by the state Department of Revenue.Rucho was a primary sponsor of the bill allowing renewable energy companies, under specific restrictions, to remain eligible to claim the tax credits after the credit program expired Dec. 31.Rucho said.When the legislation was debated in April before the Senate Finance Committee, Jonathan Tart of the legislature's Fiscal Research Division said applications would be limited mostly toat a cost of $183.5 million.As it turned out, 201 applications and $1.9 million in application fees were submitted to the state Department of Revenue by the Oct. 1 deadline.Tart told commission members Tuesday.the actual fiscal impact for some time.Rucho said he anticipated only 50 to 60 percent of the credits would be taken.Tart confirmed. That does not mean the full tax breaks won't be received.Under the Safe Harbor Act, the tax credits can be spread out over a decade, Tart said. A recipient of the credit may use it to offset no more than 50 percent of tax liability in a single year. Instead of losing part of a credit if it exceeds the 50 percent threshold, the tax break can be pushed forward.Tart said of the projected tax credits. If some projects aren't pursued, or don't meet requirements of the Safe Harbor Act, those tax credits won't be issued.Thomas Boothby, a renewable energy industry accountant with Dixon, Hughes, Goodman of Charlotte, said his company has worked to varying degrees with roughly half of the Safe Harbor applicants.Boothby said.His firm's clients saw the act asin case weather delays, a backlog of permitting, or some unforeseen setback at the very end of the projectIt was unclear from Boothby's testimony how many of those projects were in the pipeline when the Safe Harbor Act was passed, and why the numbers provided then by Fiscal Research were so far off.The gap between projections and applications prompted Rep. Ken Goodman, D-Richmond, to wonder how the fiscal note got written, and whether its numbers presented a realistic cost to the state.Boothby said.Developers must certify by March 1 they qualify for the tax credits, according to Nelson Freeman, Revenue Department legislative liaison, but total credits actually taken would not be disclosed until the Revenue Department releases its 2018 Economic Incentives Report.To be eligible, Freeman said, a project smaller than 65 megawatts must have incurred costs and partial construction of at least 80 percent. Projects 65 mw and larger must have been 50 percent complete to qualify for the credit. An independent engineer and certified public accountant must submit notarized copies of written reports verifying eligibility.House Majority Leader Mike Hager, R-Rutherford, asked about the Revenue Department's level of vigilance and review of those reports.Freeman said.to do that.Hager also expressed his disapproval that companies receiving tax credits for investments in renewable energy projects can sell or transfer them to other parties.Hager said Duke Energy, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Bank of America, and other large banks and insurance companies end up with most of the tax credits The renewable credits are "a sweetheart deal," Rucho said. "It doesn't seem very fair that the taxpayers are picking up the burden that should be done strictly by the private sector."Rep. John Szoka, R-Cumberland, took issue with Rucho. He said renewable energy companies have spent at least $2.6 billion in qualifying expenses alone in North Carolina, and more in ancillary costs.Szoka said.
(see previous) (ANSA) - Cosenza, January 7 - Vatileaks 2 defendant Francesca Chaouqui said Thursday her co-defendant Msgr Lucio Vallejo Balda passed confidential Vatican financial documents on alleged financial mismanagement and overspending to two journalists who used them to write two books.

"It's true, it was me who introduced the two journalists to Msgr Lucio Vallejo Balda, but there was never any agreement to pass them private papers," she told a press conference at her home town of San Sosti in Calabria.

"It was Msgr Balda who handed over those documents to show that reform had not been put into practice," she said.

Chaouqui and Balda - who claims she had a brief affair with him - are among five Vatileaks 2 defendants.

Vallejo Balda and PR expert Chaouqui were both members of the now-defunct COSEA commission set up to advise Pope Francis on the reform of the Holy See's economic and administrative structure.

Investigative journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi and Vallejo Balda's former assistant Nicola Maio are also on trial.

Chaouqui, Balda and Maio are charged with leaking confidential material and Nuzzi and Fittipaldi with using it in two recently published books - one titled Avarice, the other Merchants in the Temple - documenting alleged Vatican waste and mismanagement and lavish spending by clergymen.

Chaouqui defended herself at the press conference, saying she had been trying to help Pope Francis and not bidding for a place in the Roman Curia.

"My problem was helping the Holy Father, not getting a place in the Curia," said the Calabrian-born PR expert.

Chaouqui arrived at the press meet in her native town of San Sosti to the sound of Fiorella Mannoia's hit song 'Io no ho paura' (I'm Not Scared). Chaouqui said she would never betray confidential remarks by Pope Francis or divulge the content of classified documents.

"No one will ever find out from me anything about conversations I had with the pope or any documents I got and read," she told a press conference.

"I will never betray my State secrecy," she said, "even if my son should be born in prison".


(ANSA) - Milan, January 8 - Judges in Athens have turned down Italy's extradition request for two out of five Greek anarchists arrested in May 1 protests against the Milan expo world's fair, judicial sources said Friday.

Italian police in November served arrest warrants on 10 people in Italy and Greece in connection with anti-Expo clashes that turned violent on May 1, the opening day of the world's fair.

The suspects - five Italians and five Greeks - face charges of destruction and looting, aggravated resistance to a public official and misrepresentation.

Eight of the suspects - four Greeks and four Italians - were taken into custody, while the remaining two were on the run.

A further five suspects - three Milanese, one person from Como and one Greek national - are out on bail.

The suspects all belong to anarchist groups that infiltrated a peaceful anti-Expo march, lobbing Molotov cocktails and fireworks at police, setting cars on fire, and destroying shop windows.

They were identified after police analysed over 600 GB of photographic and video material.

"We extrapolated hundreds of stills highlighting every smallest detail useful in singling out the authors of the crimes," police sources said at the time of the arrests.

The Greek anarchist group was pinned down after 14 members drew the attention of cashiers at a Milan supermarket where they were shopping on May 2.

The cashiers called the police.

Investigators say the suspects formed a single 'black bloc' that carried out over 100 acts of devastation in complicity "with at least 300 people".

One of the suspects is Greek anarchist Alexandros Kouros, who investigators say was the most dangerous and active in causing violence.


(ANSA) - Rome, January 8 - Libya is not a place for "muscular" military action, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Friday.

Libya, he said, "is not a gym for muscular shows", arguing against "hasty action"" in the wake of Thursday's suicide truckbomb attack, claimed by Islamic State (ISIS) militants, which killed at least 74 police cadets in the western city of Zliten.

Military intervention, Gentiloni said, "might be justified by the terrorism alarm today, but it would not leave on the ground what is needed, the beginning of stabilisation, but rather, perhaps, even more confusion".

In the next few weeks, Gentiloni said, "there is only one plan on our agenda", the birth of a national-unity government. "Every day that is lost in creating the new government i hope will be born in the next few weeks" the foreign minister said, "is a day that gives more hope to Daesh (ISIS) and the enemies of the accord" agreed at the recent Rome Conference and signed in Morocco by the Libyan sides.

A local Islamic State affiliate has been trying to gain a foothold in Zliten, spreading westward from its central stronghold in the city of Sirte along the North African country's coast.

The United Nations special envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, denounced the attack and urged Libyans to "put their differences aside and unite to confront the scourge of terrorism." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack as well as ongoing attacks by the Islamic State group on oil facilities near Sidra and called for a national unity government as "the best way for Libyans to confront terrorism in all its forms." The bombing was yet another reminder for Libyans that "urgent progress is required" toward empowering a new unity government and rebuilding state bodies, Kobler said in a statement.

In recent years, thousands of migrants seeking a better life in Europe have sailed from Libya on rickety, overcrowded boats.

Hundreds have drowned in those crossings.

Libya slid into chaos following the 2011 toppling and killing of longtime dictator Muammar Geddafi. The oil-rich country is torn between an Islamist government based in the capital, Tripoli, and a rival, internationally recognized administration at Tobruk in the east. Meanwhile, a UN-supported unity government sits in neighbouring Tunisia.


(ANSA) - Rome, January 7 - November 2015 unemployment hit a three-year low of 11.3%, according to preliminary labor market data from Istat national statistics agency out Thursday. There were 2.871 million people looking for work, down 48,000 over October and by 479,000 people over November 2014. The positive November employment data was due to an increase in permanent full-time jobs and a decrease in temporary work contracts, Istat said. Permanent work contracts grew by 40,000 units (+0.3%) while temp contracts dropped by 32,000 (-1.3%) over October. Full-time jobs grew by 141,000 and temp jobs added 106,000 on a yearly basis, Istat said. There were 36,000 new jobs in November 2015 (+0.2% over the previous month) and a total of 22.48 million people were employed in the period (up by 206,000 over November 2014).

Youth unemployment dropped to 38.1% in November 2015, down by 1.2% over the previous month. The data for people aged 15-24 is the lowest since June 2013. Youth unemployment dropped 1.5% in September-November over the previous quarter, Istat said. Premier Matteo Renzi said Thursday the positive new employment data was thanks to his government's Jobs Act labor reform. "Unemployment continues to decrease," he tweeted. "This proves the Jobs Act is working. Italy is back on track, starting from labour".

However Federconsumatori and Adusbef consumer groups disagreed, saying unemployment is still too high. "We continue astonished at the optimism expressed in the face of the alarming figure of 11.3% unemployment," the two associations said. Youth unemployment is also still too high at 38.1%, and it reaches 60% in the chronically impoverished South were "a job is just a distant mirage," they said. "Let us not forget that every unemployed person weighs on his or her family - which is the true welfare system - with a burden of some 450 euros a month," the associations said. Much more needs to be done to create jobs, they said, calling on the government to enact an Extraordinary Labor Plan and make massive investments.

"Until the country takes the path of growth and development... there will be no true and lasting recovery," they said, urging the government to invest in research and innovation, infrastructure, tourism, and the nation's cultural heritage.


(ANSA) - Genoa, January 7 - Three Libyan citizens arrested at Genoa port on Sunday and suspected of links to the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group were interrogated by Italian authorities for more than six hours on Thursday.

Judge Cinzia Perroni will decide at the end of the questioning whether to release the Libyans or to keep them in prison.

The three say they are car dealers who were on their way to Belgium for business. Prosecutors accuse them of being supporters of ISIS. They face charges of money laundering aggravated by international terrorist intent.

Anti-terror police arrested the men on Sunday evening as they disembarked at Genoa port from a ferry coming from Tunis.

They have been named as Abdel Kader Alkurbo, 50, travelling on a Swedish passport, Muhamad Ali Mosa Lufty, 43, resident in Brussels, and Mohamed Abdel Mohamed Amar, 39, travelling on a Belgian passport.

Police found on their cellphones pictures of armed children, scenes of war and of people hailing ISIS, wounded people and images linked to jihad.

One of the pictures showed the men swearing allegiance to the black flag of ISIS, police said.


Is claims responsibility for attack against Israeli tourists In Egypt, Sinai gas-pipeline to Jordan sabotaged

(ANSAmed) - ROME, JANUARY 8- Isis propaganda network Amaq News claimed responsibility for the attack against a bus carrying Israeli tourists close to the Pyramids, in Giza, Egypt, Site reported.



Meanwhile, the 'Sinai Province' of the Islamic State also claimed responsibility for the sabotage of the gas pipeline running to Jordan. A bus carrying Arab-Israeli tourists was attacked yesterday in Cairo while en route to the Pyramids. There were several gunshots and windows were smashed by bullets in front of a Cairo hotel during a confrontation between the security forces and unknown individuals. No casualties have been reported.



Some media speculated about an action carried out by Muslim Brotherhood "sympathizers" .



The Sinai gas pipeline was attacked yesterday evening close to the village of El-Midan, al Ahram reported.



The 'Sinai province' of Is, formerly known as the Ansar Beit al Maqdis jihadists, now allied with the Caliphate, warned that Jordan would not receive "a drop of gas until Abu Bakr al Baghdadi ruled so ".




Libya: Mogherini meets Serraj and cabinet in Tunisia 100 mln euros in aid; 'Libyans showed courage'

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, JANUARY 8 - EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini met the prime minister of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez Serraj, and members of his cabinet in Tunis on Friday. Mogherini arrived in Tunis to support Serraj, who is tasked with forming a unity government. ''Libyans showed courage in uniting. The European Union is here to support this process,'' she said, noting that she was especially honored to be the first of the country's international partners to meet with the cabinet.



A minute of silence was held prior to the day's work in memory of the victims of an attack on Thursday in Libya. ''The Libyan population deserves peace and security. The real opportunity for Libyans is to unite in an attempt to defeat terrorism.'' ''Europe and the international community are here to show support for this process,'' she added, stressing that she was ''very happy with today's meeting, since for the first time after many months we have begun to discuss concrete ways to support the Libyan population in the humanitarian, economic and security sectors. The EU has always supported the Libyan population from the humanitarian standpoint and is prepared to do more: 100 million euros in aid will be available from the first day the Libyan government is up and running. The EU cannot substitute but it can support Libyan leadership in taking on its responsibilities.'' Security is the largest challenge, and ''we've decided that our teams will continue to work together very closely to make sure than all these plans come into being in the near future,'' she said. Mogherini concluded by thanking Tunisia, its government and its people for their support to the Libyan process at this particular time as well as UN special envoy to Libya Martin Kobler and the entire international community and ''on behalf of all the Europeans and the Libyans who made the decision''.



''We are on their side,'' she said. ''Count on us as you count on yourselves.'' (ANSAmed).




- MATERA - Seventy thousand people enjoyed the eleven performances of the Living Crib in Matera (European Culture Capital 2019) during the Christmas season, from December 4 2015, to January 3, 2016, the organisers reported.



According to a press statement, 48 thousand tickets were sold during the first phase of the Crib, between December 4 to 8, when the representation was held in the Sasso Barisano and Sasso Caveoso, with over 4 thousand crowd actors. Musma, the Matera Museum of Contemporary Sculpure, also reported a 30% increase in visitors in 2015, going from 9,300 people in 2014 to 12,256 in 2015.
ISIS militant executes mother 'for apostasy' Report 'Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently' activists

(by Lorenzo Trombetta) (ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, JANUARY 8 - An Islamic State (ISIS) militant has executed his own mother, according to activists from Raqqa, a city in northern Syria under the jihadists' group control and targeted by incessant bombing by the US-led international coalition and Russia. The information cannot be verified independently but was announced by the group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), which has gained visibility in Western media outlets in recent months after several of its members and those connected to them were killed inside and outside Syria in the space of only a few weeks.



The group said that Lena Qassem, 45, had been killed in front of the post office (where she had been an employee) by her first-born, 20-year-old son Ali. Initial reports said that she had been killed after being found guilty of spying for the US-led anti-ISIS coalition. The activists later said that she had been charged with apostasy. Some say that the woman and her son had argued bitterly, with the woman asking her son to leave ISIS and accusing the jihadist movement of not following the true Islam. This may have been the reason she was considered an 'apostate'. Other sources say that she was killed for being Alawite, the branch of the Shia Muslim minority sect from which Syria's rulers have come for the past half a century. According to this version, Lena Qassem was from the Alawite stronghold of Jabla on the Mediterranean coast and not originally from Raqqa, a Sunni-majority city. Tension is high in the city in recent days after Russian airstrikes killed over 13 civilians, say local activists.



Kurdish militias are trying to advance from the northern in the Ain Issa district, supported with US weapons and airstrikes. The activists say that those trying to monitor violations committed by the jihadists are often accused of ''spying for the Americans''. In recent weeks, protests have been held in Manbej - an ISIS-controlled city on the other side of the Euphrates River - against the jihadists' decision to send youths to the front.



ISIS is afraid of a popular uprising in Manbej and other areas after recent Kurdish military successes. A young woman was also executed by Raqqa in recent days, one of the few who had tried to work as a clandestine reporter in the city. (ANSAmed).






On Sunday, December 27, 2015 6:34 PM, Rima Adel < derick.leodavis@yahoo.com > wrote:









Hello Dear

How are you today i sew your Email on(http://wwwfacebook.com ) How are you my

dear good friend, My Name is Miss Selina, Please I will like you to reply

me to my Email ID (

why i contact you.

Your's Selina



Hello DearHow are you today i sew your Email on(http://wwwfacebook.com ) How are you mydear good friend, My Name is Miss Selina, Please I will like you to replyme to my Email ID ( helaryselina@yahoo.co.uk )So i can brief you the reasonwhy i contact you.Your's Selina

On Monday, January 4, 2016 11:08 AM, Rudo Marac < helaryselina@yahoo.co.uk > wrote:





My Dearest,



I must start by expressing my gratitude for finding time to write me, because i know that appreciation is the highest form of prayer, for it acknowledges the presence of good wherever we shine the light of our thankful thoughts, but there are realities we share, regardless of our nationality, language, or individual tastes, and as we all need food, so do we need emotional nourishment, love, kindness, appreciation, and support from others.



I am Miss Selina Marac Akoon from South Sudan, My late Father was Brigadier General Marac Akoon was assassinated while heading to Yei to replace the Brigadier General Peter Tut who led a rebellion with some of the forces under his command on January 4, following similar defections in Jingle, Unity and Upper Nile state, members of parliament at South Sudan National Legislative Assembly, said the way the my Late Father was killed indicated that the attack was a planned assassination, because the was no fighting at that time. It was a surprise planned attack.



You can read more on the news.



http://sudanforum.net/showthread.php?p=2629615

http://talkofsudan.com/south-sudan-admits-losing-top-level-officers-in-malakal-battle/

http://www.essentialafrica.com/drum-it/drum-conflict-and-resolution?show=15119



I will like to inform you that if you will help me to relocate to your country with the substance that i inherited from my Late father, I have an amount the sum of US$3.800 Million which i will like to invest, but my only problem is that I don't have idea of any lucrative business.



The obvious reason why I contacted you is that you are to advise and invest this money to lucrative business because i have no business experience for now, but if you accept to help me i will forward to you the necessary documents for you to confirm, and it is my intention to compensate you with 20% of the total money for your assistance and you will also invest the rest of the money in any lucrative business you know, please all communications for now should be through this email address only for confidential purposes.



As soon as I receive your positive response showing your interest I will put things into action immediately, I shall appreciate an urgent message indicating your ability and willingness to handle this transaction sincerely, awaiting your urgent and positive response, Please do keep this only to yourself please i beg you not to disclose it till i come over, once the fund has been transferred.



I hope to hear from you soon, i am giving all this details information with every transparency and hoping that you find a place in your heart to save me from this life torture.



I still hope to hear from you again,

Selina













On Monday, January 4, 2016 1:17 PM, Rudo Marac < helaryselina@yahoo.co.uk > wrote:





My Dearest.



Thanks for your mail, I really appreciate your effort to write me again, honestly the death of my late father is painful experience to me, and i don't know how to live with such painful experience, knowing fully well that my late Father was assassinated, and the blood sheard is still going on in my country, all the attempts made by the African Union to resore peace between the rebels and the government forces failed, another Peace talks between government and the rebels are being mediated by the East African regional body IGAD - the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development in the Ethiopia capital Addis-Ababa. Both sides still refused to reach a deal to cease hostilities to prevent the world's newest nation falling into civil war, which was the reason i ran for my dear life.



I am 26 years currently in Dakar Senegal and the money I am talking about was deposited in the bank by my late father who so much loved and cherish me, He wanted me to have the best and make him proud, My late father deposited the money and instructed the bank that and I can only withdraw with the help of a trusted foreigner or when i am married who will help me to make the necessary arrangement for the capital investment of the money.



This is the reason why I need your help to be sincere in your heart and assist me transfer the money into any account which you know will be safe either new or old empty or not, Though I do not have experience in international transaction so there is nothing I can do without your help, I wouldn't have bordered you if I have full access to the money within myself, because I am helpless without you, having no account and nobody abroad as a friend or relation.



After the transaction of the money into your account: You will help me withdraw some money from the account where the money was transferred, You will help me send the money through the Reverend Father in refugees camp to get all my traveling documents, You will send a letter of invitation to me so that they will give me a VISA urgently to travel and join you over, to enable me continue my education and for the capital investment.



Meanwhile i have already sent a letter to my late father's bank telling them my intention to claim my inheritance, all i need is your full name, address and telephone number so that i will send an authorization letter on your behalf, and i will give you the contact of the contact person of the bank for you to contact the bank and confirm.



The Reverend Father is like a father to me, i cannot do anything without him, and i need his consent before i leave the camp to stay with you in your country, and you can also contact me with his telephone number +221 782387793 when you call tell him that you want to talk to Miss Selina Marac Akoon, he will send for me and will permit me to talk to you with his telephone will like to hear your voice and explain it more better to you on the telephone.



I still hope to hear from you again.

Regards.



Selina









On Tuesday, January 5, 2016 2:18 PM, Rudo Marac < helaryselina@yahoo.co.uk > wrote:













I give all my trust, hope, and all because of your being clear from the first day that I contacted you, I want you to know that i can not monitor this transaction due to my refugee status, and I made it known to you that I had sent an authorization letter to my late fathers bank on your behalf with email address, please contact the bank and confirmation from the bank itself.



First you need to send a message to the e-mail address of the bank, and ask them to transfer the money to your account in your country for an investment, contact address of the bank in Senegal as follows, please try to send the letter to the bank first, let us wait for the answer.



Banque de l'Habitat du Senegal (BHS)

Address: Boulevard General De Gaulle BP : 229 Dakar Senegal

Contact Person: Mr. Mr.Imhoudu Mamudu

TEL. . +221 765 940 940

Fax: 221 432 347 528

Postal/Zip Code: BP 229 Dakar

Email:

Web: http://www.bhsenegal.tk



INFORMATION OF MY ACCOUNT

Name of Father Gen. Marac Akoon

Next of kin Selina Marac

Amount 3.8 M US Dollars

Account Number: 034009215301





Tell the bank officer that you are my foreign partner and we need to transfer the money to your account of the investment carefully, and do not hesitate to let me know what the bank said, I will be waiting to hear from you what the bank will say, because I want to join you immediately after the transfer.



Have a nice day,

Yours Selina



Hello,I give all my trust, hope, and all because of your being clear from the first day that I contacted you, I want you to know that i can not monitor this transaction due to my refugee status, and I made it known to you that I had sent an authorization letter to my late fathers bank on your behalf with email address, please contact the bank and confirmation from the bank itself.First you need to send a message to the e-mail address of the bank, and ask them to transfer the money to your account in your country for an investment, contact address of the bank in Senegal as follows, please try to send the letter to the bank first, let us wait for the answer.Banque de l'Habitat du Senegal (BHS)Address: Boulevard General De Gaulle BP : 229 Dakar SenegalContact Person: Mr. Mr.Imhoudu MamuduTEL. . +221 765 940 940Fax: 221 432 347 528Postal/Zip Code: BP 229 DakarEmail: banque.habitatdusenegal@null.net Web: http://www.bhsenegal.tkINFORMATION OF MY ACCOUNTName of Father Gen. Marac AkoonNext of kin Selina MaracAmount 3.8 M US DollarsAccount Number: 034009215301Tell the bank officer that you are my foreign partner and we need to transfer the money to your account of the investment carefully, and do not hesitate to let me know what the bank said, I will be waiting to hear from you what the bank will say, because I want to join you immediately after the transfer.Have a nice day,Yours Selina

On Wednesday, January 6, 2016 6:45 PM, Rudo Marac < helaryselina@yahoo.co.uk > wrote:











I want you to know that spending an hour here in the refugee camp is like a million days in jail, please dear, I do not want to continue like this, please let us follow the instructions of the bank will transfer the money to you, and I will join you and start a new life with you, I'm very happy that the bank have confirmed the availability of the my inheritance and the way forward for the transfer.



The documents required by the bank i just have the death certificate and last statement of account issued to my late father by bank, i will look for means to scan it and send it to you, I am sending it to you with confidence and because of your transparency since the start of this transaction, which gives me more confidence to trust you more and more.





The only problem is the other documents that the Bank said that you will secure from the high court of justice, and i discussed the issue with Reverend Father who is responsible for the refugee camp here in Senegal and he gave me the contact of this lawyer Barrister Augustine Kapomba Fanyana, he is one of the lawyers working with the UN here in Dakar Senegal.





I want you to contact the lawyer in his e-mail or phone, tell him that you are my foreign partner that you need his services to prepare a power of attorney, an affidavit of oath, and letters of administration from the high court, to be able to transfer $ 3.8 million from bank account of my Late Father on my behalf due to my refugee status, if you can not write in English lawyer, you can contact an attorney in your language the lawyer is an international lawyer.



Bellow Here I contact a lawyer with the help of Father Daniel.



KAPOMBA ASSOCIATES DAKAR SENEGAL.



NAME: . . . . . . . . Lawyer Kapomba Fanyana Augustine.



TELEPHONE NUMBER. . . +221703338696



E-mail:





This lawyer will represent you at the High Court in Senegal and swear oath on your behalf, the lawyer will also prepare the attorney in your name, and the also secure the letter of administration from the High Court here in Senegal.



Now there is no need for us to wait, because the bank is ready to transfer the money to your account, but the only problem is the documents from the high court here in Senegal, I have to ask Reverend Daniel how can I begin to prepare my travel documents for me to join you when you're through .



Please dear, i will like you to make contact with this law firm immediately and ask them to attain the necessary documents for us to be able to send them to the bank for the transfer the money to your account, and you can see that everything concerning this transfer is complete, please help me to see that this lawyer get this document within the time limit.



My prayers are with you and I know that God has for us for sure, also send the letter you received from the bank to the lawyer for his more understanding. Waiting to hear from you with answers from a lawyer you can call the lawyer on the phone or send and e-mail.



I was expecting good news from you,

Sincerely love.

Selina.



My dearest.I want you to know that spending an hour here in the refugee camp is like a million days in jail, please dear, I do not want to continue like this, please let us follow the instructions of the bank will transfer the money to you, and I will join you and start a new life with you, I'm very happy that the bank have confirmed the availability of the my inheritance and the way forward for the transfer.The documents required by the bank i just have the death certificate and last statement of account issued to my late father by bank, i will look for means to scan it and send it to you, I am sending it to you with confidence and because of your transparency since the start of this transaction, which gives me more confidence to trust you more and more.The only problem is the other documents that the Bank said that you will secure from the high court of justice, and i discussed the issue with Reverend Father who is responsible for the refugee camp here in Senegal and he gave me the contact of this lawyer Barrister Augustine Kapomba Fanyana, he is one of the lawyers working with the UN here in Dakar Senegal.I want you to contact the lawyer in his e-mail or phone, tell him that you are my foreign partner that you need his services to prepare a power of attorney, an affidavit of oath, and letters of administration from the high court, to be able to transfer $ 3.8 million from bank account of my Late Father on my behalf due to my refugee status, if you can not write in English lawyer, you can contact an attorney in your language the lawyer is an international lawyer.Bellow Here I contact a lawyer with the help of Father Daniel.KAPOMBA ASSOCIATES DAKAR SENEGAL.NAME: . . . . . . . . Lawyer Kapomba Fanyana Augustine.TELEPHONE NUMBER. . . +221703338696E-mail: . . . . . . . .lawyerkapombafanyanaugustine@hotmail.com This lawyer will represent you at the High Court in Senegal and swear oath on your behalf, the lawyer will also prepare the attorney in your name, and the also secure the letter of administration from the High Court here in Senegal.Now there is no need for us to wait, because the bank is ready to transfer the money to your account, but the only problem is the documents from the high court here in Senegal, I have to ask Reverend Daniel how can I begin to prepare my travel documents for me to join you when you're through .Please dear, i will like you to make contact with this law firm immediately and ask them to attain the necessary documents for us to be able to send them to the bank for the transfer the money to your account, and you can see that everything concerning this transfer is complete, please help me to see that this lawyer get this document within the time limit.My prayers are with you and I know that God has for us for sure, also send the letter you received from the bank to the lawyer for his more understanding. Waiting to hear from you with answers from a lawyer you can call the lawyer on the phone or send and e-mail.I was expecting good news from you,Sincerely love.Selina.

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 2:03 PM, Lawyer Kapomba < lawyerkapombafanyanaugustine@hotmail.com > wrote:





Attention:



We have concluded our verification concerning your ongoing transaction

with the bank today being Thursday 7th January 2016 , if not the Bank

confirmed to us that the whole transaction is right and legal; we

wouldn't have accepted your offer.



And be rest assured that we will give to you our best of service and

shall apply all legal terms to guarantee our efficiency from the

moment our required mobilizations materials is received.



We have observed the due protocols and have noted the availability of

the account involve, we have also understood the importance of the

listed documents as required by the bank.



It is our duty to serve you and to make sure that this operation is

dully executed with no error; we will represent you in all area that

you will be required during this transaction.



Note: It has been mandated that every documents backing transaction

must be paid before obtaining any document from the High Court of

Justice.



1) We will register the two certificates in the office of the high

court justice registrar.



2) We will visit the office of the chief justice of the Federal

Republic of Senegal, to get the authentic stamp duty on the

Certificate.



3) We will secure a receipt of Incorporation from the Ministry of

Internal Affairs here in Dakar Senegal before the two Certificates can

be approved.



4) We will visit the office of the Ministry of Justice of the Federal

Republic of Senegal, to secure the approval order certificate.



A registration fee of ( 344 ,844 XOF) Senegal currency equivalent to

(385.00 Dollars) is to be deposit at the office desk of the high

court of justice Registrar.



A compulsory ( 408 ,408 XOF) Senegal currency equivalent to (456.00

Dollars) is to be deposit at the office desk of the High Court High

Court Justice Cashier before swearing the Oath.



Making the total sum of [793 Dollars]



Confirm this email and we shall direct you on how to send the money

[793 Dollars]



After the money is completely transferred to your account in your

country then you sent to us our legal charges and for job well done.



As soon as we received the required fee we promise to secure the legal

documents for you as demanded in 2 working days.



Is rest assured that we shall remain at your service till your fund is

completely transferred to your account in your country.



Barrister & Solicitor Kapomba Augustine Fanyana [ESQ]

Principal Attorney: Kapomba Chambers Associates.

If you have any question, contact us at +221 703338696 or email.



RESPONDERME On Thursday, January 7, 2016 5:05 PM, Rudo Marac < helaryselina@yahoo.co.uk > wrote: Hello Dear

am happy to see the message you got from the lawyer after going true it i see that his asking you to pay the sum of $793 ,i explain everything to Rev Father and he call the lawyer and ask him the lawyer made it to know that the money his asking you is for the documents not for him he will pay in in high court of Senegal ,Dear please you know my condition over here i did not have any money to pay for the documents please help me and pay the money to the lawyer so that he will start the process you know that the bank are waiting for us and am very sure that as soon as we get those documents the bank will transfer the money into your account over there in Kenya.



thanks waiting to hear from you again with good news,



Yours Selina Marac



On Thursday, January 7, 2016 6:52 PM, Rudo Marac < helaryselina@yahoo.co.uk > wrote:





Hello Dear

am very much worried over here have you send the lawyer message how your going to send him the money for the documents?get back to me and let me know because am worried





If you received a similar letter, please ignore it. Do not answer it. If you do, you will end up on more of the mailing lists used by the criminals behind this fraud. Read more....
Press Release:

Contact: Crystal Feldman

Crystal Feldman govpress@nc.gov

Raleigh, N.C. Governor Pat McCrory announced two cabinet-level personnel changes today.At an Executive Mansion ceremony, Governor McCrory announced the appointment of Jeff Epstein as North Carolina's Secretary of Revenue to replace Lyons Gray, who the governor had appointed to serve on the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Gray's immediate move to the North Carolina Utilities Commission is an interim appointment to replace Susan Rabon who resigned effective January 1. The governor also named Industrial Commissioner Chairman Andrew (Drew) Heath to succeed outgoing Budget Director Lee Roberts who is returning to the private sector.Governor McCrory said.Customer service was greatly upgraded under Secretary Gray's tenure. A second taxpayer assistance call center was opened in Guilford County. The agency expanded electronic filing for many taxpayers. Gray, who was appointed in January 2013, also led efforts that have reduced fraudulent tax returns and bolstered the agency's audit division.Under the governor's and Roberts' leadership, North Carolina ended the previous fiscal year with a $445 million budget surplus. Roberts has spearheaded the governor's $2 billion Connect NC bond proposal, which will go before the voters in March. Roberts, who was appointed in August 2014, also has driven Project Phoenix, Governor McCrory's plans to better utilize government facilities across the state, and directed the NC GEAR effort, which led to a series of restructuring and reform initiatives. Roberts was also instrumental in finalizing the sale of the Dix property.Epstein has served as Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Revenue since April 2013. In the Fall of 2013 Governor McCrory appointed Epstein as Acting Secretary while Gray was on medical leave.After graduating from The American University with a B.S. in Finance, Epstein served in the Reagan White House before moving to his current hometown of Charlotte. There Epstein had an extensive career in business and real estate and held numerous community service roles.Heath was appointed by Governor McCrory to be Chairman of the North Carolina Industrial Commission in 2013. At the industrial commission, Heath implemented Governor McCrory's directive to form the Employee Classification Section to combat employee misclassification abuse. Heath also oversaw an employer compliance program, established to ensure that North Carolina workers are insured for on-the-job injuries. The program has increased the number of businesses in compliance and increased penalties assessed and collected from non-compliant businesses.An attorney, Heath graduated with a B.S. in Management from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. While attending the Robert H. McKinney School of Law at Indiana University, Heath served as a legal intern in Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels' Office of the General Counsel. He also served on the Board of Directors of the New Hanover County Bar Association.
- TUNIS - "Ennahdha will support the new Essid government, despite the fact the party is not represented as it should within the new government team" Ennahdha MEP and party spokosperson Oussama Sghaier told ANSA, adding that holding approximately one third of the members of parliament, Ennadha deserves larger representation within the government.



Sghaier clarified that premier Habib Essid must submit a "clear" economic programme, but stressed that Ennahdha will support the government following the principle of consensus in the name of the country's stability.



The Ennahdha's spokesman concluded expressing surprise at the replacement of Interior Minister Mohamed Najem Gharsalli, as the move did not take place after talks or negotiations.


Astonishing news from the Prosecutor General: out of nearly 60 criminal cases, former President Traian Basescu is left with less than 10.To put it bluntly, the former head of state got rid of 49 criminal cases.According to the Prosecutor General, during 2004-January 2016, Traian Basescu has been accused in 56 criminal files. Out of that, 49 have been dismissed from trial and 7 of them are pending trial.



The criminal files in which Traian Basescu is investigated:

1. the blackmail case file open by Gabriela Firea and which might undergo mediation

2. abuse of office against a person - the illegal property restitution awarded to Nicholas Jordan

3. Money laundering - General Prosecutor, May 6, 2015

4. the house in Mihaileanu street

5. a case of theft open by the journalist whose phone he stole

6. the kidnaping of the journalists in Iraq

7.The resignation in 5 minutes file



The information was broadcast Tuesday during the 100 minutes show on Antena 3.
The owner of a transport company in Cluj has been arrested under charges of child pornography, recruitment of underage sex workers and sex trafficking of minors. For more than four years, Robert Tiberiu Man allegedly recruited several children aged 8 to 16 with parental consent!



Prosecutors claim he would have offered money or various benefits to the children's parents.



The minors were then taken to the suspect's house in Floresti, Cluj County, where they were sexually abused and forced into child pornography production.


The fourth show, which is held every other year, will put on static display 150 ultra light business jets and helicopters.

As part of Abu Dhabi Air Expo, Abu Dhabi Heli Expo will run in parallel, showcasing all that the helicopter industry has to offer. The Middle East Aviation Career Conference, which will also run during the week, will give a unique platform for industry partners to discuss the challenges in securing aviation professionals for the future.

Ahmad Al Haddabi, chief operations officer at Abu Dhabi Airports: "The continuous support that Abu Dhabi Air Expo has enjoyed from local and international organisations demonstrates the need for such events that would develop the aviation industry in the UAE and the rest of the region, creating a rich environment for business potentials.
The January issue of Airman magazine is now available to download and is viewable through a Web browser.In the cover story, titled Digging for answers, youll read about the effort to recover the remains of service members still missing in action in Vietnam.In the next feature, you will learn about the role the Air Force played in the Vietnam War and how operations in Southeast Asia affected conflicts several decades later.Lastly, youll read three profiles of Airmen who played major roles in the Vietnam War and how their lives continued when they came home.You can download Airman magazines January issue for your tablet here:Airman magazine provides an interactive experience for tablet readers and a limited interactive version is viewable in Web browser format. Click here to read this issue on your PC/Mac.For more stories, visit Airman Online , the website for the official magazine of the U.S. Air Force.
From a media release:

Alexander Smalls and The Cecil Harlem present Dannis Winston. Mr. Winston was hand-selected by Mr. Smalls and his Harlem Jazz Enterprises team to perform at his award-winning restaurant The Cecil Harlem for their Sunday Brunch Series co-created by award-winning chef JJ Johnson. The performance on MLK weekend will be in celebration of the release of Winston's debut single "Let Me Go" which drops on iTunes and all major digital platforms on January 15, 2016. Performances at the Cecil Harlem's Sunday Brunch Series are curated by Grammy Award winning jazz drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. who currently serves as the artistic curator for The Cecil/ Minton's.is an international bandleader, musician and founder of one of New York Magazines Top 100 Wedding Bands - Winstons Crew Collective. Mr. Winston has received press coverage for his entrepreneurship, music prowess and philanthropy from Black Enterprise, Brides.com, DNAInfo.com, PopSugar and other media outlets.was created by New York businessman Richard Parsons and noted restaurateur Alexander Smalls. The restaurant sits on the former site of legendary Minton's Playhouse, whereinvented bebop back in the 1940's. Today, The Cecil is a one-of-a-kind dining experience. Bringing together global flavors through an African lens, Chef Joseph "JJ" Johnson's cuisine is part of Harlem's exciting new food scene, making The Cecil a hidden gem in New York City.The Cecil Harlem210 W. 118th Street (at St. Nicholas Avenue)New York, NY 10026212.866.1262Sunday, January 17, 2016 | 12:00 - 3:00pm
Best Health Products and Services

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'Zimbabwe sits on $15 trillion minerals'

ZIMBABWE is sitting on $15 trillion worth of minerals after it was established that the country has an estimated over 2,8 billion tonnes of platinum, over 30 million tonnes of gold and vast diamond deposits that can catapult the country's per capita income to over a $1 million, Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko has said.Speaking to senior Government officials and captains of the industry during his recent tour of the Midlands, VP Mphoko said the country has the potential of generating over $15 trillion if gold, platinum and diamond resources that the country is endowed with are put to good use.He said Western imperialists were working flat out to frustrate and suffocate Zimbabwe by plummeting metal and mineral prices on the global market to ensure that the country does not realize much from its mineral sales."As the two Vice-Presidents, we have embarked on a familiarization program throughout the country. What we are doing is that we are looking at all these provinces to establish if things are going according to Zim Asset. The President is concerned; he wants to know if the rightful people benefited from the land reform."He wants to know if all the programs and developmental projects initiated by Government are benefiting the target beneficiaries," he said.Added VP Mphoko: "Zimbabwe is one of the richest countries in Africa. While I do not want to disclose much about the mineral resources that the country has, our gold, diamond and platinum reserves can generate $15 trillion. This can catapult our per capita income to over $1 million."VP Mphoko said Government was in the process of reviving old mines that shut down due to artificial problems. He said there was hope for Mhangura and Kamativi Tin Mine.VP Mphoko also took a swipe at some sections of the media who were creating non-existent rifts in the Zanu-PF leadership.He said he had a strong relationship with his counterpart Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa contrary to reports that the two were not getting along."I have been a diplomat for the last 27 years and with Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa we come a long way dating back to the liberation struggle. We first met in Mozambique and we were in the youth league of the revolutionary party," he said.- sundaynews
by Weena Kowitwanij

Bangkok is one of the founders of the Association of South-East Asia, and the last five years has created special economic zones bordering with other nations in the group to improve trade. But a survey shows that the Thai population does not feel part of the Association, and that only 65% were aware of its existence.

Bangkok (AsiaNews) - The Thai people do not feel themselves to be citizens of ASEAN, and only 65% of the population want to be part of it. This despite the fact that Bangkok is one of the five founding members of the union (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and has led it for several years. Yet, the opportunities provided by ASEAN to develop both nationally and regionally "are huge, as shown by a survey carried out in Thailand in recent days.

To try to balance this situation, the Department of Public Relations of the Thai government has asked the four governors of the southern provinces of the country - which border other ASEAN nations - to provide a "summary" of the last five years of operations . In the period between 2010 and 2015, in fact, Bangkok has created special economic zones in their areas that have improved the socio-economic conditions of the population.

According Pakarathorn Thienchai, who leads the area of Sa Kaew-the border with Cambodia, the Rong Kluea common market is "a great opportunity. The Special Economic Zone that we have formed in the province comprises the districts of Wattana-Nakorn and Aranprathes. These are based on agricultural products. Foreign trade is increasing, and in 2015 reached 2.2 billion dollars. But we must do more for tourism: we have about 10 million visitors a year, but only 100 thousand tourists. We need to develop tourism in the tribal areas. "

Wasant Chamnanjui is instead the deputy governor of Tak, bordering Myanmar. Here the development has focused on transport: Mae Sod Airport and a network of motorways. "The local population  he says - knows and appreciates the idea of Special Economic Zone. For now we are focused on building large shopping centers and a public university to attract foreign investment. We exceeded 2 billion dollars of trade ".

Thawatchai Thammarak guides the province of Mukdaham, one of the most sensitive because Thailand borders Laos: "We are an economic corridor that cuts from east to west. Across the Thai and Laotian bridge of friendship it can unite the two countries and China. In fact, the 1,300 kilometers of road to China passes through Da Nang, one of the major port cities of Vietnam. Our partners appreciate the Thai products, which are usually considered of a high standard. And also many foreigners come here wishing to make use of our health care.

Finally Anuchit Trakulmututa is Deputy Governor of Songkhla: "Ours is a province linked to the sea, with which we cooperate in economic terms with Indonesia and Malaysia. They are big buyers of our rice, and we buy their oil palm. Now we are aiming for thr Chinese and Japanese, with whom we would like to develop our rubber market ".
The village, in the hands of rebel forces, has been under siege by the army loyal to President Assad. Witness report that at least 23 people have died of hunger since December 1. WFP: the first aid convoy will arrive on 11 January. "Incredible tension, says aid groups calling for security guarantees.

Damascus (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Syrian government has approved the distribution of aid to the rebel-held village of Madaya, long besieged by government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. UN sources confirmed the news in response to alarming reports from witnesses in the area that the population is starving from lack of food. According to the World Food Programme (WFP),however, security guarantees must be given so the first trucks carrying food aid can arrive as early as next January 11.

Sources of the main humanitarian agencies say that the conditions in Madaya, located near Damascus and near the border with Lebanon, are "terribly frightening."

The Syrian government has also agreed access in other disputed areas like Kefraya and Foah, in the north; However, these areas are actually under the siege of the rebel forces opposed to Assad.

To date up to 4.5 million people are living in the disputed areas in Syria and difficult to access for humanitarian agencies, including at least 400 thousand in 15 different locations under siege, living in conditions of extreme necessity and without any access to aid.



These include Madaya, about 25 km north-west of Damascus and only 11 kilometers from the border with Lebanon, where there are about 40 thousand people. Since July last year the area has been besieged by government forces, supported by allied Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah.



Asked by the BBC's Greg Barrow, WFP spokesman, said that 72 hours "are the best scenario possible" because the trucks with food supplies can reach Madaya. The area is the scene of an "incredible power", he adds, because "we are moving along areas of the face" and "we must ensure that [...] there is no risk."



Although there are no updated figures on casualties in Madaya, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) sources report that since December 1 last at least 23 people, hospitalized for malnutrition in emergency clinics have starved to death. UN officials speak of evidence (credible) of people who starved to death and others killed as they tried to flee the area.

With the arrival of winter conditions in the area, which has been inaccessible since early December, they have deteriorated even more. "Grass and leaves - says a resident of the area - have died because of the snow."

There are testimonies of children who eat leaves from trees and other civilians who feed on dogs and cats; and of people trying to feed themselves by eating dirt, because "there is nothing else to eat" and emergency operations carried out without the use of anesthesia.

In five years of conflict between Syrian troops loyal to President Assad and rebel militias, which are flanked by extremist movements and jihadists, there have been at least 250 thousand deaths. Over 11 million refugees have been forced to flee their homes and villages to escape the bombing. Many have sought refuge outside in neighboring Lebanon or in Europe, while others still live in the country as IDPs.
In a country of limited resources, where the government is no longer able to cope with this situation, the emergency "remains high", said Fr Paul Karam. Despite the bleak picture, there are some rays of hope. People help each other: young Christians and Muslims meet; families show their solidarity in small deeds; and parishes provide children with moments of leisure and celebration.

Beirut (AsiaNews)  For Fr Paul Karam, director of Caritas Lebanon, the refugee emergency "remains high" in the country. Faced with limited resources, a government that "is no longer able to cope with this situation," and an ongoing economic and institutional crisis, the country finds itself on the brink of collapse.

Speaking to AsiaNews, he said that the local Caritas has led the way for more than four years in helping Syrian and other refugees entering the country in a never-ending flow.

Indeed, despite the emergency, there are examples of solidarity, of people helping each other; situations in which young Christians and Muslims meet and talk to each other. This keeps hope for the future alive.

According to United Nations figures, some 1.2 million Syrians fled to Lebanon in more than four years of war. However, these are only those who have registered with its agencies. Other sources say that Lebanon has taken in nearly 1.6 million Syrian refugees. In addition, there are at least 700 Iraqi Christian families from Baghdad, Mosul and Erbil as well as tens of thousands of Palestinians from Syria.

Thus, the country of 4.4 million people is confronted with major demographic, economic, political, and security challenges, and finds it increasingly difficult to handle the situation. And things have not changed that much lately.

Refugees increasingly want to flee, go to Europe, above all Germany. The risk that the Middle East might be emptied of its Christian communities remains high. For this reason, the Church continues to encourage the international community to engage in dialogue, peace, justice and mutual respect."

"In the meantime, needs remain high, whilst the means to meet them are limited, Fr Karam explained. For this reason, if there are safe regions in the war-torn countries, we should encourage people to come back.

Ultimately, for the clergyman, the Arab Spring has failed, causing destruction, wars, arms race and aggravated the economic and social crises in the various countries of the region.

Caritas Lebanon remains committed to relief work, providing food aid but also psychological support and encouragement for Christian-Muslim dialogue, especially among young people.

"Since the summer, Fr Karam explained, we have encouraged dialogue by organising meetings between young Christian and Muslim refugees from Syria, Iraq and Lebanon itself. The goal is to show them how to build countries based on coexistence, and that people can talk to each other.

What we call peace building has been met by a positive response, he added. Young people want to contribute to this process, by getting rid of the fear of others."

In this context of crisis, the people of Lebanon "still harbour great hope and continue to show their solidarity", even if "families are getting increasingly poor and the refugee emergency is bringing the country closer to the brink.

"We need a miracle, he said. In this year of mercy, we want to encourage people to go forward, and live in hope as a people and as Christians".

For Christmas, many of Lebanons parishes and dioceses have promoted significant initiatives "to reiterate the message of hope." For instance, many families took part in fundraising activities to buy food, basic necessities and gifts for the poor, Caritas Lebanons director said.

Despite it being a difficult time for everyone, solidarity among people has not diminished. Many parishes organised celebrations and leisure time for children, animated by young people and Caritas volunteers."

"I believe in peace based on justice and respect, Fr Karam noted. And The international community has a duty to resolve the crisis, easing tensions through diplomatic channels, not at the detriment of poor people."
Escalating tensions in the Middle East, in particular between Riyadh and Tehran, are raising concerns. For Mgr Santos, chairman of the Bishops Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People, We must be ready to welcome back our OFW, and provide them with jobs here, and offer assistance to their families. He expresses joy and appreciation for Qatars pardon for ten jailed Filipinos.

Manila (AsiaNews/CBCP) - Manila must repatriate Filipino workers from Saudi Arabia and Iran because of the recent deterioration of relations between the two Muslim countries, said Mgr Ruperto Santos, bishop of Balanga and chairman of the Bishops Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People, in an appeal to the government of President Benigno Aquino.

According to the prelate, the escalation of tensions following the execution of Shia leader Nimr al-Nimr and the subsequent attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran could jeopardise the safety of Filipinos and their families.

We must be ready to welcome back our OFW*, and provide them with jobs here, and offer assistance to their families, Santos said.

The bishop said he was very concerned by the situation in the Middle East, which has been that more complicated by clashes within Islam. In view of this, he called on all the faithful to pray for peace and for the safety of Filipinos.

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said it was monitoring the situation and that it was prepared to use everything at its disposal to ensure the safety of Filipinos living in Middle East nations.

In a related case, Mgr Santos expressed joy and satisfaction following Qatars decision to pardon ten Filipinos held in its prisons. The bishop thanked Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for his "benevolent actions".

On this Jubilee of Mercy we experienced acts of mercy and compassion. Lives have been spared from punishment. Lives have been saved, Bishop Santos said.

Now from the pardon of Qatar we have lessons to learn: show gratitude through greater dedication to works and greater respect for the laws and customs of those countries, he added.

Manila has not yet released the identities of the ten Filipino workers who were pardoned, nor made public the nature of the charges for which they were convicted.

The emir of Qatar usually issues pardons twice a year: during Ramadan and at the end of the yea. In July 2015, during the Muslim holy month, 12 other Filipinos were pardoned.

About 10 million Filipinos work abroad, including around 2.2 million in Saudi Arabia.

Seventy-nine of these are on death row in various countries, 41 in Malaysia and 27 in Saudi Arabia, said Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose.

On 30 December, a Filipino tiler was beheaded in Saudi Arabia because his family could not pay "blood money".

* OFW refers to Overseas Filipino workers
by Christopher Sharma

Since last years quake, the government has failed to distribute promptly foreign aid. There are no official data on displaced persons, deaths or victims of human trafficking, one activist laments. I preferred prostitution to suicide, said one young woman. As AsiaNews shows, she is not alone.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews)  Many young women who lost everything in the April 2015 earthquake are now being forced into prostitution by the failure of Nepali authorities to distribute foreign government and non-government aid.

Corruption and the countrys political divisions have hampered the distribution of the aid that poured into the country after last years quake, which killed 8,700 people and forced thousands of people to live in makeshift shelters.

This has forced many women to sell their bodies to survive. Rupa, a young woman from Gorka District, is one of them. At present, she works as an exotic dancer in a disco bar in Kathmandu, where her employer has forced her to have sex with customers or she would not be paid.

Speaking to AsiaNews, she remembers the quake. She had gone in the jungle to find food for her animals. When she felt the earth shake, she ran home, but nothing was left. My house had become a burial ground.

Her whole family  father, mother and brother  were under the rubble. Even the buffaloes she tended died when the building collapsed. Everything is still there, she said. We were unable to pull out anyone.

For a few weeks, the young woman waited for government aid. "When we saw that nothing was coming, I and some friends decided to try our luck in the capital."

A resto-bar manager hired her as a dancer. When she went to see him to be paid, he told me he had no money and that if I wanted to earn some money, I had to prostitute myself with the customers. I had no alternative; I did not know how to pay the rent on my room. I preferred prostitution to suicide."

Like Rupa, Samita ended up the same. Orphaned and without education, she decided to work in a diner in Kathmandu. After a month, her employer forced her to have sex with customers.

Several associations, Christian and non-Christian, operate in the country to help women and improve their status.

Menuka Thapa heads Rakshya Nepal, an NGO that tries to rescue women from the sex trade. "My organisation is in contact with 55 girls, she explained. Five of them are working in eateries. The other 50 are in public places in the capital, usually by the roadside. They survive only thanks to the money they earn from prostitution. All are earthquake victims."

For Sapana Pradhan Malla, a lawyer and activist for women's rights, "The government must take action now and help earthquake survivors. Unfortunately, There are no official data on displaced persons, deaths or victims of human trafficking."

"The non-governmental sector is doing everything it can, but that is not enough, said Rupa Rai, an activist and a member of Caritas Nepal. Resources are limited, and the authorities need to adopt new policies and take tangible steps to solve the problem."
by Mathias Hariyadi

The country's largest Islamic movement is organising an interfaith gathering for 17January. Some 10,000 people are expected. "With this mass rally we want to bring the message that diversity should be the strength of the nation. We have to show that peaceful coexistence is possible, said a Bishops Conference official. For a Muslim leader, the goal is to promote in a predominantly Muslim Indonesia moderate ideas that embrace religious tolerance.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesias largest Islamic group, is organising a mass rally in the capital for 17 January as a way to fight religious extremism and terrorism, as well as promote pluralism as the true foundation of Indonesian society.

NU will be joined by 13 other Islamic organisations, as well as the Catholic Bishops Conference of Indonesia (Konferensi Waligereja Indonesia, KWI), various Protestant churches and the Supreme Council for the Confucian Religion in Indonesia (Majelis Tinggi Agama Konghucu Indonesia, MATAKIN).

At least 10,000 people are expected in Lapangan Banteng, a historic square in the Indonesian capital, overlooked by both the citys Catholic Cathedral and Grand Mosque.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Fr Guido Suprapto, KWI secretary for the laity, said, "We will participate in the event for sure. With this mass rally, we want to bring the message that diversity should be the strength of the nation. We have to show that peaceful coexistence is possible."

For this purpose, Fr Samuel Pangestu, vicar general of the archdiocese of Jakarta, had a large number of leaflets printed and distributed to the citys Catholics (pictured).

For his part, Marsyudi Syuhud, NU president and rally organiser, said, "We were taught two words: tasanuf, which means tolerance, and tawasuft, which refers to being moderate people. These two words represent the core spirit of being a good Muslim in society.

Hence, he explained, From a moral perspective, NU has to defend the nation's political and philosophical foundation, namely Unity in Diversity (Bhinneka Tunggal Ika).

The concept of Islam Nusantara (the archipelago of Islam) underscores what NU is all about, Marsyudi said. It means "promoting in a predominantly Muslim Indonesia moderate ideas that embrace religious tolerance. Our goal is clear: uniting in brotherhood all of the nations factions."

The notion of Islam Nusantara was first introduced last year at NUs 33rd congress. For Marsyudi, this entails fighting the perception that Islam is not a peaceful religion because of Shia and Sunnis fighting each other. This is even more important than our relations with other religions Like Hinduism and Buddhism."

At the same time, NU wants to counter any possible infiltration of the Islamic State (IS) group in Indonesia, Marsyudi said.

"There is a clear and present danger. We have seen some [Indonesians] dare to hang the IS flag in a traffic roundabout. We have people who go and fight in Syria and then come back, and the government does nothing. This convinces people that this kind of Arab Spring will soon arrive in Indonesia."

According to Indonesias National Anti-Terrorism Agency (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Terorisme, BNPT), 149 Indonesian citizens have returned from Syria.

Other government sources say that 800 people left for Indonesia to join IS, 284 of whom have been identified. At least, 52 have died.
by Samir Khalil Samir

At the root of the political and economic problems that have resulted in the current standoff between the two regional powers, is two diverging forms of Islam: a more tolerant and rational Shia Islam as opposed to a more fundamentalist and violent Sunni Islam. Saudi Arabia is expanding its hegemony through economic aid, building mosques and supplying Wahhabi imams. Fundamentalism  a bed partner with IS ideology  is even emerging in tolerant countries: Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia. There is an urgent need to reform Islam if it is to be rescued from its most profound crisis in the last two centuries.

Rome (AsiaNews) - The emerging clash between Saudi Arabia and Iran has certain political and economic motives: differing positions on the issues of Syria and Yemen; competition in oil production; the struggle for power on the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf. But this confrontation also has religious roots and is about whose form of Islam is destined to dominate.

Islam has been going through a crisis for decades, its most profound in the last two centuries. This crisis is manifest in diverse forms, depending on the politics in question. However, one point that must be urgently addressed and resolved is the close relationship between politics and religion.

The reality is that this problem was addressed in period between the mid-1800 and mid 1900: There was a liberal trend that sought to create states that were religiously neutral; Islamic because the majority of the population was Muslim, but in which non-Muslims enjoyed the same rights, more or less. So there was a certain neutrality and secularism.

Money and chadors

However, over the past 50 years or so, we have been witnessing a reverse trend. For example in Egypt, where in Minia in 1973, all of a sudden, girls schools demanded that all the girls be veiled, with the chador, hands gloved. The explanation: Saudi Arabia paid a "monthly salary" to the families who agreed to cover their women. This salary was approximately one third of the salary of an employee. And people accepted the money.

This custom has become quite normal. Now, a woman is criticized, and looked at badly if she does not wear a veil. Even Christian women walk around covered for fear of being insulted or offended.

This move towards closure comes directly from the Sunni and Wahhabi fundamentalism of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It can also be explained from a sociological point of view: Egypt had more than one million workers abroad, in Saudi Arabia, who after a few years brought Saudi practices home with them. The same goes for other migrants returning to their country of origin. The expression you could hear everywhere: "God bless Saudi Arabia, damn it!". Arabia was a source of economic gain, but also a source of fundamentalism and closure.

Things like that happen in Italy, where the fundamentalist husbands force their wives to follow the Saudi or fundamentalist customs. They see these cultural customs as a religious category.

It must be said that other Gulf countries have more tolerant views, to the point they allow the construction of churches and even fund them.

Since the late 1970s, with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran has spread a Shiite fundamentalism, but now the Iranians are distancing themselves from it. A few years ago I was in Qom [a city south of Tehran, a sort of "Vatican" for Iranian Shiites, given the large number of theological schools present there - ed], and I saw that the women were in chadors, all veiled in black. But in Shiraz, for example, the girls wore colored veils out of which impertinent strands of blond hair escaped, and walked hand in hand with their boyfriend. An ayatollah in Qom told me: You must understand that Qom is not Iran, but as a holy city we are required to keep a certain standard of living.

Sunnis and Shiites

There are therefore two fundamentalisms, but the Persian one is much more open-minded, both in intellectual and critical terms.

In Qom for example, there are 40 institutions connected to the mosque, but they were not religious organizations: they were associations to help the deaf, or the blind, for medicines, a childrens TV, an astronomical observatory in the nearby mountain; a Library of history, philosophy ... I once even found an imam, who told me that every day he read some pages of Plotinus Enneads, in the original Arabic version manuscript, which is still called "Theology of Aristotle". This is unthinkable in the Sunni world. Under the Wahhabi tradition, these books would be burned. Mystical Islam has always been similarly persecuted: we should remember what happened with Al Hallaj in the ninth century: He was crucified for his ideas and his writings, in which he described his spiritual union with God.

Some years ago, in 2008, we held the first Catholic-Muslim Forum at the Vatican. There I met an imam who was "a teacher of philosophy." We discussed a recent episode: A university student in Paris posted on the website islam.org asking for help in preparing a thesis on Avicenna (980-1037). The answer was: Do not study these things of unbelievers, focus instead on the Koran! The imam in front of me, a Shiite, concluded: This was certainly the response of a Sunni imam. They have no understanding of philosophy or science.

A Shiite imams formation includes many subjects that are not strictly religious, but cultural. Instead Sunni imams are limited to the study of Islam. For this dialogue with the Shiites is easier and of a wider scope; dialogue with the Sunnis has a very narrow base. A Sunni imams formation focuses primarily on memorizing verses from the Koran without understanding or interpreting, or putting them into a historical context.

Supremacy in the Islamic world

Sunnis and Shiites have the same outlook on life and religion, and this is why they clash. This clashing of views has existed since the beginning, but once the differences were more accepted. With Wahhabism, the Sunni dogma is emerging everywhere. In Pakistan, for example, the blasphemy laws that have led to the death sentence of Asia Bibi and the killing of so many people are inspired typically by Arabia. In all Sunni regions - with the exception of some countries like Egypt - this fundamentalism that rejects the use of reason in the reading of the Koran is spreading.

Sunnis and Shiites are fighting to win supremacy of influence in the Islamic world and for those who must deal with the West. Irans nuclear deal with the major powers gives free rein to Tehran; and Saudi Arabia - which opposed the agreement to the very end  are still bitterly opposed to it. So does Israel, although for different reasons.

It should also be said that the Isis war was originally an anti-Shiite war. It is no small chance that the governing groups in Syria and Iraq refer to Shiism: the Alaouite minority in Damascus and the Shiites (who are the majority of the population) in Baghdad. Tensions and clashes between the two communities are now widespread in Lebanon, India, Pakistan, wherever there are Shiite communities.

Shiites are a maximum 15% of Muslims and therefore cannot claim to be hegemonic in the Islamic world. The Sunnis, who are the vast majority, tend to establish themselves in an all-encompassing manner. Very often, in televised debates in Egypt, I hear the Sunni imam tell his fellow Shiites, "You have no right to be here! This is a Sunni land. " And the Shiites are Egyptian like him!

No self-criticism



In addition to the tendency towards totalitarianism, the Sunni world has always tempted to absolve itself of all blame: It has never exercised any self-criticism. For centuries, the Muslim world has had a pluralist character. From the eighth to the thirteenth century, under the Abbasids with capital Baghdad, there were Sunnis and Shiites, fundamentalists and liberals. In the ninth century there were even Mu'tazili who claimed that "the Koran was created", while others said it was uncreated". If the holy book is "uncreated", it comes directly from God and cannot be touched; if it is "created", then it is possible to study and interpret it. The Mutazilite position developed for centuries, especially under the Caliph al-Ma'mun (813-833). His successor al-Mu'tasim (833-842), instead took on a partisan position regarding the "uncreated" question and ousted the Mu'tazili. But their power remained over the centuries: the Koran must be interpreted with reason, with what is most acute and intelligent in reality. Unfortunately nowadays this position is seen as a threat and those who express it risk being accused of heresy.

The Al-Azhar University is suffering greatly as a result of this problem: being partially supported by Saudi Arabia, it does not criticize the "uncreated" position, although in the past it was forcefully drove the need for reform modernizing Islam.

Between 1860 and 1950, for almost a century, the trend was to interpret the Koran with freedom and common sense. The great Chancellor of the University of Al-Azhar, Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905), stated that the Koran should be interpreted according to reason. He was supported by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897) in Iran; Syrian Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi (1855-1902), and many others who were among the protagonists of the Nahda, the Arab and Islamic Renaissance. All of them were then exiled for political reasons, but while in Paris continued to publish a very open-minded monthly magazine ("The inextricable link"), willing to receive and discuss criticism of Islam by the likes of Ernest Renan.

This Renaissance led to the formation of States that were tolerant of different religions. When Nasser founded the Egyptian Republic, the slogan was "Religion belongs to God; The country is for everyone. " Religion belongs to God, it means that everyone is free to choose and practice the religion he or she wants.



Unfortunately, in the 1970s and under the influence of Wahhabi Islam, all this began to disappear.



But already in Egypt the liberal thought of Muhammad Abduh had given way to the median thought of Rashid Rida, his disciple, to the position of Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. The wahhhabiti are even more extremist than the Muslim Brotherhood.

Money and submission

Here another issue comes into play: how does Saudi Arabia spread its Wahhabi ideology? Egypt receives at least $ 3 billion a year from Riyadh; Sudan receives a few billion ... To win them over to their vision, the Saudis are willing to pay, to support governments and build mosques. More than 1,000 mosques have been built so far by Saudi Arabia in many parts of the world (also in Italy and in Europe). Usually these mosques are majestic, huge and Riyadh also pays imams and employees. The reality is he who pays, commands. And this is why Saudi Arabia influences the style of Islam that is lived.

In Egypt, because of Saudi Arabias influence the sale of food and drink to anyone is prohibited during Ramadan. In return, the Saudis bought an area close to the pyramids, which became an exclusive resort where rich Arabs enjoy freedoms banned in their own nation. In the world the view, Muslims see Saudis as "wicked", "infidels", "corrupt", but who guarantee their power, even religious, thanks to their money and wealth.

What is sad is that Saudi Arabia buys "religious" allies with money. It should be noted that their fundamentalist religious style, and practice of sharia leads directly to the Isis style of government. Every week there are executions in Saudi squares - beheadings, flogging, stoning - conducted as if it were a religious rite, just as we see in the videos distributed by ISIS.



I would add a caveat: Isis did not just fall from the sky. Isis is the brutal application of teaching spread not only by Saudi Arabia, but also by the many Islamic universities, including certain teachings of Al-Azhar, which forms thousands of imams year! This phenomenon has been highlighted by liberal scholars in some television broadcasts. The source which inspires jihadists has its origin in a traditional Islamic teaching, that is still widespread today!

The submissive West

In an attempt to rule the Islamic world, Saudi Arabia wants to decide on the future of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, many African and Asian countries. It has a negative role, because it lacks a wide and tolerant vision and totally ignores modern thought: it only tolerates Sharia and is spreading this fundamentalist vision across the world. It is thanks to this that fundamentalism has arrived in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc.

In this light, Iran, with its more open and cultivated Islam, could act as a counter balance, but despite being the most populous nation in Arabia, it does not reflect the strength it possesses. And the Shiites are far from popular in the Gulf.

The clash between Saudi Arabia and Iran is therefore a political clash, but its roots are religious and the fight for religious supremacy. Moreover, in the Islamic world religion and politics go hand in hand.

The West acts like the Muslim countries helped by the Saudis: it is only interested in trade. The United States has never criticized Riyadh on its human rights record, where they are trampled on more than in most countries of the world.

We may hope that Muslims in Europe  who have reached at least 10 million  represent a reasonable and rational Islam, open to all that is positive in the modern world. In France and elsewhere there are enlightened imams, but they are a minority and express themselves discreetly for security reasons. Moreover, they do not have the ideological and financial backing of Saudi Arabia.

If there was a liberal view in Saudi Arabia similar to Tunisia for example, today we would have a very different Islamic situation, one that was more open, more tolerant. And that's what the majority of Muslims want to reach, unfortunately without knowing how to go about it, or not daring to try what is inevitable. This does not mean imitating the West in everything it does  which would be catastrophic - rather it means discerning what is positive and constructive in modernity, and applying it. In this, I think that Christians of the East have a mission of discernment, to help their Muslim brothers to integrate the positive aspects of modernity, rejecting what is negative.
The three candidates are waiting to start the final sprint next Monday. DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen is the frontrunner, but nationalist Eric Chu could still make a comeback. James Soon, the "third choice" for over 15 years, could become irrelevant.

Taipei (AsiaNews)  The three candidates running in Taiwans upcoming presidential elections on 16 January are not going to be available to the media until next Monday, when the last week of campaign begins.

Surveys indicate that the island might elect its first female president after a campaign dominated by relations with the mainland.

Although firm on independence, the frontrunner believes in peaceful and stable relations with Beijing. Her nationalist opponent believes in closer ties with China to revive the economy. The third candidate seems to hesitate.

Tsai Ing-wen, from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was the first woman to run for Taiwans highest office in 2012 when she lost to Ma Ying-jeou, but managed to get 45 per cent of the votes.

She once served as Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council and was one of the chief drafters of the "special state-to-state relations" doctrine of then President Lee Teng-hui, which defined Taiwan and China's relationship on country-to-country terms, angering Beijing and leading to heightened tensions.

Although she remains in the pro-independence camp and refuses Beijing's precondition that Taiwan is a part of "one China", she has moderated her views, promised to maintain peaceful and stable relations and expressed her openness to having talks with Chinese officials. Her running mate, Chen Chen-jen, is a Catholic.

Eric Chu is an old time insider. His family is a pillar the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party, KMT) going back to the times of "Generalissimo" Chiang Kai-shek.

He is the current mayor of Taiwan's most populous city, New Taipei City, and took over the helm of the party in January last year.

A deputy prime minister under Wu Den-yih, who was appointed by President Ma, Chu was picked as KMT candidate last October, after the partys first nominee, Hung Hsiu-chu, led a disastrous early campaign.

Like outgoing President Ma, Chu is soft on the mainland, and backs stronger economic ties with China, seeing that as preferable to independence and crucial to lifting Taiwan's economy out of the doldrums.

The third candidate is James Soong, running for the small People First Party. He is a veteran of presidential races. Highlighting his status as the outsider, he said Taiwan should have a third choice.

However, voters from the two main parties view him with suspicion. For Democrats, he is a KMT defector. For nationalists, he is bound to take votes away from their candidate.

His best showing came in 2000, second, when he split the rightwing vote between himself and the KMY candidate Lien Chan, leading to the election of the first DPP president, Chen Shui -bien.
by Shafique Khokhar

Akba Azhar, 26, originally from Sialkot, broke into a church and burnt sacred books. Discovered, he tried to flee but was captured by a group of worshippers. Police say that he cannot be tried because he suffers from mental problems. Local Christians disagree, insisting that he is of sound mind.

Kasur (AsiaNews) - A young Muslim man of 26 years was arrested for setting fire to copies of the Bible and to books containing sacred hymns.

The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon, at the Victory Church in Kasur, a city of nearly 250,000 people about 60 km from Lahore, in Pakistan's Punjab province.

In November 2014, the area was the scene of a brutal attack on a young Christian couple, parents of four children, who were stoned to death and then burnt alive by an angry mob, incited by an imam after allegations of blasphemy were made against the victims.

According to police, the arsonist, Akba Azhar, suffers from mental problems and therefore cannot be held liable for his actions. Local Christians conversely believe that he is of sound mind and has the capacity to think, reason, and understand for himself.

Two days ago, the day of Epiphany, a group of Christians went to church to pray and saw a young man next to the remains of burnt Bibles and other holy books.

Realising that he had been discovered, Azhar Akba, originally from Sialkot, tried to flee but was surrounded by several men and brought back into the building.

The Christian worshippers called police, who arrived at the scene and took the young man into custody. Some children recognised him because, the night before the arson, he had played with them in the courtyard adjacent to the church.

Christians filed their complaint in accordance with the blasphemy rule against burning of sacred texts.

Police began their investigation, but said little about the evidence, if any, they collected or possible charges until they decided to drop the case saying that the young man appears to suffer from mental problems, and thus cannot be tried (conversely, mentally disabled Christians were indicted in alleged blasphemy cases).

Many local Christians disagree, noting that the young man was of sound mind and fully capable to thinking, reasoning, and understanding for himself when he decided to burn the sacred texts.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Rojar Noor Alam, a Pakistani human rights activist, condemned the Bible burning, saying that the culprit should be pursued as required by law.

Religious leaders, he added, "must play a leading role in maintaining harmony and avoiding sectarian events of this kind."

For Aila Gill, coordinator of the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Church of Pakistan (NCJP), the incident is the result of the prevailing climate of intolerance.

"The state, he added, must intervene because it is its duty to protect minorities places of worship under Article 36 of the Constitution."

With a population of more than 180 million people (97 per cent Muslim), Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world, the second largest Muslim nation after Indonesia.

About 80 per cent of Muslims are Sunni, whilst Shias are 20 per cent. Hindus are 1.85 per cent, followed by Christians (1.6 per cent) and Sikhs (0.04 per cent).

Scores of violent incidents have occurred in recent years, against entire communities (Gojra in 2009, and Joseph Colony, Lahore, in March 2013), places of worship (Peshawar, September 2013) and individuals ( Sawan Masih, Asia Bibi, Rimsha Masih and Robert Fanish Masih, who died in prison), often perpetrated under the pretext of the country's blasphemy laws.
Mexican Officials: El Chapo Has Been Captured

Trending News: Notorious Drug Lord El Chapo Captured!

Why Is This Important?

Because El Chapo is the closest thing we have to a criminal of Pablo Escobar's stature these days.

Long Story Short

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced that notorious fugitive Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been captured.

Long Story

It wasn't that long ago that no one had ever heard of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the notorious Mexican drug lord. That is, until he famously escaped from prison in elaborate fashion, sparking a manhunt that continued until today. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto just announced via twitter that authorities have El Chapo in custody.

Mision cumplida: lo tenemos. Quiero informar a los mexicanos que Joaquin Guzman Loera ha sido detenido.  Enrique Pena Nieto (@EPN) January 8, 2016

Translated, the text reads in part "Mission accomplished: We have him." Right now, that's all we know. Stay tuned for further updates.

Update: Per the Mexican newspaper El Universal, it was Mexico's navy that carried out the operation. Marines descended upon a home in Los Mochis in the predawn hours, and were met with gunfire. Five suspects are dead, with an additional six (including El Chapo) arrested.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: Will they be able to hold him this time?

Disrupt Your Feed: I'm glad this dangerous guy is off the streets, but his escape was admittedly a little inspiring.

Drop This Fact: Contrary to popular belief, El Chapo did NOT in fact threaten to wage war on ISIS.
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Could this be an example of why visa costs are rising? This is an article from the Courier Mail today..



Hundreds of foreign students deported from Australia for visa fraud

January 7, 2016 6:00am

Lauren Wilson Social Affairs Writer News Corp Australia Network



HUNDREDS of international students were deported last year for breaching the conditions of their student visas, including by supplying bogus documents or risking the safety of others.



Immigration officials have booted 298 foreign students out of the country, and requested thousands more leave the country voluntarily.



Federal government figures supplied to the Senate show 10,949 foreign students have had their visas cancelled in the last year for a wide variety of breaches.



More than 520 foreigners who claimed to be studying at universities or vocational colleges were exposed for not even being genuine students.



Nine students had their visas cancelled for supplying bogus documentation in support of their applications to study here, and almost 20 were found have provided false information to authorities.



Another 20 students had their visas revoked for more serious offences including posing a risk to the health or safety of the community.



Phil Honeywood, the chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia, said most of Australia's 450,000 international students were doing the right thing.



"There is no doubt that some students come to Australia without the intention of being full time students, but the majority come for the right reasons because Australia affords a world class education system," he said.



Opposition higher education spokesman Kim Carr said it was disturbing that about five per cent of student visa cancellations occurred because the person was not a genuine student.



"This is an extremely important industry in terms of its contribution to the economy and you want to be certain the quality assurance regime is there to protect students and to make sure people aren't getting into the country in breach of their conditions," he said.



The federal government has introduced a strengthened visa screening process, which came into effect from the beginning of the month.



Mr Honeywood said it would ensure Australia continues to have the most stringent visa screening processes in the world, by focusing additional screening activities on the regions where most of the suspect student visa applications were coming from.



Currently students from China, South Korea, India, Vietnam and Thailand had the highest visa number of visa cancellations.
Lightweight, high-strength architecture improves overall efficiency; will be offered with hybrid, plug-in-hybrid and all-electric powertrains

After releasing preliminary images of its Ioniq, Hyundai has released more official images and details of its hybrid car. Pegged squarely against the Toyota Prius, the Ioniq will be offered with the option of three electric powertrain options ie a hybrid, plug-in hybrid and an all-electric.

The hybrid will be powered by a combination of a 1.6-litre GDi petrol motor developing 103.3bhp and 14.93kgm of torque and a 43bhp electric motor with 17.28kgm of pulling power, resulting in a total output of 146.3bhp and 32.21kgm. Power is channelled to the front wheels through a six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. Details regarding the other two powertrains remain scanty, though the all-electric version derives power from a lithium-ion battery.



Built on an all-new platform, its body structure makes extensive use of high-strength steel and aluminium to aid rigidity and weight savings. The battery packs are incorporated into the cars floor, just ahead of the rear axle to lower its centre of gravity, which in turn, improves driving dynamics.

The car features a streamlined design with a high-set boot. Moreover, the hexagonal front grille incorporates moving flaps that redirect airflow over the car to enhance aerodynamics.

The interior images reveal a dashboard with the centre console housing a touchscreen infotainment system at the top, resting between the air-con vents. The instrument cluster is a digital unit. Soft-touch plastics, leather and metallic inserts are seen throughout the cabin.

The Ioniq is slated to debut later this month in Korea before being showcased at the Geneva motor show 2016 in March. The hybrid is expected enter production first, followed by the PHEV and all-electric versions.
Like the first model, the new Victor will get a 110cc engine. The Apache 200 will be first TVS motorcycle to get oil-cooled engine.

TVS is gearing up to bring back the Victor motorcycle brand to showrooms in India. The brand will make a comeback with a new motorcycle on January 20, 2016. It has been understood that like the first version, which was first launched in 2001, the new one will have a 110cc engine with contemporary technology. The Victor is special for the company, as it was the first motorcycle to be built by TVS Motor on its own.

The Victor will fall in the highly competitive commuter segment (75cc-110cc) of the Indian motorcycle segment. During the April-November 2015 period, the size of this segment was 4,614,850 units, down 5.21 percent over the same period the previous year. TVS Motor currently has a market share of 17 percent in the segment with three models  Max 4R, Jive and Star City 110.

TVS Motor will also launch a new model in the Apache series, along with the Victor. The Apache 200 will the biggest motorcycle the OEM has launched yet. It will also be the first TVS motorcycle to have an oil-cooled engine. The 200cc bike will boost the Apache brand to race against Bajaj Auto's Pulsar. There's also a buzz that the Apache 200 will be followed by a TVS version of the BMW G310R, which is manufactured by TVS for its German partner, BMW Motorrad. The Apache RTR 180 will now cede position to the Apache 200 as TVS' most powerful motorcycle.

The TVS Apache (in 160cc and 180cc guise) falls in SIAMs category B5 (engine capacity more than 150cc, but less than 200cc). This motorcycle segment has seen handsome growth in this fiscal with sales growing 107 percent to 4,45,010 units in April-November 2015 as against 2,14,193 units in April-November 2014. Between April-November 2015, the Apache has seen its sales grow 38.5 percent to 174,490 units from 125,960 in April-November 2014.

The Apaches rivals comprise the KTM 200 Duke, Bajaj Pulsar 150 DTS-i and 180 DTS-i, Honda CB Unicorn 160 and the Suzuki Gixxer. While the KTM and Pulsars together sold a cumulative 93,112 units in the first eight months of 2015-16, the CB Unicorn 160 has seen handsome sales of 1,19,149 units. Meanwhile, the Gixxer saw sales of 58,259 units during this period.
Both Audi and Mercedes-Benz had a record year in 2015 and registered an increase in sales, while their rivals at BMW have yet to announce their own figures for the recently concluded year. However, even with significantly improved sales results for Audi and Mercedes-Benz, BMW is still expected to be the number one premium brand in the world when it comes to sales given its excellent monthly reports over the course of 2015.In 2014, BMW sold over 1.8 million cars worldwide and the company prepared itself for another record year in 2015 . In the sales battle between Mercedes-Benz and BMW on American soil, the Munich brand managed to surpass its Stuttgart-based competitor for several months in a row and posted monthly results showing an increase in sales. Unless something has gone wrong for BMW regarding sales in an important market, the carmaker from Munich is 2015s undisputed premium sales champion.Before BMW gets to add another prize to its collection at the Vierzylinder building, lets review the 2015 sales results of its two main competitors, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. The battle for second place was harder than ever and ended at a shocking difference, as Mercedes-Benz and Audi were divided by around 75,000 cars sold on a global level last year.Audi recorded a global sales increase of 3.6% in 2015, adding up to 1,803,250 cars sold worldwide. Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz sold 1,871,511 cars in the same timeframe, which accounts for a 13.4% increase in sales.As you can quickly notice, the difference between the two German brands is of only around 75,000 units, almost insignificant when compared to the 1.8 million vehicles that both brands managed to sell last year. We must note, though, that the smart brand was not included in the sales results posted for Mercedes-Benz.Nevertheless, as we mentioned above, BMW sold 1.8 million cars in 2014 and didnt record a massive sales drop in 2015, so the white and blue roundel should remain the sales leader of the premium segment.
The illegal business focused on making counterfeit engine oil and packaging it in plastic containers used by popular brands like Shell, Total, Mobil, Elf, Castrol, and several other brands. They even faked OEM engine oil by bottling their product in containers that were labeled with brand specific elements for Ford, Mazda, Nissan, Volkswagen, BMW, GM and Toyota.While this isnt the first and probably not the last counterfeiting operation focused on automotive products, the scale of this particular ring was concerning. The Ministry Department for Economic Crimes and Corruption in Russia estimated that the people running this business made approximately $164 million a year. Thats 147 million euros a year from producing and selling counterfeit engine oil alone, Automotorblog reports.According to the Russian authorities, the counterfeit ring worked with oil canisters purchased from Belarus, which were processed in an apparently abandoned factory. Then, plastic cans resembling original ones were filled with the fake oil. The counterfeiters even had the audacity to label bottles with a particular machine for each distinct brand, resembling the original.To save on labor costs, the leaders of the scheme used illegal immigrants for a lower production cost and to make sure nobody would leak any info to the authorities. After all, the immigrants were housed in the factory in awful living conditions.According to investigators, the fake oil was sold in Moscow at various auto parts shows and events. Given the estimated size of this business, we could assume the counterfeiters even sold the oil in some shops or through unlicensed street vendors.The entire enterprise was led by two young men from Moscow, who ended up working in four large abandoned storage buildings. Taking into account this is an illegal business, thats a lot of space to use for such activities.The authorities havent specified for how long the two entrepreneurs have been doing this, but this bust only meant closing one of many counterfeiting rings in Russia. So, remember, always make sure you buy parts and supplies from a reputable store and that their cases and wrapping materials haven't been tampered with.Most popular brands have online guides to help consumers tell the difference between an original product and a fake. Naturally, fake products dont offer the level of quality and performance of the original and are usually sold as a one-of-a-kind deal or offer.
The explanation from Presiding Judge Frank Maurer in Stuttgart comes after a series of complications in this particular case, including some witnesses who failed to back up prosecutors claims on a number of occasions, forcing them to rethink their theory.After the bold move the two ex-Porsche executives tried to pull eight years ago, the situation backfired spectacularly when first sellers drove up the price of Volkswagen shares as they scrambled to cover their position and, right after, the funding stopped in the middle of the financial crisis.On October 26, 2008, Porsche disclosed its plans to acquire Volkswagen and issued a press release to brag about it. In December 2015, prosecutors changed their arguments about this release, because initially they stated that Porsche was trying to protect itself from bankruptcy with an attempt to push up VWs shares. Now, they believe the Stuttgart-based company used the statement to drive the stocks down for its partner Maple Bank to avoid regulatory risks from the deal.According to Maurer, The claims by the prosecution about what risks Maple faced at that time arent comprehensible given that an outside review in 2009 showed the bank was never in trouble over these risks. I simply dont get it, he concluded.Witnesses also questioned the theory that Porsche was under financial pressure back in 2008 and issued the release even though it didnt have the money to buy VW, as Bloomberg states.In the end, the bid fell apart, and Volkswagen ended up buying the sports-car maker, while the company that retained the Porsche name and its former executives have faced legal suits, regulatory and criminal investigations since then.Maurer also declared that Porsches Chairman, Wolfgang Porsche, can refuse to appear as a witness and urged the prosecutors to agree with this.
In January 2015, the Japanese carmaker signed a five-year research and development partnership with NASA to advance autonomous car systems and prepare the technology for commercial use.Now, one year later, a group of very influential people from Nissan, including Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn and Jose Munoz, chairman of Nissan North America, are back at the Ames Research Center in Californias Silicon Valley for meetings and to analyze the progress of their fully autonomous cars.The partnership allows researchers to develop and test autonomy algorithms, concepts, and prototypes for a variety of vehicles, from rovers to driverless cars.After the introductions, the group observed the fully autonomous Nissan LEAF while driving itself across the center. The car is equipped with cameras, sensors, and data networking, and uses software originally created for the K-10 and K-REX planetary rovers to operate autonomously.The drive demonstrations were supervised by Nissan representatives as well as Ames Director Eugene Tu and Associate Director Steven Zornetzer.According to Tu, This is not only a demonstration of the transfer of space technology to industry, but also the application of their research back to our space technology with additional uses for our unmanned aircraft systems research here at Ames. He added that This is a perfect example of technology literally driving exploration for enabling future space missions. The Renault-Nissan Alliance has some big future plans , as it recently announced that it intends to launch more than 10 self-driving cars with autonomous capabilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and China by 2020.The Alliance not only has the plans but also the resources, with an R&D budget of about $5 billion, research centers in Japan, France, Michigan and California, and large engineering centers in Romania, India, Brazil, Turkey, and China.
8 January 2016 17:31 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Sadigova

Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan has once again blamed external processes for problems that the country faced. Addressing an extraordinary meeting of the government, Abrahamyan insisted on that the country is on the right way and keeps increasing the rate of growth.

Although Armenia could not avoid the negative impact of serious geopolitical and regional challenges, the government has been able to confront challenges and to ensure economic growth thanks to the centralization of resources, efforts and confident, innovative steps, he said.

Despite Abrahamyans arrogant statements, based on unknown and mysterious facts, the real state of things in Armenia rings the alarm. The Justice Ministry has recently announced that 69 companies declared bankruptcy in December 2015.

Chairman of the Employers Union Gagik Makaryan said that according to data released by the Armenian Ministry of Economy, during the year 7,000 companies operating in Armenia were closed.

Makaryan added that there is a negative trend in the activities of companies operating in the sphere of trade and services, compared to the last year. "Today we are closing computer companies and companies involved in information technology, which once were considered a successful business," he said.

He further stressed that the officials help their families to create business, creating unequal competition in the small and medium business.

The situation remains unstable and, more likely, the countrys economy will face even more difficulties in 2016.

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Follow Laman Sadigova on Twitter: @s_laman93

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8 January 2016 14:21 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Sadigova

Activists of the New Armenia organization held a protest rally in front of the police building in Yerevan.

A group of citizens gathered outside the police building, condemning the beating of a member of New Armenia Suzy Gevorgyan and demanding the police to resolve this case as soon as possible.

The police did not allow the protesters to approach the police building as they blocked the sidewalk.

Gevorgsyan, an activist of the New Armenia, living in Russia, was attacked by two men on January 5. Gevorgyan links the attack with her political views and says that such things cannot frighten her.

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Follow Laman Sadigova on Twitter: @s_laman93

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 January 2016 15:47 (UTC+04:00)

By Peter D. Sutherland

The Mediterranean migration crisis has delivered two critical lessons. First, Europe and the international community have grossly inadequate systems for protecting vulnerable migrants. Second, in the absence of such systems, populist leaders will prey on fear to gain political support, undermining the liberal, tolerant societies that have taken 70 years of hard work to build.

That is why vigorous action at the European and global levels is essential this year. In September, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will convene an extraordinary summit dedicated to building a fair global system for protecting refugees and vulnerable migrants. One hopes that countries will come prepared to make tangible, enduring commitments.

Such commitments were sorely lacking in 2015. Indeed, the international community could have blunted last years crisis by providing even modest support for the three frontline countries  Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan  which together host some four million Syrian refugees. With only around 10 billion ($10.8 billion), these countries could have provided better housing, food, and education for refugees, thereby reducing the incentive to flee to Europe. That failure could end up costing Germany alone upwards of 21 billion annually for years to come.

But the financial implications of the crisis pale in comparison to the human and political costs. More than a million people risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean last year, and then endured grueling journeys through the Balkans. Almost 4,000 people died on the way, and many European countries turned their backs on those who survived, refusing them safe haven.

Cynical political leaders ruthlessly capitalized on popular anxiety by promoting an odious nationalist vision that either ignores or distorts real-life experiences with immigration. In the United States, for example, not one of the 780,000 refugees resettled since September 11, 2001, has executed a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, immigrants typically pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits.

Nonetheless, extremist forces are dangerously close to taking political power in some European states, and are gaining traction even in formerly liberal bastions. Anti-migrant parties already are in power in Hungary and Poland. Their success is compelling mainstream parties to adopt anti-migrant policies as well.

All of this has seriously undermined European cooperation. The EUs program to process the million refugees who arrived on its shores has succeeded in relocating a mere 190 of them. Checks at the borders of six countries within the Schengen Area have been reinstituted, at least temporarily. To the rest of the world, the EU appears chauvinistic and inept.

Of course, the crisis is not solely for Europe to solve; responsibility is not defined by proximity. But the EU might now face an existential threat, which it can overcome only with a strong show of solidarity and global leadership. That is why its member states must take the lead in proposing solutions.

The most urgent priority is to create safe and legal paths for refugees to reach Europe. This does not imply that every vulnerable migrant must be accepted. But the EU should be more systematically generous in determining how many to admit, and it should implement organized ways to facilitate their entry. Such a system would protect migrants and safeguard Europe (by enabling it to vet applicants fully).

Beyond reducing the incentive for asylum-seekers to risk their lives and life savings to cross the Mediterranean, such an approach would show solidarity with the frontline countries, which will continue to host most of the refugees. Equally important, it would put pressure on the rest of the international community to contribute.

That brings us to the second priority for 2016: building a robust global system to protect refugees and other vulnerable migrants. This requires, first and foremost, agreement by more countries to accept refugees. In recent years, the UN Refugee Agency has been able to resettle fewer than 75,000 of more than 20 million refugees annually. Millions end up in protracted displacement, spending an estimated 25 years, on average, stuck in limbo, unsure when they might return home.

In 2016, developed countries should agree to accept a combined total approaching a million refugees annually, either through resettlement or by issuing humanitarian, student, labor, and other visas. With Canada alone saying that it will resettle 50,000 Syrian refugees this year, it is clear that this target is achievable.

At the same time, the international community must support the integration of refugees in major host countries like Turkey, Kenya, Lebanon, and Jordan. As it stands, such countries receive just a fraction of the $3,000-5,000 per refugee required annually to provide adequate housing, food, health care, schooling, and job training during the first few years of displacement. And that does not account for the costs of building or upgrading infrastructure. Lebanons water-supply system, for example, is faltering under the strain of the massive influx of refugees. In exchange for funding, host countries should agree to integrate refugees fully into their schools, labor markets, and civic institutions.

But integrating migrants effectively will be impossible unless European and other countries change how they perceive migrants. If migrants are viewed as a burden or, worse, a security threat, reactionary political forces will continue to gain ground, cutting off opportunities for newcomers and turning such fears into a self-fulfilling prophesy. If, however, host countries enthusiastically integrate migrants, everyone will benefit  including home countries (for example, through remittances).

Last month in Paris, the international community proved that it could subordinate national self-interest to a greater global goal: confronting climate change. In 2016, the same thing must happen to forge a better system for protecting migrants. It is a matter of life and death for 20 million refugees and millions of other vulnerable migrants  and a profound test of the civic health of democratic societies worldwide.

Copyright: Project Syndicate: A Better year for migrants?

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8 January 2016 18:25 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Rajabova

The recent deterioration in relations of Saudi Arabia and Iran raised discussions whether the feud between the two energy-rich countries will lead to increase in the global oil prices or the miserable oil prices will complicate the situation even more.

Crude prices rose in Asia after Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran following Tehrans condemnation of the Kingdoms execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and protesters attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Some expected that if the relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran continue to worsen, then it can help oil prices to recover after the nearly 70-percent fall since mid-2014.

However, many experts believe that the recent developments between the two OPEC countries, which have long had cool relations, will not lead to significant changes in oil prices.

The oil prices that saw some increase right after the diplomatic scandal kept on slumping further eventually dropping to $32 on January 6. Global oil benchmark Brent prices, currently, stood at $33.87 per barrel, while WTI Crude Oil is $33.34 per barrel.

Kamran Dadkhah, a professor of economics at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts believes that if this dispute remains at diplomatic and propaganda level that have been observed so far, it wont have any effect on oil prices.

Witness that both WTI and Brent declined on Wednesday. Because of high volume of output by Saudi Arabia and Russia, as well as increased production by the United State, there has been an increase in oil inventory. On the other hand, Chinas economic slowdown foretells of stagnant demand. In response to the current dispute, most likely Saudi Arabia will continue its high level of extraction to deny Iran any substantial increase in its oil income following the nuclear agreement. Thus, we should expect short term volatility in oil prices, medium term stability and long term slow increase, the expert said.

Iran produces 2.8 million barrels of oil per day and exports 1.1 million barrels of this volume per day, while Saudi Arabia produces more than 10 million barrels of oil daily and exports more than seven million barrels per day.

Dadkhah went on to say that if, however, the two countries engage in actual warfare or face intensified terrorist attacks (for example, in Iran or Saudi Arabias oil fields) then the story will be very different.

So far the turmoil in the Middle East hasnt resulted in open war between different sovereign states and most likely it will not happen; because, in that case, everyone would be a loser, he underlined.

Yevgeny Satanovsky, the president of the Russian Independent Scientific Center "Institute of the Middle East" also does not share the opinion that the Saudi Arabia-Iran row will somehow affect the growth of oil prices.

Noting that currently, oil prices dependent on the volume of oil production and the volume of the market, he said if the Iranian and Saudi Arabian oil is not supplied to the market any more, it means that Venezuelan oil, Russian oil or oil of any other producer will replace it.

The recent diplomatic scandal has deeply impacted the already soured relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The economic relations between them downgraded.

Iran and Saudi Arabia took further steps to sever commercial ties on January 7, intensifying a feud between the regional rivals, as Tehran announced a ban on imports from Saudi Arabia and Saudi groups called for boycotts of Iranian products.

Iran-Saudi Arabia trade turnover stood at $146 million from March to September 2015. Iran exported $113.1 million worth of goods to Saudi Arabia during the first seven month of the current Iranian fiscal year (started March 21, 2015), meanwhile imports accounted for $33.1 million.

Dadkhah believes that direct economic impacts of this row for the two countries will not be enormous.

He noted that trade and investment relations between Iran and countries that severed their diplomatic ties with it are very limited.

These countries include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Djibouti. In addition, Qatar recalled its ambassador from Iran. Iran has extensive connections with the United Arab Emirates; but that country hasnt joined the dispute. Thus, the direct effect on Irans economy wont be substantial, he said.

However, Dadkhah emphasized that there could be strong indirect effects.

Many companies that are interested in investing or trading with Iran have extensive relations with the aforementioned countries. They may feel that becoming friendly to Iran could be detrimental to their interest in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. Given the hope generated by the conclusion of nuclear agreement with P5+1, Iran would have been better off if it had avoided this crisis, the expert underlined.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova



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8 January 2016 11:05 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Rajabova

The long-standing Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was discussed in the United States.

Ed Royce, the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives committee on foreign affairs and James Warlick, the U.S. co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, Warlick tweeted on January 7.

Warlick thanked the committee and its chair Royce for hosting him to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. We agreed to work for a settlement, he said.

A while ago, Warlick reminded about the work directed to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

We need to intensify work towards a negotiated settlement in 2016. The parties say they are willing. If not now, when, Warlick tweeted.

The OSCE Minsk Group, an international framework established to settle the long-standing Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, has voiced determination to continue work on a new meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents.

Though the Bern meeting of the two presidents last December hasnt yielded the desirable results, some officials believe that holding of such a meeting was itself a positive sign for the resolution of the conflict, a source of major instability in the South Caucasus region.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

The peace talks have been largely fruitless so far despite the efforts of the co-chair countries over 20 years.

The sides to the conflict currently hold talks based on the renewed Madrid principles, which envisage return of occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control, ensure the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence, future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh and etc.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova



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8 January 2016 11:37 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Rajabova

Los Angeles Jewish community in the United States has expressed strong support for Azerbaijans interfaith harmony.

The renowned Los Angeles-based Jewish synagogue Sinai Temple hosted on January 5 an event dedicated to the visit of the Temples 50-member delegation to Azerbaijan at the end of 2015.

The said visit was organized on October 30-November 4, 2015 jointly by the Baku International Multiculturalism Center and Azerbaijans Consulate General in Los Angeles.

Opening the event, Chief Rabbi of the Sinai Temple David Wolpe, who is the most influential Jewish rabbi in the U.S. according to Newsweek, shared his impressions of Azerbaijan.

He praised the countrys longstanding traditions of tolerance and interfaith harmony.

Azerbaijan has long been known in the world as a multiethnic and multi-religious country where the national policy is planned and carried out in the spirit of traditional tolerance and harmonic coexistence of different ethnic and religious groups.

Speaking of Azerbaijans Jewish community, which was donated a Sefer Torah by the Sinai Temple, Rabbi Wolpe stressed that unlike many advanced Western nations, the Jews in Azerbaijan can practice their religion absolutely freely, without facing any threats or discrimination.

He expressed hope that the friendship between the Azerbaijani and Jewish people will be strengthened even more over the many years to come.

Azerbaijans Consul General in Los Angeles Nasimi Aghayev, for his part, highlighted Azerbaijans remarkable history of interreligious and interethnic harmony and mutual acceptance.

He stressed that under President Ilham Aliyevs leadership the traditions of interfaith tolerance and multiculturalism have become even stronger, turning Azerbaijan into an island of stability in an otherwise unstable region.

Aghayev further noted that the visit of the Sinai Temple delegation had given a tremendous boost to building strong bridges between Azerbaijan and the Jewish community of the United States.

President of the Sinai Temples Mens Club Cary Lerman, the Mens Clubs Vice-President Elie Alyeshmerni and Sinai Temples Vice-President Angela Maddahi stressed the importance of the visit in terms of better understanding Azerbaijans model of multiculturalism, its strong friendship with Israel, and building robust ties with the countrys vibrant Jewish community.

Highlighting the life of Azerbaijans Jewish community and the special attention paid by Azerbaijans government to ensuring an environment of multi-faith harmony and brotherhood, the speakers commended President Ilham Aliyevs consistent policies of multiculturalism.

The event concluded with a slide-show presentation. Accompanied by Azerbaijani songs, the slide-show included many photos depicting the memorable moments of the delegations visit.

Muslim mosques, Christian Orthodox, Catholic and Albanian-Udine churches, Jewish synagogues, which freely conduct religious ceremonies, are functioning in the Azerbaijani territory. Currently, 800 mosques, as well as 12 Orthodox, Catholic and Albanian-Udine churches and six synagogues operate in the country.

Representatives of all religions together take part in public events, religious feasts and ceremonies. Baku International Center of multiculturalism was created in Azerbaijan in 2014 with presidential decree.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova



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8 January 2016 12:33 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan will be able to further develop its civil aviation, as the European Commission intends to boost this field in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The European Commission has awarded European Aviation Safety Agency a $5.4 million technical contract to support the sustainable development in the countries such as Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Armenia in line with international and European standards.

The EASA will begin implementing the 4-year contract starting this February.

The Agency will provide training, dedicated initiatives on safety management and civil aviation administration management, effectively addressing safety findings, support for the implementation of existing comprehensive aviation agreements, and support for the harmonization of regulations and working practices with international safety and security standards.

Azerbaijan has invested huge funds to develop the civil aviation in the country. Its an important member of the International Civil Aviation Organization Council. Around $15 billion has been invested in developing the aviation in Azerbaijan over the last 10 years. Four new airports were constructed and two more were modernized, helicopter and aircraft fleets were fully renewed, the most modern planes such as the Airbus, Boeing and even Boeing Dreamliner were put into operation.

Recently the country hosted the 35th session of the Interstate Council on Aviation and Airspace, where ICAO Council President, praised the work carried out by the Azerbaijani government in the aviation sector.

Last year saw the 105th anniversary since the first flight over Baku. The rapid development of civil aviation started in Azerbaijan since the French biplane Farman-4, piloted by Sergey Utochkin, made a few circles above awestruck onlookers and successfully landed with a thunder of applause.

Azerbaijan Airlines is a major air carrier and one of the leaders of the aviation community of CIS countries. AZAL with the newest airplane fleets, consisting of 25 airplanes, does not have a single old plane.

For its services, AZAL received a prestigious "4 Stars" from the leader in air transport research, the world-famous British consulting company Skytrax last June.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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8 January 2016 17:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Orujova

The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that Ankara does not plan to introduce a visa regime with Azerbaijan.

Turkish media earlier reported about introduction of visa regime between Turkey and Azerbaijan, as well as other 88 countries. Reportedly, the country will introduce a visa regime with 89 countries from June 2016 at the request of the European Union.

The Foreign Ministry told Trend that it does not expect any change in the entry mode of Azerbaijani citizens to Turkey.

Currently, no changes in the visa regime with Azerbaijan expected, the Turkish embassy in Baku told local media.

Our countries do not consider changing the visa regime now. Azerbaijani citizens arriving in Turkey as tourists can stay in the country without a visa for 30 days, the embassy said.

Turkey is one of the most favorite destinations for Azerbaijanis, for both business issues and tourism. Today, Azerbaijanis prefer a tighter integration with Turkey, said a survey on Azerbaijan's foreign policy and security held by the Atlas Research Center.

Azerbaijan-Turkey relations have always been strong due to a common culture and history and the mutual intelligibility of Turkish and Azerbaijani languages.

Turkey was the first country in the world to recognize Azerbaijan's independence in 1991 and has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to consolidate its independence, preserve its territorial integrity, and realize its economic potential that arise from the rich natural resources of the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijani citizens can travel without visas to 61 countries, according to the passportindex website. Azerbaijan has also signed the visa facilitation agreement with the European Union and some countries that are not in the Schengen area.

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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews staff journalist. Follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

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8 January 2016 11:11 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijans state oil fund SOFAZ has announced about the agreement to acquire Palazzo Turati, an office property in Milan's historical Central Business District, for 97 million with the aim to further diversify its real estate portfolio. This is the first property acquisition of SOFAZ in Italy.

Palazzo Turati is located at Via Meravigli 7, historical centre of Milan, just a step away from Piazza Cordusio and Piazza Affari, and 500 m from Duomo. The building develops over six floors above the ground for office use, in addition to an exhibition hall on the ground floor. The net leasable area of this prime asset is 10 360 square meters. Palazzo Turati is a historical building built in 1880 and is part of Milans heritage. It has recently undergone major restoration works. The property is leased in its entirety to Milan Chamber of Commerce, a primary Italian public institution, which uses it as its HQ, till 2021. The seller of Palazzo Turati is Tecnoholding S.p.a.

SOFAZ, the sovereign wealth fund, was set up in December 1999 by the Presidential Decree as an extra-budgetary entity which accumulates and manages oil and gas revenues of the country.

The Funds primary objectives are to help maintain macroeconomic stability in the country and to generate wealth for present and future generations. As of 01 December, 2015, assets of SOFAZ totaled USD 33.6 billion. Purchase of this property was realized in accordance with the amendments under the Presidential decree  519 dated October 27th, 2011 made to "Rules on management of foreign currency assets of the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan". By the investment policy overall value of the investment portfolio can be invested into the gold, equities and real estate with 5%, 15%, 10% per each financial tool.

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8 January 2016 18:39 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Orujova

The government of Azerbaijan continues the work on simplifying the business environment in the country. This time, the Health Ministry announced that unlimited licenses will be issued for private medical and pharmaceutical activity.

The Ministry has clarified the issue of licensing of private medical and pharmaceutical activity after the presidential decree On some measures in licensing, Trend reports.

The new rules make license active for an indefinite period. Licenses, which are valid at the time of entry into force of the decree, will also be considered permanent.

The approved list of licensed activities reads that the state duty to obtain a license in the field of private medical activity costs 2,250 manats ($1,436), in the pharmaceutical industry, price of the licenses for the manufacture or wholesale of pharmaceuticals, separately, is 2,250 manats ($1,436).

Entrepreneur should pay 1,000 ($638)manats for the retail sale of medicines, while collection of raw materials in the form of wild medicinal plants costs 250 manats ($159).

The Economy and Industry Ministry will issue licenses for types of business activities subject to licensing, with the exception of activities related to state security.

Also, depending on the particular types of business activities, opinions of the relevant state bodies and experts will also be considered.

The control over compliance with conditions of the licenses will be carried out by the appropriate control body in compliance with the legislation. The license could be suspended when the license holder does not comply with laws and other conditions approved by the Cabinet of Minister.

Licenses for private medical and pharmaceutical activity in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic can be issued by the relevant executive power bodies of the republic, but these licenses will be valid only in Nakhchivan.

Last December, the government canceled more than 20 types of licenses. At present, the list of licenses required for doing business in Azerbaijan equals to 37 licenses.

The conditions for granting licenses were also simplified along with the fee for a license, that was cut in half and the period for issuing licenses was reduced from 15 to 10 working days.

Experts believe that this activity is aimed to develop small and medium business by creating liberal conditions for development of entrepreneurship.

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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews staff journalist. Follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

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8 January 2016 19:21 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Turkey is keen on inking preferential trade agreements with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. This is envisaged in the road map, developed by the Turkish Economy Ministry.

The Foreign Relations Department of the Turkish Economy Ministry told Azernews that there is no any signed agreement with Baku and Astana yet, but relevant talks have already been launched.

"Negotiations are underway. We are working to define the sectors that will be covered by the deals. Technical works on what will be included in here continue."

Asked about the possibility of increasing Turkeys bilateral trade with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, the Ministry said before determining the details, one could not evaluate the potential.

"At this stage, we are working over which goods and services will be included here," the ministry noted. "After determining these issues, we will be able to make a detailed analysis."

The ministry didnt named any date for clinching the agreements, mentioning that agreeing a preferential trade contracts generally takes a lot of time.

Turkey has already initiated the signing of agreements on free trade with Pakistan. Similar agreements are also expected to be signed with Japan, Mexico, Peru and Ukraine, Turkish media reports.

After Russia introduced economic sanctions against Turkey following the plane incident, Ankara has accelerated works on the search for alternative markets.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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8 January 2016 15:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

A flag of the Nakhchivan khanate, established in 1747 and covering the area from Zangazur range of mountains to Araz river, was revealed during a recent scientific trip to a Russian museum.

A member of the Azerbaijani National Museum of History, Parvin Gozalov discovered the third flag of the Nakhchivan khanate during the studies at the Military-Historical Museum of Engineer and Signal Corps in St. Petersburg.

The flag was taken as a trophy during the battle and was taken to St. Petersburg by Russia general Ivan Paskevich in 1827. The flag is kept under the name of Muslim flag of the 18th-19th centuries at the museum.

In mid 2015, Gozalov found two flags belonging to Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Khanate at the Russian Hermitage Museum.

The first flag was taken as a trophy by Major General Pyotr Kotlyarevsky at the Battle of Aslanduz. The flag is indicated in the archival documents of the State Hermitage as the Trophy of the Battles of Years 1912, 1913, 1914. The length of this flag is 145 cm, and the width is 159 cm.

The second flag of the Nakhchivan Khanate was in 1827 taken as a trophy by General Ivan Paskevich during the occupation of the khanate. The length of the flag is 178 cm, and the width is 144 cm.

The shape of Nakhchivans third flag is 92cm in width and 192cm in length. The rectangular state flags color is green and red. An eight-pointed star symbolizing the sun is sewn on the green side of the fabric.

In the second half of the 18th century there were independent and semi-dependent states named khanates in Azerbaijan. The birth of the first independent khanates in the territory of Azerbaijan dates back the 1740s. Some of them appeared after the fall of the rule of Nadir Shah while the others were established during his reign as a result of the struggle against Iran.

The Nakhchivan khanate was established by Heydarguly Khan of the Kangarli tribe. To strengthen the khanate and protect it from invasions, Heydarguly Khan (1747-1763/64) relied on the more powerful Garabagh khanate during the first years of his reign. Following Heydarguly Khan`s death, the Nakhchivan Khanate weakened as a result of struggle for power, which lasted till 1787 and became a target for fight among the khanates of Khoy, Garabagh, Erivan, Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti and Iran.

Its center was Nakhichevan city and khanate had borders with Garabagh, Garadagh, Khoy, Maku and Iravan khanates. It was divided into mahals of Nakhichevan, Alinjachay, Mavazikhatun, Daralayaz, Khok etc. The area of khanate was annexed to Russia according to Turkmanchay Treaty of 1828.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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8 January 2016 08:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Developing pharmaceutical manufacturing in oil-rich Azerbaijan may become one of major directions in the country's aspiration to diversify its non-oil sector of the economy.

Easing tax burdens and allowing entrepreneurs more space to maneuver may have a positive effect on this industry in terms of big changes ahead.

With a growing population of over 9.6 million, Azerbaijan's healthcare system will require an organized and well-established public health sector. As a major social stabilizer healthcare remains an important point in the agenda of the government. The need for healthcare is growing nationwide as population is aging and human life expectancy is growing with the better provision of healthcare.

The government increased its healthcare budget more than 10 times in the past decade and the figure hit 665.3 million manats ($425 million) in 2014. There were built or remodeled over 566 hospitals and healthcare facilities so far. Currently, the life expectancy in Azerbaijan is 72 years for men and 76 for women.

Although the country is interested in ensuring broad access to healthcare provision with a high level of quality on one hand, on the other hand it seeks to cut healthcare spending. Cost cutting measures affect not only patient and consumer but also the pharmaceutical sector.

In late 2015, the government announced that Azerbaijan will create own enterprises that will manufacture medicines to cease dependence on imports. The government reaffirmed aim to continue the development of medicine manufacturing industry and establish pharmaceutical companies.

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov announced last week that the talks will be soon launched on creating enterprises for the production of medicines in Azerbaijan.

He said for a long period Azerbaijan lacked practice for the production of medicines, there were no specialists in this area, and most of the drugs imported from abroad.

The drug import from abroad adversely affects the functioning of the internal market, leads to leakage of a large amount of currency outside the country. The way out of this situation is to establish relations with reputable pharmaceutical companies in foreign countries and establish relevant companies here based on the corporation. Ultimately, Azerbaijan could gradually form its own practice in the production of drugs," he said.

The market of medicines in Azerbaijan by 97 percent dependent on imports, while 57 percent of medicines registered in the country are produced in Europe, 26 percent in the CIS countries, including 12 percent made in Russia. The small proportion is produced in Asian countries.

Despite the opportunities, medicine production in Azerbaijan is not managed well. The share of basic pharmaceutical products manufacture in Azerbaijans total industrial production is 0.01 percent, according to the State Statistics Committee. As of 2014, number of the acting enterprises in this sphere is only eight, with volume of industrial products worth 2.7 million manats ($1.7 million) at factual prices.

Manufacture of main types of medical products in natural value is as following: medicaments of other antibiotics p.r.s.- 161,600 manats ($103,243), other medicaments of mixed and un-mixed products p.r.s. n.e.c  384.500 manats ($245,648), wadding, gauze, etc with pharmaceutical substances p.r.s.  113.100 manats ($72,257).

Pharmaceutical activities in Azerbaijan are licensed by the Center for Analytical Examination of Medicines under the Health Ministry. The ministry also controls the quality of the medicines. Only 55 medicines are manufactured in the country, the ministry reports.

On drug prices in the retail sale, the country started regulating the prices of medicines from September 15, 2015. A list of medicines is constantly enlarging. Up until now, the Tariff Council has approved the prices of over 3,540 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.

Deputy head of the parliamentary committee on healthcare Musa Guliyev, in turn, said the country can also in the future export medicines. Instead of spending huge funds to purchase the medicine from abroad, we can sell medicine and get foreign currency. The point is that the country enjoys rich herbs. Producing herbal medicines we can open new jobs in regions and use the resources effectively.

The MP is sure that the country enjoys potential to build pharmaceutical plants, adding that the government needs to offer concessions to attract entrepreneurs to this sector.

Firstly, in case the raw material for medicines is brought from abroad, then it needs to be free from custom duties. Also, tax incentives should be applied in relation to such plans for at least several years.

Due to lack of domestic production, the country is also huge market for medical device investments. Currently, the country imports medical devices from US, Germany, Japan, France, Russia, and Turkey. Reportedly, Russian and Turkish firms provide lower-cost equipment, which has resulted in an increasing popularity of these equipment and supplies in the local market.

The biggest issue for Azerbaijan's pharmaceutical industry is the lack of human capital, in particular doctors with up-to-date expertise and medical researchers. However, the government is promoting programs that encourage the youth to engage in the medical sciences.

Ilgar Muradov, who works at one of local pharmaceutical companies, said it takes at least ten years for a new medicine to complete the journey from initial discovery to the market place, with clinical trials lasting about 5-7 years on average.

The average cost to research and develop each successful drug is estimated in billions, and this requires not only huge recourses but also labs and pro researchers, he told AzerNews. The overall probability of clinical success, that is, the likelihood that a drug entering clinical testing will eventually be approved is estimated to be less than 15 percent.

A 2013 analysis conducted by Forbes says that a company hoping to get a single drug to market can expect to have spent $350 million before the medicine is available for sale. In part because so many drugs fail, large pharmaceutical companies that are working on dozens of drug projects at once spend $5 billion per new medicine.

Muradov further said that consumer nature and price sensitivity are among important environmental differences to which pharma business models need to adapt.

The old model for pharmaceutical research and development does not work. Going into risk sharing, collaboration and partnerships would be one way of lowering costs, he said.

With its high growth capacity and the government's focus on development, Azerbaijan's market outlook is still positive. The government is sure any investment in the country's healthcare industry, promises to be rewarding.

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8 January 2016 14:11 (UTC+04:00)

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijans SOCAR announced that it constantly searches new sale markets for crude oil produced in the country, while oil prices languish near $30 a barrel on the global markets.

The country produces three grades of crude oilAzeri BTC, Azeri Light, mainly sold to European and Asian markets, and Urals, Azerbaijani light crude sold at a discount as it blended in Russia. Bulk of the countrys oil is marketed by Socar Trading, which has been operating since 2008.

The countrys energy giant noted that there is a general rule that the diversification of sale markets provides security of the seller country and creates superiority for seller in transaction process, namely establishes condition for determining more favorable price.

Therefore, despite changes observed in the world market, SOCAR constantly searches new markets for Azerbaijani oil, the company told local media.

AZERI LT oil produced at Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of oil and gas fields on the basis of CIF in the Italian port of Augusta was $35.79 per barrel on January 7. AZERI Light FOB Ceyhan oil price was $34.71 per barrel or $0.02 per barrel more than the previous price. The price for URALS-NOVO was $30.29 per barrel, or $0.18 more than the previous price.

The company further added that offers of new buyers are analyzed and comparison is made. Our analysts are studying the dynamics and demand of different markets. These processes are provided on a regular basis.

Azerbaijan has produced 38.32 million tons of oil and gas condensate in January-November 2015, or 0.5 percent less than in the same period in 2014, the State Statistics Committee reported.

The country's largest hydrocarbon basins are located offshore in the Caspian Sea, particularly the Azeri Chirag Guneshli (ACG) field. Similar to its share of total production, ACG also holds over 70% of Azerbaijan's total reserves, with about 5 billion barrels located in this field.

SOCAR produces about 20% of the country's oil output. The remaining 80% of Azerbaijan's output comes from the ACG oil fields by the BP-operated Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) and at the BP-operated Shah Deniz field (which produces oil condensate).

Azerbaijan exports oil through four routes  the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa (western route) and Baku-Novorossiysk (northern route), as well as by rail.

In 2015, the company exported about 17.93 million tons from the Turkish Ceyhan port compared to 20.48 million tons in 2014. SOCAR exported over 2.79 million tons of oil via the Baku-Supsa pipeline compared to 2.96 million tons in 2014. It transported 1.27 million tons of "black gold" in the northern direction (Baku-Novorossiysk) for the reporting period compared to 932.15 million tons in 2014.

Azerbaijan exports not only crude oil, but also petroleum products. The only producer of oil products is SOCAR, which owns Baku Oil Refinery named after Heydar Aliyev.

Azerbaijans oil products are exported to countries such as Turkey, Georgia, Italy, Egypt, Greece, Lebanon, Singapore, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Malta, Libya, Romania, China, Spain, the Bahamas and more.

SOCAR exported about 1.23 million tons of oil products in 2015compared to about 1.2 million tons in 2014. Most of the export fell on diesel fuel, which last year were exported in the amount of 965,790.

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8 January 2016 17:13 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Energy-rich Turkmenistan, which has the fourth largest gas reserves of the world, has been showing great interest in exporting blue fuel both to the consumers of the Old Continent and the emerging Asian markets.

Constantine Levoyannis, the Head of Greek Energy Forums Brussels Group, believes that Asian gas markets are more attractive for Ashgabat than European ones in terms of the market conditions, prices and the correlation of supply and demand.

The economies and populations in the East continue to grow and develop at a faster pace than in Europe, meaning there is simply more demand in Asia as opposed to Europe where we are facing ageing population, economic stagnation and declining gas consumption, the expert told Trend.

Levoyannis also noted that timing and geostrategic issues such as the return of Iran to energy markets and the security for transit of gas to Europe, particularly on the Turkish border, are also important considerations while evaluating opportunities to export Turkmen gas.

Ashgabat is actively implementing an energy strategy aimed at increasing exports of the blue fuel and diversifying its supply routes to the largest global markets, where the demand for energy resources is growing.

Being one of the key players in the gas market of the Caspian Sea region and Central Asia, Turkmenistan produces about 70-80 billion cubic meters of gas a year. It possesses some 17 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, with some estimates placing that figure upwards of 25 or 26 trillion cubic meters.

Energy-hunger China is one of main destinations where Turkmenistan's blue fuel is delivered. The figures vary between 30-45 billion cubic meters.

Turkmenistan is also the largest supplier of natural gas to Iran. Central Asian nation exports 6-8 billion cubic meters of gas to Iran annually. The most convenient transportation route for Turkmen resources to the energy markets of the region passes through Iran. Tehran and Ashgabat also barter part of the gas supplied from Turkmenistan for goods and services from Iran.

Turkmenistan is also keen on exporting its blue fuel to the South Asian markets, in particular to Pakistan and India. In this regard, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, which will extend from Galkynysh field in Turkmenistan, is seen as a tool which would represent an enormous breakthrough for Turkmenistan's capabilities as an international energy player.

Meanwhile, Europe, which endeavors to weaken its dependence on Russia's blue fuel supplies, has recently voiced intention to create new chances for new players.

Levoyannis noted that Europe is interested in Turkmen gas.

Turkmenistan is one of such energy-producing countries, desiring to diversify export routes, and eyeing up a good place in this potential market.

Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice-president in charge of Europes energy agenda, said in April 2015 that EU expects to receive Turkmen gas already in 2019.

The optimal option to deliver Turkmen blue fuel under the Caspian through Azerbaijan to European consumers would become the long-awaited 300 kilometer-long Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project, the construction of which is of strategic interest to the EU, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.

The negotiations between the EU, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan on the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline began in September 2011 and accelerated after the Ukraine crisis. When the European Union began to impose sanctions against Russia, Malena Mard, head of the EU delegation to Azerbaijan expressed the EU's interest in the implementation of the pipeline and called the project a good opportunity to diversify energy supplies.

The unresolved status of the Caspian Sea, however, has been regarded as the main factor hindering the implementation of the project.

"The project is still wishful thinking at this stage and very far away from the completion, but the obstacles that have hindered the project's progress in the past still remain," said Levoyannis. "Europe continues to pursue the prospect of the Trans-Caspian Pipeline in an attempt to overcome these obstacles, and the EU re-launched talks on the project in 2015."

Speaking about the position of the other Caspian states regarding Tran-Caspian Pipeline, Levoyannis noted that Russia and Iran oppose this project because it will pose challenges of competition in the European gas market.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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8 January 2016 16:00 (UTC+04:00)

Crisis in Saudi Arabia-Iran relations will invariably complicate the situation in regions other countries, such as Syria, Yemen and Iraq, senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, James Dorsey believes.

All of these conflicts are as much domestic fights as they are Saudi-Iranian proxy wars. Heightened Saudi-Iranian tension intensifies these proxy wars, Dorsey told Trend.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran soured after execution of Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric, by the Kingdom along with other 46 people, which was followed by a strong protest from Iran.

Mass protests took place in Iran following the said execution. In particular, the Saudi embassy in the capital Tehran and the consulate in the city of Mashhad were attacked, after which Riyadh broke off diplomatic ties with Tehran on January 3.

Earlier, Saudi Arabias permanent representative to the United Nations, Abdullah al-Moallem said that relations with Iran will be restored only when Tehran stops interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, including that of Saudi Arabias.

The Iranian government has recently banned the import of products from Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabias goods from other countries.

Talking about the Irans strategy to defend its interests in Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Syria, Dorsey said that Islamic Republic is in this for the long haul and despite public perceptions, is not on the defensive.

It is well-positioned to fight this battle, Dorsey said.

Having said that it would be a mistake to reduce problems in various countries to Iran defending its interests, he added.

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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
8 January 2016 17:48 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Rajabova

The United States expects implementation of a nuclear deal clinched between world powers and Iran soon.

Highlighting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action among several very important breakthroughs, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on January 7 that we are days away from implementation if all goes well, the U.S. State Department reported.

He said he discussed implementation of the nuclear deal with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif during a phone call on January 7.

Zarif, according to Kerry, made it clear that the Islamic Republic intends to complete its obligations with respect to implementation day as rapidly as possible.

He also noted that Iran has shipped the majority of its enriched uranium stockpile out of the country in compliance with the terms of the Iran nuclear agreement.

Iran has shipped its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to Russia as a key step in fulfilling its commitments under the landmark nuclear deal reached with six world powers in July in Vienna. Russia has already completed withdrawing enriched uranium from Iran as part of the agreement, according to the Russian media.

Kerry explained that in one shipment, Iran literally shipped out its capacity currently to build a nuclear weapon.

However, not everybody in the United States is patiently expecting the implementation of the nuclear deal.

The Republicans, who opposed the nuclear deal, still worry that the Tehran government would keep its promise to curb its nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.

The Republicans has put forward Legislation "Iran Terror Finance Transparency Act" aiming to increase lawmakers' oversight of the Iran agreement. The Republican-led House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved the measure by a voice vote, setting it up for consideration by the full House next week, Reuters reported.

While opponents say it will undermine the nuclear deal, the Republicans said the measure would hold the Democratic administration to its commitment not to ease pressure on Iran's support for terrorism or its ballistic missile program.

White House also keeps a close eye on Iran's missile and other activities. In late December, the U.S. lawmakers and media reported that the U.S. Treasury alerted them to new Iranian sanctions, which were later recalled.

The U.S. Treasury Department revealed its intention to impose financial sanctions in the wake of Irans missile testing in October and November.

However, the U.S. officials has recently said the administration had additional diplomatic and technical work to complete before announcing any new sanctions related to the missile program.

"You have seen us respond through a sanctions regime to their [Irans] ballistic missile activity in the past, and I fully expect that you will see us respond appropriately in the future," Kirby said.

There is no date set yet for "implementation day" of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed on July 14 in which Tehran agreed to shrink its nuclear program in exchange for some sanctions relief.

Implementation day will come when the International Atomic Energy Agency verifies that Iran has completed all of these nuclear commitments, which increase Irans breakout time to obtain enough nuclear material for a weapon to one year, up from less than 90 days before the JCPOA.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Dawn Foods has unveiled plans to run its successful American Bakery marketing campaign again in 2016.

Now in its third year, the company developed the programme to support high street bakers with inspirational recipe ideas that relate to the companys American heritage.

In previous years the bakery ingredients manufacturer, which has its UK base in Evesham, Worcestershire, took bakers on virtual American road trip with the chance to win a trip to New York and it developed The Great Bakes of the States Adventure in 2015, supported by virtual blogger Dan Jackson.

This year, the company will be looking to the future and to the past thanks to an exclusive link-up with food historian Seren Evans-Charrington and futurologist Dr Morgaine Gaye. During its American Bakery campaign Dawn will highlight some historic recipes - along with how they can develop in the future.

Inspiration: Dawn will be using its experts to look at American classic bakes

Jacqui Passmore, Dawn Foods marketing manager UK and Ireland, said: The Dawn Foods American Bakery campaign has been highly successful in helping us to engage with high street bakers by creating excitement and inspiration that American sweet bakery products present.

We want to further our campaign with fascinating histories of our products, exciting recipes and insights into future trends.

Evans-Charrington added: I just love the history of food. Many of the sweet bakery favourites we all know and love have interesting stories to tell and some have come a long way to become what we think of as American classics.

Dr Gaye said she thought the bakery was fast moving and exciting and added: I am working with Dawn Foods to seek out and predict trends (not fads) and revolutions for the coming years to bring you valuable insights into how the market is changing.

To find out more on the campaign see www.dawnbakery.co.uk
Craft bakers have reported a strong Christmas trading period as it was revealed that sales of cake, pudding and confectionary surged by 8.3% in supermarkets.

IRI, the market research company, said sales of cakes and puddings in the supermarket chains reached 46.9m. Confectionery was up 8.8%  the biggest sales surges of all the food categories.

Waitrose said its gross sales (excluding fuel) were 859.8m, up 1.2% compared with last year, but down 1.4% on a like-for-like (LFL) basis. Marks & Spencer said its Christmas food sales rose by 17% on the same period in 2014.

As yet, none of the other supermarket chains has updated the market on their festive food sales.

positive festive period

A British Baker round-up from craft bakers also revealed they experienced a positive festive period in 2015.

Dunns of Crouch End, north London, said that its bestselling product was without a doubt its mince pies, with sales incredibly high, buoyant in fact. The bakery added overall sales were good, as the company had expected.

E5 Bakehouse in East London said that it could not pin-point one product in particular that sold well, but breads and cakes both did very well across the board. The bakery added it had been busier at Christmas than at any other time of the year.

JG Ross in north east Scotland saw its traditional breakfast buttery (a cross between a roll and a croissant) do very well. Production director Cameron Ross said that in general sales had been good despite starting their Christmas baking a week later than normal.

Stuarts of Buckhaven in Fife, Scotland also said it had experienced very good Christmas sales. In terms of quantity, their rolls sold the best over the festive period, but the product that made them the most money was steak pies, the company added.

Mince pies were the best seller at Dorringtons Bakery in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire. The business said sales were better than last year but it added that festive turnover was variable depending on the day that Christmas days falls.
CASPER  The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation has reopened a suspicious death case from nearly 15 years ago involving a Mills man found unconscious in a skating rink parking lot.

27-year-old Danny Moser had a traumatic head injury when he was found by police in the parking lot in October 2001. He died days later as a result of his injuries.

At the time, investigators believed he may have been struck by a car. An initial investigation showed Moser had been at a bar before he was found at the skating rink.

The Mills Police Department had asked the state to investigate the case in light of new information, which has not yet been released.
CASPER A Mills woman has acknowledged embezzling thousands of dollars from the Wyoming Fiddlers' Association.

Casey Whiteman pleaded guilty Thursday to one felony count of taking more than $10,000 from the group, for which she worked as treasurer for nearly a year. She was ordered to pay $10,400 in restitution, which she paid in December.

Prosecutors say Whiteman was hired as treasurer in September 2014 and started stealing money about a month later, after she was granted authorization to sign checks for the association.

Investigators say she told them she used the stolen money to pay bills, including rent, for child care, groceries and medical care.
WASHINGTON  A North Dakota man was arrested Wednesday by U.S. Secret Service agents in the nations capital for plotting to kidnap the Obama familys pet dogs, the Washington Post reported Friday morning.

Scott D. Stockert, 49, of Dickinson, allegedly had a cache of weapons and ammunition in his vehicle and, according to the Posts story, made a series of outlandish claims, including that he was Jesus Christ, the son of John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, that he planned to run for president, and that he was in Washington to kidnap Bo and Sunny, President Barack Obamas two Portuguese water dogs.

Stockert reportedly drove his pickup from North Dakota to Washington and was found Wednesday at a Hampton Inn in the District of Columbia, where agents confronted him and found a 12-gauge pump shotgun and a bolt-action .22-caliber rifle, according to the Post. Stockert was not registered to own a gun and was arrested.

More than 350 rounds of ammunition, a billy club and a machete with a 12-inch blade were discovered in the pickup, according to the story.

At a preliminary hearing Friday, a D.C. Superior Court judge ordered Stockert released into high-intensity supervision program pending a court date to be set later, the Post reported.

The Secret Services Minnesota Field Office first learned of Stockerts intentions, according to the story. Sgt. Dave Wallace of the Dickinson Police Department said in an interview they too had been informed by other agencies to be on the lookout for Stockert.

A public affairs officer from the U.S. Secret Service issued a release Friday, stating this incident highlights the importance of our network of Field Offices throughout the United States in the performance of our Protective Intelligence mission and the coordination with our State and Local law enforcement partners.

The statement continued: Identifying and apprehending suspects who make threats toward our protectees, is often a coordinated effort between multiple jurisdictions in real time. The Secret Service stands ready to continue our mission for those we protect and the American people.

Stockert has a history of mental health and criminal issues.

In December 2009, he had an hourlong standoff with Dickinson police and allegedly pointed a loaded gun at then-Sgt. David Wilkie after reports of domestic violence. Wilkie is now a Dickinson police captain.

He pleaded not guilty to felony reckless endangerment and acted as his own attorney before eventually undergoing a mental health evaluation.

In June 2010, Stockert was found incompetent to stand trial but the Southwest District Court found him competent to enter a plea agreement, which dropped his charge to a misdemeanor and put him on supervised probation for two years. He had a one-year prison sentence suspended.
WASHINGTON  The Donald Trump phenomenon ranks as the great political story of 2015 (and maybe 2016) but could it simply be a subplot of a bigger story: what commentator David Frum, once a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, calls the Republican party's "internal class war"? Yes, argues Frum. His thesis is laid out in engrossing detail in the January/February issue of The Atlantic, where he is a senior editor. I don't usually recommend other journalists' work, but Frum's provocative analysis is definitely worth a look (available at http://tinyurl.com/go22fnj).

Briefly, his argument goes like this:

Republicans have traditionally run on what he calls Conservatism Classic: "tax cuts, budget cuts, deregulation [and] free trade." This was the essence of Mitt Romney's agenda, and it's what the party's wealthy donors expected of the 2016 campaign. The trouble is that this pro-business platform is rejected by much of the party's voter base, who support "entitlement" spending (read: Social Security and Medicare), favor higher taxes on the rich and fear free trade.

To corroborate this, Frum cites a Gallup poll finding that many Republicans (nearly 30 percent) advocate "heavy" taxes on the wealthy. By contrast, only 21 percent endorse cuts in Medicare and fewer still, 17 percent, support reducing Social Security.

Party elite vs. Trump

There is an economic and social chasm between these Republicans and the party's traditional elite, says Frum. The elite reads The Wall Street Journal, and many make huge campaign contributions. A case in point: In the second quarter of 2015, about four-fifths of the money donated to Jeb Bush's super PAC came in gifts exceeding $25,000; a quarter were $1 million or more. Meanwhile, Trump's backers are decidedly skewed toward the lower middle class. Writes Frum:

"Half of Trump's supporters within the GOP had stopped their education at or before high-school graduation, according to the polling firm YouGov. Only 19 percent had a college or post-college degree [the U.S. average: 29 percent among adults 25 years and older]. Thirty-eight percent earned less than $50,000. ... Trump Republicans were not ideologically militant. Just 13 percent said they were very conservative. ... What set them apart from other Republicans was their economic insecurity and the intensity of their economic nationalism."

Trying to force-feed this group a giant helping of Conservatism Classic (say, in the person of Jeb Bush) produced political regurgitation. Particularly indigestible was any support for legalizing the status of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants  people whom many Trump backers regard as cheats, criminals or competitors for jobs and government benefits. Both Bush and Marco Rubio have backed some form of legalization, which many GOP leaders regard as necessary to build support in the rapidly growing Hispanic population.

So there is a deep schism among Republicans. One defect of Frum's account is that he attributes loyalty to Conservatism Classic to only a small number of wealthy donors. The reality is that these views reflect the attitudes of millions of traditional "mainstream" Republicans. There is a genuine clash of values and policies. Trump's political genius was to recognize, either consciously or intuitively, that he could succeed politically without aping traditional Republican positions.

Question of survival

The larger story is not Trump but the question of whether the Republican Party can survive this civil war. It is certainly true that, for decades, both the Democratic and Republican parties have overcome deep conflicts and contradictions among their various supporters. Democrats once harbored both liberals and segregationists; Republicans have long been splintered between economic and social conservatives. The quest for power has bred political pragmatism.

The result is a strong and durable two-party tradition. People cling to what's familiar. Party identification often reflects the lesser evil more than the greater good. Doubts about one party are swamped by dislike of the other. Inertia is a powerful force in politics as in life. History suggests more of the same, but it is not a foregone conclusion. The Republican Party's fate hangs in the balance.
Tampa City Council members are considering an ordinance that would change where some sexual predators live within the city.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, there are more than 800 sexual offenders living in Tampa. Many of them are clustered in one area: V.M Ybor off Nebraska Avenue.

Many of them live crowded in rooming houses, where police make regular visits to make sure the offenders are in compliance.

At Thursday's City Council meeting, residents expressed their frustration about it.

"I have 75 predatory people living within a quarter-mile of my house," resident Kelly Grimsdale said.

For example, one address in V.M. Ybor showed 147 sexual predators within a one-mile radius, while an address in Hyde Park showed only 11.

"It's unfair to focus all the concentration of one group of people in one area," resident Lean Green said. "That is just not fair."

There are statewide restrictions placed on where predators can live, making alternatives difficult to find. But after hearing public comment, council members decided to try.

"The fact of the matter is, it is not just unfair that it's concentrated," council member Harry Cohen said. "It is not smart that all these people are concentrated in one place."

Council members asked the city attorney to look into an ordinance that would prevent the heavy concentration of sexual predators within the city limits.

Currently, there is an ordinance in Hillsborough County, but city leaders said it is not being enforced anywhere within the county.

City council members will discuss the issue further next month.


The Polk County Sheriff's Office is looking for three suspects and a white van in connection with shootings that left three people dead and a fourth critically injured.

Deputies say surveillance video from a local business caught a white commercial van leaving the scene of the shooting, which happened Thursday morning at 2314 East Magnolia Dr. in Lakeland. The van is a Ford Transit Connect.

Deputies are also looking for three black men with Caribbean accents who may be from the Miami area. Sheriff Grady Judd said they are armed and dangerous.

"It's real simple," Judd said. "They were hired to take care of what they perceived as a problem here so they murdered these people. Don't think for a second they won't murder other people."

Judd said he still needs the community's help to capture the suspects who shot and killed David Washington, Eneida Branch and Angelica Castro. Felix Campos, who was shot in the face, is still recovering in the hospital.

Anyone with information about the events leading up to the shooting, or anyone who may have information about activity in the area at the time of the shooting, is asked to call the sheriff's office at 863-298-6200.

To remain anonymous and be eligible for a cash reward, call Heartland Crime Stoppers at 1-800-226-TIPS or visit heartlandcrimestoppers.com.


A simple project started by a 13-year-old Zephyrhills boy has turned into a mission to help the city and the local police department.

Austin Hulbert is a 7th grader in the Florida Virtual School. He was recently assigned a civics project.

It was just to do something for the community, and it turned into me wanting to do something for the Zephyrhills Police Department, he said.

When he visited the Zephyrhills Police Department he found it was in need of a new K9, so Hulbert decided to take on the expensive challenge. K9s can cost around $10,000.

Hes calling it Project 1024, police code for need of assistance.

I am going around to different businesses to collect money to raise towards the K9, Austin said to a business owner.

Its something that has touched the department.

This was very big especially coming from Austin being a 7th grader, said Chief David Shears.

The city even accepted his idea for a proclamation to make Oct. 24 a day to recognize and support the department. Mayor Gene Whitfield presented it to Austin on Friday.

Seems like when it started out it was such a small thing, but it seems like its a lot bigger now, he said.

Austin says he hopes to raise enough money by the end of this summer.

Donations can be made payable to:

ATTN: Project 1024

City of Zephyrhills

5335 8th Street, Zephyrhills, FL, 33542
Federal wildlife officials are proposing relisting Florida's iconic manatees as a "threatened" species, a less dire classification than "endangered."

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said Thursday that the manatee population has recovered enough that the species no longer meets the definition of "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act.

Florida's manatee population has grown from several hundred in 1967 to more than 6,300 counted last year in an annual statewide survey.

A listing as a "threatened" species would allow some flexibility for federal officials but maintain most of the protections afforded to animals listed as endangered. U.S. Fish and Widlife also says that current manatee protection measures will remain in place, including the manatee protection zones throughout Florida and enforcing boating speeds.

The manatees also enjoy protection under the Marin Mammal Protection Act.



The public would have 90 days to comment to comment on this proposal.

Officials are looking for information that could influence whether the Fish and Wildlife Service proceeds with delisting the manatees or leaves them on the endangered species list. You can find specific information, along with details on how to comment, on the Fish and Wildlife Service website.



The public is also invited to attend a hearing next month in Orlando on the manatees.
This weeks standoff in eastern Oregon brings back bad memories for Montanans. Once again, some folks have decided that they are above the law, armed themselves and demanded that the government give them what they want  even though it would be against the law.

Back in 1993-94, a dozen or so Freemen in Garfield and Musselshell counties flooded local courts and county offices with bogus claims, appointed themselves justices and issued arrest warrants, offered a bounty for detention of elected local officials and threatened federal officers. Some of their group tried to buy $1.4 million in guns with a money order that bounced. One civilian negotiator gave up after four days, saying the Freemen had taken an oath to God not to give up until their demands were met. The FBI ended the 81-day standoff on the foreclosed ranch near Jordan with arrests, but nobody got shot.

In the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge of Oregon this week, about 20 people were camped in the main refuge building in the cold, high desert after marching through Burns, Ore., to demand amnesty for two ranchers convicted of deliberately burning federal grazing land. The ranchers, a father and son, distanced themselves from the marchers, and showed up to serve their court-ordered sentences on Monday. The Portland Oregonian has reported that they are seeking clemency from President Obama.

Unlawful demands

Yet on Tuesday, Ammon Bundy, the leader of the small, armed occupation, said he will go home when a plan is in place to turn over management of federal lands to locals. Bundy has called for the 187,000-acre refuge to be divided up among local residents. The Oregonian has reported that this federal tract brings significant money into the community as it is. According to the Oregonian, members of Bundys group are armed and have said they'll defend themselves if "attacked" by law enforcement.

The Associated Press quoted Bundy saying: It is our goal to get the logger back to logging, the rancher back to ranching.

But Bundy, son of the rancher who organized an armed standoff in Nevada rather than pay standard federal grazing fees, isnt a local. He traveled from Arizona where he has a small business financed with a U.S. Small Business Administration loan, a wife and six children. He is not getting anybody back to work, hes disrupting lives in at least two, small Oregon communities where schools and other public buildings were closed this week as a precaution against possible violence.

Keep public lands open

Gazette readers know that the editorial board has defended the publics right to access public land. The idea that certain individuals or even states are entitled to own federal lands would deprive all other Americans of property that is their birthright.

Whether its Freemen setting up Justus township in Montana, or other armed, anti-government activists holed up in an Oregon wildlife refuge headquarters, this isnt the way government of the people works. U.S. citizens elect (and reject) representatives at the ballot box. We participate lawfully in government to make it responsive to our needs. The United States has prevailed for 240 years because the rule of law is respected. In todays plugged-in world, its easy to find states without rule of law embroiled in anarchy and war.

Cliven Bundy has said he doesnt know why his son is in Oregon, telling Oregon Public Radio: "I think of it this way, what business does the Bundy family have in Harney County, Oregon?"

The younger Bundy and companions should go home before somebody gets hurt. The public servants who staff the wildlife refuge and the residents of Burns, Ore., deserve to be left in peace.
The Crow Tribe will be furloughing some employees because of a revenue shortage from coal sales, Chairman Darrin Old Coyote said Friday.

The furloughs are expected to affect about 25 percent, or an estimated 100 employees, of the 400 employees funded through the tribes general fund budget, Old Coyote said.

The chairman also responded on Friday to reports that the tribe had been notified in early 2014 by its former accountant of serious financial problems and that it had misappropriated $2.5 million in federal money intended for a transit building that never got built.

The actual number of furloughs will be determined on Monday after cabinet and department heads review their programs and budgets and make recommendations, Old Coyote said in an interview.

Some employees may have their hours trimmed, but essential services like law enforcement and water treatment will remain the same, Old Coyote said.

General fund programs, including land services, the historic preservation office and social services, are likely to have budgets cut and staffers furloughed, he continued.

Furloughed employees will be called back when the general fund recovers, he said. Furloughed employees also will be able to receive unemployment.

The chairman announced the furloughs on Thursday during a New Year Welcome Back Employee Party held at the tribes multi-purpose building at Crow Agency. The tribe also posted the information on its Facebook page.

I think people understood, Old Coyote said.

Many of the employees relatives work at the coal mine and also have been furloughed, he said.

The tribe, which has about 13,000 enrolled members, is the biggest employer on the reservation. The tribe employs a total of about 900 people, including those with state and federal funding, and had a high of about 1,100 employees with summer seasonal jobs, Old Coyote said.

The tribes general fund budget is largely dependent on revenue from the sale of its coal to Westmoreland Coal Co., which mines coal on the reservation south of Hardin, he said. Westmoreland has had a reduction in coal sales, which affects tribal revenues, he added.

Its kind of a trickle-down effect to the tribe, he added.

Old Coyote blamed the furloughs on President Barack Obama, saying reduced revenues are being caused by Obamas War on Coal.

Obama, he said, is trying to cut the usage of fossil fuels, including coal. Our bread and butter is coal. A war on coal is a war on Crow families, he said.

Old Coyote, who was named this week to Montana Gov. Steve Bullocks Interim Clean Power Plan Advisory Council to help the state address new federal regulations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, said hes spoken with the president about working on new technology for using coal but that it kind of fell on deaf ears.

Projected coal revenues for the general fund are significantly less than initially budgeted, forcing the tribe to have to cut about $2 million, Old Coyote said.

Februarys coal revenue was budgeted at $2.9 million but is expected to be about $1.6 million, he said. No revenue is expected for March. And Mays projected revenue of about $3 million also is expected to be reduced to about half the amount, he said.

The federal and state dollars, theyre going to be just fine, Old Coyote said.

The tribe also is expecting revenues from other sources, but that money will not come in time to prevent furloughs, he continued.

Some of that revenue will come with the approval of a renewal of pipeline right of way agreement that expired in 2010 and from a coal tax credit, the chairman said.

Old Coyote also responded to reports of financial problems prior to the recent reduction in coal revenues.

The tribe, he said, is working with the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to resolve the misappropriation of $2.5 million the tribe received in 2012 to construct a transit building.

An investigation by the Department of Interiors Office of Inspector General found that the tribe misappropriated money that the BIAs Transportation Branch provided for a transit building on the reservation.

In a semi-annual report to Congress in October, the OIG said its investigation confirmed information that the tribe reallocated $2,564,045 from the Highway Planning and Construction Program to its general fund.

OIG officials met with the acting BIA regional director in July to advise him of its findings. After the meeting, the BIA billed the tribe to recover the misappropriated money, the report said.

The tribe appealed the collection in September to the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals in Washington, D.C.

Old Coyote said the tribe appealed to stop the collection process and has been negotiating with the BIA. The tribe does not want to repay the money, he said. Rather, the tribe wants to construct the building with money it expects to receive as its share from a $940 million nationwide settlement reached last September with tribes and the federal government.

The settlement is expected to resolve a 25-year dispute related to contract support costs for tribal agencies. The settlement addresses claims that the United States contracted with tribes to run programs but did not pay the full amounts required by law, the Department of Justice said in an earlier news release.

The Crow Tribes share of the settlement is about $3 million, Old Coyote said.

The chairman said he didnt know where the transit building money went and that it was awarded to the tribe shortly before he took office in December 2012.

That was reallocated before I even got in, he said.

The BIA is working on a response to requests from The Gazette for information about the transit building misappropriation.

Old Coyote also said the tribe has not had ongoing financial problems and that it has been paying down liabilities from the previous administration and past debts.

He pointed to a 2013 coal lease agreement with Cloud Peak Energy, which owns the Spring Creek Mine near the reservation, in which the company paid $3.75 million to the tribe in the short term, with a potential $10 million to follow.

And, Old Coyote said, a 20-year extension in 2013 of the Westmoreland lease means millions of dollars to the tribe.
If you cant come up with a decent gift for your friends and family, please dont resort to a gift card. Nobody wants a gift card.

A Vox analysis of Google Trends showed the one item in each state that people wanted to return. The most common search: How to return gift cards. More specifically, iTunes gift cards.
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An air of heaviness and confusion appeared to cloak terror suspect Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan as he was escorted into a Houston federal courtroom on Friday morning to hear the three charges against him.

The 24-year-old Houstonian is accused of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, providing false information to obtain citizenship and making false statements to U.S. officials. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy read the charges against him and he interacted with her via an interpreter.

Al Hardan appeared in court in a rumpled black and gray long-sleeved plaid shirt with khaki pants and glasses.

Prosecutors asked for him to be detained pending trial and the judge ordered a detention hearing on Wednesday.

More for you Feds arrest Sacramento refugee on terrorism charge

Milloy also appointed David Adler to represent Al Hardan.

Al Hardan was one of two people arrested Thursday as part of federal investigations into alleged terrorist plans. The other man, from Sacramento, Calif., was identified as Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab.

Al-Jayab was charged with making a false statement involving international terrorism. The 23-year-old allegedly "traveled overseas to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lied to U.S. authorities about his activities," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin in a statement. He was scheduled to appear in a California courtroom Friday morning.

According to the indictment, Al Hardan is an Iraqi refugee of Palestinian heritage who entered the United States in 2009 the month before he turned 18. He was granted legal permanent resident status in 2011.

During the hearing, more details emerged about the defendant. He told the judge he is married with one child and lives in a Harris County apartment.

Through an interpreter, Al Hardan said he made it to the 11th grade in Jordan and can read and write English "a little bit, but not much." He said he earns about $1,800 a month from three incomes sources and has about $1,700 in the bank.

When the judge ordered him to pay $700 toward his legal representation and leave another $1,000 for his wife's living expenses, Al Hardan said the money was for his parents to acquire an apartment.

She explained that he was required to pay and Al Hardan said he would comply.

Milloy said the terrorism charge carries up to 20 years in prison, the false citizenship information up to 25 years and the false statement as long as eight years.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ralph Imperato, who was joined by a trial attorney from the Justice Department's counterterrorism section, asked for the defendant to be detained as a danger to the community and a flight risk. Al Hardan will remain in custody until a determination on bail can be made during a detention hearing next week.

U.S. Attorney Ken Magidson of the Southern District of Texas said Al Hardan was arrested Thursday at a Homeland Security office, but would not confirm whether the defendant was there voluntarily.

In an impromptu briefing with reporters after the hearing, Magidson declined to provide many details about Al Hardan's background or alleged efforts related to terrorism beyond the indictment, including whether the accused activity was an individual effort or linked to others  namely the Sacramento resident, Al-Jayab. The U.S. attorney also would not say if there were any other local people connected to similar allegations.

Magidson said the defendant had been trained to use an automatic weapon but that the Houston community was never in danger.

"It could happen in any city in the United States  anywhere in the world," the prosecutor said. "We're trying to be attentive to all the needs to ensure the public safety at all times."

Magidson did expound of the severity of the allegation about providing false information to obtain citizenship, but would not discuss when and where Al Hardan is accused of lying.

"We consider applications for citizenship to be very serious matters. When people come into to this country and apply for citizenship, we expect honest answers from them," the U.S. attorney said. "If he's convicted and he's not a citizen of the United States, steps will be taken to deport him."

Magidson also declined to discuss statements from Gov. Greg Abbott and other elected officials who said the arrests confirm the concerns of Texas officials about an influx of Mideast refugees into Texas who have not been properly vetted.

"I'm not going to go into whatever anybody else said," he said. "My responsibility as the United States attorney is to ensure that the interests of the United States are followed. We ensure that people that are charged with federal crimes are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. That's where my focus is and will always be. I'm a career prosecutor. Politicians and American citizens are free to say whatever they want."

On Thursday, the governor and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued statements continuing to criticize the resettlement of refugees.

"This is precisely why I called for a halt to refugees entering the U.S. from countries substantially controlled by terrorists," Abbott said in a statement. "I once again urge the president to halt the resettlement of these refugees in the United States until there is an effective vetting process that will ensure refugees do not compromise the safety of Americans and Texans."

Patrick echoed that sentiment.

"Based on the facts, as we know them, today's action (the arrests) may have prevented a catastrophic terror-related event in the making and saved countless lives," Patrick said. "This is exactly what we have repeatedly told the Obama administration could happen and why we do not want refugees coming to Texas. There are serious questions about who these people really are, as evidenced by (Thursday's) events."

Multi-agency investigation

According to the six-page indictment, Al Hardan was born in Iraq on Christmas Day, 1991, and entered the U.S. as a refugee around Nov. 2, 2009. He was granted permanent resident status about Aug. 22, 2011.

The indictment states that almost three years later, around May 2014, he "did unlawfully and knowingly attempt to provide material support and resources ... training, expert advice and assistance, to a foreign terrorist organization, namely the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... knowing that the organization is a designated foreign terrorist organization and knowing that ISIL engages in, and has engaged in terrorist activity and terrorism."

Read the full indictment below.

When applying for citizenship in August 2014, the indictment alleges that Al Hardan "represented that he was not in any way associated (either directly or indirectly) with a terrorist organization, whereas in truth, the defendant knew he associated...with a terrorist organization."

Then late last October, he allegedly covered up this association when he "participated in an interview" with Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations. When he was questioned about his application for naturalization, Al Hardan indicated "he had never received any type of weapons training" when in truth he had been trained "on an automatic machine gun," according to the indictment

The charge of attempting to provide material support to terrorists carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. The charge of false citizenship procurement has a maximum sentence of 25 years and the charge of making false statements carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison.

The charges are the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and Homeland Security with the assistance of the Houston Police Department.

In the Sacramento case, Al-Jayab "allegedly traveled overseas to fight alongside terrorist organizations and concealed that conduct from immigration authorities," said Benjamin Wagner, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, in a statement.

Wagner added that while Al-Jayab "represented a potential safety threat, there is no indication that he planned any acts of terrorism in this country."

Read the full indictment below.

The release noted that an ongoing investigation is being conducted.

'No current threat'

Angela Dodge, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston, confirmed the Houston arrest in a statement and said additional information would be made public when Al Hardan makes an initial court appearance.

"I can confirm that there was a national security-related arrest (Thursday)," she said. "There is no current threat to public safety associated with this arrest." Details of the arrest were not immediately disclosed.

In California, the Sacramento Bee reported that an unusual closed-door hearing was underway late Thursday afternoon, reportedly involving the case.

California Gov. Jerry Brown's office did not disclose whether officials in California had been briefed, the Bee said.

San Bernardino in Southern California is the site of the latest and deadliest terror attack -- the slayings of workers last month by two ISIS supporters -- since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Islamic State has emerged as a major threat in recent years. Last May, U.S. Rep. David Brat, R-Virginia, contended that ISIS had established a base in Texas -- an assertion that was quickly denied by state officials and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Texas officials have warned for years that any possible terrorism activity in Texas was being closely watched.

Federal officials said a separate arrest in Milwaukee that grew out of the Sacramento investigation is not related to national security.

Staff writer Mike Glenn contributed to this report.
Back in 2009, a Polson man named Paul Wencewicz created an invitation-only online bulletin board where members advertised and traded sexually explicit images of young girls.

He called it Kingdom of Future Dreams, and housed the physical server on the remote Isle of Jersey, one of the United Kingdom's Channel Islands.

On it were thousands of pictures of girls as young as 4 years old posing with sex toys  one with the word "slut" and "hurt me" written in red on a girl's abdomen with a knife in the picture.

After a tip in 2011, FBI agents and officers from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force obtained a search warrant for Wencewicz's house, and through their investigation identified dozens of other suspects and the existence of a second bulletin board called the Dark Moon.

Agents were able to crack Wencewicz's highly complex encryption in 2013.

On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Montana announced the conclusion of a multi-agency, multi-year international investigation of the two bulletin boards involving the exploitation of hundreds of children. The stings that brought down the child porn rings were called Operation Kingdom Conqueror and Operation Moon Runner.

The investigation resulted in the conviction of 21 defendants  all men ranging in age from 25 to 67 Montana's U.S. attorney announces convictions of 21 men in child porn ring across the United States.

The last of the defendants, 31-year-old Shawnston Beaudoin of Kennesaw, Ga., was sentenced Thursday to 17 years and six months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, with lifetime supervised release.

Wencewicz, 49, received a sentence of 18 years and four months in the Bureau of Prisons, with lifetime supervised release. He must also pay $29,859 in restitution.

The sentences of the other defendants ranged from 15 years to 18 years and four months, and all include supervised release.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Michael Cotter said the investigation involved more than 100 local, state and federal agents operating on two continents, and the execution of 60 search warrants.

"Between 2009 and 2012, Wencewicz and other members of the conspiracy sexually exploited hundreds of little girls around the world and the U.S. by trading appalling and revolting images and videos of them while expressing perverse sexual glee while looking at them," Cotter said. "Agents were able to identify the locations of some of the most egregious members and the task force agents executed search warrants on these targets."

Cotter said the Dark Moon bulletin board had data anonymization and encryption to conceal the members' locations, and administrators configured it to purge the IP addresses of members.

"These men are dangerous," Cotter said. "Some had images of girls even younger than 4. Their sexual perversions are horrific."

One defendant, 49-year-old Tony Gustafson of Hastings, Nebraska, had sadistic images in his collection that included the image of the girl with the words written on her abdomen. He was sentenced 16 years and eight months in prison. Many of the images showed children being abused with foreign objects, Cotter said.

"Some of the posts and comments the members would make on the board were equally as depraved," he said. "Some of the defendants had also committed prior hands-on offenses against children."

Steven Grovo, 35, of Shirly, Mass., previously assaulted a 12-year-old girl. He also told investigators he abused a 4-year-old child.

Ian Nosek, 44, of Charlottesville, Va., had a history of taking pictures of the pubic area of girls in swimming pools, which he would then post.

Beaudoin admitted to producing child pornography and previously assaulting girls.

"These operations were a cooperative effort between the the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation, the Helena Police Department, Homeland Security Investigation and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force," Cotter said. "It's our duty to protect children with the coalition of team players we have in this room, and we will continue to do so. This was a remarkable piece of work to bring the men to justice who have exploited these young children."

He specifically pointed out Jimmy Weg, a Helena-based computer forensics expert, for his crucial help with the case.

Maureen Cain of the U.S. Department of Justice said investigators are still working to determine their identities of the victims, which at this time are unknown. The people who made the pictures also have not been identified.

And, she said, there is still an investigation into who created the Dark Moon bulletin board.

"Today's sentencing closes a chapter in the continuing fight to bring justice to those who prey upon our children," said Eric Barnhart, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City Field Office. "The 21 men convicted for their roles in the Kingdom of Future Dreams and the Dark Moon bulletin boards traded on the misery of children. Children that were subjected to horrific sexual and emotional abuse. Each time these men distributed those photos or videos, those victims were re-victimized.

"Those of us who have looked into the eyes of these victims can see the light that shines so brightly in so many kids shines less brightly in theirs. Some things are stolen from these children, and men like these 21 are the ones that do it. But it's a testament to how much we value our children that when the worst happens to them, it brings out the best in law enforcement. It was a fantastic effort, both domestic and abroad. All previous rivalries and jurisdictions and past grievances were swept aside. It is a fantastic outcome. The battle will continue. I'd like to say that the war is won, but unfortunately there is more out there."

In addition to Beaudoin and Wencewicz, the men who were convicted of conspiracy to advertise child pornography are:

 Scott Long, 55, of Portland, Ore., was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Steve Humiston, 58, of Tacoma, Wash., was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and $29,859 in restitution.

 Phillip Morris, 43, of Jeffersonville, Ind., was sentenced to 18 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Tony Bronson, 55, of Gary, Ind., was sentenced to 18 years and eight months in prison and 10 years supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Jeffrey Woolley, 55, of Nicholasville, Ky., was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Charles Crosby, 45, of Trenton, N.J., was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 John Johnson, 59, of Locust Grove, Va., was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Joseph Purificato, 25, of Mount Vernon, Mo., was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Nosek was sentenced to 18 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Robert Krise, 67, of Gaithersburg, Md., was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 John Merchberger III, 48, of Dayton, Maine, was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

 Daniel Brown, 27, of Taylors, S.C., was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lifetime supervised release.

 Marc Edoria, 24, of Sacramento, Calif., was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years supervised release.

 Gustafson, 49, of Hastings, Neb., was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison and lifetime supervised release.

 Ryan Hatfield, 26, of Mount Washington, Ky., was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years supervised release.

 David Woods, 37, of Corfu, N.Y., was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 15 years supervised release.

The following defendants were convicted at trial of participating in a child exploitation enterprise and conspiracy to advertise child pornography:

 Joshua Petersen, 45, of Prescott, Ariz., was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 restitution.

 Grovo was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison and lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,859 in restitution.

 Richard Pitts, 28, of Cathedral City, Calif., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute child pornography and was sentenced to seven years in prison and 15 years of supervised release.
EnteroMedics has made a number of changes in its leadership structure and senior level appointments.

Here are five points:

1. Paul Hickey has been named senior vice president of marketing and reimbursement. He most recently served as CEO of Pantheon Spinal.

2. Nick Ansari is the new senior vice president of sales. He was previously the owner of an independent distributor for Biomet products.

3. Peter Delange was appointed senior vice president of operations and business development. He was most recently the owner and president of Devicex, a medical devices engineering development company.

4. Greg Lea, CFO and COO, has been named CFO and chief compliance officer.

5. Brad Hancock, who was chief commercial officer, will step down from his position to pursue other opportunities.
Here are six gastroenterologists who recently made headlines.

SonarMD, a web-based application designed to allow physicians to monitor Crohn's disease patients' health status between in-person visits founded by Lawrence Kosinski, MD, MBA, formed a partnership with Digestive Healthcare Center of New Jersey in Hillsborough Township.

Daniel Paulo, Sr., MD, a gastroenterologist in Staten Island, N.Y., died at his Great Neck, N.Y., home.

Medical University of South Carolina's College of Medicine in Charleston names Raymond N. DuBois, MD, PhD, dean.

Gastroenterologist Andrew Chan, MB ChB, MRCP (UK), FRCP(C), was found dead in his home.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Lebanon, N.H., elected Timothy Scherer, MD, to its board of trustees.

Grand Forks, N.D.-based Altru Health System added gastroenterologist Howard Hack, MD, to its physician team.
An Illinois appellate court has ruled that part of a law that allows nonprofit hospitals to avoid paying millions of dollars in property taxes is unconstitutional, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The decision not only reopened a statewide dispute, but it is also a blow to nonprofit hospitals across the nation, which have faced scrutiny over their tax exemptions in recent years.

Although the court ruling has created uncertainty, the 2012 Illinois law at the center of the case was meant to provide clarity regarding nonprofit hospital exemptions.

In 2010, the Illinois Supreme Court weighed in on the issue and handed down a decision that suggested nonprofit hospitals in the state that behave like businesses should not qualify for tax exemptions. Subsequently, the Illinois Department of Revenue denied tax exemptions to three hospitals, according to the report.

Illinois hospitals were issued a win in 2012 when state lawmakers passed legislation that simply required a nonprofit hospital's charitable services to exceed its property tax liability to qualify for tax exemptions.

However, the tax exemptions were once again brought into question on Tuesday when the Illinois 4th District Appellate Court ruled the 2012 law is unconstitutional. The ruling was issued in a case brought by Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Ill., against the city of Urbana and other local taxing districts. Carle Foundation was seeking relief from taxes for 2004-2011.

The appellate court held that the Illinois Constitution only allows lawmakers to exempt property "used exclusively" for "charitable purposes," according to the report.

The case will likely be appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, but action may be needed before the state high court weighs in on the issue.

Laurence Msall of the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan government research group, told the Chicago Tribune, "The legislature could wait (until the Supreme Court rules), but issues will continue to mount. The Illinois Department of Revenue needs some direction from both the legislature and the (Gov. Rauner) administration on how to handle pending applications."

There are several hospitals with pending applications for tax exemptions before the revenue department, including Swedish Covenant Hospital and Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, both based in Chicago.

Illinois is not the only state where nonprofit hospitals' tax exemptions have come under fire. Last year, Morristown (N.J.) Medical Center agreed to pay $26 million to settle a dispute over its tax exemption.

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Claxton, Ga.-based Evans Memorial Hospital ended a management agreement with Sandy, Utah-based ER Hospitals to resume operating the hospital locally, according to a report from The Claxton Enterprise.

"The atmosphere at the hospital is positive and we look forward to continuing to serve the residents of this county," Evans Memorial COO Nikki NeSmith told The Claxton Enterprise. "We are working very diligently on transitioning to local leadership and can hopefully offer additional information at a later time."

The Hospital Authority of Evans County and the hospital board will resume management of the facility after a year hiatus with ERH management, according to the report.

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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends against prostate-specific antigen tests because they generally harm more patients than they help by leading to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of cancers that were not likely to be deadly.

However, even knowing this, two physicians, H. Gilbert Welch, MD, professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute in Lebanon, N.H., and Peter Albertsen, MD, professor of surgery and chief of urology at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, staunchly believe Medicare should not penalize physicians for ordering such tests, according to their Op-Ed in The New York Times.

They gave three reasons. The first is that physicians do not need another performance measure. The second is that they feel it's wrong to reward physicians for not offering the option to screen for cancers. The third is it promotes the idea that the main concern about over-screening is costs, which they say is not the case. The issues, Drs. Welch and Albertsen wrote, would still be the same.

They said physicians should not be punished for screening, but the tests should not be free for the patient. The cost should help patients more carefully choose if screening is right for them. Instead, Drs. Welch and Albertsen wrote, physicians should be rewarded and penalized based on the time spent discussing trade-offs with patients.

Read the full Op-Ed here.

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Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems is delaying the launch of Quorum Health Corp.  a spinoff that includes 38 hospitals and Quorum Health Resources, a hospital management, advisory and consulting business.

CHS announced plans in August to create QHC, a move intended to strengthen CHS' focus on larger markets. CHS originally planned for QHC to be independent by the end of March, but CHS pushed that date back on Thursday.

Although there has been a delay in the deal, CHS expects the transaction to be completed before June. The for-profit hospital network said there were several reasons the closing date was pushed back, including market conditions.

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From a Mississippi hospital agreeing to pay $156 million to settle pension fraud lawsuits to three Connecticut hospitals joining the legal battle over the two-midnight rule, here are the latest healthcare industry lawsuits and settlements making headlines.

1. Hospital tax exemptions under fire in Illinois

An Illinois appellate court ruled that part of a law that allows nonprofit hospitals to avoid paying millions of dollars in property taxes is unconstitutional.

2. 3 Conn. hospitals join legal battle over two-midnight rule

Three Connecticut hospitals sued HHS over its decision to reduce Medicare payments for inpatient treatment to account for the adoption of the two-midnight rule.

3. Mississippi hospital to pay $156M to settle pension fraud lawsuits

Singing River Health System agreed to pay $156 million to settle multiple lawsuits alleging the Pascagoula, Miss.-based health system failed to make annual required contributions into a retirement fund.

4. Ex-hospital CFO to stand trial on grand theft charge

Standpoint, Idaho-based Bonner General Health's former CFO, Norilina Harvel, will stand trial for felony theft.

5. Chicago physician gets prison time for role in Sacred Heart kickback scheme

A Chicago podiatrist who was convicted last summer of accepting monthly kickbacks from now-shuttered Sacred Heart Hospital in Chicago in exchange for referrals was sentenced to three months in prison.

6. Erlanger sues to recoup $20M loan to Hutcheson Medical Center

Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health System loaned $20 million to Hutcheson Medical Center in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., to keep the hospital open. Now, Erlanger is suing to get the money back.

7. Ex-owner of 3 Calif. medical clinics gets 6 1/2 years for paying kickbacks

Hovik Simitian, the former owner and operator of three medical clinics in Los Angeles, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for his involvement in a massive kickback scheme.

8. New claims surface in scheme involving physician who gave chemo to healthy patients

Farid Fata, MD, a Detroit-area hematologist-oncologist, was sentenced in July to 45 years in prison for administering unnecessary chemotherapy to healthy patients to enable him to fraudulently bill Medicare and private payers for the treatment. However, new allegations have come to light that show the case is far from over.

9. Lung transplant patient sues UPMC Presbyterian over fungal infection

A 70-year-old man who contracted a fungal infection after he underwent a double lung transplant at UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh is suing the hospital for negligence, claiming the infection was tied to a mold outbreak at the facility.

10. San Diego diagnostic lab pays $4M to settle kickback allegations

Pathway Genomics, a San Diego-based medical diagnostic laboratory, paid $4 million to settle claims it violated the False Claims Act by paying improper kickbacks to physicians and physician groups in exchange for patient referrals.

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Arthur Davida, MD, an employee and part owner of Bloomingdale, Ill.-based Home Care Physicians, has been sentenced to two years in prison for fraudulently certifying patients as confined to the home, allowing healthcare agencies to bill Medicare for unnecessary in-home treatment, according to the Department of Justice.

From 2010 and continuing through August 2013, Dr. Davida certified numerous patients as confined to the home and in need of skilled nursing services, when, in fact, they were able to leave their homes and did not need such services.

In a plea agreement, Dr. Davida said he provided the false certifications because he feared the home health agencies would stop sending him referrals if he didn't provide them.

Medicare paid home health agencies more than $20 million based on orders signed by Dr. Davida, according to the DOJ.

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After Aetna announced plans to leave America's Health Insurance Plans Jan. 5, sources have been curiously evaluating the decision and its impacts, according to The Hill.

Created in 2003 due to a merger between the Health Insurance Association of America and the American Association of Health Plans, AHIP is currently the health insurance industry's largest trade group. But the organization has seen numerous problems in recent years, sources claim.

Karen Ignagni, AHIP's CEO for 22 years, left the trade group in 2015, as did two other senior officials  Mary Beth Donahue, former executive vice president, and Dan Durham, former executive vice president for strategic initiatives and interim CEO.

Aetna's exit from AHIP, combined with UnitedHealthcare's departure in June, leave AHIP without some needed member dues. AHIP earned $41.5 million in member dues in 2014, according to the report. Aetna paid approximately $1.1 million in dues each year.

The rapid departure of insurers from AHIP has left some analysts puzzled. "With Aetna and [UnitedHealthcare] facing such tough regulatory scrutiny, it seems silly that they would abandon one of D.C.'s most powerful trade organizations. They are putting their brand at risk," said an anonymous industry source.

According to The Hill's other sources, the AHIP's larger members have recently felt distanced from the trade group's leadership.

Still others believe AHIP has nothing to fear. "AHIP is going to continue to speak for the industry, that's just what's going to happen," said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Avalere Health and a former Clinton administration advisor.

"Let's be real, when Sylvia Burwell wants to find out what the health insurance industry's position is on an issue, she's going to call Marilyn Tavenner. She's not going to call the CEO of any one member company," he added.
A recent surprise inspection by the state revealed numerous lapses by Mt. Ascutney Hospital, a critical access facility based in Windsor, Vt., according to a Valley News report.

Here are five things to know about the inspection and its findings.

1. The inspection, conducted Dec. 9 by the Vermont Division of Licensing and Protection, found Mt. Ascutney failed to take adequate measures to prevent a terminal cancer patient from falling six times in six weeks, according to the report. The hospital determined the patient, who suffered from end-stage lymphoma, was at a high risk of falling. However, the hospital did not put a prevention plan in place and the patient fell from a wheelchair or bed six times while delirious, confused or in pain, according to the report. The hospital also didn't properly document four of the falls.

2. The inspection also revealed Mt. Ascutney did not properly determine the fall risks of a patient who recently had suffered a stroke, according to the Valley News, and failed to document the need for restraints that were used three times to prevent this patient from falling. Furthermore, the hospital didn't disclose in its record that a bed alarm was not in place during one of this patient's falls.

3. Additionally, the state found the hospital did not put a care plan in place that reflected the wishes of a third patient who had been admitted in November and treated for heart failure, according to the report. "There was no indication in the care plan that (the patient) was transitioned to receive only comfort measures, including adequate symptom management and provision of family support during the patient's final days," the state said, according to the Valley News.

4. Overall, the state noted Mt. Ascutney had deficiencies in its patient care policies, nursing services, records systems and quality assurance programs, according to the report. The state determined these deficiencies had the potential for minimal harm, but "not to have caused actual harm," the report notes.

5. In light of the state's findings, the hospital has made a plan for correction. Under the plan, Mt. Ascutney has committed to beefing up care planning, assessments of patients' fall risks, training and record-keeping when falls occur or restraints are used, according to the report.
The CDC calls tuberculosis one of the world's deadliest diseases, and it is currently rearing its head in Alabama: 26 people are infected and three have died from the infection, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.

The following are five things to know about TB and the current outbreak in Alabama.

1. As of January 2014, 26 people, including four children, have been diagnosed with TB, and three adults have died. Most cases are from Marion, Ala., a town in Perry County with 3,600 residents. There, the TB case rate is 253 per 100,000 population, far exceeding the TB case rate of 2.5 per 100,000 in the whole state of Alabama last year.

2. The Alabama Department of Public Health has sent nurses and TB investigators to Marion to find patients with TB and provide preventative therapy to people who may have been exposed to the illness.

3. The ADPH plans to pay people to come in and get screened for the illness. "This is so important and of such concern that we are giving monetary incentives to people who come in for screening and necessary treatment," Pam Barrett, director of the division of TB control, said in a statement. In an interview with Becker's, Ms. Barrett noted that the ADHP has "never done this before."

4. Paid screenings will be available Jan. 11 through Jan. 29 at the Perry County Health Department. People will be paid $20 for getting an initial screening, an additional $20 if they come back to get the result and a third $20 if they keep a recommended chest X-ray appointment. A final $100 will be offered to people if they complete any recommended treatment. Ms. Barrett says they expect a large turnout.

5. The outbreak is believed to have originated from one or two active TB cases in the area from early 2014, according to Ms. Barrett.
Massachusetts hospitals that earn more do not necessarily have a higher minimum wage, according to a recent survey on wages conducted by The Boston Globe.

Here are six findings from the survey:

1. Boston Medical Center, a safety net hospital, reported revenues of nearly $1.1 billion in 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available, according to The Boston Globe. BMC, along with Tufts Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, also in Boston, recently committed to raise starting pay to $15 an hour.

2. Tufts had revenues of about $700 million that year, while Beth Israel Deaconess collected $1.4 billion, according to The Boston Globe.

3. Starting pay at Burlington, Mass.-based Lahey Hospital & Medical Center is $10 an hour, the state minimum, the survey found. However, Lahey spokesman Andrew Mastrangelo told The Boston Globe most entry-level employees make at least $12 an hour. In 2014, Lahey collected $822 million in revenues, according to The Boston Globe.

4. The starting pay at Brighton, Mass.-based St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, the flagship hospital of Steward Health Care System in Boston, $12.87. Steward spokeswoman Brooke Thurston, told The Boston Globe that $12.87 amount was considered a "living wage," or what is needed to pay basic living expenses, in 2013 when Steward negotiated its last contract with the Service Employees International Union. The union, which represents workers at St. Elizabeth's, is set to negotiate a new contract with management this year. According to Ms. Thurston, only about two workers make the lowest wage at St. Elizabeth's. Most are paid at least $15 an hour.

5. Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, both in Boston, and owned by Boston-based Partners HealthCare, pay starting wages below $15 an hour, according to The Boston Globe. The publication reports Massachusetts General's earnings at $3.3 billion in revenues, but notes that the hospital paid $12.63 an hour as its lowest wage. According to the report, Brigham reported $2.5 billion in revenues, but has a starting pay of $13.53 an hour. Low-wage workers could receive a raise in the future, according to Partners.

6. Worcester, Mass.-based UMass Memorial Medical Center and Boston Children's Hospital did not disclose their exact starting pay to The Boston Globe, although a representative from UMass did say its starting pay is less than $15 an hour.

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Tracey Ullman's Show will be her first UK project in 30 years

Comedienne Tracey Ullman once mistook Kanye West for a shop assistant and asked him about swimming trunks for her son.

She revealed the embarrassing story on The Graham Norton Show.

The star said: "I once took my son shopping for swimming trunks and in the shop I asked what I thought was a handsome sales assistant if they had what we wanted, and my son just kept saying: 'Mum, mum, mum.'

"It turned out to be Kanye West. That was embarrassing!"

Ullman returns to British TV screens for the first time in 30 years with Tracey Ullman's Show, for the BBC.

"I never got offered a job in this country until now. I'm really flattered to be asked," she said.

"I love it but people don't know who I am - they think I am Julie Walters!"

Actor James Nesbitt, who was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours list, revealed he "ticked the wrong box", prompting the Palace to phone him and check if he wanted to decline the honour.

"It will be a nice day out at the Palace for me and my girls," he said.

He returns to TV screens in a new series of ITV's hit drama Cold Feet this year.

"We start in three weeks for a read-through, and I haven't seen loads of them for 12 years. The scripts look good and they tried to get us to do it for a number of years and they hadn't quite worked it out or sorted out the number of zeros on the cheques," he explained.

"It will be very exciting to do it and I can't wait to see what those characters are like now."

Harry Potter actor Ralph Fiennes said since playing the bespectacled wizard's nemesis, Lord Voldemort, he doesn't take on roles that require prosthetics.

He added: "But I knew the look (Voldemort's) was working when I walked past the script supervisor's five-year-old child, and when I looked at him he just burst into tears."

Fiennes told host Graham Norton fans often mistake him for Taken star Liam Neeson.

"I have been complimented for my performance in Taken 2 and Liam has been complimented on his English Patient," he said.

:: The Graham Norton Show airs on January 8 on BBC One at 10.35pm.
A co Tyrone meat processor that specialises in so-called 'fifth quarter' animal products has announced a jump in turnover from 23.6m to 32.4m.

Elmgrove Foods, which is part of Dunbia in Dungannon, processes and supplies offal products in beef, lamb and pork, including beef Achilles and gallbladder, and lamb tripe.

Pre-tax profits were 515,401 - close to a five-fold increase on the previous year's pre-tax profits of 107,572.

A strategic report accompanying the accounts for the 12 months to the end of March 2015 said the 38% jump in turnover was due to increasing volumes, including an expansion of product ranges.

However, there was no analysis of turnover because it would harm the company's interests to disclose it, the report said.

But the financial position was summarised as "pleasing," though the company admitted it was aiming for further growth.

"Over the next financial year, the company aims to continue to grow through increased volumes and further expansion of the product ranges and diversification into further markets," it added.

But the report said there were regulatory risks in the food industry, due to EU and UK government legislation and directives on food policy. "Such policies can have both positive and negative impacts on the industry," the report explained.

"However, compliance with the regulatory environment in which the company operates helps to reduce the potential impact of such risks."

The report described "reputational risk" as a "constant challenge", and Elmgrove also described the offal market as "competitive".

"However, it has achieved and maintains the ability to purchase volumes necessary to meet both customer demand and achieve its growth strategy," the report read. "Product prices are volatile and hard to predict and as this is the company's most significant cost, the director monitors both expected and achieved margins on a daily basis."

Offal products are not popular in the UK and Europe but are regarded as delicacies in China and Japan.

Managing director Stuart Dobson said the company was recruiting two new staff to help it make sales in China after Dunbia joined Karro Group in winning approval to export pork products to Asia. The firm hopes to ship its first product to the region in March or April. And it is hoping to sell goods into Japan, where offal products are also popular.

Parent company Dunbia reached turnover of nearly 769m for the year ending March 2015, which was up more than 40m on the previous year.

But pre-tax profits for the company fell during the course of the last financial year - dropping by almost 3m to 4.6m.

Last month, the Belfast Telegraph revealed that Dunbia was looking for buyers, after a teaser document was to be sent out to businesses with a potential interest in the company.

515,401

Pre-tax profits for the 12 months to March 2015, well up on 107,572
Budget airline Ryanair's return to Northern Ireland been welcomed across the business, tourism and political spectrum.

And many - including FSB policy chairman Wilfred Mitchell - have reiterated calls to cut the level of air passenger duty (APD) "so that flights to and from Belfast can be priced more competitively, and subsequently build upon today's announcement to realise the potential of the local economy".

Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell welcomed the additional connectivity and new jobs, adding that "work to progress an Air Route Development Fund for Northern Ireland is ongoing and I intend to be in a position to announce the way forward before the end of the financial year".

Nigel Smyth, CBI Northern Ireland director, said that "first-class air connectivity is a vital growth stimulate for any modern economy and the additional routes provided by Ryanair's expansion will be a welcome boost to both the export and tourism sectors".

Yesterday's announcement is also "good news for tourism to Northern Ireland", according to Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland.

"We already work closely with Ryanair and we look forward to co-operating with them to maximise the promotion of this new flight from London Gatwick to Belfast.

"As an island, the importance of convenient, direct, non-stop flights cannot be overstated - they are absolutely critical to achieving growth in inbound tourism."

Glyn Roberts, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association said:

"This is good news for our local economy and in particular, our retail sector.

"More air routes means more visitors and tourists, which is a boost to spending in our retail sector in Northern Ireland."

The SDLP's Patsy McGlone MLA, chairman of the Enterprise Trade and Investment Committee, said: "This multi-million pound expansion offers serious potential for tourism and business here and is expected to add one million passengers using Belfast International Airport every year. Along with the 750 new jobs immediately created by the airline, it could also help develop the Aldergrove site and the surrounding area, creating even more jobs."

Alliance leader and South Antrim MLA David Ford said the news would mean employment opportunities in the immediate area. "Airports can act as catalysts - they drive business activity and serve as platforms for enterprise. The airport is at the heart of my constituency and is now set to grow above the five million passenger mark in an exciting expansion."
Ryanair has said it will bring a million more passengers through its new Belfast International Airport hub, but it is holding the Executive's feet over the fire on cutting air passenger duty.

The airline, which is investing $300m (200m) in three new planes, said it would create 750 jobs when it begins flying four times to London Gatwick daily, before launching around five new routes later in the year. The hub will open in March.

Ryanair is yet to confirm the rest of the routes, but they are expected to be made up of a European city destination, a sun route and domestic links.

It is six years since the budget carrier pulled out of Belfast City airport, following delays to a planned runway extension.

Ryanair chief commercial officer David O'Brien unveiled the airline's long-anticipated return to the city yesterday.

But Mr O'Brien, along with Belfast International Airport boss Graham Keddie, renewed fresh calls for an end to air passenger duty (APD).

APD is a 13 tax applied to the majority of flights out of Northern Ireland.

Mr O'Brien said the Government was "going to have to stop asking for the money they are looking" in APD.

"We don't want any money from the Government," he added.

"It's a question how much they are looking from us.

"We would just like them to stop asking us for it, as they don't really deserve it."

But he said the airline "hadn't decided" on the rest of the routes to be introduced here.

"We need to have a better understanding of what it is the Government of Northern Ireland wants," Mr O'Brien insisted.

"The easiest thing for Ryanair to do would be to fly to Liverpool, Manchester and so on. Do the usual thing. Fly for less than an hour, beat the competition in service and in price.

"I understand there is a desire to increase the connections in Northern Ireland. We recognise that and are open to discussions, not just with the airport but with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment."

On reports Berlin was on the cards as a new route for the airline, he said that was "premature", adding decisions on where to go "will be based on cost".

Belfast International's goal to land Ryanair has been almost 20 years in the making.

"It's fantastic news," said airport managing director Graham Keddie. "This will create up to 750 in-site jobs."

The jobs will be available over the next 18 months, with around 600,000 new passengers passing through the airport in 2016.

Asked whether he had any concerns Ryanair could get cold feet down the line and leave Belfast once again, Mr Keddie said: "I think this is always an issue, and as a customer we have to manage that relationship. And we have to be effective at doing that."

Meanwhile, despite reassurances that Ryanair's City of Derry schedules would not change, it was yesterday revealed that Ryanair was ending the airport's Alicante route.

"We have no plans to change our operations at City of Derry," Mr O'Brien had previously said.

The budget airline recently cracked the 100 million-a-year passenger mark.
The discovery of oil at a site near Gatwick is of national significance, a firm said

Saudi Arabia is thinking about selling shares in Saudi Aramco, a state-owned oil producer that is reported to be the most valuable company in the world.

Just how big are we talking?

Estimates vary, but Forbes said Aramco makes more than $1 billion in revenue every day - that puts it at 15 times the size of Exxon, the biggest oil producer in the US.

Aramco is said to have reserves of 300,000 million barrels of oil. A share sale could make it the world's most valuable company.

Apple is currently the world's most valuable company, worth around $543 billion.

Why has Saudi Arabia decided to do this now?

The official statement says the privatisation of Aramco would be "consistent with the broad a progressive direction of the Kingdom", by which it means, lots of companies in Saudi Arabia are privatising at the moment.

But it's also symbolic of tough times for Saudi Arabia. Oil price have tanked in the last 18 months, squeezing Saudi's state revenues.

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Saudi Arabia, which prides itself on high welfare spending, is having to implement taxes on things like sugary drinks and tobacco, while the price of petrol had been put up by 40 per cent.

Selling shares in the world's most valuable company could help Saudi Arabia address its growing budget deficit of $98 billion in 2015. Shares in just 20 per cent of the company could fund Saudi Arabia's budget for a year.

When will they decide?

Muhammad bin Salman, the kingdoms deputy crown prince, told the Economist that a decision would be made in the next few months.
A still from the A Stripe For Frazer animated episode

An episode of Dad's Army believed lost will be seen for the first time since it was aired almost half-a-century ago - but only in animated form.

The recently discovered audio recording of the episode, titled A Stripe For Frazer, has been used to create an animated version.

The sitcom about the British Home Guard during the Second World War was originally broadcast on the BBC from 1968 to 1977. In total there were 84 episodes.

But many tapes of programmes from this era were either recorded over or discarded, meaning that this episode - which aired on March 29 1969 - was lost, seemingly for good.

However, in the run-up to the new Dad's Army feature film next month the story will be recreated by animators using the salvaged audio recording.

In A Stripe For Frazer, Captain Mainwaring makes Frazer a lance corporal - but soon regrets doing so.

Newly promoted Frazer competes with Lance Corporal Jones for Mainwaring's favour. He resorts to issuing a series of increasingly bizarre charge sheets to the consternation of Mainwaring and other members of the platoon.

Jonathan Green, director of new digital service BBC Store, said: "As the UK renews its love affair with Dad's Army we're delighted to be bringing fans an exclusive chance to buy this brilliant lost episode, which has been missing from the Dad's Army portfolio for nearly half-a-century."

The episode will be available on BBC Store from February 4. The film Dad's Army will be released on February 5.

Over Christmas a Dad's Army biopic - We're Doomed - starring Lisburn actor Richard Dormer affectionately told the story of how struggling actor Jimmy Perry and out of favour BBC producer David Croft battled to persuade their hostile bosses that their sitcom about a hapless but plucky geriatric platoon would be a hit in 1968.

Dormer starred as Croft, and the show - shot on location in Northern Ireland - enjoyed an average audience of 2.7 million and a 12% share of viewing between 9pm and 10pm.
Eddie Redmayne has starred in films, on TV and in the theatre during his dazzling career

Eddie Redmayne's second consecutive Bafta nomination for Best Actor follows a dazzling rise to stardom.

The London-born actor's career crescendoed last year when he won an Oscar, Bafta, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything.

But five years before this latest nomination for his portrayal of transgender pioneer Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl, he lost out on a Bafta Rising Star award to Kidulthood star Adam Deacon.

Redmayne, who turned 34 on January 6, first started getting noticed when he played writer and filmmaker Colin Clark in My Week With Marilyn in 2011.

Further success followed in the BBC's adaptation of Sebastian Faulks's World War One novel Birdsong while mainstream Hollywood success came along when he played romantic revolutionary Marius in the film version of Les Miserables.

But it was his performance in The Theory Of Everything and his portrayal of a great mind gradually betrayed by a failing body that propelled him to superstardom.

Now it is his performance as Elbe, a transgender woman who was one of the first recipients of sex reassignment surgery, that has turned the critics' heads.

Redmayne, who previously revealed he dressed as Lili on the streets of Copenhagen between filming, said on the Graham Norton Show he wanted to be "an ally" instead of "talking for" for the transgender community.

And if he wins this Bafta, Redmayne would only be the second actor ever to win the category for two consecutive years after Colin Firth won in 2009 for A Single Man and again in 2010 for The King's Speech.

But despite his success, fame has not gone to his head, as he regularly pokes fun at himself.

During last year's Bafta speech he joked about an earlier appearance at the awards when a bout of food poisoning led him to "redecorate the corridor of the Royal Opera House in an incredibly unfortunate fashion".

The humble star, who is expecting his first child with his wife Hannah, became a Motor Neurone Disease patron, after portraying Hawking's decline with the illness.

His next role is the protagonist Newt Scamander in J K Rowling's highly-anticipated Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them later this year. He has joked he would have rather played a Weasley - one of the all ginger family in the Harry Potter books.

Redmayne has been named GQ Magazine's best-dressed man 2016 for the second year running and modelled for Burberry in 2008 and 2012.

He was in the same year as Prince William at Eton College.

The closest he has come to scandal is getting entangled in the debate about the dominance of privately-educated actors, but even then Etonian Redmayne emerged with his dignity intact.

Asked about it, he said: "I think there always should be a debate about where actors are coming from, that diversity is represented. Our job as actors is to tell stories and everyone should be represented.

"As far as a public school is concerned I've had a lucky upbringing, and I had a fantastic drama teacher. He's the reason I became an actor and I attribute it to a particular teacher as supposed to a school or education."
Swedish actress Alicia Vikander has added two Bafta 2016 nominations to her growing list of accolades.

The 27-year-old is nominated in the leading actress category for her performance as Gerda Wegener in The Danish Girl, which stars fellow nominee Eddie Redmayne.

She is also recognised in the supporting actress category for sci-fi thriller Ex Machina, in which she plays humanoid robot Ava.

This weekend in Hollywood, Vikander is competing for two Golden Globes in the same two categories for the aforementioned movies.

Her seemingly overnight rise to fame is actually the result of years of quiet endeavour.

Here are 10 things you should know about the woman destined now to be a huge star:

1. Vikander grew up in Gothenburg, Sweden. Her mother is a stage actress and her father is a psychiatrist.

2. She trained with the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Gothenburg from the age of nine. At 15, she moved to its upper school in Stockholm.

3. Vikander began her career in Swedish short films and television series.

4. She came to international attention in 2012 when she was cast in Anna Karenina, alongside Keira Knightley. Vikander played the rather naive Kitty.

5. Anna Karenina was her first English-language film.

6. For her movie A Royal Affair, she learnt Danish in two months.

7. In 2015, Vikander gained recognition for her portrayal of Vera Brittain in Testament Of Youth. The British feminist is the mother of Baroness Shirley Williams.

8. In preparation for her role in Testament Of Youth, the actress had tea at the House of Lords with the Lib Dem peer to get a personal insight into her mother.

9. Vikander's father read the script for The Danish Girl and told her she should take the role of Gerda Wegener, wife of Eddie Redmayne's Einar Wegener, who becomes Lili Elbe.

10. Vikander lives in London. She has been dating fellow actor Michael Fassbender since 2014.
Alison King is leaving Coronation Street in which she has played Carla Connor since 2006

Alison King has confirmed she is leaving Coronation Street, and not taking a sabbatical as previously reported.

The actress has played Carla Connor since 2006.

She said that while the show's producers have made it possible for her to return, she has decided to call it quits.

King told Radio Times: "It's been put out there that I'm taking a sabbatical, but I'm not."

She added: "They've very graciously left the doors open for me to come back if I want to. And I haven't ruled that out. But this is a new chapter for me."

In May 2015, ITV released a statement saying she was "taking a sabbatical for creative reasons."

The 42-year-old said she only ever planned to be in the show for four years initially.

During her time on the Weatherfield-set soap, King has been a key member of the Corrie cast.

Her character's numerous trials and tribulations have included the breakdown of her first marriage to Paul Connor (played by Sean Gallagher), her second to Tony Gordon (Gray O'Brien) and her third to Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne).

Carla was a victim of rape, she was held hostage and battled alcoholism, and she attempted suicide.

However, for many fans, the most memorable storyline was her torrid love triangle with brother-in-law Liam (played by Downton Abbey star Rob James-Collier) and his wife Maria (Samia Ghadie).

The doomed love affair ended brutally in 2008: Carla's jealous husband Tony Gordon (Gray O'Brien) hired someone to murder Liam.

Talking about her tenure, King said: "I'm now going into my 10th year. So all Daisy (her daughter) has ever known is me getting out of the house at 7.30 in the morning and getting back when she's in bed.

"I've probably only ever done about 20 pick-ups or drop-offs in all the time she's been at school, which is quite sad."
To the rest of the world they may look like gluttons for punishment - but Jamie Dornan's super fans are more than happy to go the extra mile for a glimpse of their idol.

The Co Down actor won the adoration of many across the world when he took on the role of billionaire Christian Grey in the erotic Fifty Shades Of Grey movies.

And now his most devoted fans are travelling hundreds of punishing miles to Northern Ireland just for a glimpse of the Holywood-born heartthrob.

It was playing serial killer Paul Spector in The Fall alongside X Files actress Gillian Anderson that first put Dornan in the spotlight and earned him a growing legion of fans.

Dornan is filming the third series of the BBC crime drama in Belfast at the moment, and fans have been flocking here in a bid to meet him.

Among those were four friends from across England who met at the Fifty Shades premiere in London when they camped out overnight to get the best spot.

They came in the hope they would bump into him - and they succeeded on Monday. Their photos have been shared around the world, but no one knew the lengths the four went to for their chat with the former model.

And they aren't alone, as it's understood fans have also travelled from Europe over the last few weeks.

Nicole Shaw (26) from Shropshire, Georgia Copeland (23) from London, Megan Bailey (20) from Sheffield and Natalie Jones (24) from Nottingham are still dumbfounded by the fact they met their hero.

"We thought he'd just take photos and go, but he came over and spoke for a good 10 minutes," Nicole said. "He asked where we were all from and he apologised for how he looked. He took pictures with us all.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Jamie Dornan with the painting by Colin Davidson Actor Jamie Dornan with his sister Jessica Dornan Lynas and father Dr Jim Dornan at the launch of the NIPanC at the Mater Hospital in Belfast PA Terrifying tale: Cillian and Jamie Dornan in Anthropoid PA Change of scene: Jamie Dornan in The Siege of Jadotville Gillian Anderson in The Fall Jamie Dornan as Pat Quinlan Jamie Dornan in Robin Hood. Pictured: Jamie Dornan in Robin Hood KARLOVY VARY, CZECH REPUBLIC - JULY 01: Actor Jamie Dornan attends world premiere of Anthropoid movie during the opening ceremony of the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) on July 1, 2016 in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. (Photo by Matej Divizna/Getty Images) Getty Images Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan Getty Images Jamie Dornan with O'Connor's staff Leona Dallas, Rebecca McGowan, Coleen Cahill and Jodie Mooney. Pic O'Connor's Bar Ballycastle Jamie Dornan at the Game of Thrones farewell party in Belfast. Picture Colm O'Reilly LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 02: Actors Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson attend the premiere of Universal Pictures' "Fifty Shades Darker" at The Theatre at Ace Hotel on February 2, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images) Getty Images Jamie Dornan has been voted a Northern Ireland legend. Pictured Jamie Dornan as Pat Quinlan Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan. Anthropoid Jamie Dornan and Charlotte Le Bon The Fall returned to our screens last night with Jamie Dornan reprising his role as serial killer Paul Spector On the red carpet at the UK premiere of Fifty Shades in Leicester Square last night are Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson with director Sam Taylor-Johnson (left) and author EL James Getty Images Gisele Bundchen and Jamie Dornan Attention fell on Jamie Dornan when he started dated actress Keira Knightley in 2003 Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan in The Fall BBC/The Fall 2 Limited/Helen Slo Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson Jamie Dornan in The Fall BBC/The Fall 2 Limited/Helen Slo Jamie Dornan in Fifty Shades of Grey. Photo: Focus Features  Universal Jamie Dornan poses for photos with fans as he attends the screening of The Siege of Jadotville at the Savoy Cinema in Dublin. PA PA KINGSBARNS, AL - OCTOBER 05: Actor Jamie Dornan plays during a practice round at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at Kingsbarns Golf Links golf course on October 5, 2016 in St Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) Getty Images KINGSBARNS, AK - OCTOBER 05: Actor Jamie Dornan plays during a practice round at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at Kingsbarns Golf Links golf course on October 5, 2016 in St Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) Getty Images Paul Spector played by Jamie Dornan. HUNTING SEASON: Gillian Anderson as DSI Stella Gibson and Jamie Dornan as Paul Spector in The Fall PA Big league: Jamie Dornan in the first series of The Fall, a role which helped him land the lead in 50 Shades opposite Dakota Johnson Jamie Dornan as Paul Spector on the operating table Helen Sloan / The Fall 3 Ltd Sally Ann Spector (Bronagh Waugh), Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan). Jamie Dornan with his dad Jim Jamie Dornan attending at the opening ceremony of the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) on July 1, 2016 in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. (Photo by Matej Divizna/Getty Images) Getty Images DSI Stella Gibson (GILLIAN ANDERSON), Paul Spector (JAMIE DORNAN) in The Fall. Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan take part in Q&A following the screening of BBC Two drama 'The Fall' to launch series three at BFI Southbank on September 7, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images) Getty Images Jamie Dornan on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The Belfast Telegraph article about Jamie Dornan featured on the Stephen Colbert show. Jamie Dornan on the Stephen Colbert show. The BBC's The Fall Jamie Dornan plays serial killer Paul Spector BBC/The Fall S2 Ltd/Helen Sloan Paul Spector, played by Jamie Dornan Jamie Dornan as Paul Spector in The Fall Jamie Dornan as killer Paul Spector Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele in trailer for Fifty Shades Of Grey ? Universal Studio Jamie Dornan says filming racy scenes with Dakota Johnson for Fifty Shades of Grey was not sexy. Fifty Shades of Grey  FameFlynet.uk.com Jamie Dornan has told The Observer Magazine that filming racy scenes for the film Fifty Shades of Grey with co-star Dakota Johnson was not sexy. Ian West/PA Wire. PA Actor and Comedian Bill Murray hugs 50 Shades of Grey actor Jamie Dornan as they walk of the 12th tee during round one of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at Carnoustie PA Northern Ireland model Jamie Dornan and Eva Mendes in their sultry new Calvin Klein advert Jamie Dornan and Gisele Bundchen in an Aquascutum advert. In the band Sons of Jim, with Dave Alexander. Jamie Dornan with Dakota Johnson in 50 Shades of Grey (Dame Helen Mirren, Liam Neeson, Graham Norton, Jamie Dornan and Sigrid (Matt Crossick/PA) PA Wire/PA Images Jamie Dornan in an advert for Calvin Klein Jeans In the band Sons of Jim, with Dave Alexander at a Sports Relief event at Custom House Square in Belfast. <b>Jamie Dornan</b><br/> Northern Irish actor Jamie has modelled for Calvin Klein (with both Kate Moss and Eva Mendes), Dior, Aquascutum and Armani, among many other brands. He also appeared in in the Sofia Coppola film, Marie-Antoinette. Jamie Dornan, wife Amelia and Dulcie in 2014 NEW YORK - OCTOBER 13: Actors Rose Byrne and Jamie Dornan arrive for The New York Film Festival screening of "Marie Antoinette" at Alice Tully Hall October 13, 2006 in New York City. Jamie Dornan in the Hammer Horror production, Beyond the Rave Jamie Dornan as Sheriff Graham from Once Upon A Time Jamie Dornan as Sheriff Graham from Once Upon A Time Jamie Dornan as Sheriff Graham from Once Upon A Time Jamie Dornan as Paul Spector and Gillian Anderson as DSI Stella Gibson in the TV thriller The Fall BBC/The Fall 2 Limited/Helen Slo Jamie Dornan is being linked to the Christian Grey role Jamie Dornan / Amelia Warner Jamie Dornan / Amelia Warner Jamie Dornan chats to Sarah Travers, host of UTV's The Magazine, on his first visit to Belfast since marrying musician, Amelia Warner. jamie dornan eva mendes, ad for Calvin Klein Jeans jamie dornan eva mendes, ad for Calvin Klein Jeans Shot by photographer Steven Klein in the desert in Palm Springs, California, both the Fall 2009 Calvin Klein Jeans and Calvin Klein Underwear campaigns will feature Eva Mendes and Jamie Dornan together. These dramatic black and white campaigns will be featured in global print and outdoor advertising. The Calvin Klein Jeans campaign will feature the exciting new Calvin Klein Jeans Body, a revolutionary, new jean for men and women, uniquely designed for a more contoured and shape enhancing fit. Jamie Dornan with The Fall co-star Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan in a photoshoot for Red magazine Actor Jamie Dornan (L) poses with his wife Amelia Warner as they arrive to attend 'Fifty Shades Freed - 50 Nuances Plus Claires' Premiere at Salle Pleyel in Paris on February 6, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / PATRICK KOVARIKPATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele in the first cast photos from the Fifty Shades of Grey movie  FRANK OCKENFELS/EW Jamie Dornan, (right) in Fifty Shades Darker PA Johnson and Dornan in Fifty Shades Freed Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele in the first cast photos from the Fifty Shades of Grey movie  FRANK OCKENFELS/EW Leading man: Jamie Dornan on The Graham Norton Show PA Jamie Dornan plays Abe in New Worlds, on Channel 4 Jamie Dornan plays Abe in New Worlds, on Channel 4 Jamie Dornan and Ann Skelly in scene from Death And Nightingales BBC/Night Flight Pictures Ltd 20 / Facebook

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"We can't say enough how lovely he is, just a humble guy and down to earth."

Their photos went viral after they were shared on the Jamie Dornan NI fan Facebook page, which is run by Saranne Hardiment from Carrickfergus.

She started the page two years ago and has more than 80,000 followers, and her YouTube account has had almost 50 million views.

Her page has become a reference for fans all over the world.

She told the Belfast Telegraph: "I thought it was brilliant that someone from our little country was in such a high-profile role in Fifty Shades.

"I thought I could provide something with a local connection."

And while she hasn't met the actor herself, Saranne said fans were delighted for each other when they got their Jamie selfie.

"Everyone has it on their goal list," she said.

"Autographs are fine, but we all want a picture."
The moment Celebrity Big Brother contestant Kristina Rihanoff announced to her fellow housemates she is almost three months pregnant (Channel 5/PA)

Winston McKenzie is the first celebrity to be evicted from the Big Brother house in a twist that saw the housemates choose which star to boot out.

Kristina Rihanoff, who announced her pregnancy during the episode, was told by host Emma Willis that she had been saved by the public vote.

But the housemates were then informed that they would have to select either McKenzie or Nancy Dell'Olio to leave.

He was chosen by 13 of the housemates who all cited his homophobic statements spoken in a task they played earlier in the day, although Dell'Olio received one vote from Jeremy McConnell due to an argument over a stolen bottle of wine.

McKenzie had caused plenty of controversy in the house.

In the house task, the contestants were split into two teams and had to decide which facts related to which housemates.

Revelations included that Angie Bowie was nearly late to her own wedding after a threesome, Darren Day spent 2000 a week on cocaine during the height of his addiction and Danniella Westbrook has had six boob jobs.

But McKenzie sparked debate when he was correctly identified as saying he believed adoption by gay couples was "child abuse".

He tried to defend his views: "How can I? I'm a Christian. How can I go against my beliefs?

"No I'm not homophobic, no I don't hate gays, people live their lives as according to how they want to live."

Team B won the task and confiscated suitcases were returned to Darren Day, Danniella Westbrook and Christopher Maloney.

His beliefs were taken particularly badly by Angie Bowie, who launched into an expletive-ridden rant.

"I didn't do 45 years fighting for gay rights for f****** nothing. I'm not tolerating that c***. If he comes within 10 feet of me it's over. My f****** eyes nearly popped out of my head. I knew it was him, it's not like anyone else would have said such a stupid thing. And if he didn't say it, he didn't prove to me that he didn't," she told David Gest.

Earlier Dell'Olio told Big Brother she felt uncomfortable sleeping in a bed next to McKenzie and that he had watched her getting dressed.

The candidate for London mayor was called into the diary room to be reminded of unacceptable language and behaviour in the house.

A shocked McKenzie told Big Brother "I can't believe this" and said: "I'm not the only guy in the bedroom area who has seen women dress in front of us."

The 62-year-old decided to clear the air with Dell'Olio after speaking with Gest, Stephanie Davis and Megan McKenna, who comforted him by saying: "You haven't groped anybody."

He told the Italian lawyer, "Sometimes you walk past me and you're an attractive lady and I look as you come through, that's all."

Although they hugged at the end of their conversation, Dell'Olio was later horrified by his homophobic comments.

There were more revelations in the house as Rihanoff told the housemates that she and boyfriend Ben Cohen had found out she was pregnant over Christmas and Bowie opened up to Day about her 18-month addiction to heroin.

"I called up my gynaecologist and I said I'm addicted to heroin. My mother and father are here, I need you to come and inject me with valium every day.

"So he came and did that, my father came and he sat with me and my mum was there. It was a bit harder for my mum, I think she got a little too emotional about it," she revealed to a shocked Day.

Evicted housemate McKenzie continued to defend his homophobic comments as he spoke to Willis outside the house.

Asked by Willis whether he stood by his comment that gay adoption was "child abuse", he replied: "There are people in life who are gay and they've fought long and hard for their rights and I have nothing against them.

"The people will decide, we live in a democratic society and we have the right to express our opinions."

Willis then told him that his view was "extremely offensive, Christian or not Christian that doesn't come into it".

The former Ukip spokesman explained: "My comment was made in the heat of the moment, the press followed me, it was during the general election and they got what they were looking for. When you work it out, it wasn't something done from the heart, they portrayed it as spiteful."

However, he refused to alter from his statement.

"I agree with my heartfelt feelings, I'm not going to change my mind or thoughts because of other people."

"Would you like me to sit here and lie?" he asked Willis.

He added: "I've made my statement."

He was booed out the house and said the only reason he could cope with the hostile reaction was because of the crowds he used to perform in front of as a boxer.

"Boxing prepared me for this, had I not been involved in sport in the way I was, I would never be able to cope with this," he said.

The self-confessed ladies man also responded to his inappropriate staring at Dell'Olio while she was changing.

"Certain women are flaunting themselves all the time and I looked up and, 'Oh'," he said.

"Perhaps they should do a separate side for the women and the men. We're in the house in close proximity and I'm a red blooded male."
Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay as Ma and her son Jack in the film adaption of the bestselling novel Room

Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay as Ma and her son Jack in the film adaption of the bestselling novel Room

Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay as Ma and her son Jack in the film adaption of the bestselling novel Room

Emma Donoghue had a clear idea of what she didn't want in the film adaptation of her bestselling novel, Room. A hit when it was published in 2010 - gifting book clubs, including Donoghue's own group, with lively discussions about the moving story of a mother and son who are held captive in a windowless room for years - she was insistent that the movie didn't veer into morbid sensationalism.

"There's nothing remotely original about telling the story of kidnapped white girl," explains the award-winning writer. "Our culture is obsessed with the idea and I really wanted to do something that the other stories weren't doing."

Instead, she was adamant that Room explored the changing relationship between five-year-old Jack, who was born in the room, and his Ma, who'd been kidnapped some years before.

Fortunately, the director Lenny Abrahamson -who was so keen to adapt the story that he sent the writer a 10-page letter explaining exactly how he would bring it to the cinema - agreed with her.

"I was so convinced when I read Room that I knew how to make it," recalls Abrahamson, whose previous credits include 2014's Frank, starring Michael Fassbender. "I was so captivated by the novel and what Emma had done with it."

And now, with three Golden Globe nominations, for best drama, actress (for newcomer Brie Larson who plays Ma) and screenplay for Donoghue, clearly their approach has paid off.

Dublin-born Donoghue, who now lives in Canada with her female partner Chris and two young children, is the daughter of literary critic Denis Donoghue, who although born in Co Carlow, was brought up in Warrenpoint, Co Down where his father was sergeant-in-charge of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The academic, who married Frances Rutledge, attended the Irish Christian Brothers in Newry before studying Latin and English at University College Dublin, followed by a stint at University of Cambridge before becoming a professor at UCD then at New York University.

Emma, who is one of eight children, also studied at her father's alma mater UCD, writing her novel Room in 2010 which was a finalist for the Man Brooker prize and an international bestseller.

Before the film opens in cinemas later this month, Donoghue and Abrahamson discuss the story, the challenges they faced making the movie and the resulting hype.

Keen not to just be another crime drama, Room is told from Jack's perspective, who is played by child actor Jacob Tremblay. And as well as showing their domestic lives inside the room, it also avoids poring over the crime.

"I wanted to focus very much on the amazing way Ma has turned her situation around by being a great mother," says Donoghue (46). "She defines herself as Jack's Ma, rather than as the one who is raped every night.

"I really wanted to reject the kidnapper's terms and not let him have control of the narrative. It was really important for me to let this be Ma and Jack's story."

The writer believes it would have been "facile" to finish the story with Ma and Jack's escape. Instead, she wanted to delve into the way they adjust after being reunited with the outside world.

"I think that would have implied that modern society is just fine, and the only problem is that you're locked up and you want to get out into the world," Donoghue explains. "I couldn't resist the opportunity to have Jack see our world; I think that's far more interesting, and also for us to see what our world would do to Jack and Ma."

Both Abrahamson and Donoghue were intrigued by the reaction to the real story of Austrian woman Elisabeth Fritzl, who was imprisoned by her abusive father in a basement for 24 years.

In a similar way, Ma and Jack are greeted and cheered by strangers when they're eventually released and move to Ma's parents' house, and given presents and hounded for interviews.

"How did they not think, 'This is terrible?'" asks Abrahamson. "I mean the people who have been held captive just need to be left in peace more than anybody else."

As such, adapting the story prompted some deep discussion. "You do have to ask yourself the question as a film-maker, 'Well then, why am I making the story?' And I think it's clear from the film and the novel that there are very good and decent reasons for telling it," says Abrahamson.

"Ma agrees to do one TV interview and the interviewer represents that false concern, which is, in fact, desire to be titillated by the awfulness of somebody else's experience. I would never want to tell that story."

One of the breakout performances in the film comes from nine-year-old Tremblay. But how do you explain such a terrifying concept to a child?

"The great thing about children is that they understand that there are baddies," says the Irish director, whose own young son and daughter played with Tremblay when they made occasional visits to the set. "So many fairy stories have a theme of good people being held captive by bad people, so that part of the story was easy for him to understand."

Looking back, the experience of working with the Canadian child star has been unlike anything else Abrahamson has done in his career. "It's definitely both the most rewarding and the most challenging task I've ever had as a director," he says. "It's a monumental performance and he was seven when we started. It was intense but great fun as well, because he's such a lovely boy."

With three Golden Globe nominations and more than 30 wins so far at various international film ceremonies, there is sizeable hype surrounding Room.

"I try not to get caught up in speculation, but I have to say that in the case of this film, it's hugely helpful," admits Donoghue. "It draws people's attention to the film quickly and also makes them feel vaguely positive things about it, especially with the dark, scary storyline.

"If people tell them that Brie Larson is astonishingly good, it induces them to go and see it. And for film with as dark a premise as Room, it's been massively helpful."

Room is released in cinemas next Friday
Travel firms have dubbed today 'Sunshine Saturday' as they expect thousands to book their summer getaway.

With the dying embers of Christmas going out and winter weather beginning to tighten its grip, many consider this weekend to be the chance to brighten the spirits by booking their summer holidays.

Thomson and First Choice estimate some some 1 million people will either go online or head to travel agents with thousands confirming their plans and booking.

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Most popular short-haul destinations, the firms said, are expected to be Croatia, Cyprus and Santorini in Greece, whilst for those looking for some faraway sun, Sri Lanka, Costa Rica, and Cuba are set to top the list.

ABTA, meanwhile, revealed, that it expects one in five people to book a holiday destination they have never considered before.

Abu Dhabi, China, Iceland and Iran were among its 'destinations to watch' for 2016, while it's expected previously traditional holiday destinations such as Spain are set to have a bumper year given safety concerns with some countries and the strength of the euro.

Andrew Flintham, commercial director for Thomson and First Choice said: Many people like to book their holidays early to give them something to look forward to in the year ahead.

"And January is one of the best times to book as there are some fantastic deals available as well as thousands of free child places to a broad range of hotels and destinations."
Childrens Commissioner in England, Anne Longfield, hinted exams could be delayed to lessen the impact on fasting Muslim pupils

There are no plans to adjust some GCSE and A-level exams in Northern Ireland to accommodate Muslim pupils fasting for Ramadan.

Umbrella body the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which sets exam dates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said in a statement: "There has been a clear misunderstanding in some parts of the media as to how the GCSE and A level timetable is set and the impact religious events, such as Ramadan, Easter and Passover, have on it.

"It is important to note that the timetable for 2016 was drafted over a year ago, is published, and wont be changing.

"Each year the timetable is reviewed to ensure it meets the current needs of students, schools and colleges. This review includes a consultation and considers comments from a wide range of stakeholders including schools, colleges and religious groups. However, each year there are only minimal changes.

"In such a large, complex system where there is a large number of candidates taking examinations and a diverse range of subjects available, it is not always possible to meet each and every request. Exam boards will always aim to be as fair as possible to all.

"If a small change can be made for any one group that does not impact negatively on most students, it will, quite rightly, be considered  but these are made before the timetable is published."

Earlier Henry Reilly, a TUV councillor for Newry and Mourne, said he was dismayed at reports that exam timetables were to be moved.

"This news is particularly galling. The vast majority of pupils are not Muslim. It is pure belligerence to have the observance of Ramadan imposed upon them in this way."

Ramadan's dates change each year depending on the lunar calendar. In 2016 the beginning of Ramadan falls on 7 June, in the latter part of the summer exam season.

During this time many Muslims choose not to eat or drink from dawn to dusk.

The issue first received attention on Wednesday when the Children's Commissioner in England, Anne Longfield, hinted that talks were being held around "delaying the exam timetable" to lessen the impact on taking tests for Muslim students.

Hard to focus when you are thirsty

Ihsan Baleed, a computer science student at Queens University, Belfast, sat his A-levels last year at Wallace High School in Lisburn during Ramadan.

I did my last A-level exam in Northern Ireland last year during Ramadan on June 18. I had to go 20 hours without eating or drinking with the long daylight hours for June.

It was really tough for me. I was doing mechanics, which was my last exam, I was really thirsty and that was hard. Its not easy to concentrate doing the exam if you cant focus properly.

I didnt ask for it to be changed as I thought that it wasnt possible.

Its a global exam that everybody has to do, but at the same time they cant make exceptions unless something major happens.

To be honest I was a bit annoyed as I didnt perform the best I thought I could.

Doing exams is difficult enough without fasting.
Delays for people with suspected breast cancer across Northern Ireland have been described as "intolerable" as new figures show women are facing a postcode lottery for urgent referrals.

The Department of Health figures worryingly reveal only 44% of women in the South Eastern Trust 'red flagged' by their GP were seen within 14 days for a first assessment with a breast cancer specialist in September. This was a huge drop within three months from 90% of women being treated urgently within two weeks.

A lack of specialist cancer nurses and a failure to replace cancer consultants after retirement have been blamed as two reasons for waiting times rising.

The Belfast Trust only managed to get 80% of women examined on time by a breast cancer specialist for a vital first appointment.

The figures also showed that during September 2015, 69.6%, - 249 - of patients suspected of having cancer across the province were treated within the Government target of 62 days.

The figures reveal that 109 people waited longer than 62 days. Of those:

32 were later diagnosed with urological cancer.

32 with gastrointestinal cancer.

18 with skin cancer.

Eight with head/neck cancer.

Seven with gynaecological cancer.

Seven with lung cancer.

Three with breast cancer.

One with haematological cancer.

The UUP's Michael McGimpsey said: "That is the frightening picture of what is actually happening behind the statistics and it's outrageous. The latest publication of waiting times confirms that the local situation regarding delays in cancer services remains wholly intolerable. It is simply unacceptable that in 2015 people with suspected cancer are expected to wait patiently as pressures on the wider NHS mean that urgent tests very often take weeks or months to even take place."

The former Health Minister described the situation with breast cancer services as worrying.

"In addition, there also remains a major crisis in breast cancer services. Whilst the problem in the Belfast Health Trust, where previously only a quarter of women were being seen on time, has improved, a deep problem has now developed in the South Eastern. That trust, which includes major towns and cities such as Newcastle, Lisburn and Bangor, saw its performance against the target, which is 100% of women should be seen within 14 days, collapsing from 90% to 44% in the space of only three months.

"Not having enough specialist cancer nurses and not replacing cancer consultants when they retire are all problems that can be addressed."

A Health Service spokeswoman said the figures indicated an increasing incidence of disease placing services under pressure.

"The number of patients being treated for cancer following an urgent referral is increasing, up 6% for the first six months of 2015/16 compared to the same period last year, with the number treated within 62 days up slightly less by just over 3%.

"More people are being seen in clinics, up 16% for the first six months of 2015/16 compared to the same period last year, with nearly 40% more people being seen within 14 days. The falls in performance in the Belfast and South Eastern Trusts are being addressed."

The spokeswoman said it expected additional investment from the HSC Board this year to support additional clinics "as well as further investment next year which will support the delivery of this target".

"The HSCB, together with trusts, is continuing to focus on reducing the number of patients who are waiting in excess of 62 days and a reduction in the length of time patients are waiting. Departmental officials will continue to monitor progress closely."
Pacemaker Press Belfast 08/01/2016: A murder inquiry is under way after the discovery of a man's body in north Belfast. The body was found in a house in Glenpark Street shortly before 22:30 GMT on Thursday. The man is understood to have been in his 30s. Picture By: Arthur Allison.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08/01/2016: A murder inquiry is under way after the discovery of a man's body in north Belfast. The body was found in a house in Glenpark Street shortly before 22:30 GMT on Thursday. The man is understood to have been in his 30s. Picture By: Arthur Allison.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08/01/2016: A murder inquiry is under way after the discovery of a man's body in north Belfast. The body was found in a house in Glenpark Street shortly before 22:30 GMT on Thursday. The man is understood to have been in his 30s. Picture By: Arthur Allison.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08/01/2016: A murder inquiry is under way after the discovery of a man's body in north Belfast. The body was found in a house in Glenpark Street shortly before 22:30 GMT on Thursday. The man is understood to have been in his 30s. Picture By: Arthur Allison.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08/01/2016: A murder inquiry is under way after the discovery of a man's body in north Belfast. The body was found in a house in Glenpark Street shortly before 22:30 GMT on Thursday. The man is understood to have been in his 30s. Picture By: Arthur Allison.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08/01/2016: A murder inquiry is under way after the discovery of a man's body in north Belfast. The body was found in a house in Glenpark Street shortly before 22:30 GMT on Thursday. The man is understood to have been in his 30s.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08/01/2016: A murder inquiry is under way after the discovery of a man's body in north Belfast. The body was found in a house in Glenpark Street shortly before 22:30 GMT on Thursday. The man is understood to have been in his 30s.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08/01/2016: A murder inquiry is under way after the discovery of a man's body in north Belfast. The body was found in a house in Glenpark Street shortly before 22:30 GMT on Thursday. The man is understood to have been in his 30s.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08/01/2016: A murder inquiry is under way after the discovery of a man's body in north Belfast. The body was found in a house in Glenpark Street shortly before 22:30 GMT on Thursday. The man is understood to have been in his 30s.

A murder inquiry is under way after the discovery of a man's body in north Belfast. Inset: Murder victim Conor McKee

Detectives investigating the murder of Conor McKee in north Belfast have arrested two men.

Conor McKee was discovered by his mother shortly before 10.30pm on Thursday night in the Glenpark Street area.

Detective Chief Inspector Justyn Galloway said: "The men aged 37 and 44 were arrested in Antrim and Belfast this evening and have been taken to the Serious Crime Suite at Musgrave for questioning.

"The investigation is ongoing and I would continue to appeal for anyone with any information to come forward and contact detectives on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."

3/ Police have appealed for an individual who contacted them in the early hours of this evening to get back in touch.  Allan Preston (@AllanPreston) January 8, 2016

The two men have since been released on bail pending further enquiries.

A heavy police presence was in the area on Friday, with a security cordon placed around the red brick terraced house where the man's body was found.

The 31-year-old had two young children with his partner.

Detectives described the murder as "particularly brutal".

Det Chief Insp Galloway said: "This was a particularly brutal murder, all the more traumatic for Conor's mother, who found him. This was a tragedy for Conor's family but also for the wider community."

Police have appealed for an individual who contacted them in the early hours to get back in touch urgently.

The Detective said drugs formed one line of inquiry but detectives were not ruling out others.

He was on bail for alleged drugs offences at the time of the murder.

Det Chief Insp Galloway said: "Conor was on bail and had been released shortly before Christmas. His lifestyle will form part of our investigation.

2/ It's reported that Mr McKee was discovered in an upstairs bedroom of his home by a close family member.  Allan Preston (@AllanPreston) January 8, 2016

"There is absolutely no justification for what happened to Conor last night and for what his family are now going through.

"Regardless of what happened before, that is the family home, his mother and father's home."

He said he was not ruling out paramilitary involvement.

4/ Detectives add that a post mortem has yet to be carried out and they are keeping an open mind as to the motive of the murder.  Allan Preston (@AllanPreston) January 8, 2016

"Conor has left two young children and a partner behind."

A post-mortem has yet to be carried out and detectives are keeping an open mind as to the motive of the murder.

Neighbours and friends of the family have said they are shocked by the news saying the McKee family have lived in the area for generations.

One woman told the Belfast Telegraph: "It makes you worry when you're living here, round the district, what could happen because nobody knows what the whole thing is about. I would be worried, the mummy was the one who found him. "

"He was a lovely fella, very quiet, kept himself to himself. We grew up together, I lived across the street from him as kids and we would have played together. They were a lovely family, decent people."

Another man in the area who knew the man and his family said: "He was a lovely quiet fella. Things like that there, you don't expect them to happen on your own doorstep. I'd known him growing up, nice young lad."

Another woman added: "I know him and his family. He has two wee children, he's a lovely fella. It's shocking for everybody so close to home. No one knows the true outcome of what has happened yet."

A number of neighbours in the area went on to claim that the man had been stabbed.

Police said a post-mortem examination will take place to determine the cause of death.

Detective Chief Inspector Justyn Galloway appealed for any witnesses to contact them.

He said: I am appealing for anyone who was in the area of Glenpark Street yesterday afternoon or last night and who witnessed anything suspicious or anyone with any information that could assist with the investigation to contact Detectives in Musgrave Police Station on the non-emergency number 101.

"Information can also be passed anonymously via the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
A grieving woman's plea to make safe the disused building where her only brother died has been agreed to, hours after it was highlighted in the Belfast Telegraph.

Replacement boarding around the former Montague Arms Hotel in Portstewart was erected yesterday.

Christopher Connor (20), from Coleraine, was found dead in the building after a night out in the seaside town.

He fell and hit the back of his head when he somehow entered the empty property after he left the Havana Club on December 17, 2011.

Fearing a repeat of the accident, his sister Laura Connor pleaded for something to be done about access to the site.

Mr Connor's body lay in the former hotel building for two days before his cousin discovered him.

The death of the young man just days before Christmas shocked the north west community, and many people called to lay wreaths outside the property in Church Street in respect.

This paper can reveal that the property's new owners have plans to redevelop it into commercial premises and apartments.

A spokeswoman for Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council confirmed: "This site is under private ownership, however the council is aware a planning application has been submitted and is under consideration."

Coleraine councillor Maura Hickey said: "It may have been the case that the owner, who is from the north west area, may not have known that the boarding had been taken down. It's good to know that it's been put right."

But Ms Connor said last night that even when the building was demolished, she would never be able to return to the town. "We are pleased that the boarding has been put up by whoever owns the building, but it's sad that it had to take me going to the papers to have this put right," she added.

"It's good to know that the building is also to be redeveloped, but me or my children will never be back again - there are just too many bad memories."

The Connors have never recovered from the shock of Christopher's death in the disused property.

After being tipped off that the building could be accessed because some of the boarding had been removed, Laura raised the alarm and called for the site to be made safe.

Senior coroner James Leckey had urged at Mr Connor's inquest that more should be done to ensure that the building was properly secured.

Ms Connor said that her family did not know how or why Christopher entered the empty property because that was not established at his inquest in 2012.

But they believe that in a disorientated condition after drinking, he may have mistakenly thought that he was re-entering the Havana Club bar before he hit his head and died on his own a short time later.

She added: "Christopher was such a lovely, hard-working young man and he always had a big smile of his face - he would have a grin from ear to ear.

"We were very close, and although I was only two years older than him, I was like his second mummy.

"He could do no wrong in my eyes."
Police found the drugs after stopping a car in Co Antrim

Drugs with a street value of 20,000 have been recovered after police stopped a car in Co Antrim.

Two kilograms of amphetamine, commonly known as speed, was found when officers stopped the vehicle on Nutts Corner Road at about 4.30pm on Thursday.

A quantity of white powder was also seized during a follow up search at an address in Lisburn.

A 26 year old man arrested at the scene is still being held on suspicion of possession of a class A drug and possession of a class A drug with intent to supply.

Police Service of Northern Ireland Inspector Mark Robinson said: " We are totally committed to addressing the problem of controlled drugs within our communities.

"Amphetamine is a very dangerous illegal drug and we have a duty to protect the public and to keep people safe. We want to send a very clear message to those involved in supplying any form of controlled drugs, that if detected, they can expect to be brought before the courts."

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101.
Library filer dated 10/06/1932 of Eamon De Valera on the steps of 10 Downing Street, London. British diplomats could not refrain from gloating over the absence of world leaders at the funeral of the Irish republican leader Eamon de Valera according to official papers made public Thursday December 29, 2005. Ireland's former prime minister and president, who had been jailed by the British after the 1916 Easter Rising, died in 1975 at the age of 92.

Standing tall: old revolutionaries commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising in 1966

Interviews with volunteers who took part in the Irish War of Independence including the Easter Rising could be made public

Mass destruction: The GPO in Dublin was the centre of the Easter Rising in 1916

The GPO in Dublin which was seized by the rebels during the Easter Rising of 1916

The GPO in Dublin which was seized by the rebels during the Easter Rising of 1916

GPO in ruins 1916: Soldiers survey the interior of the post pffice in Sackville Street, Dublin, during the Easter Rising of 1916. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

INDH22A Easter Rising 1916: Head office of ITGWU, destroyed following the 1916 Rising. Published 1916. (Part of the NPA/Independent Collection)

INDH22C Easter Rising 1916: Ruins of Freeman Press and Telegraph, 1916. Published 1916. (Part of the NPA/Independent Collection)

Easter Rising:Anniversary/Standard bearers head the parade into Milltown Cemetery, Falls Road, BELFAST, for the graveside ceremony. 12/4/1966

INDH22 Easter Rising 1916: Coliseum theatre, Henry Street, destroyed following the 1916 Rising. Published 1916. (Part of the NPA/Independent Collection)

INDH22E Easter Rising 1916: Troops being marched to barracks, 1916. Published 1916. (Part of the NPA/Independent Collection)

Scene from O'Connell Street in Dublin, during the Easter Rising

First Minister in waiting Arlene Foster has vowed she will not be associated with anything to do with marking the centenary of the Easter Rising.

Her stance has been blasted as "disappointing" by Sinn Fein, just days before she is sworn in as First Minister.

Republicans across Ireland are preparing to celebrate the centenary of the Dublin-based rebellion against the then British administration. Although the rising was a failure, it sparked a wider effort which resulted in Ireland getting its independence a few years later.

Plans for commemorations in Northern Ireland have already sparked rows at a number of councils.

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt said he will not attend any Rising commemoration events, but his party is planning its own event to "challenge the causes and consequences of Easter 1916".

In her New Year message Mrs Foster struck a conciliatory note when she said: "We will reflect on the centenary of the Easter Rising and the role events in Dublin in 1916 had in the creation of Northern Ireland."

But in an interview this week with the Impartial Reporter, she gave her personal view when she was asked if she would attend an Easter Rising event

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She said: "I certainly would not commemorate a violent attack on the United Kingdom. I can understand why those of a republican deposition would want to commemorate that event but I certainly wouldn't want to be associated with it."

"You have to remember that the rebellion led to a loss of hundreds of lives, Irish people being killed, I would say needlessly at that time," she said.

Mrs Foster explained: "The rebellion which took place 100 years ago this Easter was directly to attack the State to which I owe my allegiance. I don't think I would be invited, but even if I was invited, I certainly would not be going to commemorate a violent attack on the United Kingdom."

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade Pictured the Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade as it makes its way through west Belfast to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly during The Easter Rising parade which makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 Republican Sinn Fein parade at Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is Niall ? Donnghaile during the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is Lord Mayor of Belfast Arder Carson during the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is Lord Mayor of Belfast Arder Carson during the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is Gerry Kelly duringthe Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade Pictured the Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade as it makes its way through west Belfast to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade Pictured the Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade as it makes its way through west Belfast to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade Pictured the Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade as it makes its way through west Belfast to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade Pictured the Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade as it makes its way through west Belfast to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade Pictured the Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade as it makes its way through west Belfast to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade Pictured the Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Commemoration Parade as it makes its way through west Belfast to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Sunday 5th April 2015 - Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast Pictured is the Main Easter commemoration Parade in West Belfast that made its way from Beechmount Avenue to Milltown Cemetery Picture Credit - Kevin Scott / Presseye Kevin Scott / Presseye Pacemaker Press 5/4/2015 The Easter Rising parade makes it's way along the Falls Road to Milltown cemetary this afternoon on the 1916 uprising anniversary. 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The new DUP leader also spoke about her "excitement" at taking over as First Minister from Peter Robinson next week.

Sinn Fein MLA Chris Hazzard voiced his disappointment at Mrs Foster's stance.

"This is an important year of commemorations as we mark the centenaries of the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme," he said.

"Both of these events are landmarks in our history and Sinn Fein has made it clear that both anniversaries should be marked inclusively and respectfully. Doing so would demonstrate a genuine political maturity.

"Therefore it is disappointing that Arlene Foster has said she does not want to be associated with any events commemorating the Rising.

"The Easter Rising commemorations will not only mark the anniversary in a dignified and respectful manner, but will also provide an opportunity to engage in positive and constructive dialogue with a wide range of opinion from across the political spectrum."

An Ulster Unionist spokesman said: "Mike Nesbitt has already made clear the Ulster Unionist Party will not be celebrating the Rebellion, but nor will we ignore the event that started the chain of events that led to the partition of the island and the creation of Northern Ireland.

"We will continue our practice of recent years of visiting Grangegorman Military Cemetery in Dublin to lay wreaths at the graves of some of the British soldiers who lost their lives in 1916.

"We are also planning to hold our own event which will challenge the causes and consequences of Easter 1916. This is not something that can be ignored because the impact still reverberates today and we should accept the challenge of how to deal with its legacy."
Britain is pressured to return paintings to Ireland left to London's National Gallery by Cork-born collector Sir Hugh Lane

Pressure is mounting on Britain to return a priceless trove of impressionist paintings to Ireland as the country swings into centenary celebrations of its Easter Rising.

In a resurgence of a 100-year-old row, once a nationalist cause celebre, city leaders in Dublin will consider formally demanding the hand-over of 39 world-famous works by the likes of Renoir, Monet and Manet.

The collection was originally left to London's National Gallery by Cork-born art collector Sir Hugh Lane, who died on board the Lusitania when it was sunk by a German torpedo in 1915 off the coast of Ireland.

It was later discovered he wrote a codicil, or amendment, to his will stating he had changed his mind about the paintings going to London and instead bequeathed them to Dublin.

The amendment was signed but not witnessed and despite a top-level government intervention in 1929 the National Gallery retained legal ownership.

Controversy raged for decades afterwards and Irish nationalists WB Yeats and Lady Gregory, Lane's aunt, were among famous names who campaigned for Lane's final wishes to be honoured.

Despite eventual agreements in 1979 and 1993, loaning much of the collection to Dublin's civic modern art gallery - named The Hugh Lane - city representatives are considering a fresh offensive to have the collection officially returned.

Next week, Dublin City Council will debate a motion tabled by Fianna Fail councillor Jim O'Callaghan to return "the collection of impressionist paintings bequeathed to Dublin by Sir Hugh Lane but which continue to be retained in London."

Mr O'Callaghan said he was confident the motion will be passed and urged the National Gallery "to recognise that the moral right to these paintings rests in Dublin."

"I think it is important that the political representatives of the city of Dublin indicate that they believe the paintings should be returned to their rightful home," he said.

"Once the current agreement is up I think the fairest arrangement would be for the paintings to be returned to their proper home."

Mr O'Callaghan added: "2016 would be a good year for authorities to return these items back to Dublin."

The move comes ahead of an imminent general election but also amid the opening salvoes in a year of disputed celebrations of the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule, which eventually led to Irish independence.

The National Gallery refused to respond to questions about the future of the Hugh Lane collection after the existing agreement expires in 2019, or whether there were any talks about alternative arrangements.

A spokeswoman said "an amicable agreement" has been in place for many years and remains "valid" for another three years.

Under the 1979 deal, the works were divided into two groups with 30 pictures placed on loan to the Hugh Lane in Dublin and eight pictures remaining in London.

In 1993, the eight paintings in London were divided into two groups which were shown alternately in Dublin and London for six years at a time.

They include Renoir's The Umbrellas, Manet's Eva Gonzales, Degas's Beach Scene and Monet's Lavacourt under Snow.

Last year, National Gallery director Nicholas Penny publicly acknowledged "Dublin has some moral claim" to the collection.

The remarks were welcomed at the time by The Hugh Lane gallery as "the clearest public acknowledgement of Dublin's right to these paintings".
The campaign to save Belfast's Sunflower pub from demolition has received a boost with Stormont's Environment Minister agreeing to consider granting it listed building status.

Mark H Durkan has ordered officials to explore the possibility of protection for the Union Street building, with its famous security cage entrance, following a request from Alliance councillor Emmet McDonough-Brown.

It emerged in November, soon after the venue won best city bar at the Pubs of Ulster awards, that the Sunflower could face the wrecking ball as properties in the area were earmarked for the Northside Regeneration programme supported by the Department for Social Development.

Thousands of students and staff from Ulster University are preparing to move into the district as it is turned into halls and apartment blocks.

A Save The Sunflower campaign was subsequently launched on social media, drawing support from more than 5,000 fans of Pedro Donald's popular tavern.

Fifty Shades Of Grey and The Fall actor Jamie Dornan is among those to back the retention of the pub, which ended up with its well-known security cage after being targeted several times in the Troubles, including a 1988 gun attack by loyalist terrorists in which three patrons died.

Around two years ago the Department for Regional Development requested the removal of the cage over access and liability concerns, but later backed down.

Regarded as one of the strongest features of the bar, the cage was painted pink for the Giro d'Italia and is often adorned with hanging baskets.

The same cage could now be its saviour as officials look closely at the merits of the building.

Alliance councillor Mr McDonough-Brown spoke of the responsibility to maintain and protect our built heritage, adding that the Sunflower was "well established and well integrated into the cultural life of Belfast".

"A city without a soul is a city without a future, and as we build Belfast we have to balance the need for development with the need to safeguard the places people love," he said. "I believe that the building should be listed as a rare form of its type in the vicinity. Its caged entrance is distinctive. It should be considered for its historic interest on the grounds that a pub has been in existence on that site for some 100 years."

In a letter seen by the Belfast Telegraph, Mr Durkan said the Department of the Environment had not included a full survey of the Sunflower in a recent scoping exercise of the area but will now evaluate it against the criteria for listing.

Mr Durkan said he was "a fan of bars" and hopes to make a visit to the Sunflower soon.

The SDLP man, who last year reversed a decision to remove listed status from Kelly's Cellars in Belfast, told this paper he was aware of the strong public support for the Sunflower and was listening to concerns about its future.

"There is a lot of support for the retention of this building and an online petition calling on me to consider its future," he said. "I have instructed my officials to have another look at the building with a view to examining its value and the case for its listing."

The minister's comments were welcomed by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society.

Chief executive Nicola McVeigh said: "We are pleased to see our local elected representatives being more proactive in efforts to protect Belfast's built heritage.

"We would encourage more Belfast City councillors to get behind the protection of historic buildings in designation and development of future local and regeneration plans.

"The Sunflower bar does not currently benefit from conservation area or listed status, and this leaves it very vulnerable to demolition."
The North Dakota Department of Health will tap tribes next for input on a plan to reduce the states carbon dioxide emissions by 45 percent in 2030.

In recent months, the state health department sought public comment on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan for North Dakota. State officials reviewed concerns from hundreds of residents, ranging from students in Hazen to environmental groups, and announced Thursday that they will reach out to tribes and other low-income communities to determine what they have at stake.

David Glatt, chief of the departments environmental health section, said state health officials have been working with the states Indian Affairs Commission to connect with the tribes.

(Tribes) are typically lower income; they get electricity from the electrical generators, Glatt said at an Air Pollution Advisory Council meeting Thursday. Changes that are going to be made are going to require additional investment. Additional investment means higher electrical costs. How does that impact low-income folks?

North Dakotas requirement under the finalized Clean Power Plan released last year said the state must reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants by 45 percent in 2030, up from 11 percent when the rules were first proposed.

In October, North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem filed a lawsuit against the EPA, stating the agencys new rule could be in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. Glatt said Thursday the health department will continue to support the states battle in court.

We feel that the rule is a massive overreach of federal authority, he said.

In recent months, state health officials held public meetings in various cities across the state, including Williston, Belulah, Bismarck and Fargo.

Nearly 700 people showed up in Beulah, and another 500 to 600 people showed up in Bismarck, Terry OClair, director of the departments division of air quality, said Thursday.

Its a very (big) topic that is showing a lot of interest in the state, he said.

Some of the input residents offered at the meetings included asking the state to produce its own plan rather than have the EPA mandate a plan, requesting the EPA consider credit for the renewable energy produced before January 2013 and making an attempt to maintain operations of all the existing plants without closing any plants.

The state health department will continue to collect feedback from residents, and officials also will meet with electrical producers this month, said Glatt, who plans to meet with commissioners from other states, including Minnesota and Wyoming.

Its truly an all hands on deck. You bring as many educated minds to the table as possible to find a solution, he said.

The state health department will seek a two-year extension on the plan, which will be due in September. Officials said Thursday that they will probably have a draft in June, which will go out for public comment.
Gilbert Spence from the Rivers Agency helps clear out flooded homes in Derrytresk, near Dungannon

Gilbert Spence from the Rivers Agency helps clear out flooded homes in Derrytresk, near Dungannon

A top-level ministerial crisis meeting held yesterday on the flooding crisis was last night slammed as "a stunt held for the optics" by an MP whose constituency is still under water.

Agriculture Minister Michelle O'Neill and Regional Development Minister Michelle McIlveen hosted the flood summit, which was attended by Environment Minister Mark H Durkan, council chief executives and representatives of NI Water, Transport NI and the Rivers Agency.

After the emergency meeting at Loughry College in Cookstown, the Stormont ministers said they had explored measures to enhance flood protection and also considered strengthening the multi-agency response approach.

But Fermanagh & South Tyrone UUP MP Tom Elliott said that the meeting was merely "giving an impression of action being taken", and hit out angrily, claiming people affected by the floods felt that the Executive had left them to fend for themselves.

"For the people who have water running through their homes, or those who have been isolated for weeks, or for the farmers who are battling night and day to keep their sheds and machinery from being submerged, the outcome of the meeting will do nothing but compel the feeling that the Northern Ireland Executive has all but abandoned them," he said.

"Instead of three ministers meeting informally in Cookstown, it should have been a full and formal meeting of the entire Executive.

"That would have meant decisions could have been made there and then, and funding for immediate support measures could have been allocated," Mr Elliott said. However, the Executive will not meet until next week to discuss how to spend flood relief funds.

Business owners and residents have been critical of the Executive for what they describe as a totally inadequate response to the flooding, which has seen some firms lose tens of thousands of pounds.

Speaking after the high-level meeting ended, Ms O'Neill - who this week toured flood-hit areas of Northern Ireland - told reporters: "We had some discussion around priorities going forward.

"We all had different ideas as ministers, but we will have a further discussion next week at our Executive meeting where we can take decisions on how we can get the most impact out of the 1.3m."

The 1.3m figure refers to funding made available to Northern Ireland from the Westminster Flooding Fund for relief works.

Ms O'Neill said she would announce details next week of a new grant scheme to help people protect their homes.

"Today, we looked at where more could be done to reduce the risks of flooding in the future," she said.

"As Rivers Minister, I intend to seek resources to use to improve our flood protections where necessary."

Ms McIlveen said agencies had been working round the clock.

"My key priority is to identify any immediate remedial works that need to be carried out on roads which have been flooded to ensure they are opened as quickly as possible," she said.

"As well as carrying out emergency repairs, I will be seeking to identify longer-term measures to address any issues with the roads infrastructure."

Mr Durkan said a grant system to help people trying to repair flood damage to their homes was already available.

"Over recent years we have seen much heartache for homeowners dealing with the aftermath of flooded homes," he said.

"It is important that Government ministers and local councils work in a joined-up way to tackle the problem and help those most severely affected to get back to normal."

Meanwhile, roads were being salted across Northern Ireland last night after the Met Office issued a yellow severe weather warning for snow and ice. Road users were advised to exercise caution.
A Sinn Fein MLA is to pay libel damages to an Ulster Unionist MP for falsely suggesting he had harassed and shot people, the High Court heard today.

Phil Flanagan also apologised for a defamatory and untrue tweet about political rival Tom Elliott's conduct during his previous career as a soldier.

At a hearing to decide on the level of compensation to be awarded, Mr Elliott said the groundless allegations left him shocked and fearing for his safety.

He told Mr Justice Stephens: "I needed to have concerns for my security.

2/2 I now accept this was untrue and wholly without foundation and I apologise for all offence caused.  Phil Flanagan (@PhilFlanagan) January 8, 2016

"If people were to believe I shot or harassed people when I was a member of the UDR that was going to have an impact on me but also my family as well."

Mr Elliott, a former Ulster Unionist leader and the party's current MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, sued over the contents of a tweet back in May 2014.

At the time he had just been interviewed on BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show.

Mr Flanagan, a Sinn Fein representative at Stormont for the same constituency, then took to social media about the UUP politician's appearance.

He tweeted: "Tom Elliottt talks to Stephen Nolan about the past. I wonder if he will reveal how many people he harassed or shot as a member of the UDR."

The posting was seen by 167 of Mr Flanagan's followers, six of whom re-tweeted the comments before they were taken down within an hour.

But Mr Elliott said he was alerted to the contents by a number of sources, including victim's campaigner Ann Travers, whose sister Mary was murdered by the IRA in 1984.

Former party colleague and incoming Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster was among others who contacted him.

Legal action culminated in the acceptance of an offer to make amends. That involved Mr Flanagan recognising the defamatory and baseless allegations, formally apologising and agreeing to pay compensation and costs.

However, the court heard he is currently in dispute with insurers used by Assembly members over a refusal to indemnify him.

Both politicians were present in court for legal arguments about the scale of payout.

An agreed statement was also read out in which Mr Flanagan accepted his tweet was untrue, wholly without foundation and apologising for all offence caused.

It ended with Mr Elliott declaring himself fully vindicated and his reputation restored.

The Sinn Fein MLA also gave an undertaking to publish the statement on his Twitter account.

Although Mr Flanagan offered no evidence in court, Mr Elliott told how he served in the Ulster Defence Regiment from 1982-1992, and then with the Royal Irish Regiment for another seven years.

Asked for his reaction on learning of the tweet, he said: "I was astonished, I was shocked and in many ways disappointed."

At first he was frustrated at the false allegations, but then became more concerned as people contacted him about it, he explained.

"I had a specific threat that came through a local media outlet a few years prior to that, I had my personal and family security reviewed at that time, and obviously this brought all that back," Mr Elliott added.

Mr Justice Stephens was told Mr Flanagan has been unable to advance an offer of compensation because of the unresolved issue with insurance.

The defendant's barrister, Desmond Fahy, argued that because of his client's efforts to make amends the judge should heavily discount the level of damages decided on.

But David Dunlop, for Mr Elliott, argued that it took until today's hearing to secure a public apology.

"The defendant had every opportunity from May 1, 2014 until January 8, 2016 to tweet that what he said was untrue and wholly without foundation and to apologise to the plaintiff, but he hasn't done so and he has called no evidence to explain why he hasn't done so," Mr Dunlop argued.

Claiming the discount on compensation should be limited, he added: "Accusing a person who has a responsible position as an elected representative and who has previously served as a soldier in the Ministry of Defence of harassing and shooting people must be towards the top end of the scale."

Judgment was reserved on the level of damages.

Pledging to give his verdict as soon as possible, the judge said: "The case has raised points I have to reflect on and consider."
A US republican linked to the head of a New York-based Sinn Fein fundraising group who was accused of trolling a cancer victim online has denied aiming the remarks at IRA critic Ann Travers.

Ms Travers, whose sister Mary was shot dead by the IRA in 1984, said she was left "deeply distressed" after remarks on Twitter by Catherine Kelly of Friends of Sinn Fein (FoSF).

She wrote: "This tweet has really distressed me. I am not scum for talking about my cancer, which I did to highlight symptoms to other women.

"The IRA and SF have done enough to me, I don't need their 'friends' carrying on the abuse."

Ms Kelly, understood to be the partner of FoSF president Jim Cullen, wrote: "Ann Travers made a fool of herself stomping off Twitter in a fanfare then returning with her 'cancer' explanation. I rightly called her on it."

The comment was interpreted as calling into question Ms Travers' high-profile battle with breast cancer, which spread to her bowel before being defeated.

However, Ms Kelly claimed that the tweet was not aimed at Ms Travers' battle with the disease and said she was not even aware that Ms Travers had cancer. "I did not refer to AT [Ann Travers'] cancer. I did not even know the poor girl had/has cancer," she said.

"My tweet with quotation marks was quoting AT herself who tweeted that her return to Twitter, after a much publicised departure, was inspired by her 'friend's cancer'.

"I scoffed at that because ironically enough I thought [that] was an awful thing to say on social media.

"Her exit from Twitter in 2014 was very dramatic and publicised - claiming abuse (I had never encountered her before). I found it distasteful to explain her return in that way."

Ms Travers was targeted by online trolls for her opposition to the appointment of Mary McArdle - who had been convicted in connection with her sister's murder - as special advisor to a Sinn Fein minister.

Ms Travers said in an interview that she re-joined Twitter after her friend died from lung cancer.

She described this friend as "fearless" and said that she returned to social media to "support my very brave friends".

Asked if Ms Travers should be commended for this, Ms Kelly said: "My tweet was about an incident in 2014. I suppose it was a bit dramatic for my tastes - but when you put it that way, sure.

"Anyone coping with/fighting cancer is fearless in my opinion. Including AT.

"My tweet was referring to her 'friend's cancer' and I quoted that."

But TUV leader Jim Allister said Ms Travers had been subjected to vicious online attacks since her decision to back his Special Advisers Bill, which prevents anyone with a serious conviction from securing such a position.

"This Kelly outburst is but the latest chapter in that Sinn Fein orchestrated river of hate," he said.

"Ann Travers is a most remarkable lady - in contrast to her republican detractors - who has demonstrated irrepressible fortitude in fighting for justice for her murdered sister and in battling cancer.

"To think that anyone would stoop so low as to attack her in this way tells us all we need to know of the gutter which IRA/Sinn Fein still occupy.

"The Ann I am privileged to know will emerge from this even stronger and unlike her enemies can hold her head high as a champion for truth and justice."

Ann's sister Mary, a 22-year-old teacher, was shot dead on April 6, 1984 as she walked home after attending Mass at St Brigid's Catholic Church in south Belfast.

The gunmen had been targeting her father Tom, a judge.

Among those who supported Ms Travers on Facebook was DUP leader Arlene Foster.

She said: "If she [Kelly] feels the need to tweet about you, someone she has never met, she is unnerved and unsettled by you and what you stand for.

"To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I have enemies? Good, that means I have stood up for something."
The restoration of 14-17 Moore Street in Dublin is one project in the Government's plans to mark the 1916 Rising centenary

Campaigners fighting for full restoration of the last buildings used by the 1916 Rising leaders have called for detailed assurances on the protection of the entire site.

About 30 people occupied the terrace at 14-17 Moore Street in Dublin from Thursday evening before several hundred people at a street protest heard calls for the Government to explain the redevelopment.

Descendants of the rebel leaders and heritage campaigners fear No 18 will be demolished to make way for a museum entrance next door to a huge shopping complex.

There are also concerns that No 10 and No 13 will not be protected as only 14-17 must be preserved.

Heather Humphreys, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, said 13 and 18 and 19 are not part of the National Monument order and are not historically significant.

"The minister is very disappointed that any group would attempt to delay these works and jeopardise the project," a spokeswoman said.

The Save Moore Street campaign described the construction works as a "demolition of history" and vowed to have protesters in the building site until they get adequate commitments on the protection of the terrace.

Among those who took part in the occupation is a grandson of The O'Rahilly, Proinsias O'Rathaille while David Ceannt, grand nephew of Eamonn Ceannt, and Tom Stokes, whose grandfather fought at Boland's Mill, also attended the lunchtime demonstration.

The Government bought part of the terrace last year in a four million euro restoration plan, including No 16 Moore Street where the rebel leaders held their last council of war.

As many as 300 Irish Volunteers and Cumann na mBan members fled into the terrace from the back of the GPO after a bombardment of British artillery set the rebel headquarters ablaze.

Soldiers tunnelled their way through the houses and ultimately surrendered from their base at No 16.

Barry Lyons, honorary secretary of the 1916 Relatives Association, said they felt as though they had been deceived by Government despite assurances that they would be fully consulted and briefed on plans.

"We are fully supporting the occupation, and encouraging it," he said.

"When we were dealing with Minister Humphreys we felt as though we were deceived by what we were told.

"We were told nothing would go ahead without us being informed or without our consultation, but the deal was signed off before our last meeting. While the minister was at a photocall to announce it, we were in Kildare Street being told about it.

"They are going ahead with demolition."

A number of politicians took part in the demonstration including Sinn Fein chiefs Gerry Adams and Mary Lou McDonald, Independent TD Maureen O'Sullivan and People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett.

The site has been dogged by controversy since being designated a National Monument in 2007 only for planning permission to be granted for a shopping centre on 2.7 hectares from the old Carlton Cinema on O'Connell Street to behind the GPO on Moore Street.

Descendants and campaigners believe the works are being done from plans for the original retail complex next door to what historians regard as a battlefield site.

Proinsias O'Rathaille sent a text to Taoiseach Enda Kenny criticising the decision to allow demolition for the commemorative centre.

"It's an absolute disgrace and a shambles," he said.

Frank Allen, who organised the Arms Around Moore Street campaign, described the works as "turning Anne Frank's home into a Burger King".

The restoration is one project in the Government's plans for the centenary, which also involves 22 million euro being spent on other projects by next Easter to create permanent reminders of the 100-year anniversary.

Ms Humphrey's office said work began on the site in November, but the City Council is responsible for work on the wider Moore Street.

Officials claimed Nos 18 and 19 were in ruins before the Rising and No 13 retains none of its "historic fabric" as the interior has been replaced and the facade is new brick.
Comedian Brendan OCarroll has offered to pay the funeral costs of a Polish man whose body has been lying in a morgue for more than three weeks after it was discovered on Christmas Day.

The kind-hearted gesture came about after a local undertaker in Ennis offered to bury the man for free after hearing about his plight from a woman who each year shared her Christmas dinner with the deceased 51-year-old.

Calling into RTEs Liveline earlier today, homeless campaigner Josie OBrien explained she was having trouble organising a burial service for the man, who she said had only recently found himself an apartment or flat to live in.

I first met him in 2008 at one of the Christmas dinners we do each year for the homeless, she said.

He has been in Ireland since 2006 but has no family here as he is originally from Poland.

His body has just been sitting in a morgue in Limerick since he was found on Christmas Day.

Ms OBrien said she received a call on Stephens Day telling her of the mans passing and that it had only been two weeks since she last saw him.

It was clear he wasnt well because he looked awful.

She told host Joe Duffy that the main problem she was facing in getting the 51-year-old buried was the cost of the funeral ceremony.

The funeral director wouldnt do it unless he is paid up front.

He hasnt been paid [by the social welfare] for the other homeless burials hes done so I dont blame him.

But theres no money to pay him and its been three weeks now, from yesterday, since this man passed away.

Clare County Council has even offered a plot in Ennis for the burial, Josie added.

Touched by the story, local undertaker Cyril Cusack called into the RTE radio show and offered his services, saying he was happy to do it for free.

I am willing to offer my services for free. Im new in business here in Ennis but I want to do my part and help out. It would be a good gesture.

We will give him a dignified burial, he added.

Overjoyed at the offer, Ms OBrien repeatedly thank Mr Cusack.

However there was more good news as host Joe later told listeners that Mrs Browns Boys star Brendan OCarroll had been in touch from Florida to say he would be happy to pay for the funeral and burial.

Hes been on to us and says to make all the arrangement and he will cover whatever needs to be covered, he said.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expected to meet Bhutan's glamorous King and Queen when they travel to the mountainous kingdom this spring.

King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema have attracted the attention of royal watchers across the globe since their marriage in 2011, and even been compared to William and Kate.

They appear equally at ease with the traditions of their homeland and with western influences and are fast becoming the face of a modern progressive monarchy.

When their engagement was announced Bhutan's head of state described his wife, who is the daughter of a pilot, as a "kind hearted girl who is very supportive and whom I can trust. I don't know what my people will say about her, but I find her complete with all the qualities a woman needs to have."

Kensington Palace said about the Cambridges' tour: "The visit is being carried out at the request of Her Majesty's Government and will be the first time their Royal Highnesses have visited the country."

It also announced that Prince Harry would travel to Nepal this spring, a first for the royal who has wanted to visit the country largely due to his admiration and respect for the Gurkha troops he served with in Afghanistan.

He is also keen to see how the country's rebuilding effort is progressing following the devastating earthquake in April last year.

The Cambridges' visit to Bhutan will form part of a trip to Asia that will also seem them tour India.

Bhutan is overshadowed by Himalayan peaks and for much of the 20th century the landlocked country was isolated from the world preserving much of its Buddhist traditions, landscape and wildlife.

The capital Thimphu does not have traffic lights but white-gloved officers directing vehicles and television was only introduced in the late 1990s.

The kingdom's head of state succeeded his father Jigme Singye Wangchuck in 2006 after his abdication.

The change of leadership was part of a democratising process and two years later the first parliamentary elections were held.

The Oxford-educated King's wife also studied at a British university and is expecting their first child early this year.

A few weeks after the King and Queen wed in October 2011 they visited London and met the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall at their London home Clarence House.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A former Mayo Clinic doctor from Rochester is calling it "a Christmas miracle" that he survived being trapped overnight Dec. 19 for more than 16 hours on a frozen North Dakota field after breaking his leg on a hunting trip.

Rochester resident Richard Olsen said the biggest lesson from his accident is people shouldn't let fear and uncertainty prevent them reaching out to see if someone is all right, something Olson said probably saved his life.

Olsen, who retired as a Mayo Clinic developmental pediatrician in 2010, is recovering at Mayo Clinic-Saint Mary's Campus.

"We are so grateful to my dad for fighting so hard to get back to us alive," said Sarah Brown, his daughter. "It's still kind of hard to wrap our heads around what he went through."

Olsen was hunting on a cousin's land near Watford City in the sparsely populated western portion of the state. On Dec. 19, he tried a new spot and forgot to bring his cell phone, the only time on the trip. He trekked more than half a mile with two dogs to a harvested wheat field.

Eyes fixed on the horizon in anticipation of another pheasant taking flight, he stepped on a thin crust of snow clumped on blown-over brush above a drainage trench. It collapsed and dropped him four feet to the bottom.

"I knew immediately I was in trouble and I was going to hurt myself," Olsen said. "I was suddenly picking up a lot of speed."

His left leg hit first, taking the brunt of his weight and momentum before snapping the femur above the knee. Doctors later determined it had displaced by two inches.

After "a considerable amount of cussing," he lay on his side to reach for his shotgun, unloaded it and used it as a makeshift crutch. He spent an hour and a half climbing the earthen trench backward to keep pressure off his bad leg.

When he was partly up, he slipped and slid back down, slamming into a large rock and wedging the foot of his injured leg.

"I told myself that if I didn't get myself out of that ditch, I wasn't going to have a very good night," Olsen said.

He worked his foot free and climbed more slowly and cautiously out of the trench.

Olsen immediately realized the enormity of the task before him. The accident occurred about 4 p.m., and it was nearing 7 p.m. with the road far away as the sun was setting.

Olsen focused on crawling to safety. Even with his gun crutch, hopping was impractical. Instead, he sat down and pushed himself backward less than 40 inches at a time with his good leg.

"I've always been stubborn. We all face momentS when we must be very persistent. Skidding across the prairie on my backside was worth it (to get back to my family)," Olsen said.

Progress was exhausting and required frequent breaks. He navigated around entangling brush and more than 30 frozen puddles, to avoid getting soaked. He also made a wide detour around a pond.

Temperatures dropped to the teens overnight, and snow melted and soaked his gloves and boots, dripping water each time he pushed backward. He knew he was at risk of going into shock from hypothermia and developing frostbite. His hands and foot soon were completely numb.

"There were many times during the night where I wondered if I could keep on trucking," Olsen said, wiping away some tears during the interview.

His dogs were the one humorous element in his ordeal. They had been playing in the field and eventually came up to him, trying to lay on his back and bad leg to absorb some of his body heat. The dogs also periodically howled at distant coyote sounds.

The dogs eventually ran back to the heated trailer and were rescued.

Olsen finally reached the barbed-wire fence near the road around 8 a.m. on Dec. 20, about 16 hours after the accident. His vehicle and trailer were visible on the other side, yet he was far from saved.

A steep ditch with snow and heavy brush stood between the fence and the road. He feared his exhausted and rapidly freezing body wouldn't be able to climb out of the ditch, leaving him below a driver's sight line. After not finding any access points to the road, he decided to sit by the fence and wave down a driver.

During the next half an hour, he waved wildly and shouted until his voice was hoarse, but six vehicles passed without stopping. He said he doesn't blame those drivers, who either didn't realize he needed help or were fearful for their own safety.

"People get reluctant to stop from someone because of all the stuff you hear in the news," Olsen said.

Bryant Duncan, a trucker hauling wastewater for an oil drilling company, was returning from a long shift and noticed Olsen's vehicle. He had seen it the night before but assumed it was a survey crew that returned early. He saw Olsen waving, but the angle made it look like he was standing in tall grass and shouting to someone else, so he kept driving.

At the last moment, he noticed two unusual things. First, the truck had a layer of frost. Second, he barely saw Olsen's feet in the grass, meaning he wasn't standing.

"Honesty, I felt like it was God who told me that man was in a bind," Duncan said. "I believe God put me in just the right position to realize the man was hurt."

He stopped his truck, reversed it, and ran up to Olsen, who was completely white with a light blue tint and a clearly injured leg.

Duncan was able to determine Olsen, who was crying in relief, was trying to tell him about the injury and being outside all night. He wrapped Olsen in a sleeping bag and blankets after calling police.

Olsen was taken by ambulance to Trinity Health Hospital in Minot, N.D. He was stabilized and underwent extensive surgery on his leg. He later was flown to Saint Marys Hospital, where his family celebrated Christmas in his hospital room.

"When they got me to the hospital in Minot, my red blood cell count had dropped to eight. I don't think I would have survived if he hadn't stopped," Olsen said. "I am so grateful to him."
David Cameron has been urged to consider sending the RAF to carry out emergency food drops to help starving Syrians.

Shocking reports emerged of civilians in a besieged town dying through lack of food while others were eating dirt and rubbish.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown and Labour MP Jo Cox have written to the Prime Minister warning that an agreement to get aid into the stricken areas may be an "empty gesture" and called on him to consider sending in help.

It comes as Queen Rania of Jordan called for a "new approach" in dealing with refugees that would work in Europe and "address the needs of refugees" during talks in Downing Street.

In a meeting with Mr Cameron, she urged the international community to take "bolder measures" to deal with the refugee crisis, which has seen displaced Syrians flee to neighbouring countries, including Jordan.

Queen Rania added: "I would like to thank the British people for their generosity and support and compassion in dealing with this, what could be one of the worst humanitarian crises that we face in our time."

A conference is being held in London next month to secure funding for Syrian refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Mr Cameron has said the reports coming out of Madaya "are heart-wrenching" and underline the summit is "vital".

UN officials said the S yrian government has agreed to allow aid into Madaya where more than 30 people have reportedly died of starvation or been killed trying to escape in the past month.

The town, which lies north west of Damascus near the border with Lebanon, has been under siege by the Assad regime and its Hezbollah allies since July.

But Lord Ashdown and Ms Cox warned that the deal did not go far enough and urged the Government not to " sit by and watch this happen."

They wrote: " We urge you to push the UN, in particular the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian A ffairs, to be far bolder in its aid delivery and stop asking unnecessary permission from the Syrian government.

" In the case that the UN continues to be denied access to these besieged areas by the Assad regime, the UK should strongly consider air dropping aid to those communities at risk of starvation. In some of these areas, the RAF is already flying anti-Isis missions, and if necessary this is something we should press our European partners to support."

Downing Street later said the Prime Minister and Queen Rania had discussed the need for a "comprehensive approach" to the Syrian humanitarian crisis.

They agreed that "as well as substantially increasing humanitarian aid, countries must seek to address the longer term needs of refugees through education and employment, to enable them to return to Syria and rebuild its economy once the conflict has ended".

According to Number 10, they both stressed that education was "vital" and reiterated their commitment to ensuring greater access to schooling for all children in Syria and neighbouring countries.
Up to 20 stowaways were smuggled into the country five nights a week, Westminster Magistrates Court was told

A failed Iraqi asylum seeker who has been in the UK for 15 years is accused of being part of a gang that helped smuggle as many as 3,000 migrants into the country.

Basak Ahmed Sleman, 33, is said to have helped a Kurdish criminal network traffic around 100 illegal immigrants into the UK each week.

Up to 20 stowaways, including whole families at a time, were smuggled into the country five nights a week on a perilous journey aboard lorries that crossed the Channel from Belgium, Westminster Magistrates Court was told.

Illegal immigrants are said to have travelled from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Albania, boarding the lorries at motorway service stations.

Sleman, who came to the UK 15 years ago from his homeland and has leave to remain from the Home Office, despite his asylum status, is accused along with a second man, Shamel Zorab, 37, of being in contact with members of the smuggling network and collecting fees from migrants who were brought across the border.

The pair, neither of whom gave an address to the court, were arrested on Thursday in Birmingham and Salford.

Their lawyers said they would fight extradition to Belgium, where they face questions over their alleged role in the smuggling gang.

Prosecuting, Carl Kelvin told the court the trafficking was said to have taken place "over a considerable period of time, at least from May 2015, but probably before that".

He said: "Traffickers worked five days a week smuggling up to 30 people on each occasion - this included whole families - for criminal gain."

The court was told Sleman has previous convictions for using false registration cards and possessing improperly obtained identification documents belonging to someone else.

Defending him, Euan Macmillan said: "My client is a refugee in this country, he is an asylum seeker from Iraq, he has been here for 15 years, has never left the country for perhaps obvious reasons and he has no identification documents.

"He has Home Office leave to remain and has to report to a Home Office branch in Birmingham every six months."

Zorab, who the court heard has a string of previous convictions over many years including burglary and driving offences, said he would fight extradition as he has family in the UK and because he feared persecution in Belgium due to his Kurdish ethnicity.

Deputy chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot appeared surprised at the claim, saying: "In Belgium? Well, that will be interesting."

The pair were denied bail and ordered to return to the court on January 14 for another extradition hearing.

Ten further arrests have been made connection with the smuggling gang in Belgium, where a number of suspects await trial.
The BBC has rejected an official complaint from Labour that it "orchestrated" the resignation of frontbencher Stephen Doughty on live television.

A spokesman for party leader Jeremy Corbyn branded Mr Doughty's dramatic announcement during the Daily Politics programme on Wednesday an "unacceptable breach" of the corporation's "role and statutory obligations".

"By the BBC's own account, BBC journalists and presenters proposed and secured the resignation of a shadow minister on air in the immediate run-up to Prime Minister's Questions, apparently to ensure maximum news and political impact," the spokesman said.

"That was evidently done before any notice of resignation was sent to the Labour leader.

"Such orchestration of political controversy is an unacceptable breach of the BBC's role and statutory obligations.

"Trust in the impartiality and independence of the BBC is essential. The BBC's role is to report the news impartially, rather than seek to influence events or promote a particular political narrative."

Mr Doughty's dramatic resignation came as Mr Corbyn was engaged in the third day of a protracted reshuffle of his team.

The shadow minister told the programme he was quitting in protest at the sacking of Pat McFadden as Europe spokesman, and also cited policy differences with the leader.

Two other frontbenchers also announced their depature around the same time.

In a since-deleted blog post for the BBC's Journalism Academy, the Daily Politics output editor, Andrew Alexander, explained how political editor Laura Kuenssberg had "sealed the deal" for Mr Doughty to resign live on air.

The details sparked a furious response from Labour activists on Twitter, and prompted the official complaint from Mr Corbyn's communications director Seumas Milne.

But responding to Mr Milne, the BBC's editor of live political programmes, Robbie Gibb, denied there had been any breach of impartiality rules.

"I reject your suggestion that we orchestrated and stage-managed the resignation of Stephen Doughty," Mr Gibb wrote.

"As he himself confirmed on Friday, Mr Doughty had decided to resign his front-bench position on Wednesday morning, before speaking to any journalists. He subsequently spoke to Laura Kuenssberg who asked if he would explain his reasons in an interview on the Daily Politics later that morning. Neither the programme production team, nor Laura, played any part in his decision to resign."

Mr Gibb stressed there was nothing wrong with the BBC seeking to break stories.

"It is true that we seek to make maximum impact with our journalism which is entirely consistent with the BBC's Editorial Guidelines and values," he said.

"Your letter suggests that our decision to interview Mr Doughty in the run up to Prime Minister's Questions was designed to 'promote a particular political narrative'. This is simply not the case.

"The Daily Politics does not come on air until 11.30am on Wednesdays and the BBC's Political Editor always appears live on the programme in the build up to the start of PMQs. As the confirmation of Mr Doughty's resignation was Laura Kuenssberg's story, we felt it appropriate for her to introduce the item. Again I do not accept, in anyway, the programme has breached its duty of impartiality and independence."

Mr Gibb also said he initially thought the BBC Academy blog had been for "internal purposes only".

"When it became apparent that it had been published more widely, we decided to delete it as the piece was written in a tone that was only suitable for an internal audience. No other inference should be drawn from our decision to delete the blog," he added.

Mr Doughty has accused Mr Corbyn's senior aides of "smearing" him, and insisted he sent his resignation letter to Mr Corbyn before appearing on TV.

Labour backbencher John Woodcock accused Mr Corbyn's aides of "unhinged" behaviour in attacking the BBC.

"Jeremy Corbyn's advisers are tarnishing his and all of Labour's reputation with this unhinged distracting garbage," he posted on Twitter.
Parts of Liverpool city centre were closed after a bomb threat

Police in Liverpool have a detained man, claiming to be in possession of a bomb, after he was seen acting suspiciously in a 14-storey office building.

Police closed off a number of streets in the city centre after the man sparked an at the high-rise building.

A fire alarm was triggered by employees at the Silkhouse Court building on Tithebarn Street in the city centre, after which police evacuated it and a number of nearby streets and dispatched a helicopter.

In a statement, Merseyside Police said all employees in the building had been accounted for.

A Merseyside Police spokesperson said: "Merseyside Police can confirm that a man has been detained following an incident at a business premises in Silkhouse Court, Tithebarn Street, Liverpool today, Friday, 8 January.

"He will be taken to a police station on Merseyside where he will be questioned.

"No one has been injured during the incident and the site will remain cordoned off until a search of the premises has been completed.

"Thanks to residents, businesses and motorists for their continued patience."

Local reporters said the unusually large police presence in response to the initial fire alarm had raised concerns among residents.

The police statement said no one had been injured, and described the police cordon around the building as "a safety precaution".
A British-born mother of two who tried to take her children to Syria to live under Islamic State control has been jailed for more than five years.

The woman, 34, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wished to live under strict Sharia law and believed such a regime could only be found where IS imposed control, Leeds Crown Court heard.

She abducted her children in October last year with the intention of travelling to Raqqa but was stopped by Turkish authorities in Istanbul and returned to the UK after her husband and parents contacted police.

She earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of child abduction, relating to her children, who were both aged under 16.

Sentencing the woman to five years and four months in jail, Judge Rodney Jameson QC said: "You were determined to take them to Raqqa in Syria.

"Raqqa is, and was in October 2015, the epicentre of a war zone. Further, it was, and presently remains, under the control of IS.

"It is said on your behalf that you do not support much of what IS do. It is not easy to reconcile this submission with the assertion that you believe that Sharia law is only enforced properly by IS.

"In any event, the nature of the regime imposed by IS in Syria is clear. It is beyond dispute that IS enforce their will by the use of extreme force. Such force routinely includes mutilation, rape and murder. You are an intelligent and well-educated woman, you knew this.

"The fate of your children would have been either to have subscribed, fully and actively, as we have all seen in the appalling use of a young child in an IS propaganda video in recent days, to such behaviour, or to have suffered it themselves."

The court heard the woman, who was born in the UK, spent her early childhood in Pakistan before returning to England when she was a teenager.

She became increasingly religious and gave up her job in finance in August last year, indicating it was "inconsistent" with her religious beliefs.

On October 10 last year, the woman told her husband she was taking her children to a party before boarding a flight to Istanbul.

Judge Jameson said: "You believed that taking the children to Syria to live under IS control was necessary to secure their spiritual salvation."

He added: "This was a terrible betrayal of your responsibilities to your children and of their trust in you."

The judge said the woman told police she had intended to move on from Raqqa to Mosul, in Iraq, and said the children could have returned to the UK when they were 16.

"You must have known that it was almost certainly impossible for them to have left Raqqa once there and, in any event, Mosul, also under IS control, was a scarcely less dreadful destination for your children," he said.

A pre-sentence report stated that the woman continued to hold on to her beliefs and underestimated the seriousness of her behaviour.

Judge Jameson said the mother therefore currently posed a significant risk to the children, including seeking to radicalise them or, upon release, attempting to abduct them again.

Joanne Shepherd, defending, said the woman did not intend to cause any harm to her children.

The woman, who sat in the dock wearing a black hijab, smiled as Judge Jameson passed two concurrent sentences of five years and four months.

He told her she would serve half of the sentence before being released on licence.
Philip Hammond has urged South Korea to be "bigger" than its northern adversary and resist blasting propaganda across their border with loudspeakers.

The Foreign Secretary said the North Koreans were baiting Seoul and its allies by claiming to have successfully tested their first hydrogen bomb.

Mr Hammond, who is in Tokyo for talks with the Japanese government, said the international community should do what is needed to bring North Korea into line through sanctions, in return for restraint by its southern neighbour.

He said there was understanding of why South Korea felt the need to respond to the supposed escalation in its neighbour's nuclear capability.

But he added: "We have to be bigger than the North Koreans ... We know responding in this way is simply rising to the bait North Korea is presenting to us."

The claims by North Korea that it conducted a hydrogen bomb test are the top priority for talks during Mr Hammond's visit.

He previously hailed Japan as Britain's "closest security partner in Asia" as he arrived in the capital for discussions on security.

Kim Jong-un's secretive state said it successfully tested a miniaturised hydrogen bomb, a move that would be a significant advancement of its nuclear armoury, but experts have cast doubt on the claims.

Mr Hammond will discuss global security challenges with Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida alongside Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and his opposite number Gen Nakatani.

The Foreign Secretary, who arrived in the country after visits to China and the Philippines, will also meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"The UK and Japan are close allies. We enjoy a strong, historic relationship, based on common values and support for democracy, the rule of law, human rights and open markets," Mr Hammond said earlier.

"The long-term security of both the UK and Japan depend on upholding a stable international system. We will continue to work closely together to contribute to global prosperity, peace and security.

"The world today is increasingly dangerous, complex and uncertain. We face growing threats from terrorism and extremism, a resurgence in state-based threats including nuclear proliferation, and an escalation in challenges to our cyber security and to the rules-based international order.

"It is more important than ever for the UK to work with allies like Japan to counter these threats.

"As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the UK is continuing to play a central role on the issues that matter and is working with allies like Japan to safeguard national security, as well as building our prosperity overseas."
The revised guidelines were influenced by changes in Canada and Australia over past years, experts said

Britain is "late to the party" on revising recommended drinking guidelines in line with research that has already prompted change in other countries, experts say.

A landmark report by Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies takes account of new evidence on the increased risk of developing cancer from drinking as well as the harms from binge-drinking.

The previous guidelines, set in 1995, advised men do not drink more than three to four units per day - up to 21 units or less per week - while women should drink no more than two to three units a day, or 14 units per week. Under the new advice, men should also not exceed 14 units each week.

The revision was mostly influenced by what has happened in Canada and Australia over past years, according to Dr James Nicholls, director of research at Alcohol Research UK.

He said: "What happened in some other countries was they were quicker to respond to new research about alcohol and cancer, mainly.

"When it comes to things like heart disease and some other conditions, there's a question about a protection factor in lower levels of consumption.

"But when it comes to cancer, that doesn't really exist - there's just a straight-line relationship between how much you drink and how your risk increases.

"That's what, I think, has primarily motivated the revision of some of the guidelines."

He added: "It's also implemented a revision of the guidelines in some other countries as well."

While units of measurement vary slightly from one country to the next, official standard "drinks" or "units" generally contain between eight and 14 grams of pure ethanol, according to t he independent organisation Alcohol in Moderation.

Almost a dozen countries had lower recommended limits for both men and women when it came to "minimum risk" drinking guidelines: Australia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and the United States.

The UK was now more in-step with these guidelines.

In Spain, men can have up to 28 drinks per week, while women can have 17, and still remain within the guidelines. Men in Austria are allowed up to 21 standard drinks each week, and women are permitted 14 - the same advice issued in Norway, according to Alcohol in Moderation material.

Americans who aim to adhere to "moderate alcohol consumption" should not have more than one drink (14g of alcohol) per day for women, or more than two drinks per day for men, authorities said.

In Australia, men and women are advised to drink no more than two "standard drinks" (10g of alcohol) on any day. Authorities also warn no more than four drinks should be consumed on any single occasion.

Canadian women are advised not to have more than two drinks each day or 10 a week. The guidelines allow men to have three drinks each day or 15 a week.

Authorities there warn even for "special occasions" men should drink no more than four beverages, and women no more than three.

In Denmark, the advice allowed for 14 drinks per week for men, seven for women; in Italy, two to three drinks for men, and one to two for women; while in South Africa, men were allowed three drinks a day, and women two.

A statement from the Portman Group, which represents the industry, said: "What is surprising is that the UK is breaking with established international precedent by recommending the same guidelines for men and women.

"It also means that UK men are being advised to drink significantly less than their European counterparts."

Dr Nicholls said the question about red wine's potential health benefits was still unresolved in terms of international evidence, and existing research could easily be misunderstood.

He said: "There is not a clear consensus in terms of what's going on with heart disease, but it sounds like what the Chief Health Officer has done is erred on the side of caution, and taken a conservative view of the research."

The official alcohol guidelines in several countries are much more lenient than the new UK rules.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We are the first country in Europe to do a full review of the evidence on alcohol in at least 10 years."
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he "can't envisage" campaigning against a renegotiation deal David Cameron thinks is strong enough to put to the country

Philip Hammond said he "can't envisage" breaking ranks to campaign against European Union membership if David Cameron secures a renegotiation deal.

The Foreign Secretary - who has previously said he would back "Brexit" if the relationship is not changed - said he would not take advantage of the Prime Minister's decision to free Cabinet ministers from collective responsibility.

"Our first challenge is to get the right deal, and we are making good progress on that," he told BBC Radio 4's Today after Mr Cameron expressed confidence of securing backing for welfare curbs on the latest leg of an intense diplomatic tour.

"It is a painstaking task because we've got 27 partners to bring along with us.

"Then the Government will make a decision about whether it can make a recommendation to the British people on the back of that deal to support Britain's continued membership of the European Union.

"I can't envisage us negotiating a deal which the Prime Minister thinks is good enough to recommend to the British people and which I feel I want to campaign against. I can't envisage that circumstance."

The PM insisted on Thursday that he still hopes to complete his EU membership renegotiation next month after his Hungarian counterpart said he was "sure" British concerns about benefits abuses could be accommodated.

At a joint press conference after talks in Budapest, Viktor Orban sharply denied that Hungarians were "parasites" on the UK taxpayer.

But he said he recognised anxiety over "abuse" of Britain's welfare system, and expressed confidence that the V4 - Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia - would agree to a solution.

The comments will have encouraged the Prime Minister at the end of another gruelling diplomatic offensive which saw him meet Angela Merkel in Bavaria on Wednesday evening before heading for Budapest.

Mr Cameron said his proposal of a four-year ban on migrants claiming in-work benefits - viewed as the most difficult part of the reform package - was still "on the table" although he reiterated that he was ready to listen to alternatives.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Orban avoided addressing the specific proposal and said he would not accept any "discriminatory" measures.

But he added: "I think we will be able to agree ... "I am sure we are going to be able to find a solution that is going to be suitable for the Hungarian employees."

He said: "The abuses that are seen in social benefits systems have to be eliminated. I made clear that the Hungarian government does not support any abuses at all."

The Daily Telegraph reported that EU leaders were offering Mr Cameron a deal that would see the ban extended to 18 to 22-year-old British workers but allow the impact on them to be mitigated through other payments.

A Downing Street source said: "There's been lots of noise and speculation around our renegotiation in recent months - and this is just the latest example."

Mr Cameron says the Government will make a "clear recommendation" on whether the UK should stay in the 28-nation bloc or leave, following the conclusion of the renegotiation of the terms of its membership.

But he told MPs that it would be open for individual ministers to oppose this recommendation without quitting their Government posts, in a significant departure from the usual principle of collective responsibility.

The move has thrown a spotlight on senior Tories such as Home Secretary Theresa May, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, Leader of the Commons Chris Grayling and London Mayor Boris Johnson, who will face increased pressure to declare which way they will vote.
Philip Hammond said exported British arms were being deployed by the Saudis in Yemen (AP)

The UK Foreign Secretary has been accused of parroting Saudi Arabian propaganda after he refused to condemn the mass execution of 47 people in the conservative kingdom.

The government says it has expressed its disappointment at the killings, which included a prominent Shia cleric and sparked a diplomatic fallout across the Middle East.

Appearing on the BBC's Today programme, Philip Hammond was asked if Britain was willing to be more robust in denouncing the actions of its ally.

But he instead preferred to point to the fact that Iran executes far more people than Saudi Arabia does, and said: Let us be clear, first of all, that these people were convicted terrorists.

According to rights groups, at least four of the 47 were arrested and killed in relation to political protests, including Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr himself.

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But when this was put to Mr Hammond, he suggested there was no point objecting to all Saudi executions because Sharia law calls for the use of the death penalty and however much we lobby countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran they are not going to end its use.

The Foreign Secretary also revealed that he spoke to his Saudi Arabian counterpart in December about reports in this newspaper and others that a mass execution was about to take place. I urged him that they should not go ahead, he said, but to no avail.

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Human rights groups said it was appalling that Mr Hammond refused to go beyond the standard assertion that the UK does not support the death penalty under any circumstances.

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Maya Foa, head of the death penalty team at Reprieve, said the minister appeared to be alarmingly misinformed about the mass executions, repeating the Saudi crown princes line from an interview with the Economist where he described all those killed as terrorists.

By refusing to condemn these executions and parroting the Saudis propaganda, labelling those killed as 'terrorists', Mr Hammond is coming dangerously close to condoning Saudi Arabias approach.

David Mepham, the UK director of Human Rights Watch, told the Huffington Post that British policy on Saudi Arabia has reached a new low.

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It is appalling that Phillip Hammond refused to condemn the mass beheadings that took place in Saudi on January 2, including the execution of the prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Yet pressed on the case in this mornings BBC interview, the Foreign Secretary chose not to criticise Saudi executions but rather to contextualise, explain and seemingly excuse them.

Reprieve said its figures showed that of the 158 people killed by the Saudi state in 2015, 72 per cent were convicted of non-lethal offenses such as political protest or drug-related crimes.

It added that, despite Mr Hammonds welcome lobbying on their behalves, three juvenile offenders  Ali al-Nimr, Dawoud al Marhoon and Abdullah al-Zaher  remain on death row and could be executed at any time.

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Scotland has seen serious flooding in the past days, including on the A93 north of Blairgowrie

Members of the emergency services wade along Canal Road in Port Elphinstone, near Aberdeen

Flooded houses at Port Elphinstone, near Aberdeen, after the River Don burst its banks

Britain is bracing itself for more severe weather after snow and heavy rain brought disruption to parts of the country.

Police Scotland declared a "major incident" as dozens of homes were evacuated in Aberdeenshire when the swollen River Don burst its banks.

Water also spilled from the River Ythan as emergency services mounted an operation to rescue residents.

Up to 6cm of snow fell in Northumberland, while a number of roads were blocked and vehicles became stranded because of snow in southern Scotland.

Forecasters said a cold air mass across northern Britain had brought the risk of icy conditions over the weekend.

The Met Office has issued yellow "be aware" warnings for ice and rain across Scotland and northern England on Saturday, with heavy showers also expected in South Wales.

The Environment Agency (EA) said more rain forecast over the weekend had brought the risk of further floods to parts of northern England which are already drenched from severe storms in recent weeks.

Parts of the River Severn in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire are also at risk, the EA said, with flood barriers still in place at Bewdley in Worcestershire and Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

Twenty flood warnings, meaning immediate action is required, and 107 flood alerts were in place across England and Wales.

Jonathan Day, the EA's flood risk manager, said: "Our focus is on offering ongoing support to those communities that are still dealing with the terrible impacts of flooding as we continue with our recovery and repair work.

"With more rain expected this weekend after a December that was the wettest month on record we are asking people to remain vigilant as, with the ground saturated and river levels still high, even normal amounts of rain can cause a flood risk."

With the Met Office three-month forecast suggesting that colder weather could linger until March, forecaster Rebecca Simpson said temperatures could fall to minus 4C in parts of Scotland next week.

"We'll see a shift in the northerly air flow, bringing cold air down from the North," she said. "Quite a few places will see frosty mornings."

Scottish Borders Council said the heavy fall of snow had been a " significant event".

Emergency planning officer Jim Fraser said: "The weather warning in place was for the medium likelihood of low impact, however the impact we experienced was much greater than this."

Chief Inspector Andy McLean, Police Scotland's local area commander, said: "Given the warning for ice, we are continuing to urge residents to take extreme care when out and about.

"Motorists should continue to drive to the conditions and maintain safe stopping distances, bearing in mind that in snow or ice these are significantly greater than in the dry."
Astronaut Tim Peake endured yet more problems contacting home after a link-up with a school had to be aborted part-way through.

The British space pioneer was trying to speak to pupils at Sandringham School in St Albans, Hertfordshire, via amateur radio from the International Space Station (ISS).

The call got off to a slow start due to problems connecting with the ISS.

Pupils were eventually able to ask five questions - ranging from queries about liquid hydrogen and molecular forces to whether a helium balloon rises in space - before the seven-minute call was terminated.

The communication, though truncated, meant Sandringham was the first school to make live contact with a British astronaut and the ISS.

But it was the latest in a series of communications mishaps for the celebrated astronaut, who accidentally dialled the wrong number when he attempted to phone home at Christmas.

Major Peake ended up speaking to a complete stranger, greeting her with the message "Hello, is this planet Earth?" before discovering the recipient was not who he intended.

A week earlier, and shortly after take-off from Kazakhstan, Major Peake had to leave a voicemail message for his parents when he called while they were out.

Major Peake's work in space has won over a new army of fans since his launch last month.

He has recorded a message to the Queen and performed somersaults during a New Year broadcast.

The 43-year-old former Army Air Corps officer and helicopter test pilot is the first Briton aboard the ISS and the first fully British professional astronaut employed by a space agency.

Previous "Brits in space" have either had US or dual citizenship or been on privately-funded or sponsored trips.

Major Peake is due to take part in his first space walk next week on January 15 to repair a power unit on the outside. The operation is expected to last around six hours.

He arrived at the ISS on December 15.
Three men have been arrested after Jewish shoppers were reportedly pelted with gas canisters and had "Hitler is on the way" shouted at them.

The anti-Semitic incident is alleged to have happened at Tottenham Hale Retail Park, north London, at around 7.45pm on Wednesday, while the suspects were in a pick-up truck.

Jewish neighbourhood watch group Shomrim said they had been contacted by one of the victims who claimed a man in the truck also shouted "Heil Hitler", according to reports.

Scotland Yard said a 24-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of a religiously aggravated public order offence.

It was later confirmed they had also arrested a 22-year-old man and an 18-year-old man accused of the same offence.

All three suspects came forward to the police and remain in custody, the force said.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the police on 101 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Lab results have confirmed several cases as definitely Lassa fever

Nigerians are being urged by the country's health minister not to panic over an outbreak of an organ-attacking fever that has killed 35 people in the past six weeks.

Dr Isaac Adewole said the government is containing the outbreak of Lassa fever, a haemorrhage-inducing fever caused by a virus commonly borne by vermin.

Lassa fever is confined to West Africa, where the affliction thrives amid poor sanitation and crowded living conditions.

Dr Adewole said doctors had identified 81 suspected cases since mid-November, with lab results confirming 17 cases as definitely Lassa fever.

The disease is named after a Nigerian town where it was first identified in 1969.

It manifests similar symptoms to Ebola, ranging from headaches and sore throats to vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding from all orifices. Like Ebola, suspected Lassa cases require health workers to wear protective clothing and patients to be isolated.

While the World Health Organisation estimates that only about 1% of people who contract Lassa die from the pathogen, Dr Adewole's figures put Nigeria's recent fatality rate at 43%.

Dr Adewole said the government has deployed rapid response teams to 10 Nigerian states hit by the outbreak, distributed the ribavirin antiviral drug used to treat Lassa, and advised the public to ensure they store food in containers that rats cannot access.
President Barack Obama tore into the nation's largest gun lobby accusing it of peddling an "imaginary fiction" that has distorted the debate about firearms violence.

In a primetime, televised forum, the president dismissed what he called a "conspiracy" alleging that the government - and Mr Obama in particular - wants to seize all firearms as a precursor to imposing martial law.

He blamed the notion on the National Rifle Association (NRA) and like-minded groups that convince its members that "somebody's going to come grab your guns".

Mr Obama said: " Yes, that is a conspiracy. I'm only going to be here for another year. When would I have started on this enterprise?"

He defended his support for the constitutional right to gun ownership while arguing it was consistent with his efforts to curb violence and mass shootings.

He said the NRA was refusing to acknowledge the government's responsibility to make legal products safer, citing seatbelts and child-proof medicine bottles as examples.

Mr Obama, taking the stage at George Mason University in Virginia, said he has always been willing to meet the NRA.

He said the NRA was invited to the forum but declined to participate. Several NRA members were in the audience for the event, which was organised and hosted by CNN.

"There's a reason why the NRA's not here. They're just down the street," Mr Obama said, referring to the group's nearby headquarters.

"Since this is a main reason they exist, you'd think that they'd be prepared to have a debate with the president."

The White House portrays the NRA, the nation's largest gun group, as possessing a disproportionate influence over politicians that has prevented new gun laws despite polls that show broad support for measures like universal background checks.

Last year, following a series of mass shootings, Obama pledged to "politicise" the issue in an attempt to level the playing field for gun control supporters.

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said before the event that the group saw "no reason to participate in a public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House".

The American Firearms Retailers Association, another lobby group, did participate. Asked how business had been since Mr Obama took office, Kris Jacob replied: "It's been busy."

He added: "There's a very serious concern in this country about personal security."

Mr Obama's actions on guns have drawn major attention in the presidential campaign, with the Democratic candidates backing him and the Republicans unanimously voicing opposition.

Donald Trump, addressing a rally in Vermont, said he would eliminate gun-free zones in schools on his first day if elected to the White House.

The Republican frontrunner told the crowd: "You know what a gun-free zone is for a sicko? That's bait."

Mr Obama's attack on the NRA came two days after unveiling a package aimed at keeping guns from people who should not have them.

The centrepiece is new guidance that seeks to clarify who is "in the business" of selling firearms, triggering a requirement to get a licence and conduct background checks on all prospective buyers.
Doctors, nurses and patients had to run for their lives after bulldozers moved in unexpectedly to demolish part of a hospital in central China in a local government row.

Six bodies being processed at an adjoining morgue at the hospital in Zhengzhou city, Henan province, were buried under rubble.

Hospital officials accused the local government of ordering demolition work after failing to get the hospital to agree to it for a road expansion project, said Xinhua News Agency.

But the Huiji District Government Information Office said they had asked the hospital in vain to demolish the CT room and morgue itself.

They denied claims that there were people inside the buildings when bulldozers started work and said there had been no casualties.

The No 4 Hospital of Zhengzhou University said the unexpected demolition work on Thursday buried six bodies stored in the morgue, caused nearly 20 million yuan (2m) worth of damage to medical equipment and injured several hospital staff, according to Xinhua.

"Burying the remains of patients is enormously disrespectful to the dead," the hospital's deputy propaganda chief, Zhang Yuan, said. "I never imagined anything like this would ever happen."
GRAND FORKS -- Officials at the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University are downplaying new rankings showing the two schools on the same level for research activity, saying the data are irrelevant or are not a good a measure of research.

The last time the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education released rankings was in 2010. At that time, UND was ranked in the second-highest research university category, while North Dakota State University was in the top category. The rankings released this year are still preliminary but show UND was static while NDSU dropped down one notch to join UND.

"The rankings generally aren't important to universities, quite frankly," UND Provost Thomas DiLorenzo said. "It doesn't matter."

According to its website, Carnegie Classifications rank Title IV, accredited universities by research activity and productivity using several factors from the National Center for Education Statistics, but the methodology and titles awarded to universities have changed over time.

Instead of rankings -- regardless of the group that publishes them -- DiLorenzo said his focus is on institutional goals.

"It's what we're doing, who we're serving and how we fit in the state," he said. "Those are the important things, but others have tried to pigeonhole us, ... and it just isn't helpful."

Grant McGimpsey, UND's Vice President of Research and Economic Development, said the ranking doesn't mean much to him either.

"Certainly, it can be an indicator of overall quality, particularly with research reputation and the impact of its research, but it's not a perfect overall indicator of that," he said.

NDSU spokeswoman Sadie Rudolph said in an email that the university is not commenting on the findings as they are not final, noting Carnegie had changed methodology since 2010 and the school's research productivity "continues on a steady annual record-breaking trajectory."

The rankings weren't irrelevant two years ago when former North Dakota University System Interim Chancellor Larry Skogen based his pay increase proposal for university presidents in the state off the classifications, assuming new classifications would be released in 2015.

NDSU also lists the rankings on the "about" section of its website, which states the school is, "in the elite category of 'Research Universities/Very High Research Activity,' with several programs ranked in the Top 100 by the National Science Foundation."

McGimpsey said when it comes to research at UND, what matters more than a ranking is the impact, quantity and quality of what's being done.

But according to reports released annually by UND, the school's economic impact of research in sponsored program expenditures has been steadily decreasing for the last three years, from $103.8 million in fiscal year 2013 to $97.4 million in fiscal year 2015.

McGimpsey said that dollar figure measures pledged money from the federal government that has, in a sense, already been spent because it's tied to specific projects.

Awards for sponsored research activities, which McGimpsey described as money given to the university that hadn't been used yet, have increased in that same time period from $96.6 million to $105.4 million.

"Awards are forward-looking and expenditures are backward-looking, so there is a lag there," he said.

McGimpsey pointed to the 2013 government shutdown as part of the explanation as to why research expenditures had dipped not only at UND but across the country in recent years. He said the brief shutdown caused delays awarding grant funding.

"Federal agencies saw decreased budgets and were passing that on to universities," he said.

McGimpsey said UND's budding engineering and unmanned aerial systems programs at UND show the positive impact research at the school is having.

"That's really the only way I'd want to measure our quality; how we're affecting North Dakotans and, more broadly, the country and the world," he said.

During his State of the University address in February, UND President Robert Kelley set a goal of reaching $125 million in research expenditures by 2020, which he said would increase the Carnegie Classification.

UND spokesman Peter Johnson and DiLorenzo both acknowledged Kelley had said that, but DiLorenzo clarified the desired outcome had nothing to do with the Carnegie title.

"It's not the rankings, it's the goal," he said. "We can and should be doing better in that area, in not only the federal dollars we get but the economic development."

Johnson said that meeting the goal could increase UND's ranking, but the focus is on meeting benchmarks, whether they coincide with the Carnegie Classifications or not.

For more information on institutional rankings, go to carnegieclassifications.iu.edu.
Police spokesman Christoph Gilles speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Cologne, Germany (AP)

Police officers patrol in front of the main station of Cologne, Germany, on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. More women have come forward alleging they were sexually assaulted and robbed during New Years celebrations in the German city of Cologne, as police faced mounting criticism for their handling of the incident. (AP Photo/Hermann J. Knippertz)

A leaked German police report on the Cologne New Years Eve sex attacks has revealed chaos beyond description.

Scores of women say they were sexually assaulted and mugged by groups of men largely of Arab and north African appearance during the city's New Year celebrations.

Outnumbered officers describe in the report - published widely in German media - how women had to run through mobs of drunken men who attacked them, an experience likened to "running the gauntlet".

Federal units were met by "anxious citizens with crying and shocked children" when they arrived at Cologne's main railway station on New Year's Eve.

Police managed to clear the square, but struggled to cope with the large number of violent men, said an unidentified senior federal police officer.

"In the course of the operation numerous crying and shocked women/girls approached officers and told them of sexual assaults by male migrants/groups. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to identify them any more," it said.

"Unaccompanied and accompanied women had to literally 'run the gauntlet' of very drunk men."

The officer, said to have been in the job for 29 years, describes how "several thousand male persons with a migrant background" hurled fireworks and bottles into the crowds of revellers who had gathered in front of the city's cathedral to celebrate the new year.

Police have now received 121 criminal complaints alleging sexual assault and robbery on the night, including two accounts of rape.

Witness accounts describing the string of sexual assaults have sparked a heated debate in Germany about migration and the police's failure to prevent the mayhem.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Germany must examine whether it has done enough to deport foreigners who commit crimes, after police said the perpetrators of the attack were of "Arab or North African origin".

A man claiming to be an asylum seeker is quoted in the report as saying: Im Syrian, you have to treat me nicely! Angela Merkel invited me.

While officials have cautioned against casting suspicion on migrants in general, the attacks have been seized on by some opponents of Germany's welcoming stance toward those fleeing conflict after the country registered nearly 1.1 million asylum-seekers last year.

"We must examine again and again whether we have already done what is necessary in terms of... deportations from Germany in order to send clear signals to those who are not prepared to abide by our legal order," Ms Merkel said.

She described the assaults as "repugnant criminal acts that... Germany will not accept", and said changes to the law and increasing police presence may be examined.

"The feeling women had in this case of being at people's mercy, without any protection, is intolerable for me personally as well," she said. "And so it is important for everything that happened there to be put on the table."

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Federal police declined to comment on the internal report.

The scale of the attacks has prompted calls for tougher rules on criminal foreigners. Germany's justice minister said asylum-seekers could be deported if they are found to have participated in the assaults.

Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in an interview with the Funke newspaper group that the law already allows for people to be deported during asylum proceedings if they are sentenced to a year or more in prison.

"The courts will have to decide on the level of sentences, but that penalty is in principle absolutely possible for sexual offences," he said.

They said investigators working with video footage have identified 16 young men - largely of North African origin - who may be suspects and are working to determine whether they committed any crimes. Authorities do not yet have names for most of the men.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Wednesday that "anyone who commits serious crimes, whatever status he is in, must reckon with being deported from Germany".

"If it turns out that refugees were the perpetrators, then they forfeited their right to be guests," Andreas Scheuer, the general secretary of the conservative Christian Social Union - the smallest party in Ms Merkel's coalition government - was quoted as telling Bild.

Responding to widespread criticism of the police's handling of the incident, Cologne's police chief Wolfgang Albers said he would report to the regional government on what happened but would not publicly give further details before a meeting Monday of the state legislature's home affairs committee.
A great white shark has died after barely three days in an aquarium in Okinawa

A great white shark has died after barely three days in a Japanese aquarium.

The 11ft 6in (3.5m) shark, which was accidentally caught in a net in south-western Japan on Tuesday, died early on Friday, according to Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. The cause of death was under investigation.

Keeping a great white shark in captivity is extremely difficult as it needs to swim constantly to get oxygen and maintain its body temperature.

An official for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) Asia criticised keeping the shark in captivity as "cruel and wrong".

"The cause of death is clear: captivity. The shark never had to die like this," said Jason Baker, Peta's vice president of international campaigns.

Aquarium researcher Keiichi Sato said the aquarium abides by Japanese and international laws and believes its efforts contribute to education and science.

"Many visitors had asked us to exhibit the great white shark," he said in a telephone interview from Okinawa.

The aquarium had announced the rare successful exhibition of the species earlier this week.

The captured shark, a male, was relatively small, and had appeared to be doing well, swimming with several other sharks, but suddenly weakened and sank to the bottom of the tank.

Efforts to give it oxygen in a separate special tank failed. It had refused to eat any food since being caught.
Fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been recaptured six months after he escaped from a maximum security prison, Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto announced.

A federal official said Guzman was apprehended after a shootout with Mexican marines in the city of Los Mochis, in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa. He said Guzman was taken alive and was not wounded.

Responding to what was seen as one of the biggest embarrassments of his administration - Guzman's July 11 escape through a tunnel from Mexico's highest-security prison - Mr Pena Nieto wrote in his Twitter account: "Mission accomplished: we have him."

"I would like to inform Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been detained."

Five people were killed and one Mexican marine wounded in the clash. It was unclear if Guzman was captured at the house or nearby when the raid was under way.

Another law enforcement official said authorities located Guzman several days ago, based on reports he was in Los Mochis.

The official said authorities had even searched storm drains in the area. In 2014, Guzman escaped arrest by fleeing through a network of interconnected tunnels in the city's drainage system in the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan.

The Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines acting on a tip raided a home in the town of Los Mochis before dawn. They were fired on from inside the structure. Five suspects were killed and six others arrested. The marine's injuries were not life threatening.

At the home marines seized two armoured vehicles, eight rifles, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Photos of the arms seized in the raid suggested that Guzman and his associates had a fearsome arsenal at the nondescript white house.

Two of the rifles seized were.50-calibre sniper guns, capable of penetrating most bullet-proof vests and cars. The grenade launcher was found loaded, with an extra round nearby. And an assault rifle had a .40 mm grenade launcher, and at least one grenade.

Some in Mexico had doubted Guzman would allow himself to be captured alive, and others doubted that Mexico - given the successive embarrassments of his two escapes from prison - would want to hold him again in a Mexican prison.

"Many people had doubted he could be recaptured," said Mexican security analyst Raul Benitez. "It is a big success for the government."

The United States filed requests for extradition for Guzman on June 25, before he escaped. In September, a judge issued a second provisional arrest warrant on US charges of organised crime, money laundering drug trafficking, homicide and others.

Former Mexican attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam had bragged earlier that Mexico wouldn't extradite Guzman until he had served his sentences in Mexico.

Mr Benitez said such bragging "makes me ashamed".

"It would be better for the Americans to take him away," he said.
The wildfires in Western Australia state are blazing out of control

Wildfires blazing out of control in Western Australia state have destroyed around 95 homes in a single town and continue to threaten other communities.

Three people were unaccounted for and four firefighters had suffered minor injuries while tackling the blazes that had scorched 50,000 hectares of woods and farmland since they were ignited by lightning strikes on Wednesday, fire and emergency services commissioner Wayne Gregson said.

People are often reported unaccounted for while evacuating from fire zones but usually turn up later unharmed.

The town of Yarloop, 80 miles from Perth, lost 95 homes - about one third of its dwellings - as the fire front hit on Thursday, Mr Gregson said.

"The fire continues to be uncontained and out of control," He told reporters in Perth.

Hundreds of people left their homes for evacuation centres while 150 fire trucks supported by water bombers fought the blaze, he said.

Destructive wildfires are common across much of Australia during the southern hemisphere summer.

In 2009, wildfires killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes in Victoria state.
A Brussels apartment was probably used to make bombs for the Paris attacks and one of the plotters also hid out there after escaping a police dragnet, Belgian prosecutors have said.

The prosecutors said they found Salah Abdeslam's fingerprint in a search of the apartment on December 10, but would not say why they waited a month to announce it.

The search also turned up three suspected suicide belts, traces of the same explosive used in the November 13 attacks that killed 130 people and other material that could be used to manufacture bombs, according to the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office.

The third-floor apartment was probably used as a hideout after Abdeslam fled the attacks, federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said.

Abdeslam, who is still at large, called for two friends to pick him up amid the bloodshed and chaos that night that left 130 people dead and hundreds injured.

"We found material to make explosives, we found traces of explosives and we found three belts. So you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to make the right deduction," Mr Van der Sypt told the Associated Press.

Abdeslam is believed to have played a key logistical role in the Paris attacks. A French gendarme stopped him and his two friends in their car near the border but released them. The friends are among 10 people arrested in Belgium in connection with the attacks.

Authorities now believe Abdeslam returned to the apartment, was eventually picked up by someone else "and we lost trace", Mr Van der Sypt said.

The apartment in the Schaerbeek neighbourhood of Brussels had been rented under a false identity that may have been used by one of those who are now under arrest.

The three handmade belts discovered in the search at Rue Berge in Schaerbeek "could have been intended for the transport of explosives", the prosecutor's office said. Traces of the highly volatile TATP, which was packed into the suicide vests in November, as well as other material that could be used to manufacture explosives were also detected.

The November 13 attacks marked the height of a violent year for France that began with a January 7 assault on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper.

Paris was again jolted on Thursday when a man wearing a fake explosives vest and wielding a butcher's knife ran up to a police station and was shot dead by officers standing guard.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said investigators are unsure of the man's true identity.

Mr Molins told France-Inter radio that the assailant carried a paper marked with the Muslim declaration of faith, an emblem of the Islamic State group and his name, and gave his nationality as Tunisian. Mr Molins said he also had a phone with a German SIM card.

Stopped for a minor theft in 2013 in France's south, the man had identified himself as Ali Sallah and gave his nationality as Moroccan.

IS extremists have claimed responsibility for the January 2015 and November 13 attacks in Paris.
Armed police take up positions after an attempted attack on a police station in Paris (AP)

Investigators are still trying to verify the true identity of the man who tried to attack a Paris police station with a butcher's knife and a fake explosives vest.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told France-Inter radio that the assailant shot dead on Thursday, the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, carried a paper marked with the Muslim declaration of faith, an emblem of the Islamic State group, his name, and gave his nationality as Tunisian.

Mr Molins said he also had a phone with a German SIM card.

Stopped for a minor theft in 2013 in France's south, the man had identified himself as Ali Sallah and gave his nationality as Moroccan.

The man at the police station is believed to have cried out "Allahu akbar", Arabic for "God is great".

Fr ance has been under a state of emergency since a series of attacks claimed by the Islamic State group killed 130 people in Paris on November 13, and tensions increased this week as the anniversary of the January attacks approached. Soldiers were posted in front of schools and security forces were even more present than usual amid a series of tributes to the dead.

Officials said the man shot dead on Thursday threatened officers at the entrance of a police station near the Montmartre neighbourhood, home to the Sacre Coeur Cathedral.

Just moments before, French President Francois Hollande, speaking in a different location, had paid respects to officers fallen in the line of duty. He also said that a "terrorist threat" would continue to weigh on France.

The government has announced new measures extending police powers to allow officers to use their weapons to "neutralise someone who has just committed one or several murders and is likely to repeat these crimes".

At 11.35am on January 7 2015, two French-born brothers killed 11 people at the building where Charlie Hebdo operated, as well as a Muslim policeman outside. Over the next two days, an accomplice shot and killed a policewoman and then stormed a kosher supermarket, killing four hostages. A total of 17 people died, as did all three gunmen.

Following the January attacks, the government announced it planned to give police better equipment and hire more intelligence agents.
An Arab gunman who shot dead three Israelis in Tel Aviv last week has been killed in a shootout with police, following a massive manhunt that put Israelis on edge while the killer was on the loose.

The gunman "was found in a building" on Friday, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

He came out shooting at the special forces and "was then shot and killed", she added.

The gunman was identified earlier as Nashat Milhem, an Arab from northern Israel.

He opened fire at a bar on a busy street in Tel Aviv last Friday, killing two people and wounding several others. He later also shot and killed an Arab taxi driver.

The incident came amid more than three months of near-daily Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Ms Samri said Milhem had opened fire at the police with the same gun he used in the attacks in Tel Aviv.

Milhem was found near the Arab village of Arara in northern Israel where he is from, police said.

Hakim Younis told Channel 10 TV that he witnessed some of the incident from his home.

"I was sitting on my balcony with my cousin ... when suddenly shooting began, hundreds of bullets, like in a war," Mr Younis said, adding that he then went inside and did not see anything further.

Israelis are used to quickly resuming their daily routines following attacks because assailants are usually swiftly captured or killed. But the Tel Aviv shootings left Israelis jittery because Milhem, who was considered armed and dangerous, was on the loose for a week.

Milhelm's relatives had said he was "traumatised" 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-defence.

Milhelm 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 neighbourhood where he worked as a grocery shop delivery man as being well-liked and trusted.

Israeli Arabs, who make up a fifth of the country's 8.4 million people, enjoy full rights but have long complained of unfair treatment in areas such as housing and employment opportunities. Many identify more with their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and Gaza and with Palestinian nationalism rather than with Israel.

The near-daily Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers have killed 21 Israelis, mostly in stabbings, shootings and car-ramming assaults. At least 134 Palestinians died by Israeli fire, including 93 said by Israel to be attackers. The rest were killed in clashes with troops. These figures do not include Milhelm's victims.
A Thai cosmetics company has quickly pulled a video in which an actress wears blackface and promotes a skin-whitener with the slogan: "You just need to be white to win."

The retraction did little, however, to stem a debate the ad ignited about the regularity of racist advertisements in the South East Asian country.

The online ad for the new product called Snowz featured porcelain-skinned Thai film star Cris Horwang talking about being an ageing actress in a competitive industry.

"If I stopped looking after myself, everything that I have worked for - all the investment I have made to keep myself white - would disappear," says the 35-year-old actress. "New stars would replace me, I would fade away."

As she speaks, a smiling, younger woman enters the picture and Cris's own image darkens to charcoal black.

A male voice says: "You just need to be white to win."

A tirade of criticism erupted after the video was launched online on Thursday. Online commentators labelled the ad as racist and ignorant, while some heaped criticism on the actress for accepting the job. Others called it a strategic way to attract wide attention and boost sales.

"Ewwwwwww," was the reaction of 28-year-old Jutamas Tritaruyanon, one of many to post their disapproval on Facebook.

"This ad is so obviously racist and another attempt to brainwash Thai women," Jutamas, a Bangkok-based office worker, said. "They're saying that being dark is ugly. It's a narrow-minded and disgusting attitude."

The Thai cosmetics company Seoul Secret issued a "heartfelt apology" in a statement on Friday, saying it had pulled the video clip and related advertisements.

"Our company did not have any intention to convey discriminatory or racist messages," the statement posted on its Facebook page said. "What we intended to convey was that self-improvement in terms of personality, appearance, skills and professionalism is crucial."

The ad is not the first to use racial stereotypes in Thailand, where beauty is often characterised as fair and delicate. Darker skin is often associated with rural lower-class Thais, and the country has an enormous industry in skin-whitening products and cosmetic clinics to help customers emulate the porcelain complexions of the Bangkok elite.

TV adverts for skin-whitening products regularly promote the idea that white is beautiful.

In 2013, the Dunkin' Donuts franchise in Thailand used a female model in blackface make-up to promote a chocolate doughnut. The company's chief executive in Thailand initially dismissed complaints about racism, but the US parent company quickly apologised and pulled the ad.
In 1949, Sen. Joseph McCarthy arrived in Columbus, Ohio, to make a speech but within an hour allegedly was shooting craps. "It was a disgusting sight," according to a source, "to see this great public servant down on his hands and knees, reeking of whiskey and shouting, 'Come on babies, Papa needs a new pair of shoes.'" What Papa really needed was a kick in the butt.

That kick  being censured  was administered in 1954. The Senate had finally had enough of McCarthy. He was a liar and a demagogue, a concocter of evidence and an abuser of witnesses, but what probably mattered most to many of his colleagues is that he was rude to them. Three years after he was censured, McCarthy was dead, leaving a widow, a child and an unsavory term: McCarthyism. Even that, though, is in danger. Trumpism may trump it.

Donald Trump is not quite yet ready to fill McCarthy's boots. He has the late senator's gift for exaggeration and self-worship, and he needs the spotlight the way a vampire needs blood. But he holds no public office, least of all a Senate seat. He commands no committee, the way McCarthy did the one that investigated the Army. He cannot subpoena and he cannot compel testimony and he does not have access to FBI and other confidential files that can be used to destroy careers and reputations. All this is something to shoot for.

As with McCarthy, Trump has his reluctant defenders. On TV and elsewhere, they acknowledge that he goes too far. They concede he says ugly things about women  that crack about Carly Fiorina, the swipe he took at Megyn Kelly and, of course, his juvenile remark about Hillary Clinton's restroom break  but they let that go. They concede also that he probably should not have called Mexican immigrants "rapists" and stated that the Mexican government was sending them north of the border just to get rid of riffraff.

They admit also that Trump's crack about John McCain not being a hero was really despicable but then, as Trump himself pointed out, he had attended a military prep school so he knew something about war and torture. He was probably required to make his bed first thing in the morning  and that, as you can imagine, is sheer hell.

It was the same with Muslims. Here, too, it is conceded that he went too far. His proposal to bar entry to any of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims is impractical. He would have to include almost all Indonesians, not to mention the occasional Saudi billionaire. So, who is going to stop everyone at the airport and ask them to prove they are not Muslim? (Are you now or have you ever been a Muslim?) I foresee some problems.

But as with McCarthy, Trump's apologists insist he has put his finger on major problems. With McCarthy, it was particularly the number of alleged communists in the government who were supposedly doing the bidding of the Soviet Union. McCarthy was buttressed in his claims by the occasional real spy that was caught and by the support of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, whose files were fodder for right-wing journalists. In actual fact, there was no domestic communist menace. By the end of World War II, there was no domestic communist party to speak of.

It is similar with Trump. What I hear is robust condemnation of him followed almost instantly by a whispered assertion that he is on to something. Maybe so. Our immigration laws are broken and need to be fixed. There is an Islamic threat, but it comes from sociopathic radicals, not from the vast Muslim community.

McCarthy's contempt for the truth was evident from his earliest days in public office. Yet countless Republicans thought he could be useful and, besides, he raged against the political correctness of his day. His defenders insisted he said what needed to be said. Never mind the exaggerations and the lies. He supposedly spoke a greater truth.

Trump's constituency, we are told, is primarily composed of white males who top out at a high-school diploma. But recently I've been talking to people who have advanced degrees, some of them female. They all, to a person, condemn him, but then the other shoe drops  the one about you have to give him credit for assailing PC.

We've been this way before. But this time, instead of a demagogue on his knees shooting craps, we've got one who owned the tables in Atlantic City.

(Richard Cohen writes for the Washington Post. His syndicated column appears Fridays.)
Two suspected militants have stabbed and wounded three foreign tourists at a hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Hurghada.

Security forces opened fire at the two assailants, killing one and seriously wounding the other, the Interior Ministry said.

It said two men armed with knives had entered the hotel's outdoor restaurant at the front of the building and attacked the tourists.

All three wounded tourists, two Austrians and a Swede, were taken to hospital, where one was treated and discharged, the statement said. There was no word on the condition of the other two.

Security officials had initially said the attackers wounded two tourists, a Dane and a German, but such discrepancies are common in the immediate aftermath of terror attacks.

The attack came just hours after the local affiliate of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack a day earlier on a hotel in Cairo near the Giza Pyramids. No one was hurt in the Thursday attack.

Egypt has been battling an insurgency by Islamic militants led by the Islamic State's affiliate. The insurgency has been focused in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula but has frequently spilled over into the mainland since the ousting in 2013 of the Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

The Hurghada attack is a dangerous precedent since Egypt's Red Sea resorts have done better than elsewhere in the country in withering the slump suffered by the vital tourism sector in the five years of turmoil since a popular uprising toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Thursday's attack was also significant in that it targeted a hotel in Cairo, a heavily policed city, at a time when security appeared to improve in recent months after a series of disruptive bomb attacks.

Egypt's tourist industry was decimated after the downing of a Russian passenger plane over Sinai in October. The local Islamic State affiliate has claimed it downed the aircraft with a bomb. All 224 people on board were killed in the crash, mostly Russian tourists.
As we all know, the health service is in a disastrous state but there are some initiatives which could - and should - be implemented.

1: The chief medical officer is also the chief executive of the Belfast Trust. This is the largest trust in Northern Ireland and the one with the most pressing needs. This is a conflict of interests and must not continue.

2: All consultants who are currently working part-time for the health service and are doing extremely well-paid private work during the rest of the week should stop this practice until the waiting lists for which they are responsible come down. This particularly affects orthopaedic surgery, cardiac services and gastroenterology.

3: Nurses and doctors who are trained in Northern Ireland and whose tuition was heavily subsidised by the taxpayer should have to give five years work to the health service and then they can stay or go as they please.

4: The use of agency staff should stop as soon as is practicable and the money used to provide permanent positions.

5: All major hospitals should have a GP out-of-hours service, a minor injuries unit and a unit for people who are drunk - the latter funded by the drinks companies and staffed by doctors, nurses and security. This should ease the pressure on A&E units.

Our Health Minister has not shown any leadership, nor has he explained how he plans to tackle the problem.

All we get is him congratulating himself on achievements set in motion by his predecessors.

OBSERVER

Saintfield, Co Down
Some apps on the Apple App Store in China have been removed due to malware issues

Apple has bought a company that makes artificial intelligence technology that can read the expression on peoples faces.

Emotient is the latest in a run of companies focused on image and facial recognition. The deal could be part of the companys plans to build more artificial intelligence into iPhones and other hardware, apparently with the aim of allowing the software to tell what its user is thinking.

Apple added some artificial intelligence to its phones in iOS 9. That phone can guess at what its user is going to be looking for, and tries to show it on screen for easy access.

Its possible that the new acquisition is part of that push  allowing for the phone to tell how its owner is feeling and present them with a playlist of loud music if they are feeling angry, for instance.

The company has recently bought other like Faceshift which can analyse faces and Perceptio, which can spot what is in a picture using deep learning.

Apple is just one of a range of companies with interests in facial recognition, which also includes Google and Facebook. But the technology has proved controversial, and most companies dont turn it on in Europe because of fears that the EU will oppose it.

Apple confirmed the deal with its usual statement. The company buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans, it told the Wall Street Journal.

Independent
There are tens of thousands of secret codes that will give users full access to everything on Netflix.

The site usually requires users either to search for an exact title, or to flick through a few limited genres that the sites technology has guessed they might like.

But new websites show that there are codes that can give access to the full list of all of those genres, allowing people to choose from the various, very specific categories that the site offers.

The site has genre categories that are as precise as visually-striking films for ages 5 to 7. But they might otherwise never be seen, because Netflix only chooses a very limited number of those genres to display, based on what users have previously watched.

Those same genre pages can be accessed using the secret codes, however. Each of those pages is given its own ID  and sites on the internet document those various ID numbers so that they can be easily accessed.

Read More

Each of Netflixs genre pages exist at a specific idea. If you want the aforementioned spectacular films for young children, for instance, you can head to http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/2851  and those final four digits can be swapped for different IDs if you are looking for something else.

To find the specific pages, you can flick through the unofficial sites that exist online. One site called Ogres Crypt hosts a list of films by genre and sub-genre, as well as a more extended one, and a Google spreadsheet lists them in ascending order by their ID code.

Because the trick requires going to specific pages, it will only work on the website. That means that it isnt possible to do it on other hardware like an Apple TV, games console or smart television  though of course it is easy to find a film on a laptop and then search for it specifically on whatever other hardware you have.

Independent
The North Dakota Department of Emergency Services released some ideas last week regarding what suspicious activity might look like by a terrorist looking for a target.

The release pointed out that even though we have not had any credible threats of terrorism at this point it is smart to stay diligent to what the signs might be if someone is scoping out a target. Making this effort to increase awareness is definitely worthwhile.

Most of us who have spent the majority of our lives in North Dakota have the attitude that problems like terrorism are other-world problems and not ours. After all, why would terrorists want to bother us  were not significant like New York City or Washington, D.C.

Take another look: We have plenty of reasons to be concerned about possible terror attacks in our state. Prime targets include the Air Force bases in Minot and Grand Forks, Garrison Dam and oil country in western North Dakota.

The fact we have a 310-mile border with Canada, which is not guarded in nearly the same fashion as the southern U.S. borders, adds another factor to the need for awareness. As reported by Reuters on Nov. 24, 2015, the approximately 5,500-mile border between the U.S. and Canada is patrolled by about 2,200 Border Patrol agents, while the much shorter border with Mexico is patrolled by 18,000 agents.

There also are a lot of U.S. citizens concerned about Ottawas plan to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees in the near future. The fear there will be terrorist plants among them is legitimate.

The Tribune echoes the efforts of the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services to make people aware we should be alert to suspicious activity and that it's OK to report it to local law enforcement.

If you wish to review the eight signs to watch for you can find them on bismarcktribune.com (type anti-terrorism in Dakotas into the search box).

The national See Something, Say Something campaign reminds us to report suspicious activity to a local law enforcement agency and to describe specifically what you observed, including:

 Who or what you saw.

 When you saw it.

 Where it occurred.

 Why its suspicious.

This isnt going to be easy for North Dakotans who tend to mind their own business and not want to get involved.

The stakes are too big to look the other way. It's important to stay aware.
WASHINGTON  A North Dakota man was arrested Wednesday by U.S. Secret Service agents on weapons charges after law enforcement was alerted he was there with the intention of kidnapping the Obama familys pet dogs.

Scott Davy Stockert, 49, of Dickinson, told Secret Service agents he drove from Dickinson to Washington, D.C., alone in his Dodge Ram pickup truck. He brought with him a cache of weapons and ammunition, according to court documents.

He made a series of bizarre claims to the arresting agents, including that he was Jesus Christ -- which he said could be verified by his license -- that John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe were his parents, and that he planned to run for president. He said he was in Washington because he was going to the U.S. Capitol to advocate for $99 per month health care.

You picked the wrong person to mess with, Stockert told agents, according to the court documents. I will (expletive) your world up.

The Secret Services Minnesota Field Office had alerted law enforcement agencies that Stockert may be heading to Washington with the intention of kidnapping Bo and Sunny, President Barack Obamas two Portuguese water dogs.

Stockert made his first appearance Thursday in District of Columbia Superior Court after being charged with illegally carrying a rifle or shotgun outside a home or business, an offense under district law. He was arrested near a Hampton Inn on the 900 block of Sixth Street Northwest, where agents confronted him and found a 12-gauge pump shotgun and a bolt-action .22-caliber rifle, according to court documents. Stockert was not registered to own a gun and was arrested.

More than 350 rounds of ammunition able to be used with either the shotgun or rifle were found in the pickup, as well as an 18-inch billy club and a machete with a 12-inch blade, according to court documents. Also discovered were a 28-inch barrel and removable stock, both typically used for a shotgun.

During a preliminary hearing Friday, a judge found probable cause to move Stockerts case forward and ordered him to be released into a high-intensity supervision program pending a court date to be set later, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office in Washington.

The judge ordered Stockert to stay away from the White House, the U.S. Capitol building and surrounding areas while on release. He is also barred from possessing any real or imitation weapons.

Dickinson Police Sgt. Dave Wallace said Friday the department had been informed to be on the lookout for Stockert.

A public affairs officer from the U.S. Secret Service issued a release to The Press on Friday, stating this incident highlights the importance of our network of Field Offices throughout the United States in the performance of our Protective Intelligence mission and the coordination with our State and Local law enforcement partners.

The statement continued: Identifying and apprehending suspects who make threats toward our protectees, is often a coordinated effort between multiple jurisdictions in real time. The Secret Service stands ready to continue our mission for those we protect and the American people.

Stockert has a history of mental health and criminal issues.

More than 13 years ago, he was arrested in Los Angeles for illegally fleeing North Dakota with his two young children from a past marriage.

In December 2009, he had an hourlong standoff with Dickinson police and allegedly pointed a loaded gun at an officer after reports of domestic violence.

He pleaded not guilty to felony reckless endangerment and acted as his own attorney before eventually undergoing a mental health evaluation.

In June 2010, Stockert was found incompetent to stand trial but the Southwest District Court found him competent to enter a plea agreement, which dropped his charge to a misdemeanor and put him on supervised probation for two years. He had a one-year prison sentence suspended.
Iyad Ameen Madani, secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, June 11, 2015.

Updated at 5:23 p.m. ET in 2016-01-08

An umbrella group representing southern Thai insurgents in efforts to resume peace talks with Thailand will meet in Kuala Lumpur this weekend with the head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a member of the rebel delegation told BenarNews.

MARA Patani, as the umbrella body is known, met with OIC officials in the Malaysian capital on Friday to set up a meeting there over the weekend with OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani, according to MARA member Abu Hafiz Al-Hakim.

We had a meeting with OIC officials here today, " Abu Hafiz said.

"Our initial meeting with OIC officials today was very positive. More than what we expected," he added without elaborating.

Madani was due to arrive in Kuala Lumpur on Friday for a three-day visit to Malaysia, during which he was to meet with Prime Minister Najib Razak, according to the state-run Bernama news agency.

On Sunday Madani was to travel on Thailand, where he would stay till Jan. 13, pay a courtesy call on Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and take part in a symposium on inter-faith dialogue and peaceful coexistence in multicultural societies, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Abu Hafiz represents the Patani Islamic Liberation Front (BIPP) on MARA Patani, which has been negotiating since last year as a united front on behalf of various southern Thai rebel groups and factions in back-door talks with Thai officials.

The Malaysia-brokered talks have been aimed at resuming formal peace talks with Thailand for the first time since December 2013. Should those efforts succeed, a new round of formal talks would be the first held under Thailands military-controlled government, which toppled a civilian-led government in May 2014.

The different rebels and factions have been waging a separatist insurgency in Thailands predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South region, which has claimed the lives of at least 6,000 people since 2004.

Malaysia is one of 57 member-states of the OIC, which is the second-largest inter-governmental organization next to the United Nations. Predominantly Buddhist Thailand is one of five observers to the OIC.

Internal matter

Meanwhile, The Nation newspaper of Thailand on Friday published an editorial in which it criticized Thailand for failing to live up to past agreements made with the organization that represents the Muslim world.

Its not clear what Iyad Ameen Madani and his 57-member organization have in mind on this occasion, but, if its representatives visits in 2007 and 2012 are any indication, Madani will arrive with significant proposals for resolving the conflict in the Malay Muslim-majority Deep South, the editorial said.

Elsewhere, Gen. Aksara Kerdpol, Thailands chief negotiator in recent back-door talks with MARA Patani, chaired a meeting of religious leaders, academics and civil society groups in the Deep South on Friday, during which he updated them on the status of the talks.

This peace process has continued and is on the level of trust building, Aksara told the meeting.

He also touched on the upcoming visit to Thailand by the OIC secretary general.

OIC has supported us in the peace talk process and understood that it is an internal affair in which the OIC will not intrude.
Volunteers in southern Thailands Pattani province train in July 2015 to use weapons to protect their village.

The death toll from the insurgency in Thailands Deep South last year was at its lowest since 2004, but the killings wont end unless the government is serious about pursuing peace talks, says the head of an NGO that published those numbers.

The governments long-term efforts to solve the problem must include a serious push for a peace dialogue, Deep South Watch Director Srisompob Jitpiromsri told BenarNews. At the same time, it must make justice prevail in the Deep South. It must guarantee fair justice in order to regain peace.

Though the situation gets better, there still are problems of rights abuse and torture, he added. The government must prevent those from happening to solve the problems for good.

On Monday, Deep South Watch published statistics showing that the death toll fell to 246 in 2015, an all-time low during the previous 11 years of the separatist conflict in Thailands predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking southern border region. The number of people injured in related violence, 544, also represented a record-low since 2004.

According to DSW, 6,543 people have been killed and 11,919 injured since Jan. 4, 2004, a date that marked a watershed moment in the Deep Souths long-running conflict.

For violence in the region to cease altogether, Thailands military-controlled government must listen carefully to demands made by MARA Patani, Srisompob said.

MARA is an umbrella group that has been representing various southern rebel groups and factions as a united front in back-door negotiations with Thai officials since last year. The efforts have been aimed at resuming formal peace talks with Thailand for the first time since December 2013, when a civilian-led government was in power in Bangkok.

According to Lt. Gen. Nakrob Boonbuathong, the secretary of Thailands negotiating team, the Thai side has considered all of the rebels demands, including placing the issue of peace talks on the national agenda and guaranteeing immunity from prosecution for members of the MARA Patani delegation.

We need to look at the pros and cons and consequences if we agree to certain conditions, Nakrob told BenarNews.

The junta has also implemented policies to improve the criminal justice system in the far south, he said.

We have revised the judicial system in the south to make it more efficient and to allow all to have access to it. We did this in line with the peace-talk process because we know it is a significant issue, Nakrob said in a phone interview.

Justice for all is part of our three proposals. If they accept this, we can work together. At the moment, they havent accepted ours  the proposal on justice for all, he said of MARA Patani.

Education will help curb violence: academic

The number of fatalities and injuries from regional violence were relatively low in 2015 because of a combination of efforts by and cooperation among governmental agencies, civil society groups and religious figures, according to Sombat Yothathip, an assistant professor at Yala Rajabhat University.

Everyone involved felt that the longer the problem exists, the more it would hurt education, social issues, economy and religion. Therefore, all parties joined hands to denounce violence, and those responsible for violence would be shunned, he told BenarNews.

Everyone in Deep South wants peace. And the solution to the problem is giving individuals education. When they are educated, they will have logic and reasoning. Problems will subside and peaceful Deep South is not out of reach, he added. The trend will be better.

Not peaceful yet

Some residents of the Deep South, however, were not impressed by the statistics.

Despite the reduction in violence, life is still a hardship for people in the region, said Yala province resident Isma-ae Awae-lo.

If you genuinely ask locals like me, I would sincerely say that the situation is not peaceful yet, he told BenarNews. Peace in locals definition is not only about subsided violence, but it means we can live a normal life.
Cluff Natural Resources has stopped all work on its plans for underground coal gasification in the Firth of Forth. There seems to be a strong hint that the are turning their backs on the development for good.

The Holyrood administration's moratorium has killed off coalbed methane development north of the border completely. It now looks as if they have done for UCG as well.

It's hard to imagine any unsubsidised industrial business wanting to invest in Scotland when the administration is at the beck and call of the greens.
Ben Pile highlights a fascinating comment at Guido's blog:

In 2010, I was on a research trip to an area north of Svalbard. We were lucky enough to have a So-Called BBC journalist along for the ride. Unfortunately, my cabin was very close to his which meant that I had to listen to him editing his riveting reports about Climate Change before they were broadcast on BBC Climate Change 24. He'd just interviewed a Danish glaciologist that we had with us who explained a process with the sea ice that was "a negative feedback" (contrary to climate change bollox). I heard Mr X, the journalist, rewind and replay the tape about 5 times before he finally rang the chief scientist for advice because "I'm not sure this is putting out the right message...."

This raises a few questions: is this the government chief scientist that is referred to? And who was the BBC journalist? I'm struggling to find a BBC article about Svalbard around that time.

It would be extraordinary if the BBC was contacting the GCSA for "lines to take".

Update on Jan 8, 2016 by on Jan 8, 2016 by Bishop Hill A possible candidate seems to be Richard Hollingham.
GRAND FORKS -- Thirty-eight candidates have applied to be the University of North Dakotas next president.

Applications were due Monday, and Presidential Search Committee co-chairmen Hesham El-Rewini said committee members would independently be given access to the list Thursday evening.

Committee members will now view the list individually with the aim of narrowing the pool at the upcoming Jan. 20 meeting. Off-campus interviews are scheduled to take place Feb. 1 and 2, with campus visits following from mid-February into early March.

UND President Robert Kelley's last day in the position is Jan. 14. He will be replaced the following day by former North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer, who has signed a contract to serve through June 30.

El-Rewini said the board will look for a candidate who embodies attributes listed in the job advertisement, which were compiled using input from several meetings with campus constituents.

Per policy, the search committee is "expected" to forward three or more candidates to the State Board of Higher Education to make the final hiring decision.
Slovakia will not be accepting any refugees, says Slovak Prime Minister. Czech Deputy PM agrees

8. 1. 2016

cas cteni 1 minuta





"Slovakia will refuse all refugee quotas and will not be accepting any refugees even voluntarily," said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. He added that he "will do nothing that would lead to the setting up of a muslim community in his country" because he does not want women to be sexually assaulted in Slovakia like in Germany. In his view, "it is not easy to integrate immigrants, who have different traditions and a different religion." Fico said that it was "his duty to protect Slovakia".

The Czech Deputy Prime Minister Andrej Babis said that he absolutely agrees with Fico. In his view, the Czech Republic should do the same.

The controversial Czech website Parlamentni listy has asked a number of politicians for their reaction to the Cologne New Year's Eve sexual assaults. The Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka refused to answer their question. Most other Czech politicians said that immigrants were a security risk. Parlamentni listy regularly gives considerable space to activists of anti-islamist and racist Czech political parties, and organisations, who have predictably made a number of outrageous racist comments in connection with the Cologne events. See the article entitled "Disgustingly obscene behaviour. Animals. This is only a beginning, arm you wives and daughters. Castrate those swine and monsters"

Another source in Czech HERE

0
Conservative news, video and comment from the Bluegrass state.
Mon States Chief Minister U Ohn Myint led the opening ceremony of the museum, which commemorates the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, during World War II.

The event drew roughly 300 people including the State Hluttaw (parliament) Chairman U Kyin Pe, Minister for Development Affairs Dr. Toe Toe Aung, state-level ministers and officials, and staff from the Tala Mon Company Ltd.

During his speech Chief Minister U Ohn Myint said: I am very proud to attend the opening ceremony of this museum, which acknowledges and documents the lives of the more than 80,000 people that died here in the past.

According to Min Banyar San, the chairman of the Tala Mon Co. Ltd, in October 2014 the Mon State Government granted the company the sole rights to construct the facilities, which included a hotel, a restaurant, and a museum. The company started working on the site shortly after winning the contract.

He said: We did this museum project under the direction of the chief minister. We only began the project once our bid was approved and under the administration of the state minister and state government.

He added that the complex is divided into three parts: the museum, its related services like souvenir shops, and other large facilities, which include a hotel and reception hall for accommodation, activities and events such as weddings.

At the ceremony, Mon traditional dances were performed and state government officials and attendees were able to view a World War II-era Japanese steam-engine on display at the museum and a Japanese pagoda built to commemorate those who lost their lives in Wae Ton Chaung Village.

Starting in November 1942 the occupying Japanese army forced tens of thousands of prisoners of war to construct a 250 mile-long railway connecting Thailands Kanchanaburi Province to Mon States Thanbyuzayat Township. Toiling in harsh conditions and with little or no medical treatment, many labourers suffered from sickness, malnourishment and exhaustion, resulting in thousands of deaths. A ceremony marking completion of the railway was held on 25 October 1943, according to records.

Among those forced to work on the railways construction it is estimated that more than 80,000 ethnic people from Burma and over 10,000 prisoners of war from the Allied Forces lost their lives.

Edited in English by Mark inkey for BNI
The statement sums up its recommendations by concluding: at a time when a sustained ceasefire that is inclusive of all ethnic armed revolutionary forces is yet to materialise, we, the civil society organisations, call for the postponement of political dialogues, reconsideration of the representation proportions and voting quorums for political negotiations, and mustering suggestions and views of those ethnic armed organizations which have not yet signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement [NCA].

According to the recently released framework for the countrys political dialogue stage, 150 seats are reserved for the Tatmadaw, ethnic armed groups, and political parties, 75 seats are allotted each to the government and the parliament, and 50 seats are reserved for other invitees including ethnic leaders who do not represent a particular armed group.

The political dialogue structure was previously understood to be a tripartite dialogue with equal proportion and number of representatives from the government, political parties and ethnic armed groups. Individual experts and organizations will also get involved in the tripartite through the respective groups, according to Nai Hongsar, the Vice-chairman of the United Nationalities Federation Council (UNFC), in an earlier interview with IMNA.

The CSO's statement pointed out that expanding the political dialogue to include extra participants such as the Tatmadaw would weaken the dialogue's focus on democracy and ethnic equality issues, which are "key to Burma's political problems."

When Daw Khin Ohmar of the Burma Partnership was interviewed by IMNA she said: We want the proportion [of representatives] not to be a number, but what we mainly want to point out is that with that proportion, it is just like giving the Tatmadaw power to make the decisions for these political talks. If the decisions for this talk can be made only when the government agrees, a genuine Union Peace Conference wont be achieved as the people expect.

She added that the power of the Tatmadaw, or Burmese Army, should be reduced when it comes to political decision-making. Instead, resolutions should be agreed upon by consensus among the participating political parties and ethnic armed groups. The current allotted proportion of representatives appears to place ultimate decision-making power with the Tatmadaw, she warned, and it must be reconfigured for the intent of the Panglong Agreement to be achieved.

She said: This is the best time to implement national reconciliation. If the points from the Panglong Agreement cannot be implemented at this moment, the new road towards future peace wont be realised.

The statement was supported and signed by more than 130 civil society organizations including Burma Partnership, Burma Womens Union, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners  Burma, Network for Human Rights Documentation  Burma, Human Rights Foundation of Monland, and the Karen Human Rights Group.

Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
Rare Bird Alert: January 8, 2016

The first week of the year has been a doozy, and has already provided a couple storylines that will likely go down as two of the most amazing bird-related stories of the year. Sadly, both involve the death of birds, but both are incredible nonetheless.

Before getting into that, heres a quick round-up of continuing rarities in the ABA Area. The Brambling (3) in Ohio is still in place, as is the Redwing (4) in British Columbia. Texas retains three of its recent notables, the Golden-crowned Warbler (4), at least one of the Crimson-collared Grosbeaks (4), and the long-staying Northern Jacana (4). In Florida, birders are still finding the gorgeous male Western Spindalis (3), and the Streak-backed Oriole (4) remains in Arizona, along with the Sinaloa Wren (5) which has made an appearance in this column because people are making an effort to find it the first days of the year.

On to the amazing birds of this week! In Duluth, Minnesota, a young Ivory Gull made headlines when it was found around the marina. Many, many birders braved the cold to see it, so it was especially disheartening when it was found dead across the state line in Superior, Wisconsin, thought to be a victim of one of two Gyrfalcons hanging around.

But wait, theres more. Soon after salvaging the remains of the Ivory Gull and reporting its demise to the birding community, birders found it again. How can that be? It turns out that there were apparently TWO immature Ivory Gulls in the area, only no one ever saw them together. So there remains an Ivory Gull in Duluth to this day.

The other mind-bender for the week was in Pennsylvania, where a Corn Crake (5) was rescued from the jaws of a cat in Wayne. Remarkably, this is the 2nd record for the state (Pennsylvania must have the strangest rail list in the ABA Area, as it also boasts Spotted Rail). Unfortunately, the bird eventually succumbed to its injuries, and the specimen is on its way to a museum.

Two 1st records this week, both in the southeast. The first comes from South Carolina, where a cracking adult male Scotts Oriole was visiting a feeder in Pickens.

Tennessee also picks up a 1st, with a Lesser Goldfinch photographed in Lake. Also notable in the state, an Ash-throated Flycatcher in Montgomery.



Moving out west to pick up on the continued influx of Asian birds in the northwest of the continent, British Columbia sees another biggie in a Siberian Accentor (4) in Surry. I believe this is the provinces 2nd (correct me in the comments if not), and one of fewer than 10 records away from western Alaska.

In Utah, a Glaucous-winged Gull was found in Salt Lake, one of several in the Great Basin this fall/winter.

New Mexico had a Rusty Blackbird in Curry.



A Couchs Kingbird in Vermilion, Louisiana, is a nice bookend pair with the Tropical Kingbird in the state last week (and still present).

Nice so far south, an Iceland Gull was at Lake Dardenelle, in northern Arkansas.

Mississippi had a Tropical Kingbird this week in Bay St. Louis.

In Florida, a Buff-bellied Hummingbird was seen by many birders in Miami-Dade. A Spragues Pipit was noteworthy in Seminole as well.

Georgia had a Couchs/Tropical Kingbird on Hutchinson Island. If it is identified it would be either a 1st (if Couchs) or 2nd (if Tropical) record.

In Virginia, a Says Phoebe was found in Russell.



Pennsylvania becomes the latest state to get Mountain Bluebird this season, with one in Bucks.



New York had a Pink-footed Goose in Suffolk this week.

Massachusettss 2nd record of Hammonds Flycatcher was seen early in the week in Fairhaven.

In Maine, a Black-throated Sparrow was visiting a feeder in Winter Harbor.

Quebec had a Varied Thrush in Monteregie as did Ontario, near Guelph.

In Ohio, a Western Grebe was found at Caeser Creek Lake.

And in Wisconsin, a Slaty-backed Gull (3) was at a landfill in Jefferson.



=====

Omissions and errors are not intended, but if you find any please message blog AT aba.org and I will try to fix them as soon as possible. This post is meant to be an account of the most recently reported birds. Continuing birds not mentioned are likely included in previous editions listed here. Place names written in italics refer to counties/parishes.

Readers should note that none of these reports has yet been vetted by a records committee. All birders are urged to submit documentation of rare sightings to the appropriate state or provincial committees. For full analysis of these and other bird observations, subscribe to North American Birds <aba.org/nab>, the richly illustrated journal of ornithological record published by the ABA.
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I think we can all agree that lobbying in general is a problem and that lobbyists sleeping with lawmakers may also be a problem in some cases, but this is going way too far for me.

Missouri state Representative Bart Korman (R) has introduced a bill that would force lobbyists to officially disclose their sexual relationships with lawmakers -- and even the lawmakers' staff -- which would be categorized as "gifts."

For purposes of subdivision (2) of this subsection, the term "gift" shall include sexual relations between a registered lobbyist and a member of the general assembly or his or her staff. Relations between married persons or between persons who entered into a relationship prior to the registration of the lobbyist, the election of the member to the general assembly, or the employment of the staff person shall not be reportable under this subdivision. The reporting of sexual relations for purposes of this subdivision shall not require a dollar valuation.

While a lobbyist sleeping with a legislator may be unethical depending on the exact nature of their official responsibilities, I'm not comfortable with the idea of government forcing people to formally publish their sex lives.

Moreover, forcing a lobbyist to count sex as a "gift" in official disclosure forms seems to me like forcing lobbyists to register as prostitutes. That may be an apt description of their job, but it also may not be. It's not for the government to say.

If state lawmakers are so concerned about ethical lapses within their ranks, they should take action against their fellow lawmakers, not lobbyists. Lawmakers are responsible for their own actions just as lobbyists are responsible for theirs.
(Cartoonist - Pat Bagley)

In other news, the TransCanada pipeline company has filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration alleging the administration doesn't have the authority to block their pipeline into the United States.

Have our neighbors to the north been watching Fox News?

Meanwhile, a man opened fire in an apartment complex in Redding, California on Tuesday night apparently because he was upset about President Obama coming to take his guns. Or something.

He was aiming at a guy and then he just got sloppy and he started shooting everywhere, Lunsford said. She said she was worried about being that close to a shooting with her children nearby. [...] We heard the five shots. Everyone was screaming, Rice said. He came out screaming Obama! Obama! Obama! They (police) told him to come out with your hands up and he kept telling them No, no, no.
Puerto Rico's default on $37 million of debt payments left bondholders with a narrow range of options to protect their interests as more debt comes due over the next weeks and months.

Puerto Rico on Monday failed to pay $35.9 million of interest on rum tax bonds issued by the Puerto Rico Infrastructure Finance Authority and $1.4 million in interest on Puerto Rico Public Finance Corp. bonds, while making about $1 billion in other public sector debt payments. The next sizable payment date is Feb. 1, when $333 million is due, according to JPMorgan.

The defaulted rum tax bonds have "no events of default listed under the trust indenture, and bondholder remedies are limited to pursuit of legal enforcement of their rights," Municipal Market Analytics wrote in its Weekly Outlook.

Puerto Rico paid some of its authority debts through draws on their reserve deposits. On Dec. 29 Ambac Assurance Corp. and Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. delivered letters to Puerto Rico's government saying they considered the diversion of money from the PRIFA bonds to be illegal. The bond indentures for convention center bonds that were subject to draws indicate that to show a default, bondholders must show that the commonwealth had revenue alternatives to the diversion of funds, MMA wrote. The Highways and Transportation Authority bonds' resolutions neither list events of default nor allow acceleration, MMA said. The prospectuses for the securities whose revenues were "claw-backed" for Puerto Rico GO bonds, say that the commonwealth can "interrupt the flow of revenues to bondholders only if all other commonwealth governmental revenues are together insufficient to pay GO debt service," MMA said.

Michael Ginestro, head of municipal credit research at Bel Air Investment Advisors, said he expects bondholders to file lawsuits soon, in light of the island's use of $120 million to pay Christmas bonuses. Others saw the next few weeks differently.

"Lawsuits can already be filed," said David Fernandez, public finance attorney at Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney PC. "It is, however, more likely that more aggressive negotiations will occur in an attempt to find some way to address the interests of the affected bondholders prior to their diving into the uncertainty of a court action. If, however, the impasse continues and the declarations by the commonwealth of its inability to meet its obligations persist, the affected bondholders may decide that entering the courts and forcing action on the existing assets may be the best option for maximizing their returns."

Melba Acosta Febo, president of the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico, said Dec. 30 that Puerto Rico's decision to prioritize payments of the government's own debt obligations on Monday would be made partially "to create the best chance for the commonwealth to be able to negotiate with its creditors in the coming months toward a consensual solution for the commonwealth's debt crisis."

Acosta Febo also said that Puerto Rico expected to make a specific proposal to its creditors in January. On Monday, Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla told CNBC that "Every dollar that [I] need to spend in a lawsuit paying lawyers, it will be a dollar that I will not have available to pay creditors."

The island's legislature is planning hearings in mid-January about Monday's payments and defaults, Puerto Rico Senate President Eduardo Bhatia Gautier said Dec. 30.

In Washington, the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resource subcommittees will meet on Jan. 12 and Jan. 26 on topics related to Puerto Rico's debt.

While the commonwealth and the bondholders try to work out how to respond to the payments and defaults of Monday, officials may be able to avoid defaults for several more months.

Acosta Febo has said there is money in the debt-service reserves to cover the claw-backed authorities' debt up to and including the July 1 debt payment.

On Monday Standard & Poor's analysts David Hitchcock and Gabriel Petek wrote: "We expect Puerto Rico's cash-flow situation to temporarily improve in January once sales taxes pledged to COFINA [Puerto Rico Sales Tax Finance Corp.] are no longer trapped to pay annual COFINA debt service during the remainder of the fiscal year, but to worsen again as the year progresses and new GO debt service becomes due July 1, 2016."

"We believe Puerto Rico's long-term financial situation remains dire," the S&P analysts wrote. S&P rates Puerto Rico's GO debt CC with a negative outlook.

In Monday's Weekly Outlook, MMA's analysts said that the increasing mainstream media attention to Puerto Rico's debt problem will shift perceptions of blame for the problem from Puerto Rico government mismanagement to "vulture funds" making unreasonable demands for debt payback.

"As they did in Detroit, solutions in Puerto Rico will almost surely depend on political considerations," MMA wrote. "The withering tone with which bondholders are being discussed will only diminish future recoveries."

Many observers and participants either expect or hope the federal government will be key to addressing Puerto Rico's debt problem in the next few months.

"I think 'Rome is burning,' " said John Mousseau, fixed-income manager at Cumberland Advisors. "The federal government will intervene." He said there will be some sort of overseer and that Puerto Rico should try to continue paying the GO and COFINA bonds so that it has access to the capital markets.

While Ginestro said he thought a bankruptcy mechanism would be a bad idea, Fernandez said he favored Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

"By not acting, the federal government is giving the litigation route entry to some very uncharted waters, and with that uncertainty will come additional problems," according to Fernandez.
WASHINGTON  The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is seeking comment on a proposal it says would lessen the effect of interdealer transaction failures on the municipal market while providing needed changes to an outdated rule.

The proposed changes are to a portion of MSRB Rule G-12 on uniform practice that governs close-out procedures after a dealer fails to deliver securities to another dealer by the agreed upon settlement date. Under the new proposal, interdealer failures would have to be closed out within 30 calendar days of the settlement date, instead of the currently recommended 90 days.

Comments on the proposal are to be submitted by March 6.

This section of G-12 has not been updated since 1983 and the proposal is part of a larger MSRB effort to revise, reorganize and retire rules that may have become outdated or less effective as market practices and participants have evolved.

The proposal would eliminate the dated references to phone notification and take into account the current trading environment, which now includes things like alternative trading systems and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.'s automated comparison system and book entry settlement.

"Evolutions in the municipal securities market have modernized the manner in which interdealer transactions are cleared and settled," said MSRB executive director Lynnette Kelly. "More timely resolution of open transactions would give investors greater certainty in their purchases and would benefit dealers by reducing the risk and costs associated with failed interdealer trades."

Rule G-12 currently offers optional procedures to close out interdealer failures and allows the purchasing dealer to give the selling dealer notice of close-out on any business day from five to 90 business days after the settlement date. However, the rule's 90-day close-out deadline is not a requirement and dealers that want to resolve interdealer failures sometimes cannot do so because they do not have a willing or cooperative counterparty, the MSRB said.

The proposed rule changes would allow the purchasing dealer to issue a close-out notice the day after the settlement date and would then mandate the 30 calendar day timeframe. The changes would also allow the purchasing dealer to start close-out procedures within three business days of the settlement date, a change from the current 10-business day window. Additionally, the proposal would change the earliest day for execution to four days after electronic notification instead of the rule's current 11 days after telephonic notice.

If the proposal is implemented, the MSRB will give dealers a 90-calendar day grace period to resolve all outstanding interdealer failures.

While the time period for close-outs would be significantly shortened, the three interdealer options for remedying a failed transaction would remain the same through the transition. The purchasing dealer could choose a "buy-in" and go to the open market to purchase the securities. It could also choose to accept securities from the selling dealer that are similar to the originally purchased securities in a number of areas. Lastly, the purchasing dealer could require the seller to repurchase the securities along with payment of accrued interest and the burden of any change in market price or yield.

One area of concern the MSRB specifically mentioned is when the purchasing dealer agrees to sell securities to a customer but never receives them from the selling dealer. While the proposal would not specifically govern the relationship between the purchasing dealer and its customers, the MSRB said it would benefit customers by providing greater certainty that the securities they paid for are in their account. Additionally, the rule changes may give customers greater confidence in the market.

Customers and their dealers will still have to consider which of the three interdealer close-out options works best for the situation, as a customer may not want different securities that have the same properties or would likely have to pay taxes on the interest they receive if the dealer chooses the third option of recouping its payment and any accrued interest.

Jessica Giroux, general counsel and managing director of federal regulatory policy for Bond Dealers of America, said BDA is pleased that the MSRB is trying to provide clearer information for investors. She added however that there could be unknown costs to BDA members and that the organization plans to provide more feedback closer to the comment deadline.

Leslie Norwood, associate general counsel and co-head of the municipal securities division for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, said SIFMA "wholeheartedly" supports rulemaking like this that reduces risk and costs to dealers while giving investors greater certainty. SIFMA will continue to look for any unanticipated or negative consequences that could come from the proposal and file a comment letter, she added.
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- Paula Yancey, who was unceremoniously replaced as the attorney for the Jackson County Board of Supervisors this week, says she is proud of the work she and others have done during her 18 years as the county attorney.

Under state law, the county is required to reappoint the board attorney each January. During Monday's supervisors meeting, the first of the year, supervisors voted to appoint Yancey's assistant, Gary Evans, to the post.

Contrary to earlier reports, Yancey said the board did not meet with her prior to the vote -- only supervisor Melton Harris spoke with her. She also denied withdrawing her name from consideration, as supervisor Troy Ross said Tuesday.

Beyond that, Yancey declined to comment on being replaced. She did say that in the days since she has received an outpouring support from friends and the public.

"People have been very, very nice," she said. "The public has been extremely supportive. It's been very touching."

Yancey arrived in Jackson County 18 years ago from Meridian, where she was in private practice, specializing in chancery law and serving as an adjunct professor at the Mississippi College School of Law.

"There are attorneys here in Jackson County I taught in law school," she said with a chuckle.

Prior to that, she had practiced governmental law across the state.

Yancey noted that Jackson County is one of only three counties in the state with a full-time attorney -- Hinds and Rankin counties being the others. Other counties contract for legal representation at about $175 an hour.

Her office generally handled "hundreds" of cases each year, Yancey said.

"By and large, almost every case is handled in-house," she said, "unless there's a conflict of interest. The hospital issue is the first time in quite a while we had to hire someone from outside."

Yancey recalls some of the cases and projects she has worked on with pride.

"When I first came here, I set up a (wetlands) mitigation area for the county," she said. "It was 480 acres. I got it through all the various agencies and now the county has a lot of (mitigation) credits it can use. I was very proud of that."

She also cited the work she and her staff did in representing Jackson County employees in the Public Employees Retirement System issue, which involved PERS denying employees the right to roll over and accrue leave time.

Yancey sued on behalf of the county employees and ultimately reached a settlement in 2015 under which employees will be paid for their full leave time and retirees get their full benefits.

She also noted the 11 months she spent as the county administrator in 2011-12. During that time, Yancey managed the construction of the county's General Services Building and later won an award for the project.

"That meant a lot to me," she said.

More recently, she and other county departments worked together to apply for a National Disaster Resiliency Grant which would fund some $150 million in projects for Jackson County.

Jackson County was named as one of six applicants to move to phase two of the grant-approval process and should learn in the coming months if it will receive the money.

"I was very proud of the work we did on that," Yancey said. "Not only was it an opportunity to help people, but it was an opportunity for so many of us to work together as a team. We worked day and night on that grant process."

Yancey was also honored as one of the top 50 attorneys in Mississippi leadership while working for Jackson County.

"There have been a lot of different cases and issues I've very proud of," she added, "a lot of things we accomplished together."

As for the future, Yancey acknowledged the past few days have been "difficult," and she hasn't had much time to think about what may come next for her.

"I'm going to take some time," she said, "consider my options. It's all happened so quickly. I need to take some time."
GULFPORT, Mississippi -- A Gulfport bar owner will serve seven years and three months in prison for buying and selling cocaine and China White heroin out of the Ice Daiquiri Lounge.

The Sun Herald reports Chief U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. imposed the sentence Tuesday, also ordering 35-year-old Carlos Miller to serve three years under post-release supervision and pay a $5,000 fine. Miller pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted possession with intent to distribute of cocaine. A criminal forfeiture filed calls for the seizure of a 2008 Dodge Charger and $8,628 in drug proceeds.

A federal grand jury had indicted him and the bar's co-owner, Julie Michelle Glass, 31, on drug conspiracy charges. It also indicted Glass and Randall Sheffield on charges of conspiracy to commit a violent crime; possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking scheme; unlawful transport of firearms; and two counts of attempted possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

Benjamin Taylor, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations assigned to the Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force, said an investigation began after agents learned of drug trafficking at the bar.

He said agents sent a confidential informant to the bar, who met with Glass and Miller in November 2014. In their initial meeting, Taylor said, the bar owners tried to negotiate a deal to buy 3 kilos of the high-grade heroin. They later said they wanted to buy cocaine also.

Taylor said Miller was having trouble getting the cash for the drugs and ended up offering $25,000 in cash plus a piece of real estate left to Glass; two guns, one of which was a 9 mm Uzi; and the title to a Dodge Charger. Taylor said they wanted to buy the cocaine first, sell it and then buy the heroin.

Agents with the DEA Task Force, Taylor said, monitored most of their recorded conversations.

At one meeting, court papers say, Miller told the informant he sold heroin out of the bar and worked with members of a New Orleans drug-trafficking organization.

Authorities arrested the three in January 2015. Taylor said agents recovered an Uzi and a mask, cash and various drug paraphernalia including syringes, from the bar.

Glass is serving seven years and three months in prison on a drug conspiracy charge. She's appealing her sentence.

Sheffield is serving nearly four years on a charge of unlawful transport of firearms.
Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) is yet to respond to a letter from its mother body - Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) - regarding the utterances made by its Secretary General Ibo Kenosi about the federation.

BTU Publicity Secretary Tidimalo Maeletso told this publication this week that they are still yet to respond to the letter. Though he could not state the date when the union would have responded, Maeletso said it would be very soon. He stated that they took long to respond because: At the time we received the letter we were closing for the festive season. We have just opened for business on Monday and the president Johannes Tshukudu will respond.

At the elective congress of Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU) in December 2015 (BOPEU), Kenosi accused the federation of having failed BOPEU.





These utterances prompted the federation to write a letter to BTU seeking clarity. BOFEPUSU Secretary General Tobokani Rari confirmed that they wrote a letter to the union seeking to understand If the statement made by Kenosi was the official position of the union or it was made in his personal capacity. Rari said the federation would then deliberate on the response from the BTU and map a way forward.
Botswana s biggest insurance and asset management company, BIHL will release its year-end results in the first week of March. The firm, which is under the leadership of Gaffar Hassam, is already on a closed period for the just ended financial year period (December 31st).

For Hassam, the results will be his last since he is joining parent company, Sanlam on a more senior position. Ahead of the results announcement, no BIHL employee or board is allow to trade in its shares, as it will imply they are aware of sensitive unpublished information.

Unpublished price sensitive information is information affecting a company, which if released is likely to materially affect the companys share price, said a statement signed by company secretary, Rorisang Modikwana.




The domestic economys demand for electricity from outside continues, despite the completion of the multi-billion Pula Morupule B Power Station.

Fresh data from Statistics Botswana show that, imports for electricity jumped by 61,2 percent in the third quarter of last year (Q3: 2015). Botswana imports most of its power from the regions economic power house-South Africa.

However, supply from Jacob Zuma led country has declined in the past few years as its power utility-Eskom is also facing production challenges. Meanwhile, the statistical agency said in a statement signed by acting Statistician General Dr. Burton Mguni that domestic production dropped sharply by 27,5 percent in the same period. Morupule B, which has been completed after several delays, is still to perform to its maximum level of 600mw.





Government has since awarded fresh contract for the extension of the station built by a Chinese company CNEEC.
APTOPIX Philadelphia Officer Ambushed

Bullet holes are visible in the door of a police car as an investigator walks through the scene of a shooting Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, in Philadelphia. A Philadelphia police officer was shot multiple times by a man who ambushed him as he sat in his marked police cruiser, authorities said.

(Joseph Kaczmarek/The Associated Press)

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania -- A gunman ambushed a police officer as he sat in his marked cruiser at an intersection, striking him three times in the arm during a barrage of bullets and fleeing before being apprehended, officials said Friday.

Police Commissioner Richard Ross said the suspect fired at least 13 shots at Officer Jessie Hartnett and his car late Thursday. He said the officer returned fire, hitting his attacker at least three times. Hartnett was in stable condition.

"This is absolutely one of the scariest things I've ever seen," Ross said at a news conference early Friday. "This guy tried to execute the police officer. The police officer had no idea he was coming."

He said the officer was in his cruiser in West Philadelphia when the shooter approached from the sidewalk and began firing, eventually shooting through the driver's-side window as he got closer.

"I'm bleeding heavily!" Hartnett shouted into his police radio when he called in to report shots fired.

The suspect ran away but was quickly apprehended by other officers, authorities said.

Ross, who was sworn in as commissioner Tuesday, said there was no apparent motive for the attack.

"Why someone would do something so absolutely evil is just beyond us," Ross said. "It's amazing he's alive."

There was no immediate word on the suspect's condition. Officer Christine O'Brien said the man was stuck at least once in the buttock.

Jim Kenney, in his first week as mayor of the nation's fifth-largest city, said, "There are just too many guns on the streets, and I think our national government needs to do something about that."

His statement comes on the heels of President Barack Obama's announcement Tuesday of his plan to tighten gun control laws.
Balisi Bonyongo-Debswana

Managing Director

The Debswana boss seat will not be a cold one this year. The company is the owner of Jwaneng mine, the worlds biggest diamond mine by value. Production at the company, which is owned by De Beers and Botswana, has been cut due to the drop in consumer demand.

Late last year, the company indicated it will put its smallest mine - Damtshaa - on care and maintenance programme for the next three years. More than 200 employees of this mine will be impacted by the closure, which has already started as of January 1st 2016.

The company said it will do all it can to keep jobs. It remains to be seen whether the company will be able to absorb all these employees within its running mines. Failure may lead to possible labour tensions, which Bonyongo will be forced to ward off. It is not clear if Bonyongo is ready to face a possible protest from Botswana Mine Workers Union whose President, Jack Tlhagale, has said they were not consulted (as stakeholders) when the mine was shut down.





What Debswana did was improper to issue a media release and broadcast the closure of the mine without the unions input, Tlhagale told a weekend paper last year. Furthermore, with the diamond market taking a dip, it is not clear if the P24 billion that shareholders of Debswana have invested on Cut 8 will be able to bear the expected results based on the current weak market.

As the incumbent, Bonyongo is the right person to assure shareholders that Debswana will continue to give shareholders reasonable return on investment despite declining diamond demand. He will be forced by circumstances to paint a rosy picture even when he knows his company does not have direct control of consumer patterns and trends.

Amidst all these, Bonyongo is also under pressure to state if his company will proceed with Cut 9 that is expected to up its revenue in the coming years. In the meantime, the Debswana boss is crossing his fingers that it does not get worse before it can get any better.

Daniel Mahupela-BCL General Manager

Just when this former Debswana official was already punching the air that his multi-pronged strategy to diversify the fortunes of the copper mine is taking shape, the unpredictability of markets struck unannounced. His Selebi-Phikwe based mining company - BCL- produces copper, whose demand has dwindled on the backdrop of the commodity price crash.

Mahupelas biggest test this year will be contending with the fact that Chinas insatiable demand for copper and other metals has declined to record lows. He will be compelled to seek the next address for his copper exports. The fall in copper demand, basically spells doom for the mine which has already announced that it will venture into others minerals such as iron ore and diamonds.

The decline in commodity prices has already hit the copper industry in Botswana that is largely controlled by BCL. The result has been the dramatic fall in production. According to fresh data from Statistics Botswana, production for copper tumbled by a massive 84 percent in the third quarter of 2015.

This decline presents fresh challenges to Mahupela, who at one point late last year found himself in the unenviable position of writing his employees a memo notifying that salaries would be paid late as a result of cash flow problems. Mahupela - regarded in some quarters as the best candidate to turn around the fortunes of BCL  has no choice but to deal his ace card to tackle these latest challenges, although some are outside his sphere of control.

Mark Curtifani, Anglo American CEO

This Chief Executive of the worlds diversified mining conglomerate is facing an uphill battle this year. In the wake of the commodity crisis, the group was forced to sell some of its assets, which the group considers to be non-core.

In a bid to fight the commodity prices, the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) quoted company will this year begin a process of restructuring, which will lead to many job losses. It remains to be seen if Curtifanis plan to cut jobs is the best decision that will keep the company afloat. More than 80000 jobs are on the line at the multi-billion Pula miner. Shareholders will also not receive any dividends anytime soon as they have been suspended to preserve cash.

Curtifani will certainly have a difficult job to please shareholders who demand nothing else, but reasonable return on investment from him, as per his contract. Troubles for Curtifani are coming from all sides. The diamond unit that Anglo American owns with Botswana government - De Beers - is already under siege due to poor diamond demand.

In the coming months, Curtifani, like his peers above, will be forced to justify his lucrative pay, and also to appease shareholders who have entrusted him to manage their assets, notwithstanding the poor mining market.



Phillipe Mellier-De Beers Chief Executive

This former Alstom Transport executive controls the worlds largest diamond producing company, De Beers. The year ahead will almost certainly be his toughest since he joined the company in the winter of 2011.

Chief among his myriad troubles will be how to ensure the mining giant remains a market leader despite declining consumer confidence both in the downstream and upstream diamond market. Faced with declining sales, the mining stalwart is reported to have slashed its diamond prices by as much as 9 percent last August.

This was done in a desperate bid to boost sales. However, this seems to have not worked as De Beers would later cut production by 27 percent in the third quarter of last year (Q3: 2015). With the diamond industry standing on one leg, Mellier has not been able to settle comfortably in his office. Some pundits have openly called on him to vacate the seemingly hot seat.

Days after addressing delegates in Gaborone late last year on how the country should diversify its economy, a diamond analyst and investor, Martin Rapaport called on the De Beers boss to step aside saying the industry is not save as long as Mellier is still around. Frankly, De Beers CEO Philippe Melliers brand of trade exploitation and cannibalisation is no longer tolerable.

It is time for Mellier to go. If De Beers wants to survive in the diamond-distribution business, they must urgently appoint a leader who is a diamantaire, Rapaport wrote in the Rapaport online newspaper. Rapaport is a leading diamond research and consultancy company.In Botswana, the fall in diamond market and profitability has already drifted the landlocked economy into a technical recession as it has posted negative growth in two straight quarters.

Mellier should be more worried by this as the company he heads also counts Botswana as a shareholder. Put more simply, the fall of De Beers is also the fall of Botswanas narrowly diversified economy.

The other problem that will cause Mellier insomnia for more months to come is the hostile protests over the companys plan to sell mines such as Kimberly mine in South Africa. National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa wants the company to halt the sale of the mine to enable further consultation.

As poor diamond sales crept in, De Beers was also forced to close one of its mines in Canada. All eyes will be on Mellier to see if the company - which traces its founding to imperialist Cecil John Rhodes - can still count itself as the alpha and omega of the diamond business, as the New Year gets underway.
Instead of the nation celebrating news reports that the Botswana Democratic Party intends to increase the number of constituencies from 57 to 120 in aid service delivery, observers say this should be a cause for concern.

The resolution to increase the constituencies comes a year after an unprecedentedly poor performance by the ruling party at the general election when it managed only 37 percent of the vote to the oppositions 53 percent. After the 1994 general election where the opposition did very well, constituencies were increased from 40 to 57.

Although the recent proposal for the dramatic increase came by way of a resolution made at a conference by the Gaborone region, the idea is similar to a proposal by Botsalo Ntuane in his reform agenda in the run up to the Mmadinare congress in July this year where he was elected secretary general of the party.





Number 20 of Ntuanes BDP Reform Agenda Conversation: 22 Discussion Points paper says, Let us conduct a fresh delimitation exercise ahead of 2019 general election to create more electoral districts. Botswana is a vast country but has less constituencies than countries of comparable and even smaller size such as Mauritius, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia. Both Ntuane and the Gaborone region want smaller constituencies which are easier to handle in terms of service delivery.

When contacted for comment, the chairman of the Gaborone region, Bontsi Monare was not in a position to say what informed the regions decision to increase the constituencies in the first place and why 120 electoral districts in particular.

Monare could also not say whether the countries of Mauritius, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia have got better service delivery interventions than Botswana and whether the size of constituencies have got anything to do with the status of service delivery in the concerned countries.

We have escalated our resolutions to the central committee and, while awaiting feedback, we cannot at the same time discuss those with the media, he said. Skeptics, however argue that the proposal is not motivated by commitment to service delivery by the ruling BDP but by the naked self-interest of the ruling party.

They argue that the BDP, which is under threat from the opposition if the 2014 general election results are any guide, will manipulate the exercise to create more winnable constituencies for itself. This form of cheating by giving one political party an advantage over the others by redoing constituency boundaries in order to win more constituencies and remain in power is called gerrymandering.

The act and name originated in 1812 when the Governor of Massachussets in the USA, Elbridge Gerry, whose party, the now defunct Democratic-Republican Party had resolved to have the constituencies increased, signed a bill that allowed the redrawing of constituency boundaries. The measure was done in a way that favoured Gerrys party. According to Professor of Political Science at the Fordham University, Christina Greer, the patterns of the constituencies were very strange because they were illogically constructed. Someone compared them to a salamander prompting the Boston Gazette to add Gerrys name to the name salamander and a new word, gerrymandering, came into being.

A salamander is an amphibian with close physical similarities to a lizard! Gerrymandering, which has been defined as ...the process of dividing up and redrawing districts to give your political party an advantage, results in an uneven electoral field. It is accomplished by either packing or cracking a constituency. When packing a constituency, ruling governments neutralise the opposition by making sure the new boundaries put the opponents supporters into as few districts as possible.

The cracking takes place when the strongholds of the ruling party are divided into as many pieces of electoral districts as possible. It has been employed by many African countries to reconfigure wards and constituencies in favour of the ruling parties while diluting the influence and strength of the opposition. Significantly, the justification for a delimitation exercise is always that it is in aid of efficiency as it ostensibly facilitates service delivery.

In the run-up to the 2008 general election in Zimbabwe, according to an independent report, the country was redrawn into 210 Lower House constituencies. Of the 90 new Lower House constituencies, a massive 62 were drawn up in ZANU PFs rural strongholds with only 28 given to urban constituencies where the opposition draws most of its support. Commenting on the results of the delimitation exercise at the time, spokesperson of Morgan Tsvangirais Movement for Democratic Change(MDC), Nelson Chamisa said, It is made more sinister because while cutting constituencies and drawing up boundaries in such a way that our support is diluted, the delimitation process increases the number of constituencies in ZANU PF rural power bases.

There are concerns that, if the proposed increase of constituencies is intended to save the BDP from losing the 2019 general election, the inevitable delimitation process will be used to manipulate the exercise in favour of the BDP. For instance, more constituencies would be created in the BDP strongholds while opposition party strongholds get less constituencies.

University of Botswana(UB) political science lecturer, Professor Zibani Maundeni said in an interview that he had always advocated for the creation of more constituencies and hence more MPs. My reasons have got nothing really to do with service delivery. The expansion of parliament would alter the balance of power between the backbenchers and the executive. We have a very weak parliament because only a few of them are back benchers.

If you bring more MPs it means a stronger parliament because there will be more backbenchers, said Professor Maundeni. Asked about the possibility of gerrymandering, he replied that his hope is that the checks and balances in place would preclude such electoral shenanigans. For example, after parliament decides on the quota, the electoral commission, which consists of High Court judges, takes over.

Should they allow themselves to serve partisan interests, that would be unfortunate indeed, explained the Professor who however admitted that the recent appointment to the judiciary of persons allegedly aligned to the establishment bodes ill for our democracy.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Republican U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo of Biloxi introduced a resolution Thursday which, if passed by Congress, would result in the first censure of a U.S. President since James Polk in 1848.

The measure comes in response to what Palazzo said was President Barack Obama's "overreach" in issuing an Executive Order expanding background checks on gun sales.

For seven years, the President has gradually expanded his powers through executive overreach," Palazzo said in a statement. "His actions this week to take away the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens is just the latest, if not most egregious, violation of the separation of powers found in the United States Constitution.

"Congress must go on record to stand up as an equal branch of government - both against this President and any future president who attempts to use his authority to write the law instead of enforce the law."

The resolution reads, in part:

Resolved, That the House of Representatives does hereby censure and condemn Barack Obama for having willfully disregarded the legislative powers of the duly elected Congress provided by the Constitution of the United States through his executive actions to deprive American citizens of their constitutionally-mandated right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.

The entire resolution can be read here.

The statement also cited executive amnesty for illegal immigrants, the climate change treaty and Iran nuclear agreement as examples of Obama's "executive overreach."

A censure, in simple terms, is a formal reprimand. The U.S. Constitution gives impeachment powers to both houses of Congress, but does not mention censure. Congress, however, adopted a resolution allowing censure.

In 1834, Andrew Jackson was censured by the U.S. Senate for withholding documents relating to his actions in defunding the Bank of the United States. It is the only time the Senate has censured a president. However, after the Senate came under Democratic control, the censure was expunged from the record in 1837.

Polk was censured in 1848 by the House of Representatives on the grounds the Mexican-American War had been "unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States."

Other attempts to censure a president, which ultimately failed, include Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and Bill Clinton in 1998 for his role in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
DURHAM, North Carolina -- Cheers, Biloxi! You're number one!

A recent study by travel website RoadSnacks.net has found that Biloxi is the "drunkest" city in Mississippi, topping the list of the top 10 cities in the state which consume the most alcohol.

Biloxi was followed on the list by Oxford, Hattiesburg, Gulfport, Starkville, Columbus, Canton, Flowood, Corinth and Jackson. Note that three of the top five cities are home to Mississippi's three major universities.

Noticeably absent from the list: Ocean Springs. Given its number of bars, restaurants which serve alcohol, and liquor stores, the Jackson County city seemed a shoo-in for the list. It's sometimes called "a small town with that drinks big."

At the other end, however, the study also listed the five "most sober" places in Mississippi. The Jackson County community of Latimer came in at number one, followed by Booneville, Clinton, Crystal Springs and Brandon.

As a state, Mississippi ranks 37th in the nation in total alcohol consumption. That may seem like a low rank, but given that 36 of the state's 82 counties are still dry, the number 37 ranking seems to indicate the rest of the state is doing its best to pick up the slack.

The RoadSnacks study, admittedly unscientific, examined the number of places in a city where alcohol is available (bars, restaurants, liquor stores, grocery stores, convenience stores, etc.), how often residents of a city mention drinking on social media, and the divorce rate.

In earning the top spot, Biloxi ranks second in the state in bars per capita, 14th in liquor stores per capita and has the eighth highest divorce rate. Although not specifically mentioned in the study, it's likely the city's numerous casinos are a factor, given they serve up free booze to gamblers and also have their own bars and clubs.

The study's authors noted that the Mississippi coast as a whole does its fare share of drinking.

"There are a ton of bars and restaurants along the coast," they wrote. "You can just about trip and fall into a bar anywhere from Gulfport east along the Gulf Coast. There's actually only one other place in the state with more bars per person." (Flowood has the most bars per capita).

Some other highlights of the study:

On Oxford: "The fact is, on any given night, there are lots and lots of completely wasted individuals in Oxford, Mississippi. Especially on a Saturday in the fall. You can probably smell the whiskey a county away on game days."

On Hattiesburg: The authors noted that, despite being one of the state's drunkest cities, Hattiesburg has a low divorce rate. "Bravo to Hattiesburg drinkers for being such good examples for the rest of the state. Perhaps alcohol is the glue to your marriages."

On Gulfport: At the other end of the spectrum from Hattiesburg is Gulfport, which has a high divorce rate. "Obviously, many of you have decided that working on your buzz is more important than working on your relationships."

On Starkville: The authors note that while there aren't a lot of bars in Starkville, there aren't a lot of people, either. "Starkville was given a B+ for its party scene by Colleges.com. If you want to go to a hard core party school, you go to Ole Miss."

On Jackson: The authors noted that Jackson came in only 10th on the list, but because they were looking at per capita numbers. "There's tens of thousands of Jackson residents who are perfectly happy with a quiet night in to monitor the Ole Miss Twitter feed."

The entire RoadSnacks report can be read here.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/01/2016 (2476 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Marj McLeod tried to place an order for products that regularly grace the shelves of her Brandon business last month, she was surprised to find out they had been outlawed.

McLeod owns River City Cigar Company on 18th Street and found out through her supplier that she would no longer be able to purchase flavoured tobacco products to sell in her store.

The ban came into effect on Dec. 14, in lieu of amendments to the Tobacco Act by Health Canada intended to make smoking less appealing to youth.

Colin Corneau/Brandon Sun River City Cigar Company owner Marj McLeod holds her dog in the 18th Street shop. McLeod is speaking out against a federal ban on flavoured tobacco products, which caught McLeod and her customers by surprise and is poised to deal a big blow to her business.

I didnt even get a letter from the government at all saying this was happening, McLeod said. Were enticing young children to smoke apparently, but I dont have any young children coming into my store.

In June of last year, then-health minister Rona Ambrose announced the amendments to the act in a news release, which stated the national mid-December enactment date.

The new law imposes tougher sanctions on tobacco producers who in 2009 were prohibited by the Canadian government from adding flavours like chocolate and bubble gum to cigarettes, little cigars and blunt wraps.

As with the 2009 amendments, menthol has been excluded from the new flavour ban, Health Canada media relations officer Sean Upton said in an email to the Sun. Port, whisky, wine and rum flavours were also excluded from the 2015 amendments, since they are traditionally used in cigars primarily intended for an adult market.

McLeod says her most of her customers arent happy about the changes.

They dont like it. They should have gotten more notice. Apparently some didnt know this was happening, she said.

McLeod has owned the local tobacco shop for 11 years and is worried this will affect business  she estimates one-third of her stock was flavoured tobacco. She no longer carries tobacco brands such as Bullseye, Prime Time and Captain Black in flavours like cherry, honey and vanilla, among others.

I sold a lot of flavoured tobacco, so my business is going to reduce, she said, adding that she doesnt think the new law will be effective. I think (kids) are going to get (tobacco) no matter whether its flavoured or non-flavoured.

In 2014, the Manitoba government amended the Non-Smokers Health Protection Act to impose a similar ban on flavoured tobacco products within the province  with the exception of snuff, chewing tobacco and menthol products  although the ban had yet to reach royal assent.

British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick had all either proposed to ban the products or had already prohibited the products prior to the recent Tobacco Act amendments.

According to Upton, the country-wide ban was a move to close some loopholes in the 2009 amendments.

Health Canada observed the introduction of new cigars in the same flavours as those that were on the market before the 2009 legislation, Upton said, adding that the new cigars werent covered by the additive prohibition. Health Canada determined that additional action was required.

The changes are estimated to save the government $178.2 million over a 10-year period from reduced smoking-related mortality rates  smoking is the probable cause of approximately 37,000 premature deaths each year.

Health Canada estimates 7,000 youth will avoid smoking as a result of not experimenting with flavoured tobacco products.

Smoking rates among Canadian youth are among the lowest in the world. However, Health Canada was concerned that the availability and marketing of flavoured tobacco products may reverse the success of Canadas anti-smoking efforts, Upton said.

 ewasney@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @evawasney
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/01/2016 (2476 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The path to the Rio Olympics runs through Edmonton for Dustin Schneider, Toon Van Lankvelt and the Canadian mens volleyball team.

The 10th-ranked Canadian men begin play today in the NORCECA continental Olympic qualification tournament in Edmonton, with the winner earning a berth to the 2016 Olympics. They are joined in the three-day tournament by Cuba (ranked 15th), Puerto Rico (22nd) and Mexico (24th) at the NORCECA (North, Central American and Caribbean) volleyball confederation event.

Were pretty excited, Schneider said. Its good to be able to host it in Canada too. It will be a good opportunity for us to qualify.

The Canadian Press Brandon product Dustin Schneider is one of two Westman players trying to get the Canadian mens volleyball team an Olympic berth this weekend in Edmonton.

The 30-year-old setter from Brandon said the three challengers are very different squads.

Cuba is a young team but physically talented. Puerto Rico is a smaller, scrappy team but with good athletes who play well together. Mexico is the smallest team but plays good defence and does the little things right, Schneider said.

Theres not an easy game in the three, Schneider said.

He said the key for Canada earning its first Olympic berth since 1992 is staying in the moment, and ensuring that the team gets the most out of its talent and systems.

The Canadians will have to come together quickly. The players left their pro club teams on Dec. 22 to head to Poland for three days of exhibition matches. After two days off, they regrouped in Edmonton on Sunday.

Van Lankvelt, a 31-year-old left side from Rivers, said the national team finds its groove pretty quickly when it gets back together.

Weve had the same group of guys for a lot of years now so everyone is quite familiar with each other and how we play, Van Lankvelt said. We have our systems in place. It always takes a few days to kind of adjust but after that its right back into the swing of things and things are pretty on par and feel quite comfortable.

Canada will be without injured star Gavin Schmitt, but the team has played without him recently as he deals with stress fractures in his right leg.

Canada won the NORCECA Mens Continental tournament in October in Mexico, sweeping the three teams theyll meet in Edmonton. They also beat all three at the Pan Am Games.

Canada opens this afternoon against Mexico and then meets Puerto Rico on Saturday and Cuba on Sunday.

I think everyone is feeling confident, Van Lankvelt said. These are teams that weve played really well against in the past and beaten so I think we just have to focus on what we have to do and not make too big of a deal on this weekend and put too much pressure on ourselves. We just have to go out aggressive and play our game.

The Olympic volleyball competition in Brazil takes places from Aug. 6-21. The mens teams that have qualified for the 12-team tournament are the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Italy.

 pbergson@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @@PerryBergson
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/01/2016 (2476 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Universities and colleges in Manitoba will receive a base funding increase of 2.5 per cent and two per cent, respectively, in the coming year, bringing total amount invested in post-secondary institutions up to $710.8 million.

The announcement, made by Premier Greg Selinger and Education Minister James Allum was one of six made by the provincial government on Thursday. The promises

of funds were well received by local post-secondary administrators.

File photo Assiniboine Community College president Mark Frison, seen with BU counterpart Gervan Fearon in November while announcing plans for a joint business school, calls provincial funding to support indigenous culture on campus a very pleasant surprise.

Within the context of Manitoba, its about where its been, but I think its also important to provide a context from  across Canada. From a grant-increase perspective, (Manitoba) has been getting more than most other provinces, said Scott Lamont, Brandon Universitys vice-president of administration and finance.

When I look at my colleagues across the country, a number of them have seen decreases in some years and thats caused them some difficulty  it takes your eye off the ball, said Assiniboine Community College president Mark Frison, who was at the announcement in Winnipeg.

In addition to the grant increases, a spate of specific initiatives were funded, some of which made it to the Wheat City.

They include several initiatives meant to be a part of the provinces response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including $150,000 for a Metis studies program at Brandon University and $350,000 to be divided among the seven universities and colleges to support indigenous culture on campus.

Lamont said the $50,000 will have a big effect on BUs relatively small campus.

We havent yet decided how we will allocate that money because it was frankly a very pleasant surprise, Frison said.

Both schools signed the Manitoba Collaborative Indigenous Education Blueprint, designed to foster excellence in indigenous education.

They signed that quite independently of the government of Manitoba. We wanted to be in a position to support them and also continue the process of reconciliation, Allum said.

The Metis studies program will be new to BU, after the proposal was submitted to the province several years ago and was caught up when the province changed how it evaluated program proposals.

You will get a bachelor of arts, with a major in Metis studies  it was submitted by the Faculty of Arts, Allum said.

Lamont said the program wont affect other program proposals, including the joint business school submission being prepared by BU and ACC.

Other funding includes a $450,000 boost for ACCs internationally educated licensed professional nurse program and $10,000 for the Len Evans Memorial Scholarship, named after the longtime Brandon East NDP MLA and one-time BU economics professor who passed away last week.

The nursing funds make permanent a program that was previously funded federally as a pilot project. It helps people already in the country transfer their nursing certification from another country to make them employable in Canada.

Scholarship details are scarce, but Allum said the province was already looking to support students in the Brandon area.

It just made sense to us to align it with what BU is doing because, of course, Mr. Evans is an iconic New Democrat in Manitoba, so we wanted to honour him and so its a great privilege for us to do that, Allum said.

In no way is it partisan, but it does reflect somebody who has enormous stature in our community.

Lamont also highlighted a promise of enhanced flexibility to match funding support via the Manitoba Graduate Scholarship, and the Manitoba Scholarship Bursary Initiative.

Both Lamont and Frison said they were happy to know their grant total in January, since the announcement normally comes in April.

Colleges and universities requested of the minister many months ago that if there was a way that our funding announcement could be done in the same way as K-12s (are), that would be a huge benefit, that would fit better our planning cycles, Frison said.

The funding announced is contingent on a re-election of the government, confirmed Allums spokesperson, Zach Fleisher.

If the government changes, then spending priorities change, Fleisher said.

PC education critic Wayne Ewasko isnt surprised the promises got the thumbs-up from local schools.

The big thing right now is, how are we going to make funding announcements to this degree when we dont know how bad (the amount to debt and deficit in the province) actually is? Ewasko said.

Weve already committed to scholarships and textbook credits, theres going to be more and more rolling out, he said of his partys plans for the campaign.

What are we, two weeks before the blackout period (ahead of the spring election)? They are hoping Manitobans will forget about a lot of the broken promises in the last election. Theyve had four years.

 tbateman@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @tbateman
HOUSTON -- The latest on two Iraqi-born men who came to the U.S. as refugees and have been arrested on terrorism-related charges by federal authorities in Texas and California:

3:30 p.m.

Officials say a California man is enrolled as a community college computer science major at the same time he faces terrorism-related charges.

American River College spokesman Scott Crow said Friday that 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab of Sacramento has attended the college since last fall.

He says he cannot give other details, citing privacy laws.

Al-Jayab has his first court appearance Friday on a charge of lying to investigators about traveling to Syria to join the civil war there in late 2014 and early 2015.

If convicted he could face up to eight years in federal prison.

His defense attorney isn't responding to request for comment.

The investigation also brought charges against suspects in Texas and Wisconsin.

___

1:25 p.m.

Two men related to a suspect in a terror investigation out of California have been accused in Milwaukee of conspiring to transport stolen cellphones and computers across state lines.

Younis Mohammed Al Jayab and Ahmad Waleed Mahmood appeared in federal court Friday to hear the allegations against them in a criminal complaint.

Al Jayab and Mahmood weren't asked to enter pleas. That could come if they're indicted through a grand jury in the coming weeks. They were ordered released without cash bond, and the judge noted that they face charges of property crimes, not violent crimes. It wasn't clear whether they would be freed Friday or held over the weekend.

A federal prosecutor says a third man named in the complaint, Samer Mohammed Al Jayab, was arrested California.

The men purchased 32 iPhones, a laptop and a TV that they believed to be stolen from Chicago and transported to Milwaukee, according to the criminal complaint. They intended to sell some of these items overseas.

All three men are related to Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, who has been accused of terror-related charges. Federal prosecutor Paul Kanter says the Al Jayabs are brothers and that Mahmood is their cousin.

Attempts to reach their federal defenders by phone and email weren't immediately successful.

Kanter says there would be no comment on whether these allegations grew out of the terror investigation.

___

12:20 p.m.

Federal authorities say a Syrian refugee in California encouraged a Texas man to join the civil war against the Syrian government and promised to teach him how to fight.

Prosecutors in Sacramento said Friday that the unnamed "Individual I" in the California criminal complaint is 24-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan of Houston.

The California complaint says 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab of Sacramento communicated with the Texas man in April 2013.

He promised to train Al Hardan on how to use weapons and advised him on how he would be assigned to fight once he arrived in Syria.

Authorities say Al-Jayab fought twice in Syria, including with a group later affiliated with the Islamic State organization. There is no indication that Al Hardan, an Iraqi refugee, actually traveled to Syria.

____

11 a.m.

A judge has ordered an Iraqi-born Palestinian living in Texas to be held without bond as he faces charges of trying to provide support to the Islamic State group.

Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan appeared Friday before a federal magistrate in Houston.

The 24-year-old Al Hardan, who speaks Arabic and used an interpreter in court, said he lives in a Houston-area apartment, is married and has a child. Al Hardan said he earns about $1,800 per month. He did not say his occupation.

Judge Mary Milloy appointed attorney David Adler to represent Al Hardan, a refugee whose arrest was announced Thursday. He was indicted Wednesday on three counts of trying to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Al Hardan told the judge that he understands the indictment and the charges.

Prosecutors want bond denied for Al Hardan.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/01/2016 (2476 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The accelerated annual provincial announcement of this years school funding will equate to a 5.2 per cent increase for the Brandon School Division, Education Minister James Allum confirmed on Thursday.

The $2.4-million bump equates to one of the highest in the province, Allum said. Provincially, the government announced that public school funding will grow at a rate of 2.55 per cent, or $32.5 million, which is the highest yearly increase in several years.

BSD trustees will hear a report from the divisions financial experts on Monday, outlining specifics about what the increase will mean ahead of the annual budget process.

Ruth Bonneville/Winnipeg Free Press Education Minister James Allum announces increased funding for special-needs students during a press conference at Glenlawn Collegiate in Winnipeg on Thursday.

BSD board chair Mark Sefton said the announcement is good news, but hes hesitant to evaluate further.

Were cautious and were cautious for a reason. We dont want to create false expectations, he said.

We have 142 new students as of Sept. 30. (Average costs are) $11,000 a student  do that math and it amounts up, doesnt it? And on top of that we do have salary settlements on all our staff; two per cent on salary plus benefits, which is going to come closer to two and a half, three, said Sefton, who added the province is only responsible for 60 per cent of the divisions funding.

We are talking about five per cent on the 60 per cent that they fund, or three per cent of total revenue, Sefton said.

The BSD received a 8.4 per cent funding increase in 2012 and 2013, good for $3.2 million in each year.

Allum said he doesnt anticipate any harsh criticism or critique in Brandon.

Its fair for them to make observations on how it impacts them, he added.

Beautiful Plains School Division, centred in Carberry and Neepawa, will see more money but not enough to cover the number of students in schools.

Were looking at a $475,000 increase, budget-to-budget. That represents about a five per cent (increase), said BPSD secretary treasurer Gord Olmstead.

But enrolment in his division has outpaced the recent budget promise.

Were a little disappointed we only received a five per cent increase in funding, given that our enrolments are up six per cent year-to-year, he said.

We were expecting an increase in funding based on our increased enrolment.

Allum said what each division receives is derived directly from a formula.

It really is a variety of factors at work. As complex as it is, its also eminently fair, he said.

The secretary-treasurer of the rural division located south of Brandon, Southwest Horizon, is happy to have the same amount of money coming in. Its funding is protected, despite no change in student population this year, thanks to a provision in the formula.

Were in the formula guarantee so we are getting no increase at all, Kevin Zabowski said.

Calls to Rolling River and Fort La Bosse school divisions werent returned by press time.

The announcement came a full three weeks earlier in the year than any of the previous 15 annual announcements.

Allum said that is because of the 90-day election blackout period restricting public communication from government. The blackout period kicks in on Jan. 18.

We had an obligation to accelerate that announcement to make sure school divisions across Manitoba knew what they were receiving to enhance their planning processes across the next year, he said.

The province made several more announcements on Thursday. At a school in Winnipeg, Allum touted a proposed pilot project aimed at cutting red tape from the process of getting kids with disabilities the educational support they require. The results of the pilot project, contingent on the NDPs re-election, will take effect for the 2018 school year. That funding increase will be in the amount of $75.5 million.

Allum also announced $10 million in new capital supports for schools to build life-skills classrooms for students with special needs and to improve accessibility in schools.

 tbateman@brandonsun.com, with files from the Winnipeg Free Press

 Twitter: @tombatemann
Whether you're a Republican, a Democrat or someone who doesn't give a rat's patoot about the ugly game of politics, this has been one lousy, dispiriting week to be a citizen of Michigan.

It began with Senate Bill 571, a campaign finance bill that, as many read it, prohibits schools, municipalities and libraries from providing information to voters about upcoming ballot issues within 60 days of a vote.

Can you imagine? People already don't turn out to vote, and when they do they often don't know much about what they're voting on. And yet our state government seemingly wants them to know even less.

How discouraging is that?

The bill, by the way, was so overly broad that even the Detroit News and a few Republicans who voted for it initially were asking the governor not to sign in. And yet he did anyway.

Why? Because, he said, he doesn't think it says what everyone else thinks it says, and besides lawmakers can fix it later anyway. Think about that. That's like knowing a car is broken but buying it anyway. Who does that?

As it turns out, though, that wasn't even the worst of it. The worst parts of the bill, according to some, were last minute amendments that:

Double the amount political action committees (PACs) can contribute to expenses incurred in a statewide campaign, effectively doubling the impact corporations and other big money interests have on elections.

Bar employers from deducting money from union members' paychecks if that money is going to a union PAC. (How's that for fair - corporations get double the influence, unions get less.)

Apparently, some of the lawmakers voting on the bill didn't even know about the amendments. For instance, Brian Dickerson, an extremely fine reporter and columnist for the Detroit Free Press who detailed these shenanigans in a piece this week, asked Sen. Mike Kowall, R-White Lake, whether he even knew the PAC contribution amendment had been added to the bill he originally sponsored. His response: "Well, I do now."

Good grief, that's depressing. The guy who wrote the original legislation didn't even know what was in the final bill, and yet he and his colleagues passed it anyway. Then the governor, who clearly knows it was a flawed and sneaky mess, signs it, saying "What the heck, we can fix it later." Now you know why they say you don't want to see two things being made - sausages and laws.

Of course that wasn't the most dispiriting moment of the week. That honor goes to the revelation that Dennis Muchmore, Snyder's chief of staff at time, wrote an internal memo six months ago about the Flint water tragedy that said, "I'm frustrated by the water issue in Flint. I really don't think people are getting the benefit of the doubt. Now they are concerned and rightfully so about the lead level studies they are receiving. These folks are scared and worried about the health impacts and they are basically getting blown off by us (as a state we're just not sympathizing with their plight)."

Imagine if the administration hadn't "blown off" Flint and acted sooner than it did - an entire city wouldn't have been poisoned, a generation of Flint kids wouldn't be facing the possibility of developmental issues.

Why they didn't act sooner remains to be seen. The U.S. Attorney General's office is now investigating. But the term "blowing off" suggests a disheartening level of disinterest.

Government isn't supposed to "blow off" communities, even if those communities are poor and tend to vote for the other party. Government is supposed to protect us - all of us. The same goes for election laws. Election laws should encourage more people to vote, not fewer, and help people understand what we're voting on, not the opposite. It shouldn't matter if Democrats or Republicans are in charge. The government is supposed to be for all of us.

What the heck is going on with my - our - Michigan?
Actor James Nesbitt has said he shares concerns voiced by bereaved families of the Troubles that the latest political deal struck at Stormont has let down victims.

The Coleraine-born star was awarded an OBE in the New Years Honours list, in part for his charity work with those impacted by the conflict.

Last Novembers Fresh Start agreement between Stormonts leaders and the Irish and UK governments resolved a number of wrangles besetting the power-sharing administration in Belfast, but notably did not find consensus on legacy issues.

New mechanisms for tackling the past had been agreed by politicians in late 2014  in the Stormont House Agreement  but they have since been derailed by a row between Sinn Fein and the UK Government.

The root of the impasse is the British governments insistence on retaining a veto, on national security grounds, over disclosing certain historic documents on Troubles killings.

The Fresh Start deal has been heavily criticised by a number of victims.

Nesbitt, in an interview to be broadcast on BBC Radio Ulsters Sunday News programme, was asked if he shared the concerns expressed the families. Very much so, he replied.

Nesbitt added: You cannot move on without fully addressing what is clearly the ongoing and indelible legacy of the past and really looking after the people who have suffered and are still suffering.

These are real people who continue to be impacted, and [the trauma] is passing on to their family members.

The Missing star, who is a patron of victims support group the WAVE Trauma Centre, was awarded the OBE for services to drama and to Northern Ireland.

For services to acting, thats great, he said in the interview. But Ive been very lucky in my acting career  there are plenty of actors more able than me.

What was more important to me was the mention of services to the community in Northern Ireland.

Because of the lucky nature of my success, Ive had the opportunity to do quite a lot in Northern Ireland, which is a duty, but also a real privilege.

So if this brings more awareness to the ongoing work WAVE is doing, then Im thrilled.
A woman has been hit with a hefty bill following a flight with airline Jet2.com on New Years Day.

Costs of 6,800 have been billed to the 42-year-old passenger after the airline was forced to divert a flight due to her aggressive and abusive behaviour onboard.

The aircraft was en route from Tenerife to Newcastle when the incident took place.

To protect the safety of everyone onboard the woman was offloaded and handed over to the local police at Shannon Airport.

In addition to the 6,800 invoice, the woman has also been given a lifetime ban by Jet2.com and the airline is assisting the gardai authorities by providing all necessary crew reports in order for the file to be submitted with the department of prosecutions.

Phil Ward, managing director of Jet2.com, said: The safety and welfare of our customers and staff is always our number one priority.

Passengers were inconvenienced on New Years Day because this womans unacceptable behaviour towards our crew caused a substantial delay. We will therefore be pursuing the bill for the cost and we will do everything we can to assist the Irish authorities in working towards a potential prosecution.
A father and son have appeared in court charged with helping an armed robber escape from custody last February.

Derek Brockwell (pictured) went on the run after attacking two prison officers who had escorted him to a medical appointment in Dublin.

At the time of his escape on February 17 last, Derek Brockwell was serving a significant sentence in Portlaoise Prison for a spate of robberies across Dublin in 2012.

He was escorted to Tallaght Hospital by three prison guards, two of whom were stabbed after he somehow got his hands on a blade. He then made good his escape on the back of a waiting motorbike.

The notorious criminal, who was on the run from UK authorities when he was arrested in Ireland, was recaptured the next day after he was caught drinking a pint outside a pub in Belfast (scene pictured below).

Today, gardai arrested 58-year-old James Donohue and his son Alan, who is 32. They were charged with aiding a prisoner escape from lawful custody, and brought to separate court sittings in Dublin and Navan.

The men, who both live at St Olivers Park in Ratoath, Co Meath, were granted bail and are due back in court next month.
The new governor of the Central Bank has said controversial mortgage rules, which particularly affect first time buyers, will be reviewed this summer.

Professor Philip Lane has said that the regulations - which require a 10% deposit from first time buyers - will be reviewed when a full year of data is available.

The controversial mortgage regulations, introduced last September, have had a particular impact on first time buyers - they require a 10% deposit, which can be quite a substantial amount, particularly in the Dublin market.

The Finance Minister Michael Noonan has already called on the bank to review the regulations - saying they were brought in to dampen down the market, but the situation has changed since then.

However, Professor Lane has told the Irish Times that not all of these changes are a result of the regulations - and the shift from buying to renting, as well as an increase in commuter belt house prices, was expected.

Professor Lane has said a review will take place when a full year of data is available - meaning any potential changes will not happen until the Autumn, at the earliest.

However, Karl Deeter of Irish Mortgage Brokers has said the Central Bank may not make any changes to the rules when it carries out its assessment.

But he says they have had an impact on the housing crisis: If you to someone three and a half times their income at a time of very low interest rates, at a time of rising rents and high tax, then really what you are doing is forcing them to stay in the rented sector.

That has caused as a knock on effect, more people competing for rental properties, rental prices go up, investors are getting out of the sector, creates more scarcity, they got rid of bedsits that creates more homelessness because the low end of the market is compressed.
Campaigners fighting for full restoration of the last buildings used by the 1916 Rising leaders are to picket the site after protesters occupied it.

About 30 people made their way into 14-17 Moore Street in Dublin on Thursday evening after hoardings went up to allow preparations for construction and redevelopment at the site.

The Government bought the buildings last year as part of a four million euro restoration plan, which includes No 16 where the rebel leaders held their last council of war.

Among those who took part in the occupation is a grandson of The ORahilly, Proinsias ORathaille.

Campaigners have warned development of surrounding lands into a shopping centre will destroy the integrity of the historically important site, including No 18 which will be knocked down to make room for an entrance to a museum and potentially No 10 where the rebels took refuge as British forces overran the GPO.

Barry Lyons, honorary secretary of the the 1916 Relatives Association, said they felt as though they had been deceived by Government despite assurances last year that they would be fully consulted and briefed on plans.

We are fully supporting the occupation, and encouraging it, he said.

When we were dealing with Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys we felt as though we were deceived by what we were told, he said.

We were told nothing would go ahead without us being informed or without our consultation but the deal was signed off before our last meeting. While the minister was at a photocall to announce it, we were in Kildare Street being told about it.

They are going ahead with demolition.

The Save Moore Street group have called on supporters to picket the site at lunchtime to fight what they say is a demolition of history.

The Government plans are to restore the fronts of 14-17 Moore Street and open a commemorative centre and museum.

Concerns remain over what will be allowed on the wider battlefield site at the back of the GPO where developers have been attempting to build a large shopping complex for years.

The buildings on Moore Street were owned by Chartered Land which had planned a retail centre covering 2.7 hectares from the old Carlton cinema on OConnell Street to Moore Street.

The restoration is one project in the Governments plans for the centenary, which also involves 22 million euro being spent on other projects by next Easter to create permanent reminders of the 100-year anniversary.

No 16 Moore Street was the location where the decision was taken to surrender on Saturday April 29, 1916.

It was declared a national monument in 2007 and an option had been put on the table to allow the developers to build the shopping centre with a commitment to creating a museum or interpretive centre at the site.
Two men are to appear in court this morning charged in connection with the escape of a male prisoner from Tallaght Hospital.

The 32-year-old and 58-year-old were arrested in this morning in the Co Meath area.

The men are due before Tallaght and Navan District Court.

The escape occurred on February 17.

Prison officers were escorting a prisoner named Derek Brockwell, aged 53, to Tallaght Hospital for treatment when an incident occurred and he escaped.

Derek Brockwells dramatic escape unfolded on February 17 last after he was escorted to Tallaght Hospital from Portlaoise Prison where he was serving a seven year sentence for a string of armed robberies across Dublin.

Two of the three unarmed prison officers were stabbed and he made his escape on the back of a waiting motorbike.

The Scots new-found freedom was short lived though. The following evening, he was tasered by the PSNI after being identified outside a pub in Belfast.

Two men were arrested this morning and one of them, 58-year-old James Donohue, appeared before Tallaght District Court charged with aiding and abetting a prisoner to escape custody. The other is due before Navan District Court.

The DPP has directed trial before judge and jury for Mr. Donohue. There was no objection to bail and he left court this afternoon after being told to come back in six weeks time for service of a book of evidence.
German authorities have said they have identified 18 asylum seekers among 32 suspects linked to crimes committed in Cologne at New Year.

The suspects were detained by federal police, a spokesman for the interior ministry said.

Those detained are suspected of crimes ranging from theft to assault, Tobias Plate told reporters in Berlin.

None is currently suspected of committing sexual assaults of the kind that have prompted outrage in Germany over the past week.

In Sweden, police said at least 15 young women have reported being groped by groups of men on New Year's Eve in the city of Kalmar.

Kalmar police spokesman Johan Bruun said groups of men encircled women on a crowded square and groped them. He said no one was physically injured but that many of those targeted were terrified.

He said two men, both asylum seekers, were informed through interpreters that they are suspected of sexual assault and that police are trying to identify other suspects.

Asked about similarities to assaults in Germany, Mr Bruun said we are aware of what happened in Germany but we are focusing our investigation on what happened in Kalmar.
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Colognes police chief has been removed amid criticism of his forces handling of a string of New Years Eve assaults and robberies.

Wolfgang Albers is being sent into early retirement by the state government, Cologne police said.

More than 100 women reported being sexually assaulted in the city's main square in front of the main railway station. Up to 1,000 men were alleged to have been involved in the assaults and a string of robberies.

Victims had alleged their attackers were North African in appearance. Police say they have identified 31 suspects, 18 of whom are asylum seekers. None of the 31 is currently suspected of committing sexual assaults.

Cologne police said they had received a total of 170 criminal complaints related to New Year, including 120 of a sexual nature.

Witnesses reported being unable to find police, with some saying they were understaffed.

Wolfgang Albers faced mounting calls for his resignation for his handling of the affair, and has now been removed.

North Rhine-Westphalias governing cabinet will formally discuss the decision on Tuesday but Mr Albers will not return to his job, they said.

Cologne mayor Henriette Reker suggested that police had held back information from her, and said in a statement that her trust in the Cologne police leadership is significantly shaken.

Interior ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said the arrested suspects were nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans and one person each from Iraq, Serbia and the United States.

In addition to the 31 suspects detained by federal officers, city police arrested two men from North Africa, aged 16 and 23.

Police said the attacks on women were committed by small groups of men who were among some 1,000 people described as being of Arab or North African origin that had mingled with revellers in front of Colognes main train station and Gothic cathedral.

The incident has triggered calls for tighter immigration laws, particularly from politicians opposed to chancellor Angela Merkels open-door policy that allowed nearly 1.1 million refugees to enter the country last year.
Update (8.28pm): It has now been confirmed that three foreign tourists have stabbed and wounded by two suspected militants at a hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Hurghada.

Security forces opened fire at the two assailants, killing one and seriously wounding the other, the Interior Ministry said.

It said two men armed with knives had entered the hotels outdoor restaurant at the front of the building and attacked the tourists.

All three wounded tourists, two Austrians and a Swede, were taken to hospital, where one was treated and discharged, the statement said.

There was no word on the condition of the remaining two.

Security officials had initially said the attackers wounded two tourists, a Dane and a German, but such discrepancies are common in the immediate aftermath of terror attacks.

Update (7.57pm): Two suspected militants have stabbed and wounded two foreign tourists at a hotel in the Red Sea resort city of Hurghada.

Egyptian officials said policemen opened fire at the attackers, killing one and wounding the other.

The seriousness of the injuries to the tourists is not known.

The stabbing came just hours after the local affiliate of the so-called Islamic State group claimed responsibility for an attack a day earlier on a hotel in Cairo near the Giza Pyramids.

No one was hurt in that attack.

Egypt has been battling an insurgency by Islamic militants.

Earlier: Reports are coming in of an attack in the Egyptian resort of Hurghada.

The entrance of a hotel used by foreign tourists is said to have been targeted.

More on this breaking story as we get it.
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Washington state lawmakers have introduced a second bipartisan bill to restore the states charter school law ahead of the legislative session that starts next week.

The Washington Supreme Court struck down the voter-approved law in September , weeks after school had started at many of the states charter schools.

Since then, charter advocates have been pushing for a permanent legislative fix to the charter law while scrambling to come up with creative ways to keep schools open through the end of the school year.

The courts September ruling argued that charters did not qualify as common schools (basically public schools) because they are not overseen by locally elected school boards and, therefore, were not eligible to receive the same funding.

This second bill would amend the law so that charter schools draw from a different pool of money, which includes lottery revenue, whereas the bill filed earlier this week would require charter schools to be overseen by local school boards .

Although making charter schools accountable to school boards may tweak the law enough to pass constitutional muster, its not necessarily an ideal solution for many charter advocates who support the schools because they are independent from local districts.

Charter advocates, however, were quick to praise the second bill.

We are especially pleased to see lawmakers from both sides of the aisle come together around a solution that maintains the ability of all parents in Washingtonnot just those in some districtsto choose the public school that best fits the needs of every child, said Thomas Franta, the CEO of the Washington State Charter Schools Association.

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Is cursive necessary?

Indiana Senator Jean Leising certainly believes so. The senator has spent four years attempting to ensure that Indiana schools be required by law to teach cursive.

Leising, a Republican, along with two colleagues, introduced a bill earlier this week that would require schools to teach cursive. This is the fifth consecutive year Leising has introduced similar bills in the Indiana Senates education committee, according to WFYI Indiana. (Heres a post on one of her earlier efforts from this blog back in 2012 .)

Leising started her quest after Indiana adopted the Common Core State Standards in 2010. The standards did not specifically include handwriting, which, their authors said, could be added by individual states . Several states , including Florida, took steps to do so.

Indiana has since ditched the Common Core, and, in the process, created detailed handwriting standards . Students in grades K-5 are expected to learn to form and space letters appropriately. The standards say that students can write in print OR cursive.

Researchers agree that there is a cognitive benefit to learning handwriting. But Leising argues that cursive is distinctly valuable. In early 2012, she told Education Week that her constituents immediately raised concerns when they realized cursive wasnt being taught. They worried about students ability to read historical documents like the Constitution or to sign documents.

For now, the fate of cursive in Indiana schools remains undetermined: While the bill had been approved by the state Senates education committee in previous years, it has not been heard by the House.

Why the passion for cursive? A 2012 blog post on this topic quotes a somewhat bemused Steve Graham, then a researcher at Vanderbilt University: Ive never seen anything in writing that people feel so passionate about, Graham said. On the one hand, I like itwe want people to be passionate about writing. On the other, youre mystified about why the passion is on this one, single subskill.

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The Pennsylvania School Boards Association on Friday sued Gov. Tom Wolf, the state legislature, treasurer, and education secretary for failing to timely fund public schools during a budget impasse.

The lawsuit , filed in state Commonwealth Court, said that state officials violated both the Pennsylvania constitution and the U.S. Constitution in their refusal and failure to pay state and federal funds to public school districts as required by law. The school boards association wants the court to compel the state to timely release state and federal funds to the school districts.

Pennsylvania has not had a state budget since June 2015. By December, school districts had borrowed $900 million to help stay afloat , the state auditor general Eugene DePasquale, told Reuters in December. Districts were even contemplating keeping their doors closed after the Christmas break because they were on the verge of running out of money.

It is absolutely shameful that the states failure to pass a budget for the last six months has forced us to seek a remedy before the court, Nathan Mains, the associations executive director, said in a media release announcing the lawsuit.

While our elected officials have continued to play politics with our state budget, school districts and all Pennsylvania students have been made to suffer. We will not sit idly by and wait for numerous school districts to run out of money and close their doors, he continued. The governor and the General Assembly have failed to pass a final budget while our public schools have been forced to borrow nearly $1 billion to temporarily cover costs and draw down fund balances in order to continue to provide a high-quality education to all students.

Gov. Wolf signed an emergency measure in late December that included emergency funding for school districts . But in its lawsuit, the school boards association, which represents 500 school districts, 29 intermediate units, vocational schools, and community colleges, said that it was still unclear whether some districts will be able to operate past February. They argue that very little federal funds have been distributed since last month.

The school boards association argues that while courts have held education to be a critical and indispensible function of government, the schools have not been treated that way during the impasse.

The lawsuit contends that the lack of state and federal funding through this point in time has already caused school districts injury... . Some districts have taken on unnecessary debts, delayed payments to vendors, and stopped contributing to the Public School Employees Retirement System, according to the lawsuit.

The school boards association wants the court to compel the state to pay the school districts funds they are owed and award damages to help districts recover the unnecessary costs they incurred during the budget impasse.

A full copy of the lawsuit can be found here.
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The number of unaccompanied school-age children from Central America arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border is once again on the rise, but its unclear what effect the increase will have on the nations K-12 schools.

The rising flows in 2015 offer a reminder that humanitarian and migration pressures ... remain a major concern, and that smuggling networks play a significant role, wrote Marc R. Rosenblum and Isabel Ball, authors of a report from the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based research group.

In 2014, tens of thousands of children from the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador sought to enter the United States along the countrys southern border. After arrivals of unaccompanied minors and families peaked at 27,000 in June 2014, the numbers dipped to less than 5,000 just three months later, due in part to enforcement efforts at the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as on migration routes along Mexicos southern border.

The summer 2014 rush taxed the resources of school systems that welcomed new students who entered the United States illegally; most were English-language learners. Under federal law, the students are entitled to a free public education regardless of their immigration status.

Now, the numbers are again on the uptick, with 12,000 child and adult migrant arriving from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras last November. The countries are still experiencing high levels of violence and poverty, the key factors forcing migrants to flee their home countries.

The report offers no insight into what the influx of new arrivals will mean for the nations K-12 schools, but it does indicate that U.S. relatives and communities are a logical destination for those fleeing violence or otherwise seeking to improve their lives.

While districts can estimate how many new students they will be absorbing from the border crisis, many wont know how many additional resources theyll need until students show up.

If the trend continues, districts and other state and federal agencies could be better prepared to meet their needs this time around.

The recent surge coincides with the Obama administrations planned deportation raids of Central American immigrant families, that have drawn the ire of immigrant rights groups and some Democrats in Congress.

UnaccompaniedMinors-Factsheet-

Graphic Source: Migration Policy Institute
Students at one urban school district in Washington state ate healthier lunches after their schools began complying with new federal nutrition standards, and participation in the lunch program remained steady, a new study found .

Authors of the study, which was published this week in JAMA Pediatrics, examined about 1.7 million lunches at three middle schools and three high schools in the unnamed district between 2011 and 2014.

The meal standards , created under the authority of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, were implemented in 2012. They called for schools to add more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables to meals while limiting fat, salt, and calories.

The authors, from the Center for Public Nutrition at the University of Washington, found school lunches prepared after the new standards were implemented had higher levels of six nutrients: calcium, vitamin C, vitamin A, iron, fiber and protein. And meals had fewer calories per gram of food after schools made the switch.

The report notes that researchers studied the meals as they were prepared and did not know whether students actually consumed the foods.

Some critics of the meal standards have said theyve led to an increase in so-called plate waste discarded by students who are unhappy with the changes.

Related reading on school lunches:

Follow @evieblad on Twitter or subscribe to Rules for Engagement to get blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.
Police have seized a homemade gun they believed shot a three-year-old girl as they searched for answers in a grievous bodily harm investigation north of Brisbane.

The toddler was rushed to Caboolture Hospital in a private car about 11pm on Thursday after being shot in the left thigh, before paramedics transferred her to the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital for surgery.

Forensic crews are on scene at a Morayfield address after a toddler was shot. Credit:Caboolture News

She was recovering from surgery in a stable condition on Friday evening.

Police believed she was shot by the homemade gun at her home in the neighbouring suburb of Morayfield.
In the weeks before Christmas, a senior executive from one of Dick Smith's competitors was in Sydney when he noticed something strange at a Dick Smith store.

Behind the desperate 70 per cent off clearance signs, workers were busy installing a new display for Samsung's telco range.

The executive fired off a message to Samsung questioning the wisdom of this when the iconic retailer appeared to be teetering on the edge of the abyss.

As Dick Smith's bankers pulled the pin on the chain this week, putting receivers in control of an operation owing more than $140 million to NAB and HSBC and $200 million to creditors, Samsung's new sales unit looks like a minor worry.
Their conduct is a timely jolt to those of us who might have hoped that sexism and misogyny in politics were relics of the recent past and that the end of the Abbott era has signalled the arrival of a more inclusive and female-friendly time. Not so. Neither the numbers nor the default language of so many in the government supports any conclusion other than that the exclusion of women remains core business for the coalition. Malcolm Turnbull might have increased the numbers of women in his cabinet to five (from Abbott's insulting two) but women still make up only 19.4 per cent of his ministry. Women were 31 per cent of Kevin Rudd's final ministry while they comprised 33 per cent of Gillard's. All are a far cry from Canada where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on assuming office last November, announced that his cabinet would be 50 per cent women.

Turnbull responded to this news by saying: "In an ideal world you would have 50-50 but we don't have 50-50 men and women in the Parliament." Neither does Justin Trudeau. Women make up just 27 per cent of his party room yet he opted for over-representation  "because it's 2015". Women make up only 20.6 per cent of the Coalition party room (compared with 45 per cent for both Labor and the Greens) so Turnbull's degree of difficulty in achieving equality is arguably greater but there is no sign that he is actively working within the Liberal Party to ensure that number increases at the next election. An opportunity exists in Victoria where there are two Senate vacancies to give a leg-up to women. Victorian MP and former minister in the Howard government, Dr Sharman Stone is campaigning for an all-female ticket (the number two spot which automatically goes to the Nationals is already held by Bridget McKenzie). "We have to have a long-term affirmative action strategy until we reach our agreed upon proportion of women," she told me this week.

She would like to see the goal as 50 per cent  which is now Labor's policy  but would settle for 45 per cent. With women's representation in the Liberal Party in Canberra currently at 21.8 per cent, neither goal is remotely achievable without concerted intervention by the leadership. Since the Coalition returned to power in 2013, the proportion of women sitting on government boards has declined from 41.7 per cent to 39.1. The numbers chairing boards has declined, as has the number of women heading up federal government departments. This is the context, then, in which we should be appraising the language used by Peter Dutton to comment on his colleague's misconduct in Hong Kong. It is now than five years since Tony Abbott stood at a rally in Canberra in front of signs that described Prime Minister Julia Gillard as "Bob Brown's bitch" and enjoined Australia to "Ditch the witch". If we thought those days were mercifully behind us, Peter Dutton's words were an ugly wake-up call to the fact that they are not gone and, as far as some people are concerned, nor should they be.

The language used to castigate women is telling. They are either "bitches" or "witches" or, possibly, both since the terms are not interchangeable. A bitch, the dictionary tells us, is of course a female dog but it also means a woman who is "belligerent, unreasonable, malicious, a control freak, rudely intrusive or aggressive". These are all terms that are often applied to ambitious women in politics or employment. Uppity women, in other words, pushing their way into worlds that once were closed to them. (Tellingly, if a man is referred to as a bitch it means he is a subordinate, such as a sexual slave in prison.) Witches, on the other hand, are seen as using their terrifying female powers to alter the natural order of things.

Witchcraft served an eminently useful purpose in 17th century New England, Stacy Schiff concludes. "The aggravating, the confounding, the humiliating all dissolved in its cauldron. It made sense of the unfortunate and the eerie, the sick child and the rancid butter along with the killer cat. What else, shrugged one husband, could have caused the black and blue marks on his wife's arm?" Messrs Briggs, Dutton, Joyce and their ilk have been accused this week of "not getting it". I disagree. They get it all right. They just don't like it and will do all they can to stop those bitches and witches from ruining their smug comfortable little world. @SummersAnne
Having the trippy, friends-of-Miley-Cyrus, wait-are-they-on-drugs? band, Flaming Lips, headlining Sydney Festival's most family-friendly outdoor show may look like inviting the local weirdos to your formal Christmas dinner.

You can't even rely on the fact that they are in their 40s and 50s, that frontman Wayne Coyne grew up in Oklahoma when concerts were short and telephone cords were long. When people had telephones, on the wall or on the little table in the hall.

The Flaming Lips want you in their community. Credit:J. Michelle Martin-Coyne

See how quietly amazed he is to be in Australia talking on a landline in 2016.

"I have one in my house in Oklahoma but when it rings I am like, 'what's going on with that?'," Coyne said admitting that even using a mobile is getting rarer for him now that texting is the preferred mode of communication. "When people call me, I'm like 'why are you calling me?'.When people text you can even send them a picture of your shoe back, it's not so serious. With conversation we have to care about what the other person is saying."
Two teenagers have been charged for allegedly assaulting a police officer in an affluent Sydney suburb on Friday morning, in an incident that left the officer with concussion and injuries to his face.

Police from Rose Bay Local Area Command were called to Wentworth Road in Vaucluse after reports of a car crash just after 4am.

Police officers chased down four teenagers who had fled after they had crashed their Dodge luxury SUV into the barrier gate to the grounds of the heritage-listed Vaucluse House.

As a police officer attempted to make an arrest he was assaulted by one of the offenders, police said.
Next month a bagpipe band, the Rats of Tobruk Memorial Pipes and Drums, will perform in the first Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo staged in Melbourne.

Watching proudly from the stands will be World War II veteran Bob Semple, 95, who helped form the band in 1960 and still attends rehearsals in a Macleod hall.

Bob Semple, 95, (behind centre drummer), and fellow members of the Rats of Tobruk Memorial Pipes and Drums, rehearsing for the military tattoo. Credit:Wayne Taylor

For him, the bagpipes mean more than some rousing tunes. The band was formed as a "living memorial" to the Rats of Tobruk, the Australian soldiers who stubbornly resisted Italian and German forces at the port of Tobruk, in Libya, for 241 days in 1941. More than 800 died.

Mr Semple and his mates were under fire day and night, surviving on one bottle of water a day in 45-degree heat. He remembers seeing a truck full of mates who had been killed by a single shell.
The family of a heavily pregnant teenager who has been missing for three weeks have serious concerns for her welfare and the health of her unborn child, police say.

Rebbeca Hatzis, 17, was last seen at the Northern Hospital in Broadmeadows on December 17 when she attended an appointment regarding her pregnancy.

Rebecca Hatzis, 17, is heavily pregnant and has been missing for three weeks. Credit:Victoria Police

Ms Hatzis is 37 weeks pregnant and is believed to be in the company of her 30-year-old boyfriend.

The last contact anyone had with Rebecca was a phone call about 6.15pm on the night of her hospital appointment.
A teachers aide in a California school for students with emotional disabilities was arrested Wednesday after videos were released of her striking a 9-year-old student.

The Contra Costa Times, which linked to the Snapchat video showing a student being held by two other people and being struck in the face , reported that Kamaljot Kaur of Antioch was arrested on charges of felony child abuse. She works at Tobinworld 2 , also in Antioch.

The Tobinworld schools are named after Tobin Weber, the son of school founder Judith Weber. Tobin Weber has autism, and the schools website explains that Judy Weber founded the school in 1977 in order to create a better academic program for him and students who had similar needs. There are now three Tobinworld schools, the original in Glendale and two in Antioch.

The newspaper reported that the police were called to the school Wednesday by administrators, who told them that video of an assault was circulating online. The newspaper reported that another employee at the school took the videos.

In a statement to the newspaper, Weber said that the school suspended two staff members and was investigating the case. The student was uninjured and was in class on Wednesday, Weber said.

The Tobinworld schools receive funding from school districts that place students there. Two of the campuses were already under investigation before this incident because of problems such as having unlicensed staff and for lying to state monitors. That probe was prompted in 2015 by a parent who said her 7-year-old son had been pinned to the ground at the school, bruising him and bloodying his nose.

The schools were also censured for employing Matthew Israel, the founder of the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Mass., as a staff member, even though he lacks the appropriate state credentials. The Rotenberg Center has come under intense scrutiny because of its reliance on electric shock devices to control its students, who, like the students at Tobinworld, have emotional and behavioral disabilities and are enrolled in the school by their home districts. The Tobinworld program has said it does not use such devices with its students.
Mr Sackville said he could only count nine buildings still standing in Yarloop. Malcolm Taylor's family fear he was killed in the Yarloop fire. Credit:Murray Cowper "It's just terrible," he said. "I couldn't get all the way down there but understand the steam museum is gone ... the post office survived, the pub is gone, the bowling club survived. A bushfire watch and act warning has been issued for residents in the northern part of East Cannington

"Fortunately I have a firefighting pump and house and managed to save our house and the horses that were in the paddock - they are in the backyard now. "But I look around 360 degrees and everything is burnt to a cinder. I think the post office is the only building left standing [in the main street]. The fire was horrendous." The volunteer firefighter told Radio 6PR on Friday morning the Water Minister should resign over the "water situation in Yarloop". "There was no water here to fight the fire, the trucks couldn't fill up," he said. "It's just the devastation of a whole town. "The fire was horrendous. There has been a real lack of land maintenance around Yarloop by some of the private owners - once the fire got into that at the northern end of town, there was no stopping it."

Fire and Emergency Services commissioner Wayne Gregson told gathered media on Friday he had heard Yarloop residents were angry there was a serious lack of water in the town to battle the blaze. "We will look at that," he said. "The resupply of trucks from both the fuel and water perspective is usually done independently of town water supply but I did hear his comments in respect to town water supply. "As I said at the beginning do not rely on scheme water...do not rely on power as been guaranteed. They are likely to fail when you have such a situation. It generally does not impact upon fire response operations because our logistics mean we are independently supplied. "But I did hear those concerns."

Water Corporation acting CEO Mark Leathersich said he understood it was a stressful time for the Yarloop community and communities affected by the bushfire. "Our thoughts go out to those impacted," he said. "Water Corporation has been working closely with emergency management agencies responding to the bushfire. "In the event of bushfires, water supplies can be impacted by power outages and damage to infrastructure, as a direct result of the fire. For this reason Water Corporation cannot guarantee water supplies in the event of fire. Unfortunately this has been the case in Yarloop. "Power to Yarloop was lost at 7.26am yesterday morning [January 7], which meant water was unable to be transferred to the town's tank.
Jakarta: Indonesia's most-wanted terrorist has continued to elude police despite a year-long hunt to capture the self-proclaimed commander of the Islamic State army in Indonesia and disband his extremist movement.

However 24 suspects believed to be members of the terrorist network East Indonesia Mujahideen, led by Santoso, were captured during the National Police-led operation, which ends on January 9. Santoso, like many Indonesians, uses only one name.

A terrorist raid in Mojokerto, East Java, Indonesia, in December, 2015.

"The main goal is to catch Santoso, to bring him to justice and have him face his crime," National Police spokesman Agus Rianto told Fairfax Media.

"It's relative to call the operation a success or not since we have not apprehended Santoso, but we have apprehended a number of people from his group."
NHS reorganisation, coupled with increased GP workload and reduced time for patient care, are combining to force many doctors to leave general practice early, according to a significant new study published today (Thursday 7 January 2016). The findings, published in the British Journal of General Practice by researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Bath and Staffordshire, also highlight how nearly half (45.5 per cent) of all GPs leaving the profession in England between 2009-14 were under 50.

In their study, which was commissioned by NHS England, the authors liken the situation faced by GPs as akin to boiling frogs  whereby internal and external pressures, as well as a tick-box and blame culture have slowly built up to a point where, for many GPs, continuing is no longer sustainable.

The researchers suggest in order to buck the trend and avert a further crisis in GP retention and recruitment for the NHS, the pace of administrative change must be minimised and the time spent by GPs on work that is not face-to-face patient care needs to be reduced.

With the cost to UK taxpayers of the five years of postgraduate training for each GP stacking up to 249,261, there is a real imperative to resolve the challenges faced and to retain these highly-trained professionals within the UK primary care workforce, the authors suggest.

The study, which comprised qualitative interviews and an online survey of 143 GPs who had left the profession early, identified the changing role of general practice as the main issue impacting the decisions of those leaving the profession early.

Seventy-nine per cent cited unhappiness with day-to-day life as a GP as a significant factor in their decision to leave. Fifty-five per cent thought non-clinical workload was too high, with 84 per cent citing workplace pressures as an additional reason for leaving.

Lead author and Qualitative Researcher at Bath Universitys Department for Health, Dr Natasha Doran, explained: This is not the first time we've witnessed a crisis in GP recruitment and retention, but what characterises today's challenge is the number leaving general practice early in their careers. An increase in administrative tasks has resulted in less time with patients, compromising the ability to practise more patient-centred care. This has impacted on GPs sense of professional autonomy and values, resulting in reduced job satisfaction, overwork, stress and for many, a higher risk of burnout.

Since 2008, an additional 40 million patient consultations per year have added to the workload of GPs. Patient demand for services in England continues to grow with an estimated 340 million patient consultations per year overall.

Despite this, efforts to encourage more medical graduates to enter GP training have so far fallen short. The government's target to increase GP training numbers to 3,250 a year has instead remained well below this target, at 2,700 GPs a year.

Principal investigator on the study and former GP, Dr Michael Harris said: In the last few years I have seen many of my GP colleagues leaving practice early because of the unbearable pressure of work. This study has found a key reason is that the constantly increasing administrative workload has reduced the time for the face-to-face patient care they are passionate about. To improve retention of GPs in practice, NHS leaders need to minimise the pace of change and to reduce the amount of time spent by GPs on administrative work.

Co-author, Dr Fiona Fox from the School of Social and Community Medicine at the University of Bristol said: It is of great concern that the cumulative pressures identified in our study mean experienced GPs are being lost to the NHS.
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To the passer-by making his way along Filton Avenue, Ebenezer Church is an unremarkable sight  the sort of mid-20th century church hall that were once sprinkled in suburban streets across the country.

But there is a sign that stands out  an arrow with the words "Food Bank" pointing around the corner to the side door. To anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves at a crisis point in their lives, this simple little sign is a beacon of hope.

For it's hope that is given out here as much as food  a hope that even at the darkest times, you can rely on the kindness of strangers.

The Trussell Trust runs more than 400 food banks around the UK  including the North Bristol project, which serves people across Filton, Horfield, Bradley Stoke, Patchway, Lockleaze and Southmead. It runs similar projects in St Paul's, Avonmouth, Yate, Thornbury and Keynsham.

n our city around 10,000 people each year become the recipients of an emergency food package after being referred by one of more than 120 agencies that are able to give out food bank vouchers  from social workers to family doctors.

The charity's chief executive yesterday warned cuts to the benefit cap coming into force later in the year could lead to a surge people needing support from food banks.

'If funding reduces, that could cause real difficulty'

The first all-Tory budget for 23 years last July outlined the lower welfare cap  the maximum amount of benefits a household is able to receive. The new cap is plunging by 6,000 to 20,000 in April.

And the axing of a 180 million pot for emergency payments through the local assistance scheme could also pile pressure on stretched household budgets, Mr McAuley told the Daily Mirror.

"From April we'll start seeing the impact of the reduction of the benefit cap, which might see people needing food banks," he said.

"The big uncertainty is around the funding of local welfare assistance schemes because they're not ring-fenced.

"If funding reduces, that could cause real difficulty and pressure in local communities, and it could mean that fewer people in crisis are able to get help from the public purse."

Food bank demand has climbed every year for the last decade despite more than four years of reported economic growth.

'Food bank use is still very high'

Between April and September 2015, the Trussell Trust's 425 UK food banks gave away 506,369 three-day emergency food supplies compared to 492,641 in the same period last year.

In Bristol for the six month period a total of 4,719 people (2,626 adults and 2,093 children) were supported by the organisation's food banks.

Similar facilities are also available in the city run by organisations including FareShare South West, the Methodist Church, the Salvation Army and Refresh Bedminster.

"Food bank use is still very high," said Mr McAuley. "For people on low incomes who are at crisis point and coming to food banks, things have not got better yet; these people are not feeling the benefits of economic recovery."

Anyone who finds themselves following the arrow of the "Food Bank" sign to the side of the Ebenezer Church during one of the project's weekly sessions will find the door already open in welcome.

Volunteers  trained to offer support and advice during moments of crisis  are chatting quietly to a family in one corner, while project manager Stewart North is checking through the stock levels of food in one of the floor-to-ceiling cupboards.

"We only take non-perishable items, of course," he explains, checking the best before date on the underside of another tin of baked beans. "But it's still requires a lot of hard work to manage the food and make sure everything is being turned around in the right order.

"Some days you get just a few people through the doors, often there are many more. One two hours session in December saw 95 people arrive with vouchers. You just never know," he adds with a shrug of his shoulders.

"We provide people with three days of emergency food to get them through an emergency situation  a crisis in their lives. We have a clear framework in place to avoid any risk of dependency on the service  people can only come back three times in a six month period."

Far from having a problem with dependency, often the biggest problem is encouraging those undergoing a crisis in their life to overcome the sense of shame still often associated with receiving this kind of support.

"People only get given a food bank voucher in exceptional circumstances of need," Stewart says. "We don't know how many vouchers never get traded in for a food parcel.

"But you can see by people's body language that they are often very reticent about asking for this sort of help. It's not uncommon to find people standing outside because they just can't quite bring themselves to step through the doors.

"All our volunteers are trained to help people overcome that sense of shame, and we're always very conscious of the importance of maintaining people's dignity.

"You quickly realise just how swiftly people's lives can unravel. It's humbling to hear their stories. We find ourselves helping all sorts of people, and not always from the sort of backgrounds you might expect to have hit this kind of crisis. Most of us are only two missed pay cheques away from facing a major crisis.

"If you lose your job you can very quickly find yourself in trouble. The benefits that are provided by the state don't always kick in smoothly or as quickly as they should  and that's often when people find themselves unable to afford to feed themselves or their family sufficiently."

From Stewart's perspective, the economic recovery being reported for the last four years has yet to filter down to most of us.

"We're yet to see a decline in those using the food bank," he says, "and certainly the lowering of the benefits cap this spring could well make matters worse for many people."
Dear Gatherers and friends. It is with great sadness and regret that due to some health issues for one of the band we will not be able to embark on our 2016 U.S. Tour. This has come as a shock to us all, please give us the time to work this out and we hope to return to touring as soon as possible.
by Andrew Sacher

photo: Kid Cudi at 2015 Pemberton Fest (more by Chris & Rae Graham)



We're always posting about about a ton of rap, like the brand new Kendrick Lamar song, but still some stuff falls through the cracks. Here's a roundup of some recently-announced NYC rap shows and new songs that we've missed:

Kid Cudi plays Terminal 5 on February 10 (rescheduled from December 6). Tickets are on sale now, and all tickets purchased for 12/6 will be honored.

Tech N9ne is playing Irving Plaza on April 16 with his pals Krizz Kaliko, Rittz, Stevie Stone and Ces Cru. Tickets are on sale now.

Atlanta vets Arrested Development are returning to NYC on February 3 at BB King's. TIckets are on sale.

Slaughterhouse's Joe Budden does a live podcast on February 2 at SOB's. Tickets are available.

Brooklyn's influential Big Daddy Kane plays a MLK celebration on January 18 at BB King's. Tickets are available.

Now for some new music. DJ Mustard and Travi$ Scott teamed up for "Whole Lotta Lovin," which sounds quite possibly like DJ Mustard's next hit and it's probably my favorite Travi$ Scott song yet. Check it out below. DJ Mustard plays NYC tonight.

Fetty Wap brought his trademark sing-rapping to a remix of Selena Gomez's "Same Old Love," and he's not the first cool rapper she teamed up with on this album cycle. Listen below.

R&B vet Brandy released "Beggin & Pleadin," her first new song in four years, and it's got her howling over a trad-blues backdrop. It works, and it's certainly a change from the glossy synth-R&B of her last album.

Mick Jenkins dropped two new songs, "Grenade Theory" and "$3,000 Advice," both produced by THEMpeople and featuring theMIND. Those follow 2015's Wave[s] EP.

We also got solid new songs from Black Milk, Rockie Fresh, Domo Genesis, Rae Sremmurd, Smoke DZA, Curren$y and Boosie Badazz that you can hear below.

And we don't know if it's true yet, but Kim Kardashian tweeted a hint that Kanye West will be prefacing his new album Swish with a new song every Friday, starting today (1/8), like he did for 2010's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. He last released "Facts" on New Year's Eve. He also co-wrote and co-produced the new Sia song that came out this week.

UPDATE: Kanye did in fact release one and a half new songs, one featuring Kendrick Lamar and produced by Madlib.

Browse our Hip Hop section for even more. What else?



---

DJ Mustard & Travi$ Scott - "Whole Lotta Lovin"



Fetty Wap - "Same Old Love" (Selena Gomez)



Brandy - "Beggin & Pleadin"



Mick Jenkins - "Grenade Theory"



Mick Jenkins - "$3,000 Advice"



Black Milk - "Like I Need It All"



Rockie Fresh - "Down To Roll"



Domo Genesis - "KWYM (Keep Working Young Man)"



Rae Sremmurd - "By Chance"



Manolo Rose x Smoke DZA ft. Problem - "Brinks Truck"



Curren$y - "From Above"


Are Militias Legal?

They're right there in the Constitution, prefacing the right to bear arms: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State ..." Those words were ratified in 1791, a time before a standing army, National Guard, or city, county, or state police forces.

Are militias still necessary? And beyond that, are they even legal?

Which Militia?

The legality of militias depends largely on which militia you're talking about. By strict definition, a militia is a group of private citizens who are trained for military duty in case they need to be called upon to defend their state or country in an emergency. And as the United States has grown and changed, so has the definition and sanctioning of militias.

Some states have a reserve military or state-sanctioned militia, referred to as the state guard or foot guard. For example, the New York Guard is a volunteer force that provides additional manpower and support to the New York National Guard. On the other hand, Texas considers any male citizen between the ages of 17 and 45 as belonging to the "Unorganized Reserve Militia" and the state constitution gives the county sheriff and the governor the authority to call on the unorganized reserve militia to uphold the peace, repel invasion, and suppress rebellion.

What Action?

While such state-sanctioned militias have been utilized in the past, the current, common definition of militia refers mostly to far-right paramilitary groups who see themselves as opposing a tyrannical government. In this sense, any group of private citizens with military-style weaponry and training can self-apply the term militia.

Such groups, in and of themselves, are not illegal. But they become the target of law enforcement for engaging in other illegal activity like firearms violations, tax evasion, or threats of violence. The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates there are 276 antigovernment militias nationwide, and while mere membership in a militia may not be illegal, some actions (like an armed takeover of a federal building) may be.

If you're wondering if your militia is illegal, you might want to consult state law or an experienced criminal defense attorney about your rights.

Related Resources:
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.
Who Is Jayne Kim, Controversial Head of Cal Attorney Discipline?

The California State Bar Board of Trustees announced in December that it would be appointing Jayne Kim to a second four-year term as chief trial counsel, the state bar's top prosecutor position. The chief trial counsel is responsible for investigating and prosecuting attorneys for professional misconduct, overseeing more than 200 employees and a $40 million budget.

But Kim is a contentious choice for reappointment, after employees in the Office of Chief Trial Counsel overwhelmingly voted "no confidence" in her leadership in October. Here's some background on Kim and the controversy behind her.

Kim's Rise to Top Prosecutor

Kim is a native Mid-Westerner, having grown up in Wisconsin and attended law school at the University of Minnesota. But she fled the frozen north for California -- a smart choice -- and started her career as a public defender in Los Angeles. After her work as a P.D., Kim joined the state bar as a disciplinary prosecutor, before leaving to work as an assistant U.S. attorney, handling cybercrime, mafia, and intellectual property cases.

Kim was first appointed as interim chief trial counsel in 2011, when the office was in turmoil. A 2009 state audit found terrible inefficiencies in the bar's disciplinary system, which then Governor Schwarzenegger cited as a justification for denying a proposed bar fee raise. In 2010, little improvement had been made. High-ranking prosecutors were ousted and the previous chief trial counsel resigned.

Scandal in the Chief Trial Counsel's Office

When Kim took the job, she promised to establish a "zero/zero goal" -- getting the disciplinary backlog down to zero, while adopting a "zero tolerance" approach to attorney misconduct. The bar's CTC office is still a bit far from achieving those goals. A June, 2015, audit found that the bar hadn't been transparent about its disciplinary caseload and that it had offered lenient settlements to lawyers in order clear the backlog.

Bar leaders pointed the finger to the bar's previous executive director, Joe Dunn, while praising Kim's work, The Recorder reports. The State Bar terminated Dunn in November of 2014, in part because of an internal complaint filed by Kim.

But workers in the Office of the Chief Trial Counsel don't view Kim as blameless. On worker recently submitted a whilesblower report, condemning Kim's "disregard for her responsibilities, inadequate performance," and "dishonesty."

Dissatisfied employees, including attorneys, investigators and legal secretaries, gathered in October, when 66 percent voted "no confidence" in Kim.

The California State Bar seems unswayed, however. The trustees reappointed Kim by a 14-1 vote. "Ms. Kim is totally committed to public protection," State Bar President David Pasternak said in an announcement from the bar. "It is noteworthy that the six current and former prosecutors on the board, who collectively have over 100 years of prosecutorial experience, are among her strongest supporters."

Related Resources:
UB students gathering in Big Apple for career-enhancing road trip

BUFFALO, N.Y.  The University at Buffalos Office of Career Services is tapping into the power of UB alumni and sharpening its job-seeking skills with another Road Trip New York City, a five-day series of corporate site visits, informal coffee chats and opportunities to establish professional contacts that have led to jobs for numerous UB graduates.

We want to leverage New York City alumni connections while also enabling UB students to attend corporate site visits with key companies in the New York City area interested in hiring or seeking interns, says Arlene F. Kaukus, director of career services, whose office has sponsored and organized Road Trip NYC in collaboration with the Office of Alumni Engagement.

This opportunity is offered both during the winter session and again in the late spring/early summer. It has been expanding in the number of corporate site visits and the days of programming over the past five years because more corporations and alumni wish to participate and help our students and graduates, Kaukus says.

The latest Road Trip  which begins Jan 11 and continues through Jan. 15  is another example of UBs Career Services and the Office of Alumni Engagement working together to complete the connection among the vast and far-flung UB alumni network, and the undergraduates and graduates looking to find career opportunities through internships and informal relationships.

The five days will be a series of corporate site visits  including stops at Bloomberg  alumni/student networking events and coffee chats for students with accomplished UB alumni. About 140 students will gather in Manhattan and take part in as many of the weeks activities as they choose.

The demand for such programs is high, says Kaukus. In fact, we have waiting lists for many of the opportunities.

Students often attend more than once, Kaukus says, because they experience the value of learning about corporations, their corporate culture, connecting with UB alumni and better understanding the importance of leveraging the power of the UB network on behalf of their career success.

The visits often reflect the strong loyalty and camaraderie present in UB alumni, says Jenna M. Smith, coordinator of assessment and marketing for Career Services. The informal networking gatherings also make up a kind of insiders view that takes advantage of the existing and growing UB networks.

It is about UB being there for UB, says Kaukus.

Several of the meetings and tours are hosted by recruiters and corporate officials who have hired UB grads with positive results, or even UB grads who have gotten their jobs through career fairs or other UB connections. Some are even veterans of earlier UB Road Trips.

They feel compelled to reach back and pay it forward, says Kaukus.

Sometimes the UB connections seem as serendipitous as they are fortunate. One of the trips Bloomberg contacts happened to get off a company elevator last year when 15 students from UB were waiting for a tour, Kaukus says.

Im a UB alum, the Bloomberg employee told the students when he found out where they were from. What are you here for? Id love to help.

The alum will share his experiences next week as guest host of a coffee chat.

This years Road Trip also includes Leslie Velozs undercover reporter blog that will provide a narrative of the weeks activities on her Instagram account @DearLeslieatUB. Veloz attended one of Career Services Road Trips as a freshman, changed her major and has become one of the events biggest boosters.

RoadTrip to NYC is a valuable experience to me because it's the embodiment of what Career Services is trying to accomplish with UB students, Veloz says. This trip gives you an experience you just cant get from the classroom.

Students of all landscapes are brought together to meet employers and discuss job opportunities, she says. Students learn the inner workings of their favorite companies, like HBO, and how they can successfully become an employee.

This experience gives students a platform to meet with the people that have their dream jobs. Its a once-in-a-lifetime networking experience.

Road Trip to NYC will take place again in late spring or early summer, Kaukus notes. A lot of our attendance is driven by word of mouth. Students return and have a great experience and then they see this as an opportunity to keep building their professional contact lists and networks.
How a Mt. Laurel woman's company brings characters to life

Laura's Princess Appearances was created six years ago and has over 100 characters, from Elsa to Merida to Spider-Man, available for visits.
Is Same-Sex Marriage Legal in Alabama?

Six months after the Supreme Court granted same-sex couples the constitutional right to marry, whether same-sex couples in Alabama can get marriage licenses remains an open question. That's because Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy. S. Moore, either unconvinced by the United States Supreme Court's ruling or unaware of the supremacy clause, has, for the third time, ordered probate judges in the state to cease issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Is his order valid? And will Alabama probate judges follow it?

I Fought the Court and the Court Won

We've been down this road before with Chief Justice Moore. Back in January of 2015, a federal court struck down Alabama's same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional. Days later, Moore issued his own edict, telling probate judges they weren't bound by the federal court decision (they were) and to not recognize same-sex marriages. In response, a federal judge reiterated the unconstitutionality of the ban and again ordered Alabama judges to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Then, in March of 2015, Justice Moore got the rest of the Alabama Supreme Court to join his quixotic quest and the court as a whole issued an opinion ordering probate judges to again cease issuing same-sex marriage licenses. Then, a few months later in June, the highest court in the land decided Obergefell v. Hodges, granting same-sex couples nationwide the right to marry. And that should have been the end of it.

I Fought the Court (Again)

But Alabama has a long and proud history of defying federal civil rights law, so here we are. Moore's order yesterday cited a conflict between federal and state court rulings, writing, "[t]his disparity affects the administration of justice in this state." His solution was to order all probate judges to follow the Alabama Supreme Court decision.

In response, the probate court in Mobile County stopped issuing marriage licenses to any and all couples, while a judge in Montgomery County called the order a "sad" and "pathetic" "charade" and promised to ignore it.

And the Court Will Win (Again)

The law is pretty clear on how conflicts between state and federal courts are to be resolved. Article VI, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution states the "Constitution, and the Laws of the United States ... shall be the supreme Law of the Land." That means that rulings from federal courts, including and most especially the Supreme Court, prevail over any conflicting or inconsistent state court rulings.

This may seem like nothing more than political posturing from a religiously conservative judge, the order has real world impacts for same-sex couples. Instead of simply exercising their constitutional right to marry, same-sex couples in Alabama will likely need to file a federal lawsuit to force state probate judges to recognize that right, delaying what should be for everyone their happiest day.

Related Resources:
The Lodhi in New Delhi is one of those hotels that are worth visiting more than once for their art collection. Chennai's Apparao Galleries uses the hotel walls as a fluid, cubed space for its exhibitions, of both well- known Progressives such as S H Raza and M F Husain, as well as and newer artists. These exhibitions change every month and at any given time, there are two or three ongoing exhibitions at The Lodhi. The artists whose works are on display are from all over India, allowing one to see and buy a microcosm of unusual and fresh art, including installations.

This week, one can walk into the hotel to see individualistic and atypical exhibitions of wearable art, installations based around light and jewellery design, coins on canvas, old record and CD covers with photographs, photographs transferred onto glass, pichhvais, postcards, wool installations and chess sets.

exhibition that wearable art. The show's exhibits range from jewellery by artists such as Nandesha Shanthiprakash, Ikroop Dhillon, Sylvo Schroeder and Abhishek Basak's metal jewellery to Brigitta Volz's gold on glass art, Masooma Syed's paper installations and Priya Sundervalli's ceramic jewellery. Artist Sumedh Rajendran says about the show. "It is very differently curated and the artists use different materials. The show borders between art and design."Near the reception desk is an exhibition of pichhvais on canvas by Rahul G, called. These are intricate miniature paintings of flora and fauna done on canvas, even if they don't actually have any visible images of Shri Balaji or Krishna.

, by film maker and artist Madhavan Palanisamy. The series photographs of Chennai, printed on old record and CD covers. Just outside the bar, I spot a black-and-white Raza from the hotel's collection. Inside are Lucknow-based Mainaz Bano's exhibitions aboutor coins. Some of these images of gold Mauryan- and Mughal-period calligraphy and coins are framed, while others are printed on white canvas to look like very large coins.

by Bhupendra Karia, which has been installed as part of the Delhi Photo Festival. Karia's luminous photographs have recently become a rage and have also invited the attention of The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York, which has also acquired some of his works. This is a great opportunity to catch a glimpse of them.

The traditional black-and-white images of Chennai contrast sharply with the images of painter-photographer George K, whose works are displayed in and around the tea lounge. His images Madras Jail building, which has since been demolished, are transferred onto glass transparencies and placed in binders in series of three. The glass allows them to blend together so that one sees the bottom two through the top one, as if through water.

The corridor that leads to the pool is also where a lot of traditional installations are displayed. This includes the Dance of Expression collages by Ketna Patel and a series by Srinavas Reddy called Social Commentary. Patel's Dance of Expression is a collage of kitsch plastic images, called Ancient Asia Photo Collages, while Reddy has displayed old Indian postcards. Next to these are paintings by Ganga Singh that look like kilim carpets in their intricacy and colours.

Since the hotel is one of the partners of the India Art Fair in New Delhi this January, new exhibitions by Gunjan Gupta, Gautam Bhatia and Alex Davis are in the offing.

Contact Apparao Galleries at 9643826244 for a walk through the exhibitions at The Lodhi
WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR

Author: Paul Kalanithi

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 228

Price: $25



When Paul Kalanithi sent his best friend an email in May 2013 revealing that he had terminal cancer, he wrote: "The good news is that I've already outlived two Brontes, Keats and Stephen Crane. The bad news is that I haven't written anything." It was a jokey way of dealing with the unthinkable but also an indication of Kalanithi's tremendous ambition. He had led a fascinating life and was not about to leave it unchronicled.

The bittersweet news is that in the 22 months left to him, Kalanithi, who died at 37, went on to write a great, indelible book, When Breath Becomes Air, that is as intimate and illuminating as Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, to cite only one recent example of a doctor's book that has had exceptionally wide appeal. To paraphrase Abraham Verghese's introduction, to read this book is to feel that Kalanithi still lives, with enormous power to influence the lives of others even though he is gone.

Verghese suggests not only reading When Breath Becomes Air but also listening to the overwhelming response it prompts in you. I guarantee that finishing this book and then forgetting about it is simply not an option. There is so much here that lingers, and not just about matters of life and death: One of the most poignant things about Kalanithi's story is that he had postponed learning how to live while pursuing his career in neurosurgery. By the time he was ready to enjoy a life outside the operating room, what he needed to learn was how to die.

Kalanithi's abiding and eclectic interest in serious literature serves him well throughout When Breath Becomes Air. Its hauntingly beautiful title is a paraphrase from the poem Caelica 83, part of a 17th-century sonnet series by Fulke Greville. It's obscure but could not be more apt. Thomas Browne's Religio Medici was the book he loved most.

He wrote his own book with great determination but also great difficulty, to the point of wearing silver-lined gloves to use the trackpad when his fingertips began to crack during chemotherapy. (In the epilogue and afterword, by his wife, Lucy Kalanithi, also a doctor, she says that the manuscript had to be completed posthumously.) But the difficulty doesn't show: Kalanithi knows how to make a paragraph fly. And the book opens with a beauty, quoted here to show its swift economy and precision:





With those facts established, he is free to flash back through the lifetime of experiences that got him to this point: an unusual love-hate relationship with medicine as the thing that kept his father, a cardiologist, away from home at night but also struck him as a calling rather than a profession. Once his family moved from Westchester, NY, to Arizona, he and his brothers became essentially home-schooled by a strict mother who had no idea what truly excited Paul, the neurosurgeon in waiting. She worried about her sons and drugs, "never suspecting that the most intoxicating thing I'd experienced, by far, was the volume of romantic poetry she'd handed me the previous week."With the seeker's restlessness that seems not to have left him until his last breath, he went on to accrue two BAs and an MA in literature at Stanford, then a Master of Philosophy at Cambridge, before graduating cum laude from the Yale School of Medicine. He returned to Stanford for a residency in neurological surgery and a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience. His training was almost complete when the bad diagnosis hit.

In the first half of the book, Kalanithi provides a good set of anecdotes about how he goes from medical resident to seasoned doctor: first cadaver (formaldehyde stimulated his appetite), first births and deaths on the same day (which made him mindful of Waiting for Godot, with its line about "birth astride of a grave"). From the start, workaholic though he is, he understands patients' needs better than most young doctors do.

And then everything changes. In a single moment of recognition, everything Kalanithi has imagined for himself and his wife evaporates, and a new future has to be imagined. Should they have a child, or would that make it harder for him to die? (They do. The book is dedicated to his daughter, Cady.) A job at Stanford for which he was the prime candidate? Not happening. Another good job that would require the Kalanithis to move to Wisconsin? Too far from his oncologist. Long-term plans of any kind? Well, what does long-term mean now? Does he have a day, a month, a year, six years, what? He's heard the advice about living one day at a time, but what's he supposed to do with that day when he doesn't know how many others remain?



When Breath Becomes Air is gripping from the start. But it becomes even more so as Kalanithi tries to reinvent himself in various ways with no idea what will happen. He can gauge how much strength his body still has until he tests it, and sometimes the consequences are horrific. He no longer knows who he is or what he wants. His whole sense of identity is shaken. And for a terrible period when his oncologist is away, he is treated as a problem and not a patient by an inept medical resident who nearly hastens his death by denying him one of the drugs he desperately needs.

Part of this book's tremendous impact comes from the obvious fact that its author was such a brilliant polymath. And part comes from the way he conveys what happened to him - passionately working and striving, deferring gratification, waiting to live, learning to die - so well. None of it is maudlin. Nothing is exaggerated. As he wrote to a friend: "It's just tragic enough and just imaginable enough." And just important enough to be unmissable.

 2016 The New York Times
Listening to the lilting voices of Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal at 9.30 am on a weekday seems like a good way to start the day. The Farhan Akhtar- and Amitabh Bachchan-starrer, Wazir, opens with Tere Bin, a romantic ode to Danish Ali (Akhtar) and his wife, Ruhana Ali (Aditi Rao Hydari). While the melody is soothing, the accompanying visuals look like a behind-the-scenes video of some advertisement shoot. Hydari's smile and Akhtar's stilted expressions appear jarring, where the two actors seem painstakingly aware of the camera. Danish, an anti-terrorism squad police officer, is married to Ruhana, a kathak dancer. All is well till their daughter dies in an encounter with "terrorists". With Ruhana blaming Danish for their daughter's death, he sets out on an unrealistic warpath, almost single-handedly taking down an entire sleeper cell.

Enter Pandit Omkarnath Dhar (Bachchan), a wheelchair-bound former chess champion who teaches the sport to children. While the posters and teaser shots of the film show some sort of tension between the characters of Akhtar and Bachchan, Bachchan's on-screen persona is uncomfortably amicable. Dhar used to teach Danish's daughter how to play chess and thus begins a series of serendipitous connections. Panditji, as he is fondly called, has an agenda of his own. His daughter, he suspects, has been killed by the union welfare minister, Yazaad Qureshi. Danish, who starts chess lessons at Dhar's, soon discovers that there may be a connection between the deaths of the two daughters.

Manav Kaul as Qureshi lives up to his narrowly-envisioned character, playing the "bad guy" quite well. One wishes that Vidhu Vinod Chopra had steered clear of the Kashmir issue rather than touching upon it with just a smattering of information. Dhar, a Kashmiri pandit, is friends with a Muslim. Qureshi, the face of peace in the valley, is really just the villain. And in all this, Dhar, the chess-master, is smarter than everyone combined. If only things could really be that simple.

To the film's credit, the trope of chess is used quite organically and comes together especially well in the final dance-drama. The metaphor of the bishop, rook and the pawn seem to be the only unifying factor in a scattered and confusing plot with weak acting.

Mercifully, Neil Nitin Mukhesh's cameo is too short to register - a minute longer and his hamming would have become more obvious. The same goes for John Abraham, who is, surprisingly, more bearable than Mukesh. Hydari plays the part of the wounded mother and wife to a tee, but fails to kindle any real emotion in the heart of those who are watching her on-screen. In terms of styling, she looks ethereal, but her part in the film largely ends there.

Bachchan offers a sense of deja vu with his performance, a mould that he briefly broke out of in Piku. I fail to understand why his hair is styled the way it is - not only does it not add to his character, it takes my attention away from Bachchan's acting. Akhtar looks great on-screen, but much like Hydari, his looks do little for his character.

Akhtar and Bachchan, though, share a watchable on-screen presence. Their scenes together are the most memorable in the film, though not half as remarkable as they appeared in the promotional videos and trailers. The music, composed by various music composers such as Advaita, Shantanu Moitra and Ankit Tiwari, is wonderfully refreshing. "Atrangi Yaari" in Bachchan's and Akhtar's haunting voices is both foot-tapping and soulful. The rest of the music, too, is woven into the narrative, free of any unnecessary dream sequences.

With a twisted and implausible plot, Wazir qualifies for the one-time-watch category, but is incapable of going beyond that.
Commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland Ltd has received a $50 million worth order for vehicles and spare parts from the Government of Zimbabwe.

The company today informed that it has received orders for 680 Vehicles and Spare Parts, worth $50 million from the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Government of Republic of Zimbabwe. This comes in the backdrop of the company's plans to increase its export operations.

It has receently said that it see huge opportunity in Africa and South American markets

The company, in November, 2015, received a contract for 3,600 vehicles worth $200 million from the government of Cote D'Ivoire, a west African country formerly known as Ivory Coast.

According to an earlier report, the company has been looking at countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal to set up assembling facilities along with a local partner to cater the regional market. Initially the company will assemble small commercial vehicles and once the distribution and service network are in place it will go for bigger vehicles, it said during 2015.
A severe slowdown in demand for luxury cars in China, the world's biggest automotive market, has dented the half a million sales target of Tata Motors-owned British brands Jaguar Land Rover.

The two brands collectively sold a total of 487,065 units in 2015, missing the targeted 500,000+ sales it had set itself in the middle of last year. The two brands, however, posted a five per cent increase over 2014 sales.

China, which at its peak contributed to more than one-fourth of JLR's total worldwide sales and the maximum to its margins, slumped 24 per cent last year. A general slowdown in demand coupled with a delay in kick starting local assembly operations and model transition in China impacted volumes. China's share in sales stood reduces at 19.3 per cent at the end of last year.

However, a sharp pick up in the US and Europe helped the two brands, which contribute more than 80 per cent of Tata Motors' turnover, to offset the China slump.

Land Rover retailed 403,079, an increase of six per cent over 2014. Jaguar sales were up three per cent for the year same year retailing 83,986 vehicles.

Europe was the company's largest sales region in 2015 with sales of 110,298, up 28 per cent year on year. North American sales of 94,066 were 25 per cent up on the previous year.

The growth in these markets offset the performance in China and other overseas markets, at 92,474, down 24 per cent.

"This reflected local market conditions, model transitions and the impact of the major industrial explosion at the Chinese port of Tianjin in August", stated a release by JLR.

Andy Goss, Jaguar Land Rover Group Sales Operations Director, said "2016 promises to be another exciting year, with the start of sales of the Range Rover Evoque Convertible and the Jaguar F-PACE, along with further all-new and refreshed vehicles."
The six per cent fall in the yuan since August could upset plans of Indian like Tata Motors and Hindalco's Novelis, which have sprawling businesses in China.

The negative impact of the China slowdown can be seen in the stock prices of Tata Motors and Hindalco, which are this week down 12 per cent and 9.3 per cent, respectively.

For Indian information technology services like Infosys, which have campuses in China, the impact will not be material. "For most of them, China headcount is quite small. Besides, some of the business in China also comes from local clients, which means both the revenue as well as cost would be in Chinese currency," said Girish Paranjpe, former joint chief executive of Wipro's IT business.

The IT firms will get some benefits, as software exports from their Chinese campuses will yield more in local currency, but will lose if the yuan depreciates more than the rupee.

V Balakrishnan, former chief financial officer of Infosys and chairman of Exfinity Venture Partners, said: "Indian IT firms may also lose as and when that (Chinese) currency will depreciate faster than the rupee, as the realisation will also come down. Besides, outsourcing spend from local corporates will also come down, under this pressure."



Analysts said the Tata Motors stock corrected because its subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) missed its sales target for 2015, with sales in China falling 24 per cent for the year.

"We think the worst is over for JLR in China. With strong launches and the management correcting its pricing mistakes, growth will resume in China despite the devaluation hurting it in terms of profitability," said Nitesh Sharma, an analyst with PhillipCapital (India).

Hindalco subsidiary Novelis had set up a manufacturing plant in China in 2012 to cash in on the rising automobile and beer can markets. But demand is expected to slow down this year. "Any slowdown in Chinese demand is bad for Hindalco, which is yet to receive any returns on its $6-billion investment in Novelis," said an analyst.

An executive with the Anil Ambani group said Reliance Communications and Reliance Power, which took loans from Chinese banks to fund their expansion, would not be affected by the yuan's depreciation because the loans are dollar-denominated.

In January 2012, Chinese banks lent $1.18 billion to Reliance Communications to repay its bonds due for redemption in March 2012. In the same year, Chinese banks lent $1.1 billion to Reliance Power for the Sasan power project.
Real estate firm DLF said on Friday that it would begin handing over flats in its 1,830-apartment residential complex in Bengaluru, after a division bench of the Karnataka High Court dismissed a public interest litigation against the project.

The project, Westend Heights is spread over 27 acres in Begur. The PIL had accused DLF of widening an approach road to get additinal floor space index (FSI), DLF said in a statement

A DLF spokesman claimed that it complied with all rules in force. "We can now focus on handing over of apartments to our valued customers, who have stood by us through this crisis", the statement said.
United Breweries Holdings said on Friday that ICICI Bank had unilaterally bought 1.96 million shares amounting to Rs 186 crore of its holding in United Breweries (UB), which it had pledged with the bank.

The firm said it had given non-disposal undertaking in favour of ICICI Bank with respect to the shares it owned in United Breweries. The undertaking was given only as a top-up to secure the companys obligation to repurchase the loan provided by ICICI to Kingfisher Airlines, the firm said. ICICI had bought the shares on Wednesday.

UB Holdings had pledged 3.33 per cent of the 11.46 per cent stake it holds in United Breweries. Mallya had said in September the company had challenged in the Bombay High Court the validity of the guarantees of Rs 8,707 crore extended by the company to lenders of Kingfisher Airlines.

After State Bank of India declared him a wilful defaulter, Mallya said he would negotiate with banks to clear the dues.
Ordered Deported: Are Immigration Raids Legal?

Undocumented immigrants in New York are panicking over reports of raids by authorities, according to the New York Times. But an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official confirmed that no unusual enforcement actions are happening in that state.

That said, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did arrest 121 people in the US over the weekend, targeting Central American migrants who arrived in 2014. All reportedly already had orders of deportation issued after their asylum claims were denied or they failed to appear in court. Authorities can legally remove people whose legal process is complete. But the government does make mistakes.

Getting Raids Right

Although the government can legally remove those already ordered deported by the courts, immigration officials do not always get raids right. An overly-zealous 2007 New York enforcement action cost ICE $1 million.

In 2013, the agency settled a lawsuit with 22 people who accused armed officers of unlawfully entering their homes without warrants. Immigration agents now have to get consent to enter a private residence, and if that consent is refused, they cannot use force to enter. They also need a Spanish-speaking officer present if the person sought is Latino.



The Weekend Deportees

Many of those targeted in the immigration arrests this past weekend were asylum applicants who said they fled violence at home. Those being removed reportedly already had orders of deportation issued against them, either because they lost their asylum claims or never showed up for court and were ordered removed in absentia.

Immigration agents do have the authority to arrest people court-ordered deported. But they are also agents of the law and duty bound to uphold it. They need a warrant for arrest ... unless behavior triggers a reasonable suspicion.

Do Not Run

At a "Know Your Rights" meeting for concerned immigrants in New York, one lawyer advised attendees to be careful because an immigration officer legitimately looking for one person can make "collateral arrests." He warned that running if immigration officers appear in a public place, like a park, will trigger suspicion and give cause for an arrest.

Thomas Angelillo, a lawyer with El Centro, told the audience that if immigration agents show up at home, "Do not open the door. Remain silent and do not speak. Or say that you want to speak to a lawyer." He added, "Ask to see an arrest warrant."

Consult With Counsel

If you are an immigrant concerned with your status in this country, do not delay. Speak to an immigration attorney today. Many lawyers are multilingual and consult for free or no fee. Get help.

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International Paper APPM Limited (IP-APPM) has launched an exclusive web portal for farmers called Rythukosam to promote farm forestry.

The portal, available in English and Telugu, will educate farmers on the best farming techniques in tree plantation, and connect them to the Centre's Digital India programme. As part of this, the company also launched Rythukosam Smart Card to enable direct transfer of monetary benefits to their bank accounts. About 300 farmers have so far been issued the smart card, a company release stated.

"We aim to acquaint farmers with the technically proven scientific methods of farming, which will help improve productivity and their economic potential.

The smart card programme helps build an important bridge and ongoing relationship with the farmers and helps them gain long-term economic benefits. We expect to gradually cover all the farmers involved in Casuarina and Subabul plantations in the coming days," Rampraveen Swaminathan, president, IP-APPM said while launching the initiative on Friday at Kadiam in East Godavari.

IP-APPM, which is into pulp and paper products, had launched its farm forestry programme for clonal plantations in the 80s. The programme, which is currently country's largest, has so far planted over 1.75 billion saplings in over 252,000 hectare, the release added.
The Karnataka government will release draft rules to regulate app-based taxi aggregators such as Uber and Ola by next week. The move comes ahead of Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick's visit to the country to attend PM Modi's 'Start-up India' event on January 16.

"We have already sent the draft rules to the law department and it is in the pipeline. It will come out in another two or three days. After the draft is finalised, we will make it as a rule and not a scheme," said Dr Ramegowda, commissioner for transport and road safety, Karnataka.

A Union government advisory last year on taxi aggregators gives states the freedom to frame their own rules.

Kalanick, who has disrupted the taxi business globally with the asset light model of Uber, is visiting India at a time when Uber has come under attack from the BJP in Maharashtra and the Congress party in Karnataka.

The Delhi government, which suspended the company's service following the rape of a woman by a driver in December 2014, is now seen as being more welcoming on the back of its agenda to get more cars off the city's roads.

Homegrown Ola, which is modelled after Uber, continues to dominate the app-based taxi aggregator space with a claimed 350,000 drivers on its platform.

Uber on the other hand says it controls 40 per cent of the market with 250,000 drivers.

An Uber spokesperson declined to comment on the development, saying that the company would only do so once the draft rules were announced publicly by the Karnataka government. Ola did not respond to queries at the time of reporting.

Karnataka has indicated that taxi aggregators would be mandated to install digital meters in cars, stick to state prescribed fares and have provisions for providing printed receipts to riders. It is was seen as following in the footsteps of the Maharashtra government which had proposed similar 'restrictive' rules for players.

"We have prescribed installing GPS and other thing. Those rules and norms will come into effect, but aggregators should be registered with the motor vehicle act," added Ramegowda.

Bengaluru and Mumbai, the capitals of Karnataka and Maharashtra respectively, are among the largest markets for app-based taxi aggregators given the cosmopolitan crowd and higher penetration of smartphones. Moreover, both cities suffer from congestion, incentivising cities to use services such as Uber and Ola, and deterring them from purchasing new cars.
Japanese auto major Nissan inaugurated a new plant, along with French partner Renault, in 2010. The plant, located at Oragadam near Chennai, rolled out its one millionth car on Friday. The alliance partners have invested Rs 6,100 crore in the plant, which has the potential to become one of the hubs in the AMIL (Africa, Middle East and India) region. Christian Mardrus, senior vice-president and chairman of the Management Committee for AMIL, spoke to T E Narasimhan on how the company plans to achieve a market share of five per cent by 2020. Edited excerpts:



How important is this milestone of rolling out the millionth car?



It is a great achievement. If you look at what we have achieved in the last five years, you can see our growth has been good. Parallely, we have done a lot many things like launching the plant, along with different types of models under the three brands (Nissan, Renault and Datsun). We have a huge variety of products in the market currently. This is a global plant as it not only caters to India, but also different markets. Overall, its an important achievement. I wont say everything went well as this venture had some hiccups, but we have come out of all those. Looking at our achievements, I am completely optimistic about the future.



Nissan has set a target to achieve five per cent market share by 2020, up from two per cent now. How optimistic are you in achieving this target, keeping in mind the current environment? Does Nissan have enough products to achieve it?



With our current strategy, it is no longer just a dream. I am confident of achieving it. We have got action plans that are running according to schedule, along with the desired investments in the products in order to achieve it. Besides existing products, new products will come as the market is extremely demanding and we have to satisfy our customers. The availability of too many products dilutes our efforts. So, we try to have limited number of product stocks.



Did Datsun meet your expectations considering the brand is not yet visible?



Datsun has a huge opportunity and complements Nissan. Having the portfolio of two huge brands requires positioning each brand at the right level. For Datsun, we need to make more efforts in India, specially in its marketing, to make the brand more aware among consumers. Datsun is a huge asset for India, Middle East and Africa.



Will Datsun have its own set of dealers?



There may be an opportunity to develop specific Datsun outlets in interior regions of the country. Penetrating beyond Tier-II is one of the key challenges for us because today, we are only positioned in Tier-I and -II cities. With Datsun, we have the opportunity to cover some Tier-III cities, but we need to work towards it. We need to expand our reach to new customers and be innovative in marketing our products.



What about exports?



Our strategy is to focus both on the domestic and export markets. This plant can act as one of our regional plants for sourcing vehicles.
After recent changes in its apex management, Wipro, the country's third largest information technology services company has announced some more changes to its senior leadership.

After nominating company veteran Bhanumurthy B M as president and chief operating officer, the company has decided to replace him in the earlier role with Hiral Chandrana, vice- president and head for the consumer products business unit. He is being made VP & head of business application services (BAS), which Bhanumurthy was heading as president. BAS accounts for close to half of Wipros overall revenue



Also, Wipro said, Kiran Desai, head of service delivery at global infrastructure services (GIS), would now head that business. In the recent rejig after Abidali Neemuchawala was made the new chief executive, the company had reshuffled the role of G K Prasanna, who headed GIS, as president and chief executive. Prasanna, a company veteran of 33 years, will now head a newly-created business unit  marketing, innovations and technology  as its president.

Both these appointments are effective February 1, it was stated. Chandrana and Desai would both report to Bhanumurthy, who would take charge as president & head of operations from next month.
The Delhi government informed the Delhi High Court on Friday that app-based taxi services such as Uber and Ola are charging passengers much more than the rates prescribed under the law.

As the allegation was made orally by the Delhi government counsel, the court asked the government to file an affidavit on whether the app-based taxi services were overcharging.

The counsel also said app-based cabs were not mentioning the distance travelled on the receipts given to passengers. He said while the government can monitor the same, it can be better governed by the cab companies themselves.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on March 15.

During the brief hearing, the Association of Radio Taxis, too, contended that app-based cab companies were not fully complying with the court order on plying of diesel cabs in the city and this was disrupting the level-playing field. It alleged these companies were charging passengers three to four times more than the stipulated rates, an allegation that was denied by the counsel for the app-based taxi service providers.

The court had on October 14 allowed app-based cab firms to ply diesel-run taxis from point-to-point in the capital till March 1 by when they would have to completely shift to compressed natural gas (CNG).
After a delay of about two months, the state advised price (SAP) of sugarcane in Uttar Pradesh is expected to be announced by the Akhilesh Yadav government next week.

SAP is the floor price to be paid by sugar mills for procuring cane from farmers. While, the cane price for 2015-16 crushing season is yet to be announced, the same was announced on November 12, 2014 for the previous 2014-15 season.

The cane price is likely to be approved in the state Cabinet meeting on January 12, before being announced. The high level committee on cane pricing, headed by Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan, had already forwarded its recommendation to the Cabinet.

In all likelihood, the government is expected to keep the cane price of Rs 280 per quintal, largely unchanged.

The last time, SAP was hiked in UP in 2012-13, when it was increased by almost 17 per cent to Rs 280 per quintal for common variety, which forms the bulk of the cash crop. For the subsequent crushing seasons 2013-14 and 2014-15, the SAP level was retained.

A sugar industry official, on the condition of anonymity, said while the Centre had announced the fair and remunerative price (FRP) for cane almost a year in advance, in February 2015 for the 2015-16 crushing season, the state government had been dragging its feet on the issue.

UP accounts for nearly a fourth of Indias annual sugar production, however, the sector has been passing through difficult times in recent years due to issue pertaining to cane price, cane arrears, falling sugar price, etc.

Sugarcane arrears to the tune of over Rs 1,200 crore for the previous 2014-15 crushing season is still pending on mills and Allahabad High Court is hearing a case.

For the current season, the sugar mills have so far paid nearly Rs 700 crore to farmers against total dues of Rs 1,250 crore, UP cane commissioner Ajay Kumar Singh told Business Standard.

For current season, the farmers have demanded cane price of Rs 350 per quintal. However, private mills, which form nearly 80 per cent of the functional units in UP, had reiterated their paying capacity was only around Rs 200 per quintal due to low sugar prices and weak demand.

This season, 113 mills are participating in crushing operations, including 89, 23 and one belonging to private, cooperative and state sectors, respectively.

The sugar sector is not only economically vital for UP, it is a political hot potato, as about five million farmers households are directly associated with cane farming.

The sugar sector is estimated at about Rs 30,000 crore, spanning sugar and byproducts including molasses, ethanol, press mud, etc. Besides, sugarcane is used to produce jaggery (gur) and khandsari (unpolished sugar) in the unorganised market.
The Andhra Pradesh government has extended a host of incentives, including a complete waiver of value added tax (VAT) for 10 years, for a mobile telephone manufacturing facility set up at Sri City in May last year by Foxconn, the Taiwanese multinational electronic contract manufacturing company.

Sri City is 575 km from here and about 70 km north of Chennai, just off National Highway 5. The company had said it would invest Rs 100 crore at this facility, to build a capacity to produce two million handsets a year and employ about 2,000 people, mostly women, by the end of 2015. It has already been producing a number of models for various mobile phone brands, including Xiaomi.

In addition to the reimbursement of net VAT, the government has also given for 10 years a central sales tax waiver. And, promised to reimburse the cost of training and skill upgradation of the workers at Rs 10,000 an employee.

The capacity expansion seems faster than what was originally indicated to the government. "Already, we see 2,500 people working at the facility. The company has sought for an additional space three times bigger, in the form of a ready built factory, from the Sri City management. That work is also going on in full swing," sources told Business Standard.

The company has established the factory in the name of Rising Star Mobiles India (P) Ltd.

With the rapid pace of hiring by the company, the state government recently directed officials to find land in the vicinity to build worker colonies. "As these young boys and girls come from different villages, some closer by and some far away from the factory, it has become a problem to maintain strict time schedules for the workers. Considering this issue, the government has decided to build multi-storied apartments for workers, especially to create a necessary ecosystem for the electronic manufacturing industries here," sources said.

PATH TO A BREATHER Foxconn facility at Sri City grows faster than anticipated

Andhra Pradesh government initiates plans to build worker colonies near the factory after seeing massive hiring for the factory from nearby villages

AP government gives complete VAT waiver besides CST waiver for 10 years.

The government also offers Rs 10,000 per person to the company towards training and skill upgradation

Started in May last year, the company has already sought a space three times bigger than the existing one to set up new assembly lines

The Andhra government has plans to create a large mobile phone manufacturing base, with multiple clusters, to enable making of up to 20 million handsets annually in a couple of years time. It recently inaugurated a separate mobile phone manufacturing cluster near the temple town of Tirupati, with four domestic manufacturers planning to launch operations at this location.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday made an impassioned plea to industry at the Bengal Global Business Summit to invest in the state. In a far cry from her days in the Opposition when she led an agitation against the Tata Group's Nano project, which ultimately led to its pullout, Banerjee said: "I want you to be the employer and we will be the employees." Her call was, in spirit, matched by investors, who termed her the 'right' chief minister.

The summit turned out to be a massive show of strength for the state government. Business personalities from outside the state included the who's who of India Inc. Among those present were Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Mukesh Ambani, JSW Group CMD Sajjan Jindal, Hiranandani Group



Co-founder and MD Niranjan Hiranandani, Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra, Bharti Enterprises Vice-Chairman Rakesh Bharti Mittal and Bharat Hotels CMD Jyotsna Suri.

But there was a greater demonstration of bonhomie between the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre and the Banerjee government. Four key ministers from the Centre, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Coal, Power and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal, Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari and Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu were present.

And Banerjee was endorsed by all. "If we are not in position to attract investment, we will be destined to a course what happened in West Bengal three and a half decades back. Governments across the country are realising we have to devise policies. Summits of this kind help demonstrate a clear intention of a break from the past, where there was an increasing realisation that economy would work only if large businesses come to the state," said Jaitley.

The first day of the Summit, however, was more about commitments. In terms of investment proposals, there were not very many as most of them were already in the pipeline. When Banerjee rose to say the time for West Bengal had come, it didn't seem completely misplaced. She made a strong pitch for Bengal; the selling points: cheap labour, surplus power and land. "West Bengal is ahead in all development parameters, in terms of gross value added, industrial growth and per capita income. In four years, revenue generation has doubled, we have 5,000 acres in industrial park and we are power surplus," she said.

While Goyal said "only 22 villages in Bengal are left to be electrified; 99 per cent electrification has been achieved", Prabhu said they "will fast track metro projects in Kolkata". Gadkari added the Inland Waterways Authority of India was planning to set up a modern hub at Haldia to attract more investment in the state.

What is the secret of the government's success? The chief minister's office is in constant touch in the districts even at the block level, said Banerjee.

Realising there could some apprehension among investors about the assembly elections in April-May in the wake of a possible change of government, Banerjee said: "Election is coming but you don't worry, democracy will prevail. This elected government will come back. We should not waste time, we have to work."



Her plea seemed to work. "The summit has exceeded my expectations. Events such as these are transformative moments in the history of a state," Ambani said. He didn't stop at that. "Based on my own experience, I have no hesitation in recommending West Bengal as an ideal investment destination to my fellow investors from India and all over the world," he continued.

In the past three years, Reliance has invested more than Rs 5,000 crore in creating next generation digital broadband infrastructure spanning 12,500 km of optic fibre over 6,000 towers in 1,059 towns and 24,339 of the 40,000 villages. "We have assured the chief minister we will cover all the villages by the end of 2017," said Ambani.

Over the next 24 months, Reliance will connect every single rural and urban school with high-speed internet, all 2,800 colleges and hospitals at the tertiary, secondary and primary level, including all health care centres. "For a glorious and digital West Bengal, you can always count on us," is how Ambani finally signed off.

Others like Hiranandani and Jindal spoke about their experiences. Hiranandani recounted how apprehensive he was about investing in the state, but was proved otherwise. "We love you all too much and from the west of India we might migrate here very soon," he announced.

Jindal narrated his recent experience at the foundation stone laying ceremony for a cement plant at Salboni in West Medinipur. In her effort to bring down expectations, Banerjee had urged land losers at Salboni not to implore for jobs, as the company would be ramping up in phases. "I have never seen a chief minister tell her voters not to interfere, not to create trouble and not to expect jobs from the management. This is, in the true sense, ease of doing business. We are not going to stop at this. Please invest more and more in West Bengal, you have the right environment, right CM and the right kind of bureaucracy. It is one of the best states to invest in," he said.

ITC Chairman, Y C Deveshwar, who was also present at the event, spoke about the reforms under the leadership of Banerjee. "She has a slight frame and is a barefoot chief minister. But, she has a heart of gold and nerves of steel," he said. At present, ITC has Rs 4,500 crore of investment in process and is also undertaking a 3.5 mn sq ft project of ITC Infotech and related service infrastructure.

Mittal said that in the next three years, Airtel would be investing Rs 3,500 crore, while Chandra's Essel Group has committed investment of Rs 4,000 crore.

One of the strongest endorsements, however, came from TCG's Purnendu Chatterjee, who has just bought out part of the government's stake in Haldia Petrochemicals, a joint venture with the state government. "The Centre and state collaborated to solve the Haldia problem and the state exchequer got Rs 653 crore and the shares were transferred. It actually revitalised and brought to life a Rs 20,000-crore asset. Take it from me, there is an attitude to solve problems," said Chatterjee. At some point, TCG could also explore setting up a feedstock refinery entailing an investment of Rs 20,000 crore.

Haldia Petrochemicals happens to be a prime example of how the Centre extended a helping hand to the state government to resolve a long-pending impasse. It recently exempted the company from a tax demand in excess of Rs 2,000 crore, paving the way for the share transfer between Chatterjee and the government.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who went to the summit to do his bit for Banerjee, said: "Mamata didi is a great leader. I appeal to everyone to invest in Bengal." Towards the end of his speech, however, Delhi found a place in his appeal for investment.

"The strength of India is its federal polity. Despite political differences, we cooperate with each other. West Bengal contributes 6-7% of India's national GDP. A strong West Bengal is going to add to the country's GDP"

Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister

"West Bengal is a hub of railway operations. We will fast track metro projects in Kolkata"

Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister

"It was Mamata didi who helped me navigate the logjam in Parliament after 200-odd coal block allocations were cancelled"

Piyush Goyal, Power Minister

"I assure you Reliance will be a reliable partner in the realisation of your vision. For a glorious and digital West Bengal, you can always count on us"

Mukesh Ambani, CMD, RIL
The government has cleared the appointment of Gujarat cadre IAS DK Sikri as the new chairman, Competition Commission of India, even as he was number two in the list recommended by the selection panel, it is learnt.

The Prime Minister's Office has cleared the top appointment at CCI and the order is expected.

Although DIPP secretary Amitabh Kant was the top name recommended for the CCI chairman's post, sources said that the PM was keen that Kant remained in the executive side in the government.

On Thursday, Kant was named as Niti Aayog CEO after he superannuated in March. But his term has not been defined yet.

ALSO READ: Amitabh Kant appointed CEO of NITI Aayog
Banking operations in the country were partially hit, as a section of public sector bank employees went on strike for a day to protest violation of the bilateral settlement agreement by associate of SBI.

Public sector bank executives said branches were open as officer level personnel were at work. It is clerical staff that abstained from work.

Transactions on electronics platform went through smoothly.

But cash transactions could not be done as clerical staff holds keys as they abstained from work, executives said.

Many customers airing displeasure over agitation said employees have right to fight for alleged discriminatory treatment. However, they (bank staff) can opt for methods to agitate which do not put customers at inconvenience. The alternate platforms (electronics channels) are helping to avail services.

Some of the services, like cash handling at branch level and clearing of checks were affected in the where presence of All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) is strong.

As precautionary step, most of the had issued advisory to customers saying they will take necessary steps for smooth functioning of branches or offices on the day of strike.

The strike call was given on December 28 to protest violation of the bilateral settlement by five associate banks of the SBI and their attempt to force unilateral service conditions on the employees.

The five subsidiaries of SBI are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur.

Unions said the bipartite agreement's conditions were changed without taking the employees union in confidence, and a career progression scheme was launched for associate bank employees without any agreement.

AIBEA has said that if the changes in service rules of associate banks are not withdrawn, they will hold an indefinite strike, and a special meeting has been called in Chennai on January 13.
About 44 percent of Idahoans think that climate change is a problem that needs to be addressed. Forty-seven percent think otherwise (56% in uncertain and unopionted people are included.)While 84% of Democrats accept that there is a climate crisis, only 20% of Republicans feel the same way. Those twenty percent are uncertain about what, if any, action can be taken. Our State legislature is dominated by Republicans. We may be the "reddest" State.It is the most conservative Republicans and their mostly rural constituents who depend most heavily on our forests, rangelands, rivers, and farmlands. As droughts, floods and fires become predictably more unpredictable, ideology and survival will become more contradictory to each other.What will survive? The environment or the ideology? In the long run, ideology (theirs or mine) will not survive an ecological collapse
The government today re-appointed Urjit Patel as the deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India for a three-year term, ensuring continuity for the team spearheading the country's monetary policy under Governor Raghuram Rajan.

Patel, a close confidante of Rajan for shaping and implementing monetary policy, was earlier appointed as deputy governor for a period of three years from January 11, 2013, RBI said in statement.

Patel is the fourth deputy governor, the other three being HR Khan, R Gandhi and SS Mundra.

During his tenure, Patel spearheaded a committee that in January 2014 recommended targeting consumer inflation to control historically volatile prices, shifting the focus away from wholesale prices.

The strategy was accepted by Rajan, with the government's backing, in an overhaul of the monetary policy, which is one of the most significant moves by RBI since India liberalised its economy in 1991.

The same panel also recommended the creation of a panel to set interest rates, currently solely decided by the RBI governor, and spinning off the RBI's management of government debt to an independent public agency. These recommendations are now being discussed by the government and the central bank.

Prior to his appointment as the deputy governor at RBI in 2013, Patel was advisor (energy & infrastructure) with Boston Consulting Group.

Patel, born on October 28, 1963, received his doctorate in economics from Yale University in 1990) and M Phil from Oxford (1986).

He has worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 1990 and 1995 covering the US, India, Bahamas and Myanmar desks. He was on deputation (1996-1997) from the IMF to the RBI and provided advice on development of the debt market, banking sector reforms, pension fund reforms, real exchange rate targeting and evolution of the foreign exchange market.

After his stint at the central bank, he continued his India engagement as a consultant (1998-2001) to the Department of Economic Affairs in the ministry.

He has also worked in the private sector with assignments such as president (business development) at Reliance Industries and executive director and member of the management committee, Infrastructure Development Company (IDFC).

Between 2000 and 2004, Patel worked closely with several central and state government high level panels, such as, Task Force on Direct Taxes, Advisory Committee (on Research Projects and Market Studies), and Competition Commission of India. He was part of Ministry of Powers Expert Group on State Electricity Boards and High Level Expert Group for Reviewing the Civil & Defence Services Pension System, Government of India.
Indian reinsurers might be given the right of first refusal in treaties with insurers.

The insurance regulator held a board meeting last week where this matter was discussed and a final decision will be taken soon.

Foreign reinsurers have written to the government and the insurance regulator and met finance ministry officials on this issue.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has added a new proposal in guidelines on branch licences for foreign reinsurers where it said first preference would be given to Indian reinsurers in their treaty surpluses.

If this proposal goes through, first preference in all such agreements between reinsurers and insurers will be given to Indian reinsurers. Only if a risk is rejected by an Indian reinsurer will it be passed on to others.

Swiss Re, Munich Re, Hannover Re, SCOR and RGA (Reinsurance Group of America) had applied for branch licences after the final guidelines were issued. These reinsurers have held several rounds of discussions among themselves on how to take up the matter with the regulator.

The reinsurance industry is about Rs 18,000 crore in India of which life insurance constitutes about Rs 1,200 crore. In its Registration and Operations of Branch offices of Foreign Reinsurers other than Lloyds Regulations 2015, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India had said with respect to order of preference for cessions, the insurer could offer it for participation to any Indian or international reinsurer with a branch presence.

Industry executives said even though it was a draft, since the regulator had said these changes were made on the advice of the government, the proposal was unlikely to be revised.

General Insurance Corporation of India is the sole Indian reinsurer. Regulatory norms require mandatory cession to GIC, which means a fixed percentage of the total risk has to be reinsured with it.

This is fixed at five per cent now for non-life insurance.
Banking operations were hit partially on Friday, as a section of public sector bank (PSB)'s employees went on a strike across the country to protest violation of bilateral settlement agreement by associate of State Bank of India (SBI).

Clerical staff kept away, while officers came to work as usual. Transactions on the electronic platform weren't hampered but some services such as cash handling at branches and clearing of checks were affected at where the presence of All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) was strong.

Private sector and the country's largest lender, SBI, continued to function normally. As precautionary measures, most of the banks, including United Bank of India, had issued an advisory to their customers, saying they will take all necessary steps for smooth functioning of branches or offices on the day of a strike.

The strike call was given on December 28 to protest violation of the bilateral settlement by five associate banks of SBI and their attempt to force unilateral service conditions on the employees, AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatachalam had said.

Five subsidiaries of SBI are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ).

Mahesh Mishra, general secretary of AIBEA-affiliated Rajasthan Pradesh Bank Employees Union, said about 15,000 employees at 3,500 bank branches in the state went on strike. The bipartite agreement's conditions were changed without taking the employees union in confidence, and a career progression scheme was launched for associate bank employees without any agreement, Mishra said.

While addressing a gathering of striking employees at Chaura Rasta in Jaipur. If the changes in service rules of associate banks are not withdrawn, AIBEA will hold an indefinite strike, and a special meeting has been called in Chennai on January 13, he added.

Unionists of SBBJ, Bank of India, Dena Bank, Allahabad Bank, AIBEA and Cooperative Bank addressed the gathering and strongly condemned SBI's move for "unwarranted changes" in the service rules of associate banks.
103rd Indian Science Congress Concludes with A Call for Serious Pursuit of Science . .

The Governor of Karnataka Shri Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala urged the youth to focus on their education in their crucial age of education. Delivering his valedictory speech at the concluding ceremony of the 103rd Indian Science Congress last evening, he said boys should leave their addictions for other elements and girls may not bother about fashion during their studies. He passionately pleaded that youth should pursue science. The Chief Guest on the occasion, former Prime Minister Shri H D Deve Gowda said that Science should be pursued for the benefit of Humanity. The Guest of Honour, the Karnataka Minister for Higher Education, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Shri T.B.Jayachandra said that India had a Glorious past and rich heritage of Science & Technology. He said the former Prime Minister late Shri Rajiv Gandhi had been very serious to promote Science & Technology in the country. The annual Indian Science Congress held between Jan 3rd to Jan 7th, with its theme Science and technology for indigenous development in India" was inaugurated and presided by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Make in India" a term coined by the PM. .

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In over 50 halls around the Mysore University campus, 620 hours of platform presentations on science were attended by large number of people. This includes plenary sessions, sectional sessions and special talks. Over 5000 speakers delivered talks and a total of 12500 delegates and 500 Scientists participated at the 103rd Indian Science Congress. Over 150 institutions from around India and abroad took part in the meet. .

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Sectional sessions and symposiums were held on 14 topics, namely, Agriculture and Forensic Science, Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences, Anthropological and Behavioral Sciences, Chemical Science, Earth System Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Environment Sciences, Information and Communication Science and Technology, Material Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Medical Sciences, New Biology, Physical Sciences and Plant Sciences. .

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The most awaited part of the ISC was the talks by Nobel laureates Scientists; Prof John B Gurdon, UK, Nobel in 2012 for Medicine, Prof Manjul Bhargava, USA, Fields Medal (Nobel Equivalent) in 2014, Prof David J Gross, USA, Nobel in 2004 for Physics, Prof Dan Shechtman, Israel, Nobel in 2011 for Chemistry, Prof Serge Haroche, France, Nobel in 2012 for Physics and Arthur B. McDonald, Canada, Nobel in 2015 for Physics. .

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Eminent Indian Scientists like Prof C N R Rao, Prof Kasturirangan and Prof Goverdhan Mehta and others also delivered lectures and expressed their views on the science development in the country. The 103rd Indian Science Congress was a feast for the intellectual minds as it explored various aspects of science. It was declared that the next annual Indian Science Congress will be held between Jan 3rd to Jan 7th, 2017 at SRM University in Chennai. .

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Womans Science Congress which was inaugurated by HRD Minister Mrs. Smriti Zubin Irani calling for inclusive participation of women was appreciated by all. Children Science Congress which was inaugurated by Nobel Laureate John B Gurdon called for youth participation and added that it is necessary that we introduce and create awareness among children at early age. Children, who achieved great feat in the field of science and technology were identified and felicitated. .

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Science Exhibition was a major attraction in the 103rd Indian Science Congress which features exhibits from DRDO, ONGC, Biocon, NTPC, HAL, KBITS, ASL, and various other organizations both private and government attracted a huge crowd. This also featured a Hall of Fame, an apt tribute to our former President, Late Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The other crowd puller was Children exhibition arena as part of Children Science Congress. School children from across the city visited the exhibition and got insight. .

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1ST Meeting of Council of Trade Development and Promotion held in New Delhi - Consultations held for developing a Framework for making States Active partners in boosting Indias exports . .

1st meeting of the Council for Trade Development and Promotion was held in the Capital today. Welcoming the Commerce & Industry Ministers from around 10 States and senior officials from other States, Union Commerce & Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman expressed the hope that the Council will help in developing a framework for making the States active partners of this Ministry in boosting Indias exports. .

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The Commerce & Industry Minister said that the 1st meeting of the Council shall provide a platform to ensure a continuous dialogue with the State Governments and UTs for creating an enabling environment conducive to International trade. .

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Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman asked the State Governments to give inputs for creating facility for testing, certification, trace-back, packaging and labelling. She advised the States to enhance their co-operation with Central Agencies for setting up common facilities like testing labs, training institutes as well as packaging and storage support to industry. .

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The Commerce Minister told the States that there was a need to diversify Indias services exports basket by enabling more sectors and to reach more markets. Other areas like Medical tourism, nursing and healthcare, education, audio-visual media also afford an excellent potential which can be harnessed. .

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Highlighting the measures taken for facilitating Ease of Doing Business, the Commerce Minister said that the number of mandatory documents required has been reduced. to 3 for export and 4 for imports as against the earlier requirements of 7 documents for exports and 10 for imports. .

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She requested all the States to consider organizing bimonthly meetings with the exporters in their States to sort out their infrastructure and tax related issues. .

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The State representatives thereafter submitted their suggestions and gave feedback on measures to remove roadblocks in improving the exports from the States. .

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The Karnataka Industry & Trade Minister Shri R.V.Deshpande underscored the importance of upgrading Railway connectivity & doubling lines, upgrading minor ports and enhancing their connectivity with hinterland. He also requested for upgrading selected State Road as National Highways and their maintenance. He gave specific suggestions for giving HS-Code for Perfumed Agarbathis and Rose Onions grown in Kolar/Chikaballapur Districts of Karnataka. He also requested for upgradation of Hubli airport as an international airport. Shri Deshpande also observed that imposition of MAT is hindering the growth of SEZs. He also sought changes in the Ease of Doing Business stating that the rankings should be linked to implementation and should be more practical that should reflect the performance of the State. .

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Siddeque Ahmod, the Minister of Industries and Commerce from Assam, requested for several measures for improving road links and road connectivity with Bangladesh as well as transit facilities with Bangladesh. He also requested for warehousing facilities for tea. .

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Industries Minister from Himachal Pradesh Shri Mukesh Agnihotri, requested Centres help for rail connectivity and also for restoring the special package for Himachal Pradesh. He also sought action on the Chandigarh-Baddi railway line for which MOU has already been signed. .

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Shri Madan Mohan Mittal, Commerce Minister from Punjab sought package in health for the State considering that it had to suffer for about 15 years on account of terrorism in the State. .

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The Industry Minister from Rajasthan, Shri Gajendra Singh Khimsar suggested that a separate export promotion council could be set up for dimensional stone. He also requested for establishment of Revenue Laboratory at Jaipur so that the delay in sending export consignments could be shortened. .

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Other States also gave specific suggestions on their respective areas of concern. In particular, most of the States highlighted the importance for restoring the ASIDE schemes. .

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The Apex trade associations FICCI, ASSOCHAM and CII gave their presentations and suggestions for making gains amidst a challenging world economic scenario. .

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Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) also gave a presentation on the recent trends in Indian trade scenario and role of States in trade promotion. .

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The Commerce Minister briefed the media after the meeting was over. She summed up the suggestions from the State Governments under three broad parameters including strengthening of infrastructure, benefits to exporters and restoring the facility of ASIDE. The Commerce Minister said that the important initiatives taken by the respective State Govts were also shared amongst themselves and with the Centre and this will help in improving the strategy being followed by the respective States for increase in exports. She said that the Ministry will give specific replies to specific suggestions that have been given by the State representatives in the Council meeting. .

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RC/nb
ADM Scott Swift, Commander US Pacific Fleet Visits India . .

Admiral Scott Swift, Commander, Pacific Fleet is visiting New Delhi from 07 09 Jan 16. His visit is intended to consolidate the growing defence relations between India and US and also to explore new avenues for naval cooperation. .

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Admiral Scott Swift held bilateral discussions with Admiral RK Dhowan, Chief of the Naval Staff today. He also interacted with the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff and members of the Naval Maritime Foundation. The Admiral has earlier visited India in 2012 and 2013 in various capacities. Adm Swift was promoted to the rank of Admiral and assumed Command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet on 27 May 15. He is the 35th Commander since the Fleet was established in February 1941 with Headquarters at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. .

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The Indian and the US Navies cooperate with each other in terms of technical training, anti-piracy patrols, Navy to Navy staff talks, bilateral exercises such as MALABAR, as well as interact at various multilateral forums like RIMPAC. Warships from both navies call at each others ports,which provides excellent opportunity for professional interaction and building Bridges of Friendship . With the ongoing construction of Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC 1), carrier construction cooperation has emerged as one of the major areas for cooperation between the two navies. .

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Major issues that were discussed during the visit included enhancement of scope and complexity of exercises, training exchanges, improving MDA by sharing of white shipping information and participation of USN in the prestigious International Fleet Review being organised by Indian Navy off Visakhapatnam in Feb 16. .

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DKS/CKP
Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi Alliance meets Shri J P Nadda . . Appreciates initiatives in Immunization and Health Systems Strengthening . . Gavi Alliance can support India through its global knowledge in strengthening Health Systems: JP Nadda . .

Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance called on the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Shri J P Nadda, here today. During the meeting he discussed various issues relating to the health sector in India. Dr Seth Berkley expressed appreciation for the initiatives taken by the Ministry towards strengthening the health systems, particularly in the area full immunization through Mission Indradhanush. Dr Berkley also appreciated the resolve and commitment to launch new vaccines to protect the children and Indias population from various diseases. .

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The Health Minister elaborated on the new initiatives of the Government such as Mission Indradhanush that aims to cover all missed-out and left-out children with cover of full immunization and the successes within the nation-wide initiative, the launch of new vaccines including Pentavalent, Pneumococcal, Rota Virus, Measles-Ruebella and the adult JE vaccine. The Health Minister Shri J P Nadda said, Immunisation is the only way forward for healthy India as it is a very crucial determinant of a productive community. We are looking forward to develop synergies and to use expertise of GAVI in strengthening health systems in India. GAVI can play an important role in making our systems more robust." .

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The Health Minister appreciated the efforts of GAVI in complimenting the efforts of the Government for achieving universal immunization. Dr. Berkley assured the Minister support of GAVI in strengthening health systems further in order to enhance the capacity and knowledge of the Routine Immunization programme. .

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Also present during the meeting were Shri C K Mishra, AS &MD (NHM) and Dr. Rakesh Kumar, JS (RCH, IEC). .

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Enemy Property Ordinance, 2016 Promulgated . .

The President of India has promulgated the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2016 on January 07, 2016 to make amendments to the Enemy Property Act, 1968. .

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The amendments through the Ordinance include that once an enemy property is vested in the Custodian, it shall continue to be vested in him as enemy property irrespective of whether the enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm has ceased to be an enemy due to reasons such as death etc; that law of succession does not apply to enemy property; that there cannot be transfer of any property vested in the Custodian by an enemy or enemy subject or enemy firm and that the Custodian shall preserve the enemy property till it is disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the Act. .

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The above amendments to the Enemy Property Act, 1968 will plug the loopholes in the Act to ensure that the enemy properties that have been vested in the Custodian remain so and they do not revert back to the enemy subject or enemy firm. .

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The Enemy Property Act was enacted in the year 1968 by the Government of India, which provided for the continuous vesting of enemy property in the Custodian. The Central Government through the Custodian of Enemy Property for India is in possession of enemy properties spread across many states in the country. In addition, there are also movable properties categorized as enemy properties. .

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To ensure that the enemy property continues to vest in the Custodian, appropriate amendments were brought in by way of an Ordinance in the Enemy Property Act, 1968 by the then Government in 2010. .

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This Ordinance, however lapsed on 6th September, 2010 and a bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 22, 2010. However, this bill was withdrawn and another bill with modified provisions was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 15th November, 2010. This bill was thereafter referred to the Standing Committee. However, the said bill could not be passed during the 15th term of the Lok Sabha and it lapsed. .

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In the wake of the Indo-Pak war of 1965 and 1971, there was migration of people from India to Pakistan. Under the Defence of India Rules framed under the Defence of India Act, the Government of India took over the properties and companies of such persons who had taken Pakistani nationality. These enemy properties were vested by the Central Government in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India. .

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After the 1965 war, India and Pakistan signed the Tashkent Declaration on 10.01.1966. The Tashkent Declaration inter alia included a clause, which said that the two countries would discuss the return of the property and assets taken over by either side in connection with the conflict. However, the Government of Pakistan disposed of all such properties in their country in the year 1971 itself. .

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National Seminar on Homeopathy inaugurated by Shri Shripad Yesso Naik in New Delhi . .

The Minister of State for AYUSH (Independent Charge) and Health and Family Welfare, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik inaugurated a National Seminar on Homeopathy in New Delhi today. The Central Council of Homeopathy (CCH) is organizing a three days National Seminar to commemorate 40 years of its formation. .

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Inaugurating the seminar, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik appreciated the participation of homeopathic doctors in the seminar in such large numbers. Mr Naik assured the Council that Post Graduate in Homoeopathy will be introduced in more subjects like anatomy, physiology and others as demanded by the homoeopathic colleges. AYUSH systems should try hard to get more popular so that their benefits reach the common man and all parts of the country, the Minister added. .

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Shri Shripad Naik said that Indian homoeopaths face legal difficulties in practicing outside India. He asked the Central Council and other agencies of AYUSH to work on reciprocity in this issue with friendly countries so that homoeopathic practitioners from India can go and practice there without any legal hurdle. .

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The Minister also said that our efforts should be to take Homoeopathy to each and every house for which CCRH should develop new models to popularize homoeopathy like the national programme of homoeopathy treatment for mother and child diseases. .

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Secretary AYUSH, Shri Ajit Mohan Saran stressed on integration of homoeopathy with modern systems of medicine. He suggested training programme for MBBS doctors so that they can be allowed to practice homoeopathy within India. Such programmes can be developed on pattern of M.F.Hom in London. Secretary stressed the need of good homoeopathic colleges to impart quality education in homeopathy. .

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Member of Lok Sabha, Dr Manoj Rajooria, who was also present on the occasion, said that private homoeopathic medical colleges must pay salaries to their teaching staff equal to salaries given by state Governments to their teaching staff in government homoeopathic medical colleges. .

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He advised CCH to propose some guidelines on this issue in guidelines related to recognition of homoeopathic colleges by CCH and State governments. .

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He also suggested that Homoeopathic dispensaries should be opened at Panchayat and Block levels so that there is more job opportunity for homoeopathic doctors. .

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More than 2000 delegates from India are attending this seminar. Delegates from SAARC countries also participated. .

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President CCH, Dr Ramjee Singh said that this is the first of its kind seminar where more than 2000 delegates are participating only from teaching faculty of 195 homoeopathic medical colleges. .

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Joint secretary, Dr Anil Kumar Ganeriwala also spoke during the inaugural session. He appreciated the number of participation by teaching faculty of various homoeopathic colleges. .

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Dr Arun Bhasme , Vice president ; Dr A.K.Seth , convener subcommittee National Homoeopathic seminar ; Dr Lalit Verma , Secretary CCH were also present at the inaugural session. .

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The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill, 2015 notified:Increase in the Eligibility Limit under clause (13) of Section 2 and Calculation Ceiling under Section 12 of the Payment of Bonus Act, 2015 . .

The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was passed by the Parliament in the just concluded Winter Session of the Parliament. The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Act, 2015 has been published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary on 1st January, 2016 as Act No. 6 of 2016. The provisions of the Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Act, 2015 shall be deemed to have come into force on the 1st day of April, 2014. .

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The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Act, 2015 envisages enhancement of eligibility limit under section 2(13) from Rs.10,000/- per month to Rs.21,000/- per month and Calculation Ceiling under section 12 from Rs. 3500 to Rs.7000 or the minimum wage for the scheduled employment, as fixed by the appropriate Government, whichever is higher. The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Act, 2015 also mandates previous publication of draft subordinate legislations, framed under the enabling provisions under the said Act, in the Official Gazette for inviting objections and suggestions before their final notification..

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The Government has been receiving representations from trade unions for removal of all ceilings under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965. It is also one of the demands made by them during the country-wide General Strike held in February, 2013 and September, 2015. As the last revision in these two ceilings were made in the year 2007 and was made effective from the 1st April, 2006, it was decided by the Government to make appropriate amendments to the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965. .

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These changes in the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 will benefit thousands of work force. .

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He admits he's from Mars. An unpleasant gentleman whose flatbed truck dumped a bunch of wood all over a residential street tells Detroit 7 Action News he don't take no orders from no women. Good to know.

A man accused of dumping tree parts on a Detroit street tells a reporter 'I don't listen to women.'

DETROIT: 7 Action News tracked down Ihor Stetkewycz, a Warren man. He admitted to driving a flatbed truck in the East Side neighborhood.

He said he hit a curb and the wood accidentally tumbled out of the truck. We asked him why he would just leave the wood in the street. We were floored by his response.

"You don't have to ask me, and I don't take no orders from no woman by the way. By the way, I don't take no orders from no women," said Stetkewycz.

When asked why he ignored people yelling at him to stop he continued with his offensive comments.

"It must have been a woman and I don't listen to women yelling. I tell them to shut up." he said.

When we asked if he had any plans to clean up the mess he responded:

"Oh yes. I'm Mr. Clean Up. I'm not Mr. Clean. I'm Mr. Clean Up," said Stetkewycz."

He went on to tell Action News that he's from Mars.

Detroit Police are investigating this case and it's not clear whether he will be fined or arrested.
Early on January 7, 2015, armed, masked gunmen burst into the Paris offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, and killed 17 people in a brutal terrorist attack. France will observe the first anniversary of the attack today.



Less than a year later, in November, Paris was attacked again by terrorists, who killed 129 people and wounded another 352 in one of the worst terrorist attacks in that country.

While Charlie Hebdo was not new to attacks, the shootings were certainly the most ferocious ever. It was fire-bombed by extremists in 2011 after publishing a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad. A recently-published cartoon of ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is said to have provoked the gunmen, suspected to be ISIS sympathisers, who carried out the attack. According to media reports, witnesses heard the gunmen shouting "We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad" and "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) in Arabic.

The attacks sparked protests in support of the magazine as people across the world took to the streets with signs reading saying "Je Suis Charlie" (I am Charlie).

Days after the attack, the magazine returned to newsstands. According to a report by Alan Cowell, vendors reported that their allotment of the publication had sold out before daybreak, and demand was so intense that copies of the newspaper were being offered on eBay for hundreds of dollars. Vendors drew up waiting lists of customers in anticipation of new supplies for a print run that could reach five million, compared with 60,000 before the attacks.

The magazine also received 4.3 million euros in donations after the attacks.

However, not everybody agreed with the style and content of the magazine. Following the attack, in India, separatist Kashmiri leaders such as Syed Ali Geelani and Mohammad Yasin Malik called for a shutdown to protest against the content of the magazine.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani blasted the cartoons as "an insult to the sacred religion of Islam and the Muslim world".

The attack left some of the surviving staff of the magazine traumatised. In a May 2015 interview, Cartoonist Renald Luzier, who drew the newspaper's first cover after the January 7 attack killed 12 people, said that each issue is "torture, because the are no longer there." He said would leave the magazine in September.



In July 2015, Iceland's parliament voted widely in favour of decriminalising blasphemy, in the name of freedom of expression in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.



The magazine announced that it would release nearly a million copies of a special issue to mark the anniversary of the attack.



The 32-page double issue featured a selection of drawings by the cartoonists who died in the attack, as well as by current staff and messages of support.



The cover of the special edition, which featured God as a gun-wielding terrorist, drew criticism from the Vatican.

Days before the anniversary, which comes just months after the deadly November 2015 Paris attacks, French President Francois Hollande unveiled plaques in memory of the victims of the attack.

Speaking on the first anniversary of the attacks, US Secretary of State John Kerry said: Their legacy endures as a challenge and inspiration to all of us. Charlie Hebdo continues to publish, and journalists around the world continue in their essential mission to tell the stories that people everywhere need to hear."
Lenovo Group Ltd. has unveiled a smartphone that can see and maps out its surroundings with help from an Alphabet Inc. 3D-scanning technology named Project Tango. The Chinese company will become the first to sell devices employing Alphabet subsidiary Google's Tango technology, which superimposes information and digital images onto displays of the real world. An infrared and wide-angle camera orients the user within indoor spaces and precisely maps the immediate environment -- capturing the dimensions of a room or helping users navigate a shopping mall, for instance. Lenovo hopes ...
Benchmark share indices trimmed early gains amid profit taking at higher levels even as index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ITC continued to trade firm.

At 10am, S&P BSE Sensex was up 85 points at 24,937 and Nifty50 was up 23 points at 7,591.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ITC contributed the most to the Sensex gains alongwith Tata Motors and HDFC Bank.

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(Updated at 9:35am)

Benchmark share indices continued to trade firm ring and value buying at lower levels after the sharp correction in the previous session.

At 9:35am, S&P BSE Sensex was up 165 points at 25,017 and Nifty50 was up 45 points at 7,614.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up over 1% each. Market breadth was strong with 1,327 gainers and 200 losers on the BSE.

On Thursday, lost ground for the fourth straight session to end at their lowest closing level in four months, amid a sell-off in global stocks, after further depreciation of the Chinese yuan rekindled fears of a growth slowdown in the world's second largest economy while slump in crude oil prices also dampened sentiment.

"For the Nifty resistance is seen at 7586 above 7609 and 7659. Support for the Nifty is seen at 7550 below 7541, 7502" Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said in a note.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1051.74 crore on Thursday as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

GLOBAL MARKETS



Asian were trading higher with China shares leading the gains after China announced late on Thursday it suspended its new stock market circuit breaker introduced only on Monday as the system failed to reduce market volatility. The benchmark Shanghai Composite was up 2.3% while Japan's Nikkei was up 0.6%. Further, Straits Times and Hang Seng were up over 1% each.

SECTORS & STOCKS



All sectoral indices on the BSE were in the green led by Power index up 1.2% followed by Oil&Gas, Power, Realty and Healthcare indices.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries was up 1.3% and ITC gained nearly 1% contributing the most to the Sensex gains.

Tata Motors rebounded after the sharp correction in the previous session. The stock was up 2.4%.

In the IT pack, Infosys, Wipro and TCS were up 0.5%-0.6% each.

Other gainers include, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma and Axis Bank among others.
Three killers have been executed last night at Jessore Central Jail for killing Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) leader Kazi Aref Ahmed.

Kazi Aref, a liberation war organiser, along with four Kushtia JSD unit men was killed by trio after a rally at Kalidaspur on February 16, 1999, reported The Daily Star.

The convicts shot the JSD leader several times after he had finished his speech at the rally.

The trio was top cadres of the outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-Laltu).

The sources reported that Aref's widow,Rawsan Jahan Sathi wished to see the execution of all convicts, awarded the death penalty for her husband's murder.
Banking operations were partially hit in the country as a section of Public Sector Bank employees went on a strike today.

The bank employees were protesting against violation of bilateral settlement agreement by associate banks of the SBI. Private sector banks and country's largest lender State Bank of India continues to function normally.

The strike call was alerted on December 28 to protest violation of the bilateral settlement by five associate banks of the SBI and their attempt to force unilateral service conditions on the employees.

Five subsidiaries of SBI are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur.
The animal rights group PETA on Friday criticised the Central Government's decision to permit events like 'jallikattu' and bull races in Tamil Nadu, saying it would challenge the move in the Supreme Court.

"Of course we are going to challenge it (in the court) and we will fight until the animals are given their rights again. But because of notification in the coming few days whatever deaths of humans and animals happen it is responsibility of the ministry, which has done something unconstitutional," said Dr. Chaitanya Koduri, Advisor, PETA.

"They (government) have conducted for almost six years under regulation. They couldn't avoid deaths of animals as well as humans. I am a citizen of India, I respect my culture and my culture is compassion and if you are not promoting compassion, you are not culturally true," he added.

The new rules mandate a prior permission from the District Collector, a proper track for the bulls to run and an enclosure of 15 metres for the bull to be tamed.

Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan welcomed the government's decision in this regard.

"More than 2000-years-old traditional play, which was played by our Tamil youths in Tamil Nadu, was due to some reasons, was facing some crisis in the past. Our prime minister has made all the arrangements to conduct the 'jallikattu' this year. For that, I thank our honourable prime minister," Radhakrishnan said in Chennai.

Congress leader E.V.K.S. Elangovan also welcomed the decision.

"We are really happy about it and as I said earlier for this the whole credit should go to Radhakrishnan and I really appreciate it," he said.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday met External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj to express his concerns over merger of the Ministry of Overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

"Kerala is opposing the Union Government's decision of merging the MIOA and MEA. For the first time in the country, we have formed a ministry for Keralites who are living outside the country," Chandy told ANI.

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"According to our experience the ministry is very useful and we are continuing that system, so in Delhi also the Overseas Indian Ministry should continue which will help Indians living outside the country," he added.

The Union Government had earlier announced its decision to MOIA with MEA.

The proposal for merger was cleared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi said EAM Sushma Swaraj in a tweet.

"I realised that substantial work of MOIA is done through our missions abroad. Therefore, I proposed to Prime Minister that MOIA should be merged with ministry of external affairs," Swaraj said in a tweet.

MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the said the decision to merge both the ministries has been done keeping with its broad principle of minimum government, maximum governance.
As the talks between India and Pakistan looks in jeopardy in the wake of the Pathankot terror attack, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Friday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making an unscheduled visit to Lahore and said there has been no progress in the dialogue between the two Asian neighbours.

Aiyar said that the ruling dispensation at the Centre should have set up a mechanism ahead of initiating dialogue with Islamabad.

"They should have thought about all this before going to Lahore because terrorist attacks have been taking place on India for many years now. Instead of discussing the affects of a terrorist attack on talks, the Prime Minister went to Lahore," he told ANI here.

Aiyar, who was reacting to India's decision to put the Foreign Secretary-level talks on hold till the time Pakistan initiates action against the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack, emphasized that the expectations went up post the Prime Minister's Lahore visit.

"That is why a mechanism has to be developed at the lower-level to decide the future course of action with regard to the talks in the event of terrorist attacks," he added.

Recalling the cancellation of Foreign Secretary-level talks in November last year after the Hurriyat leaders met Pakistan envoy Abdul Basit, Aiyar said, "We are (now) back to where we were in November."

India has given strong indications that the side may call off the engagement if evidence emerges that Pakistan's state actors were complicit in the attack on Pathankot's air base.

Taking to the media here, MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup yesterday said the government's policy towards Pakistan is clear and consistent.

"India wants friendly relations with all its neighbours, including Pakistan. We have extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan, but we will not countenance cross-border terrorist attacks," Swarup said.

The MEA spokesperson said the terrorist attack on the Pathankot air base has once again put renewed focus on the challenge posed by cross-border terrorism.
A madrasa teacher from Bengaluru was arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly having links with al-Qaeda.

A team of Delhi Police's Special Cell reportedly arrested one Maulana Anzar Shah on Wednesday from Bengaluru on suspicion of having met members of an al-Qaeda module operating in India.

He was subsequently produced in a Delhi Court on Thursday which sent him to police custody till January 20.

According to reports, the Delhi Police had unearthed Shah's link with al-Qaeda module a month ago.
IKEA isn't just the largest furniture store in the world. It's also the amusement park of shopping malls  or a claustrophobic shoppers' hell, depending on both your mood and how mobbed the winding labyrinth of Swedish goods happens to be on any given day.

But did you know that there are secret shortcuts for those who just want to get in and out? The public is allowed to use the shortcuts, but there is no map on where they are. In fact, the shortcuts frequently change so that savvy customers don't get used to them and bypass the megastore's intended walkway.

The walkway, by the way, has a code name: Long Natural Way, aka Long Natural Path. Speaking of codes, if you hear an employee announcing "Code 99!" there's a lost kid roaming the path. If you hear an urgent "Code 22!" blasting through the speakers there are long lines at the registers and help is needed.

If you're a confused customer there isn't a code  you'll have to find an employee and ask for help. Employees are told not to approach customers to see if they need anything (this is the Swedish way).

After hours IKEA actually does become an amusement park, with employees moving the walls (yes, the walls move) to play hide-and-seek and compete in pallet jack races. To add to the merriment, at the end of the year employees receive awesome holiday gifts including electronics and even plane tickets.

Many more Behind the Scenes Secrets of IKEA Employees can be found here. Makes IKEA almost as intriguing as Disneyland!

Thanks Mental Floss!
On-screen couple Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander have both been nominated for BAFTA for their roles in transgender movie 'The Danish Girl'.

The 34-year-old actor will go up against Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Fassbender, Matt Damon and Bryan Cranston in the Best Actor award category, while his on-screen partner will face competition from Cate Blanchett, Brie Larson, Dame Maggie Smith and Saoirse Ronan in the Best Actress category, the Mirror reports.

Redmayne is also an early favourite to secure an Oscar nomination for the same movie as Lili Elbe, one of the first known transgender women to receive sex reassignment surgery. He has already been nominated for a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for it.

The actor cleared up during last year award season, thanks to his role in 'The Theory of Everything' and he's well on his way to doing it again this year.

The nominations were confirmed in London on January 8 ahead of next month's Valentine's Day award show.
For the first time in history of Republic Day celebrations, French Army contingent will be participating in the parade along with the Indian Armed forces, said sources with Ministry of Defence.

It is for the first time that any foreign army contingent will be taking part in prestigious Republic Day Parade.

Meanwhile, a French Army contingent comprising 56 personnel of 35th Infantry Regiment of 7th Armoured Brigade, is already in India for 'Shakti-2016'- eight-day counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency joint exercise in Rajasthan.

French President Francois Hollande will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations this year.
Germany has condemned the terrorist attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot and urged New Delhi and Islamabad not to allow such attempts endanger the talks.

Germany's Federal Foreign Office released a statement condemning the Pathankot attack as well as the attack on the Indian Consulate General in Mazar-e-Sharif.

"We utterly condemn the terrorist attacks on the Indian air force base in Pathankot and on the Indian Consulate General in Mazar-e-Sharif. The responsible parties must be identified and held accountable," Federal Foreign Office Spokesperson said in a statement.

Commenting on India-Pakistan relations, the Foreign Office said that they are pleased to see the desire and willingness on both sides to come together.

"The visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Lahore and the talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on January 5 are a good start and an important step towards now improving relations between India and Pakistan in a lasting way," the spokesperson said.

Canada and the UAE have also condemned the heinous terrorist attack in Pathankot and extended condolences to the families of the victims.

Earlier, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Japan, South Korea, Maldives, Nepal, Brazil, Italy and France also condemned the terrorist attack.
The Foreign-Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan have been tentatively scheduled for January 15, said officials in Islamabad.

According to The Nation, the announcement came after a meeting, chaired by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to discuss the Pathankot air base attack.

The meeting was attended by National Security Adviser Naseer Khan Janjua, Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Aftab Sultan.

Addressing the meeting, Sharif said Pakistan was ready to boost cooperation with neighbouring India as part of counter-terrorism efforts.

Sharif also directed NSA Janjua to remain in contact with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in order to keep renewed dialogue on track after the Pathankot attack.
Taking a jibe at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for their latest advertisement on the 'odd-even' scheme featuring Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in 'muffler-man' avatar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday said that it is the state government's 'massive hunger' to somehow be relevant in the media.

"I don't know what is this massive of hunger for somehow to be in the radio or TV. And when there is no reason to be in the media we find that Kejriwal and his team will go to the extent of raising false accusations so that they can be somehow be relevant in the media," BJP leader Nalin Kohli said.

"It is a fascinating situation that one side Delhi government claims that it doesn't have funds and even salaries are due to employees. On the other side you will see them paying enormous amounts of money in ads on TV and radio. Now questions are being asked whether they are violating the guidelines of the Supreme Court," he added.

The Delhi government's latest advertisement on 'odd-even' scheme featuring chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in 'muffler-man' avatar, was on Thursday pilloried by the BJP and Congress for having "blatantly circumvented" the Supreme Court guidelines and violated the "spirit of law".

With his back towards the camera, Kejriwal appears in the ad with a muffler wrapped around his neck and head and praises the efforts of traffic police and volunteers in making the car rationing scheme a success.

Kejriwal, who appears inseparable from the accessory during the winter months, says "we need to win the minds" of people and advises volunteers not to fight with violators.

In the 1 minute 32 seconds advertisement, Kejriwal also narrates the tale of a certain volunteer, who apparently managed to change the heart of an errant motorist by politely nudging him to follow the scheme.

"If you spot a violator, fold your hands and politely remind him. No need to fight or argue. Just tell him that you have probably taken out the wrong numbered car by mistake," said Kejriwal.
With an aim to control over crowding of stations, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has decided to rationalise the maximum time limit of stay on station premises permissible to commuters in accordance with the length of their journey from January 11.

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The maximum permissible time is divided into three separate time zones, which has been stipulated after calculating the maximum possible time that a commuter can take to travel specific distances, however, with the new arrangement, commuters will not be able to stay long inside the stations, said the DMRC in a statement, adding that the new rule will be applicable to both token as well as smart card users.

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According to new regime, the maximum permissible time limit for stay within the Metro system - 170 minutes at present - will now be 180 minutes for those buying tickets of Rs. 23 or above, 100 minutes for tickets costing Rs. 19-23, and 65 minutes for tickets up to Rs. 18.

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Though the new time zones will be implemented from January 11 onwards, the remaining month will be used to sensitise or inform the commuters about the new arrangement. In case of any breach of the new time zones during January, the cards or tokens purchased by the commuters will show error (error no. 159).The commuters will then have to report to the Customer Care Centres for their exit without any penalty.

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However, penalties of Rs. 10 per extra hour (maximum Rs.50 as per DMRC business rules) will be imposed (as per existing business rules) for any breach of the time limit from February1onwards.

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As of now, the commuter are allowed to stay inside the Metro premises for 170 minutes if they enter from one station and exit from another station irrespective of the distance travelled.

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"Every month," said DMRC, "more than one lakh commuters are penalised for overstaying in the system by exceeding the time limit."

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In December last year, as many as 1,08,513 passengers were booked for overstaying in the system, which significantly contributes to the problem of overcrowding, said the DMRC in a statement.

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The DMRC said stations covered within the three time zones from each station would be displayed at all stations so that the commuters clearly know within how much time they should exit from the system based on the destination they are travelling to. Announcements regarding the same will also be made with from Monday.

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For example, if a commuter is travelling from Barakhamba Road to Ramkrishna Ashram Marg, he would have to exit the system within 65 minutes as the destination would be within the first time zone (of about nine stations) fare of up to Rs.18., while the list of stations covered within this zone and the subsequent zones would be displayed at the Barakhamba Road station itself.
The Investigation Agency (NIA) has got body tissues of the terrorists preserved for DNA sampling, following post-mortem examinations of the terrorists' bodies at the Pathankot Civil hospital on Thursday.

In the course of investigation, DNA Samples have been collected from the vehicles used by the terrorists and are being sent for forensic examination. Besides, footprints, which are suspected to be of the terrorists, have been lifted by forensic experts from Bamihal village in the border area and from the Air Force station premises, and have been sent to a Central Forensic Science Lab (CFSL) for examination.

Meanwhile, all arms and ammunitions used by the terrorists in the attack have also been seized. These included AK series rifles, pistols, grenades and assorted ammunition.

Other articles found on the bodies of the terrorists and from the crime scene and suspected to belong to the terrorists have been seized. These included food articles and medicines carried by the terrorists. Search of the Air Force station campus is being conducted to recover any trace evidence left behind by the terrorists.

The investigation agencies have reportedly found wrappers and packets of medicines and syringes bearing name of Karachi and Pakistan from a building at the Pathankot Air base, where terrorists had taken shelter during the attack.

Besides, two mobile phone numbers of Pakistan, on which terrorists had made calls, were also detected.

Meanwhile, a Investigation Agency (NIA) team visited the house of jeweller Rajesh Verma, friend of Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh, who was driving the car when they were said to have abducted by the terrorists on the night of December 31.

The team has recorded his statement and cross examined him.

Salwinder Singh has been summoned to the NIA headquarters on Monday for questioning.

Four NIA teams are camping in districts of Punjab to verify the facts and examine witnesses in close cooperation with Punjab Police.
New Delhi, Jan. 8 (ANI): Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passed away on January 7, while being the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, a job he always wanted. His funeral was well attended by the people from all walks of society, including politicians from almost all political parties.

Mufti's call for a 'healing touch' in Kashmir, built bridges across the political spectrum. In his last political rally in Kashmir, Mufti asked the people of his state to support the Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers in their quest for peace.

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Mufti had a chequered political career. I had the opportunity of interacting with him over the years, even as far back as in the seventies when he was in the Congress Party and had hoped to be the youngest Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. A genial person, he would meet with the government officers and speak to us about Jammu and Kashmir politics.

During those days, Indira Gandhi had a complex relationship with the Abdullahs. The Beg -Parthasarathy agreement, as it was then known, ushered Sheikh Abdullah back as the chief minister and Indira Gandhi brought Mufti Mohammed Sayeed as a minister in the Central Government.

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When Indira Gandhi lost power in 1977, the elections were held for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, and Sheikh Abdullah revived the Conference and won a decisive majority.

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When Sheikh Abdullah passed away, Dr. Farooq Abdullah took over as the chief minister. The Congress Party could not regain majority in the state assembly election in 1983.

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Dr. Farooq Abdullah made the tactical political error by hosting a conclave of opposition parties in the state. The Centre, headed by Indira Gandhi, sent Jagmohan as the Governor and there were defections in the Conference, and Farooq Abdullah lost power.

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When Indira Gandhi was assassinated, Rajiv Gandhi brought back Dr. Farooq Abdullah, and Mufti remained a minister in the Central Government. For Mufti, the dream of returning to his state was still to remain a dream.

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When Rajiv Gandhi lost power in 1989, Mufti left the Congress Party and became a part of prime minister V. P. Singh's set up. V. P. Singh made Mufti the home minister. Mufti's stint with a third Prime Minister. Those were the early days of the proxy war promoted by Pakistan. Mufti faced a difficult situation following the kidnapping of his daughter Rubaiya Sayeed. Events moved fast and the Presidents' rule was imposed on the state.

When elections were held in the state in 1996, the Conference came to power again. Mufti then founded the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) and fought the elections in 2002 and formed a coalition with the Congress and shared power.

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He took many initiatives to establish peace in the state, decided to promote a 'healing touch' and opened a road link with Pakistan occupied Kashmir. He wanted better relations to prevail with Pakistan and was in favour of promoting trade relations across the Line of Actual Control. In 2005, he handed over power to Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad.

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In the 2008 elections, the National Conference had an alliance with the Congress and Omar Abdullah became the chief minister. Mufti had to remain in the Opposition.

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Mufti came back to power last year when the Bharatiya Janata Party decided to form an alliance with the Peoples' Democratic Party. His statement soon after the swearing-in ceremony that he looked forward to better relations between India and Pakistan created a controversy, but recent events have proved that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appreciated the stand taken by Mufti.

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Mufti wanted to hand over power to his daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, aware of his failing health. He was often heard saying that it was Mehbooba who did all the ground level work and he just basked in the people's affection. The daughter, who has been his shadow for decades, will now play the role he had always wanted her to.

[Mr. I. Ramamohan Rao is a former Principal Information Officer of the Government of India. He can be reached at raoramamohan@hotmail.com].
Musadik Malik, spokesperson to Pakistan Prime Minister has said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, "has no business partnership with any Indian citizen", reported Radio Pakistan on Friday.

"Despite repeated rebuttals, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan is hell bent to prove Indian businessman Jindal as business partner of the Prime Minister," Malik said in a statement.

The spokesperson also said that an argument can be responded with argument, but there is no use of striking head with utter ignorance.

Khan had earlier said that there was a "conflict of interest" for a business associate to arrange a meeting between Prime Minister Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

"We welcome the thaw in Pak-India relations, but to have a business associate arrange the two prime ministers' meetings has an underlying conflict of interest," he tweeted.

Referring to an earlier secret meeting between the two leaders, he said, "Meetings of the two prime ministers, from the secret meeting in Kathmandu to the one in Lahore, must be done through institutional frameworks with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the loop for sustainability."

Khan further in a tweet said that such meetings held between the prime ministers undermines a process whereby tensions can be eased, and raises questions and conflict of interest.
Pakistan's customs Intelligence has claimed to have seized a container at Karachi port imported from China, carrying more than 20,000 kilograms of explosives on Thursday.

The Directorate customs and investigation (enforcement) informed that the total weight of explosive stands at 22,000 kilogram, reported the Dawn.

The department's spokesman added that the containers had been a part of the consignment imported from China and when two containers were seized in Peshawar, the importer left the third one abandoned at the port and did not attempt to clear the consignment.

After being examined at Karachi port, one of the containers was found carrying explosives.
It's been a year since the horrific Charlie Hebdo attack and the subsequent outpouring of defense of free speech from all quarters  the insistence that free societies demand tolerance of viewpoints, even deeply offensive ones.

But immediately after the Hebdo attacks, France began systematically cracking down on free speech, in the name of fighting Islamic extremism. As it did so, most of the "free speech" advocates who'd trumpeted "Je Suis Charlie" fell silent, or worse, cheered on the crackdown.

Advocating for speech you agree with does not make you a defender of free speech. Defending free speech requires that you defend the right of speakers you vehemently disagree with.

In France, the post-Hebdo year has been an all-out assault of free speech, from the arrest and conviction of comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala over a Facebook posting that expressed sympathy for one of the gunmen. Dieudonne was later imprisoned in Belgium "for racist and anti-Semitic comments he made during a show." Dieudonne was one of dozens arrested in France after Hebdo for "hate speech" or "insulting religious faiths." French prosecutors were ordered to crack down on "hate speech, anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism."

This manifested most sharply in attacks on Israel's political critics. France's highest court has upheld the criminal convictions of advocates for sanctions against Israel for hate speech, which consisted of protesting at grocery stores with signs that read "Long live Palestine, boycott Israel." Advocating against Israel has been deemed anti-Semetic in French law, which now criminalizes criticism of the regime and its actions in Gaza and the occupied territories.

France also instituted "emergency measures" (which the regime is attempting to make permanent) that let it shut down mosques, detain people without charge, and break into private homes without warrants. Though these powers were originally used against alleged Islamic extremists, they have been redeployed against climate activists. It's confirmation that the emergency measures are universal tools that can be used against anyone expressing a view the state objects to.

France has spent the past year demolishing fundamental free speech rights for everybody, in the name of fighting Islamic extremism, in the memories of those killed for expressing unpopular ideas at Charlie Hebdo. It's a shameful tribute to free speech martyrs, and the silence of the Je Suis Charlie politicians shows them up for the opportunists they were.

Where were, and where are, all the self-proclaimed free speech advocates about all of that? It was only when anti-Islam cartoons were at issue, and a few Muslims engaged in violence, did they suddenly become animated and passionate about free speech. That's because legitimizing anti-Islam rhetoric and demonizing Muslims was their actual cause; free speech was just the pretext. In all the many years I've worked in defense of free speech, I've never seen the principle so blatantly exploited for other ends by people who plainly don't believe in it as was true of the Hebdo killings. It was as transparent as it was dishonest. Their actual agenda was illustrated by how they invented a brand new free speech standard specially for that occasion: in order to defend free speech, one must not merely defend the right to express an idea, they decreed, but must embrace the idea itself. This newly-minted "principle" is, in fact, the exact antithesis of genuine free speech protections. Central to an actual belief in free speech rights is the view that all ideas  those with which one most fervently agrees and those one finds most loathsome and everything in between  are entitled to be expressed and advocated without punishment. The most important and and courageous free speech defenses have typically come from those who simultaneously expressed contempt for an idea while defending the rights of other people to freely express that idea. This is the principle that has long defined authentic free speech activism: those ideas being expressed are vile, but I will work to defend the right of others to express them.



Where Were the Post-Hebdo Free Speech Crusaders as France Spent the Last Year Crushing Free Speech? [Glenn Greenwald/The Intercept]





(Image: #MarcheDu11Janvier #JeSuisCharlie #MarcheRepublicaine Paris, Yann Caradec, CC-BY-SA)
Pakistan has assured Saudi Arabia of support after the diplomatic tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia escalated in response to an arson attack on Saudi embassy in Tehran.

The support was reaffirmed by Pakistan during a short visit by Saudi Foreign Minister Dr Adel Al-Jubeir to Islamabad for discussions on his country's diplomatic row with Iran and the multinational coalition on counter-terrorism that it (Riyadh) was setting up, reported the Dawn.

Pakistan Prime minister assured unconditional support to Jubeir and added that it welcomes Saudi Arabia's initiative to counter regional and international terrorism and extremism.

The Saudi foreign minister started his whirlwind tour of Islamabad with a meeting with Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif at GHQ and then visited Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at his residence before concluding the trip with a meeting with Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.

The Saudi Foreign minister postponed his visit earlier at the eleventh hour due to the storming of Saudi embassy in Tehran by protesters agitating against the execution of Saudi dissident Sheikh Nimr Baqir.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday reviewed the progress made on the information provided by the Government of India in connection with the Pathankot terror attack.

Prime Minister Sharif, who chaired a high-level meeting here, reiterated Pakistan's commitment to cooperate with India on the Pathankot incident and to be in touch with the Government of India in this regard.

The meeting was attended by Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, National Security Advisor Naseer Khan Janjua, DG ISI, Foreign Secretary and DG Military Operations among others, reported Radio Pakistan.

The meeting also expressed confidence that building on the goodwill generated by the recent high-level contacts, the two countries would remain committed to a sustained, meaningful and comprehensive dialogue process.
Reeling under heavy losses, the pineapple farmers in West Bengal have urged the authorities to take steps to improve the functioning of a recently constructed export zone.

The pineapple growers have suffered huge losses of late even after a bumper yield of the crop in Bidhannagar.

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Secretary of North Bengal Pineapple Growers Welfare Society, Animesh Mandal, said the state government had constructed an export zone in the area, but was yet to take any step to run it properly, augmenting to the woes of the farmers.

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"Farmers are not earning enough from the yield of pineapples, hence this deputation. Owing to meager prices of pineapples, farmers are suffering losses. Planting a pineapple tree costs around 15 rupees, but the farmers earn only four to five rupees each fruit. We would like the state government to support us in our hour of need," said Mandal.

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Mandal added that the farmers had invested a lot, but they suffered huge losses during the sale securing only quarter price of the total investment.

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The members of North Bengal Pineapple Growers Welfare Society submitted a memorandum to the President of Siliguri sub division, demanding immediate response of the state government in regard to the export zone.

The pineapples from Bidhannagar have a lucrative demand by virtue of their taste and flavor across the nation as well as in Nepal and Bhutan. There are 2,500 orchards of pineapples in the city.
New Delhi, Jan. 8 (ANI): An attack on an airbase in the border town of Pathankot by Pakistan-based terrorists poses a serious challenge to immediate engagement between New Delhi and Islamabad. The siege, which continued for more than 72 hours, left seven Indian soldiers dead and scores others injured. The January 15 Foreign Secretary-level talks seem to be in jeopardy.

That Security Advisor Ajit Doval was forced to put off his scheduled meeting with his Chinese interlocutor this week sums up the mood of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government. For Modi, who had invested so much in Pakistan by making a surprise and unscheduled meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the Christmas Day last year, the attack is a personal loss of face.

Daggers would be out if the Modi government were to proceed with the proposed talks given the hard line position that his administration had maintained throughout last year before the unexpected somersault. Modi faces opposition not only from rival parties but his main ally, the Hindu hardline Shiv Sena, which has been scornful in its statements since he undertook the impromptu visit to Lahore to mend ties with the estranged neighbour.

India should satisfy itself first about Pakistan's response to the latest attack. Condemnation is fine but it should be reciprocated with some visible concrete action. Initial investigations point fingers at Jaish-e-Mohammed, which had earlier carried out several terrorist attacks on India, including the deadly December 13, 2001, attack on our Parliament, which brought the two countries to the brink of war. Its founder Maulana Masood Azhar, who formed Jaish-e-Mohammed soon after his release in December 1999 from an Indian prison in exchange of passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in Kandahar, continues to be a free man despite the government banning his organization. Nowhere in the world does it happen that a country, which bans a terrorist group, allows its leaders to remain in the loose. Pakistan banned Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2002 after it was designated as a terrorist organization by dozens of countries, including the United States, but has fought shy of putting Azhar behind bars.

New Delhi has already shared some facts with Islamabad in the Pathankot attack case. The sincerity of Nawaz Sharif will be tested in the coming days. Whether his government acknowledges those evidences and takes some concrete action will decide the future course of talks between the two countries. Sharif can't just afford to parrot the same old line that this is the handiwork of non-state actors and that his government has no control over them. The fact that these terrorists, in thousands, continue to enjoy the hospitality of Pakistan is something which is known to the entire world. Pakistan can't escape the responsibility of their actions. It will have to demonstrate not only to New Delhi but to the entire world what it proposes to do with them. Not taking any military action against them would be seen as Pakistan's complicity with terror groups. Here in lies the problem with Sharif. His hands are tied. He is incapable of taking an independent line against the wishes of his masters in Pakistan army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) who dictate the country's foreign policy.

Pakistan's Army and the ISI have invested decades in creating various terrorist groups as assets, keeping the global community on the tenterhooks, pocketing billions of dollars by switching off the tap of terrorism periodically and unleashing them again to further their diabolic designs. And the relationship between the two has deepened so much that it will not be that easy for Pakistan to get rid of terrorists so easily. Any military action against its guest terrorists is bound to have major implications for Pakistan which may not come out unscathed.

As long as Pakistan's two powerful institutions are not on board, there is very little possibility of India-Pakistan talks making any meaningful headway. One need not dig deep to understand this challenge. The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's widely-appreciated 1998 "Lahore Yatra" on bus was met with Kargil a few months later in 1999. India had to pay the heavy price by losing its 530 soldiers during the Kargil war. Mr. Sharif, who was the prime minister of Pakistan then, made a silly statement that he was not in the know of the operation. Hard to digest!

Mr. Vajpayee again extended the hand of friendship to General Musharraf, who had by then usurped power by overthrowing Sharif and packing him off to Saudi Arabia, and hosted him in Agra in 2001. Pakistan's response? There was a ghastly attack on the assembly of Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar to be followed with the deadliest attack on Parliament. The attacks led to the massive military standoff between the two countries resulting in the massing of troops on the border and the Line of Control in Kashmir for about a year. India claimed that the attacks were carried out by two Pakistan-based terror groups, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, a charge that Pakistan denied. In between, India was rocked by 2006 Mumbai trains blasts and the 26/11 terror attacks in 2008 which led New Delhi to stop all diplomatic engagements with Islamabad. And now we have Pathankot within a week of Modi's trip to Lahore, not to mention the attack on Dina Nagar police station in Gurdaspur district of Punjab in July 2015 days after Modi and Sharif signed an agreement in the Russian city of Ufa.

There is no doubt that there is a section within Pakistan establishment which does not want better relationship between the two countries. India's experiments with both the civilian as well military leaderships have been frustrating. There were high hopes when President Musharraf was at the helm. It was widely expected that he had the unflinching support of the army and the ISI. But the subsequent actions belied those expectations.

Therefore, Prime Minister Modi will have to tread with caution. The attack is a major setback personally for Modi who took the audacious gamble of re-engaging with Pakistan after a series of massive ceasefire violations on the border and Line of Control, and a number of daring terrorist attacks last year.

India should put off the January 15 Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan and instead press for the Security Advisor-level talks where terror should be the only agenda. Pakistan, which has condemned the Pathankot attack, has said in a statement that it remains committed to partner with India to completely eradicate the menace of terrorism afflicting South Asian region. Let it prove its sincerity. Pakistan should demonstrate through its action that it stands with India and the global community as far as the war against terrorism is concerned. It's time Pakistan matches its words with action. Talks can follow later. (ANI)

(Mr.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Ram Madhav will meet party leaders in Jammu and Kashmir here today after the party decided to back Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Mehbooba Mufti for the post of Chief Minister.

The J&K Chief Minister's post is lying vacant after the death of 79-year-old Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who breathed his last on Thursday morning at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Choudhary Lal Singh had on Thursday said Mehbooba Mufti deserves to be the CM, and his party (BJP) should not be having any problem with her coronation.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has handed over the investigation into the Pathankot airbase attack to Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Aftab Sultan, a senior official said.

Earlier, Sharif had called Prime Minister Narendra Modi to assure him of "prompt and decisive" action against groups and individuals who might be linked to the attack.

Modi strongly emphasised the need for Pakistan to take firm and immediate action against organisations and individuals responsible for and linked to the Pathankot attack.

Prime Minister Sharif chaired a meeting in Islamabad yesterday to discuss the incident, The Nation reported.

Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry and IB chief Sultan attended the meeting.

Officials said that Sharif and the aides agreed to launch investigations into the incident.

A meeting between Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries had been tentatively scheduled for January 15.
Punjab Government acknowledges the contributions NRIs of Punjabi origin in the development of Punjab and has ensured that their interests are guarded well. The state government has set up a Department of NRI affairs for the same.

The government has also setup Punjab State Commission for NRIs headed by a retired judge of a high court. The commission has the powers of civil court for early disposal of the cases related to NRIs. The commission has already disposed of 885 cases out of 1163 in tenure of four years and is working towards disposing all the pending cases.

The state of Punjab has also worked extensively to address the property related issues of the NRIs. Amendments have been made in the laws related to tenancy to ensure that NRIs can get their property evicted from the tenants without any hassles.

NRIs can now get their multiple properties vacated from the tenants under the Punjab Rent Act, 1995 as amended by the Punjab Rent (Amendment) act, 2013. Under the new Punjab Security of Land tenures (Amendment) act, 2013 and the PEPSU tenancy and agriculture (Amendment) Act, 2013 NRIs can now get their ancestral agricultural property and property purchased by NRIs within five years, vacated from tenants.

Punjab has also made 10 percent reservations for NRIs in allocation of residential and industrial plots. A simplified process of stamping/embossing of power of attorneys at divisional headquarters and district levels has been introduced for the ease of NRIs.

"Punjabi Diaspora has played a crucial role in the development of Punjab. We seek their continued support in finding synergies to build a stronger Punjab. Their broader perspectives and new ideas are definitely the founding stones for greater innovations. We whole heartedly welcome them to contribute towards progress of their motherland." said Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy CM, Punjab.

To ensure the safety of the NRIs 10 Exclusive NRI Police stations have been setup and more such police stations are being planned. Apart from that NRIs can avail the services of security guards for themselves and their properties through PESCO at reasonable rates.

To safeguard NRIs and daughters of Punjab from marriage related frauds, the compulsory Marriage Registration Act has been enacted.

38 Honorary NRI Nambardars have been appointed by the state Government for higher involvement of Punjabi Diaspora in the state. The state Government has also issued privilege cards to the NRIs, which can be issued from the specialized website for NRIs (www.nripunjab.gov.in). Now the NRIs can also get mobile SIM during their stay in India.

Tota Singh, Minister Incharge - NRI Affairs Punjab, applauded the impact Sangat Darshans, which were held under the chairmanship of Prakash Singh Badal, to listen and resolve the problems of NRIs at Moga, Jallandhar and Ludhiana. He stated that during these Sangat Darshans 656 complaints were received.

Out of which 384 complaints have been resolved and others are under process. It's pertinent to note that all the complaints pertaining to districts Muktsar Sahib, Mansa, Bathinda, Barnala, Fazilka, Pathankot and Rupnagar have been resolved.

With these initiatives, Punjab surely wants to facilitate NRIs to showcase their love for their motherland and contribute in its economic and social development.
Senior advocate and women rights activist Abha Singh on Friday dubbed Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule's remark that parliamentarians do indulge in small talk and gossip even when serious issues are discussed, especially when speeches at Parliament get repetitive, as extremely shameful and demanded her resignation.

Singh reminded Sule that every minute of the Parliament is precious and said that the focus should be on welfare of the common man.

"She has been elected and sent there to shape the country's future, to decide for the welfare of the common man. And if in this precious time, she is wasting on gossiping and discussing about saris than it is highly shameful and condemnable," Singh told ANI here.

"I think she should step down. Just because she is Sharad Pawar's daughter, she has reached the Parliament. And that is why everybody says that dynasty politics should not be allowed in India," she added.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Shobha Oza said the proceedings and policies of the Parliament must be respected and added that one should give positive contributions in the House.

Shiv Sena leader Manisha Kayande also echoed similar sentiments on the matter.

"It is very unfortunate that such issues come to the fore at a time when we are demanding more seats for women in the Parliament," she said.

Sule had earlier said that like school students, the parliamentarians too sometimes get bored after listening to lengthy lectures and debates in the House and discuss other topics among themselves.
It's good news for all the Sylvester Stallone fans as he is in talks to make a 'Creed' sequel.

The 69-year-old actor reprised his most famous role as boxer Rocky Balboa for the seventh film in the 'Rocky' franchise and has recently revealed he has been discussing ideas for another movie with director Ryan Coogler, reports News24.com.

The film could also see Rocky reunited with his former friend Apollo Creed, whose son Adonis Donnie Creed was portrayed by Michael B. Jordan.

Talking about the flick, Stallone said that Coogler has some ideas of going forward and backward and actually seeing Rocky and Apollo together.

Stallone believes that if the idea was to come to fruition, they need to act quickly to get Coogler, Jordan and the rest of the cast on board.
A dummy US Hellfire missile which was used for Nato training in Spain in 2014 has been mistakenly shipped to Havana.

Although the inert missile did not contain any explosives yet there are concerns that Cuba could share the technology with potential US enemies such as North Korea or Russia, reported The Guardian.

The defence department explained Hellfire is a laser-guided, air-to-surface missile that weighs about 45kg (100lb) manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

It can be deployed from an attack helicopter such as the Apache or an unmanned drone, Predator.

The US said that it did not want any defence technology to remain in a proscribed country, whether that country can use it or not.

According to the sources, US have been urging the Cuban government to return the missile. The US and Cuba restored their diplomatic relations restored in July 2015 after more than 50 years of hostility.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage insists he wasn't being racist when he claimed heroin dealers with names like "D-Money" come to his state and "impregnate a young white girl before they leave."

Here's the full quote from his town hall event on Thursday.

"These aren't the people who take drugs. These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty  these types of guys. They come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we've go to deal with down the road," he added.

LePage says his statement can simply be attributed to the fact that "My brain was slower than my mouth." Besides, it wasn't his fault that he said it. The media is to blame for reporting on what he said. "Shame on you. Shame, shame, shame," he said at a press conference.
Top White House officials will meet Silicon Valley's executives in a private meeting in San Jose to disrupt online radicalisation of young people by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

ISIS and other extremist groups use social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter to draw vulnerable young people into joining their cause.

The announcement comes as there are growing concerns over the role of social media in radicalising San Bernadino shooters Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, The Daily Star reported.

US President Barack Obama recently called ISIS a "bunch of killers with good social media".

Facebook was slammed in December for "not doing enough" to combat ISIS bot accounts spamming victims of the Bataclan massacre in Paris.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday called upon all Governors and Lt. Governors to use power of persuasion and astute leadership to contribute to success of flagship policies and programmes.

This call was given in a New Year message to the Governors/Lt. Governors delivered through video conferencing from the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

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The President said there are several important initiatives that have been taken by the Government of India to accelerate the progress of the nation and for enhancing the standard of living of the people.

"Prominent among them are Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart City Mission, Digital India, Make in India, Skilling India, and the Start-up India initiatives. Each of these programmes has a specific role in the making of a new India where there would be greater opportunities for its citizens especially the youth," said President Mukherjee.

"Though these flagship policies and programmes are to be primarily implemented by the executive under the leadership of the Chief Ministers, astute leadership, power of persuasion and balancing influence of Governors can help in this transformative process," he added.

President Mukherjee said the Governors are the constitutional heads of their respective states in our parliamentary democracy.

"They must perform their duties and obligations within the framework of the Constitution. They must play their assigned role while respecting the distinct authority and responsibility vested in each of the three organs of the state, that is, the executive, the judiciary and the legislature," said President Mukherjee

"With their wisdom, experience and moral authority, they must help create a harmonious relationship between the Centre and the states. This will be in the best interest of the state and its people," he added.

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The President said that India's economy, which grew at 7.2 percent in the first half of 2015-16, is on its way to recovery.

"Despite a dull trade performance, our external sector is stable. Current account deficit is a manageable 1.4 percent of GDP in the first half of the current financial year. Foreign exchange reserves are comfortable at over 350 billion US dollars," said President Mukherjee.

"A worrisome feature is the agriculture sector which has been impacted by a deficient monsoon. Devastating floods occurred in different parts of the country, particularly Tamil Nadu and Assam, while several states reeled under severe drought conditions. To overcome these testing times, the Union and the State Governments have to work together," he added.

The President said as Visitors or Chancellors of several universities in their states, the Governors could use this association to help promote academic excellence.

"These institutions can become the nucleus for inclusive development in their regions," he added.0

President Mukherjee said that the Raj Bhavans could be opened for public viewing like the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"Raj Bhavans can be also converted into Smart Raj Bhavans. The President's Estate is being turned into a smart township by rationalizing energy and water usage and waste management," said President Mukherjee.

"The integrated approach through a command and control system will optimize the use of resources and provide efficient delivery of services to the residents. Governors too can initiate similar smart township programmes at their respective Raj Bhavans," he added.

The President called upon everyone to give their best to make 2016 a year of growth and transformation.
Punjab Government will invest Rs.720 cr in improving basic urban infrastructure in 16 cities while Uttarakhand will spend Rs.267 cr in 6 cities under action plans for Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for 2015-16. Punjab will get central assistance of Rs.319 cr while Uttarakhand gets Rs.134 cr under the State Annual Action Plans (SAAP) approved today by an inter-ministerial Apex Committee chaired by Shri Madhusudhan Prasad, Secretary (Urban Development).

As per Atal Mission Guidelines, universal coverage of urban households with water supply and sewerage connections and ensuring water availability @ 135 liters per capita per day gets priority followed by provision of storm water drains, urban transport and parks and green spaces.

Under the SAAP for 2015-16, Punjab Government will invest Rs.365 cr in 46 water supply related projects, Rs.288 cr in 37 sewerage and septage management projects, Rs.56 cr for improving urban transport in Amritsar and Rs.12 cr for providing open parks and green spaces in 16 mission cities.

In Punjab, coverage of households in 16 mission cities with water supply connections ranged from 28% in Khanna to 93% in Mohali.

Water supply is in the range of 67 litres per capita per day in Khanna to 240 liters in Jalandhar as against the norm of 135 lpcd for urban areas.

Punjab has reported the best infrastructure in the country in respect of sewerage treatment with availability of 100% sewerage treatment capacity in 12 of the 16 mission cities. Only Amritsar, Barnala, Batala and Firozpur are lagging behind in this regard, for which projects have been proposed under SAAP for 2015-16.

Under SAAP for 2015-16, Punjab Government has proposed to invest Rs.154 cr on various basic infrastructure projects in Amritsar, Rs.96 cr in Ludhiana, Rs.73 cr in Batala, Rs.73 cr in Khanna, Rs.56 cr in SAS Nagar, Rs.46 cr in Barnala, Rs.44 cr in Jalandhar, Rs.38 cr in Muktsar, Rs.33 cr in Abohar, Rs.33 cr in Pathankot, Rs.20 cr in Patiala, Rs.17 cr in Hoshiarput, Rs.15 cr in Moga, Rs.11 cr in Firozpur, Rs.10 cr in Malerkotla and Rs.2.0 cr in Bhatinda.

Uttarakhand Government has proposed to spend Rs.133 cr in 20 water supply related projects in 6 mission cities, Rs.110 cr in 6 sewerage and septage management projects, Rs.18 cr in 5 storm water drainage projects and 6 cr on provision of open parks and green spaces.

In 6 Atal Mission cities in Uttarakhand, coverage of households with water connections is 11% in Rudrapur, 15% in Kashipur, 49% in Rourkee, 78% in Dehradun, 80% in Haldwani and 90% in Haridwar.

Water supply is @ 45 lpcd in Kashipur, 49 lpcd in Rudrapur, 109 lpcd in Rourkee, 133 lpcd in Haldwani, 135 lpcd in Dehradun and 187 lpcd in Haridwar.

There are no sewerage networks in Rudrapur and Kashipur while the coverage is to the extent of 10% in Haldwani, 15% in Dehradun, 23% in Rourkee and 52% in Haridwar.

Under SAAP for 2015-16 under Atal Mission, Uttarakhand Government has proposed to invest Rs.67 cr in Rudrapur, Rs.59 cr in Dehradun, Rs.50 cr in Kathgodam, Rs.39 cr in Haridwar, Rs.37 cr in Haldwani and Rs.37 cr in Roorki.

With approval, the Ministry of Urban Development has approved city level Service Level Improvement Plans (SLIPs) for 469 cities and towns in 20 States with a total project expenditure of Rs.20,137 cr out of which central assistance will be about Rs.10,000 cr.

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L&T announced after market hours yesterday, 7 January 2016, that L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE), a fully owned subsidiary of L&T, in consortium with McDermott has bagged an offshore contract from ONGC valued at Rs 2450 crore for the development of ONGC's Vashista and S1 deepwater fields situated off the East Coast of India. LTHE's share in the consortium is Rs 640 crore.

HDFC after market hours yesterday, 7 January 2016 announced that its wholly owned subsidiary HDFC Capital Advisors has been appointed as an investment manager for the HDFC Capital Affordable Real Estate Fund-1 (HCARE-1). HCARE-1 is a Sebi registered Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) and has been sponsored by HDFC. HDFC said that the fund has received an aggregate commitment for an amount of Rs 2700 crore from various investors. One of the key objectives of HCARE-1 is to primarily make medium to long term investments towards development of mass housing where the residential units would be priced in a manner so as to cater to the residential demand of the urban middle-income households. HDFC said that the targeted fund size is approximately Rs 5000 crore and the first close will be Rs 2700 crore. The tenure of the fund will be 12 years and it will invest in the long-term equity of mid income housing, HDFC said.

Canara Bank after market hours yesterday, 7 January 2016 said that as per the powers delegated by the board of the bank, the bond committee has decided to raise Basel III compliant Tier -II bonds amounting to Rs 900 crore (as Series - II) by way of private placement. Accordingly, the bank has successfully raised Rs 900 crore under Basel III compliant Tier-II bonds on 7 January 2016 with a coupon of 8.40% per annum. With this, the bank has raised Rs 2400 crore under Basel III compliant Tier-II bonds during the current financial year ending 31 March 2016.

Bharati Shipyard after market hours yesterday, 7 January 2016 announced that it has allotted on 7 January 2016, 26.47 lakh convertible warrants to Edelweiss Finance & Investments. The company has received 25% amount towards the issue price i.e. Rs.5.50 per warrant, totaling to Rs 1.45 crore from Edelweiss Finance & Investments. The board of directors of the company at its meeting held on 7 January 2016 approved for issuance and allotment of 26.47 lakh convertible warrants at Rs 22 per warrant on preferential basis to Edelweiss Finance & Investments in compliance with all statutory and relevant regulations.

Technocraft Industries (India) after market hours yesterday, 7 January 2016 announced that it has decided to form a joint venture in the form of LLP, under the name and style of "Technocraft Garments LLP" with Mr. Rangappa Ramaraj (hereinafter referred as the other partner) who is having more than two decade's experience in textile industries and who is capable of generating and executing garment business. The proposed joint venture will procure fabric and manufacture and market garments for specialized market. The capital contribution of the LLP will be Rs 1 lakh out of which the company's contribution will be Rs 95,000. The profit/loss sharing ratio of the company and the other partner will be 60:40.

Seamec after market hours yesterday, 7 January 2016 announced that its vessel Seamec III had been mobilised in Mumbai High North for redevelopment of phase III pipeline projects of ONGC. The tenure of the contract will continue till mid-February 2016. The value of the charter would be around $3 million.

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Market may edge higher in early trade. Trading of Nifty 50 futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicated that the Nifty could gain 7.50 points at the opening bell.

In overseas markets, Asian markets were mixed. US stocks closed sharply lower yesterday, 7 January 2016 as lower oil prices and a rout in Chinese stocks renewed concerns about global economic growth.

Closer home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1051.74 crore yesterday, 7 January 2016, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 190.86 crore yesterday, 7 January 2016, as per provisional data.

L&T announced after market hours yesterday, 7 January 2016, that L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE), a fully owned subsidiary of L&T, in consortium with McDermott has bagged an offshore contract from ONGC valued at Rs 2450 crore for the development of ONGC's Vashista and S1 deepwater fields situated off the East Coast of India. LTHE's share in the consortium is Rs 640 crore.

HDFC after market hours yesterday, 7 January 2016 announced that its wholly owned subsidiary HDFC Capital Advisors has been appointed as an investment manager for the HDFC Capital Affordable Real Estate Fund-1 (HCARE-1). HCARE-1 is a Sebi registered Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) and has been sponsored by HDFC. HDFC said that the fund has received an aggregate commitment for an amount of Rs 2700 crore from various investors. One of the key objectives of HCARE-1 is to primarily make medium to long term investments towards development of mass housing where the residential units would be priced in a manner so as to cater to the residential demand of the urban middle-income households. HDFC said that the targeted fund size is approximately Rs 5000 crore and the first close will be Rs 2700 crore. The tenure of the fund will be 12 years and it will invest in the long-term equity of mid income housing, HDFC said.

As another China led selloff gripped global markets, Indian stocks witnessed a steep slide yesterday, 7 January 2016, with the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, falling below the psychological 25,000 level. The Sensex lost 554.50 points or 2.18% to settle at 24,851.83, its lowest closing level since 4 June 2014.

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Key benchmark indices edged higher in early trade after witnessing a sharp slide in previous trading session. At 9:18 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 214.47 points or 0.86% at 25,066.30. The gains for the 50-unit Nifty 50 index were lower than Sensex's gains in percentage terms. The Nifty was currently up 46.55 points or 0.62% at 7,614.85. The Sensex reclaimed the psychological 25,000 level after closing below that mark yesterday, 7 January 2016.

In overseas markets, Asian markets were mixed. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite index was currently up 2.2% after a rout in previous trading session. US stocks closed sharply lower yesterday, 7 January 2016 as lower oil prices and a rout in Chinese stocks renewed concerns about global economic growth.

Closer home, the broad market depicted strength. There were more than six gainers against every loser on BSE. 1,064 shares rose and 176 shares declined. A total of 55 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 1.17%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 1.12%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

Cement stocks edged higher. UltraTech Cement (up 0.46%), ACC (up 0.34%), Ambuja Cements (up 0.33%) and Shree Cement (up 0.32%) gained.

Grasim Industries was up 0.34%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

L&T rose 0.58% at Rs 1,213.35 after the company announced after market hours yesterday, 7 January 2016, that L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE), a fully owned subsidiary of L&T, in consortium with McDermott has bagged an offshore contract from ONGC valued at Rs 2450 crore for the development of ONGC's Vashista and S1 deepwater fields situated off the East Coast of India. LTHE's share in the consortium is Rs 640 crore.

HDFC rose 0.42% at Rs 1,184.80 after the company announced after market hours yesterday, 7 January 2016 that its wholly owned subsidiary HDFC Capital Advisors has been appointed as an investment manager for the HDFC Capital Affordable Real Estate Fund-1 (HCARE-1). HCARE-1 is a Sebi registered Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) and has been sponsored by HDFC. HDFC said that the fund has received an aggregate commitment for an amount of Rs 2700 crore from various investors. One of the key objectives of HCARE-1 is to primarily make medium to long term investments towards development of mass housing where the residential units would be priced in a manner so as to cater to the residential demand of the urban middle-income households. HDFC said that the targeted fund size is approximately Rs 5000 crore and the first close will be Rs 2700 crore. The tenure of the fund will be 12 years and it will invest in the long-term equity of mid income housing, HDFC said.

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Recieves supply order from APSRTC and LoA from Ministry of Railways, IRAOF

Southern Online Bio Technologies announced that the Company's Bio diesel unit at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh which was effected due to Hudhud cyclone occurred on 12 October 2014 has been restored and commenced commercial production.

Further, the Company has informed that the Company has received an order for supply of Bio Diesel (B-100) towards annual requirement for 10% blend from Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) for its 78 Depots.

Further, the Company has informed that the Company has received Letter of Acceptance from Ministry of Railways, Indian Railways Organisation for Alternate Fuels (IRAOF) for Execution of Balance work of setting up Automated 30 TPD Bio diesel plant on turnkey basis on existing building site at Raipur (Chhattisgarh) along with subsequent Operation, Maintenance and Supply of Bio diesel to Railways.

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav found himself in a soup on Friday over the appointment of Justice Virendra Singh as the state's Lokayukta.

This happened after Swamy Prasad Maurya, Leader of Opposition in the assembly, who was member of the selection panel, wrote to Governor Ram Naik denying that Justice Singh's name was ratified by the panel comprising him, Akhilesh Yadav and Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court D.Y. Chandrachud.

Maurya, in his letter to the governor, has categorically stated that Justice Singh's name was not okayed by the panel.

Maurya's letter added a new twist to the ongoing controversy surrounding the appointment of the new ombudsman in the state as the Supreme Court, after initially naming Justice Singh, has stayed his swearing-in after a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed before it.

The chief justice of the Allahabad High Court had earlier written to the governor, making the same point.

Naik has taken a serious note of the new angle and has sent copies of the letter to Justice Chandrachud, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and chief secretary Alok Ranjan for their views on the matter.

Bharatiya Janata Party's state unit spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak told IANS that it was now clear that the chief minister has not only lied to the governor but had also misled the apex court.

"While the chief minister and the government are clearly on the wrong side, it is also questionable that why Maurya did not speak till now and only bared the truth after being nudged by BSP supremo Mayawati," the BJP leader said.

Maurya belongs to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Maulana Anzar Shah, a suspected member of the Al Qaeda terrorist outfit arrested by the Delhi Police, was remanded in police custody for 14 days by a court here, his lawyer said on Friday.

The Delhi Police arrested Shah on Wednesday night. He was brought to Delhi on transit remand and presented before a court here on Thursday.

Shah's defence counsel, M.S. Khan, told IANS that he was on Thursday presented before Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh, who remanded him to police custody till January 20.

He was arrested by the anti-terrorist Special Cell wing of Delhi Police in its ongoing operation against Al Qaeda in the Indian Sub-continent (AQIS).
The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) is mulling the possibility of challenging the central government's notification to allow Jallikattu, a bull-taming sport in Tamil Nadu, said a senior official.

"The revocation of the ban on bulls in Jallikattu is illegal and goes against the Supreme Court order. In its earlier order upholding the central government's notification of banning Jallikattu, the apex court had said the government had applied its mind while taking a decision," S.Chinny Krishna, AWBI vice chairman, told IANS on Friday.

According to Krishna, as per the apex court order the government cannot change the condition without the concurrence of the Animal Welfare Board.

"Our lawyers are looking into the issue and an appropriate decision will be taken. We can file a case against the government notification," Krishna added.

Krishna said the apex court said any welfare legislation will gain precedence over tradition or culture.

"Sati and child marriage were part of the Indian culture. Do you agree with that now?" he countered when it was posed that the bull taming sport was part of the Indian culture for centuries.

Krishna said the case against the use of elephants in Kerala temples during festivals will also come up for hearing in the apex court soon.

He said during Jallikattu, the bull is subjected to intense cruelty like applying chilli powder on its genitals, forcing the animal to drink liquor, biting the animal's tail and other forms.

"I am a proud Tamilian. And cruelty to either man or animals is against my culture," he added.

The Supreme Court in May 2014 upheld a notification of the environment and forests ministry including bulls in the list of animals which "shall not be exhibited or trained as performing animals".

The apex court ruled that bulls cannot be used as performing animals for Jallikattu events.
Caroline Ward Holland and her son Kagen toured all 21 California missions, on foot, this summer. They took this walk "in order to protest the Junipero Serra canonization, to honor their ancestors and 'to tell the truth.'" reports Mark Day, at Indian Country Today.

The adventure sounds grueling, while at the same time restorative, saddening, and highly informative. What Caroline and Kagen found should come as no surprise. While the history of the missions and missionaries are glorified, the native people they enslaved and killed, through overwork and disease, are forgotten.



From Sonoma Caroline and Kagen walked three days to Mission San Rafael. "It was tough, she said, "but I thought about the ancestors' walks. They had been removed from their land. Their children had been taken from them. They had little food or water, and they didn't know where they were going."



She described a plaque at Mission San Rafael with a message from a friar recounting the number of baptisms, but with no mention of burials. And when she inquired about the mission cemetery, a park official said the Indians were buried "under the parking lot."



This would be a constant theme as they made their way south. At most missions, little care was given to Indian burial sites that are often paved over.



I was educated in the California public education system. We were taught the native people welcomed the missionaries and pretty much thanked them for destroying their way of life. Clearly, this is not true.

Thanks to Caroline and Kagan for undertaking this epic trip!

Via Indian Country Today Media Network
A court here on Friday rejected the bail application of spiritual guru Asaram in a case relating to sexual assault of a minor.

The bail plea of Asaram, who is behind bars since September 2013, was argued by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy in the district and sessions court here on Monday. The court, after hearing the arguments, had reserved its verdict for Friday.

While rejecting the plea, District and Sessions Judge Manoj Kumar Vyas on Friday did not make any comment over the facts of the case, but said that in the given facts and circumstances, the bail application of the accused cannot be accepted.

Swamy was not present in the court.

"We are happy that we could satisfy the court that grating bail at this stage can affect the trial of the case adversely," P.C. Solanki, advocate of the complainant, told IANS.

Asaram's bail applications have been rejected by the sessions court, Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court earlier too.

A 16-old-girl had lodged a police complaint accusing Asaram of sexually assaulting her at his ashram near Jodhpur. It was alleged in the complaint that Asaram's aides sent her to his Jodhpur ashram on the pretext that she was under the influence of an "evil spirit" and he could perform an exorcism.

Upon the complaint, Asaram was arrested from his ashram in Madhya Pradesh's Indore and brought here on September 1, 2013. He is lodged in the Jodhpur Central Jail since September 2, 2013.
Australia and Indonesia on Friday condemned the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot town of Punjab that claimed the lives of seven security personnel.

"Australian FM (Foreign Minister Julie Bishop) writes to EAM (External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj), condemns terrorist attack in Pathankot, says Australia stands in solidarity with victims of terorism," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

In a separate tweet, he said Indonesia has also condemned all acts of terrorism.

Extending condolences, the Indonesian statement said that "this heinous crime cannot be justified under any pretext and justification".
Rating West Bengal as one among the top in the country in terms of ease of doing business, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani recommended the state as an ideal destination for investment.

Addressing the Bengal Global Business Summit here, Ambani announced that Reliance was partnering with millions of small entrepreneurs of the state and connecting all schools, hospitals and health centres with hi-speed Internet.

Observing that the state's revenue collection and investment on infrastructure have more than doubled in last three years, Ambani praised the Mamata Banerjee government for ensuring ease of doing business in the state.

"Bengal is (on) top of my list in term of ease of doing business. I have no hesitation in recommending Bengal as an ideal destination for investment to my investor friends from India and the world," he said.

"Over the last four years, Bengal has achieved overall economic and social progress and is focused on improving the quality of life of its over 90 million citizens. For the first time, Bengal is a power surplus state and ready for industry," he said.

Reflecting on Reliance's Rs.500 crore investment in Bengal in the last few years, Ambani said: "This investment is in creating next generation digital broadband infrastructure spanning 12,500 km of optic fibre in over 6,000 towers, in over 1,059 towns and 24,339 of 40,000 villages. We assure of covering all the villages by 2017-end."

With over 11,000 direct and over 30,000 indirect employment, Reliance was also one of the largest private job provider in the state, he said.

He also complimented the Banerjee administration for simplifying the approval process of its Jio project for which it had contacted with 550 gram panchayats, 70 municipalities and 70 government and quasi-government authorities seeking permission and approval.

Observing that the world was on the cusp of digital transformation, Ambani asserted that India cannot be left out.

"We are really at the doorsteps of a historic human civilization globally and India shouldn't and cannot be left out," he said.

"India today in terms of broadband penetration is 150th in the world. Collectively with all our efforts between three-four of us in the industry, I am sure India will be in top ten in terms of digital service infrastructure with the work done entirely by the private sector," he said.

About the next phase of investment in Bengal, Ambani said, Reliance in the next 24 months will connect every single rural and urban school, all 2,800 colleges, hospitals and healthcare centres with hi-speed Internet.

"The other emphasis we have is to partner with small entrepreneurs. Time has come where we partner with them in their growth and build a share prosperity.

"Connectivity, computing and information now give every small business the same capability as that of large business and we look forward to partner with millions of small businesses and bring them to their full potential," he said.

"Reliance is committed to working closely with government and the people of Bengal in building and sustaining your leadership status in India. I assure you Reliance will be a reliable partner in realisation of your vision for a glorious and digital Bengal," Ambani added.
A book on head of states and officials' legal immunity under international law was their most read book in 2015, said the UN headquarters' library, leading to expressions of concern from numerous netizens from across the world.

According to a Twitter update by the Dag Hammarskjold Library posted at the end of 2015, the 488-page-book titled "Immunity of Heads of State and State Officials for International Crimes, a 2013 doctoral thesis from the University of Lucern by Ramona Pedretti, was the "most popular book of 2015".

It discusses the immunity of heads of state and other state officials as rules of customary international law, immunity of heads of state from internationalised criminal jurisdiction, interdependency between immunity from criminal jurisdiction of a foreign state and immunity from international criminal jurisdiction among other issues.

Twitterati responded to the news, saying that it was "disturbing", "chilling" and "unbelievable".
West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee government on Friday came in for praise from union Power Minister Piyush Goyal, while two other central ministers assured her full support in carrying out development initiatives.

"Bengal has emerged as an investment hub in recent years. It is back on the investment map after decades of unfortunate degradation of investment climate here," said Goyal.

He also said a "significant paradigm shift" was evident in the way investment was being attracted by the state in last few years.

Asserting that political ideology will not come in way of the states or country's development, Goyal thanked Banerjee for her Trinamool Congress' support to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill.

Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari assured her "total support from our side".

"As far as our government is concerned, we will support you from our side, for development and progress of West Bengal.

"I am with you, our party, our government, we will support you. Don't bother, don't hesitate.

Earlier, union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the central government would stand by the state and work with it hand in hand to restore its lost glory.

"If Bengal follows a policy which is investment and business friendly, I have not the least of doubts, that the original glory which belonged to the state can always be restored," he said.

He also said that issues pending with the Bengal government were attended "extremely expeditiously" so that the industrial projects in the state can be expatiated.

"I have come here assure the Bengal, all policy initiatives, it is going to take for the industrial growth of West Bengal, central government, as a part of its constitutional obligation, and in our policy interest of making eastern India grow faster, will stand strongly and work hand in hand with the state not only to ensure that investments comes onto the state, but growth rate in this part of the country is much faster," said Jaitley.

Congratulating the Banerjee government for summit, he said the continuous organising of such summits add to the confidence of the investors.

"The fact that this summit continuously keep happening add to the confidence of the investors that this is now the new policy direction that government of Bengal is to follow," added Jaitley.

Besides four union ministers including Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, Delhi Chief Ministe Arvind Kejriwal and Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, a host of industrialists including the likes of Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Amabani, Adi Godrej of the Godrej group, and ITC chairman Y.C. Deveshwar attended the summit.
The central government has assured the Manipur government all assistance in coping up with January 4 earthquake's aftermath, union Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Friday.

The minister for environment, forest and climate change, who is on a two-day visit in the state to monitor the fallout of the temblor, was speaking to reporters at the airport.

He said he would also visit some tribal areas to assess their problems and examine the issue of shifting agricuture and cultivation.

"I have already visited Kangla Fort and will visit the Loktak lake, the largest fresh water lake in eastern India, on Saturday," the minister said, adding he would see for himself the environmental changes in the lake.

Javadekar will then proceed to Mizoram for similar study of the impact of the quake.

"The Centre is well aware of the hardships of the people of the state affected by the earthquake and funds shall not be lacking," he said.

Meanwhile, the forecast by the experts from the Delhi University that Kabui Khullen, the epicentre of the earthquake, may cave in in the next rains triggered fear among the tribals, making them to migrate to safer places.

The epicentre was located in the middle of the church inside the village.

At least 10 houses were destroyed by the quake. Personnel of National Disaster Response Force from Guwahati are spreading public awareness among the tribals about the dos and don'ts in the event of another earthquake.

During his three-day visit to the northeastern region for assessment of various projects and sanctuaries, officials said, Javadekar is scheduled to hold meetings in Mizoram and Tripura as well.
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the devaluation of the Chinese yuan is a concern because it will make Indian exports expensive and widen the trade deficit with China.

"The depreciation of the yuan is definitely going to make imports from China cheaper..but the fact is my deficit with China will also grow," she told media persons here following the first meeting of the Council for Trade, Development and Promotion.

"It is going to make imports from China even cheaper. Our products are going to be more expensive. So, that is an immediate black-and-white kind of a situation which is developing.

"So, China wants to push goods into different countries, particularly India, and that would become even cheaper with the currency devaluation," she added.

China further depreciated the yuan on Thursday, leading to regional currencies and stock markets tumbling as investors feared China's moves could trigger competitive currency devaluations from trading partners.

Explaining that currency volatility the world over was a matter of "worry" because it affected export earnings, Sitharaman said the issue of imposing duties to check Chinese imports has to be examined item by item.

"All imports from China cannot be handled as one. We have to see each item by item, which are causing injury to our manuifacturing...then some anti-dumping duty can be levied," the minister said.
China is preparing over 20 space missions this year, including a manned one and the maiden flights of two rockets, a media report said on Friday.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp said it plans to launch the Tiangong 2 space laboratory and the Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft and to test fly the Long March 5 and Long March 7 rockets, the China Daily reported.

China will also launch two satellites for the domestically developed Beidou Navigation Satellite System and the Gaofen 3 for the Gaofen High-Resolution Earth Observation System.

"This year will see more than 20 space launches, the most missions in a single year," the company said.

The company will also launch a communications satellite for Belarus, marking the first time China has exported a communications satellite to Europe.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp is also finalising the development of the next-generation carrier rockets.

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology is carrying out final tests on the Long March 5, the heaviest and most technologically challenging member of the nation's rocket family.
Just like modern birds, gigantic dinosaurs engaged in a ritual of dance to woo their mates, suggests new research.

The findings are based on huge scrape marks left behind in 100 million years old rocks in the prehistoric Dakota sandstone of western Colorado, US.

"These are the first sites with evidence of dinosaur mating display rituals ever discovered, and the first physical evidence of courtship behaviour," said lead researcher Martin Lockley, professor of geology at the University of Colorado - Denver.

This is physical evidence of pre-historic "foreplay" that is very similar to birds today, said Lockley, who also discovered evidence of mating areas at Dinosaur Ridge, a National Natural Landmark, just west of Denver.

"Modern birds using scrape ceremony courtship usually do so near their final nesting sites. So the fossil scrape evidence offers a tantalising clue that dinosaurs in 'heat' may have gathered here millions of years ago to breed and then nest nearby," he said.

This new fossil evidence supports theories about the nature of dinosaur mating displays and the evolutionary driver known as 'sexual selection.'

Since prehistoric times, males looking for mates, have driven off weaker rivals. Females, meanwhile, have chosen the most impressive male performers as consorts.

Similar sexual selection behaviours are common in mammals and birds. But until now scientists could only speculate about dinosaur mating behaviour, assuming it might be similar to that of their modern relatives, the birds.

"The scrape evidence has significant implications," Lockley said.

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
MSF or Doctors Without Borders on Friday called for immediate medical evacuation of sick patients from Madaya town in Syria to a safe place for treatment.

Medecins Sans Frontieres also sought the immediate and unhindered access for life-saving medical supplies for the civilian population in Madaya, near the border with Lebanon in Syria's Rural Damascus Governorate.

"This access must be sustained, given that a one-shot distribution now will not alleviate the problems in the months to come," MSF said in a statement.

Since July 2015, a siege has been imposed by Syrian government forces around Madaya town, it said.

Since the single one-off food distribution on October 18, this has been tightened to a total stranglehold siege, it said.

"Around 20,000 residents of the town are facing life-threatening deprivation of the basics for survival, and 23 patients in the health centre supported by MSF have died of starvation since December 1.

"MSF welcomes reports that the Syrian government will allow food supplies into the area, but urges that an immediate life-saving delivery of medicine across the siege line should also be a priority, and calls for sick patients to be allowed urgent medical evacuation to safe places of treatment."

Of the 23 people who have died, six were under one year old, five were over 60 years old, and the other 12 were between five and 60. Eighteen were men and five were women.

"This indicates that the situation is affecting all age-groups and both sexes, and makes MSF extremely alarmed for the patients currently under treatment, and for the 20,000 residents who have had little to eat for months," it said.
The government of South Korea is playing loudly amplified anti-North Korea propaganda along the North Korean border today. The sonic assault combines K-Pop music with throwing shade at the North's nuclear program and its leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea considers the broadcasts to be an act of war.

From USA Today:

The South had stopped the broadcasts in August as part of a deal to defuse tensions, but they restarted earlier this week after the North claimed it successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb two days ago, drawing widespread international condemnation and skepticism. North Korea considers the broadcasts an act of war, and the fresh propaganda against Kim could further inflame the country since Friday was believed to be the leader's 33rd birthday.

The music selections Seoul made to annoy Pyongyang are interesting. From the Associated Press:

A song by Lee Ae-ran whose title can be translated as "100 years of life" sends messages to death, or a god from the underworld, saying it isn't yet time to say goodbye to living. It was so popular among young and old that Kakao Talk, South Korea's most popular messenger app, created emoticons, or animated images, from the music video. The song inspired a host of online parodies and memes, and political parties reportedly sought to use it in their campaigns during upcoming general elections. Also echoing over the Demilitarized Zone: GFriend's "Me gustas Tu," about a girl who is trying to muster courage and overcome shyness to ask a boy out. GFriend rose to fame last year when a fan posted a video on YouTube showing its members standing up after falling several times on a slippery stage to complete an outdoor performance. The YouTube video has nearly 9 million views since it was uploaded in September.

K-pop music is prohibited in North Korea. Only government-run TV and radio stations are permitted. People who have fled the North say South Korean music manages to find a way through, though. AP reports that K-pop is very popular in the North, and is smuggled in on USB sticks and DVDs.
The eighth film in the "Fast and Furious" franchise may shoot in Cuba.

Multiple sources say that F. Gary Gray, the director of "Fast and Furious 8", recently returned from a scouting trip which included the previously embargoed nation, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

In addition, the sources explain that the production has moved forward with the paperwork to shoot there.

"Universal Pictures is currently in the process seeking approval from the United States and Cuban governments to explore shooting a portion of the next installment of the 'Fast & Furious' series in Cuba," read a statement from the studio.

If it is approved, the street-racing movie will be the first Hollywood film to shoot on the island since the embargo in the 1960s.

Vin Diesel will return as the lead actor in the movie.

He will be joined by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson, with Jason Statham and Kurt Russell expected to return.

"Fast and Furious 8" will be released in North America on April 14, 2017.
The Supreme Court on Friday said that it would hold, from February 2, the final hearing on Karnataka government's appeal against the Karnataka High Court verdict acquitting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in a corruption case.

Directing the final hearing of the appeals by Karnataka and others on February 2, a bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy said: "We will start the hearing from February 2 and will hear the matter on February 3 and 4 as well."

The court gave both the sides two weeks time to flag the issues that they would like it to consider in the course of the hearing.

The court gave two weeks more time as none of the parties had framed the issues in pursuance to the court's November 23 order, saying that it would hold day to day hearing of the Karnataka's appeal challenging the acquittal of Jayalalithaa and others by the high court.

The court had given the same liberty to senior DMK leader K. Anbazhagan and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy, who are complainant and intervener respectively in the case.

Karnataka had on June 23, 2015, moved the apex court challenging the high court's May 11, 2015, verdict acquitting Jayalalithaa, her aide N. Sasikala Natrajan and her two relatives V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi in disproportionate assets case.

The apex court on July 27, 2015, had issued notice on the petitions by Karnataka, Anbazhagan and Swamy challenging the acquittals.

Assailing the error in calculating the disproportionate assets of Jayalalithaa by the high court, the Karnataka government had contended that the reversal of the trial court verdict convicting Jayalalithaa has resulted in "miscarriage of justice".

The Karnataka government in its petition had also said that besides other infirmities in the high court verdict, the "grave mistake" in total of 10 loans has "resulted in the acquittal (of Jayalalithaa and others) instead of an order confirming the conviction".

Besides serious errors in the totalling of 10 loans by the high court, the Karnataka government had questioned whether Jayalalithaa's appeal against trial court verdict convicting her and others in the case was maintainable without making it (Karnataka) a respondent.

The state government had contended that because Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and two others did not make the Karnataka government a party to the case, it could not appoint a public prosecutor to pursue the case and the state went unrepresented.

A trial court in Bengaluru had convicted Jayalalithaa on September 27, 2014, for possessing assets disproportionate to her known sources of income and sentenced her to four-year jail term and a Rs.100 crore fine. The case lasted for about 18 years.

The DA case against Jayalalithaa and three others related to the period from 1991 to 1996 when she became chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the first time, and involves a sum of Rs.66.65 crore.
Germany has condemned terror attacks on the IAF base in Pathankot town of Punjab and an attack on the Indian consulate in Afghanistan, external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted on Friday.

"We condemn the terrorist attacks on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot and on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-sharif," the German statement said.

"The perpetrators must be hunted and those responsible must be held accountable," the statement said.

Seven security personnel were killed in the January 2 attack on the Pathankot Air Force Station. Six terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, were later killed by security personnel.

On Sunday night, the terrorists attacked the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Balkh province of northern Afghanistan. The attackers carried heavy ammunitions like RPGs, Swarup confirmed at a media briefing here on Thursday.

After being kept at bay by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) posted at the consulate, all the four terrorists were later killed by the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF).
The much-awaited elections to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will be held on February 2.

Telangana state election commissioner Nagi Reddy on Friday announced the schedule for the elections to 150-member body.

The poll process will begin on January 12 with the issue of notification. Nominations can be filed from this day till January 17. The scrutiny of nominations will be taken up on January 18.

The candidates can withdraw their nominations till January 21. The counting of votes will be taken up on February 5.

The state election commission also announced reservations of 106 divisions for various categories. A total of 44 divisions have been reserved for women.

The authorities reserved 25 seats for backward classes (general) and 25 for backward classes (women). Five seats have been set aside for scheduled castes (general) and five for scheduled castes (women). One division each has been reserved for scheduled tribes (general) and scheduled tribes (women). Thus half of the total divisions have been reserved for women.

The poll schedule was announced a day after Hyderabad High Court suspended the government orders, reducing the poll process to just 14 days. The court had also directed the election commission to immediately announce the poll schedule.

Earlier, the main opposition Congress party complained to Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan that ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) was resorting to unethical and illegal methods to win the elections.

Uttam Kumar Reddy, president of Congress party's Telangana unit, had also urged the governor to order removal of all hoarding and publicity material put up by the TRS at public places.

Alleging that the ruling party spent Rs.450 crore on hoardings, he sought an inquiry into source of this money.
Gujarat Police on Friday filed a charge sheet in a Surat court against Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convenor Hardik Patel on the charge of sedition.

The 379-page charge sheet has been filed against Patel for exhorting Vipul Desai to kill "four-five" policemen instead of thinking of committing suicide to press the demand of reservation for upper caste Patels in education institutes and government jobs under the Other Backward Committees (OBC) category.

Hardik Patel was slapped with the sedition charge days after he reportedly exhorted Desai in October in the presence of a local TV channel.

His father Bharat Patel challenged the sedition charge against Hardik on October 19 in the Gujarat High Court, which refused to accept his plea. He then moved the Supreme Court against the Gujarat court ruling.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down his plea, allowing the Gujarat government to file a charge sheet against him in a court by Friday.

Hardik Patel was arrested by Surat police in October last year on sedition charge and for inciting violence, and has been lodged in Jalalpore Jail since then.

Hardik's bail application also was rejected by the Gujarat High Court, following which he appealed to the Supreme Court, which directed Surat police to file a charge sheet by January 8.

In the 379-page charge sheet, the prosecution has produced call records from Hardik's cell phone to his supporters, report of the forensic science laboratory about the veracity of these calls and statements of witnesses.

Hardik's counsel Kapil Sibal had challenged the sedition charge, pointing out, among other things, that the young man's remark was made on October 3 but the sedition charge was slapped 15 days later.

Sibal said nothing happened after Hardik's statement and it did not create any public disorder, for which the charges were made.

Sibal said the rights of people should not be abridged by state authorities and there is no reason to slap sedition charges against Hardik who is just 22-year-old.

Hardik has also been charged under Sections 124 A and 115 of the Indian Penal Code which relate to sedition and inciting of violence. A similar case was also filed against him by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch.

The court has fixed January 11 for next hearing when Hardik would be given a copy of the charge sheet.
An owner of a paying guest house was arrested on Friday for providing room to a Kenyan citizen without informing police, a senior officer said.

Sudhir Kumar, owner of a Chahal Guest House, was arrested by a team of police from Gurgaon.

Kumar, runs a paying guest accommodation service at his house No. 88 in Rajiv Nagar area under Civil Lines police station here.

A police official said a random checking was carried out on the guest house, paying guest houses and hotels. A Kenya citizen was found in the Chahal Guest House but its owner did not inform the Foreigners' Registration Office (FRO) branch of police.

The guest was living there for over a week.

Kumar has been arrested under Section 14A-31-46 of the Foreigners Act.

A senior police officer said search operations were launched following the Pathankot terror attack by Pakistani terrorists and in the wake of upcoming Republic Day celebrations.

The officer said recently owners of four guest houses have been booked for keeping foreign nationals without informing the FRO.

The Kenya citizen was in Gurgaon for personal reasons.
India's plans to remove travel bottlenecks with Myanmar, with a bus service from this Manipur capital to Mandalay appears to be faced with a major impediment - poor road conditions along the border areas - but this has not affected the thriving interaction across the border.

Official indications are that the proposed service will be put off for an indefinite period.

"The government has been informed of the bad road condition along the border areas," Manipur Chief Secretary O. Nabakishore told IANS.

India planned to introduce the Imphal-Mandalay bus service over a distance of 580 km as a part of its Look East policy, hoping this would evoke a good response from the people and go a long way in promoting tourism.

Besides, it would help legalising border trade, as various goods could be brought straight to Moreh in India and Namphalong in Myanmar.

As it is, hundreds of Indian tourists and traders travel to Namphalong every day without travel documents for binge shopping.

During his visit to Myanmar last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had signed an agreement with its leaders to construct 71 bridges along the road where the Indian buses will ply. The Myanmarese government has started construction of two bridges. The Indian cabinet has also sanctioned Rs.371.58 crore ($55 million) for constructing the remaining 69 bridges.

The construction will be supervised by the Indian embassy in Myanmar. Construction material, labour and machineary will be transported from India to Myanmar through the 110-km-long NH 102 from Imphal.

"It will take some decades since the two national highways connecting Manipur with Assam see general strikes and blockades round the year. Besides, during the rainy season the trucks cannot ply along these mountain highways due to rockslides. All projects in Manipur are far behind the schedule for these reasons," a worred official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In spite of this, the India-Burma Friendship Association has been organising tour packages and has been receiving encouraging response. Backpackers have also been travelling by themselves along this route. Besides, several officials, tourists and traders from Myanmar and Thailand often come to Imphal for government-sponsored festivals.

Kulachandra Potsangbam, who has taken several cultural troupes from Imphal to Myanmar, said: "There is always electrictrifying response from people. It may be because of the fact that the people would like to meet Manipuri origin Myanmarese there. They are still preserving language, culture and religion and the Indian visitors feel at home there".

(L. Ibiyaima can be contacted at imphalreport@gmail.com)
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the country could add 1-1.5% more to its growth through infrastructural investment and increased public spending, and exuded confidence that the enhanced growth could come from the eastern states.

"Today, while the world faces a grave crisis, we in India are still managing, and even the World Bank yesterday (Thursday) asserted that among the large economies, India is the fastest growing," Jaitley said while addressing the Bengal Global Business Summit here.

"Within this fastest growing economy, how do we improve our growth rate a little more? If in an adversity India has the potential to grow at 7 and 7.5 percent, is it impossible for India to add another one and one and a half percent which gives us the cutting edge, adds to our jobs, which enables us in poverty alleviation, which gives us more resources to service the poor?"

Jaitley outlined three steps for achieving an enhanced growth.

"And I think it's here that India needs to invest a lot more, firstly in its infrastructure. We have for over a year been enhancing a large amount of public spending into infrastructure. We intend to continue with that direction," the minister said.

"We need to enhance our public spending into our social infrastructure, and I think there is a third important area. We need to enhance our spending into our rural sector, irrigation, rural roads, rural electrification, because it is this spending which almost brings back instantaneous results."

Jaitley said the central government has been following a policy of economically empowering the states, and cited the Finance Commission's recommendation to enhance the money to be given to the states to improve upon their economic potential.

"We readily accepted that. Proposals of the state governments now are more rapidly cleared."

Iterating that the strength of India lay in its federal polity, and centre-state cooperation mandated by a constitutional structure that binds the Centre and the states, he said conventionally states in the eastern part of India have not grown as rapidly as those in the western part.

"States in the western India had achieved a reasonable growth rate, a reasonable base as far as the GDP is concerned. The enhanced one to two percent of India's GDP substantially has to now come from the states in the eastern part of India."

"And that is why it is this region, from eastern Uttar Pradesh, to Bihar to West Bengal, to the north east, to Odisha, where the potential for growth is going to be much higher and therefore we have to concentrate for growth in this region," Jaitley added.
India is in the process of resuming the free trade agreement (FTA) talks with the European Union that were called off last year, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.

"We are resuming talks on the FTA with the EU, Australia, Canada and also negotiating with the RCEP (composed of ASEAN nations and the 6 countries including India it has FTAs with)," she told media persons here.

"Such trade agreements give a captive area for our products," she added.

FTA talks with the EU, called off last year in response to its ban on sale of around 700 Indian pharma products, are slated to be held at the EU-India summit-level meeting in Brussels on January 17-18, a senior source said.

In July, the EU had banned over 700 pharma products of GVK Biosciences, Hyderabad, for alleged manipulation of clinical trials.

The last round of the FTA talks, started in 2007, was held in May 2013 without any breakthroughs owing to EU concerns on high tariffs on cars and wines, while India's concerns are in the area of services.

The EU is seen to be keen to resume FTA talks in view of the economic slowdown in Europe.

India's exports to the European Union in 2014-15 contracted around 4.5 percent to $49.3 billion, while imports fell over 2 percent to $48.8 billion.
Iran's Islamic Propaganda Coordination Council invited Iranians to stage nationwide rallies on Friday in protest against the execution of a Shia cleric by Saudi Arabia, the media reported.

The protests to the "inhuman and dangerous act" of executing the cleric will be held after the Friday prayers in different parts of the country, Xinhua cited a statement as saying.

It also urged the Iranian foreign ministry to send a clear message to the Saudi authorities in this regard and to react to their measure "determinedly".

Friday's rallies would be major protests in Iran following last Saturday's rallies in which protesters set ablaze the Saudi embassy and consulate against the execution of the prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh cut off diplomatic relations with Tehran on Sunday after the attacks on its embassy.

A number of other Arab states have either cut or downgraded the diplomatic ties with Tehran.
Foreign and defence ministers from Japan and Britain on Friday vowed to enhance bilateral security cooperation and condemned the latest nuclear test by North Korea earlier this week.

According to a joint statement after the Japan-British "two plus two" meeting here, the two sides condemned North Korea's first hydrogen bomb test carried out on Wednesday and saw the move as a "serious threat" to international community, Xinhua news agency reported.

The two sides also mulled to seek a new UN resolution against Pyongyang.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday discussed the issue with US President Barack Obama planning to take the lead with Washington on adopting the new resolution.

On bilateral security ties, the ministers agreed to accelerate their talks for the early conclusion of an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, which will enable the Japanese Self-Defence Forces and the British military to share supplies and transportation services during UN peacekeeping operations.

They also agreed to make progress on jointly studying on missile technology and defence equipment, including protection suits for chemical and biological weapons, the statement added.
The title "Fired by Hamlet" is intriguing - and the Shakespearean connection is unmistakable. However, it's with a twist - by replacing the famous mousetrap in Hamlet with a struggling Indian theatre company trying its fortunes in Denmark to get hired by Prince Hamlet.

"Fired by Hamlet", to be staged at the India Habitat Centre on Saturday, offers the right mix of Commedia dell'arte, physical theatre and the Bard for the Delhi audience. The hour-and a-half-long play, presented by Theatre Garage Project, is helmed by German director Michael Moritz, for whom the work is all about the desire, hopes and fears of a bunch of people identical to refugees all over the world.

"The plot is simple. An Indian theatre comedy group, who has nothing to lose in India, hears that Prince Hamlet is looking for some comedians. They travel to Denmark for an audition, where they have to show the famous Mousetrap. But they do it with dance and music. They don't understand the speech of Hamlet. Prince Hamlet fires them and a fiasco follows," explained Moritz, a faculty at the Vienna Conservatory. He has also authored 11 crime fiction works

From his immense experience in physical theatre, Moritz spins the drama through comedian archetypes and improvisations. "Commedia is also a theatre of speech. But the pace is physical. It's not mime. There is not much music," he said. Commedia dell'arte is a form of theatre characterised by masked 'types' which began in Italy in the 16th century and was responsible for the improvised performances.

The play relates the conflict-ridden tale of the seven-member crew of the theatre company, owned by Magnifico. There is Columbina, the pin-up girl, the clever one who knows how to handle the bosses. Then there is Olivia, the lover. The other characters include Stupido, Harlequino, Brigella and Capitano and they constantly try to vie with each other.

"There is lot of jealousy among the members. Everybody wants to please Prince Hamlet not as a company, but individually. So there's chaos," Moritz explained.

Moritz's collaboration with Theatre Garage began with a 'Funny Bones' workshop in Delhi.

"When we decided to do a play, we zeroed in on Shakespeare as we wanted some funny stuff. Shakespeare is a treasure trave and his comedy is a rude one. Another reason for choosing Hamlet is that I could use the mousetrap," he said.

Theatre Garage Project founder and director Ashwath Bhatt considers himself lucky to be associated with Mortiz.

"We are lucky to get Moritz's skills and it's a lifetime experience puttingtogether this play. It was mere passion that brought us together to put it together though there were financial constraints", Bhatt said.

Mortiz is not skeptical about the acceptance of physical theatre in India. "India has physical traditions and moreover, physical theatre involves the audience in the play. There is no chance of escaping it," he assured.

Though Mortiz has plans to conduct workshop back home on Asian theatre, he feels that music and dance dominates Indian theatre more. "Though I haven't watched many plays here, I feel that music dominates the theatre. When you cover a piece with music, there is no chance of acting. Then it's become much stronger than the physical," he said.

Bollywood is popular in Germany, he said. "I watched a Bollywood movie, 'Baazigar'. The hero was playing too much of idiot, instead of playing the situation," laughed Mortiz, whose idea of clowning is much more than goofing around.

"Fired by Hamlet" will be staged at the Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, January 9, 7 pm.

(Preetha Nair can be reached at preetha.n@ians.in)
Accusing the West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress of being involved in the alleged communal violence in Malda district, the BJP on Friday demanded a central agency probe in the matter.

Incidentally, the BJP's demands came on a day when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, wooing investors for her industry-starved state, claimed there was no communal tension in Bengal.

Protesting against remarks allegedly made to "hurt religious sentiments" in Uttar Pradesh, a large number of people on Sunday went on a rampage in Kaliachak, torching vehicles including those belonging to the Border Security Force and also attacked a police station.

The central government has also sought a report from the Banerjee government over the issue.

The Bharatiya Janata Party which has already sought the intervention of West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi in the matter said the truth behind the incident can be revealed only after a probe by a central agency.

"Using an incident that happened in Uttar Pradesh, which we condemn, a communal issue was created and it was used to set afire a police station. BSF vehicles, were also set on fire and few houses attacked in Malda," said BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh.

"The whole attack was made to look like a communal issue but actually it is rather a cover up by the Trinamool. This is nothing but hoodwinking by the Trinamool. So we demand a probe by a central agency," he added.

Speaking at the Bengal Global Business Summit, Banerjee during the day described Bengal as an ideal destination for investments asserting there was no communal tension.

"Bengal is a peaceful state. There is no communal incident or tension. Some people may indulge in criticising us politically, but we don't allow any communal problems. If there is peace, everything is settled," she said.

Police so far have arrested 10 people booking them for several offences including arson and damage to public property.

Claiming that the attack on the police station was actually meant to destroy criminal records stored there, a BJP delegation led by national secretary Rahul Sinha on Thursday met the governor seeking his intervention in the matter.
In a rare honour, the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) of the National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPA) here has been invited to perform in Switzerland at the prestigious Migros Kulturprozent Classics Series, an official said on Friday.

Starting January 19, the three-city tour of Zurich, Geneva and St. Gallen will feature the first international performances of 'Peshkar', a concerto for tabla and orchestra composed and performed by the tabla maestro Zakir Hussain.

"We are privileged that SOI has been accorded this honour as the Migros concerts are prestigious," said Khushroo N. Suntook, NCPA chairman and SOI founder.

This will be the fourth international concert tour for SOI, considered India's first and only professional orchestra and the performances shall be held in the most renowned auditoriums like Tonhalle, Zurich and St. Gallen, and the Victoria Hall, Geneva.

The concerts shall be conducted by SOI Associate Music Director Zane Dalal with tabla exponent Zakir Hussain performing the 'Peshkar' with the orchestra.

The Migros Classics is a five-city concert circuit throughout Switzerland including Berne, Geneva, Lucerne, Zurich and St. Gallen, which feature some fo the world's top orchestras, conductors and soloists.

Some of the upcoming concerts include the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra.
The number of French women who left for Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State (IS) rose to 220 in 2015, state-media reported on Friday.

This increase is significant when compared with a total of 164 French nationals who were recorded to have joined the terrorist group until September 2015, according to a secret service report quoted by France Info radio.

Given that the French secret services have noted that a total of 600 French nationals have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the IS, the percentage of women has risen to 35 percent, versus 10 percent in 2013, EFE news reported.

There is no evidence that any of these women have gone into battle, as some of them have gone to look for a jihadi husband and others have gone to join their husbands or his family in Syria and Iraq.
In an aggressive push for tighter gun controls, President Barack Obama took his case to the nation and vowed not to back any candidate "even in my own party who does not support common-sense gun reform."

Rejecting the "imaginary fiction" that he wanted to take away the guns of law-abiding Americans, Obama charged his opponents at a live television event Thursday night with twisting his plans on gun safety measures.

"The way it is described, is that we are trying to take away everybody's guns," Obama said. "If you listen to the rhetoric, it is so over-the-top, it is so overheated."

Obama appeared on the "Guns in America" event to press for public support for the executive measures on gun control he announced Tuesday. He disputed the notion that most criminals got guns illegally or through personal connections, making background checks - a major focus on his policy initiative on guns - of little utility.

"All of us can agree that it makes sense to do everything we can to keep guns out of the hands of people who would do others harm, or themselves harm," Obama said.

He called on Congress to set up a system that is "efficient" and doesn't inconvenience lawful gun owners to create a background check system that would stem at least some illegal gun activity.

Ahead of the event, Obama pledged in a New York Times op-ed not to "campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party who does not support common-sense gun reform."

Though Obama has made clear he will continue advocating for gun control throughout the remainder of his second term, the president admitted defeat saying it's clear gun reform will not happen in this Congress or his presidency.

Still, he wrote, the whole of the US has a collective responsibility to confront the crisis.

The two leading Democratic candidates for President, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, expressed support for the executive actions, making it unlikely that Obama's ultimatum would affect a member of Obama's party.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump held a rally in Burlington, Vermont, at the same time as the forum and weighed in on the issue of firearms, attacking the idea of gun-free zones, though it wasn't a topic raised by Obama or other participants Thursday night.

"You know what a gun-free zone is to a sicko? That's bait!" he said. "I would get rid of gun-free zones on my first day. It gets signed."

A CNN/ORC poll released earlier Thursday evening found that a majority of the public supports the measures that Obama outlined this week but less than half of Americans think they will actually work.

Support for the measures crosses party lines, with 67 per cent of those asked saying they favour the changes. But 57 per cent of those polled also said that the measures would not be effective in reducing the number of people killed by guns.

Obama renewed his push for gun regulations following a spree of mass shootings last year, including a one orchestrated by a radicalised Pakistani-origin couple in San Bernardino, California, in December in which 14 people were killed.
The Delhi government on Friday told the Delhi High Court that it may extend the odd-even scheme, aimed at curbing air pollution, beyond the planned 15 days trial period.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the city government, defended the scheme, saying there is "a definite positive effect" and it "may be continued after this two weeks (planned 15 days) period".

"There has not been a single good air quality day this winter.

"Pollution is not going to go away. The odd-even scheme is an emergency measure to arrest peaking of the air pollution level," he told a division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath as he submitted the data of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) on air pollution from January 1 to 8.

The bench took note of the report, which stated that this winter, pollution in Delhi is four times beyond the safety standard, and said it will pass an order on January 11.

Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai and Aam Aadmi Party member Ashish Khetan were present in the court during the hearing.

The government also told the court that it was in the process of buying more buses to augment the fleet of the existing public transport system.

The court had earlier asked the Delhi government whether it can limit restrictions on the plying of even- and odd- numbered vehicles in Delhi on alternate days to "a week" instead of the planned 15 days.

The bench also asked whether the pollution data collected by the government till now after the implementation of the odd-even scheme was enough to gauge the effectiveness of the policy.

"Why is it necessary to have it for 15 days. Is there any better method which can be brought in," it asked.

The government claimed that vehicular pollution had fallen since January 1 when the scheme was launched. However, the petitioners contended that Central Pollution Cont rol Board data doesn't show any decrease in air pollution level.

The court, hearing 12 PILs challenging the government decision to allow even- and odd-numbered vehicles to ply on alternate dates January 1-15, also asked why diesel cabs were still plying on roads despite a ban.
It's not just strangers who target children online. One in four children is being sexually harassed by they are closest to over the internet, according to a new research.

The study led by a Michigan State University (MSU) cybercrime expert is one of the first to examine the factors of online child sexual victimisation.

Girls, and kids with low self-control, were more likely to be sexually harassed online. But the biggest surprise was the finding that 24 percent of study participants were sexually harassed over the internet.

"This is not to downplay the danger of paedophiles acting online, but it does draw attention to the potential threat of child sexual victimisation by the our kids are closest to, the they spend the greatest amount of time with online," said Thomas J Holt, associate professor of criminal justice from MSU.

The children said they were pressured by their friends online to talk about sex when they did not want to, according to the study involving 439 middle- and high-school students aged 12-16.

Parental-filtering software or keeping the computer in an open space such as the family living room did not seem to reduce the problem.

"But parents need to have that talk with their kids about what they are doing online and what people are asking them to do online," Holt said, adding "That kind of open dialogue is one of the best things they can do to minimise the risk."

The study recently appeared online in the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice.
Pakistan has expressed "unconditional support" to Saudi Arabia, which is embroiled in a tense standoff with Iran, and a counter-terrorism coalition Riyadh is setting up.

Pakistan on Thursday reiterated its support during Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir's visit to Islamabad for discussions on his country's diplomatic row with Iran and the multinational coalition against terrorism it has announced, Dawn online reported.

Pakistan will always support Saudi Arabia against any threat to its integrity and sovereignty, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told Al-Jubeir.

The two sides discussed regional and global issues of common concern and agreed to promote multi-faceted cooperation.

Al-Jubeir's visit to Islamabad was postponed from Sunday to Thursday due to protests against the execution of Saudi dissident and Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir Al-Nimr.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the Pathankot air base today, which was attacked by suspected Pakistani terrorists on January 2.

During his visit, which comes exactly one week after the pre-dawn attack on the frontline air base by the terrorists, Modi is likely to meet Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel at the base along with other troops in the area.

Police sources in Chandigarh said that tight security arrangements were being made for the prime minister's visit.

Six terrorists and seven security personnel were killed in the attack.

Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval called up Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday and lauded the prompt role of the Punjab Police in providing timely inputs regarding the terrorist attack.

"The NSA lauded the most effective and commendable Punjab response to a most difficult challenge thrown at the country by terrorists at Pathankot," a Punjab government spokesman, quoting Doval's conversation with Badal, said here.

Sources said that Doval appreciated the response of the Punjab government, especially of the Punjab Police, "whose prompt inputs and zero-time coordination with the central forces" had helped in making counter arrangements and save critical assets of the air base, including fighter aircraft and attack helicopters.

Badal told Doval that the Pathankot, and the terrorist attack on Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district in July last year, should be seen as "acts of disguised foreign aggression".

"In Punjab, we have been fighting the nation's war carried out by our enemies through proxy means. But we must regard it as acts of war and our response needs to be firm not in just words but in the form of better and professional preparedness and willing to take the enemy on," Badal said.

He emphasized on the need to strengthen the Border Security Force (BSF) strength in the Punjab sector to prevent any infiltration from Pakistan side.

Punjab shares a 553-km long international border with Pakistan.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the National Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to be held in Sikkim on January 18, an official statement said on Friday.

Modi, scheduled to undertake a two-day visit to Sikkim from January 18, will also attend a special event on organic farming in northeast and the Sikkim Organic Festival.

The announcements were made by Minister for Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh and union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh when they addressed media on the National Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

"Government is focusing on organic farming in northeast and the three-day organic festival will give a boost to this endeavour. By year 2025, India will be able to provide food for 150 crore of its population," said Singh.

"Promotion of organic products, with Sikkim as the nodal state, will not only help in generating revenue and employment opportunities but will also be a great booster for the government's 'Act East policy'," he added.

Referring to some of the other major projects in Sikkim, Singh said: "Greenfield airport at Pakyong is expected to be complete and become functional by 2017 and will emerge as one of the most beautiful destinations in the region."

"There is also a plan to connect Sikkim with the country's rail network and after the present government took over under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, this will be the third northeastern state after Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh to be brought on the rail map of India," said Singh.
The Gujarat Police on Friday filed a chargesheet in a Surat court against Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convenor Hardik Patel on charges of sedition.

The 379-page chargesheet has been filed against Patel for exhorting a Vipul Desai to kill "four-five" policemen instead of thinking of committing suicide to demand reservation for upper caste Patels under government jobs and education in Other Backward Committies (OBC) category.

Patel was slapped with the sedition charge days after he reportedly exhorted Desai in October in the presence of a local TV channel.

Hardik's father Bharat Patel challenged the sedition charge slapped on his son on October 19 in the Gujarat High Court.

He moved the Supreme Court against the Gujarat court for refusing to accept his plea.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down his plea, allowing the Gujarat government to file a chargesheet against him in a court by Friday.
President Pranab Mukherjee will undertake a two-day visit of Jharkhand from Saturday, an official statement said.

He will arrive in the state capital here at 1.40 p.m. and go to Hazaribagh to attend the 7th convocation of the Vinoba Bhave University (VBU).

He will return to Ranchi and also inaugurate an art gallery and lay the foundation stone of the Jharkhand Technical University at Audrey House, Ranchi. He will spend the night in the capital city.

On Sunday, the President will inaugurate the 88th Annual Conference of Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan in Ranchi. He will also attend the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of the Birla Institute of Technology at noon and address the convocation ceremony here.

Heavy security arrangements have been made for the President's visit.
The Punjab Police used water cannons and cane-charged Youth Congress activists, including women, who were heading towards the new terminal of the Chandigarh airport demanding that the airport be named after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

A number of activists were injured in the police action.

Police stopped the activists at a barricade put up on the way to the new airport terminal, located on the Mohali side in Punjab.

As the Youth Congress activists tried to break through the security cordon, police used water cannons and cane-charge to disperse them.

The Youth Congress had started a 'Padyatra' on Monday from Khatkar Kalan, the native village of Bhaghat Singh, located 80 km from here, in Punjab.

The airport terminal has not yet been given a name nearly four months after being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September last year.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had stirred a controversy recently by proposing the name of RSS leader Mangal Sein for the Chandigarh airport instead of martyr Bhagat Singh.

Khattar, who had earlier written to the union civil aviation ministry proposing Mangal Sein's name for the airport, later said that his government had no objection to the airport being named after Bhagat Singh.

"It (airport's name) can be kept on Bhagat Singh's name. But they (central government) must ensure that the airport contains the name 'Chandigarh' and nothing else," Khattar said recently.

It was proposed, and agreed upon by the Punjab and Haryana governments, that the airport should be named after martyr Bhagat Singh, a national icon of the country's freedom struggle. But Khattar later proposed Mangal Sein's name.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal last month wrote a letter to Prime Minister Modi, terming Khattar's move as "distasteful".

Union minister of state for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma recently told parliament that naming the airport had been delayed as the Punjab and Haryana governments had not agreed to one name.

Punjab and Haryana, which have 24.5 percent stake each in the airport terminal project, had agreed long ago that it should be named as 'Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport'.

The Punjab and Haryana assemblies had, in 2009 and 2010, respectively, passed resolutions for naming the airport after Bhagat Singh.
North Korea on Friday began its anti-South Korea propaganda broadcasts in border areas in response to Seoul's resumption of anti-Pyongyang broadcasts, Yonhap news agency reported.

The North Korea military began anti-South Korea broadcasts in some of its frontline units with loudspeakers, Xinhua cited a statement.

The South Korean military too resumed propaganda broadcasts from noon as planned at 11 locations along the inter-Korean border, installed with a set of large loudspeakers.

The resumption, which Pyongyang had called as a "direct act of declaring war", came in retaliation for what Pyongyang claimed was its first successful test of a "hydrogen bomb" on Wednesday.
A constitutional crisis in Jammu and Kashmir will be averted if someone is quickly sworn in as the new chief minister after the death of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, a constitutional expert said on Friday.

"If Peoples Democratic Party president and Sayeed's daughter Mehbooba Mufti insists on not taking oath till the end of mourning for her father on the fourth day (Sunday) as per Islamic traditions, Governor N.N. Vohra will have no option but to impose a short spell of governor's rule," senior lawyer Sheikh Shakeel said.

"The governor will have to use extraordinary powers vested in him by the constitution to keep the assembly in suspended animation till he works out the possibility of a democratically elected government in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

Under the J&K constitution, the governor can assume the reins of the state for six months in case of a constitutional crisis whereas President's rule is imposed in other states in the country.

"When head of the council of ministers (chief minister) in the state ceases to exist for whatever reason, the council also ceases to exist," he said.

He said the party with the largest number of MLAs in the 87-member assembly must immediately approach the governor to claim support of the majority in the house.

"The governor will then invite the person for the swearing-in after satisfying himself about the claim's genuineness."

"The person sworn in as chief minister later submits a list of council of ministers to the governor who will then administer the oath of office individually to each such member," Shakeel said.

Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed passed away at 9.10 a.m. on Thursday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi.

Informed sources in the PDP and its coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party said Mehbooba Mufti's swearing-in as chief minister could take place on Friday afternoon.

PDP insiders said Mehbooba Mufti would not like the state to lapse into any constitutional crisis because of her father's death.

A senior minister in the Mufti's cabinet and who is believed to be close to the Mufti family told IANS: "Mehboobaji is in a state of shock. Somebody from the family must persuade her to take over as the chief minister on Friday itself."

When National Conference founder and the then chief minister Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah died in 1982, his son Farooq Abdullah was sworn in within hours of his father's death by the then governor B.K. Nehru.

Similarly, in 1971, when G.M. Sadiq passed away, Syed Mir Qasim was sworn in immediately as chief minister to avert a constitutional crisis.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday handed over to the Regional Rail Museum in Howrah the first alternating current locomotive that joined Eastern Railway (ER) way back in 1960.

Among the first AC electric locomotives used in India, the WAM had hauled several high profile trains on the Eastern Railway including the likes of Kalka Mail which recently completed 150 years of its existence.

Introduced in 1960, the locomotive clocked over 38 lakh km till its last run in October 1997 when it was retired.

Besides handing over the restored locomotive to the museum, Prabhu flagged off two trains, announced five new train services and launched an app for paperless ticketing here at the Howrah Station.

The minister who is here to attend the Bengal Global Business Summit flagged off the Panskura-Digha EMU Local and the Howrah-Pune Weekly Suvidha AC Express.

He also announced five new train services of the South Eastern Railway (SER) - the Howrah-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Suvidha AC Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Suvidha AC Express, Satragachi-Amta local, Kharagpur-Santragachi and the Rupsa-Bhanjpur.

He also extended four EMU/DEMU services of the SER.

The minister launched an app enabling passengers to book tickets through it without the hassle of waiting in a queue.
A civil rights activist on Friday demanded that Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh should be recalled or sacked for what he dubbed "violation of constitutional norms and involvement in while holding a constitutional post".

Activist Shehzad Poonawalla sent his complaint to President Pranab Mukherjee and the ministry of home affairs to demand action against Kalyan Singh, a former Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

Poonawalla quoted news reports on the four-day visit of the 80-year-old governor in state capital Lucknow, during which Kalyan Singh allegedly talked openly in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Kalyan Singh not only interacted with BJP workers and leaders openly but also gave interviews to various media organisations about the BJP's strategy for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections next year, he added.

Informed sources said the Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party too were thinking of complaining against the Rajasthan governor regarding his statements and conduct during his Lucknow visit.

The BJP state unit refused to comment on the issue.
A roadmap for Kolkata's low-carbon and climate resilient future growth, a collaborative project between the British government and the city civic body aiming to create a range of municipal services and a built environment attractive to businesses looking to invest, was launched here on Friday.

British Employment Minister Priti Patel and Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee launched the "Roadmap on Low-Carbon & Climate-Resilient Kolkata" Strategy Document, developed using Rs.10 crore of technical assistance from the British government.

The roadmap includes initiatives like a climate smart city mobility plan, a rooftop solar policy, a master plan for energy efficient street lighting, a climate-induced disaster management plan, and a green city business and investment plan.

The British government and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation have been collaborating for two years to prepare the strategy paper which aims to create a Climate Smart Kolkata. The roadmap contains recommendations across 20 sectors including disaster management, health, low-carbon procurement, resource conservation and policy to encourage use of solar energy.

Patel said she was delighted to see the successful conclusion of the Britain-KMC collaboration which has made Kolkata one of the first cities in India with an integrated strategy to lower emissions, improve resilience to the impacts of climate change, and reap the economic benefits that come from low-carbon growth.

With implementation of the policy and project recommendations the city will not just lessen carbon emissions but also attract large-scale investment in multiple sectors such as solar, solid waste management and energy efficient municipal services as well as create more than one million new green jobs over the next decade.

All this will help Kolkata become an exemplar in climate-friendly municipal services, and encourage businesses looking to make sustainable, long-term economic investments in India, she said.

Congratulating Chatterjee, his team and their British partners for this initiative, Patel said she will look forward to sharing Kolkata's success story with other cities across the world.

In this context, the minister said she was particularly impressed to see how the programme is helping to establish a dedicated Climate Change Cell at the KMC with a website and mobile app for citizens and businesses, informing them about climate friendly measures.

The memorandum of understanding to agree to develop this roadmap was signed during British Prime Minister David Cameron's Kolkata visit in November 2013.
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel Bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir discussed "common challenges" with Pakistani side during his one-day visit to the country.

The Saudi foreign minister met Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Army Chief General Raheel Sharif on Thursday. He also held talks with Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz, Xinhua reported.

The Saudi foreign minister said both the sides explored options to further "deepen strategic partnership and boost cooperation in every field".

Al-Jubeir in his meeting with General Raheel Sharif discussed "regional security situation", a statement from Inter Services Public Relations said.

He also called on Nawaz Sharif to exchange views on regional security and matters of mutual interest, the prime minister's office said.

The visit came at a critical time amid the ongoing Saudi-Iran tensions that led to breaking of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

Pakistan has expressed concern at the tensions, pressing both countries to resolve their differences peacefully.
Heavy rains have caused further flooding in parts of Scotland, forcing people out of their homes and causing major travel disruption, the Guardian reported on Friday.

Roads have been closed and trains and flights cancelled in Aberdeen and the surrounding region as water levels reached record highs.

Residents in the city's Grandholm area were urged to leave their homes amid fears that the river Don would overtop its banks.

Upriver, the towns of Inverurie and Kintore in Aberdeenshire have been badly hit by flooding, prompting the local council to call for volunteers to help with emergency relief efforts.

Police reported people stuck in their cars on flooded roads. The rail line between Aberdeen and Dundee has been suspended.

Flights were unable to land at Aberdeen airport on Thursday night after "unprecedented" rainfall damaged a section of tarmac on the runway.

Warnings for snow and ice were also in place for much of Scotland, Northern Ireland and north-west and north-east England.

Rest centres have been set up across the region for people who have been forced to leave their homes. More than 20 schools have been closed or partially closed due to the severe conditions.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has asked the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to probe the leads provided by India on the alleged Pakistani links to the terror attack in Pathankot, a report said on Friday.

Sharif gave the directive to the IB after chairing a high-level meeting here on Thursday, The Nation newspaper reported.

Among those who attended the meeting were Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, Security Adviser (NSA) Nasser Khan Janjua, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry and IB chief Aftab Sultan.

"Officials said the prime minister and the aides agreed to launch investigations into the evidence provided by India," the report said.

Hours earlier, India linked the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan to Islamabad's action against suspected Pakistani terrorists who raided the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot on January 2.

The pre-dawn attack left seven Indian security personnel dead. Security forces killed all six attackers.

Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi spoke on the telephone after the terror attack. India said it had provided "actionable" inputs to Pakistan, and Sharif assured Modi of "prompt and decisive" action against groups and individuals who might be linked to the attack.

The Nation quoted an official as saying that the leads provided by India were handed over to IB chief Aftab Sultan for further action.

Addressing the meeting, Sharif said Pakistan was ready to boost cooperation with India as part of counter-terrorism efforts.

Sharif also directed NSA Nasser Khan Janjua to remain in contact with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in a bid to keep renewed dialogue on track.

Another official, however, said the information provided by India was "not enough" as it was just limited to telephone numbers. He said Pakistan might ask for additional information.

"We would like to have solid information to build a case for action. Otherwise courts intervene and the suspects will be bailed out," he added.
The Samajwadi Party says it has swept the high-stake district panchayat chief elections, but a scrutiny of the results shows it is not very good news for the Uttar Pradesh's ruling party as also to most other parties.

Of the 74 districts where elections took place, 59 seats have been won by Samajwadi Party candidates. Of these, 38 got elected unopposed. Opposition parties alleged this happened due to pressure exerted by ministers and the government and not due to popular will.

"The ruling party did everything to lure, threaten and intimidate the panchayat members to ensure a victory," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.

He said the detention of supporters of opposition candidates and large-scale declaration of invalid votes indicated that all was not well within the Samajwadi Party, with assembly polls just a year away.

The results show that of the 36 places where polling was actually held, the Samajwadi Party won 20 seats. The opposition parties won at 16 places.

The BJP won five seats and four went to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the state's main opposition party. The Congress and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) won one seat each.

Three seats went to Samajwadi Party rebels who had been either suspended or expelled from the party for contesting against official candidates.

The party had expelled its Sitapur legislator Rampal Yadav for fielding his son Jitendra Yadav, who won against the party's official candidate.

Similarly, in Unnao, legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar's wife Sangeet defeated the party candidate. In Bijnore, suspended legislator Ruchiveera got her husband Udayanveera elected.

BSP leaders accused the ruling party of using all wrong means to coerce panchayat members to vote for Samajwadi Party nominess.

"The fact is the SP has lost and the government has won because it used the official machinery to get past the finishing line", said a BJP leader.

On Thursday, the Allahabad High Court observed that allegations of intimidation hurled at the ruling party were serious and were a joke on democracy.

The BJP, which keeps claiming it will form the next government in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, was jolted too.

The BJP won only five seats: Mathura, Muzaffarnagar, Shahjahanpur, Fatehpur and Maharajganj.

BSP candidates won in Aligarh, Hathras, Shamli and Mirzapur. The Congress has won in Rae Bareli and the RLD's seat came from western Uttar Pradesh, its known bastion.
Around 21 lakh cheques worth about Rs.16,000 crore could not be cleard on Friday owing to bankers strike against the violation of bilateral settlement by five associate banks of the State Bank of India (SBI), said a top leader of employees union.

According to All India Bank Employees' Association's (AIBEA) C.H.Venkatachalam, around 350,000 bankers participated in the strike across the nation which affected clearing of around 21 lakh cheques worth about Rs.16,000 crore.

The five associate banks of the SBI are State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, and State Bank of Travancore.

The strike also put several thousands of people into difficulty across the country, and they will be put to further hardship as Saturday and Sunday will be bank holidays.

"It is a matter of regret that the associate banks which are public sector banks and their managements do not care for the advice of the chief labour commissioner and insisted on violation of the bilateral settlement not caring for the law of the land," Venkatachalam said.

"While we are sorry for the unavoidable inconveniences to the banking public on account of this strike, we wish to clarify that the strike was forced on us because of the adamant approach management," he added in a statement issued here.

According to Venkatachalam, the management of SBI's five associate banks remained steadfast on implementing the new Career Progression Scheme (CPS) for their employees, violating the bilateral agreement with the union.

He said that the five banks want to abolish permanent cadres like sweepers and outsoucre their labour activity, but this cannot be done unilaterally.

AIBEA also perceives the uniform service conditions between SBI and its five associate banks as a further step towards merger.
Hundreds of students who flocked to the 103rd Indian Science Congress here from across the country this week found the five-day event worth their effort and money, as they had useful exposure to the subject and could explore research and job opportunities.

"I am happy to participate this major science fair, held annually at the national level, as top scientists, researchers, experts and fellow students from across the country came to meet, interact, exchange and share knowledge and experiences with us," Vinay Kumar, a post-graduate physics student from Bangalore University, told IANS.

Contrary to adverse remarks against the event from top scientists like Indian-born Nobel laureate Vekataraman Ramakrishnan, who recently termed it a acircus', many students and faculty endorsed it than discarding it due to 'unfair' criticism.

"The science fair, being held since 1912, has evolved and expanded over the last 100 years old, contributing to its growth and development, as it is an ideal platform for academia, research, industry, state-run firms and government agencies to interact and exchange latest trends in basic, applied and research-oriented science," claimed Harish Chandra, an astro-physicst at Pune in Maharashta.

The annual jamboree, held from January 3-7 in the sprawling 700-acre Mansagangotri campus of the University of Mysore after 34 years for the second time to mark its centenary year, attracted a whopping 12,500 delegates, including 150 from abroad, comprising five Nobel laureates, Indian-born and foreign professors, research scholars and experts in diverse fields.

Mysuru, the cultural capital of the state and a city of palaces, is about 140 km from Bengaluru.

Though Ramakrishnan, who shared the prestigious Nobel prize for chemistry in 2009 with two others, was invited to participate in the science congress, when he was in Bengaluru last month on his annual sabbatical to India, he declined and instead opted to address students and faculty of Panjab University at Chandigarh.

Echoing Ramakrishnan's view, Hyderabad-based Birla Science Centre's B.G. Sidharth termed the mega event a 'kumbh mela' of science, as it is held over five days across the country in first week of every new year, with neither any original any invention is demonstrated or discovery shared with others.

Princeton mathematician and Fields medalist Manjul Bhargava, who delivered a public lecture on 'Gems of Ramanajum and their lasting impact on mathematics', however, defended the event, saying "a lot of positives come out of the congress.

"Such events are not meant for research findings or brain-storming sessions to prove or disprove what is science and what is not. The purpose of this science congress is to meet scientists, build a network and find common areas of interest among the scientific community," Bharagava told reporters here during the event.

Indian Science Congress Association president A.K. Saxena and general secretary Anup Kumar, however, declined to comment on the adverse criticism of the event, especially after the 102nd edition in 2015 at Mumbai sparked off a controversy over the inclusion of Vedic science in the plenary sessions.

"In a democracy, everyone is entitled to his or her view. But majority's view prevails. A bit of criticism is healthy and welcome so we can improve. It is not for nothing so many delegates (over 12,000), have come by air, train and bus from across the country to participate in the event, which sets the agenda for the year and helps policy makers, think tanks and governments to make their budgets and allot funds for advancement of science, including research and innovation," an association official, who is also a botany professor, said on anonymity.

Yom Nigam, a fifth semester chemical engineering student from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, who came with a batch of 60 students to the event by train via Bhopal, said he found it rewarding as it made him realize that without science, technology would not be able to disruptive as discoveries and inventions happen in science.

"Though we all are engineering students, our faculty has encouraged us to attend this event to explore applied science for our area of specialisation and learn about the inter-disciplinary nature of the subject," Nigam told IANS here on Friday.

(Fakir Balaji can be contacted at fakir.b@ians.in)
The attack on Indian Air Force station Pathankot highlights that combating terror is a "global reprehensibility" and the importance of India-US relationship in this endeavour, US Navy's Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Scott Swift said on Friday.

The admiral, who is in India from January 7-9, expressed condolences for the security personnel who died in the Pathankot attack.

"I offer condolences on the attack at the air base, the loss of life that occurred. It is hard for the families.

"This highlights the importance of relationship we have with India. The relationship we have had since attack on Mumbai. It refreshes the importance of relationships between India and US," said Admiral Swift, adding fighting terror is a global responsibility.

"It is global responsibility ... when a terrorist attack occurs, global community has to act collectively, first on the immediate response, and then on dialogue to stop further attacks," he said.

Admiral Swift said it was unfortunate that the frequency of such attack is increasing across the globe, giving the example of the attack in Paris, and the rise of the Islamic State.

"It is a common responsibility that we resolve such issues," he added.

The attack at the Pathankot started in the early on Saturday. India lost seven security personnel while six terrorists were killed.
Ten people were killed and 27 others injured when a private bus hit a road divider and upturned early on Friday in Tamil Nadu, a Kerala minister said.

Three of the dead and around 20 of the injured hail from Kerala.

"A medical team from Kerala has been sent to Tirunelveli where the accident took place," Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala told the media here.

The dead include five men, three women and two children.
A Thai commercial touting white skin as a ticket to success has come under fire on Friday from social media users.

The commercial for Snowz, a skin whitening product, was uploaded to Youtube by cosmetic firm Seoul Secret on Wednesday, EFE news reported.

In the advertisement, light-skinned Thai actress Cirin 'Chris' Horwang appears and says: "Once I stop taking care of myself, everything I have dedicated, (and) the whiteness I have invested in, will be gone."

The camera then pans to show another actress beside her, with light skin, while Chris changes into a 'blackface' actress.

The ad finishes with the tagline: "Just being white is enough to make you win."

Users on Facebook and Twitter were pouring harsh criticism on the 'racist' cosmetic ad.

"What a stupidity, really... they look sick, anaemic, almost ghostly... ready to play in a horror movie," wrote one user on Facebook.

"What hurts me most are the comments from this product's prospective customers. There are people who really believe being white is better," wrote another Facebook user.

Seoul Secret disabled the comments section with the video later in the day.

As of the afternoon, the video on Youtube was inaccessible to public view.

A similar uproar erupted in 2013 when whitening cream company Citra (a subsidiary of Unilever) put on a photo contest and offered a 100,000 baht scholarship to university students with "fair skin".

The company later apologised for the incident.
Nepal police on Friday arrested three Indian gold traders allegedly for involvement in gold smuggling, and seized 9.50 kg of the precious metal from them here.

Vikram Mittal (34) and Vivek Mittal (32) of Kalimpong, West Bengal, and Bhagirath Chaudhary (50) of Sikar, Rajasthan, are the arrested Indian nationals residing in Kathmandu.

Under the cover of gold trading, the three Indian nationals were involved in gold smuggling from China, Special Superintendent of Police Sarvendra Khanal of Kathmandu district said.

Khanal claimed one Chinese national of their gold smuggling ring is missing.

The gold, seized from the Indian nationals, was imported from across the China-Nepal border via Tatopani-Khasha.

Acting on a tip-off, police said, a team deployed from the Metropolitan Police Crime Divsion raided Shree Bhagya Laxmi Jewellers on Thursday on New Road in Kathmandu and confiscated the gold.

Police took all the three Indian nationals into custody.

According to police, 6.50 kg of the yellow metal was seized from the possession of Vikram Mittal, 2 kg from Vivek Mittal and one kilogramme from Chaudhary.

The haul costs more than half million or Indian Rs.30 million in Nepali market.

The Mittal duo owns the Shree Bhagya Laxmi Jewellers while Chaudhary reportedly is gold supplier to different jewellers in Kathmandu.

Police claimed the three were masterminds behind the organised gold smuggling racket and the have been sent to the Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, for prosecution as per the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
British Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Hugo Swire on Thursday summoned the ambassador of North Korea here following the reported nuclear test.

In a statement, Swire said he summoned Hyon Hak Bong, the North Korean ambassador to Britain, to "stress in the strongest terms the UK's condemnation of their nuclear test", reports Xinhua.

"This is a clear violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions, and the UK supports the resolve of the UN to implement further significant measures against the regime," Swire said.

On Wednesday, Britain and other members of the UN Security Council issued a statement strongly condemning the latest act as "a clear threat to peace and security on the Korean peninsula and to international security", the minister noted.

"It is essential, as ever, that the international community is united in its approach. It will now commence work on such measures in a new Security Council resolution," he added.

North Korea announced on Wednesday that it "successfully" carried out its first hydrogen bomb test.
Blowing hot and cold, the US says it expects Pakistan to thoroughly investigate the terrorist attack on an Indian Air Force base and bring the perpetrators to justice, but could not force its pace.

"The Pakistanis said they're going to investigate, so we look forward to seeing the results of that investigation when it's complete," State Department Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Thursday.

"But as for how long it's going to take and the scope of it, I think you need to be talking to folks in Islamabad about that," he said.

Asked if the US had reached out to Pakistan after India named banned terror organisation Jaish-e-Muhammad and its chief Maulana Masood Azhar as being responsible for the Pathankot attack, Kirby said: "Of course, we're talking to Pakistan about this".

But he gave no details of "the specifics of diplomatic discussions" and simply repeated "the Government of Pakistan itself has condemned this attack and made clear that they're committed to investigate it."

"So let's let them do that and let's see where the investigation goes. We obviously would like to see it investigated too, as completely and as thoroughly as possible, so that we can better understand what happened," Kirby said.

Taking Islamabad's statements on face value, the spokesperson said, "The Government of Pakistan has also said that they're not going to discriminate between terrorist groups as part of its counterterrorism operations."

Pakistan "knows well the threat of terrorism. is a regional challenge that requires real regional solutions," he said, "and we want Pakistan to be a part of those solutions."

Reminded that after the Nov 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack in which six American were killed too, the US had asked Pakistan to act, but to no avail, a defensive Kirby said nobody can look at the US "counterterrorism record over the last decade or so and say we're not doing anything."

The countries in the region too could do more, he said "Which is why we continue to encourage bilateral, multilateral efforts in the region to get at this particular threat."

"The relationship with Pakistan's complicated, I get that. And we don't always agree on everything," he acknowledged.

"And I can't speak for how long it might take them to complete an investigation or the degree to which they intend to be transparent about it after they've completed it."

"And as for the Mumbai attackers, we've said and I'll say it again today: We obviously want to see all the perpetrators brought to justice," Kirby said.

"We know that that can take a long time. It took an awful long time to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, but we did. So it can be hard."

Asked about a former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel's opinion that Pakistani spy agency ISI was behind the terrorist attack in Pathankot and also in Mazar-e-Sharif, Kirby said he was "not in a position to confirm the veracity of his conclusions."

The US didn't "have an independent assessment of who was behind this attack," he said. "A, it just happened two days ago; B, it's being investigated by the Pakistanis. They've condemned it, we condemned it," Kirby repeated. "Let's let their investigation move forward and we'll see where it goes."

"It's not for us to ascribe a timeline to somebody else's investigation," Kirby said. "We'll certainly defer to Pakistani authorities to determine their own timelines and their own deadlines."

Asked if he believed the Pathankot attack was carried out to derail the peace process between India and Pakistan, Kirby said: "I have no idea what the motivation for that attack would be."

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
If you thought money is what ultimately brings more happiness, you could not be farther from the truth. New research suggests that valuing your time more than the pursuit of money can make you a lot happier.

"It appears that people have a stable preference for valuing their time over making more money, and prioritising time is associated with greater happiness," said lead researcher Ashley Whillans from the University of British Columbia in Canada.

The researchers also found that older people were more likely to say they valued their time compared to younger people.

"As people age, they often want to spend time in more meaningful ways than just making money," Whillans added.

The findings are based on six studies involving more than 4,600 participants.

Some of the studies used real-world examples, such as asking a participant whether he would prefer a more expensive apartment with a short commute or a less expensive apartment with a long commute.

A participant also could choose between a graduate programme that would lead to a job with long hours and a higher starting salary or a programme that would result in a job with a lower salary but fewer hours.

"Having more free time is likely more important for happiness than having more money," Whillans said.

If people want to focus more on their time and less on money in their lives, they could take some actions to help shift their perspective, such as working slightly fewer hours, paying someone to do disliked chores like cleaning the house, or volunteering with a charity.

"Even giving up a few hours of a paycheck to volunteer at a food bank may have more bang for your buck in making you feel happier," Whillans noted.

The findings were published online in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Kerala will take up with the Centre the merger of the ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) with the ministry of external affairs, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said on Friday.

The decision to do away with the MOIA was not correct, the chief minister told reporters in Delhi.

"We will take up the issue with the prime minister and others concerned since the ministry is crucial for Kerala as thousands of its residents are working abroad," Chandy said.

Former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan said the merger would "seriously affect" Keralites living abroad.

"It is an insult to the (from Kerala). Moreover, the state government's Norka department (agency that looks after the welfare of the Kerala diaspora) will face a tough time after the merger of the two ministries. This (decision) should be reconsidered," Achuthanandan said in a statement here.

As many as 90 percent of Kerala's 23.63 lakh people living abroad are in Middle-East countries, with United Arab Emirates accounting for 38.7 percent of these, followed by Saudi Arabia with 25.2 percent.
After losing 14 per cent since the start of 2016 on worries related to China demand and yuan devaluation, Tata Motors recovered a bit, gaining three per cent to close at Rs 353 on Friday. Brokerages say the concerns related to China are overblown on both pricing, as the company starts to localize its production, and currency.

While China accounts for less than a quarter of volumes and revenues, given the higher margins of the products sold, its share of Jaguar Land Rover operating profits are expected to be upwards of 40 per cent in current fiscal, according to Kotak Securities. Analysts at the brokerage house say every five per cent depreciation in the yuan will impact JLRs Ebitda by only 3 per cent. Of the nearly 100,000 vehicles JLR is expected to sell in China in the current fiscal, only two thirds are expected to be imported from the UK.

What has helped in keeping the volume momentum high is the uptick in US and UK sales. For example, December sales in the US were up 30 per cent year-on-year, while sales for 2015 were up 26 per cent.

The other driver for the stock could be higher truck and passenger vehicle sales in India, on the back of new launches. Medium and commercial vehicle sales in the current fiscal were up 22 per cent, while passenger vehicle sales were up by five per cent. Indian business accounts for less than 20 per cent of the target price arrived at by Tata Motors, using a sum-of-parts valuation. Nearly 90 per cent of the 50 analysts covering the stock have a buy rating on it with a target price of Rs 473, offering a 34 per cent upside from current levels.
House of Ming at the Taj Mahal Hotel (better known as Taj Man Singh), Delhi, is still getting ready to service its guests, as we arrive a few minutes before our luncheon appointment at 12.30 pm. But the noisy lobby is hardly a distraction for my guest, Rajiv Kaul, to hold forth on subjects as varied as net neutrality and Delhis pollution issues. Though a resident of Mumbai now, Kaul, a Kashmiri, is a regular visitor to the national capital for work and also because his parents live here  reasons why his friends in other parts of the country keep asking him, politics mein kya ho raha hai? (whats happening in politics?).

They perhaps think my roots in Delhi make me qualified to have some deep inside knowledge of whats happening in the political corridors, Kaul says with a laugh, enquiring whether I, a recent export from Mumbai, is facing the same predicament.

Once the youngest managing director of Microsoft India  he had moved into the corner office at the age of 33 in 2001  Kaul is now the executive vice-chairman and chief executive officer of CMS Info Systems, Indias largest cash management services company and the sixth-largest globally in terms of units transacted. Our meeting is timely as Baring Private Equity has just acquired 100 per cent of CMS  53 per cent from Blackstone, 37 per cent from the former owners of CMS and 10 per cent from the management team led by Kaul  at an estimated valuation of Rs 2,000 crore. After cashing out, Kaul and the management team decided to reinvest in the company and stay on. The transaction marks Blackstones highest return since setting up its India office in 2005.

Kaul, 47, is cagey about giving out numbers and stonewalls queries about his financial comfort zone, but says he is happy that the stakeholders have managed to get decent returns on their hard-earned money. Does he intend to continue at CMS? Well, its now a rock-solid company and as of now, I intend to continue with my hands-off, but eyes on leadership style. But I do intend to spend a little more time on some of my other interests, Kaul says, as we settle down at one of the corner tables with a lush green view.

One of his other interests is The Art 1st Foundation that he has set up with his wife, an IIM graduate, for collaborating with young thinkers, artists and local community leaders to incorporate fresh pedagogy in education and to underscore the role of art in cognitive processes and creative competencies.

Kaul asks for spicy lung fung soup with lamb dumplings. For the main course, its Peking Duck and fine rotis. Being early birds at the restaurant surely helped, as the soup and the dumplings come in no time and I steer the conversation towards CMS. What follows is an interesting account of the turnaround of this little-known outsourced businesses company into Indias largest cash and payments solutions provider. Within six years of leading the Blackstone-backed buyout of CMS Computers into a new company, CMS Info Systems, in 2009, Kaul led a radical restructuring and transformation that saw revenues almost tripling to around Rs 1,500 crore. CMS today handles almost 53 per cent of all cash in circulation in the country, manages more than 55,000 ATMs and covers 35,000 retail outlets for their cash management and processing functions. CMS has also aggressively built the network across 2,200-plus towns.

An MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur, and a computer science engineer from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Kaul says the the focal point of CMS business today is other peoples risk. The cycle of cash starts from the Reserve Bank of Indias (RBI) mints and vaults and moves through bank currency chests and branches, ATMs, post offices, businesses big to tiny and individuals, with innumerable stops in between. CMS covers all that  it feeds ATM machines, delivers and picks up cash from retail and other outlets, moves cash between currency chests and bank branches, runs dedicated cash vans, processes and sorts cash and offers cashiering services.

After consumers take the money out, they spend it and it eventually flows back to banks and then to the RBI. The whole cycle, Kaul says, making a neat roll of rotis with Peking Duck, is not only about the movement, which is a big part of it, but also about the processing. The currency notes are checked for counterfeits and dirty torn notes and balances are reconciled for customers and banks  a lot of software comes into play there. This focus on technology, Kaul says, ensures the lowest rate of cash-outs and maximum ATM uptime.

I ask whether the government plan to reduce cash transactions is a threat to the scalability of CMS core business model and Kaul says the cash market will remain very large in the foreseeable future. For example, among the 10 million-plus organised retailers in India, only a minuscule 600,000 accept payments via non-cash modes now.

Does he miss the action at Microsoft where he spent 10 long years (1996-2006), his stint coinciding with an industry-defining period for Indian information technology? Kaul looks nostalgic and says he has fallen in love with Microsoft all over again for the fantastic work the company is doing under Satya Nadella. He recollects how way back in 2000, he successfully championed the case within Microsoft (internationally) for the future emergence of large Indian software companies as global players that led to many alliances. He also created and led the companys biggest philanthropic effort in India, Project Shiksha, which invested Rs 100 crore for capacity building in thousands of schools across India in partnership with state governments. With Project Bhasha, he stimulated local language computing by localising Microsofts flagship products, Windows and Office.

He also talks fondly of his experience of working with Bill Gates. Once on a flight to India for work concerning his foundation, Gates asked him what Bihars population was. Kaul couldnt give the answer off-hand but Gates knew it. I learnt the importance of homework and the need to give importance to little details, from him, Kaul says, adding that while working for Microsoft was an out-of-the-world experience, he wanted to get out of the ultra-comfort zone he was getting used to. That took him first to the Redmond headquarters of Microsoft as senior director, Emerging Markets (200506), and then to London as partner of Actis Capital, where he was responsible for supporting deal origination from India. That is where he learnt the art of calculated risk-taking  so important for a debut in entrepreneurship.

We order green tea, and Kaul says CMS has a big play in every part of the chain except in printing money and storing it. So the next move is convincing the central bank to outsource the management of currency chests. At present, the RBI has to make sure there is enough money floating around and it spends almost Rs 4,500 crore a year printing the currency, because there are notes that get destroyed and new notes have to be printed. If firms like CMS could save 10 to 20 per cent of the cash in circulation every year by making the process more efficient, it could hypothetically save the RBI a lot of money. Today, banks set up these chests by themselves. They put in the money behind the infrastructure, the machinery and the people. What CMS proposes is something like the ATM story  a partner puts up the infrastructure, and charges banks for every transaction. This puts the accountability on the partner and while this will be a big boon for banks, this will also change the business for CMS in the long run, Kaul says.

What has been the central banks response to the proposal? Kaul says the RBI seems to like the idea in principle but will perhaps need more time to warm to it. Doesnt he feel impatient with the long wait? Kaul ducks the question deftly before rushing for his next meeting: His entrepreneurial journey, he says, has made him far more patient than he has ever been in life.
The late Pramod Mahajan once said that Indians do best in those areas where the government doesnt interfere, such as beauty contests and IT. While, fortunately, there isnt yet a Centrally-Sponsored Scheme to rejuvenate the beauty-contest industry, expecting the government to stay away from IT forever is perhaps expecting too much. We are, in fact, on the brink of the government probably making two interventions to protect Indias much-hyped start-up ecosystem.

The first is the possible outlawing of zero-rated web services like Facebooks Free Basics, in which a package of web sites are made available free of charge. This has been the focus of a highly visible and ill-advised campaign by Facebook, as well as of noisy protests by activists organising around net neutrality  the principle that no particular part of the internet should be privileged over another in terms of access.

In essence, what is being demanded by the anti-Free Basics campaign is that the government use arbitrary powers reserved by it in the telecom licence agreement to prevent telecom companies from offering users packages of free sites. In other words, consumers are to be prevented by arbitrary government action from being given free stuff. For their own good, of course. Its always for their own good.

The interest groups at work here are central  and, before I am accused of casting aspersions on anyones motives, I stress that Im using the phrase interest groups in the broadest, least pejorative, non-mercenary sense. On the one hand, we have some telecom companies and Facebook, who claim they are being altruistic in expanding Indians access to online services  but who would very likely benefit in various ways from expanding their reach. On the other side, we have those who are invested  literally or only metaphorically  in the idea of an innovative internet, when innovation is defined as being strictly limited to those who can pay for access. Many on this side, but by no means all, are linked in some way  perhaps just by emotional affinity  to the digital start-up world. Consumers are, as always, not a politically relevant interest group; both sides claim loudly to speak for them.

If the regulator comes down against Free Basics, as seems likely, then what we will soon have is state-mandated protection for Indian start-ups, at the cost of expanding consumer access. I do not think that such protection is a good idea, for consumers or for business. In a country where so many people are short of access to the outside world, even some free web services are a giant step forward  and will be a catalyst for genuine innovation, as opposed to the hot-house, elite-focused start-up world we so praise today.

It is, of course, unfortunate that so much obfuscation surrounds the central questions: Are we willing to allow the government to prevent consumers from having the option of choosing a small bouquet of free web sites? Should the government prevent companies from differentially pricing their products even if there are no apparent impacts on competition? If we want to prevent the Internet from being sliced up, who will bear the cost of this departure from economic efficiency  the unconnected poor?



Facebooks high-volume media campaign comes across as frankly unbelievable; and the activists have consistently reframed the debate deceptively, away from the central question of government intervention and towards very inchoate notions of creativity, and grounding it in tiresome, old-fashioned anti-corporate rhetoric  look, Facebook will run your online life! Yes, companies have power over our lives. But the governments role in this should be limited to ensuring that, if we hand over some power over our lives to companies, we do so freely. It should not prevent us from doing so if we choose.

The second likely intervention is the governments new start-up policy, to be released next week. We dont know for sure whats in it. We do know whats been asked for, though.

Certainly, the government must work to make it much, much easier for start-ups to file taxes, reduce their know-your-customer burden, minimise the paperwork, and so on. The compliance burden on small enterprises is too great, and needs to be reduced. A major start has been made on this over the past year, to this governments great credit; some of the more burdensome provisions of the Companies Act have been modified.

But more needs to be done  the infuriating angel tax continues to be in existence, for example, which pushes many start-ups into registering offshore. Cleaning up these provisions is very important. What should definitely not be done is to introduce low-tax exemptions. Sector- or scale-specific tax breaks are not a good idea in general. Even in dynamic sectors, companies get addicted to tax breaks  as the long and painful process of weaning regular IT off them has shown.

Reportedly, it is also possible that there will be some form of government venture capital fund  something worth Rs 10,000 crore has already been promised in the past. What a delightfully amusing notion! A government that cant run hotels and airlines will judge the quality of start-ups? This is a blatant invitation to cronyism and corruption of the worst kind. I look forward to reading the perplexed CAG report evaluating which investment in which app was a valuable use of taxpayer money.

On some level, this is darkly amusing. Enough people have groused that the start-up economy is showing signs of being a bubble. I propose a new and useful indicator of when a bubbles about to pop: the moment that the worlds worst and slowest investor, the Indian government, puts Rs 10,000 crore of our money into it.



What unites both the zero-rating question and the start-up incentives is this: the government should avoid going out of its way to please the start-up world that exists now. If a start-up ecosystem is done right, it should need minimal protection, and it should be difficult to predict its future. Dont protect, dont predict. Just reduce paperwork and let it thrive.
Pak handler to Terrorist: Look boys, this airbase area is so thick with Indian Army and Air Force moustaches that youll have to cut your way through with barbers shears, and the Indians know youre coming. But dont worry  the lights dont work, the fence is holier than our book, the guards are retired and unfit, they dont have the budget to patrol at night, and were already using their infrastructure.

Police SP, offstage: They took my car and phone! I have escaped and reported this to my colleagues after a suspicious three-hour gap.

Terrorist on phone: Mummy, Ive sneaked into India, either through a border tunnel or from J&K, to bang a bunch of virg  become a martyr.

Mummy: Okay, eat something before you croak. Hello? I think we have a cross-connection with the Punjab Police, the Indian Air Force, and Indian Intelligence.

Pathankot airbase: We have hours and hours to defend this base. Who needs thousands of army personnel nearby to help lock it down? Everyone hang at the main gate, thats where theyll come from.

Nobody: How do we know that?



[Hours and hours later: Loud bangs, dead people]



PM Modi: On June 21, more than a million people in 192 countries came together to celebrate the first International Day of Yoga.

Indian press: Here are some Pakistani panelists to explain the terrorist attack on Pathankot airbase, while we keep looking for some Indian panelists who can explain it.

[More loud bangs]



Some of the Army: Which genius brought in the National Security Guard when were right here?



National Security Advisor Ajit Doval: I like the NSG. Why is everyone looking at me?



Delhi Police: Delhi is on red alert for terrorists visiting from Pathankot.

Delhi: Hey, you in the hijacked car, with the grenades. Here are some flowers and an awareness-raising pamphlet about odd-even. Next time itll be Rs 2,000.

[VVIP phone rings]



Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif to PM Modi: When we were holding hands, was it as good for you as it was for me? Cos I think about it all the time.

PM Modi: Across the world there are moving stories of transformed lives and rekindled hopes due to Yoga.

[48 hours later]



Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley: Its all over. We salute our martyrs who made the supreme sacrifice to annihilate the dastardly enemy.

Part of the Indian press: Doval, Doval, Doval!



Air Force officer: Hello, its totally not over.

The rest of the Indian press: Sources say nobody knows their elbow from their ass.

[Loud bangs]



BJP: Criticising the operations at Pathankot is anti-national.

India: Yawn.

PM Modi: Seriously, guys? Yoga is really very good for you.

Army General: All nonsense. Brilliant synergy between the army and the NSG, couldnt have been better, got on like a house on fire.

Indian press: Er, that actually is a house on fire.

India: How come our super-duper airbase is so thick with Indian Army and Air Force moustaches that you have to cut your way through with barbers shears, and we knew they were coming, and six guys have still had the place upside down for longer than a French working week?



Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar: A lot of this was bad luck.

[80 hours later]



BJP government: Please, can we never talk about this again?



World: ROTFL. Oops, live mike. We stand firmly by India in her fight against terrorism.

Terrorist on phone: Mummy, theyve asked me to sneak into India and bang a bunch of virg become a martyr. Yes, yes, Ive eaten  a piece of cake.
That Ajit Doval has had an outstanding career in the Intelligence Bureau is widely accepted. I did write in a National Interest a few years ago that our careers, in our respective professions, have run, sort of in parallel, as I have mostly ended up covering the situations he was tackling at different junctures. He has stayed a couple of steps ahead, because of seniority and years - he will turn 71 on January 20. But if I got to a story even shortly after Mr Doval had been there, he had left enough of a reputation to still be a talking point. In January 1981, as the new Northeast correspondent of The Indian Express, when I made my first visit to Mizoram, the Chief Minister, Thenphunga Sailo, gave me a long lecture on the past and the future. One key point he made was, how things would have been so much better if "we had a few more officers like that A K Doval". Mr Doval had headed the Mizoram unit of IB (called Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau) as assistant director until fairly recently then.

Almost exactly a year later, when I arrived in Gangtok to cover the funeral of Palden Thondup Namgyal, the Chogyal (or rather former Chogyal as Indira Gandhi had abolished the title after the merger in 1975), the name of Mr Doval was mentioned often enough - in adulation or awe - for you to know he had recently been there and had left his mark.

My next big story took me often to Punjab. Mr Doval wasn't there yet, but he was across the border, quite legitimately and legally, in the Indian mission in Islamabad. He was undercover only to the extent that his posting, if I recall correctly, was as head of commercial section. I do not believe there was so much commerce between India and Pakistan. Mr Doval was busy, however, keeping a close eye, among other things, on the subversion and separatist propaganda to which Sikh pilgrims visiting their holy places in Pakistan were exposed. In an ugly and unfortunate incident, fully instigated and orchestrated by Pakistan intelligence, he was once attacked by a jatha at one of these pilgrimages.

Ajit Doval is an IPS officer from the 1968 batch, but like many others of his ilk who came to the IB early - including, notably, equally legendary M K Narayanan - he became an IB citizen for life. Messrs Doval and Narayanan, incidentally, are from the same Kerala cadre. From the moment Mr Doval returned to India, he walked straight into the Punjab/Sikh crisis and that kept him busy for nearly a decade, until that insurgency ended as K P S Gill's Punjab Police, with quiet help from a rejuvenated IB, destroyed what is often described as the third, and longest, phase in that decade of terror. I am grateful to Mr Gill for the access he gave me, not just to himself and his key officers, but also to a large group of former top (A and B category, as they were classified) militants who were now detained in the Punjab Armed Police Centre in Jalandhar.

Their capitulation had been spectacular as just until a few months back they held sway over much of the western districts of Punjab. Most of them were very barely in their mid-20s and spoke with a degree of innocence. One, a self-styled "major-general", in fact, told me he had already killed 87 Hindus to attain that rank. If only he had killed 13 more, or three policemen (one cop equalled five Hindus), he would have automatically become "lt general", but that was not to be.

Their stories made it clear to me that the success in Punjab was of the local police, as well as the IB. I have often said, somewhat half-facetiously, that each A or B category Punjab militant killed or captured in the Operation Black Thunder phase (1989-90) should be marked "caught Doval, bowled Gill". In the last phase, Mr Doval was more involved tracking Khalistan terrorists across the country, and did that with his usual panache.

Terror ended in Punjab, but another full-fledged crisis had meanwhile grown in Kashmir. Mr Doval was back to what he so loves: operations. You would find his calling card in many key operations, from Kashmir to Dawood. Some of his more "proper" seniors did not approve of his methods. But he was widely respected for his ability to deliver and it was the UPA government that appointed him Director, Intelligence Bureau, in July 2004.

Mr Doval's subsequent career is relatively better known. He was the prime mover behind Vivekananda Foundation, which filled the vacuum for a right-of-centre think tank. He was a key mind behind the spectacular anti-corruption campaign, including Anna Hazare's. The Foundation became a key source of talent for Narendra Modi's government. His principal secretary, Nripendra Mishra, was there too. Mr Doval, with his hardline image, and the legend built around him, was a natural for NSA.

The essential truth about him, that his mentors, peers and proteges would tell you, is that he is still compulsively an operations man. Just a whiff of a live operation, and he is back in the field, at least in his mind. That is why the immediate decision to send the NSG to Pathankot. But there is a difference between classical intelligence or counter-terror operation and dealing with a larger threat to a place as sensitive and sprawling as an air force base.

This is what led to confusion and mix-ups. This left Mr Doval no deniability as he was widely seen to be controlling the operation. Frankly, I do not even know for sure whether he was. But folklore is often stronger than reality. Mr Doval's admirers from the eighties and the nineties know him to be a brilliant, "khurafati" intelligence mind. This was a tactical military operation in a very sensitive military environment.

Mr Doval is our fifth NSA. In some ways, on the security side, he is our most powerful yet. The first, Brajesh Mishra, combined the job of principal secretary, but had his focus on running the PMO and foreign policy. The UPA then split the job between J N Dixit (foreign policy) and security (M K Narayanan) until the former passed away. Mr Narayanan controlled intelligence and key levers of foreign policy but left governance alone as that was the remit of T K A Nair. Shiv Shankar Menon, as you would expect, was more focused on foreign policy though he did focus on the military, filling the gap left by A K Antony's uncommunicative indecision. Mr Doval, now, brings a compulsive operational mind to the job - and to that extent, makes the NSA's position much newsier.

Twitter: @ShekharGupta
At least eleven people, including six passengers, were killed and several others injured today in three different road accidents in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar.

Six passenger were killed as a speedy pickup plunged into a deep ravine in mountainous Shangla district.

According to Shangla police, the overspeeding pickup vehicle, coming to Karora from Bisham Shangla when reached at Karry Mor, plunged into a ditch while negotiating a sharp turn in the mountainous region.

The driver sustained critical wounds. The victims belong to Bela Karora area of Shangla. The bodies were retrieved and shifted to their native areas for burial.

Meanwhile, at least two women from the same family were killed and two others injured when a car plunged into a gorge in Dir Upper district.

According to police, four members of a family were on their way to Dir Lower from Barawal area when their car plunged into a gorge new Surbat Bala area of Upper Dir.

The injured were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital while bodies of the women were shifted to their home.

In Chitral District, three persons died and eight injured as a passenger jeep fell into deep ravine in Darosh area.

According to officials, a jeep carrying passengers from Chitral to Darosh area fell into deep ravine as the driver lost control over steering while taking a sharp turn.

Three persons died on the spot and the injured were rushed to district hospital Darosh for treatment.

Medical Superintendent of Darosh Hospital confirmed that eight injured were rushed to hospital who were given emergency treatment.
Two British extremists have been sentenced to prison after they left Britain without authorization and were stopped on a train in Hungary.

Simon Keeler and Trevor Brooks, who were previously convicted and imprisoned for terrorism offenses, were deported back to Britain after they were found on a train headed to Romania's capital Bucharest in November.

British counter-terrorism police said the pair left the country without notifying police as required. They say it wasn't clear why they were travelling across Hungary, though police were concerned they may have been trying to get to Syria.

The two men, both from London, earlier pleaded guilty to breaching the Terrorism Act. They were each sentenced to two years in prison at a London court today.
Two Islamist extremists were sentenced to two years in prison today by a UK court here as they breached the Terrorism Act by leaving the country illegally.

Trevor Brooks, 40, and Simon Keeler, 44, from east London both admitted failing to inform the police of their intention to leave the UK.

They were extradited from Hungary after being found on a train headed for Bucharest, Romania, in November last year.

The sentencing judge described it as a "serious and deliberate" offence.

Justice Saunders told the duo that he did not sentence them "on the basis that the defendants were travelling in order to commit a terrorist offence or that they were preparing a terrorist offence either in this country or abroad."



"That does not mean that these offences are not serious," he added.

The court was told that Keeler said he was attempting to travel to Turkey to visit his wife and children and Brooks had accompanied him in order to help him find them.

Restrictions had been imposed on them after they were each imprisoned for three years and six months for funding and inciting terrorism in 2008.
Two persons were arrested with firearms and ammunition in Jawahar Nagar area here, police said today.

Yogesh Pandit and Harishankar, both 30-year-old, were yesterday arrested when they were roaming with the firearms, they said.

A pistol, a magazine and five live cartridges were recovered from Harishankar, while Yogesh was possessing one pistol and four cartridges when he was nabbed, police said.

The two accused are allegedly members of a gang involved in murders and property dealings, they said.

Separate cases under the Arms Act have been registered against them, police said.

The accused are being interrogated to find out their motive behind possessing the firearms, police added.
Two crew members from Spain and France are feared dead after a Swedish-registered freight jet crashed in a mountainous area near the Norwegian border in Arctic Sweden.

Dag Mejdell, CEO of the Norwegian postal service, says debris has been spotted near the Akkajaure reservoir in Sweden's sparsely populated Lapland region.

The postal service had hired the Canadair CRJ 200 aircraft to fly mail to northern Norway.

A mayday message was sent out late Thursday near Akkajaure after which contact with the jet was lost. The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known.

Mejdell said Friday it was "a very serious and tragic accident."



Aircraft-owner West Atlantic Sweden AB said the 42-year-old Spanish captain and the 34-year-old French co-pilot had worked for the company since 2011 and 2008, respectively.
Twenty-three people have died of starvation in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya since December 1, Doctors Without Borders said today, as the United Nations prepared an aid delivery to the area.

The UN said there were 40,000 people -- half of them children -- who needed immediate lifesaving assistance in Madaya, where access has been restricted by pro-regime forces.

Damascus yesterday gave permission for UN agencies to send relief to the town, following reports of starvation deaths among civilians, many of whom have been displaced from the neighbouring rebel stronghold of Zabadani.

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym (MSF), said that of the 23 people who died of starvation, six were less than a year old, and five were above 60.

The deaths occurred at the local MSF-supported health centre, the charity said.

Another 13 people who tried to escape in search of food have been killed when they stepped on landmines laid by regime forces or were shot by snipers, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group.

"This is a clear example of the consequences of using siege as a military strategy," MSF's operations director Brice de le Vingne said in a statement.

Medics had been forced to feed children with medical syrups as the only available source of sugar and energy, he said, describing Madaya as "effectively an open air prison" for nearly half of its residents.

"There is no way in or out, leaving the people to die."



MSF welcomed the decision from Damascus to allow food supplies, but stressed that "an immediate life-saving delivery of medicine across the siege line should also be a priority."



In Geneva, UN agencies said the aid convoy would head to Madaya in the coming days, although the specifics were still being finalised.

"The situation is ghastly," said UN rights office spokesman Rupert Colville, indicating that details of the casualties and the extent of the suffering in Madaya were difficult to verify given the limited access.

Despite numerous UN requests, Madaya last received humanitarian assistance in October.
Three National Santhal Liberation Army (anti-talk) militants were today arrested from Barabil village in this district.

The militants were arrested during a joint operation conducted by Army and a police team.

The arrested NSLA cadres were involved in extortion of money and other illegal activities, Defence officials said.

Two pistols and a revolver with 3 live rounds were recovered from them, they said.
Three young women have been rescued by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) of the Eastern Railway (ER) in separate raids.

A 20-year-old, who had ran away from home, was rescued from Poorva Express (Dn) at Barddhaman station on January 1 while two minor girls were rescued from the Sealdah station on January 4, an ER release said here today.

After verification of proper documents, the girls were handed over to their respective parents, it said.

Earlier on December 28, a minor girl was allegedly compelled to consume alcohol by an army jawan and raped by two paramilitary force personnel inside a compartment of the Howrah-Amritsar Express after she boarded a compartment reserved for security personnel from Howrah Junction.

She was later rescued by RPF in Jharkhand.

The three accused jawans were subsequently arrested and identified by the traumatised girl in TI parade.

(Reopens Ces13)



Meanwhile, the ER RPF foiled a dacoity-plan and



arrested six at Sealdah station on Tuesday, the release said.

Acting on a tip off, the RPF chased the gang, which gathered near the Sealdah South station in the wee hours on Tuesday, the release said adding that six of the gang were arrested while six others managed to escape.
Nearly 300 children of central paramilitary forces and Assam Rifles personnel who gave supreme sacrifice in the line of duty will be given monthly scholarship for their education.

Home Ministry said in a statement that children studying from first to fourth standard will be entitled for Rs 500 per month, children from fifth to seventh standard will be getting 750 per month and children from eighth to 12th standard will be provided with Rs 1,000 per month of scholarship.

It said the scholarship will be provided by Sarojini Damodaran Foundation (SDF), Bangalore which has proposed scholarship for the children as a good gesture to recognise the sacrifices of the CAPFs and Assam Rifles personnel.

"MHA will provide details of these 300 children to SDF to remit the eligible amount into the accounts of the guardian of such children," the statement said.
Tata-SIA joint venture airline Vistara, which will complete one year of operations tomorrow may have grown its fleet size to nine aircraft from three at the time of commencement of services, its passenger load factor and yields have been below expectations.

The third full-service domestic carrier after Air India and Jet Airways, Vistara had launched its services on January 9 last year with a flight to Mumbai from here.

Today, it operates 307 weekly flights to 12 destinations with a fleet of nine Airbus A320s.

According to the India head of the Sydney-based aviation think-tank Centre for Asia Pacific (CAPA), Kapil Kaul, while Vistara's operational preparedness has been on expected lines, the passenger seat factor and yields have been surprisingly below expectations.

Vistara has, however, in its one year of service delivered growth (with a 9-aircraft fleet now) with reliability and schedule integrity, Kaul added.

The airline has plans to expand to its fleet to 20 aircraft by 2018.

The airline has flown a total of 9.08 lakh passengers between January-November last year and breached the one lakh passenger mark in a month, when it ferried 1.23 lakh passenger in October, as per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation statistics.

Vistara has clocked an average seat factor of 66.92 per cent during this period, which means it has flown three out of every 10 seats in its aircraft empty.

Besides, the airline has cornered an average market share of one per cent in the past 12 months of operations with a highest of 1.7 per cent in October.

The lower than expected PLF and yields have impacted its financials too, Kaul said.

CAPA in its mid-year profitability review report for this fiscal, released in October last year, had pegged the combined losses of the two startup carriers-Vistara and AirAsia India-- at USD 80-90 million while revising downward the total losses of the domestic airlines industry to USD 500-550 million from USD 680-750 million projected earlier.

Vistara Chief Executive Phee Teik Yeoh, however, considers airline's flight in the past 12 months as "no less than extraordinary."



"Nine aircraft, 12 destinations, more than one million happy customers, an impeccable record in punctuality and high standards of service excellence - all in such a short span of time," Yeoh said.

Vistara has lined up a slew of product and service innovations which will be rolled out in this year, he said.

Kaul said that CAPA sees next 12 months for the airline



as crucial and "it has to deliver a better business performance, otherwise it will impact strategic direction."



While the government is yet to put in place the proposed national civil aviation policy, which would also take call on the existing 5/20 norm (five years, 20 aircraft) for international operations by domestic carriers, Kaul sounded hopeful of Vistara hitting the overseas skies in one year time.

Vistara could be operating international in the next 12 months, he said.

Vistara can't fly on overseas routes at present as the norm allows an Indian airline to travel abroad only when it has flown five year domestically while maintaining a fleet of no less than 20 aircraft.

Significantly, Vistara is from day one of its launch along with another startup AirAsia India are lobbying for scrapping of the 5/20 norm, while the established players under the banner of Federation of Indian Airlines are against the removal.
The AAP today alleged that BJP and Congress leaders have a "nexus" with managements of private schools in Delhi and warned that the Delhi government will reveal certain names "complicit" in this act if the parties don't do so voluntarily.

The party said only such involvement can explain the "opposition" to the decision of scrapping of management and all other quotas in private schools.

The Congress and BJP rejected the charges and the former rpt former accused the AAP of behaving like an "NGO".

"Why are they opposing? Is it because the vested interests have been challenged? What else explains their compulsions to oppose especially when people are happy?" AAP's Delhi convenor Dilip Pandey asked.

Pandey alleged that BJP leaders are "running schools" and that the city government will reveal those names. "Some people have also taken the benami route in this regard," he charged.

Reacting to the accusations, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay said the government should have "spoken to the stakeholders" before making the declaration while Congress spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee said the changes should have been incorporated in the recently passed Education Bills.

"The selection criteria should be clearly described otherwise it amounts to giving more discretionary powers in the hands of schools," Mukherjee said.

Upadhyay rubbished the allegations that BJP leaders were running schools with the connivance of managements of schools. "Why are they acting like an NGO and why are they asking questions if they have any such evidence?" Mukherjee asked.
In order to promote medical tourism in the city, a five-day conference of obstetricians and gynaecologists has been organised here from January 13 and will be attended by 6,000 doctors from twelve countries including the US, UK and Pakistan.

The conference, organised by the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society (FOGSI), will lay special focus on women's health.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda will inaugurate the conclave on January 14.

Doctors from twelve countries including United Kingdom, United States of America, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka would be attending the five-day conference.

Organising Committee Chairman Dr Narendra Malhotra said more than 6,000 doctors would be sharing and exchanging ideas as well as techniques which would go a long way in promoting women's health in the country.

The conference will see dozens of interactive sessions and live telecast of innovative surgical procedures and operations at three different venues, which would help popularise newly developed techniques with regard to health problems faced by women.

Dr Anupam Gupta, chairman of the Reception committee said the workshops to be held in the conference would focus on deaths during delivery, cancer and family planning techniques.

Medical Council of India (MCI) Chairman Dr S S Agarwal will be addressing doctors and holding discussion on the guidelines for prescriptions and medicines.

In recent years, it has been observed that a large number of medicines are routinely prescribed without checking the list of contra-indications or side and after effects of some of the drugs.

Medical bodies have been issuing guidelines and providing useful information, but patients continue to be administered drugs which are considered unsafe in many developed countries.

Some of the medicines should be carefully prescribed for lactating mothers or diabetic and heart patients, senior doctors say.

The secretary of the organising committee, Dr Jaideep Malhotra said doctors should carefully check what medicines had already been given and in what doses, before writing a fresh prescription.

"This is particularly necessary in the interest of the unborn in the mother's womb, who could be adversely impacted. Mothers feeding babies need to be extra careful.

"Medicines can weaken bones or turn teeth yellowish, growth of the spine could be inhibited leading to disability in the child," he said.

(REOPENS DES16)



He spoke about the alternative medicines that are now available for a whole set of diseases from fits to diabetes and considered safer for pregnant women.

TheFOGSI convention will have a special session on this subject for practitioners as well as students at PG level.

"There would be sessions on tackling the serious problem of female foeticide in India, as well as a clear message will be disseminated reflecting our collective opposition to these cruel practises," senior Dr Niharika Malhotra said.

The proceeds received from the conclave would be used for welfare projects.

Apart from the medical procedures, a number of side events have been planned to help mobilise support for women's health, Dr Jaideep Malhotra said.

A kite-flying event has been specially planned for Makar Sankranti with slogans on the theme of 'Save the Girl Child' and forty girls from Trichy will also be presenting a programme.

The convention will be held at the sprawling Kalakriti ground and sessions will be held in 15 different halls.

A special Meena Bazar with stalls offering all local products and souvenirs will be opened during the course of the convention for the benefit of delegates, with products from Rajasthan and other states.
Air India will introduce daily flight services from Dubai to Kochi from January 11, adhering the long-pending demand of Indians living here, the company has announced.

"Air India will be operating Dubai-Kochi-Dubai sector with brand new A320 aircraft with cap of 180 seats," said Melwin D'Silva, Regional Manager- Gulf, Middle East and Africa of Air India.

With this, the flight operating from Sharjah-Kochi- Sharjah would stand withdrawn effective January 11, he said.

Air India operates 74 flights per week in and out of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah international airports.

Flight AI-934 on Dubai-Kochi sector will depart from Dubai at 1330 hours and arrive in Kochi at 1910 hours local time, he said.

"On the return leg, AI-933 will depart from Kochi to Dubai at 0935 hours and arrive in Dubai at 1235 hours local time," he said.

Air India and Air India Express operates more than 300 flights per week between India and Gulf countries.

Air India is also offering an introductory promotional fare of AED 330 one way and AED 785 return with 30 kg free baggage allowance.
Tamil Nadu government today informed the Madras High Court that all deficiencies pertaining to the Anna Centenary Library, pointed out by the two-member Advocates Committee, would be attended to within a month.

When the PIL filed by ST Manonmani came up before the First Bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Satnyanarayana, a second additional report was filed by the two member committee, comprising Advocate commissioners P.T. Asha and P Sunder.

The First Bench had on July 27 last appointed the committee and directed it to inspect the Anna Centenary Library, built by the previous DMK Regime at Kotturpuram, near here, and file a report.

The committee had already filed its first report on October 29 in which some deficiencies were reported and the First Bench had directed the government to rectify those deficiencies and file a compliance report.

When the case came up today, a second report was filed by the committee and also a compliance report was filed by the government with regarding to the deficiencies that were pointed out by the committee in its earlier report.

The committee, after an inspection, said there were certain aspects yet to be attended.

All deficiencies pointed in the maintenance of Anna Centenary Library would be attended towithin 30 days, the state government informed the court.

The latest compliance report filed today submitted that framing of ad hoc rules for the posts sanctioned to the library was under the active consideration of the government.

The Director of Public Libraries submitted proposals for upgradation of books, creation of e-library and palm-leaf sections and for renting out the auditorium, conference hall, seminar hall, amphi-theatre and food court only on December 1, 2015. The proposals are now being examined by the government.

Petitioner's senior counsel P Wilson contended that still certain key-posts remained vacant and books are not up dated, e-library and palm-leaf sections are not created.

The bench, while directing that the aspects arising from the report, if not remedied within a month, the Principal Secretary, School Education Department, shall remain present again in court and posted the matter for further hearing to February 26.
A senior BJP leader here has written to Central government requesting a formal announcement of setting up of a university of Hindi journalism named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on January 10 on the occasion of 'Vishwa Hindi Diwas'.

In his letters sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and HRD Minister Smriti Irani today, city BJP general secretary Amarjeet Mishra has reminded them about government's proposal to set up the 'Atal Bihari Vajpayee Kendriya Hindi Patrakarita Vishwavidylaya'.

The proposal was mooted in the 10th World Hindi Conference held between September 10-12 last year in Bhopal by the Ministry of External Affairs.

'World Hindi Diwas' is observed on January 10 by the Ministry of External Affairs along with its Indian missions abroad on the lines of annual Hindi Diwas, which is celebrated on September 14 every year in Hindi-speaking regions of the country.

"Modi government has been on front foot to give exposure to Hindi language not only in homeland but in overseas too and this is why Modi and his team members prefer our national language Hindi while dealing with foreign dignitaries. This is the sign of attaining Indianness," stated the letter.

"But its high time that Central government should act upon its own proposal by officially announcing the setting up of the Hindi University of Journalism in the name of our beloved (ex) Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who started his political career as a journalist," Mishra wrote.

He said the formal announcement to this effect would be the "biggest act of showing reverence to Vajpayee, after honouring him with Bharat Ratna award last year.

"If the university in the name of Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji starts imparting education, then it will not only give impetus to the new generations to adopt it as medium of vocational course, but also help expanding the base (of Hindi) all over the country," added Mishra.
Five Naxals have been killed in an encounter with the elite commando unit of the CRPF after a fierce gunbattle in the jungles of Aurangabad district of the state.

Officials said the encounter began late evening in the Dibhara area of the left-wing extremism hit district after which five bodies of the Maoists, an AK series assault rifle, one carbine, a country-made gun and some other ammunition have been recovered from the spot.

"As darkness has set in the jungle area, the troops are taking time to sanitise the area and provide furher details of the encounter. The CoBRA team was out for operation based on some inputs about the movement of armed Maoist cadres in the area," they said.

They said the operation was conducted by the troops of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) unit of the CRPF which has been raised by the force exclsuively for jungle warfare operations.

A commando of the 205th battalion of the CoBRA has been injured in the encounter, they said, adding the forces are still combing the area for further recoveries.

The CoBRA and other regular Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) units are deployed in these areas of Bihar for undertaking anti-Naxal operations.
Anti-Saudi demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran today to protest Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and after Iran accused its rival of bombing its embassy in Yemen.

The festering diplomatic crisis between the Middle East's leading Sunni and Shiite Muslim powers has raised sectarian tensions across the region and complicated efforts to resolve conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

In a development that could further strain relations, Saudi media reported today that four Iranians would go on trial in the kingdom, one for spying and the other three for "terrorism".

Around 1,000 protestors marched through Tehran chanting "death to Al-Saud" -- Riyadh's ruling family, according to an AFP photographer.

Others shouted "death to America" and "death to Israel", frequent rallying cries at demonstrations in Iran.

Some carried placards with the picture of Nimr al-Nimr, the Shiite cleric and activist whose execution by Saudi Arabia on Saturday unleashed a wave of anger across the Shiite world.

Relations between the longtime adversaries hit a fresh low yesterday when Iran accused Saudi warplanes of deliberately targeting its embassy in Sanaa, damaging the property and seriously wounding a security guard.

The Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed rebels in Yemen denied the attack, but Tehran said it would take the matter to the UN Security Council.

"Saudi Arabia is responsible for the security of our diplomats and of our embassy in Sanaa," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said.

The coalition said there had been no operations near the embassy, which was "safe and has not been damaged".

The Yemeni conflict, which pits the rebels known as Huthis against pro-government forces backed by Riyadh and other Gulf Arab states, is one of the main sources of dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Security has been tightened in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh in view of the visit of the state Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today.

Naidu is scheduled to participate in three programme in the district.

"For smooth completion of the programmes of the Chief Minister, and to avert any untoward incident and traffic congestion, security has been beefed up in the district," East Godavari Superintendent of Police M Raviprakash said.

"As many as 2,000 police personnel, comprising 2 Addl. SPs, 12 DSPs, 50 CIs, 150 SIs, police constables, special teams of checking squads, have been deployed in the district," he said.

The Chief Minister would arrive at the Kakinada Police Parade Ground at 3 PM, where he would lay the foundation stone for a housing scheme, he said.

He would then take up the local issues with the residents under the 'Janmabhoomi - Maa Vooru' programme, the SP said.

Thereafter, he would inaugurate the Kakinada Beach Festival, the official said.

The Chief Minister would depart for Rajahmundry at 9 PM, he added.
People who knew Maulana Anzar Shah, a madrasa teacher apprhended by Delhi Police for suspected links with the al-Qaeda, today said they are surprised over his arrest and claimed he is innocent. One of his students said he was taken by a group ofmen on Wednesday who claimed to be from Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Delhi.

Calling him as a good preacher, a person who knewhim, on condition of anonymity, said he was good in hispreaching. He said "I really don't know why they took him.I think he has wrongly been picked up."



Some regular visitors to the local mosque with which Qasmi was linked told TV channels that he is "innocent" and hoped he would come out unscathed.

However, another person claimed Shah, aged about 50 and a resident of Iliyasnagar in Banashankari 2nd stage here, was allegedly asked to leave the mosque where he was employed earlier for making hate speeches.

The Maulana, who studied at Darul Uloom, Deoband, UP, was reportedly under the surveillance of intelligence agencies for his "fiery speeches.
Global condemnation against the Pathankot terror strike continued to pour in with Germany, Australia and Indonesia today joining other countries in expressing outrage over the attack.

Countries like US, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan apart from Italy, with which India has a running legal battle over the marines issue, have already condemned the terror attack in which seven securitymen have been killed.

UAE, a close ally of Pakistan, said it "condemns the heinous terrorist attack on the Indian Air Force Base. We stand with India in its ongoing fight against terrorism."



In its statement, German Foreign Office said, "We utterly condemn the terrorist attacks on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot and on the Indian Consulate General in Mazar-e-Sharif. The responsible parties must be identified and held accountable."



On the ongoing talks between India and Pakistan, it said, "We are pleased to see desire and willingness on both sides to come together. The visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Lahore and the telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on 5th January are a good start and an important step towards now improving relations between India and Pakistan in a lasting way.

"The attacks and other attempts to sabotage the dialogue must not be allowed to endanger the rapprochement."



In his letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop condemned the attack in Pathankot and asserted that her country stands in solidarity with victims of terrorism.

In its message, Indonesia said it "condemns all acts of terrorism. This heinous crime cannot be justified under any pretext and justification".

Other countries that have expressed their outrage over the strike include Japan, France, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Scientists have demonstrated the presence of a stomach bacterium from the mummified remains of Otzi, the Copper Age man, who was discovered in a glacier in 1991.

Researchers from the European Academy (EURAC) in Italy discovered in Otzi's stomach contents Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium found in half of all humans today.

The theory that humans were already infected with this stomach bacterium at the very beginning of their history could well be true. The scientists succeeded in decoding the complete genome of the bacterium.

"Evidence for the presence of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori is found in the stomach tissue of patients today, so we thought it was extremely unlikely that we would find anything because Otzi's stomach mucosa is no longer there," said Albert Zink from EURAC.

"We were able to solve the problem once we hit upon the idea of extracting the entire DNA of the stomach contents," said Frank Maixner from EURAC.

"After this was successfully done, we were able to tease out the individual Helicobacter sequences and reconstruct a 5,300 year old Helicobacter pylori genome," he added.

The scientists found a potentially virulent strain of bacteria, to which Otzi's immune system had already reacted.

"We showed the presence of marker proteins which we see today in patients infected with Helicobacter," said Maixner.

A tenth of infected people develop further clinical complications, such as gastritis or stomach ulcers, mostly in old age.

"Whether Otzi suffered from stomach problems cannot be said with any degree of certainty, because his stomach tissue has not survived and it is in this tissue that such diseases can be discerned first. Nonetheless, the preconditions for such a disease did in fact exist in Otzi," said Zink.

The scientists assume that there were originally two strain types of the bacterium, an African and an Asian one, which at some point recombined into today's European version.

Since bacteria are usually transmitted within the family, the history of the world's population is closely linked to the history of bacteria.

Up till now, it had been assumed that Neolithic humans were already carrying this European strain by the time they stopped their nomadic life and took up agriculture.

Research on Otzi, however, demonstrates that this was not the case.

"The recombination of the two types of Helicobacter may have only occurred at some point after Otzi's era, and this shows that the history of settlements in Europe is much more complex than previously assumed," said Maixner.

The findings were published in the Science Magazine.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan today praised newcomer Barinder Sran for his impressive show in the opening T20 warm-up game, stating that the left-arm speedster looks to be a "good prospect for India".

Asked what he felt about the rookie pacer, who played his first competitive match in India shirt, senior opener Dhawan said: "It was great boost for Beri, actually I call him by that name. It always nice to get three wickets (2/24). With time, he will get more matured as he gains experience. He is fit and strong. He looks to be a good prospect for India."



Dhawan, who looked in good form having scored 74 runs, said that the "team got what it wanted" from the opening tour fixture.

"I am happy that I scored runs in a practise match. It gives me confidence. I got used to the pitch. More time that I spend at the wicket in the coming days, better it will be for me," the Delhi left-hander said.

He was happy that the team got into a groove at the onset and he could share a 100-run stand with Virat Kohli.

"It was good to get into groove and get a 100 run partnership before main match. We got what needed from the practice match," said Dhawan, who would be facing the Australian pace attack at the WACA in the opening ODI on January 12.

The Indian team is back in Australia after 10 months but Dhawan insisted that the attitude remains same despite few changes in the squad.

"If you ask me about what changed from last time, I would say some players have changed. But the attitude is still the same as there can't be much change on that aspect. Because at international level, one needs maintain a certain degree of hard work. We will be aggressive and play with positive mindset."



"We are pumped up and well prepared for this tour. We are covering all areas in regards to fitness and skill work. We have just got to work hard, keep calm and focus. We will try to achieve the goals given by support staff," the southpaw remarked.

He agreed that beating Australia in their den is on top of their agenda.

"Australia are one of the best side in the world. Winning against a good side always gives a good feeling. We will give our best shot."



The opener is also not concerned that Australia will miss some of their frontline bowlers.

"See we haven't thought about it. We will focus on what we have to do.
Venezuela's political crisis has deepened as the government sued to stop the center-right opposition using its new legislative powers to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

The opposition laid claim to a big majority in the National Assembly state legislature which could empower it to force out Maduro. He rejected the assembly as illegal and formed a new hardline leftist cabinet to fight it.

Venezuela's defense minister and armed forces chief, General Vladimir Padrino, weighed into the stand-off yesterday, saying the military were unwavering in their backing for Maduro.

"The president is the highest authority of the state and we reiterate our absolute loyalty and unconditional support for him," said Padrino.

Analysts have warned of the risk of unrest in the streets in the South American oil-producing country stricken by recession, shortages and rampant crime.

The new speaker of the congress, Henry Ramos Allup, said on Twitter that two premises of his Democratic Action party were attacked with explosive devices yesterday, but no one was hurt and no damage reported. He said police were investigating.

Political uncertainty reigned as Maduro's side applied to the Supreme Court to declare null any legislation passed by the opposition-controlled congress.

Maduro supporters claim the opposition's two-thirds majority in the assembly is not legitimate since it swore in three lawmakers whom the court had ordered to be suspended pending allegations of electoral fraud.

"The decisions made in that circus they have set up should be ignored," said pro-government deputy Pedro Carreno at the court yesterday, where he presented the suit.

"This is an illegal parliament and therefore its decisions are illegal and null."



He accused the opposition of planning a "coup d'etat" and being in contempt of court. Ramos Allup rejected the charge.

"The ones who are in contempt are the ones who have disregarded the public will after the elections," he said.
China's new policy allowing couples to have a second child is expected to increase Beijing's population by 580,000 between 2017 and 2021, local authorities estimated.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning said the policy took effect on January 1. All born children born before December 31 are still subject to the former family planning policy, which limited most Chinese couples to one child.

Beijing is estimated to have 2.36 million more mothers who are eligible for a second child under the new policy, state-run China Daily reported today.

Also, from January 1 on, newly married couples will not get additional marriage holidays as all have been deprived of the privilege for late marriage. That policy gave extra days off for couples where the husband was older than 25 and the wife 23, as a way to encourage people to reduce reproduction.

Beijing has over 21 million people making the largest city along with Shanghai.

The new two-child policy will enable over 90 million couples all over China to have second child.

The government has scrapped the three decades old one- child policy as the population of old people is on the rise at an alarming rate which in the coming years was expected to cause severe labour shortages in the country.
Belgian police have found three vests for possible use in suicide attacks, traces of explosives and a fingerprint of fugitive Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam at a flat in Brussels, prosecutors said today.

The discovery in an apartment in the Schaerbeek area of the Belgian capital was made during a search on December 10, the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement, without clarifying why they were releasing the details now.

"In the framework of the investigation opened after the Paris attacks the federal prosecutor confirms that during a house search conducted December 10th in an apartment on the third floor, Rue Berge in Schaerbeek, material that can be used to fabricate explosives as well as traces of TATP were found," the prosecutor said.

"This apartment was rented under a false identity that might have been used by a person already in custody in this case," the statement added.

"Three handmade belts that might be used to transport explosives as well as a fingerprint of Salah Abdeslam were also discovered."



Police have been hunting for Abdeslam since suicide bombers and assailants firing automatic weapons killed 130 people and wounded many more in a wave of attacks across Paris on November 13.

The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group.
Bihar is the first state to draw a disaster risk reduction and management roadmap for 15 years to meet the challenges of natural calamities, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said today.

The roadmap for 2015-2030 would ensure that new construction of homes should be earthquake-resistant, Kumar said while addressing a workshop organised by state Disaster Management department here.

Besides, the old structures of schools, colleges, hospitals and offices should be retrofitted, he said.

The chief minister said the work on preparation of a roadmap started after devastating quake in Bihar in April last year which had killed around 58 people in the state.

Kumar highlighted importance of formulating a roadmap for Bihar majority of its areas fall in seismic zone 4.

The seminar was attended by Disaster Management Minister Chandrasekhar and Principal Secretary Vyas Jee.

He said though disaster could not be prevented, efforts were being made to minimise its impact.

Kumar said construction of toilet formed part of his "7 resolves" which had been adopted by the secular alliance government.

"Toilets would be constructed in a way that they do not get demolished in earthquake," he said.
Noted filmmaker Prakash Jha's upcoming movie 'Jai Gangaajal' today left a Bihar BJP MLA fuming for allegedly insinuating him as a villain in the film.

BJP MLA from Bankipore in Patna, Nitin Navin wrote a letter to the filmmaker Prakash Jha, Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry and also Censor Board to remove the name of his constituency and a reference of the villain as fourth term MLA from that seat.

While Nitin Navin was recently elected as MLA from the seat for the third time, his deceased father Navin Sinha had represented the seat before that.

The BJP legislator told PTI that the promos of the film starring Priyanka Chopra in the lead, which would be released in the first week of March, shows the villain as a fourth term MLA from Bankipore.

"I do not think there is any other Assembly seat by the name Bankipore in the entire country. Besides, the film portrays the villain representing the seat for the fourth term which apparently is his case," Navin said.

He said "if his request to remove the name of his constituency and reference of the villain as fourth term MLA from that seat is not accepted, I'll approach court for justice."



The MLA said that he had been receiving a number of telephone calls from his supporters and well wishers on an apparent negative portrayal of him.

Prakash Jha had contested Lok Sabha election from Bettiah in Bihar's West Champaran district in 2014 as a JD(U) candidate. He had lost to BJP's Sanjay Jaiswal.
After a gap of 15 years, BJP today swept the city municipal corporation polls, drubbing the Congress in a keenly contested battle.

While BJP's Arun Sood was elected as a new mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Davesh Moudgil of the party won the post of Senior Deputy Mayor, an election office spokesman said here.

The post of Deputy Mayor was won by Hardeep Singh of Shiromani Akali Dai (SAD0, which won the polls in alliance with the BJP.

Sood got 21 votes against the Congress candidate Mukesh Bassi who managed 15 votes.

Moudgil bagged 23 votes as against 13 of Darshan Garg while Hardeep got 21 votes as his opponent Gurbax Rawat manged 15 votes.

The CMC House has total 36 votes. BJP has 15 councillors, Congress 8, BSP 2, Independent one and one vote is of the city MP Kirron Kher and there are nine nominated councillors.

Sood is a lawyer by profession.
The BJP legislature party will meet today to decide on the issue of extending support to PDP president Mehbooba Mufti as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir following the death of incumbent Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

"We are meeting today. A decision on this issue will be conveyed to you later today," BJP state president Sat Sharma said.

The PDP, which is coalition partner of the BJP in the state government, yesterday wrote to Governor N N Vohra about its support to Mehbooba for becoming the next Chief Minister of the state.

The PDP move came following death of Sayeed at AIIMS in Delhi yesterday.

The PDP president can take oath only after the BJP informs the Governor about its support to Mehbooba for becoming the Chief Minister.

BJP, the junior coalition partner which has 25 members in the 87-member Assembly, yesterday made it clear it will go with the PDP's choice.

Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav, who played a pivotal role in stitching up the alliance with the PDP following the hung verdict in assembly elections in 2014, is expected to arrive here later in the day to put the process of new goverment formation in motion.

ALSO READ: Kashmir after Mufti

Meanwhile, official sources said preparations are being made at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) for the swearing-in ceremony likely to be held later today.

"We do not want to get caught off guard. We are just keeping the venue ready if the swearing in ceremony is taking place any time soon," an official said on the condition of anonymity.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told ex-US President Bill Clinton that the death of Princess Diana was "like a star falling", according to the transcripts of phone conversations between the two leaders that also underscore their very close relationship.

Documents released by Clinton's presidential library show the two leaders conferring on world events and comparing notes on how to balance being a world leader with bringing up a family.

The 500 pages of the documents begin with Clinton calling the new prime minister hours after his 1997 victory and end in late 2000 as the president was preparing to hand over the White House to George W Bush, the Daily Telegraph reported.

A keyphone call takes place on the day after the Princess Diana's fatal car crash in Paris in the summer of 1997. Blair tells Clinton that her death is "like a star falling."



Both men express concern for Diana's two young sons, William and Harry.

Blair says: "She was such a rock of stability in the sense she connected them with the outside world. The eldest boy, William, is quite like her in a way, he is very 'feet on the ground'. He does things kids his age do."



"I just feel so bad for her. She was just basically getting a hold of her life," Clinton says.

"She was not the Royal family but she was liked by ordinary people - it gave her problems with the royal establishment," Blair adds.

As Blair's wife Cherie prepares to give birth to his son Leo, Clinton greets him by saying: "Hello, dad!"



Blair goes on to describe how Cherie is "in great form but just keeps getting bigger and bigger," and how he felt as though "my life's about to begin again."



Clinton, whose time in office is drawing to a close, offers the Blairs a helping hand.

"You know, after January I'm available for babysitting duties," he jokes.
A BSF constable deployed along the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan was today arrested by Punjab Police in connection with its probe into cross-border smuggling of contraband and other illegal activities.

Officials said constable Anil Kumar of 52nd battalion of the Border Security Force was handed over to Punjab Police after his alleged role in cross-border smuggling activities came to the fore.

They said Kumar was posted along the International Border (IB) in Ganganagar in Rajasthan.

Senior BSF officials had earlier suspected his activities and a court of inquiry was ordered against him by the paramilitary force sometime ago.

The officials said that the inquiry had been completed recently and he was reportedly indicted in the probe. Later, they said, Punjab Police found his alleged links with some cross-border smugglers active in the state.

He is also alleged to have some contacts across the border, they said.

And when Punjab Police approached BSF, the force decided to hand him over for further probe into his alleged wrongdoings. They said the Punjab Police will interrogate him to get to the bottom of the case.
Schoolchildren from India and Pakistan attempt to explain their idea of peace between the two neighbouring countries through paintings, a medium which enables one to speak without words.

Six paintings by schoolchildren in India and six from their Pakistani counterparts have been chosen for this year's Indo-Pak Peace calendar, scheduled to be brought out here on January 10 and in Pakistan four days later.

The calendar, presently in its fourth edition, is a joint initiative between non-government organisations of both countries that have come together to form Aaghaz-e-Dosti.

Aaghaz-e-Dosti, which means 'A Start of Friendship' started, led and managed by a dedicated team of youths from both the countries has currently its presence in Bengaluru, Dehradun, Meerut, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Dehradun and Vadodara in India besides Pakistani cities of Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Toba Tek Singh.

"The group, which also carries out other initiatives like 'Aman Chaupals', letter exchanges and workshops - operates through a core team of some 14-15 members together in the two countries," says Aaghaz-e-Dosti founder Ravi Nitesh.

"The team invites paintings from schoolchildren, whose interest in the initiative has increased over the years," Nitesh told PTI adding that a total of 300 children had sent in their entries this year.

The team also invites messages from 12 (6 from India and 6 from Pakistan) eminent persons working on Indo-Pak peace. After selection of paintings by a jury, Indian paintings with messages of Pakistani peace activists and vice-versa get the form of a calendar.

This year, the group has collaborated with "Zeal for Unity," which brings together 12 film makers from the two countries to showcase their work on a single platform and facilitate an apolitical exchange environment to strive for peace and harmony, organisers said.

The directors include Ketan Mehta (Toba Tek Singh), Sabiha Sumar (Chotay Shah), Aparna Sen (Saari Raat), Meenu and Farjad (Jeewan Hathi),Tigmanshu Dhulia (Baarish Aur Chowmein), Khalid Ahmad (Laloolal.Com), Tanuja Chandra (Silvat), Mehreen Jabbar (Lala Begum), Nikhil Advani (Guddu Ingiineer), Shahbaz Sumar (Khaemae Mein Mutt Jhankain), Bejoy Nambiar (Dobaara) and Siraj-ul-Haque (Mohabbat Ki Aakhri Kahaani).

Nitesh, an engineer by profession, points out that all the people involved in the initiative were working for free.

"With the enthusiasm that people are showing for this event, the reach of these calendars are increasing day by day that reflects message of 365 days of peace," he added.

When asked if such an initiative could provide hope to the bilateral ties that has often witnessed turbulence, especially following the recent Pathankot air base terror attack, Nitesh said "such initiatives become all the more necessary".

"The message that comes across is that peace should be sustained. Not letting the peace process derail will only be a befitting reply to such elements," he said.
Lesbian romance drama "Carol" today led the 68th BAFTA Awards nominations with five nods including the best film and best actress for its lead star Cate Blanchett.

The movie that also topped this year's Golden Globes nominations has other nods-- Rooney Mara for the best supporting actress, Todd Hynes for the best director and Phyllis Nagy for the adapted screenplay.

The film is based on the novel "The Price of Salt" by Patricia Highsmith.

The other two frontrunners are Tom Hanks-starrer historical drama-thriller "Bridge of Spies" and "The Big Short", which garnered four nominations apiece, including the best film.

Steven Spielberg is nominated in the best director category for "Bridge of Spies" and besides Hynes, he will also face competition from last year's Academy-winning director Alejandro G Inarritu ('The Revenant'), Adam McKay ('The Big Short') and Ridley Scott ('The Martian').

Other nominations for "Bridge of Spies" are in the best supporting actor category for Mark Rylance and the original screenplay for Matthew Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen.

Also nominated in the best movie category are Leonardo DiCaprio's "The Revenant" and "Spotlight".

DiCaprio will fight it out with 2015 Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne ('The Danish Girl'), Michael Fassbender ('Steve Jobs'), Matt Damon ('The Martian') and Bryan Cranston ('Trumbo').

Besides Blanchett, nominations for the best actress include Brie Larson ('Room'), Alicia Vikander ('The Danish Girl'), Saoirse Ronan ('Brooklyn') and Maggie Smith ('Lady in the Van').

Best supporting actor nominations include Benicio Del Toro ('Sicario'), Christian Bale ('The Big Short'), Idris Elba ('Beasts of No Nation') and Mark Ruffalo ('Spotlight').

Movies nominated for the outstanding British film award are "45 Years", "Amy", "Brooklyn", "The Danish Girl", "Ex Machina" and "The Lobster".

"Amy" is also nominated in the best documentary category, whose other contenders are "Cartel Land", "He named me Malala" "Listen to me Marlon" and "Sherpa".

"Inside Out", "Minions" and "Shaun the Sheep" form the nominations for the best animated film award.

Stephen Fry and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star award in 2015, announced the nominees in a live video stream from BAFTA's London headquarters on Friday morning. The awards ceremony itself will take place on Feb. 14, with Stephen Fry hosting.

(Reopens FGN08)



Key British films such as "Brooklyn" trail with six nods, while "The Danish Girl" and "Ex-Machina" both have five.

Nominations for the best film not in the English language are "The Assassin", "Force Majeure", "Theeb", "Timbuktu" and "Wild Tales".

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer have nominations-- Alex Garland (director) for "Ex Machina", writer-director Debbie Tucker Green for "Second Coming", "Theeb" producer Rupert Lloyd and writer/director NajiI Abu Nowar, Sean McAllister (director/producer), Elhum Shakerifar (producer) for "A Syrian Love Story" and Stephen Fingleton (writer/director) for "The Survivalist".

Besides "Bridge of Spies", other films in the best editing category are "The Big Short", "Mad Max: Fury Road", "The Martian" and "The Revenant".

Nods for production design include "Carol", "Mad Max: Fury Road", "The Martian" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".

The best costume design nominations are "Brooklyn", "Carol", "Cinderella", "The Danish Girl" and "Mad Max: Fury Road - Jenny Beavan".

Films competing in make up & hair category are "Brooklyn", "Carol", "The Danish Girl", "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "The Revenant".

Best sound nomination include "Bridge Of Spies", "Mad Max: Fury Road", "The Martian", "The Revenant" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".

"Ant-Man" has a lone nomination in special visual effects category. Others in the race are "Ex Machina", "Mad Max: Fury Road", "The Martian", "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".
Fast-tracking implementation of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, the Centre has set up a high-level panel headed by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya to sort out bilateral issues with a similar committee set up by Japan.

"The government has set up a committee headed by Arvind Panagariya to sort out all issues related to implementation of Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project with a similar panel constituted by Japan," a senior official told PTI.

The panel comprises the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Secretary, the Foreign Secretary, the Economic Affairs Secretary and the Railway Board Chairman.

The official further said, "This panel will discuss all types of bilateral issues related to the first bullet train project of the country, including funding and regulatory matters for removing all hindrances to ensure smooth implementation."



The schedule for the first meeting of the panel will be decided next week. A decision on whether the Panagariya panel will visit Japan or vice versa is likely.

Earlier, the project was examined by a committee on innovative collaborations head by Panagariya, whose mandate is to vet projects worth Rs 2,000 crore and above.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train was the first project appraised by the committee.

Earlier last month, India and Japan signed agreement for building first bullet train network between Mumbai and Ahmedabad at a cost of about Rs 98,000 crore.

The bullet train network will link India's financial hub with Ahmedabad, the capital of Modi's home state Gujarat. The high-speed train service between the two cities will cut down travel time on the 505-kilometre route to around three hours from the current eight.
China hasconfiscated 14.88 million copies of publications that lacked publishing licenses or contained banned content last year as the governmenttightened controls over the officialmedia outlets.

These publications were involved in 7,213 cases across China, and authorities received over 100,000 "tip-offs" from the public on such misconduct,the National Anti-Pornography and Anti-Illegal Publications Office in a statement.

"In 2015, we achieved prominent results in securing a sound cultural environment on and off the Internet and protecting the healthy growth of minors,"it said yesterday.

Italso included details on 10 major cases.

In one case, a ring headed by a suspect surnamed Liu allegedly sold more than 260,000 pornographic DVDs in east China's Shandong and Jiangsu since 2013.

So far, police have arrested 22 suspects and the case, with an estimated worth of 6 million yuan (USD 910,000).

Other cases involved printing and spreading publications without official licenses, or making and selling books, magazines or disks that contained lewd, superstitious or violence or terror-related content.

One case saw a trio given jail term of five years, six months and eight years, six months for founding an unlicensed magazine that published untruthful articles to lure investment.

A number of journalists in the official media as well as media networks have been indicted last year for alleged corruption and malpractices.
A giant gold-painted statue of China's Communist Party founder Chairman Mao Zedong has been suddenly demolished, apparently for lacking government approval, days after his supporters installed it at a cost of whopping USD 4.6 lakh.

While the 37-meter statue made up of concrete and steel was installed in Tongxu county near Kaifeng in Henan province with high-profile publicity both at home and abroad, Mao's supports lamented the decline of his hardline ideology.

Pictures of the giant statue of a seated Mao over empty fields made worldwide headlines this week.

A report in the People's Net portal quoted local officials as saying that the statue was destroyed for lack of registration and approvals.

Pictures of the tattered statue was posted on social media.

The construction was reportedly funded by farmers and several local entrepreneurs and finished in December.

The statue came up amid reports of disquiet in the party about efforts by die-hard Mao supporters to revive his controversial legacy which left millions of dead in various campaigns specially the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) aimed at purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements to establish a social order based on Marxist ideology.

While China during his period struggled with high rates of poverty, it moved away from his hardline ideology with a broad range of economic reforms, carried out by his successor Deng Xiaoping, which were largely credited for achieving record economic growth, catapulting it to become the world's second largest economy.

The leaders of the CPC in the last three decades including the present President Xi Jinping are the supporters of Deng's reform and opening up policy while revering Mao as founder of the party and modern China.

Thousands had gathered last month at Mao's hometown Shaoshan county in Hunan to celebrate his 122nd birthday during which several people criticised the reversal of his ideology.

Mao, who ruled China with an iron grip for nearly three decades, died on September 9, 1976 at the age of 82.
China's recent landing of aircraft on a contested reef in the South China Sea is raising tensions and promoting instability in the region, the Pentagon has warned.

A Department of Defense spokesman yesterday said three civilian flights are now believed to have landed on one of the islands, corroborating Chinese state media reports that three civilian aircraft have landed on Fiery Cross reef in the disputed Spratlys island group.

"We clearly are concerned by these flights... And we're concerned by all of these activities being conducted by the Chinese in disputed islands in the South China Sea," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told reporters.

"Anything being done by any country to try and raise tensions over these disputed islands, and to try and militarize or engage in reclamation activities in these islands, we think only adds to instability in the South China Sea."



China claims virtually all of the South China Sea, while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have partial claims.

China has asserted its claim by rapidly building artificial islands, including airstrips said to be capable of hosting military jets.

"We call for a diplomatic resolution to these issues in the South China Sea and certainly these flights do nothing to foster further stability and understanding in that part of the world," Cook said.

China's initial aircraft landing on Saturday prompted a formal diplomatic complaint from Hanoi, which labelled it a violation of sovereignty.

The Philippines also said it would file a protest.
Travel website Ctrip.Com has invested USD 180 million (about Rs 1,200 crore) in Indian online travel company MakeMyTrip.

The deal was conducted in the form of convertible bonds, Ctrip.Com said in a statement today.

"With the investment, we will have a place in the rising online travel market in India," Ctrip.Com CEO Liang Jianzhang said.

The partnership will benefit both companies, as there are many similarities between China and India's online tourism, state-run Xinhua quoted MakeMyTrip CEO Deep Kalra saying.

Founded in 2000, MakeMyTrip is the biggest online travel agent in India.

Tourism grew by 10 per cent in the country last year, according to research company PhocusWright. Online sales rose 16 per cent last year.

Ctrip.Com said the move will make it easier for Chinese tourists to visit India. Over 100 million Chinese tourists visited abroad last year spending billions of dollars.

The increasing numbers of Chinese tourists abroad made India and number of countries to woo them with easy visa access.

India has extended the e-visa scheme to the Chinese tourists.
China will carry out over 20 space launches in 2016, the largest number of missions in a single year, authorities said today.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp said it plans to launch the Tiangong 2 space laboratory and the Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft and to test-fly the heavy duty Long March 5 and Long March 7 rockets.

China will also launch two satellites for the domestically developed Beidou Navigation Satellite System and the Gaofen 3 for the Gaofen High-Resolution Earth Observation System.

The company said in a statement on its website, "This year will see more than 20 space launches, the most missions in a single year."



It will also launch a communications satellite for Belarus, marking the first time China has exported a communications satellite to Europe, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

China is scheduled to launch the Tiangong 2 space laboratory in the first half of the year to test life support and space rendezvous technologies for the country's future space station.

After this, the Shenzhou XI spacecraft will be launched by a Long March 2F rocket to send astronauts to and dock with the space laboratory.

China also plans to launch the core module of its space station in 2018 to test related technologies and to research engineering issues. The station will become fully operational in about 2022, according to government sources.

With these ambitious space projects proceeding well, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp is finalising the development of the next-generation carrier rockets.

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology is carrying out final tests on the Long March 5, the heaviest and most technologically challenging member of the nation's rocket family.

To accommodate the frequent space missions, the academy has increased its annual manufacturing capacity from a maximum of eight rockets to up to 20 and has substantially reduced the time required to develop each new rocket.
State-run Coal India, auto-major Mahindra and Mahindra and German luxury car maker Mercedes Benz today made top offers at the ongoing placement session of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) here.

On the second day of the placement session, a total of 107 students were offered jobs, IIT Madras said in a statement.

Coal India offered 13 jobs, while Mahindra and Mahindra and German luxury car maker Mercedes Benz offered eight jobs each, it added.

Besides, consulting firm Tiger Analytics selected 13 candidates, while TVS Motor selected nine, Carthero Technologies four, Citicorp two, it added.
Cologne's police chief was suspended today, media reported, after sharp criticism over his force's failure to prevent a rash of sexual assaults during New Year's Eve festivities.

Wolfgang Albers, 60, was put into "temporary retirement," said national agency DPA as well as the city newspaper Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger, quoting unnamed local government sources.

Police have recorded more than 120 complaints by women of assaults ranging from groping to two rapes, allegedly committed in a large crowd of revellers during year-end festivities outside the city's main train station and its famed Gothic cathedral.

The attacks were carried out despite a heavy police deployment in the western German city, and officers have admitted that they did not realise what was happening.

Albers had initially dismissed calls for his resignation but has come under heavy fire, including from Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, who has said that "the police cannot work in this way".
The massive combing operation at the sprawling Air Force station here ended today, seven days after six terrorists struck, even as the districts of Pathankot and Gurdaspur remained on high alert in the wake of reported sighting of two men in army fatigues two days back.

"The combing operation at the Air Force station is over," a senior IAF official said, adding the entire area has been sanitised.

The sanitisation operation had been going on for the last three days ever since the six terrorists were gunned down.

The operation to ensure that no terrorist was hiding was carried out jointly by Army, NSG and IAF's Garud commandos.

The official said the IAF was "sharing and supporting" the NIA with the inputs.

The NIA has investigated the personnel of Defence Services Corps (DSC) in connection with the terror attack.

However, Pathankot and Gurdaspur are still on high alert in the wake of claims by locals in a village that they had seen two men in army fatigues moving in a suspicious manner on Wednesday.

Army and police, including the SWAT commandos, are carrying out search and combing operations in these two districts, particularly near the Tibri Cantonment area of Gurdaspur, where the suspected terrorists are believed to have been sighted.

Pathankot SSP R K Bakshi said all vehicles and individuals in Pathankot and nearby villages and towns are being thoroughly checked as a precautionary measure.

"We are not taking any chances," he said today.

Army is using drone helicopters to locate possible terrorists and pressed into service bullet-proof vehicles, officials said.

Army has installed flood lights and police is conducting door-to-door searches to flush out the suspected terrorists, they said.

Punjab police has pressed into service the SWAT and dog squads are also assisting in the combing operation, officials said.
Punjab Police today ordered an inquiry into bigamy allegations against controversial Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh who is already under a cloud of suspicion in connection with the Pathankot Air base attack.

"A fact-finding inquiry has been instituted by the Director General of Police, Punjab, on the items regarding the statement of a Tanda-based woman who has levelled allegations of bigamy" against Salwinder Singh, a Punjab Police release said here this evening.

The inquiry will be conducted by senior woman IPS officer Dhanpreet Kaur, who is Senior Superintendent of Police of Hoshiarpur, and she has been asked to submit a report at the earliest.

A woman, resident of Tanda in Hoshiarpur district, has alleged that she was the second wife of Salwinder Singh with the marriage having taken place in private in April 1994.

She has claimed that she had resided with the SP at his various places of postings including Dera Baba Nanak and Amritsar. The marriage was never made public by the SP, she has alleged, adding in September 1999 a son was also born.

The woman has claimed that she had made various complaints to the police in the past but no action was taken on them.

Salwinder Singh is already in for claiming that he was abducted by the terrorists who attacked Pathankot Air base. He is under a cloud of suspicion in that case and has been questioned by various agencies, including the NIA.

Security agencies have found some discrepancies in Singh's statements and these are being looked into, sources said, adding he was taken to the places he had visited earlier along with his jeweller friend Rajesh Kumar Verma and cook Madan Gopal when they were purportedly abducted.

Singh, who is facing charges of "breach of discipline", was transferred recently as Assistant Commandant of 75th battalion of Punjab Armed Police.
Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao today asked the corporate sector to extend wholehearted support to the state government in implementing various social programmes as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.

The Governor asked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to create a CSR cell in the government, to be headed by a minister to facilitate cooperation between corporates and the government on CSR activities.

The Governor was addressing the first meeting of corporate leaders as part of the 'Maha CSR' organised by Government of Maharashtra at Raj Bhavan.

The meeting was organised to seek the involvement of corporates in the implementation of various social and welfare programmes of the government.

Observing that the ambit of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is vast, the Governor sought the cooperation of corporates in implementing programmes such as construction of toilets, solid waste management, sewage treatment and cleaning of rivers.

Referring to the scarcity of water in Marathwada and other parts of the state, he sought partnership between the government and business houses for water conservation too.

Fadnavis said the state government wants collaboration with corporates to create a convergence of developmental efforts. He assured the corporates that the government has no intention to "governmetalize" their CSR programmes.

Fadnavis announced creation of a portal which will help



corporates to choose a programme for CSR collaboration. He also announced that an officer in Chief Minister's office will function as a bridge between the corporates and the government for CSR programmes.

Finance and forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar sought the cooperation of Corporates in transforming 97,000 'Anganwadis' in Maharashtra into 'Smart Anganwadis'. He also sought cooperation in increasing the forest cover in the state.

Welcoming the initiative, Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej expressed the intention of his group to work in the area of skill development as part of CSR.

"There is no unemployment in India. Unemployability is the real issue," said Godrej.

Rajashree Birla, Nita Ambani, Sangita Jindal, Urvi Piramal, S Ramadorai also spoke on the occasion.

Minister for industries Subhash Desai, minister for water supply and sanitation Babanrao Lonikar, minister for rural development Pankaja Munde, captains of industries and heads of CSR of various organisations were present.
Roger Federer overcame a lingering sickness to hold off Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 on Friday and take his title defense into the semifinals at the Brisbane International.

Federer delayed his opening match at the Australian Open warmup until the fifth day because of a flu-like illness and was playing Dimitrov in the quarterfinals on less than 24 hours rest.

His serve in the first set was almost flawless, dropping just two points, and he appeared to be on course with break-point chances for another straight-set victory over the young Bulgarian sometimes likened to him because of their similar styles before Dimitrov rallied.

After wasting a chance to serve for the second set in a nervous 10th game, Dimitrov dominated the tiebreaker and forced a decider.

Federer, after showing signs of fatigue in the second set, took a quick break before the third, and then went on a roll to set up three match points in the ninth game. Again Dimitrov rallied, winning five consecutive points and forcing Federer to serve it out which the 17-time major winner duly did.

By holding off Dimitrov, who is 10 years his junior, Federer set up a meeting with 22-year-old Dominic Thiem, the youngest player in the top 20.

Thiem beat third-seeded Marin Cilic 2-6 7-6 (4) 6-4. The other semifinal match will feature 2015 finalist Milos Raonic against Bernard Tomic.

Tomic ended Kei Nishikori's streak of semifinal appearances at the Brisbane International with a 6-3 1-6 6-3 win, his first over a top 10 player on home soil.

Tomic fired nine aces in the first set and broke in the eighth game, but Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open finalist, won five straight games in the second to level the match and maintain his hopes of reaching the Brisbane semifinals for the fourth straight year.

After an exchange of breaks early in the third, Tomic



clinched it on his first match point, avenging a loss to Nishikori last year.

"That was very, very special to me," Tomic said. "Last year, unfortunately, I lost very comfortably to Kei, and today played very different."



Raonic relied on his big serve to dictate a 6-4 6-4 win over world No 78-ranked Lucas Pouille.

On the women's side, fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber moved into the final by beating Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 6-3.

Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka and US qualifier Samantha Crawford played the other semifinal match.

In Auckland, Julia Goerges reached her sixth WTA final and her first in four years when she beat qualifier Tamira Paszek 6-4 6-2 in the ASB Classic semifinals.

Goerges, ranked 50th, last reached a final in Dubai in 2012 when her ranking peaked at world No 15.

Sloane Stephens was leading 5-2 in the first set of the other semifinal match against third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki when rain halted play, forcing it to be postponed to Saturday.

At the Hopman Cup in Perth, Andy Murray and Heather Watson each had 6-3, 6-4 singles wins over German opponents Alexander Zverev and Sabine Lisicki, and combined to win the mixed doubles by the same margin to secure a 3-0 win that kept Britain in contention for Saturday's final.

The Australia Green team can seal a spot in the final against Ukraine with a win over France late Friday, and Nick Kyrgios gave the home team a 1-0 lead when he beat Kenny De Schepper 6-4, 6-4.
Delhi Police today discussed security concerns and counter-terrorism strategies among a host of other issues at a meeting that stretched beyond three and half hours and chaired by Commissioner B S Bassi.

"The objective of the meeting was to take up the issues discussed and deliberated upon at the DG conference in Kutch held last month, which Delhi Police commissioner had attended, and pass them down the line," said a senior police official who attended the meeting.

The meeting, which started at 3 PM and stretched beyond 6.30 PM, was attended by all Special Commissioners, all Joint Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners of the eleven police districts (and not special unit DCPs), the senior official said.

"Major issues discussed in the meeting comprised of security and counter-terrorism strategies among others," the official added.

A brain-storming session was also held on emerging challenges and problems faced by people from the northeastern region living in Delhi, in which numerous suggestions were put forth by some top officers, another official said.
The Danish government announced it is modifying a proposed law to make migrants pay for their stay under its generous welfare state, plans which had drawn international criticism.

Under the first draft of the bill, due go before parliament on January 13, migrants would have been entitled to keep only cash and valuables worth around 400 euros USD 435.

But in the face of criticism -- and comparisons to Nazi Germany's seizing of gold and valuables from Jews and others during World War II -- Integration Minister Inger Stojberg yesterday said the total sum would be increased to 1,300 euros.

In addition, items for personal use such as mobile phones and watches as well as items of sentimental value such as wedding rings will be exempted, the ministry said in a statement.

The centre-right minority government has defended the bill, arguing that Danish nationals seeking welfare handouts can expect similar treatment.

"It is already the case that if you as a Dane have valuables for more than 10,000 kroner (USD 1,450, 1,340 euros) it may be required that this is sold before you can receive unemployment benefits," Stojberg said last month.

The proposed law is the latest in a string of moves by Copenhagen to avoid the kind of refugee influx seen in neighbouring Sweden, where around 150,000 people had applied for asylum by the end of November 2015 compared to just 18,000 in Denmark.

Other measures have included shortening residence permits, delaying family reunifications and placing adverts in Lebanese newspapers to deter migrants.

"In Denmark, if one can manage on one's own, one manages on one's own. It's a principle which must apply as much to asylum seekers as it applies to Danes," Stojberg said yesterday, quoted by the Ritzau agency.
Director General of Police (DGP) K Rajendra Kumar has expressed grief over the demise of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.

During the condolence meeting held at Police Control Room Srinagar, senior police officials paid rich tribute to the departed leader.

Paying tributes to the late Chief Minister, Rajendra said that Mufti took keen interest in strengthening the Jammu and Kashmir Police force as Home Minister of the state, enabling it to effectively discharge its responsibility of maintaining law and order in J&K.

"On many occasions, he had expressed his desire to upgrade the Jammu and Kashmir Police by strengthening its components viz professional training, infrastructure and communication network," the DGP said.

He said that Mufti was always generous towards the police organization in creating uniformity and more promotional avenues for all ranks of the organization.

Mufti was a great leader with broad vision and had vast experience to take revolutionary decisions for leading the state towards peace and prosperity, the DGP said.

"He was a harbinger of peace and stability in the state and his passing away has created a vacuum in the hearts and minds of the people and Jammu and Kashmir Police in particular," the DGP said.

Rajendra on behalf of J&K Police expressed solidarity with the bereaved family and prayed for peace to the departed soul.
South Africa today decried the Pathankot air base terror attack by Pakistan-based militants but cited its own history of reconciliation to emphasise that talks were the only way to end disputes between the two neighbours.

The South African government said it strongly believes that there is no alternative to dialogue in order to ensure that disputes are resolved peacefully.

"The South African government condemns the recent armed attack on the Air Force Base in Pathankot, India, and wishes to express its condolences to the families of the victims whose lives were lost during the attack," it said in a brief statement.

"Momentum has recently been built in efforts to enhance stability in the region through dialogue and cooperation and all parties are urged not to allow this event to interrupt or derail the dialogue process and the goodwill created through recent high-level talks," the statement added.

Six terrorists, who sneaked into India from Pakistan, had attacked the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot during the intervening night of January 1 and 2. All the terrorists were killed in a three-day counter operation, which also claimed the lives of seven security personnel.

Referring to its own history of reconciliation to end apartheid peacefully, the South African government said that there is no alternative to dialogue and talks.

During South Africa's apartheid era, Barbados and other Caribbean states were vociferously at the forefront of a determined and sustained global campaign to isolate the country's white racist regime and bring about justice, dignity and freedom for the oppressed black majority.

Apartheid finally came to an end in 1994 when the late Nelson Mandela led the African National Congress (ANC) to victory in South Africa's first free and democratic elections.

The revered freedom fighter then became the country's first black president, five years after being released from prison where he had spent close to three decades for leading the anti-apartheid struggle.
Filmmaker F Gray Gray is planning to shoot a scene from upcoming "Fast and Furious 8" in Cuba.

The director of the eighth installment of the "Fast and Furious" movie series, thought of filming in the previously embargoed nation, after he returned from a scouting trip across the area, said The Hollywood Reporter.

"Universal Pictures is currently in the process seeking approval from the United States and Cuban governments to explore shooting a portion of the next installment of the 'Fast & Furious' series in Cuba," read a statement from the studio.

"Furious 8" will see Vin Diesel returning as the lead. He will be joined by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Ludacris, with Tyrese Gibson, Jason Statham and Kurt Russell expected to return.

The film will be released in North America on April 14, 2017.
American documentary on the life of Pakistani female activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, "He Named Me Malala", has been nominated at the 68th BAFTA Awards.

Directed by Davis Guggenheim, the one-hour-30-minute film is a compilation of real footage and interviews which chronicles the journey of the 18-year-old Malala who was targeted by Taliban gunmen, shot in the head and left wounded on October 9, 2012.

The film will compete with Amy Winehouse's biopic "Amy", "Cartel Land", "Listen to me Marlon" and "Sherpa" in the best documentary category.

The movie documents true events leading up to the Talibans attack on Malala for speaking out in support of educating girls in her region of Swat Valley in Pakistan.

"He Named Me Malala" also chronicles the aftermath of the incident and her speech at the United Nations.

Malala, then 17, became the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate when she was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Indian child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi in 2014.
With China growth concerns spooking world financial markets, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said domestic institutions needed to be strong and resilient to withstand global headwinds.

"We are in the world of volatility. Our domestic institutions will have to be strong," Jaitley said here.

He, however, did not dwell further on how the same would be done or achieved and whether there will be any government intervention to tide over the ongoing global crisis.

Billionaire George Soros has compared the current global crisis similar to the 2008 meltdown.

Asian markets were volatile as investors were panicked by China devalued its currency for the second time this year amid growing fears that the global economy could be teetering.

Jaitley pointed that the rupee has fared well against all major currencies until it eased a little after the Chinese (duet devaluation) shock.

"Of late due to low commodity prices many currencies have virtually collapsed....Russian, Brazil devalued a lot and as Chinese have second round of problem, we are in the world of volatility," Jaitley said.

"Compared to that rupee has improved with regard to most of the currencies of the world. It also withstood against US Dollar but after the Chinese shock it dipped little."



Jaitley was replying to a question on currencies at a lecture on democracy in a city's premier institution.

On Indian Rupee, he said "strength of Rupee depends on various market process, it also depends how many Dollar getting into India.. If lot comes our Rupee becomes stronger."



"We have to concentrate on trade (external) and the challenge is global trade is shrinking in terms of value."



He hoped when world gets out of these issues, currencies will find their levels.

Jaitley also flayed the non-functioning of Parliament and indirectly blamed the Upper House for not passing legislations.
Haryana minister Rao Narbir Singh today inaugurated the Eco-Restoration and Rejuvenation Project for Chakkarpur Bandh (dam) in Gurgaon.

Noting that around 30 bandhs dating from the colonial and post-independence era existed in the region, Singh said the dams were important for protection against floods and also resulted in considerable ground water recharge in the area.

However, the city has grown around the bandhs and they are getting fragmented and encroached, he said. Most of them are in the heart of the city, occupying prime real estate and thus are not serving the purpose for which they were developed, he added.

The state minister for forests, wildlife and PWD on the occasion also stressed that the growing Gurgaon-Faridabad urban conglomerate was one of the most endangered urban landscapes.

Increasingly, citizen groups have been demanding that bandhs should be protected as green areas and would have immense aesthetic and recreational value for the public, he said.

Singh saidthis bandh is 5.2 kms long starts at Chakkarpur village, and continues till Sector 56, Gurgaon. It crosses three main East-West roads, and runs parallel to two high speed North-South roads in Gurgaon City.

Singh also flagged off a study on the Wildlife in the Aravalli areas which is being done by Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. This would map the land use and land cover in the Aravalli hills of Haryana and assess the presence of major wildlife species in the Aravalli regions with emphasis on leopard and other apex predators.

This project would help the Forest Department in identifying and conserving the important habitats for the future preservation of wild animals in Aravallis, the minister added.
Essel Infraprojects Limited (EIL), a part of Essel Group, today said it will invest Rs 4,000 crore in West Bengal in various infrastructure projects, including building of highways.

"EIL will be developing roads projects admeasuring 300 kms connecting various cities across West Bengal. Apart from this MoU, the company also agreed to explore the possibilities of investment in Tourism and Intelligent Power City sectors after pre-feasibility study," EIL said in a statement.

The commitment was made in the ongoing Bengal Global Business Summit today.

Speaking about the company's vision for West Bengal, Group Chairman Subhash Chandra said, "These MoUs provide a unique opportunity to enhance existing infrastructure and provide new paradigm to development of infrastructure in the state and we at Essel understand this as we have effectively demonstrated our implementation abilities in Urban Infrastructure space in various other parts of India."



EIL's signing of Rs 4,000-crore worth pact is a part of Essel's vision to invest Rs 10,000 crore in West Bengal which was announced during 2015 edition of Bengal Global Business Summit.

The company is targeting projects like toll roads with an investment of Rs 3,000 crore, sanitation and water treatment orders worth Rs 2,000 crore, over 500 TPD (tones per day) municipal solid waste project to convert waste to energy with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore and metro/monorails contract worth Rs 3,000 crore.

As per the pacts signed today, the company said the West Bengal government will facilitate obtaining of necessary permissions, registrations, approvals, clearances, both at state and central level.

"The MoUs underlines Essel's commitment towards overall development of the state of West Bengal and apart from urban infrastructure projects we would also explore possibilities to invest in Tourism & Intelligent Power City sector," said Ashok Agarwal, Director & CEO, Essel Infra & Utilities business.

EIL has completed around 2,100 kms of roads and is constructing 2,500 kms of roads in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
An expert team of Centre today visited Odisha's Ganjam district for finalisation of the temporary and permanent campus of the proposed Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER).

Government has identified 200 acres of land in Laudigaon, near Gopalpur and 160 acres of land at Palur Hill for construction of the permanent campus of the IISER, ITI Berhampur, a private engineering institute and a private house near here for temporary campus.

The IISER is scheduled to start functioning from this year with an intake capacity of 50 students, an official source said.

"It might be the final visit of the expert team to finalise the sites for both permanent and temporary campuses," said the source, who accompanied the Central team.

"The team has visited different places including Laudigaon, which is almost finalized for permanent campus. The team also discussed with the officials about the pros and cons of the sites," the source said.

Meanwhile ADM (Revenue) Sitanshu Rout said the district administration provided all information about the sites to the team.

The team members included Praveen Kumar (Joint Secretary (administration) Human Resources Development, Central government), Prof Vinod Kumar Singh (Director IISER Bhopal), Ratnam Varada Rajkumar (IIT Bhubaneswar), Umesh Mishra Chief Engineer (Central Public Works Department (CPWD) Bhubaneswar) and LN Gupta (principal secretary, technical education, Odisha government).

A five-member team of the Central government had visited these sites on November 17 last year after the state government had declared the prestigious institute would be set up at Berhampur in the month of August.

Meanwhile, state's Technical Education minister Sanjay Das Burma inaugurated a three-storied new building and laid foundation for two more in ITI here, where the government proposed to conduct the temporary campus from the IISER on December 28, 2015.

Around Rs 4.70 crore was sanctioned for the construction of the new upstairs with around 16,000-sq feet area.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced setting up of IISERs in Odisha and Nagaland.

At present, there are five IISERs under Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. These are located in Bhopal, Mohali, Pune, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram.
An explosives-laden vehicle was today found near the Indian consulate in Herat and one person arrested in this regard, prompting speculation as to whether it was intended for attacking yet another Indian diplomatic mission in Afghanistan.

According to the information available here, a vehicle was found parked unattended in a makeshift taxi stand next to the consulate and when checked by police officials, it was found to contain explosives.

"Police had seized a suspect vehicle near consulate perimeter with explosives to be used for VBIED (vehicle-borne improvised explosive device). It was not ready to be used as VBIED but only had preparatory explosive materials. All main suspects were able to escape.... Only one suspect from nearby area has been detained by police for interrogation," Afghan police has reportedly informed the Indian officials.

However, Indian consulate in Herat tweeted that "reports about discovery of VBIED outside the Consulate are misleading. No explosives found."



Today's incident comes less than a week after an attack by a group of heavily armed insurgents who attempted to storm into the Indian consulate in northern Mazar-e-Sharif city of Afghanistan on Sunday.

Just few days after Mazar-e-Sharif incident, a small bomb exploded near the Indian consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on January five.

Meanwhile, Afghan new agency Khaama Press (KP) while reporting on today's development said the Afghan national security forces thwarted a terrorist attack plot by seizing a vehicle packed with explosives while it was parked close to the Indian consulate.

Provincial police spokesman Abdul Rauf Ahmadi confirmed that the vehicle was identified by the security forces and was defused on time. He was also quoted as saying that the police discovered explosives, fuses and remote controls from the vehicle which are normally used in suicide attacks.
Security personnel during their operations at Bhullaechak Colony village near Tibri Cantt in Gurdaspur village on Thursday. Locals informed police to have seen two suspected militants in army outfit in the area. PTI Photo

Extensive search operations are underway near Pandher village here for the third day today after locals claimed that two men in army fatigues were moving in a suspicious manner.

In this joint operation of Punjab Police and Army, security officials have been carrying out combing operation around the Tibri Cantonment area, police said today.

"Our search operation is going on. We are also doing aerial reconnaissance to locate any suspicious movement," DIG, Border Range, Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh said today.

The search operations are also going on in a nearby sugarcane field where the suspects may be hiding, police said.

"We are mainly searching sugarcane field (to locate the movement of any suspect)," Gurdaspur SSP Gurpreet Singh Toor said.

In this joint operation with the army, Punjab Police has deployed its Israel-trained SWAT team which have been especially trained to neutralise terrorists.

"We have deployed our own SWAT teams for this operation along with other state police personnels," DIG said.

Punjab's SWAT team had played a major role in neutralising terrorists who had carried out attack at Dinanagar in the month of July last year.

"We are taking every information very seriously and our effort is to either authenticate (the presence of militants) or completely rule it out," Deputy Inspector General Of Police Border Range said.

Acting on information, Punjab police led by DIG Kunwar



Singh launched a major combing operation last night at a house near the Tibri cantonment area.

"There was some information that they (suspects) had slipped into a villager's house. We launched a search operation around that area which took long six hours. However, they (suspects) were not found in that area," the DIG said, adding, "The entire night, our search operation remained on."



"Our combing operation will continue and we are at this moment not ruling out any thing," DIG said.

Locals in a village near Tibri cantonment of Gurdaspur district on Wednesday had reported sighting of two men in army uniform moving in suspicious manner, following which Army and police began the search operation.

Gurdaspur was targeted by Pakistani terrorists in July last year when a police station here was attacked while Pathankot was witness to a terror strike on Air base on last Saturday.

The security forces have installed floodlights in that area to see any suspicious movement during the night, police said, adding the vehicles were being checked out thoroughly.

A farmer, Satnam Singh, of Pandher village was the first one to make the claim of having seen two men in army fatigues moving in suspicious manner, police had said.

Pandher village is situated about one-and-a-half km away from the Tibri cantonment.

Six terrorists in army fatigues attacked the Air Base in Pathankot on Saturday last, leading to an encounter that lasted over four days.
A bizarre revelation that a loader of Food Corporation of India (FCI) earned a whopping Rs 4.5 lakh as monthly wages, more than the President of India's salary, today caught the attention of the Supreme Court which asked the Centre to spell out steps taken to stem the rot.

The apex court said there were a lot of "malpractices" in FCI and the system there was "wholly unsatisfactory", which a High Level Committee (HLC), chaired by senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar, has said in its report.

A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur was hearing an appeal filed by the FCI Workers Union against the order of the Bombay High Court's Nagpur Bench which had passed a slew of directions to the Centre, based on the HLC report.

The bench, which refused to interfere with the High Court order at this stage, said "there has been a Rs 1800 crore of loss per year" to the FCI whose "departmental labourers" are involved in engaging "proxy workers," which is clear from the HLC's report.

"Even the high level committee headed by senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar in its report said that 370 labourers were getting salary of around Rs 4.5 lakh per month.

"This is Rs 1800 crore excess of the amount to be paid and you are not allowed to have contract labour. How is Rs 4.5 lakh per month earned by a labourer," the bench, which also comprised Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi, asked.

"How can a labourer earn Rs 4.5 lakh in a month? Is he a labourer or contractor? How a labourer carrying a sack earns Rs 4.5 lakh per month," the bench said, adding "you (departmental labourers) are today earning wages more than that of the President of India."



The FCI counsel said there were various incentives that allow departmental workers to earn around Rs 1.1 lakh a month.

"What are the incentive schemes? There is allegation of proxy labour. It is a sub-let kind of thing," the bench said and also referred to a report of M/S Deloitte on Manpower Planning & Induction Policy saying 370 labourers were getting salary of around Rs 4.5 lakh per month.

The bench did not agree with the claim of Workers Union counsel Amit Sibal that wrong impression was projected and the High Court should not have taken a suo motu cognizance of a media report.

It said "there is something seriously wrong" in the FCI and government has to act fast on the basis of the HLC report, failing which the apex court would constitute its own HLC headed by a retired judge to fix responsibility for the rot.

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"We would like to know what decision you have taken pursuant to the direction of the high court. There is something seriously wrong.

"If you don't listen to the high level committee, we will appoint high level committee of former judges of this court to fix responsibility for malpractices and irregularities. There is a loss of Rs 1800 crore," the apex court bench said.

It said the Centre has to take a call on the basis of the High Court direction to decide whether to abolish the departmental labour system in a phased manner or absorb their services in other establishments as recommended by the HLC.

"Labourers in FCI had very aggressive tendencies and in the past, officers have been murdered," the bench observed.

"It's like a golden egg being a labourer in FCI. There is something seriously wrong," the bench said and asked Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar to take instruction from the Government "as to the steps taken in tune with the high court order."



It said departmental labourers were earning Rs 79,000 per month on an average. "Do you want this to continue? Those who are engaged in loading and unloading business of sacks are privileged. You are earning more than a gazetted officer," the bench further said.

"We would like to know what Government of India is doing," the bench said, referring to the FCI's representation for grant of exemption under Section 31 of Contract Law Act, 1970.

The bench said it was giving credence to the HLC report as the members in the Committee were not from private agencies but "there are all eminent people and management experts."



"High level committee report talks about the malpractices. The system is wholly unsatisfactory," the bench said and made remarks about the "pathetic state of affairs" in FCI facilities to store foodgrains and other products.

"There has been a case of no storage capacity which is going for years. Surplus food products are kept in open. Distribute it if it can't be stored as former judge of this court Justice Dalvir Bhandari had said.

"Grains are kept outside. Rodents are eating away the foodgrains. Foodgrains are going into the drains," the bench said.
Authorities have said that two people with ties to the Islamic State have been arrested on terrorism-related charges in California and Texas, including a refugee from Syria who is charged with lying to federal investigators about his travels to the civil war in that country.

The arrests feed a national debate over whether the United State is doing enough to screen refugees from Syria for terrorists from that nation.

Court documents say the men wanted to assist terrorist organizations affiliated with the Islamic State, though one man is accused of assisting a group that allied with Islamic State after he had returned to the United States.

A criminal complaint unsealed yesterday accuses Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, of Sacramento, of traveling to Syria to fight and lying to investigators about it.

US Attorney Benjamin Wagner said in a statement that while Al-Jayab was potentially dangerous, there is no indication that he planned any attacks in the United States.

Meanwhile, the US Attorney's Office based in Houston, Texas, said late Thursday that Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, of Houston, was indicted Wednesday on three charges that he tried to provide material support to the Islamic State.

There is no indication from prosecutors that Al Hardan was a threat in the United States, but his arrest sparked immediate criticism of the Obama administration's refugee policies from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

"This is precisely why I called for a halt to refugees entering the US from countries substantially controlled by terrorists," Abbott said in a statement.

"I once again urge the President to halt the resettlement of these refugees in the United States until there is an effective vetting process that will ensure refugees do not compromise the safety of Americans and Texans."



Both men are Palestinians born in Iraq, authorities said.

The complaint in federal court in Sacramento said Al-Jayab came to the United States from Syria as a refugee in October 2012.

While living in Arizona and Wisconsin, he communicated on social media about his intent to return to Syria to fight for terrorist organizations and discussed his previous experience fighting against the regime in Syria.

When he was interviewed by citizenship officials, he lied about his travels and ties, the complaint alleges.

He left the United States in November 2013, but he came to Sacramento in January 2014, the FBI said in a 20-page affidavit.
Finland has decided to extradite to the United States a Russian citizen suspected of computer fraud, the government said today.

"The Ministry of Justice has decided to extradite Russian national Maxim Senakh to the United States for trial," the ministry wrote in a statement.

US authorities had requested the extradition of Senakh who is suspected in the US state of Minnesota of attacking servers around the world with malware to attain millions of dollars illegally.

Senakh was detained at the Finnish-Russian border in August when he was returning home to Russia from a holiday.

The Russian foreign ministry objected to his arrest and possible extradition at the time.

The Finnish justice ministry's decision cannot be appealed after the High Court decided in December to endorse Senakh's extradition.

Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) border with Russia, has tried to maintain good relations with its powerful neighbour since the end of World War II.
Foreign tourists arrivals last year grew by 4.4 per cent at 80.16 lakh against 76.79 lakh in 2014.

Foreign tourists arrivals during January-December, 2015 were 80.16 lakh against 76.79 lakh in January-December 2014, a growth of 4.4 per cent, an official statement said here.

Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism during January-December last year were Rs. 1,26,211 crore with a growth of 2.3 per cent as compared to Rs. 1,23,320 crore during January-December 2014.

Also, foreign tourists arrivals in December last year increased by 3.2 per cent at 9.13 lakh against 8.85 lakh in the same month previous year, it said.

FEEs during December 2015 was Rs 13,253 crore, a growth of two per cent over Rs 12,988 crore in December 2014.

The US topped the list of percentage share of foreign tourists arrivals in India during December among the top 15 source countries with 18.67 per cent, followed by Bangladesh (11.64), UK (11.60), Australia (5.25), Canada (4.23), Russian Federation (3.68) and Malaysia (3.13).

Germany's share was 2.61 per cent while that of China was 2.48 per cent, followed by Sri Lanka (2.39), Singapore (2.01), France (1.99), Japan (1.85), Thailand (1.68) and Pakistan (1.60).

These top 15 countries account for 74.81 per cent of total FTAs during December 2015, the release said.

The percentage share of foreign tourists arrivals among the top 15 ports was highest at Delhi Airport (27.34), followed by Mumbai Airport (20.82), Haridaspur Land check post (6.65), Bengaluru Airport (6.33), Chennai Airport (5.44), and Goa Airport (5.24).
The Haryana government-constituted Allottees Grievances Redressal Forum today held a meeting under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner T L Satyaprakash to redress the grievances of allottees of flats or plots.

The Forum was of the view that a delegation of the complainants should file a criminal miscellaneous case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court so that the buyers are able to get relief.

"It was also of the view that the names of all complainants be added in the FIR lodged against the erring builder or FIRs on behalf of all the complainants be clubbed. About 1,000 buyers are said to be aggrieved in this case and they wanted that their name be included in the list of complainants so that they can get relief from the High Court," said Satyaprakash.

While DCP Kulwinder Singh said that legal opinion would be sought on whether to lodge an FIR in the name of every complainant or club all complainants in an FIR. "Presently, an FIR is lodged on the complaint of 44 complainants and the matter is pending in the High Court," Singh said.

Redressing a complaint against another builder in Sector 51, Gurgaon, the Forum decided that the builder will have to honour the terms and conditions of builder-buyer agreement and get the conveyance deed done in favour of the buyers.

The buyers had alleged that in the occupation certificate obtained by the builder, area of each unit has been shown to be 1,200 square feet but the builder has increased the area to 1,600 square feet in the demand letter and taken Rs 6-8 lakh more from each buyer.

They also alleged that the builder was supplying electricity from DG sets and charging Rs 15.35 per unit for last two-and-a-half years, besides causing a lot of pollution in the area.

The Forum said the issue of electricity will be taken up after the builder-buyer agreement issue is resolved.

"In yet another case, the Forum ordered the builder to deposit the pending VAT amount in next ten days and then get the conveyance deed done in favour of the buyers.

"It was alleged in the complaint that despite making all the payments in full and well in time, including conveyance deed charges and one year advance maintenance charges, the builder has not executed any conveyance deed, instead they are demanding VAT amounting to Rs 4,71,720," Satyaprakash said in a statement issued here.
A Paris court today sentenced two French jihadists who travelled to Syria to six and 10 years in prison, although one was sentenced in absentia.

Zakaria Chadili, 28, who visited Syria in 2014, was handed six years of prison while his friend Ziyeid Souied, 22, was sentenced in absentia to a 10-year jail term. An active member of the Islamic State group, he is still in Syria.

Chadili spent six months in Syria but had shown a "willingness to reinsert" himself into French society, the judge found, and his sentence could be commuted in the coming months.

Souied was last known to be working in the Islamic State's police unit and assisting with the recruitment of foreign fighters.
A 21-year-old youth allegedly involved in multiple criminal cases, including murder and extortion, and having a reward of Rs 50,000 on his arrest has been apprehended from southwest Delhi'a Gopal Nagar area, police said today.

"The accused has been identified as Ram Parvesh alias Lala, who led a gang in southwest Delhi and was allegedly involved in 10 cases of murder, attempt to murder, extortion and robbery, DCP (south-west)," R A Sanjeev said.

Lala came out on bail around 10 months ago and taking the opportunity of the absence of bigger local gangsters he started a gang with at least four others, said police.

He was initially the sharp-shooter in the gang but after the arrest of his associates Jitender and Ranbir in October, he recruited more youths and became the leader.

"In six months, the gang executed half a donzen incidents of attempt to murder, carjacking and extortion to gain quick control over the area and were further planning to usurp disputed properties," said a senior official.

Acting on a tip-off that the accused was to come at a temple in Gopal Nagar, police laid a trap and nabbed him yesterday, police said.

Police have recovered one pistol and four live cartilages from his possession and further investigations are in process, police said.
The Paris prosecutor says investigators are unsure of the true identity of the man who tried to attack a Paris police station with a butcher knife and a fake explosives vest.

Francois Molins told France-Inter radio today that the assailant shot dead yesterday, the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, carried a paper marked with the Muslim declaration of faith, an emblem of the Islamic State group, his name, and gave his nationality as Tunisian. Molins said he also had a phone with a German SIM card.

Stopped for a minor theft in 2013 in France's south, the man had identified himself as Ali Sallah and gave his nationality as Moroccan.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the January 2015 attacks and the November 13 attacks in Paris.
Polling for the Greater Hyderabad Muncipal Corporation (GHMC) would be held on February 2.

The Telangana State Election Commission today issued the notification for the polls to the civic body.

As per the schedule announced by the Election Commissioner Nagi Reddy, nominations would be accepted from January 12 and January 17 is the last date for making nominations.

The scrutiny of nominations would take place on January 18 and January 21 is the last date for withdrawal.

Polling would be held on February 2 from 7 am to 5 pm. Counting of votes will be taken up on February 5. Repolling, if necessary anywhere, would be held on February 4.

The model code of conduct for the GHMC polls came into force from today.

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There are 150 divisions in GHMC and as many as 24 Assembly segments in Telangana come under the GHMC limits.

Congress and MIM held the GHMC in alliance in 2009.

Campaigning for the GHMC elections began even before the notification for the polls was issued.

Telangana Rasthra Samithi (TRS), led by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, has taken a lead over its rivals with hoardings highlighting the state government's schemes and programmes installed across the city.

Telangana IT and Panchayat Raj Minister K T Rama Rao, son of K Chandrasekhar Rao, and other ministers have been undertaking visits to residential localities in the city for different development programmes.

Though TRS has established a firm hold on Telangana politics, it has not been known to be a major force in Hyderabad, which has a population of about 60 lakh. TRS had not contested the last GHMC polls in 2009.

The IT and Panchayat Raj Minister also sought to reach out to the natives of Seemandhra region in Hyderabad amid allegations by the opposition that the TRS insulted and intimidated them in the past.

The GHMC elections assumes significance in view of the nature and size of the city.

The TDP-BJP alliance, which had won 15 assembly seats in the last Assembly elections, is keen on repeating its good show in the polls.

For TDP, though some of its MLAs have since shifted loyalty to the ruling TRS, the Chandrababu Naidu-led party is determined to prove that it is still a major force to reckon with in Hyderabad.

Leaving no stone unturned, BJP got its senior leaders, including Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Radha Mohan Singh, Hansraj Ahir and Bandaru Dattatreya campaign for the past in the last few days.
A 13-year-old girl today filed police complaint against her mother at Memari in Burdwan district alleging the woman had sold her for Rs 60,000 to traffickers in Kolkata who had sexually abused her, police said.

The girl in her complaint alleged that her mother had sold her to a woman on January 5 last and she was taken by train to a red light area in Kolkata from Debipur station in Memari and sexually harassed in confinement, Memari Officer-in-charge Debabrata Bandyopadhyay said.

The girl further alleged that she and another trafficked woman were forced to board a UP-bound train on January 8 at Bidhan Nagar Road station in Kolkata in the custody of a female trafficker but they managed to elude the agent as the train halted at Burdwan junction.

From the station she reached Burdwan police station and wanted to lodge a complaint against her mother and the Burdwan police escorted her to Memari police station where she filed the FIR, the officer said.

The girl's mother was taken to Memari police station and is being interrogated in the presence of woman cops but she is denying having sold her, he said.

The woman accompanying the girl could not be traced.
An important meeting of the Goa Legislative Assembly on drafting of a proposed bill on the medium of instruction (MoI) to be adopted in schools remained inconclusive today even as some members expressed doubts on whether such bill would be placed before the House.

The meeting of the select committee of the Assembly, chaired by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, decided to seek more data on the exact number of schools and the students, before taking any stand on the medium of instruction.

The state government has already announced its policy to have regional languages (Konkani and Marathi) as the medium of imparting education and that English medium schools will also be given grants.

The policy is yet to be formulated into a proper bill and the decision is pending before the select committee.

"We did not decide anything. We will have to hold another sitting before formulating the proposed bill," Parsekar told reporters after emerging from the meeting in evening.

Meanwhile, Congress legislator and former CM Digambar Kamat said the cabinet note which had passed the MoI policy was circulated during the meeting along with the draft copy of the proposed bill.

"Some members are saying that there is a difference between the draft of the proposed bill and the cabinet decision. We will have to study everything before deciding the proposed bill,"he said.

Kamat said he did not think that the proposed bill could be tabled during the upcoming Assembly session "because the officers are busy".

The week-long Assembly session is scheduled from Jan 11.
The Goa Cabinet today granted formal approval for the Smart City Proposal (SCP) of Panaji which has been forwarded to the Urban Development Ministry.

Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told reporters that Goa is already amongst the 100 cities shortlisted by the Centre to get funds under SCP.

Goa had forwarded its Rs 981.11 crore proposal to the union ministry on December 14, 2015.

"The proposal was already sent but it is a formality to get it approved in the State cabinet. We are happy that we are amongst 100 cities vying to get selected," Parsekar said.

Deputy Chief Minister and State Urban Development Minister Francis D'Souza said after 100 cities, the selection would be zeroed down to 20 cities which will be beneficiaries of the scheme in the first phase.

Corporation of City of Panaji, the local civic body, had drafted the proposal which was approved initially by state high powered committee before forwarding it to the Delhi.

The minister said suggestions from 19,619 locals were received which were made the part of the proposal.
The Goa government today announced the formation of a separate department -- AYUSH -- to implement parallel system of medicine like ayurveda and homeopathy in the state's health system.

"The focus would be on creating a parallel system on lines with the Directorate of Health Services which is catering to Allopathy. We would have clinics of ayurveda and homeopathy across the government hospitals," Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza told reporters emerging from the state Cabinet meeting.

The state Cabinet today approved 38 posts for AYUSH department like deputy director, ayurveda and homeopathy physicians.

D'Souza said the state will also be home to All India Naturopathy Centre and AYUSH Research Centre.

He said AYUSH facilities would be introduced in district hospitals at the initial stage and later in sub-district hospitals, community health centres and primary health centres.

"The deputy director (AYUSH) is required to monitor and expand AYUSH facilities across the state through the district hospitals," the minister said.

Ayush Ministry officials said that yoga has been added in



the physical activity sessions in various schools for class six to tenth but it has not been made compulsory.

Naik said that a circular has also been issued by the HRD Minister to all the schools to include yoga and while many schools have adopted it, for others, "work is in progress".

"HRD minister has sent circular to schools. Work is in progress. All schools have started adopting," Naik said.

Asked about the total budget of the Ministry for this year's celebrations, Ministry secretary Ajit Sharan said that every ministry is spending its own money and Ayush Ministry is not supporting anybody in terms of funds for celebrating this.

"Although if all is taken collectively, it may be hundreds of crores. But from the AYUSH Ministry side, the sum is around Rs 15 crore," he said.

Naik said that most of the modern day health problems are because of faulty life-style and yoga is an "efficacious" means to overcome these disorders.

"The uniqueness of therapeutic benefits of Yoga is that it can work along with any other drug systems of healthcare and this enables the practitioners of other systems of medicine, including modern medicine experts to prescribe Yoga programme to the patients," he said.

He said that multi-faceted benefits of Yoga in physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-being of a person and its long term benefits to the people from all walks of life have been established by large number of inter-disciplinary researches in different fields.

Naik said that there are a number of research works conducted all over the World on different aspects of Yoga and its utility in the promotion of health, prevention and management of various disorders, besides improvement in the physiological functions of the body.
Lifeguards in Goa, who have been on strike since last ten days, today threatened to intensify their stir if the state government failed to fulfil their demand by this weekend even as Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar refused to intervene in the matter.

"If government continues to be adamant on its stand of not fulfilling demands of lifeguards, we will occupy entire Panaji. The strike would be extended to all the labour unions. There will be industrial breakdown," All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) leader Suhas Naik told PTI.

Around 600 lifeguards have struck the work since December 29 demanding regularisation of services and hike in wages.

Drishti Lifesaving Services Private Limited, contracted to guard the beaches, has refused to concede to the demands of lifeguards.

Naik said the meeting of all the labour unions would be called on Monday to empathise with the striking lifeguards.

"We will occupy entire Panaji. If we have to resort to major strike then the onus would lie on chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar," Naik said.

He said state Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar was "prevented" by Parsekar from giving a written assurance to lifeguards on fulfilment of their demands.

Naik said the contract signed between Drishti and the government had expired on December 31, 2015 and the company has no locus standi to guard the beaches.

"Their presence at the beaches is illegal and we want the government to give contract of lifeguarding only to Goan company," he added.

Earlier in the day, Parsekar refused to step into the matter, saying the issue is between the company (Drishti) and the lifeguards.

Meanwhile, Drishti Lifesaving Services today announced a fresh recruitment of lifeguards.

"As a standard policy, Goan youths will be given preference in the selection process," the company stated in a release.

"Drishti Lifesaving has also issued notices to their existing lifeguards currently on strike to return to work. Drishti hopes that they shall resume duty at the earliest," it added.
The government has decided to offer postgraduate courses in homoeopathy in more subjects including anatomy and physiology, following demands by various homeopathic colleges across the country.

"Postgraduate in homoeopathy will be introduced in more subjects like anatomy, physiology and others as demanded by the homoeopathic colleges.

"AYUSH systems should try hard to get more popular so that their benefits reach the common man and all parts of the country," said Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State for AYUSH, after inaugurating a national seminar on homeopathy here today.

The Central Council of Homeopathy (CCH) has organised the three-day national seminar to commemorate 40 years of its formation.

Naik said Indian homoeopaths face legal difficulties while practising outside India and asked CCH and other agencies of AYUSH to work on reciprocity over this issue with friendly countries so that homoeopathic practitioners from India can go and practise there without any legal hurdle.

Noting that there should be efforts to take homoeopathy to each and every house, the Minister said the Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) should develop new models to popularise homoeopathy like the 'national programme of homoeopathy treatment for mother and child diseases'.

AYUSH Ministry secretary Ajit Mohan Saran stressed on integration of homoeopathy with modern systems of medicine while suggesting training programme for MBBS doctors so that they can be allowed to practise homoeopathy within India.

Lok Sabha member Manoj Rajooria said private homoeopathic medical colleges must pay salaries to their teaching staff equal to salaries given to the teaching staff in government homoeopathic medical colleges, and urged CCH to come up with some guidelines in this regard.

Rajooria also suggested that homoeopathic dispensaries should be opened at panchayat and block levels so that there is more job opportunity for homoeopathic doctors.

More than 2,000 delegates from India and other SAARC countries attended the seminar.
The government will launch the much-talked about new crop insurance scheme, which aims to keep a lower premium for farmers and faster settlement of claims, in 2016-17.

"We have identified discrepancies in the existing scheme of Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) and come out with a new crop insurance scheme. Once it is approved by the Cabinet, the scheme will be implemented from 2016-17," Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh told reporters here.

Under the proposed crop insurance scheme, the premium to be charged from farmers will be kept lower and focus will be on early settlement of claims. New technologies, including drones, will be used to assess crop damage faster, he said.

On January 6, the sticky issue of premium was discussed at length at a meeting with ministerial colleagues by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Apparently, the concerns have been addressed and the proposal will be taken before the Cabinet at the earliest.

After the PM's meeting, Singh had said, "We will address all the issues and take the proposal before the Cabinet at the earliest so that the scheme can be implemented from the forthcoming kharif season from June."



In the Cabinet note, the Agriculture Ministry has proposed an average premium of up to 2.5 per cent for foodgrain and oilseeds crops and 5 per cent for horticulture crops.

However, some sections within the Cabinet want a lower premium.

It has estimated the expenditure at Rs 8,000 crore if 50 per cent of the total crop area of 194 million hectare is insured.

The proposal on the new crop insurance scheme, moved by the Agriculture Ministry, was once discussed at a Cabinet meeting last year, but the decision was deferred in the wake of differences over the premium rate.

In the existing MNAIS, the average premium rate for farmers has been kept at 5.5 per cent though the premium rate for high risky crops is as high as 40 per cent.

Last year, only 27 per cent of the crop area was insured, which cost Rs 3,150 crore to the national exchequer.
Strong economic growth in states is "imperative" for pushing up the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and giving it a "cutting edge" to fight poverty and generate jobs, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.

He also said that additional growth has to come from eastern states like West Bengal where industrialisation had suffered because of the policies followed in the last 35 years.

"In a global situation which is so adverse, India's GDP growth is 7.5 per cent. Is it difficult to add 1 per cent more which will give us that cutting edge to fight poverty and generate jobs?" Jaitley said at the second edition of Bengal Global Business Meet here.

"Given the structure of India's federal polity, it is imperative that the states grow as well. Despite political differences, strong states mean a stronger India. West Bengal contributes nearly 6 to 7 per cent of GDP. Given the fact that growth of the eastern states was lower than those of the western states, the additional growth will have to come from the former," he said.

Referring to West Bengal, he said industrialisation in the state had suffered due to policies pursued in the last three and half decades.

"Summits of these kinds held every year clearly demonstrate the intention that the need of the hour is to generate growth, increase revenue and fight poverty for which investments are required," he said.

"It is in this context that West Bengal that has lost its glory of the past could be restored and I assure you that the Centre will give all its support to the state's endeavour to attract investments," Jaitley said.

If Bengal followed such a policy, it would be able to generate jobs and revenue needed to fight poverty, else would have to fall back on shallow political slogans, he said.
Union Minister M Venkaiah Nadiu today hoped that the long-pending GST bill will be passed in Parliament at the earliest, and called on political parties to unite for building prosperous and stable India.

"I request all of you including political parties to unite to unleash the force of growth and make prosperous and stable India.

"I met the Congress President yesterday to seek support of Congress for the GST Bill, for the Real Estate Bill. We may be different political parties in elections and politics...When it comes to the question of nation building we are one party that is developmental party," he said addressing the All India Builders Convention here.

He also said his meeting with Sonia Gandhi is not a politically-motivated meeting but for the development of the country.

"Yesterday, I called on Sonia Gandhi because it is not a political issue. Politics of poverty has to be replaced by politics of development. Because need of the hour is development and good governance," the Parliamentary Affairs Minister added.

Referring to experts' opinion, Naidu said passage of the GST Bill may increase the GDP growth by 1.5 to 2 per cent.

"Experts say the passage of GST Bill will enhance GDP by 1.5 to 2 per cent. In that case I only hope that we join together to see that enough public opinion is created and GST Bill is also passed at the earliest opportunity."



He assured the Builders Association that he would take delegation of its representatives to the Prime Minister for voicing the industry's concerns.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said builders and contractors also play vital role in nation building.

(REOPENS BOM14)



Meanwhile, when asked about the objective to celebrate two years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government in office, the leader said the objective is to reach out to places where they have a weak presence and also to highlight government's developmental campaigns and projects.

He claimed Modi government has done well in the last two years, and therefore, their ministers dared to give report card to the people of the country.

To a query, he said arresting rising inflation was one of the biggest achievements of Modi government.

"When we came to power inflation rate was in double digits but after two years the inflation rate has come down to single digit and it would come down further if GST Bill is allowed to pass (in Parliament) and monsoon is good this year," he said.

"People's expectations are high from our Prime Minister and the government will not disappoint them but it will take some time," added Naidu.
A Guantanamo Bay inmate has been transferred from the US military prison back to his home country of Kuwait, the Pentagon announced today, bringing the prison's remaining population down to 104.

"The Department of Defense announced today the repatriation of Faez Mohammed Ahmed Al-Kandari from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the government of the state of Kuwait," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The US military and intelligence agencies had "determined continued law of war detention of Al-Kandari does not remain necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States."



According to his leaked prison file, published by the New York Times, 40-year-old Al-Kandari was a "committed member" of Al-Qaeda and was an influential religious figure for the group's fighters in Afghanistan.

He was initially captured in December 2001, and sent to Guantanamo in May the following year.

President Barack Obama pledged to shut Guantanamo when he took office in 2009, but his efforts have been repeatedly thwarted by Congress.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter last month approved the transfer of 17 low-risk detainees from Guantanamo, and two of these were released Wednesday.

Since 2002, a total of 779 detainees have been held at Guantanamo in connection with America's "war on terror."



Inmates are kept without recourse to regular US legal processes and some likely will die in prison without ever being convicted of a crime.
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel today said she had not received any letter from the jailed Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel reportedly questioning whether she belonged to the Patel community.

"I can't say anything about the letter because I have not received the so-called letter," Anandiben told mediapersons in Bedla town of the district where she had come for state government's "Gunotsav" programme.

The CM said her government was holding meetings with Patidar (Patel) leaders and had withdrawn several cases registered against the youths from the community (filed during the violent agitation for reservations in OBC quota).

"Nearly 250 cases have been dropped by the government and the number would increase," she said.

In the letter addressed to the CM, sent from Surat jail, Hardik reportedly accused BJP of using Patels as a votebank.

"During your speech at a function... Few days back you said Patels are selfish and thieves. Now I am having a doubt as to whether you really belong to the Patel community," he asked the Chief Minister.

"This is the same Patel community which supported BJP for last 30 years in building its base in Gujarat. We gave you votes and money. BJP came to power with our support," Hardik said in the letter.

The government has withdrawn non-serious criminal cases against Patel youths, but the sedition cases filed against Hardik and his top aides have not been withdrawn.
Madras High Court today directed the Judicial magistrate of Ramanathapuram to transfer a cheque bounce case back to Madurai Fast Track court where it was originally filed by the payee and petitioner S.Anwar Hussain.

Justice S.Vaidhyanathan of the court's Madurai Bench pointed out that the central government had issued a gazette recently which stipulated that all cases related to check bounce complaints should be transferred to courts where the payee had deposited the cheque for collection.

Earlier as per a Supreme Court order, the fast track court No.II(Judicial Magistrate level) had returned the complaint of the petitioner S.Anwar Hussain, on the ground that the bank was not situated within the jurisdiction of the court.It was posted before the jurisdictional court at Ramanathapuram from where the accused had given the cheque.

The petitioner sought a direction to transfer the case to Madurai.

The judge directed Ramanathapuram Judicial Mmagistrate to return the case to the Fast Track court.

The Fast Track court JM should take up the case at the earliest and complete the case.The transferee court should not adjourn the case beyond seven working days, the judge said.

The petitioner said he had given Rs three lakh as loan for educational expenses of P.Ayub Khan's son. Ayub khan staying in Ramanathapuram gave a Ramanathapuram Bank-based cheque, but it bounced when presented at a Madurai bank, the petitioner said.
The Madras High Court Bench here today directed CBI to file a counter on a petition seeking action against a group of persons, including an official of a nationalised bank, for allegedly creating forged property documents and obtaining a loan of Rs 22.50 lakh.

Justice M.Venugopal also directed the government advocate to get instructions and adjourned the matter to February 2 for further hearing.

Petitioner M.S.Kulanthaivel submitted that the property which was pledged to the bank actually belonged to a trust created by his relative Nagarathinammal.

Forged documents were created by six persons, including the manager of Central Bank of India's Meenakshi Mills branch here and two persons related to one of the personal assistants of former union minister M K Alagiri, for the purpose of availing the loan, he contended.

The bank manager knew well that it was a disputed property and belonged to the trust. Despite that, he had helped the five persons to get a loan of Rs.22.50 lakh.

The petitioner submitted that his signature and that of his two sons, who were legal heirs to the trust property, had been forged and documents created as if to show it had been given on lease for 99 years.

He had sent a detailed petition to the Superintendent of Police of CBI, Chennai, to investigate but no action had been taken so far. Hence the court should direct CBI to take action against the "culprits," he said.
To further strengthen the health systems in India, Union health ministry has decided to use the expertise of Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) which today announced to extend its support to the government in enhancing capacity and knowledge for the country's routine immunisation programme.

The move came after a meeting of GAVI CEO Seth Berkley with the Union Health Minister J P Nadda here during which various issues relating to India's health sector were discussed.

Terming immunisation as a crucial determinant for a productive community, Nadda today said his Ministry will use expertise of GAVI in further strengthening health systems in the country.

"Berkley assured the Minister support of GAVI in strengthening health systems further in order to enhance the capacity and knowledge of the Routine Immunisation programme," an official statement said.

Elaborating the new initiatives of the Ministry, including Mission 'Indradhanush' that aims to cover all missed-out and left-out children with cover of full immunisation apart from the launch of new vaccines including pentavalent, rota virus, pneumococcal, measles-ruebella and the adult Japanese Encephalitis vaccine.

"Immunisation is the only way forward for healthy India as it is a very crucial determinant of a productive community.

"We are looking forward to develop synergies and to use expertise of GAVI in strengthening health systems in India. GAVI can play an important role in making our systems more robust," Nadda said while appreciating GAVI's efforts in complimenting the government's efforts for achieving universal immunisation.

Berkley expressed appreciation for the initiatives taken by the Ministry towards strengthening the health systems, particularly in the area full immunisation through Mission 'Indradhanush'.

He also appreciated the resolve and commitment to launch new vaccines to protect the children and India's population from various diseases, it said.

Berkley had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently where discussions were held on the the alliance's proposal to have a new strategic partnership with India for 2016-2021, which will see further fund support of up to USD500 million to accelerate the introduction of modern vaccines for all children in the country.
The Allahabad High Court has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to submit the report of an inquiry conducted into the alleged scam in installation of computers in branches of district cooperative bank in the state in 2010.

The Lucknow bench comprising justices Satyendra Singh Chauhan and Ritu Raj Awasthi fixed January 28 as the next date of hearing on a petition seeking CBI probe into the alleged scam.

The petitioner alleged scam into the installation of computers in the branches of cooperative bank in 2010, the petitioner's counsel ML Yadav said.

He further submitted that in 2012, the Chief Minister had directed the then chief secretary to conduct a probe through a high-level committee.

However, the state counsel said that the inquiry was conducted in "pursuance of the directions issued by the CM to the chief secretary and the committee had come to the conclusion that there was no deficiency in installation of computers in the branches of the said bank.

The prosecutor had said the two bank officials were



taking one per cent commission against the total amount of money deposited. They agreed to accept the commission in the form of gold bar which was worth Rs 39 lakh, he had said.

ED, while explaining the modus operandi of the case, underlined the role of Kushwaha and his associates.

It said that the cash collected by sale of gold using demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, was "laundered through banking channels with the help of money launderers who are professionally qualified CAs (Chartered Accountants) and managing several dummy/shell companies and finally payments from such shell companies were made through RTGS to bullion dealers and the physical gold so purchased at market rate of Rs 31,000-Rs 32,000 per 10 gms was handed over to the persons from whom advances were received".

The agency's probe till now, after it registered a criminal complaint under the PMLA on November 30, found that huge money was being transferred through RTGS to some shell companies including a firm whose Director was a "petty labourer" living in a slum in 'Anna Nagar jhuggi' camp in the national capital.

The Axis Bank, in a statement, had earlier said "the bank is committed to following the highest standards of corporate governance and has zero tolerance towards any deviation on the part of any of its employees from the set model code of conduct. In this particular case, the bank has suspended the erring employee and is cooperating with the investigating agencies."



ED has alleged the two bankers were allegedly indulging in converting black money into white by reportedly misusing banking transfer systems like RTGS and NEFT in the wake of the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

A number of bank accounts of various people and traders are under the scanner of the agency in the case, ED has said.

ED registered a criminal complaint against the two bankers and others based on a Delhi Police FIR after three persons were intercepted with Rs 3.7 crore cash in old currency a few days ago in front of Axis Bank's Kashmere Gate branch.

The Income Tax department too had carried out its action in this case, surveyed the bank branch and later searched the residential premises of the two.
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responds to a question about the potential use of U.S. ground troops to fight Islamic State during the Democratic presidential candidates debate at St. Anselm Colleg

Democratic US presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responds to a question about the potential use of US ground troops to fight Islamic State during the Democratic presidential candidates debate at St. Anselm Colleg

The group 'AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) for Hillary' was launched in California in presence of a large number of Asian American leaders, including Indian-Americans.

At the launch, Clinton pledged to address the concerns of the community, including those related to immigration and visa.

In her speech, Clinton pledged to work to reduce the backlog for family visa to reunite immigrant families.

"Applicants from the Asia-Pacific region make up about 40 per cent of the family visa backlog. Some from the Philippines have been waiting for a visa for 23 years. If you're a US citizen and your brother lives in India, it will take at least 12 years just to get him a visa," the former secretary of state said.

"We have got to do more to help the millions of people who are eligible for citizenship take that last step. I will work to expand fee waivers so more people can get a break on the costs. I will increase access to language programmes to help people boost their English proficiency.

"I don't want anyone who could be a citizen now to miss out on that opportunity," she said.

And she explained the reasons for her early outreach to the community.

"That is essential because right now, it's one of the fastest-growing communities in this country, but it's a community that votes at a lower rate than others," Clinton said.

America's ties to the Asia-Pacific region have always been important, but in the 21st century they will be absolutely vital, she said.

"I was very proud when my husband's administration launched the first-ever White House initiative on Asian- Americans and Pacific Islanders," she added.

The United States, she said, is a country built by the hard work of generations of immigrants and America is stronger because of its diversity and openness.

She also identified Trump - the Republican presidential front runner - in her speech.

"I disagree with the Republican front-runner, Mr Trump. See, I think America is great because generations of hardworking Americans have made us great. Our values and our ideals have made us great," Clinton said.
Activists of Hindu Jagran Manch today burnt the effigy of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in protest against the Malda incident.

Alleging inaction over the Malda riots that broke out in West Bengal on January 3 during a protest rally, activists of the Hindu Jagran Manch burnt West Bengal CM's effigy at the Ghantaghar in Chandausi area here.

Speaking on the occasion, spokesman of west UP unit of the Manch, Kaushal Kishore said that Hindu samaj was no longer safe in West Bengal and President's rule needed to be imposed there.

"The manch will hold similar programmes in western region of the state and burn Mamata Banerjee's effigies to register the protest in a strong way," he added.

Violence had broken out at Kaliachak in Malda district on Sunday after alleged comments by a BJP leader.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde called today for more clarity from China on its economic policies as the easing of its exchange rate and plunging stocks sent shockwaves through global markets.

"China is embarking on a historic rebalancing of its growth model, and activity is moderating to more sustainable levels," Lagarde said during a visit to Cameroon.

"Nonetheless, this rebalancing is a bumpy process whose effects are being felt worldwide - which reinforces the need for more clarity on policies, especially exchange rate policy," she added.

This week the Chinese central bank guided the yuan currency down, setting its daily fix lower for eight sessions, cutting its value by 1.4 per cent to its lowest level since March 2011, before a slight reversal today.

Although many economists say a gradual lowering of the value of the yuan was to be expected after other major economies weakened their currencies in recent years, the move spooked markets worried about the government's ability to manage the gradual slowdown of growth in the Chinese economy.

Analysts have said the Chinese central bank needs to better communicate its intentions concerning the yuan.

Their handling of the stock market this week also dented confidence in the ability of Chinese officials to manage the economy.

New "circuit breakers" brought into force this week meant to decrease trading volatility backfired.

Trading was halted on Monday and yesterday as share prices plunged the daily maximum of 7 per cent, prompting regulators to rescind the rule.

"As I underlined several times in the past weeks, this transition will certainly be far from easy, and is also feeding into lower demand for commodities," she said.

China is a major consumer of commodities, and its slowing growth has hammered prices of resources, with the price of oil falling by over two thirds in the past year and a half.

While lower prices have been a boon for consumers, they have hurt commodity exporting nations across the globe.

Lagarde said the "fragility" of the global economy would persist in 2016.
Delhi BJP today demanded immediate implementation of the recommendations of the 4th Delhi Finance Commission by the Arvind Kejriwal government to provide funds to the municipal corporations and alleged that it was not doing so due to political malice.

Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay also warned that party workers would take to streets alongwith the employees of the three civic bodies, who have not been paid salaries for months.

"For the last one year, we have been demanding the government to provide funds to the municipal corporations as per recommendations of the 4th DFC, but the Kejriwal dispensation due to political malice has not implemented it," he said.

Attacking Kejriwal dispensation for poor financial condition of the three BJP-ruled municipal corporations, Upadhyay said the corporations also owe Rs 2,917 crore under the 3rd Finance Commission recommendations.

"If the government fails to take immediate steps to implement 4th DFC recommendations, BJP workers and leaders will take to streets, and join with the municipal corporation employees who have been demanding salaries and other dues," Upadhyay said in a joint press conference.

Party MLA and leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta demanded the government to hold a special session of the Assembly for discussion over the issue.

He also accused the government of hampering functioning of the civic bodies.

The mayors of municipal corporations Harshdeep Malhotra (East), Subhash Arya (South) and Ravinder Gupta accused the Delhi government for poor financial conditions of the civic bodies.

"The government passed the recommendations of 4th DFC in Assembly but refrained from its implementation with a rider that it will do so after Central government implemented suggestions of the commission," said Malhotra.

The BJP leaders also demanded action against AAP minister Imran Hussain for allegations of "eve teasing" against him.

"We demand Delhi Police to take action on the complaints of eve teasing against Imran Hussain by a woman. We will hold a massive protest if police failed to take any action in this matter," BJP Mahila Morcha Kamaljeet Sehrawat said.
Clashes between a joint Turkish-Iraqi force and Islamic State militants near a training camp outside the northern Iraqi city of Mosul have left at least 18 IS fighters dead, the Turkish president and a former Iraqi governor said today.

The fighting erupted late yesterday outside the Bashiqa camp, which was at the center of a controversy last month when Turkey moved troops there to protect Turkish trainers aiding local Sunni fighters hoping to take back Mosul from the Islamic State group.

Baghdad has demanded that Turkish troops withdraw, describing their presence as a violation of international law. Ankara has pulled some troops out but not all.

Turkish President Erdogan said today that IS tried to infiltrate Bashiqa, triggering the clashes. Former Iraqi governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, who founded the training camp, said the attack was preempted.

But the commander of the training camp, Maj Gen. Mohammed Yahya, told The Associated Press that he was at the camp yesterday night and there were no such clashes. "There were airstrikes on IS targets, but there's always airstrikes. Our troops were not involved in any fighting," he insisted.

Meanwhile, a commander with the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces at the frontline near the training camp said airstrikes killed 16 IS fighters yesterday night. The commander, Saeed Mamuzini, said he was not aware of any fighting between the Sunni-Turkish forces and the IS group.

The disparate accounts of the events yesterday night could not immediately be reconciled.

Meanwhile in Syria, an Islamic State fighter shot and killed his mother after the extremist group told him she was a non-believer, activists said.

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the Syrian conflict, the 20-year-old fighter killed his mother in front of a large gathering in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate.
Sexual advances or just friendly gestures? In a bid to prevent violence against women, Norway is offering asylum seekers courses in how to interpret mores in a country that may seem astonishingly liberal to them.

A debate on integration has flared in Germany after New Year's Eve attacks in Cologne, where more than 100 women reported being sexually assaulted or robbed by men described as being of Arab or North African origin.

Questions are also being raised about how to integrate men from patriarchal societies into Europe, where emancipated women dress skimpily, go out, and drink and party.

"Our aim is to help asylum seekers avoid mistakes as they discover Norwegian culture," explained Linda Hagen of Hero, a private company that runs 40 percent of Norway's reception centres for asylum seekers.

"There's no single cultural code to say what is good or bad behaviour because we want a free society," she said.

"There has to be tolerance for attitudes that may be seen as immoral by some traditional or religious norms."



After what she called a "wave of rapes" committed mostly by foreigners in the southwestern town of Stavanger between 2009 and 2011, Hero launched a course at some of its centres that touches on cultural differences regarding women.

The course, which Hero has tacked onto the immigration agency's broader, mandatory introduction programme to Norway, addresses the problem of sexual assault, using concrete examples for the participants to discuss.

"It could be an 18-year-old guy who says he's surprised by the interest some Norwegian girls are showing in him. He assumes they want to sleep with him," Hagen said.

"So the group leader will ask him: Who are these girls? Where do you meet them? How do you know it is sex they want? Not all women in Norway are the same," she added.

To avoid stigmatising immigrants, the role of sexual predator in these scenarios may be assigned to a Norwegian. "We turn the roles around a bit because there are rapists in all ethnic groups," Hagen said.

Xenophobic blogs are however rife with reports of violent attacks allegedly committed by foreigners, including a November incident in which a 12-year-old girl was physically molested by two underage asylum seekers.
The All Parties Migrant Coordination Committee (APMCC), an amalgam of Kashmiri Pandits outfits, today demanded that India include the issue of reopening of Sharda pilgrimage at PoK in its dialogue agenda with Pakistan.

The organisation's Chairman Vinod Pandit claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had supported the demand before the Lok Sabha elections and had promised to take steps on the issue in case of an NDA victory.

"If the government can talk to Pakistan even after the Pathankot attack, I don't see why it cannot raise this demand as well. Not allowing Kashmiri Pandit's to visit their holiest shrine amounts to human rights violation," Pandit said in a press conference here.

Ravinder Pandita of APMCC said that annual pilgrimage to the site, which was a "seat of learning" for Hindus, located in Neelam valley of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, used to take place till 1947.

Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain, who was also present, said that even the Amarnath shrine "may not be" as important as the Sharda Peeth. He also pitched for the setting up of a 'Sharda seat of learning' or a similar centre at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Utpal Kaul, a founder member of 'Panun Kashmir', said that Sharda Peeth was inseparable from Jammu and Kashmir and that historically Kashmir has also been known as 'Sharda Desh'.

"The only script that Kashmir has produced is also known as Sharda script," he said underscoring the need for setting up Sharda university.
South Africa's veteran freedom fighter of Indian-origin, Indres Naidoo, has passed away and will be accorded an official funeral, with national flags flown half-mast.

South African President Jacob Zuma has declared a Special Provincial Official Funeral for Naidoo, 79, a stalwart of the liberation struggle and recipient of the National Order of Mendi for Bravery, who passed away at a military hospital in Cape Town on January 3.

Zuma has directed that the national flag should be flown at half-mast at all stations in the Gauteng Province on Sunday, the day of his funeral.

"On behalf of government, we wish to convey once more our heartfelt condolences to the family of Comrade Indres Naidoo, his community and the Tripartite Alliance as a whole," he said.

There are three main types of funerals in South Africa's Funeral Policy - State Funeral, Official Funeral and Provincial Official Funeral. Distinguished persons can be granted a special Provincial Official Funeral Category.

The Premier of a province sends a request to the President for consideration if they feel a resident of the province deserves such recognition.

Commenting on the "vacuum" that would be created by Naidoo's death, an African National Congress (ANC) spokesman said he had served as a repository of institutional memory that other members could draw on.

Naidoo hailed from a family steeped in the struggle to end apartheid and bring about a democratic South Africa.

Naidoo's political career began in 1953 after the death of his father Naran Naidoo, when he joined the youth wing of the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC), becoming the joint secretary of the organisation.

By 1958, he had become an executive member of the TIC before joining Umkhonto We Sizwe, the armed wing of the ANC, in 1961.

In May 1963, Naidoo was sentenced along with his friend Shirish Nanabhai to 10 years' imprisonment on Robben Island, where Zuma had become one of their fellow prisoners soon afterwards in a large communal cell.

After his release, Naidoo worked for a while but eventually went into exile in Mozambique, where his daughter Djanine is an architect.

A devoted member of the Communist Party as well, Naidoo returned after the organisation was unbanned in 1990 with the release of Nelson Mandela and worked at the Party's offices in Johannesburg. He also served as a member of the first democratically-elected Parliament headed by President Mandela from 1994 to 1999.
The integrated water transport project mooted by Kochi Metro Rail Limited got a boost today with the Union government granting final approval for the ambitious project planned around scenic backwaters in Kochi region.

The Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance, proposed the project to KfW, the German bank, which has agreed to fund the project with their recommendation, a KMRL release said.

It is expected to be included in the next Board of Directors of KfW, which will be held next month, it said.

The initiative for developing a modern water transport system for the Greater Kochi region under Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA), include the introduction of modern water-craft, renovation of boat-jetties, re-development of access roads with street lights and provision of connectivity between the boat-jetties and the bus and metro stations.

The project would be financed as the 'climate friendly urban mobility' project under Indo-German Bilateral Cooperation.

The total cost of the project is Rs 741 crore excluding 72 crore for land acquisition, in which KfW would give financial assistance to the extent of EURO 85 million, approximately Rs 595 crore, as a long term soft loan.

A sum ofRs 102 crore would be contributed by the government of Kerala.

This is indeed a great moment for Kochi Metro Rail Limited, and it is a measure of the topicality and importance of the project that Centre has accorded sanction in a record time of seven weeks, it said.

"Now approval of KfW is expected in this February and as soon as we get the clearance from them, we will go ahead with implementation of the project. This project is expected to completely alter the public transportation architecture of the Greater Kochi area," said Elias George, Managing Director, KMRL.

The major part of the project is the procurement of



modernised boats. Two variants of air-conditioned and Wi-Fi enabled glass reinforced plastic (GRP) catamaran passenger ferries with passenger capacity of 50 and 100 respectively are recommended in the detailed project report prepared by UMTC.

The boats with diesel electric hybrid based propulsion system are recommended to operate at an optimal speed of 8 knots, which can go up to 12 knots, once the recommended dedicated water transit corridor is established.

Apart from the ferry service development, the project also recommends developing existing and new access roads providing increased accessibility to the jetties and also enhanced mobility within the islands, infrastructure for ensuring safety and security to all its users by way of active and well-lit streets and CCTV cameras.

The major jetties or the main boat hubs shall be developed with Wi-Fi enabled social recreational opportunities around the jetty locations.

Tourism is also proposed to be promoted as part of the project.

A total of 16 out of 38 jetties will be developed in the first phase, the release added.
Iran's foreign minister says Saudi Arabia has to make "a crucial choice" either continue supporting extremists and promoting sectarian hatred or promote good neighbourliness and regional stability.

Javad Zarif said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon obtained yesterday by The Associated Press that Iran has "no desire or interest in escalation of tension in our neighbourhood" and hopes Saudi Arabia will "heed the cause of reason."



The current crisis between the Mideast rivals was sparked by Saudi Arabia's execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric, on Jan 2. Crowds of protesters in Iran then attacked two Saudi diplomatic posts, leading the Saudi government to sever ties with Tehran.

Zarif said that from the first days of President Hassan Rouhani's election in June 2013, both he and the president have sent public and private signals to Saudi Arabia "about our readiness to engage in dialogue and accommodation to promote regional stability and combat destabilising extremist violence."



But Zarif accused the Saudis of trying to prevent or defeat the nuclear deal reached in July with six world powers, of producing and supporting extremists who have carried out "acts of terror" and of waging a "senseless war" in Yemen.

Zarif also accused Saudi authorities of engaging in "numerous direct and at times lethal provocations against Iran."



He said Saudi bombers hit Iranian diplomatic facilities in Yemen several times, "killing two local service personnel, injuring a number of Yemeni guards and inflicting damage to the buildings." He said the attacks occurred on April 24 and Sept 18 last year and most recently on Thursday.

Zarif did not specify on which dates the killings and injuries took place. An Associated Press reporter who reached the Iranian Embassy in Sanaa on Thursday just after the government announcement that it had been hit saw no damage to the building.

Zarif also accused the Saudis of mistreating Iraqi pilgrims which has fueled "public outrage in Iran," and appointing preachers who have made "a routine practice of hate speech not only against Iran but against all Shiite Muslims."



He said the Saudis also engaged in economic warfare by trying to strangle Iran's economy with drastic reductions in the price of oil, the country's main export.
Iranian Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, the outspoken and glamorous twin sister of the country's deposed shah, has died at age 96.

Reza Pahlavi, a son of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, announced Princess Ashraf's death on Facebook on Thursday night, without offering a cause. A longtime adviser to Princess Ashraf in New York could not be immediately reached for comment today.

After her brother's 1979 overthrow in Iran's Islamic Revolution, Princess Ashraf shuttled between homes in Paris, New York and Monte Carlo.

The French press dubbed her "La Panthere Noire," or the Black Panther. She published a memoir and remained outspoken immediately after the overthrow, but gradually faded from public view in later years.
The Islamic State group claimed today to have staged an attack on an Israeli tourist bus in Cairo a day earlier which officials described as mere vandalism that caused no casualties.

IS said a "security detachment" had targeted a "tourist bus carrying Jews" and that there were "killed and wounded in the ranks of the Jews and hotel security forces".

But officials and witnesses said yesterday that a gang of youths hurled fireworks and fired birdshot at a bus and police guarding the hotel without hurting anyone.

There was no reference to Jews, but to Arab Israelis, who were staying at the Three Pyramids Hotel.

A security official said about 40 of them were inside waiting to board a bus when the attack occurred.

The interior ministry said unknown assailants had gathered outside the hotel and targeted police guarding it, who fired back.

It added that one of the attackers was arrested.

Hotel employee Yasser Fakhreddin said the group "threw fireworks and fired birdshot at the glass facade of the hotel as well as the windows of an empty bus waiting to pick up the Arab Israeli tourists".

An AFP photographer said bits of the facade and the bus's windows had been broken.

The IS statement, published online, claimed the attack was in response to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's call "to target the Jews everywhere".

In an audio message released on December 26, Baghdadi pledged to attack Israel, saying IS has "not forgotten Palestine for a single moment".

Egypt, which has fought several wars with Israel, is one of only two Arab nations, along with Jordan, to have signed a peace treaty with the Jewish state.

The country has been roiled by mainly jihadist violence since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The attacks have largely focused on security forces in reprisal for a fierce crackdown on Morsi supporters.
People For Animals (PFA) today strongly condemned the lifting of ban on controversial bull taming sport jallikattu, saying that it is against the ideology of the Centre which believes in saving cows.

The animal welfare organisation, which has been founded by Women and Child Development minister Maneka Gandhi, said they will oppose the decision on appropriate forum.

"It is not only against the ideology of the (Centre) government which has always protested against cow slaughtering, it also against the Indian culture because Indian culture does not support violence and cruelty to animals. It stands for much better things," PFA member Gauri Maulekhi said.

"We are shocked as we do not expect this from the government. We have decided to oppose it at the appropriate forum," she said.

However, Gandhi, who wrote a letter to Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar against revoking the ban on the controversial sport, refused to comment on this issue.

The Centre today came out lifted the ban on the bull taming sport in poll-bound Tamil Nadu following an extensive demand for its restoration by political parties in the state.

The decision to allow sport and bullock cart races came despite objections by animal rights groups, who claim that during this event bulls are deliberately disoriented through substances like alcohol and are stabbed and jabbed by objects like sickles, spears, knives and dragged to the ground.
The Centre's notification allowing jallikattu in Tamil Nadu was today welcomed by political leaders as well as organisers and other stakeholders, with Chief Minister Jayalalithaa thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his 'prompt response' in the matter.

Rural parts of the state especially southern districts, where the bull taming sport is popular during the annual Pongal festivities in mid-January, celebrated the Centre's decision with jallikattu organisers and the sport lovers bursting crackers and distributing sweets.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Jayalalithaa who pursued the matter with him said, "I am very grateful to you for your prompt response in the matter, which has enabled the conduct of Jallikattu."



She said the sport "upholds traditional cultural values and traditions of Tamil Nadu and has great historical significance and also ensures the conservation of native germ plasm and continuance of traditional breeds of indigenous cattle".

DMK President M Karunanidhi said, "I thank the Central government for giving permission for the sport, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan for his continuous efforts and all others who strove for it."



Earlier in the day, Radhakrishnan, a senior BJP leader from the state, broke the about the Centre's notification through a tweet and thanked Modi.

Later talking to reporters, Radhakrishnan had a word of caution to the organisers and participants of Jallikattu that efforts should be made to avoid problems during the event.

"...Conduct of the event this year would go a long way in ensuring perpetual recurrence of the sport," he said asking the stake-holders to ensure all round safety.

Hailing the development as a "victory for Tamil people," the minister thanked Jayalalithaa, Karunanidhi, DMDK chief Vijayakanth, MDMK leader Vaiko and all other political leaders for their efforts in the matter and termed the Centre's nod as a "joint effort" by all parties and stakeholders.

A Madurai report said jallikattu organisers and the sport lovers in southern districts broke into celebrations and thanked village deities for answering their prayers for conducting the sport, part of Tamil culture.

Residents of various villages, including Alanganallur, a popular destination for jallikattu that attracts a number of foreigners, Avaniapuram and Palamedu welcomed the decision.

Jallikattu, before it was banned, attracted tourists from



various parts of the country and abroad, generating revenue and providing livelihood for rural people in areas where the sport was popular.

The local officials said they would start making arrangements for the jallikattu once they received the green signal from the government.

The organisers said they would follow the Supreme Court guidelines in letterand spirit.

Rajasekhar, a jallikattu organiser, said the sport was banned on misconception that the bulls were being ill-treated.

"Now the lifting of the ban will not only protect the native breed of bulls from being sent to slaughter houses, but enrich the farm field with their manure," he claimed.

The objective of the sport was manifold including to add colour not only to the Pongal festival, but protecting the bulls which were otherwise not very useful, and promoting sportsmanship, valour and physic of the youth, he said.

Saravanan, who owns three jallikattu bulls worth Rs six lakh, said bulls were worshipped by Hindus. They are reared like race horses by providing nutritious feed.

Many people rear bulls for sake of honour -- they want their bull to win and have no other materialistic intention, he added.

On impact of earlier ban, Saravanan claimed that in the aftermath of the directive several hundred bulls were sent to slaughter houses.

Referring to the objections by animal rights activists, he wondered whether they wanted slaughter of bulls.

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President E V K S Elangovan, PMK chief S Ramadoss and Vaiko welcomed the Centre's notification.

PMK wanted safeguards to ensure that the notification did not confront obstacles like a legal challenge. "Carry out legal safeguards so that no one could get a ban on jallikattu," Ramadoss said.

Congress and MDMK too expressed a view on similar lines. "I will be more happy if the present permission did not face a ban by the court," Elangovan said.

"Appropriate arrangements should be made by the state and Central governments so that there are no other obstacles to the conduct of jallikattu," Vaiko said.

He also wanted sufficient safety measures to be put in place for the event.

Elangovan and Ramadoss had a word of praise for Radhakrishnan for his efforts.

"I welcome the notification, I laud him (Radhakrishnan) for his efforts," the TNCC chief said.

He also said that it was "very erroneous" to blame the notification of the Congress led-UPA in 2011. It did not stand in the way of jallikattu as the event was held in subsequent years till it was banned by the Supreme Court in May 2014, he added.
Jewellers today said they might launch 'protests' against the government's decision to make PAN cards mandatory for any transactions of Rs 2 lakh and above, the implementation of which started from this month.

Jewellers' associations from across the country met here today to discuss the government move to make PAN cards mandatory on any transaction of Rs 2 lakh.

They said that due to this move, their business has gone down by 25-30 per cent.

"We are planning to take representation to the finance minister and the finance secretary in 2-3 days and urge them to make the PAN card mandatory on jewellery purchase of over Rs 10 lakh instead of the present Rs 2 lakh," All-India Gems and Jewellery Federation (GJF) Chairman Sreedhar GV told PTI here.

After suffering losses of 25-30 per cent, jewellers are agitated and things are going out of hand, he added.

"If the government does not take action, there will be protests in a major way. Things are not looking up and many associations are discussing on candle light march and strike," GJF Director Ashok Minawala said.

According to GJF, with just 22.3 crore PAN cards issued in India, over 70 per cent of the demand comes from the rural sector where jewellery is bought both for use as well as a security.
Jammu and Kashmir Congress today paid rich tributes to Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed describing him as "a visionary leader and a best administrator with a great political acumen".

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) today organised a meeting, at the party headquarters here to condole the demise of Sayeed, which was attended by senior party leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad and Saifuddin Soz and presided over by PCC chief GA Mir, a party spokesman said.

"Paying rich tributes to Mufti Sahib, senior Congress leaders recalled his services to the people of the State in different capacities during his long political career and lauded his efforts about the equitable development of all the three regions of the State," he said.

Describing Sayeed as a "visionary" leader, Mir said he always strived to strengthen the democratic and secular values in the State and inspired and guided people to adopt the path of democracy and dialogue through non-violent means.

Recalling the long association of Sayeed with Congress, Mir said he served the party to the best of his ability.

During his association with Congress, Sayeed remained very close to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and was considered a pillar of the party in the State.

Azad described Sayeed as "a best administrator with a great political acumen", saying he was one of the tallest leaders of the country, who remained committed to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and communal harmony in the country.

"Sayeed strongly advocated the healing touch policy in order to address the issues and reach out to the people for redressal of their grievances.

"A man with great acumen and political wisdom, Mufti Saheb always tried to bridge the gaps between the communities and was committed to equitable development of all the three regions of the State," Azad added.
Stricter norms, including fine on use of plastic items, are in store for pilgrims to the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala in Kerala, as the state government has intensified its campaign to tackle the mounting pollution and waste generated by the lakhs of devotees who throng the holy site every year.

The district administration of Pathanamthitta, where the shrine is located, has launched the Mission Green Sabarimala project this year to carry out focused awareness drives and plastic collection exercises.

This is a precursor to tougher controls including a complete ban on bringing plastics and fines over the next two years, according to officials.

Sabarimala, located within the protected Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Western Ghats on the banks of the river Pampa, attracts lakhs of devotees from across the country during the two-month long annual pilgrimage season starting mid-November.

The shrine's growing popularity, leading to greater human activity in the forested area, has led to problems like water and land pollution, waste management issues and damage to wildlife.

Authorities hope that these can be greatly mitigated if pilgrims become more environment-conscious and responsible.

"We are requesting Sabarimala devotees to not bring plastic bags, packets, bottles and containers with them and desist from discarding waste indiscriminately," Pathanamthitta District Collector S Harikishore said.

"While it is understandable that people who travel for days, from other states for example, need to carry and store things, they can use alternatives such as bags made of cloth or other biodegradable materials, reusable containers and bottles," he said in a release here.

Reducing the use of plastics is at the core of Mission Green Sabarimala project's awareness campaign.

"Our larger aim is to make Sabarimala completely plastic free. We are hoping to have an effective alternative system in place before we impose a total ban so the visitors are not inconvenienced," he said.

Volunteers from local schools, the women's self-help group Kudumbashree, the Kerala Forest Department, the state's sanitation agency the Shuchitwa Mission, and the Travancore Devaswom Board, which administers the temple, are assisting in the implementation of the project.

Under the mission, an additional 250 bins have been



installed along the trekking route to collect garbage while around 30 'eco-guards' posted along the Pampa and in resting areas for clean-up operations and to remind pilgrims that dumping clothes and waste in the river is punishable.

The recent practice of devotees discarding clothes in the Pampa has become a serious environmental issue due to the sheer numbers of pilgrims and volume of clothes that needs to be dredged out to keep the river clean, officials said.

The Devaswom Board and private partners in the project have set up plastic exchange counters where pilgrims can deposit their plastic waste in exchange for cloth bags.

There are hoardings, notices and signages along the pilgrim route and campaign volunteers have been distributing pamphlets to inform devotees about the new measures and recommending alternatives to plastic.

The awareness drive has been intensified through the media, social networks and a dedicated website "http://www.Missiongreensabarimala.Com" set up to provide information and seek public participation in the project.

In a bid to reduce the use of plastic bottles, work is on for a Reverse Osmosis plant at the base of the trekking route to provide safe and clean drinking water and install around 50 kiosks providing drinking water along the route.

An estimated two million PET bottles are sold along the trekking path every year.

The Kerala High Court has already ordered for the strict implementation from February 1, the blanket ban on sale and stocking of plastic containers, plastic covers, polyethylene bags, and other plastic materials in and around the shrine.

"Our earnest request to the devotees is that in keeping with the spirit of the pilgrimage, they contribute their share in maintaining the purity of the holy site and help protect the forests and wildlife in Sabarimala," Harikishore added.
Kerala, which has nearly 16 lakh people living abroad, today raised "strong objections" to Centre's decision to merge the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) with the Ministry of External Affairs and said it will raise the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Chief Ministry Oommen Chandy, who is in the national capital, said the MOIA was created due to persistent insistence of Kerala and the decision to merge the two ministries was not "right" as the MOIA addressed the problem of overseas citizens, especially from Kerala, in much effective manner.

He also attacked the government for its decision to abandon the full fledged Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD), a programme to connect with the Indian diaspora.

Chandy, along with K C Joseph, state minister for Non Resident Keralites (NORKA), will also meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and raise the issue with her.

"We have strong objections over the merger of MOIA with MEA. It was at our insistence that the then UPA government set up the Ministry with Vaylar Ravi as its first Minister.

"This Ministry helped to tackle the problems of overseas citizens diplomatically especially during the problem over Nitaqat law in Saudi Arabia. It also helped in effective redressal of issues related to migration, labour laws and working conditions of Indians," Chandy told PTI.

The Nitaqat law makes it mandatory for local companies there to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers. There had been widespread perception that the policy would lead to denial of job opportunities for a large number of Indians working there. Amid concerns over enforcement of Nitaqat law, 1.41 lakh Indians had left Saudi Arabia.

Around 16 lakh Keralites reside abroad, of which a large chunk are in the Gulf nations. The community also sends large amount of remittance to the country. In 2014-15, the figure crossed Rs 1 lakh crore.

Nearly 12 years after it was set up to improve engagement with the Indian diaspora, the MOIA will be merged with MEA in sync with the Narendra Modi Government's broad principle of "minimum government, maximum governance".

The proposal for the merger was cleared by the Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who also holds charge of the MOIA, said yesterday.

The NDA government had taken a decision in October



last year to hold Pravasi Bhartiya Divas event biennially instead of every year conference.

Announcing the plan to organise the event every other year, Swaraj said it would now hold two 'mini' Regional PBDs annually in countries with a presence of Indian diaspora.

Chandy said, "I had reserved a day for PBD well in advance. But then I again received a communication from the Ministry that the CM's session has been cancelled.

"But I am still going for the PBD as it gives an opportunity to interact with non-resident Keralites and leaders of different organisation.

(Reopens DEL35)



CPI-M in Kerala also opposed the move and wanted the



Centre to reconsider its decision to merge MOIA.

CPI-M veteran and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly V S Achuthanandan asked the Centre to reconsider the decision, saying scrapping the MOIA was an "insult" to lakhs of expatriates working abroad, especially in the Gulf regions.

MOIA was created with an aim to directly involve in the problems faced by NRIs, he said in Thiruvananthapuram.

Moreover, the Norka Department of the state created to deal with issues of non-resident Keralites would find it difficult to take up their problmes after the merger, he pointed out.

Criticising the decision, CPI-M politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan said it would only result in neglecting the issues faced by the diasporas.
With a theme focusing on India, this year's Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet will be held from January 21 featuring discussions on the "rising intolerance" in the country.

With over a hundred speakers taking part in more than 60 sessions, the six-day literary fest will take place in the lawns of the historic Victoria Memorial.

On the closing day, a session titled 'Let My Country Awake' will have poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar and renowned author Ruskin Bond discussing with television journalist Barkha Dutt on where the country stands between the extreme positions on the intolerance debate.

Another session will have noted Bengali poet Mandakranta Sen who has returned her Sahitya Akademi Young Writers Special Award to protest against communal attacks in the country.

She will speak on her decision to return the award while young Bengali poet Srijato will talk of his poetry of protest.

Noted writer Nayantara Sahgal who has returned the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award will also speak in one of the sessions about her life.

The literary meet director Malavika Banerjee said India is their theme this year and they have discussions on contemporary issues like intolerance and women related issues.

"Ten sessions are about women and their lives," she said.

Star authors participating in the meet include Ruskin Bond, Amitav Ghosh, Amish Tripathi, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, lyricist-poet Javed Akhtar and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra.

Adding to the glam quotient of the festival would be actors Tabu, Sharmila Tagore, Zoya Akhtar, Nandana Sen and Rahul Bose. Thespian Soumitra Chatterjee will also be atteding the festival.

Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, who was at the centre of a controversy involving former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, will be participating in a discussion on cross-border journalism.

Participating politicians include former Congress minister Jairam Ramesh and Trinamool MP Derek O'Brien.
Two suspected terrorists in army fatigues were today allegedly seen in sensitive Tash Pattan area near the Indo-Pak border in this district of Punjab prompting launch of a combing operation.

"A villager has told police that he had seen two persons in Army fatigues at Tash Pattan," Punjab ADGP (law and order) H S Dhillon said.

Immediately, a search operation had been started in the area, he said.

The area has strategic importance and river Ravi causes damage to the fences and other concrete bundhs put in place at the spot.

Gurdaspur is already under high alert in the wake of reports of two suspected terrorists were sighted near Tibri cantonment few days back. However, after combing operation nothing was found in and around Tibri cantonment and Pandher village, police said.

River Ravi enters Pakistan from Tash Pattan area, officials said adding that at times border fencing gets eroded in the area.

However, BSF officials posted in Tash Pattan, speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged that the Ravi had been eroding their posts in the area.

On Saturday last, six terrorists had attacked air force station at Pathankot before being eliminated in a hours of long gunbatle.

After the incident, a scare was created when villagers told police that they had sighted two terrorists at Pandher village near Tibri cantonment in this district.
A low-cost Ayurvedic medicine has been developed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) along with two other organizations for diabetes patients.

The medicine named "BGR-34" has been developed jointly by CSIR-NBRI (National Botanical Research Institute) Lucknow and CSIR-CIMAP (Central Institute of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (Lucknow).

The medicine was launched here yesterday at the presence of A K S Rawat-Principal Senior Scientist CSIR- National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow and D N Mani Senior Scientist CSIR-Central Institute for Medicinal And Aromatic Plants, Lucknow.

It would help maintain normal Blood Glucose Metabolism and also reduce chances of long term complications, they said.

AIMIL Pharmaceuticals, a private company, has been given the marketing right of the Ayurvedic proprietary medicine, a company release said.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be conferred with the Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship in Singapore during his visit to the island city-state next week.

Chouhan is the fourth Indian who will be awarded the prestigious fellowship on January 13, during his four-day visit to Singapore from January 12 to 15, an official release said here today.

The previous Indian recipients of the fellowship are former Vice Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former Union Minister Arun Shourie and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, it said.

Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship was incepted in 1991. Contribution to development and efforts to promote international goodwill are considered for awarding it.

Till date, 45 foreign dignitaries have been conferred this prestigious fellowship, the release added.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be conferred with the Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship in Singapore during his visit to the island city-state next week.

Chouhan is the fourth Indian who will be awarded the prestigious fellowship on January 13, during his four-day visit to Singapore from January 12 to 15, an official release said here today.

The previous Indian recipients of the fellowship are former Vice Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former Union Minister Arun Shourie and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, it said.

Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship was incepted in 1991. Contribution to national development and efforts to promote international goodwill are considered for awarding it.

Till date, 45 foreign dignitaries have been conferred this prestigious fellowship, the release added.
Stating that the world has now started to recognise India as a trusted investment destination, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the 'Make in India' week will be the crux of various programmes conducted by the World Economic Forum.

The 'Make in India' week will be jointly organised by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, and Maharashtra government in Mumbai from February 13-18.

"What is India's true strength? Modiji has given a call to the world to come and invest in India. And the 'Make in India' week that is being organised for the first time in the city is a part of Modiji's vision," Fadnavis said while addressing a gathering here at the government guest house 'Sahyadri' here.

"Though Mumbai is known to be one of the international cities of the world, most of the iconic programmes of the World Economic Forum are held at places like Davos and Hanover.

"The programme which will be held here under the theme of innovation, design and sustainability will be the crux of all the WEF programmes," he said.

Fadnavis said that economies of countries like China and Japan are not in a very good shape, so the world recognises India as a trusted investment destination.

He further said that delegates and political heads representing various countries will take part in the event.

"This is like a festival for us and we have to celebrate it. Unless all the stakeholders come together and work, we will not get the desired results," he said.

"We can become the manufacturing hub of the world. Through this programme, we are inviting the world to join us and be a part of India's growth story," Fadnavis said.
Ahead of assembly polls in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today invited investors saying her state has a peaceful atmosphere conducive for setting up industries and there was no communal tension.

Compliments were showered on her government at the third edition of Bengal Global Business Summit here from captains of industry as well as ministers of the Narendra Modi government.

Lauding her government, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said, "As an investor, I stand here to say that West Bengal is among the top of the list in terms of doing business and recommend the state as an ideal investment destination."



His statement in the presence of Banerjee and several other industrialists came as a shot in the arm to the TMC government battling to develop an industry-friendly image ahead of the state polls, slated for later this year.

Banerjee in her turn told a galaxy of industrialists, "Our government will work as your worker."



Slamming her detractors, she said, "Some people are saying that there has been no investment. It is not true. Projects worth Rs 94,000 crore investment have already taken off. Some of the projects we had signed have already started.

"We have already set up a core group for industries. Our elections are coming, but don't worry everything will be sorted out. Democracy will continue. This elected government will return."



Speaking of the law-and-order situation, she said, "Bengal is a peaceful state where we all work together. There is no such communal incident or tension. Somebody might criticise it politically. We don't allow all this."



Her comments came against the backdrop of the violence that broke out at Kaliachak in Malda, which had prompted the union home ministry to seek a report from the state government.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "Summits of this kind held every year clearly demonstrates the intention that the need of the hour is to generate growth, increase revenue and fight poverty for which investments are required."



"It is in this context that West Bengal that has lost its glory of the past could be restored and I assure you that the Centre will give all its support to the state's endeavour to attract investments," he said.

Referring to the availability of land in the state,



Banerjee said, "Land won't be a problem in Bengal as the state government has a land policy and a land bank."



"We have cheap and skilled labour and sufficient power," she told the business summit, where a book on investments that have come up in the past four years of Trinamool rule was also released.

Heaping praises on her, Union minister Piyush Goyal said, "The book about the achievements of the state government in trade and industries in the last four years truly reflects the transformational change that we have witnessed in the state."



A "significant paradigm shift" has been witnessed in the way investment is being attracted in the state in the last few years and it stands tall as a shining example of cooperative federalism in the country, he said and thanked TMC for its constant support to GST Bill in Parliament.

"I must thank Mamata Didi for her support to the GST Act that the Centre has been trying to pass. Her MPs have been very vocal in their support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi introducing GST and helping industry flourish," Goyal said.

Mukesh Ambani said Reliance through its telecom arm Reliance Jio has invested nearly Rs 5000 crore in the state in the last three years for developing the digital broadband network.

"We have got all the approvals in a time bound manner," he said.

JSW group chairman Sajjan Jindal, whose company is putting up a Rs 800 crore cement plant at Salboni in West Midnapore district said, "West Bengal is the place to invest. Large power plant and other industries are being set up there. Please invest more and more in Bengal."



Essel Group arm, Essel Infraprojects Limited (EIL) committed an investment of Rs 4,000 crore in the state, while leading corporates ITC and Airtel said they would make further investments in the state in addition to the ongoing ones.

ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar speaking at the summit said the company already has investments worth Rs 4500 crore in process.

Vice-chairman of Bharti Enterprises Rakesh Bharti Mittal said Airtel and Bharti together made an investment of Rs 9000 crore in West Bengal.

"We will invest another Rs 3500 crore in the next three years." he said.

The summit was also attended among others by Union ministers Suresh Prabhu, Nitin Gadkari, UK Employment Minister Priti Patel, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay besides industrialists Mohan Das Pai, Subhas Chandra and delegates from abroad.
A man allegedly attempted suicide by consuming some poisonous substance outside the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in north Delhi's Civil Lines today.

The man, aged between 40-45 years, lives with his family in southwest Delhi's Dabri area. He was wanted by the police in connection with a rape case registered at a police station in Dwarka yesterday, said a police official.

From preliminary investigation, it seems that the man wanted to meet the Chief Minister claiming that he was being framed in the rape case by some persons he had personal enmity with, the official said.

The incident took place in the morning and eye-witnesses told police that the man first threw an object inside the compound of the CM's residence.

When the guards opened the gate for few seconds, he tried to force his way inside, said an official, adding that the exact sequence of events is yet to be ascertained.

Failing in his attempt to enter the premises of the CM's residence, the man collapsed and guards there saw froth coming out of his mouth.

They called up the police and the man was rushed to Lok Nayak hospital, where his condition is now reported to be out of danger, said the official adding that the time when he consumed the poisonous substance is also yet to be ascertained.

He is likely to be arrested by the local police in connection with the rape case as soon as he is discharged from the hospital. He may also be booked in a separate case of attempt to commit suicide, the offcial added.

Kejriwal is in Kolkata to attend the Global Business Summit organized by the West Bengal government.
Slamming the Centre's decision to merge Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) with External Affairs Ministry (MEA), Kerala today termed it as an insult to NRI community and demanded that the Prime Minister revoke it at the earliest to avoid any "adverse" effect.

In a strongly worded letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the "abrupt" decision to merge the ministries was taken without "consultation or any proper analysis".

"I am really shocked to hear the about the abrupt decision to merge the Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry with the External Affairs Ministry without any consultation or proper analysis. We cannot ignore the contribution of NRIs in India's development and spreading India's rich culture and heritage. This decision is an insult to whole NRI community," Chandy said.

"The decision of the Government of India to merge the Ministry of Overseas Indian affairs with the Ministry of External Affairs will adversely affect the interest of the overseas Indians and hence I request you to kindly reconsider this and withdraw the decision at the earliest," he added.

The Kerala CM, who is in the national capital, said the MOIA was created due to persistent insistence of Kerala and the decision to merge the two ministries was not "right" as the MOIA addressed the problem of overseas citizens, especially from Kerala, in much effective manner.

"The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs came into existence in the year 2002 with the objective to deal with various issues of Overseas Indians and also to frame schemes for their comprehensive welfare. Since then the Ministry took proactive measures for the Overseas Indians.

"The Ministry succeeded in amending the rules for providing voting rights to the overseas Indians, extending dual citizenship to oversees Indians by issuing OCI cards, implementing insurance and pension schemes, and controlling the recruiting agencies effectively," Chandy said in his letter.

He added that the MOIA has intervened effectively during crisis situations in Yemen, Libya and Iraq and also helped the migrant workers to secure gainful employment through signing labour contract with the foreign governments.

Around 16 lakh Keralites reside abroad, of which a large chunk are in the Gulf nations. The community also sends large amount of remittance to the country. In 2014-15, the figure crossed Rs 1 lakh crore.

He also attacked the government for its decision to abandon the annual full fledged Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD), a programme to connect with the Indian diaspora.

PBD conventions are being held every year since 2003. Last year, the government decided to hold larger version of PBD after every two years and that limited version of the event will be organised in the intervening year.

The first limited version PBD will be held tomorrow.

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Chandy, along with K C Joseph, state minister for Non- Resident Keralites (NORKA), will also meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and raise the issue with her.

Citing the importance of celebrating the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa with the overseas Indians as Pravasi Bhartiya Divas on January 9th, Chandy said the event should continue uninterrupted.

"I would also express my concern in the decision to suspend the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas celebrations which is the flagship programme of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. MOIA since its inception have celebrated the PBD every year for the last 13 years. It has provided a platform for the overseas Indians to raise their problems and concerns before the Government of India as well as the State Governments.

"The overseas Indians took this opportunity to interact and share their experiences and the State Governments had utilised the event for economic engagements with overseas Indians also," Chandy said.

Nearly 12 years after it was set up to improve engagement with the Indian diaspora, the MOIA will be merged with MEA in sync with the Narendra Modi Government's broad principle of "minimum government, maximum governance".

The proposal for the merger was cleared by the Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who also holds charge of the MOIA, said yesterday.
Mexican authorities have recaptured fugitive drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, six months after his prison break, President Enrique Pena Nieto said today.

"Mission accomplished: We got him. I want to inform Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been arrested," Pena Nieto wrote on Twitter.

A presidential spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the tweet to AFP, but declined to give more details, saying that a press conference would be held later today.

Mexican marines have conducted extensive operations in the northwestern states of Sinaloa and Durango in search of the since the 58-year-old drug lord's spectacular July 11 escape.

of his arrest came shortly after the navy reported that five suspects were killed in a clash with marines in the Sinaloa city of Los Mochis, but it did not indicate whether it was related to Guzman.

On July 11, 2015, after just 17 months at the Altiplano maximum-security prison in central Mexico, Guzman slipped through a hole in his cell's shower, climbed on a motorcycle mounted on rails, and traveled 1.5 kilometers (one mile) through the tunnel.
Migrants trying to enter the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa from Morocco have faced beatings and other abuses from police, a migrants' rights group said.

The Moroccan Association for the Integration of Immigrants, which is based in Malaga in southern Spain, yesterday said six migrants had been killed since December 25 trying to make the dangerous crossing.

Three migrants drowned and 19 others were hospitalised on Christmas Day attempting to enter the territory by swimming from Morocco or scaling a barbed-wire fence, the rights group said in a statement.

Those hurt and killed were part of a group of over 300 migrants who were trying to reach Ceuta, which is located across the Strait of Gibraltar from mainland Spain.

A total of 185 migrants managed to enter the Spanish territory but a "large group" was arrested by Moroccan authorities and released in cities in southern Morocco, the statement said.

Another three migrants drowned on Monday and about 20 were hospitalised when hundreds of migrants once again tried to cross into Ceuta from Morocco, the association said.

Two men and a woman are in critical condition and will need surgery to repair fractured bones in their legs and hands, it added.

"Two of the victims said the fractures they suffered were due to the violence and abuse exercised on the part of security forces against them," the statement said.

About 250 migrants who tried to enter Ceuta at this attempt were arrested by Moroccan authorities and taken to cities in southern Morocco, including several who were in critical condition, it added.

The association said it was "extremely worried" by the rise in the "acts of violence against migrants in border areas of Ceuta" and called for an investigation into the actions of security forces in the region.

Ceuta, along with Melilla to the east, are Spanish territories on the northern coast of Morocco that together form the European Union's only land borders with Africa.

Spain fortified fences in the two territories last year in response to a rise in the number of migrants trying to jump over the barriers from Morocco.

In February 2014, 15 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean after dozens tried to enter Ceuta by swimming from a nearby beach.
Most cases of sexual assault on London's Underground network take place during rush hour, latest figures show, busting the myth that women are most at risk during late night hours.

British Transport Police (BTP) statisticsshow between January 2014 and December 2015, 322 sexual assaults were reported on the Tube during the evening peak post-work travel period of 5pm to 7pm.

There were a further 291 reports to BTP during the 8am to 10am commute-to-work time over the same period in 2014-15.

In contrast 110 assaults were reported between 11pm and 1am, busting the myth that women were most at risk late at night.

"Significant work has taken place to encourage reporting of sexual offences on trains and tubes under the successful 'Report it to Stop it' campaign," a BTP spokesperson said.

Cases of sexual assault on transport networks across Europe have been in the limelight in recent weeks after hundreds of women complained of attacks in Cologne, Germany, on New Year's Eve.

Today it led to Cologne's police chief Wolfgang Albers being told by the state's interior minister, Ralf Jaeger, that he would be given early retirement after the 60-year-old was criticised over his force's handling of the violence.

Police have identified 31 suspects, of whom 18 are asylum seekers, the German interior ministry said.

The suspects include nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, four Syrians, five Iranians, two Germans, an Iraqi, a Serb, and an American, a spokesman for the ministry said.

of the arrests came as police in Finland and Switzerland reported similar sex attacks on women over the New Year.

Three asylum seekers have been arrested in Helsinki and Finnish police said they had received information that groups of asylum seekers planned to harass women in the city.

Police in Zurich said six women had reported being sexually assaulted and robbed on New Year's Eve in cases "a little similar" to those in Germany.

There have been reports of similar attacks in cities across Germany and in neighbouring Austria.
Hit by the four-month-long Madhesi agitation and border blockade, angry businessmen in a major city in southern Nepal bordering India have torched motorbikes of the protesting leaders.

The businessmen torched two motorbikes belonging to Madhesi leaders in Janakpur in Dhanusha district yesterday. In retaliation, the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) supporters took to the streets and enforced a shutdown in the area today.

The front also enforced shutdown of schools, colleges and market places.

A meeting of the party yesterday declared senior vice-chairman of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries Janakpur chapter Bijay Kumar Shah, and two businessmen, as anti-Madhesis and decided to close their shops and business establishments.

The local traders protested after some demonstrators participating in a rally vandalised a cloth shop in Janakpur.

Life in the southern Nepal plains have been seriously affected by the protests by Indian-origin Madhesis against the country's new Constitution that was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on September 20.

Madhesis, who share strong cultural and family bonds with Indians, demand a 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 launched by the marginalised groups of the country.
St Stephen's principal Valson Thampu, who has been under attack for months for allegedly shielding a professor accused of molesting a research scholar, today asserted that supporting the teacher is the most "heroic" thing ever done by him.

While Thampu had maintained in past that the allegations against him are part of a "constructed controversy" by a few "vested interests", he had publically supported the professor earlier this week saying the complaint was a "diabolic lie".

"One of the HEROIC things I have ever done in my life is to have stood by Satish Kumar who was, I was absolutely convinced, framed maliciously, without any basis whatsoever, in the infamous and inhuman sexual harassment case.

"I did not 'shield a harasser', instead, I stood by a disabled colleague who was being hounded precisely because he was upright and incorruptible. Had I let him down, I would have died in shame. He was being hounded worse than a deer chased by a tiger," he said in a Facebook post.

The girl had approached police in July last year, alleging she was molested by Kumar, a Chemistry professor with 85 per cent disability, supervising her research.

She had also accused Thampu of "shielding" the assistant professor when the matter was reported to him. The allegations against Thampu had prompted certain sections of students, teachers and women rights group to demand his resignation.

Meanwhile, the complainant and her lawyer refused to comment on Thampu's statement saying they "will take an action at an appropriate time".

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Reacting to Thampu's remarks, a few alumni slammed him for his "choice of words" on social media.

"What pains me about Valson Thampu's illiterate rants is how little he understands St Stephen's and (he) has done irreparable damage to the uniqueness of the Stephanian ethos," said Amitabha Pande.

Another alumni said, "Thampu has such contempt for people (alumni, dhabbawallas) that it easily can be construed as streak of craziness."



"He is entitled to his brazen and crass views but his choice of words just shows how askance he is from the sentiments of most alumni (sic)," said alumni Shivinder Singh.
Days ahead of the proposed declassification of files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by the Centre, his grandson and historian Sugata Bose today said people are "disrespecting" him by linking him to Gumnami Baba.

"Linking Netaji with some Gumnami Baba is actually disrespect shown to a person who has devoted his entire life to the country. The people should go through files relating to him declassified till date before making such comments," Bose, a Trinamool Congress MP, told PTI.

"So far 99.9 per cent of the files related to Netaji are available and people must read them before linking him to someone like Gumnami Baba and stop insulting the country's great hero," he said.

"I will say that the 0.1 per cent of the remaining files must be declassified," Bose, who is the Gardiner Professor of History at Harvard University, said.

Asked whether he would be present during the proposed declassification of files by the Centre in New Delhi on Netaji's birthday on January 23, Bose said, "I will naturally have a look at the files after they are declassified by the Centre. But on January 23 because I have plenty of important programmes regarding Netaji's birthday celebrations I will not be able to leave Kolkata.

"Also I cannot be there because I am a serious historian. I dislike the family concept because Netaji used to say that 'family and my countrymen are co-terminal'... I believe that it is not that important that I have to be there," he said, adding he would probably go to New Delhi the next day "to have a look at the files".

Bose said the team which is scheduled to be at the capital during the proposed declassification of the files consisted "conspiracy theorists" who were spreading different rumour including that of Gumnami Baba.

There were reports that Netaji had lived in the guise of of Gumnami Baba in Uttar Pradesh after his mysterious disappearance in 1945.

Bose said trained historians are required to understand



the content of the files.

"Each file requires professional scrutiny by trained historians to actually access the significance of the information contained. There are specific methods to go through files because there are instances when revolutionaries used to provide wrong informations to misguide people," he said.

Asked whether there was any political motive behind West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's initiative in declassifying 64 files relating to Netaji, Bose said, "Netaji is above all political parties. I know Mamata Banerjee for a long time... She is a genuine admirer of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose."



"Just like other countrymen, I do not see any political motive behind her decision to declassify the files," he added.
The entry of streaming pioneer Netflix in India is evolutionary in nature though its inaugural price is a bit on the higher side for what it offers, a leading US expert has said.

"I would say that the current price is a bit on the high side for what Netflix offers currently and it will have to keep increasing content quantity and quality over time to justify the price point," said Puneet Manchanda, a professor of marketing at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

His areas of expertise are business in emerging markets, business in India and strategy and marketing issues.

Netflix's global expansion is driven by three forces, he said.

First, Netflix needs to convince investors that it can keep growing. With the broadband market size outside the US about six times the size of the US market, any significant growth in the future will come from large international markets such as India.

Second, a large global reach can be a strong bargaining chip for Netflix in obtaining distribution rights from content providers.

Finally, Netflix's vision is to be a content provider itself - this expansion exposes a large part of the world to original Netflix content, he said.

"In terms of entering India, Netflix can quickly capitalise on a large English speaking market. But, for the Indian media landscape, the current entry is more evolutionary rather than revolutionary as the English speaking market already has access to a lot of Netflix's India content," Manchanda said.

However, if Netflix can crack the vernacular market eg by producing content in local languages with local talent, it has the potential to be revolutionary, Manchanda said.

On Wednesday Netflix launched its service globally, simultaneously bringing its Internet TV network to more than 130 new countries around the world.

"Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network," said Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix in a key note address at CES 2016 in Las Vegas.

However, Netflix will not yet be available in China, though the company continues to explore options for providing the service. It also will not be available in Crimea, North Korea and Syria due to US government restrictions on American companies operating there.

Since its launch in 2007, Netflix has expanded globally, first to Canada, then to Latin America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

In India, the service will be available under three monthly packs -- Basic (Rs 500), Standard (Rs 650) and Premium (Rs 800). Besides, users will get a month of free trial.
Swedish police say at least 15 young women have reported being groped by groups of men on New Year's Eve in the city of Kalmar.

The Swedish reports follow a string of sex assaults and robberies during New Year's celebrations in Germany.

Kalmar police spokesman Johan Bruun on Friday said groups of men encircled women on a crowded square and groped them. He said no one was physically injured but that many of those targeted were terrified.

He said two men, both asylum-seekers, were informed through interpreters that they're suspected of sexual assault and that police are trying to identify other suspects.

Asked about similarities to assaults in Germany, Bruun said "we are aware of what happened in Germany but we are focusing our investigation on what happened in Kalmar.
With the prevailing high temperature threatening to affect the wheat crop, the government today said the next 2-3 days will be crucial and it is closely monitoring the situation.

As per the Agriculture Ministry's data, the sowing of wheat -- the main rabi (winter) crop -- has been lagging so far due to lack of soil moisture following two consecutive drought years.

Sowing of wheat and other rabi crpos begins from October and harvest starts from April.

"Unfortunately, there were unseasonal rains and untimely rains in the last 2-3 seasons. Now, we are facing higher than normal temperature. There is no need to panic. We hope in the next 2-3 days, the temperature will come down," Agriculture Secretary Siraj Hussain told reporters here.

Sating that the next 2-3 days are going to be crucial for rabi crops, he said, "If weather conditions of longer term forecast given by Pune-based IMD comes true, it will be fine. We are watching the situation very closely."



"The current temperature is above the average normal level. However, we are not in a situation at present to assess the loss of production right now. The technical advisories suggest that there is no adverse impact so far on rabi wheat crop," he said.

Noting that the government fully realises the enormous challenge that climate change poses to the farm sector, Hussain said that officials of the Agriculture Ministry as well as Karnal-based Directorate of Wheat Research are closely monitoring the crop condition.

The ministry is sending advisories via SMS and advertisements, while on the other side the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) assessing the impact of climate change on production and productivity, he added.

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said the ICAR has released drought and flood-resistant seed varieties to cope with the challenges of climate change.

Wheat sowing is trailing by over seven per cent but the the area may improve as planting will continue till January 15, he added.

Last week, a senior Agriculture Ministry official had said that wheat production in India, the world's second- largest producer, is likely to fall below 90 million tonnes (MT) for the second year in a row in 2015-16 due to an unusually dry and warm winter.

Wheat sowing is lagging behind due to high temperature and this will impact wheat production by at least 5 per cent, the official had said.

Wheat output had declined to 88.95 million tonnes in 2014-15 due to to poor monsoon and unseasonal rains in February-March, as against a record 95.85 million tonnes achieved in the previous year.
Islamic religious heads, including Shia and Sunnis, will be meeting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Home Minister Rajnath Singh before January 17 asking government to take a stand against 'inhuman' execution of top Shia cleric Ayaullah Baqir al Nimr by Saudi government for his alleged terror activities. They would also seek to bring international pressure to remove Saudi Arabia from the chair of the United Nations Humans Rights Council, Anjuman-E-Imamia President Syed Zamin Raza told PTI here.

"We will be meeting our External Affairs and also Home Minister before January 17 in New Delhi," he added.

Since India is maintaining good relations with most of the Islamic countries including Iran, Iraq and Afghanisthan among others, Raza said it has political and economic clout tobring international pressure on Saudi authorities to return the body of Nimr to his aggrieved relatives.

Indian government also should use its clout to free all "political prisoners of conscience" by Saudi government and permit Shias in their country to practice itsreligion with peace and dignity, Raza said.

The delegation will also brief Singh and Swaraj, saying that there is not even one terrorist organisation anywhere in the world which is run by Shia community, Raza said.

Countering the charges of Nimr being a terrorist, Syed Adeel Razak, Member of Karnataka State Wakf Board, said those charges were 'false' as the executed leader never indulged in terrorist activities and never wielded any gun or killed any person in his entire life.

Instead, Nimr lived with dignity and laid down hislife for freedom, human values and social justice, Razak said.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lahore visit saying it would help solve disputes between India and Pakistan.

"I think the PM's visit to Pakistan on the occasion of birthday of his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif or marriage in his family was right," Kumar told reporters here.

"This will help solve issues of dispute between India and Pakistan. Such initiative is good," he said.

Apparently referrering to the terrorist attack in Pathankot, Kumar said "whenever the two countries strech their hands to normalise the situation some incidents would happen. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee had gone to Pakistan, Kargil took place."



"There are many forces which do not want good relations between the two countries. When a democratically-elected government in Pakistan makes an effort to solve the disputes, many problems are created in the way," he said.

Kumar said "when democratic government gains strength, other organisations would lose influence which would pave the way for improvement in ties. This is my personal thinking and has nothing to do with politics."



Even as Kumar was supportive of the PM's unscheduled visit to Pakistan on December 25, his ally and RJD chief Lalu Prasad said "Modi and BJP used to make tall statements on Pakistan before election like '56 inch chest' and 'will see eyeball to eyeball with Pakistan'...What happened to it?...Pakistanis entered our home and killed defence personnel in Pathankot."



"BJP made a hue and cry when two engineers were killed in Darbhanga (for extortion demand). But now Pakistanis have entered our home and killed our men and BJP's mouth is shut on it," Prasad told reporters after filing nomination for the post of RJD national president at the state party headquarter.
Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar today ruled out any "out of court settlement" with neighbouring Karnataka over the Mhadei (Mandovi) river dispute.

"I am not in favour of the out of court settlement with Karnataka. We will fight the issue in the tribunal (Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal)," Parsekar said, a day after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar suggested the possibility of arriving at a settlement between two states.

"If the Defence Minister wants to take up the issue (out of court) I have no issue, but I am not in favour of it," the CM told reporters.

Karnataka has proposed six dams across river Mhadei, which originates in its jurisdiction, which Goa has opposed, saying the move will adversely affect ecology of the coastal state.

Parrikar, who was in Dharwad yesterday to participate in an international conference on 'Enabling Make in India', had said that the out of court settlement on the contentious issue can be considered.

However, Parsekar said that Parrikar did not discuss the issue with him when he was in Goa yesterday.

The issue is currently heard by Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal.
The US has said that the community stands united against North Korea's provocations, with Pyongyang more isolated than ever, after the reclusive nation claimed it has successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test.

"We do know that the community is more united than ever before on this issue and on the appropriate approach to dealing with North Korean provocations. As a result, the North Korean regime is more isolated than ever before," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

"It makes clear to the North Koreans that they have only one path to choose to deal with the extreme poverty and extreme isolation that causes millions of their citizens to suffer. That path is one that includes them ceasing their provocative activities," he said, adding that this includes ending missile and nuclear tests.

"It also means committing to denuclearising the Korean Peninsula and pursing peace and stability on the Peninsula," Earnest said.

Even some of the close allies of North Korea like China and Russia have condemned this flagrant violation of North Korea's obligations, he said.

"In the last 15 years, North Korea is the only country in the world to test a nuclear device like this. It's also an indication of their bad track record when it comes to fulfilling international obligations," he said.

The United States is going to work in close consultation with its partners and allies to determine an appropriate response, he added.

Separately, State Department Spokesman John Kirby said it is clear that North Korea's actions constitute yet another violation of its obligations and commitments under international law, including several UN Security Council resolutions.

"The onus remains on North Korea to refrain from reckless and provocative behavior. We remain in close communication with South Korean leaders on our response and the international response to North Korea's actions," he said.
With ISIS and al-Qaeda using social media to propagate their message of hate and recruit jihadists, top US officials will soon meet executives of the top Silicon Valley IT companies to work out a plan to make it harder for terrorist groups to use such technology.

The Obama Administration would seek the help of the IT companies to block the dangerous dissemination of messages of hate and recruitment place by the terrorist groups without compromising the freedom of speech of people, officials said.

The US Government at this unique Silicon Valley meeting would be represented by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Invitation have been sent to major Silicon Valley IT companies including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and Apple, whose CEO Tim Cook is expected to attend the meeting.

After the San Bernardino shooting last month, President Barack Obama had asked tech leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice.

"The primary purpose is for government officials to press the biggest Internet firms to take a more proactive approach to countering terrorist messages and recruitment online," The Wall Street Journal reported.

Officials see it as a bull session to learn how they might use technology to "disrupt paths to radicalisation to violence" and "identify recruitment patterns" as well as to measure efforts to countering radicalisation, according to an agenda obtained by The Washington Post.
US President Barack Obama vowed not to campaign or vote for any candidate who does not support tighter gun laws, as he rallied support for contentious executive measures.

In an article published before pressing his case in a prime time forum, Obama said he would blackball even members of his own Democratic party if necessary.

"Even as I continue to take every action possible as president, I will also take every action I can as a citizen," he said in an opinion column published by the New York Times.

"I will not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support commonsense gun reform."



That list could include Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who voted against gun reform in 2013.

Obama later appeared on CNN in a town-hall style forum to challenge critics who he said have "mischaracterized" his position.

The appearance came after Obama announced executive measures regulating the sale and purchase of weapons, bypassing Congress.

He also challenged America's most prominent pro-gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, for not taking part in the event.

"There is a reason why the NRA is not here," Obama said. "They are just down the street. And since this is the main reason they exist, you'd think they would be prepared to have a debate with the president."



NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told the event host that "the National Rifle Association sees no reason to participate in a public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House."



Earlier this week a tearful Obama said unilateral measures were needed to tackle US gun violence.

Flanked by survivors of the violence that kills around 30,000 Americans every year and relatives of some of those killed, Obama became emotional as he remembered 20 elementary school children shot dead three years ago in Newtown, Connecticut.

"Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad," the president said, struggling to collect himself. "So all of us need to demand a Congress brave enough to stand up to the gun lobby's lies."



According to a CNN poll 67 percent of people support the measures -- which include an increase in background checks and registration of gun dealers -- and 32 percent oppose.

Critics accuse Obama of infringing on their constitutional right to bear arms.
The Bombay High Court today asked the railway authorities to inform what steps they had taken to ensure women's safety on the Mumbai suburban trains and local stations.

A division bench of Justices Naresh Patil and Ahmed Sayed asked the Central Railway and Western Railway to file affidavits in this regard by January 22.

The judges were hearing a batch of petitions including a public interest litigation filed by Help Mumbai Foundation seeking directions to the authorities to ensure safety of women on roads, trains and railway premises.

Railways lawyer Suresh Kumar said that a committee had been formed to inspect CCTV cameras, toilets, ambulances at the railway stations.

"Why are you forming committees time and again...These are just delay tactics. You form a committee but no steps are taken thereafter," the judges said.

"You have divisional offices and they can coordinate with the station masters and find out whether the facilities such as ambulances, doctors, guards and CCTVs are available. Is there any need to form a committee for this?" they asked.

The court sought to know whether adequate number of Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) constables are present on the platforms.

The judges asked the railways to also inform how many stations the committee had visited.

In August last year, the court had said that the railways may consider installing CCTVs in the ladies compartments of local trains. The petitioners had raised the issue in the wake of an incident where a 22-year-old woman was molested by an unidentified youth while she was travelling alone in an unguarded ladies compartment.

During the hearing of these PILs, the state government appointed Justice Dharmadhikari committee to examine the issues concerning women's safety. Some of its recommendations are being implemented.
The operation to fully sanitise the Pathankot Air base, which was attacked by six terrorists last Saturday, is in its final phase with the personnel of NSG, Army and Garud commandos of IAF undertaking the task on the sprawling complex.

The sanitisation operation, which has been going on for the last three days ever since the six terrorists were gunned down, is in the last leg now, Pathankot SSP R K Bakshi said, adding that "entire area will be sanitised soon".

All vehicles and individuals in Pathankot and nearby villages and towns are being thoroughly checked, he said today.

"We are not taking any chances," the SSP said, adding the operation would be over once "the entire area inside the Air Force base and other places in Pahankot are sanitised."



The combing operation is aimed at ensuring that no terrorists are still hiding and there are no booby traps.

ALSO READ: Extensive search operation on in Gurdaspur

The terrorists were carrying AK-47 rifles, modified Under Grenade Barrel Launcher, pistols, Swiss and commando knives, 40-50 kg of bullets besides 3-4 dozens of magazine and mortars.
A Pakistani national was today indicted by a US court for trying to smuggle high-end military -grade drones for the Pakistan Army by using a Lahore-based shell company.

The individual identified as Syed Vaqar Ashraf, charged on nine counts, transferred more than USD 62,000 to a US company in different money transfers from Pakistan between 2012 and 2014, according to court documents.

The 14-page superseding indictment was filed before a US court in Phoenix in December, but was unsealed only this week.

From court documents, it is not clear if Ashraf has been arrested or is still in Pakistan.

According to the indictment, Ashraf was CEO of Lahore -based I&E International.

Federal prosecutors alleged that this was a front company for the Pakistan Advanced Engineering Research Organisation (AERO), based in Lahore.

Ashraf placed orders to a Arizona-based drone company for high-end military-grade drones.

The Arizona company - not named in the indictment - specialised in the design, development and manufacturing of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for the US military.

Federal prosecutors claim that Ashraf placed orders through emails for purchase of specific gyroscopes including eight VG34-0803 which is designed for medium size, multi- payload UAC designed for tactical long endurance missions, with a primary mission of reconnaissance, surveillance and communication relay.

He also placed orders for 10 Memsic VG800CA-200 Low Drift MEMS Vertical Gyros, which has a military and non-military applications and is used to increase stability inside a UAV.

Both the items come under export control of the US Government.

These models, in fact, were designed for Israel and is used for reconnaissance capable of flying more than 20 hours.

The total cost of these military hardware was nearly USD 3,45,000, for which he made an advancement payment of USD 62,000 in five wire transfers.

According to court documents, Ashraf concealed to the official of the US-based drone company - who was in fact an official of Department of Homeland Security - about the actual reason for his purchase of such equipment.

When the officials from the US drone company told Ashraf that this equipment could not be shipped directly to Pakistan, Ashraf gave them a Brussels address.

"Ashraf requested that Person A (from the US drone company) transship the modules to Pakistan, through Belgium," the indictment said.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Ashraf filled out fraudulent documents in the name of Innovative Links, a shell company used by him.

But he was purchasing these for AERO, which is in fact a wing of the Pakistan military, prosecutors said.

According to court documents, Ashraf in fact told the undercover agent that his client was the Pakistani military.

The trial is scheduled for February 7.
Union Minister of Law and Justice D V Sadananda Gowda today said that if Pakistan wants to continue talks with India, it has to take steps to curb terrorist activities originating from its soil.

"Now ball is in Pakistan's court. Pakistan has to respond positively to continue the bilateral talks. If Pakistan wants to continue talks, it has to take steps to curb the terrorist activities, which are harming our country, from its soil," Gowda said addressing a press conference here.

"The Indian government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are taking all necessary steps to maintain good relations with Pakistan and trying to ensure to take the bilateral talks forward to maintain peace in the sub-continent," he stressed.

Praising the soldiers, commandos and intelligence officials for efficiently handling the terror attack in Pathankot air base, he paid rich tributes to those who sacrificed their lives while fighting the terrorists.

Based on the information of intelligence department, all (security) forces were alerted who efficiently handled the Pathankot terror strike, otherwise it may have turned out to be "worse than the Mumbai terror attack (of 2008)," the minister said.

Gowda said the government is keen on maintaining harmony and good relations with the neighbouring countries and also to safeguard the nations's interests.

Six terrorists, who had sneaked into the country from Indo-Pak border in Pakistan, attacked the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot in Punjab during the intervening night of January 1 and 2.

They were killed during a counter-operation by Indian forces that lasted for about three days in which seven security personnel were killed.

Notably, putting the ball squarely in Pakistan's court, India yesterday linked the Foreign Secretary-level talks to Islamabad's "prompt and decisive" action in the Pathankot terror attack for which it has provided "actionable intelligence".

Uncertainty prevails on talks scheduled for January 15 in Islamabad between Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry following the Pathakot terror attack which was originated from Pakistan. There is a widespread speculation that the talks may be put off to enable Security Advisors to meet before that.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered a probe into the leads provided by India about the Pathankot airbase attack, a media report said today.

He chaired a high-level meeting yesterday and discussed the attack on the Indian airbase, The Nation reported.

The prime minister and his aides agreed to launch investigations into the evidence provided by India, it said.

A senior official said the leads provided by India were handed over to Intelligence Bureau chief Aftab Sultan for further action.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Sharif said Pakistan was ready to boost cooperation with the neighbouring India as part of counter-terrorism efforts.

Sharif directed Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua to remain in contact with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in a bid to keep renewed dialogue on track after the attack on Pathankot air base.

Another official said the information provided by India was "not enough" as it was just limited to telephone numbers and Pakistan might ask for additional information.

"We would like to have solid information to build a case for action otherwise courts intervene and the suspects will be bailed out," he added.

He said the meeting agreed that strong action would be taken after probe against anyone found guilty of involvement in the attack.

The official said that the meeting also decided to speed up implementation of Action Plan.
Pakistani jets carried out strikes in the country's restive northwest against militant groups including the feared Haqqani network and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, officials said today, with one saying at least 25 insurgents had been killed.

The strikes targeted Maizer and Sher Ali villages in the Shawal valley of troubled North Waziristan tribal district, where the military has been carrying out a major offensive against extremist groups since mid-2014.

"At least 25 insurgents have been killed and several of their hideouts have been destroyed along with vehicles full of explosives," a security official said.

Five of those killed were members of the Haqqani network, 10 were Uzbek and Chechen militants, and 10 were from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), he added.

"Some of the hideouts targeted today were jointly used by Haqqanis and foreign militants," the official told AFP.

The term "foreign militants" is frequently used by Pakistani officials to refers to Uzbeks and Chechens who are often aligned with the Haqqani network, which is accused of sending fighters and suicide bombers to target US and NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.

A second security official confirmed the air strikes and casualties, but said that exact number of those killed was not yet clear.

North Waziristan is one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal districts that border Afghanistan. It has been a hub for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants since the early 2000s.

The Pakistani military says it has killed more than 3,600 insurgents since it launched a renewed operation against militant groups in 2014. It says 358 soldiers have also lost their lives.

The conflict zone is remote and off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to verify the army's claims, including the number and identity of those killed.
Pakistan today expressed concern over North Korea's claim of carrying out its first hydrogen bomb test, saying it 'opposes any action which is detrimental to peace and stability in the region'.

North Korea shocked the world by conducting the test on January 6 amidst global concerns over the country objectives about the timing of the test.

Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement that Pakistan has noted, with deep concern, the reports about the nuclear test.

"We have consistently supported a nuclear weapons free Korean Peninsula as agreed by all parties," it said.

The Foreign Office said Pakistan strongly believes that all countries should comply with their respective international obligations.

"We oppose any action which is detrimental to peace and stability in the region and militates against the prospects of reaching a solution to the issue in the framework of the Six Party Talks," it said.

The surprise test was personally ordered by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and came just two days before his birthday.

If confirmed, the test would mark another big step toward Pyongyang's goal of building a warhead that can be mounted on a missile capable of reaching the US mainland.
Sikkim's first greenfield airport at Pakyong will be operationalised by 2017, which will provide a direct connectivity to the land-locked state and also help boost tourism, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said today.

"By 2017, the greenfield airport at Pakyong will be functional. It got delayed because of the rahabilitation process. Once the airport is functional, the state will have direct connectivity," Singh, who is Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region, told reporters here.

The Rs 300-crore Pakyong airport is being constructed by Airport Authority of India on a 200 acre land. The airport is being built at an altitude of 4,700 feet which will be one of the five highest airports in India.

Presently, the nearest airport to Sikkim is located 124 kms away at Bagdogra in West Bengal.

The minister was addressing media about the national conference on sustainable agriculture to be held in Gangtok from January 17-19.

Referring to other major projects to be implemented in Sikkim, the Minister said, "There is also a plan to connect Sikkim with the country's rail network and after the present government took over under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this will be the third North-Eastern state after Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh to be brought on the rail map of India."



Singh also referred to the plan for constructing alternative road highway to Gangtok in Sikkim via West Bengal and two ropeways which will serve the purpose of both tourism as well as transport.

On organic farming, Singh said the north eastern region has the potential to be developed as a hub of organic farming and this is possible only when the enormous resources available in the region are sought to be channelised in a scientific and systematic manner.

"Promotion of organic products, with Sikkim as the nodal state, will not only help in generating revenue and employment opportunities but will also be a great booster for the Government of India's "Act East Policy," he added.
A Brussels apartment was likely used to make bombs for the Paris attacks, and one of the plotters also hid out there after escaping a police dragnet, Belgian prosecutors said today.

The prosecutors said they found Salah Abdeslam's fingerprint in a search of the apartment on December 10, but would not say why they waited a month to announce it.

The search also turned up three suspected suicide belts, traces of the same explosive used in the November 13 attacks that killed 130 people and other material that could be used to manufacture bombs, according to the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said the third-floor apartment was likely used as a hideout after Abdeslam fled the attacks. Abdeslam, who is still at large, called for two friends to pick him up amid the bloodshed and chaos that night that left 130 people dead and hundreds injured.

"We found material to make explosives, we found traces of explosives and we found three belts. So you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to make the right deduction," Van der Sypt told The Associated Press.

Abdeslam is believed to have played a key logistical role in the Paris attacks. A French gendarme stopped him and his two friends in their car near the border but released them. The friends are among 10 people arrested in Belgium in connection with the attacks.

Authorities now believe Abdeslam returned to the apartment, was eventually picked up by someone else "and we lost trace," Van der Sypt said.

The apartment in the Schaerbeek neighbourhood of Brussels had been rented under a false identity that may have been used by one of those who are now under arrest.

The prosecutor's office said the three handmade belts discovered in the search at Rue Berge in Schaerbeek "could have been intended for the transport of explosives." Traces of the highly volatile TATP, which was packed into the suicide vests in November, as well as other material that could be used to manufacture explosives were also detected.
In the wake of Pathankot Air base attack, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today asked security agencies in Parliament to maintain high alert as she took stock of the protective measures at the complex which has already been targeted 14 years back.

Mahajan had an hour-long meeting with senior officials of the CRPF, Delhi Police, Parliament's Watch-and-Ward and Intelligence Bureau to review the security systems in place, Parliament sources said.

She told these agencies to maintain high alert in the wake of Pathankot attack and also in view of the upcoming Republic Day celebrations, the sources said.

During the meeting, it was felt that the security forces deployed in the complex were adequate but they need to be alert, the sources said.

Six terrorists attacked the Air base in Pathankot on last Saturday and it took the security forces more than four days to neutralise them.

Parliament has already faced a terror attack. Five terrorists stormed the complex on December 13, 2001 but were eliminated in an intense gunfight.

Since then, security has been beefed up manifold with installation of various latest protective gadgets.
In the wake of the terrorist attack at Pathankot air base, Punjab Pradesh Congress Chief (PPCC) Amarinder Singh today cautioned that the state, which shares a border with Pakistan, needs to take seriously its vulnerability to such incidents.

Amarinder, MP from Amritsar, also hit out at Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy CM son Sukhbir Badal for their "casual and nonchalant" attitude following the second militant strike in the state within six months.

"The state due to its long border along Pakistan, part of which has proved to be porous, needs to take its vulnerability seriously," he said in a statement here.

The response of the state government particularly CM and his deputy during the last two attacks in Dina Nagar and more recently in Pathankot was very casual and disappointing, the PPCC president said.

The former chief minister added that "They (the Badals) behaved as if they belonged to some other country."



He maintained that the Akali-BJP government in the state cannot shrug off the responsibility just because the militants attacked a central installation like the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot.

"After all the attack took place on Punjab soil and it was second attack in less than six months," he said as he demanded that a proper probe also be done involving the statement of the superintendent of police who was abducted by the militants.

The Congress's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, however, said that the Punjab Police deserves credit for timely intelligence alert which saved vital IAF assets and prevented any major collateral damage.

Expressing doubt over the state's preparedness against recurrence of such attacks, he said, "The Badals did not learn any lessons then and they are least expected to learn any lessons now." He warned that given the fact that Punjab is a frontline state with a long border along Pakistan it needs to remain alert for any such attack in future also.

"But I doubt whether any sort of such thing has occurred to the Badals as had it been so, they wouldn't be talking and behaving in such a casual and nonchalant manner during such situation," he said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, chairman-cum -managing director of Pearls Group, and three other top officials in connection with Rs 45,000 crore alleged scam in which 55 million investors were duped.

Bhangoo, CMD of PGF Limited and ex-Chairman of Pearls Australasia Pty Limited, along with Sukhdev Singh, managing director and promoter-director of PACL, Gurmeet Singh, executive director (Finance) and Subrata Bhattacharya, ED in the PGF/PACL Ponzi Scheme Case, CBI Press Information Officer R K Gaur said.

Senior CBI officials said the four executives were arrested after detailed questioning today at agency headquarters. The sources said during the questioning they were giving inconsistent statements and stopped cooperating which resulted in their arrest. The case involves alleged collection of Rs 45,000 crore from about 55 million investors all over the country. The case was registered under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) of IPC, Gaur said. The investors were lured with the promise of huge returns. CBI sources said arrests have been made in connection with the case against officials of Pearls Agrotech Corporation Ltd (PACL) and Pearls Golden Forest Ltd (PGF) for allegedly raising investments from over 5.5 crore investors through collective investment scheme under the garb of sale and development of agricultural land.

They said the agency's probe into the allegations has shown that investors were issued bogus land allotment letters. In ponzi schemes, returns are given to investors from the money collected from other depositors in a pyramid-like structure.

CBI sources said during the searches, it had recovered documents showing benami properties worth crores in India and abroad.

It was revealed that PGF, on being directed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana to wind up the scheme and refund the money to the investors, a similar fraudulent scheme was operated under the name of PACL with office at Barakhamba Road in New Delhi, CBI had alleged in its FIR.

It is alleged that funds collected from new investors of PACL were used to repay the earlier investors of PGF to stave off criminal prosecution.

It alleged funds have been raised by the two companies through a vast network of lakhs of commission agents spread all over the country who were being paid hefty commissions for luring the investors.
The residence of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti at Gupkar area here was today abuzz with hundreds of people and party workers, who thronged the house to condole the death of her father and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Leaders, workers and supporters of the PDP were joined by people from various walks of life to offer their condolences to Mehbooba and her other family members.

There were no restrictions on people visiting the bereaved family but the condolence meetings were kept away from the media.

A PDP leader said that the condolence meetings will continue at the Gupkar residence tomorrow while congregational prayers (fateha khwani) will be held at Dara Shikoh Park at Bijbehara at 11 am on Sunday.

Condolence meeting will continue at Gupkar home of Mehbooba after 2.00 pm on Sunday.

Sayeed passed away at AIIMS hospital in Delhi yesterday, 14 days after he was admitted for severe lung infection.

He was laid to rest at a graveyard in his ancestral town of Bijbehara in Anantnag district. The state has declared seven days of mourning as a mark of respect to the departed leader.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Telangana in the next month for the inauguration of a fertiliser plant and a power project at Ramagundam, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said here today.

The defunct plant is being revived with Rs 5000 crore, he told reporters here.

The minister said the power project with a capacity of 5000 MW has been taken up by NTPC. The plant was earlier owned by the Fertiliser Corporation of India.

The Prime Minister's visit is likely to take place in February, Dattatreya, Union Minister of State for Labour (independent charge), indicated.

Against the backdrop of criticism by the ruling TRS that the NDA government did not do enough for Telangana, he said the Centre is responding to all proposals sent by the state government and is releasing funds.

Listing out various projects, Dattatreya said power lines are being installed from Warora in Maharashtra to Warangal, besides an aerospace unit under 'Make in India' has come to Hyderabad.

Moreover, a textile park, an agriculture college and an airport can come to Hyderabad, he added.

Dattatreya said the foundation stone was laid for a horticulture university in Telangana yesterday.

Expressing concern over farmers' suicides, Dattatreya said Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh told him that sowing of crops should be encouraged as per the type of soil.

Dattatreya urged the TRS government to strengthen agriculture extension services for the benefit of agriculture.

The Centre would also help strengthen the IT sector in Hyderabad, he said.

Replying to a query, he said the TDP-BJP alliance would win enough seats to bag the post of Mayor in the upcoming polls to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
Aiming to bring the second green revolution in North-East, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a national conference on sustainable agriculture on January 18 in Gangtok, Sikkim.

Modi will inaugurate a flower show and visit an exhibition on organic products besides launching a logo of Sikkim Organic Mission.

Sikkim is the first state which is adopting organic farming on a universal basis and has certified more than 74,000 hectare of land, according to state government data.

Briefing media, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said, "The three-day national conference on 'Sustainable Agriculture and Farmers Welfare' and the Sikkim organic festival will be held together at Gangtok.

"The Prime Minister has consented to be the Chief Guest at the Plenary Session of the National Conference on January 18."



Sharing the details of the national conference scheduled on January 17-19, Singh said all state agriculture ministers, central and state agriculture officials and other technical experts will be present at the event to discuss various challenges posed to the farm sector.

The conference will identify initiatives to transform agriculture based on sustainable and efficient use of resources like soil and water, higher per unit yields, remunerative prices on produce, risk coverage and mitigation of potential negative impact of climate change, he added.

Five technical groups will discuss sustainability through organic farming and soil health management, National Agriculture Market and APMC Reforms, crop insurance and credit flow to farm sector, convergence of schemes like MGNREGA, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichai Yojana and other state plan schemes, and enhancing investment in agriculture and land lease issue, he added.

"The recommendations of these groups will be presented before the Prime Minister," Singh added.

Stating that the Modi government has given a big push for organic farming in North-East under the 'Act East Policy', Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh said: "The state has already taken steps to convert its entire arable extent of 74,000 hectare into organic farming.

"It is now focusing on certification, branding, processing and marketing so that the farmers get premium price on the organically cultivated produce."



The state has a legislation to back adoption of organic farming as the only farm of cultivation in the state. It also has an Act that prohibits use of agro-chemical in the state, he added.

The conference is being jointly organized by the Union Agriculture Ministry and the Sikkim government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is serving the interests of corporates and various international business deals are being sealed at their behest, the Communist Party of India leader Shameem Faizee said here today.

On the opening day of the party's national council conclave, CPI's national council secretary Faizee said, "Modi is behaving like a hawker of corporates. Helicopter deal with Russia, coal mines deal with Australia etc. Were made only for Anil Ambani."



"To hide this and to divert attention of people, the Modi government and Sangh parivar are issuing wrong statements and all ministers are making provocative statements," he said while addressing reporters.

He said the NDA government behaved in "very irresponsible manner" when Dalit infants were killed in Faridabad.

"Modi government has added to the burdens of the common people with the price hike and is not bothering about them," he alleged.

Faizee said these issues will be discussed during the three-day conclave that is being held at Kothapet here.

"Modi's 15-month rule is a disaster and elections in five states will prove that. Modi is saying that he will end the issue of black money, but nothing has happened on this front," he said, adding that his party does not consider the BJP as their electoral rival.

Earlier in the day, Party national secretary Suravaram Sudhakarareddy inaugurated the meeting by hoisting the party flag at the CPI office here, and a rally was organised in the afternoon.
Pope Francis has invited 5,000 migrants to pray with him and attend a special mass at St Peter's to mark the world day of migrants and refugees, the Migrantes Foundation announced today.

The January 17 event, which is also part of the Catholic church's Jubilee Year, will see a group of asylum seekers and migrants listening to Francis's Sunday address in St Peter's Square before entering the basilica through one of the 'holy doors' opened for the special year which is dedicated to the theme of mercy.

In Catholic tradition, passing through a holy door in a spirit of repentance enables a believer to be cleansed of his or her sins.

The group will be accompanied by pilgrims carrying a cross made from the wood of wrecked migrant boats that was crafted on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The cross is to be carried by pilgrims from the island, which has witnessed some of some of southern Europe's deadliest sinkings of the ongoing migrant crisis.

The communion wafers for the mass, which will be led by Cardinal Antonio Veglio, have been made by three prisoners currently serving sentences for murder in a high-security prison near Milan.

"These hosts, made by hands that have killed... Bear witness that the need to be saved by the love of Christ touches every man and not only those serving a prison sentence," a Migrantes spokesman said.
Happy days are here again in Portugal four of them, at least.

The country's new Socialist government got Parliament's approval today to discard one of the most unpopular legacies of a recent austerity drive and bring back four public holidays that were cut two years ago.

The decision means holidays this year on All Saints' Day; Corpus Christi; October 5, commemorating the 1910 establishment of the Portuguese Republic; and Dec. 1, marking Portugal's 1640 return to independence after 60 years of Spanish rule.

Portugal returns to 13 official public holidays a year, though workers often get 14 because many employers grant an unofficial day off at Carnival. The average in the 28-nation European Union is 10.6 public holidays per year, according to the EU.

The holidays were cut by the previous center-right coalition government in an attempt to improve productivity after debt-heavy Portugal received a 78 billion-euro (USD 84.8 billion) bailout in 2011 during Europe's financial crisis.

Parties in that government called for an evaluation of the measures to be carried out before it is scrapped, but ridding Portugal of austerity is a badge of honor for the new government which, backed by the Communist Party and radical Left Bloc, took power in November.

Economists say it's hard to calculate accurately the consequences of altering the number of days off because so many variable factors are involved.
Azim Premji, who donated Rs 27,514 crore for education is the "Most Generous Indian" for the third year running followed by Nandan Nilekani and Narayana Murthy in the second and third place, respectively.

As per the Hurun India Philanthropy List, which is a ranking of the most generous individuals from India, 70 years old Azim Hashim Premji was named as the most generous Indian as he donated Rs 27,514 crore for education.

The Azim Premji foundation is working for empowering education in India. The foundation works in eight states and has more than 3,50,000 schools.

Nandan, Rohini Nilekani and family came in second with a donation of Rs 2,404 crore, towards the cause of urban governance, public policy and education while Narayana Murthy and family donated Rs 1,322 crore for encouraging entrepreneurship, social development and education.

Meanwhile, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries is sixth in Hurun India Philanthropy List.

"Ambani, the richest man in India, donated Rs 345 crore towards healthcare," the report said.

Others in the top ten include, K Dinesh ranked fourth, who donated Rs 1,238 crore, followed by Shiv Nadar at 5th spot with Rs 535 crore in donations, Sunny Varkey & Family (7th, Rs 326 crore), Ronnie Screwvala (8th, Rs 158 crore), Rahul Bajaj & Family (9th, Rs 139 crore) and Pallonji Mistry (10th, Rs 96 crore).

The donations were measured by the value of their cash or cash equivalent from November 1, 2014 to October 31, 2015.

As per Hurun Research, there were 36 individuals, down from 50 in 2014, who donated Rs 10 crore or more. Interestingly, there were 12 new entrants and 26 drop outs.

With a donation of Rs 35 crore, Rohan Murthy (32) of Infosys is the youngest philanthropist on the list; oldest being Pallonji Mistry (86) of Shapoorji Pallonji who donated Rs 96 crore.

According to Charity Aid Foundation UK, as per the World Giving Index, India came down in its ranking from 93rd in 2013 to 106 in 2014, demonstrating an overall reduction in Indian philanthropy.

"Despite weak corporate earnings in 2015 compared to last year, the increasing speed of wealth creation seems to promise a bright future for Indian philanthropy", Hurun Report India Business Head Anas Rahman Junaid said.
President Pranab Mukherjee today asked the Governors to perform their duties within the framework of the Constitution, respecting the distinct authority and responsibility vested in each of the three organs of the State.

In his New Year message to the Governors through video conferencing from Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mukherjee said in our parliamentary democracy, the Governors are the constitutional heads of their respective states.

"They must perform their duties and obligations within the framework of the Constitution. In other words, they must play their assigned role while respecting the distinct authority and responsibility vested in each of the three organs of the state, that is, the executive, the judiciary and the legislature," the President said.

He said Governors, with their wisdom, experience and moral authority, must help create a harmonious relationship between the Centre and the states which will be in the best interest of the state and its people.

The President asked the Governors use their astute leadership, power of persuasion and balancing influence with the Chief Ministers to help in the transformative process using the Centre's flagship programmes such as Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart City Mission, Digital India, Make in India, Skilling India, and the Start-up India initiatives.

"Each of these programmes have a specific role in the making of a new India where there would be greater opportunities for its citizens especially the youth," he said.

The President asked the Governors to use their roles as Visitors of the Universities to motivate them to become institutions, to become smart campuses.

"Through technology demonstration, they can also become the nucleus for inclusive development in their regions. You can impress upon these institutes to adopt at least five villages which they can help transform into model villages," he said.
The Kerala High Court today observed that it was the duty of the parents to prevent their children from becoming internet addicts.

Justice B Kemal Pasha made the observation pursuant to a submission made by the prosecution that many students were getting addicted to the internet, including porn sites.

The Director General of Prosecution also submitted certain documents in this regard.

It is the responsibility of the parents to prevent the children from becoming internet addicts, the Judge said. The prosecution submission was made in connection with a petition seeking a CBI probe into the death of three girl students from Konni in July last year after they went missing.
Banking operations were hit partially today as a section of public sector banks' employees went on a strike across the country to protest violation of bilateral settlement agreement by associate of SBI.

Some of the services, like cash handling at branch level and clearing of checks were affected in the where presence of All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) is strong.

Private sector and country's largest lender SBI continues to function normally.

As precautionary measures, most of the banks, including United Bank of India, had issued advisory to their customers saying they will take all necessary steps in terms of existing guidelines for smooth functioning of branches or offices on the day of strike, in the event it materialises on January 8.

The strike call was given on December 28 to protest violation of the bilateral settlement by five associate banks of the SBI and their attempt to force unilateral service conditions on the employees, AIBEA general secretary C H Venkatachalam had said.

Five subsidiaries of SBI are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur.
Banking operations including cash transactions and cheque clearing were partially impacted today as a section of public sector bank employees went on a day- long nationwide strike to protest against the violation of bilateral settlement agreement by associate entities of SBI.

The strike call was given by All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA), leading to a strong impact on the banks with its presence. Officers were not part of the strike.

However, employees at private sector banks as also two state-owned SBI and IOB were not part of the strike. Staff at five associates of State Bank of India however participated in the strike.

As precautionary measures, most of the banks had issued advisory to their customers saying they will take all steps necessary for smooth functioning at branches on the day of strike.

The strike call was given on December 28 to protest violation of the bilateral settlement by five associate banks of the SBI and their attempt to force unilateral service conditions on the employees, AIBEA general secretary C H Venkatachalam had said.

Five subsidiaries of SBI are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur.

"Strike was trust upon about 3.50 lakh employees as the management did not yield to our request. It has resulted in inconvenience to customers," the AIBEA claimed.

"We hope that the government and Indian Banks' Association will understand the genuine reasons behind our strike and intervene in the issue effectively to ensure adherence to legally binding bilateral settlement and resolve the demands of the employees," Venkatachalam said.
In light of the terrorist attack at Air Force station in Pathankot in Punjab, the Director General of Police (DGP) today directed the cops in the field to augment night time deployment of the police.

Punjab Police has introduced various measures to increase professionalism in police working, ensure availability and accountability of officers posted in the field and put into place a scheme to augment night time deployment of personnel, an official release said.

DGP Suresh Arora has directed that all SHOs, DSPs/ACPs, SPs/ADCPs and senior officers posted in the districts would be physically present at the stations where they have been posted, and they would not leave the station without prior permission of competent authority, the release said.

"The DGP has also directed all zonal IGPs and Commissioners of Police to work out a scheme to ensure regular presence of police personnel in all the police stations and police posts in the state, especially at night time, so as to ensure 24x7 availability of police for prompt support and response to citizens of the state," it said.

All concerned officers in their respective zones have been asked to prepare a 'Night Policing Plan' for the districts/area in their jurisdiction, it added.

"Zonal IGPs and CPs would send Daily Reports to the DGP about details of static and mobile police deployment during night. The night time police deployment would be checked by deputing senior police officers from police headquarters on a regular basis," the release added.

Meanwhile, the state police has appealed to the public to immediately report any suspicious activity/persons on police emergency number 100 or on Punjab Police's Helpline number 181.
Former US President Bill Clinton, during his years in the White House, hailed Vladimir Putin as having "enormous potential" with whom a "lot of good" could be done but suspected that the Russian President may get "squishy on democracy", according to newly released documents.

Fifteen years almost to the day since former President Clinton left office, a newly released batch of documents from his library offer a fresh look at his later years in the White House even as his wife, Hillary Clinton, seeks to win the post for herself.

The documents contain transcribed phone calls and meetings between Clinton and Tony Blair, the then British prime minister and perhaps Clinton's best friend among foreign leaders, the New York Times reported.

Russia is one area where Clinton, who was the US President from 1993 to 2001, made judgments he would certainly not embrace today.

"Putin has enormous potential, I think," Clinton was quoted as saying after the emergence of the new Russian leader. "I think he's very smart and thoughtful. I think we can do a lot of good with him," he said.

At another point, Clinton said, "His (Putin's) intentions are generally honourable and straightforward, but he just hasn't made up his mind yet. He could get squishy on democracy."



Blair says that the Russian leader felt that 'he was not understood' in the West -- a complaint the Russian leader continues to make.

The 500 pages of documents begin with Clinton calling the new prime minister hours after his 1997 victory and end in late 2000 as the president was preparing to hand over the White House to George W Bush.

They discussed the 2000 presidential election repeatedly and the departing president expressed a mix of liberal scorn and professional respect for Bush's performance against Republican rivals like Senator John McCain and the Democratic nominee, Vice President Al Gore.

"One reason Bush is doing so well is because he criticised one thing on the right," Clinton said on October 13, 1999, days after Bush chided his party for budget cuts that hurt the poor.

"He is making people think he is saving them from the right. But it's a fraud because he is really for them on everything else. I have to figure out how to expose the fraud that Bush is the new Clinton, establishing a new Republican Party like I made a Democratic Party. It's helping Bush but it is killing Al," he said.

A few months later, Clinton told Blair, "Bush is a skilled politician, but he is not ready to be president -- maybe not ever, certainly not now.
Not following Delhi Government pattern to reduce pollution level, Rajasthan Minister for Transport and PWD Yunus Khan today categorically said the state government had no plan to consider "odd-even" formula to check emission level from vehicles on roads in the state.

"Rajasthan government does care and is worried about the pollution due to vehicles' emission but it is not considering any odd-even system/formula like Delhi government", Khan told reporters here.

Considering the orders and guidelines of National Green Tribunal, Supreme Court and High Court, the state Transport department with the support of police department studying the pollution level and age of old vehicles (commercial) to prepare a plan to check pollution levels in major cities including Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Udaipur, Ajmer, he said.

In Pink City particularly, a comprehensive transport plan with the support of Jaipur Development Authority, Jaipur Municipal Corporation, District Collector would be prepared by the end of this month in which every problem of traffic jam, pollution, and diversions would be solved.

Besides, a new clause in the Traffic rules would be added to stop use of mobile while driving, he said, adding the mobile of the user in vehicle would be seized.

Vendors selling helmet on streets without ISI mark would be stopped and buyers would be encouraged to buy ISI mark full helmet, not just a cap type of structure, quoting a cabinet sub-committee decision taken yesterday, the Minister said.

Cinema halls would have to exhibit traffic rules related slides or movies for driving awareness, he said.

"Lok Seva Parivahan" (LSP), private vehicles operation on highways connecting villages and towns where Roadways buses were not accessible, would not harm any bus operation of RSRTC and employees' interest would be safe guarded at all level including their pension, gratuity, perks", he replied to a question.

The state government was paying Rs.30 cr to RSRTC every month to recover its losses and save it from red, he said.

Even private owners of LSP launched last December by Chief minister would give a one per cent of their income to RSRTC, he clarified.

The state government would soon hold talks with union leaders of RSRTC to resolve this matter and start operation of LSP in the state, he said.

Khan, who is also PWD Minister, said "PWD run Dak Bungalow" in the state would renovated and developed on PPP mode and make them perfect staying places for the employees in the state.

A special Traffic Awareness drive would be held from January 18-24 during which the state government would implement lane system driving on NH 8 and penalty would be imposed on offenders, the Minister warned.
Alleging that the bureaucracy was dominating the government, Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot today hit out at Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje saying she has centralised power in the state.

The Pradesh Congress Committee president also remarked that the recent 'Chintan Shivir' of the ruling party, which was attended by BJP national president Amit Shah, was held to appease party workers.

"Most of the BJP ministers have expressed their 'bhadaas' (frustration) before their party president Shah on January 6, and it has come out from ministers that 'bureaucracy is dominating the government' as bureaucrats not giving heed to them," Pilot said in a statement here.

"BJP's chintan shivir was objectively meant for party workers where the party president reportedly asked the ministers to listen to workers and fulfil their aspirations... it is a kind of appeasement for party workers by the BJP government," the PCC chief said.

He further alleged that the "ministers were quoted saying they were not heard by prashaasan (bureaucrats), and it clearly indicated that they were not only helpless but hapless too."



"Chief Minister Raje has centralised all power in her ambit," Pilot maintained.

Taking a swipe at the Raje government, Pilot remarked that the BJP national president was most worried about the Rajasthan government and that is why he was visiting the state frequently, but to no results.

The statement also noted that agrarian crisis in the state as well as the law and order situation in the state did not feature in the BJP event.

Issues like "mining scam and Raje-Lalitgate row" were not raised during the party members interaction with BJP president, Pilot commented.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh should rethink on his assessment that Islamic State has failed in India, VHP said today in the light of the violence at Malda in West Bengal.

"I don't know why he said so. Rajnath should re-think on his assessment. He should come forward with truth. And truth today is written on wall, no one can deny. How can a responsible man like our Home Minister deny (then)?



"It is clear that a big section of a particular society is attracted towards ISIS, their ideology, their actions. Even young girls from the community are showing interest in the militant group which is a very dangerous trend," VHP leader Surendra Jain told reporters here.

Jain, VHP's international joint secretary general accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of engaging in "appeasement" politics and demanded strict action against those responsible for the Malda episode.

A mob protesting against the alleged blasphemous comments by a right wing leader had recently resorted to violence in Malda district during which Kaliachak police station was reportedly attacked last Sunday.

The leader noted that India needed to show France and Russia like resolve in dealing with issues of terrorism, after he claimed that flags of ISIS and Pakistan were hoisted in the violence-hit area of the Malda district.

"Some goons from a community are hell bent on destroying fabric of this nation. They are challenging its sovereignty. They should be dealt with firmly and with iron hands. Mamata didi, now enough is enough.

"You should stop this politics of appeasement. It is your politics which has brought Bengal to the level of Malda. Don't convert Sonar Bangala into Bangladesh," he said.

Jain claimed some members of the same community were also behind riots at Mumbai's Azad Maidan and Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly.

"In Mumbai, they had attacked security personnel, raised slogans of Pakistan zindabad. After that Bareilly happened. Everywhere slogans were shouted in favour of Pakistan. Now ISIS flags are also being hoisted in Malda," he said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh had on December 27 said that global terror outfit Islamic State has failed in its attempts to establish roots in India due to strong family values in the society which act as deterrent to radicalisation.

"Today, IS being talked across the globe. But India is the lone country in the world where it has not been able to establish its roots due to family values of the Indian culture," he had said during a conference in Lucknow.
Printing and IT solutions firm Ricoh India, a subsidiary of Ricoh Group, Japan, is eyeing 55 per cent growth in revenues this fiscal, a top official has said.

The company has also planned investments of about Rs 300 crore over the next one or two years for expanding its data centres.

"We have been growing at an annual average growth rate of 55-60 per cent over the last five years. We will continue that growth this (financial) year too..." Ricoh India Managing Director and CEO Manoj Kumar told reporters.

He was here to formally announce the partnership with Siemens PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) software aimed at serving clients in manufacturing industry.

Kumar said the company registered revenue of Rs 1,637 crore during the financial year 2014-15.

As part of expanding the data centres, he said the company has proposed Rs 300 crore investment to set up such a centre in Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat, besides expanding the existing centre in Kolkata.

Currently, Ricoh India has two data centres - one each in New Delhi and Kolkata.

To a query, he said, the company would meet the Rs 300 crore proposed investments through a mix of internal accruals, debt and support from parent company Ricoh Group.

Noting that Tamil Nadu was playing a "significant" role in the company's growth, Kumar said: "We are upbeat about the growth and will be aiming for Rs 200 crore business from the state this financial year".
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju today hailed the Border Security Force (BSF) for securing the frontier areas of the country as he met a group of school children from the remote areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

A group of 39 children, including 19 girls, called on the Minister of State for Home at his office here as they are on the last leg of their 20-day tour being conducted by the border guarding force.

The children hail from the Jammu region of the state and are in the age group of 12-16 years.

A statement issued by the Ministry after the meeting said while interacting with the children, Rijiju appreciated the efforts of BSF in organising the tour for the students.

"He thanked BSF for not only securing the border areas of the country but also winning the hearts of children in the border areas," the statement said.

During the meet, the children also shared their experiences of the visit with the minister.

Rijiju told them that India is one of the oldest and beautiful countries in the world and everyone has contributed to India's existence and that they should share their experiences with their friends and families when they go back home.

He told the children, the statement said, that hard work and education are key elements for success and happiness in life.

BSF said that the children hail mainly from poor families of remote areas of Jammu.

The force, which guards the Indo-Pak border, has been conducting these tours since 1999-2000.
South Korea today resumed high-decibel propaganda broadcasts into North Korea as the United States ramped up pressure on China to bring Pyongyang to heel after its latest nuclear test.

While North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un celebrated his 32nd birthday, the international community scrambled to find common ground on how best to penalise his regime following its shock announcement two days ago that it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb.

The resumption of the cross-border broadcasts, which blare out an eclectic mix of everything from K-pop and weather forecasts to snippets of and critiques of the North Korean regime, revives psychological warfare tactics that date back to the 1950-53 Korean War.

But they can be remarkably effective.

Their use during a dangerous flare-up in cross-border tensions last year infuriated Pyongyang, which at one point threatened artillery strikes against the loudspeaker units unless they were switched off.

The South finally pulled the plug after an agreement was reached in August to de-escalate a situation that had brought the two rivals to the brink of an armed conflict.

Now they are back -- punishment for Wednesday's surprise nuclear test, which triggered global condemnation and concern, despite expert opinion that the yield was far too low to support the North's claim that the device was an H-bomb.

The test set off a diplomatic frenzy as the UN Security Council met to discuss possible sanctions and world leaders sought to build a consensus on an appropriate response to such a grave violation of UN resolutions.

Most eyes were on North Korea's main ally, China, which condemned the test but gave no signal that it was ready to approve a significant tightening of sanctions on its recalcitrant neighbour.

In a phone call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi yesterday, US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that Beijing's softly-softly line had failed and it was time to take a tougher stance with Pyongyang.

"Now China had a particular approach that it wanted to make and we agreed and gave them time to implement that," Kerry told reporters.

"But today in my conversation with the Chinese I made it very clear that that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual."



While Beijing has restrained US-led allies from stronger action against Pyongyang in the past, it has shown increasing frustration with its refusal to suspend testing.

But China's leverage over Pyongyang is mitigated, analysts say, by its overriding fear of a North Korean collapse and the prospect of a reunified, US-allied Korea directly on its border.
Shiite Muslim protesters in eastern Saudi Arabia called today for the "death" of the Sunni-majority kingdom's ruling Al-Saud family at a rally to honour executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a witness said.

The demonstration capped a week of unrest in Nimr's hometown of Awamiya and uncertainty in the surrounding Shiite- dominated region of Qatif, after Nimr's execution last Saturday.

"Death to the Saud family," protesters shouted, raising their arms in the air, according to the witness.

"Fall, fall, Al-Saud", the added.

Pictures of the protest showed what appeared to be hundreds of people, many of them clad in black.

They held black flags and pictures of the executed sheikh, who was a driving force behind protests that began in 2011 among the kingdom's minority Shiite community.

Those protests developed into a call for equality in the Sunni-dominated kingdom, where Shiites complain of marginalisation.

Nimr and three other Shiites were among 47 people convicted of "terrorism" and executed, provoking anger among Shiites and concern in Western nations.

Shiites protested in several Muslim countries and attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in the kingdom's regional rival, Iran.

Saudi Arabia and some of its allies cut diplomatic ties with Iran in reaction, triggering a diplomatic crisis and raising sectarian tensions in the region.

Eastern residents said there had been protests this week in Awamiya, a Gulf coast town of about 30,000 which has been the scene of repeated incidents since 2011.
The Supreme Court today asked the government to appoint three Information Commissioners (ICs) in the Central Information Commission (CIC), whose posts are lying vacant for quite some time, within six weeks.

A bench comprising Justices J S Khehar and C Nagappan said it has already granted the time sought by the Centre, which should now appoint the ICs within this time period.

The bench was hearing the plea of the central government filed against the November 6 Delhi High Court order asking it to appoint three ICs at the apex transparency panel.

The High Court had asked the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to fill up the vacancies within 6 weeks from among the 553 applications received by it in response to two notifications issued in 2014 as the vacant posts have led to a massive backlog of cases.

The High Court's order had come on a PIL filed by RTI activists R K Jain, Lokesh K Batra and Subhash Chandra Agarwal, who had alleged that no action has been taken on the issue despite two "distress" letters written by CIC to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

The PIL filed in the High Court through lawyers Prashant Bhushan had sought filling up of posts of Chief IC and subordinate staff in a time-bound frame.
Supreme Court today sought the response of jailed Lashkar-e-Taiba bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda on an appeal of Delhi Police challenging a lower court order to discharge him in a 1994 TADA case.

Tunda, 73, whose name had figured in the list of 20 terrorists who India had sought to be handed over after the 26/11 Mumbai attack, was let off on March 10 last year by a lower court in a case lodged under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), the Explosive Substance Act, the Arms Act and under section 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

A bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy issued notice to Tunda, who is still behind the bars as there are several other cases pending against him.

Police, in its appeal, said the confession of an accused before a police officer under the TADA, which is now repealed, is treated as substantive evidence and the trial court committed error in discharging Tunda at the initial stage.

Police have heavily relied on a psycho-profiling test that was conducted on Tunda after his arrest by Special Cell of Delhi Police on August 16 2013 from the Indo-Nepal border.

The Special Cell had filed a charge sheet against Tunda in the case in which five accused were arrested on January 17, 1994 and 150 kg explosives and six daggers were allegedly recovered from their possession.

The trial court in its judgement in December 1999 had convicted the five accused -- Abdul Haq, Aftab, Abdul Wahid, Afaq and Afran Ahmad -- under the provisions of Explosive Substance Act read with section 120(B) of the IPC.

In its supplementary charge sheet against Tunda, police had said he was declared a proclaimed offender and was involved in various terror cases in India.

Tunda had argued that there was no evidence in the case and confessional statements of the arrested co-accused cannot be relied upon against him.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police had told the court that



there was circumstantial evidence against Tunda as 40 kg explosives were recovered from the house of his brother in Delhi, where he was also residing, in 1994.

The police had said that other accused, who had faced trial in the case, had also given confessional statements that they had hatched the conspiracy for terror strikes in the country on the instructions of Tunda.

Police had told the court that Tunda, suspected to be involved in 40 bombings in India, was declared a proclaimed offender in the case.
Private schools in Delhi are still undecided over their next step following Delhi government's announcement of scrapping nursery admissions under management quota and would seek legal opinion before arriving at a decision.

A decision could not be reached today in a meeting of Action Committee for Unaided Private Schools of which 400 reputed schools are members. Though the members resolved to take up the matter with their legal cell to decide on further strategy.

"Private schools are not agitated over scrapping of the management quota but the larger question here is of autonomy which has been guaranteed to us by the Supreme Court and the Constitution. We held a meeting today and it was decided that the matter be referred to our legal cell," said S K Bhattacharya, President of the Action Committee.

"We might move court against the decision, we might adopt a different stand. It will be clear in a day or two after consultations with the legal cell," he added.

In a far-reaching decision, the government had earlier this week scrapped management quota and all other reservations except the EWS category in private schools for nursery admissions and warned that erring institutions can be taken over by the Education department.

The Action Committee, which had moved court in 2014 after Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung had notified the scrapping of quota then, also said the matter is still sub-judice and hence, the announcement amounts to "contempt of court".

A Single Bench had then granted autonomy to the schools to decide the quotas.

The government had challenged the judgment seeking a stay before a Division Bench, but the matter is still pending. A hearing in the matter will come up on January 21.

Ashok Pandey, principal of Alcohon International Schools and chairman of National Progressive Schools Conference (NPSC) said, "Any order by the government at this stage is surprising especially when the admissions have already begun as it will create further confusion for parents.

R C Jain, chairperson of Delhi State Public Schools'



Management Association, which has over 2,000 schools as its members, said, "Having management quota or not having it is schools' autonomy, the government can't snatch that right. If there is any corruption in the name of quota or there is exchange of money, the government can impose a check but why scrap it altogether?



The government has also scrapped 62 "arbitrary and discriminatory" criteria listed by the schools on their websites for admissions. However, the 25 per cent quota for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) will stay.

The decision came in the mid of the admission process for nursery classes in over 2,500 private schools in the capital.
Slamming the opposition parties for "politicizing" the issue of Pathankot terror attack, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that sensitive issues involving national security must be spared from cheap politics.

On the sidelines of the state government's Sangat Darshan programme in Rajasansi assembly segment here, the Chief Minister said that it was unfortunate that the political leadership was making "baseless statements" on the terror attack.

"Our brave soldiers have valiantly protected honour of the country but some political outfits were washing dirty linen on it for sake of vested interests, which is shameful," Badal said.

He said there were a number of issues for political leaders to debate but they must at least spare such issues where nation's security was concerned.

The Opposition, including the Congress and AAP have criticised the SAD-BJP government's handling of last week's terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot.

While state Congress chief Amarinder Singh described the state government's response during the last two attacks in Dina Nagar and Pathankot as "casual and disappointing", AAP noted that the "nexus" of Akali leaders, drug peddlers and militants resulted in the militant attack at Pathankot.

Reiterating the state government's firm commitment to help the bereaved families of security personnel killed in the Pathankot attack, Badal said that every effort would be made to bail out the families from the crisis.

He said that the state government had already decided to provide a financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh to next of kin of the martyrs along with a government job as a humble tribute to the brave soldiers.

The Chief Minister said that he had asked the Centre to beef up the security at the borders to prevent cross-border terrorism.

He said that it was the need of the hour to ensure that incidents like Dinanagar and Pathankot do not happen again.

Badal added that his government was fully committed for preserving peace and amity in the state and no one would be allowed to disturb it.

To a question on involvement of Salwinder Singh, Punjab



SP, who was allegedly abducted by terrorists involved in Pathankot attack, Badal said he is under scanner, probe is going on and he will have to pay for it if his role is found out.

He said Punjab police was quick to report the presence of terrorists at 7 or 7.30 PM. "We were the first one to inform military intelligence that terrorist have been spotted," he said.

"I do not want to get into the details. We had informed the right agencies. 3.30 AM the incident took place, we were able to identify where people went and our operation had started. Even a very high official from government of India called me up and appreciated the role of Punjab police in the whole episode," he said.

Six terrorists, who had sneaked into the country from Pakistan, had attacked Indian Air Force base in Pathankot during the intervening night of January 1 and 2.

They were killed during a counter-operation by Indian forces that lasted for about three days in which seven security personnel were killed.

Asked whether he was in favour of the scheduled Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan, he said that the central government will decide it.

"First of all, I want to tell media that it should not advise on foreign policy. Leave this to the government which knows what is right at right time. Our Prime Minister has done a wonderful work in foreign policy," said Badal, whose party Shiromani Akali Dal is BJP's ally.

The Deputy Chief Minister said there is a need to check drug terrorism in India by Pakistan.

"Since Pakistan is involved in drug terrorism against India we need to have internal audit of certain person. Today only we have caught two BSF personnel who were involved in drug trade. We need to increase the manpower there," he said.

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Badal said although "the BSF and other forces tasked with the sensitive responsibility of blocking infiltration of hostile elements including terrorists had always stood up to the challenge in the most commendable manner yet there have been instances that left something to be desired so that the border is not breached, as it had been done by highly trained terrorists who attacked Dinanagar and now Pathankot."



Badal said the numerical strength of the BSF and other forces has proved to be inadequate and insufficient to deal with the rising specter of cross-border terrorism.

Giving details of the meeting between Badal and Singh, Harcharan Bains, Advisor to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, said the deputy chief minister had on several occasions in the past repeatedly emphasised the need for a complete re-look at the internal security capabilities of various central and state government agencies and forces.

"Sukhbir has always felt and said at national platforms that the dividing line between internal and external security has vanished in view of the new and highly developed technology which terrorists all over the world have accessed.

"Sukhbir had personally highlighted to P Chidambaram when the latter was the Home Minister of the country the various inadequacies and weaknesses in weaponry, strategic training and availability and access to the state-of-the-art counter-terror technology including the highly sophisticated communications gadgetry to remain one step ahead of the terrorists with superior intelligence," Bains said.

Bains said Sukhbir had been demanding increase in central budgetary layout on modernisation of police and paramilitary force.

"Police modernisation budget is abysmal at the present and does not reflect the deadly nature of the threats posed to the country from terrorism. This budgetary outlay needed to be enhanced manifold," he said.

Meanwhile, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal asked Home Minister Rajnath Singh to direct the CBI to expedite the probe into the recent cases of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in the state.

"This must be deemed a national priority as it involves the profound and sacred sentiments of millions of people all over the world, Sikhs as well as all right thinking people in every community everywhere," Badal told Singh.
Chief Justice of India T S Thakur today asked the Bar Council of India (BCI), the apex body of lawyers, to crack the whip on law colleges which lack appropriate infrastructure by shutting them down.

"There are law colleges where you may not have faculty, no library or where attendance will not be marked. I believe there are law colleges where you have to just go and pay the fees, the rest is taken care off.

"How can a legal profession or how can you tolerate this kind of situation? I believe this is a great responsibility cast upon the Bar Council of India (BCI) and bar councils to shut down such shops. I am sure that the admission standards will be raised," Justice Thakur said.

Calling it a challenge for the BCI to remove lawyers who bring disrepute to the legal profession, the CJI said there are some people who enter the field just because it adds respectability.

"Unwanted and unprofessional members in the bar and their isolation and removal are also a challenge. I can assure that the real core of the profession is very good. But there are some people who enter into this profession because it adds respectability.

"...I think one of the challenges that you have to take immediately is that you must identify and weed out such elements so that the bar remains in its pristine glory, in its purest form... So that only the professions remains," he said during a felicitation ceremony at Bar Council of India.

The CJI said disciplinary control over members of the bar is very important and suggested that an independent tribunal could be appointed for action against lawyers.

"So you (BCI) need to deal with such elements very very seriously. Appointing a tribunal for disciplinary action can be one such thing. If you have five lawyers sitting to decide disciplinary action against another lawyer, it will be embarrassing. Why should you face that embarrassment? Why not have independent tribunal for the action which you (BCI) say can't be tolerated at any cost?" Justice Thakur asked.

The CJI also red-flagged the deteriorating quality of law



education, and asked the BCI to raise the standard of admission to law colleges and into the legal profession.

"Why can't the Bar Council say that we will not accept anything less than first division and that too through a competitive examination? And, you should restrict the number of admissions these colleges give so that you can control this. Otherwise this profession will be so overcrowded.

"The more this profession gets overcrowded, the more the malpractices because people will have to survive. You have to make a mechanism so that only the best come into the profession. Let the profession become competitive and we can say we are no way less than any other profession," he said.

Other judges who were present during the occasion include Supreme Court judges Dipak Misra, A K Sikri, M Y Iqbal, R Banumathi, Arun Mishra and P C Pant.

BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra highlighted the steps taken by the Council against strikes and absenteeism from work in court called by various bar associations.

He also said that the Council has decided to revise the curriculum of law courses to meet today's competitive standards.
The committee headed by eminent filmmaker Shyam Benegal to look into the revamp of the Censor Board will meet Information and Broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley in Mumbai tomorrow.

Benegal, a celebrated filmmaker, told PTI that a "preliminary meeting" of the committee will take place tomorrow and added that members would also have an interaction with Jaitley who will be in Mumbai.

The government had on January 1 constituted a committee headed by Benegal to look into the revamp of the Censor Board functioning which has been mired in controversies in recent past.

The panel, which has been asked to submit its report in two months, includes filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, adman Piyush Pandey and film critic Bhawana Somaaya.

Apart from them, National Film Development Council MD Nina Lath Gupta and Joint Secretary (Films) Sanjay Murthy would also be a part of the committee.

(Reopens DES74)



Later, Minister of State for I&B Rajyavardhan Rathore also tweeted that he would be in Mumbai to attend the meeting.

"In Mumbai to attend 1st mtg of Shyam Benegal Panel on CBFC, chaired by @arunjaitley ji tmrw; Govt comtd 2 renew CBFC imbibing creative nuances," Rathore said in his tweet.
Goa Governor Mridula Sinha has emphasised on conducting research in folk music, folk literature and folk language as suggested by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"Former Prime Minister (AB Vajpayee) has always stressed on conducting research in folk music, folk literature and folk language and it should be done as people of the country even today have kept alive Ram and Sita, Shiv and Parvati in folk literature," Goa Governor said addressing a function here yesterday.

Sinha, who herself is an acclaimed writer arrived here yesterday to inaugurate a two-day long national seminar "Lok Sahitya Me Gyan Parampara" at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi Viswa Vidyalaya (ABHVV) established with a mandate to promote Hindi language in the country.

Referring to popular Chhath festival of Bihar, Sinha said that it unites people with the nature as it is a creation of nature and people worshipped Sun god in it.

Sinha who has penned a book, "Bihar Ki Lok Kathayen" said that basic thinking by any person is being done in his folk language.

Referring to Goa, the Governor said that people have wrong impression about that state as its folk culture is very rich and different citizens worshipping in different ways there still live in a joint family system.

The Goa Governor on the occasion also inaugurated Nakshatra Vatika and Panchkarm Kendra in the university premises.

The seminar was also addressed by Madhya Pradesh Health Minister, Narottam Mishra and the ABVHVV Vice Chancellor, Prof. Mohanlal Cheepa among others.
President Maithripala Sirisena today vowed to achieve lasting peace in Sri Lanka so that all communities can "live as one", as he marked the first anniversary of being elected to office.

Sirisena, who in a stunning upset defeated strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in the polls last year, said he was satisfied with the reforms he introduced over the past year to achieve national reconciliation, including with minority Tamils.

"We must not leave room for extremists both in the south and north. We have to make sure there will not be another war in this country," Sirisena said.

Sirisena handed a shock defeat to Rajapaksa, having come forward as the opposition challenger after breaking ranks with the two time president.

"I will ensure that children of north, south, west and east live happily in peace. My aim is to achieve lasting peace where all communities can live as one," Sirisena said.

Sirisena, since coming to power, has reduced his presidential powers and strengthened key areas of governance by setting up independent commissions on police, judiciary elections and public service.

"We have physically ended the war but were not able to identify and address root causes of the war," Sirisena said referring to military victory over the LTTE in 2009 that ended the nearly three decades-long civil war in the country.

Sirisena's unity government has to deal with high expectations of the Tamil minority.

His predecessor Rajapaksa had antagonised both Tamil and Muslim minorities in order to appease the Sinhala majority.

Sirisena is to address the parliament tomorrow launching his constitutional reform programme to draft a brand new statute.

"Some accuse us of leaving room for a division of the country and of endangering national security through the new Constitution. We will do neither," he said.

The keynote address at the function marking the anniversary was delivered by Gopalakrishna Gandhi, a former Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.
Marking his first year in office, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena today pardoned a former LTTE militant, who tried to assassinate him 10 years ago.

Sirisena ordered Presidential Pardon for former LTTE cadre Sivaraja Jenivan, currently undergoing a 10-year rigourous imprisonment sentence, for trying to murder him in 2005 when he was serving as the country's Minister of Mahaweli Development.

Jenivan was arrested in 2006 inside a passenger bus leaving Sirisena's hometown Polonnaruwa.

He was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment by Polonnaruwa High Court last year, the Colombo Page reported.

The pardon for 36-year-old Jenivan came on the day when Sirisena finished his first year in office after defeating Lanka's former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa last year.

Since becoming president, Sirisena has taken a number of steps to ensure reconciliation in the ethnically divided country, reeling under almost three decades of civil-war between armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants, which ended in 2009.

Earlier this week, the president promised to give land to civilians displaced by war in the embattled northern and eastern provinces, by the middle of this year.

Sirisena, 64, had came to power in January last year with the backing of country's minority Tamils and Muslims in addition to the majority Sinhalese on the back of promises to ensure ethnic reconciliation and end the corruption.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico today called for an extraordinary EU summit following the New Year's Eve spate of sexual attacks in Germany that have been blamed on a crowd of migrants.

"It will be necessary to also convene an extraordinary summit. We'll have to modify the calendar we recently approved because we can't wait until autumn given the events" in Cologne, the leftist Fico told reporters.
Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Kailash Meghwal today asked the heads of all departments of the state government to furnish replies on pending questions by February 15.

Starred and unstarred questions, various other matters related to Assembly business should be addressed and all pending matters be replied to Vidhan Sabha by February 15, holding a meeting with department heads the Speaker directed.

He also asked the officials, specially new ones to read the House business rules and procedures and act accordingly in future, quoting speaker an official spokesman said.

Pending assurances given by the ruling government in the house proceedings should also be settled by February 28, the speaker directed.

Annual reports of every department should reach Assembly by February 15 too, he ordered.

Deputy Speaker Rao Rajendra Singh expressed and directed the officials to conduct and complete financial audit of Jaipur Development Authority, and Rajasthan Housing Board at the earliest.

Parliamentary Minister Rajendra Rathore assured the speaker that he himself would monitor the progress of the work as directed by the Speaker.

Chief Secretary C S Rajan assured that in next session of the House all replies would be sent on time.
With all decks cleared for her return, an elderly Hindu woman from Pakistan, who had been stranded in India for nearly two years along with her son and sister-in-law, will finally go back home after she boards the Karachi-bound Thar Express post midnight.

Confirming their departure, ASP (CID) Bharat Meghwal said Hawa Devi (75) along with her son Mahesho and sister-in-law Moomal have been granted all required permissions, including from the Indian immigration authorities, to leave the country.

Hawa Devi (75) of Mithi in Sindh Province of Pakistan had come to India on pilgrim visa in March 2014 to visit Haridwar. After their trip to Haridwar, they had come to Jodhpur to meet their relatives.

However, owing to some procedural glitches, they were stuck in Jodhpur after officials neither granted permission for departure nor refused. The officials also collected their passports which later expired along with visa permissions.

The local Foreign Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), had taken up Devi's case after the media reported the matter but she and her family members could not depart as they had not been granted permission from the state's home department.

The state's Human Rights Commission had also taken cognisance of the matter on December 21 and called for a report from the officials.

Hindu Singh Sodha, President of the Seemant Lok Sangthan, which has been fighting for the rights of Pakistani Hindu migrants, said Union Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had also spokento him seeking details of the case.

"After submitting the report, she had invited me to Delhi and talked about the issue in detail. She had assured to pave the way for her departure. I am happythat Devi wouldbe able to unite with her family after such a long time," he said.

On being informed that she will now be able to return home, an elated Devi said she was happy that she would finally be able to see her ailing husband back in Pakistan.

"I am thankful to all who made it possible. But had it been in time, I would have been able to see my grandson who passed away a few months back," she said while leaving for the railway station.
Gunmen have abducted a Swiss woman from her home in fabled Timbuktu in northern Mali, the second time she has been taken captive, officials told today.

Her capture is the first in the area since the kidnap and murder of two French journalists late November 2013 in Kidal.

"Beatrice, a Swiss citizen, was kidnapped in her home in Timbuktu by gunmen," a Timbuktu government official told AFP.

A Malian security source said armed men had gone to her home yesterday evening, "knocked on the door, she opened, and they left with her."



In Bern, the Swiss foreign ministry said it was "aware of the apparent kidnapping of a Swiss woman in Mali" and was in contact with the local authorities, but refused any further details.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the capture of Beatrice Stockly, a woman in her 40s who has lived in Timbuktu for years and was kidnapped a first time in April 2012 by Islamist fighters.

The social worker was said at the time to be the last Westerner living in the legendary desert city, which she refused to leave when it fell to Islamist Ansar Dine rebels on April 1.

Two weeks later, special forces from Burkina Faso swept into rebel-held northern Mali aboard a helicopter and whisked her to safety in a pre-arranged handover by Islamist rebels.

Stockly at the time appeared tired but in high spirits on the helicopter flying her to Ouagadougou after Ansar Dine handed her over in Timbuktu.

"I am offering you freedom chocolates," she told the officials, security personnel and an AFP journalist on the helicopter, after fumbling through her leather satchel and, with a beaming smile, producing chocolate.

Ansar Dine's 2012 assault on Timbuktu had been backed by fighters from Al-Qaeda's north Africa branch, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

At the time a loose alliance of Tuareg and Islamist rebels took advantage of the political chaos in Mali's capital that followed a March 22 army coup by capturing the country's vast desert north, including Timbuktu.

Stockly's capture that year brought to 21 the number of hostages seized in the Sahel region, 20 of them held by AQIM and another Islamist group, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).
An Islamic State jihadist killed his mother in a public square in the Syrian city of Raqa who begged him to leave the organisation, a monitor said Friday.

Ali Saqr, 20, had reported his mother, Lina, to IS authorities in Raqa "because she tried to persuade him to leave IS and flee the city," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Authorities subsequently arrested the woman and accused her of apostasy, the monitoring group said.

On Wednesday, she was shot to death by her son "in front of hundreds of people close to the mail service building in Raqa city," the Observatory added.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the woman, who was in her forties, was living in the nearby town of Tabaqa but worked in Raqa city.

The incident was widely condemned online by social media users.

Raqa is the de facto Syrian capital of IS's so-called "caliphate," the territories it controls in Syria and Iraq where it imposes its harsh interpretations of Islamic law.

Among the crimes that warrant a death sentence in IS territories are homosexuality, "exposing jihadist genitalia," adultery and intercourse with animals, according to the Observatory.

Other acts punishable by death range from blocking roads to "betraying Muslims" and working with anti-IS groups including the "crusader" US-led coalition.

Even capturing and torturing an anti-IS activist or fighter without proper authorisation from jihadist authorities could be met with a death sentence.

But in IS-held territories, using child soldiers and "owning slaves", which are typically sexually abused, are both legal.

And the extremist group has been accused of carrying out mass killings, torture, rape and sexual slavery.

A US-led coalition has been striking the jihadists in Syria and Iraq for over a year.

More than 260,000 people have been killed in Syria's war since it erupted in March 2011.
Loop Telecom Limited (LTL), facing trial in a case arising out of the probe into the 2G spectrum scam, today told a special court that the conduct of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in the matter was found to be "inconsistent" by the telecom appellant tribunal.

In an application filed before the court urging it to take on record the relevant part of DoT's affidavit before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), the firm contended that this document was important for adjudication of the criminal trial pending against them.

LTL told the court that the affidavit was filed by the Centre through DoT in response to a petition filed by the firm before the TDSAT seeking refund of entry fees of Rs 1,454 crore paid by it to the department in January 2008.

It said TDSAT had passed a judgement in its petition on September 16 last year, but the tribunal had declined to go into whether there was any cheating involved in the issue.

"The TDSAT has accepted in its judgement dated September 16, 2015, that the conduct of DoT was inconsistent and has in fact, given a finding that if the accused number 6 (LTL) is convicted in the criminal trial then it would be 'in-pari delicto' (equally culpable or blameworthy) with the DoT. This means it is submitted that the DoT is a primary wrong-doer," LTL said in its application filed before Special CBI Judge O P Saini.

It said, "it is for this purpose to further explain the TDSAT findings that the accused number 6 (LTL) craves leave to place before this court the pages from the affidavit (filed by DoT) attached to this application."



After senior advocate Harish Salve filed the application before the court, the judge fixed it for consideration on January 11.

LTL is facing charges of alleged conspiracy and cheating to bag the 2G spectrum licences in 2008.

Essar Group promoters Ravi Ruia and Anshuman Ruia, Loop Telecom promoters, Kiran Khaitan, her husband I P Khaitan and Essar Group Director (Strategy and Planning) Vikash Saraf are facing trial in the case along with three telecom firms--LTL, Loop Mobile India Ltd and Essar Tele Holding Ltd (ETHL).

All the accused have denied the allegations levelled against them.

The court is currently hearing final arguments in the



case.

ETHL had yesterday argued in the court that there was no "misrepresentation" by LTL for acquiring the radio waves.

It had argued that CBI's allegations regarding alleged violation of a clause of UASL guidelines by LTL was based on a "wrong interpretation" of the provision by the agency.

CBI had earlier alleged in the court that Essar Group was "effectively controlling" LTL which had "fraudulently and dishonestly" misrepresented facts before the DoT to acquire 2G spectrum licences.

It had claimed that the entire funding in this case was by Essar Group of companies and restructuring of firms was done to conceal the fact that this group controlled LTL.
Two foreign tourists were today stabbed by militants at a hotel in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Hurghada, police said, adding one of the attackers was killed and the other injured in retaliatory fire.

The injured persons were Danish and German tourists, Ministry of Interior said in a statement.

The attackers were armed with knives and both of them were wearing an explosive belt, police said.

They stabbed the tourists at Bella Vista Hotel in the busy downtown area of the city. The injured tourists are currently being treated in the town's Nile Hospital.

Police opened fire at the attackers, killing one and wounding the other.

Security forces have cordoned off the area and are currently investigating the incident.

The incident comes a day after unknown gunmen opened fire on a tourist bus and a hotel in Al-Haram Street in Giza yesterday.

A local affiliate of the Islamic State terror group has claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack.
Three persons, who were allegedly involved in selling of ATM cards and providing bank accounts on forged documents to a group of cheats which duped several people online, have been nabbed from south Delhi's Chhatarpur area, police said today.

The accused, identified as Lalramsanga Buongpui alias John (25), Hari Shanker (21) and Krishan Kumar (22) allegedly sold ATM cards and bank accounts, opened with forged documents, to a group of cheats, headed by a Nigerian national, who further duped several people using those accounts, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav said.

The matter came into notice when a Nigerian national, Furtunatus Obinna, was arrested by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police from south Delhi's Gautam Nagar area for duping a retired government school teacher of around Rs 4.85 lakh, on December 16 last year, police said.

They said the complainant had received an e-mail from a person, claiming to be a 25-year-old woman from Sudan, who lost her parents in the riots, leaving behind a big fund of USD 2.7 million. The accused asked for the complainant's help in getting the said funds transferred by allowing her to deposit the same in his account for the time being.

The accused was persuaded to deposit around Rs 4.85 lakh at a mentioned proportion in two separate bank accounts in April and May respectively on the pretext of transfer charges, police said.

When the complainant was asked to deposit another instalment of Rs 8 lakh, he sensed something fishy and informed the police, following which a case of cheating was registered and investigation was taken up, leading to Obinna's arrest, police said.

The Nigerian national told police that he used to purchase bank accounts from agents for anything between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000, police said.

A special team of Delhi police took over the investigation to nab the source of such bank accounts and apprehended the trio on December 31 last year.

During interrogation the accused also confessed of selling such bank accounts to other people as well, police said.

Police have recovered seven ATM cards, two bank passbooks and one cheque book from their possession and investigations are on to nab their other associates, they added.
Three Indians have been arrested in Nepal for allegedly trying to smuggle 9.5 kilogrammes of gold from China through illegal channels.

A team of Nepal Police acting on a tip-off yesterday arrested them when they were attempting to bring gold from China through illegal channels, Khanal said.

Bikram Mittal, 34, from Darjeeling district, West Bengal, Vivek Mittal, 32, also from Darjeeling and Bhagirath Chaudyary, 50, from Rajasthan were arrested here on the charges of smuggling 9 kg and 508 gram of gold, according to Senior Superintendent of Police Sarbendra Khanal of Crime Division, Nepal Police.

Bikram and Vivek were the operators of the jewellery while Chaudhary was the gold supplier, he said.

Necessary legal action is being initiated against the three Indian nationals under the Organised Crime Act, the police said.
Tamil Nadu will achieve a record foodgrain production of 170 lakh tonnes during 2015-16 and bag the prestigious Krishi Karman award for the third time, State Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development Minister, R Vaithilingam, said today.

The focused approach, coupled with the adoption of improved farming techniques, helped Tamil Nadu achieve record production in the last four years of AIADMK rule, under the leadership of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, Vaithilingam said.

Speaking at the annual Farmers' Day 2016, at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,he said the foodgrain production has gone up from 78 lakh tonnes four years ago to 101 lakh tonnes in 2011-12, to 110 lakh tonnes the following year before crossing the 127 lakh tonne mark last year.

Tamil Nadu had bagged Krishi Karman award in 2011-12 and 2013-14 for record foodgrain production and pulses production respectively, he said.

He said efforts taken by the university towards accelerating innovation and extension system have helped in improving the yield levels significantly.

Vaithilingam is also pro-Chancellor of the university.

University Vice-Chancellor K Ramasamy said TNAU had released 1,500 advanced farming techniques, 799 crop varieties and 162 farm implements for benefit of the farmers.
Taking a tough stand against the teachers who are in the habit of chewing tobacco or consuming tobacco products, Maharashtra government today said such teachers could face dismissal from service.

Talking to reporters here, state Education Minister Vinod Tawde said, "Those teachers, who, despite being told to stop consumption of tobacco products, continue with the habit, shall be dismissed from service."



He also said that to dissuade teachers from this habit, their promotions will be stopped and no awards and other facilities will be offered to them.

According to the minister, currently there are 5.42 lakh teachers in the state.

A notification recently issued by the Directorate of Primary Education based in Pune, states that some teachers consume tobacco products like kharra, paan and liquor even in the classrooms.

"It has been found out that such habits not only have adverse impact on teachers, but even the students are getting addicted to such vices," it said.

It added that this addiction is more widespread in rural parts of the state.

The notification comes in the wake of a complaint filed by Badlapur based (Thane district) Oriental Human Rights Protection Forum.

As per the government data, out of the 1,00,084 schools in Maharashtra, 67,616 schools are run by government and local bodies, there are 20,455 private aided schools, while 12,013 are unaided private schools.

Out of the total number of 1.61 crore students enrolled in the state, 68.60 lakh students are enrolled in government and local body schools, 64.96 lakh students are enrolled in private aided schools, whereas 28.29 lakh students are enrolled in private unaided schools.

Out of the 5.42 lakh teachers in the state, 2.74 lakh teachers are in government and local body schools, 1.81 lakh in private aided schools, while others are in private unaided schools.
Trains running via Kanpur, including some that ply on arterial routes, would see major changes in direction from today till 29 of the next month.

Due to persisting fog, the rail department has affected major changes in the directions of some trains running through Kanpur, starting from today till February 29.

The Shram Shakti Express and Reverse Shatabdi- important for the passengers of Kanpur- have been closed for operation for two and three days in a week, respectively.

"Due to foggy conditions, some of the trains running through NCR will remain non-operational completely till February 29," according to a statement issued by the NCR Railway.

These include Sampoorna Kranti Express, Allahabad-Haridwar Express, Agra Intercity Express, Chhapra Express and Ujjaini Express.

The Reverse Shatabdi that travels from Kanpur to Delhi six days a week will now be operational for only three days a week and would not operate on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, it said.

Likewise, the Shram Shakti Express which runs from Kanpur to Delhi, will not travel from Kanpur on Monday and Thursday and on the reverse route, it will remain non-operational from Delhi on Tuesday and Friday.

The Swarna Shatabdi Express that plies on the Lucknow-Delhi route via Kanpur will not run on Monday and Thursday.

Apart from this, routes of certain trains have been changed while some would be called back from half of the routes, the statement reads.

This is because in case, the operation of a train is affected due to fog, the remaining travel for the current day would be canceled so that the trains can run on time the next day, the statement said.
Turkish troops have killed 18 members of the Islamic State (IS) group after the jihadists launched an attack on a camp used to train Iraqi fighters outside the Iraqi city of Mosul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today.

Turkish forces have been using the Bashiqa camp, just outside Mosul, to train local Iraqi fighters to retake the city from IS.

"Eighteen members of the Daesh terror organisation who wanted to infiltrate Bashiqa were neutralised," Erdogan said in televised comments after Friday prayers in Istanbul, using another name for the IS group.

"None of our soldiers were wounded," he added.

It was not immediately clear what nature of attack the jihadists had launched but Erdogan said that the Turkish forces were ready to repel any kind of assault.

"Our armed forces there, our officers providing the training, are prepared for any kind of attacks or raids, or anything that happens," said Erdogan.

The presence of the Turkish troops, while welcomed by the local authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan, has become a bone of contention with the central Iraqi government which angrily called for the Turkish troops to leave.

Turkey in December withdrew some of the troops after also coming under US pressure. But it is unclear how many remain at the camp.

Erdogan said Friday the latest attack showed how right Turkey was to station armed forces at the camp to protect the Turkish officers who are providing the training for the Iraqis.

"They are doing what needs to be done at the right time and will continue to do so," he said.

Four Turkish soldiers were wounded on December 16 when IS jihadists fired mortars on the training camp, in an attack that also left two Iraqis dead.
Two labourers sustained burn injuries when a gas pipeline caught fire due to leakage at Bardari area of Pithampur Industrial area here today, a police officer said.

The LPG pipeline belonged to Aavantika Gas Limited (AGL), a joint venture comapany of GAIL (India) Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL).

"The incident took place when a JCB machine was excavating soil for some development work near LPG pipeline of AGL. Prima facie, it appears that the pipeline cracked due to digging work, which led to leakage and then fire," the area City Superintendent of Police (CSP) D K Tiwari told PTI.

Two labourers-- Gopal and Lakhan-- engaged in digging work, sustained burn injuries and were rushed to hospital in neighbouring Indore district for treatment.

The gas supply of the pipeline was stopped immediately after the fire. The flames were doused by fire tenders with the help of police, he added.

According to the police officer, investigation into the incident has been initiated and people responsible for the incident will be prosecuted.

The JCB machine has been impounded, Tiwari said.
The US Federal authorities have arrested two Iraqi-born refugees on terror-related charges for providing material support to the Islamic State terror group, officials said today.

Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, was arrested in Houston, Texas, and charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, while Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, was arrested from California and charged with traveling to Syria to fight with ISIS and making a false statement to investigators.

The arrests, coming just over a month after the San Bernardino attack in California in which a Pakistani-origin couple killed 14 people, has renewed the debate in the US that authorities are not doing enough to screen the migrants coming from strife-torn countries in the Middle East.

Both suspects were Palestinians born in Iraq and both were living as refugees in the US, according to the US Justice Department.

Citing social media communications, the criminal complaint against Jayab said he spoke with an unnamed Texas resident about weapons and training in Syria.

That unnamed individual is Hardan, who was indicted on Wednesday on three charges of providing material support to ISIS, according to the law enforcement officials.

"I need to learn from your weapon expertise," the individual wrote to Jayab, according to the complaint.

In reply, Jayab wrote, "We will make your abilities very strong," according to authorities.

"Our concern now is only to arrive there," Jayab went on. "When you arrive to al-Sham [Syria] you will be trained."



It was not immediately clear whether Hardan or Jayab had retained legal representation. They are both scheduled to appear in court later today.

If convicted, Hardan faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a USD 250,000 fine.

Jayab entered the US as an Iraqi refugee in October 2012, the Justice Department said.

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, Jayab exchanged messages on social media in 2012 and 2013, saying he planned to go to Syria to fight. In November 2013, the complaint alleges, he flew from Chicago to Turkey, and then traveled to Syria.

He "allegedly reported on social media that he was in Syria fighting with various terror organisations, including Ansar al-Islam," officials said.

Meanwhile, the US Attorney Benjamin Wagner said there were no signs that Jayab was involved in any US terror plots.

"While he represented a potential safety threat, there is no indication that he planned any acts of terrorism in this country," Wagner said.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of eight years in prison and a USD 250,000 fine.
UK's Jobs minister Priti Patel and KMC Mayor Sovan Chatterjee today launched the 'Roadmap' for a Low-Carbon Kolkata.

Patel praised the initiatives by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in solid waste management and initiatives to attain the objectives of a green city.

She said it was delightful to come back to this beautiful city where she had been in 2013.

The British Deputy High Commissioner to India attended the function which commemorated the KMC-London collaboration in reducing carbon level.

MIC Debashis Kumar, Mala Roy was present among the KMC officials.

Kumar said as part of the roadmap, solar energy operated lights will be installed in several KMC parks.

A short film was screened on the occasion.
Britain's Prince William and wife Kate Middleton will undertake their first official visit to Bhutan in the early half of this year, after their maiden trip to India, Kensington Palace announced today.

The visit announced by Kensington Palace for spring, could take place any time between March end and mid-June.

It is expected to take place right after their visit to India, which was also announced for spring this year during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's UK visit in last November.

"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will make an official visit to Bhutan this spring. The visit is being carried out at the request of Her Majesty's Government and will be the first time their Royal Highnesses have visited the country," a Kensington Palace statement said.

According to reports, the royal couple, both aged 33, are unlikely to take their children - Prince George and Princess Charlotte - with them on the South Asian tour.

While visiting the country, William and Kate will meet Bhutan's King and Queen, who got married in 2011.

Bhutan's 35-year-old head of state, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, succeeded his father Jigme Singye Wangchuck in 2006 after his abdication.

The change of leadership was part of a democratising process and two years later the first parliamentary elections were held in the kingdom.

The Oxford-educated King's wife, Jetsun Pema, is expecting their first child early this year.

Previous royal visits to Bhutan include a visit by William's uncle Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, in 2010, and by his father Prince Charles in 1998.

William and Kate's India visit had been announced on November 13, the day Modi met Queen Elizabeth II over tea at Buckingham Palace.

While no further details of the visit have been released yet, the Taj Mahal is reportedly a confirmed stop on their itinerary.

During the same spring period this year, William's brother Prince Harry will also make a visit to the South Asian neighbourhood with a visit to Nepal.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today that the use of cluster bombs in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition may amount to war crimes.

Ban said he had received "troubling reports" of cluster bomb attacks on January 6 on the rebel-held capital Sanaa.

"The use of cluster munitions in populated areas may amount to a war crime due to their indiscriminate nature," the UN chief said in a statement.

Cluster bombs are banned under a 2008 international convention, although Saudi Arabia and the United States are not signatories.

The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said Tuesday that its staff in Yemen had found remnants of 29 cluster bombs during a field visit in Haradh district in the northwest.

The warning over possible war crimes was a clear sign of mounting frustration at the UN with Saudi Arabia's 10-month military campaign in Yemen.

It came in response to the decision by Yemen's Saudi-backed government to expel the leading UN rights official, George Abu al-Zulof.

Ban is urging the Yemeni government to reverse its decision to expel Zulof, who was declared persona non grata for an alleged lack of impartiality in his reporting.

The UN chief said he was "deeply concerned about the intensification of coalition airstrikes and ground fighting and shelling in Yemen, despite repeated calls for a renewed cessation of hostilities."



He is "particularly concerned about reports of intense airstrikes in residential areas and on civilian buildings in Sanaa, including the Chamber of Commerce, a wedding hall and a centre for the blind," said the statement.

UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was in Riyadh today for talks on renewing a ceasefire in Yemen, which faces the threat of famine amid the dire humanitarian crisis.

Yemen descended into chaos when the coalition began airstrikes in March to push back Iran-backed Huthi rebels who had seized Sanaa.

More than 5,800 people have been killed and 27,000 wounded since then, according to UN figures.

Yemen's government sat down with the rebels and their allies in Switzerland last month for six days of talks that ended with no major breakthrough.

The UN envoy has called for a new round of talks on January 14 but the sides have yet to confirm that they will attend.
The US and China have agreed to coordinate closely on taking appropriate action against North Korea's "provocative" behaviour, after the reclusive nation claimed it has successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi discussed over phone, the "highly provocative" nature of North Korea's actions, and its grave threat to peace and security, State Department spokesperson John Kirby said.

"The Secretary and Foreign Minister Wang agreed that the United States and China would continue to coordinate closely in the UN Security Council and with partners within the Six-Party Talks framework to take appropriate action," Kirby said yesterday.

Meanwhile the White House confirmed that US will be in consultations with its allies in the region, including South Korea, about an appropriate response to North Korea's "blatant violation" of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

"This is also something that is being discussed at the United Nations around the table of the Security Council. We'll continue to consult closely with our friends and allies as we determine an appropriate response," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters yesterday.

A day earlier, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice, met the Chinese Ambassador to the US at the White House.

The Administration has been in in touch with Chinese officials, including the National Security Advisor who spoke to the Chinese Ambassador to the United States on Wednesday.

"China wields more influence over the North Korean regime than probably any other country in the world. And we certainly want to work closely with them to determine an appropriate response," Earnest said adding that US is looking upon China to exert its leadership to put pressure on Pyongyang.

"What I think is notable is that we have seen some unanimity of opinion across the community about how what North Korea has done is provocative and a flagrant violation of their international obligations and certainly of a variety of UN Security Council resolutions," he said.
Fed up of frequent thefts, a restaurant in the US is offering a unique reward of free pizzas for an entire year to anyone who can help in nabbing the culprit of the most recent burglary in the eatery.

Patrick White, the owner of Kaos Pizzeria place in Denver, Colorado, said a man captured in surveillance footage broke into his restaurant.

White said the thief came into Kaos through a back window and stole all of the money, about USD 1,000, inside the restaurant's two cash registers before taking off.

White is offering free pizzas for an entire year to whoever can help police find the thief who burglarised his business last Sunday.

"What is so disturbing about this is how nonchalantly he just walks onto the property," White was quoted as saying by KUSA-TV.

"I have a lot of female employees, it makes everyone nervous. It really brings morale down," he said.

In an effort to identify the thief, White posted the surveillance video online. The video has received nearly 2,000 views.

"He's a white male about 6'2"-- a big guy with a shaved head," White said.

While investigators continue to search for the man seen in the surveillance video, White has offered the incentive to anyone who can help lead police to an arrest.

"Our reward is free pizza for a year. An unlimited amount. You can come in every day and get free pizza," he said.

White said this is the third time Kaos has been burglarised in recent months.

"We just want this to stop. There are too many burglaries along Pearl. Nearly every business has been burglarised," White said.
The US expects Pakistan to conduct a "thorough, complete, fair and transparent" investigation into the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot, and has said it is "looking forward" to seeing the results of the probe.

"We certainly look forward to and expect a thorough, complete, fair and transparent investigative process. We are going to have to let it work through," State Department spokesperson John Kirby said yesterday.

"We look forward to seeing the results of their investigation. We would all like them to be done as quickly as possible and transparently discussed when it's complete," Kirby said, adding that it was upto Pakistan to sort out how long the probe would take.

"They (Pakistan) said they're going to investigate it. They said they're not going to discriminate between terrorist groups when they conduct counter-terrorism operations," the official said, acknowledging that the US has reached out to Pakistan after the Pathankot terror attack.

The US encourages an "aggresive" approach to counter-terrorism operations by Pakistan and other regional powers, Kirby said, and expressed willingness to support such operations as required or deemed fit by those nations.

The State Department spokesperson could not confirm the veracity of the report written by former CIA official Bruce Riedel that ISI was behind the Pathankot terrorist attack.

"I saw Mr Riedel's piece. I'm not in a position to confirm the veracity of his conclusions," he said.
The US and Japan have agreed to work closely with South Korea to tackle the security challenge posed by North Korea in the wake of the "provocative nuclear test" conducted by the reclusive nation.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani during a phone call today agreed to work closely with South Korea to address the security challenge posed by Pyongyang, the Pentagon said.

"Both agreed that trilateral cooperation with the Republic of Korea is critical to deterrence and maintaining peace and security in Northeast Asia and beyond," the Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.

During the call, Carter and Nakatani agreed that the nuclear test by North Korea is an unacceptable and irresponsible act that undermines regional security and stability, he said.

"Nakatani stated that the test was a clear violation of the United Nation's Security Council resolutions and condemned the act. Carter agreed with this view and commended the high level of coordination between the United States and Japan after the test," Cook said.

Carter noted that utilising the Alliance Coordination Mechanism under the 2015 Guidelines for US-Japan Defence Cooperation exemplifies this close cooperation, Cook said.

The call comes a day after senior defence officials from the three countries held a video tele-conference on the latest challenge posed by North Korea.

The conference was held to share information among the three countries regarding the recent nuclear test conducted by North Korean on January 6.

At this meeting, Japanese Deputy Minister Yoo, the South Korean Deputy Minister of National Defence for Policy; David Shear, the US Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs and Director General Satoshi Maeda, the Japanese Ministry of Defence Director General for Defence Policy represented their respective countries.

"At this meeting, South Korea, US and Japan agreed that North Korea's fourth nuclear test is a provocative act that represents a flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolutions and a serious threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the entire region," said Com Bill Urban, a defence department spokesman.

"The officials reiterated that they do not and will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state and decided to continue to cooperate closely and share information on North Korea's nuclear threat," Urban said.
Questioning the "intent" of Chinese military advances in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific waters, a top American Naval commander today sought deeper ties with India as he cited India-Bangaldesh maritime border dispute resolution as a possible model for others.

Admiral Scott Swift, Commander, Pacific Fleet, also pitched for India signing the three contentious defence foundational agreements that Washington is keen on.

Talking about the growing Chinese activities in the Indian Ocean, he wondered why would any country deploy nuclear submarines for anti-piracy operations.

India security agencies are concerned about such activities of the Chinese Navy but China claims the submarines are part of their anti-piracy fleet.

Swift, who met Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan, also spoke about China's attempts to carve out their own ports in various countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Djibouti (Africa).

"There is lack of transparency, lack of understanding of the intent," Swift said speaking to a select group of reporters.

He said it is for India to decide what role it wants to play in the maritime waters but pointed out that US would be ready for more naval exercises.

He cited the recent Malabar naval exercise between India, US and Japan and said Washington wants the exercise to be inclusive rather than exclusive.

He was responding to a questions about whether the US wants Australia to be part of the Malabar exercise like in 2007.

Talking about the maritime disputes in Asia, Swift said that in 2012, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Seas decided a maritime border dispute between Bangladesh and Burma that benefited both.

He said that two years later, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, resolved Bangladesh's western maritime border dispute with India two years later.

"India demonstrated regional leadership by agreeing to arbitration with its smaller neighbour and by accepting the ruling," he said adding that this could be a role model for others, in an indirect reference to the dispute in South China Sea. China has territorial water disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan and some other ASEAN countries.

Asked about the foundational agreements, Swift said they are "natural outcomes" for a deepening of ties and said the word "foundational" describes how important they are.

The American side had raised the issue of signing of Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA), Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) during the recent visit of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to the US.

While the previous UPA government had refused to sign these, sources said Parrikar has asked the US to address India's concerns over these agreements for holding further talks, particularly on CISMOA and BECA.
The US has pressed Pakistan to conduct a "thorough, fair and transparent" probe into the deadly terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot and wants to see the outcome of the investigation.

"We certainly look forward to and expect a thorough, complete, fair and transparent investigative process. We are going to have to let it work through," State Department spokesperson John Kirby said yesterday.

"We look forward to seeing the results of their investigation. We would all like them to be done as quickly as possible and transparently discussed when it's complete. But this is for the government of Pakistan to sort out how long this investigation is going to take," Kirby said.

"They (Pakistan) said they're going to investigate it. They said they're not going to discriminate between terrorist groups when they conduct counter-terrorism operations," the official said.

He acknowledged that the US has reached out to Pakistan after the Pathankot terror attack.

"It's more important to us, as it is in our own investigative issues here in the United States, that it be a good, solid, thoughtful and comprehensive investigation, not that it be done by a certain timeline," he said.

Six terrorists, who had sneaked into the country from Indo-Pak border in Pakistan, had attacked Indian Air Force base in Pathankot during the intervening night of January 1 and 2.

All the terrorist were killed during a counter-operation by Indian forces that lasted for about three days in which seven security personnel were killed.

The US said it encourages an "aggressive" approach to counter-terrorism operations by Pakistan and other regional powers, Kirby said, and expressed willingness to support such operations as required or deemed fit by those nations.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has said communication between India and Pakistan is a "hopeful sign" that the two countries will be able to resolve their concerns bilaterally despite the terror attack in Pathankot.

"The communication (between India and Pakistan) is a hopeful sign that they will be able to address these concerns, but I'll leave it to the governments of Pakistan and India to respond to this particular situation," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said while responding to questions about the cross-border terror attack.

"This is a situation between India and Pakistan, and we encourage their continued communication and efforts to address these issues," he said yesterday.

Cook also said the US has a very good defence and military-to-military relationship with India. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter had hosted Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at the Pentagon last month.
An Uzbek refugee authorities say had an unwavering commitment to kill personnel at a military base or civilians at crowded Fourth of July celebrations in downtown Boise, Idaho, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Fazliddin Kurbanov received the sentence yesterday that includes three years of supervised release and a USD 250,000 fine. He will also face deportation proceedings after serving the prison sentence.

A federal jury in August convicted Kurbanov of conspiracy, attempting to support a terrorist organization and possession of bomb-making components. Kurbanov has maintained his innocence.

"Your honor," Kurbanov told US District Judge Edward J. Lodge through an interpreter, "I'd like to say that I'm not a terrorist. I've never been a terrorist."



But Lodge in handing down the sentence said Kurbanov "intended to commit jihad against the United States."



Prosecutors say the 33-year-old Russian-speaking truck driver who fled Uzbekistan in 2009 downloaded jihadist and martyrdom videos from a terrorist website and communicated with a terrorist organization, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Authorities monitored his communications and arrested him in 2013.

Besides targeting Boise, authorities said, Kurbanov also discussed with a confidential FBI source targeting military bases, in particular West Point Military Academy in New York.

Kurbanov received 15 years each on the first two counts to be served concurrently and 10 years on possessing the bomb-making components to be served after completing the 15-year sentences.

Defense attorney Chuck Peterson asked Lodge for a sentence in the 13-year range, noting Kurbanov hadn't actually harmed anyone and would be deported after prison.

"That's punishment enough for what he did," Peterson said.

US Assistant Attorney Aaron Lucoff asked Lodge to sentence Kurbanov to 35 years in prison.

"Society needs to be protected from this defendant," Lucoff told Lodge. Lucoff said Kurbanov wanted to strike Americans on US soil to avenge US military action in central Asia.

Prosecutors called four witnesses at the sentencing hearing, one an FBI agent and explosives expert and three jail workers at the Ada County Jail. They also showed videos of Kurbanov in the jail spitting on a jail deputy and spitting on a camera and other areas of a special holding cell.

One of the jail workers testified that Kurbanov soaked paper towels with his urine and threw it into another inmate's cell.

Lodge said he was "taken aback" by the videos and testimony. He also said Kurbanov lacked an appreciation for a system of government that would spend more than USD 1 million on his defense on the foundational idea that anyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty.

"The lengthy term of imprisonment imposed by the Court ensures that this defendant, who by his words and acts was intent on taking American lives, does not and will not pose any further threat to the safety and security of our community," said US Attorney Wendy Olson in a statement after the sentencing.
Venture Catalysts today said it has led a USD 250,000 (about Rs 1.66 crore) investment in ticket discovery platform, ConfirmTkt.

VCats angels including Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Anirudh Damani, Anand Ladsariya, Sanjay Mehta and Krishna Jhujhunwala led the round, while other investors, such as Urrshila Kerkar also participated in the funding drive, a statement said.

ConfirmTkt will use the funding for product development and hiring, it said, adding that Damani will join the Board.

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Asus elevates Vinay Shetty as Regional Dir India & S Asia * Taiwanese tech giant Asus today said it has elevated Vinay Shetty as the Regional Director for India and South Asia for their computer components and peripheral business.

Levis Su, who was previously serving in this position, has moved into the role of Director for Motherboards, Asus Computers China, Asus said in a statement.

Shetty, currently Country Head at ASUS since 2014, will be the first ever Indian Regional Director for Asus, it added.

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GIPC awards 26 MW wind energy project to Inox Wind * Gujarat Industries Power Company Ltd (GIPC) today said it has awarded a 26-MW Wind Energy Farm Project in the state to Inox Wind.

"Company has issued Letter of intent (LoI)...To Inox Wind Ltd...For installation of 26 MW Wind Energy Farm Project at Rojmal Site, Dist: Amreli, Gujarat, on EPC basis, with Operation & Maintenance Contract for twenty years," Gujarat Industries Power Company Ltd said in a BSE filing.

Wind Energy Farm Project is scheduled to be completed by December 2016, it added.

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Spectranet to offer 100 mbps broadband plan for about Rs 1,200 * Internet service provider Spectranet is planning to provide fixed line broadband connection with 100 megabit per second speed and unlimited download in eight cities for about Rs 1,200 per month.

"Our goal is provide world class broadband service to urban centres in India. Though we are for profit organisation, we want to focus on making an impact in life of people. As part of our strategy, we will provide 100 mbps broadband speed to all our customers within a year," Udit Mehrotra CEO Spectranet told PTI.

The company has started 3-month trial offer with 100 mbps broadband speed for residential customers in Gurgaon at Rs 1,199 with no data download limit.

Datawind launches software for teaching



* DataWind today launched UbiClass, an educational software application, that supports "flipped classroom" teaching and help students learn from anywhere using DataWind tablets.

In a flipped classroom, students study and review online educational materials at home.

The application will initially be deployed as a free download to students and teachers at select primary and higher educational institutions in India that currently utilize DataWind tablets.

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Vodafone launches 4G services in Mysuru * Vodafone India today rolled out 4G network in Karnataka beginning with Mysuru.

This is following the launch of its services in Kerala in December 2015.

Built on 1800 MHz band, this state-of-the-art network will enable customers to access high-speed internet via mobile with speeds across a range of smart devices including mobile Wi-Fi.

Vodafone will increase the intensity of its 4G rollout covering important metros - Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata before March 2016.

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Ramesh Bhat cease to be independent director of ITI * State-run ITI today said Ramesh Bhat ceased to be independent director of the company with effect from January 2 consequent to completion of tenure.

"... Consequent to completion of tenure of appointment of independent director Ramesh Bhat ceased to be Independent Director of the company with effect from January 2, 2016. The board will take note of the same in the next board meeting," the company said in a filing to BSE.

Cadila Healthcare bags India Pharma Excellence Award



* Government today conferred Cadila Healthcare with the India Pharma Excellence Award, while Lupin was awarded pharma company of the year.

The awards were constituted by the Department of Pharmaceuticals and given to the companies and individuals by Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar at an event in Bengaluru.

In the individual category, Glenmark CMD Glenn Saldana received India Pharma Leader award.

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Trans India Holidays aims three-fold growth in next 3 years * Travel firm Trans India Holidays Group today said it aims three-fold growth in revenue in next three years to Rs 360 crore on account of its foray in the online space.

The company, which today ventured into online travel segment with digital platform BigBreaks, is aiming to tap the growing segment by providing online solutions to travel and other programmes.
Vietnam's military is investigating the appearance of three mysterious metal balls -- believed to be debris from space -- which landed in the country's remote north, a senior army official said today.

Two metal balls were discovered in northwestern Yen Bai province on January 2, army spokesman Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan told AFP.

Later a larger ball weighing some 45 kilograms landed in a maize field in neighbouring Tuyen Quang province, he said.

"We are still identifying where they came from," he said, adding the army had determined they did not contain explosives or hazardous material.

The metal balls fell from the sky, he said, scaring local residents.

"Before and after these objects were discovered, the Vietnamese army was not conducting any military activity in the region," Tuan said.

Witnesses told state-run media that they heard what sounded like thunder before the balls plunged to the earth.

The Ministry of Defence has pledged to release the findings of the probe.

Thanh Nien newspaper said that the initial investigation suggested the objects could have been made in Russia and come from missiles or spaceships.

Nguyen Khoa Son, a professor from the Vietnamese Space Science and Technology Program, told the VietnamNet site that the balls might be the result of a failed satellite launch.

He said the balls did not appear to be damaged and could have fallen from an altitude of less than 100 kilometres.

In November, three mysterious objects also fell from the sky onto Spain's southeast.

According to NASA, more than 500,000 pieces of debris are currently orbiting Earth, and bits of space junk plummet to the planet every year.
Vietnam has issued its second rebuke in a week to Beijing, accusing its northern neighbour of "threatening peace" after more Chinese aircraft landed on a contested reef in the South China Sea.

Chinese state media on Wednesday said two civilian planes landed on one of the islands in the Fiery Cross reef in the disputed Spratly Islands, which are claimed by Hanoi but controlled by Beijing.

The landings are "a serious violation of Vietnam's sovereignty and threaten peace and stability in the region", foreign ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said in a statement issued yesterday.

The two "test flights" Wednesday follow an initial aircraft landing on Saturday, which prompted the first formal diplomatic complaint from Hanoi.

The planes departed from and returned to the city of Haikou, the capital of the southern island province of Hainan -- a two-hour journey each way.

The flights have raised alarm in the region and attracted criticism from the United States, with the Pentagon warning Thursday that the move would raise tensions in the disputed waters.

The Philippines has also said it would file a protest.

Binh said Vietnam has asked China "to immediately end similar acts... That expand and complicate disputes".

China claims virtually all the South China Sea, while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have partial claims.

China has asserted its claim by rapidly building artificial islands, including airstrips said to be capable of hosting military jets.

Several other claimants, including Vietnam, have also built facilities on islands they control, but at a significantly slower pace and smaller scale.
Three civilians including a child have been killed by shelling from Yemen in a border region of Saudi Arabia, official media said today.

Several shells from Yemeni territory landed in the Jazan region on Thursday evening, the Saudi Press Agency said, citing the civil defence agency.

"This led to the death of three people, including a child, and (the) injury of nine others who were taken to hospital," the agency's spokesman Major Yahya Abdullah al-Qahtani said.

Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen have intensified cross-border rocket attacks since late last year.

They have also fired ballistic missiles.

Around 90 civilians and soldiers have died from shelling and skirmishes in Saudi border regions since March when a Saudi-led military coalition began air and ground action in Yemen.

They are supporting local forces against the rebels and their allies, who seized territory from the internationally-recognised government.

In Yemen, more than 5,800 people have been killed since March, about half of them civilians, according to the United Nations.
A 28-year-old youth swallowed a pair of tongs apparently to win a bet and was later operated upon at a hospital in Deesa town of Banaskantha district, doctors here said today.

Bhanvra Meghwal, a native of Sanchor in Rajasthan, was admitted to hospital in a critical condition two days ago, as he complained of chest and stomach pain, Dr Vishal Thakkar, who along with a team of doctors operated on him yesterday to take out the kitchen tool said.

"Even his relatives did not know at that time what went wrong with Meghwal, who kept on saying that he swallowed pair of tongs when he was admitted. When we did his X-ray, we were shocked to see the tool inside his chest," said Thakkar.

Since it was not possible to pull out the kitchen tool through his neck, doctors have decided to operate on him.

"We have to cut open his chest and esophagus (feeding tube) to remove the tool, which was around one-foot-long. We have also repaired the damage it caused to some of his body parts during operation. The patient is now conscious and doing fine without ventilator today," said Thakkar.

As per some locals who came with Meghwal's relatives, he swallowed the pair of tongs to win a bet placed between Meghwal and his friends.

"It's been learnt that Meghwal did the daring act to win a bet. But his relatives do not have any idea about it. Since Meghwal is not in a condition to speak, reason behind it is still ascertain, added Thakkar.
India on Friday called the slide in China's yuan a "worrying" development for its flagging exports and said it was discussing possible measures to deal with a likely surge in imports from its northern neighbour.

Trade Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the yuan's fall would worsen India's trade deficit with China.

While the government would not rush into any action, it had discussed likely steps it could take to counter an expected flood of cheap steel imports with domestic producers and the finance ministry, she said.

The comments came a day after China allowed the biggest fall in the yuan in five months, pressuring regional currencies and sending global stock markets tumbling as investors feared it would trigger competitive devaluations.

"My deficit with China will widen," she told reporters.

India's trade deficit with China stood at about $27 billion between April-September last year compared with nearly $49 billion in the fiscal year ending in March 2015.

India steel companies such as JSW Ltd have asked the government to set a minimum import price to stop cheap imports undercutting them.

A similar measure was adopted in 1999.

"We have done ground work but are not rushing into it," Sitharaman said when asked if India would impose a minimum import price for steel.
India is getting ready to open up commercial coal mining to private companies for the first time in four decades, with the aim of shifting the worlds third-biggest coal importer towards energy self-sufficiency.

Anil Swarup, the countrys top coal bureaucrat, told Reuters on Friday the government has identified mines it plans to auction, and is now finalising other terms such as eligibility criteria for companies to take part and whether and how to set up revenue sharing.

He said a plan should be ready in the two to three months, setting a clear timeline on a plan that has previously only been vaguely marked out.

India has an ambitious plan to double its coal production to 1.5 billion tonnes a year by 2020, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modis push to bring power to 300 million people who live without electricity, and give a boost to manufacturing.

It would also support the governments efforts to develop eastern parts of the country, which are resource-rich and hold most of Indias coal reserves but have lagged the western states in development.

State-owned Coal India is on track to produce one billion tonnes a year by the end of this decade, and India is counting on private firms to produce the remaining 500 million tones  which may prove a tough target to achieve. As of now, only Coal India and a small government-owned company are allowed to mine and sell coal in India.

Its imperative that India opens up the sector so that private companies can bring in new technologies and the efficiencies that we keep talking about, said Dipesh Dipu at energy-focused Jenissi Management Consultants. But I don't think private companies will be able to produce more than 100 million tonnes this decade as the process has yet to start.



The move is likely to attract coal block bids from Indian conglomerates such as the Adani Group and GVK, but the government may find it harder to lure big multinational miners such as Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Peabody Energy. Rio Tinto did not respond to requests for comment.

Coal prices are at multi-year lows amid global oversupply, and foreign companies have faced obstacles to investing in India, such as problems in getting land and environmental approvals. Some private companies also worry that the best quality mines would be left for Coal India.

FINALISING TERMS



Swarup was handpicked by Modi to lead a turnaround in the coal sector soon after the prime minister came to power in 2014.

Under Swarup's watch, Coal India has seen record production growth, and the government auctioned off a series of coal blocks successfully. Coal imports fell for a sixth straight month in December.

Until last year, India spent around $16 billion a year importing foreign coal, even though it sits on the world's fifth-biggest reserves of more than 300 billion tonnes.

Swarup said there were still some aspects of the plan to bring in private players that needed to be examined carefully.

The government, for example, has to make sure that companies do not under-report sales if a revenue-sharing model is adopted, he said.

Companies can do that by selling coal to their units at discounted rates, and by calculating the government's share based on that instead of the market price.

Swarup declined to say where the identified mines were located. Most of India's coal is in the eastern states of Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Asian shares are on course to post their biggest weekly fall in more than four years as investors dumped risk assets on fears over China's economy and its turbulent financial .

China announced late on Thursday it suspended its new stock market circuit breaker introduced only on Monday as the system failed to reduce market volatility, with some market players even saying it backfired.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) also wrong-footed traders by reportedly intervening heavily to defend the yuan in offshore trade, reversing a decline of more than 1 percent that took it to a record low of 6.7600 per dollar.

The action was somewhat ironic since it was the PBOC that triggered the slide early Thursday by fixing the yuan at a much lower rate than many expected.

That left dealers at a loss to know what the central bank might do at Friday's fixing.

"The sharp drop has led to speculation that China is letting go of the reins on the CNY (yuan), or perhaps targeting faster depreciation to reach an 'equilibrium' level," wrote analysts at Barclays, while conceding that no one was really sure.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2%, extending this week's loss to 7.4%, which would be its biggest fall since September 2011.

Japan's Nikkei, which is in its worst start of year in 20 years, fell 1% to a three-month low and is likely to post its biggest weekly fall since March 2011.

"There is lots of negative news from China, North Korea and indeed almost all of the emerging ... After last year's good performance we were bound to see a pull-back. Companies will remain cautious in their outlook when they present Oct - Dec 2015 earnings," said Hannah Cunliffe, senior portfolio manager at Union Investment in Frankfurt.

"The Nikkei will trade below its 2015 high for most of this year," she said.

The picture is similarly gloomy on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 losing 2.4% on Thursday, with 40% of the stocks in the benchmark trading 20% or more off of their highs, the definition of a bear market.

After the US market close, two Apple suppliers added to growing worries about slowing shipments of iPhone 6S and 6S Plus by cutting their revenue estimates for the third quarter.

That news put fresh pressure on many Apple suppliers in Asia, although the immediate focus is on the Chinese yuan and Chinese shares.

In commodities Brent crude settled down 48 cents at $33.75 on Thursday, after sliding to a low of $32.16, a level last seen in April 2004.

A plunge in oil revenues is seen hurting many oil producing countries such as Saudi Arabia.

In a sign of Riyadh's dire fiscal position, Saudi Arabian deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman told The Economist magazine it is considering whether to sell shares in state oil giant Saudi Aramco.

With risk appetite severely hurt, investors are flocking to low-risk assets such as bonds, gold and traditional safe-haven currencies.

The 10-year US Treasuries yield fell to a 2 1/2-month low of 2.119% on Thursday and last stood at 2.156%.

Gold rose to a two-month high of $1,113.2 , a gain of 4.9% so far this year.

The yen stood near Thursday's 4 1/2-month high of 117.33 yen , last trading at 117.64 yen. The euro was little changed at $1.0917 .
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested the founder of PACL Ltd over allegations the property company cheated investors of $6.8 billion, in what local media is calling the country's biggest financial scandal.

The arrest of Nirmal Singh Bhangoo comes 17 months after markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) ordered PACL to return money to millions of investors, saying the company was running an illegal investment scheme.

The scheme promised depositors returns on investments in agricultural land, the regulator said.

PACL has argued it was selling land to customers and not investment schemes, and so was not subject to SEBI's regulations.

Reuters did not get any response to phone calls to PACL's head office in New Delhi on Friday.

PACL founder Bhangoo and three other company officials were arrested on Friday as part of the ongoing investigation into allegations of criminal conspiracy and cheating, said R.K. Gaur, a spokesman for India's Central Bureau of Investigation.

The case involves alleged collection of about 450 billion rupees ($6.8 billion) from roughly 55 million investors across the country, Gaur said, terming it a "Ponzi scheme case".

Indian regulators have stepped up scrutiny of unregistered investment products over the past two years, plugging regulatory loopholes that had long allowed unregulated entities to raise billions of dollars from small investors. Many people ended up losing their life savings in these schemes.

The founder of conglomerate Sahara India has spent the last 21 months in jail for not complying with a court order to return $5.4 billion to investors who put money in a 2008-11 time deposit plan that was later ruled illegal.

Sahara's business empire includes overseas hotels such as the New York Plaza and a Formula 1 racing team.

($1 = 66.6721 Indian rupees)
India's commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said Chinese yuan' s depreciation is "a worrying development" for the country's exports.

China allowed the biggest fall in the yuan in five months on Thursday, pressuring regional currencies and sending global stock markets tumbling as investors feared it would trigger competitive devaluations.



ALSO READ: Yuan set for longest losing run since June

India's merchandise exports have been falling for the past 12 months.
By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell for a fifth straight day on Friday, losing 10 percent on the week, and Goldman Sachs said more losses were needed to force producers to cut supplies adequately to balance the glut and bleak demand outlook in the market.

Futures of global oil benchmark Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude seesawed through the day, settling slightly lower after stock prices on Wall Street gave up their earlier strength. The two benchmarks hit 12-year lows earlier in the week after China's stock market crash roiled global markets.

Since the selloff in oil began 18 months ago, traders and investors have wondered how long and deep the slide would go as prices fell from above $100 a barrel to below $40, and looked poised to break below $30 next.

Goldman, which has said oil could hit $20, said in a note on Friday the market needs to see sustained low prices through the first quarter "so producers will move budgets down to reflect $40 a barrel oil for 2016."

The note, based on interactions between oil producing companies and investors at a Goldman conference in Miami this week, concluded that producers were not ready to slash output at current prices.

"Instead, producers spoke largely of their agility to spend within cash flow and ... ramp up when needed," the Wall Street bank said. "This hurt sentiment as investors came away concerned that companies were not being responsive enough."

The glut has persisted despite a drop in U.S. oil drilling rigs last year - the first annual cut since 2002 and the biggest decline since at least 1988, according to Baker Hughes.

In the first week of 2016, however, energy firms stepped up the rate of idling rigs and the U.S. oil rig count dropped to a five-year low.

Brent settled 20 cents lower at $33.55 a barrel. It hit a session low of $32.78, after sliding on Thursday to $32.16, the lowest since April 2004.

For the week, Brent fell 10 percent, just behind the 11 percent drop in the opening week of 2015, which was a record loss for oil in the first full trading week of any year.

WTI ended 11 cents lower at $33.16. It fell to $32.64 earlier in the day, after falling to $32.10 on Thursday, its lowest since December 2013.

"The sentiment is still extremely negative and short positions are still at excessive levels," Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro, told the Global Oil Forum. "That makes it also hard to pinpoint the timing of the expected recovery."

ABN Amro cut its 2016 Brent and WTI price forecast to $50 per barrel from its prior view of $65 and $60, respectively.

U.S. stock indexes bounced in and out of positive territory in choppy trading.

"In my view, crude is still just a number on screen with little implications for most of the people and computers that are actively trading," said Scott Shelton, energy broker and commodities specialist at ICAP in Durham, North Carolina.

"It will keep going down until the equity world stops selling off."

The options market indicates concerns oil prices can fall further. Some investors are acquiring put options giving them the right to sell at $25 a barrel, anticipating that Brent will fall below that, and the costs of those options are soaring.

Over the past year, the world has been producing 1.5 million barrels per day more oil than it consumes. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency expect global demand growth to slow in 2016 to around 1.20-1.25 million bpd from a very high 1.8 million bpd in 2015.

(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in London and Meeyoung Cho in Seoul; Editing by David Gregorio, Bernadette Baum and Marguerita Choy)
By Meeyoung Cho

SEOUL (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 2 percent on Friday, following China shares higher after Beijing deactivated a circuit breaker mechanism that was blamed for aggravating equity market crashes, although a persistent global crude surplus kept a lid on gains.

Oil prices plunged to 12-year lows in the previous session after China allowed its yuan currency to slip, sending stock markets tumbling globally. Beijing then suspended equities trading as the sharp falls triggered the circuit-breaking mechanism for a second time since its introduction this week.

"As Chinese equity markets started to recover today, the oil prices rallied much altogether," said Kang Yoo-jin, commodities analyst at NH Investment and Securities based in Seoul.

Chinese stocks were boosted as the yuan currency firmed in early trade after the People's Bank of China strengthened its official rate for the first time in nine trading days.

Tracking this, Brent rose 79 cents to $34.54 a barrel by 0612 GMT, near an intraday high of $34.72. It was more than $2 away from Thursday's $32.16, a level last seen in 2004.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 76 cents at $34.03 a barrel. In the prior session, it hit its lowest since late 2003 at $32.10.

While oil prices have bounced off lows, market participants remain unwilling to call an end to the slump.

This week's turmoil in Chinese markets has raised the risk of slowing demand from the world's No. 2 oil consumer, threatening to prolong an over year-long crude supply overhang.

OPEC's smallest member Ecuador, which has increased debt and reduced investments due to the oil price plunge, said it would continue to press for production cuts at the cartel's next meeting scheduled for June.

"With rising Middle East tensions now a distant memory, oil is likely to test the $30 a barrel level amid growing concerns on the impact of a weakening yuan on Chinese demand," ANZ said in a note on Friday.

Natixis said in a note that global demand should rise by 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) versus 1.7 million bpd in 2015.

According to chart-watching oil analysts, if prices do not rally hard on Friday, they seem doomed to drop below $30 for the first time since 2003.

"While crude oil market outlooks are so pessimistic, the markets also have been dampened psychologically, with investors concerned of a crisis led by the Chinese economy," said the analyst from NH Investment and Securities.

(Reporting by Meeyoung Cho; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures inched up early on Friday but remained near 12-year lows as financial market unrest in China rattled investors already concerned about a world glut in oil.

U.S. crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading 12 cents higher at $33.39 a barrel by 0028 GMT after settling at $33.27 on Thursday. In the last session, it hit its lowest since late 2003 at $32.10. Brent settled down 48 cents at $33.75 in the previous session, after sliding to a low of $32.16, a level last seen in April 2004. "Oil remains under pressure amid concerns about China's economy and yuan depreciation," ANZ said in a note on Friday. "With rising Middle East tensions now a distant memory, oil is likely to test the $30 a barrel level amid growing concerns on the impact of a weakening yuan on Chinese demand." Shares on major exchanges fell for a sixth straight day on Thursday as investors fretted over the state of China's economy and its ability to stabilize its stock market. (Reporting by Meeyoung Cho; Editing by Joseph Radford)
The year was 2003. Prince Charles was to visit India and the NGO Action Aid planned to stage a street play on homelessness for him. It roped in Amit Sinha, a theatre professional, and 14 street children from diverse backgrounds for the project.

The play was a success and the ragtag band toured the country to perform it. The prince came and went. The funds dried up. But Sinha and the children were transformed by the comfort, companionship and confidence theyd found through one another and didnt want to let it go.

Instead of going our separate ways, we decided to start an organisation that would enable an understanding and respect for street children within society and find ways to bring them back into the mainstream, says Sinha. And so Jamghat was born.

It has since impacted hundreds of young lives. Take Usma, for example. One of four siblings who lived with her mentally disturbed mother on the streets of Jama Masjid, she came to Anchal, Jamghats residential centre for girls, some years ago. Today, she is a teacher at Jamghat, excited to give others the same opportunities that enabled her to change her life. Her younger brothers are at Aman, Jamghats boys hostel. Their mother continues to live on the street. Im hopeful that once the children finish school and start earning, theyll be able to care for their mother and bring her back from the brink, says Sinha.

As of now, the NGO is looking after 11 girls and 16 boys in its residential centres. Its a mere drop in the ocean, but Sinha is unfazed. By keeping the numbers small, were able to stay fully involved in the childrens lives until the time they start earning, says he. Our impact might be small, but we ensure it is deep-rooted.



Education is one of Jamghats primary thrusts, even at its daycare centre in Old Delhi. Fifty-odd children between 4 and 18 years of age come here every morning to bathe, have breakfast and for the tiffin packed by the staff. Most of them go to school and we ensure that they also get some back-up classes, says Satyamev Alok, one of the two coordinators at the centre. The few who dont, get home-schooled here. The children return at the centre after school for recreation  sports, art, theatre and more. We try and give them a safe, nurturing environment," says Alok, and hope that it gives them the impetus to change their lives.



Sadly, this impetus is not very strong. Children here can easily earn as much as Rs 100 a day simply by begging or doing odd jobs. This makes them (and their parents) resistant to the idea of losing that income by coming to the daycare centre, says Sinha.

Strains of qawwali waft up as we stand on the centres terrace that overlooks Jama Masjid on one side and Red Fort on the other. This area, Sinha says, is home to at least 10,000 homeless people. Every single child here encounters physical and sexual abuse. Many are on drugs, he says. Consequently, many of them find it hard to live in a community again.

Daycare centre's co-ordinator Satyamev Alok with local homeless kids

Mainstreaming is very much on Sinhas mind these days. Skill development and education can help integrate street children into society, and to this end, we now want to build a large vocational training centre in Old Delhi this year as soon as were able to raise funds for it, he says.

Funds are a perpetual struggle. The annual operational cost of its three centres is Rs 84 lakh, which Jamghat has raised through institutional, corporate and individual donors such as Royal Bank of Scotland, MakeMyTrip, iPartner and Global Fund for Children.

As we walk through Jama Masjid, scores of children not yet with Jamghat swarm Sinha. He sighs. The task ahead is huge and many of these children may never even reap its benefits.
L&T's construction arm bags contracts worth Rs 2871 cr

The company has won the contracts for projects such as airport, effluent treatment, highways, ports, etc

The company has won the contracts for projects such as airport, effluent treatment, highways, ports, etc

The construction arm of Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) has won orders worth Rs 2871 crores across various businesses. Its buildings & factories business division has secured international and domestic orders worth Rs 1276 crores. Larsen & Toubro (Oman) LLC, a subsidiary of L&T, has bagged an order worth $ 93.1 million from a client to construct a regional airport in the Sultanate of Oman. The scope of works includes construction of passenger terminal building, ATC complex, cargo and other service buildings including mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) works, special systems and external works. The project is scheduled to be completed in 24 months. This will be the third airport project to be executed by L&T in the country.



The division has received another order from a client for the engineering, procurement and construction of a multi-storied residential building involving 16 towers in Lucknow. The scope of work includes civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, finishes and other external works.



An add-on order was also secured from a real estate major in India. Works include MEP and other allied works for an ongoing residential project in Mumbai.



L&T Constructions water & effluent treatment business division has bagged a water supply order worth Rs 539 crores from the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board. The project will provide water supply distribution network to peripheral circles of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. The project includes construction of approximately 650 km of pipeline network, twenty water storage reservoirs and other associated works.



The transportation infrastructure business division has received an EPC order Rs 385 crores from the National Highways Authority of India for the construction of Simga Saragaon Road Project (PKG-II) section of NH-200 Raipur to Bilaspur in the state of Chhattisgarh. Its metallurgical & material handling business division has bagged an EPC order worth Rs 312 crores from NTPC Limited of a coal handling plant of 2 X 660 MW power plant at Tanda.



In addition, other businesses of L&T Construction have won orders worth Rs 359 crores. L&T Geostructure has secured an order from Indian Oil Corporation Limited for the engineering, procurement and construction of marine facilities at Ennore Port, Tamil Nadu. The major scope includes construction of a berth structure supported on steel piles, approach trestle and other associated structures.



The smart world & communication business division has bagged an order from the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation Limited for the design, procurement, installation and commissioning of telecommunication systems at various stations under Phase-1A of the Lucknow Metro Rail Project.

BS B2B Bureau
Online classifieds platform Quikr on Thursday announced that it has merged CommonFloor.com with its real estate vertical QuikrHomes to create an industry leader in online real estate.

This is Quikr's fourth and the biggest strategic move in the real estate category since the launch of QuikrHomes about four months ago, it was announced at a news conference in Bengaluru.

"We have been in the investment phase, right now. If you look at our business right now, we are not a profitable company, but the idea is to get profitable in next couple of years," Pranay Chulet, Quikr Founder and CEO, told PTI after the announcement.

"This is not a shift (in) anyways. It is for accelerating to double down the impact we have made in QuikrHomes," he said.

Asked to divulge the terms of transaction, Chulet said, "We wouldn't speak about it. We would keep it confidential for now."

Co-founder and CEO of CommonFloor.com Sumit Jain said the merger will help leveraging each other's strengths to provide more value to the end-users.

"The real strategic reason is that we are doing transaction to create more value, not to remove some of the value that has been created. We are one team now, and we want to work on a common platform," Chulet said.

Moreover, this platform will give more choices to the customer, he added.

Also, the coming together of the two companies will transform the way people sell and buy, Chulet said.

The merger, which is expected to be completed in the next two to three months, will give CommonFloor.com access to Quikr's 30 million consumers and harness the potential of the cross category nature of the platform.

QuikrHomes will benefit from CommonFloor's structured data and domain expertise, Chulet added.

Asked whether the company plans to raise further capital for its verticalisation, Chulet said, "Right now, by God's grace we have enough resources irrespective of market sentiments. We don't have any such immediate plans."

On whether the company is looking for more partnerships to cater their expansion plans, he said it is open, provided it adds on value to their consumers.

"We would always be open to acquisitions and partnerships, which bring value to the customers," he added.

Asked whether the merger will force the company to lay off employees, Jain said, on the contrary they are looking for doubling the number of employees and certainly there wouldn't be any layoffs.

"In spite of the merger, we still need lot of people compared to what we have right now ... certainly there are not going to be any layoffs," he said.

The combined force of two entities will create a strong online real estate industry leader, which has the largest inventory and property seeker traffic in the country, he added.

The company will continue to operate both brands in the market and honor the commitment towards their respective customers.

Further, given that the two companies have the same technology stack, the CommonFloor.com team will have expanded scope across Quikr's four other verticals in order to further accelerate its growth.

Quikr recently had acquired Indian Realty Exchange (IRX), a mobile-first aggregator of real estate broker community and RealtyCompass, a platform that provides builder rating and project analysis.

It also made a strategic investment in A N Virtual Tech, the only company in India that has detailed real life imagery of 90 per cent plus streets and buildings across India's top 50 cities.

QuikrHomes is one of the key verticals for Quikr as 35 per cent of its revenue comes from it.

CommonFloor has over five lakh active property listings from over 200 cities, and over 1 lakh residential projects listed.
The new Governor of the Irish Central Bank has this week claimed that the controversial Central Bank mortgage rules, which have particularly affected first-time buyers, will be reviewed in the summer.



In an interview with the Irish Times, Prof Philip Lane, who took over as governor of the Central Bank last November, said the new lending regime was here to stay. But he said the bank was open-minded about varying the rules if it sees fit.



Under the rules first-time buyers usually need a deposit of 10 per cent of the first 220,000 cost of a home, and 20 per cent of the remainder of its value. Mortgages are generally limited to 3.5 times gross income for all borrowers.

The Central Bank introduced the rules a year ago but Minister for Finance Michael Noonan called on it last September to review mortgage caps for first-time homebuyers. The Minister argued the situation had changed since the bank introduced them to damp down the market.



Prof Lane said the rules took force in respect of new mortgages only in mid-2015 as many loans issued before then were pre-approved. The Central Bank review will be conducted on foot of a full year of data on the operation of the rules, which it expects to have this summer.



In his interview with the Irish Times, Prof Lane said, "The rules, I think, could be adjusted upwards or downwards. Its not the case that the Central Bank picked the most severe rules. Those rules can be adjusted, recalibrated, but its not the case that wed expected to see [this reviewed] every quarter.

"The case for having rules is very robust and, again, if these rules had been in place in the mid-2000s, a lot of the problems would have been mitigated."

He added, "The Central Bank did expect that there would be a shift towards more people renting. I think its not surprising that thered be a shift from a softening of Dublin house prices to an increase in house prices in the wider commuter belt. So these are partially the effect of the rules but partially also we have a very strongly growing economy.

"So the pressure on the Dublin housing market is partly due to the success of the employment growth in Dublin. The softening in Dublin is partly due to the very strong price appreciation in the previous year or two.

"Markets dont move in a kind of a smooth fashion. So theres probably the reallocation between Dublin house prices and commuter belt house prices was probably partly due to an overshoot in the other direction in 2014."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
New figures released today by Deloitte, and published by www.insolvencyjournal.ie, show that corporate insolvencies totalled 1,049 in 2015.



This represents a 10% decrease on 2014, and continues the downward trend observed since 2012 when 1,684 insolvencies were recorded.

The decrease in 2015 is less than that observed in 2014, when a 15% fall in corporate insolvencies was noted when compared with 2013.



Receiverships accounted for 251 (24%) of the total corporate insolvencies in 2015, down by 50 from 299 last year. There were 50 court liquidator appointments in 2015, down from 68 in 2014.



The data shows that examinerships continue to remain at low levels. In 2015, only 19 examiners were appointed, representing just 2% of all insolvencies in the year.

This level of examinership take-up is consistent with prior years and shows that the introduction of new legislation in early 2014 has still not had the anticipated effect of encouraging struggling SMEs to avail of this more cost-effective and accessible option.



The highest number of corporate insolvencies in the year was recorded in Leinster with 65% of the total appointments.

This is consistent with last year when Leinster had approximately 68% of all corporate insolvency appointments. In the current year, Munster had 21% of appointments, Connaught 9%, and Ulster just 5% - again all consistent with 2014 levels.



The service sector experienced the most corporate insolvencies in 2015, with 200 (19%), closely followed by the retail industry at 154 (15%).

The construction industry recorded 139 corporate insolvencies (13%) and the hospitality industry recorded 109 (10%). In 2014 it was the construction industry which recorded the most corporate insolvencies at 20% of the 1,164 total, followed by the services sector with 16%.



Partner in Deloitte Restructuring Services, David Van Dessel commented, "It is encouraging to see the number of insolvencies continues to decline and is an indication that the improving economy continues to be felt on the ground by companies.

"However, as 2015 ends, it is disappointing that changes, both from the Companies Act 2014 and the new examinership-lite legislation of 2014, have not yet made an impact in 2015. These are extremely valuable options for restructuring debt.

"Take up of examinership continues to remain at very low levels when compared to our international peers and shows that a real effort needs to be made to educate SMEs on this option."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
SIPTU members and service users have condemned a decision to cut funding to the Personal Assistants service which provides support for people with disabilities.



They claim the cut will result in the loss of 100,000 hours of services provided by Personal Assistants that enable people with physical disabilities to participate in their communities and workplaces.



SIPTU Activist and Personal Assistant (PA), Declan McCarthy commented, "The PA service can help transform peoples lives.

"There is a lot of talk about economic recovery but I dont see it when disability services are being cut like this."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
A major John Sisk & Son construction project in the Netherlands which involves collaboration between three Irish companies to design and build a major development for international pharmaceutical giant, Johnson and Johnson, was visited by the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny yesterday.



The overall project value is 80m.



The Taoiseach visited the project as part the three day Enterprise Ireland Trade and Investment Mission to Netherlands and Germany.



John Sisk & Son are the construction managers for the project which was designed by Irish-headquartered PM Group, with engineering services provided by Dornan Engineering Ireland.

It involves a major fit-out at the existing Janssen Biologics (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary) facility at Leiden to introduce a new pharmaceutical process.



Speaking at the site, the Taoiseach said, "This is a great example of collaboration between quality Irish businesses with a well-earned international reputation."



Director of John Sisk & Son, Frank Quirk added, "This is an example of how relationships built in Ireland between Irish businesses can be used to win major business overseas.

"The companies involved in this project have world-class skills in developing major pharma projects, and expect to deploy them elsewhere in future."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The latest industrial output figures show that in the three-month period September to November, manufacturing output was up 3.8% on the preceding three-month period.

Furthermore, in November itself, production was 11.3% higher in the year. This compared with a yearly increase of 17.5% in October.



Manufacturing output was 24.2% higher than the previous year as against an overall decline in production of 2.5% in 2013.



Furthermore, in the first eleven months of the year, output was 20.2% higher on average than the same period in 2014.



According to Merrion Stockbrokers, "Although there remain concerns about the underlying health of the global economy, particularly China, we think overall growth will hold up this year, particularly in the US and UK, which is good news for Ireland.

"Furthermore, only a very small amount of total Irish exports go to China, and the Irish PMI data remain positive. Indeed, the manufacturing PMI has been in expansionary territory for more than two years running up to December.

"Following the impressive increase of just over 24% in 2014, a further strong showing in Irish manufacturing output is forecast for 2015. We expect another robust double-digit rise, which at this stage now looks like being around 20%. As regards 2016, an average increase of 10-15% is projected."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
UK shares rose on Friday after Chinese stocks regained some poise following a plunge the previous day that rattled global markets, with grocer Tesco and engineer GKN leading the gainers.

The UK's blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.8 percent to 6,001.93 points by 0923 GMT, after hitting a three-week low on Thursday, when 33 billion pounds was wiped off its market capitalisation as stocks in China plunged and Beijing allowed the biggest fall in the yuan in five months.

Investors were reassured, however, after Beijing suspended a circuit-breaker on its stock market that had been exacerbating selling rather than calming the market.

Investors also cited the U.S. labour report, due later in the session at 1330 GMT, as adding some calm to markets.

"We've got the (U.S.) non-farm payrolls coming up this afternoon ... expect to see a stronger figure lead to more confidence in the market, a little more optimism that the global economy is actually OK," Jonathan Roy, advisory investment manager at Charles Hanover Investments, said.

Rising to the top of the blue-chips was British grocer Tesco , gaining 6 percent on the back of a broker upgrade by Barclays.

"We think recent share price underperformance has left Tesco's valuation at attractive levels, although we remain conscious of the numerous headwinds facing the UK food retail market," analysts at Barclays said in a note, adding that they expected Tesco's next trading statement, due on Jan. 14, may be better than expected.

Also benefiting from a broker upgrade was engineering company GKN, which rose over 5.4 percent after Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised its rating on the stock to "buy" from "underperform".

Mining stocks, after sinking to their lowest level in more than 11 years on Thursday, recovered some of their losses with the FTSE 350 Mining index trading up 2.1 percent.

Miners Glencore, Anglo American, Rio Tinto , BHP Billiton and Antofagasta gained between 1 to 4.3 percent.

Oil stocks, however, were in negative territory, with Royal Dutch Shell and BP retreating 1.1 percent and 0.5 percent respectively as concerns over a lingering global crude glut weighed on the price of oil.

The heaviest blue-chip faller was Intu Properties, a real estate investment trust which fell 1.4 percent after Exane BNP Paribas cut its rating on the stock to "underperform" from "neutral". (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The "Enthusiastic Nomads": Exploring the world in tandem

Published on January 8, 2016

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They left Italy on the 12th of June 2014, and haven't stopped riding their tandem since. "We set off on our journey with one goal in mind: Wenzhou, say Alessandro and Stefania, two travellers by choice. Now we've crossed 16 countries to Thailand, travelling approximately 20,000 kilometres, and living in hundreds of different houses without ever owning any of them.

Stefania graduated in cultural anthropology and writes for the web. Alessandro does all types of manual labour. Both born in 1984, Italy  and Prato specifically  is the place they consider their "origin". "In fact we originally came from the South," they explain, "But we have lived away from the city for a long time"

Ever since Stefania first backpacked around East Africa and Alessandro crossed the Apennines on a donkey, they have defined themselves as "enthusiastic nomads and unrepentant travellers".

Eighteen months ago they embarked on their latest adventure: from Prato  home of one of the most populated Chinatowns in Europe  to Wenzhou, China.

"With a tandem bike  and only essential baggage  our goal was to travel the roads of the world," they explain. However, their more "noble" objective is "to document our experiences connected to ecology along the way, and to make such lifestyles better known through our personal choices  both concerning travel and more existential topics."

After the first part of their journey across "The Boot", Alessandro and Stefania haven't pedalled their way back to Italy since the 4th of October 2014. "Over 20,000 km," says Stefania, "It's strange to think of taking a plane and undoing, in a few hours, the distance we've travelled over more than a year." What's more, they have decided not to stop, and today they are somewhere in Southeast Asia. Their final destination? New Zealand.

No home? Or a thousand different ones?

Over the last year and a half, Stefania and Alessandro have lived in hundreds of different houses, without ever owning any of them. "On the one hand," they explain, "we feel 'homeless' because we don't have to pay rent or bills. But it is also true that we feel at home everywhere we go, and we feel nostalgia when we think of all the people that have hosted us."

For this couple, the idea of home is not something concrete: "The tent is just a place to sleep. On the contrary, home is the smell of sheets or the taste of our mothers' cooking."

At the same time they think of home as "the places where people receive us. the little patch of earth where we pitch the tent in the evening, and the infinite sky under which we wake up in the morning.

Home is the hospitality reflected in the attitudes of every town they visit towards foreigners. Nearly every Turkish or Iranian family provides a common space in which to receive visitors, often the same room as the carpet to eat around and mattresses for sleeping.

"[In Iran] they called relatives and friends in order to prepare for our arrival in the neighbouring city," Stefania explains, "In Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan the space for guests is often outside, on a cosy wooden platform. In the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, the shepherds' yurts are open to everyone; they are synonymous with survival.

"In frenetic China, hostels, canteens, dormitories and public baths provide ample private space; there is no separation between street and house, between market and office."

When they finally reached Laos and Cambodia, the bamboo houses "seem like improvised shelters at the mercy of the current. Here, people have never invited us in, preferring to receive us in school classrooms, or on hammocks in the shadows of trees."

"The cultures we experience stick with us day after day," explains Stefania, "When we left Iran, it was by then a habit for us to thank everybody with a hand opened on the heart. In Thailand, a greeting with folded hands seems more spontaneous."

2015 spent far away from home

For Stefania and Alessandro, the "elastic" that connects Europe to the rest of the world has continued to stretch and jolt during 2015. Crossing countries with Muslim majorities after Charlie Hebdo, they are now familiar with the other side of this so-called clash of cultures.

"We were considered  due to the fact we were European  as spokespersons for the Islamophobic fear attributed to Western society," they explain, "People showed us the authentic spirit of Islam  the only one we consider real."

In China, Europe really felt small and distant: "Here nothing is known about Europe at all, just like where we come from nothing is know of this part of world. If it hadn't been for the collapse of the Euro affecting exchange rates, we wouldn't have known of the latest attacks in Paris."

The Italian couple have travelled along old migratory routes to Europe, in the opposite direction to history. "We were overwhelmed by the Syrian crisis in Iranian Kurdistan," Stefania remembers, "Where the TV continuously transmitted propaganda videos picked up from Iraq, inviting all their Kurdish compatriots to war against ISIS. We travel with an open mind because we can count on the hospitality of people; we know that wherever we go, our home awaits us on arrival. For a refugee that is not the case, and for that we feel ashamed."

A quite literal world of distance separates the Schengen area  to which many Europeans are accustomed  from these countries, enclosed by borders. "Visas are surely the greatest annoyance," they argue, "making you lose time and money."

In a climate of uncertainty surrounding the future of free circulation in Europe, "travelling outside [of the continent] makes one realise how much the freedom to cross borders is a privilege, available only to a few, as well as a sign of well-being and development"  an "immense resource", they explain, that Europe would do well to hold on to.

Their next target is New Zealand. After that? "We will stop for a year to work for the money in order to continue travelling. We want to return to Asia to visit India, Nepal, and Myanmar before changing continents. South America is another dream in the drawer..."

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This article forms part of our special end of year dossier for 2015, this year themed around the notion of 'Home'.

Story by Lorenzo Bellini

Translated from Viaggiare infinito: la dove abitano due "nomadi entusiasti"
When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas
FARES SABAWI/CALLER-TIMES Capt. Corrie Mays and Lt. Tyler Davies, Blue Angel pilots, taxi their Boeing F/A-18 Hornet jet on the runway at Naval Air Station Kingsville.

SHARE FARES SABAWI/CALLER-TIMES Capt. Corrie Mays and Lt. Tyler Davies, Blue Angel pilots, walk alongside their Boeing F/A-18 Hornet at Naval Air Station Kingsville.

By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times

KINGSVILLE  When people travel to a meeting, they usually get there with their own car, but Corrie Mays and Tyler Davies showed up in a Boeing F/A-18 Hornet instead.

"I'll never be able to do anything like this again in my life," Mays said. "We're pretty spoiled."

The two Blue Angel pilots flew Thursday afternoon into Naval Air Station Kingsville for a meeting in preparation of "Wings Over South Texas" on April 9 and 10.

This year is the 70th anniversary season for the Blue Angels, and the pilots were in Kingsville to share information about the show.

"There are so many moving parts in putting on an air show," Davies said. "We're looking at what the show's lineup is and where the center point is going to be. It takes a whole committee of people."

Preparation for the show starts as soon as it is scheduled, Mays said.

"People have already been hard at work with this," she said. "We're just here to make sure we're all on the same page."

This year's show will include all the popular routines, like the Fat Albert flight and the diamond formation flight.

if you go

What: Wings Over South Texas

When: April 9 and 10

Where: Naval Air Station Kingsville, 554 McCain St.

Cost: Free

For more information: www.wingsoversouthtexas.com
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By Chris Ramirez of the Caller-Times

The historic merger last month of the region's two largest chambers of commerce won't mean the end of the Mano a Mano scholarship program and other programs, officials for the groups said.

In a joint memo Thursday to members, the Corpus Christi and Hispanic chambers of commerce said they remained committed to preserving the integrity of each group, and that the community will benefit from the efficiencies of a unified chamber.

Focusing on each chamber's signature programs  such as the Corpus Christi chamber's Leadership Corpus Christi and Lemonade Day, and the Hispanic chamber's Mano a Mano scholarship program and Mi Casa Es Su Casa events  will foster opportunities for small, minority- and women-owned businesses.

They won't be going away.

"When we discussed the merger ... we assured our members we'd continue to embrace the programs that have formed who we are," Hispanic chamber chairwoman Rosie Gonzalez Collin told The Caller-Times. "We're blending our strengths. They're a part of our values."

Founded in 1938, the Hispanic chamber has 427 members. The Corpus Christi chamber, with 1,025 members, was formed in 1905.

Members of the two chambers voted overwhelmingly Dec. 29 to unite their organizations, a move that supporters said was needed to keep Corpus Christi's business landscape in line with the region's new energy and job growth.

In the letter, Collin and Corpus Christi Chamber chairman Alan Wilson said the two organizations continue to operate independently of one other on day-to-day operations, but are moving forward together to iron out technical aspects of coming together, such as drafting and adopting bylaws.

They also said they looked forward to working with Annette Medlin, who was named president/CEO for the unified chamber. She is scheduled to start Jan. 19.

Twitter: @Caller_ChrisRam
SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Lisa Osteen Comes will speak Jan. 16 at the Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz International Center. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Lisa Osteen Comes will speak Jan. 16 at the Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz International Center.

By Lakendra Lewis

Jan. 30, 1990 was supposed to be like any other day Lisa Osteen Comes went into the office to open her father's mail at Lakewood Church in Houston. But when she lifted the last piece of tape off one particular package, it exploded in her lap, sending shrapnel laced with seven inch nails into Lisa's abdomen and leg.

Conscious but visibly shaken, Comes, daughter of the late evangelist John Osteen and the sister of Pastor Joel Osteen, was rushed to the hospital, where she eventually underwent surgery.

By the time she returned to work several weeks later, Comes had already forgiven her anonymous attacker. But she found there was an even tougher dilemma that lay ahead of her.

"After the bomb I had a decision to make  was I going to be a victim or victor?" Comes said in a phone interview. "Fear came against me, but I knew it wasn't from God. It was there to stop my destiny and keep me from moving forward. And I had to fight through those fears. We're all going to go through things  but God will bring you out even better."

Comes will be at the Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz International Center for a luncheon on Jan. 16 in which she will share her testimony of how God has brought her through various trials, and how the challenges of life can be faced with hope and optimism.

The luncheon, which is open to the public, starts at 11 a.m. and is being hosted by Family Life Outreach Church. Doors open at 10 a.m.

Rosie Flores, co-pastor of Family Life Outreach Church and a personal family friend of the Osteens since 1975, invited Comes, who will be ministering in Corpus Christi for the first time.

Flores and her husband, Juan, were members of Lakewood Church where they served alongside John Osteen for years in ministry before moving to Corpus Christi to start their own church 25 years ago.

"Lisa teaches the word of God just like her dad," Flores said. "I feel so strong in my heart that this is someone people need to come and hear, and I believe no one will leave that place without being helped and changed."

Tickets for the luncheon range from $40 for general admission to a special table sponsorship package that includes a meet and greet with Lisa. Proceeds from the event will go toward the luncheon's expenses.

Event registration can be done online through the church's website at floccc.org or in person at the church, located at 270 Heinsohn Road, until Monday.

In addition to surviving a mail bomb, Comes (pronounced co-miss) plans to talk about other personal struggles she's faced, including overcoming a life-threatening birth defect and conquering the guilt and shame of an unwanted divorce.

The stories are taken from Comes' book, "You Are Made for More!: How to Become All You Were Created to Be," an autobiographical account in which Comes speaks candidly about infertility, broken dreams and being labeled.

"Wherever I go to speak I like to give my testimony to break down walls and misconceptions," Comes said. "People make mistakes that make them ashamed and they feel they're not worthy to be in church. Too many people isolate themselves. But we're human and we all need prayer."

A Houston resident, Comes is an associate pastor and Bible teacher at Lakewood Church.

Comes has been married 25 years and is the mother of 17-year-old twin girls and a boy, 14.

She is currently working on a book with her mother, Dodie Osteen, called "If My Heart Could Talk" that is scheduled to be published in April.

IF YOU GO

What: Lunch with Lisa Osteen Comes

Where: Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz International Center, 402 Harbor Drive

When: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 16 (Doors open at 10 a.m.)

Cost: $40 general admission; $50 reserved individual; Deadline to register is Jan. 11.

Information: For table sponsorship packages or tickets call 361-299-1222 or visit floccc.org
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By Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times

An 86-year-old woman injured in a fire at a Westside home Sunday has died, fire officials said.

About 9:15 a.m. Sunday, Corpus Christi firefighters responded to the 4400 block of Elvira Drive and found smoke coming out of the three bedroom home of Martin and Angelita Enriquez, said Capt. James Brown.

The couple were transferred to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where Martin Enriquez, 89, died Monday. Brown said he heard from a family member of Angelita Enriquez about her death early Friday.

Firefighters determined the fire started in a bedroom at the rear of the one-story home, where they found an electric heater surrounded by items and an electric heating pad. Brown said the home did not have a smoke alarm and it is unclear if the couple were in the bedroom when the fire started. There were no pets or other people in the house.

Reporter Natalia Contreras contributed to this report. Twitter: @Caller_Jules
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For many people, there's no happier moment than the day you welcome a child into the world. With so many emotions to deal with, and so many things to prepare for, the last thing you need to worry about is whether or not you'll be getting paid.

At UncommonGoods, we make sure that our more than 100 team members can welcome a new child without that hassle. Recently, President Obama gave the same benefit to federal contractors.

But many businesses in the U.S. don't provide this benefit. They may couch that decision in terms of cost  claiming it would hurt their bottom line  but that's shortsighted. More importantly, it's shifting their costs onto the government, when new parents are forced to go on public assistance. That raises taxes for all of us, including businesses that provide paid leave.

And right now, federal law is severely lacking: The U.S. is the only developed country in the world that doesn't guarantee paid time off following childbirth, leaving us in the company of countries like Papua New Guinea. The existing Family and Medical Leave Insurance Act guarantees some time off, but it covers less than half of the American workforce  and the leave is unpaid. Many employees can't afford that.

Anyone who runs a business knows that their most valuable asset is their team. Losing good employees is costly. Just hiring and training a replacement can cost thousands, not to mention the lost productivity when the position is unfilled. Furthermore, not offering benefits like paid leave makes it more difficult to attract and retain capable employees. Considering the costs of employee turnover  the average costs of replacing a worker earning less than $50,000 can be 20 percent of their salary, by one estimate  this is not a forward-thinking business strategy.

At our company, new mothers get four weeks of paid leave, plus up to seven sick days, following childbirth; employees whose spouse or partner has given birth will get two weeks. Families that have recently adopted a child also get two weeks. And that's before we get into the paid sick days, short-term disability insurance, or flex time that we offer all of our year-round employees.

We're not doing this because we're a social service organization. We're doing it because it makes good business sense  because happier team members work harder and stick around longer. We'd encourage all businesses to offer these benefits.

Until then, we'd like to see paid leave be the law of the land. Government assistance should not enable businesses to shirk their responsibilities to their employees and force taxpayers to pick up the slack.

That's why we support legislation that would expand paid family leave to all American employees. Some in Congress say that it would place an undue burden on business. Our experience shows the opposite: Paid leave is a wise investment, both for businesses and the country.

UncommonGoods offers paid leave because it's the right thing to do, and that's not going to change. But we're also working with groups like the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) to promote this legislation because we can prove just how important this can be to a business like ours. Paid leave helped us attract a strong team, and it helps us keep them on board with us. We can't thrive without our team members, so it only makes sense we'd want to take care of them when they welcome a new bundle of joy. As it turns out, taxpayers and the entire economy benefit too.

David Bolotsky is founder and CEO of UncommonGoods, an online marketplace based in New York City.
In a Friday, Jan. 1, 2016 photo, Terry Holcomb, Executive Director of Texas Carry happily displays his customized holster as he walks to the Capitol for a rally. Open Carry Texas and Texas Carry held a rally on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol in Austin to celebrate Texas becoming an open carry state. President Barack Obama defended his administration's plans to tighten the nation's gun-control restrictions without going through Congress, insisting Jan. 4 that the steps he'll announce fall within his legal authority and uphold the constitutional right to own a gun. (Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman via AP) AUSTIN CHRONICLE OUT, COMMUNITY IMPACT OUT, INTERNET AND TV MUST CREDIT PHOTOGRAPHER AND STATESMAN.COM, MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

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Gary Abbott

Open carry allows easy access

"You can openly carry gun, but why?" as stated by Nick Jimenez in the Caller-Times on Jan. 6. Does Mr. Jimenez realize he is living in Texas, the most macho state in the U.S.? "Openly carrying a handgun is meant to send a message, but what is it?" Gun advocates say it will make us all safer.

The message will also go the other way by alerting every gang member, killer, hoodlum and thief needing or wanting a gun to stalk you and take yours. People openly carrying a handgun might as well have a balloon floating over their head. Would make it easier to find you. The open carry law will make me feel a little safer because it will be easier to get a gun on the street than it is to break into a home looking for one.
Tan Kien Eng, creative council chairman and CEO of Leo Burnett Malaysia, said in a statement that the 4As initiated an investigation following various complaints about the obvious similarities of three award-winning campaigns to earlier creations, initially reported by Mumbrella late last year.

We take a serious view of work that are deemed sufficiently close to works created originally elsewhere, he said. This action is being taken to remedy a contentious situation while upholding the principles of eligibility for the Kancil Awards.

Dentsu's statement, provided to Campaign Asia-Pacific this afternoon, reads as follows:

On 29 December Dentsu Utama was accused of plagiarism, a claim it strongly disputes. Responding to these accusations, Dentsu Utama began an internal investigation into this allegation, supported by independent legal advice. The conclusion was that such accusations are unfounded.



Throughout this period Dentsu Utama has been openly cooperating with the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (4As) on this issue. Dentsu Utama, without being given the opportunity to defend itself, has now been informed that eight of the Kancil awards related to the WWF Anti-Poaching Cross River Gorilla, and the Web Privacy Watch  Professional Man campaigns won in December 2015, will be revoked. A decision which we believe is unsupported.



As a result, Dentsu Utama and its representatives will resign from the 4As with immediate effect.



Dentsu Utama will continue its dialogue with the individual artists on this issue and continue to support its opinion that the allegations are unfounded.

'Professional Man' (above) was found by the 4As to be remarkably similar to the work of Swedish artist Erik Johansson's optical illusion piece called The Architect. And 'Cross River Gorilla', when compared to the work of British design student Tom Anders Watkins, was found to be almost identical (both works are pictured at the top of this article).

Tan said the decision to disqualify the awards for both creative works was not taken lightly as the 4As had explored all possible scenarios.

In the end, the facts were overwhelmingly in favour of the original creators," Tan said. "The foreign works were posted in public ahead of the date of publication, as notified in the entry submission by Dentsu Utama, said Tan, adding that the original creators have also shown proof that their works were posted much earlier.

The 4As ruled that a third award-winning campaign that had drawn criticism did not breach any copyright laws, and the awards for that campaign will not be withdrawn. Skateboard poster, on behalf of Yu Lin Zheng Gu Shui (a topical liniment brand) drew fire for similarity to designs by Challenge Skateboard, a company that produces designs for skateboards.
This recently launched campaign for China's central television broadcaster contrasts a dour, serious 'Boss man' with a collection of peppy young people in brightly coloured scenes who cheerfully proclaim that they're 23the age of most newly minted university graduates in the country.

According to the agency, the campaign is meant "to encourage Chinas fresh graduates to stay upbeat in 2016 as the Middle Kingdom braces itself for an economic slowdown, which will affect employment, especially amongst fresh graduates".

The spot features a BMX champion biker from Jiangsu; Zhejiang, a young fashion designer; an organic farmer; and a "rising star" in the Chinese military.

Ad Nut is not 23, but cannot help feeling more positive already.
| BY Ricki Green |

AdFest has announced that Richard Yu, chief creative officer and China Network creative consultant at ADK Taiwan, will lead the Direct Lotus jury at AdFest 2016.

Says Yu: I am excited to receive this invitation from AdFest its a great honour and pleasure to have the chance to be Jury President for Direct Lotus. I will do my best and give all my heart to ensuring the best ideas rise to the top.

Based in Taipei, Yu began his career as a designer 22 years ago. He joined ADK from Bates Asia, where he became one of the youngest executive creative directors to ever be appointed in Taiwan when he joined the agency in 2006. Over this period, he led both ADK and Bates to win Agency of the Year for seven consecutive years from 2008 to 2014 at creative rankings such as The Gunn Report, Campaign Brief Asia, Longyin Review (Greater China) and Campaign Asia-Pacific. ADK TAIWAN was also named Agency of the Year at the One Show Greater China Awards and Taiwan 4A Creative Awards in 2015.

Says Jimmy Lam, president, AdFest: Richard is passionate about creativity. He creates the kind of work that makes others think Wow! Why didnt I come up with this idea before? His success as one of Asias most successful Creative Directors makes him the perfect leader for this years Direct Lotus category.

Yu has also won numerous awards including 13 AdFest Lotus Awards, plus awards at Spikes Asias Grand Prix, Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, Clio, AD STARS, AWARD, London International Awards, New York Festival, Effie Greater China, and more.
| BY Ricki Green |

The latest release of Ancestrys Come Find Me campaign via VCCP Sydney sees two more characters from the past make a passionate plea to viewers to look into their past, especially as their ethnic and family backgrounds are never quite what they seem  which is exactly what Ancestry can help people unlock through its family history technology and unique DNA profiling.

In the new campaign viewers get to meet two new Anitpodean faces from the past.

Jim, a 19th century Drover, captures the true larrikin nature of the Australian cattleman. Viewers get a real sense of his relief post drove as well as his optimism and enthusiasm for the future  reflecting Australia as the land of opportunity; you just had to roll up your sleeves and have a go. Whilst Polynesian princess Alika greets us after surviving a harrowing journey at sea. As with the Viking from a previous AncestryDNA spot, Alika speaks in her native tongue.

Says Dean Hunt, founding creative director, VCCP: Its been great bringing more ancestors back to life with this campaign. Our first ad is set in a more optimistic time in Australian history  a time of prosperity and growth. And our second ad deals with the miracle that our genes have survived their arduous journey across time. Today, anyone can discover who they are and the regions they are from with an Ancestry DNA kit  sometimes with surprising results.

Says Kelly Godfrey, senior director Australia & New Zealand: Weve had a strong response to the Come Find Me campaign, with the emotional connection to our ancestors really resonating with our audience. Were excited about the evolution of the campaign and helping even more people discover their story.

The main campaign launches early January 2016 with two 30 spots supported by 15 DR spots and digital, CRM & social support. The ads were directed by Brendan Donovan through MOTH.

Ancestry is the worlds largest online family history resource with more than 2 million subscribers across all its websites worldwide. The AncestryDNA test has been taken by 1 million customers globally.

Client: Ancestry

Senior Director, Australia & New Zealand: Kelly Godfrey

Senior Marketing Manager: Nigel Seeto

Agency: VCCP

Creative Director: Dean Hunt

Senior Art Director: Salvatore Gullifa

Copywriter: Georgie Waters

Art Director: Felix Ettelson

TV Producer: Amanda Collins

Group Account Director: Elizabeth Barnett

Account Director: Melissa Hill

Planner: Livia Stefanini

Studio: Sean Davitt

Production Company: MOTH

Director: Brendan Donovan

Producer: Alistair Pratten

Exec Producer: Jonathan Samway

DOP: Anna Howard

Editor: Gaby Muir

Post Production: BLACKBIRD
He said his mind was blank and he couldn't remember what he was speaking to the men about at the time of the incident.



"I honestly didn't think it was that bad at the time. I'm just surprised I'm alive from they way my head hit the ground."
Station Sergeant Jeff Knight said: "Given the recent tragic events in Queensland around Cole Miller police are urging witnesses to come forward and assist us with our inquiries so we can apprehend this offender.
"It was born at a time when essentially no research was being conducted in universities, so we became the research university and we seeded research throughout the nation, such that we have arguably for a country our size, the best university system in the world. But now we have all this competition and the ANU has to change and say, what is the role of the national university now? It hasn't done this and its position has become in competition to the other universities rather than saying 'no, we have a role as the national university'. I want to come in and ask, what does it mean to be excellent, what does it mean to be a truly national university?
It is not necessarily conclusive that such an effect would dominate decisions about how many hours people aim to supply to the labour market, because for those already working it is effectively more expensive to take up leisure as post tax earnings are raised.
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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.
Applications are invited by Indian Institute of Technology, Indore. IIT Indore is looking out for 12 Managerial & Incharge Posts. To know more about pay scale, eligibility, how to apply, selection procedure and important dates scroll down.

Notification details

Advt. No.: IITI/Estt./NT posts-02/December 2015

Name of the Post and Number of Posts



1. Deputy Registrar: 1 Post

2. Manager (Technical): 3 Posts

3. Deputy Manager (Lab): 4 Posts

4. Lab Incharge/Office Incharge: 2 Posts

5. Deputy Manager (Accounts): 1 Post

Who is Eligible for the IIT Indore Job?

Qualification & Experience:

Candidates interested to apply for the above post must be qualified as per the organisations requirement. Qualification becomes manadatory to test the skills and their perseverance in doing a certain job.

To know more about the required qualification in detail log on to this organisation's website.

Age Limit:

Deputy Registrar: up to 50 years

Manager (Technical): up to 45 years

Deputy Manager (Lab): up to 35 years

Lab Incharge/Office Incharge: up to 35 years

Deputy Manager (Accounts): up to 35 years

How to Apply for IIT Indore Job?



Candidates who are interested to apply for the above mentioned jobs must see that they are eligible for this job. Once they find themselves eligible they can apply for this job through post in a prescribed format.

Do not forget to send the applications along with other necessary documents. The address where the applications need to be sent is, the Registrar, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Khandwa Road, Simrol, Indore - 452020 Madhya Pradesh.

What is the Application Fee?

General & OBC: Rs.500

SC/ST/PWD communities, women and regular employees of IIT Indore: Nil

What are the Important Dates?

Closing Date of Online Application: 25th January 2016.
Applications are invited by Small Industries Development Bank of India. SIDBI Bank is looking out for Tax Advisor Post. Details of this recruitment is listed below.

Notification details

Notification No. : 4/2016

Name of the Post and Number of Post



Tax Advisor: 1 post.

How to Apply for SIDBI Post?



Qualification:

Candidates interested to apply for the above post must be qualified as per the organisations requirement. Qualification becomes manadatory to test the skills and their perseverance in doing a certain job. Candidates should be Graduate or Post Graduate in any discipline from a recognized Indian / Foreign University/Institute.

Age Limit: Not be more than 65 years

How Candidates are Selected for SIDBI Job?

Candidates interested in the above job must be aware of the selection process of this organisation.

Candidates will be asked to give written exam which will be followed by an interview. These two factors determines the selection of the candidate.

How to Apply for the SIDBI Job?



Candidates who are interested to apply for the above mentioned jobs must see that they are eligible for this job. Once they find themselves eligible they can apply for this job through post in a prescribed format.

The address where the applications need to be sent is, the Country Head, Human Resources Vertical (HRV), Small Industries Development Bank of India, SME Development Centre, Plot No. C-11, 'G' Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai - 400051 on or before 20January 2016. The envelope containing the application should bear the superscription "Application for the post of Tax Advisor".

Do not forget to send the applications along with other necessary documents.

Admit Card, Result and all other details can be found from the official website.

What are the Important Dates?

1. Last Date of Submission of Application: 20th January 2016.

2. Date of Interview: 29th January 2016.
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A well-documented and completely restored 1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Convertible will go under the hammer in just a few weeks.



The impressive-looking example is one of just 116 units produced in 1969, when it was custom-ordered by the son of a wealthy Kentucky-based tobacco family, who decided in the end not to take delivery for personal reasons.

The vehicle ended up in Tennessee and this is when Bryan Cooper, the promoter of Knoxville Corvette Expo, who offered it to Corvette authority Paul Kitchen, bought the car in 1977. The two men dropped the gas tank and discovered the sticker for verification, which remained with Kitchen when he sold the car, but it was reunited with the model in November 1987.

The classic Corvette was placed in storage for almost 25 years, until February 2012, when it was delivered to Roger Gibson, a renowned restoration expert, who spent 5,100 hours restoring it, in a 19-month period.

This is when the drop-top received the correct fresh LeMans Blue paint and the matching Bright Blue interior, along with the black vinyl auxiliary hardtop. Original components were preserved during the process and these include the open-chamber head L88engine, producing 430HP and connected to the aluminum-case 4-speed transmission.

The 1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Convertible will be auctioned at Barrett-Jacksons 45th Scottsdale event, which will be held between January 23 and 31, 2016. Besides the vehicle, the new owner will also receive several signed documents, noting its past history, receipts and two three-ring binders detailing the work made by Gibson, NCRS shipping report, NCRS validation service, Prove It report and, of course, the original Tank Sticker.

PHOTO GALLERY
The Viper ACR categorically doesnt need any introductions, nor does it need a power upgrade, for that matter, and Geiger understands that.



The German tuning shop specialized in American cars has done it again, bringing the ACR-branded Viper to our attention. In case you forgot how almighty the hardest variant of the Viper is, its worth mentioning that the V10 beast went around the famous Laguna Seca circuit in a blazing 1:28:65 lap time. That might not sound like much if we dont have a standard to compare it to, but the Vipers time is the standard, as the The 887 hp Porsche 918 Spyder completed the same course in 1:29.89, while the P1 apparently did it in 1: 30.71.

So, you can imagine that such a performer doesnt need any modifications, especially as any interference with its setup can unbalance the overall performance. Furthermore, 645 hp and 814 Nm of torque is more than enough, but if youre looking for a Viper with a lot more grunt (but with less performance on the track), Geiger actually has a 700 hp variant at its disposal.

Equipped with adjustable aero parts, a 1.88-meter-wide race grade carbon-fiber rear wing with Gurney flap and lateral air guides, and a set of Kumho Ecsta V720-high-performance tires, the car can achieve a 285 km/h top speed.

As the ACR model could very well be the pinnacle model of the cars glorious 25-year history  with the production ending in 2017  Geiger is willing to let it go for 179.000 Euro.

PHOTO GALLERY
With over 153,000 people owing their jobs to KIA Motors Europe, the South Korean manufacturer contributed 934 million in taxes to European governments in 2014.



These numbers come straight out of a new report published by London Economics, a leading independent European economic consultancy. They found that the 934 million paid to governments included custom duties, sales and corporation taxes and that it ended up supporting the regions economic growth.

That figure alone went up by almost 8% compared to 2013, when KIA paid 865 million in taxes to European governments.

KIAs Zilina plant produced its first vehicle at the end of 2006 and most recently, its two millionth in 2015. The entire facility (operated by KIA Motors Slovakia) is one of the few factories in the world capable of manufacturing up to eight different models on the same production line. In fact, initial production at the Zilina concentrated around the ceed almost a decade ago. Now, in 2015, it was the Sportage that made up 58% of annual production at the plant.

Over the 2013-2014 period, output rose at the plant by 3.5%, which meant that the total value of supplies purchased by KIAs European manufacturing operation stood at 4.3 billion in 2014  about 71% of these supplies, worth 3.0 billion, were sourced from within Europe.

Also in 2014, 56% of all KIA vehicles sold in Europe were manufacturer locally in Slovakia.

The London Economics report also highlights KIAs entire European value chain, from R&D to manufacturing, supplies, sales and distribution, which itself added 1.3 billion to European GDP, while the companys total gross value added (GVA), added a further 2.5 billion.

Even though we dont have KIAs contribution numbers for 2015 in this report, its safe to say that business is booming.

PHOTO GALLERY
n late November, two images of the brand new Cadenza, known as the K7 in South Korea, were released.



Now, Kia has published lots of additional images, but is still keeping mum about the cars details and specifications.

For the 2017 model year, the Cadenza has been extensively redesigned. The front fascia features the brands tiger-nose signature grille, LED headlights with incorporated daytime running lights and angular wheel arches.

At the rear, the new Kia Cadenza is refined and restrained yet still bold enough to retain its own identity thanks to the pointed taillights, chrome trim stretching the width of the vehicle, a heavily raked window and a relatively short decklid.

Along with specs, we have still yet to see images of the interior. Reports saying it will be more spacious and appointed with finer materials sound reasonable enough for a brand new model.

In terms of engines, one of the units available will be the 365 hp 3.3-liter V6 from the Genesis G90, though we dont know in which state of tune.

PHOTO GALLERY
As you might know by now, recalls dont skip high-end car makers, with the best of the bunch issuing such actions in order to fix an impending complication on a particular model.



That said, McLaren is the latest company to discover some minor irregularities with their products, specifically with its high-end flagship: The P1. As a result, the car maker from Surrey is recalling 122 examples of the hybrid model in United States, manufactured between March 1, 2013, and October 31, 2015.

The problem seems to be the secondary hood latch, which may not reengage properly after being detached. This could cause damage and even an accident at high speeds if the primary latch is released inadvertently, causing to open the hood while the vehicle is moving.

So, if you happen to be a P1 owner, McLaren will notify you about the problem and a dealer will replace the hood latch with a newly-designed unit, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in January 2016, and it targets a relatively small number of units. Still, it doesnt compare to Rolls  Royces recall, addressed to only one unit which wasnt even delivered to its owner.

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Following the overhaul of the premium French brand, DS is going to unveil the new DS3 model in Geneva Motor Show later this year.



This is the most important model in DSs lineup as it accounts for 48% of their overall global sales. Autocar reports that the companys plan for the new DS3 to apply a thorough redesign rather than an all-new model as PSA is still developing their new small-car platform which is supposed to be ready in 2018.

The new DS3 will take styling elements from the DS Divine 2020 concept, meaning that the end result will be a sharper-looking, more dynamic car, with the help of all-new lights all-around and the adoption of the new corporate front grille.

The original proportions of the current model will be preserved as well as the characteristic C-pillars while the interior will be significantly upgraded, with better, more premium materials, more kit and the latest connectivity technology.

Engine-wise, the range-topping DS3 will use a turbocharged 1.6-litre petrol engine with 207hp while the rest of the range will use a 1.2-litre petrol in 81, 108 and 128hp versions as well as a 163hp of the 1.6-litre unit. As for diesels, the new DS3 will use the 1.6 BlueHDi unit with 99 and 118hp.

Last but not least, DS is working on a crossover version which will be more aggressively designed to go against the likes of the Nissan Juke and will be ready in around 2019.

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This peculiar looking automobile is Toyotas latest concept-car, expected to debut at the Tokyo Auto Show.



In its brief press release, the Japanese machine manufacturer mentioned that this two-door crossover is actually a crossbreed between the ViTZ (also known as the Yaris, in some markets) and the RAV4; even the vehicles name is a combination between the two, as the car maker took the Vi out of the Vitz and the RA out of the RAV4 and came up with ViRA.

Truth be told, we dont see any styling similarities with the aforementioned models, but the compact sized vehicle apparently borrows some traits from them.

In fact, the idea of this concept is to combine the utility of a crossover in a compact body. On top of that, its dynamic shape was apparently sketched to appeal to a younger market  contrasting the RAV4.

Styling wise, the car doesnt seem to respect Toyotas current design philosophy, as its edgy fascia is somewhat reminiscent of an obscure and generic supercar. If you squint, youll probably see some of Zenvos style or maybe a few cues from Giugiaros Ferrari FF prototype.

Mind you, this concept appears to be made by Toyota Industries Corporation, as the company is under contract from Toyota Motor Corporation for the production of the Toyota Vitz/Yaris and the Toyota RAV4. The company also manufactures automotive engines for use in other Toyota branded automobiles.

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The new Nissan Micra is expected to outperform the sales of its predecessor when it hits the European market later this year.



Speaking to AutoNews, Paul Wilcox, Nissan Europes chief said that the new Micra will achieve higher sales thanks to its larger size and wider range of engines. The car will be positioned right in the heartland. We will sell more than current Micra, he added during a press event at Nissans Sunderland factory.

Although Wilcox didnt specify which engines are going to be used for the next Micra, we expect Nissan to use the turbocharged 115ps 1.2 DIG petrol engine and the 110ps 1.5-litre diesel unit, found in other models of their range.

The new Micra will be produced in Renaults factory in Flins, France instead of Chennai, India where the current generation is being built, with Renault adding an annual capacity of 82,000 units for it.

Nissans new city car will be based upon a hybrid platform which will use some elements of Renault-Nissans new CMF-A platform. The first model to use the brand new platform in its entirety will be the next Nissan Juke, scheduled for production in 2018.

The new Nissan Micra is expected to be a visually more appealing car than its predecessor, using elements from the sport Sway concept which was shown at last years Geneva Motor Show.

Note: Nissan Sway Concept pictured

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Despite all the benefits that self-driving cars would carry with them, the fact that we have to completely rely on a machine in such a volatile environment as our roads, has plenty of people worried.



According to a study directed by Continental Tires, the majority of UK motorists (three in five) are worried about the safety (or lack of) of autonomous vehicles.

In fact, 51% of them are worried about what would happen if the technology failed and the vehicle broke down while the driver wasnt in control, while 40% simply dont trust the concept of a self-driving car altogether. A fifth of motorists even say that autonomous vehicles scare them, and in a way, thats understandable.

This research is part of Continentals Vision Zero commitment, which aims to eliminate accidents not just through automotive systems but also through innovative tire technologies.

Despite voicing those concerns, the 2,000 people who were surveyed did recognize the benefits of self-driving cars, such as having safer roads, more efficient and shorter journey times and having to concentrate less on driving and more on reading, eating or working.

Yet, when they were asked about how they view the car of the future, a quarter of UK motorists believe that car manufacturers and technology companies might be exaggerating what is currently possible  which is a scary thought, especially since a car and its systems can only be as reliable as the infrastructure on which it operates. Lets not forget that there are plenty of countries with extremely poor road conditions which require a human mind to navigate around potholes, water-filled streets (poor drainage) and so on.

These results have been released just before the end of the Consumer Technology Show, which is interesting considering how only five years ago no automotive brands were even present at CES.

There are very exciting times ahead with the advent of automated technology, though with any advance comes concerns. As a leading automotive business we play an important role in educating people about safety, right across the vehicle from our automotive systems to our premium tyre ranges, argued Mark Griffiths, Safety spokesman for Continental.

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An online culture magazine from the U.K. is shining a light on the Okanagan with a recent collaboration of stories on local wineries.

Crane.tv based in London, England, released a short documentary on Summerhill Winery, marking the Kelowna establishment as the largest organic winery in Canada.

Prenille Raven is a part of the Crane.tv team that helped to produce the film. She says there is still three more films to be released in their Food Travel series which centre around other Okanagan wineries.

Working with Tourism BC and Tourism Kelowna, Quails Gate, Gray Monk and 50th Parallel were selected as the other focus wineries.

Crane.tv claims to highlight the makers, writers and builders in the creative industries, and is interested in discovering new talent.

Crane.tv has a very dedicated food and spirits audience and thus we wanted to share the story of the amazing development within the Okanagan wine region, said Raven. We pride ourselves in sharing niche stories from around the world within contemporary culture, art and food and this was the perfect fit for us.

The Okanagan Valley is referred to by Crane.tv as the tip of the Nevada Desert, and describes Kelowna as picturesque, filled with "beautiful landscapes, quaint wineries and fantastic wines of all varieties."

Summerhill Winery is called "one of the most prestigious and stunning" wineries in the valley. The short film is narrated by Eric von Krosigk, the co-founder of Summerhill, who takes the audience on a historical trek through the vineyard.

Raven says her team enjoyed everything about the Okanagan while filming here.

We were impressed with the hospitality of the wineries, the personal stories and relationships and the community between winemakers across the region.

According to Raven, Crane.tv is now working with Destination Canada to produce more stories on our region.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

A South Okanagan man, with a history of drug and alcohol abuse, along with bizarre behaviour, was handed a three month conditional sentence in Penticton court on Thursday.

Jayson Caruso, who has a history of not showing up for court appearances, was facing two charges of theft under $5,000.

According to crown counsel John Swanson, on March 10, 2014, a Penticton man told the RCMP that his roommate, who he had allowed to stay with him in exchange for $500, was stealing from him.

Items taken included gold rings, DVDs, and binoculars. They ended up at a Penticton pawn shop.

The theft had an impact on the roommate, who now finds it difficult to sleep with other boarders in the home.

In a second incident on Nov. 27, 2015, Caruso was observed trying to steal an electronic dead bolt lock from Rona.

The lock was eventually found inside his coat, at which time he became belligerent.

Swanson recommended a jail sentence of three months for the first offence, based on the fact he was in a trust situation with his roommate and was stealing from him. A shorter sentence was also recommended for the Rona theft.

Defence lawyer James Pennington said his client has battled substance abuse, including crystal methamphetamine.

Both Caruso and Pennington told the court he has had time to dry out in jail and plans to stay at Freedom's Door in Kelowna when he is released from jail.

Pennington said the Rona incident was typical behaviour of an addict that ended up going terribly wrong.

After hearing from Caruso that he needed help and wanted the chance to turn his life around, Koturbash handed down the sentence.

He took into consideration that Caruso was a young person and his crimes were fuelled by drug addiction.

Caruso also sustained an injury from being stabbed while at Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre, resulting in a transfer to a jail in Prince George.

In addition to the conditional sentence, where he is to reside at Freedom's Door and have no contact with his former roommate, Caruso was given 12 months probation.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

A South Okanagan man, previously convicted of possessing child pornography, was arrested Thursday morning in the Penticton area on an outstanding warrant for failure to comply with probation.

The probation order for sex offender Jason David Anderson, stems from a previous conviction, according to Const. Mike Desmond.

Anderson will remain in custody over the weekend, and is expected to appear in person in Penticton court on Monday.
Photo: Carmen Weld

The trial continued today for the woman accused of driving without due care and attention in a fatal crash that cost the life of an 83-year-old woman in 2014.

Sharon Marlene Scott, 72, was a contract delivery driver for the Kelowna Daily Courier at the time of the accident.

She struck Julie Gillespie in the laneway between the Courier and the McWilliams Centre on Doyle Avenue on Nov. 23, 2014.

Gillespie was walking home from the casino at about 1 a.m. wearing dark clothing when she was struck.

Scott was on her way to the office early that morning to pick up paper bundles for her delivery route.

A 911 call was placed almost immediately after the incident when Gillespie was discovered by another Courier driver in the laneway. While Gillespie was breathing when BC Ambulance personnel arrived, she died later in hospital from injuries suffered in the collision.

Scott was arrested less than 24 hours after Gillespie was hit. She claims she never even knew she hit Gillespie in the first place.

She was initially charged with failure to stop at an accident causing bodily harm and two counts of failure to stop at an accident with a person.

Those criminal charges have since been dropped as criminal intent could not be proved, and she now faces one count under the motor vehicle act of driving without due care and attention.

Video of the collision was shown in court, taken from a security camera on a building in the laneway across from the Courier.

In the video, Gillespie can be seen walking east on the north side sidewalk of Doyle. Scott's car is also heading east on Doyle.

Gillespie crosses the laneway at the same time Scott hangs a left into the laneway striking Gillespie. Neither Gillespie nor Scott appear to hesitate or stop for each other.

Gillespie disappears under the front of Scott's car and is dragged for several feet. Scott continues to drive down the lane without slowing down and Gillespie's body appears from beneath the back of the vehicle  a 2003 silver-blue Toyota Matrix hatchback, the same vehicle Scott drove to the courthouse Thursday.

An expert witness determined Scott's vehicle was going 11 km/h at the time of the fatal crash.

Scott took the stand in her own defence, Thursday morning in court.

When my car, judge, entered the alleyway  I did not see any person there, testified Scott. Had I known someone had been hit I would have immediately stopped and given her assistance and called 911 immediately.

Over nearly three hours of testimony and cross-examination by Crown, Scott claimed over and over and over again she did not see Gillespie and that she did not know she had hit her.

As soon as you start the turn there, it is complete darkness in that alleyway, so I was being cautious. I looked and then I proceeded slowly, said Scott. I came over this bump and there is always a bump so I proceeded slowly down the alleyway.

Scott testified that there is a lip on the laneway between Doyle and the laneway that creates a 'bump' every time she drives over it, a route she has driven every night for years. This regularly occurring bump is the reason she says she did not realize she had driven over Gillespie.

There has been a bump there every night since 2002 (when she started with the Courier), added Scott through tears. I didnt see anything judge, I didnt see anything go under my car  it was just the normal bumps I always have.

Scott said on the stand that she did not even know she was responsible for striking Gillespie until police showed her the security footage following her arrest. She said as a retired registered nurse of 29 years she is adamant she would have stopped, had she known.

I felt sick to my stomach, said Scott. I took an oath to conserve life and I felt awful, terrible, distraught, judge.

Scott was questioned over her ability to drive that evening, she testified that she does not drink, does no recreational drugs, was of high alertness, was wearing her required glasses and did not look at her phone at any time.

I was having a good night, I had, had a good rest all day, I had eaten properly and I had, had enough rest, said Scott. When I woke up I was feeling awake and alert and I was having a really good night that night.

In cross-examination, Crown argued that Scott did know she had struck Gillespie and that she was responsible as she did not complete a full peripheral check before turning left  something she claims she did do.

Yes I did judge, I would never make a turn without making sure there wasn't anything or anyone there. It was just very tragic, said Scott.

Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Thursday afternoon with the trial scheduled to wrap up Friday.

A decision from the judge will come at a later date.

For past stories on this case click here.
Photo: Carmen Weld - File Photo It may not get this low but gas prices in the Central Okanagan are expected to drop in the coming days.

You can expect some relief at the pumps over the next few days.

According to Dan McTeague, senior petroleum analyst with gasbuddy.com, pump prices in the Central Okanagan should drop by Monday.

Prices had dropped as low at 95.9 cents per litre in mid December but jumped to 107.9 before Christmas.

That price has backed off to 105.9 in recent days.

"My guess is you could see prices drop three or four cents a litre given the wholesale price decreases we've seen," said McTeague.

"I think you're seeing a potential decrease that could be very favourable to consumers by Sunday or Monday."

While prices here could see a dip in the coming days, gasbuddy.com in the United States said prices there are expected to see a year-over-year decrease for the fourth consecutive year in 2016.

McTeague said a similar report, which is published annually, is not possible in Canada.

He said there are too many factors against making such long-range forecasts.

"It's different because we don't have competition in Canada and the second reason is we have to deal with the currency problems," said McTeague.

"You could have crude dropping which hurts the Canadian dollar and diminishes the purchasing power. So, while gasoline futures should be going down, the fall is blunted by the fact a two or three cent decrease in world energy markets ... the Canadian dollar could fall two cents so the effect is neutral.

"We don't enjoy the benefits the Americans may experience with low crude."
Photo: Contributed - Skylar noe-vack

A man was struck by a vehicle in Penticton Thursday evening at 6:15 p.m.

Fire crews, ambulance and RCMP attended the scene of the incident at Main Street and Duncan Avenue and found the man lying in the middle of Main Street.

The man was conscious, and talked to medical crews.

After a brief conversation, he was taken into an ambulance.

The mans current condition is unknown.
Photo: Contributed

Diabetes among seniors is part of a "silent global tsunami," but a national strategy developed in Canada a decade ago has never been implemented, says a doctor working to raise awareness about the chronic disease.

Dr. David C.W. Lau is asking the federal government to take action, adding one in five people aged 65 and over is being diagnosed with diabetes compared to one in 10 cases among younger adults.

"We don't have specific statistics in Canada," Lau said, adding diabetes rates are identified through "unreliable" physicians' billing data.

"We really don't have a proper surveillance program or a tracking system to diagnose people and we don't have a registry of people with diabetes," said Lau, who teaches medicine at the University of Calgary.

However, he said the available statistics show that the highest rates of Type 2 diabetes are among residents in the Maritime provinces while the lowest are in British Columbia, primarily due to differences in obesity rates.

China, India and the United States are poised to have the biggest increase in the number of adults with diabetes, he said, attributing the hike in developing countries to sedentary lifestyles as more people move to urban areas and eat western-style fast food.

"One of my new scientist colleagues who went back to China said that at a gala dinner he was absolutely appalled to find that every single physician and researcher was comparing the pills that they were taking. They all had diabetes."

Lau, editor-in-chief of the "Canadian Journal of Diabetes," said in an editorial in the current issue that better diagnosis and management of the disease is needed to curtail spiralling health-care costs from complications such as kidney failure and blindness.

"The Public Health Agency of Canada has been battling with these issues for a long time," he said in an interview, adding that double the diabetes rate among seniors compared to adults aged 20 and up in an aging population is a "crisis."

"People with diabetes are more likely to develop dementia, and diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke," he said.

"Among the folks who are in the senior, elderly age group, these are double whammies, if not triple whammies, causing problems that we really need to be focusing on."

Health Canada said in a statement that the Public Health Agency of Canada is addressing diabetes.

The Canadian Diabetes Strategy tracks trends and risk factors for all age groups and the agency has developed a questionnaire to help people identify their risk of having the disease, added the statement.

"The agency supports the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System, a collaborative network of provincial and territorial chronic-disease surveillance systems and reports regularly on a variety of chronic diseases, such as diabetes," said the statement.

Lau said the message for people to lose just one to three per cent of their body weight to reduce the risk of diabetes by nearly 60 per cent is not being heeded.

Many of the future doctors he teaches have poor lifestyles themselves, "so that is frightening" for professionals who will need to counsel patients, Lau said.

John Ashdown, 72, said he was diagnosed with diabetes 10 years ago but that he loves "bacon, eggs and butter" too much to change his eating habits and he can't be bothered to exercise despite the high cost of insulin.

"I don't feel sick enough, and I'm living with it. I have to admit my feet are getting too sore to walk too far," said the New Westminster, B.C., resident who has ignored his doctor's advice to lose weight and get moving.

"I got a dog that needs to go for a walk and that still doesn't work."

Serge Corbeil, who advocates the federal government on behalf of the Canadian Diabetes Association's chapters in British Columbia and Alberta, said the lack of a national strategy means each province has its own approach to dealing with diabetes.

He said that days before the federal election last October, the former Conservative government announced the renewal of a diabetes prevention and management program for aboriginals, identified as one of the top priorities by the association.

Though some parts of the 2006 national diabetes plan have been addressed, subsidies for medication and other treatment remain a hodgepodge mix across the country, Corbeil said.

A 2015 report by the association called for access to specialized footwear for diabetes patients who have lost circulation in their feet and often end up with ulcers and infections, leading to amputation.

Health ministers from across the country are scheduled to meet in Vancouver for two days starting Jan. 20, and Corbeil said he is hoping a national diabetes plan that includes food labelling will be high on the agenda.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Is marijuana kosher? If it's medicine, it doesn't matter.

That's the message from Canada's largest kosher certification agency after its board of rabbis held a debate on whether to certify cannabis oils as kosher.

The Kashruth Council of Canada met Thursday to discuss an application from MedReleaf, a licensed producer of medical pot. The meeting followed news in the U.S. that a New York company would soon offer certified kosher medical cannabis products.

But after "a lot of interplay and exchange," the Kashruth council decided the Jewish faith doesn't require sick people to consume kosher medicine, said managing director Richard Rabkin.

"Something that is medicine, that's prescribed from your doctor, that you need to take for your health, that doesn't need kosher certification," he said by phone after the meeting.

"We don't really want to get into the business of providing kosher certification for something that is doctor-prescribed. We're not going to go down that path."

Kosher foods are those that conform to Jewish law, with strict guidelines on the types of foods that can be consumed and how they are prepared.

Rabkin said there's a principle in Judaism that the preservation of human life overrides other religious concerns. If one must consume something non-kosher to survive  or, in the case of medical marijuana, to relieve pain or seizures  one can and should do so.

He acknowledged that some medical cannabis users might prefer to consume kosher pot, but he said a conversation with a rabbi should alleviate their concerns.

Neil Closner, chief executive officer of MedReleaf, said he was proud his company pushed Kashruth to consider the issue.

"It was because of us that they even had this meeting," he said. "We're pleased with the outcome that from their perspective, (medical) cannabis is considered kosher for all consumers."

Closner is Jewish and observes a kosher lifestyle. He said to his knowledge, no other companies in Canada currently offer kosher medical marijuana products and he had hoped MedReleaf would become the first. It has a licence to produce oils and expects to begin selling them in six to eight weeks.

He said he might consider seeking certification from another agency in the future, particularly if he expands into the recreational pot market.

In fact, not all kosher certification agencies agree with Kashruth on medical marijuana.

Kosher Check, a global kosher certification agency headquartered in British Columbia, debated the issue two years ago and decided in favour of certifying edible medical pot products.

Rabbi Mendy Feigelstock said while preservation of life does come before all else in Judaism, his organization decided it would be helpful to offer a kosher choice for those who want it.

He said dried marijuana that is smoked is automatically considered kosher since it is a plant. However, edible products including oils, capsules, brownies and cookies would need to be certified.

"There are people who are suffering and unfortunately sometimes the only medication left for them is marijuana, which could ease their symptoms, and to force a person to smoke it seems silly," he said.

"If it's easier to ingest it either in an oil or some other edible, then there's no reason why that person should not be able to ingest it kosher, if that's something that they're careful about."

Kosher Check's business director Richard Wood said the organization had a few inquiries about kosher cannabis over the years but nothing had progressed to the certification stage.

He said when certifying an edible pot product, inspectors would look for issues including insect infestation in plants, equipment that is used for multiple purposes or capsules that use gelatin, which is produced from a non-kosher animal slaughter.

The issue of kosher pot is only coming to the forefront now in Canada because cannabis producers were banned from selling oils until last July, following a Supreme Court of Canada decision that ruled medical cannabis patients have the right to consume edible pot.

Another licensed medical marijuana producer, Aurora, is also considering kosher certification. Chief brand officer Neil Belot said in an email that the company had been in touch with a prominent certification agency to discuss the possibility.
Fans' wish for Crystal Reed to return to "Teen Wolf" has been granted. The actress is said to guest star on the Feb. 23 episode called "The Maid of Gevaudan."

In a phone interview with Buzzfeed News, Crystal Reed confirmed that she is returning to the show where her character was tragedically killed off. Reed's character, Allison Argent, died heroically at the end of "Teen Wolf's" third season, which saddened a lot of avid fans. Since then, there were clamoring and fervent hoping that they will at least see the actress back on the show, even for one episode. But the wait is now over as show producer Jeff Davis heeded fans' wishes.

Reed, however, will not be back as Argent. Her character is not set to rise from the dead. Instead, she will be playing the progenitor of the Argent family line, Marie-Jeanne Valet. It comes as no surprise that the said episode will be flashback heavy. In fact, this is precisely the factor that drew Reed back.

Reed was not that willing to return to "Teen Wolf." Producer Davis, who also wrote the episode himself, only managed to convince her when the storyline was presented.

Through the interview, Reed shared she was reluctant to return to the show despite fans wanting her to because her character died in such a beautiful way. For her, to bring Allison back may just tarnish the story. However, upon learning that she was not necessarily going to play Allison again and that it was an episode set in the 1700s, she immediately pounced on the chance.

"Basically, Jeff just said, 'France in the 1700s,' and I was in," Reed recalled. "He was definitely playing into my emotions. He knows that I have been dying to do a period piece and I love getting my head around different accents and different cultures. He didn't even have much of a character worked out other than it was based on the Maid of Gevaudan. And I knew the legend, so before really knowing anything further, I said yes," she explained.

Producer Davis described Valet as a peasant girl and a female warrior at the same time. Valet was the first to survive the beast attack. He added that Reed is just perfect for the role, and he is sure that by casting her, it will give young female viewers someone to look up to.

It seems that the banshee of Beacon Hills, as portrayed by actress Holland Roden, already provided a teaser as to this significant return early last year, just before Season 5 premiered. It can be remembered that during the ATX Television Festival held in Texas on June 9-12, she told People Magazine that "as far as actors coming back, there's always so many different forms which they can come back."
Suez Cement plans to complete coal conversion project by end-2016, Egypt

08 January 2016

Suez Cement, part of the Italcementi group, plans to complete its preparations for coal usage at its plants by late 2016, local press reported, citing chairman Omar Mehanna Wednesday.



The conversion process involves an investment of around US$110m.



Mr Mehanna further told Amwal Al Ghad business magazine that Suez Cement had completed the conversion for coal usage at two plants out of five during 2015.



The company aims to use coal as an alternative energy source for the production of cement at its plants to produce 11Mta, he added.

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Bloodborne: The Old Hunters by developer From Software and publisher SCEASony PlayStation 4 review written by Pierre-Yves.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Bloodborne was the crazy inventive alternative that From Software created with Sony in order to do something a bit differently than Dark Souls. Going into a more Victorian Steampunk style than the Gothic Medieval approach that its brethren had taken, there was more than enough insanity to go around especially while dealing with creatures that were essentially Elder Gods. So how does something like Bloodborne become more than the incredible experience that it already was? It creates a new nightmare in the form of The Old Hunters in which will test players even harder than they already were.

Simply put, The Old Hunters is absolutely insane. Like the Crowns of Dark Souls, this new addition to the core is an actual expansion which spans many hours of brand new content with various new areas, weapons, enemies, and puzzles to solve in order to move forward. In order to experience this new content, From Software made it easily enough as a player was only required to pick up an item in the hub and defeat the first major Boss fight to move into the second stage of the nights hunt. Once these are done, there is a very specific place that the player needs to stand in and then they are instantly brought over to the new content. No massive hoops. No massive quest lines. It is right there to dive into. Now whether or not a player is ready for this new said content? That is a question only they can answer.

This new content is not easy. This isnt just because of the new traps, enemies, and locations, but also due to the fact that a decent character level is required in order to simply survive the first hit. This begs the question as to why is the content available so early on if it cant even be tackled? The answer to that one at least is easy as most players would already be within multiple New Game + modes and to make it accessible near the end game would be a tad harsh even for the best of players. For players like myself creating a new character in order to see how everything ties in, the additions are clear to see and the addition is for all intensive purposes. Solid.

One of the biggest additions to the base of Bloodborne is the ability to summon a lot more NPCs into battle along with you instead of having to search out for other players. While a lot of other players may be a better choice at times with more or less thought put into their actions with gutsy moves that make you wonder what could possibly have possessed them to do so even if it worked, some of the NPCs are more than worth the insight in order to summon them to the field. There are some of these newer NPCs that will be brand new to the expansion weapons and all. What is interesting is that along with these newer players to the field are others that have been seen before either by side quest encounters or simply because they were trying to kill you. Sometimes both. In either case having them on your side for a period of time was a breath of relief as by this point their battle capabilities have already been shown and proven on the field with most likely one of your many, many, deaths.

The biggest addition into the new content is the entire new area that has been added complete with its own bosses and new enemy types alongside older ones for some rather interesting situations. Unlike the Crowns, the Old Hunters uses some of the previously seen environments to start off but in a wholly different manner as this truly is the stuff of nightmares and the landscapes heavily reflect this in their construction. The familiarity does not last long as its quite clear this is not the same place but never does it feel too different from everything else allowing it to blend in and feel like a natural extension instead of simply something dropped in and segregated.

Alongside the new areas and characters both trying to kill you and otherwise are new weapons that can be found. One of the larger draws to the weapons style was that most weapons were considered trick weapons and were essentially all two-in-ones with uses for many different situations such as a broadsword that could transfer itself into a greatsword by inserting it into its sheath. Ludwigs Holy Sword, the name of the previous stated weapon, was honestly one of my favorites from the original set and even it could have a hard time comparing to some of the newer weapons now available such as a The Boom Hammer with the enhancement of fire, Simons Bow which allows for actual ranged combat, and the Moonlight Greatsword which is another of Ludwigs weapons and incredible to behold. Each of these new weapons all have their own learning curves in order to use them properly but the same thought and care went into how they could be used. Between these, the new the NPCs and the locations, it is clear to see that this was not just slapped together overnight.

Lore within From Softwares entries has always been seemingly next to nothing upon the first glance. It isnt until walking around and truly exploring certain locations that players will finally start to see things in different lights. Encountering NPCs and exchanging dialog is one way to see more into this insane world in which the The Old Hunters takes to the next level with some new characters to talk to and others to walk right on by as the beg you to end their now miserable lives as theyve clearly been experimented on but have yet to go mad. Starting off things seemed to honestly be nothing more than the name suggested, a nightmare, but upon entering the Hunters Nightmare the player will start to see more into the world of Yharnam and the nightmares of the real world will make a bit more sense as they descend further into the depths of this one. Like the core, this new adventure will take time in order to truly understand what is going on but the trip is worth it even if its just for the nightmarish scenery and the challenges that it holds.
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Accessibility is important. Everyone should be able to have access to services, facilities, transportation and more. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law to ensure people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else. It also lays out parameters for organizations to follow to be accessible for all.



The ADA is not limited to people who use wheelchairsit includes accommodations for all mobility needs, people who are blind, people who are deaf, and more. Within the City of Charlotte, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations leads ADA efforts and compliance.



Please visit City of Charlotte's Americans with Disability Act Program to learn more about the City's work around accessibility.


Christianity Today, a Christian magazine in America, published Biblical Archaeologys Top Ten Discoveries of 2015" on Dec. 30, 2015. Two of the listed finds came from excavations sponsored by Southern Adventist Universitys Institute of Archaeology.



Number five on their list is the Eshbaal inscription found at Khirbet Qeiyafa, located in the Elah Valley in southern Israel. The inscription dates back to the days of Saul and David and mentions a man by the name of Eshbaal, the same name of one of King Sauls sons. The inscriptions publication made international headlines in June, 2015 and prompted a meeting between the directors and Israels Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

"This name only occurs in tenth century contexts in the Bible, which means that the biblical text fits very well with the archaeological data in Judah. It also confirms, with the other inscriptions found at the site, that Hebrew writing was well established in Judah by the early tenth century BC. Khirbet Qeiyafa has become the crucial site in the ongoing debate about the early history of Judah. New data from the site, including this inscription, has established an early date for the monarchies of Saul and David which some scholars wish to dismiss from history," officials said.



Number four on their list is the Canaanite ostracon found at Tel Lachish.

"This is the first time a proto-Canaanite inscription was found in the last 30 years of archaeology in Israel. The context of the inscription was a Late Bronze Age Canaanite temple at Tel Lachish, one of the most important cities of Canaan during the period of the Judges. The fragmentary inscription is very difficult to read, but provides important information about the development of the proto-Canaanite alphabet as it progressed from Hebrew, Greek, and then Latin," officials said.



Southern Adventist University is a co-sponsor with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem of the expeditions to Khirbet Qeiyafa and Lachish. The Khirbet Qeiyafa excavation phase concluded in 2013 and is now completing final publications. The Fourth Expedition to Lachish began its investigations at the second most important biblical site in Judah in 2013 and has become the largest excavation in the Middle East with between 115-120 staff and volunteers in the field every year. An international consortium of Adventist institutions joins Southern every year including the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies (Philippines), Adventist University of Bolivia (Bolivia), Helderberg College (South Africa) and many other nationalities that make up those that participate. Other consortium institutions include Korean Jangsin University, Oakland University, and Virginia Commonwealth University.



The excavations at Lachish have also uncovered massive destructions from the Babylonian campaign of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC (2 Kings 25) where dozens of whole vessels have been found and the earlier 701 BC destruction of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria (2 Kings 18; Isaiah 36-37). The Assyrian destruction level contained several LMLK jars found on the surface. In previous expeditions over four hundred LMLK storage jar handles were uncovered at Lachish many dating specifically to King Hezekiah. The term LMLK in Hebrew means for the king.



This summer the project will continue from June 16-July 24 as more buried secrets are uncovered from the ancient city of Lachish. For information on how to participate, visit southern.edu/lachish.


The Salvation Army has had numerous phone calls from neighbors needing supplemental heat to battle the cold. The Salvation Army is placing a call to the community to donate new space heaters and blankets to help.



"Our goal is to keep people safe and warm in their homes," said Major Algerome Newsome. "Everyone who shares the warmth through their gifts is showing their deep concern for those in danger of the frigid, life-threatening weather."



Monetary donations are needed for those experiencing high utility bills from having to keep temperatures warmer in their homes.

Donations of heaters, blankets or money are being accepted at The Salvation Army, 822 McCallie Ave. Monetary donations can also be made on line at www.csarmy.org , or by calling 800-Sal-Army.
Ivy Academy, Tennessees First Environmental Charter Middle and High School will hold a ceremony Friday morning to commemorate the schools switch to supplemental solar energy.



The solar system has been an ongoing project sponsored by Chattanooga States Solar Energy Course, taught by area energy mentor Rick Carson. The Chattanooga State students worked with Ivy Academy students to build an outdoor classroom pavilion with a solar roof.



Holly Slater, director of operations at Ivy, and Ansley Eichhorn, environmental programmer at Ivy, also received grant funding for the project from the Project Learning Tree Greenworks Program in partnership with the USDA Forest Service.



Charley Spencer, through TVAs Partners in Education Program, has also partnered with Ivy on the project. This program has been instrumental in kicking off similar projects throughout Hamilton County, officials said.



Ivy Academy plans to use the system to capture data for display in real time in the schools common area. Energy collected from the solar panels will go back into the EPB grid system as part of TVAs Green Power Providers Program.



Going forward, Chattanooga State students and staff will continue to partner with Ivy students in the role of online data coordinators, while mentoring Ivy students to continue the program for years to come.



Ivy Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school open to all students in Hamilton County. Please visit ivyacademychattanooga.com for enrollment information.


Motorola, the beloved brand name that nods to the company's history as a car radio maker, will be phased out by Beijing-based owner Lenovo. (Chris Sweda, Chicago Tribune)

Motorola, the historic name carried by the world's first mobile phone and a point of pride for Chicago, will no longer exist as a brand under Beijing-based owner Lenovo.

Motorola Mobility president and COO Rick Osterloh  announced the transition in an interview with CNET on Thursday at CES in Las Vegas.

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The identity won't disappear entirely. Lenovo's phone business will retain the Motorola Mobility name, while its phones and wearables will be branded with "Moto" or "Vibe," a Lenovo line. Motorola's stylized M logo will also remain.

In mid-2015, Lenovo's chief marketing officer said the company wanted to move toward branding phones with Lenovo's name but didn't want to lose the cachet of "Moto," a popular moniker still boosted by the catchy "Hello, Moto" advertising campaign started in 2002.

The name Motorola nods to the company's history as a car radio maker. It filed the patent for the cellphone in 1973 and released the Motorola DynaTAC, the first commercial handheld cellphone in the world, in 1984.

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In the mid-2000s, the iconic, ultrathin Motorola Razr became its most popular device.

In recent years, Motorola has found critical success with its Moto smartphones, but it lags behind category leaders including Apple and Samsung in shipments. It introduced two new Droid devices in October, including one it dubbed the world's first "shatterproof" smartphone.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 17 Employees gather to work on a project in one of the testing labs at Motorola Mobility's new headquarters. (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune/2014)

In 2011, Motorola split into two companies: Motorola Mobility, which produces mobile devices, and Motorola Solutions, which makes two-way radios and other communications equipment. Google acquired Motorola Mobility in 2012 for $12.5 billion. Two years later, Lenovo bought the smartphone business for nearly $3 billion.

Motorola Mobility moved its headquarters from Libertyville to downtown Chicago in 2014, a move that was expected to bring thousands of jobs to the Merchandise Mart.

The company never achieved the 3,000 jobs touted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel when the move was announced in 2012, and it has since experienced several rounds of job cuts. Most recently, Lenovo cut 500 jobs, or about a quarter of the local workforce, from Motorola Mobility in Chicago as part of a global restructuring.
Motorola will lose its identity  or at least the last four characters of it  in a move announced by Motorola Mobility president and COO Rick Osterloh  at CES this week.

Showing some remaining love for "Moto," though, Beijing-based owner Lenovo will keep the Motorola Mobility name on the phone business and brand phones and wearables with "Moto" or "Vibe," a Lenovo line, reports Amina Elahi.

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CES, the Las Vegas tech extravaganza formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show, was the source of loads of gadget unveilings and a platform for news all week. Chicago-based companies unveiled smart-home gadgets, wearables and other inventions. There was a $39,000 speaker tower from Bang & Olufsen, a drone-er-helicopter that can carry a human, and pretty much everything in between, reports Cheryl Jackson.

And in other news out of CES, AT&T said it will launch its smart cities network in Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas, offering connected services in the areas of transportation, infrastructure, public safety (including "gunfire detection technology") and citizen engagement.

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Diagnostic Photonics, based in healthtech incubator Matter, has raised $3 million to fund a clinical trial for its imaging probes for cancer surgeons, which could make it more clear "whether we got it all" and thus prevent repeat surgeries. The company told Meg Graham it is focusing efforts first on breast cancer.

How to trim time from warehouse shipping tasks? Zebra Technologies introduced the TC8000, saying design improvements will save workers two seconds per interaction. Retail and shipping companies that Zebra supplies do a lot of interactions to fulfill your need for fast online deliveries, so that could add up to an hour a day, the company says.

Chicago designer Craighton Berman told Ally Marotti he will open a studio, storefront and event space in North Park in February, news that sparked hope for headway in the business district in the neighborhood. Berman raised $100,000 in 30 days on Kickstarter for his sleek Manual Coffee Maker.

Here's an example of new businesses quickly spawning more new businesses: a secondary market arising for real-estate crowdfunding investments.

With business waking back up after the holidays, Mintel offered its take on trends for 2016: finding balance between competing extremes and small brands both figure big.

Even as workers are told that sitting all day is pretty much the worst thing ever, not everyone is making a straight leap to standing all day, either. We sit and stretch; sit, then pace; stand, then fidget or collapse in a heap.

Rosemont-based Life Fitness is introducing lines of standing and treadmill desks and other supplies to help bridge the gap between total sloth and uncomfortable distraction, reports Kate MacArthur.

They have an interesting mantra: looking for ways to make office workers "default active" vs. "default sedentary." You have to name it before you can claim it.

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ahanis@tribpub.com

Twitter @andreahanis
Mark Neaman, the CEO of Evanston-based NorthShore University HealthSystem, has a business history of taking on all comers. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Mark Neaman admits he's in an uphill battle to save his proposed merger with Downers Grove-based Advocate Health Care against Washington, D.C., regulators who are trying to quash the deal.

The CEO of Evanston-based NorthShore University HealthSystem should know. The veteran hospital executive has been through this before, but the fight looks to be even more difficult this time.

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The Federal Trade Commission alleges that the merger, which would create a 16-hospital system, will reduce competition and harm consumers. This is the second time the FTC has fought a hospital merger orchestrated by Neaman. In 2004, the FTC challenged the combination of Neaman-led Evanston Northwestern Healthcare and Highland Park Hospital, which had merged four years earlier. (Evanston Northwestern was later renamed NorthShore.)

Chicago-area hospitals Click on the circles for more information. A red dot indicates an Advocate or NorthShore affiliation. The green area is the FTC-alleged geographic market.

The Federal Trade Commission is challenging the merger of Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem, saying that the combined entity will have too much market power in northern Cook and southern Lake counties.Advocate and NorthShore say they compete against hospitals across the Chicago area, not just along the North Shore. Source: Illinois Department of Public Health.

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The commission ruled that Evanston Northwestern's acquisition of Highland Park Hospital violated antitrust laws by "substantially" raising prices above competitive levels following the transaction. But in a victory for Neaman, the commission allowed Evanston Northwestern to keep the hospital as long as it accepted guidelines in negotiating contracts with health insurers.

The FTC has reason to be wary of the Advocate-NorthShore merger because of NorthShore's pricing behavior following the 2000 acquisition of Highland Park Hospital, said David Marx Jr., an antitrust lawyer with McDermott Will & Emery who's not involved in the lawsuit.

When the FTC challenges mergers, it usually deals in the theoretical. The agency relies on economic analysis to determine whether a merger would reduce competition.

But in evaluating the Advocate-NorthShore deal, the commission has evidence of post-merger anti-competitive conduct by one of the parties. The previous case is a rare example of the FTC challenging a hospital merger after it has been consummated and finding proof of price increases.

The geographic market the FTC analyzed a decade ago is almost identical to the one at issue today. It's suburban Chicago's affluent North Shore community, which spans northern Cook and southern Lake counties along Lake Michigan. The combined entity would operate six of the 11 hospitals in the FTC's alleged market, giving it too much market power, the agency said.

The hospitals say the size of the market is much larger, essentially all of the Chicago area. In court papers filed Tuesday, NorthShore pointed to inconsistencies in how the FTC defined the relevant geographic market in 2004 and 2015. In the first case, the commission found that Advocate Lutheran General in Park Ridge was not a "sufficient" substitute for hospitals in Evanston, Glenview and Park Ridge. Now the FTC says Advocate and NorthShore are "close, if not each other's closest, competitors" on the North Shore.

"The FTC's experience with (the North Shore) market and the fact that there are no new entrants makes that experience somewhat relevant," said Mark Rust, an antitrust lawyer at Barnes & Thornburg who's not involved in the case. "It certainly doesn't help the case of the hospitals."

Neaman, who has led the Evanston-based hospital group since 1992, shrugs off his past issues with the FTC.

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"Let's keep in mind we didn't divest anything," he told the Tribune's editorial board in a meeting Tuesday. "I don't think (the 2004 case) had any real impact on this case."

Neaman is not letting his lawyers speak for him in defending the merger against the government. He accused the commission of gerrymandering the geographic market and protecting the status quo in a dynamic Chicago-area health care market.

There's been a wave of consolidation as hospitals merge and buy up physician practices, creating new behemoths. The Affordable Care Act has unleashed some of this merger frenzy because one of the goals of the health law is to coordinate care between hospitals and doctors.

New players have also surged into the region, from stand-alone imaging facilities to health clinics at pharmacies. Neaman sees them all as competitors because a big portion of his business is done on an outpatient basis.

"We think the arguments of the FTC are spurious, that they fall short of any sense of reality and are inconsistent with how this marketplace works," Neaman said.

The FTC declined to comment because the case is in litigation.

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Judging by his comments critical of the government, the NorthShore CEO is gearing up for a lengthy fight. Neaman, 65, who began his career as an administrative assistant at Evanston Hospital in 1974, has a business history of taking on all comers.

The FTC's 2007 ruling of antitrust violations didn't deter him from expanding and taking risks. Two years later, Neaman purchased another medical center in his backyard, Skokie Hospital, which is less than 4 miles from Evanston Hospital, without objections from the commission. He also tried to buy Lake Forest Hospital but lost out to Chicago-based Northwestern Memorial.

Neaman has built up NorthShore's outpatient services by buying physician groups. And he ended a decades-long academic affiliation with Northwestern University, switching to the University of Chicago, at the risk of losing a trusted brand name in the market.

Neaman and his counterpart at Advocate, Jim Skogsbergh, say the merger will benefit consumers by increasing the quality of care, lowering its cost and eliminating duplication.

In its lawsuit filed late last month, the FTC was skeptical of any possible benefits from the merger. The agency said claims of reduced health care costs are based on "speculative and unsubstantiated assumptions."

The FTC has found that, when hospitals join forces, their goal is not just to control costs or improve care but to get increased bargaining power in negotiations with health insurance companies and employers, said Martin Gaynor, a health care economist at Carnegie Mellon University and former director of the FTC's bureau of economics.

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Hospital leverage is a key issue because consumers rarely negotiate the price of hospital services and almost never pay the hospital directly. About 90 percent of Americans are covered by private insurance or government programs. When hospitals raise prices to insurers, the increases are generally passed along to consumers in the form of higher premiums, deductibles and copays.

The Evanston-Highland Park merger is part of the FTC's body of evidence. The commission found that, after the merger, the hospital group raised prices by 11 to 18 percent more than other hospitals, confirming its predictions that the elimination of a competitor would enhance Evanston Northwestern's market power.

Regulators used Neaman's own communications to back up their allegations that one of the merger's objectives was to raise prices. In the minutes of a 2000 meeting of the hospital board's finance committee, Neaman said, "The larger market share created by adding Highland Park Hospital has translated to better managed care contracts."

The FTC also found a memo Neaman wrote that stated: "Some $24 million of revenue enhancements have been achieved  mostly via managed care renegotiations," and "none of this could have been achieved by either Evanston or Highland Park alone."

This time around, Neaman and Skogsbergh are careful not to mention the word "leverage." They say they are powerless against the state's largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois.

"I've said this before and continue to say it: All of us as providers are price takers in Chicagoland, not price setters," Skogsbergh said. "The whole premise of their denial is it's going to decrease competition and result in unfair pricing pressure on consumers. We believe that's patently false."

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The executives say they cooperated with a lengthy FTC investigation of their merger, which was announced 15 months ago, and have turned over 12 million documents. They say they even offered to enter into an agreement that would alleviate the commission's pricing concerns.

"It was flatly rejected," Skogsbergh said. "(That was) very, very frustrating because we thought, if that's their biggest concern, we'll just take it off the table."

Neaman's tone is more adversarial: "The FTC is trying to protect the status quo. They believe they need to protect insurers from getting prices raised by evil hospitals and greedy doctors."

asachdev@tribpub.com

Twitter @ameetsachdev
Worry over a possible waning demand of the iPhone has hurt Apple's market cap, which has dipped $52 billion in 2016. (Wong Maye-E / AP)

Apple Inc.'s investors are spooked.

The shares ended the day below $100 for the first time Thursday since October 2014 amid concerns that demand is waning for iPhones, the most critical piece of the company's business. The stock's steady drop in recent weeks coincides with analyst and media reports indicating that Apple has cut back production of new handsets within its supply chain to accommodate slowing sales.

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More than 60 percent of Apple's revenue comes from the iPhone so any sign of weakness for the product causes concern among investors. The company's reliance on the handset has only increased over the past year, as sales of the iPad have declined and the Apple Watch has yet to become a mainstream hit.

The stock fell 4.2 percent to $96.45 Thursday, but showed slight gains Friday. Apple, the world's most valuable company at $544 billion, has lost about $52 billion in market capitalization this year.

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"It's a cause for concern," says Jack Ablin, the chief investment officer at BMO Harris Bank, which owns Apple shares. Even with the slide, he said Apple is still a good value. "It's been a phenomenal growth story and we're hoping the growth will continue."

Apple, which reports financial results for the holiday quarter on Jan. 26, has fallen 18 percent in the last month. Analysts at UBS and RBC Capital Markets lowered their estimates for iPhone sales Thursday, following similar moves by Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and Drexel Hamilton.

Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray Cos., who has followed Apple for more than a decade, said the steepness of the stock's decline has surprised him. The reports coming out about Apple's supply-chain have created an element of confusion among investors, who may be choosing to sell in the absence of good information.

"Investors can't operate in an unknown environment, which is what's going on here," he said. The stock will begin to rally after Apple's next earnings report because it will give more clarity on the company's position, he said.

Apple hasn't commented publicly about the reports or given any independent numbers on the iPhone.

Analysts attribute the iPhone slowdown to the saturation in the broader smartphone market and less need for people to get new handsets. Apple also is in a period of its typical business cycle before it releases a newly designed iPhone, which usually rolls out around September. Cupertino, California-based Apple faced similar pressure from investors in 2014 before the debut of the bigger-screen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

The question investors are asking themselves is whether this time is different.
Holiday travelers check in at the United Airlines ticket counter at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in December 2013. The airline has been fined $2.75 million for violating rules regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities and keeping passengers stranded on delayed flights more than three hours. (Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press)

Stranding passengers on planes and providing inadequate service to disabled fliers will cost Chicago-based United Airlines $2.75 million as part of an agreement with the Department of Transportation.

That includes a $2 million penalty for violating rules intended to protect disabled passengers, among the largest fines ever levied by the government over a non-safety-related matter at an airline. Of that sum, United will pay the Treasury Department $700,000 and will receive credit for money it spends to address the issue.

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"It is our duty to ensure that travelers with disabilities have access to the services they need, and that when significant tarmac delays happen, travelers are not left on the plane," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

The department said its investigation of United's compliance with the Air Carrier Access Act rules was due to a significant rise in the number of disability-related complaints United got from consumers in 2014. The airline failed to provide disabled passengers with "prompt and adequate assistance" getting on and off planes and with moving through terminals at O'Hare International Airport, Houston International Airport, Denver International Airport, Newark International Airport and Dulles International Airport.

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United several times failed to return passengers' wheelchairs or other mobility aids promptly or in the same condition.

United will put $500,000 toward a program to develop technology that helps disabled passengers request wheelchairs and other disability-related help at airports via United's mobile app. It also will spend $150,000 to better audit its wheelchair vendors. The department is also crediting United with $650,000 for compensation it provided to consumers who filed disability-related complaints with the airline in 2014.

In 2011, Delta was fined $2 million for violating rules protecting disabled air travelers. At the time, the department said it was the stiffest penalty ever assessed against an airline in a non-safety matter. Delta's 2011 fine would be the equivalent of $2.11 million in 2015 dollars.

United acknowledged on its website Thursday, the day the fine was announced, that many "expect more from us when serving customers with disabilities."

The airline said it gets nearly a million requests a year for wheelchair help. United said it's also ensuring that vendors who provide its wheelchair service "use a more modern technology to handle requests more efficiently."

United is also being fined $750,000 for five tarmac delays at O'Hare on Dec. 8, 2013  a day of low temperatures and heavy snowfall  and one tarmac delay of a flight diverted to Houston Hobby Airport in May 2015. United will pay $375,000 of that fine to Treasury, and spent $375,000 on a new automated visual docking and guidance system.

"While there were multiple contributing factors to the tarmac delays at O'Hare, including a severe winter weather event," the department found that United's gate mismanagement caused five flights to exceed the department's three-hour limit on the tarmac for U.S. flights with 30 or more passenger seats without giving passengers an opportunity to leave the plane, with few exceptions.

The five O'Hare flights exceeded the three-hour threshold by 16 to 64 minutes, documents show.

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In 2013, the department fined United about $1.2 million for lengthy tarmac delays at O'Hare.

"We remain committed to fully meeting all DOT rules  particularly during difficult operating conditions like those we encountered on Dec. 8, 2013, at O'Hare Airport  and continue to invest in cutting-edge technologies to improve our ramp processes," said United spokesman Luke Punzenberger. "We've launched automated aircraft parking systems at two of our largest hubs, enabling us to reduce taxi times and safely guide aircraft to the gate when conditions might have previously prevented us from accommodating our customers."

Also, in recent months, United has posted some of its best flight completion, on-time arrival and on-time departure rates in the past five years, he said.

Last year, the department fined Southwest Airlines $1.6 million over lengthy tarmac delays at Midway International Airport.

Other recent fines levied by the Transportation Department:

In 2014, the department fined Turkish Airlines $300,000 for not responding promptly to complaints filed by consumers, including disabled passengers. Also that year, the department fined British Airways $225,000 and Qantas Airways $90,000 over tarmac or gate delays.

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In 2013, the department fined Virgin $150,000 for failing to make its in-flight safety video accessible to passengers with hearing problems. It also fined American Eagle $200,000 for lengthy tarmac delays.

In 2013, the department announced fines against Copa Airlines for $150,000 and Virgin for $55,000, both for tarmac delays.

In 2012, the department fined Pakistan International Airlines $150,000 over tarmac delays. It fined JetBlue $90,000 that year for not telling passengers on an airplane delayed at the gate with the doors open that they could get off.

In 2012, Virgin America was fined $100,000 for filing incomplete reports with the department about complaints by disabled passengers and for not responding adequately to the complaints. Also that year, the department fined Spirit Airlines $100,000 for failing to appropriately record and respond to complaints about disabled passengers.

In 2011, the department fined American Eagle $900,000 for lengthy tarmac delays at O'Hare. It was the first fine over the three-hour rule. Atlantic Southeast Airlines was fined $200,000 for violating rules related to disabled passengers.

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Every school-age child in Chicago lives within a designated school attendance boundary. Their families, however, don't have to send their child to that school. For the 2015-16 school year, about 51 percent of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students did not attend the school assigned based on where they live. For high school students, this trend is more acute. About 73 percent of all students chose to attend a school other than their zoned school.

These choices have consequences for traditional neighborhood schools. Underenrolled neighborhood schools face challenges due to decreases in funding and staffing tied to enrollment and also pose a real-estate problem for the district.

The CPS enrollment data tell us three things about a school: the total number of students who live in a school's attendance boundary, the number of students from within the school's attendance boundary enrolled in the school and the number of students from outside the school's attendance boundary enrolled in the school.

Because particular data don't tell us where students who don't attend their assigned school end up going, it's difficult to know what draws students to other schools. Anecdotally, academic performance, special programs and reputation within a neighborhood all play a part. The data also omit counts of school-age children who don't attend public schools.

Let's look at how these numbers break down for different schools to understand how the data is charted.

Nettelhorst, an elementary school in Lakeview, has a student body of mostly students living within the school's attendance boundary. Along with students who live outside the boundary, the total enrollment is more than if every student living in Nettelhorst's attendance boundary chose the school.

At Lincoln Park High School, a slight majority of all students living in the attendance boundary end up going to that school. Students from the neighborhood, however, are a minority. Most of the student body is made up of students from outside the attendance boundary.

Most students who live within the attendance boundary for Clemente High School, on the city's West Side, don't go to Clemente. However, students who live within the attendance boundary and do go to Clemente outnumber students living outside the boundary.

Most of the students at Lake View High School don't live within the schools' attendance boundary. Students at the school who do live in the boundary are a relatively small fraction of all students assigned to the school.

Sabin and Santiago, both West Side elementary schools, don't have attendance boundaries. This is because Sabin is a districtwide magnet school and Santiago is a charter school. Though some students may live nearby, the data categorizes all the students as not residing.

Now that we better understand the data, lets look at some dynamics of neighborhood enrollment in the district. Or, you can jump straight to charts of all schools with attendance boundaries.

Low enrollment, especially from the neighborhood

The most seriously underenrolled neighborhood high schools struggle to draw students living within the attendance boundaries of those schools. Hirsch, a South Side high school whose enrollment has dropped by nearly 400 students since the 2002-03 school year, saw only about 5 percent of all students zoned for that school attending. Douglass High School, in the Austin neighborhood, saw its total enrollment drop by more than 800 students since 2002-03. Less than 10 percent of all students living in the attendance boundary chose to attend Douglass.

For both schools there were more students from within the attendance boundary than coming from outside the attendance boundary.

In many cases, these underenrolled schools with low neighborhood enrollment have low academic performance. Hirsch is a level 3 school, the lowest level in the district's rating scheme. Douglass is rated as a level 2, a rating that indicates below-average academic performance..

Some neighborhood schools remain popular with nearby students

High-performing elementary schools draw a large percentage of neighborhood students. More than 90 percent of CPS students zoned for Addams, Bell and Marsh attended those schools this school year.

Because enrollment from within the neighborhood is so high at these schools, the number of students from outside the neighborhood is limited by the school's overall capacity.

Other high-performing schools don't attract neighborhood residents

A high rating is no guarantee that a school will draw students zoned to that school. Less than one quarter of students assigned to Willa Cather, a level 1 elmentary school in East Garfield Park, chose to attend. Lake View High School saw only 27 percent of all students living in the attendance boundary attend the school. Lake View did attract a large number of students from outside the attendance boundary.

Schools compete for students

Only about 36 percent of students in Kelly High School's attendence zone in Brighton Park chose to attend Kelly. In the last two school years, Kelly's attendance has declined, led by a 7 percent decrease in the number of enrolled students living in the school's attendence area. Meanwhile, nearby schools such as Marquez, a charter, and Back of the Yards, Solorio, Hubbard and Curie, all district-run schools, continue to attract students. A new charter school, managed by the Noble Network of Charter Schools, is slated to open a few blocks from Kelly.

Find your neighborhood schools

Below are charts for all public schools in Chicago that have attendance boundaries, sorted in descending order of neighborhood attendance. Scroll down, or use your browser's search to see how your many students from inside and outside the attendance boundary attend the school.
Imperial Lamian will have six types of soup dumplings. (CLICK & FLICK )

Imperial Lamian: The Chinese restaurant going in at the corner of Hubbard and State streets in River North is nearing an opening date.

The Indonesia-based Imperial Group behind Imperial Lamian operates 24 restaurants in Indonesia. This will be its first U.S. location.

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The name means hand-pulled noodles (la meaning pull, mian meaning noodle), a Chinese tradition that dates back to the 16th century. The menu will offer them with a variety of broths, meats and garnishes.

Other dishes expected to be on the menu at opening include eel with Wu Xi sauce (a sweet-salty sauce named after the Chinese city of Wuxi), gua bao (pork belly in a steamed bun), and soft shell crab with curry leaves and almond. A dim sum menu includes crisp duck roll, har gao (shrimp dumplings) and more.

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Fans of xiao long bao (soup dumplings) will have more than six versions to choose from. There will also be wok dishes, both classic (Kung Pao chicken, Mongolian beef) and creative; and traditional Chinese barbecue selections like Peking duck.

The opening is slated for this winter; exact date TBA. 6 W. Hubbard St., 312-595-9440.

Fogo De Chao: Naperville is getting an outpost of Brazilian steakhouse Fogo de Chao, slated to open Jan. 14 at 1824 Abriter Court.

The restaurant will be the third in the Chicago area; like its siblings, it will highlight churrasco, a centuries-old Southern Brazilian art of roasting meats over an open fire. The restaurant has brought in some chefs from Brazil, says Fogo de Chao CEO Larry Johnson.

Dishes will include picanha (the prime part of the top sirloin, thinly sliced and seasoned with garlic and rock salt); cordeiro (lamb flavored with a mint marinade, sliced off the bone or served as chops); pao de queijo (gluten-free cheese bread made with yucca flour and Parmesan) and many other selections.

The Naperville location is also one of the first to offer the chain's new "Gaucho Lunch," designed to get diners in and out quickly, Johnson said.

Lunch hours will be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday-Friday. Dinner hours will be 5-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5-10:30 p.m. Friday, 4-10:30 p.m. Saturday and 3-9 p.m. Sunday. 1824 Abriter Court, Naperville, www.fogodechao.com.

Other openings:

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Stan's Donuts & Coffee: The California-based doughnut shop, popular for its selection of more than 30 flavors of doughnuts, is opening its fourth Chicago location on Jan. 16 in the South Loop. 28 E. Roosevelt Road, stansdonutschicago.com.

Wayback Burgers: The burger and shake chain plans to launch its first Illinois location in Naperville in spring. All burgers will be cooked to order, and the menu will also feature veggie and turkey burgers, crispy and grilled chicken sandwiches, salads, fries, onion rings, chili, chips and hand-dipped milkshakes. Burgers come with a single, double, triple or triple-triple (yes, that's 9) patty option. 2775 Showplace Drive, Naperville, www.waybackburgers.com.

Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. >

In case you missed it:

Warm up to a bowl of ramen this winter at Ramen Misoya, a new fast casual restaurant in Streeterville.

John and Karen Shields have released the name of their fine-dining restaurant, which will be located in the West Loop at 177 N. Ada St. The couple is aiming for a late-spring opening.

Half Acre will open a restaurant at its Lincoln Avenue brewery on Jan. 14.

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"Sandwich King" Jeff Mauro will open Pork & Mindy's, a Bucktown restaurant specializing in  you guessed it  sandwiches, on Friday, Jan. 8. Check out this interview with Mauro and see photos of the sandwiches.

The new Lincoln Park sushi restaurant inside Intro will open Jan. 20.

Although Paris Club Bistro & Bar served its last meal Jan. 2, the River North space is being renovated to make room for Il Porcellino, a new Italian restaurant from R.J., Jerrod and Molly Melman.
The diverse city music scene means that even a traditionalist folk trio can find a place among the discerning ears of Chicagoans. Just look at Glass Mountain, for example.

The group (Heather Malyuk, Sara Leginsky and Ari Bolles) performs a mix of folk staples in the Americana songbook, and haunting originals, and has found a place in one of the largest U.S. cities and a true urban epicenter.

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Chicago is the most American of cities because it welcomes an eclectic mix of people from all over, with intentions and backgrounds that might not seem at home here. And yet those people thrive because it is just as easy to find home here as it is to find a community.

"When I moved here in 2012, I didn't expect there to be such a vibrant old-time scene and I was pleasantly surprised," Malyuk said. "It really renewed my interest in the music and wanting to play here." She grew up in Ohio, spent years playing the fiddle and listened to folk music as a child. Leginsky came from a more classical background of choral singing and learned more about it through a stint at the Smithsonian.

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Both musicians cite a number of factors for Chicago's thriving scene, including the Old Town School of Folk Music as well as Second City Squares, a relatively young group of people in the city that meets to line dance. But Glass Mountain regularly plays more traditional rock clubs, too.

Most critical is the openness to the folky sound. After an initial meeting in local folk music collective Old Lazarus' Harp and a few years performing at smaller venues to small crowds, the group is finally breaking through to audiences unfamiliar with traditional folk.

More than a fad, Glass Mountain's success can also be attributed to the strength of its harmonies, charisma and song craftsmanship. "We'll find songs that we want to perform and we all learn them and arrange them together," Leginsky said. "But we all have our own tastes and backgrounds to making the music." Truly great performers break through regardless of genre, because of a strength of vision and dedication to practice.

Glass Mountain's latest release, "In Threes" features classics and originals, instrumentals and traditional verse-chorus-verse structures. But the combo's work truly sings on tunes that showcase its three-part harmonies.

On "Today," a plucky banjo couples perfectly with lush, lonesome vocals pouring forth with emotion that feels pulled from the deepest recesses of your heart. It's the sort of song you sing alone because you relate to the lyrics  or at least the yearning of the vocals  as if they are your own.

When Leginsky creates arrangements, she works in Garage Band. "I'll play around a bit with the harmonies to see what fits," she said. "I'll sing it a bunch of different ways and find what feels best. But when I bring it to the group, they might move things around. So I do the front-end work but the end result might be different."

As to live performances, Glass Mountain likes to mix things up in terms of how and what the band performs. "The audience may not know (the songs) are different because they sound the same, but we move things around," Malyuk said about their incorporation of traditional tunes. "Part of the practice of it is learning new tunes and expanding your repertoire," Leginsky added.

The members are developing a collection of tunes that pushes their sound into new territory. "It's definitely more of a focus on the traditional early country sound," Leginsky said. There's also a focus on more three-part harmonies. "It's more of a thicker sound, a richer sound," Malyuk said. "But part of it is to have something for people because the old sound isn't just what we are anymore."

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Britt Julious is a freelancer.

onthetown@tribpub.com

Twitter @chitribent-

When: 9 p.m. Friday

Where: Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont Ave.

Tickets: $10 (21+); www.beatkitchen.com
Over the years "A Hero's Life"  an immodest portrait of the artist at 34  has become a conductor's showpiece and, in lesser hands, an excuse to wallow in vulgar floods of big-orchestra sound. Not with Nott. He put the emphasis on other things: beauty and refinement of sound, nobility of phrasing, the interrelation of themes and ideas. There was real Straussian bravado, to be sure, but also flexible control of long spans and observant detail within those spans. Nott made the score feel urgent and newly considered  no mean feat, given its quasi-warhorse status at the CSO  and the orchestra delivered its sumptuous splendors whole.
Comedy, she said, "was a surprise for me. I honestly thought I'd be doing Pinter plays and Shakespeare and Greek dramas. But my freshman year at Northwestern I went to a new student orientation and there was this improv group on campus and I thought, 'Well that's the most terrifying thing I've ever seen.' They had auditions the next week and I thought, 'I'm just going to go and see what happens.' And it turns out that it was the best training I could have possibly ever had because it is all the things that 'Man Seeking Woman' absolutely requires."
The Gallaghers aren't easy to love. In five previous seasons of Showtime's dramedy "Shameless" (which returns for a sixth on Sunday night), viewers have seen the members of this wild South Side Chicago family struggle with a poverty that affects both the pocket and the soul. Good at heart and bad to the bone, every character on the show will lie, cheat, steal, fornicate and worse, with a voracious appetite for self-preservation.

The empathetic texture with which all of this is portrayed, however, has always been "Shameless's" core attribute. Human despicableness informs so many of our favorite shows, to the degree that we become largely inured to the moral shortcomings of antiheroes. "Shameless" works at a depth and shape that are surprising in a show where the primary aim is shock value.

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Ethan Cutkosky as Carl Gallagher in "Shameless." (Patrick Wymore/Showtime)

Adapted from a British series in 2011 by American showrunner John Wells (of "ER" and more), "Shameless" has soared and wallowed; in keeping with the bad luck that plagues its characters, it usually goes underpraised and underappreciated in this crowded era of good TV.

Sunday's episode opens with the Gallaghers more or less where we left them - and also with a distinct feeling that the show might be running out of gas. Frank Gallagher, the incorrigible paterfamilias played with booze-breath brio by William H. Macy, is in a state of pathetic grief over the loss of Bianca (Bojana Novakovic), a terminally ill doctor who accepted Frank's offer of last-minute reckless abandon, blowing her savings on crack highs and running off with him to a Costa Rica beach.

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Bianca was everything Frank ever dreamed of - wealthy enough to supply his insatiable habits and tolerant of his self-absorption. While he slept, she walked off into the sea. Now Frank spends most of his time on the grass at Bianca's grave back in Chicago - humping it, even, in autoerotic tribute, until a groundskeeper chases him off with a water hose.

Macy's over-the-top performance is often touted as the main attraction of "Shameless," but any viewer of the show recognizes its centrifugal force comes from Emmy Rossum's superb turn as Fiona, the eldest of the Gallagher brood, who, as a teenager, took over the parental reins from her alcoholic father and absentee, bipolar mother. Fiona brings an ethically flawed yet resourceful order to the household chaos. As "Shameless" has progressed (and its characters' lives devolved), the other five Gallagher children have escaped Fiona's control - all but Liam, the mixed-race youngest half-brother who, as a toddler, got into Fiona's stash of cocaine.

Emmy Rossum as as Fiona Gallagher and William H. Macy as Frank Gallagher in "Shameless." (Cliff Lipson/Showtime)

Yes, indeed - this is a show where a baby finding cocaine is par for the course. ("Shameless" is not entirely devoid of consequence; Fiona went to jail for that.) Any show nowadays can come up with ways to disturb or sicken us or yank the easy chain of prurience - and many do. This season I'm struck by three topical themes on which "Shameless" has consistently and uniquely delivered:

1. Poverty - from a white perspective. In translating a British show about an on-the-dole family in Manchester to a story about a struggling family in the reputedly territorial Canaryville neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Wells and company have said they resisted suggestions to set the show in a trailer park somewhere in the Southern U.S. sticks. That is too often American TV's answer to what white poverty must look like, rife with yokel cliches.

On "Shameless," viewers are fully immersed in the urban details of the Gallagher family's plight - as well as that of their neighbors. Here and there, viewers have seen the ways Fiona navigates what's left of the nation's public assistance programs (and the futility therein); Frank, known to every emergency room in town, somehow managed to get a liver transplant without insurance. ("God only gave me two livers," he reminds an acquaintance in a new episode, limiting himself to six ounces of beer a day.) With just enough realism to counterbalance the show's more outlandish developments, "Shameless" always makes sure to provide enough detail on how the Gallaghers stay fed and sheltered.

Jobs come and go. Cash is king. We've accompanied the family to health clinics, family court and detention centers and seen how a few hundred dollars might have made all the difference.

The Gallaghers and their neighbors carry a particular grudge for the upper class - a resentment that has nearly derailed eldest brother Lip (Jeremy Allen White) in his quest to remain in good standing at the University of Chicago. It also, in a way, cost Fiona the only upwardly mobile office job (with health-care benefits) she ever had. The characters on "Shameless" resent the gentrification (and accompanying hipster-fication) in the neighborhood. Although this is milked for its comic value, there is a fierce pride that informs it, a rejection of the yuppie values and lifestyles that still inform most premium-cable shows.

2. Embracing the innate criminal impulse. As a chronic goody-goody, I find in "Shameless" an almost cathartic disregard for rules, manners and the law. This is not the same as watching serious dramas about mobsters or drug kingpins. The Gallaghers find their identity through a genetic predisposition for dishonesty - it's the family talent. They cut corners, cheat and game whatever systems stand in the way of their survival.

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The real trick here is how "Shameless" can endear the Gallaghers to the viewer, even when the family is at its most reprobate. Aspiring to be the shadiest Gallagher of all, 14-year-old Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) emerges this season from a juvenile detention center sporting cornrow braids and enjoying the wide respect of a network of black drug dealers; his family celebrates his return with a bargain grocery-store cake frosted to celebrate some girl's quinceanera.

It's an image that is at once absurd, tender and vaguely terrifying as we realize Carl is past the point of no return. In the way, it accepts criminals for what they are, without saddling them with deep meaning or artistic metaphor, "Shameless" really has one peer, in the work of Jenji Kohan's "Orange Is the New Black" (and, earlier, "Weeds").

Emma Kenney as Debbie Gallagher and Cameron Monaghan as Ian Gallagher in "Shameless." (Cliff Lipson/Showtime)

3. Sex as a means to personal freedom. Some of the best recent work on "Shameless" can be seen in Emma Kenney's heartbreaking and intelligent portrayal of the youngest sister, Debbie, who is now 15.

When the show began, Debbie was an innocent girl who believed her family's troubles and idiosyncrasies could be surmounted with enough optimism and ingenuity. Growing up in a house swirling in sexual antics - which included Fiona's successive boyfriends; Frank's improbable conquests; Lip's legion of girlfriends; brother Ian's (Cameron Monaghan) coming out and eventual pairing with the neighborhood bully, Mickey Milkovich (Noel Fisher); the uninhibited and steamy dramas from neighbors Kevin and Veronica (Steve Howey and Shanola Hampton) - Debbie was certain to eventually crash into her own awakening.

Suffice it to say, sex hasn't made Debbie any happier or more secure, but it has challenged the show's writers to come up with some impressively frank scenes that get at the awkwardness and constant ache in a teenage girl's emotional life. It's easy to see why a girl like Debbie would view pregnancy as an upgrade. Fiona's discovery that Debbie has become sexually active leads to an immediate trip to the local Planned Parenthood clinic.

In the same way that "Shameless" distinguishes itself portraying poverty and criminality, it also can be seen as remarkably sex-positive. True, in 60-plus episodes, it has featured many shocking scenes of perverse predilections, inappropriate liaisons and degrading outcomes.

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Yet through such filth, a viewer sees that each of its characters has found that sex can sometimes be a clear path to personal freedom. Sex is the one thing that the Gallaghers can own free and clear. "Shameless" is noisy about everything, but its loudest and surest moments rejoice in pleasure.

"Shameless" (one hour) returns Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.
What better way to start the new year than with a good book in hand and a batch of new friends who share your passion for reading by your side? Scroll down to see which of these Chicago book clubs fits you best.

Books on military history are fascinating, but finding like-minded readers can be quite the challenge. Meeting the third Saturday of each month, the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Book Club members discuss titles from the museum's collection, some of which can be borrowed as e-books. While attendance doesn't require a membership, guest are asked to pay admission, $5. Pritzker Military Museum & Library, 104 S. Michigan Ave., 312-374-9333, www.pritzkermilitary.org/events/book-club/

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North Side New-In-Town Book Club for Women is aimed at newbies to Chicago  mostly millennials trying to kick off their careers who would like to bond over books. Besides meeting twice a month (Saturday or Sundays) at a restaurant, the group organizes social events such as trivia nights. For more details, visit www.meetup.com/North-Side-New-In-Town-Book-Club-for-Women

If the prospect of discussing a book while enjoying fine company and abundant drinks and snacks makes you giddy, then Rambling Readers is the club to join. The members, young professionals in Chicago or recent college graduates who get together once a month, describe themselves as "laid-back" with a taste for "fairly modern works." They are currently reading "Girl at War" by Sara Novi. Find more at their Goodreads page: www.goodreads.com/group/show/106959-rambling-readers-book-club

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This year, make a point of tackling that stash of masterpieces gathering dust on your nightstand by joining Northshore Classics Book Club. The group meets at 2:30 p.m. on the second Sunday of each month at Cafe Mozart in downtown Evanston. The books they've read so far include "War and Peace" and "Catch-22." For more information, send an email to northshorebookclub@comcast.net

Coloring is believed to alleviate stress, so why not do give it a try on the most hectic day of the week along with this Meetup.com group called Colorbook? Each Monday evening, for two hours, they meet at the Orland Park Public Library to serve their creative inner child. Members are invited to bring their own coloring books and supplies. No fee is required, but $1 donations are welcome. 6:30 p.m., 14921 S. Ravinia Ave., Orland Park, 708-349-8138, www.meetup.com/Orland-Park-Coloring-Book-Meetup

Entering its fifth year, Modernist Fiction has covered an array of authors from Kafka and Faulkner to Nabokov and Mishima, but members are open to other genres based on preferences. Their meetings take place at 8 p.m. every other Thursday, usually at the Bob Inn in Logan Square. For details, visit the group's Meetup.com page: www.meetup.com/modernistfiction
Students at Kelly High School in Chicago walk through the halls at the school on Nov. 20, 2015. The school is facing stiff enrollment competition from nearby charter and open enrollment schools. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Public Schools students who attend their assigned neighborhood schools are the minority now, as more than half of the district's students choose charter, magnet and other options.

The popularity of school choice  and by default, the waning interest in neighborhood schools to which students are assigned based on where they live  grew from last school year. A Tribune analysis of enrollment data shows that about 51 percent of all CPS students opted not to go to their neighborhood school for 2015-16. Last school year, that figure was about 49 percent.

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The draw of school-choice options is even greater for high school students. This school year nearly 76 percent of the district's high school students bypassed their neighborhood high schools. That's an increase from last school year, when the figure was about 73 percent.

The pull to another school is greatest where the neighborhood school is struggling academically. Those schools also often have discipline issues and work with higher rates of special-education and low-income students, the analysis shows.

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That belies a common assumption that poor kids in low-performing schools are trapped in those schools. In fact, students who live within the boundaries of the city's worst schools have the highest rate of going elsewhere.

In most cases, schools with the top academic ratings continue to draw the students zoned to attend, some drawing greater than 90 percent of the Chicago students within their boundaries.

"The conventional wisdom is that these schools have lost population because the communities have all lost population, or charters are draining students," said Andrew Broy, head of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, during a City Club of Chicago luncheon in November. "The problem is not that these communities have simply lost population. It is that parents who live there have lost faith in the schools."

Since Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office in 2011, the district has closed dozens of neighborhood schools, opened more charter schools, added themed schools such as military academies and through policy encouraged school choice.

School-choice advocates say the expansion in school options benefits kids who live within the attendance boundaries of low-performing schools or who have an affinity for arts, engineering or a vocation that isn't the focus of the neighborhood school.

But in a district that is losing students each year, some of the city's neighborhood schools find themselves in precarious positions. Seven in 10 attendance-zone schools in Chicago drew fewer students from their neighborhoods this school year than they did last year.

In short: Many of the city's neighborhood schools are dying.

"People who are choice advocates will say that this is a market demonstration. The question is what is the cost for the neighborhood in the long term and also what is the cost for the kids who are in the school, still?" asked Eve Ewing, a Chicago native and sociologist at Harvard University who studies racism and inequality.

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"The thing that's become clear is allowing schools to die through starvation or negligence over a long period of time is really one of the most malignant things you can do to a neighborhood school," she said.

In the Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side, only 150 students are enrolled at Hirsch Metropolitan High School, which has nearly 2,600 CPS students within its enrollment boundaries. Only 82 of the students at the school live within Hirsch's boundaries, the rest chose to go there instead of their assigned neighborhood school.

In the South Austin neighborhood on the West Side, only 234 students attend Douglass High School, which has more than 1,800 students within its attendance boundary. About 175 Douglass students live within the school boundaries, fewer than last school year.

Enrollment at Douglass is likely to dwindle even further. CPS could vote as soon as February on a plan to reassign students from Douglass' attendance boundary to a new consolidated high school program in the former Austin High School building, about a 12-minute walk away.

District officials say Douglass' current students can stay and that the building will be designated as "open enrollment." It's not clear how Douglass can attract enough students  even if it can pull from all of Chicago  to survive. Because it's among the most underenrolled schools in the city, it has been free to accept students from other attendance zones for years. But this school year, only 57 students from outside the boundary attend.

Asked if CPS has accepted the fact that school choice means neighborhood schools will struggle, district chief Forrest Claypool said, "No, of course it's not OK. We recognize that fact."

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"That's why we provide additional resources to underenrolled schools, because we know there has to be a minimum baseline of funding in those situations to provide the options a child needs for a good education," Claypool said.

Claypool acknowledged it becomes more difficult to prop up neighborhood schools if they are struggling academically.

"Parents ... don't really care about neighborhood enrollment boundaries  they care about quality choices for their children. I think that's a good thing. I think it's central to social justice, that parents have choices. That's important, and that they be quality choices," Claypool said.

Parents also are willing to send students a long distance from home to a school of choice. Research has provided anecdotes of hourslong bus and train rides for some students who chose to leave their assigned schools.

Losing the battle

There are about 415 Chicago schools with attendance boundaries. Another 265 schools have no attendance zone and can draw students from throughout the district. About 130 of those no-zone schools are charter schools. The rest are independently operated contract or specialty schools.

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Some neighborhood schools remain the primary choice for residents, the Tribune analysis shows. More than 90 percent of the students who live within the attendance boundaries of schools such as Addams, Marsh and Bell elementaries are choosing their attendance-zone school. Hirsch and 13 other schools, however, attracted less than 10 percent of their assigned students this school year and appear to have lost the battle for their neighborhood kids.

And then there are schools like Kelly High School, which is fighting to maintain its enrollment even as another charter school is set to be built just a few streets over to compete for students.

Kelly draws about 36 percent of the 4,300 kids assigned to attend, a drop from nearly 40 percent last school year. Administrators there are trying to hang on to Kelly's standing as the neighborhood school of choice in Brighton Park, a Southwest Side community that once was home to a large Italian, Polish and Lithuanian immigrant population but now is mostly Hispanic.

A couple of miles away, an UNO charter school is thriving. Back of the Yards College Preparatory High School, in a district-operated building that's a similar distance from Kelly, has an International Baccalaureate program that attracts many students.

And the Noble Network of Charter Schools plans to break ground soon on a new high school a few blocks down the street from Kelly's campus.

Kelly's administration knows that the competition for students is fierce, so it's trying to retain and recoup students by throwing its doors wide open to parents, students and the entire community.

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The school offers tax-preparation courses, cooking classes, English-language and parenting classes. It stays open evenings and Saturdays so neighborhood residents can swim in the school pool. Administrators have increased efforts to reach out to students in elementary schools that feed into Kelly to sing the praises of Kelly's award-winning chorus and its International Baccalaureate program.

"I don't have the marketing budget that Noble has," Principal James Coughlin said. The school leans on the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council for supplemental funding. It recently installed a new sign and some lamppost banners that look similar to the ones posted in front of the nearby charter.

"We're actually getting a brand-new website in two weeks, things that I would not have thought of before, but I have to be a marketer now. I have to do a better job of marketing to keep these students here."

Kelly is up against its nearby neighborhood schools, too.

"One of the things that is frustrating, I think not just to us, but all of our schools in the community  Solorio, Back of the Yards, Hubbard, Curie  is that where we used to support one another and would set up sort of parallel swap programs with students that had certain needs or needed a different environment, now we're in an environment where we also have to compete with them," said Eric Skalinder, a Kelly teacher and Chicago Teachers Union representative.

Backbone of the neighborhood

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Amid the hand-wringing about what will become of neighborhood schools as more students step outside their attendance boundaries is a worry that some of what holds a neighborhood together will erode. Schools often are the center of a community, but in communities where children might attend several different schools all over the district, plus private or home schools, people have less in common.

"Social networks matter a lot. Once you get this phenomenon of so few neighborhood kids going to the school, then you have parents talking across generations and you have fewer and fewer information sources about the quality of the local public school," said Northwestern University sociology professor Mary Pattillo, who has researched how parents negotiate school choice in Chicago. That means outdated or unfair reputations can linger, to the continued detriment of the neighborhood school.

"It's unfortunate that parents don't have high-quality options that are close by so they can simultaneously meet something that they want when they talk about schools: They want close, convenient and good. When it's not good, they exercise choice."

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And, it turns out, parents sometimes vote with their feet even when the school is pretty good. Willa Cather Elementary is a Level 1 school in the East Garfield Park neighborhood but attracts only 23 percent of the current CPS students zoned for the school. The principal, Wanda Carey, said in an email that that's the case "for various reasons" but referred questions to district administration.

Kelly fights its reputation as a rough school, which lingers from the 1990s, despite its improvement and ascent to a Level 2+ school in the district's rating system, which ranges from a Level 3, which is very low performing, to a Level 1+, the top academic ranking. Maybe school choice spurred that improvement, he said. But it threatens the very existence of the school now.

"The competition is good. I've been in CPS for many, many years. The charter movement and the choice movement is and was a good option for parents because it put the pressure on us to be less  less bureaucratic," Coughlin said. "But it's overkill now. It's overkill. We don't need more seats, we're just taking from each other now."

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jjperez@tribpub.com

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Twitter @PerezJr
U.S. Rep. Bob Dold withdrew an ex-felon's invitation to the State of the Union address after learning of a restraining order issued against the man in 2014. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

WASHINGTON  Rep. Bob Dold planned to bring a felon to President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech next week as a guest, but he withdrew the invitation Thursday after learning that a Waukegan woman had accused the man of threatening to kill her in 2014 and obtained a restraining order against him.

Durrell McBride, 30, of Zion, served six years in state prison for armed robbery and was released in 2011, state records show. He was on parole until 2013.

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Dold, a Republican from Kenilworth, announced this week that McBride would be his guest at Tuesday's speech. An aide to Dold said McBride worked in sales and owns a "small business for his motivational speaking engagements."

In a news release, Dold said he had met McBride and was "inspired by his success story." McBride "has worked tirelessly to lift himself up" since his release from prison, Dold said in the statement.

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However, court records show that in April 2014, a Waukegan woman who described herself as McBride's wife told Lake County authorities that he had called and texted her 45 to 65 times in a single day and made threatening remarks, including, "I'm going to kill you" and "I hate you."

The woman said he was "very verbally abusive" and called her a "stupid (expletive)," court records show.

She said he "forced me to give him 300 to go away" that day, records show. The petition was filed in Lake County Circuit Court, but it was unclear whether the reference was to $300.

The order of protection was issued in April 2014 and was in effect for several months. Later that fall, the woman asked that the order be canceled. She said she no longer believed her life was in danger.

The case is now closed.

Dold withdrew the invitation to McBride after the Chicago Tribune pointed out the court-issued protection to his office and provided it with some of the court records.

McBride in 2013 was given an award from YouthBuild Lake County, a federally funded program that trains disadvantaged people for careers. Brad Stewart, a spokesman for Dold, said the invitation went out at the recommendation of YouthBuild. Neither Dold nor the agency were aware of the restraining order that had been obtained by the woman, Stewart said. McBride and the woman are no longer married, he added.

Stewart said Dold has a long history of efforts to prevent domestic abuse and will invite another YouthBuild graduate in McBride's place.

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In the news release announcing that McBride would be his guest, Dold said, "Durrell is proof of what people can accomplish when we show a little compassion, and I'm thrilled he is able to join me for the State of the Union."

The release also quoted McBride as saying: "Coming home from prison, I needed opportunities  a job, education to learn new skills, and a fighting chance to succeed. I was fortunate to find YouthBuild."

McBride also was quoted in Dold's release as saying he was "incredibly grateful" that Dold was working for "meaningful action and change" and was "honored to be able to attend the State of the Union address with him."

McBride could not be reached for comment. He committed the robbery in 2005, was originally sentenced to 14 years in prison and, according to state records, was released from Vandalia Correctional Center in October 2011.

Chicago Tribune's Dan Hinkel contributed.

kskiba@tribpub.com

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MEXICO CITY  The world's most-wanted drug lord was recaptured in a daring raid by Mexican marines Friday, six months after he fled through a tunnel from a maximum security prison in a made-for-Hollywood escape that deeply embarrassed the government and strained ties with the United States.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the capture of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman using his Twitter account: "Mission accomplished: we have him."

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Few had thought Guzman would be taken alive, and few now believe Mexico will want to try to hold him a third time in Mexican prisons. He escaped from maximum-security facilities in 2001 and on July 11, 2015, the second breakout especially humiliating for the Pena Nieto administration, which only held him for less than 18 months.

The capture had top Mexican officials at a Foreign Ministry event gleefully embracing and breaking into a spontaneous rendition of the national anthem after Interior Secretary Miguel Osorio Chong delivered the news.

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No sooner than Guzman was apprehended, calls started for his immediate extradition to the U.S., including from a Republican presidential candidate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

"Given that 'El Chapo' has already escaped from Mexican prison twice, this third opportunity to bring him to justice cannot be squandered," Rubio said.

The United States filed requests for extradition for Guzman on June 25, before he escaped from prison. In September, a judge issued a second provisional arrest warrant on U.S. charges of organized crime, money laundering drug trafficking, homicide and others. But Guzman's lawyers already filed appeals and received injunctions that could substantially delay the process.

Mexico said after the 2014 capture of the cartel boss that he would be tried in his home country first, with officials promising they would hang on to him. After his escape in July, the talk on Friday about keeping and trying Guzman almost as a matter of national pride wasn't so overt.

"It would be better for the Americans to take him away," said Mexican security analysis Raul Benitez.

Pena Nieto said he personally issued the order to recapture Guzman and heaped praise on Mexican agencies for their coordinated effort. "Careful and intensive intelligence work was carried out for months" leading up to the arrest, he said.

Pena Nieto gave a brief live message Friday afternoon that focused heavily on touting the competency of his administration, which has suffered a series of embarrassments and scandals in the first half of his presidency.

"The arrest of today is very important for the government of Mexico. It shows that the public can have confidence in its institutions," Pena Nieto said. "Mexicans can count on a government decided and determined to build a better country."

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Guzman, a legendary figure in Mexico who went from a farmer's son to the world's top drug lord, was apprehended after a shootout between gunmen and Mexican marines at a home in an upscale neighborhood in Los Mochis, a seaside city in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa.

Authorities first located Guzman several days ago, based on reports that he was in Los Mochis, said a Mexican law enforcement official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said.

The Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines raided a home after receiving a tip about armed men there. They were fired on from inside the structure, it said. Five suspects were killed and six others arrested. The marine's injuries were not life threatening.

"You could hear intense gunfire and a helicopter; it was fierce," said a neighbor, adding that the battle raged for three hours, starting at 4 a.m. She refused to be quoted by name in fear for her own safety.

Guzman may have been at the house and fled while his gunmen and bodyguards provided covering fire from the house, said a second federal law enforcement official, who also agreed to discuss the operation on condition of anonymity. Guzman was later captured at the hotel Doux, a low-rise modern building on the outskirts of town.

Some reports said he tried to escape through storm drains. In 2014, Guzman evaded capture by fleeing through a network of interconnected tunnels in the drainage system under Culiacan, the Sinaloa state capital.

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Marines seized two armored vehicles, eight rifles, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher at the home in Los Mochis, the navy's statement added.

Photos of the arms seized showed that two of the rifles were .50-caliber sniper guns, capable of penetrating most bullet-proof vests and cars. The grenade launcher was found loaded, with an extra round nearby. An assault rifle had a 40-mm grenade launcher and at least one grenade.

"The arrest is a significant achievement in our shared fight against transnational organized crime, violence, and drug trafficking," the Drug Enforcement Administration said in a statement.

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The U.S. Justice Department commended the Mexicans for their work as well. "I salute the Mexican law enforcement and military personnel who have worked tirelessly in recent months to bring Guzman to justice," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said.

Guzman faces federal indictments in Chicago and several other U.S. jurisdictions, including San Diego, Texas, Florida and the southern and eastern district of New York. Just days before Guzman's July 11 escape, the U.S. government had made a formal request to Mexican authorities seeking Guzman's extradition to face charges in a 1996 case brought in San Diego, the Los Angeles Times has reported.



Meanwhile, many in law enforcement believe the strongest case against El Chapo could be the sweeping indictment brought by then-U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago in 2009. Authorities built the investigation around the extraordinary cooperation of Pedro and Margarito Flores, twin drug dealers from Chicago's West Side who rose to be the Sinaloa cartel's top U.S. distributors.



In 2008, in the midst of an all-out war between cartel factions, the Flores twins secretly taped top Sinaloa lieutenants and even recorded phone calls with El Chapo himself discussing a shipment of heroin, court records show. That marks the only known recording of Guzman in any of the cases against him.



The twins' cooperation ultimately led to indictments against dozens of cartel leaders, including Vincente Zambada-Niebla, the son of Guzman's top associate, who pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy in 2013 and agreed to testify against his former boss if he's ever brought to Chicago to face trial.



The U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago has not commented on whether it has made any efforts to have Guzman brought here.

A former federal prosecutor who was involved in the cartel case in Chicago said he thinks the U.S. government will move to try to quickly extradite Guzman to the U.S. so he can be prosecuted here.



"I think the case to be made privately is 'fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me," said Andrew Porter, now in private practice. "They have had him in custody twice and failed. No one can really promise the future, but we would be confident in our procedures and protocols to keep him in custody. We could promise a fair and impartial trial."

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After his first capture in Guatemala in June 1993, Guzman was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He reportedly made his 2001 escape from the maximum security prison in a laundry cart, though some have discounted that version.

His second escape last July was even more audacious. He slipped down a hole in his shower stall in plain view of guards into a mile-long tunnel dug from a property outside the prison. The tunnel had ventilation, lights and a motorbike on rails, illustrating the extent to which corruption was involved in covering up the elaborate operation. Noise of the final breakthrough from the tunnel was obvious inside the prison, according a video of Guzman in his cell just before he escaped.

Mexico launched a huge manhunt and a couple of months later tracked him to the mountains of his home state, arresting a pilot who allegedly flew Guzman to the region hours after his escape. Guzman was said to have narrowly escaped an earlier capture and injured a leg and his face while fleeing marines in the rugged terrain.

Associated Press, Chicago Tribune reporters Jason Meisner and Annie Sweeney contributed


Harvey Mayor Eric Kellogg and City Clerk Nancy Clark, shown in 2014, filed an ordinance to collect 2016 property taxes without getting approval from the City Council. (Warren Skalski, Chicago Tribune)

The financially troubled suburb of Harvey will not be able to collect property taxes in 2016 after county officials determined the city's ordinance to collect the funds  filed without the approval of the City Council  is invalid.

Last month, Mayor Eric Kellogg and his political ally, City Clerk Nancy Clark, filed the ordinance with the Cook County clerk's office as required by law. However, the measure had been previously voted down by the majority of the council after weeks of bitter infighting over what some members say is the mayor's refusal to provide them with information about city finances.

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A spokesman for Cook County Clerk David Orr said after consulting with the Cook County state's attorney's office, officials concluded the levy filed by the mayor and city clerk "was not legally valid."

As a result, Harvey will likely lose a massive portion of its annual revenue. The tax levy appears to fund roughly half the city's annual budget, though exact figures are impossible to know due to the Kellogg administration's chronic failure to submit legally required annual audits showing how it collects and spends its funds. In 2015, the city's levy made up about 40 percent of a typical Harvey tax bill.

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Harvey officials, who warned previously that the city might have to reduce its workforce by half without the tax money, said they disagreed with the decision and hinted that the city may challenge the county clerk's determination in court.

"The mayor exercised his executive power and submitted the levy to the County of Cook," city spokesman Sean Howard said in a statement. "We look forward to a resolution and hopefully avoid lengthy litigation. However, we will continue to fight in the best interest of the hundreds of policemen, firemen, public works employees, their families and the 25,000 residents of our community."

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Howard did not say what legal action, if any, the city might pursue, but Ald. Keith Price, who supported the levy, said he would support such an effort because he is unaware of any remedy in case or statutory law.

"Something definitely needs to be on the books so this doesn't happen to other towns," Price said, adding that the only other example he knew of was the tiny suburb of Dixmoor, which once failed to pass a levy amid political infighting.

But Harvey aldermen on the majority bloc seemed determined to halt any legal fight.

"Litigation about the tax levy, after the council voted it down, is simply another demonstration of the administration's disregard for the council's authority and democratic process," Ald. Christopher Clark said. "It is another waste of taxpayer dollars. My office will not support it."

Harvey's failure to pass the levy comes after a series of Tribune investigations chronicling subpar policing and insider deals, including a failed hotel development involving a former Kellogg aide now at the center of a federal corruption investigation. The mayor has repeatedly refused to answer questions under oath about the project, citing his Fifth Amendment right to avoid saying anything that could be used to prosecute him.

mwalberg@tribune.com

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Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, shown Dec. 7, 2015, at a news conference, is facing two challengers, Kim Foxx and Donna More, in the March primary. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez was counting on the local Democratic Party to remain neutral as she faces two challengers in the March primary, but momentum is building to endorse Kim Foxx in the wake of the controversy surrounding the Laquan McDonald shooting.

The party's executive committee has called a Thursday meeting to reconsider an endorsement at the request of committeemen who control a majority of weighted votes, Democratic Chairman Joe Berrios said Friday. "Let everybody have their say, and at the end of the day, if people feel they need to endorse someone, we will," Berrios added.

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In August, divided Cook Democratic leaders voted to remain neutral in the contest. County Board President Toni Preckwinkle backs Foxx, her former chief of staff, and House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, and influential 14th Ward Ald. Edward Burke, were in Alvarez's corner. Also running is former state and federal prosecutor Donna More.

But much has changed since then. In late November, a judge ordered the release of a video showing white Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke firing 16 bullets into black teen McDonald. Hours before the video was made public, Alvarez charged Van Dyke with murder, saying she made the announcement earlier than planned out of concern for "public safety."

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The charges came 400 days after the shooting occurred, leading to accusations Alvarez is too protective of police. She has maintained that she was waiting for the Chicago U.S. attorney's office to complete its part of the investigation into the shooting before leveling charges against Van Dyke.

Donna More, a challenger in the Cook County states attorney race, speaks Nov. 24, 2015, at the Bread of Life Church of God In Christ in Chicago. (Brian Jackson / Chicago Tribune)

Support has waned for the two-term incumbent among Latino and African-American politicians. Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough shifted her backing to Foxx, and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez backed off his support of Alvarez. As a result, Foxx now has the votes to win the endorsement, said 6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer, who backs Foxx.

A party endorsement can lead to more campaign money. It also gets a candidate's name on party literature distributed by committeemen and their precinct captains. But it doesn't play as much of a role in winning elections as it once did, because political ward troops have been significantly thinned as patronage has weakened in recent decades.

Cook County State's Attorney candidate Kim Foxx speaks at a news conference Dec. 2, 2015, in Chicago. (M. Spencer Green / AP)

Foxx spokeswoman Joanna Klonsky said the decision to hold another slating session "demonstrates the growing recognition that Cook County's criminal justice system is broken  and incumbent Anita Alvarez had a hand in breaking it," but the Alvarez and More camps were quick to deride the effort.

"I just don't think voters want, nor do they think it's a good idea, for the Cook County state's attorney to owe their political career to a party machine," said Ken Snyder, a political consultant for Alvarez. "I don't think voters want the state's attorney's office to be a puppet of Cook County party bosses. ... (Alvarez) is an independent, professional prosecutor, and that makes the machine uncomfortable."

More, meanwhile, took aim directly at Preckwinkle.

"Just another example, as far as the political power brokers are concerned, that this is only about politics and not about independence  nor is it about transparency, justice or fairness," More said in a statement. "This is simply another sordid political maneuver by Democratic Party bosses, led by Toni Preckwinkle on behalf of her hand-picked candidate Kim Foxx."

In response, Preckwinkle said in a statement that Alvarez's "recent actions" have "made it impossible to remain neutral."

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"Anita Alvarez has shown herself to be unwilling to uphold justice and unable to uphold the responsibilities of her office," Preckwinkle said.

Foxx, Alvarez and More will get another chance Thursday to present their credentials to the party's 80 committeemen, who will then reconsider whether to endorse, Berrios said.

If committeemen vote to back Foxx, it would be the second time they have altered an earlier decision for the March 15 primary. After news surfaced that Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown was under federal investigation, committeemen yanked their backing of her and supported 8th Ward Ald. Michelle Harris.

hdardick@tribpub.com

Twitter @ReporterHal
Former Congresswoman and gun violence victim Gabrielle Giffords arrives to hear US President Barack Obama deliver a statement on executive actions to reduce gun violence on Jan. 5, 2016, at the White House in Washington, DC. (Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images)

The new year is a time of optimism and new commitments. For me, it's also a powerful time for an additional reason: Every Jan. 8, I think about how close I came to losing my life on a bright winter morning five years ago in Tucson, Ariz., when a would-be assassin opened fire on me and a group of my constituents, injuring 12 others and killing six.

I was shot in the head from three feet away, but somehow I survived.

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I made a decision that my new life would be lived as my old life was: in service of our country. One thing that means for me today is using my second chance to do everything I can to make this great country safer from the kind of gun violence that took the lives of those around me and changed many others', and mine, forever.

Instead of focusing on what I cannot do, I have tried to live without limits. I've set myself tougher and tougher goals. I've learned and delivered speeches. I jumped out of an airplane. I spent the night on one of our Navy's aircraft carriers, the USS Carl Vinson. I've taken my French horn out of its case for the first time in years. This November, I rode 40 miles in Tucson's annual charity bike ride, El Tour de Tucson.

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And with my husband, Mark Kelly, I have fought to make sure our leaders finally do something to save the lives of the 33 Americans who are murdered with a gun every day.

Mark Kelly leans his head on the shoulder of his wife and former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords as they attend a news conference asking Congress and the Senate to provide stricter gun control in the United States on March 2013, in Tucson, Ariz. (Joshua Lott / Getty Images)

Today, five years after I was shot, we are making progress. While Congress refuses to act, many state leaders are embracing common-sense change that keeps guns out of the wrong hands.

This week, we made even more progress when President Barack Obama announced that his administration will significantly narrow the loopholes that let people buy guns without a background check. It is the right, responsible thing to do.

The president's reasonable proposal addresses a lethal problem: People who are in the business of selling guns can avoid the current requirement to conduct background checks on their buyers by claiming not to be gun dealers. Go to a gun show, for example, and in booths right next to licensed gun dealers whose customers have to undergo background checks, you will see others who operate outside of the rules, selling dozens or hundreds of the same guns each year without background checks.

The steps announced this week will narrow that gap by requiring anyone who sells a significant number of guns or operates like a commercial dealer to get a license and require each buyer to pass a criminal background check. Truly private sales, such as simply selling a gun to a neighbor or a friend, will not be affected. But, based on analysis by the gun-violence-prevention organization I co-founded, millions of firearms transactions that currently happen with no questions asked will be subject to background checks.

The president's proposal makes another key improvement: It addresses the weakness in the background-check system that authorities say allowed a dangerous man to buy a gun and murder nine innocent people in a Charleston, S.C., church. It does this by making the system more efficient and effective, including by increasing the number of background-check examiners and related staff members by 50 percent and reporting which states do and don't provide essential background-check records to the FBI.

Other important provisions will require gun dealers to report lost and stolen guns, making it easier for law enforcement to crack down on the illegal gun trade; and will increase investment in gun safety technology and mental-health treatment. These are just common sense.

Almost three years ago, when a minority of senators caved in to their fear of the corporate gun lobby and blocked sensible, bipartisan background-check legislation in Congress, I said that those senators had failed their constituents and, with every preventable gun death, shame their legacy.

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Many of those same senators, along with a lot of other elected officials and some candidates for president, will be quick to haul out the talking points the gun lobbyists in Washington gave them and attack the president's reasonable action. They will warn of dire consequences and willfully spread misinformation. But the truth is this: These new steps will hurt no one, and they will protect many.

Around mile 32 of the bike ride I did in November, I almost gave up. I'm mostly paralyzed on my right side, and even though I had been training for months, my body was tired and it was hard to keep going. But I remembered my goal. I had a team of friends and supporters with me, so we just kept pedaling together. And then we crossed the finish line.

Reducing the number of Americans murdered or injured by guns is also not easy. It's a long, hard haul.

But we cannot falter now, and we cannot wait for a Congress in the gun lobby's grip to prevent any of the 12,000 gun murders that happen in our country every year.

Washington Post

Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat from Arizona, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2012 and is a co-founder of Americans for Responsible Solutions.
Southbury Principal Lindsay Allen recently returned from a trip to Ghana. She is helping organize, along with other community organizations, projects for a school there. (Handout / The Beacon-News)

In a rural town in southern Ghana in Africa, where just one of the uneven roads is paved and residents can be seen collecting water from a nearby pond, Southbury Elementary School Principal Lindsay Allen and her students are working to create a school library.

The Oswego school, along with other schools and Fox Valley organizations, have collected books and supplies and raised money for projects at the private Catholic school in Katakyiase, Ghana. Allen, who recently returned from a winter-break trip to the town, said the books were among the first the students in Ghana had ever received.

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The goal, Allen said, is to continue working with the school in Ghana, which serves students through junior high, and build relationships between Ghanaian and American students and teachers.

"My hope would be the kindness, empathy and caring we would want our kids to grow up having will become strong," she said.

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For Allen, it started as a project for her doctoral program at Judson University, where she is focusing on literacy. But it soon grew beyond just a way to meet a school requirement.

Elgin-based Two Pennies Ministry had worked in Katakyiase before Allen got involved, and the two teamed up. The ministry's head, Bartlett teacher Jim Reed, years ago had his students at Sycamore Trails Elementary begin exchanging letters with students in Ghana, and they came up with the idea to collect books, he said.

First Baptist Church in Elgin and other schools in Oswego-based Community Unit School District 308 are also pitching in. Even a Michigan church that Reed has personal ties to has gotten involved, he said.

The organizations have shipped what Allen estimated were thousands of books to the school, and Southbury students collected school supplies at the beginning of the school year. The organizations also raised money to provide school lunches for months to the roughly 300 students at the school, who Reed said often do not have enough to eat and are tired and restless by the end of the school day.

Reed said they sought a more sustainable way to provide food for the students and helped create a small farm and agricultural education program at the school. Now, he said, First Baptist Church is working to create a pig farm.

Reed said on a visit to Ghana, his vehicle nearly struck a girl walking along the side of the road with her head buried in a "Dora the Explorer" book.

On a March trip to the school in Ghana, Allen helped teach students how to open and browse the books, how to organize them into a library and check them out of the library.

She said national tests are given in English, so students can benefit from reading English books.

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"You feel grateful to watch kids open a book for the first time," she said.

District 308 also sent over materials from an English and language arts curriculum it no longer uses.

During her most recent trip over winter break, Allen and representatives from Two Pennies helped educators learn to use the donated material and scoped out possible sites to create the pig farm and a library building.

She said she is hoping to convert a four-room building currently missing its roof into a library, complete with bookshelves, tables and donated laptops for a technology center. She envisioned a building open to the community, with books available on farming, sewing, pregnancy or health.

She plans to have her students become pen pals with Ghanaian students, and the school's headmaster and some teachers might visit the U.S. around the start of the next school year, she said.

Most of all, she said, she wants to build a relationship between her students and teachers and those in Ghana. She hopes students can share their lives and learn about the lives of students in Katakyiase, and come to care about the world.

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"When you build relationships, it's meaningful," she said. "It becomes personal."

Reed said building connections with students in Ghana helps his own students learn and see that they are significant. They might find it hard to feel like they're making a difference when they're just doing what a teacher tells them, he said.

"They saw the work they put in and the planning they did," he said. "And the effort and communication was making a difference with people who truly needed help."

Allen plans to return to Ghana in March, when she expects to begin construction on the library or piggery. Much of it will be with her own hands, she said.

She hadn't planned to go back so soon. But after the December trip, she said she had to return.

sfreishtat@tribpub.com

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The December deaths of Daniel Capuano and Mark Zielinski remind us that even with constant training, updated policies and state-of-the-art equipment, a firefighter's job can be deadly.

We know this, yet such deaths still take our collective breath away.

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Capuano died Dec. 14 after falling down an elevator shaft while fighting a fire in an abandoned warehouse in Chicago. Zielinski died Dec. 4 while resuscitating a shopper in Matteson.

Though the nature of their deaths are very different, both speak to the ongoing dangers, stress and unpredictability of the firefighting profession, risks those in the field will tell you they try desperately to keep at bay.

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In the wake of these two tragedies, we asked Chief William Bonnar, Jr., battalion chief with the Orland Park Fire Protection District, to tell us some of the things the public might not know about firefighting today.

Bonnar is a 35-year veteran who knows what it's like to lose a family member to the profession. His father, William Bonnar Sr., died suddenly in 1998 following a 45-minute drill. Because he was so physically fit, his heart condition went undetected, Bonnar said.

"Whatever killed him, hit him instantly," Bonnar Jr. said. His father succumbed to a heart attack while sitting in his car, a siren box and radio right in front of him, both of which were never used.

Because of that case, Bonnar said that today, in addition to annual physicals, Orland firefighters undergo a cardiac stress test. If there are any questions, they are sent for most extensive testing, he said.

The loss of a comrade is devastating, Bonnar said, but the firefighting profession has a long history of turning losses into lessons.

Here are 10 more things Bonnar said you might not know about firefighting today.

1.Fires burn faster and hotter.

"Back in the '50s, '60s and '70s, most of the stuff in your house was made of wood, cotton and wool. Natural fabrics," he said.

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Today, he said, everything is pressboard and plastics.

"When plastic heats to a certain temperature, it turns back to what it originally was, crude oil. So now all of these things are giving off all these gases that weren't around 40 years ago. That's why (fire) temperatures inside buildings went from an average 1,100-1,200 degrees at the ceiling to 2,000 degrees. When plastics convert back to gasoline, fires burn faster and hotter, and the smoke is more toxic."

As a result, firefighters have a higher risk of cancer, due to exposure to such toxins.

2.Smoke is a more common killer.

Bonnar recalled a recent smoky blaze in Mokena that occurred inside a 320,000-square-foot warehouse. The sprinkler system went off and did it's job but, he said, even in that big building with the lights on, firefighters couldn't see a thing.

"Everything was white  cold smoke. If you took your mask off, it would kill you. It was like standing in the corner of a room with your nose against a white wall. That's all you could see. It was a maze. If you weren't on a hose line or a rope going in there, you could get lost and they wouldn't find you for a couple of days."

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Now, Bonnar said, "We use Thermal Imaging Cameras (TIC) which allow us to see things through the smoke that we weren't able to see before."

The technology, he said, is great, but expensive. "Those cameras are about $3,000-$4,000 a piece. So they're not something you could outfit everybody with. Here, we have one for the officers, one for the firefighters."

3.Firefighters tend to their own houses.

In addition to learning lifesaving, rescuing and firefighting techniques, many department candidates have to learn how to mop floors, do laundry and clean bathrooms. "One thing I've noticed over the years is that some candidates coming in have never used a lawn mower or a weed wacker. Maybe they lived in an apartment or a condo. Some we have to teach the proper way to clean a bathroom."

Because the fire house is self-sufficient, he said, firefighters have to learn how to maintain everything.

4.Don't burn the place down.

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About 75 percent of firefighters are good cooks, Bonnar said. "Some specialize in Italian cuisine, or they cook venison. Some you don't want getting near the kitchen."

Sometimes, what's cooking in the kitchen is the kitchen itself. Because they are trained to drop everything and run when a call comes in, firefighter/chefs have been known to forget to turn off the burners. About 10 years ago, Roberts Park Fire Department rushed to a call, leaving the burners in its firehouse kitchen on. A fire broke out and seriously damaged the kitchen.

That led to the development of a smoke alarm outfitted with a shut-off valve. Now, when the alarm is sounded, it automatically cuts off the gas to the stove in the kitchen, Bonnar said.

"The other day it panned out here," Bonnar said. "The guys were cooking and got a call about a cardiac arrest. Again we ran out of here. They forgot to turn off a pan of oil. It started to smoke, set off the alarm and (the new device) automatically shut the gas off. It prevented damage to the station. We're taking our own advice. How do you explain to taxpayers that we burned down the firehouse?"

5.Common calls.

In addition to cooking mishaps, Bonnar said, common sources for house fires include clothes dryers, candles and, this year, bathroom fans.

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6.Unusual calls.

Bonnar said firefighters today train constantly for medical emergencies, trench and water rescues, bariatric equipment usage, pet assists and hazardous materials situations. The state and the district have their own minimum training requirements for both firefighting and paramedic calls.

Most of the calls Orland Park firefighters go out on are EMS (emergency medical service) calls, Bonnar said.

Mostly, they train to expect the unexpected, because it often comes their way.

He remembers years ago when firefighters were called to aid a man who had been stabbed 44 times. "And the guy who stabbed him was in the garage, talking to the lieutenant."

More recently, firefighters found a guy "just walking around the station and administration building, going through files and stuff." Now all of interior doors are kept locked, he said.

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Bonnar was on duty years ago when a hot air balloon went down in a field near 108th Street, and, before that, when a plane landed south of 151st Street, near 88th Avenue. He was also working in December 2014 when a man fell into a sewer while walking along Harlem Avenue.

"The guy had a flip phone in his pocket," he said. "He was 12 or 12 feet down, and he was able to get a signal and talk to our dispatcher. Amazing."

The rescue crew blanketed Harlem from 143rd to 151st to first find the man, who'd suffered a broken leg, and then go into the hole to apply straps so they could pull him out.

"That was a Christmas miracle," he said.

7. Best and worst of it.

"I've delivered a couple of babies; saved a couple of people I didn't think would make it," Bonnar said.

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They've also rescued animals, including a family of ducklings that just recently tumbled into a sewer behind the fire administration building.

But Bonnar has also been on some tough calls  a baby who died of massive injuries, a 13-year-old girl who was killed in a snowmobile accident and the death of a teenager near his home on the west side of the village.

"The neighborhood kids all had quads or motorcycles. They would always come to my house, gather and go up in the trails, off Will-Cook Road. I would always check for helmets, etc."

Two of Bonnar's sons were in the group.

"They had just left when one kid comes flying back, yelling, 'Mr. Bonnar, Mr. Bonnar, there's a really bad crash,'" he recalled.

"I jumped on my quad and went out there. Sure enough, some idiot ... doing 65 mph around a blind corner, hit one of the 13-year-olds on a motorcycle and killed him. ... That hit close to home. When you see that, it's bad."

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Afterward, Bonnar said, the friends gathered around a bonfire at his house, to decompress, to talk it out.

Bonnar said training helps firefighters disconnect from their emotions so they can do their job.

"You don't personalize. Because if you do, it'll tear you up in the long run. It'll kill you before your years."

8.Firefighters never walk into a fire.

They run, wearing 60-plus pounds of gear, at full speed, without warming up. Sometimes they have to rescue people, some of whom can be quite heavy.

It's a team effort, Bonnar said. "That old image of a firefighter throwing someone over their shoulders is not exactly accurate."

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Orland Park is one of the few departments that has bariatric rescue equipment.

As much as a cold January day can be difficult, what is far more challenging, Bonnar said, is the hot August day.

"It's extreme stress on your body," he said.

The University of Illinois conducted some studies recently about that stress, concluding that it can take up to 48 hours for a firefighter's blood to thin out back to normal following an incident.

"That's why you can have an extreme fire at 4 a.m., a guy works it for two hours, goes home and has a heart attack," he said.

9.The Brotherhood.

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Whenever a firefighter is killed, hundreds, if not thousands, of his comrades turn out for the services. It is something that is unique to the rescue profession.

"Because we all see each other at continuing ed classes. We all have worked at different stations, in different departments. You get to know people all over," Bonnar said.

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"We got to know guys from New York who came here to teach us about building collapses. Unfortunately, two of those guys died in 9/11," he said.

"Everybody's kind of tied in. I'm real good friends with the chief of Effingham, Illinois because he started out as a fireman in Mokena. I worked with the chief of Lisle when I was in Evergreen (Park). It's almost like a network."

10.Why this career?

"It goes back to youth. Kids say, 'I want to be a firefighter when I grow up,' and we say, 'Sorry, kid, you can't do both,'" he joked.

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Bonnar said, "I was a C-student coming out of high school, but an honor roll student in college because this is what I wanted to do. You gotta be a little off-center to be a firefighter, because of the things you see. You have to be able to create a balance. It's a teeter-totter. But if you love it, it's a great job."

dvickroy@tribpub.com

@dvickroy
Carrie Benito, 45, of Mundelein, is a teacher at Deerfield High School. She has been accused of misdemeanor battery related to an incident that allegedly occurred at Deerfield High School. (Deerfield Police Department)

Authorities say a Deerfield High School Spanish teacher has been charged with misdemeanor battery after she allegedly placed her hands around the neck of a student during a class discussion.

Carrie Benito was charged Dec. 18, according to Lake County court records, after police said one of her students filed a complaint with police. A release from the Deerfield Police Department said the incident in question took place on Nov. 18.

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Deputy Police Chief Thomas Keane said in the press release that Lake County State's Attorney's Office approved an arrest warrant for misdemeanor battery.

Benito, 45, of Mundelein, is scheduled to appear in Lake County Circuit Court Jan. 15 on the battery charge.

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The incident took place after students returned from a school security drill of school lockdown procedures, during a class discussion of what students would do if a shooter came into the classroom, according to the student's mother.

The boy's mother, Jennifer Segal, said that during the discussion, her son offered his idea of throwing objects to distract the shooter. Segal said Benito became angry and placed her hands around her son's throat.

Benito, who said she has taught at Deerfield High School for the past 23 years, said Thursday the student who filed the complaint was repeatedly disrupting the class by blurting out comments without being called upon.

"As an adult, in a light-hearted, playful manner, I placed my hands on his neck and told him that he was driving me crazy," Benito said. "Anyone that knows me knows that I am an enthusiastic teacher that often uses humor as a technique."

She said the boy was not hurt "in any way" and said "it has never been contended, nor could it be, that he sustained any physical injuries."

Segal said her son told her his behavior was no different than that of other students participating in the discussion.

"People were not raising their hands," Segal said her son told her. "They were just throwing out ideas and one student even stood up and lifted his desk over his head and said he would throw it at an intruder."

Segal said her son came home upset the day of the incident and she e-mailed a school dean, who told her to contact the chair of the world languages department and the principal. She said the family was contacted that weekend by the Department of Children and Family Services after the school notified the agency, as required by state law.

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Segal said they initially had decided not to file a police report, believing the teacher would be removed from the classroom. But, she said they decided to file the complaint when it appeared the school was not taking action.

Officials in Township High School District 113 say they could not comment on personnel matters.

"Student safety is a top priority for District 113 and we take all such incidents very seriously," said district spokesperson Jennifer Waldorf in an email. "The incident was investigated and corrective/preventative action has been taken. Given that this is a personnel matter, we cannot comment further."

The student, a junior, was reassigned to another Spanish teacher. Segal said the only class that worked with her son's schedule was an Honors section that is not appropriate for him. Segal said he's planning to drop Spanish for second semester.

"It is not right it happened this way," Segal said. "He should have been able to continue this class. It has left such a negative feeling, he just wants to move on from it."

Benito said she was shocked to learn she was being charged with a crime and said the experience has been "a humiliating nightmare" for herself and her family.

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"I fully expect to be vindicated when the court hears the facts and circumstances of the incident," Benito said.

kberkowitz@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @KarenABerkowitz
The last chapter of the sign saga at Downers Grove South High School appears to be in sight.

The school has gone without a sign since 2011 when the previous one was damaged by a tornado. The board of Downers Grove Community High School District 99 recently viewed two proposed designs for a new sign. It is estimated that one sign would cost about $52,000 and the other $78,000.

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The board's preference is for the $78,000 sign. But they also want to see how much of the cost will be covered by insurance before making a final decision.

The sign would be about 60 square feet in size and would sit at the corner of 63rd Street and Dunham Road. It would have a three-dimensional mustang, which is the school's mascot, and decorative brick columns. The sign would be illuminated from within by LED lights and would have space for six lines of text to make announcements or provide information to the community. The text would have to be changed manually.

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The school district's road to getting a new sign has been long and rocky. Starting in 2013, it sought approval from the village to install digital signs at Downers Grove South and Downers Grove North high schools. The request was turned down after some officials expressed concerns that allowing the school district to have digital signs would open the village up to other similar requests.

The district then sought and received a change in the schools' zoning from residential to institutional. Officials hoped the change also would ease the way for digital signs by allowing the village to consider the sign proposal in the context of an institution. The zoning was changed in 2015, but digital signs still were not endorsed by the village.

The school district will seek bids for the sign, and it will have to be approved by the village. Operations director Jim Kolodziej said he hopes the sign will be installed in the spring or summer and will be in place for the start of school in August.

Depending on how much insurance will pay for the cost of the sign, Kolodziej said the district has about $25,000 to $30,000 in its capital fund to help pay for it.

At a recent board meeting, Terry Pavesich, board vice president, said even if the district has the money available, he doesn't like the idea of using capital funds.

"I have a hard time spending $26,000 on an upgraded sign. That's money that could go elsewhere," he said.

Kolodziej said the district applied for payment from its insurance company shortly after the tornado, but the company did not want to pay out until the sign is replaced.

He added that one advantage of this design is that it could be made electronic if the district ever gets approval from the village for that type of sign. The base would stay in place, but the sign could be replaced.

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Jill Browning, a district spokesperson, said previously that the district wants electronic signs because they can display information that can be quickly changed.

School board members said they are relieved to be finally coming to the end of the sign discussion.

"We're all tired of talking about this," said board member Mike Davenport. "How could something as simple as a sign be so complicated?"

amannion@tribpub.com
The Lemon Tree Grocer in downtown Downers Grove has closed to overhaul its concept and devote more space to the restaurant/cafe. (Annemarie Mannion / Chicago Tribune)

A beleaguered cafe and grocery store in downtown Downers Grove has temporarily closed and is revising its concept despite an appearance on a national television show last year.

Lemon Tree Grocer, which was featured on a 2015 episode of "Restaurant Impossible," also is asking the village to waive its right to seek repayment of $25,000 the business received in sales tax rebates.

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Shaun Black, co-owner of Lemon Tree, at 935 Burlington Ave., said the business is closed and plans to renovate and reopen with more space devoted to the cafe/restaurant and less to the grocery store.

"It (the store) would be much more compact. It would be a grab-and-go concept," Black said.

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The sales tax that was rebated to the business came entirely from the grocery portion of the business. Termination of the agreement, which was approved in 2012, allows the village the right to "claw back" some of the sales tax paid to the business. It is estimated that the Lemon Tree Grocer generated almost $65,000 in sales tax to the village since the inception of the agreement.

In a letter to the village, Black outlined projections for how he expects the business to perform in 2016 once the change of concept is completed. Black estimates that the revamped, smaller grocery store would generate $707,000 a year in grocery sales. Sales at the cafe, which is called Zest Bistro, would bring in about $2.3 million.

Black said he and his partners are hopeful that a new concept will be successful. He said a poor economy and new competitors, such as Caputo's, Fresh Thyme and Standard Market in Westmont, also affected it.

"Obviously, we need to find our niche," Black said. "We've struggled with that. We care about this community, and we want to make it work."

Council member William White said he also wants to see the Lemon Tree succeed. As long as a grocery store remains on the premises, he is proposing that the village would, for every dollar in sales tax generated from the grocery, forgive one dollar of the $25,000 owed to the village.

"I don't want to give up on a downtown grocery," White said.

Mayor Martin Tully said he might support forgiving the amount owed, but does not want to fashion any agreement until the Lemon Tree reopens. Owners plan to reopen it in spring.

Council member William Waldack said he cannot support waiving the return of $25,000 in sales tax.

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Waldack said the business never met the residents' needs for a downtown grocery. He said residents wanted a "plain" downtown grocery store, but the Lemon Tree, which is more a specialty grocery store, didn't fit the bill.

"After it opened, people said 'When are we going to get a grocery store and don't say 'Lemon Tree,'" Waldack said. "That's the typical response."

He said it would be unfair to other businesses to forgive the $25,000 and would set a bad precedent particularly "at a time when sales taxes are down and we're raising property taxes -- we're giving away over $25,000," Waldack said.

When the Lemon Tree was featured on "Restaurant Impossible" in 2015, Waldack said the business embarrassed the village.

The show features celebrity chef Robert Irvine advising struggling restaurants about how to renovate and revive their businesses. The hook is that he has only two days and a budget of $10,000.

"They publicly embarrassed the village on national TV and now they want the village to subsidize them," Waldack said. "No matter how much lipstick you put on this  this is just plain wrong, wrong, wrong, and I can't support it."

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Tully said forgiving the sales taxes would not set a precedent and that the situation with the Lemon Tree is unique. He said the village, not the business, initiated the rebate agreement because it wanted a downtown grocery.

Black said the success of the business has been affected by various factors, including plumbing and outdoor storage. During the remodeling of the business, he said these issues will be addressed.

Resident Marge Earl said at a Jan. 5 meeting that she often has eaten at the Zest Bistro, and the food is delicious but said the restaurant is poorly run.

"I'd rather just see us cut loose and take the loss," she said. "I'd want to open this space to someone who can actually run a restaurant."

Resident Christine Ferris spoke in favor of the Lemon Tree, because they have helped her in numerous charity efforts and because her experiences dealing with the business have been good.

"This isn't 1950 where we have this little grocery store that's mom and pop. That's not what we need in this town," she said. "We need a flourishing great place where friends can gather, charities can gather, book clubs can gather. They've got a beautiful patio. Great food. I've had wonderful service there."

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Both Black and village officials said they need to further discuss the sales tax agreement and whether it might be waived in the future.

amannion@tribpub.com
Serving and protecting

Zion police did their job. The Zion Police Department shot and killed someone who acted very conspicuous taking photos of a school that was in session, in broad daylight while wearing what appeared to be body armor, carrying what appeared to be a very convincing weapon. Knowing what we know about the Colorado theater shooting and recent terrorist attack in San Bernardino, things move rather fast when officers respond to a call, and innocent lives can be at risk by waiting. It is unfortunate, but if that man just stopped where he was and answered the question "What are you doing here?" his life may have been spared. Don't criticize those who serve and protect for doing their job. Now is not the time to justify irrational or suspicious behavior because you don't like law enforcement.

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Can't deal with criticism

So now Waukegan Mayor Wayne Motley has ruled that public comments at City Council meetings will have strict content requirements and rigid time limits. Also, such public comments will only be allowed at the very end of often long City Council meetings to even further discourage public comment. And then the City Council rubber stamps his decree from on high. Sounds like the real problem here is that Mayor Motley is unable to deal with citizen criticism and still successfully chair a public meeting. It's his way or the highway. Well, it is high time Waukegan citizens show him that "We, the People" are the rulers here and then show him both the door and the highway.

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Need criminal control

More measures on gun control. Not one word about criminal control. Juveniles caught breaking the law with a gun are treated with kid gloves. Gang members know this so they use juveniles to commit crimes using guns, including murder. Prosecution using federal gun laws is down. When sentenced using state laws the criminal is sent to a state prison that is run by fellow gang members already there. The laws to control gun crimes are on the books  it is past time for the courts to start using them.

Think long-term for lakefront

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the vision for the Waukegan lakefront was for open green space, perhaps a festival park with outdoor concerts? But no, there is construction money to be made on structures that will remain mostly vacant. Think long-term people.

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Lack of compassion

Anyone believing that the tears of our President for the lost lives of precious children is laughable and/or dismissive, needs to visit their psychologist. Your lack of compassion and respect is deplorable.

Shovel sidewalks

I'm wondering why it is that in Winthrop Harbor many people do not think it's necessary to shovel their sidewalks. It causes people who are walking to veer out into the street, and, thereby put themselves in more risk of being hit by a car. After all, that's what sidewalks are for...to avoid exactly that. So, come on Winthrop Harbor residents, get with it. And, as an incentive, don't forget it's illegal to leave them unshoveled and a fine might take place. Also, if a neighbor is having his/her snow piled up high on the sidewalk so that you can't shovel through it then report them.

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Twitter @newssun

Editor's note:

Talk of the County is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-4554 or email talkofthecounty@tribpub.com. For a continuously updating blog of Talk of the County comments, visit newssunonline.com/talk.
A woman who blamed her erratic driving on an unfaithful boyfriend has been sentenced to 60 days in DuPage County jail, after being convicted of driving drunk nearly two years ago near downtown Naperville.

Alexandra J. Davit, would go on to be arrested six weeks later for DUI after being found asleep at the wheel of her car in Lisle, according to DuPage County Circuit Court records.

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Davit, 26, of the 1900 block of Hillside Lane in Lisle, pleaded guilty last year to charges of driving under the influence of alcohol in both cases, court records showed.

Naperville police arrested Davit at about 2:15 a.m. April 20, 2014, after a patrol officer saw her driving her 2011 Honda Civic east on Chicago Avenue from Washington Street, a police report said. The car at one point crossed the double yellow line in the roadway, according to the report.

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The officer stopped Davit as she drove south on Brainard Street in the opposite lane of traffic approaching Highland Avenue. Davit also ran a stop sign at that intersection, the report said.

Despite having "bloodshot, glassy eyes and a flushed face" when stopped, Davit denied that she had been drinking or using narcotics, the report stated. "Davit claimed that her poor driving was due to her being upset after finding a cheating boyfriend," the officer wrote in the report.

Davit's blood-alcohol content at the time proved to be .173, or more than twice the legal limit under Illinois law, according to the report. Police also found a small amount of marijuana and a blue glass smoking pipe in her car.

Lisle police arrested Davit at 6 a.m. June 7, 2014, after finding her asleep at the wheel of her running vehicle, court records showed. Those records did not include the location of Davit's arrest.

Davit also was stopped in June 2011 in Naperville on suspicion of inebriated driving, according to court records. She pleaded guilty on Aug. 23 of that year to a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana and was ordered to perform community service work and placed on court supervision, court records said.

Associate Judge James J. Konetski on Tuesday sentenced Davit to jail in the Naperville DUI case. Davit will begin serving that term on July 5, records showed.

Konetski also placed Davit on two years of probation and ordered her to enroll in the county's DUI school and pay fines and court costs in both the Naperville and Lisle DUI cases, records indicated.

Davit's attorney, Harry Smith, on Thursday praised the outcome of the case, saying Davit had learned from her mistakes.

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"Alex (Davit) went through a very difficult period in her life, and this judge gave her the chance to show that she could turn it around, and she did," Smith said.

Davit "went a year without any (further driving) infraction, got counseling, and has been maintaining two jobs," Smith said. "This was a very favorable outcome for her, so it's kind of a success story, in that sense."

A message left Wednesday afternoon at a telephone number provided for Davit was not immediately returned

wbird@tribpub.com
Reward offered for Nativity scene thefts in Griffith

Griffith police announced Thursday a $500 reward is being offered for new information leading to the arrest and conviction of individuals responsible for the thefts of two baby Jesus statues from outdoor Nativity scenes.

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The thefts were reported Wednesday from a Nativity scene at St. Mary Catholic Church in the 500 block of North Broad Street and the Franklin Center in the 200 block of North Broad Street. Both thefts are believed to have taken place between Monday and Wednesday, Griffith police Cmdr. Keith Martin said in a news release.

Both statues have been replaced through personal donations of an anonymous citizen and by Griffith police Sgt. Marlene Starcevich. Police are pursuing leads in the investigation.

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Anyone with information on the thefts may contact Griffith police Detective Kevin Strbjak at 219-942-7503, ext. 252, or the Griffith police anonymous tip line at 219-922-3085.

Woman who sent drugs to son in jail sentenced

The mother of a man serving a 45-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter was sentenced Thursday to two years for dealing in a controlled substance.

Dawn Blaskovich apologized for her actions and said she did something very stupid. "I was just under a lot of stress with what was going on with my son," she said.

In court records, Blaskovich, 50, of Hammond admitted that she mailed letters to her son, Markus Sonny Blaskovich, who was incarcerated at the Lake County Jail, which contained Suboxone, a schedule III controlled substance. Between July 1, 2014, and Sept. 30, 2014, Lake County Correction officers intercepted a letter from Markus Blaskovich to his mother that indicated he sold the Suboxone she had sent through the mail and made $100 and would receive other inmates' breakfast trays until Oct. 17, 2014.

Dawn Blaskovich's plea outlined a sentence of one year in Lake County Community Corrections, with the first month spent in work release and the remainder in day reporting. She must complete eight hours of community service each month, for a total of 96 hours, during the one year she is on probation.

Lake Superior Court Judge Salvador Vasquez told Blaskovich that if she successfully completes probation, she can ask him to reduce her felony conviction to a misdemeanor.

The judge rejected Dawn Blaskovich's original plea agreement submitted in July, which called for one year on probation after pleading guilty to the dealing charge.

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A second charge of trafficking with an inmate, a Level 5 felony punishable by one to six years, was dismissed.

Markus Blaskovich was sentenced in March 2015 to 45 years in the shooting death of David Alexander Homola, 22. Markus Blaskovich admitted he was overcome with emotion when he learned that his girlfriend was with Homola at a Hammond residence and that he shot Homola numerous times.

Cal Township man sentenced for cocaine possession

Lonnie A. Knight was still wearing the hospital band from the birth of his baby hours earlier when he was sentenced on Thursday to five years for possession in cocaine.

"I just came from St. Anthony's (Medical Center in Crown Point). I went home, took a shower and came here," Knight told Lake Superior Court Judge Salvador Vasquez.

Knight, 39, of Calumet Township, told the judge he made a "very bad decision" and used poor judgment that resulted in him being charged with dealing in cocaine last year. "Basically, I was trying to make money," Knight said.

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Defense attorney Steve Mullins said his client has no prior criminal history. Not only does Knight have a newborn, Mullins said, but his client took custody of his other children while his case was pending. Knight has been working steadily and told the judge he needs to be there for his children.

In court in November, Knight admitted he had about 7 grams of cocaine in his possession on May 10, 2013, when he was in the 1500 block of U.S. 41 in Schererville.

Knight will serve two years in Lake County Community Corrections' day-reporting program, and the remaining three years will be suspended and served on probation.

Gary woman gets five years for defrauding bank

Kenya Hutchins told the judge she'd changed, but apparently he saw it differently.

"You fled to Minnesota. Your uncle made it sound like you went to Minnesota to get treatment. You could have gotten treatment around here," Lake Superior Court Judge Samuel Cappas said Thursay.

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Charged in November 2011, Hutchins used a bail bond company to get released from jail. She missed a court appearance in a fraud-on-financial-institution case on May 30, 2012, and was arrested in Minnesota in April 2014.

Her uncle, Basel Whitby, said his niece fell in with the wrong crowd and started using drugs in the 2000s. "Kenya started realizing her life was spiraling out of control," he said. Whitby said Hutchins went to Minnesota for drug treatment and sent for her child. There, he said, "she had an epiphany. She started getting on the right track."

Hutchins, 36, of Gary, who has four prior felony convictions, admitted in court in November that between Nov. 8, 2011, and Nov. 9, 2011, she was part of a scheme to obtain money from Chase Bank in Gary after information on a check belonging to a couple staying at a local motel was used.

Defense attorney Nicholas Barnes said his client was the "middlewoman" in the case that involved other individuals. He said Hutchins did not take the information or present it directly to the bank but was present during the commission of the crime at the bank.

Barnes said Hutchins has a child with special needs who would suffer if she received a long prison sentence. Her child "is ultimately what has kept her strong and kept her sober," he said. Barnes also cited Hutchins' serious health issues, including glaucoma and high blood pressure. She suffered a stroke a couple years ago and also has anxiety and depression. Barnes said Hutchins has bettered herself since 2012 and has two job opportunities waiting for her.

"People do change. I have changed tremendously," Hutchins said.

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Cappas said Hutchins fled the court's jurisdiction while her case was pending, had been expelled from an alternative sentencing program and failed probation in earlier cases.

"I know the next time you are going to throw the book at me," she said.

"This is the next time," Cappas replied.

"I just want another chance," Hutchins said.

"What, a fifth chance?" Cappas said.

Cappas imposed a five-year sentence in the Indiana Department of Correction, with the last two years served in Lake County Community Corrections. Hutchins' plea agreement outlined a maximum six-year sentence. A habitual offender sentencing enhancement was dismissed.

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Gary man on parole charged with battery

A Gary man on parole for sexual misconduct with a minor has been charged in Lake Superior Court with aggravated battery and battery resulting in serious bodily injury.

Christopher Ray McFulson, 44, is charged in an alleged attack on his ex-girlfriend on Dec. 4. The woman said Washington called and asked to come to her home in the 1300 block of Washington Street in Gary to retrieve a pair of his pants. She went to her second-floor balcony and tossed them to McFulson, who was waiting outside. He started to walk away but then called her. The woman said she told McFulson she was ending their relationship, court records state. McFulson became angry and started yelling at her, telling her that she would always be his and that he would kill her, the probable cause affidavit states. The woman said when she had previously tried to end their relationship, McFulson had beaten and choked her, records state.

The woman said Mcfulson told her to talk with him downstairs, and she agreed to do so but took a small kitchen knife with her for protection, records state. Once outside, they began to argue, and McFulson struck her on the left side of her face, which caused her to fall, records state. As she was falling, she swung the knife at him but was unsure if she had actually stabbed him, records state. McFulson then ran away.

Two days later, the woman went to Methodist Hospitals Northlake campus in Gary because her eye was swollen shut. She was diagnosed with a broken nose and facial fracture near her eye. She was transferred to a Chicago hospital, where she was told she needed surgery and there was a possibility she would not regain vision in one eye.

The woman said she delayed reporting the incident until Dec. 22 because she was afraid she would go to jail if she had stabbed McFulson. Family members urged her to speak with police, records state.

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McFulson was sentenced to 10 years in the Indiana Department of Correction in May 2011. He is on parole until June 2018, according to the Indiana DOC offender locator website.

 Ruth Ann Krause
Lake Station police Sgt. Bill Taylor looks as burly and intimidating as any cop can, but he quickly looked ambushed when talking about his deceased father.

Bill Taylor Sr. died of cancer last April, without ever knowing his son was fired from the police department in October 2014. The family kept the news away from him throughout his treatment, last days and death.

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"It would have crushed him," Taylor said, wiping away disobedient emotions.

Lake Station Police Sgt. Bill Taylor is back on the force after 14 months away. (Post-Tribune / Provided by Taylor family)

While Taylor was off the force for 14 months, he patched together a living by working a dozen different jobs, a few of them in Illinois. They pulled him away from Lake Station and his usual daily orbit with his family and parents.

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"Up until my father's death, I think he thought I was a burden to him because I couldn't always make it there for him," Taylor said, again tearing up at the memory. "I couldn't even afford to buy flowers for his funeral. My brother had to do it for me. That tore me up. It was probably the worst part of all this."

The last time I contacted Taylor, in October 2014, he wasn't allowed to talk to me due to pending litigation with the city. It stemmed from his firing over accusations that he did not seek medical treatment for 19-year-old Walter Evans, who was jailed in the city jail in May 2010.

An hour after Taylor interacted with Evans, he was found unconscious in his cell, court documents said. Three days later he died. The city and the Evans family settled a civil lawsuit in 2012. But, two years later, the city's Board of Public Works ruled to fire Taylor, citing violations of police department rules and regulations regarding Evans' death.

For Taylor, a veteran officer who was born and raised in Lake Station, his firing felt like a sucker punch to the gut. While against the ropes, he also was going through a divorce, worrying about raising his two teenage daughters, and dealing with his father's final days.

"I was miserable. I was a wreck," he recalled.

More than 14 months later  on the day he began his 24th year on the force  I finally sat down with Taylor. He sported his old uniform but a new appreciation for the job.

"I knew I'd be back someday, but I went through hell to get here," said Taylor, 47. "If there was a silver lining, it was finding out who my true friends were."

Lake Station Police Sgt. Bill Taylor was given back his badge No. 55 after 14 months without it, after he was fired. (Post-Tribune / Provided by Taylor family)

Just hours after he was fired, Taylor heard a knock on his front door. It was a fellow cop, lending an ear, a handshake and a case of beer. A few minutes later, another cop showed up. Then another, and another.

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"I learned firsthand that even when you're not an official part of the brotherhood, you're still a part of it," Taylor said. "Even the Fraternal Order of Police sent flowers to my father's funeral. They didn't have to do that."

For months as his court appeal slowly crawled through the justice system, Taylor flipped back and forth from mad to sad.

"During the day I'd be angry at what happened, then I'd wake up at two in the morning and cry like a baby," he said.

He worked odd jobs to piece together enough paychecks to pay the bills. Private security work, a trucking job, and patrol work for the New Chicago police department.

"I owe them the world for standing behind me during this whole ordeal and keeping my police credentials current," Taylor said. "At one point, my average workday was 19 hours a day, six days a week with all my jobs."

In the meantime, Lake Station residents came out in force with a massive rally to support him and denounce his firing.

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"It was overwhelming," Taylor recalled.

He was asked to speak to his supporters, but the words got stuck in his throat. All he could say was thank you. He's been saying thank you ever since.

"Thanks, sir," he told another resident who interrupted our conversation at Ruben's hot dog joint on U.S. 51. "I'm glad to be back."

We also got interrupted by a couple of dispatch calls, blaring out his badge number, 55. Taylor could only smile at his renewed stature in the city he loves.

"It feels so good to be back," he beamed.

Protesters last year rallied behind Lake Station Police Sgt. Bill Taylor after his firing by the city in October 2014. (Post-Tribune / Provided by Taylor family)

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On July 31, 2015, Lake Superior Court Judge John Sedia ordered Lake Station to reinstate Taylor, citing in his ruling that the city's Board of Public Works and Safety did not have jurisdiction for his termination. He also ordered the city to reinstate Taylor with back pay retroactive to October 2014, along with keeping his same rank and pay grade before his firing.

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Taylor expected the city to appeal the ruling, in effect freezing his back pay. But, on Oct. 2, the city's appeal was formally dismissed, according to court documents.

Taylor said he received his back pay in one lump sum, but Uncle Sam took a larger part of it then he would have earned through regular paychecks. He's not complaining. He also earned back his compensatory and vacation time, though it's unlikely he'll use it any time soon.

"I feel like a rookie again and I love it," he told me while getting into his new take-home vehicle. "Getting fired taught me to be a better father, a better son and a better police officer."

Welcome back, 55.

jdavich@post-trib.com

Twitter @jdavich
Op/ed by Daniel R. Joseph

More than 400 million Chinese people moved from farms to the cities in the three decades ending in 2010. By 2010, roughly 400 million Chinese had also connected to the Internet. Among developed countries, those two major societal developmentsurbanization and digitalizationwere separated by at least 100 years. In China, they are happening almost simultaneously.

China is changing. Not as quickly as some people think, but more quickly than most could have imagined. The example above is one of my favorites because it is so dramatic. But there are no shortages of other exampleslike the skylines of most major cities. Or the way in which cars now seem to outnumber bikes. Or how China was a completely closed society 35 years ago and now, every year, more than 100 million Chinese travel abroad and more than 100 million foreigners visit China.

Of course, all of this change is primarily a result of Chinas 30+ years of exceptional economic growth. You certainly dont need me to tell you that China is growing. The point Im trying to make is a bit more subtle and often overlooked. The change that we see on the surface, the change that is related to an increase in material prosperity, is a result of changes that are occurring below the surface in China.

There are differences in Chinas local conditions, primarily its economic structure, business environment, and culture, that make China challenging to foreign companies. It is changes in these same variables that are driving the change in material prosperity in China. These variables are changing because of Chinas transition from communism to capitalism which, in the end, will fundamentally transform the lives of the Chinese people and the entire fabric of Chinese society.

RELATED: Business Advisory Services from Dezan Shira & Associates

Change has created prosperity for China and opportunity for business. But change also creates confusion. More specifically, change makes China harder to understand because change makes China a moving target. You have to make sure you understand China as it is now, not as it was, and your understanding of China should probably anticipate how it will be in the not-too-distant future.

Adding to the confusion is the fact China is changing unevenly across sectors, regions, and many other aspects of the economy and society. In other words, some aspects of China are changing faster than others which means if youre in one sector/region of China (for example, energy or Western China) it will have a very different feel than another sector/region (business services or Eastern China). The example below helps illustrate why this is important.

I was talking to the CFO of a middle market American company, along with one of their key employees from China. They were having problems with their Chinese partner in a joint venture they had formed a few years earlier. The JV was not performing well. They had cycled through multiple general managers and were now having trouble agreeing on a new one. The Chinese side seemed to have very different criterion for what a good GM would do. Our discussion eventually got to the point where the Chinese staffer made the comment that the partners were old-style Chinese. I thought I knew what she meant, but I asked her to elaborate nonetheless. Everything for them is guanxi (personal relationships) and low cost. Thats how they do business. Thats all that is important to them. They arent interested in technology or anything like that.

I love this story because it illustrates the concept of Old China vs. New China. Parts of China are very Old China, parts are very New China, and most everything is somewhere in-between. Whether you are formulating a strategy for China, selecting a partner, managing staff, or doing almost anything else a business does, it is important that you understand exactly where along the Old China  New China spectrum you are operating. This applies to economic sectors, markets, suppliers, customers, agents, managers, staffers, and just about everything else that relates to business. The company in my example didnt realize it was partnering with Old China. Its a shame they didnt hire that Chinese woman before they formed the joint venture.

RELATED: Is China Getting More Difficult? Common Problems that Foreign Companies will Encounter

Understanding Old China vs. New China is critical to managing well in China. In closing, it is also worth noting that change also plays a huge role in the controversies and debates that are constantly swirling around China. Relative to so many issues, whether a person has a favorable or unfavorable view of China often comes down to how much emphasis they place on how China is changing. The China haters or doubters tend to focus almost exclusively on Old China while the other side will focus on New China, or at least how China is progressing towards New China. As long as China keeps changing, which will only happen if that transition from communism to capitalism continues, then the China optimists will be right. If not, the doubters will win the day.



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 china@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. 

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In this issue of China Briefing magazine, we explore the options that are available to foreign firms looking to restructure or close their operations in China. We begin with an overview of what restructuring an unprofitable business in China might entail, and then take an in-depth look at the way in which a foreign company can go about the restructuring process. Finally, we highlight some of the key HR concerns associated with restructuring a China business.

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Doing Business in China 2015 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in China. Compiled by the professionals at Dezan Shira & Associates, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Chinese market, but also for companies that already have a presence here and want to keep up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes.
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Saudi Arabia said Thursday it will investigate Tehran's allegations of an Saudi air bombing on Iran's embassy in Yemen, Al Arabiya news reported.

A Yemeni supporter of Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels holds a poster bearing portraits of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration on January 7, 2016 outside the Saudi embassy in the capital Sanaa against al-Nimr's execution by Saudi authorities in Saudi Arabia last week. [Photo/Xinhua]

Iran accused the strike of injuring a number of embassy guards and damaging the building in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Wednesday night.

Saudi Brigadier Gen. Ahmed Asiri, spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition fighting against Houthi rebels in Yemen, said the coalition had carried out excessive attacks in Sanaa against rocket launchers that the Houthis used against Saudi Arabia.

He said that Houthi militias used civilian establishments, including deserted embassies, adding that the coalition had asked all countries to provide the locations of their diplomatic missions.

The spokesman asserted that the accusations based on Houthis are not credible.

Local witnesses in Sanaa said Thursday that the Iranian embassy appeared in good condition and had no signs of air bombing.

Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with Iran on Sunday after angry protesters in Shiite-dominated Iran stormed the Saudi embassy and consulate against the Saudi execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

A number of Arab states have either cut or downgraded the diplomatic ties with Tehran.
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Following revelations that numerous sexual assaults took place in Cologne, Germany over New Year's Eve, Austrian police in Salzburg on Thursday reported a number of similar incidents.

Police revealed that at least five incidents had occurred with perpetrators primarily of Syrian and Afghan origin, and that they believed the late nature of the reports was most likely due to victims feeling compelled to come forward as news of the events in Germany has circulated throughout the media.

The reports include a 22-year-old who on Monday claimed she was inappropriately touched during the New Year's celebrations by two men of foreign origin who were part of a larger group, with her cell phone also allegedly stolen during the incident, according to the Kronen Zeitung newspaper.

Another similar report was made via email on Wednesday, while also on Wednesday an Afghan national sexually molested a 28-year-old woman in a Salzburg bar, with doormen able to physically restrain him until police arrived.

Further incidents came to the attention of authorities on Thursday, including two separate sexual assaults of a 58-year-old and a 20-year-old woman in Salzburg over the New Year evening.

A police spokesperson said investigations are currently underway to determine whether the attacks were organized or whether there are connections between the individual perpetrators.

Police in the national capital of Vienna had initially stated there were no such incidents reported there, though on Thursday one report did come to light where three women who were together in a group reported inappropriate contact as well as theft while they were dancing, though a police spokesperson said such particular incidents are not entirely uncommon.

In response to the reports, interior minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said Thursday that police will pursue each individual case regardless of the background of the perpetrators with a "zero tolerance" approach.
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Condemning the "reprehensible" deadly terrorist attack on a security training centre Thursday in Libya's coastal city of Zliten, the top United Nations official in the country said the incident again shows the urgent need for all stakeholders to press ahead with forming a recently-agreed unity government.

In a statement, the Special Representative for Libya and head of the UN Support Mission there (UNSMIL), Martin Kobler, strongly condemned the deadly attack, which, according to media reports, left nearly 50 people dead and wounded many others this morning as police recruits gathered at the training centre in Zliten, a coastal town between the capital, Tripoli, and the port of Misrata.

"I am shocked at this reprehensible terrorist attack. I offer my sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wish those injured a speedy recovery," said Mr. Kobler, who emphasized that the "heinous act" once again shows that urgent progress is required towards the formation of the Government of National Accord and the activation and rebuilding of Libyan security forces.

He went on to say that the United Nations in consultation with the local health authorities is ensuring that the needed medical supplies are available.

The Special Representative urged Libyans to put their differences aside and unite to confront the scourge of terrorism. "This attack comes at a time when fighting is still going on at oil facilities in Sidra. Libya cannot afford to remain divided in the face of such serious terrorist threat," he underscored, referring to an attack just two days ago by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Sidra and Ras Lanouf oil terminals.

"Every wasted day in failure to implement the Libyan Political Agreement is a day of gain for Da'esh (an alternative name for ISIL)," Mr. Kobler said, adding that: "These oil resources are property of the Libyan people and future generations. Libyan parties must spare no effort to block any attempt by Daesh to finance its terrorist agenda through seizure of Libyan oil."

Later in the day, in a statement issued by a UN spokesperson, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the deadly terrorist attack that took place today near a police base in Zliten. He expressed his condolences to the many families of those who lost their lives or were injured and to the people of Libya.

The Secretary-General in his statement also condemned the ongoing attacks by Da'esh-affiliates on oil facilities near Sidra, in central Libya. He deplored the attempts by extremists to strip these natural resources from the Libyan people.

"These criminal acts serve as a strong reminder of the urgency to implement the Libyan Political Agreement and form a Government of National Accord. Unity is the best way for Libyans to confront terrorism in all its forms," said the statement, adding that Mr. Ban renewed his call on all political and security actors to create a conducive environment for the Government to assume its responsibilities.

In December Mr. Kobler facilitated the final stages of the Agreement to form a Government of National Accord with a Presidency Council, Cabinet, House of Representatives and State Council, in talks between the sides in Morocco 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.
A photo illustration shows a $100 banknote placed above Chinese 100 yuan banknotes in Beijing in this May 10, 2013 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

The continued depreciation of the yuan has prompted several Chinese companies to take active measures to cut their dollar-denominated debt.

On Thursday, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, surprised markets by setting the official midpoint rate on the yuan at 6.5646 per dollar, the lowest since March 2011. The move follows similar steps taken by the central bank on Tuesday.

Though the PBOC's China Foreign Exchange Trade System reiterated on Thursday that there was no basis for the yuan's continuous depreciation and that it was stable against a basket of currencies in 2015, the swings have left the markets perplexed.

With more currency deprecation expected in the next few months, companies that have piled up dollar debt in the past are looking to reduce their debt burdens at a time when the economy is slowing sharply.

Geoffrey Cheng, head of transportation and industrial research at BOCOM International Holdings Ltd, a research firm, said: "Reduction of dollar debt is the best option for Chinese companies to cut foreign exchange losses."

Some companies had taken similar measures during the yuan depreciation in 2015.

Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd, the Beijing-based equipment manufacturing giant, said that it had started reducing its foreign exchange loans from last year.

The company cut its forex loans from $3.72 billion at the beginning of 2015 to $2.15 billion by the end of October 2015, according to data provided by the company. "The adjustment of the forex loan structure will help reduce losses," it said.

China Eastern Airlines Co Ltd, one of the major carriers in China, said on Tuesday that it was repaying debts worth $1 billion as part of its ongoing efforts to cut dollar-denominated debt.

"In the short run, the airline will take more steps to further optimize its debt structure, so that its dollar debt ratio can attain reasonable levels," China Eastern said in a statement.

China Eastern's dollar-denominated interest-bearing liabilities accounted for 79.24 percent of its total interest-bearing liabilities in the first half of 2015, while the same was 81.14 percent by the end of 2014.

"The carrier plans to reduce the ratio of dollar-denominated liabilities to 50 percent or 60 percent by the end of this year," said a senior executive of China Eastern, who refused to be identified.

Hedging contracts for foreign currencies is another option that the carrier may consider for reducing forex risks, he said.

Almost all the domestic carriers are reeling from the recent yuan depreciation, as aircraft purchases are mostly conducted in dollars, which swells their dollar-denominated liabilities.

The financial expenses of China Southern Airlines, the largest carrier in Asia in terms of fleet size, increased by 142.52 percent in the third quarter of 2015, compared with the same period of 2014, due to forex losses.

The yuan swings have not spared the smaller carriers.

"Reducing dollar debt is the best option to avoid risks," said Zhang Wu'an, spokesman of Spring Airlines, China's first publicly listed carrier.

Unlike big carriers, Spring Airlines is not considering hedging of contracts, Zhang said.

"Our losses from currency swings is not as serious as the large carriers," he said.

Zhang Yugui, dean of the economics and finance school at Shanghai International Studies University, said: "Currency swings are a macroeconomic issue and something that can only be resolved at the macro level. There is very little that companies can do about it."

Lyu Chang contributed to the story.
A worker cuts steel bars on the production line of a mill in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. [Photo/China Daily]

Premier attends meeting aimed at finding solution for the iron, steel and coal industries

Efforts will be strengthened by the central government this year to reduce overproduction and overcapacity, according to Premier Li Keqiang.

It will also close small coal mines that fall short of safety requirements, Li said during his trip to Shanxi province, which began on Monday.

He was speaking in Taiyuan, the provincial capital, at a meeting aimed at finding viable solutions to overcapacity in the nation's iron, steel and coal industries. His two-day visit to Shanxi was his first trip of the year.

Governors from provinces rich in coal, iron and steel, as well as heads of leading companies in these industries, attended the meeting.

Li said stricter measures will be taken to control newly increased capacity and clear goals will be set to reduce overcapacity in the coming three years, while the nation needs to set limits on the maximum amount of production for the iron, coal and steel industries based on market demand.

Outdated overcapacity will be further closed, especially at iron and steel companies that do not meet production safety, energy consumption and environmental protection standards.

Li said that this year the government will close 13 types of outdated small coal mines, most of which are privately owned and produce coal by using low safety standards.

The premier said more financial support from the government will be used specifically to shut down overcapacity in the coal and mining industries and to relocate workers and support them in starting their own businesses.

He stressed that stricter supervision is needed by provincial governments to resolve overproduction and there should be no favorable policies, to guard against excess production.

Shi Yulong, a researcher at the Academy of Microeconomic Research under the National Development and Research Commission, welcomed the measures.

Root cause

"The root cause of the price decline for products such as iron, steel and coal is that there has not been sufficient market demand in recent years," he said.

"Some coal, iron and steel has long been produced by using comparatively low energy consumption standards. Problems with this were not seen when market demand was strong, but have become more apparent in recent years as market demand has fallen sharply."

He said overcapacity was caused by the rapid increase in large-scale production in the iron, steel and coal industries in previous years, with many enterprises failing to meet modern production standards.

Such enterprises have produced good profits for local governments in past decades. Although the central government has reiterated the need to reduce such overcapacity in recent years, local authorities tend to protectenterprises with favorable policies, Shi said.

Zhang Xiaode, an economics researcher at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said the government is showing its resolve to address overcapacity, a key issue in the country's economic restructuring.
An investor looks at the Shanghai Composite Index at a brokerage house in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, Dec 28, 2015. [Photo/IC]

Chinese equities rose on Friday morning amid volatile trading after the securities regulator suspended the circuit breaker mechanism, which has been blamed for aggravating market liquidity.

The market opened sharply higher after the regulator scrapped the short-lived new trading mechanism that was only effective for four days.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained by 1.71 percent as of 10:40 am at 3178.35 points, after tumbling by 2 percent from the high opening.

Stocks of coal, steel and commodities led the gain in the morning on investors anticipation for more government stimulus to support the struggling industries faced with overcapacity amid a slowing economy.
Stocks rebound after authorities suspend controversial circuit breaker mechanism

An investor looks at stock prices in a brokerage house in Beijing, Jan 8, 2016. [Photo/IC]

The Chinese securities regulator said on Friday that it will "appropriately manage" the pace of new share sales to stabilize investors' anticipation, underscoring the regulator's desire to contain more fluctuations after the market rebounded.

The regulator's statement came after the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index suffered a 10 percent loss in a week, with market shutdowns on Monday and Thursday triggered by the circuit breaker mechanism.

On Friday, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index surged by 1.97 percent after the securities authorities suspended the controversial circuit breaker mechanism the night before. The mechanism was blamed for worsening liquidity crunch in the market.

Deng Ge, the spokesman for the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said at a news conference that the regulator will appropriately arrange the new share sales based on the principle of enhancing trading vitality and stabilizing the market.

To allay concerns about massive new initial public offerings draining market liquidity, Deng said the launch of the much-anticipated registration-based IPO system will not occur on March 1 as previously reported.

Since the Chinese market experienced unprecedented volatility in the past week, the regulator has adopted measures to calm investors' anxiety, including scrapping the circuit breaker mechanism and restricting share sales by major shareholders of listed companies to no more than 1 percent of their companies' total shares within three months.

"The circuit breaker is a magnifier, but not trigger, of market volatility. Suspension of the mechanism should decelerate the decline in A shares to reflect China's weakening fundamentals. But it will not reverse the decline," said Hong Hao, chief strategist at investment bank BOCOM International.

State-controlled funds also stepped into the market by purchasing stocks on Friday, snapping up financial shares and those with large weightings in benchmark indexes, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

While it was expected that the so-called national team of State institutions will continue to buy stocks, some analysts said that the rebound could be short-lived, since investors have been unable to find any positive factors in the economic fundamentals.

But a sign of relief for investors was that the renminbi's decline for eight consecutive days came to a halt on Friday, highlighting the Chinese monetary authorities' determination to keep the currency stable.
Yang Yuanqing, chairman and chief executive officer of Lenovo Group Ltd, speaks during the 2015 Fortune Global Forum in San Francisco, California, the United States, in November, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Past expansion gives IT giant an edge in foreign markets, says its chief

Yang Yuanqing, chairman and chief executive of the world's largest personal computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd, is often referred to as "YY" by his business partners. The sobriquet has stood Yang in good stead as it helped his industry peers to interact with him without being tied up on how to pronounce his name.

The Beijing-based Lenovo is also the fourth-largest smartphone vendor in the world after acquiring Motorola Mobility from Google Inc for $2.9 billion more than a year ago. The company is also the top player in the Chinese server market and is expanding into cloud computing in a big way along with plans to be a software and services provider.

Lenovo launched its new smartphone model, priced at 2,499 yuan ($373), in Beijing in November 2015. [Photo/China Daily]

All of these achievements were spearheaded by Yang, an engineer-turned-CEO who took the mantle at the firm from its legendary founder Liu Chuanzhi and made it one of the most recognized Chinese brands in the world.

The 51-year-old Yang has spent most of his working life in Lenovo. He joined the company in 1989 when it was just a local PC maker vying for market share alongside Dell Inc, IBM Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co.

Lenovo started to build its international presence after he became the corporate chairman in 2004. That year was also significant for the company as it acquired IBM's PC unit making the popular ThinkPads.

Yang, who has spent more than two decades with Lenovo, shared with China Daily his ideas on how the company will face up to the new challenges in the mobile Internet era. Following are edited excerpts of the interview.

Recently, Lenovo showed off some products such as smartwatches and virtual reality goggles. But Lenovo did not have the tradition of disclosing its projects under development. What has prompted the change?

Lenovo has been paying huge attention to technology innovation ever since I became the CEO. Even when I was not the chief executive, I was responsible for research and development. Many people may think Lenovo achieved its success through efficiency and execution.

But constant investment in R&D and product innovation have been another crucial factor in Lenovo's success. Back in the PC era, we added a feature that made tablet access to the Internet just a click away. Our products are unique in design and address particular requirements. In fact, it is innovation that helped Lenovo score over competition.

Lenovo is building a cloud computing unit. Why do you think it is necessary?

Most of the Internet applications are running on the cloud nowadays. Customers can enjoy the conveniences brought by the Internet because of strong data processing capability from the cloud computing platform.

Lenovo made cloud one of the four pillars of its future business because it helps solve the problem of how the company can serve its customers. Lenovo's cloud business now has 400 million monthly active users and 100 million units of devices are connected to the platform every month. By using big data, we can learn how users interact with their devices and then use the findings to design the next-generation products.

In addition, we have developed all-around technologies that ensure information security. In the enterprise business, we have launched cloud-based storage and solutions services targeting customers around the globe. We have 150,000 enterprise users now. In 2014, this business doubled its size and we successfully retained 90 percent of our customers.
The Ehang 184 autonomous aerial vehicle is unveiled at the Ehang booth at CES International, on Wednesday in Las Vegas. [Photo/Agencies]

Ehang rolls out latest model capable of carrying passenger

Chinese drone maker Ehang Inc unveiled what it calls the world's first drone capable of carrying a human passenger at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

The company said it is anticipating large-scale commercial use of its aerial vehicle.

Ehang 184 takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter but with four double-propellers spinning parallel to the ground like other drones. Having the destination input, the automatic flight control system will choose the fastest, safest route to fly the passenger, who only needs to give two commands, "take off" and "land", on a touchscreen tablet.

The electric-powered drone can be fully charged in two hours at the fastest rate and fly for 23 minutes at sea level at a speed of 100 km per hour, according to Ehang.

The new means of point-to-point, short flights can be applied in a wide range of areas including urban traffic, tourism, logistics, emergency medical treatment and disaster relief, said Derrick Xiong, Ehang's co-founder and chief marketing officer.

He revealed that his company plans to sell the drone at a price of $200,000 to $300,000 per unit.

Xiong said that vehicle rental, taxi service, e-commerce and logistics companies had approached Ehang during the CES after the innovative drone was unveiled and grabbed the spotlight at the show.

But Xiong acknowledged that it initially may be only used in designated places such as tourist areas. A likely scenario will be flying tourists between islands.

The Guangzhou, Guangdong province-based company expects to put the passenger-carrying drone into practical use within this year, according to Xiong.

The breakthrough is likely to be made in Guangzhou or its sister city Auckland in New Zealand, for the mayor of Auckland showed interest upon hearing about the drone's concept in previous talks with Ehang, he said.

"We will make sure the use of the passenger-carrying drone is in line with local laws and regulations of where it flies," Xiong said.

"Currently there are no regulations that apply to such products because it is an entirely new category of technology. We are working closely with government agencies on addressing this big challenge in the way of the large-scale commercial use of passenger-carrying drones."

"Ehang 184 was not launched as a gimmick. We are open to all kinds of voices in the market and will keep improving the product," he said.

"Our ultimate goal is that the drone can be part of the urban traffic system, serving as a green supplement to the transportation on the ground to ease traffic jams."

Gao Yuanyang, director of the general aviation industry research center at Beihang University in Beijing, held that it is "too early" to talk about putting passenger-carrying drones into commercial use.

"I don't think it will be realized in at least the next 15 years. We need to make laws and regulations to ensure the air vehicle's safety and ponder over how to coordinate it with other means in the traffic system," Gao told China Daily.

"In China there are strict restrictions on manned general aircraft operating in low-altitude airspace below 1,000 meters, let alone unmanned ones."
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying briefs media on the DPRK nuclear test issue during a daily press briefing in Beijing, Jan 6, 2016. [WANG ZHUANGFEI/CHINA DAILY]

Beijing said on Thursday that it had "maximized its efforts" in addressing the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, dismissing accusations that it had not done enough.

After Pyongyang conducted what it called its first hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday, a senior official with the Foreign Ministry "elaborated China's stance (on the test) to the leading official of the DPRK embassy in Beijing", Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday.

Speculation of countermeasures was unfolding on the Korean Peninsula, including a report that Washington and Seoul were considering steps amid rising international criticism of the DPRK's fourth test since 2006.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that military leaders from the Republic of Korea and the United States discussed the deployment of US "strategic assets" in the wake of the test, The Associated Press reported.

Hua said China "expresses concerns over the development of the situation" and the country is calling on all parties to "get back on the track of resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue through the Six-Party Talks".

The talks, which grouped the DPRK, the ROK, the US, China, Japan and Russia, stalled in December 2008. The first three nuclear tests were carried out in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

Yang Xiyu, a senior researcher on Korean Peninsula studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said it is a "lose-lose" situation and no single party is winning after the test.

The peninsula is drifting away from the goal of denuclearization, and any countermeasures taken by Seoul and Washington might only worsen the security situation on the peninsula, Yang said.

Meanwhile, China "participated in a constructive manner" in an emergency closed-door meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York on Wednesday, according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua.

While doubts remained about the DPRK's claim of testing a hydrogen bomb, the UN meeting "strongly" condemned the nuclear test.

A media statement said the Security Council members will "begin to work immediately on ... measures in a new Security Council resolution".

In Seoul, Cho Tae-Yong, the first deputy chief of the Republic of Korea's presidential security office, said on Thursday that the country will resume propaganda broadcasts beginning at noon on Friday with loudspeakers in border areas with the DPRK.

Earlier broadcasts were stopped after an agreement was reached on Aug 25 to end a standoff with the DPRK.

Xinhua and AFP contributed to this story.
Visitors play on an ice rink in Shichahai, Beijing, on Monday, when the city enjoyed blue skies and good air. GUO QIAO/CHINA DAILY

The national environmental watchdog told the Beijing municipal government on Thursday that it could do better the next time it declared a smog alert.

The first alarm could have been sounded earlier, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said in its review of Beijing's two red alerts for smog in December.

If it had been issued more quickly, it would have better helped residents, the ministry said.

Since November, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has been engulfed three times by severe smog covering expanses of up to 630,000 square kilometers.

The capital saw the daily average concentration of PM2.5-particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter that are hazardous to healthsoar quickly from Nov 15 to Dec 31, reaching a level 75.9 percent higher than the same period of 2015, the ministry said on Thursday.

In response, Beijing issued two red alerts, the highest in the four-level smog alert system. Industrial production was suspended, vehicle use was limited and public schools were closed.

Many residents complained about the red alerts, especially about the school closuresparents worried about their children at home alone while they themselves had to work.

"This was not an effective way to control air pollution, particularly as many people didn't notice the red alert the second time," said Zhang Yiqun, 30, who added that even though he worked for a Chinese media company in Beijing, he received no advance notice of the second red alert, which was in effect from Dec 19 to 22.

Unlike the first red alertfrom Dec 8 to 10over 110,000 vehicles violated the alternating odd-even license plate restrictions during the second alert, the municipal environmental watchdog said.

"I know that the authorities said the air pollution peak was reduced, but I didn't feel the difference. Maybe the improvement wasn't large enough," Zhang said.

Zhang Yanchen, 28, who works at a research institution in the capital, also thought the red alerts had not been effectively controlled and added that the government had to more strictly regulate industrial production and the burning of coal.

On Thursday, the ministry pointed out that from Nov 26 to Dec 1, when Beijing had its heaviest smog of 2015, the capital issued only an orange alert, the second-highest level, bringing measures into effect that were not stringent enough to effectively control the pollution. In addition, though the capital issued the two subsequent red alerts, the first of these did not work well because of the short notice before it took effect, the ministry said.

The second red alert lasted for four days, but the pollution had diminished on the first day, and residents questioned why it had been issued so early.

Wang Bin, head of the Emergency Department of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, said the threshold for red alerts in Beijing had been lowered in March, making them easier to issue than in other provinces and cities, including the neighboring municipality of Tianjin and Hebei province.

The capital has begun soliciting suggestions from experts, as well as from government departments and residents, on how to amend its emergency response system to better serve the public, he said.

The ministry said the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei regional joint response to air pollution control is proving more effective because of the accumulated experience in the first two rounds.
A researcher works on a satellite in Changchun, Jilin province, in December. The satellite is designed to monitor and research global carbon dioxide emissions.[Photo/Xinhua]

China will conduct more than 20 space missions this year, including a manned one and the maiden flights of two rockets, according to the nation's major space contractor.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp said it plans to launch the Tiangong 2 space laboratory and the Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft and to test-fly the Long March 5 and Long March 7 rockets.

China will also launch two satellites for the domestically developed Beidou Navigation Satellite System and the Gaofen 3 for the Gaofen High-Resolution Earth Observation System.

The company said in a statement on its website, "This year will see more than 20 space launches, the most missions in a single year."

It added that the company will also launch a communications satellite for Belarus, marking the first time China has exported a communications satellite to Europe.

China is scheduled to launch the Tiangong 2 space laboratory in the first half of the year to test life support and space rendezvous technologies for the country's future space station.

After this, the Shenzhou XI spacecraft will be launched by a Long March 2F rocket to send astronauts to and dock with the space laboratory.

The nation plans to launch the core module of its space station in 2018 to test related technologies and to research engineering issues. The station will become fully operational in about 2022, according to government sources.

With these ambitious space projects proceeding well, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp is finalizing the development of the next-generation carrier rockets.

The company's China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology is carrying out final tests on the Long March 5, the heaviest and most technologically challenging member of the nation's rocket family.

To accommodate the frequent space missions, the academy has increased its annual manufacturing capacity from a maximum of eight rockets to up to 20 and has substantially reduced the time required to develop each new rocket.
Four executives from a former online video service company pleaded not guilty to spreading pornography on the Internet when they stood trial in a Beijing court on Thursday.

The four worked for Shenzhen QVOD Technology Co in Guangdong province, including Wang Xin, the chief executive officer.

They are accused of using the video platform to make profits while knowing that a large amount of pornography had been uploaded, downloaded and watched, according to prosecutors.

The case, which was heard at Beijing Haidian District People's Court, drew an audience of about 100 to the court's public gallery, including media representatives and the defendants' family members.

Prosecutors said Beijing police selected 29,841 videos from three servers seized from the company for review, of which 21,251 included pornographic content.

The company, established in December 2007, advertised the provision of video services, but executives ignored whether information on the platform was legal or not and were involved in spreading pornography online, according to the prosecutors.

The company offered illegal videos through peer-to-peer video streaming technology, and the number of its users reached 300 million by September 2012, the prosecution said.

The four defendants denied the charge, saying they had reviewed content uploaded online and had never been reluctant to deal with illegal content.

Wang, the company CEO, said: "We could see and check the data uploaded or watched by our users but not the exact content. No one in the company would know whether the videos were pornographic.

"But we didn't give up on checking the uploaded information. We never ignored this," he said. "We cleaned our system to seek illegal content and also provided a channel for users to report any pornography they found."

Wang said the cleanup and the reporting systems, used since 2009, had played key roles in helping the company to find hundreds of illegal videos.

"We cleaned up these videos by filtering out key words provided by the Internet watchdog in Shenzhen, but we couldn't' rule out the possibility that some might get through," he said. "If a user changed a video document's name, it would be hard to find."
China's National Rice Research Institute is looking to tap into seed markets in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America as it promotes its hybrid rice varieties over the next five years.

Cheng Shihua, director general of the institute, said it will promote its hybrid rice seeds in emerging markets.

"We have conducted a number of tests on new rice varieties in rice paddies overseas. More often than not, our hybrids produce 30 percent higher yields than local varieties," he said.

The Hangzhou-based institute, which emphasizes genetic studies of rice and genome research for improving rice yields, grain quality, pest resistance and stress tolerance, is set to launch a joint venture seed company in Indonesia to develop new hybrid rice varieties for farmers.

Cheng said the institute will partner with Chinese seed companies to promote its technology overseas.

"We need to ensure that the rice companies make a profit and that local farmers improve their yields," he said.

During the 13th Five Year Plan period (2016-20), the institute will go further than simply setting up demonstration centers for Chinese technologies, he said.

"We need to establish ourselves in the local seed markets, and this will offer us a starting point to establish ourselves further in the agricultural sector," he said.

He said the cost to export Chinese rice seeds to foreign markets remains high, so the institute wants to develop local rice varieties overseas with a local labor force.

The concept must go through a very complicated administrative approval procedure from the Ministry of Agriculture.

"We are hoping that the approval procedure will be simplified in the near future," he said.

Development of local rice varieties overseas will also help China improve its own rice research, as it will help enrich its rice gene pool, he said.

Hu Peisong, deputy director general of the institute and a researcher in rice genetic studies and genome research, said the country still lags behind other major rice-producing countries in the world in terms of improving grain quality.

He said the institute will put more focus on the improvement of rice quality over the next five years in order to meet the nation's growing demand.

"International academic exchanges with Southeast Asia and India are also getting more frequent, and that will help the country improve its rice quality as well," he said.
Ingredients often 'unclear', prosecutor says, and may include chemicals harmful to health

Sexual arousal drugs accounted for 90 percent of the cases addressed by prosecutors in Shanghai during a 10-month campaign last year against bogus medicines.

A total of 178 cases involving food and drug safety were investigated in the crackdown from March to December, and 221 suspects were identified. The caseload was up 30 percent from the same period in the previous year, officials from the Shanghai People's Procuratorate said at a media briefing on Thursday.

Prosecutors said the Internet is the main channel for distribution of counterfeit drugs that promise to boost sexual desire. Many of the pills use a combination of medicinal powder and ordinary flour, and are very inexpensive, they said.

Shanghai Pudong New Area prosecutors looked into a case in which two suspects, surnamed Yan and Chen, opened an online store in October 2014 and sold male impotence drugs that had been imported from abroad but were not approved. The suspects did not obtain a certificate of registration for the drugs, and the pills were identified as bogus.

The two men were arrested on suspicion of selling fake medicine in September. The case is currently being reviewed.

Such cases have cropped up in other places. For example, Shenzhen Evening News reported in December 2014 that police had broken up a factory making libido boosters in rural Maoming city, Guangdong province, and caught 11 suspects.

The group had sold the fake pills to 100 online and physical stores all over the country to the tune of more than 100 million yuan ($15 million). It cost less than 1 yuan for each pill, but they sold for as high as 100 yuan to consumers.

"Such bogus drugs are unclear in their ingredients, which may include a variety of chemical agents to achieve a certain desired effect. Long-term use may harm health," said Zou Xianfeng, a Shanghai prosecutor.

The number of food safety cases has remained high in recent years, said Zhou Yongnian, deputy chief prosecutor of the procuratorate, the most eye-catching one being the Shanghai and Hebei branches of Husi Food Co, a former supplier to McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants. A subsidiary of US-based global food processor OSI Group, it was exposed supplying sub-standard products to the food chains across the country.

"A two-day hearing was completed a week ago, but a verdict has not been announced yet," Zhou said.
Yiran reunites with her parents at their home in Taihe county, Fuyang city, East China's Anhui province, on Jan 6, 2016. [Photo/IC]

A 5-year-old girl was successfully rescued 56 hours after being kidnapped.

The girl, Wu Yiran, was grabbed by a person sitting on the back of a motorcycle on January 1 as she was on her way home with her 8-year-old brother in Lidong village, Anhui province.

Police said the brother cried for help, and was dragged for 5 or 6 meters as he tried to grab onto his sister.

Anhui police immediately set up a special investigation team and deployed local police officers to track the motorcycle, checking video surveillance cameras to monitor the vehicle.

Several police micro blogs in Anhui published surveillance images and offered a reward of 100,000 yuan ($15,400) to members of the public who could provide valuable clues.

By Tuesday, investigators had received many tips from the public, and they found the main suspect, surnamed Fan, and his two accomplices hiding in a noodle shop in Handan, Hebei province.

The next day, the team along with 30 SWAT officers and armed soldiers arrested the three suspects in a hotel near the noodle shop and successfully rescued the girl.

"Thanks to the police officers' hard work and rapid monitoring in Anhui, Henan and Hebei, I am reunited with my daughter," the girl's mother said.

Although frightened, the girl is now in stable condition, said Tang Qingmei, a senior police officer from East China's Anhui Provincial Public Security Department.

The three-member trafficking gang was allegedly headed by Fan, who was born in Anhui. Also part of the gang was his mistress, who owned the noodle shop, and one of her fellow villagers.

Fan had recently been released from prison after serving four years and six months for theft and was working at the noodle shop.

"Due to a lack of money and because of a large number of potential buyers in Handan, we decided to target children in rural areas in my hometown," Fan allegedly confessed to police officers at a detention house in Anhui.
A drone with a camera hovers above swans at Qinghai Lake in January 2015. Provided to China Daily

Flying camera gets close to swans at Qinghai Lake, sparking discussion about interference

Recent news about an amateur photographer who frightened hundreds of wild swans wintering at Qinghai Lake by flying a drone equipped with a camera too close to the flock has created a feisty debate on the Internet, especially among bird-watchers and drone enthusiasts.

Many netizens said China needs to publish guidelines and regulations quickly to ensure proper operation of drones, especially around critical wildlife habitats.

Xihai Metropolis Daily in Xining, Qinghai province, reported on Friday that one member of a group of photographers had used a drone to photograph about 300 swans roosting at the lake's Quanwan Bay. Several photographers took photos of the drone hovering about a meter above the swans, who flew away after being disturbed.

On Sunday, some of the photographers returned and found only a few dozen birds at the site. A day later, the photos of the intruding drone were uploaded online, stirring a heated debate about proper use of the remote-controlled devices.

Some enthusiasts said the drone was a popular model produced by Chinese technology company DJI. As the market leader in easy-to-fly drones and aerial photography systems, DJI's flying cameras have given amateurs convenient and affordable assess to aerial photography.

A person online using the name Bing He said he was a photographer and witnessed the entire swan incident. He told ThePaper.cn that the flying camera hovered about a meter over the swans' heads for several minutes, eventually scaring the birds away.

Yin Yuping, a commentator for Nanning Radio, wrote on his micro blog that people should not blame the drones because the real threat is human beings. "We will blame them," he said.

He Yubang, head of the Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve Administration, visited Quanwan Bay on Monday and counted about 80 swans.

He said the drone disturbance was the first of its kind at the lake, though amateur photographers had used firecrackers and honking to previously rouse the roosting swans.

"We still can't say that the swans have left our reserve," he said. "The suitable wintering habitats for swans are many in the lake. They probably just moved to other sites."

He said that the authorities have decided to ban the use of flying cameras at Quanwan Bay and will urge the public to report cases of wildlife disturbances within the reserve.

Li Haitao, a Beijing bird-watcher who in 2006 became one of the first in the city to fly a drone, recorded and took photos of birds with drones from the very beginning.

Compared with their effect on small-sized birds - such as various shore birds - swans are "actually not very sensitive to drones", he said.

Li followed a bevy of wild swans with his drone-mounted camera for several weeks in Beijing in the winter of 2011 and videotaped the birds at a range of several meters.

"They kept cool, with the adult birds just keeping an eye on my drone's movements, while the juvenile birds looked quite curious," he told China Daily. "I didn't try to get much closer and stayed no longer than one minute. Still, there was a certain interference. I have stopped doing it since then."

Whether people consider themselves photographers or nature lovers, they should put the wildlife's welfare above the quality of their photos, Li said.

The government follows some drone management practices in use in the United States, He said, including real-name registration for drone owners and barring drones from restricted areas.
Lu Buxuan (right), founder of a pork retail chain, promotes products at a supermarket in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Wednesday. The chain has more than 1,000 stores in major cities, and sells the meat from 300,000 pigs each year. Last year, its sales revenue exceeded 1 billion yuan ($150 million). Long Wei / for China Daily

China's meat sector was rocked when a report claimed consumption of red and processed meats increased the risk of cancer. Having overcome the scare, manufacturers are now gearing up to raise production. Shan Juan reports.

China is the world's biggest consumer of pork - accounting for about half of global consumption every year - and processed meats. So, when the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer published a report that suggested consumption of red and processed meats could be a contributory factor in cancer, especially colorectal, the nation's meat-processing industry expressed dismay and prepared for the worst.

However, despite the industry's worst fears, the impact of the IARC report appears to have been short-lived.

An employee in the sales department of Yurun Group, one of China's biggest meat suppliers, in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, said overall sales of the company's meat products, mostly the processed variety, haven't shown any signs of long-term decline, despite Yurun's stock price plunging by almost 3.5 percent in the immediate wake of the report.

Wang Chuanxi, who sells processed meat at a Carrefour supermarket in northeast Beijing, said that initially sales of bacon and sausages were affected by the report, "the number of customers still dropped by at least 50 percent in the first few days after publication." So the supermarket responded by offering discounts - such as reducing the price of 1 kilogram packets of bacon by 20 yuan ($3) - and other promotions to lure customers back. Although sales later recovered, they have still not returned to pre-report levels.

The term "red meat" refers to fresh beef, veal, pork and mutton, while "processed" refers to meats where the flavor has been enriched and shelf life extended through salting, curing, fermentation or smoking and includes both red meat and poultry, such as hot dogs, sausages, corned beef and chicken.

The IARC report, published in October, said consumption of red meat is probably carcinogenic for humans, and classified the level of risk as Group 2A. Meanwhile, processed meat was deemed as carcinogenic and designated as Group 1, the same classification as smoking and excessive alcohol consumption.

Kurt Straif, a program director at the IARC, said the risk is small, but significant. "For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat eaten," he said.
By Li Feng/China Daily.

A group of fourth-graders at an elementary school in East China's Qingdao city formed an "anti-siblings alliance" in an effort to persuade their parents not to have a second child.

Qingdao-based Peninsula Metropolis Daily reported that a teacher, surnamed Wang, found eight of her students were holding secretive meetings to discuss the issue. The students feared any siblings would steal their parents' exclusive love, Wang said.

The story became a sensation on the Internet and WeChat, China's popular mobile social media platform, arousing a feisty discussion about China's decision to abandon its decades-long one-child policy on Jan 1.

Many netizens said children born after 2000 are too selfish, as even those who agree to have a sibling often turn grumpy after a second child is born, while others suggested the problem lies in education.

Wang Donghui, commenting online, said her fellow parents should stop teasing their misbehaving children about having a second child as punishment.

"If you stop joking about how having a second child is a bad thing for them and teach them about the fun of having siblings as companions, they would be happy to accept the idea," she wrote.

The change in China's policy is intended to help balance its population and address the challenge of an aging citizenry, according to a communique issued after the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee in October.

Many parents are anxious about whether to take advantage of the policy. Apart from fearing their children's opposition, many parents are wary about meeting the financial requirements for a second child in areas such as housing and education.

Zhang Xiaohui, 33, a mother from Qingdao, said the cost of formula and post-school education programs would be too high. "For a working class family, one child is OK, but raising two is a different story and my husband and I decided to give up at last," she said.

Many grandparents, however, remain enthusiastic about the policy and would be thrilled to provide support to children having a second baby.

Lin Dajun, a 67-year-old retiree living in Jinan, said he and his wife moved to their daughter's house to help care for their two grandchildren.

"As we are old, we don't have many consumer needs, and we share some of our pension to support the big family," he said. "The joy and fun of having them all together is more valuable."
Watching how its red lines -- the product of misguided policies -- lose their meaning in the face of regional realities is certainly not easy for Ankara to stomach.





For the rest of the world, meanwhile, the problem is an Ankara that constantly postpones to do its part in the struggle against IS due to its long-standing Kurdish policy, which has now become a stumbling block for everyone.





One key reason why Ankara saw the PYD as a threat greater than IS was its fear of the geopolitical risks bound to arise if a long stretch of Syrian territory along the border, running westward from Iraq, fell under the control of a Kurdish organization affiliated with the PKK, which is considered a threat to Turkey's unity. The war against the PKK inside Turkey further magnified these risks for Ankara. Second, Ankara worried that the Kurdish cantons the PYD established would strengthen its own Kurds' drive for autonomy. Should the Kurdish cantons win recognition as part of a political settlement in Syria, the Kurdish problem in Turkey -- home to the largest Kurdish population in the Middle East -- will stick out even more prominently as it dies after decades of nonsolution. In short, it was Turkey's own Kurdish problem that forced it to draw a red line along the Euphrates' western bank.





The Euphrates represents a separating line not only in Syria but in Turkey as well, marking the historical and geographical epicenter of the Kurdish problem, which stretches eastward from the river. Beyond the massive destruction and civilian deaths in urban areas, Ankara's war on the PKK since July has also been destroying the emotional bridges over the Euphrates connecting the Kurdish-majority east to western Turkey.





One signal of the breaking bonds came from Diyarbakir, whose ancient Sur district has for weeks been the theater of curfews and clashes, with the security forces battling PKK militants with heavy weapons. On Dec. 26, the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), an umbrella organization for Kurdish civic society groups, convened an emergency meeting in Diyarbakir. Speaking at the gathering, Selahattin Demirtas, the co-chair of the Kurdish-dominated Peoples' Democratic Party, said, "This resistance will lead to victory. The Kurds from now on will hold the political will in their lands. The Kurds will perhaps have an independent state, a federal state, cantons or autonomous regions." True to style, the Turkish media highlighted Demirtas' emphasis on an "independent state."





The DTK stirred even more indignation in western Turkey the following day with a final declaration that announced "a decision for autonomy" for the Kurds. The 14-point declaration called for the creation of "democratic autonomous regions" across Turkey, to be governed by elected autonomous organs, running the realm of education among others. The other fields it listed for autonomous governance included health services, the courts and justice affairs, transport, energy, public order and budget management.





Though the DTK decision is hardly applicable today, it is significant for showing that autonomy will be the minimal condition the Kurdish movement will impose on any future negotiations for a settlement.
HONG KONG - The Hong Kong Jockey Club announced Friday that it has launched a project to enable the elderly and terminally ill to spend their last days at home or in a care center, rather than a hospital environment.

Social and medical institutions involved in the project will provide care services at 24 government-funded elderly centers in Kowloon as well as patients' homes.

The project is expected to provide services for 1,400 patients over three years.

A social administration professor at the University of Hong Kong, Cecilia Chan, who is also the project's manager, said its aim is to provide dignity to patients in their last days.
Fraud suspects board a plane under police escort at Xishuangbanna Airport in Southwest China's Yunnan province. [Photo/Sina Weibo]

KUNMING - Chinese police have recently busted a cross-border telecom fraud gang and seized 470 suspects through collaboration with Lao police, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said Friday in a statement at its official website.

On December 30, Chinese and Lao police destroyed three dens and seized more than 500 mobile phones, 400 computers and four vehicles in Laos. All suspects were immediately sent to Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province, under the escort of Chinese police from Laos, according to the statement.

It is the biggest telecom fraud case busted in the recent crackdown launched by MPS, the statement said.

Last November, Yunnan police found a group of Chinese suspected of conducting criminal activity involving telecom fraud in Laos. The MPS dispatched a special investigation team comprising of police officers from Zhejiang, Hunan, Guangdong, Yunnan and Fujian provinces.

Police found the telecom scammers settled at a border area, purchasing or renting local hotel rooms to operate. They set up false lottery betting websites to swindle money from people across China.

Preliminary investigation showed that there are more than 1,000 victims from most Chinese provinces and cities with more than 200 million yuan (around 32 million U.S. dollars) involved, the statement said.

On Friday afternoon, four chartered flights carrying 300 major suspects arrived at Quanzhou Airport of Fujian Province from Xishuangbanna. The MPS asked Fujian police to handle the case because most victims are from Fujian. Another 170 suspects stayed in Xishuangbanna and will be investigated and handled by local police.

Chinese police have cracked 16,708 telecom fraud cases, apprehended 5,825 suspects and destroyed 927 gangs since a special crackdown campaign targeting such crimes was launched on October 30.


BEIJING - Four executives of Chinese online video service Qvod stood trial on Thursday and Friday in Beijing, charged with spreading pornography for profit.

Wang Xin, former CEO of the Shenzhen-based company, and three others denied the charge during the two-day open trial at Haidian District People's Court.

According to the prosecution, 21,251 of 29,841 files which police obtained from three servers related to Qvod in Haidian were pornographic.

But Wang claimed the company itself was not responsible for spreading information. He blamed the pornographic content on third parties.

The court will announce verdicts later for the three defendants, who could receive a sentence up to life in prison under Chinese law.

Founded in 2007, Qvod offered videos through peer-to-peer video streaming technology and its user base quickly grew to 300 million.

The four executives knew that a large amount of pornography was uploaded, downloaded and watched, according to prosecutors.

In June 2014, the company was fined 260 million yuan ($39.6 million) for copyright infringement and its license was revoked.
Riyadh vows to look at airstrike claim as Teheran announces a ban on all products made in the kingdom

Iran on Thursday said Saudi warplanes had attacked its embassy in Yemen's capital, a development that would exacerbate tensions between the major Shiite and Sunni powers in the region, and Riyadh said it would investigate the accusation.

"Saudi Arabia is responsible for the damage to the embassy building and the injury to some of its staff," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari was quoted as saying by Iranian state television news channel IRIB.
Yang Lan speaks at her book release conference. [Photo/IC]

Yang Lan, China's Olympic image ambassador and prime-time TV anchorwoman, released her new book, a prose collection entitled Still In Love, at a Hilton Hotel in Beijing yesterday.

"Still In Love is the second prose collection of mine, 20 years after the first came out. I have found that while I return to my beginner's mind, what I treasured most is always with me," Yang said in a Sina Weibo post this morning.

In this book, Yang talks about her marriage, her children and her family, sharing with readers what happiness is, in her understanding.

"If I draw a circle of life, the true self is the center and love is the radius. After what I've seen and experienced in this big, big world, I have finally come to realize how thankful I am to have my husband's company," Yang said.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the anchorwoman's marriage to her husband, investor and media entrepreneur Bruno Wu. Hes always been supportive, Yang said.

Based on her 20 years as a married woman, Yang said that felicity is not an act, but rather a habit, which can be cultivated.

"In the future, I am more aware of what I should treasure to create beautiful memories in an infinite life, and make them worthwhile," Yang said.

So far, Yang has published several books, including two prose collections, and a series of her TV program transcriptions of Yang Lan One on One and World Women.
Huang Ziyan, vice-president of Le Vision Pictures. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Le Vision Pictures, the film arm of China's tech giant LeTV, recently announced its plans for 2016.

With an aim to lure viewers of all ages, the company said it would release or shoot 40 feature-length films and make 30 online TV series for its streaming website, letv.com. The list includes Zhang Yimou's fantasy epic "The Great Wall", Taiwan TV host Kevin Tsai's directorial debut "Chichi De Ai" (A Bite of Romance) and Guo Jingming's "Legend of Ravaging Dynasties".

The company would target different age groups with specific productions based on an analysis of its registered user base of 12 million on Letv.com. For example, "Boonie Bear III", the third installment of the highly successful franchise, is tailored for children between ages 3 and 12, a bracket that makes up around 14 percent of Chinas total population of nearly 1.4 billion.

Coming-of-age movies, such as "Mr High Heels, My Roommate", and "The Guard for School Babe", would be for those between ages 15 and 24, and for audiences in their 20s and 30s, it would be blockbusters such as "The Great Wall".

"Globalization will be the trend for Le Vision. We hope to have more speaking rights in international cooperation," said Huang Ziyan, vice-president of Le Vision Pictures.

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Ramesh Nair, Moynat's creative director.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Moynat, once a favorite of elite Parisians, was revived quietly in 2011. The brand now makes a quiet entry into Beijing. Chen Jie reports.

Two years ago, a 17-year-old French girl visited Paris. She stood in front of the window of the Moynat store at Rue Saint Honore and was fascinated by the bags there. So, she entered the boutique and asked for a job.

Ramesh Nair, Moynat's creative director, spoke to her on the phone and asked her what her qualifications were.

The girl said: "I have not had any training in bag-making but if you teach me I will learn."

The answer impressed Nair and also reminded him of Pauline Moynat, the founder of the brand, one of the earliest makers of women's bags in history.

Moynat moved to Paris at age 16 and was captivated by the local crafts and lifestyle of the city.

She founded the brand in 1849, four years before French trunk and leather goods brand Goyard and five years ahead of Louis Vuitton.

Nair said yes to the girl.
BEIJING

Rhone revival

Morton's of Chicago and China Wines & Spirits will host the French winery Delas Freres, a venerable label founded back in 1835, which fell on hard times before a 1996 revival. For 900 yuan ($136), Morton's will complement the wines with four courses that start with seared scallops and raised short rib roll; the main is a 270-gram filet mignon with pan fried foie gras and red-wine jus - paired with a well-reviewed 2008 Hermitage from Delas, followed by dessert with a 2012 muscat and your choice of coffee or tea.

6:30 pm, Jan 15. 2/F in the Regent Hotel; 99 Jinbao Street, Dongcheng district. 010-6523-7777.

Day of the rose

With Feb 14 coming right on the heels of the Spring Festival golden week, it's worth making plans early for Valentine's Day. One romantic dinner option: Sureno, where the restaurant will collaborate with high-end rose retailer Rose Only for a stylish dinner and a lapel brooch. Mains for the special set dinner, in which the colors of rose petals inspire an elegant presentation, include mixed seafood and manzo (porcini oil poached Australian black angus tenderloin, chestnut potato hash brown, roasted mushroom ragout and coffee jus). The price is 1,314 yuan per couple plus 15 percent service charge,

Feb 14; lower ground level, The Opposite House, 11 Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang district. 010-6417-6688.
Yangzhou fried rice. [Photo provided to China Daily]

St Regis Beijing will host the annual Yangzhou food festival from Wednesday through Jan 26.

In its third year, the event is co-organized by the city government of Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, and aims to promote local cuisines.

During the festival, celebrity chefs from the East China city, will offer diners authentic dishes made of seasonal ingredients at the hotel's Celestial Court restaurant. Special attractions are likely to include traditional Huaiyang dishes, dim sum, braised shredded chicken with ham and dried tofu, Yangzhou pork meat patties and sweet and sour mandarin fish.

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Beijing reached its annual target for reducing hazardous pollutants in 2015 and is drafting a long-term plan to improve air quality to the clean level by around 2030, the municipal environmental watchdog said on Monday.

In 2015, the capital saw 186 days with air quality that was better than the national safety standard, 14 days more than the number in 2014, said the annual report on air pollution control from the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau on Monday.

Additionally, from the detailed data on hazardous pollutants, the annual average reading in Beijing of PM2.5 - airborne particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 microns that can penetrate the lungs and harm health - fell to 80.6 micrograms per cubic meter in 2015, the report said.

The annual reading was a reduction of 6.2 percent year-on-year, surpassing the annual goal of a 5 percent reduction. However, the reading was still above the national safety standard of 75 micrograms per cubic meter.

Despite the goal's achievement, some residents have called for a bigger improvement, especially since experiencing spells of severe smog in the capital since November.

"PM2.5 pollution is still the prominent problem in Beijing and requires strengthened efforts," said Fang Li, deputy director of the bureau.

There was a clear reduction in the three other major airborne pollutants - sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and PM10. The annual average reading for sulfur dioxide, for example, was lowered to 13.5 micrograms per cubic meter in 2015, much better than the national safety standard of 60, the report said.

However, the municipal government has issued two red alerts, the highest emergency response, to control the worsening conditions. Thus, many people thought the target would be missed.

"I didn't feel the clear improvement in air quality in the winter, and many of my friends and colleagues have coughed and experienced sore throats due to the bad air recently," said Chen Yang, 29, who works in a printing house in Beijing.

Li Li, a 52-year-old civil servant in Beijing, said the average reading of PM2.5 might have improved, but she felt the smog came more frequently. "When might we feel the real improvement, instead of the data?"

Zhang Dawei, head of the Beijing Environmental Monitoring Center, said the annual readings combine data from good and smoggy days, and that overall the days of heavy pollution have been reduced by one day.

He conceded that heavy pollution days in November and December worsened the air quality dramatically and dragged down the overall performance.

Before smog blanketed the capital at the end of the year, Beijing had managed to cut the PM2.5 daily average readings by 20 percent year-on-year, he said.

Soaring coal consumption and vehicle exhaust emissions have been major factors in the recent smog, the report said.

Beijing slashed coal consumption to 12 million metric tons in 2015 - 11 million metric tons fewer than in 2012. Also, as part of the restrictions, over 300,000 households in Dongcheng and Xicheng districts, the core region of Beijing, used electricity to provide heat to replace the use of coal-fired boilers.

Beijing is drafting a plan for long-term environmental protection that is expected to be released by the end of the year, he said. He added that by around 2030, Beijing is expected to reach 35 micrograms per cubic meter, at or below which is considered the best air quality.

In addition to the long-term target, the central government has issued a near-term target that might not be easy to reach.

While Beijing has lowered the annual PM2.5 reading to 80.6, it's expected to reach 60 by 2017, as stipulated by the State Council, China's Cabinet.

"It's never easy to cut the PM2.5 readings and improve air quality, but we will further the restrictions on emission of pollutants," said Fang, the deputy head of the Environmental Protection Bureau.

zhengjinran@chinadaily.com.cn
The Shengjing Global Innovation Awards 2016, which aims to discover and encourage innovative projects and startup teams, was launched in Beijing on Jan 7.

The awards were initiated last year.

The competition is hosted by Chinese company Shengjing360.com, one of China's leading innovation and startup service platforms, jointly with international organizations including the Silicon Valley Startup founder and investor platform F50, Israeli venture capital organization JVP and German company Deutsche Telekom.

The competition intends to become a global service platform for innovators.

Shengjing 360 will provide $1.5 million in cash prizes to 21 winners, with no equity return required from them.

Meanwhile, the company has jointly established a special foundation with investors, including Tsinghua Holdings, for the awards. The foundation will invest $25 million in promising competitors.

Incubators and venture capitalists involved in the competition are expected to invest $150 million jointly, according to the organizer.

The competition attracted more than 3,000 innovative and startup projects in 2015.

Last year's champion DiaCardio, a mobile digital healthcare company from Israel, shared its experience of taking part in the competition during the launch of this year's contest.

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Smoke rises from a chimneys of a steel mill on a hazy day in Fengnan district of Tangshan, Hebei province February 18, 2014.[Photo/Agencies]

The wind has turned out to be savior of smog-fearing residents in North China.

Yet, we cannot afford to choke when there is no wind.

So, on the first working day of the year, the central government dispatched a high-profile inspection team to Hebei province, which has been commonly identified as the main culprit responsible for the poisonous air throughout North China.

Both the province's Party secretary and its governor have been reprimanded from on high for not tackling the province's air pollution more effectively.

With direct pressure from the very top, we are confident some improvement will be seen. After all, the remarkable shades of blue we have seen in recent years - from "Olympic Blue", "APEC Blue" to "Parade Blue" - have shown that a strong political will can indeed paint a better picture.

Yet we also know how pricey those blue skies were. They would not have been possible had there not been freezes on construction work and factory production. Given the central leadership's sense of urgency over pollution control, Hebei will have to show credible changes soon. The question is how.

They can maneuver a few blue skies by adopting the same ploys that produced those much-praised "blues". But that is too costly to be sustainable.

Most pollutant emitters in Hebei are small rural enterprises such as steel mills that operate using primitive technology. Doing away with such wasteful and dirty facilities makes sense in both environmental and macroeconomic terms and would be conducive to upgrading the local economic structure.

But, as a local official said in a recent interview, those polluting factories provide the livelihoods for many families. Is it fair to have them closed without offering an alternate way for people to make a living?

A well-thought-out support program is needed to deal with the unemployment or reemployment that will result from closing these polluting enterprises.
Trade volume between China and the US hit $441.6 billion in the first three quarters of the year, surpassing the $438.1 billion in trade between Canada and the US. [Photo/IC]

If you listened to the comments of some government officials, lawmakers, pundits and commentators, it is not hard to realize that there are people in the United States who wish China ill.

These people never seem to understand that as former US treasury secretary Larry Summers once said, it is possible to imagine a 21st century in which both China and the US do well, or in which neither does well, but hard to imagine one will do well and the other will not.

The past days have shown why it is foolish to harbor any ill will toward China.

The world expressed shock and condemnation on Wednesday after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea claimed to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, and much of the talk in the US has been on how important China is to defuse the situation on the Korean Peninsula, given China's longstanding ties with its neighbor to the northeast.

While such a statement may be only partly true, the expectation came from some who often treat China as an adversary of the US.

And on Monday, the tumbling Chinese stock market sparked a global sell-off, including a decline on the US markets. The impact from a slowdown of the Chinese economy has become a major topic in the US recently. This just shows how intertwined China and the global economy have become, especially the world's two largest economies, the US and China.

If those people wishing China ill were truly successful, it only means that the US stock markets and economy would be hit badly, and for a long time to come.

The UN Climate Conference in Paris in December was a great example showing that it serves the interests of both countries and indeed the entire world when China and the US work together, instead of against each other. And there is a long list of such challenges awaiting closer cooperation between the two nations, from promoting global economic growth and the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons to counter terrorism and ensuring regional stability.
President Xi Jinping delivers a speech during a welcome banquet jointly hosted by Washington State government and friendly communities in Seattle, the US, Sept 22, 2015.[Photo/Xinhua]

It's a question I'm often asked: What drives President Xi Jinping's robust foreign policy? The assumption is that Xi has upped China's global game, making the country's international relations more proactive and engaging, some say more muscular and aggressive. All recognize that China is now involved with every important issue in world affairs. Moreover, China is starting to shape the agenda of international discourse, not just react to the ideas and actions of others.

Examples of China's vigorous foreign policy under President Xi are well known: the Belt and Road Initiative reaching out to some 60 countries, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, new kind of major power relations with the US, strategic partnership with Russia, "golden era" in relations with the UK, high-profile state visits to Germany and France, support for African development, climate change, the list goes on. In less than three years as China's president, Xi has visited more than three dozen countries.

What motivates China's diplomatic transformation? There is no secret answer, no master plan hatched behind the guarded walls of Zhongnanhai, where China's leaders work in central Beijing. Rather, a confluence of factors comes together, enhancing China's role on the world's stage.

China recognizes that to be a major power, with its political influence approaching its economic strength, as well as to protect its own vital interests, the country must mount a pro-active diplomacy. Following are eight drivers, or underlying motivations, of China's new kind of foreign policy.

One, China has debilitating overcapacity in heavy industries, like steel, cement, aluminum, plate glass, chemicals, and if these can be transported and utilized by less developed countries, all benefit.

Two, China is embarking on its comprehensive 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), with the ambitious goal of becoming a moderately prosperous society by 2020. Foreign trade of higher value-added products, plus access to advanced foreign technologies, are an integral part of the Plan-and these can be facilitated by China's diplomacy and good image.
People watch TV news showing the DPRK's breaking news, at Seoul station, in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, Jan 6, 2016. [Photo/IC]

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced on Wednesday that it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb. China Daily's Zhang Zhouxiang interviewed three experts to bring readers their views:

China has long insisted that its cooperation with the DPRK be based on the latter not conducting nuclear tests. What the DPRK claims to have done on Wednesday violates that principle and will damage Beijing-Pyongyang relations.

Worse, it means more trouble for China because the US might strengthen its military presence in the ROK. The US has been trying to deploy anti-ballistic missile defense systems in the ROK, and China has been persuading the latter not to agree to it. By claiming to have tested an H-bomb, the DPRK has offered the best excuse to the US to get the ROK's nod to do so.

Moreover, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has condemned the DPRK's nuclear test and it is highly possible that his fellow right-wing politicians will devise their own nuclear program as a deterrence to the DPRK. If such a scenario becomes reality, it will undermine China's strategic arrangements in the Asia-Pacific region.

To prevent this from happening, China needs to take more effective measures to prevent the US from exploiting the situation and quicken its pace to deploy anti-ballistic missile systems in the ROK. China also needs to coordinate its measures with Russia to exert more pressure on the DPRK to abandon its nuclear program.

Gao Cheng, a researcher at the National Institute of International Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Experts and archaeologists examine condition of a 2,000-year-old tomb in Jiangxi province of a deposed emperor of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24). Guo Jing / For China Daily

A gang of grave robbers were recently convicted at Chaoyang Intermediate People's Court in Northeast China's Liaoning province. Five members of the gang got life imprisonment while another 25 received prison sentences ranging from three to 15 years. The nation has a relics protection law, but local governments seldom take effective action to protect ancient tombs and their relics, says Beijing News:

The case is the biggest of its kind since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, not only because of the gang's efficiency in robbing 17 tombs within 16 months, but also because of its professionalism and the way its members carefully divided all the tasks among them.

Reports show that they were better equipped than most research teams of cultural relics protection departments and they stole 1,168 ancient relics, of which 125 pieces are first-class relics according to the national standards.

The case also reveals that local governments are not fulfilling their duty to protect ancient relics. During the 16 months in which they robbed ancient tombs, the local governmental departments did not take any action to protect the tombs and the relics they contained. Most of them even did not realize that the ancient tombs supposedly under their protection were being pillaged. The agencies supposed to protect this national heritage have failed in their duty and the officials deserve punishment.

And these are not the only officials that should be punished. Even though the State adopted a relics protection law as early as 1982, local governments seldom provide enough funding support for the relics protection departments because that does not produce any immediate economic returns. Without funds the local relics protection departments are rather weak.

On the other hand, as this case shows there are highly professional grave robbing gangs that have formed complete chains, they are well-equipped and can easily get cash for their illicitly got relics. If the ill-equipped local relics protection departments compete with them, they are bound to fail.

In order to end the illegal practice of grave robbing and better protect the relics, it is necessary to sever the interests chain. That requires more coordination of resources nationwide, and higher-level authorities need to intervene.

(China Daily 01/08/2016 page8)
According to media reports the number of empty personal pension fund accounts has grown rapidly in recent years. At the end of 2014, the accumulated value of empty personal accounts was more than 3.5 trillion yuan ($533 billion).

Since 1997, China has implemented a pension fund management system that pools the money in individual pension accounts, which means personal accounts are managed within an accumulated social account. Since the beginning, the premiums paid by employees and employers into personal pension fund accounts have been used to pay the pensions of those that have already retired.

As the number of empty personal accounts has grown bigger and bigger, the central government launched a pilot project aimed at solving the issue in 2001. Although 13 provinces are involved in the pilot project, no other provincial governments have followed up because of the lukewarm trial results in a number of areas.

Recently the Central Economic Work Conference listed pension reform as one of the six key reforms for this year, and proposed accelerating reform of the pension insurance system. The discussion could come up with effective solutions to the issue.

(China Daily 1/08/2016 page8)




China's Global Newspaper





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I think my fascination with all things naval, and specifically aircraft carriers, began with my dad. He left school at the age of 14 and became a Boy Seaman at HMS Ganges, a training establishment in eastern England for junior Royal Navy Ratings.

As a kid I loved to hear him talk about his time at sea before the Second World War - I still have his navy handbooks .

But over the years, it was the aircraft carrier that grabbed my attention. They are virtual floating cities, with their own escort of warships and the ability to go anywhere to launch aircraft and helicopters at will.

One of the high points of my career was landing, in an aircraft, on a carrier. But that's another story - don't worry, I was a passenger, not the pilot.

If as a country you want to project power, the carrier for many is the way to go.

Now China is joining that fairly exclusive club, with the announcement that it is, for the first time, building a carrier to its own design, working from lessons learned with its first foray into carrier power projection, the Liaoning, a 67,500 ton former Soviet carrier which was 70 percent completed and lying in Ukraine when China acquired it and effectively rebuilt it.

Now, according to the People's Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN, construction of the country's first indigenous carrier is well under way in Dalian, and it will be able to operate China's own-design J-15 fighters and other aircraft. More carriers, I suspect, are planned.

So what will China do with its new blue-water naval ability? (For the record, a blue water navy is the maritime equivalent of being able to reach far from one's own shores, unlike the coastal capability that most nations maintain.)

According to Senior Captain Zhang Junshe of the PLAN Military Studies Research Institute, China's new carriers will be used to maintain national interests, deliver humanitarian aid and run combat patrols.

In other words, just what other members of the international carrier club do with their behemoths.

The US has 19 carriers, of which 10 are nuclear-powered. They roam the seas, a symbol of American power.

I for one welcome China's entry into the carrier club, because I believe it balances to an extent the powers that exist on the world's oceans.

Let's take an example - China now has a small naval facility in the east African country of Djibouti so that its warships, which are part of the UN anti-piracy operation, can refuel and carry out basic maintenance.

There's also another important factor - someone's going to have to take care of security for the maritime section of the new Silk Route, part of China's Belt and Road Initiative in which so much money is being invested.

The route will link China with Europe, and it would make eminent sense for China's carriers to take on that role.

France already has a nuclear-powered carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, on active service and the UK is rejoining the club with two of the biggest warships it has ever built - the Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales, both conventionally-powered and weighing in at 70,600 tons, will enter service between this year and 2020.

So welcome to the club, China.

The author is managing editor of China Daily Europe, based in London. Contact the writer at chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com
Undated handout photograph of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman distributed by Mexico's Attorney General's Office, in this file photo released July 13, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

MEXICO CITY -- After an early morning raid in northwestern Mexico's Sinaloa State's town of Los Mochis by Mexican police and marines on Friday, Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera was recaptured, six months after his second prison break.

The news was broken by President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took to Twitter, saying "Mission accomplished. We got him. I want to inform all Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been arrested."

In a second message, he thanked security forces for this "important victory...for Mexico."

In a raid on a house in Los Mochis at 6am, security forces exchanged shots with suspected accomplices of Guzman, leaving at least five dead and six captured, the Secretariat of the Navy announced Friday.

Mexican daily El Universal reported that authorities were currently submitting Guzman to genetic and photographic tests to fully ascertain whether they have arrested the right man.

The raid was planned after receiving a tip-off that armed men were present in a house of the town's Scally neighborhood.

Upon arriving at the house, the marines were met with gunfire. They returned fire, and one soldier was lightly injured in the exchange. His life is not in danger, according to medical sources.

During the operation, around 100 soldiers and one helicopter were deployed around at least eight streets of the Scally neighborhood.
(Photo : Getty Images) Huawei is set to launch the Honor 5X phone in India at the end of this month.

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China's biggest cellphone vendor Huawei has been parading a series of its newest products in Las Vegas at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show this week. The company has revealed that its Huawei Honor 5X smartphone will debut in India on Jan. 28.





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Huawei Honor 5X is a product of Honor, a subsidiary of Huawei that competes with Xiaomi's affordable phones. The phone is expected to be launched at a media event that will be hosted by the company in New Delhi. The Shenzhen-based cellphone maker has allegedly sent out invitations for the anticipated roll out, which teases fans about a "Faster Better Stronger" smartphone.



For a mid-range priced mobile device, specs is imperative. Huawei's Honor 5X flaunts a 5.5-inch Full HD display with a resolution of 1080x1921 pixels. It runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop system and has a dual SIM functionality. It is also run by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with a 2GB/3GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which can expand up to 128GB via an external memory.



In addition, the Honor 5X is equipped with a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual-LED flash and 28mm wide-angle lens. The front camera has 5 megapixels with 22 wide-angle and 4P lens. Its battery capacity is 3000 mAh and is supported by Quick Charge 3.0, which can power up the phone to 50 percent in half an hour. Honor 5X was designed with the Huawei's newly released Finger 2.0 tech that can read fingerprints and unlock phones in just 0.5 seconds.



The smartphone supports Bluetooth 4.1, USB 2/0. Wi-Fi 802 and 4G LTE. It weighs nearly 160 grams with a dimension of 151.3 x 76.3 x 8.15mm. It comes in a variety of available colors including Sunset gold and Silver.



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TagsHuawei, technology, huawei honor 5x
(Photo : Getty Images/Kyodo News - Pool/Yoshuke Mizuno - Pool) US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) shakes the hand of China's President Xi Jinping (R) in the above photo taken n Beijing, China. The United States and its allies in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) have urged China to join moves to impose tough sanctions on Pyongyang for openly disregarding the body's repeated calls for an end to nuclear detonations, according to reports.

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The United States and its allies in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) are urging China to join moves to impose tough sanctions on Pyongyang for openly disregarding the body's repeated calls for an end to nuclear detonations, according to reports.



Following a third North Korean nuclear test in less than seven years, diplomats from the member countries of the UNSC held an emergency meeting in New York on Wednesday to discuss possible sanctions against Pyongyang. The council had earlier condemned the test, and said it would begin work on a draft resolution that would contain "further significant measures."



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China, North Korea's only major ally, is a permanent member of the UNSC.



The latest of North Korea's nuclear detonations -- the second since Kim Jong Un came to power in 2012 -- has unleashed an international uproar, with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon warning that it threatens regional security and undermines the global effort to contain the spread of nuclear weapons.



"I demand [North Korea] cease any further nuclear activities," Ban said.



The US envoy to the UN, Samantha Power, said that Washington wants a "tough, comprehensive and credible package of new sanctions" to punish Kim for the test blast. Both South Korea and Japan have vowed to work with the US to forge a strong UNSC response to North Korea's reckless behavior.



"We agreed that the provocative act by North Korea is unacceptable," Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the press recently. "We will deal with this situation in a firm manner through the cooperation of the United Nations Security Council."



Tough talk aside, however, most analysts agree that no move to punish North Korea will prosper without China's blessing. Beijing had earlier lambasted North Korea for conducting the weapons test, and warned that Pyongyang should do nothing more to add to an already tense situation.



China provides much-needed food aid, loans and humanitarian assistance packages to North Korea, which has over the past few years buckled under the weight of various international sanctions. Experts agree that a withdrawal of China's support would cripple North Korea, and possibly precipitate a costly social and political upheaval.



Speaking to Foreign Policy Magazine on condition of anonymity, a UNSC diplomat said China did not try to block the UNSC from confronting North Korea for the blast the way it did when the council sought to condemn Pyongyang for its human rights record last month.



"China was signaling they were prepared to consider further measures," the diplomat said of Wednesday's discussions. "The question will be, 'How strong will those measures be? -- and we have had no discussion of that yet."



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(Photo : Reuters/David Gray) Beijing has appointed Li Shulei as the new chief of the government's anti-corruption watchdog

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President Xi Jinping's top aide has been appointed chief of Beijing's anti-corruption watchdog, a move that observers say signals the government's intensified corruption crackdown against erring government officials and Communist Party members.



Li Shulei, 51, assumed his new role on Thursday as the secretary of Beijing's Commission for Disciplinary Inspection. Since President Xi assumed office, scores of government officials have been found guilty of committing graft.



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Li headed Fujian's public relations department for a year before he was named Beijing's anti-corruption chief.



Li was Xi's deputy in the elite Central Party School from 2007-2012 when President Xi headed it as secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee Secretariat.



According to Hong Kong and Taiwan media, Li served as Xi's speechwriter during the time he was head of the secretariat.



Li allegedly wrote the President's speech that he delivered two years ago before an arts and literature forum which called on all the artists to serve the people and preserve socialism.



Before joining the Communist Party School at 24, Li obtained a degree in library science and a Masters and Doctorate degree in Literature at the prestigious Peking University.



After two years as one of the school's think tank, Li became the youngest vice president of the school at 44 years old.



Political analysts say Li's appointment heralds the start of a more vigorous anti-corruption campaign by President Xi, who vowed to eradicate graft and corruption during his term of office.



Li's appointment is also seen by many as the result of his closeness with the President despite having no experience at all in discipline inspection.



Although his government experience is relatively little, political observers say Li is more than capable of running the new office being entrusted to him.



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TagsBeijing's Commission for Disciplinary Inspection, Li Shulei, Central Party School
(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) The one-wheeled hoverboard of Chinese company Changzhou First International Trade has been seized by authorities at the CES 2016 in Las Vegas over copyright infringement.

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The outlet of a Chinese electric skateboard company has been raided by US marshals at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The hoverboard vendor was reportedly raided on Thursday for displaying products that have been patented by another company, according to Bloomberg.



Changzhou First International Trade showed off their electric skateboard called Trotter during the event. However, two US marshals came and got hold off their booth's displays including the one-wheeled skateboard and its promotional signs and fliers. During the incident, even the company's personnel were reportedly stunned.



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The raid occured after the US marshals served a court order filed by Silicon Valley startup Future Motion claiming copyright infringement. The company's CEO Kyle Doerksen claims that the self-balancing electric skateboard presented by the Chinese company was his original idea and he reportedly obtained patent for it in the past months.



Future Motion sent its legal team as well as two marshals to the Chinese company's booth to confiscate their products. Consumer Technology Association, the event organizers, and the Changzhou First International Trade booth manager, both refused to give any statements, saying that they need to consult their respective lawyers first.



Future Motion's patent protects the company from potential rivals by preventing others from designing something that might confuse consumers with the OneWheel. The company claims it first became aware of Changzhou First International Trade after the company posted a OneWheel photo in an online forum. In the company's listing, posted on Alibaba, it said it can reproduce about 2000 pieces of the hoverboard at $500 each. This is actually threefold cheaper compared with Future Motions' $1500 OneWheel. According to Alibaba, some retailers from Iceland, United States and Germany patronized the product and bought a total worth of $70,000.



Future Motion's legal consultant Shawn Kolitch initially contacted the Chinese manufacturer's attention through a letter demanding an end to its production and sale of the hoverboard. But he never gotten a response. Kolitch is said to have personally approached the booth a day before the event started to register his client's complaints. But to no avail. On Wednesday afternoon, Kolitch took the matter to court and a order was issued before the Chinese company's booth was raided and its products were confiscated.



Meanwhile, Changzhou First International Trade claims it was surprised to find out it had broken the law. The Chinese firm says that it has long been creating hoverboards in secret to prevent other Chinese enterprises from copying, and this is the first time its name has been dragged into piracy issues.



Even if the CES was flooded with hoverboard products, the Chinese company's surfing electric scooters got attention because it only has one wheel, instead of the conventional two wheels. Apparently, this is similar to Future Motion's OneWheel that utilizes computer and sensor technology to maintain balance.



Kolitch said the Chinese company could be served a permanent injunction and be made to monetary damages as well as attorney's fees if the court rules in his client's favor. He revealed that his client's patents are awaiting approval in other countries including China. The two patents involved in the case are the OneWheel vehicle's design (for which Future Motion acquired a patent a few months ago) and the self-stabilizing ability of the skateboard (which was patented in April 2014).



"If customers start to view the space as full of low-quality, low-cost products, that reflects poorly on everybody," said Doerksen. "We hate to see someone poison the well."



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(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) In the face of heavy smog, farmers in Hebei have devised a way and utilize electric lamps to grow plants.

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As heavy smog continues to blanket Hebei Province in China, farmers have come up with a brilliant way to keep their crops and plants alive using electric lamps.



When smog covers the atmosphere, there is already no room for sunshine. Northern China has experienced persistent smog over the past few months. This has not only led to health troubles among humans but also growth problems in plants.



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But farmers in Hebei have devised a way to provide their plants with enough light and sustain their lives by setting up lamps all over their vegetative sheds. The light from the lamps is used to provide the sufficient amount of sunlight plants need in order to grow.



According to agricultural experts, electric lamps can add more yields, fasten growth cycle and protect plants from diseases, pests and insects. "Growing under lamps could make plants more hardy," Zhang Shusen, Yaluanwan Agricultural Park technician in Qian'an, said.



As the province is continuously affected by heavy smog, more farmers are embracing the idea and it has proven to be quite efficient. Cai Yanmei, a farmer in Qian'an, revealed she has been growing strawberries under the rays of artificial light from electric lamps. "The weather has been bad this winter. There wasn't enough sunshine before due to the smog and the plants didn't grow well," she said.



Although experts were expecting clearer sky this winter, North China, in contrast, has been suffering from the bouts of smog. The bad weather has already disrupted traffic and even led to the suspension of classes. In November and December, China's capital city Beijing, which is close to Heibei, went 22 days with bad air.



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TagsFarmers, smog, Hebei Province, artificial light
(Photo : Getty Images/Chris Kleponis) China's President Xi Jinping (left) and US President Barrack Obama (right) shake hands during a press briefing in Washington, DC, earlier this year. Analysts have pointed to the increasingly prominent rivalry between China and the US, which some say has fostered a mutual distrust between the two countries.

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The long-awaited US congressional approval of proposed changes in the governing structure of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has brought to the forefront of the world stage a simmering rivalry between the China and the US, according to political analysts.



The overhaul doubles the funds available to the monetary body even as it increases the voting share of emerging economies such as China, India, Russia and Brazil at the expense of European and Persian Gulf nations. The US retains its vetoing power within the body with a 16.7 percent voting share.



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The Obama administration spearheaded the reforms in 2010, but the US republican opposition had prevented the IMF from implementing the changes. The delay lasted five years.



"Our national security and our economic security were very much at stake," US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said of the negotiations with the US opposition. "And as someone who for the last three years has gone to international meetings, I can tell you it was ratcheting to the point where it was doing real damage."



The five-year impasse prompted widespread criticism of the Washington-based IMF, and is reportedly the reason why China sought the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).



In a recent report, the New York Times nods to an undeclared -- but by now all too well-known -- rivalry between the US and China, and suggests it was the controversial IMF impasse that finally pulled the superpower tit-for-tat out of the bag.



"China's economy has slowed, while the United States' growth buoys the world," says the Times report.



The IMF breakthrough has, according to the Times, allayed fears among US allies that it had retreated from its erstwhile position of global economic leadership even as China's economic juggernaut has claimed a lion's share of geopolitical eminence over the past few years.



Diplomatic leaders in Beijing have acknowledged the rivalry, as well, with one Chinese official publicly stating that it stems from Washington's repeated efforts to thwart China's international agenda.



In an article she wrote for the Financial Times, China's vice minister of foreign affairs, Fu Ying, says Washington's biggest concern in Asia appears to be the possibility that America will be "pushed out" by China.



Describing the US world order as "a suit that no longer fits", Fu claims Washington's naval and diplomatic maneuverings in the Asia Pacific region threaten to turn China's territorial disputes with its neighbors into strategic rivalries.



The vice minister observes that the US and its allies have been making strategic mistakes in one country after another since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. She goes on to criticize American leaders for encouraging the so-called Arab Spring after political upheavals in Tunisia in 2010.



"For the past three years the US has been trying to get out of the mess by proposing a 'pivot to Asia'," Fu says. "However, by making China the target of this initiative, it has fuelled mutual distrust between the two countries."



But Fu -- a career diplomat who has worked in the Philippines, the UK, Indonesia and Australia -- says she believes world affairs have to be handled by countries working together.



"China needs to maintain stable and constructive relations with the US, while assuming more international responsibilities commensurate with its growing importance," Fu says.



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TagsUS, China-US relations, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
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.
A group of Fitbit users have filed a class-action lawsuit against the California-based tech firm due to the inaccurate data produced by its PurePulse heart rate monitors.

According to the plaintiffs, the company falsely advertised the features of its Fitbit Charge HR and Surge wearable devices, CNET reported.

The lawsuit noted that the devices' fitness feature significantly underestimated their actual heart rates. One of the complainants, Colorado native Teresa Black, said she noticed the inaccurate readings of the PurePulse Trackers during a session with her personal trainer earlier in June of 2015.

She said that while she was exercising, her tracker indicated that she only had a heart rate of 82 beats per minute, which is within the average range while resting. However, after her personal trainer manually measured her heart rate, Black was surprised to learn that it was actually 160 bpm, according to CBS News.

Another user, 37-year-old Kate McLellan from San Diego, reported a similar experience while exercising. She said the Fitbit device she was using at that time recorded a rate of 114 bpm, when it was actually 155.

Many of the complainants, who also went through the same experience, said that the inaccurate readings of the Fitbit devices could have serious effects on their health while working out.

"Plaintiff Black was approaching the maximum recommended heart rate for her age, and if she had continued to rely on her inaccurate PurePlus Tracker, she may well have exceeded it, thereby jeopardizing her health and safety," the lawsuit stated.

Due to the underestimated readings of the Fitbit Charge HR and Surge models, which retail for $150 and $250 respectively, the plaintiffs are asking the company to agree on a monetary settlement. However, it is not yet clear how much the complainants are asking for.

Fitbit, on the other hand, defended its products and said that it is willing to face the complainants in court.

"We do not believe this case has merit," the company said according to NY Daily News. "Fitbit stands behind our heart rate technology and strongly disagrees with the statements made in the complaint and plans to vigorously defend the lawsuit."

Although the company said that its devices track important data regarding the users' health, these should not be used for medical or scientific purposes.

"It's also important to note that Fitbit trackers are designed to provide meaningful data to our users to help them reach their health and fitness goals, and are not intended to be scientific or medical devices," the company said.
Americans watch a lot of movies. A 2015 poll from Rasmussen showed that 9 percent of those surveyed said they watched a movie every day or nearly every day; almost half (47%) of the respondents answered that they watched once a week or more frequently.

But are we watching a lot of different moviesor just the same ones over and over?

Older movies are more accessible today than ever beforebut over 50 percent of the fans highest-rated movies at IMDB were released in the last 25 years. Nearly a quarter of the films that IMDB voters love best were released in the 1990s.

What explains this? With so many movies at our disposal, why do we stick to the same favorites over and over? One reason might simply be choice paralysis: there are just more good movies than you can watch in a lifetime. Getting a footholdfinding a place to startcan feel intimidating.

Yet watching broadly helps us become more aware of the world around usand can even help us understand, feel empathy for, and learn how to love people who arent like us. Or it can give us a firmer grasp of film history that informs our future viewing. It can thrill us with unexpected beauty or wonder. And it can be a lot of fun.

But is picking at random the only alternative? Not at all.

Here are four ways to be intentional about expanding your film repertoire. Following one or more of these suggestions will not only expose you to a lot of great films you might otherwise have never seen, it will also make you better able to understand, appreciate, and enjoy the new films you watch.

Seek out other films by artists or directors whose work you have enjoyed.

You cant guarantee that just because you ...

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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.
Some countries banned Christmas. Ukraine is debating celebrating it twice.

Following the lead of the Russian Orthodox Church, Ukraine celebrates Christmas on January 7. But after the annexation of Crimea in February 2014, relations have been fraying between the Russian Orthodox Churchknown in Ukraine as the Moscow Patriarchateand the Ukrainian faithful.

Now two controversial petitions to add December 25 as an officially recognized holiday are circulating, a change that would bring Ukraine more in line with the West and take another step back from Russia.

The Moscow Patriarchate is losing favor with Ukrainians who want the church to clearly oppose Russias actions. For example, four months after the Crimea annexation, the church officially accepted it.

Meanwhile, the Kiev Patriarchatethe Moscow Patriarchates Orthodox competitionsent military chaplains to the front, declared that Putin was under Satans influence, and lobbied US senators ...

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens probably would have made $1.5 billion even without its female lead. But its only fair that a female character get her due when she plays such a centraland compelling, thanks to actress Daisy Ridley role in one of the most enduring and culturally-defining movie series in generations.

In response to fan outcry around the hashtag #WheresRey, Hasbro this week announced they would re-release Monopoly: Star Wars to include Rey, Ridleys character who wasnt part of the original game. Retailers are scrambling to stock enough Rey toys to satisfy demandespecially Target, which left Rey out of a set that included only the male leads from the movie.

This outcry didnt come as a surprise to director J.J. Abrams. Ive been to enough Comic-Cons to be well aware that Star Wars has a wonderful and enormous female fan base, he told USA Today. But a lot of the approach to marketing has been to sell to boys.

The StarWars audience traditionally skews heavily male, though Rentrak reports the audience was just 66 percent men on opening weekend. Sci-fi has proven a feminist-friendly storytelling genre, perhaps because it encourages wild imagination, but Star Wars is in some ways its own category: accessible sci-fi for the masses. Letting a woman carry the torch for the Force is still somewhat radical.

Some are calling Rey the female Luke Skywalker, a backhanded compliment that acknowledges despite beinggasp!a woman, she might also be a Chosen One. Similarly, Ridleys obvious beauty is considered beside the point in Star Wars; like other female characters, her costume doesnt draw ...

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UNC excavation crew in Galilee region of Israel uncover first known depictions of biblical heroines An excavation team in Israel has discovered the first known depiction of two biblical heroines from the Old Testament.

World to reach 8 billion people in November, India to unseat China as most populous in 2023: UN By Nov. 15, the worlds population is projected to reach 8 billion, and by 2023, India is projected to surpass China as the worlds most populous country, according to a new report from the United Nations.

Single, non-religious young adults are most unhappy Americans post-COVID-19: report Young adults under 35 who are single and non-religious report the highest levels of unhappiness since the COVID-19 pandemic began and since 1972, when the General Social Survey began measuring levels of happiness among Americans, a new analysis from the Institute of Family Studies suggests.
Christians in the Philippines suffering new levels of violence and intimidation

Christians in the Philippine island of Mindanao are suffering similar levels violence and intimidation as Christians in Iraq, according to a missionary priest.

In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, Father Sebastiano D'Ambra said he feared growing radicalisation in the Philippines after 14 people were murdered on Christmas Day. In one attack, a grenade was thrown at a chapel.

On Christmas Eve alone, Barnabas Fund reported, nine Christians were murdered as 200 Islamist gunmen raided villages in Mindanao.

"In some areas of Mindanao we are experiencing exactly the same thing as is happening in Iraq," said Father D'Ambra.

An Italian missionary of the Pontifical Istitute for Foreign Missions who has been in the Philippines for nearly 50 years, D'Ambra added: "The situation is a worrying one. It is difficult to establish for certain whether the violence was directed specifically against Christians, even though everything points to the fact that this was the case. Without doubt our brothers and sisters in the faith are at least one of the targets of these fundamentalist groups."

The anti-Christian violence was perpetrated by members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a paramilitary terror group that formed after a split from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2008 and in 2014 pledged allegiance to Islamic State. Many Christians were murdered and 10,000 homes destroyed in an attack by the front in 2013.

It used to be customary for Muslims to join in Christmas celebrations with their Christian neighbours in the Philippines, but this is becoming less common as mosque leaders have instructed Muslims not to do this.

Father D'Ambra, who in 1984 founded the Silsilah movement to promote dialogue between Christians and Muslims, said: "In the last three years the Islamic State has gained a growing number of supporters in Mindanao. ISIS is present here too, albeit not in such an extreme form as in the Middle East."

He said Christians were now "extremely cautious" around Muslims, some of whom have complained of a local government run by the majority Christian community, which accounts for about seven in ten of the population. Mindanoa, an island in the south of the Philippines, is Muslim-majority over all.

Father D'Ambra said: "The growth of radicalism throughout the world is making our mission more difficult and still more necessary than ever at the present time. Even some of the Islamic leaders who are working with us are becoming discouraged.

"We need to have more courage and more faith. It is a long process, but I am convinced that through dialogue it is possible to bring about real change and create a climate of mercy. Just as Pope Francis is inviting us to do in this Holy Year."
Government's 'British values' pledge could threaten Christian freedom, warns evangelical leader

British Christians could find their freedoms under threat unless government plans to regulate churches' activities with children are revised, according to the head of a leading evangelical body.

John Stevens, National Director of the Federation of Independent Evangelical Churches, is urging Christians to respond to the Department of Education's consultation on requiring out-of-school educational settings to be subject to inspections by education regulator Ofsted.

The move is part of the government's Counter-Extremism Strategy and is designed to identify and weed out the teaching of violent or extremist ideology. Though this is not specifically stated, of particular concern is the teaching of Islamist ideology of the kind represented in Birmingham's Trojan Horse scandal.

The Department of Education's proposals would require all institutions providing "tuition, training or instruction" to children under 19 for more than six to eight hours a week to register with their local authority. Critics say that this will include churches running holiday clubs and other activities.

Stevens says in his article: "The measures are framed in such a way as to threaten the freedoms and liberties of churches and Christians, especially if traditional Biblical beliefs are characterised as contrary to 'British values'." He warns that "the proposals in their current form might lead to state regulation of our gospel ministry to children and young people".

He says while Christians should affirm the desire to protect and safeguard children in all settings, they will "rightly be concerned by the desire of the state to prescribe what is taught".

"In particular the Government has failed to state categorically that it is not 'extremist' to teach traditional Christian beliefs about sex and sexuality, nor to teach the exclusive truth of the Christian faith in comparison with other religions."

Speaking to Christian Today, Stevens said that while the FIEC "completely understands" the government's desire to clamp down on extremism, the proposals were badly framed. He said that they would impose an extra level of regulation on churches that might deter them from putting on activities. They would also be exposed to "vexatious" complaints from people opposed to churches teaching traditional views of marriage and sexuality.

He instanced the recent media furore about Christian boxer Tyson Fury's comments about homosexuality and the trial of Pastor James McConnell in Northern Ireland for his comments about Muslims. He said the government needed to be much more explicit about what it meant by 'extremism'. "At the root of the problem is a lack of clarity and precision about what the government is actually trying to prevent," he said.

If the intention was to stop the promotion of hatred, violence and working to overthrow the democratic framework, "Christians would not be worried". However, at the moment Christians felt vulnerable because they feared being forced to approve of views they believed were unbiblical.

The consultation closes on Monday and Stevens urged concerned Christians to make their views known over the weekend.
Head of Christian charity warns of 'looming disaster' due to ageing populations and low birth rates

The head of a leading Christian charity has warned of "looming disaster" in Europe due to ageing populations and a low birth rate.

Nola Leach of Care was speaking to Christian Today after it was revealed that a scheme that allows members of the public to petition for new EU laws could be abandoned, because the public keeps asking for the wrong sorts of laws.

The European Citizens' Initiative is to be reviewed after a petition for a law to define marriage as between a man and a woman received more than a million signatures.

The aim of the initiative was to boost democracy by forcing the European Commission to look at proposals backed by more than a million signatories, the Daily Mail reports. But the success of Christian campaign groups in gaining support for traditional marriage has led to fears that the system could end up boosting euroscepticism.

European commissioners ordered the review at a recent meeting in Brussels.

The minutes of the meeting say: "During the ensuing discussion, the Members regretted that experience to date had shown that citizens' initiatives did not always move European law or the European project forward, but tended instead to involve highly controversial and emotionally charged issues of greater interest to minorities than to the vast majority of EU citizens and, ultimately, generated Euroscepticism."

Under the citizens' initiative scheme, the European Commission must consider changes in EU law if more than one million signatures on a petition are collected from at least seven member states.

One previous petition to phase out animal testing attracted 1.2 million signatures and another, to stop EU money being used to fund abortions or medical research on embryos, got 1.7million signatures.

The "Mums, Dads and Kids" petition for traditional marriage, to be launched officially next month, says that "wide parts of the population are very uncomfortable with the surreptitious re-definition of marriage" through same-sex marriage. It proposes a new law that would not prevent countries from offering same-sex marriages but would allow those that do not, to refrain from giving homosexual couples the same rights as heterosexual couples.

Nola Leach, chief executive of Care, told Christian Today: "It is extremely regrettable that the Commission are making noises about closing down the petitions scheme. Across Europe, aging populations coupled with a low birth rate signal a looming disaster and EU support for the family is urgently needed. The fact is there is no clear definition of the family in European law and what Care and others are seeking to do is provide one.

"There are clear benefits in doing so not least because family life is central to European society. This initiative took as its working definition the lowest common denominator of mum, dad and kids as a starting point to help inform a more clearly defined definition of family."

Paul Moynan, director of Christian charity Care for Europe, which is part of Care, said: "We want to see laws which support family life, and respect each member state's right to make their own family policies. With only 1.5 children being born to each European woman, there is an urgent need to encourage family life. Our populations are ageing and are less and less able to replace themselves."
Iranian government takes church from Chaldean Catholics to turn into Shi'ite shrine

A Christian parliamentarian in Iran has hit out at the regime's treatment of its minorities over the seizure of a Christian church.

The representative of the community in Iran's parliament, Jonathan Bet-Kelia, protested against the confiscation of a Chaldean church in the capital, Tehran, by government bodies who want to convert it into a Shi'ite shrine or 'Hussainiya'.

He criticised the attitude of the government toward religious minorities in a New Year speech in parliament, saying: "What is the use of our presence in a Parliament that considers us apostates?"

The land belonging to the Iranian Chaldean Catholic Church in Tehran's Patrice Lumumba Street was originally confiscated two years ago and the authorities have refused to hand it back.

Bet-Kelia said he had approached the special assistant to President Hassan Rouhani on ethnic minorities' affairs, Ali Younesi  a former Minister of Intelligence and Security who has been accused of ordering the arrests and assassinations of dissidents  but was told that nothing could be done.

Ali Safavi, a spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran  a major political grouping of Iranian exiles  said: "The brazen admission displays first and foremost the discriminatory and sectarian policies of the regime vis-a-vis Iran's religious minorities. At the same time, it speaks to the failure of Western policy to accommodate the regime in the futile hope that it will promote moderation and tolerance on the domestic front."

Christians and other minorities including Sunni Muslims are officially tolerated in Iran and have five seats reserved for them in the parliament. However, critics say that they are systematically excluded from government, military and security positions.

According to NCRI, the case of the Chaldean church is one of a number of examples where "the ruling clerics have systematically suppressed people of different faiths and even denied the minority Sunni Muslim population their basic rights".

Iran is the focus of increasing fears around the spread of instability in the Middle East after its furious reaction to the execution by Saudi Arabia of a Shi'ite cleric, Nimr al-Nimri. It is also backing Houthi rebels in Yemen, whose insurrection has seen the country descend into chaos with widespread civilian suffering.
Iraq's valuable treasures are being looted, stolen and destroyed by Islamic State

Thousands of artefacts and treasures have been stolen from Iraq since the 2003 invasion and the start of the Iraq war. Statues and treasure from the Akkadian era, which was between 2371BC and 2161BC, are among those that have disappeared. Much of it has been looted or destroyed by Islamic State.

"15,000 artefacts have been stolen since the occupation of the country in 2003," said a member of the Iraqi judiciary, Judge Suhail Nijm. He added: "There are ongoing efforts to retrieve some of these artefacts in Italy, including 88 Akkadian tablets which have been in the University of Rome's possession since 2006."

Suhail said that there was continuing correspondence with Italy in an attempt to retrieve the pieces, according to Al-Araby al-Jadeed.

Iraqi officials have accused US forces of stealing antiquities, in spite of regular video footage appearing online which shows jihadists destroying the region's irreplaceable cultural and relgious heritage.

In March militants "bulldozed" the renowned archaeological site of the ancient city of Nimrud in northern Iraq. There have also been videos of jihadists attacking a Mosul museum with sledgehammers, leading to global outrage.

In October, the FBI alerted art collectors and dealers to be "particularly careful" when trading in Near Eastern antiquities, warning that artefacts plundered by militants were now entering the marketplace.

Last year, Iraq's national museum in Baghdad re-opened after being shut for 12 years. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said this was to defy efforts "to destroy the heritage of mankind and Iraq's civilisation". There are believed to be thousands of sites rich in archaeological heritage still to be discovered in Iraq, covering the Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian civilisations.
Kerry says implementation of Iran nuclear deal is just 'days away'

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said the implementation of a nuclear deal agreed between Iran and six world powers was only days away, allowing tens of billions of dollars in sanctions against Iran to be lifted.

There is no date set yet for "implementation day" of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed on July 14 in which Tehran agreed to shrink its nuclear programme in exchange for some sanctions relief.

Outlining foreign policy milestones of the past year, Kerry pointed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action "from which we are days away from implementation, if all goes well".

He said he discussed implementation of the nuclear deal with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif during a phone call on Thursday. They also talked about tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia triggered by the execution by the Saudis of a Shi'ite cleric, he said.

"The foreign minister made it clear to me they intend to complete their obligations with respect to implementation day as rapidly as possible," said Kerry told reporters.

"We are currently engaged ourselves in making certain that we're prepared to move on that day. And I think it could come  without being specific  sooner rather than later."

Kerry said the United States would continue to ensure that Iran lives up to its commitments under the nuclear deal and press for the release of American prisoners "that have been unjustly detained" by Iran.

Senior Iranian officials have dismissed speculation that Iran is considering a prisoner exchange with the United States. Among Americans held by Iran is Washington Post correspondent, Jason Rezaian, who was arrested in July 2014.

Others include Christian pastor Saeed Abedini and Amir Hekmati, a former sergeant in the US Marine Corps. Robert Levinson, a private investigator, disappeared in Iran in 2007. Iran has claimed that the United States holds some 16 Iranians for bypassing sanctions and around 60 prisoners for other crimes.
Libya: 47 dead after worst bomb attack since Gadaffi

At least 47 people have been killed and 118 injured in an apparent suicide bomb attack at a police training centre in Western Libya.

The attack, which has been labelled the worst since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, took place as around 400 hundred police and coastguard cadets gathered for their morning meeting in the town of Zliten.

The town lies between the capital Tripoli and the port of Misrata.

"It was horrific, the explosion was so loud it was heard from miles away," Mayor Miftah Hamadi told Reuters by telephone. "All the victims were young, and all about to start their lives."

According to Reuters, the charred remains of a vehicle lay strewn across the ground near the police academy building and parked cars were mangled by the force of the blast.

Witnesses said residents ferried victims to Misrata hospitals in ambulances and cars, many with shrapnel wounds and some bodies too damaged to be identified.

Medical sources initially said 65 people had been killed, including some civilians. But Fozi Awnais, head of the crisis committee for the health ministry in Tripoli, said later that 47 people had died and 118 more were wounded.

The attack was not immediately claimed by a group, however suicide blasts and car bombings have increased in Libya as Islamist militants have taken advantage of the North African country's chaos to expand their presence.

Thursday's bombing follows a number of truck bombings in Misrata and further east claimed by ISIS.

Late on Thursday ISIS claimed another car bombing that killed at least seven in the oil port of Ras Lanuf. The port and a nearby terminal at Es Sider came under attack from militants earlier this week, in their most concerted effort to date against Libya's oil infrastructure.

Since a NATO-backed revolt ousted Gaddafi, Libya has slipped deeper into turmoil with two rival governments and a range of armed factions locked in a struggle for control of the OPEC state and its oil wealth.

In the chaos, ISIS militants have grown in strength, taking over the city of Sirte and launching attacks on oilfields.

On Monday, ISIS fighters launched an attack on Ras Lanuf and Es Sider, Libya's biggest oil export terminals, which are situated between Sirte and the eastern city of Benghazi.

Clashes over three days had already had already left 11 guards dead and set seven oil storage tanks on fire before Thursday evening's car bombing.

The ports have been closed since December 2014, and Libya's oil output has plunged to less than one quarter of a 2011 high of 1.6 million barrels per day.

The Zliten blast was the worst since an attack in February last year when three car bombs hit the eastern city of Qubbah, killing 40 people in what officials described as a revenge attack for Egyptian air strikes on Islamist militant targets.

Thursday's bombing has called into question Britain's current plans to deploy up to 1,000 troops into the country early this year, according to the Guardian. The police centre which was targeted on Thursday was one of the major training bases where British troops were planning to be based.

Western powers are pushing Libya's factions to back a UN-brokered national unity government to join forces against ISIS militants, but the agreement faces major resistance from several factions on the ground.

For more than a year, an armed faction called Libya Dawn has controlled Tripoli, setting up its own self-declared government, reinstating the former parliament and forcing the recognised government to operate in the east of the country.

Western officials say forming a united government would be the first step in Libya seeking international help to fight against ISIS, including training for a new army and possible air strikes against militant targets.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
Malaysian mother loses court battle over conversion of children to Islam

A kindergarten teacher in Malaysia is to appeal to a higher court after she lost a case challenging the conversion of all her three children to Islam by her ex-husband.

M. Indira Gandhi will appeal to Malaysia's Federal Court after the Court of Appeal ruled that her children's conversion could only be overturned by a sharia court and not a civil court.

The ruling highlights the predicaments faced by converts and others in Malaysia. It also means that Gandhi lost the right to be reunited with her daughter who has been in the custody of her ex-husband since the divorce nine years ago.

Gandhi, a Hindu, cannot in fact go to a sharia court to get the conversions of all three children overturned because she is not a Muslim.

The lawyer S. Selvarajah, who represented the Catholic church in its recent lengthy and ultimately unsuccessful battle to use the word "Allah" for God, said Gandhi will have no choice but to complete the legal process and have her case heard by the Federal Court.

The case is being watched with interest in Malaysia because of the controversies over conversions that take place there. Under Malaysia's federal constitution, a guardian or parent can legally decide the religion of any child of theirs under the age of 18.

Gandhi is arguing that the conversion of her three children by her former husband Muhammad Riduan Abdullah is unconstitutional because it was decided by one parent only, according to Malaysian Insider.

Two of the children, Tevi Darsiny and Karan Dinish, are in the care of their mother while the youngest, Prasana Diksa, is in the care of her father, originally called K. Patmanathan.

Former federal minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said in his blog, The Zaidgeist, that the case made him feel "angry and very sad".

He said: "It's heart-wrenching to know that a mother has been denied custody of her child simply because her ex-husband, Muhammad Riduan Abdullah (ne K. Pathmanathan), converted their daughter, then aged two years, to Islam."

He added: "It has been almost nine years since Indira separated from Riduan, and I expect that the Court of Appeal decision will be upheld by the Federal Court. I ask myself: what kind of country have we become to produce such harsh laws and heartless judges? If Indira had been a Muslim mother, and the former husband did the unilateral conversion of the daughter to say Christianity, would the decision still be the same? Of course not. Indira did not get justice because she is not a Muslim.

"I have made reference to Indira's case in the books I have written, and I will not dwell on the law any further. I just feel sick, thinking how the legal system cannot grant relief to a mother who has been deprived of her daughter for so many years."

He added: "I would like to appeal to all Malaysians who care about this case to start raising funds; not to cover the legal costs of the appeal to the Federal Court, which will be futile, but to make a film about the tragedy suffered by Indira."
Mexico: Persecution forces 30 Christians from their homes because of their faith

Armed villagers raided and destroyed the homes of Protestants in Leyva Velazques village, Chiapas, Mexico on 4 January in the latest example of religious persecution in the country, according to a human rights organisation.

Entrances into the village were blocked by locals forcing the Protestants to flee to the nearby mountains rather than seek help in a neighbouring village, Jorge Lee Galindo, Director of Impulso 18, told International Christian Concern (ICC).

Two men, the commissioner of the community, Jimenez Hernandez, and the municipal agent, Francisco Jimenez Santiz, are thought to be responsible for inciting the violence.

This is not an isolated incident in the village. According to ICC, seven Protestants were arbitrarily imprisoned when they refused to renounce their faith in December 2015.

Protestants are a minority religion in Mexico and "in the rural areas where we see persecution, many villages and their councils are dominated by adherents to syncretistic Catholicism," ICC's advocacy manager, Nathaniel Lance, told Christian Today.

Syncretistic Catholicism is a religion formed of components of Catholicism and indigenous beliefs and rituals.

The victims of persecution are "on the fringe of Mexican society", Lance said.

"As non-Spanish speaking, rural, Protestant Christians, they have no access to the financial, legal, or political resources necessary to end the persecution they suffer."

Persecution is likely to continue "as long as the Mexican government continues to ignore [it], and refuses to prosecute those responsible", Lance added. He said the government is unlikely to engage with the persecution as "there is no political incentive to take action".

Despite Mexico's consitution protecting freedom of worship, the government uses the Law of Uses and Customs  which states that indigenous culture and customs should be protected  as an excuse not to act.

"They use this to say that the persecution in these areas are part of the indigenous culture," Lance said.

"There is little media or governmental attention paid to these cases both internationally and in Mexico, which is why raising awareness of persecution is vital."

ICC staff visited Mexico last year and conservatively estimated that there were over 70 open cases of religious persecution against minority Christian communities, with between 20 and 100 victims each, in the states of Chiapas, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla and Guerrero. This equates to thousands of victims and only represents incidents that have been reported.

The persecution often begins with "financial disagreements, where village leaders want the Protestants to pay for the religious festivals, and other things used for syncretistic Catholic rituals," Lance said.

"When the Protestant Christians refuse to pay, these situations then escalate to attempted forced conversion, imprisonment, forced expulsion from homes, burning of houses and violent threats."

It is important to note that the Protestant community is not the sole victim of persecution in Mexico. In 2014, more Catholic priests were killed in Mexico than anywhere else in the world, typically in cartel-related violence.
North Korea nuclear talks to take higher profile

Sputtering talks on ending North Korea's nuclear plans will gain a higher profile this week with an unprecedented meeting of ministers, but lingering questions on the North's ambitions threaten to drag the process down.



U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will have her first meeting with the North's top diplomat, Pak Ui-chun, when foreign ministers from six countries involved in North Korean disarmament talks hold discussions at a forum in Singapore tentatively set for Wednesday.



The meeting will add momentum to a disarmament-for-aid deal the North struck with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, analysts said, but the informal gathering will likely shine little light on the North's secret plans to enrich uranium for weapons or proliferate technology for profit.



Rice told reporters before a refuelling stop in Ireland on Monday that she would make clear in her first meeting with North Korea this week it must meet its obligations and come clean on all aspects of its nuclear program.



"I believe there will be a very strong message that the obligations need to be met and that the verification protocol really needs to be completed and that it has to be a verification protocol that can give us confidence that we are able to verify the accuracy of the North Korean declaration," Rice said.



In recent weeks, the United States and North Korea have pushed the deal forward, with Pyongyang providing a long-delayed list of its plutonium inventory and Washington starting to take the North off a terrorism blacklist and removing trade sanctions.



"The unanswered issues would be handed over to the next president of the United States," said Kim Sung-han, Korea University international relations professor.



The North's nuclear list did not mention weaponry or facilities other than its well-known Yongbyon nuclear plant where it has been producing weapons-grade plutonium for years.



"The Bush administration is just aiming at disabling the plutonium program completely," Kim said, adding the Bush team did not have enough time to accomplish much more.



Some analysts said the U.S. administration, mindful of its legacy in the last months of the Bush presidency, is paying attention to bipartisan and global pressure to engage North Korea, as well as Iran, at a high level.



The North Korean nuclear talks have a history of taking one step forward and then one step back, and while the administration is hoping to score points, Pyongyang could slow things down by not allowing for verification of its plutonium claims.



Conservative stalwarts have also been criticizing the Bush administration for giving away too much to the North.



But it has been increasingly in North Korea's interest to win concessions from the United States, as the impoverished North has moved away from major benefactor South Korea in anger at the policies of its new president, who has backed a tough line toward Pyongyang.



Once the United States lifts its economic sanctions, analysts estimate North Korea could see a $2 billion (1 billion pounds) boost to its some $20 billion a year economy as it becomes easier for investors to move money in and out of the isolated country.



The Association of South East Asian Nations Regional Forum, held this week in Singapore, is the only annual event that brings together the foreign ministers of the six countries in the nuclear talks.



At a previous meeting in 2004, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met then North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun.
North Korea nuclear test: Pressure grows on China to rein in its ally

South Korea unleashed a high-decibel propaganda barrage across its border with North Korea on Friday in retaliation for its nuclear test, while the United States called on China to end "business as usual" with its ally.

The broadcasts, in rolling bursts from walls of loudspeakers at 11 locations along the heavily militarized border, blare rhetoric critical of the North Koran regime as well as "K-pop" music, ratcheting up tension between the rival Koreas.

South Korea, which has grown increasingly close to China in recent years, also said its foreign minister would speak with his Chinese counterpart later on Friday.

Wednesday's nuclear test angered both the United States and China, which was not given prior notice, although the US government and weapons experts doubt Pyongyang's claim that the device it set off was a hydrogen bomb.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he had made clear in a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China's approach to North Korea had not succeeded.

"China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respected to give them space to implement that," Kerry told reporters. "Today, in my conversation with the Chinese, I made it very clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual."

China is North Korea's main economic and diplomatic backer, although relations between the two Cold War allies have cooled in recent years.

China said after the call with Kerry that it was willing to communicate with all parties, including the United States.

"Wang Yi stressed that China has staunchly dedicated itself to the goal of the peninsula's denuclearization and to maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

South Korea's foreign ministry had asked for a phone call with Wang right after North Korea announced on Wednesday it had tested a hydrogen bomb, the South's Yonhap News Agency said.

However, the call had been delayed due to China's "internal scheduling", it said, citing an unidentified official.

Troops deployed, tours cancelled

The South Korean broadcasts are considered an insult by the isolated North which has in the past threatened military strikes to stop them.

The last time South Korea deployed the loudspeakers, in retaliation for a landmine blast in August that wounded two South Korean soldiers, it led to an armed standoff and exchange of artillery fire.

"We urge South Korea to exercise restraint," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said during a visit to Japan, after the South resumed the broadcasts.

"It is simply rising to the bait."

The sound from the speakers can carry for 10 km (6 miles) into North Korea during the day and more than twice that at night, Yonhap reported.

A male announcer could be heard from South Korea telling North Koreans that Kim Jong Un, the leader of their impoverished country, and his wife wear clothes costing thousands of dollars. Another message said Kim's policy to boost both the economy and its nuclear programme was unrealistic.

North Korea boosted troop deployments in front-line units on Friday, and South Korea raised its military readiness to the highest level at locations near the loudspeakers.

The South vowed to retaliate against any attack on the equipment, raised its cyber security alert and canceled tours of the Demilitarised Zone on the border.

The majority of North Korea's business is done with China, which bought 90 per cent of its exports in 2013, according to data from South Korea's International Trade Association.

Kerry said he and Wang agreed to work closely to determine what measures could be taken given increasing concern about the nuclear test. He said America has a "firm and continued commitment to regional security and global nonproliferation".

The Global Times, an influential Chinese tabloid, said it was unfair to expect China alone to bring about change in Pyongyang.

"There is no hope to put an end to the North Korean nuclear conundrum if the US, South Korea and Japan do not change their policies toward Pyongyang. Solely depending on Beijing's pressure to force the North to give up its nuclear plan is an illusion," it said in an editorial.

"The China-North Korea relationship should not be dragged into antagonism. Beijing has participated in previous sanctions on the North. Whether China will take tougher measures hinges on the decision of the UN Security Council," it said.

US Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives could join forces in a rare display of unity to tighten sanctions on North Korea.

Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, told reporters that Democrats would support a North Korea bill likely to be brought for a vote by Republicans next week. A congressional source said it was expected as soon as Monday.

The House measure would target banks facilitating North Korea's nuclear programme and authorise freezing of US assets of those directly linked to illicit North Korean activities. It would also penalise those involved in business providing North Korea with hard currency.

It was unclear how more sanctions would deter North Korea, which has conducted four nuclear tests since 2006.

The United States and South Korea are limited in their military response. Washington sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers over South Korea in a show of force after North Korea last tested a nuclear device in 2013.

North Korea responded then by threatening a nuclear strike on the United States.

A South Korean military official told Reuters that Seoul and Washington had discussed the deployment of US strategic weapons on the Korean peninsula, but declined to give details. Media said the assets could include B-2 and B-52 bombers, and a nuclear-powered submarine.
Police officer gives prayer instead of ticket to speeding driver, crying with him as they pray for his cancer-stricken daughter

A truck driver from the U.S. state of Indiana got a most pleasant surprise when he received not a ticket but a sympathetic prayer instead from a state trooper who stopped him along a busy highway for breaking the speed limit.

Rodney Gibson said he was emotionally disturbed while speeding down a busy highway in Bloomington, Indiana on Monday after he was told by doctors that his daughter was not responding to the treatment they're giving for her breast cancer, ABC affiliate WRTV reported.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Todd Durnil told ABC News that he pulled Gibson over for a speeding violation. When he approached, the police officer said Gibson appeared to be very "upset and angry" and that it was not about the traffic stop but about "something else going on."

Durnil said he wanted to "figure out a way to get through to" Gibson. He then noticed an angel pin on Gibson's sun visor that was the same as the one he had.

Pointing at the angel pin, Durnil said he told Gibson, "thinking how we're probably not all that different."

Gibson then opened up to the police officer "with tears in his eyes," saying the pin was from his daughter who had been battling breast cancer for six years already. Gibson said her doctors had just told him that her daughter's cancer had metastasised and that there's nothing more that they could do to save her.

Durnil said he felt truly sorry for Gibson. He said he told himself, "this man already has enough, I'm not going to write him any paperwork for a ticket or even a warning."

The police officer said his first thought was that Gibson really needed prayers and that he would tell his family and church to pray for him.

Durnil then asked Gibson if there was anything he could do to help him, and Gibson replied, "Do you know how to pray?"

Durnil then went over to the right side of the vehicle, took his hat off, knelt down, took Gibson's hand and said a prayer. Both men cried while they prayed, imploring God to save Gibson's daughter.

The following morning, Durnil said his station notified him that Gibson had called to express his gratitude to Durnil for his kindness.

"I hope everyone that hears about this is one more person that can pray for him and his family," Durnil told ABC News.
Want your church to grow? Then it's time to surprise people...

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!... Because our chief weapon is surprise!"

Some of Monty Python's most imitated characters, the Inquisitors have been impersonated by schoolchildren and pub bores alike for 40-odd years. But has anyone yet suggested they could be a model for church growth? Bear with me...

This week The Economist published the latest in a long, long line of articles about the renewal of the Church in the UK. It looked specifically at the Church of England and maps out what it describes as "unexpected,"  namely that there are congregations in London which are growing, reaching out to their communities and aiming to replicate this outside of London.

It's not a bad article, and helpfully outlines some of the current trends as noted by Ian Paul. Its purpose is to tell readers that something interesting is happening in the Church. The secularisation thesis which has been taught as axiomatic for many years is actually under threat  in other words, the demise of the Church isn't a foregone conclusion.

The Economist is doing as most other major secular publications have done in the last 25 years. It's a form of apology. It almost says, 'sorry, we might have not got this right.' There are churches which are bucking the trend. There are churches which are growing, lively, filled with young people and actually making a positive difference in the world.

Those of us who wake up on a Sunday morning and head off to a lively and growing church find it the most natural and normal thing in the world. But most people in the UK are blissfully unaware of the warm welcome waiting for them, the engaging service they could attend, and the joyful community they could be part of.

The newspaper articles began in the early 90s. The Independent ran a piece in 1993, reporting on new life at St Paul's, Onslow Square. The reporter, apparently somewhat taken aback, noted that many gathered for a service were, "middle-class and overwhelmingly under 30." He was also surprised by their appearance. "There is hardly a sandal-wearer among them," we were assured.

The surprise continued apace. The New Statesman and The Spectator have written about the growth of the church planting movement and the Alpha Course, movements headed by Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), New Wine and other evangelical networks. That these pieces could barely contain their contempt doesn't really matter  they're united in their shock that churches are growing, reaching more people and engaging in the culture.

Even more sympathetic portraits like that in The Economist can't quite contain their surprise that there are churches which aren't fading away. As an Observer article from a few years ago described it, churches like HTB are surprising because they aim "to put Christianity unashamedly at the centre of modern living." Well, indeed.

To those of us on the inside, this may look strange. Churches which are growing, welcoming new people, engaging with culture, outward-facing and positive about the good news of Jesus are a startling phenomenon to those outside. And we're faced with a choice: we could feel annoyed by the media being slow on the uptake, or we could use it for good.

Because of the low level of church attendance in the UK, the element of surprise is now entirely in our favour. The majority of British people simply don't really know what churchgoing actually involves. Another New Statesman article articulated it well. "Not only do the British not go to church," it said, "they also don't seem to have a clue what Christianity is. A Reader's Digest poll last year found that only 48 per cent of us know that Easter marks the death and resurrection of Christ."

Those who do have actual experience of churchgoing probably only have hazy memories from childhood or fictitious accounts from popular culture of churches. These churches are either cold, boring and irrelevant or well-meaning but incompetent. Neither seem worth bothering with.

The hapless congregation featured in the BBC sitcom Rev provides brilliant comedy and there are genuine moments of grace and inspiration in the show. Oh, and it's funny. But ultimately it backs up the secularisation thesis. The Church is dying and a few well-meaning people sitting freezing in a decaying church building aren't going to change that.

But as many of us know, the reality can be very different. Yes, the Church faces an existential crisis. Yes, as The Economist article articulates, "The proportion of people calling themselves Christian fell from 72 per cent in 2001 to 59 per cent in 2011. Those saying they have no religion rose from 15 per cent to 25 per cent in that period... The number of churchgoing Anglicans fell by 12 per cent, and in 2013 stood at 1m. Some 19m baptised Anglicans do not attend church."

While acknowledging these facts, we can see signs of hope. As the article states, London is leading the way, "Weekly participation in Christian services in the capital has grown by 16 per cent since 2005."

While we don't want to emulate the comedy cardinals of Monty Python and leap out on unsuspecting people, the element of surprise can be our best friend here. If people have stereotypes about church as cold, boring, irrelevant, unwelcoming, cliquey, and so on, then we have the answer. Many of our churches simply explode that myth.

Let's be clear and honest with ourselves. Most of our friends and colleagues have no idea about how great our churches are. How surprised they would actually be by some of the small, but important things on offer.

A warm welcome. A decent cup of coffee. A chat with normal, nice people from all walks of life (who may or may not be wearing sandals). We have music which might confound expectations. We look out for each other's wellbeing in a way which is profoundly counter-cultural. Far from being cold, boring and out of touch, we offer the chance to be part of an institution which cares about its local community, and ultimately, an opportunity to experience the love of God.

This last point may be the most surprising thing of all. That despite the cynical age in which we live, we believe we can offer people an environment in which they can meet God and explore the meaning of life. Jesus said He would build His Church and the gates of hell wouldn't prevail. If we believe that, then we should never be surprised when out of the grim reality of catastrophic decline, some green shoots of renewal begin to appear in the Church. But this ability for our churches to surprise with their warmth, hospitality, generosity, community and yes, even fun, could be one of the easisest and best ways to confound the critics and welcome back the missing millions.
A 17-year-old girl, identified in news reports as being from Houston, was fatally shot in a Los Angeles parking lot.

Kristine Carman was shot about 8 p.m. Wednesday as she sat in a vehicle in a supermarket parking lot at Glencoe Avenue and Mindinao Way, in the beach community of Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles police said.

Investigators described the shooter as a man in a gray hooded sweatshirt and a blue beanie who left in a dark-colored SUV, possibly heading toward the 90 Freeway.

According to a GoFundMe account, the shooting took place in front of Lacey Carman, Kristine's older sister, during a "robbery gone wrong."

CBS-TV in Los Angeles reported that the shooting was part of a failed drug deal set up by the sister's boyfriend. The girls' father, John Carman of Texas, told CBS that Kristine had been in Los Angeles about a week and was planning to attend the University of California at Los Angeles.

John Carman said his older daughter was "inconsolable," and he asked that the public come forward with any information that might help police find the shooter.

Anyone who knows something about the case is asked to contact West Bureau Homicide investigators at 213-382-9470 or 1-877-527-3247 after business hours. Anonymous tips can be left with Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

On the GoFundMe page, Lacey Carman said her sister was the second oldest of six siblings and "carried the wind in her step and the sun in her smile. As you can imagine we aren't ready to let her go and be without her presence."

Kristine Carman attended Cypress Creek High school in 2014 before transferring to Jersey Village High School, KPRC-TV reported. She withdrew from school in April 2015 before graduating, according to the school district, the station said.

In a written statement to KPRC, John Carman said, "Kristine was exceptionally smart and wonderfully creative -- she was a skilled photographer who loved taking photos. She was very close with her siblings, each of whom loved her immensely. Her family is devastated by this senseless tragedy and appreciates everyone's prayers as we privately mourn this tremendous loss."

The family could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.
If you're the kind of movie-goer who likes to walk into a theater having already read the book from which the film is based, then consider this a major heads up.

We compiled many of the flicks that are headed to theaters this year that are based off of a novel, be it a true story or a fantastical (and obviously fictional) tale.
Even after retooling following bumpy openings, Bradley Ogden Hospitality's Funky Chicken and Bradley's Fine Diner have closed. According to a source familiar with both projects, the restaurants have closed and may be re-conceptualized by their parent group. Calls to both stores went unanswered Friday.

Bradley's Fine Diner, 191 Heights Blvd., opened April 2014 under direction of chef Bryan Ogden, son of James Beard Award-winning California chef Bradley Ogden. Funky Chicken, 181 Heights Blvd., opened in December 2013. Both concepts were part of Ogden's ambitious three-restaurant stake in Houston (the third and largest concept, Pour Society, opened in September at Gateway Memorial City).

UPDATE: Later on Friday Christopher Vestal, CEO of Ogden Hospitality Group, released this statement: "We want to thank the many people who worked so hard to make Bradley's Fine Diner and Funky Chicken inviting venues for the surrounding community to enjoy. At this time we will continue to focus our efforts on Pour Society, one of our most successful openings to date, which has taken shape under a talented and locally-based culinary and operations team. We are currently working to redevelop both Heights locations into concepts suitable for such a vibrant neighborhood and will release more information when plans have been finalized."

Local foodies saw problems with Funky Chicken and Bradley's Fine Diner at the outset. Initial social media reviews of the casual fried chicken joint were not positive; and Bradley's Fine Diner, an upscale enterprise boasting an accomplished menu, failed to find an audience after admittedly misjudging local dining habits and preferences.

Bryan Ogden eventually returned to California after Houston Chronicle restaurant critic Alison Cook's no-star review in October 2014. In her review Cook hinted at the disconnect that can occur between out-of-state restaurant operators and local diners: "With its bustling restaurant scene and economy, to outside operators Houston must look as if its streets are paved with gold. More seem to arrive every day, often with grand plans that don't necessarily pan out. The crowds of eager Heights denizens who thronged BFD in its early weeks, making such a loud din, have thinned out considerably."

In March 2015 the Ogden group took the bold step of hiring chef Greg Lowry of Triniti restaurant to oversee restaurant operations for Funky Chicken, Bradley's Fine Diner and Pour Society. At the time the company's spokesperson acknowledged that it got off to a rocky start with Houston diners.

With Lowry, the Ogden brand hoped to bring local know-how and a more Houston touch to the two operations. The menu at Funky Chicken was overhauled and nearly every dish on the original Bradley's Fine Diner was replaced by Lowry  thoughtful, dramatic retooling at a time Lowry was also planning the Pour Society opening.

Pour Society remains open. It is not known how the closure of Funky Chicken and Bradley's Fine Diner affects Pour Society operations. Funky Chicken's website, realfunkychicken.com takes you to Pour Society's home page.
Dear Abby:

Yesterday, when I picked my granddaughter "Michelle" up from school, she asked me to take her to get a pizza. I told her I had no money, and she responded that she had her own money. She then pulled $40 out of her pocket.

Michelle is only 9 and has no job. When I asked where she got the money, she told me, "A little boy who's disabled gave it to me." I didn't believe her story, and after I questioned her further, she confessed that she had taken the money from a boy who is not disabled.

I took the money from her and gave it to her teacher. Her teacher said the boy had accused Michelle, but Michelle had sworn she hadn't taken it. Abby, my granddaughter not only took his money, but also lied about it. I was devastated.

When I told my daughter, she said I should have let her and her husband handle it because now Michelle's teacher won't like her and may treat her differently. My daughter is now upset with me, but I was just trying to do the right thing. Did I do the wrong thing?

Hurt Grandma in Texas

Dear Hurt Grandma:

I don't think so. I'm not sure how your daughter planned to "handle it" and make things right for the boy who was bullied and stolen from, but by doing what you did, you ensured that he got his money back.

One can only hope that Michelle got a talking-to from her parents about what she did, and has learned not to repeat it.

Dear Abby:

My husband has been in prison for three and a half years, but now he's moving to a halfway house where he will have much more freedom. He wants to attend my church with me, and I know people there will have questions. Only a few of them know where he has been because I shared it with them. What's the best way to make this comfortable for both of us and share it as we need to?

Free at Last

Dear Free At Last:

That your husband would like to attend church with you is laudable, and I hope his entry into the congregation will be a smooth one. Discuss this with your clergyperson and let him or her guide you in the process.

Dear Abby:

Many people these days rely on their devices to auto-correct spelling and grammatical errors. Too often I see signage on businesses with misspellings. A few of my friends own their own businesses, and their postings on social media are often misspelled. Sometimes they ask for my opinion. Should I offer advice or ignore this growing trend?

Miss Pelled in the South

Dear Miss Pelled:

Offer advice only when it's been requested. Advice that is unasked for is usually unwelcome.

DearAbby.comDear AbbyP.O. Box 69440Los Angeles, CA 90069Universal Press Syndicate
The Modern Language Association isn't mincing words.

The scholarly group that aims to strengthen the study and teaching of language and literature has come out very clearly against Texas' new campus carry law: "There is no safe way to carry and store guns on campus."

That's according to Diana Taylor, second vice president of the Modern Language Association and a professor of performance studies and of Spanish and Portuguese at New York University. Taylor wrote in the Austin American-Statesman this week that the group will protest the state's new law in Austin on Friday during a convention attended by some 7,500 scholars.

"(The law) forces institutions of higher education to value gun owners' rights over their own mandate to provide a healthy learning environment," Taylor wrote. "College is a transitional space and time of exploration, development and coming into adulthood or professionalism. This is the place where we have always learned to resolve issues without the use of guns."

The new law will allow concealed license holders to carry guns throughout college campuses beginning in August. The law allows some leeway for universities to carve out gun-free zones on campuses, something public colleges across the state are working on. While many professors and students have called for classrooms and dormitories to remain free of weapons, the state's attorney general said banning guns from such areas would violate the law.

So the MLA and anti-campus carry groups at the University of Texas plan to build their own gun-free zones -- out of books. The groups will parade down Congress Avenue and use books to build a "symbolic gun exclusion zone" at the Capitol steps.

Students for Concealed Carry, a group in favor of the new law, mocked the plan in an email Thursday.

"It's appropriate that the highlight of this anti-campus carry protest will be a symbolic gun-free zone, since symbolic gun-free zones are exactly what these protesters hope to preserve at Texas universities," Antonia Okafor, Southwest regional director for Students for Concealed Carry, said in the statement.
For those who thought 2015s University of Alabama sorority recruitment video was over the top, the University of Miami's Delta Gamma chapter is ready to blow your mind.

The South Florida sorority has released a recruitment video that looks like something straight out of HBOs "Ballers." Bikini clad college women swim in rooftop pools, prance around on beaches, backflip off of boathouses into the ocean and skateboard along the waterfront.
UPDATE: Lockdowns on Dekaney High School and Booker Elementary School have been lifted.

ORIGINAL POST: Two Spring ISD schools are on lock down as local law enforcement search for a burglary suspect in the surrounding neighborhood.

All external doors are locked at Dekaney High School and Booker Elementary School, both near Bammel Road and Imperial Valley in north Harris County.

"We're really just following our procedures for when Precinct 4 [constables] respond to something nearby," a district spokeswoman said.

Precinct 4 Chief Wally Wieghat said around 1:30 p.m. a group of five suspects stole a teacher's car out of the Dekaney parking lot then burglarized a nearby house. Two have been apprehended, and Wieghat speculated that the three remaining were residents of the area and were "hunkered down" in a residence.

"We're going to exhaust every effort to apprehend them," he said. "We've got two and we hope they start talking soon."
Obituaries are typically cliche and generic, but one from North Carolina has a drastically different voice.

Readers of the News and Observer were treated to a unique obituary that chronicled the "soap opera" life of 94-year-old Wilma Marie Voliva Black, according to reports.

On Thursday, WTVD-TV and INDY Week reported on the woman's obituary, which has since been archived online and is no longer available to read. The reports say it is unclear who wrote the seven-paragraph journey through Black's life, but it didn't fail in calling out those deemed disloyal.

The obit has it all: from the beginning of Black's "struggle into life" to details that led to a coverup of a scandalous affair.

The reports show that the News and Observer obit reads:

"Her co-star in a church play, Charles Black pressed Wilma into an elopement in May 1939. Wilma later learned that their marriage had been a cover for his sexual affair with their minister's wife. Alcoholism and adultery continued throughout their marriage and ended in Wilma's filing for divorce in 1969."

The obit says Black is survived by five children and 16 "known" grandchildren. Despite the brutally honest details, the obit is sprinkled with compliments, including her love of reading and sewing.

The finale of the dramatic obituary laid out the end of Black's life, where her son dropped her off at an assisted-living facility in Knightdale, N.C., apparently against her will.

The News and Observer obit reads:

"In 1999 her son moved her to NC and requested that she sign a durable power of attorney. Wilma lived independently with her son's oversight until 2012 and then her son moved her into an assisted living facility in Knightdale. There he attributed her inability to care for herself to her lack of effort rather than the level of assistance and care she received. Family concern that she was being neglected was brushed aside. The location was convenient to his work and home. She told him, 'This is not living, it's existing.'"

The last little nugget and personal jab came in the final paragraph:

"She died alone on Dec. 22 and was buried after Dave (her son) and his mistress returned from their Dec. 25 vacation trip to Oregon."

Ouch.
Police are investigating a fatal shooting in south Houston.

According to initial reports, one person was shot about 9 p.m. Thursday at a service station in the 6500 block of Martin Luther King.

The victim, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at an area hospital, Houston police said.

Police said late Thursday they did not have anyone in custody. The motive for the shooting remains under investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
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At a national gathering of astronomers on Wednesday, a Harvard University scientist pinpointed where interstellar civilizations could be thriving in the Milky Way.

Rosanne DiStefano of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told a meeting of the American Astronomical Society that "a globular cluster might be the first place in which intelligent life is identified in our galaxy."

The clustersdense bunches of solar systemswould afford the best opportunity for life to evolve and establish relations with nearby planets.

It comes a half-century after the kick-off of American academics' official Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and months after NASA's head of science told a congressional hearing that humanity was "on the cusp" of learning if alien intelligence exists.

RELATED: NASA's head of science says humans 'are on the cusp' of answering the ultimate question

Globular star clusters hold millions of stars in spaces that average about 100 light years acrossextremely dense by galactic standards. Our Milky Way galaxy hosts about 150 such clusters.

Scholarly debate questions whether the clusters even bear planets. In fact only one has ever been found. But spotting distant planets from the Earth is like noting specks of dust drifting on the other side of town; not easy. DiStefano and her colleague, Alak Ray of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, argued that there could be planets in the clusters, and that those planets would be well suited to host life.

As scientists understand, temperature is key for the evolution of life. Liquid water seems necessary for the most basic biological processes, and the precious compound exists in its rare liquid state through a tiny temperature range before it is frozen or vaporized. DiStefano's research stipulated that the "just right" range could be most easily found inside globular clusters.

RELATED: Texas researcher finds burping black hole, discovers secrets of the universe

By the nature of their formation, the clusters are old, about 10 billion years old, more than twice the age of Earth's sun. Bright, hot stars die young, and dim warm ones live long. A heavy concentration of low-burning stars could create a warm cosmic ambience nicely suited to liquid H2O.

The clusters' old age also would afford more time for the evolution of advanced organisms.

And the density of old star systems could facilitate interstellar communication between planetary societies, raising the possibility of the long-imagined galactic civilization somewhere in the sky.

"We call it the 'globular cluster opportunity," DiStefano said. "Sending a broadcast between the stars wouldn't take any longer than a letter from the U.S. to Europe in the 18th Century."

RELATED: NASA funds research to recycle human waste for deep-space travel

Looking for those plausible civilizations won't be easy. SETI methods haven't changed much since 1960, when Frank Drake at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory made humanity's first attempt to detect extraterrestrial technology, turning a massive radio telescope towards targeted worlds in hopes of picking up intelligent communication. But he found only static and cosmic noise.

Later scientists began sending their own targeted radio pings out into the sky with hopes of a response, but none has yet come. DiStefano recommended reaching out to the globular clusters, just to see if anyone is home.
AUSTIN -- Gov. Greg Abbott wants to dramatically curtail the U.S. Supreme Court's power and slash federal oversight of states through a national convention to amend the U.S. Constitution.

His Friday proposal comes in the wake of Republican outrage over President Obama's actions on issues, including gun control and immigration; Supreme Court decisions on cases involving such matters as gay marriage and health care; and federal agency action on the environment and other issues.

Convening such a national gathering is allowed under the U.S. Constitution, but would be a difficult proposition. It would require approval by 34 states -- including Texas through its Legislature. Abbott is not calling for a special legislative session in Texas, leaving the issue to the 2017 legislative session.

If the convention occurred and it backed changes to the U.S. Constitution, the amendments would require ratification by 38 states.

Abbott's idea follows a push for a constitutional convention by other Republican leaders around the country, but much of the previous discussion has centered on a federal balanced-budget amendment.

Abbott is pushing a proposal to require Congress to balance its budget, but he goes further.

His plan would require a seven-justice super-majority vote of the U.S. Supreme Court for decisions that invalidate "a democratically enacted law."

Further, it would allow U.S. Supreme Court decisions to be overridden if two-thirds of states unite against them.

Abbott's plan would allow a two-thirds majority of states to override a federal law or regulation and prohibit administrative agencies from pre-empting state law or "creating federal law."

It would bar Congress from regulating activity that occurs just within one state; limit the federal government to powers expressly delegated to it in the Constitution; and give state officials additional power to sue when federal officials overstep their bounds.

Even some Republicans open to the idea of a constitutional convention have pointed out that there is risk to the long-shot idea in that it could result in changes far beyond what those calling for it desire.
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AUSTIN  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is getting into the conversation as Republicans fighting Hillary Clinton turn the spotlight on past allegations of sexual wrongdoing by her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Well. This is a bombshell, Abbott commented in retweeting a renewed allegation made in a Twitter account identified as belonging to Juanita Broaddrick, a woman who has accused Bill Clinton of rape. He has denied the allegation.

The original tweet said, I was 35 years old when Bill Clinton, Ark. Attorney General raped me and Hillary tried to silence me. I am now 73....it never goes away.

RELATED: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott backs crosses on police cars

The move comes as Republicans are firing on Hillary Clinton, who has championed issues affecting women. The Democratic presidential candidate said in an interview with the Des Moines Register that Donald Trump has penchant for sexism. Trump then took aim at Bill Clinton, using the same line.

The Washington Post this week reported that Broaddrick is now a Trump supporter and said when she saw a Bill Clinton appearance for his wife on television, He looked so beaten, and he looked like everything in his past was catching up to him. He looked so downtrodden. It made my heart sing.

Broaddrick in 1999 said that Bill Clinton, while Arkansas attorney general, forced himself on her in 1978. His lawyer flatly denied the charges at the time.

Her allegation, which appeared in the op-ed pages of The Wall Street Journal, was at odds with an affidavit she had filed the previous year in a sexual-harassment lawsuit by Paula Jones against BillClinton.

In that affidavit, Broaddrick had denied he made "unwelcome sexual advances." She later told investigators that affidavit was false.

A spokesman for Hillary Clinton's campaign didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.

Manny Garcia, deputy executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, said when asked about Abbott's retweet, "I suppose Greg Abbott is now taking social media advice from Tea Party darling Sid Miller."

Miller, the state agriculture commissioner, has earned social-media notoriety for moves such as saying he would like to slap people who wish him "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" and sharing a Facebook post that suggested "the Muslim world" should be nuked.

pfikac@express-news.net

Twitter: @pfikac
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.
In December, under heavy criticism and after the resignation of his commissioner of homeless services, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio tried to reboot his administrations homelessness policy. He ordered a comprehensive review of existing programs and launched Home-Stat, an enhanced outreach effort on street homelessness, the problem that continues to weigh down his approval ratings. But last weeks announcement that his administration has ended chronic veteran homelessness suggests that the mayor remains wedded to technical definitions of success and lacks a long-term strategy for homelessness and poverty.

The federal governments definition of ending chronic homelessness among veterans doesnt mean that New York City has no more homeless veterans. A chronically homeless individual means someone who suffers from a disability and has been without a permanent home for more than a year or experienced four bouts of homelessness in the last three years. Its not hard to see how a homeless veterans circumstances may not qualify him to be counted in this category. Not only do hundreds of veterans still live in city sheltersas last weeks press release admittedbut also, the city assumes that roughly 100 veterans will continue to fall into homelessness each month. The federal government trusts, however, that city government possesses the resources and ability to connect newly homeless veterans with permanent housing within 90 days. The federal government is more confident in the administrations competence on homelessness than is the public. And finally, Washington doesnt send workers out onto local streets to audit city data. The feds rely on whatever figures the city provides.

Strangely absent from last weeks press release was the claim made by administration officials to the city council in November that, under de Blasio, the number of street homeless veterans has fallen by 97 percentfrom 329 to just eight. That claim seems about as credible as the city governments finding that, between 2014 and 2015, street homelessness in Queens dropped from 253 to 20. Even the de Blasio administration has implicitly recognized the need for better data. Only two weeks prior to the chronic homeless veterans announcement, the administration promised that its new Home-Stat initiative would provide a more complete and real-time understanding of homelessness in New York City.

In other words, New Yorkers who doubted the administrations claims that it had reduced street homelessness during de Blasios first year will be justifiably skeptical of the citys current claims about ending homelessness among veterans. As one advocate bluntly put it during Novembers city council hearing: I think its ludicrous to say that we know every single homeless veteran out there. But even if one accepts the factual basis of New Yorks claims about ending chronic homelessness among veteransaccording to the federal governments definitionit would be foolish to draw general lessons about the administrations direction on homelessness.

The goals of homelessness policy should, for the most part, be the same as anti-poverty policy. Ending chronic homelessness among veterans requires rapidly connecting homeless veterans with housing benefits. But beneficiaries of housing benefit programs are likely to stay poor. Unlike cash-assistance welfare, housing benefits typically lack time limits and work requirements. Its questionable that providing more money for rental vouchers or supportive and affordable housing will end homelessness. Such programs ability to create upward mobility for the poor is even more dubious. Counting increased dependence on government programs as a policy victory shows just how low a bar this bold, progressive administration sets for itself.

Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Corporate legal battles are often decided on nuanced readings of dense statutes, but one recent ruling that could expose scores of U.S. companies to shareholder lawsuits turned partly on a much simpler defense: everybody is doing it.

That failed to sway a Delaware judge, who ruled last month that oil producer Vaalco Energy Inc had violated the states widely used corporate law with a charter provision that barred the removal of directors without cause.

The ruling could have an impact well beyond tiny Vaalco to include such well-known names as Aeropostale Inc, Cigna Corp, Ethan Allen Interiors Inc, JetBlue Airways Corp and Toll Brothers Inc.

Those are some of the nearly 200 companies with similar charter provisions that Vaalco cited during its defense against a shareholder class action in Delawares Court of Chancery.

Just as all the other kids are doing it wasnt a good argument for your mother, said Vice Chancellor Travis Laster at a hearing on Dec. 21, the idea that 175 other companies might have wacky provisions isnt a good argument for validating your provision.

Vaalcos investor relations coordinator, Al Petrie, did not immediately return a call for comment.

Vaalcos legal problems began when a group of activist investors said they intended to replace four of Vaalcos seven directors after the companys stock began to tumble in late 2014.

Vaalco argued that its charter and bylaw provisions only allowed investors to remove members of its board for cause.

Several shareholders filed class actions in December alleging the charter was invalid under Delaware law, which allows for the removal of directors without cause.

Delaware law does make exceptions, including for companies with a classified board, or one in which members are elected for differing terms. Vaalco dropped the classified board structure in 2009, but never changed its charter or bylaws.

Laster seemed unsympathetic about the impact his ruling might have on the other companies.

To the extent that this upsets expectations at some give-or-take 175 public companies is just a consequence of people not reading the statute, he said, according to a transcript.

After Lasters ruling, Vaalco agreed to changes to its board.

A client memo from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz attorney William Savitt, who defends companies, said shareholder attorneys may demand a board comply with the Vaalco ruling and then seek a fee if a change is made.

Shareholder attorney Mark Lebovitch told Laster during a hearing that a quick review of the list of companies with allegedly invalid charter provisions showed many were out of business or were actually in compliance with Delaware law.

Jason Halper, a corporate attorney with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe said he doubted the Vaalco ruling would inspire a flood of lawsuits against the companies with similar charters, partly because it was hard to see how shareholders were harmed.

Its not a live issue without a proxy fight, he said.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Andrew Hay)
A landmark study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that concluded fracking causes no widespread harm to drinking water is coming under fire  this time, from the agencys own science advisers.

The EPAs preliminary findings released in June were seen as a vindication of the method used to unlock oil and gas from dense underground rock. A repudiation of the results could reignite the debate over the need for more regulation.

Members of the EPA Science Advisory Board, which reviews major studies by the agency, says the main conclusion  that theres no evidence fracking has led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water  requires clarification, David Dzombak, a Carnegie Mellon University environmental engineering professor leading the review, said in an e-mail. The panel Dzombak heads will release its initial recommendations later this month.

Major findings are ambiguous or are inconsistent with the observations/data presented in the body of the report, the 31 scientists on the panel said in December, in a response to the study.

The scientific panels recommendations arent binding and the EPA is not required to change its findings to accommodate them. But they already are raising questions about the most comprehensive assessment yet of a practice that has driven a domestic oil and gas boom but also spawned complaints about water contamination.

An EPA spokeswoman said the agency will use comments from the scientists and the public to evaluate possible changes to the report.

Oil Exports

A significant change could be a big blow to an industry that is celebrating major policy wins, including the end of trade restrictions that for four decades blocked the export of most raw, unprocessed U.S. crude.

Fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing, involves pumping water, sand and chemicals underground to free oil and gas trapped inside dense rock formations.

For the study, mandated by Congress, the EPA analyzed more than 950 sources of information, including previously published papers, state reports and the agencys own scientific research, but found no clear evidence that the fracking process itself could cause chemicals to flow through underground fissures and contaminate drinking water. When the agency took a broader look at the entire water cycle around fracking  from getting water supplies to disposing of fluid waste  it documented instances where failed wells and above-ground spills may have affected drinking water resources.

Peer Review

Robust peer review by the EPAs Science Advisory Board, established by Congress in 1978, is designed to ensure the integrity of scientific reports, agency spokeswoman Melissa Harrison said in an e-mail.

She said the agency will use the comments from the advisory panel, as well as those submitted by the public, to evaluate how to augment and revise the draft assessment.

The final assessment will also reflect relevant literature published since the release of the draft assessment, she said.

Texas, Wyoming

Environmentalists want the final document to include more information about alleged contamination near drilling sites in Dimock, Pennsylvania, Parker County, Texas, and Pavillion, Wyoming. Those episodes show how out of step the conclusion is with the body of the report, Clean Water Action oil and gas campaigner John Noel said in an interview.

The scientific review panel seems intent on suggesting changes  at one point floating the idea of explicit descriptions of what happened in Dimock, Parker County and Pavillion.

The group could ask EPA to rescind its top-line finding altogether or clarify it by asserting that the lack of widespread, systemic impacts from fracking is relative to the number of wells drilled.

When one of the panelists  University of California engineering professor Thomas Young  suggested such a rewrite during three days of meetings last October, the group broke out in spontaneous applause.

Science Settled

Industry lobbyists and trade groups are working to tamp down the panels criticism, with American Petroleum Institute president Jack Gerard casting it as the work of determined environmental activists opposed to fossil fuels.

The science should be settled, Gerard told reporters at a news conference Tuesday. There are a handful of people who are not happy with the outcome, and they continue to drive their agenda based on ideology, not based on the science.

The API and the Independent Petroleum Association of America delivered a similar message in separate letters to the EPA.

Scott Segal, head of the policy resolution group at Bracewell & Giuliani in Washington, and a lobbyist who represents Range Resources Corp. and other energy companies, said in an interview that the review board should disregard anecdotal evidence presented by litigants in active cases. By contrast, he added, the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence is on the side of the regulated community.

Several of the EPAs science advisers reviewing the fracking report said the evidence doesnt support the conclusion about water safety.

Spill Data

Spill data alone gives sufficient pause to reconsider the statement that theres no evidence of systemic, widespread damage, said panelist Bruce Honeyman, professor emeritus at the Colorado School of Mines.

Its important to characterize and discuss the frequency and severity of outliers that have occurred, said panelist Katherine Bennett Ensor, chairwoman of the Rice University Department of Statistics.

And panel member James Bruckner, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Georgia, said the report glosses over the limited data and studies available to the agency.

I do not think that the documents authors have gone far enough to emphasize how preliminary these key conclusions are and how limited the factual bases are for their judgments, Bruckner said.

Young, the University of California professor who suggested rewriting the top-line conclusion, faulted the document for trying to draw a global and permanent conclusion about the safety or impacts of hydraulic fracturing at the national level given the uncertainties and data limitations described in the report.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Violent storms that struck the U.S. in December will cost more than $4 billion in damages, about half of which will probably be covered by insurers, according to estimates by Aon Plc.

The disasters at the end of the month killed at least 64 people and resulted in more than 50 tornado touch-downs along with historic levels of flooding in the Mississippi Valley and the Midwest, the insurance broker said Wednesday in a report.

Missouri, Texas, Illinois, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and Indiana were among the hardest-hit, London-based Aon said in a statement. The Insurance Council of Texas reported losses of $1.2 billion in the Dallas metropolitan area alone.

The U.S. is vulnerable to costly claims because of extreme weather patterns and high property values. The country, which has the worlds largest economy, accounted for 60 percent of global insured losses in 2015, according to Aon.

The U.K., Ireland and Norway also experienced severe flooding in December as windstorms Eckard and Ted, also known as Frank and Desmond, struck thousands of homes. Those catastrophes contributed to about $4 billion of economic losses in Europe, according to Aon.

Parts of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil were hit by flooding that was the worst in at least 50 years in some areas, killing at least 16 people and causing more than $200 million in losses, according to Aons estimates.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Philharmonia Orchestra's Samuels Coles' Loses 50,000 Flute to Theft in London Bar

A close-up of a man playing a flute. (Photo : Three Lions/Getty Images)

Samuel Coles, Philharmonia Orchestra's priniciple flutist, is owner of a 50,000 golden flute, one of the most costly in the world. Last month, however, and in a most unfortunate series of event, two unnamed thieves have stolen his prized possession at a London bar. The flutist was having a drink there after a performance of Schubert's Ninth Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank of the River Thames.

Per Coles' testimony, he was at the Archduke Wine Bar on the South Bank when the perpetrator snatched the golden flute along with his Louis Vuitton bag, which also contained a 10,000 wooden piccolo.

It's been purported by Mr. Coles, also, that the thief may have initially targeted the designer bag.

When asked about the details, Mr. Cole said, "It was very crowded in the bar. There were lots and lots of people. At the time I was just engaging with the person in front of me. Maybe I should have been more careful. It is hard to know if I was targeted because of the instruments but I think they may have been drawn to my Louis Vuitton bag."

In his statement in the Evening Standard, Mr Coles also added how "it is terrible - absolutely awful." He maintains that the flute was a "major part of [his] musical life" and that it is "very difficult to have to find another instrument."

An ongoing investigation has been in progress, supplemented by CCTV pictures of the suspects in question as well as the instruments.

According to officials, both suspects are described as Mediterranean, with one wearing a light colored top and carrying a colorful rucksack while the other had short dark hair, a beard and dark trousers.

Coles, who is now 52, moved to France in his twenties. Later on, however, he came back to London after a five year absence to play with the Philharmonia, who are based at the Royal Festival Hall.

The lost flute was used by Coles on a recording of a Mozart concerto with one of the world's greatest violinist Yehudi Menuhin.

We hope Mr. Coles finds his flute intact and in a most timely fashion. Authorites ask that anyone with information contact 020 8649 2405 or 101 and quote crime reference 1230543/15 or speak to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

In the meantime, see the renowned isntrument in a video below.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsPhilharmonia Orchestra, Samuel Coles
Fame and Fortune Drive These 3 Surprising Hollywood Superstars to Rehab

Actor Daniel Radcliffe attends the New York Premiere of 'Victor Frankenstein' at Chelsea Bow Tie Cinemas on November 10, 2015 in New York City. (Photo : Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)

Hollywood is certainly a desert oasis for artists and their craft. It is a stomping ground for famous faces and their lavish lifestyles adorned with the decadence of fortune well spent. And as one would imagine, with quick, massive fame comes an anxiety that can drive these superstars to drugs and alcohol. For many, the names that have gone to rehab for these problems can be surprising.

The result of fame isn't always one centered in completeyl self-indulgence but for some it's a reason to take on a new identity. This new identity may include an excessive consumption of substances, which eventually lead to a long and winding road of rehabilitation.

Some stars, like of Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen, are among the elite who have entered rehabs for addiction and self-harm. While some may be able to see physically the toll it has taken on certain pop icons (a mugshot of Charlie Sheen exposed the crazier side to the movie star) others aren't so easy to peg.

So thanks to the good people at Interesticle, here are 3 celebrities we found shocking that have gone to rehab.

Daniel Radcliffe

The actor famous for portraying the Wizard of Hogwart's is nothing like his on-screen character. Actually, It turns out that Mr. Potter turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism to the stress and demands of being a high-profile celebrity.

Radcliffe admits that he became a 'party focused guy' and that his being intoxicated during the filming of the latter installments of 'Harry Potter' were becoming increasingly noticeable. He admitted to have been under the influence for major parts of the filming the screen adaptation. Radcliffe ultimately went into rehab to sober up and has been on course with Broadway performances and other supporting roles in several major films.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers

The 'City of Bones' actor is another talented star that was forced to conquer his bouts with alcohol abuse. Meyers' alcohol problem became such a problem that he would begin drinking as early as 10 am. One of the turning points that drove the actor to check into rehab was when he removed from a flight due to too much alcohol consumption.

In short, he was wasted on a flight. Mr. Dracula may have had a sip too much of vodka and slurred his speech, which also had him yelling out racially-charged comments. He was in rehab 6 times before finally cleaning up his act in 2011.

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck is certainly a well-to-do superstar and has even developed a pleasant persona in the eyes of the public with role in Good Will Hunting. After the film's release, he was reckoned to be one of the most sought after bachelors and ended up dating Jennifer Lopez. Affleck's stint in the limelight, however, caused him to drink excessively.

His career took a downturn when his alcoholism became a factor on set. It became so excessive that he checked into a rehab facility at 28 years old to kick the habit. Afterwards, he landed great projects and even won an Oscar for his work on Argo. He is also highly anticipated in the upcoming film Batman vs Superman.

It's a tragedy for fame and fortune to drive hardworking talents to drugs and alcohol but overcoming addiction is a triumph that should be rewarded.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsBen Afeck, Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Harry Potter, Dracula, Batman vs Superman
The Troubled Life and Musical Genius of Jazz Trumpet Icon Chet Baker.

The life and death of trumpet icon Chet Baker is very emblematic of the American jazz scene, particularly the 1950s West Coast 'cool jazz scene'. There was so much promise and possibility in the music.There was also too much heroin. A very apt comment about Baker is that in his early career he had the promise of James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Bix Biederbecke rolled into one. There was a very long fade out for Baker though. He didn't die young like Biederbecke and grow into a jazz legend. When the end came for troubled Baker, he was much older than his 58 years. The boy from Oklahoma who started out with just his ability to play a melodic trumpet was a used up junkie who took a mysterious dive out of a Amsterdam hotel room window.

Chet Baker's complicated journey through lfe began in Oklahoma in 1929. Young Chet came by music early and was encouraged by both parents. School wasn't going much of anywhere so the boy ran off and joined the army at 16. He played his trumpet while in the army and, in 1950, after getting his discharge, began to pursue a career. The big breakthrough came when Charlie Parker selected Baker to play a few dates with him. In 1952, Baker joined the Gerry Mulligan trio and hit pay dirt. The trio became the hottest act in jazz for the year they were together. Mulligan and Baker complimented and played off of each other in their music had chemistry.

When Mulligan was arrested and went to jail on that old jazz bugaboo, drugs, Baker set out on his own. Everything was fine for a while. The Chet Baker Trio was popular in both live sets and records. Chet Baker also made his film debut during these years. The sky seemed to be the limit for the handsome southern boy who in jazz magazines was polling above all other trumpet players, even Miles Davis. Heroin addiction had came to stay by the late fifties. Baker increasingly began working in Europe as his drug use escalated. In the early Sixties, he served over a year on a drug charge in Italy. He was kicked out of Britian and Germany and returned to scrounge a living in second rate clubs. In 1968 Chet Baker suffered a beating that knocked out most of his front teeth which makes it really hard to play trumpet. This dilemma was solved by false teeth so that Baker scratched out a modest living into the 1980s. A mild resurgence took place in that decade as other musicians such as Elvis Costello, sought out Baker to work with.

According to CounterPunch, Chet Baker was found in a fetal position with his head crushed outside the hotel where he was staying in Amsterdam. The police ruled that he had jumped out a window. No one really knows what happened. He was 58 years old.

The last word on Chet Baker, who despite all his personal failings could be a sublime musician, comes from writer and music teacher Ted Gioia. He wrote in an essay that Chet Baker was one of the greatest melodic soloists of mid century American music. That should be his epitaph.



.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsChet Baker, Chet Baker Jazz Musician, Cool Jazz, West Coast Jazz, Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan, Jazz Musicians Busted for Drugs, Chet Baker Death
Pianist Paul Bley, a Prominent Jazz Experimentalist, Dies at 83 Years Old

(Photo : Video Still/Paul Bley - Alrac (solo piano) LIVE video 1973/Jazz Harmonie)

Paul Bley, an icon to jazz fans and a force behind experimental music in recent years, has died at his home in Stuart, Florida. He passed away on Sunday and was 83 years old. His record label, ECM, confirmed Bley's death but did not state the cause of death.

Described as melodic, measured, bluesy, polytonal and so on, Mr. Bley was a proponent of the standards but also rebelled against traditional form. His distrust of structure and repetition helped shape an opinion about the way music should be played.

He's quoted as saying:

"I've spent many years learning how to play as slow as possible and then many more years learning how to play as fast as possible. I've spent many years trying how to play as good as possible. At the present I'm trying to spend as many years learning how to play as bad as possible."

His insight and remarkable grasp for the dark side of music lent him a career spent with musicians like Charlie Parker and Lennie Tristano, Charles Mingus and Sonny Rollins, Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman, Carla Bley and Annette Peacock.

The piano virtuoso was born and raised in Montreal. At the age of 5 he began violin and at 8 the piano. From there and in just 20 years as a musician, he began to chip away at longstanding career in music, which included an appointment to Oscar Peterson's trio when he was just a teenager and in high school.

He enrolled at the Juilliard School in New York City during the height of bebop and in 1953 made his debut recording with Charles Mingus on bass and Art Blakey on drums.

His identity as a musician would not come to fruition until later, when he would head west to Los Angeles and land a gig at the Hillcrest Club, and where he would meet his soon-to-be wife Carla Bley (Karen), who he would also divorce.

Nearing his departure from LA, he hired saxophonist Ornette Coleman and trumpeter Don Cherry to join his group and instantly took to Coleman's experimental technique.

From there, Bley would foray into the other side of it all, performing and recording throughout the '80s both here and abroad, with musicians of all stripes and putting out solo records of his design--which are, obviously, not for the average listener.

An artist true to his own convictions, he will be sorely missed from the community.

Our condolences to Bley's family and loved ones during this tragic time.

Remember him fondly with a performance, adorned with a most prestigious-looking pipe, by the artist below.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsPaul Bley, Celebrity Death
AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron DJ beat a man to death at an Akron bar after the man complained about the loud music, police said.

Akron police said the music volume was one factor in the argument that broke out about 12:05 a.m. Friday at the Zodiac bar in the 1900 block of Triplett Boulevard.

Regular bar customer Forrest Ryan, 39, of North Canton, was at the bar with friends when an argument broke out between Ryan and Robert Jarvis, the bar's DJ.

Jarvis, 64, punched Ryan three times in the head, according to police reports. The two wrestled on the ground until Ryan lost conscious. Jarvis fled after the fight.

A woman at the bar called 911 and told a dispatcher Ryan was barely breathing.

The woman said she was unsure what happened. A 911 dispatcher gave her instructions on how to perform CPR on Ryan.

The woman told the dispatcher that Ryan periodically would gasp for air. Later in the call, she said it appeared that his breathing had improved.

Investigators arrived and found "copious amounts of blood" coming from Ryan's nose and mouth, according to Summit County Medical Examiner records. He was taken to Akron General Medical Center, where he died of blunt force trauma to his head, according to medical examiner records.

Ryan suffered multiple facial and head fractures during the fight. Ryan was hit in the head, where he already had a large scar from a surgery stemming from injuries that he suffered in a 2013 car crash, medical examiner records say.

Jarvis later returned to the bar and was arrested. He is charged with murder and is in the Summit County Jail.

Several people who identified themselves as friends or family members of Ryan made a make-shift memorial at the bar with balloons and roses. They declined to talk about Ryan.

The homicide is not connected to another homicide that happened at a different Akron bar about 45 minutes earlier across town, according to investigators.

In that case, two men argued about 11 p.m. Thursday at the Hi-De-Ho Lounge on Vernon Odom Boulevard during a private party for a motorcycle club, according to police.

Lentheric Caldwell, 39, and Willie Hicks III, 41, argued inside the bar. They both went outside and fought.

Caldwell walked back into the bar. Hicks, who is on probation for stabbing his son in June, walked into the bar with a shotgun about 10 minutes later. Hicks shot Caldwell once in the left side of his chest, according to court records.

Caldwell was taken to Akron City Hospital, where he died of the gunshot wound. His death was also ruled a homicide.

Hicks is charged with aggravated murder. He was arrested about 4 p.m. by the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force in a Willoughby motel, police said.
AKRON, Ohio -- Four fights at the Zodiac bar since 2014 resulted in the serious injuries of patrons and employees.

The bar faces new scrutiny from law enforcement after a Canton man was beaten to death there in the early morning hours of Friday.

The 39-year-old man died after being punched in the head three times inside the Triplett Boulevard bar after arguing with the bar's 64-year-old disc jockey, police said.

Robert Jarvis, 64, is charged with murder in connection with the man's death. Jarvis ran from the bar after the fight but turned himself in to police about an hour after the fight.

Several other fights have plagued the bar in the past 18 months. Here is a summary of those fights from Akron police reports:

Nov. 18: A 42-year-old man said that someone smashed a pool stick over his head. He went to Akron General Medical Center's Green campus, where he was treated for a three-inch cut on his head. No arrest was made.

Feb. 6: A customer attacked a 25-year-old bouncer for the bar. The customer threw him to the ground and punched him three or four times. The man's friend ordered the attacker to leave "before things got ugly," police reports say. No arrest was made.

Jan. 3, 2015: A 53-year-old man said that he was thrown out of the bar and attacked after he walked down the wrong hallway inside the bar. The man told police that a group approached him in the hallway and dragged him to the front door of the bar. The men threw him out of the bar and smashed his face and head against an outdoor wall. The man went to Akron General Medical Center, where he got seven stitches in his lip.

May 9, 2014: A 43-year-old Mogadore man told police that two men attacked him inside the bar. The man was found on the bar floor unconscious and bleeding. The man's girlfriend drove him to the Green hospital. The man suffered three fractures in his eye bones and a brain injury. No one inside the bar called police and no one was arrested.
AKRON, Ohio -- A Tallmadge man will spend the next six years in prison for pretending to be a scout for a modeling agency in order to solicit nude photos from preteen girls.

Justin Snyder, 30, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree felony child porn charges and two counts of fifth-degree felony child porn charges.

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Alison McCarty handed down the sentence on Thursday. She also adjudicated him a Tier II sex offender, meaning he will have to register his address with the county sheriff every six months for 25 years.

"You are every parent's worst nightmare," McCarty said. "These girls were young, trusting, and vulnerable. You took advantage of that for your own sexual satisfaction. The only appropriate sentence in this case is prison."

Tallmadge police launched the investigation June 17 after Snyder's wife reported to officers that she found a secret cellphone that her husband used to contact the girls.

The woman told police that she looked through the phone and found conversations he had with girls trying to solicit the photos. She also told police that she believed he also tried to solicit sex, according to court records.

Snyder later admitted to police that he used the phone to create secret accounts for email, Google+, KIK and Facebook that he used to portray himself as someone who worked for a modeling agency.

He told several girls between the ages of 12 and 16 that he needed their nude photos in order to decide if he would take them on as clients. He told them he would pay them large sums of money if he decided to hire them.

Snyder told police the scheme resulted in him getting "many" nude photos from women and girls.

Snyder told police that he also had sexually explicit chats with a girl who said she was 12 years old. The girl also sent him nude photos through KIK, a social-media messaging app.

He also used the phone to search for and view child pornography.
Akron police 3

Akron police charged two men in connection with separate Akron bar killings late Thursday and early Friday.

(File photo)

AKRON, Ohio -- Two men face murder charges in killings stemming from fights at different Akron bars.

A 39-year-old Akron man was shot in the chest during an argument at the Hi-De-Ho Lounge in the 500 block of Vernon Odom Boulevard.

Willie Hicks III, 41, of Akron, and the man were at the bar for an event, according to court records. The two got into an argument about 11 p.m. Thursday and walked outside to fight.

The argument continued outside and the other man walked back into the bar. Hicks returned to the bar about 10 minutes later with a shotgun and shot the man once in the chest, police said.

The man was taken to Akron General Medical Center, where he died.

Hicks is not in police custody and a warrant was issued Friday for his arrest.

The second shooting happened about an hour later at the Zodiac bar in the 1900 block of Triplett Boulevard.

Robert Jarvis, 64, of Lakemore, turned himself in to police about an hour after he was accused of beating a 43-year-old Canton man to death.

The fight started about 12:05 a.m. Friday fought inside the bar when Jarvis punched the man three times in the head, police reports say.

The man was taken to Akron City Hospital where he died from his injuries.

Jarvis is being held in the Summit County Jail awaiting his first court appearance.

Both killings happened in front of a large group of witnesses. Both men who died will be identified by the Summit County Medical Examiner after their families are notified.
AVON LAKE, Ohio - Kelli Kotyk stared in amazement as she reached out to touch the giant sea turtle that swam in front of her, and she did not even have to get wet to do it.

Kelli, a 7-year-old second-grade student at the Erieview Elementary School, was among a select group of several hundred students who beta-tested an experimental Google program that brings field trips into the classrooms. Eastview was the only school in Lorain County selected for the experiment, and one of several hundred classes in the entire world selected to test the Google Expeditions Pioneer Program.

The project is so hush-hush that Google representatives will not even answer questions about it, but it is hoped to be made available by the end of the year.

Eastview students, and students from Erieview Elementary School brought in for the occasion, each got to spend a half-hour exploring the world under the direction of their teachers.

"The amazing thing is that none of us saw the equipment until this morning," said Eastview Principal Michael Matthews. "But with less than a half-hour training, our teachers were able to operate the system and guide the children through it. It's a great program that brings the world into the classroom."

The children were handed crude, cardboard viewers equipped with magnifying lenses and a large smartphone slotted in. The high-definition 3-D image surrounds the viewer with 360 degree images, creating a virtual reality.

"I see the shark," said Evelyn Ritt excitedly as she looked at the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. From her perspective, she was at the bottom of the ocean as sea life swam all around her. "This is so cool."

Jacob Cooke, and his twin sister, Julie, both 7, thought the exercise was exciting.

"I liked the part with the mountains," he said. "It felt like I was standing on a mountain ledge, climbing out on the rocks." And he was able to climb out on the rocks without giving his mother a heart attack.

The children moved around the classrooms as they explored the Brazilian Rainforest, mountaintops, Yosemite National Park, the Great Wall of China, Mount Rushmore and many other sites from around the world.

And to call the program "out of this world" would not be an overstatement, since one of the programs explores the surface of Mars.

"The Google Expedition and the Google Cardboard experience will give students the opportunity to bring global learning experiences right to their desktops," said Matthews in a news release. "They will be able to experience virtual field trips from around the world that tie directly into their everyday learning. The goal of the program is to introduce teachers and students into a new platform of learning that is not only highly engaging, but taps into several learning modalities of the virtual world and beyond. It will create a full immersion experience for students unlike any other."

The schools received everything needed to virtually travel the world and beyond, including a tablet that allows the teacher to select a destination and guide the students.

Google created the curriculum with the help of the Wildlife Conservation Society, PBS, the Museum of Natural History, the Planetary Society, and the Palace of Versailles, among others.

The question is whether the schools will be able to afford the program.

"I feel like schools are always trying to catch up with the rest of society in terms of technology," Matthews said. "I would love to see this available for the students, but we don't even know the cost yet."

The students from second, third and fourth grades gave the program a big thumbs up -- that is, when they could tear themselves away from the viewers.
Brelo brothers

Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo, center left, and his brother Mark Brelo, center right, in a recent court hearing in Rocky River Municipal court. The brothers are flanked by their attorneys, Brian Moriarty, left, and Kevin Spellacy, left.

(Patrick Cooley, cleveland.com)

ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- The twin brother of embattled Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo pleaded no contest to a lesser charge in an assault case Friday.

Mark Brelo was charged with assault and disorderly conduct in connection with a May 27 fight between him and his brother.

Bay Village Prosecutor Gary Hotz filed a motion Thursday asking Rocky River Municipal Court Judge Donna Fitzsimmons to drop the assault charge in exchange for a plea to the disorderly conduct charge.

Fitzsimmons fined Mark Brelo $150 plus court costs Friday.

Kevin Spellacy, an attorney representing Mark Brelo, said his client's family is going through a difficult time and the brothers chose the wrong way to deal with it. He declined to make additional comments about the deal after the hearing.

Mark Brelo told the judge that he had learned from the incident and hoped to put the affair behind him.

Mark Brelo walked shirtless through his brother's Knickerbocker Road neighborhood knocking on doors asking people to call the police in the early morning of May 27. He told officers he'd been in a fight with his brother.

Police charged him with disorderly conduct that evening and eventually charged both brothers with assault after a short investigation.

Hotz agreed to drop the assault charge against Michael Brelo in December after the Cleveland police officer pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct.

Michael Brelo was acquitted May 23 in a manslaughter trial involving the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, who were killed by police fire after a lengthy car chase that began in Cleveland.

He remains on administrative leave as the department decides if it will discipline him.
Conwell1.JPG

Cleveland Heights High School senior Charles Conwell was given a warm reception Jan. 6 at the Heights Youth Club. About 100 people attended a rally to show support for Conwell, who is close to earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team as a 165-pound middleweight. Conwell will continue his high school studies online. The 2016 Summer Olympics will take place in August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

(Jeff Piorkowski/Special to Sun News)

The new book bin at the Shaker Heights Library.

We'll start off this week with news from the Shaker Heights Library.

It's winter and, even though we haven't had much snow of which to speak, it's still cold. Maybe you don't want to get out of your nice, warm car to return items you've borrowed from the main library, 16500 Van Aken Blvd. Well, don't let the cold stop you from returning your items.

In what the library is calling an item that will provide "many happy returns," it has set up a colorfully wrapped return box in the main lot.

Speaking of color, let's all go back a few years. Perhaps you can remember back to your kindergarten years. Maybe you can't.

What sticks with me from that long-ago time was doing lots of coloring and eating graham crackers. I fondly remember snack time and the teacher unwrapping that crinkly-sounding package of crackers, my mouth watering in anticipation.

Those are my memories. These days, children learn a lot more at a younger age than we adults did in kindergarten. Our time in kindergarten was largely spent playing, resting, eating and going home early. And, yes, there was some learning in between it all.

It appears that many of us need badly a reminder of those simpler days. The Shaker Library is accommodating this need by offering adult coloring sessions from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Saturdays on Jan. 16, Feb. 20 and March 19 at the main library.

Adults will be provided pages to color and colored pencils. Or, you can bring your own pages and coloring equipment, should you prefer crayons. Either way, it promises to be soothing and fun.

You can converse with the person coloring next to you and, hopefully, have a relaxing time. So, stop on by.

The library will also provide refreshments. I don't know if they'll provide graham crackers, but thinking back on kindergarten, I sure have a taste for some right now.

And, finally from the Shaker Library we have this. Teaching artist Sheela Das will lead a class on how to play ukulele, or improve your ukulele skills, from 6-6:45 p.m. Jan. 21, Feb. 18, March 24 and April 14.

You can bring your own ukulele, or borrow one from Sheela. You must register in advance by calling 216-991-2030 if you want to use one of Sheela's ukes.

Remembering MLK: The Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple, 23737 Fairmount Blvd. in Beachwood, is holding its annual Shabbat in celebration of Martin Luther King Day at 6:15 p.m. Jan. 15.

Special guest will be Keshia Thomas, a civil rights activist and advocate for equality and racial justice.

In 1996, when just a teenager, Thomas, who is black, threw herself on a white man to protect him from an angry mob that was about to beat him as a suspected supporter of the Ku Klux Klan. The moment propelled her on a path of social justice.

The temple has a video presentation that can be seen here, that tells of its commitment to pursue Dr. King's dream every day of the year.

The temple won't stop its observance of King with that, however. At 9 a.m. Jan. 17, all are invited to join a delegation of Fairmount Temple congregants and clergy at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave. in Cleveland, for a special service with Trinity worshippers reflecting on MLK's legacy. Special guest speaker will be Rev. Dr. Emilie Townes, dean of Vanderbilt University Divinity School.

Townes will speak about institutional racism, concerns about voting rights and violent encounters between police and blacks. She will also offer ideas to work, through faith, to create justice.

Shaking it up: If you weren't aware, the Shaker Heights Schools are in the process of upgrading its facilities. It is striving to bring its school buildings, built for 20th century education, into the 21st century.

Residents are invited to take part in the facility master planning process by attending one or several workshops.

Upcoming workshops will be held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 3 and 16, and on March 2. All will be held in the upper cafeteria of Shaker Heights High School, 15911 Aldersyde Drive.

They're tops: The folks at Menorah Park center for senior living are thrilled to announce that their Home Health Offices have been named a 2015 HomeCare Elite Award Top Agency.

The award recognizes the top performing home health agencies across the United States.

Now in its 10th year, the HomeCare Elite Award recognizes the top 25 percent of Medicare-certified agencies and highlights the top 500 and 100 agencies overall.

Menorah Park is located at 27100 Cedar Road in Beachwood.

City Without Jews: The 2016 Cleveland Jewish History & Public Policy Series gets under way at 7 p.m. Jan. 27 with a free talk by Mark Souther about how Jews dealt with the move from city life, to suburban life. Souther is titling his discussion "City Without Jews."

An associate professor of history at Cleveland State University, Souther will explore how, faced with a rapid departure from the city to the eastern suburbs, Jews worked to assure the resilience and recentralization of communal life.

The talk will be given at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, 2929 Richmond Road in Beachwood.

In all, the free series will include two lectures, a five-week class and a forum. The final event in the series, on May 23, is a panel discussion titled "Cleveland's Radio Superstars," which will include talk about the first rock 'n' roll DJ, Alan Freed.

Space for the Souther talk is limited. To register, call 216-593-0575, or visit maltzmuseum.org.

Bootstrap Bash: The Shaker LaunchHouse Bootstrap Bash, an event to raise funds to support the LaunchHouse and the Shaker Heights Development Corp. in making entrepreneurial programs and educational opportunities more accessible to Cleveland area entrepreneurs and small businesses, will be held Jan. 23 at the LaunchHouse, 3558 Lee Road.

This year's event honoree will be Thomas F. Zenty, III, Chief Executive Officer of University Hospitals. University Hospitals, Shaker's largest employer, is serving as lead sponsor for the event.

Included at the bash will be an open bar, strolling dinner, raffle and more. Tickets cost $125 per person and can be purchased at 2016bootstrapbash.eventbrite.com.

MLK movie: The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Library's Noble Neighborhood branch, 2800 Noble Road, will present the movie "Akeelah and the Bee" at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 15 to start off the Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend.

The movie stars Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett in the story of a young girl who learns to believe in herself by competing in a spelling bee. The free movie will be shown in the Teen Room.

If there is an item you would like to see included in Press Run, send me an email, at least 12 days prior to an event, at jeff.piorkowski@att.net.
Pet-brands acquisition pays off for Smucker as sales hit record $1.95B

Deutsche Bank just named Northeast Ohio's J.M. Smucker Co. its top food industry pick in 2016, citing the company's growing profitability and greater operational efficiency, especially in the pet and snack foods business it acquired last year, according to a financial media outlet called Benzinga. Deutsche Bank analysts expect pet foods to make a big contribution to Smucker's sales going forward.

(J.M. Smucker Co.)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Deutsche Bank just named Northeast Ohio's J.M. Smucker Co. its top food industry pick in 2016, citing the company's growing profitability and greater operational efficiency, according to a financial media outlet called Benzinga.

Deutsche Bank analysts Eric Katzman, Mario Contreras, and Kanika Goyal wrote that "Based on a combination of (1) a decent fundamental LT [long-term] outlook for the new [Big Heart Pet Brands] pet food business, (2) recovery in coffee profitability, (3) additional LT cost savings potential, (4) high FCF [free cash flow] efficiency, and (5) attractive valuation, we name Smucker as our top pick."

It also raised its price target for the company by 5 percent to $137, from $130.

Smucker, based in Orrville, Wayne County, declined to comment on its selection as the top food industry pick.

But analysts specifically highlighted the company's strength in the profitable pet food business, acquired in March 2015, noting its strong brands include Meow Mix, Milk-Bone, Kibbles 'n Bits, and 9Lives.

It also said demographic trends such as more child-free households, growing interest in pet snacks, and rising status of pets as furry family members would increase Smucker's sales going forward.

"With approximately two-thirds of U.S. households having at least one family pet, we will now be able to serve the mealtime and snacking needs of the whole family," Chief Executive Richard Smucker said when the deal was announced. He called Big Heart Pet Brands "an excellent strategic fit for our company," because it suddenly made Smucker a big dog in the pet food aisle, one of the largest and fastest growing categories in the U.S. grocery store.

Even though Big Heart Pet Brands was the biggest acquisition Smucker had made in its 116-year history, the fourth-generation family-run company has a track record of buying well-known companies and helping them grow.

That includes its purchase of the No. 1-selling Folgers Coffee business for about $3.3 billion in November 2008; its acquisition of International Multifoods Corp., including Pillsbury baking mixes and frostings, for about $500 million in 2004; and its purchase of Jif Peanut Butter and Crisco Oils and Shortenings for about $1 billion in June 2002.

Smucker has said it wants to save $200 million from its integration of the pet foods business by 2018. Smucker sells many of its pet foods to the same retailers who sell its people food, but company executives said they have no plans to make pet food at factories that make food for humans.

Deutsche Bank said Smucker could make another big buy in 2016.

Smucker's shares closed at $120.04 on Friday, down 27 cents from Thursday's close of $120.31.
MEDINA, Ohio -- A Medina woman pleaded not guilty Thursday to seriously injuring her husband by stabbing him in the chest.

Diana Gerspacher, 61, is charged with two counts of felonious assault in the incident that happened at her home Dec. 20. She is currently in custody at the Medina County Jail.

Gerspacher's jury trial is scheduled March 7 in Medina County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Joyce Kimbler raised Gerspacher's bond from $100,000 to $500,000 during her arraignment hearing. Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman requested a higher bond because he felt Gerspacher might be a danger to herself and the community, according to court records.

Defense attorney Michael Ash could not be reached for comment Friday.

Gerspacher called 911 shortly after she stabbed her husband at their home. She was arrested at the home without incident, police said.

Her 67-year-old husband was flown to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland with serious injuries. He has since been released.

Gerspacher was treated at the scene for superficial wounds. Investigators did not say how she was injured.
Cimperman in ethics probe ethics State inquiry tied to city contracts awarded to wifeis employer from A1

Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman's departure from city government is not part of any settlement to close an Ohio Ethics Commission investigation. Cimperman announced Thursday he would leave the seat he has held for nearly two decades to become president of the non-profit corporation Global Cleveland.

(Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman's resignation is not part of any settlement to close an Ohio Ethics Commission investigation into his involvement in city contracts awarded to the non-profit design firm that employs his wife.

Had Cimperman's departure from the public sector been part of a negotiated agreement with the Ethics Commission, it would be memorialized in a public record. No such record exists, said Paul Nick, the commission's executive director.

Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman and his wife, Nora Romanoff.

The absence of that record indicates that the Ethics Commission's investigation continues, although Nick said he could not comment on an ongoing investigation.

By law, the Ethics Commission work is classified as a criminal investigation. As such, its investigative records are closed the public.

Cimperman, reached by telephone Friday, said he hasn't yet talked with the commission himself.

"I have been waiting for this to resolve and have yet to hear from them," he said.

Cimperman announced Thursday he would leave the seat he has held for nearly two decades once budget hearings are completed in March. Global Cleveland's board of directors voted unanimously Thursday to make Cimperman its new president. The non-profit economic-development group is focused on immigrants, refugees and other newcomers to the city.

In August, cleveland.com obtained a copy of a subpoena, signed by Ethics Commission chairman Merom Brachman and sent to the community development corporation Ohio City Inc. The development corporation has partnered on a number of city projects with LAND Studio, for which Cimperman's wife, Nora Romanoff, is the senior project director.

The subpoena ordered Ohio City Inc. to produce copies of its correspondence dating back to 2002 with Cimperman and his staff related to projects or services rendered to the city by LAND Studio, its predecessor ParkWorks, LAND Studio Executive Director Ann Zoller or Romanoff.

Romanoff has worked for either LAND Studio or its predecessor, ParkWorks, since 1996. She and Cimperman were married in 2006.

In October 2013, cleveland.com reported that Cimperman had both sponsored and voted for legislation in 2011 that granted a city contract worth $200,000 to LAND Studio for design and planning related to Mall B and C in Cleveland's downtown. He later abstained, though, when the city voted to expand the contract.

In 2008 and 2009, Cimperman sponsored resolutions supporting the firm's applications for about $2 million in state grants to acquire land for the Lake Link Trail project on the West Bank of the Flats.

State law prohibits public officials from using their authority or influence to secure public contracts in which the official, a family member or business associate has an interest. Doing so could amount to a fourth-degree felony, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 or as many as 18 months in prison.
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East Cleveland is defending a police officer whose cruiser struck and killed a pedestrian in October while responding to a call.

(cleveland.com file photo)

Featured stories

Man shot dead inside Hi-De-Ho Lounge in Akron (WEWS Channel 5)

Police: Man beaten to death inside Akron's Zodiac Bar (WEWS Channel 5)

East Cleveland claims officer not liable for hitting, killing pedestrian (WKYC Channel 3)

Baby Jesus statue stolen from Solon church (WEWS Channel 5)

Crime

Man shot while riding bike near East 116th Street and Miles Avenue in Cleveland (WEWS Channel 5)

Cleveland police arrest West Side boy accused of using replica gun, replica bullets in robberies (Cleveland.com)

Trio charged with crashing stolen truck into Cleveland drugstore (Cleveland.com)

Special prosecutor to take over former Pepper Pike police officer rape case (Cleveland.com)

Woman shot and killed on Paradise Street in Orrville (WEWS Channel 5)

Former Cuyahoga County probation officer pleads guilty to accepting bribes (Cleveland.com)

Officials ID man killed in East Cleveland shooting; police still seeking shooter (Cleveland.com)

Akron couple accused of making meth, growing pot around kids (Cleveland.com)

Akron man accused of robbing Copley Burger King arrested with baby (Cleveland.com)

Solon man hits ambulance with his car while drunk (WEWS Channel 5)

Former auxiliary firefighter sentenced to jail for fake fire call (Elyria Chronicle-Telegram)

Heated debate in court over personal information of survivor of triple homicide in Barberton (Akron Beacon Journal)

Cleveland / Cuyahoga County

Judge who oversaw Tamir Rice grand jury is named (Cleveland.com)

Retired Philadelphia police captain marks second day in Cleveland for Tamir Rice protest (Cleveland.com)

Here's the citation police gave Johnny Manziel on the morning of his reported trip to Las Vegas (Cleveland.com)

Water main break closes East 55th Street at Central Avenue on Cleveland's East Side (Cleveland.com)

Rock Hall offers free admission, programs on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Cleveland.com)

Local news East

South Euclid's Sacred Heart of Jesus Academy, Lyndhurst's St. Clare School will merge next school year (Cleveland.com)

Burton woman named 'Mother of Invention,' gets grant for eyeglasses company (News-Herald)

Local news West

Former President Bill Clinton to headline Saturday evening fundraiser in Independence (Cleveland.com)

Republic Steel temporarily idles Lorain operations: laying off 200 (Cleveland.com)

Westlake delays $2.5 million Center Ridge, Canterbury roundabout project for year (Cleveland.com)

89-year-old Parmatown Giant Eagle cashier is Facebook famous (video) (Cleveland.com)

Akron area

Rock Mill Climbing bringing world-class rock climbing to Akron (photos) (Cleveland.com)

Knight Foundation awards $500k grant for Towpath enhancements in Akron (photos) (Cleveland.com)

With Macy's gone, will Akron's Chapel Hill Mall survive? (Cleveland.com)

State

Mild winter has Lake Erie 99 percent ice-free (Cleveland.com)

Columbus judge fancies himself a poet when dismissing prisoner's lawsuit (Cleveland.com)

Backers of Ohio drug pricing initiative sue to try to force Jon Husted into action (Cleveland.com)

PG Sittenfeld's plan to ban gun sales to Ohioans on no-fly list questioned by law professors (Cleveland.com)

'Midwife' indicted for practicing without a license (Mansfield News Journal)

Man, 85, involved in hit-and-run sentenced to one year in prison (Toledo Blade)

Dad ODs at Cincinnati hospital, woman found dead (Cincinnati.com)

Assault rifle, grenade launcher among weapons police find in Youngstown homes (Vindy.com)
Brelo brothers

Masrk Brelo, the twin brother of embattled Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo, pleaded no contest to a lesser charge in an assault case today.

(Patrick Cooley, cleveland.com)

Top stories:

Two men face murder charges in killings stemming from fights at different Akron bars. (cleveland.com)(WAKR 1590-AM)

The twin brother of embattled Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo pleaded no contest to a lesser charge in an assault case today. (cleveland.com)(WOIO Channel 19)

After 18 years in his current job, Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman is stepping down to become president of a nonprofit economic-development group focused on immigrants, refugees and other newcomers to the city. (cleveland.com)(WKYC Channel 3)

Area crime news:

A Medina woman pleaded not guilty Thursday to seriously injuring her husband by stabbing him in the chest. (cleveland.com)(Medina Gazette)

A 22-year-old man has been charged with murder after police say he shot and killed the mother of his two children Thursday night in Orrville. (Akron Beacon Journal)(Wooster Daily Record)

Marcus Lashley, who pleaded guilty in October to killing an Ashtabula mother and son during a 2014 home invasion, was sentenced today in Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court to 60 years to life in prison. (Ashtabula Star Beacon)

Two people were arrested after a two-year-old child was found in an apartment with an active meth lab in Medina this week. (WJW Channel 8)

Elyria police are investigating three robberies they believe were committed by the same person. (Elyria Chronicle-Telegram)

A quick-thinking Akron bartender got the upper hand during a mid-afternoon robbery Thursday. (WAKR-1590 AM)

Local news - east:

A federal judge has dismissed a racial discrimination lawsuit over a proposed Wickliffe nightclub. (News-Herald)

John Dellick, the son of a Mahoning County Juvenile Court judge and sentenced last February to 18 months' probation for two separate incidents in 2013, is back in Mahoning County jail after being picked up by Ohio Adult Parole Authority. (Youngstown Vindicator)

In a Dec. 30 letter, Geauga County Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Tim Grendell informed Geauga County Commissioners the court has resolved the matter of about $9,000 in outstanding legal fees. (Geauga County Maple Leaf)

Local news - west:

U.S. Steel is planning to lay off 261 employees at its Lorain steel mill over the next few weeks, union officials said. (Elyria Chronicle-Telegram)

Sen. Gayle Manning, a former public school teacher, is ready to pull the public into a fight to keep Lorain Schools under local control. (Elyria Chronicle-Telegram)

Amherst and Vermilion are among recipients of more than $9 million in state money to help neighborhoods and downtown business districts. (Lorain Morning Journal)

Akron-Canton area news

A 29-year-old woman was killed in an early morning crash in Lake Township in Stark County. (WAKR 1590-AM)(Akron Beacon Journal)

The trial for Eric Warfel, a Medina man accused of leaving his 20-month-old daughter's dead body in a crib, has been postponed. (Medina Gazette)

More fire stations could be closing because of Canton's strained budget. (Canton Repository)
cleveland-police-night-stock.jpg

An unknown gunman shot a man in the jaw Thursday night in Cleveland, police said.

(cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland police are investigating after an unknown gunman shot a man in the jaw on the city's East Side.

The shooting happened about 5:45 p.m. Thursday near East 116th Street and Miles Avenue in the Union-Miles neighborhood.

A witness told police that he heard two gunshots then saw the victim stumble a few feet and collapse.

Officers called to the scene provided first aid until paramedics arrived, police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said.

The victim was taken to MetroHealth. His condition on Friday morning is unclear.

No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call detectives at 216-623-5418.
Screen Shot 2016-01-07 at 10.09.31 PM.png

A man in Monticello, Kentucky, is accused of stealing several roosters and a goat and then demanding sex from their owner in return.

(Screen shot from WKYT.com)

A 25-year-old man reportedly stole 25 roosters, a goat and farming equipment from a farm in Monticello, Ky., then offered to return them if the owner would have sex with him.

Details of the Dec. 21 incident were outlined in an arrest warrant against Rodney Brown, according to WKYT.com. Brown was taken into custody this week and was released from the Wayne County Detention Center after posting bond.

Brown is accused of stealing the roosters, goat, rooster pens and other items. He then sent a text to the owner and said he would return the items if he would consent to sex with him, reports say.

Brown threatened beat up the victim if he reported the incident to police, WKYT reports. He is facing charges of promoting prostitution and third degree terroristic threatening.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Something worthwhile is happening in Oregon.

The people who are staging a sit-in at a "federal building" at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon, while inconveniencing no one, are calling attention to government misbehavior that should make Americans' blood boil.

Occupy The Middle of Nowhere should continue for as long as it takes the mainstream media to give Americans the full story. And then it should end, peacefully, on the protesters' terms.

To get this story out, the media will have to get over their knee-jerk assumptions that government is in the right, that people who engage in both civil disobedience and reasonable personal hygiene are in the wrong and that people who peaceably exercise their Second Amendment rights are scary.

Thus, protest leader Ammon Bundy's prediction that this could take years may well be accurate.

It's hard for people who haven't lived in the rural West to understand what the farmers and ranchers there are up against. In the West, the only thing bigger than the federal government is the sky, and the federal government does its best every day to catch up.

In some states -- and we're talking big, big states -- the federal government owns two-thirds of the land. In Harney County, the flash point of the Oregon dustup, the feds own almost 75 percent of the real estate. They want more. And they have gone to unscrupulous lengths to get it.

Judge if you will the actions of Steven Hammond and his son Dwight, whose decades-long battle to keep their land and use it profitably has landed them in prison. Judge if you will the actions of the people who are engaging in civil disobedience at the bird sanctuary.

But judging them fairly requires that you also judge the actions of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, as recounted by ranchers around Malheur and by former ranchers -- people who gave up the battle to keep and use land that was once theirs.

The Lake Malheur Reservation was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 (by, ahem, executive order). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been working assiduously to grow its marshy Oregon empire -- now the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge -- since the 1960s.

At first, the locals say, the government gained new lands in the honorable way -- by paying for them. But some of the ranchers declined to sell and clear out.

So in the 1970s, the government started revoking ranchers' permits to graze cattle on federal parcels. Those who got to keep their permits had to pay more for them. At the same time, the government took control of the irrigation system the ranchers' forebears had built to water the range. (That's right: The ranchers were there before the birds. Their irrigation system created the marshes that drew the birds the government set out to protect.) Still, some ranchers declined to sell and clear out.

In the 1980s, the government diverted surface waters to flood the Silvies Plain, where some of the remaining ranches stood. With their buildings and acreage under water, those ranchers had no choice but to sell and clear out. Once the feds had the deeds to their properties, the water was allowed to recede.

Through it all, the Hammonds stayed on, their property eventually surrounded entirely by the bird sanctuary. At which point, the Hammonds say, it got personal.

The federal government fenced off the Hammonds' water source. It barricaded a county road that the Hammonds had to use to get to part of their property. It revoked grazing rights on land adjacent to their holdings and demanded that they build an expensive fence to keep their cattle on their own land.

With their own lands rendered unusable, the Hammonds bought other acreage that included access to federal land for grazing. Once they took ownership, those permits were canceled, too.

Now, for the second time, Steven and Dwight Hammond are imprisoned -- on a terrorism sentence related to some specious "arson" charges. When Dwight Hammond gets out, if he gets out, he'll be 79 years old.

The five-year sentence is the mandatory minimum under the Federal Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which apparently is what the federal government charges you with when it's angry at you for not giving it your land.

The statutory description of their crime? Maliciously damaging or destroying "by means of fire or an explosive, any building, vehicle, or other personal or real property" belonging to the United States.

The property in question? Less than $1,000 worth of range grass.

Now, just because the federal government wants their land, they're in prison again. There's no credible case against them. Unless law enforcement makes the mistake of acting aggressively, there's no case against the Malheur protesters.

I could see a case, though, for putting some federal bureaucrats behind bars for menacing, abuse of power and outright thievery.

O'Brien is The Plain Dealer's deputy editorial page editor.
COLUMBUS, Ohio--The Ohio Republican Party's endorsement of Gov. John Kasich for president Friday likely won't win over many GOP voters, political analysts say.

But, several experts said, the endorsement will help Kasich's campaign reassure donors and Republican officials outside Ohio that he's not in trouble in his home state.

And an Ohio Republican Party spokeswoman said the party's backing is even a sign that Kasich would be more likely than other GOP candidates to beat Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton this November.

The state GOP's central committee voted 44-9 to endorse Kasich during a meeting in Columbus. One of the dissenting votes, central committee member Gary Burkholder of Licking County, said he didn't want the party to endorse any candidate in the Republican primary.

It's likely the first time the state party has endorsed a presidential candidate in a primary since then-U.S. Sen. Robert Taft of Cincinnati sought the White House in 1952, according to University of Akron political scientist John Green.

The endorsement came as no surprise, as state party leaders have moved in lockstep with the governor since he won an internal party fight five years ago.

Kasich's plan - or, rather, hope - is to finish strong in the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary, then stay afloat until winning Ohio's presidential primary on March 15.

The party endorsement indicates to Republican donors and potential endorsers that if they back Kasich, they won't have to worry about him losing Ohio, said Thomas Sutton, who chairs the political science department at Baldwin Wallace University.

"It's more of the safeguard checkbox that says, 'he's safe in his home state,'" Sutton said.

Sutton and other political scientists said that it's too soon to say whether Kasich actually does have Ohio in the bag. The most recent presidential poll in the state, released in October, showed him in third place behind Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

In addition, Sutton said, the endorsement is a counter to Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel's early endorsement of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for the presidency.

Asked if the Kasich campaign will be touting the endorsement, spokesman Rob Nichols said "of course we'll use it," though he didn't discuss specifics about campaign strategy. In a statement, the campaign said Kasich "is proud to have the confidence and support of Ohio's Republican leaders."

Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges told reporters Friday that the endorsement wasn't made to help Kasich win support in New Hampshire and other early primary states.

"This was an opportunity for us to express our appreciation and support of our governor whom we love and is going to do a wonderful job," he said.

But state party spokeswoman Brittany Warner said Friday's endorsement bolsters the argument that Kasich can win the general election this fall.

"I think the endorsement today brings up the question of which Republican can win the general election against Hillary Clinton," Warner said. "And I think this is just another reminder that John Kasich is going to have the best organization and the strongest support of any Republican to be able to defeat Hillary Clinton in Ohio."
The slump in oil prices is frightening stock traders, but the impact on geopolitical stability may prove to be more alarming this year. Low commodity prices could exacerbate tensions and conflict in the Middle East, increase public protest in Latin America, and worsen industrial action in Africa's resource-rich countries, Verisk Maplecroft, a global political risk consultancy, warned in a 2016 outlook report published Friday.



Pius Utomi | EKPEI | AFP | Getty Images

"Verisk Maplecroft highlights low commodity prices as one of the primary drivers of political risk for investors in major producing countries across Africa and Latin America, while the increasing international threat posed by the Islamic State and rising tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, are flagged among the foremost geopolitical risk multipliers," the consultancy said in the report. Crude oil prices tumbled below $35 per barrel on Wednesday to 11-year lows, with the commodity around two-thirds lower since its long decline began in June 2014. Prices of other commodities, particularly metals, have also slumped over the year.

Saudi-Iran tussle

Royal Bank of Scotland warned Wednesday that continued low oil prices this year could worsen the tide of conflict and tensions in the Middle East. "The Middle East is no stranger to conflict. Most countries remained resilient versus low oil prices in 2015, however. In 2016 we think low oil may exacerbate the crisis and result in a further escalation of geopolitical tensions in the region," Alberto Gallo, head of global macro credit research at the bank, said in a report on Wednesday. Oil is important in the dispute between Iran and Saudi Arabia, whose animosity long precedes the row sparked by this month's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. Saudi Arabia is the world's top oil producer and will face increasing competition from Iran, if and when, international sanctions are lifted on the latter country's exports.



Iranian protesters hold portraits of Nimr al-Nimr at a demonstration against his execution by Saudi authorities, outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Atta Kenare | AFP | Getty Images

"Once sanctions are lifted, Iran may upset the political status-quo established by Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) nations over the past decade. Iran and GCC nations are currently engaged in a proxy-conflict in Yemen  but as the recent severance of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran suggests, this conflict may escalate," Gallo said. "With declining regional co-operation there is the risk of lower coordination on oil production/supply potentially leading to a further decline in oil prices and consequently lower growth for the region's oil-exporting nations," he added. Verisk Maplecroft added that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei might pursue a more confrontational foreign policy in 2016, in a bid to appease hardline elements in Iran's theocratic regime. This could pose a threat to the country's efforts to placate the West in a bid to see sanctions lifted. Iran has already threatened "divine vengeance" on Saudi Arabia for the execution of the Sheikh cleric in early January, while the Iranian public stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran over the weekend.

Corruption in Latin America

The end of the commodity boom has "laid bare the profligacy" of Latin America's two largest economies, Brazil and Argentina, and of the largest oil producer in the region, Venezuela, according to Verisk Maplecroft. The political picture in both Brazil and Venezuela remains unstable, with deteriorating economies knocking the popularity of the ruling parties and in the case of Brazil, also fueling allegations of corruption. "The ongoing impeachment process against (Brazilian) President Dilma Rousseff is unlikely to be successful, but it will ensure protracted legislative gridlock during 2016 and prevent the passage of the reforms required to arrest the deteriorating fiscal landscape and restore investor confidence. The mass anti-government protests witnessed in 2015 are set to continue and could spike in the run up to the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro," Verisk Maplecroft said.



Demonstrators protest against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, calling for her impeachment, in Sao Paulo. Paulo Whitaker | Reuters

Strike risk in Africa

The extractive industries are big employees in several African countries. For example, Botswana is reliant on diamond mining and producing a large volume of copper and coal. Zambia, meanwhile, has been hit by the falloff in the price of copper, which brings in much of the country's foreign earnings. Verisk Maplecroft forecast that job losses at mines as a result of the decline in commodity prices would provoke industrial action and social unrest in countries including the Central African Republic, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Nigeria. "Job losses in the extractives sector of Africa's resource-rich countries are expected to provoke industrial action, while the impacts of depressed oil, gas and metals prices on domestic government spending and rising living costs across the region are likely to stoke social turmoil," the consultancy said. Countries like South Africa already have a track record of violent strikes at mines. In 2014, the country suffered one of its longest and most expensive strikes when workers at major platinum producers  Anglo American , Imapala Platinum and Lonmin  demanded that wages were doubled. They held out for five months before settling for a smaller pay increase.

Islamic State involved

Accusations are flying around the Middle East that nearby countries and leaders are buying oil from the so-called Islamic State terrorist group. On Tuesday, the Saudi foreign minister alleged in an interview with CNBC that Syrian President Bashar Assad had purchased oil from the Islamic State during the first two years of the conflict in Syria. "He bought oil from them, he allowed them to expand and he allowed them to grow so that he can tell people that it's either me or the terrorists," Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi minister of foreign affairs, said.


"You can wonder if we are beginning to be in a bear market, but that is the definition of a bear market," Cramer said. (Tweet This)

The average stock in the is now 20 percent from its highs. Technically, stocks have been declining for a long time now, with only a select few overvalued names making the averages look better than they actually are. Things are very fragile right now.

Often when investors are scared they sell. And that is exactly what happened to stocks on Thursday.

"This is the most high anxiety market I can recall since the great European crisis of 2011, although not as horrendous as 2008," the " Mad Money " host said.

The fear was palpable in the stock market on Thursday. Jim Cramer called it an emotional beast, and that beast was a bear, not a bull.

I'm not bullish...to say that the decline is just beginning after the average stock is already down 20 percent, seems both glib and complacent.

With this in mind, Cramer created a fear gauge survival guide to help investors frame the anxiety they are feeling and make non-emotional decisions. He began by taking a look at what worked the last time the market was in disarray.

Cramer recommended stocks that he calls accidentally high yielders; that's a company that can afford to pay a good dividend. The yield suddenly balloons because the share price has fallen so much. But the key, Cramer said, is that the company must be able to cover the dividend from its cash flow.

Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer

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There might be plenty of oil and gas companies with juicy yields out there, but those dividends are not safe. As for a company like Chevron , even though it has a solid business, Cramer does not trust the stock. The last time China blew up, at the end of Aug. 15, the stock traded to $70 and closed at $83 on Thursday. This was despite the fact that oil was at $40 back then  it just doesn't add up.

Accidentally-high-yielder stocks that Cramer likes are Verizon , Pfizer , L Brands , Walgreens and Constellation Brands .

"I'm not bullish. I'm simply saying that the market can create bargains as it goes down. There aren't that many. However, to say that the decline is just beginning after the average stock is already down 20 percent seems both glib and complacent," Cramer said.

It might take work, but the bargains are out there. Ultimately, it is the fear of China, the Fed and earnings next week that drove the market lower Thursday. Cramer's survival guide worked last time the market was filled with fear, and there was actual systematic risk in the U.S. then. Now the risk is across the ocean, and Cramer thinks it will work again.
Shares of both companies dropped in after-hours trading, with Qorvo seeing a 10.5 percent decline and Cirrus falling nearly 5 percent.

Precision circuit maker Cirrus Logic announced preliminary fiscal third-quarter net revenue of approximately $347 million, falling short of the $386 million predicted by analysts at Thomson Reuters. And core technologies and RF solutions company Qorvo trimmed revenue expectations for its fiscal third quarter down to $620 million, versus its original guidance of $720 million to $730 million.

Two Apple suppliers tempered expectations Thursday, warning their quarterly results would likely be below estimates in the latest of a string of supplier woes that have dimmed the tech giant's shine on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, tech titan Apple saw its stock tumble yet again, ending down 4.2 percent Thursday, and continuing to drop in after-hours trading.

Another key Apple supplier, Dialog Semiconductor , also cut its fourth-quarter revenue outlook last month, leading numerous analysts to slash their iPhone unit sales targets. Supply chain checks indicated a 30 percent reduction in production of Apple's iPhone 6S and 6S Plus between January and March, as estimated by the Japanese financial news service Nikkei earlier this week.

On top of that, recent stock market volatility in China hit Apple near the epicenter of one of its fastest-growing markets. Analyst Amit Daryanani of RBC Capital Markets chopped 10 million units from his iPhone sales target after supply chain data points Thursday.

"The fear is, does this flow into the consumer market over there and impact iPhone sales?" Daryanani told CNBC's "Closing Bell." on Thursday. "You haven't seen it so far, i.e., the last September results we had. But that's certainly the right concern to have, given how important China is to Apple."

Friday will close one of the worst weeks in the technology sector of the market for five years, with fellow Apple suppliers showing particular weakness: As of Thursday, Skyworks was down 12.4 percent week to date while Avago was down 11.2 percent week to date. The companies did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.



Disclosure: RBC Capital Markets is a market maker in Apple. CNBC's Christopher Hayes contributed to this report.
Respected energy hedge fund manager Andrew Hall, a well-established bull in the embattled oil market, lost about 35 percent last year, according to someone who has reviewed Hall's performance numbers.

Hall, the longtime oil trader who runs Southport, Connecticut-based Astenbeck Capital Management, has remained irrepressibly optimistic about crude despite the downturn of the last year and a half. As recently as early December, with his fund down 26 percent on the year, Hall defended his position to investors, calling higher oil prices "down the road" a "virtual inevitability" in a letter reported by Reuters at the time, adding that "now is not the time to exit the market."



Still, by that point, Astenbeck's assets had fallen to $2.4 billion from $3 billion earlier in the year, according to Reuters.

Hall did not respond to requests for comment.
South Korea has resumed propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers against Pyongyang across the border, South Korean military officials said on Friday, taking a step that has angered North Korea in the past.

Seoul decided to restart propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts against Pyongyang after North Korea announced this week that it had successfully tested a hydrogen nuclear device.

"We are putting out critical messages about Kim Jong Un's regime and its fourth nuclear test, saying North Korea's nuclear weapons development is putting its people in more difficult times economically," a military official said.

The loudspeaker broadcasts began at noon local time and another official said the military heightened the level of alert around the locations where the propaganda was being broadcast. According to reports, the broadcasts can be heard as far away as 12 miles from the border.
Embattled commodities trader Noble Group has started the year on another credit rating cut, after Standards and Poor's downgraded the company to junk status.

S&P's move late on Thursday to lower its long-term corporate credit rating for the Hong Kong-based company to BB+ from BBB- comes just a week after a similar cut from rival ratings agency Moody's .

Noble shares on the Singapore Exchange tanked as much as 10 percent to the fresh seven-year low of 31 Singapore cents each shortly after opening on Friday.The company's most liquid dollar bonds due in 2020 also dropped to their lowest on record.

"We downgraded Noble because the company's liquidity is below what we expect for a strong liquidity position, despite the sale of its agricultural unit," S&P credit analyst Cindy Huang said.

"In our view, the company's credit standing in the capital markets and with lenders has weakened, reflected in its depressed securities prices."

The cut to junk territory will likely increase Noble's borrowing costs and make it harder for the trader to refinance debt to shore up its finances.

Noble shares have fallen 70 percent in the last year, since a firm called Iceberg Research published a report alleging that the Singapore-listed trader's accounting treatments were "unusual," result in "fabricated" profit and "intentionally misleads credit agencies and investors."
China's plunging currency worries investors because many consider the Chinese data unreliable, not to mention the huge stockpile of reserves, said Elsa Lignos, an RBC currency strategist, in a Thursday interview with CNBC's "Closing Bell."



"We had data overnight showing they used up over $100 billion in December alone," she said. "That has implications for other asset classes; the heavily invested in U.S. Treasuries" and currencies.



Amid these fears, market watchers are looking to invest in companies that will have fewer repercussions in the wake of China's volatile market.



On the exposure side, you have a lot of tech, industrial, material and the energy companies, said Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group.



"Qualcomm , Micron , ," he noted. "These chip-related companies have a lot of exposure there. While the band doesn't necessarily stem from China, they have a lot of their sales in China."



Market watchers may fear that China may ruin companies such as Apple , Starbucks and Tiffany , but Hickey suggests that investors look at valuations.
Is this the year that investors will hide out in cash?

Each year, Byron Wien puts together 10 "surprises"  events that he thinks are likely to happen, but to which most would assign a low probability.

In 2016, one of Wien's predictions appears to be getting off to a good start.

"The United States equity market has a down year," Wien prognosticated in a missive released Monday. "Stocks suffer from weak earnings, margin pressure and a price-to-earnings ratio contraction. Investors keeping large cash balances because of global instability is another reason for the disappointing performance."

Stocks have slid mightily to begin 2016, though there is obviously a bunch of the year left, so the jury is out on that one. The same might be said about earnings and market multiples.

Read More Traders are looking for a bounce, but



But when it comes to investors moving to cash due to global instability, well, Wien's prediction appears to be playing out with remarkable speed.

And some traders say that going to cash indeed makes for a good strategy, at least in the short term.

Larry McDonald, head of U.S. macro strategy at Societe Generale, said stocks should continue to face challenges from weak technical indicators, plunging commodities prices and a strong U.S. dollar.

"All of this has created this credit risk that still hasn't cleared," McDonald said Thursday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." "You want to sell those rallies and raise cash over the next 60 days, and use every opportunity to actually put those greenbacks right back in your pocket."

Selling any significant rallies in the throughout January and February will leave significant capital for better buying opportunities later in the year, he said.

Craig Johnson of Piper Jaffray also believes that cash will come in handy as the S&P 500 continues to sink. While Johnson said the long-term secular bull market is still intact, investors should see a better entry point over the next three months.

"We could see this retest cut a little deeper in here, so having some cash on the sidelines ready to deploy during that final washout phase would certainly be a good move," Johnson said Thursday on "Trading Nation."
AI has become a huge new focus for Silicon Valley companies lately. Earlier this week, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said he planned to build an AI-based virtual assistant akin to Jarvis in the Iron Man movies and comics.

Blog posts on Emotient's website, which have been removed following Apple's acquisition, described how it "harvests faces" to create "emotion-aware machines". A team of people, via crowdsourcing, was used to train its machine-learning system by collecting and labelling the emotions in 100,000 images a day, "quickly converting human intelligence into artificial intelligence", Emotient said in a press release last May.

San Diego-based Emotient was founded in 2012 and has already been awarded patents covering how it uses crowdsourcing to "train" its machine-learning technology for sentiment analysis and  crucially for the privacy-conscious Apple  a way to understand facial expressions without storing recognisable images of individuals' faces.

Apple has acquired a start-up that uses artificial intelligence software to analyse emotions from facial expressions, the latest in a string of acquisitions that may point to a push into virtual or "augmented" reality or enhance its automotive research.

However, Apple has been seen as lagging behind Alphabet , Google's parent, and Facebook in its AI capabilities. Apple's hardline stance on protecting its customers' privacy by not storing or using large volumes of data for features such as personalisation has also been seen as a potential impediment to developing machine learning.

A promotional video released by Emotient two years ago asked: "What if your devices could read your emotions and respond to them?" One example showed a car navigation system suggesting a new route based on detecting that the driver was frustrated.

With fewer than 50 employees according to its LinkedIn profile, Emotient had raised about $8m from investors including Intel Capital. Its early customers included marketers and retailers that wanted to understand how consumers were responding to their products. Last year, it released a Google Glass app that could be worn by salespeople, for training and to analyse customer reaction in real time.

More from the Financial Times:

Zuckerberg rejects fears of rogue AI

Thiel invests in German fintech start-up

Butler sought, humans need not apply



Emotient had also suggested its technology might be useful in education or even medical diagnosis. However, Apple often makes technology-focused acquisitions that end up being used in entirely different applications to when the company was independent.

In August, Emotient trained its technology on a Republican presidential candidate debate and concluded that while Donald Trump "predominantly conveyed anger", Ted Cruz "almost exclusively expressed sadness" during the Fox News broadcast.



Apple confirmed the acquisition, which was originally reported in the Wall Street Journal, saying it "buys smaller companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans".

While Emotient's technology might potentially be used in Apple's own retail stores, which are undergoing an overhaul under former Burberry chief Angela Ahrendts, the acquisition follows deals in the past year that some analysts believe point to some kind of VR or "augmented reality" system, where virtual images are intermingled with the real world.

Last year, Apple patented a VR headset akin to Google Cardboard or Samsung's Gear VR that uses a smartphone as a screen. In May, Apple acquired Metaio, which used a smartphone or tablet to overlay digital information over a real-world image. In November, it emerged that it had acquired Swiss-based Faceshift, a maker of motion capture technology that maps facial movements to digital characters in movies such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Analysts at Piper Jaffray concluded that Apple "has a team exploring the AR space". "We believe Apple's early involvement in the space suggests the company is preparing for the next evolution of computing," it said in a note last year.



AR and VR were big themes of the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas, as were transportation and autonomous driving.

Apple has a team working on automotive technology with an eye to releasing a vehicle in the coming years, the FT and others have previously reported. After poaching employees from the likes of Tesla, its executives met California regulators in September to discuss rules around testing driverless cars. Technology such as Emotient's, Faceshift's and Metaio's could be used to help build a car with new kinds of heads-up displays or provide the ability to respond to messages and notifications hands-free while driving.
U.S. Treasury yields fell on Friday after the December jobs number handily beat expectations and stocks lost ground toward the end of trading.

The U.S. economy added 292,000 jobs last month, well above the expected 200,000.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was lower at 2.1147 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond traded at 2.9056 percent. Yields move inversely to a bond's price.
Chinese investors purchased $8.6 billion in U.S. commercial real estate assets in 2015, according to CBRE, a global real estate services and investment firm. That does not even include real estate development, in which Chinese are also investing in a very big way. China still ranks second behind Canada in this race, but it nearly quadrupled its play in just one year. As China's economy and stock market spiral, will that help or hurt U.S. real estate? "Volatility from China is the new normal, and the sooner we get used to it the better. At the same time, a certain amount of volatility isn't all a bad thing as global instability often leads to more foreign capital flows to the safe havens, notably London and the U.S," said Spencer Levy, CBRE's head of research for the Americas.

Office buildings in New York Mbbirdy | Getty Images

The U.S. is now well-positioned to reel in foreign investors, thanks to recent changes in tax law. Last month, President Barack Obama signed into law a provision that waives taxes imposed on foreign pension funds under the 1980 Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA). In addition, these funds can now buy up to 10 percent of a U.S. publicly traded REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), without falling under FIRPTA; the limit had been 5 percent.



"The current volatility in China has underscored for Chinese investors the importance of diversifying their investments into the U.S. and elsewhere," said Sam Chandan, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. "It does, however, raise the possibility of a policy intervention on behalf of the Chinese government that will limit capital outflow and roll back some of the liberalization at least temporarily."

Bottom line: If China is not growing quickly, not creating a lot of capital, there is less money to export. China's gains have been a boon to the U.S. in both commercial and residential real estate during the recent U.S. recession.

While Chinese purchases of properties like the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City or the Standard Oil Building in San Francisco grabbed headlines, much of China's 2015 investment in U.S. real estate was focused on the warehouse sector. It even knocked the glitzier office sector out of first place.




"Put simply, it's a phony market. We have lost all confidence in the Chinese Communists' ability to run either their stock exchanges or for that matter, their economy, and that loss of faith is translating into genuine fear of some sort of systematic crisis that could hurt worldwide growth," Cramer said.

Cramer speculated that the only reason the Chinese market rallied was because its government propped up the market with buying. That is great short term but will not be sustainable in the long run. Especially since Cramer believes that the Chinese government is making these moves up as it goes along.

"As I've told you all week, do not expect anything good from this market," the " Mad Money " host said. (Tweet This)

It made sense to Cramer that the market would go higher with China being able to mount a rally on Friday and nonfarm payroll data showing bountiful job gains  but that was not the case, as the Dow dropped triple digits in the close.

It was a nasty week this week, and Jim Cramer was thankful when it finally ended. Unfortunately, he does not expect anything good from this market in the near-term.

Until we see a real crescendo of capitulation, I say we have to be willing to take some pain for now, in order to get some gain later.

So, with a Chinese stock market that is propped up with the government, and the U.S. economy with a Fed that is threatening to raise rates  who in their right mind would buy stocks?

One thing that has been totally lost amid the pile of bad news lately is earnings. Both Constellation Brands and Walgreens reported fabulous earnings this week, but no one cared.

Cramer thinks this could all change next week when earnings season kicks off. With this in mind, he shared the stocks and events he will be watching next week:

Monday: Alcoa

Alcoa has recently closed many high-cost smelters in order to create a new commodity company that is more diversified. Cramer is more interested in the high-tech side of its business and thinks Alcoa's stock has gotten too low versus the sum of the company's parts.

Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer

Cramer Remix: The unspoken truth behind $20 oil

Cramer: This is when the selling will stop

Cramer's market anxiety survival guide

Tuesday: CSX Corporation , Monster Beverage analyst meeting

CSX will provide investors insight on everything from coal, auto parts to agriculture and oil. Railroad stocks have been horrendous lately, and Cramer is reluctant to buy the stock.

Monster was one of Cramer's favorite names last year, and he expects to hear a good story about European sales from the analyst meeting. He recommended owning the stock for speculation.

Thursday: JPMorgan , Intel

The banks have been under pressure recently with the thought that perhaps the Fed won't tighten as quickly as many thought. That will impact how much money the banks made. Thus, Cramer worried about the amount of negativity circling the group.

As for Intel, Cramer is willing to bet that it has good things to say about its acquisition of Altera. It seemed like the right move for Intel to diversify away from the declining world of PCs.

Friday: Wells Fargo , Citigroup , PNC , US Bancorp

Cramer again cautioned investors that this entire group is for sale. The charts have broken down and the sector has become hated, and he doesn't think this group is done going down.

So, with China still up in the air and the Fed determined to raise rates due to strong employment, investors will be fighting both the Fed and world events next week.

"Until we see a real crescendo of capitulation, I say we have to be willing to take some pain for now, in order to get some gain later," Cramer said.
The doctor who transplanted a heart into United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz says the heart is functioning well and he is optimistic about a full recovery. Munoz, 57, who has been on medical leave since a heart attack in October, underwent a transplant Wednesday at the Northwestern University hospital in Chicago. On Thursday, United Continental Holdings Inc. released a statement from Northwestern's Dr. Duc Pham, who led the surgery team. He said that the doctors were pleased with the operation and upbeat about the prognosis.

Oscar Munoz, CEO of United Airlines. Source: United Airlines

United also disclosed Thursday that Munoz had a device implanted to help after the heart attack, but that a transplant was considered the better long-term treatment. United said Munoz is expected to return to work late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter, later than had been forecast before. General Counsel Brett Hart is running the Chicago company as acting CEO. Also Thursday, United detailed Munoz's amended employment agreement, dated Dec. 31, in a regulatory filing. If Munoz returns to work, the five-year contract would pay him an annual base salary of $1.25 million, annual bonuses expected to be at least $2.5 million and long-term incentives possibly worth $10.5 million a year. He'll also get $5.2 million in cash plus stock worth $6.8 million to offset stock awards that he gave up at to join United.
Renault-Nissan has announced the launch of 10 self-driving cars over the next four 4 years, as automakers and tech firms race for pole position in the technology.

The arrival of driverless cars could be delayed by a bicycle shaped road-block.

Nissan Motors' Autonomous Drive Leaf electric vehicle is driven for a demonstration ride at the CEATEC Japan 2013 exhibition in Chiba, Japan, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013.

Renault's chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, announced the plans Thursday, saying the first semi-autonomous vehicles will debut this year, with a fully autonomous car ready by 2020.

However Ghosn admitted to CNBC that there was a major issue.

"One of the biggest problems is people with bicycles," he said.

"The car is confused by them because from time-to-time they behave like pedestrians and from time-to-time they behave like cars."
It's been a wild ride for the markets this first week of January. As volatility in China's stock market weighs on investors, crude prices are threatening to tumble below $30.



The oil market doesn't have many bullish catalysts at the moment; there are fears of a declining demand in China, concerns regarding refinery maintenance and Iranian barrels are soon to hit the market, said Helima Croft, a senior strategist for RBC Capital Market.



"Do the fundamentals support oil in the $20s right now? Probably not," Croft said, speaking in an interview with CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Friday. She noted that macro-headlines could take the market anywhere.
European stocks finished in negative territory on Friday, in what has been a turbulent week for markets, as investors focused on China, oil prices and a strong monthly jobs report in the U.S.

Biggest loss since August 2011

European markets



The pan-European STOXX 600 ended trade down 1.3 percent provisionally, with almost all sectors closing lower. On the week, the STOXX 600 was down 6.6 percent provisionally, its largest weekly percentage loss since August 2011 during the European debt crisis, when it fell 9.94 percent. The German DAX was down 8.3 percent for the week, suffering its worst weekly loss since the week ending August 19, 2011 when it lost 8.63 percent. The official jobs report from the U.S. did little to lighten the mood in Europe. The data tracks non-farm employment and showed that 292,000 jobs were created in December in the country. This was much more than the expected 200,000 new jobs. U.S. stocks jumped on the news, however pared gains to trade slightly lower at Europe's close.

The U.K. FTSE 100 finished down 0.7 percent, the German DAX down 1.3 percent, while the French CAC 40 slipped even further, closing down 1.6 percent.

US jobs beat

watch now

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent, although the participation rate ticked up. The report has piqued expectations for a further Federal Reserve interest rate hike in March and another one later in the year. "The strong jobs report will go a long way toward assuring the Fed's leadership that the broad strategy outlined is still valid. Fed officials could hardly have hoped for a more supportive jobs report," BBH strategists led by Marc Chandler said in a note after the report was out.

China scraps circuit breaker

The U.S. data stole attention away from China, after this week's wild ride saw Chinese markets shut down twice to stem rapid selloffs. Chinese and global stocks stabilized somewhat on Friday after the China Securities Regulatory Commission suspended the market-calming system. The Shanghai and Shenzhen composite indexes both finished the day in positive territory. Stocks got a further boost after China's central bank moved the yuan 's mid-point against the U.S. dollar a shade higher on Friday. Plus, the People's Bank of China said it would further liberalize interest rates in a statement out later on Friday. The calmer China stock markets on Friday helped push up a handful of European basic resource stocks in early trade, however the continued pressure on metal prices kept most lower. Rio Tinto , Anglo American and BHP Billiton all posted strong losses.



Oil in focus

Despite initially rising in morning trade, crude oil prices came under sharp pressure on Friday, heading back to 12 year lows on Thursday, as investors grew more concerned over a relentless supply glut and low demand globally. Brent last stood at $32.88 and U.S. crude was at $32.74 per barrel. Shares in key oil stocks like Sbm Offshore and Total slipped to close sharply lower, over 3.5 percent, as long-term concerns over oil oversupplies continue. Tullow Oil finished down over 7 percent. Royal Dutch Shell ended 6.4 percent lower after the Financial Times reported that its 36 billion ($52 billion) bid for BG Group would likely win the support of most of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant's shareholders. Shares of BG Group pared gains, yet remained higher by the close

Sports Direct plummets over 15%
Poland's economic growth pre- and post-crisis puts Western Europe to shame, but concerns are rising about its latest political direction. The euroskeptic, pro-Catholic and highly conservative Law and Justice Party was elected in October with an overall majority. It has moved quickly to increase control of Polish institutions, provoking alarm among officials of the European Union (EU), of which Poland is a member.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party, gives a speech during a pro-government demonstration. Wotjek Radwanski | AFP | Getty Images

The party has replaced several public officials and the heads of the Warsaw stock exchange and some large state companies with party loyalists. It has also filled the constitutional court with its supporters and changed the rules to require a two-thirds majority to overturn any law, making it hard for the court to challenge party-backed legislation. The party is also pushing through legislation to gain control over the leadership of public broadcasters





Market impact

Polish financial markets have reacted to the political developments. The zloty has fallen against the U.S. dollar and the euro since mid-December when the law affecting the constitutional court was passed. It has declined 1.8 percent against the euro zone currency since the start of 2016.

The WIG index, which tracks all companies listed on the Warsaw stock exchange main list, is down 4.9 percent since the year started and around 14 percent lower since the Law and Justice party was elected in late October. "I think markets are waking up to rising political risk in Poland. Nothing on a scale like Brazil or South Africa. More like Hungary. I think investor sentiment has been dented by the Law and Justice government," Win Thin, global head of emerging markets foreign exchange at BBH, told CNBC this week.

A market in the center of Warsaw, Poland. Franck Fife | AFP/Getty Images

Like Hungary?

Hungary is a noteworthy comparison, as the country's authoritarian lurch under Prime Minister Viktor Orban over the last five years led the European Commission (the executive arm of the EU) to adopt new laws in 2014. These laws allow European officials to monitor member states and ultimately withdraw their voting rights if they pursue undemocratic policies. This is yet to happen to any member, but is a putative threat for Poland, with the European Commission set to debate on January 13 whether the "rule of law" is under threat in the country. The president of Poland's ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, is believed to be a long-term fan of Orban. The two enjoyed a six-hour meeting "shrouded in secrecy" on Wednesday, according to the "Financial Times." Both Poland and Hungary were Soviet satellite states until 1989 and were among the mostly Eastern European countries that joined the EU in its latest major expansion in 2004.



These countries have been praised on the whole for their swift embrace of economic reforms in the wake of the 2007-08 global financial crisis. They have proved less amenable, however, to adopting "European" values of social liberalism, with both Hungary and Poland refusing to accept Syrian refugees as part of an EU quota system. "Investors got used to a Brussels (EU officials' main base)-friendly Polish government and must now contend with a much more eurosceptic one," Nicholas Spiro of Spiro Sovereign Strategy told CNBC this week. "Yet the previous coalition government could hardly be described as a radical reformer and was tainted by corruption scandals. The reality is that Law and Justice Party won a thumping majority and there is considerable support for its agenda among large sections of the Polish population."

Economic policy

Poland's economy has posted strong growth ever since the collapse of the Soviet Empire and is seen expanding by 3.5 percent in both 2015 and 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund. Analysts forecast economic policy will remain largely unchanged under the Law and Justice Party, allowing for the possible slanting of public expenditure towards social benefits and the installation of more dovish policymakers in the central bank. "All in all, I think fundamentals remain solid in Poland and so markets shouldn't be too concerned. However, it is just a gentle reminder that politics still matters for emerging market investing," BBH's Thin told CNBC.


Federal agents investigating claims of copyright infringement raided a Chinese hoverboard maker's stand at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.



The raid on Changzhou First International Trade's stand at CES on Thursday came after complaints by Silicon Valley-based start-up Future Motion over its single central wheel hoverboard called Onewheel.

The California company claims the Changzhou's device, Surfing Electric Scooter, infringed on its copyrights.

Footage of the raid shows U.S. marshals taking down promotional material at Changzhou's CES stand and confiscating its one-wheeled products.


The two companies filed the complaint late Thursday seeking to stop the clawbacks and names numerous senior officials including the U.S. territory's governor, secretary of Treasury, and the president of the Government Development Bank as defendants. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court of Puerto Rico in San Juan.

The move was taken in order to raise nearly $1 billion to pay the bondholders Jan. 4.

The decision to "claw back" $163 million in December, a move made by Puerto Rican Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla to help fund the pending debt-service payments, was unconstitutional, according to Ambac Financial Group and Assured Guaranty , which insure or reinsure approximately $8 billion of the Commonwealth's debt.

Puerto Rico's debt crisis has entered a new phase as two of the island's top bond insurers filed a lawsuit challenging an emergency step taken to pay its bondholders.

The suit alleges that in December, the commonwealth, through an executive order issued by the governor, unlawfully recaptured revenues pledged for payment of certain tax-supported bonds. That was done in order make the full $329 million interest payment due to holders of its general obligation bonds, which carry strong legal protections.



The insurers argue that the diversion of pledged funds resulted in a default of approximately $36 million due on bonds issued by PR's infrastructure authority, also known as "PRIFA." As a result of the default, the insurers were forced to pay out $10.75 million under insurance policies that backed a portion of the defaulted bonds. Ambac, the largest insurer of Puerto Rico-issued debt, had the most exposure to the default, paying out about $10 million on claims related to the PRIFA bonds it insures.



Read MorePuerto Rico default just the start of its pain



The lawsuit also seeks an injunction to prevent Puerto Rico from using the clawback mechanism in the future.



"We remain hopeful that the commonwealth will abandon these illegal tactics, and turn instead toward good-faith negotiations aimed at solutions instead of confrontation," Nader Tavakoli, Ambac's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "While we are optimistic that the government of Puerto Rico will begin to act responsibly, at this time we have no choice but to protect our stakeholders through judicial recourse."



On Monday, after the default, Garcia Padilla told CNBC that the island was actively preparing forimpending creditor lawsuits. He cautioned that litigation would be very pricey and that "every dollar used to pay lawyers will be a dollar  not available to pay creditors."

Meanwhile, some of the bondholder attempts to negotiate with Puerto Rican issuers have been stalled by unwillingness on the government side, according to creditors involved with the talks.

"Everyone on the creditor side is very frustrated," said a senior official involved in the attempts. In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, municipal bond investor Hector Negroni, whose firm, FCO Advisors, has exposure to Puerto Rico, made similar comments.



In a written statement issued Friday, Garcia Padilla said that the lawsuit filed by the insurers "will force a race to the courthouse" and cautioned that both parties face great uncertainty absent the legal framework necessary to orderly restructure the island's $70 billion debt load.



"With no legal framework to handle this impending litigation crisis, both the commonwealth and its creditors will soon face the opposite of due process and rule of law," Garcia Padilla said in a written statement. He put blame on U.S. lawmakers for "answering to Wall Street lobbyists" and ignoring Puerto Rico's crisis and its 3.5 million American citizens.



Garcia Padilla also urged Congress to take swift action by "immediately enacting the Puerto Rico Emergency Financial Stability Act," in order to "prevent this humanitarian crisis from spinning out of control."
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It's been a record week of selling for global stock markets: Some $2 trillion was been wiped off the value of shares in the last four days. But you won't have seen many professional investors panic-selling.

A cool head usually cashes in during moments like this and a range of top analysts and strategists have been giving their views on how to stay calm and ride this current wave of volatility.

Ramin Nakisa, global asset allocation strategist at UBS, recommends that investors shouldn't take directional bets on markets this year and instead seek out pockets of value in certain regions.

"I don't think it's a buy and hold year, I think you have to stay on your toes," he told CNBC Friday. "We like risk in DM (developed markets), we like duration in DM. We like DM FX (foreign exchange) versus EM (emerging market) FX, so that's a kind of a hedge against these risk-off moves we've seen over the last week or so."

Nakisa and his team use a price-to-trend ratio to calculate valuations in equities which levels out the major market fluctuations seen in the last 30 years. On this basis, Nakisa said the pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 index was 30 percent below its long term average and still "cheap" compared to U.S markets. He added that Japan and Australia was also attractive due to more accommodative monetary policy and urged investors to steer clear of emerging markets.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. on Thursday, billionaire investor Mark Cuban revealed he was "doing nothing" about the market sell-off. "While all the selling seems to be based on China and the price of oil, I really don't know what the long term implications for our stock market is," he wrote in a note. "So I follow the number one rule of investing. When you don't know what to do. Do nothing."



These calming words come after a brutal start to the year for equities. The S&P Global Broad Market index, which tracks global stock performance, has lost $2.23 trillion in market value this year so far. Stark drops in Chinese markets, sliding crude oil prices and geopolitical concerns, among other factors, have contributed to selling across the globe.

Gina Martin Adams at Wells Fargo Securities - like Cuban  wasn't fretting about the sell-off and told CNBC Friday that investors hold "hold tight", "stick to your guns" and "wait it out."
SYRACUSE, N.Y.  Upstate Medical University announced the following recent staff appointments.

Palma Cassano has been named business manager for perioperative services and the Family Birth Center at Upstates Community Campus on Onondaga Hill. She holds a bachelors degree in accounting and an MBA from Le Moyne College. Prior to joining Upstate Medical, Cassano worked at Syracuse University as a budget analyst and business manager, privacy officer, and chair of the Quality Improvement Committee for Syracuse University Student Health Services.

Sara Fisher has been named pediatric trauma program coordinator. An Upstate Medical employee since 2003, Fisher has extensive experience in pediatrics. She received her bachelors degree in nursing from Syracuse University in 2003 and her masters degree in nursing from Upstate Medical University in 2009.

Simone Seward has been named director of Upstates Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) in the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. She most recently was assistant director for the Central New York Master of Public Health Program, where she developed numerous community partnerships. The CCE is involved in coordinating both local and global volunteer, service learning, and inter-professional community-based opportunities for students in all colleges.

Stacey Todd has joined the Campus Environmental Service Department as operations manager. She previously worked for 10 years with the Hertz Corporation. Todd received a bachelors degree in economics from the University at Buffalo.

Robert Swan, M.D., has been named assistant professor of ophthalmology, with clinical specialty in pediatric and adult uveitis/ocular inflammatory disease. He also serves as the quality officer for the Department of Ophthalmology. Prior to joining Upstate Medical, Swan was an attending ophthalmologist at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown. Swan received his medical degree from Upstate Medical University in 2008. He completed his internship at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in 2009; an ophthalmology residency at Albany Medical Center in 2012; and a clinical uveitis fellowship with C. Stephen Foster, M.D., at Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institute in 2015.

Muhammad Osman Arif, M.D., has been named assistant professor of medicine at Upstate Medical, with clinical specialty in general gastroenterology and hepatology and biliary and pancreatic diseases. He is the author of articles and published abstracts related to his medical specialty. Arif received his bachelors degree in medicine and his bachelors degree in surgery from Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan (2008). His post-graduate education includes a clinical-research assistantship with the Cardiac Imaging Research Group at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (2009). He completed a residency in internal medicine (2012) and a fellowship in gastroenterology (2015) at Upstate Medical University.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com
UTICA, N.Y.  Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) plans to consolidate all urgent-care services at Faxton Urgent Care at 1676 Sunset Ave. in Utica.

MVHS is an affiliation of St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Faxton St. Lukes Healthcare in Utica. The two organizations came together in March 2014.

Genesee Urgent Care, located at 1904 Genesee St. in Utica, will relocate and combine with Faxton Urgent Care on Jan. 15, MVHS said in a news release.

The consolidation will help MVHS make better use of resources, avoid duplication of services and reduce costs in the system, the organization said.

MVHS, in a follow-up email, said it did not cut jobs in the consolidation.

Faxton Urgent Care has recently been expanded and renovated in preparation for the change, Edward Reynolds, a registered nurse and MVHS urgent-care operations manager, said in the release. The Faxton and Genesee Urgent Care centers each have nearly 17,000 patient visits annually and our providers and staff are committed to continuing to meet the communitys health-care needs.

People should use urgent-care centers for minor medical problems, such as seasonal allergies, coughs and colds, flu, pink eye, sprains, minor burns and lacerations, urinary-tract infections, minor back pain, rashes, and nausea, according to the MVHS news release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
January 7, 2016

 NASA's next astronaut to launch to the International Space Station will use his unique position  in both time and space  to share the history of the outpost.



Jeff Williams, who in March will become the first American to spend three long-duration expeditions aboard the space station and will set a new U.S. record for cumulative time off the Earth, will dedicate part of his upcoming six-month expedition to highlighting how the orbital complex came to be what it is today.



"It occurred to me a few months ago that I have gotten the unique opportunity to have gone in the early days, before Expedition 1, to the space station for the first time and then to be there again, about halfway through assembly with a crew of two, and then back with a crew of three, and then later with a crew of six," Williams said in an interview after a briefing at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Thursday (Jan. 7). "So my career covers the history of the space station."



Williams, whose first trip to the outpost was aboard space shuttle Atlantis in May 2000, six months before the space station's first expedition crew arrived, is now set to join the Expedition 47/48 more than 15 years later. He will launch with cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos on Russia's Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 18.







Expedition 47 crew mates Oleg Skripochka, Jeff Williams, Alexey Ovchinin, Tim Peake, Tim Kopra and Yuri Malenchenko. (NASA)

Once aboard the orbital laboratory, Williams, Ovchinin and Skripochka will join Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, U.S. astronaut Tim Kopra and British astronaut Tim Peake with the European Space Agency (ESA), who launched in December. Later after those three depart in June, Williams will command the Expedition 48 crew, including Ovchinin and Skripochka, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Anatoli Ivanishin, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).



"I'm really looking forward to flying with this crew," Williams said. "I think if you add it up, I've been on orbit with about 45 different people and this will add at least five more."



During their stay, the Expedition 47/48 crew members will facilitate about 250 research investigations and technology demos, as well as oversee the resupply of the station with the arrival and departures of American and Russian cargo vehicles. The crew is also expected to be aboard when a prototype habitat, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), is inflated and when the first international docking adapter is installed to enable future U.S. commercial crew spacecraft to visit the station.



Between that work, Williams intends to devote some of his time and outreach activities to taking a look back at what the station has accomplished and where that might lead as future missions embark outwards into the solar system.







Jeff Williams with his Soyuz TMA-20M crew mates Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. (NASA)

"If you go and survey the workforce right now and survey those in the general public who are following what we do, as is always the case, in the minds of many of them they don't have the awareness of how we got to where we are today," Williams remarked. "So, given my personal history going back ... I thought it would be a good opportunity to rehearse some of the significant milestones and the depth of history behind getting the space station built."



Williams, whose father was a high school history teacher, said that he hopes to remind the world of the significance of the history behind his soon to be home off the Earth.



"To me, it is fair to argue that the greatest achievement of the space station program is the space station itself, and that's what I want to try, in some way, to maybe enrich the awareness of the public," he said. "Not so much because of the history, but because of what that history enables us to do in the future."
Hazing anniversary a time of reflection for Santulli family

Danny Santulli's family hopes the attention given to his situation can help end hazing nationwide, Santulli's father, Tom Santulli, told the Tribune.
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By Clay Bailey of The Commercial Appeal

Federal charges in Florida against a Bartlett man were dismissed earlier this week after the government acknowledged it was unable to adequately review new evidence that emerged in the case.

Brian Cox, who lives north of U.S. 70 and east of Germantown Road, faced indictments in 2014 regarding wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in connection with allegations of defrauding the federal government of $32 million. The accusations were based on claims submitted to a program  Lifeline  that provides discount telephone service to low-income customers.

At the time, Cox was shown as owner of True Wireless LLC on Brother Boulevard. He also was listed in the indictment as an undisclosed owner of Associated Telecommunications Management Services (ATMS), which owned subsidiaries that participated in Lifeline  the federal program providing the discount phone service.

Companies participating in Lifeline supply the phones to low-income customers and are reimbursed with funds collected by private telephone companies.

The indictment accused ATMS of inflating the amount claimed for reimbursement between January 2009 and April 2013, saying the company and its subsidiaries did not provide proper hard copy documentation.

But in recent weeks, federal prosecutors based in Tampa began questioning their evidence, including whether Cox and two co-defendants actually did submit the adequate documentation for the program. On Sunday, the Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Cox, Thomas E. Biddix and Leonard I. Solt, saying previously submitted "audio certifications" for participation in the telephone service program could qualify as sufficient to satisfy requirements.

Cox's attorney filed a brief saying the audio files should be considered adequate, particularly after a key leader of the Lifeline program acknowledged that between 2009 and 2011, audio files were acceptable.

The motion to dismiss notes that "This series of events raised new legal and factual questions about the evidence in this case." Prosecutors were further hindered because there were 1.4 million audio files to review.
By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal

One person was killed and several others injured in a burst of gunfire in a Raleigh neighborhood Thursday night.

At least three other people were injured, although police were still trying to determine late Thursday whether some had been hit by bullets or glass. One juvenile boy was taken to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital and two females were taken to the Regional Medical Center. All were in noncritical condition.

Police began receiving calls to a Raleigh neighborhood a little after 7:30 p.m. One call came from the 3900 block of Winker, another from the 4000 block of Trudy and the last from the 3800 block of Kerwood. Those addresses are all in the same vicinity.

Police were looking for two suspects who may have been wearing Halloween masks. No arrests had been made late Thursday.
SHARE Bob Williams/The Commercial Appeal files He was born on Jan. 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, and became a legend in his own time. More than 7,000 people jammed Ellis Auditorium on the night of May 15, 1956, to stomp, shudder, shriek and sigh as a young Elvis Presley writhed his way through a rock and roll repertoire. Presley was the blockbuster of Bob Neals Cotton Picking Jamboree, a feature of Cotton Carnival opening night.

Jan. 8

25 years ago: 1991

The executive director of Memphis Housing Authority said Monday he is considering a proposal that would require counseling or eviction for single women who give birth to more than two children while living in public housing. "We feel as though the roots of crime are a result of the breakdown of the family," said Cary C. Woods, who admitted his proposal would "raise some eyebrows." Woods said more than 80 percent of public housing families are headed by single women, and the average household includes three to five children. This crowding and lack of adult supervision leads to crime, he said.

50 years ago: 1966

The Board of Directors of the Radio Corporation of America in New York formally approved a 50-million-dollar program of television plant expansion yesterday, with the biggest unit, costing 20-million-dollars, awarded to Memphis. Delbert L. Mills of New York, executive vice president of the RCA Consumer Products Division, will be host at a luncheon at the Sheraton Peabody Monday for press, television and radio men and Memphis public officials and businessmen to announce details of the plant.

75 years ago: 1941

Memphian Frank Podesta is on his way to the Pacific Coast track with 16 racehorses he conditioned at the Fairgrounds track here. Included in the string are four horses, Court Miss, Islam Girl, Valdina Cadet and Memphis Lass, owned by Fred Orgill, of Memphis.

100 years ago: 1916

The Administration Ticket at Binghamton, favoring annexation to Memphis, made a clean sweep in this week's municipal election. H.E. Canada was named mayor and S.H. Cooper, T.A. Calvert, Howard Miller, W.A. Snyder, W.D. Steel and Lawrence Simmons, aldermen.

125 years ago: 1891

Despite the sums annually paid out of the treasury to light the city at night, no gas lamps have been lighted in the city east of Third for several nights, causing taxpayers to be forced to stumble around in Stygian darkness.
Antonio Jones Sr., left, and Andre Falagg eat at the St. Vincent de Paul food mission. Windows were broken at the mission in October and then again in December. Community organizations and individuals have donated more than $18,000 to help the mission.

SHARE January 07, 2016 - The St. Vincent de Paul food mission had its kitchen windows broken in October and then again in December. Community organizations and individuals have donated more than $18,000 to help the mission. (Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)

By Katie Fretland of The Commercial Appeal

After the St. Vincent de Paul food mission was vandalized in early December for a second time, volunteer Amy Marcella launched a fundraising campaign to replace more than two dozen broken windows.

She set a $6,000 goal on Dec. 9 through the crowdfunding website GoFundMe, and by Christmas Day, 66 donors had contributed $6,400. Last week, the total contributions rose to more than $18,000. "It did not take long before friends, colleagues, Mid-South community and fellow Vincentians rallied and went above and beyond our expectations ... We are deeply grateful for the support and love everyone is showing us," Marcella wrote Thursday.

Someone broke an estimated 40 windows at the St. Vincent de Paul food mission on Monroe near Cleveland in October, causing the kitchen to close for repairs. Then on Dec. 6, at least 25 more windows were shattered. A company boarded up the windows, and the volunteer-run kitchen reopened.

The mission serves free meals to homeless and hungry guests from 9:30 to 11 a.m. every day.

"The different crews of volunteers, they are very nice and conscientious," said 61-year-old Clyde Anderson, a guest at St. Vincent de Paul.

Anderson said the mission has a tradition of giving gifts to the guests around the holidays. With the Dec. 6 vandalism happening so close to Christmas, he said a lot of people did not expect presents. But the mission still gave them, he said.

"This is the nicest place," he said.

By Thursday, 108 people and organizations had donated to the fundraising campaign. Students at Our Lady of Perpetual Help contributed more than $2,700, and the Germantown Knights of Columbus Council 7449 gave $2,500.

"It's fantastic that they did it," said Al Cash, 73, who has volunteered at the mission for six and half years.

Gloria Hyden, president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Memphis Inc., said the donations have been an "outpouring of love and faith in what we do here."

Kenneth McLean, an attorney and the grand knight of the Germantown Knights of Columbus, said the Knights of Columbus had the money already available in funds when they decided to donate.

"Our first guiding principle is charity," he said.

On Thursday at St. Vincent de Paul, Robert Clayton, the organization's director of security, said community members came together to support the mission.

"That proves people really do care," Clayton said.

For more information, visit the GoFundMe site.
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By Richard Locker of The Commercial Appeal

NASHVILLE  Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan announced Thursday he will retire Jan. 31 and his resignation letter makes clear the move is in protest of Gov. Bill Haslam's plan to remove six state universities from the board's control and create separate governing boards for each of them.

Morgan's letter to the governor says he planned to retire in January 2017 at age 65 but "after much serious consideration, I have decided to accelerate that timeline and retire at the end of the month. Given the announcement of plans to form separate governing boards for the six TBR universities, I cannot, in good conscience, continue as chancellor for another year.

"Simply put, I believe the path being proposed is the wrong one for many reasons," he wrote. "However, as an employee of the board, I will not act contrary to the board's stated interests and objectives, and because of my feelings, I would not be in a position to help implement a proposal that, in my view, will do nothing to further TBR's work to accomplish the state's goals."

The board, whose members are appointed by the governor, voted Dec. 10 to support Haslam's plan to restructure the TBR system, which he calls the Focus on College and University Success (FOCUS) Act. Moments earlier, Haslam discussed the plan's details at the board meeting. He had unveiled the surprise plan only a week earlier.

Morgan's letter said he believes the plan "is unworkable and will seriously impair the critical alignment of the state's needs, the TBR's oversight responsibility, and each institution's accountability." He said there are better higher education structures, including North Carolina's, if the governor believes restructuring is needed.

"Throughout my long career in public service, I have observed that ambiguity is the ally of ineffectiveness and inefficiency. Intentionally, clear accountability was designed as the heart of the Complete College Tennessee Act of 2010, with responsibility and authority co-located," Morgan said of the 2010 act that moved higher education funding from enrollment based into a performance-based system. Morgan helped draft CCTA as deputy to then-Gov. Phil Bredesen.

He said Haslam's FOCUS Act "disperses authority and responsibility so that the institutions, the system or THEC (Tennessee Higher Education Commission) can always implicate one or the other if goals are not achieved."

But Morgan's letter cited Haslam's support over the past five years and his "Drive to 55" initiative to increase the percentage of Tennesseans with some post-high-school credential to 55 percent by 2025.

The governor's office would not comment specifically on Morgan's criticism of the plan, which must be considered by the state legislature. In a statement issued through TBR, the governor lauded Morgan's service:

"With the Complete College Act and the Drive to 55 initiative, the state has been asking more of its higher education system than ever before, and John has guided the Tennessee Board of Regents system admirably since becoming chancellor in 2010. He's served the state in a number of roles since 1976, including serving as deputy governor to Gov. Bredesen and 10 years as the state's comptroller, and I am grateful to John for his service to Tennessee and wish him all the best."

Haslam's plan would create new governing boards for the University of Memphis, Austin Peay State University, Middle Tennessee State, East Tennessee State, Tennessee State and Tennessee Technological University by early 2017 and vest more coordination authority in THEC. It would leave the Board of Regents with its 13 two-year community colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology.

The University of Tennessee system is not directly affected by the governor's plan.

The Board of Regents selected Morgan, a Democrat, as chancellor in October 2010, as Bredesen was about to leave office. "I have been honored to serve the state for many years but my role with the Tennessee Board of Regents and this opportunity to work with the people who shape the next generation of our citizens and leaders has been the most rewarding of my life," Morgan said.

Morgan said his departure will allow Haslam to "actively engage in the selection of a new chancellor and to spend meaningful time with the new system leader while focused on new initiatives during his final term in office."

University of Memphis supporters who campaigned for an independent U of M governing board for decades praised the governor's plans last month. On Thursday, U of M President David Rudd said, "We are deeply grateful for Chancellor John Morgan's years of loyal service and commitment, not only to the University of Memphis and the Tennessee Board of Regents, but to the entire state of Tennessee. We wish him all the best in retirement and know that the work he has overseen will continue and have a positive impact on higher education."

State House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh of Ripley said Morgan "served this state with distinction for 30 years. From his time as a research assistant for the fiscal review committee to his extraordinary tenure as comptroller of the treasury (and) deputy governor to his service as chancellor of the Board of Regents, we are a better state because of this public servant. His leadership and vast knowledge of state government will be sorely missed, especially as we consider the questionable restructuring of higher education in Tennessee."

Morgan graduated from Austin Peay in 1974. He became executive assistant to the comptroller in 1989 and 10 years later was elected comptroller by the state legislature. He was re-elected to that position four times. but was not re-elected after Republicans gained control of the General Assembly in 2009. Bredesen appointed him his deputy at that time.
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By Ron Maxey of The Commercial Appeal

A choir director at a DeSoto County high school has been charged with two counts of sexual battery.

Megan Morgan, 29, surrendered Friday morning at the DeSoto County Jail and is free on $50,000 bond -- $25,000 on each of two counts, according to police.

Few details were available in the ongoing investigation, but the charges stem from the parents of a student, a minor, filing a police report.

DeSoto County Schools issued a statement saying Morgan, choir director at DeSoto Central High School in Southaven, is no longer an employee of the system.

The statement said the system is "fully cooperating" with law enforcement in its investigation.

Morgan was a graduate of Delta State and Florida State universities. Other biographical information about her had been removed from school websites Friday afternoon.

On the Rate My Teachers website, she received the top rating of five stars in two anonymous reviews.

One review called her by "far the best high school choir director in the state."

"Not only is she fun, but she is also strict when need be," the review reads.

The other reviewer called Morgan "absolutely wonderful."

"Ms. Morgan changed my life through music and her teaching," it said. "She is a very caring and selfless person. I wish schools were filled with more people like her. Best Music teacher ever."
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Memphis owes Toney Armstrong a big "thank you" for his five-year tenure heading this city's Police Department.

He was a great ambassador for police-community relations and was a steadying hand in keeping police anger from boiling over regarding salary and benefit cuts.

With new Mayor Jim Strickland, Armstrong announced Thursday that he is leaving at the end of the month to become of director of security at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

He begins his new role Feb. 1, more than a year before he was set to retire through the city's Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP).

After Strickland defeated incumbent A C Wharton in the October city elections, Armstrong said he was willing to stay on as director until Strickland found a replacement. As of Thursday evening, the mayor had not named an interim director.

Now, Armstrong's premature departure makes it important for the mayor to expedite his national search for a replacement  someone who can strike a balance between bringing a set of fresh eyes to the department while maintaining the strong relationships Armstrong built with community groups.

"Toney Armstrong truly is a Memphis hero," Strickland said at a news conference Thursday. "He has dedicated his entire adult life to helping us, starting as a patrol officer and moving up the ranks, and has been a remarkable director of police. He will be missed."

Armstrong joined the department in 1989 and worked his way through the ranks to become director in 2011. He worked hard and successfully to build and maintain a good rapport in the community.

That was demonstrated in the trust a coalition of African-American ministers exhibited in Armstrong as the investigation into the shooting of Darrius Stewart by a Memphis police officer dragged on for months.

It is unfortunate that the director has not shown the same type of transparency and openness in sharing information with the news media.

Armstrong was at his best when publicly grieving over the police officers killed in the line of duty, talking about a horrendous crime or expressing his thoughts about police officers involved in criminal activities.

It showed he genuinely cared about Memphis, its citizens and the officers who work hard to protect and serve.

Budget and manpower issues prevented him from accomplishing everything he wanted in reducing crime.

The manpower problem has become a critical issue, exacerbated by the Memphis City Council agreeing with Wharton to cut benefits as a way to find money to increase the city's yearly payments into its pension fund.

The benefit cuts in 2014 resulted in hundreds of officers calling sick to protest the move. Armstrong empathized with officers, but made it clear that "blue flu" calls would not be tolerated.

Finding a replacement for Armstrong probably will be Strickland's most important hire, especially since the new mayor made crime reduction a priority of his campaign. And, the search should be truly national so the best person possible can be placed in the job.

Suppression of crime is an important part of that job, but so is maintaining good community relations, especially in neighborhoods where people have negative feelings about the police.

That also means establishing a transparent line of communication with the news media, which can be an ally in both efforts.
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By Albert Hunt

Does Bill Clinton still have his political magic? How much of it can he transfer to his wife? The answers: Yes and not much.

The former president hit the campaign trail this week on behalf of his spouse, the Democratic presidential front-runner. He is the most popular public figure in America and still possesses unrivaled campaign skills. He has learned from his miserable performance eight years ago, when he was a liability for Hillary Clinton as she battled Barack Obama for the nomination.

Still, popularity rarely transfers in American politics. Six decades ago, the mantra was that President Dwight Eisenhower's jacket didn't have coattails: Few Republicans benefited from that president's enormous popularity. That's probably even more the case with political figures of today.

Bill Clinton probably helps his wife in some marginal ways: fundraising, appealing to some groups that distrust her, such as young voters. And in the general election he could provide a reminder of what many remember as the golden years of prosperity and peace of the 1990s.

By assailing Hillary Clinton for supposedly enabling her husband's sexual peccadilloes two decades ago, Donald Trump might gain some ground with his party's hard-core, Clinton-hating base. But it certainly won't hurt Bill Clinton; it might even help Hillary with women who resent seeing her blamed for her husband's infidelities by Trump, who could also face criticism for moral failings.

In any case, Trump, who puts more stock in polls  or at least those showing him ahead  than George Gallup, would kill for Bill Clinton's ratings.

The former president is the most resilient politician of this, and probably any, era. He seemed doomed when the sex scandal involving a White House intern erupted during his presidency. Republicans then foolishly tried to remove him from office for lying about sex. That backfired: Bill Clinton led his party to unusual gains in the 1998 midterm elections and left office in 2001 with a 66 percent approval rating.

A few days after he left the White House, it came to light that he had used his final hours as president to pardon Marc Rich, a shady hedge fund manager and fugitive from justice. Bill Clinton became persona non grata, especially with elites; his aspirations to join a few blue-chip corporate boards were thwarted.

It didn't take long for him to bounce back with corporations and foreign governments, which paid top dollar to hear his insights.

Then in 2008  rusty after years off the campaign trail  he seemed to implode, frustrated by Obama, a political novice who was getting the better of his wife. Bill Clinton had a bitter feud with Sen. Edward Kennedy, who was about to endorse Obama. In a private conversation, the former president complained that he didn't understand how the Democratic Party could nominate someone who a few years earlier would have been sent out to get coffee. Such sentiments alienated prominent black leaders, some of whom warned of a permanent rift with the former president.

That April, an unwise columnist  me  wrote a piece headlined: "Bill Clinton May Be Biggest Loser of Campaign."

Fat chance. By 2012, he again was the most popular American politician. He gave the most compelling speech at the Democratic convention that year, making the case for Obama's economic performance that the president himself had been unable to make. The weekend before the election, at a big rally in northern Virginia, Clinton demonstrated again the skills that make him the dominant politician of the day, deriding Mitt Romney and extolling Obama  who was beside him  with sharp humor and rousing rhetoric.

He can't win the Democratic nomination for Hillary; that's her job. But it's easy to imagine the anticipation as he approaches the podium at the Philadelphia convention, where Democrats are nominating a Clinton for the third time. In the general election, Republicans will attack him at their own peril.

Albert Hunt is a Bloomberg columnist.
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By Eugene Robinson

WASHINGTON  Who says Donald Trump lacks subtlety? The way he's raising "birther" questions about his chief rival for the nomination is worthy of Machiavelli.

"I'd hate to see something like that get in his way," Trump said of the fact that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was born in Canada. Trump referred to the fact that the Constitution says "No Person except a natural born Citizen"  whatever that means  is eligible to be president.

"But a lot of people are talking about it," Trump continued, in an interview with Washington Post reporters, "and I know that even some states are looking at it very strongly, the fact that he was born in Canada and he has had a double passport."

Cruz flatly denied ever having a Canadian passport, telling CNN this is just one of those "silly sideshows" the media love. But there is no question that he was born in Calgary, Alberta, to an American mother and a Cuban father. And there is no question that he had Canadian citizenship  before renouncing it in preparation for his presidential run.

Ah, what goes around comes around. For years, the GOP had nothing but patronizing nods and winks for the unhinged birthers, Trump included, who claimed, despite definitive proof to the contrary, that President Obama was born in some other country.

Now, as party leaders desperately look for a way to deny Trump the nomination, the candidate with the best chance of doing so happens to have been born, without any doubt, in some other country.

Trump still leads the national Republican polls by a mile, while Cruz has pulled ahead of the rest of the field and stands alone in second. In first-to-vote Iowa, however, Cruz has taken a slim lead and is favored to win. Hence Trump's sudden concern over the birthplace of a man who perhaps should be nicknamed Calgary Ted.

"Republicans are going to have to ask themselves the question: 'Do we want a candidate who could be tied up in court for two years?' That'd be a big problem," Trump told the Post. "It'd be a very precarious one for Republicans because he'd be running and the courts may take a long time to make a decision."

Most legal experts agree that Cruz is eligible to run; the fact that his mother was a U.S. citizen means he had citizenship from birth, which would appear to satisfy the "natural born" requirement. But the question of precisely what the Constitution means has never been fully explored by the courts.

The issue came up in 2008 because Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the GOP nominee, was born in the Panama Canal Zone to parents who were U.S. citizens. The Senate went so far as to pass a nonbinding resolution "recognizing that John Sidney McCain, III, is a natural born citizen."

You'd think McCain might be sympathetic to Cruz's situation, but did I mention that what goes around comes around? Cruz has gone out of his way to alienate many of his Senate colleagues, and McCain has called him and his allies "wacko birds." Perhaps that's why McCain, when asked by a Phoenix TV station to comment on Cruz's eligibility, responded: "I think there is a question. I'm not a constitutional scholar on that, but I think it's worth looking into."

McCain noted the Canal Zone was "a territory of the United States of America" when he was born. And there was a precedent, he argued, since 1964 Republican candidate Barry Goldwater was born in Arizona when it, too, was a U.S. territory.

Whereas Canada is a whole different country.

I find the whole flap absurd. Cruz should be deemed unsuitable for the presidency because of his wrongheaded, ultra-right-wing views and his dangerous political ruthlessness, not because his American mother happened to be living in Canada when he was born.

But maybe Cruz will have to squirm a bit. A lawsuit has been filed in Vermont to keep him off the ballot there, and I wouldn't be surprised if suits were filed in other states. Somehow I doubt he'll get the same moral support from his fellow senators that McCain was given.

Has the Party of Lincoln really come to this, Donald Trump or Ted Cruz? The two men still insist they like each other, their campaign-long bromance not extinguished. I'm reminded of something Machiavelli didn't say but should have: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Contact Eugene Robinson at eugenerobinson@washpost.com.
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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.
Iain Dale is Presenter of LBC Drive, Managing Director of Biteback Publishing, a columnist and broadcaster and a former Conservative Parliamentary candidate.

So serial party defector Winston McKenzie has joined the Big Brother house. What could possibly go wrong?

Hes been a member of just about every political party other than Labour. During the autumn, he left UKIP to join the poor old English Democrats. What on earth did they do to deserve that? In a parting shot, he accused the UKIPs top echelons of UKIP of racism for failing to see the merits of selecting him as their candidate for Mayor of London. This was a repeat of what happened in 2008 when he inexplicably lost out to Boris in the Conservative mayoral selection.

When he announced he was joining UKIP, I remember speaking to Nigel Farage and suggesting he might find Winston too hot to handle. It was one in a series of warning to the UKIP leader about several people who decided to use UKIP to further their ambitions. He ignored every one of them, and has lived to regret it. I have little doubt that McKenzie wont last the course in the Big Brother house. His loathsome character will be the undoing of him.

         

At the end of last year I looked back to see how my 2015 predictions had turned out and amazingly I got 8 out of 10 right  somewhat better than my general election seat prediction! Anyway, here are my ten predictions for 2016:

1. The EU Referendum will be held in July.

2. The Remain Campaign will prevail, but by a margin of 55-45 or less.

3. Nigel Farage will not be UKIP leader by the end of 2016.

4. Labour will experience a net loss of council seats in May.

5. Donald Trump will not be the Republican Candidate for President.

6. In terms of seats and/or vote share, Labour will come third in the Scottish Parliamentary elections.

7. Arsenal will win the Premier League.

8. Philip Hammond will not be Foreign Secretary by the end of the year.

9. The Liberal Democrats will be all but wiped out in the GLA, Welsh Assembly & Scottish Parliament elections, retaining less than half of their existing 12 seats in the three bodies.

10. Malcolm Turnbull calls an early election in Australia and wins an increased majority.

         

So Keith Vaz deleted his Twitter and Facebook accounts, leading to all sorts of speculation about why he has done it  given the size of his ego and willingness to comment on any issue at the drop of a hat. I imagine he was quickly suffering from cold turkey syndrome  because yesterday morning he created a new Twitter account. Curiouser and curiouser.

         

The last time I did a major interview with Alex Salmond it got him into a bit of trouble with the reptiles north of the border  since, during it, he had the temerity to suggest that Margaret Thatcher wasnt all bad.

Cue stooshie after stooshie in the Scottish press. It dominated the headlines for three days. So I was more than gruntled to announce last week that from next Wednesday hell be doing a weekly phone-in with me on my radio show on LBC. So excited is Chris Grayling by the prospect that he told the Commons during Business Questions yesterday that hell be listening.

Whatever you think of Alex Salmonds politics, he will be a class act on the radio. He pointed out to me that maybe our station moniker of Leading Britains Conversation should be changed to Leaving Britains Conversation. Boom boom. Anyway, do tune in on Wednesday at 16.00.

         

Its difficult to know what to write about Jeremy Corbyns reshuffle that hasnt already been said. Rarely has so much been written about so little. One person was sacked; one was moved. Big. Effing. Deal. And that took 38 hours to sort out. Corbyn seems to be even more indecisive than Gordon Brown.

I was, however, profoundly shocked by one thing  the sacking of Pat McFadden. Corbyn has every right to form his team in his own image and get rid of troublemakers, but to tell McFadden he was being sacked for his comments on standing up to terrorists beggared belief. In case youve forgotten, the latter stood up in the Commons after the Paris attacks and asked the PM this 



I dont understand how any sane person could disagree with a word of that. The fact that Corbyn does tells you all you need to know  and further fuels the Tory narrative that he cant be trusted with our national security.

         

What lessons can we draw from the fact that North Korea claims to have set off a hydrogen bomb? Simple. That anyone who continues to support unilateral nuclear disarmament is either not living in the real world, doesnt understand the nations defence needs, or is a traitor to their country. Or all three.

         

Just as a final treat, I interviewed Charles Moore about the second volume of his Margaret Thatcher biography recently. Its well worth a listen. You can do so by clicking here.
Syed Kamall is Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group and is an MEP for London.

How many more years like 2015 can the EU cope with? In a matter of months, we could be heading to ballot boxes across the UK to vote in the Leave/Remain referendum. Nobody  even pollsters  can accurately predict at this point what might happen. The majority of voters will not consider the arguments until much closer to the time. Some will make up their minds based on any deal that David Cameron returns with from the February EU summit meeting. This may help to focus the minds of other EU leaders as they walk into that summit.

However, the renegotiation is not the be-all and end-all in most peoples minds. While many will consider if and how the UKs membership of the EU affects the pound in their pocket and the security of their jobs, some will also ask whether the EU of today is capable of (or necessary for) providing solutions to the continents crises. In 2015, some of the so-called solutions seemed only to exacerbate the problems. The migration crisis was a case in point that has shown European irresponsibility at its worst.

EUvangelists arguing for more Europe or more laws to solve every problem might do well to reflect on the fact that not sticking to existing rules and commitments has in fact created more problems. Never has the call from our party for the EU needs to do less and do it far better been more true. Failure to show that EU countries can respond effectively to the migration crisis will have a significant impact on any referendum this summer  not because the UK is in the Schengen no-borders area, but because the British people will see the EU as inept in facing a major challenge.

But how did we get into this free for all? Schengen is breaking down because of the irresponsibility of a few leaders. Open borders within the Schengen area are only sustainable as long as its external borders are secured. But the open invitation extended by Angela Merkel  without consulting leaders of other EU countries  made that impossible and created an incentive for people to make the dangerous journey to European Union states, whether they were fleeing persecution or coming for economic reasons.

When the pressure on Germany became too severe, we saw attempts by the European Commission to impose a compulsory relocation scheme on countries that did not want it. Yet most migrants and refugees want to remain in Germany and, of the 160,000 people who were supposed to be relocated, only a couple of hundred have actually moved to date. The policy doesnt work. Only after six Schengen countries reintroduced border check did Merkel and other EU leaders focus their efforts on securing its external borders. This is policy made by panic, not reason. The panic has led to the EU throwing money at Turkey, and dangling the false hope of EU membership before it, in the hope that we can outsource our problem to them.

But Germany is not solely to blame. Other EU countries  particularly Greece  have not been fulfilling their responsibilities within the Schengen system for several years. If they continue to wave people through then other member states have a responsibility to their voters to protect their national borders  as Hungary has done to much criticism. Greece has been offered help to secure its borders, but the offer has not been accepted. But rather than threatening to eject Greece from Schengen for not fulfilling its responsibilities, the EU instead proposes a border guard that could be sent in without a countrys permission. Whatever the problem, the solution is more Europe but less responsibility.

So here is where the EU needs fundamental reform. Rather than allowing some countries to get away with flouting rules and then responding with proposals for more centralisation, it is time to accept that a more flexible EU would better respond to the current crises. Countries that want to stay in Schengen should protect their borders. Likewise, countries that want to stay in the euro should follow the economic criteria put in place. And big countries should not be allowed to flout the rules while smaller countries are told to obey them.

This may put an end to the EUvangelists dream of a United States of Europe or Federal Republic of Europe, but continued irresponsibility and coercion will see the EU in 2016 repeat the failures of 2015. Instead, more flexibility, cooperation and responsibility would lead to an EU that does less, but that should deliver better results. Whether this reform can be delivered in time to convince us Brits to vote to stay in the EU remains to be seen.
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The first European farmers go back to Anatolia, according to researchers, who used human material from the Anatolian site Kumtepe. Even though the human remains and material had got severely degraded, it gave enough DNA from the site that could assess the demography linked to the spread of farming.

The study gives insight into the evolution from a hunter-gatherer society to a farming society.

The study was led by Ayca Omrak, a doctorate student, who took up her research work at the Archaeological Research Laboratory Stockholm University.

"I have never worked with a more complicated material. But it was worth every hour in the laboratory. I could use the DNA from the Kumtepe material to trace the European farmers back to Anatolia," Omrak said in a news release. "It is also fun to have worked with this material from the site Kumtepe, as this is the precursor to Troy," according to scienceworldreport.

Jan Stora, an associate professor in osteoarchaeology and coauthor of the study confirmed Anatolia's importance to Europe's history though she said that the material from the site needed more research.

"Our results stress the importance Anatolia has had on Europe's prehistory," said Anders Gotherstorm, who is the head of the archaeogenetic research at the Archaeological Research Laboratory. "But to fully understand how the agricultural development proceeded we need to dive deeper down into material from the Levant. Jan is right about that."

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
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According to the new research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that many of us put off weight loss until the excess weight has already done the damage that wanted to evade in the first place. Many conditions linked to obesity such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and other such diseases have already been set in motion. When our bodies are already under the attack of this disease or pestered by its prospect, we start losing weight even without trying. Sometimes we may even lose enough to escape the obesity altogether. However, this is not an achievement but a bad sign as it often is an indication of looming death, says LA Times.

It is very rare to see people intentionally drop all that weight. Research has found that fewer than 5% of those who actually do manage to lose excess weight are unable to maintain it more than 5 years. Study finds that once the person enters the obesity threshold, the ones who intentionally drop the weight and regain their "normal healthy weight" will gain back all of it and in some cases even more, found many studies, according to Sci-Tech Today.

The latest study looks deeply into the weight issues and subsequent risk of death. In epidemiological surveys of Americans, people who were once severely overweight but not anymore are counted as "normal healthy weight" people. However, the lead author of the current study, Boston University demographer Andrew Stokes says that these are the people who lost their weight unintentionally because of illness and not amongst those who worked hard to get rid of excess pounds and kept it off through determination. Stokes and Samuel H. Preston of University of Pennsylvania looked at death rates of these people with regards to their highest-weight ever. The findings reveal that the people who were once obese but are no longer so were more susceptible of dying prematurely than ones who were and still are obese, reports LA Times

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On Thursday, New York joined 22 other states in US that can formally sell medical marijuana permitted by law. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Compassionate Care Act in November that allows the doctors to prescribe extracts of cannabis plant for patients who are suffering from chronic ailments such as HIV/AIDS, spinal cord injuries or Parkinson's Disease. However, the drug reform advocates say that the stringent laws around medical cannabis means that it will still be unreachable to many patients who need it to allay their mental and physical agony, said Syracuse.com.

On Monday, the health department announced that the kickoff finally comes 18 months after the governor of New York signed the law, according to Capitol Confidential. The program offered by New York follows the strictest standards as compared to other states.

To be eligible to acquire medical marijuana, the patients must be certified by a state-approved doctor and will only be allowed to take the drug at state-approved dispensaries. The pot will only be made available in a non-smokable form that includes capsules, vapors and oils extracts, according to the New York Business Journal. Patients suffering from any one of the 10 specific conditions will be allowed to get marijuana treatment. The list includes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), HIV or AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and Huntington's disease, among others.

"It's among the most restrictive medical marijuana laws in the country," said Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies for the New York-based Marijuana Policy Project, a drug reform advocacy group. "Unfortunately, it seemed like the priority was to make it as limited as possible, instead of focusing on what is best for patients," O'Keefe said. Cuomo said that while the bill is being passed through the legislature, New York must observe caution and calculated approach to marijuana amendment, says Aljazeera America.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
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Mexico adopted a tax policy on sugary drinks that has reduced the consumption of beverages by 12%, said new study. The tax was imposed starting January 1st, 2014 caused a decline in the sale of taxed beverages and increase in the untaxed ones, a year later. The decline grew from 6% to 12% when the consumption of these beverages were compared to the what it would have been like if there was no tax, said Shu Wen Ng, PhD, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health in Chapel Hill, reported BMJ. The maximum decline was witnessed in the lowest socioeconomic group with a 9% decrease in more than a year. The non-taxed beverages consumption increased by 4% but the number was not very high and was mostly influenced by the purchase of bottled water, added the authors.

"These results show that excise taxes on SSB's are a promising way to lower purchased (and thus consumption) of unhealthy beverages, and people may be substituting with healthier beverages such as water," wrote Ng in an email to MedPage Today. "Many other countries are becoming convinced from the growing evidence of this policy strategy in the past few years and have also instituted SSB taxes (e.g., Chile, Barbados, France) lately; others are discussing it as an option." The proposed tax earlier was 20% of the cost or 2 pesos per liter rather than 10% that is currently in effect, which would have obviously meant a much greater decrease in its consumption, said Ng.

"With time there will be more empirical evidence on this issue," Ng wrote. "We will need to see what the longer-term responses by both consumers and industry will be." For the purpose of the study, the data was obtained from the period of January 2012 to December 2014 from Nielson Mexico's Consumer Panel Services, reported MedicalXpress.com

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According to the latest study, neural circuits that are linked to the creativity centers of the brain gets altered when the artists try to express their emotions. The research conducted by University of California, San Francisco, suggests that it is not possible to explain the creativity entirely in terms of its activation or deactivation with regards to brain regions. Instead, the researchers said that when creativity is linked to conveying specific emotions, the nature of it influences which part of the creativity of brain will get activated and what to end. The lead author, Charles Limb, said that the brain and its emotional matters are not just binary situations according to which it will work. Instead, there are different versions of these emotional states as greater degree of emotion or lower degree, reported Financial Express. Malinda McPherson, the lead author of the study, revealed that the deactivation of DLPFC was higher when the jazz musicians, while playing keyboard during their fMRI scan improvised melodies to convey positive emotions.

"The bottom line is that emotion matters," said senior author Charles Limb, MD, an avid jazz musician and physician-researcher at UC San Francisco. "It isn't just a binary situation in which your brain works 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 of these states. And emotion plays a crucially important role in these differences."

For every musician, any brain activity that was generated during the times when they passively viewed the images, including their emotional response, were removed from the ones provoked during musical performances. This helped the researchers to determine which parts of brain activity were strongly influenced by emotions while creating improvisations. "There is 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 Malinda McPherson, a classical violist who led the study, said Business Standard

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For more than 50 years, birth control pills or oral contraceptives and a number of other temporary anti-pregnancy options have been largely for women only. But this is about to change as science is inching closer to producing reversible birth control solutions for men too.

Men's options for birth control are mostly limited to condoms and vasectomies. But the stigma attached to these methods means vasectomies are mostly preferred by older men but shunned by younger males who prefer condoms.

However, new advances in medical research are bound to make a big difference in the near future.

For example, one of the most promising male-oriented reversible solutions to pregnancy woes is the non-hormonal injectable gel named Vasagel. The gel stops the passage of the sperm by plugging up the vas deferens. Recent clinical trials with lab animals suggest that a single dose of Vasagel can keep pregnancy at bay for 10 years according to Smithsonian. But the drug is yet to receive regulatory approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Another novel attempt to shift the birth control burden from women to men is a German innovation.

Berlin-based Clemens Bimek believes that the device he invented, Bimek SLV, has a potential to become a breakthrough solution for men who seek to avert pregnancy without impairing their ability to reproduce at a more suitable time in the future.

Bimek SLV is a 1.8cm-long valve implant weighing 2 grams which is surgically inserted in the spermatic ducts with an on-and-off rocket switch located under the thin skin of the scrotum. The so-called 'sperm switch' is designed to divert sperm flow away from the penis according to a report by Daily Mail.

Lastly, a recent Japan-based study suggests that a drug can block a certain protein called 'calcineurin' responsible for the production of sperm. In an experiment involving lab mice, the researchers found that those that received antibiotic cyclosporine and tacrolimus were unable to make their female partners pregnant but after the drugs were taken off, mice's fertility reversed back to normal as mentioned RH Reality Check.

The foregoing options are still underway but are clearly on the horizon. New developments would mean viably equalizing the burden between men on women on matters of birth control.

"There has to be something for men to take responsibility in the same way as women," said Emeritus Professor Ilpo Huhtaniemi of Reproductive Endocrinology at Imperial College London as quoted by KMOV 4 News.

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New Years Eve 2016

By William Blum

08 January, 2016

Williamblum.org

I stayed up about two hours past my usual bedtime to watch the New Years Eve celebration in Times Square.

For one reason only.

To see happy people.

A year like 2015 can do that to you.

The sight of many thousands of young people standing in the cold for hours, hugging and kissing, screaming and laughing, was very precious.

Also a bit unnerving. Whats wrong with them? Dont they know what kind of world theyre living in? Dont they know that their celebration is a prime target for terrorists?

Well  nothing happened  thank you God that I dont believe in  try and keep that up 

Christopher Hitchens, in 2007, in response to conservative columnist Michael Gersons article: What Atheists Cant Answer, wrote: How insulting is the latent suggestion of his position: the appalling insinuation that I would not know right from wrong if I was not supernaturally guided by a celestial dictatorship  simply assumes, whether or not religion is metaphysically true, that at least it stands for morality.  Here is my challenge. Let Gerson name one ethical statement made or one ethical action performed by a believer that could not have been uttered or done by a nonbeliever.

Gerson, great champion of morality, it should be noted, was a speechwriter for George W. Bush. God help us. And pray that Bush and Cheney remain alive long enough to hang.

Dear readers  think  just imagine  What if THIS is the afterlife?

Happy New Year.

Vulgar, crude, racist and ultra-sexist though he is, Donald Trump can still see how awful the American mainstream media is.

I think one of the main reasons for Donald Trumps popularity is that he says whats on his mind and he means what he says, something rather rare amongst American politicians, or politicians perhaps anywhere in the world. The American public is sick and tired of the phoney, hypocritical answers given by office holders of all kinds. When I read that Trump had said that Senator John McCain was not a hero because McCain had been captured in Vietnam, I had to pause for reflection. Wow! Next the man will be saying that not every American soldier who was in the military in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq was a shining hero worthy of constant media honor and adulation.

When Trump was interviewed by ABC-TV host George Stephanopoulos, former aide to President Bill Clinton, he was asked: When you were pressed about [Russian president Vladimir Putins] killing of journalists, you said, I think our country does plenty of killing too. What were you thinking about there? What killing sanctioned by the U.S. government is like killing journalists?

Trump responded: In all fairness to Putin, youre saying he killed people. I havent seen that. I dont know that he has. Have you been able to prove that? Do you know the names of the reporters that hes killed? Because Ive been  you know, youve been hearing this, but I havent seen the name. Now, I think it would be despicable if that took place, but I havent seen any evidence that he killed anybody in terms of reporters.

Or Trump could have given Stephanopoulos a veritable heart attack by declaring that the American military, in the course of its wars in recent decades, has been responsible for the deliberate deaths of many journalists. In Iraq, for example, theres the Wikileaks 2007 video, exposed by Chelsea Manning, of the cold-blooded murder of two Reuters journalists; the 2003 US air-to-surface missile attack on the offices of Al Jazeera in Baghdad that left three journalists dead and four wounded; and the American firing on Baghdads Hotel Palestine the same year that killed two foreign news cameramen.

It was during this exchange that Stephanopoulos allowed the following to pass his lips: But what killing has the United States government done? (1)

Do the American TV networks not give any kind of intellectual test to their newscasters? Something at a fourth-grade level might improve matters.

Prominent MSNBC newscaster Joe Scarborough, interviewing Trump, was also baffled by Trumps embrace of Putin, who had praised Trump as being bright and talented. Putin, said Scarborough, was also a person who kills journalists, political opponents, and invades countries. Obviously that would be a concern, would it not?

Putin invades countries  Well, now there even I would have been at a loss as to how to respond. Try as I might I dont think I could have thought of any countries the United States has ever invaded.

To his credit, Trump responded: I think our country does plenty of killing, also, Joe, so, you know. Theres a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. A lot of killing going on. A lot of stupidity. And thats the way it is. (2)

As to Putin killing political opponents, this too would normally go unchallenged in the American mainstream media. But earlier this year in this report I listed seven highly questionable deaths of opponents of the Ukraine government, a regime put in power by the United States, which is used as a club against Putin. (3) This of course was non-news in the American media.

So thats what happens when the know-nothing American media meets up with a know-just-a-bit-more presidential candidate. Aint democracy wonderful?

Trump has also been criticized for saying that immediately after the 9-11 attacks, thousands of Middle Easterners were seen celebrating outdoors in New Jersey in sight of the attack location. An absurd remark, for which Trump has been rightfully vilified; but not as absurd as the US mainstream media pretending that it had no idea what Trump could possibly be referring to in his mixed-up manner.

For there were in fact people seen in New Jersey apparently celebrating the planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers. But they were Israelis, which would explain all one needs to know about why the story wasnt in the headlines and has since been forgotten or misremembered. On the day of the 9-11 attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked what the attacks would mean for US-Israeli relations. His quick reply was: Its very good.  Well, its not good, but it will generate immediate sympathy (for Israel). Theres a lot on the Internet about these Israelis in New Jersey, who were held in police custody for months before being released. (4)

So here too mainstream newspersons do not know enough to enlighten their audience.

Russia, as explained to Russians by Americans

There is a Russian website [inosmi = foreign mass media] that translates propagandistic russophobic articles from the western media into Russian and publishes them so that Russians can see with their own eyes how the Western media lies about them day after day. There have been several articles lately based on polls that show that anti-western sentiments are increasing in Russia, and blaming it on Putins propaganda.

This is rather odd because who needs propaganda when the Russians can read the Western media themselves and see firsthand all the lies it puts forth about them and the demonizing of Putin. There are several political-debate shows on Russian television where they invite Western journalists or politicians; on one there frequently is a really funny American journalist, Michael Bohm, who keeps regurgitating all the western propaganda, arguing with his Russian counterparts. Its pretty surreal to watch him display the worst political stereotypes of Americans: arrogant, gullible, and ignorant. He stands there and lectures high ranking Russian politicians, explaining to them the real Russian foreign policy, and the real intentions behind their actions, as opposed to anything they say. The man is shockingly irony-impaired. It is as funny to watch as it is sad and scary.

The above was written with the help of a woman who was raised in the Soviet Union and now lives in Washington. She and I have discussed US foreign policy on many occasions. We are in very close agreement as to its destructiveness and absurdity.

Just as in the first Cold War, one of the basic problems is that Exceptional Americans have great difficulty in believing that Russians mean well. Apropos this, Id like to recall the following written about George Kennan:

Crossing Poland with the first US diplomatic mission to the Soviet Union in the winter of 1933, a young American diplomat named George Kennan was somewhat astonished to hear the Soviet escort, Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov, reminisce about growing up in a village nearby, about the books he had read and his dreams as a small boy of being a librarian. We suddenly realized, or at least I did, that these people we were dealing with were human beings like ourselves, Kennan wrote, that they had been born somewhere, that they had their childhood ambitions as we had. It seemed for a brief moment we could break through and embrace these people. (5)

It hasnt happened yet.

Kennans sudden realization brings George Orwell to mind: We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.

Holocaust Deniers

Its easier to deny the existence of God than to deny the existence of certain aspects of the Holocaust. And not as dangerous. In Europe denying the Holocaust is illegal in 14 countries.

Ken Meyercord, who lives in Virginia, has long been a researcher of this phenomenon. He writes that the debate over the Holocaust boils down to three principal issues:

1. How many died? 2. Was the Final Solution really an extermination plan or was it a plan to deport Europes Jews? 3. Were there actually gas chambers?

Hes prepared an 11-page e-pamphlet on the subject, Did the Holocaust really happen the way weve been told? It can be obtained by emailing iconohead@gmail.com.

Its a good thing the United States doesnt have a law against reporting on the American Holocaust. Id have been put away long ago, for the sum total of US foreign policy can well be described by that infamous word beginning with an H; indeed, my first website carried the name American Holocaust.

However, in California there is now a proposed ballot initiative which would restrict Holocaust Denial. The Holocaust Denial Speech Restrictions Initiative (#15-0073) is an initiated constitutional amendment proposed for the California ballot on November 8, 2016. The measure would prohibit any speech in any state-funded school, museum or educational institution that claims Jewish, Armenian or Ukrainian Holocausts did not exist. It would also prohibit Holocaust denial organizations from distributing information or conducting activities at these state-funded locations. (6)

In case youre wondering what the Ukrainian Holocaust was, its something left over from the Cold War  charges of widespread famine caused by the Soviet Union amongst the people of Ukraine. But I believe that such charges must be approached with some caution, given, amongst other reasons, the documented campaign by the Hearst Press in the United States to squeeze out every drop of anti-communist blood they could from the historical events. You can read about this in a book by Douglas Tottle, Fraud, Famine and Fascism: The Ukrainian Genocide Myth From Hitler to Harvard (1987), available free online.



Notes

1. Robert Parry, Trump Schools ABC-TV Host on Reality, Consortiumnews, December 21, 2015

2. Interview of Donald Trump by Joe Scarborough, December 18, 2015

3. William Blum, Anti-Empire Report #138, April 3, 2015

4. See for example: the first three minutes of Core of Corruption - Film 1 - In the Shadows - Part 10 and The Five Dancing Israelis Arrested on 9-11

5. Walter Isaacson & Evan Thomas, The Wise Men (1986), p.158

6. California Holocaust Denial Speech Restrictions Initiative (2016)

William Blum is the author of:

Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2

Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower

West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir

Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire

Portions of the books can be read, and signed copies purchased, at www.williamblum.org

Previous Anti-Empire Reports can be read at this website.

Email bblum6 [at] aol.com

Any part of this report may be disseminated without permission, provided attribution to William Blum as author and a link to this website are given.




Islam: The War Within

By Sazzad Hussain

08 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org

The severing of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arab and Iran and its following by some other Arab states once again widens the gap between Sunni and Shiite factions within Islam, which has been on since the tragedy of Karbala. However in modern times, it has been a political manoeuvring favouring certain strategic interests which have put Islam to be in war with itself. In a time when the world has been experiencing the dichotomy between Islam and the rest of other faiths because of Islamist terrorism, the Saudi-Iran spat reveals the paradoxes within the so-called Islamic world of the Middle-East and a reality check to the idea of an utopian Islamic world that many Islamists propagate by projecting the faith as an homogeneous entity.

Ever since its formation in 1932 with armed help from British India, the Saudi Kingdom has been officially representing Sunni Islam with its ultra-orthodox interpretation preached by Ibn Wahhab. The possession of the two holiest sites of IslamMecca and Medina from the Ottoman rule after World War I enabled the Saudis to propagate Wahhabism to all Muslims of the world because of the annual Hajj. The discovery of oil in the Kingdom in 1939 fastened the then US President Roosevelt to sign a treaty with the Saudis as a partner and this led to the formation of oil company ARAMCO. Since then Saudi Arabia started producing oil with US armed protection in a system that suits the western demands of uninterrupted energy supplies. An absolute monarchy with the Holy Quran as its constitution and the king as the upholder of the faith, Saudi Arabia evolved as a state without any nationhood. Its official Mufti asks the citizens for loyalty towards the king but allowed rebellion (Jihad) abroad through fatwas. The western establishments in the post-World War II scenario was nervous towards the spread of Arab nationalism spearheaded by Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt with the prime objective of liberating Palestine from Israel and turning all the oil-rich Arab monarchies and dependencies into socialist republics. At this backdrop, this Saudi stand with Sunni Islam in the forefront suited the west very much which they are still cashing in.

Iran, earlier called Persia, has been a Shiite bastion for the last thirteen centuries. Many Arab lands like the present day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain has Shiite population. Despite the linguistic differences of Arabic and Persian, Shiite Arabs always looked towards the Shiite seminaries of Qom in Iran as their authority. The pro-western Pahlavi dynasty of Iran paused no threat to the Saudi or any other US allies in the Middle-East. But the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which brought Ayatollah Khomeini to Iran, changed the entire course. The Islamic Republic of Iran, under the spiritual guidance of Khomeini set up to diktat terms on Islam which were political moves to counter the growing Sunni power exercised by Saudi Arabia ever since the oil boom of 1974. It was the Shiite Arabs of Iraq, Syria, Bahrain and Lebanon who became the first followers of Iran despite the linguistic differences. The eight years Iran-Iraq War (1980-88) was the culmination of that Sunni-Shiite divide which the Saudis and its other Gulf allies backed Iraqs Saddam Hussain to be a war mongering ruler with tacit approval from the west. The Shiite Iranian outreach in this region was successful in the Lebanese civil war (1976-93) when the Shiite group Hezbollah, succeeded in unifying that sectarian country ending western intervention and pulling out of Israeli troops. Meanwhile among the Palestinians, a Shiite group named Islamic Jihad also gained momentum to fight Israeli occupation during the pre-Intifada era. Irans strong stand against Israeli occupation of Palestine, American intervention in the region and overall anti-west campaign has long been made the country an unflavoured one in most of the western capitals. Its nuclear programme has also been a concern for the west. The most striking stand by Iran on Islam so far is the death fatwa issued against British author Sir Salman Rushdie by Khomeini in 1989 for his novel Satanic Verses.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 gave the Saudis the ample opportunity to export its Wahhabi-Sunni Islam as America started the Mujahedeen war from Pakistan. The creation of Al-Qaeda, bin Laden, Taliban etc are all the product of this Saudi-US collaboration. Later when George W. Bush invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003, the hitherto secular state became fragmental on sectarian divide between Sunnis, Shiites and non-Arab Kurds (also Sunnis). It was Iran which was immensely benefited from the US occupation of Iraq as its majority Shiites always had an allegiance to them. On the other hand the Saudi-Qatar backed Sunni militias and al-Qaeda mobilized themselves in post-Saddam Iraq which are now metamorphosed to IS. The Saudi sponsored Sunni political outreach provides duel citizenships to all Sunni head of states and provides them asylum whenever necessary. Remember when Nawaz Sharief was deposed by Gen. Musharaf in 1999, he went to Riyadh. The deposed Tunisian president Zain-al-Abedine Ben Ali, former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri all enjoyed Saudi hospitality because of the dual citizenship.

Saudi Arabia has been confronting Iran for supremacy in Lebanon and Syria which has a large Shiite base and political strength. For this simple reason the Saudis are not fighting the IS in Syria and Iraq but bombing the Shiite Hauthi rebels in Yemen. It also sent troops to Sunni ruled Shiite majority Bahrain during the Arab Spring of 2011 to crush the pro-democracy movements. There have also been reports that the Saudi plans of allowing its airspace to Israeli jets to bomb the nuclear plants in Iran.

The Saudi-Iran spate reflects the century old sectarian rift within Islam which otherwise provide an egalitarian vision for mankind. It is the typical Middle-Eastern paradox to be sectarian which hardly to be found among Muslims elsewhere. But the important fact is that this divide in Islam has put the Sunnis in side with the western hegemonic designs as it has been for the last eight decades and Shiites with the global forces that oppose itRussia and China.

(The writer is a freelance journalist based in Assam) E;mail: sazzad.hussain2@gmail.com




Will Middle East Crisis Worsen In New Year?

By Jack A. Smith

08 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Washington's extensive military maneuvers in the Middle East since Sept. 11, 2001, have largely failed, creating far worse calamities at great cost to the people and countries of the region  and there is little reason to suspect this will change for the better in New Year 2016.

Actually, it could get much worse despite UN talks in Vienna later this month to seek a temporary cease-fire in Syria and the beginning of discussions on an eventual new Damascus government. The abrupt break in diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, plus the formation of a new Sunni coalition to "fight terrorism" and new maneuvers by an assertive Turkey could exacerbate existing conflicts.

Here's a brief look at the three largest wars in which the U.S. is deeply involved at the moment  in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria  plus additional information about the region:

 IN AFGHANISTAN, THE TALIBAN IS ON THE OFFENSIVE, battering Afghan troops in Helmand province. The so-called Islamic State (IS) is now a growing presence in the country. Al-Qaeda  the reason George W. Bush bombed and invaded Afghanistan in October 2001  is making a comeback, according to the Dec. 30 New York Times which revealed:

"Even as the Obama Administration scrambles to confront the Islamic State and a resurgent Taliban, an old enemy seems to be reappearing in Afghanistan: Al Qaeda training camps are sprouting up there, forcing the Pentagon and American intelligence agencies to assess whether they could again become a breeding ground for attacks on the United States.... The scope of Al-Qaedas deadly resilience in Afghanistan appears to have caught American and Afghan officials by surprise." Again.

A day earlier USA Today reported "Afghanistan's security situation is so tenuous that the top U.S. commander there wants to keep as many U.S. troops there as possible through 2016 to boost beleaguered Afghan soldiers and may seek additional American forces to assist them." There are nearly 10,000 U.S troops in Afghanistan today and half are scheduled to depart by the end of 2016  but Gen. John Campbell, the U.S.-NATO commander in Afghanistan, suggested the larger number, and perhaps more, should remain indefinitely.

The U.S. war in Afghanistan has lasted 14 years and four months and is expected to continue for more years. The cost to U.S. taxpayers so far is over $1 trillion, according to the Financial Times, and the final cost will be much higher. The only American victory in this war will be that of the U.S. armaments industry.

 IN IRAQ, WASHINGTON'S DISASTROUS WAR has lasted nearly 13 years from March 2003 with the exception of two and a half years until returning in August 2014 to fight against the Islamic State (IS)  itself a product of the first war. President Obama propelled the second intervention soon after IS captured Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, in June 2014. Late last month, after losing much ground, Iraqi forces backed by American air power recaptured the key city of Ramadi, destroying a large portion of the city in the process. The battle to recapture Mosul may take place this year.

However, many sources in and out of Congress argue that only a significant ground war will ultimately defeat the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria. Aside from 3,500 U.S. military "trainers and advisers" in Iraq, President Obama is reluctant to engage in a major ground campaign in either country, given his past promises to avoid just that and the Pentagon's difficulties in actually winning big wars in the Middle East. If political pressure doesn't oblige him to deploy ground troops against IS this year, there is a likelihood his successor may in 2017. Regardless, the Iraq war will become more intense in 2016.

There are several other important problems regarding Iraq, but two stand out.

(1) The Islamic State is a militant Sunni "caliphate" based on Islamic fundamentalist Wahhabi doctrine mainly propagated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The IS evidently considers its main enemy to be the Shia branch of Islam, which departed from the Sunni version in the 7th century. Virtually all of the many Sunni jihadist groups follow aspects of fundamentalist Wahhabism or the nearly identical Salafism, and most condemn adherents of Shia Islam. The IS "state" occupies large portions of two Shia-governed countries, Iraq and Syria. Sunni Arabs in Iraq  most of whom appear not share fundamentalist views  constitute 15 to 20% of the Iraqi population. But many oppose the Shia controlled Baghdad government. Unless a substantial number of these Sunnis turn strongly against the IS, defeating it will be more difficult. A few Sunni tribes already fight IS in Iraq.

Kurds make up 17% of the Iraqi population and are described as "mainly secular Sunnis" who seek independence from Iraq in the future to build their own independent state  but at the moment they supply the most effective ground forces against the IS. The Shia represent up to 65% of the population but have long existed under Sunni rule, usually as secondary citizens. It was only after the U.S. destroyed the minority secular Sunni government of Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath Party that the Shia won power in an election. The Bush/Cheney Administration probably knew that regime change in Iraq  Iran's enemy neighbor to the west  could strengthen the Shia government in Tehran, but since they initially planned to invade Iran (as well as Syria) after Iraq was subdued they ignored the risk. The U.S. sank so deeply in the Iraqi quagmire that it never was able to expand its ridiculous imperialist escapade.

(2) NATO member Turkey is intervening in Iraq against the wishes of the Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who leads the Sunni Islamist-leaning government in Ankara, persists in refusing a demand by Shia-governed Iraq to remove the several hundred soldiers and heavy equipment he sent to northwest Iraq Dec. 4, ostensibly to join a smaller Turkish unit training Sunni and Kurdish fighters against the IS takeover of Mosul.

Reflecting the worsening relations between Iraq and Turkey, the Baghdad government did not give Ankara permission to send more troops and insisted they depart immediately. Turkey responded by declaring its soldiers would remain until Mosul is freed from IS control, and criticized the Iraqi government for not moving faster to retake the city. Interestingly, the Arab League, which usually supports Sunni states, backed Iraq's position Dec. 25, most likely because it is wary of allied but non-Arab Turkey grabbing more influence and territory in the region. (Arab lands were dominated by Turkey's Ottoman Empire until the end of World War I when British and French imperialism then rearranged the old boundary lines to serve their own interests  a scheme that has contributed to the crises in Iraq and Syria today.)

On Dec. 9, Turkey instructed all its citizens in Iraq to leave the country, except those in Kurdish Iraq. Turkey is fighting against Kurds in Syria, and its own country, but not the Iraqi Kurds, which have cordial relations with the U.S.

Erdogan, whom the New York Times editorially described Jan. 6 as "an authoritarian leader willing to trample on human rights, the rule of law and political and press freedoms," has been taking a variety of aggressive steps in recent years to enhance Turkey's and his own power in the region.

M. K. Bhadrakumar, a journalist and former Indian diplomat, reported in India Punchline Dec. 31: "President Erdogan paid a daylong visit on Dec. 27 to Riyadh to meet King Salman. The Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awst reported the two leaders decided to form a 'strategic cooperation council' with a view to create a quantum leap in the strength of the relationship between the two countries so that it is strategic and serves the interests of the two countries and their peoples, and contributes to the creation of security and stability in the region.

"Evidently, the Turkish-Saudi entente is based on a congruence of interests. A prominent Russian pundit Yevgeniy Satanovsky, who heads the Middle East Institute in Moscow, has warned that Turkey and Saudi Arabia may be planning to step up their longstanding covert support of the radical Islamist groups operating in Russia's North Caucasus. In recent statements President Vladimir Putin had also signaled that Moscows patience was wearing thin over Turkeys support of subversive elements in Russia and things were coming to a pass in bilateral relations even before the downing of the Russian warplane."

 THE SYRIAN CONFLICT IS IN TRANSITION after nearly five years of what has become a decimating civil war, pitting the Islamic State, al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front, scores of different jihadi organizations and a small number of secular forces against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. So far over 200,000 people have died on both sides and millions of Syrians are internally displaced or have fled the country for a very uncertain future.

Hostilities continue but the sudden intervention of Russia and its military forces on the side of Assad in late September dramatically changed the geopolitical landscape and strengthened Syria's military struggle against rebel forces.

The United States  the regional hegemon toward whom nearly all Arab states offer deference  became a powerful supporter of regime change in Damascus beginning 2011, even though Washington did not dispatch combat troops to join the civil war. Obama's most reliable supporters in the region are Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Gulf monarchies and other Sunni countries seeking to oust Syria's Alawite/Shia led government. All have provided the rebels with abundant political and financial aid plus military equipment.

The objective of the U.S. and its allies is to replace an Alawite/Shia government friendly to Iran, Iraq and Russia with a Sunni led regime friendly to themselves, but not the fundamentalist regime desired by many of the rebel organizations and some of the Sunni governments. The U.S. and its NATO foreign legion will not allow a jihadi government in Damascus for obvious reasons. At most President Obama will tolerate some representatives of the fighting rebel forces to have a say from obscure posts in a new regime, but nothing more. The regional allies agree because that is what the U.S. wants. If any turned against Washington regime change could be their fate. Other reasons for obeying Obama include the increasing danger they all feel from IS and possibly a reinvigorated al-Qaeda, and the fact that Russia has now become a Middle Eastern power that may give them trouble.

Iran, Iraq and Russia supported the Assad government, but until President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian air force and navy to bombard rebel forces in Syria, their power was limited. Russia is now a major player, and when it talks Washington must listen if not necessarily act.

When Obama demanded that Assad step down in the early months of the war it had nothing to do with democracy, a frequent U.S. justification for regime change. He wanted to extract Syria from its allied relationship with Iran and its long term, mutually advantageous association with Russia, going back before its Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union in 1980 during the Cold War. Washington also acted to cultivate its power relations with Sunni governments in the region, particularly Saudi Arabia, that wanted to weaken the Shia Muslim political alliance of geographically contiguous Iran, Iraq and Syria.

The Oval Office has gradually came to realize  long after unsuccessfully seeking to create an anti-Assad leadership coalition largely composed of Syrian exiles  that jihadi militants are virtually in total command of the civil war and that unless dynamics change the removal of Assad could lead to a humiliating "terrorist" takeover in Damascus. Obama also was getting criticism because the military campaign against IS was not making sufficient progress.

Enter Russia  bombing rebel jihadis in Syria and the Islamic State while proposing the possibility of a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the Syria crisis. No one can predict the outcome at this stage. Although President Obama has often made clear his reluctance to share an iota of American unilateral "leadership," he knows but doesn't wish to acknowledge that Putin pulled him out of two, and now possibly three, of his most difficult dilemmas. Here's how:

The first was in 2013 when Obama was about to launch a bombing campaign against Syria for allegedly violating his "red-line" against the use of chemical weapons. A majority of the American people and many in Congress opposed the move, but Obama felt he had no alternative that would allow him to save face. Putin then convinced Assad to dispose of his entire chemical arsenal, which provided the White House with a valid reason not to launch an unpopular war. The other instance is when Putin used Russia's good relations with Iran to help bring about the now successful Washington-Tehran negotiations regarding nuclear matters.

The upcoming UN talks on a temporary cease-fire in the Syrian war and the beginning of discussions on an eventual new Damascus government largely depend on an agreement in next months or years between the U.S. and Russia.

Most fighting Jihadi rebels and their Sunni Arab and Western supporters want Assad to resign before negotiations for a new government. The Syrian regime and its supporters, including Russia, stipulate that Assad has considerable support in Syria and that he should be part of the decision on candidates. (According to the June 4, 2014, New York Times: "There is no doubt that Mr. Assad has considerable support in parts of Syria.") It may in time be possible to resolve this exceptionally complex matter  but it is only half the equation.

Here's the other half: Regarding a cease fire several score well armed and financed Sunni Islamist jihadi rebel fighting organizations are supposed to turn their guns away from the Syrian government and toward powerful Islamic State. The U.S. is behind efforts to help organize and finance this hoped for new coalition (although U.S. troops will not take part). Some Arab countries are supposed to send troops as well as the existing jihadists. The powerful Nusra Front has not been invited to join the coalition because of its al-Qaeda connection but since it views IS as an enemy rival it may well not be a coalition target unless it advances on its own to the gates of Damascus. The Nusra Front has worked in collaboration with many of the "moderate" jihadi groups that are supposed to become part of the coalition.

Washington seems naive or desperate to think a significant number of jihadis will stop fighting Assad in order to take on the Islamic State even if there are big bribes to do so, unless the deal is to fight IS for a while then go back to displacing Assad. Obama's latest efforts to create a "moderate" fighting coalition resulted in "four or five" recruits at the preposterous cost  hold your breath  of $500 million before the program was scrapped. Some rebel groups can no doubt be bought off but it seems possible others might join IS or Nusra Front or continue on their own to battle for Sunni Islamist control of the government.

Stratfor's Dec. 29 summary of the Islamic State's present strength and weakness in Syria is of interest:

"Though far from defeated, [the Islamic State] is nevertheless being harried across several fronts, experiencing significant losses in Syria as well as Iraq.... In northern Syria, the Kurdish-dominated [and U.S. backed] Syrian Democratic Forces are driving their offensive onward, crossing the Euphrates River in numbers after seizing the Tishrin dam [and] are now advancing westward toward the Islamic State-held town of Manbij in northern Aleppo.... Syrian government forces, with backing from foreign militias and the Russian air force, have also been pushing hard into Islamic State territory. The Syrian army is expanding its control over terrain close to the formerly besieged Kweiris air base, where a number of Syrian loyalists held position for years against persistent Islamic State attacks. On Dec. 29 the Syrian government also reportedly took back the strategic town of Maheen, 16 miles from the vital M5 highway controlled by the IS.... The Islamic State is unlikely to be pushed back everywhere in the short term, and it is still capable of carrying out its own offensive operations, as it has done in Deir el-Zour in late December. However, it is increasingly difficult for the group to achieve the major battlefield victories it won previously as it stretches its forces thin and encounters persistent aerial attacks."

According to the Pentagon Jan. 5, IS lost 30% of the territory it once occupied in Iraq and Syria.

 A REGION IN TURMOIL

(1) The gravest charge against President Assad is that he has he killed 250,000 or 300,000 "of his own people," which has repeatedly been broadcast by many U.S. TV news stations and repeated by a number of Congressional members. (Turkey's President Erdogan just upped the figure the other day to 400,000.) Without justifying the government's seemingly indiscriminant use of "barrel bombs" in populated territory under rebel control, exception must be taken to these intentionally misleading calculations.

The Sept. 14 New York Times reported, after thorough investigation, that there were approximately 200,000 deaths in Syria up to that time, and that there were 84,404 civilian deaths, killed by both the government and the rebel forces. This remains a terrible casualty toll, but to condemn the Assad regime for all of an exaggerated number of civilian deaths is consciously distorted propaganda. According to the Times, the remainder of the deaths were those of government and rebel fighting forces. A few weeks earlier the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which opposes the Assad government, reported Aug. 5 that that 330,000 people died and that 111,624 were civilians killed, obviously by both sides. The total is higher but the percent of civilian deaths is lower. The Times, which opposes Assad, had to be aware of the higher estimate before it decided to rely on its own research.

(2) Long-term religious and political differences between Iran and Saudi Arabia escalated significantly after the Saudi kingdom announced Jan. 2 that it had executed prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an outspoken resident of the kingdom who sought more rights for the Shia 15% minority mainly residing in Eastern Province, a region with very high oil reserves.

The Associated Press reported Jan 4: "Al-Nimr was a central figure in the 2011 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." BBC reported Nimr was "a persistent critic of Saudi Arabia's Sunni royal family who was said to have a particularly strong following among Saudi Shia youth. He was arrested several times over the past decade, alleging he was beaten by Saudi secret police during one detention."

The charges against him were instigating unrest, undermining state security and making anti-government speeches and defending political prisoners. His unforgivable "crime" was openly calling for a more democratic society in a totalitarian theocracy.

Shia religious or political leaders throughout the world, especially in the Middle East, condemned the Riyadh regime for the execution. Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared: "The unjustly spilled blood of this oppressed martyr will no doubt soon show its effect and divine vengeance will befall Saudi politicians." The leader of Lebanon's Shia Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, accused Saudi Arabia of seeking to ignite a Shia-Sunni civil war across the world.

Protests began in Iran immediately after the news circulated. In one case a large group demonstrators spontaneously attacked the Saudi embassy, sacking part of the interior and starting fires. There evidently were no injuries. The Iranian government disapproved of the attack. Tehran authorities condemned the violence and police have made at least 50 arrests so far. This was not a government project.

Angry peaceful protests were continuing in Iran Jan. 3 when the Saudi regime retaliated by breaking diplomatic relations and expelling all Iran's diplomats and staff as well as recalling its own embassy staff and ending airline travel between the two countries. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani responded: "The Saudi government has taken a strange action and cut off its diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran to cover its crimes of beheading a religious leader in its country.... Such actions can't cover up that big crime."

Several regional Sunni led countries either broke relations with Iran or reduced diplomatic staff in solidarity with the kingdom. More may do so. The Arab League will hold an emergency meeting Jan. 10 to discuss the issue.

What's up and what next? In our view, the House of Saud knew precisely what the reaction would be in Iran if it decided to kill al-Nimr. There would at least be a riot in Teheran and profound criticism from Iran and the Shia community worldwide.

The monarchy could have avoided an increase in tensions and a break in relations by simply keeping Nimr in prison. So they killed him, hedging their bets to confuse the situation by executing 47 men the same day. The others were alleged to be Sunni jihadists mainly connected to al-Qaeda who had attacked Saudi Arabia and had been imprisoned for a number of years. By mixing one Shi'ite with 46 Sunnis, who could possibly think the royal family was religiously intolerant?

The kingdom sought an open confrontation with Iran for several reasons. Two stand out.

The first emanates from Riyadh's extreme anger about the U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement and the ending of sanctions on Tehran. Only Israel can match their fury in this regard. Both countries exerted intense pressure on Washington to continue the sanctions and to forego the deal. They wanted Iran permanently impaired, each for their own reasons.

Saudi Arabia has both religious and political reasons for seeking to isolate and weaken the Tehran government and still counts on Washington's assistance to accomplish the task. As the wealthy leading Sunni country in the Middle East the kingdom is deeply affronted by the existence of a brash, self-confident, militarily superior, independent and non-Arab Muslim Shia regime glaring face to face with itself across the Persian Gulf, a name the royals choke on and wish to change. It is of consequence that the Saudis responded so theatrically after the embassy brouhaha just two weeks after announcing the creation of an important new Sunni military "coalition against terrorism" that the kingdom will lead with U.S. backing (see below).

The Iranian government has a good idea about what's actually going on. This sectarian chess game has lasted many decades, including when Saudi Arabia last broke relations from 1988 to 1991 over different issues. Tehran doesn't fall for the one in 47 deception because both sides fully understand it's only the "one" that counts. The execution was intended to increase tensions, but apparently within limits.

The Iranian government evidently was surprised by the cynical execution of Nimr which they had vigorously warned against in the past, and expressed its rage toward the Saudi regime  but also within certain limits. Threats will go back and forth, and tensions will increase but Tehran does not want this situation to become unacceptably worse; nor, I think, does Saudi Arabia wish it to get out of hand  at lest not yet.

(3) With air support from the U.S. and Russia, or Russia alone, a combination of the armies of Iran, Iraq, Syria and the Kurds could defeat IS on the ground  but the Obama Administration has opposed the formation of such an amalgamation. The reasons are political and geopolitical. He wants more Sunni and less Shia involvement. This will strengthen U.S. regional power.

Worldwide, there are 1.6 billion Muslims  87 to 90% Sunni and 10 to 13% Shia. As global hegemon, the U.S. knows that numbers count far more than state-sponsored religious intolerance. The Shia are thought of, and often treated, as an outcast minority by most Sunni authoritarian states in the Middle East, virtually all of which receive America's support as long as they genuflect to Washington's strategic leadership. The fact that the Saudi monarchy and others want to displace Syria's Alawite-Shia government is a prime reason why Obama has called for Assad's removal for nearly five years.

The antediluvian Saudi absolute monarchy  Washington's closest Arab ally since 1945 when the U.S. pledged to protect royal power in return for secure access to the country's fabulous supply of petroleum  is the leader of the regional anti-Shia campaign, which the Obama Administration has not publicly criticized. The White House has long been aware that the kingdom repeatedly financed Sunni jihadist adventures from the 1970s (in Afghanistan, along with Pakistan and the United States) to the various rebel groups in Syria today.

For instance, according to Huffington Post in January last year: "A Wikileaks cable clearly quotes then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying 'donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide.' She continues: 'More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaeda, the Taliban, LeT [Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba which operates in East Asia] and other terrorist groups.' And it's not just the Saudis: Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are also implicated in the memo. Other cables released by Wikileaks outline how Saudi front companies are also used to fund terrorism abroad."

Also weighing heavily on White House decisions is the Israeli government's fabrication that Iran constitutes a threat to its existence, a position evidently shared by vocal majorities in the House and Senate and many liberal Democrats. Obama didn't allow the Netanyahu regime to bomb Iran, which would have been a catastrophe, and recently reached agreement with unjustly sanctioned Tehran about its nuclear program, throwing billions Netanyahu's way to calm him down. But in most other respects, except when the Israeli leader purposely humiliates him, Obama easily bends the knee to his manipulative, opportunist and obsessively mistrustful opposite number. But in nearly all cases, what Israel wants, Israel gets from Uncle Sam.

Even now, after Obama's energy policies have resulted in U.S. oil output surpassing that of Saudi Arabia, the U.S. is keeping its original agreement of 70 years with the Saudis. Why? The main reason is because siding with Sunni kingdoms and dictatorships helped keep the USSR at bay at during the Cold War and now assures America's continued domination of the strategic, fuel-rich Middle East.

Obama will not give permission or any support for a three nation Shia coalition plus the Kurds to unify with ground forces to fight against the Islamic State, especially with Russian air power for a few reasons: It would require ending the regime change war in Syria. It would be a slap in the face to its Sunni allies who might retaliate. It would increase the importance of Russia.

(4) To seal the bargain with the kings and dictators the U.S. enthusiastically supports Saudi Arabia and its allied emirates in their unjust, venomous nine month bombing campaign against Shia-affiliated Houthi rebels in Yemen, the poorest country in the region. Obama has supplied and re-supplied the aggressors with all types of killer weapons including internationally outlawed cluster bombs, earning the American "defense" industry $13 billion in sales last year. A few years earlier the kingdom stuffed $60 billion in U.S. war industry pockets.

According to Madawi Al-Rasheed, a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science as well as a columnist for Al-Monitor: "The Saudi war on Yemen is not an inevitable war of self-defense [as the kingdom maintains].... Instead, it was a preemptive strike to inaugurate an aggressive Saudi regional foreign policy."

The UN estimates the human toll in Yemen last year was 8,119 casualties, including 2,795 dead and 5,324 wounded. The New York Times reported Jan 6. UN "human rights chief, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, told the Security Council in December that the Saudi-led coalition had accounted for a 'disproportionate amount' of the damage to infrastructure and civilian premises, including schools and hospitals."

Sent to do the dirty work by clean-hands-Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry was obliged Nov. 23 to tell embarrassing lies no one actually believes to the foreign minister of a member of the Saudi anti-Yemen coalition Nov. 23: "We respect what United Arab Emirates has been able to do to accomplish significant progress in Yemen. We understand completely and support the reasons that Saudi Arabia and the UAE felt compelled to take acts of self-defense and to protect the security of this region." Meanwhile, units of both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are exploiting the confusion to grab more territory in Yemen.

(5) On Dec. 15 Saudi Arabia announced the formation of a new 34-state Sunni Islamic military coalition under its own leadership. This extremely important event is not connected to the kingdom's much smaller anti-Yemen coalition, which continues to plod along, shooting here, bombing there. Major countries such as Egypt and NATO's Turkey are members of the new formation. Syria and Iran were excluded from membership. Shia-governed Iraq was not excluded, evidently due to its continuing relationship with Washington.

Aljazeera reported: "The United States welcomed the announcement of the anti-terrorism alliance. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said: 'We look forward to learning more about what Saudi Arabia has in mind in terms of this coalition.... But in general, it appears it is very much in line with something we've been urging for quite some time, which is greater involvement in the campaign to combat IS by Sunni Arab countries.'"

Washington was obviously involved in developing the new coalition and probably functions behind the scenes as a silent partner. Our surmise is that the Sunni alliance will eventually take moderately more action against the Islamic State  a change in some degree from their miniscule efforts to fight IS up to now. In addition, this new Saudi led military coalition seeks regime change in Syria, regards Shia Islam as a religious betrayal to be shunned, and conceivably might be deployed to politically to contain Iran or for worse purposes.

"Worse" may be near, or far. The Wahhabi Saud clan has just accumulated substantially more power and authority in the region, and  despite occasional differences in tactics is blessed by the higher and more powerful strategic authority at the headquarters of modern imperialism on the banks of the Potomac.



The author is editor of the Activist Newsletter and is former editor of the (U.S.) Guardian Newsweekly. He may be reached at jacdon@earthlink.net or http://activistnewsletter.blogspot.com




Jewish-Israeli Passengers Hijack Airlines Integrity

By Vacy Vlazna

08 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Two passengers, on Sunday 3rd January, who in good faith had paid their fares, had passed security checks, boarded the Aegean Airlines flight from Athens to Tel Aviv unexpectedly found themselves at the centre of a racist onslaught by belligerent Jewish-Israeli passengers accusing the two passengers of being terrorists and demanding their removal from the plane.

The victims were attacked for one reason only- they are Palestinian  even though one carried an Israeli passport and the other an Israeli residence permit.

For almost 2 hours, the Palestinians made a stand on their rights to stay on the plane but as the harassment and humiliation intensified from the bullies who had increased from 5 to 70 in number, the Palestinians agreed to disembark,

The pilot said anyone who does not feel safe to fly should disembark and would not be compensated. But by that stage, the two men were in a poor state and wanted to leave themselves. The Guardian

They flew home unmolested the next day, ironically, on an El Al flight.

The rude and belligerent chutzpah of the Jewish-Israeli bullies is rooted in Israels unbridled apartheid policies under which all Palestinians suffer, in the impunity Israel enjoys to commit daily crimes against humanity and war crimes bestowed by western governments and, significantly, in the flexing of Israels armament muscles and influence.

Jeff Halper comprehensively reveals, in his book, War Against the People, how Israels standing as a key player in the armament and security industries is the reason why its appalling human rights record and brutal illegal occupation of Palestine are diplomatically ignored,

Israel has diplomatic relations with 157 countries, and virtually all the agreements and protocols Israel has signed with them contain military and security components.

Without an Occupation, Israel would have neither the drive nor the conditions by which to develop, deploy, test and export world-class weaponry and models of control; true, it would still need a military given the array of hostile forces in its region, but not one so exaggerated in power (nuclearized, for example), or demanding such aggressive international arms diplomacy.

In the realm of domestic security, the Israeli government and private companies work with security agencies the world over on issues of counter-terrorism, crime, border controls, prison management and disaster control. Israels experience in controlling the Occupied Territories and its population, as well as insulating its own population from resistance and terrorism, has become a major selling point.

This may go a long way to explain Israels influence over Greece. In 2012 and 2015, Greek authorities deliberately prevented the humanitarian Gaza flotillas from leaving Greek ports. Greece recently adopted a (non-binding) resolution to recognise a Palestinan state, however it had previously notified Netanyahu it would defy the EU guidelines of labelling illegal settlement products, and the so called left-wing Tsipras endorsed Jerusalem as Israels capital.

And so the question lingers, to what degree did Greco-Israeli politics influence the Aegean Airlines decision?

Even though, the CEO, Dimitrios Gerogiannis sent an apology to the Palestinian Authority, it cant erase a new potential threat to international travel.

By compromising its corporate integrity and responsibility, Aegean Airlines showed poor judgement and consequently the incident has set a dangerous precedent for international travel.

It is not only damaging to an airlines reputation to be taken hostage by passengers calling the shots as to who they deem suitable to fly with them, but places all passengers rights and safety, anywhere, on any plane, at risk to racial profiling and discriminatory demands at the whim of bigots such as the arrogant Jewish- Israeli passengers on Aegean Airlines.

- Dr. Vacy Vlazna is Coordinator of Justice for Palestine Matters. She was Human Rights Advisor to the GAM team in the second round of the Acheh peace talks, Helsinki, February 2005 then withdrew on principle. Vacy was coordinator of the East Timor Justice Lobby as well as serving in East Timor with UNAMET and UNTAET from 1999-2001.




Latin America Has To Fight And Win!

By Andre Vltchek

08 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org

For now, Argentina is lost and Venezuela is deeply wounded, divided and frustrated. Virtually everywhere in socialist Latin America, well-orchestrated and angry protests are taking place, accusing our left-wing governments of mismanagement and corruption.

What was gained during those years of hard work and sacrifices, is suddenly evaporating in front of our eyes. And there seems to be no way to stop the trend in the foreseeable future. Whatever magnificent work our governments have done have been smeared. Western propaganda and its local serfs belittle the achievements of our people. In several countries, revolutionary zeal has almost entirely vanished.

***

It is clear, even with an unarmed eye that great progress had been made. Those of us who knew Ecuador two decades ago, (then a depressing country, humiliated and torn by disparities and racism), are now impressed by its wonderful social services, free culture and modern infrastructure.

Indigenous people of Bolivia are proudly in possession of their own land.

Venezuela has been inspiring the entire Latin America and the world by its internationalism and determined struggle against Western imperialism.

Chile, step by small step, has been dismantling the grotesque legacy of Pinochets dictatorship, moving firmly towards socialism.

There are hundreds of great and inspiring examples, all over the continent.

In less than two decades, Latin America converted itself from one of the most depressing parts of the world, to the most progressive one.

A few years ago, it really seemed that the Empire had finally lost. There was no way that South Americans would want to go back to the days of darkness. The achievements of socialism were too obvious, too marvelous. Who would want to go back to the gloomy nihilism, depressing feudal structures and the fascist client-state arrangements?

Then the Empire re-grouped. It gathered its local lieutenants, its lackeys, and began striking back with deadly force.

All the means of imperialist propaganda were applied. The goal was to convince people that what they see is not actually real. Another objective was to subvert, to torpedo most of the achievements.

***

We lost elections? What nonsense!

It was clean economic and political terror unleashed against us, and it was the most vicious propaganda, which began forcing out the left wing governments of Latin America from power!

The world was watching, still demanding more Western-style democracy, more concessions. The West administered a Fifth Column that damaged Latin American revolutions, after infiltrating both media and brains in Caracas, Buenos Aires, even Quito. It consisted especially of the liberals and those so-called progressive forces; the same people who tried to burry the Cuban revolution after the Soviet Union had been destroyed by Western imperialism. The same people actually who were cheering the demolition of the Soviet Union itself.

They kept pushing for anarchism and for some formulae of participatory economy, in fact for their own concepts, for Western, white concepts, for something that most of Latin American people who fought and won their revolutions never asked for!

Jealous and petty, they hate the true powerhouses of resistance against Western imperialism: Russia, China, Iran or South Africa and in fact, even Latin America itself.

Latin American people have always been intuitively longing for big, strong governments, like those in Cuba and those that lately emerged in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador. And their natural allies should have been those countries from other, non-Western parts of the world, with powerful people-oriented leadership, not some European and North American individuals representing grotesque and defunct movements and intellectual concepts.

In several countries, Latin America lost its way and again got derailed by Western demagoguery. Suddenly there was almost nothing left here of Chinese or Russian or Vietnamese ideas, nothing of internationalism, only Western soft liberal egotists and countless irrelevant marginal groups.

History was forgotten. It was simple, decisive and powerful action by China that single-handedly saved Cuba, when the island-nation was hit by the Gorbachev and Yeltsin disasters. I wrote about it a lot, and Fidel quoted me, agreeing in his Reflections.

It was the Soviet Union that stood in solidarity with almost all revolutionary movements of Latin America throughout the 20th century. And it was Russia that was backing Chavez during the countless Western attempts to overthrow his government.

***

Playing with anarchism, liberalism and Euro-socialist concepts brought several Latin American revolutions to the brink of absolute calamity.

South America is at the frontline. It is under attack. There is no time for the flowery theories.

I know Latin American revolutionaries. I have met many, from Eduardo Galeano to several Cuban and Sandinista leaders.

I also met many of the South American elites.

One day, not long after Evo Morales came to power in Bolivia, I spoke to a man, a member of one of the leading families, which has in its ranks Senators, owners of mass media outlets, as well as captains of local industry.

We will get rid of Morales, he told me, openly. Because he is a dirty Indian, and because we will not tolerate lefties in this part of the world.

He was not hiding his plans  he was extremely confident.

We dont care how much money we have to spend; we have plenty of money. And we have plenty of time. We will use our media and we will create food and consumer goods deficits. Once there is nothing to eat, once there are food lines in all the major cities, as well as great insecurity and violence, people will vote him out of power.

It was clearly the concept used by the Chilean fascist economic and political right wing thugs, before the 1973 US-backed coup against President Salvador Allende. Uncertainty, shortages, and if everything failed  then a brutal military coup.

In Bolivia the elites tried and tried, but they were not successful, because there was great solidarity with the government of Evo Morales, coming from socialist countries like Brazil and Venezuela. When the Right tried to break the country to pieces, pushing for the independence of the richest, white province of Santa Cruz, Brazilian President Lula declared that he was going to send the mightiest army in the South American continent and defend the integrity of the neighboring country.

It is beasts, and actually extremely powerful beasts, who are heading the opposition in South America.

And to be frank, we can hardly speak about an opposition. These are oligarchs, landowners, Christian (many from the Opus Dei) demagogues and military leaders. In many ways they are still the true rulers of the continent.

Nothing except brute force can stop them. They have unlimited financial resources, they have a propaganda machine at their disposal, and they can always count on the Empire to back them up. In fact it is the Empire that is encouraging, training and sustaining them.

***

Violations of democracy and human rights! the opposition yells, whenever our governments decide to hit back. It is not that we are lately hitting back really hard, but any retaliation is packaged as brutal.

What do we in fact do? We arrest just a few of the most outrageous terrorists  those who are openly trying to overthrow or destabilize the state.

But when they, the elites and their armies, came to power, they cut open peoples stomachs, and threw them from helicopters straight into the sea.

Their death squads violate children in front of their parents. Female prisoners are raped by specially trained German shepherds dogs, and tubes with starved rats are inserted into their vaginas.

Entire movements and parties are liquidated by fascist South American battalions of death (some of them trained in the United States), but we must use some nice and clean tactics and democratic means to prevent them from grabbing power again?

The white, racist, colonialist Christian implants from Europe have been forming so-called South American elites. They are actually some of the cruelest human beings on Earth. Thanks to them, before our latest wave of Revolutions, Latin America suffered from the greatest disparities on earth. Tens of millions of its people were murdered. It was racially divided. It was plundered. Its veins were, and to a great extent still are, open  to borrow from the terminology of the great storyteller Eduardo Galeano.

My friend Noam Chomsky wrote about it extensively. I wrote about it in several chapters of my two latest books: : Exposing Lies Of The Empire and Fighting Against Western Imperialism. Others have as well.

How can people still listen to those mass murderers, with a straight face?

***

One thing cannot be disputed: only a big and powerful government and its army could now defend its people. Latin American revolutionary leaders were given a mandate by the people, and they have no right to back up, to betray.

Indecisiveness could prove lethal.

Referendum after referendum, people expressed their support for the revolutionary Proceso, in Venezuela and elsewhere. Year after year the fascist opposition has been showing spite for the voices of the people, the same spite it has demonstrated for centuries.

Sabotage after sabotage was administered, one treasonous act after another committed. As was promised by the Bolivian elites, the Venezuelan capitalist bandits paralyzed their country by shortages. Even rolls of toilet paper became a deficit. All too familiar Like in Chile before 1973!

The message is clear: you want to be able to wipe your ass after shitting, then betray socialism! Or: You want to eat? Then down with the legacy of Chavez!

The will of the people is being humiliated. The elites are spitting straight into the faces of the majority.

Some citizens are now voting for the right, simply because they are exhausted, because they are scared, because they see no solution. They are voting against their own will (as they used to in Nicaragua during the reign of Aleman), because if they vote for their own candidates, they would be made to eat shit, literally.

But solutions are there! They are available.

Instead of listening to some Euro-centric gurus from Slovenia or New England, the Latin American governments should ask for help and lean on such countries as Russia and China, immediately joining alternative financial institutions, forging defense treaties, working on energy and other deals with those who are actually standing up against Western imperialism.

Latin America should never lose its independence. But with proven good friends and true powerful alliances, independence is never lost.

Our leaders should shed their dependency on the Western Left. Mainly because the Western Left does not exist anymore, with some tiny, miniscule exceptions that proves the rule. What remain are a huge army of liberals, and then a tremendous multitude of selfish beings defending their own interests and concepts. They are horrified of those who are truly fighting and winning; therefore they openly hate Russia, China and other non-Western nations. Frankly, they are racist. Such people cannot inspire or impress anybody, and so they are trying their luck at the distant shores, diluting determination and perverting the essence of the South American revolutions.

This is the time to be focused. South America should fight, with all its might. It is not easy, but its treasonous families, those who are destroying the precious lives of tens of millions of human beings, should be identified, arrested and tried. It should be done immediately! What many of them are actually doing is not being in opposition. They are interrupting the democratic process in their own countries, selling their homelands once again to foreign powers and international capital.

***

Mass media outlets that are spreading misinformation, lies and foreign propaganda should also be immediately identified. They should be exposed, confronted, and if their goal is to destroy the socialist fatherland, shut down. Again, this is no time for liberal niceties.

Freedom of expression has nothing to do with the freedom of using newspapers and television stations to spread fabrications, fear and uncertainty, or to call for the direct overthrow of democratically elected governments.

And in South America, entire huge international newspaper and television syndicates have been working for years and decades for one single and deadly goal  to smear and liquidate the Left, and to deliver the entire continent back to the racist, fascist foreign imperialist rulers.

It has all gone too far, and it has to stop.

A few months ago, I was riding on the impressive Sao Paulo metro system, together with my Cuban friend.

It is much better than any public transportation network that I have seen in Europe or in the United States, I exclaimed.

But people in Brazil think that it is total shit, commented my friend, laconically.

How come? I was shocked.

Because they are told so on the television, and because they read it in the newspapers.

Yes, thats how it is! Free art, including opera, given to the Brazilian public, is nothing more than crap, if one reads the mainstream Brazilian press. Free medical care, no matter how (still) imperfect it is, is not even worth praising. Free education in so many South American countries  New transportation networks, free or heavily subsidized books, brilliant parks with brand new libraries that are mushrooming in Chile and Ecuador Financial support for the poor, the fight to keep children in school, the fight to save the environment, countless programs to protect indigenous communities

Nothing, nothing, and absolutely nothing is positive in the eyes of the pro-Western South American propagandists!

This has become one huge counter-process, financed from foreign and local sources, aimed at discrediting all those great achievements.

***

Corruption!!! That is the new battle cry of the elites and their lackeys. Accusations of corruption are fabricated or inflated against all governments of the left: Dilma Rousseff in Brazil, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia, even Michelle Bachelet of Chile. Cristina Kirchners back was almost broken by constant corruption charges.

But how on earth could anyone take such accusations seriously, if they are coming from those who have been plundering, for over 500 years, their own continent on behalf of Europe and then the United States and multi-national corporations? Like locust, the right-wing families have been looting all the natural resources, while forcing people into near slave labor. Under horrendous feudal and fascist rulers, Latin America was converted into the pinnacle of corruption  moral and economic.

Nothing was left intact, and nothing remained pure. In order to survive in such a vile system, people had to bend, twist, and maneuver.

Now these same bandit clans that have been destroying the continent are smearing, pointing fingers at the governments that are, step by step, trying to reverse the trend and serve the people.

The same bastards that were bombing restaurants and hotels in their own countries, planting bombs on passenger airliners, and assassinating thousands of innocent people, are talking about morality.

Are our people, our governments, expected to reach, to achieve total purity in just one or two decades, after the entire continent had been functioning for over 500 years as a bordello of Western colonialism and imperialism?

Are we going to allow ourselves to be on the defensive when facing those who robbed and raped almost everything and everybody in Latin America?

***

Yes, the people of Latin America were brutalized for several long centuries. They went through unimaginable suffering. They lost everything. But they never gave up. Since the holocaust performed by Spanish, Portuguese and other European barbaric conquerors, they have been rising, rebelling and fighting for their scarred land.

Pablo Neruda wrote a tremendous poem Heights of Machu Picchu. Eduardo Galeano wrote Open Veins of Latin America. It is all there, in those two tremendous works.

The fight goes on, to this very moment.

Most of the power is now, finally, in the hands of those who are determined to fight for the interests of their people.

We have no right to be defeated. If we do, hundreds of millions will lose their future and their hope.

Such an opportunity would not come back. It is here, for the first time in 500 years! Millions died to bring it here. If the Revolution is crashed now, it may not return in full force for who knows how many years. In simple terms it means that several more generations would be lost!

We have to counterattack now. What are we waiting for? Of what are we afraid? That the biggest terrorist on Earth  the West  would brand us as undemocratic? That the same West that has, for centuries, overthrown our governments, murdered our leaders as well as simple men, women and children would not give us its stamp of approval? That we would be criticized by those countries, which are still looting, violating, lying and ruining?

Our friends, our allies are not in the West. We all know how lukewarm was the support given to Venezuela, Cuba or Ecuador in Europe and North America by those progressive forces, and how hostile was the mainstream. We have to wake up and join forces with those who are now standing proudly and with great determination against Western imperialism and market fundamentalism.

There is no time for experiments. This is the fight for our survival!

As I wrote earlier, in order for the Revolutions to continue, we need big governments, determined cadres, loyal armies and mighty allies. We also need huge Latin American solidarity, true unity and integration. One monolithic South American block in fraternal embrace with other truly independent countries.

This is an extremely serious moment, Comrades! This is damn serious.

Anarchism and the concepts of the factories administered by workers will not save us right now.

Argentina has fallen, but Venezuela is still standing. Each creek, each boulder has now to be defended, be it in Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela, Nicaragua or Cuba.

We have to be tough, we have to be alert, and we cannot do it alone!

Venceremos nuevamente, camaradas!

Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His latest books are: Exposing Lies Of The Empire and Fighting Against Western Imperialism.Discussion with Noam Chomsky:On Western Terrorism. Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Oceania - a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about Indonesia: Indonesia  The Archipelago of Fear. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East. He can be reached through his website or hisTwitter.




Disposable Humans

By Abdul Majid Zargar

08 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org

A retired chief of Indian navy was once in Srinagar along with a civil society group to take stock of the human rights violations in Kashmir. In a post visit interaction he was candid enough to say that Indian security forces have put the Israeli forces way behind in commission of crimes against humanity in Kashmir. He was not farther from truth.

But that was an honest admission made few years ago. Indian security forces comprising of its army, paramilitary forces & police has travelled much distance since then. Today Barbarians of the world, even in their graves, must be feeling envious of them for the artistry and prowess with which it kills innocent people in J&K and other conflict areas in utmost secrecy & total defiance of International commitments & obligations.

But wait-before I broach further on the subject, let me reproduce only two disclosures,from among many spine-chilling revelations, from Kishlay Bhattacharyas recently released book -Blood on my hands-the confessions of a Staged encounter. This book is about confession by an army officer which splits open the anatomy of staged encounters & extra-judicial killings .Its author is a senior journalist who has been associated with broadcast television for twenty years. He has won many awards to his credit, made several documentaries & is author of few books.

Scene J&K:The confession goes like this:

In Jammu and Kashmir the battalions facing the international border buy weapons from Pakistani intelligence agencies. Muslim men from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are abducted from Jammu, kept in the post for two or three months, and once these weapons are purchased they are killed and shown as militants trying to infiltrate with weapons, The CO(Commanding officer) gets a thumping report and the unit gets a citation. It is easy to identify the victims. Their looks and dress are not like those of the militants from Pakistan. But who gives flying f**k for all these details?

There is a serving Lieutenant general who commanded the Baramulla Division in Jammu and Kashmir. He had around a hundred kills or maybe more in his time, and I know that he fathered many of the so- called unmarked graves that we talk about in Kashmir Valley. Everybody knew. These kills cannot be carried out without others knowing about it. These can be corroborated by many people. When he left the Valley, his officers say he carried home Rs 17.5 crore. He became the MGO ( master general ordnance) and on an average an MGO makes 200 crore. They joked about him,and said he must have made 500.He was once denied a visa to the US, because the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) was tracking him on an arms deal. He flew to Canada and struck the deal. When theCBI caught him at home in india with twenty crore, he confessed to having given 100 crore to the ruling party and eighty crore to opposition. The case was reportedly dropped.

Scene North-east;An army officer seeks favors from a Police officer

A young army captain is at the door (of the police officers room) and tentatively seeks permission to enter. He hesitates to speak but is assured that the visitors are the police officers own people; he can go ahead and talk without any worry. This is embarrassing, but I have run into overdraft, so is it possible to borrow some amount? I promise to return the favor as soon as possible, says the young captain.

The police officer, notwithstanding that visitors are around, assures the young man: My balance is rather low, but I hope I can transfer some amount to you by tomorrow morning. It is a tricky time, you see.

This cryptic conversation between a senior police officer and a young officer in this eastern Indian state is not about borrowing money. It is a sinister exchange in the bizarre interplay of power, politics and violence. Although money will inevitably change hands here, the currency is of human life and murder. The young officer is deployed in counter-insurgency operations and has killed two persons (tagged) as militants in his official record but inadvertently passed the telegraphic message to his senior command that three have been killed. He needs one more to make up for a typographical error. He has none in his kitty, so he requests the police officer to lend him a live victim. The police officer casually asks him to come to the riverside early the next morning and is favored with a bound ,gagged and blindfolded victim who has resigned to his fate like those before him. After he is taken to suitably isolated location, he is killed by a few rounds from army rifles fired at point-blank range-His body- along with a story of an encounter which strains credulity- is produced and an ULFA cadre nomenclature issued to him. Photographs of weapons and foreign currency found on the body is fed to an obedient press.

Well- According to Milan Kundera, the celebrated author of the unbearable lightness of being - Dogs do not have many advantages over people, but one of them is extremely important: euthanasia is not forbidden by law in their case; animals have the right to a merciful death but in J&K & other conflict areas, the Indian State has relegated humans to a status below animals by covering their inhuman & merciless killings with a large national flag symbolizing democracy & secularism.

(The author is a practicing chartered Accountant. E mail: abdulmajidzargar@gmail.com)




TransCanada's $15B Lawsuit Against U.S. on Keystone XL Presents Strong Case

By Eric Zuesse 08 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org

TransCanada, the Canadian company that had been planning to build and own its proposed Keystone XL Pipeline carrying Canada's tar-sands oil to Texas Gulf Coast refineries for export to Europe and elsewhere, released to the public, on Wednesday January 6th, two legal presentations against the United States, because U.S. President Barack Obama, through his Secretary of State John Kerry, on 6 November 2015, had said no to TransCanada's proposed oil pipeline.





TransCanada's basic legal argument contains many allegations, each one of which will be exceedingly difficult for the United States to defend successfully against; and all of which taken together provide TransCanada's stockholders a reasonably high likelihood of ultimately winning their penalty claim, even perhaps all of the $15 billion that they are seeking against U.S. taxpayers for the American President's having violated rights of TransCanada stockholders to profit, under the 1994 NAFTA trade agreement between the U.S. and Canada. This case could be a harbinger of many more to come if President Obama's three mega trade deals become passed by Congress (TTIP, TPP, and TISA), each of which extends the same profitable potentials for corporations to sue the U.S. government.





First of all, the penalty case here will be brought outside the U.S. legal system, in an arbitration panel (much championed by the Obama Administration and by prior Administrations, including that of President Bill Clinton, who introduced this arbitration-system into his NAFTA trade agreement). This panel will consist probably of three arbitrators, none of whom needs to be a lawyer, in an Investor State Dispute Settlement proceeding under America's NAFTA trade agreement with Canada, rather than in any U.S. court, and it will not be reviewable in, nor appealable to, any U.S. court, including even the U.S. Supreme Court. In other words: the penalty part of TransCanada's case will exclude any type of democratic accountability  any way that the American people (who would be the persons that would be paying the fine via their taxes) can hold anyone accountable, at the ballot box or otherwise, for the loss, if a fine is imposed by the panel. The U.S. public would simply be forced to pay to the stockholders of the TransCanada Corporation whatever fine such a panel might determine. The American people elected Clinton, Obama, and the other Presidents, and the Congresses, which have subjected U.S. taxpayers to this system  called Investor State Dispute Settlement or ISDS  and future American leaders will have to deal with the consequences, whatever those may be.





The court case challenges whether the President's turn-down of the Keystone XL Pipeline proposal was Constitutional. It is formally unconnected with the penalty case; but, if the ultimate decision in it turns out to be in favor of Trans-Canada, then the company might be able to increase the penalty in the penalty case. Indeed, the penalty case closes with, essentially, a warning, to this effect: The Disputing Investors reserve the right to adjust the claimed damages during the course of the arbitration. Obviously, if the President unConstitutionally blocked the Keystone XL, then that would be especially damning against the government.





Secondly, both legal presentations  the penalty case and the court case  cite chapter-and-verse of the statements by U.S. President Obama, and by his Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, in which they had argued that the Keystone XL pipeline will present little or no environmental harm, and will be beneficial for the U.S. economy. Furthermore, the penalty case (in its footnote 61) cites and quotes from Secretary of State Kerry's 6 November 2015 press statement which explained why the President was turning down the proposed pipeline. This is the passage that's cited: It's absolutely true that the perception of U.S. leadership on climate change, the perception of what this President and this Administration have been doing, and the resolve that they have been showing over the course of the last number of years has been enormously important to the U.S. posture internationally However, the key statement there (which TransCanada oddly failed to quote, since it's their strongest evidence) was: The critical factor in my determination was this: moving forward with this project would significantly undermine our ability to continue leading the world in combatting climate change. Kerry's assertion there, that this  and not any of the issues that have legal bearing  was the critical factor in the decision, will add considerably to TransCanada's chance of victory in the penalty case.





Thirdly, both actions cite a lengthy record of admissions by the Obama Administration that none of the issues that have legal bearing on the matter were pertinent in their decision. Here is how the penalty case summarizes this:





49. This, then, was the basis of the Administration's reasoning: Keystone's application should be denied so that the United States could show leadership on climate change by (i) appeasing those who held a view on the environmental impact of the Keystone XL Pipeline that the Administration itself concluded on six different occasions was wholly unsubstantiated; and (ii) making a tough choice to deny Keystone a Presidential Permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, even though denying the permit would, based on the Administration's own analysis, have no beneficial impact on the environment. In short, the decision elevated perceptions over reality, which is the hallmark of a decision tainted by politics.





Unfortunately, the following matters will have no bearing on the ultimate determination by either the arbitration panel in the penalty case, or the ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division (which will be the first court to hear the Constitutional case):

















But even that is merely scratching the surface of what's wrong here. If TransCanada wins its penalty case here, then all nations' environmental regulations will become effectively crippled, unless and until ISDS becomes internationally outlawed. But instead, Obama's top intended legacy as President is to seal the deals to extend ISDS globally  and Hillary Clinton was a big supporter of that until she started to run for President in a Party that's overwhelmingly opposed to ISDS. It's the same as when she was a big champion of NAFTA until she started to run for President and said she hadn't supported it. She has the worst record on the environment of anyone except Republicans.





The likeliest reason why Obama turned down Keystone XL is that he wants Hillary Clinton to become President to finish everything that he started. If he had accepted XL, he would have lost all chance of that happening, unless one of the Republican contenders wins the Presidency.












By Susan Orr of the Courier and Press

Aluminum maker Alcoa will permanently close its Warrick County smelting operations by the end of March, the company announced Thursday.

Some 600 people work at Alcoa's Warrick smelter, which has a capacity of 269,000 metric tons. Warrick's rolling mill and power plant, which employ another 1,235 people between them, will continue to operate.

In a statement issued after the news release, John Martin, Alcoa's vice president of U.S. smelting operations, said: "Although our employees have worked diligently through these challenging market conditions, the aluminum smelter at Warrick Operations is no longer competitive. The price of aluminum in the last year alone dropped about 30 percent. Our focus now is on our employees, and we will be working with our union, community and other stakeholders to help minimize the impact during this very difficult transition."

Most of Alcoa Warrick's hourly employees are represented by United Steelworkers Local 104. The Courier & Press was unable to reach Local 104 by email or phone late Thursday.

Alcoa blamed market conditions for the shutdown, noting that the Midwest transaction price for aluminum dropped approximately 30 percent in 2015. During that same time the Alumina Price Index fell approximately 40 percent, Alcoa said. Alcoa produces both aluminum and alumina. Alumina is a raw material in the production of aluminum.

The move is the latest in a series of similar steps Alcoa has taken in the past year in an effort to reduce its costs.

In March, the company announced that it was beginning a 12-month review of its smelting and refining operations "for possible curtailment or divestiture."

Since then, Alcoa has taken the following actions at its smelters:

Curtailed 74,000 metric tons of smelting capacity in Sao Luis, Brazil

Closed its 96,000-metric-ton smelter in Pocos, Brazil, which had been curtailed since May 2014.

Curtailed its Intalco and Wenatchee smelters, both in Washington State. The two operations had a combined capacity of 373,000 metric tons.

Announced it planned to curtail its Massena West smelter and permanently close its Massena East smelter, both in New York. Shortly after that announcement, Alcoa said it had reached an agreement with the state of New York for an incentives package to keep the Massena West smelter open. Massena West has a smelting capacity of 130,000 metric tons.

Once the Warrick smelter closes, Alcoa's only active North American smelter will be Massena West.

Since March 2015 Alcoa has also curtailed or closed 3.3 million tons of refining capacity, including 810,000 metric tons of refining capacity at its Point Comfort, Texas operations. Alcoa made the Point Comfort announcement at the same time it announced the Warrick smelter closure.

So what exactly is a smelter, and how will Alcoa Warrick Operations function once it closes its smelter?

Aluminum smelting is the process of extracting aluminum metal from aluminum oxide, which is also called alumina. This is done through a chemical process involving heat and electricity.

The aluminum produced at Warrick is cast into ingots, which are cooled and then sent to a rolling mill  a sort of industrial-sized series of rolling pins which flatten the ingots into thin sheets of aluminum. Those sheets get rolled into large coils that are then sent elsewhere for use in food and beverage cans, pop-top can tabs and lithographic printing plates.

An on-site power plant provides electricity for Warrick Operations.

After the Warrick smelter shuts down, the facility will purchase aluminum made elsewhere for use in its rolling mill.

According to Alcoa's website, Warrick Operations is one of the largest aluminum smelting and fabricating facilities in the world. The property, which includes more than 9,000 acres, is located along Indiana 66 between Newburgh and Yankeetown, Indiana.

The first molten metal at the Warrick site was poured in June 1960.

Alcoa issued its Warrick announcement after the close of stock trading Thursday. Shares of the stock closed at $8.27 on the New York Stock Exchange, down 34 cents (4 percent) from the previous day's close.
North Main grocery to receive city taxpayer boost

A new grocery market coming to Evansville's North Main Street could open by the end of this year, and it will receive some taxpayer financial help.
Shannon Shepherd

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By Richard Gootee of the Courier and Press

Court documents against the Posey County, Indiana man accused of injuring his 2-month-old daughter detail the extent of the baby's injuries that medical personnel suggest were inflicted on purpose.

The suspect in the case, 40-year-old Shannon Eric Shepherd, reportedly told law enforcement the baby sustained the injuries during a series of accidents. The investigation against Shepherd started on Dec. 22 when authorities were called to the man's home after the infant stopped breathing. Shepherd claimed she fell off a bed. At the time of that incident, Shepherd was alone with the baby.

Investigators arrested Shepherd on Monday. He faces three counts of battery causing serious bodily injury to a person younger than 14 and one count of child neglect resulting in serious bodily injury. All four charges are listed as level 3 felonies.

He made an initial court appearance on Wednesday. During that hearing, his bond was set at $60,000 cash. Shepherd, who initially pleaded not guilty on Wednesday as well, was appointed a public defender and is represented in the case by Mount Vernon, Indiana, attorney William Gooden.

Gooden did not immediately respond to a call from the Courier & Press on Thursday morning seeking comment about the case.

The child was first taken to Deaconess Hospital and then was transported to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis for further treatment the next day, according to the affidavit. At Deaconess, the infant was given a breathing tube, according to the affidavit. A doctor at Riley detailed the child's injuries for investigators, according to the affidavit. That doctor said the child's head showed signs of multiple incidents of trauma to the brain, according to the affidavit, and that she had been suffering seizures while in medical care. The nature of the head injuries, the doctor reportedly told investigators, are consistent with those sustained during accidents.

A full-body X-ray was also done on the infant at Riley, and that showed multiple broken ribs as well as two leg fractures that were in the process of healing, according to the doctor's interview in the affidavit. When confronted about the X-ray results, Shepherd acknowledged that he dropped the child while he was carrying her after tripping over a tote, according to the affidavit. During that incident, Shepherd reportedly told investigators he stepped on her leg but never reported it, which he said happened about two weeks before the girl was hospitalized. Both Shepherd and his wife had told authorities that the girl had accidentally fallen out of an indoor swing and bruised her face a few days before the Dec. 22 incident, investigators wrote.

The doctor also disputed that the baby's leg injuries could have been sustained by Shepherd stepping on the child and were instead constraint with either or "grabbing, pulling or twisting motion," or could happen if the child was shaken or thrown with great force, according to the affidavit.

During that Wednesday hearing, superior court judge also appointed Donita Farr as the special prosecutor in the case. Farr is the chief deputy prosecutor in Daviess County, Indiana. According to the affidavit against Shepherd, Posey County Prosecutor Travis Clowers, who attends the same church as the Shepherd family, was the person who called emergency personnel on the evening on Dec. 22 because they reached out to him before 911 was notified.

Shepherd's next court date is set for Feb. 2, according to court documents.
Ava Hand, 10, sits on her grandfather Rodney Gibson's lap during a recent family get together. Submitted photo.

SHARE The guardian angel pin that Trooper Todd Durnil. Rodney Gibson, stands with his six children and grandchildren during an October family reunion. Jenica Hand and her daughter Ava, 10, are seated just in front of Gibson. submitted photo The guardian angel pin that Rodney Gibson had on his visor when recently stopped by a state trooper. His daughter Jenica Hand had just given him the pin. Submitted photo Jenica Hand and daughter Ava, 10, at a recent family gathering. submitted photo

By Abbey Doyle of the Courier and Press

When Jenica Hand saw that guardian angel pin, it almost glowed. She knew she had to have it. Her dad's birthday was just a few days away.

Little did she know what effect it would have on her father in one of the bleakest moments of his life.

When Rodney Gibson pulled out of Evansville on Monday it was with a heavy heart and that small gift from his daughter pinned to his truck's visor.

Indiana State Master Trooper Todd Durnil didn't think much when he pulled over a semi tractor-trailer driving a little too fast. The driver, Gibson, was angry and rude to Durnil, and was unsure of why he was pulled over as cars sped by him.

Durnil was unfazed. Gibson certainly wasn't the first, nor would he be the last, driver angry to be stopped.

"But there was something about it. I knew he was upset about something else," Durnil said of Gibson. "He kept interrupting me. I couldn't even tell him why I pulled him over. I was just looking for a way to reason with him when I saw that angel pin stuck in his visor.

"I stopped him and said, 'We aren't that much different. I have that same pin that you have,'" Durnil said.

Gibson, recalling the interaction, was almost embarrassed at how he acted during the traffic stop.

"It certainly wasn't about the traffic stop," he said of his anger. "I was just so upset."

When Durnil made the comment about the pin it didn't do much to diffuse Gibson's anger. Really it just reminded him more of what he was upset about  his daughter.

"My daughter just gave it to me. She suffers from breast cancer; it's back, and it's not looking very good," Gibson quickly said.

Durnil felt bad for Gibson, who in their short conversation told the officer, "Children shouldn't go before parents." Durnil has two children of his own.

"I agreed," Durnil said. "Life isn't fair sometimes."

While Hand is eternally optimistic  "I've beat this before, I'll beat it again," she says  the diagnosis isn't good. Doctors aren't hopeful.

At 30, the Evansville single mom to Ava, now 10, was diagnosed with breast cancer, got a bilateral mastectomy and underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Things looked great for several years. But in October, Hand, now 37, heard news that she'd been dreading  the cancer was back. And now it had taken over her liver and had spread throughout her bones.

"It's in her liver, her spine, her bones  everywhere," Gibson said, unable to keep the tears back and becoming silent for several moments. "They've said we may not have her when spring gets here."

She's had to discontinue all traditional treatment and is seeking alternative ways to keep fighting the cancer.

Gibson  an Evansville native and truck driver based in San Diego, California  is now spending every bit of time off he has in Evansville with his daughter. It was such a visit that put him on Indiana 37 and on Durnil's radar.

"It was divine intervention," Durnil said.

As Durnil was walking from his patrol car back to the semi he said to himself, "I'm going to pray for him; my family and church are going to pray for him."

As Gibson signed the paperwork  there were no violations, no ticket  he was still so blinded by anger and sadness he didn't even know what he was signing. He did pause to apologize to Durnil, not even recognizing himself saying he wasn't typically like this.

"I understood," Durnil said. "I turned to him and asked, 'Is there anything else I can do for you?' "

Gibson vividly remembers his response  the anger and frustration creeping back up.

"Yeah, do you know how to pray?"

He meant those words, but he also said them with sarcasm..

Durnil, still immune to the anger, said: "Yes."

He removed his campaign hat, took Gibson's hand and knelt on the steps of Gibson's truck on the cold January afternoon, sending a prayer out for Gibson, Hand and their families.

"I broke down," Gibson said. "Right there, I just broke down and cried. It was a powerful moment."

It moved Durnil, too.

"I've not prayed with too many people like that. Maybe once or twice in my 25 years has a moment come up when someone asked for it. But it has never happened like this," he said. "In this situation, here I was thinking, 'This man needs prayer.' And then he asks. The good Lord had to have put us together right there. And I'm thankful he put me in a position where I could help him out."

Durnil doesn't want the prayer to stop. He hopes people hearing this story will surround Gibson, Hand and their family with prayers  prayers for a miracle.

Hand said the encounter has been a blessing in disguise.

"In today's society it can be so hard to see goodness, especially with my diagnosis. But it is all around you."

Choking back tears, she said "My diagnosis is unfortunate, but I'm not saddened by it. I feel uplifted, enlightened. It has brought so many people together. And this situation is just another way God is bringing people together. I can feel the love of others; I feel the kindness in the world. I feel it coming from people who don't know me or my family, and it makes me want to share kindness with others."

This one small but powerful moment impacted three lives, and in some ways changed them, Hand said. And she's hopeful it can be something that impacts others.

"It is important to know that God has a plan for everybody," she said. "You may not understand it at the time. I didn't understand the first time I was diagnosed why all of this was happening. I think now I do understand. It is to bring those around me and myself closer to God and each other, to realize people are still there for one another and not everyone is just out for themselves. There's so much kindness. I just wish people would give their kindness to others.

"Kindness is something that needs to be shared."
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By Brian Slodysko

INDIANAPOLIS  Transgender people are excluded from a proposal in the Indiana Senate that would grant civil rights protections to gay, lesbian and bisexual people, but not those who identify by a gender that is different from their sex at birth.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Travis Holdman, was presented Thursday as an "alternative" to another proposal from the Markle Republican that would extend discrimination protections in housing, employment and public accommodation to all LGBT people, while also offering broad religious exemptions.

"There is not consensus on this issue currently, and I believe having an alternative idea to consider will help move the debate forward in a constructive manner," the socially conservative lawmaker said in a statement.

Currently, LGBT people are not protected from discrimination under state law, though some local governments, including Indianapolis, have approved their own ordinances. Senate leaders say both of Holdman's bills will be taken up in committee, but already a split has emerged among GOP senators over how to proceed.

"This is an important discussion for our state to have, but there's no denying that it is a difficult one," Senate President Pro Tem David Long said in a statement.

Lawmakers are trying to undo perceived damage to the state's reputation that came last spring when Gov. Mike Pence and the GOP majority's handling of a religious objections law was drawn into an unwanted national spotlight. Critics said the law as initially passed allowed discrimination against gay people on religious grounds.

Lawmakers approved an amendment to the law but activists and the state's business establishment have pushed them to go further, while religious conservatives have said such a law would force them to violate "sincerely held" beliefs.

That has driven a wedge between two pillars of the Republican Party base that lawmakers and Pence have struggled to bridge. Pence has refused to say where he stands on the matter, though he recently hinted that he may reveal his stance during next week's State of the State address.

Recent public opinion surveys suggest a majority of people in Indiana support LGBT civil rights. Meanwhile, some of the state's most prominent businesses and organizations  including Cummins, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company and the NCAA  have joined lobbying efforts pushing for LGBT protections.

House Speaker Brian Bosma says the debate has focused on two "really sticky" issues: the use of public restrooms by transgender people and the ability of photographers, bakers and wedding planners to decline to work with gay couples if they have a religious objection.

"I'm looking for a solution like everyone else," Bosma said. "I haven't seen one yet."

Both of Holdman's bills contain broad exemptions for religious charities and institutions, including those that hold state contracts. But the measure that does not cover transgender people also exempts wedding-related businesses with five or fewer employees, instead of three.

Another major difference would forbid local governments from passing their own discrimination laws protecting transgender people, though cities with existing ordinances could keep them.

"That's not how we repair the harm that was done," said Peter Hanscom, of the business-backed pro-LGBT group Indiana Competes. "We're competing in a national and global economy. If we want to pull talent, we have to have the best (laws) in place."
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By Zach Osowski

INDIANAPOLIS  It may take more than 400 pages of legislation, but the Indiana Generally Assembly is proposing a total overhaul of the state's Bureau of Motor Vehicles fee system.

House Bill 1087, known as the BMV Omnibus bill, is an attempt to streamline the way the BMV charges fees and registration in order to eliminate confusion. The bill would cut the number of ways to register a vehicle from 191 down to 23 and would reduce or eliminate 163 registration fees according to testimony given on Wednesday.

Rep. Holli Sullivan, R-Evansville, who sits on the House transportation committee, said she's read all 441 pages of the bill and likes what author Ed Soliday, R-Valpraiso, has done so far.

Sullivan said the bill will cut down significantly on the number of overcharge errors that have plagued the BMV for the last few years and will help taxpayers with lower registration costs. More than two million Hoosiers will likely see a decrease in what they currently pay the BMV on a yearly basis.

"What we read in committee is a very pro-taxpayer, streamlining, increasing transparency in government, very good bill," Sullivan said.

The bill will not change any laws as they relate to vehicles or registration, Sullivan said. It simply changes how the BMV charges fees and makes the entire process easier.

Sullivan said the changes will makes bills easier to understand for Hoosiers and will increase transparency for the entire BMV.

The bill is a response to a multitude of problems associated with the BMV over the past few years. The agency handed out $50 million in overcharge refunds in 2013 and then an additional $29 million in 2014. The agency also under-charged some customers as well.

New leadership was installed in 2015 starting with new commissioner Kent Abernathy, who promptly cleaned house and changed the agency structure. Now, lawmakers hope HB 1087 will be the last piece to getting the BMV back on track.

"This will help increase transparency but also increase the ease of dealing with the BMV for constituents," Sullivan said.

The transportation committee only heard testimony on the bill and Sullivan said she expects they will hear more testimony in the coming weeks before voting on the bill. Because of the size of the bill, there is a lot to go through.
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Larry Meritt

Evansville

I offer some historical perspective on the subject of executive orders.

First, executive orders have been used by every president in the history of this nation. Our current president has exercised greater discretion in the use of these instruments than almost any other chief magistrate, as Mr. Lincoln referred to the office.

FDR Issued 3,522. Woodrow Wilson issued 1,803. Dwight Eisenhower issued 484. Ronald Reagan issued 381. George W. Bush issued 291. President Obama has issued 175, of which only 25 have come in his second term. Harry Truman integrated the armed forces by executive order. Perhaps the most famous executive order in our national history was issued by Abraham Lincoln: The Emancipation Proclamation.

I must ask why, is it only now, that a president is accused of being a tyrant for exercising legitimate use of the power of the office he was legally elected to fill and, I might add, elected twice by large majorities. One can only infer that it is the latent racism that is still a scar on our country. Could it be that after all our social progress as a nation, there are those who cannot accept the fact that a man of color has been twice elected to our highest office in government?
CT Prosecutors Challenge Death Penalty Ban: Connecticut prosecutors argued Thursday that the state's Supreme Court made a "critical mistake" when it ruled that a 2012 law ending capital punishment in the state applied retroactively to the 11 inmates already on death row. Richard Weizel of Reuters reports that last August, in the case of Santiago v. State, the state's high court ruled 4-3 that a 2012 state law banning the issuance of new death sentences, but permitting the executions to be carried out for people previously condemned, amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. In another capital murder case before the court, Senior Assistant State's Attorney Harry Weller argued that "the court overreached its authority when it determined that legislators could not exempt people previously sentenced to death from the new ban on punishment." The court is expected to make a ruling over the next few months. Connecticut is one of 19 U.S. states that have banned the death penalty, their last prisoner executed in 2005.

German Vigilante Group to Protect Women From Migrants: In the wake of hundreds of sexual assaults in the German city of Cologne on New Year's Eve by male migrants from the Middle East , a vigilante group in the neighboring city of Dusseldorf launched on Facebook Wednesday night, intent on providing protection and major events and in city centers to German women. Oliver Lane of Breitbart reports that the group, called "Dusseldorf is Watching," already has 2,300 members and quickly received criticism from local police, who voiced their stance against "self-proclaimed vigilantes." The founder of the group, however, assures that they do not intend to employ vigilante justice or violence; rather, they simply plan to be "present and attentive" at major public events and on weekend evenings. During New Year's Eve festivities in Cologne and other German cities, hundreds of women reported being sexually assaulted by large groups of men described as Arab appearing, which overwhelmed police forces.

Obama Hires 'Army' of Pardon Lawyers: A "small army" of pardon lawyers is about to be hired by the Justice Department, suggesting that President Obama is expecting an active pardon period at the end of his term. Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner reports that although it is typical for presidents to issue pardons to prisoners in their last months in office, the current plan to expand the Office of the Pardon Attorney by adding 16 new lawyers indicates President Obama's pardon period is likely to be "busier than normal." The president has already granted 250 pardons and commutations during his term, more than former President George W. Bush doled out during his full eight years in office. The move will potentially cost $2.26 million.

Officer Asks Court to Block Forced Testimony in Gray Case: A Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray is fighting a ruling that would force him to testify against a colleague, arguing that it violates his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. The AP reports that William Porter, whose trial ended in a mistrial last month, asked the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to block a Baltimore Circuit Judge's ruling compelling him to take the stand in Officer Caesar Goodman's trial or face jail time. Porter's attorney, argues that prosecutors will be unable to differentiate what they heard in Porter's first trial as a defendant from his testimony as a witness. Porter's Immunity from trial for his testimony. A longtime Baltimore defense attorney, not involved with the case, emphasizes the difficulty this decision presents to achieving fair trials in future cases involving multiple defendants, noting that "the judge is essentially saying there is no difference between a witness and a defendant, so long as immunity is granted." Goodson, the driver of the police van, is the second officer to be tried in the April death of Freddie Gray and is facing charges ranging from manslaughter to second-degree murder. Porter's retrial is scheduled for June 13. Update: The Maryland Court of Special Appeals agreed Friday to stay Judge Williams' order compelling Porter to take the stand in Goodson's trial.


Man Tries to Execute Officer: In what police are calling an "attempted assassination," a Philadelphia police officer was shot several times during an ambush late Thursday night. Justin Finch and Rahel Solomon of CBS report that 33-year-old Officer Jesse Hartnett, a five-year veteran of the force, was sitting in his patrol car when he was approached by 30-year-old Edward Archer who fired 13 shots through the driver's side of the car, striking Harnett three times in the arm. Harnett returned fire, hitting Archer at least three times before he attempted to escape on foot and was apprehended quickly by police. Archer has reportedly offered a full confession, saying he shot the officer in the name of Islam. The FBI is assisting in the investigation.

Two Mideast Refugees Face Terror Charges: Two Iraqi-born Palestinians who came to the U.S. as refugees are facing terror-related charges in California and Texas courts on Friday for supporting the Islamic State. Fox News reports that 24-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, the first person to be charged under federal law in an ISIS-related case this year, arrived in the U.S. in 2009 and became a legal permanent resident in 2011, settling in the Houston area. He faces charges of trying to provide support to ISIS, and was found to have lied on both his citizenship application and during his interview with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The other suspect, 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab of Sacramento, Calif., who arrived in the U.S. in 2012, is accused of traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to government investigators about it. He faces up to eight years in prison if convicted. Unsealed court documents do not indicate whether the two cases are connected, though an affidavit says Al-Jayab communicated with an unnamed individual living in Texas in 2013 to see if he could receive training in various weapons. Since April 2013, 80 people have been charged under federal law in an ISIS-related case.

DHS Begins to Deport Illegals Caught in Raids: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Thursday that it has already deported 77 of the 121 illegal immigrants it rounded up during weekend raids in North Carolina, Georgia and Texas. Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in an effort to appease criticism from immigrant-rights groups, noted that all immigrants that were deported so far had gone through immigration courts, exhausted all of their appeals and did not qualify for asylum. The 77 have been deported to the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, with immigrants-rights groups winning stays for five families.
Foxconn, which assembles most of Apple's latest iPhones, will cut working hours over the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, a person familiar with the matter said, in a rare move that analysts interpreted as a sign of softening demand.

Reports of slowing shipments and mounting inventories of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, as well as tepid forecasts from suppliers, have pushed Apple investors into unfamiliar territory after years of booming sales and surging shares.

Earlier on Wednesday US time, Japanese daily Nikkei, citing parts suppliers, said output of the models would be cut by about 30 percent in January-March so dealers could unload stock. Apple shares lost 2.5 percent, and those of suppliers similarly fell.

"Chinese New Year is a big holiday and there is usually overtime for workers. But this year, Foxconn will have a normal break," the person said, referring to the Lunar New Year which falls on 8 February.

Taiwan-based Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, assembles the latest iPhones at factories in China where it employs hundreds of thousands of people, and offers incentives such as triple overtime pay over China's biggest holiday.

Foxconn said in a statement that it was "in the midst of planning operational schedules for the Lunar New Year holiday", but gave no details. Apple was unavailable to comment.

The person with knowledge of the matter was not authorised to speak with the media so declined to be identified.

Government subsidies

The first quarter is usually a quieter time for suppliers and the most obvious period to cut production, adjusting for extra supply brought on for the holiday season at the end of the calendar year.

But suppliers pointed to Foxconn's unusual Lunar New Year and slower sales as evidence of a gloomy outlook, as well as 82 million yuan ($17.8 million) in subsidies that the government of Zhengzhou, Henan province, awarded Foxconn companies this week.

Foxconn confirmed the incentives to "recognise companies that provide stable employment in the province", but said they related to the large workforce it maintained there in 2014.

"We were already conservative about the first quarter," said analyst Kylie Huang at Daiwa-Cathay Capital Markets in Taipei, in response to Foxconn's Lunar New Year plans. "It's not just iPhone slowdown, but all of the Chinese economy."

China is a key growth market for Apple and the world's biggest smartphone market.

Shares of Apple suppliers fell on Wednesday US time, with Foxconn closing down 0.1 percent after trading during the day at lows not seen in over four months.

Shares fell between 2 percent and 6 percent at fellow assembler Pegatron Corp, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, LG Display Co Ltd, Japan Display Inc, Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd, Alps Electric Co Ltd and TDK Corp.

Next: Bracing for a cut
News

After Extended Period Of Turmoil, Can VMware Right The Ship With vCloud Air Hybrid Cloud Service?

Kevin McLaughlin

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Now that VMware has pulled out of a proposed cloud joint venture with EMC's Virtustream unit, what does the future hold for its vCloud Air hybrid cloud service?

According to channel partners, VMware has struggled to attract customers to vCloud Air, and this has been compounded by interference from parent company EMC, which pushed hard for a cloud joint venture that would have combined vCloud Air with Virtustream, the cloud startup it acquired for $1.2 billion in July.

But VMware shares plummeted in the wake of the joint venture announcement in late October, as investors were apparently not thrilled that VMware would be taking on $200 million to $300 million in costs associated with the formation of the new cloud company. VMware pulled out of the joint venture in mid-December.

[Related: VMware Cutting Back On vCloud Air Development, May Stop Work On New Features -- Sources]

One source close to both vendors said EMC's senior leadership pushed forward with the plan for a cloud joint venture despite objections from both VMware and Virtustream.

"VMware didn't want anything to do with the joint venture, and the Virtustream people didn't want anything to do with it, either," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The old guard at EMC was trying to force the entire thing."

Three sources told CRN that they believe joint venture-related pressure from EMC prompted the last two independent members of VMware's board of directors -- former Accenture CFO Pamela Craig and former Cisco CFO Dennis Powell -- to resign last month.

Spokesmen from EMC and VMware declined to comment.

The future of vCloud Air was already shrouded in uncertainty before EMC and VMware unveiled the Virtustream joint venture. Sources told CRN in August that VMware was considering cutting back on development and new features for vCloud Air, though the vendor did feature the service heavily at its VMworld conference.

VMware struggled to gain traction for vCloud Air since launching it in May 2013. While many partners and customers see a need for a VMware-compatible public cloud, VMware arrived late to the market and was slow to add table-stakes features like pay-as-you-go pricing and the ability to sign up with a credit card.

As a result, VMware partners said they've had a tough time promoting vCloud Air in a public cloud market dominated by more advanced offerings from Amazon Web Services and Microsoft.

"Customers don't see vCloud Air as a viable cloud option, and VMware is constantly struggling to make deals happen," said one VMware partner, who didn't want to be named. "The only reason VMware even gets meetings [with customers] is the VMware brand, and the fact that people are interested in 'safe' places for their VMware workloads."

"We dont have any intention of considering vCloud Air as an offering to take to market," another VMware partner told CRN, adding that his firm is focusing on AWS and Microsoft Azure.

The VMware spokesman declined to comment, citing the quiet period in advance of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based vendor's fiscal fourth quarter earnings call later this month.

VMware, in its 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in November, acknowledged that it could face a tough time in the market if the EMC Virtustream joint venture didn't happen.

"If we do not form a new cloud services business with EMC, our vCloud Air business may suffer, and it would be difficult to successfully execute a standalone hybrid cloud strategy," VMware said in the 10-Q.

Adding to the uncertainty is the fact that VMware's vCloud Air leadership team has seen significant upheaval in recent months.

Riccardo Di Blasio, VMware's top sales and marketing executive for vCloud Air, left in September. In October, VMware said Bill Fathers, its chief executive for vCloud Air, was taking on a "strategic advisory role" and wouldn't be part of the Virtustream joint venture.

However, Fathers has returned to his former role leading the vCloud Air business, a VMware spokesman told CRN last month.

So what happens now? VMware, in an FAQ sent to partners after it pulled out of the joint venture, said it would continue operating the vCloud Air business and its vCloud Air Network of service provider partners. Virtustream is one such partner and VMware said it will continue to take part in the program.

While VMware partners aren't seeing much success with vCloud Air, they're not expecting VMware to dump the service entirely. At the same time, partners are hoping VMware will add new features and functionality to the services that might make it more attractive to customers.

"I wouldnt say that vCloud Air is dead by any stretch," said one VMware partner, who didn't want to be named for competitive reasons. "VMware has so much invested in it that I cant see them throwing it away."

PUBLISHED JAN. 7, 2016
Data center News

Exclusive From New VCE President: 'We Would Be Crazy' To Mess Up Cisco Relationship

Matt Brown

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New VCE President Chad Sakac says the company has no desire to end its relationship with Cisco Systems, even as Cisco pushes forward with its own hyper-converged infrastructure plans.



"All signals from customers on all fronts [are] that UCS is the way to go, period. Cisco Nexus hardware is the way to go, period," Sakac told CRN in an exclusive interview. "We would be crazy and Cisco would be crazy to inadvertently mess that up."



The reaffirmation of the EMC-Cisco-VCE relationship comes even as Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC prepares to be acquired by Cisco rival Dell in a $67 billion deal.



[Related: Sources: Cisco Inks OEM Deal With Startup Springpath, Preps UCS Hyper-Converged Appliance]



"Our partnership with Cisco is incredible," Sakac said. "We're the largest single route to market for Nexus and UCS, and customers say, 'Keep going.' "



The full-steam-ahead approach for the Cisco-EMC relationship comes even with CRN reporting this week that Cisco is preparing a new hyper-converged appliance that combines its UCS servers with technology gained from an OEM agreement with hyper-converged software startup Springpath. Sources said Cisco has also made an undisclosed investment in Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Springpath, which was founded in 2012 by former VMware storage engineers.



Cisco, San Jose, Calif., has refused to comment on the Springpath relationship.



Sakac, for his part, called the Springpath hyper-converged play "an example of where Cisco has partnered and OEMed technology. They've done stuff with SimpliVity, with Whiptail, and during the Invicta period. Those have literally no effect on the relationship with EMC and Cisco and VCE."



Sakac, a longtime EMC engineering executive, was installed atop VCE this week with a mission to more deeply integrate VCE, now known as the EMC Converged Platforms Division, with parent company EMC.

VCE, based in Richardson, Texas, started as a joint venture between EMC and Cisco. Cisco still holds a roughly 10 percent stake in the converged infrastructure firm.



But the relationship has evolved in recent months, with VCE launching its VxRack hyper-converged infrastructure line using white-box servers rather than Cisco UCS, and now Cisco moving to develop its own hyper-converged infrastructure line.



EMC's pending acquisition by Round Rock, Texas-based Dell is also raising questions about the future of the relationship, and not everyone is convinced EMC will maintain ties with Cisco.

Bob Venero, CEO of Holbrook, N.Y.-based solution provider Future Tech, a longtime Dell and EMC partner and No. 232 on the 2015 CRN Solution Provider 500, said there are a lot of unknowns in the wake of the Dell acquisition of EMC, but one thing that is certain is "Dell is absolutely taking a major bite out of the Cisco server networking business."



"I see that only continuing to grow more with the acquisition of EMC by Dell," said Venero. "Obviously there are political and relationship ramifications that need to be looked at based on what VMware's role in VCE is going forward, what EMC's role in VCE is going forward. Those are unknowns. There is no doubt that Dell is looking at those things and is going to make the right decision based on what is the overall best answer for themselves, their customers and partners."



Dan Serpico, president of large Dell, EMC and Cisco partner FusionStorm, agreed with Sakac's assessment that the vendors can live together. That scenario, he said, is best for partners. "We're a very strong Dell partner, we're also a very big Cisco partner, so it's very important to us," he said.



Serpico said VCE accounted for about $20 million of the $120 million in EMC revenue San Francisco-based FusionStorm took in last year.



"There's a whole portfolio that includes the integration of EMC and Cisco technologies," Serpico said. "I don't think there's any reason why there needs to be a shooting war between EMC and Cisco or Dell-EMC and Cisco. This is why a company like FusionStorm has so much diversity in its portfolio. We have the depth of engineering to offer all these different technologies. That is one of the critical roles we play in complex environments."



For his part, Glenn O'Donnell, an analyst for Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass., says he sees the Dell-EMC merger in effect dissolving the EMC-Cisco-VCE relationship.



"It may not be formally dissolved, but it sure looks like it," he said. "They give us a lot of heat for that, but anybody who thinks they're going to preserve that relationship with Cisco is borderline delusional. They're not going to cut the umbilical cord right away, but gradually, and maybe quickly, replace those Cisco components with Dell components."

Steven Burke contributed to this story.

PUBLISHED JAN. 8, 2016
Two state employees have been sentenced for not paying state and federal taxes for years.

Troy Hester, 43, of Hartford, while employed by Metropolitan District Commission in Hartford, paid little or no federal income taxes on approximately $438,877 in income he received, resulting in a federal tax loss of approximately $70,480. Hester had submitted a Form W-4 claiming that he was exempt from federal withholding. Hester also failed to pay more than $24,000 in state taxes - that helped pay his state salary- from 2007 through 2012.

Michael Carter, who was employed by the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and worked as a nurse at the Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, submitted a false Form W-4 to the state indicating that he had 99 exemptions and was exempt from tax withholding. As a result, no money was withheld from his wages. During the 2010 through 2012 tax years, Carter paid no federal income taxes on more than $282,000 in income he received, resulting in a federal tax loss of $53,344.

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and William Offord, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in New England announced Thursday that two public employees who previously pleaded guilty to tax evasion offenses have been sentenced in Hartford.

U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson sentenced Hester to 10 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. Hester was also was ordered to pay more than $79,000 in back taxes and interest.

Carter was given to four years of probation, the first six months of which Carter must serve in home confinement under electronic monitoring. And, Carter was ordered to pay more than $56,000 in back taxes and interest.

The case stems from an Internal Revenue Service investigation into State of Connecticut employees and others who had little or no federal withholding taken out of their paychecks and who failed to file income tax returns. The investigation revealed that certain individuals submitted fraudulent W-4 forms claiming numerous exemptions, or that they were exempt, and had little or no money withheld from their wages.

This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Wines.
A Georgia woman will be spending more than four years behind bars for cooking up a scheme that defrauded Connecticut and six other states of umemployment benefits.

Federal officials say the employment checks were made out to fake employees who worked in bogus businesses.

How did Vicky Sue Cohran do this?

Wth the assistance of her two sons, Cohran, 53, of Temple, Ga., used several state unemployment insurance program websites to register businesses that had no actual employees, business operations or normal business expenses. They stole numerous identities while operating a fictitious employer scheme that defrauded state unemployment insurance programs of approximately $125,000.

She and her sons then created and submitted fictitious wage reports that used 27 names and identifying information of individuals without their knowledge. Cohran and her sons then posed as those fictitious employees to file claims for unemployment benefits.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford sentenced Cohran to 51 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay full restitution to the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New Jersey.

Deirdre M. Daly, U.S. for Connecticut said the scheme was uncovered shortly after Cohran registered a fictitious business with the Connecticut Department of Labor in September 2014. In November 2014, three purported employees of the fictitious business filed claims for unemployment benefits with the Connecticut Department of Labor.

On Aug. 11, 2015, Cohran pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of misuse of a social security number.

On Thursday, her son, Christopher Cohran, 26, of Temple, Georgia, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty in Hartford federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a charge that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 30, 2016.

Her other son, Nathan Cohran, 30, of Temple, is scheduled to plead guilty to the same charge on Friday.
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.
OMG Coffee Excellence aims to serve the complete coffee experience

OMG Coffee Excellence has continued growing and has more expansion in mind. 'Im so proud of where we have come,' co-owner Philip Brown said.
Remakes of World War II dramas are all the rage. Hot on the heels of the forthcoming Dads Army movie comes news that filming begins soon on a remake of Dunkirk.

The 1958 Ealing Studios classic, about the evacuation of British expeditionary forces from the beaches of Northern France, starred Richard Attenborough and John Mills and was directed by Leslie Norman.

The 2016 version stars Kenneth Branagh and Mark Rylance and will be directed by Christopher Nolan, of The Dark Knight and Interstellar fame.

Britain in 2016 couldnt be further removed from the country which defeated the Nazi menace. Pictured is Prime Minister David Cameron

Despite the array of talent involved, Im approaching the latest Dads Army film with trepidation. How do you improve on perfection, especially when the original is still fresh in the memory?

Dunkirk may not be repeated on TV as often as the adventures of Captain Mainwaring and the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard, but it remains one of the greatest British war films ever made.

The special effects were impressive for the time, although obviously no match for todays computer-generated pyrotechnics. So expect the new, big-budget production to have blood and gore to surpass even Steven Spielbergs Saving Private Ryan.

But, fine actors though they are, I doubt even Branagh and Rylance can better the exemplary performances of Johnny Mills and dear, dear Dickie Attenborough  whose nuanced portrayal of a black market businessman is right up there with his Pinky in Brighton Rock.

Unless Nolan plans to put Branagh in a Batman suit and have the Caped Crusader single-handedly saving the remains of the retreating British Army, then I cant see what he hopes to achieve.

Instead of sticking to the original storyline, he should go the whole hog and bring Dunkirk bang up to date, to reflect the world as it is today, not as it was at the start of World War II in 1940. Hes got plenty of material to work with . . .

To: Christopher Nolan, Warner Bros. Studios, Hollywood, California.

Subject: Synopsis for proposed motion picture: Dunkirk 2016, The Sequel.

Europe is once again in turmoil, and millions are on the move as a result of the insanity of an expansionist German leader, Frau Merkel.

Berlins takeover of the Continent has shattered the old order, torn down borders and flooded Europe with refugees. From Hungary in the east, to Sweden in the north and the Greek island of Lesbos in the south, the local populations are under siege.

Reports come in daily of rapes, sexual assaults and robberies, as the invading army marches inexorably west towards the Channel, storming railway stations and tearing down barbed-wire barriers in their way.

Europe is once again in turmoil, and millions are on the move as a result of the insanity of an expansionist German leader, Frau Merkel

In France and Belgium, gangs of armed assassins  many of them home-grown fifth columnists  have spread terror, shooting up civilian targets, including cafes, supermarkets and theatres.

Despite an ostentatious display of solidarity, after a murderous attack on a satirical magazine headquarters in Paris, the politicians have proved as clueless as they are useless. One by one, the nations of Europe have surrendered in the face of overwhelming odds.

All resistance has been crushed underfoot by a heavy battalion of human rights lawyers, equipped with a deadly arsenal of legislation manufactured in Strasbourg.

Some Eastern states have attempted to halt the human tide and defend their towns and cities but were forced to stand down following orders from the High Command in Berlin.

After Greece was overrun, the Mediterranean coast was next to fall, with Italy running up the white flag immediately. Typically, the French threw their hands in the air and decided, not for the first time, that collaboration was the only option. They simply handed over food, drink and rail warrants, and waved on the invaders towards their ultimate destination.

The Channel, which served as a natural defence against Hitler, is now an open gateway to Britain

Its now early 2016 and, just as in 1940, Britain stands alone. Tens of thousands of young men are massed on the beaches of Northern France, planning their assault when the weather improves. They are bivouacked in tent cities, helpfully provided by the New Vichy government, which is desperate to assist them in their goal of getting to England.

Nightly, they make their preparations, boarding lorries and stowing away in the boots of private cars.

After an expeditionary force from the UK Borders Agency digs in outside Calais, the main thrust of the invasion force moves north to Dunkirk.

Just as in the original 1958 film, an intrepid reporter travels to the front-line in an attempt to warn a complacent home front about the mounting threat just a few miles away across the Channel.

She discovers a determined, ruthless army of highly trained North African, Middle Eastern and Afghan volunteers hell-bent on breaching Britains borders. They have fought their way across Europe to reach Dunkirk. Already, many of them have tried to cross the sea in containers. Some have made it to ports such as Harwich, where they pretend to be asylum-seekers and are welcomed with open arms.

The new movie should stage a celebration of Muslim worship in a makeshift mosque, paid for by the EU and recorded by the BBC for an alternative Songs Of Praise

Whereas the 1958 film featured a Christian service on the beach at Dunkirk, the new movie should stage a celebration of Muslim worship in a makeshift mosque, paid for by the EU and recorded by the BBC for an alternative Songs Of Praise.

The programme will feature a choir of Syrian jihadis singing Were going to hang out the washing on the Northern Line and Well be swarming over the White Cliffs of Dover.

Meanwhile, at a BP garage in Enfield, North London, an Iraqi Kurd people-smuggler  modelled on Richard Attenboroughs wartime spiv  plots to liberate as many of these refugees as possible, by charging them up to 7,000 a head for safe passage to England.

In the most extraordinary scene, a Sudanese national called Abdul Rahman Haroun walks 31 miles through the Channel Tunnel, eventually arriving in Folkestone, Kent, where he is detained.

But instead of being deported immediately, he is granted asylum and freed to live in a council flat, on benefits.

Britain in 2016 couldnt be further removed from the country which defeated the Nazi menace. Although the majority of the population are determined to defend their nation, the political class are hell-bent on surrender.

The Channel, which served as a natural defence against Hitler, is now an open gateway to Britain.

Reports come in daily of rapes, sexual assaults and robberies, as the invading army marches inexorably east towards the Channel, storming railway stations and tearing down barbed-wire barriers in their way

The Royal Navy, which once ruled the waves, is a withered shadow of its former self, reduced to a handful of soon-to-be-decommissioned fisheries protection vessels and an aircraft carrier without any aircraft.

The small ships which mounted the evacuation of Dunkirk are few and far between. Britains fishing fleet has been destroyed to appease our new masters in Europe.

Those boats that remain in private hands are soon to be confiscated and burned, in the name of conserving bass stocks, on the orders of Brussels.

People look in vain to their leaders, but there is no Churchill in sight. This time, Britain wont be fighting on the beaches, or on the landing grounds, or anywhere else for that matter.
A woman who donated her wedding dress to be transformed into funeral gowns for stillborn babies, has received an outpouring of gratitude from grieving mothers after posting images of the tiny dresses on Facebook.

Yvonne Trimble, from Edinburgh, donated her wedding dress to Cherished Gowns for Angel Babies UK, a charity that refashions wedding gowns into beautiful funeral clothing for stillborn babies.

When Trimble, who now lives with her husband Richard in Cyprus, shared the image of the seven individually embellished miniature gowns that had been fashioned out of her donated wedding dress, she was inundated with messages of support and gratitude.

Yvonne Trimble, originally from Edinburgh, now living in Cyprus, pictured with her husband Richard Hayes on their wedding day in Barbados wearing the dress she donated to Cherished Gowns for Angel Babies UK

When Trimble shared this image of the seven individually embellished miniature gowns that had been fashioned out of her donated wedding dress, she was inundated with messages of support and gratitude

According to the charity around 17 babies are still born or pass away shortly after birth every day in the UK - but because of their size grieving parents often struggle to find anything appropriate for them to be buried in.

In the touching post, which has now been shared over 100,000 times, Trimble described her feelings on seeing an images of the tiny gowns sent to her by the charity.

'A mix of emotions swept over me when I received them; pride that I'd done something good, sadness that it's necessary for these gowns to have to be made, relief that I've never known this heartbreak, and a sense of thankfulness that volunteers around the country give up their time to produce such comforting garments,' she wrote.

She added: 'I post these pictures not to shout my worth, but to advertise the charity that does this wonderful work; they need volunteers to knit, sew, crochet and they need donations of all manner of stuff, not just dresses, so if you care to look at their website it may be that more little souls will be helped.'

In the touching post, which has now been shared over 100,000 times, Trimble described her feelings on seeing the images sent to her by the charity: 'A mix of emotions swept over me when I received them,' she said

Within half an hour of her Facebook post, the charity were flooded with offers of dress donations.

Trimble too, was inundated with messages of gratitude. Describing the response as 'overwhelming' she told FEMAIL: 'I've had messages from all over the world, over 7,500 friend requests, and found myself having to hide behind a clothes rail in a shop when I overheard two women discussing the post. It's surreal!

'I don't personally know anyone who suffered a loss like this until I started receiving emails and messages from friends and other people around the world who had seen my post.

'It's incredible how many families have gone through the trauma of losing a tiny soul, and it's quite clear from their words that the pain and numbness never leave, they just carry it with them every day as they go on about the business of living, but without the child they had hoped to raise. '

Trimble also shared one of the many emotional messages sent to her by grieving parents on her Facebook page.

The message read: 'From the bottom of my heart thank you for giving us mums some relief in the knowledge that our angel babies are forever wrapped in love.'

The tiny funeral gowns fashioned from Trimble's wedding dress. She said she felt a mixture of pride, sadness and thankfulness to the volunteers that made them on seeing the images for the first time

Speaking to FEMAIL, Megan McKay, co-founder of the charity said: 'The number of volunteer sewers tripled from 250 to 750 overnight, and after three days we have now closed our waiting list for donating a dress as it currently stands at 8,800 people!'

Talking about the many other messages of gratitude she has received, Trimble said: 'I've received thousands of messages and still haven't read them all.

'I'm so grateful to everyone who has written to me to share their story. The stories are powerful, poignant and heartrending and I will reply to them all, I'm just having to pace myself as the response is not something I ever expected nor was prepared for.

'I don't have children so cannot imagine a tiny fraction of what they must be feeling but I'm privileged to now be privy to the thoughts and words of so many brave women of so many generations.

'I've been particularly moved by the photographs I've been sent of babies wearing their gowns,' she said. 'So moving and so sad.'

The charity Cherished Gowns for Angel Babies UK can make between 10-30 garments out of one dress - a small tight-fitting size eight, might create five garment, but a fuller gown can make up to 75

Paying tribute to his wife on Facebook, Trimble's husband Richard Hayes posted: 'Every time spring cleaning took place, we used to take out this dress and I would "ooh" and "aah" over it......Well done Yvonne. Love you loads.'

Describing the good he hopes his wife's post inspire he said: 'Just imagine if only one per cent of the shares produce garments for these tragic little souls and bring a tiny ray of happiness to their bereaved parents - then it's a small thing to do.'

The charity was set up by Megan McKay, Lynda Garrett and Hayley Mullen and has transformed over 1,700 gowns in the last year.

McKay, who says they often send images of the garments to the women who have donated them was amazed at the response to Trimble's post.

'Being the New Year I think people want to help,' she said.

'We can make between 10-30 garments out of one dress. If its a small tight-fitting size eight, we might only get five, but if its very full we can make 50. Our record is 75.'
A college student from Nevada has issued a stark warning to young adults about the dangers of binge drinking, revealing how an underage drinking session at a concert left in a coma and nearly killed her.

Hanna Lottritz, a journalism student at the University of Nevada, Reno, turned 21 on Wednesday, but unlike most people her age, she insists she didn't celebrate the milestone occasion by heading to the bar - nor does she plan to any time soon.

Explaining her decision to avoid wild parties and over-the-top drinking in an essay shared on her blog, Hannah details the terrifying near-death experience, which took place six months ago, saying: 'I am writing this because I didn't realize the importance of drinking responsibly until I was waking up from a coma, and I don't want anyone to go through what my family and I went through.'

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Near-death experience: College student Hanna Lottritz, 21, was left in a coma due to the effects of acute alcohol poisoning after binge-drinking dangerous quantities of alcohol at a concert six months ago

Hanna noted that if she helps just one person by sharing her story, then she will be 'absolutely ecstatic'.

On July 25, 2015, the college student joined her friends at the Night in the Country music festival in Yerington, Nevada, where she spend the afternoon playing games and meeting new people.

Hanna recalled having two beers at the Joe Nichols and Jake Owen concert that night but because the people she was with had been drinking all day long and 'feeling good' she said she 'felt a little behind'.

Hanna said she started to feel a 'little bit of a buzz' after the concert and drifted away from the people whom she went to the concert with. When she came across some of her guy friends at another campsite, she promised to 'outdrink' them.

By 11:30pm, she and her guy friend were challenging each other to see who could chug from a bottle of Black Velvet whiskey the longest.

Speaking out: The Nevada residents hopes that her terrifying ordeal will help others to realize the dangers of casual binge-drinking and motivate people to seek help for alcohol abuse

Painful reminders: When Hanna woke up in hospital she had a tube down her throat and her arms were restrained to stop her from moving it. Above she shares a picture of the bruises caused by the restaints

'Everything that happened from midnight on is information I gathered from friends because I have zero memory of anything after that,' she explained. 'Apparently after I chugged from the bottle, I chugged a solo cup full of Black Velvet whiskey.'

According to what others told her, she claimed was fine but collapsed five minutes later and stopped breathing. Hanna's friends carried her to the medical tent where she was intubated before she was air lifted to Renown hospital in Reno.

'I was in critical condition, suffering from acute respiratory failure and acute alcohol intoxication,' she explained. 'My blood alcohol concentration was .41 when I arrived at the hospital, five times over the legal limit.

WHAT IS BINGE DRINKING? Binge drinking is the most common pattern of excessive alcohol use in the United States. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings a persons blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 grams percent or above. This typically happens when men consume five or more drinks, and when women consume four or more drinks, in about two hours. Most people who binge drink are not alcohol dependent. One in six U.S. adults binge drinks about four times a month, consuming about eight drinks per binge. About 90 per cent of the alcohol consumed by youth under the age of 21 in the United States is in the form of binge drinks. More than half of the alcohol consumed by adults in the United States is in the form of binge drinks Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advertisement

Hanna noted that the doctors thought she was brain dead when she came in because she was 'completely unresponsive'. In addition to not responding to verbal or painful stimuli, she had no corneal reflex and her pupils were 'sluggishly reactive'.

When she woke up 24 hours later, she had a tube down her throat and her hands restrained so she wouldn't remove it. Hanna said the first thing she remembers is waking up to her mom holding her hand.

After taking two respiratory tests to prove she could breathe on her own, the tube was taken out. She explained that doctors and nurses stressed how lucky she was to be alive, even asking her if she was trying to kill herself by drinking so excessively. Hanna said she realized that she would never look at alcohol the same way again.

In the aftermath following the horrific experience, Hanna said she quickly learned who her true friends are based on their reactions. While others genuinely wanted to know if she was OK, she could tell others were calling because they wanted gossip about what happened to her.

Hanna went on to cite a statistic from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that says alcohol poisoning kills six people in the US each day.

The college student noted that she doesn't expect people to shun alcohol, but she urges them to avoid binge drinking. She credits her friends for saving her life.
Eventually the moderators at Yelp caught on to her game and deleted the posts, telling her reviews aren't the place to 'rant or rave about your exes'

The funny and blunt write-ups cover everything from sexual escapades to petty theft as well as rants about men she has dated

Normally people use the Yelp web service for checking and leaving reviews of various venues and restaurants, but not this young actress.

People trawling Yelp for reviews on various New York City locations have been surprised to spot the writings of 25-year-old Natalie Walker, who has recently taken to the site to remember dates she went on to the various places listed and leave reviews. However, the reviews she leaves say nothing about the manners of the staff nor the quality of the food.

'I am leaving Yelp reviews for every place I have ever gone on a date but just reviewing the date,' Natalie explained on Twitter, including several clips of her blunt and funny write-ups.

Telling it like it is: Actress Natalie Walker from New York has been leaving reviews on locations around the city on Yelp where she has been on dates - and just reviewing the date

Bit of a dud: The hilarious reviews cover every place Natalie has ever been to on a date and cover everything from sexual misadventures to mild criminality

For example, at the page for the Broadway production of August Osage County Natalie explained how she'd been on a date to the play in 2008 with her high school boyfriend.

'His phone rang in the middle of a quiet scene and it was so embarrassing but then he got mad at *me* for being embarrassed? Like uhhhh I'm sorry is it *my* fault ur f***ing phone went off while Amy Morton was ACTING? [sic]'

She finished by giving the date a solid one star out of five.

Posting a bunch: Natalie began posting her reviews on social media, where they quickly gained a following

'Stole a cookie': Unfortunately the location where this date took place has since gone out of business. Thankfully Natalie's relationship fared a bit better, lasting an impressive four and a half years

Natalie said she started doing the reviews this week after 'hibernating on Monday and searching Yelp for the best challah French toast'

In another date Regal Cinemas Union Square 14, Natalie wrote about how she had once been there with the same boyfriend in 2008 to see The Happening, but the evening was marred by then a less than successful sexual tryst.

'He took forever and my arm got tired. One star,' she wrote.

Some of the stories come from back when Natalie was just a youngster living in Virginia, including another from a movie theater in 2003 where she remembers how she was caught making out with her date by her father and she had to leave - only for the boy to be sent to military school for four years, come back and pursue her a tad too eagerly.

Natalie told Refinery29 that she first started posting the reviews this week while she was 'hibernating on Monday and searching Yelp for the best challah French toast'.

Back in the day: Some of the stories come from back when Natalie was just a youngster living in Virginia

Fun over: Eventually, Yelp caught on to Natlie's antics and shut her down with an email telling her that the reviews should not be 'the place to rant or rave about your exes'

Since then, Natalie has posted several of her no-holds-barred reviews and gaining plenty of fans on social media for it.

Unfortunately though, the site's moderators were soon on her tail and the reviews have since been deleted, which she learned when they sent her an email explaining that 'reviews should be about your personal consumer experiences with local business - they aren't the place to rant or rave about your exes'. However, she did manage to save them on social media.

And not all of the reviews are based on bashing her ex-boyfriends, as she takes plenty of opportunities to poke fun at her past self.

On the Yelp page for a now-closed location of Cosi, Natalie wrote of how she stole a cookie while there in 2011 'to show my date I was irreverent and enigmatic'.

Documented life: Luckily, Natalie was able to save her reviews in picture form to post on social media

Fair enough: Though not all of her exes seem to have spotted their past adventures online, Natalie has received a Twitter 'like' from one and another said the reviews were 'pretty fair, all things considered'

'I see that this location had gone out of business and I hope it is not because of frequent theft,' she added.

Although not all of her subjects seem to have come across her public tale-telling of their courting escapades, she has had at least two of her exes did get in touch and, luckily for her, both thought her reviews were quite apt.

'The guy I went on a date with in the Hoffman Center tweet "liked" it, and my ex who I dated for four-and-a-half years is super supportive,' she said.
Zara Phillips appears to still be enjoying her time on the Gold Coast, continuing to mingle with humans and horses alike.

The daughter of Princess Anne has been in Queensland fulfilling her role as Magic Millions Racing Woman Ambassador.

She was snapped sharing a laugh with model Kris Smith and sports broadcaster Hamish McLachlan, as well as posing with horse Nakanai at the 2016 Gold Coast Yearling Sales on Friday.

Zara Phillips stunned in orange ahead of the Magic Millions races in Queensland, Australia, seen with event ambassador Hamish McLachlan

Magic Millions Patron, Zara MBE with 'Shreck' better known as Nakanai

Zara MBE with Kris Smith (left) and Hamish at the Gold Coast Turf Club

She appeared to be in high spirits, pulling goofy faces and funny hand gestures as she talked to the pair, who seemed to be amused by the conversation.

Zara also stood for photos with a horse called Nakanai, who took his own turn at pulling faces for the camera.

Zara and husband Mike have been on the Gold Coast for racehorse auction house Magic Millions' annual shindig, which involves races in the day and plenty of partying at night.

But on Friday she was looking more formal than some earlier appearances in the week, when she and Mike donned casual attire to race miniature horses on the Surfers Paradise foreshore.

Zara Phillips MBE with Kris Smith (left) and Hamish McLachlan (right) at the Gold Coast Turf Club

Zara Phillips (centre) shares a moment with Kris Smith (left) and Hamish McLachlan (right)

Magic Millions Patron Zara Phillips with 'Shreck' better known as Nakanai - posing gracefully in this image

Magic Millions Patron Zara Phillips with 'Shreck' better known as Nakanai - who decided to pull a face for the camera - and Hamish McLachlan

Magic Millions Patron Zara Phillips with 'Shreck' better known as Nakanai, and Hamish McLachlan

Two different outfits saw her go for a blue and white patterned dress and orange and blue fascinator, and another was a striking bright orange sleeveless dress with black contrast and a yellow fascinator.

The royal certainly knows her way around the racecourse, having had a successful career as an equestrian, competing at events around the world.

Zara is the only daughter of Princess Anne and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips.

In 2012, she was announced as the Magic Millions Racing Woman Ambassador and has attended three events since.

Magic Millions is a thoroughbred horse auction house with a number of sales locations across Australia.

Zara Phillips with her husband Mike Tindall on the foreshore at Surfers Paradise prior to a pony race

Zara Phillips and husband Mike Tindall enjoy a laugh before the start of a pony race on the beach at Surfers Paradise
High-street retailer H&M has come under fire for selling a striped scarf which looks remarkably similar to a traditional Jewish garment used for prayer.

The controversial striped accessory is currently on sale for 12.99 on the shop's UK website.

But Twitter users noticed the design was reminiscent of a tallit scarf, in the same cream colour with black stripes and knotted ends.

High-street retailer H&M has come under fire for selling a striped scarf which looks remarkably similar to a tradition Jewish prayer scarf. The striped scarf is currently on sale for 12.99 on the shop's website

Twitter users noticed the scarf looked like it was based on a tallit scarf, in the same cream colour with black stripes and knotted ends, and were outraged. The scarf is worn during prayer

The tallit scarf is traditionally worn during prayer and led many to voice their outrage.

Twitter user Rav Ruttenberg wrote: 'Dear fashion, please step off other people's ritual items (or symbols of liberation really)' and posted a link to the H&M item.

Jason Rosenbaum posted: 'Wow. I'm not easily offended but that is one offensive scarf.'

While Sara Taylor Woods wrote about the scarf, which is also on sale in the US: 'Yo H&M this is exceedingly uncool.'

Allison Josephs, who tweets under the username @JewInTheCity wrote: 'H&M is selling a shawl that looks like a tallis [another term for the religious item] because being jewy is so on fleek!'

And Eli Langer summed it up by posting: 'Dear H&M, no, no, no and no.'

Twitter users were outraged by the scarf with one calling it 'offensive' while another, with the username @JewInTheCity, wrote it was selling the tallis, another word for tallit, because 'being jewy is so on fleek'

An H&M spokesperson told FEMAIL: 'We are truly sorry if we have offended anyone with this piece.

'Everyone is welcome at H&M and we never take a religious or political stand. Stripes is one of the trends for this season and something we were inspired by. Our intention was never to upset anyone.'

The spokesperson added to i100: 'The quantities were small and the products are no longer available in some markets.'

This is not the first time that H&M has faced backlash from culturally appropriating items.

In March 2014, the retailer pulled a vest from its shelves worldwide after accusations its design, which featured a menacing skull in the center of a Star of David, was anti-Semitic.

It's not the first time the store has caused offence. In March 2014, the retailer pulled this vest from its shelves worldwide after accusations its design, which featured a menacing skull in the center of a Star of David, was anti-Semitic

In 2013, the store caused outage for selling a feathered headdress in its UK and Canada stores. People complained that the headdress in question resembled those used by Native Americans, and was offensive

The menswear item, which was withdrawn this week following complaints, was also destined for sale in Israel, where the retailer has 14 stores.

The shirt first came under fire in the media from Israeli writer Eylon Aslan-Levy, who was horrified to see the shirt in a London store. The store apologised for causing offence.

In 2013, the high-street brand also came under fire for selling a feathered headdress in its UK and Canada stores.

People complained that the headdress in question resembled ones used by Native Americans, and it was therefore deemed offensive.
She is known as the Dragon Queen and the most glamorous woman in the Orient.

He has been dubbed The Prince Charming of the Himalayas, a ruler with the populist touch who is known to invite his subjects into his home for tea and a chat.

And this spring the young King and Queen of Bhutan, dubbed the William and Kate of the Orient, will host the real Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on an official visit on behalf of the British Government.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be leaving their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, at home later this year as they make an official visit to Bhutan and India this spring

The hugely-anticipated visit will coincide with the couples previously announced tour of India and is likely to take place in April.

Revealed by Kensington Palace today it has already prompted much excitement in Bhutan (which means Land of the Thunder Dragon), a tiny and remote kingdom nestling in the Himalayas between India and China.

Although William and Kate are leaving their own children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, behind when they embark on the trip, there will no doubt be much baby banter as the Bhutanese rulers are expecting their first child, a son, in a matter of weeks.

Royal aides say the Duke and Duchess are looking forward to the trip - their first - to such a fascinating country.

Almost completely cut off for centuries, Bhutan did not get television until 1999, so fearful were its autocratic rulers of its pernicious influence, and did not welcome foreign visitors in 1974.

But it is also known as one of the most content countries in the world and measures its GDP is not in terms of pounds and pence but Gross National Happiness.

The present kings father abdicated in 2008 and in doing so gave up his absolute power in favour of democracy, leaving his son, Jigme, a symbolic head of state.

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. Kate and William will arrive around the time she is due to give birth

But despite being little more than a figurehead, the new king has emerged from the shadow of his revered father to inspire devotion from his 700,000 subjects.

Educated in India and the US, after which he studied for a degree in political science and economics at Oxford, where he was known as a quiet, studious and reliable type, he has made a point of walking the length and breadth of the country meeting as many of his subjects as possible.

The Elvis fan and keen mountain biker has also been known to invite citizens around to his modest cottage and listen to their concerns.

He married student Jetsun Pema in October 2011, when she was just 21  but was said to have proposed to her when she was just seven.

According to reports, the royal couple met at a family picnic in the capital Thimphu when the prince was 17.

He was so moved by hear beauty and inner goodness, he got down on his knees and said 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, he told a group of students shortly before their wedding.

They married in a five-hour Buddhist ceremony in a 17th fortress, the young bride wearing a traditional wraparound skirt and ornate shoes, surrounded by red-robed monks.

Her groom came down from his throne to meet her, wearing the red Raven Crown which symbolises his role as the peoples protector, and honoured his wife with a silk brocade crown (depicting two Ja Tsherings or Phoenix birds to symbolise the blissful relationship between the two) as he proclaimed her the new Queen of Bhutan.

Often dubbed the William and Kate of the Himalayas, the even indulged in a brief balcony kiss after the ceremony, just like the British Duke and Duchess had when they married earlier the same year.

The visit is being carried out at the request of Her Majesty's Government and will be the first time the royal couple have visited Bhutan, which nestles high in the Himalayas between India and China

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's visit falls around the same time that Queen Jetsun is due to give birth to her first child, a son

He said afterwards: She carried her responsibilities superbly well. I was very proud of her. She is a wonderful human being. Intelligent. She and I share one big thing in common: a love and a passion for art.

Although many Bhutanese felt he was too old to be marrying at 31, the king said: It doesnt matter when you get married as long as it is the right person. I am certain I have married the right person.

Indeed, unlike members of our own royal family the king does not attempt to hide his affection for his wife, holding her hand at official functions

It is also something of a revelation in Bhutan, whose rulers have always favoured polygamy. Indeed Jigme was one of ten siblings born to the former king and his four wives - who were all sisters.

The newly-weds eschewed a honeymoon in favour of travelling around Bhutan to introduce the new Queen to her subjects before embarking on a working holiday abroad, taking in Japan and London, where they met Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.

The couple announced that they were expecting a boy four years after they tied the knot, in October of 2011 (pictured)

Bhutan - a Buddhist country - measures wealth based on Gross National Happiness

When they married little was known about Jetsun, save that she was the daughter of an airline pilot who was education at the same secondary school as her future husband, albeit it at different times given their age difference.

She was captain of the school basketball team and someone who won prizes for public speaking, before spending some time in London where she studied international relations and, like Kate, she developed a keen interest in the arts.

Her family, however, has long enjoyed close links to the countrys ruling family. Her paternal great-grandfather was lord of the eastern province of Tashigang, and her maternal grandfather was the half-brother of the wife of Bhutans second king

Her delicate beauty and modest demeanour have already won the hearts of her people  and the arrival of the couples first child, in a few weeks time, will only seal her popularity.

Announcing the forthcoming royal visit yesterday, Kensington Palace said: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will make an official visit to Bhutan this spring.

The visit is being carried out at the request of Her Majesty's Government and will be the first time Their Royal Highnesses have visited the country.

It was also announced that Prince Harry will make a trip to Nepal in the spring too.

While dating, their relationship made headlines when the King was openly affectionate with Jetsun - something that was unusual in the country

In February 1998, the Prince visited Bhutan to to renew Britains long-standing relations and establish links with the Bhutanese Royal Family.

Those links still remain and in May 2011 the Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall received The King and Queen of Bhutan, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema at their official residence in London, Clarence House.

The Duke of York visited the country in March 2010.

This is by no means the first overseas tour for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who visited Canada for the first time together soon after their wedding in 2011.

The official Royal visit to Canada on behalf of The Queen took in eight cities from 30th June to 8th July 2011. It was the third visit for The Duke and the first for Her Royal Highness.

In 2012, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge represented The Queen during Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee by visiting Singapore, Malaysia, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

On 7th April 2014, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with Prince George visited New Zealand and Australia as part of a three week tour.

In December 2014, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made a three day visit to the USA where he attended events in support of St Andrew's University and the British creativity industries in New York, and met President Obama and addresssed the World Bank on the issue of Conservation in Washington.

The 35-year-old King said he considers his unborn son 'extremely fortunate' because he will be born in Bhutan

Prince Charles takes a short rest at a Buddhist prayer temple to paint a watercolour in the Bhutan Himalayas while trekking up to the Tigers nest monastery in 1998

The Prince of Wales leaves the Paro Dzong, in Paro Bhutan after an official reception in 1998. The Prince visited the tiny mountain country on the final leg of his three nation Asian tour

Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge pose with basketball player LeBron James backstage as they attend the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Brooklyn Nets game at Barclays Center in New York during their trip there last year

In 2014, the couple - along with Prince George - visited New Zealand and Australia as part of a three week tour

The official Royal visit to Canada on behalf of The Queen took in eight cities from 30th June to 8th July 2011. It was the third visit for The Duke and the first for Her Royal Highness

Kate and William pictured on visit to the home of Governor General Frank Kabui in Honiara, Solomon Islands, as part of their nine-day royal tour of the Far East and South Pacific in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2013

Prince George arrived at nursery for the first time this week and was captured in an adorable snap taken by the Duchess of Cambridge

Earlier this week, Prince George arrived at nursery for the first time  without a hint of nervousness.

In fact, the third in line to the throne couldn't have looked more excited as he toddled into the Westacre Montessori School chosen by his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

In a picture taken by his mother Kate on their arrival, the two-year-old is seen smiling at a brightly coloured mural  and striking a pose remarkably similar to that of his grandfather Prince Charles. In another, he looks boldly down the lens  clearly brimming with confidence.

The little prince spent a couple of hours settling in at the private 5.50-an-hour establishment near the family's home Anmer Hall, on the Queen's Sandringham Estate.

According to aides, he did 'very well' on his first day. The relaxed scenes couldn't have been more different to those that greeted his father Prince William when he started nursery school in 1985.
A Thai company has pulled an advert for skin-lightening pills following an outcry on social media over a product sold with the tagline 'white makes you a winner'.

The advertisement for Seoul Secret's supplement called Snowz featured a veteran Thai actress Cris Horwang, 35, attributing her professional success to her pale complexion.

'It's not easy to stay at this point for a long time,' she says in the video. 'If I stopped taking care of my body and white complexion, all that I have invested will be gone.'

As she speaks, a smiling, younger woman enters the picture and Cris' own image darkens to charcoal black.

She's seen casting an envious look at the other woman who stands by her side.

'A newcomer will replace me and turn me into a dark star,' she says in the video, using a Thai idiom to refer to her fame fading.

A male voice says, 'You just need to be white to win.'

Thai beauty company Seoul Secret have been forced to withdraw an ad for their Snowz skin lightening pills, sold with the tagline, 'White makes you a winner', after accusations of racism on social media. The ad features veteran Thai actress Cris Horwang, 35, who says that if she doesn't take care of her pale complexion, her success will fade

Cris is then shown covered in black make up, while a woman with lighter skin appears by her side and talks about being replaced by a newcomer who will turn her into a 'dark star' - a Thai phrase referring to fading fame

The actress can be seen recoiling from the white-skinned woman. Commentators on social media have branded it offensive and the ad has now been withdrawn

Whitening creams and pills are wildly popular in Thailand, where pale skin is upheld as the standard of beauty in the media and among many Thais, and is associated with a higher social status.

Advertisements for the products are standard fare on billboards and TV spots, but some companies have faced a backlash in recent years for going too far.

Before its removal, the Seoul Secret video received more than 100,000 views on YouTube, and a flood of inquiries on the company's Facebook page about how to order the product.

But other social media sites drew posts railing against the advert for being racially offensive and reinforcing the country's narrow beauty ideals.

'It indicates that dark skin people are losers, and this is clearly racist,' a Thai commentator named Tammaijang wrote on the web forum Pantip.

Another post said: 'Having dark skin can be beautiful - without being ashamed as well.'

The skincare company issued an apology on Friday, saying in a statement that it did not intend 'to convey discriminatory or racist messages'.

A male voiceover in the video says: 'You just need to be white to win'. The other woman then produces a packet of skin lightening tablets

'What we intended to convey was that self-improvement in terms of personality, appearance, skills, and professionality is crucial,' the statement said.

Yet some speculated that the advertisement was deliberately provocative as part of a marketing ploy to grab attention.

'I don't think the ad agency made this ad out of ignorance,' a prominent Thai culture blogger, called Kaewmala said.

'They haven't been living on the moon, I'm certain they knew it would be controversial. It was most likely a calculated strategy, which in my view makes it even more objectionable.'

Skin lightening tablets are hugely popular in Thailand where a lighter complexion is associated with a higher social status

'This ad is so obviously racist and another attempt to brainwash Thai women,' Jutamas, a Bangkok-based office worker said. 'They're saying that being dark is ugly. It's a narrow-minded and disgusting attitude.'

While there has been a growing awareness about racism among Thais in recent years, those views have yet to be reflected in a media which still readily equates dark skin with 'low class', she added.

In 2013, public criticism similarly led the US firm Dunkin' Donuts to pull an advertisement in Thailand that featured a woman in 'black-face' makeup promoting a new charcoal-flavoured donut.
to share a photo of herself inside the restaurant with her two-year-old son

The 34-year-old took to Instagram on

Ivanka Trump has vowed to making 2016 her healthiest year yet, but that doesn't mean she can't indulge in the odd slice of pizza - particularly if it means she gets the chance to spend some quality time with her two-year-old son Joseph.

The 34-year-old, who is seven-months pregnant with her third child, shared a photo of herself posed with her little man as they enjoyed a fun pizza date at a New York City restaurant on Thursday.

'My very handsome dinner date! #TableForTwo,' she captioned the Instagram snapshot.

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Momma's boy: Ivanka Trump took to Instagram on Thursday to share this adorable snapshot of her and her two-year-old son Joseph indulging in pizza during a dinner date in New York City

New Year's resolution: Earlier in the day, Ivanka and the team at her eponymous lifestyle website sat down with Dr. Nancy Simpkins (left of Ivanka), and vowed to make 2016 her healthiest year

Daddy's girl: Ivanka snapped this precious photo of her four-year-old daughter Arabella helping her father Jared Kushner, 34, stretch earlier this week

In the image, the chic business woman looks elegant in a cream coat, and Joseph is beaming as he turns around in his high chair to smile for the photo.

Earlier that day, Ivanka and her team at her eponymous lifestyle website sat down with Dr. Nancy Simpkins, a Board Certified Internist, who focuses on women's health.

The working mom shared a group photo of herself with her employees and Nancy on Thursday, while explaining that she is going to strive to be healthier than ever in 2016.

'Thank you to @dr.nancysimpkins for joining us on our team #lunchbreak at Ivanka Trump HQ this week,' she wrote. 'Your perspective on a myriad of issues relating to womens health and wellness was very inspiring and I can speak for all of #TeamIvanka when I say we're now focused on making 2016 our healthiest year yet!'

And Ivanka, who is awaiting the arrival of her third child, may be sharing her goal with her husband Jared Kushner, 34.

Growing family: Last week, the pregnant 34-year-old posed for this photo alongside her husband Jared as they enjoyed their last days at Mar-a-Lago, the Trump family's Florida estate

Last days of vacation: Ivanka took Joseph to the park on Sunday before they jetted back to their home in New York City

Beautiful couple: 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

The couple, who married in 2009, also have a four-year-old daughter Arabella, and earlier this week Ivanka posted a snap shot of their daughter assisting Jared with his stretching.

'Daddy's little helper! #morningstretch,' she wrote.

The cute snapshot sees Jared sitting on the floor with his legs spread apart as he leans over to stretch. Meanwhile, Arabella is adorably posed with her head in her hands and her elbows on her father's back.

The family appears to be getting back into their daily routine after returning from their holiday vacation at Mar-a-Lago, the Trumps' luxurious Florida estate.

The executive vice president of development and acquisitions at the Trump Organization rang in the New Year with her husband and Arabella after celebrating Joseph's last nap of 2015.

Fast asleep: On New Year's Eve, Ivanka also celebrated Joseph's 'last nap of 2015' by posting this precious photo of him snoozing under an umbrella at the beach

'My loves': Ivanka shared personal photos of her and her family with her 705,000 Instagram followers throughout her vacation, including this snapshot of Arabella hugging Joseph

Babymoon: Before heading to Mar-a-Lago for the holidays, Jared and Ivanka enjoyed a getaway in Belize

Before returning to their New York City home, Ivanka proudly showed off her growing baby bump in one last vacation photo.

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.

'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.

She also shared a photo of her youngest child sitting on a swing at a Florida playground, writing: 'Playing hard on the last day of holiday!'

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.

The former model's third child is due sometime in early spring.
The Golden Cristal Ube Donut was created by Bjorn DelaCruz, owner of the Manila Social Club, who came up with the idea as a limited-

If you thought chef Dominique Ansell's famed Cronut was the fanciest pastry around, think again, because one Brooklyn-based pastry chef has unveiled a delectable new donut, which is flavored with champagne, covered in 24-karat gold leaf - and priced at $100.

Bjorn DelaCruz, the owner of Filipino restaurant the Manila Social Club, in Williamsburg, New York, originally created the pricey Golden Cristal Ube Donut as a one-off offering for the eatery's Friday donut program, which sees a new and unique flavor being served each and every week.

But, despite its hefty price tag, the gold-covered donut, which is filled with an ube, or purple yam, mousse, proved so popular that it has now been added as a permanent fixture to the restaurant's menu.

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Decadent dessert: Williamsburg-based chef Bjorn DelaCruz, co-owner of the Manila Social Club restaurant, has created a $100 gold leaf and champagne donut, christened the Golden Cristal Ube Donut

'The reason that gold leaf and Cristal were added was because I love all different champagnes,' Bjorn told First We Feast.

'I wanted to add something [to the menu] for the new year to celebrate how long we have been going. I didnt know people would go and order a dozen [of these] at a time! But then again, it is New York, and there are people willing to put down [over a] grand for a dozen donuts.'

And while the initial concept of the donut was thought-up as part of a one-time special, Bjorn insists that using the over-the-top ingredients was never intended as a gimmick, but rather as a means of ensuring the sweet treat contained only the finest - and most unique - flavors.

'The reason I chose Cristal over another type of champagne is because Cristal has really great honey notes which goes great with ube,' he added to First We Feast.

Something special: Originally created as a one-off recipe in celebration of the new year, the donut has since become a permanent fixture on the menu

Putting it all together: The chef shares images of himself whipping up the decadent dessert on his Instagram account, revealing some of the steps that go into creating his special donut

'For me, its shiny and its golden, but it comes together to create a really great donut, as crazy as that sounds. There was a time when I was eating this donut while drinking Cristal, and I was like, Oh, this is a great combo!

'I cook with [those ingredients] because I think they taste good.

'If I wanted it to be just an expensive thing, I would use the Ace of Spades [champagne]. For what I wanted to do, Cristal was the perfect match. To me, I think this tastes really amazing. Its not just about the shock value, its a combination of it all.'

Indeed, the creative donut fan is so proud of his pastries that he personally makes and then hand-delivers all orders himself, to ensure that they arrive in a perfect condition, ready to be enjoyed by extravagant food fans anywhere in the Tristate area, and New York's five boroughs.

Mastermind: Bjorn (pictured) insists that he did not select the extravagant ingredients in order to turn the donut into a gimmick, but because they all complemented each other perfectly

Where it all started: The Manila Social Club specializes in Filipino cuisine - and one-of-a-kind donuts, of course

And while some might balk at the donut's sky-high price tag, it is by no means the most expensive dessert to have ever been created.

In 2014, for example, Le Dolci bakery in Toronto created a $900 cupcake, which was filled with all manner of extravagant ingredients, including a luxury bottle of champagne, gold leaf and diamonds.

The creative cake was part of a bespoke order by a man who wanted his wife to enjoy an extra-special dessert on her 40th birthday.

And just a few weeks ago, a Michelin star chef based in the UK unveiled a $14,500 Christmas pudding, which was also covered in gold leaf, having been soaked in a $22,000-per-bottle brandy.
An Indian teenager with chronic stomach pains was shocked to be told they were caused by the malformed foetus of his twin.

Doctors were astonished to find the 2.5kg mass of bone, hair and teeth inside Narendra Kumar's abdomen.

The parasite had been feeding off Narendra, 18, after forming an umbilical cord-like structure that leached its twin's blood supply.

He was finally diagnosed with 'foetus in fetu,' a rare condition with only 200 cases ever reported worldwide.

Narendra Kumar, 18, had suffered from chronic stomach problems and had no idea why. An ultrasound and X-rays revealed he had foetus in fetu,

The condition occurs when during the early stages of pregnancy with twins, one foetus enters the other through the umbilical cord.

There, it becomes a parasite, living off its sibling's body for survival.

According to doctors of Swaroop Narayan Hospital in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, it had been living like a parasite inside his body since his birth.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Dr Rajeev Singh said his patient had suffered from bouts of vomiting and lost weight but his family had no idea why.

It was only when surgeons operated on Monday that they discovered the grim cause behind his illness.

X-rays revealed the growth, circled right, was what had been causing his bouts of sickness and weight loss

Narendra Kumar had the operation to remove the growth from his abdomen on Monday after doctors discovered the unusual cause

'The boy's stomach grew, but his plight went undiscovered for years because neither his parents were of his medical condition nor the doctors could diagnose the condition at an early stage,' he said.

WHAT IS FOETUS IN FETU? Foetus in fetu is an incredibly rare condition that affects only one in five million live births. It is a condition where the malformed foetus is found in the body of its twin. The foetus is found in the abdomen in 80 per cent of cases, although there have been reports of it occurring in the skull. There are only 200 reports of it ever happening. While the diagnosis is gaining popularity, the World Health Organisation has classified 'foetus in fetu' as a variant of mature teratoma, a type of cancer where the tumour is well-developed. Advertisement

'Technically, the foetus was alive and was growing due to metabolic activity in his body.'

Narendra's father Prem Chandra, a farmer, said it was a relief that his son was finally well again.

'That evil has been tormenting him for years,' he said.

'Now that it has been removed, I am relieved. He can now go back to school and lead a healthy life.'

Dr Singh was the first to perform a proper medical investigation, including an ultrasound and CT scan, before diagnosing the condition.

Doctors then went ahead with surgery to remove the growth, which measured 20 cms in length and had a trunk of hair that was two metres long.

He said: 'In the three hour-long surgery, we removed a mass of malformed baby having hair, teeth, a poorly developed head, a bony structure of chest and spine with lots of yellowish amniotic like fluid in the sac.

'We have witnessed two to three cases like this in India so far,' the doctor told MailOnline.

Last October, a similar case was reported from east Indian state of Bengal where a dead foetus was found inside the abdomen of a four-year-old boy in West Midnapore district.

Surgeons removed the growth, which measured 20cms in length and had a trunk of hair that was two metres long, circled above

An X-ray, left, revealed the mass which weighed 2.5kg and had teeth teeth and hair, pictured right
A simple new saliva test could help medical staff identify victims of the 'date rape' drug GHB or those poisoned by fake alcohol.

Scientists behind the new method for swift diagnosis claim it will be as simple as taking temperature with a thermometer.

The test could be used by accident and emergency departments to screen patients, allowing them to prioritise care over others who are drunk.

The new test can find traces of drugs including GHB in a person's saliva. It could help A&E doctors determine when a patient is more than simply drunk

Professor Paul Thomas, who co-wrote the paper published in the Journal of Breath Research, said it could be a vital diagnostic tool.

'This simple test detects when patients are more than just drunk,' he said.

'Many people attending accident and emergency have some kind of alcohol-related issue, particularly at the weekends,'

The test, developed by scientists at Loughborough University and the University of Cordoba in Spain, can detect a number of chemical compounds in a patient's saliva, including gamma-hydroxybutyric acid.

GHB is known as the 'date rape' drug because it can be used to spike a drink that depresses the central nervous system and makes the victim unable to defend themselves.

The spit test can identify other potentially-dangerous chemicals in a patient's saliva, including methanol  a poisonous form of alcohol that is found in counterfeit drinks.

This simple test detects when patients are more than just drunk Professor Paul Thomas

It will also detect ethylene glycol, the main ingredient in car antifreeze and the chemical used 30 years ago to adulterate some Austrian wines to make them taste sweeter.

The test was also able to detect 1,3-propanediol, a chemical used to make some plastics and adhesives.

The researchers are now looking to start trials of their test at emergency departments.

'We hope this test will be simple, effective and useful for clinicians to use,' said Professor Thomas.

'In the next few years there will be a host of simple tests on breath, skin, and saliva that will aid with diagnosis in hospitals,' he said.
Most authors write on their computer or use a notepad and pen.

But one writer draws on her own skin, due to an unusual medical condition.

Hannah Arbuthnott, from Bartestree, Herefordshire, can write on her skin and watch it disappear in half an hour - just like a human Etch A Sketch.

The 21-year-old has dermatographia, a type of urticaria, which means even the slightest pressure on her skin causes histamines to be released, resulting in an allergic reaction and a red rash.

The name of the condition means 'skin writing', and Miss Arbuthnott can draw shapes and write words on her body before they disappear half an hour later.

Hannah Arbuthnott, 21, has a rare condition called dermatographia, which allows her to create patterns and pictures on her skin

Doctors know very little about the condition, which occurs when histamines are released, leading to an allergic reaction. Pictured, Miss Arbuthnott with 'itching for a cure' scratched on her arm

'It makes me feel like a human Etch A Sketch because the rash will raise where I've written on my arm and then it will vanish,' she said.

'As little as two minutes after I've drawn something on my arm or grazed my skin the hives will appear.

'My reactions happen all the time, they're really tricky to avoid because the simplest things like someone lightly brushing my arm with my hand can set off a reaction.

While painful, her condition can impress people in a social setting and is also sometimes useful when she doesn't have a notepad nearby.

She said: 'In the past I've drawn smileys and other little pictures on my arm - it's become a bit of a party trick.

'In old jobs I used to write product codes on my hands so I could remember them.

She continued: 'I can tell when a reaction is happening because I can feel a deep sore itch underneath my skin which was difficult to deal with at first but now it's a lot better.

'I get very sore hands and feet because there's always pressure there but apart from that I don't let it affect my life.

Miss Arbuthnott said drawing smiley faces on her skin has become her 'party trick'. However, she taught herself not to scratch herself as it makes the hives worse

WHAT IS DERMATOGRAPHIA? Dermographism or 'skin writing' is a type of urticaria, or hives - where a raised, itchy rash appears on the skin. Dermatographia is thought to be caused when the cells under the surface of the skin release histamines under the slightest pressure. Histamines are chemicals released in the body as part of an allergic reaction, causing the skin to swell. In this type of urticaria, itchy weals occur after friction such as rubbing or stroking the skin. This itching may be aggravated by heat. Weals and red marks also often appear as lines at the sites of scratching, and generally last for less than one hour.' Antihistamines block the effect of histamine, and reduce itching and the rash in most people, but may not relieve urticaria completely. If urticaria occurs frequently, it is best to take antihistamines regularly every day. Advertisement

'I'm determined not to let it stop me from doing anything because if I do then my condition has won.'

Dermatographia is thought to be caused when the cells under the surface of the skin release histamines under the slightest pressure.

Histamines are chemicals released in the body as part of an allergic reaction, causing the skin to swell.

Miss Arbuthnott first noticed her unusual reaction in 2011, when itchy red marks started appear on her hands and face.

Doctors were puzzled by her symptoms after tests for food allergies came back negative.

She said: 'One of my first reactions was from face wash and from there the itch kept spreading.

'Before I had felt a minor itch but it wasn't until that reaction that I realised it was very serious.

'At the times it felt like my skin was on fire because it was so itchy and I was quite concerned because I didn't know what was happening.

'I started taking antihistamines in case it was an allergic reaction but nothing was working.'

In 2012, she was initially told that she had idiopathic urticaria - meaning reactions were happening with no obvious medical cause.

But in August 2015 she was finally diagnosed with dermatographia after paying to see a private dermatologist in London, who concluded her symptoms were a form of urticaria brought on by physical contact.

The condition causes similar symptoms to an extreme allergy.

Miss Arbuthnott said: 'The condition is very misunderstood, not a lot of people or doctors know about it.

Miss Arbuthnott said: 'It makes me feel like a human Etch A Sketch because the rash will raise where I've written on my arm and then it will vanish'

'A few other things trigger reactions like stress and foods like alcohol and cheese because they contain histamine.

'To help my young niece understand what happens to my skin I drew a smiley on my hand and she was really jealous when her skin didn't rise like mine.

'When I itch the hives they get even worse so I've had to teach myself not to scratch them.'

She said the condition used to bother her in her previous job in customer services as she'd feel itchy and burn, but would have to pretend nothing was wrong.

In the past I've drawn smileys and other little pictures on my arm - it's become a bit of a party trick Hannah Arbuthnott, 21

But she has found a lot of comfort through using Facebook groups and talking to people with similar problems.

She said: 'Most of the time I try not to dwell on it and just try to carry on with my life like anyone else.'

Lindsey McManus, deputy CEO of AllergyUK said: 'Dermatographia is a histamine release from the body that leaves a raised red welt to appear after the skin is aggravated or scratched.

'The words "derma" mean skin and "graphia" means to write - so the condition literally means "to write on the skin".

'This condition is a form of urticaria and for some people can be caused by anything that rubs or puts physical pressure onto the skin.

She added: 'Everyday things like scratching an itch, wearing a tight waistband or even a bra-strap can cause a reaction.

'It can also be brought up by a person running a finger nail or a pen along their skin.

The most usual form of treatment is taking antihistamines to reduce the itching and swelling, she added.
A string of casualty departments have closed their doors to patients and ambulances this week because they are so overwhelmed, it emerged last night.

At least 11 hospitals declared black alert  the most serious level  meaning they were running out of beds.

Hospitals will face even more pressure on Tuesday when up to 45,000 junior doctors go on strike after the failure of talks at conciliation service Acas last night. They will walk out for 24 hours and treat patients only if they are very seriously ill.

Some hospitals are having to turn away patients from A&E and others are cancelling operations as they struggle to cope with the number of patients

It raises the prospect that even more hospitals will hit crisis levels. Letters have already begun landing on the doormats of thousands of patients whose operations and appointments will be cancelled. Two further protests are planned in the coming weeks, including an all-out strike where they will not treat any patients  the first in the NHSs history.

Patients say some casualty departments are already chaotic, with ambulances stacked up outside as if there had been a bomb or major rail crash.

Hospitals on black alert include Bristol Royal Infirmary, Basildon in Essex, Weston General in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, and Yeovil District in the same county.

This means they have to divert ambulances from their A&E units to hospitals which are less busy. Non-urgent operations and clinics are cancelled to free up staff to treat the high numbers of patients.

Another 14 hospitals have told patients to attend casualty only if their condition is life-threatening.

The NHSs own figures show that in total, trusts were forced to implement 89 A&E diverts since the end of November. This is when they effectively close their doors to patients and ambulances for a few hours and send them to neighbouring hospitals.

Trusts have also declared they were experiencing operational problems on 141 occasions in the five weeks from November 30.

Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the hospitals currently on 'black alert'

Non-urgent operations have been cancelled at some hospitals in England as Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England's national medical director, said he was 'pleased to say that the NHS had a good Christmas period'

Labour health spokesman Justin Madders said: The NHS is clearly under growing pressure this winter. Hospitals are dangerously full, patients are waiting hours in A&E and some hospital bosses have had no choice but to close their doors in order to cope.

Ministers have been warned on numerous occasions that cuts to older peoples care in the home will have a knock-on effect on the NHS. The Government needs to urgently set out how it intends to support the NHS this winter and ensure patients get the care and support they need. Watford General Hospital told patients to come back the following day or go to the nearest A&E. Mark Griggs, who visited on Monday when his wife fell over, said: It was chaotic. There were people everywhere. Ambulances were stacked up. It was like there had been a major incident.

The receptionist told us there would be a five-hour wait and there had been a similar waiting time for most of the afternoon.

Others on black alert include Southend University Hospital and Colchester Hospital University Foundation Trust, both in Essex.

Watford General Hospital in Hertfordshire told patients to come back the following day or go to the next nearest A&E as they struggled to cope with demand

DID OFFICIALS INTERVENE TO 'SEX UP' A LETTER ABOUT JUNIOR DOCTORS? Ministers are facing demands for an inquiry into claims that Department of Health staff intervened to sex up a controversial letter about the junior doctors strike. Professor Sir Bruce Keogh  the medical director of the non-partisan body NHS England  used the letter to doctors union the British Medical Association to question whether striking medics would be available in the event of a Paris-style terror attack. His remarks were widely criticised by doctors, who accused him of using fears of an atrocity for political purposes. Now it has emerged that senior Department of Health staff emailed Sir Bruce, encouraging him to make concerns over strike action as hard-edged as possible. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was also given approval of the text, an investigation by The Independent found. Yesterday Norman Lamb, the Lib Dem spokesman for health, called for an inquiry into the incident, which he said had raised serious concerns about potential political interference. However Sir Bruce said it was entirely appropriate that the NHS and Department of Health had co-ordinated the operational response to the strike threat. A Department of Health spokesman said: It was absolutely right that ministers insisted on Sir Bruce giving his independent view of the NHSs capacity to respond in the event of a major terrorist incident. Advertisement

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn, the Norfolk and Norwich and the James Paget Hospital, all in Norfolk, also declared black alert this week. Others include Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and the citys Southmead General.

Despite the mounting pressures, health officials claimed hospitals enjoyed a good Christmas period. Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS Englands national medical director, said: There were fewer serious operational problems than last year, lower hospital bed occupancy rates and lower levels of illness than usually seen at this time of year.
The Big Short

The Big Short's star-studded cast includes Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling

Ryan Gosling. Brad Pitt. Christian Bale. Steve Carell. If that wasn't already enough to make you want to see this (it was for me), then I've got good news: it's also one hell of a movie.

Based on true events, the film follows a small band of money men who saw coming what the rest of the world couldn't: namely the global economic meltdown that began in 2007. When it becomes clear that no-one in the industry believes their theories about the impending collapse of the American subprime mortgage market, these guys decide to put their money where their mouth is and effectively bet on it - BIG - against the banks.

What follows next is a fascinating account of how the world was plunged into recession - an event that we're all painfully aware of, and yet may not know quite how it happened. Yes, it's peppered with a fair bit of financial jargon, but this is explained in very amusing, inventive ways (think Margot Robbie in a bubble bath, or Selena Gomez at a casino.)

All of the A-list cast are brilliant, though perhaps surprisingly it's Steve Carell who steals the show, proving once again after Foxcatcher that he can do serious as well as he can do funny. Bafta-nominated Christian Bale is also superb, while easy-on-the-eye rising star Finn Wittrock looks set to be one to watch in future.

You'll need your brain switched on to keep up, but it's refreshing to watch an intelligent film that's also ridiculously entertaining. For my money's worth, I'd bet on this being a huge hit.

The Big Short will be in cinemas from 22 January

Sleeping With Other People

Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis in Sleeping With Other People

If you want to go to the other extreme and watch something that's not going to tax the old grey matter much, this raunchy rom-com is currently out now, both at cinemas and on demand.

Jake (Jason Sudeikis) and Lainey (Alison Brie) lose their virginities to one another in college, but then go their separate ways - only to cross paths 12 years later at a sex addicts meeting in New York. Both have become serial cheaters: Lainey keeps falling back into the arms of love-rat doctor Matthew (Adam Scott), while Jake simply can't seem to settle down. As the pair rekindle their friendship, they make a pact to help each other become better at dating - but, to pose that old When Harry Met Sally dilemma, can men and women ever really be friends?

The best thing about this by far is the chemistry between its two leads: Sudeikis proves that he has leading man likability in the affable manner of Jason Segel or Bill Hader, while Brie shows a racier, quirky charm that would no doubt shock her Mad Men alter-ego Trudy. The rather predictable plot is somewhat less appealing, and though it does manage to raise a few laughs, I preferred the more tender scenes to the ruder, cruder ones.

Ultimately, like some of the casual flings depicted in the film, this left me feeling a little empty and unfulfilled. But if you're not looking for anything too serious, it might be one to make a date with.
In the wake of the dastardly attack on our airbase in Pathankot, which saw seven of our brave men martyred by terrorists who evidently came from Pakistan - and were controlled by handlers sitting across the border - it is time for India to act.

Not because our emotions are running high, or because we were promised a 56-inch response to every terrorist attack. Not even because it makes for a strong political posture - but simply because it is in the deeper national and strategic interest to take out those who have the audacity to attack us and threaten our homeland.

We cannot afford a repeat. We cannot allow it to go unpunished.

BJP members light candles to pay tribute to the martyrs of the Pathankot attacks

Most importantly, we have now over the decades extinguished any and all alternatives to deal with this problem.

During the Vajpayee years, we were blackmailed into releasing dreaded terrorists in exchange for the IC-814 hostages, who have since continuously bled India and derailed larger engagements with civilian governments in Pakistan.

Talks

We tried dialogue in order to broker peace with Pakistan during those years, and it blew up in our faces with Kargil and the Parliament attack. The fingerprints of certain anti-India constituencies from Pakistan were evident and visible.

These constituencies include the Pakistan Army, the notorious ISI and certain non-state actors - all of which are out of the control of the Pakistani civilian government.

We then tried talks in the hope of ending terror, and we got 26/11 in return. To date, not a single perpetrator in Pakistan has been brought to book for their involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

This is despite the fact that even the Americans, through testimonies from David Headley, know exactly who is responsible for so many deaths in India.

The Americans are not going to fight our battles. They have much bigger stakes and interests in Afghanistan.

They need the ISI, the Pakistan Army, and in the past it has been the US which has created, equipped and funded the Afghan version of these non-state actors to stave off a Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

They frankly dont care about our interests. We need to fight our own battles.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, prior to the Lok Sabha elections, had promised no talks amid terror. He promised the moon, and it was a myopic policy statement that only excited some right-wing BJP supporters.

Policies

Today, except for a change in style, his policy remains the same as the one India has been pursuing for the last 16 years.

It will amount to nothing. It can only lead to a Kargil-like situation between the two nuclear powers followed eventually by a military coup in Pakistan, which will be counter-productive to any lasting solution for peace.

It is time to re-orient that strategy to talks while we end terror.

In 1972, Mossad carried out a covert counter-terrorist campaign in retaliation for the massacre of Israeli athletes during the Munich Olympic games.

Israeli Premier Golda Meir led a secret panel called Committee X that authorised the assassination of Black September terrorists involved in the Munich incident.

This included any individual either directly or indirectly involved in the planning or the execution of the terror attack in Munich.

While I am no fan of Israeli policies, I am only borrowing from the pages of history a novel approach to fighting terror. One that involves systematic elimination of the leaders of terror groups that target India.

By executing the leaders of terror groups that have struck India over the past few years, we can throw these organisations in disarray and take them out of the India-Pakistan equation.

There is no gain either for India or for Pakistan to keep people like Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi alive, only to be used by the deep state in Pakistan to kill innocent civilians.

By now our agencies ought to know who the handlers of the Pathankot attack are.

PM Modi must first send the NSA Ajit Doval to some far-off state as governor and keep him as far away as possible from Delhi. To mess up Pathankot the way we did with the intelligence bounty we had requires astonishing levels of incompetence.

Plans

Modi must then appoint a special advisor on counter-terrorism. Somebody possessing expertise and credibility within the intelligence community, preferably from RAW, a go-between who can tabulate and collate all the intel we have about potential targets, draw up a hit list and identify the men and women from covert agencies or even armed forces to carry out the mission, which would be run covertly by RAW.

The operations part must be left to RAW and insulated from bureaucratic wrangling.

The operations teams should adopt a no collateral damage policy - and it goes without saying that neither the Indian government nor any of the Intel agencies themselves can ever acknowledge the presence of these teams, take any credit or responsibility for their actions, or even recognise them in the event that they are caught in another country for any of their actions.

Peace can only be brokered with a civilian government that represents the will of the Pakistani people - one that is insulated from pressure by the Pakistan Army, ISI and terror groups.

Dont expect the Pakistani civilian government to end this syndicate.

The syndicate is self-sustaining. It has its own existence independent of the Pakistani political class and civil society.

But we in India cant afford to wait any more.

The writer is a lawyer and an activist. The views expressed are personal.




India has identified Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, the mastermind of IC-814 hijack case, as being among four handlers who directed the terrorist attack on Pathankot Air Force station.

New Delhi has now urged Islamabad to initiate action against them as a condition for any future talks between the two countries.

The details of these four persons have been shared with Pakistan and we are awaiting a response from them, said a government official.

Pathankot airbase was attacked by terrorists on January 2 (file picture)

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is understood to have spoken to his Pakistani counterpart ex-General Nasser Khan Janjua and shared all relevant evidence including voice data, sources said.

The evidence alleging JeMs involvement in the recent attack could affect the scheduled Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan in Islamabad on January 15.

India has taken a stand that it wants prompt action even though no deadline has been set for Pakistan to act against the perpetrators.

India is not ready to tolerate cross border terrorism. Ball is in Pakistan's court to take forward the talk process, Ministry of External Affairs stated on Thursday.

Those identified by Indian agencies are Azhar, Rauf, Ashfaq and Kashim, the sources said.

Rauf was the mastermind behind the hijack of Air India plane in Kathmandu, in 1999 which was later taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.

The eight-day hijacking crisis had ended after release of three hardcore militants including Azhar in exchange for the freedom of passengers and crew members who were held hostage.

Asked what action India wants Pakistan to take against these four, the sources said they have to be arrested and handed to New Delhi so that they could be questioned in the ongoing investigation.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had recently said there are indications that some of the materials used by the terrorists were made in Pakistan.

Six terrorists, who had sneaked into the country over the Indo-Pak border in Pakistan, had attacked the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot during the intervening night of January 1 and 2.

They were killed during a counter-operation by Indian forces that lasted for about three days, in which seven security personnel were killed.

Meanwhile, the bodies of four terrorists were sent for post-mortem examination on Thursday while the combing operation to sanitise the entire air base was on its last leg.
Can India and Pakistan ever have normal neighbourly relations?

The question is relevant in the context of the terrorist attack on Pathankot Indian Air Force base, just on the heels of a surprise goodwill visit by Prime Minster Narendra Modi to Lahore.

Of course, the chain of sordid events have taken a predictable path.

Can Pakistan learn to live at peace with itself before it can do so with the rest of the world, including India? Pictured are Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayees Lahore bus visit was followed by Kargil.

And before that, unconditional release of over 90,000 Pakistani prisoners of war by India in 1971 was reciprocated by Pakistan with exported terror for over two decades into Punjab in the guise of the Khalistan movement.

Troubles

But before we make efforts to find an answer to the question raised in the beginning of this article, we have to ask ourselves yet another question.

Can Pakistan learn to live at peace with itself before it can do so with the rest of the world, including India?

Over the years, after General Zia-ul-Haq became the president and introduced a high dosage of Islamic fundamentalism into the education system and governance, violence has become central to Pakistans social and political life.

With majority Sunnis throwing bombs at the minority Shia mosques and vice-versa. It is not a Kafir dominated India where Muslims are not safe, but in Pakistan, a declared Islamic state.

The Pakistan Army which owes allegiance to the theocratic state, has waged a war, against Taliban, who are also throwing bombs, shooting people and getting killed in the name of Islam.

Killers and victims, on both sides, swear in the name of the same faith!

Those who are always at each others throats can hardly think of leaving neighbours undisturbed.

Why is Pakistan so prone to politics of hate and bigotry?

The reasons lies in the mindset and ideology that triggered the demand for the creation of Pakistan. Till 1937, Mohammad Ali Jinnah was a leader without any worthwhile following.

Soldiers carry the mortal remains of Commando CPL Gursewak Singh who was killed in the Pathankot attacks

After he changed his ideological tack, from a secularist to a rabid Muslim, spewing venom against Hindus, over 90 per cent Muslims of undivided India accepted him as their unquestioned leader.

In contrast, Gandhi, who all his life bent backwards to win the support of Muslims and had spoken of love and inclusiveness, could not gain the support of even 10 per cent of the Muslim population. Ironically, Jinnah was not a practicing Muslim  he enjoyed his evening drink and loved sausages. Both are forbidden in Islam.

But all this was ignored because he worked for vivisection of India and spoke against its timeless pluralistic culture.

He was loved for his hate of Hindus and Sikhs.

In essence, what Jinnah preached was rejection of pre-Islamic culture and traditions on an ancient land by those who had converted to a new faith, mostly under duress.

Bulk of the Muslims could not reconcile with the idea of living as equals with those (Hindus) who they had suppressed and persecuted for over 600 years.

Pride

Misplaced pride in the past and the fear of uncertain future propelled the demand for a separate Islamic nation.

Now the same hatred is eating into the idea of Pakistan.

For long it was said that Pakistan was run by three As  Allah, Army and America.

But now the three As have fallen apart.

The Mullahs and Military that collaborated for long to destroy India are now often at loggerheads  as seen in the military action in Waziristan region and the retaliatory Taliban sponsored massacre of school children by army men in Peshawar followed by hangings of many Taliban activists by the government.

The third leg of the Pakistani tripod, the US, has over the years given up the policy of equating both India and Pakistan to keep Islamabad in good humor so as to ensure its support against the erstwhile Soviet Union.

With the collapse of communism in 1991 days of cold war are over and Pakistans importance in American scheme of global politics has dropped considerably.

The question of whether India and Pakistan can normalise relations is relevant in the context of the terrorist attack on Pathankot Indian Air Force base. Pictured Indian army personnel leap from the rear of a truck at the Air Force base near the Pakistan border

Following 9/11, the menace of terror has emerged as a defining issue for the US state policy.

And to make matters worse for Pakistan, the country is known, not only as an epicenter of terror, but also a failed state.

Powers

Meanwhile Indias global profile has improved, thanks to its stable democracy and growing economy.

The new perception in Washington is to align with India in wake of the growing fear among East and South Asian nations of an increasingly aggressive China.

The idea is to build a chain  with India at one end and Japan at other  terminals to contain Beijing.

For the first time probably, the Prime Minister of Pakistan has shown the courtesy of calling his Indian counterpart and promising action against those who had trained on Pakistan soil and waged the attack in Pathankot.

India will have to wait and watch how far Islamabad goes on Nawaz Sharifs assurance on dealing with Jihadi/Army elements responsible for the Pathankot attack.

May be over the next few weeks we can find an answer to the question we started with  whether India and Pakistan can ever learn to live as normal neighbours.
Sartaj Aziz heads the panel deliberating on a proposal to upgrade the status of Gilgit-Baltistan

Pakistan is considering a proposal to upgrade the status of Gilgit-Baltistan into a constitutional province or a provisional province.

If a Pakistan-based newspaper is to be believed, a committee is already in place to deliberate on the proposal.

The seriousness of the move can be gauged from the fact that Sartaj Aziz, the foreign affairs adviser to Nawaz Sharif, heads the panel, which is expected to meet next week.

The Pakistani move has been strongly criticised by India, with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj calling it unacceptable.

This is an expected reaction, given the fact that New Delhi regards Gilgit- Baltistan as an integral part of India.

Several experts, on both sides of the border, however, believe the move has the potential to open new doors for the Kashmir stalemate.

Any attempt by Islamabad, they say, to formally absorb the disputed territory would, by extension, strengthen New Delhis claims over parts of J&K it controls.

It also punctures the Pakistani facade of an independent Kashmir which Islamabad has been paddling for long.

The solution to any issue is a two-way traffic. Kashmir, too, will find peace only if Pakistan comes to terms with the fact that the state is an integral part of India and that boundaries cant be redrawn anymore.

But above all, Islamabad will have to rein in its anti-India jihadi elements which have been mainstreamed in Pakistani politics.

The problem is, the fulcrum of power in Pakistan doesnt lie in Islamabad, but in Rawalpindi.
Classic cars have proved a great investment - better than ploughing your money into FTSE 100 shares, art, wine and jewellery, according to the latest Frank Knight wealth report.

And it seems people in the South are the ones pumping their money into classic vehicles, with new research showing Kent, Essex and Surrey are the three counties with the highest number of classic-car owners.

But they're not throwing their money at Ferraris, Porsches or Lamborghinis; the most common classic is actually the VW Camper.

The MGB is the second most owned classic car, according to Carole Nash's insurance database. The VW Campervan T2 is most popular, with the Austin Mini, Morris Minor and Porsche 911 making up the top five

The data has been pulled together by insurer Carole Nash's 'Cherished vehicle division', which identifies a classic car as any model that is at least 15 years old, is not the owner's main car and has a low yearly mileage.

It used data for all the vehicles currently covered by its classic car insurance policy to work out which models and manufacturers are most common, and which regions have the highest number of vintage vehicles.

Carole Nash found six per cent of all UK-based classics resided in Kent, with 5.4 per cent kept in Essex and another 4.8 per cent owned by people in Surrey.

Despite the stats showing a southern-UK domination for classic-car ownership, it was Nottinghamshire that took fourth spot with Norfolk a close fifth.

Many of these classic car enthusiasts are buying British brands, too. Of the most common carmakers, MG, Triumph and Land Rover all placed in the top five.

But collectible Volkswagens are the most owned classics in the UK  a flicker of light for the German carmaker that's still embroiled in its emissions-test cheating scandal.

Carole Nash says in Kent alone, 17.2 per cent of all classic cars were Volkswagens. The next most-owned vintage was MG, making up just 9.3 per cent of the total count.

The insurance firm said VWs made up 15.2 per cent of the classic-car market share.

Retro investment: The T2 Campervan is the most owned classic motor, according to all the classic cars insured by Carole Nash

The 10-year performance (the darkest pink column) shows classic cars returned more money than any other collectible. The middle column represents five-year return and the lightest pink column is based on 12 months

The T2 Campervan is the model most are opting for.

The study discovered that 78 per cent of all Nottinghamshire classics are second-generation Campers, while 74 per cent of vintage-car collectors in Lancashire have the mk2 VW bus.

MOST OWNED CLASSICS ACCORDING TO CAROLE NASH 1. VW T2 Campervan 2. MGB 3. Austin Mini 4. Morris Minor 5. Porsche 911 (pre 1995 generations) 6. Land Rover 88 7. MG Midget 8. VW Beetle 236 9. Austin Healey 10. Ford Escort RS / XR3i

Experts in the classic-car division of Carole Nash said it was easy to see why the Campervan was so popular.

There enduring appeal has been highlighted by the fact that renting them out is a business in itself.

'In recent years, companies have been able to profit on the growing demand for these iconic motors,' it said.

'By offering fully restored and serviced Campers to the general public, companies such as Old School Camper Hire in Leeds and South West Camper Hire in Devon have flourished as more and more people opt for something a little bit different when booking their summer holidays or countryside retreats.'

Find out how many classic cars there are insured by Carole Nash in your county by checking the list below:

The Stag is the most-owned Triumph, thought we hope the ones insured by Carole Nash are in better condition than this
The speed with which Marc Bollands critics moved to dance on his grave with his departure from Marks and Spencer is unedifying.

The tiny half-pence rise in the shares, albeit in a plunging market, suggests that not everyone is over-excited about a change that was likely to take place in the next 18 months anyway.

With the possible exception of Sir Stuart Rose, who briefly took M&S profits back to the magic billion pound mark left by the veteran old guard boss Sir Richard Greenbury, the careers of most M&S bosses since the turn of the millennium have been marked by disappointment.

Clean up: The company inherited by Bolland needed a great deal of refurbishment, much of it not visible to the naked eye

This long-forgotten cast includes Peter Salsbury, ousted in 2002, Roger Holmes and Luc Vandervelde, sacked in 2004, and now Bolland, retiring early.

Bollands successor Steve Rowe, an M&S lifer with a salesmans patter, receives a decent legacy.

The company inherited by Bolland needed a great deal of refurbishment, much of it not visible to the naked eye.

And that which is visible to the public receives scrutiny way above anything else in British business. For some reason the British public feels it has a personal stake in M&S and every whinge and every mistake becomes a headline matter.

A minor glitch on a newly installed website, a queue for fresh turkeys at Christmas and the elasticity of Jeremy Paxmans knickers are all portrayed as major events.

The comings and goings of senior staff (doesnt this happen in all organisations) is portrayed as a dysfunction.

Gone: Marks and Spencer's Dutch chief executive Marc Bolland, who the British retailer confirmed would be retiring following an announcement of a slump in clothing sales

One would bet that staff longevity and loyalty easily outpaces that at HM Treasury and many of its rivals on the High Street.

Bollands legacy will be the investment in brighter stores, the creation of a fast-growing website, the return to the international stage, the cost improvement achieved by modern warehousing and logistics and investment in technology.

The expansion of upmarket food sales, in a grocery market decimated by cheap competition, is also a considerable achievement.

So where did it go wrong? As the market leader in womenswear, M&S has always been there to shoot at.

Next successfully grew profits beyond M&S by embracing online earlier, but is itself finding conditions more difficult.

What Bolland has had to deal with is the rise of foreign newcomers, including Zaras Spanish owner Inditex, Swedens H&M, Irelands Primark, the USs Gap and Banana Republic and so on.

Zara is ten times the size of M&S and H&M is worth 35billion, giving them buying power and international spread far beyond anything M&S can muster.

That is why heading back into France and the rest of the world is so critical in determining the future.

As for the core business in the UK, there is much to build on.

Much to learn from Topshop: Actress Kate Bosworth, British businessman Sir Phillip Green and his daughter Chloe Green attend the Topshop Topman LA Grand Opening in February

Almost all stores in the country are profitable, with weaker branches, such as Redcar, having been weeded out.

Rowes plan is to bring to clothing the same fleetness of foot that the company has brought to fresh food, where the M&S advantage is emptying the shelves every evening rather than bringing stuff out of the freezer.

Here there are lessons to learn from Sir Philip Green and Topshop.

Instead of a few rigid seasons, a much more flexible approach is required with quicker turnover of new stock, especially heavily promoted items that are wanted as much in Rochdale and Horsham as in Marble Arch and Westfield.

If that can be done then the 5.8 per cent drop in general merchandise sales which may have cost Bolland extra time at the helm could potentially be stemmed.

Even Simon Wolfson at Next couldnt control the weather.

The Bolland legacy is mixed but by no means dire. The opportunities in Europe, in food and in rethinking clothing are there, and the support of the companys army of small shareholders rarely wavers.

Wrong call

Quite why Chancellor George Osborne chose to blurt out on the BBCs Today show that the admirable Tracey McDermott is no longer a candidate to head the Financial Conduct Authority is unclear.

But it was a bit disrespectful since McDermott had not yet publicly announced her decision, which came in a statement from the FCA a few hours later.

As recently as late November, Ms McDermott was still in the interview process and keen on moving up to the top job.

Disrespectful: Chancellor George Osborne shouldn't have blurted out on the BBCs Today show that Tracey McDermott is no longer a candidate to head the FCA before she had publicly announced her decision

The race for that is now open, with the Bank of Englands Andy Haldane, Elizabeth Corley of Allianz and deputy Bank of England governor Minouche Shafik among those mentioned.

A radical idea from some City participants, fed up with duplicate conversations with the Prudential Regulatory Authority and the FCA, is that the latter be brought directly under the control of Andrew Bailey and Mark Carney at the Bank.

Fascinating but unlikely.

Secret costs

It is not much use Poundland, now incorporating 99p Stores, moaning about a dire festive season because consumers preferred online shopping.

Firms enjoy boasting about the surge of online sales but more often than not forget to mention the high costs of selecting, sorting and delivering those sales.
Persimmon sold 8 per cent more homes in 2015

Housebuilder Persimmon reported a 13 per cent rise in revenues as it built more homes and sold them for higher prices.

The York-based company hailed another year of strong growth after selling 14,572 new homes in 2015  up 8 per cent on the previous year.

The average selling price rose by 4.5 per cent to 199,100  pushing revenues up 13 per cent to 2.9billion.

The shares dipped 3p to 1962p.
Lloyds is under investigation by a City watchdog over claims that Government bond prices were manipulated by a trader at the bank, which is part-owned by the taxpayer.

The Financial Conduct Authority has launched a probe into claims a rogue trader engaged in arbitrage of Government gilts  driving down prices when buying them and inflating prices when selling.

The allegations come just months after Chancellor George Osborne called for an end to banker bashing and will be embarrassing for the Government, which is soon to sell its remaining stake in Lloyds.

Embarrassing: The allegations come just months after Chancellor George Osborne called for an end to banker bashing

The banking group was saved by a state bailout in 2008, which saw the Government take a 41 per cent stake during the financial crisis.

The taxpayers share in Lloyds has been gradually whittled down and it is expected that the remaining stock will be sold back to private investors at some point this year.

The FCAs investigation echoes an unconnected inquiry at Credit Suisse in 2014 which saw a bonds trader banned and fined over alleged fiddling of gilts during the quantitative easing programme of the Bank of England.

Lloyds (down 1.51p at 69.49p) has co-operated with the investigation but said it does not comment on speculation. The FCA declined to comment.

Past: The FCAs investigation echoes an unconnected inquiry at Credit Suisse in 2014 which saw a bonds trader banned and fined over alleged fiddling of gilts

The trader under scrutiny was reportedly put on a three-month leave of absence when the FCA began its inquiry but has since returned to work, according to the Financial Times newspaper.
An influential shareholder group is expected to support oil giant Royal Dutch Shells 36billion bid for gas specialist BG Group.

Shell needs more than 50 per cent of its investors and 75 per cent of BGs to give the thumbs up for the deal to go ahead, but the collapse in the price of oil  down more than 70 per cent since summer 2014  has made the deal difficult.

Shareholders are due to cast their vote on January 27 and 28.

Foot on the gas: Shell needs more than 50 per cent of its investors and 75 per cent of BGs to give the thumbs up for the deal to go ahead

The Institutional Shareholder Services, a investor advisory board, will recommend the deal, according to the Financial Times.

Shell unveiled its bid in April but since then the price of oil continued its decline. Shell insists the deal makes sense in the long term and expects oil to return to $60 or $70 a barrel.

However, as it fell to below $33 yesterday many shareholders have questioned the deal.
Smashed windows, flooded bathrooms, broken china and red wine all over the cream carpets  your worst nightmare or a very real possibility should you rent your home out to the wrong guests?

The horror story came true last week for a couple in south London when their flat was rented out via Airbnb and ruined by a group who threw a 'drug-fuelled party'.

This is an extreme but not unprecedented incident: so what do you need to know if you're thinking about renting your home out? We take a look at exactly what you're covered for  and what you're not - should the worst happen.

Airbnb's 'host guarantee' has lots of limitations such as cash, jewellery, pets and personal liability

If you rent out your flat on a short-term basis and something goes wrong, you're covered by your home insurance right? Or if not Airbnb's 'host guarantee'? Actually no  while both will provide some level of cover you can't claim for everything, with theft and accidental damage left out of most policies.

Airbnb provides limited cover through its host guarantee

Airbnb has what is called a 'host guarantee' which covers those renting out their homes for up to 650,000 worth of damages.

But there are several important elements missing from the guarantee such as; cash and securities, pets, personal liability and shared or common areas.

There are also limits on the amount of cover for valuable items such as jewellery, collectibles and art work and it won't cover for reasonable wear and tear.

Airbnb's guarantee isn't an insurance policy and it says you should use separate cover for full protection

This isn't an insurance policy, as Airbnb clearly states, and it recommends taking out separate insurance from a home insurer for full protection.

However, many home insurance policies won't allow for paying guests, so before letting your place out it's worth reading the small print.

Protection through your home insurance policy

As standard most home insurance policies cover the policy holder, their partner, and family. Paying guests or lodgers aren't usually included.

'Renting out a spare room is an increasingly popular way of earning some extra cash and - in some cases - is helping to give independent travellers a unique and personalised holiday experience.

'However, it's generally difficult to predict how your lodger is going to use your home, until they're settled-in,' explains Simon Warsop, chief underwriting officer for home insurance at Aviva

'The cost of home insurance is calculated on an individual basis and is not just based on the house itself but how many people live in it, and how it's used,' he adds.

You may be covered under your home insurance policy but the cover varies depending on your insurer

If you're thinking about putting your place on Airbnb you should officially tell your insurer. It may be possible to increase the cover on a short-term basis and you'll either be charged a one-off fee or your premium will be increased.

Direct Line, for example, says it may cover customers if they are letting a room or their home out on an occasional basis but it won't cover liability claims for damages the policy holder incurs as a result of letting out the place.

While a spokesperson for LV, said: 'As a general rule, we don't cover Airbnb usage because rooms are being let on a short-term basis, which presents a number of additional risks that home insurance isn't designed to cater for.

Specialist insurance for holiday lettings may be the only option for full cover including public liability cover

'For example, home policies usually exclude damage and theft caused by tenants, which means the cover may not be suitable for people wishing to rent out their home or part of their home.'

Specialist cover for holiday lettings

If your home insurer won't provide cover for paying guests - even on an occasional basis - or you're not happy with the cover it's offering, your other option is to seek out a specialist provider.

These often give a greater level of protection and include public liability cover for the people staying - should they have an accident while in your home.

However, these policies are likely to come with a higher price tag so always compare prices before buying.
The interim boss of the watchdog that brought bankers to task after the financial crisis has pulled out of the running for the top job.

Tracey McDermott, acting head of Britains Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has withdrawn from the selection process to be permanent chief executive.

She said: Going through the recruitment process has made me reflect on what I want to do with the rest of my career. As a result I have decided that this is not the right job for me at this stage of my career.

Out: Tracey McDermott, acting head of Britains Financial Conduct Authority, won't be the permanent chief exec

McDermott was one of the leading candidates for the post to replace Martin Wheatley who was ousted by Chancellor George Osborne last year.

Some experts are concerned that Osborne and the Government are putting pressure on the FCA to take a softer line on bankers.

McDermotts previous job was chief enforcer where she imposed a series of fines on banks over scandals including Libor and foreign exchange rigging.

The news came as MPs on the Treasury Select Committee were preparing to grill the FCA for dropping an inquiry into banking culture months after its announcement.

Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the influential House of Commons committee, said the dropping of the probe into culture and other recent decisions gave an impression of a weakening of resolve by the FCA.

Problems: The FCA has been criticised for saying it will take no action against HSBC over allegations of Swiss tax avoidance

He added: The decision to undertake this review was, after all, part of the FCAs business plan for 2015.

The select committee will question McDermott and FCA chairman John Griffith-Jones on January 20.
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With their intricate make-up, short skirts and playful smiles, they could be any group of girlfriends on a night out.

But they are transgender women of Peru, who are forced to live so completely outside of society that they have a life expectancy of just 35 - less than half that of the general population.

In this staunchly Catholic country these women are living in the shadows, with little choice but to live as sex workers where daily they risk violence from police and clients as well as contracting viruses: almost a third are infected with HIV.

If they survive these dangers, there is still the police brutality, the accommodation not fit for human habitation and the lack of healthcare to contend with, all endured under the constant threat of running out of money to simply be able to feed themselves.

'In this country, for the fact of being trans, you are not valued as a human being,' explained Karen, a transgender woman lying in a hospital bed.

Outcast: Camila (left) gets out of a taxi after a long night of dancing. In Peru there is a great deal of discrimination against transgender people, who are excluded from education, health care, housing and job opportunities

Brave: After work, Danuska (centre) and her friends go out dancing at a club that features a night specifically for people from the LGBTI community. Danuska struggles with body image issues and often makes jokes about being anorexic. In 2015, she moved from Lima due to constant harassment from her boyfriend and police. But in the dark lights of the club, they could be any group of friends having fun

Karen is not recovering from an assault from a client, however, but a police gunshot wound to the stomach: they had opened fire after her friend threw a rock at their car during one of the nightly raids.

Karen's innocence was no defence, however.

'Even though I was between life and death, I was still considered guilty,' she said.

It is a story repeated throughout Peru: in many ways, just being transgender makes you guilty of some unspoken 'crime'.

'I want to have a job with somebody I know, someone who trusts me. Because otherwise, they discriminate you, they look you up and down when you're looking for work,' said 29-year-old Tamara, who turned to prostitution at the age of 18 to survive.

Everywhere I turned there was a wall facing them. It didn't feel like there's an escape. Photographer Danielle Villasana

Now the possibility of finding a way out seems increasingly beyond reach. She has looked for other work but she says the public think transgender people have diseases and are vulgar, so they are turned away.

'Sometimes I think about leaving sex work, but because I am alone living costs are really expensive,' she said.

'You have to be careful with clients because they're not clients, they are bad men that can cheat you, that can take you somewhere. They treat you bad, they beat you, they rob you I have suffered through that a few times.'

Tamara left school in the fifth grade because she could no longer cope with the constant bullying at the hands of her young classmates. At 16, she began sniffing glue to deal with depression and the crippling loneliness of being abandoned by her friends and almost all of her family, except her loyal mother.

Her story is not unusual, says photographer Danielle Villasana, who spent two-and-a-half years with the community of transgender women in downtown Lima, Peru's capital city.

'Peru is different to the rest of Latin America,' 30-year-old Villasana, from Texas, told MailOnline.

'Getting to know the women opened my eyes to the fact that they are so mistreated. Everywhere I turned there was a wall facing them. It didn't feel like there's an escape.

'The general population is very hateful towards transwomen and that was really shocking because you would think that people would realise that most of these women don't choose sex work, but because of societal discrimination they are not provided with employment options.'

Show: Along with other members of Peru's only transgender dance group, Briss, centre, waits backstage before performing at a local LGBTI nightclub. Although Briss says it's hard to live as a transperson in Peruvian society because of the psychological and physical abuse, she said dancing for the Tranxgresoras strengthens them and helps them move forward

Laughter: Danuska (left) and Oriana (right) talk with a young girl and her mother, not pictured, on the street while experiencing down time during work. A lot of transgender women are forced into prostitution, because no other work opportunities are open to them

Reflection: Tamara, 29, a transgender woman, looks in a mirror. She quit school in the fifth grade because her classmates constantly teased and insulted her. At 16 she began sniffing glue to deal with depression and loneliness, and at 18 she became a prostitute

Confident: Anny laughs with a vendor as she buys chicken from a local market near her home. Violence is rife against transgender women throughout the 'machismo' societies of Latin America

Oriana, now 21, turned to prostitution aged just 12.

Rejected by her family, she finally moved to Lima from her home in the Peruvian countryside last year.

'My childhood was awful because my parents didn't accept me from the time I was a kid. I didn't live at home, I was always running away. I was always hungry and I didn't have anywhere to sleep,' she said.

'I would go from house to house and sometimes when I couldn't take it anymore I would go back home and my dad would hit me, he would cut my hair, he would hit me with a stick or with his belt.'

The last time Oriana visited her family she returned to Lima with her hair cut short and wearing masculine clothing, saying that her family had made her get rid of her long hair and clothes.

For her, sex work was a way out. By it comes with horrendous risk every time they take a client, especially in Latin America, where 1,500 transgender people have been murdered since January 2008, according to data released by the Organisation of American States (OAS).

That figure accounts for 78 per cent of the murders of trans people across the world - with roughly 80 per cent in their mid-30s or lower.

But perhaps more shocking is the level of violence endured before death: these women were beaten, strangled, stabbed to death and even run over in vicious assaults provoked purely by their sexuality.

Love: Oriana, right, kisses her on-and-off-again boyfriend Josue before she leaves for work. Josue said that living with Oriana had helped him to lead a better life, but he also talked about how their relationship was not right under the eyes of God

Trouble: Kiara is taken by 'Serenazgos' - municipal police officers - in a nightly raid on the women's homes. They have grouped together in a housing community as they have all been cast out of society, but face almost nightly raids on their cockroach-infested dormitories

Relaxation: Tamara smokes a cigarette while dancing in her room. But even in the comparative safety of their community, the women are never safe from persecution and violence at the hands of the police

Yet these women find comfort in the community they have built in downtown Lima, where many live in dormitory-style accommodation.

'I live happily with my friends, we go out together, we work together, eat together,' Oriana said.

The city's LGBTI nightclubs are another place where the women can find the support they so desperately need.

I would go from house to house and sometimes when I couldn't take it anymore I would go back home and my dad would hit me, he would cut my hair, he would hit me with a stick or with his belt. Oriana, 21

It is in these clubs that Peru's only transgender dance group, the Tranxgresoras, finds an outlet - and applause - for its members' creativity.

'The feeling is inexplainable. We leave the stage and girls are applauding, they admire you. You get down off the stage and they take photos of you. You feel good about yourself and you feel good about society,' said dancer Briss.

But things are far from rosy, even here in this small community.

Oriana explained: 'When we go out in the street, excuse my language, imbeciles start to bother you. I would like to work in a restaurant or a bar, but here people look at you bad.'

'Lots of the women don't like going out in public but they go to the market together, or they go shopping together,' added Villasana.

'But it's all close to their homes where they feel safer.'

But these homes are far from havens.

'There's a big community because they face a lot of housing discrimination because there are very few other options where they can live,' Villasana continued.

'The rooms are horrible, really horrible. The rent is really high because their landlords take advantage of them. Sometimes when I was there, there wouldn't be any electricity or there would be cockroaches.'

Yet even in the comparative safety of their community, the women are never safe from persecution and violence at the hands of the police.

Caring: Katalina holds a newborn kitten after she found it on the street. She said that the mother had been killed by a car. She named the kitten Michelle and fed it milk in the hope that it would survive

Companion: Jordy, left, gives her friend a shoulder to cry on after she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her. Transgender relationships are often unstable and violent and men often take advantage of the women, says photographer Danielle Villasana

Comfort: Asumi, left, sits with her friend, Genesis, as they try to figure out how to use WhatsApp on her phone. Although not in a relationship Asumi and Genesis, like the transwomen in the community, are very affectionate with each other

'There's a constant tension between transwomen and the police,' said Villasana. 'They get bothered by the police all the time.

'The police will arrest them with no reason at all. Normally they say it's because they need to see their ID card  because everyone has to carry an ID card in Peru  but they aren't checking everyone's IDs, just these women's. It's a bullying tactic.

'There's lots of physical and verbal abuse, and the police will break into the women's homes and arrest all of the women in the house. There are some accounts of police arresting transwomen who aren't even working, they just arrest them for being transgender. A woman might be running to get food during a police raid, in her pyjamas and not in her work clothes, but she will still get arrested.'

There's lots of physical and verbal abuse, and the police will break into the women's homes and arrest all of the women in the house. Photographer Danielle Villasana

In the staunchly Catholic nation, education about sexuality and gender identities is scarce and many citizens don't realise that being transgender is about identity.

Unfortunately, this ignorance extends to those in charge and authorities and services are almost always closed to LGBTI people. In Peru, all citizens must use their compulsory ID card to claim even the most basic public services  it is even sometimes required just to buy groceries.

Transgender people have to list their legal name and gender on the card, and if their appearance doesn't match the details on their card they are denied the service.

One of the most difficult services to claim is healthcare, which is so vital to the women who live in a world of bought-and-sold sex, drugs and violence.

Alarmingly, 30 per cent of transwomen in Peru are infected with HIV, according to a study by Peru's Cayetano Heredia University. The report links this directly to 'high rates of sex work and drug abuse, which are themselves linked to extreme marginalisation and lack of other options for survival'.

But things are starting to change for transgender people in Latin America, and 2015 was a big year for ground-breaking changes in laws and attitudes across the regions.

In the past year, to name a few examples, legislators in Mexico approved a measure that allows transgender people to legally change their gender without a court order.

Couple: Paloma, right, is held back by her boyfriend who tries to restrain her after she punched him in the nose out of jealousy. Like many in the Peruvian trans community, their relationship is unstable and often violent

Violence: Colombian transwoman Karen, right, is comforted by her mother, who flew to Peru after hearing that Karen was shot by a police officer. That evening, officers insulted Karen and her friend during a raid. Angry, Karen's friend threw a rock at their car. When Karen turned to run, she was shot in the stomach. She said: 'In this country, for the fact of being trans you are not valued as a human being. Even though I was between life and death, I was still considered guilty'

Side-by-side: A family stands alongside a group of transwomen out working, as they wait to cross the road. Peru is a fiercely Catholic nation and most of the population view the women as unforgivable sinners

Boost: Here, Kinverly (centre) is interviewed by the emcee after the group's performance. Briss explained that 'the feeling is unexplainable. We leave the stage and girls are applauding, they admire you. You get down off the stage and they take photos of you. You feel good about yourself and you feel good about society'

The Chilean President Michelle Bachelet signed a law that recognises civil unions between same-sex couples; and in Ecuador President Correa announced that citizens who are in same-sex civil unions were able to include it on their ID cards.

In Cuba, lawmakers passed legislation that bans employment discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation; and Uruguay decided to facilitate equal access for couples to the national health system regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Meanwhile, LGBTI people across Latin America have risen to claim high-ranking positions in the world of politics.

In Colombia, the first openly lesbian woman was elected to the House of Representatives; Chile elected its first openly gay person to the National Congress; and Venezuela has sworn in its first transgender lawmaker, Tamara Adrian.

Although it isn't her only point of focus, Ms Adrian is determined to use her position to initiate great changes in Venezuela for LGBTI people.

'We in Venezuela have not achieved any important law or right, while most of the countries in the region have equal marriage, recognition of legal identity without the need for surgery and protection against discrimination,' Ms Adrian told MailOnline.

'My goal is to get this type of legal protection approved in Venezuela.

'[As a transgender woman] you have to fight at least twice as much to get equal recognition. This is not fair, but it is a fact. To get minority movements integrated into broader and larger movements is a must in order to improve the day-to-day living conditions of outcast people.'

According to photographer Villasana, life for transgender people in Peru is gradually improving thanks to the dedication of a growing number of grassroots activists.

Children: Tamara comforts her mother, Evila, right, after they had a fight. Though many transwomen don't have support from their families, Tamara has is close to her mother, who is a lesbian

Friendship: Briss (left) looks at Facebook with her friend Erika (right). Some of the women are nervous about leaving their community, but many of the women go to the market or go shopping together

Dependence: Oriana, right, hugs her now ex-boyfriend Josue. Though Josue valued their relationship, many partnerships are unstable. Often women are preyed on by men who take advantage of their low self-esteem by using them for money, abuse or cheat on them

Cosmetic: Many transwomen have cosmetic surgery to enhance their bodies. Here, Camila, originally from Brazil, recovers in a friend's room after getting an injection into her hips muscles. Many buy industrial silicone, from aeroplane oil, which has dangerous long-term effects on the body. Camila saved for a more expensive silicone. However, a close friend of hers recently died after having breast implants

'If you compare Peru to a lot of countries in Latin America it's extremely behind,' she said. 'So it's a slow process and I feel like there's a lot to fight against because discrimination against transgender women is everywhere.

'It's in the school system, in the health system. We are up against a lot. But the transgender movement is getting stronger and bigger, and there are a lot of women fighting for a gender identity law.
One of the holiday's hottest presents is now considered contraband at many U.S. colleges.

More than 30 universities have banned or restricted hoverboards on their campuses in recent weeks, saying the two-wheeled, motorized scooters are unsafe.

Beyond the risk of falls and collisions, colleges are citing warnings from federal authorities that some of the self-balancing gadgets have caught on fire.

'It's clear that these things are potentially dangerous,' said Len Dolan, managing director of fire safety at Kean University in Union, New Jersey.

The public school of 14,000 students issued a campus-wide ban effective on Monday, telling students in an email that any hoverboards found on campus would be confiscated.

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Banned: Since December 2015, several universities have banned or limited hoverboards on their campuses, saying the two-wheeled, motorized scooters are unsafe. Beyond the risk of falls and collisions, colleges are citing warnings from federal authorities that some of the self-balancing gadgets have caught on fire

'These things are just catching fire without warning, and we don't want that in any of our dorms,' Dolan said.

Outright bans also have been issued at schools such as American University and George Washington University, both in Washington, D.C. Other schools said they will forbid the scooters in dorm rooms or campus buildings, a policy adopted at colleges including Louisiana State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Arkansas.

After banning hoverboards from dorms in December, officials at the University of Hartford in Connecticut are now considering a full ban because of concerns over how to store them safely, said David Isgu, a school spokesman. Some of the reported fires have occurred while the boards were being charged, authorities say.

At Ohio State University and at Xavier University in Cincinnati, students were told they can bring a hoverboard only if it came with a seal showing that the board meets certain safety standards.

Schools have issued bans as recently as Thursday, when the University of Connecticut announced that the devices aren't welcome on campus.

The University of Alabama and the University of Kentucky declared bans on Wednesday as students prepare to return from break.

Burned: On Monday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that it's now investigating 28 fires in 19 states tied to the motorized scooters. Pictured here is a hoverboard that set fire in Brooklyn

'We are not willing to risk your safety and our community's safety,' University of Kentucky Fire Marshal Greg Williamson told students in a statement.

Bryce Colegrove, a sophomore at Shawnee State University in Ohio, got an email from his school on Tuesday telling students to leave their hoverboards at home after the holidays.

It was bad timing for Colegrove, who had just received one as a gift from his girlfriend and had even plotted his new routes to class.

'Honestly I was really disappointed,' said Colegrove, 20.

'I don't think it's right to ban them. I mean, it's a college campus; it's not a high school.'

Others took to social media to voice their frustration, with some saying they planned to bring their scooters to school anyway.

Hoverboards, which are made by several brands, already have been banned by the three largest U.S. airlines, citing potential fire danger from the lithium-ion batteries that power them.

The devices also are prohibited on New York City streets, and a new law in California requires riders to be at least 16 and wear a helmet in public.

On Monday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that it's now investigating 28 fires in 19 states tied to the motorized scooters.

Fiery mistake: Pictured here is a hoverboard that caught fire in Los Angeles. Fire officials from New Jersey to California have blamed the boards for fires that damaged homes. The federal commission also said there have been serious injuries caused by falls

Fire officials from New Jersey to California have blamed the boards for fires that damaged homes. The federal commission also said there have been serious injuries caused by falls.

Colleges reported that even though the gadget has been gaining popularity, it's still relatively rare on campuses.

Dolan, of Kean University, said he saw about six students riding the scooters last fall. News of swift sales over the holidays, plus the reports of fires, led him to propose the ban.

'If that may inconvenience a couple dozen students, then that's what it's going to have to be,' he said.

Fire officials in several states have issued their own warnings about the devices, including in New Jersey, were authorities recommended that all public colleges ban them.

Still, several colleges have suggested that they may allow hoverboards in the future. American University said its ban is temporary, but will last 'until further notice.'
Every motorist has experienced the temptation to squeeze a bulky item of furniture into the car to save the trouble of hiring a van.

But with a large fridge-freezer and several office chairs hanging out the back, this overloaded Hyundai was enough to make other motorists stop and stare.

Passers-by could barely conceal their hilarity as police pulled over owner Kevin Godin-Prior, who was taking them to a community shop following a house clearance  ironically wearing a Spiderman costume beneath his overalls.

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Mr Godin-Prior was pulled over carrying a variety of household objects sticking out of his boot - even a fridge

Be Prepared: Mr Godin-Prior, pictured, said he used knots picked up in the Scouts to keep his cargo in place

But amazingly they are understood to have allowed him on his way after checking the load was securely strapped down.

The extraordinary pictures were taken by Steve Fazackerley close to Manchester Citys Etihad Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

I was about to turn into McDonalds and saw the car being pulled over. I had to do a double take, he said yesterday.

I couldnt stop giggling. I thought it was hilarious. As I was filming, the police officer saw me. I held my hand up and said sorry for laughing.

She said it was okay, and seemed to cover her mouth to stop herself giggling too.

Who knows what they thought they were doing. All sorts was sticking out the back. A mop fell out at one point. Im still laughing - it made my day.

Yesterday 62-year-old Mr Godin-Prior  who is well-known in the area for dressing up as Spiderman  admitted the outsized cargo had drawn glances of amazement, but insisted he had known what he was doing.

It probably looks as though the fridge-freezer was going to fall out the back, but it was wedged in place by the hatchback of the car, he said.

The officers tried to move it, but the only thing they could pull out was the mop, the rest was securely tied down.

They said as I was only going another mile they were going to let me carry on and just gave me words of advice.

Mr Godin-Prior, who is already something of a personality in the Gorton area of Manchester, said the items  which also included a microwave and a television  came from a house clearance three miles away.

Snapped: Shocked motorists took pictures of the overloaded vehicle, pictured, driven by Mr Godin-Prior

Pairs of tracksuit bottoms tied either side were acting as flags to warn passing traffic of the abnormal load, he added.

They said as I was only going another mile they were going to let me carry on and just gave me words of advice.

Mr Godin-Prior, who is already something of a personality in the Gorton area of Manchester, said the items  which also included a microwave and a television  came from a house clearance three miles away.

Pairs of tracksuit bottoms tied either side were acting as flags to warn passing traffic of the abnormal load, he added.

The council were changing the locks, and everything would have gone in a skip otherwise, he said.

The chap who normally collects furniture in his van was busy, and my Renault Espace was being serviced, so I had to try and squeeze as much as possible in my other car, which is much smaller.

Both passers-by and police officers were spotted laughing at the incident in Beswick, Manchester

Im an ex-Boy Scout so I know what Im doing with knots  it was all perfectly safe. I loaded the fridge-freezer with the compressor inside the car so it was never going to fall out.

The main thing is all the items are now at the shop where they will be useful for someone  but next time Ill try to use a van instead.

Mr Godin-Prior has attracted many headlines in Manchester for his superhero sideline, most recently claiming to have broken up a street brawl while dressed as Spiderman last November. He claims to have made about 40 citizens arrests since he was 18.

Greater Manchester Police said it could find no record of Mr Godin-Priors car being pulled over.

The Highway Code states that drivers should not overload their vehicle, but police have a high degree of discretion.

Rule 98 states: You MUST secure your load and it MUST NOT stick out dangerously.
A dozen women who were forced into prostitution in the Seattle area were freed, police said on Thursday.

Another 14 people were arrested and police and shut down two websites this week as part of a sex-trafficking investigation.

Most or all of the exploited women had been brought to the United States from South Korea, where some had been forced into bondage to pay off debts their families owed to criminal organizations, King County Sheriff John Urquhart said.

Eleven men who were arrested were part of an online network that included websites where customers rated the women and posted details to help facilitate the prostitution, he added.

King County Sheriff John Urquhart said on Thursday that a dozen women had been freed after being forced into prostitution in the Seattle area

The men face felony charges of promoting prostitution, as do two other men and one woman identified by police as brothel managers.

'These women are true victims  make no mistake about it,' Urquhart told a news conference.

Authorities seized a website called The Review Board, which they said had about 20,000 members around the country.

The website on Thursday featured the insignia of the agencies involved in the investigation - the sheriff's office, Bellevue Police Department, King County Prosecutor's Office and FBI - along with the message, 'This website has been seized pursuant to a Promoting Prostitution investigation'.

A similar, password-protected website was also shut down.

The seizure of The Review Board drew objections from a group of self-identified sex workers who protested outside the sheriff's office Thursday, saying that it was a service that helped protect those voluntarily involved in the trade.

Sex workers could vet potential clients by seeing whom they had reviewed, then contacting those prostitutes to ask about them, some said.

In a written statement, the local chapter of the Sex Workers Outreach Project, an organization that fights the stigma of sex work, said the website also enhanced the safety of sex workers by allowing them to work without managers, or pimps.

But Urquhart and Bellevue Police Chief Steve Mylett said there was nothing safe about the website.

Most or all of the exploited women had been brought to the United States from South Korea, Urquhart said. HE added that some of the women had been forced into bondage to pay off debts their families owed to criminal organizations

Fox reporter Andrew Padula holds a large stack of charging documents for those arrested in connection to the sex-trade investigation

The women involved in the case had been shipped from city to city about every month and typically were not allowed to leave their apartments except to go to the airport, they said.

The trafficking had connections to about 15 states, and the women serviced between two and ten clients a day.

Police said they had no interest in arresting the women, but could assist them in obtaining visas reserved for victims of human trafficking.

The Bellevue Police Department's part of the investigation began when a resident of a high-end apartment building reported that a neighbor appeared to be involved in prostitution.

Police identified the man who had leased the apartment as Donald Mueller, 58.

In a probable cause statement, a Bellevue police detective wrote that Mueller confessed to him during an interview at a Starbucks coffee shop.

Mueller said he leased apartments for the prostitutes to use, collected $100 of their hourly $300 fee, transported them to the airport and advertised their services, the detective wrote. He made about $1,500 a day, the statement said.

In an email with an undercover detective, Mueller also explained how he got into the business, the charging document said: 'His former business of growing marijuana became significantly less fruitful because of the legal marijuana dispensaries' after licensed recreational pot shops opened in the state last year.

Police began their investigation after a resident of a high-end apartment building (pictured) reported that their neighbor appeared to be participating in prostitution

Police said the women who were freed will not be arrested, and that officials could assist them in obtaining visas reserved for victims of human trafficking

No attorney had entered an appearance in court on behalf of Mueller or Michael Wayne Durnal, who was accused of operating under a similar business model.

The King County sheriff's office said ten other men arrested were part of a group called 'the league'.

They shared specific information about prostitution in the area and strategized to promote the market for Korean women during occasional meetings at local pubs, investigators said.

One undercover detective infiltrated the group, Urquhart said.

In charging documents, that detective described the meetings he attended: 'Many times the discussions were so graphic that patrons sitting at tables next to us would get up and leave or move to another table'.

The defendants discussed that the women involved were trafficked and probably not voluntarily engaging in prostitution, Urquhart said.

He also said law enforcement did not yet know how many customers had paid for sex with women they met on the websites, but that after executing 126 search warrants and court orders, investigators had lots of information about them - especially because the website operators had vetted customers.
of the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department has revealed his officers have been receiving death threats

Members of the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department have been receiving death threats since the release of the popular Netflix series Making a Murderer.

OnMilwaukee sat down for an interview with Sheriff Robert Hermann who revealed that the FBI has become involved after an anonymous caller 'said something to the effect of if you didn't hurt yourself, I'd do it for you. With a bullet to the head.'

Sheriff Hermann - who was the undersheriff at the time of the Steven Avery case which is the focus of the docuseries - also said that he now regrets that the department was ever involved in the investigation.

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Scary: Sheriff Robert Hermann (above) of the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department has revealed they have been receiving death threats

Reason: The department's investigation into the murder of Teresa Halbach and conviction of Steven Avery (above on right) is the focus of Netflix's Making a Murderer

Sheriff Hermann still firmly stands behind his claims that no one in the department planted evidence while investigating Avery following the death of Teresa Halbach, but said had he known that his defense team would introduce this idea during trial they would have never gotten involved in the case.

'From the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, had we known this would be the defense strategy, yeah, I think that would definitely be the best thing to do,' said Sheriff Hermann.

He then added; 'We would probably have been better off turning the whole thing over.'

At the time, Avery had also filed a $36million civil suit against the department after serving 18 years in prison for a rape he did not commit.

That however would not have impacted the way the department investigated Avery according to Sheriff Hermann.

'We have one of the best criminal justice systems in the world, and one of the finest in Wisconsin,' said Sheriff Hermann.

'This has had a huge negative impact from outside, from other countries even. It's very untrue and unfair.'

As for the threats, Sheriff Hermann also revealed that the department received an email that read; 'Please, I understand that the majority of law enforcement have an extremely limited education which is why all of you would be doing the State/Country an immense favor by eating a bullet.

'But hell, it would take years to figure out that you all shot yourselves.'

One officer also received a package that ended up being a glitter bomb sent to their home with a card that read 'for Steven Avery.'

Even though it was only a glitter bomb, the FBI was first contacted when the officer received the package to be safe.

'It affects us all,' said Sheriff Hermann.

'People are getting them at home. It disrupts life. People got stuff in the mail. A party bomb. A glitter bomb. It consumes some of us. Dealing with the media.'
A Canberra man has handed himself into police after they released sickening images of a one-punch attack on New Year's Day which landed a young man in hospital for emergency surgery on his broken jaw.

Surveillance video from the incident in Civic in the early hours of last Friday was released by ACT Police to encourage witnesses to come forward, as they tried to track down the attacker.

'A Braddon man aged in his 20s is now assisting police with their enquiries into a "coward punch" assault that occurred in Civic in the early hours of New Years Day,' confirmed ACT Police.

'This afternoon the man handed himself in at City Police Station and is now assisting police with their investigations.'

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Two men are seen on camera engaged in a heated conversation as the third, in a grey t-shirt and black pants, watches on with his fists clenched

The man in the grey t-shirt lurches forward and strikes the victim with a punch to the jaw

The CCTV begins by panning to a scene outside the Supa 24 convenience store, revealing two men face-to-face seemingly in an argument.

A group of onlookers watch as the taller man dressed in all-black points at the shorter male with blond hair, as he steps back slightly and then waves his arm.

To their side is a third man, described by ACT Police as being between 170180cm tall with dark complexion. He is watching on, poised and with his fists clenched.

As the man in the blue shirt takes a step forward, the other wearing a grey T-shirt and black pants moves in and strikes him with a heavy punch to the head.

The victim reels from the blow, he's knocked unconscious and falls heavily to the ground.

His attacker and the other man are seen turning and running off as one of the onlookers, in a black and white t-shirt, rushes to the victim's aid and lifts his head off the ground.

The injured man is aged in his 20s and is now recovering at home after being released from the Canberra Hospital, following surgery on his broken jaw.

The victim, a Canberra man in his 20s, begins to fall backwards after the heavy blow as people watch

The attack outside the Supa 24 convenience store located on East Row in Civic shows the man in his 20s falling to the ground, seemingly unconscious

The young man has crashed to the ground heavily as his attacker begins to move away

The attacker and another man, dressed in black, turn to leave the scene with the victim seemingly unconscious

The attacker has run off as one of the onlookers rushes to the injured man's aid outside the store

ACT Policing released the vision 'seeking witnesses to a coward punch assault that occurred in Civic in the early hours of New Years Day (Friday 1 January)'.

'About 2.45am a male was the victim of a coward punch assault whilst outside the Supa 24 convenience store located on East Row, Civic,' they stated.

'The victim was in conversation with another male person when he was struck from the side by a second male.

'Police arrived on the scene where they found the male victim laying on his back unconscious with his head on the ground.
The ranchers holed up inside a nature reserve in Oregon have refused to leave despite meeting with a sheriff who offered to safely escort them out of the state.

Ryan and Ammon Bundy, who are occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, took over the building six days ago in a protest over grazing rights on federal land.

They had insisted they will not leave until land is handed over to ranchers but have hinted they might end up leaving early as support for their cause dwindles.

Last night they turned down a sheriff's offer to help them leave, saying their demands had not been met.

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Ammon Bundy (right) met with Harney County Sheriff David Ward (left) along a road south of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Thursday

The ranchers (Ryan Bundy, right, and his bodyguard Kjar) holed up inside a nature reserve in Oregon surrounded by pizza boxes and bullets believe the FBI are engaging them in psychological warfare

Ammon (left) and Ryan Bundy (right), who are occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, revealed the paranoid state in which they live

Harney County Sheriff David Ward asked Ammon Bundy and his group to respect the wishes of residents and leave.

'There are some positives that could come out of this,' Ward told Bundy during their meeting at the intersection of two remote roads.

'Before this thing turns into something negative, which would ruin all of that, I think we need to find a peaceful resolution to help you guys get out of here,' Ward said.

Bundy said his complaints about land being run by the federal government were being ignored and refused to leave. The pair will talk again on Friday.

The Bundys said on Wednesday that they believed the FBI were preparing to raid the facility, even though the authorities said the bureau was not going to intervene on the peaceful protest.

But now they say the authorities had led them to believe a raid was imminent, when it was not, in an act of psychological warfare.

'They were trying to see how we would react to the imminent threat,' Ryan Bundy said.

The brothers also said they could no longer trust some of their inner circle, which was once a group of 20 demonstrators but now appears to be diminishing.

They have taken over an office of civil servant and biologist, Linda Sue Beck, who works in the building.

They now see the woman as a symbol of the federal government and do not want her to return to work.

The Bundys took over the building five days ago in a protest over grazing rights on federal land. Pictured, Ammon Bundy prays inside the reserve

Protester Duane Ehmer rides his horse Hellboy at the occupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on the sixth day of the occupation

Protest leader Ryan Bundy speaks on his phone at the occupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

'She's not here working for the people,' Ryan Bundy said. 'She's not benefiting America. She's part of what's destroying America.'

The once tidy working space is littered with empty pizza boxes and cases of bullets for the Bundys' rifles. An adjoining laboratory has become a kitchen where the men make coffee.

Despite now believing the FBI raid was a red herring, Ammon Bundy still believes he could be killed while protesting.

On his cell phone is a recording of what he says is an eyewitness raising questions about the government case against the Hammonds - the jailed ranchers who the Bundys were originally protesting in support of.

'If they kill me, grab my phone,' Ammon Bundy said.

The protest leaders admitted that a time will come when they will have to leave the reserve, but say it could be a while before they back down.

'When we can say, "OK, now we can go home," would be when the people of Harney County are secure enough and confident enough that they can continue to manage their own land and their own rights and resources without our aid,' Ryan Bundy said.

'And we intend to turn this facility into a facility that will aid that process.'

The pair have drawn a logo and even given a new name to the building - Harney County Resource Center - in preparation for if the land is handed over to them.

The Burns Paiute tribe demanded protesters (protest leader Ammon Bundy, center) occupying a nature reserve in Oregon leave as they claimed the disputed federal land should be under their control

The group of about 20 protesters, overseen by Ammon Bundy (pictured talking to the Press on Wednesday), have been occupying Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for six days

The Burns Paiute tribe (tribe chairman Charlotte Rodrique pictured) said they were 'dragged' from their land in the 1870s and that they have a greater claim to the land than the protesters

On Wednesday, t ribe leaders demanded the protesters 'get the hell out of here' as they claimed the disputed federal land should be under their control.

The Burns Paiute tribe said they were 'dragged' from their land in the 1870s and that they have a greater claim to the land than the protesters, led by the Bundy family.

The tribe, who have used the 'sacred site' for as long as 6,000 years, accused the demonstrators of 'desecrating' the reserve and called for them to leave immediately.

Charlotte Rodrique, chairman of the Burns Paiute tribe, said: 'I just think they're a bunch of glory hounds. I don't give much credence to their cause.

'The protesters have no right to this land. It belongs to the native people who live here. There was never an agreement that we were giving up this land. We were dragged out of here.

'Armed protesters don't belong here. We have no sympathy for those who are trying to take the land from its rightful owners.'
An Arizona congressman plans to file a bill Friday to strip comedian Bill Cosby of the Presidential Medal of Freedom he received in 2002 - a step the White House signaled on Thursday it may not take.

The legislation by Rep. Paul Gosar would not only revoke the medal Cosby was awarded by former President George W. Bush, but it would impose criminal penalties for anyone wearing or displaying of a medal that has been revoked.

Cosby was charged last week with three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting a young woman in 2004. The case was filed in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

White House Spokesman Josh Earnest on Thursday was non-committal, saying the administration would 'take a look at it,' but that he has not spoken with President Barack Obama about the matter.

Earnest did say the White House was 'mindful' about setting a precedent that would allow future presidents to play partisan politics with the awarding of the presidential medal.

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Bill Cosby with Hank Aaron at the 2002 White House ceremony in which they were both awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Cosby was awarded the presidential medal by then-President George W. Bush

Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar held a press conference Thursday to announce his bill will be filed on Friday to strip Cosby of the medal - and impose criminal penalties for anyone who wears or displays a Presidential Medal of Freedom that has been revoked

White House Spokesman Josh Earnest on Thursday said the White House is 'mindful' that revoking presidential medals is a power that could be abused in the future

'I certainly wouldn't want our position on this issue to be perceived by anyone or any group as a way to condone the kind of behavior that Mr. Cosby has been accused of,' Earnest said.

'At the same time, these kinds of essentially symbolic commemorations are always difficult to deal with, and you certainly wouldn't want a scenario where this kind of process could get infused with politics, and you have successive Congresses in the future passing pieces of legislation to try to undo medals that have been conferred by previous presidents who happen to be in the other party.'

'So that's part of what we're mindful of here, But I think the president was quite clear.. in showing his own personal disgust for the kind of behavior that Mr. Cosby is accused of, and the president made clear that he doesn't have any tolerance for it.'

Gosar announced his intentions in a press release last week that was accompanied by a copy of the legislation.

On Thursday, in his own press conference, the congressman described his reasoning.

'Sadly, over the past year, we have learned from Cosbys own admissions that he acted in ways unbecoming of a recipient of the Medal of Freedom,' Gosar said. 'To continue honoring Bill Cosby with this prestigious accolade would be an affront to women nationwide, particularly those who were victims of his horrific acts.'

Gosar noted that Obama was asked at a press conference earlier this year about revoking Cosby's medal, to which the president responded that there was no mechanism to do so.

'Tomorrow, several of my colleagues and I will introduce legislation that ensures there is a mechanism in place to strip Cosby, or anyone else found dishonorable, of the Medal of Freedom,' Gosar said Thursday. 'Our legislation imposes criminal penalties for anyone who wears or publicly displays a Presidential Medal of Freedom that has been revoked.'

Lastly, Gosar acknowledged that Cosby has yet to be convicted of any crimes - but he pointed to the comedian's own deposition as proof that he is no longer worthy of the medal.

'By allowing Cosby to keep his Medal of Freedom, our nation is sending the wrong message to society and future generations,' he said. 'And like so many Americans, I am sick and tired of watching the rapid decline of our culture right in front of our eyes. It is time to reclaim our nations moral compass.'

Cosby was charged Wednesday with three felonies stemming from a 2004 allegation of sexual assault

Cosby's mug shot on Wednesday

Gosar is also circulating a 'Dear Colleague' letter among other representatives, in an effort to gain co-sponsors.

'The shocking admissions of Cosby during a 2005 deposition, coupled with the harrowing accounts of more than 50 women of Cosbys sexual assault and drugging, make him unfit to retain our nations highest civilian honor,' the letter reads.

'Cosby has admitted to drugging women in order to satisfy his sexual desires, and, therefore, the federal government should not recognize him with an honor like the Presidential Medal of Freedom.'

'Our nation should honor people of integrity who make significant positive contributions to American life. Because of his actions, Bill Cosby should no longer be included in this exclusive club.'

Gosar is an ally of Promoting Awareness | Victim Empowerment (PAVE), a DC-based nonprofit organization that works to prevent sexual assault and heal survivors.

He has been working on the Medal of Freedom legislation ever since Cosby's 2005 deposition was released this past July, according to his press release.

At least 50 women have come forward to accuse Cosby of some type of harassment or assault, but the statute of limitations has expired in almost every case

In the Affidavit of Probable Cause filed last week, prosecutors said 'the evidence here demonstrates that the victims substantially impaired condition prevented her ability to consent, or even defend herself from Cosbys sexual assault,' Gosar noted in his release.
Resignation: Stephen Doughty, pictured announcing his resignation on the BBC's Daily Politics

The BBC faced a barrage of criticism last night after it emerged the team behind its Daily Politics show had orchestrated the on-air resignation of a shadow minister.

Labour politician Stephen Doughty dramatically quit his post as shadow foreign affairs minister live on Wednesday's programme, just moments before the start of Prime Minister's Questions.

The MP for Cardiff South and Penarth was one of three frontbench ministers who stepped down in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet 'revenge reshuffle'.

Yesterday the output editor for the Daily Politics, Andrew Alexander, wrote a blog post on the BBC website, explaining how the explosive moment came about.

In the post, which has since been deleted, Mr Alexander claimed BBC News political editor Laura Kuenssberg had 'sealed the deal' with Mr Doughty before the show had even started filming, undermining what appeared to be an unplanned moment.

The BBC was later forced to defend its position, releasing a statement saying Mr Doughty had 'already decided to resign and willingly chose to make his announcement on the programme.'

The revelations sparked an online backlash, with hundreds social media users, many of them Labour supporters, criticising the Corporation for the 'engineering the news' and 'bias' reporting.

But other Labour party members warned critics to temper their anger.

Labour MP John Woodcock wrote: 'We rightly deride SNP for their unhinged claim that BBC was biased in the referendum. We shouldn't let unnamed sources drag us to that level'.

Mr Corbyn was hit by a wave of front bench resignations on Wednesday after he sacked a shadow minister who questioned his soft stance on terrorism.

The Labour leader finally completed his 'revenge reshuffle' shortly after midnight by removing Europe spokesman Pat McFadden for 'disloyalty'.

Revelations: The output editor for the Daily Politics, Andrew Alexander, wrote a blog post on the BBC website's 'academy' page, explaining how the explosive moment on Wednesday's show came about

Removed: Mr Alexander's post has since been removed (webpage pictured) and the BBC defended its actions

Backlash: Twitter users slammed the BBC for 'conspiring' with the MP after the blog post was published

Pro-Trident defence spokesman Maria Eagle was replaced by Emily Thornberry, who shares Mr Corbyn's anti-nuclear views.

The sacking of Blairite Mr McFadden came after he attacked the Stop the War Coalition  of which Mr Corbyn was chairman  for claiming the Paris terror attacks showed France was 'reaping the whirlwind' for military intervention in the Middle East.

Rail spokesman Jonathan Reynolds was the first to quit in protest at the reshuffle, saying Labour should never attempt to apologise for terrorism.

He was followed by Kevan Jones, a defence spokesman, who said the appointment of Miss Thornberry was 'a mistake'.

Mr Doughty then stood down, telling the Daily Politics that he had 'looked at his own conscience' and was stepping down after the leader's office told 'lies' about Mr McFadden's dismissal.

Mr Doughty told the BBC Mr Corbyn's team were briefing lines which were 'simply not true'.

Dramatic: Mr Doughty, right, with BBC News political editor Laura Kuenssberg on Wednesday's show. It emerged Ms Kuenssberg 'sealed the deal' over Mr Doughty's announcement before the show aired

Protest: Mr Doughty was one of three frontbench ministers who stepped down in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet 'revenge reshuffle'. Europe spokesman Pat McFadden (left) was removed for 'disloyalty'

In his post on the BBC 'Academy' page, which provides training material from industry professionals, Mr Alexander wrote about how the moment was stage-managed.

He wrote how on Wednesday morning Ms Kuenssberg informed the team that she was 'speaking to one junior shadow minister who was considering resigning'.

Presenter Andrew Neil reportedly questioned whether the minister would make the announcement live on the show, and it was put to Ms Kuenssberg, who 'thought it was a great idea'.

Mr Alexander wrote how the team 'carried on the usual work of building the show', which included speaking to Labour MPs who were confirming reports that there could be a wave of resignations.

He continued: 'Within the hour we heard that Laura had sealed the deal: the shadow foreign minister Stephen Doughty would resign live in the studio.'

'Shameful': Hundreds of Twitter users were outraged by the way events unfolded before the announcement

And the importance of the moment - which was sure to garner the programme national and international attention - was not on Mr Alexander.

'We knew his resignation just before PMQs would be a dramatic moment with big political impact,' he wrote.

He said the presenters were briefed on the interview while a camera crew filmed Mr Doughty and Ms Kuenssberg arriving at the studio, with the view the footage could be used for TV news packages.

The timing of Mr Doughty's announcement meant Mr Corbyn was caught off guard during Prime Minister's Questions less than an hour later.

The revealing blog post by Mr Alexander sparked a social media storm, with hundreds of Twitter users criticising the BBC for 'engineering news'.

One user wrote: 'Well that isn't what I would call impartial reporting! The BBC is so obviously right wing...'

Outrage: Other users attacked Mr Doughty directly, slamming his decision to 'collude' with the BBC

Another branded the BBC a 'disgrace', writing, '24/7 criticism of #corbyn and now conspiring with Stephen Doughty to maximise "political impact" of resigning on-air'.

A Twitter user called Keith Hursthouse posted: ''I find it astonishing that the BBC organised Stephen Doughty's live TV resignation. Surely heads have to roll? Where's the BBC impartiality?'

With Catherine Hedley writing: 'I think that is shameful of the BBC and Stephen Doughty. How cheap and shoddy is that?'

Another tweet read: 'It was deeply inappropriate, at very least, for @bbclaurak [Laura Kuenssberg] to be engineering news. Behaving like a red top hack.'

Mr Doughty was also criticised by Labour supporters.

Eleanor Land wrote: 'Your actions yesterday were reprehensible, resigning on live TV in a plot by BBC, I'm ashamed you are in the same party as me'.

Another said: 'So you colluded with the BBC to resign live on air? You are everything that's wrong with politics.'

While David Mellor posted: 'Resigning on live tv...Really? Next stop Big Brother for more ego boosting fame jockeying? Show some dignity.'
Coles has offered to exchange Dick Smith gift cards for customers who bought vouchers at its supermarkets prior to the electronic store going into administration.

Furious customers were informed outstanding gift cards, some worth up to $1,000, would be not honoured by Dick Smith Electronics after the retailer went into administration on Tuesday.

Receiver Ferrier Hodgson also revealed Dick Smith would not refund deposits paid for goods as affected customers would become unsecured creditors of the group.

Furious customers were informed outstanding gift cards, some worth up to $1,000, would be not honoured by Dick Smith Electronics after the retailer went into administration on Tuesday

Coles, who removed Dick Smith gift cards from its shelves as soon as the company went into voluntary administration, announced on Friday it would exchange unredeemed gift cards for its customers 'as a gesture of goodwill'.

The supermarket giant will exchange valid, unredeemed Dick Smith gift cards purchased at Coles between July 1, 2015 and when the company went into receivership for Coles gift cards of equal value.

The offer is only open to customers with proof of purchase showing the gift cards were purchased at Coles.

Coles has already passed on the sale proceeds of the gift cards to Dick Smith Electronics.

Dick Smith came under fire from angry customers this week after the retailer had a promotion before Christmas that saw customers receive an extra 10 percent on gift cards purchased from Coles and Woolworths.

'Coles has also written to the administrators of Dick Smith Electronics urging them to honour outstanding gift cards, some of which were purchased as Christmas gifts as part of a 10 percent bonus promotion Dick Smith Electronics initiated on gift card sales in December,' a spokesman said.

Coles, who removed Dick Smith gift cards from its shelves as soon as the company went into voluntary administration, announced it would exchange unredeemed gift cards for its customers goodwill gesture

Talk to the Techxperts: A Canberra man shared photographs with Daily Mail Australia of himself using his gift card in lighthearted ways, such as spreading Nutella, after learning his $50 voucher was worthless

'A nice coaster for my whiskey': The Canberra man, who did not want to be identified, joked he would get 'so many uses' out of the card

'A nice coaster for my whiskey': The Canberra man, who did not want to be identified, joked he would get 'so many uses' out of the card

It comes after several customers told Daily Mail Australia of their anger at the money they and their loved ones had lost, while others mocked their now useless Christmas presents online.

A Canberra man shared photographs of himself using his valueless $50 gift card to defrost his freezer and to spread Nutella. He also repurposed it into a drink coaster for a tumbler of whiskey.

'So many uses. I'm sure I'll get $50 out of it,' joked the man, who said he did not wish to be named.

'I do feel bad for the person who bought it for me, they are feeling quite guilty that the basically got me a dud gift - and feel kind of scammed out of $50.

Melbourne student Li Huiwen, lost $900 on gift cards she purchased from Coles in October.

She wanted to buy a mobile phone and decided to utilise the 10 percent deal on gift cards.

The gift card was declined when she tried to use it at at Melbourne store on Tuesday.

'They just said unfortunately and I am sorry, that kind of thing,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'It's atrocious': Father-of-two Tim Hawkins (pictured with family) used his credit card points to buy $970 worth of Dick Smith vouchers. He was going to use them to buy his two children school laptops...

Dick Smith came under fire from angry customers after the retailer had a promotion before Christmas that saw customers receive an extra 10 percent on gift cards purchased from Coles and Woolworths

'I got extremely angry. Their staff tell me that maybe I can use it in the future, but I don't think so.'

Father-of-two Tim Hawkins, from Mulgoa in western Sydney, recently used his credit card points to buy $970 worth of Dick Smith gift cards.

He was going to use them to buy school laptops for his kids, age 11 and 14.

'I think it's outrageous they're still operating a business but not honouring the arrangements,' Mr Hawkins told Daily Mail Australia.

'It's really dishonourable. And in the name of a good icon like Dick Smith - it's atrocious'.

Coles customers can exchange their gift cards by calling its Customer Care line on 1800 061 562 to obtain a redemption form, which will also be made available on the coles.com.au website.
A Kansas legislator said Thursday that he regrets sharing a post on Facebook that mocked Hispanics who speak accented English to make a derogatory comment about President Barack Obama.

Rep. John Bradford, a Lansing Republican, said in a statement that sharing the post this week was 'in bad taste.'

The posting on the Conservative Country community Facebook page featured a photo of a man wearing a sombrero and a headline, 'Mexican words of the day.'

It then jokingly fashioned unrelated words into a mock sentence in heavily accented English that celebrated Obama's leaving office in January 2017.

It also included an altered picture of the Democratic president.

Kansas State Rep. John Bradford, R-Lansing (above), appears at the Statehouse in Topeka.

The above meme mocking Mexican speech is likely the one that lawmaker Bradford shared on his Facebook page

The posting received additional attention because Bradford was among nine GOP conservatives who last year filed a formal complaint against Democratic Rep. Valdenia Winn of Kansas City over remarks she made during a House Education Committee meeting.

Winn described supporters of a bill denying in-state tuition to people who are in the U.S. illegally as 'racist bigots.'

Several Democrats and Pedro Irigonegaray, a prominent Topeka attorney and Cuban immigrant, described Bradford's posting as racist.

Irigonegaray and Kansas Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, said the GOP-dominated House should investigate and consider disciplinary action.

'Kansans should not have to tolerate this type of bigoted mentality from anyone, especially an elected official,' said former state Rep. Melody McCray-Miller, the Kansas Democratic Party's vice chairwoman.

The original posting was Sunday, and the Wichita Eagle reported that Bradford shared it Tuesday. Bradford removed it from his Facebook page by Thursday afternoon, but Hensley's statement included an image of Bradford's post.

'I did not create the image, but I did share it, which was in bad taste. I regret that decision,' Bradford said in his statement, declining to say more in a later telephone call with The Associated Press.

Bradford released his statement through House Speaker Ray Merrick's office. Merrick, a Stilwell Republican, didn't issue a separate statement or respond publicly to calls for an investigation of the posting.

When Bradford and other GOP conservatives filed their complaint against Winn last year, Merrick was required under the House rules to appoint a bipartisan investigating committee.

Winn is black; Bradford is white, but two of the nine lawmakers filing the complaint also are black.

Bradford and the other Republicans saw Winn's comments as an unfair and inappropriate criticism of committee members.

In response to objections during the meeting, Winn said she was referring to 'supporters' of the immigration legislation but added, 'If the shoe fits, it fits.'
Europe faces the threat of a rise in violence and sex attacks because of the overwhelming number of single male migrants arriving, an American professor has warned.

The vast number of teenage boys coming to the continent after fleeing poverty in Africa and the Middle East is creating imbalances in the number of men and women in some areas, it is claimed.

More than 66 per cent of adult migrants arriving through Italy and Greece in the past year were male, according to the International Organization of Migration  along with 90 per cent of unaccompanied under-18s.

Hundreds of people gather in front of Cologne's main railway station, where disorder broke out last week and groups of 'Arab and North African' men attacked dozens of women

Groups of revellers gather in the city centre during the celebrations last week which quickly turned to chaos

Valerie Hudson, a professor at Texas A&M University, said numerous academic studies have shown that the higher the sex ratio, the worse the crime rate.

Our research also found a link between sex ratios and the emergence of both violent criminal gangs and anti-government movements,' she wrote in an article published on US website Politico. It makes sense. When young adult males fail to make the transition to starting a household  particularly those young males who are already at risk for sociopathic behaviour due to marginalisation, a common concern among immigrants  their grievances are aggravated.

There are also clearly negative effects for women in male-dominated populations. Crimes such as rape and sexual harassment become more common in highly masculinised societies. Young men are thought to be more likely to leave countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria as they are at greater risk of being forced to join fighting groups or of being killed rather than just captured.

Figures compiled by Professor Hudson showed that among the general population of Sweden the ratio of 16 and 17-year-old boys to girls was now skewed at 123:100 because of the influx of migrants.

Swedish government statistics for 2015 up to November show that 71 per cent of all asylum applicants were male. Among unaccompanied minors there was a ratio of 11.3 boys for every girl.

A group of men set off fireworks during the New Year's Eve celebrations in Cologne last week. Police say groups of men (not pictured) were responsible for coordinated attacks on women

Some of the arrivals are expected to be joined later by female relatives, but they are unlikely to fully balance out the disparity.

The EU yesterday warned the flow of migrants coming into Europe was continuing at the same pace despite a landmark deal with Turkey. In November, EU leaders pledged three billion euros in aid for more than two million Syrian refugees in Turkey, in exchange for it acting to stem the flow.

But the number of migrants travelling in the last couple of weeks via Turkey remains relatively high, European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans said at the launch of the Netherlands six-month EU presidency.
Warning: Lawyer Nazir Afzal is concerned that the influx of young, male migrants risks tipping the whole balance of European society

As the song says, its raining men. But it is no cause for hallelujahs. Far from it  the influx of young, male migrants from the Middle East and North Africa risks tipping the whole balance of European society.

A disproportionate majority of the immigrants from Syria, Iraq and Libya are unmarried young men, many of them under 18, travelling without family members.

Restless and rootless, those lone boys are part of a very alarming trend. Studies consistently show that communities with a predominance of single males are more prone to aggression and, in particular, sexual violence.

We had a grim warning of what this means on New Years Eve, when gangs of hundreds of young men of North African or Middle Eastern appearance, many of them apparently drunk and speaking Arabic, crowded around female revellers in Cologne and Hamburg, and robbed them while committing vile sexual assaults.

The victims spoke of being surrounded by 20 or 30 men at a time who pressed against them so hard they were unable to move or fight back, let alone escape. While some men groped the women, others snatched bags, phones and purses.

The assaults were terrifying and degrading, and many of the women felt too defiled even to be able to report the robberies for several days. When they did, the police initially did not appear to take them seriously.

It is a shocking development, but one that does not altogether surprise me. Male-dominated migration is a problem we need to be talking about.

Many readers might assume that in warzones such as Syria and Iraq, it is women and children who are most at risk. But its the boys, from the age of about eight and up, who are most likely to be turned by Islamic State into cub fighters  or killed. Thats why they are so vulnerable, and so intent on reaching safety out of the country.

In Europe last year, more than a million migrants swept in  up to 400 per cent more than arrived the previous year. Nearly all came across the Mediterranean from Africa or the Aegean coast, and according to figures released by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, half were Syrians, fleeing the war.

Another 20 per cent were Afghans, and 7 per cent Iraqis. The majority were brought in by people-smugglers, whose highly organised operations were worth an estimated $1 billion (680 million) last year alone.

This problem is familiar from nightly news coverage. But what the reports have failed to address is the damage that can be done to societies that prize sexual equality, and a peaceful, stable way of life, when so many migrants are young men.

Hundreds of people gather in front of Cologne's main railway station, where disorder broke out last week and groups of 'Arab or North African' men attacked dozens of women

Groups of revellers gather in the city centre during the celebrations last week which quickly turned to chaos

According to Unicef, more than one in five of the migrants is under 18. Of those youngsters on their own, about 90 per cent will be male. In Sweden, which welcomed nearly 28,000 migrants in the first nine months of last year, 71 per cent of all applicants for asylum were male.

On any given day in 2015, about 90 unaccompanied males younger than 18 came in, compared with just eight unaccompanied females.

The assaults were terrifying and degrading, and many of the women felt too defiled even to be able to report the robberies for several days. Lawyer Nazir Afzal

As a result, among 16- and 17-year-olds across Sweden as a whole, the male-to-female ratio is far more skewed even than in China at the height of its one-child policy, only recently relaxed.

As a fascinating article by Valerie Hudson on the Politico website reveals, 18,615 males aged 16 and 17 entered Sweden in the past year, compared with just 2,555 females of the same age. Added to the existing population of the same age, it means there are now 121,914 males in Sweden aged 16 or 17, compared with 99,079 girls  a 123:100 male-to-female ratio. In China, the male to female ratio in the same age group is approximately 117:100.

Hudson argues that it will not take long for Swedens broader young adult population to be similarly skewed, assuming the trend in migrant arrivals continues as expected beyond this year.

And it is not just Sweden. By September last year in Greece, the UNHCR believes, some 730,000 migrants had arrived on flotillas of boats, of whom more than a quarter were under 18. Again, the great majority were male.

People have not wanted to talk about this, but we have here a recipe for disaster. When more and more unaccompanied teenage males upset the sex ratio balance, insurmountable problems are created. As a former Chief Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, I have been warning for a long time that people bring cultural baggage with them from their old lives into their new environment.

A group of men set off fireworks during the New Year's Eve celebrations in Cologne last week. Police say groups of men (not pictured) were responsible for coordinated attacks on women

If they come from a country where women do not enjoy the same rights as men, or where homophobia is rampant, they will bring those moral codes with them. We have to be prepared for that  to acknowledge it, and to fight it. We cant just pretend it isnt happening.

Men who dont have a potential wife are more likely to get involved in crime, and less likely ever to become part of a family. They join gangs, they become rebellious and disaffected, and they start to behave as though the laws of their adopted home do not apply to them  and then we see appalling scenes such as those in Germany on New Years Eve.

As the mayor of Cologne has said, we have to be cautious about assuming the perpetrators are migrants, until we have evidence. But what is certain is that where you have large numbers of young men together anywhere, they will exhibit a herd mentality.

They feel they can do anything they want to anyone they outnumber, particularly women, who are extremely vulnerable in such an environment.

If they come from a country where women do not enjoy the same rights as men, or where homophobia is rampant, they will bring those moral codes with them. Lawyer Nazir Afzal

Britain has coped well with migrants in the past. The difference, however, with immigration in the Sixties and Seventies is that very often people came as families, with opportunities for work. My parents immigrated here from the north-west frontier of Pakistan in 1961, and I was born the following year. My family had worked with the British Army in India, and they carried on in that line of business, providing catering services to the forces in Northern Ireland during the Seventies.

What we have now is a very different situation. Canadas new liberal government has already taken action, with a ruling that starting in 2016, only women and families, and unaccompanied male minors, should be permitted entry. It means that older teen and young adult men will not be allowed in.

The British Government has adopted another partial solution, aiming to bring in only the most vulnerable from the refugee camps themselves. But these steps do not provide a complete answer.

The majority of young men arriving on European shores are unaccompanied, and when they disperse into existing communities they are likely to live with others of a similar background.

Education is the key, but my concern is that the resources are not there. More importantly, we lack the will to use what money we do have sensibly. People already claim, for example, that if there is to be education about honour killings and forced marriage, it must involve every child in the country, regardless of their race or background. This is nonsense.

And sadly, because of political correctness, and because some individuals and institutions are scared of seeming racist, we allow terrible abuses to happen in plain sight.

To the fury of many Germans, it has emerged that it took three days for the Cologne assaults to be taken seriously by the police, and initially they were largely ignored by the German news media.

In Britain, too, several predatory, mainly Asian, grooming gangs who targeted white girls in towns such as Rotherham were allowed to continue for years while the authorities hesitated to bring them to book.

During more than two decades at the CPS, first in London, and then in north-west England, I was responsible for bringing members of such gangs to justice. I was also the national lead against both honour killings and forced marriages.

At all times I aimed never to show neither fear nor favour, no matter the class, status, ethnicity or religion of any suspects. It was my compilation of evidence, for instance, that helped bring to justice the high-profile TV presenter Stuart Hall on serious charges of child abuse.

It is our duty to be concerned about the safety of everyone, and that, of course, includes people who come here as migrants.

But as a matter of policy we should be looking at bringing more women and children as part of the 20,000 we have agreed to take over the next four to five years, rather than just accepting them on the basis of first-come-first-served.
Campaigners want to define marriage as between a man and a woman

They say the petitions system could generate euroscepticism

A scheme allowing the public to put forward new EU laws is being reviewed after a campaign to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

The European Citizens Initiative was supposed to boost democracy by forcing the European Commission to examine proposals that were backed by more than a million signatures.

But Brussels officials have been accused of failing to recognise the whole point of the scheme after they complained the public were proposing the wrong sort of laws.

After Christian groups started gathering support for a proposal that gay marriage should not be recognised in European law, Eurocrats voiced concerns the petitions system could generate euroscepticism.

The European Citizens Initiative forces the European Commission to examine proposals backed by more than a million signatures. Commissioners ordered a rewiew of the scheme at a meeting in Brussels where they were told that campaigners wanted to start the petition defining marriage as between a man and a woman

At a meeting in Brussels last month where EU commissioners were told that campaigners wanted to start the petition on the definition of marriage they ordered a review.

The minutes reveal: During the ensuing discussion, the Members regretted that experience to date had shown that citizens initiatives did not always move European law or the European project forward, but tended instead to involve highly controversial and emotionally charged issues of greater interest to minorities than to the vast majority of EU citizens and, ultimately, generated Euroscepticism.

[They] called for a debate on how to rectify this situation and stressed that, in the current European context, the Commission should take account of the political consequences that this mechanism could have in the longer term.

It was noted that the European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, was in favour of discussing these matters at the Commission seminar to be held early in 2016.

Under the European Citizens Initiative scheme, which was introduced in 2012, the European Commission has to looks at proposed changes to EU law if campaigners collect one million signatures from across at least seven member states.

Previous petitions include one asking the EU to phase out animal testing, which attracted 1.2million signatures, and one to stop EU money being used to fund abortions or medical research that uses embryos, which got 1.7million signatures.

The Mums, Dads and Kids petition about the definition of marriage will launch later this month

A petition to legalise cannabis failed to get enough support to be examined.

The Mums, Dads and Kids petition, which will officially launch later this month, notes that wide parts of the population are very uncomfortable with the surreptitious re-definition of marriage through same-sex marriage in some member states.

It proposes a new law that would allow individual countries to continue to offer same-sex marriages, but would protect countries that do not from not having to give homosexual couples the same rights as heterosexual couples.

Paul Moynan, director of Christian charity Care For Europe, said: We want to see laws which support family life, and respect each member states right to make their own family policies.

With only 1.5 children being born to each European woman, there is an urgent need to encourage family life. Our populations are ageing and are less and less able to replace themselves. This spells economic and sociological disaster.

This is not so much a protest, but rather an urgent call for EU support for our most valuable institution, the family.

It is regrettable that the Commission which prides itself on standing up for minorities, here wants to dismiss the interest of the majority.
Investigators are looking into whether Bazemore may have been responsible for any other unsolved slashing attacks in the city

Attacked: Nicole Pagliaro believes she was attacked by the same slasher who was arrested for assaulting a woman on Wednesday

A 28-year-old New York woman who was slashed in the face on New Years day claims that she was attacked by the same man who was arrested on Wednesday evening for slashing another woman in Chelsea.

Nicole Pagliaro, a 28-year-old graphic designer, believes she was the first of 41-year-old Kari Bazemore's two alleged victims this week.

Pagliaro was in her Bronx neighborhood after having dinner with her cousin and his girlfriend when she says that she noticed Bazemore behind her, according to DNA Info.

'He stopped me and said, "Dont worry. Im not going to hurt you" and then slashed my face,' she said he told her before then speeding off.

'[He] didnt rob me, didnt go after me, didnt try to cut me multiple times,' she said. 'Just one slash and then ran off.'

Police would not confirm whether or not Pagliaro was one of Brazemore's alleged victims but But NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce did say that Bazemore was a suspect in a New Year's Day attack on a young woman in the neighborhood where Pagliaro was attacked.

Suspect: Kari Brazemore (pictured for the first time), 41, who is suspected in the slashing of Amanda Morris in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC is escorted from the 13th precinct. Nicole Pagliaro, a 28-year-old graphic designer, believes she was attacked by Brazemore on New Year's Day

Police say they apprehended 41-year-old Kari Bazemore on Wednesday after a witness recognized the Bronx man walking near St Patrick's Cathedral around 6pm. Pagliaro, who had 150 stiches, said she was shocked at how similar her attack was to that of Amanda Morris who was allegedly attacked by Brazemore in Chelsea

Police say they apprehended 41-year-old Kari Bazemore on Wednesday after a witness recognized the Bronx man walking near St Patrick's Cathedral around 6pm.

Pagliaro, who had 150 stiches, said she was shocked at how similar her attack was to that of Amanda Morris who was allegedly attacked by Brazemore in Chelsea.

'After reading this story from the Chelsea slashing, the way that he approached her, the way that he held the knife was exactly the same as my story,' Pagliaro said.

A witness trailed Bazemore in Chelsea on Wednesday and then alerted a pair of mounted NYPD officers who took Bazemore into custody.

Caught: Police in New York City have arrested the man (right) responsible for slashing a 24-year-old woman's (left) face on Wednesday. He has been identified as 41-year-old Kari Bazemore

Amanda Morris (pictured before the attack, left, and after, right) was viciously slashed in the face on her daily commute to work

He has been charged with felony assault and criminal possession of a weapon in connection to the attack that left 24-year-old woman Amanda Morris with gashes on her face.

The Brooklyn woman was walking in the upscale Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea around 6:30am Wednesday morning, on her way to her job at Whole Foods, when she became aware of a suspicious man in front of her.

The attacker had slowed down to let her pass him but turned and lunged at her, slashing a blade across her face.

According to police, Bazemore has been arrested 32 times since the 1990s, including a 2013 arrest for forcible touching and a charge in February for grand larceny.

On December 30, he was also arrested for punching a random woman on East 8th Street.

Police are looking into whether he may have been responsible for other unsolved slashings.

'It hasnt been determined whether theres a connection,' a police spokesman told the New York Daily News, 'and we are looking into prior slashings to see if theres any connection.'

Morris said on her Facebook page that she'd had a bad 'gut feeling' about the stranger, who appeared to her to be drunk or on drugs, from the moment she spotted him.

'Today was a difficult day that I never thought I would have to go through,' she wrote. 'I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.'

'He wanted to scar me, and that's why he went for my face,' she told NY Post.

The Whole Foods employee was on her way to work at about 5.30am in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York when she was slashed.

Morris was on her way to work on Wednesday morning was attacked by a stranger at about 6am in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City

The stranger runs up to the 24-year-old who was on her way to her job at Whole Foods, and slashes her in the face

He then flees, as Morris runs into a nearby diner to seek help after the attack. Witnesses said she was bleeding and had facial injuries

'I felt like I got punched in the face,' she told the newspaper. 'It was like, 'oh that's weird, why would someone punch me?' Suddenly blood was all over my hands, and I started crying.'

Morris ran into the diner for help, saying she was attacked on the sidewalk, where clientele and staff confirmed the wound must have been done with a knife or razor.

'I was freaking out, and I didn't really know what to do,' she added.

Witnesses said she appeared to have facial injuries and that she was bleeding, according to NBC New York.

'She was bleeding a lot, she was crying she walked in and she said that somebody slashed her in the face,' Alex Ramirez, who works at Malibu Diner, told CBS New York.

'She said that she was walking by going to her job and and then a person came out from out of nowhere,' Ramirez added.

Morris believes her attacker had intentionally meant to scar her, and that was why he had slashed at her face

A member of staff from the diner then helped Morris down the street to her place of work where her supervisor called 911.

She was taken to Bellevue Hospital where she received seven stitches and was then released

The victim said she had never seen the man before the unprovoked attack but called on others to be aware of the dangers of walking along in the early hours.

'Always, always trust your gut instincts,' she said. 'Even in a safer neighborhood such as Chelsea you should always stay alert and aware of your surroundings.

'Had I crossed the street this could have been avoided; never feel that you have to stay in an uncomfortable situation out of politeness/fear/etc.'
Yesterday, ISIS leader and chief spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani was injured in an airstrike in an Iraqi town

MQ-1B Predator armed drones are loaded with Hellfire air-to-surface missiles to carry out

New photographs show the Unites States Air Force preparing for airstrikes at a secret military base in Persian Gulf

U.S. is leading a 60-plus member coalition targeting the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria for more than a year

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New photographs show the Unites States Air Force preparing for strikes on ISIS targets at a secret military base in the Persian Gulf as a leader of the extremist group is reported injured in an attack.

The United States is leading a 60-plus member coalition targeting the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria and has been carrying out frequent warplane and drone raids for more than a year.

The MQ-1B Predator armed drones, which are loaded with Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, have been one of the U.S.'s most powerful weapons in the airstrikes against ISIS jihadists.

Only yesterday, ISIS leader and chief spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani was injured in an airstrike in the Iraqi town of Barwanah, in Anbar province, a statement from Iraq's Joint Operations Command revealed.

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New photographs show the Unites States Air Force preparing for strikes on ISIS targets at a secret military base in the Persian Gulf

An MQ-1B Predator armed drone aircraft is pictured being loaded with Hellfire air-to-surface missiles ready to launch airstrikes against the terrorist group

The U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), carrying a Hellfire missile, flies over an air base after flying a mission in the Persian Gulf region

The United States is leading a 60-plus member coalition targeting the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria and has been carrying out frequent warplane and drone raids for more than a year (pictures a Predator sits on the runway at a secret air base in the Persian Gulf region)

A ground crew guids a U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), at the base which is used to launch drone airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria

Only yesterday, ISIS leader and chief spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani was injured in an airstrike in the Iraqi town of Barwanah, in Anbar province

U.S. forces have been chasing Adnani for more than a month before they launched the attack. The ISIS leader was taken for medical treatment in the city of Hit after losing 'a large amount of blood' before being moved to Mosul with tight security, CNN reported.

On Wednesday, January 5, the U.S. led coalition staged 36 strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in its latest series of attacks against the extremist groups.

A bomb factory was one of the successful targets in Iraq while 14 strikes near Manbij in Syria hit multiple targets, the coalition said in a statement.

In the new year, the coalition has focused on supporting the offensive against Ramadi, which was reclaimed by Iraqi forces operating with the help of coalition airstrikes. Among the targets destroyed by drones on January 1 were ISIS machine-gun positions and a team of jihadis armed with RPGs.

Two days later British RAF Typhoon fighter jets bombed more mortar teams, snipers and machine-gunners, while Tornado jets dropped missiles on a truck-bomb and ISIS mortar and machine guns. On January 5, construction diggers used by Islamic State terrorists to build defences were destroyed in airstrikes.

The secret military base in the Persian Gulf is also used to transport cargo and and troops supporting Operation Inherent Resolve

The MQ-1B Predator, an armed multi-mission drone aircraft, is remotely operated by a pilot from the ground control station

A trained pilot grasps a flight control and weapons firing stick while preparing to launch a U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)

The MQ-1B Predator was originally created for the purpose of intelligence gathering but have been redesignated to carry weapons

U.S. military forces have around 150 of the drones, which have a wingspan of 55ft, cruise speed of 84mph and a range of 770 miles, and have been in operation since 2005

U.S. military and coalition forces also use the base, located in an undisclosed location, to distribute cargo and transport troops supporting Operation Inherent Resolve.

The Predators at the base are operated and maintained by the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, currently attached to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing.

The U.S.-led coalition fighting the terrorist group claimed the militants have lost 30 percent of the territory they once held in Iraq and Syria.

Baghdad-based spokesman Colonel Steve Warren told reporters the extremists have lost 40 percent of their territory in Iraq and 20 percent in Syria, adding that they are now in a 'defensive crouch'.

Since the coalition began launching airstrikes in 2014, Kurdish forces have pushed ISIS out of parts of northern Iraq, including the town of Sinjar, and driven the extremists out of a band of Syrian territory along the Turkish border. Further south, Iraqi forces and Shiite militias recaptured the Iraqi city of Tikrit last year.

But ISIS has also made fresh advances, capturing the Syrian town of Palmyra - home to famed Roman-era ruins - and the western Iraqi city of Ramadi in May of last year.

Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes drove Islamic State militants from Ramadi's city center last month, recapturing most of the provincial capital of the sprawling Anbar province

A unit, which includes four of the drone aircraft, a ground control station and satellite link, costs around $20 million

ISIS leader and chief spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani was injured in an airstrike by U.S. led coalition forces yesterday

On Wednesday, January 5, the U.S. led coalition staged 36 strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in its latest series of attacks against the extremist groups

In the Madaya near Damascus, which has been under siege by President Bashar Al Assad's forces since July, desperate residents have resorted to eating domestic animals to fend of starvation.

Pro-government fighters recently evacuated from two besieged villages Foua and Kfarya described harsh conditions there with scarce food and medicine, saying some residents are eating grass to survive and undergoing surgery without anesthesia.

ISIS is also said to have controlled the Al-Shirqat district, considered one of its strongholds, since last June.

The terror group is also said to have 'wiped out' a village in the Nineveh province after its residents rebelled against the group.

It executed 'dozens of civilians' including old people, women and children in the village of al-Choud, an unnamed source told Alsumaria news agency.

He told of how it carried out mass executions after locals demanded the ISIS gunmen leave the village in peace.

The terrorist group's sick exploitation of children was revealed earlier this week after reports ISIS had blown up a four-year-old boy. The execution came a week after executing his father, who they accused of killing two of its fighters.

The bomb, which was triggered by a remote controlled device, was attached to the boy in a way 'that his organs would be blown apart', a spokesman of the state sponsored rebel group, Popular Mobilisation, is reported to have said.

The Predators at the base are operated and maintained by the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, currently attached to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing

The U.S.-led coalition fighting the terrorist group claimed the militants have lost 30 percent of the territory they once held in Iraq and Syria after their intervention

In 2002 the Predator drones had a change in designation from RQ-1 to MQ-1 to reflect the addition of the AGM-114 Hellfire missiles (pictured)

AGM-114 Hellfire is an air-to-surface missile, first developed for anti-armor use, but later developed for precision strikes against other target types, such as, in the case of a Predator drone, individuals or groups of individuals

It comes days after a British boy, Isa Dare, also four, appeared in one of the terror group's sickening execution videos threatening to 'kill kuffar [non believers]'.

British boy Isa, dubbed 'Jihadi Junior', begged his grandfather to save him just days before he was forced to appear in a sickening ISIS execution video, it emerged this week.

The MQ-1B Predator is an armed multi-mission drone aircraft, originally created for the purpose of intelligence gathering. It is remotely operated by a pilot from the ground control station.

U.S. military forces have around 150 of the drones, which have a wingspan of 55ft, cruise speed of 84mph and a range of 770 miles, and have been in operation since 2005.

A unit, which includes four aircraft, a ground control station and satellite link, costs around $20 million.

In 2002 there was a change in designation from RQ-1 to MQ-1 to reflect the addition of the AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.

AGM-114 Hellfire is an air-to-surface missile, first developed for anti-armor use, but later developed for precision strikes against other target types, such as, in the case of a Predator drone, individuals or groups of individuals.

U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), prepare to launch from a secret air base in the Persian Gulf region on January 7

The drone awaits a mission at the air base. Since the coalition began launching airstrikes in 2014, Kurdish forces have pushed ISIS out of parts of northern Iraq, including the town of Sinjar, and driven the extremists out of a band of Syrian territory along the Turkish border. Further south, Iraqi forces and Shiite militias recaptured the Iraqi city of Tikrit last year

Contract workers push a U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator along the runway after it flew a mission from an air base in the Persian Gulf region

The missile has been the munition of choice for airborne targeted killings by U.S. forces, and have been used to kill high-profile figures such as Ahmed Yassin (Hamas leader) in 2004 and Jihadi John, real name Mohammed Emwazi, in Raqqa, Syria, on 12 November 2015.

In October last year, the US Air Force lost control of two Predator drones in separate incidents recently in Turkey and Iraq, according to US military officials. It was not clear if they were armed at the time of the incidents.

In the first case on October 16, a Predator crew reported a 'lost link and subsequent crash while the Predator was flying southeast of Baghdad,' military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.

Local Iraqi police recovered the drone in the vicinity of Al-Kut. They returned the aircraft to US control and there were no injuries, Warren said.

Then on October 19, a different Predator 'crashed' in southern Turkey, Warren said. Local media have said it came down in Hatay.
Now he is stepping down as chief executive of Marks & Spencer, Marc Bolland will have more time to indulge his other obsession  searching for first editions of Charles Darwins works.

Few in the City are surprised that he has now succumbed to the Darwinian rule of survival of the fittest.

Indeed, many analysts are amazed that Bolland managed to hold on to his job for so long before retiring.

The task of turning round M&S, whose days as the jewel of the British High Street are now long gone, defeated a string of Bollands predecessors.

But, after six gruelling years, Bolland realises it is time to hand over the baton. Many have been harbouring doubts for far longer over whether the genial Dutchman, who started his career working for Heineken in the Congo, was the right man to restore M&S to its former glory. Could an overseas executive ever really aspire to reviving such a uniquely British institution?

One of the successes: Marc Bolland with Rosie Huntington-Whitely

An early hint that Bolland had not grasped M&Ss distinctive appeal came in 2011 when he hired fellow Dutchman Marcel Wanders, a zany designer, to create a range of homeware and gifts. The continental whimsy of a Michael Jackson-style red leather glove with a single gold-tipped finger, or cufflinks adorned with portraits of Henry VIII and his six wives, was well outside the comfort zone of M&S regulars.

By contrast, previous chief executive Stuart Rose was a housewives favourite who had his finger on the pulse of Britains women. He could subdue a rowdy matron complaining about bra sizes at the annual meeting with an arched eyebrow.

Bolland, despite his obvious enthusiasm, never seemed as comfortable at the helm after crossing the portals in May 2010.

His transfer involved a 15million golden hello deal, one of the biggest signing-on packages in UK corporate history. On the day his appointment was announced, M&S shares leapt 6 per cent; yesterday, they initially rose in reaction to his departure before finishing down by 0.1 per cent.

The biggest problem Bolland leaves his successors is womens fashion, which  as he acknowledges  he has failed to sort out.

I would have liked to see sales in positive territory, but we have the right building blocks in place, he says. In 2012, he hired fashion guru Belinda Earl, previously the boss of Jaeger, to overhaul the womens clothing. Her collections have won accolades from glossy magazine Vogue.

Current new season must-haves include a khaki flora pyjama style blouse (29.50) and trousers (35), in an attempt to tap into the nightwear-as-daywear trend.

However, winning over fashionistas by slavishly following catwalk looks will do nothing to endear M&S to the thousands of women seeking well-made, decently-priced basics.

Clothing sales this winter have been further hit by the floods and the unusually warm weather, which meant lower sales of coats and woollies.

Fashion problem: The biggest problem Bolland leaves his successors is womens fashion, which  as he acknowledges  he has failed to sort out

Over the festive break, Bolland did not jet off to Barbados but instead donned his wellies and ensured his M&S York store had survived the deluge. That may have been seen by some a PR exercise, but over his years in office he can point to genuine success. Returns to shareholders, including dividends, are up by 50 per cent.

He has reduced the retailers debt burden, and improved profit margins in the fashion business. Food sales have grown consistently and the online side of business reported a 20 per cent growth in sales over Christmas.

Bolland feels he hasnt received due credit for successes behind the scenes, such as improving efficiency by cutting the number of warehouses from 120 to six. No one understands how much heavy lifting goes on in M&S, he said yesterday. I have not always explained well enough what has to go on behind the scenes. It is very difficult and very hard work, and these things go very slowly.

He has personally groomed his successor Steve Rowe, who has been in charge of fashion at M&S since last summer and was sent to Harvard Business School to beef up his capabilities.

Meanwhile Bolland seems in need of a breather, saying he does not want another chief executive job. Already a non-executive director of US drinks giant Coca-Cola and a vice president of charity Unicef, he is likely to look for more similar roles.

In fairness to him, turning round M&S may be an impossible task. The companys blend of food, fashion and homewares now seems a dated concept. The women of Britain are now filling their wardrobes with clothes from Topshop, Jigsaw and Zara.
ISIS' chief spokesman in Iraq has been severely injured in an airstrike, the country's Joint Operations Command confirmed.

Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, earmarked as the group's next leader, was reported as having lost 'a large amount of blood' after being hit in the town of Barwanah, in the Anbar province, yesterday.

He was moved to the city of Hit for initial treatment before being transferred to Mosul flanked by security guards, CNN reported.

Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, earmarked as the group's next leader, was reported as having lost 'a large amount of blood' after being hit in the town of Barwanah, in the Anbar province, yesterday

A spokesman for Iraq's Joint Operations Command confirmed that they had been following Adnani's movements for well over a month before he was injured on Thursday in what is believed to have been a targeted attack.

Adnani is considered the terror network's most prominent public figure in Iraq, having made several audio recordings which have been posted online.

He is held in the same bracket of notoriety as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the caliph of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and has been suggested as the jihadists' next leader should Baghdadi lose his position.

A spokesman for Iraq's Joint Operations Command confirmed that they had been following Adnani's movements for well over a month before he was injured on Thursday in what is believed to have been a targeted attack

Adnani was held in custody - believed to have been at the American detention facility, Camp Bucca - after being captured by US troops in 2005, remaining a prisoner until 2010.

A 2.5million bounty was issued in May 2014 for information leading to the Syrian born extremist, referring to his 'repeated calls for attacks against Westerns'.
The NRA slammed CNN's 'Obama Gun Ban Media Circus' before firing off a barrage of tweets opposing tighter gun controls.

President Barack Obama was quizzed by CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday night over his plans to increase background checks on people buying guns.

Obama said his team had invited the NRA to take part in the debate but that they had declined the offer.

President Barack Obama was quizzed by CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday night over his plans to increase background checks on people buying guns

The NRA slammed CNN's 'Obama Gun Ban Media Circus' before firing off a barrage of tweets opposing tighter gun controls

Not being present at the live interview did not stop the NRA from having their say, criticizing Obama for what the organization believes is an unnecessary clampdown on gun ownership rights.

Obama wants all people selling guns to have a license and for it to be harder for criminals and people with disabilities to get hold of firearms.

But the NRA - whose headquarters are just down the road from where the debate took place in Fairfax, Virginia - say the executive order breaches the Second Amendment.

They put out a petition and called on people to sign it to show their opposition to Obama's 'anti-gun agenda'.

It reads: 'Frustrated by the will of the American people and Congress to enact his anti-gun agenda, President Obama is usurping the power of the people and using executive actions to restrict your Second Amendment rights.

'This latest endeavor is the first step of the last push of the final year of the Obama Administration to further erode your freedom.

'While President Obama wont be on the ballot this November, thousands of other candidates will, and they need to know that if they support the Presidents gun ban agenda, they will LOSE YOUR VOTE!'

Not being present at the live interview did not stop the NRA from having their say, criticizing Obama for what the organization believes is an unnecessary clampdown on gun rights

Speaking on Thursday night at George Mason University, Obama revealed he has never owned a gun but said he 'respects' the Second Amendment.

The rhetoric around his gun control agenda, Obama said, 'is so over the top, and so overheated'.

Obama revealed he has never owned a gun but said he 'respects' the Second Amendment

'I've said this repeatedly I'm happy to meet with them. I'm happy to talk to them,' Obama said, 'but the conversation has to be based on facts and truth and what we're actually proposing, not some... imaginary fiction in which Obama is trying to take away your guns.'

He said the NRA has a 'stranglehold' on Congress and that the gun group was partially to blame for spikes in gun sales after mass shootings, which he says has 'convinced many of its members that somebody is going to come grab your guns'.

Their messaging 'is really is profitable for the gun manufacturers,' he said, and 'it's a great advertising mechanism, but it's not necessary'.

The President said the NRA and many members of the Republican Party were previously in favor of background checks.

'What's changed is we've suddenly created an atmosphere in which I put out a proposal like background checks or ... a proposal that is common sense, modest, does not claim to solve every problem, is respectful of the Second Amendment, and the way it is described is that we're trying to take away everybody's guns.

'And by the way, theres a reason why the NRA is not here. They're just down the street. And since this is the main reason they exist, you'd think that theyd be prepared to have a debate with the President,' he said.

The NRA was not represented at the event by choice.

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told CNN the group did not want to be part of a 'public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House'.
Governor Paul LePage is not backing down after coming under fire for making comments about his state's heroin epidemic that many are calling racist.

Governor LePage was speaking at a town hall meeting on Wednesday in Bridgton, Maine when the question of the growing drug problem in his state was brought up by an attendee.

He responded by saying; 'These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty  these types of guys  they come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home.'

He then added; 'Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we have to deal with down the road.'

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Maine governor under fire after blaming state's heroin epidemic on men named 'D-Money, Smoothie and Shifty' and accusing them of 'impregnating young, white girls'

The Portland Press Herald spoke with Peter Steele, the governors communications director, after the public outcry, who said; 'The governor is not making comments about race. Race is irrelevant.

'What is relevant is the cost to state taxpayers for welfare and the emotional costs for these kids who are born as a result of involvement with drug traffickers.

'His heart goes out to these kids because he had a difficult childhood, too. We need to stop the drug traffickers from coming into our state.'

Phil Bartlett, chairman of the Maine Democratic Party, responded to the Republican governor's comment by saying; 'Everybody should be denouncing his comments and what theyre intended to provoke. I would call upon all Republicans to stand up and say this is wrong and its not acceptable in our public discourse. Its simply indefensible.'

Maine Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves added; 'What a terrible example for our children.

'Now more than ever we need leaders that bring us together to work toward making life better for families, not worse. The governors crude comments have no place in Maine or any other decent society.'

This is not the first time Governor LePage has come under fire for controversial comments, previously telling the NAACP 'kiss my butt' and saying he would tell President Barack Obama to 'go to hell' if he saw him.
Parents of students at a public high school in Maine are outraged after the institution tried to recruit students to work on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign this week.

Students at Marshwood High School received an email from the Clinton campaign asking them to sign up for positions as unpaid 'fellows' in order to fill the school community service requirement, reports Fox News.

Tim and Elita Galvin told Fox News that they found the email to their son and other students to be 'disingenuous and sneaky,' and said that both they and their son are not supporters.

Anger: Parents of students at a public high school in Maine are outraged after the institution tried to recruit students to work on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign this week. Clinton is pictured here on January 7

'My son didnt appreciate being targeted by anybody via his school email for a political campaign,' Mrs. Galvin told Todd Starnes of Fox News.

'Ill be honest  hes not a fan of Hillary Clinton to begin with. Hes done his homework and he doesnt like her.'

When the Galvin family reached out to school Principal Paul Melhorn he told them that the school regularly emails students about potential opportunities.

Melhorn said that the students are under no obligation to participate in any one activity and hat it doesn't mean that the school, 'supports a particular political candidate, religious doctrine or branch of military.'

'If other "campaigns" were to seek volunteers, we would pass that on also,' he added.

School superintendent Mary Nash told Fox that the school should not get involved in political affairs.

'If you want to campaign for someone  thats fine  but thats between the child and the parents,' she said.

Thats not for the campaign to target you at school and its not for the school to suggest to you. Thats between you and your parents.'
Was also backdrop to King's personal trials including marriage and divorce

Henry VIII worshipped at chapel as Church of England cut ties with Rome

It was in the Chapel Royal - where Henry VIII worshipped - that the key trials of both his reign and love-life played out

The Chapel Royal in Hampton Court, Surrey, will celebrate 500 years of musical heritage by hosting its first Catholic service since the Reformation.

The ancient chapel will welcome the sound of Roman Catholic worship for the first time in more than 450 years - ever since the Church of England cut ties with Rome.

February's historic service will be celebrated by His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols and will include a sermon from The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dr Richard Chartres, KCVO, Bishop of London and Dean of Her Majesty's Chapels Royal.

It was in the Chapel Royal - where Henry VIII worshipped - that the key trials of both his reign and love-life played out.

He secretly married Anne Boleyn in 1533 despite the Pope refusing to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon - a deceit which eventually led to the King replacing His Holyness as the head of the Church of England.

From then on, only Protestant worship was permitted - ousting Roman Catholics.

Britain then swayed between Protestantism and Catholicism during the tenures of Henry's successors, Edward and Mary.

However, the Chapel Royal continued to remain loyal to the King and to the Church of England.

Now, almost half a millennia on, and it will host its first Catholic service since the Tudor era in a worship originally conceived to mark the palace's 500th anniversary.

Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation - who are organising the service - John Studzinski, said: 'Dialogue between faiths is much needed and welcomed in these turbulent times. We need to recognise that we have more in common than not.

'I'm therefore delighted that the Genesis Foundation is enabling the Catholic and Anglican churches to engage in dialogue on this site that is so rich in history, both theological and musical.

'It will be an unforgettable occasion and is genuinely one for the history books.'

Michele Price, Director of Development a the Choral Foundation added: 'The Chapel Royal played centre stage to the religious changes in the 16th Century.

'Its musicians and composers met the challenge of serving the spiritual needs of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, by producing new and beautiful music and in so doing became "the cradle of English church music".

The ancient chapel will welcome the sound of Roman Catholic worship for the first time in more than 450 years since the Church of England cut ties with Rome

The Chapel Royal was the backdrop to many of the dramatic chapters in Henry VIII's life. It was there that Archbishop Cranmer left a letter on the king's seat detailing scandalous accusations against his fourth wife, Catherine Howard, from whom he then split. It also hosted his marriage to sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr

'This historic occasion enables us to explore our rich heritage and bring together Christian traditions as we celebrate 500 years of Hampton Court Palace.'

Taking place on February 9, the service will be sung mainly in Latin, and is being hailed as a significant milestone in improving relations between the two churches.

The Chapel Royal was the backdrop to many of the dramatic chapters in Henry VIII's life.

Memorable: Organisers of the service at the Chapel Royal, pictured, said it will be an unforgettable occasion

Visitors will be able to enjoy the historical service and the ornate decoration of the chapel's interior, pictured

It was there that Archbishop Cranmer left a letter on the king's seat detailing several scandalous accusations against his fourth wife, Catherine Howard, from whom he then split.

The chapel also hosted his marriage to sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr.
Police have arrested a man with links to the Hells Angels Bikie gang after uncovering a shipment of $40 million worth of crystal methamphetamine hidden in stone slabs imported from Indonesia.

Just before Christmas , Australian Federal police found the 'ice' packed inside cigarette cartons which openly display brand names without health warnings and which are banned in Australia.

Among the stone slabs were wooden crates lined with Styrofoam sheets and packed with Dunhill and Sampoerna, an Indonesian clove cigarette, brand cardboard boxes sealed with masking tape.

When police opened the boxes, they found blankets wrapped around plastic bags filled with 60kg of ice.

When police found these black and clear plastic bags inside cigarette cartons packed into wooden crates and secreted among a shipment of stone slabs from Indonesia they were highly suspicious

When police opened the shipment of stone slabs they found wooden crates lines with sheet of Styrofoam and packed with cigarette brand cardboard boxes

Australian Border Force police prised open the crates to find the boxes of Dunhill and Sampoerna AC Mild, an Indonesian clove cigarette boxes - which are banned in Australia because they openly display the brand with no health warning

The cigarette cartons were a dead give away to Australian Border Force Police that the mysterious packages of banned cigarette brand boxes among the shipment of stone slabs were anything but legal

A blanket wrapped around plastic bags containing 60kg of crystal methamphetamine was uncovered in a shipment of stone slabs from Indonesia to Adelaide before Christmas

Working with South Australian police, the Federal officers from the Australian Border Force waited several weeks before targeting an individual allegedly involved with the shipment.

On Thursday, state officers arrested an Adelaide man who has links to the Hells Angels Outlaw Motorcycle gang.

The 43-year-old, who was arrested and is currently in custody, faces serious charges that carry penalties of up to life in jail if he is found guilty.

On Friday, police relased photographs of the ice haul and a statement saying, 'Were very happy to report that up to $40 million worth of Ice, and hundreds of thousands of potential hits, now wont make it to our streets'.

Police suspicions were confirmed when they began unrolling the plastic bags to find a massive 60kg of methamphetamine which they estimated would have been worth $40m on the market
See more news on Donald Trump at www.dailymail.co.uk/trump

While some thought that Trump may have thought Paris was in Germany, others suggested he was

Donald Trump wrote a tweet following a thwarted terror attack in France that has some wondering if the presidential hopeful needs a geography lesson.

'Man shot inside Paris police station. Just announced that terror threat is at highest level. Germany is a total mess-big crime. GET SMART!' Trump tweeted on Thursday after a French cop shot at a man who barged into a Paris police station.

The Moroccan knifeman wearing a fake suicide belt who was shot dead trying to attack a police station in Paris on Thursday was carrying a letter in which he pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

Sallah Ali had been trying to enter the police station in Barbes, northern Paris, shouting 'Allahu Akbar' and threatening officers with a knife on the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

Poorly written?: 'Man shot inside Paris police station. Just announced that terror threat is at highest level. Germany is a total mess-big crime. GET SMART!' Trump tweeted on Thursday after a French cop shot at a man who barged into a Paris police station wielding a meat cleaver and wearing a fake suicide vest

Supporters: While some were quick to criticize Donald Trump (pictured here on Thursday) on Twitter on what they assumed was a major gaffe, others rushed to his defense and said he may have been referring to recent rapes in Cologne Germany

While some were quick to criticize Trump on Twitter on what they assumed was a major gaffe following devastating tragedy, others rushed to his defense and said he may have been referring to recent rapes in Cologne Germany.

More than 80 women reported sexual assaults on New Years Eve in Cologne, according to The New York Daily News.

'Not a Trump hater or supporter; but I clearly see he was discussing attacks in Paris & Cologne in same tweet, not saying Paris is in Germany,' tweeted @NytFury.

'He's referring to different incidents. New Year's Eve sex assaults in Cologne - Germany and Paris terror threats today,' tweeted David Athayde.

Shot dead: Sallah Ali had been trying to enter the police station in Barbes, northern Paris, shouting 'Allahu Akbar' and threatening officers with a knife on the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks

Others all over the world still criticized Trump for his tweet posted on Thursday.

'Donald Trump appears to think that Paris is in Germany. Geography is clearly not his forte,' tweeted Benjamin Norton.

'Grab a world atlas. We think you'll be surprised,' tweeted a Welsh rock band called The Undivided.

The criticism quickly evolved into accounts tweeting humorous memes.
Michelle Obama would want a 'shotgun or rifle' to make sure her family were protected if living in a rural area, Barack Obama revealed in a televised gun debate on Thursday.

This came as the President assured the nation that he was not trying to spearhead a 'conspiracy' to take away other Americans' constitutional right to purchase firearms.

Obama said he recalled that when he was campaigning for office and he and Michelle visited farms in rural Iowa, his wife told him: 'If I was living in a farmhouse where the sheriff's department is pretty far away and somebody can just turn off the highway and come up to the farm, I'd want to have a shotgun or a rifle to make sure that I was protected and my family was protected.'

At a televised debate on Thursday, Obama revealed that Michelle had told him while on a visit to rural Iowa: 'If I was living in a farmhouse where the sheriff's department is pretty far away and somebody can just turn off the highway and come up to the farm, I'd want to have a shotgun or a rifle to make sure that I was protected and my family was protected'

Barack also spoke of how 'there are a whole bunch of law-abiding citizens who have grown up hunting with their dads, going to the shooting range and are responsible gun owners'

Barack said that she 'was absolutely right' and that part of the reason the debate ends up being such a difficult issue is because 'people occupy different realities'.

This is not the first time that Michelle has waded into the firearms debate.

In 2013, she made a tearful address at a debate in Chicago, where she urged for a 'common-sense reforms to protect our children from gun violence'.

While she rarely addresses this issue in her speeches, the First Lady was apparently moved to following the death of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old honors student who was gunned down in Chicago in January of that year.

Speaking at the time, Michelle had explained that she lived in a safe neighborhood - Chicago South Side - and had activities that 'engaged her' but in the end that was the difference between 'growing up and becoming a lawyer, a mother and first lady of the United States, and being shot dead at the age of 15'.

Both Michelle and Barack are natives of Chicago, which has the highest murder rate in the country.

At the debate on Thursday, Barack also spoke of how 'there are a whole bunch of law-abiding citizens who have grown up hunting with their dads, going to the shooting range and are responsible gun owners'.

He said: 'And there's the reality that there are neighborhoods around the country where it is easier for a 12 year old or 13 year old to purchase a gun than it is for them to get a book.'

Taya Kyle, the widow of the Chris Kyle, the soldier featured in the movie 'American Sniper' who was later murdered in a gun crime, told the President that tightening gun laws would not work and would only punish crime victims

Taya Kyle also told the President that criminals would not be stopped from getting guns even if background checks were expanded

In the nearly 75-minutes at the prime-time event Obama took questions from Americans on both sides of the gun control debate, several of whom are known for their outspoken views on the issue.

Taya Kyle, the widow of the Chris Kyle, the soldier featured in the movie 'American Sniper' who was later murdered in a gun crime, told the President that tightening gun laws would not work and would only punish crime victims.

She said: 'The laws that we create don't stop these horrific things from happening. That is a very tough pill to swallow.'

Kyle added that criminals would not be stopped from getting guns even if background checks were expanded.

In a column for CNN published after the debate was televised, Kyle wrote: 'We can't legislate human nature.
She pleaded guilty to criminal damage and was jailed for 18 weeks

Zoe Wheeler, pictured here outside of North Tyneside Magistrates Court, was jailed after she caused 7,500 worth of damage to an ambulance as paramedics tried to treat her

A boozed-up woman trashed an ambulance causing 7,500 worth of damage after a four-day 'birthday bender'.

Footage from the back of the ambulance captures the moment Zoe Wheeler went berserk as paramedics attempted to treat her.

She used a fire extinguisher to spray the insides of the vehicle, a black marker pen to scrawl on the walls and damaged vital equipment, which caused the vehicle to be off the road for 17 days.

Paramedics had been called to help her outside Manhattans bar on High Street West, Wallsend, North Tyneside, on November 15 at 8pm after Wheeler, who was celebrating having turned 30 four days earlier, suffered a suspected seizure and a self-inflicted injury to her face.

But as they treated her she became so violent the 999 crew left her in the vehicle for their own safety.

She then went on to cause significant damage to the vehicle and the crew was unable to attend calls for five hours afterwards, magistrates at North Tyneside were told.

During the footage, Wheeler is heard screaming and swearing as she lashes out in rage. At one point she punches the side of the ambulance before kicking a near-by stretcher.

And when police came to arrest Wheeler she hit one officers in the face and they had to use CS spray on her.

Wheeler, of Cedar House, Denmark Street, Byker, Newcastle, pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage, assaulting a police officer and resisting an officer.

Prosecutor Justin Gibson said: 'She caused a large amount of damage to the ambulance.

'She emptied a large amount of storage equipment and threw it all over. It all had to be replaced at a later date.

'She used a fire extinguisher to cause significant damage and then sprayed it all over the interior of the ambulance.

'She used it to smash further items, including a radio and electronic patient report computer. The total cost of the damage was 7,500.

'During her interview, she said she could not recall the incident. She said she had been on a four-day drink bender to celebrate her 30th birthday.'

The court was told Wheeler had significant mental health problems and had been diagnosed with depression, psychosis and personality disorder. She also had a history of self harm.

In mitigation, her solicitor Richard Scott said her mental health problems, coupled with the misuse of alcohol and drugs, led to Wheeler's pattern of bad behaviour.

He added: 'This is something that Miss Wheeler greatly regrets because the ambulance service have assisted her time and time again in the past and she is very grateful to them.

'She deeply regrets what she did. She is not on drink and drugs all the time but when she is, she behaves really badly. She wants it to stop.'

Wheeler was also convicted of two offences of assaulting a police officer in relation to an incident in Chopwell in Gateshead in November 2014.

Magistrates sentenced her to 18 weeks in prison and ordered her to pay 500 compensation to the ambulance service.

Footage captures the moment Wheeler lashed out in the back of the ambulance and kicked a stretcher

At one point in the clip Wheeler attempts to snap the straps on the stretcher as she screams in anger

Wheeler, who pleaded guilty to criminal damage, also punches a shutter in the vehicle as paramedics attempt to restrain her

But she became so violent that paramedics had to flee the ambulance for their safety and call 999

Magistrates sentenced Wheeler to 18 weeks in prison and she was ordered to pay 500 to the ambulance service in compensation

After the case David Edwards, risk and claims manager at North East Ambulance Service, said: 'We have a workforce of people who have dedicated themselves to saving and protecting the lives of people in our community and it is not acceptable that they have to experience any kind of abuse whilst at work.

'Wheeler's actions resulted in an ambulance being off the road for 17 days in total, preventing it from being used for patients in need, and cost the trust a considerable amount of money to fix.

'As a trust we are pleased to see incidents such as these are taken seriously and that appropriate sentencing has been awarded.'

Chief Inspector Nicola Musgrove added: 'The North East Ambulance Service respond to the most vulnerable in our communities in times of desperate need and carry lifesaving equipment on board their vehicles.

'Violence or abuse towards emergency service staff or vehicles will not be tolerated and we will continue to work closely with our partners to bring anyone found carrying out an offence to justice.'

Wheeler caused 7,500 worth of damage to the ambulance, which caused the vehicle to be off the road for 17 days
Activists inside Syria have revealed that an ISIS fighter has executed his own mother in Raqqa after he reported her for trying to persuade him to leave the jihadi group.

The sickening act was witnessed by a large crowd in front of the postal building inside the ISIS stronghold in Syria, according to activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently.

Ali Saqr al-Qasem used an assault rifle to execute his mother Lena, 45, after she was found guilty of apostasy.

Ali Saqr al-Qasem used an assault rifle to execute his mother Lena, 45, in front of a large crowd

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have revealed that Ms al-Qasem was also accused of trying to persuade her son to abandon ISIS and flee Syria with her.

Fearing for his own safety within the brutal organisation, it appears Ali reported his mother, leading to her arrest.

It is likely she was subjected to a trial in the local Islamic court, situated near the roundabout where notorious British jihadi Mohammed Emwazi was killed in an airstrike.

It is unclear why Ali was given the task of executing his own mother. However it is possible he may requested to carry out the harrowing act or more likely he was ordered to do it as a test of loyalty.

ISIS have developed a reputation for brutal executions, throwing homosexual men off rooftops and publicly flogging anyone who is caught drinking alcohol

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have revealed that Ms al-Qasem was also accused of trying to persuade her son to abandon ISIS and flee Syria with her

Iraqi military claimed that ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani has reportedly been wounded

Ms al-Qasem was executed outside the postal building, where it is thought she used to work.

The news comes as the Iraqi military claimed that ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani has reportedly been wounded in an air strike in Iraq's western province of Anbar.

'There are confirmed reports that the so-called terrorist Abu Muhammad al-Adnani the spokesman of the Daesh (Islamic State) terrorists was wounded in an air strike ... in the region of Barwana,' the military statement said.

Adnani lost 'a large amount of blood' in the attack a few days ago, before being moved to the northern city of Mosul, Islamic State's capital in Iraq, the statement added.

More than 100 Islamic State fighters were killed in and around Barwana this week by air strikes aimed at helping the Iraqi army repel militant offensives near the city of Haditha, according to the U.S.-led coalition.

Adnani is a Syrian from Idlib who pledged allegiance to Islamic State's predecessor al Qaeda more than a decade ago and was once imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq, according to the Brookings Institution.

Adanani has been the chief propagandist for the hardline jihadist group since he declared in a June 2014 statement that it was establishing a modern-day caliphate spanning large swaths of territory it had seized in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

William McCants, a Brookings scholar who is author of the book 'The ISIS Apocalypse,' said if true, Adnani's wounding could be a significant setback for Islamic State.

'If he's incapacitated, Baghdadi has lost a very trusted adviser,' he said by phone, referring to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. 'His name has been floated as a possible successor... and he's an effective propagandist.'
He said she could make money if they were pictured together, it is claimed

Father-of-four also said sorry, and asked if she wanted to meet him

She messaged him at the weekend to apologise for her part in the scandal

Shamed MP Simon Danczuk sent more messages to the teenager at the centre of his sexting scandal, saying they should meet up after he was exposed for saying he wanted to spank her, it is claimed.

The child abuse campaigner was suspended from the Labour party over his explicit text messages to Sophena Houlihan, who was just 17 at the time.

But despite the career-damaging row, the 49-year-old father of four has reportedly been back in touch with Miss Houlihan, now 18, even suggested she could make money if she was photographed with him.

Shamed MP Simon Danczuk (pictured right, last night at a public meeting) has sent more messages to Sophena Houlihan (left), the teenager at the centre of his sexting scandal, asking her to meet him, it is claimed

The twice-divorced Rochdale MP is said to have spent two hours on Wednesday night texting the teenager - who 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.

The exchange came after Miss Houlihan sent Mr Danczuk a message over the weekend apologising for her part in the row, which he replied to four days later, also saying sorry.

According to The Sun, he then told her that he had been contacted by a media organisation who wanted to arrange a meeting between the pair, saying: 'It sounds like a good idea to me, think theyll pay you a fee etc take photos.'

The politician faces being kicked out of the Labour party forever, after he admitted sending sexts to Miss Houlihan (left). It has now been reported that he sent further messages to Miss Houlihan (right)

The twice-divorced Rochdale MP , pictured at a public meeting on Thursday, is said to have spent two hours on Wednesday night texting the teenager

However, Miss Houlian told the MP she was not interested, also declining a further request to meet him 'with no cameras'.

She told the newspaper: 'I couldnt believe he was trying to arrange a meeting with me  and told me Id make a few quid. What an insult.'

Mr Danczuk has said he was trying to 'make amends' with the teenager. MailOnline has not been able to reach him for further comment this morning.

Mr Danczuk's personal life hit the headlines in recent weeks after it emerged he had sent the lewd texts to Miss Houlihan.

Labour is investigating Mr Danczuk's conduct regarding the texts, which he has apologised 'unreservedly' for.

The 49-year-old father of four has reportedly been back in touch with Miss Houlihan (pictured), now 18, even suggested she could make money if she was photographed with him

The party is investigating Mr Danczuk's conduct regarding the sexually explicit messages to Sophena Houlihan (pictured), which he has apologised 'unreservedly' for

The teenager said she had received explicit messages from Mr Danczuk - who split from 'selfie queen' second wife Karen, 32, last summer - after contacting him about a job.

One message asked if she wanted a 'spanking' while another said he was 'horny'.

Mr Danczuk's ex-girlfriend Claire Hamilton, a Labour councillor in Leyland, Lancashire, said she broke up with the MP shortly after Christmas after he admitted sending texts to Miss Houlihan.

Separately, Mr Danczuk has been accused of a historical rape dating back to 2006 - a claim he has described as untrue and 'malicious'.

The latest texts on Wednesday night came hours after Mr Danczuk made his speaking return to the House of Commons following his suspension.

The MP, currently listed as an independent, appeared in the Commons chamber to speak against the Government's changes to Universal Credit.

Last night, Karen Danczuk appeared on Celebrity Big Brother's Bit On The Side (pictured), where she was introduced to viewers as 'probably the only woman on earth thats posted more selfies than Kim Kardashian'

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 texts to Miss Houlihan just after the Christmas period

Last night he appeared at a public meeting in Rochdale called to help save a nursery in the constituency.

Mr Danczuk said earlier this week that he 'shouldn't have responded' to messages from Miss Houlihan.

Mr Danczuk faced protests outside his constituency office in Rochdale earlier this week (pictured), calling for him to resign

On Tuesday, he told ITV's Good Morning Britain that he had displayed 'inappropriate behaviour and I have apologised unreservedly for it', but said the texts should be seen 'in context'.

He said: 'I was having an online friendship with somebody over social media for several months and just, as you have pointed (out), at a low point in my life in September, on just two occasions I responded to some messages that were sent to me.

'I shouldn't have responded to those messages and that's why I apologised.

'So I do regret that, there is no doubt about it, but I think we can put it behind us.'

Mr Danczuk has blamed a 'drink problem' for his tangled personal life and insisted the people of Rochdale want him to continue to be their MP, despite protests outside his constituency office on Monday.

Last night, Karen Danczuk appeared on Celebrity Big Brother's Bit On The Side, where she was introduced to Channel 5 viewers as 'probably the only woman on earth thats posted more selfies than Kim Kardashian'.

She said she was a fan of contestants Gemma Collins and Nancy Dell'Olio, but was less impressed with former Ukip spokesman Winston McKenzie, adding: 'I know my politics and I had to Google him.'
Thousands have pledged their support to a German vigilante group which has vowed to protect women from migrants in the wake of the New Year's Eve attacks in Cologne.

A week after a mob of 'drunk and stoned' migrants sexually assaulted and robbed 100 women on the streets of Cologne, a group known as 'Dusseldorf is Watching' has gained more than 8,000 Facebook members.

The group says it wants to make the streets safer through 'presence' alone but police have warned that 'searching for offenders is not a job for citizens'.

German police have said 18 of the 31 suspects arrested in connection with the Cologne attacks were asylum seekers.

Police stand guard outside Cologne Cathedral, where hundreds of women were sexually assaulted and robbed by a mob of migrant and refugee men on New Year's Eve

German police have said 18 of the 31 suspects arrested in connection with the Cologne attacks were asylum seekers

'Performance artist' Milo Moire (pictured) today stood naked outside Cologne Cathedral, where the attacks took place on December 31, with a sign that read: 'Respect us! We are not fair game, even when we are naked'

They were arrested on suspicion of committing crimes ranging from theft to assault, and one case of verbal abuse of a sexual nature, Interior Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate told reporters in Berlin.

They were among an aggressive mob of up to 1,000 people in front of Cologne's main railway station on Thursday evening.

Two of the men were found carrying threatening, handwritten notes in German and Arabic.

The messages, which they are thought to have handed to women, included the phrases, 'I am going to kill you', 'I want to f***', 'I'm only joking with you' and 'nice breasts'.

Mr Plate said the suspects included Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans and one person each from Iraq, Serbia and the United States.

None of the 31 suspects were accused of committing the kind of sexual crimes that have outraged Germany this past week.

Police arrest a man in Cologne in the early hours of New Year's Day, where migrants attacked women and hurled fireworks at police just over one week ago

The migrants threw fireworks at the police and taunted them by saying: 'I am Syrian... Mrs Merkel invited me here!'

At least 121 women have since filed criminal complaints for robbery and sexual assault in Cologne on New Year's Eve

The 1,000 attackers, who were described as being of 'Arab or north African origin', surrounded their victims before attacking them

FEARS OF SEX ATTACKS SPREAD ACROSS EUROPE Sex attacks similar to those in Cologne have also been reported in neighbouring Austria and Switzerland, where six women reported identical crimes in Zurich on New Year's Eve. Swedish police say at least 15 young women reported being groped by groups of men on New Year's Eve in the city of Kalmar. Kalmar police spokesman Johan Bruun on Friday said groups of men surrounded women on a crowded square and groped them. He said no one was physically injured but that many of those targeted were terrified. He said two men, both asylum-seekers, were informed through interpreters that they're suspected of sexual assault and that police are trying to identify other suspects. Swedish police say at least 15 young women have reported being groped by groups of men on New Year's Eve (pictured, the capital Stockholm) Finnish police said that they had been tipped off about plans by groups of asylum seekers to sexually harass women following an unusually high level of sexual harassment cases in Helsinki (pictured) When asked about similarities to the assaults in Germany, Bruun said: 'We are aware of what happened in Germany but we are focusing our investigation on what happened in Kalmar.' In Finland, security guards hired to patrol the city on New Year's Eve told police there had been 'widespread sexual harassment' at a central square where around 20,000 people had gathered for celebrations. Finnish police said that they had been tipped off about plans by groups of asylum seekers to sexually harass women following an unusually high level of sexual harassment cases in Helsinki. 'Police have... received information about three cases of sexual assault, of which two have been filed as complaints,' Helsinki police said in a statement. 'The suspects were asylum seekers. The three were caught and taken into custody on the spot,' said Helsinki deputy police chief Ilkka Koskimaki. Advertisement

Police in Cologne have received 170 criminal complaints from victims of the to New Year's attacks, including 120 of a sexual nature.

The city's police chief was sacked from the post today, following intense criticism of the way he handled the violent clashes, a state government source said.

Women had to literally 'run the gauntlet' of very drunk men... In the course of the operation numerous crying and shocked women / girls approached officers and told them of sexual assaults by male migrants / groups Senior police officer's report

Wolfgang Albers, 60, said on Tuesday there was no 'information at all about who the attackers were'.

It later emerged that a report compiled by a senior officer mentioned that many of the people they detained 'had with them their registration papers indicating they were asylum seekers'.

The attacks were carried out despite a heavy police deployment in the western German city, and officers have admitted that they did not realise what was happening.

The incident triggered calls for tighter immigration laws, particularly from politicians opposed to Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy that allowed nearly 1.1million refugees to enter the country last year.

Under current laws, asylum seekers are only deported if they have been sentenced to jail terms of at least three years, as long as their lives are not at risk in their countries of origin.

'We need more police, a better equipped judiciary and tougher laws, among other things to more quickly expel criminal foreigners,' said Volker Kauder, the parliamentary leader of Merkel's Christian Democrats.

Cologne's police chief was sacked from the post today, following intense criticism of the way he handled the violent clashes, a state government source said

The Cologne attacks were carried out despite a heavy police deployment in the western German city, and officers have admitted that they did not realise what was happening

The incident triggered calls for tighter immigration laws, particularly from politicians opposed to Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy that allowed nearly 1.1million refugees to enter the country last year

He added: 'Citizens expect that those without a right to stay really do leave the country.'

As police tried to regain control of Cologne's streets on New Year's Eve, the attackers taunted them by saying: 'You can't do anything to me  I will get myself a new one in the morning.'

They touched our behinds and grabbed between our legs. They touched us everywhere. So my girlfriend wanted to get out of the crowd Anonymous female victim

Outside the city's historic cathedral, where women were groped and one raped, another man told them: 'I am Syrian, I must be handled in a friendly manner. Mrs Merkel invited me here!'

Some of the victims have told of their 'truly terrible' experience, and how they felt completely helpless as they were surrounded, groped and raped by their intoxicated attackers.

One victim, who remains anonymous, said: 'All of a sudden these men around us began groping us.

'They touched our behinds and grabbed between our legs. They touched us everywhere. So my girlfriend wanted to get out of the crowd. When I turned around one guy grabbed my bag and ripped it off my body.'

Another young female victim of the mass attack said: 'I thought to myself that if we stay here in this crowd they could kill us, they could rape us and nobody would notice.

Some of the victims (pictured) have told of their 'truly terrible' experience, and how they felt completely helpless as they were surrounded, groped and raped by their intoxicated attackers

A victim known only as Evelin M said she ran to police cars to get help but 'there was no one there'

DID GERMAN POLICE TRY TO COVER UP ATTACKERS' REFUGEE STATUS? The German police has been plunged into scandal after a report, written by a senior officer, admitted they knew the sex attackers in Cologne on New Year's Eve were mostly asylum seekers. Police chief Wolfgang Albers, 60, said on Tuesday they did not have 'any information at all about who the attackers were'. But police reports from January 2 said 71 people had been stopped, 11 held temporarily and at least four arrested. A police insider told the Welt Am Sonntag newspaper that most of the attackers were asylum seekers, adding: 'Only a small minority were from North Africa, the large majority of those controlled were from Syria.' The senior police officer who compiled a report after the incident wrote: 'Around 22:48... it was observed that there were thousands of people who could not be specifically identified but who had an immigrant background, and were most probably refugees.' A police insider claimed that most of the New Year's Eve attackers were asylum seekers 'The vast majority of those who were checked only had with them their registration papers indicating they were asylum seekers from the BAMF (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees) as proof of identity. They had no other identity papers at all.' References to the refugee status of the attackers were said to be removed from the original report. The officer went on to say police did not have enough transport to move the number of people who were arrested that night, contradicting the police chief who said the operation went smoothly. The city's mayor Henriette Reker, 59, said it was irresponsible to speak about the origins of the attackers as the was no information at all supporting suggestions that it was refugees who carried out the attacks. Federal police spokesman Jens Floeren confirmed the authenticity of the report, but noted that it represented one officer's 'subjective assessment' of the incident three days after it happened. Advertisement

'I thought we simply had to accept it. There was no one around us who helped or was in a position to help. All I wanted was to get out.'

One girl, who cannot be named, said she has had nightmares since the attack and struggles to get to sleep.

They [the attackers] felt like they were in power and that they could do anything with the women who were out in the street partying. They touched us everywhere. It was truly terrible Victim, Busra A

She added: 'I am too scared to go outside on my own and of course I'm now scared to go to big cities.'

A victim known only as Evelin M said she ran to police cars to get help but 'there was no one there'.

She added: 'We know very well that the police at that moment were so understaffed that they couldn't deal with this, that we women had to go through something like that

'I tried to somehow defend myself. I tossed my arm backwards. Because of that, I almost fell down the stairs.

'There were so many people there that I no longer was in control of myself where to go or how to defend myself.'

Another woman, Busra A, said: 'They [the attackers] felt like they were in power and that they could do anything with the women who were out in the street partying. They touched us everywhere. It was truly terrible.'

Investigators are trawling through CCTV footage and examining witness accounts to bring the suspects to justice

It emerged today that three Syrians were arrested for gang raping two teenage girls on the night of the attacks, as reports of sexual assaults flood in around the country

A report of the incident, compiled by an unidentified senior police officer, told of how 'several thousand male persons with a migrant background' threw fireworks and bottles into crowds of revelers outside Cologne Cathedral.

It added: 'Women had to literally 'run the gauntlet' of very drunk men. In the course of the operation numerous crying and shocked women / girls approached officers and told them of sexual assaults by male migrants / groups. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to identify them anymore.'

Since these things are happening again and again in our beautiful city and have increased in recent months, we want to and we must do something about it Dusseldorf is Watching vigilante group

Investigators are trawling through CCTV footage and examining witness accounts to bring the suspects to justice.

Another 70 complaints of sexual assault were filed in the northern city of Hamburg, 260 miles from Cologne, with 23 also reporting they had been robbed.

The Dusseldorf Is Watching group, which launched two days ago and is now trying to open up a second branch in Stuttgart, has urged its members to patrol the cities.

It said on its Facebook page: 'After the events at Cologne Central Station... we decided to mobilise in Dusseldorf.

'Since these things are happening again and again in our beautiful city and have increased in recent months, we want to and we must do something about it.

'Each of us has a girlfriend, sister, mother, cousin, aunt, sister or wife. The idea is, on weekends and on various event days, to pass through the town to make it clear with presence that violence to humans is something that will absolutely not be tolerated in our beautiful city!'

Police officers survey the area in front of the main train station and the Cathedral in Cologne almost one week after the New Year's Eve attacks

Police separate the supporters of left and right wing groups in Cologne as tempers and tensions flare over a wave of sexual assaults against women

After the group was launched, and gained thousands of followers overnight, a Dusseldorf police spokesman told local media that German police is responsible for public security.

He said the police had no problem with people acting bravely in the face of crime but they were against 'self proclaimed vigilantes'.

As reports of sexual assaults flood in from around the country, it has emerged that four Syrians were arrested for gang raping two teenage girls in southern Germany on the night of the attacks.

A 21-year-old man, who is a long term German resident, a 15-year-old boy and two 14-year-olds are being held in Weil am Rhein, on the country's border with Switzerland, for the alleged rape of two girls.

They locked up and abused the girls known as Maria, 15, and Aische, 14, after they had all attended a party in the nearby village of Friedlingen, prosecutors said.

None of the suspects were asylum seekers and prosecutors have said they do not believe the incident is connected to the wave of attacks against women in Cologne and other German cities over the New Year.

The girls said they knew and trusted the 21-year-old, who has been named by German media as Mohammed A.

After the events of New Year's Eve when more than 100 women were attacked in the area, the police have bolstered their presence at Cologne Main Station (pictured)

The Dusseldorf Is Watching group, which launched two days ago and is now trying to open up a second branch in Stuttgart, has urged its members to patrol the cities (pictured, police on the streets of Cologne)

They said he persuaded them to come back to his apartment, where he and the others turned violent and subjected them to a two hour long attack.

After they escaped and phoned the police, neighbours told of seeing the Syrians being removed from their house in their underpants and handcuffs.

The feeling women had in this case of being at people's mercy, without any protection, is intolerable for me personally as well... And so it is important for everything that happened there to be put on the table German Chancellor Angela Merkel

The local council leader in the city Annette Huber said she was completely shocked by the crime which took place on December 31, but was only confirmed yesterday.

Meanwhile Germany's under fire Chancellor Angela Merkel, who condemned the attacks as 'repugnant criminal acts, has admitted the country is reviewing whether everything was done to kick out migrants 'who do not respect our law'.

She said: 'We need to re-examine if everything necessary has been done with regards to expulsions to send a clear signal to those who do not respect our law.

'The feeling women had in this case of being at people's mercy, without any protection, is intolerable for me personally as well... And so it is important for everything that happened there to be put on the table.'

The German leader said the country needs to have a 'fundamental' debate about how to integrate new migrants as police identified 16 people suspected of a shocking rash of sexual assaults blamed on migrants.

A victim of the Cologne New Year's Eve attacks, known only as Jenny (pictured), was left with horrific burns on her shoulder after a firework was shoved into the hoodie she was wearing

Another victim Michelle (pictured), 18, told of how she was surrounded by a group of 30 'angry' men who groped her and her friends

As outrage grew over the Cologne assaults, which included two alleged rapes and several accounts of groping, Merkel said citizens were right to raise serious questions.

Merkel said Germany was faced with 'very serious questions that go beyond Cologne' and the attacks showed there was 'in some quarters, contempt for women'.

'We need to confront that with utmost determination,' she said, adding that she did not believe that the cases were isolated.
An American couple arrested after police found the badly decomposed body of their 7-year-old son at the family's apartment in northeastern Spain claimed on Friday that the child did not wake up one morning weeks ago but that they didn't accept he was dead.

Bruce and Schrell Hopkins, aged 39 and 38, and who originated from the Detroit area, were charged on Friday with negligent homicide but were released provisionally after being questioned by the judge.

Case prosecutor Enrique Barata said their passports had been removed and that the pair had 'lost their sense of reality' following the death of their asthmatic son Caleb.

Barata said the father told the judge that the family did not take the child to a hospital because they did not believe in standard medicine, but that they had previously treated his asthma with inhalers and homeopathic medicine.

Bruce Hopkins, 39, (pictured) his wife Schrell, 38, and their two teenage children lived with the seven-year-old boy's corpse for one month in their Girona apartment after he fell ill, police believe

The charges come three days after the couple's arrest when police found the body of Caleb under several blankets on a bed at the rented apartment in the city of Girona where the couple lived with their three children.

Barata said the exact cause and time of the child's death had yet to be established and that Caleb was known to be alive on November 15, when the family went to a restaurant to celebrate a family birthday.

'The child was fine playing around and living a normal life. But one morning he wouldn't wake up,' Barata told reporters. 'The father explained he tried to give his son resuscitating maneuvers, cardiac massage and mouth-to-mouth breathing. But the child was unresponsive.'

Barata said that 'from then on the family lost the sense of reality'.

'They would live normal home life around the dead body,' he said. 'They couldn't accept that the child was dead.'

Police discovered the body after they went to the apartment following a call by the apartment's owner, who had gone to collect unpaid rent.

The prosecutor said medical tests showed the the Christian couple, who moved to Girona from Missouri in 2014, were not mentally ill.

A view of the apartment where the police found the badly decomposed body of seven-year-old Caleb in Girona, Spain

The family claimed on Friday that the child, who had asthma, did not wake up one morning in their apartment (pictured, the apartment's front door) weeks ago but that they didn't accept he was dead

Case prosecutor Enrique Barata said that the pair had 'lost their sense of reality' following the death of Caleb, and lived 'normal home life around the body' in the apartment (pictured above)

He added that investigations indicated the child may have already been dead when the parents found him and that there may not be a case for negligent homicide.

He cautioned that they would have to wait some weeks for toxicology results to see if the boy had been given any drug or poison.

Christian Salvador, the family's defense lawyer said the Hopkins were now going through a process of mourning.

'More than a sentiment of guilt their feeling is of grief,' said Salvador. 'Grief because they've just realized he is dead. He was a seven-year-old boy. So this is about two parents who have just realized their son is dead.'

The couple's two other children, a boy aged 12 and a girl aged 14, have been taken into regional government care.

Barata said the family's visas had expired several months ago. Police said the father was an engineer but could not say where or if he worked.

Police previously called at the apartment on New Year's Eve to check if the father was all right after the US embassy contacted them, saying the man's colleagues were concerned after not hearing from him in some time.

Police said the man did not open the door but insisted that he was fine and would contact the US embassy. The spokesman said the officers noticed nothing suspicious.

According to his LinkedIn page, Mr Hopkins is the global vice president of sales and business development at his own Barcelona-based firm BT Software.

Barata, center right, talks to the media outside the courthouse in Girona after the Hopkins were charged in their son's death

Police (pictured with a body bag to retrieve the corpse) insist the investigation is ongoing as they work to determine why the child's death went unreported, and why the family lived with the corpse for around a month

He has held a number of engineering and software-related jobs in America since graduating Wayne State University in Detroit in 1998.

It is not clear whether he has any strong beliefs about alternative medicine, though he does appear to be a devout Christian.

In a 2003 publication Bluetooth For Java, Mr Hopkins wrote that he 'wouldn't be the person that I am today without the spiritual guidance of my pastors at Bethlehem Temple Church'.

He also dedicated the publication to Jesus Christ.

Bethlehem Temple Church in Lansing, Missouri, has previously held events on how to beat obesity, cancer, heart disease and diabetes through God's love and eating well.

Mr Hopkins does not speak Spanish or Catalan, El Pais reported.

Mrs Hopkins and their other two children - 14-year-old Lydia and 12-year-old Bruce Jr - do not speak Spanish either.

They rarely leave the apartment in the city's Eixample district and study using online programs in English rather than attending a local school, neighbors told the newspaper.
Victoria's most senior police officer says he regrets his actions after he was caught speeding in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon.

Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton was detected travelling at an alleged speed of 105 in 100 zone.

I am deeply committed to road safety and am embarrassed and disappointed to find I have gone above the speed limit, he said.

Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton of Victoria Police (right) was caught speeding on Thursday afternoon

The senior policeman was going an alleged 105km/h in a 100km/h zone when he was detected (stock photo)

He has apologised for the offence and will be fined $190 and lose a demerit point (stock photo)

This was as a result of a lapse in concentration, which does not excuse my actions, but does highlight the need for constant attention behind the wheel.

Maintaining focus on the roads at all times is critical; a moments distraction on the road can lead to tragedy.

'My members see the results of these tragedies everyday.

Mr Ashton will be fined $190 for the speeding offence, and lose one demerit point.

He will also donate $190 to Road Trauma Support Services in Victoria.

The incident was caught on a speed camera located on the Peninsula Link freeway (pictured)

Speeding contributes to approximately 30 per cent of all road traumas in Victoria and those extra few kilometres over matter.

I have also spent time with victims of road trauma and know the awful impact it has on their lives.

It reinforces to me that we all need to be incredibly vigilant when it comes to road safety.

He is holding himself fully accountable for his actions.

Mr Ashton has also pledged to donate $190 to victims of road trauma

I regret my actions and believe I should be held to a higher level of accountability than the general community, he said.

The speeding incident was caught on camera on the Peninsula Link freeway.

In 2009 another of the states top police officers, Ken Lay, was detected travelling 10km/h over the 70km/h speed limit while he was the Deputy Commissioner of Road Policing.

At the time Mr Lay was heading a campaign to slow down traffic over the Christmas period, so kept his misdemeanor, and the $245 fine a secret. He also lost three demerit points.
Doctors' leaders have been accused by the NHS of acting illegally by urging activists from other unions to turn out in support of their strike next week.

The law says pickets should protest only outside their own workplace, not be bussed in by other unions unconnected a dispute.

There is concern that mass pickets at hospitals could distress the sick or their families.

In a letter sent last night, NHS England urged the British Medical Association, which is due to stage a walk-out of junior doctors on Tuesday, to 'urgently' withdraw its request for a combined show of union strength.

Junior doctors have made an extraordinary plea for hard-Left trade union leaders to join them picketing hospitals when they go on strike next week

A blog post on the BMA's website by Dr Yannis Gourtsoyannis, a senior member of its junior doctors committee, urged 'all concerned citizens, activists and trade unionists to stand alongside us'.

It was then circulated on social media by the BMA's own account and several senior board members.

Dr Yannis Gourtsoyannis, a senior member of its junior doctors committee, urged 'all concerned citizens, activists and trade unionists to stand alongside us'.

The article  written in the language of hard-Left campaign groups - said: 'There is no way that we can win this on our own. We need all concerned citizens, activists and trade unionists to stand alongside us in this fight.

'A victory for the Junior Doctors would signify the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK. Please stand with us. And when you need us, ask us. We will stand by you.'

It gave the dates for industrial action, the times and urged other unions to bring along banners showing who they were representing.

But, under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, picketing is only lawful if take place at or near to the person's own place of work.

This is to stop activists from being bussed in by other unions to create a potentially intimidating atmosphere.

Guidelines also state there should be no more than six people on a picket line. The BMA's blog appears to request large numbers should turn out.

In a letter sent last night, NHS England chief executive Danny Mortimer warned BMA boss Dr Mark Porter that the views in the blog post 'contradict your own guidance on how your members will conduct picketing in respect of their trade dispute. '

It adds: 'These views have been endorsed and disseminated via Twitter by your corporate account and by other officials in the BMA. Dr Gourtsoyannis is a senior official who speaks on behalf of the BMA. Disappointingly  and in breach of the law  he is clearly addressing his comments to staff who have not been balloted and are not a party to this trade dispute.

'His comments on picketing are a clear breach of s220 TULRCA and the Code of Practice on Picketing and they are also contrary to the guidance which the BMA has itself published on its own website.

'I would urge you to now ensure that this statement from Dr Gourtsoyannis is removed immediately from your website. I would also request that you enact a response which clearly directs everyone to your own guidance and makes clear that the comments made by Dr Gourtsoyannis are not compatible with that guidance and should not be followed.

'We are not seeking legal routes to stop industrial action, and we respect your mandate to strike action within the law. But I would ask you to respond as a matter of urgency as to whether you are prepared to take these steps and avoid breaking the law in relation to the conduct of trade disputes.'

Up to 45,000 junior doctors are expected to take part in the protests and nurses and consultants will be relied upon to stand in for them

Last night, the blog had been removed from the BMA website. It is understood it had previously also been circulated by the hard-left, pro-Jeremy Corbyn Momentum group.

Earlier this week the Chair of the BMA's Junior Doctor's Committee told members that unless they were treating emergencies, they would be expected on the picket lines.

Whitehall officials encouraged a health service boss to strengthen a letter that raised concerns over whether striking junior doctors would be available to respond in the event of a Paris-style attack, it has been claimed.

Emails reveal that Sir Bruce Keogh's letter went through a number of revisions to ensure concerns about the possible impact of a major incident during the walk out were made as 'hard-edged' as possible, according to the Independent.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was also given approval of the text, emails between the Department of Health (DoH) and the national medical director of NHS England reveal.

Liberal Democrats warned the revelations raised 'serious concerns about potential political interference' and suggested that trust between the government and doctors would be damaged further.

Yesterday, the Mail revealed how a string of senior figures in the BMA have links to the Labour Party or have campaigned on behalf of its Left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Andrea Jenkyns, a member of the health select committee, said 'the upper echelons of the BMA are more committed to 'bringing down the Tories' than getting the best deal for their members and ensuring patient safety is not compromised.

She described them as 'Marxist union barons'

The BMA announced on Monday that they will stage three successive walkouts starting next week - which is likely to trigger the cancellation of thousands of operations and appointments.

Up to 45,000 junior doctors are expected to take part in the protests and nurses and consultants will be relied upon to stand in for them.

The first walkout will begin at 8am next Tuesday - January 12 - with doctors only treating emergency cases for a 24-hour period.
Emaciated Syrians besieged by President Assad's forces have made desperate pleas for food and water as more than 40,000 people face starvation.

Haunting pictures have emerged of desperately thin children reminiscent of concentration camps and reports of residents being forced to eat their pets to survive in three blockaded towns.

Victims have taken to social media to beg the international community for help after being cut off from vital supplies during the months-long siege.

In one video, a man breaks down in tears and cries out: 'What did we do? What did we do? My children, they're dying. Bring guns, bring angels, but God, help us.'

Scroll down for video

Emaciated Syrians besieged by President Assad's forces have made desperate pleas for food and water as more than 40,000 people face starvation. Videos posted by activists, which cannot be independently verified, show a painfully thin young boy (left) who said he had eaten for a week and a baby crying in pain (right)

Another picture posted online by activists purportedly shows a baby in distress in Madaya. Many posts flooding onto social media have been using images unrelated to the current crisis, making it difficult to establish those that are genuine

An image supplied by activists shows a young child in the Syrian town of Madaya. The mountain border town has been besieged since early July and conditions have worsened with colder weather and dwindling supplies

In another, a painfully gaunt child says he hasn't eaten for a week, it was reported by CNN.

A third shows a baby crying in pain after being forced to live off salt and water.

The videos and pictures have been posted by activists, but cannot be independently verified.

Many posts flooding onto Twitter and Facebook have been using images unrelated to the current crisis, making it difficult to establish those that are genuine.

President Assad has finally agreed to allow humanitarian aid through, but only after the plight of his people made headlines across the world in recent days.

In Madaya, which has been blockaded by government troops since July, aid agencies said more than 40,000 people were at risk of death.

Doctors Without Borders said 23 patients have died of starvation at a health centre since December 1, including six infants under 1 and five adults over the age of 60.

The other two communities in danger are the adjacent Shi'ite villages of Foua and Kfarya in the country's north, which have been besieged by anti-government militants for more than a year.

A statement from Yacoub El Hillo, UN's Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, said aid will begin entering the communities in the coming days.

A picture purportedly shows a Syrian man scavenging for food in a pile of rubbish in the town of Madaya which has been under siege by President Bashar Al Assad's forces since July

This picture posted by an activist on Twitter purportedly shows a cat about to be slaughtered for food by a starving Syrian in Madaya. However, MailOnline has not yet been able to verify the image which may simply have been used for illustration purposes by those highlighting the plight of Syrians caught up in the conflict

Access to Madaya and nearby Zabadani had been restricted by pro-regime forces, while Foua and Kfraya, in northwest Syria, are surrounded by anti-government fighters.

The UN said: 'The UN welcomes today's approval from the government of Syria to access Madaya, Foua and Kafraya and is preparing to deliver humanitarian assistance in the coming days.

'In the last year, only 10 per cent of all requests for UN inter-agency convoys to hard-to-reach and besieged areas were approved and delivered.'

A deal was reached between the UN and the Syrian government in September to provide food aid, but convoys have been unable to deliver it and there is concern they could be further delayed.

'When the news broke out some people fired into the air to celebrate, but most are still waiting to see the food to believe it because they have been disappointed in the past,' said Maaz al-Qalamuni, a Syrian journalist.

Madaya last received humanitarian assistance in October but has since been inaccessible 'despite numerous requests', according to the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Hilary Benn, Britain's Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: 'It is vital that humanitarian aid is urgently delivered to the long-suffering people of Madaya and the other besieged towns.

'What they need more than anything else is an end to hostilities and a ceasefire as quickly as possible.

'The difficulties of establishing aid corridors to Madaya and elsewhere through territory controlled by several different armed combatant groups is a reminder that this terrible conflict needs to be brought to an end through negotiation and diplomacy.

'I urge the government to strain every sinew to ensure significant progress is made when the peace talks resume on January 25.'

Desperate: Syrian children eat from a pan of boiled leaves and grass in an image purportedly taken in Madaya

Starving Syrians trapped in the besieged towns of Madaya, Kfarya and Foua are being forced to eat cats and dogs and have surgery without anesthetic after vital supplies were cut off, activists have warned

Around 40,000 people live in Madaya, near Damascus, many of them displaced from the neighbouring rebel stronghold of Zabadani.

'Almost 42,000 people remaining in Madaya are at risk of further hunger and starvation,' a UN spokesman said.

The mountain border town has been besieged since early July and conditions have worsened with colder weather and dwindling supplies.

A snowstorm hit early in the new year and there has been no electricity or diesel fuel.

People have taken to removing interior doors in their homes and burning them for heat, said a local official who identified himself as Samir Ali.

He told the Associated Press news agency via Skype that the cost of goods has soared, with a kilogram (2.2lbs) of crushed wheat selling for about $250 and 900 grams (31oz) of powdered milk for infants going for about $300.

A group of people recently killed a dog and ate it, he said.

One activist whose family is inside Madaya also told the BBC: 'Citizens are dying. They're eating stuff off the ground. They're eating cats and dogs.'

President Assad has finally agreed to allow humanitarian aid through, but only after the plight of his people made headlines across the world in recent days

Syrian civil defense members gather to protest for civilians who starved to death in Madaya in Aleppo, Syria

Pro-government Syrian fighters who were recently evacuated from two besieged Shi'ite villages in northern Syria say residents there live under harsh human conditions where people can hardly find medicine or even food to eat making some rely on grass in order to survive

Meanwhile, pro-government fighters recently evacuated from Foua and Kfarya described harsh conditions there with scarce food and medicine, saying some residents are eating grass to survive and undergoing surgery without anesthesia.

'Our life was catastrophic in Foua and Kfarya,' said Hussein Mahdi Kazem, a 16-year-old wounded fighter.

He spoke from a bed in Hezbollah's Rasoul al-Azam Hospital south of Beirut, where he was evacuated last month from Kfarya.

described how people who need medication in the two villages often must take drugs that have expired and that mothers must crush grains of rice  when available  and boil the mixture to make baby food.

Pawl Krzysiek, a Syria-based spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said the situation in the villages of Foua, Kfarya and Madaya 'is extremely dire and winter is making things even more difficult for them.'

He added: 'For far too long, people were left without basic necessities such as food and medicine. It is the ICRC's utmost priority to deliver in the coming days to people there.'

He said ICRC is coordinating the aid to the villages but refused to give further details.

The conflict that began in 2011 has killed more than 250,000 people and wounded more than a million.

After the last food delivery in October, the siege of the village had tightened into a stranglehold, MSF said.

'Madaya is now effectively an open-air prison,' MSF director of operations Brice de le Vingne said.

'This is a clear example of the consequences of using siege as a military strategy.'

A UN commission of inquiry said siege warfare had been used in a ruthlessly co-ordinated manner in Syria, with the specific intention of 'forcing a population collectively to surrender or suffer starvation.'
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Britain is bracing itself for an arctic set to send temperatures plummeting to as low as -10C after brutal floods hit homes overnight.

Rescue efforts are still underway in Aberdeenshire after dozens of homes were evacuated when the River Don burst its banks last night.

Thousands more people are under threat as the city of Aberdeen braces itself for the swollen Don to flood the streets amid more heavy rainfall.

But all over Britain, people are being warned to brace themselves for temperatures to plunge throughout the week as Britain is blanketed in snow.

Rail passengers experienced delays this morning as sub-zero temperatures as far south as Sussex slowed services with ice on the track.

And the Met Office has warned to expect ice, hale, snow and sleet in the coming months, with the weather expected to get much colder until March.

Over the next few week, temperatures will plunge as low as -10C, and may struggle to get above freezing .

The arctic blast from Scandinavia is already blowing a blizzard on Cumbria, which was devastated by repeated flooding over Christmas and New Year.

Scroll down for video

Heavy snow caused treacherous driving conditions in north west Northumberland, where there are two inches of snow on the ground

Search and Rescue crews patrol a flooded street in the Port Elphinstone area of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire today

Part of a river wall in Arundel collapsed into the Arun as water levels continued to swell with more heavy rainfall this week

The landlord of the Tan Hill pub in the North Yorkshire Dales, Steve Bailey, clears the path after the snow hit earlier today

Opportunistic schoolchildren decided to build a snowman when snow suddenly fell in the Scottish Borders town of Denholm

Some drivers in Denholm were even forced to dig their cars out of the rapidly accumulating snow in the Scottish Borders town

The sudden onset of the blizzard was less fun for motorists, who had to get out of their vehicles and try and free them from the ice

Parts of Northumberland and County Durham have been blanketed by snow. Otterburn Castle was andf its grounds were covered with snow but the weather poses tricky driving conditions for motorists

The A696 was blanketed by the heavy snow which ht the north east today, as up to 10cm is expected to fall on high ground

Salt spreaders were deployed to clear snow from the roads in the Scottish Borders as temperatures look set to plunge in higher regions

Cumbria has been battered by a blizzard blowing in from Scandinavia which is set to send temperatures plunging across Britain

An arctic wind has blown into the UK, blowing a blizzard on Cumbria (pictured), and it is expected to send temperatures plunging over the coming weeks and months as the unseasonably warm weather finally comes to an end

The Met Office is advising people to wrap up warm, particularly in northern Scotland, where temperatures could drop to -4C as an arctic wind bring a cold spell from Scandinavia (top right)

This car in Ballater, Aberdeenshire, was almost totally submerged when the River Dee burst its banks today

A local resident was helped from her home in Newton Stewart, Scotland, after it was devastated by the floods

Residents in Tweed Green, Peebles, Scottish Borders, rushed to the streets with sandbags when the River Tweed flooded the roads

Communities in Scotland were today counting the cost after rivers burst their banks, plunging villages like Kintore (pictured) underwater

Members of the emergency services wade along Canal Road in Port Elphinstone, near Aberdeen, after the River Don burst its banks. Communities living near the Don and the Ythan, which also burst its banks, are now counting the cost of the diaster

Rescue workers arrived at the scene to check the debris and make sure that no-one was hurt or trapped by the falling wall

The Met Office has issued yellow warnings for snow Strathclyde and the Dumfray, Galloway, Lothian and Borders region in Scotland, and the north east and north west of England.

The regions can expect up two 10cm of snow settle today alone, with more expected to fall tomorrow, and it is already blanketing parts of Cumbria, Northumberland and Yorkshire.

But people across Britain can expect a more lasting taste of winter, as a weather front from the arctic blasts Britain throughout next week.

Met Desk forecaster Nicholas Lee said weather next week will be 'a shock to the system', with temperatures struggling to get over freezing in northern areas - a vast contrast to one of the warmest Decembers on record.

He said that temperatures this week will be a few degrees below the average temperature for this time of year, and could get down to -5C overnight in the north of England, and up to -10 in higher ground in Scotland.

The Met Office's chief meteorologist Paul Davies said that throughout January, even daytime temperatures will be around 8-10C in the south and 3-5C in the south, in weather much more typical of the season. He says we should expect:

A marked change to colder across all parts of the UK next week as a north or northwesterly airflow will push arctic air across the UK bringing weather fairly typical for January

For some, mainly England and Wales, this will be first wintry spell of the current season with the possibility of frost, ice, sleet, snow and hail

An increased risk of storms and very wet weather in the early part of the winter, followed by an increased risk of cold weather impacts in the second half of the winter

More cold weather in February and March when there are signs of a shift towards a more blocked weather pattern. However, it should be noted that some spells of cold weather don't produce much snow.

Flood water in Port Elphinstone, near Aberdeen, after the River Don rose to record levels and burst its banks amid continued heavy rain

These are the devastating results of the flooding in Port Elphistone, which rushed into Cristina Ricci and Mario Cazzato's house, ruining their bottom floor and destroying possessions

Mario Cazzato looks at his flooded home as he stands in water higher than his knee in the street, just outside the wrecked house he lives in with his wife

Heavy and persistent rain yesterday caused the River Don to reach its highest recorded level and properties to be evacuated

This may look like a river but it is actually a playing field that has been flooded with water. Nearby homes were evacuated

Flooding is now an issue all over the UK (left), with the Environment Agency issuing warnings in huge swathes of Britain, which is currently seeing record levels of rainfall. The North East and South West have a number of red warnings in place, the most serious

A covering of snow in the South Tyne Valley, Cumbria this morning heralding a change in the weather following the warmest and wettest December on record

Temperatures are set to plummet with the mild Atlantic air being replaced by bitterly cold Arctic air, which is set to sweep across the country from today

Traffic crossing the snowy Pennines in Brough, Cumbria, where cold weather has hit today - and it looks set to last, warns the Met Office

The snow has dusted higher ground and the Met Office issued warnings for the north east and north west of England, where there could be 5-10cm today, and more tomorrow

TRAIN PASSENGERS WARNED TO EXPECT 'ICE ON THE LINE' DELAYS Trains ran at a reduced speed due to icy conditions this morning, and travellers can expect more delays in the coming months. It will have a knock-on effect as trains arrive late at their destinations, delaying other services across the network, and hitting routes into London. A spokesman said 'Delays are occurring across the Southern network this morning due to icy rail conditions.' As an example, a delay of more than 15 minutes is expected for commuters travelling through Haywards Heath. Ice on the line can mean trains are unable to draw sufficient power from the conductor rail and in extreme circumstances can lead to the trains becoming stranded. It can also mean if a train comes to a stop on a gradient, the slippery ice can make it difficult to gain enough grip on the rails to get going again. Advertisement

Lower temperatures could continue right through until March, due to a jet stream moving south and bringing cold air from the arctic to Britain.

The Environment Agency currently has 19 flood warnings in place across England and 111 alerts - as of 12.30pm - but warns that ongoing rain on already saturated ground poses a huge risk along parts of the River Severn in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.

Environment Agency teams are currently taking action with local authorities, checking and maintaining flood defences, clearing trash screens and blockages in rivers, and monitoring water levels.

As part of ongoing recovery efforts, Environment Agency pumps continue to be used in parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire, already devastated by floods, and removable flood barriers remain in place on the River Severn at Bewdley and Shrewsbury.

Jonathan Day, Flood Risk Manager at the Environment Agency, said: 'Our focus is on offering ongoing support to those communities that are still dealing with the terrible impacts of flooding as we continue with our recovery and repair work.

'With more rain expected this weekend after a December that was the wettest month on record we are asking people to remain vigilant as, with the ground saturated and river levels still high, even normal amounts of rain can cause a flood risk.

'We are supporting local authorities and advise all local residents to stay away from swollen rivers and flood water. We urge people not to drive through flood water: just 30cm of flowing water is enough to move your car.

In Aberdeenshire, the fire service evacuated 38 properties - many of them elderly - in Port Elphinstone, near Inverurie, after the Don burst its banks.

Police declared a major incident and warned that the Don now threatens to flood the streets of Aberdeen, putting thousands more people at risk.

Men search homes in the Port Elphinstone area of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, after homes were evacuated last night

The fire service led the evacuations from 38 properties - many of them elderly - in Port Elphinstone, near Inverurie, as the swollen Don sent floodwaters racing down the streets. Pictured is Port Elphinstone, Aberdeenshire

Flooded houses at Port Elphinstone, near Aberdeen, have also seen a light dusting of snow and are expecting more over the coming days

WHY TEMPERATURES ARE SUDDENLY SET TO PLUNGE AFTER A RECORD WARM DECEMBER IN BRITAIN Temperatures in Britain often depend on a jet stream, with cold arctic conditions above it and warmer conditions below. The jet stream acts as a sort of 'divider line', according to Med Desk forecaster Nicholas Lee, separating the weather fronts in places like Scandinavia from Mediterranean conditions in places like Spain. The stream is often somewhere in the south of Britain, but for much of December, it has been north, meaning that we have benefited from warm weather fronts enjoyed by southern European countries. However, this week it is moving north, trapping Britain in the same weather front as countries such as Norway, which will see temperatures drop to around -7C even in the day. Mr Lee said: 'For a long time, the line has been unusually far north, which has meant most of Britain has fallen below it and enjoyed unusually warm weather. But that stream has moved south to around northern Spain, so Britain will feel those arctic conditions. It is not quite that simple - the line is quite a messy affair - and parts of the south won't suffer as much as northern parts, where temperatures will fall below freezing. In the south, it will be 3-4C even in the daytime, which after the December we have had, will be a real shock to the system. The jet stream had already moved much further south by Tuesday this week. The white areas within the purple show the main branch of the jet stream, and you can see the UK comfortably to the north of this, within the colder air Advertisement

A man walks through the flooded streets in Port Elphinstone area of Inverurie, where the rain continues to fall, sending yet more water to swell the River Don which burst its banks in places yesterday

Scottish Envornmental Protection Agency (SEPA) have issued two severe flood warnings for both Inverurie and Kintore, both in Aberdeenshire, and 50 homes were evacuated in the region last night

People were put up in rest centres while a number of local hotels also opened their doors to flooding victims free of charge.

Teams from the Scottish Fire Service and the coastguard mounted an operation to rescue some residents, and a further 18 homes were evacuated from the Bruce Crescent and Meadows areas of Ellon as the River Ythan rose through the night.

Gauges in Haughton, just outside Inverurie, measured the Don at 5.6m (18.37ft) - the highest level for 45 years - while it measured 5.5m (18ft) at Parkhill in Aberdeen.

In Ellon, the Ythan stood at 4.4m (14.4ft) at its peak, 1.2m (3.93ft) above the previous record level in 1983, according to Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) figures.

Flooding in the north-east also brought major travel disruption, with busy roads closed and trains south from Aberdeen cancelled.

Part of the runway at Aberdeen Airport was damaged by the 'unprecedented rainfall' and some passengers spent the night in the terminal as flights were cancelled, but it has now been repaired and flights have resumed.

This street in Port Elphinstone is now totally flooded, transformed into more of a canal than a road, and it is the latest of a number of regions in Scotland to suffer from devastating floods

Britain is to see yet more rainfall this weekend, as river levels continue to swell and put more towns and cities at risk from flooding

LOCAL CAMPER FEARED DEAD IS FOUND SAFE AND WELL BY POLICE Terence Kilbride has been found Terence Kilbride has been found safe and well after concerns he had been swept away and killed in the Aberdeenshire floods Police divers yesterday searched for Terence Kilbride and personal items belonging to him were found in the Bridge of Dee area of Aberdeen at the weekend. The 48-year-old, who is originally from Warrington, Cheshire, was reported missing on Monday during a camping trip in the region. The region has experienced bad weather and serious flooding since last week and police said they were 'concerned'. But he has no been found in Aberdeen and is safe and well, despite previous fears for his safety. A spokesman said: 'The public are thanked for their assistance in tracing him. We received an overwhelming response from the public, which was greatly appreciated. Advertisement

Chief Superintendent Campbell Thomson said: 'Over the past 24 to 48 hours, and indeed the past week, we have responded to a number of flooding incidents and co-ordinated the multi-agency response to the adverse weather.

'A major incident was declared due to the severity of the warnings in place and the potential for serious impact on communities.

'Our focus over the past 36 hours has been the Donside area, Keith to Huntly, Turriff, Inverurie, Kintore, Ellon and into Aberdeen including Riverside Drive and the Grandholm area. Additionally, we continue to support the recovery effort in Deeside, specifically in the Ballater and Braemar area, following the impact of Storm Frank.'

Flights at Aberdeen Airport have been restricted to small aircraft after 'unprecedented rainfall' damaged a section of the runway.

Management said around 20 people slept in the airport terminal on Thursday night as cancellations mounted and advised passengers to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.

Trains between Aberdeen and Dundee have also been cancelled due to the flooding.

There has been little respite for the north east since New Year when Storm Frank brought flooding to villages around the River Dee.

A Met Office amber warning for heavy rain in the area remains until this morning.

A yellow warning for snow and ice is also in place for much of Scotland, Northern Ireland, north west and north east England.

Richard Brown, head of hydrology for the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), said water levels around the River Don were 'pretty exceptional'.

He told BBC Scotland: 'We have had a gauging station up at Alford for the last 42 years and it has exceeded anything we have ever recorded.'

NHS Grampian have raised concerns over private water supplies in Aberdeenshire and urged residents to drink bottled water.

A spokesman said: 'If a private well or spring has been covered by floodwater, proceed with caution and contact Aberdeenshire Council for advice.

'While waiting for an answer or if you are in doubt, assume the water is unsafe to drink and source bottled water.'

Cristina Ricci, who works for a helicopter firm based in Aberdeen, was evacuated from her home in the town during the early hours of Friday morning.

She said: 'I am feeling quite shaky at the moment. We were rescued by the coastguard at 3.30am.

'We knew the river was getting over the bank so we tried to move our furniture upstairs but the water was too quick and our house was flooded within an hour.

'We stayed in Inverurie Academy last night but they are now asking us if we have any friends or family that we can stay with as they have more people waiting.

'Thankfully people that I work with have offered us a place to stay in the meantime.

'I have never experienced anything like this before. You always see it on the TV and think it will never happen to you.

'It was really scary. I hope I never have to go through anything like this again.'

People have put down sandbags to try and protect their homes but they did little good for many when the River Don burst its banks

THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD CHURCH USED IN DRACULA COULD SPILL COFFINS INTO THE STREETS IN LANDSLIDE Heavy rainfall is putting land by St Mary's Church (pictured) in Whitby, North Yorkshire, at risk of a landslide that could send coffins spilling into the streets below A church that featured in Bram Stoker's gothic novel Dracula may be the site of a new landslide after heavy rainfall - that could send coffins sliding onto houses below. The new area of landslip is directly beneath St Mary's church in Whitby, North Yorkshire, an area that saw the cliff slipping into the streets and houses below just two years ago. Now, following severe weather, fears are growing as water continues to gush out from beneath the historic church, which is more than one thousand years old. Thirteen sets of 60-metre drainpipes, fitted in December 2013 after the last serious floods and some of which are already broken, are not collecting and directing water away from the cliff. Instead, water is gushing out from the sides of the cliff-face taking more mud and grass with it and coming out in an old drain next to the smokehouse. While the rest of the town started its clean-up operation after a week's worth of heavy rainfall which culminated on Monday, specialist engineers are being dispatched to the worst of the problem, behind the Fortune's Kippers near the church. Barry Brown from Fortune's said he collected four litres of water in four seconds from it on Tuesday morning and only a wire fence is stopping mud and silt from washing into the business and rows of cottages beneath the church. He said: 'We noticed water trickling out on Monday morning so we knew there was a build-up somewhere. But as soon as we got here on Tuesday morning we knew there was a problem. 'I filled a four-litre bucket in four seconds, and that is from the bottom of the cliff not the top so it makes you wonder where is it all going? 'The new pipes are not where the water is and they are not doing what they should. It has not just happened overnight, that water has been running for ages and ages.' The Archdeacon of York, Ven Sarah Bullock, has been to the site to see the damage for herself and has requested that engineers also assess the stability of the east cliff. A spokeswoman for the Diocese of York said Alan Wood Engineers who carried out the emergency repairs would decide if any more work needed to be done. Mr Brown added: 'It is obvious the water is coming off the plain and was building up all day. My granddad used to tell us when we were kids 'never block the drain because you will bring the cliff down'. There is something adrift. 'I am no expert but it is coming from the graveyard and if there was some sort of drainage behind that and the car park it would stop it coming down here. Water is not being caught.' Whitby (pictured) saw the cliff slipping into the streets and houses below just two years ago, and residents fear the same will happen agains. Pictured (top) is St Mary's Church, which featured in Bram Stoker's graphic novel Dracula Advertisement

Grant Campbell, 24, a PhD student from Ellon, has never seen flooding like this in the town before.

He said the River Ythan rose so high that trees normally found on the riverbank were almost submerged by the water.

Grant said: 'I've been here since I was born and this is as bad as it's ever been. In my living memory, it's by far the worst flooding I've ever seen here.

'There have been several evacuations in the town. It is really sad to see the town reduced to this.

'It's pretty crazy stuff. I just hope there aren't any members of the public who try anything stupid in the floods.'

The flood water in Inverurie had significantly receded by lunchtime, leaving just standing water in the streets.

Flooding has also affected areas of Aberdeen and people were advised to evacuate their homes.

A spokeswoman for Aberdeen City Council said: 'Council officers are currently working in partnership with multiple agencies to help alleviate any issues arising from continuous flooding across the city.'

She confirmed there would be a respite centre at Bridge of Don Academy for evacuees.

There was some relief during the flooding as missing camper Terence Kilbride, believed to have been swept away by flood waters from the Dee, was found by police safe and well.

Scotland's Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: 'The impact of this latest round of flooding is causing transport difficulties and putting properties at risk of flooding.

'The Scottish Government's resilience committee is monitoring the situation very closely and we have discussed the unfolding events and work to mitigate the impacts and ensure the safety of people in local communities.'

The serious flooding brought out the 'great community spirit' in Inverurie as people forced from their homes were put up in a local hotel.

Around 40 people stayed in the Strathburn Hotel in the Aberdeenshire village free of charge as the owners David and Elizabeth Barrack opened their doors to those in need.

All 27 rooms - which can cost up to 125 a night - were full with more people sleeping in lounge chairs and the floor of the hotel.

These are the scenes of a normal residential street which was last night transformed into a river by the shocking floods which could be set to hit the city of Aberdeen soon as the River Don continues to swell due to relentless rainfall

The property sits a distance away from the River Don and was not affected by the flooding.

Mr Barrack approached police on Thursday afternoon to tell them there was accommodation at his hotel if necessary for local people.

He said: 'We've had people sleeping here, there and everywhere.

'A pregnant woman arrived at about 1am and we had no more rooms but a young man at the bar said he would move his stuff and slept on the floor to give her the room.

'There is great community spirit, everyone is talking to each other and it's been very good actually. I went down to the police station yesterday and told them if anyone needed accommodation to send them up to us and the emergency services have done a good job.

'Fortunately it's a quiet period, it's the first business week of the year so we've had spare rooms.'

Mr Barrack sympathised with those who have seen their properties damaged by flooding and said people will be welcome to stay at the Strathburn again.

'If needs be there will accommodation here again tonight,' he added.

'People obviously had to move quick last night and they're obviously anxious to get home and check on their homes.

Steve Russell stayed at the hotel on Thursday night with his partner and dog.

Sun rise over the River Cam in Cambridge this morning on a cold start to the day with tempreatures set to be colder next week

Despite the cold weather, rowers braved the conditions on the River Cam to get some early morning exercise as the sun rose

Rowers weren't afraid of the cold, but have been advised to expect more of the same, with winter conditions expected to last until as late as March after one of the warmest Decembers on record

They returned home on Friday morning to see the damage to their home in Inverurie and told BBC Radio Scotland: 'It looks pretty terrible. There is still a lot of standing water at the rear of the property. My partner is having a look inside to see if she can actually assess it.

'We'd been alert since late on Sunday and actually started moving electrical things and photographs and personal things that can't be replaced upstairs just in case.

'We came home early on Thursday and the roads were diabolical and could see the river so we made more moves in the house with furniture and things put upstairs.

'It will have saved things that are sort of over four feet in the house, however anything that was attached to the walls will now be at risk of falling because water is just going to sponge up and any art or anything like that will just have to come off the walls.

'The walls themselves are destroyed, the floors are destroyed, the larger items of furniture that we could not move. The furniture is now probably destroyed and all that is really, really hard to take, particularly as this is our first house together a year and a half later so it's really pretty painful for us both to go through just now.
Rented under false name which could have been used by a Paris attacker

Salah Abdeslam's fingerprints and traces of explosives were found in flat

Belgian police have found three suicide belts, explosives and a fingerprint of wanted Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam at a Brussels flat that may have served as a bomb factory.

Prosecutors said Abdeslam might have hidden in the flat after the November 13 attacks and were also working on the theory the explosive devices used in the massacre could have been made there.

The discovery was made on December 10 during a search of an apartment in the Schaerbeek area of the Belgian capital, but investigators would not say why they waited a month to announce it.

The flat, located on Rue Henri Berge, was rented by someone using a false name, possibly used by another suspect now in custody over the attacks that killed 130 people, they said.

'Bomb factory': Police found fingerprints of fugitive attacker Salah Abdeslam (pictured) and explosives in a flat located in Rue Henri Berge (right) in Brussels

In a statement released today, they said: 'During a house search... material that can be used to fabricate explosives as well as traces of TATP were found.

'Three handmade belts that might be used to transport explosives as well as a fingerprint of Salah Abdeslam were also discovered.

'This apartment was rented under a false identity that might have been used by a person already in custody in this case.'

Police have been hunting for Belgian-born Abdeslam, 26, since suicide bombers and assailants firing automatic weapons killed 130 people and wounded many more in a wave of attacks across Paris.

It is believed he may have escaped to Syria of Morocco after a series of blunders allowed him to slip from the police's grasp.

Investigators said friends drove Abdeslam from Paris back to the Belgian capital, slipping through three police checks, while one suspect has since said that he drove Abdeslam across Brussels to Schaerbeek on November 14.

Federal prosecutors spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt said however that it was not clear when Abdeslam visited the Brussels apartment.

'We found the fingerprint but we have no idea when it was left  a fingerprint has no date or time on it,' Van Der Sypt said.

'Maybe he went there to get his belt (before the attacks) and maybe he went back afterwards. I suppose it's a possibility of both,' he added.

A woman walks past a sign indicating Rue Henri Berge in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek, where found a flat containing three suicide belts, explosives and a fingerprint of wanted Paris attack suspect Salah Abdeslam

He would not comment on Belgian media reports that the flat had been cleaned and checked for fingerprints after the attacks, which would explain why only one of Abdeslam's prints was found.

After the attacks, French authorities said that telephone data had placed Abdeslam in the area where an explosives belt was found in a dustbin in the Paris suburb of Montrouge.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks on bars, restaurants, and a concert hall, in which the attackers were armed with guns and suicide belts.

Seven died during the assault but the total number of those directly involved is still unclear.

One of them was Abdeslam's brother, Brahim.

In early December, Belgian prosecutors said they were looking for two 'armed and dangerous' men who used false ID papers to help Abdeslam travel to Hungary in September where he was stopped  but then let go  by police.

Investigation: Belgian police officers conduct new searches on December 30 linked to the Paris terrorist attacks in Molenbeek, Brussels. The city cancelled its New Year's Eve celebrations amid fears of a new attack

Raids: Searches that took place before New Year's Eve in Brussels were linked to the massacre in the French capital. As part of the investigation, officers seized military training uniforms and ISIS propaganda material

Belgian authorities have arrested and charged a total of 10 people in connection with the attacks, including several with helping Abdeslam.

France has long said the attacks were prepared and organised in Belgium and that the mastermind was Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Brussels resident who was killed in a police raid in Paris days after the massacre.

On Monday, Belgian authorities scaled down heightened security adopted over fears of a militant attack in the capital on New Year's Eve, but the country remains 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 the Paris attacks, remains at level three, one notch below the maximum alert status.
The student visa program is allowing dangerous enemies into the US, a former top Homeland Security official claims.

Claude Arnold, retired special agent of Homeland Security Investigations, said that the program invites 1.2 million foreigners into the U.S. each year.

He told told FoxNews.com that most student visa recipients take advantage of America's system of higher education and leave when their terms expire.

But every year approximately 58,000 overstay their visas and dropout of contact with authorities.

Tens of thousands of immigrants have fallen off the government's radar and 'it is only a matter of time before there is some horrible act, or some act of terrorism', according to Arnold.

Retired special agent, Claude Arnold (center), said that about 58,000 people who apply for student visas overstay their time and dropout of contact with authorities. Arnold is pictured during a news conference at the Glenn Anderson Federal Building in Long Beach California

He did note that the majority of those visa holders are not terrorists or spies, but some are, especially foreign enemies who 'know how to exploit the student visa program'.

Arnold said that Iran has sent scientists to the U.S. for study, but really to gain knowledge to benefit Iran's weapons program.

He said that Iranian students were trying to get access to aeronautical engineering programs, so they could 'work on the delivery system for Iran's nuclear program'.

Hani Hanjour, the 9/11 hijacker who flew Flight 77 into the Pentagon had obtained a student visa, but never showed up for class

The State Department and the Department of Homeland Security are responsible for screening applicants and monitoring them once they arrive in the US.

Applicants are screened by federal agency databases that check for fingerprints of known and suspected terrorists, wanted persons, immigration law violators and criminal history records.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed about 59 percent or 139,368 people who were previously convicted of a crime, according to a 2015 report.

Hani Hanjour, the 9/11 hijacker who flew Flight 77 into the Pentagon, had obtained a student visa, but never showed up for class.

Hanjour wrote on his application that he desired to stay in the US for three years, but he didn't specify the name and address of the school he claimed to be attending.

ICE has more recently cracked down on facilities that help foreigners get a student visa for a fee, but never hold classes.

According to Arnold, the schools existed only to help foreign students purchase a visa under the disguise of studying.

'This is an example where the system worked,' said Arnold.

He believes overstaying a visa should be a misdemeanor, which might make visa holders less likely to violate the terms.

It would would also trigger alarms if they were stopped for a traffic violation or arrested.

These comments come after recent acts of terror when a couple mercilessly gunned down 14 people and wounded 21 others on December 2.

This image shows San Bernardino shooters Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook going through customs at O'Hare Airport in Chicago last July upon their arrival from Saudi Arabia

Jihadi bride Tashfeen Malik, 29, had been the first to open fire on her husband's co-workers at a government department holiday party, while Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, appeared to 'hesitate'.

Investigators said Malik left a post on a Facebook page using an alias pledging allegiance to ISIS and its leader al-Baghdadi.

Authorities recently arrested two people with ties to the Islamic State.

They were arrested Thursday on terrorism-related charges in California and Texas, including a refugee from Syria who is charged with lying to federal investigators about his travels to the civil war in that country.
Channel 5 has been accused of disrespecting the war dead, after it decided to show a controversial TV series that has already been scrapped for being too distasteful.

Nazi War Diggers was cancelled by the National Geographic channel in 2014, and by Foxtel in Australia this year, after archaeologists slammed its gruesome content.

But now the four-part programme has been bought up by Channel 5 and repackaged as Battlefield Recovery, to start on Saturday evening.

Channel 5 has been accused of disrespecting the war dead, after it decided to show a controversial TV series - known as Battlefield Recovery (pictured) that has already been scrapped for being too distasteful

The series follows two metal-detecting enthusiasts, a Polish relic hunter and an American military antiques dealer as they excavate battlegrounds across Eastern Europe.

According to Clearstory, the London production company which made the show, it aims to recover battlefield artefactsand bury the dead with honour.

However, respected archaeologists and campaigners are furious over the way they approach the excavations.

A preview video posted on the National Geographic website showed presenters removing body parts from a grave in Latvia. At one point, the men mistook a leg bone for an arm bone, after wrenching it from the ground.

It comes across as ghoulish, said Dr Tony Pollard, director of the centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University, who was one of a number of leading academics who called for the show to be scrapped.

They are basically there to recover interesting goodies, but what I saw was atrocious.

It disrespects my field of study. But more importantly, it disrespects the human remains. The dead have to be handles with respect and decency.

He added: It is highly disrespectful and worrying. I am hugely disappointed that we are back here again. Changing the title isnt going to change the fact that this is a dubious practice.

Andy Brockman, another archaeologist, added: Battlefield archaeology is about forensic recovery, so you have the best chance possible of giving someone back their name, and that didnt happen here. [This] was inappropriate and tasteless at best.

John Duncan, who campaigns to preserve the memory of those who died in war, also urged Channel 5 to pull the series.

Dr Tony Pollard (pictured in a different documentary), director of the centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University, called the programme 'ghoulish'

[Its] an appalling state of affairs and Channel 5 should hang its head in shameits nigh on grave-robbing, he said.

Apart from the name, the only change Channel 5 made to the programme was a warning to viewers against unlicensed battlefield looting.

Yesterday, Clearstory defended the integrity of the series:

Whilst the series may have a new title, there are no compliance issues with the content and there never have been, and so there is no reason for the programmes to be re-edited. All of the activity that features within the shows was done legally and in accordance with the relevant guidelines.

'It is important to stress that the production company, team and local organisations, made these films for an entirely positive purpose  to recover and hand over excavated items to authorities for safe keeping, and to bury the dead with honour, it said.

It added that the presenters recovered hundreds of items from the battlefields as well as five artefacts which were deemed of historical importance.

It proved an extraordinary production with some significant finds; in Latvia, three soldiers were recovered and now have been properly laid to rest in military cemeteries; a recovered dog tag of a Wehrmacht soldier was supplied to the German authorities to inform next of kin and, in Poland, 36 soldiers and civilians were found and they too have finally been buried with honour, Clearstory said.

National Geographic also attempted to defend the series in 2014, arguing at first that it operates in direct conjunction with organisations officially licensed to excavate battlefields.

However, it eventually axed it in the face of furious criticism, so that allegations about the series [could] be reviewed. It never rescheduled the programmes.
Security authorities are growing increasingly concerned by the rising number of sex attacks by gangs of migrants which appear to be spreading across Europe.

Finland and Sweden today became the latest European countries to issue warnings to women to be wary of the threat of sex attacks following fresh reports of sexual assaults in the last week, while the Viennese police chief adviced women not to go outside alone in Vienna.

The warnings come as reports emerged that Austrian and German police tried to cover-up the issue over fears of reprisal attacks on asylum seekers and damage to the countries' tourist trade.

Dozens of arrests have been made today in connection with the wave of recent sex attacks across Europe.

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Security authorities are growing increasingly concerned by the rising number of sex attacks by gangs of migrants which appear to be spreading across Europe

Cologne police stand guard outside the main railway station in Cologne, Germany

Finnish police said today that they had been tipped off about plans by groups of asylum seekers to sexually harass women following an unusually high level of sexual harassment cases in Helsinki.

'There hasn't been this kind of harassment on previous New Year's Eves or other occasions for that matter... This is a completely new phenomenon in Helsinki,' said deputy police chief Ilkka Koskimaki.

Police in Germany are investigating more than 150 cases across five German cities where women have been attacked by the 'organised Arab or North African gangs, police said.

Cologne has been at the centre of the problem with around 106 reported cases of assault by migrant gangs since New Year's Eve.

Following criticism of the police's handling of the violent clashes in Cologne, the police chief of Cologne has been relieved of his duties today.

Police chief Wolfgang Albers, 60, was informed by the state interior minister Ralf Jaeger that he would be given early retirement, a source told Reuters.

A chilling police report about the attacks in Cologne describes women being forced to run through a 'gauntlet' of drunken men while officers themselves were mobbed by victims claiming they had been sexually assaulted.

Two more victims from the night have spoken out today on German TV, after they were sexually assaulted and attacked with fireworks during the city's New Year's Eve celebrations.

One woman, known only as Jenny, suffered serious burns when a firework was shoved into the hood she was wearing.

'I heard a sizzling sound in my hood,' said Jenny. 'I somehow tried to get the firecracker out of the hood. Then it fell into my jacket and burned everything.'

She added: 'The scars will be permanent. I was lucky that it didn't explode.'

One German gun-shop owner Katja Triebel revealed that sales in pepper spray had shot up since the vile attacks in Cologne.

Concerns remain that many of the men involved in the sickening assaults are still at large despite the best efforts by the police.

Shocking: One officer in Cologne said it was the worst level of disrespect he had seen in a 30-year career

Taunted: Police have revealed how the violent crowd, which was 'mainly' made up of migrants, openly mocked them as they tried to regain control of Cologne city centre in the run up to midnight on New Year's Eve

Upon searching one man suspected of being part of the New Year Eve attacks in Cologne, police found notes translated from Arabic into Germany with phrases like: 'I'll kill you'

Security officials try to lead away a man on New Year's Eve when a wave of sexual assaults were reported

Reports have emerged of a gang of migrants throwing fireworks at crowds and sexually assaulting women

Swiss artist Milo Moire holds a sign 'Respect us! We are no fair game even when we are naked!!!' as she protests naked in front of the Cologne today

Horrfiying: One victim, an 18-year-old named Michelle (pictured, in the square outside the main train station where she was attacked) described being surrounded by a group of 30 'angry' men who groped her and her friends then stole their belongings as they fled. Police officers said women had to run a 'gauntlet' to escape

Chaotic scenes from Cologne on New Years Eve. Similarly sexual assault cases have been reported across Europe with gangs of migrants being blamed for the attacks

Crowds clash under Germany police, with migrants chucking fireworks in Cologne

Cologne's mayor Henriette Reker sparked outrage by suggesting women should prevent sex attacks by keeping men at an 'arm's length'

Women shout slogans and hold up a placard that reads 'Against Sexism - Against Racism' as they march through the main railways station of Cologne

Further cases have emerged of identical sex attacks being reported in neighbouring Austria as well as Switzerland, where six women reported identical crimes in Zurich on New Year's Eve.

Swedish police say at least 15 young women have reported being groped by groups of men on New Year's Eve in the city of Kalmar.

Kalmar police spokesman Johan Bruun said today that groups of men encircled women on a crowded square and groped them on New Year's Eve.

He said no one was physically injured but that many of those targeted were terrified.

He said two men, both asylum-seekers, were informed through interpreters that they're suspected of sexual assault and that police are trying to identify other suspects.

When asked about similarities to the assaults in Germany, Bruun said: 'We are aware of what happened in Germany but we are focusing our investigation on what happened in Kalmar.'

Bruun told MailOnline that that the gang 'formed a rings around the girls and started molesting them.'

'They grabbed their breasts and genitals. In some cases they tried to drag girls into a waiting car, but those girls escaped luckily,' he revealed.

Groups of women were targeted as well as women who were on their own at the celebrations.

He also revealed that 11 incidents have been reported including claims from women who said they were molested inside nightclubs on the night.

'This is something entirely new to us and has never happened before.

'There were several groups of men that conducted these crimes and we are working very hard to find them. This is a serious crime and it is important for the citizens in Kalmar to feel safe on the streets,' he said.

He confirmed that two men were arrested at the scene of the crime on New Years eve after they were pointed out by several women.

'The sexual molestation continued after we arrested them and we know that there are many more perpetrators that we have yet to identify since they worked in big groups.

'We have collected pictures and films from peoples mobile phones at the scene and will show pictures of the suspects to the victims.'

He revealed the arrested men did not speak English or Swedish and were carrying the identity cards that said that they were asylum seekers.

MIGRANTS LINKED TO ATTACKS IDENTIFIED BY GERMAN POLICE AMID ALLEGATIONS OF POLICE COVER UP German police have identified 18 asylum seekers among 31 suspects in connection with robberies and assaults committed in Cologne at New Year. They were detained by federal police on suspicion of committing crimes ranging from theft to assault, interior ministry spokesman Tobias Plate told reporters in Berlin. They were believed to be among a group of up to 1,000 people in front of Cologne's main railway station on Thursday evening. None of the 31 is currently suspected of committing sexual assaults of the kind that have prompted outrage in Germany over the past week. Mr Plate said the suspects were nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans and one person each from Iraq, Serbia and the United States. Cologne police said they have received a total of 170 criminal complaints related to New Year, including 120 of a sexual nature. In addition to the 31 suspects detained by federal officers, city police arrested two men from North Africa, aged 16 and 23. Austrian police have been accused of covering up the sex attacks by migrant gangs in Vienna. Police have dismissed the claims, insisting they had held the information back 'to protect the privacy of victims'. News of the victims in Austria, which has included several arrests of migrants from Afghanistan and Syria, was revealed after women and girls said they suffered attacks from migrants and came forward to complain to local media. One identified as Sabrina told Austrian newspaper Osterreich that she was still suffering from shock from her ordeal which happened when she was in a club in the centre of the Mozart city of Salzburg. Advertisement

Finnish police said that they had been tipped off about plans by groups of asylum seekers to sexually harass women following an unusually high level of sexual harassment cases in Helsinki (pictured)

Iraqi migrants are pictured inside a refugee center located in former barracks, in Lahti, Finland

Swedish police say at least 15 young women have reported being groped by groups of men on New Year's Eve

Anger: The beat bobbies who dealt with the mobs have rubbished police chief and council claims that the mob was not made up of asylum seekers, saying they saw mainly migrants on New Year's Eve

In Finland, security guards hired to patrol the city on New Year's Eve told police there had been 'widespread sexual harassment' at a central square where around 20,000 people had gathered for celebrations.

Three sexual assaults allegedly took place at Helsinki's central railway station on New Year's Eve, where around 1,000 mostly Iraqi asylum seekers had converged.

'Police have... received information about three cases of sexual assault, of which two have been filed as complaints,' Helsinki police said in a statement.

'The suspects were asylum seekers. The three were caught and taken into custody on the spot,' Helsinki deputy police chief Ilkka Koskimaki told AFP.

Police said they had increased their preparedness 'to an exceptional level' in Helsinki for New Year's Eve after being tipped off about possible problems.

THE CHILLING NOTES FOUND BY POLICE ON SEX ATTACK SUSPECT IN COLOGNE Germany police have confirmed that one man they have arrested from the gang of Arab and North African men who attacked women in Cologne. Written on pieces of paper, police discovered lurid phrases in Arabic translated into German for him to use against women victims. Among the threatening messages was: 'I'll kill you.' The notes also had the phrase for 'nice breasts' and 'I want to have sex with you.' The suspects arrested from the Cologne sex attacks reportedly included 9 Algerians, 8 Moroccans, 4 Syrians, 5 Iranians, 2 Germans and one each from Iraq, Serbia and the USA. Advertisement

'Ahead of New Year's Eve, the police caught wind of information that asylum seekers in the capital region possibly had similar plans to what the men gathered in Cologne's railway station have been reported to have had,' police said in a statement.

Dozens of apparently coordinated sexual assaults against women took place on New Year's Eve in the western German city of Cologne.

Cologne police said they had received 120 criminal complaints and quoted witnesses as saying that groups of 20-30 young men 'who appeared to be of Arab origin' had surrounded victims, assaulted them and in several cases robbed them.

Despite the growing number of copy-cat attacks by migrants gangs, Helsinki's deputy police chief said he did not think police believed there is a link between the Cologne and Helsinki incidents.

Shortly before New Year's Eve, Finnish police also arrested six Iraqis at an asylum residency centre in Kirkkonummi, around 30 kilometres west of Helsinki, suspected of 'publicly inciting criminal behaviour'. They were released on January 2.

According to Koskimaki, the arrests were linked to the information police received in the run-up to New Year's Eve.

In November, Finnish authorities said around 10 asylum seekers were suspected of rapes, among the more than 1,000 rapes reported to police in 2015.

Vienna's police chief has has caused outrage by advising women in the wake of sex attacks over New Year not to go out on the streets alone in Austria.

The astonishing claims by Gerhard Purstl were made as it was revealed Austria also had cases registered in which women claimed to have been sexually assaulted by men who were described by their victims as being immigrants.

In neighbouring Germany, more than 100 women have come forward to say they were assaulted over New Year by groups of men who were described in police protocols as being mostly nely-arrived asylum seekers.

Vienna's police chief Gerhard Purstl has has caused outrage by advising women in the wake of sex attacks over New Year not to go out on the streets alone in Austria

Three migrants from Afghanistan walk along the A3 highway shortly after they crossed from Austria into Germany in August 2015

A German policeman checks vehicles at the border with Austrian borders amid the border crisis

Refugees Migrants arriving at railway station in Vienna, Austria, back in September 2015

In the wake of the scandal, Purstl was asked about the incidents and about the risk that women were in.

He then said: 'Women should in general not go out on the streets at night alone, they should avoid suspicious looking areas and also when in pubs and clubs should only accept drinks from people they know.'

The statement immediately attracted criticism from the country's Green party women's affairs spokesman Berivan Aslan who said: 'Should women now only go out with bodyguards if they want to avoid being told it was their fault when they get into difficulties?'

And the Green party security spokesman Peter Pilz said: 'Is the Vienna police chief saying that he is no longer in a position to protect women from sex attacks? If so, then he has failed in his job.'

The Social Democratic Party's Women's Affairs spokesman in the city, Sandra Frauenberger, added: 'The first reaction to incidents like this should not be to tell women to be more careful.'

NORWAY OFFERS MIGRANTS COURSES IN RESPECTING WOMEN Norway is offering asylum seekers courses in how to interpret morals in a country that may seem astonishingly liberal to them. It is hoped the course in help prevent violence against women. Questions are also being raised about how to integrate men from patriarchal societies into Europe, where women dress skimpily, drink alcohol and party. 'Our aim is to help asylum seekers avoid mistakes as they discover Norwegian culture,' explained Linda Hagen of Hero, a private company that runs 40 percent of Norway's reception centres for asylum seekers. 'There's no single cultural code to say what is good or bad behaviour because we want a free society,' she said. 'There has to be tolerance for attitudes that may be seen as immoral by some traditional or religious norms.' Advertisement

'The proper reaction is for us all to work together to fight problems like this,' Ms Frauenberger said.

The country's Interior Ministry Johanna Mikl-Leitner also waded into the debate saying: 'The police will make sure that they tackle every sex assault cases with zero tolerance. We women will not allow ourselves to see our freedom to go where we want when we want reduced by even a millimetre'.

Purstl meanwhile defended his statement saying he was simply repeating advice that had been repeated by police for decades as part of the general prevention of crime strategy.

It was the same message that was repeated when it was realised there was a risk of women being tricked by strangers into taking spiked drinks.

The police are already under fire in Austria after admitting only revealing numerous incidents of sex attacks in the city of Salzburg when the full extent of the German problem had become known. The police claimed however it was nothing to do with a conspiracy of silence, and they had acted out of respect for the victims.

So far they said there had been 10 cases in which women had come forward to complain, although on social media many more told their stories, saying they did not want to go to the police.

They said they could not describe the attackers in enough detail as they were too scared and only wanted to get away.

Thousands have pledged their support to a German vigilante group which has vowed to protect women from migrants in the wake of the New Year's Eve attacks in Cologne.

The group says it wants to make the streets safer through 'presence' alone but police have warned that 'searching for offenders is not a job for citizens'.

After the group was launched, and gained thousands of followers overnight, a Dusseldorf police spokesman told local media that German police is responsible for public security.

He said the police had no problem with people acting bravely in the face of crime but they were against 'self proclaimed vigilantes'.

German phrasebook found on asylum seeker sex attack suspect in Cologne included lurid phrases such as 'nice breasts' and 'I want to have sex with you'

It is the worst nightmare Chancellor Angela Merkel could have imagined for her 'open door' policy towards refugees from war zones which have seen over a million people enter the country in the last 12 months, polarizing opinion and stretching the social fabric ever thinner.

The first two suspects of gang that assaulted and robbed over 100 women on New Year's Eve were finally arrested today.

Videos of the crowds, together with the howl of fireworks and the shrieks of women they assaulted, were found on their mobile phones.

Officers found a note on one of the men containing Arabic-German translations for phrases including 'nice breasts', 'I'll kill you' and 'I want to have sex with you.'

Twelve more people are being sought in connection with 121 complaints from women attacked on the last night of the year.

Federal police, as opposed to Cologne city officers, were responsible for security inside the besieged train station. They say they quizzed nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, four Syrians, five Iranians, one Iraqi, one Serbian, and one US citizen following reports on the night.

Danger: Some visitors have cancelled planned holidays to Cologne (pictured) and women are said to fear going out by themselves at night

Fear: One local student told MailOnline reporter Nick Fagge (left): 'It cannot be right that women can't walk around a city in Germany without being attacked. This is not the German way'

There were 18 asylum seekers among the 31 people stopped by the federal police, who also recorded three sexual assaults.

Hoteliers and trade fair officials said the first cancellations from holidaymakers who planned visits to the ancient city on the Rhine had started in the wake of the attacks.

The perception of refugees has changes with each new incident like this. Most people used to have sympathy for them, but that is changing, you can see it in people's attitude and hear it in the way they talk about foreigners Refugee worker in Cologne

'The image of Cologne has suffered a crack,' said the managing director of Cologne tourism, Josef Sommer. The city tourism office admitted to receiving 'dozens' of emails and phone calls from tourists concerned with safety in the city.

Germany's far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) said ordinary people are now afraid to go out.

Spokesman Klaus Kraemer told MailOnline: 'German people are now frightened to go to the train station or other open spaces where they may encounter large numbers of refugees.

'They have become afraid of foreigners. They are now looking over their shoulder when they are in the train station to see who is behind them.

A refugee worker told MailOnline how public opinion in Germany is turning against refugees, saying: 'The perception of refugees has changes with each new incident like this.

'Most people used to have sympathy for them, but that is changing, you can see it in people's attitude and hear it in the way they talk about foreigners.'

Christoph Becker, managing director of the Hotel and Restaurant Association Cologne, encompassing 500 members, spoke of a degree of 'high uncertainty' in the near future.

The events of the night there, and in several other German cities including Hamburg where upwards of 50 women reported similar sexual assaults and robberies, have proved manna from heaven for the far right and anti-asylum seeking groups.

Pegida, which draws strong support among the middle classes, is planning a march in the city tomorrow with the theme 'Pegida Protects.'

Results: The first two suspects of gang that assaulted and robbed over 100 women on New Year's Eve were arrested today. On one of the suspects they found a

Manhunt: At least 12 more people are being sought in connection with 121 complaints from women attacked on the last night of the year (pictured, flowers left at the scene of the mass attack)

Propaganda: The attacks in Cologne (pictured) and other German cities, where dozens of women have reported sexual assaults and robberies, have played into the hands of far-right groups

The Alternative for Germany party said what happened in Cologne 'was a direct result of the policies of Angela Merkel and her government.'

One AFD supporter wrote online: 'These rapes were only the beginning and it will not stay at hate sermons, thefts, rapes, robberies but escalate to beatings, stabbings,threats, against the infidels on every corner.'

Another right winger predicted: 'Soon the mostly young and male interlopers will get that, what they want - and with force of arms. The civil war will come indeed. For these crap people, Merkel must take responsibility. She brought the riff raff in.'

On a post of Pegida on the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, a supporter invoked the ghost of the Austrian born Hitler, stating: 'We need a politician from Austria. What is Mrs. Merkel up to, turning German into a negro land?'

The Green Party in Cologne, heavily pro-immigration, warned that new Facebook groups were springing up specifically to spread hatred of asylum seekers.

And the far-right Pro NRW  it stands for North Rhine-Westphalia, the state in which Cologne sits  has a new motto; 'Immigrant violence won't leave us cold.'

Evidence: Federal police, who were responsible for security inside the besieged train station (pictured), said theyquizzed nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, four Syrians, five Iranians, one Iraqi, one Serbian, and one US citizen following reports on the night

Bad press: The attacks in Cologne, considered a 'progressive' and safe city, are bad news for Chancellor Angela Merkel who welcomed more than one million refugees fleeing war zones into the country

It said what happened on New Year's Eve was part of 'the underbelly of mass immigration. This is a new and disturbing trend - testosterone-driven new residents on the hunt for young indigenous women'.

While life has not stopped for young women in the city, there have noticeably been less of them walking alone through the city at night this week, or travelling home alone on trains, trams and buses.

Management consultant Nicola, 26, told MailOnline: 'What happened here in the station on Sylvester Night is so completely wrong.

'We expect that a woman can be safe to walk around at night in Germany, without being harassed by men.

'This will change the way that German people think about foreigners and accepting refugees.'

Hotel worker Sanu, originally from Niger, West Africa, blasted those responsible  and demanded they be brought to justice.

'These men would not dare to do something like this in their own country, so why do they think they can get away with it here?' asked the 29-year-old who has been living in Germany for over a decade.

Depraved: A note with the words, 'I'll kill you', written in German, was found on one of the men arrested in connection to the attacks

Unsafe: There have noticeably been fewer women walking alone through the city at night this week (pictured, police patrolling outside Cologne cathedral)

'There is no excuse for harassing and touching women in this way. If a man touched a woman like this in an Arab country they would be severely punished. These people are bringing shame on all foreigners coming to Germany.'

Art student Helen, 18, added: 'What happened here at the station was terrible. It cannot be right that women can't walk around a city in Germany without being attacked. This is not the German way. We [women] have a right to go and do whatever we want in safety.'
This is the awkward moment a three-year-old girl burst into tears at a safari park when a pair of very cheeky monkeys got into a compromising position on her parent's car.

Stunned youngster Gracie Hennessy was filmed by her dad wailing at the two amorous animals on the bonnet of the family BMW at Knowsley Safari Park in Merseyside.

The girl's tearful reaction has since gone viral after it received more than 2.4 million views.

Stunned: The girl watched as two very cheeky monkeys got into a compromising position on her parent's car

Get a room! The two amorous animals were filmed on the bonnet of the family BMW at Knowsley Safari Park

In the clip, parent's Andrew, 38, and Natalie, 32, can be heard yelling: 'No, no, no' as the male animal mounts his partner - meanwhile their daughter covers her eyes and squeals in terror.

The episode hasn't put Gracie off her love of animals however and she has continually asked her parents how they think the cheeky monkeys are getting on since their visit.

Andrew, an electrician, said: 'We'd been driving through the lion and tiger enclosures but Gracie was particularly excited about the monkeys.

'She loves animals and she was thought it was great when the monkeys started walking towards the car straight away.

'We didn't really expect what happened next. They jumped up on the bonnet and were generally just fooling around so I got the camera out.

Devastated: The girl's tearful reaction has since gone viral after it received more than 2.4 million views

Happy: The youngster's parents say the awkward episode hasn't put Gracie off her love of animals

'Then they just started absolutely going for it. Me and Natalie didn't know what to think, but obviously we found it hilarious.

'Gracie, on the other hand, had a face like thunder. Her mum was shouting at me to get a picture of her face because she looked so disgusted.

'Then she let off this really high-pitched scream and that's when the tears started. She doesn't fully understand what happened but she wasn't impressed.'

Gracie, now four, her two-year-old sister, Poppy, and six-year-old brother, Harrison, were in the north-west to see relatives when they visited the safari park

Not so bad: After the initial shock, Natalie said the kids had only positive things to say about the safari

Gracie, now four, her two-year-old sister, Poppy, and six-year-old brother, Harrison, made the trip to the north-west from their home in Maidenhead, Berkshire, to visit Natalie's relatives.

After getting over the initial shock, Andrew and Natalie, a waitress, said the kids had only positive things to say about their time on safari.

'Despite what you see in the video, they all absolutely loved it. Poppy was pretty oblivious in the back seat with me, and Harrison was in another car,' said Andrew.

Parents Andrew and Natalie said Gracie was more terrified the monkeys might actually come in through the window than anything else

'We definitely got our money's worth. They all still talk about it now, asking about the rude monkeys and the cheeky monkeys.

'I think Gracie was more terrified that they might actually come through the window than anything else.
A mystery mandarin asked about a 'walk-on part' in the new Bond blockbuster Spectre while negotiating a deal to allow Daniel Craig to film at Westminster, new emails revealed today.

The civil servant also said he was 'available if they need any Bond villains - I may as well live up to my reputation' during flirty exchanges published for the first time today.

The emails have been published by the Foreign Office - but the identity of the official involved has been kept secret.

Daniel Craig and other stars of the movie including Christoph Waltz, who played Ernst Blofeld, filmed for two days in Westminster in May.

Success: Bond film Spectre, starring Daniel Craig, filmed in Government buildings (left and right) - and the Mandarin involved in negotiations made a light-hearted pitch for a walk-on part

Extraordinary: A helicopter used in Spectre screams past Big Ben during two days of Westminster filming

Hints: A senior Whitehall official said he was available for a 'walk-on' part and would make a good Bond villain in emails released for the first time today

But before it could take place Spectre's producers needed to agree a deal with the Government likely to have cost up to 10,000 a day.

Central London was brought to a standstill as the star filmed Bond's intelligence briefings in the Treasury and Foreign Office buildings before racing up Whitehall close to the Cenotaph and Downing Street with Q, played by Ben Whishaw.

Later helicopters were flown over Parliament while Bond raced along the Thames in a speedboat before a shoot-out on Westminster Bridge.

Other sections of the new Bond film, directed by Sam Mendes, were captured inside, outside and on the roof of Government buildings.

Before permission was granted a mystery Government worker, whose name and email address was redacted, said: 'I am available if they need any Bond villains. I may as well live up to my reputation'.

Drama: During two days of filming in May helicopters were flown over Parliament, bringing central London to a standstill

Action: In the film Bond, pictured here with a gun, flies down the Thames in a speedboat ahead of a shoot-out on Westminster Bridge

Response: The other person in the email exchanges, who is also not named but was in contact with Spectre's producers, promised to 'mention' his offer to be a villain

The recipient, whose name has also been blanked out, then replied: 'You may be a Bond villain after the call I had with the film company today'.

A little later the Bond fan civil servants said again: 'I remain available for a walk-on part.'

He was then told to try walking up and down Whitehall in the hope he'd get into a scene.

A Foreign Office spokesman refused to comment on the story today or the identity of the person involved.

MailOnline understands that the exchange about a walk-on part was one between colleagues that has now been made public under the Freedom of Information Act.
A grandfather who was charged with stabbing his two-month-old granddaughter to death has requested the death penalty.

Cao Yonghou has been remanded in custody after being charged with stabbing two-month-old Qianqian 'Queenie' Xu to death and attempting to murder his wife and daughter.

The 52-year-old said told his lawyers he wanted the death penalty at a bedside hearing on Friday afternoon in Brisbane's Princess Alexandra hospital, reports ABC.

It comes after the baby girl's father Tenglong 'George' Xu, revealed the family were struggling to come to terms with their loss.

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Cao Yonghou has been charged with stabbing his two-month-old granddaughter to death and attempting murder his wife and daughter

The 52-year-old said told his lawyers he did not know his granddaughter had died until he was charged and that he wanted the death penalty

Mr Cao reportedly grabbed a knife and lashed out after the family confronted him about not taking his medication.

Police prosecutor, senior sergeant Mark Gorton, said Mr Cao was 'distraught' when he was told of the charges against him, reports Courier Mail.

'He had an interpreter with him throughout so he understand everything that was occurring,' he said.

'He is clearly distressed by what has happened.'

Mr Cao reportedly told his lawyers did not know his granddaughter had died until he was charged.

He did not apply for bail and will not be required to attend his committal mention in February.

It comes after the baby girl's father Tenglong 'George' Xu,broke his silence on the families struggle to cope with their loss.

'My wife and I would like to extend our thanks to the community for the support they have shown to us since this tragic incident that occurred within our family home on Wednesday,' he said in a statement two days after the horrific stabbing that saw his wife and mother-in-law also injured.

'We are struggling to come to terms with the loss of our daughter and with the terrible injuries that my wife and her mother have suffered.

'Whilst we appreciate the support we have received, we would like to ask members of the community and the media to please respect our privacy and the dignity of our family at this time.

'Allow us to deal with this difficult situation and to grieve for our daughter as a family in our own private manner.'

Baby Qianqian 'Queenie' Xu died in hospital after police swooped on a home in Brisbane's south on Wednesday. Her father, who was not home at the time, has broken his silence about his daughter's death

Queenie's mother, Yuanyuan Cao, (left) was stabbed during the attack and ran from the Brisbane home to find help. She is pictured with the baby's father, Tenglong 'George' Xu, (right)

Ms Cao remains in hospital where she has already undergone two surgeries for her injuries, which included 'serious defensive wounds' on her arm. Her parents were both found with stab wounds in the home

What appears to be a baby carrier on grass near the scene of the stabbing attack on Wednesday. A 52-year-old man has been charged with murder and attempted murder

Queenie died in hospital after police swooped on a home in Parkinson, south of Brisbane, on Wednesday and found the little girl, her mother, Yuanyuan Cao, and grandparents all seriously injured with knife wounds.

Mr Cao had reportedly been acting strangely, which drove his family to confront him.

Detective Inspector Tony Duncan said Queenie's parents were distraught and very traumatised.

Ms Cao has undergone two surgeries for her injuries, which included 'serious defensive wounds' on her arm.

It comes after a local pastor said he saw the grandfather smiling while holding the girl in his arms at church days before the alleged attack.

This comes as more than 200 people prayed and held a minute's silence at a candlelight vigil in a small park on the quiet street at Parkinson where Queenie was fatally injured

Dozens laid flowers, toys and candles during the short service on Thursday night

Just two months ago, a proud new mother announced the birth of her 'little princess', as her parents excitedly flying from China to Australia to meet the baby girl

Excited friends congratulated the parents on the birth of their baby - yet tragedy struck just two months later

Local Pastor Robert Chua said he met the man briefly last Sunday when he attended a service at the nearby New Hope Community Church.

'He was very normal, very loving,' Mr Chua said.

'He was carrying the little baby and smiling and walking around.

'I didn't see him when he left but I was told he said: `See you later, see you next Sunday'.

'These are like normal visitors from China. We get many of them every Sunday. It was a real shock to us to see this happen.'

More than 200 people prayed and held a minute's silence at a candlelight vigil on Thursday in a small park on the quiet street at Parkinson where Queenie was fatally injured in her bassinet on Wednesday.

Some were friends of the family, others strangers wanting to show their support. Many were seeking answers.

'I came here for two reasons, because I wanted to support this Chinese family and because it was a baby, so young, so precious,' David Xhang, 55, from Kenmore told AAP.

'How can we help the Chinese community to stop this from happening again?'

Investigators continue to sift through the house for evidence at Parkinson on Thursday

Neighbours have gathered at the scene to watch police investigations unfold as officer stand guard outside

As officers dig through the scene, three of the baby girl's family members remain in hospital under police guard

Neighbours recall seeing a man walking down the street after the attack 'dripping with blood'

Emergency services staff stand near a pool of blood after being called to the scene of the attack

Police and ambulance vehicles clustered near the Brisbane address on Wednesday afternoon

Emergency services were called to an address in Parkinson, in Brisbane's south, about 2.30pm

Blood could be seen on the drive outside a house in Parkinson, a suburb in Brisbane's south

Just months before the incident, Ms Cao had boasted proudly of her 'little princess' who was born on October 15, weighing 3.1kg, at Brisbane's Mater Hospital.

Days later, she posted a photo of her bundle of joy sleeping wrapped up in a striped pink, yellow, green and white blanket.

Residents on Watheroo Place recalled hearing loud screaming and seeing a man walking down a street covered in blood after the attack, The Courier Mail reported.

They told the newspaper how they saw the man, thought to be the baby's grandfather, handcuffed and sitting on a driveway 'dripping blood' after police arrested him.

Police officers at the scene of the stabbing on Watheroo Place, where four family members were seriously injured

A group of police officers huddle near the scene of the incident at Watheroo Place
A family outing ended in tragedy when a single mother-of-three was dragged lifeless to the shore of a Tasmanian beach after trying to help her struggling nine-year-old daughter.

Yolande Scheffer, 49, was swimming with her two daughters, 9 and 10, at Somerset Beach just before 6pm on Thursday, but dropped under the waist-high water while helping her youngest girl.

Six off-duty lifesavers who were at the beach by chance for a training session rushed to pull the trio to shore, performing CPR on an unconscious Ms Scheffer until ambulance officers arrived.

Single mother-of-three Yolande Scheffer, 49, drowned while swimming with her two young daughters

Tasmania Police believe she got into difficulty after she was hit by a wave in the waist-high water of Somerset Beach, on the state's north-west coast

She was rushed to the North West Regional Hospital but pronounced dead a short time later, a statement from Tasmania Police said.

It is believed Ms Scheffer was a strong swimmer.

'It is understood that she got into difficulty after being hit by a wave,' Sergeant Nikala Parsons told the ABC.

'It is a small community and things like that affect the small communities in a huge way. It's distressing for everybody including the police.'

The two children were 'being comforted by bystanders at the nearby Somerset Surf Club and were safe and well,' police said.

Ms Scheffer's 15-year-old son is not believed to have gone with them to the beach.

Off-duty lifeguards that rescued the trio attempted CPR on an unconscious Ms Scheffer, but she was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later. The community have laid down flowers in her memory

A former classmate paid respect for the much-loved single mother and masseuse on Facebook

Boyd Griggs from Surf Life Saving Tasmania said the beach was generally considered to be safe and the accident had rocked the community.

'We believe that they were just boogie boarding in front of the club but we're not sure of the circumstances to how they got into trouble,' he said.

Flowers were laid down on a picnic table at Somerset Beach on Friday as tributes for the much-loved mother flooded through social media.

'We would like to extend our sincerest condolences to Yolande Scheffer's family,' wrote a Palliative Care and Training Centre.

'For those who didn't know, Yolande was the wonderful massesue for TAHPC's Taster Day held last October. Yolande planned on being part of Care Beyond Cure in Penguin should we be successful. She will be very much missed.'

'Very sad to learn this morning that one of our Class of 81 passed away tragically yesterday,' wrote a former classmate.

'Deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Yolande Scheffer.'

A report is being prepared for the Coroner.

Police say Ms Scheffe's daughters, 9 and 10, were 'safe and well.' Her 15 year-old son did not go to the beach
Police investigating the unsolved murder of a 14-year-old girl who was stabbed to death on a canal towpath more than 50 years ago have issued a photo of a duffel coat to help trace a new suspect.

Elsie Frost, 14, was stabbed to death on a canal towpath in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in October 1965 in a crime which sent shockwaves through the community and it still yet to be resolved.

But West Yorkshire Police, which relaunched the probe last year, say they have received a 'highly encouraging' response, including an unprecedented 100 new lines of inquiry.

Police investigating the unsolved murder of 14-year-old Elsie Frost (left), who was stabbed to death on a canal towpath more than 50 years ago, have issued a photo of a duffel coat (right) to help trace a new suspect

Elsie was attacked as she walked through a 30ft railway tunnel (pictured), just off the towpath of the Calder and Hebble Canal, in October 1965

Officers have now released an image of a type of duffel coat, which they say is similar to a style being worn by a man in his 20s, who was spotted near the murder scene that afternoon.

According to a new witness, the man was seen near the ABC railway steps, where Elsie stumbled for help, at around the time her body was found.

The specialist team have now released a picture of a police officer wearing the style of coat, in a bid to encourage more witnesses to come forward.

He is described as having dark hair and of slim to medium build, while having a 'student' look about him.

Detective Chief Inspector Elizabeth Belton, who is heading the probe, said: 'We received a highly encouraging response to our new appeal last October and have since been progressing lines of enquiry to try and find Elsie's killer.

'A common description of a person of interest which has come from some of the calls has been of a man wearing a brown, potentially duffel, type coat with dark hair who was seen on the canal towpath.

According to a new witness, the man - described as having dark hair and of slim to medium - was seen near the ABC railway steps (pictured) - where Elsie stumbled for help - at around the time her body was found

The horrific events left scars on the close-knit community, while the hunt for the killer made local (pictured) and national news for weeks

'Witnesses describe seeing potential suspects in the area of the canal at around the time of the murder and then in the Denby Dale road area after 4.45pm, and then into the evening.'

Elsie was attacked as she walked through a 30ft railway tunnel, just off the towpath of the Calder and Hebble Canal.

It is believed Elsie (pictured) was watching friends sail on what is now Horbury Lagoon and decided to take a different route home to her friends, to stop her new shoes getting muddy

It is believed she was watching friends sail on what is now Horbury Lagoon and decided to take a different route home to her friends, to stop her new shoes getting muddy.

As she walked along, she was attacked. The post-mortem examination shows she was knifed twice in the back, twice in the head and once through the hand as she tried to shield herself.

Despite her terrible injuries, Elsie managed to stumble through the tunnel to the bottom of what locals called the ABC Steps; a steep flight of 26 steps up to the main road.

But she died of blood loss and shock and her body was later found under the bridge.

The horrific events left scars on the close-knit community, while the hunt for the killer made national news for weeks.

West Yorkshire police combed the area for clues and divers searched the river and lagoons for the murder weapon. Scotland Yard detectives joined the investigation.

Officers later went from door to door interviewing every man living in the area. About 12,000 men were questioned by police, among them David Hinchliffe, Wakefields Labour MP between 1987 and 2005, who was 16 at the time.

An innocent man went on to have his reputation destroyed when he was charged with the murder.

Elsies parents, railway worker Arthur and his wife Edith, died without seeing anyone brought to justice for their youngest daughters murder.

DCI Belton added: 'Clearly, it is significant that after such a long passage of time we have managed to generate 100 new lines of enquiry and I want to thank residents for their assistance so far.

'I also want to thank a number of former police officers who have come forwards to offer information.'

Anyone who has information is asked to call 101.
A former glamour model has warned that her Facebook page was hacked by conmen who targeted teenage girls, convincing them to send explicit photographs before extorting money from them.

Harriette Cranfield said hackers used her social media account to entice young girls into sending in photographs of themselves, with the promise of highly-paid modelling work.

But the girls were then sent demands for hundreds of pounds, with the threat that if they refused to hand over the money, the pictures would be posted online, Miss Cranfield, 24, said.

Former glamour model Harriette Cranfield (pictured) has warned that her Facebook page was hacked by conmen who convinced teenage girls to send explicit photographs before extorting money from them

One 18-year-old girl was convinced to send over topless photos with a message that read: 'Basically I model myself and I run a new agency too.

'I'm looking for girls to do topless/ nude artistic classy modelling for a high class Russian magazine.

'It's only shown in Russia, nothing is put out online. It's all paid cash 1,200 a day.'

Miss Cranfield said: 'The youngest girl was a 15-year-old and that was the most shocking because she had planned to meet the hacker so they could get more photos.

One 18-year-old girl was convinced to send over topless photos with a message that read: 'Basically I model myself and I run a new agency too. I'm looking for girls to do topless/ nude artistic classy modelling for a high class Russian magazine' (left). Pictured right is a message sent to the account after Miss Cranfield realised what was happening

Miss Cranfield, (left, and right with her boyfriend Jack Gardner, 25) says the girls were then sent demands for hundreds of pounds, with the threat that if they refused, the pictures would be posted online

'That was when I phoned the police for the first time.

'She had sent explicit photos you wouldn't expect a 15-year-old girl to take.

'I thought if someone gets hurt and they have used my account I would never live with myself.'

Her boyfriend Jack Gardner, 25, of Hatfield Peverel, Essex, said the hackers were conning 'impressionable' young girls into sending explicit images.

'He entices them in using Harriette's profile, because she's well known in the industry, then claims that he can make them Britain's next top model if they send over these pictures,' he said.

'Once they've been sent, the hacker then reveals they're not Harriette after all and demands 250 to not plaster their pictures all over the internet.

'It's disgusting what they're doing.'

Miss Cranfield said she knew of 15 people who have been conned into sending explicit photos to her account and fears the total is much higher.

Among them is an 18-year-old who sent topless photos of herself after she received a message promising to make her the UK's next top model, and a man who sent explicit pictures of his ex-girlfriend after he was asked for revealing pictures of women.

Miss Cranfield discovered what was happening after the teenager approached her to tell her she'd been conned. She later spoke to the man's irate ex-girlfriend.

They were then given instructions on what sort of photographs and videos to send, including topless and nude images (left), and how to upload their pictures (right)

Miss Cranfield says the women were then asked to send over explicit images and videos

'The problem is the account is real and people do not believe it has been hacked,' she said. 'It took me 45 minutes to explain what had actually happened to the man's ex-partner.

'What if I'm in a club, I'm not going to have 45 minutes to explain to a girl who wants to wrap a glass round my head what's really happened.'

Miss Cranfield first noticed something was wrong in February last year when she couldn't log on to her Facebook account.

Later she discovered that her Hotmail account had also been hacked and all of her security questions changed, meaning she could not reset her password. She has not used the account since then and for a time stopped using social media altogether.

Miss Cranfield contacted Facebook but was told they were unable to do anything because the account was genuine.

As more and more people kept contacting her to say they'd received messages Miss Cranfield decided to contact the police in April last year.

However, she was told that no crime had been committed and therefore nothing could be done.

Miss Cranfield and Mr Gardner set up a Facebook group to warn their friends and family about the con, but they say this was later deleted by the hackers.

Miss Cranfield appeared in various national newspapers during her two-year career as a glamour model, and believes she was targeted because she is a well known face in the industry which people trust.

She said: 'It's been horrible, a total nightmare. I received messages on Twitter from an underage girl who was upset she'd found out my account wasn't legitimate.

'Apparently this hacker was also trying to meet up with girls, which was when things started getting really serious and I phoned the police again.

Miss Cranfield and Mr Gardner set up a Facebook group to warn their friends and family about the con, but they say this was later deleted by the hackers

'I broke down last week when the police said that unless I get physically attacked or have money taken specifically from me, that they won't take any action. I want them to be more proactive. '

Mr Gardner added: 'We feel like we are on the verge of something really bad happening and it's a scary thought. We've already contacted the police, but they've been absolutely useless.

'They keep telling us that because technically nothing illegal has happened, they can't do anything.'

An Essex Police spokesman said: 'She was visited by an officer and we have provided her with advice, but based on the information we have been provided so far, no offences have been committed.

'However should any further information come to light, we would ask Miss Cranfield to contact us.

'We also encourage the people who have been contacted by the hacker and believe they have been the victim of a crime to report any offences to police.'

Her account is still controlled by the hackers but Miss Cranfield is hoping Facebook will shut it down shortly.

Miss Cranfield contacted Facebook but was told they were unable to do anything because the account was genuine

Miss Cranfield said she knew of 15 people who have been conned into sending explicit photos to her account and fears the total is much higher

Miss Cranfield discovered that her Hotmail account had also been hacked and all of her security questions changed, meaning she could not reset her password. She has not used the account since then and for a time stopped using social media altogether

'It's disgusting what they're doing.'

Miss Cranfield said she knew of 15 people who have been conned into sending explicit photos to her account and fears the total is much higher.

Among them is an 18-year-old who sent topless photos of herself after she received a message promising to make her the UK's next top model, and a man who sent explicit pictures of his ex-girlfriend after he was asked for revealing pictures of women.

Miss Cranfield discovered what was happening after the teenager approached her to tell her she'd been conned. She later spoke to the man's irate ex-girlfriend.
Philip Hammond today urged South Korea to rise above the behaviour of its northern neighbour and stop broadcasting propaganda over the dangerous border.

The Foreign Secretary said North Korea was deliberately baiting its neighbours with Wednesday's claimed H-bomb test.

The paranoid pariah state 'declared' the new test days before supreme leader Kim Jong-un's birthday, prompting condemnation around the world.

Mr Hammond, who is visiting neighbouring Japan today with defence secretary Michael Fallon, said: 'We have to be bigger than the North Koreans.'

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, second left at today's meeting, and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, left, took part in a 'two plus two' meeting in Tokyo today with the Japanese counterparts, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, second right, and Japan's Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, right.

While in Japan, Mr Hammond has warned South Korea to show restraint in its propaganda response to North Korea's nuclear bomb claims. The 'two plus two' meeting format, pictured today, is common across Asia

Mr Hammond said the international community should do what is needed to bring North Korea into line through sanctions, in return for restraint by its southern neighbour.

He said there was understanding of why South Korea felt the need to respond to the supposed escalation in its neighbour's nuclear capability.

But he added: 'We have to be bigger than the North Koreans ... We know responding in this way is simply rising to the bait North Korea is presenting to us.'

The claims by North Korea that it conducted a hydrogen bomb test are the top priority for talks during Mr Hammond's visit.

He previously hailed Japan as Britain's 'closest security partner in Asia' as he arrived in the capital for discussions on security.

Kim Jong-un's secretive state said it successfully tested a miniaturised hydrogen bomb, a move that would be a significant advancement of its nuclear armoury, but experts have cast doubt on the claims.

During the visit, it was reported by the Daily Telegraph that Royal Air Force Typhoon jets would be sent to Japan to take part in war games.

The exercises will come amid heightened tension in the region over China's territorial claims.

If the planes are sent it would be the first time in decades British aircraft have taken part in combat exercises in Japan.

Mr Fallon, pictured centre today, and Mr Hammond, right, met with Japanese Vice Defence Minister Kenji Wakamiya on the Japanese Ship Izumo, a helicopter carrier, at the Yokosuka Base of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces in Kanagawa

During the visit, Mr Hammond will discuss global security challenges with Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida alongside Mr Fallon and his opposite number Gen Nakatani.

The Foreign Secretary, who arrived in the country after visits to China and the Philippines, will also meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

At the start of the visit, Mr Hammond said: 'The UK and Japan are close allies. We enjoy a strong, historic relationship, based on common values and support for democracy, the rule of law, human rights and open markets.

'The long-term security of both the UK and Japan depend on upholding a stable international system. We will continue to work closely together to contribute to global prosperity, peace and security.

'The world today is increasingly dangerous, complex and uncertain. We face growing threats from terrorism and extremism, a resurgence in state-based threats including nuclear proliferation, and an escalation in challenges to our cyber security and to the rules-based international order.

'It is more important than ever for the UK to work with allies like Japan to counter these threats.

'As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the UK is continuing to play a central role on the issues that matter and is working with allies like Japan to safeguard national security, as well as building our prosperity overseas.'
Edward Snowden showed the power of 'subversive' technology as he made a surprise appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas - via a robot on wheels.

The former National Security Agency contractor was present thanks to Suitable's 'Beam' creation, which is a mobile screen designed for virtual meetings and remote commuting.

Snowden, who is famous for handing over secrets from western governments to media publications, said that the Beam wasn't just another piece of office technology.

Former intelligence worker, Edward Snowden, appeared at the Consumer Electronics Show via a mobile robot known as the 'Beam'

Snowden, who used to work for the National Security Agency told the room that despite the US government cancelling his passport he was able to be at CES through the 'power of technology'

Addressing the convention he told Peter Diamandis, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur: 'This is the power of Beam, or more broadly the power of technology.

'The FBI can't arrest a robot.'

While, the former intelligence worker was there promoting Beam, his lawyer, Ben Wizner with the American Civil Liberties Union, said in an email to the Guardian that his client wasn't compensated for the event but that he had 'benefited from the technology'.

Snowden also said that he saw a lot of promise in many of the technologies being showcased at this year's event, such as VR and AI systems, which seemed promising if companies took privacy and security into consideration.

He added: 'What if you could commute to work without having to sit in traffic?

'The US government basically cancelled my passport, but I'm sitting here in Las Vegas with you guys at CES.'
A man accused of raping his daughter for 22 years and fathering eight children with her has been arrested in Argentina.

In a case that has been compared to the abuse Elizabeth Fritzl suffered at the hands of dad Josef in Austria, Domingo Bullicio - known to friends as Vernacho - was detained in the northern city of Loret after a month-long manhunt.

The 56-year-old is accused of turning his daughter Antonia into a sex slave when she was just nine after his wife left him with their three other children.

Pictures on Argentinian media show Bullicio with his head covered in handcuffs in the back of a police truck



He fled the rundown property in Villa Balnearia in Santiago del Estero after the victim, now aged 31, managed to escape and ask authorities for help.

Pictures on Argentinian media show him with his head covered in handcuffs in the back of a police truck after his detention.

Antonia told a local paper she had been abused from an early age by her dad - many times in front of her children - and had received death threats since going public with her ordeal.

She said that her uncle also sexually abused her.

'From the moment my mum left home I became my father's wife,' she recalled.

'He abused me from the age of nine.

'He would hit me and used to chase me round the house with a lump of wood when he saw me chatting to a neighbour or simply wanted to abuse me.

'He threatened me constantly and I always feared for my life. He told me he would kill me if I said anything.

A portrait of Josef Fritzl who kept his daughter Elizabeth imprisoned in his basement and sexually abused her

'I'm scared for my life and the life of my children because today I'm receiving threats from my father's siblings to withdraw my complaint against him.

'They're not at all concerned about what's happened.

'I want him to rot in jail. I want justice to be done.'

DNA tests on Bullicio, who was on court on Monday, will determine whether the children are his. He is said to have registered the youngsters as his own.

Prosecutor Marcelo Sgoifo said Bullicio faced multiple rape charges.

Elizabeth Fritzl was was imprisoned from the age of 18 in a cramped and windowless 18 square metres cellar in the town of Amstetten, Austria, by her father Josef who repeatedly raped her.

She gave birth to seven children while held captive in the cellar - with three of them ending up trapped inside with her.
Immigrants are more likely to hold down jobs in six of 13 major industries compared with US citizens according to major new research across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

A major study conducted by The Pew Charitable Trusts has provided statistical evidence on the percentage of foreign-born workers in different major industries for each state.

The figures show there are major variations in the numbers of foreign born workers in the same industry in different states.

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Immigrants are far more likely to work in agriculture in California than compared with Texas (file photograph)

Yet, foreigners are almost 2.5 times more likely to work in construction in California

Immigrants make up approximately 13 per cent of the US population but some 17 per cent of the workforce

However, the research does not consider individual jobs within a particular sector.

A special interactive tool allows policy makers to compare and contrast individual states or industry sectors.

In Texas, US born workers are just as likely to work in agriculture and extraction compared with their foreign born counterparts.

However, in California, foreign workers are 3.6 times more likely to be employed in the sector.

In both states, the sector only employs three per cent of the workforce (Texas) or two per cent in California. Yet, agriculture and extraction is worth 14 per cent of the Texas GDP compared with just three per cent in California

According to the figures, immigrants make up 13 per cent of the population and 17 per cent of the workforce.

Pew Charitable Trusts said: 'At the national level, immigrant workers are distributed differently across industries than their U.S.-born counterparts. Immigrants are more likely than U.S.-born workers to hold jobs in six of the 13 major industries examined, including manufacturing and administrative services.

In Alaska, foreign migrants are almost five times more likely to work manufacturing than other states

In Washington State, foreign workers are five times more likely to work in agriculture and extraction

'The distribution of immigrants across industries differs from state to state, but some trends are widespread throughout the states, and some industries display patterns of regional clustering.

'For example, immigrants are more likely than U.S.-born workers to be employed in construction in the Southern states.'

The research has found that in Montana, immigrants are more likely than Americans to work in five sectors, including education, despite the small number of foreigners living in the state.

The Pew Charitable Trust claimed that immigrants 'tend to be concentrated at the ends of the educational spectrum'.

The report said: 'They are disproportionately employed in low-skill industries, such as accommodations and food services, and in high-skill industries, such as information and high-tech manufacturing.'

Some immigrants may have difficulty in securing a job appropriate for their talents because of poor English or a failure of authorities to recognize foreign qualifications.

The trust said it did not take any particular view on immigration policy at a state or federal level insisting it was simply providing information to allow legislators to formulate policy.

The new figures have been released as controversial Republican candidate Donald Trump refuses to withdraw his inflammatory anti-immigration rhetoric.

The billionaire businessman has announced that he will temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States and wants to build a wall along the southern border with Mexico to keep out migrants from central and south America.
The British policewoman at the centre of an extraordinary legal tussle in New York over her 14-month-old son has revealed that she is suing New York State for 30million.

Devastated Louise Fielden is taking the state - including the police department and social services - to court, for false arrest, excessive force, assault by a police officer, wrongful removal of her son and sexual assault.

The mother last night revealed she suffers panic attacks since her son was ripped away from her, and that she suddenly bursts into tears and struggles with exhaustion over the stress of the forced separation from her son Samuel.

He was taken into care more than eight months ago in New York after she was accused of abandoning him in a hotel on three occasions.

Heartbreak: Devastated Louise Fielden (left) told how she suddenly bursts into tears and struggles with exhaustion over the stress of the forced separation from her 14-month-old son Samuel (right)

Criminal charges were finally dropped against her this week after she refused to cut a deal with prosecutors by pleading guilty to a minor charge.

But Miss Fielden, who loudly protests her innocence of any wrongdoing, had to fly home on Tuesday without Samuel because the authorities are still pursuing a neglect case.

In the meantime the little boy remains with a foster mother known as Queen Hag who runs a gay support group called Straight Women In Support of Homos.

Fighting back tears as she described the last time she saw Samuel, the Metropolitan Police officer told the Daily Mail: I wasnt emotional because I didnt want to do anything that would upset my son.

He wouldnt understand whats going on.

I tried to make it as normal as possible but inside I was devastated. Ive had my son ripped from me when I havent done anything wrong. Im completely mortified and devastated.

I can hold myself together but then I fall apart. Im just exhausted. There are times when I suddenly find myself crying and having panic attacks.

Miss Fielden, 42, who owns several rental properties in London and the South East, spent three years trying to conceive via IVF.

She eventually fell pregnant early in 2014 using sperm from an anonymous Danish donor and gave birth to Samuel in October that year.

Panic: Samuel (pictured, as a baby) was taken into care more than eight months ago in New York after she was accused of abandoning him in a hotel on three occasions

Trouble: Ms Fielden had been staying at the Chelsea Highline Hotel in Manhattan, when she was first arrested after being accused of leaving her baby alone in her room

I couldnt find the man of my dreams and I wasnt prepared to go through my life childless, she said.

I was happy to be a single mum and could afford to do so. Family is the most gorgeous thing you can possible have.

Miss Fielden, who has spent more than 50,000 [$75,000] on legal fees so far, added: It has been quite surreal, having your child removed from you illegally. I just want my son back.

MOTHER OBJECTS TO FOSTER CARER WHO HEADS A PRO-GAY RIGHTS GROUP As well as wanting her son returned to the UK, Ms Fielden also complained in court papers about the foster carer her child was placed with. The documents show that Samuel is being looked after by a carer named as Sue Sena, who lives in the Queens area of New York. But Ms Fielden objects to Ms Sena taking care of her child as the foster carer is a president and founding member of a group pro-gay rights group called Straight Women in Support of Homos (SWISH). In court documents, Ms Fielden - who does not name her child's father on his birth certificate - says: 'As a devout conservative member of the Church of England, my family values are totally on the other side of the spectrum to SWISH's and I do not wish my son to be cared for by any member of that organisation.' She also alleges that Ms Sena is often referred to as 'Queen Hag' and spent a birthday party playing 'porno bingo' at a gay man's club, which was a fundraiser. Ms Fielden adds: 'I presented this data last week to the Family Court last week in my pending neglect case but the court did nothing but permit Ms Sena to take my son to New Jersey for the weekend! Unbelievable!' Advertisement

She claimed she had been brutally assaulted and verbally abused during her arrest by New York City cops after they were called by social workers.

Three male officers stormed the room whilst my back was towards them, she said.

One male grabbed my arm, the another grabbed the other arm, whilst the third swept my feet [from under me] so I collapsed in a heap.

At no time did they ask me to hand over my baby, explain what I had done wrong or leave the room. They did not tell me I was going to be arrested. They just pounced on me.

Whilst on the floor the arresting officer said Take that you Limey b****. You cant be a police officer, you dont have no respect. Then he immediately punched me in my lower back.

I was traumatised and shocked. I was not aggressive or difficult  I had co-operated by answering all the questions.

She was handcuffed to the bar of a mixed-sex police station cell while her case was processed, where she claims a drunk man groped her before sexually harassing her for 10 hours from a cell he was later moved to.

Miss Fielden, who has a 13-year unblemished career with the Metropolitan Police, was on maternity leave when she flew out to Antigua for three months in early 2015 to make sure her infant son got sufficient Vitamin D from the sunshine.

They then stopped in New York where she was planning to stay for two weeks and go shopping.

Legal papers petitioning for Samuels return claim he is being held hostage and kidnapped in a foreign country.

They go on to allege the first foster mother who looked after him left him underfed and starving.

He was then placed with SWISH president Sue Sena, 43, who celebrated her birthday at a gay mens club where porn bingo was played.

Devout Christian Miss Fielden has complained that Miss Senas lifestyle is on the other side of the spectrum from her own beliefs in family values.

Foster carer Susan Sena, who Ms Fielden says as a pro-gay rights campaigner is not suitable to look after her child due to her conservative upbringing in the Church of England

Ms Sena, centre, on a float at a parade representing her organisation called 'Straight Women in Support of Homos (SWISH)

She was accused by hotel staff of abandoning her son in her room on one occasion.

But she says left him sleeping in a crib while she went down three flights of stairs to use boiling hot water to clean his bottles. The rooms in her budget hotel had no washing facilities.

The other two allegations are that she left him in the hotel lobby of the Chelsea Highline Hotel in Brooklyn, for more than an hour each time.

Ms Fielden shows off a bruise she claims she sustained when she was arrested by police last year

But she says she has obtained CCTV footage that disproves both claims and that the allegations refer to two visits to the dining area.

On one occasion there was a Japanese lady who held my baby while I had my breakfast, she said.

The second occasion I put Samuel on the floor in the furthest corner and I sat and stared at my son who was about a foot away.

I know it wasnt ideal but I was holding a cup of hot tea and there were no chairs that were suitable for him to be placed on and I didnt have a buggy.

She was initially charged with endangering the welfare of a child and resisting arrest but these were dropped on Monday and she flew home the following day after her passport was returned.

Miss Fielden said she believed she had fallen victim to the culture of helicopter parenting in New York where you have to have your child attached to you at all time.

She broke her silence yesterday to warn other mothers about the different approach to parenting on the other side of the Atlantic.

I feel I need the public to know what Ive been through and how you can have the rug pulled completely from under you, she added.

The New York Law Department has said it is working with UK authorities to resolve the matter.

One of the bedrooms at the now closed Chelsea Highline Hotel in Manhattan, where Ms Fielden had intended to stay for two weeks while in New Yrok
Dame Sally Davies today said the food industry was 'on notice' to make changes to reduce sugar consumption

Food companies must change their recipes and slash TV advertising or face a sugar tax, Britain's top doctor said today.

Dame Sally Davies - fresh from announcing punishing new guidelines on alcohol consumption - today threatened to step in to tackle the obesity crisis if industry did not step up.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is reportedly lobbying inside government for a pre-watershed ban on TV adverts for junk food.

Dame Sally's remarks come after Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday hinted at an extraordinary u-turn on the sugar tax, putting the policy back on the table.

Dame Sally, who has been the Chief Medical Officer since 2010, said there is 'no silver bullet for obesity'.

She told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: 'While a sugar tax is totemic, it is not going to have the biggest impact.

'Reformulation, resizing, preventing promotions and changing advertising'

Interrupted to ask if she supported a sugar tax, Dame Sally used data from Mexico, which has imposed one.

She said: 'I think the Mexican evidence where over the first year 2014 we had a rise in the impact so they sold 12 per cent less in the last month of their first year suggests this will have an impact.'

Dame Sally added: 'I have already put industry on notice that if they dont respond in the other ways we are going to have to have a sugar tax.'

Her remarks came in an interview outlining strict new guidelines for alcohol consumption.

The new rules say there is no 'safe' level of alcohol consumption and warns adults to average no more than one drink a day, take two or three days off completely every week, and have a maximum of three halves in one session.

Today's new public health guidance comes after the Financial Times reported Mr Hunt was pushing for new TV advertising rules.

Junk food adverts are already barred during children's programmes and last year a committee of MPs recommended extending this to the 9pm watershed.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale is said to be opposed because of the cost to advertising revenues.

Speaking in Hungary yesterday, Mr Cameron suggested the sugar tax was on the table.

He said: 'I don't really want to put new taxes on anything but we do have to recognise that we face something of an obesity crisis'.

Mr Cameron said the costs of diabetes, heart disease and cancer treatment for the overweight costs the NHS huge sums.

He added: 'We do need to have a fully-worked-up programme to deal with this problem and address these issues in Britain and we will be making announcements later in the year'.

Bringing in the sugar levy would be a sensational U-turn by the Government, just months after ruling it out.

The Mexican government brought in a ten per cent tax on fizzy drinks in 2014 as it headed towards become the fattest country in the world - and sales have dropped by 12 per cent.

David Cameron, pictured in Hungary yesterday, used a press conference to signal a possible u-turn on the sugar tax, insisting Britain had to recognise it was facing an 'obesity crisis'

A 5p charge on all plastic bags started in October has already led to an 80 per cent monthly reduction in the numbers taken home by shoppers, showing habits can change quickly.

A Whitehall source told The Times: 'We want to learn the lessons from examples such as the sugary drinks tax in Mexico. This does not mean a tax on sugar  your bag of Tate & Lyle isn't about to become more expensive. And there are still lots of arguments against. But we have not ruled anything out and no decisions have been made'.

David Cameron is said to have reservations about a tax - especially if it is seen to hit poorer families - but experts have repeatedly said it would rein in demand for unhealthy products.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has also been calling for a sugar tax as part of his wider campaign to tackle obesity.

Senior Tory MP Sarah Wollaston has has suggested renaming the tax to be targeted specially at sugary drinks in a bid to make it more acceptable to the public

This morning a spokesman for the Department of Health said: 'The Government position has not changed and we have no plans for a sugar tax.'

Asked if the PM was issuing a warning to the food industry, a spokesman for No 10 said: More needs to be done to address this challenge and that is not just for Government to do. It does include the industry doing more to develop alternatives to products that are high in sugar.

Last night Mr Oliver welcomed Mr Camerons apparent change of heart. He wrote on Twitter: Good to see sugary drinks tax back on the table. Over to you David Cameron.

Alison Tedstone of Public Health England, which drew up a report for the Government earlier this year, said: 'The higher the tax increase, the greater the effect'.

There is growing support for a tax among doctors and also the public to curb obesity, especially among children.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, the chairman of Commons Health Committee, told The Times: 'So many people have come out in favour and I think there's a real momentum about this'.

She added the 5p charge on bags proved that a levy is something 'that could happen overnight' and 'a quick win' that will make people think about their choices.
Cologne is a city in virtual lockdown as police lies that asylum seekers weren't responsible for the mass orgy of sexual assaults and robbery on New Year's Eve have created a climate of fear and mistrust.

Police confirmed one man they have arrested from the 1,000-strong sex mob of Arab and North African men had lurid phrases in Arabic translated into German for him to use against women victims.

Visitors have cancelled planned holidays, women fear to venture out alone and the far-right runs its hands with glee as its dire predictions of crime following in the wake of unchecked migration appear to be coming true.

Emergency: Cologne (pictured) is in virtual lockdown after a mob of Arab and North African men sexually assaulted and robbed hundreds of women on New Year's Eve

Anxiety: A police report showed they lied over the involvement of asylum seekers in the attacks to create a climate of fear and mistrust. Reporter Nick Fagge spoke to migrants in Cologne, not involved in the attacks

Scrawl: A note found on one of the Cologne New Year's Eve sex attack suspects written in Arabic and translated to German contained lurid phrases such as 'nice breasts' and had the words 'I'll kill you'

It is the worst nightmare Chancellor Angela Merkel could have imagined for her 'open door' policy towards refugees from war zones which have seen over a million people enter the country in the last 12 months, polarizing opinion and stretching the social fabric ever thinner.

The first two suspects of gang that assaulted and robbed over 100 women on New Year's Eve were finally arrested today.

Videos of the crowds, together with the howl of fireworks and the shrieks of women they assaulted, were found on their mobile phones.

Officers found a note on one of the men containing Arabic-German translations for phrases including 'nice breasts', 'I'll kill you' and 'I want to have sex with you.'

Twelve more people are being sought in connection with 121 complaints from women attacked on the last night of the year.

Federal police, as opposed to Cologne city officers, were responsible for security inside the besieged train station. They say they quizzed nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, four Syrians, five Iranians, one Iraqi, one Serbian, and one US citizen following reports on the night.

Danger: Some visitors have cancelled planned holidays to Cologne (pictured) and women are said to fear going out by themselves at night

Fear: One local student told MailOnline reporter Nick Fagge (left): 'It cannot be right that women cant walk around a city in Germany without being attacked. This is not the German way'

There were 18 asylum seekers among the 31 people stopped by the federal police, who also recorded three sexual assaults.

Hoteliers and trade fair officials said the first cancellations from holidaymakers who planned visits to the ancient city on the Rhine had started in the wake of the attacks.

The perception of refugees has changes with each new incident like this. Most people used to have sympathy for them, but that is changing, you can see it in people's attitude and hear it in the way they talk about foreigners Refugee worker in Cologne

'The image of Cologne has suffered a crack,' said the managing director of Cologne tourism, Josef Sommer. The city tourism office admitted to receiving 'dozens' of emails and phone calls from tourists concerned with safety in the city.

Germanys far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) said ordinary people are now afraid to go out.

Spokesman Klaus Kraemer told MailOnline: German people are now frightened to go to the train station or other open spaces where they may encounter large numbers of refugees.

They have become afraid of foreigners. They are now looking over their shoulder when they are in the train station to see who is behind them.

A refugee worker told MailOnline how public opinion in Germany is turning against refugees, saying: 'The perception of refugees has changes with each new incident like this.

'Most people used to have sympathy for them, but that is changing, you can see it in people's attitude and hear it in the way they talk about foreigners.'

Christoph Becker, managing director of the Hotel and Restaurant Association Cologne, encompassing 500 members, spoke of a degree of 'high uncertainty' in the near future.

The events of the night there, and in several other German cities including Hamburg where upwards of 50 women reported similar sexual assaults and robberies, have proved manna from heaven for the far right and anti-asylum seeking groups.

Pegida, which draws strong support among the middle classes, is planning a march in the city tomorrow with the theme 'Pegida Protects.'

Results: The first two suspects of gang that assaulted and robbed over 100 women on New Year's Eve were arrested today. On one of the suspects they found a

Manhunt: At least 12 more people are being sought in connection with 121 complaints from women attacked on the last night of the year (pictured, flowers left at the scene of the mass attack)

Propaganda: The attacks in Cologne (pictured) and other German cities, where dozens of women have reported sexual assaults and robberies, have played into the hands of far-right groups

The Alternative for Germany party said what happened in Cologne 'was a direct result of the policies of Angela Merkel and her government.'

One AFD supporter wrote online: 'These rapes were only the beginning and it will not stay at hate sermons, thefts, rapes, robberies but escalate to beatings, stabbings,threats, against the infidels on every corner.'

Another right winger predicted: 'Soon the mostly young and male interlopers will get that, what they want - and with force of arms. The civil war will come indeed. For these crap people, Merkel must take responsibility. She brought the riff raff in.'

On a post of Pegida on the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, a supporter invoked the ghost of the Austrian born Hitler, stating: 'We need a politician from Austria. What is Mrs. Merkel up to, turning German into a negro land?'

The Green Party in Cologne, heavily pro-immigration, warned that new Facebook groups were springing up specifically to spread hatred of asylum seekers.

And the far-right Pro NRW  it stands for North Rhine-Westphalia, the state in which Cologne sits  has a new motto; 'Immigrant violence won't leave us cold.'

Evidence: Federal police, who were responsible for security inside the besieged train station (pictured), said theyquizzed nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, four Syrians, five Iranians, one Iraqi, one Serbian, and one US citizen following reports on the night

Bad press: The attacks in Cologne, considered a 'progressive' and safe city, are bad news for Chancellor Angela Merkel who welcomed more than one million refugees fleeing war zones into the country

It said what happened on New Year's Eve was part of 'the underbelly of mass immigration. This is a new and disturbing trend - testosterone-driven new residents on the hunt for young indigenous women'.

We expect that a woman can be safe to walk around at night in Germany, without being harassed by men. This will change the way that German people think about foreigners and accepting refugees Nicola, 26, a management consultant in Cologne

While life has not stopped for young women in the city, there have noticeably been less of them walking alone through the city at night this week, or travelling home alone on trains, trams and buses.

Management consultant Nicola, 26, told MailOnline: 'What happened here in the station on Sylvester Night is so completely wrong.

'We expect that a woman can be safe to walk around at night in Germany, without being harassed by men.

'This will change the way that German people think about foreigners and accepting refugees.'

Hotel worker Sanu, originally from Niger, West Africa, blasted those responsible  and demanded they be brought to justice.

'These men would not dare to do something like this in their own country, so why do they think they can get away with it here?' asked the 29-year-old who has been living in Germany for over a decade.

Depraved: A note with the words, 'I'll kill you', written in German, was found on one of the men arrested in connection to the attacks

Unsafe: There have noticeably been fewer women walking alone through the city at night this week (pictured, police patrolling outside Cologne cathedral)

Reputation: 'The image of Cologne (pictured) has suffered a crack,' said the managing director of Cologne tourism, Josef Sommer

'There is no excuse for harassing and touching women in this way. If a man touched a woman like this in an Arab country they would be severely punished. These people are bringing shame on all foreigners coming to Germany.'

Art student Helen, 18, added: What happened here at the station was terrible. It cannot be right that women cant walk around a city in Germany without being attacked. This is not the German way. We [women] have a right to go and do whatever we want in safety.
Horrified parents of victims of Britain's worst ever female paedophile Vanessa George (pictured) have been told she could be freed from jail this year

Nursery paedophile Vanessa George's parole bid will be vehemently opposed by her ex-husband who fears she remains unrepentant.

Evil nursery teacher Vanessa George, from Plymouth, Devon, who abused a string of babies and toddlers in her care, was jailed in 2009 but will be eligible for parole on December 15.

Andrew George, who divorced his wife following the scandal, will remind a parole board that she has never fully revealed the scale of her sex attacks on babies and toddlers in her care, or apologised to him and their daughters for the disgrace and embarrassment she caused them.

The mother-of-two, now 44, will have served her minimum term of seven years in prison and could be released if she convinces a parole board she is no longer dangerous.

Andrew, 47, who is awaiting surgery for skin cancer, has repeatedly warned that he awakes in cold sweats amid fears that his former spouse will turn up unannounced at his home in Plymouth, Devon, 'as if nothing's happened.'

'I know restrictions as to where she lives will be imposed but I genuinely fear they won't be enforced. Vanessa's a nightmare and I don't want her turning up again in my life,' insisted Andrew, a gas fitter, who is awaiting a skin cancer operation on his lip and eyelid.

Parents of some of her victims are horrified that the possibility of release for George, who described herself as a 'paedo w**** mum', is already being discussed.

'It is horrifying to think she could be free within a year after what she did,' said one relative, who can not be named for legal reasons.

'She is so clearly a danger to the public and is such an evil woman that I hope she is never released - but the mere fact we are talking about it as a possibility makes me sick to my stomach.

'We are living a life sentence for what she did to our children and in my view she should never be allowed out.

'Seven years is no punishment for what she did. I know she will never be allowed to return to Plymouth but just the thought of her walking the streets again is a chilling one.'

George worked at Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth until she was arrested on June 9, 2009 on suspicion of sexually assaulting a number of pre-school children in her care.

She was also accused of taking indecent photographs of them and sending them to her internet lover Colin Blanchard in Greater Manchester.

George worked at Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth (pictured) until she was arrested on June 9, 2009. The nursery closed following her arrest

George admitted seven sexual assaults of young children and six counts of distributing and making indecent pictures of children and was given an 'indeterminate' sentence of a minimum seven years - which parents slammed at the time for being 'disgusting'.

She will complete that minimum term on December 15 this year and if she convinces a parole board she now longer poses a danger she will be released.

George was sentenced alongside Blanchard's other online-lover, Angela Allen of Nottingham at Bristol Crown Court on December 15, 2009. Blanchard was jailed in 2011.

Judge Mr Justice Royce said at the time that he wanted the parents and the media to recognise that while he was passing the indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection of seven years, 'It is, in effect, a life sentence.'

George was sentenced alongside Blanchard's other online-lover, Angela Allen (right) of Nottingham at Bristol Crown Court on December 15, 2009. Blanchard (left) was jailed in 2011.

WHAT DID THE MINIMUM TERM GIVEN TO VANESSA GEORGE MEAN? The type of assalt George carried out against her victims carries a possible life term, and the sentence of Indeterminate Public Protection given to George carried the possibility that the offender would never be released. The judge had to state the maximum sentence he would have passed, had he not been considering the indeterminate sentence he ultimately gave her. When all George's offences were tallied up, this gave a total of 21 years - including 15 years for her crimes of penetration of numerous children with an object, and six years for the making and sending of indecent images. However, because she had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, Mr Justice Royce had to apply a hugely controversial edict from the Sentencing Guidelines Council that the sentence must be slashed by a third, leaving George with 14 years. He was then compelled by law to treat her as if she was receiving a fixed term sentence, and halve the punishment because all prisoners are entitled to be at least considered for release once they reach the halfway point. The judge - acutely aware of how this would sound to the families of the victims - said in court: 'Members of the public will ask why do you have to do that? Again, it is not judicial whim. It is because in effect Parliament says I must.' But this did not mean that George would be released when her minimum term is up, it was merely the first point at which she could be considered for release. And, if she continued to pose a danger to the public, she would remain behind bars. Advertisement

He acknowledged the case had caused 'widespread revulsion and incredulity' with the shock waves extending to every nursery school in the country.

Staff at Little Ted's, which closed following George's arrest, said they felt 'betrayed' by her actions. One said that 'a lifetime of childcare had been ruined by Vanessa's actions', the court heard.

But despite calls to the Attorney General to increase the 'lenient' minimum sentence, it has never been amended.

Superintendent Michele Slevin, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said George's indeterminate sentence meant that although she could apply for parole after seven years, the board would not hear it until her eighth year.

Mother-of-two, George (pictured), now 44, will have served her minimum term of seven years in prison and could be released if she convinces a parole board she is no longer dangerous

If her application was refused, she would not be able to apply again for a further three years, bringing her time up to 11 years.

She said: 'In each case to be released she must satisfy the board, following lengthy examination by experts, that she is no longer a danger'.

A spokesman for the Parole Board said they would not comment on individual cases but said that once a prisoner's minimum term has been served, they have to be released if it is deemed they pose no risk to the public.

He said: 'The law states that the offender is no longer held in prison as a punishment and can only be held in prison if they pose a risk to the public. It requires a court, in this case the Parole Board, to decide that issue.

'The Parole Board makes its decisions by assessing the risk the prisoner presents to the public.

'It may only direct the release of a life sentence prisoner if it is satisfied that it is no longer necessary for them to be detained in order to protect the public from serious harm.

'If it is so satisfied, it is required to release the prisoner.'

A source at the probation service said that even if she was released it was highly unlikely George would ever be able to return to the scene of her crimes.

He said: 'It's also likely she would be resettled a long way from Plymouth. It's almost certain she'll be banned from ever returning, for the sake of her victims.'

Police believe George came into contact with nearly 200 children while working at Little Ted's.

She was part of a paedophile ring which unravelled as police began an investigation into pornographic pictures found on ringleader Blanchard's computer by a colleague.

Police inquiries into the abuse also led to adult carer Tracy Dawber, 44, of Southport, Merseyside; and mother-of-nine Tracy Lyons, 40, from Portsmouth being jailed.

Allen and Lyons both admitted child abuse, with Allen given an indeterminate sentence and a minimum term of five years.

Lyons was sentenced to four years and released in 2011 after just 10 months behind bars. Dawber was convicted of six charges and handed a seven-year sentence.

Blanchard pleaded guilty to 17 offences relating to indecent images of children and two sexual assaults on children and was jailed indefinitely, with a minimum sentence of nine years.

Police inquiries into the abuse also led to adult carer Tracy Dawber, 44, (left) of Southport, Merseyside; and mother-of-nine Tracy Lyons, 40, (right) from Portsmouth being jailed

George (centre) is pictured in a court sketch from 2009, appearing alongside Blanchard (left) and Allen (right)
A burglar shaved off his hair and beard and pretended to have alopecia after police issued an e-fit of him with thick black hair and stubble.

Ian Dunstane, 48, of Bognor Regis, West Essex, took a razor to his hair and beard after police released an e-fit showing him with 'lank and greasy black hair' and a beard.

Dunstane was given five years in prison after he fled the scene of the burglary in Bognor Regis on November 26 last year.

Ian Dunstane, 48, (right) claimed to have alopecia after this e-fit showing him (left) with thick dark hair and a beard was released. DNA evidence eventually linked him to the burglary he committed in November last year

The female householder came across Dunstane in her home as he was rifling through her drawers in broad daylight. She then punched him full in the face, which caused him to flee.

Chichester Crown Court heard this week how cops took DNA samples from the crime scene and found Dunstane's salvia and blood on the wall caused 'by the woman's punch'.

When they arrested him on December 12, however, he denied he had shaved his hair and beard off after seeing the e-fit, telling cops he suffered from the hair loss disease alopecia.

Cops then showed him the DNA evidence and he pleaded guilty to burglary with threat of violence and attempted burglary with intent to steal.

A police spokesman said this week that jobless Dunstane deserved his five years behind bars after he was caged on Tuesday.

He said: 'At about 9.35am on November 26, Dunstane was confronted by a woman who had just returned to her home to find him in standing in the hallway.

'A tussle ensued, following which the woman punched the intruder in the face.

'He was arrested on 12 December, after DNA linking him to the crime scene was discovered at the burgled house.'

Detective Constable Emma Fields said: 'Ian Dunstane brazenly burgled a house in broad daylight, close to the town centre.

'He was reported to us as having long, greasy hair, but prior to his arrest he had shaved his head.

'We believe this was a deliberate attempt to disguise his identity after we issued an e-fit matching his description, but he told us he shaved his head as he has alopecia and suffers from bald patches.
Helen Winter, a psychologist at troubled Kids Company who was accused of taking MDMA with a patient in a nightclub, has claimed the young woman was too fat to fit in the toilet cubicle

A psychologist at troubled Kids Company accused of taking MDMA with a patient in a nightclub said they could not have taken the drugs together because the young woman was too fat to fit in the cubicle.

Helen Winter, who was pictured today leaving court, admitted buying and using the party drug with her colleague Nicci Shall at a bar in south London in January 2014.

But she was so high on ecstasy she might not remember whether or not she offered the drug to a vulnerable young woman, a disciplinary hearing heard today.

She said the two of them 'just about' managed to squeeze into a toilet cubicle together, but claimed there was not enough space for her patient - named only as client C.

'With all respect to client C, one of the problems for her in respect to her health related to her weight,' she added.

'She's quite a round character. It was already a struggle to get Nicci and I into the toilet, there's no way we could fit her in there as well.'

Ms Shall, a former teacher at a referral unit run by Kids Company in Southwark, claims she went into the cubicle with Dr Winter and Client C and watched the pair take drugs.

She told the hearing: 'Helen Winter offered client C and me a dab of MDMA, which I declined.

Helen Winter and client C consumed the MDMA.'

Dr Winter said she was 'hurt and shocked' by the accusations.

She accepted that it was 'definitely wrong' to stay in the bar after bumping into two of the young people using the charity, clients C and D.

'We should have left the club immediately,' she added.

She denied taking the Class A drug in front of either of them.

'At no point did we discuss drugs with client C or D,' she said. 'At no point did I offer or consume any illegal drugs to C or D.'

'I would never offer drugs to a client or take drugs in front of a client,' she added. 'I would never do that.'

She also admitted letting the clients, both vulnerable and in their early 20s, stay at her flat after another night out.

Helen Winter admitted buying and using the party drug, the active ingredient in ecstasy, with her colleague Nicci Shall at a bar in south London in January 2014. But she claimed there was not room for the patient

Dr Winter said she was worried for their safety because they had both been drinking heavily.

The case is the latest in a series of damaging allegations made against Kids Company. The charity was founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh

'I wanted to make sure she (client C) was OK as it seemed like she needed help,' she added.

Dr Winter admitted the allegation of taking an illegal substance at Hidden club in Vauxhall, south London, on January 24, 2014.

She also accepted that she had cocaine in her system while at work on May 14, 2014 and repeatedly using illegal drugs in her free time.

She claims she started using drugs because she was going through 'difficult personal circumstances' after a relationship break up.

Dr Winter repeatedly broke down in tears while giving evidence at a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) hearing in London and members of the public and press were repeatedly excluded from proceedings.

She admitted that she was guilty of misconduct and that her fitness to practice is impaired.

Today the Health and Care Professionals Council heard that Shall was an 'open, honest and highly credible witness'.

Giving his final submissions, presenting officer Daniel Mansell said: 'When she couldn't remember something she said so.

'What she could remember is what happened that night in the toilet cubicle..'

He dismissed arguments that Shall's judgement could be impaired because of her use of drugs.

He said: 'You may think that this argument cuts both ways and it may be the Registrant, intoxicated and high on MDMA, who cannot remember.'

Giving her final submissions, Samantha Jones, Winter's lawyer, said: 'Miss Shall's account is not the likely version, it's not credible and it should not be believed.'

She said that, having admitted some of the claims, Winter was not someone who was trying to lie or cover up behaviour which might damage her career.

She added: 'She is someone who has dedicated her life and her career to helping young people.'

The panel have retired to consider their judgement on the facts of the case and will return on Monday morning.

They will then hear more evidence and consider impairment and sanctions.

The case is the latest in a series of damaging allegations made against Kids Company.

The allegations surfaced days after chief executive Camilla Batmanghelidjh resigned amid reports Whitehall was refusing the charity a 3million grant unless she stepped down.

The charity folded on August 5 last year, just six days after receiving the grant to keep it afloat.

Kids Company, which is now under the control of administrators, is also being investigated by police from the complex case team of the Met's Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command.
Consider yourself a bargain hunter with a penchant for modern art? Well why not buy a Banksy mural for just 210,000 and to sweeten the deal the owner will throw in a three-bedroom house.

A property in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, featuring the artist's Spy Booth piece is on the market after its stressed owner said he was sick of the circus caused by the mural.

Spy Booth shows three 1950s-style agents, wearing brown trench coats and trilby hats, using devices to tap into conversations at a telephone box.

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Street art: Spy Booth features agents, wearing brown trench coats and trilby hats trying to tap into a phone box

Value: If Banksy fans want to buy the Cheltenham property, pictured, they will have to fork out 210,000

It appeared overnight on the wall of a house just a few miles from GCHQ where the UK's surveillance network is based.

David Possee, 45, said he had experienced constant stress from malicious busybodies since the mural appeared in April 2014.

He said: If Cheltenham want it, they can have it. Just buy the building off me, I just want to get on with my life. Cut me free, you can have the Cheltenham Banksy.

Estate agents Peter Ball & Co describe the sale as 'a rare opportunity to acquire a Grade II listed, Victorian, three-bedroom end-terrace property with a genuine 'Banksy' on the gable wall.

The firm list the property at 210,000, which is 15,000 more than its valuation on estate agent site Zoopla.

The property was last sold in December 2005 with a price of 150,000 which means its value has gone up 60,000.

Considering Banksy canvasses have been valued up to 500,000 the Cheltenham deal could be seen by some as quite a snip.

This is not the first time a property has been offered with a Banksy piece as part of the sale.

In 2007 owners of a Banksy mural put it on the market for 200,000 but threw in the house it was painted on for free.

The owners, who were believed to be Banksy fans, decided to list the art-work instead of the property after requests by a number of potential buyers to remove the mural before sale.

Fix up: The property, pictured on a street's corner is said to need a 'comprehensive schedule of refurbishment'

On Peter Ball & Co's website it says: 'The property is being offered for sale with no onward chain and requires a comprehensive schedule of refurbishment offering accommodation comprising, entrance hall with doors to the living room, dining room, kitchen/breakfast room and stairs up to the first floor.

'On the first floor are three bedrooms and a bathroom which is fitted with a coloured suite. To the rear of the property is a patio courtyard.'

Spy Booth was granted retrospective planning permission in February last year, meaning it cannot be removed without the approval of councillors.

Mr Possee told Cheltenham Borough Council at the time that the mural had caused him 'significant financial problems'.
The petitions argue that the show proves the massive failing of the justice system

His defense argued that Avery was framed by Manitowoc officers who were being deposed in his lawsuit

The White House has said it is unable to pardon Netflix's 'Making a Murderer' subjects Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey despite petitions which have seen over 470,000 supporters calling for their release.

'This clemency authority empowers the president to exercise leniency towards persons who have committed federal crimes,' The White House said, The Hill reported.

'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,' it added.

Two online petitions demanding the pardon of Avery and Dassey, have received over 470,000 signatures by Friday.

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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, have received more than 470,000 signatures by Friday

Avery, pictured right, and Dassey, pictured left, were both convicted in March 2007 in the death of freelance photographer Teresa Halbach

Both petitions have directly appealed to President Obama, pictured, to pardon Avery and Dassey

A formal petition to the White House, which had received more than 129,000 signatures, 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.'

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.

The Change.org petition, which has over 350,000 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,' 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 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.
Organisers of 'discreet' swingers' parties allegedly held at a home on a quiet suburban street that were shut down after complaints by angry neighbours have responded by moving the event to another location.

The twice-weekly parties were allegedly held for swinging couples and singles in the Pakenham home, south-east of Melbourne, until July last year when unhappy neighbours forced organisers out of the newly-developed neighbourhood.

But it appears the events - which cost $80 for single men, $30 for couples and are free for single women - have been moved to Oakleigh East, closer to the CBD, with a new party scheduled on Saturday.

According to a party advertisement, organisers ask their guests to be discreet and respectful and to be dressed in comfortable, sexy attire by 10pm.

Organisers of swingers' parties at a home in Pakenham, near Melbourne, have allegedly moved following complaints from neighbours

The Pakenham residence where the parties were allegedly held twice a week

In July one angry Pakenham resident wrote a letter to other neighbours calling for a council investigation into the parties which were advertised as being on every Friday and Saturday night until 2am, the Pakenham Gazette reported.

'There is no security at the door and sooner or later the wrong element is going to be attracted to these parties and then who knows what may happen,' the letter read.

'This is certainly not the kind of thing that should be going on in a suburban area and in a narrow, quiet street.'

A man who posted links to ads for the swingers' parties on Facebook told Daily Mail Australia 'any publicity is good publicity'.

Men are charged to attend the events, but single woman can attend for free

He spoke out against the residents of the suburban neighbourhood where the parties were allegedly originally held.

'Am I happy that a secret has been maliciously made public by closed-minded undersexed residents who were obviously insulted by the non-receipt of invitations... not particularly,' the man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said.

The resident who made the initial complaints wrote a letter asking their neighbours to help them take action against the party house according to The Gazette.

The most recent advertisement offers a party on Saturday, January 9, 2016
Cops say he was the suspect in a criminal mischief case in September after allegedly damaging a man's car but was never arrested

Police said Metoxen called authorities because he feared for his safety after the mother-of-two posted the video to Facebook and it went viral

Beaverton Police department have now identified the man as 35-year-old Joseph Metoxen

man she was in fact Arab, but he clapped loudly then drove off in his car

A man in Oregon who was caught on video shouting racial slurs at a woman while driving past her in his truck was previously questioned by police in a road rage incident.

Joseph Metoxen, 35, was identified by authorities as the driver in a video posted to Facebook by Susan Khalaf, a young mother-of-two from Aloha, which shows him making derogatory anti-Mexican comments at her as he loudly claps his hands and then drives off.

While this is happening Khalaf says that she is in fact an Arab.

According to Oregon Live, Beaverton Police Department documents show that Metoxen was also the suspect in a criminal mischief case in September after allegedly damaging a man's car but he was never arrested.

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Offensive: Susan Khalaf of Aloha, Oregon filmed as a man (above), now identified by authorities as Joseph Metoxen, shouted derogatory, anti-Mexican comments at her

Racism: Khalaf (pictured above in a Facebook snap) told him she was in fact Arab, but he drove off in his car

Washington County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Bob Ray, said Metoxen had called authorities because he feared for his safety after the video went viral.

Authorities said the previous case related to an incident in September when a driver was stopped at a traffic light and a red Chevrolet Blazer pulled up next to him.

The man said the Chevrolet driver steered into his lane and yelled at him.

He then drove to a parking lot and went into a store. The driver said that the red car passed him and the suspect threw something in the back of his car and drove away.

The man told police that another man in the area allegedly saw the suspect, identified in police documents as Metoxen, take a 'wrench like object' from his car and hit the man's vehicle causing $895 of damage.

The case is now listed as 'inactive/suspended', according to documents.

With regards to the latest incident, Ray said Metoxen did not violate the law with his actions captured on the video.

'While his behavior is disturbing, there was nothing illegal that we could see,' Ray said.

Khalaf, who is Jordanian, told The Oregonian: 'I'd just never experienced anything like that in my life.

'I was just absolutely shocked. I was very upset.'

Metoxen, who was an employee at Wolcott Plumbing, has been fired from his job after the video went viral.

'First of all, this is a very upsetting situation. Under no circumstances do I personally nor do we as a company condone the use of abusive language of any kind to anyone,' wrote the president of the company.

'Last night I became aware that a video existed, potentially of one of my employees after work hours, using racial slurs, while driving in his personal vehicle. Upon further investigation today, I learned and confirmed it was one of my employees in the video.'

The video, which quickly went viral on Facebook garnering over 200,000 likes and 5,000 shares in one day, was eventually taken down, and Khalaf said she did not wish for anything negative to happen to the man, despite having to sit through the horrific incident.

'Racism is so unnecessary and it's so ugly,' she said.
Jeremy Corbyn's new shadow defence secretary has admitted even she does not know why she was handed the plum appointment.

Emily Thornberry - best known for being sacked by Ed Miliband for a 'snobby' tweet - made the confession in her first TV interview since being appointed this week.

She said: 'I don't know why Jeremy gave me this job but I know that I'm really honoured to be doing it and hugely looking forward to meeting up with people and listening to what people have to say.'

Emily Thornberry, pictured during an ITV News interview today, said she didn't know why she had been given the shadow defence secretary brief but said she was honoured to do the job

In the ITV News interview, she continued: 'Because you know, I have always said that politicians must listen and learn and that is what I will be doing.

'But I do come from a position of huge respect for the military. As I say, I have family members who are in the military, my father was a peacekeeper he worked across the whole world.

'He was Irish but do you know what the forces he talked most favourably about were the British.

'And he said how disciplined we are, you know, the humanity of the British forces and how good we are at peacekeeping and how much he always enjoyed working with them. I'm going to really enjoy working with them too.'

The appointment has been widely seen as Mr Corbyn bringing in a close ally to the crucial defence brief with the goal of shifting Labour to outright opposition of the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent.

Ms Thornberry, who will co-convene a defence policy review with ex London Mayor Ken Livingstone, shares Mr Corbyn's views on unilateral disarmament.

The Government is expected to call a crucial 'main gate' Commons vote on buying four new nuclear submarines - which carry the Trident missiles - within months.

Ms Thornberry's appointment was met with dismay on the Labour benches and Kevan Jones, an experienced former defence minister, quit the shadow defence team.

He told Sky News Ms Thornberry 'knows nothing about defence' and said he believed his multilateralist views on nuclear weapons were now best served on the backbenches.

Ms Thornberry's appointment was finally confirmed shortly before 1am on Wednesday morning after Mr Corbyn spent 36 hours wrestling with his first shadow cabinet reshuffle.

He eventually moved Maria Eagle from the defence brief to replace the sacked Michael Dugher at culture.

The new shadow defence secretary said she 'hoped' she would be able to command the respect of the Armed Forces, despite all of the criticism directed at her in the days since her appointment.

Mr Corbyn, pictured leaving home yesterday, appointed Ms Thornberry late on Tuesday night. The move prompted the resignation of Kevan Jones, pictured right in Westminster on Wednesday, from Labour's defence team

She said: 'I mean they have my respect. I have to say that I've been given the most extraordinary job. I am full of admiration for the armed forces.

'The idea that the Ministry of Defence commands people who are prepared to put their lives on the line for the sake of Britain and Britain's interests they are extraordinary people and they deserve respect.

'They also deserve a 21st Century strategy for how we can best look after our country and make our country safe.

'And we have to look very carefully at what 21st Century threats are. Not 20th Century. But 21st Century. They deserve that, our country deserves that.'

Ms Thornberry has faced questions since her appointment about 48,000 in donations she received from Leigh Day.

The human rights law firm is facing a tribunal over allegations it represented Iraqis making false claims against British troops.

Questions about Ms Thornberry's links to the firm were heightened when an image of her at the company's Christmas party emerged.

She today said it was not up to solicitor firms to decide which clients were honest

Questions about Ms Thornberry's links to the firm were heightened when an image of her at the company's Christmas party emerged

She told ITV today: 'Ok, Ok, do you know what right, when I was a barrister people used to say to me, how can you represent people who you know are guilty. I don't know they're guilty. They tell me they're not guilty.

'It's up to the court to decide one way or the other whether someone is guilty or not. Now if we start saying to solicitors that they should pick and choose their clients on the basis of whether or not they like the cases then that is the end of the rule of law.

'Leigh Day have represented a number of squaddies who have either lost their lives or who have been very badly wounded as a result of the negligence of the MoD.

'They have represented all sorts of people.'

Ms Thornberry said Leigh Day were one of the country's 'leading firms of solicitors' and said they seconded some young trainees to her office when she was shadow attorney general.

She said: '(They) helped us to be, you know, as good as we could be in terms of an opposition and you need to have lawyers, you know, helping out the opposition in this country. That's, that's what they were doing.

'Now, I didn't take any cash, I don't know anything about any allegations or any inquiry that has happened since but it seemed to me that they, amongst other firms of solicitors, when they asked, when they said they would second people to my office, I was really pleased for their help.'

Leigh Day has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) over allegations it destroyed a key document at the centre of the 31 million Al-Sweady inquiry, which eventually found that claims of murder and torture by British soldiers were 'completely baseless'.

The law firm came in for heavy criticism after the inquiry concluded in December 2014, with Defence Secretary Michael Fallon claiming the firm had withheld the document which showed some of the Iraqi detainees who made the claims were insurgents.

During Prime Minister's Questions this week Tory MP Stewart Jackson described the firm as 'immoral, thieving ambulance chasers' who 'specialise in hounding' British soldiers with 'spurious claims'.

A Leigh Day spokesman said comments made by Mr Jackson were 'a blatantly ridiculous statement about us' and denied all the allegations made against its lawyers.
Kevin Batts (pictured) was rightly sacked from his security guard position at the National Gallery after he told a woman she was 'f****** gorgeous' and used CCTV to watch her, a tribunal hearing decided

A National Gallery security guard who told a colleague she was 'f****** gorgeous' and used CCTV to watch her was rightly sacked, a tribunal judge ruled.

Kevin Batts was told to leave his position after making unwanted remarks to his victim as well as kissing her hand.

The 56-year-old was sacked in November last year but launched a tribunal claim in an attempt to sue the gallery for unfair dismissal.

But a tribunal judge today at a Central London hearing said there was 'sufficient evidence' of sexual harassment and concluded the sacking was 'reasonable and fair'.

Batts, of Aveley, Essex, is said to have spied on his victim twice in 2010 and 2011 but she did not make a formal complaint because she 'felt guilty'.

Batts told the woman 'I like you in the dark' when she asked him to turn the lights in the building on.

When she responded by saying it was a 'really pervy' comment he replied: 'I can't help it, you're f****** gorgeous.'

On another occasion when she was kneeling down cutting some material he said her head was 'at just the right height'.

Batts admitted saying she was gorgeous but denied all the other charges, claiming it was just 'banter between friends'.

Simon Cheetham, representing the gallery, said Mr Batts's behaviour caused 'sufficient disturbance' and was 'threatening, offensive, intimidating' and 'harmful'.

Employment judge Tamara Lewis said: 'As a security guard you might have greeted a number of women by saying "hello darling", "hello gorgeous" or "hello babes" but calling someone "f***** gorgeous" a number of times is completely different.

'To even do it on one occasion would be startling, but to have it done on a number of occasions is oppressive and completely unacceptable and she was entitled to feel upset.'

Judge Tamara Lewis revealed in her ruling that Batts claimed he gave his number to the woman because she was interested in paranormal books.

The 56-year-old was sacked from the gallery (pictured) in November last year but launched a tribunal in an attempt to sue the gallery for unfair dismissal

A tribunal judge today at a Central London hearing (right) said there was 'sufficient evidence' of sexual harassment and concluded the sacking of Batts (left) was 'reasonable and fair'

She added: 'I felt [the victim] was very credible and genuinely upset, she wished it hadn't happened at all.

'The claimant was overheard on several occasions to make unwanted remarks.

'Although he was never told they were unwanted it should have been obvious by her lack of reciprocation.

'He subjected her to unwanted comments that on their own amount to sexual harassment.

'The dismissal was on reasonable grounds, he made several references to what he saw on CCTV, kissed her hand, touched her back.'

She ruled that: 'The decision to dismiss was fair, there was a thorough independent investigation and the procedure was what a reasonable employer would have conducted.'
Hillary Clinton is taking 'dozens and dozens' of selfies with supporters on the campaign trail these days - and she wants to know where she can get a phone case like Kim Kardashian's that makes 'everybody look better than you have any reason to look.'

'Ive never seen this anywhere else....it has light all the way around it. Like little tiny, tiny light bulbs,' Clinton said during a taping of the Ellen DeGeneres show that airs Monday, referring to Kardashian's LuMee phone case with LED lights on the face.

The presidential candidate said, 'I have been desperately looking for one of those ever since! But no luck.'

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Hillary Clinton is taking 'dozens and dozens' of selfies with supporters on the campaign trail these days - and she wants to know where she can get a phone case like Kim Kardashian's. It makes 'everybody look better than you have any reason to look,' she said during an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show

QUEEN OF THE SELFIES: Clinton said she wants a phone case like Kim Kardashian's with LED lights on the front so she can look good in forward-facing pictures all the time. 'I have been desperately looking for one of those ever since! But no luck,' she said, referring to the time Kim and Kanye West asked her for a photo

REUNITED: Actor Tony Goldwyn, better known as President Fitzgerald Grant from Scandal, made a surprise visit to the set

MEET A REAL PRESIDENT: Goldwyn stopped by the set to play charades-like game 'Heads Up!' with the women

Tony Goldwyn, who DeGeneres introduced as the 'President of the United States', has not only endorsed Clinton, he spent two days campaigning for her in Iowa last month

Clinton dropped the set of DeGeneres daytime program on Wednesday afternoon, where she was reunited with actor Tony Goldwyn, better known as President Fitzgerald Grant from Scandal. Goldwyn's endorsed her presidential bid and campaigned for her in Iowa.

During the appearance she revealed that she struggles to carry a tune.

'I sang to Chelsea until she developed an ear and told me not to sing anymore,' the former first lady said of her daughter.

That hasn't kept her from serenading Chelsea's first child, Charlotte, who will be joined by a sister later this year.

'Chelsea stopped me around 18 months, so Ive got about 3 months to go I think. Thats my grace period,' she said.

Clinton said producers on Saturday Night Live wanted her to sing at the end of sketch with Kate McKinnon when the actress, as Clinton, asks the Democratic presidential candidate, playing 'Val' the bartender, to join in on a rendition of 'Lean on Me.'

'And I said, "you really dont want to hear me sing," ' Clinton told DeGeneres. ' "Oh yes we do," they said. So we go out to rehearse it. And we get to the point where I sing, and I sing, and the producers look at me, and they say, "no we dont want you to sing." '

And so, Clinton told the talk show host, 'Theres a little tiny bit of singing at the end, but thats all.'

Appearing with McKinnon, who has taken on the persona of Clinton in the 41st season of the show, in the October episode was 'truly is like an out of body experience,' she said.

'I mean, there I am with her. I mean when I see her doing me, I say, oh no thats not me, and then Im within inches of her. And some of its off, but some of its a little too close for comfort,' Clinton said.

'And we had so much fun that day, because we get there and really is live today as you know. And all of a sudden theyre running in and theyre saying, "Were going to do this, were going to change that." '

Clinton also gave the inside scoop on her face-to-face meeting with Kardashian, and husband Kanye West, who DeGeneres called the 'selfie king and queen.'

'She was very nice,' Clinton said of Kardashian. 'And of course when she says to me, "Can we take a selfie?" I say, "Hello, of course, thats like an obvious answer." '

One of the items in the game was 'dentist.' DeGeneres and Clinton as seen acting it out above in this photo taken from a video released today

WHERE YOU CAN BUY IT: Kardashian has a LuMee. She's has endorsed it and is featured on the company's website

During the appearance Clinton revealed that she struggles to carry a tune. That hasn't kept her from serenading Chelsea's first child, Charlotte, who will be joined by a sister later this year. This picture of mother and daughter flashed on screen, from when Chelsea announced her second pregnancy, as Clinton talked about her daughter and granddaughter

DeGeneres joked that Kardashian's phone does wonders, and 'shes in real life hideous.'

'No, shes beautiful!' Clinton gushed. 'She whips it out, she hits this button, the light is there, she holds it at a perfect angle and she makes everybody look better than you have any reason to look.'

The talk show host noted that she was teasing and interjected, 'I love both of them. Theyre great.'

'Shes beautiful but when I saw that, I was like, where do I get that? I think its hers. Well see it soon. Its another one of her business ventures.'

Clinton replied, 'Well, Im gonna get one if that ever comes out.'

The LuMee is not actually a Kardashian product - but she has endorsed it and is featured on the company's website.

If Clinton did invest in one, she'd make good use of it on the campaign trail, where she's constantly asked to take selfies with adorning fans.

'Ill go campaign, Ill do something, and then Ill be going to shake hands with all the people there, you know, and everybodys pushing up against me, and they all want a selfie,' she told DeGeneres.

'And thats fine, except some people are so nervous that then they cant quite get it to work, and so I was not great at this before I started this campaign, but Ive gotten a lot better.'

Clinton says she takes 'dozens and dozens' of selfies at each event and sometimes has to take multiples with the same person because of photo bombers.

'So then you get, the poor person who gave me the phone, they look at the picture and some total stranger is in their picture and they say, "Would you do it again? And we do it again, and it just keeps going from there. And its turned into the thing,' she said.

Other fans aren't very 'adept at the selfie,' she said. 'And its mostly generational.'

'The best people who take selfies are taller people with long arms. I mean, because they can get the right angle, they can get it out far enough. But then there are so many really sweet people who want to do it but they dont know how to do it.'

Once a politician's wife, Clinton's been a part of four presidential campaigns now, including her husband's two White House bids in 1992 and 1996, as well as her own in 2008 and now.

She lamented that the one-on-one experiences with voters have been 'diminished greatly because of the selfie.'

'And so, you can see them try to say, "Do I talk to her about, you know, I lost my job and...Ive been looking for a long time, and what is she going to do to help me?" or do I say, "Can I have a selfie?"

'And most people say, "Can I have a selfie?" I would like to have more the conversation because I learn a lot from what people tell me but right now, you know, its the tyranny of the selfie,' Clinton said.

The candidate said if she has time, she's 'more than happy to do both.'

Clinton says she takes 'dozens and dozens' of selfies at each event and sometimes has to take multiples with the same person because of photo bombers. She's seen here taking some at an event yesterday in San Gabriel, California

Locked in a battle with Bernie Sanders to become the Democratic nominee, Clinton rarely has time for herself these days, but she did take a few days off from campaigning last month around the Christmas holiday.

'We had a great time. I just mostly hung out with my granddaughter. Thats my favorite thing to do because its endlessly entertaining and amusing,' she said.

A picture of Charlotte and mom flashed on screen from Chelsea's announcement of her second pregnancy. Mother and daughter were seen reading, Big Sisters Are the Best.

'Charlotte really loves to page through books,' Clinton said. 'It is so wonderful. Shes exploring, looking, opening up to the world every single day.'

Chelsea Clinton made the same observation during an October 9 visit to the Ellen DeGeneres show.

'Sesame Street and books, she loves reading books,' Chelsea Clinton said. 'She's never seen television and yet she loves Elmo, she loves Cookie Monster, she loves Big Bird.'

DeGeneres then brought out a specially-outfitted Elmo wagon with a Hillary 2016 sign on it that said, 'vote for my grandma for president' on the back side.

She had a surprise for Hillary Clinton, too, when she appeared on the show this week.

Actor Tony Goldwyn stopped by the set to play charades-like game 'Heads Up!' with the women.

Goldwyn, who DeGeneres introduced as the 'President of the United States', has not only endorsed Clinton, he spent two days campaigning for her in Iowa last month.

'It was so amazing,' Clinton said of her weekend with the Scandal star. But 'following you is hard. So I get back to Iowa and people are going, "Is President Grant coming?" '

Appearing with Kate McKinnon, who has taken on the persona of Clinton in the 41st season of Saturday Night Live, in the October episode was 'truly is like an out of body experience,' Clinton said. In a skit that evening, Clinton played Val the bartender, and McKinnon imitated Clinton

'Ive spent a lot of time around families that have lost kids and loved ones to gun violence and these are just no words,' Clinton said during the show. 'I was so proud of the president when he said, "Hey, were got to something to try to stop this gun violence " '

Clinton sent this tweet out last night during CNN's town hall with the president in support of his gun control agenda

Clinton almost didn't run at all, her husband once said, because she worried that she was too aggressive.

'I think it still is hard being a woman running for president. I really do, ' she told DeGeneres after the talk show host and comedienne brought it up. 'I feel like if you are forceful, youre too forceful. If youre not forceful enough, youre not tough enough.'

'I mean, its just a constant evaluation all the time about how youre being perceived and so much perception is rooted in very ancient feelings we have about the roles of men and women.'

That men tell her she's made them reconsider voting a woman into the White House, is a 'big step forward,' Clinton said.

'I dont know how to open the door for more girls and boys to live the lives they choose until we get rid of a lot of stereotypes.'

DeGeneres did not urge her viewers to vote for Clinton.

But she said: 'You are as smart as can be. I think you are qualified. I think you stand for everything I want in a president.'

She brought up the threats facing America, setting Clinton up to talk about her position on firearms and the president's gun-related executive orders.

'Ive spent a lot of time around families that have lost kids and loved ones to gun violence and these are just no words,' she said. 'I was so proud of the president when he said, "Hey, were got to something to try to stop this gun violence." '

'You send your first grader to school, you dont expect to lose that child,' she said, making reference to the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

Obama cried on Tuesday - as he announced his initiatives - while talking about the 2012 massacre.
Two teenage boys have been charged after a police officer was allegedly assaulted when he responded to a car crash which they and two other teens had fled.

Officers responding to reports of a crashed vehicle found a luxury Dodge SUV had collided with the gate of the heritage listed Vaucluse House, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The police officer was left with facial injuries and a concussion after the incident in Vaucluse about 4am on Friday.

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Damage to the front of the white luxury Dodge SUV that was involved in the crash

The vehicle crashed into the gates of a heritage-listed property, before the teens who had been inside it fled

Police said the officer was treated at the scene by ambulance paramedics for facial injuries and concussion before being taken to hospital

The group of teens who were in the vehicle - thought to belong to one of the teen's mothers - fled the scene.

When an officer located them and tried to apprehend them, he was allegedly assaulted.

Police said in a statement the officer was treated at the scene by ambulance paramedics before being taken to hospital.

A 16-year-old boy was charged with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest, and a 17-year-old was charged with resisting arrest.

The officer had allegedly been assaulted as he tried to arrest on of the teenage boys, a 16-year-old

The pair were bailed and are due to appear in the Bidura Children's court on February 1.

Another two 17-year-old males were released on Friday pending further inquiries, a police statement said.

They had been taken to the Waverley Police Station for questioning and when released, hid their faces from waiting media.

As they tried to avoid media, one pushed a camera man and another attempted to bat away a reporter's microphone in video recorded by 7 News.

The vehicle involved in the crash was not stolen.

The damaged vehicle and the gate of Vaucluse House, which it crashed into

The gate appeared to have been knocked completely over in the collision

Officers were called to the scene about 4am on Friday after reports of a crashed car
A man accused of beheading a co-worker with a large butcher knife at an Oklahoma food processing plant must stand trial for first-degree murder, a judge ruled on Friday.

The decision came following a hearing at which witnesses graphically described what they saw in the September 2014 attack.

Muslim convert Alton Nolen could face the death penalty if convicted in the rampage at the Vaughan Foods plant in Moore, an Oklahoma City suburb.

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Muslim convert Alton Nolen (pictured leaving court on Friday), who is accused of beheading a co-worker with a large butcher knife at an Oklahoma food processing plant, must stand trial for first-degree murder, a judge ruled on Friday

Nolen could face the death penalty if convicted in the September 2014 rampage at the Vaughan Foods plant in Moore, an Oklahoma City suburb

Cleveland County Special Judge Steve Stice ordered him to stand trial on charges including first-degree murder and assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

Nolen, 31, has pleaded not guilty and he was previously found competent to stand trial. Prosecutors have indicated they will seek the death penalty.

His attorney, Mitch Solomon of the Oklahoma Indigent Defender's Office, declined to comment after the hearing.

Investigators have said Nolen had just been suspended from his job when he walked into the company's administrative office and attacked Colleen Hufford, 54, severing her head.

They say he also stabbed another co-worker, who survived, before he was shot by a company executive.

Nolen has pleaded guilty and investigators have said Nolen had just been suspended from his job when he walked into the company's administrative office and attacked Colleen Hufford, 54, severing her head

Traci Johnson (left) survived the attack, but her friend and co-worker, 54-year-old Colleen Hufford (right), wasn't so lucky. She was decapitated with a serrated knife

Gary Hazelrigg, Vaughan's customer service manager at the time, said Hufford was in his office on September 25, 2014, when a man he identified as Nolen came into the office and grabbed her, placing one hand on her forehead with the other hand holding a 'large, heavy butcher knife drawn across her neck.'

'In no more than a second or two, the man pulled her forehead toward him and made a vicious cut across her throat with the knife,' Hazelrigg testified.

Nolen then threw Hufford to the floor, sat on top of her and sawed at her throat, Hazelrigg said.

He said he repeatedly tried to knock Nolen off her and he said he thought he heard Nolen say: 'Die ... die.'

'At some point he jumped up and turned on me with the knife in hand,' Hazelrigg said.

A witness said Nolen threw Hufford to the floor, sat on top of her and sawed at her throat during the 2014 rampage at Vaughan Foods (pictured)

In October, a judge found Nolen mentally competent to stand trial, rejecting defense attorneys' claims that Nolen was intellectually impaired

He said he picked up a chair to keep the distance between them and escaped into a locked room.

Bryan Aylor, warehouse manager at the plant, said he learned about the attack when other women ran from the building, screaming: 'He cut her throat. He cut her throat!'

Aylor said he pulled Nolen off Hufford but lost his footing and fell backward.

He said Nolen lunged at him with the knife 10 or 12 times as Aylor kicked at him.

'I wasn't an easy victim. I fought back,' Aylor said. He said Nolen eventually ran away but is not sure why.

Mark Vanderpool, who was director of operations at the plant, testified that he was in the parking lot when someone shouted that Hufford had been attacked.

Vanderpool said he entered the plant's office area and saw Nolen kneeling over Hufford, cutting at her neck.

'I ran up and kicked Mr. Nolen in the chin,' he said. Nolen lifted his head and then lunged at him with the knife, missing his midsection by no more than two inches, Vanderpool said.

Authorities have said Nolen ran down a hallway and attacked another employee, Traci Johnson, before the plant's chief operating officer, Mark Vaughan, shot him with a rifle.

Vaughan is also an Oklahoma County reserve sheriff's deputy.

The victim's daughter, Kelli Hufford, attended the hearing but did not testify.

She issued a statement later in which she thanked supporters 'who continue to keep our family in their prayers while we anticipate the trial and ultimately justice for my mom, Colleen.'
Mother-of-two Joanne Marie Pert, 41, was killed while going for her morning run in an upmarket suburb in Auckland on Thursday

The alleged murderer of a woman who was killed while going for a jog in a wealthy suburb in Auckland used to 'sit at the front of his house and watch people' - according to his neighbours.

Joanne Marie Pert, a 41-year-old mother of two young children, was killed while going for her regular morning run in the upmarket inner-city suburb of Remuera on Thursday.

The accused murderer, 24 and with his identity suppressed, handed himself in to police and appeared in Auckland District Court on Friday, Stuff reported.

Neighbours - who have watched police come and go from the man's vacant house without explanation since he was arrested - have described him as private and 'spooky'.

'We don't know much about him. I do know that he always comes out of the house, like he just watches the neighbourhood,' one neighbour told Stuff.

He then described a particularly chilling moment where he watched the man throw food to his dog over the fence.

'I was watching from a distance - what he's trying to do with the dog. And when he saw me, he just look at me and look at the dog. Doing nothing... He just look at me, and the way he stares, and also that's a bit scary.'

Ms Pert was found by police on the front lawn - just six kilometres from her home and still wearing excercise gear, not far from a popular running route

Police believe Ms Pert was attacked with a weapon, and died after making it to the lawn of a nearby property.

She was found by police on the front lawn - just six kilometres from her home and still wearing excercise gear, not far from a popular running route.

Detective Inspector Hooper says the Operation Solitaire homicide investigation team had not yet pieced together the events before and after Joanne's tragic death.

Police believe Ms Pert was attacked with a weapon, and died after making it to the lawn of a nearby property

'Our sympathies are obviously with Joanne's family and friends and we are committed to making every effort to ensure a robust prosecution is achieved,' he said.

'Staff were back at the Shore Rd scene earlier today and others are carrying out background inquiries into the accused. Several other inquiries will take weeks to complete.

'We are relieved that we are able to reassure members of the community that the alleged offender acted alone and is remanded in custody.'

The accused killer was remanded in custody to appear again on January 27 and ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment.

His identity has been temporarily concealed until further notice.

Detective Inspector Hooper says the Operation Solitaire homicide investigation team had not yet pieced together the events before and after Joanne's tragic death

Neighbours of the accused murderer, 24 and with his identity concealed, say he used to 'watch the neighbourhood' and stare at people in a 'scary' manner
Hungary's prime minister has called for the EU to establish a new frontier on the Greek border to stop the flow of migrants completely.

Viktor Orban said ending the influx of refugees would be 'the decisive issue of 2016'.

He urged leaders to construct a 'European defence line' on Greece's northern borders with Macedonia and Bulgaria or risk 'losing the possibility of free movement' within the Schengen zone.

Mr Orban said that 'since no-one except us Hungarians protected their external Schengen borders, defenses, visa systems, border controls and fences are being created inside' the passport-free area.

But his comments came as it emerged Italy was planning to decriminalise migrants entering the country without proper documents or overstaying their visa, a move some fear will encourage more to attempt the journey to Europe.

Migrants break through the cordon of Macedonian police forces, near the town of Gevgelija, on the Greek border. Hungary's prime minister has called for the EU to establish a new frontier on the Greek border to stop the flow of migrants completely

Hungary has put up fences on the country's southern border to keep out migrants. Now Mr Orban want a similar measure along Greece's northern border

A bill going before the Council of Ministers next week states that refugees will no longer be prosecuted or face fines of up to 10,000, it was reported by The Local.

Measures will remain to send those who breach the rules back to their home country as will prisone terms for migrant smugglers.

Roberto Maroni, member of the right-wing Northern League, reacted angrily to the move, warning the country on Twitter to 'prepare for an invasion' of illegal immigrants.

Northern League leader Matteo Salvini has vowed to hold a referendum against the move.

'Can they not see whats happening in the world? Its crazy!' he wrote on Facebook.

In Hungary, Mr Orban has gained support with his tough stance on migration.

His government has put up fences on the country's southern border to keep out migrants and asylum seekers fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Asia.

Viktor Orban (pictured with British PM David Cameron) urged leaders to construct a 'European defence line' on Greece's northern borders with Macedonia and Bulgaria or risk 'losing the possibility of free movement' within the Schengen zone

The barriers initially drew criticism from his European Union partners, but several countries, such as Slovenia and Austria, have since raised barriers of their own.

Others have imposed checks within the EU's border-free Schengen zone to cope with the flow.

'I think the next line of defence that we need (is) to build up lines on the northern border of Greece,' Orban told public radio in an interview.

He said Bulgaria, one of Greece's northern neighbours, should be adopted into the Schengen zone, while Macedonia should be given financial help and other assistance to beef up its defences.

He said a recent agreement with Turkey would not be enough to stop hundreds of thousands of migrants from coming to Europe.

In October, the EU offered Turkey a possible 3billion ($3.26bn) in aid, the prospect of easier travel visas and renewed talks on Turkey's joining the bloc, in return for its help stemming the flow of migrants to Europe.

'It is nice that (Turkey) has promised that there would be a line of defence there, but we need to build one of our own from our own resources on the northern border of Greece and stop, not slow down, but stop migration,' Orban said.

Orban said Germany, which welcomed a million migrants last year, has recently shifted towards 'common sense' to slow arrivals, but added that nothing short of stopping more people entering would resolve the issue.

More than 390,000 migrants passed through Hungary in 2015 on their way to Germany and other western EU destinations.

But hardly any entered after Hungary erected fences in September and October on its southern borders with Serbia and Croatia.
Brussels bureaucrats were today accused of endangering the lives of air passengers after they blocked the publics right to access aircraft safety records.

Aviation experts claimed the European Union was quietly introducing gagging orders to protect the reputations of airlines and manufacturers flying and making substandard aircraft at the expense of public safety.

Draconian secrecy rules brought into force by Eurocrats have banned the UKs Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) from releasing details of incidents including collisions on runways or onboard fires.

Experts have warned that in the event of a aircraft disaster, it would be harder for the public and press to discover what had gone wrong with the plane. Stowaways, near misses parts falling off aircraft will become secret (file image)

Information about stowaways, near misses and even parts falling of aircraft also become secret.

And experts warned that in the event of a disaster in mainland Europe on the scale of the 2000 Paris Concorde crash, it would be harder for the public and press to discover what had gone wrong.

Under British law, pilots and airlines have to tell authorities about any safety breach including bird strikes, loss of control, plane malfunctions, unsafe air traffic control clearance or any event leading to a Mayday.

Until now the Mandatory Occurrence Reports (MORs) have been publicly released and also available under Freedom of Information (FoI) rules.

But the terrifying new Brussels air safety diktat demands that the files are no longer available to members of the public or the media, including through FoI.

Airline passengers would not be able to access information from the CAA on whether planes had previously been involved in runway incidents or onboard fires (file image)

That means travellers, journalists and even those living close to airports could struggle to obtain safety information.

Airline passengers in particular would not be able to access information from the CAA on whether planes had previously been involved in incidents, but will not affect reports into serious incidents, such as crashes, by the Air Accident Investigations Branch.

Paul Beaver, an aviation analyst, last night warned the EU ban on releasing the files could only damage air safety.

If these rules had been in place 20 years ago we would not have the same level of detail on the Air France Concorde crash in Paris, he said.

The EU seems to want to protect the big companies  the manufacturers and operators. It is completely bizarre.

It can only damage air safety if people do not know what is going on. We want more openness in aviation to make it safer.

It seems to be a gagging order which is illogical and might well be designed in Brussels to protect the reputation of less than capable air lines and manufacturers.

Ukip deputy leader Paul Nuttall branded the move terrifying, and said: The practice of having open records has helped ensure safety for passengers and gives them confidence when flying.

A spokesman said that the rules were designed 'to ensure people are not afraid to report relevant information that could help to prevent future accidents' (file image)

This new unnecessary ruling runs counter to transparency principles.

I believe the public should still have the right to know about such incidents but the ban also covers Freedom of Information requests.

The European Union is enthusiastic about freedom of movement but not so keen on other personal freedoms.

The media in this country play an absolutely vital role in society and under the previous system members of the press were able to freely access information about safety breaches, such as the terrifying phenomenon of idiots shining laser pens at plane cockpits.

Now we will be kept in the dark about potentially dangerous incidents which is plainly wrong. Such behaviour endangers the lives of those on board as well as those living near busy airports.

When there are safety incidents the public should still have the right to know.

A European Commission spokesman last night insisted the rules were designed to ensure people are not afraid to report relevant information that could help to prevent future accidents.
Pharma profiteer and price gouger Martin Shkreli, who was charged by federal investigators with fraud last month, is worth at least $45million.

Shkreli, 32, was indicted last month by the Brooklyn US Attorneys Office and is now free on a $5million bond.

In court papers filed on Thursday, Shkreli was required to disclose how the bond was secured. The papers revealed he holds a $45 million E*Trade account.

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In court papers flied on Thursday, Martin Shkreli was required to disclose how he secured his $5million bond, and revealed that he has a $45million brokerage account with E*Trade

E*Trade has been ordered to contact prosecutors if Shkrelis account shrinks to less than $5million, which would put his bond in jeopardy, according to the New York Daily News.

Shrekli, known for raising the price of a life-saving drug by more than 5,000 per cent at Turing Pharmaceuticals, was told that he cannot liquidate the brokerage account.

Since his arrest, Shkreli has resigned as CEO from Turing, which soon after announced layoffs of employees.

Another company he briefly controlled, KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, filed for bankruptcy last month.

But the $45million brokerage account could put to rest some speculation over how Shkreli purchased the only known copy of a recent Wu-Tang Clan album for $2million.

E*Trade has been ordered to contact prosecutors if Shkrelis account shrinks to less than $5million, which would put his bond in jeopardy, and Shkreli was told not to liquidate the account

The Pharma Bro was indicted in December on criminal charges that he defrauded pharmaceutical company Retrophin of millions of dollars.

It is alleged that he illegally used stock from the biotechnology firm Retrophin Inc to pay off debts related to his struggling hedge fund and to pay back angry investors.

He is being charged with seven counts of fraud for running what United States Attorney Robert L Capers of the Eastern District of New York is calling a Ponzi scheme.

Shkreli pleaded not guilty to these allegations.
Following the ruling, the BNP name and logo can no longer appear on ballot papers

The BNP has been removed from the official list of political parties after failing to renew its registration with the Electoral Commission - a process which would have cost just 25.

It means the party name and logo cannot appear next to any candidate on any ballot paper on election day - but the party blamed a 'clerical error' which would be corrected.

The far right party has collapsed in recent years and stood just eight candidates at the 2015 general election - all unsuccessfully as the party's national vote share dived by 99.7 per cent.

The Electoral Commission said today all parties have a maximum of six months from the deadline for submission of their account to re-register as a party.

This date passed for the BNP yesterday meaning it can no longer stand party candidates.

The Electoral Commission said: 'The Electoral Commission did not receive the notification by this date and is required by law to remove the BNP from its register of political parties in Great Britain.

Now that the party has been removed from the register, BNP candidates cannot, at present, use the party's name, descriptions or emblems on the ballot paper at elections.

'The party can, however, submit an application to re-register at any time and their name, descriptions and emblems are protected under PPERA for two years to prevent other parties using them.

'Any application will be considered by the Commission in line with its usual processes for assessing new applications to register political parties.'

BNP spokesman Stephen Squire said it was a 'clerical error on our part' and that the party would submit the necessary paperwork within the next few days.

'It's a little bit embarrassing,' he said, but insisted it would be 'business as usual' for the party, which intended to contest the London mayoral election and some council seats.

He added: 'We've been overwhelmed by the number of phone calls we've had from people concerned we might be disappearing.'

In October 2014, the BNP announced ex-leader Nick Griffin, 55, had been 'expelled from membership' amid claims that he had attempted to cause 'disunity' within the party.

In a damning letter, Adam Walker, the current BNP chairman, alleged that Mr Griffin had attempted to spread 'lies' about the party and had 'harrass[ed]' current members.

An hour and a half after the statement was released on the party's website, the former politician, who had led the BNP for 15 years, took to Twitter to speak out against the decision.

He wrote: 'Breaking news! I've just been 'expelled' without trial from the #BNP! That'll teach me to tell a member of staff he's a 'useless, lazy t***'.'

Moments later, he compared the BNP to the former Sovet Union tweeting: 'Only thing is that the ruling Wigton Soviet are operating outside the constitution so I shall ignore their plastic gangster games.'

Mr Griffin stepped down from his leadership of the BNP in July this year, after losing his seat as an MEP, but was given an honorary title of President. He had declared bankruptcy months before leaving the group.

The Electoral Commission today confirmed the BNP's removal from the official register of political parties on Twitter

Despite the ruling, an account purporting to represent the BNP was still recruiting for members today

In 1997 he was handed a suspended prison sentence after being convicted of inciting racial hatred. Mr Griffin was ousted from the party following a review by its conduct committee.

Mr Jefferson, a member of the committee who did not provide his first name, said: 'This has been a difficult decision to make and not one taken lightly.

'Although we all appreciate that Nick has achieved a lot for our Party in the past, we must also remember that the Party is bigger than any individual.

'Nick did not adjust well to being given the honourary title of President and it soon became obvious that he was unable to work as an equal member of the team and alarmingly his behaviour became more erratic and disruptive.'

Earlier in 2014, former leader Mr Griffin had lost his seat in the European Parliament and the party was reduced to just two local councillors.

It had stood 330 candidates at the 2010 election following a decade when it appeared it had made a 'breakthrough', securing a London Assembly seat and more than 50 local councillors.

Political parties are legally required to renew their registration every year, including a fee of 25.
The mother of a fugitive teen who used an 'affluenza' defense after killing four people in a drunk-driving accident complained about her first night in jail prior to making an initial court appearance in Texas.

Tarrant County Judge Wayne Salvant advised Tonya Couch of the charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon at the hearing Friday.

Her bond has been set at $1million, but her attorney has filed a motion to have it reduced to $15,000.

In the motion filed, Couch's attorney argues that 'the amount of bail set is unreasonable'.

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Tonya Couch (above) appears in court in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday on a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon

Her bond has been set at $1million, but her attorney has filed a motion to have it reduced to $15,000. In the motion filed, Couch's attorney argues that 'the amount of bail set is unreasonable'

As she appeared before Judge Salvant in a bright yellow jumpsuit and glasses stuck in her curly hair, she told Salvant (above) that her belongings and passport were taken by authorities in Los Angeles

The judge said he would not rule on that motion until a previously scheduled hearing Monday.

If Couch is released on bond, whether it's the current amount or a lower sum of money, Salvant told her that she will have to follow several conditions, including wearing an ankle monitor and turning in her passport, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Tonya Couch appeared in a Texas courtroom Friday and her bond is $1million

As she appeared before Judge Salvant in a bright yellow jumpsuit and glasses stuck in her curly hair, she told Salvant that her belongings and passport were taken by authorities in Los Angeles.

Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson, who was in the courtroom Friday with several sheriffs deputies, said that Couch complained about her stay in the jail, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Anderson said that she didn't sleep much.

'I explained to her that this was a jail, not a resort, Anderson told reporters.

Couch, was returned to Texas on Thursday from California to face the charge.

Airport police officers escorted Tonya Couch, who was sporting a navy blue colored jacket and black pants, off of a flight after it landed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

The mother was then escorted by police officers and shackled at the ankles to be taken to jail in Tarrant County.

Last week she was deported from Mexico, shortly after she and her 18-year-old son, Ethan Couch, were taken into custody in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta.

A judge ordered her returned to Texas during a hearing Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Arrival: Tonya Couch, center right, is escorted off a flight after her arrival to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Grapevine, Texas Thursday

Couch, mother of Ethan Couch, a fugitive teenager known for using an 'affluenza' defense in a deadly drunken-driving case, waived extradition and was sent to Texas from California to face a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon

Ethan Couch is currently being held at an immigration detention center in Mexico City after winning a court reprieve that could lead to a weeks- or even months-long legal process in Mexico.

Authorities believe the pair fled Texas in November as prosecutors investigated whether Ethan Couch had violated his probation in the deadly 2013 drunken-driving wreck.

They disappeared shortly after a video surfaced on Twitter showing what appears to be Ethan Couch at a party where people were drinking and playing beer pong.

While in Mexico, the spoiled rotten 'affluenza' teen spent more than $2,000 on hookers and booze at a Mexican club, but when his money ran out, he offered up a Rolex watch as collateral.

Prior to being caught by authorities, Couch and his mother Tonya went to a strip club in Puerto Vallarta called Harem on the evening of December 23, where employees said he partied the night away.

According to ABC News, Couch, who was extremely drunk after having several drinks, was 6,000 pesos short on his bill, which is roughly $345.

Tonya Couch (right) is escorted by a sheriff's deputy as she arrives at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth Thursday

A waiter at the club had to escort Couch back to his hotel when he could not pay the bill in the early morning of December 24.

He nor his mother had any cash to pay the remainder of the bill so he gave the waiter his Rolex watch as a guarantee that he would repay his $345 debt the next day, ABC News reported.

However, the club was closed December 24 and December 25. Employees at the club told ABC News that the pair was never seen again.

The mother-son duo moved into a condo in Puerto Vallarta without notifying staff at the hotel they were leaving.

Mexican law enforcement finally nabbed them December 28 after they fled into the country from their hometown of Fort Worth, Texas December 19 with their dog.

Ethan Couch is currently sitting in a jail fighting efforts to extradite him to Texas. Above he is pictured after he was taken into custody in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Tonya Couch's attorneys previously released a statement saying she had done nothing illegal.

'While the public may not like what she did, may not agree with what she did, or may have strong feelings against what she did, make no mistake -Tonya did not violate any law of the State of Texas and she is eager to have her day in court,' lawyers Stephanie K. Patten and Steve Gordon said in a statement last week.

If convicted, the mother faces up to 10 years in prison.

After the deadly crash, Ethan Couch pleaded guilty in juvenile court to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury and was sentenced to 10 years' probation.

He received only probation after a defense expert argued that Couch had been coddled too much by his wealthy parents, a condition the expert called 'affluenza.'

The condition is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation drew widespread ridicule.
Attorneys said that in Bartel's mind he believed his wife was cheating on him and that his family needed cleansing before the world ended

Bartel was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a family member and injury to a child

His son's back was cut with the shape of a pentagram and blood was smeared on the door of the family home

A father who carved a large pentagram into his six-year-old son's back and then called emergency services to tell them what he had done has been found guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and injury to a child.

Brent Troy Bartel, 42, of Richland Hills, Texas, said that he attacked his son, cutting his back with a box cutter because 'it's a holy day'. The date of the attack was 12-12-12, a once-in-a-century event.

Bartel's defense attorney, Joetta Keene, told a Tarrant County jury that Bartel believed that the world would end at midnight on 12-12-2012 and everyone would die.

Bartel called 911 shortly after midnight to report the incident .

'I shed some innocent blood,' he calmly told the emergency services. 'I inscribed a pentagram on my son.'

Scroll down to hear the 911 call

During the trial the court heard that 11 or 12 psychiatrists agree Bartel, pictured above in mugshots, is a schizophrenic

Chilling: Bartel, pictured here with his young son, told a 911 dispatcher that he 'shed some innocent blood' in honor of the 'holy day,' likely referring to the historic date 12-12-12

Asked why he did it, Bartel said: 'It's a holy day.'

Blood was found smeared on the frame of the front door of the home.

Shortly after Bartel confessed, the boy's mother ran to a neighbor's house and also called 911 to report that her husband was hurting her son and was armed with a knife.

Officers who responded to the two calls arrived to discover the boy shivering in the front yard dressed in pajama pants without a shirt.

The child's back was covered with a large pentagram. Officers wrapped the six-year-old with a jacket and called the paramedics.

Disturbing: Officers said the father took some of his son's blood and smeared it on the door frame

The Star Telegram reported that on Thursday jurors had deliberated for five hours before convicting Bartel of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a family member and injury to a child.

The jury was then asked to assess a sentence - the maximum sentence on the assault charge is life or 99 years in prison and the injury to a child charge carries a 10-year maximum.

The court heard that Bartel was an undiagnosed schizophrenic. Attorneys said that in his diseased mind, he believed his wife was cheating on him and that his family needed cleansing before the world ended.

Unsettling scene: The six-year-old was found shivering outside his home dressed only in pajama pants and no shirt

During the trial the court heard that 11 or 12 psychiatrists agree Bartel is a schizophrenic, Keene said before the verdict was read out.

'What it will come down to is whether the jury believes he knew what he was doing was wrong,' Keene added.

Keene told jurors that Bartel needed to be in a hospital where he could recover from his mental illnesses.

Bartel had been in jail in 2007 and returned again in 2012 and during each incarceration his mental health deteriorated, Keene said.

'Cages don't do for people with mental health problems,' Keene said. 'Judge him based on his mental state.'

In 2007 Bartel attacked had attacked a sheriff's deputy in court while appealing a traffic ticket he received when working as a truck driver in Pennsylvania. Bartel pleaded guilty and was locked-up for eight months.

The court heard that the boy, who is now nine, will not take off his shirt for anyone except his mother. Bartel's wife Lindy, said of her husband: 'I don't hate him for what he did.'

But she added: 'I want to be married to him. I don't want to be around him, ever.'

Jurors are expected to resume deliberations over a sentence on Friday morning.

Occult symbol: Police say the father used a box cutter to cut a large pentagram - a five-pointed star inside a circle - on his son's back (stock image)
A former tech employee is suing her former boss and company for age discrimination and being wrongly fired after she spoke out about how the CEO would allegedly expense personal items to the company.

Ana Ruggiero told NBC Bay Area that in her job as an executive assistant at Identiv, she was routinely included in processing all kinds of expenses for then CEO and current president Jason Hart.

She says she began to raise red flags when she started noticing that Hart was submitting personal expenses to Identiv, the global security technology company, for reimbursement.

In the lawsuit filed with the Alameda County Superior Court against her ex-boss and the company, Ruggiero alleges that she was fired in 'retaliation for her complaints about Hart's unlawful and fraudulent conduct in addition to age discrimination,' NBC Bay Area reported.

Ana Ruggiero (above) is suing her former boss and company for fraud after she spoke out about how the CEO would allegedly expense personal items to the company

She claims that in her job as an executive assistant at Identiv, she was routinely included in processing all kinds of expenses for then CEO and current president Jason Hart

'It was unethical what he was doing,' Ruggiero told the television station.

Ruggiero claims that Hart spent company money on personal expenses, wild parties in Las Vegas, dinners and gifts for a government official.

In her lawsuit, she claims that Hart's personal expenses included five to six servers purchased on eBay for $18,000 each that 'were at his home' and never 'part of Identiv's information technology system,' NBC Bay Area reported.

Jason Hart is the current president of Identiv and is being sued by Ana Ruggiero

Ruggiero also said that Hart purchased $3,000 in American Express gift cards that were going to be designated for 'rewarding employees.'

However, she alleges that the gift cards went to his groundskeeper because he 'owed him money.'

'The company didn't benefit from it. It was his lifestyle that was being funded,' Ruggiero told NBC Bay Area.

Also in the lawsuit, Ruggiero claims that Hart had an improper relationship with a government official.

Hart allegedly used Identiv money to pay for gifts and travel for 'a contact in the United States government believed to have been ... influential in assisting Identiv obtain certain government contracts worth millions of dollars,' according to NBC Bay Area.

John Bailey, a former employee with the US Marshals Service under the Department of Justice, would frequent Identiv events, dinners and parties in Las Vegas, Ruggiero claims.

'Jason mentioned to me that Mr. Bailey was an influential person in purchasing, specifically the products that we sold,' Ruggiero told NBC Bay Area as she detailed a Fourth of July pool party in 2014 at Wet Republic in the MGM Grand Las Vegas.

She provided documents that she claims Hart gave her to use for reimbursement of thousands of dollars from Identiv.

Ruggiero claims that Hart spent company money on personal expenses, wild parties in Las Vegas, dinners and gifts for a government official. Above is a picture of an invoice Ruggiero allegedly has showing the cost of alcohol spent at a Las Vegas party Hart attended

According to its website, Identiv is 'a global security technology company that establishes identity in the connected world, including premises, information, and everyday items.' Above is pictured the company's headquarters in Fremont, California

NBC Bay Area reported from the records that Ruggiero provided that the bar bill was $8,700, 'including four magnum-sized bottles of vodka and champagne, plus 10 more bottles of bubbly for a poolside 'champagne shower.''

They also appeared to show that Bailey's airfare and itinerary were included in those documents.

'It's a conflict of interest,' Ruggiero told NBC Bay Area. 'You cannot intermingle with a government official.'

Bailey would not comment about the allegations in the lawsuit filed by Ruggiero.

In a statement from the U.S. Marshals Service, spokesman Drew J. Wade told NBC Bay Area: 'John Bailey was employed by the US Marshals Service from September 2011 to April 2015.

'The Marshals Service takes seriously any allegations of misconduct by its employees and, when made aware, takes appropriate steps to address the actions.

In her lawsuit, she claims that Hart's personal expenses also included five to six servers purchased on eBay for $18,000 each that 'were at his home' and never 'part of Identiv's information technology system'

Ruggiero also claims that Gary Kremen (above), who serves on the board of directors for Identiv and is also the founder of match.com partied with Hart and Bailey in Las Vegas during the Fourth of July 2014

'We are seeking Department of Justice Office of Inspector General review of the matter.'

When Hart became the company's CEO in May 2011, Identiv and its subsidiaries have been awarded a total of $11,746,586.46 in federal contracts, according to the federal website that tracks government contracts.

Those deals include both the Department of Justice and the General Services Administration, which is where Bailey is currently employed, NBC Bay Area reported.

There is a law in place that prohibits federal employees from accepting gifts that exceed $50 from a single source a year and also requires gifts to be reported.

Jason Hart did not respond to NBC Bay Area's request for comment.

Ruggiero also claims that Gary Kremen, who serves on the board of directors for Identiv and is also the founder of match.com partied with Hart and Bailey in Las Vegas during the Fourth of July 2014.

She claims that Kremen, who is also chairman of the Board of Directors for the Santa Clara Valley Water District, did not hold back while partying.

'In fact, Gary Kremen is the one who had the massages,' Ruggiero told NBC Bay Area.

In her lawsuit, she alleges that Kremen received $1,900 in massages alone and that she was instructed by Hart to submit the bill to Identiv for payment.

A response has not been filed by Identiv to Ruggiero's complaint, but a motion to move the case to arbitration was granted, NBC Bay Area reported.
Two Islamic hate preachers who were told they were not allowed to leave the UK have been jailed after being caught 'heading towards the Middle East' just days after the Paris attacks.

Simon Keeler, 44, and his friend Trevor Brooks, 40, were arrested in Hungary on a train bound for Bucharest, Romania, in November last year.

The pair, who were both convicted in April 2008 for terrorism charges, had been required to notify police three days in advance of any overseas travel but failed to do so.

Trevor Brooks (left), and Simon Keeler (right) have been jailed after being caught 'heading towards the Middle East' just days after the Paris attacks despite a travel ban

A spokesman for the Hungarian police said at the time of arrest it was possible the men were travelling to Syria - but the duo insisted they were going to visit family in Turkey.

The pair today admitted a 'serious and deliberate' breach of counter-terrorism restrictions at the Old Bailey and were sentenced to two years in prison.

Karen Robinson, prosecuting, said it was clear the men intended to travel for some time.

The court heard the men were carrying nearly 8,000 in sterling, euros and Hungarian forint, and had 'tough weather' clothes and supplies.

Keeler also had nine pairs of socks on him along with toothpaste and toothbrushes.

Brooks (centre) was arrested with Keeler in Hungary on a train bound for Bucharest, Romania, in November last year

The pair, who were both convicted in April 2008 for terrorism charges, had been required to notify police three days in advance of any overseas travel but failed to do so. Above, Keeler is taken to a court room in Budapest on November 19

The men were said to have boarded a lorry in London in a bid to avoid border controls and travelled to the continent where they found their way to Hungary.

It only emerged that they were subject to a European Arrest Warrant after they had been detained.

Viktoria Csiszer-Kovacs, spokesman for the Hungarian police, said at the time it was unclear where the men were heading but speculated they may have been on their way to Syria.

Ms Robinson added in court today: 'Both men... were well aware of the requirements upon them.

'The inference to be drawn from items in their possession is that they used covert means or clandestine means to leave the UK.

'Travelling under their own names, they would have both been stopped from travelling.'

Tanveer Qureshi, defending, denied the claims the men were trying to travel to the Middle East or were trying to flee and said Keeler was attempting to find his wife and six children, who had been somewhere in Turkey since October 2014.

He said: 'He became very desperate, missed his family, wanted to know what was going on.

Brooks was going to help Keeler look for his family, knowing full well they were not able to leave the UK.

Keeler, of Shadwell, east London, and Brooks, of Clapton, east London, were convicted in 2008 of fundraising for a terrorism purpose and inciting terrorism.

A spokesman for the Hungarian police said at the time of arrest it was possible the men were travelling to Syria. One of the men is pictured at Budapest's Ferenc Liszt Airport being deported back to the UK in November

The charges related to speeches they had made in a London mosque four years earlier.

Following appeals, the defendants' sentences were set at three and a half years but the travel restrictions applied for a decade. Keeler has also been convicted previously of possessing false identification documents.

Mr Justice Saunders, sentencing, called the breach 'serious and deliberate' and stressed the importance of counter-terrorism restrictions.

He said: '[The restrictions] are particularly important at this time when there has been recent terrorism activity in several European countries and the fear of further terrorist attacks is intense.

'Both of these defendants have been convicted of terrorist offences in the past and Parliament has decided that to protect the public, law enforcement agencies should know where convicted terrorists are when they travel abroad so that a check can be kept on their movements.'

He added that he accepted that neither defendant was planning a terrorist attack at the time and accepted their explanation for the trip.

Brooks was born in Britain to Christian parents of Jamaican origin. He converted to Islam at the age of 17 with one of his brothers and changed his name to Abu Izzadeen.

Former builder Keeler became the first white British Muslim to be convicted of terrorism offences.

He was acquitted in July of planning to travel to Syria to join ISIS after being found in the back of a lorry at Dover.
He also denied assaulting second woman, claiming she moved his hand to her breast

He told the jury she sent him a photo on Facebook of herself wearing a bra

Durham University student Louis Richardson, who is accused of raping a fellow undergraduate, said the woman flirted with him and sent him suggestive photographs in her bra after the alleged attack

A woman who has accused a Durham University student of rape sent him a photo of her breasts and called him a sexy menace in the weeks after the incident, a court heard.

Louis Richardson, 21, has been accused of raping the fellow undergraduate after a night out in March 2014, while she was crazy drunk.

The former secretary of the universitys debating society told the jury yesterday they had consensual sex that night.

Richardson said they continued to sleep together very frequently, adding: I thought it was going well. They called each other darling, and in one Facebook message, she told him: Ill let you spank me.

She also called him a sexy menace and sent him a photo of her cleavage with the message: Present for you, darling.

Philippa McAtasney QC, defending Richardson, asked him: Did you think anything was wrong at all?

He replied: Thats not the sort of exchange I would expect of someone that was annoyed at me.

Richardson told the court that his alleged victims boyfriend posed as her online to accuse him of the sexual assault.

He said he received a Facebook message apparently from the woman saying they couldnt speak to each other any more because she didnt want to lose her boyfriend.

Richardson told a jury he was devastated, but replied fair enough and decided it was best to take it on the chin. However, a more serious message followed, saying: I have been doing some thinking. I consider our last time rape. I said no and you did it anyway. I ask you not to contact me again... active immediately.

Richardson said he then received a text from the woman saying that she had not sent the messages, and adding: He wrote it. Asked what he made of the online conversation, he said it seemed as if the womans boyfriend was intervening.

He told the court: I knew I had not raped her. I knew she knew I had not raped her. I thought it was seeming like a petty threat done by a boyfriend who was probably a bit over-paranoid.

Richardson said he was shocked and devastated when he was arrested for rape.

Several months later, two university newspapers revealed he had been arrested, and a second woman claimed to police that he had indecently assaulted her at a party.

The 21-year-old (pictured outside Durham Crown Court today), from Jersey, today told a jury how his alleged victim called him a 'sexy menace' in a series of flirtatious Facebook messages

Two months after the alleged rape, the first woman mentioned having to call her boyfriend, and Richardson said he started to gather he must be more than just a hook-up.

She told Richardson the boyfriend didnt know about them and neither does he care any more. That night, she told him she had a little rampage and self-harmed by carving a word on her upper thigh.

Durham Crown Court heard she told Richardson she was going abroad on holiday with her boyfriend in June. Days before she left they had dinner together.

Richardson said: She said her boyfriend had stopped having girls on the side and she thought she should stop having people on the side too. She implied it was about me.

He said his interpretation was she chose her boyfriend over him and he felt hurt and disappointed.

Later that evening they were kissing and cuddling on the sofa at a friends house. Richardson said her bra would have been exposed but he denied any improper behaviour. The woman claims he indecently assaulted her by deliberately pulling down her top so another man could see her breasts, and said: Show him your t***  everyone else has seen them.

The former secretary of the university's debating society is said to have raped the woman while she was 'crazy drunk' after they returned home from Klute nightclub (pictured) together

Richardson denied making lewd remarks. He said they left together after a friend told them to get a room. They walked to his shared house but did not have sex. She said no  I respected that, he said.

The court was told how, the next day, the alleged victim messaged him to say he must have looked like a high-class, educated, voluntary tramp with a book in the pocket of his velvet coat.

Richardson told the jury: It was the same jokey banter that has been going on for weeks before. The banter stopped when the woman went on holiday and sent a different kind of message  allegedly written by the boyfriend  on her Facebook account.

It read: I dont want to hurt you but I feel its best we dont speak any more. You know (boyfriends name) is very special to me and my betrayal of him has caused trust issues. I dont want to lose him, that means I have to lose you.

Im sorry I am such a terrible bitch.

Richardson then received the rape claim message.

He is also accused of sexually assaulting another woman four months later by stroking her indecently as she lay in bed during a student party.

When confronted about the incident by a friend of the woman in a Facebook exchange, Richardson wrote: I must apologise profusely to all parties concerned.
Philip Hammond was condemned today for being 'alarmingly misinformed' and for 'coming dangerously close to condoning' Saudi Arabia's execution of almost 50 people on new year's day.

The Foreign Secretary, who is Japan today on the latest leg of a diplomatic tour, said all those killed were 'convicted terrorists' despite one being a prominent cleric whose death has sparked protests around the world.

Shiite Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr - an outspoken critic of the Saudi regime who denied advocating violence - was one of 47 alleged terrorists killed on Friday, prompting attacks on its embassy in Tehran and a diplomatic stand-off with Iran.

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Philip Hammond, right on a visit to Japan today with Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, sparked outrage by answering a question about the executions by saying 'let's be clear that these people were convicted terrorists

Mr Hammond today said it was sensible for Britain, while 'relentlessly' condemning the use of the death penalty in any circumstances, to accept some countries would not abandon it and concentrate instead on 'particularly sensitive cases'.

Asked if he would offer a 'more robust' condemnation of the execution of opponents, he told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'Well, let's be clear that these people were convicted terrorists.'

Human rights organisation Reprieve said Mr Hammond was 'coming dangerously close to condoning Saudi Arabia's approach'.

Maya Foa, head of its death penalty team, said: 'While Philip Hammond's efforts to prevent the execution of Ali al-Nimr and other juveniles are welcome, it appears he is alarmingly misinformed about the mass executions.

'Far from being 'terrorists', at least four of those killed were arrested after protests calling for reform - and were convicted in shockingly unfair trials.

'The Saudi government is clearly using the death penalty, alongside torture and secret courts, to punish political dissent.

'By refusing to condemn these executions and parroting the Saudis' propaganda, labelling those killed as 'terrorists', Mr Hammond is coming dangerously close to condoning Saudi Arabia's approach.'

Amnesty UK head of policy and government affairs Allan Hogarth said: 'Contrary to what Mr Hammond says, there's nothing complicated about this.

'The death penalty is wrong in all circumstances, no ifs or buts, and that's a universal principle to which the UK claims to subscribe.

'Mr Hammond undermines the UK's commitments to complete opposition by saying 'but Sharia... but they were terrorists... but Iran is worse'.

'Parroting those sorts of justifications seriously threatens the UK's credibility on human rights.'

Pressed on whether the UK treated the Saudi regime 'with kid gloves' because of the importance of the economic and security relationship, Mr Hammond said: 'It is much more complicated than that.

'We are clear that we condemn the use of the death penalty and we make that view very well known.

The execution of Shiite Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on new year's day has sparked fierce protests across the Middle East. On Monday an effigy of King Salman of Saudi Arabia, pictured, was burnt in Baghdad

A protest march was also held in Najaf, Iraq, and across other cities in the south of the country

'But we also understand that Sharia law calls for the use of the death penalty and the reality is however much we lobby countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran... they are not going to end the use of the death penalty.

'So we are much more effective if we focus our lobbying on cases where we might make a difference.

'There are a number of particularly sensitive cases, including people who were juveniles when they were arrested, where we believe that we are making a difference and we believe that we have avoided the death penalty being carried out.'

The execution of the Sheikh has raised fears that his nephew Ali al-Nimr, who was 17 when he was arrested, could also have the death sentence imposed on him carried out.

Mr Hammond has told MPs he does not expect him to be executed.

He told Today said he had urged his Saudi counterpart in talks late last year not to proceed with mass executions.

'Just for the record, Iran of course executes far more people than Saudi Arabia does,' he added.

Responding to the omission of Saudi Arabia from a Foreign Office list of priority countries where it would encourage the abolition of the death penalty, he said: 'This was a list, I understand from 2011. We were clear in our most recent human rights report in our condemnation of the use of the death penalty.'

Saudi Arabia's ambassador recently warned of 'potentially serious repercussions' of a breakdown in relations with the UK and complained of a lack of 'mutual respect', urging respect for its strict system of Sharia law.
French anti-terror police were trying to identify a man who was shot dead while trying to attack a police station in Paris brandishing a knife and wearing a fake suicide belt.

The man was shot dead on the first anniversary of Islamist attacks on the Paris headquarters of Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine as he tried to storm the police station shouting Allahu akbar (God is greatest).

Police initially identified him as Moroccan-born Sallah Ali, born in 1995 in Casablanca, a homeless man who was arrested for theft in the Var region of southern France in 2013. But sources suggested he may actually be a Tunisian named Tarek Belgacem.

Police initially identified the attacker as Moroccan-born Sallah Ali, born in 1995 in Casablanca

The attacker had been trying to enter the police station in Barbes, northern Paris, shouting 'Allahu Akbar' and threatening officers with a knife on the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins believes the attacker gave a false identity when he was arrested for theft in 2013

But Paris prosecutor Francois Molins cast doubt on his identity, telling French Inter radio that the man may have given a false identity at the time of his arrest.

'This identity (he gave in 2013) is contradicted by a hand-written note that we found in his clothes,' Molins told France Inter radio. 'He is not known to the intelligence services under this name.'

He also said a mobile phone found on the body was being analysed and contained a German SIM card with several messages in Arabic.

'I am not at all sure the identity he gave was real,' Molins said.

According to the prosecutor, a piece of paper found on his body gave a different name and a Tunisian nationality.

Investigation sources told AFP that individuals claiming to be the parents and cousin of Belgacem have identified him from his photo.

"There is therefore a very strong indication that it is him, but it is still to early to speak of a formal identification," the source said.

The letter also contained the Daesh (ISIS) flag and a claim of allegiance to the Islamist group written in Arabic.

Police have cleared hundreds of people from the area, which has a high percentage of residents with a multi-ethnic or immigrant background, over fears that other assailants could be at large.

A piece of paper found on his body gave a different name and a Tunisian nationality

Police have cleared hundreds of people from the area, which has a high percentage of residents with a multi-ethnic or immigrant background

Molins said the attack ' 'illustrates very well the multi-form character of the terrorist threat today in France'.

'We can find ourselves confronted by very organised attacks with extensive logistics and coordination, and on the other hand by people who work in an isolated manner, either because of psychological instability or simply because they are following the standing order to carry out murders,' he said.

ISIS has repeatedly called for supporters to carry out random terrorist attacks in France and other European countries. The attacks are justified as revenge for French bombings of ISIS targets in Syria.

Justice Minister Christiane Taubira confirmed the suspect was not on the radar of counter-terrorism police.

'From what is known of this person, there was no link to violent radicalisation whatsoever,' said Taubira on Thursday.

Paris prosecutor Molins said the attack ' 'illustrates very well the multi-form character of the terrorist threat today in France'

ISIS has repeatedly called for supporters to carry out random terrorist attacks in France and other European countries

A letter found on the attacker's body contained the Daesh (ISIS) flag and a claim of allegiance to the Islamist group written in Arabic

The attacker had been sleeping sleeping rough in Paris, but in 2013 had been arrested for theft in Sainte-Maxime, the upmarket French Riviera seaside resort. His fingerprints were recorded at the time.

His body, dressed in light blue jeans, a grey combat-style jacket and black boots, could be seen lying outside the police station until well into the afternoon.

'He was clearly obsessed with Islamic State, and its leaders,' said an investigating source. 'This was made very clear from the piece of paper found.'

The source added: 'At around 11.30am, the man appeared outside the police station and showed off his kitchen knife. He was told to get back, but refused. Shots were fired and he died instantly.'

By 1pm, bomb disposal experts could be seen using a robotic device to check the man's corpse for explosives. Sniffer dogs were also present.
A CIA agent with more than 21-years' field experience claims newly declassified evidence suggests that Adolf Hitler faked his own death before escaping to the Canary Islands by air before continuing to Argentina.

Bob Baer, who spent his lifetime involved in counter-intelligence and espionage said the official version of history with Hitler killing himself in his Berlin bunker does not stand up to official scrutiny.

He claims that newly released FBI files suggest that investigators at the time were also suspicious about whether the Nazi dictator had shot himself in the head.

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Ex-CIA agent Robert Baer, pictured, believes the official history of Adolf Hitler's death is not conclusive

Baer believes Adolf Hitler, centre, could have easily faked his own death and flown out of Berlin

According to the Hunting Hitler documentary on History Channel, there was no eyewitness report of Hitler's suicide or of anyone discovering his body inside his bunker.

The team, following snippets of evidence, said it was plausible that Hitler could have faked his own death and escaped through the Templehof airport on the day after he was last seen in public. One of the aircraft which left during the mass Nazi exodus is believed to have contained his luggage.

During the controversial documentary series, Baer claims: 'The narrative the government gives us is a lie. if you look at the FBI files it throws open the investigation.

'What we are doing is re-examining history, history that we thought was settled that Hitler died in the bunker but the deeper we get into it, it's clear to me we don't have any facts for it.'

One of the declassified documents expresses concern that Hitler's body had not been recovered and the complete lack of evidence of his death.
Davina Ayrton, pictured, was convicted of rape at Portsmouth Crown Court and remanded in a male jail

A transgender rapist has been sent to a male prison after she was found guilty of raping a 'vulnerable' schoolgirl while still a man.

Davina Ayrton, 34, was convicted of the sexual attack on the 15-year-old in the autumn of 2004, following a week-long trial at Portsmouth Crown Court.

Ayrton, who has learning difficulties, has been remanded into custody for her own safety and Judge Ian Pearson said it was likely she would be held at the male prison in Winchester, Hampshire, until her sentencing on March 4.

The court also heard how Ayrton had tried to commit suicide last summer.

Judge Pearson said: 'I am going to have to remand in custody, if I were to release on bail there are substantial grounds to believe she would be a risk to herself and a risk of failing to attend for whatever reason.

'I will therefore have to remand in custody, it will have to be a male prison in Winchester but it will be an issue for the prison service.'

Thanking the jury, the judge added: 'It's been a slightly unusual case and it's not been an easy case.'

A court officer said that the prison had been informed and that protocols would be put in place for Ayrton's detention.

Ayrton told the court in her evidence that she had not undergone any physical modifications or taken any medication as part of her gender swap.

The trial heard that she had met up with her victim, who had run away from home, and two friends and had gone drinking in a garage which had a sofa and chairs in it.

They had both been drinking alcohol and the victim said Ayrton held one of her arms while the other was trapped against the back of the sofa

The teen described how she screamed and shouted at Ayrton, who was 23 and called David at the time, to stop but failed to wake up her friend and her boyfriend who were sleeping nearby.

A video played to the jury showed the victim explaining how she shouted at and tried to slap Ayrton, who also 'slobbered on her face' when she tried to kiss her.

Although she denied raping the teenager, Ayrton admitted that the teen and her friends were in the garage with her.

She said she had drunk four cans of Foster's lager but had not had any vodka because she was on benefits at the time and 'didn't have enough money.'

The victim, who is from Portsmouth and cannot be named for legal reasons, said in footage played in court: 'I know it was over quickly but it felt like it was forever.

'He just lay on top of me, it must have been seconds but it felt like it was minutes. He just sat up as if it was nothing.'

Helpless: Ayrton's victim cried out for help but could not alert her friends to the vile attack she was enduring

She added that she couldn't breathe when Ayrton tried to kiss her.

She said: 'I'm sure there was a point I went to slap him but I couldn't move my arm.I said get off me. I said it three or four times. It was more his weight on me at that point.

'That's when he was kissing my face, slobbering on my face. I couldn't breathe.'

She also said Ayrton had medium-length greasy hair at the time of the attack. After the rape, the victim did not want to move and only told a handful of people about it.

A friend of the victim told the court she was 'vulnerable' at the time of the attack.

The court was also told that Ayrton, who has a son, was convicted of possessing indecent images of children at Bournemouth Crown Court in January 2014.

When her defence barrister Ann-Marie Talbot asked her why she had entered guilty pleas to these charges, she replied: 'Because I was guilty of them.'

It was also heard that Ayrton, who has learning difficulties, confessed her crime to a support worker - something which she denied.

The court heard how Ayrton, pictured, who has a son, had admitted possession of indecent images of children

The prosecution was brought after a care worker reported that Ayrton had confessed to the rape in January 2014 and also told her that she was a 'paedophile' and that she had 'always known there was something wrong' and that she needed 'help'.

Ms Talbot declined to comment on her client's remand status after the hearing.

Ayrton's move will surely be heavily scrutinised by the Prison Service after two trans inmates died in male jails last year.

Vikki Thompson, 21, died in custody on November 13 at Armley jail in Leeds while awaiting sentence for robbery.

An inquest into her death was opened at Wakefield Coroners Court at which it was heard that jail staff had been checking on her every hour.

When she was looked in on at 7pm, Vikki was seen lying on her bed, giving no cause for concern.

Trans-inmate Joanna Latham was found dead in Woodhill Prison and an investigation has since been launched

However, at a later check at 8.10pm she could not be seen - so staff went into her cell. Emergency services were called and she was pronounced dead 38 minutes later.

The inquest also heard that she was taunted by other male inmates for wanting to live her life as a woman.

She told friends she would take her own life unless she was moved, and although she was seen as an 'at risk' in mate by staff, she was not moved.

The tragic incident came just weeks before Joanna Latham became the second inmate to die in a male jail in December last year.

Staff and paramedics attempted to resuscitate Miss Latham but she died at the scene inside Woodhill Prison, Milton Keynes.

Transferred: Trans inmate Tara Hudson, pictured, was moved to a female jail after thousands signed a petition

A special investigation has since been launched by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

An inmate who has enjoyed success with a plight to be moved from an all-male prison to a female jail is Tara Hudson, 26, from Bath.

Magistrates sent the young woman  who admitted a bar assault - to a male prison to serve a 12-week sentence because her passport says she is still legally a man.
A man pulled over for speeding got a pleasant surprise when the police officer issued him a prayer instead of a ticket.

Rodney Gibson was driving on SR 37 in Monroe County, Indiana on Monday when he found himself inadvertently speeding while he ruminated on the bad news that his daughter's breast cancer had returned and she likely wouldn't make it.

He didn't realize he'd put the pedal to the metal until he saw a cop's flashing lights in his rear view mirror.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Todd Durnil told ABC 6 that the man seemed 'upset and angry' - but not about being pulled over. It was 'about something else.'

Indiana state trooper Todd Durnil said that he pulled over a speeder only to find out the man was suffering from a family tragedy

Durnil then noticed that speeding man was wearing an angel pin on his sun visor that was identical to one the officer also owned.

Durnil began wondering how he could 'get through' to the man asked the him about the angel and Gibson reportedly then told the cop about his daughter's bleak prognosis.

The kind-hearted officer decided right there that he would not take the usual approach with a speeder.

The kind-hearted trooper let Rodney Gibson go without a ticket or warning and instead prayed with him for his daughter's health

Dunhil said he exchanged numbers with the distraught man and plans to keep in touch

'I also thought, this man already has enough, I'm not going to write him any paperwork for a ticket or even a warning,' he told the outlet.

'When I walked back to his truck, I explained everything. He still seemed agitated, but not as bad, and he apologized, saying, 'I'm sorry, I usually don't act this way, I've just been going through a lot.''

Durnil says he then asked Gibson if there was anything he needed, to which he reportedly replied, 'Do you know how to pray?'

'Here I was thinking this man needs prayer, and now he's asking me for a prayer,' a surprised Durnil said. 'The good Lord put us together for a purpose.'

The cop and the man prayed by his semi. The officer says the grieving father was so touched, he began crying.

Later, the company Gibson works for heard about the officer's compassion and called his precinct to thank him.

'I hope everyone that hears about this is one more person that can pray for him and his family,' Durnil said.
Miss Choudray posed for pictures that would not identify her, two days after she reported the 'attack'

A Muslim teenager has been fined after she lied about being punched in the face because she wore a hijab in the days after the Paris terror attacks.

Student Miss Choudhury, 18, said she was attacked on New Street in Birmingham because she was wearing Islamic headwear.

She told police that she was knocked to the floor in the racist attack and that other Muslims in the area were being targeted following the French massacre, which saw ISIS jihadists kill 130 people and injure 352 at various locations in Paris in November last year.

Speaking about the made-up attack on November 23, 2015, Miss Choudhury, who did not want her first name to be revealed, said she had been left too scared to walk through in the city alone.

She said: 'I feel shocked and really scared that someone could attack you for no reason. I don't feel safe at all now.

'I was walking to the train station to meet some friends when someone shoved me from behind.

'When I turned around he punched me in the face and then just went off.

'I was really upset afterwards. I can only think it was because he saw my hijab as he didn't take my bag or anything.

'I've lived in Birmingham all my life and I've never experienced something like this before.

'It's made life harder for innocent Muslims. We don't want people to be killed, that's not our religion. Our religion is all about peace.

'My parents are so scared that they're telling me to take my hijab off. My mum's telling me to wear a hat instead.'

Despite her claims, investigations by West Midlands Police revealed that Miss Choudhury had made up the attack.

Detectives trawled through CCTV footage in and around Birmingham's main shopping street in a bid to identify an offender from the November 23 'attack'.

They even accompanied Miss Choudhury on a walk through the city centre to help her pinpoint the exact location of the attack.

But after monitoring her movements on footage from that morning, officers found no evidence of the alleged assault.

West Midlands Police revealed she has now been fined 90 for wasting police time.

Student Miss Choudhury (pictured two days after she reported the 'attack'), 18, said she was attacked on New Street in Birmingham because she was wearing Islamic headwear

She told police that she was knocked to the floor in the racist attack and that other Muslims in the area were being targeted

Speaking about the made-up attack on November 23, 2015, Miss Choudhury, who did not want her first name to be revealed, said she had been left too scared to walk through in the city alone

Superintendent Andy Parsons, from West Midlands Police, said: 'Detectives spent countless hours looking through footage from the network of city centre CCTV cameras in a bid to piece together what happened.

'The footage shows her walking normally along New Street and at no stage does she appear in distress or seen reacting to anything.

'There is no evidence she was physically assaulted and she was given a penalty notice for wasting police time.

'Hate crimes are taken very seriously.

Student Miss Choudhury, 18, said she was attacked on New Street (pictured) in Birmingham because she was wearing Islamic headwear

'Birmingham is a multicultural city and everyone should be free to go about their lives without fear of being verbally or physically abused simply because of who they are.

'But lying to the police is a serious offence.
Queen Rania of Jordan today urged David Cameron to find a 'new approach' in dealing with refugees running for their lives from ISIS and Bashar al-Assad's forces.

The monarch said the Prime Minister and other leaders must take 'bolder measures' to deal with the crisis, which has seen displaced Syrians flee to neighbouring countries, including Jordan.

Queen Rania met Mr Cameron in Downing Street today as the RAF was urged to carry out emergency food drops to help starving Syrians.

Shocking reports emerged of civilians in besieged town Madaya dying through lack of food while others were eating dirt and rubbish.

Meeting: Queen Rania met Mr Cameron in Downing Street today to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis

Message: Queen Rania told the Prime Minister in No 10 talks (pictured) that he and other leaders must take 'bolder measures' to deal with the crisis

Solutions: Queen Rania's country Jordan is one of several nations being flooded with Syrian refugees

Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown and Labour MP Jo Cox have written to the Prime Minister warning that an agreement to get aid into the stricken areas may be an 'empty gesture' and called on him to consider sending in help.

Queen Rania of Jordan said European nations must 'address the needs of refugees' during talks in Downing Street.

But she added: 'I would like to thank the British people for their generosity and support and compassion in dealing with this, what could be one of the worst humanitarian crises that we face in our time.'

A conference is being held in London next month to secure funding for Syrian refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister and Queen Rania spoke of the need to get results from the talks.

She added: 'They discussed the need for a comprehensive approach to the Syrian humanitarian crisis, and agreed that as well as substantially increasing humanitarian aid, countries must seek to address the longer term needs of refugees through education and employment, to enable them to return to Syria and rebuild its economy once the conflict has ended'.

Mr Cameron has said the reports coming out of Madaya 'are heart-wrenching' and underline the summit is 'vital'.

UN officials said the Syrian government has agreed to allow aid into Madaya where more than 30 people have reportedly died of starvation or been killed trying to escape in the past month.

Talks: Queen Rania, pictured leaving No 10, will next attend a conference in London next month to secure funding for Syrian refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey

Activists released pictures of famished children in the Syrian town of Madaya - there are calls for the RAF to drop in supplies into the town to save the population

A picture purportedly shows a Syrian man scavenging for food in a pile of rubbish in the town of Madaya which has been under siege by President Bashar Al Assad's forces since July

The town, which lies north west of Damascus near the border with Lebanon, has been under siege by the Assad regime and its Hezbollah allies since July.

But Lord Ashdown and Ms Cox warned that the deal did not go far enough and urged the Government not to 'sit by and watch this happen.'

They wrote: 'We urge you to push the UN, in particular the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, to be far bolder in its aid delivery and stop asking unnecessary permission from the Syrian government.
Presidential candidates are spending long days on the campaign trail and their nights in a succession of budget hotels, often in small towns. Not Donald Trump.

After nearly every rally, the billionaire real estate developer hops into one of his planes or helicopters and returns to New York so that he can sleep in his own bed in his marble-and-gold-furnished Trump Tower apartment in Manhattan.

In November and December, Trump held six rallies in Iowa, visited a local production plant and held one town hall, flying home each night.

His nearest rival for the Republican nomination, Ted Cruz, has zigzagged around the state, holding around a dozen town halls and twice as many 'meet-and-greet' sessions, and bedding down between stops in hotels.

Trump's determination to sleep at home every night raises eyebrows among election campaign veterans, who say it could cost him. Voters in Iowa and New Hampshire often want more personal attention; they feel they play a special role in choosing presidential nominees because their contests are held first.

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Bed time? The Donald headed straight to New York after his appearance in Burlington, Vermont, last night, as he has done after almost every other rally

And his favorite place is: Trump pictured in 2001 in the bedroom of his Manhattan penthouse triplex, a gold and marble lined mini-palace at the top of his eponymous tower

Easy commute: Trump has his own Boeign 757 at his disposal, in contrast to other candidates who are flying scheduled

Trump leads in polls in New Hampshire but he has slipped behind Cruz in Iowa. Cruz has done what U.S. presidential candidates typically do: He has made the state a virtual second home in the run-up to Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucus.

This week Cruz is crisscrossing the state in a bus, cruising through small hamlets with stops at a pizza place, coffee house and even a water park.

Trump's schedule this week, by contrast, illustrates his tendency to get out of town quickly. On Monday evening he addressed a crowd in Lowell, Massachusetts, and was due to address a rally in Claremont, New Hampshire, just a couple of hours north the following day. Instead of overnighting in a hotel, he flew home. On Tuesday Trump flew to Claremont and then returned to New York.

In an interview, Trump said he needs time each morning in his Manhattan office to run his businesses, which include a string of high-end hotels and resorts.

'It works very well for me,' he said, adding that he can quickly get to and from campaign stops thanks to his private aircraft fleet. 'For the smaller airports, the (Cessna) Citation X, and for the larger airports, the Boeing 757,' which has a big bed.

He also has a helicopter, which he used while traveling between his Palm Beach mansion and a rally in Hilton Head, South Carolina, on December 30, where once again he did not stay the night.

'Trump is a man who likes to be on the couch with a good cheeseburger and likes to watch TV - he's a homebody,' said his friend and former adviser Roger Stone, who recently founded a pro-Trump Super PAC, a political group that can raise unlimited funds to advocate for Trump as long as it does not coordinate with his campaign.

'He likes being in his own bed, even if it means coming into Teterboro or LaGuardia after midnight,' he added, referring to two airports Trump uses in the New York area.

While Trump breakfasts in his Manhattan quarters, with sweeping views of Central Park, his opponents are waking up in Holiday Inns or Courtyard Marriotts.

Cruz spent Monday night in a motel in Missouri Valley, Iowa, where vending machines sold items with long-past expiry dates. His campaign manager Jeff Roe fired off a series of bemused tweets about the state of the motel, lamenting the presence of 'the long hair on the pillow' that he found in his room.

Here he is: Trump in his office in Manhattan. He says he needs to spend mornings there to run his business empire. He also uses it for interviews - such as this one with Wolf Blitzer

Smaller scale: Ted Cruz has spent weeks in Iowa and other states on the ground, sleeping in motels and moving between smaller-scale events such as visiting Penny's Diner, Missouri Valley, IA

Trump doesn't have one of these: Cruz and other candidates use buses to get around on the ground. Trump flies in for rallies. A former aide says he prefers to get back to New York after midnight than stay away

Strategists said Trump not only risks alienating potential supporters but also the political operatives in states that can help turn out the vote.

'Not everything in a presidential campaign can be accomplished with a speech or a rally,' said Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, a grassroots conservative political group, and a former White House political director for President George W. Bush. The group has not endorsed a candidate.

'You attend a family event of a supporter in a key state: weddings, funerals, graduations, Christmas parties - these have an important psychological impact,' he said.

Trump said he has stayed in Iowa 'numerous times,' but a campaign source who did not want to be identified said he remembered Trump staying overnight only once in Iowa and once in New Hampshire.

That's a far cry from candidates like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has logged more hours in New Hampshire than any other Republican still in the race. Christie and others regularly hold meet-and-greets, attend local government meetings and find ways to make themselves approachable to voters ahead of the state's February 9 primary election.

In Iowa, where state residents will attend caucuses on February, Cruz is in the middle of a week-long bus tour that will take him to 36 different counties.

Former Democratic candidate Chris Dodd took the practice to an extreme in 2008, when he went so far as to move his entire family to Iowa, enrolling his children in school there. He nonetheless lost to Barack Obama.

Trump sees it more as a numbers game. His rallies attract between 3,000 and 20,000 people each time he appears and are often broadcast on television.

'I have more people at one event than most candidates see in a month,' he said.

Even so, Trump said he planned to do smaller events in the future and may even decide on some campaign stops that are veritable pilgrimages for his competitors. One such spot is the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester, New Hampshire, where candidates are expected to stop by and greet customers.

'It's a distinct possibility,' he said.
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Notorious drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman Loera has been recaptured six months after his elaborate escape from a Mexican maximum security prison.

Mexican marines captured El Chapo, which means 'the short one' in Spanish, during a raid in the town of Los Mochis, located in the kingpin's home state of Sinaloa.

Five cartel gangsters were killed and another six were arrested in the raid, while one Mexican marine sustained non-life-threatening injuries. A vast arsenal of weapons was siezed, including rocket launchers, machine guns and armored vehicles.

El Chapo had earlier escaped from a nearby house which came under fire from marines as the net closed on the cartel leader, Mexican officials revealed.

Mexican police say the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Marshals aided in El Chapo's recapture. It is not yet clear whether El Chapo will be extradited to the US, but he was seen being bundled on to a plane by security officials on Friday afternoon.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto wrote on his Twitter account on Friday: 'Mission accomplished: We have him.'

The raid also ended in the capture of El Chapo's right-hand man 'El Cholo', a hitman who was also on the run from the law.

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Got him! Notorious drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman Loera has been recaptured six months since he escaped from Mexico's most secure prison

Back to jail: It is not yet clear whether El Chapo will be extradited to the US, but he was seen being bundled on to a plane by security officials late on Friday afternoon

Victory: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto wrote on his Twitter account on Friday: 'Mission accomplished: we have him'

Military action: El Chapo was apprehended in an early morning raid in the town of Los Mochis, in the drug kingpin's home state of Sinaloa and 1,300 miles away from the jail he escaped from

Arrest: El Chapo was apprehended while he was staying in the relatively isolated Hotel & Suites Doux in the town of Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa

El Chapo was escorted to a SUV with a white towel over his head before being taken to an airport - but his destination is not known

Covered: Officials covered El Chapo's head with a white towel as they escorted him onto a small plane after his arrest Friday morning

En route: It iss unclear where Mexican officials are taking the drug kingpin. The US has previously asked El Chapo be extradited

Good news: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the arrest of notorious drug kingpin El Chapo from the courtyard of the presidential palace on Friday

Accomplice: El Chapo's hitman Orso Ivan Gastelum Cruz, known as 'El Cholo', after he was taken into custody following the shootout

Mexican officials revealed that a firefight at a house in Los Mochis earlier on Friday was related to the raid that saw fugitive El Chapo recaptured.

He is believed to have fled under the cover of gunfire from his henchmen before being arrested later at a motel alongside his most-trusted bodyguard.

The cartel boss was wearing a dirty vest when he was arrested, which showed off several fresh scratches on his arms.

In one picture, El Chapo stands in a bedroom, where a photo of a scantily-clad woman hangs in the background - his hands shackled in handcuffs in front of him as he stares off to the side of the camera.

In the other photo, he sits in a car with his right-hand man, with his hand held up to his chin in thought.

The man seen slumped alongside el Chapo in the back of the police van is his chief hitman Orso Ivan Gastelum Cruz, known as 'El Cholo' - a nickname commonly used to refer to young people in Mexican gangs.

LIke El Chapo he too was on the run, having escaped from prison in 2009.

His girlfriend, the winner of Miss Sinaloa 2012 was gunned down and killed by the army during a manhunt for him in 2012.

The Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines acting on a tip raided a motel in the town of Los Mochis around 4:30am. They were fired on from inside the structure.

A Mexican law enforcement official said authorities located El Chapo several days ago, based on reports that he was in Los Mochis, which is 1,300 miles north west of the high security Altiplano prison he escaped from. The official says authorities even searched storm drains in the coastal city.

At an afternoon press conference, the Mexican president announced El Chapo's arrest and thanked those who spent months tracking down the criminal.

'Today, Mexico confirms that its institutions have the capabilities that are necessary to face and overcome anyone who threatens the tranquility of Mexican families,' Nieto said.

El Chapo's arrest 'demonstrates that when Mexicans work together, there is no adversity that can not be overcome', he added.

Nieto had earlier tweeted: 'My appreciation to the Security Cabinet of the Government of the Republic for this important achievement for the rule of law in Mexico.'

At the hideout, marines seized two armored vehicles, eight rifles, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Photos of the arms seized suggested that Guzman and his associates had a fearsome arsenal at the non-descript white building in which he was hiding.

Two of the rifles seized were .50-caliber sniper guns, capable of penetrating most bullet-proof vests and cars. The grenade launcher was found loaded, with an extra round nearby. And an assault rifle had a .40 mm grenade launcher, and at least one grenade.

HITMAN 'EL CHOLO' WAS ALSO ON THE RUN AND HIS BEAUTY QUEEN GIRLFRIEND WAS KILLED DURING 2012 MANHUNT El Chapo was detained alongside his right-hand man El Cholo, a notorious hitman who was also on the run from jail. The drug lord's number two escaped from prison on 2009 and had been in hiding since, and it is likely he was aware of - or was even involved in - his boss's daring escape last year. El Cholo's real name is Orso Ivan Gastelum Cruz and his nickname is commonly used to refer to young people in Mexican gangs. His former girlfriend Maria Susana Flores Gamez, a 20-year-old Mexican beauty queen, was killed in a raid by the Mexican army in 2012 - the same year she won Miss Sinaloa. She was in the company of dangerous drug traffickers when she died and her body was found laying next to an assault rifle. El Cholo (right) - El Chapo's right-hand man - was captured alongside the drug lord. The hitman's beauty queen girlfriend Maria Susana Flores Gamez (left) was killed in a raid by the Mexican army in 2012 Gamez, 20, was in the company of dangerous drug traffickers when she died and her body was found laying next to an assault rifle Advertisement

The Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines acting on a tip raided a motel in the town of Los Mochis around 4:30am

Magazine: At the building marines seized two armored vehicles, eight rifles, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher

Above, a view of a street in Los Mochis in the aftermath of the predawn shootout with Mexican marines

Man holes are opened in the Los Mochis street near where El Chapo was captured on Friday

From the air: Helicopter circle around the neighborhood where El Chapo was taken into custody on Friday. El Chapo has a lot of supporters in his home state of Sinaloa

Lookout: Members of the Mexican military stand guard near the building where El Chapo was taken into custody on Friday

Mexican authorities say the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Marshals aided in El Chapo's arrest

Down below: A member of Mexican Navy Force points with his weapon into a sewer during military operations after recapturing Mexican drug lord El Chapo

Finally: El Chapo's arrest was a big win for the Mexican government, after his embarrassing escape over the summer. Above, two Mexican marines patrol the street near where El Chapo was arrested Friday

Armed: A man rides a bike down the street in Los Mochis, Mexico on Friday as a Mexican marine stands guard

Job well done: The president of Mexico was surrounded by other governmental figureheads as he made the speech on Friday

A Twitter account that has previously been linked to El Chapo, which uses the handle @ElChap0Guzman, posted two tweets two days before the drug lord's capture

The first, translated from Mexican, said he was 'busy and happy' and enjoying life with his children. A second (pictured) said he loved his family and valued people who loved them, but that 'everyone else can go f*** their mothers'

A Twitter account that has previously been linked to El Chapo, which uses the handle @ElChap0Guzman, posted two tweets two days before the drug lord's capture.

The first, translated from Mexican, said he was 'busy and happy' and enjoying life with his children. A second said he loved his family and valued people who loved them, but that 'everyone else can go f*** their mothers'.

Guzman faces multiple federal drug trafficking indictments in the U.S. as well as Mexico, and was on the DEA's most-wanted list.

The DEA says it was 'extremely pleased' with El Chapo's recapture. On its Twitter account, the agency congratulated Mexico's government on catching Guzman, saying it saluted 'the bravery involved in his capture'.

After Guzman was arrested on February 22, 2014, the U.S. said it would file an extradition request, though it's not clear if that happened.

The Mexican government at the time vehemently denied the need to extradite Guzman, even as many expressed fears he would escape as he did in 2001 while serving a 20-year sentence in the country's other top-security prison, Puente Grande, in the western state of Jalisco.

It is unclear if the Mexican government will extradite El Chapo, given his most recent escape. El Chapo is wanted in the states of Arizona, California, Texas, Illinois, New York and Florida.

He is the first 'public enemy number one' since Al Capone in Chicago, where authorities have demanded he is handed over to the US.

J. R. Davis, president of the Chicago Crime Commission, said: 'The two escapes by Guzman demonstrate that even the most 'high security' Mexican prisons are not equipped to hold Guzman.'

The Justice Department had no immediate comment on whether it will push for extradition.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch called El Chapo's recapture 'a victory for the citizens of both Mexico and the United States, and a vindication of the rule of law in our countries'.

In a statement, Lynch said Guzman 'will now have to answer for his alleged crimes' and congratulated Mexico's government, but did not directly address the sticky issue of extradition.

Senator John McCain tweeted his congratulations to the Mexican authorities and added: 'Now let's extradite him to the US.'

El Chapo has been on the run since July, when he used an elaborate underground tunnel to break out of a maximum-security prison in central Mexico.

Senator John McCain tweeted his congratulations to the Mexican authorities and added: 'Now let's extradite him to the US'

Prison break: A motorcycle adapted to a rail sits in the tunnel under the half-built house where El Chapo made his escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison in July

Slipped away: A composite handout picture taken from a video shows the escape of El Chapo through the tunnel

Altiplano, considered the most secure of Mexico's federal prisons, also houses Zetas drug cartel leader Miguel Angel Trevino, and Edgar Valdes Villarreal, known as 'La Barbie,' of the Beltran Leyva cartel.

Guzman dropped by ladder into a hole 30ft deep that connected with another 5ft-high tunnel, which was fully ventilated and had lighting.

Rich man: El Chapo's fortune was once estimated at $1billion. Above, a mugshot taken after El Chapo's last capture and imprisonment

Authorities also found tools, oxygen tanks and a motorcycle adapted to run on rails that they believe was used to carry dirt out and tools in during the construction.

The tunnel terminated in a half-built house in a farm field.

Guzman's cartel is known for building elaborate tunnels beneath the Mexico-U.S. border to transport cocaine, methamphetamines and marijuana, with ventilation, lighting and even railcars to easily move products.

Since El Chapo broke out of jail in July, Mexican police and military have been desperately tracking the cartel boss.

In September, authorities thought El Chapo escaped the country to Costa Rica, after one of his sons posted a photo to Twitter tagging their location in the Central American country. But authorities were unsuccessful in finding him.

The next month, marines tracked El Chapo down to a mountainous region in Sinaloa.

Soldiers engaged in a shootout with El Chapo and his cartel thugs, and he got away yet again.

However, at the time it was reported that El Chapo appeared to have broken his leg fleeing from authorities.

This is the second time that El Chapo has been recaptured after using his influence to break out of prison.

He was first caught by authorities in Guatemala in 1993, extradited and sentenced to 20 years in prison on drug-trafficking-related charges.

He is believed to have escaped in 2001 in a laundry cart, although there have been several versions of how he got away. What is clear is that he had help from prison guards, who were prosecuted and convicted.

During his first stint as a fugitive, Guzman transformed himself into arguably the most powerful drug trafficker in the world. His fortune was estimated at more than $1billion, according to Forbes magazine, which listed him among the 'World's Most Powerful People,' ranked above the presidents of France and Venezuela.

He was finally tracked down to a modest beachside high-rise in the Pacific Coast resort city of Mazatlan, where he had been hiding with his wife and twin daughters.

He was captured in the early morning of February 22, 2014, without a shot being fired.

Head down: El Chapo pictured above in February 2014, when he was captured the last time he broke out of jail

Before they reached him, security forces went on a several-day chase through Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state. They found houses where Guzman supposedly had been staying with steel-enforced doors and the same kind of lighted, ventilated escape tunnels.

Born 58 years ago, according to Interpol, he and his allies took control of the Sinaloa faction when a larger syndicate began to fall apart in 1989.

Even after his 2014 capture, Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel empire continues to stretch throughout North America and reaches as far as Europe and Australia.
Ben Carson Retired physician

Age on Election Day: 65

Religion: Seventh-day Adventist

Base: Evangelicals

Resume: Famous pediatric neurosurgeon, youngest person to head a major Johns Hopkins Hospital division. Founder of the Carson Scholars Fund, which awards scholarships to children of good character.

Education: B.A. Yale University. M.D. University of Michigan Medical School.

Family: Married to Candy Carson (1975), with three adult sons. The Carsons live in Maryland with Ben's elderly mother Sonya, who was a seminal influence on his life and development.

Claim to fame: Carson spoke at a National Prayer Breakfast in 2013, railing against political correctness and condemned Obamacare  with President Obama sitting just a few feet away.

Achilles heel: Carson is inflexibly conservative, opposing gay marriage and once saying gay attachments formed in prison provided evidence that sexual orientation is a choice.





Ted Cruz Texas senator

Age on Election Day: 45

Religion: Southern Baptist

Base: Tea partiers

Resume:U.S. senator. Former Texas solicitor general. Former U.S. Supreme Court clerk. Former associate deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush.

Education: B.A. Princeton University. J.D. Harvard Law School.

Family: Married to Heidi Nelson Cruz (2001), with two young daughters. His father is a preacher and he has two half-sisters.

Claim to fame: Cruz spoke on the Senate floor for more than 21 hours in September 2013 to protest the inclusion of funding for Obamacare in a federal budget bill. (The bill moved forward as written.) He has called for the complete repeal of the medical insurance overhaul law, and also for a dismantling of the Internal Revenue Service. Cruz is also outspoken about border security.

Achilles heel: Cruz's father Rafael, a Texas preacher, is a tea party firebrand who has said gay marriage is a government conspiracy and called President Barack Obama a Marxist who should 'go back to Kenya.' Cruz himself also has a reputation as a take-no-prisoners Christian evangelical, which might play well in South Carolina but won't win him points in the other early primary states and could cost him momentum if he should be the GOP's presidential nominee.





Jim Gilmore Former Virginia governor

Age on Election Day: 67

Religion: United Methodist

Base: Conservatives

Resume: Former governor and attorney general of Virginia. Former chairman of the Republican National Committee. Former U.S. Army intelligence agent. President and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation. Board member of the National Rifle Association

Education: B.A. University of Virginia.

Family: Married to Roxane Gatling Gilmore (1977), with two adult children. Mrs. GIlmore is a survivor of Hodgkin's lymphoma

Claim to fame: Gilmore presided over Virginia when the 9/11 terrorists struck in 1991, guiding the state through a difficult economic downturn after one of the hijacked airliners crashed into the Pentagon. He is nest known in Virginia for eliminating most of a much-maligned personal property tax on automobiles, working with a Democratic-controlled state legislature to get it passed and enacted.

Achilles heel: Gilmore is the only GOP or Democratic candidate for president who has been the chairman of his political party, giving him a rap as an 'establishment' candidate. A social-conservative crusader, he is loathed by the left for championing the state law that established 24-hour waiting periods for abortions. Gilmore also has a reputation as an indecisive campaigner, having dropped out of the 2008 presidential race in July 2007.





John Kasich Ohio governor

Age on Election Day: 64

Religion: Anglican

Base: Centrists

Resume: Governor of Ohio. Former chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee. Former Ohio congressman. Former Ohio state senator.

Education: B.A. The Ohio State University.

Family: Married to Karen Waldbillig (1997). Divorced from Mary Lee Griffith (1975-1980).

Claim to fame: Kasich was Ohio youngest-ever member of the state legislature at age 25. He's known for a compassionate and working-class sensibility that appeals to both ends of the political spectrum. In the 1990s when Newt Gingrich led a Republican revolution that took over Congress, Kasich became the chairman of the House Budget Committee  a position for a wonk's wonk who understands the nuanced intricacies of how government runs.

Achilles heel: Some of Kasich's political positions rankle conservatives, including his choice to expand Ohio's Medicare system under the Obamacare law, and his support for the much-derided 'Common Core' education standards program.





Marco Rubio Florida senator

Age on Election Day: 45

Religion: Catholic

Base: Conservatives

Resume: US senator, former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, former city commissioner of West Miami

Education: B.A. University of Florida. J.D. University of Miami School of Law.

Family: Married to Jeanette Dousdebes (1998), with two sons and two daughters. Jeanette is a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader who posed for the squads first swimsuit calendar.

Claim to fame: Rubio's personal story as the son of Cuban emigres is a powerful narrative, and helped him win his Senate seat in 2010 against a well-funded governor whom he initially trailed by 20 points.

Achilles heel: Rubio was part of a bipartisan 'gang of eight' senators who crafted an Obama-approved immigration reform bill in 2013 which never became law  a move that angered conservative Republicans. And he was criticized in 2011 for publicly telling a version of his parents' flight from Cuba that turned out to appear embellished.





Donald Trump Real estate developer

Age on Election Day: 70

Religion: Presbyterian

Base: Conservatives

Resume: Chairman of The Trump Organization. Fixture on the Forbes 400 list of the world's richest people. Star of 'Celebrity Apprentice.'

Education: B.Sci. Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Family: Married to Melania Trump (2005). Divorced from Ivana Zelnickova (1977-92) and Marla Maples(199399). Five grown children. Trump's father Fred Trump amassed a $400 million fortune developing real estate.

Claim to fame: Trump's niche in the 2016 campaign stems from his celebrity as a reality-show host and his enormous wealth  more than $10 billion, according to Trump. Because he can self-fund an entire presidential campaign, he is seen as less beholden to donors than other candidates. He has grabbed the attention of reporters and commentators by unapologetically staking out controversial positions and refusing to budge in the face of criticism.
Images of key evidence - including a photo of a bloodied hammer - connected to the murder of a beloved Florida doctor have been released to public six months after she was killed.

The images give the first look at the crime scene and evidence obtained in the six months since mother-of-two Teresa Sievers, 46, was killed in her Bonita Springs home while her family was on vacation in Connecticut. She had returned a day early to return to work in Estero.

Investigators in Florida believe Mark Sievers, the husband of the well-respected doctor, orchestrated her June 29 murder to cash in on her multimillion-dollar life insurance policy.

Mark Sievers has not been charged in her death, but his longtime friend, Curtis Wayne Wright Jr, and another man, Jimmy Rodgers Jr, have both been jailed in connection to the murder.

A blood-spattered hammer was found at the crime scene of Teresa Sievers, who was killed June 29 in her Bonita Springs, Florida home. The front door appeared to be damaged near the lock

The images, released by the State Attorneys Office, give the first look at the crime scene and evidence obtained in the six months since mother-of-two Teresa Sievers (pictured with her family), 46, was killed

The jewelry that Sievers' was wearing during the attack, including a gold necklace and three rings, were found covered in blood

Sievers was found wearing the same dress she had worn over the weekend in a family reunion picture with her mother, two brothers and sister

The first image relased is a surveillance footage snap of her walking through Southwest Florida International Airport on June 28 at 11pm

Among the photos released on Thursday by the State Attorneys Office are images of a vehicle rented by Wayne, crime scene photos of a blood-spattered kitchen and Sievers clothing and jewelry.

A bloodied hammer covered with hair was found near Sievers body. An autopsy showed Sievers died from a blunt-force trauma to the head likely caused by a hammer.

The first image of the set is a surveillance footage snap of Sievers walking through Southwest Florida International Airport on June 28 at 11pm, rolling her suitcase behind her.

Photos of the airport, her luggage and receipts were also released Thursday by the State Attorneys Office, according to the Naples Daily News.

Investigators in Florida believe Mark Sievers (pictured above with his children), the husband of Sievers, orchestrated the murder to cash in on her insurance policy

In late August, police arrested Jimmy Rodgers (left), 25, and Curtis Wayne Wright Jr (right), 47, on second-degree murder charges

One photo shows a rented Hyundai Elantra, which investigators say Wright used to drive from Missouri to Florida in June

Investigators said Sievers returned home at about 11.19pm, and that two men accused of killing her were lying in wait.

She was found dead the next morning, wearing the same dress she had worn that weekend in a family reunion picture with her mother, two brothers and sister.

Another photo shows a white Hyundai Elantra, which detectives say Wright rented out and used to to drive from Missouri to southwest Florida with Rodgers.

The car was rented out on June 24 and was returned six days later with new 2,700 miles on it. The car was processed for evidence after it was recovered in Phoenix on July 14.

Investigators also photographed Dr Mark Petrites - a friend of the Sieverses who Mark Sievers called to check on his wife. Petrites found Sievers in the kitchen and called 911.

Several guns were found during the investigation. It is unknown if they were found in the Sievers home or if they were discovered later

Investigators found a paper plate with loving apology letters from Sievers' two daughters for acting out were found in the home

Another not in the home mentioned family dogs and the fact that the family had run out of carrots after the dogs ate them

One photo shows the bloodied floor of the Sievers' kitchen, where it is believed the beloved doctor was bludgeoned to death

Photos show blood splatter throughout the homes kitchen, on Sievers clothing and jewelry and on the hammer.

The same day as Sievers funeral, Mark Sievers was seen throwing away computers from his wifes medical practice. Photos of the dumpster were also included in Thursdays document release.

In December, officials released a damning 33-page probable cause affidavit, presenting evidence in the case, including GPS data, phone records and text messages, Mark Sievers ' connection to the two men accused of his wife's murder was not a mere coincidence.

Among the evidence laid out in the documents cited by the News-Press was an incriminating statement from Rodgers' girlfriend, Taylor Shomaker, claiming her boyfriend and Wright were hired by Mark Sievers to kill Sievers wife.

Sources said last year that the Sievers (left) were having marital problems. Another photo released by the State Attorney's Office shows money, guns and other goods

The bloodied hammer, which was covered in hair, was found near Sievers' lifeless body when she was found dead in June

The Sievers's kitchen was splattered with blood after Teresa Sievers was killed and said to have been bludgeoned to death with a hammer

A general view of the home's kitchen shoes clean counter tops surrounding the horrific crime scene where Sievers was killed

The same day as Sievers funeral, Mark Sievers was seen throwing away computers from his wifes medical practice. Photos of the dumpster were also included in Thursdays document release (above)

'This murder was committed in expectation of Wright getting paid an undisclosed amount of money from Mark Sievers and then in turn, he was to pay Rodgers $10,000 for his involvement,' detectives said in the probable cause statement.

The documents also allege that Mark and Teresa Sievers' marriage was on the rocks, with both spouses involved in a series of extramarital affairs and experimenting with swinging.

Detectives believe the motive behind the murder-for-hire plot was financial in nature. In 2013, the IRS filed a federal tax lien against the Sieverses for failing to pay $32,000 in federal taxes.

According to the affidavit, Mark and Teresa had five life insurance policies on each other totaling $4.4million.

One photo released by the State Attorney's office this week showed four baskets filled with various suppliments

Another photo released by the State Attorney's office this week showed several prescription drug containers found in the home

The front of the Sievers' house features several bushes, potted plans, and large, rounded windows
His gang lured former state Sen Leland Yee into its clutches through money and campaign contributions in exchange for legislative help

He came to the US at 16 and was reportedly nicknamed 'Shrimp Boy' by his grandmother due to his small stature

Chow, born in Hong Kong in 1960, showed no reaction as the verdicts were announced and stared straight ahead in the court room

A jury convicted a key defendant of racketeering, murder and other counts Friday after a years-long federal undercover investigation centered in the Chinatown district of San Francisco.

Defendant Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow, 56, stared straight ahead and showed no reaction as the 162 verdicts were announced.

The probe also ensnared former California state Sen Leland Yee, who has pleaded guilty to a racketeering count involving bribes.

Prosecutors said Chow, who was born in Hong Kong in 1960, ordered the slaying of the head of a Chinese fraternal organization with criminal ties that Chow then took over.

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Guilty: Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow (above) was found guilty of all 162 counts against him by a San Francisco jury Friday

Prosecutors said Chow, who was born in Hong Kong in 1960, ordered the slaying of the head of a Chinese fraternal organization with criminal ties that Chow then took over

Chow was also charged him with conspiracy to murder another rival

They also charged him with conspiracy to murder another rival.

Chow moved to the United States at age 16 and was reportedly nicknamed 'Shrimp Boy' by his grandmother due to his small stature.

Investigators say Chow used the organization as a front for drug trafficking, money laundering and the sale of stolen cigarettes and alcohol.

An attorney for Chow said in his closing argument that the prosecution case was built on secret surveillance and shady witnesses.

The prosecution's main witness against Chow was an undercover FBI agent who posed as a foul-mouthed East Coast businessman with mafia ties while infiltrating Chow's organization.

The probe also ensnared former California state Sen Leland Yee (above), who has pleaded guilty to a racketeering count involving bribes

Chow moved to the United States at age 16 and was reportedly nicknamed 'Shrimp Boy' by his grandmother due to his small stature

The agent, who testified under a false name, said he wined and dined Chow and his associates for years.

Chow willingly accepted envelopes stuffed with thousands of dollars in cash for setting up various crimes, including illegal liquor and tobacco sales, the agent said.

Defense attorney J Tony Serra argued that the government set up his client by foisting the envelopes on him and courting him with expensive dinners and high-end liquor purchased with public money.

Chow testified to dealing drugs and getting involved in a street gang but said he decided to renounce criminal activity after engaging in meditation.

He denied involvement in the slayings and said he was given the money because the agent was looking out for him, not in exchange for criminal activity.

Investigators say Chow used the organization as a front for drug trafficking, money laundering and the sale of stolen cigarettes and alcohol. Above an FBI agent removes evidence in 2014 related to the case

During her closing argument, federal prosecutor Susan Badger urged jurors to disregard claims that Chow was a changed man after leaving prison in 2003, saying deception was part of his nature.

'He is not the victim here,' Badger said during her nearly four-hour presentation. 'He is not the world's most misunderstood criminal.'

The investigation ensnared more than two dozen people, including Yee, who pleaded guilty to a racketeering count in July alleging he accepted bribes with the help of an associate of Chow.

Yee is scheduled to be sentenced February 10.
A British-born mother-of-two who tried to take her children to Syria to live under ISIS has been jailed for five years.

She wished to live under strict Sharia law and believed such a regime could only be found where ISIS imposed control, Leeds Crown Court heard.

The 34-year-old was born in the UK, spent her early childhood in Pakistan and returned to England when she was a teenager.

She became increasingly religious and gave up her job in finance in August last year, indicating it was 'inconsistent' with her religious beliefs.

The mother-of-two-, 34, wanted to take her children to Raqqa, Syria, to live under the control of ISIS. She told her husband she was taking them to a party and boarded a flight to Istanbul instead

The mother abducted her children in October last year, when she told her husband she was taking her children to a party and boarded a flight to Istanbul instead.

Her intention was to travel to Raqqa but she was stopped by Turkish authorities in Istanbul and returned to the UK after her husband and parents contacted the police.

She was carrying passports and 4,000 in cash.

The woman pleaded guilty to two counts of child abduction, relating to her two children, who were both under 16.

Sentencing the woman to five years and four months in jail, Judge Rodney Jameson QC said: 'You were determined to take them to Raqqa in Syria.

'Raqqa is, and was in October 2015, the epicentre of a war zone. Further, it was, and presently remains, under the control of ISIS.

'It is said on your behalf that you do not support much of what ISIS do. It is not easy to reconcile this submission with the assertion that you believe that Sharia law is only enforced properly by ISIS.

'In any event, the nature of the regime imposed by ISIS in Syria is clear. It is beyond dispute that ISIS enforce their will by the use of extreme force. Such force routinely includes mutilation, rape and murder. You are an intelligent and well-educated woman, you knew this.

'The fate of your children would have been either to have subscribed, fully and actively, as we have all seen in the appalling use of a young child in an ISIS propaganda video in recent days, to such behaviour, or to have suffered it themselves.'

The mother pleaded guilty to two counts of child abduction at Leeds Crown Court. Judge Rodney Jameson QC passed two concurrent sentences of five years and four months

Judge Jameson added: 'You believed that taking the children to Syria to live under ISIS control was necessary to secure their spiritual salvation.'

'This was a terrible betrayal of your responsibilities to your children and of their trust in you.'

The judge said the woman told police she had intended to move on from Raqqa to Mosul, in Iraq.

'You must have known that it was almost certainly impossible for them to have left Raqqa once there and, in any event, Mosul, also under ISIS control, was a scarcely less dreadful destination for your children,' he said.

A pre-sentence report stated that the woman continued to hold on to her beliefs and underestimated the seriousness of her behaviour.

Judge Jameson said the mother currently posed a significant risk to the children, including seeking to radicalise them or, upon release, attempting to abduct them again.

Joanne Shepherd, defending, said the woman did not intend to cause any harm to her children.

The woman, who sat in the dock wearing a black hijab, smiled as Judge Jameson passed two concurrent sentences of five years and four months.
A 'schizophrenic and bipolar' man who was arrested after allegedly plotting to kidnap the Obama family's dog Bo claims has not taken his medication in months and has violent outbursts, his ex-wife claims.

Scott Stockert is said to have told authorities he is Jesus Christ when he was arrested and his former partner Wanda Schutz told Inside Edition that he wanted to talk to the President about the 10 Commandments.

Police found Stockert, 49, at a Hampton Inn in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night after a tip-off from the Secret Service.

According to a police report, he admitted he had a rifle and a shotgun that were both unloaded in his pickup truck.

Ms Schutz said his state of mind was 'unpredictable' and that he was 'dangerous' as she claimed he once strangled her in a prolonged struggle that left her unconscious.

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Scott Stockert (left) was arrested after allegedly plotting to kidnap the Obama family's dog Bo (right)

Police found Stockert, 49, at a Hampton Inn in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night after a tip-off from the Secret Service that he planned to capture Bo (pictured with President Barack Obama)

Stockert's ex-wife Wanda Schutz said Stockert had schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and that he had not taken his medication for 'like six months'

Stockert drove from Dickinson, North Dakota, to New York and then Washington, DC, where he was arrested.

He admitted having the unregistered weapons, the police report says, as well as ammunition.

Police found 289 rounds of .22-caliber long-rifle bullets, 71 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun ammunition and two rounds of .223 rifle ammunition, plus a machete with a 12-inch blade and an 18-inch bully club, NBC Washington reported.

Stockert claimed that his parents were John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe and that he came to the city to announce his campaign for president and advocate for a $99 a month healthcare plan, NBC News reported.

Stockert also allegedly said: 'You picked the wrong person to mess with. I will [expletive] your world up.'

Ms Schutz said he was suffering from both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and claimed he had not taken his medication for 'like six months'.

Scott Stockert, 49, told authorities that he was Jesus Christ as he was being taken into custody in Washington, DC Wednesday night. Above Bo is pictured outside of the West Wing of the White House

'He's never gone un-medicated this long before and his delusional behavior has never been this bad before,' she told Inside Edition.

'I think at this point, he is dangerous, because he's not thinking clearly. Because [he thinks] nothing can stop him. He doesn't think anything's wrong with him and his mindset has always been "I can do what I want".'

She said her ex-husband had been acting strangely for two months and that he told her daughter 'he wanted to talk to the president about the Ten Commandments'.

Ms Schutz also claimed Stockert was prone to violent outbursts and once assaulted her.

She alleged: 'He started strangling me, and he strangled me  we had a struggle all the way down to the basement stairs and I went unconscious.'

It's unclear why he wanted to kidnap seven-year-old Bo, who holds the title of the First Dog of the United States. Above President Obama is pictured petting Bo

It is unclear why Stockert wanted to kidnap seven-year-old Bo, who holds the title of the First Dog of the United States.

Bo is the eldest of the Obama family's two Portuguese water dogs.

Stockert was charged with carrying a rifle or shotgun outside of his home or place of business, which is illegal in Washington, DC.

The Washington Post reported that at a preliminary hearing Friday morning, 'a judge found probable cause for the case to move forward' against Stockert.

The judge also ordered that Stockert be released into a high-intensity supervision program pending a court date to be set later, he Post reported.
Two jihadis armed with a pellet gun and knives have wounded three tourists at the entrance of a hotel in an Egyptian Red Sea resort.

Security forces said the attackers arrived by sea to launch the onslaught on the beachside Bella Vista Hotel, in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.

They claimed to have killed an attacker and have seriously wounded a second armed with a knife.

The interior ministry denied initial reports that the terrorists were wearing suicide vests, confirming that no explosive devices were found at the scene.

The two attackers entered the hotels outdoor restaurant at the front of the building and randomly started to attack the tourists.

The attackers were reportedly carrying the black flag of tawheed with the shahada, the Muslim testament of faith, written it white. The symbolic flag is commonly used by ISIS.

Egyptian authorities today said the dead attacker was a 21-year-old student from the Cairo neighbourhood of Giza as video emerged of his accomplice being questioned as he lay injured in the aftermath.

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Killed: Security forces said they killed one of the attackers who had arrived by sea to launch the onslaught on the beachside Bella Vista Hotel, in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada

Police have shot dead one of the gunmen and a second was injured

Interrogated: The second attacker was seriously wounded by Israeli security forces who repelled the two knifemen after the injured three tourists

The video, which was posted to Facebook and picked up by Egyptian media allegedly shows the wounded attacker being questioned while lying bloody and bandaged on the floor.

He is filmed wearing only his boxers and moaning in pain as men with medical gloves slap his face and attempt to give him CPR  despite him being conscious.

Where are you from?, they ask. Whats your name, your name!?

Throughout the man appears confused as he tries to answer their questions.

'How old are you? 31? 30?' one man asks.

All three wounded tourists, reportedly two Austrians and a Swede, were taken to hospital, where one was treated and discharged, the security statement said.

Security officials had initially said the attackers wounded two tourists, a Dane and a German, but such discrepancies are common in the immediate aftermath of terror attacks.

A member of the hotel's management staff who witnessed the incident told AP that said the attackers sneaked into the Bella Vista from a hotel next door, accessing the facility from the beach.

The slain attacker, he said, appeared to want to take a female tourist hostage, dragging her into the hotel's lobby with his knife held against her neck when he was shot dead by a policeman.

Hurghada is more than 100 kilometres from Sharm el Sheikh, which lies across the red sea at the bottom of the Sinai peninsula

Pictures reportedly from the scene posted by Egyptian media Youm7 shows the black ISIS flag and a suicide device (top left)

Egyptian security services outside the entrance to Bella Vista Hotel, where the incident happened in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada

Cleaners try to clean up the large blood stains on the pavement outside the entrance of the Bella Vista Hotel

Ahmed Abdullah, governor of Egypt's Red Sea Governorate, visited some of the injured tourists from the terrifying attack. Renata Weisslein, 72, (pictured left) was one of the tourists hurt last night

Sammie Olovsson, a 27-year-old Swedish tourist, was stabbed four times by one of the attackers

The attack came just hours after the local affiliate of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack a day earlier on a hotel in Cairo near the Giza Pyramids. No one was hurt in the Thursday attack.

British couple Kyle Hadden, 24, and Mark Higgins, 43, arrived in Hurghada just hours before the attack.

'We were just walking along the beach after dropping our bags off in the room when we heard five gunshots,' Mr Hadden told MailOnline.

'We thought they were fireworks, but then got back to our hotel and had a Facebook message from a friend asking if we were ok.'

The couple are staying in the hotel next to the Bella Vista Resort, just a few minutes away.

'When we looked outside we saw a lot of police cars going past. Hotel staff told us the hotel [Bella Vista] was about 30 minutes away - but I can see it from here - it's the next one along,' he said.

'The only updates were getting is from my mum whos worried sick,' he told MailOnline from his hotel.

Mr Hadden, who works for the ambulance service said he had reported their concerns to holiday company Thomas Cook before they traveled and had asked to go to Turkey instead because of safety concerns.

'We spoke to Thomas Cook before we came saying we didnt want to go. They said it would be fine to travel and that everything would be fine.'

Mark Nolan, 36, arrived back from the Red Sea resort town of Hurghada on Tuesday, but told MailOnline he and his family spent the entire time on the resort as it was too dangerous to leave.

'We booked the trip just a few days before the Russian plane bombing, but when I contacted First Choice to cancel - they wouldn't listen and wanted to charge me 35 per cent,' said Mr Nolan, an electrician from London.

Kyle Hadden, 24 (right) and Mark Higgins, 43, (left) were walking on the beach in Hurghada when they heard gunshots

Police and security forces have increased their presence at the scene in the wake of the attack

A member of the hotel's management staff who witnessed the incident said the attackers sneaked into the Bella Vista from a hotel next door, accessing the facility from the beach

Once there, Mark, father of two daughters aged three and two said he felt unsafe and that the guests they spoke to were also only there because they couldn't get their money back.

'At the airport the security is quite good but then youre travelling on these empty desert roads.

Mr Nolan said there were police road blocks in front of his resort, which near the Bella Vista Hotel.

'There were metal detectors at the door - but everybody just walked round them.

'You cant leave the resort and there are no excursions - you wouldn't dare get on a bus to go and see the pyramids, which is why we went to Egypt in the first place.'

An official statement from the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior said the attack was carried out by two individuals armed with an 'air gun and knives'.

The statement added that one of the attackers had been killed and the second was in custody.

Egypt has been battling an insurgency by Islamic militants led by the Islamic States affiliate.

The insurgency has been focused in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula but has frequently spilled over into the mainland since the ousting in 2013 of the Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

The Hurghada attack is a dangerous precedent since Egypts Red Sea resorts have done better than elsewhere in the country in withering the slump suffered by the vital tourism sector in the five years of turmoil since a popular uprising toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptian media Youm7 reports this is one of the attackers killed by security forces

The incident happened at the Bella Vista Resort in the city of Hurghada, by the Red Sea (file photo of the city)

Thursdays attack was also significant in that it targeted a hotel in Cairo, a heavily policed city, at a time when security appeared to improve in recent months after a series of disruptive bomb attacks.

Egypts tourist industry was decimated after the downing of a Russian passenger plane over Sinai in October.

The local Islamic State affiliate has claimed it downed the aircraft with a bomb. All 224 people on board were killed in the crash, mostly Russian tourists.

The Friday evening attack came just hours after the local affiliate of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack a day earlier on a hotel in Cairo near the Giza Pyramids. No one was hurt in the Thursday attack.
An alleged extremist planning to travel to Syria to join ISIS told an undercover police officer in Birmingham that he was prepared to kill spies.

To a silent court room, 'Muhamed', an officer who spent 10 months infiltrating a group of ISIS supporters in the city, described the exchange which took place at a restaurant in the Small Heath area of the city.

He claimed that British national Anas Abdow Abdalla, 26, told him that if he caught a spy he 'would kill him, would buy an automatic weapon and kill him'.

Accused: An undercover police officer told the Old Bailey how he spent 10 months infilitrating a group of suspected ISIS supporters in Birmingham. The three men, Gabriel Rasmus, 29, Anas Abdow Abdalla, 26, and Mahamuud Diini are accused of preparing acts of terrorism. Rasmus has already pleaded guilty but the other two deny the charges

On trial: An undercover officer told the court that he helped catch the three men who were allegedly planning to join ISIS by escaping from the country in the back of this lorry through Dover on April 3 last year

In a separate conversation, another member of the group, 29-year-old Gabriel Rasmus, a South African national, warned Muhamed 'there are a lot of spies everywhere' adding 'MI5 is everywhere'.

In the ongoing trial, Muhamed described how the men were planning to carry out a Charlie Hebdo-inspired attack in Birmingham, befo re fleeing to Syria in the back of a lorry.

Rasmus, known as Abu Junaid, allegedly told the officer that he had a friend in Syria who was undergoing six weeks of training on automatic weapons.

He also said that the 'brothers' who carried out the Charlie Hebdo massacre 'did a good job' and said he wanted to 'do something similar' at Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre, the court heard.

The men were not aware that Muhamed was an undercover officer, claiming to be a Bosnian running a mobile car valeting business, whose white minivan had been bought for him by West Midlands Police.

Muhamed would hang around mosques, cafes and bars in Muslim areas of Birmingham looking for signs of extremism and passing information to the authorities.

A surveillance operation was launched and officers followed three men as they made two attempts to drive from Birmingham to London and stow away in the back of lorries heading for Dover.

Identity: These are the ID cards which were found on the three men, when they were discovered hiding behind blue drums in the back of a lorry headed for France, with rucksacks, cash and outdoor clothing

Captured: The men were stopped and arrested as the lorry (pictured left) they were travelling in was waiting to clear customs at the Channel port in April last year. They were crouching behind blue drums (pictured right)

They were eventually stopped as the vehicle they had chosen was waiting to clear customs at the Channel port on April 3 last year, and were found in the back with rucksacks, cash and outdoor clothing.

The men were found lying on the floor hiding behind blue drums stacked against the rear doors of the lorry.

On their arrest, two of the men claimed they were they were being harassed by MI5 and had been forced to try and leave the country.

In a conversation recorded by Muhamed on March 29 last year Abdalla allegedly told the undercover officer that Rasmus was determined to be a suicide bomber for ISIS.

'He know what he wants,' Abdalla said at the time. 'If he is there, he know what he wants, he wants only this one'

Abdalla then gesticulated as though a bomb was going off on his chest, Muhamed said.

The officer told the Old Bailey: 'He said he will drive a car and do a suicide bombing and go, poof.'

Investigation: Some of the objects presented to the Old Bailey in the course of the trial - including a compass, a headlight and a SIM card - which allegedly belonged to the accused men

During a conversation at Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre, Rasmus had allegedly talked about conducting an operation to emulate the Charlie Hebdo killings which had taken place a few weeks earlier.

In another conversation on January 23, Rasmus was recorded by the undercover officer saying: 'I don't want to do something here, until I keep trying to go there first.'

But then he added: 'If I can't go there then, yeah, but bro, they are coming from there to here, you know, they are sending them out.'

Abdalla added: 'I understand what you are saying, everything you are saying is 100 per cent true, but I am not supposed to say.'

In another conversation on March 6, Abdalla said: 'Dawla [ISIS] were a very small group before and they killed and killed and killed. Now no one can finish them.

'I think with my big mouth, if I have a gun akhi [brother], I will be in so much trouble. All I need is a gun here akhi, if I have'

Preparations: Suspect Gabriel Rasmus buying a watch in Argos in Birmingham ahead of his attempt to join ISIS

Allegations: One suspect told the undercover officer he wanted to target Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre (pictured) with a terror attack, the Old Bailey heard

Rasmus's 'favourite video' was said to be a film of a young man aged 17 or 18 driving a vehicle into a large building and killing himself and hundreds of others.

The undercover officer recorded the scene as they watched the video and another one called, Tears of Fire, in which a young man screamed his allegiance to god and broke down in tears.

'The brothers are like, they are just sitting somewhere where it don't even play, just waiting to die,' Rasmus commented.

Abdalla described a previous attempt to flee the country when he was able to get into the back of a lorry and travel to France, Belgium and on to Germany where he was eventually stopped by police.

It is the first time an undercover officer has spoken in open court about his work targeting alleged ISIS supporters in the UK.

Gabriel Clement Rasmus, 29, has already pleaded guilty to preparing acts of terrorism by attempting to travel to Syria.

Anas Abdow Abdalla, 26, a British national, and Mahamuud Diini, 26, a Dutch national, both born in Somalia, deny the same charges.
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has some 'splaining to do, after a damaging email surfaced early Friday that appeared to show her instructing an aide to send classified information through 'nonsecure' email - after removing classified headings from the document.

The 2011 email was included in more than 3,000 pages of emails released by the State Department at 1 a.m. Friday, as part of an effort to make up for a late December release that was smaller than expected.

The emails - which have been ordered by a federal judge - have dogged Clinton's front-running presidential campaign for almost the past year.

Republicans hammered Clinton over both the timing and the content of Friday's release.

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, shown here testifying on Capitol Hill in October, has come under fire for a 2011 email that critics say proves she circumvented federal law

This 2011 email was included in a batch of more than 3,000 pages of Hillary Clinton emails that were released at 1 a.m. Friday

Clinton has testified twice before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, most recently in October

The House Select Committee on Benghazi released this statement later Friday to clarify that it is not investigating Clinton's potential mishandling of classified data through her private, home-based email server - and going on to claim credit for the discovery of her email setup

The bombshell 2011 email concerned a classified set of talking points that Clinton's staff was trying to send over fax.

'They say they've had issues sending secure fax. They're working on it,' aide Jacob Sullivan wrote Clinton after it was discovered the document hadn't been sent to Clinton the previous evening as expected.

'If they can't, turn into nonpaper w no identifying heading and send nonsecure,' Clinton replied.

The email exchange is partially redacted, making it difficult to ascertain more specifics about the episode, but it appears to be a potential troublemaker for the Clinton campaign.

A Republican-controlled House committee last March discovered that Clinton had used a private, home-based email server while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, creating the controversy that still lingers, since the FBI is now investigating the potential mishandling of classified information.

'If they can't, turn into nonpaper w no identifying heading and send nonsecure,' - Email from Hillary Clinton, June 17, 2011

Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Friday that the 2011 email was 'disturbing.'

Grassley noted that the email release came in response to a request under the federal Freedom of Information Act, over which his committee has jurisdiction.

'The State Departments latest Freedom of Information Act release contains a disturbing email that appears to show the former Secretary of State instructing a subordinate to remove the headings from a classified document and send it to her in an unsecure manner.'

'It raises a host of serious questions and underscores the importance of the various inquiries into the transmittal of classified information through her non-government email server. How long has the State Department been aware of this email? Why is it just now being released? Was her instruction actually carried out? If so, has the FBI opened a criminal inquiry into these circumstances?'

Clinton came under swift fire from other Republican critics Friday, especially the Republican National Committee.

'This appears to be part of a pattern of behavior by Hillary Clinton where protocols designed to protect national security and our diplomatic efforts were cast aside,' RNC spokesman Michael Short said.

'Serious legal questions are raised by these emails given the fact Clinton signed non-disclosure agreements obligating her to protect classified information regardless of whether it was marked.'

Clinton at her October testimony before the House panel

House Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina congressman, has been accused of playing politics with the panel to damage Clinton's presidential prospects

Sen. Tom Cotton, from Clinton's adopted home state of Arkansas, also blistered her with his own statement.

'Once again its clear Hillary Clinton prioritizes her personal convenience over national security. Its as if she thinks the rules just dont apply to her and is hypocrisy of the highest order,' Cotton said.

'Any other federal employee found acting in such a manner would likely have their clearance revoked, employment terminated, and could face prosecution. Instead, Hillary Clinton is in the running for a major promotion.'

The Clinton campaign has refused to answer media requests for comment about the 2011 email throughout Friday.

At the White House, Press Secretary Josh Earnest dodged a question about the email but later appeared to defend Clinton's handling of the information.

'It is not uncommon for the administration, in pursuit of transparency, to release redacted information that if un-redacted were to otherwise would be subject to some classification,' he said.

'Again, without knowing the details of what exactly was being discussed its hard for me to comment.'

On Capitol Hill, the House Select Committee on Benghazi issued a statement clarifying that the FBI, not the House panel, that is investigating the potential mishandling of classified information.

The statement went on to suggest that the committee deserves credit for uncovering Clinton's email setup last year.

'Of course, none of the Secretary of State's emails  including one in which she appears to instruct a top aide to strip a document of its 'identifying heading and send nonsecure' instead of via classified, secure fax  would have been discovered if not for the work of the Select Committee on Benghazi.'

At the State Department late Friday afternoon, a spokesman would not comment on the 2011 email and said he had no other information about it anyway, including whether or not it has been forwarded to the Justice Department for inclusion in the FBI inquiry.

Spokesman John Kirby refused to comment any further.

'I'm going to continue to refrain from speaking to specific content here. That's not our role right now,' Kirby said according to a report in The Washington Examiner.

'I'm not going to talk about former Secretary Clinton's email practices. Those practices are under review and investigation so it wouldn't be appropriate for me to talk about that.'
The Marine who allegedly murdered a sorority girl in a road rage attack on New Year's morning has been dismissed from the corps.

Eric Jamal Johnson, 20, was dismissed on January 6 from the Marines 'under other than honorable conditions based upon the commission of a serious offense', according to a statement by the U.S. Marines reported by People.

Cpl Eric Johnson, of Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron-1, was arrested at his air base in Yuma, Arizona, on Tuesday morning.

According to police, shots were fired from a black SUV that pulled up beside Sara as she was driving through Denton, Texas, in the early hours of New Year's Day.

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Pictured: Cpl Eric Jamal Johnson, 20, (left) has been arrested on suspicion of shooting dead sorority sister Sara Mutschlechner (right), a 20-year-old University of North Texas junior, early on New Year's Day

Pictured: Cpl Eric Johnson, was arrested at his air base in Yuma, Arizona, on Tuesday morning. He is an administrative specialist of Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron-1, which he joined in August 2013

Grief: Brice Riddell, 20, had dated Sara Mutschlechner since mid-summer. He spoke of his devastation at how life can 'just be gone in a moment' and revealed his hope that justice will be done for his 'sweet sweet girl'.

Police tracked Johnson down through a Twitter post. 'There was a picture of Eric by a vehicle that we were able to track down,' officer Shane Kizer of the Denton Police Department told People.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Online earlier this week, Brice Riddell, 20, who had dated Sara Mutschlechner since mid-summer spoke of his devastation at how life can 'just be gone in a moment' and revealed his heartfelt hope that justice will be done for his 'sweet sweet girl'.

Standing in front of his fraternity home in Denton, Texas, the University of North Texas student said: 'We were together at least midway through the summer until New Year.

'It's day by day right now. We're all getting stronger in remembrance for all the great times we had with Sara.

'There was a very nice vigil that happened in the Greek Life office. I'm drawing strength from all the brothers and friends and just hanging out and having good times because that's what Sara would have wanted.'

Twenty-year-old Sara's last tweet was a reference to the time she had spent with Brice earlier on that fateful New Year's Eve night and Brice recalled: 'I was with her all the way up until about an hour before everything transpired.

'It's just crazy to imagine how everything can just be gone in a moment.'

Brice had partied with Sara and friends at the now infamous gathering on Crisoforo Drive until around 1 in the morning when he left, bidding her a Happy New Year.

Now, trying to make sense of the violence that followed barely an hour later Brice said: 'I don't know if it was out of hate, out of just wanting to make a point more than they even intended but the issue is it happened and it's not okay.

'I'm just really relieved that they've finally found somebody who's directly related to what happened. She was such a sweet, sweet girl.

'She deserves justice.'

Johnson was at the same party as Sara and her friends. He left at around the same time with two of the party's performers of the rap collective Dayonta Boyz, as well as two other African American males in a black SUV

Mutschlechner, philanthropy chair of her sisterhood, was driving this sedan when she got into a fight with members of an SUV. Shots were fired, she was hit in the head, then crashed into an electrical pole

Johnson, 20, is an administrative specialist and had been stationed at the Marine Corp Air Station in Yuma since August 12, 2013. It is unclear if he was on holiday leave.

He will be detained in Yuma County Jail until he is extradited to Texas.

Sara's group had been at a nearby party on Crisoforo Drive which hosted a number of musicians, including local rap collective The Daytona Boyz. They left shortly before 2am.

Johnson, whose street name is 'Santana Sage', was also at the party. He left at around the same time with two of the Dayonta Boyz - known as Tay-K and F***PimpyZ - and two other African American males in a black SUV.

Both vehicles were driving through Denton when Johnson's black SUV pulled up alongside Sara's sedan.

Members of Johnson's group started shouting that they wanted to 'f***' the two girls in the car.

One of Sara's two male friends hit back that the comments were inappropriate. One of the men in the SUV told him he would 'beat his ass' and another said, 'I'll shoot your ass', and 'displayed a handgun'.

According to police, Sara's party did not make derogatory comments in response and drove off.

But as they went through the intersection at West University Drive, shots were fired from the SUV and Sara was hit in the head.

The 20-year-old student immediately lost control of her sedan, veered to the right into a parked car then crashed into an electrical pole.

She was taken to hospital and treated for her wounds but died later on New Year's Day.

Another girl in Sara's car broke her collar bone, and was treated in a local hospital.

Police said at least two of the men in the SUV had been at the same party as Sara and her three friends but the groups are not believed to have interacted until the dispute between their vehicles.

They insisted that the investigation is ongoing. Detectives are examining surveillance film taken from a nearby business, which is believed to show the vehicle involved.

Speaking to Daily Mail Online Johnson's stepfather, Darryl Joseph, 49, expressed shock at the news of Johnson's arrest which he said he was only just learning. He said: 'Eric's a great kid. He's never had no problems.'

The house on Crisoforo Drive where Sara had partied with her friends was empty yesterday after the occupants who rented the house left in haste, clearing out their stuff and piling it into a truck just yesterday.

Outside the evidence of the party was clear with overstuffed trashcans and bags holding beer cases, cups and other party detritus.

Neighbors said the occupants who rented the house left in haste, clearing their stuff into a truck just yesterday

Today the house on Crisoforo Drive where Sara partied with friends lay empty, its door wide open

Respectable: Eric Johnson's family home in Fort Worth, Texas. He lived on based with the Marines

This was the flier made for the New Year's Eve party Sara and her friends attended, as well as Johnson and his friends, including at least two members of headline act Daytona Boyz, Tay-K and F***PimpyZ

According to police, Johnson (pictured left and right) threatened one of Sara's male friends and flashed a gun

Johnson (pictured, left, with a friend). Sara's friends who were in the car with her have told police they recognized this 'F*** Everybody' shirt, and said someone in Johnson's car was wearing it during the fight

In the car with Johnson: Police said two members of the rap collective the Daytona Boyz were also in the black SUV. They identified the rappers by their stage names: F***PimpyZ (left) and Tay-K (right)

The police were called at least twice as the party raged on Thursday night and into the small hours of Friday morning with one neighbor reporting partygoers banging on her door and windows at 5 in the morning.

According to Mallory Bersi, 21, 'It was really weird. At like 5am someone was banging on the door trying to get into our house. They were like banging on the door, on the windows, they went into the back yard. We called the cops. Things like this don't happen in this neighborhood. It was crazy, scary.'

A neighbor of Eric Johnson's mother Sheryl Joseph, Virgil Turner, 49, has lived across from them for six to eight years.

'When we got here they were already here. I know Eric a little bit. When we moved here him and my kid used to play. They used to skateboard up and down this street. Then he took off and went to the military.

'He was a nice boy. I'm very surprised.

'I know his mom. She's a very nice lady, very friendly, never had a problem with her.'

He added: 'I'm just shaking with this news. I'm very surprised. He was a very nice boy from a very nice family.

'I haven' t seen him but he was back here for the weekend.'

According to her LinkedIn page, Mutschlechner had volunteered at the American Cancer Society

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's devastated parents have revealed that she was an organ donor - and that she has already helped a burns victim.

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.'
Hardy also had a .23 blood alcohol level, marijuana and cocaine in her system at the time of her death, according to a toxicology test

The city medical examiner ruled the death a suicide, saying Hardy climbed over the owner's fence and 'subjected herself to the attacks'

The 22-year-old mother who was mauled to death in a December dog attack in Michigan had alcohol and drugs in her system at the time of her death.

Rebecca Hardy of Port Huron was found in the yard of a 10th Street residence on December 3 with extensive injuries to her face and neck. She died later in hospital and her death was ruled a suicide.

The city's Chief Medical Examiner, Dr Ljubisa Dragovic, ruled that Hardy, who had an 18-month-old daughter named Molly, had taken off her shoes, climbed the fence to the backyard and 'basically subjected herself to the attacks, which constitutes a purposeful act,' reported the Times Herald.

Hardy's toxicology results that Dragovic released Friday found that she had a .23 blood alcohol level, marijuana and cocaine in her system at the time of her death.

Rebecca Hardy had an 18-month-old daughter, Molly (pictured with her on Facebook), when she died on December 3. Her death was ruled a suicide and alcohol and drugs were found in her system

Hardy's fiance, Matthew Grattan (pictured with her) said he doesn't believe she would have knowingly entered an enclosure to be torn apart by two dogs

Hardy's fiance, Matthew Grattan, appears to be still grieving her tragic death. He wrote the above message on Facebook earlier this week

'All of the intoxicants were taken before that time, but how long and when in relation to the actual happening, I can't tell,' Dragovic told the Detroit Free Press.

Hardy's fiance, Matthew Grattan, appears to be still grieving her tragic death.

'Dreamt (sic) of her last night.woke up to the nightmare of reality,' Grattan wrote on Facebook January 6.

In response to the medical examiner's findings of Hardy's toxicology results, Grattan wrote on Facebook: 'Yes iv (sic) read the paper and seen what it said.if you have nothing nice to say keep your f***ing comments to yourself.or better yet...come say some dumb s*** to my face and see what you get for being a inconsiderate f***!'

The deadly dog attack involved a pit bull and a pit bull-husky mix.

Dragovic said, according to the Detroit Free Press: 'These were attack dogs. These were vicious dogs in an enclosed space.

Grattan admitted at the time of her death that the two got into an argument before Hardy left the house, but he says he doesn't believe she would have knowingly entered an enclosure to be torn apart by two dogs

Police sealed off the scene (pictured) after the attack. The owner of the dogs was questioned but not charged

In response to the medical examiner's findings of Hardy's toxicology results, Grattan wrote the above message on Facebook Friday afternoon

'She obviously was aware of that, because she climbed over the fence to subject herself to this threat.'

Grattan admitted at the time of her death that the two got into an argument before Hardy left the house, but he says he doesn't believe she would have knowingly entered an enclosure to be torn apart by two dogs.

'I, in no way, shape or form, believe that she was looking to hurt herself on that day,' he told the Times Herald. 'She had a little girl  She wanted us to be a family.'

However, Dragovic, concluded that there had been evidence that Hardy had been thrown out of her home before the attack.

She also said in an interview that Hardy had a history of trying to commit suicide, according to the Detroit Free Press. 'It's a sad story, but these are the facts,' she said.

The attack, on December 3, came just one day after a four-year-old boy was killed by four other pit bulls in Detroit.

Since the attack on a child in Detroit, there have been calls to ban pit bulls, but Hardy's fiance, Matthew Grattan, wrote an impassioned plea on Facebook (above) saying a ban on the entire breed would be 'stupid'

Since then there have been repeated calls in the city to ban the breed.

But Hardy's fiance wrote on Facebook two days after Hardy was killed: 'Your stupid ban wont (sic) bring my beautiful fiancee back. When are you people gonna learn, its not the breed, its the people that teach them. I know countless pit bulls that would never hurt a fly.'

Hardy is said to have climbed the fence of the dog owner's home around 4.45pm.

A witness saw her being attacked and tried to rescue her, but was unsuccessful and went into the house to ask the dogs' owner for help.

The owner was able to eventually free Hardy and give aid to her until emergency responders arrived.

The owner, who police say was cooperative, has not been charged with any crime.

Grattan had previously said that he thought his fiancee might have traveled down the alleyway behind the homes on that street and tried to take a shortcut by going across the neighbor's backyard to get to 10th Street, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Grattan (pictured with Hardy and their 18-month-old daughter) has said he thought Hardy might have been taking a shortcut through a neighbor's backyard when she was killed

Grattan described his fiancee (pictured on Facebook) as 'full of life' and said that she would 'brighten up a room when she walked in'

Hardy was transported to Lake Huron Medical before she was later airlifted to Beaumont Hospital.

Footage from the scene showed a dog being put into the back of a truck by authorities.

The pit bull attack was only a day after a four-year-old boy was mauled to death by a pack of pit bulls in Detroit, which is 55 miles from Port Huron.

Xavier was walking with his mom Lucillie Strickland to a school where she was volunteering on Wednesday when four dogs crawled out from underneath a fence and attacked the boy.

In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, his mother said she fell on her son to protect him and was bitten on her head, leg and back.

Despite her efforts, the dogs pulled him under the fence. Ms Stickland said: 'They were so strong. They just snatched him.'

Once on the other side of the fence, the dogs mauled Xavier to death as his mother watched.

When officers arrived on the scene, they were forced to shoot three of the animals to stop the attack, while the fourth was taken to the pound.
Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz got a slap on the back Friday afternoon by his party's last nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who took to Twitter to defend Cruz's eligibility for the White House.

Romney sent out a tweet early in the afternoon after several days' worth of media stories have discussed the Canadian-born Cruz's eligibility for the presidency after front-runner Donald Trump and 2008 presidential nominee John McCain both called it into question.

Romney wrote: '#tedcruz is a "natural born citizen." Obama too. Even George Romney. This isn't the issue you're looking for.'

The last line, as 'Star Wars' fans are well aware, was from a scene in the 'Star Wars: A New Hope' film which first came out in 1977. The scene shows Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by veteran British actor Alec Guinness, using a mind trick to dismiss a group of stormtroopers by telling them, 'These aren't the droids you're looking for.'

Mitt Romney's father George saw his US citizenship come up during his 1968 run for the presidency, since he was born in Mexico to a woman with US citizenship

George and Mitt Romney at the World's Fair in New York in 1964

Romney's father George, a former governor of Michigan, ran for president in 1968 and had his own citizenship called into question, as he was born in Mexico to a U.S. citizen - giving him 'natural born' citizenship provided for by the Constitution.

Such a citizenship claim has been invoked by Cruz, who was born in Canada in 1970 to an American woman. Cruz had dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship for years before renouncing his Canadian citizenship upon his election to the Senate in 2012.

Romney's reference to Obama was also telling. Current GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump is responsible for most recently raising the question of Cruz's eligibility, after years of claiming Obama was also not a U.S. citizen. That finally prompted Obama to release his Hawaiian birth certificate a few years ago.

In addition to comments by Trump as well as 2008 GOP nominee John McCain over his claims of U.S. citizenship, Cruz also faces a potential lawsuit by a Democratic congressman.

Florida Rep. Alan Grayson, an attorney, said this week he will sue to challenge Cruz's eligibility for the presidency if the senator somehow overtakes Trump and wins the GOP presidential nomination.

Grayson and others have noted that there is little legal precedent for the 'natural born' citizenship theory being tested on a presidential nominee. Furthermore, he says Cruz's mother, Eleanor, may have forfeited her U.S. citizenship by taking a Canadian oath of citizenship - as specified in Section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Grayson added there is no documented evidence that she was in fact born in the United States.

In an interview on Tuesday with The Washington Post, Trump said the question of Cruz's citizenship puts the GOP in a 'very precarious' position.

'Hed be running and the courts may take a long time to make decision. You dont want to be running and have that kind of thing over your head, Trump said.

'Id hate to see something like that get in his way. But a lot of people are talking about it, and I know that even some states are looking at it very strongly, the fact that he was born in Canada and he has had a double passport.'

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has come under fire on the campaign trail this week for his claims of a 'natural born' US citizenship

Mitt Romney campaigning with Ohio Sen. Rob Portman in 2012

George Romney, shown here in 1989, was a former governor of Michigan, a former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and a former chairman of the American Motors Corp.

On Wednesday, in an interview with CNN, Trump suggested Cruz should get the question resolved.

'You go to federal court, you ask for a declaratory judgment. Once the court rules, you have your decision,' he said. 'That will clear it all up.'

McCain, for his part, also weighed in earlier this week. The Arizona senator and 2008 nominee said he cannot verify Cruz's citizenship but said it was a fair issue to raise. McCain himself was born on a U.S. military base at the Panama Canal.

'Thats different from being born on foreign soil, so I think there is a question,' he said. 'I am not a constitutional scholar on that, but I think its worth looking into. I dont think its illegitimate to look into it.'

Cruz told CNN he has never had a Canadian passport.

'The media, with all due respect, love to engage in silly sideshows. We need to focus on what matters,' he told the network.

Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler told U.S. News and World Report Wednesday that a potential lawsuit by Grayson is 'patent nonsense,' and added that he has examined Eleanor Cruz's U.S. birth certificate and maintained that she never became a Canadian citizen.

'Eleanor Cruz, like Ted Cruz, has never breathed a single breath of her life not being a U.S. citizen,' Tyler told the magazine, adding that Grayson would not even have legal standing to bring a lawsuit against Cruz.

On Thursday, Cruz's own wife jumped into the fray, saying in an interview on The Boston Herald Radio's 'Morning Meeting' show, 'I fully expect that this will fade, as Ted is indisputably a U.S. citizen.'

'The definition of natural-born citizen is not in dispute and Ted definitely fits that description,' Heidi Cruz said.

'I think this is an example of Ted winning this race and people looking for things to be a distraction,' she said. 'Were really not worried about something that is not in dispute in a legal sense.'
Images have emerged on Chinese social media depicting owls crammed into jars of alcohol, shocking internet users.

The animals appear to have been placed into the jars alive and suffocated in the alcohol mixture, the People's Daily Online reports.

The post which was published on Wednesday on Twitter-like site Weibo, received 6,000 comments and shares within four and a half hours, with most users condemning the cruel act.

Shocking revelation: This picture, which has emerged on Chinese social media, shows liquor with owls inside

Calls for punishment: Internet users have demanded action is taken after the images were shared online

Big reaction: Within four hours the post by Naturalist magazine had over 6,000 comments from users

The pictures were first placed online on January 6 by Naturalist Magazine on their Weibo account.

A journalist from the West China Metropolis Daily spoke with an owl wine vendor in Guangzhou who said most of the animals had been kept in the jars for 10 years to allow the alcohol to soak through.

The vendor named Mr Li said: 'All owls are drowned alive. They were submerged inside the mixture. Alcohol must be added constantly in order for them to soak through [the animals].

'This way, the result of the medicine is better.'

Mr Li added for those who take the mixture to help their health, they drink the owl infused alcohol but do not consume the owl itself.

However Li Yuan, a professor at Chengdu Chinese Medicine University, said that owl wine for joint pain may not be as effective as some people may think.

Yuan warned that these animals may contain bacteria that if eaten could cause a health risk.

Other animals including snakes were also included in the pictures posted online by Naturalist Magazine

The vendor told Chinese media that most of the animals were soaked in the jars for almost 10 years

PETA Director Mimi Bekhechi told the MailOnline: 'Owls are a protected species in China, which means that as well as being cruel, this concoction is also illegal.

'We urge anyone with information about "owl wine" manufacturers to report them immediately to the State Forestry Bureau  these cruel individuals must be brought to justice.'

Owls are under national animal protection in China.

According to the law, if a person buys rare or endangered wild animals to eat or for other illegal purposes and is aware of the animal's protected status, they will be punished in line with the criminal law.
Zhou Chengjian, a self-made Chinese fashion tycoon with a reported worth of 26.5 billion Yuan (2.7 billion), has gone missing since Wednesday.

The mysterious disappearance of the 51-year-old magnate has prompted his Shanghai-based company Metersbonwe to suspend trading its shares on the Chinese stock market from Thursday, reported the People's Daily Online.

The news comes less than a month after another Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang, known as 'China's Warren Buffet, disappeared on December 10.

Missing tycoon: Zhou Chengjian (pictured), who owns a fast fashion empire, has disappeared for two days

China's answer to H&M: Zhou founded China's most famous home-grown fashion label Metersbonwe, which can be seen on almost all high streets

Some insiders of China's stock market claimed that Zhou Chengjian was taken away by police on January 6, according to Chinese media.

Metersbonwe released a statement on Thursday morning, announcing the decision to suspend trading its shares immediately on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

The statement reads: 'In regard to the news around Mr Zhou Chengjian, the actual controller and Chairman of Shanghai Metersbonwe, the company has followed the regulations set by the Notice of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and applied to suspend trading the shares on January 7, 2016.'

The company said Tu Ke, the board secretary, also remains uncontactable.

A spokesman for the company confirmed on the evening of Thursday that the suspension would continue today.

Price per share of Metersbonwe stocks was 6.07 Yuan (63p) when the market closed on Wednesday.

Mystery: Rumour has it that Zhou had been taken away by police, but his company denied the allegation

Everywhere: Metersbonwe runs nearly 4,700 franchises in cities around China, according to its website

Xu Bin, a spokesman for Metersbonwe, said the company has not learned if Zhou has been taken by any authorities and the company is operating as usual, reported the People's Daily Online.

The spokesman also said Zhou attended a company meeting on Wednesday.

Zhou, a self-made entrepreneur, is the founder and owner of Metersbonwe, the Chinese equivalent of H&M.

He's the 62nd richest man in China and is worth 26.5 billion Yuan, according to Hurun Report, China's answer to Forbes 500.

Zhou was born to a family of farmers in a small village in Lishui city, east China. He started his career as a local tailor and founded Metersbonwe in 1995.

The company's headquarters moved to Shanghai in 2004 and started trading on the Chinese stock market in 2009.

The brand claims on its website to run nearly 4,700 franchises on the high streets around the country.

Metersbonwe says it's investigating the disappearance of Zhou Chenjian. There has been no statement from Chinese police authorities regarding the case.

Guo Guangchang, the billionaire chairman of the Chinese conglomerate that owns Club Med, also went missing briefly in December, forcing the company to suspended trading of its shares

Zhou's disappearance comes in the midst of a sweeping corruption crackdown led by President Xi Jinping in which dozens of executives at state-owned companies have been detained or questioned.

Guo Guangchang, 48, the billionaire chairman of the conglomerate that owns Club Med, went missing on December 10.

His company Fosun International suspended trading of its shares on December 11 after reports of his disappearance.

Guo was later located by the company, who said in a statement: 'After making enquiries, the Company understands that Mr Guo is currently assisting in certain investigations carried out by Mainland judiciary authorities.'
A Chinese man has deliberately let a venomous snake bite his ill daughter in a desperate bid to treat her blood disorder.

Wang Mengyao, eight, was forced to take the lethal bites while being pinned down by her father at her home in Wuqiang County, Hebei Province, reported the People's Daily Online yesterday.

She almost lost her life and had to be rushed to the hospital for anti-venom serum.

Dangerous act: Wang Jingshuai (right), 33, tried to save his ill daughter (left) with the deadly bites of a cobra

Folk remedy or plain joke? The man said his friends told him venom from cobras could cure blood disorder

Mengyao's father, 33-year-old Wang Jingshuai, said he followed a folk remedy, which claims a cobra's venom could cure anemia, after he could no longer afford his daughter's medical bills.

According to him, Mengyao had a two-week fever in January 2011.

She was later diagnosed with aplastic anemia by the No. 2 Provincial Hospital in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province.

Wang Jingshuai said the family had spent all its savings trying to save the girl in the past five years.

The man said both his parents also suffer from major sicknesses and had to be treated in hospital.

'My father was diagnosed with a sequela from cerebral venous thrombosis after falling ill suddenly eight years ago in Wuqiang County.

'In December, 2013, my mother's hyperthyroidism, from which she had suffered for more than 20 years, worsened and she had to undergo an operation in Hengshui city.'

This, together with Mengyao's illness, had exhausted the family's finance.

'Now the family has nothing but enormous debts,' Jingshuai added.

Taking the risk: Feeling desperate, the man asked a friend to send a cobra from south China to his home

Reluctant: His daughter refused to take the bites, so Jingshuai pinned her down and held the snake to her wrist

Feeling desperate, Jingshuai decided to follow a folk remedy he had learned from a friend.

The remedy claims bites from a cobra could cure blood disorder.

Although Jingshuai said he had hesitation at the beginning, he later decided to take the risk and asked a friend to send him a venomous reptile from south China.

The man stated that his daughter refused to be bitten after seeing the snake.

Jingshuai allegedly pinned down Mengyao's by her arm while holding the cobra to her wrist.

The daughter immediately fell ill after the 'treatment', said a regretful Jingshuai.
A Chinese mother-to-be managed to hide in Hong Kong Airport for a week until her waters broke later giving birth to her baby in the city.

The woman, named as Xie Maoling, was sentenced to six months in prison on Wednesday in Hong Kong after the judge ruled that she had deliberately remained in the airport for her labour, according to Huanqiu.com, an affiliation to the People's Daily.

It's thought that Xie, reportedly aged 26, did so in order to help her baby achieve automatic permanent residence in Hong Kong, which is desirable by people from mainland China.

Overstayed: A Chinese woman hid in the Hong Kong International Airport (pictured) for a week until her labour

According to reports, Xie Maoling was in Hong Kong on a stopover after flying in from Bangladesh on Dragonair on July 14 last year.

She was meant to board a flight to Guangzhou the same evening.

Xie told ground staff that she was not feeling very well, so the airline delayed the flight leaving for Guangzhou by 40 minutes to allow her some time to relax.

However she did not board the flight and stayed in the airport's restricted section for transit passengers for as long as seven days.

She only reached out to ground staff after this time had passed and she realised she was about to give birth.

The woman was taken to a hospital in Hong Kong where she gave birth to the baby.

The woman was heavily pregnant when she made the decision not to board the flight to Guangzhou (file photo)

Hong Kong is facing an increasing number of mainland women giving birth in the region, who hope to gain automatic residence for their babies (file photo)

Xie was arrested on the same day of her labour.

On Wednesday, she was sentenced to six months imprisonment at Tsuen Wan Magistrate's Court.

Speaking in court, Xie claimed she didn't feel well at the time and that was the reason why she didn't board her flight back to Mainland China.

However, the judge ruled that she had deliberately stayed in Hong Kong for the purpose of childbirth, according to the same report on Huanqiu.

Not allowed: Hong Kong permanent residence is highly desirable by parents from Mainland China, who would go to extreme measures to achieve it (file photo)

According to aviation security regulations, unless a person carries a valid passport, they shall not remain in a restricted area.

If they are found to be doing so, they will be forced to pay a maximum fine of $50,000 and sentenced to up to two years in prison.

Hong Kong has been facing a growing number of mainland women attempting to give birth in the special administrative region, which operates under a different system than the Communist Mainland China.

The Hong Kong permanent residence is highly desirable by parents from Mainland China.

Under the current Hong Kong law, people who were born in Hong Kong and who also have Chinese nationality are automatically entitled to Hong Kong permanent resident status.

According to Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, 254 non-eligible women gave birth in Hong Kong hospitals in 2015.

Among them, 98 were mainland women without booking.
A Chinese couple who were desperate to have a son after two daughters have to make a living by begging on the streets when the wife unexpectedly gave birth to a set of quadruplets.

Li Yulian, 39, was recently spotted in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, together with her husband, Yang Jingqi, and their four babies, reported the People's Daily Online.

The couple told passers-by they are not able to afford raising the three girls and one boy, in addition to their two elder daughters aged 12 and eight.

Helpless: A couple have to beg for a living in Quanzhou after not being able to support their quadruplets.

Sad start of their lives: They bring their four toddlers with them every day together with an open letter

According to reports, Li Yuanlian and Yang Jingqi have been regularly seen begging outside different farmers' markets in Quanzhou between 7am and 9am, which is the busiest time of the day for the markets.

They printed out a letter, which they laid on the ground in front of them, to tell their story to pedestrians.

Her four babies were put in the push chairs next to the letter.

According to the letter, titled 'heart to heart', the quadruplets, three girls and one boy, were born prematurely by a cesarean delivery on January 12, 2015, in the city of Fuyang, where the couple are from.

She claimed the four children, all suffering from poor health, had to be put in incubators for two months. She said the family can't afford to look after the babies any more.

'Now I plead for help from kind-hearted uncles and aunties,' Li wrote in her open letter.

Bankrupt family: The couple were desperate for a son after having two daughters, and didn't expect to have quadruplets who they couldn't afford to raise

Helping hand: Passers-by have donated around 2,000 Yuan (208) to the couple as well as some clothes

Li told onlookers that she and her husband have two more daughters at home. They both had to quit work in order to take care of the quadruplets full time.

When speaking to reporters, Li said her family is impoverished, but she and her husband really wanted to have a son after having two girls.

Li said she fell pregnant again in 2014, but was surprised to find out she had quadruplets during ultra-sound.

Although she wanted to abort the babies, her doctor advised against it 'for the sake of my health'.

The four babies were born at only 29 weeks. The eldest baby only weighed 2.4 pounds, who was the smallest of all, said Li.

The second eldest baby, the only son, was diagnosed with lung cyst and has to receive constant medical attention.

The couple claimed they have not only have spent all their savings, 100,000 Yuan (10,433), but also have a 100,000 Yuan debt.

Li said she and her husband, together with the quadruplets, moved their hometown in east China to Quanzhou in south China because the city has a milder winter which can help with the babies' health.

They currently live in a rented flat on Nanhuan Road and are hoping to return to their hometown before the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Temporary home: The family currently live in a rented flat

One passer-by, named Ms Lei, said: 'It's not right for the parents to disobey the family-planning police, but the four children are innocent, it breaks my heart to see them begging at such a young age.'

However, it's unclear whether or not the couple are subject to China's former one-child policy, which was imposed to the urban areas of China for more than three decades and allowed each couple only one child.

Police from Lingquan County confirmed there were indeed a set of quadruplets registered under the couple's household, according to People's Daily Online.

The local council has approved a monthly subsidisation of 120 Yuan (12) to each baby.
Apple will kill off the headphone socket and include wireless charging capabilities in the iPhone 7, it has been claimed.

The latest is a series of rumours claim the firm has worked with chip companies to make the change, and will also include noise cancelling technology directly into the handset.

The moves are expected to result in a far thinner handset, it is claimed.

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In order to shrink the thickness of a future handset, Apple is rumoured to be looking at ways to get rid of the standard 3.5mm headphone port. Instead, reports suggest the yet-to-be-announced iPhone 7 will feature a single, multipurpose Lightning slot that will double up as a headphone port as well as charger

WHY WOULD APPLE DITCH THE HEADPHONE JACK? Getting rid of the headphone jack would help Apple shrink the iPhone 7's thickness considerably. Its latest smartphone, the Phone 6s, is 7.1 mm (0.27) thick but removing the 3.5mm jack could drop this by a further by one mm (0.04 in). Such a shift would also mean larger, stereo headphones using an internal battery would be able to draw power directly from the iPhone - or other devices, if the change is enforced across the Apple board. Elsewhere, Lightning-based headphones would experience less 'crosstalk', or signal interference. Advertisement

'Apple is working with its longtime audio chip partner Cirrus Logic to adapt the audio chipset in the iPhone to work with the Lightning port, according to our source,' Fast Company says.

Apple is also believed to be developing a more expensive pair of noise-canceling, Lightning-connected, earphones or headphones, possibly under its Beats brand, the site claims.

Apple is expected to include an adapter with the handset to use older regular 3.5mm headphones.

It is the latest in a long claims have emerged that Apple is set to kill off the headphone socket.

In order to shrink the thickness of a future handset, Apple is rumoured to be looking at ways to get rid of the standard 3.5mm headphone port.

Now, more reports suggest the yet-to-be-announced iPhone 7 will feature a single, multipurpose lightning port that will double up as a headphone port as well as charger.

According to a report in Chinese site Anzhuo, supply chain sources have confirmed the removal of the 3.5mm port on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

It claims Apple will instead focus on wireless headphones to output sound, and will sell the handset with a new, wireless equivalent of Apples EarPod headphones.

Users will also be able to use the lightning connector on the phone to connect a headset

Apple angered many people when it introduced its proprietary Lightning port because it required specialist Apple hardware to use.

This headphone change could have a similar knock-on effect.

The reports come from Japanese site Macotakara that said the new iPhone will support headphones with either the existing Lightning connector or via Bluetooth, and these new headphones will be sold with the new handset.

It is expected that Apple may also sell a converter that would allow users to plug in their 'old' standard 3.5 mm headphones to newer phones.

Getting rid of the headphone jack would help Apple to shrink the iPhone 7 by one mm (0.04 in).

By comparison, its latest smartphone, the iPhone 6s, is 7.1 mm (0.27) thick.

Such a shift would also mean larger, stereo headphones using an internal battery would be able to draw power directly from the iPhone, or other devices, if the change is enforced across the Apple board.

Elsewhere, Lightning-based headphones would experience less 'crosstalk', or signal interference, according to The Next Web.

Lightning-connected earphones are already available from third-party manufacturers such as Philips' Fidelio but Apple could be looking to monopolise the market.

In the past, the company has famously ditched support for hardware and software once it believes it has become obsolete.

It was the first to remove the floppy disk's slot from its computers in 1998, and it more recently did away with all but one USB-C ports on its laptops, as well as Flash on iOS.

Its Lightning charging technology was then brought into replace Apple's previous 30-pin charger in 2012.




They are the signatures created by earthquakes as they shake the ground beneath our feet, but researchers have found our entire galaxy is also being disturbed by seismic-like waves.

Huge ripples in the gas on the outer edges of the Milky Way have been revealed to be 'galaxy quakes' caused by a close encounter with a dwarf galaxy packed with dark matter.

The dwarf galaxy is thought to have skimmed past the outer disk of our own galaxy a few hundred million years ago, creating galactic seismic waves in the gas.

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Astronomers have found evidence that a tiny galaxy skimmed past the Milky Way a few hundred million years ago, creating enormous seismic ripples in the outer gas of our galaxy (illustrated left). The image on the right shows the distribution of stars in the Milky Way and the dwarf galaxy

Astronomers said the discovery could help them develop new ways of learning about dark matter - a mysterious material that makes up most of the universe, but can't be seen with telescopes.

Dr Sukanya Chakrabarti, an astronomer at the Rochester Institute of Technology who led the research, said: 'It's a bit like throwing a stone into a pond and making ripples.

SHADOW GALAXIES UNMASKED Using the worlds largest telescopes, researchers have discovered ancient cold gas clouds larger than galaxies in the early Universe and solved a 40 year old mystery. For decades, they have been on a mission to measure gas clouds, but failed due to unstable star formations and dim lighting. But, with the help of the world's largest telescopes, researchers lined up the gas clouds with other galaxies to measure them. The findings were unveiled at the 227th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Orlando, Florida by Swinburn University of Technology and St. Michael's College. These damped Lyman alpha systems, or DLAs as they are known, contain most of the cool gas in the universe. They are predicted to contain enough gas to form most of the stars we see in galaxies around us today, like the Milky Way. DLAs currently have little ongoing star formation, making them too dim to observe directly from their emitted light alone. Instead, they are detected when they happen to fall in the line of sight to a more distant bright object and leave an unmistakable absorption signature in the background objects light. Advertisement

'Of course we aren't talking about a pond, but our galaxy, which is tens of thousands of light years across, and made of stars and gas, but the result is the same  ripples.'

Ripples in the gas in the outermost reaches of the Milky Way were first discovered around a decade ago but have puzzled astronomers since.

Dr Chakrabarti and her team, believe they have solved the mystery after studying a trio of pulsating stars called the Cepheid variable.

These stars, which are visible in the constellation Norma, are thought to lie within a tiny galaxy around 300,000 light years away from the Milky Way.

Presenting their findings at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Kissimmee, Florida, Dr Chakrabarti said her team were able to calculate the speed at which these stars are moving away from the Milky Way.

Using data from the Gemini Observatory and the Magellan Telescope, they found they are all speeding away a similar speeds  around 450,000mph (724,200km/h).

She said: 'This really implicates these stars as being part of an organised, fast-moving system, which we believe is a dwarf galaxy.

'It's also very likely this dwarf satellite brushed our galaxy millions of years ago and left ripples in its wake.'

She said they were able to calculate the speed of the stars as the pulsing light they produce is tied to their brightness, and so allows astronomers to calculate their distance.

Dr Chakrabarti said there could be many other dwarf galaxies on the outer fringes of our galaxy  known as the galaxy halo  creating other galactic quakes.

A computer simulation of gas distribution (left) and stars (right) in the Milky Way shows how the dwarf galaxy impacted our galaxy (credit: Sukanya Chakrabarti/Rochester Institute of Technology)

Our solar system sits on one of the spiral arms of our galaxy (pictured above Paranal, Chile), but astronomers have found the gas in the outer regions of the Milky Way's disk are left with ripples much like seismic waves

She said: 'There could be a population of yet undiscovered Cepheid variables that formed from a gas-rich dwarf galaxy falling into our galaxy's halo.

'With the capabilities of today's telescopes and instruments we should be able to sample enough of the Milky Way's halo to make reasonable estimates on dark matter content - one of the greatest mysteries in astronomy today.'

Scientists said the research is now part of a new blossoming field in astronomy known a galactoseismology.

Scientists believe there may be other dwarf galaxies that have skimmed past our own. Above a spiral galaxy called M51, thought to be similar to the Milky Way, has a close encounter with another smaller galaxy

Chris Davis, program director at the US National Science Foundation, said: 'This new, potentially powerful way to study how stars, gas and dust are distributed in galaxies is really quite exciting.

'Known as galactoseismology, it can trace both visible and invisible materials, including the elusive dark matter.
Limes as you know them may soon be in for a major change.

Researchers from the University of Florida have created a purple-pulped version of the citrus fruit, by genetically engineering limes with similar factors to grape skin and blood orange pulp.

The makeover isn't just for aesthetic value  studies have found that consuming this red pigment can help to prevent many health issues.

Limes as you know them may soon be in for a major change. Researchers from the University of Florida have created a purple-pulped version of the citrus fruit, by genetically engineering limes with similar factors to grape skin and blood orange pulp

FLORIDA'S GM FRUITS Researchers at the University of Florida's Citrus Research and Education Center are developing the GM Mexican limes to contain a protein that induces anthocyanin biosynthesis. This process is responsible for the colouring of red wine. To make the purple limes, Dutt, along with Jude Grosser of UF isolated genes from the red grape 'Ruby Seedless' and the blood orange 'Moro.' Their purple limes, which ranged in colour from dark to fuchsia, are the first steps in developing Florida blood oranges, and a new variety of grapefruit. Earlier research from the University of Florida isolated a gene from a plant in the mustard family to create new trees. The experiment created GM trees that showed improved resistance to something known as 'citrus greening,' that affects orange crops. Advertisement

Researchers at the University of Florida's Citrus Research and Education Center are developing the GM Mexican limes to contain a protein that induces anthocyanin biosynthesis.

This process is responsible for the colouring of red wine.

'Anthocyanins are beneficial bioflavonoids that have numerous roles in human well-being,' says Manjul Dutt, a UF horticulture scientist.

'Numerous pharmacological studies have implicated their intake to the prevention of a number of human health issues, such as obesity and diabetes.'

Anthocyanins aren't totally unusual to citrus fruits. Blood oranges also contain the pigment, which contributes to their maroon coloured pulp.

These types of oranges are grown best in the cooler climates of Spain and Italy, and don't express their blood red colour when grown in the Florida heat.

To make the purple limes, Dutt, along with Jude Grosser of UF isolated genes from the red grape 'Ruby Seedless' and the blood orange 'Moro.'

Their purple limes, which ranged in colour from dark to fuchsia, are the first steps in developing Florida blood oranges, and a new variety of grapefruit.

And, adding the anthocyanins also prompted the leaves, stems, and flowers of the plants to change colours.

The researchers say these developments could also lead to new types of ornamental citrus plants.

'Novel fruit, lead, and flower colours could be produced by regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis,' Dutt said.

'Flower colour ranged from light pink to fuchsia.'

In Florida, purple limes aren't the only steps being taken to influence the orange industry.

Earlier research from the University of Florida isolated a gene from a plant in the mustard family to create new trees.

The experiment created GM trees that showed improved resistance to something known as 'citrus greening,' that affects orange crops.

Citrus greening is a disease spread by the Asian psyllid, which is around the size of a pin head. Most infected trees eventually die and the disease has already affected millions of citrus trees in North America.

In the experiment, several trees even remained disease-free after 36 months after being in a field with diseased trees.

Still, there are concerns about the cost of GM products, as well as public backlash against their use.
Technology aficionados flocked to the Consumer Electronics Show this week to get a peek at the latest gadgets - but the U.S. Marshal showed up to confiscate one of them.

On Thursday afternoon, Changzhou First International Trade Co.s booth was raided and all of their one-wheeled electric scooters, Trotter, were seized.

The marshals were responding to a complaint filed by Future Motion accusing Changzhou of patent infringement.

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On Thursday afternoon, Changzhou First International Trade Co.s booth was raided and all of their one-wheeled electric scooters, Trotter, were seized. The U.S. Marshal was responding to a complaint filed by Future Motion accusing Changzhou of patent infringement

The day started off fairly well for the Chinese company, as event goers were intrigued by the Trotter design, according to Bloomberg.

'One man with a microphone and a camera stopped to take some footage; another quizzed employees about how fast the thing could go.'

HOW TO RIDE A ONE-WHEEL HOVERBOARD Riders can accelerate up to 12MPH only by leaning toward their front foot. Leaning back slows down, or even reverses, and regenerative braking recharges the battery during deceleration. Light heel or toe pressure carves turns and can even turn 360 degrees within the length of the board. Advertisement

'The booths staff had trouble answering even basic questions in English, but they did their best.'

But little did Changzhou know, Future Motion had filed paperwork on Wednesday claiming they had filed a patent for the same electric seesaw scooter design, called Onewheel, in August.

And as early as this week, the company received notice that the patent was secured.

US District Judge Miranda Du listened to Future Motions argue that having the Trotter at the show could do damage to their own business and moved forward with issuing the seizure order after confirming the patents.

Changzhou's Trotter (pictured)But little did Changzhou know, Future Motion had filed paperwork on Wednesday claiming they had filed a patent for the same electric seesaw scooter design, called Onewheel , in August. And as early as this week, the company received notice that the patent was secured

The Onewheel designers caught wind of the knockoff Trotter last year and in December demanded Changzhou discontinue their version.

Changzhou first listed their product on Alibabas site for $500, whereas the Onewheel is being sold for $1,500.

According to Alibaba's website, retailers in Iceland, Germany, and the U.S. bought about $70,000 worth of products.

Future Motion first launched its hoverboard at the CES two years ago and the startup raised more than $630,000 on Kickstarter before putting it on the market in December 2014.

According to Bloomberg, Future Motion even approached Changzhous booth before CES opened, but got nowhere.

The complaint to the judge to stop Changzhou from showcasing the Trotter at the event was filed at 3:30 pm on Wednesday.

Future Motion 'Onewheel' (pictured). According to Bloomberg, Future Motion even approached Changzhous booth before CES opened, but got nowhere. The complaint to the judge to stop Changzhou from showcasing the Trotter at the event was filed at 3:30 pm on Wednesday. Following the raid, there was no sign left of the Chinese company

Following the raid, there was no sign left of the Chinese company.

Not only were six hoverboards confiscated, but ever piece of merchandise and marketing material was stripped from the booth.

Future Motions attorney Shawn Kolitch told Ars: This was unusually fastIve never heard of a situation where anybody was able to get a [temporary restraining order] and a seizure the same day.

"I think the reason that it was exceptionally fast was that we emphasized in the motion that the harm that we were most concerned about was the attention that this product would get at CES."
Message is accompanied by an image of a Liverpool-branded wheelchair

It reads: 'You'll never walk alone (or ever again if you play for Klopp)'

Controversial Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has launched two-footed into Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp with their latest electronic billboard poster.

The advert, which pokes fun at Klopp after he was blamed for causing a host of injuries among his players, reads: 'You'll Never Walk Alone (or ever again if you play for Klopp).'

The message is accompanied by a wheelchair branded with the words: 'Property of LFC'.

Paddy Power's new advert at Liverpool Lime Street station mocks Jurgen Klopp's injury crisis at Liverpool

Klopp is missing 13 players through injury after an intensive festive period that has weakened his squad

Star Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho was taken off with a hamstring problem at Stoke City on Tuesday

The advert appeared before Friday night's FA Cup 2-2 draw at Exeter City - a game in which Klopp was forced to field a severely weakened team due to the amount of injuries he has to cope with.

While the Liverpool Lime Street station billboard drew laughs from Everton supporters and some of the city's Reds, others were not impressed with the use of a wheelchair in its execution.

One Twitter user, nicolettemb, called the advert an 'absolute disgrace', adding that it was: 'Disgraceful. Completely inappropriate and disrespectful.'

Mohsin Tanveer wrote: '@paddypower I find your 'never walk again' joke inappropriate and discriminatory :(', while Manchester United fan @ftblmania said: 'Take this down man, proper out of order @paddypower'.

@gigglemeheadoff added: '@paddypower just closed my account after the advert in Liverpool you c***s'.

The Liverpool Echo drew attention to the advert on their website and described it as a 'cheeky warning' to the injury-hit side.

Paddy Power said: 'With a bone-crunching thirteen players out injured it's said only Jack Wilshere has more injuries than Liverpool and you know things are bad when Sam Allardyce is calling you out  Big Sam hasn't used his hamstrings since the 1980's.

'In all seriousness though I hope the Liverpool lads take heed of our warning before the curse of Klopp gets them too.'

The Liverpool boss named just two players with more than four first-team appearances in his starting line-up over fears of further injuries to his top stars.

Sam Allardyce led Klopp's critics over the injuries this week, saying: 'That is him (Klopp) asking his players to play a high-tempo pressing game from the top end.

'It's great that the players have been able to carry it out but I think it has kicked in now.

'I don't think Jurgen has realised just how ferocious our league is at this period of time and because he has asked for that extra high energy, that extra 10 yards, these lads are fatiguing now with so many games in such a short period of time and are picking up these muscle strains.'

The Sunderland manager later apologised for his comments.

Sam Allardyce was among those who felt Klopp's change to Liverpool's style could lead to injury issues

Liverpool's cramped dressing room at Exeter City was filled with mostly-unrecognised games on Friday

Klopp has been left frustrated with the way his squad have fallen victim to a growing injury crisis

Centre back Dejan Lovren was also forced off in the Capital One Cup tie at the Britannia Stadium on Tuesday

The bookmaker are no strangers to controversy, with their publicity promotions frequently provoking outrage and even seeing legal action being taken against them.

Republic of Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane sued over a banner last year that depicted him as the William Wallace character from Braveheart, accompanied by a message mocking Scotland.

It read: 'You may take our points but at least we have our freedom (ya wee pussies).'

Roy Keane sued over a banner last year that depicted him as the William Wallace character from Braveheart

This verified tweet referencing 'beatings' to an 'unarmed African-American male' caused outrage

Paddy Power also offered: 'money back if Pistorius walks' during Paralympian Oscar Pistorius' murder trial

Ahead of Liverpool clash with Newcastle United in April, a tweet from their verified 'PPOffers' account said: 'Newcastle have suffered more Kop beatings over the last 20 years than an unarmed African-American male.'

Paddy Power also offered: 'money back if Pistorius walks' during Paralympian Oscar Pistorius' murder trial - an advert that was the most-complained about of 2014.

In 2010, they were forced to take down a Hollywood-style sign bearing their name next to Celtic Manor during the Ryder Cup.

A Paddy Power Hollywood-style sign was clearly visable at Celtic Manor ahead of the 2010 Ryder Cup
Another admits to being caught having sex in the sea by Mexican police

Anyone who has ever backpacked through Europe or Southeast Asia undoubtedly has some pretty entertaining tales to tell.

But then there are adventure-seekers with holidays chock full of absolutely unbelievable moments - some humiliating, some hilarious and some downright dangerous.

MailOnline Travel has rounded up some of the most shocking backpacker confessions - including being caught having sex by the police and checking into a brothel - as told by the travellers themselves. How do your getaways compare?

MailOnline Travel has compiled some of the most unbelievable backpacker stories, including from some travellers who hitchhiked through Europe (pictured)

The one who was stranded in the Sinai peninsula...

'In Egypt, I took a bus to the Sinai peninsula to do some diving in the Red Sea. Two days before I was supposed to leave the country, the worst rain storm in years hit the area. All the roads were washed out, so bus services were cancelled. My college classes were starting back up in a few days so I needed to get back. Thinking quickly, I paid a bedouin with a truck to drive me to a small airport. I then spent the night on a bench outside a McDonald's before catching a flight to Cairo and back to the United States.' - Anonymous, aged 26, New York, USA

The one who inadvertently tried to check into a Thai brothel...

'I was backpacking in Thailand with two female friends and we were told that the hostel at the end of the road would have space for us to spend the night. When we arrived, the place had a dodgy feel and the man in reception gave us a confused look when we asked for a room for three girls. Eventually, we got weirded out and left, instead finding a nice room down the road. Later that night, we walked past the dodgy place again to get to the bars - and discovered, to our horror, that the "hostel" we had tried to check into was actually a brothel. They must've been confused when we requested Wi-Fi and aircon.' - Becky, aged 24, Cheshire, UK

One traveller attempted to check into what she thought was a hostel in Thailand - only to find out it was a brothel (Stock photo)

The one who found a small child in his hostel...

'We were returning to our rooms at our German hostel to freshen up before heading out to dinner. We had opted for a private room for six of us, and once inside we were delighted to see fresh towels on the bed. However, as soon as I opened the door, I heard a scratching, kind of rustling sound, and being in a hostel thoughts of rats crossed my mind. None of the other lads could hear something, but I was certain. I wandered to where the sounds were coming from, near to the side of my bed. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a small child crouched in the corner. As soon as he was spotted, he stood up, took one look at the group, and bolted out the door. I would have preferred to find a rat to be honest.' - John, aged 30, Bradford, UK

One reader, while travelling to La Paz, Bolivia (pictured), took a barge across a river in Peru that nearly capsized

The one who nearly capsized...

'While backpacking through South America, I took a five-hour bus ride from Peru to Bolivia. After two hours, the bus stopped and everyone except for two old Peruvian ladies - and myself - got off. That was when the bus unexpectedly backed onto a rickety wooden barge made of 2x4s with about a foot of clearance on all sides. We drove along the makeshift bridge and over a lake, rocking significantly. On the far side, the other passengers got back on after taking the "people ferry" across. Apparently, the little bus barge is known for capsizing.' - Anonymous, aged 26, Hawaii, USA

The one who narrowly escaped a hijacking hotspot...

'The first time I ever drove a manual car was in a ten-passenger van while backpacking with some classmates in South Africa. It took me a while to get used to driving stick, so I was stalling regularly at stop signs and toll booths on our way to Kruger National Park. As we continued, ominous storm clouds rolled in and a thunderstorm broke out. As the front passenger peered through the rain, he saw a street sign that said, 'Caution. No stopping. Hijacking hotspot.' Needless to say, I learned quickly and didn't stall again after that.' - Anonymous, aged 26, New York, USA

Everyone likes Canadians: Two American travellers lied about their origins to ensure a smoother hitchhiking experience

The one who claimed to be Canadian...

'While hitchhiking through central and southern Europe with a friend, we opted to use cardboard signs with "Canada to Athens" written on them - because everyone likes Canadians. For the record, we're American.' - Anonymous, aged 26, Washington, DC, USA

The one who slept in a garbage dump...

'I was backpacking through Greece with a friend, travelling by bus up the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula. We got to a bus station in the evening, but our connection didn't leave until the following morning. The station had closed so we decided to sleep on a bench outside. A security guard said that wasn't allowed, so instead, we went to the far side of a field and crawled into our sleeping bags. Around midnight, the sprinkler system came on and we got soaked as we pulled our gear to the edge of a nearby woodline. In the morning, we woke up to find ourselves in a makeshift garbage dump.' - Anonymous, aged 26, Georgia, USA

Intrepid travellers know to sleep wherever they can - even if that's on the floor of a bus station in Greece

The one who had an encounter with the Mafia...

'In a bus station in Greece, a drunk man in his late twenties approached me and my friend. After talking to us - in limited English - for several minutes, he offered to get us breakfast. Since we were travelling on a dollar per day budget, we cautiously accepted. He went to the station's food stand, grabbed two sandwiches and gave them to us. We noticed that he didn't pay. He then asked if he wanted ice cream and got up to get us three ice cream bars, again not paying. This time, I went to explain to the cashier that it was he who was not paying for these items and not us. The cashier told us that the man was in the Mafia and didn't have to pay for anything. We quickly excused ourselves.' - Anonymous, aged 26, Hawaii, USA

Katie, aged 24, was accidentally stabbed with a broken beer bottle by her friend while holidaying in Thailand

The one who got stabbed...

'I was walking down the beach in Thailand, where I was backpacking with friends, when one friend came running towards me, holding a smashed beer bottle. She had been drinking and I don't think she realised at first but when she went to hug me, she stabbed me in the arm with the bottle. The bone was showing and my skin was hanging off, some of my friends were crying in shock and one of them, Jade, was so scared of the blood that she had to walk away to ensure she wasn't sick. (Dodging the stray dogs on her way.) I ended up being rushed to A&E and we all had to put our money together to pay for the stitches. My friend felt really bad though - and bought me a plaster and a ham and cheese toastie - so we're okay now.' - Katie, aged 24, London, UK

One traveller was caught having sex in the sea in Mexico by police officers who then tried to arrest him (stock photo)

The one who was caught having sex in the sea...

'I once had sex with someone in the sea during a backpacking trip to Mexico. We ended up climbing out into a little wooden boat about 10 metres from the beach. That's when the police came - with spotlights. The officers had taken all our clothes, so we had to beg them not to send us to prison. Completely naked.' - Anonymous, aged 26, Essex, UK

The one who stumbled across an orgy in his dorm room...

'I had arrived at a hostel in Auckland at 3am after taking a flight in from Fiji. I walked into my room only to find eight people having sex on the floor in the middle of the dorm. One of them said 'hi there, welcome to Auckland. Would you like to join?' I promptly dumped my bags and went and got a beer. When I came back 30 minutes later, they were gone. I had the entire dorm to myself. Bizarre.' - Anonymous, aged 26, London, UK

Keep the rowdiness on land: As one backpacker found out, drunkenly hitting on a flight attendant mid-air is not always the best idea... (Stock photo)

The one who was nearly apprehended by airport security...

'When flying from Helsinki to Paris with the boys, we got stupidly drunk on the plane. We kept pushing the "call attendant" button and when the beautiful Finnish lady would come over, we'd press the button again and ask if it turned her on. The police were promptly waiting to question us upon landing.' - Anonymous, aged 26, Winnipeg, Canada

The one who wore the same clothes for 48 hours...
Jefferson Hack shows there really is a silver lining to going grey - as he proudly showed off his grey speckled barnet during one of the biggest week's in the fashion calendar.

The ex boyfriend of supermodel Kate Moss certainly embraced the grey with a magnificent quiff to crown his new head of silver hair at the star-studded bash.

Magazine chief Jefferson, 44, is the latest to join a distinguished crop of stars who have proudly gone grey including George Clooney and Gary Lineker.

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New look: Jefferson Hack debuted his slicked back grey quiff at the London Men's Collection Opening Reception on Thursday evening

Jefferson, the editorial director and publisher of Dazed Group, looked distinguished as he rocked his new crop on Thursday night.

Pushing his full head of hair back, the star who has daughter Lila Grace, 13, with supermodel Kate , looked fresh-faced and trendy as he debuted his grey speckled mane.

It's a far cry from his look in 2001, where he rocked a deep brown hair do in a mod style.

In 2003 he showcased honey-blonde locks as he jetted out to Stella McCartney's wedding with his then girlfriend Kate.

Distinguished: He was in good company as he cosied up to iconic girl about town, Pam Hogg

Lively: The Yellow-haired fashion designer looked retro in a long grey suit jacket with brown detailing, and matching beige and brown boots

Crop stars: Kate showed off a pixie crop in this 2001 shot alongside Jefferson, who went for a mod look with his deep brown hair cut and colour

Meanwhile, actor Luke Evans also pulled out all the stops to look his best in a three-piece tailored suit at London's Spencer House.

The Fast and Furious 6 star looked dapper in his custom-made Turnbull and Asser suit which showed off his super-toned physique to the max as he partied alongside model Robert Konjic.

The handsome chap, 36, looked sharp as he arrived at the London Collections Men London Fashion Week reception on Thursday where he joined model David Gandy, Henry Conway and Tracey Emin.

Luke got suited and booted for the plush event to kick of the fashion calendar for 2016 on Thursday evening.

Too cool for school: Actor Luke Evans pulled out all the stops to look his best in a three-piece tailored suit at the London Mens Collection fashion party held at Spencer House on Thursday evening

Suave: The handsome actor, 36, looked sharp in his cool blue suit as he arrived at the Men's Collection London on Thursday where he partied alongside model Robert Konjic (right)

Top man: The Fast and Furious 6 actor looked dapper in his custom made ensemble which showed off his super-toned physique to the max

He looked suave in his classy attire and which he wore with a crisp white shirt, navy tie and pocket handkerchief.

His brunette hair was neatly cropped for the big event where he was joined by fashion elite model David Gandy.

Luke put his best foot forward in a pair of polished black shoes as he posed beside a companion who was dressed in black.

His male companion draped a black and white printed scarf around his neck to add a splash of colour to his fashion forward outfit.

He was joined at the event by model David Gandy, 35, who looked on-trend in a grey tailored suit.

He teamed it with a black polo neck jumper to keep the winter chill at bay as he beamed on the day.

Model behaviour: David Gandy, 35,looked on-trend in a grey tailored suit. He teamed it with a black polo neck jumper to keep the winter chill at bay as he beamed on the day

Charming: The handsome star wrapped up against the winter chill in his grey ensemble at the central London do

Friends in high places: The model caught up with GQ Editor Dylan Jones at the fancy bash

Original: Black Eyed Peas star rapper Will.i.am rocked a thick woolen winter coat with bold black furry trimming

It was also a grey day for rapper Will.i.am - who rocked a thick woolen winter coat with bold black furry trimming.

The Voice coach topped off his look with a furry hat to fend the cold off as he arrived at the London Collections Men London Fashion Week do.

The party was wall to wall with fashion's biggest names.

Arty: Tracey Emin pulled her hair up into a smart up-do as she arrived at the event in head to toe black

Lads: David Furnish (L) and shoe designer Patrick Cox also attended the bash held at London's Spencer House

Something to talk about: (L to R) Will.i.am, Patrick Cox and David Furnish were all pictured talking to one another

Artist Tracey Emin also looked glam as she pulled her hair up into a smart up-do as she arrived at the event in head to toe black.

Her elegant dress had a bow around the waist to show off her slim figure.

Pam Hogg and Jefferson Hack were also in attendance at the glitzy event.Kate Moss' ex Jefferson rocked a speckled grey and white jumper, and wore his hair in a quiff.

Meanwhile yellow-haired Pam looked retro in a long grey suit jacket with brown detailing, and matching beige and brown boots.
Thor star Idris Elba, who finds himself unexpectedly hurled into the awards season race, told me how he bonded with the young star of a film about child soldiers  thanks to his role as a Norse god.

The London-based actor, who also had success late last year with the Luther two-parter on BBC TV, plays the ruthless but charismatic leader of an African rebel unit in the Netflix movie Beasts Of No Nation.

It features first-time actor Abraham Attaah as Agu, a schoolboy who sees his family killed, and later comes to look upon Elbas Commandant as a father figure.

Rebel: London-based actor Idris Elba plays Commandant, the ruthless but charismatic leader of an African rebel unit in the Netflix movie

So it was also important that Abraham, who was discovered by director Cary Joji Fukunaga playing football in Ghana, love, respect and admire Idris, Elba told me.

Not for vanitys sake, but because Abraham had to understand that the boy he was playing had to love, admire and respect Commandant. Elba laughed, and then recalled their discussion.

There we were all being serious about the film, then Abraham looks me over and said: Oh, you are the one from Thor. I know you!

So, he idolised me as a Hollywood actor, and we had to utilise that so that hed idolise me as an army leader. In the Thor and Avengers: Age Of Ultron films, Elba plays the all-seeing guardian Heimdall.

Beasts Of No Nation went on limited release in cinemas in the U.S., and opened on one screen in London.

Yet in its first week of being streamed on Netflix, it was seen by more than three million people.

The central performances by Elba and Abraham have attracted high praise  and awards heat.

Elba is up for a Golden Globe award at Sundays ceremony, and hes sure to get a lot of attention at the Bafta-LA tea party at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills tomorrow.

Both he and Abraham are also in the running at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards.

Fukunagas film is harrowing, but also gripping as it explores how the young Agu tries to survive, both physically and morally, as hes exposed to all the degradation and hell that war brings.

Its certainly not a comic-book story like Thor.

You can bank on this being a hit - it makes fun of Wall Street

One of the members of the great ensemble cast in movie The Big Short likened his fellow thespians to musicians, performing together as part of an amazing orchestra.

It was an apt description because watching the movie  about the roots of the 2008 financial collapse in the U.S.  is like seeing a virtuoso composition played in front of you, with the instruments conducted by director Adam McKay.

The film, which opens in the UK on January 22, stars Steve Carell, Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling; and features Rafe Spall, Brad Pitt (whose company, Plan B, produced it) and Jeremy Strong, a fast-rising American actor who came up with the orchestra analogy.

Dashing: Stars of new film The Big Short, Ryan Gosling (right) and Steve Carell (centre), pose with director Adam McKay. The film - about the roots of the 2008 financial collapse in the U.S. - opens in the UK in January

Its the smartest, funniest movie around, and the reason I love it is that despite reading acres of print about the financial crash, The Big Short marked the first time I actually understood what the heck had happened. McKay told me that humour was his secret weapon to help make the subject accessible. At one point, he has Margot Robbie, in a bikini in a pool, explain in simple terms about big banks, bad loans and bonds. Selena Gomez does another cameo where she deconstructs financial jargon.

Growing up in Philadelphia, McKay did a lot of stand-up work, which gave him the ability to locate the killer line that would make a joke soar. He expanded on that in a string of films with Will Ferrell, including the Anchorman pictures. Comedy helped me sharpen the way I tell a story, visually, he said.

And The Big Short, which is garnering a lot of award-season attention, is the sharpest big-screen analysis of why were still paying the price of the big banks greed.

McKay is angry that none of the money merchants who ripped off the markets went to jail. Theyre still walking the streets, while the publics still paying for the bank bailout.

Well, if any movies going to create an upset at the Academy Awards and take gold away from the likes of Spotlight, The Martian, The Revenant, Mad Max, Carol, Brooklyn and The Danish Girl, itll be The Big Short.

The new team putting Roald Dahls Charlie And The Chocolate Factory together for Broadway in the spring of 2017 have met in New York, following the decision of Sam Mendes (who directed the London production) not to repeat the experience in Manhattan.

Jack OBrien will direct the new version of Charlie, with Josh Bergasse taking over from Peter Darling as choreographer, because Darling is too busy working on another musical  Tim Minchins Groundhog Day, which is due to have its world premiere at the Old Vic later this year.

Set and costume designer Mark Thompson and writer David Greig travelled from London to New York and joined OBrien and writers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman to discuss which of five new songs will go into the Broadway version.

The musical has changed in London since it opened, and will certainly evolve, wholesale, in the U.S.; in part because the New York venue wont be as large as the Drury Lane theatre. Also, the producers want a more manageable production to tour the UK and North America in the next two or three years.
A War (15)

Rating:

Verdict: Absorbing morality tale

Danish writer-director Tobias Lindholm is a fast-rising star, whose 2012 film A Hijacking was rather overshadowed by the following years similar-themed Captain Phillips, but was every bit as good.

A War, a Danish-language film, is also terrific, a thought-provoking morality tale constructed out of a very modern occupational hazard for soldiers; the danger of being court-martialled for accidentally killing civilians in the heat of battle, or inflicting what has become glibly known as collateral damage.

Lindholm was inspired to make it after reading an interview with a soldier who said, before his third tour of Afghanistan, that his greatest fear was not being killed, but being prosecuted.

The leading man, as in A Hijacking, is Pilou Asbaek, who is best known to British audiences from his TV roles as the spin doctor in the political drama Borgen (many episodes of which were written by Lindholm), and will appear as Euron Greyjoy in Season Six of Game of Thrones.

The Danish-language film is constructed out of a very modern occupational hazard for soldiers; the danger of being court-martialled for accidentally killing civilians in the heat of battle. The leading man is Pilou Asbaek (left), best known to British audiences from his TV roles as the spin doctor in the political drama Borgen

Here he plays Claus Pedersen, the decent, accomplished and respected commander of a unit based in Helmand province, who through no fault of his own leads his men into a Taliban ambush and in trying to save them, orders them to target a building that turns out to contain women and children.

His tribulations as a soldier are woven repeatedly with the domestic hassles of his lovely wife Maria (Tuva Novotny) back home in Denmark, as she tries to raise their three children alone, and to deal with their older son, who has (another very modern euphemism) behavioural issues.

But soon Claus is reunited with his family, having been brought home to face an investigation, and in due course a trial, to determine whether he acted irresponsibly in the field.

Its an intense and at times harrowing drama, tautly written and directed, and brilliantly acted.

It is deservedly Denmarks entry as Best Foreign Language Film at next months Academy Awards, and it would be a worthy winner.

But whether or not it triumphs, I wouldnt be at all surprised to see Hollywood pounce, and make a starrier, English-language version of a story that has a powerful resonance in our troubled world  and reminded me of the plight of Sgt Alex Blackman, whose cause the Mail continues to champion.
Bolshoi Babylon

Rating:

Verdict: Revealing documentary

A horrifying 2013 acid attack on the artistic director of Moscows celebrated Bolshoi Ballet, Sergei Yurevich Filin, provides the springboard for this insightful film by British documentary-maker Nick Read, which is worth watching even by those of us whose interest in ballet barely extends beyond Billy Elliot.

Besides, Read delves much deeper, into the extraordinary cultural significance in Russia of the Bolshoi itself.

It is a cherished institution broadly comparable with the BBC here, not least in the sense that even those who love what it represents are often maddened by the way it is run.

A horrifying 2013 acid attack on the artistic director of Moscows celebrated Bolshoi Ballet, Sergei Yurevich Filin, provides the springboard for this insightful film by British documentary-maker Nick Read, which is worth watching even by those of us whose interest in ballet barely extends beyond Billy Elliot

Located just 500 metres from the Kremlin, the Bolshoi occupies a similarly central role in Russian hearts and minds. It is considered so important that those who work there are exempt from military service even in times of war. And top brass all the way up to Vladimir Putin take a direct interest in what happens there.

The attack, by a masked man, was effectively a hit, ordered by a disaffected dancer in the Bolshois own company. He was subsequently jailed for six years, while Filin was left with severe burns and blinded in one eye.

But the whole ghastly episode was also a manifestation of the dysfunctional goings-on that by all accounts have always blighted the Bolshoi.

For every dying swan on stage, it seems there are numerous vicious backstabbings behind the scenes.

Here, Read interviews most of the major players, including the chairman of trustees, Alexander Budberg, who offers the memorable assertion that: There arent many brands that represent Russia. One is the Bolshoi. Another is the Kalashnikov.

Its a toss-up as to which has stirred up nastier behaviour.

And as Budberg also says, with perhaps only slight hyperbole, turmoil at the Bolshoi is generally symbolic of what is happening in Russia at large.

It means the country is sick, not just the theatre.

Located just 500 metres from the Kremlin, the Bolshoi is considered so important that those who work there are exempt from military service even in times of war. And top brass all the way up to Vladimir Putin take a direct interest in what happens there
Despite a long-running career in Australia in a variety of roles, international audiences will know Ben Mendelsohn almost exclusively as a villain.

And it looks like the 46-year-old Bloodline star is set to return to the screen in another menacing role with three-time Oscar winning director Steven Spielberg in the upcoming sci-fi film Ready Player One.

The Hollywood Reporter has said the actor is in early negotiations with the Warner Bros., having been offered the role that would see him act opposite Olivia Cooke who is already confirmed.

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He's certainly got a type! Ben Mendelsohn is in early negotiations with Warner Bros. for the villain role in Steven Spielberg's sci-fi film Ready Player One

The Dark Knight Rises actor may also be joined by Michael Keaton, who according to the International Movie Database is rumoured to play the role of J.D Halliday.

Ready Player One is an adaptation of the 2011 best-selling sci-fi and dystopian novel by Ernest Cline, set in the year 2044.

The story follows the lead protagonist and poor orphan Wade Watts from the slums surrounding Oklahoma City and his escapes into the virtual Utopian universe known as OASIS.

Living legend: The film is to be directed by three time-Oscar winning director Steven Spielberg

It's understood that Ben would play the role of Nolan Sorrento, a high-ranking official and the story's lead antagonist.

The screen veteran found his feet as the highschool student Warren Murphy in 19 episodes in the hit Australian soap Neighbours from 1986 to 1987.

It was however in 2010 with the low budget crime/gangland drama Animal Kingdom that attracted the attention of the international film market and won him critical acclaim.

Menacing: The actor drew the attention of Hollywood in his role of the unspeakably evil Andrew 'Pope' Cody in the low-budget crime film Animal Kingdom

Resistant: However he has said that he won't accept the idea that the role typecast him as a villain

However, as he explained to The Telegraph in March last year, the Melbourne-born actor refuses to accept the idea that his unspeakable evil in the role of Andrew 'Pope' Cody didn't typecast him.

'Go home, watch The Dark Knight and then Starred Up and tell me if they feel the same. Its sort of like saying to the Rolling Stones, "Hey, you guys never really do any jazz numbers".'

He is currently starring in the black sheep role of Danny Rayburn in the acclaimed Netflix original drama series Bloodline alongside Sissy Spacek for which he is nominated for his first Emmy.

Ben, who is up for the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series award, will go up against Jonathan Banks (Better Call Saul), Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Jim Carter (Downton Abbey), Alan Cumming (The Good Wife) and Michael Kelly (House of Cards).
He wasn't going to let the rain get him down.

And on Thursday, Robert Downey Jr. 50, was prepared to battle any potential showers as he strolled along Venice's trendy Abbot Kinney Boulevard.

The handsome Avengers star was joined by a male pal who was dressed in similar attire.

Come rain or shine: On Thursday, Robert Downey Jr. 50, was prepared to battle any potential showers as he strolled through the LA neighbourhood of Venice

Robert paired a black layered jacket with a grey T-shirt, jeans and comfortable white trainers, with a beanie hat to keep him warm.

And although the weather had cleared up a bit by the time the actor left one of the boutiques in the neighbourhood, he was armed with an umbrella just in case it started raining again.

Iron Man himself had a rather merry Christmas, as he received a pardon for a 1996 narcotics conviction.

Coordinating duo: The handsome Avengers star was joined by a male pal who was dressed in similar attire

Throughout the 1990s, the actor was arrested multiple times on drug-related charges.

His December 24 pardon came from California Governor Jerry Brown. The Christmas Eve tradition pardons persons who are no longer felons and have paid their dues for crimes that were mainly non-violent. .

'By completion of his sentence and good conduct in the community of his residence since his release, Robert John Downey, Jr. has paid his debt to society and earned a full and unconditional pardon,' read the official pardon.

Casual look: Robert paired a black layered jacket with a grey T-shirt and simple jeans

The comedic actor is set to return to two of his most beloved roles in the coming months, that of Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes.

In May, he'll return as sarcastic superhero Tony Stark in the Marvel third film of the Captain America series, Captain America: Civil War.

He is also set to return to his role as iconic British detective Sherlock Holmes in the third flick of the same name.
They marked the New Year by escaping to the balmy climes of St Barts.

But it looks like it's back to reality for Pippa and James Middleton as the two were seen hopping on a private jet out of the island on Thursday.

The siblings of the Duchess of Cambridge each cut a typically stylish figure as they sauntered through the airport and toward their plane after enjoying the holiday of a lifetime.

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Homeward bound: It looks like it's back to reality for Pippa and James Middleton as the two were seen hopping on a private jet out of St Barts on Thursday

Pippa, 32, sported a chic sleeveless blouse for her return home, which featured a pussybow collar and was emblazoned with a brocade style motif.

She highlighted her svelte legs in a pair of skintight jeans, while her feet sat in a pair of crochet espadrilles, a no doubt comfortable option for the long flight.

Her brunette locks were worn in a sleek style around her pretty face that looked to have garnered quite the tan beneath her tortoiseshell shades.

Fashionable flyers: The siblings of the Duchess of Cambridge each cut a typically stylish figure as they sauntered through the airport and toward their plane after enjoying the holiday of a lifetime

Elegant as always: Pippa, 32, sported a chic sleeveless blouse for her return home, which featured a pussybow collar and was emblazoned with a brocade style motif

The English socialite carried her essentials in a personalised tote bag from Melbourne-based designer Little Makes Big.

But her brother James arguably showed his sister up in the style stakes as he demonstrated his fashion prowess in a cool linen shirt and tailored denim trousers which were adorned in white specks.

Not afraid to clash prints and fabrics, the 28-year-old, who is in a relationship with British model Donna Air, 36, completed the look with orange and black loafers.

Trim: Pippa highlighted her svelte legs in a pair of skintight jeans, while her feet sat in a pair of crochet espadrilles, a no doubt comfortable option for the long flight

Short but sweet: The siblings have been holidaying in the sun-soaked destination for one week

Bronzed: Pippa's brunette locks were worn in a sleek style around her pretty face that looked to have garnered quite the tan beneath her tortoiseshell shades

Finishing touches: The English socialite carried her essentials in a personalised tote bag from Melbourne-based designer Little Makes Big

Their return home came exactly a week after the two were seen shunning a night of New Year's Eve partying in favour of boarding a flight out of London's Gatwick airport to Antigua.

The duo - who are regular visitors to St Barts - were last seen enjoying a break on the island in August, where they stayed at the Eden Rock resort owned by the family of Made in Chelsea star Spencer Matthews and his brother James, an investment banker and one-time flame of Pippa.

Long a favourite of the wealthy and royal, previous guests have included Princess Beatrice who spent two of her 16 holidays in 2015 on the island.

St. Barts has an impressively large army of A-list fans including Beyonce, Naomi Watts and Jon Bon Jovi.

Dressed the part: James arguably showed his sister up in the style stakes as he demonstrated his fashion prowess in a cool linen shirt and tailored denim trousers which were adorned in white specks
He's known for having a Sixth Sense when it comes to horror.

And now, according to Variety, American television network TNT has tapped veteran M. Night Shyamalan, 45, to reboot beloved horror franchise Tales from the Crypt.

The original show, which played on premium cabler HBO for seven seasons in the early nineties, was originally a half-hour of gruesome and mysterious stories introduced by a ghoulish puppet known as the Crypt Keeper.

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A new lease on life: American television network TNT has tapped veteran M. Night Shyamalan, 45, to reboot beloved horror franchise Tales from the Crypt

TNT executive Kevin Reilly voiced his support for the reboot at the Television Critics Association on Thursday in Pasadena, California.

'Were going to put a variety of different genre shows, some of which may have a weird sense of humor, some of which may be actually downright frightening, some of which may be a unique blend of genres, but all united under the Tales From the Crypt brand.'

He went on to clarify that 'Night is definitely going to direct, most likely the first one, and well see how that evolves.'

Hands on: A TNT executive went on to clarify that 'Night is definitely going to direct, most likely the first one, and well see how that evolves'

The move is probably in response to the massive success of shows like American Horror Story, which runs on cable competitor FX, which is owned by competitor Fox (TNT is owned by conglomerate TimeWarner).

The Crypt Keeper is set to have a busy schedule, as the new series will be an hour long and apparently act as a lead in for other horror-related content.

Shyamalan, who recently directed The Visit, is also extremely excited to be a part of such a storied franchise.

A makeover perhaps? The Happening director says he already has plans for a new crypt keeper, but he's not ready to reveal them yet

In a statement, he said to be part of such a beloved brand like Tales from the Crypt, something I grew up watching, and to also have the chance to push the boundaries of genre television as a whole, is an inspiring opportunity that I cant wait to dive into.'

The Happening director says he already has plans for a new crypt keeper, but he's not ready to reveal them yet.

Besides the new series, Shyamalan is already acting as executive producer for the Fox show Wayward Pines, which unexpectedly received an order for a second season in early December, as reported by Variety.

Lots going on: Besides the new series, Shyamalan is already acting as executive producer for the Fox show Wayward Pines, which unexpectedly received an order for a second season in early December
He may be single for now, but it looks like Michael B. Jordan is going to be a great father some day.

The 28-year-old Creed star visited a friend in Los Angeles on Thursday, and was seen sweetly carrying her baby son.

The charming duo even managed to coordinate each other's ensembles with their navy blue attire.

Sign of what could come? Michael B. Jordan, 28, sweetly carried a pal's little one in Los Angeles on Thursday

Michael paid homage to the United States Navy in his classic look, wearing a striped top under a gold-buttoned pea coat, along with tapered trousers.

The Fantastic Four star accessorized with a pair of rounded shades and a leather watch, while maintaining comfort with a pair of dark trainers.

Michael was spotted warmly greeting his pal with a hug and a kiss, before cradling her little boy, who looked adorable in a pair of tiger-print trousers and a matching hoodie.

After the visit, the handsome actor tweeted: 'Finally had a sec to catch up with @jennidawnsays and her munchkin Raven! Its been 2yrs!! miss you guys! Move back soon!'

Warm greeting: The Creed star gave a friendly hello to a female pal

Charming duo: The handsome actor layered a striped top under a gold-buttoned pea coat as his tiny companion peered out behind a navy blue hoodie

Michael told Wonderwall in 2014 that while he has no plans to settle down just yet, he hopes to have several children in the future.

'Marriage is pretty far out there,' he shared. 'But both of my parents are still together. They've been together for 30 years, so family is really important to me. I always dreamed of having a big family.

'So that's definitely something to look forward to in the future. But I told myself I would focus on my craft right now. You only have your 20s once. Sacrifice now and put the hard work and the time in and then things will be a little bit easier in the next phase.'

Michael reiterated that he is still single and focusing on his career during an interview with GQ in September, saying: 'Im emotionally unavailable. Until I find something thats so undeniable that I cant help myself.'

Keeping him close: The single star then took hold of the child as he appeared to make an exit

This past November, Michael made waves when he co-starred alongside Sylvester Stallone, 69, in the both sequel and spin-off of the Rocky series, Creed.

The Santa Ana, California native played the son of Apollo Creed, boxer Rocky Balboa's rival in the first two installments of the film franchise.

In an interview with Deadline, Michael revealed what it was like to have his very own training montage like Sylvester Stallone (as Rocky), which was previously made popular with the hit song, Eye of the Tiger.

'Youre shooting training, jump roping, hitting on a speed bagthe heavy bag. Theres a whole bunch of moments that were shot throughout the entire film, so to see it all crammed together and put to a score, that really makes you feel something...' he cited, noting that it gave him 'goosebumps.'
Peaches Geldof's widower Thomas Cohen was pictured enjoying a fun night out in Miami with good friend Rita Ora.

New pictures have emerged of the pair sharing a drink at the fun hotel as they saw in the New Year.

No doubt the X Factor judge has been a good support to Thomas who was on holiday with Rita and a host of other pals including model Daisy Lowe.

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Give us a sip: Peaches Geldof's widower Thomas Cohen shares a drink with good friend Rita Ora in a Miami hotel in newly released New Year's pictures

Rita looked sensational in a white silk prom-style dress which was covered in writing, wearing her platinum locks down and in loose natural style curls.

Thomas was sporting his own unique style on the night out, looking super trendy in a straw cowboy hat and an open white shirt.

He also had a rather fetching pair of blue trousers on and an embellished leather belt, as well as brown leather sandals.

Just what he needs: No doubt the X Factor judge has been a good support to Thomas who was on holiday with Rita and a host of other pals including model Daisy Lowe

Super style: Thomas was sporting his own unique style on the night out, looking super trendy in a straw cowboy hat and an open white shirt

The lovely chap was later seen chatting to a host of their other friends as they enjoyed their night.

The pictures come after Thomas raised eyebrows on social media after posting somewhat suggestive snaps as he partied with his late wife Peaches' sister Pixie in Miami.

A source told MailOnline that model Daisy Lowe - daughter of rockers Pearl Lowe and Gavin Rossdale - was the girl who flashed her shapely behind in snaps on her and Tom's mutual pal Jack Guinness' Instagram account.

Who's that girl? Tom Cohen caused a stir after posing for this suggestive snap alongside a cheeky mystery woman while holiday with late wife Peaches' sister Pixie and their showbiz pals

Lowe and beyold: A source tells MailOnline that the model - daughter of rockers Pearl Lowe and Gavin Rossdale - is in fact the girl flashing her shapely behind in snaps on her and Tom's mutual pal Jack Guinness' Instagram account

The trio are obviously very comfortable in each other's company as it was taken in Toms room at the exclusive celebrity haunt Soho Beach House in Miami as he joined his sister-in-law Pixie for a New Years Eve party.

The mystery was heightened as in another shot, Tom is photographed having a New Years kiss, but the other persons face is cropped out.

Meanwhile Daisy is forgetting her troubled personal life back in London on the vacation following her recent split from boyfriend Tyrone Wood.

The beauty reportedly split with Ronnie Wood's art curator son in November.

Tom's trip with his late wife's sister and her showbiz pals comes just months after he caused a stir by embracing Peaches and Pixie's younger half-sibling Tiger Lily in the surf on holiday in the South of France.

Any suggestion of anything more platonic occurring between the pair was shrugged by a close pal of the Geldofs, who insisted they were like brother and sister and had found comfort in their friendship.

Kiss me quick: Tom continued to cause confusion after he posed for a New Year's kiss - and cut out the recipient of his smooch

Welcome break: Tom was seen out for a walk on the beach in Miami earlier today while Pixie was spotted in a tiny bikini top and high-waisted bottoms on the beach on Friday

Showbiz circle: Tom has been on holiday with his late wife's pals including Alexa Chung and Nick Grimshaw (above)

Close knit: Tom's trip with his late wife's sister and her showbiz pals comes just months after he caused a stir by embracing Peaches and Pixie's younger half-sibling Tiger Lily in the surf on holiday in the South of France

Tiger Lily had also taken her boyfriend, British student Charlie Creseatian, on the trip.

A source told the Daily Mirror: 'Tiger Lily and Tom have become great mates and both keep an eye out for each other, as do the rest of Peaches' family.

'They're a very tactile family and emotions have been running high as Bob has got remarried, which has been such a wonderful and poignant occasion.'

Peaches  daughter of Miss Yates and Sir Bob  died of heroin overdose at her home in Wrotham, Kent, in April last year. Her young son Phaedra was with her.

Tragic: Peaches, picture above with Tom in 2012, died of heroin overdose at her home in Wrotham, Kent, in April 2014

Welcomed: Tom is said to have grown much closer to Sir Bob and his immediate family following the death of his wife in 2014

The TV presenter had struggled with drug abuse earlier in her life but had been clean for some years before relapsing in February 2013.

Thomas and his sons moved in with his parents, who live in east London, and is understood to be very close to the Geldofs.

Cohen has been welcomed into the family as they have grown closer amid ongoing tragedy.

Sir Bobs former wife  and Peaches and Tiger Lilys mother  Paula Yates died of a heroin overdose in 2000.
She's been exploring Australia with her fiance and slowly wrapping up her holiday before they jet back to the US.

And Bridget Malcolm certainly seemed to be making the most of the trip as she posed in a barely-there bikini on Friday.

The 23-year-old posed in the two-piece for an Instagram image, proudly flaunting her gym-honed physique as she stood in front of a brightly painted wall in Perth.

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White hot: Bridget Malcolm showed off her trim figure in a barely-there bikini as she enjoyed the last of her Australian holiday on Friday

Standing with her legs astride, the results of Bridget's strict diet and exercise regime were clear to see.

Her wet blonde tresses were swept up into a messy bun on top of her head and she opted to showcase her natural beauty by shunning make-up.

Captioning the photograph she wrote: 'This holiday be nearly over.'

Beach days: Bridget snapped a selfie with fiance Nathaniel Hoho as they pouted for the camera

'My happy place': Delighted to be home Bridget has been sharing pictures of her trip around Australia with her fans

Earlier this week Bridget shared another snap in which she was seen wearing the same two-piece.

The petite model looked relaxed and captioned the picture with 'my happy place', clearly delighted to be in her hometown of Freemantle.

Bridget and her fiance Nathaniel Hoho jetted into the country in early December to spend time in her native Western Australia.

Exploring: Bridget and Nathaniel embarked on a road trip around the northern area of Western Australia during their holiday

Bombshell: In 2015 Bridget walked in her first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, a milestone in her modelling career

The pair explored Rottenest Island where Bridget grew up before embarking on a road-trip around the northern areas of the state.

Last year saw Bridget make her debut on the Victoria's Secret catwalk, joining the likes of Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner in the iconic underwear show.

She also celebrated becoming engaged to Nathaniel and revealed plans for two weddings in 2016.

'Hes a Pennsylvania boy so we are going to have one July 23rd next year, and one December 28th in Perth so two summer weddings,' Bridget told Daily Mail Australia.
Funny woman Julia Morris never misses an opportunity to poke fun at herself, even in the worst of situations.

The host of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! Australia took to Instagram on Friday to share a snap of herself after a nasal cauterisation procedure at a hospital, in Melbourne.

The minor operation includes applying heat to a bleeding point to seal a blood vessel.

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'Am so @ddlovato right now': Funny woman Julia Morris never misses an opportunity to poke fun at herself, even in the worst of situations

And in Julia's case, it was to stop the constant nose bleeds she was experiencing.

In the picture, the starlet points two fingers towards her nose to emphasise the tissue pushed up inside each of her nostrils.

'Am so @ddlovato right now, having my spontaneous air pressure change nose bleed cauterised, by ENTHospital Melb. What a top team. Thank you. #nostrilcam Jx,' the brunette beauty captioned the light-hearted hospital room snap.

The 47-year-old took to the photo sharing app for a second time that day to upload a 'who wore it better' photo.

'Who wore it best:' This time the brunette beauty compared her nasal procedure picture to a photo of Demi Lovato with tissue stuffed into nose

Almost jungle time: In less than nine days, Julia will head back to the South African jungle to film the second season of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! Australia

This time the brunette beauty compared her nasal procedure picture to a photo of Demi Lovato with tissue also pushed up inside her nose.

The 23-year-old pop star shared her tissue in nose picture onto Instagram for her more than 31 million followers to see.

She captioned the shot in which features in the back seat of a car: 'When you snow mobile with a cold..... Nose tampons from @DevonneByDemi coming soon.'

So far, Julia's fans are voting for her to take out the top spot in the 'tissue in nose' contest.

One Instagram follower said: 'Totes you', while another added: 'You did j missy you did [sic].'

Getting ready: The TV personality said she was excited to rejoin the show and reunite with her fellow co-host, Dr Chris Brown

Heading back to the jungle! Dr Brown with his co-host Julia Morris will soon board a plane bound for South Africa in their best jungle gear

In less than nine days, Julia will head back to the South African jungle to film the second season of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! Australia.

In a statement released by the Ten Network, the TV personality said she was excited to rejoin the show and reunite with her fellow co-host, Dr Chris Brown.

'The thought of returning to the jungle with Dr Chris Brown makes me both swoon and explode in equal measure. The fact that he is so hot for me has become my new normal,' she said.

Who will be on season two! The network is keeping tight-lipped about their latest batch of celebrities who will ditch their luxury homes and devices in order to sleep it rough to win the coveted title, as well as a significant portion of money for their charity of choice

The Bondi Vet added:'This year, I never expected the jungle to be so wild, unpredictable and dangerous. And that was just working with Julia,' he said.

'But putting that aside, I cant wait to head back to Africa with all the other wildlife,' he added.

'Im already counting down the days until I find out whos joining us in the jungle.'

However, the network is keeping tight-lipped about their latest batch of celebrities who will ditch their luxury homes and devices in order to sleep it rough to win the coveted titles, as well as a significant portion of money for their charity of choice.
She's been forced to cancel her speaking tour due to 'scheduling conflicts'.

But Caitlyn Jenner appeared to have plenty of time on her hands on Thursday as she met up with a male pal for a day out in Los Angeles.

The 66-year-old was well covered for the miserably wet weather in a fleece-lined black coat and black leather boots.

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Lady of leisure: Caitlyn Jenner, 66, appeared to have plenty of time on her hands on Thursday as she met up with a male pal for a day out in Los Angeles

Caitlyn kept things casual with a pair of blue denim jeans and despite the overcast conditions rocked a pair of aviators.

The former Olympian clutched a hot drink and a stylish handbag as she exited her white SUV. Her long brunette tresses falling in waves onto her chest.

She warmly greeted her pal with an affectionate embrace, before the pair made their way out of the car park walking side by side.

See the latest Caitlyn Jenner updates as she cancels her speaking tour dates

Good to see you: She warmly greeted her pal with an affectionate embrace, before the pair made their way out of the car park walking side by side

Wet, wet, wet: The 66-year-old was well covered for the miserably wet weather in a fleece-lined black coat and black leather boots

The reality star pulled out of the five-city Unique Lives And Experiences tour that was set to begin on February 22 in Toronto, Canada, according to an article on Thursday by TMZ.

A source at the Roy Thomson Hall venue said there were still 'a lot' of tickets left for Jenner's speaking engagement when she cancelled.

The five-part women's lecture series includes appearances by Gloria Steinem, Chelsea Clinton, Diane Keaton and Piper Kerman.

Scheduling conflicts: Caitlyn Jenner, shown on Monday in Los Angeles, has cancelled speaking engagements with the Unique Lives And Experiences tour

Jenner signed with CAA's Speakers department to find speaking opportunities to address LGBT issues, according to a June article by The Hollywood Reporter.

The former Olympics champion announced her transition in April 2015 in a tell-all interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC.

She later made her first appearance as Caitlyn in a Vanity Fair cover story.

Television platform: Jenner is shown in a trailer for her E! documentary series I Am Cait

Before transitioning, Jenner had a lucrative career as a motivational speaker long before marrying Kris Jenner and becoming a reality star on Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

Fees for speaking at a college in 1977 ran as high as $2,500, the New York Times reported, and Jenner could make double for speaking at an industrial convention, according to an article in April by E! News.

Jenner had an average of 40 speaking engagements a year, according to a 1979 report by The Toledo Blade, and was paid $5,000 to $10,000 for each one.

Motivational speaker: Jenner, shown in April 1981 speaking at the Bruce Jenner track meet in San Jose, California, had a lucrative career as a motivational speaker even before marrying Kris Jenner

The reality star will still have a television platform with her documentary reality series I Am Cait.

The E! Network in October announced it had been renewed for second season debuting in 2016.

Jenner was forced to apologize last month for her comments in Time Magazine when it was revealed she was on the short-list for their Person Of The Year issue.

Apology issued: The realit star last month apologized for comments in Time magazine that some labelled as 'transphobic'

'If you look like a man in a dress, it makes people uncomfortable,' she said, leaving her open to critics who labelled her as 'transphobic'.

In a website post titled Still So Much To Learn she admitted that it probably won't be the last time she says the wrong thing.

Jenner also appeared on the cover of the February/March issue of The Advocate and said in an interview that she wasn't the face of the trans community.

The star told The Advocate: 'The media has kind of labeled me as the spokesperson for the trans community. That is not the case. I am only a spokesperson for my own journey.

'After that, I know nothing. Am I learning a lot? Absolutely. I'm just trying to do my best, that's all.'
She's one of the UK's finest acting exports.

And Dame Helen Mirren showcased her class when she attended the W Magazine Golden Globes celebration with Audi and Dom Perignon at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The Oscar-winning actress, 70, looked sensational in a sophisticated black dress with patterned lace sleeves.

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Acting royalty: Dame Helen Mirren, 70, showcased her class when she attended the W Magazine Golden Globes celebration with Audi and Dom Perignon at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles on Thursday

She ensured she kept warm on her way into the even by wearing a luxuriously thick grey fur scarf wrapped snugly around her neck.

In keeping with her bubbly personality, the national treasure carried a leopard print clutch as she sauntered past the assembled cameras.

Looking far younger than her 70 years, Dame Helen wore slick of bold red lipstick and matching manicured nails. Her blonde hair was harking back to Hollywood sirens of years gone by.

See the latest Golden Globes coverage as Helen Mirren attends the W after party

Rolling back the years: The Oscar-winning actress looked sensational in a sophisticated black dress with patterned lace sleeves

Wrapped up: She ensured she kept warm on her way into the even by wearing a luxuriously thick grey fur scarf wrapped snugly around her neck

Other guests at the star-studded bash included Christoph Waltz, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Michelle Monaghan, Kirsten Dunst and Saoirse Ronan.

Helen is up for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture for her role in Trumbo,

And no doubt she will also be cheering on her Trumbo co-star Bryan Cranston at the awards on Sunday.

Well done! She attended the 27th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala on Saturday night to present Bryan Cranston with the Spotlight Award

Mutual respect: No doubt Helen will be cheering on her Trumbo co-star Bryan Cranston at the awards on Sunday

The Breaking Bad star faces stiff competition in the Best Actor category with Leonardo Di Caprio, Eddie Redmayne, Matt Damon and Michael Fassbender.

Trumbo tells the story of Hollywood film producer Dalton Trumbo (Cranston) who was jailed and blacklisted from the industry, along with other artists, for their political beliefs.

Dame Helen plays actress and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper in the critically-acclaimed film.

She attended the 27th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala on Saturday night to present Bryan Cranston with the Spotlight Award.
His character travels to Nepal to seek out the help of a sorcerer in his new film Doctor Strange.

And Benedict Cumberbatch took advantage of a break from filming the superhero movie in South Asia this winter to visit a monastery, where he learned about the Buddhist faith and was given a private blessing by a monk.

The 39-year-old actor appears delighted in photos from his spiritual adventure, where he was joined by the big budget film's crew and his co-star Chiwetel Ejiofor.

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Spiritual meeting: Benedict Cumberbatch met with Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche at the Shechen Monaster during a break from filming superhero film Doctor Strange in Nepal

Cumberbatch enjoyed an in-depth conversation with Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche and stood beaming beside the monk at the Shechen Monastery.

The Imitation Game star and members of the crew were seen poring over religious documents and asking questions about the faith.

A source told The Sun newspaper: 'Benedict was fascinated'.

Engrossed: The Imitation Game star and members of the crew pored over religious documents and asked questions about the faith

Private blessing: The Imitation Game star was seen receiving a private blessing from the monk

Benedict's visit to the monastery comes as little surprise since the star has often spoken about how much he longed to relive his youth teaching English to Tibetan monks in the state of West Bengal in eastern India.

The thespian, who was 19 at the time, told Entertainment Weekly: 'It was a very unfair exchange. Basically, they taught me reams, fathoms, more than I could possibly begin [to teach them].

'I became interested the meeting point between Western logic and Eastern mysticism.'

Reliving his past: When Benedict was 19, he taught English to Tibetan monks in India

Guided tour: Cumberbatch was joined by the big budget film's crew and his co-star Chiwetel Ejiofor

In Doctor Strange, Benedict plays Stephen Strange, a gifted New York surgeon who goes to Nepal to seek a sorcerer to heal his damaged hands after a serious car accident.

The sorcerer, named the the Ancient One, not only heals his injuries, but transforms him into a superhero with powers.

The comic book character was originally created in the early 1960's by artist Steve Ditko and Stan Lee.

Doctor Strange will be released on November 4, 2016.

On location: Cumberbatch's character travels to Nepal to seek out the help of a sorcerer in his new film Doctor Strange
Some of the thriving businesses in soaps really do stretch the boundaries of credibility. Would a tiny, remote place like Emmerdale really produce enough custom to keep a beauty salon, such as the one Bernice White runs, ticking over? It's hard to believe that a villageful of farmer's wives are rushing to get their nails done every week.

Then there's EastEnders' funky, cutting-edge hairdresser's - in an area where most of the residents look like they slept in a skip.

Nick's Bistro and a posh gym are already oddly out of place in Coronation Street, but now they're being joined by Tracy's new florist. Who exactly is she meant to be selling all these blooms to? Most of the residents hate her guts. What bride would trust Toxic Tracy to do her wedding flowers? She'd probably end up running off with the groom. And if there's a funeral, the chances are it was Tracy who killed the poor blighter.

The only person on Coronation Street who has the money to buy flowers on a regular basis is Carla Connor, and given that Tracy burnt down her flat, she probably shouldn't count on her trade.

Jaci Stephen is away

CORONATION STREET: ANNA GETS KEVIN'S ENGINE RUNNING

Tracy pictured with Robert is up to her tricks again in this week's Coronation Street

With three disastrous marriages under her belt you'd think that Carla might catch on to the fact she and husbands don't go hand in hand. She's still racked with guilt about her night with Robert and considers calling off her wedding to Nick. But it's not long before she changes her mind, names the day and even asks Michelle and Kate to be her bridesmaids. But will Robert keep their secret?

Speaking of Robert, it seems chefs who keep bunking off work and chatting up the customers are in demand, because a rival restaurant attempts to poach him. Nick's hand is forced and he offers him a share in the bistro to stay. However, it turns out that there is no rival restaurant, merely Tracy (above, with Robert) up to her tricks again.

In keeping with most of the residents of Coronation Street, Anna has found she doesn't need to cast her net any wider than a couple of doors away when it comes to finding a new partner. After a successful date earlier in the week, Anna invites Kevin to her flat for a romantic evening. Let's hope she remembers to remove the tea towel that seems to be permanently glued to her shoulder these days. Nosey Sally is determined to discover the identity of Anna's mystery boyfriend - but she isn't going to like it when she does. And later it looks like the new lovers are about to be rumbled.

EASTENDERS: HAS SHARON HAD HER FILL OF PHIL?

Gripped by psychosis, Stacey is on the roof of The Vic with baby Arthur and the job falls to Martin to talk her down. Martin? Really? Although hardly blessed with communication skills, he incredibly succeeds in getting mother and baby to safety, yet not before Stacey (below) reveals he isn't the father of her son - God is.

News that Kush is actually Arthur's father has driven his and Shabnam's relationship to breaking point. Can they survive? At least all the chaos has pushed Carmel and Masood together and they end up sharing a kiss.

Stacey tells Martin the father of her baby is God as she flees to the roof of The Vic gripped by psychosis

Elsewhere, everyone is trying to come to terms with the death of Charlie when Belinda Slater makes a return, angrily blaming Kat for the death of their dad. In fairness she has a point, it's never exactly relaxing being around Kat, is it?

When Dennis takes a turn for the worse in hospital, guilt finally gets the better of Phil who admits to Sharon that it was him driving the car. Furious, Sharon does what she seems to be doing a lot of at the moment and contemplates whether her marriage to Phil can survive.

As for Phil, he's hellbent on drinking east London dry and, in his despair, decides he must try and trace his estranged daughter Louise. This is the child by Lisa Fowler who everyone in the Mitchell family seems to have forgotten existed for the past five years.

Phil wants to make amends for being a bad father and tracks Louise down at school where he hands her a bag of cash before collapsing. Will he survive? Does anyone want him to?

EMMERDALE: PETE MAKES A MOVE ON MOIRA

It doesn't take a lot to anger Cain, and this time he's furious with his wife Moira, blaming her for Debbie leaving Emmerdale. And when Pete goes to comfort Moira, he can't resist moving in for a kiss. You can imagine Cain's reaction when he finds out.

As Priya witnesses the damage done by Rakesh switching baby Johnny's DNA test results, she feels unable to forgive him, prompting him to attempt a grand gesture to win her back.
She's not one to shy away from flaunting her ample assets.

So it was little surprise to see Jemma Lucy putting on a VERY busty display on Wednesday, as she stepped out in the Miami heat while on holiday.

Taking the plunge in an extremely low-cut white dress, the curvaceous and heavily tattooed Ex On The Beach star, 27, ensured that all eyes were on her as she arrived at the Miami Beach Hotel.

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Displaying her ample assets: Jemma Lucy put on a VERY busty display in a low-cut white dress on Wednesday, as she stepped out in the Miami heat while on holiday

Obviously having packed with the temperature in mind, Lucy slipped into a summery ensemble that allowed her to showcase her extensive collection of body art as well as her curvaceous figure.

Flashing more than a hint of cleavage in the white midi dress, which featured a low-cut neckline, the model and reality star's garment drew even more attention to her assets thanks to some black lace detailing.

The MTV star was able to show off the rest of her toned and honed form thanks to the dress's figure-hugging nature.

Rounding her look off with a pair of towering black, peep-toe stilettos, the blonde bombshell further accentuated her slim curves and toned pins.

Flashing some flesh: Taking the plunge in an extremely low-cut white garment, the curvaceous and heavily tattooed Ex On The Beach star, 27, ensured that all eyes were on her as she arrived at the Miami Beach Hotel

Accessorising her look with an electric blue clutch and a pair of steel flesh tunnels, Lucy left her look uncluttered and chose to showcase her eclectic array of body art.

Opting for an understated palette of make-up, she highlighted her eyes with a heavy layer of eyeliner and mascara while she subtly drew attention to her plump lips with a slick of nude lipstick.

Sashaying into the hotel, Lucy appeared to be in high spirits, despite the fact she accused Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby of stealing her boyfriend only days earlier.

It's all in the details: Flashing more than a hint of cleavage in the midi dress, which featured a low-cut neckline, the reality star's garment drew even more attention to her assets thanks to some black lace detailing

Figure accentuating footwear: Rounding her look off with a pair of towering black, peep-toe stilettos, the blonde bombshell further accentuated her slim curves and toned pins

According to the Mirror the star posted a series of tweets, which appear to have been deleted, aimed at the 25-year-old Geordie Shore star and Lucy's wayward love interest.

Apparently accusing Charlotte of having 'nicked' her man, but always being 'pure nice' to her face, the tattooed model received some sympathy from some of her loyal followers.

One fan came to Jemma's aid, writing: 'I'm pretty sure u won't have a problem finding another bloke ur stunning, major girl crush!! [sic]'

Loyal support: According to the Mirror the star posted a series of tweets, which appear to have been deleted, aimed at the 25-year-old Geordie Shore star and Lucy's wayward love interest

Not over it: Apparently accusing Charlotte of having 'nicked' her man, but always being 'pure nice' to her face, the tattooed model received some sympathy from some of her loyal followers

While she confirmed that her supposed relationship with David - who Charlotte was pictured getting close to outside a Newcastle club in December - was relatively recent and new.

Replying to one user asking if it was 'recent', she replied: 'Yeah pretty recent.'

However Charlotte didn't respond to any of the tweets, and when contacted by the MailOnline a representative for the star said: 'Charlotte never stole anyone's boyfriend, and David Hawley is just a friend of many years from Newcastle.'
She welcomed daughter Reygan with husband Travis Schuldt just two months ago.

And already Natalie Zea has her body back.

On Thursday the 40-year-old actress looked in fine form as she promoted her new TBS series The Detour at the TCAs in Pasadena with co-star Jason Jones of The Daily Show fame.

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Amazing: Natalie Zea showed off an impressive post-baby body on Thursday when she promoted The Detour in Pasadena with co-star Jason Jones

With her TV family: Zea with Jones and actors Liam Carroll and Ashley Gerasimovich who play their children

The blonde Texan showed off toned arms in a sleeveless dusty pink tank top in silk.

And the Justified star also flaunted her toned legs in skintight black jeans with sky-high boots.

The beauty, who has also worked on The Following and Californication, welcomed her first child, a little girl, in November.

Glowing for it: The blonde Texan showed off toned arms in a sleeveless dusty pink tank top in silk

Zea showed off her baby bump in October during her shower hosted by clothing company Matilda Jane. And during the fete, held at LA's Terrine, the actress revealed she was having a girl as there were pink gift bags.

Guests were treated to drinks named The Gwen and The Ethan after the couples characters on Passions.

'Im glad I could provide my girlfriends an opportunity to get tipsy in front of me, while I enviously sipped on soda water,' the star - who can be seen this spring in the TBS comedy The Detour - told People.

With the Mrs: Also on hand was Jones' wife Samantha Bee, who was a writer on The Detour

The gang's all here: The twisted comedy is due out from TBS in April

The theme of the bash was apples. Photos of Zea and Schuldt as children also decorated the room.

Matilda Jane table runners were on all the tables, as were bouquets of roses and stargazers. And the clothing companys fall collection was on display.

'Matilda Jane was so generous, not only to have provided a beautiful shower for me, but to have made such a sizable donation to Because I Am A Girl, which is an organization thats very dear to me,' the Dirty Sexy Money star also told People.

That new mom happiness look: This is a first child for Zea and Schuldt, who has starred on Scrubs and with Jennifer Lopez in The Boy Next Door. The two wed in 2014 in Hawaii

The Other Guys star had on a green and white floor-length wrap dress with black heels. The Californication standout first showed off her bump at the Too Late premiere in Los Angeles.

Her new series The Detour is a scripted comedy from Jones and his wife Samantha Bee.

According to Deadline, the series is about written by Jones and Bee based on their own experiences with family getaways.

In the pilot, the family takes a road trip to Key West. Jones plays dad Nate, who joins wife Robin (Zea) and two young kids for a 24-hour road trip to the Florida town. Their vacation then takes a 'hellish turn.'
She was one of the original castmembers of TOWIE, and was engaged to Mark Wright during their 10-year relationship.

And, although Lauren Goodger wasn't at the funeral of show regular Nanny Pat - who passed away in December at 80 - she made sure to send her condolences.

The 29-year-old, who admitted she wouldn't attend the service because it would be 'awkward', sent a touching floral tribute to appear among others at the star's funeral held at the South Essex Crematorium on Friday.

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Sending her wishes: Lauren Goodger didn't attend TOWIE star Nanny Pat's funeral on Friday in Essex, but she sent a touching floral tribute instead

In the shape of an angel, complete with wings and constructed entirely of flowers and feathers for the wings, it was a dear tribute for her former grandmother-in-law.

A card placed in the centre read: 'Thinking of you all and sending love on this hard day, love Lauren Goodger x.'

While Lauren and Mark's relationship in recent years hasn't been so harmonious, she put their differences aside to share her heartfelt message with him and his family.

Heartfelt: The 29-year-old donated an angel-shaped floral wreath, which sat among the many others outside the South Essex Crematorium

'Thinking of you all and sending love on this hard day': She left a small note sending her well-wishes for the Wright family on the day of Nanny Pat's funeral

Earlier in the week, Lauren explained in an interview that she didn't want to go to the funeral as it would be an 'awkward situation', as her former fiancee and his wife Michelle Keegan would, of course, be there.

'I'm in a very awkward situation,' she told The Sun. 'I would [go to the funeral] out of respect, because I've known her since I was 15 and for me, personally, it would be nice. I'd want to be there.

'But at the same time if I did go it would be [said] 'I'm going to see Mark' or something. I don't think I could.'

She added: 'I stay clear purely because I've got to be careful about everything I say and do, but I definitely will send some flowers because she was a big part of my life when I was younger. But I wouldn't actually go there in person.'

Lauren also claimed she hadn't spoken to Mark since Nanny Pat's death as it's 'not really something I can do'.

Long-time friends: Lauren (second right) had known Nanny Pat since she struck up her romance with Mark when she was 15

Mark and Lauren famously had a stormy on/off 10-year relationship during their teens and early 20s, before becoming engaged in a pub car park in March 2011.

They ended up splitting August 2011, with Mark accusing Lauren of cheating on him - while it was alleged that he hooked up with his ex Lucy Mecklenburgh in Marbella three months earlier.

But, around the time of his wedding to ex-Coronation Street star Michelle last year, they were embroiled in a bitter and very public back-and-forth, exchanging words via interviews and social media that were aimed at each other.

Lauren would share images and posts on her pages, seemingly to taunt him, and would mention him - either directly or in a more cryptic manner - in interviews.

She also went on holiday to Dubai while the newlyweds were out there on their honeymoon, with her boyfriend Jake McLean, although she has always denied that she was aiming any comments at the happy couple.

No love lost: Mark and Lauren dated on/off for 10 years and even became engaged on TOWIE, but since their split things haven't been harmonious between the pair

Mark ended up writing an angry rant on Twitter, that read: 'Endless mentions RE: me and us is embarrassing. I really thought after lawyers being involved and polite pleas to stop mentioning me she...

'Would stop. Maybe not. It's hurtful to think one person needs to mention YOU every week to earn a living. Being married to another women almost makes it unfair !! If your reading this, please PLEASE respect my wife and STOP. Everyone has a past, get over it !! I really didn't

'Want to have to do this but enough is enough. I wish you well but leave me, my life and my wife out of it. Im sure there is other ways to make money.' [sic]

Although Mark didn't name Lauren, he retweeted a photo from a follower who had been blocked by her on Twitter, confirming that she is the subject of his rants.

'It would be awkward': Lauren confessed that - even though she's known Nanny Pat since she was 15 - it would be strange for her to show up to the funeral

A spokesperson for Lauren told MailOnline at the time: 'Mark is right - this situation is incredibly embarrassing.

'Week after week Lauren has to suffer endless source story lies printed about her in the press surrounding Mark. The list is as long as it is ridiculous. It's hurtful for Lauren to constantly be painted in this way and for readers to actually believe it.'

Meanwhile, on Friday Mark led the way at the funeral with wife Michelle, before acting as pallbearer along with others, carrying Nanny Pat's woven coffin into the crematorium.

Nanny Pat passed away in mid-December, following a short illness, leaving her family, co-stars, friends and fans of the hit ITVBe series in shock.

Sombre: Mark was joined by his wife Michelle Keegan on Friday at the funeral of his grandmother - real name Patricia Brooker - in Essex

The sad news was released in a statement to MailOnline on behalf of the Wright and Brooker Family, reading: 'Sadly our amazing, courageous and beautiful Nanny Pat passed away this morning after a short illness.

'We are overwhelmed by sadness, and the whole family ask for privacy at this horrible time.'

TOWIE regulars James 'Arg' Argent, Lydia Bright, Billie Faiers, Ferne McCann, Chloe Sims, Kate Wright, Dan Edgar and Danielle Armstrong were among those who had turned out for the day.

The large group of reality TV stars - which also included former TOWIE castmember Amy Childs - spent time outside in the sunshine before heading inside to greet members of the Wright family.

Nanny Pat was a much-loved star of the show, famed for cooking up her sausage plaits and hilarious one-liners.
He strips off in the titular role in upcoming film The Legend of Tarzan.

And a shirtless Alexander Skarsgard gave a glimpse of his impressive physique poolside in Miami on Thursday.

The 39-year-old actor put his six-pack on display in a pair of low-slung striped swim-shorts and very little else.

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Hunk: Shirtless Alexander Skarsgard gave a glimpse of his impressive physique poolside on Thursday

The Swedish hunk has been enjoying a sunny break with his girlfriend Alexa Chung and friends, including radio DJ Nick Grimshaw - who posted a video of Alexander to his Snapchat account.

The 31-year-old British X-Factor judge commented: 'This man is the alpha. He will smash you up. He will kill you. He is very aggressive, very large. Thats the Alex.'

The first teaser trailer of The Legend Of Tarzan was released online last month.

Beefy: The 39-year-old actor put his six-pack on display in a pair of low-slung striped swim-shorts and very little else

Sunny days: The Swedish hunk been enjoying a sunny break in Miami with his girlfriend Alexa Chung and friends, including radio DJ Nick Grimshaw who posted a video of Alexander to his Snapchat account

Alpha-male: The 31-year-old British X-Factor judge commented on Alexander: 'This man is the alpha. He will smash you up. He will kill you. He is very aggressive, very large. Thats the Alex'

Hot: Alexander's abs take centre stage both on vacation and in his up-coming Tarzan reboot

Alexander's abs take centre stage in the two-minute teaser clip of next summers retelling of the classic wild man tale.

The David Yates-helmed film starts with Tarzan out of the jungle, a decade removed from his jungle home and completely established in the British upper class.

Tarzan, now living as John Clayton III aka Lord Greystoke, is invited back to the Congo to serve as a trade emissary of Parliament, unaware that he is a pawn in a deadly convergence of greed and revenge, masterminded by the Belgian, Captain Leon Rom.

There's his girl: Alexa Chung wore a black bikini as she sat on a lounge chair with a book

Lasting love: The two have been together for about a year; his last serious girlfriend was Kate Bosworth

In shape: He showed off his toned torso - and also strips off in the titular role in upcoming film The Legend of Tarzan

But those behind the murderous plot have no idea what they are about to unleash.

The trailer also involves ample amounts of vine swinging, impressive CGI effects and a lot of gorillas.

The film - which opens on July 1 2016 - stars a host of talented stars with Samuel L. Jackson, Margot Robbie and Christoph Waltz playing major roles.

Discussing the reboot's fresh approach to the timeless tale, the son of actor Stellan Skarsgard told USA Today: 'It's almost the opposite of the classic tale, where it's about taming the beast.

'This is about a man who's holding back and slowly as you peel off the layers, he reverts back to a more animalistic state and lets that side of his personality out.'

His girl: The blonde Swede with Alexa at an LA airport in July
Angie Bowie has recalled the time she beat heroin addiction in just 10 days.

The ex-wife of iconic singer David Bowie admitted she became hooked on the drug after struggling to find work as she opened up to Darren Day in the Celebrity Big Brother house during Friday's episode.

The 66-year-old former model shared a heart-to-heart with the British actor, who has also openly admitted battling drug addiction.

'It was no big deal': Angie Bowie recalled the time she beat heroin addiction in 10 days as she shared a candid conversation with house mate Darren Day during Friday's episode of Celebrity Big Broher

Reflecting on the moment she looked for help for her addiction - which she claimed lasted just 10 days - the outspoken star dished: 'I called up my gynaecologist and I said Im addicted to heroin. My mother and father are here, I need you to come and inject me with valium every day.

'So he came and did that, my father came and he sat with me and my mum was there. It was a bit harder for my mum, I think she got a little too emotional about it.'

Speaking about why she got hooked to begin with, Angie explained: 'It was rubbish I was acting out. I couldn't fathom a world where I couldn't work.'

See more of the latest on CBB's Angie Bowie and her shocking heroin addiction claims

The 66-year-old former model shared a heart-to-heart with the British actor, who has also openly admitted battling drug addiction

Darren looked shocked by the actress' revelation, though seemed even more surprised when she added: 'After 10 days it was gone, it's no big deal.'

But the confession didn't mark Angie's most prominent moment on the show as she later hit out at house mate Winston McKenzie after he likened gay adoption to 'child abuse'.

During a task, which saw the celebrities attempt to match a series of random facts to their fellow housemates, Winston was revealed to have made the controversial comments.

Explaining his remarks to the rest of the house, the 62-year-old, said: 'How can I? Im a Christian. How can I go against my beliefs?

Candid: Speaking about why she got hooked to begin with, Angie explained: 'It was rubbish I was acting out. I couldn't fathom a world where I couldn't work'

Taken aback: Darren looked shocked by the actress' revelation, though seemed even more surprised when she added: 'After 10 days it was gone, it's no big deal'

'No Im not homophobic, no I dont hate gays, people live their lives as according to how they want to live.'

Attempting to diffuse the situation, former Mr Ireland Jeremy McConnell urged, 'lets move forward,' creating some temporary peace in the house.

But the harmonious atmosphere didn't last long, as Angie vented to David Gest: 'I didnt do 45 years fighting for gay rights for f***ing nothing. Im not tolerating that c**p. If he comes within 10 feet of me its over. My f***ing eyes nearly popped out of my head.

'I knew it was him, its not like anyone else would have said such a stupid thing. And if he didnt say it, he didnt prove to me that he didnt.'
British police woman demands New York return baby

A British police officer has gone to court in New York, demanding the return of her baby who was given to an LGBT activist foster mother after he was left alone in a hotel.

Louise Fielden, 42, flew to Manhattan last April with now 14-month-old Samuel for a vacation that turned into a nightmare when hotel staff reported her to child services for leaving her baby in her room, according to court papers.

She was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, resisting arrest and possession of a controlled substance, which turned out to be a codeine prescription for her slipped disks.

A British police officer has gone to court in New York, demanding the return of her baby who was given to an LGBT activist foster mother after he was left alone in a Manhattan hotel Jewel Samad (AFP/File)

Her criminal case was thrown out on Monday, and she now demands her son's return to England.

In a suit filed with a US federal court in Brooklyn, Fielden accused the city of unlawfully retaining the child in the United States without her consent.

As a "devout conservative member of the Church of England" she alleged the foster mother, Susan Sena, was an unsuitable care taker because she is a pro-LGBT activist.

Fielden described it as "mind-boggling" that her son's foster mother, whom she said goes by the nickname "Queen Hag," had attended a porno bingo (party) where a gay porn star was a guest of honor.

However a family judge has imposed an order of protection, and Fielden has asked for Samuel to be transferred to the care of a cousin in England while she appeals.

Meanwhile, she says she was forced to fly back to Britain Tuesday and return to work after racking up enormous bills fighting her criminal case, her attorney Andrew Spinnell told AFP.

Samuel, whose father is an anonymous sperm donor from the Netherlands, was born in October 2014 and Fielden, who court documents say had an unblemished police record, took 12 months maternity leave from the Metropolitan Police Service.

In January 2015, mother and child flew to the British West Indies for a three-month vacation then left for New York in April, where they checked into the Chelsea Highline Hotel, according to the suit.

Fielden said she left the child alone in her room, sleeping in a travel cot, for around 30 minutes while she went downstairs to clean his water bottle.

Hotel staff also alleged that she left him on the floor while she ate her breakfast one foot away, court papers said.

"In my culture, placing a baby in a crib is not considered dangerous," Fielden said in court papers.
Sanctions alone won't change North Korea behavior: expert

Sanctions alone will not change North Korea's behavior after this week's nuclear test and China needs encouragement -- not threats -- to alter its dealings with its renegade neighbor, a US expert said Thursday.

China's role in influencing North Korea is again in the spotlight following Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test. Beijing is the country's main ally and several figures including Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump have demanded China do more.

Though North Korea already is subject to strict sanctions, the United Nations has promised a resolution to further strengthen these measures.

People watch a news report on North Korea's first hydrogen bomb test at a railroad station in Seoul on January 6, 2016 Jung Yeon-Je (AFP/File)

China, a permanent member of the Security Council, argues dialogue is the only way to moderate its behavior and remains a major exporter to North Korea.

Joseph DeThomas, a former ambassador and deputy assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation, told a Washington audience that beyond sanctions, the West needs to begin a longterm effort to encourage China to change how it deals with North Korea.

"We have to face the reality that sanctions alone will not leverage the North Korean policy in the absence of a fundamental change in Chinese policy," DeThomas said.

"For me, objective one in the diplomacy is how do we start creating change in Chinese policy to get them farther along."

Underlying everything is Beijing's desire to keep North Korea as a buffer between it and the prospect of US troops stationed on its border in a unified Korea.

But a nuclear-armed North Korea could result in a larger US buildup of anti-missile gear on China's doorstep.
Planned Parenthood endorses Clinton in funding boon

Planned Parenthood, the influential US women's health care provider savaged by anti-abortion Republicans who want to shut it down, said Thursday it was backing Hillary Clinton for president.

The move will be a political and funding boon for the former secretary of state, who is a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood, which said its advocacy organizations would spend at least $20 million in the 2016 election cycle to help elect the Democratic frontrunner.

It is the first time the 100-year-old organization is endorsing a candidate in the primary process, which kicks off in three weeks in the heartland state of Iowa.

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton speaks on January 7, 2016 in San Gabriel, California Frederic J. Brown (AFP)

An official endorsement announcement will be made Sunday in New Hampshire, the group said.

"We're proud to endorse Hillary Clinton for president of the United States," Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Cecile Richards said in a statement.

"No other candidate in our nation's history has demonstrated such a strong commitment to women or such a clear record on behalf of women's health and rights."

Clinton is being challenged for her party's nomination by independent Senator Bernie Sanders and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley. The election is in November.

Clinton and the organization, which operates 700 clinics nationwide, have been allies for years and her campaign has gone out of its way to highlight the many times she has stood with the group.

Richards' daughter works on the Clinton campaign's staff in Iowa, according to The New York Times, which first reported the group's endorsement.

Last year Clinton vigorously defended Planned Parenthood when it found itself accused by anti-abortion activists of selling fetal tissue to researchers.

The allegations were never proven, but in October the organization stopped accepting reimbursements for costs of the donations.

This week the Republican-controlled Congress passed legislation that would place a moratorium on all federal funding for the organization, a move that Planned Parenthood's supporters said would serve to restrict women's access to health care, including cancer screenings and family planning.

President Barack Obama is certain to veto the measure.

Clinton expressed thanks for the endorsement and said the coming campaign and election is crucial for women's health and reproductive rights.

Planned Parenthood and its patients and advocates "are a crucial line of defense against the dangerous agenda being advanced by every Republican candidate for president," Clinton said.

"This week was a jarring reminder of what's at stake in 2016."

Clinton and Democratic lawmakers are defenders of a woman's right to obtain an abortion, a medical procedure still fiercely opposed by many Republicans 43 years after the US Supreme Court affirmed its legality nationwide.
IS-linked jihadists claim attack on Sinai pipeline to Jordan

The Egyptian branch of the jihadist Islamic State group on Thursday said it had bombed a pipeline that carries gas to Jordan and to a major industrial zone in north Sinai.

Security sources confirmed that attackers set off explosive devices under the pipeline close to Al-Midan village in the north of the peninsula. They said the blasts did not cause any casualties.

North Sinai is a bastion of the "Sinai Province" group, the Egyptian affiliate of IS.

Smoke billows in Egypt's North Sinai on July 16, 2015 Said Khatib (AFP/File)

In a message posted on Twitter and signed by "Sinai Province", the jihadists claimed responsibility for the attack.

"By the name of God, not a drop of gas will reach Jordan until the caliphate gives its permission," the statement said.

Jordan is among a number of Arab states that have joined the US-led campaign of air strikes against IS, which captured swathes of Syria and Iraq, where it has declared a caliphate.
South Korea resumes propaganda broadcasts hated by North

South Korea on Friday resumed high-decibel propaganda broadcasts into North Korea as the United States ramped up pressure on China to bring Pyongyang to heel after its latest nuclear test.

While North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un celebrated his 32nd birthday, the international community scrambled to find common ground on how best to penalise his regime following its shock announcement two days ago that it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb.

The cross-border broadcasts blare out an eclectic mix of everything from K-pop and weather forecasts to snippets of news and critiques of the North Korean regime.

A South Korean soldier stands in front of loudspeakers as the military prepares propaganda broadcasts near the border area between the South and North Korea, in Yeoncheon, on January 8, 2016 - (Yonhap/AFP)

Among the songs on Friday's playlist was "Bang, Bang, Bang" a recent hit by A-list K-pop boy band, Big Bang.

Their resumption revives psychological warfare tactics that date back to the 1950-53 Korean War. But they can be remarkably effective.

Their use during a dangerous flare-up in cross-border tensions last year infuriated Pyongyang, which at one point threatened artillery strikes against the loudspeaker units unless they were switched off.

The South finally pulled the plug after an agreement was reached in August to de-escalate a situation that had brought the two rivals to the brink of an armed conflict.

Now they are back -- punishment for Wednesday's surprise nuclear test, which triggered global condemnation and concern, despite expert opinion that the yield was far too low to support the North's claim that the device was an H-bomb.

- Diplomatic frenzy -

The test set off a diplomatic frenzy as the UN Security Council met to discuss possible sanctions and world leaders sought to build a consensus on an appropriate response to such a grave violation of UN resolutions.

Most eyes were on North Korea's main ally, China, which condemned the test but gave no signal that it was ready to approve a significant tightening of sanctions on its recalcitrant neighbour.

In a phone call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that Beijing's softly-softly line had failed and it was time to take a tougher stance with Pyongyang.

"China had a particular approach that it wanted to make and we agreed and gave them time to implement that," Kerry told reporters.

"But today in my conversation with the Chinese I made it very clear that that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual."

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond delivered a similar message during a visit to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, docked at the Yokosuka Naval Base southwest of Tokyo.

"Continuing with words is not enough, we have to show we are prepared to take actions to ensure sanctions against North Korea are effective," Hammond said.

While Beijing has restrained US-led allies from stronger action against Pyongyang in the past, it has shown increasing frustration with its refusal to suspend testing.

But China's leverage over Pyongyang is mitigated, analysts say, by its overriding fear of a North Korean collapse and the prospect of a reunified, US-allied Korea directly on its border.

And Beijing has resisted being tagged as the only country that can influence events in Pyongyang, insisting that North Korea is a common problem for a host of countries.

"We all know how the Korean nuclear issue came into being and where the crux lies. It's not on the Chinese side," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Friday.

- Allies confer -

On Thursday, US President Barack Obama also spoke with the leaders of the two main US allies in Asia -- and North Korean neighbours -- South Korea and Japan.

The three countries, who have long sought to project a united front against the North Korean nuclear threat, agreed to work together at the United Nations to secure the strongest possible Security Council resolution.

North Korea, meanwhile, has said virtually nothing since its TV broadcast at noon Wednesday announcing the "world startling event" of its latest test.

The test, personally ordered by leader Kim Jong-Un, was of a miniaturised H-bomb, Pyongyang said, adding that it had now joined the ranks of "advanced nuclear nations".

The detonation came two days before Kim's birthday which passed Friday with no special mention in the state media, although the timing of the test was clearly aimed at burnishing his leadership credentials.

There is still widespread speculation over what device the North actually did test, but international experts mostly concur that it could not have been a full-scale thermonuclear device as claimed.

The yield from Wednesday's explosion was initially estimated at six kilotons, whereas a two-stage H-bomb would be expected to release 1,000 times more energy.

North Korea: sanctioned by the UN - (AFP Graphic)

South Korean activists denounce Pyongyang's nuclear test during a rally in Seoul, on January 7, 2016 Jung Yeon-Je (AFP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un

People watch a news report on North Korea's latest nuclear test at a railway station in Seoul on January 6, 2016 Jung Yeon-Je (AFP/File)
US reveals terror-related arrest, indictment in two states

US authorities said two people with ties to the Islamic State group are due in court Friday in California and Texas, including a refugee from Syria who lied about his travels there.

The arrests come amid heightened security in the United States following last month's assault by a radicalized Muslim couple in California that left 14 people dead and the November terror attacks in Paris.

There is also growing pressure for more scrutiny of refugees from war-ravaged Syria, amid terror fears.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the arrest of Iraqi-born Palestinian, Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, indicted in Texas for providing material support to the IS group, backed calls for a refugee ban Saul Loeb (AFP/File)

Aws Mohammed Younis al-Jayab, an Iraq-born Palestinian arrested Thursday who came to the United States from Syria as a refugee in 2012, traveled to Syria the following year where he fought with various terror groups, according to a criminal complaint.

One of those groups was Al-Qaeda affiliate Ansar al-Islam (Partisans of Islam), which once operated in both Iraq and Syria.

Listed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations and the United States, its Iraq faction has since merged with the Islamic State group, though some of its Syrian fighters rejected IS.

But US Attorney Benjamin Wagner was careful to stress that "while (Jayab) represented a potential safety threat, there is no indication that he planned any acts of terrorism in this country."

Another Iraqi-born Palestinian, Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, was indicted Wednesday in Texas for providing material support to the IS group. He is due in court Friday for an initial appearance.

Hardan, 24, was charged with one count each of attempting to provide material support to ISIL (Islamic State), procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlawfully and making false statements.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott and other local officials said Hardan's arrest backed their calls for a refugee ban.

"This is precisely why I called for a halt to refugees entering the US from countries substantially controlled by terrorists," he said.

The state's Attorney General Ken Paxton called the arrest a "troubling revelation," using the occasion to take a swipe at President Barack Obama.

"The arrest in Houston of an Iraqi refugee for suspicion of terrorist activities is a troubling revelation - especially in light of the president's insistence on placing further refugees in Texas," he said.
Pro snowboarders cancel trip to North Korean resort

A trio of the world's leading snowboarders, set to be the first western professionals to visit North Korea's Masikryong ski resort, have cancelled their trip after Pyongyang's latest nuclear test, the trip's organiser said Friday.

Tom Monterosso, the editor of California-based Snowboarder Magazine, which had organised the trip, said the group had decided to err on the side of caution after North Korea announced it had tested its first hydrogen bomb just two days before they were supposed to leave.

"We talked about it. Some people still thought we could go, but we decided if there was any doubt whatsoever then we should just cancel," Monterosso told AFP by telephone.

Opening ceremony of Masikryong ski resort in North Korea takes place on December 31, 2013 - (KCNA via KNS/AFP/File)

Like Monterosso, two of the snowboarders, Dan "Danimals" Liedahl and Mike Ravelson are American, and there were concerns that anti-US sentiment in North Korea might escalate as the international community responds to the test.

It was the second time Monterosso had been forced to cancel a trip to Masik. He had been set to go a year ago but cancelled amid North Korean fury over the portrayal of leader Kim Jong-Un in the Hollywood comedy "The Interview."

The Masikryong resort was a pet project of Kim's, aimed at boosting tourism and raising North Korea's profile for top-class sporting venues.

Monterosso said he and the snowboarders, who also included Norwegian Terje Haakonsen, had "come in for some flak" when media reports suggested they had been personally invited by Kim.

"That was totally untrue," he said. "It was strictly a trip to write a feature for the magazine on snowboarding in North Korea.

"Our job is to find new, weird places to ski. There was nothing political about it at all," he added.

Haakonsen said he was disappointed the trip had been cancelled.

"I don't know anybody who agrees with the regime and politics over there," the Norwegian told AFP.

"But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be contact. It would have been interesting to go.

"It might be a gnarly regime, but I'm sure there's millions of cool people there too," he said.
IS claims Libya bombing, EU chief pushes peace plan

The Islamic State group has claimed a deadly suicide bombing at a checkpoint in Libya's oil heartland, as EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini seeks to shore up support for a unity government.

Fears that the jihadists are establishing a new stronghold on Europe's doorstep have added urgency to efforts to bring together warring factions in a country beset by years of turmoil.

IS's Libya branch released a statement saying that Thursday's attack in Ras Lanouf, east of its coastal bastion of Sirte, was carried out by a foreign fighter using an explosives-packed car.

Libyans inpect damaged cars at the site of a suicide truck bombing in the coastal city of Zliten Mahmud Turkia (AFP)

Six people, including a baby, were killed, according to Libya's Red Crescent.

Another suicide bomber on Thursday attacked a police training school in Zliten, west of Tripoli, killing more than 50 people, a security source said.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for that blast, which left buildings charred and turned cars into twisted black wrecks.

It was the deadliest attack since the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

- 'Unity best way' -

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Libya's rival parliaments to throw their support behind a disputed national unity government deal.

"These criminal acts serve as a strong reminder of the urgency to implement the Libyan political agreement and form a government of national accord," he said, referring to the suicide bombings.

"Unity is the best way for Libyans to confront terrorism in all its forms."

Mogherini was due to hold talks in Tunis on Friday with Libyan politicians including Fayez al-Sarraj, who was named in the UN-brokered national unity deal as prime minister designate.

The agreement was signed last month by a minority of lawmakers but has yet to win the full support of the two legislatures.

The heads of the parliaments have warned that the deal has no legitimacy and that the politicians signing the agreement represented only themselves.

On Thursday Mogherini urged Libyans to back the unity deal.

"The people of Libya deserve peace and security and... they have a great opportunity to set aside their divisions and work together, united, against the terrorist threat facing their country," she said.

A unity government "will also help preserve Libya's resources, defeat terrorists that want to undermine Libya's prosperity, and restore stability and security throughout the country," she added.

IS has been expanding its foothold in Libya, exploiting the instability that has gripped the country since the 2011 uprising.

The turmoil has also led to Libya's rise as a stepping stone for migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.

On Monday IS launched an offensive against the oil terminals in Ras Lanouf and nearby Al-Sidra, after trying for weeks to push east from Sirte.

The terminals are located in the so-called "oil crescent" along the northern coast, and officials have warned that the already crumbling Libyan state could be paralysed if the jihadists seize control of oil resources.

Libya has had rival parliaments and administrations since August 2014, when an Islamist-backed militia alliance overran Tripoli, forcing the government to take refuge in the east.

Calls have been growing for a possible foreign military intervention to bring stability and contain IS, which is reported to have at least 3,000 fighters in Libya.

In a report to the UN Security Council in November, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that IS was responsible for at least 27 car and suicide bombings in Libya in 2015.

The group claimed responsibility for suicide car bombings in the eastern town of Al-Qoba in February that killed at least 40 people.

A suicide bomber killed scores when he attacked a police training facility in Zliten Jean-Michel Cornu (Graphic/AFP)

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini has urged Libyans to support a new unity government Emmanuel Dunand (AFP)

People gather at the site of a suicide truck bombing on a police school in the coastal Libyan city of Zliten on January 7, 2016 Mahmud Turkia (AFP)
Flesh-burrowing worm nearly 'eradicated from South Sudan'

Health workers on Friday celebrated a key step towards eradicating the flesh-burrowing guinea worm after South Sudan, once by far the worst-affected country, recorded a massive drop in infections.

"South Sudan is on the verge of eliminating guinea worm disease," South Sudan Minister of Health Riek Gai Kok said in a statement, after workers recorded just five cases last year, a more than 90 percent drop from 2014, when 70 cases were recorded -- the highest number globally.

Guinea worm is a debilitating parasite that digs out the body -- including even eyes and sexual organs -- but is close to being stamped out for good following a two-decade campaign by The Carter Center, a not-for-profit organisation founded by former US president Jimmy Carter.

A health worker removes a guinea worm from the leg of a patient. The flesh-eating parasite is caught by drinking contaminated water and can grow up to a metre in length Louise Gubb (Carter Centre/AFP)

Last year there were 22 cases in just four nations across Africa, compared to 3.5 million in 20 countries in 1986 when The Carter Centre began its massive push began to stop the water-borne parasite.

If the campaign succeeds, guinea worm will become the first parasitic disease to be eradicated and only the second human disease to wiped out worldwide after smallpox in 1979.

"Eradication of this painful and debilitating disease is within our reach," Kok said of the progress which occurred despite a civil war which has gripped South Sudan for the past two years.

Aside from South Sudan, guinea worms exist only in Chad, Ethiopia and Mali. In 2015, Chad recorded nine cases, Mali had five and Ethiopia just three, the Center said.

"As we get closer to zero, each case takes on increasing importance," Jimmy Carter said in a statement Friday. "Full surveillance must continue in the few remaining endemic nations and neighbouring countries until no cases remain."

Also known as dracunculiasis, from the Latin for "little dragons", the long white worms dig through the body towards the skin, releasing chemicals to burn the flesh and then spewing thousands of larvae as they exit.

The breeding cycle can be broken by making sure people do not wash in sources of drinking water while the worm is emerging from the skin.
Vietnam probes mysterious 'space balls'

Vietnam's military is investigating the appearance of three mysterious metal balls -- believed to be debris from space -- which landed in the country's remote north, a senior army official said Friday.

Two metal balls were discovered in northwestern Yen Bai province on January 2, army spokesman Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan told AFP.

Later a larger ball weighing some 45 kilograms (100 pounds) landed in a maize field in neighbouring Tuyen Quang province, he said.

Vietnamese soldiers inspect a metal ball which landed in the northern province of Tuyen Quang

"We are still identifying where they came from," he said, adding the army had determined they did not contain explosives or hazardous material.

The metal balls fell from the sky, he said, scaring local residents.

"Before and after these objects were discovered, the Vietnamese army was not conducting any military activity in the region," Tuan said.

Witnesses told state-run media that they heard what sounded like thunder before the balls plunged to the earth.

The Ministry of Defence has pledged to release the findings of the probe.

Thanh Nien newspaper said that the initial investigation suggested the objects could have been made in Russia and come from missiles or spaceships.

Nguyen Khoa Son, a professor from the Vietnamese Space Science and Technology Program, told the VietnamNet news site that the balls might be the result of a failed satellite launch.

He said the balls did not appear to be damaged and could have fallen from an altitude of less than 100 kilometres (62 miles).

In November, three mysterious objects also fell from the sky onto Spain's southeast.

According to NASA, more than 500,000 pieces of debris are currently orbiting Earth, and bits of space junk plummet to the planet every year.
Anguish for families of missing China lawyers

Every day Li Wenzu's son asks her why his daddy has not come home, she says. Her husband went missing six months ago in a sweeping crackdown on Chinese human rights lawyers, but she tells the three-year-old he is on a "business trip".

Her husband Wang Quanzhang was among more than 130 legal staff -- along with around 70 activists -- taken away by police in a July sweep aimed at courtroom critics of Communist authorities.

She only learned that he had been detained from a television broadcast labelling his law firm as rabble-rousing criminals.

Li Wenzu tells her three-year old son his daddy is on a "business trip"

Now she is on a desperate and fruitless search for answers from officials.

Wearing black, she wiped a stream of tears from her cheeks with a napkin, as their child toyed with a mobile phone.

"I cry every day," she said. "Our lives have been turned upside down."

At least 16 lawyers and their colleagues remain detained, most under a form of detention that allows them to be held at locations outside official facilities for six months -- so it should technically expire this weekend.

Chinese law also authorises those suspected of state security offences to be held in isolation from the outside world, effectively enabling authorities to legally make people disappear.

- 'All darkness' -

Two defence lawyers Li appointed told her they were forced to withdraw their services after government intimidation.

Eventually attorneys received a notice indicating he was held in the northern city of Tianjin, but could not be visited on "state security" grounds.

A string of visits to the city by his lawyers and relatives have proved fruitless.

"For these months, we have always been trying to use legal means, but to no avail," she said. "The current legal environment is like Beijing's pollution, all darkness with no sunlight.

"We are under a lot of economic pressure, which is painful. But the main thing is we are terrified for his personal safety," Li added.

On Thursday about a dozen relatives and their lawyers gathered in blistering cold outside the Hexi District Detention Centre in Tianjin, in yet another attempt to seek answers -- but were met with a wall of silence.

"If they are not released we will fight on," Li declared. "Yesterday when I left home I was followed, there is nothing I could do but leave my child at home," she added.

The three-year-old is not the only child to suffer in the crackdown -- Bao Zhuoxuan, 16, whose mother Wang Yu is among the detained lawyers, is also being held under a form of house arrest, friends say.

The teenager was seized in October after trying to escape China overland to neighbouring Myanmar, state-run media said.

State television showed Wang and her husband -- also a detained lawyer -- breaking down in tears on hearing the news of their son's capture.

- 'Worries, disappointment, pain' -

Among the missing are two legal assistants in their twenties.

Working to defend some of China's most vulnerable people seemed natural for one of them -- 24-year-old Zhao Wei, who cooked meals for HIV/Aids patients at university, and had taken part in feminist protests for more women's toilets, her husband You Minglei told AFP.

A state security agent travelled some 1,400 kilometres (900 miles) with him from his hometown to Tianjin as he tried to seek answers, and insisted on sleeping in the same hotel room.

"It was one room, two beds," he said.

In an account posted on the Internet which she confirmed to AFP, Zhao's mother described travelling to Tianjin for her daughter's 24th birthday, some 100 days after she went missing.

"I had massive worries, disappointment and pain, there was no way to express my feelings in words," she said.

"I said it's my daughter's birthday, I want to give her a cake and some clothes. Policeman Zhao said: that's not permitted," she added, referring to the policeman she met at the scene.

"I told policeman Zhao I was looking for my daughter. I asked: 'What crime has she committed?' He answered: 'Don't you watch television?'"

Family members and lawyers of detained lawyers and their colleagues seek answers at the Hexi District Detention Centre in Tianjin on January 8, 2016 Fred Dufour (AFP)

Li Wenzu learned her husband had been detained from a television broadcast labelling his law firm as rabble-rousing criminals

At least 16 lawyers and their colleagues remain detained, most under a rule that lets them be held at locations outside official facilities for six months FRED DUFOUR (AFP)
Man arrested over Facebook threat to Cambodian premier

A Cambodian man has been charged with issuing death threats to strongman prime minister Hun Sen in a Facebook post, a rights activist and local media reported on Friday.

The man, 25, is accused of being behind a post that predicted January 7 -- the anniversary of the toppling of the Khmer Rouge by Vietnamese-backed troops -- would bring Hun Sen's death.

"He was arrested yesterday (on Thursday). He was sent to Phnom Penh municipal court this morning," Am Sam Ath, an activist at local rights group Licadho, told AFP.

A Cambodian suspect is escorted by police officials at Phnom Penh municipal court on January 8, 2016

He faces up to two-and-a-half years in jail if found guilty on charges of issuing the apparent death threat as well as insulting the premier.

The arrest was made a few days after Hun Sen launched a new mobile app and a website in an attempt to engage the public, especially young voters, many of whom support the opposition, which made major gains in 2013 elections.

While Hun Sen has said he was open to constructive criticism, he has warned Facebook users who insult him that they could be easily traced.

Last year, a 25-year-old student was arrested over an alleged Facebook post calling for a "colour revolution" in the country.

A Cambodian opposition senator was also held for posting a doctored document on Facebook about the border with Vietnam, a deeply sensitive issue amongst nationalists in Cambodia.

He faces up to 17 years in jail if convicted.

Cambodia opposition leader Sam Rainsy has been linked to the same offence and is currently in self-imposed exile to avoid arrest warrants associated with that incident and an old defamation case.
Swiss woman abducted by Mali gunmen in Timbuktu for second time

Gunmen have abducted a Swiss woman from her home in fabled Timbuktu in northern Mali, the second time she has been taken captive, officials told AFP on Friday.

Beatrice Stockly's capture is the first in the area since the kidnap and murder of two French journalists late November 2013 in Kidal.

"Beatrice, a Swiss citizen, was kidnapped in her home in Timbuktu by gunmen," a Timbuktu government official told AFP.

Beatrice Stockly (centre) on board a helicopter on her way to Ouagadougou airport on April 24, 2012, after being adbucted for the first time by an extremist Islamic group. She returned to her home in Timbuktu a year after the kidnapping

A Malian security source said armed men had gone to her home Thursday evening, "knocked on the door, she opened, and they left with her."

"There is no doubt that the perpetrators are jihadists," another Malian security source, adding that searches were on and that two people had been arrested in Timbuktu.

In Bern, the Swiss foreign ministry said it was "aware of the apparent kidnapping of a Swiss woman in Mali" and was in contact with her relatives and the local authorities.

The ministry said its crisis management centre had "formed a task force immediately after the kidnapping incident was announced," and that it was "committed to achieving the release of the Swiss citizen in good health."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the capture of Stockly, a woman in her 40s who has lived in Timbuktu for years and was kidnapped a first time in April 2012 by Islamist fighters.

The social worker was said at the time to be the last Westerner living in the legendary desert city, which she refused to leave when it fell to Islamist Ansar Dine rebels on April 1.

Two weeks later, special forces from Burkina Faso swept into rebel-held northern Mali aboard a helicopter and whisked her to safety in a pre-arranged handover by Islamist rebels.

Stockly at the time appeared tired but in high spirits on the helicopter flying her to the Burkina capital Ouagadougou after Ansar Dine handed her over in Timbuktu.

"I am offering you freedom chocolates," she told the officials, security personnel and an AFP journalist on the helicopter, after fumbling through her leather satchel and, with a beaming smile, producing chocolate.

Ansar Dine's 2012 assault on Timbuktu had been backed by fighters from Al-Qaeda's north Africa branch, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

- 'High risk of kidnapping' -

At the time a loose alliance of Tuareg and Islamist rebels took advantage of the political chaos in Mali's capital that followed a March 22 army coup by capturing the country's vast desert north, including Timbuktu.

Stockly's capture that year brought to 24 the number of hostages seized in the Sahel region, 20 of them held by AQIM and another Islamist group, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).

Almost all were subsequently released, but three foreign hostages seized, a South African, a Swede and a Romanian remain in captivity.

The Swiss foreign ministry stressed Friday that it since December 2009 had warned against travel to Mali "due to the high risk of kidnapping."

After Stockly's kidnapping in 2012, the ministry said it had discouraged her from another stay in Mali.

The jihadist fighters were chased from Mali's vast remote north in 2013 by a French-led military intervention.

A regional French counterterrorism force is still conducting operations in the area.

But entire swathes of the north remain beyond the reach of both the Malian army and foreign troops.

In November, 20 people, 14 of them foreigners, were killed in an attack claimed by jihadist groups on the Radisson Blu hotel in the capital, Bamako.

Large swathes of Mali remain lawless and prone to attacks Kenzo Tribouillard (AFP/File)
Syria jihadist 'kills mother' after she asked him to leave IS

An Islamic State jihadist killed his mother in a public square in the Syrian city of Raqa who begged him to leave the organisation, a monitor said Friday.

Ali Saqr, 20, had reported his mother, Lina, to IS authorities in Raqa "because she tried to persuade him to leave IS and flee the city," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Authorities subsequently arrested the woman and accused her of apostasy, the monitoring group said.

Islamic State (IS) fighters established the capital of their self-declared caliphate in Raqa after seizing control of the northern Syrian city in 2014

On Wednesday, she was shot to death by her son "in front of hundreds of people close to the mail service building in Raqa city," the Observatory added.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the woman, who was in her forties, was living in the nearby town of Tabaqa but worked in Raqa city.

The incident was widely condemned online by social media users.

Raqa is the de facto Syrian capital of IS's so-called "caliphate," the territories it controls in Syria and Iraq where it imposes its harsh interpretations of Islamic law.

Among the crimes that warrant a death sentence in IS territories are homosexuality, "exposing jihadist genitalia," adultery and intercourse with animals, according to the Observatory.

Other acts punishable by death range from blocking roads to "betraying Muslims" and working with anti-IS groups including the "crusader" US-led coalition.

Even capturing and torturing an anti-IS activist or fighter without proper authorisation from jihadist authorities could be met with a death sentence.

But in IS-held territories, using child soldiers and "owning slaves", which are typically sexually abused, are both legal.

And the extremist group has been accused of carrying out mass killings, torture, rape and sexual slavery.

A US-led coalition has been striking the jihadists in Syria and Iraq for over a year.
Anti-Saudi protests in Iran as row smoulders

Anti-Saudi demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran to protest Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and after Iran accused its rival of bombing its embassy in Yemen.

Shiites also protested in the Saudi city of Qatif, near the hometown of the executed sheikh, Nimr al-Nimr, while in the Pakistani capital 1,500 people rallied against his execution.

The festering diplomatic crisis between the Middle East's leading Sunni and Shiite Muslim powers has raised sectarian tensions across the region and complicated efforts to resolve conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

Iranian protesters hold signs and shout slogans during a demonstration in Tehran on January 8, 2016 against the execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr

In a development that could further strain relations, Saudi media reported Friday that four Iranians would go on trial in the kingdom, one for spying and the other three for "terrorism".

Around 1,000 protestors marched through Tehran chanting "death to Al-Saud" -- Riyadh's ruling family, according to an AFP photographer.

Others shouted "death to America" and "death to Israel", frequent rallying cries at demonstrations in Iran.

Some carried placards with the picture of Nimr, the cleric and activist whose execution by Saudi Arabia on Saturday unleashed a wave of anger across the Shiite world.

Relations between the longtime adversaries hit a fresh low Thursday when Iran accused Saudi warplanes of deliberately targeting its embassy in Sanaa, damaging the property and seriously wounding a security guard.

The Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed rebels in Yemen denied carrying out an attack and insisted the diplomatic mission was "safe", but Tehran said it would take the matter to the UN Security Council.

- 'Delusional hype' -

Iran said it did not want to escalate tensions in the Middle East, but Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Riyadh was "spreading delusional hype about Iran" and accused the kingdom of "sectarian hate-mongering".

The Yemeni conflict, which pits Shiite Huthi rebels against pro-government forces backed by Riyadh and other Gulf Arab states, is one of the main sources of dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

During weekly prayers in Tehran, influential cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani told worshippers that Riyadh, along with Israel and the United States, was responsible for "all crimes committed against Muslims".

"The Zionist regime plans, the US supports and Saudi Arabia sources the necessary funds," Kashani said, according to state news agency IRNA.

Shiite protesters in eastern Saudi Arabia called Friday for the "death" of the Sunni-majority kingdom's ruling Al-Saud family at a rally to honour Nimr, a witness said.

Pictures from the city of Qatif showed what appeared to be hundreds of demonstrators, many clad in black.

Around 1,500 people also rallied in Islamabad against the execution.

Nimr was executed along with 46 other prisoners who Riyadh said were "terrorists".

In response, protesters in Iran stormed and set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in the second city of Mashhad.

Iran denounced those attacks, but the repercussions quickly rippled across the region and beyond with Saudi allies Bahrain, Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan following Riyadh's example and cutting diplomatic ties with Tehran.

At the same time, the United Arab Emirates has downgraded relations with Iran, while Kuwait and Qatar have recalled their ambassadors.

- Opposing sides -

Iran hit back Thursday by announcing a ban on imports from the kingdom, which will reportedly affect goods worth about $40 million (37 million euros).

The latest crisis threatens a fragile UN-backed initiative to end the war in Yemen, where the world body says at least 2,795 civilians have been killed since March.

Special UN envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed arrived in Riyadh Friday to meet Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, the government's delegation to the talks and political party leaders, as well as senior Saudi officials, the UN said in Geneva.

Iran and Saudi Arabia also support opposing sides in Syria. Tehran is providing military assistance to close ally President Bashar al-Assad against rebel groups, some backed by Saudi Arabia.

The growing tensions have heaped doubt on a UN-backed plan that foresees talks between the Syrian sides this month in a bid to end a war that has claimed more than a quarter of a million lives.

Saudi media said that the four Iranians set to stand trial in Saudi Arabia were arrested in 2013 and 2014, but they were not identified nor were the charges against them spelled out.

Saudi Shiite men hold signs bearing portraits of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr during a protest on January 8, 2016 in the eastern coastal city of Qatif

Iran has vowed to protest to the UN Security Council after claiming Saudi warplanes bombed its embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa Mohammed Huwais (AFP)

Iranian protesters set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran during a demonstration against the execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi authorities Mohammadreza Nadimi (ISNA/AFP/File)
Puerto Rico sued after debt default

Puerto Rico warned Friday that a lawsuit by insurers of its defaulted debt would plunge the US territory into a "litigation crisis", exacerbating its deep economic and financial problems.

Three days after it defaulted on a small part of its $70 billion in borrowings and warned of further defaults in the coming months, the heavily indebted Caribbean island was sued by bond insurer Ambac Financial Group.

Ambac said in the suit, filed Thursday in the US district court in Puerto Rico, that the Puerto Rican government had illegally "clawed back" or diverted revenues reserved for certain bond payments to be used to pay the government's general obligation (GO) bonds.

The Puerto Rico and US flags in the Old Town district in San Juan, Puerto Rico Paul J. Richards (AFP)

Ambac argued that such a move is only permitted if the government does not have other resources for the GO bonds.

However, it said in a statement: "For fiscal year 2016, the commonwealth forecasts approximately $9.0 billion of available resources, which vastly exceeds debt service on the public debt of approximately $1.85 billion."

Puerto Rico missed $37 million in payments on debt from small state-controlled units on Monday. It also "clawed back" some $163 million of reserved funds, using the money to make another nearly $1 billion in payments that were due January 4, including $328.7 million in GO bonds.

Ambac said those defaults had forced it to pay out $10 million in claims to bond investors.

Instead of negotiating with creditors, Puerto Rico "has committed itself to a 'scorched earth' strategy of blaming its fiscal and structural problems on lenders, Congress and others," said Ambac chief executive Nader Tavakoli in a statement.

But Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said Friday that, absent a strong legal framework for settling the island's debt problems, the litigation will exacerbate the island's "humanitarian crisis."

"With no legal framework to handle this impending litigation crisis both the commonwealth and its creditors will soon face the opposite of due process and rule of law," he said in a statement.

He renewed his call for the US Congress to pass legislation that would permit the territory to enter bankruptcy protection, providing a framework to restructure all its finances.

"Congress can still prevent this humanitarian crisis from spinning out of control by immediately enacting The Puerto Rico Emergency Financial Stability Act of 2015 introduced in December," he said.

People protest on Wall Street in New York on December 2, 2015 against cutbacks and austerity measures forced onto Puerto Rico Spencer Platt (Getty/AFP)
New technology puts health care in palm of your hand

Managing your health care is moving increasingly to the palm of your hand -- with new smartphone-enabled technology and wearable sensors that examine, diagnose and even treat many conditions and ailments.

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas saw the debut of new applications for "virtual checkups" and ways to treat pain, manage stress and monitor conditions such as diabetes.

French-based health group VisioMed introduced its Bewell Connect health management suite, which includes a smartphone app that communicates with its connected blood pressure and glucose monitor, thermometer and blood oxygen sensor.

The MedWand medical measurement multi-tool is displayed at CES 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 7, 2016 Robyn Beck (AFP/File)

"If I have all these indicators I can get a pretty good assessment of your health," said Benjamin Pennequin, research director for the group.

"This is like a personal virtual checkup."

But the app goes further: If you have symptoms such as chest pain or shortness of breath, it poses a series of questions and delivers potential diagnoses, and allows the user to share the data with a physician.

And a simple button on the app can connect you to a doctor: In France the app locates nearby providers in the national medical service, and Bewell is working to establish a network of connected physicians in the United States.

A hand-held connected device unveiled by Las Vegas-based startup MedWand allows consumers to measure temperature, heart rate, oxygen levels and includes a camera to examine the throat and inner ear to enable doctors to perform an exam online.

Lead engineer Terry MacNeish said the data from the $250 gadget allows for a more thorough exam than most other kinds of telemedicine.

"If you're just Skyping your doctor, it's just medical chat," MacNeish said. "With this we can get a picture of your tonsils, we can take your temperature. It's much more precise."

MedWand is in the pre-approval phase for clearance by the US Food and Drug Administration, and is expected to complete the process in 2016, according to inventor and CEO Samir Qamar.

MedWand is working with existing telemedicine doctors and hopes to start selling the device in June in the United States and globally.

MacNeish said insurance companies are generally positive towards the product because a telemedicine exam costs less than one in a doctor's office.

"The patient saves a lot of time and so does the doctor," he said.

- Continuous monitoring -

Putting more health data in consumers' hands is a big theme at CES.

US-based medical device maker Omron unveiled its wrist-worn blood pressure sensor which delivers information to a smartphone.

"Most people only get their blood pressure checked at the doctor's office once or twice a year," said chief operating officer Ranndy Kellogg.

"This is continuous monitoring. If there is something wrong with your heart, you really want to listen."

Tech-savvy startups and others are introducing new ways to treat pain, in some cases taking techniques which have been around for decades and adapting them for smartphones and connected wearables.

NeuroMetrix debuted its Quell leg band, which blocks pain signals to the brain, and is an alternative to drugs for people suffering from debilitating pain related to diabetes or other ailments.

It recently received approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

NeuroMetrix founder Shai Gozani, a medical doctor who also has a PhD in neurobiology, said the device "triggers your brain to upgrade its pain modulation" by acting on the opioid receptors in the same manner as opiates -- but without drugs.

- Hacking pain -

While Quell is a device which treats pain anywhere in the body from a single band, iTens offers a smartphone-controlled patch which attaches to specific muscles to treat pain, using technology known as TENS, or transcutaneous elenctical neuromuscular stimulation.

The technology has been around for decades in hospital settings but is only now hitting the consumer market with smartphone technology and sensor-embedded devices.

"The electrical impulse intercepts the pain signal before it reaches the brain," said iTens spokesman Scott Overton, showing the device on the CES floor.

Tech innovators have found other paths to effectively hack into the body's neural pathways for therapy.

Biotrak Health showcased a headband to help users control muscle tension that often leads to migraines and other kinds of pain.

The Halo headband "alerts you when you are tense and allows you to control your own tension," said spokesman Adam Kirell.

A wrist-worn device from ReliefBand technologies takes aim at nausea associated with motion and morning sickness.

The device, which looks like a wristwatch, acts on the P6 or median nerve -- the same technique used in centuries-old treatment from acupuncture.
Australian PM to visit White House this month

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will hold talks with President Barack Obama at the White House later this month, his first Washington visit since taking office.

Turnbull, who came to power in September, is expected to give a major foreign policy speech during a two day visit beginning January 18, followed by an Oval Office meeting with Obama, according to sources familiar with the plans.

Talks are likely to focus on the fight against the Islamic State group and ratification of the 12-nation trans-Pacific trade deal.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull delivers a speech at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo on December 18, 2015 Atsushi Tomura (Pool/AFP/File)

Australia recently began air strikes against IS targets in Syria as part of a US-led coalition.

Obama invited Turnbull to make an inaugural visit to the White House during a first meeting in Manila in November.
Timeline of IS expansion in Libya

The Islamic State group, which has claimed two deadly attacks in Libya, moved in 2014 into the country, fertile ground for jihadists after the ouster of dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

IS has become yet another player in the lawless North African country, where rival governments and militias are already battling for control of territory and major oil reserves.

-- 2014 --

An image from Islamist media outlet Welayat Tarablos on February 18, 2015 allegedly shows members of the Islamic State group parading in a street in Libya's coastal city of Sirte

- November 19: The US State Department says it is "concerned" by reports that radical extremists with avowed ties to IS are destabilising eastern Libya, having already seized vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

News reports say the eastern coastal city of Derna is emerging as an IS stronghold and has been transformed into an "Islamic emirate".

- December 27: A car bomb claimed by IS explodes outside the diplomatic security building in Tripoli without causing casualties.

-- 2015 --

- January 8: IS claims to have killed two Tunisian journalists -- Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari -- who went missing in September.

- January 27: IS claims an attack on Tripoli's luxury Corinthia Hotel. Nine people are killed, including an American, a French national, a South Korean and two Filipinos.

- February 15: IS releases a video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians, all but one of them Egyptians, that the jihadists say they captured in January. Egypt carries out air strikes on IS in Derna.

- February 20: IS claims suicide car bombings in Al-Qoba, near Derna, that kill 44. It says the attacks are to avenge losses in the air strikes.

- April 19: A new video shows the execution of 28 Christians originally from Ethiopia.

- June 9: IS announces it has captured Sirte, east of Tripoli. It already controlled the city's airport.

- July 12: The group acknowledges it has been pushed out of Derna, after several weeks of fierce fighting with members of the Mujahedeen Council of the town.

- August 11: Heavy fighting erupts in Sirte, where inhabitants took up arms to fight IS, leaving dozens of people dead.

- November 5: A chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court says IS jihadists are killing more civilians in Libya than the other warring factions. IS is blamed for 27 of 37 suicide attacks in the country in the year.

- November 13: The US bombs IS leaders in Libya for the first time and says it killed Abu Nabil, an Iraqi also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi. He is identified by Libyan officials as the head of IS in Derna.

- December 4: France says it has carried out reconnaissance flights over Libya in November, notably at Sirte, and plans others.

-- 2016 --

- January 4: IS launches an offensive to seize oil terminals in Ras Lanouf and Al-Sidra, which lie in an "oil crescent" along the northern coast.
Attack on Egypt resort wounds 3 European tourists

A hotel on Egypt's Red Sea coast came under attack Friday, leaving three European tourists wounded before the security forces shot dead an assailant and wounded another.

It was the second attack in as many days on holidaymakers in Egypt, where vital tourist revenues have slumped since a Russian passenger jet plane crashed with the Islamic State group claiming to have downed it.

A police official said security forces stopped the attack on the Bella Vista hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, with one assailant killed and another "seriously wounded".

Egyptians enjoy the beach along the Red Sea resort of Hurghada on June 23, 2010

The assailants were armed with knives when they attacked the hotel, police said.

According to the interior ministry, the assailants entered the hotel from a restaurant on the street front.

"Unknown assailants infiltrated into the hotel through the restaurant that faces the street and threatened clients with knives," an interior ministry statement said.

It said security forces "confronted them as they tried to flee", with one of them killed, a student in his 20s, and the other seriously wounded.

The tourists -- two from Austria and one from Sweden -- were "slightly wounded", police said.

Health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed told AFP they "have suffered knife wounds but they are in stable condition".

A tourist agent whose works nearby told AFP that police evacuated the hotel while bomb disposal experts entered the building to check for any explosives.

The identity of the assailants was not immediately clear but Egypt has been roiled by mainly jihadist violence since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The attacks have largely focused on security forces in reprisal for a fierce crackdown on Morsi supporters.

Friday's attack was the second in as many days against Egypt hotels.

- Attacks claimed by IS -

On Thursday a gang of youths hurled fireworks and birdshot at a bus and police guarding Cairo's Three Pyramids Hotel near the pyramids of Giza, without hurting anyone, according to officials and witnesses.

A security official said about 40 Arab Israelis were inside waiting to board a bus when the attack occurred.

The Islamic State group on Friday claimed responsibility for that attack.

IS also claimed responsibility for downing a Russian passenger plane on October 31 after it took off from the airport of Sharm el-Sheikh, another Egyptian Red Sea resort, killing all 224 people on board.

But Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has dismissed the claim as "propaganda" and promised a transparent probe into the Russian plane tragedy.

He also promised that the government would support the tourism industry, a cornerstone of Egypt's faltering economy.

After the Russian plane tragedy, major tourist operators suspended packages to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, while Russia halted all flights to and from Egypt and Britain suspended air links with Sharm el-Sheikh.

The resorts which Egypt promoted as jewels of its tourism industry have attracted millions of holidaymakers, including Russians, Britons and Italians, and are famed for their pristine beaches and scuba diving.

The tourism industry has been dealt several blows in 2015.

In September, eight Mexican tourists were mistakenly killed by Egyptian security forces in the vast Western Desert.

And in June, police foiled an attempted suicide bomb attack near the famed Karnak temple in Luxor -- one of Egypt's most popular heritage attractions -- when 600 tourists were inside.

Nine Egyptians were sentenced in November to life in prison for their involvement in that failed attack, while two others were jailed for seven years.
UN pulls DR Congo troops from C. Africa mission

The United Nations has asked the Democratic Republic of Congo to repatriate its peacekeepers from the Central African Republic after they failed to meet UN standards, a spokesman said Friday.

The Congolese troops serving in the MINUSCA force underwent two reviews by UN peacekeeping officials who found that they "only partially" met UN requirements "in terms of equipment, vetting and preparedness," said spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

"In light of this result, the battalion from the Democratic Republic of the Congo currently deployed to MINUSCA will be repatriated without replacement," he said.

United Nations peacekeepers patrol on January 2, 2016 in Bangui Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)

In August, allegations surfaced that three peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of Congo had raped three young women in the town of Bambari, northeast of the capital Bangui.

There are 807 troops and 118 police from the DR Congo serving in the 10,000-strong MINUSCA force.
Migrants 'face beatings, abuse' trying to enter Spanish territory

Migrants trying to enter the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa from Morocco have faced beatings and other abuses from police, a migrants' rights group said Friday.

The Moroccan Association for the Integration of Immigrants, which is based in Malaga in southern Spain, said six migrants had been killed since December 25 trying to make the dangerous crossing.

Three migrants drowned and 19 others were hospitalised on Christmas Day attempting to enter the territory by swimming from Morocco or scaling a barbed-wire fence, the rights group said in a statement.

Would-be migrants line up outside the police station to register, in the Spanish enclave of Melilla on March 20, 2014 Blasco de Avellaneda (AFP/File)

Those hurt and killed were part of a group of over 300 migrants who were trying to reach Ceuta, which is located across the Strait of Gibraltar from mainland Spain.

A total of 185 migrants managed to enter the Spanish territory but a "large group" was arrested by Moroccan authorities and released in cities in southern Morocco, the statement said.

Another three migrants drowned on Monday and about 20 were hospitalised when hundreds of migrants once again tried to cross into Ceuta from Morocco, the association said.

Two men and a woman are in critical condition and will need surgery to repair fractured bones in their legs and hands, it added.

"Two of the victims said the fractures they suffered were due to the violence and abuse exercised on the part of security forces against them," the statement said.

About 250 migrants who tried to enter Ceuta at this attempt were arrested by Moroccan authorities and taken to cities in southern Morocco, including several who were in critical condition, it added.

The association said it was "extremely worried" by the rise in the "acts of violence against migrants in border areas of Ceuta" and called for an investigation into the actions of security forces in the region.

Ceuta, along with Melilla to the east, are Spanish territories on the northern coast of Morocco that together form the European Union's only land borders with Africa.

Spain fortified fences in the two territories last year in response to a rise in the number of migrants trying to jump over the barriers from Morocco.

In February 2014, 15 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean after dozens tried to enter Ceuta by swimming from a nearby beach.

Human rights groups and migrants said the Spanish police tried to keep them from crossing into Spanish territory by firing rubber bullets and spraying them with tear gas.
Yemen rescinds expulsion of UN rights official: diplomats

Yemen told the United Nations on Friday that it has rescinded its decision to expel the leading UN rights official in the country, diplomats said.

The Yemeni foreign ministry announced a day earlier that it had declared George Abu al-Zulof persona non grata, accusing him of lacking impartiality in his reporting on the human rights situation.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had urged the Saudi-backed government to reverse its decision and allow Zulof to stay, warning that Yemen would be falling short of its obligations by "impeding" UN human rights work.

Yemenis check the rubble of the building of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry which was destroyed during air strikes on the capital, Sanaa, on January 5, 2016 Mohammed Huwais (AFP/File)

Diplomats said Yemen's foreign ministry had notified the United Nations that the decision had been reversed and was to send official confirmation.

Relations between the United Nations and the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi have become testy over the world body's increasingly vocal criticism of the Saudi-led coalition's air campaign in Yemen.

Earlier on Friday, Ban said he had received "troubling reports" of cluster bomb attacks on January 6 on the rebel-held capital Sanaa and warned that the use of these munitions "may amount to a war crime."

Cluster bombs are banned under a 2008 international convention, although Saudi Arabia and the United States are not signatories.

The UN chief said he was "deeply concerned about the intensification of coalition airstrikes and ground fighting and shelling in Yemen, despite repeated calls for a renewed cessation of hostilities."

He is "particularly concerned about reports of intense airstrikes in residential areas and on civilian buildings in Sanaa, including the Chamber of Commerce, a wedding hall and a center for the blind," said the statement.

UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was in Riyadh on Friday for talks on renewing a ceasefire in Yemen, which faces the threat of famine amid the dire humanitarian crisis.

Yemen descended into chaos when the coalition began airstrikes in March to push back Iran-backed Huthi rebels who had seized Sanaa.

More than 5,800 people have been killed and 27,000 wounded since then, according to UN figures.

Yemen's government sat down with the rebels and their allies in Switzerland last month for six days of talks that ended with no major breakthrough.
Tech tethers dog lovers remotely to their pets

Gadgets galore are letting dog lovers stay connected to their pets even when they can't take canine companions with them on the go.

A sea of innovations on display at the famously people-centric Consumer Electronics Show on Friday included a wave of technology aimed at those who consider pets cherished family members.

"Everybody loves their pets," said Mike Jander of Trackimo, one of several companies showing off tracking devices that can be affixed to collars and reveal where animals run off to.

Wonderwoof bow-tie shaped activity trackers for dogs were among the innovations at the Consumer Electronics Show virtually tethering people to their canine companions as seen on January 7, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada Glenn Chapman (AFP/File)

A Trackimo clip-on device, which was on display at CES, can send an alert to an owner's smartphone if a dog ventures past a geo-fence -- a designated virtual barrier -- and then track the pet's whereabouts by satellite, according to Jander.

- 'Fitbit for dogs' -

Wondermento, which has offices in the US and Britain, showed off a bow-tie-shaped plastic activity tracker -- the Wonderwoof -- that chief technology officer Joe Morsman described as "a Fitbit for dogs."

"There are other pet trackers out there, but this is purely about the health," Morsman said of Wonderwoof.

"This is a fun, social way to exercise your dog."

He recounted leaving his dog at a kennel that promised four long walks daily, only to be shown by the device that the pet got only two brief outings a day.

"We now do home stays with other dog owners," Morsman said.

Applications tailored for mobile devices powered by Apple or Android software come free with the $95 Wonderwoof bow tie.

The apps let users see if other Wonderwoof-wearing dogs are out and about. Wondermento plans to add features allowing those owners to connect with each other while out.

"We are trying to accentuate the social element of walking your dog," Morsman told AFP.

"Wonderwoof is also very much a talking point; people stop you to ask what it is."

Wondermento describes the doggy device as a "fashion-forward brand with a fun social element."

The company is working on an enhanced indoor version that will use location sensing to let people know if pets are pining at a door or making unusually frequent trips to water bowls.

The company is also developing an activity tracker for cats.

- 'Massive market' -

"There is a huge interest in pet wearables," Morsman told AFP.

"It is a massive market."

People don't want to feel they are abandoning their dogs while off at work, he said, and technology is letting them stay virtually tethered.

A Petcube camera that links to wireless internet in homes lets people not only look in on pets but play with them remotely. Owners can use a smartphone app to make a point of laser light appear and flit about in the house while a cat or dog pursues it.

Petcube also has a speaker and microphone so people can talk to pets, whether to comfort them or to stop them from nosing into trash or hopping onto counters.

Petnet was at CES with a SmartBowl that incorporates scales and nutritional information to make sure dogs get just the right amount of food.

"Most people just guess at how much to feed their dogs," said Petnet founder Carlos Herrera. "This lets them know."

The California company also has a SmartFeeder that lets people remotely monitor eating habits and dispense meals.
Oklahoma cuts public school funding by $47 million

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  Some Oklahoma school districts could be forced to close their doors as a result of about $47 million in funding cuts due to the state's budget crisis, Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said Thursday.

The State Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to accept the recommended funding cuts of about 3 percent of the current fiscal year's school budget.

Hofmeister, a first-term Republican, said while it's difficult to know how each district will handle the cuts, schools that rely heavily on state funding and districts with depleted reserves will be most affected.

"We do know that some school districts are going to have a very difficult time remaining open," she said.

While it's too early to tell which districts may be forced to shut down or consolidate, department spokesman Phil Bacharach said it's possible some could happen before the end of the current school year.

Rather than impose across-the-board cuts, Hofmeister recommended a budget that imposes reductions to specific programs in order to cushion the pain for schools that use the per-student formula.

Deeper cuts were implemented for advanced placement teacher training and test-fee assistance (55 percent reduction), staff development for schools (50 percent) and school lunch matching funds (30 percent). Money for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM, education initiatives was completely eliminated.

"It is hard to imagine a scenario where students will not be negatively impacted with these particular cuts at this point in our academic year," she said.

Mid-year cuts are difficult because districts already are committed to funding teacher salaries and other programs and services for students, according to Norman Public Schools Superintendent Joe Siano.

His 16,000-student district will be able to absorb most of the cuts by tapping into its reserve fund, he said, but it will cause problems in the coming budget year, when the Legislature is projected to have about 12 percent less money to dole out overall.

"Next year you're going to see even greater challenges because these reserves will have been drained," Siano said.

Hofmeister said it's possible that additional cuts could be ordered in the spring if a revenue failure is declared for separate funds that are dedicated to public schools.

___
Massive gas leak has cost utility company $50 million

LOS ANGELES (AP)  A utility company said it has spent about $50 million because of a massive leak from an underground natural gas storage well near Los Angeles.

The parent company of Southern California Gas Co. filed papers Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission with the estimate for costs associated with trying to stop the leak and to reimburse people who have been displaced by a sickening stench.

The company said in the filing that it expects to keep running up similar costs at least until the well is capped. It said, however, that it has four types of insurance that should cover the costs, along with the expense of litigation stemming from the leak.

Porter Ranch Estates sit at the foothills near a Southern California Gas Co. gas well that has been leaking methane daily near the community Porter Ranch, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over the massive natural-gas leak that has been spewing methane and other gases into a Los Angeles neighborhood for months, sickening residents and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

The leak has been out-of-control since late October and has driven thousands of people out of the upscale Los Angeles community of Porter Ranch.

A SoCalGas executive says it is paying to relocate 2,800 households and is trying to find temporary homes for 1,700 others.

The revelation came a day after California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over the leak.

Also Thursday, Democratic leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee in Washington wrote seeking answers from the heads of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which share jurisdiction over the leak.

The leaders ask that they be briefed in the next week on what is being done to mitigate the leak and its "potentially disastrous effects," they said in a statement.

Porter Ranch Estates sit at the foothills near a Southern California Gas Co. gas well that has been leaking methane daily near the community Porter Ranch, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over the massive natural-gas leak that has been spewing methane and other gases into a Los Angeles neighborhood for months, sickening residents and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

Porter Ranch Estates sit at the foothills near a Southern California Gas Co. gas well that has been leaking methane daily near the community Porter Ranch, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over the massive natural-gas leak that has been spewing methane and other gases into a Los Angeles neighborhood for months, sickening residents and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

A guard gate is manned at the entrance of the Southern California Gas Co. gas fields where a gas well has been leaking methane daily near the community Porter Ranch, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over the massive natural-gas leak that has been spewing methane and other gases into a Los Angeles neighborhood for months, sickening residents and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

A sign declares the boundary line of the Southern California Gas Co. gas fields where a gas well has been leaking methane daily near the community Porter Ranch, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over the massive natural-gas leak that has been spewing methane and other gases into a Los Angeles neighborhood for months, sickening residents and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

Porter Ranch Estates sit at the foothills near a Southern California Gas Co. gas well that has been leaking methane daily near the community Porter Ranch, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over the massive natural-gas leak that has been spewing methane and other gases into a Los Angeles neighborhood for months, sickening residents and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

This photo taken Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016 shows a truck leaving the Southern California Gas Co. facility, where a natural gas well has been leaking uncontrollably for 11 weeks, in the Porter Ranch section of Los Angeles. California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over a massive natural-gas leak that has been spewing methane and other gases into a Los Angeles neighborhood for months, sickening residents and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/Brian Melley)
The Latest: Oregon Sheriff meets leader of armed group

BURNS, Ore. (AP)  The latest on an armed group that took over federal buildings at an Oregon wildlife refuge (all times local):

3:54 p.m.

An Oregon sheriff met with the leader of a small, armed group that has been occupying a national wildlife refuge for almost a week and asked them to leave peacefully.

Harney County Sheriff David Ward arrives to a community meeting at the Harney County fairgrounds Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Burns, Ore. With the takeover entering its fourth day Wednesday, authorities had not removed the group of roughly 20 people from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon's high desert country. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Harney County Sheriff David Ward and Ammon Bundy met Thursday afternoon. The sheriff's office said via Twitter that Ward asked Bundy to respect the wishes of local residents and leave the area. The sheriff's office said the two sides planned to talk again Friday.

Ward was cheered at a packed community meeting in Bend, Oregon, on Wednesday evening when he said the group needed to leave so local people could get back to their lives.

The group objecting to federal land policy seized buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon's high desert country on Saturday. Authorities have not yet stepped in to remove the group of roughly two dozen people, some from as far away as Arizona and Michigan.

Bundy has told reporters they will leave when there's a plan in place to turn over federal lands to locals. The group also objects to a lengthy prison sentence for two local ranchers convicted of arson.

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3:25 p.m.

The group objecting to federal land policy seized buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon's high desert country on Saturday. Authorities have not yet stepped in to remove the group of roughly two dozen people, some from as far away as Arizona and Michigan.

Ward told hundreds of people gathered at a community meeting Wednesday evening that the group needed to leave so local people could get back to their lives.

Group leader Ammon Bundy has told reporters they will leave when there's a plan in place to turn over federal lands to locals. The group also objects to a lengthy prison sentence for two local ranchers convicted of arson.

Ryan Bundy, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, walks to a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. A small, armed group occupying the wildlife preserve has said repeatedly that local people should control federal lands, but critics say the lands are already managed to help everyone from ranchers to recreationalists. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Uzbek man sentenced to 25 years on terror-related charges

BOISE, Idaho (AP)  An Uzbek refugee authorities say had an unwavering commitment to kill personnel at a military base or civilians at crowded Fourth of July celebrations in downtown Boise, Idaho, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Fazliddin Kurbanov received the sentence Thursday that includes three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. He will also face deportation proceedings after serving the prison sentence.

A federal jury in August convicted Kurbanov of conspiracy, attempting to support a terrorist organization and possession of bomb-making components. Kurbanov has maintained his innocence.

"Your honor," Kurbanov told U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge through an interpreter, "I'd like to say that I'm not a terrorist. I've never been a terrorist."

But Lodge in handing down the sentence said Kurbanov "intended to commit jihad against the United States."

Prosecutors say the 33-year-old Russian-speaking truck driver who fled Uzbekistan in 2009 downloaded jihadist and martyrdom videos from a terrorist website and communicated with a terrorist organization, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Authorities monitored his communications and arrested him in 2013.

Besides targeting Boise, authorities said, Kurbanov also discussed with a confidential FBI source targeting military bases, in particular West Point Military Academy in New York.

Kurbanov received 15 years each on the first two counts to be served concurrently and 10 years on possessing the bomb-making components to be served after completing the 15-year sentences.

Defense attorney Chuck Peterson asked Lodge for a sentence in the 13-year range, noting Kurbanov hadn't actually harmed anyone and would be deported after prison.

"That's punishment enough for what he did," Peterson said.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Aaron Lucoff asked Lodge to sentence Kurbanov to 35 years in prison.

"Society needs to be protected from this defendant," Lucoff told Lodge. Lucoff said Kurbanov wanted to strike Americans on U.S. soil to avenge U.S. military action in central Asia.

Prosecutors called four witnesses at the sentencing hearing, one an FBI agent and explosives expert and three jail workers at the Ada County Jail. They also showed videos of Kurbanov in the jail spitting on a jail deputy and spitting on a camera and other areas of a special holding cell. One of the jail workers testified that Kurbanov soaked paper towels with his urine and threw it into another inmate's cell.

Lodge said he was "taken aback" by the videos and testimony. He also said Kurbanov lacked an appreciation for a system of government that would spend more than $1 million on his defense on the foundational idea that anyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty.
Sanders to discuss family leave policies in Iowa

WASHINGTON (AP)  Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to outline steps to provide workers with three months of paid family and medical leave, seeking to draw a contrast with Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton on how it would be paid for.

Sanders was set to have a news conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Friday to discuss his support for a Senate bill that would offer paid leave for people when they have a child or when their family members become sick.

The Sanders campaign said the bill, proposed by New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, would be paid for by raising payroll taxes on a typical worker by $1.61 per week. The senator has tried to use the bill, authored by Clinton's successor in the Senate, to bolster his standing in Iowa among women and working families.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a campaign event, at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. (Mikayla Whitmore/Las Vegas Sun via AP) LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said the senator considered raising the tax "a good investment" and said it was comparable to "the same kind of modest investment" used to pay for Social Security and Medicare.

Clinton has opposed the measure because she has vowed not to raise taxes on families earning $250,000 a year or less. She also supports offering three months of paid leave for workers but has not yet said how she would pay for the plan.

Both Clinton and Sanders have sought to build upon the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, a law signed by President Bill Clinton that required employers to offer workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid family and medical leave.

"Hillary believes we can do this without asking working people to pay for it. Her view is that we can ask the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes and that will cover paid leave," Ann O'Leary, the Clinton campaign's senior policy adviser, said in a statement.

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On Twitter follow Ken Thomas: https://twitter.com/kthomasDC
The Latest: Feds say terrorism arrests made in 2 states

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  6:20 p.m.

Federal authorities in Texas have charged an Iraqi refugee with attempting to support the Islamic State.

They unsealed the indictment in Houston on Thursday as authorities in California charged a Syrian refugee with lying about his travels to fight in Syria.

The arrests feed a national debate over whether the United States is doing enough to screen refugees from Syria.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston says 24-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan of Houston was indicted Wednesday on three charges of trying to provide material support to the Islamic State.

The criminal complaint unsealed in Sacramento, California, accuses 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab of traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to investigators about it.

Authorities say both men are Palestinians born in Iraq.

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5:19 p.m.

Authorities say they have arrested two people on terrorism-related charges in California and Texas.

A criminal complaint unsealed Thursday accuses a Sacramento man of traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to investigators about it.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento says 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, an Iraqi citizen, was arrested Thursday morning in Sacramento.

He is charged with making a false statement involving international terrorism.

Meanwhile, the governor and lieutenant governor of Texas praised the arrest in Houston of what Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called a terror suspect.

Patrick says in a statement that the arrests may have prevented a terror-related event.
From his pictures on Facebook, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab looks like any other millenial with a wardrobe of Nike sneakers, Ray-Ban sunglasses and flannel shirts.

But federal officials say the 23 year old was living a double life - one as a refugee starting a new life in America and another as a young man anxious to return to the Middle East to fight in the Syrian Civil War.

The Iraqi-born Palestinian man was arrested Thursday in Sacramento, California on charges he was plotting to travel to Syria to join the al-Nusra Front terrorist organization.

According to a criminal complaint against Al-Jayab, he communicated on social media about his intentions to return to Syria and also lied to citizenship officials about his travels to the country and ties to terrorist organizations.

Meanwhile, another Middle Eastern immigrant named Omar Faraj Saeed al Hardan, 24, was arrested in Houston, Texas on Thursday as well on three charges of trying to provide material support to the Islamic state.

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Like any other millennial: Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23 (pictured), of Sacramento, California, has been accused of traveling to Syria to fight for a terrorist organization there, and then lying about it when he returned to the U.S.

Stylish: Authorities say there is no indication that Al-Jayab (pictured) was planning any sort of domestic attack on the U.S. Pictured above wearing what appear to be Ray-Ban brand sunglasses

The arrests feed a national debate over whether the United State is doing enough to screen refugees from Syria for terrorists from that nation.

Authorities say there was no indication either man was planning attacks in the United States.

Al Hardan's arrest sparked immediate criticism of the Obama administration's refugee policies from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

'This is precisely why I called for a halt to refugees entering the U.S. from countries substantially controlled by terrorists,' Abbott said in a statement.

'I once again urge the President to halt the resettlement of these refugees in the United States until there is an effective vetting process that will ensure refugees do not compromise the safety of Americans and Texans.'

Both men are Palestinians born in Iraq, authorities said.

California boy: Al-Jayab (pictured) was born in Iraq to Palestinian parents, but emigrated to live in the U.S.

Poses: Al-Jayab takes up a brooding post next to a Toyota car in this picture posted to his Facebook

The complaint in federal court in Sacramento said Al-Jayab came to the United States from Syria as a refugee in October 2012. While living in Arizona and Wisconsin, he communicated on social media about his intent to return to Syria to fight for terrorist organizations and discussed his previous experience fighting against the regime in Syria.

When he was interviewed by citizenship officials, he lied about his travels and ties, the complaint alleges.

He left the United States in November 2013, but he came to Sacramento in January 2014, the FBI said in a 20-page affidavit.

Armed: The complaint in federal court in Sacramento said Al-Jayab (pictured) came to the United States from Syria as a refugee in October 2012

Travels: While living in Arizona and Wisconsin, Al-Jayab (pictured) communicated on social media about his intent to return to Syria to fight for terrorist organizations and discussed his previous experience fighting against the regime in Syria.

Social media and other accounts say that as soon as he arrived in the United States, he began saying he wanted to return to Syria to 'work,' which the FBI says is believed to be a reference 'to assisting in and supporting violent jihad.'

It says it appears he wanted to assist the 'Front,' which the FBI says was 'likely a reference to al Nusrah Front,' considered a terrorist organization affiliated with Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Authorities said he fought with various terrorist organizations, including Ansar al-Islam, which in 2014 merged with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after Al-Jayab had returned to the United States.

In another message, Al-Jayab describes first joining the fighting shortly after he turned 16.

In April 2013, the affidavit says Al-Jayab communicated with an unnamed individual living in Texas to see if he could receive training in various weapons, including the M16 military assault rifle.

'I am eager to see blood,' Al-Jayab wrote to another individual the same month, according to the affidavit.

A few days later, he described, during earlier fighting, emptying seven ammunition magazines from his assault rifle during a battle and executing three Syrian government soldiers.

Ben Galloway of the federal defender's office is Al-Jayab attorney. He did not immediately return telephone and emailed messages Thursday.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento said Al-Jayab was arrested Thursday morning in Sacramento.

Second arrest: Meanwhile, another Middle Eastern immigrant in Texas was arrested on Thursday on three counts of providing material support to the Islamic State. Above, a member of ISIS is seen carrying the terrorist organization's flag (file photo)

This also led to the arrest of three of his relatives in Wisconsin in a separate case.

Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento, says the arrest of three suspects Thursday in Milwaukee wasn't related to national security.

She says the three are relatives of 23-year-old Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab of Sacramento, who was arrested Thursday and accused of traveling to Syria to fight and lying to investigators about it.

FBI Milwaukee Division spokesman Leonard Peace says there was no threat to the public associated with the arrests.

Peace says the three haven't made an initial court appearance. That's expected Friday.
The Latest: S. Korea shuts down tourist points near border

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  The latest on North Korea's announcement that it conducted a hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday (all times local):

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1 p.m.

THIS ADDS TRANSLATION OF THE BANNER - North Korean military personnel clap hands in a rally, after North Korea said Wednesday it had conducted a hydrogen bomb test, at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. As world leaders debated ways to penalize North Korea's claim of a fourth nuclear test, South Korea voiced its displeasure with broadcasts of anti-Pyongyang propaganda across the rivals' tense border Friday, believed to be the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The banner reads "We passionately celebrate the historic national event that is the success of the first hydrogen bomb test. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

South Korea has blocked civilians from visiting a tourist observatory and other locations near the border with North Korea in response to tensions following the North's purported nuclear test.

An official from the South's Paju City said Saturday that Dora Observatory, which looks across the Demilitarized Zone, and a museum made from an old North Korean infiltration tunnel have been shut down since Friday, when the South restarted propaganda broadcasts through loudspeakers near the border.

South Korean officials say there have been no disruptions so far at an industrial park jointly operated by the rivals in the North Korean border town of Kaesong.

Officials say 512 South Koreans stayed at the park overnight, and 479 of them were scheduled to return to the South later on Saturday. Another group of 269 South Koreans have been permitted to enter Kaesong on Saturday.

There are fewer South Koreans at the park than usual, because South Korea began limiting entry to the area after the North announced a nuclear test on Wednesday.

South Korean companies  mostly small- and medium-sized  make products such as watches and fashion goods with cheap labor from North Korea. The park, which employs about 53,000 North Koreans, is the last major inter-Korean project from the era of rapprochement.

 Tong-hyung Kim, Seoul

North Koreans clap hands together in a rally, after North Korea said Wednesday it had conducted a hydrogen bomb test, at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. As world leaders debated ways to penalize North Korea's claim of a fourth nuclear test, South Korea voiced its displeasure with broadcasts of anti-Pyongyang propaganda across the rivals' tense border Friday, believed to be the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)

North Koreans dance near the Pyongyang Indoor Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, after North Korea said Wednesday it had conducted a hydrogen bomb test. As world leaders debated ways to penalize North Korea's claim of a fourth nuclear test, South Korea voiced its displeasure with broadcasts of anti-Pyongyang propaganda across the rivals' tense border Friday, believed to be the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)
Fates of 53 Cuban dissidents show difficulty of US policy

HAVANA (AP)  One year ago, the Cuban government began releasing 53 political prisoners that President Barack Obama wanted freed as part of a historic deal to re-establish diplomatic relations between the former Cold War foes.

Obama says he could make the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to post-revolutionary Cuba as early as this spring if he thinks human rights on the island are improving and a presidential trip will help. The fates of the released dissidents show just how hard it will be for the U.S. to push human rights in Cuba in the direction the Obama administration desires.

U.S. government information and an Associated Press assessment of the dissidents' lives 12 months after their release shows that at least 35 have asked for refugee status allowing them to move permanently to the U.S., reducing the ranks of an already weak and divided opposition movement. Many applications have been delayed by vetting of the dissidents' criminal records, some of which have little to do with political activity. Seven have either left Cuba for or are preparing to leave this month.

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2015 file photo, dissident Wilberto Parada is reflected in a mirror with his wife and son during an interview, one day after his release from jail, at his home in Havana, Cuba. Cuban officials did not respond to requests for comment on how freed dissidents are faring. Among those back behind bars is Parada, who was arrested for public disorder in October 2015 when he protested in front of a prosecutor's office in Havana. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)

Among those who remain, at least six men are back in Cuban prison on what their allies say are politically related charges. Others have abandoned activism altogether.

A number of Cuban activists say the new U.S. policy of engagement focuses on diplomatic and economic ties instead of improving human rights. Others say easing tensions between the U.S. and Cuba will inevitably lead to better conditions on the island. International advocacy groups such as Amnesty International say that no matter what the United States does, it's up to Cuba to improve the island's human rights situation.

"The reforms that have to be made in terms of restrictions of liberty must come from the Cuban government, not from the government of the United States," said Marselha Goncalves Margerin, Amnesty International's advocacy director for the Americas.

Cuba's dissidents are viewed with skepticism by many ordinary Cubans who question their backing and motivation. The government historically has characterized them as U.S.-backed mercenaries and for decades has quashed any attempts to organize independent resistance to the single-party state founded by Fidel Castro and run by his brother, Raul.

Cuban officials did not respond to requests for comment on how the freed dissidents are faring.

In a statement Thursday night, the State Department said: "?We have publicly called for the release of political prisoners and others jailed for exercising their internationally recognized freedoms in Cuba, and will continue to do so." It added that the U.S. Embassy has been in contact with many of those freed last year.

Among those back behind bars is Wilberto Parada, who was arrested for public disorder in October when he protested in front of a prosecutor's office in Havana. Vladimir Morera, from the central province of Villa Clara, has been jailed since May on charges of assault. Fellow dissidents said he held a weekslong hunger strike that ended last month.

Another freed government opponent, Carlos Manuel Figueroa Alvarez, was charged with jumping the fence protecting the U.S. Embassy to claim refugee status after he said he was denied a refugee visa in September. Figueroa is now held on Cuban charges of violating a diplomatic site.

Angel Yunier Remon, a rapper from the eastern province of Granma, said he also was denied refugee status despite being named by the State Department several times as a victim of political repression before he was freed in January 2015.

"I'd never opted for refugee status, but government aggression made me feel like an enemy in my own land," Remon said by telephone.

Remon said the U.S. Embassy gave him a document that recognized him as worthy of refugee status, but said he was "non-admissible" to the United States. He said an embassy employee told him that was because of a robbery conviction he had before becoming a political activist.

U.S. officials says that most of the 53 political prisoners who have applied for refugee status are likely to receive it and that those who complain about delays may be misinterpreting normal processing times as problems with their applications. They remain eligible for refugee status, the officials said.

Several of the freed dissidents nonetheless complain they have waited for months to hear from U.S. consular officials, saying they are at risk of harassment while still in Cuba.

"I was very grateful for Obama's effort to free me in January, but now I'm upset about the wait," said Sandalio Mejias, who said he recently was notified of his second appointment, next month, to present documents supporting an a request for refugee status filed nearly a year ago.

About 20 of the freed dissidents have decided not to leave, some because they've abandoned political activism. But others want to stay and work to change the government.

"Our commitment is here," said Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, a group based in the country's east. "We do a lot to make our members aware of that, so that they don't leave."

Along with the freeing the dissidents last year, the U.S. has said it's trying to improve conditions for Cubans by increasing American trade and travel to the island and encouraging Havana to improve telecommunications and the flow of information to one of the world's least-connected countries.

American officials say Cuba's opening of at least 58 public Wi-Fi hotspots nationwide shows its new policy is working, even though Cuban officials don't describe the new Internet facilities as a result of detente.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials privately express concerns about a reverse in Cuba's policy of granting greater freedoms for its people in recent years. The government decided late last year to prevent thousands of medical specialists from leaving the country even for brief vacations without the Health Ministry's permission.

The move came after a flood of doctors began leaving Cuba last year as part of a broader exodus sparked by fears that better relations with the U.S. could end special Cold War migration privileges for Cubans.

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Andrea Rodriguez on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ARodriguezAP

Michael Weissenstein on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mweissenstein

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2015 file photo, dissident Miguel Alberto Ulloa, 25, poses for a photo in his home, holding his release document, a day after his release from jail in Havana, Cuba. About 20 of 53 freed dissidents have decided not to leave Cuba, some because they've abandoned political activism. But others want to stay and work to change the government. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)
The Latest: 'Affluenza' teen's mom complains about jail cell

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP)  The latest on the case of a Texas teenager serving probation for killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck after invoking an "affluenza" defense (all times local):

10:30 a.m.

A sheriff says a "woman with means" whose fugitive teenage son used an "affluenza" defense to avoid prison after killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck has complained about the conditions in her Texas jail cell.

This Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 photo provided by the Tarrant County, Texas jail, shows Tonya Couch. Couch, the mother of a fugitive teen who used an "affluenza" defense after a deadly drunken-driving case, faces a charge of helping her son evade capture. Couch, who was deported from Mexico last week, arrived on a flight from Los Angeles and was taken to Tarrant County jail in handcuffs and leg irons. (Tarrant County jail via AP)

Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said at a news conference Friday that he responded to Tonya Couch's complaints by saying it "is a jail, not a resort."

Couch made an initial appearance at court Friday on a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon.

Authorities believe Couch and her 18-year-old son, Ethan Couch, fled Texas in November as prosecutors investigated whether the teenager had violated his probation.

The mother and son were arrested in the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta late last month.

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9:30 a.m.

The mother of a fugitive teen who used an "affluenza" defense after killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck has made an initial appearance in a Texas courtroom on a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon.

State District Judge Wayne Salvant advised Tonya Couch of the charge at the hearing Friday.

Bond has been set at $1 million. Couch's attorney has requested a bond reduction.

Authorities believe Couch and her 18-year-old son, Ethan Couch, fled Texas in November as prosecutors investigated whether the teenager had violated his probation. A video surfaced that appeared to show him at a party where people were drinking.

The mother and son were arrested in Mexico late last month.

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This item has been corrected to show that Wayne Salvant is a state district judge, not a Tarrant County judge.

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12:30 a.m.

The mother of a fugitive teen who used an "affluenza" defense after killing four people in a drunken crash is set to be arraigned on a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon.

Tonya Couch was taken to the Tarrant County jail on Thursday after arriving at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on a flight from Los Angeles. Her arraignment is scheduled for Friday morning.

Authorities believe Couch and her 18-year-old son, Ethan Couch, fled Texas in November as prosecutors investigated whether Ethan Couch had violated his probation. A video surfaced that appeared to show him at a party where people were drinking.

The two were arrested in Mexico late last month.
For Democrats, a stable of surrogates ready to campaign

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP)  While Hillary Clinton rallied Democrats out West this week, her husband, former President Bill Clinton, carried her campaign's message through Iowa. Next week, when the Democratic front-runner returns to Iowa herself, her daughter, Chelsea, will be courting supporters in New Hampshire.

The family tag-team across the early voting states is just a glimpse of the stable of surrogates on standby to help elect another Democrat to the White House in November.

President Barack Obama has already pledged to be an active participant in the general election, though he's unlikely to endorse a candidate in the primary. Vice President Joe Biden has made clear he wants to play a role. And popular first lady Michelle Obama has grown more comfortable on the political stage and would likely get involved in the 2016 race to protect her husband's legacy.

Former President Bill Clinton speaks during a campaign stop for his wife Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton at Hotel Julien in Dubuque, Iowa, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

It's a weighty group of Democratic stars that Republicans acknowledge they simply can't match.

"One of the things about being out of power in the White House is you don't have as many folks with a national profile," said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who advised Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential election.

While surrogates don't win elections for candidates, high-profile backers can play a valuable role in attracting media coverage, targeting specific constituency groups, and pulling more people into events where the campaigns can collect voter information.

Bill Clinton's events Thursday in Iowa checked all of those boxes. He spoke to about 1,000 people across two events in eastern Iowa, plus dozens more during a stop at a local market in Cedar Rapids. His events attracted more national media than sometimes show up to events with presidential candidates, and he also got front-page coverage in the Dubuque, Iowa, newspaper.

"He brings out the crowd and he never disappoints," said Tom Fruehling, 70, a Democrat who attended an event in his hometown of Cedar Rapids. Fruehling is still deciding between Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"He's a huge asset. What a great partner," said 63-year-old Elizabeth Bunce, also of Cedar Rapids, who is backing Clinton and volunteering for her campaign.

Clinton campaign aides said the former president will be back in Iowa before the Feb. 1 caucuses, and they also expect Chelsea Clinton to make appearances in the state this month. The campaign also announced plans for Bill Clinton to make stops in New Hampshire next week.

To be sure, Bill Clinton and some of the other potential Democratic surrogates come with liabilities. Republican front-runner Donald Trump has already made clear that the former president's campaigning makes the transgressions that marred his White House tenure fair game. Bill Clinton was also out of step with modern campaigning and sometimes off message during his wife's failed 2008 campaign, though it appears her current team is keeping him on a shorter leash.

Obama, too, has liabilities. While he remains popular among Democrats, polls show the public is increasingly dissatisfied with his handling of foreign policy. If that persists, Clinton may not want extra reasons to remind voters that she served as his secretary of state for four years.

The president and first lady will likely be asked to help rally groups that made up the "Obama coalition" during the 2008 and 2012 elections, including young people, blacks and Hispanics. Biden has been an effective messenger to working-class white voters.

"Turnout will be key for Hillary Clinton and these surrogates will be a critical part of the strategy," said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist backing Clinton.

Republicans have a handful of potential surrogates with national name recognition, though it's unclear how the party's eventual nominee might use them in the general election, if at all.

The biggest questions will surround former President George W. Bush. While his standing with Americans has improved after leaving office deeply unpopular, his legacy among Republicans remains a complicated one. He's also avoided politics in recent years, though he's appeared at private events for his brother Jeb Bush's struggling presidential campaign.

Republicans have also embraced Romney anew, particularly after he decided against running for president a third time. He's still a draw for wealthy donors, but it's unclear how much help he'd be to a GOP nominee in the general election swing states he failed to win himself.

Come Election Day, however, even the best surrogate is unlikely to seal the deal with voters.

"That still does fall on the one person whose name is on the ballot," Madden said.

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Follow Julie Pace on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Former President Bill Clinton speaks during a campaign stop for his wife Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton at Hotel Julien in Dubuque, Iowa, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
China hospital bulldozed with patients inside, morgue buried

BEIJING (AP)  Bulldozers unexpectedly demolished part of a hospital and its adjoining morgue in central China, sending doctors, nurses and patients fleeing and burying under rubble six bodies being processed at the morgue, reports said Friday.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported that the hospital accused the local government of ordering the demolition work after failing to get the hospital to agree to it for a road expansion project.

The No. 4 Hospital of Zhengzhou University in Henan province said the unexpected demolition work Thursday morning buried six bodies stored in the morgue, caused nearly 20 million yuan worth of damage to medical equipment and injured several hospital staff, according to Xinhua.

In this Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 photo, rubble and debris spills into a room at the No. 4 Hospital of Zhengzhou University after a demolition crew destroyed part of the facility in Zhengzhou in central China's Henan province. Bulldozers unexpectedly demolished part of a hospital involved in a land dispute and its adjoining morgue in central China, sending doctors, nurses and patients fleeing and burying under rubble six bodies being processed at the morgue, reports said Friday. (Chinatopix via AP) CHINA OUT

"Burying the remains of patients is enormously disrespectful to the dead," the hospital's deputy propaganda chief, Zhang Yuan, was quoted as saying. "I never imagined anything like this would ever happen."

The Huiji District Government Information Office said in an online statement Thursday evening that they had asked the hospital in vain to demolish the CT room and morgue itself. It said workers had made sure there were no people inside the buildings before tearing them down, and there had been no casualties.

Calls to the mobile of an official at the construction bureau rang unanswered Friday, as did calls to numbers provided by the hospital's information service.

Forced demolitions are a common problem in China as local governments have looked to real estate and other development to fuel economic growth.
Armed group not ready to end wildlife refuge occupation

BURNS, Ore. (AP)  The leader of an armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge to protest federal land management policies said Friday he and his followers are not ready to leave even though the sheriff and many locals say the group has overstayed their welcome.

"How long will this go on?" said Ammon Bundy, leader of the group that seized the headquarters of the refuge in southeastern Oregon last Saturday. "We say to you, 'Not a minute too early.' "

Bundy met a day earlier with Harney County Sheriff David Ward, who asked Bundy to heed the will of locals and leave the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Ward also offered to escort Bundy and his group out of the refuge to ensure safe passage.

Cowboy Dwane Ehmer, of Irrigon Ore., a supporter of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, holds a U.S. flag as he talks with a journalist next to a manned watch tower Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. A small, armed group occupying the wildlife preserve has said repeatedly that local people should control federal lands, but critics say the lands are already managed to help everyone from ranchers to recreationalists. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

"We will take that offer," Bundy said on Friday. "But not yet."

A few hours later, Ward said via Twitter that because of Bundy's stance he was calling off plans to have another meeting with him.

"During this morning's press conference, the people on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge made it clear that they have no intention of honoring the sheriff's request to leave. Because of that, there are no planned meetings or calls at this time," Ward said.

But Ward said he is "keeping all options open."

About the same time, members of another armed group known as the 3% of Idaho began arriving at the bird sanctuary, The Oregonian reported (http://goo.gl/mEMbqo ).

"They just keep an eye on everything that is going on to make sure nothing stupid happens," Bundy told The Oregonian on Friday afternoon outside refuge headquarters.

"If they weren't here," Bundy said, referring to the Idaho group, "I'd worry" about a Waco, Texas-style siege by federal officials.

Spokesmen for the Idaho group said they are there to keep the situation peaceful and reassure the community that it isn't in danger.

Bundy's group  calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom  comes from as far away as Arizona and Michigan.

Bundy's protest at the refuge is a continuation of long-running arguments that federal policies for management of public lands in the West are harming ranchers and other locals. Bundy is the son of Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher who in 2014 was at the center of a tense standoff with federal officials over grazing rights.

Ammon Bundy has been demanding that federal land in Oregon's Harney County be turned over to local residents to be managed.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday called the occupation of the wildlife refuge "unlawful" and said it had to end.

"It was instigated by outsiders whose tactics we Oregonians don't agree with. Those individuals illegally occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge need to decamp immediately and be held accountable," she said.

Federal, state and local law authorities have been closely monitoring the situation at the refuge but have so far taken no action against Bundy and his followers, apparently to avoid a confrontation. Ward has been the most visible law enforcement authority during the occupation, and his strategy so far has been to try to show Bundy that locals oppose the occupation and want them to leave.

Ward got a lot of support during a packed community meeting Wednesday night.

At that meeting, local residents said they sympathized with the armed group's complaints about federal land management but disagreed with their tactics and called Bundy and his followers to leave.

Bundy initially came to Burns to rally support for two local ranchers who were sentenced to prison on arson charges. The ranchers  Dwight Hammond and his son Steven Hammond  distanced themselves from Bundy's group and reported to prison Monday.

The Hammonds were convicted of arson three years ago and served no more than a year. A judge later ruled that the terms fell short of minimum sentences requiring them to serve about four more years.

Cowboy Dwane Ehmer, of Irrigon Ore., a supporter of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, holds a U.S. flag as he rides his horse in the refuge Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. A small, armed group occupying the wildlife preserve has said repeatedly that local people should control federal lands, but critics say the lands are already managed to help everyone from ranchers to recreationalists. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Ryan Bundy, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, walks to a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The small, armed group occupying the wildlife preserve has said repeatedly that local people should control federal lands, but critics say the lands are already managed to help everyone from ranchers to recreationalists. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Ryan Bundy, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, walks to a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. A small, armed group occupying the wildlife preserve has said repeatedly that local people should control federal lands, but critics say the lands are already managed to help everyone from ranchers to recreationalists. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters looks on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Cheers erupted Wednesday evening at a packed community meeting in rural Oregon when a sheriff said it was time for a small, armed group occupying the national wildlife refuge to "pick up and go home." (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters stands next to a fire Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Cheers erupted Wednesday evening at a packed community meeting in rural Oregon when a sheriff said it was time for a small, armed group occupying the national wildlife refuge to "pick up and go home." (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

An American flag hangs on the sign at the front entrance of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Cheers erupted Wednesday evening at a packed community meeting in rural Oregon when a sheriff said it was time for a small, armed group occupying the national wildlife refuge to "pick up and go home." (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Cowboy Dwane Ehmer, of Irrigon Ore., a supporter of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, rides his horse Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The leader of an American Indian tribe that regards the Oregon nature preserve as sacred issued a rebuke Wednesday to the armed men who are occupying the property, saying they are not welcome at the snowy bird sanctuary and must leave. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Cowboy Dwane Ehmer, of Irrigon Ore., a supporter of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, rides his horse Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The leader of an American Indian tribe that regards the Oregon nature preserve as sacred issued a rebuke Wednesday to the armed men who are occupying the property, saying they are not welcome at the snowy bird sanctuary and must leave. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Jesse Svejcar expresses his opinion during a community meeting with Harney County Sheriff David Ward, right, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Burns, Ore. With the takeover entering its fourth day Wednesday, authorities had not removed the armed group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon's high desert country. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Georgia Marshall, a rancher, expresses her opinion during a community meeting with Harney County Sheriff David Ward Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Burns, Ore. With the takeover entering its fourth day Wednesday, authorities had not removed the group of roughly 20 people from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon's high desert country. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Merlin Rupp, 80, voices his opinion to Harney County Sheriff David Ward during a community meeting at the Harney County fairgrounds Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Burns, Ore. With the takeover entering its fourth day Wednesday, authorities had not removed the group of roughly 20 people from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon's high desert country. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Harney County Sheriff David Ward arrives to a community meeting at the Harney County fairgrounds Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Burns, Ore. With the takeover entering its fourth day Wednesday, authorities had not removed the group of roughly 20 people from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon's high desert country. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Residents raise their hands as Harney County Sheriff David Ward addresses their concerns at a community meeting at the Harney County fairgrounds Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Burns, Ore. With the takeover entering its fourth day Wednesday, authorities had not removed the armed group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon's high desert country. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

LaVoy Finicum, center, a rancher from Arizona who is part of an armed group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to protest federal land management policies, carries his granddaughter Payton, as other family member watch following a news conference at the refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Ammon Bundy, the leader of the group said Friday he and his followers are not ready to leave even though the sheriff and many locals say the group has overstayed their welcome. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Burns resident Steve Atkins, left, talks with Ammon Bundy, right, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, following a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy, the leader of a small, armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon says the activists have no immediate plans to leave. Atkins said, the majority of the people of Burns wanted them to leave. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

LaVoy Finicum, center, a rancher from Arizona, speaks to reporters as his family looks on, left, during a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Ammon Bundy, the leader of a small, armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon says the activists have no immediate plans to leave. Bundy spoke to reporters Friday, a day after meeting with a local sheriff who asked the group to go. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

LaVoy Finicum, a rancher from Arizona, carries his granddaughter Payton, 3, before a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Ammon Bundy, the leader of a small, armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon says the activists have no immediate plans to leave. Bundy spoke to reporters Friday, a day after meeting with a local sheriff who asked the group to go. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Ammon Bundy, center, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, speaks with reporter at a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy, the leader of a small, armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon says the activists have no immediate plans to leave. Bundy spoke to reporters Friday, a day after meeting with a local sheriff who asked the group to go. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Ammon Bundy, center, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, arrives for a news conference with supporters at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy the leader of a small, armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon says the activists have no immediate plans to leave. Bundy spoke to reporters Friday, a day after meeting with a local sheriff who asked the group to go.(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Burns resident Steve Atkins, left, talks with Ammon Bundy, center, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, following a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy, the leader of a small, armed group occupying the national wildlife refuge in Oregon, said the activists have no immediate plans to leave. Atkins said, the majority of the people of Burns wanted them to leave. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Ammon Bundy, right, is greeted by supporter Dwane Ehmer, of Irrigon Ore., at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge following a news conference Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy, the leader of a small, armed group occupying the national wildlife refuge in Oregon says the activists have no immediate plans to leave. Bundy spoke to reporters Friday, a day after meeting with a local sheriff who asked the group to go. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Ammon Bundy, center, speaks with a reporter at a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy, the leader of an armed group occupying the national wildlife refuge to protest federal land management policies, said Friday he and his followers are not ready to leave even though the sheriff and many locals say the group has overstayed their welcome. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, stands on a watch tower at at the refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Three Oregon sheriffs met with leaders of the armed group to try to persuade them to end their occupation of athe federal wildlife refuge after many local residents made it plain that's what they want. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Cowboy Dwane Ehmer, of Irrigon Ore., a supporter of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, rides his horse at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Three Oregon sheriffs met with leaders of an armed group to try to persuade them to end their occupation of the federal wildlife refuge after many local residents made it plain that's what they want. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
North Korea worries US Navy commander most in volatile Asia

YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP)  U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin talked to reporters Friday about two of the biggest challenges the U.S. military faces in Asia: North Korea and the South China Sea.

It was his first such meeting with the media since assuming command of the Navy's 7th Fleet last September. He spoke aboard the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier. The 20,000-sailor strong 7th Fleet, based in Yokosuka, Japan, covers a region from India to the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean.

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In this Oct. 1, 2015 photo, U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, commander of the 7th Fleet, delivers a speech in front of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan upon his arrival at the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo. Aucoin talked to reporters Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, about two of the biggest challenges the U.S. military faces in Asia: North Korea and the South China Sea. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

THE KOREAN PENINSULA

Aucoin wouldn't get into specifics, but he said the Navy is monitoring the situation closely following North Korea's nuclear test earlier this week.

"I can't talk about the intel, whether it was an H-bomb, or whatever, but what happened there has definitely got our attention," he said.

The Korean Peninsula is "what keeps me up" for a possible crisis, more than anything else in the 7th Fleet's region, he said, noting that North Korea's ballistic missiles pose a threat to South Korea, Japan and even the United States.

Military information sharing between Japan and South Korea is improving, Aucoin said, despite their deep-seated differences over Japan's past colonization of the peninsula.

"Am I satisfied? No, but there is a real effort to tighten that relationship," he said. "It really is in the best interest of all three countries ... when you're trying to defend your country from a ballistic missile."

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CHINA

China's land reclamation work in the South China Sea is causing angst, Aucoin said, and he called on all countries involved to settle their territorial disputes peacefully.

China has told merchant ships to move out of areas it considers its waters, he said. "It would be nice to get clarity on what their intentions are."

On the upside, Aucoin said the relationship between the U.S. and Chinese navies is improving: "Sure there are issues that we see day-to-day, but overall we have a collegial relationship out on the high seas, we talk bridge-to-bridge, we make port calls to some of their ports."

A Navy media team waits for the arrival of foreign dignitaries on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan at the U.S. Navy Base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin talked to reporters Friday about two of the biggest challenges the U.S. military faces in Asia: North Korea and the South China Sea. He spoke aboard the USS Ronald Reagan. The 20,000-sailor strong 7th Fleet, based in Yokosuka, covers a region from India to the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean. (AP Photo/Ken Moritsugu)
Official: 10 die in S.Sudan's hospital due to fuel scarcity

JUBA, South Sudan (AP)  Patients, including premature babies, have died in South Sudan's main public hospital because it cannot afford fuel to run its generators, an official said Friday.

Around 10 patients died since early December because they could not be operated on without electricity, including premature babies who needed oxygen provided through electricity-powered cylinders, according to a hospital official who insisted anonymity for fear of reprisal from the government.

Patients in need of surgery are waiting in the wards, including a woman who has required an amputation for over a month. Emergency cases are now sent to a military hospital which has fuel, the official said.

Yantrude Marco, who requires surgery on her burned and broken leg, said she has been waiting six days for further treatment but cannot afford another clinic. With surgery she could be discharged in one to two weeks, but without it will take her 6-8 weeks to heal enough to be released, doctors told her.

"I don't have money," Marco said. "I'll stay until I'm discharged." State-supplied power in war-ravaged South Sudanis unreliable or lacking. Less than 1 percent of the population is on the power grid, according to the world Bank report in 2013.

The Director General of Juba Teaching Hospital, Dr. John Chol, told The Associated Press the facility has put most surgical operations on hold after the national currency devalued sharply, raising the cost of fuel last month to 4,400 South Sudanese pounds ($220) from 1,200 South Sudanese pounds (worth $220 at the time) per 200-250 liter drum.

"At the beginning we used to tell the patients to buy the fuel but that turned to be very costly and normal people cannot afford, so most of our activities have stopped," the first hospital official said.

Since Christmas Eve, the hospital's maternity and prenatal wards and some other services resumed operations after South Sudan's President Salva Kiir donated fuel which will last those wards one month, Dr. Chol said.

South Sudan's state oil company raised fuel prices after the country's central bank on Dec. 15 removed a fixed exchange rate, allowing market forces to determine the pound's value against the dollar, in a bid to control inflation.

The floating of the currency resulted in the devaluation by over 80 percent.

South Sudan's oil output, the main source of government revenue, declined by nearly half due to the country's two-year civil war amid plummeting global crude prices, Kiir said in a speech last month.
Iran holds mass protests against Saudi Arabia amid tensions

TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Iranians held mass protests on Friday across the Islamic Republic, angered by Saudi Arabia's execution of a Shiite cleric that has enflamed regional tensions between the Mideast rivals.

Later in the day, the Iranian foreign minister insisted in a letter to the U.N. chief that Tehran has no desire to escalate tensions and said Saudis must make a "crucial choice"  either continue supporting extremists and promoting sectarian hatred or promote good neighborliness and regional stability.

The crisis has seen Saudi Arabia sever ties with Iran after crowds of protesters in Iran attacked two of its diplomatic posts on Sunday. Those assaults came after Saudi Arabia executed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric, the day before.

A Shia Muslim who lives in Greece takes part in a rally against the execution of cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, outside Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Athens, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. Saudi Arabia executed last Saturday, Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others convicted of terror charges, the largest mass execution carried out by the kingdom since 1980. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

After Friday prayers in Tehran, thousands of worshippers joined the rally, carrying pictures of al-Nimr and chanting "Death to Al Saud," referencing the kingdom's royal family. They also chanted "Down with the U.S." and "Death to Israel," traditional Iranian slogans at protests.

The rally in Tehran lasted some 40 minutes and took place in an outdoor space at the Mosalla Mosque, the main site for Friday prayers in Tehran.

Iranian state media reported similar protests taking place in other Iranian cities and towns. Shiites across the greater Mideast have rallied throughout the week over al-Nimr's execution.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon obtained Friday by The Associated Press that Iran has "no desire or interest in escalation of tension in our neighborhood" and hopes Saudi Arabia will "heed the cause of reason."

Zarif said that from the first days of President Hassan Rouhani's election, both he and the president have sent public and private signals to Saudi Arabia "about our readiness to engage in dialogue and accommodation to promote regional stability and combat destabilizing extremist violence."

But he also accused the Saudis of trying to prevent or defeat the nuclear deal reached in July, of producing or mis-educating many "extremist perpetrators of acts of terror," of supporting "extremist terrorists in Syria and elsewhere," and waging a "senseless war" in Yemen.

Zarif also accused Saudi authorities of engaging in "numerous direct and at times lethal provocations against Iran." He cited Saudi bombers hitting Iranian diplomatic facilities in Yemen several times, including on April 24 and Sept. 18 last year and Jan. 7, "killing two local service personnel, injuring a number of Yemeni guards and inflicting damage to the buildings." He did not specify where the killings, injuries and damage took place.

Zarif also accused the Saudis of persistently mistreating Iraqi pilgrims, "fueling public outrage in Iran."

On Thursday, Iran claimed that a Saudi-led airstrike the previous night had hit the Iranian Embassy in Sanaa, citing Iran's Foreign Ministry. However, an Associated Press reporter who reached the site just after the announcement saw no damage to the building, which sits in a neighborhood near a presidential palace that's seen many previous strikes.

Iran vowed to file a report about their claim to the United Nations, while the Saudi military issued a statement through the kingdom's state news agency, dismissing the allegation as false.

In eastern Saudi Arabia, the home of al-Nimr and much of the kingdom's roughly 10 to 15 percent Shiite population, Shiites held a memorial service for the cleric Thursday night. It wasn't a funeral, as the sheikh's brother has said Saudi authorities had already buried his body in an undisclosed cemetery.

The service ended peacefully, despite gunfire echoing in the night in the region over the last week. On Friday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said that a man complained of being kidnapped at gunpoint by a gang and beaten in eastern Saudi Arabia. It quoted police as saying an investigation was ongoing.

A protest Friday in Bahrain saw hundreds of the country's majority Shiites marching to denounce Saudi Arabia for al-Nimr's execution.

The protesters in the town of Sitra, south of the Bahraini capital of Manama, chanted slogans against the government, which is allied with Saudi Arabia's Sunni monarchy. They also carried posters of al-Nimr.

The demonstration descended into violence with police firing tear gas and birdshot while protesters threw Molotov cocktails as they tried to reach a main highway. No further details were immediately available.

The Sunni-ruled Bahrain, which sided with Saudi Arabia in the kingdom's spat with Iran, has cut diplomatic ties with Tehran.

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Reports of sexual assaults spike at US military academies

WASHINGTON (AP)  Reports of sexual assaults at the three U.S. military academies surged by more than 50 percent in the 2014-15 school year, and complaints of sexual harassment also spiked, according to Pentagon officials.

A senior defense official said that the sharp increases were due largely to students' growing confidence in the reporting system and expanded awareness programs that over the past several years have included training, videos and information sessions for both students and leaders. The programs have been aimed at making victims more aware of the reporting process and more comfortable seeking help.

But the dramatic increases raise nagging questions about whether criminal assaults and harassment are on the rise or if the numbers actually reflect a growing willingness of victims to come forward.

FILE - This May 10, 2007 file photo shows the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Reports of sexual assaults at the three military academies jumped by more than 50 percent in the 2014-15 school year, and complaints of sexual harassment also spiked, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press. According to report documents reviewed by the AP, there were 91 reported sexual assaults over the last school year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado  compared to 59 during the 2013-14 school year. (AP Photo/Kathleen Lange, File)

"I think it's appropriate for people to feel frustrated about hearing this in the news. Bottom line is that if this were an easy problem, we would have solved it years ago," said Nate Galbreath, the senior executive adviser for the Pentagon's sexual assault prevention office. "Unfortunately, this is a very hard problem to solve."

According to the report documents reviewed by the AP, there were 91 reported sexual assaults over the last school year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, compared to 59 during the 2013-14 school year.

Reports of assaults went up at all three of the schools, but the number nearly doubled at the Air Force Academy, jumping from 25 to 49.

At the same time, the number of sexual harassment complaints spiked by 40 percent, to a total of 28 during the last school year. According to the documents, the most sexual harassment complaints were at the Naval Academy, with 13. There were seven at West Point and eight at the Air Force Academy.

Asked about the Air Force increases, officials said the decrease in assaults during the 2013-14 school year may have been an anomaly, and the latest totals were closer to the norm in previous years. Air Force cadets, they said, also seem to be much more aware of the sexual assault prevention and response coordinators on campus and may be more willing to file reports.

The Air Force, however, has seen a number of public sexual assault scandals in recent years, including incidents involving members of academy sports teams.

Galbreath said a key recommendation this year is for the academies to put more emphasis on sexual harassment prevention and training, because often harassment leads to assault. Discussions with focus groups and other studies found that while students are very familiar with how to report sexual assaults and how to treat victims, they didn't know as much about what makes up sexual harassment and what to do about it.

One problem is that sexual harassment is handled by the various military Equal Opportunity offices, while sexual assault issues are handled by the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Offices.

"That improved emphasis on sexual harassment will likely lead to prevention of sexual assault," Galbreath said. "We are smarter now and we know that a lot of other factors are beginning to play into prevention work."

He said that cadets and midshipmen need to be taught more about the connection between sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Senior Pentagon leaders have consistently argued for years that increased reporting is a good thing, because it suggests that victims are now more willing to come forward. Sexual assault in civilian and military society have historically been a vastly underreported crime because victims often fear reprisals or stigma, or they worry that they won't be believed or don't want to go through the emotional turmoil of a court case.
Granada signs player Barcelona let go for 'offensive' tweets

MADRID (AP)  Granada has signed the player that Barcelona let go hours after originally signing him when the Catalan club discovered he had posted "offensive tweets" on his Twitter account.

Granada says it has signed 24-year-old Sergi Guardiola for its reserve team.

In December, Barcelona rescinded Guardiola's contract eight hours after signing him to its reserve team when it discovered that "he had posted offensive tweets against Barcelona and Catalonia."
Greece: Refugees turn life vests into handbags

LESBOS, Greece (AP)  They are a poignant symbol of Europe's refugee crisis: Mountains of life vests strewn on the beaches of Lesbos, and piled high at dumps on the Greek island that doesn't know what to do with them.

Now some of those refugees are working on a solution.

A group of volunteers at a refugee shelter on the island has launched a project to make handbags, totes, and messenger bags out of the brightly colored vests, hoping to raise money for charity efforts on the island.

In this photo taken on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 finished bags made out of life vests are displayed in Pikpa Camp near the port of Mytilene on the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. A group of volunteers at a refugee shelter has launched a project to make handbags, totes, and messenger bags out of the brightly colored vests, hoping to raise money for charity efforts on the island. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)

At a tiny makeshift workshop, Afghan tailor Yasin Samadi works with a sewing machine to make a small orange dispatch bag, as children and other curious onlookers wander in and out, drawn by the bursts of noise from the machine.

"If there's work here, I will stay here," says the 27-year-old from Kabul, who's been living with his family at the shelter, known as the PIKPA camp, for 18 months. "If not, we'll need to leave."

Lesbos has been at the center of the refugee crisis that escalated dramatically last year. More than 500,000 refugees and other migrants arrived to the island in 2015, nearly half the total number of people who traveled to Europe.

The numbers peaked at 7,000 per day in October, with people traveling in dinghies and boats that were barely seaworthy, and many wearing counterfeit-brand life vests bought in shops on the Turkish coast.

The bags are due to go on sale by mail-order later this month, priced between 10 and 30 euros ($11-$32.5), organizers of the project said.

Greek volunteer and English teacher Lena Altinoglou said the bag project was aimed at helping refugees cover their living expenses and retain a sense of dignity.

"These people don't want to become beggars ... It's important for people here to able to work, create something, to make a living and help other (refugee) families," she said.

"These life vests remind us of the crossing from Turkey to Lesbos, which is a dangerous journey. Many do reach our camp safely, but others don't. So it's a reminder of the need to find a better solution."

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AP writer Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed.

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Follow Apostolou at http://www.twitter.com/NikoliaA

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Online: http://lesvosvolunteers.com/

In this photo taken on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 Afghan tailor Yasin Samadi , 27, measures a life vest to make a bag at his workshop in Pikpa Camp near the port of Mytilene on the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. A group of volunteers at a refugee shelter has launched a project to make handbags, totes, and messenger bags out of the brightly colored vests, hoping to raise money for charity efforts on the island. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)

In this photo taken on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 Afghan tailor Yasin Samadi , 27, measures a life vest to make a bag at his workshop in Pikpa Camp near the port of Mytilene on the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. A group of volunteers at a refugee shelter has launched a project to make handbags, totes, and messenger bags out of the brightly colored vests, hoping to raise money for charity efforts on the island. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)

In this photo taken on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 Afghan tailor Yasin Samadi , 27, works with a sewing machine in Pikpa Camp near the port of Mytilene on the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. A group of volunteers at a refugee shelter has launched a project to make handbags, totes, and messenger bags out of the brightly colored vests, hoping to raise money for charity efforts on the island. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)

In this photo taken on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 piles of life jackets used by refugees and migrants to cross the Aegean sea from the Turkish coast remain stacked on the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. A group of volunteers at a refugee shelter have launched a project to make handbags, totes, and messenger bags out of the brightly colored vests, hoping to raise money for charity efforts on the island. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)

In this photo taken on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 life vests are hanged on a fence in Pikpa Camp near the port of Mytilene on the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. A group of volunteers at a refugee shelter have launched a project to make handbags, totes, and messenger bags out of the brightly colored vests, hoping to raise money for charity efforts on the island. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)
Police said the nanny, 52-year-old Susan Conway-Lally, had a blood-alcohol content of .32, four times the legal limit to drive

Authorities say firefighters had to use a pry bar and ax to enter a Massachusetts apartment to rescue a baby whose nanny was so drunk she couldn't figure out how to open the door.

The nanny, 52-year-old Susan Conway-Lally, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to child endangerment and was released on personal recognizance.

Firefighters were called after the child's mother arrived at her Salem home on Wednesday to find her four-month-old daughter inside crying and Conway-Lally unable to open the door which was deadbolted shut.

Police say Conway-Lally smelled of alcohol, had a blood-alcohol content of .32, four times the legal limit to drive, needed help standing and had to be led to a police cruiser.

A near-empty 750-milliliter bottle (about 25 ounces) of Cossack Vodka was in her bag.

Conway-Lally, a former legal secretary, told The Salem News she has struggled with alcohol her whole adult life and is sorry.

'I have a very, very bad alcohol problem,' she said outside of court on Thursday. 'I thought I had it under control. I don't.'

Conway-Lally, a grandmother, had been hired by the baby girl's parents on the website Care.com after they checked her references and conducted a background check.

According to the police report, her first day went fine however Conway-Lally told The Salem News that when she had gone to work the previous day, she had a hangover and had another drink with the hopes of it going away.

During the ordeal, police said the child's mother was 'frantic' as the responding officer tried to instruct the nanny on how to open the deadbolt lock, which usually requires turning a knob or latch.

Conway-Lally reportedly mumbled 'Seriously, all right, give me a minute', sounding as though she had marbles in her mouth, according to The Salem News.

After several minutes, the child's mother begged for the officer to force his way in with him repeatedly kicking the door before entering using the pry bar and ax - leaving the door destroyed.

Once they were able to enter the apartment, the infant's mother ran to her child and placed her in her arms.

Firefighters were called after the four-month-old child's mother arrived at her Daniels Street apartment on Wednesday to find her daughter inside crying and Conway-Lally unable to open the door

Police said following an examination by an ambulance crew, the child was unharmed and was found to be in need of a new diaper and was hungry.

A notebook filled with entries indicating feedings and naps showed the nanny's last entry to be at 12.20pm, three hours before the infant's mother arrived at the apartment.

The entries that followed were described as a series of pen scratches, according to police.

Conway-Lally, who had previously faced drunk-driving charges, noted that after struggling with alcohol she had gotten sober but that a string of setbacks including the death of her fiance triggered a relapse, according to The Salem News.

She said outside of court on Thursday that it was not an excuse for her actions and that she has not only let down the couple but also her family. She said the incident was maybe a 'wakeup call'.
Benghazi panel Republican 'hopeful' Clinton will be charged

WASHINGTON (AP)  A Republican member of the House Benghazi committee says he is "hopeful" the Justice Department will bring charges against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for having classified information on her private email server.

Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas said there is increasing evidence that "an enormous amount of information" on Clinton's private server is classified.

"It was classified when it was on her server, and it was classified when it was sent," Pompeo told conservative radio host Lars Larson on Thursday.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, center, is escorted to a secure floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, to be questioned in a closed-door hearing of the House Benghazi Committee. The panel, chaired by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., is investigating the 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, where a violent mob killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Pompeo said he is "anxious" for the Justice Department and FBI to make a determination on whether to bring charges against Clinton as quickly as possible. If charges are made, a grand jury will determine whether to indict.

"I think that there is only one answer that can be reached, and I am hopeful that will be the outcome that the FBI achieves," said Pompeo, who also serves on the House Intelligence Committee.

"These are just facts," Pompeo added. "We've all seen the reports of the classified information on her server. It could not and should not have been lawfully handled in the way that she did it."

Pompeo's comments came as the panel interviewed former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta behind closed doors Friday for nearly six hours. Panetta endorsed Clinton's presidential bid on Thursday.

Pompeo's remarks are the latest by a congressional Republican suggesting an unfavorable judgment against Clinton before the committee or the FBI concludes their respective investigations.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said last fall that the Benghazi panel could take credit for Clinton's recent drop in public opinion polls. He later retracted the comment.

Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., said "a big part" of the Benghazi investigation "was designed to go after ... Hillary Clinton."

Clinton was secretary of state at the time of the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the senior Democrat on the Benghazi panel, called Pompeo's comments unfortunate and said they are evidence of GOP bias against Clinton.

"I think it's inappropriate," Cummings said. "It's very unfortunate when we have a committee that is supposed to be about the business of finding out facts, for anyone to come out with those kinds of statements."

Pompeo's comment will make it harder for the American people to accept the committee's report as unbiased and nonpartisan, Cummings said.

Panetta had not testified before the Benghazi panel until now, but he told Congress in 2013 that time, distance and the lack of an adequate warning prevented a more immediate response to the Sept. 11 attacks that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Panetta told MSNBC this week that "there was never any order to stand down. On the contrary, the whole effort was to do everything possible to try to save lives."

The Republican staff on the committee issued a statement Friday defending the panel's work and criticizing Democratic members, underscoring how Benghazi remains a highly politically charged issue more than three years after the attacks.

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Follow Matthew Daly: http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

House Benghazi Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., walks to an closed-door meeting where former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will be interviewed before the committee, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The committee is looking into the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya and is interviewing Panetta as the investigation enters its third calendar year , and a presidential election year.(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, center, is escorted to a secure floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, to be questioned in a closed-door hearing of the House Benghazi Committee. The panel, chaired by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., is investigating the 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, where a violent mob killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
'Affluenza' teen's mom complains about jail conditions

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP)  A "woman with means" who was arrested at a Mexican beach resort city with her fugitive teenage son who invoked "affluenza" as a defense after killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck has complained about the conditions of her Texas jail cell, a sheriff said Friday.

"She expressed a slight displeasure about her accommodations, and I told her this was a jail and not a resort," Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said at a news conference.

Tonya Couch, 48, and her 18-year-old son, Ethan Couch, have been the objects of derision since Ethan was sentenced to probation, rather than jail time, for the 2013 wreck. The case drew renewed rancor when the mother and son fled to Mexico after a video surfaced that appeared to show Ethan Couch, fresh from a rehabilitation center, at a party where people were drinking. If Couch drank alcohol, he violated the terms of his probation.

Tonya Couch appears in court in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. The mother of Ethan Couch, who used an "affluenza" defense after killing people in a drunken-driving wreck appeared in court on a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon. (Rodger Mallison/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)

Tonya Couch made an initial appearance in a Texas courtroom Friday on a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon. She did not enter a plea because her attorney was not present for the arraignment.

Tarrant County Judge Wayne Salvant advised Couch of the charge against her and asked whether she understood. The mother, wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit, said she did.

Salvant set bond at $1 million and Couch's attorney, Stephanie Patten, filed a motion asking for the bond to be reduced. "We think anything $25,000 or under would be fair," Patten told reporters.

Patten later issued a statement criticizing the public manner in which Anderson has handled the case and questioning why he spoke to Couch in court without her attorney present. Patten suggested Anderson may be using the case to get attention because he is up for re-election this year.

"During a contested election, to piggyback on a case that has drawn extensive media coverage by doing things that have never been done in recent memory on any other case is very troubling," she said in the statement.

According to Salvant, Patten missed the hearing because she was stuck in traffic, but she was able to meet briefly with Couch before she was returned to her jail cell.

Anderson said he opposed a bond reduction because Couch is "a woman with means who can get out of the country with the right connections."

Couch told the judge that she surrendered a temporary passport in Los Angeles, where she was deported from Mexico last week.

Authorities believe the mother and son fled Texas together in November as prosecutors investigated whether the teenager had violated probation. They were arrested in Puerto Vallarta late last month.

Ethan Couch was driving drunk and speeding near Fort Worth in June 2013 when he crashed into a disabled SUV, killing four people and injuring several others, including passengers in his pickup truck. He pleaded guilty in juvenile court to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury and was sentenced to 10 years' probation.

Couch is being held at an immigration detention center in Mexico City after winning a delay in deportation, a ruling that could lead to a drawn-out court process if a Mexican judge decides Couch has grounds to challenge his deportation based on arguments that kicking him out of Mexico would violate his rights.

Such cases can take anywhere from two weeks to several months, depending on the priorities of the local courts and the actions of defense attorneys, according to Richard Hunter, chief deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service in South Texas.

Tonya Couch appears before state District Judge Wayne Salvant in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. The mother of Ethan Couch, who used an "affluenza" defense after killing people in a drunken-driving wreck appeared in court on a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon. (Rodger Mallison/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)

Tonya Couch appears at court in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. The mother of Ethan Couch, who used an "affluenza" defense after killing people in a drunken-driving wreck appeared in court on a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon. (Rodger Mallison/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)
Governor's 'white girl' remark not his first controversy

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  Maine Gov. Paul LePage apologized Friday for saying this week during a town hall meeting that drug dealers with the names "D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty" come from New York City and Connecticut, sell their drugs and then "half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave." It's not the first time LePage has felt the need to explain controversial comments.

Here's a look at other off-color remarks made by the two-term Republican governor:

September 2010

Gov. Paul LePage speaks at a news conference at the State House, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, in Augusta, Maine. LePage apologized for his remark about out-of-state drug dealers impregnating "young white" girls, saying it was a slip of the tongue. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

As a candidate for governor, LePage told a group of fishermen at a forum that he wouldn't be afraid to tell President Barack Obama to "go to hell." He later said he regretted the words but didn't back down on criticism of the administration.

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January 2011

After the director of the state's NAACP chapter said the group felt neglected when LePage declined invitations to attend two Martin Luther King Jr. Day events, citing scheduling conflicts, a reporter asked LePage about it. He answered: "Tell them to kiss my butt." On the holiday, LePage ended up attending a breakfast honoring the slain civil rights leader, an event sponsored by a Rotary club and a senior citizens' group.

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February 2011

LePage dismissed the dangers of bisphenol-A, a chemical additive used in some plastic bottles, by saying the worst that could happen was "some women may have little beards." LePage later said he was joking.

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December 2011

LePage used a scatological barnyard epithet when he was asked about a meeting he had with three unemployed workers and a lawmaker. When a reporter asked him for his thoughts about the meeting, LePage used the expletive, then repeated it slowly.

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April 2012

At a town hall meeting, LePage was asked about state fees. LePage's response: "The problem is, middle management of the state is about as corrupt as can be."

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July 2012

LePage, in a radio address, assailed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the health care overhaul law, saying Americans had no choice but to buy health insurance or "pay the new Gestapo  the IRS." He later said he didn't mean to offend the Jewish community or minimize the Holocaust.

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June 2013
Ex-Serb commander charged with war crimes in Croatia

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP)  A former Serb paramilitary commander during the 1990s Balkan wars has been charged in Croatia with war crimes following his extradition from Australia.

Croatia's state prosecutors on Friday charged Dragan Vasiljkovic, also known as Captain Dragan and Daniel Snedden, with killings and torture of civilians while he was a rebel Serb commander during the 1991-95 Croatian war. He has denied the charges, which carry a maximum 20-year prison sentence in Croatia.

Vasiljkovic, who was born in Serbia, came to Australia at the age of 15 but returned to the Balkans to train Croatian Serb rebels in 1991, when Serbs took up arms against Croatia's secession from Yugoslavia.
Key dates in Mexico's pursuit of drug lord 'El Chapo' Guzman

MEXICO CITY (AP)  Key dates in the various pursuits, captures and escapes of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa cartel, who was captured Friday in Sinaloa:

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June 10, 1993: Mexican authorities announce Guzman's first capture in Guatemala.

FILE - In this July 16, 2015 file photo, a Federal Police shows a reward notice for information leading to the capture of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who made his escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison via an underground tunnel, in Almoloya, west of Mexico City. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto posted on his Twitter account, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, that drug lord Joaquin 'Chapo' Guzman has been recaptured.(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

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1995: Guzman is convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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Jan. 19, 2001: Guzman escapes from one of Mexico's two top-security prisons, in Jalisco state, allegedly in a laundry cart.

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2012: Mexican federal police nearly capture Guzman in a coastal mansion in Los Cabos, a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with dozens of other foreign ministers in the same resort town.

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Feb. 22, 2014: Mexican marines capture Guzman in a condo in Mazatlan after he eluded them for days through tunnels in Culiacan, also in the state of Sinaloa.

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July 11, 2015: Guzman escapes from the country's top-security prison in Mexico State through a mile-long (1.5 kilometer) tunnel.

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Mississippi lawmakers honor legacy of civil rights leader

JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Mississippi lawmakers honored Vernon Dahmer (DAY'-mur) Sr. on Friday, 50 years after the civil rights leader was killed when Ku Klux Klansmen firebombed his family's home near Hattiesburg.

Dahmer's widow, Ellie, and several relatives received a standing ovation in the state Senate. Sunday is the anniversary of the attack on Dahmer, who defied the white segregationist power structure by registering black voters in the 1960s.

"I'm proud to be a citizen of the proud state of Mississippi," Ellie Dahmer said in brief speech. She later fought tears as legislators lined up to hug her and shake her hand.

From foreground left, State Rep. Percy Watson of Hattiesburg and state Sens. John Horhn of Jackson and Juan Barnett of Heidelberg, present a concurrent resolution to relatives of Vernon Dahmer Sr., a civil-rights leader killed 50 years ago when Ku Klux Klansmen firebombed his family's home and businesses near Hattiesburg, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. The ceremony is the latest in a long effort by Mississippi officials to recognize the troubled racial history of a state that still displays the Confederate battle emblem on its flag. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

The ceremony is the latest in a long effort by Mississippi officials to recognize the troubled racial history of a state that still displays the Confederate battle emblem on its flag.

A jury in 1998 convicted one-time Klan leader Sam Bowers of murder and arson in the Dahmer case. Bowers received a life sentence and died in prison in 2006.

Democrat John Horhn  one of 13 black senators in the 52-member chamber  said Dahmer tried to register to vote in 1949, but his application was rejected by Luther Cox, a local clerk who was a known segregationist.

"Cox would only authorize a registration of an African-American if they could answer this question: 'How many bubbles are in a bar of soap?'" Horhn said.

Dahmer was a farmer and shop owner and served as president of the county NAACP. His family's home was a haven for young civil rights workers who were challenging state-sponsored racial oppression, and he became a Klan target in January 1966 when he went on the radio and announced he would pay the poll tax for people who couldn't afford it.

His son Dennis Dahmer was 12 when his family's home was firebombed, and he said Friday that he vividly recalls the attack. The younger Dahmer, who now lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, implored Mississippi lawmakers to move beyond symbolic gestures.

"Mississippi is a state that's composed of a lot of different people, different backgrounds, different economic backgrounds, political thoughts," Dennis Dahmer said. "And the only thing I would ask you is to have some sensitivity to that as you go about your business."

In a brief interview outside the Senate chamber, Dennis Dahmer said he's concerned about new barriers to voting rights and "the resistance to affordable health care." Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the nation, and Republican leaders have rejected the option to expand Medicaid under the health overhaul that President Barack Obama signed into law. The state also enacted a law four years ago requiring voters to show government-issued identification at the polls.

During the ceremony, Horhn read a letter to the Dahmer family from Obama: "With hearts full of courage and love, citizens like Vernon lived their lives in defense of equality and justice and endeavored to make our nation truer to itself."

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Online: Resolution honoring Vernon Dahmer Sr.: http://bit.ly/22QfgzO

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Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus .

Brian Swanson, the great grandson of Vernon Dahmer Sr., a civil-rights leader killed 50 years ago when Ku Klux Klansmen firebombed his family's home and businesses near Hattiesburg, holds the concurrent resolution presented by the Mississippi Legislature to the family, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. A jury in 1998 convicted one-time Klan leader Sam Bowers of murder and arson in the case, and Bowers died in prison in 2006. The Capitol ceremony is the latest in a long effort by Mississippi officials to recognize the troubled racial history of a state that still displays the Confederate battle emblem on its flag. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Vernon Dahmer Jr., listens as the Mississippi Legislature honors the legacy of his father, Vernon Dahmer Sr., a civil-rights leader killed 50 years ago when Ku Klux Klansmen firebombed his family's home and businesses near Hattiesburg, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. A jury in 1998 convicted one-time Klan leader Sam Bowers of murder and arson in the case, and Bowers died in prison in 2006. The Capitol ceremony is the latest in a long effort by Mississippi officials to recognize the troubled racial history of a state that still displays the Confederate battle emblem on its flag. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Betty Dahmer listens as the Mississippi Legislature honors the legacy of her father, Vernon Dahmer Sr., a civil-rights leader killed 50 years ago when Ku Klux Klansmen firebombed his family's home and businesses near Hattiesburg, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. A jury in 1998 convicted one-time Klan leader Sam Bowers of murder and arson in the case, and Bowers died in prison in 2006. The Capitol ceremony is the latest in a long effort by Mississippi officials to recognize the troubled racial history of a state that still displays the Confederate battle emblem on its flag. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Sen. Albert Butler Sr., D-Port Gibson, left, speaks with Ellie Dahmer, the widow of Vernon Dahmer Sr., a civil-rights leader killed 50 years ago when Ku Klux Klansmen firebombed his family's home and businesses near Hattiesburg, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, after the Mississippi Legislature presented his relatives with a concurrent resolution honoring his civil rights work, at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. The ceremony is the latest in a long effort by Mississippi officials to recognize the troubled racial history of a state that still displays the Confederate battle emblem on its flag. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Dennis Dahmer, son of Vernon Dahmer Sr., a civil-rights leader killed 50 years ago when Ku Klux Klansmen firebombed his family's home and businesses near Hattiesburg, addresses the Mississippi Legislature in the Senate chamber, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. The ceremony is the latest in a long effort by Mississippi officials to recognize the troubled racial history of a state that still displays the Confederate battle emblem on its flag. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Latest: 'El Chapo' being taken to same prison he escaped

MEXICO CITY (AP)  The latest on Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman who was recaptured six months after he escaped from a maximum security prison: (all times local)

10:35 p.m.

Mexican Attorney General Ariely Gomez says drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is being taken back to Antiplano  the same maximum-security prison where he escaped last July 11 using an elaborate tunnel that was dug to his shower stall.

FILE - In this Feb. 22, 2014 file photo, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican Navy marines at a navy hanger in Mexico City. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto posted on his Twitter account, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, that drug lord Joaquin 'Chapo' Guzman has been recaptured. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

Guzman was captured by Mexican marines early Friday in a coastal city, and the attorney general says the drug boss was tracked down partly because he was making a biographical movie.

The attorney general spoke at a ceremony Friday night at Mexico City's airport where Mexican marines displayed Guzman to journalists.

Guzman was put on a navy helicopter to be flown to the prison.

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5:10 p.m.

A law enforcement official says Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's capture at a motel on the outskirts of Los Mochis was related to an earlier gun battle at a house elsewhere in the city.

That official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, says Guzman may have been at the house and left while his gunmen and bodyguards provided covering fire from the house.

Marines checked the storm drain system, though it was unclear if Guzman had once again fled through the drains.  Mark Stevenson

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3:40 p.m.

President Enrique Pena Nieto calls the capture of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman a "victory for the rule of law" that demonstrates that Mexicans can have confidence in their institutions, using the capture to boost the administration's lagging credibility after a series of scandals.

Guzman's escape six months ago from a maximum security prison was a major embarrassment to Pena Nieto's government.

He made the comments in a televised speech Friday.

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3:22 p.m.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch is calling the recapture of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman "a victory for the citizens of both Mexico and the United States, and a vindication of the rule of law in our countries."

In a statement, Lynch said Guzman "will now have to answer for his alleged crimes" and congratulated Mexico's government but did not directly address the sticky issue of extradition.

Guzman faces charges in multiple different jurisdictions across the United States. His escape six months ago from a maximum security prison in Mexico was a point of friction between the two governments. The U.S. has sought his extradition, though Mexico in the past has said he would serve sentences here first.

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2:47 p.m.

A Mexican law enforcement official confirms that drug lorg Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was captured at a motel on the outskirts of Los Mochis in his home state of Sinaloa. The official was not authorized to talk to the press and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Mexico's Navy earlier said that marines seized an arsenal of weapons belonging to Guzman and his associates in a house in Los Mochis.  Mark Stevenson

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2:15 p.m.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says it is "extremely pleased" by the recapture of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

On its Twitter account, the DEA congratulated Mexico's government on nabbing Guzman, who escaped from a maximum-security prison six months ago, and said it salutes "the bravery involved in his capture."

Guzman was apprehended after a shootout with Mexican marines in the city of Los Mochis, in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa.

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1:59 p.m.

The Justice Department has no immediate comment on whether it will push to extradite Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States, where he faces charges in multiple different jurisdictions across the country.

Guzman's escape six months ago from a maximum security prison was a point of friction between the governments of the two countries. The U.S. had desired his extradition and his recapture Friday is sure to reopen the issue.

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1:45 p.m.

A Mexican law enforcement official says authorities located Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman several days ago, based on reports that he was in Los Mochis, Sinaloa.

The official says that authorities even searched storm drains in the area. The official was not authorized to talk to the press and spoke on condition of anonymity.

In 2014, Guzman escaped arrest by fleeing through a network of interconnected tunnels in the city's drainage system in the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan.  Mark Stevenson

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1:04 p.m.

Mexico's Navy says that marines seized two armored vehicles, eight rifles, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher in the raid that captured fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Photos of the arms seized suggested that Guzman and his associates had a fearsome arsenal in a non-descript white house.

Two of the rifles seized were .50-caliber sniper guns, capable of penetrating most bullet-proof vests and cars. The grenade launcher was found loaded, with an extra round nearby. And an assault rifle had a .40 mm grenade launcher, and at least one grenade.

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12:47 p.m.

An official says that fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was apprehended after a shootout with Mexican marines in the city of Los Mochis, in his home state of Sinaloa. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by name.

Five people were killed and one Mexican marine wounded in the clash.

The Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines acting on a tip raided a home in the town of Los Mochis before dawn. They were fired on from inside the structure. Five suspects were killed and six others arrested.  Mark Stevenson

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12:31 p.m.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has written in his Twitter account that fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been recaptured six months after he escaped from a maximum security prison.

Pena Nieto wrote in his Twitter account on Friday: "mission accomplished: we have him."

FILE - In this July 16, 2015 file photo, a Federal Police shows a reward notice for information leading to the capture of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who made his escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison via an underground tunnel, in Almoloya, west of Mexico City. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto posted on his Twitter account, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, that drug lord Joaquin 'Chapo' Guzman has been recaptured.(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

FILE.- This July 15, 2015 photo shows the shower area where authorities claim drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, slipped into a tunnel to escape from his prison cell at the Altiplano maximum security prison, in Almoloya, west of Mexico City. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto posted on his Twitter account, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, that drug lord Joaquin 'Chapo' Guzman has been recaptured.(AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

In this July 16, 2015 file photo a motorcycle adapted to a rail sits in the tunnel under the half-built house where according to authorities, drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman made his escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya, west of Mexico City. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto posted on his Twitter account, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, that drug lord Joaquin 'Chapo' Guzman has been recaptured. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
NKorea sanctions bill seeks to deny country's access to cash

WASHINGTON (AP)  The House isn't waiting for confirmation of North Korea's hydrogen-bomb test claim before voting on legislation that expands sanctions on Pyongyang and specifically seeks to deny the hard currency lawmakers say it needs for its weapons programs.

The legislation, which has broad bipartisan support and could be on the House floor as early as Tuesday, languished for nearly a year until North Korea announced two days ago that it had conducted a fourth nuclear test  this one detonating a thermonuclear device with huge destructive power.

The announcement was greeted with doubt that North Korea had set off a hydrogen bomb, which would represent a significant and unexpected advance for the reclusive country's limited nuclear arsenal. While it could take weeks or even longer to confirm or refute the claim, lawmakers are pushing ahead.

FILE -In this Jan. 7, 2016, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. The House isnt waiting for confirmation of North Koreas hydrogen-bomb test claim before voting on legislation that expands sanctions on Pyongyang and specifically seeks to deny the hard currency lawmakers say it needs for its weapons programs. Royce, the bill's author, described the Obamas administrations policy on North Korea as one of strategic patience that has failed to curb its development of nuclear weapons and the long-range missiles to deliver them. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

The bill's author, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., on Friday described the Obama's administration's policy on North Korea as one of "strategic patience" that has failed to curb development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles to deliver them.

"This is the approach that will work because you need consequences," Royce said of the legislation during remarks at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.

But former State Department officials said any new sanctions won't have real bite unless China is persuaded to make a fundamental shift in policy toward its wayward ally.

Royce's committee approved the bill unanimously in February 2015. A key part of the legislation uses an approach that Royce said left North Korea cash-strapped a decade ago. When the Treasury Department learned there were several banks distributing counterfeit $100 bills for North Korea, it forced them to pick between continuing to do business with Pyongyang or being cut out of the U.S. and international banking systems.

"They all made the decision against banking suicide and all decided they would freeze the accounts for North Korea," Royce said.

Without access to hard currency, North Korea couldn't buy parts and supplies for its weapons programs, crippling its missile production line, Royce said. Nor was there enough money to pay its army or police forces.

"That is not a good position for a dictator to be in," he said.

Despite the impact, Royce said the sanctions were later reversed by the State Department under the "false hope" of getting North Korea to engage in serious negotiations about dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

Royce's legislation would make so-called "blocking sanctions" mandatory rather than discretionary as currently permitted through existing regulations. The sanctions are mandated against any country, business or individual that materially contributes to North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile development, imports luxury goods into North Korea, or engages with Pyongyang in money laundering, the manufacture of counterfeit goods, or narcotics trafficking, according to the legislation.

"We will put that bill on the president's desk with strong bipartisan support," Royce said. "I'm hoping that the strength of the vote behind it changes their calculus with respect to how to deal with North Korea."

Joseph DeThomas, a former senior State Department official who advised on Iran and North Korea sanctions policy until February 2013, said the Obama administration would find it hard to resist pressure for tougher U.S. restrictions on the North. But new sanctions wouldn't force change in Pyongyang unless China is convinced of the strategic consequence of North Korea having nuclear weapons that could threaten America.

"The word from Congress is pretty strong on this right now," DeThomas said Thursday at the U.S.-Korea Institute at John Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.

"Feel-good sanctions" in Washington may have much less practical impact on North Korea unless the Chinese are prepared to "play ball," added Richard Nephew, another former top State Department official who coordinated sanctions policy during the Obama administration. He also spoke Thursday U.S.-Korea Institute.

There's also a risk of blowback on the United States if it adopts secondary sanctions against North Korea that target Chinese banks that handle North Korean funds without first gaining China's cooperation, he said.

Such sanctions "basically threaten the Chinese financial system and say you are either able to do business with the U.S. financial system or you're allowed to do business with the North Korean financial system," Nephew said. He added China might respond by barring certain U.S. banks from China, the world's second largest economy.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington contributed to this report.

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The Latest: Sheriff calls off plans to talk with armed group

BURNS, Ore. (AP)  The latest on an armed group that took over federal buildings at an Oregon wildlife refuge (all times local):

2:30 p.m.

An Oregon sheriff has called off plans to speak with the leader of an armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge.

Ammon Bundy, center, speaks with a reporter at a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy, the leader of an armed group occupying the national wildlife refuge to protest federal land management policies, said Friday he and his followers are not ready to leave even though the sheriff and many locals say the group has overstayed their welcome. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said Friday that he's shelving the meeting after Ammon Bundy rejected Ward's plea for the small group of anti-government activists to leave the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Ward also said via Twitter that he is keeping his options open.

Bundy said earlier Friday that they have no immediate plans to go home, reiterating that his group will leave when there's a plan to turn over federal lands to locals.

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11:45 a.m.

The leader of a small, armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon says the activists have no immediate plans to leave.

Ammon Bundy spoke to reporters Friday, a day after meeting with a local sheriff who asked the group to go. Objecting to federal land policy, the activists seized buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2.

Authorities haven't removed the group of roughly two dozen people, some from as far away as Arizona and Michigan.

Bundy reiterated that his group will leave when there's a plan to turn over federal lands to locals. The group also opposes prison sentences for two area ranchers convicted of arson.

Harney County Sheriff David Ward met Thursday with Bundy. He has said the group needs to leave so locals can get back to their lives.

Cowboy Dwane Ehmer, of Irrigon Ore., a supporter of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, rides his horse to the manned watch tower at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Three Oregon sheriffs met with leaders of an armed group to try to persuade them to end their occupation of the federal wildlife refuge after many local residents made it plain that's what they want. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, stands on a watch tower at at the refuge Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Three Oregon sheriffs met with leaders of the armed group to try to persuade them to end their occupation of athe federal wildlife refuge after many local residents made it plain that's what they want. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
A Tribe Called Quest: A look back and looking ahead

NEW YORK (AP)  A Tribe Called Quest celebrated the 25th anniversary of its debut album, "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm," in November by re-releasing the album with remixes helmed by Pharrell, CeeLo Green and J. Cole.

The re-release is the first of several planned by the group.

"We have a 25th for 'The Low End Theory,' we have a 25th for 'Beats, Rhymes and Life,' we have a 25th for 'Midnight Marauders,' which all are pretty monumental moments for us personally as well," Q-Tip said.

In this Nov. 12, 2015 photo, DJ/Producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, rapper Jarobi White, and Phife Dawg (Malik Isaac Taylor) of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest pose for a photo at SiriusXM studios in New York. A Tribe Called Quest celebrated the 25th anniversary of its debut album, "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm," in November by re-releasing the album with remixes helmed by Pharrell, CeeLo Green and J. Cole. The group said more re-releases will be issues for its other albums. (Photo by Brian Ach/Invision/AP)

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, the group  including Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White  talked about celebrating 25 years in music, a possible tour, a Tribe biopic and more.

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25 YEARS LATER

Q-Tip says one word describes Tribe reaching 25 years in music: humility.

"You go back and you look at everything and you're kind of like, 'Wow, I lived through a few lives' and it just happened so fast. It's somewhat overwhelming," he said. "Not trying to be egotistical or braggadocios, it has nothing to do with that, but it's like ... a lot of people don't get to see 25 in life."

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RE-GROUP

Ask Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White if they want the group to hit the road again and they'll say yes. Asking Q-Tip will get you a different answer.

"I don't know. ... I really, I don't know brotha. I mean, who knows?" said Q-Tip, who was interviewed separately because he was running late.

When asked if he was open to the idea of touring, he said: "Everybody makes it look like it's me that's not open to (it)."

Tribe recently performed on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon."

"These are my brothers. I know nothing but them. I only wanna work with them ... in terms of going on tour, I wanna go on tour with them," Phife Dawg said.

White chimed in: "And we always have fun together."

Muhammad added that it's exciting to see "a 15-year-old now discovering A Tribe Called Quest 25 years later" at a concert.

"The spirt of the music and the feeling and the love is strong. It's bigger than us."

Muhammad also shut down any rumors about tension between the bandmates.

"If there was tension you would feel it. Do you feel tension? So there it is," he said in a room with White and Phife Dawg.

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CALLING ON THE YOUTH

On Tribe's new anniversary album, Pharrell remixed the classic "Bonita Applebum"; Green worked his magic on "Footprints"; and Cole remixed "Can I Kick It?" Muhammad said the band reached out to a number of younger hip-hop acts to re-work Tribe's music but not everyone was rushing to work with them.

"We reached out to many people. And I will go on record and say  and it might not be the most favorable thing to say  you reach out to people and there are some people that call you right back and there are some people who you got to chase," he said. "And you would think that with a legacy project and a group that I think stood for a lot for hip-hop and music, you know, bridging jazz to hip-hop, bridging so many different genres that people would be scratching to be a part of this celebration."

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CURRENT STATE OF HIP-HOP

Tribe is easily one of the most respectable acts in the history of hip-hop. As for today's generation, the veterans are hoping to see more individuality.

"Just a lot of laziness, whereas back when we were doing it everybody had their own lane. Nowadays it's one on top of the other. 'Oh, this sold three million with that style. Let me duplicate that style and run with it.' In order for us to see the future everybody can't sound like Future. Like, everybody sounds like Future. Like, I don't know even know who's who outside of Future," Phife Dawg said.

Muhammad said contemporary rap needs more balance.

"You had N.W.A., you had the Geto Boys, you had Tribe Called Quest, you had Brand Nubians ... Sir Mix-A-Lot; they're worlds apart, but there was balance and you felt it globally. And we're not feeling the balance (now)," he said. "And with people mimicking other artists because it brings them notoriety or financial reward, the art is lost and the culture hurts, it suffers. So I love seeing artist like J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Logic just kind of bringing more of a balance back to (hip-hop)."

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THE BIG SCREEN

With the success of the N.W.A biopic "Straight Outta Compton," could there be a film on the horizon about Tribe's life?

The band's career was the focus of the 2011 documentary, "Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest," but Muhammad said it only scratched the surface.

"As private as I am I'm like, 'No,' but I think so. ...I think there's a lot more to be told," he said, though he added: "It's a really vulnerable thing to open up that way. I don't know if I'm ready for that."

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PHARRELL: TRIBE'S BIGGEST PHAN

"A Tribe Called Quest is the reason I began my journey in trying to discover the kinesthetic properties of music," Pharrell told the AP in a recent interview.

Muhammad said he always knew Pharrell would become an icon, and he even invited the performer to work with Tribe back in the mid-1990s.

"I brought him to a Tribe Called Quest session, he got on a song and nothing really happened with that song. I'll leave that there for him to tell," Muhammad said.

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Online:

http://atribecalledquest.com/

In this Nov. 12, 2015 photo, DJ/Producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, rapper Jarobi White, and Phife Dawg (Malik Isaac Taylor) of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest pose for a photo at SiriusXM studios in New York. A Tribe Called Quest celebrated the 25th anniversary of its debut album, "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm," in November by re-releasing the album with remixes helmed by Pharrell, CeeLo Green and J. Cole. The group said more re-releases will be issues for its other albums. (Photo by Brian Ach/Invision/AP)

In this Nov. 12, 2015 photo, rapper Jarobi White, from left, Phife Dawg (Malik Isaac Taylor), and DJ/Producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest pose for a photo at SiriusXM studios in New York. A Tribe Called Quest celebrated the 25th anniversary of its debut album, "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm," in November by re-releasing the album with remixes helmed by Pharrell, CeeLo Green and J. Cole. The group said more re-releases will be issues for its other albums. (Photo by Brian Ach/Invision/AP)

In this Nov. 12, 2015 photo, rapper Jarobi White, from left, Phife Dawg (Malik Isaac Taylor), and DJ/Producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest pose for a photo at SiriusXM studios in New York. A Tribe Called Quest celebrated the 25th anniversary of its debut album, "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm," in November by re-releasing the album with remixes helmed by Pharrell, CeeLo Green and J. Cole. The group said more re-releases will be issues for its other albums. (Photo by Brian Ach/Invision/AP)

In this Nov. 12, 2015 photo, Phife Dawg (Malik Isaac Taylor) of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest poses for a photo at SiriusXM studios in New York. A Tribe Called Quest celebrated the 25th anniversary of its debut album, "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm," in November by re-releasing the album with remixes helmed by Pharrell, CeeLo Green and J. Cole. (Photo by Brian Ach/Invision/AP)

FILE - In this July 14, 2013 file photo, Phife Dawg, left, and Q-Tip, from U.S group A Tribe Called Quest perform on stage during the Wireless Festival at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. A Tribe Called Quest celebrated the 25th anniversary of its debut album, "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm," in November 2015 by re-releasing the album with remixes helmed by Pharrell, CeeLo Green and J. Cole. The group said more re-releases will be issues for its other albums. (Photo by Jonathan Short/Invision/AP, File)
Arrests of Iraqi refugees increase pressure in US Congress

WASHINGTON (AP)  U.S. House Republicans renewed their call Friday for swift Senate action on a bill cracking down on Syrian and Iraqi refugees, following the arrests of two Iraqi-born men on terrorism-related charges.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, released a statement urging a vote on legislation that passed the House in November after the terrorist attacks in Paris. The bill would require new FBI background checks and other steps before any refugee could come to the U.S. from Iraq or Syria, where the Islamic State group has flourished.

The bill passed with bipartisan support but was strongly opposed by the White House, which pointed out that the Syrian and Iraqi refugee program is already very limited and tightly controlled.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, has pledged action on the issue in the first quarter of the year. But he hasn't specified whether he will bring up the House bill, which Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, has insisted won't pass the Senate.

McConnell has endorsed a "pause" in Syrian refugees coming to the U.S. but has moved cautiously on the issue. Despite demands from some conservatives, the Syrian refugee bill was omitted from a year-end catch-all bill in December. Instead, a more modest and broadly supported measure was included that tightened controls on the "visa waiver" program that allows visitors from 38 friendly countries to come to the U.S. without visas.

McConnell's spokesman, Donald Stewart, said Friday that McConnell's position hasn't changed.

But he faces new pressures from fellow Republicans in the House as well as those running for president. Sen. Ted Cruz called immediately for a retroactive review of all refugees who have come to the U.S.

Authorities alleged that one of the men arrested Thursday traveled to Syria to fight with terrorists in the civil war and the other provided support to the Islamic State group. There was no evidence either man  one from Texas and the other from California  intended or planned attacks in the United States.

Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of House Homeland Security Committee, held a news conference with other lawmakers to step up pressure on the Senate.

"This is an issue of safety to the American people," McCaul said. If the latest arrests are not enough evidence as to why we need this legislation passed, "I don't know what more is necessary," he said.

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., said the "the vetting system needs to be improved." The House has acted, and "now it's time for the Senate to do their part," Carter said.

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In Haiti, only 1 presidential candidate campaigning

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  Campaigning for Haiti's presidential runoff election kicked off Friday, though it appears there is only one candidate who will actively participate.

Government-backed contender Jovenel Moise, a little-known agricultural entrepreneur who led a crowded field of 54 candidates with nearly 33 percent of the vote in the Oct. 25 first round, attracted roughly 1,500 people to his first rally Friday evening. Big speakers pumped out bass-heavy songs featuring his campaign moniker, "Neg Bannann"  Banana Man in Haitian Creole  and a group of women wore yellow banana costumes.

But the campaign team of the second-place finisher, Jude Celestin, was quiet a day after saying he would take part in the Jan. 24 runoff only if sweeping changes recently recommended by a special commission were adopted first to improve Haiti's much-criticized electoral machinery.

Presidential candidate Jovenel Moise, center, from the PHTK party, greets supporters while campaigning in Petion-Ville, Haiti, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. Campaigning for Haiti's presidential runoff has kicked off, but it appears there's only one candidate actively participating. Government-backed contender Moise held his runoff rally late Friday. But No. 2 candidate Jude Celestin's team says he will only take part in the vote if sweeping changes are made to electoral machinery. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Celestin, a former state construction chief, told The Miami Herald on Thursday that outgoing President Michel Martelly "will have to do an election with just one candidate." His phone consistently goes unanswered and his campaign leaders did not respond to calls Friday.

While the Provisional Electoral Council has pledged to improve transparency for the final round, special commission spokesman Rosny Desroches has said he has seen very little progress to improve the process and ease tensions since the panel's recommendations were released last weekend.

Unless Celestin officially withdraws from the race his name will appear on the runoff ballot whether he chooses to campaign or not, Provisional Electoral Council spokesman Roudy Stanley Penn said Friday.

"Until he sends us a letter saying he is withdrawing he will be on the ballots for the final round and people can choose to vote for him," Penn said.

The U.N., the U.S. government and other foreign governments that monitor Haiti strongly support holding the final round of elections this month so a transfer of power to a new president can take place by a Feb. 7 constitutional deadline. The Organization of American States said Thursday that the scheduling of the runoff for Jan. 24 was a "step in the right direction."

A mood of confusion was palpable in the capital of Port-au-Prince as campaigning opened for the once-postponed presidential and legislative runoffs.

That only one presidential candidate was campaigning left many perplexed and some expressed doubt the elections could reasonably take place under such circumstances.

"I've never heard about this happening in any normal country: Only one candidate in a presidential election. How can that be possible?" asked food vendor Karine Fenelon, who said she was so turned off by Haiti's version of democracy that she's abstained from voting for years.

Unemployed accountant Pierre Richard Juste said he believed the opposition was playing "political games" to better their chances of gaining power. He believes authorities will ensure the runoff takes place even if some quarters of society refuse to accept the results.

"We've come this far with these elections. There should now be a conclusion," said Juste, who has been raising four children with part-time work since he lost a tax office job in 2005. He intends to vote.

Elections are never easy in Haiti, which only had its first genuinely free vote in 1990. What's happening now has echoes of previous electoral turmoil.

In 2010, there were opposition-stoked allegations that outgoing President Rene Preval rigged the vote to elect his preferred successor, Celestin. That perception fueled violent clashes between Martelly's supporters and U.N. peacekeepers.

Celestin was eventually eliminated from the two-candidate runoff under pressure from the U.S., the Organization of American States and opposition protests. Martelly won and took office in May 2011.

In the 2000 electoral cycle, most voting stations were staffed exclusively by partisans loyal to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Boycotting opposition politicians accused Preval and Aristide of implementing a plan to impose a dictatorship.

This time around, Celestin rejected the first-round results as a "ridiculous farce" and his Group of Eight opposition alliance is calling for a transitional government to organize a "fair" election. Martelly claims the opposition has spread unsubstantiated accusations about "massive fraud" to improve their position.

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David McFadden on Twitter: http://twitter.com/dmcfadd

Presidential candidate Maryse Narcisse, center, greets supporters during a protest against the government in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. Campaigning for Haiti's presidential runoff has kicked off, but it appears there's only one candidate actively participating. Government-backed contender Jovenel Moise was scheduled to hold his first runoff rally late Friday. But No. 2 candidate Jude Celestin's team says he will only take part in the vote if sweeping changes are made to electoral machinery. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

A demonstrator chants anti-electoral council slogans during a voodoo ceremony before the start of a protest against the government in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. Campaigning for Haiti's presidential runoff has kicked off, but it appears there's only one candidate actively participating. Government-backed contender Jovenel Moise was scheduled to hold his first runoff rally late Friday. But No. 2 candidate Jude Celestin's team says he will only take part in the vote if sweeping changes are made to electoral machinery. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

A protester bangs on a bowl with a spoon while chanting slogans against the government, during a protest against the government in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. Campaigning for Haiti's presidential runoff has kicked off, but it appears there's only one candidate actively participating. Government-backed contender Jovenel Moise was scheduled to hold his first runoff rally late Friday. But No. 2 candidate Jude Celestin's team says he will only take part in the vote if sweeping changes are made to electoral machinery. ( AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

A demonstrator hands out campaign posters of presidential candidate Maryse Narcisse during a protest against the government in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. Campaigning for Haiti's presidential runoff has kicked off, but it appears there's only one candidate actively participating. Government-backed contender Jovenel Moise was scheduled to hold his first runoff rally late Friday. But No. 2 candidate Jude Celestin's team says he will only take part in the vote if sweeping changes are made to electoral machinery. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Demonstrators chant anti-electoral council slogans during a protest against the government in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. Campaigning for Haiti's presidential runoff has kicked off, but it appears there's only one candidate actively participating. Government-backed contender Jovenel Moise was scheduled to hold his first runoff rally late Friday. But No. 2 candidate Jude Celestin's team says he will only take part in the vote if sweeping changes are made to electoral machinery. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Demonstrators chant anti-electoral council slogans during a protest against the government in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. Campaigning for Haiti's presidential runoff has kicked off, but it appears there's only one candidate actively participating. Government-backed contender Jovenel Moise was scheduled to hold his first runoff rally late Friday. But No. 2 candidate Jude Celestin's team says he will only take part in the vote if sweeping changes are made to electoral machinery. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Presidential candidate Jovenel Moise, from the PHTK party, speaks during a press conference in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. A commission that evaluated Haitis contested presidential election said Monday that the large majority of the irregularities it found in first-round voting were due to widespread ineptitude by poll workers and not political mischief. According to Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, government-backed candidate Jovenel Moise received nearly 33 percent of the votes cast on Oct. 25 in a packed field of 54 presidential candidates. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
AP National News Calendar

All times are Eastern.

Eds: Major scheduled events for the week of Jan. 10 - Jan. 16. Note that many events are subject to change at the last minute.

The following economic reports will be issued in Washington (all times EST), unless otherwise noted:

SUNDAY: No events of note

MONDAY: No events of note.

TUESDAY: WASHINGTON  Labor Department releases job openings and labor turnover survey for November, 10 a.m.; CSX Corp. reports quarterly financial results after the market closes.

WEDNESDAY: WASHINGTON  Treasury releases federal budget for December, 2 p.m.; Federal Reserve releases Beige Book, 2 p.m.

THURSDAY: Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.; Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates, 10 a.m.; JPMorgan Chase & Co. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens.

FRIDAY: WASHINGTON  Commerce Department releases retail sales data for December, 8:30 a.m.; Labor Department releases the Producer Price Index for December, 8:30 a.m.; Federal Reserve releases industrial production for December, 9:15 a.m.; Commerce Department releases business inventories for November, 10 a.m.

Citigroup Inc. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens.

Wells Fargo & Co. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens.

SATURDAY: No events of note.

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SUNDAY, JAN 10

No events of note.

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MONDAY, JAN 11

Washington  Supreme Court hears arguments and issues orders

Washington  Senate reconvenes.

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TUESDAY, JAN 12

Washington  President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union address

Washington  Supreme Court hears arguments

Washington  House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on human rights in China.

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WEDNESDAY, JAN 13

President Barack Obama visits Omaha, Nebraska

Washington  Supreme Court hears arguments;

Washington  Volkswagen global CEO Matthias Mueller is scheduled to meet with Gina McCarthy, head of the Environmental Protection Agency

Washington  House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on North Korea's claim of a nuclear test.

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THURSDAY, JAN 14:

President Barack Obama visits Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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FRIDAY, JAN 15:

No events of note.

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SATURDAY, JAN 16
Australia's prime minister to visit the White House

WASHINGTON (AP)  The White House says Australia's prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, will meet with President Barack Obama on Jan. 19 as he makes his first trip to Washington since being sworn-in last September.

The White House says the two leaders will highlight the wide scope of the U.S.-Australia alliance. They'll talk about a wide range of issues that include the conflicts with the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Australia has provided air power to the coalition efforts.

The two leaders are also expected to emphasize the need for participating countries to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
Marine accused of killing college student waives extradition

DENTON, Texas (AP)  A Marine arrested in Arizona as a suspect in the fatal New Year's Day shooting of a North Texas college student will not oppose his return to Texas to face the accusation.

Cpl. Eric Johnson is accused of killing 20-year-old University of North Texas student Sara Mutschlechner (MUCH'-lehk-nur).

The Marine Corps disclosed Friday that Johnson has been discharged from the Corps under "other than honorable conditions" because of the accusation.

This undated handout photo provided by the Yuma County Sheriffs Office shows Eric Johnson. The U.S. Marine Corps said in a statement that Cpl. Eric Johnson was taken into custody Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, at the north gate of the Marine Corps air station in Yuma, Arizona. Police in Denton, Texas, said he was arrested on a murder warrant in the shooting death of 20-year-old Sara Mutschlechner early on New Years Day, authorities said. (Yuma County Sheriffs Office via AP)

Denton police say Mutchlechner was shot in the head after an exchange of words between people in her vehicle and a group of five or six men in a sport utility vehicle.
Other countries 'quicker to respond' to new research on impact of alcohol

Britain is "late to the party" on revising recommended drinking guidelines in line with research that has already prompted change in other countries, experts say.

A landmark report by Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies takes account of new evidence on the increased risk of developing cancer from drinking as well as the harms from binge-drinking.

The previous guidelines, set in 1995, advised men do not drink more than three to four units per day - up to 21 units or less per week - while women should drink no more than two to three units a day, or 14 units per week. Under the new advice, men should also not exceed 14 units each week.

The revised guidelines were influenced by changes in Canada and Australia over past years, experts said

The revision was mostly influenced by what has happened in Canada and Australia over past years, according to Dr James Nicholls, director of research at Alcohol Research UK.

He said: "What happened in some other countries was they were quicker to respond to new research about alcohol and cancer, mainly.

"When it comes to things like heart disease and some other conditions, there's a question about a protection factor in lower levels of consumption.

"But when it comes to cancer, that doesn't really exist - there's just a straight-line relationship between how much you drink and how your risk increases.

"That's what, I think, has primarily motivated the revision of some of the guidelines."

He added: "It's also implemented a revision of the guidelines in some other countries as well."

While units of measurement vary slightly from one country to the next, official standard "drinks" or "units" generally contain between eight and 14 grams of pure ethanol, according to t he independent organisation Alcohol in Moderation.

Almost a dozen countries had lower recommended limits for both men and women when it came to "minimum risk" drinking guidelines: Australia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and the United States.

The UK was now more in-step with these guidelines.

In Spain, men can have up to 28 drinks per week, while women can have 17, and still remain within the guidelines. Men in Austria are allowed up to 21 standard drinks each week, and women are permitted 14 - the same advice issued in Norway, according to Alcohol in Moderation material.

Americans who aim to adhere to "moderate alcohol consumption" should not have more than one drink (14g of alcohol) per day for women, or more than two drinks per day for men, authorities said.

In Australia, men and women are advised to drink no more than two "standard drinks" (10g of alcohol) on any day. Authorities also warn no more than four drinks should be consumed on any single occasion.

Canadian women are advised not to have more than two drinks each day or 10 a week. The guidelines allow men to have three drinks each day or 15 a week.

Authorities there warn even for "special occasions" men should drink no more than four beverages, and women no more than three.

In Denmark, the advice allowed for 14 drinks per week for men, seven for women; in Italy, two to three drinks for men, and one to two for women; while in South Africa, men were allowed three drinks a day, and women two.

A statement from the Portman Group, which represents the industry, said: "What is surprising is that the UK is breaking with established international precedent by recommending the same guidelines for men and women.

"It also means that UK men are being advised to drink significantly less than their European counterparts."

Dr Nicholls said the question about red wine's potential health benefits was still unresolved in terms of international evidence, and existing research could easily be misunderstood.

He said: "There is not a clear consensus in terms of what's going on with heart disease, but it sounds like what the Chief Health Officer has done is erred on the side of caution, and taken a conservative view of the research."

The official alcohol guidelines in several countries are much more lenient than the new UK rules.
Officials 'encouraged NHS boss to strengthen strike letter'

Whitehall officials encouraged a health service boss to strengthen a letter that raised concerns over whether striking junior doctors would be available to respond in the event of a Paris-style attack, it has been claimed.

Emails reveal that Sir Bruce Keogh's letter went through a number of revisions to ensure concerns about the possible impact of a major incident during the walk out were made as "hard-edged" as possible, according to the Independent.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was also given approval of the text, emails between the Department of Health (DoH) and the national medical director of NHS England reveal.

Sir Bruce Keogh was encouraged to make his letter as "hard-edged" as possible, it was reported

Liberal Democrats warned the revelations raised "serious concerns about potential political interference" and suggested that trust between the government and doctors would be damaged further.

Talks between the Government and the British Medical Association (BMA) aimed at resolving a dispute over a new contract for junior doctors are set to resume today ahead of three spells of strike action.

In an email sent the day before the first strike was declared, a DoH official told Sir Bruce the risk of a "major incident" would be "pressed quite hard in the media once the strike is formally announced" and he was advised that "the more hard-edged you can be on this, the better", according to the newspaper

Mr Hunt agreed Sir Bruce would not be asked to speak to the media on the day the strike was declared "so long as" his letter underlined his opposition to the walk out, it added.

Asked to confirm he was "happy" with changes, an official told the health service chief: "I am sure then that JH [Jeremy Hunt] will be interested to see the proposed final product; my hope is that if you are happy to make these changes we will be able to get him over the line."

The department insisted it was "absolutely right" that ministers insisted on Sir Bruce giving his "independent" view on how the health service would be able to respond.

But Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb raised concerns about political interference.

He said: "This revelation raises serious concerns about potential political interference with the independent medical director of NHS England.

"Jeremy Hunt must explain exactly who was involved in toughening up of language in this letter. My fear is that this will damage trust between the Government and junior doctors still further.

"We need a cross party commission to look at how we secure the long term future of the NHS and social care, but Jeremy Hunt must now immediately get back around the negotiating table and resolve this dispute with junior doctors that are such an integral part of our NHS."
Arsene Wenger says FA Cup should not be neglected

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has played down Sam Allardyce's concerns that a hectic Barclays Premier League schedule is damaging the reputation of the FA Cup.

The Sunderland boss hit out at league bosses for putting a round of fixtures in midweek following the third round of the FA Cup - which sees the Black Cats travel to face holders Arsenal.

Allardyce labelled the decision as "diabolical" and says he has no choice but to field a weakened team at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday as his side, who sit 19th in the Premier League, face a trip to fellow strugglers Swansea on Wednesday.

Arsene Wenger still expects Egypt international Mohamed Elneny to sign for Arsenal

But Wenger, looking to win the FA Cup for a third straight season, has dismissed the idea out of hand and believes the allure of the trophy still exists for all of the clubs taking part.

When asked what impact the midweek Premier League games will have on the FA Cup, he replied: "None, I don't see why the FA Cup should be ostracised or be neglected because of the Premier League.

"When you play in the Champions League, you play on a Wednesday. In the Premier League, you play on a Saturday. Why should you not play Saturday, Tuesday or Wednesday? It's no problem.

"The FA Cup is a great competition. I'm not sure that Sunderland will field a weaker a team. We take care of this competition like everybody does.

"Everybody dreams of winning the FA Cup. There may be some priorities at some stage of the season for some clubs who think they are in trouble and have to make these kinds of decisions, so they choose.

"Maybe he has injuries. I cannot speak for Sam Allardyce. He has given his reasons, I don't know. I can tell you only my point of view - that we want to go for the competition and you take it 100 per cent."

Wenger could make a limited number of changes as his league-leading Gunners face a tricky trip to face Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday, but one player who will definitely not be involved in either game is forward Alexis Sanchez.

The Chile international injured a hamstring in November's 1-1 draw at Norwich and will not be risked in the coming days.

"Alexis is a bit short to be in the squad tomorrow but is not far," he said.

"Liverpool will come too soon as well. Maybe (he will be available) for Stoke. Everyone is available from last week. Mikel Arteta is available and will be selected because he played 45 minutes on Tuesday with the under-21s."

Wenger also revealed Mohamed Elneny's proposed transfer from Basle has become complicated - but he still expects the midfielder to join.

Egypt international Elneny has been linked with a move since before the January transfer window opened but the deal is still yet to be completed, despite Basle confirming the 23-year-old had missed recent training sessions to seal the transfer.

"It is complicated a little bit," said Wenger.

"But we are working hard on it and hopefully in the next two or three days we will get to the end of it.

"I don't rule out anyone else, but he will be at least one of the signings that comes into an area where we are short at the moment."
Chelsea's player wage bill has overtaken both Manchester clubs

Chelsea have returned to the top of at least one Premier League table after annual figures revealed they have overtaken both Manchester clubs in terms of salaries paid to players.

The 2014-15 figures, which have been made available on Companies House, show that Chelsea are the biggest payers in the top flight once more after losing that position to Manchester City in the 2011-12 season.

The club, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, reported a total wage bill for last season rose to 215.6milion, up 25million.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has injected more funding into the club

The salary bill for their leading rivals last season saw Manchester United's at 203million, Manchester City's at 193.5million and Arsenal paying out 192.2million on wages. Both Manchester clubs reported a drop in overall wages last season.

Chelsea announced in November the club had made a net loss of 23.1million on turnover of 314.3million - down 5.1million - but said they were well within the boundaries for complying with UEFA's financial fair play regulations.

The full annual figures reveal however that the club made a 42million profit on players trading, through selling Romelu Lukaku, Andre Schurrle and Ryan Bertrand - and despite bringing in Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa. In the 2013-14 season Chelsea made a 65million profit in player trading.
A&E patients turned away as 'dangerously full' hospitals issue black alerts

Hospitals have been forced to turn patients away due to immense pressure, with some issuing "black alerts" and cancelling operations and clinics.

Figures released by NHS England show patients have been turned away from busy A&E departments, while NHS trusts told the Press Association they were struggling to cope with patient demand.

Just days before thousands of junior doctors across England go on strike, the NHS has been faced with a surge in people seeking treatment, prompting hospitals to take to Twitter to tell patients not to go to A&E unless it is "life-threatening".

A black alert is the highest level, which means hospitals cannot cope with the number of patients

Some hospitals are on "black alert" - the highest level, which means they cannot cope with the number of patients - while others are on "red alert", which means they are under "extreme pressure".

Among those struggling are hospitals in Essex, with Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust both on black alert.

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust said it was on black alert, while the health system across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire remains on black alert.

Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust has been on black alert since Tuesday but this was downgraded to "amber" on Friday morning. Other NHS trusts are on red alert.

Burton's Queen's Hospital closed its doors temporarily on Monday to patients arriving in ambulances.

As well as England, Scotland and Wales have also experienced issues with high attendances at A&E.

Analysis of new NHS England figures by the Guardian showed that hospitals have had to send patients elsewhere for treatment 89 times over the last five weeks.

In addition, hospital trusts in England have run into "operational problems" no fewer than 141 times.

A spokesman for NHS England said the figures on patients being sent elsewhere are just under the figure for the same five weeks last year.

He said this winter had so far also been much quieter for "operational problems".

Labour's shadow health minister, Justin Madders, said: "Hospitals are dangerously full, patients are waiting hours in A&E, and some hospital bosses have had no choice but to close their doors in order to cope.

"Ministers have been warned on numerous occasions that cuts to older people's care in the home will have a knock-on effect on the NHS."

Unison union general secretary Dave Prentis said: "It is outrageous that vulnerable patients are being turned away when they urgently need to get medical attention.

"We have constantly warned that the NHS was hugely stretched - those working in A&Es have spent much of the past five years living under the constant threat of services being cut, closed or reorganised."

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England's national medical director, said: "I am pleased to say that the NHS had a good Christmas period.

"There were fewer serious operational problems than last year, lower hospital bed occupancy rates and lower levels of illness than usually seen at this time of year."

He said many patients had listened to calls to keep A&E for real emergencies.
Philip Hammond 'can't envisage' backing Brexit if EU renegotiation is secured

Philip Hammond said he "can't envisage" breaking ranks to campaign against European Union membership if David Cameron secures a renegotiation deal.

The Foreign Secretary - who has previously said he would back "Brexit" if the relationship is not changed - said he would not take advantage of the Prime Minister's decision to free Cabinet ministers from collective responsibility.

"Our first challenge is to get the right deal, and we are making good progress on that," he told BBC Radio 4's Today after Mr Cameron expressed confidence of securing backing for welfare curbs on the latest leg of an intense diplomatic tour.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he "can't envisage" campaigning against a renegotiation deal David Cameron thinks is strong enough to put to the country

"It is a painstaking task because we've got 27 partners to bring along with us.

"Then the Government will make a decision about whether it can make a recommendation to the British people on the back of that deal to support Britain's continued membership of the European Union.

"I can't envisage us negotiating a deal which the Prime Minister thinks is good enough to recommend to the British people and which I feel I want to campaign against. I can't envisage that circumstance."

The PM insisted on Thursday that he still hopes to complete his EU membership renegotiation next month after his Hungarian counterpart said he was "sure" British concerns about benefits abuses could be accommodated.

At a joint press conference after talks in Budapest, Viktor Orban sharply denied that Hungarians were "parasites" on the UK taxpayer.

But he said he recognised anxiety over "abuse" of Britain's welfare system, and expressed confidence that the V4 - Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia - would agree to a solution.

The comments will have encouraged the Prime Minister at the end of another gruelling diplomatic offensive which saw him meet Angela Merkel in Bavaria on Wednesday evening before heading for Budapest.

Mr Cameron said his proposal of a four-year ban on migrants claiming in-work benefits - viewed as the most difficult part of the reform package - was still "on the table" although he reiterated that he was ready to listen to alternatives.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Orban avoided addressing the specific proposal and said he would not accept any "discriminatory" measures.

But he added: "I think we will be able to agree ... "I am sure we are going to be able to find a solution that is going to be suitable for the Hungarian employees."

He said: "The abuses that are seen in social benefits systems have to be eliminated. I made clear that the Hungarian government does not support any abuses at all."

The Daily Telegraph reported that EU leaders were offering Mr Cameron a deal that would see the ban extended to 18 to 22-year-old British workers but allow the impact on them to be mitigated through other payments.

A Downing Street source said: "There's been lots of noise and speculation around our renegotiation in recent months - and this is just the latest example."

Mr Cameron says the Government will make a "clear recommendation" on whether the UK should stay in the 28-nation bloc or leave, following the conclusion of the renegotiation of the terms of its membership.

But he told MPs that it would be open for individual ministers to oppose this recommendation without quitting their Government posts, in a significant departure from the usual principle of collective responsibility.
Mother who wanted her children to live under Islamic State control jailed

A British-born mother of two who tried to take her children to Syria to live under Islamic State control has been jailed for more than five years.

The woman, 34, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wished to live under strict Sharia law and believed such a regime could only be found where IS imposed control, Leeds Crown Court heard.

She abducted her children in October last year with the intention of travelling to Raqqa but was stopped by Turkish authorities in Istanbul and returned to the UK after her husband and parents contacted police.

The woman wished to live under strict Sharia law, Leeds Crown Court heard

She earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of child abduction, relating to her children, who were both aged under 16.

Sentencing the woman to five years and four months in jail, Judge Rodney Jameson QC said: "You were determined to take them to Raqqa in Syria.

"Raqqa is, and was in October 2015, the epicentre of a war zone. Further, it was, and presently remains, under the control of IS.

"It is said on your behalf that you do not support much of what IS do. It is not easy to reconcile this submission with the assertion that you believe that Sharia law is only enforced properly by IS.

"In any event, the nature of the regime imposed by IS in Syria is clear. It is beyond dispute that IS enforce their will by the use of extreme force. Such force routinely includes mutilation, rape and murder. You are an intelligent and well-educated woman, you knew this.

"The fate of your children would have been either to have subscribed, fully and actively, as we have all seen in the appalling use of a young child in an IS propaganda video in recent days, to such behaviour, or to have suffered it themselves."

The court heard the woman, who was born in the UK, spent her early childhood in Pakistan before returning to England when she was a teenager.

She became increasingly religious and gave up her job in finance in August last year, indicating it was "inconsistent" with her religious beliefs.

On October 10 last year, the woman told her husband she was taking her children to a party before boarding a flight to Istanbul.

Judge Jameson said: "You believed that taking the children to Syria to live under IS control was necessary to secure their spiritual salvation."

He added: "This was a terrible betrayal of your responsibilities to your children and of their trust in you."

The judge said the woman told police she had intended to move on from Raqqa to Mosul, in Iraq, and said the children could have returned to the UK when they were 16.

"You must have known that it was almost certainly impossible for them to have left Raqqa once there and, in any event, Mosul, also under IS control, was a scarcely less dreadful destination for your children," he said.

A pre-sentence report stated that the woman continued to hold on to her beliefs and underestimated the seriousness of her behaviour.

Judge Jameson said the mother therefore currently posed a significant risk to the children, including seeking to radicalise them or, upon release, attempting to abduct them again.

Joanne Shepherd, defending, said the woman did not intend to cause any harm to her children.

The woman, who sat in the dock wearing a black hijab, smiled as Judge Jameson passed two concurrent sentences of five years and four months.
Harry Kane wants to stay with Tottenham insists manager Mauricio Pochettino

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino would not be surprised if Real Madrid wanted to sign Harry Kane but insists the striker has no interest in leaving White Hart Lane.

Kane has scored 13 goals for Spurs already this season and is reportedly attracting interest from the Spanish giants, who have previously lured Luka Modric and Gareth Bale away from North London.

Tottenham also insisted Bale would not be sold before accepting a world record fee for the winger in 2013, but Pochettino believes Kane, who joined the club's academy when he was 11 years old and grew up in Chingford, is a special case.

Mauricio Pochettino says Harry Kane, pictured, has no interest in leaving Tottenham

"I didn't see the rumour but it doesn't surprise me," Pochettino said.

"Harry Kane is one of the best strikers in Europe or in the world.

"It would not surprise me if some big clubs are interested in him but it's only a rumour.

"He is not for sale and the good thing is Harry wants to stay with us, this is the most important thing.

"Sometimes a manager can say a player is not for sale but if the player wants to leave there are a lot of examples when it happens.

"But in this case the good thing is Tottenham do not want to sell him and Harry Kane wants to stay with us."

Spurs host Leicester in the FA Cup third round on Sunday, three days before playing the Foxes again in the league.

Both teams are gunning for a place in the top four this season and Pochettino admits he may rotate his side after a busy Christmas period.

"It's not a distraction, the FA Cup is the oldest competition in the world. We respect the competition a lot," Pochettino said.

"We have a strong squad. It's true we come off a very busy period in Christmas.

"But it's a good opportunity, maybe for some players who cannot play consistently play in the Premier League, to show their quality and fight for their place in the team."

Ryan Mason and Mousa Dembele will both miss the match with ankle injuries while Clinton Njie is out with a knee problem.
David Cameron 'should consider RAF food drops for starving Syrians'

David Cameron has been urged to consider sending the RAF to carry out emergency food drops to help starving Syrians.

Shocking reports emerged of civilians in a besieged town dying through lack of food while others were eating dirt and rubbish.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown and Labour MP Jo Cox have written to the Prime Minister warning that an agreement to get aid into the stricken areas may be an "empty gesture" and called on him to consider sending in help.

Prime Minister David Cameron meets Queen Rania of Jordan outside 10 Downing Street

It comes as Queen Rania of Jordan called for a "new approach" in dealing with refugees that would work in Europe and "address the needs of refugees" during talks in Downing Street.

In a meeting with Mr Cameron, she urged the international community to take "bolder measures" to deal with the refugee crisis, which has seen displaced Syrians flee to neighbouring countries, including Jordan.

Queen Rania added: "I would like to thank the British people for their generosity and support and compassion in dealing with this, what could be one of the worst humanitarian crises that we face in our time."

A conference is being held in London next month to secure funding for Syrian refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Mr Cameron has said the reports coming out of Madaya "are heart-wrenching" and underline the summit is "vital".

UN officials said the S yrian government has agreed to allow aid into Madaya where more than 30 people have reportedly died of starvation or been killed trying to escape in the past month.

The town, which lies north west of Damascus near the border with Lebanon, has been under siege by the Assad regime and its Hezbollah allies since July.

But Lord Ashdown and Ms Cox warned that the deal did not go far enough and urged the Government not to " sit by and watch this happen."

They wrote: " We urge you to push the UN, in particular the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian A ffairs, to be far bolder in its aid delivery and stop asking unnecessary permission from the Syrian government.

" In the case that the UN continues to be denied access to these besieged areas by the Assad regime, the UK should strongly consider air dropping aid to those communities at risk of starvation. In some of these areas, the RAF is already flying anti-Isis missions, and if necessary this is something we should press our European partners to support."

Downing Street later said the Prime Minister and Queen Rania had discussed the need for a "comprehensive approach" to the Syrian humanitarian crisis.

They agreed that "as well as substantially increasing humanitarian aid, countries must seek to address the longer term needs of refugees through education and employment, to enable them to return to Syria and rebuild its economy once the conflict has ended".
Failed Iraqi asylum seeker accused of being part of people smuggling gang

A failed Iraqi asylum seeker who has been in the UK for 15 years is accused of being part of a gang that helped smuggle as many as 3,000 migrants into the country.

Basak Ahmed Sleman, 33, is said to have helped a Kurdish criminal network traffic around 100 illegal immigrants into the UK each week.

Up to 20 stowaways, including whole families at a time, were smuggled into the country five nights a week on a perilous journey aboard lorries that crossed the Channel from Belgium, Westminster Magistrates Court was told.

Up to 20 stowaways were smuggled into Britain five nights a week, Westminster Magistrates Court was told

Illegal immigrants are said to have travelled from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Albania, boarding the lorries at motorway service stations.

Sleman, who came to the UK 15 years ago from his homeland and has leave to remain from the Home Office, despite his asylum status, is accused along with a second man, Shamel Zorab, 37, of being in contact with members of the smuggling network and collecting fees from migrants who were brought across the border.

The pair, neither of whom gave an address to the court, were arrested on Thursday in Birmingham and Salford.

Their lawyers said they would fight extradition to Belgium, where they face questions over their alleged role in the smuggling gang.

Prosecuting, Carl Kelvin told the court the trafficking was said to have taken place "over a considerable period of time, at least from May 2015, but probably before that".

He said: "Traffickers worked five days a week smuggling up to 30 people on each occasion - this included whole families - for criminal gain."

The court was told Sleman has previous convictions for using false registration cards and possessing improperly obtained identification documents belonging to someone else.

Defending him, Euan Macmillan said: "My client is a refugee in this country, he is an asylum seeker from Iraq, he has been here for 15 years, has never left the country for perhaps obvious reasons and he has no identification documents.

"He has Home Office leave to remain and has to report to a Home Office branch in Birmingham every six months."

Zorab, who the court heard has a string of previous convictions over many years including burglary and driving offences, said he would fight extradition as he has family in the UK and because he feared persecution in Belgium due to his Kurdish ethnicity.

Deputy chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot appeared surprised at the claim, saying: "In Belgium? Well, that will be interesting."

The pair were denied bail and ordered to return to the court on January 14 for another extradition hearing.
Truck bomb kills nearly 50 at Libyan police academy

By Ayman El-Sahli

MISRATA, Libya Jan 7 (Reuters) - At least 47 people were killed on Thursday when Libya's worst bomb attack since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi hit a police training centre as hundreds of recruits gathered for a morning meeting.

No group immediately claimed the attack in the western town of Zliten, but suicide blasts and car bombings have increased in Libya as Islamist militants have taken advantage of the North African country's chaos to expand their presence.

Late on Thursday the Islamic State militant group claimed another car bombing that killed at least seven in the oil port of Ras Lanuf. The port and a nearby terminal at Es Sider came under attack from militants earlier this week, in their most concerted effort to date against Libya's oil infrastructure.

In Zliten, Mayor Miftah Hamadi said the truck bomb detonated as around 400 recruits were gathering in the early morning at the police centre. Zliten lies between the capital Tripoli and the port of Misrata.

"It was horrific, the explosion was so loud it was heard from miles away," Hamadi told Reuters by telephone, his voice choked with emotion. "All the victims were young, and all about to start their lives."

The charred remains of a vehicle lay strewn across the ground near the police academy building. Parked cars were mangled by the force of the blast.

Witnesses said residents ferried victims to Misrata hospitals in ambulances and cars, many with shrapnel wounds and some bodies too damaged to be identified.

Medical sources had initially said 65 people had been killed, including some civilians. But Fozi Awnais, head of the crisis committee for the health ministry in Tripoli, said later that 47 people had died and 118 more were wounded.

Since a NATO-backed revolt ousted Gaddafi, Libya has slipped deeper into turmoil with two rival governments and a range of armed factions locked in a struggle for control of the OPEC state and its oil wealth.

In the chaos, Islamic State militants have grown in strength, taking over the city of Sirte and launching attacks on oilfields.

On Monday, Islamic State fighters launched an attack on Ras Lanuf and Es Sider, Libya's biggest oil export terminals, which are situated between Sirte and the eastern city of Benghazi.

Clashes over three days had already had already left 11 guards dead and set seven oil storage tanks on fire before Thursday evening's car bombing.

The ports have been closed since December 2014, and Libya's oil output has plunged to less than one quarter of a 2011 high of 1.6 million barrels per day.

The Zliten blast was the worst since an attack in February last year when three car bombs hit the eastern city of Qubbah, killing 40 people in what officials described as a revenge attack for Egyptian air strikes on Islamist militant targets.

Western powers are pushing Libya's factions to back a U.N.-brokered national unity government to join forces against Islamic State militants, but the agreement faces major resistance from several factions on the ground.

For more than a year, an armed faction called Libya Dawn has controlled Tripoli, setting up its own self-declared government, reinstating the former parliament and forcing the recognised government to operate in the east of the country.

Western officials say forming a united government would be the first step in Libya seeking international help to fight against Islamic State, including training for a new army and possible air strikes against militant targets.
Talks uncertain as India says Pakistan must first hunt militants

By Krista Mahr and Douglas Busvine

NEW DELHI, Jan 7 (Reuters) - India called on Pakistan on Thursday to take "prompt and decisive" action against militants it blames for an attack on an air base, days before fraught peace talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours are scheduled to resume.

A meeting between the foreign secretaries of both nations had been tentatively scheduled for Jan. 15, but it is unclear if it will still happen after the weekend attack on the Indian Air Force base near the Pakistan border.

India's foreign ministry said Islamabad has been given actionable intelligence that those who planned the assault came from Pakistan.

"As far as we are concerned the ball is now in Pakistan's court," spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters when asked if the talks were on. "The immediate issue in front of us is Pakistan's response to the terrorist attack."

A senior Pakistani official said India provided intelligence that included telephone numbers, call intercepts, and locations where they believe the attackers or their handlers were.

Pakistan is following up the leads, the official said, and hopes that the talks would not be cancelled while it explores them.

Prime ministers Narendra Modi of India and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan are struggling to keep their renewed dialogue on track after the militant attack killed seven Indian military personnel and wounded 22.

Modi made a surprise stopover in Pakistan last month, the first time an Indian premier has visited in over a decade.

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The standoff after the apparent thaw is part of a pattern over the years. Attempts to restart talks have been frequently thwarted by attacks between the two countries, which have fought three wars since becoming separate nations in 1947.

With such an eventuality in mind, the national security advisers of the two countries agreed on a process during a meeting in early December to keep dialogue going in case of a potential disruption, the Pakistani official said.

As a result, Indian NSA Ajit Doval has spoken at least three times by phone with his Pakistani counterpart, Naseer Khan Janjua, since the attack, including last Saturday evening when the fighting was still ongoing, the Pakistani official said.

India's security establishment has blamed the attack on militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, alleged to have been behind an assault on the country's parliament in 2001 that almost brought the two countries to war for a fourth time.

The Pakistani official said Pakistan could temporarily arrest Jaish-e-Mohammad's leader Masood Azhar to appease India, but only if the leads checked out.

Pakistan also expects DNA evidence, bodies and other forms of identification from India "within days", the official said.
Kenyan teacher jailed for enlisting pupils into al Shabaab

MOMBASA, Kenya Jan 7 (Reuters) - A Kenyan primary school teacher who recruited pupils into the Islamist militant group al Shabaab in neighbouring Somalia was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a court on Thursday.

The judge ruled the teacher, Samuel Wanjala Wabwile alias Salim Mohamed Wabwile, had taken advantage of poverty in the coastal county of Kilifi where school children walk in tattered uniforms without shoes to bait them using incentives like food.

The East African nation has suffered a string of deadly attacks by al Shabaab in recent years, which scared away tourists and damaged economic growth.

Officials say dozens of youths have crossed into Somalia in the past three years for training by the militants after being recruited and radicalised at home.

Wabwile was arrested in June last year and charged with three counts, including being a member of al Shabaab. The court convicted him of radicalising his pupils during Islamic lessons at the school where he taught in Kilifi, contrary to the law on the prevention of terrorism.

"The accused preyed on the pupils' feeble minds to impart his ideological beliefs," magistrate Diana Mochache said.

Al Shabaab is blamed for attacks in parts of Kenya including one in April last year on Garissa University in the east where 148 students were killed.

In June 2014, the group killed 65 people over a 24-hour period in and around Mpeketoni in Lamu county. It was also responsible for a raid on Nairobi's Westgate Mall in 2013 that killed 67 people.
Turkey summons Iran envoy over media linking Saudi executions with Erdogan

By Ece Toksabay

ANKARA, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Turkey summoned Iran's ambassador on Thursday to demand a halt to Iranian media reports linking the execution of a Shi'ite cleric by Saudi Arabia with last week's visit to Riyadh by President Tayyip Erdogan.

"We strongly condemn the linking of our president's recent visit to Saudi Arabia to the executions sentenced in the country in stories published on media outlets linked to Iranian official bodies," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement also condemned remarks that directly accused President Erdogan, and said the publications aimed to create a negative image of him in the eyes of Iranian people.

A row has been raging for days between Shi'ite Muslim power Iran and the conservative Sunni kingdom since Saudi Arabia executed cleric Nimr al-Nimr, an opponent of the ruling dynasty who had demanded greater rights for the Shi'ite minority.

"It was stressed to the ambassador that the attacks on Saudi Arabian embassy and consulate in Tehran and Meshed were completely unacceptable and inexplicable," the statement read.

Last week, President Erdogan paid a two-day official visit to Saudi Arabia, where he met King Salman bin Abdul Aziz for talks focused on the Syrian crisis and energy cooperation between the two countries.
S.Korea says not considering shutting Kaesong complex after N.Korea nuclear test

SEOUL, Jan 8 (Reuters) - South Korea said on Friday it was not yet considering shutting down the Kaesong industrial complex run jointly with North Korea, located north of the rivals' border, after the North's latest nuclear test this week.

Its Unification Ministry also said there has been no government decision on what North Korea needs to do to end the South's propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at the border scheduled to begin at noon (0300 GMT) on Friday.
Two Middle East refugees arrested in U.S. on terrorism charges

By Sharon Bernstein and Julia Edwards

SACRAMENTO, Calif./WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Two men from the Middle East who came to the United States as refugees were arrested on federal terrorism charges in California and Texas for supporting Islamic militant groups, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

They are the latest in a series of similar cases in a U.S. campaign against extremism. Neither man was charged with plotting an attack on the United States. One man was charged with supporting the Islamic State militant group overseas and both were charged with providing false information about their ties to what were described as international terrorist groups.

There have been more than 75 publicized arrests of U.S. residents who have allegedly become radicalized by Muslim militants since 2014.

The men, arrested in Sacramento and Houston, were not involved in a single plot, but they may have been in contact with each other, a source familiar with the two cases said.

Both men are Palestinians who were born in Iraq. The man arrested in Houston, Omar Faraj Saeed Al-Hardan, entered the United States as an Iraqi refugee in November 2009, according to a court document.

In Sacramento, the U.S. Department of Justice said Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, came to the United States in 2012 as a refugee from Syria.

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a Tea Party Republican, cited the arrest in Houston as a reason why Texas has been seeking to block the resettlement of Syrian refugees.

"This is exactly what we have repeatedly told the Obama administration could happen and why we do not want refugees coming to Texas. There are serious questions about who these people really are, as evidenced by today's events," Patrick said in a statement.

Republican leaders have been calling on President Barack Obama, a Democrat, to move with caution in allowing refugees from Syria to resettle in the United States.

Obama said last year that the United States would take in 10,000 Syrian refugees by Oct. 1, 2016, prompting vows of defiance from more than 30 governors who warned of risks to national security.

Most of the 75 cases for activity inspired by Islamic State involve young men allegedly seeking to support the militant group by traveling to fight with them in Syria or helping others join Islamic State abroad.

The Justice Department "will continue to hold accountable those who seek to join or aid the cause of terrorism, whether at home or abroad," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said in a statement.

Al-Hardan was charged with providing material support to the Islamic State militant group and for making false statements about ties to the group when seeking U.S. naturalization, according to an indictment in federal court in Houston unsealed on Thursday.

In California, Al-Jayab was arrested on Thursday on a federal charge of making a false statement involving international terrorism, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The U.S. attorney for Sacramento, Benjamin Wagner, said in a statement there were no indications Al-Jayab had planned any attacks in the United States.

"While he represented a potential safety threat, there is no indication that he planned any acts of terrorism in this country," Wagner said.

Wagner's spokeswoman, Lauren Horwood, said: "There is no current threat to public safety associated with this arrest."

In a criminal complaint, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Al-Jayab lied about traveling back to Syria and about posting on social media his support for what the government said were terrorist groups.

"O God, grant us martyrdom for your sake while engaged in fighting and not retreating; a martyrdom that would make you satisfied with us," the FBI said Al-Jayab wrote to someone. The court filing did not name the individual, but it indicated the person lives in Texas, where Al-Hardan was arrested.

The Justice Department said that the year after Al-Jayab came to the United States, he went overseas, and later told officials that he had gone to Turkey to visit family.

The complaint includes numerous social media postings and other communications in which Al-Jayab discussed jihad as well as using assault rifles and training with militants. He also said he was in Syria.
Beijing imposed $28 mln in pollution fines last year - Xinhua

SHANGHAI, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Beijing's environmental watchdog levied fines totalling about 183 million yuan ($27.76 million) for violations of pollution laws in the Chinese capital last year, the state news agency Xinhua said on Friday.

The agency did not offer a comparative full-year figure, but state media reported last year that the 100 million yuan Beijing collected in pollution fines in the first nine months of 2015 was almost twice the amount as the same period during 2014.

The ruling Communist Party has only in recent years begun to acknowledge the damage that decades of growth-at-all-costs economic development have done to China's skies, rivers and soil.

It is now trying to equip its environmental inspection offices with greater powers and more resources to tackle persistent polluters and local governments that protect them.

An amended air pollution law, passed by the legislature in August, grants the state new powers to punish offenders and create a legal framework to cap coal consumption, the Asian giant's biggest source of smog.

Xinhua said the fines included 44 million yuan in nearly 2,000 cases involving air pollution, which has become a hot-button issue in the Chinese capital and other cities frequently engulfed in hazardous smog that worsens during winter.

The authorities imposed fines of 72 million yuan for 181 infringements relating to water and other areas, the news agency quoted the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau as saying.

Beijing has put nearly 20,000 pollution sources in key industries under "strict supervision", the bureau said without elaborating.
Hungary, Factors to watch, Jan 8

BUDAPEST, Jan 8 (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 - Interview with PM Orban on public radio (0635)

BUDAPEST - Industrial output, trade balance Nov prelim (0800)

IN THE REGION

SLOVAKIA - Trade balance 11/15 (0900)

CZECH - Construction and industrial output, trade balance 11/15 (0900)

BULGARIA - Industrial output (1000)

IN THE NEWS REUTERS

Hungary sees EU benefits deal with UK, poll shows Brexit support rising

Hungary's prime minister said he believed central European countries could reach a deal on Britain's demand to curb benefits for migrant workers from EU countries in a bid to persuade Britons to stay in the European Union.

Slovak PM says will fight to keep immigration to a minimum

Slovakia will fight against immigration from Muslim countries to prevent attacks like the shootings in Paris and assaults of women in Germany, Prime Minister Robert Fico said, declaring that multi-culturalism was "a fiction".

Hungary hires Bank of China for yuan-bond road show -AKK

Hungary has chosen the Bank of China to canvass potential investors on their interest in a possible yuan-denominated sovereign bond, the first from central Europe, a press official for Hungarian debt agency, AKK, told Reuters.

POLL-Strong Polish zloty rebound forecast later this year

Poland's zloty is expected to post strong gains later this year, rebounding from a plunge in the first sessions of 2016 due to concerns about the new government's spending plans and legislation to strengthen its grip on the media and courts.

INSIGHT-After split from ally, Hungary's Orban strives to muster media muscle
Poland - Factors to Watch Jan 8

Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Friday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 1 hour):

TAXES

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, economy minister Mateusz Morawiecki and finance minister Pawel Szalamacha will hold a debate on Poland's planned supermarket tax at 1000 GMT.

EURO

Starting from Jan 1, the Polish government no longer includes a post of a euro plenipotentiary and will not publish the monthly convergence reports, daily Rzeczpospolita reported.

ORANGE

The Polish unit of the French telecoms group Orange expects charges related to its labour agreements to cut its fourth-quarter gross profit by 92 million zlotys ($23.1 million), the unit said on Thursday.

DEFENSE

Poland will spend over 10 billion zlotys ($2.50 billion) on military investments, but plans to verify the spending's efficiency, daily Rzeczpospolita reported.

Poland's foreign affairs minister Witold Waszczykowski told daily Nasz Dziennik that the planned NATO bases in Poland would be of a rotary character.

COAL MINING

Polish mining gear producer Kopex, as well as Australian miner Prairie Mining and the unit of its German rival HMS Bergbau plan to invest in new coal mines in Poland, daily Rzeczpospolita reported.

PZU

Former deputy treasury minister as well as director at the World Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Michal Krupinski will probably be the new chief executive at Eastern Europe's largest insurer, the state-controlled PZU, daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported.

****Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.****
PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - Jan 8

SOFIA, Jan 8 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

-- The former leader of the ethnic Turkish MRF party, who was ousted from his post at the end of last year over for declaring support of Turkey in its row with Russia over the downing of a Russian warplane, said he will stay in politics. (24 Chasa, Trud, Monitor, Duma, Standart, Sega, Capital Daily)

-- Police has arrested 14 Bulgarians on suspicions they were involved in money laundering that amounted to 2 million euros. (Trud, Standart, 24 Chasa)

-- Bulgarian First Investment Bank has acquired the assets of the closed steel plant Kremikovtzi and will be starting talks with a strategic investor for the plant, it said. (Standart, Capital Daily, Duma)
Erdogan says attempted Islamic State attack vindicates Iraq deployment

By Tulay Karadeniz and Stephen Kalin

ANKARA/BAGHDAD, Jan 8 (Reuters) - An attempted attack by Islamic State on a military base in northern Iraq shows Turkey's decision to deploy troops there was justified, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, suggesting Russia was stirring up a row over the issue.

But Iraq's military later denied that the militant group had attacked or clashed with the Turkish forces "recently".

Turkey deployed a force protection unit of around 150 troops to northern Iraq in December citing heightened security risks near Bashiqa, where its soldiers have been training an Iraqi militia to fight Islamic State. Baghdad objected to the deployment.

The head of the Sunni militia said his fighters and Turkish forces launched a joint "pre-emptive" attack on Islamic State around 10 km (6 miles) south of the base on Wednesday because the militants were building capacity to launch rockets at it.

"Our forces managed to detect the position of these rockets so they conducted a preemptive strike," Atheel al-Nujaifi, former governor of the nearby Islamic State-controlled city of Mosul, told Reuters.

"This operation was ended without a single rocket being launched at the camp," he said.

Erdogan said no Turkish soldiers were harmed while 18 Islamic State militants were killed.

"This incident shows what a correct step it was, the one regarding Bashiqa. It is clear that with our armed soldiers there, our officers giving the training are prepared for anything at any time," he told reporters in Istanbul.

Iraq's military denied the reports.

"The joint operations command denies there was a terrorist attack on the position of Turkish forces in Bashiqa by the terrorist Daesh (Islamic State) recently," said a news flash on state television.

It "denies what was relayed in some media outlets from the Turkish president about clashing between the Turkish forces inside Iraqi territory and the terrorist Daesh whether in Bashiqa or any other areas."

DIPLOMATIC DISPUTE

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi accused Ankara last week of failing to respect an agreement to withdraw its troop deployment, while majority-Shi'ite Iraq's foreign minister said Baghdad could resort to military action if forced.

Erdogan said the problems over the deployment only started after Turkey's relations with Russia soured in the wake of Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter jet over Syria in November.

"They (Iraq) asked us to train their soldiers and showed us this base as the venue. But as we see, afterwards, once there were problems between Russia and Turkey ... these negative developments began," Erdogan said.

Turkey, he said, was acting in line with international law.

The camp in Iraq's Nineveh province, to which Sunni Muslim power Turkey has historic ties, is situated around 140 km (90 miles) south of the Turkish border.

Iraqi security forces have no presence in Nineveh since collapsing in June 2014 in the face of a lightning advance by Islamic State.

Ankara has acknowledged there was a "miscommunication" with Baghdad over the troop deployment.

It later withdrew some soldiers to another base in the nearby autonomous Kurdistan region and said it would continue to pull out of Nineveh. But Erdogan has ruled out a full withdrawal.

Nujaifi said the international coalition bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria had supported ground forces with air strikes in Wednesday's operation.
Special forces target Islamic State in Hawija, Iraq official says

By Stephen Kalin and Maher Chmaytelli

BAGHDAD, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Foreign special forces have been carrying out raids on an Islamic State stronghold in northern Iraq ahead of an offensive planned later this year to retake Mosul, the largest city under the group's control, Iraq's parliamentary speaker said.

Several attacks behind Islamic State lines around Hawija, 210 kilometres (130 miles) north of Baghdad, were carried out in recent weeks, Salim al-Jabouri told Reuters on Thursday.

Both the U.S. and Iraqi military have denied that U.S. forces have carried out military operations on the ground in Hawija since October, when U.S. special forces rescued 69 Iraqis in a raid that killed one U.S. commando.

But Dubai-based al-Hadath TV and Iraqi media have reported at least half a dozen raids in and around Hawija since late December, led by U.S. special forces.

Washington said last month it was deploying a new force of around 100 special operations troops to Iraq to conduct raids against Islamic State there and in neighbouring Syria, without providing details.

U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the international coalition bombing Islamic State, rejected the media reports this week, calling them "Iranian disinformation" aimed at distracting from Iraqi military gains against Islamic State elsewhere.

He told Reuters that coalition forces in Iraq have not operated on the ground since the October operation. Iraq's defence minister last week also denied that the U.S. had a role in such raids.

Special operations in Hawija "have been repeated a second and third time ... These operations are bearing fruit," said Jabouri, Iraq's most senior Sunni Arab official. "They eliminate the terrorists and free innocents, and for us it represents a positive development."

Jabouri said the raids were carried out "from time to time" and "supported by Iraqi forces" but did not specify whether the United States played a role or how many had occurred.

The raids are "not direct ground attacks; they are operations targeting the dens of Daesh in important and sensitive areas," Jabouri said, using an Arabic acronym for the group, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL.

He said they were not enough to get rid of Islamic State but "are dealing them strong blows".

Local sources near Hawija, including a police officer and a municipal official, said last week that several raids had targeted Islamic State buildings including a courthouse and a police station, killing and capturing several militant leaders. Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

ROAD TO MOSUL

The October raid that included U.S. special forces "is the only operation that we have spoken about and the only one that we will speak about," Warren, the coalition spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday.

That operation, conducted with peshmerga commandos from northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, sparked outrage by powerful Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias and Abadi's own ruling coalition.

The militias, many of which fought U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion, have decried the reports of more recent raids as U.S. attempts to divide Iraq.

Jabouri said such sensitivities were easing and described the raids as part of Baghdad's strategy to retake Mosul, the city 400 km (250 miles) north of Baghdad where Islamic State declared its intention to establish a caliphate stretching across the border with Syria.

Strategically located east of the road from Baghdad to Mosul and near the Kurdish-held oil region of Kirkuk, the region became an Islamic State stronghold when the ultra-hardline Sunni militants swept across northern and western Iraq in 2014.

The government has designated Mosul as the next target for Iraq's armed forces after they retook the western city of Ramadi last month, the first major success of the U.S.-trained force that initially fled in the face of Islamic State's advance.

Baghdad and the U.S.-led coalition, though, have not made clear what path they intend to take to the capital of Nineveh province while most of Anbar province remains under Islamic State control.

Jabouri said the advance to Mosul could not be rushed.

"We cannot think of moving to another province until Anbar province is cleansed completely, which means there is an upcoming battle related to Falluja and what remains of it, and another one to the west of Ramadi," said Jabouri.

"At the same time there are preparations underway for Nineveh," he added.
Swiss missionary kidnapped a second time in Mali's Timbuktu

By Tiemoko Diallo

BAMAKO, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Armed men kidnapped a Swiss missionary from her home in Timbuktu on Friday, nearly four years after she was abducted by Islamist militants from the same house, Malian and Swiss authorities said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is active in desert areas north of the city and has a history of seizing foreigners and demanding ransoms.

In April 2012, militants kidnapped Beatrice Stockly and released her days later. She returned to her work as a missionary. A resident of Timbuktu who knows Stockly told Reuters she had again been abducted.

"I confirm that a European woman was kidnapped in Timbuktu at 3.30 a.m. (0330 GMT). A neighbour alerted the security forces around 6 a.m.," said army spokesman Souleymane Maiga.

Four vehicles were used in the kidnap, said a military source in Timbuktu who declined to be identified.

"One vehicle parked in front of the house and armed men got out and abducted the woman, while the other three cars secured the area from a distance," said the source.

French forces drove Islamist fighters from major urban centres in 2013 but they have intensified their insurgency with a series of attacks and roadside bombings last year.

Two militants attacked a luxury hotel in the capital Bamako on Nov. 20, killing 20 people, many of whom were foreigners.

Three Islamist militant groups including AQIM claimed responsibility for the hotel attack, which showed the militants extending their reach beyond the north.

CALL FOR SHARIA

In a separate incident, an unidentified gunman shot three people dead outside a Christian radio station in Timbuktu in December. A veteran jihadist called for a return to Islamic sharia law at a recent meeting attended by hundreds of locals near Timbuktu, an AQIM video showed this week.

Dozens of Westerners were abducted by desert militants in West and North Africa in the five years before the French military operation in Mali in 2013.

There has been a lull since then, with many foreigners too frightened to visit. In the last known abduction attempt, two French journalists from Radio France International were killed in Kidal, northern Mali, in Nov. 2013.

Two Western hostages kidnapped in north Mali in 2011 are still being held by al Qaeda militants.

The Swiss foreign ministry formed a task force when it heard about Friday's kidnapping and was working for the woman's safe release, a statement said, adding that since 2009 it had advised against travel to Mali because of the high risk of kidnapping.

"After the kidnapping of 2012, the ministry had pointed out to the affected Swiss national the high personal risk in Mali ... and strongly discouraged her from another stay in Mali," it said.
Turkish police detain pro-Kurdish opposition members in Istanbul raid

By Humeyra Pamuk and Seyhmus Cakan

ISTANBUL/DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Turkish police detained six people including local officials from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) on Friday in a raid on one of its Istanbul offices, days after President Tayyip Erdogan said he backed legal action against its members.

Riot police and special forces took part in the operation, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, which said the action was part of a crackdown on urban networks of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group's youth wing.

Erdogan and the government accuse the HDP, parliament's third-biggest party, of being an extension of the PKK, which has fought a three-decade insurgency for greater Kurdish autonomy in the southeast and which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

HDP says it is opposed to violence and wants a peaceful solution for Turkey's Kurds.

The detentions come less than 48 hours after Erdogan said some HDP lawmakers and local mayors were behaving like members of a terrorist organisation and that their positions should not shield them from prosecution.

Istanbul police said in a statement that the operation was part of an investigation into a June 2015 murder suspected to have been carried out by PKK members and was based on a tip-off that the murder weapon was in the HDP building.

The predominantly Kurdish southeast has sunk into violence after a two-year ceasefire between the state and the PKK collapsed last July, reviving a conflict that has crippled the region for three decades and killed more than 40,000 people.

On Friday, one Turkish soldier was killed and five others wounded in clashes in Sur, the historic district of southeastern Diyarbakir province that has been under a police curfew for more than a month, security sources said.

Another soldier died from wounds sustained in a militant attack in the town of Cizre, near the Syrian border, the Turkish military said.

In Silopi, bordering Iraq, 58 PKK militants were captured while trying to flee, it said in a separate statement.

The shift in fighting from the countryside to urban centres has left civilians caught in the middle. According to HDP figures, 72 civilians in three southeastern towns have been killed since Dec. 14, when the latest military campaign began.

Thousands of people have left their homes in Sur. Residents complain of indiscriminate operations and round-the-clock curfews have left even the sick unable to get to hospital.
Brazil central bank weighed ban on former BTG Pactual CEO Esteves

By Marcela Ayres

BRASILIA, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Five years before his arrest in a political corruption scandal, billionaire financier Andre Esteves was nearly banned from banking in Brazil due to irregular trading, according to a central bank document reviewed by Reuters.

Central bank investigators recommended in October 2010 that Esteves, who founded and ran investment bank Grupo BTG Pactual SA until last November, should have been barred from managing financial institutions for six years due to "serious infractions" of banking rules between 2002 and 2004, the document showed. (http://reut.rs/1RszQku)

The severe punishment under consideration was eventually reduced to fines for Esteves and the bank, but it showed Brazil's most influential dealmaker attracted regulators' scrutiny for more than a decade before his downfall last year.

Esteves declined to discuss the case while BTG Pactual referred inquiries to securities filings at the time.

Central bank director Sidnei Correa Marques, who ruled against the proposed ban, told Reuters in an interview he considered the crucial role of the bank and its CEO in the financial system when making his decision.

Esteves was arrested in November and charged with obstructing a corruption probe at state-run oil company Petrobras by conspiring to help a Petrobras executive who was a potential prosecution witness flee the country.

He denied any wrongdoing but stepped down as chief executive and chairman of BTG Pactual and passed control over Latin America's biggest independent investment bank to seven partners.

After spending three weeks in prison, Esteves was released on house arrest last month pending trial.

The investigation from a decade ago that could have derailed his banking career years earlier focused on nearly $3.8 billion of trades between the bank, known then as Banco Pactual SA and Delaware-based Romanche Investment Corporation LLC.

DELAWARE ENIGMA

Romanche was created 15 years ago as a limited liability corporation, without public disclosure of its ownership, and the law firm at its registered address declined to comment. The company did not file annual tax reports in Delaware as required and still owes $1,004 there, according to public documents.

The securities regulator CVM found in a separate probe that the trades served to transfer Banco Pactual's profits out of the country and potentially reduce the bank's tax bill.

The central bank and CVM investigated alleged banking and securities infractions, leaving assessment of the tax impact to Brazil's federal revenue service, which declined to comment on the case. Reuters could not determine how the bank's tax payments were affected by the transactions.

In a 2007 settlement, the CVM fined both firms, Esteves and another executive 8.1 million reais, or about $4 million at the time. BTG Pactual and Esteves did not admit to wrongdoing in the settlement. The CVM declined to comment.

After its own probe, the team of central bank investigators called for a six-year banking ban for Esteves, a one-year ban for another executive responsible for trades on Sao Paulo's BM&F exchange, and a fine for Banco Pactual in the recommendation reviewed by Reuters. It said the bank was incurring "deliberate losses" via trades with Romanche which constituted "serious infractions in the management of a financial institution."

But Marques, who had the final say in the case, decided against the proposed ban. In April 2013, after an additional investigation, he slapped fines of 100,000 reais ($25,000) on both executives and a fine of 25,000 reais for the bank.

Marques said the punishment was proportional to the executives' actions, which did not have "harmful consequences" for the financial system.

"When a bank is important systemically, important to the country, among the 10 largest, I have to be careful about getting rid of essential management at that financial institution," Marques said.

A week before the recommendation reached Marques' office in early 2011, BTG Pactual helped the central bank rescue troubled mid-sized lender Banco PanAmericano SA, agreeing to take a stake in the bank.

Marques did not comment on the transaction, which Esteves said at the time would broaden BTG Pactual's business portfolio.

A knack for dealmaking also made Esteves, now 47, Brazil's youngest billionaire and the face of his country's decade-long economic boom. Harvard Business School named a dorm for Esteves after a "significant personal donation".

However, his rise was punctuated by occasional brushes with regulators at home and abroad.

In 2012, Italy's financial regulator fined him 350,000 euros ($375,000) for insider trading around a joint venture announced by Italian meat company Cremonini SpA in 2007.

Esteves disputed the charges and in an appeal got the fine cut in half. But the case grabbed headlines just 10 days before BTG Pactual's initial public offering, forcing the bank to let investors back out if they wished.

Since Esteves was snared in the Petrobras scandal last year, shares of BTG Pactual have lost about 50 percent and the bank was forced to sell assets and tap an emergency credit line from Brazil's deposit guarantee fund to allay fears of a cash crunch. (Graphic:http://tmsnrt.rs/1O9axzo)

($1 = 0.932 euros)

($1 = 4.022 Brazilian reais)
Finland extradites Russian computer fraud suspect to U.S.

HELSINKI, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Finland said on Friday it would extradite a Russian citizen accused of computer fraud and abuse to the United States for trial.

Finnish authorities detained Maxim Senakh in August at the request of U.S. federal authorities. Russia says his detention was illegal.

Senakh has been accused in the state of Minnesota of infecting computer servers with malware, resulting in criminal gains worth millions of dollars.

Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday that it hoped its Nordic neighbour would take its "position into account" and described the arrest as "an abuse of the law in violation of internationally accepted procedural norms".

"We reaffirm our categorical objections to the extradition of Russian citizens to the United States where they are facing absurd kinds of punishment like imprisonment for more than 100 years," the statement said.
Aid agencies call for funds to save lives in El Nino-hit countries

LONDON, Jan 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An inadequate response to El Nino would put tens of millions of people at risk of hunger, water shortages and disease, a group of leading aid agencies said, calling on donors for funding to save lives in countries hit by the weather phenomenon.

The United Nations launched a record humanitarian appeal in December, asking for $20.1 billion to help 87 million people in 37 national and regional crises in 2016.

But some countries affected by El Nino, including Malawi, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea and El Salvador, were not included in the appeal, the humanitarian agencies said.

The aid groups, including Oxfam and World Vision, said "urgently required" funding should go into disaster preparedness, resilience building and crisis response, which would save money in the future.

"According to the United Nations, every $1 that is invested in disaster preparedness and resilience now could save up to $7 in emergency relief if a disaster unfolds over the coming months," World Vision's El Nino response director, Kathryn Taetzsch, said in a statement.

El Nino - a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific - affects wind patterns and can trigger both floods and drought in different parts of the world, leading to reduced harvests.

Ethiopia is one of the hardest hit countries and is experiencing its worst drought in decades. Some 8.2 million Ethiopians - out of a population of nearly 100 million - need food aid.

In Malawi, some 2.8 million people are struggling to feed themselves.

In Asia, poor harvests caused by lower than average rainfall linked to El Nino have hit Papua New Guinea particularly badly.

Central America, particularly El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, along with Haiti and southeastern Brazil, have recorded below average rainfall this year, while heavy rains caused flooding in parts of Argentina and Peru.

According to the World Food Programme, an estimated 2.3 million people in Central America, mostly subsistence farmers, day labourers and their families, will need food assistance because of widespread damage to crops and rising food prices due to a prolonged drought exacerbated by El Nino.

The agencies said it was important to apply lessons learned from the 2011 Horn of Africa drought in which 258,000 died in Somalia alone. They cited a 2012 report which said that the response to the drought in Somalia was "too little, too late".
South Korea-Japan ties improve in wake of N.Korea's nuclear test

By Nobuhiro Kubo and Jee Heun Kahng

TOKYO/SEOUL, Jan 8 (Reuters) - North Korea's nuclear test this week set off alarm bells in Japan and South Korea, but its more enduring outcome may be the cementing of a fragile reconciliation that could lead to military cooperation between the two key U.S. allies.

Japan and South Korea reached a landmark agreement last month to resolve the issue of "comfort women" forced to work in Japan's wartime military brothels, which had been an emotive impediment to better ties. Japan apologized and promised about one billion yen ($8.47 million) to help surviving women who were coerced into prostitution.

North Korea's latest nuclear detonation could strengthen that reconciliation, say military officials and defense experts, as the two countries unite against a common threat. That, in turn, could lead to military cooperation instead of the frosty distance they have maintained, even though they are Washington's closest allies in the region.

"I think the comfort women pact and the North Korean test could spur military cooperation," a senior Japanese navy officer told Reuters, speaking on condition he was not identified. "The test has worsened the security situation in the region."

South Korean President Park Geun-hye spoke by phone to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday. They discussed the need for close cooperation with each other, as well as with the United States, China and Russia, according to Park's office.

Senior defense officials from South Korea, Japan and the United States held a video conference on Thursday and agreed "to continue to cooperate closely and share information on North Korea's nuclear threat," Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter also spoke by phone to Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani on Friday and "agreed that trilateral cooperation with the Republic of Korea is critical to deterrence and maintaining peace and security in Northeast Asia and beyond."

The Pentagon said the two reiterated their commitment to continuing close trilateral cooperation and information sharing.

The Japanese and South Korean defence ministers were due to speak on Friday night.

"There may be a broad review of what can be done to improve security cooperation (with Japan)," a senior South Korean official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. Nothing specific has yet been discussed, he said.

HISTORY

The distance between South Korea and Japan has worried Washington as it increasingly relies on its Asian allies to work together to guarantee security in the region amid China's growing military might.

Past strains have prevented Japan and South Korea from agreeing to share sensitive military information. An attempt to institutionalise security cooperation through the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) in 2012 failed after significant domestic opposition in South Korea.

In a bid to resolve the impasse, Washington agreed last year to act as a go-between to allow Seoul and Tokyo to swap intelligence.

"It really is in the interest of all three countries that we have no seams between that information when you are trying to defend your country against a ballistic missile," Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, said on Friday.

When asked whether there was hope for greater cooperation between Japan and South Korea in the wake of the latest nuclear test, Aucoin replied "I got to believe so."

In December 2014, Seoul said it would send the Lockheed Martin F-35 fleet it has ordered to Australia for maintenance, well beyond their operating range, rather than to a regional maintenance hub for the stealth fighter to be set up in Japan.

"Korea and Japan are in a complicated conflict because of the issue over comfort women, but we're now in a new situation that shows how the two countries need each other," Choi Kang, vice president and director at the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said in a comment published by the institute.

Abe and Park, nonetheless, will still have tread carefully around long-held grievances that date back to World War Two.

Seoul has criticized Japanese school textbooks that it says distort history and downplay Japan's wartime and colonial atrocities and the two countries are at odds over territorial issues.

The "comfort women" issue remains contentious, despite the recent agreement.
The mirror image is often terrifying.

And, it's a truth by now acknowledged that an Indian state that is poll-bound must be in search of a riot. Preferably, religious.

Malda 2016, a New Year gift from the generous Mamata Banerjee government, is really old whine in new bottlenecks. That hallowed formula, debunked much but clearly not discarded yet, of catchment agitation along predictable lines, thoroughly artificial but over time - naturalised, is back again. Look, look, we have a riot. Let's bank on the votes now, shall we?

What happened on the first Sunday of this year, when a mob of 2.5 lakh Muslims led by the Edara-e-Sharia, a Patna-based hardline organisation, ran amok in Malda, ostensibly to protest against derogatory remarks on Prophet Mohammad by an Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha member called Kamlesh Tiwari, is, effectively, a cold fusion of two continually practised and circulated templates.

One: create critical chaos by sustaining low-level but seamless paranoia over the "Other".

Two: strike big to confirm the paranoia when an election nears.

The "Other" is obviously a variable, depending on the state, its demography and useful particulars such as literacy, per capita income, economic segregation, you name it. But systematic "Othering" has its fringe benefits which spring up in contexts slightly removed.

India has become a country of multiple semi-theocratic pockets where reciprocal communal polarisation has taken such deep roots that nothing else seems more normal. Malda riots, wherein the raging Edara-e-Sharia crowd set fire to ten or more police vehicles, a BSF jeep and a state bus, vandalising Kaliachak police station and the office of the Block Development Officer, is hardly an original theatre of orchestrated violence. It's a bad copy of several that have preceded it.

Muzaffarnagar 2013, East Delhi 2014, Dadri 2015 - the chapter on recent communal violence is long, crystallising fear and paranoia stoked meticulously over months and years. Every time, it was a minor scuffle, a mere suspicion on the nature of a meat, or a strategically planted corpse of an animal arbitrarily proscribed by a particular faith, became the vector of a mob frenzy that resulted in bloodshed. Or bloodbath, as was the case in Muzaffarnagar.

However, just like Malda 2016, these annual riot surges didn't happen in a vacuum. Divisive manipulation was always at work, carefully micromanaged by those who stood to gain the most. The buildup took months to show results.

From 2013 onwards, murders of rationalists and arch critics of Hindu supremacy such as Narendra Dhabolkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi have peppered our national narrative, prompting the much heated "intolerance debate" on the one hand, while on the other, emboldening elements like Sadhvi Prachi, Swami Adityanath, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Giriraj Singh, who also happen to be elected members of Parliament representing the BJP.

Across India, premier educational institutions are being systematically beheaded by mass substitution of prominent, internationally acclaimed academics by pitifully substandard saffron hacks. Actors and artists, who are compelled to speak up against the "growing intolerance", are constantly facing the brunt, with ill-timed tax raids, boycott of their latest releases and exhibitions, as well as getting viciously trolled and intimidated on social media becoming a part and parcel of Indian public life.

The rise and rise of Narendra Modi was seen as India's comeuppance for toying with "pseudosecularism" practised by most, if not all, political parties who basically gave a free rein to every kind of religious extremism in order to gain votes. That is exactly the case with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who has taken vote bank politics to such a dangerous level that it's now a blatant threat to national security.

Scenes from Malda violence.

There is no doubt that Mamata's "policy of appeasement" does not benefit ordinary Muslims in need of education, jobs, social security, healthcare and other civic amenities. Instead, she shamelessly eggs on those very gatekeepers of extremism in the garb of faith on whose muscle power she relies to ferry her through the choppy waters of Assembly elections 2016.

As her "Ma, Mati, Manush" grassroot connect dissolves completely into a messy broth of communal stew, salted and spiced by entities with incontrovertible links to cross-border terrorism, as she's seen alongside the Jamaat-e-Ulema-i-Hind Urdu-speaking Muslims in Kolkata many of whom took out a massive rally when convicted war criminals of 1971 war were hanged in Bangladesh, Mamata's credibility hits rock bottom.

While those she's trying to piggyback ride to electoral triumph are actually getting bolstered, calling the shots and pushing her into ever darker, and eventually suicidal, political ignominy.

When Taslima Nasreen, whose telenovella Dwikhandito was banned by Mamata, says the latter has created a Frankenstein's monster by fuelling the rabidity of Islamic fundamentalists, she hits the bull's eye. However, when Salman "Satanic Verses" Rushdie, who too gets excluded from the Kolkata Literature Festival by a pusillanimous "Waste Bengal" government, calls out the "Modi toadies", he too makes a pertinent point.

Because what's happening or happened in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh were inverted images of the current crisis unfolding in West Bengal. Malda is Muzaffarnagar all over again, in a shade of green this time around.

If Sangeet Som, one of the key accused in Muzaffarnagar riots, and an MLA from Sardhana, UP, can go about declaring openly (in fact giving interviews to mainstream media) that cow slaughter is a worse crime than manslaughter, why are we surprised that Edara-e-Sharia men, as ideologically hardboiled as many from the illustrious Sangh Parivar, are torching police vehicles to protest a supposedly blasphemous comment by a Hindu Mahasabha member? A comment that was made more than a month back, hundreds of kilometres away from Malda, and for which he's already in custody?

How can you have one without the other? How can you have festering fantasies of Akhand Bharat (or creating a Hindu Israel) without corresponding dreadful dreams of Caliphate?

If you have the prime minister basing his refugee policy on an asylum seeker's religion (only for Bengali Hindus from Bangladesh in lieu of the extreme persecution they face at present in the country), wouldn't you also have an equally erroneous and dangerous counterpoint in someone who would encash the by-product - the new normal of wider Islamophobia?
FISHERSVILLE  A spirited group of Augusta County residents made their voices heard at the Augusta School Boards first meeting since last months controversy over an assignment on Islam at Riverheads High School.

Schools were closed and extracurricular activities were canceled the last day before winter break because of threats to school safety.

The controversy stems over an assignment in a world geography class that used the Shahada, the Islamic statement of faith, to illustrate the complexity of Arabic calligraphy. Translated, it reads, There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. The statement wasnt translated for students, but its importance was discussed on a worksheet. In the future, the school system said its world geography classes would use nonreligious examples of Arabic writing to teach calligraphy.

On Thursday, some who spoke preached tolerance, others expressed concern about religious indoctrination and others thanked the school district administration and School Board for their swift response to the controversy.

Jonathan Garber, the parent of three children who attended Fort Defiance schools, commended the school district for challenging the minds of its students.

Garber said the rigor of education offers students the chance to to be pushed and to grow stronger. He said he read the statement of Islamic faith, and it did not make me want to be a Muslim.

The parent of a student who attended the Riverheads class in question felt otherwise.

Jackie Thompson said her daughter felt her religious beliefs had been infringed upon, and wondered whether the curriculum was proper. She questioned whether Islamic extremists were trying to indoctrinate our children.

A grandmother of children attending Augusta County schools advocated tolerance and talked about the importance of education.

Knowledge is power, said Penny Critzer, of Waynesboro. Kids need to know what is happening in our world.

Critzer, a Christian, said that our faith stands up fine when compared to other religions.

Larry Roller, a retired educator, said he could not understand why the teacher of the world geography class, Cheryl LaPorte, was being criticized.

Why is the teacher being persecuted when the curriculum is mandated by the state, Roller asked. He said if the curriculum is an issue, the state Board of Education should be involved.

According to the Virginia Department of Educations website, there are 12 key lessons for students studying geography in order to prepare for SOL tests. Many of those are broken down into three or four sub-sections. One of the requirements calls for students to apply the concept of a region by analyzing how cultural characteristics, including the worlds major languages and religions, link or divide regions.

Supporters of the Riverheads teacher who gave the assignment have rallied in support of her.

A petition organized by a LaPorte supporter, Grace Zimmerman, had garnered more than 1,600 signatures by Thursday afternoon. The petition was presented to the School Board.

Zimmerman, a 2011 Riverheads graduate, spoke Thursday night. She said it is right to keep the lesson about Islam in the curriculum. She said the lesson is about education, not about religion versus religion.
Claiming that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is working under pressure from an influential ally, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) president Jitan Ram Manjhi on Thursday advised him to quit if he felt being undermined by someone.





Rumours are rife in the media that Nitish Kumar is being undermined and not allowed to function independently. I too feel that though he holds the crown, somebody else is calling the shots, the former chief minister said.



Under the circumstances, if the Chief Minister feels he has become helpless, he should resign from his post, Manjhi said in a veiled reference to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad without naming him.



His comments came after Lalu Prasads surprise inspection of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences here last Sunday which drew flak from various quarters.



The former chief minister, who formed HAM(S), after being sacked from the ruling JD(U) ahead of Bihar polls last year, said, having suffered humiliation at the hands of Kumar, he empathised with him for being in similar predicament now.



Observing that the dignity of the CMs post is being compromised with a leader of a coalition partner calling the shots in the Grand Alliance government, Manjhi asked Kumar to quit at once to ensure sanctity of the high constitutional post.



He claimed that senior bureaucrats are not willing to serve in the state because of the pressure exerted by the powerful ally.



As many as 35 senior IAS and IPS officers have made written request to the state government to be allowed to leave for central deputation as they were unable to serve in Bihar due to unbearable intervention from various quarters in and outside the government, Manjhi claimed.



The HAM(S) president also expressed concern at the deteriorating law and order situation in Bihar and alleged that the Chief Minister has failed to take concrete steps to improve the situation.



Infrastructure development has come to a grinding halt with contractors and labourers refusing to work after murder of two engineers in Darbhanga district recently and because of extortion demands, Manjhi said.



The former Chief Minister charged the Grand Alliance government with non-utilisation of funds with only three months remaining of the financial year 2015-16.



He feared that the funds pending with various departments will be hurriedly withdrawn against fake bills, a phenomenon known as March Loot.



Manjhi also attacked the JD(U) for disqualification of three rebel MLCs Mahachandra Prasad Singh, Narendra Singh and Samrat Chaudhary for anti-party activities, saying none of them had joined HAM(S) as was alleged by the ruling party.


Political attacks on the AAP government sharpened a day after it scrapped the 62 criteria for nursery admissions.





The BJP said the decision may prove counterproductive by giving school managements a free hand to harass parents while the Congress said the move, which violates the Delhi High Courts directions, would spark chaos.



Delhi Congress spokesperson Chattar Singh said: The AAP government is only trying to gain publicity and destroying the whole system.



By disrespecting Court directions and not taking either parents or school management along, the Arvind Kejriwal government is trying to create chaos to gain publicity.



BJPs Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijender Gupta said by scrapping all quotas and freeing up 75 per cent seats in schools, the government has given a free hand to schools to harass parents.



Even those students who live in the schools neighbourhood could be denied admission by schools as they are now not bound to give admission to such students, he said.



The parents will become victims of managements dictatorship and tricks for extraction of money, he added.



The AAP government has made the entire nursery admission process a puppet in the hands of school management., he said. The scraping of management quota and criteria listed by schools in nursery admission is not only bad in law but also allows the management to act arbitrarily. It has also opened the channel of receiving donation, he cautioned



It has also paved the way for litigation threatening to delay in admission of children to nursery classes, said Gupta.



The management quota was hitherto 20 per cent. The BJP in-principle favours scraping of the quota. But by virtue of its lack of proper planning and policy, the government has indirectly allowed the managements to fill the 75 percent of the admissions by their choice and whims, said Gupta.



He said the scrapping of quotas within the 75 per cent general category seats will lead to greater harassment of parents.



Pointing to the confusion over the issue, Gupta said the government has not specified as to what criteria and procedure should now be adopted by the school managements.
I have applied for voter identity card three times before. But I didnt get my voter ID card and I dont even know the reason why.There is no harm in applying one more time. Maybe I will get lucky this time and get my voter ID card, said Ashok, who spends nights at a shelter home in east Delhis Yamuna Pushta area.



Like him, over 250 homeless people have applied for voter identity cards during a special drive carried out by the chief electoral office in collaboration with an NGO in Yamuna Pushta.



Homeless people are often turned away at the government dispensaries because they do not have any identity proof. If those who spend nights on roads have TB. We face a huge difficulty in getting medicines as we dont have any identity proof. But if we get voter IDs, it will be of great help to us, said Prem Pal, also a homeless, who lives in a shelter home at Yamuna Pushta.



A voter ID card can make the life of the homeless population much easy by acting as an identity proof.



Narender, 60, had come to Delhi from Jalandhar three years ago in search of livelihood. He lost his belongings and all his identity proof. I have been living in Yamuna Pushta area ever since. I work as waiter in weddings. I cant even open a bank account because I dont have an identity proof. If I get voter ID I can at least open an account and start saving money which will help me in my twilight years, he said.



The registration camp aimed at making homeless people part of the democratic process by issuing them voter identity cards, said the NGO, Centre for Holistic Development. If they get their voter ID cards made, they will feel a sense of inclusion. Consequently, they can take part in the democratic process and cast their votes and in turn become part of the mainstream, said Sunil Kumar Aledia, founder of Centre for Holistic Development.



The homeless population say that had they got an identity proof earlier, their life would have been different. If we had got an identity proof like voter ID card some years ago, then we would have done some progress in our lives. We arent able to get a fixed job due to lack of identity proofs, said 45-year-old Munna who works as daily wager.



The Chief Electoral Office said that it will carry out more such drives to bring homeless people on the electoral rolls.


Banking operations were hit partially today as a section of public sector banks' employees went on a strike across the country to protest violation of bilateral settlement agreement by associate banks of SBI.





Some of the services, like cash handling at branch level and clearing of checks were affected in the banks where presence of All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) is strong.



Private sector banks and country's largest lender SBI continues to function normally.



As precautionary measures, most of the banks, including United Bank of India, had issued advisory to their customers saying they will take all necessary steps in terms of existing guidelines for smooth functioning of branches or offices on the day of strike, in the event it materialises on January 8.



The strike call was given on December 28 to protest violation of the bilateral settlement by five associate banks of the SBI and their attempt to force unilateral service conditions on the employees, AIBEA general secretary C H Venkatachalam had said.



Five subsidiaries of SBI are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur.


A madrassa teacher from Bangalore has been arrested by Delhi Police for suspected links with al-Qaeda, making it the fourth arrest in its ongoing operation against the terror outfit.



Maulana Anzar Shah was arrested in Bangalore by a team of Delhi Police's Special Cell on Wednesday following which he was brought to Delhi on transit remand and produced before a court yesterday which sent him to police custody till January 20, said a police official.



In December, Delhi Police had arrested three suspected operatives of al-Qaeda module in the India sub-continent (AQIS).



While Mohammed Asif (41), the first one to be arrested, is believed to be one of the founding members and the Indian head (amir) of AQIS's motivation, recruitment and training wing, was held from Seelampur in northeast Delhi, another operative Abdul Rahman (37) was arrested from Jagatpur area of Cuttack in Odisha.



The third arrest, Zafar Masood, allegedly acted as a financier for the module. He was arrested from mohalla Deepa Sarai in UP's Sambhal district. They were all booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.



Shah, the latest arrest in connection with the module, had met Mohammed Asif at a religious congregation in Bangalore, following which he was introduced to Abdul Rahman and Zafar Masood.



He was asked to act as a provider of logistics support whenever the need arised, said an official privy to the investigation.



The Special Cell has evidence of communication between Shah, Abdul Rehman and Zafar Masood, too, mostly carried out through voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services. The investigators have also traced a money trail connecting Shah and Masood, the official said. A few more persons are presently under the police scanner and more arrests are likely, the official added.



AQIS was floated by al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahari himself in September 2014 following a meeting somewhere in Afghanistan-Pakistan region which reportedly had in its quorum the entire Grand Council (Arabian Shura) of al-Qaeda, including al-Zawahiri's son in law.



Despite several Indians being present at the training camp, Maulana Asim Umar alias Sanaul Haq and Mohammed Asif are believed to be the only Indians present in the council, police said.



After Umar was anointed the chief, it is believed that some unexpected visitors met him, including Indian Mujahideen chief Riyaz Bhatkal, who is still at large, and other senior IM commanders like Baba Sajid, who was recently reported to have been killed in Syria, police said.



Asif was Umar's chosen candidate and, with the help of his deputy Qasim, Umar had contacted Asif through a social networking site, a year before he left for Tehran on a 'ziyarat' visa, exclusively meant for visiting a holy shrine in Tehran. Umar, Asif and Qasim are all natives of Sambhal in UP, police added.
Lesbian romance drama "Carol" and Tom Hanks-starrer historical thriller "Bridge of Spies" today led the 68th BAFTA Awards nominations with nine nods apiece including the best film.





"Carol", which also topped this year's Golden Globes nominations, has secured other nods in categories like best actress for Cate Blanchett, Todd Hynes for best director, best supporting actress for Rooney Mara and Phyllis Nagy for the adapted screenplay.

"Carol" is based on the novel "The Price of Salt" by Patricia Highsmith.



The other frontrunner "Bridge of Spies" has its helmer Steven Spielberg nominated in the best director category.



Its other nods are in best supporting actor category for Mark Rylance, original screenplay for Matthew Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, music, cinematography, editing, production design and sound.



"The Revenant" comes second with eight nods including the best film, best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, best director for Alejandro G Inarritu.



Also nominated in the best movie category are "Spotlight" and "The Big Short", which secured four other nods.



The best director category also includes Adam McKay ('The Big Short') and Ridley Scott ('The Martian').



DiCaprio will fight it out with 2015 Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne ('The Danish Girl'), Michael Fassbender ('Steve Jobs'), Matt Damon ('The Martian') and Bryan Cranston ('Trumbo').



Besides Blanchett, nominations for the best actress include Brie Larson ('Room'), Alicia Vikander ('The Danish Girl'), Saoirse Ronan ('Brooklyn') and Maggie Smith ('Lady in the Van').



Best supporting actor nominations include Benicio Del Toro ('Sicario'), Christian Bale ('The Big Short'), Idris Elba ('Beasts of No Nation') and Mark Ruffalo ('Spotlight').



Movies nominated for the outstanding British film award are "45 Years", "Amy", "Brooklyn", "The Danish Girl", "Ex Machina" and "The Lobster".



"Amy" is also nominated in the best documentary category, whose other contenders are "Cartel Land", "He named me Malala" "Listen to me Marlon" and "Sherpa".



"Mad Max: Fury Road" landed seven nominations though in all the technical categories.

"Inside Out", "Minions" and "Shaun the Sheep" form the nominations for the best animated film award.



The list of nominees contained a few surprises. "Suffragette" and "Spectre", both highly-successful  and quintessentially British movies - were both entirely ignored, failing to land a single nomination between them.



The awards ceremony will take place on February 14, with Stephen Fry hosting.
Azim Premji, who donated Rs 27,514 crore for education is the "Most Generous Indian" for the third year running followed by Nandan Nilekani and Narayana Murthy in the second and third place, respectively.





As per the Hurun India Philanthropy List, which is a ranking of the most generous individuals from India, 70 years old Azim Hashim Premji was named as the most generous Indian as he donated Rs 27,514 crore for education.



The Azim Premji foundation is working for empowering education in India. The foundation works in eight states and has more than 3,50,000 schools.



Nandan, Rohini Nilekani and family came in second with a donation of Rs 2,404 crore, towards the cause of urban governance, public policy and education while Narayana Murthy and family donated Rs 1,322 crore for encouraging entrepreneurship, social development and education.



Meanwhile, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries is sixth in Hurun India Philanthropy List.



"Ambani, the richest man in India, donated Rs 345 crore towards healthcare," the report said.



Others in the top ten include, K Dinesh ranked fourth, who donated Rs 1,238 crore, followed by Shiv Nadar at 5th spot with Rs 535 crore in donations, Sunny Varkey & Family (7th, Rs 326 crore), Ronnie Screwvala (8th, Rs 158 crore), Rahul Bajaj & Family (9th, Rs 139 crore) and Pallonji Mistry (10th, Rs 96 crore).



The donations were measured by the value of their cash or cash equivalent from November 1, 2014 to October 31, 2015.



As per Hurun Research, there were 36 individuals, down from 50 in 2014, who donated Rs 10 crore or more. Interestingly, there were 12 new entrants and 26 drop outs.



With a donation of Rs 35 crore, Rohan Murthy (32) of Infosys is the youngest philanthropist on the list; oldest being Pallonji Mistry (86) of Shapoorji Pallonji who donated Rs 96 crore.



According to Charity Aid Foundation UK, as per the World Giving Index, India came down in its ranking from 93rd in 2013 to 106 in 2014, demonstrating an overall reduction in Indian philanthropy.



"Despite weak corporate earnings in 2015 compared to last year, the increasing speed of wealth creation seems to promise a bright future for Indian philanthropy", Hurun Report India Business Head Anas Rahman Junaid said
An explosives-laden vehicle was today found near the Indian consulate in Herat and one person arrested in this regard, prompting speculation as to whether it was intended for attacking yet another Indian diplomatic mission in Afghanistan.





According to the information available here, a vehicle was found parked unattended in a makeshift taxi stand next to the consulate and when checked by police officials, it was found to contain explosives.



"Police had seized a suspect vehicle near consulate perimeter with explosives to be used for VBIED (vehicle-borne improvised explosive device). It was not ready to be used as VBIED but only had preparatory explosive materials. All main suspects were able to escape.... Only one suspect from nearby area has been detained by police for interrogation," Afghan police has reportedly informed the Indian officials.



However, Indian consulate in Herat tweeted that "reports about discovery of VBIED outside the Consulate are misleading. No explosives found."



Today's incident comes less than a week after an attack by a group of heavily armed insurgents who attempted to storm into the Indian consulate in northern Mazar-e-Sharif city of Afghanistan on Sunday.



Just few days after Mazar-e-Sharif incident, a small bomb exploded near the Indian consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on January five.



Meanwhile, Afghan new agency Khaama Press (KP) while reporting on today's development said the Afghan national security forces thwarted a terrorist attack plot by seizing a vehicle packed with explosives while it was parked close to the Indian consulate.



Provincial police spokesman Abdul Rauf Ahmadi confirmed that the vehicle was identified by the security forces and was defused on time. He was also quoted as saying that the police discovered explosives, fuses and remote controls from the vehicle which are normally used in suicide attacks.
An ordinance for amendments in the 47-year-old Enemy Property Act was promulgated today under which custodians of "enemy property" will continue to hold these assets of persons who took Pakistani nationality after 1965 and 1971 wars and will not be able to transfer them.





Amendments through the Ordinance which was approved by President Pranab Mukherjee "include that once an enemy property is vested in the Custodian, it shall continue to be vested in him as enemy property irrespective of whether the enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm has ceased to be an enemy due to reasons such as death etc.," an official statement said.



In the wake of the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971, there was migration of people from India to Pakistan. Under the Defence of India Rules framed under the Defence of India Act, the government took over the properties and companies of such persons who had taken Pakistani nationality.



The Enemy Property Act was enacted in the year 1968 by the Government, which provided for the continuous vesting of enemy property in the custodian.



The law of succession does not apply to enemy property. There cannot be transfer of any property vested in the custodian by an enemy or enemy subject or enemy firm and that the Custodian shall preserve the enemy property till it is disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the Act, it said.



"The amendments to the Enemy Property Act, 1968 will plug the loopholes in the Act to ensure that the enemy properties that have been vested in the Custodian remain so and they do not revert back to the enemy subject or enemy firm," it said.



The central government through the Custodian of Enemy Property for India is in possession of enemy properties spread across many states in the country. In addition, there are also movable properties categorized as enemy properties.



After the 1965 war, India and Pakistan signed the Tashkent Declaration which included a clause saying that the two countries would discuss the return of the property and assets taken over by either side in connection with the conflict.



However, Pakistan government disposed of all such properties in their country in the year 1971 itself.



To ensure that the enemy property continues to vest in the Custodian, appropriate amendments were brought in by way of an Ordinance in the Enemy Property Act, 1968 by the previous UPA regime in 2010. However, the bill introduced in Parliament could not be passed due to various issues, including differences within the government itself.



Since assuming charge in May 2014, the NDA government has taken the ordinance route at least a dozen times, with the first nine ordinances being promulgated in the first eight months of the government.


Bollywood actors like Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan coninue to enjoy the same level of security as before after a review of the protection cover, the police said here today.





"Review of security is a routine exercise. Security of any specific actor has not been downgraded or increased," said DCP (detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni.



Aamir meanwhile welcomed any move to scale down his security saying "the police personnel can be put to better use in securing the city."



Shah Rukh and Aamir were provided additional security in the wake of their comments on perceived intolerance in the country.



According to police, Shah Rukh started getting threats after the release of his film "My Name is Khan". In January 2013, some groups had made statements after the Pakistan-based terrorist Hafiz Saeed's offer of asylum for the actor in Pakistan if he felt insecure in India.



An article written by Shah Rukh where he spoke of being a soft target for the right wing, and the need for him to always prove his patriotism, also led to hostile comments and some threats.



Aamir Khan's security was extended after the release of his movie "PK" last year. The actor had allegedly got extortion calls from a gangster last year.



Aamir Khan, in a Facebook post, said "I completely endorse the move by the Mumbai Police to reduce the security around me. The police personnel can be put to better use in securing the city. If and when the Mumbai Police feel the need to increase my security, they will. I trust them completely."
Online travel company MakeMyTrip has received funds to the tune of $180 million from Ctrip.com through convertible bonds.



Ctrip.com is a travel service provider of accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours and corporate travel management in China. Upon completion of the transaction, Ctrip will invest $180 million in MakeMyTrip through convertible bonds.



In addition, MakeMyTrip has granted Ctrip permission to acquire MakeMyTrip shares in the open market, so that combined with shares convertible under the convertible bonds,

Ctrip may beneficially own up to 26.6 per cent of MakeMyTrips outstanding shares. Ctrip will acquire the right to appoint a director to the MakeMyTrip board of directors.
Banking transactions across the country were impacted majorly, as nearly 3.5 lakh Class 3 and Class 4 employees of the industry went on a strike to protest against the merger of associate banks of State Bank of India with the Bank.





Cheques worth more than Rs 5 lakh crore were pending for clearance due to the strike, despite the fact that SBI was functioning. The other unions which were not part of the strike also supported us by not doing clerical work, All India Bank Employees Federation (AIBEA) general secretary Vishwas Utagi said.



According to Utagi, the strike was just a warning to the government and State Bank of India and that the protests could intensify further. We are having a meeting of AIBEA officers in Chennai on January 13, in which the association will be contemplating further course of action. We may launch intensified strike during the Budget if the government fails to budge, Utagi said.




For Indias dwindling exports, Chinas Yuan devaluation has come as a curse. Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman warned that it will make exports more expensive while imports will rise further leading to a widening in Indias trade deficit with the neighbouring country.





India already has a trade deficit of close to $50 billion with China.

China on Thursday allowed the biggest fall in Yuan in the past five months. The move has also triggered the fear of a currency war among other emerging markets to stay afloat in uncertain times. It is going to make imports from China even more cheaper. Our products are going to be more expensive. So, that is an immediate black-and-white kind of a situation which is developing, Sitharaman said.



The government has taken some action on import front with raising tariff on steel products, tiles and tyres. But the minister said that it is not going to rush into action with further curbs. Steel companies have been asking the government to impose minimum import price to curb cheap import of steel from China.



Yuan depreciation may also hit the Make in India campaign that pitches for India to be a manufacturing destination, according to analysts.



To a question if there was a need for some intervention in the rupee market, Sitharaman said, If you look at one school of thought which prevails, yes, if my currency is devalued, my exports would do better. But there is also another section or a school of thought which will say why should Indias currency be devalued? If it is holding out against other currencies, let it hold out.



Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, however, does not see much of a gain in achieving a countrys macro-financial goals by depreciating its currency. Rajan has always spoken against resorting to exchange rate depreciation to boost currencies.



RBIs Technical Advisory Committee on financial markets, however, met in the day and reviewed the recent developments in forex markets.


Wall Street has put out its worst ever performance in 2016 as the China-led crash wiped off $2.5 trillion wealth from the global stock market in the first few days of the new year. The way global markets have gone into jitters following panic in the Chinese stocks clearly shows how much influence it holds on rest of the world, being the second largest economy. Also, devaluation of Yuan for the third time in five months has rattled the

global investors who have started taking Chinese meltdown rather seriously. For all these years of heady growth of double digit, China had become a major consumer of global commodity while the Dragon economy turned itself into a major supply source for the manufactured products for the global stores. No wonder, the fresh bout of panic from China has brought the prices of major commodities, tumbling further down with crude oil breaching an 11-year low.



Being a major importer of crude oil, every drop in Brent should be a great news for India. But then, as experts point out, too much fall in commodity prices tell a different story and we have reached a stage where it has started hurting several key sectors like metals, upstream and downstream oil firms. Plus, further depreciation of the Chinese currency would make things worse for Indian exporters who are battling a major demand slowdown in the global markets. So, when Finance Ministry officials put up a brave face stating that India is well-cushioned and quote a rosy World Bank outlook, they must realise Dalal Street cannot remain insulated from rest of the world. The governments ambitious disinvestment programme would come crashing down if investors stay off equities.



If at all, the cushioning can come from some resolute reforms and pushing the public investment. Renewed efforts by the government to reach out to the Congress for passage of the GST Bill are laudable while the principal Opposition would see its stature move up by a few notches if it comes on board. Continuing reforms with speed are no more a matter of choice as global headwinds can sweep off any fragile recovery that is visible so far. But for a 70 per cent crash in the crude prices in the last one year, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would have found himself in trouble as bulk of the gains have been claimed by the government. Looking ahead, it would be anything but a smooth sailing for most of the world. Lowering the guard would be quite risky. India is no exception.
Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav, who heads the entire bureaucracy in Karnataka, made a spectacle of himself by trying to avoid media queries at the Vidhana Soudha on Friday.





The top bureaucrats reaction was so extreme that he literally ran up two flights of stairs and shut himself in his office on the third floor, all in a bid to avoid any form of media scrutiny.



His unusual behaviour didnt just leave the journalists bewildered, but also attracted attention to the office of chief secretary. He came under media glare following the abrupt ending of a meeting of a parliamentary committee headed by the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker, M Thambidurai.



The committee, which has been touring various states, is in Karnataka to review how funds under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) are being utilised. Jadhav, who was supposed to attend the meeting, arrived a little late.



While an MP who attended the meeting said the chief secretary was pulled up for late arrival, another parliamentarian defended Jadhav, saying he was busy attending a court case. But the meeting is said to have lasted for just 15 minutes.



Jadhav, who had just arrived at the scene, was seen profusely apologising to the members. He not only followed them down to the gates of the Vidhana Soudha, but also pursued them to a private hotel where they were put up. The meeting was not reconvened.



The meeting was scheduled between 2.30 pm and 4 pm. Mallikarjun Kharge, K H Muniyappa, Prakash Hukkeri and other MPs were in attendance.



CMs notice

When contacted, Muniyappa, Kolar MP and a former Union minister, said he would bring the matter to the notice of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. No matter how busy the chief secretary was, he should have made it a point to arrive at the meeting on time. This is an important committee. Ironically, even the presiding officers of the Legislative Assembly and Council were not there to welcome the Deputy Speaker Thambidurai, he said. This has set a wrong precedent.



Hukkeri, however, said the chief secretary had informed the meeting that he would be attending a court case and hence would not be able to make it. Jadhav had made arrangements for the meeting, including lunch. Other officers were present, he added.


Former Lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao has been asked to join the investigation into the extortion racket reportedly run by his son Y Ashwin and some officials in the anti-corruption watchdog, the Karnataka police told the Supreme Court on Friday.





The Lokayukta, who demitted office in December, has been called for to join the probe, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, along with advocate Joseph Aristotle, informed the court, urging it not to grant bail to the accused.



They were representing the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which is probing the extortion racket.



More time

The counsel submitted that the main charge sheet in the case had been filed but it would take six weeks to conclude the investigation in relation to the four accused and two or three weeks more to complete the other formalities.



Acceding to their plea, a bench of Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy once again refused to grant bail to the accused  Syed Riyazullah, a former Public Relations Officer of the Karnataka Lokayukta, television journalist M B Srinivasa Gowda and two others Shankare Gowda and Ashok Kumar.



Taking note of the submission, the court directed the SIT to conclude the probe within six weeks and other formalities in two more weeks. It fixed the matter for consideration after 10 weeks. The SIT also submitted a status report in a sealed cover on the investigation.

The counsel for Srinivasa Gowda, Shankare Gowda and Ashok Kumar argued that they should be given bail as the charge sheet had been filed.



Apex courts refusal

The court, at one point of time, intended to ask the accused to approach the High Court of Karnataka for bail once the probe was over but desisted issuing any order on the SITs request.



It also refused to modify its September 16 order that stayed the bail granted to the accused by the High Court.



In November, too, the apex court hadnt allowed a petition for modification of its stay order.



The SIT had registered five cases and arrested 11 people, including the prime accused Ashwin. Justice Rao, who was appointed the Lokayukta in February 2013, resigned on December 8, 2015, following growing clamour for his removal over the extortion racket.


Maulana Syed Anzarshah Qasmi, the Islamic preacher from Bengaluru who was picked up by the Delhi police on Wednesday for having links with al-Qaeda, was being watched by local security agencies for at least seven months now for his hate speeches.





The Bengaluru police, however, do not have any evidence that he was involved in terrorism, Police Commissioner, N S Megharik, told reporters here on Friday. In the same breath, he added that the Delhi polices decision to pick up Qasmi was based on strong evidence, something he wasnt privy to.



The Bengaluru police started watching Qasmi in the aftermath of the Church Street blast on December 28, 2015, in which a woman was killed. As the police reached a dead-end to trace the culprits, they decided to watch hate speakers in the hope of leads on those involved in the blast.



We learnt that Qasmi was making provocative speeches, targeting other religions and women. His background check revealed that he was sacked by two mosques, a senior police officer said, requesting anonymity.



The police then learnt that he was radicalising Muslim youths. But they couldnt establish his links with any militant group. They checked video recordings of his speeches. The suspicion of his links with militant groups was strengthened but there was still no evidence.



We dont know how many youths he radicalised and if he was a recruiting agent for any militant outfit. We also dont know if he had influenced Kafeel Ahmed, who drove an explosives-laden car into the Glasgow International Airport in 2007, and died later, Megharik said.



The commissioner, however, said the Delhi police had recently arrested a few men across India for having links with al-Qaeda. Some of these suspects spoke about having been in touch with Qasmi, which culminated in his arrest, he added. His hate speech is just a footnote in the larger story, Megharik said, adding the Delhi police were interrogating him and should have more information about him.



Qasmi is a popular yet controversial figure among Bengalurus Muslims. A native of Bengaluru, he graduated from the Darul Uloom seminary in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh.

He is married and has two sons and a daughter. One son is married and the other is studying in a madrasa. Qasmi lived in Hegde Nagar on Tannery Road before moving to a house he built in Ilyas Nagar recently.



Nayaz Pasha, the head of Makkah Masjid in Banashankari, where Qasmi was a preacher, told Deccan Herald that the mosque committee had strictly instructed him to deliver sermons based only on the Quran and not to target women and other religions. Some women had objected to his views about the fairer sex and lodged a complaint at the Tilak Nagar police station.



Qasmi was beaten up a few times inside two mosques in Tilak Nagar and on Bannerghatta Road. He would often tour Chennai, Mysuru, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Jharkhand and other parts of the country to make speeches.
Bhim Kumar, a 60-year- old Gorkha, left Nepal when he was 20 in search of work. He landed up in Manipur and for the last 40 years, he has been here and has become more of a Manipuri.





He works as a chowkidar (gatekeeper) at a private farmland in Premnagar village near the Army Garrison in Leimakhong that marks the end of the Imphal valley and the beginning of the hill ranges of Senapati district.



Inside the farm there is a small quarter for me. My wife and my two grandchildren were staying with me in that quarter. I have four sons. They are married. They do petty jobs in the Army camp and also work as daily wager in farmland. On Monday at 4:35 am, I was sleeping in the guard room. Suddenly it started shaking. First, I felt that someone was trying to wake me up to open the gate but a loud sound shook me up. I understood it was a massive earthquake. I ran towards my quarter. Amid a thick cover of fog I could see it in rubble, Bhim Kumar said.



He saw his grandson Sachin, 10, shouting for help. His wife Debo, 50, and granddaughter Barsha, 12, died under the debris. I have heard many of my relatives have died in the Nepal earthquake. Now it was time for my family. I am totally broken. Apart from the villagers, the government never sent any help. Perhaps because we are a marginalised community in Manipur, Bhim lamented.



His village, Kanto Premnagar is badly affected. Aroud 15 houses in the village are totally damaged. More than 100 people, mostly from Nepali community, are spending their days in the open air without any government aid.



This village is very poor. People here are mostly daily wagers. We are hand to mouth. Now from a four-year-old toddler to an 85-years-old lady, all have to sleep in chilling cold nights in the open. The least the government could do was to send tents or tarpaulin sheets, Manbahadur Thapa, village Development Authority Chairman told Deccan Herald.



The village has no roads, the dilapidated water pipelines have cracked and since January 4, there is no electricity.


After Subramanian Swamy, another BJP leader on Friday said Ram Temple would be constructed at Ayodhya before the 2019 general elections.





The Ram temple will certainly come up at Ayodhya before the end of the current NDA government's term in 2019, firebrand BJP Lok Sabha member from Unnao Sakshi Maharaj said. The Ram temple was and continues to be on the agenda of the BJP....we have not deviated from that agenda...we will get a grand Ram temple constructed before going to the polls in 2019, Sakshi Maharaj remarked.



Sakshi Maharaj said he owed his entry into politics to the Ram temple movement.

Meanwhile, a senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Bukkal Nawab also advocated the Ram Temple and said it should be constructed at Ayodhya.



Nawab, an SP member of the state Legislative Council, said he would donate Rs 10 lakh and a golden crown for the temple. Nawabs remarks comes a day after senior SP leader and UP minister Shivpal Singh Yadav warned against any attempt to violate the Supreme Courts directive on maintaining the status quo at Ayodhya. Nawab is the second SP leader to have batted for the Ram Temple.



Barely a few days back, a UP status rank minister and a close confidante of the SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav was sacked after he appealed to the Muslims to perform karseva (voluntary service) for construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and a Srikrishna Temple in Mathura.



Status rank minister Om Pal Nehra, had said that outfits like the VHP could be rendered useless if Muslims came forward to build the Ram Temple and Krishna Temple.
The Supreme Court on Friday expressed its shock over revelation that a whopping Rs 4.5 lakh monthly wages was paid to a loader in the Food Corporation of India, making it suffer Rs 18,000 crore loss annually.





A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur asked Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar to spell out by next Friday its steps to stop the malpractices as pointed out by a report of a high-level committee headed by BJP leader and former Union minister Shanta Kumar.



If you don't listen to response of the high-level committee, we will appoint our own committee, comprising retired SC judges to fix responsibilities. We cant countenance a situation where loss is caused to the FCI which itself is facing problems in storage capacity, resulting into foodgrain rotting in open and rodents eating it away, the bench told Kumar.



The bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi, questioned as to how a loader was paid Rs 4.5 lakh per month wages, which was more than the salary of the President of India. The report shows that in August 2014, 370 labourers received more than Rs 4 lakh. Around 400 others got between Rs 2 lakh and 2.5 lakh in the same month. Can a labourer earn Rs 4.5 lakh? How is that possible? This is resulting into a loss of Rs 18,000 crore to the public exchequer, the bench said.



The court was hearing an appeal filed by the FCI Workers Union against the Bombay High Courts direction of November 20 to the Centre to stop the practice of loaders employing proxy labourers, allowing them to earn huge wages.



The court was not impressed with the FCI plea and added there were various incentives that allowed departmental workers to earn around Rs 1.1 lakh a month. It did not see any merit in the claim of senior advocate Amit Sibal, appearing for workers union, that the high court should not have taken a suo motu cognisance of a media report. Noting that labourers in the FCI had very aggressive tendencies and officers have been murdered in the past, the court asked the government to decide if it was time to abolish the departmental labour system in a phased manner or absorb their services in other establishments as recommended by the panel.


A new irritant has suddenly emerged in Indias ties with Pakistan, at a time when terror attacks at Pathankot in Punjab already cast a shadow over New Delhis peace initiative with its neighbour.





This time, it is about a territory of Kashmir, which Islamabad, prodded by Beijing, is set to formally declare a part of Pakistan, ostensibly for legitimising Chinas role in developing infrastructure in the region.



New Delhi is set to protest Islamabads move to elevate the status of Gilgit-Baltistan  a region in the parts of Kashmir illegally occupied by Pakistan.



Islamabad is set to formally recognize Gilgit-Baltistan as its territory in the Constitution of Pakistan. Reports from Islamabad indicated that the constitutional recognition of Gilgit Baltistan would bring the mountainous region one step closer to being formally absorbed as a province of Pakistan.



Sources said that New Delhi had taken note of Islamabads move to recognize Gilgit-Baltistan in the Constitution of Pakistan in order to give a semblance of legitimacy to its occupation over parts of Kashmir.



New Delhi is learnt to be viewing the move as an attempt by Beijing and Islamabad to blunt Indias opposition to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is set to pass through Indian territory illegally occupied by Pakistan.



The proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will link linking Kashgar in Xinjiang in north-western China and a deep sea port at Gwadar in Balochistan in southern Pakistan.



Beijing is understood to be planning to spend over $ 46 billion for a series of infrastructure projects along the proposed economic corridor, which passes through areas, which India accuses Pakistan of illegally occupying.



Officials told Deccan Herald that New Delhi would convey to Islamabad that the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India and any project undertaken by Pakistan  either on its own or in cooperation with China or any other country  in the territory under its illegal occupation would have no legal basis and is completely unacceptable.



The latest move by Islamabad comes at a time when recent attacks by Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists on Indian Air Force base at Pathankot in Punjab cast a shadow over proposed resumption of the parleys between the two neighbouring nations.


Nine people were killed and at least 20 injured after a privately-operated tourist bus met with an accident near Valliyoor in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu in the early hours of Friday.





The bus was heading for Thiruvananthapuram from Velankanni, via Kanyakumari. Five of the deceased, including two children, were residents of Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam in Kerala while the four others were from Gujarat and Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu.



The incident happened at about 5 am on the Nagercoil-Tirunelveli National Highway, at Pilakkottai Paarai near Valliyoor.



The deceased have been identified as Sujin (5) from Kochuthura in Thiruvananthapuram, Mary Nisha (30) and her daughter Alroy (two), both residents of Mudakkara in Kollam, Vinod and his wife Ancy, both natives of Valiathura in Thiruvananthapuram, Jimmy and Edwin Michael (from Kanyakumari district), Anjali and Angley (from Gujarat).



Vinod and Ancy were on their first trip together to Velankanni after their wedding on January 2. Mary Nisha and daughter Alroy were travelling with Biju, Marys husband, who also sustained injuries in the accident.



The injured have been admitted in the Kanyakumari Medical College Hospital at Asaripallam.



Preliminary reports said the driver of the bus was in light sleep and lost control of the vehicle after ramming into a road divider.



The bus which ran daily services on the route was carrying about 40 passengers, many of them heading back home after a visit to the Velankanni Church.



According to official reports reaching us, the driver could have dozed off, leading to the accident. He has also sustained a minor injury, S Chandrakumar, Circle Inspector at the border town of Parassala, told Deccan Herald.



The condition of the four of the injured is critical.


President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday called upon all governors and lieutenant governors to play an active role to use their wisdom, experience and moral authority to help create a harmonious relationship between the Centre and the states.





In a New Year message to them delivered through video conferencing from Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mukherjee also asked the governors to use their astute leadership for the success of the Centres flagship policies and programmes like Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart City Mission, Digital India, Make in India, Skilling India, and Start-up India initiatives.



Mukherjee said the governors, who were the constitutional heads of their respective states, must perform their duties and obligations within the framework of the Constitution. In other words, they must play their assigned role while respecting the distinct authority and responsibility vested in each of the three organs of the state, that is, the executive, the judiciary and the legislature, he said.



Mukherjee said while the economy grew at 7.2 per cent in the first half of 2015-16 and was on its way to recovery, a worrisome feature is the agriculture sector which has been impacted by a deficient monsoon.
Punjab Police officer and Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh, who claimed he was abducted by terrorists responsible for the Pathankot airbase attack, has been summoned to New Delhi for questioning on Monday.





The SP has been under the scanner of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for gaps in his version about the incident.



NIA sleuths will question him to ascertain his role in the whole episode.



The NIA has also sought call details of Ikagar Singh, the taxi driver who was killed by the terrorists.



Besides, it is also surfing through documents about location of mobile towers through which terrorists made calls to Pakistan.



Salwinder, Assistant Commandant of 75th Battalion of Punjab Armed Police, was abducted along with his friend Rajesh Verma and cook in his personal vehicle. The terrorists used this vehicle on December 31 before dumping it near the airbase.



Sources said the NIA might seek a lie-detector test on Salwinder. Investigators see loopholes in versions provided by the officer and his cook. Investigations are on whether the officer has links with the terrorists or whether he helped them in carrying out the attack.



Though the officer may not know the real intentions of the terrorists, investigators want to see whether the officer inadvertently helped them. Investigators also suspect that the terrorists might have used smugglers network to sneak in to India and ferry arms and ammunition. The border districts of Gurdaspur and Pathankot are known for such activities.



It is possible that the officer chickened out and informed the police about the terrorists after he found out the real intentions of the terrorists. There are loopholes in his story. We have to find out to get to the bottom of the case, a senior official said. Salwinder kept four mobiles numbers while his cook has two.



Investigators would also ask Salwinder why he is maintaining four numbers. Four NIA teams are already camping in Punjab to verify facts and examine witnesses in close cooperation with the Punjab Police. NIA Director General Sharad Kumar met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to brief him on the case.



Attackers DNA samples awaited

Investigators are now awaiting reports of DNA samples collected from vehicles used by terrorists, footprints lifted from a border village and airbase to conclusively nail their identity and nationality of those involved in the Pathankot terror attack, DHNS reports from New Delhi.

Authorities have conducted the post-mortem examination of bodies of terrorists killed and their body tissues have been preserved for DNA sampling, officials said on Friday.

DNA samples collected from vehicles used by the terrorists have also been sent for forensic examination. Footprints suspected to be that of terrorists were lifted from Bamihal village along the border and from within the Air Force station. The footprints will be compared at the Central Forensic Science Lab in Chandigarh, which will help the investigators to track the route taken by terrorists to reach the airbase.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday filed a charge sheet against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and four others for their involvement in laundering of Rs 742.58 crore in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.





Kalanithis wife Kavery Kalanithi and Managing Director of South Asia FM Limited (SAFL) K Shanmugam are other accused in the case. The ED has listed Sun Direct TV Private Limited (SDTPL) and the SAFL also in the list of the accused.



The investigation under PMLA was taken up and it revealed that proceeds of crime of Rs 742.58 crore was paid by the companies based in Mauritius for Dayanidhi Maran, in the two companies namely SDTPL and SAFL, the ED told the special CBI court, which has been conducting trial of all the cases relating to 2G spectrum scam. The court fixed January 18 as date for consideration on charge sheet, asking the ED to submit entire set of documents relating to the case.



Both SDTPL and SAFL were owned and controlled by Kalanithi and the proceeds of the crime (money) was utilised by these two companies in their business, the ED charged.



Submitting the charge sheet, the economic offence investigation agency told the Special CBI Judge O P Saini that issues with regard to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval in the Aircel-Maxis deal case was still being investigated. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram was the Union Finance Minister in 2006 when the FIPB approval was granted.



The aspects of ongoing investigation, interalia, in this matter are receipt and transfer of funds in and outside India from Aircel Televentures Ltd (ATVL) and Maxis, directly and indirectly to the suspected Indian entities for which this court has issued Letters of Request on December 1, 2015 under Section 57 of PMLA to Singapore and UK for investigation outside India, the ED stated in a statement after filing of the chargesheet.


The district administration will meet the representations of organisations if they inform it about calling bandhs at least one week in advance and hold talks with them to solve the issues amicably, to prevent frequent bandhs which affect common people.





This point was made at a meeting here on Friday. District In-charge Minister B Ramanath Rai chaired the meeting convened to discuss about an alternative for bandhs, at the DCs office Hall here on Friday. He said the bandhs adversely affect the lives of common people and also cause economic loss. Hence, the people and the organisations should develop a bandh-free mindset, he said.



Common venue opposed

The possibility of deciding a common venue for protests, like the Freedom Park in Bengaluru, was also made, but many opposed it.



Rai warned that the generosity of the district administration should not be mistaken as its weakness. The administration is bound to act to the situation and hence, strict action against the law breakers will be inevitable, the minister added.



Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim said forceful bandh is illegal and said the district administration would abide by the Supreme Court order in this regard. One can voluntarily observe the bandh by closing down their shops and business establishments, but cannot force others to close their shops. This will amount to the curtailing the rights of others, he said.



City police Commissioner M Chandra Sekhar said the act of forcibly shutting the shops is not acceptable.



Karnataka Rakshana Vedike spokesperson Rahim Ucchil said the bandh in Dakshina Kannada in connection with Yettinahole project was inevitable because all other modes of requesting the government to stop the project did not yield any results. Hence, bandh was the last option, he said.



VHP leader Jagadish Shenava and others expressed a similar opinion.



Hindu Maha Sabha representative Dharmendra said that ward committees should be formed following the Supreme Court directions. This will help in building communal harmony in the society, he said.



CPM District Secretary Vasanth Achary said bandh is a part of social movement and the party supports it.



The deputy commissioner clarified that the idea behind the prevention of bandhs is not to curtail social movements, but to prevent the disturbances caused to people by the bandhs.


With the Legislative Assembly committee on lake encroachment on Friday releasing names of certain big builders who have encroached upon lake lands in Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural districts, the revenue authorities initiated action against the encroachers.





Prestige Group, Brigade Group, Sobha Developers, DS Max, Adarsh Developers, Oberoi Group, Bagmane Tech Park and Valmark Group are among 25 developers and companies named by the 11-member committee headed by senior Congress MLA K B Koliwad.



The committee also released new survey sketches of all 1,545 lakes with 11,595 names of encroachers. Of the total 57,576.17 acres of lake land in the two districts, 10,472.34 acres worth about Rs 1.50 lakh crore have been encroached.



A number of government agencies have also encroached upon the lakes. As many as 1,243 acres have been encroached by government agencies, including Bangalore Development Authority (to the extent of 484 acres). The Authority has encroached about 97 acres covering 18 lakes without even following the procedure. The BDA has formed layouts on the lakes. I know the property owners (BDA allottees) have not encroached the lakes. The officials are at fault. So, direction has been issued to file criminal cases against the erring officials, Koliwad said after releasing the names.



Interestingly, Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa is one of the aggrieved BDA site allottees. A BDA site allotted to him in Dollars Colony was part of a lake. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, too, had a site in Dollars' Colony, which he sold recently.



The committee is not targeting only big names who have encroached lakes. Notices are being issued to all the encroachers.



January 31, 2016 is the last date for replying to the notice. The committee will make appropriate recommendations to the government based on the response from the encroachers, Koliwad said and added that the last date may be extended, if necessary.



The revenue department has set up two committees, one headed by tahsildars and another by assistant commissioners, to issue show cause notice to the encroachers as to why they should not be evicted. The survey sketches of lakes prepared by the Department of Survey Settlement and Land Records (DSSLR) is available on:



http://landrecords.karnataka.gov.in/revenuemaps/lakesurvey.aspx. The Assembly will also upload scanned copies of the sketches on its website.



The committee has only released names of some builders and companies accused of encroaching the lakes. But it has not given any details such as names of the lakes encroached by them, extent and the purpose for which the encroached land has been put to. In some cases, the panel has only released names of apartment complexes, without the name of the builder.


The State government may have to start fresh consultation to choose the new Lokayukta as Justice Vikramjit Sen, a former Supreme Court judge considered for the post, has withdrawn his consent to be the anti-graft ombudsmamn.





Speaking to Deccan Herald from New Delhi on Friday, Justice Sen confirmed that he has withdrawn his consent.



Yes, I have withdrawn my consent. I have written to Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court and Law Minister T B Jayachandra, he said.



However, he refused to divulge the content of the letter saying, My letter contains the reason for withdrawing the consent.



Justice Sen has withdrwan his consent apparently in view of the state governments inclination to forward to the Governor the name of Justice S R Nayak for the post.



On January 4, 2016, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a consultation meeting as a statutory requirement on choosing the Lokayukta. The meeting was attended by acting Chief Justice of the High Court Subhro Kamal Mukherjee, 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.



Sources said that as the meeting began, Justice Mukherjee proposed the name of Justice Sen stating that he would be the perfect choice to bring back the glory of the Lokayukta institution, which was marred with recent incidents of corruption and extortion.



Shankaramurthy, Shettar and Eshwarappa supported Justice Mukherjees proposal. Kagodu Thimmappa, however, proposed the name of Justice Nayak, while Siddaramaiah did not propose any name.



After the meeting, Law Minister T B Jayachandra contacted Justice Sen and sought his consent. However, the delay in forwarding his name to the Governor and subsequent inclination of Siddaramaiah towards Justice S R Nayak is said to have irked Justice Sen.



Speaking to Deccan Herald on Friday, Shettar said the government has insulted Justice Sen.



The state government has insulted Justice Sen by not considering his name after taking his consent. The chief minister has been insensitive throughout the process.



When Justice N Anandas name was proposed for Upalokayukta, we all supported it as there was no adverse report. Though technically, the government can go ahead with Justice Nayaks name, as has been planned, in the interest of full and effective consultation process, a fresh meeting has to be called, Shettar said.
A 23-year-old woman has approached the Upparpet police alleging that her modesty was outraged by a conductor of a private bus she was travelling by.





According to the police, on January 2, the victim, a student of a private college in the City, was returning in a bus belonging to SRS Travels, from Goa. While she was sleeping, the conductor touched her legs and cheeks. She woke up and found the conductor standing next to her.



The victim took the conductor to the task and demanded the driver to stop the bus.



The driver ignored her and continued to drive. The passengers pacified the victim and asked her to lodge a complaint with the police. As soon as the bus reached Upparpet, the victim lodged a complaint with the police.



A senior police officer said, The incident took place when the bus was reaching Bengaluru. The SRS Travels have provided the details of the conductor and the driver, who are currently absconding. The accused will be traced at the earliest.



A case has been registered and the investigation is on.


A few miscreants broke into the house of noted environmentalist Saalumarada Thimmakkas house and made away with valuables. The incident took place at Manjunath Nagar in Peenya.





According to the police, miscreants made away with a silver bracelet, 25 gram gold chain, a television set and Rs 50,000 in cash.



The incident came to light on Friday, when Thimmakka returned home from Belur and found the rear door of the house open. She went inside and noticed that the cupboard was ransacked and the valuables missing. The police have visited the house and collected the fingerprints.



A case has been registered at the Peenya police station and investigation is on.


The Air India flight from Bengaluru to Delhi, which was delayed by four hours prompted passengers to protest at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here on Friday.





Airport sources said low visibility due to heavy fog at the Delhi airport had delayed flight operations to different cities including Bengaluru. However, the delay led to a cascading effect on other airlines too.



Police said a few passengers raised slogans against the airline authorities. However, it did not spill out of control. Reports suggested that as many as 240 passengers were lined up to board the Delhi flight scheduled to depart at 1 pm.


Congress MLA from Rajarajeshwari Nagar Munirathna on Friday filed a defamation suit of Rs 10 crore against his own party corporator from HMT ward Asha Suresh and her husband Suresh for their defamatory comments, acts and indulgences against him.



The suit has been filed in the City Civil Court 12 of Bengaluru which was admitted. The court reportedly granted an order of interim injunction against Asha Suresh and her husband from committing any acts of defamation.



Munirathna said that he was peeved with the statement of gomukha vyaghra (tiger in the garb of a cow) on the floor of the BBMP Council.


The Supreme Court on Friday said it would start hearing on February 2 the Karnataka governments appeal against the High Courts acquittal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and three others in a disproportionate assets case.





A bench of Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy fixed the matter for detailed consideration on February 2, 3 and 4. The court instructed both the parties to submit within two weeks the issues it should consider.



The court had earlier agreed to conduct day-to-day hearing on Karnatakas appeal that the High Court on May 11, 2015, committed a grave error in calculating the disproportionate assets of Jayalalithaa and others. The High Court calculated the illegal assets as 8.12 per cent of their total income when the actual proportion worked out to 76.7 per cent, Karnataka argued.



In her response, Jayalalithaa suggested that the Karnataka governments challenge to her acquittal was a deep and pervasive antipathy to the will of people who re-elected her with overwhelming majority. She also contended that the charges of conspiracy and abetment were nothing but a myth.



Besides the Karnataka government, DMK leader K Anbazhagan and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy have also challenged the acquittal of Jayalalithaa, her former close aide Sasikala and two of her relatives, V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi.



Jayalalithaa had to resign as chief minister after a special court in Bengaluru sentenced her to four years in jail and fined her Rs 100 crore under the Prevention of Corruption Act on September 27, 2014. But the High Court acquitted her.


The Centre on Saturday released Rs 1,540 crore to Karnataka to take up relief works in drought-hit districts.





In its order, the Ministry of Finance said these funds should be utilised to take up programmes in the drought-hit areas. Though a high-level committee headed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had approved the relief package on November 9, 2015, the money was not released to Karnataka so far.



Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested him to take steps to release funds at the earliest.



Karnataka had sought Rs 3,800 crore from the Centre to take up relief works in 136 drought-hit taluks. The State claimed that drought hit more then 30 lakh hectares of agriculture and horticulture crops and the total loss was estimated to the tune of Rs 15,636 crore.




The long-pending tussle over land between the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Defence establishments for Palike's 11 infrastructure projects seems to have reached a happy ending, as the two institutions have agreed upon exchanging land.





The BBMP had been making the demand for the land for the last many years but it was only recently the two institutions arrived at a consensus. The Palike requires a total of 38 acres and 28 guntas of defence land in prime locations of the City. The defence establishment, in turn, was demanding a land, whose value equalled the property it was to part with.



As per the agreement, the BBMP will hand over 207 acres and 24 guntas of its land in survey number 23 of Thammanayakanahalli village in Anekal taluk to the defence establishments. It is also learnt that the BBMP has agreed to extend the lease period of 3,700 sq mtr of land given to the defence establishment in Ulsoor. The lease period is coming to an end shortly. Further, the BBMP has also agreed to give on lease another piece of 4,500 sq metres of land, which is adjacent to Ulsoor lake.



The deal between the BBMP and the defence establishment was initiated by the then BBMP Administrator T M Vijay Bhaskar in a meeting on August 7, 2015 where BBMP Commissioner G Kumar Naik, Col S Gopalan and Col S D Rueben were also present. The infrastructure projects for which the BBMP required land was discussed in the meeting. Palike had initially decided to offer Transferable Development Rights (TDR), which is learnt to have been rejected. The defence establishment wanted only land in exchange for its property in the City.



Palike sources said that the BBMP administrator had sent a proposal to the State government on August 10, 2015 stating that that it had 283 acres and two guntas of land in Belagavi and 207 acres and 24 guntas of land in Anekal. It was also brought to the notice of the Ministry of Defence. The defence establishment, in return, showed its willingness for the land in Anekal and the State government too agreed. Further, a joint survey was carried out and finally the two institutions agreed in principle to seal the deal.



Sources in the BBMP said the Bengaluru Development Minister K J George too had a meeting with the officials of the defence establishment to speed up land exchange between the BBMP and the defence. Speaking to Deccan Herald, Naik said Palike has agreed in principle to exchange the land and it will wait the approval of Ministry of Defence. Once the MoD agrees, we will start our projects. The State government too cooperated in providing land at Anekal to exchange with the Defence, he said.

A senior engineer in the Road Infrastructure division of the Palike said this exchange of land will facilitate the Palike to build grade separators, that will ease the traffic bottlenecks.




The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will extend city services to 30 medium and small cities across the State in an effort to provide better connectivity.





At present, the KSRTC is operating city buses in ten cities - Mysuru, Tumakuru, Hassan, Mandya, Kolar, KGF, Davangere, Chikkamagaluru, Chikkaballapur and Mangaluru. New services are likely to be launched predominantly in northwestern and northeastern parts of Karnataka, where there is a lack of public transportation facilities.



Rajender Kumar Kataria, Managing Director, KSRTC told Deccan Herald that it is important to ply buses in smaller cities as people lack facilities and are forced to pay shell out huge sum to travel by autos, jeeps or maxi-cabs. We are currently operating in 10 cities and given the lack of transportation facilities in certain parts of the State, such as in north Karnataka, we are keen to establish our presence there too, he said.



According to development experts, transportation facilities in northeastern regions of Karnataka are poor and there is an urgent need to provide better facilities to people, a senior KSRTC officials said. We are aware that people travel by hanging and clinging onto vehicles such as jeeps or tempo travellers, putting their lives at risk. We want to ensure people get comfortable, reliable and affordable travel services. That is why KSRTC is planning to expand its services to a smaller cities and towns, he added.



Dharmendra D, a bank employee and a former resident of north Karnataka who is now settled in Bengaluru, said that there is an urgent need for better public transportation facilities in these parts of Karnataka. People are forced to take autos or jeeps, which are either too expensive or overcrowded. Even the tempo travellers are jam-packed. People would be happy if a public bus service is introduced, he said.




Madiwala Lake, once the winter home for many migratory birds, is no more a preferred destination for many species of birds from Central Asia Siberia and Arctic, says a study conducted by City-based birders.





This year, very few migratory birds have arrived at Madiwala Lake. The birders attribute this disturbing trend to erosion in natural soil and increased human activity. The bird lovers, however, can take some comfort in flocks of pelicans, which have taken refuge in the water body.



According to the mid-winter bird study, conducted by U Harish Kumar and Arun Chikkamarappa, just 31 species of migratory birds have visited Madiwala Lake. The birders listed out the species of birds that were spotted in the lake- Grey Pelican, Spot-bill Duck, Great Cormorant, Little Cormorant, Painted Stork, Pond Heron, Little Egret, Pariah Kite, Indian Darter, Brahminy Kite, Purple Heron, Ashy Wren-warbler, Cattle Egret, White-breasted Kingfisher, Night Heron, White Ibis, Purple Moorhen, Jungle Crow, Large Pied Wagtail, Black Drongo, Bronze Winged Jacana, Marsh Harrier, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Little Ringed Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Purple-rumped Sunbird, Common Sandpiper, Pied Bushchat, White-breasted Waterhen and Median Egret.



Ornithologist M B Krishna said, The number of Purple Moorhen visiting the lake has increased in the recent years. This shows that the water hyacinth in the lake is good. But the number of migratory birds are on a decline. The decline is attributed to several reasons like the conditions in North India are more favourable as most birds arriving from Central Asia, Siberia, Arctic regions, seek refuge there. The lake once used to be teeming with birds like Pin Tailed Duck and Shoveller. But they are not seen, this time.



Another reason for the decline in the migratory birds visiting the City lakes is most of the water bodies in the City are disturbed due to increased human activity. It is not just one lake which attracts birds, but a cluster with different water conditions. Ducks need deep waters while Marshers need shallow lands. The shorelines are being lost. Lakes are becoming like soup bowls and some also have stone pitches, which are not suitable for birds, he said.



Madiwala Lake now has many Pelicans and Egrets. But they are found in most City lakes too, where fish population is high. They are also spotted at other lakes in the City like Agara, Varthur, Jakkur, Bellandur and Puttenahalli, the birder said.



In 1990s, Bangaloreans could count at least one lakh birds within 40 km

radius of General Post Office . But since the last decade the City is losing the winged guests, Krishna added.


Union Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Friday said the Union government will shortly come up with a comprehensive 'National Litigation Policy' to reduce the pendency of cases in courts across the country.





Addressing the High Court advocates at an event here on Friday, Sadananda Gowda said, The Supreme Court has struck down National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). The apex court, however, observed that the existing collegium also has drawbacks, which needs to be rectified.



At present, there are 472 posts of judges lying vacant in various high courts of the country. The Centre will extend full support in filling up the judges posts laying vacant in high courts, the minister said.



On digitisation of courts, Gowda said, In the first phase, 14,282 courts across the country have been digitised. The Centre has released Rs 1,670 crore for the second phase.



On the demands made by members of Advocates Association of Bengaluru that a bench of Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT) and National Green Tribunal (NGT) be set up in Bengaluru, the minister said that he would make a sincere efforts to fulfil their demands on the tribunals.



On the odd-even number rule in Delhi, the Union minister told reporters that the rule has eased the traffic woes and brought down pollution levels in the national capital.



Such rules must be welcomed, he said adding that with the population growing at rapid pace in urban areas such changes are required to adopt to the situation.




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20 Facts About The Mozart Of Madras - A.R. Rahman
Lebanese market leader Touch has expanded its use of Astellias 2G and 3G monitoring solution to its 4G network.

Astellia is now monitoring the entire touch network from Radio Access to Core Network. In a first phase, Astellia enabled touch to successfully improve voice and data QoS & QoE as well as handset and 2G/3G network efficiency. In this second phase, touch will be able to optimise its 4G network and monitor its premium customers and roamers.

We are confident that Astellia will continue to help us significantly improve the quality of service we deliver to our subscribers to maximise both customer satisfaction and profitability, comments Wael Ayoub, Chief Operations Officer at touch.

As a complete solution provider, combining a globally proven monitoring solution and unparalleled consulting services, Astellia is very proud to power touch with real-time intelligence to make better informed business decisions, adds Ali Wansa, Managing Director Middle East at Astellia.
The company, Changzhou First International Trade Co., was accused of patent infringement over its one-wheeled scooters which were seized in the raid

Two US Marshals raided the booth of a Chinese manufacturer after it was accused of patent infringement. The company, Changzhou First International Trade Co., was displaying several one-wheeled electric scooters, which were seized by the Marshals. The company was sued by an American company called Future Motion which claimed that their scooter was a 'knockoff' of its scooter.

The US District Judge had issued an order for companys products to be seized and that the company stop sales. Future Motions attorney, Shawn Kolitch, was present at the raid and he told Ars Technica that the Marshals had seized five to six scooters along with marketing materials. He said, This was unusually fastIve never heard of a situation where anybody was able to get a [temporary restraining order] and a seizure the same day, and added, I think the reason that it was exceptionally fast was that we emphasized in the motion that the harm that we were most concerned about was the attention that this product would get at CES. He also described the raid as orderly and that Changzhous representatives did not resist the proceedings. Changzhou hasnt made any formal legal response and will get a chance to present its formal defence in a hearing on January 14.

Future Motions one-wheeled scooter, called 'OneWheel', managed to raise over $630,000 on Kickstarter and it started selling the vehicles in December, 2014. The device is currently available its website for $1,499, which is about Rs. 1 lakh. Changzhous scooter is called 'Trotter and is available on Alibaba for about $550, which is approximately Rs. 36,700.

Devices arent the only things that Chinese companies are infamous for copying. Back in September last year, fake Apple stores started popping up in China. These stores were taking pre-orders for the Apple iPhone 6s which was yet to be released released in the country then. It was reported that customers were willing to pay double the actual price of the device. The fake stores sourced stock from official retailers and charged a premium. Devices were also being smuggled from Hong Kong and the US.
The 3D motion- and space-sensing smartphone will feature three different cameras, a host of sensors, and may just change the way we game and shop.

Lenovo and Google have announced a Summer 2016 deadline for bringing their Project Tango smartphone to consumers. Project Tango by Google uses a host of sensors and cameras to lend smartphones the ability to perceive space and movement in 3D, much like we humans do. With this smartphone, Lenovo will bring Googles technology to the mass consumers, and will hope to make an impact in the augmented reality market.

The Project Tango smartphone has been confirmed to run on a Qualcomm processor, feature a screen size of less than 6.5 inches, and have three cameras for regular imaging and 3D mapping purposes. While a standard RGB camera will lend colour details, the two depth-sensing and fisheye cameras will perceive space, motion and area, which will be further used to map and scale rooms and arenas. This technology can then be applied to gaming and shopping experiences. For instance, you can use your home furniture as an obstacle within a game, and literally hide behind it to avoid or shoot your enemies. In shopping, the Project Tango smartphone will map your room, and AR-ready shopping sites will allow you to pick up a product, place it within your rooms map, and tell you whether it will suit or fit your room.

"You can literally hide behind your furniture to avoid in-game enemies"

Google had previously released the Project Tango Development Kit to encourage developers to make apps for the platform. To aid the idea further, an App Incubator Program is also being announced, which will support interesting developer ideas with engineering and monetary assistance. In the on-stage demonstration of the technology at the ongoing CES 2016, Project Tango lead Johnny Lee showed how the prototype device could scale rooms, gauge the height of a wall, and even play a round of digital Jenga with his colleague. Lee also demonstrated real-time 3D mapping in front of the crowd, by mapping the arena, fitting suitable furniture in that space, and even showcased a virtual pet that could interact with the 3D objects in the virtual world.

With Project Tango, the smartphone becomes a magic window into the physical world by enabling it to perceive space and motion that goes beyond the boundaries of a touch screen. By working with Lenovo, well be able to make Project Tango more accessible to users and developers all over the world to both enjoy and create new experiences that blends the virtual and real world, Lee said at the demonstration. Exact specifications of Lenovos Project Tango smartphone have not yet been revealed, but it seems like a lucrative prospect in the growing world of connected, interactive regular objects aided by Augmented Reality (AR), which itself has been touted to become a $120bn industry by the year 2020.

"Virtual objects can interact with each other within real space"

While Lenovo might become the first company to mass produce a Project Tango-powered device, it is not the first. 3D-sensing smartphones powered by Google's technology have been picked up by NASA to aid its International Space Station robots. Intel has previously demonstrated its own Project Tango smartphone powered by its own RealSense technology at its 2015 Developer Forum. Intels Project Tango smartphone is available for pre-order on its own website, for a price of $399 (Rs. 26,610). Alongside speaking of a Summer 2016 launch of the device, Lenovo has also stated that the device will be priced at around $500 (Rs. 33,340). We wait to see how Lenovo and Google actually tangoes with this new piece of technology.
Netflix has come to India and one of the most common complaints we have heard is that users are not being able to find preferred content on the online streaming platform. A lot of users are also upset with the fact that Netflix in India is missing some of its own original productions, like the famous political drama- House of Cards. While reviewing the Netflix app in India, we were also disappointed by the fact that some of the popular Hollywood franchises, like The Dark Knight series, were completely missing from the Netflix library. This is happening because content on Netflix varies in different countries due to licensing deals with particular film & TV studios. So to make life better, we got to work and found out some cool tools for discovering hidden and restricted content for Netflix users in India. Hope this helps enhance your binge-watching experience.

Smartflix Desktop App Smartflix is a new desktop app for Windows and Mac, and it is the answer to all your clocked content woes. In India, Netflix is missing a lot of content that the platforms U.S. counterpart houses. Be it House of Cards or Batman, you can watch anything thats listed and available in the U.S. without going through the cumbersome process of setting up VPNs. Smartflix works much like a VPN to bypass location restrictions on Netflix. Download the Smartflix desktop app and you can find all the missing content you have been looking for. The app lets you log-in to your Netflix account natively and you can then start seeing your favourite shows without a hitch. The only trouble here is that if you have multiple profiles on your Netflix account, you wont be able to access a particular profile or add the shows to your list. Not a very big price to pay for watching restricted content.

iStream Guide Mobile App So, the Netflix website and app only show you that many categories. 12 categories to be precise. So what do you do if you want to streamline your search? Maybe you want to find content specific to Animals, or Anime Dramas, or Basketball, or even a list of Oscar winning movies. Well, the iStream guide app for Android and iOS will help you do all that. You can search the whole Netflix library specific to the India region by accessing the settings of the app and changing your region to India. The app divides Netflix content by New Releases, Hot & trending shows and films, Genres, Genre groups, Worldwide releases, and more. There is also a built-in randomiser which throws up a random show or film, just in case you are in major couch potato mode. You can also view the Rotten Tomatoes ranking along with an overview of the cast of each and every item listed on Netflix. Did I mention you can maintain a favourites list as well?

Allflicks Website Many online websites have a complete list of all of Netflixs content, and Allflicks is one of the more popular ones in the crowd. Specifically curated for India, Allflicks now has a list of all movies and TV shows on Netflix in India. The list can be limited by genre or release year. Search options also include search by Title/Director/Actor etc. You can also see IMDB ratings of each and every item listed alongside, along with original cover art. Clicking on a particular show/movie name, directs users to a new page where they can watch the trailer of that particular selection. The best part about it is that the website also provides a direct link to the show page on the users Netflix account, so you wont have to go and search for it on Netflix again.

Now Streaming Website Netflix keeps adding and removing content from its platform and its difficult to keep a track of whats leaving the streaming platform. You dont want to miss out on a movie just because you were too late, right? Now streaming is a website that lists all the shows or movies that are about to go off the shelf on Netflix. It also lists out all the latest additions to the Netflix library aside from recommendations, news and the usual lists.

Whats on Netflix Website Whats on Netflix is an unofficial Netflix fan website which gives you access to all of Netflixs library listings. The website is helpful in finding common Netflix to-dos listed by bloggers and fans. It also streamlines Netflix content in various easy-to-navigate categories to keep you updated with anything and everything Netflix. Clicking on any title will redirect you to its page on Netflix, but currently this feature is only limited to Netflixs original content.

Netflix Roulette As the name suggest, Netflix Roulette is another netflix randomiser which throws up random content if users want to be surprised. You can vary your results by selecting a ratings range and names of directors, actors and other keywords. What would have been cooler is an actual roulette spinning wheel.

Netflix media center Hidden at the bottom of the Netflix webpage, the Netflix Media Center is also a good place to find an A to Z list of all the original, only-on-Netflix content. If you are an entertainment reviewer or a plain Netflix enthusiast, you can find lots of cool press pictures of Netflix original productions as well.
In 2016, European stocks got off to one of their worst starts to a year in history but the economy was still improving and valuations were decent so the structural up-trend continued to be in place, one of the worlds largest brokers said on Friday.

Chinese stocks dropped 6% on the first day of trading and the yuan depreciated again, alongside a slide in oil below the $35 per barrel mark, bathing traders screens in red on Monday, strategists at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said in a research report sent to clients.

Yet at 3.9% European stocks continued to offer a very good yield compared to other asset classes.

"We see this as a technical correction where long positions looking for the usual January rally are being flushed out"

So while markets would continue exhibit volatility until China and commodities stabilised, they recommended investors buy the dips.

"We see this as a technical correction where long positions looking for the usual January rally are being flushed out of the system, rather than being a fundamental change of trend."

However, increased volatility to successive shocks  as a result of lower liquidity in markets and changing trading patterns  meant investors would also need to stand ready to sell rallies.

Right now we think markets are close to a near term low and would look to add risk into this weakness, they said.

Their favourite or so-called overweight positions were selective cyclicals, particularly technology, industrials and media.

That was due to their low or non-existent exposure to risks from emerging markets.

They also still liked banks, believing the regulatory cycle would not bar dividends in 2016, although lenders' ability to remunerate their shareholders would be tested.

Healthcare was another favourite because of the yield offered by the sector and the fact that markets were underestimating the pipeline potential.
Explosives used in the 13 November Paris attacks may have been made in an apartment in Brussels, according to a statement from Belgian prosecutors on Friday.

During a police raid on 10 December, material that could be used to make explosives, traces of explosive acetone peroxide and handmade belts were discovered at the apartment.

The apartment, located in the district of Schaerbeek, was rented under a false name and police found a fingerprint of a key fugitive.

Investigators believed the explosives were likely packed into suicide belts in a hotel outside Paris ahead of the attacks that killed 130 people, Belgian newspaper De Standaard reported on Friday.

A fingerprint from Salah Abdeslam, the brother of one of the suspects, was also discovered.

He returned from Paris the morning after the attacks and is yet to be found.

De Standaard reported that investigators believe the fingerprint indicates Abdeslam used the flat as a safe house after the attacks as it had been cleaned up partially. However, they do not know how long he stayed at the apartment.

Abdeslam is linked to many of the suspects arrested in Belgium. Two of those arrested drove from Brussels hours after the attacks to pick Abdeslam up. Another drove him from one part of Brussels to Schaerbeek after his return.

Authorities have arrested 10 people in connection with the attacks, including two who had been living in Brussels and Belgium.
BHP Billiton said on Friday that the amount of mining waste spilled as a result of the dam burst at its Samarco joint venture iron ore mine in Brazil last November was a lot less than previously thought.

Samarco estimated that the volume of tailings material released during the dam breach was around 32m cubic metres, with approximately 85% of the released tailings retained within 85km of the Fundao dam.

The number is significantly lower than some of the initial estimates which were in excess of 50m cubic metres.

In addition, Samarco has undertaken a number of measures to stabilise the released tailings and prevent more material from entering the Rio Doce system, including the construction of dikes to contain tailings and revegetation along the Gualaxo and Doce rivers.

Dredging of the Candonga hydroelectric dam is planned in order to improve water quality.

At 0837 GMT, BHP shares up 1.8% to 684.30p.
Hammerson has signed a deal to sell the Villebon 2 retail park to a consortium of leading French institutional investors for 159m (116m).

The retail park, which was acquired in 2005 and fully owned by Hammerson, is in Villebon-sur-Yvette in the south of Paris and sold for more than the June 2015 book value.

It generates gross rent of 8.5m (6.2m) per year with the centre 99% occupied.

The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of the financial year.

Hammerson chief executive David Atkins said the company continues to see investor demand for well-positioned assets in France.

[We] are pleased to have capitalised on this demand to secure a price that is well ahead of the latest book value.

Atkins said the proceeds will be used to partially finance the recent acquisition of its Irish portfolio, anchored by Dundrum.

The sale completes the companys 200m tranche of disposals, with another tranche of 300m of disposals to be completed throughout the year.
British fraud prosecutors have asked for 21m in additional funding, including 15.5m needed urgently. The Serious Fraud Office asked for extra money  the fourth such request in as many years  to cover the cost of blockbuster investigations. Robert Buckland, the solicitor-general, told parliament on Thursday the SFO was seeking approval for the 15.5m for significant investigations and the settlement of material liabilities.  Financial Times

Tracey McDermott always seemed an unlikely fit as a chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority: she is not blessed, or encumbered, with the Type A personality that is standard issue among the City of London elite. If rumours among the same City elite were to be believed, however, she had looked like the favourite candidate to head the UKs financial regulator  a role she has temporarily filled since her former boss was forced out last year.  Financial Times

EDF is considering the sale of a 3bn (2.2bn) stake in its British nuclear business in a bid to raise cash for new Hinkley Point reactors. Possible buyers would be state-owned Chinese companies, who are already committed partners on the 18bn Somerset project.  Guardian

The United Nations and aid agencies demanded urgent access yesterday to a Syrian town besieged by President Assads forces where 42,000 people are in danger of starving to death. Witness accounts from inside the town of Madaya have described catastrophic conditions with residents eating pets, leaves and grass. Pictures posted on social media showed emaciated figures with protruding ribs reminiscent of concentration camp victims. - The Times

World food prices fell 19pc in 2015, with meat, dairy, oils, sugars and cereals all affected by weak global demand and a strengthening US dollar. The Food Price Index, collated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, averaged 164.1 points last year, down from 202 points in 2014, marking the fourth consecutive annual decline. The index was set at 100 points based on prices in 2002-4. - The Telegraph

Blue Inc, the fashion retailer, is to axe hundreds of jobs and close stores as part of a restructuring. The company, which was once chaired by former Marks & Spencer boss Sir Stuart Rose, could shut around 60 shops out of a total of 232 across the UK. The move, which Blue Inc blamed on the recent warm weather hitting demand for winter clothing as well as consumers switching to shopping online, will result in around 500 job losses.  The Telegraph

The price of oil could fall as low as $25 a barrel by March as Iran begins to ramp up output after the removal of international sanctions as early as next month, a senior Iranian oil official has warned. Fereidun Fesharaki, a former oil adviser to the Iranian prime minister, said he expected crude prices to drop to between $25 and $30 between now and March as excess Iranian output exacerbates a widening global supply glut.  The Times
Every year the new year seems to start on a bit of a somber note. The vitriol abounds; the new year isnt necessarily a new slate for many. I see my fair share of trolls and haters based on the content I post. I realize that comes with the territory, and after all these years my voice is not squashed. I continue to fight for children  providing global vaccines through Shot@Life, helping feed the hungry through the Cecilia Rawlins Fund, protecting kids from abuse through SAFEchild, and now, Im committed to doing more with Moms Demand Action to curb gun violence and protect our families.

Ive been planning the year ahead with particular attention to the elections this fall. The presidential election and the GOP circus detract from the vital issues in our community. Local races matter, yet the majority of voters continue to fall into the noise of national elections. Local elected officials have exponentially more influence on our daily lives. Local and state legislation thread together to weave our states story. Both citizens and elected officials tell the tale.

Theres no one finer to add to our states rich story than my friend Jay Chaudhuri. Hes running for North Carolina State Senate. Jays accomplishments are impressive, yet what really strikes me are his values. Hes a father and husband first, and its apparent he takes this role seriously. His commitment to his family and all families in our state is more than a glossy PR photo opp. Jay is that rare leader who is guided by equal parts heart and brain. His convictions are are fierce, and his drive fiercer. I appreciate that Jay is not a career politician. He is a career citizen.

Have a look at his recent press release about gun violence. In light of President Obamas recent executive order, Jay shares his own perspective. North Carolina, after all, continues to weaken gun laws as part of the GOPs plan to strengthen our great state. We all know those measures have done nothing but built a tall tale.

Chaudhuri Applauds Presidents New Gun Violence Reduction Measures

Democratic State Senate candidate Jay Chaudhuri today lauded President Barack Obama for taking executive action to reduce gun violence, following Obamas announcement that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will now require background checks for guns bought online or at gun shows. Chaudhuri also released details of his own plan for a common-sense approach to prevent and reduce gun violence in North Carolina.

Gun violence kills someone every eight hours in North Carolina, said Chaudhuri. I strongly support President Obamas efforts to curb gun violence, and as State Senator, I will push for common-sense laws that help keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

In addition to expanding background check requirements, the gun violence reduction measures Obama announced today include additional funding for ATF to improve enforcement of existing laws, investments in increased access to mental health care, and a renewed focus on gun safety technology research.

Chaudhuri supports similar measures at the state level: requiring a background check for all gun sales, preventing people on the terrorist watch list and domestic abusers from purchasing firearms, and making schools safer by funding more School Resource Officers.

Chaudhuris support for a commonsense approach to gun violence grows out of his record at the Attorney Generals office. As Special Counsel to Attorney General Roy Cooper, Chaudhuri designed an emergency response kit that has since been adopted by all North Carolina schools to help save lives in the event of a school shooting. He also led the Attorney Generals Campus Safety Task Force after the Virginia Tech shootings.

My friend Jay Chaudhuri is running in the March 15 Democratic primary election to represent District 16 in the North Carolina State Senate. To learn more, please visit www.JayforNC.com. Join me in supporting Jay. His convictions will turn to actions to rewrite North Carolinas story.

Learn more about our traditions and important issues for the New Year from my fellow #AsianMomBloggers:
Eyes on the Prize: The Hadley School for the Blind Wants to Back Your Business

Published: 2016-01-07 - Updated: 2016-03-27

Author: Hadley School for the Blind | Contact: www.hadley.edu

Peer-Reviewed Publication: N/A

Jump to: Main Digest | Publications

Synopsis: Hadley invites submissions for a start up for a chance to win one of three cash awards for up to $10,000 each. Hadley is announcing its inaugural 2016 New Venture Business Competition.

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Main Digest

Hadley is announcing its inaugural 2016 New Venture Business Competition.

The Hadley School for the Blind's Forsythe Center for Employment and Entrepreneurship (FCE) was launched in 2011 to address the 70 to 80 percent un-and underemployment rate among Americans who are blind or visually impaired. Through this business education program, Hadley, the largest provider of distance education to people who are blind and visually impaired worldwide, offers tuition-free courses to help prepare students for employment and entrepreneurship. Today, Hadley is announcing its inaugural 2016 New Venture Business Competition.

In the spirit of ABC's hit show, Shark Tank, Hadley is inviting new, current or recent Forsythe Center students to submit their plans for a start up for a chance to win one of three cash awards for up to $10,000 each.

Entrants must have enrolled in at least one FCE module for consideration of their business plan. However, it's not too late to become an FCE student and participate in the competition. New FCE students must provide proof of legal blindness from a physician before enrolling in an FCE course. Participation and submission rules can be found at www.Hadley.edu/nvc

To enroll in the FCE, please visit Hadley.edu or call Student Services at 800-526-9909.

"We are thrilled to be able to help support new businesses in this fun, exciting way," said Colleen Wunderlich,Director, Hadley Forsythe Center for Entrepreneurship. "Our students are so innovative and enthusiastic - I look forward to learning what they have in mind."

Contestants will need to move quickly, though, as the entry period ends when the clock strikes 11:59 pm CST on Feb. 15, 2016.

Winners will be recognized and receive their awards at the 2016 Business Leadership and Superior Training (BLAST) Conference in Chicago, May 17-20, 2016.

Disabled World is an independent disability community established in 2004 to provide disability news and information to people with disabilities, seniors, their family and/or carers. See our homepage for informative news, reviews, sports, stories and how-tos. You can also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook or learn more about Disabled World on our about us page.

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Disabled World provides general information only. The materials presented are never meant to substitute for professional medical care by a qualified practitioner, nor should they be construed as such. Financial support is derived from advertisements or referral programs, where indicated. Any 3rd party offering or advertising does not constitute an endorsement.

 Cite This Page (APA): Hadley School for the Blind. (2016, January 7). Eyes on the Prize: The Hadley School for the Blind Wants to Back Your Business. Disabled World. Retrieved October 19, 2022 from www.disabled-world.com/disability/investors/hadley-prize.php



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DeVier Posey: How ex-Ohio State player learned to handle adversity

From medical challenges to setbacks his senior year at Ohio State, DeVier Posey has long been learning to harness his pain.
De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is to help hundreds of young Gambians to set up businesses through the development of a community hub in the village of Manduar.

Construction of the Manduar Development Hub has been ongoing in the village in West Gambia over the last two years with the help of students and staff on #DMUglobal trips.

#DMUglobal is the universitys pioneering programme giving students the chance to benefit from international experience while they study.

The universitys Pro Vice-Chancellor for Strategic and International Partnerships, James Gardner said: I am incredibly proud of the DMU students and staff who have been helping the community of Manduar.



The building of the hub to support future new business in The Gambia will be a vibrant example of DMUs commitment to sharing our knowledge and skills across the globe.



With students from more than 130 countries and recently named one of the world's top universities for international impact, DMU has a global instinct which we will continue to harness for the future benefit of communities wherever we are able to.



BA Criminology and Criminal Justice student Edward Aisthorpe helped build the hub and said: It feels good my contribution has made an impact on the hub. I also know future employers will be very impressed with the inter-cultural experience I gained here.

From 2012 to 2015, DMU students and staff spoke to around 500 young people from communities across The Gambia, to find out what issues they felt were important and what they would like to be done to help.

Their ideas inspired the blueprint for the hub  a collection of buildings providing young Gambians with access to learning and business support, as well as technology and accommodation.

The central building of the hub has been named The DMU Hall and has space for up to 300 people for conferences and training, to help share knowledge and to encourage business start-ups.

The hub, which will serve both national and international purposes, has already been used to run important Girls Agenda training on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) for local young women and held the first-ever film festival in The Gambia.

Dr Momodou Sallah, a DMU Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Youth and Community Work organised the trips and said: Enthused by the findings from our consultation, the great people of Manduar offered their land without cost or condition.

He then set about raising the money to build the hub with support from the university, #DMUglobal and community engagement campaign group Global Hands.

This weekend, the hub will host the launch of the latest two books from Global Hands Publishing (UK); Baaba Sillah: Reclaiming The Mantle by Dr Pierre Gomez and Malang Fanneh and Patriots: Profiles of Eminent Gambians by Hassoum Ceesay. Dr Sallah directs the publishing company.

Dr Sallah was awarded Most Innovative Teacher of the Year in the country in the UK Times Higher Education Awards 2015 for organising these international field trips to The Gambia, which take the classroom out into the real world and give students first-hand experience of helping develop communities.

He added: Part of my role as a National Teaching Fellow at the university is to embed globalisation and diversity into the curricula.

This is not cultural tourism. This is demonstration of a two-way exchange, beneficial to both the students who come back rich with experience and the Gambian communities who benefit from the building of sustainable structures.

There are plans for a permanent exhibition in the DMU Hall which will show the history of the building in photographs and film, featuring university students and staff, Global Hands Gambia members, and residents of Manduar, who worked together to establish the project.
India could be hit by massive earthquakes, with a magnitude of 8.2 or greater on the Richter scale, according to the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) in the ministry of home affairs. Image  Down To Earth 2015 The NIDM, in an assessment following the Nepal quake, has warned of enhanced risk around the "ring of fire garlanding the entire north India, especially the mountains". The Times of India quoted the home ministry's disaster management experts as saying that quakes with a higher intensity than the one which struck Manipur on Monday are likely to hit the Himalayan region in future. A series of recent earthquakes  Manipur (January 2016), Nepal (May 2015) and Sikkim (2011)  which measured 6.7-7.3 on the Richter scale have re-ruptured tectonic plates that had developed cracks due to previous incidents, say the experts. This has created conditions which might trigger massive earthquakes. Santosh Kumar, director of the NIDM, told ToI that the interconnected plates across Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and India pose a bigger danger. Kumar predicted that a disaster of bigger magnitude could hit the hill states, parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and even Delhi which fall under the second-worst seismic Zone IV classification. The North-East and other hill states fall under severe seismic Zone V. Kumar also said that the central government has taken steps to encourage the governments of all the hill states to adopt a common building code that is different from the rest of India. According to the report, seismologist Roger Bilham from the University of Colorado said, "The current conditions might trigger at least four earthquakes greater than 8.0 in magnitude. And if they delay, the strain accumulated during the centuries provokes more catastrophic mega earthquakes." It may be mentioned that the Tehri Dam, one of the biggest and highest dams in the world, lies in the heart of this seismic zone.










Five Soldiers and two civilian instructors were honored as truly Above the Best as they were recognized as Academic Instructors and Instructor Pilots of the Year during a ceremony at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum Dec. 15.

Each quarter, academic instructors, instructor pilots and NCO flight instructors from around the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence community, including the Warrant Officer Career College, U.S. Army School of Medicine, NCO Academy and U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, are nominated by their supervisors for the honor of competing for instructor of the year, according to the narrator during the ceremony. The instructors are evaluated on quality of instruction, quality of materials developed and used, and quality of their presentation.

After all evaluations are completed, scores are compiled, and winners of the quarterly competitions are selected and the instructors of the year are determined from these quarterly winners.

Each instructor of the year was presented with a certificate of achievement by Maj. Gen. Michael D. Lundy, USAACE and Fort Rucker commanding general, which reads, For excellence in training while serving as an instructor at the United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence. Your professionalism, dedication to duty, and technical expertise contributed to the success of the 1st Aviation Brigade and the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence. Your actions reflect great credit upon you, this command, and the United States Army.

The Officer Academic Instructor of the Year was awarded Capt. Cara Coleman, U.S. Army School of Aviation Medicine. Coleman is an academic instructor who teaches aeromedical adaptability; behavioral health in Aviation; ethical considerations; stress and fatigue; aeromedical policy letters; Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape psychology; psychological disorders in Aviation; and traumatic event management for the aeromedical psychology training course, flight surgeon course, flight medic course and pre-command course.

The Warrant Officer Academic Instructor of the Year went to CW4 Victor Negron, Warrant Officer Career College. Negron is an academic instructor teaching Army leadership; building teams; code of conduct; creative and critical thinking; equal opportunity; mitigating risk of suicide; professional military ethics; Sexual Harrassment/Assault Response and Prevention; values and professional obligations; negotiation; and institutional resilience training for the Warrant Officer Candidate Course and the Warrant Officer Intermediate Level Education Course.

The award for Officer Instructor Pilot of the Year went to CW3 David Litteken, D Company, 1st Battalion, 14th Aviation Regiment, 110th Aviation Brigade. Litteken is a flight instructor teaching instructor fundamentals; aircraft operation systems; limitations; emergency procedures aerodynamics; aeromedical; night missions and night vision goggle operation and deployment; tactical operations; mission and weapon systems operation; and employment for the instructor pilot course.

The NCO Academic Instructor of the Year was awarded to Staff Sgt. Jason Perry, D Co., 2nd Bn., 13th Avn. Regt., 1st Avn. Bde. Perry is an academic instructor who teaches enabling skills branch; basic electrical theory; shadow unmanned aircraft systems ground systems maintenance; shadow UAS maintenance and inspections; flight operations; and fault isolation for the UAS repairer course.

The NCO Flight Instructor of the Year is Staff Sgt. Richard Hasenpflug, F Co., 1st Bn., 212th Avn. Regt., 110th Avn. Bde. Hasenpflug is a flight instructor teaching the T-700 engine; hydraulics and flight controls; fuel and refueling; auxiliary power unit; aircrew training program; instructional presentations; instructional fundamentals; aircrew coordination training enhanced; and flight instruction for the UH-60 aircraft crewmember standard instruction course.

The Civilian Flight Instructor of the Year went to Robert Schuler, D Co., 1st Bn., 14th Avn. Regt., 110th Avn. Bde. Schuler is a flight instructor who teaches flight simulations; flight performance; infrared; radar; weapon systems; precision control flight maneuvering; and combined arms doctrine development for the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter instructor pilot course.

The Civilian Academic Instructor of the Year was awarded to Daniel Rawlings, C Co., 1st Bn., 223rd Avn. Regt., 110th Avn. Bde. Rawlings is an academic instructor who teaches MI-17 orientation; publications; servicing; structure and airframe; landing gear; flight control; rotors; hydraulics; electrical; fuel; powerplant; drivetrain; logbook and passports; special tools; inspections; avionics; instruments; and autopilot for the MI-17 systems maintenance course, aircraft qualification course, flight engineer course and instructor pilot course.

In addition to the certificates of achievement, each instructor of the year was presented gifts from various organizations, including clay eagles, bronze eagles, and engraved pen and pencil sets from the Aviation Chapter of the Army Aviation Association of America, the Wiregrass Chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army and the Above the Best Chapter of the U.S. Army Warrant Officers Association.
LPD Chief Larry Eggert shakes hands with Niagara County Sheriff Jim Voutour on Eggert's last day on the job, Dec. 30. A retirement party is planned for Egger on Jan. 30. (ENP FILE PHOTO)



Check out East Niagara Post videos on YouTube, Vine and Periscope.







A retirement party for former Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert will be held from 6 - 9 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Lockport Town & Country ClubEggert stepped down Dec. 30 after 36 years of work with the LPD. More than 100 people stood in line to wish him well on his last day of working for the department.The party is $30 per person, which includes food and an open bar. Tickets are available at Lockport Police Department. For more information call 439-6689
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Thursday announced a deal that would require Uber to encrypt geolocation information about its riders, as well as enhance its data security practices.

The AG opened an investigation into Uber in 2014, in response to allegations that the service had tracked riders and displayed their locations in an aerial format, known internally as the God View.

The AGs office opened another investigation early last year, after Uber notified it that an unauthorized third-party had accessed the names and drivers license information of Uber drivers as early as May 2014, although the company did not discover it until the following September, according to legal documents obtained by the E-Commerce Times.

We are committed to protecting the privacy of consumers and customers of any product in New York State, as well as that of any employee of any company operating here, Schneiderman said.

New Data Rules

The settlement requires that Uber encrypt rider geolocation information, adopt multifactor authentication before any Uber employee can access sensitive rider information, and engage in other protection practices, according to the AGs office.

The settlement also requires Uber to pay a US$20,000 penalty for failing to provide timely notice to drivers and to the AGs office regarding the September 2014 data breach.

We are deeply committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of riders and drivers, Uber said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Matt Wing. We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the New York Attorney General that resolves these questions and makes it clear our commitment to best practices that put our community first.

Weve Been Expecting You

Buzzfeed reporter Johana Bhuiyan in 2014 discovered that her Uber ride had been tracked as she traveled to the companys Long Island City headquarters while on assignment to interview its New York general manager.

She had not given prior consent to the tracking, and it was against company policy to do such a thing, according to a Buzzfeed exclusive report.

The AGs office mentioned the Buzzfeed article in its announcement of the settlement; however, Wing declined to comment on the incident.

Uber last year posted a privacy policy that mentioned the hiring of law firm Hogan Lovells to review the companys privacy practices.

Uber conducts annual privacy and security training, has an employee designated to supervise it, and takes other steps that already comply with the AG agreement, it said.

Companies often fail to protect sensitive customer data, according to Charles Duan, staff attorney at Public Knowledge, who pointed to the AT&T breach in which call center employees had access to customer data, including 280,000 Social Security numbers.

I expect that many consumers will now start to think twice before hitting that Uber request button, he told the E-Commerce Times. Ubers ride service is largely based on the idea that its better than taxis, and now theyve shown that taxis are actually superior in at least one respect  namely, privacy and anonymity.
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VIRGINIA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has responded to an Ecotextile News feature on wool sourcing by suggesting the concept of 'ethical wool' is a myth. The animal rights organisation was responding to a feature in the last issue of Ecotextile News in which we suggested Ovis 21, the Argentinian wool supplier which found itself at the centre of a social media storm after PETA released footage of wool sheep being mistreated, claimed PETA had chosen the wrong target. Patagonia and Stella McCartney both severed ties with Ovis 21 after the footage  which partly implicated Ovis 21  was released earlier in 2015.
(Photo: REUTERS / Amit Dave)Muslims offer prayers on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr at a mosque in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad July 29, 2014. The Eid al-Fitr festival marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has received high praise from city residents of Indian Muslim origin for his efforts during the latest Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations.

Also known as the "festival of breaking of the fast", Eid is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of the fasting holy month of Ramadan.

Every Eid, most Indian Muslims in the United States miss the pomp, celebrations, sounds, aromas, food, festivities, and the people of India, the Times of Indian editorialized July 17, the day the celebrations began.

"There is nothing like celebrating Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Adha in India," said the newspaper.

But it hailed a March announcement by New York Mayor de Blasio who announced that the largest U.S. city, will close it's school system (that serves 1.1 million students), to celebrate Eid Ul Fitr and Eid ul Adha.

"It really made us feel completely at home here in the US. Other States including New Jersey, Massachusetts and Vermont already celebrate both Eids.

The Times of India noted that at the March 2015 press conference, Mayor de Blasio stated: "I am proud to say that this now makes New York City the largest school district in the nation to take this action, so this is a historic moment for our country as well.

"This is about respect for one of the great faiths of this earth - 1.6 billion Muslims around the world.

"The Muslim faith is one of the fastest growing in this nation and in this city, and many, many city students celebrate Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan and Eid al-Adha at the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca."

David Dinkins, an earlier NY mayor, had passed a law suspending city parking regulations for six days each year - three days on Eid ul Fitr and three days on Eid ul Adha to facilitate the Muslims to park their cars on the crowded NY City streets.

NY'S MUSLIM POPULATION GROWING

Muslims constitute about 13 percent of New York City's population, the Times of India reports.

It cites a study by Columbia University said to show that about 10 percent of the NY City public school students are Muslim.

On a drive through New York City, the ubiquitous Halal food carts, and the Hijab wearing young women underline the fact that Muslims have now made this City their home and hearth.

The U.S. Postal system started issuing "Eid Mubarak," stamps on September 1, 2001, in Arabic calligraphy - another milestone noted for the Muslim community.

There are now 2,106 mosques in the U.S.A, which also serve the communities other needs such as weddings, funerals, etc.

Due to the rapid growth in Muslims' numbers, however, most of the mosques are now unable to host the number of worshippers during Eid.

Many of the mosques therefore combine to pray in large buildings such as armories, hotel ballrooms, or in open parks.
In September, Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, committed $50 million to be shared by winners of a competition to redesign the American high school. The effort, known as XQ: The Super School Project , is an open call to students, teachers, and policymakersanyone who thinks she or he may have a good ideato rethink the core qualities that have defined high school education for decades, such as testing, grade levels, and school schedules. Proposals for the future of public high schools are accepted online and, by next fall, a team of judges will select five of the best ideas and support them for the next five years.

Commendable as Powell Jobs intention is, the grant does not address the real problem. Hundreds of innovative and successful high schools across the country are already succeeding, often with the most disadvantaged students. Combined, they incorporate all the innovative and best practices needed to completely transform the American high school.

Unfortunately, they have virtually no impact on the nations roughly 24,500 public high schools because most school boards, principals, and teachers have either never heard of them or are not interested in emulating them. And five new, innovative models are not likely to change that.

Even if, by some miracle, school districts rushed to adopt innovative models of high school, most would continue to do a mediocre job. No matter how good they are, high schools can make little progress as long as a majority of their students arrive without having learned to read for comprehension, without having discovered the magic of mathematics, without having their curiosity nourished, and without having learned to use their minds well. That will be the case until we address education as one system from kindergarten through high school graduation.

We might accomplish that if Powell Jobs and some of her wealthy peers were to pony up, say, a billion dollars or so, not to improve schools but to change the way Americans think about educationespecially those who shape and make policy.

Large sums of money have not done much to improve schools, as demonstrated by Walter Annenbergs $500 million in the 1990s and Mark Zuckerbergs $100 million a few years ago. But well-funded, sustained public campaignsagainst littering, smoking, and drunk driving, for examplehave changed attitudes and behavior.

Those were single-issue battles more easily addressed than the many complex issues that plague public education. Changing public perceptions of education would be much more challenging, but not impossible. Remember, 50 governors and business CEOs held a few education summits in the 1990s and forged the strategy of standards and testing that has dominated the reform movement ever since. With big grants from major foundations, they organized an intensive campaign and successfully persuaded virtually every state to adopt high academic standards and rigorous standardized tests.

Standards-based accountability not only has failed to accomplish its goals, it makes even more necessary (and more difficult) an effort to convince the public and its leaders that a new strategy is desperately needed. A multi-year national campaign is probably the only way to accomplish that.

The timing for such an effort is about as good now as its ever been. The Common Core State Standards have generated significant concern and resistance. The accompanying new, computer-based tests have been especially controversial, and thousands of students, with their parents approval, are defiantly refusing to take them. The harshness and rigidity of the No Child Left Behind Act and the strategy of standards-based accountability have sapped morale and eroded public confidence in schools. The recently passed successor to No Child Left Behind, the Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, might help when its fully in place in the 2017-18 school year, but I am not optimistic.

Powell Jobs challenge to reimagine education recognizes that the existing system is stuck in the last century and must be totally redesigned. Obviously, efforts to improve traditional schools must continue, but simultaneously we must embark on a new strategy.

That is the message that a sustained campaign would broadcast into every home and office in the United States. It should begin with a question:

What kind of education system do we need if we are to cope effectively with the enormous variety among the more than 50 million students in public schools and prepare them for a rapidly changing future?

Batch processing works for computers, not for children."

Hundreds of innovative schools across the nation are already responding to that question.

Their answer is simple and stunningly obvious: Personalize education.

These schools start with each student where he or she is and proceed from there with a personal learning plan tailored for that student. Thats how medicine is practiced. The physician diagnoses each patient and prescribes a specific treatment. If medicine were practiced the way education is, the physician might step into a crowded waiting room and proclaim: Today is Wednesday, so youre all going to get a shot of penicillin. Batch processing works for computers, not for children.

When education is personalized, virtually everything in the traditional school begins to change.

Content standards dictating all the knowledge that every student needs to be deemed educated are replaced by competencies, such as being able to read a nonfiction article and understand it sufficiently to explain it to others; or, demonstrating the ability to reason quantitatively when analyzing and solving problems.

In a competency-based system, time becomes the variable and learning the constant. Students must demonstrate mastery of a competency before earning credit and moving to the next, more challenging competency; some will achieve mastery faster than others.

When time becomes the variable, age-level grading and inflexible schedules make no sense. Students progress at their own pace through the various subjects, so a student may master competencies in history more quickly than he does in science, or in math more quickly than she does in English.

In a personalized education system, where time is the variable, and mastery of competencies demonstrates progress in learning, students are at different levels of competency. Their learning should be assessed continually with teacher-designed tests; on their individual performance and the quality of their workwhich they present in exhibitions, portfolios, and performances. Standardized testing is inappropriate and ineffective.

Teachers in a personalized, competency-based system become advisers whose main task is to help individual students reach their educational objectives. Instructing rows of students in a classroom is largely replaced by students working alone or in small groups simultaneously under the supervision of advisers and with their guidance and help.

Unlike existing content standards, competencies must be linked to the real world in which their mastery is relevant. Internships provide such a link, as do projects that involve students in real-world situations where they address real issues and construct useful knowledge that they wont forget by the end of summer. The mantra is: Learning occurs anytime, anywhere, and should continue for a lifetime.

Learning out of school requires the assistance of the community; mentors and tutors work with students in projects and internships, and institutions (like courts, museums, and businesses) open their doors to students. Work and performance are assessed by advisers, mentors, and supervisors, not by standardized tests.

In a personalized and competency-based system, students take more responsibility for their own education and, therefore, must have more choice and more voice in decisionmaking. When students reach their teen years, they should be able to choose from multiple educational/career pathways that make optimum use of their talents and lead to their personal objectivesand standards must be tailored to the specific pathway.

Selling the idea of personalized, competency-based schools wont be easy. These are not the kinds of schools most Americans attended. They are not the kinds of schools that teachers are taught to teach in. To slightly paraphrase Theodore Sizer, who worked all of his life to change schools: The reason nothing important changes in education is because if one significant change is made, everything would have to change.

That is too scary a prospect for most people.

A well-funded campaign to change the way the public thinks about education will have to allay that fear and overcome many vested interests. Otherwise, that rising tide of mediocrity, which has continued to swell for more than three decades, may well become a tsunami.
Twenty years ago, corporate leaders, 40 state governors, and President Bill Clinton gathered at an IBM conference center in Palisades, N.Y., and came up with a statement designed to advance more-rigorous academic standards and testing in the nations schools.

One idea that emerged out of that Clinton-era National Education Summit in March 1996 was for someone to publish an annual report on the progress of states in improving their education policies.

The result, less than a year later, was Education Weeks Quality Counts, now marking its 20th edition. But it wasnt immediately clear at the time who would take on such a project.

Robert B. Schwartz, then a program officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts, recalled in a recent interview that some of the corporate executives and their education aides who were closely involved with the summit gravitated toward the idea of enlisting U.S. News & World Report to produce a 50-state progress report. Foremost among them was Louis V. Gerstner Jr., then the chief executive of IBM and an active force in K-12 education reform.

The news magazines annual ranking of colleges and universities, though controversial, had been around for more than a dozen years and had earned a following.

Schwartz, who would soon go on to become the first president of Achieve, a corporate-supported nonprofit that grew out of the 1996 summit to support the standards and accountability movement, thought another publication might be a better fit for the state progress reports.

I thought maybe I could convince Education Week to do it, said Schwartz, now an emeritus professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a consultant.

He phoned Ronald A. Wolk, then the president and publisher of Education Week, to ask if he would consider the idea. Wolk had been at the education summit.

He laughed and said that not only would he consider it, it was something he had been considering doing in some form, Schwartz said.

Playing Hardball

Wolk, the founding editor of Education Week and now the chair emeritus of its nonprofit parent corporation, Editorial Projects in Education, said in an interview that he jumped at the idea and rushed to put together a proposal for the annual progress report.

But Gerstner still favored U.S. News to lead the project. Wolk set up a meeting with an old journalistic friend, Mel Elfin, who as education editor at U.S. News had launched the magazines college rankings in 1983.

I went down to have lunch with him, and he was kind of playing hardball, said Wolk. He kind of said its not much of a contest between U.S. News and Education Week. Elfin meant that he was confident his magazine would be chosen.

A couple of days later, Elfin called Wolk to say that he and his colleagues at U.S. News had decided not to bid for the project, Wolk said. Pew awarded a grant for the project to Education Week.

Meanwhile, Wolk had started moving forward with the project even before the decision was made, since there was much work to do to come up with a report evaluating the education systems of all 50 states and the District of Columbia in less than eight months. (The goal was to publish the report in January 1997, just as most state legislatures were opening.)

Wolk asked Virginia B. Edwards, then, as now, the editor of Education Week, whether she had heard from any promising job applicants lately. She handed me six letters of rejection she had just sent out, he said.

One was to Craig D. Jerald, a young Teach For America alumnus who was working at the U.S. Department of Education. Jerald realized he didnt enjoy working in a large bureaucracy, and he had taken a shot at becoming an education journalist by applying to Education Week.

Jerald said he met with Wolk and was offered a job on the spot as project director of what would become Quality Counts.

We were very simpatico, Jerald recalled. The first couple of years of Quality Counts were a real intellectual adventure. A lot of people told us that it was going to be impossible. Thats the best kind of job to have.

Wolk and Jerald set off to meet with education experts and gather data.

Ron didnt have a 100 percent clear vision of what the report would look like, Jerald said. But he was good at bringing in top experts.

Jerald remembers a meeting with Emerson Elliott, who had recently retired as the head of the National Center for Education Statistics.

Elliott smiled and shook his head and said, You know, this was tried with the infamous wall chart, and it was a disaster, Jerald said. The wall chart was an accountability report launched in the mid-1980s by then-U.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett. Critics said it was based on unreliable data and measures not suitable for comparisons among the states.

Jerald added: We had folks telling us that, at the very least, we had bitten off more than we could chew, and that what we were trying to do might be impossible.

Both Wolk and Jerald recalled that their background research took them to California to meet with education experts at some of the leading West Coast universities. One day, when they were in La Jolla, Calif., Wolk rose early and phoned Jerald in his hotel room to tell him he was heading over to the beach. When you get up and moving, you should come join me, Wolk told his young colleague.

A little while later, I look up and here comes a guy in a business suit and oxfords, said Wolk, who was wearing casual beach attire.

Craig clearly had the brains, energy, commitment, and passion for the position, Wolk added. He taught himself some higher-order math and statistics and became the engine of the project.

Jerald laughed at the beach recollection and said, I didnt know. He was my boss, and I was used to the formality of D.C.

Jerald left Education Week in 2000, and has worked for the Education Trust, the College Board, and as an independent consultant.

A Debate on the NewsHour

The first edition of Quality Counts, released Jan. 16, 1997 (with a cover date of Jan. 22), offered 238 pages of data and reporting on the state of K-12 education in the United States.

We developed categories of state policy, like finance, student achievement, teachers, school climate, and, of course, standards and assessment, Wolk said. Within the categories, we came up with 76 indicators on which we would gather data.

Still, there was much information that simply wasnt available. Education Week worked with what it could find for that first report before refining its own surveys and data in subsequent reports.

Americas public school systems are riddled with excellence but rife with mediocrity, the first Quality Counts concluded.

States were graded in four categories: standards and assessments, quality of teaching, school climate, and resources (with separate grades in that last category for funding adequacy, equity, and allocation).

The report also had lengthy stories about each states experience with standards and accountability, prepared by Education Week reporters.

When the first Quality Counts report was unveiled, Jerald remembers being so nervous at a press conference at the National Press Club that he knocked over an easel holding posterboard highlights.

That evening, Wolk went on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS to talk about the report. Another guest was Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who was invited to represent the Education Commission of the States; Branstad criticized the report at his first opportunity. Iowa had received an F for standards and assessment because it was one of only three states not developing statewide standards.

I think theres too much focus on process and not enough focus on results or achievement, Branstad told segment host Margaret Warner. In Iowa, weve taken a different approach. Were a local-control state.

Later in the segment, Wolk said: I think you have to start worrying about a nation in which fewer than half of its students can read proficiently, and fewer than that can do math proficiently. These kids are going into a high-tech information society. ... And if we cant get a higher percentage of our students achieving, I suspect that this nation is in for real trouble.

Weathering Changes

Edwards, who besides being editor-in-chief of Education Week is president of its parent, EPE, noted that Quality Counts, both in its first rendition and in subsequent years, was repeatedly cited by governors in their annual state-of-the-state addresses.

It quickly became a highly anticipated report, Edwards said.

Wolk, who now lives in Warwick, R.I., and remains a keen observer of education as a writer and nonprofit-board member, confesses to some misgivings about Quality Counts. Even when he was first presenting the idea to the Editorial Projects in Education board, there was a concern about whether this was a project for a newspaper that claimed to be objective, he said, and whether Education Week would be providing direct support for the dominant strategy to improve schools: standards-based assessment.

It gave me real pause, Wolk said. In the following 10 years, meeting four times a year with the Pew Forum on Standards-Based Reform, I became pretty much convinced that the strategy of standards-based accountability would fail and do more harm than good, he said.

Quality Counts focused a whole lot of attention on standards and testing, Wolk added. I suppose thats both good and bad.

Anthony Cody, a popular education blogger and the co-founder of the Network for Public Education, a Tucson, Ariz.-based group advocating for the traditional public school system, said he agreed that Quality Counts lent momentum to the standards and testing movement.

There has been this tremendous effort over the last two decades to drive educational outcomes by data, said Cody, a former opinion blogger for Education Week Teacher. To the extent that Quality Counts does that, it reinforces that mindset. It is part of the groupthink that has led us to this obsession with testing.

Cody also said: The problem with something like Quality Counts is, you have all these supposedly objective indicators to justify your rankings of quality. But just as we are discovering with teacher evaluation, there are factors that go into school quality that arent measured by state accountability systems.

Schwartz said he is convinced that Pew made the right choice with its original grant. And with more education decisionmaking headed back to the states under the Every Student Succeeds Act, the new federal K-12 law, having good data to compare states will be more important than ever, he said.

My own sense is that Quality Counts has done quite well, Schwartz said, and it has weathered the changes over the years quite nicely.
How Europes big investment plan reaches small companies

The Dussel curves around the village of Gruiten as it meanders through the valley where the first specimen of Neanderthal man was excavated. Before it reaches the Rhine only 17 kilometres away, the river splits into four different streams.

A map of these final, convoluted stretches of the Dussel looks somewhat like a diagram of the loan Simone Wilbs and her husband Sebastian received to finance their family business in Gruiten, an intricate structure of guarantees and counter-guarantees. The big European institutions and German banks that are ultimately behind the loan believe that, just as the little river feeds the Rhine, small enterprises like the Wilbss metal-moulding factory must survive for the larger economy around it to prosper.

That makes the lifeline the Wilbss received important beyond the livelihoods of the small group of people who work at their companythough it certainly is vital in that case. If we didnt have the loan, we would have no business, says Simone Wilbs, who works alongside her husband, two full-time employees (including her brother-in-law), and three part-time workers, one of whom is the founder of the business, her father.

Its not a big business. Its a family business. But we still have to have money at the end of the month to pay our workers, while we wait for customers to pay us.

The European Investment Fund, which helped finance the Wilbss EUR 30,000 credit, promotes financing across Europe for small and midsized businesses. Since 2015 a programme the EIF manages for the European Commission, called COSME, has benefitted from the backing of the European Fund for Strategic Investments. Known as EFSI, thats a joint programme of the Commission and the European Investment Bank Group, the EIFs parent organisation. EFSIs backing allows the EIF-run programme to double the amount of loans it guarantees.
By Jeff Mason and Daniel Trotta

WASHINGTON/HAVANA (Reuters) - The U.S. government is considering putting an end to a programme that encourages Cuban doctors and nurses on overseas assignments to defect, a senior aide to President Barack Obama said, in a gesture emblematic of improving U.S.-Cuban relations.

The Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program, which started under President George W. Bush in 2006, targets one of Cuba's proudest achievements: sending doctors, nurses and other medical professionals abroad, either on missions of mercy or to raise cash for the Communist government.

The programme grants U.S. officials discretionary authority to allow Cuban medical professionals into the United States, providing assistance at U.S. embassies in the countries where the doctors are posted. It is open to more than 50,000 Cuban medical professionals in more than 60 countries.

The programme has now been placed under review, said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security advisor to Obama who was part of the negotiating team that reached detente with Cuba a year ago after 18 months of secret talks.

"It's an unusual policy, and I think as we look at the whole totality of the relationship, this is something that we felt was worth being in the list of things that we consider," Rhodes told Reuters.

The United States has approved 7,117 applications since 2006. The numbers have grown in recent years, reaching a record 1,663 in fiscal year 2015, according to data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which administers the programme jointly with the State Department.

Cuba has been openly scornful of the programme, calling it a "reprehensible practice" that is designed to "deprive Cuba and many other countries of vital human resources."

Cuban foreign ministry officials were unavailable on Friday to comment on Washington's review of the programme, which has not been previously reported.

A senior administration official said a decision on whether to end the programme was due early this year.

The programme dates to a period of lingering Cold War animosity, but relations changed dramatically with the detente that Rhodes helped negotiate. Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced in December 2014 they would seek to normalise relations. By July, diplomatic ties were restored after a 54-year rupture.

The two governments have since reached accords on environmental protection and the resumption of direct mail service and scheduled commercial airline flights.

With such a thaw under way, the parole programme no longer seemed to fit what the White House has called a "new chapter" in U.S.-Cuban relations.

MEDICAL DIPLOMACY - AND CASH

Cuba periodically sends medical brigades abroad to countries that have suffered natural disasters or health crises. In 2014 and 2015, it sent 256 doctors and nurses to West Africa in the middle of an Ebola virus outbreak.

But mostly the assignments are a revenue-earner for the Cuban government. It has sent 30,000 medical professionals to socialist ally Venezuela in exchange for more than 100,000 barrels per day of oil. Thousands more are in Brazil, typically in far-flung areas that Brazilian doctors avoid.

While the jobs are well-paid by Cuban standards and highly sought, the doctors receive only a fraction of the amount that the foreign governments pay for their services. Some defectors have cited harsh working conditions as reasons for abandoning their posts.

Critics consider the practice a form of exploitation. The U.S. State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons report cites some defectors who claim the government used threats or coercion to keep them in their jobs, and a State Department description of the parole programme refers to doctors and nurses as being "conscripted" to work abroad.

A recent Cuban policy change that blocks some Cuban doctors from leaving the country without special permission has complicated the review, but did not end it, U.S. officials said.

With so many doctors leaving, whether through the programme or simply taking jobs offered in other countries, Cuba last month re-imposed limits on doctors travelling abroad, saying its universal and free healthcare services have been "seriously affected."

In a rare backtrack by Cuba on modernizing reforms of recent years, the government said it would reapply restrictions that had been lifted in 2013.

That caused concern within the U.S. government because the new Cuban migration policy, combined with an end to the parole programme, would severely limit the ability of Cuban doctors and nurses from fleeing harsh assignments. U.S. immigration law and policy have long offered preferential treatment for Cubans.

Although U.S. laws limit Obama from changing some Cuba policies, such as the trade embargo, the parole programme is a creation of the executive branch, and Obama can end it without consulting Congress.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Kieran Murray and Grant McCool)
By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian investigators believe explosives used in the attacks in Paris in November may have been made in an apartment in Brussels that was rented under a false name and where a fingerprint of a key fugitive was found.

Police found material that could be used to make explosives, traces of explosive acetone peroxide and handmade belts during a raid on the apartment on Dec. 10, federal prosecutors said in a statement on Friday.

Belgian newspaper De Standaard, which reported the raid in its Friday edition, said the investigators believed the explosives were probably packed into suicide belts in a hotel outside Paris in the lead-up to the Nov. 13 attacks.

Prosecutors investigating Belgian links to the Paris attacks said the apartment in the district of Schaerbeek had been rented under a false name that might have been used by a person already in custody in connection with the Paris attacks.

The find adds to indications that the Nov. 13 shooting and suicide bomb attacks in Paris, in which 130 people were killed, were at least partially planned in Belgium.

Two of the attackers had been living in Brussels and Belgian authorities have arrested 10 people.

Investigators also found a fingerprint of Salah Abdeslam, the brother of one of the attackers, who returned from Paris the morning after the attacks and has still not been found.

Many of those arrested in Belgium have links to Abdeslam, including two who drove from Brussels hours after the attacks to pick him up and another who drove him from one part of Brussels to Schaerbeek after his return.

According to De Standaard, investigators believe the fingerprint indicates Abdeslam used the flat as a safe house after the attacks, given signs that the apartment had been partially cleaned up, although they do not know how long he stayed there.

Belgian media also said this week investigators also now believe that two men controlled the Nov. 13 attacks by sending SMS text messages from Belgium during the evening.

Prosecutors appealed to the public for help on Dec. 4 in the hunt for these two men who travelled with Abdeslam to Hungary in September using fake identity cards with the names Samir Bouzid and Soufiane Kayal. Grainy images of their faces are shown on the federal police's website. (http://www.police.be/fed/fr/actualites/353-dossier-terrorisme-a-rechercher)

The two, clearly older than the attackers, are believe to have played a pivotal role, according to Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique, in assuring logistics for the operation that was months in the planning.

The same false identity of Soufiane Kayal was used to rent a property in the Belgian town of Auvelais that possibly served as a safe house.

The other false identity card, for Samir Bouzid, was used four days after the attacks to transfer 750 euros at a Western Union office in Brussels to Hasna Aitboulahcen, who died in a police assault in St Denis on Nov. 18.

Separately, federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw warned in an interview on broadcaster VTM late on Thursday that the Jan. 15 anniversary of a foiled attack on Belgian soil could prompt someone to launch an attack in the country.

"We know that they opt for symbolic dates although on the other hand no one knows why Charlie Hebdo took place on Jan. 7," he said.

(Reporting By Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Caracas, Jan 8 (EFE).- The National Bolivarian Armed Forces, or FANB, expressed its "deep indignation" Thursday over the removal of the portraits of Simon Bolivar and Hugo Chavez from the Venezuelan National Assembly, or AN, on the order of Henry Ramos Allup, president of the now opposition-dominated Legislature.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino read out an FANB statement, which spoke of its united and "deep indignation over the disrespectful manner, full of arrogance and scorn with which the removal of the photos has been ordered."

At the ceremony in Caracas at the Cuartel de la Montana, attended by government representatives, several army officials and soldiers, Padrino called the removal of the pictures "an insult to the FANB, to military pride and to the entire country."

The statement added Simon Bolivar is the "father of the nation" and a "sacred symbol" for Venezuelans and his portraits "have and always will, invite admiration and respect."

The text also called the Supreme Commander Hugo Chavez a distinguished son of the nation, grounded in "Bolivar's ideology and action," who set out to "rescue a people oppressed by an oligarchy."

Ramos Allup defended his decision to have the pictures of Chavez and current President Nicolas Maduro removed, saying it was an outrage to the independence of the legislative power.

He also clarified his instructions to cart away pictures of national hero Bolivar were only directed against the ones that were a simulation of his face as a result of an analysis of his bones ordered by Chavez, and did not affect any of the Liberator's original paintings.

The new AN president reiterated the only portrait that will remain during his tenure is the original depiction of Simon Bolivar, and not "a fake copy made by a computer."
Lima, Jan 8 (EFE).- Peru, which receives the world's highest levels of solar radiation, faces a serious threat to human health with the index expected to set a new record during the current Southern Hemisphere summer.

Just a few years ago, Peru's meteorological agency, Senamhi, established a scale of ultraviolet solar radiation with a maximum of 15.

The index is expected to reach 15 in Lima by the beginning of next month, "when the normal level used to be 13," Senamhi's Orlando Ccora told EFE.

The situation is even more serious in the central and southern regions of Peru, where residents will have to contend with solar radiation levels of up to 20, he said.

Among the factors that make Peru the world leader in solar radiation is proximity to the equatorial region, according to a 2006 study by New Zealand scientist Richard McKenzie.

The study ranked Bolivia in second place, followed by Argentina and Chile.

In Peru, exposure to solar radiation is increased by the environmental pollution that annually destroys around 1 percent of the ozone layer, the section of the atmosphere that filters UV radiation.

Besides "dangerous levels of solar radiation," this year the El Nino climate phenomenon is raising temperatures on Peru's Pacific coast and causing droughts in high-altitude regions, Ccora said.

The absence of the usual rain and cloud cover during January and February in Andean regions increases the amount of UV radiation reaching the surface.

Ccora emphasized the need to take measures to prevent the harm caused to health by exposure to UV radiation.

A report published Wednesday in El Comercio newspaper said the increased solar radiation is expected to cause one in every 5,000 people in Peru to develop some type of skin cancer.

The most recent statistics from the Health Ministry, dating from 2011, indicate that skin cancer in Peru is more prevalent among women and people over 50, while greater Lima accounts for 45.9 percent of all cases.
Paris, on edge after weathering a year of jihadist violence, faced a fresh scare Thursday as police shot dead a knife-wielding man on the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

An image of the ISIS flag, printed on paper, was found on the man's body, along with a handwritten note in Arabic from the man claiming responsibility for the attack, the Paris prosecutor's office said in a statement. The office's anti-terror section is investigating.

The man, whose identity is not known, was shot as he attempted to enter a police station in the northern Paris neighborhood of Barbes, bearing a butcher's knife and yelling "Allahu Akbar," the statement said. He was carrying a fake explosive device, it said.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said at a press conference that investigations were underway to determine the identity of the attacker and his motivations.

"In a country where the threat level is extremely high, the police and gendarmerie are on the front lines," he said. "I'd like to thank them for their very great courage ... and their commitment to protect the French people."

The attempted attack took place on the one-year anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo killings, the first of deadly jihadist attacks that have roiled the French capital over the past 12 months.
A new study suggests that Mexico's drug violence was so bad at its peak that it apparently caused the nation's male life expectancy to drop by several months.

Experts say the violence from 2005-2010 partly reversed decades of steady gains, noting that homicide rates increased from 9.5 homicides per 100,000 people in 2005 to more than 22 in 2010. That has since declined to about 16 per 100,000 in 2014.

The study published Tuesday in the American journal Health Affairs says "the increase in homicides is at the heart" of the phenomenon, though deaths due to diabetes may have also played a role.

"The unprecedented rise in homicides after 2005 led to a reversal in life expectancy increases among males and a slowdown among females in most states," according to the study, published by Jose Manuel Aburto of the European Doctoral School of Demography, UCLA's Hiram Beltran-Sanchez and two other authors.

The study's authors found that life expectancy for males in Mexico dropped by about six-tenths of a year from 2000-2010.

Men lived an average of 71 years in 2010, a figure that edged up to around 72 years by 2014. Figures published by Mexico's National Statistics Institute showed a life expectancy of 70.9 years in 2000.

The study found that in five of Mexico's violence-plagued states - Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Guerrero, and Nayarit - men lost an average of one year of life expectancy between 2005 and 2010, while in the border state of Chihuahua alone, the loss added up to a startling three years.

"The mortality rate for males ages 20-39 in Chihuahua in the period 2005-10 reached unprecedented levels," the study noted. "It was about 3.1 times higher than the mortality rate of US troops in Iraq between March 2003 and November 2006."

By 2010, two-thirds of Mexican states had lower life expectancies than they did in 2000, despite improvements in some health care programs.

The decline largely occurred from 2005-2010. Mexico's offensive against drug cartels started in 2006. The study found men were ten times more likely than women to be killed in the violence, which was dominated by executions, shootouts and turf battles carried out by Mexican drug cartels.

Juan Eugenio Hernandez, an epidemiologist at Mexico's Center for Information on Public Health Decisions, noted it was the first time life expectancy in Mexico had declined since the country's 1910-1917 revolution.

Hernandez, who was not involved in the Health Affairs study, wrote that "indeed, violence has had a big impact on life expectancy ... mainly in the male population in several northern Mexico states and in Michoacan," a state located in western Mexico.

He said researchers had warned the violence would impact longevity rates, which he said "haven't diminished since the Mexican Revolution."

Mexico previously had long been on a steady, upward trend. Between 1940 and 2000, Mexicans gained an average of four years in life expectancy per decade.

But in comparison with other Latin American countries like El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela, Mexico's homicide rate remains relatively low.

"It is likely that other Latin American countries have been experiencing even greater reductions in life expectancy from homicide," the authors noted.
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
Big bridge grant for Austin Free Access Austin Borough has qualified for a state grant to cover construction of a new bridge near the towns northern gateway. A $518,400 allotment from the Multimodal Transportation Fund will allow...

Deeds filed in Cameron County Free Access Following are real estate transactions filed with the Cameron County Recorder of Deeds: Blair A. Lundberg to Alcohol & Drug Abuse Services, Emporium, $185,000; David Jeffrey Smith to Elk Mountain...

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DuBois family leaves millions for volunteer orgs Free Access Christmas came early to seven community organizations whose work was important to the late multimillionaire Arthur F. DuBois (shown in the inset) of Coudersport. Some $3.1 million in proceeds from...
Re: Moving to Baden Quote: tsman Hi.



You can check Aquilana. We pay around 700chf for 2 adults+2 childs.



And take into account that the monthly expenses here are huge and the firsts months are horrible regardind the money.



The montly expenses are more or less:

- Health.I.=> around 500 -600/month. Starting the first day.

- House=> around 2.000 chf/month.

- Food=> around 500-1000 chfs/month.

- Kitas=> 60-120 chfs/ day.

- Taxes, internet, mobile, etc... => Around 200-400 chfs / month

- etc...



So, for a family, you need around 5.000 chfs / month just to live.

Rents in Baden are higher than areas near Baden. For a family of 3 they can manage in an apartment and pay a great deal less than chf 2000 a month.

On an annual salary of 50K, no one is ever going to rent them anything at that monthly rent anyways.





I know of other PhD students who worked at PSI in Villigen and if that is the work location it makes no sense to live in Baden. Rents in Baden are higher than areas near Baden. For a family of 3 they can manage in an apartment and pay a great deal less than chf 2000 a month.On an annual salary of 50K, no one is ever going to rent them anything at that monthly rent anyways.I know of other PhD students who worked at PSI in Villigen and if that is the work location it makes no sense to live in Baden.
Re: Trip Pregnancy insurance - going to the US



You need a provider like the ones suggested above - Allianz, Zurich Insurance, AXA-Winterthur.



It's a good idea to have travel insurance anyway, for any trips outside Switzerland, and the cost of insuring the whole family and paying each year is usually much better than insuring only when you are actually travelling. (And far better than forgetting to get insurance and then having a problem when outside Switzerland).



We have a policy which was added onto our home/contents insurance with Zurich Insurance. I think the cost to insure our whole family was around 120chf per year. I did need to claim once as my son and I got very ill the day we were supposed to travel with a stomach virus... the claims process was very straightforward and not a problem.



I do not know how they will approach the pregnancy problem, but I travelled at 32 weeks to China from Australia and there was no problem getting travel insurance to cover it...I just needed a form filled out by my doctor to say that I was fit to travel...and maybe it cost a bit more, I'm not sure.



Knowing how expensive health care can be in the USA, I would be very reluctant to travel there without good insurance to cover any possibilities...



The link for Zurich insurance is here:

https://www.zurich.ch/en/private-cus...les-and-travel My understanding is that Groupe Mutuel don't do travel insurance.You need a provider like the ones suggested above - Allianz, Zurich Insurance, AXA-Winterthur.It's a good idea to have travel insurance anyway, for any trips outside Switzerland, and the cost of insuring the whole family and paying each year is usually much better than insuring only when you are actually travelling. (And far better than forgetting to get insurance and then having a problem when outside Switzerland).We have a policy which was added onto our home/contents insurance with Zurich Insurance. I think the cost to insure our whole family was around 120chf per year. I did need to claim once as my son and I got very ill the day we were supposed to travel with a stomach virus... the claims process was very straightforward and not a problem.I do not know how they will approach the pregnancy problem, but I travelled at 32 weeks to China from Australia and there was no problem getting travel insurance to cover it...I just needed a form filled out by my doctor to say that I was fit to travel...and maybe it cost a bit more, I'm not sure.Knowing how expensive health care can be in the USA, I would be very reluctant to travel there without good insurance to cover any possibilities...The link for Zurich insurance is here:
So, while the thread is stuck in "why does the government not do anything" mode:



- the cops have arrested several suspects. Yes, they are refugees.

- the suspects were apparently fortunately stupid enough to shoot videos of the night on their mobiles, so the cops got some fresh leads now...



Good. Jail/deport them. Germany has been good to them - these twats dont deserve what Germany has given them.



- the cops have been able to recover some of the stolen phones.



Fingers crossed there's more leads still to come.



- yesterday did the media widely publish a leaked internal police report where a policeman wrote his view on the evening. Yes, it draws a bad picture of the refugees partying there. They have no respect for authorities whatsoever and were apparently very, very drunk and high. However, his report draws an even worse picture of the command line of the police: He explained in detail that their van was bombarded with firecrackers and bottles the moment they arrived. They asked for more forces for hours and were turned down by their bosses in the control room. It's not as first reported that the cops did not recognize what's happening, they simply where overwhelmed by the situation and clearly did not get the leadership they needed to respond properly. He wrote down in detail how they were swamped with victims but unable to follow up on reports that night but had their hands full trying to stop the mob from shooting firecrackers at people or entering the train tracks. And even failed at that.



It does stink of under-estimation. Fingers crossed, this mistake is never made again.



- the media published today photos of notice papers found at one of the suspects (if this is real, how can literally everything the cops find be leaked to the media...?). It shows a vocabulary list where the guys clearly practiced what to say to women. It just supports the case that the assaults were clearly planned with the motive to rob women.



Because of that point exactly, i doubt the authenticity of that photo. If these guys know so little German that they need this cheat sheet, would the phrases not be written in Arabic instead of german?





Bottom line:

- yes, a lot of the people involved were refugees.

- 120 police reports so far, about 40 of them for sexual assault (2 for rape), the rest is theft and robbery.

- the police was aware of the situation but clearly failed at their job a big time. What is worse is that the local authorities tried hard to cover the whole mess up and only media pressure managed to force them to admit it. Painstakingly slow and step-by-step.



In all the news, this fact seems lost - the news makes it sound as though there were thousands of rapes going on around the German police, who did nothing. Not that this makes the situation any better, but it does seem to indicate there is a propensity to assume this was primarily sexual assault, when the primary goal seemed to be theft and robbery. Again, not making the situation any better.





- it looks like the leadership of the police did not just lie to the public but also misinformed the major.

- every single politician in Germany is releasing statements how they want the government to react strongly. Including Merkel.



Absolutely. I agree with what Germany is doing, but the refugees have a responsibility to make sure they adhere to laws and customs of the country giving them refuge. I'm glad to say more than 99% do, but these few (relatively) scumbags to deserve to lose what Germany has given them.



The last two things are the worst in my eyes: You will always have criminals, all it takes is a society that knows how to deal with them. Right now do a lot of Germans lose quite a bit of trust into the police. They did not exactly trust the political establishment, but the show that's going on right now is just absurd. Clearly the head of police needs to step down and this is a matter for the city of Cologne. Since police is a state matter, probably for the government of NRW. Having every federal MP pretending he is going to do something about it while being part of the legislative, not the executive, and then of the wrong parliament that has nothing to do with police in Cologne is nothing but bizarre.



I am happy to see that the cops are systematically finding out what happened and who it was. I feel bad for the cops on the ground that night as they have gotten the blame for a situation they could not possibly manage on their own. I also feel bad for the many hundred thousands of refugees who had nothing to do with this but will feel the consequences. This has nothing to do with Arabian culture, but all with an organized gang of robbers who abused the chaos and situation to their advantage. All those "we have to tell those orientals how to respect women" talk shows right now are missing the point by a mile: This was not a cultural misunderstanding, it was a planned scheme.
UK Govt sides with Saudi Monarch in row over execution of activist



Philip Hammond, UK Secretary, seems to have aligned with the saudi governments claims that Al-Nimr, who it seems never called for violent action, but only peaceful opposition to the saudi regime, was a 'convicted terrorist'.





Considering this incident threatened to plunge the two biggest powers in the region, along with all their allies (which is the whole region) into a full-scale war, im shocked and the timidity of the UK Govt's response. When did the UK Govt become such a load of cowards? Not only do we not condemn what the despicable saudi regime did, we go so far as to support the bastards. Do they buy so many bullets and bombs from the UK that the UK cant dare to tell them they disagree?



http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016...n_8937106.html So, it seems that the UK government has sided with the Saudis, in accepting that a peaceful cleric who was put to death earlier this year was, in fact, a terrorist.Philip Hammond, UK Secretary, seems to have aligned with the saudi governments claims that Al-Nimr, who it seems never called for violent action, but only peaceful opposition to the saudi regime, was a 'convicted terrorist'.Considering this incident threatened to plunge the two biggest powers in the region, along with all their allies (which is the whole region) into a full-scale war, im shocked and the timidity of the UK Govt's response. When did the UK Govt become such a load of cowards? Not only do we not condemn what the despicable saudi regime did, we go so far as to support the bastards. Do they buy so many bullets and bombs from the UK that the UK cant dare to tell them they disagree?
Re: Moving to London from Zurich



I think you have had really good advice already.



You say your salary is 10% below your current package  I am guessing this is using the current exchange rate. If so, bear in mind that the pound is at the weakest level it has been for years. UBS estimates that CHF is c20% overvalued compared to GBP (spot of 0.69 v fair value of 0.58).



I am also guessing you have looked at sites like numbeo (



I lived in London till a few weeks ago and just wanted to add the following to the list:



Tax and benefits



The primary tax that you will be concerned about is the income tax. This is a pretty accurate calculator:



I note that you say you are not-single, dont know if you are married and/or have children etc. Unlike CH, you are taxed on an individual basis (no joint tax returns). However, eligibility for any child related benefits is based on your joint income  I cannot give you much information on this as I dont have any children.



In addition to the income tax, you will also be paying council tax. As mentioned above, the council tax is dependent on the estimated value of your property and the council/borough you live in.



Property



The price of the property really varies depending on a number of factors. For example: flat v house; furnished v unfurnished; old v new; central London v suburbs; how big etc, you get the picture. I am presuming you will be renting. Regardless,



As noted above, in addition to your rent, you will generally be liable for council tax. If you are renting a flat then you may (or may not) be liable for service charges / maintenance fees and these can be quite substantial particularly for new build flats with all the mod cons (a friend of mine was lives in a studio flat in Canary Wharf and pays close to 250 per month in just service charges).



You will be liable for bills such as:



Gas;

Electricity;

Water (may be included if you are in a flat);

Telephone (you will need a connection for your broadband even if you dont have a landline);

Broadband;

TV subscription; and

Contents insurance



How much these bills are? Well that as with everything, it depends. I have listed a few sites which might help you get a feel for the prices:



http://www.moneysupermarket.com/

https://www.ukpower.co.uk/

http://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/

http://www.comparethemarket.com/



Transport system



London transport system is extensive but really overcrowded and expensive. Forget getting a GA card for 3,600-odd Francs, if you live in the suburbs of London say Zone 6 then just a London Zone 1-6 will set you back something like 2,350 (c3,400 Francs). The TfL link provided to you is a really handy and accurate for journey planning and also to help you determine the prices.



Healthcare



Majority of the people rely on the free/subsidized state provided health service (NHS). Despite its flaws, the NHS is an excellent system but it may not be up to Swiss standards as appointments can be hard to get and there maybe a long wait. Some people do have private insurance either as a work benefit or lifestyle choice but it is not very common. If you are a fit 30-something year old then it should not matter too much. This lays is out quite well:



Quality of life



Quality of life is very, very subjective. There are parts of me that absolutely misses London (maybe partly because most of my family and friends are there) but then another part of me is glad that I dont live in London any more. The things I miss include:



- Dining out!! Zurich / CH needs good low-mid range restaurants!

- Vibrancy;

- Things to do for free (museums, parks etc);

- The diverse culture. London is a real melting pot of people from all backgrounds and cultures. Dont get me wrong, so is Zurich to an extent but not as much;

- Shops being open pretty much 7 days a week;

- Grocery shopping options;

- Being able to hire house help etc without bureaucracy;

- Being able to get my post because every bleeding flat has a door number rather than a name!!!!

- Work-Life balance (I am only joking, forget having any sort of work-life balance in London cause if you arent working long hours then the commute is likely to eat into a lot of your free time)



Things that I dont miss about London:



- The commute;

- The aggression (I still find myself pumped up when I am visiting);

- The lack of free time;

- The long hours at work (or commuting);

- The inefficiencies;

- The expensive transport system;

- Pollution



I am pretty new here so I guess my list maybe misguided!



London, as with any big city I suppose, has significant options and everyone from all walks of life can make a living there BUT it can also be a very lonely city if you dont make friends quickly and dont have a support network. Also it is worth noting that whilst London is expensive - at least in my experience - your money can stretch quite a lot (e.g. you could have really good wholesome meals in Central London for less than eight quid).



There is a lot going for London but equally there are quite a few drawbacks and it all boils down to what you ultimately want. If you are thinking of a short term move and this would give your career a boost then why not. Regardless, I would strongly recommend that you do spend a few days in London before accepting or declining the offer and if possible, commute from your preferred neighbourhood to your place of work during peak time commute.



Money saving ideas

If you do decide to take the plunge then this website (



If you want more information then feel free to give me a shout.



Silvestre Hi Relocator,I think you have had really good advice already.You say your salary is 10% below your current package  I am guessing this is using the current exchange rate. If so, bear in mind that the pound is at the weakest level it has been for years. UBS estimates that CHF is c20% overvalued compared to GBP (spot of 0.69 v fair value of 0.58).I am also guessing you have looked at sites like numbeo ( http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...city2=London)? I found Numbeo to be quite accurate. I think from a financial perspective it summarises the situation quite well when it says you would need around 4,567.33 (6,615.30Fr.) in London to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 7,300.00Fr. in Zurich. To take home 4,567.33 per month you will need to be earning c82k (single income, or each earning c35.7k).I lived in London till a few weeks ago and just wanted to add the following to the list:The primary tax that you will be concerned about is the income tax. This is a pretty accurate calculator: http://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php I note that you say you are not-single, dont know if you are married and/or have children etc. Unlike CH, you are taxed on an individual basis (no joint tax returns). However, eligibility for any child related benefits is based on your joint income  I cannot give you much information on this as I dont have any children.In addition to the income tax, you will also be paying council tax. As mentioned above, the council tax is dependent on the estimated value of your property and the council/borough you live in.The price of the property really varies depending on a number of factors. For example: flat v house; furnished v unfurnished; old v new; central London v suburbs; how big etc, you get the picture. I am presuming you will be renting. Regardless, http://www.rightmove.co.uk/ is a very good starting point as it is one of the largest (if not the largest) property portal in the UK. It allows you to search using various options such as address, neighbourhood, station etc. You could perhaps use distance from your work place as a starting point and then build on it.As noted above, in addition to your rent, you will generally be liable for council tax. If you are renting a flat then you may (or may not) be liable for service charges / maintenance fees and these can be quite substantial particularly for new build flats with all the mod cons (a friend of mine was lives in a studio flat in Canary Wharf and pays close to 250 per month in just service charges).You will be liable for bills such as:Gas;Electricity;Water (may be included if you are in a flat);Telephone (you will need a connection for your broadband even if you dont have a landline);Broadband;TV subscription; andContents insuranceHow much these bills are? Well that as with everything, it depends. I have listed a few sites which might help you get a feel for the prices:London transport system is extensive but really overcrowded and expensive. Forget getting a GA card for 3,600-odd Francs, if you live in the suburbs of London say Zone 6 then just a London Zone 1-6 will set you back something like 2,350 (c3,400 Francs). The TfL link provided to you is a really handy and accurate for journey planning and also to help you determine the prices.Majority of the people rely on the free/subsidized state provided health service (NHS). Despite its flaws, the NHS is an excellent system but it may not be up to Swiss standards as appointments can be hard to get and there maybe a long wait. Some people do have private insurance either as a work benefit or lifestyle choice but it is not very common. If you are a fit 30-something year old then it should not matter too much. This lays is out quite well: http://www.expatarrivals.com/the-uni...united-kingdom Quality of life is very, very subjective. There are parts of me that absolutely misses London (maybe partly because most of my family and friends are there) but then another part of me is glad that I dont live in London any more. The things I miss include:- Dining out!! Zurich / CH needs good low-mid range restaurants!- Vibrancy;- Things to do for free (museums, parks etc);- The diverse culture. London is a real melting pot of people from all backgrounds and cultures. Dont get me wrong, so is Zurich to an extent but not as much;- Shops being open pretty much 7 days a week;- Grocery shopping options;- Being able to hire house help etc without bureaucracy;- Being able to get my post because every bleeding flat has a door number rather than a name!!!!- Work-Life balance (I am only joking, forget having any sort of work-life balance in London cause if you arent working long hours then the commute is likely to eat into a lot of your free time)Things that I dont miss about London:- The commute;- The aggression (I still find myself pumped up when I am visiting);- The lack of free time;- The long hours at work (or commuting);- The inefficiencies;- The expensive transport system;- PollutionI am pretty new here so I guess my list maybe misguided!London, as with any big city I suppose, has significant options and everyone from all walks of life can make a living there BUT it can also be a very lonely city if you dont make friends quickly and dont have a support network. Also it is worth noting that whilst London is expensive - at least in my experience - your money can stretch quite a lot (e.g. you could have really good wholesome meals in Central London for less than eight quid).There is a lot going for London but equally there are quite a few drawbacks and it all boils down to what you ultimately want. If you are thinking of a short term move and this would give your career a boost then why not. Regardless, I would strongly recommend that you do spend a few days in London before accepting or declining the offer and if possible, commute from your preferred neighbourhood to your place of work during peak time commute.If you do decide to take the plunge then this website ( http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ ) has quite a lot of money saving ideas and guides to set you up.If you want more information then feel free to give me a shout.Silvestre
Re: Airbnb problems and claiming money back from host Quote: IzabelaInZug I had terrible experience with Airb2b in Zurich and since then I am avoiding air b2b services. Hotels even cheaper are always better and safer choice.



In case anything is wrong with your room/apartment you can complain and have your room changed. You can also cancel and move somewhere else. With big companies/chains it is easier as they take care of each client.

My host was mentally unstable liar who sent a letter full of lies and accusations to air b2b management after we left. After all it turned out to be a draft which he didn't sent but making up fake story about two of us shows how crazy this person was.

He said smg about us destroying his flat and furniture and neighbors complaint about the noise. i was shocked to read it as it was full of disgusting lies and he really took time to make it all up.



I sent him pictures of his house showing how incredibly dirty this place was. I said smg about negative comment on air b2b of we don't find a solution as I didnt want to stay in dirty house. Also charging someone a lot of money and not cleaning before, not buying even basic set of linens/towels is really disrespectful.

We were promised double bed. This is how it was described on his profile. In fact it was small sofa max for 1 person as the other half had piece of metal sticking out. We got dusty, smelly duvet and small not matching pillows - there was no normal duvet set for us to sleep.



After my complain he asked his even crazier girlfriend to call me. She said my comment about sending negative opinion to air b2b is a threat and she will educate me on the Swiss law as I don't know shit and she will sue me



We stayed for many days (about 7) and my partner asked if we could get some discount. The host agreed with no problem and as per agreement should have charged us 250 chf less.

We asked them for this money many times but he simply keeps ignoring us.

Once he was sick and then he was traveling to South Africa. we never got the money and for some reason sending opinion about my experience was not possible. This guy has about 23 positive opinions but this just can't be right.



during first minutes of our conversation he mentioned German business woman who was " so terrible" as she complained about his place and wanted to leave it. She demanded to get money back and he had "a lot of problems with her". He was stupid enough to tell us this so for sure we are not the only guest who suffered because of his terrible attitude.



Traumatic experience. I will not be trying airb2b again. It was not worth it. Airb2b or airbnb?
Swiss woman taken hostage again



A Timbuktu government official told AFP she was "Beatrice, a Swiss citizen".



Beatrice Stockly was seized by Islamist group Ansar Dine group in 2012.



http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35262529



Bad enough to have to go through that once. I can't imagine how she feels now it's happened for a second time. Souleymane Maiga, a spokesman for the Malian army, told Reuters new agency that the Swiss national was taken from her house in the historic city on Thursday night.A Timbuktu government official told AFP she was "Beatrice, a Swiss citizen".Beatrice Stockly was seized by Islamist group Ansar Dine group in 2012.Bad enough to have to go through that once. I can't imagine how she feels now it's happened for a second time.
The recovering from surgery Barkley Rosser:

Organized officially in 2006 by Greg Mankiw, the Pigou Club has never had more dominance among economists in terms of opinion. A petition supporting a carbon tax was sent for the opening of the current Paris climate negotiations with 32 names on it, including three econ Nobelists: Kenneth Arrow, Thomas Schelling, and Joseph Stiglitz, all of whom I greatly respect. An even longer list of prominent economists (although without Arrow or Schelling) along with their individual arguments, as well as some climatologists such as James Hansen, is here. About the only prominent environmental economist not on the list is Harvard's Robert Stavins, who is attending the conference and supports a cap-and-trade proposal as do I. Why are we so alone among economists and even many activists, but why is it that cap-and-trade is far more likely to come out of Paris, if any specific proposal does?

The Pigou Club argues that a carbon tax is simpler and more efficient. At times some of its members even claim that support from professional economists is "near unanimous." Maybe, but it is not unanimous, and economists are likely to get left standing at the altar all alone when it comes down to it. As it is, there are many nations that have some sort of carbon or energy tax, although none of these seem to apply to all fuels and none are coordinated in any way with any other nations. Most focus largely on gasoline (and we have gas taxes in the US, but not focusing on carbon content) or new cars. It turns out that getting a coordinated carbon tax across national boundaries may be difficult to impossible, even without the apparently absolute opposition of the political elite in Washington (or at least its Republican component) to any new taxes of any sort (even revenue neutral ones), although the GOP at this time seems to be allergic to any climate proposals at all (I mean, their really smart leaders have figured out that all this global warming stuff is just a hoax, right?), and the Senate blocked Obama-supported Waxman-Markley in 2010, an attempted and much flawed cap-and-trade bill that managed to pass the still-Dem-dominated House (although some of the arguments given against it by GOPsters were that it would be "just like a tax increase"). The supporters of a revenue neutral carbon tax also criticize the in-place from Kyoto European CO2 Trading System (ETS) as having experienced volatile prices, having been subject to "gaming" and theft, and a lot of sectors escaping from it, although a tax can also involve fraud and sectors getting out of it thanks to political pressure.

Tim Taylor here reviews arguments from a forthcoming Journal of Perpectives article by Richard Schmalensee and Robert Stavins discussing past efforts at cap and trade (originally known as "tradable emissons permits"). The largest and most successful such program was for SO2 trading done in the US after the Clean Air Act amendment of 1990, with even most proponents of carbon taxes recognizing that this one worked out pretty well. But the argument is that we were lucky with that one, and that it is a much smaller deal than a global carbon trading system. Schmalensee and Stavins also report on an earlier successful use of it for reducing lead in gasoline between refineries as well as some successful use of it for NOX emissions. They recognize that the ETS has had problems, but some of those seem to have been due to a lack of information at the beginning of the system along with too many industries being exempt. However, they note that China will be implementing a cap and trade system in 2017, and given that the Europeans adopted their system as part of the Kyoto Protocol under pressure from the US, these parties are really not at all interested in following a bunch of mostly US-based economists in replacing their ETS with a carbon tax, even though quite a few European countries have limited carbon taxes in place already.

However, none of this gets at why carbon taxes are simply not being seriously considered in Paris. Maybe no agreement on a mechanism to meet the likely 2 degrees Celsius maximum increase target that is being bandied about much (with more endangered nations arguing for tightening that to just a 1.5 degree increase) will happen. But if one is, it will almost certainly be some version of cap-and-trade with subsidies for poor countries rather than a carbon tax (or its popular-with-activists variation, fee and dividend). The real reason is quite simple. If one is aiming for a specific targeted limit on temperature increase, then given current science that implies a specific quantitative emissions limit. It is well known that a tax only stabilizes/guarantees the price. It does not stabilize the quantity emitted. To do that, one must impose a specific quantity limit, and it is also completely well known that a properly set-up cap-and-trade system will be the most cost effective way to achieve such a limit. This is why cap-and-trade is on the table in Paris, but the carbon tax is not. ...

I also am aware that Copenhagen was a nearly total flop, aside from some agreements about improving information gathering (something very important as the problems with setting up the ETS show), this problem still a big deal in China where we have just learned that they have been burning 17% more coal than previously reported.. It will be hard enough to get any kind of serious agreement out of Paris. This is all the more reason to go for something that is not only the most suited to achieving what is needed, a specific quantity emissions limit, but also the most acceptable to the diplomats and politicians in most of the nations that are engaging in these very difficult negotations. Really, I am a bit amazed and even shocked that all these prominent and intelligent economists have not figured this one out.
W. Ian Lipkin, MD, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, received China's top science honor for foreign scientists, the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award at a ceremony on Jan. 8, 2016 presided by China President Xi Jinping. The award recognizes Dr. Lipkin's outstanding contributions to scientific and technological innovation and for promoting scientific advancement in China.

Dr. Lipkin is the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health and professor of Neurology and Pathology, College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. He is the director of the Center for Infection and Immunity, which is one of the world's largest, and most advanced academic centers for research in microbial surveillance, diagnosis and discovery.

"I am deeply honored by this award," said Dr. Lipkin. "It solidifies my relationship with dear friends and colleagues in the Chinese Academy of Science, Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health, and with the people of China."

At the height of the SARS outbreak in 2003, Dr. Lipkin was invited by Chen Zhou, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Xu Guanhua, minister of Science and Technology, to assess the state of the epidemic, identify gaps in science, and develop a strategy for containing the virus and reducing morbidity and mortality. Once the outbreak was contained Dr. Lipkin helped develop the institutional infrastructure needed to ensure that China would have the resources required to detect and more rapidly respond to emerging infectious threats, in part through building the Institut Pasteur in Shanghai, the new national Centers for Disease Control in Beijing and the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health. Today, he continues to consult with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Science and the Ministry of Health.

Dr. Lipkin's academic efforts in China focus on mentoring young Chinese scientists and encouraging China-born scientists to return home for positions in diagnostics and discovery at China's Centers for Disease Control, Institut Pasteur and Wuhan Institute of Virology. He also serves as a member of the Scientific Steering Committee member of the Joint Center for Global Change Studies at Beijing Normal University.

Commenting on the importance for Chinese and foreign scientists to work together, Dr. Lipkin said, "Science is an increasingly global endeavor, and the free flow of information and resources is critical to promoting and realizing the promise of research and technology. The International Science and Technology Cooperation Award is testament to China's commitment to this objective."

###

About Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

Founded in 1922, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world. The Mailman School is the third largest recipient of NIH grants among schools of public health. Its over 450 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as preventing infectious and chronic diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, health policy, climate change & health, and public health preparedness. It is a leader in public health education with over 1,300 graduate students from more than 40 nations pursuing a variety of master's and doctoral degree programs. The Mailman School is also home to numerous world-renowned research centers including ICAP (formerly the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs) and the Center for Infection and Immunity. For more information, please visit http://www.mailman.columbia.edu
HANOVER, N.H. - Dartmouth College and University of California, Santa Barbara scientists studying a Caribbean fishing village are shedding new light on the social and ecological factors pressuring coral reef fisheries around the world.

The research appears in the journals Marine Policy and Ambio. PDF's are available on request.

Marine ecosystems around the world, including small-scale fisheries, are suffering from overfishing. This trend has hurt coral reef ecosystems, where fish species play critical roles in maintaining coral health and abundance. Of particular importance are herbivorous fish that eat macroalgae that overtake reefs if not kept in check. Small-scale fisheries employ 50 million of the world's 51 million fishermen and are responsible for more than half of the annual marine catches around the globe. The majority are in developing countries where limited resources and a local dependence on fishing make effective management difficult.

Like many small-scale fishing communities around the world, the village of Buen Hombre in the Dominican Republic is trying to reconcile its fishing with the ecology on which it depends. The community's fishermen mostly capture finfish, with lower harvests of lobster, crabs, octopus and conch. Almost all fishing takes place in coral reef habitats. Fishermen use spearguns, traps, nets, handlines and boats with motors. Spearfishing is done while freediving (using only breath) or with compressors (recycled paint compressors that pressurize air to a diver through a plastic hose).

In their first study, the Dartmouth and UCSB researchers found that a mix of factors -- notably improvements in fishing gear technology; expanded fishing sites; an increase in fishermen, population, tourism and fish sold to market; an economy increasingly dependent on fishing; and an increased connection between Buen Hombre and the outside world -- have contributed to overfishing and the decline of the fishery.

In their latest study, the researchers analyzed the fishermen's fishing and social behavior and found that their gear choice largely determined the amount of fish caught (compressor divers have higher catches), how the fishermen divide themselves (such as by membership in the local fishermen's association) and their inability to act collectively to conserve the fishery.

"There are both causes for concern and reasons for optimism regarding the future of the Buen Hombre fishery," says co-author Michael Cox, a Dartmouth assistant professor and environmental social scientist who studies community-based natural resource management and environmental governance. "If current trends continue, the fishery is expected to further decline and the reef ecosystem could crash. Shifting the fishery away from this trajectory is not an easy task. Fishermen are very dependent on the fishery and have such little economic leverage within the current market structure that they often have little power to shift their behaviors to more sustainable practices. Despite these challenges, there are several reasons for hope. First, the coral reef ecosystem has not shifted to a completely degraded state. Second, a local nongovernmental organization is establishing incentives for sustainable fishing, helping to organize fishermen, changing the dynamic between fishermen and fish buyers, working to shift the gear types used by fishermen and encouraging government participation."

###

Dartmouth Assistant Professor Michael Cox is available to comment at Michael.E.Cox@dartmouth.edu.

Broadcast studios: Dartmouth has TV and radio studios available for interviews. For more information, visit: http://communications.dartmouth.edu/media/broadcast-studios
We age because the cells in our bodies begin to malfunction over the years. This is the general view that scientists hold of the ageing process. For example, in older people the cells' internal quality control breaks down. This control function usually eliminates proteins that have become unstable and lost their normal three-dimensional structure. These deformed proteins accumulate in the cells in a number of diseases, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

For Yves Barral, Professor of Biochemistry at ETH Zurich, the view of the ageing process as a consequence of flawed cell function and disease is too narrow. It ignores the fact that the mentioned so-called prion-like protein accumulations could have a positive effect, too, and therefore should not be referred to as cellular malfunction, he says.

Old cells cope better with stress

Barral drew this conclusion based on his research on yeast cells. He and his colleagues recently found in these cells a new type of protein aggregate, which appears as the cells get older. As the scientists were able to show, these protein aggregates do not arise as the result of a cell's malfunctioning internal quality control. On the contrary: in yeast cells with such aggregates, quality control functions even better. "It certainly seems that these aggregates help yeast cells to cope with the physiological changes caused by ageing," says Juha Saarikangas, a postdoc in Barral's group and first author of the recent study in the journal eLife. "We are very exited to learn what type of information is stored in these structures."

The scientists assume that these age-associated aggregates are formed by several different proteins. The researchers have already identified one prion-like protein that is part of the accumulations. What other proteins are involved and why the aggregates remain in the parent cells during cell division are subjects of further research.

Aggregates improve memory

Only in recent years have scientists speculated that aggregating proteins in the cells can generally play a positive role. Barral and his research group showed back in 2013 that yeast cells memorise experiences related to unsuccessful sexual reproduction attempts in the form of aggregated proteins (see ETH News from 05.12.2013, https://www.ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2013/12/protein-clumps-as-memory.html). These aggregates - which are not identical to the newly discovered age-associated accumulations - thus serve as molecular memory for yeast cells. Even in mice there is a positive relationship between prion-like aggregates and memory. A few months ago, American scientists demonstrated that mice with such accumulations in their nerve cells exhibit a more stable long-term memory.

"Bad end to a good thing"

Whether such age-associated protein accumulations are primarily a malfunction or a normal function of healthy cells is for Barral a scientific question - one in which philosophy also plays a role: "Our western society understands ageing as something that is predominantly negative, a disease that has to be combated," he says. "This thinking is reflected in the work of many scientists, whose research on ageing focuses on finding defects in cells." Other societies, however, place more value on the positive effects of ageing, such as increased experience and knowledge - a view that corresponds with the newly discovered role of aggregates as information storage or memory for cells.

"We're still a fairly small group of scientists who say: aggregate proteins are not pathological - they are neither an accident nor a defect," says Barral. Rather, these proteins aggregate because it is their normal function. Diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's only arise when the system becomes imbalanced and too many prion-like proteins accumulate in the wrong place in the cells. Barral continues: "There are two aspects to ageing. Yes, you die at the end of the process, and this is negative. But you die wise. And Alzheimer's is perhaps a bad end to a good thing."

###

Reference

Saarikangas J, Barral Y: Protein aggregates are associated with replicative aging without compromising protein quality control. eLife 2015, e06197, doi: 10.7554/eLife.06197 [http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06197]
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women after skin cancer and occurred in 230,000 women in the United States in 2015. Breast cancer afflicts 1 in 8 women in their lifetime and 1 in 25 die from this disease. Although a number of randomized trials demonstrate the clear benefits of mammography screening in women up to age 74 on reducing mortality, data are sparse in women over the age of 74, especially minorities. In 2010, 41 percent of breast cancer deaths occurred in the more than 19 million women who are between the ages of 65 to 84 years.

In a new study published in the American Journal of Medicine, Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., senior author and first Sir Richard Doll Professor and senior academic advisor to the dean in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, indicates that black and white women ages 75 to 84 years who had an annual mammogram had lower 10-year breast cancer mortality than corresponding women who had biennial or no/irregular mammograms.

Among elder women, the American Cancer Society and the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommend regular mammography for ages 65 to 74.

Although many guidelines rely on self-reports, Hennekens and his collaborators from Baylor College of Medicine and Meharry Medical College, used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program file linked to the Medicare administrative claims file, which allowed them to identify screening mammography use from 1995 to 2009 from 64,384 non-Hispanic women (4,886 black and 59,498 white). These linked files also permitted them to explore breast cancer mortality differences between elderly black or white women who self-selected for regular annual or biennial mammography screening. The researchers selected 69 as the lower age limit because Medicare coverage of the general population begins at age 65, and the exposure of interest was regular mammography screening in the four years immediately preceding breast cancer diagnosis.

Three mutually exclusive categories were defined: no or irregular mammography; biennial mammography; and annual mammography. They looked at data from non-Hispanic, white or black women; Hispanics were not included because Hispanic white women have substantially lower mortality than non-Hispanic whites, and the number of Hispanic blacks is small. The researchers also measured socioeconomic status looking at median household income, the percentage of individuals living below the poverty level, and whether or not they had a high school education.

Other significant findings from the study show that:

White women who had died tended to be older, to have a later stage diagnosis, to have received chemotherapy, and to have a higher socioeconomic status.

White women who died were less likely to have undergone surgery and receive radiation therapy.

Similar characteristics were seen in black women as in white women.

69- to 84-year-old women receiving regular annual screening mammography during the four years immediately preceding breast cancer diagnosis had consistently lower five-year and 10-year risks of breast cancer mortality than women with no or irregular screening regardless of race.

10-year risks were more than three times higher among white and more than two times higher among blacks aged 69 to 84 years with no or irregular screening compared with annual screening.

Hennekens notes that further research is needed, but that in the future, the use of regular claims-based surveillance for mammography as a source of data may offer some unique advantages over self-reports.

From 1995 to 2005, according to Science Watch, Hennekens was the third most widely cited medical researcher in the world and five of the top 20 were his former fellows and/or trainees. In 2012, Science Heroes ranked Hennekens No. 81 in the history of the world for having saved more than 1.1 million lives, which placed him two ahead of professor Jonas Salk ranked No. 83 for the development of the polio vaccine. In 2013, he received the "Fries Prize for Improving Health" and in 2014, he received the Alton Ochsner Award for his pioneering work on smoking and health. In 2015, he was ranked the No. 14 "Top Scientist in the World" based on his H-index of 173.

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About Florida Atlantic University:

Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six-county service region in southeast Florida. FAU's world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU's existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit http://www.fau.edu.
Boulder, Colorado, USA - Impact cratering is one of the most fundamental geological processes. On many planets, impact craters are the dominant geological landform. On Earth, erosion, plate tectonics, and volcanic resurfacing continually destroy the impact cratering record, but even here, the geological, biological, and environmental effects of impact cratering are apparent.

Impact events are destructive and have been linked to at least one of the 'big five' mass extinctions over the past 540 million years. Intriguingly, impact craters can also have beneficial effects. Many impact craters are associated with economic metalliferous ore deposits and hydrocarbon reservoirs.

This Special Paper from The Geological Society of America provides an up-to-date synthesis of impact cratering processes; the role of meteorite impacts in the origin of life, products, and effects; and the techniques used to study impact craters on Earth and other planetary bodies. This volume, edited by Gordon R. Osinski and David A. Kring, is a result of the Large Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution V conference held in Sudbury, Canada, in August 2013.

Individual copies of the volume may be purchased through The Geological Society of America online store, http://rock.geosociety.org/store/ http://rock.geosociety.org/Store/detail.aspx?id=SPE518, or by contacting GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.

Book editors of earth science journals/publications may request a review copy by contacting April Leo, aleo@geosociety.org.

Large Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution V

Edited by Gordon R. Osinski and David A. Kring

Geological Society of America Special Paper 518

SPE518, 227 p., $60; GSA member price $42

ISBN 978-0-8137-2518-5

View the table of contents: http://rock.geosociety.org/store/TOC/spe518.pdf

http://www.geosociety.org

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The Carl Zeiss Foundation has agreed to provide funds for a new endowed professorship in the field of environmental and climate modeling at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). With the help of so-called Earth system models, the prospective holder of this professorship will investigate atmospheric chemical and microphysical processes within the climate system. The results will provide a scientific basis for political and socio-economic decision-making about environmental and climate-related issues. The Carl Zeiss Foundation, which is the sole shareholder of SCHOTT AG in Mainz and Carl Zeiss AG in Oberkochen, will fund the endowed professorship with a total of EUR 1,195,000 over the next five years. The professorship will be hosted at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at Mainz University.

There is a broad consensus that the current global climate change is predominantly a result of human activity over the last 150 years. A key factor in this context are the emissions of greenhouse gases, in particular carbon dioxide. In addition there are long-lived trace gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which do not only contribute to the depletion of stratospheric ozone, but also have greenhouse gas-like effects. These trace gases are still detectable despite the fact that their emissions were banned some 20 years ago.

The new professorship will be considering both anthropogenic and natural sources of trace substances that pollute the atmosphere and other ecosystems such as the oceans and the biosphere. An important focus will be on the human impact on the climate system as well as on the interactions between weather, climate, and air quality, and their role in shaping our environment. A main tool for this line of research will be highly complex computer models that simulate the physical and chemical processes of the Earth system.

The endowed professorship will have strong links with various other disciplines. In addition to the atmospheric sciences, chemistry and biology play an important role, which is why the new professorship will profit from interdisciplinary collaboration within JGU. Moreover, the work with Earth system models requires expertise in mathematics and computer sciences. "Environmental modeling is an active and extensive area of research that requires knowledge about a variety of processes from different disciplines," explained Professor Volkmar Wirth of the JGU Institute of Atmospheric Physics. "Our methodology must therefore continually respond to new theoretical findings and observations related to our climate system."

In addition to interdepartmental cooperation within Mainz University, the endowed professorship will also collaborate with non-academic research institutions such as the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam.

This is the second endowed professorship sponsored by the Carl Zeiss Foundation to be set up at JGU. The first was established in late 2013 with funding provided for an experimental professorship in the field of Solid State Science - Oxide Materials. The professorship was awarded to the chemist Professor Angela Moller.

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An academic from the University of British Columbia has analysed, in a review published today in the International Journal of Epidemiology, what could have been done differently in the efforts to prevent the Ebola epidemic in 2014.

Professor Tom Koch remarks that: "Valuable as work so far has been, it does not address a fundamental question: How did many of the best minds in infectious disease, epidemiology, and disaster medicine miss the early spread of the Filovirus* from a remote village in Guinea until its presence became regionally epidemic?" Although keen to stress that his review is in no way a criticism of efforts of medical professionals, Professor Koch does say that lessons can be learned about containing future disease outbreaks in rural areas with minimal resources.

In particular, the review focuses on the limits of patient location and travel mapping as a reason why it was difficult to contain Ebola from spreading. Because nobody anticipated such an expansive epidemic, regional disease protocols were not immediately implemented. Professor Koch argues that various forms of mapping could have helped containment. He explains that maps and census data were almost non-existent for the region in Guinea where the outbreak occurred. As a result, aggressive quarantine programmes were not quickly enacted to isolate the villages where Ebola was active and those at risk from villagers not displaying any symptoms.

Professor Koch also goes on to talk about involving the community in mapping and education: "Employing community members in the mapping also serves anthropologically, involving community members in the disease response, teaching them about an expanding viral event and its local effects. In areas where there is distrust of foreign or official health workers, this can be critical."

A so far untested mapping approach is also discussed. Diffusion mapping, whereby smaller scale maps are used in patient interviews to identify patient travel patterns during the pre-symptomatic phase of disease incubation, could be helpful in anticipating patient load.

"This is a potentially invaluable, if so far untested, approach that would rapidly characterise local travel patterns and thus the potential for regional disease expansion." Professor Koch hopes that the review provides practical thinking on how mapping could significantly contribute towards providing a prompt response to an emergency outbreak such as Ebola in the future.

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A study by Simon Fraser University researchers suggests that the number of children born to a woman influences the rate at which her body ages.

The study led by health sciences professor Pablo Nepomnaschy and postdoctoral researcher Cindy Barha found that women who give birth to more surviving children exhibited longer telomeres. Telomeres are the protective tips found at the end of each DNA strand and are indicative of cellular aging. Longer telomeres are integral to cell replication and are associated with longevity.

The study assessed the number of children born to 75 women from two neighbouring indigenous rural Guatemalan communities, and their telomere lengths. The participants' telomere lengths were measured at two time points 13 years apart, through salivary specimens and buccal swabs. This is the first study to examine the direct association between the number of children and telomere shortening in humans over time.

According to Nepomnaschy, the study findings contradicts life history theory which predicts that producing a higher number of offspring accelerates the pace of biological aging. "The slower pace of telomere shortening found in the study participants who have more children however, may be attributed to the dramatic increase in estrogen, a hormone produced during pregnancy," says Nepomnaschy who also spearheads the Maternal and Child Health Laboratory at the SFU Faculty of Health Sciences. "Estrogen functions as a potent antioxidant that protects cells against telomere shortening."

The social environment that the study participants live in may also influence the relationship between their reproductive efforts and the pace of aging. "The women we followed over the course of the study were from natural fertility populations where mothers who bear numerous children receive more social support from their relatives and friends," explains Nepomnaschy. "Greater support leads to an increase in the amount of metabolic energy that can be allocated to tissue maintenance, thereby slowing down the process of aging."

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Link to study: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0146424

ABOUT SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY:

As Canada's engaged university, SFU is defined by its dynamic integration of innovative education, cutting-edge research and far-reaching community engagement. SFU was founded almost 50 years ago with a mission to be a different kind of university--to bring an interdisciplinary approach to learning, embrace bold initiatives, and engage with communities near and far. Today, SFU is a leader amongst Canada's comprehensive research universities and is ranked one of the top universities in the world under 50 years of age. With campuses in British Columbia's three largest cities--Vancouver, Surrey and Burnaby--SFU has eight faculties, delivers almost 150 programs to over 30,000 students, and boasts more than 135,000 alumni in 130 countries around the world.

Simon Fraser University: Engaging Students. Engaging Research. Engaging Communities.
COLLEGE STATION - Two Texas A&M University scientists highlighted the conservation benefits of ecotourism worldwide and said a recent research review citing the dangers of ecotourism to wildlife is premature and problematic.

Dr. Lee Fitzgerald, a conservation biologist, and Dr. Amanda Stronza, an anthropologist, published a critique of a recent review in the scientific journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution that proposed tourism may increase the vulnerability of wildlife to predators.

"There have been some claims that have drawn media attention, saying that nature tourism and ecotourism can hurt wildlife and can even make wildlife more vulnerable to predators and poaching," Fitzgerald said.

"Dr. Stronza and I think it's important to qualify those statements," Fitzgerald said. "The idea picked up by the media that nature tourism is bad for animals sends a very mixed message to the public and to all sorts of conservation stakeholders that doesn't help conservation.

"We do research that advances theories in conservation science and our understanding of management practices that work for the benefit of biodiversity conservation. We felt if the idea is being promoted that tourism is bad for animals and can make animals more vulnerable to predators, then that idea should be researched before making sweeping statements that tourism is able to drive negative changes in entire populations.

"We wrote to clarify that the opposite is well-known and supported with much research; that tourism can and often does protect large landscapes and the wildlife within those landscapes."

They pointed out the world's very first national parks in the U.S. were created with tourism in mind and thousands of protected areas around the planet are at least partially justified by tourism.

They added it's difficult to imagine wild animals becoming so tame from their interaction with people they lose their fear of being eaten.

"The risk of predation is like a big sledgehammer in nature that drives the persistence of antipredator behaviors in species," Fitzgerald said.

"Tourists tend to interact with a small portion of the wildlife population, so it's practically impossible that the characteristics of tameness or boldness would become prevalent throughout an entire population. It's hard to imagine natural selection in that instance would overcome the ever present pressures of predators in nature."

Fitzgerald cited examples of tame domestic species such as cattle, dogs, goats, pigs and even guppies, that when released into the wild, quickly become feral and regain their wild antipredator behaviors.

There are instances of poorly managed interactions between people and wildlife, Fitzgerald noted, but a basic management policy worldwide is to ensure bad interactions and habituation are avoided as much as possible.

Fitzgerald and Stronza said in many parts of the world tourism protects wildlife from poaching, which is arguably the much greater threat to wildlife.

Stronza said in Botswana, tour operators are bringing rhinos from South Africa for release into the wild to restore populations. She said many of the animals may never see a tourist. And on the Mara Conservancy along the border of Kenya and Tanzania, ecotourism dollars directly fund anti-poaching measures.

Fitzgerald and Stronza explained that strong ecotourism programs keep poachers at bay. If the shield of ecotourism goes away, animals are not poached because they are tame, it's because large areas can then be infiltrated by poachers.

"We wanted to clarify this crucial point because there is no evidence to support the claim that ecotourism and nature tourism make animals vulnerable to poachers. Implying that they do sends a message that could undermine the benefits of ecotourism.

"In other words, it may be more helpful to appreciate the conservation benefits of nature tourism and ecotourism for wildlife, landscapes, people and communities than to pose untested scenarios that tourism hurts wildlife," Fitzgerald said.

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This news release is available in German.

Mussels are the natural treatment plants of bodies of water and, therefore, just as important as bees. Unfortunately, they are equally threatened: most of the world's mussel stocks are in decline and some species face extinction. For this reason, scientists from 26 European countries have compiled the first comprehensive survey on the status quo of freshwater mussel species in Europe. TUM Professor Juergen Geist and two colleagues from Porto coordinated the project and can now provide recommendations for the future protection of the species.

It may not always be obvious due to their concealed way of life, but mussels are among the most endangered species in the world. Very little was known about the status quo of mussel fauna up to now, as there was no information available on the stock sizes of this underwater organism. The varying surveying methods used by different countries exacerbated the problem. A catalogue of the 16 freshwater mussel species found throughout Europe will now be published for the first time in the journal 'Biological Reviews'. The project was coordinated by researchers from the University of Porto in Portugal and the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

A pivotal role bodies of water

The survey's three main authors, Manuel Lopes-Lima and Ronaldo Sousa from the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIMAR) and Professor Jurgen Geist / Chair of Aquatic Systems Biology at TUM, describe how crucial mussels are for aquatic ecosystems: they form around 90 percent of the biomass in the bed of a water body. In addition, mussels filter the water and have a major influence on the water quality as a result. "Because a single mussel filters up to 40 liters of water per day," reports Professor Geist, "we humans also benefit from the ecosystem services provided by mussels." When the hard-shelled animals keep a body of water clean, more invertebrate organisms tend to join them there. Due to their crucial role in the aquatic habitat, the extinction of these small natural treatment plants in rivers and lakes would have serious impacts on the aquatic habitat.

Catalogue of characteristics

So what do the freshwater mussels, some of which live for over a century, need to survive? The research network, comprising scientists from 26 countries, collected information about the requirements of European mussels vis-a -vis their habitat and began by answering the following questions:

- Where do which species arise? - How big is the current stock? - How are the species related to each other? - What are their preferred habitats? - What are the greatest threats to their survival?

"One result of the Europe-wide study is the extent of the gap between north and south," says Geist. "There are fewer species in the north of Europe, for example Scandinavia, but the populations there are bigger." In contrast, southern Europe has more species, but some of them are only found in a handful of waters. This can be due to the fact that they are specialized on one fish species and if this species only arises on the Iberian Peninsula, the mussels that depend on it can only survive in proximity to it. In addition, mountain ranges like the Alps and Pyrenees act as geographical barriers. "If a mussel population dies out in just one location in the south, this can represent half of the global population," the TUM scientist explains.

Which habitats do the mussels prefer?

The fact that some mussel species are dispersed all across Europe and have given rise to different strains could be related to the ice ages and periods between them, on the one hand, but also to their fish hosts and the conquest of new habitats, on the other. In addition, the scientists established that less demanding mussel species can spread more successfully, as they can survive in different water bodies and quickly adapt to changes in the water quality. Similarly, like people, some species prefer warmer, stiller waters while other mussel strains are more tolerant and can survive just as well in cold rivers and streams as in lakes.

What are the threats to Europe's mussels?

The main authors also summarize the main threats to the species in their report:

- Barrages, weirs and dams - Pearl fishing (for certain species) - Pollution and over-fertilization - Loss of fish hosts - Invasive species - Water extraction and climate change - Other hitherto unknown stress factors

To ensure the long-term conservation of freshwater mussels for aquatic ecosystems and their functions, the authors recommend that detailed scientific plans with defined objectives be compiled. Targeted protection should be provided for populations that are important from an evolutionary perspective and whose stocks have already been reduced by 90 percent, water bodies with a high level of mussel species diversity, and also healthy mussel stocks in intact habitats. "Because a mussel is highly dependent on its fish host and these are in decline, particular attention should be paid to the fish stocks," says the TUM scientist, "even if some of these fish species do not have any particular economic value."

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Publication:

Conservation status of freshwater mussels in Europe: state of the art and future challenges, Biological Reviews 4.1.2016. D

OI: 10.1111/brv.12244 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.12244/abstract;jsessionid=E7C0A7675BC3AD61CED38885AEAFEA58.f02t02

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Juergen Geist

Technical University of Munich (TUM)

Chair of Aquatic Systems Biology

http://www.fisch.wzw.tum.de/index.php?id=10&L=1

Tel: +49 (8161) 71 - 3767

E-Mail: geist@wzw.tum.de
University of Iowa study finds how caregivers respond to the sounds babies make during book reading could be link to language development in young children

Next time you read to your baby, pay attention to his babbling and respond.

Interaction, not just the sound of words being read from a page, is the key to language development during reading.

That's according to a new study from the University of Iowa that looked at how mothers responded to their 12-month-olds during book reading, puppet play, and toy play. What researchers found is the babies made more speech-like sounds during reading than when playing with puppets or toys. They also discovered mothers were more responsive to these types of sounds while reading to their child than during the other activities.

The findings might explain why book reading has been linked to language development in young children.

"A lot of research shows that book reading even to infants as young as six months of age is important to language outcomes, but I'm trying to explain why by looking at the specifics, which could be responding to speech-like sounds," says Julie Gros-Louis, assistant professor of psychology at the UI and corresponding author on the study, published in January in Language Learning and Development.

"If we know what specific interactions are occurring between caregiver and child and we can link that to language outcomes, then it wouldn't just be telling parents, 'Read a lot of books to your kids,'" Gros-Louis adds. "That would definitely be important to tell them, but you could also identify specific behaviors to do during book reading."

The study also found that no matter the context, mothers' responses to speech-like sounds were often imitations or an expansion of the sound. For example, if the baby said, "Ba," the mother would respond with "Ba-ba" or "Ball," even if it had nothing to do with the story being read. Mothers frequently provided labels during reading, too.

Gros-Louis says she used mothers and their babies for this study because their interactions have been studied more than those between fathers and their children. Thus, she could more readily compare her findings to past studies.

In this case, researchers observed the interactions of 34 mothers and their 12-month-olds during three 10-minute periods of different activities: puppet play, toy play, and book reading. The hand puppet was a cloth monkey; the toy was a Fisher-Price barn with manipulative parts, such as buttons to push and knobs to turn; and the books had bright pictures and simple sentences rather than single words or labels. The babies were seated in a high chair to control proximity to their mothers and to prevent them from getting up and moving around the play room.

Researchers then coded each child's vocalizations and his or her mother's responses. Vocalizations included any sound the baby made except distress cries and fusses, hiccups, coughs, and grunts. Mothers' responses were coded for verbal content in the following categories: acknowledgments ("mmm-hmm," "uh-huh"); attributions ("it's pretty"); directives ("push that"); naming ("it's a ball"); play vocalizations ("getcha!"); questions; and imitations/expansions.

"The current findings can contribute to understanding how reading to preverbal infants is associated with language outcomes, which is not well understood in contrast to reading interactions with older toddlers," according to the study.

This isn't the first time Gros-Louis has studied how mothers respond to the babbling of their infants. In a study published in 2014, she and researchers from Indiana University found mothers who consciously engaged with their babbling 8-month-olds could accelerate their children's vocalizing and language learning.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Nearly every girl and woman on Earth carries two X chromosomes in nearly every one of her cells -- but one of them does (mostly) nothing. That's because it's been silenced, keeping most of its DNA locked up and unread like a book in a cage.

Scientists thought they had figured out how cells do this, but a new piece of research from the University of Michigan Medical School shows the answer isn't quite that clear.

And the findings could help lead to new ways of fighting diseases linked to X chromosomes in girls and women -- the kind that occur when the X chromosome that does get read has misprints and defects.

In a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U-M genetic researchers show that a molecule called Xist RNA is insufficient to silence the X chromosome. The gene for that molecule, Xist, has been seen as the key factor in silencing one of the two X chromosomes in every female cell.

The findings come from the same team that recently showed how a fragment of genetic material made from reading Xist backward, called an antisense RNA, leads to the production of Xist RNA.

"Xist is widely believed to be both necessary and sufficient for X silencing," says team leader Sundeep Kalantry, Ph.D. "We for the first time show that it's not sufficient, that there have to be other factors, on the X-chromosome itself, that activate Xist and then cooperate with Xist RNA to silence the X-chromosome."

What's more, Kalantry says, in the future it may be possible to change the level of these other factors in cells and turn on the healthy, silenced copy of a gene that lies on the inactive X-chromosome.

More about Xist

The Xist gene, short for X-inactive specific transcript, is found on each X chromosome. It doesn't tell cells to produce a protein, like most genes do. Instead, it produces Xist RNA that physically coats the entire X-chromosome, and thereby is thought to seal most of it off from the rest of the cellular world.

Now, the U-M group has shown that Xist has to have accomplices.

Though they are close to identifying these accomplices, they do know that they reside in a very interesting place: the X chromosome that's destined to get silenced. Although most genes on the inactive X chromosome are fully silenced, a handful of the genes on the inactive X are in fact active.

It is this set of X-inactivation 'escapees' that the research team focused on. Since the 'escapee' genes are expressed from both the active and the inactive X-chromosomes in females, they produce more gene product in female cells than in male cells, which only have a single X.

The Kalantry lab's study predicts that it's this higher "dose" in females that triggers X-inactivation selectively in females; the lower dose in males is insufficient.

That means that if researchers can determine exactly which factors cause X-inactivation to occur, they could find ways to affect the activity of genes on the X chromosomes - specifically, genes involved in certain diseases.

X marks the spot

A wide range of relatively rare diseases - as well as relatively common conditions such as autism, hemophilia and muscular dystrophy - are linked to problems with genes found on the X chromosome. Many of them have an impact on an individual's thinking and memory capacity, and other aspects of cognition and intelligence.

"In females, we could envision 'reawakening' a healthy copy of an X-linked gene on the inactive X chromosome, by modulating the dose of these so-called escapee genes and ameliorating the effects of the unhealthy copy," says Kalantry.

Unfortunately, this approach probably won't help males with X-linked diseases, because they only have a single X chromosome in each cell and inactivating it would be harmful.

But that's exactly what made the new research possible: The team attempted to silence the sole X chromosome in male stem cells from mice by turning Xist on artificially. As it turns out, they could only silence the X-chromosome genes somewhat -- because the male cells had no 'twin sister' X chromosome to contribute the genes needed to finish the silencing job.

When the researchers used female cells that had one X that was already inactivated -- and therefore had the same number of active X-chromosome as in males -- they were still able to silence the active X when they artificially turned Xist on from that chromosome.

The difference was that the female cells had higher levels of products made by 'escapee' genes.

Now, Kalantry says, the team is zeroing in on the specific X-inactivation escapee genes that first allow for Xist RNA to be expressed and then work with Xist to make silencing possible.

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In addition to Kalantry, an assistant professor in the U-M Medical School's Department of Human Genetics, the study's authors are postdoctoral fellow and first author Srimonta Gayen, Ph.D., and two graduate students, Emily Maclary and Michael Hinten, of Kalantry's lab team.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (GM07544, HD080280 and OD008646), the March of Dimes and the University of Michigan's Endowment for the Basic Sciences and Reproductive Sciences Program. The U-M Sequencing Core Facility was used in the research.

Reference: PNAS Early Edition, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1515971113
A five-year collaboration between institutions in the United States and Sweden has resulted in a new, public dataset for researchers of democracy.

The first of its kind, the newly released Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) dataset provides scholars with vast research opportunities on hundreds of aspects of democracy. Researchers will be able to use the large, comprehensive set to examine hundreds of indicators, and will have the ability to compare data from different times and locations.

A milestone for the study of democracy, the complete dataset covers some 15 million data points across 173 countries from 1900 to the present, and has been made public for use by researchers and citizens around the world.

V-Dem is an international effort to provide the global community with the world's most comprehensive, accurate and detailed democracy ratings, with institutional homes at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame and the V-Dem Institute in the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Taking a new approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy, V-Dem is a collaboration among hundreds of scholars across the world, including many connected with Kellogg.

According to Notre Dame political scientist and Kellogg Faculty Fellow Michael Coppedge, one of four principal investigators who have led the five-year effort, the data release promises to "revolutionize" quantitative research on democracy.

"Any quantitative study that has ever been done on the nature, causes or consequences of democracy could be redone and done better using the V-Dem data," he said. "The new democracy indicators are more reliable, more valid, more comprehensive and more nuanced than data previously available."

The dataset includes about 350 fine-grained democracy indicators, 34 mid-level indices and five high-level indices -- marking electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative and egalitarian democracy -- going back to the year 1900.

"For the past two years, members of the public have had access to some of the data, but only in the form of interactive graphs," said Coppedge. "Now they can download it all, free of charge, and use it for their own statistical analyses."

With the new democracy data, scholars and policymakers will be able to look at relationships among different aspects of democracy as well as the relationships between democracy and other factors, with the potential to use very specific quantitative data to explore questions such as why some countries are democratic and others less so.

"We can also look at the consequences of democracy, or lack of democracy, for economic growth, human development, human rights, even big questions of war and peace -- many things we really care about," said Coppedge.

"We in the West share a commitment to democratic forms of government, but it has been surprisingly hard to demonstrate beneficial consequences of democracy aside from the intrinsic benefit of political liberty. V-Dem data will help us distinguish more clearly between the goals that democracy can and cannot help us achieve."

V-Dem has already generated an outpouring of studies by members of the project, who have had access to partial and preliminary versions of the data for several years.

With fellow V-Dem researchers Staffan I. Lindberg, University of Gothenburg; Svend-Erik Skaaning, Aarhus University; and Jan Teorell, Lund University, Coppedge co-authored "Measuring High Level Democratic Principles Using the V-Dem Data," forthcoming in the journal International Political Science Review, which explains how the project measures five varieties of democracy and traces trends in these indices since 1900.

As of Jan. 4, the full dataset can be downloaded from the V-Dem website, free of charge. The data are also available for viewing in user-friendly online analysis tools here. An archive of all previous versions of the data, including the coder-level data and uncertainty estimates, is maintained at CurateND, a project of the Hesburgh Libraries at Notre Dame.

Coppedge, along with Kellogg Ph.D. fellows Fernando Bizzarro Neto and Lucia Tiscornia and Kellogg research affiliate Benjamin Denison, will lead a V-Dem Data Launch Workshop on Jan. 22 (Friday) at Notre Dame, which will be followed by an advanced workshop in February. An international conference to be held at the Kellogg Institute in fall 2016 will provide an early opportunity for researchers beyond the core V-Dem team to present analyses using the data.

The V-Dem project has been made possible with funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, the Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Sweden's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission/EuroAID, the Swedish Research Council, International IDEA, Denmark's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Danish Research Council, the Canadian International Development Agency, NORAD/Norwegian Research Council and the Quality of Government Institute, with co-funding from the University of Gothenburg and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and other entities at the University of Notre Dame.

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Biochemists at The University of Texas at Arlington are mapping the catalytic processes of sulfur-oxidizing enzymes to improve understanding of the chemical imbalances found in patients with autism, Alzheimer's disease and Down syndrome.

"Little is known about how sulfur-oxidizing enzymes work, or how or why autistic, Alzheimer and Down syndrome patients demonstrate abnormal sulfur metabolism," said Brad Pierce, UTA assistant professor of biochemistry and principal investigator on the project.

"Our work is to retro-engineer the sulfur oxidation process and map out the chemical mechanism of a key enzyme - cysteine dioxygenase - in both mammals and bacteria, to provide the necessary framework to develop effective therapies and drugs for these different disease states."

Insights into the differential behavior of this enzyme in bacteria could also open up opportunities to stamp out "superbugs" by providing an alternate means to disrupt bacterial metabolism without adversely affecting the patient, Pierce said.

The work is supported by a three-year, $333,810 National Institutes of Health grant through the agency's Academic Research Enhancement Award Program, which aims to strengthen the research environment at eligible institutions and also expose undergraduate and graduate students to research and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Morteza Khaledi, dean of the UTA College of Science, underlined the importance of Pierce's grant in enhancing the University's commitment to advancing health and the human condition, as outlined in the Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact.

"Dr. Pierce's research will provide the essential basic scientific background needed to develop therapies for critical conditions that are currently not understood," Khaledi said. "This work is at the heart of the positive impact that a modern, research university can have on society."

"By providing opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students to participate in this research, we are also strengthening our position as a source of well-prepared scientific resources and advancing towards Tier 1 status," he added.

In the current project, Pierce's team will use rapid-mix, freeze-quench techniques to 'trap' and analyze the chemical reactions at millisecond intervals. Comparisons can then be made between the mechanical processes of the enzymes in mammals and bacteria.

This research builds on Pierce's prior National Science Foundation grant to study the circumstances under which cysteine dioxygenase produces highly toxic side effects called reactive oxygen species. Those effects have been linked to numerous age-onset human diseases like cancer, stroke, arthritis, heart attacks, Parkinson's disease, cataracts and many others.

In a study published in the December 2013 issue of Biochemistry, Pierce's team outlined how mutations outside the active site environment or "outer coordination sphere" of the enzyme have profound influence on the release of reactive oxygen species. Prior research had focused on the active site inner coordination sphere of these enzymes, where the metal molecule is located.

Pierce joined the UTA College of Science in 2008 following positions as an NIH postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin and as a research associate with a California pharmaceutical company. He earned his doctorate in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University.

At UTA, Pierce has been honored with a President's Award for Excellence in Teaching. His research group looks at fundamental life processes outside the traditional sphere of biochemistry and employs modern biophysical and bioinorganic techniques to investigate enzyme function and regulation.

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About The University of Texas at Arlington

The University of Texas at Arlington is a comprehensive research institution of more than 51,000 students in campus-based and online degree programs and is the second-largest institution in The University of Texas System. The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked UTA as one of the 20 fastest-growing public research universities in the nation in 2014. U.S. News & World Report ranks UTA fifth in the nation for undergraduate diversity. The University is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is ranked as the top four-year college in Texas for veterans on Military Times' 2016 Best for Vets list. Visit http://www.uta.edu to learn more, and find UTA rankings and recognition at http://www.uta.edu/uta/about/rankings.php.
For many research scientists, idle time has long been an unwelcome feature of the discovery process. Advances in cellular biology have yielded popular and powerful tools to detect cellular proteins and DNA -- largely by exploiting the unique and intricate interactions between these microscopic molecules. Scientists use these tools to advance research and diagnose diseases. But these come at a cost in time -- from hours to days -- before they yield accurate answers.

Three scientists at the University of Washington have proposed a way to speed up this waiting game. Their solution, reminiscent of the magic behind washing machines, could reduce wait times to a fraction of what they once were. As they report Jan. 8 in the journal Small, biological assays that once took hours could instead take minutes.

"These are very common assays," said Xiaohu Gao, a UW professor of bioengineering and senior author on the paper. "Most scientists were willing to wait hours and hours because they had no choice."

Many of today's biological assays use molecules such as antibodies to detect specific types of cellular proteins or pieces of DNA. These "detector molecules" only bind to specific targets, such as a certain class of cellular proteins, and include additional components such as nanoparticles or dye molecules to emit light if they successfully bind. These assays have revealed where different proteins are found in cells and helped diagnose diseases.

But these tests take hours or days to complete. The detector molecules, suspended in a fluid, float around while their targets -- whether cellular proteins or pieces of DNA -- are adhered to the hard, flat surface of a small plate or petri dish. While bulky detector molecules close to the surface can easily find and bind to their targets, molecules further up in the fluid column move slowly due to their size. It can take hours for enough detector molecules to diffuse down and bind to their targets to produce a visible color change.

"We call this 'diffusion limitation,' and it's a serious problem since both the antibody and nanoparticles are so large," said Gao. "People have proposed solutions -- like stirring or gently rocking a reaction plate to mix the solution. But when we tested this we saw that stirring and rocking only improved the reaction time by 3 to 5 percent. That's not enough."

Gao and his team were prompted to tackle the problem of diffusion limitation after they developed a new staining assay but its long reaction times made their protocol impractical. Inspired by studies of fluid dynamics, they decided to work around the problem of diffusion limitation. Instead of waiting for detector molecules to drift down to the surface of the plate, they simply allowed detector molecules close to the surface to bind. Then, they drained the solution from the plate, mixed it, put it back on the plate and repeated this cycle dozens of times -- which they call cyclic solution draining and replenishing.

"In a washing machine, you squeeze water out and put it back in," said Gao. "Dry and re-soak. Dry and re-soak. This is exactly the same mechanism: Drain the fluid completely and then put it back on the plate. That's much more efficient than simply stirring it around."

To drain fluid from the plate, they covered the plate with a seal and inverted it. To "re-soak," they flipped the plate upright again. The flipping action helped mix the detector molecules in the fluid, which sped up the total reaction time.

They tested cyclic solution draining and replenishing with two types of antibody staining techniques, ELISA and immunofluorescence microscopy. Reaction times for both were cut substantially with this drain and re-soak approach. In one case, what was once a one-hour incubation time was cut to just seven minutes. Though sealing and flipping the plate, which they accomplished mechanically, might be impractical for other tests, there are other ways to "drain" a plate.

"We used gravity because we wanted to show that draining would work," said Gao. "But you could use air bubbles or centrifugation to drain as well, for example. There are lots of possibilities."

If so, this simple work-around for the problem of diffusion limitation could slash waiting times for experiments. This would also impact other fields, reducing the wait times for medical test results to come back or speed up chemical engineering protocols.

"Really, this was a common problem that no one before had made a link to. But here we have, and it's so simple," said Gao. "When we prepare tea, we don't let it sit there or shake the cup. We repeatedly lift, drain the tea bag, then lower it into the hot water. That's what we've done here."

###

Gao was joined on the paper by lead co-authors Junwei Li and Pavel Zrazhevskiy. The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of Washington.

For more information, contact Gao at xgao@uw.edu or 206-543-6562.

Grant numbers: R01CA131797 (NIH), R21CA192985 (NIH) and T32CA138312 (NCI).


It would be a hardy global investor who ventured into Russia's murky and treacherous waters

These are depressing times to be covering central and eastern Europe, for bankers and financial journalists alike.

One by one, the largest and most promising markets are shutting down. Hungary is determinedly pursuing an agenda of economic nationalism and crony capitalism. Russia is doubling down on sanctions and isolationism. Ukraine is rapidly dissipating the international goodwill won post-Maidan.

Even Poland, long a beacon of progress and stability in the former Communist sphere, now appears to be following Hungary down the populist path of bank-bashing opportunism and disdain for democratic institutions.

There are still a few bright spots  the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Baltics  but all are relatively small and offer few opportunities for international investors, given that most major assets were bought up at least a decade ago.

That leaves Romania as the new poster child for the region  a sign of just how far expectations have fallen. When a frontier market with endemic corruption, no infrastructure and growth of less than 3.5% is being touted as CEEs most exciting prospect, you know you are in trouble.

Under the circumstances, it is no surprise that dealflow has slowed to a trickle. Valuations are dismal and capital markets all but non-existent, particularly since Poland decided to hobble a burgeoning equity market by eliminating its core pension fund investor base.

Russias domestic equity and debt markets are showing some signs of life but it would be a hardy global investor who ventured into those murky and treacherous waters. What is more, this activity is coming at the expense of western markets, as a steady stream of Russian firms abandon once-coveted London listings.

Privatizations also continue to prove a reliable source of disappointment. Slovenian politicians cancelled the sale of the countrys national telecoms operator at the last minute in August and the Serbian government followed suit in December. Hungary is busily bringing previously privatized assets back under state control and there are fears that the new Polish government will do the same.

The only area where investors seem to be immune to the prevailing regional malaise is real estate. Across central and even south-eastern Europe, property prices are rising rapidly as domestic and global buyers alike pile into the sector.

This is perhaps inevitable, given the very high liquidity in local banking systems and the dysfunction or lack of opportunity in other industries  but it is also disturbing. Many countries in CEE have barely recovered from the bursting of real estate bubbles in 2009.
Public money is being used to pay for research that create animals that are part human. From the MIT Technology Review story:

Braving a funding ban put in place by Americas top health agency, some U.S. research centers are moving ahead with attempts to grow human tissue inside pigs and sheep with the goal of creating hearts, livers, or other organs needed for transplants. The effort to incubate organs in farm animals is ethically charged because it involves adding human cells to animal embryos in ways that could blur the line between species.

This begins to cross into Dr. Moreau territory. Even the often compliant NIH is alarmed:

The agency, in a statement, said it was worried about the chance that animals cognitive state could be altered if they ended up with human brain cells. The NIH action was triggered after it learned that scientists had begun such experiments with support from other funding sources, including from Californias state stem-cell agency. The human-animal mixtures are being created by injecting human stem cells into days-old animal embryos, then gestating these in female livestock. Based on interviews with three teams, two in California and one in Minnesota, MIT Technology Review estimates that about 20 pregnancies of pig-human or sheep-human chimeras have been established during the last 12 months in the U.S., though so far no scientific paper describing the work has been published, and none of the animals were brought to term.

Birthing these animals will be the next step. And who knows what health problems they could have? This is an animal welfare issue as well as bearing obviously on human exceptionalism.

Creating such chimeric beings isnt the same thing as, say, genetically altering an animal so their organs can be used for transplant, or inserting a human gene to make transgenic animals that produce a specific hormone in their milk for medicinal uses.

Hard regulatory lines need to be drawn  which wont be easy  and all public money limited to research that is both ethical and respectful of proper boundaries between humans and all other species.

Scientists clearly cannot be trusted to govern themselves on this matter. It is time to set well-defined limits.

Image: Chimera, via Deutsch: Lampas-GruppeEnglish: Lampas GroupFranais: Groupe de la Lampas (Jastrow (2006)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
Thus far in 2016 the British Pound has struggled versus the euro (EUR) and the US Dollar (USD) exchange rates as the forthcoming EU Referendum weighs on Sterling

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts predict that the forthcoming EU referendum presents the single greatest risk to the British Pound exchange rates in 2016.

Since the turn of the year the GBP has struggled versus the EUR and USD thanks to a succession of disappointing domestic ecostats.

Given uncertainty regarding the EU referendum, in conjunction with weaker-than-anticipated fourth-quarter sectoral growth, many analysts believe that the Bank of England (BoE) will keep monetary policy accommodative throughout 2016.

Here are some common reference forex rates for today:

On Wednesday the Euro to British Pound exchange rate (EUR/GBP) converts at 0.87

FX markets see the pound vs euro exchange rate converting at 1.15.

The pound conversion rate (against us dollar) is quoted at 1.127 USD/GBP.

The GBP to AUD exchange rate converts at 1.789 today.

Please note: the FX rates above, updated 19th Oct 2022, will have a commission applied by your typical high street bank. Currency brokers specialise in these type of foreign currency transactions and can save you up to 5% on international payments compared to the banks.

British Pound (GBP) Conversion Rate Advances after Trade Deficit Came in Larger than Expected

Fridays British economic data failed to meet with expectations but still improved upon previous figures. Novembers Visible Trade Balance saw the deficit narrow from -11203 to -10642. Trade Balance Non-EU in the same month bettered the median market forecast rise from -3551 to -3250, with the actual result reaching -2450. In addition, Novembers Total Trade Balance climbed from -3507 to -3170 but failed to meet with the market consensus of -2700.

Sterling edged higher versus most of its currency rivals in response to the trade balance data, but also thanks to pundits taking advantage of the comparatively weak Sterling trade weight.

Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch predict that the Pound will struggle in 2016 with the EU referendum weighing on investor confidence.

Brexit is the most significant risk factor for GBP that refuses to go away. Despite the lack of clarity on the timing of the Referendum, the FX options market is starting to build in risk premium over the longer dated tenors. The next focal point is now the EU Summit on 18/19 February where the Prime Minister will hope to have reached an agreement with his EU partners. This should then set the stage for the announcement of a Referendum date. The opinion polls will then come into sharper focus as the anchor of a polling date is known.

Euro Exchange Rates decline on Trader Profit Taking, Weak German Industrial Production

Having surged markedly yesterday in response to an unexpected climb in Eurozone economic confidence, the Euro softened today as traders took advantage of attractive selling opportunities.

Additional Euro losses today can be linked to a mixed-bag of domestic data results. Whilst Novembers German Trade Balance bettered estimates, German Industrial Production in November saw an annual increase of just 0.1%, missing the market consensus of 0.5%.

Economic momentum in Germany continues to be fed by private and public consumption, and additionally by a pickup in construction, said Christian Lips, an economist at NordLB in Hanover. Chinas economy moved into the focus again this week, but for Germany, we are convinced that the economic recovery will continue.

US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rate Edges Higher on Safe-Haven Demand

Although trader risk-appetite improved slightly in response to intervention in Chinas equity markets, demand for safe-haven assets remains strong with bearish commodities and Middle Eastern geopolitical tensions hampering investor confidence.

Later this afternoon the US Dollar is likely to see significant volatility in response to Decembers Change in Non-Farm Payrolls and Unemployment Rate.

Should these ecostats print positively the US Dollar will likely surge amid speculation that the Federal Reserve will look to tighten policy several times throughout 2016.

Conversely, a disappointing result might weigh on demand for the 'Greenback' and give the Pound scope to claw back some of its recent losses. Next week the publication of minutes from the Bank of England's (BoE) policy meeting could be a cause of GBP volatility.
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Memorandum of Understanding has been signed

By Diego Flammini, Farms.com

The Virginia Port Authority and Cuban National Port Authority have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to assess commercial opportunities between the Port of Virginia and Port of Mariel Special Development Project in Cuba.

The MOU will help with the sharing of information, including data exchanges, market studies, training and technological information. Cuba and Virginia will use the information to support trade and investments via waterways.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said the MOU is another step in the right direction in sorting out relations with Cuba.

As relations between our nations continue to normalize, this agreement will position Virginia as a leader in trade relations with Cuba now and in the future, he said.

Cubas Port of Mariel has the capacity to handle nearly 1.3 million shipping containers annually, which could help increase the amount of agricultural exports the country receives from Virginia.

I believe Virginias continued engagement has once again yielded positive results in Cuba, said Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore. Last year, Cuba purchased $25 million in agricultural exports from Virginia, all in bulk shipments. This agreement will help position Virginia to provide container service for agricultural products such as poultry, pork and apples, which are shipped in refrigerated containers.

Data from the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council indicates that Norfolk, Virginia, when measured in metric tons, ranked at the top out of 14 ports used to export agricultural goods from the U.S. to Cuba.

Since 2006, Virginia has exported nearly $400 million worth of goods to Cuba.

Join the discussion and tell us your thoughts on Virginia and Cuba working together on sea-based trade. As a farmer, are you encouraged by the opportunities the MOU could provide?
Exports could be worth up to $75 million per year

By Diego Flammini, Farms.com

After years of blocking red meat imports from the United States, including a 15- year block on poultry imports, South Africa has decided to lift some of the roadblocks and allow American poultry and red meat back into the country.

South Africa has refused American beef imports since 2003 after the U.S. was battling mad cow disease. Pork imports were stopped in 2013 due to other health concerns and chicken imports stopped nearly 15 years ago to protect against avian flu and salmonella.

With the renewed trade opportunities estimated to be worth $75 million annually, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the opportunities with South Africa will have a domino effect on various industries.

"This is good news for American farmers, ranchers and poultry, pork and beef companies, he said. We welcome this move by South Africa and will continue our efforts to break down barriers and expand access for high-quality, safe and wholesome U.S. food and agricultural products around the world. With this agreement, South Africa reaffirms the scientific soundness and integrity of the U.S. system for ensuring animal health and food safety, and this will result in high-quality U.S. meat and poultry being available for South African consumers.

According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative:

Trade between the United States and South Africa totaled $21 billion in 2012

Agricultural exports to South Africa was worth $295 million in 2013. Leading agricultural products were dairy ($28 million), wheat ($25 million), planting seeds ($24 million) and poultry meat ($24 million)

Agricultural imports from South Africa totaled $253 million in 2013. Leading items included wine and beer ($69 million), fresh fruit ($59 million) and tree nuts ($42 million)

Give us your thoughts on the expanded access for American beef, pork and poultry products in South Africa. As a producer are you encouraged by the news?
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.
Scottish comedian Billy Connolly is to receive this year's Special Recognition Award at the 21st National Television Awards, broadcast later this month live from The O2 in London.

Billy Connolly

Billy's long-time friend and colleague Dustin Hoffman will be flying in from Los Angeles especially to present the award, whilst many of his other friends and famous fans have recorded tributes to be screened at the event.

Supporter and writer/broadcaster Armando Iannucci says: "It's unbelievable and yet no surprise that we're celebrating fifty years of Billy Connolly. Because he doesn't compromise, because he doesn't fit a label, he has no shelf life, he's not part of a phase. He's unique. You can't really sum him up. The only way you can explain him to someone is by saying, 'just try and imagine Billy Connolly'."

The National Television Awards broadcast live on ITV on Wednesday, January 20 from 7.30pm.

Tickets for the event are available now. To book, call 0844 824 4824 or visit www.nationaltvawards.com/tickets.

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Taking the world by storm, Netflix's latest docuseries follows the trial of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, a pair prosecuted for the murder of Teresa Halbach and each sentenced to life in prison.

Steven Avery / Credit: Netflix

Those watching the series took to the government's We The People website, which features petitions from members of the public, with those that exceed 100,000 signatures being addressed by The White House within 30 days.

After reaching the target, the petition - 'Pardon Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey for their alleged involvement in the murder of Teresa Halbach' - gained its response.

The statement from the White House reads: "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 President's 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 offence."

Because of this and because of Avery's and Dassey's status as state prisoners, the President is powerless when it comes to freeing the pair. Despite not giving the petitionees the result they want, the White House does acknowledge failings in the justice system.

It continues: "While the case is out of the Administration's purview, President Obama is committed to restoring the sense of fairness at the heart of our justice system. That's why he has granted 184 commutations total - more than the last five presidents combined - and has issued 66 pardons over his time in office."

Whilst Avery has no chance of parole and will spend the rest of his life behind bars, Dassey will become eligible for parole on October 31, 2048.

Avery had previously served 18 years in prison for a sexuala ssault he did not commit, exonerated by DNA evidence in 2003 before being arrested and convicted of Halbach's murder two years later.

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) will be organising a buyer-seller meet (BSM) in Montevideo, Uruguay on 18 and 19 March and in Santiago, Chile on 21 and 22 March this year with 25 exhibitors at each venue.

Uruguay's import of readymade garments from India increased from $9.5 million in 2013 to $13 million in 2014. Similarly Chile's imports of readymade garments also rose from $45.1 million in 2013 to $50.7 million in 2014. Looking at the growing volume of readymade garment exports from India to Uruguay and Chile, AEPC has organised the BSM.

At the BSM, one to one meetings are proposed to be organised at Chile for participating exhibitors. The exhibitors can take along their latest collections specially designed for Uruguay/Chile market and negotiate orders with the buyers during the event, an AEPC circular said.

AEPC has tied-up with the Santiago Chamber of Commerce in Chile for inviting garment buyers in the meet and at Uruguay a PR agency is entrusted to bring buyers to the venue.

The funding for the BSM has been approved by the ministry of textiles and ministry of commerce under its Market Access Initiative. (HO)
The Chairman of China's Qingdao Jinshi Holdings, Zhang Jinliang has forecast a bright future for e-commerce, as it provides convenience to customers in ways that traditional services cannot.Qingdao Jinshi is a state-funded company which runs the largest e-commerce firm in China specializing in Korean goods.

The Chairman of China's Qingdao Jinshi Holdings, Zhang Jinliang has forecast a bright future for e-commerce, as it provides convenience to customers#

"Chinese customers order Korean goods through e-commerce and get them delivered to their home directly. It reduces many processes as well as cuts costs," Zhang said at an international forum on e-commerce in East Asia at the COEX Convention and Exhibition Centre in Seoul on January 6, according to a report in Korea Times.He said he plans to boost the business by combining sales channels for PCs, mobile devices and offline shops into one system.The forum which consisted of three sessions - policymaking, business meetings and market overview, discussed ways to lower barriers to e-commerce trade and create a single market for the region.The state-backed Korean Institute for Electronic Trade and Commerce Promotion (KIETaC) led the bilateral forum with China, exchanging ideas on how to resolve issues with customs and logistics in the fast-rising sector.The forum was held two months after President Park Geun-hye, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to boost e-commerce in the region by establishing a single united digital market. Seoul hosted the trilateral summit in November."The forum will pave the way for completing the agreement as soon as possible. It is also notable that Korea is taking the lead in boosting e-commerce and leading the unified digital market project," said KIETaC Chairman Shim Dong-sup."We expect sizeable economic effects from forming one huge market for the region through electronic trade."Jang Sang-shik, a researcher at the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), said e-commerce is on the rise globally. He expected the volume of e-commerce to reach $1 trillion in 2018, up from $233 billion in 2014. The number of customers using e-commerce will also increase, topping 20 million in 2018 from 13 million in 2014, he said.BS Communications CEO Park Byung-kyu said that Korean companies need an e-commerce strategy to target Chinese customers. He advised them to localize their brand names to the Chinese market and target their demand based on online surveys. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
Usha International, a leading player in the sewing machine industry, has unveiled India's first ever sewing machine for children - 'Usha Janome - My Fab Barbie'. As a first mover in this category, Usha Janome - My Fab Barbie is a full feature sewing machine launched in association with Mattel Inc, Usha said in a press release.This machine is a unique gifting option for parents. Now young girls and teenagers can express, create and showcase their vivid imagination, like never before!

Usha International, a leading player in the sewing machine industry, has unveiled India's first ever sewing machine for children - 'Usha Janome - My#

Price at Rs 10,900, the sewing machine comes in a combination of pink and white colors. Featuring charming Barbie doll graphics on the machine, My Fab Barbie is all set to transform the way eight year olds and above spend their free time. With the introduction of My Fab Barbie, sewing now features as a serious option for mothers to skill their children. Mothers and daughters can now experience the joy of creating together by co-creating personalized greeting cards, quilting or embellishing wrist bands and hair bands among various options with the easy to use My Fab Barbie sewing machine, Usha said.To get users started, My Fab Barbie comes with a sewing book with five easy sewing projects for kids, two free additional creative foots   inch seam foot and gathering foot, sewing box with do it yourself kit and an instruction manual along with a demo DVD and accessories.At the launch of Usha Janome - My Fab Barbie, arvinder Singh, President-Sewing Machines, Usha International said, During the formative years, it is critical for parents to support cognitive, emotional and physical development of their children. Recognizing this, we introduced My Fab Barbie sewing machine as a unique gadget for young girls that would help them in creatively expressing their imagination. Additionally, this initiative helps us to foster a strong relationship with our young consumers and introduce them to the art of sewing at an early age.Keeping My Fab Barbie safe to use, the sewing machine comes with an automatic thread cutter avoiding the use of scissors, an in-built light for better visibility, free arm circular stitching for easy movement of material on the table and colour coded functional display for easy selection of design.Usha plans to engage kids at various hobby centers, Public schools, clubs, RWA activations, public events such as kid's fairs by creating an attractive Barbie demo set up and showcasing sewing machine usage. Special workshops for kids would be conducted in Mumbai and Kochi. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
With increasing brand awareness amongst the Indian youth and purchasing power of the upper class in tier II and III cities, Indian luxury market is expected to cross $18.3 billion by 2016 from the current level of $14.7 billion growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 25 per cent, according to a study by Assocham.The sectors such as five star hotels and fine-dining, electronic gadgets, luxury personal care, and jewelry performed well in the year of 2015 and are expected to grow by 30-35 per cent over the next three years. Big ticket spendings such as on luxury cars, mainly SUVs are likely to continue, growing upwards of 18-20 per cent over the next three years, driven by consumption in smaller towns and cities.

With increasing brand awareness amongst the Indian youth and purchasing power of the upper class in tier II and III cities, Indian luxury market is#

With the luxury market expected to grow at over 25 per cent year on year, Private Equity investments (PE) in the luxury segment are expected to increase and support the enhanced size of the Indian luxury market.The Assocham paper segregated the luxury sector into products: apparel and accessories, pens, home decor, watches, wines & spirits and jewelry, services: spas, concierge service, travel & tourism, fine dining and hotels and assets: yachts, fine art, automobiles.The high internet penetration across tier-II and tier-III cities along with high disposable income shall lead to approx. 100 mn transactions on the Internet by 2020. As a result, the luxury consumption is going to increase manifold in the country , the study highlighted.The size of the High Income group (HIG) consumers continue to enlarge and spend over 40 per cent of their monthly income on some of the world's largest luxury brands whereas the middle income group (MIG) consumers spend 8-10 per cent of income on luxury products. Globally too, consumer spending is on the rise and is expected to reach $40 trillion by 2020 with an unprecedented growth of $12 trillion in a decade.D S Rawat, Secretary General of Assocham said that the slowdown in the economy has not affected the spending patterns of high income group (HIG), with many of them stating that maintaining their lifestyle is an extremely important facet of their social life.According to the report , luxury jewellery, electronics, SUV cars and fine dining have grown beyond expectations, while apparel, accessories, wines and spirits have continued their strong growth in 2016. Consumption of branded wine is also likely to register over 30 per cent increase in the metro cities.In 2015, Delhi ranked first in spending most on luxury brands followed by Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune and Bangalore.The demand for luxury goods in metros are booming as incomes continue to rise. The survey also reveals the role of digital media and the extent to which it is being used as a tool to engage high-end consumers. The Indian luxury market is poised to expand five fold in next three years and the number of millionaires expected to multiply three times in another five years. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
The 13Dhaka International Textile & Garment Machinery Exhibition (DTG 2016), the four day event to be held in January at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC), will exhibit the latest machinery and techniques for the benefit of the textile and garment industry in Bangladesh, according to a press statement.

In order to meet Bangladeshs ambitious target of $50 billion worth apparel exports in 2021, improving the current machinery and technology is necessary. The current capacity of Bangladesh is way less because of the countrys dependence on import and the use of old and outdated techniques in terms of machinery in the industry.

It can be expected that there will be a huge demand for textile and garment machinery with the strong support from government. This event will help the booming industry.

DTG 2016 will exhibit the latest machinery and techniques for the benefit of the textile and garment industry in Bangladesh.#

DTG 2016, being jointly organised by the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), Chan Chao International and Yorkers Trade and Marketing Service, will see participation from more than 1,000 companies and 32 countries. They will be displaying a large variety of state-of-the-art textile and garment technologies, machinery and parts.

More than 1,160 booths will introduce the latest machines and technology to the whole textile and garment industry of Bangladesh, including spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing, printing, finishing, testing, washing, embroidery, sewing and other related equipments.

The event will be supported by Fibre2Fashion.com as its official online media partner. (MCJ)

Meet Fibre2Fashion@DTG 2016

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that Indian economy has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. India's GDP growth accelerated at 7.3 per cent in 2014-15 compared to 6.9 per cent growth in 2013-14 and 5.1 per cent in 2012-13, indicating that the economy is firmly on the path of economic revival, Jaitley said according to a Finance Ministry press release.Jaitley's comments came during his opening remarks at his fourth Pre-Budget Consultative Meeting with the representatives of IT (Hardware & Software) Sector in New Delhi on January 7.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that Indian economy has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. India's GDP growth#

Highlighting the contribution and importance of IT sector, the Finance Minister said that the Government's 'Make in India programme has included the electronic systems and IT & BPM (Business Process Management) sectors among the 25 key sectors. He said that the Governments recognizes this sector's potential and the Information Technology sector is a key pillar in various flagship initiatives like digital India, Make in India, Skill India as well as Start-up India among others.The participants thanked the Government for the measures undertaken in the previous year which facilitated their market performance and enabled them to revive and improve their growth .They expressed full confidence in India being the next big player in the manufacturing field in the world. They further said that Manufacturing will be the major driving force of India's economic growth and they would be able to achieve the target of creating jobs.Major recommendations by the industry included the continuance of measures to facilitate exports, facilitating ease of doing business, measures for simplifying and rationalizing tax procedures. Other suggestions included the provision of Place of Effective Management (POEM) to be deferred by couple of years as this short period can be a hurdle for industrial growth. There was also suggestion that the scope of POEM need to be rationalized and made applicable to overseas shell companies. It was also suggested that GST be implemented at the earliest.On the proposal of sunset clause in case of SEZ companies, they sought extension of tax relief to the eligible development activities and the sales activities by a SEZ unit till March 2019, as it will be unfair to deny the tax benefits to such SEZ developers who have planned large investments in setting-up SEZ infrastructure.Other suggestions included reduction of corporate tax, specific time bound policy to revive the mobile industry, incentive to pollution free industries and vehicles, TRIPS Plus (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ) commitment need to be relooked, directive to make all State and Inter-State duties and procedures online among others. There is also need to create duty differential benefits for Indian (IT hardware) manufacturers especially in case of mobile and tablets, they said.It was also suggested to reduce Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) and utilization period under MAT be increased from 10 years to 15 years. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
Industry bodies have asked the government to ease Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms, especially in sectors such as multi-brand retail, education and e-commerce where its stance has so far been ambivalent.They also sought more liberalised norms for the insurance industry and allowing corporates in agriculture farming.

Industry bodies have asked the government to ease Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms, especially in sectors such as multi-brand retail, education#

The demands and suggestions of industry chambers, including CII and FICCI came at a pre-Budget meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and officials in New Delhi on January 7.India permits 51 per cent FDI in the multi-brand retail sector according to a policy that was brought in by the UPA government. The NDA government is opposed to allowing FDI in multi-brand retailing, but it has not yet scrapped the policy.On greater liberalisation of FDI in retail, FICCI said: Taking into account the sensitivities regarding protecting 'kiranas', the government could consider allowing 100 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail in non-food segment such as electronics and apparel. In food space, there is scope to allow 100 per cent FDI in fresh food product retail.India Inc. also raised concerns on what it called 'adverse' impact of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) on local manufacturing and demanded support to boost manufacturing, exports and startups. FTAs, they said, have led to import surges as a consequence of lower/nil duties. Indian industry and exporters have time and again said that these pacts have benefited the partner countries more. India has so far signed free trade pacts with Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the Asean bloc.We heard the industry's perspectives on what the Centre and the State governments can do to boost investment, manufacturing, exports and startups. They raised concerns on FTAs. We will look into the surge in imports and take measures to raise the competitiveness of the local industry, Sitharaman told reporters after the meeting.The minister sought inputs for negotiations of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and other FTAs.Sitharaman allayed apprehensions about the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal and asked the industry for their feedback on export promotion measures taken by the government during the last one year. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
India's exports are expected to decline about 13 per cent to $270 billion in the current financial year due to global demand slowdown and fall in crude oil prices, a top official has said. The country's merchandise exports had aggregated $310.5 billion last fiscal.According to an official, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia in her presentation during an interaction with the industry chambers including CII and Ficci stated that it would be difficult for India's exports to exceed $270 billion. Teaotia also said that imports during the fiscal would stand around $390 billion. So the trade deficit would aggregate at $120-125 billion in 2015-16, according to an agency report

India's exports are expected to decline about 13 per cent to $270 billion in the current financial year due to global demand slowdown and fall in#

During April-November this fiscal, exports declined by 18.46 per cent to $174.3 billion. Imports were $261.8 billion and trade deficit was $87.5 billion.The declining exports would have implications for the job market. The numbers assume significance as recently the government had said that there is "no crisis" in India on the export front and there is "no need for alarm".During the meeting, which was chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, chambers suggested ways to boost manufacturing, exports and overall economic growth. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
Uster has introduced exclusive new features to improve fabric quality in a special version of the Uster Quantum 3 yarn clearer and thereby celebrates 50 years of yarn clearing on automatic winders.Only 300,000 of the new clearers are available, on a first-come-first-served basis from November, the Switzerland based company said in a press release.

Uster has introduced exclusive new features to improve fabric quality in a special version of the Uster Quantum 3 yarn clearer and thereby celebrates#

In line with the continuing global trend for higher quality, the Uster Quantum 3 Anniversary Edition includes extra defect classes, correlated to the Uster Classimat 5.These classes can be customised by users to cover specific faults that are no longer acceptable today and the clearers will then identify, remove and report on these defects, Uster added.According to the company, the Uster Quantum 3 incorporates unique innovations to help spinners achieve better yarn for better fabrics.The Core Yarn Clearing option was developed for yarns used in stretch fabrics as these yarns have an elastane core within an outer sheath.Unique Uster sensors automatically identify areas in the yarn where the core component is either missing or off-centre at a significant level and over long lengths, which enables a potential cause of fabric rejects to be effectively eliminated.For fabrics made of melange and coloured yarns, variations in colour and shade are critical and the advanced foreign matter sensor available with Uster Quantum 3 avoids such defects with its Shade Variation.Even very small divergences from the base yarn shade can be detected and cleared, it informed.As per Uster, hairiness variations in yarn can lead to a 'cloudy' appearance in finished fabric, and this is another quality factor secured by the Uster Quantum 3.These clearers incorporate online measurement of true yarn hairiness, so that outlier bobbins can be removed, while mills with linked spinning and winding can now monitor the condition of rings and travelers, it explained.A further advance with the Uster Quantum 3 is its connection to the Total Testing Center of the Uster Tester 6, which is facilitated by integration with the Uster Quantum Expert 3 data collection and analysis system.Information from the winding machine is combined in the Total Testing Center with accurate laboratory data.This is then interpreted to present management with practical improvement advice and spinners can create their own tailored quality network, extending the analysis options as new instruments are connected.The resulting data can be targeted to provide valuable knowledge, such as predicting exactly how a yarn will perform in weaving, Uster observed.The connection between the Uster Quantum 3 and the Total Testing Center enables a total overview of mill operations, while the analysis of the data will guide to better quality fabrics. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Hrithik Roshan, who will turn 42 this year, has always celebrated a low profile birthday. But this year, the actor will be hosting a grand birthday bash in Mumbai and around 200 friends will attend it.

The Greek God of Bollywood, Hrithik Roshan's birthday is on 10 January but the party will begin the night before his special day. Talking about the same, a source told Mumbai Mirror, ''Hrithik has invited around 200-odd people and that includes the who's who of the industry, along with close buddies, Kunal Kapoor and Naina Bachchan, Sonali Bendre and Goldie Behl, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh.''

Hrithik With Friends Hrithik Roshan posing for a picture with Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone. The actor is looking damn hot in black. Diwali Bash Bollywood hottie Hrithik Roshan with Nargis Fakhri, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, Arjun Kapoor, Gauri Khan and Deepika Padukone at Amitabh Bachchan's grand Diwali bash. Group Photo Hrithik Roshan snapped with Shilpa Shetty, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Manish Malhotra, Preity Zinta and Sonakshi Sinha at Amitabh Bachchan's Diwali party 2015. Old Picture An old picture of Hrithik Roshan, his ex wife Sussanne Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Gauri Khan. Gauri Khan and Sussane Khan are business partners. Hrithik's Film On the work front, Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan in busy in the shooting of his next film Mohenjo Daro. (In Pic-Hrithik Roshan with Deepika Padukone)

The source further added, ''He has become pretty social of late and has been accepting plenty of invitations from filmi friends. It's time to reciprocate.''

On Sunday (10th Jan), there is a havan organised at his Juhu residence, where his family members, including parents, Rakesh and Pinky Roshan, uncle Rajesh Roshan, sister Sunaina and sons, Hrehaan and Hridhaan will be present for the puja and the lunch. "Family will always come first for Hrithik but this time he also wants to let his hair down with friends," added the source.

CONTROVERSIAL Things Shahtrughan Revealed About Amitabh In His Biography

Last year, Hrithik Roshan organised a small party which was attended by his close friends like, Parineeti Chopra, Priyanka Chopra, Ali Zafar and Kangana Ranaut among others.

Reportedly, Hrithik Roshan's ex wife Sussanne Khan would not be the part of the celebrations. Hrithik and Sussanne got divorced mutually on 1st November 2014. The reason of their divorce is still unknown.

Click On The Slider Above To See Hrithik's Pictures With His Bollywood Friends.
Recently, speculations were rife that Thala Ajith might meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, post which the Vedalam star might join politics in an attempt to boost BJP's grasp over the state of Tamil Nadu.

The rumour however, has been rubbished by a source close to the star actor, according to a report. Requesting fans and others not to believe in rumours, one of Ajith's close associates has confirmed that the actor will not venture into politics, not now nor in the future.

The ultimate star, who is also known as the king of opening in Tamil cinema, is currently cooling his heels thanks to the knee surgery he underwent last year.

Director Siva, who helmed Veeram and Vedalam might yet again join hands with Ajith once the actor is fully recovered. It is also said that Vishnuvardhan, who had earlier helmed Billa and Arrambam, might direct Ajith in a historical film in the near future.

Vikatan Awards 2015: Complete Winners List (Tamil Movies)

Meanwhile, a report has it that Vedalam has created a new record in Georgia, USA. It is said that the film has crossed a successful 50 day run at a theatre in Georgia, a feat now being celebrated by Ajith fans there.

Confirming that this is the first Tamil film to enjoy such a spectacular reception there, the theatre owner has said that more such Tamil movies will be released in the future.
Chinas securities regulator has suspended its newly implemented circuit-breaker mechanism designed to tame market volatility after it exacerbated stock sell-offs and shut down equity trading early twice in one week.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission announced late on Thursday night that the circuit-breaker system would be halted from Friday, only four days after introduction, without saying how long the suspension will last.

It didnt work out as expected Currently the negative effect is bigger than the positive one. Therefore, we have decided to suspend it in order to maintain market stability, the CSRC said in a statement posted on its Weibo account.

The regulator implemented the mechanism on Monday, hoping to offer a cooling period when there are sharp fluctuations in the market and therefore stamp out the wild swings.

A move of 5% in either direction on the CSI 300 Index, Chinas blue-chip tracker, triggered a 15-minute trading halt for stocks, convertible bonds, stock options and futures contracts. A swing of 7% froze trading for the rest of the day.

Previously, individual Chinese stocks were only allowed to rise or sink by a maximum 10% per day.

Circuit-breaker controversy

However, the new mechanism appears to have amplified the panic among investors and prompted new waves of selling in response to sluggish economic data and renminbi weakening, according to some market players and equity analysts.

Hong Hao, chief strategist at Bocom International in Hong Kong, said circuit-breakers could easily pose threats to market liquidity and investor sentiment.

Clearly the tight stops of 5% and 7% of Chinas circuit breaker have a magnet effect as prices gravitate towards the breaker [striking points] and prompt a stampede that drains market liquidity, he said.

The circuit-breaker system halted trading early on Thursday for the second time in a week, following its first use on Monday. The close of a 14-minute trading session in Shanghai and Shenzhen on Thursday morning also marked the shortest in the countrys history.

There are huge risks to introduce it in China now as irrational, retail investors are not really for it. When they see the market fall by 3%, they will only want to sell rather than buy. Then it could soon trigger the trading halt. Then theres no liquidity, one Hong Kong-based senior investment banker at a Wall Street bank told FinanceAsia.

Fresh stock-sale restrictions

Earlier on Thursday, the CSRC also introduced fresh restrictions on stock sales. It announced new rules to prohibit large shareholders and company directors or managers with stakes of more than 5% from selling more than 1% of their outstanding shares every three months.

In a separate statement, the CSRC said the new rules would help to defuse panic sentiment among investors and would not lead to a new peak of stock selling. Theres no basis to say they will lead to sharp falls in the market.

The new rules, which will come into effect on January 9, require stock sales to be conducted through a centralised auction system and major shareholders to disclose equity-disposal plans 15 days in advance.

The 15-day heads-up could more or less dilute the impact on the market  as retail investors know which companys major holders plan to sell shares. Retail investors can exit their positions first, said one Beijing-based fund manager at Citic Securities.

The new measures, which will apply to significant stakes held when a company listed, replace an existing ban set to expire on Friday.

Beijing in early July imposed a six-month curb on stock selling by major shareholders as part of a raft of controversial measures introduced in the summer to prop up sagging markets.

Chinas stock market, dominated by retail investors, has been one of the most volatile in the world over the last 18 months, with the Shanghai Composite index advancing by as much as 150% in a year-long rally running through mid-June, before plunging 43% by late August. It recovered somewhat in the subsequent months, and plunged again into 2016.

Hong at Bocom International told FinanceAsia earlier on Thursday that the new restrictions alone would be useless to stem the market plunge as the top priority now is either to abolish the circuit breaker mechanism or improve it.

Some of China's retail investors have tried to use humour on social media platforms like Wechat and Weibo to deal with the new circumstances.

One wag said the new circuit breakers were like having a girlfriend with a bad temper: "If shes angry with you and you fail to cheer her up in 15 minutes, she wont be talking to you for the rest of the day.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - United Airlines announced that Oscar Munoz, the company's president and CEO, is currently recovering well following the heart transplant he received on Jan. 6, 2016. He is still expected to return from his previously announced medical leave at the end of the first quarter or the beginning of the second quarter of 2016. Brett J. Hart will continue as the acting CEO until Munoz's return.



In a letter to employees on November 5, 2015, Munoz stated that he expected to return full time in the first quarter of 2016. Since his heart attack on October 15, 2015, Munoz has been progressing well, with the assistance of an implanted medical device. A transplant was considered to be preferable to long-term reliance on the implanted device and was not the result of a setback in his recovery.



Munoz had been cleared to return to work prior to the transplant. Since early December, Munoz had been gradually resuming company-related activities in collaboration with Hart, visiting with employees, and participating in meetings at the company's headquarters.



Meanwhile, The U.S. government fined United Continental Holdings Inc. $2.75 million for mistreating passengers with disabilities and for six instances of stranding aircraft on the tarmac.



The U.S. Department of Transportation began receiving a 'significant increase in the number of disability-related complaints' about how United treated customers in wheelchairs or who needed additional assistance. Investigators found the carrier wasn't promptly helping these passengers on and off planes, and was slow to return wheelchairs and other devices.



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CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Commodity currencies such as the Australian, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars strengthened against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Friday amid rising risk appetite, with some of the markets reversing initial losses after the Chinese stock market rose in volatile trade.



Trading in China's stock market was halted on Thursday for the second time this week following a sell-off. The China Securities Regulatory Commission has subsequently suspended its controversial circuit breaker system amid concerns the system is contributing to the recent volatility.



Meanwhile, crude oil prices also rebounded following the steep losses in the previous sessions. Crude oil for February delivery are currently up $0.51 at $33.78 a barrel.



In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the total value of retail sales in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent on month in November, coming in at A$24.774 billion. That was in line with forecasts following the upwardly revised 0.6 percent increase in October.



The latest survey from the Australian Industry Group revealed that the construction sector in Australia swung to contraction in December, with a PMI score of 46.8. That's down sharply from 50.7 in November, and it falls beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction for the first time in five months.



Thursday, the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars fell against their major counterparts, as commodity prices weakened on worries about China's economic slowdown. The Australian dollar fell 0.84 percent against the U.S. dollar, 1.52 percent against the yen and 2.20 percent against the euro.



The NZ dollar fell 0.24 percent against the U.S. dollar, 0.89 percent against the yen and 1.50 percent against the euro. The Canadian dollar fell 0.43 percent against the U.S. dollar, 0.95 percent against the yen and 1.35 percent against the euro.



In the Asian trading, the Australian dollar rose to 1.5364 against the euro and 83.90 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.5588 and 82.49, respectively. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.49 against the euro and 87.00 against the yen.



Against the U.S., the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the aussie edged up to 0.7076, 1.0615 and 0.9964 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.7011, 1.0575 and 0.9891, respectively. The aussie may test resistance around 0.72 against the greenback, 1.07 against the kiwi and 1.01 against the loonie.



The NZ dollar rose to 2-day highs of 0.6678 against the U.S. dollar and 79.15 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.6619 and 77.89, respectively. If the kiwi extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 0.68 against the greenback and 81.00 against the yen.



Against the euro, the kiwi edged up to 1.6279 from yesterday's closing value of 1.6479. The kiwi is likely to find resistance around the 1.60 area.



The Canadian dollar rose to 1.4058 against the U.S. dollar and 84.31 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.4114 and 83.36, respectively. If the loonie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.39 against the greenback and 88.00 against the yen.



Against the euro, the loonie edged up to 1.5289 from an early near 5-month low of 1.5430. On the upside, 1.49 is seen as the next resistance level for the loonie.



Meanwhile, the safe-haven yen weakened against its major rivals amid rising risk appetite.



The yen fell to 3-day lows of 129.08 against the euro and 118.91 against the Swiss franc, from yesterday's closing quotes of 128.59 and 118.43, respectively. If the yen extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 132.00 against the euro and 122.00 against the franc.



Against the pound and the U.S. dollar, the yen dropped to 173.38 and 118.59 from yesterday's closing quotes of 171.91 and 117.65, respectively. The yen may test support near 177.00 against the pound and 120.00 against the greenback.



Looking ahead, Swiss unemployment rate for December and German industrial production and trade balance for November are due to be released in the pre-European session at 1:45 am ET and 2:00 am ET, respectively.



Swiss CPI for December and U.K. trade data for November are slated for release later in the day.



In the New York session, U.S. non-farm payrolls report for December, U.S. wholesale inventories data for November, U.S. Baker Hughes rig count data, Canada unemployment rate for December and building permits for November are set to be announced.



At 11:30 am ET, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams is expected to speak on the economic outlook before the California Association of Bankers in Santa Barbara, U.S.



At 1:00 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker is scheduled to speak on 'Economic Outlook, January 2016' before the Maryland Bankers Association's First Friday Economic Outlook Forum in Baltimore, U.S.



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TAIPEI, Taiwan, Jan. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On 7 January, the British Representative, Mr Chris Wood, hosted a reception to celebrate the award of a British honour to Dr. Winston Wen-Young WONG OBE, Chairman of the Grace THW Group.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320261

In being made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), Dr. Wong has been recognised for his services to education and research in the UK, and to UK/Taiwan education relations.

The British honours system recognises people who have made notable achievements in public life and/or who have committed themselves to serving and helping Britain.Awards are recommended by the British Government's Honours Committee through the Prime Minister, and are approved by Her Majesty The Queen.

In presenting Dr. Wong with the OBE insignia and the official Warrant for the award, Chris Wood said: "Dr. Wong is a longstanding friend of the United Kingdom.Since his studies in the UK, where he holds degrees in physics, applied optics and chemical engineering from Imperial College, London, Dr. Wong has been a strong supporter of research and education in the UK, in particular at Imperial College.He has also supported the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Chevening Scholarship programme, which supports potential future leaders in their fields to study for a Master's degree in the UK. I warmly congratulate Dr. Wong on this official recognition by the UK of his outstanding contributions."

In addition to his distinguished international career in business, Dr. Wong has also provided considerable philanthropic support for interdisciplinary and translational research, most particularly in the application of new technologies in healthcare. Amongst other contributions, Dr. Wong is a long-term sponsor of the Winston Wong Chair in Biomedical Circuits at Imperial College; and in 2009 he funded the establishment of the College's Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology within the Institute of Biomedical Engineering.He has also co-funded scholarship awards to Taiwanese students under the British Foreign & Commonwealth Chevening Scholarship programme.
BERLIN, GERMANY--(Marketwired - January 08, 2016) - RNTS Media N.V. ("RNTS"), the parent company of Fyber GmbH, a leading mobile advertising technology platform, today announced that it has closed the acquisition of San Francisco-based Heyzap Inc. ("Heyzap"), a fast growing mobile advertising technology company, for up to $45 million. The deal consists of an initial cash consideration of $20 million, with potential earn-out payments in cash and shares of up to $25 million upon achievement of certain performance targets by 2017.

This acquisition instantly accelerates the scale and reach of Fyber to over half a billion monthly active users worldwide, creating one of the largest independent supply-side platforms available in the marketplace today, that offers publishers a robust suite of mobile app monetization tools and gives advertisers the ability to reach an expanded global mobile audience at scale.

The deal also bolsters Fyber's suite of mobile app monetization tools and will deliver the following key benefits:

Expanded global reach and scale: Combining Heyzap's reach of 130M Monthly Active Users (MAU) with Fyber's 411M MAUs creates one of the largest independent mobile advertising technology companies globally.

Diversified sources of supply & demand: The acquisition increases the number of apps Fyber's platform is integrated with to more than 7,600. Advertisers and ad networks will now benefit from Fyber's increased global scale and enhanced mobile advertising inventory.

More robust tools: Mobile app and game developers as well as publishers will now have access to Fyber's leading app monetization solutions, offering advanced, flexible and customized ad management tools that enable publishers to achieve the highest yield for their ad inventory. These include Fyber's first-to-market mediation and ad exchange across a variety of formats, Real Time Bidding (RTB) platform and Publisher Ad Server.

"This marks an important milestone for Fyber, allowing us to deliver substantially broader global scale and reach for our demand partners, while offering a significantly expanded pool of advertising demand sources for publishers," said Fyber cofounder and COO Janis Zech. "Both Fyber and Heyzap share core values and a dedicated mission to build the most advanced developer-friendly monetization platform that will fuel the app economy of the future. We look forward to welcoming Heyzap to the Fyber team."

"The acquisition of Heyzap complements our strategy at RNTS to grow Fyber's market position by playing an active role in the consolidation of the mobile advertising industry," said RNTS Media CEO Andreas Bodczek. "As the proliferation of mobile devices continues to gather pace, we are dedicated to ensuring Fyber remains well positioned to support developers with industry-leading mobile app monetization products. We will continue to execute on this strategy in the coming year."

Backed by Union Square Ventures, Qualcomm, Naval Ravikant, Y Combinator, and Ashton Kutcher, Heyzap was founded in 2009 by Jude Gomila and Immad Akhund, and was recently named one of the fastest growing companies in San Francisco by San Francisco Business Times. The Heyzap team will be joining Fyber, growing the company's presence in San Francisco.

This marks the second acquisition for RNTS Media to strengthen and expand Fyber's offerings, following the acquisition of Falk Realtime in April 2015. Falk Realtime's ad server and SSP product suite are being integrated into the Fyber platform, creating a unified multi-screen ad tech platform for developers. RNTS will continue to innovate and invest in the development of cutting-edge technology solutions.

About RNTS Media

RNTS Media is a holding company focused on mobile advertising and digital content. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany and founded in 2010, it owns Fyber and BIGSTAR Global. RNTS Media is listed on the Prime Standard of Frankfurt Stock Exchange under symbol 'RNM.' For more information, visit www.rntsmedia.com.

About Fyber

Fyber is a leading mobile advertising technology company headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with an office in San Francisco. We are devoted to solving the fundamental business challenge faced by freemium app and game developers, generating sustainable revenue streams through ad monetization across all connected devices. Built by developers for developers, Fyber's unified platform serves approximately 411 million monthly active users and empowers thousands of the world's leading app developers and publishers to integrate, manage and optimize all ad revenue sources across mediation, exchange and ad serving. Fyber is investing for the long term to build the platform that will fuel the app economy of the future. For more information, visit www.fyber.com.

Investor Contact:

Heiner Luntz

ir@rntsmedia.com

+49 30 609 855 555



Media Contact:

Natalia Sandin

natalia.sandin@fyber.com

+1 650-201-8814
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Destatis is scheduled to release German industrial output and foreign trade data for November in the pre-European session on Friday at 2:00 am ET. Industrial production is forecast to grow 0.5 percent month-on-month in November following a 0.2 percent rise in October. The trade surplus is seen at EUR 20.2 billion in November compared to EUR 22.5 billion in October. Ahead of the data, the euro showed mixed trading against its major rivals. While the euro fell against the U.S. dollar, it held steady against the yen, against the pound and the Swiss franc. As of 1:55 am ET, the euro was trading at 0.7437 against the pound, 1.0863 against the U.S. dollar, 1.0851 against the Swiss franc and 128.65 against the yen. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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.
BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Germany's exports and imports recovered in November from October, data from Destatis showed Friday. Exports rose 0.4 percent in November from October, when it fell 1.3 percent. Likewise, imports grew 1.6 percent reversing a 3.2 percent drop in October. Economists had forecast exports to grow 0.5 percent and imports to improve 1 percent. As growth in imports outpaced export growth, the trade surplus dropped to a seasonally adjusted EUR 19.7 billion from EUR 20.5 billion. Year-on-year, growth in exports improved to 7.7 percent from 3.2 percent in October. Similarly, imports grew at a faster pace of 5.3 percent after rising 3 percent. On an unadjusted basis, the trade surplus decreased to EUR 20.6 billion from EUR 22.3 billion in previous month. The expected level of surplus was EUR 20.2 billion. The current account balance showed a surplus of EUR 24.7 billion versus EUR 18.5 billion surplus in the same period of prior year. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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.
TUEBINGEN, Germany and HOUSTON, January 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH, a leading company in the field of cancer immunotherapy announces the appointment of Katina Dorton as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective immediately.

Katina brings more than 20 years' of experience in investment banking and has served as a senior strategic advisor to numerous companies in the life sciences, medical devices and healthcare sectors. She is a former Managing Director Investment Banking, Morgan Stanley in New York and Frankfurt, Germany, serving 12 years at the firm. She later was Managing Director, Life Sciences, at Needham & Co. Prior to her investment banking career Dorton practiced law in mergers and acquisitions at Sullivan & Cromwell.

Katina's has deep expertise in corporate finance, capital raising and M&A, having led the execution of over 60 completed financing transactions raising more than $50 billion in equity and debt, including 25 IPOs and advised on dozens of M&A transactions.

Katina holds BA in Economics from Duke University, an MBA from George Washington University and a JD from the University of Virginia.

Peter Chambre, Chairman of Immatics, said: "We are delighted to welcome Katina to Immatics as our new CFO. Katina's experience working with innovative life sciences companies and strong track record leading corporate transactions and managing financial operations makes her an excellent addition to the Immatics senior management team. I am confident her expertise will prove hugely valuable as we work to execute our strategy and advance our broad portfolio of advanced immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer."

Katina Dorton, Chief Financial Officer of Immatics, said: "I am thrilled to be joining Immatics with its unique target discovery technology and prospects in cancer immunotherapy. I look forward to helping the company grow and to achieve its goal of changing the course of the disease and saving the lives of cancer patients."

About Immatics

Immatics is a global leader in cancer immunotherapy. This leading position is based on Immatics' unique and world-leading target discovery platform XPRESIDENT that enables the company to discover novel relevant, highly specific cancer antigens, both intra-cellular and surface, that are expressed by tumor cells for a range of cancer immunotherapies including adoptive cellular therapies, soluble T-cell receptors and antibodies. The antigens that XPRESIDENT discovers have the major advantage to be confirmed to be naturally expressed in human cancer tissue - in contrast to targets identified by widely applied in silico and indirect techniques.

Immatics is developing three adoptive cellular therapy approaches in collaboration with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: ACTolog', ACTengine' and ACTallo', the first of which is expected to enter the clinic in 2016.

Immatics is also working on soluble T-cell receptor (TCR) approaches through its proprietary TCR discovery platform. In addition, through its partnerships with Roche and MorphoSys, Immatics is also developing novel antibody-based therapeutics against multiple proprietary cancer antigens recognized by T cells.

Immatics is based in Tuebingen, Germany and in Houston, Texas.

For additional information on Immatics please visit www.immatics.com or contact:

Nikola Wiegeler

Immatics Biotechnologies

Phone: +49-7071-5397-110

E-mail: media@immatics.com



David Dible

Citigate Dewe Rogerson

Phone: +44-207-638-9571

E-mail: david.dible@citigatedr.co.uk


Vilnius, Lithuania, 2016-01-08 09:05 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On the initiative and by decision of the Board of AB Litgrid (legal entity kode 302564383, registered office address at A. Juozapaviciaus str. 13, Vilnius, hereinafter referred to as 'the Company'), an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of AB Litgrid is convened at 09.00 on 28 January 2016. The meeting will be held in the Room 226 in the Company's offices at A. Juozapaviciaus str. 13, Vilnius. The shareholders' registration begins at 08:30 on 28 January 2016. The shareholders' registration ends at 08:55 on 28 January 2016.The shareholders' record date for the purposes of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders has been set 21 January 2016. Only those persons that are shareholders of AB Litgrid as of the end of the shareholders' record date of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders can attend and vote at the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders.The agenda of the general meeting of shareholders and proposed draft resolution:1. Agenda:Regarding transfer of 67 percent of UAB Baltpool share capital.The proposed draft resolution on the aforesaid item of the agenda:"1.1. In pursuance to define the activities, which are not directly related to the electricity transmission, carried out by AB Litgrid, to approve the 6 January 2016 decision No 4 of the Board (Protocol No 1) to transfer 478 800 units (four hundred seventy eight thousand eight hundred units) ordinary registered non-material UAB Baltpool (legal entity code 302464881, registered address A. Juozapaviciaus str. 9-3, Vilnius) shares (67 percent of share capital), to UAB EPSO-G (legal entity code 302826889, registered address A. Juozapaviciaus str. 13, Vilnius) for 387 828 Eur (three hundred eighty seven thousand eight hundred twenty eight euros) in accordance with valuation of the independent property assessor.1.2. To authorize the CEO of AB Litgrid and Director of Finance Department according to the laws to sign purchase-sale agreement of the 478 800 units of the UAB Baltpool and to perform all actions related to the transfer of 478 800 units of UAB Baltpool shares."The shareholders can familiarise themselves with documents related to the agenda of the meeting, the draft resolution, and the general ballot on working days starting from 11 January 2016 in the premises of AB Litgrid at A. Juozapaviciaus str. 13, Vilnius, Room 141, during the working hours of the Company (07:30 - 11:30 and 12:15 - 16:30, on Fridays 07:30 - 11:30 and 12:15 - 15:15). These documents and other information which must be public according to the law and which is related to the shareholders' right to propose additions to the agenda of the meeting, to propose draft resolutions on items on the agenda of the meeting and to put questions to the Company concerning items on the agenda in advance will also be published on the Company's website at http://www.litgrid.eu.If a shareholder having the right to vote or his duly authorised representative requests in writing, the Company will prepare and send, no later than 10 days before the general meeting of shareholders, a general ballot by registered mail or deliver it personally against signature. The general ballot will also be available on the company's website at http://www.litgrid.eu. A filled-in and signed general ballot and a document confirming the right to vote can be presented to the Company by registered mail or by personal delivery to its offices at A. Juozapaviciaus str. 13, Vilnius, not later than by the end of working hours (16:30) on the 27 January 2016.The Company reserves the right not to include in the voting results the votes cast by the shareholder or his authorised representative in advance if the presented general ballot does not meet the requirements set in Article 30 (3) and (4) of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Companies, or if it is received late or is filled in a way that makes it impossible to establish the true will of the shareholder on a specific issue.A person attending the general meeting of shareholders with the voting right must present, by the end of registration of the shareholders for the general meeting of shareholders, a personal identification document.Persons have the right to vote at the general meeting of shareholders by proxy (under a power of attorney). A power of attorney is a written document issued by a person (principal) to another person (proxy) to represent the principal for the purposes of establishing and maintaining relations with third persons. A power of attorney authorising a person to take, on behalf of a natural person, actions related to legal persons must be certified by a notary except for cases where authorisation in a different form is permitted by law. Proxies must hold a personal identification document and a power of attorney which must be certified according to the procedure prescribed by the law and which must be produced no later than by the end of registration of the shareholders for the general meeting of shareholders. A proxy is entitled to the same rights at the general meeting of shareholders as the shareholder represented by him/her would have.Shareholders having the right to attend the general meeting of shareholders may authorise a natural or legal person, by means of electronic communications, to vote on their behalf at the general meeting of shareholders. Such an authorisation does not need to be certified by a notary. The company accepts an authorisation given by means of electronic communications provided that the shareholder has signed it with an electronic signature created by means of a secure signature creating software and the signature has been certified by a qualified certificate valid in the Republic of Lithuania, i. e. provided that security of the transmitted information is ensured and the shareholder's identity can be established. The shareholder must give the Company a written notice of such authorisation by sending it via email to info@litgrid.eu not later than by the end of the working hours (16:30) on 27 January 2014.Attending and voting at the general meeting of shareholders by means of electronic communications is not possible.Attachments:1. General ballot2. Minutes of the Board meetingVilija Railaite Head of Communications Phone +370 5278 2361 Mobile +370 613 19977 E-mail vilija.railaite@litgrid.euAttachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=542652
PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French foreign trade deficit decreased in November from a month earlier, as exports grew faster than imports, figures from the French Customs showed Friday. The trade deficit narrowed slightly to EUR 4.63 billion in November from EUR 4.9 billion in the preceding month. In the corresponding month last year, the shortfall was EUR 3.6 billion. Exports rebounded strongly by 3.0 percent monthly in November, following a 0.2 percent fall in October. Imports grew at a slower pace of 2.0 percent in November after a 2.4 percent climb in the prior month. On annual basis, both exports and imports increased by 2.0 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively in November. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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.
DUBLIN, January 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/w2c277/cement_market_in) has announced the addition of the"Cement Market in the GCC 2015-2019"report to their offering.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130307/600769)

The report estimates the cement market in the GCC to post a healthy market growth rate of more than 6% during the forecast period.

The use of blended cement in Saudi Arabia has been increasing. Blended cement is manufactured by adding pozzolanic materials such as fly ash, silica fume, and slag to the cement clinker and gypsum. This helps to improve the overall quality of the concrete, making it resistant to high temperatures and corrosion. In general, ordinary Portland cement is the most widely used blending material for concrete.



According to the report, one of the major drivers propelling demand for cement in the country is increased investment in the transportation sector. The increase in population and rise in inbound tourism are driving the government to invest significantly in the public transit system.



Further, the report states that the three-year cement export ban in Saudi Arabia is posing a serious challenge for the cement producers. Saudi Arabia has a domestic surplus in cement production and because of the export ban, many of the cement manufacturers are shutting down their production lines in the country.

Key vendors are:

Gulf Cement

Kuwait Cement Company

Lafarge

Oman Cement Company

Qatar National Cement

Saudi Cement Company

Other prominent vendors are:

Al Safwa Cement

Aljabor Cement Industries

Eastern Province Cement

Fujairah Cement Industries

Jebel Ali Cement

Khalid Cement Industries Complex

Najran Cement

National Cement

Pioneer Cement

Ras al-Khaimah Cement

Southern Province Cement

Tabuk Cement

Teba Cement Factory

Yamama

Yanbu Cement.

Key Topics Covered:



PART 01: Executive summary



PART 02: Scope of the report



PART 03: Market research methodology



PART 04: Introduction



PART 05: Industry overview



PART 06: Market landscape



PART 07: Segmentation of GCC countries



PART 08: GCC countries



PART 09: Impact of drivers



PART 10: Impact of drivers and challenges



PART 11: Vendor landscape

PART 12: Key vendor analysis

For more information visithttp://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/w2c277/cement_market_in

About Research and Markets

Research and Markets is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.





Media Contact:

Laura Wood

+353-1-481-1716

press@researchandmarkets.net


This is a joint press release by FedEx Corporation, FedEx Acquisition B.V. and TNT Express N.V. pursuant to the provisions of Article 5:25i paragraph 2 of the Dutch Act on Financial Supervision (Wet op het Financieel Toezicht, the DFSA) and Article 4 paragraph 3 of the Decree on Public Takeover Bids (Besluit Openbare Biedingen Wft, the Decree) in connection with the recommended public offer by FedEx Acquisition B.V. for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of TNT Express N.V., including all American depositary shares representing ordinary shares (the Offer). This announcement does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in TNT Express N.V. The Offer is made solely pursuant to the offer document, dated August 21, 2015 (the Offer Document), approved by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiele Markten) (the AFM). Terms not defined in this press release will have the meaning as set forth in the Offer Document.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160108005215/en/

FedEx Corporation (FedEx) (NYSE:FDX), FedEx Acquisition B.V. (the Offeror) and TNT Express (TNT Express) hereby jointly announce that they have obtained the unconditional approval of the European Commission in connection with the Offer. After its investigation, the European Commission has concluded that the deal does not raise any competition concerns.

"We are extremely pleased to receive the European Commission's unconditional approval," said David Binks, Regional President Europe, FedEx Express. "We believe the combination of TNT Express and FedEx will provide significant value to the employees, customers and shareholders of both companies."

FedEx and TNT Express continue to work constructively with the regulatory authorities to obtain clearance of the transaction in the remaining jurisdictions, including Brazil and China. FedEx and TNT Express are making timely progress and continue to anticipate that the Offer will close in the first half of calendar year 2016.

About FedEx Corp.

FedEx provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $48 billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world's most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 340,000 team members to remain "absolutely, positively" focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities.

For more information, please visit www.fedex.com.

About TNT Express

TNT Express is one of the world's largest express delivery companies. On a daily basis, TNT Express delivers close to one million consignments ranging from documents and parcels to palletised freight. The company operates road and air transportation networks in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. TNT Express made 6.7 billion in revenue in 2014.

For more information, please visit www.tnt.com/corporate.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160108005215/en/

Contacts:

FedEx Corporation

Media

Patrick Fitzgerald, +1 901 818 7300

Email: patrick.fitzgerald@fedex.com

or

FedEx Investor Relations

Mickey Foster, +1 901 818 7468

Email: mickey.foster@fedex.com

or

Citigate First Financial

Media Contacts Europe

Uneke Dekkers/Vivian ten Have, +31 (0) 20 575 40 10

Mobile: +31 (0) 6 50261626 +31 (0) 6 46233900

or

TNT Express

Media

Cyrille Gibot, +31 88 393 9390

Mobile: +31 65 113 3104

Email: cyrille.gibot@tnt.com

or

Investor Relations

Gerard Wichers, +31 88 393 9500

gerard.wichers@tnt.com
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Hungary's foreign trade surplus decreased in November from a year ago, as imports grew faster than exports, preliminary figures from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office showed Friday. The trade surplus shrank to EUR 672.8 million in November from EUR 708.9 million in the corresponding month last year. Exports climbed 6.5 percent year-over-year in November and imports surged by 7.7 percent. The share of EU member states was 81 percent in exports and 76 percent in imports. In the January to November period, total trade surplus of the country was EUR 7.44 billion versus EUR 6.03 billion in the same period of the preceding year. Both exports and imports rose by 7.3 percent and 6.0 percent, respectively. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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.




Press release

IPH Group announces its entry into Swiss market

with MONTALPINA AG

Kriens, 7th January 2016

MONTALPINA AG has joined the IPH Group and is from now on responsible for the Swiss market inside the European IPH network.

MONTALPINA AG is a leading technical distributor with three points of sale in Switzerland. The company offers a wide range of products with bearings, power transmission and sealings to the point of special tools and measuring equipment. Furthermore MONTALPINA supports its customers with a specialized engineering department, technical services and innovative maintenance concepts.

With sales of more than  1 billion in 2015, IPH is one of the largest technical distributor groups in Europe. Over the past 10 years, IPH has actively driven consolidation of the industry by adding a number of powerful European players and entering some of the most significant countries in Europe. Today, IPH Group is present in Europe with many strong brands, notably ZITEC and KISTENPFENNIG in Germany, OREXAD in France, MINETTI in Italy and BIESHEUVEL TECHNIEK in the Netherlands and ROBOD in POLAND. Acquiring MONTALPINA will now also expand the presence of IPH to Switzerland and its important market.

The new Swiss national organisation with MONTALPINA will cooperate and work very closely with the company ZITEC Gruppe from Germany within the European IPH services and sales network. ZITEC Gruppe GmbH, leader in technical distribution in Germany, is reputed for its comprehensive service programme employing 1,100 staff members at 41 branches. Customers from industry and technical engineering are offered a full product range including bearing, linear, power transmission and fluid technology as well as other machine parts. In 2015, ZITEC generated a total revenue of 250 million.

With this collaboration MONTALPINA will further improve its competitive position and prepare in the best possible way for all future challenges. The technical trade company will be managed by its present owner Urs A. Stalder, who will also guide the integration process. All branches of MONTALPINA will be carried on with the existing staff.

"To strengthen the Europe-wide network of IPH is one major objective of our longtime company strategy", say Walter Nemetz, Chief Strategy and Development Officer. "With MONTALPINA we are able to extend our activities to Switzerland and establish a central link between Germany, France and Italy. International key accounts now have access to an increasingly powerfull distribution network profiting by the geographical presence of MONTALPINA".

"Together with IPH and ZITEC we will be able to literally move greater things", says Urs A. Stalder, Chief Executive Officer of MONTALPINA. "Looking back on 25 years as owner of MONTALPINA it's now the perfect opportunity to take the next big step in our company history. With IPH we found the ideal partner for a successful future. Our customers and suppliers will benefit from an extended product, brand and service programme, highly efficient supply and value added services."

"ZITEC supports the acquisition in every possible way as we are certain that in combination with MONTALPINA we will be able to create a strong partnership with numerous upsides for both customer clienteles." adds Dr. Otto Max Schaefer, Chief Executive Officer of ZITEC Gruppe and Director in charge of the German market and Eastern European countries for IPH. "We see a lot of potential by exchanging knowledge in the value-added services segment with already high-performance and on product level in power transmission. From now on MONTALPINA will also have access to our wide product range. For this reasons MONTALPINA and ZITEC will both fully benefit in operational business from each other."

About MONTALPINA

MONTALPINA AG, founded in 1927, is a technical distribution company in Switzerland with headquarters in Kriens near Luzern, a branch in Yverdon-les-Bains and a sales office in Bern. MONTALPINA supplies industry and commerce with bearings, sealings and power transmission. Over 50,000 articles are available from stock. Whenever something spins or moves, everywhere were force is transferred, MONTALPINA always offers fast and reliable solutions.

With its own engineering department MONTALPINA increases efficiency of plants and production lines. Including services like monitoring of machines, damage analysis or training of technical staff.

Working with MONTALPINA always brings the highest level of benefits. Counting on MONTALPINA your plants and machines will become more reliable. Reliability gives more safety and reduces cost of idleness. MONTALPINA stands by the following basic principles: quality products of leading suppliers, a wide range of products on the spot, individual and competent support and a fair partnership. Those objectives are the guidelines of the company strategy - also for the future!

About IPH

The IPH group is known under different names: Orexad in France, D'Hont in Belgium, Zitec and Kistenpfennig in Germany, Biesheuvel Techniek in the Netherlands, Minetti in Italy, Novotech in Romania and Robod in Poland. IPH has a turnover of around EUR 1.130 billion generated across 200 branches employing around 4,000 staff.

While the group belongs to one of the largest distribution organisations in Europe in terms of industrial supplies, IPH (or its subsidiaries) is No. 1 in France, No. 1 in Germany in the area of power transmission , No. 1 in Italy for power transmission and No. 2 in the Netherlands.

IPH also has 100,000 active customers and 15,000 suppliers. IPH operates in six product segments: Power Transmission, Machining, Assembly, Tooling, Personal Protection and Workshop Equipment. The "Power Transmission" segment represents 40% of sales.

www.group-iph.com (http://www.group-iph.com)

About ZITEC Gruppe

ZITEC Gruppe GmbH is an innovative distributor of technical parts reputed for its comprehensive service programme in engineering, materials management, purchasing, logistics and maintenance.

ZITEC provides top-quality products ranging from bearings, linear motion, power transmission, pneumatics, hydraulics to mechanical components for MRO and OEM. Over 230,000 items from 6,000 suppliers, which total a value of over 55 million Euros, are available from stock at any time. Prompt delivery, technical and commercial services complete the portfolio. Future-oriented concepts, a wide service range as well as the courage to adjust new solutions make ZITEC a truly innovative service company. ZITEC operates 41 branches in Germany, is a member of Industrial Parts Holding (IPH) and in charge of the German market. Over 1,000 staff members, most of them technicians, move 1,500,000 order lines per year and provide professional and bespoke service to 13,000 customers from industry, mechanical engineering companies and distributors of technical parts.

Contacts :

For IPH:

Nicole Roffe

EZRA Communication

nroffe@ezracom.eu (mailto:nroffe@ezracom.eu)

Tel: + 33 6 60 06 16 45 For Zitec and Montalpina:

Daniel Eiler

Groupe IPH

daniel.eiler@zitec-gruppe.com (mailto:daniel.eiler@zitec-gruppe.com)

Tel: +49 9931 960 230

20160107 MONTALPINA IPH Press Release (http://hugin.info/167489/R/1977573/724038.pdf)



This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: IPH via Globenewswire



HUG#1977573


LONDON, January 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Adyoulike, the European leader in native advertising technology, today [Thursday, 7th January, 2016] announced it's UK native advertising revenue increased by more than 300% in 2015.

Adyoulike, which has offices in London and Paris, has been at the forefront in the global growth in native advertising in 2015. In December Adyoulike released global figures showing the value of native advertising worldwide and how it is expected to almost double over the next three years, rising from$30.9bnin 2015 to$59.35bnin 2018.

Commenting on the UK revenue figures, Francis Turner, UK managing director, Francis Turner says;

"2015 was a phenomenal year for native advertising in the UK and for Adyoulike. 2015 was the year native advertising went mainstream. We experienced huge growth in the number of advertisers running campaigns with us, saw average spends quadruple and expect continued growth throughout 2016.

"Native ad spend is now tracked by the IAB and PwC, it often has separate budgets within media plans and we can see money moving into native from display. The arrival of the OpenRTB 2.3 standard has allowed advertisers to distribute genuinely creative native content programmatically for the first time too. We've gone from test budgets at the start of 2015 to significant media spend on native advertising at the start of 2016.

"2015 was a turning point in the native advertising landscape in the UK - advertisers now know native advertising works and with continued innovation and the growth of mobile, where native advertising is the only format that really works well, we are genuinely excited about what 2016 means for the sector."

Increased investment in improved ad technology and the roll out of innovative native advertising products, including the adoption of a SaaS platform that is being used by leading publishers such as Trinity Mirror, to run and serve their own native ad campaigns, as well as the continued growth in programmatic native advertising will ensure Adyoulike remains at the forefront of native advertising in the UK market in 2016.

Adyoulike has pioneered the move for programmatic native advertising. In March 2015 Adyoulike was the first to launch a programmatic native exchange with AppNexus, followed up in October, 2015 with a MediaMath programmatic native advertising integration.

Expansion across Europe, as well as extended partnerships in the Middle East and Australasia consolidated the native advertising technology company's global position in 2015.

Adyoulike integrates across publishers seamlessly to deliver brand content in the heart of editorial content and user experience.



The exceptional revenue growth in 2015 in the UK comes on the back of strong 2014 performance for the Adyoulike group as a whole, which experienced 250% growth on 2013. Annual growth figures for the Adyoulike group as a whole, will be announced later in the year.

About Adyoulike:

Adyoulike is the European leader in native advertising. Through seamless, scalable technology Adyoulike is able to create premium in-feed native ad placements that fit any connected device - mobile, tablet, desktop and in-app easily.

The world's leading brands use Adyoulike to promote their brand content on premium publisher placements, reaching unparalleled levels of engagement in the process. Publishers use Adyoulike to create their own in-feed native ad units as well as to create new ways to monetise their inventory.

Operating across Europe and spearheading Programmatic native advertising, Adyoulike is at the forefront of growth in an exciting new advertising medium that is focused on user choice and engagement in advertising.

Follow Adyoulike:

Twitter: @adyoulike

LinkedIn: Adyoulike

Facebook: Facebook.com/Adyoulike

Blog: blog.adyoulike.com



For more information, contact:

Anil, anil@velvetpr.biz, +44(0)208-996-1800

Jack, jack@velvetpr.biz, +44(0)208-996-1800
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The New Zealand dollar trimmed its early gains against the other major opponents in Europe on Friday. The kiwi pared gains to 1.0613 versus the aussie and 1.6429 against the euro, from its prior highs of 1.0571 and 1.6279, respectively. Pulling away from early 2-day highs of 0.6678 against the greenback and 79.15 against the yen, the kiwi edged down to 0.6618 and 78.27, respectively. The next possible support for the kiwi is seen around 0.65 against the greenback, 77.00 against the yen, 1.07 against the aussie and 1.66 against the euro. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Dollar Tree, Inc. (DLTR), an operator of discount variety stores, said Howard Levine has completed his role in the integration of Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, and is stepping down as an officer of the company effective January 15. On July 6, 2015, Dollar Tree completed its acquisition of more than 8,200 Family Dollar stores across 46 states. The company had previously announced that Levine would remain with the company for a period of time to assist with the integration, supporting Dollar Tree's Chief Executive Officer Bob Sasser. Gary Philbin, who was named Family Dollar's President and Chief Operating Officer in July 2015, will continue leading Family Dollar and will continue reporting to Sasser. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Actress Angelina Jolie has asked her kids Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and Knox to join her on-screen as members of the ancient Chinese cartoon clan in Kung Fu Panda 3. The 40-year-old Oscar-winning actress, who will reprise her role as the Tigress, will have her children lending their voices to some of the other pandas featured in the film, reported E! online. They have some lines in the film, Jolie's representative said. Though this will be the first big screen performance for seven year-old Knox with his mom, the rest of the kids have worked on the set with Jolie and dad Brad Pitt. Pax and Zahara as well as Vivienne made cameos in the Disney Maleficent. Shiloh, 9, and Maddox both worked on their father's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and World War Z. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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.
SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/08/16 -- PURE Bioscience, Inc. (OTCQB: PURE), creator of the patented silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC) antimicrobial, today discussed its best-in-class food safety solutions for eliminating pathogens in restaurant operations, including Norovirus, E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria. PURE's recent traction in its sales and marketing outreach to restaurant chains highlights the proven superior safety and efficacy of the PURE Total Solution: SDC-based PURE Hard Surface food contact surface disinfectant plus recently FDA approved PURE Control (for use directly on fresh produce or raw poultry during processing).

PURE Hard Surface - Restaurant Food Safety Solution

PURE is revolutionizing restaurant food safety with the most effective, user friendly antimicrobial disinfectant available. Proven in extensive testing, it eliminates a broader range of microorganisms in restaurant operations faster and more safely than sanitizers currently in use today.

Superior efficacy -- 96% improved overall sanitation vs. leading competitor's quaternary ammonia product.

Eliminates Norovirus in 60 seconds -- a leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in the US. Norovirus is not eliminated by competitive sanitizers as conventionally used today.

Faster kill against Listeria, E. coli, Salmonella and other foodborne pathogens.

24-hour residual protection.

Mitigates bacterial resistance.

Lowest toxicity -- user and environment friendly.

Restaurant customers using PURE Hard Surface disinfectant presently include:

Two Casual Dining chains and one Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chain which have recently adopted PURE Hard Surface to fight Norovirus.

Four additional chains are in the midst of the evaluation process.

SUBWAY Restaurants* use in approx. 7,100 stores (25% penetration) to date on food contact surfaces including produce slicers, cutting/sandwich board, prep tables and dining tables. The product has recently been approved for expanded use on ice machines -- and is being evaluated for additional areas of use.

Hank R. Lambert, CEO of PURE said, "Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants. It has gained heightened visibility in the media recently, most notably with the Chipotle Mexican Restaurants outbreaks that have led to a Federal Grand Jury investigation. The impact that these outbreaks can have on human health as well as a company's brand is devastating. Use of PURE Hard Surface by restaurant chains can provide superior protection against Norovirus versus products currently being used... and go a long way toward providing safer food for consumers and protecting the restaurant's most valuable asset -- its brand."

* SUBWAY is a registered trademark of Doctor's Associates Inc.

About PURE Bioscience, Inc.

PURE Bioscience, Inc. is focused on developing and commercializing our proprietary antimicrobial products primarily in the food safety arena -- providing solutions to the health and environmental challenges of pathogen and hygienic control. Our technology platform is based on patented stabilized ionic silver, and our initial products contain silver dihydrogen citrate, or SDC. SDC is a broad-spectrum, non-toxic antimicrobial agent, which offers 24-hour residual protection and formulates well with other compounds. As a platform technology, SDC is distinguished from existing products in the marketplace because of its superior efficacy, reduced toxicity and it mitigates bacterial resistance. PURE is headquartered in El Cajon, California (San Diego metropolitan area). Additional information on PURE is available at www.purebio.com.

Forward-looking Statements

Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the Company's failure to implement or otherwise achieve the benefits of its proposed business initiatives and plans; acceptance of the Company's current and future products and services in the marketplace, including acceptance of the Company's PURE Hard Surface and the Company's ability to convert successful evaluations into customer orders; the ability of the Company to develop effective new products and receive required regulatory approvals for such products, including the required data and regulatory approvals required to use its SDC-based technology as a direct food contact processing aid in raw poultry and raw meat processing; competitive factors; dependence upon third-party vendors, including to manufacture its products; and other risks detailed in the Company's periodic report filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), including its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2015 and its Form 10-Q for the first quarter ended October 31, 2015. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.

Contacts:

Hank Lambert

CEO

PURE Bioscience, Inc.

619-596-8600 ext.103

Email Contact



Terri MacInnis

VP of IR

Bibicoff + MacInnis, Inc.

818-379-8500

Email Contact



Tom Hemingway

Redwood Investment Group

714-978-4425

Email Contact




WESTCHESTER, Ill., January 8, 2016 - Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE: INGR), a leading global provider of ingredient solutions to diversified industries, today announced that Ernesto Pousada has been appointed senior vice president and president, South America, effective February 1, 2016.

Reporting to Jim Zallie, Ingredion executive vice president global specialties and president, Americas, Pousada will be responsible for the region's financial and operational performance. He succeeds Ricardo Souza who is retiring after over 35 years of exemplary service.

He will join Ingredion from Suzano Papel e Celulose, a $2.5 billion leader in the Brazilian pulp and paper industry, where he has been the chief operating officer for the past eight years. Pousada also spent 15 years at Dow Chemical managing business divisions in South America, the United States and Europe.

A Brazilian national, Pousada holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Instituto Maua de Tecnologia in Brazil and a specialization in business administration from Fundacao Instituto de Administracao, also in Brazil.

"We welcome Ernesto to Ingredion. His comprehensive experience, global perspective and leadership skills will be valuable assets as we continue our journey transforming the Company into a world-class supplier of specialty ingredient solutions," said Zallie.

ABOUT INGREDION

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE: INGR) is a leading global ingredient solutions provider. We turn corn, tapioca, potatoes and other vegetables and fruits into value-added ingredients and biomaterial solutions for the food, beverage, paper and corrugating, brewing and other industries. Serving customers in over 100 countries, our ingredients make yogurts creamy, candy sweet, paper stronger and face creams silky. Visit Ingredion.com (http://ingredion.com/) to learn more.

###

CONTACT:

Investors: Heather Kos, 708-551-2592

Media: Claire Regan, 708-551-2602





This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Ingredion Incorporated via Globenewswire



HUG#1977530


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 Labour Department is set to release U.S. jobs data for December at 8:30 am ET Friday. The economy is expected to add 203,000 jobs in December, following an addition of 211,000 jobs in November. Ahead of the data, the greenback showed mixed trading against its major rivals. While the greenback rose against the pound, it held steady against the yen, euro and the franc. The greenback was worth 1.0865 against the euro, 118.34 against the yen, 1.4586 against the pound and 0.9999 against the franc as of 8:25 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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.
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 01/08/16 -- Beaufield Resources Inc. ("Beaufield") (TSX VENTURE: BFD) - William Deluce has announced his resignation, as a director of Beaufield effective January 7, 2016 so he may focus on other opportunities. Beaufield is very pleased to have had the opportunity to benefit from Mr. Deluce's participation on Beaufield's board.

Beaufield is pleased to announce the appointment of Mathieu Stephens, P. Geo to the position of Vice President, Exploration and Corporate Development effective today. Mathieu is a key contributor to Beaufield's exploration success and financial strength. His qualifications for the position are:

-- University of Quebec in Montreal - 1999 - B.Sc Geology -- Ecole des Haute Etudes Commerciales Montreal - 2001 - Graduate Studies in Business Management -- Canadian Securities Institute - 2005 - Canadian Securities Course -- Canaccord Genuity - 2003 to 2008 - Manager and Business Administration -- Beaufield Resources - 2008 to Present - Senior Geologist and Chief Geologist

Jens Hansen P. Eng, President and CEO of the Corporation commented "Beaufield is very pleased to offer Mathieu this new position. With a Quebec based exploration focus Mathieu's professional knowledge and enthusiasm is a key to the future of Beaufield".

About Beaufield:

Beaufield is a mineral exploration company with its exploration activity focused in Quebec. Beaufield is well positioned to advance its portfolio of exploration properties and identify other potential opportunities in the mineral exploration or development stage. The Corporation is actively exploring, well financed with approximately $3 million in cash, has no debt and has excess work credits on its properties.

The information set forth in this press release includes certain forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on assumptions exposed to major risks and uncertainties. Although Beaufield deems the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements to be reasonable, the Corporation cannot provide any guarantee as to the materialization of the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements. The Corporation expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Release.

Contacts:

Jens E. Hansen, President and CEO

514.842.3443



Mathieu Stephens, VP Exploration and Corporate Development

613.721.2919

info@beaufield.com

www.beaufield.com




NEW YORK, Jan. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, twin sister of the late Shah of Iran, died peacefully in her home in EuropeThursday at the age of 96 on the 80th anniversary of the unveiling of women in Iran. Considered a pioneer of women's rights, she was the first woman to appear unveiled in public in Iran when she accompanied her father to the graduation ceremonies that launched the unveiling initiative. As a result, she was maligned and hated by the religious fundamentalists.

Recognized as a skilled diplomat, Princess Ashraf headed the Iranian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly for more than a decade. She was considered a powerful spokesperson for her brother often acting as his envoy for many successful diplomatic missions. One of her most significant successes was her negotiations with the Chinese as the first Iranian diplomat to head a mission to that country that led to establishment of full diplomatic relations between the two countries. In exile, she remained active supporting initiatives related to reviving Iran's cultural, literary, and artistic heritage.

She was president of the pre-revolutionary Women's Organization of Iran, honorary vice-chair of Iran's National Committee for World Literacy Program, Vice-President of the Imperial Organization for Social Welfare, head of the Iranian Delegation to the United Nation's General Assembly, chair of the First United Nations Conference on Human Rights in Tehran in 1968, chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and, in exile, honorary president of the Foundation for Iranian Studies.

She is survived by one son, Prince Chahram and five grandchildren and great grandchildren.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/08/16 -- Organto Foods Inc. (TSX VENTURE: OGO) is pleased to provide an update on developments from its Monjas Farm. As previously disclosed in its Filing Statement of November 20th, 2015, Organto has acquired, pursuant to the terms of a 10 year lease to own agreement, a 53-hectare organic farm located in Monjas, Guatemala, from a private landowner. The property includes an existing 3.2 hectare greenhouse that provides Organto with immediate production capabilities in organic beans and related vegetables. Organto has commenced seeding and planting of organic French green beans (haricot verts) and plans to commence shipping the first product from the Monjas Farm in the coming months under the Organto brand.

Over the past two years, Organto (formerly Agricola Nuova Terra) has been delivering a wide-range of fresh produce to clients in North America and Europe. Organto currently has approximately 150 hectares of third party owned conventional farm land planted on a rotating basis under contract in Guatemala. The purchase of the Monjas Farm launches Organto's objective of being the leading vertically integrated, branded organic food company, producing directly from self-owned greenhouses and farmland. Organto is evaluating a number of other acquisition opportunities.

"At a time when quality organic farmland is scarce and in high demand by our competitors, Organto has successfully secured a high quality asset with existing infrastructure," commented Peter Gianulis, President & CEO of Organto. "The organic fresh fruit and vegetable segment continues to experience double-digit growth with limited supply available across numerous segments. We believe that Organto is one of the best-positioned companies in the sector to benefit from this exceptional growth," stated Mr. Gianulis.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,

Peter L Gianulis, CEO and Director

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This release may include certain forward-looking information and statements, as defined by law including without limitation Canadian securities laws and the "safe harbor" provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("forward-looking statements"). In particular, and without limitation this news release contains forward-looking statements respecting the company's future plans for production and shipping of product; the business, goals and objectives of Organto Foods Inc.; the future prospects for the company and its business; management's beliefs, assumptions and expectations; and general business and economic conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including without limitation assumptions about the following: levels of agricultural production; the time frame for completion of agricultural harvesting; cost increases; dependence on suppliers, partners and contractual counter-parties; changes in the business or prospects of the company; unforeseen circumstances; risks associated with the organic and conventional produce business; general business and economic conditions; and ongoing relations with employees, consultants, partners and joint venturers. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and we undertake no obligation to update any of the foregoing except as required by law.

Contacts:

Organto Foods Inc.

Investor Relations

604-634-0970 or Toll Free: 1-888-818-1364

+1 604 634-0971 (FAX)

info@columbusgroup.com

www.organto.com






WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Employment in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of December, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Friday.



The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 292,000 jobs in December compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 200,000 jobs.



The report also said employment in October and November increased by an upwardly revised 307,000 jobs and 252,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a combined upward revision of 50,000 jobs.



The stronger than expected job growth in December was led by gains in professional and business services, construction, health care, and food services and drinking places.



On the other than, employment in the mining sector edged down by 8,000 jobs, as oil and gas companies cut jobs amid the drop in crude oil prices.



The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate held at a more than seven-year low of 5.0 percent in December, matching expectations.



The unchanged reading on unemployment came as household employment jumped by 485,000 people and the labor force increased by 466,000 people.



Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, said, 'A huge jobs gain in December was likely boosted by unusually clement weather. But from the Fed's perspective, it's vindication nonetheless of the decision to hike in December.'



'The market is taking the report in stride as the Fed is not expected to do anything at its January meeting, and there are two more employment reports before the March decision,' he added.



Meanwhile, the report also said average hourly employee earnings edged down by a penny to $25.24 in December. Compared to the same month a year ago, hourly earnings were up by 2.5 percent.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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NEW DELHI (dpa-AFX) - Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has launched an outreach group to engage Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, an increasingly potent voting bloc, as she looks to broaden the appeal of her campaign.



The group 'AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) for Hillary' was launched in California in presence of a large number of Asian American leaders, including Indian-Americans, reports said. At the launch, Clinton pledged to address the concerns of the community, including those related to immigration and visa. She promised to work to reduce the backlog for family visa to reunite immigrant families.



Lisa Changadveja, who has roots in Thailand, has been named the AAPI Outreach Director for Hillary for America.



Applicants from the Asia-Pacific region make up about 40 percent of the family visa backlog. Some from the Philippines have been waiting for a visa for 23 years. 'If you're a US citizen and your brother lives in India, it will take at least 12 years just to get him a visa,' the former Secretary of State said.



'We have got to do more to help the millions of people who are eligible for citizenship take that last step. I will work to expand fee waivers so more people can get a break on the costs. I will increase access to language programs to help people boost their English proficiency. I don't want anyone who could be a citizen now to miss out on that opportunity,' she said.



The former First Lady explained the reasons for her early outreach to the community. 'That is essential because right now, it's one of the fastest-growing communities in this country, but it's a community that votes at a lower rate than others.' 'America's ties to the Asia-Pacific region have always been important, but in the 21st century they will be absolutely vital,' according to Clinton.



She said she was very proud when her husband's administration launched the first-ever White House initiative on Asian- Americans and Pacific Islanders, she added. The United States is a country built by the hard work of generations of immigrants and America is stronger because of its diversity and openness.



The Democratic front-runner also identified his potential presidential rival Donald Trump in her speech. 'I disagree with the Republican front-runner, Mr. Trump. See, I think America is great because generations of hardworking Americans have made us great. Our values and our ideals have made us great,' Clinton said.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Segments (EURm) Q4/15 Q4/14 yoy 12m/15 12m/14 yoy -------------------------------------------------------------- Supermarkets 104.2 99.2 5.0% 383.5 368.2 4.2% Department stores 29.1 28.4 2.4% 95.6 92.5 3.3% Cars 15.2 13.9 9.0% 60.8 57.7 5.3% Footwear 3.4 3.2 7.7% 11.9 13.4 -10.7% Real Estate 1.2 0.8 38.5% 3.7 3.3 12.6% Total sales 153.0 145.5 5.1% 555.5 535.0 3.8% --------------------------------------------------------------



The consolidated unaudited sales revenue of the Tallinna Kaubamaja Group in 2015 was 555.5 million euros, having grown by 3.8% compared to the result of 2014, when the sales revenue was 535.0 million euros. In the 4th quarter, the group's sales revenue was 153.0 million euros, which is 5.1% more than the sales revenue earned the year before. Revenue growth was in line with the Group's expectations.



The consolidated sales revenue of the supermarket segment in the 2015 was 383.5 million euros, a year-on-year growth of 4.2%. The consolidated sales revenue of the 4th quarter was 104.2 million euros, having grown by 5.0% compared to the same period in the previous year. The sales revenue of goods in comparable stores for the 4th quarter of 2015 was indicating an increase of 2.2%, in summary comparable net sales of 2015 increased for 1.5%.



The sales revenue of the department store business segment for the 2015 was 95.6 million euros, having grown by 3.3% compared to the previous year. Of that, the sales revenue of the 4th quarter was 29.1 million euros, 2.4% more than the revenue of the 4th quarter 2014. The sales revenue of OU TKM Beauty Eesti, which operates the I.L.U. beauty stores, was 5.1 million euros in the 2015, 9.0% higher than in the previous year. Of that, the sales revenue of the 4th quarter was 1.7 million euros, 6.4% more compared to the comparable period of 2014.



The sales revenue of the vehicle trade segment for the 2015 was 60.8 million euros. The sales revenue exceeded the revenue of the last year by 5.3%; the sales revenue of KIAs increased by 7.1%. The sales revenue of 15.2 million euros generated in the 4th quarter was higher than the sales revenue of the year before by 9.0%; the sales revenue of KIAs increased by 3.4%.



The sales revenue of the footwear segment in the 2015 was 11.9 million euros, having decreased by 10.7% in a year. In the 4th quarter, the turnover was 3.4 million euros, showing an increase of 7.7% compared to the same period of 2014.



The sales revenue of the business segment of real estate outside the Group totalled to 3.7 million euros in 2015. Sales revenue increased 12.6% compared to the previous year. The extra-Group sales revenue of the 4th quarter was 1.2 million euros, having increased by 38.5% compared to the same period of the previous year. The sales revenue of the 4th quarter was supported by the successful opening of the Viimsi centre in August 2015, also the Rezekne building in Latvia was rented out to the external party.



Raul Puusepp Chairman of the Board Phone +372 731 5000

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KINGSTON, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/08/16 -- Ground-breaking research to develop next-generation clean technologies is now possible thanks to a $4 million investment announced today by the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science. The funding, through the Discovery Frontiers initiative of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), goes to a Canada-wide team led by Dr. Gregory Jerkiewicz of Queen's University.

The primary thrust of the research led by Dr. Jerkiewicz will be the science and engineering challenges involved in the production of hydrogen gas - one of the most promising carbon-free energy sources - from water using a new class of catalysts made from nickel. As a related field of inquiry, the team will also explore the use of nickel catalysts to break down glycerol - a waste product from biodiesel production - into commercially useable chemicals.

As well, the research team will work on a new generation of membranes - a "high tech version of food wrap" - that can be used with alkaline solutions to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen gases.

Quick Facts

-- The Discovery Frontiers initiative addresses national research priorities and global challenges by supporting a small number of major transformative activities. The current round of funding targets the area of new materials for clean energy and energy efficiency. -- The program aims to identify and capitalize on emerging opportunities where Canada can benefit from its world-class capacity to take a leadership role in key areas of research and innovation. -- Hydrogen gas is used in many industrial processes, including the production of several chemical compounds. Current hydrogen gas production, however, is very energy intensive and produces large amounts of CO2, a greenhouse gas. The new processes that would result from this research promise to reduce energy consumption and eliminate CO2. -- A new generation of hydrogen-producing catalysts could also make possible clean tech vehicles powered by alkaline fuel cells using hydrogen gas instead of gasoline or diesel.

Quotes

"I congratulate Dr. Jerkiewicz and his team on being selected to undertake this ambitious research program. Their research project has the potential to reduce energy consumption and to develop the next generation of nickel-based materials, making advancements in the field of clean technologies. This is of particular importance in the context of a sustainable environment and a greener future."

-- The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science

"NSERC encourages bold, high-impact research programs that tackle cutting-edge high priority areas, such as clean energy. I am pleased to see this pan-Canadian team bring together such a diverse, complementary range of expertise to produce new knowledge that will someday underpin disruptive new technologies that will benefit our economy and society. I am especially pleased that so many students and postdoctoral fellows will be mentored in an ambitious research environment with both Canadian and international partners."

-- Dr. B. Mario Pinto, NSERC President

"This project is an excellent example of the impact Queen's researchers are making in Canada and internationally. Research is a core component of the mission of Queen's University, and Professor Jerkiewicz and his international team are a prime example of how innovative, collaborative projects can enable researchers to respond quickly to embrace new opportunities and ensure the research enterprise remains at the leading-edge of discovery."

-- Daniel Woolf Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Queen's University

"Canada faces challenges associated with declining reserves of non-renewable energy sources, environmental pollution, greenhouse gas production, and related societal issues. Building on Canada's strengths in the nickel, water electrolysis, and fuel cell sectors, this project will lay the foundation for Canadian leadership in the next generation of electrochemical clean energy technologies."

-- Dr. Gregory Jerkiewicz, Professor and Research Director, Queen's University

Associated Link

Discovery Frontiers Initiative

About NSERC

NSERC invests over $1 billion each year in natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. Our investment delivers discoveries, valuable world-firsts in knowledge claimed by a brain trust of over 11,300 professors, world-leading researchers in their fields. Our investments enable partnerships and collaborations that connect industry with discoveries and the people behind them. Researcher-industry partnerships established by NSERC help inform R&D, solve scale-up challenges and reduce the risks of developing high-potential technology.

Our investments provide scholarships and hands-on training experience for the next generation of science and engineering leaders in Canada, almost 30,000 post-secondary students and post-doctoral fellows.

Contacts:

Camille Martel

Communications

Office of the Minister of Science

343-291-2700

camille.martel@canada.ca



Martin Leroux

Media and Public Affairs Officer

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

613-943-7618

media@nserc-crsng.gc.ca




HAMBURG, Germany, January 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

- Cross reference: Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com) and http://www.presseportal.de/nr/75051

One year before the opening of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the opening act is definite: the NDR Symphony Orchestra in the hands of Thomas Hengelbrock will be playing on 11th and 12th January 2017 in the great hall.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160108/320352 )



Next to tickets for invited guests, there will be a limited stock on tickets for the general public from Hamburg, Germany and other countries.

Prof. Barbara Kisseler, Kultursenatorin of Hamburg: "The curiosity about the Elbphilharmonie is enormous. A house for everyone is raising right in the heart of the city. We want people from home and abroad to have the chance to take part at the opening concerts - not only invited guests."

These days director Christoph Lieben-Seutter and his team are compiling the program for 2017, which will bring the overwhelming sound of the big hall to life. "We will announce the whole program in April, tickets will be available from June onwards."

The Elbphilharmonie will be handed over to the city of Hamburg this fall and be opened to the public in November, when the plaza will open its doors; the public place between the historic and the new built part of the iconic building.

After completing the spectacular outside of the building, the interior fittings and the finalization of the so called "white skin" in the great hall are passing on to the final construction phase.

Jacques Herzog of Herzog & de Meuron is excited about the progress of the construction side: "One year before the opening, one can see which tremendous impact the Elbphilharmonie will have on Hamburg. We are very happy."

More information about Hamburg's new landscape at http://www.elbphilharmonie.de.
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/plkjzt/russia_infectious) has announced the addition of the "Russia Infectious Diagnostics Market Outlook to 2021" report to their offering.

"Russia Infectious Diagnostics Market Outlook to 2021" provides key market data on the Russia Infectious Diagnostics market. The report provides value, in millions of US dollars within market segments Hepatitis Viruses, Retroviruses, Infectious Diagnostics Multiple Parameters Panels, Bacteriology, Nucleic Acid Testing Instruments, Other Virology, Infectious Diagnostics Rapid Tests POC and Parasitology Mycology.

The report also provides company shares and distribution shares data for the market category, and global corporate-level profiles of the key market participants. Based on the availability of data for the particular category and country, information related to pipeline products, news and deals is available in the report.

Extensive interviews are conducted with industry experts to validate the market size, company share and distribution share data and analysis.

Scope

Annualized market revenues (USD million) data for each of the market categories. Data is provided from 2007 to 2014 and forecast to 2021.

2014 company shares and distribution shares data for Infectious Diagnostics market.

Global corporate-level profiles of key companies operating within the Russia Infectious Diagnostics market.

Key players covered include Siemens Healthcare, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Abbott Laboratories, Hologic, Inc., Qiagen N.V., Becton, Dickinson and Company, Danaher Corporation and Alere Inc.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Tables Figures

2 Introduction

3 Infectious Diagnostics Market, Russia

4 Overview of Key Companies in Russia, Infectious Diagnostics Market

5 Infectious Diagnostics Market Pipeline Products

6 Financial Deals Landscape

7 Appendix

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/plkjzt/russia_infectious

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160108005779/en/

Contacts:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Sector: In Vitro Diagnostics
TEWKSBURY, Massachusetts, Jan. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --WellPet, LLC, the number-one independent, family-owned natural pet food company, announced it has acquired Sojos, the Minneapolis-based maker and brand of naturally nutritious raw pet food and gourmet treats. Introduced to pet parents in 1985, Sojos pioneered and today is one of the leading brands in the fast-growing category of raw nutrition for pets.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140805/133808

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160108/320443LOGO

"Ward and Maggie Johnson have built one of the most exciting brands in raw nutrition and a first class team and manufacturing facility," said WellPet Chief Executive Offer Tim Callahan. "WellPet and Sojos share a mission to transform the lives of pets by providing the very best in natural nutrition and, now, our collaboration will enable them to grow and serve more pet families while staying true to the Sojos we know and love."

Sojos joins Wellness, Old Mother Hubbard, Eagle Pack and Holistic Select in the WellPet family of premium, natural pet food and treat brands. Together, WellPet's brands have more than 100 years' experience serving pets with the finest quality pet foods and treats.

"Our dream has always been to fundamentally change the way that people feed their pets and with WellPet we believe Sojos is in an even better position to make that dream a reality," explained Sojos' Ward Johnson.

Sojos foods and treats will continue to be made in Minneapolis at Sojos' own facilities. Sojos Complete recipes come with freeze-dried meat - just add water and serve. Sojos Pre-Mixes are specially formulated to let pet parents add their own meat, along with water.

About Sojos:

Sojourner Farms began making its Sojos Original raw pet food in 1985. Since then, Sojos has made it possible for millions of pet parents to bring the benefits of natural, raw nutrition into their homes, safely, easily and affordably. Sojos raw foods and treats are available at independent pet specialty stores across the US and Canada. For more information, visit www.sojos.com.

About WellPet, LLC:

WellPet, the number-one, independent, family-owned natural pet food company is home to premium pet food brands Wellness, Old Mother Hubbard, Eagle Pack and Holistic Select. For more than 100 years, WellPet has delivered on the promise of doing whatever it takes to make the healthiest natural products for the pets that depends on us. Today, our team of animal lovers, nutritionists and vets at WellPet are committed to carrying forth our strong heritage, continuing to find new ways to bring innovation, nutritional excellence and product quality to our family of natural brands, always putting pet health first. For more information, visit www.wellpet.com.

Wellness, Holistic Select, Eagle Pack andOld Mother Hubbard are trademarks of WellPet, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  2016
SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwired - January 08, 2016) - Advantel Networks, a premier technology provider, announced today the appointment of Tom Brueck as the new Vice President of Business Development and Marketing. Brueck formerly served as Business Development Manager at Advantel.

"Tom has had terrific success in building strategic customer partnerships and helping to grow areas of Advantel's business," said Mark Ritchie, President. "He is smart and energetic, with a talent for recognizing opportunities and bringing people and organizations together. He has had a major impact on the growth of our company," adding that Aruba Networks West named Advantel a top channel partner in 2015.

Brueck joined the premier solutions integrator in March 2014 after working for technology companies in Colorado. "I saw a great opportunity to join a team that was excited to grow the company," Brueck said. "My colleagues here are highly motivated and have the drive and energy to make a difference with compelling technology solutions."

A driven and results-focused business development leader with strong sales and leadership experience, Brueck has a diverse IT channels background, including experience with manufacturers, distributors, and value-added resellers.

About Advantel Networks

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Brandon Capital Partners, an Australian life science venture capital firm, expanded its operations into the United States.

The firm opened a Palo Alto office which will be led by Venture Partner J. Leighton Read, MD, an industry veteran and investor.

Led by Managing Director Dr. Chris Nave, Brandon Capital Partners manages the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF), a collaboration of more than 50 of Australias medical research institutes and hospitals, which has to date funded 24 startups that are developing technologies originating from these institutions.

These include two significant exits:

 Fibrotech Therapeutics, acquired by Shire in 2014, and

 Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Novartis in 2015.

In spring of 2015, Brandon Capital Partners announced the closing of the third MRCF fund, an AU$200m fund, which will continue to support and develop startups from the MRCF network.

The firm has Australian offices in Melbourne and Sydney.

FinSMEs

08/01/2016
Cuponation, a Munich, Germany-based operator of digital destination platforms for offering the best in discounts & bargains across retail around the globe, raised 10m in Series B funding.

Backers included Rocket Internet, Holtzbrinck Ventures, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), e.ventures, ru-Net, Deutsche Telekom Strategic Investments (DTSI), Silicon Valley Bank and Columbia Lake Partners.

The company is using the funds for global expansion with the launch of new platforms in new markets and growth in existing locations.

Founded by Gerhard Trautmann, Adrian Renner and Andreas Fruth in 2012, Cuponation operates digital destination platforms that enable users to discover opportunities to save from all stores and brands across all categories from anywhere around the globe. It collects all available coupons, discounts and deals from online stores into one website and enables customers to save on their everyday online shopping.

The company, which also has offices in Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Sao Paulo, New Delhi and Moscow, operates more than 40 platforms in in more than 20 countries with discounts from over 25 000 online stores and brands, including Amazon, Asos, Zalando and Dominos.

FinSMEs

08/01/2016
Seven months after his controversial appointment as the chairman of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), BJP member Gajendra Chauhan was welcomed by protesting FTII students in Pune on Thursday as he took charge as chairman.

Pune police detained more than 40 students for protesting against Chauhans appointment, reports said.

The Hindustan Times also claims that the students were lathi-charged.

FTII alumnus Vidhu Vinod Chopra, however believes that the students can never arrive at a solution if they keep fighting the government.

According to the Bollywood producer, they should instead engage the government in a debate to find out a solution.

"Now it has become a fashionable to blame the government. I can understand that there is a problem in Film institute, but the solution is in debating the issue, not in fighting with each other," Vidhu Vinod Chopra told journalists at the premiere of his film Wazir.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra however feels that he tried his best to help the students. "I gave the students my support and money from my own pocket but I won't do it again,"said Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
Typically, the post of a chief executive officer (CEO) is associated with a corporate entity. But, thats not how it is in the case of NITI Aayog, a think-tank set up by the NDA government scrapping the erstwhile Planning Commission. Even as this one-year-old body is still searching for its destiny, the government has brought in Amitabh Kant, one of the top bureaucrats (former secretary of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), as its new chief executive officer (CEO). This is a post-retirement job for Kant, who has played a crucial role in his capacity to promote Naredndra Modi governments investment campaigns.

Can Kant, the second person to take up this job after Sidhushree Khullar, reinvent the role of Aayog, is something only time can tell, but it is unlikely to be a very promising job for the 1980 batch Kerala-cadre IAS officer. The simple reason is that there are serious doubts over the scope and relevance of the very establishment with respect to its mandate and efficacy in dealing with state governments development plans. That is especially so in the context of fourteenth finance commission promising more power to the states to decide their expenditure plans and the Aayog lacking any special powers.

By the very design, NITI Aayog is a weaker body compared with the planning commission. It doesnt have the power to allocate funds but can only make recommendations. The funding part will be decided by the finance ministry unlike Planning Commission which had the power to allocate funds. Second, the Aayog cannot impose policies that state governments should follow, again something where the Planning Commission had a strong say. In short, the Planning Commission was a body that had an independent stature and character of its own, whereas the NITI Aayog is a powerless institution.



To be sure, this was a good step since the states didnt need to go to the government or Planning Commission with begging bowls. But, there is another side to it too.

As Bibek Debroy pointed in this piece (before he was inducted to the Aayog as a member), the Planning Commission also acted as a body that could nudge the finance ministry to protect the plan expenditure for the sake of meeting deficit targets. In the case of NITI Aayog, even this power to intervene is practically nil.

Secondly, the Planning Commission was the point of interface between the union government and state governments for Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS). The NITI Aayog doesnt have this mandate. More critically, the Planning Commission used to have a performance evaluation exercise on various government schemes after a specific period of the roll out. It is unlikely that the Aayog will do any such performance review. Hence, the question of what is its relevance arises.

There is a need for the NITI Aayog to reinvent its mandate, said Devendra Kumar Pant, Chief Economist and Senior Director - Public Finance, India Ratings . Planning Commissions rebirth as a considerably weaker body should be noted in the context of the country is well short of targets in terms of performance.

In a seminar organised by the New Delhi-based Research and Information Systems economic think-tank on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Khullar highlighted this aspect.

We have now in the NITI Aayog completed the mid-term appraisal of the 12th plan (2012-2017), we are now in its fourth year. We find that until the 11th plan, the achievements were maybe 10-15 per cent short of target, financing was 10-15 per cent short of target. But in the 12th plan we find both in terms of financing and in terms of goals, we are way off the mark, we are close to 20-25 per cent off what we thought we would be able to do, Khullar said. But, here again, the very relevance of five-year plans needs to be seen in the context of more funds flowing to state governments.

Since its inception, the NITI Aayog has been mandated to promote Prime Minister Narendra Modis idea of cooperative federalism with a bottom-up approach unlike Planning Commission, which had a top-down approach. But, this, anyway, is happening when the 14th Finance Commission proposed a higher share of tax revenues to states. As per this, 42 percent of the taxes collected by the Centre will go to the states as against the 32 percent earlier -- the largest increase in tax devolution since the 7th Finance Commission doubled the states share of excise duties from 20 percent to 40 percent in the mid-eighties.

But the other side of it is the very relevance of bodies like Planning Commission diminished to a great extent. (In this context), one would expect a body such as NITI Aayog to come with some path-breaking ideas that facilitate policy implementation eventually, said Pant of Inddia Ratings.

As far as allocation of resources goes, the very existence of NITI Aayog may not be too relevant now since the Finance Commission has given more capital allocation power to state governments, Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Care Ratings. Also, most of the government ministries now have their own policy formulation divisions, not necessarily need to go to Aayog. In this backdrop, the Aayog has to reinvent its purpose," Sabnavis said.

The good part is that the Aayog, which has top economists Arvind Panagariya as Vice Chairman and Bibek Debroy as it member, could get a leg-up with a top bureaucrat like Kant, who has significant experience in policy implementation coming on board. The Aayog, so far, hasnt done anything extraordinary and there are more voices questioning its existence now. The challenge for Kant lies in reinventing its role.
Gurdaspur: Extensive search operations are underway near Pandher village in Gurdaspur for the third day on Friday after locals claimed that two men in army fatigues were moving in a suspicious manner.

In this joint operation of Punjab Police and Army, security officials have been carrying out combing operation around the Tibri Cantonment area, police said on Friday.

"Our search operation is going on. We are also doing aerial reconnaissance to locate any suspicious movement," DIG, Border Range, Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh said on Friday.

The search operations are also going on in a nearby sugarcane field where the suspects may be hiding, police said.

"We are mainly searching sugarcane field (to locate the movement of any suspect)," Gurdaspur SSP Gurpreet Singh Toor said.

In this joint operation with the army, Punjab Police has deployed its Israel-trained SWAT team which have been especially trained to neutralise terrorists.

"We have deployed our own SWAT teams for this operation along with other state police personnels," DIG said.

Punjab's SWAT team had played a major role in neutralising terrorists who had carried out attack at Dinanagar in the month of July last year.

"We are taking every information very seriously and our effort is to either authenticate (the presence of militants) or completely rule it out," Deputy Inspector General Of Police Border Range said.

Acting on information, Punjab police led by DIG Kunwar Singh launched a major combing operation last night at a house near the Tibri cantonment area.

"There was some information that they (suspects) had slipped into a villager's house. We launched a search operation around that area which took long six hours. However, they (suspects) were not found in that area," the DIG said, adding, "The entire night, our search operation remained on."

"Our combing operation will continue and we are at this moment not ruling out any thing," DIG said.

Locals in a village near Tibri cantonment of Gurdaspur district on Wednesday had reported sighting of two men in army uniform moving in suspicious manner, following which Army and police began the search operation.

Gurdaspur was targeted by Pakistani terrorists in July last year when a police station here was attacked while Pathankot was witness to a terror strike on Air base on last Saturday.

The security forces have installed floodlights in that area to see any suspicious movement during the night, police said, adding the vehicles were being checked out thoroughly.

A farmer, Satnam Singh, of Pandher village was the first one to make the claim of having seen two men in army fatigues moving in suspicious manner, police had said.

Pandher village is situated about one-and-a-half km away from the Tibri cantonment.

Six terrorists in army fatigues attacked the Air Base in Pathankot on Saturday last, leading to an encounter that lasted over four days.

PTI
By Gouri Chatterjee

The curious thing about what happened in West Bengal on the 3rd of this month is the unusual silence surrounding the incident that happened in the states northern district of Malda. From all accounts it was not something to be brushed under the carpet or dismissed as a routine law and order problem. After all, thousands of people (over 2 lakh according to some reports) converging on a godforsaken place like rural Kaliachak, to protest an insult to the Prophet that happened a month ago not here but in Uttar Pradesh and who had since been arrested, without any apparent backing of any political party is strange, to say the least, even by Bengals volatile standards.

Worse followed, the mob went berserk, the police station was burnt, buses and trucks were torched, a few Hindu shops and RSS activists were attacked though stopping short of flaring up into a full-scale communal conflagration. Yet, the state government is absolutely mum, the media coverage is perfunctory, the opposition parties are limiting themselves to mild fulminations against the states deteriorating law and order situation, but the Centre is interested enough for the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to schedule a visit to distant Kaliachak on the eastern border when Pathankot on the far west is still on the boil.

The media in Bengal has always hesitated going to town with communal incidents, worried that they may do more harm than good by laying bare the truth, detailing precisely who did what to whom, placing blame where it falls. Maybe it has something to do with memories of the pre-Partition Great Calcutta Killings being embedded in the collective DNA of the people of this state. Whatever, the C word is still a no-go area for journalists here who continue to describe a Hindu-Muslim riot as a clash between two communities.

But then, without proper investigation whos to say it was a communal conflict at all? It was a communal incident for sure, as was the violent demonstration against Tasleema Nasreen that led to her being forced out of Kolkata in 2007, i.e. people from one religious community protesting about something to do with their religion. But was that what happened in Kaliachak on 3 January, a Hindu-Muslim riot? You would think the BJP would be the first to say yes, what with an RSS activist being shot at and other RSS members injured and polarisation being often the name of their game.

Yet, the visit to Malda led by the states lone BJP MLA, Samik Bhattacharya, ended up with a statement in which Bhattacharya said there was no point in dragging religion into this, it was wholly a law and order problem, the writ of Nabanna [the state secretariat], he said, does not run in Kaliachak. The VHP and fellow travellers on the social media though have been quick to point the finger at Mamata Banerjees policy of Muslim appeasement so that nothing much is being done to bring the culprits to book.

Either way it suits Mamata to ignore the whole thing and wish it would go away as quickly as possible. There has been no official statement so far from the government or the Trinamool Congress or anyone of any standing on this incident. And that is not surprising. Because this is a case that ties together the way law and order is collapsing in the state under Didi and the dangers of her overt and crude wooing of the minorities.

Kaliachak, according to the 2011 Census, has a population of a little over 3 lakh, 89 percent of whom are Muslims. It is wholly rural, yet only 18 percent of the population are involved in agriculture. The only other means of gainful employment is to be found in sericulture but that is hardly big enough to serve all. No surprise therefore that criminalisation is a way of life here. Kaliachak has long been known for more than its fair share of dacoits, everyone, even Panchayat Pradhans, carry country-made pistols tucked into their dhoties or trousers. Robbing, smuggling, counterfeiting, no criminal activity is unknown here. Recently, the district administration, surprised at the sharp decline in the output of vegetables and cereals in the area, conducted an investigation and found large areas had been given over to poppy cultivation, the first step in the manufacture of opium.

The age-old crimes received a fillip when Kaliachak found itself next to an international border with two border checkposts with Bangladesh within its ambit. The Border Security Force is kept very busy here, they have even to be alert to stuff being simply thrown across the border, as happened last November, when they apprehended a sizeable packet of 1,000-rupee and 500-rupee fake Indian currency notes that landed like manna from heaven on our side near the Sasani Border Outpost under the Kaliachak police station. Note: one of the buses burnt that day at Kaliachak belonged to the BSF.

Add to this Mamatas khullam-khulla cultivation of Muslims as a vote bank and it is understandable why Kaliachak is a law unto itself. It will be no surprise if there are, as is being suspected, an international connect behind the events of 3rd January at Kaliachak. We know what happened in Burdwan when a bomb blast brought into the open an illegal bomb factory and a madarsa providing militant training operating right under the nose of the local police and in a house belonging to a Trinamool leader, as well as laying bare links with Islamist groups in Bangladesh.

Didi will of course protest vigorously if the NIA is brought in to investigate what happened in Kaliachak that day, as she did in the case of Burdwan too, but she has only herself to blame for not doing what she is supposed to be doing: providing responsible governance. Helping the minorities is of course important, the Sachar Committee report paint an abysmal picture of Muslims in this state, but turning the state into cowboy land or endangering its communal harmony will help no one. But if she was disposed that way, she would have learnt her lesson in 2014, when Burdwan blew up. With the 2016 elections round the corner, there is little hope she will learn it now.
Even as the combing operations after the Pathankot terror attack reach the final stage, there are several questions which still need to be answered and loopholes which turn this attack and the probe following it into a convoluted mess.

Here are some of the key aspects of the Pathankot terror attack and the error-strewn investigation that followed:

Gurdaspur SP's account

The discrepancies in the account of Salwinder Singh, the Gurdaspur superintendent of police (SP) who was allegedly kidnapped by the terrorists, have now led to the National Investigative Agency (NIA) planning to subject him to a polygraph test, reported The Times of India.

The report further said that the NIA is also investigating why the SP had a blue beacon on top of his private vehicle when, in fact, it is illegal to do that. There are suspicions that the beacon helped the terrorists get past police checkpoints on New Year's Eve.

A report in The Indian Express stated that the SP had said that he had been kidnapped by five terrorists. But Rajesh Verma, the SP's friend who had been allegedly kidnapped along with the SP, said that the number of terrorists was four.

The report added that while the SP had said that he left a temple at Talur village at 11 pm on 31 December, Som Raj, the caretaker of the shrine, had said that the SP, along with Verma and Madan Gopal (Som Raj's uncle), came to the temple at 9 pm and left at 9.30 pm.

Salwinder Singh is facing charges of alleged breach of discipline and was transferred recently as assistant commandant of 75th battalion of the Punjab Armed Police.

MES employee detained

The Gurdaspur SP is not the only one with suspicious activity linked to him. According to another Indian Express report, an employee of the Army's Military and Engineering Services (MES) has been detained on suspicion that he may have helped terrorists infiltrate the air force base.

The employee was detained after it was found that three of the floodlights in the stretch of an 11-foot-high wall that was breached, had been turned upward and directed away from the wall, which drowned the area in darkness.

Warning from intel agencies ignored?

Even though there have been questions raised on the intelligence agencies themselves, an article in The Hindu points out how the fault might have actually lied with the defence and police personnel deployed in the area.

The article said that media reports had established that both the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Punjab State intelligence had sent out a warning five days ahead of the terrorist attack that "there was a huge threat to installations on the border with Pakistan."

Despite this warning, the security personnel in the area probably failed to deploy security arrangements at every possible area at the Pathankot air base to avoid the attack.

The article also noted how it was difficult to arrive at a conclusion about the amount and quality of intelligence provided to security forces, and therefore, difficult to point fingers at the intelligence agencies because "no police force anywhere in the world concedes that it had received specific intelligence on a possible attack. Even when it admits otherwise, it has a tendency to complain that whatever was given to it was not specific enough to thwart mischief."

Confusion over number of terrorists

The fact that confusion still exists among security forces over the number of terrorists involved in the attack points out the level of confusion that the security personnel had.

According to an Indian Express report, four bodies of terrorists had been handed over. However, only four assault rifles, four pistols and four standard kits of the terrorists had been recovered.

But if the number of terrorists killed in the attack was six, the number of items recovered should have been in groups of six instead of four. "It is possible that two more bodies were blown to pieces, as the Airmens Mess disintegrated...and we have sent forensic samples for examination. The thing is, we would have expected to find their weapons in the debris, and nothings surfaced," the report quoted an intelligence officer familiar with the case as saying.

No clarity over who was in charge

Sources told The Times of India that there was confusion over who should be leading the offensive after the attack. The report said that while the army was under the impression that it was a Brigadier-rank officer in-charge of the operation, they were taken aback "when IG (Ops) of the NSG, an Army Major General, arrived as the head of the commandos trained for counter-terrorism operations."

Bickering among politicians

We can almost be sure these that the bickering among politicians, even at a time of crisis like the Pathankot attack, will continue.

"Neither the ruling BJP nor the opposition parties in general came out glowing. There were no signs of the broad consensus that once characterised Indian foreign policy. The Pakistani army establishment must be congratulating itself at setting the two principal parties at each others throat even while the anti-terror operation was going on," said an article in DNA.

While Congress President Sonia Gandhi had termed the internal security situation as "serious", Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken had gone hammer and tongs against the government alleging that institutional mechanism stands "demolished" and the government is "in dark".

At a time when the country was suffering from a frightening terror attack, maybe the politicians could have kept the blame games for a later time.

With inputs from agencies
By Smita Deshmukh

Ask any die-hard south Mumbai and western suburb resident about Navi Mumbai, and the answer would be that it's a bunch of tall buildings without character, an area for low-cost housing; and that is generally a place which is way too far.

But in 2016, the reality is not quite that simple. The place is buzzing with youth, and its character is very cosmopolitan. The city is characterised by top notch hospitals, educational institutions, an IT hub, a massive exhibition centre, malls, big railway stations, wide roads and unrestricted power and water supply.

Consider this  L&T is building Indias biggest commercial complex in Nerul, Cafe Coffee Day's branch at Inorbit Mall in Navi Mumbai has the second highest business after the one at Carter road in Bandra, Mont Blanc does its biggest business in this region through its store in Inorbit mall, and so does Tanishq. There are around 300 high-end cars (price range between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore) moving around and the number is rising. According to official figures, Navi Mumbai has a literacy rate of 98 per cent, an average income of Rs 25,000 per month; and 64 per cent households own vehicles.

Navi Mumbai today is becoming a pan-India phenomenon. The reason - the biggest infrastructure boom in the entire country, which is happening at a cost of around Rs 53,000 crore. This infrastructure boom is expected to create over 8.7 lakh jobs. This includes the new airport, the expansion of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, a metro project, affordable housing, highway expansions and the crucial Navi Mumbai Airport Influenced Notified Area (NAINA)  all spread over 1,200 hectares.

Land availability and an aggressive CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation) are both pushing growth in Navi Mumbai. Even as the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) cleared the much-delayed Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, under its smart city mission, the town planning authority is developing Panvel, Kharghar, Ulwe, Dronagiri, Kalamboli, Kamothe and a Greenfield project Pushpak Nagar.

Development here is relatively new, well-planned and has taken place sector wise, unlike most other cities, which have an intermix of old, new and re-developed buildings. A drive across any sector in the city showcases it as a city characterised by a newness, a soft blend of modernity and an overall well planned approach. The level of development, of course varies across sectors  some being posh, others being less affluent. However, the presence of an upwardly mobile community and a vibrating economy full of new opportunities can be clearly felt.

Youngsters from all over India with a growing income are moving to Navi Mumbai. They dont need to stay in South Mumbai or even western suburbs, as every possible need is being fulfilled here, says Devang Trivedi, former president, Builders Association of Navi Mumbai (BANM). Trivedi also pointed out that Navi Mumbai has been ranked 3rd among 476 cities surveyed for cleanliness as a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modis Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan.

High-end connectivity can ensure that a Navi Mumbai resident would be able to reach any part of Mumbai within 30 minutes, and this is a game changer. Youngsters here would have the option to go to South Mumbai or go to Lonavala (both 40 minutes away) for a drink!

Navi Mumbai is a city whose time has come. With Mumbai bursting at its seams, with its creaking infrastructure, traffic chaos, high pollution levels, sprawling slums, very limited open space, lack of affordability, and so on, Navi Mumbai comes as a breath of fresh air. It has planned development, wide roads, modern infrastructure, huge open spaces and recreation areas. Above all, with four modes of transport  excellent rail network with world class stations, broad, well paved, tree-lined roads with dozens of flyovers and interchanges, and the upcoming air and water transport infrastructure, distance here can be calculated in minutes, not in hours as in other Indian metros. What New Jersey is to New York, what Downtown is to Dubai  Navi Mumbai will be to Mumbai  its where people would like to settle and have a great life, says Sunil Bajaj, realty consultant in the Mumbai  Navi Mumbai  Pune belt.

Interestingly, with crores pouring in, CIDCO recently formed a vigilance department as part of its transparency framework. We welcome the move, in fact, we are partnering with CIDCO to put in checks and balances, stated Trivedi.

With its own economic centres and social fabric (lounges, gold course and its own Central Park in Kharghar), the city is acting as a powerful magnet for entrepreneurship and employment opportunities and due to this it may turn out to be an excellent case for reverse migration.

With India's top real estate giants already in the city building everything from middle to high end housing and commercial complexes, the real estate prices are still affordable compared to the island city. Propert prices in Nerul range between Rs 6-15,000 sq ft, in Kharghar between Rs 6,000 - 8,000, in Ulwe and Panvel at Rs 4,000 to 7,000 each, and in Karghar between Rs 5,000-8,000.

The state government is also pushing Navi Mumbai big time, as it recently took a decision to make the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) a financial services hub. A big chunk of the 6,600-acre parcel of industrial land in Navi Mumbai will be now converted into the regions International Business and Finance Centre (IBFC) that would create 5 lakh new jobs.

The IBFC has been planned as there are now land constraints to expand the Bandra-Kurla Complex. Seven times the size of BKC, this IBFC will be situated around Mahape.

"We are already seeing people from the central suburbs moving here. South Mumbai has no land and is very congested. The shift is inevitable and is already happening. In next 5 years, Navi Mumbai will reach its potential, attracting professionals from all over India," added Trivedi.
Pulwama: The roads leading to Pulwama town are deserted. People walk in groups. In a sudden rage, a group of protesters arrives in the middle of road from nowhere, forcibly stopping vehicles. If the passengers inside try to reason, the young protesters break loose. Within minutes, the police arrives and clashes start.

This is a common scene in this this south Kashmir town from more than week. On Thursday, the eighth day of the shutdown, an uneasy calm prevailed in the town, which is 36 kilometres from the summer capital Srinagar, but minor incidents of stone-pelting did occur throughout the day. A day earlier, the police came to peoples aid after it installed food stalls at Rajpora Chowk of the district. A large number of people thronged to these food stalls and purchased eatables including vegetables, pulses and other essential items.

The trouble began in Pulwama when residents of Chatpora, a small village in the main town, commissioned a hoarding, glorifying militants killed by security forces in recent times, for installation inside the Martyrs' Graveyard situated near the town's busiest square:

The hoarding is decorated with pictures of at least two dozen gun-wielding militants and portraits, majority of them locals, although foreigners also find a place. The plan to instal this board had been around for a long time. We have got it made for Rs 20,000. Now we want to instal it in the graveyard, Fida Hussain, a resident of Chatpora, told Firstpost.

Fresh spark inflaming passions was ignited by killing of Umais Ahmad Sheikh, a Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant and a resident of Chatpora area, who was killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmirs town of Bandipora on 24 December, following which the town remained shut for four days and protesters fought pitched battles with police.

Things only got worse following an encounter on 31 December in Gusso village in the same district, in which two militants, including a local, were killed. Since then,Pulwama has been observing a shutdown.

Then we found out that people are trying to put a hoarding in the graveyard, which had pictures of local as well as foreign militants on it. We removed bases meant to hold the board a police officer, posted in the town, told Firstpost.

It would have become a provocative tool and people could have been attracted to joining militancy, he added.

The strike has parlayed life and businesses, but the young boys of the area are adamant that the hoarding has to be installed. Till then, they say, the town will remain closed. Everyday losses are in crores. The talks with the district administration have failed. The previous hoarding which was circulated on social networking sites has been changed. The new memorial board is not digital, instead a simple one with some verses of the Quran, President of Traders Federation, Bashir Ahmad, told Firstpost.

It has become now political. No photograph will be pasted on the board, he adds.

Reyaz Ahmad (name changed), a resident of main town of Pulwama, sat on an elevated stand in the town square on Thursday. He says the board has been changed but even the unmarked board is not being allowed installed. There was a poem and some versus of the Quran. Now the government, SP and DSP, they dont even allow us to erect the unmarked board. In every district of Kashmir, there is a hoarding on the martyrs' graveyard, he says

Despite the state government making requests to the Traders Federation to open shops and freeing the youths who were arrested in connection with stone-pelting incidents in last two weeks in the town, the shops have not opened. In all this, people are suffering. We cant allow putting up a memorial board in that place. The decision has to be taken by the state government, Deputy-Commissioner of Police Pulwama, Niraj Kumar, said.

Chairman of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Geelani, says the installation of Martyrs Memorial at the Shaheed Park is a genuine and logical demand of the local people and the objection of the administration and the police in erection of this board is unjustified and unnecessary action.

The Shaheed Park in Pulwama is associated with the martyrs of 1931 and since then this place has a historical importance. Our beloved youths who are sacrificing their youth for the betterment of their nation are our heroes, and they deserve to be respected and remembered in every respect. The people in Pulwama, if they want to instal a martyrs' memorial board on the entrance of the Shaheed Park, then it is a good move which should be followed by the other districts of the state, Geelani said in a statement.

With both sides refusing to relent, the political and religious hues attached to the issue can boil down into a major crisis for the People's Democratic Party, which has a strong ground in south Kashmir. Also, the strategic location of Pulwama, which is close to the hometown of Burhan Wani, the face of 'new insurgency' in Kashmir, throws up a huge challenge for the security establishment.
New Delhi: The Delhi governments latest advertisement on odd-even scheme featuring chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in mufflerman avatar, was on Thursday pilloried by the BJP and Congress for having blatantly circumvented the Supreme Court guidelines and violated the spirit of law.

With his back towards the camera, Kejriwal appears in the ad with a muffler wrapped around his neck and head and praises the efforts of traffic police and volunteers in making the car rationing scheme a success.

Kejriwal, who appears inseparable from the accessory during the winter months, says we need to win the minds of people and advises volunteers not to fight with violators.

In the 1 minute 32 seconds advertisement, Kejriwal narrates the tale of a certain volunteer, who apparently managed to change the heart of an errant motorist by politely nudging him to follow the scheme.

If you spot a violator, fold your hands and politely remind him. No need to fight or argue. Just tell him that you have probably taken out the wrong numbered car by mistake, Kejriwal says.

Vijender Gupta, Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, said through the advertisement the ruling AAP was indulging in petty politics, while Congress spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee felt it betrayed Kejriwals scant respect for law and institutions.

The CMs act is unethical and amounts to encouraging people to violate the law, Gupta said. Technical arguments that the face is not visible wont cut ice. As a citizen he has not set a good example, he said.

Mukherjee said the government could have easily opted for a different advertisement format to make people aware of the scheme, which was launched on the new year and is proposed to conclude on January 15.

He (Kejriwal) does not abide by the Transaction of Business Rules. Violates the spirit of the law. Does he have no respect for institutions? she said.

Describing personality cult as anti-thesis of democracy, the Supreme Court had in May last year barred publication of photos of leaders in government advertisements except those of the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India.

PTI
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said on Thursday the state government would again write to the Centre seeking a CBI probe into the conspiracy behind the murder of RMP leader T P Chandrasekharan.

We will support the demand (by the slain leaders wife KK Rema), we will not hesitate to ask for an investigation by the CBI into the conspiracy angle of the murder and write to the Centre again, he told reporters.

He was responding to a question on the RMP leaders wife writing a letter to the Centre pressing for a CBI probe into the killing of her husband in 2012.

Chandrasekharan, a CPI-M rebel, who floated a parallel Left outfit called Revolutionary Marxist Party in his home turf Onchiyam in north Kerala, was hacked to death in May 2012.

A court had in 2014 sentenced 11 people, three of them local CPI-M functionaries, to life imprisonment.

However, Rema had alleged that bigwigs of CPI-M were involved in the conspiracy to murder Chandrasekheran. Rema had recently approached the Union Personnel ministry requesting to re-look into the CBIs stance that it cannot investigate the case.

In May 2014, the CBI had sent a report to the Ministry of Personnel saying that it saw no role in the case as the matter had already been investigated by the local police.

PTI
When the Aam Aadmi Party had come out with a TV commercial back in June 2015 to showcase its work against corruption, it had been called a sexist ad, and rightly so.

Obviously, this criticism was the best thing possible for political parties opposing AAP as they vehemently criticised the party over the commercial.

However, it seems criticising AAP commercials is turning into a trend among parties as both Congress and BJP leaders lashed out at the latest AAP ad for the odd-even scheme.

And unlike the previous anti-corruption ad, there is nothing blatantly wrong with this one  something that exposes the real reason the BJP and Congress are outraging over it: Political opportunism.

In the ad, a person dressed as Kejriwal (wearing a muffler wrapped around his neck and head) appears with his back towards the camera. The person is holding a phone and pretends to talk on the phone as the chief minister is heard in the background talking about the Delhi government's odd-even scheme.

BJP and Congress leaders criticised the ad for having blatantly circumvented the Supreme Court guidelines and violated the spirit of law.

The Supreme Court had in May last year barred publication of photos of leaders in government advertisements except those of the president, prime minister and the chief justice of India.

Vijender Gupta, Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, said that through the advertisement, the ruling AAP was indulging in petty politics, while Congress spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee felt it betrayed Kejriwals scant respect for law and institutions.

The CMs act is unethical and amounts to encouraging people to violate the law, Gupta said. Technical arguments that the face is not visible wont cut ice. As a citizen he has not set a good example, he said.

Mukherjee said the government could have easily opted for a different advertisement format to make people aware of the scheme, which was launched on the new year and is proposed to conclude on 15 January.

What Gupta and Mukherjee do not talk about, though, is the fact that if the odd-even ad violates the "spirit of law", so do many other commericials, like Bacardi and Smirnoff ads.

Since it is illegal to advertise commodities like alcohol directly under Indian laws, they are marketed through surrogate advertising, which is a form of advertising used to market products like alcohol by showing an advertisement for another product with the same brand.

A good example of surrogate advertising would be the 'Smirnoff Experience #unfakeit' ad.

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think 'Smirnoff'?

All of us know that the commercial has very little to do with 'unfaking' it. All of us know that it's the indirect marketing of alcohol.

An even more hilarious example is that of a Bacardi ad.

Remember that popular 1990s Bacardi ad in which a man sings, "Nothing is as nice as finding paradise and sipping on Bacardi Rum"?

Well, a 2012 re-make of the commercial got away without allegations of violating the "spirit of law" by replacing "Bacardi Rum" with "Bacardi fun".

Basically, what Kejriwal did in the odd-even ad has been done by countless other ads in India without getting strong criticism from political parties of outsmarting the law.

And the Delhi CM wasn't even promoting alcohol consumption in the ad.

He was making an appeal to the people of Delhi to follow the odd-even scheme and politely ask others to do the same. Not just that, he even asks them not to pick fights or get into an argument over the issue.

It's an ad which asks people to peacefully follow a scheme aimed at reducing pollution and calmly and politely ask others to do the same.

Kejriwal's odd-even commercial is like an advertisement version of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann ki Baat'. Nobody really cares about the visuals in that commercial. It's the audio to which everyone pays attention.

Of course, debating about the efficiency of the odd-even scheme is completely valid.

But criticising an advertisement which appeals to people to peacefully strive to reduce pollution is uncalled for.
A small puddle in Newcastle in the UK reached height of fame and had more than 20,000 people glued to their screens for several hours on Wednesday.

A live Periscope feed set up by employees of a nearby office went viral as people from different parts of the country tuned in to watch ordinary passersby attempt various inventive ways in order to cross a 10-foot-wide puddle without getting their feet wet, reports The Telegraph.

Employees of Drummond Central, a marketing agency, had been watching people cross the puddle from their office window for several weeks, Beth Hazon, managing director, told the BBC. It had been raining heavily in the area for the past month and the employees had a clear view of the puddle from their office at Jesmond Building. They decided to stream it for the amusement of all their employees but the nature of the internet is such that it just caught on throughout the country. People started tweeting about it and #DrummondPuddleWatch became a trending hashtag.

Richard Rippon, whose phone was used for the broadcast, told The Guardian that his phone battery almost died during the broadcast. It became "addictive" and he "feels great" that it was being watched by so many office goers, with many offices even putting up the stream on their giant screens.

The puddle livestream became so popular that people began coming in for the specific reason of crossing the puddle. Some of the more enterprising ones even brought surfboards and lilos with them.

Viewers got so excited they began tweeting encouragement at the puddle crossers and venting their frustration on those who took some time crossing it.

COME ON ORANGE BAG LADY #DrummondPuddleWatch  lisa johanna (@NotTheRehearsal) January 6, 2016

"Someone get this woman a boat" #DrummondPuddleWatch  Ross Canavan (@Ross_Canavan) January 6, 2016

oh my god sainsburys bag lady just walk around it. #DrummondPuddleWatch  Alex Winters (@WintersLex) January 6, 2016

One enterprising Briton found a way to make a quick buck. The entrepreneur filled a 600 ml bottle with water from the puddle and listed it for sale on eBay.co.uk. According to Mirror, the original price was set at 99 pence. At the time Firstpost checked it out, when the listing still had one day and seven hours left to expire, it had received 30 bids and the price had risen to GBP 65,900.

As is the case with any viral story, there were also rumours that this was a publicity stunt since the livestream was set up by a marketing agency. But Hazon refuted it, telling the BBC, I'd love to say there's some clever deep strategy but it is just genuinely hilarious."

While the livestream ended as the sun set, many YouTubers saved clips from the Periscope feed. Watch the highlights in the video below:
Mexico City: With his daring underground escapes and ability to sneak narcotics under the US-Mexico border, Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman earned a new nickname: "The Lord of Tunnels."

But Guzman's latest cat-and-mouse game with the authorities reached the end of the tunnel on Friday when President Enrique Pena Nieto announced his recapture on Twitter, declaring triumphantly: "Mission accomplished."

Before that, the man whose old nickname means "Shorty" had used the money from a drug empire whose tentacles reach Europe and Asia to dig himself out of trouble.

The bathtub in one of his houses in Culiacan, capital of his northwestern home state of Sinaloa, opened into an escape route through drainage systems that he used to flee from troops in early 2014.

US and Mexican authorities have regularly discovered sophisticated tunnels with rails and electricity used to ship marijuana, cocaine and other drugs into the United States, with cash and weapons coming the other way.

- Folk legend

The 58-year-old Sinaloa drug cartel leader's legend soared after he humiliated authorities by escaping prison in his most ambitious tunnel yet.

On July 11, 2015, after just 17 months at the Altiplano maximum-security prison in central Mexico, Guzman slipped through a hole in his cell's shower, climbed on a motorcycle mounted on rails, and traveled 1.5 kilometers (one mile) through the tunnel.

US and Mexican law enforcement officials say Guzman then flew to his home turf at the Sinaloa-Durango state border because he is revered as a modern-day Robin Hood in the region. His octogenarian mother still lives in his village of La Tuna.

Marines nearly captured him in October 2015 in a remote mountain region between the two states. Authorities said Guzman injured his face and a leg while falling in the rough terrain, but special forces failed to nab him.

AFP journalists who visited the area weeks after the operation found bullet-riddled homes and cars. Residents said military helicopters fired on the community during the operation, prompting hundreds to flee.

Guzman had been previously captured on February 22, 2014, in the Sinaloa resort of Mazatlan. He was found in a condo with his wife and their young twin daughters.

He had been on the lam for 13 years after escaping a first time in 2001 from another prison, in western Jalisco state, by hiding in a laundry cart. He had spent eight years in prison following his 1993 capture in Guatemala.

Guzman became a legend of Mexico's underworld, with musicians singing his praises in folk ballads known as "narcocorridos," tributes to drug capos.

He is said to have been brazen enough to walk into restaurants in his state of Sinaloa, ask diners to hand their cell phones to his bodyguards, eat calmly and pay everyone's tabs before leaving.

- 'Public Enemy Number One'

Born on April 4, 1957, to a family of farmers in La Tuna, Guzman had humble beginnings in a region known as a bastion of drug trafficking.

He dropped out of primary school to work in marijuana and opium poppy fields as drug consumption rose in the neighboring United States.

He was recruited by Guadalajara cartel boss Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, the godfather of Mexico's modern drug cartels.

Guzman's job was to contact drug traffickers in Colombia.

After Felix Gallardo was arrested in 1989, Guzman's Sinaloa drug cartel began its meteoric rise.

But he had enemies.

A gunfight in 1993 at the airport of Guadalajara killed the western city's archbishop, Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, allegedly because he was mistaken for Guzman.

His ability to sneak tons of cocaine, heroin and marijuana into the United States made him "Public Enemy Number One" in Chicago, a moniker that had been given to US prohibition-era mafia boss Al Capone.

Guzman "easily surpassed the carnage and social destruction that was caused by Capone," the Chicago Crime Commission said in February 2013.

The mustachioed drug lord made Forbes magazine's list of billionaires until he was left out in 2013 because he was believed to have spent much of his wealth on protection.

Guzman married an 18-year-old beauty queen, Emma Coronel, in 2007 and is believed to have 10 children with various women.

His family has paid dearly for his life of crime. One of his brothers was killed in a Mexican jail in December 2004 and a son was shot dead in a Culiacan shopping center parking lot in May 2008.

AFP
New Delhi: An explosives-laden vehicle was on Friday found near the Indian consulate in Herat and one person arrested in this regard, prompting speculation as to whether it was intended for attacking yet another Indian diplomatic mission in Afghanistan.

According to the information available, a vehicle was found parked unattended in a makeshift taxi stand next to the consulate and when checked by police officials, it was found to contain explosives.

"Police had seized a suspect vehicle near consulate perimeter with explosives to be used for VBIED (vehicle-borne improvised explosive device). It was not ready to be used as VBIED but only had preparatory explosive materials. All main suspects were able to escape.... Only one suspect from nearby area has been detained by police for interrogation," Afghan police has reportedly informed the Indian officials.

However, Indian consulate in Herat tweeted that "reports about discovery of VBIED outside the Consulate are misleading. No explosives found."

Friday's incident comes less than a week after an attack by a group of heavily armed insurgents who attempted to storm into the Indian consulate in northern Mazar-e-Sharif city of Afghanistan on Sunday.

Just a few days after Mazar-e-Sharif incident, a small bomb exploded near the Indian consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on 5 January.

Meanwhile, Afghan new agency Khaama Press (KP) while reporting on the development said the Afghan national security forces thwarted a terrorist attack plot by seizing a vehicle packed with explosives while it was parked close to the Indian consulate.

Provincial police spokesman Abdul Rauf Ahmadi confirmed that the vehicle was identified by the security forces and was defused on time. He was also quoted as saying that the police discovered explosives, fuses and remote controls from the vehicle which are normally used in suicide attacks.

PTI
Los Angeles, United States: US authorities said two people with ties to the Islamic State group are due in court Friday in California and Texas, including a refugee from Syria accused of returning there to fight alongside IS.

The arrests come amid heightened security in the United States following last month's assault by a radicalized Muslim couple in California that left 14 people dead and the November terror attacks in Paris.

The attacks added to pressure for more scrutiny of refugees from war-ravaged Syria.

Aws Mohammed Younis al-Jayab, an Iraqi-born Palestinian arrested Thursday who came to the United States from Syria as a refugee in 2012, traveled to Syria the following year where he fought for various terror groups, according to a criminal complaint.

One of those groups was Al-Qaeda affiliate Ansar al-Islam (Partisans of Islam), which previously operated under its own banner in Iraq and Syria.

Listed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations and the US, its Iraqi faction has since merged with the Islamic State group, though some of its Syrian fighters rejected IS.

US Attorney Benjamin Wagner was careful to stress that "while (Jayab) represented a potential safety threat, there is no indication that he planned any acts of terrorism in this country."

Another Iraqi-born Palestinian, Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, was indicted Wednesday in Texas for providing material support to the IS group. He is due to make an initial court appearance on Friday.

Hardan, 24, was charged with one count each of attempting to provide material support to ISIL (Islamic State), procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlawfully and making false statements.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott and other local officials said Hardan's arrest backed their calls for a refugee ban.

"This is precisely why I called for a halt to refugees entering the US from countries substantially controlled by terrorists," he said.

The state's Attorney General Ken Paxton called the arrest a "troubling revelation," using the occasion to take a swipe at President Barack Obama.

"The arrest in Houston of an Iraqi refugee for suspicion of terrorist activities is a troubling revelation - especially in light of the president's insistence on placing further refugees in Texas," he said.

"My office will continue to press for the right of Texans to ensure that terrorists are not being placed in our communities."

From refugee to radical

Hardan, who lives in Houston, was granted legal permanent resident status in 2011, two years after entering the United States.

According to the indictment, he provided training, expert advice and assistance to IS.

He also lied on his formal application to become a naturalized US citizen, saying he was not association with a terror group despite having been associated with IS members and sympathizers throughout 2014.

During an October 2015 interview, Hardan is also said to have falsely claimed he had never received weapons training of any kind when he had in fact learned to use machine guns.

He faces up to 53 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on all charges.

The complaint against Jayab, the 23-year-old Californian man, states that he planned his trip to Syria through online contact with various individuals and arrived there via Turkey in November 2013.

His online messages, copies of which are contained in the complaint, indicate he was based in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, where he boasted about his activities with Ansar al-Islam, claiming he had also fought with the group while living in Iraq.

At one point, he apparently expresses interest in joining IS.

"I have been thinking of joining the State and abandon(ing) the al-Ansar," he says in one online message to an unidentified individual.

Authorities say Jayab crossed from Syria back into Turkey on January 17, 2014 and returned to California six days later.

He told immigration officials at the time that he had traveled to Jordan and Britain.

When further questioned by authorities about his travels, he stated he had gone to Turkey for a vacation and denied going to Syria.

Jayab, who also faces an initial court appearance on Friday, in California's state capital Sacramento, faces up to eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of making a false statement involving international terrorism.

AFP
Dubai: Iran on Thursday said Saudi warplanes had attacked its embassy in Yemen's capital, a development that would exacerbate tensions between the major Shi'ite and Sunni powers in the region, and Riyadh said it would investigate the accusation.

"Saudi Arabia is responsible for the damage to the embassy building and the injury to some of its staff," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari was quoted as saying by Iranian state television news channel IRIB.

Residents and witnesses in the capital Sanaa said there was no damage to the embassy building in the district of Hadda.

They said an air strike had hit a public square about 700 metres (yards) away from the embassy and that some stones and shrapnel had landed in the embassy's yard.

A growing diplomatic dispute between Riyadh and Tehran triggered by Saudi's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric has damaged the outlook for any resolution to the conflict in Yemen, where a coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been fighting the Shi'ite, Iran-allied Houthi movement.

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the United States has received conflicting reports about the Iranian Embassy in Sanaa and was still collecting information to determine what, if anything, happened to the building.

A Sanaa resident went to the embassy on Thursday and reported no damage but said some shrapnel was strewn nearby.

Saudi coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said coalition jets carried out heavy strikes in Sanaa on Wednesday night to target missile launchers used by the Houthi militia to fire at Saudi Arabia.

He said the coalition would investigate Iran's accusation and added that the Houthis had used civilian facilities including abandoned embassies.

Asseri said the coalition had requested all countries to supply it with coordinates of the location of their diplomatic missions and that accusations made on the basis of information provided by the Houthis "have no credibility".

While Riyadh sees the Houthis as a proxy for bitter regional rival Iran to expand its influence, the Houthis deny this and say they are fighting a revolution against a corrupt government and Gulf Arab powers beholden to the West.

Reuters
New York: A man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State extremist group shot and seriously wounded a policeman in Philadelphia, opening fire multiple times at point-blank range with a stolen police gun before he was arrested, officials said on Friday.

The apparent assassination attempt comes amid heightened security in the United States following last month's assault by a radicalized Muslim couple in California that killed 14 people, and the November terror attacks in Paris.

Policeman Jesse Hartnett, 33, was shot three times in his left arm as he sat in his patrol car late Thursday in the northeastern city. "I'm shot. I'm bleeding heavily," he yelled in a dispatch call.

Authorities said they were astonished he survived.

Philadelphia police commissioner Richard Ross called the attack "absolutely chilling" and described the officer's injuries as "very, very serious."

Stills captured from video surveillance and released to the press show the suspect opening fire as he walks towards the patrol car, extending his arm into the vehicle and then continuing to fire as he flees on foot.

"If that doesn't just make the hairs on your neck just rise when you see that, it's scary," Ross told reporters.

The officer got out of his vehicle, despite being injured, and managed to return fire, hitting the suspect, who was quickly arrested.

"He stated that he pledges his allegiance to Islamic State, follows Allah and that is the reason he was called upon to do this," homicide police Captain James Clark told a news conference.

Police said the suspect, named as Edward Archer, 30, has a criminal record, but that it was unclear whether he acted alone or as part of a wider conspiracy.

"He doesn't appear to be a stupid individual, just an extremely violent one," said Ross.

Ross, said he was "absolutely amazed" that Hartnett, an officer with five years experience, had survived. "This man fired at least 11 shots from a nine millimeter at close range," he said.

'Nothing to do with Islam'

Police said it was unclear how the suspect obtained the firearm, which was stolen from police in October 2013.

"That is one of the things that you absolutely regret the most, that an officer's gun is stolen and it is used against one of your own," Ross said.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney praised Harnett's bravery but urged people to draw no link between the criminal act and Islam.

"That is abhorrent, it's terrible and it does not represent the religion in any way, shape or form or any of its teachings," Kenney said.

"This is a criminal with a stolen gun trying to kill one of our officers. It has nothing to do with being a Muslim."

Thursday's shooting is likely to raise further concerns about the threat posed by homegrown extremists within the United States, inspired to act by Islamic State jihadists based in Iraq and Syria.

Muslim community activists have already decried what they call an unprecedented anti-Muslim backlash in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Elsewhere on Friday, two suspects with alleged ties to the Islamic State group were due to appear in court in California and Texas.

Aws Mohammed Younis al-Jayab, an Iraqi-born Palestinian, was arrested on Thursday and came to the United States from Syria as a refugee in 2012.

He is accused of fighting in Syria for various terror groups.

Another Iraqi-born Palestinian, Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, was due to make an initial court appearance after being indicted in Texas for providing material support to the Islamic State group.

The head of the FBI, James Comey, told lawmakers last year that upwards of 200 Americans have traveled or attempted to travel to Syria to join IS extremists.

AFP
Cairo, Egypt: The Islamic State group claimed on Friday to have staged an attack on an Israeli tourist bus in Cairo a day earlier which officials described as mere vandalism that caused no casualties.

IS said a "security detachment" had targeted a "tourist bus carrying Jews" and that there were "killed and wounded in the ranks of the Jews and hotel security forces".

But officials and witnesses said on Thursday that a gang of youths hurled fireworks and fired birdshot at a bus and police guarding the hotel without hurting anyone.

There was no reference to Jews, but to Arab Israelis, who were staying at the Three Pyramids Hotel.

A security official said about 40 of them were inside waiting to board a bus when the attack occurred.

The interior ministry said unknown assailants had gathered outside the hotel and targeted police guarding it, who fired back.

It added that one of the attackers was arrested.

Hotel employee Yasser Fakhreddin said the group "threw fireworks and fired birdshot at the glass facade of the hotel as well as the windows of an empty bus waiting to pick up the Arab Israeli tourists".

An AFP photographer said bits of the facade and the bus's windows had been broken.

The IS statement, published online, claimed the attack was in response to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's call "to target the Jews everywhere".

In an audio message released on December 26, Baghdadi pledged to attack Israel, saying IS has "not forgotten Palestine for a single moment".

Egypt, which has fought several wars with Israel, is one of only two Arab nations, along with Jordan, to have signed a peace treaty with the Jewish state.

The country has been roiled by mainly jihadist violence since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The attacks have largely focused on security forces in reprisal for a fierce crackdown on Morsi supporters.

AFP
Mexico City: Mexican authorities have recaptured fugitive drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, six months after his prison break, President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Friday.

Mexican marines have conducted extensive operations in the northwestern states of Sinaloa and Durango in search of Guzman since the 58-year-old drug lord's spectacular July 11 escape.

But neither Pena Nieto nor other authorities gave immediate details about the location and day of the Sinaloa drug cartel leader's arrest.

Pena Nieto's arrest makes for a major sigh of relief for the president, whose administration was humiliated by Guzman's prison break.

"Mission accomplished: We got him. I want to inform Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been arrested," Pena Nieto wrote on Twitter, without elaborating.

A presidential spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the tweet to AFP, but declined to say more, adding that a press conference would be held later Friday.

- Clash in Sinaloa

News of his arrest came shortly after the navy reported that five suspects were killed in a clash with marines in the Sinaloa city of Los Mochis, but it did not indicate whether it was related to Guzman.

Six people were detained after the shootout, which broke out when marines were tipped off about the presence of armed men in a home, the navy said in a statement.

A suspected gang leader identified as Orso Ivan Gastelum Cruz was in the house but managed to escape, the navy said.

On July 11, after 17 months at the Altiplano maximum-security prison in central Mexico, Guzman slipped through a hole in his cell's shower, climbed on a motorcycle mounted on rails, and traveled 1.5 kilometers (one mile) through a tunnel.

US and Mexican law enforcement officials say Guzman then flew to his home turf at the Sinaloa-Durango state border, where he is revered as a modern-day Robin Hood.

More than a dozen prison and federal police officials have been arrested on charges of helping Guzman flee, along with several associates of the drug lord who worked from the outside on building the tunnel.

Marines nearly recaptured him in October in a remote mountain region straddling the two states. Authorities said Guzman injured his face and a leg while falling in the rough terrain, but special forces failed to nab him.

Guzman had been captured on February 22, 2014, in the Sinaloa resort of Mazatlan. He was found in a condo with his wife and their young twin daughters.

He had been on the lam for 13 years after escaping a first time in 2001 from another prison, in western Jalisco state, by hiding in a laundry cart. He had spent eight years in prison following his 1993 capture in Guatemala.

Questions will now likely turn on whether Mexico will extradite Guzman to the United States.

Pena Nieto had refused to hand Guzman over to the United States before his escape, but the authorities have since then secured an arrest warrant to extradite him.

- 'Lord of tunnels'

The man whose old nickname means "Shorty" had used the money from a drug empire whose tentacles reach Europe and Asia to dig himself out of trouble.

He is a legend of Mexico's underworld, with musicians singing his praises in folk ballads known as "narcocorridos," tributes to drug capos.

With his daring underground escapes and ability to sneak narcotics under the US-Mexico border, he also earned the nickname of "Lord of the Tunnels."

The bathtub in one of his houses in Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa, opened into an escape route into drainage systems that he used to flee from troops in early 2014.

US and Mexican authorities have regularly discover sophisticated tunnels with rails and electricity to ship marijuana, cocaine and other drugs into the United States, with cash and weapons coming the other way.

Born on April 4, 1957, to a family of farmers in La Tuna, Guzman had humble beginnings in a region known as a bastion of drug trafficking.

He dropped out of primary school to work in marijuana and opium poppy fields as drug consumption rose in the neighboring United States.

He was recruited by Guadalajara cartel boss Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, the godfather of Mexico's modern drug cartels.

After Felix Gallardo was arrested in 1989, Guzman's Sinaloa drug cartel began its meteoric rise.

The mustachioed drug lord married an 18-year-old beauty queen, Emma Coronel, in 2007 and is believed to have 10 children with various women.

Guzman's family has paid dearly for his life of crime. One of his brothers was killed in a Mexican jail in December 2004 and a son was shot dead in a Culiacan shopping center parking lot in May 2008.

AFP
Washington: The US and China have agreed to coordinate closely on taking appropriate action against North Korea's "provocative" behaviour, after the reclusive nation claimed it has successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi discussed over phone, the "highly provocative" nature of North Korea's actions, and its grave threat to international peace and security, State Department spokesperson John Kirby said.

"The Secretary and Foreign Minister Wang agreed that the United States and China would continue to coordinate closely in the UN Security Council and with partners within the Six-Party Talks framework to take appropriate action," Kirby said yesterday.

Meanwhile the White House confirmed that US will be in consultations with its allies in the region, including South Korea, about an appropriate international response to North Korea's "blatant violation" of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

"This is also something that is being discussed at the United Nations around the table of the Security Council. We'll continue to consult closely with our friends and allies as we determine an appropriate response," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters yesterday.

A day earlier, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice, met the Chinese Ambassador to the US at the White House. The Administration has been in in touch with Chinese officials, including the National Security Advisor who spoke to the Chinese Ambassador to the United States on Wednesday.

"China wields more influence over the North Korean regime than probably any other country in the world. And we certainly want to work closely with them to determine an appropriate response," Earnest said adding that US is looking upon China to exert its leadership to put pressure on Pyongyang.

"What I think is notable is that we have seen some unanimity of opinion across the international community about how what North Korea has done is provocative and a flagrant violation of their international obligations and certainly of a variety of UN Security Council resolutions," he said.

PTI
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered a probe into the leads provided by India about the Pathankot airbase attack, a media report from Islamabad said Friday. Sharif chaired a high-level meeting and discussed the attack on the Indian airbase, after Indian prime minister Modi put Pakistan on a 72 hour time frame for response, The Nation reported.

The prime minister and his aides agreed to launch investigations into the evidence provided by India, it said. A senior official said the leads provided by India were handed over to Intelligence Bureau chief Aftab Sultan for further action.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Sharif said Pakistan was ready to boost co-operation with India as part of counter-terrorism efforts.

Sharif directed National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua to remain in contact with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in a bid to keep renewed dialogue on track after the attack on Pathankot air base.

Another official said the information provided by India was "not enough" as it was just limited to telephone numbers and Pakistan might ask for additional information.

"We would like to have solid information to build a case for action otherwise courts intervene and the suspects will be bailed out," he added.

He said the meeting agreed that strong action would be taken after probe against anyone found guilty of involvement in the attack. The official said that the meeting also decided to speed up implementation of National Action Plan.

"JeM chief was in constant touch with 6 terrorists"

Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed was in constant touch with the six terrorists who stormed an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in the early hours of 1 January and killed seven Indian soldiers.

New Delhi linked the scheduled Foreign Secretary-level talks to prompt response Islamabad takes on actionable intelligence provided by India on the Pathankot attack. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and his Pakistan counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry are scheduled to meet on 15 January.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his cabinet colleagues that bilateral talks would not resume until Islamabad took action against the terror group and he had made this clear during a phone call with Sharif, reports The Hindustan Times.

Action is a must. We are going to be very strict about it, Modi reportedly said at the meeting.

Former National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon says "if six terrorists can stop you from discussing serious business with your biggest neighbour, for me, thats not a good signal to send."

India has shared the telephone numbers and the identity of the handlers with Pakistan and has asked it to act on these individuals, senior government officials have reportedly said.

India has identified JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, Ashfaq Ahmed and Kashim Jaan as the chief villains of the Pathankot attack.

While Azhar oversaw the operations, his brother Asghar and two others were in touch with the terrorists.

India has also given the details of two types of Pakistan-made drugs  Neuro Bedoxine and Dicloran  found on the bodies, as evidence.

A senior official said the government also decided to constitute a high-level committee to study the gaps in security along the Pakistan border, especially on the Punjab frontier. It is through a riverine stretch in the Bamiyal sector of Gurdaspur district that the terrorists involved in the Pathankot attack as well as the July 27 attack on the Dinanagar police station are believed to have sneaked into Indian territory.

Experts of the Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee have been tasked with finding solutions to detect intrusions from a riverine route.

Terrorists spoke in Kashmiri: FIR

Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh, who is under a cloud for his account of the events that led to the snatching of his Mahindra XUV in which the terrorists reached Pathankot airbase, has said that the terrorists were also speaking in Kashmiri, reports The Indian Express.

Salwinder Singh's statement to the police is part of the First Information Report registered at Narot Jaimal Singh police station. Singh has said the terrorists dressed in army fatigues were talking in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and Kashmiri.

Nawaz Sharif chairs high level meet

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting and discussed the Pathankot terror attack as he directed officials to speed up work on the leads given by India, sources said.

Issues pertaining to national and regional security were discussed during the meeting, the Prime Ministers Office said in a brief statement.

The meeting was attended by Ishaq Dar, Minister for Finance; Nisar Ali Khan, Minister for Interior; Sartaj Aziz, Advisor on Foreign Affairs; Lt Gen (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, National Security Advisor; Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Foreign Secretary; Aftab Sultan, chief of Intelligence Bureau and other officials.

A source privy to the details said that the meeting discussed the Pathankot attack and the information shared so far by India.

The meeting decided to speed up work on the leads given by India, he said on anonymity.

Another official said that the information provided by India was not enough as it was just limited to telephone numbers and Pakistan might ask for additional information.

We would like to have solid information to build a case for action otherwise courts intervene and the suspects are bailed out, he said.

He added the meeting agreed that strong action would be taken after probe against anyone found guilty of involvement in the attack.

The meeting came as India said it is waiting for prompt and decisive action as promised by Sharif to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a telephone call on Tuesday.

India has provided specific and actionable information in this regard to Pakistan.

On Wednesday, Pakistans army chief Gen Raheel Sharif reaffirmed zero tolerance for terrorist organisations and took a detailed review of overall internal and external security situation in the country.

He made the remarks while presiding over the Corps Commander Conference held at General Headquarters, a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

In a pre-dawn attack on January 2, a group of heavily- armed Pakistani terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, struck at the Air Force base in Punjab.

Who is Maulana Masood Azhar?

Maulana Masood Azhar was the general secretary of another terror group Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA) in 1994 and was on a 'mission' in Jammu and Kashmir when he was arrested on 11 February the same year. 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). The Indian Express explains the re-emergence of JeM after years of staying low key.

However, Masood Azhar decided to float the new outfit JeM rather than rejoin his old outfit. He was also reported to have received assistance in setting up the JeM from Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the then Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden and several Sunni sectarian outfits of Pakistan.

JeM, like other terrorist outfits 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 would serve as schools of jihad. In its fight against India, he boasted that the outfit would not only "liberate" Kashmir, but also would take control of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Amritsar and Delhi.

Masood 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. However, a three-member Review Board of Lahore High Court ordered on December 14, 2002, that Azhar be released.

With Agencies
BEIRUT/PARIS Syrian rebels said they were under international pressure to make concessions that would prolong the war, adding to their doubts about a U.N.-led drive for peace talks due to begin this month.

Opposition leaders are voicing misgivings over the new effort endorsed by the Security Council, not least because it does not address President Bashar al-Assad's future, a point of contention between states on either side of the war.

Friday's statement by prominent rebel groups that support the idea of a political solution follows a meeting this week between a new opposition council and U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura, who aims to start negotiations on Jan. 25 in Geneva.

Opposition leaders told de Mistura the government must take goodwill steps before any negotiations, by halting bombardments of civilian areas, lifting blockades of rebel-held territory and releasing detainees. They are waiting to hear back from him.

The opposition council, set up to steer negotiations on the opposition side, was facing "international and U.N. pressure ... to offer concessions that will prolong the suffering of our people and the spilling of their blood", the rebels said.

The rebel factions include groups represented on the council that have received backing from Assad's foreign foes, including Saudi Arabia and the United States.

"CONNIVANCE"

The rebels said they would not accept any concessions that ran counter to "the principles of our revolution" and they would support the council to resist such pressure. They also condemned what they described as international "connivance ... against the revolution".

Riad Hijab, a former prime minister under Assad, who defected in 2012 and was elected last month as coordinator of the council, travels to Paris on Monday for talks with President Francois Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius before travelling to Berlin on Jan. 13.

"France has always had the most progressive policy towards Syria and we have the best political relations with France," said Monzer Mahkous, representative of the opposition in Paris.

France's foreign ministry said the visit aimed to coordinate positions ahead of the planned Jan. 25 talks.

"We are pursuing our efforts for a credible transition in which Assad obviously could not be there at the end and to create a lasting ceasefire," Fabius said in a New Year's speech to diplomats..

"There is a need to underline the urgency, but also the extreme difficulty in achieving these objectives."

DIPLOMATIC DRIVE

The diplomatic drive follows the Dec. 18 adoption of a U.N. Security Council resolution endorsing an international plan for a Syria peace process to end a five-year-long war that has killed 250,000 people.

The plan envisages a nationwide ceasefire and six months of talks beginning in January between Assad's government and the opposition on forming a unity government.

De Mistura arrived in Damascus on Friday. Makhous said that visit would shed light on the Syrian government's position and give a better idea of whether the negotiations could go ahead.

"Will they go ahead on Jan. 25th? It's not certain as there are a lot of problems to resolve," he said.

He added that the opposition had established its 15-member negotiating team for the talks, but would not publish it until the Syrian government announced their list.

An escalation in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran has compounded doubts surrounding the diplomatic initiative. Tensions have risen since Saudi Arabia executed a Shi'ite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr.

Iranian and Russian military support has been crucial to Assad, while Saudi Arabia is a main backer of the insurgents battling to topple him, including groups that signed the statement issued on Friday.

(Reporting by Tom Perry; editing by Andrew Roche)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Lenovo which acquired Motorola in 2014 is planning to phase out the Motorola branding from smartphones. Motorola COO Rick Osterloh revealed to CNET that the smartphones will be called as Lenovo phones.

Well slowly phase out Motorola and focus on Lenovo, Osterloh told the publication. The move comes from Lenovo as it aims to unify both smartphone business under one name. Lenovo will use Motorolas Moto brand for its high-end products and the Vibe brand for budget devices. Lenovo will however, keep using the Motorola name in organizational settings and there will be a separate Moto division. Lenovo may be phasing out the Motorola brand but the company is not ready to bid adieu to its the iconic Moto batwing logo as it will still be used on devices. The report said that Moto X and similar other phones will prominently feature the blue Lenovo logo.

Google had initially bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in 2012 after which Lenovo acquired it in 2014. In recent time, Motorola has gained fan following and accolades with its successful Moto G, Moto X and Moto E series smartphones.

Update: Here is the official statement from Motorola regarding the rebranding:

Motorola Mobility continues to exist as a Lenovo company and is the engineering and design engine for all of our mobile products. However, for our product branding we will utilize a dual brand strategy across smartphone and wearables going forward using Moto and Vibe globally. Motorola hasnt been used on our products since the launch of the original Moto X in 2013.
Vodafone has launched its 4G LTE services in Mysore (Mysuru), Karnataka after a month of launching its 4G services in Kerala. It is based on 1800MHz FDD-LTE band 3, which the company acquired last year. It is built on a strong fibre back-haul, and is supported by new and superfast 3G services on a modern network of 2100 MHz, said the company. Vodafone is offering free 4G upgrade to 4G with instant SIM swap through all Vodafone stores and select retail outlets in the city.

Vodafone will launch 4G services in Bengaluru, Mangalore and Hubli in phased manner and will launch 4G services in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata by March 2016.

Commenting on the launch of Vodafones 4G service in Mysore, Karnataka, Suresh Kumar, Operations Director South, Vodafone India said:

We are delighted to launch our high-speed 4G services in Mysuru, Karnataka that enable our customers to experience the most advanced wireless broadband experience available across the globe, today. 4G has the potential to revolutionize the mobile experience through powerful innovation that impacts how we work and live. Karnataka is a significant growth market for Vodafone India with data contributing to 20% of total revenues and growing at a rate of over 50% annually. Beginning with Mysore, we will soon expand our 4G coverage across the state in a phased manner to cover important business and tourism centres including Bengaluru, Mangalore and Hubli. As a steadfast partner to Digital India, we remain focused on deploying multiple technologies be it 2G, 3G and now 4G-for optimum use as each technology has its own vital role to play in servicing the myriad connectivity needs of consumers across the country.
BlackBerry is choosing Googles Android OS over its own BB 10 for its upcoming phones. The Canadian smartphone maker said it plans to release at least one Android phone this year.





BlackBerry CEO John Chen confirmed its plans about one Android phone and a possibility of a second one, during an interview with CNET at CES 2016. Last year, the company launched its first Android powered BlackBerry Priv smartphone. Chen did not offer any more details about the Android phone and even kept mum about a possible timeline of its launch. There is a possibility that the company could announce the rumored Android powered Vienna phone that features a physical keyboard this year. BlackBerry is not completely ditching the BB 10 OS and it could also launch a device or two later this year.

The company announced at the event that BlackBerry Priv will now be available via T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon in the US. BlackBerry has been struggling to make profits for some time now, but Chen told the publication that he is confident in profitability this year.
5G is the next major phase of mobile telecommunications and follows the global adoption of the 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard since 2012. A new report from China states that the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has started research and testing of the 5G technology.

The report said that China is aiming to commercialize 5G by 2020. The purpose of the research and test is to support the formulation of global 5G standards and boost the development of the telecom industry, said Cao Shumin, head of a 5G R&D team under the MIIT. It is expected that by 2018, China will finish the research and test work and domestic telecom service providers will try to commercialize the 5G technology in the following two years.

MIIT chief engineer Zhang Feng said that China has made progress in the research of some key areas regarding 5G technology. Currently, China has more than 905 million mobile Internet users and about 380 million are 4G users. Check out our detailed piece on 5G here.
Feeling a little bit hungry and creative? This recipe might just be perfect for you.

With a whopping 46 Million views on Facebook, Tasty once again has successfully made millions of netizens' mouth water with another decadent dessert. Posted on December 27, 2015, their 30-second recipe video of the Chocolate Almond Braid gained almost 20,000 comments from people all around the globe.

The recipe calls for just three ingredients: puff pastry, a block of chocolate (milk, white, dark-completely up to you) and chopped almonds.

People are also commenting pictures of them trying the recipe out, a proof that it's easy, cheap and of course, any one can definitely try making it.

Earlier this year, Tasty became widely popular online because of their easy-to-follow and short clips about various recipes, covering the breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizer and dessert menu.

Here's their easy-how-to video for you:

Try this recipe and let us know how it turns out!
As Bank of America's (BAC -1.92%) stock continues to fall with the rest of the market, investors should be getting increasingly confident that its shares are a buy.

I put my money where my mouth is on Monday, purchasing shares of the nation's second-biggest bank by assets. And assuming the market continues to drop, I intend to continue doing so -- though, the timing won't always be ideal for me because, as a stock market commentator, I'm subject to trading restrictions.

Most investors, however, aren't subject to the same hurdle, which is why I'd encourage you to think long and hard about starting to move in on Bank of America, as concerns about a crisis in China permeate the headlines.

You can be confident that the market will recover.

It did after the reoccurring panics of the Gilded Age.

It did after the Panic of 1907.

It did after the Great Depression.

It did after the then-unprecedented shocks to the energy market throughout the 1970s.

It did after Black Monday in 1987.

It did after the technology bubble of the late 1990s.

It did after the financial crisis of 2008-2009.

And it will again, even if investors' worst fears about China come to fruition.

You won't make money in the market if you only buy when everything looks great -- or rather, you won't make as much as you otherwise could. That's when stocks are expensive. Stocks are cheap when people are scared. And bank stocks, in particular, are cheap when people like George Soros start intimating that another financial crisis is imminent.

Investors genuinely thought Bank of America was on the verge of failure in 2011, sending its stock to $5 a share. But while the rest of the market fled, Warren Buffett moved in, committing $5 billion of Berkshire Hathway's (BRK.A -0.48%) (BRK.B -0.52%) money to the North Carolina-based bank in a textbook illustration of his maxim to "be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful."

Buffett did the same thing with Berkshire's money in the early 1990s -- though Wells Fargo (WFC -0.92%) was his target. At the time, Wells Fargo was battling through a downturn in commercial real estate in California, its biggest market. Commentators at the time were questioning his sanity, as they predicted that the now soon-to-be third biggest bank by assets wouldn't survive.

To say that Buffett's decision to ignore the gloomy predictions worked well for the 85-year-old billionaire would be an understatement. According to Buffett's most recent letter to shareholders, Berkshire is sitting on a roughly $15 billion gain in Wells Fargo's stock, which is also Berkshire's largest holding.

To be clear, I don't believe there's any reason to assume that we're on the eve of a second financial crisis. China's in trouble. There's no doubt about that. Its central bank wouldn't be rapidly reducing the value of the yuan if it weren't, as the move goes against the country's decades-long effort to strengthen its currency in order to emerge as a major financial, not just industrial, player in the global economy.

At the same time, however, banks in the United States -- which were the cause of the last crisis -- haven't been as strong in years as they are today. They hold more capital. Credit quality is pristine. And their risk managers have reascended to the top of the corporate hierarchy in terms of their influence.

With respect to Bank of America, in particular, it's coming off its best year since the financial crisis -- by a long shot. Its legal expenses have finally receded into the background. Its debt rating is improving, which should lower its cost of funds, boost its net interest margin, and fuel profitability. And it's rapidly winding down its "bad bank" -- its legacy assets and servicing division -- created in the wake of the crisis to service toxic and noncore assets.

The third quarter of last year, in fact, marked the first time in almost a decade that the $2.2 trillion bank was able to string together four consecutive quarters of respectable profitability. If its fourth-quarter results follow suit, which is a reasonable conclusion in my opinion, then it will be primed to sail through the upcoming stress tests in March, which will then dictate whether or not it can increase the amount of capital it returns to shareholders.

CEO Brian Moynihan has been clear in the past that his intent is to recycle as much as possible of the bank's excess capital into share buybacks. At the bank's current valuation, that would catalyze the increase in its stock price.

In short, I may be wrong, but I believe shrewd investors should perceive temporary corrections like the one we're currently experiencing as opportunities to buy. Don't spend your money all at once, as the market could still fall before recovering. You'll accordingly want to average down as it does. But now, at least in my opinion, is nevertheless the time that you want to start establishing your position in a stock that will recover.
What: Shares of Delek US Holdings (DK 3.44%) and Delek Logistics Partners (DKL -2.12%) declined more than 13.5% in December following the lifting of the oil export ban and investor fears in the midstream space after Kinder Morgan cut its dividend.

So What: Refining companies have been riding a wave of higher refining margins for several quarters now, falling crude prices have helped to lower feedstock costs and the decline in petroleum product prices like gasoline and diesel have lagged ever so slightly to give refiners fat margins.

What has also been helping that to a certain degree was the fact that domestic crudes were trading at a discount to international benchmark prices. This was due in part from the restrictions on exporting domestically produced crude oil. Now that the export has been lifted, though, it is assumed that this price differential, and by default those fat refining margins, will decline over time. We are starting to see that play out recently, as domestic benchmark West Texas Intermediate is priced at almost parody to the internationally priced Brent crude.

The thought is that with narrower refining margins, Delek and other refiners will start to have margins compress and earnings per share will not be as robust as previous quarters.

To make matters even worse, master limited partnerships such as Delek Logistics Partners have seen a large sell off as of late thanks to Kinder Morgan's decision to cut its dividend. While this move has almost no effect on Delek Logistics, it has many investors scared that other master limited partnerships are destined for similar moves to shore up balance sheets as its gets harder and harder to access the capital markets for growth.

Now What: The funny thing is that neither of these things will have much of an impact on Delek or Delek Logistics long term. The company could see some lower earnings numbers from lower refining margins, but owning refining stocks means holding through the leaner times and reaping the rewards when times get better. If this company was already on your radar, then this decline may be a little more incentive to look a bit harder at both Delek US Holdings and Delek Logistics Partners.
When you think about the future, what do you envision? Perhaps it is a world much like today, save changes in technology and fashion....
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
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Thanks to a simple cardboard contraption and an innovative set of surgeons, a Minnesota baby born with only one lung and half a heart is expected to make a full recovery from surgery after doctors initially told her family her situation was helpless.

Fox 2 Now reported via CNN that doctors at Nicklaus Childrens Hospital in Miami used a set of Google Cardboard glasses, a virtual reality product that retails for less than $20 online, to map out the surgery for little Teegan Lexcen, who was born in August.

Teegens parents, Cassidy and Chad Lexcen, told CNN that their doctors in Minnesota initially sent them home, saying Teegen would die and there was nothing they could do to help her. Two weeks later, Teegen was still alive, so the Lexcens began searching for a second opinion.

CNN reported that Chads sister eventually stumbled upon an article called The 20 Most Innovative Pediatric Surgeons Alive Today, and Dr. Redmond Burke, the chief of cardiovascular surgery at Nicklaus Childrens Hospital in Miami, the No. 3 surgeon on the list, caught the Lexcens eyes.

They contacted the hospital and heard back immediately. Although they hadnt seen a condition like Teegens before, they brainstormed ways to help the little girl. Burke then reportedly coordinated with Dr. Juan Carlos Muniz, a pediatric cardiologist who specializes in imaging, to make a 3-D model of the little girls heart.

The teams 3-D printer was out of service, but Muniz thought of a different option an idea inspired by conversations about virtual reality with Dr. David Ezon, a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

In light of the 3-D printer being broken, Ezon took the Google Cardboard he had on hand and used it to pre-plan Teegens heart surgery using virtual reality. The technology was even more precise than the 3-D images hed produced on his computer with the Google Cardboard, he could manipulate the model of Teegens heart to view it at different angles and perceive its structure from inside the organ, CNN reported.

During the Dec. 10 surgery on Teegen, doctors found Google Cardboard was more helpful than 3-D printing could have been. With the device, CNN reported that they were able to see her hearts condition and location relative to the other parts of her body, and they were able to conceptualize a new surgery that overcame the challenges of Teegens heart having only one ventricle instead of the normal two.

Doctors carried out the surgery uneventfully, and on Wednesday, four weeks post-surgery, Teegen was breathing on her own. CNN reported that doctors predicted she would make a full recovery and be home within two weeks.
The high rate of side effects and hospitalizations after gastric bypass surgery should make development of new weight loss procedures a high priority, say researchers from Denmark.

People who had gastric bypass generally said their wellbeing improved after surgery, but about 90 percent reported at least one side effect and one-third were hospitalized, the authors report in JAMA Surgery.

Future research should focus on "alternative methods like sleeve gastrectomy and other procedures that would have fewer complications afterward," said lead author Dr. Sigrid Bjerge Gribsholt, of Aarhus University.

Gastric bypass - formally known as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass - is one of the most common weight loss operations. Surgeons reduce the size of the stomach and also reconstruct the gastrointestinal tract so that food will bypass part of the intestines as it's being digested.

While there are several other forms of weight loss surgery, gastric bypass is considered the "gold standard," according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

Common problems following gastric bypass include gallstones, kidney stones, hypoglycemia, diarrhea, anemia, nerve problems and general stomach issues.

For the new study, the researchers surveyed 1,429 people who had gastric bypass between 2006 and 2011, along with 89 people who were similar in age and weight, but didn't undergo surgery.

About 87 percent of the gastric bypass patients said their wellbeing improved since before their surgery, but 89 percent also reported at least one symptom during an average of five years since their surgery.

About 68 percent of gastric bypass patients required healthcare after their surgery due to symptoms, compared to about 29 percent of those in the comparison group.

The most common symptoms leading to healthcare visits in the surgery group were abdominal pain, fatigue and anemia.

Those who had surgery were also about four times more likely to be hospitalized during the study period than people who didn't have gastric bypass.

"We were not that surprised," said Gribsholt. "Previous studies had found quite similar numbers, but they only looked at complications one at a time."

The new study doesn't mean gastric bypass is a bad procedure, she stressed. After all, most said their wellbeing improved after the procedure.

"We found that 80 to 88 percent felt better," she said.

Also, some people may go to the doctors with symptoms that seem like unintended side effects but are really results of the surgery's effectiveness.

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between "what are the effects and what are the side effects of the operation," Gribsholt told Reuters Health.

She and her colleagues also caution that they relied on patients' memories for the surveys.
A Connecticut woman battling blood cancer was just months away from early retirement when she was informed by officials from the New York town she works for that she lost her job as court clerk, and the health benefits that came with it.

Trish Rubino, a single mother of three, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2007, and has since undergone stem cell transplants, clinical trials and several rounds of treatment. The family has also actively raised money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

According to a post on her daughters Facebook, Rubino, who was five months shy of eligibility for early retirement, received an email shortly before Christmas from North Salem town officials informing her that her last day of work would be Dec. 31, 2015, and she would be replaced by a new court clerk.

She is being replaced by new court clerk at the decision of the newly elected judges who are being inducted today at 1 pm., Jessica Rubino posted on Facebook. She sits here at treatment speechless, disappointed and hurt that the people she worked with for almost 10 years could allow this to happen only 5 months before she is eligible for early retirement.

Rubino told News 12 Westchester she believes the decision came as a result of a change in judges in town.

Between the judges and the supervisor and the town board, everyone knew what I was going through, and I think they could have been more compassionate and just kept me on the five months, given me my health insurance and that would have been the right thing to do, Rubino told News 12 Westchester.

North Salem Town Supervisor Warren Lucas told News 12 Westchester that he could not comment on the matter, citing HIPAA and personal aspects of the issues raised.


In Politico Tuesday, Republican elites warned that if Donald Trump or Ted Cruz become the nominee it would ruin the Republican brand.

How's that for party unity and loyalty?

More to the point: What brand?

The GOP brand is already ruined. And they ruined it.

The GOP brand was one that championed limited government. The second largest expansion of the federal government came under the stewardship of President Bush 43 with the GOP in control of both the House and the Senate. Since 2008, the growth has exploded, with more debt added during the Obama administration than all others combined. And since 2010, the GOP leadership has approved every single spending measure.

So much for limited government.

The GOP brand championed family values. They have done virtually nothing to uphold the American family in the face of relentless attacks from anti-family leftwing radicals. It is now illegal to defend your religion. God is being expelled from the public square everywhere. Marriage as a sacred institution has been abandoned. We are being forced to fund the killing of babies. None of these things were imaginable a generation ago. The GOP leadership has stood down every time families begged them to rise up.

So much for family values.

The GOP brand championed a strong national defense. Our adversaries are dangerous, threatening and on the march everywhere. Islamic terrorism is sweeping the globe. This administration has responded by gutting the military  and the GOP has endorsed it. Just as worrisome, our military are being emasculated from within by a politically-correct deconstructionist agenda that is ruining morale. The GOP is doing nothing about it.

So much for the commitment to a strong national defense

For years the GOP elites, along with their high-priced consultants, have cynically manipulated the Republican base, constantly promising to deliver on one issue after another, in order to get elected, yet delivering on nothing because there was never the intention of doing so.

Time and again since 2010, the Republicans have pledged to defund Obamacare. Theyve had countless opportunities to do so with meaningful legislation. Every time the opportunity has arisen, theyve headed for the tall grass. Fail.

Republicans ran tens of thousands of ads in 2014 promising to stop Obamas executive amnesty overreach. The moment to opportunity presented itself  they funded it.. Fail.

The Republican leadership declared its intention to stop federal funding of Planned Parenthood for once and for all. No serious effort has been enacted. Fail.

These Republicans declare in all of their speeches that they intend to rein in spending and shrink government  yet havent once even tried seriously. Fail.

Im sure I could think of more failures. But theres something I cant recall. Beyond welfare reform and the naming of two superb Supreme Court Justices, I cant think of any GOP accomplishment advancing the GOP brand over the past quarter century.

The rise of Trump and Cruz (and Carson and Fiorina too) is a direct reaction to the establishments own criminal incompetence.

But the GOP honchos are so blind to reality they cant see any of this, or too dishonest to admit it. From Politico:

In private conversations with several former aides, Mitt Romney, who in March will keynote the National Republican Congressional Committees annual fundraising dinner, has expressed rising frustration about Trumps prolonged lead in polls and has argued that the real-estate mogul could inflict lasting damage on the partys brand.

This from the Democrat-lite Republican who inexcusably couldnt defeat the incumbent more vulnerable than even Jimmy Carter. His solution is to call for more of the same against Hillary Clinton.

Why does anyone bother listening to these men?

Consider these breathtakingly asinine comments from McConnells former chief of staff, Josh Holmes, in Politico:

At some point, we have to deal with the fact that there are at least two candidates who could utterly destroy the Republican bench for a generation if they became the nominee Wed be hard-pressed to elect a Republican dogcatcher north of the Mason-Dixon or west of the Mississippi.

These men really dont care enough about the disintegration of America to do anything about it. They really dont care about the Republican party either.

For themthe incumbents, the consultants and the Chamberit is always about power. Their power.

The establishment is frightened. They should be. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz dont pose a threat to the GOP, they pose a threat to them. The current worry among Republican elites boils down to this, and this only: The GOP establishment is paralyzed by fear that it will be defeated by Trump or Cruz.
Americans spoke out. And the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) listened.

A new regulation proposed by the IRS would have some nonprofit charities report the Social Security numbers of donors giving at least $250 in one year. The regulation would permit, but not require, charitable organizations to file a new, separate information return (in addition to the Form 990) to substantiate covered contributions. The new informational return would require the charity to collect an individual donors name, address, and Social Security number, and provide a copy to the donor.

I first sounded the alarm about this problematic issue last month. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we strongly opposed this regulation, filing comments with the IRS explaining why such a move would be damaging by undermining consumer and taxpayer protections, and likely result in reduced charitable giving.

Many others opposed the proposed regulation, too. Nearly 38,000 people filed comments online  the vast majority opposing the move.

The result?

The IRS backed down and decided not to implement this measure. The IRS explained that tens of thousands of Americans speaking out against the proposal made the difference:

The Treasury Department and the IRS received a substantial number of public comments in response to the notice of proposed rulemaking. Many of these public comments questioned the need for donee reporting, and many comments expressed significant concerns about donee organizations collecting and maintaining taxpayer identification numbers for purposes of the specific-use information return, wrote the IRS in a message posted online at the Federal Register. Accordingly, the notice of proposed rulemaking is being withdrawn.

Lets not forget that this is the same IRS that has unlawfully targeted conservative and Tea Party groups. If the IRS had gone forward with this acquisition scheme to obtain Social Security numbers of Americans who donated to specific charities and nonprofit organizations, it would have created another avenue for abuse.

Imagine the opportunity for corrupt IRS employees to target donors who gave to specific conservative charities or nonprofits  a ready-made list identifying donors by Social Security number and linking them to specific organizations. The Lois Lerners of the IRS would have another field day.

The IRS doesnt have the trust of the American people  and for good reason.

Consider this comment posted online by one taxpayer who opposed the IRS regulation: With the IRSs history of safeguarding our tax info and going after people they dont like, this should not even be on the table to be considered. Do not do this for the people, just leave the people alone.

It is comments like that one  along with tens of thousands of others  that the IRS simply could not ignore in the end.

An important reminder: your voice can make a difference.
The Bible has always claimed that Heaven is real, and now thousands who have died and returned believe it too.

After researching nearly 1,000 accounts of people who died, were resuscitated, and lived to report a near death experience (NDE) of the afterlife, I wrote my book "Imagine Heaven." In it, I showcase 120 stories that illustrate the commonalities of these accounts, correlating them with an in-depth look at the Bibles picture of Heaven. What results is an exhilarating, imaginative journey into the life to comean encouraging perspective for us all as we enter into a new year.

When I examined the similarities of the actual NDE reports across ages and cultures, they affirm each other and scripture. These are accounts told by surgeons, college professors, commercial airline pilots, bank presidentspeople who have nothing to gain, but credibility to lose. Their experiences align with reports from around the globe, from children, even from blind people who claim to see this same awe-inspiring picture of Heaven.

People report that when they clinically died, they found themselves above their bodies in a new body. They felt more alive than they had ever felt beforenot only with five senses, but more like 50 senses. They describe the spiritual body outlined in scripture (I Corinthians 15, Philippians 3:20-21).

Additionally, many met loved ones previously deceased, reminding us of the great reunion Jesus promised to his close friends in John 14.

People often describe a place of exquisite beauty, not unlike the earth, with mountains, forests, flowers, and streams, yet alive in new dimensions of time and spaceilluminated by a light that radiates life and love. Even a few NDErs who were blind from birth also see the same exquisite beauty. They describe this same mystical light that doesnt shine on, but out of, everything, affirming the Bibles explanation that there is no sun or moon in Heaven, but the glory of God is its light (Revelation 21:23-24).

Around the globe, people encounter a brilliant Person of Light, brighter than the sun, yet not difficult to look at in Heaven. People intuitively know he is God and say he exudes an unconditional love unlike anything experienced on earth. He knows their every thought and motive, yet they feel so at home with him, they never want to leave. The biblical writers Daniel, Paul, John, and others also describe this same Person of Light (Daniel 10:4-6, Acts 9:3-5, Revelation 1).

In the presence of God, many people experience a life reviewa panoramic, three-dimensional re-living of their entire life in an instant. Every thought, motive, and action is laid bare, and they experience the profound way their actions affected others. In the presence of unconditional love, they see all the good and evil, cause and effect, and they realize it is love that matters most to God. This is consistent with the teachings of Moses and Jesus, who say that loving God first and loving people second sums up all the commandments (Matthew 22:36-40).

Because some may find all this hard to believe, I also research skeptical doctors who were convinced by their patients reporting verifiable observations while outside their lifeless bodies. The corroborative evidence of details reported has been chronicled in academic journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet. "Imagine Heaven" explores all these experiences in great detail, so that by the end of the book, you feel like youve been there.

Ironically, some Christians have dismissed NDEs as tales of hallucination or the last flicker of a dying brain. However, I believe most of these are divine experiencesgifts from Godpointing us to the hope of Heaven as detailed throughout scripture.

This hope is something we can grab hold of today as we review our lives and set goals for the new year--to change the way we view and live our lives, to love other people and make a difference in their lives, as we set our sights on our futures in Heaven.
The White House no longer talks about red lines, but it seems more are being crossed every day.

From the Middle East to Asia, U.S. adversaries are taking provocative and aggressive actions, raising concerns they are feeling emboldened  ever since President Obama backed off the threat of military action against Syrias Bashar Assad.

North Korea has now tested a fourth nuclear device under orders from Kim Jong Un. China over the weekend brazenly landed its first aircraft on a runway built atop one of its man-made islands in the South China Sea weeks after the U.S. indicated it had no plans to send warships there, and later flew a large civilian airliner to the artificial land mass.

The Pentagon confirmed Thursday that three Chinese planes have landed on the disputed island chain in recent days.

We can now confirm that there may have been three flights that have landed, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters. We clearly are concerned by these flights.

He would not say if the Pentagon planned to respond.

Many at the Pentagon fear the disputed islands will be used as a military base that could threaten maritime security.

But House Speaker Paul Ryan pointed the finger at the administration, blasting the president for talking of cutting the Navy as tension builds in the South China Sea.

"This just shows that we need to have a strong Navy," Ryan told reporters. "We should not have a president proposing to lower our ship count to pre-World War I levels. This means we need to have a strong military and a strong Navy, and a real foreign policy, which we do not now have."

More broadly, former administration officials have spoken out about the damage done to U.S. credibility after the president in 2013 reversed calls for military action when Assad used chemical weapons.

Once that line is drawn and once it is crossed, the commander-in-chief has the responsibility to act, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in an MSNBC interview Thursday. It sent the wrong message that America will not stand by its word. Panetta also served as Obamas CIA director.

In response to Chinas latest moves, Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with his Vietnamese counterpart.

"Both sides expressed concerns about potential militarization of outposts in the Spratlys and agreed that these activities continue to raise regional tensions, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

Kerry also spoke with his Chinese counterpart, about the South China Sea but also about North Koreas aggression.

We cannot continue business as usual with North Korea, Kerry told reporters Thursday.

A senior State Department official made clear the U.S. is looking to China for help with Pyongyang: We look for China to lead here.

Otherwise, there has been relative silence from the White House and Pentagon.

In October, the Pentagon sent the USS Lassen, a Navy destroyer, to sail within 12 miles of the Spratly Islands to make a point, but the Chinese have ignored such symbolic moves knowing the White House is unlikely to authorize anything more muscular.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon refused to even confirm the Chinese flights, referring all questions about them and North Koreas nuclear test to the State Department.

"I can't confirm flights from here. I've seen reports of those flights, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told reporters.

Despite the low-key response, a 2006 opinion piece penned by now-Defense Secretary Ash Carter in the Washington Post argued for preemptive action to deter countries like China, North Korea and Iran.

"Should the United States allow a country openly hostile to it and armed with nuclear weapons to perfect an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering nuclear weapons to U.S. soil? We believe not, Carter wrote in a piece with William Perry, a former defense secretary. The Bush administration has unwisely ballyhooed the doctrine of preemption, which all previous presidents have sustained as an option rather than a dogma."

Last week, the White House also delayed a decision to impose new sanctions on Iran in the wake of a second ballistic missile test this fall in breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The administration still won't confirm publicly that a November missile test took place.

There are still some technical issues that are being worked out, Kirby said of the sanctions, pledging the issue would not be ignored. As we have in the past, I fully expect you'll see us in the future continue to hold Iran accountable for these other destabilizing activities.

Seven Democratic House members wrote to the president Wednesday demanding a response.

Inaction from the United States would send the misguided message that, in the wake of the JCPOA [Iran nuclear deal], the international community has lost the willingness to hold the Iranian regime accountable, they wrote.

The letter was signed by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, and six other Democrats.

In addition, an Iranian rocket fired by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps during live-fire exercises came within just 1,500 feet last week of the USS Harry S. Truman after it passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

Such aggressive and destabilizing behavior is deeply troubling, particularly preceding implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and demands a U.S. response, the Democratic lawmakers wrote to Obama.

Speaking about the Iranian nuclear agreement, Kerry said Thursday the deal might be implemented very soon, unfreezing billions of dollars in sanctions relief.

We are days away from implementation if all goes well, Kerry said.
President Obama doubled down on his push for gun control Thursday at a televised town hall meeting in which he said that sales of guns have soared under his presidency because gun rights groups have convinced people that somebody is going to come get your guns."

"Part of the reason is that the NRA has convinced many of its members that somebody is going to come get your guns," Obama said after admitting that his presidency had been good for gun manufacturers.

The town hall came just two days after Obama announced executive actions designed, among other goals, to broaden the scope of gun sales subject to background checks.

Obama said that he has never owned a gun but would occasionally shoot one at Camp David for skeet shootings.

He also said he would be happy to meet with the National Rifle Association -- which has vocally opposed to the presidents gun control proposals -- and that he had invited them to the White House multiple times. Obama criticized the NRAs decision not to attend the event, and took aim at their fiery language in response to his actions.

"If you listen to the rhetoric, it is so over the top, and so overheated," Obama said.

At the town hall, which was hosted and televised by CNN, Obama took questions from Taya Kyle, whose late husband Chris Kyle was depicted in the film "American Sniper." Kyle told Obama that gun ownership was at an all-time high while murder rates are at an historic low, and defended her right to own a gun.

I want the hope -- and the hope that I have the right to protect myself; that I don't end up to be one of these families; that I have the freedom to carry whatever weapon I feel I need, Kyle said.

There is a way for us to set up a system where you (as) a gun owner ... can have a firearm to protect yourself but where it is much harder for somebody to fill up a car with guns and sell them to 13-year-old kids on the streets, Obama replied.

Obama also took questions from Cleo Pendleton, whose daughter was shot and killed near Obama's Chicago home, and from Sheriff Paul Babeu, an Arizona lawman and congressional candidate who has accused Obama of unconstitutional power grabs on guns.

He also took questions from controversial Chicago Catholic priest Rev. Michael Pfleger.

The reality is that I don't understand why we can't title guns just like cars, Pfleger said. If I have a car and I give it to you, Mr. President, and I don't transfer a title, and you're in an accident, it's on me.

Issues like licensing, registration, that's an area where there's just not enough national consensus at this stage to even consider it. And part of it is, is people's concern that that becomes a prelude to taking people's guns away, Obama replied.

Also in the audience was former Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly. Kelly and Giffords became prominent gun control advocates after Giffords was shot in 2011.

Obama has come under heavy fire from Republicans and Second Amendment advocates for his actions, which they say infringe on Americans right to bear arms.

The NRA fired back at Obama while the town hall was still going on. NRA Director Chris Cox told Fox News Megyn Kelly: This is an attempt to distract the American people away from his failed policies.

The NRA does more to teach safe and responsible gun ownership than this president ever has or ever will, Cox said.

The president also published an opinion piece in Thursday's New York Times in which he pledged not to support any candidate who is opposed to gun control.

I will not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform, Obama said, a move that could make Democratic candidates in Republican states feel unable to request the political support of the two-term president.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said before the event that Obama hoped the forum will spur a "serious conversation" about the Second Amendment as well as the administration's new push to tighten gun control rules.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An inert U.S. Hellfire missile sent to Europe for a NATO training exercise in 2014 was mistakenly shipped to Cuba and has been there ever since.

Though the missile does not contain any explosives, The Wall Street Journal reports U.S. officials are concerned that Cuban authorites may share the missile's sensors and targeting technology with countries like Russia, China and North Korea.

Several people familiar with the case told the Journal that the incident is the worst example of sensitive military technology falling into the hands of a nation under U.S. sanctions that they can recall.

According to the Journal report, the missile was properly shipped to Spain, where it was used in the exercise. It was then supposed to be taken on a roundabout journey back to the U.S. via Germany. Instead, the Journal reported the missile was loaded onto an Air France truck that took the cargo to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, where it was put on a flight to Havana.

The Journal reported that federal investigators were working to determine whether the shipment was the result of a major error, or the work of international criminals or spies.

A U.S. official told the Associated Press that manufacturer Lockheed Martin was authorized to export the dummy missile for the training exercise. The official attributed the shipping error to Lockheed's freight forwarders, and said the U.S. was working with Lockheed to get the device back.

The Journal reported that the initial permission for Lockheed to send the missile to Spain came from the State Department, which declined comment

U.S. officials have been urging the Cuban government to return the missile, the Journal said, adding that officials don't suspect that Cuba will try to develop similar weapons technology on its own. The U.S. and Cuba restored diplomatic relations in July 2015 after more than 50 years of hostility.



According to the Defense Department, the Hellfire is a laser-guided, air-to-surface missile that weighs about 100 pounds. It can be deployed from an attack helicopter like the Apache or an unmanned drone like the Predator. The Hellfire training missile contains an incomplete guidance section and has no operational seeker head, warhead, fusing system or rocket motor.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.


A casual jab by Donald Trump over Canada-born Ted Cruz eligibility for president has snowballed into a campaign trail headache for the Iowa GOP caucus front-runner.

The Texas senator was born in Calgary, Canada, a fact hes hardly kept secret. Despite some questions last year about his eligibility to run, legal scholars have said Cruz indeed is a natural born citizen and eligible because his mother is American. Plus he renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014.

But Trump, who famously challenged President Obamas birthplace and eligibility years ago, dredged up the same issue with Cruz earlier this week, warning it could lead to a drawn-out court case.

Cruz tried to brush it off. But other lawmakers  most recently, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.  have kept the questions alive.

McCain, who is not exactly a Cruz ally, needled his Senate colleague in a radio interview with Phoenix-based KFYI. He said Cruz case is different from his own situation  McCain was born on a U.S. military base in the Panama Canal Zone.

I think there is a question. I am not a constitutional scholar on that, but I think its worth looking into. I don't think it's illegitimate to look into it," McCain said.

Pelosi, asked about Cruz on Thursday, said its a matter for Republicans to decide but added: I do think there is a distinction between John McCain being born to a family and serving our country in Panama than someone born in another country.

Following McCains interview, Trump tweeted:

The Cruz campaign hit back at McCain Thursday, with communications director Rick Tyler suggesting the senator is just trying to boost Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

I imagine that the Gang of Eight will stay together and hell be for Rubio, so  why not help? he told Fox News, referencing the 2013 gang that worked on an immigration reform bill.

Pro-Cruz super PAC Keep the Promise 1 also said in a statement: "As Cruz rises in the polls, his opponents are looking for anything to stop his momentum. Raising a matter of law shows there is nothing else to attack him on, and that he's gotten into their heads. Let's end these sideshows and get back to talking about who is going to restore peace and prosperity to our nation."

Whether the Canada questions fade or flare from here is an open question.

Trump has claimed he was only posing an innocent question when he first discussed Cruz eligibility in an interview with The Washington Post. But hes urged Cruz to get out in front.

I will say, though, that the Democrats, if they bring a lawsuit on it  you have to get it solved, Trump told Fox News on Wednesday. I would like to see Ted do something where maybe he goes in a preemptive fashion into court to try and get some kind of an order because I would not like to see that happen.

Cruz has tried to stay above the fray.

He initially responded to Trumps questions with a tweet referencing the episode of Happy Days where Fonzie jumps over a shark on water skis, equating it to the Trump campaign jumping the shark.

But he was peppered with questions at a press conference Tuesday in Iowa. He wouldnt criticize Trump directly and tried to turn the tables on the media.

One of the things the media loves to do is gaze at their navels at hours on end by a tweet from Donald Trump or from me or from anybody elsewho cares? Lets focus on the issues.

He added, The best way to respond to this kind of attack is to laugh it off.

In the past, Cruz supporters have pointed to an article last year in the Harvard Law Review by Neal Katyal, former acting solicitor general in the Obama administration, and Paul Clemente, former solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration.

There is no question that Senator Cruz has been a citizen from birth and is thus a natural born Citizen within the meaning of the Constitution, they wrote.

The lawyers wrote that the Supreme Court has long used British common law and enactments of the First Congress for guidance on defining a natural born citizen.

Both confirm that the original meaning of the phrase natural born Citizen includes persons born abroad who are citizens from birth based on the citizenship of a parent, they wrote.

For Cruz, the questions might not have gained much steam if not for the fact that Obama and his allies spent years battling allegations from birthers that he wasnt really born in Hawaii.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest invoked that controversy on Wednesday.

It would be quite ironic if after seven or eight years of drama around the presidents birth certificate, if Republican primary voters were to choose Senator Cruz as their nominee -- somebody who actually wasnt born in the United States and only 18 months ago renounced his Canadian citizenship, Earnest said.

GOP candidate and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul also piled on Wednesday, joking on Fox News Radios Kilmeade & Friends that, I think without question he is qualified and would make the cut to be Prime Minister of Canada.

He later said, I am not enough of a legal scholar to say the court will decide one way or another.

Fox News Dan Gallo contributed to this report.
Ted Cruz continues to hold an edge over Donald Trump in the GOP nomination race in Iowa, according to the latest Fox News poll of likely Republican caucus-goers.

The new poll, released Friday, finds Cruz receives 27 percent support and Trump 23 percent. Marco Rubio follows in third place at 15 percent.

Thats little changed from a month ago when Cruz had 28 percent, Trump had 26 percent, and Rubio had 13 percent (December 7-10).

CLICK TO READ THE POLL RESULTS

Ben Carson is at nine percent (-1), Jeb Bush seven percent (+2), and Rand Paul five percent (no change).

Cruzs advantage widens among caucus-goers who identify as very conservative. He garners 40 percent among this group -- nearly double Trumps 22 percent.

White evangelical Christians also prefer Cruz over Trump (33 vs. 19 percent).

Cruz bests Trump among caucus-goers who have a college degree (25 vs. 18 percent) and those under age 45 (27 vs. 17 percent).

Trump has a one-point edge among those without a degree (30 vs. 29 percent).

The two are also about even among those over age 45 (Cruz 26 vs. Trump 25 percent).

Nearly 3 in 10 who say they will attend a Republican caucus this year have never done so before (27 percent). These first-timers are about equally likely to back Trump (27 percent) as Cruz (26 percent). Another 14 percent go for Rubio.

It will be tough for Trump to expand his support in Iowa, as nearly a third of likely caucus-goers say they could never back him (31 percent). Thats more than four times as many as say the same about Cruz (7 percent). One in four couldnt support Bush (25 percent).

By a 57-39 percent margin, GOP caucus-goers feel betrayed by politicians in their party. That widens to 66-31 percent among Cruz supporters -- and to 70-27 percent among very conservatives in the Hawkeye State.

More say national security (36 percent) will be most important in deciding who theyll support than say economic issues (32 percent), immigration (12 percent) or social issues (8 percent).

They also put being honest and trustworthy (25 percent) and being a strong leader (22 percent) at the top of the list of traits they want in a nominee. Those outrank having true conservative values (18 percent), beating the Democrat (13 percent), and shaking things up in Washington (13 percent).

In the end, caucus-goers are more likely to think Trump (37 percent) will be the GOP nominee than say the same of Cruz (26 percent).

The Fox News Poll is conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R). The poll was conducted January 4-7, 2016, by telephone (landline and cellphone) with live interviewers among a random sample of 504 Iowa Republican caucus-goers selected from a statewide voter file. Results among the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.
The latest batch of emails released from Hillary Clinton's personal account from her tenure as secretary of state includes 66 messages deemed classified at some level, the State Department said early Friday.

In one email, Clinton even seemed to coach a top adviser on how to send secure information outside secure channels.

All but one of the 66 messages have been labeled "confidential", the lowest level of classification. The remaining email has been labeled as "secret." The total number of classified emails found on Clinton's personal server has risen to 1,340 with the latest release. Seven of those emails have been labeled "secret."

In all, the State Department released 1,262 messages in the early hours of Friday, making up almost 2,900 pages of emails. Unlike in previous releases, none of the messages were searchable in the department's online reading room by subject, sender or recipient.

Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has repeatedly maintained that she did not send or receive classified material on her personal account. The State Department claims none of the emails now marked classified were labled as such at the time they were sent.

However, one email thread from June 2011 appears to include Clinton telling her top adviser Jake Sullivan to send secure information through insecure means.

In response to Clinton's request for a set of since-redacted talking points, Sullivan writes, "They say they've had issues sending secure fax. They're working on it." Clinton responds "If they can't, turn into nonpaper [with] no identifying heading and send nonsecure."

Ironically, an email thread from four months earlier shows Clinton saying she was "surprised" that a diplomatic oficer named John Godfrey used a personal email account to send a memo on Libya policy after the fall of Muammar Qaddafi.

Another message includes a condolence email from the father of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl following the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

The note from Bob Bergdahl, which was forwarded to Clinton by Sullivan, reads in part, "Our Nation is stumbling through a very volatile world. The 'Crusade' paradigm will never be forgotten in this part of the world and we force our Diplomats to carry a lot of baggage around while walking on eggshells."

After seeing the email, Clinton directed her assistant Robert Russo to "pls [sic] prepare [a] response." Bowe Bergdahl was freed from Taliban capitivity in May 2014 as part of a prisoner swap. He faces a court-martial for desertion in August.

The State Department made the emails public after failing to meet a court-ordered goal of releasing 82 percent of the 55,000 pages of emails Clinton turned over to the department last year. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Thursday the latest release would bring the department in line with that goal.

The messages had previously been released in batches at the end of each month. A federal judge has ordered that the email release be completed by Jan. 29.

The latest document drop came one day after the State Department was criticized by its independent inspector general for producing "inaccurate and incomplete" responses to public records requests during Clinton's time as secretary of state.

The report underscored inherent problems for public responses to records requests when government employees use a private email account, as Clinton did.

The federal public records law "neither authorizes nor requires agencies to search for federal records in personal email accounts maintained on private servers or through commercial providers" such as Gmail or Yahoo, the report stated. "Furthermore, the [Freedom of Information Act] analyst has no way to independently locate federal records from such accounts unless employees take steps to preserve official emails in department record-keeping systems."

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson, Matthew Dean and Kara Rowland and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage drew heavy criticism Thursday for his comments regarding out-of-state drug dealers who he claimed are impregnating young white girls.

The blunt-spoken Republican was speaking about Maines heroin epidemic Wednesday and described out-of-state drug dealers as "guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty" and said "half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave."

LePage, whos white, didnt describe the races of the aforementioned drug dealers during a town meeting in Bridgton, and a spokesman said Thursday that LePage wasnt making a comment about race.

However, fellow Republican and LePage critic Lance Dutson, said the governor was playing up peoples racial fears.

"This is one of the most blatantly racist statements he's ever made," said Dutson, a former CEO of the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center who helped create the GOP group Get Right Maine to combat extremism. "One of the things that's offensive about it is that it's reminiscent of this fearmongering in American history that people would like to think is long gone."

Michael Alpert, the president of Bangors NAACP chapter, called the governors comments sad and foolish.

LePage's chief of communications, Peter Steele, insisted the governor wasn't talking about race when he made the comment.

Race is irrelevant," Steele said in an email to the Associated Press. "What is relevant is the cost to state taxpayers for welfare and the emotional costs for these kids who are born as a result of involvement with drug traffickers. His heart goes out to these kids because he had a difficult childhood, too. We need to stop the drug traffickers from coming into our state."

Also among LePages critics was the Hillary Clinton campaign. Marlon Marshall, a spokesman for Hillary for America, told the Portland Press Herald LePages racist rants sadly distract from efforts to address one of our nations most pressing problems.

Phil Bartlett, the chairman of the Maine Democratic Party, told the paper the governors comments were coded racism made to divide Maine residents.

LePage is known for speaking his mind, and it sometimes gets him into trouble. He said on the campaign trail that he'd tell President Barack Obama to "go to hell," and then soon after he was elected to his first term he told the Portland chapter of the NAACP to "kiss my butt."

He previously likened the IRS to the Gestapo, called protesters "idiots" and said a political foe liked to "give it to the people without Vaseline."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Obama on Friday vetoed legislation to repeal most of his signature health care law, saying the bill would do harm to millions of Americans.

The move was widely expected, after Republicans for the first time succeeded in sending an ObamaCare repeal bill to the presidents desk. The legislation that Obama vetoed also would cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

While Congress may try to override, Republicans do not currently have the votes to do so.

Republicans, though, say they met two goals by passing the bill: keeping a promise to voters in an election year, and showing their ability to repeal the health law if a Republican wins the presidency.

This is the closest we have come to repealing ObamaCare, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Thursday.

As the next step, Ryan wants to work on a proposal to replace the health care law. As he said in a statement Wednesday, the goal is to lay the groundwork for repealing and replacing the law should a Republican win the presidency this November.

It clears the path to repealing this law with a Republican president in 2017 and replacing it with a truly patient-centered health care system, he said. We will not back down from this fight to defend the sanctity of life and make quality health care coverage achievable for all Americans.

Though Republicans tried dozens of times to pass a full or partial repeal bill, they were only able to get this one to Obamas desk because the Senate passed their version under special rules that protected it from a Democratic filibuster. The House followed suit this week.

Still, it takes a two-thirds threshold to override a presidential veto. In the House alone, Republicans are shy of that amount by nearly 50 votes.

In a lengthy written statement explaining his veto, Obama on Friday said the bill would reverse the significant progress we have made in improving health care in America, warning that it would increase the number of uninsured.

Rather than refighting old political battles by once again voting to repeal basic protections that provide security for the middle class, Members of Congress should be working together to grow the economy, strengthen middle-class families, and create new jobs, he said.

Republicans argue that the legislation is harming the economy, and wrongly forcing Americans to buy insurance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said Friday two high-ranking officials were finally demoted in response to a federal probe that found they manipulated the agency's personnel system for their own gain, but a key lawmaker is asking why they weren't prosecuted.

Federal prosecutors announced on Christmas Eve that they would not pursue charges in the case, but the Justice Department has not responded to Rep. Jeff Miller's inquiry into why no charges will be filed.

On Friday, the Department of Veterans Affairs said in a statement that it took "final action" to "demote" two Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) Senior Executives to General Schedule positions.

Diana Rubens, director of VBAs Philadelphia regional office, and Kimberly Graves, director of VBAs St. Paul regional office, have been assigned to assistant director positions at other VBA regional offices, the VA said.

"These actions were originally initiated in October 2015 but had to be redone to correct an administrative error," the statement said.

Miller, R-Fla., and chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, is pressing U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch for answers surrounding Graves and Rubens, who got $300,000 in taxpayer money for her home when it did not sell.

In a Dec. 22 letter penned to Lynch, Miller wrote, "A Sept. 28, 2015, VA Office of Inspector General report recommended that the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia, pursue criminal charges against two VA executives it found to have abused their positions in order to take jobs with less responsibility, while keeping higher salaries."

"The report detailed how the VA executives pressured subordinates to accept position transfers only to volunteer for the vacated jobs while keeping their original salaries and having the VA pay them more than $400,000 in taxpayer relocation benefits," he wrote.

"Will the DOJ pursue charges against these employess? If not, why not?" Miller questioned.

As of Friday, the DOJ had not responded to Miller's letter, according to his office.

The VA's acting inspector general said in a report this fall that Rubens and Graves forced lower-ranking regional managers to accept job transfers against their will. Rubens and Graves then stepped into the vacant positions themselves, keeping their pay while reducing their responsibilities.

Rubens and Graves refused to testify to Congress in November, telling lawmakers they were asserting their Fifth Amendment rights to protect themselves against self-incrimination.

Before taking the regional jobs, Rubens was a deputy undersecretary at the VA's Washington headquarters, while Graves was director of VBA's 14-state North Atlantic Region.

Rubens and Graves kept their salaries of $181,497 and $173,949, respectively, in their new positions, even though they had less responsibility and a lower pay range than their previous positions.

Rubens grew up near Philadelphia, while Graves has family in Minnesota, the IG's report said. In addition to naming themselves to vacancies, Rubens and Graves obtained more than $400,000 in questionable moving expenses through a relocation program for VA executives, the IG's report said.

A VA spokeswoman was not immediately available when contacted Friday. It remains unclear where the money used by Rubens and Graves will be paid back to the government.

The House Committee on Veterans Affairs has already held two hearings that focused on this issue extensively. The first was held on Nov. 2, and Rubens and Graves, who were forced to attend via subpoena, invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The second was held on Dec. 9. At that hearing, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Sloan Gibson was questioned on his handling of the case, including his refusal to recoup the money and his decision to merely demote the two.

Miller's call for transparency extends beyond the hefty relocation fees. Miller said he is still demanding answers about the secret wait-list scandal that rocked the VA in June 2014.

"FBI Director James Comey waded into VAs secret wait-list scandal by announcing an investigation into the matter and vowing to pursue wrongdoing wherever the facts take us.," Miller said in a statement to FoxNews.com on Thursday.

"More than 18 months later, its entirely unclear where the facts have taken the Department of Justice. The attorney general seems uninformed regarding even the most basic elements of the investigation, DoJ officials have refused to answer lawmakers questions on the matter, and meanwhile the agency is slamming the door shut on investigations nearly as fast as VAs inspector general is referring them to DoJ," he said.

"Thats why its incumbent upon Attorney General Lynch to clear up the widespread confusion regarding this situation by promptly answering our questions," Miller continued. "Otherwise, well never be able to solve the mystery surrounding why just a handful of people have been punished for a scandal that rocked the entire VA. But perhaps thats just how the administration wants it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The population of Florida's iconic manatees has recovered enough that the species no longer meets the definition of "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act, federal wildlife officials said Thursday.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have proposed relisting the slow-moving, speed bump-shaped marine mammals as a "threatened" species, which would not change any current protections for manatees.

"Based on the best available scientific information, we believe the manatee is no longer in danger of extinction," Michael Oetker, deputy regional director for the wildlife service, said at a news conference at the Miami Seaquarium, which has rescued, rehabilitated and released manatees back into the wild for decades.

A Florida business group and the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation petitioned the government in 2012 to reclassify the manatee, citing a 2007 federal review that recommended listing the species as threatened because the population is recovering.

They argued that if the federal government followed its own rules, the reclassification should have been automatic.

"It's taken eight years and two lawsuits to get the government to follow up on its own experts' recommendation to reclassify the manatee," Christina Martin, a Pacific Legal Foundation attorney, wrote in an email. The foundation has represented a group of recreational boaters, tour operators, dive shops and hotels on the Crystal River, which is warmed by natural springs and is a favorite winter congregating spot for manatees.

An "endangered" listing means the species is in imminent risk of extinction, while "threatened" means they could become endangered in the foreseeable future  an improvement wildlife officials likened to moving manatees from intensive care into a rehabilitation facility.

The proposed reclassification reflects state, local and federal collaborations that have increased the abundance and health of manatees, said Ernie Marks, regional director for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Florida's manatee population has grown from several hundred in 1967 to more than 6,000 counted last year in an annual statewide survey.

Wildlife and manatee advocates say the proposal to relist manatees as a threatened species ignores ongoing threats to their survival.

Also known as "sea cows," manatees are primarily found in Florida though their range extends to Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean. Their biggest threats in the U.S. are boats, cold water, toxic algae blooms and discarded fishing debris. Elsewhere in the West Indian manatee's Caribbean range, the animals face significant habitat loss.

In spite of successful conservation efforts, the manatee population suffered "catastrophic" losses from prolonged cold snaps and toxic red tide blooms from 2010 through 2013, said Save the Manatees Club Executive Director Pat Rose.

The wildlife service "should not move forward with downlisting without a proven, viable plan for further reducing boat strike mortality and for preserving vital warm water habitat," said Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

The public will have 90 days to comment on the proposal that will be published Friday in the federal register, and the wildlife service could take a year to adopt the proposed relisting or explain why it won't.

A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled Feb. 20 in Orlando.
The small armed group occupying a remote Oregon federal wildlife refuge for a sixth day Friday rejected a sheriffs offer of safe passage out of the state.



"How long will this go on?" said Ammon Bundy, leader of the group that seized the headquarters of the refuge in southeastern Oregon last Saturday. "We say to you, 'not a minute too early.'"

Bundy spoke to reporters a day after Harney County Sheriff David Ward called for an end of the occupation. He asked the protesters to respect the wishes of residents who want them to go home.

To hasten their departure, Ward offered Bundy and the other activists safe passage out the county and state.

I can only say to him, we will take that offer, but not yet, said Bundy, the son of Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher who in 2014 was at the center of a tense standoff with federal officials over grazing rights.

The younger Bundy suggested Ward wasnt speaking for everyone in the county. The protesters are demanding a plan to turn over federal lands to locals.

The group also opposes prison sentences for father and son ranchers convicted of arson.

When the people are ready to stand for themselves, there will be no need for us and we can go home, Bundy said.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday called the occupation "unlawful" and said it had to end.

"It was instigated by outsiders whose tactics we Oregonians don't agree with. Those individuals illegally occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge need to decamp immediately and be held accountable," she said.

On Wednesday night, residents attended a community meeting to air their views about the two dozen or so armed men holed up at the refuges headquarters 30 miles south of Burns.

Locals said they sympathized with the armed group's complaints about federal land management policies but disagreed with their tactics.

At that meeting, Ward said he hoped residents would put up a united front to peacefully resolve the conflict with the group.

"I'm here today to ask those folks to go home and let us get back to our lives," Ward said.

Schools were closed following the seizure of the refuge because of safety concerns in the small town in eastern Oregon's high desert.

Bundy's group, calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, says it wants an inquiry into whether the government is forcing ranchers off their land. Participants came from as far away as Arizona and Michigan.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Three teenagers who traveled to California from China to attend high school agreed Thursday to prison time after they were charged with kidnapping and assaulting a classmate, The Los Angeles Times reported.

The teens were among a growing number of so-called "parachute kids" leaving their families in China to avoid its tough college entrance exams and to assimilate in the United States.

Prosecutors say Xinlei "John" Zhang, Yunyao "Helen" Zhai and Yuhan "Coco" Yang, all 19, abducted their classmate and forced her to wipe food and cigarette butts from the floor of a Rowland Heights ice cream parlor with her hands. The girl, who was 18 at the time, said the group also stripped her naked in a park, kicked her and burned her with cigarettes, the Times adds.

The three suspects agreed to plead no contest to kidnapping and assault charges in exchange for prison sentences ranging from 6-13 years, according to the newspaper.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for February. The Times reports a 20-year-old man was also arrested on similar charges.
A former carnival worker who was convicted of killing three Tampa Bay-area women and then married a member of his defense team has been executed in Florida.

Gov. Rick Scott's office says Oscar Ray Bolin was pronounced dead by lethal injection Thursday at 10:16 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke. The scheduled 6 p.m. execution time was delayed until the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Bolin's final appeal without comment.

The death warrant Scott signed in October was for the 1986 killing of Teri Lynn Matthews. The 26-year-old Matthews was abducted from a post office just north of Tampa.

Bolin said, "No, sir," when asked if he wanted to make a final statement Thursday night. The execution took about 12 minutes, during which Bolin's chest heaved for several minutes as he took a number of deep breaths.
Here in the new millennium, a mothers to-do list is changing: buy diapers, strain the peas, select another baby app from iTunes 

Wait, a baby app?

Yes, now there are apps specifically for infants, and moms are loading them into their iPads and onto their smartphones for baby to enjoy.

Fisher-Price even unveiled a Newborn to Toddler Activity Seat, which accommodates an iPad that hangs in front of babys face.

I am embarrassed, but my 14-month-old daughter knows how to swipe left, and often reaches up her arms  not for me, but for my smartphone, one Boston-area mother of two toddlers told LifeZette. I know sometimes its good, and stimulates her mind, but sometimes its also the perfect baby sitter.

A 2014 study by Common Sense Media found that 38 percent of babies under age 2 use tablets or smartphones, up from 10 percent in 2011. The diaper set is tech savvy and demanding their screen time.

But even if its educational, there are questions about just how good for them this activity is.

The bottom line is that its so new we dont know if its good, bad or otherwise. But there is a lot of other research that shows the main learning and sustenance for young children  particularly children under 2  comes from their relationships, particularly their parents and whomever cares for them, Tovah Klein, director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development, told the New York Daily News.

The problem with electronics is that they do all that work for the child, so the child doesnt have to do it on their own, Janna Koretz, a child psychologist in Boston, told LifeZette. Because of this, they miss out on developing these important and hard to develop skills, which ultimately does them a disservice.

And, there is the strong, some might say alluring, bonus of infant screen time: babysitting.

The problem is that helping children with skills and not giving them electronics takes additional attention and time for parents, which is something that is limited, especially in families where both parents are working, said Koretz.

There are several apps that parents can download for baby, such as Transit Lite Edition 1.3, by Butterscotch.com.

At a restaurant, it comes in handy if your baby is crying, Emily Butler, 34, told Parents.com.They kind of zone out, staring at the lights. You (and everyone else) get to eat in peace and they get their colors on.

Baby Piano, BabySitter2Go, and Animal Sounds for Baby are also popular with the bottle-tipping set.

Still, just because your child is smiling and being entertained doesnt mean staring into a swirling screen is healthy.

The use of technology by babies and toddlers is an epidemic, and we are seeing more children being diagnosed with ADHD at younger ages, since they are not accustomed to or have simply not been trained to stay focused, psychologist and author Shaelyn Pham told LifeZette. Going untreated, ADHD can really affect a childs learning ability as school requires concentration and focus.

And should kids really be entertained 24/7?

I remember having to stare out the window for hours or make conversation with family on long vacation road trips, said Suzy Nuckols, a New Mexico elementary school teacher and mother of three grown sons. Now, kids dont learn to be bored. The truth is, large swaths of life are boring, and you can either go crazy if youre not stimulated  as Im afraid these kids will be  or learn to handle boredom. Read, draw, or just be alone with your own thoughts.

One critical component of deciding whether to hand your child the iPad or turn on the laptop is the idea of passive screen time versus active screen time.

Vanderbilt University developmental psychologist Georgene Troseth has conducted some of the leading research on childrens screen time. She concluded that watching television and Skyping are too different activities  with different developmental outcomes.

Were finding pretty consistently  in fact, in two recent studies with actual Skype calls  that children do seem to learn better when there is social interaction from a person on video, she told NPR.com.

The American Academy of Pediatrics convened a symposium in May called, Growing Up Digital and shared the following tips, among others:

Role modeling is critical, and content matters.

Parents must watch their own screen time  little eyes are watching.

Choose an interactive game or app and play it with your child, adding that important layer of human interaction.

If you limit screen time and keep the screen time your baby does enjoy full of quality, interactive material, your baby will be set on a path of being both tech savvy and mentally stimulated. Top this off with the knowledge that there is no learning like that obtained from the real world around us, and you will have a family media plan that works for you and your children.

Learning how to entertain oneself and developing patience are key developmental tools for children, said Koretz. And developing an active imagination is so very important for children.

More from LifeZette.com:

How Words Change Once You Have a Child: Check out these excerpts from "the parents' dictionary

Can You Boost Body and Brain by Tweaking Your Genes?

The Lowdown on Staying Limber as You Age

Detangling the Medical Insurance Morass
In 1944, pilots shot down over Chichi Jima Island in the Pacific were captured and executed by the Japanese before being turned into gruesome dishes for the soldiers defending the island.

The U.S. Navy bombed and shelled the Bonin Islands from late 1944 to early 1945 in anticipation of the invasion of Iwo Jima and the eventual attack on Tokyo. One of the islands, Chichi Jima, had asmall airfield, crack anti-aircraft gunners, and communications that supported Japanese positions on other islands.

A number of planes were shot down while attacking Chichi, including one piloted by Navy Lt. (and future President) George H. W. Bush. Bush was rescued by a submarine and was one of the few aviators to go down around Chichi and survive.

A more grisly fate awaited at least four of the 20 Americans who bailed out near the island. Japanese defenders were led by navy Rear Adm. Kunizo Mori and army Maj. Gen. Yoshio Tachibana who approved executions and allowed cannibalism on the island.

Tachibana, with the approval of Mori, had the American prisoners executed by beheading. The day after an early execution, a Japanese major had flesh of the executed prisoner prepared for a feast. The island doctor removed a liver and a portion of the human thigh.

The body of the flyer was served at a large, alcohol fueled banquet that night.

The practice continued on the island for some time, and at least four victims were partially or fully eaten.

Marve Mershon, Floyd Hall, Jimmy Dye, and Warren Earl Vaughn were all victims of the practice, according to James Bradley in his book, Flyboys.

American aviators werent the only ones to fall victim to Japanese troops practicing cannibalism. Chinese, Australian, and Indian troops were all executed and eaten by Japanese soldiers.

In some cases, including those of the Americans on Chichi Jima, the leaders responsible were tried for war crimes and executed. Tachibana was hanged for his part in the atrocities.

More from WeAreTheMighty.com:

The 5 most legendary snipers of all time

16 awesome photos of the Apache helicopter

7 thoughts a fighter pilot has during a dogfight

Historys 4 wildest benders by senior officers
A mother died of an apparent heroin overdose at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital on Thursday morning in the same room where her 7-month-old child was being treated, Fox 19 reported, citing sources.

Mary Ann Landers, 32, was found dead on the floor by hospital staff around 11:30 a.m. The child's father, 31-year-old Wesley Landers, was found unconscious in a private bathroom. Both parents had guns, according to Fox 19.

Wesley Landers reportedly was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and revived. He faces charges including drug possession and carrying a concealed weapon.

The child was recovering from trachea reconstruction surgery, Fox 19 added. The family had traveled to Cincinnati Childrens Hospital from Alabama.

Click for more from Fox 19.
The man caught in surveillance footage ambushing a Philadelphia officer in a squad car, shooting him multiple times, claimed he acted "in the name of Islam," police said at a news conference Friday.



The suspect's gun, a 9mm Glock 17, had been stolen from police in 2013, Commissioner Richard Ross said.

The suspect, 30-year-old Edward Archer, told homicide investigators he "pledges his allegiance to Islamic State, he follows Allah, and that is the reason he was called upon to do this," Captain James Clark revealed.

Archer wore "Muslim garb," a law enforcement source told Fox News. The source would not elaborate.

Officer Jesse Hartnett was in critical but stable condition at a hospital, police said. The suspect fired a total of 13 shots Thursday night, Ross said. Three bullets struck the officer in his left arm.

FBI and other law enforcement investigators searched his homes Friday, according to police. They say the suspect has addresses in Philadelphia and the suburb of Yeadon. He did not reveal whether he was engaged in a larger "conspiracy," Ross told reporters.

Police officials say the gun was reported stolen from an officer's home in October 2013 but they don't know how many people handled the weapon before Thursday's shooting.

Hartnett returned fire, Ross added. Doctors treated Archer for a gunshot wound.

"We are working side-by-side with the Philadelphia Police Department. They remain the lead agency as we work together to gather information about the attack on their officer," the FBI announced.

Hartnett is a four-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department.

"This is absolutely one of the scariest things I've ever seen," Ross said at a news conference a few hours later. "This guy tried to execute the police officer. The police officer had no idea he was coming."

The suspect ran away, but was quickly apprehended by other officers roughly a block away.

In a statement, Governor Tom Wolf said, "This alleged intentional act of violence against an officer seeking to help a fellow citizen is horrifying and has no place in Pennsylvania."

Jim Kenney, who is in his first week as mayor of the nation's fifth largest city, said, "There are just too many guns on the streets and I think our national government needs to do something about that."

His statement comes on the heels of President Barack Obama announcement on Tuesday of his plan to tighten control and enforcement of firearms in the United States.

Click for more from Fox 29.

Fox News' Matthew Dean and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Philadelphia high school senior Michael Moroz knew he was courting controversy when he wrote about race in the school newspaper, but he never expected death threats from classmates and strangers.

Just before Christmas break, the 17-year-old wrote an opinion piece for the Central High school paper, the Centralizer. In it, he criticized the racially charged University of Missouri protests and opined that Michael Brown, the black teenager killed in 2014 by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., was "a delinquent" who was "at worst, justifiably killed, and at best, [was] a thug."

The story hit the papers Facebook page while school was out, and thats when the threats poured in. Moroz is now afraid to return to school and worried he could lose his place next fall at an Ivy League university.

I feel as if I am a pariah in the community, Moroz told FoxNews.com. People I see on a daily basis have threatened my life. I dont know how I am going to deal with it.

They are looking for the destruction of a 17-year-old boy simply because they didnt agree with his opinion.  Jordan Rushie, attorney for Michael Moroz

The article ran alongside another piece supportive of the University of Missouri demonstrations, which were triggered by claims the school was slow to react to incidents that alienated African-American students there. The demonstrations drew national headlines and resulted in the resignation of the school president.

Soon after Moroz's writing appeared online, Internet trolls took to social media, urging "someone" to deal with and even shoot him. Dozens of other posts labeled him a racist and urged University of Pennsylvania to rescind the acceptance it recently offered Moroz.



When classes resumed this week, a shaken Moroz stayed home.

He claims at least five fellow students at Central threatened his life, and his family has hired an attorney and filed a complaint with the Philadelphia Police Department.

They are looking for the destruction of a 17-year-old boy simply because they didnt agree with his opinion, Jordan Rushie, Morozs attorney told FoxNews.com. They are saying that what Michael wrote is something they dont agree with and that it justifies their actions. This is something that is becoming more common in America, and that is frightening.

The opinion piece was pulled from the Facebook page by student editors once the backlash began, but the counterpoint article supporting the movement was left alone.

Neither the Centralizer nor its members necessarily agree with the content/message of the piece," read a noted posted by the Centralizer staff. "However, the situation has escalated such that the writer and editors on the staff have received direct threats.

We do not want to suppress any one voice, but we must also be aware that our readers will not always agree with the methods of communication articles utilize to get their points across.

Officials for Central High and Philadelphia public schools declined to comment when contacted by FoxNews.com, but on Tuesday, Central Principal Timothy McKenna defended the decision to take down the article by saying no printed copies were collected or destroyed.

We truly take these threats seriously, McKenna said, adding that three students had issued specific threats.

But Moroz believes removal of the article give the appearance that the harassment hes endured is justified.

It certainly doesnt feel like the administration is supporting me, Moroz said. They took the onus from themselves and put it on me, saying that it was a police matter and that I had to call and inform them. This isnt a way for a school district to act. This is something I didnt expect.

Their actions fed into the backlash.

Rushie said Moroz is between a rock and a hard place -- due to acceptance guidelines at University of Pennsylvania. If he changes schools or classes during the remainder of his senior year, it could cost him dearly.

If he leaves Central, he could lose his acceptance at Penn, Rushie said. That would be horrible. This has had a strong physical and emotional toll on him.
An Uzbek refugee authorities say had an unwavering commitment to kill personnel at a military base or civilians at crowded Fourth of July celebrations in downtown Boise, Idaho, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Fazliddin Kurbanov received the sentence Thursday that includes three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. He will also face deportation proceedings after serving the prison sentence.

A federal jury in August convicted Kurbanov of conspiracy, attempting to support a terrorist organization and possession of bomb-making components. Kurbanov has maintained his innocence.

"Your honor," Kurbanov told U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge through an interpreter, "I'd like to say that I'm not a terrorist. I've never been a terrorist."

But Lodge in handing down the sentence said Kurbanov "intended to commit jihad against the United States."

Prosecutors say the 33-year-old Russian-speaking truck driver who fled Uzbekistan in 2009 downloaded jihadist and martyrdom videos from a terrorist website and communicated with a terrorist organization, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Authorities monitored his communications and arrested him in 2013.

Besides targeting Boise, authorities said, Kurbanov also discussed with a confidential FBI source targeting military bases, in particular West Point Military Academy in New York.

Kurbanov received 15 years each on the first two counts to be served concurrently and 10 years on possessing the bomb-making components to be served after completing the 15-year sentences.

Defense attorney Chuck Peterson asked Lodge for a sentence in the 13-year range, noting Kurbanov hadn't actually harmed anyone and would be deported after prison.

"That's punishment enough for what he did," Peterson said.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Aaron Lucoff asked Lodge to sentence Kurbanov to 35 years in prison.

"Society needs to be protected from this defendant," Lucoff told Lodge. Lucoff said Kurbanov wanted to strike Americans on U.S. soil to avenge U.S. military action in central Asia.

Prosecutors called four witnesses at the sentencing hearing, one an FBI agent and explosives expert and three jail workers at the Ada County Jail. They also showed videos of Kurbanov in the jail spitting on a jail deputy and spitting on a camera and other areas of a special holding cell. One of the jail workers testified that Kurbanov soaked paper towels with his urine and threw it into another inmate's cell.

Lodge said he was "taken aback" by the videos and testimony. He also said Kurbanov lacked an appreciation for a system of government that would spend more than $1 million on his defense on the foundational idea that anyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty.

"The lengthy term of imprisonment imposed by the Court ensures that this defendant, who by his words and acts was intent on taking American lives, does not and will not pose any further threat to the safety and security of our community," said U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson in a statement after the sentencing.
The man wanted for the murder of three people in a Tel Aviv shooting spree was shot and killed by Israeli police Friday in the northern part of the country, investigators revealed.



The gunman had been identified as Nashat Milhem, an Arab from northern Israel who had been working at a grocery store in Tel Aviv before the attack.

Milhem was found hiding Friday in a mosque in the northern city of Um Al Fahem, police said.

The shooting on Tel Aviv's busy Dizengoff Street last Friday, which killed two Israeli men and wounded six other people, was recorded on security cameras at a health food store next door.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said Milhem had opened fire at the police with the same gun he used in the attacks in Tel Aviv.

Hakim Younis told Channel 10 TV that he witnessed some of the incident from his home.

"I was sitting on my balcony with my cousin ... when suddenly, shooting began, hundreds of bullets, like in a war," Younis said, adding that he then went inside and didn't see anything further.

Israelis are used to quickly resuming their daily routines following attacks because assailants are usually swiftly captured or killed. But the Tel Aviv shootings left Israelis jittery because Milhem, who was considered armed and dangerous, was on the loose for a week.

In footage of the Tel Aviv attack, 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.

Police say they found a Koran in Milhems 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.

The near-daily Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers have killed 21 Israelis, mostly in stabbings, shootings and car-ramming assaults. At least 134 Palestinians died by Israeli fire, including 93 said by Israel to be attackers. The rest were killed in clashes with troops. These figures do not include Milhelm's victims.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In a new example of Islamic State barbarity, a member of the terror group killed his mother in a public execution in Syria, it was reported Friday.

#Raqqa the main reason that Ali Saker killed his mother he Accused her for Apostasy #Syria #ISIL #ISIS pic.twitter.com/4L1njaBROg     (@Raqqa_SL) January 8, 2016

Ali Saqr, 21, is said to have killed his mother in front of several hundred people for what ISIS called apostasy, or abandoning a political belief, The New York Times reported. The newspaper cited the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a second group known as Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, which has been monitoring the Syrian war through sources on the ground there.

The man's mother was identified by Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently as Lena al-Qasem, reportedly 47. She is said to have urged her son to leave the Islamic State and flee Raqqa, the paper reported.

Saqr, a Syrian, is then said to have reported her comments to ISIS leaders who declared that she was guilty of apostasy and ordered her killed, according to The Times.

The activists said the execution took place Wednesday near a post office building where the woman worked.

His mother spoke with him and asked him to leave ISIS and leave Raqqa to go to a different area of Syria and Turkey, Rami Abddulrahman of the Syrian Observatory told the Washington Post Friday. After that he told ISIS and, one, two, three, they arrest his mother.

ISIS is known for recording its macabre executions and posting them online, but Abdulrahman told the Post he was not aware the killing was videotaped.

Its not the first time an ISIS extremist has killed a parent on the groups order. The Times reported that an ISIS fighter killed his Lebanese father last year. The father reportedly had gone to Raqqa to bring his son home.

The Syrian Observatory reported on Dec. 29 that ISIS had executed more than 2,000 Syrian civilians since June 2014, Reuters reported.

Raqqua is Being Slaughtered Silently tweeted photos of Saqr.
Belgian prosecutors said Friday that police searched an apartment they believe was used as a factory to make explosives used in the November terror attacks in Paris.

The search, which took place Dec. 10 in the Schaerbeek neighborhood of the Belgian capital, turned up handmade belts that could be used to carry explosives and the fingerprint of Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam, the Federal Prosecutors Office said in a statement.

Police also found material that could be used to make explosives as well as traces of TATP, which is a highly volatile explosive.

The prosecutors office said the apartment had been rented under a false identity that may have been used by one of 10 people arrested in Belgium in connection with the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris.

Three suicide bombers were among the Paris attackers, including Abdeslams brother Brahim.

Belgian police have been on a manhunt for Abdeslam ever since the Paris attacks. Police waited two days after the attacks to raid another apartment where they thought he may have been hiding. However, that search didnt locate Abdeslam, and police later admitted no one knows where he could be.

A Belgian police source told AFP in December that Abdeslam sent a text message to the getaway drivers to pick him up following the attacks. Hamza Attou and Mohamed Amri allegedly told police they didnt expect the messages and helped him innocently.

Abdeslam threatened to blow up the car if they didnt return him to Brussels, which made the men believe he was wearing an explosive device. Abdeslam wasnt actually wearing a device and on the way to the Belgian capital, but did brag about killing people with a Kalashnikov.

Attou and Amri were eventually arrested.

The latest evidence of an explosive device might signal that a suicide bombing was planned at some point in Brussels.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Executives from Froots and Gyroville Partner to Blend Expertise, Grow Brands

David Lopez & Scott Mortier of Froots and Lambros Kokkinelis & David Kurlander of Gyroville Form F & G Development Group to Enhance Operations and Franchise Development Efforts

January 08, 2016 // Franchising.com // DAVIE, Fla.  Executives from two popular, Florida-based, healthy food destinations are teaming to form a mutually beneficial partnership. In an effort to drive growth of both brands, the agreement allows each companys area of expertise to benefit the others franchise system.

Froots Founder & President David Lopez and EVP of Business Development Scott Mortier are forming F & G Development Group with Gyroville Founder & CEO Lambros Kokkinelis and COO David Kurlander to focus on operational and development strategies that will heighten both brands. As part of the new partnership, Kokkinelis and Kurlander will collaborate to enhance store operations of Froots, while Lopez and Mortier will spearhead Gyroville franchise development efforts.

This partnership allows us to focus on what we do best  grow franchise brands, Mortier said. As Froots enters its next stage of growth, David and I are taking a more active role in expanding the brand. As part of our strategy, were bringing in highly-experienced operators that can further develop the menu and operational systems that benefit our franchise community. Lambros and David have incredible backgrounds in restaurant operations. Im confident that bringing in their expertise will drive efficiencies and establish the systems we need to continue expansion.

Both graduates of the renowned Culinary Institute of America in New York, Kokkinelis and Kurlander bring a combined 40 years of culinary experience working in a variety of restaurant concepts, including fast-casual and casual dining. Kokkinelis has been the owner and operator of three Moonlite Diner locations in South Florida since 2004. In 2010, he recognized that consumers were increasingly seeking healthier options in a fast-casual setting and responded to this trend by creating Gyroville, which has since grown to nine locations. Kurlander was an integral part of Gyrovilles development from the beginning; he created and implemented the restaurants efficient systems that helped structure food costs, purchasing and day-to-day operations. Prior to joining Gyroville, Kurlander was the Director of Operations for Urban Life Restaurant Group from 2005-2010, where he oversaw day-to-day operations for Moonlite Diner locations in South Florida.

Weve spent the past year developing our branding and systems for franchising  we just needed someone to drive it, said Kokkinelis. David and Scott have already established successful franchise systems, and have the infrastructure in place that will help us grow at the right pace. Both of our concepts offer fresh, healthy food options so this was an excellent synergy of everyones expertise.

Lopez and Mortier have a combined 35-plus years in franchise sales. A young, serial entrepreneur who is a partner in more than 45 companies, Lopez founded Froots in 2001 and began franchising the concept in 2004. In 2009, he created Dental Fix Rx, a mobile dental equipment repair service franchise, which has quickly grown to more than 200 franchises. In the same year, Mortier joined Lopezs team; his expertise has been a vital component of the brands franchise expansion. Along with other investors, Lopez and Mortier recently acquired a stake in Tikiz Shaved Ice & Ice Cream - a fast-growing mobile franchise - and have signed six new franchises within the past three months.

About Froots

Froots is a healthy alternative to traditional fast food fare, providing a variety of great tasting options including all-natural smoothies, energy shakes, fresh-squeezed juices, sandwiches, wraps, paninis, salads, soups and more. The homegrown business has been operating in South Florida since 2001, and currently has more than 30 U.S. units as well as several international locations. A relatively low investment for a restaurant franchise, the quick-service restaurant expects to add 50 locations in the next two years. For more information, visit http://froots.com/.

About Gyroville

Gyroville was created in 2010 to bring Mediterranean cuisine to the fast-casual market. Gyroville starts by using only the freshest ingredients and prepares them using recipes that combine old-school, Greek traditions with a modern day twist. The concept allows customers to follow their choice of protein from the grill or vertical spit through an assembly line process, where they choose from fresh ingredients and homemade sauces. The first Gyroville opened in January 2010 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Today, there are nine corporate-owned locations in South Florida. For more information, visit http://gyroville.com/.

SOURCE Gyroville

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Four RE/MAX Innovators Named to Inman 101

January 08, 2016 // Franchising.com // DENVER  The landscape of the real estate industry is constantly evolving and so are its key players, according to this years Inman Top 101 list. Among the CEOs, power brokers, deal-makers and powerhouses listed, RE/MAX is well represented with four individuals recognized.

RE/MAX leaders in the Inman Top 101:

Dave Liniger, RE/MAX CEO, Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder

Leigh Brown, RE/MAX Executive, Leigh Brown & Associates CEO

Elizabeth Mendenhall, RE/MAX Boone Realty CEO

Linda OKoniewski, RE/MAX Leading Edge Boston CEO

People like Dave, Leigh, Elizabeth and Linda arent afraid to challenge the status quo in real estate, said Geoff Lewis, President, RE/MAX, LLC. The housing industry is constantly improving thanks to the innovative ideas contributed by individuals like these. Were extremely proud to see these four listed among the most talented industry leaders and we look forward to seeing what theyll do next.

The Inman 101 recognizes industry leaders who bring forth new ideas to drive change and make a difference in real estate. Those selected for the Inman Top 101 List were initially nominated by the Inman readership, and were later reviewed by the Inman editorial team, who narrowed the list down to 400 people. After industry experts and outside advisers weighed in, the final 101 were chosen.

Returning as RE/MAX CEO in January 2015, Dave Liniger has overseen the continued growth of the company he co-founded 43 years ago. In 2015, RE/MAX agent growth surpassed the 100,000 mark. RE/MAX agents dominated the fourth annual National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) Top 250 Latino Agent survey with 61 agents on the list, nearly twice as many as the closest competitor. And for another year, the annual 2015 Franchise 500 by Entrepreneur magazine ranked RE/MAX as the leading real estate franchisor.

About the RE/MAX Network

RE/MAX was founded in 1973 by Dave and Gail Liniger, with an innovative, entrepreneurial culture affording its agents and franchisees the flexibility to operate their businesses with great independence. Over 100,000 agents provide RE/MAX a global reach of nearly 100 countries. Nobody sells more real estate than RE/MAX, when measured by residential transaction sides.

RE/MAX, LLC, one of the worlds leading franchisors of real estate brokerage services, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of RMCO, LLC, which is controlled and managed by RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RMAX).

With a passion for the communities in which its agents live and work, RE/MAX is proud to have raised more than $150 million for Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals and other charities.

For more information about RE/MAX, to search home listings or find an agent in your community, please visit www.remax.com. For the latest news about RE/MAX, please visit www.remax.com/newsroom.

SOURCE RE/MAX

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Newks Eatery Opens Third Jacksonville Restaurant

Fast-Casual Brand to Expand in the Sunshine State with As Many As 30 New Restaurants

January 08, 2016 // Franchising.com // JACKSON, MISS. - On January 11, Newks Eatery is bringing fresh, flavorful dining to Jacksonvilles booming Mandarin community with a restaurant in the new Claire Lane Center on San Jose Boulevard. The opening follows the fast-casual brands November 2015 acquisition of franchise-owned locations in the River City Marketplace in the northern part of the city and The Avenues on the southside, bringing the total number of Jacksonville area restaurants to three. Newks plans to open five additional locations between the River City and St. Augustine this year and has committed to opening as many as 30 new restaurants throughout Florida in the next five years.

Newks latest opening in Jacksonville is an important part of our plan to increase density within the Southeast and along the East Coast, said Chris Newcomb, Newks Eaterys Co-Founder and CEO. Our restaurants are well-received here, and were looking forward to bringing Newks creative homemade recipes, fresh ingredients and warm family-friendly environment to the Mandarin community and other areas within the expansive Jacksonville area.

When the Claire Lane Center Newks Eatery opens at 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 11, the first 50 guests to walk through the doors will be awarded a years supply of exceptional flavors from Newks. Each guest will be given a gift package full of premium Newks items, along with 52 VIP cards each card valid for one free entree and drink for each week of the year. Only one set of VIP cards will be awarded per household. The next 50 guests in line will receive a gift package full of Newks premium items.

Located at 11112 San Jose Blvd., the restaurant will offer seating for 165 guests in its approximately 4,200 square-foot space and will be open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Sunday. Additionally, the opening will bring as many as 75 job opportunities to the area.

About Newks Eatery

Newks offers a diverse menu of imaginative entrees and re-invented old favorites, including time-tested family recipes from Newks founding family, the Newcombs. The fresh, culinary-driven menu is crafted with the highest quality ingredients, including imported cheeses and prime meats, sushi-grade fish, hand-chopped seasonal vegetables, house-roasted garlic, homemade dressings and house-infused olive oils. Pulling from this rich ingredient mix, Newks handcrafts each of its fresh tossed salads, artisan pizzas, hot toasted sandwiches, made-from-scratch soups and more. Every meal at Newks is served fresh and fast whether tableside in a warm and welcoming atmosphere or to the office using the brands robust catering service. Flavorful meals are also offered to guests on the go with Newks convenient Grab-N-Go and online ordering options.

The Jackson, Miss.-based Newks Eatery currently has 95 locations in 13 states and plans to expand to more than 200 units by the end of 2018. Newks Eatery was recently named one of QSR magazines Best Franchise Deals while ranking among the top Fast and Serious franchise brands in Franchise Times magazine. The brand has been named among FastCasual.coms top 20 Movers and Shakers, is featured on Technomics list of the top 50 fast-casual chains nationwide and on The Next 20 list by Nations Restaurant News.

For more information about Newks or to view Newks menu, visit Newks.com or Newks Jacksonville Facebook page.

SOURCE Newks Eaterys

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Orange You Glad? Edible Arrangements Brings the Sunshine this Winter with Gourmet Shareable Chocolate Covered Orange

WALLINGFORD, Conn. - Jan. 7, 2016 // PRNewswire // - Edible Arrangements will help you escape your winter woes with a little taste of sunshine. The Fruit Experts know that January is prime time for navel oranges  and cold weather doldrums are no match for the new Gourmet Shareable Chocolate Covered Orange.

Bright, fresh and juicy fruit full of Vitamin C is never more appealing than this time of year. In addition to being delicious, oranges can help lift our spirits, as Vitamin C has been shown to reduce both the physical and psychological effects of stress. Edible Arrangements takes the mood-boosting fruit to the next level, hand-dipping eight individual slices in premium chocolate and decadent flavor combinations.

For a fun and festive touch to suit any occasion, each Gourmet Shareable Chocolate Covered Orange arrives in a deluxe, customizable box.

"With the launch of our first Gourmet Shareable line last fall, we wanted to bring something equally craveable in the new year," said Rob Price, President of Edible Arrangements. "The shareable treats trend is growing and our new products allow us to take a big bite out of the market."

The orange is the second in Edible Arrangements' Gourmet Shareable line of shareable chocolate covered fruit to be rolled out over the next year and beyond. These delectable new creations, as well as fresh fruit smoothies and other Edible-to-Go offerings are part of the ongoing evolution of the Edible Arrangements brand, best known for its fresh cut fruit arrangements.

If you can't seem to get enough of all things orange, you are in luck, since the citrus favorite is the star of the show this season. From its beloved arrangements, to chocolate Dipped Fruit boxes, to additional treats in the Edible to Go line  including the delectable Oranges & Cream Smoothie and Citrus Fruit Salad, there's something for every orange lover to enjoy.

The Gourmet Shareable Chocolate Covered Orange, $39, arrives in four exciting flavor combinations:

Black & White  The best of both worlds, half of these juicy wedges are topped with white chocolate and white Swizzle for the perfect, creamy, sweet treat, while the rest are coated in rich, semisweet chocolate with semisweet Swizzle for a completely different, delicious take.

 The best of both worlds, half of these juicy wedges are topped with white chocolate and white Swizzle for the perfect, creamy, sweet treat, while the rest are coated in rich, semisweet chocolate with semisweet Swizzle for a completely different, delicious take. Trail Mix & Pistachios  Savor a combination of textures and gourmet, nutty flavor that pairs perfectly with sweet and tangy orange.

 Savor a combination of textures and gourmet, nutty flavor that pairs perfectly with sweet and tangy orange. Coconut Cream  Each wedge is covered in velvety white chocolate, half topped with white Swizzle, while the rest are rolled in flaked coconut for a taste that is fresh and tropical.

 Each wedge is covered in velvety white chocolate, half topped with white Swizzle, while the rest are rolled in flaked coconut for a taste that is fresh and tropical. Edible Selections - Edible Selections - White Chocolate with Coconut, Semisweet with Micro Drops, Semisweet with Pistachio, Semisweet with Trail Mix, Semisweet with Almonds, Semisweet with Cranberry, Semisweet with Dark Swizzle, and White with White Swizzle.

The Gourmet Shareable Chocolate Covered Orange is available now in all US and Canada Edible Arrangements independently owned and operated franchise locations. For a chance to win your own Gourmet Shareable Chocolate Covered Orange, check out Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where we will be giving away samples to fans who need a little slice of sunshine this winter using the hashtag #OrangeYouGlad.

About Edible Arrangements

With more than 1,200 independently owned and operated franchise locations open or under development worldwide, Edible Arrangements International, LLC is the world's largest franchisor of shops offering creatively designed fresh cut fruit arrangements. Select Edible Arrangements locations also carry the company's rapidly expanding Edible To Go line which features all-natural, fresh fruit smoothies, Dipped Fruit, fresh squeezed lemonade and orange juice, fresh fruit salads, sundaes, parfaits and treats. Since its founding in 1999 in East Haven, Conn., the company has been recognized as an industry leader. It has ranked first in its category in Entrepreneur magazine's annual "Franchise 500," Entrepreneur's Top 40 of "Fastest Growing Franchises" and "America's Top Global Franchises" as well as being included for eight consecutive years among the "Inc. 5000" list of the fastest growing privately-held companies. Edible Arrangements fresh fruit arrangements, chocolate Dipped Fruit, fresh fruit smoothies and more can be enjoyed at franchise locations worldwide. Gifts can be ordered online at www.edible.com and by telephone at 1-877-DO-FRUIT.

EDIBLE, EDIBLE ARRANGEMENTS and other trademarks noted are registered trademarks of Edible Arrangements, LLC.

Copyright Notice

 2015, Edible Arrangements, LLC. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Edible Arrangements

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Sky Zone Fenton To Host Events Benefiting The American Red Cross And Restoration Of Local Community

Trampoline Park Gives Back After Record-Setting Flood

January 08, 2016 // Franchising.com // FENTON, Mo. - Sky Zone Fenton is hosting two events dedicated to raising funds for the local American Red Cross, an organization that has been working endlessly to help restore the damage caused by the recent flooding. Sky Zone Fenton invites the entire greater St. Louis-area to come out and enjoy boundless adventures and high-flying fun while helping the community bounce back.

With an estimated $230 million in damage to homes, businesses and state infrastructure, the recent flooding of the Meramec River has left many St. Louis-area residents displaced. In an endeavor to aid in the American Red Crosss mission to restore the city, Sky Zone Fenton will host fundraising events on January 11 and January 25 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. with proceeds from the evenings going directly to the flood relief efforts. Additionally, guests wishing to donate more to the cause will receive a #FentonStrong bracelet, which was created to raise funds and bring together residents during this difficult time.

The amount of devastation caused by the recent flooding is absolutely heartbreaking, so were doing everything we can to support our local American Red Cross and give back to Fenton and the greater St. Louis-area said Bron Launsby, owner of Sky Zone Fenton. Were looking forward to bringing everyone together as we work towards rebuilding our community.

Sky Zone Fenton is located at 631 Gravois Rd, Fenton, MO 63026. For more information please visit Sky Zone Fenton's Facebook, www.skyzone.com/fenton, or call (636) 364-4444. For more information on the American Red Cross, or to donate, please visit www.redcross.org.

About Sky Zone, LLC

Since 2004, Sky Zone, LLC has created and built the worlds first all-walled trampoline playing court  a concept so unique it was awarded United States Patent No. 5,624,122. Sky Zone, LLC currently has over 100 franchises open across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Sky Zone Trampoline Parks feature a wide array of fun, fit and low-impact activities ranging from Open Jump, Ultimate Dodgeball and SkyRobics fitness classes to birthday parties, corporate events and other group outings. The franchise has been awarded various accolades, including being ranked 273 on the 2015 Inc.s 5000 list, 55 on the Forbes Americas Most Promising Companies list, 152 on the 2014 Inc.s 500/5000 List, Best Gym Alternative by Vegas Seven Magazine, 2012 Locals Choice for Kids Birthday Party by Southbay Magazine and one of Entrepreneurs 2013 Fresh Concepts Livening Up Franchising. For more information on the company or franchising opportunities, please visit www.skyzone.com.

SOURCE Sky Zone, LLC

Media Contact:

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Konnect Public Relations

213/988-8344

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Unishippers Global Logistics Enjoys Record-Breaking 2015

Third Party Logistics Company Tops $450 million in Revenue; 2015 Highlights Include Top 200 Franchise 500 Ranking, Launch of New Website and Subsidiarys Rapid Growth

January 08, 2016 // Franchising.com // SALT LAKE CITY  In 2015, the third party logistics (3PL) sector continued to gain momentum as more small- to medium- sized businesses sought shipping partners to help them gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Unishippers Global Logistics, LLC  the nations first and one of the largest 3PLs  has remained at the forefront of the industry through innovation in technology and services. Capping off another year of positive growth, the company was honored once again by Entrepreneur Magazine in their annual list of the top franchise opportunities.

In the companys eighth consecutive year on the Franchise 500 list, Unishippers climbed an impressive 157 spots from last years ranking to land at no. 178. Noted as the worlds first, best and most comprehensive franchise ranking of the top franchise opportunities in the United States, the magazine recognizes Unishippers for its exceptional performance in areas such as financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of the franchise system. To view the full ranking, visit: http://entrepreneur.com/franchise500.

It is an honor to see the companys ranking skyrocket this year to put us in the top 200, said Kevin Lathrop, President of Unishippers Global Logistics. There have been many notable highlights for the company over the past year, including the launch of our new best-in-class, user-friendly transportation management website which provides our customers with access to an easy-to-use dashboard and the sale of 20 franchises to new owners.

In June, Unishippers achieved record-breaking revenue of $44.4 million, outpacing the previous record of $41.2 million. The company continued that growth trend throughout the year, topping $451 million in annual revenue at 2015s year end.

Furthermore, Launch Logistics, LLC, a subsidiary of Unishippers, also experienced rapid growth throughout the year and accelerated its hiring efforts to meet demand. Since its establishment, Launch Logistics primary focus has been on customer satisfaction, sales efficiency, customer retention and testing out new operational techniques and technology that can then be passed on to the greater Unishippers franchise system.

Launch Logistics has been a game-changer for Unishippers, said Joe Curtis, President of Launch Logistics, noting that the Unishippers subsidiary, in only its second year, has an estimated annual revenue of more than $20 million and hired more than 40 employees in their Salt Lake City office. Launch Logistics rapid growth earned the company a debut spot on the prestigious Inc. 5000 list.

Among Unishippers many accolades in 2015, the company received its fourth consecutive ranking as a Top 50 franchise in the business services category by Franchise Business Review, was again honored by Transport Topics as Top 25 Freight Brokerage Firm, and was named a top veteran-friendly franchise by Military Times.

Unishippers nationwide system of franchises and affiliate outlets are small- and mid-size business advocates who are committed to providing customers with reduced shipping rates through top national, regional and local carriers. The company delivers Platinum Service that includes a dedicated account team for service, technology built for SMB customers and flexible credit, insurance and invoicing options - all traditionally reserved for Fortune 500 customers. To learn more about franchise opportunities with Unishippers, visit: http://www.unishippersfranchising.com/.

About Unishippers Global Logistics

Unishippers Global Logistics (Unishippers or the Company) is a leading provider of third party logistics services to over 50,000 small and medium-sized businesses through a network of nearly 300 franchise locations and affiliate outlets. The Company offers small package and heavy freight services, including LTL, FTL and air freight through UPS, Saia, Estes, YRC Freight and UPS Freight and other major carriers to manage the pickup, transport and delivery of customers shipments. The franchisees leverage the scale of the combined network to offer customers attractive shipping rates and are committed to providing best in class service. Unishippers strategy has resulted in significant growth year after year, and the Company has been recognized as a top freight broker by Transport Topics and a top franchise by Entrepreneur, Franchise Times and the Inc. 5000. The Company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. For information on Unishippers, including information on franchising opportunities and price quotes, visit: www.unishippers.com.

SOURCE Unishippers Global Logistics

Media Contact:

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HEMPSTEAD, Texas  A Texas state trooper who arrested Sandra Bland after a contentious traffic stop last summer was fired Wednesday after being charged with perjury for allegedly lying about his confrontation with the black woman who died three days later in jail.

Trooper Brian Encinia claimed in an affidavit that Bland was combative and uncooperative after he pulled her over and ordered her out of her car. The grand jury identified that affidavit in charging Encinia with perjury, special prosecutor Shawn McDonald said Wednesday night.

Hours after the indictment, the Texas Department of Public Safety said it would begin termination proceedings against Encinia, who has been on paid desk duty since Bland was found dead in her cell.

Blands arrest and death which authorities ruled a suicideprovoked national outrage and drew the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement. Protesters linked Bland to other black suspects who were killed in confrontations with police or died in police custody, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

Video of the stop shows Encinia drawing his stun gun and telling Bland, I will light you up! She can later be heard off-camera screaming that hes about to break her wrists and complaining that he knocked her head into the ground.

Encinias affidavit stated he removed her from her vehicle to further conduct a safer traffic investigation, but grand jurors found that statement to be false, said McDonald, one of five special prosecutors appointed to investigate.

She was taken to the Waller County jail in Hempstead, about 50 miles northwest of Houston. Three days later, she was found hanging from a jail cell partition with a plastic garbage bag around her neck. The grand jury has already declined to charge any sheriffs officials or jailers in her death.

The perjury charge is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum of one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. Encinia was not immediately taken into custody, and an arraignment date has not yet been announced. Encinia could not immediately be reached for comment; a cellphone number for him was no longer working.
SEOUL, South Korea  In response to North Koreas latest nuclear test, South Korea on Thursday announced it would resume cross-border propaganda broadcasts that Pyongyang considers an act of war. Seoul also began talks with Washington that could see the arrival of nuclear-powered U.S. submarines and warplanes to the Korean Peninsula.

From Seoul to Washington, Beijing to the United Nations, world powers are looking at ways to punish Pyongyang for the test of what it called a new and powerful hydrogen bomb.

The loudspeaker broadcasts, which will start Friday, believed to be the birthday of young North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, are certain to infuriate authoritarian Pyongyang because they are meant to raise questions in North Korean minds about the infallibility of the ruling Kim family. South Korea stopped earlier broadcasts after it agreed with Pyongyang in late August on a package of measures aimed at easing animosities.

Experts, meanwhile, are trying to uncover more details about the detonation that drew worldwide skepticism and condemnation.

It may take weeks or longer to confirm or refute the Norths claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major and unanticipated advance for its still-limited nuclear arsenal. A test of any atomic bomb would push its scientists and engineers closer to their goal of building a nuclear warhead small enough to place on a missile that can reach the United States.
Global Para-aramid Fiber in Aerospace Industry 2016 Market Growth with CAGR in Forecast period

Global Market News has released report on Global Para-aramid Fiber in Aerospace Market 2016.

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UB Freight Launches Newly Redesigned Website To Showcase Import Export Freight Services

UB Freight has become part of two major global freight networks and has redesigned its website to better represent them as a global player serving the New Zealand import export market.

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Freight shipping is essential for the global distribution of goods, and nowhere feels that need more powerfully than New Zealand, thanks to its unique position on the globe. The import and export market in New Zealand is growing, and is being supported by companies like UB Freight Limited, who have gone from strength to strength over the years and are now a bona fide global shipping power based in New Zealand. Their new website has been designed to reflect this global focus.

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A spokesperson for UB Freight Limited explained, "We still handle internal shipping of all scales, with our fleet of vehicles always on hand and ready to move items on behalf of customers both within and outside New Zealand to any part of the country. The new website has found the right balance between our national and international services, and makes it easy for anyone seeking either service to get the information they need easily and quickly. It will also help new clients discover our services, which will help make 2016 our best year yet."

About UB Freight: U.B. Freight Limited is a privately owned company based in Auckland, New Zealand, with branches in the Fiji Islands in the cities of Nadi, Lautoka and Suva. From small beginnings in 2001, the company has grown significantly to become a full service logistics provider Their diligence, dedication and commitment to upholding the highest standards of customer service, has helped them exceed expectations on behalf of customers, and join two major global networks to service overseas markets.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.ubfreight.com/

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Packaging is a massive issue in the modern world, primarily because most of it is plastic, and therefore not recyclable. Cardboard packaging has therefore made a huge return onto the public stage as people become more conscious of choosing products that are responsibly packaged. Forbes Packaging specializes in bespoke cardboard packaging in New Zealand, which promises to maximize brand potential via their packaging solutions. They have recently launched a brand new website to better promote the full spectrum of their services online.

The new website has been launched with a comprehensive overhaul, seeing a responsive theme used to ensure ideal loading on all devices and screen sizes. The theme puts content at the heart of their site, with comprehensive information on their services, easily navigable menus and sub-menus, and high quality imagery. There is a strong brand presence running throughout every page.

The result is a site that will enable the company to promote the full range of their services to everyone who could have a use for them, as well as providing information to existing clients to help them get the best from the services.

A spokesperson for Forbes Packaging explained, "We are thrilled at the launch of our new website and we look forward to attracting new clients by creating new audiences. The website has been fully optimized for our New Zealand base, and will help people looking for these kinds of services to discover them organically online through search engines. What's more, it allows for greater functionality for existing clients, who can communicate and track orders through the site. As a result, we are looking forward to expanding our customer base in 2016, with a great deal of great products on offer for businesses of all kinds."

About Forbes Packaging: Forbes Packaging was established in 1959 by Colin Forbes and was purchased by Martin Farrand, a previous employee, in 1987. From this time to the present, the company has maintained its core business in the area of cardboard packaging, capable of specialising in high quality folding cartons and associated cardboard products. Forbes now employees around 50 staff, supplying packaging throughout New Zealand, and offshore.

For more information about us, please visit http://forbespackaging.co.nz/

Contact Info:

Name: Robyn

Organization: Forbes Packaging

Phone: 09 414 6690

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/forbes-packaging-launches-brand-new-website-to-better-promote-packaging-services-online/100762

Release ID: 100762

For more information visit r



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Claybrooke Life Insurance Launches Website Offering Income Protection Clarity

Education and quote comparisons help ensure no one is left vulnerable to income loss, publishes claybrooke.org.uk

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Though jobless rates across the United Kingdom reached a seven-year low of 5.4 percent in 2015, reports from the Association of British Insurers reveal an uptick in the number of individuals losing income due to injuries and illnesses. An estimated one million people each year endure job-related absences for durations of at least one month while another 250,000 are rendered unable to work altogether. Numerous families are left to struggle both emotionally and financially in the wake of this surge.

In light of the current income loss epidemic, spokesperson Kate Reid has announced the launch of the Claybrooke income protection cover website. Said Reid, "Previous unemployment rates, along with growing numbers of injuries and debilitating medical conditions, were primary driving factors behind the development of Income Protection Insurance. Our new website provides education about this type of cover while also acting as a comparison portal to help viewers find the best providers and policies for their individual needs."

Educators are among those most commonly affected by temporary incapacity. Despite typically being held to low levels of physical demands, members of this profession are at elevated risks for depression, anxiety and other stress-related conditions. Though teachers are granted paid leaves of absence, the duration and amount of financial compensation offered tends to fluctuate with stringent eligibility requirements in place. The claybrooke teachers income protection portion of the new website emphasizes exercising caution when comparing terms and conditions applying to policies of this nature as incapacity considerations vary by provider.

Those who oversee a company, whether alone or as a member of a team, are eligible for a few different options. While income protection for uk directors is available in a self-funded format, employer-financed versions are additionally offered. Each holds its own benefits and disadvantages with taxability being a primary concern among policy holders. Executive Income Protection geared toward company directors covers higher salary percentages than its counterparts.

Reid concluded, "Most people in our area have only a couple weeks' wages in their savings at best, so being unable to work for as little as a month could be devastating. Even though our job market has shown significant improvement over the last year, no one is completely invulnerable to lay-off or an employer going belly-up. Income protection insurance is readily available and could be an effective lifeline in a worst-case scenario. Our goal is to ensure no one is left susceptible to financial downfall in the event of income loss."

About Claybrooke Life Insurance:

An independently operated firm, Claybrooke Life Insurance provides complimentary unbiased insurance quote comparisons as well as a range of policies from top U.K. providers for life, income protection and critical illness cover.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.claybrooke.org.uk/

Contact Info:

Name: Kate Reid

Organization: Claybrooke Life Insurance

Phone: 0203 150 1349

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/claybrooke-life-insurance-launches-website-offering-income-protection-clarity/100787

Release ID: 100787

For more information visit r



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Vamos Spanish Academy Launches New Classes for Those Wanting to Learn Spanish

The classes are accompanied by social activites to ensure individuals get the most from their Spanish training, reports Vamospanish.com

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According to About.com, the Spanish language boasts 329 million native speakers, making it the second most common language in the world, trailing behind Chinese. For this reason, many individuals opt to learn this language as part of their personal development. Those who do so find they can converse with individuals around the globe easily. In fact, more people now speak Spanish than English worldwide, making it essential for numerous to comprehend this language. Located in Buenos Aires, Vamos Spanish Academy (vamospanish.com) offers classes of this type, along with many other features that make this facility unique.

"Vamos Spanish Academy announces they are now considered one of the most prestigious Spanish schools in the country according to TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g312741-d2302457-Reviews-Vamos_Spanish_Academy-Buenos_Aires_Capital_Federal_District.html .Buenos Aires offers numerous Spanish school and all are very competitive, offering good prices and quality classes, yet Vamos Spanish Academy stands out in that it offers accommodation options for students, extracurricular activities and more, to ensure each student gets the real Argentine cultural immersion experience," Ingrid So, spokesperson for Vamos Spanish Academy, announces.

Classes teach students how to read, write, speak and understand Spanish and include a maximum of six students, ensuring each participant gets the individual attention they need. Classes are structured around the needs of the students and the number in the class, and the curriculum may be adjusted to meet the needs of those taking part. Conversation and games make learning grammar and vocabulary easy, and all include information on local customs and current affairs. Students find the classes allow them to mingle with the locals easily, as they are so comprehensive.

"Students undergo a written test and oral exam to determine their grasp of the language, as this allows the academic director to assess the language abilities of each student. Participants are then placed in a class with others of similar abilities to ensure students understand the concepts being explained and don't waste their time going over things they already know," Ingrid So continues.

In addition, students receive the opportunity to take part in social activities, including workshops and events. Some choose to attend festivals or street fairs in the area, yet others prefer to take part in dance lessons or try local restaurants. Cultural workshops come with the classes, allowing students to learn more about local public transportation, the National Infusion of Argentina, native gestures and more.

"Vamos Spanish Academy wants participants to feel as if they truly know the language and all it entails and offers these extra activities to ensure this is the case. Contact us today to learn more about our classes, social activities, accommodations and more. Our goal is to make it easy for everyone to learn Spanish, and former students will tell you we succeed in every way," Ingrid So states.

About Vamos Spanish Academy:

Vamos Spanish Academy is a Spanish school located in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina in Latin America. The academy offers various types of Spanish courses, like intensive group courses, one on one private lessons, a Spanish crash course for busy travelers and more. In addition, the school offers home stay accommodation, student resident accommodation, luxury private apartments and additional options. The school organizes social and cultural activities, some free and some paid, including a weekly outing to restaurants or eating establishments. Furthermore, the school also organizes events such as a Mendoza wine tour or a trip to Iguazu to see the falls.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.vamospanish.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Ingrid So

Organization: Vamos Spanish Academy

Address: Av. Cnel. Diaz 1736, Buenos Aires

Phone: +54-11-5984-2201 Toll Free +1-888-808-1242

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/vamos-spanish-academy-launches-new-classes-for-those-wanting-to-learn-spanish/100791

Release ID: 100791

For more information visit r



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Paul's Auto Service, LLC and Power Equipment Launches Their New Website

The new website, a product of Web Services CT, is easy to navigate and allows consumers to find the information they need quickly and easily, reports PaulsAutoRepair.com

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Paul's Auto Repair, LLC and Power Equipment proudly announces the launch of their completely redesigned, responsive website thanks to local website company Web Services CT (www.WebServicesCT.com). The new site offers a completely redesigned layout, on a WordPress CMS, along with an appointment form. In addition, it now provides an updated blog with the latest auto repair tips and news from their shop. Individuals should check the site out to see the latest work, helpful advice and learn how Paul's Auto Repair Services can be of help to any driver.

"One may assume they are saving money by skipping recommended maintenance for their vehicle, but it will likely cost the owner more in the long run-routine maintenance is key in keeping your vehicle running strong and saving you in expensive repairs. Regular oil changes are needed to ensure your vehicle's engine stays clean and lubricated, as the oil helps reduce friction that leads to wear and tear on engine parts. A year of oil changes costs, on average, $160, yet the cost of replacing/repairing the engine because the driver failed to take this simple step will be far more expensive. Our facility offers oil changes, brakes, engine repairs, tires and more," Paul Leblanc, owner of Paul's Auto Repair, LLC and Power Equipment, announces.

Many individuals remember to rotate their tires, have their brakes inspected and get oil changes regularly, yet fail to remember less frequent car maintenance tasks. Timing belt replacement needs to be done according to the car maker's maintenance schedule. When a person fails to replace the timing belt and it breaks, the car will stop running. In some cases, a new belt is the only thing that is needed, yet others find they need the engine repaired and this could run into the thousands of dollars.

"Don't hesitate to ask your mechanic for recommendations on work to be done to your car. Preventative maintenance is recommended to ensure the car runs properly at all times, avoiding untimely breakdowns. We never wish to see our customers stranded as a result of a lack of maintenance. We'll work with you to keep your car running at all times, and we offer competitive rates compared to other Connecticut auto repair facilities," Leblanc states.

The new website presents information on Automotive Services offered and also features a section on Power Equipment Services. Visitors to the site will find it is easy to navigate and the information they desire is right at their fingertips. The blog is a useful resource for every driver and power equipment owner and offers advice, how-tos and guides on keeping your vehicle and equipment running efficiently.

"Check the site out today to schedule an appointment or feel free to comment on our blogs. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to call us either. We are more than happy to assist you in any way we can," Leblanc promises.

About Paul's Auto Repair, LLC and Power Equipment:

A family owned and operated business, Paul's Auto Repair, LLC and Power Equipment takes a great deal of pride in the work they do, which is why not only offering a quality product and service at an affordable price means so much, but also presenting the company in a professional and friendly manner is a must. This company promises to provide honest, straight-forward answers to whatever the client's mechanical problem may be and treats each vehicle like one of their own, making sure the job is done right the first time.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.paulsautorepair.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Paul Leblanc

Organization: Paul's Auto Repair, LLC & Power Equipment

Phone: (860) 568-8819

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/pauls-auto-service-llc-and-power-equipment-launches-their-new-website/100789

Release ID: 100789

For more information visit r



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Telecom Services company announces the opening of a new office in Houston, Tx.

Integral Choice has opened a new office in Houston Texas to provide communications applications and solutions in this Western Regional office. This office will be headed by Tamicka Gordon and can be reached at 888-722-5580. Sales and channel manager openings are available.

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A Local Telecommunications provider for small and medium sized businesses, Integral Choice, a 12 year old company in the telecommunications industry providing communications services to the business marketplace for office, mobile, security, and multi-location telecom solutions for the business customer, is proud to announce the opening of a new office in the Houston Texas area.

The office will be operated by Ms. Tamicka Gordon, a 15 plus year veteran of the telecommunications industry having previously worked with Bellsouth, and MCI before taking her position as Director of Operations at Integral Choice 9 years ago.

Tamicka will oversee both the operations and sales efforts for the new office, which will be hiring sales professionals in the Houston area. The corporate office will continue to maintain all of the operating functions to support the new office under the direction of Ms.Tamicka Gordon. Integral Choice represents over 35 different communications carriers for telecom, mobile, and multi-location customers with vendors like AT&T, Windstream, Comcast, Verizon, Earthlink, Broadview, CenturyLink, and a host of other providers that Integral Choice is a master Partner providing the best solutions and pricing to the marketplace. Current Carriers that Integral Choice represents can be found here: http://www.integralchoice.com/carriers/

Integral Choice looks forward to working closer with many of current existing accounts in the Texas area and continuing to provide services to all businesses under the management of Tamicka. This office is looking for Channel Managers and sales professionals in the Houston area to service it's existing customers, while growing the existing customer base in the Texas area. Integral Choice provides these services free of any fees, and will continue to provide the best solutions and applications that either improve productivity, provide for growth, and reduce the expenses of the client both for now and the projected future. All inquiries may call the office at 888-722-5580 for more information, and a free consultation for office, mobile, collaboration, and cloud needs for communications.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.integralchoice.com

Contact Info:

Name: Michael Leonard

Organization: Integral Choice Inc.

Address: 1860 Sandy Plains RD, STE 204-213, Marietta, Georgia 30066

Phone: 888-722-5580

Release ID: 100736

For more information visit r



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This morning, Oculus finally revealed the price for the first consumer Rift. The virtual reality headset will cost you $600, including an Xbox One controller and wireless adapter, wireless remote, and tracking camera. As expected, reactions to the cost have been emphatic.

Some have gone so far as to call the price a signal that virtual reality is doomed. To those people, I suggest a history lesson.

While virtual reality is a new medium and cant be directly aligned with iterative technologies, we can look to pricing and adoption trends as a touchstone. High-definition television and PC pricing can give us an idea of what to expect in terms of adoption.

Reflecting On Common Technologys Evolution

At CES in 2004, Forbes Eric Taub wrote about what consumers could expect from Samsung at the show. When Samsungs new sets reach retailers in the second half of 2004, they will be beyond the financial reach of all but a handful of video enthusiasts, Taub wrote. The price for the plasma TV is expected to be set at about $70,000, far above the $20,000 Samsung charges for its former champion, a 63-inch model. For the 57-inch LCD display, expect to pay close to $30,000.

That year saw limitations broken, as plasma televisions grew to 80 inches. LCD displays finally crossed the 50-inch mark with a 57-inch model introduced. You could certainly buy smaller sets for less money ($2,000 to $3,000, depending on what type of display, with digital light-projection sets trending lowest), with prices falling off after that.

In the intervening years, prices began to fall rapidly. Manufacturers refined their processes and, most importantly, we started to see television networks begin broadcasting in high definition. This prompted a surge in purchasing, just as the introduction of color to the airwaves inspired uptake of sets that supported it.

As for personal computers, a New York Times report from 2005 includes a telling passage about pricing. Michael Farello, Dell's vice president for United States consumer electronics, said he was recently looking at Dell ads from the mid-1990s comparing its $3,500 PC's with other makers' units at $6,000, the Times report indicated. This isn't the first time this has happened, he said.

As we can point out with cell phones, wearables, MP3 players, and other technology innovations, it wasnt the last time it happened either. Well see it with virtual reality, also.

Like Other New Technology, VR Has Room To Improve

Not only will we see improvements to form factor and portability, but also to how the displays economize the power of the connected PCs. It's those more expensive components  the graphics cards, the processors, and the memory  that really drive up the cost of virtual reality.

Youll be able to purchase a PC and Rift bundle for $1,500. Thats not an inexpensive proposition for console gamers and anyone else that needs to purchase, especially since the minimum spec might not have a great deal of longevity before an upgrade is required (especially if you want to upgrade to a Rift 2 in a few years).

Ive been contemplating building my own system. My philosophy is to get as much life out of the system before regularly bumping down visual settings prompts me upgrade. Im looking at $2,100, not including a monitor (Ill connect to my big screen HDTV) and input peripherals (I have keyboards and mice already). If youre curious, heres what Im thinking about.

I expect this will last me four years (five if Im lucky) before I start thinking about an upgrade. But it does also mean that a brand-new PC with a Rift is going to cost me $2,700. Sure, Im paying for longevity with the PC, but that price tag is hefty (even with the Rift being sold below what it costs Oculus to produce and deliver it).

But heres whats going to happen. Prices are going to come down. The minimum spec will stay the same for a while, but it will drop in price. The next Rift release will be in a more competitive market, and the price will likely come down to reflect it as manufacturing runs increase to reflect growing adoption. Larger orders of components will drive down the per-unit price.

VR Will Follow Common Adoption Trends

This is what happens all the time. In fact, it occurs so often, academic diagrams are available to support the phenomenon. Adoption is typically split into four segments as products become more affordable and more prolific. In the case of media technology, this is also advanced as content becomes more diverse and libraries become deeper.

Image courtesy Firebelly Marketing

Were past the innovator phase. Weve been there since the Rift Kickstarter and were firmly planted as end-users began purchasing the Rift developer kit 2 (DK2). Were moving into early adopter phase with the launch of the consumer technology.

Well likely be hovering there through the first generation of technology. HTC and Oculus will iterate first. We likely wont see a second version of PlayStation VR until the next console cycle.

Is there still work for manufacturers and evangelists to do? Absolutely. The technologys success is not a guarantee.

Virtual reality is an experiential technology. Just talking about it isn't enough. The hardware manufacturers need to give demonstrations to as many people as possible. Content needs to become richer and more varied, with games and other experiences that not only sell virtual reality, but prove its uniqueness.

Reaching The Majority

Jumping the gap from early adopter to early majority isn't simply a factor of time. Software manufacturers need to see revenues from their efforts, especially those that have been toiling pre-release. Broader applications, including education and virtual tourism, need to be fleshed out.

The social aspects of the medium need to be realized, and as Palmer Luckey told me when we spoke in November, no one is sure what shape that will take. 360-degree video is becoming more prevalent, but it requires its own language. The tricks used in traditional filmmaking wont work for conveying conversations and intimate moments.

Virtual reality is just beginning, and the pricing we are seeing now reflects that. It isnt the first medium to be priced out of range for the mass market, and it certainly wont be the last.
CSULB alum wins gold at the 38th Long Beach Marathon  which was his first
Is it any wonder the militants holding the building at the wildlife refuge near Burns have been the brunt of so much mockery?

There it was in Wednesday's front-page story, Standoff Leader: Its Gods Request  well, why didnt they just say so! After all, if God is involved, that is certain to change things. For one, I would assume that once the federal government gives them back all that public land, #VanillaISIS will return it to the Shoshone, who lived on it peacefully for millennia before there ever was a Bureau of Land Management. That seems like the kind of thing a benevolent, loving creator would do, and I can support that.

I can also support a protest that highlights the injustices meted out by a judicial system that demands a five-year prison sentence for setting fire to 140 acres in a remote area adjacent to the perpetrators private land. What about reparation? Why not require the Hammonds to repair the damage? Or how about required classes in ecology? Certainly a just God would see the stewardship of the land as a wiser, more lofty alternative to the utter waste of having productive members of our society locked up for five years. Right on! Sign me up!

But of course, heres the trouble  that has nothing to do with why #yallqaeda has shown up. What they appear to be up to, what Ammon Bundy, like his father in Nevada is after, amounts to something more along the lines of a land grab and a lot less like any sort of righteous cause.

So lets lay it out

I dont think the BLM, or the federal government, is squeaky clean in this or most of the cases like this one. It could very well be that the feds are more interested in acquiring the Hammond ranch then they are in seeing justice served. Otherwise, why on earth would the federal prosecutors go after the Hammonds, after they had served the original, lighter sentence for their crime? Isnt there enough to do out there in Burns? If that is the case, they are acting outside of their mandate, such actions should be protested and condemned, and the perpetrators brought to answer.

As far as the BLM, in general, is concerned, I would just as soon keep it in charge of the public lands, thank you. Like mining, and like timber harvesting, cattle ranching can and does do significant damage to public lands, particularly in the arid West, where over-grazing has caused destruction of stream-bed habitats and destroyed fisheries and wetlands for decades. I grew up in Nevada, and Ive seen plenty of the damage that cattle can do first hand. In spite of all its flaws, a properly managed BLM likely remains the best defense to protect public land from ecological abuse, if only they would.

The idea of putting public lands in the hands of ranchers is akin to putting the hen house in the hands of the foxes. Go back to Nevada, Mr. Bundy, and pay your grazing fees, and leave our public lands alone.
Tuesday, I wrote out a substantial check to the Gazette Times for another year of information, enlightenment, sporting/local news and learned opinion. Your paper is the most expensivist paper I get and deserving of my specialist scrutiny this Wednesday morning.

Today, I could read more about Nevadan protagonist ranchers using Oregon as a platform for a holy/family spat with the federal government. Not your fault! Today, I could read more unsettling news from North Korea about the nuclear-protagonist Kim Jong Un. Not your fault! Today, I learned the protagonist Dow rose a measly 10 points after a 276-point drop on Monday. Not your fault! Today, I learned that controlling "gun control" was not out of control of the protagonists controlling those who controlled the controlling. Not your fault!

But, G-T, today I was once again subjected to the Bi-weekly-ist, Barry-ist, Chuck-ist, Wenstom-ist submission yet; and all to support the Trump Tempist (sick) [sic]! That was your fault! That did, however, make the G-T the least expensivist paper I get! I like my silly the sillyist And, if you print this, it will be your fault!

Oh, one question? Ist das ist das Mel Blanc ist? Or, ist das ist in augen mistthe tears I get when we Americans raise our fist to one another. We did that once. Once is enough. Get my gist?

Wayne Spletstoser

Shedd (Jan. 7)
Self-supporting solution

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G hana, otherwise home for Guantanamo Bay prison (Gitmo) detainees

E. Ablorh-Odjidja

January 07, 2016

This transfer of Gitmo prisoners reminds me to write, "Obama gives Ghana the back hand" by returning two Yemeni Muslim terrorists to Ghana, a place they don't belong and where they should not even be tolerated.

This is not to say Ghana has no place for people of the Muslim faith. There are people of this faith in abundance in Ghana. They are a tolerant lot and are part of the religious fabric of a safe nation and not prone to causing mayhem like Boko Harem in Nigeria. So, is it for safety and religious stability that these two detainees were sent to Ghana? The decree that sent Atef and Al-Dhuby to Ghana read:

As directed by the presidents Jan. 22, 2009, executive order, the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of these cases. As a result of those reviews, which examined a number of factors, including security issues, Atef and Al-Dhuby were unanimously approved for transfer by the six departments and agencies comprising the task force, according to a US Department of Defense report picked up by Ghanaweb. Atef and Al-Dhuby are coming to Ghana. The two Yemini terrorists have been incarcerated at Gitmo for the past 14 years. According to reports, they cannot be returned to Yemen, their country of origin and a place where they share a common religion with the overwhelming population, more so than they do in Ghana.

They are prisoners at Gitmo now because no American state wants them in a prison on the main land. The need to dump them on Ghanaian soil has become the wise political choice. Not accidental, but a deliberate one that was arrived at some six years ago. I would have objected to the transfer were they Christian terrorists. The objection here is not a matter of religion. It is about security and risk. Did Obama overlook this risk to our fragile country?

Some of us in Diaspora America identify with Obama. He is one of us, the historic first Black president of America and the inspiration for our generation and next. And then he dumps Atef and Al-Dhuby on us.

Think about it. This gift is what Ghana gets from Obama. Bush gave us the MCA grant of over half a billion dollars and some of us have contempt for him. Regardless, Atef and Al-Dhuby can be a gift that will keep on giving. We hope that, in the end, the consequences are not bitter for our nation.

And even if the transfer is an experiment, we still have to wonder why Obama would want to choose Ghana for it.

First point, we know it is a political promise Obama made to his constituents - to close the Gitmo detention camp. Gitmo was George Bush's legacy and his approach to fighting terrorism. Obama found this approach unnecessary, thus his wish to repudiate. He has been working at it despite the strong opposition from all sides.

Governors of states, leaders of America's political parties and even some officers within Obamas administration will not accept his intent to close Gitmo.

On December 18, 2015, Free Beacon reported that "The chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff did not approve the Oct. 30 release of a terrorist held at the Guantanamo Bay prison, contrary to a Pentagon announcement that the transfer was unanimously approved by senior Obama administration officials."

A special report from Reuters on December 29, 2015 said "Pentagon thwarts Obama's effort to close Guantanamo." The report continued that "Since Obama took office in 2009, these people said, Pentagon officials have been throwing up bureaucratic obstacles to thwart the president's plan to close Guantanamo."

Whether Obama is right on any grounds, humanitarian or otherwise, is not the issue. But note even his military brass is in opposition to his idea.

We read that "Tri-county sheriffs have written to U.S. Sen. Tim Scott urging him to keep up the fight to prevent terror detainees from being transferred to the Navy brig in Hanahan if President Barack Obama closes the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba," wrote South Carolina, Post and Courier, November 24, 2015.

A Gallup poll, on the favorability among Americans on closing down Gitmo, shows " two in three (66%) oppose the idea, a feeling that has barely budged since 2009.

The opposition to the idea is because, " the relocation is nothing more than an open-door invitation for terrorists to launch attacks in the area;" in spite of the Obama administration to only hold detainees at a maximum-security level. And we wonder why all these objections dont matter for Ghana. We dont have maximum security level prison that can hold hardened Gitmo detainees The Obama administration knew. Yet, it was insensitive enough to approach poor Ghana for relief. A relief they knew could easily be coerced or incentivized.

Obama, if you will recall came to Ghana in 2009, hard on the heels of Bush who had visited a year earlier.

It is interesting to remember why Bush was in Ghana.

Bush came to see the impact his foreign aid investment plan, the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), offered under the Kufuor regime. This foreign aid plan was generous and huge in its intention and realization.

Obama, so far, has brought Ghana nothing, except the detainees. But there are some interesting hypotheses as to why he came to Ghana.

Some believe Obama came to take off the shine Bush had made on Ghana with the generous MCA plan. Others think he went to identify with Africa, since Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence.

All the above views are interesting because they help to bring up another speculation. Was Obama in Ghana to gain marks for this eventual Gitmo deal - to use the grace of the trip to grease the way for easy acceptance of Atef and Al-Dhuby?

Obama couldn't send Gitmo prisoners to Kenya. He was aware of the religious conflicts waging on in East Africa and how much this was impacting Kenya, just as he was aware of the many religious unrest and conflicts going on in other parts of Africa, except Ghana.

Obama in his address to Ghana's parliament in 2009 said: Let me be clear: There are wars over land and wars over resources. And it is still far too easy for those without conscience to manipulate whole communities into fighting among faiths and tribes."

Security vulnerability was on Obama's mind as he spoke that day to the Ghanaian Parliament. It was absent in his transfer of the Gitmo detainees to Ghana.

Ghana in many ways is very vulnerable now as it has been historically. If these terrorists were detained there, they would be housed with other inmates. The exposure of their ideas and methods to other undesirable elements should be a concern here.

For the above reason states in America have opposed the idea of accepting and housing of these inmates on their main land. They feared the ideological contamination of the worst virulent kind from these terrorists.

This virulent contamination is now Obama's gift to Ghana. It is his gift, the gift that will continue giving.

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, January 07, 2016.

Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website, email a copy of the web page to publisher@ghanadot.com. Or don't pu
Malaysian Police Detained 3 Nigerian Students For Running Online 'Love Scam' In Malaysia

clarajancita at 8-01-2016 12:05 PM (6 years ago) (f)

Malaysian police have detained a local woman and three Nigerian students for their alleged involvement in an online 'love scam' yesterday. The four were picked up by Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Division officers in two separate raids.

Commercial Crimes, Operations and Intelligence deputy director SAC Roslan Abd Wahid said the 48-year-old woman said she had been involved in the syndicate for a year after she experienced financial difficulties.

Malaysian police have detained a local woman and three Nigerian students for their alleged involvement in an online 'love scam' yesterday. The four were picked up by Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Division officers in two separate raids.Commercial Crimes, Operations and Intelligence deputy director SAC Roslan Abd Wahid said the 48-year-old woman said she had been involved in the syndicate for a year after she experienced financial difficulties. Quote "Further investigations led us to three Nigerian students aged between 23 and 27 at their rented apartment. The trio were studying at a private college in Selangor."

A 'love scam' usually involves the suspects posing as a romantic interest to lonely individuals, who are approached via social media.



After gaining their victims' trust, the victims would then ask for money, usually in ever-increasing amounts until they eventually flee with their ill-gotten gains.

Roslan said the Nigerian students were responsible for conducting the online chats with the unsuspecting victims while the woman served as a 'consultant.'

For her efforts, she was paid a commission of between 10 to 15 per cent from the syndicate, based on the amount they managed to fleece from their victims.

Roslan said they were still on the hunt for the syndicate's mastermind who is in the country. He also urged those who had been scammed by the syndicate to step forward and assist the investigation. usually involves the suspects posing as a romantic interest to lonely individuals, who are approached via social media.After gaining their victims' trust, the victims would then ask for money, usually in ever-increasing amounts until they eventually flee with their ill-gotten gains.Roslan said the Nigerian students were responsible for conducting the online chats with the unsuspecting victims while the woman served as aFor her efforts, she was paid a commission of between 10 to 15 per cent from the syndicate, based on the amount they managed to fleece from their victims.Roslan said they were still on the hunt for the syndicate's mastermind who is in the country. He also urged those who had been scammed by the syndicate to step forward and assist the investigation.

Post Reply I am a metro reporter on Gistmania, I have been publishing news materials for over 5 years Posted: at 8-01-2016 12:05 PM (6 years ago) | Hero

gogoman at 8-01-2016 12:08 PM (6 years ago)

(m) na today, se boys no go pay rent and bill ni Posted: at 8-01-2016 12:08 PM (6 years ago) | Addicted Hero na today, se boys no go pay rent and bill ni Reply

moralemike07 at 8-01-2016 12:18 PM (6 years ago)

(m) And Malaysia authorities don't joke with death penalty. They should pray hard. Posted: at 8-01-2016 12:18 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac And Malaysia authorities don't joke with death penalty. They should pray hard. Reply

DAMILARE100 at 8-01-2016 12:30 PM (6 years ago)

(m) The bad eggs Posted: at 8-01-2016 12:30 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac The bad eggs Reply

kp45 at 8-01-2016 01:14 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Spoiling another man's land. So you thought you are in Naija abi where anything goes. Posted: at 8-01-2016 01:14 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Spoiling another man's land. So you thought you are in Naija abi where anything goes. Reply

Novic at 8-01-2016 01:16 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Yahoo boys no laptop, its nt easy nw. Posted: at 8-01-2016 01:16 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Yahoo boys no laptop, its nt easy nw. Reply

SOGaiya at 8-01-2016 01:26 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Death sentence is their justice Posted: at 8-01-2016 01:26 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Death sentence is their justice Reply

DrSoba at 8-01-2016 02:47 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Quote from: Opeyemi Oladipupo on 8-01-2016 01:16 PM Yahoo boys no laptop, its nt easy nw.



I tire for all your comments today oo. Posted: at 8-01-2016 02:47 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac I tire for all your comments today oo. Reply

austinesnow at 8-01-2016 02:50 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Ma wetinnguyz dey use dey survive there naa + yahoo Posted: at 8-01-2016 02:50 PM (6 years ago) | Upcoming Ma wetinnguyz dey use dey survive there naa + yahoo Reply

Powerfulify at 8-01-2016 04:06 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Let them face d music of love Posted: at 8-01-2016 04:06 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Let them face d music of love Reply

fearlesspaul at 8-01-2016 05:25 PM (6 years ago)

(m) There are so many like them. If the police work hard, they will flush all of them out of Malaysia including those Yoruba Alfas and babalawos dey do juju for. Posted: at 8-01-2016 05:25 PM (6 years ago) | Upcoming There are so many like them. If the police work hard, they will flush all of them out of Malaysia including those Yoruba Alfas and babalawos dey do juju for. Reply

akinmanchy at 8-01-2016 06:26 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Nigerians wey dey Malaysia dey vex, na today? Life na jeje so just try to take am softly Posted: at 8-01-2016 06:26 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Nigerians wey dey Malaysia dey vex, na today? Reply

Trueyarn at 8-01-2016 09:27 PM (6 years ago)

(m) End of the road nah him be dis,boys should always learn to engage their mind in legitimate business instead of ilegit business dat has expiry date. Posted: at 8-01-2016 09:27 PM (6 years ago) | Hero End of the road nah him be dis,boys should always learn to engage their mind in legitimate business instead of ilegit business dat has expiry date. Reply

okatee at 9-01-2016 12:56 AM (6 years ago)

(m) I JST DUNT KNOW Y, NAIJA BOYZ TOO LYK DIS LOVE SCAM. DEM NO DEY LEARN LESSONZ FRM PAST EVENT LYK DIS. Posted: at 9-01-2016 12:56 AM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac I JST DUNT KNOW Y, NAIJA BOYZ TOO LYK DIS LOVE SCAM. DEM NO DEY LEARN LESSONZ FRM PAST EVENT LYK DIS. Reply

factfinding at 9-01-2016 07:27 AM (6 years ago)

(m) @moralemike07 And Malaysia authorities don't joke with death penalty. They should pray hard.

=======================================================================

Malaysia only kill for drugs, all they need is money to bail them out, is a not a serious crime as you think as long as nobody came forward to press charges, even if someone came to press charges all they need is to refund back the money they took form their victim and bailed them self out case closed.

Posted: at 9-01-2016 07:27 AM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac @moralemike07 And Malaysia authorities don't joke with death penalty. They should pray hard.=======================================================================Malaysia only kill for drugs, all they need is money to bail them out, is a not a serious crime as you think as long as nobody came forward to press charges, even if someone came to press charges all they need is to refund back the money they took form their victim and bailed them self out case closed. Reply

DAMILARE100 at 9-01-2016 09:46 AM (6 years ago)

(m) Only God know what tomorrow holds for Nigeria. They youth are frustrated Posted: at 9-01-2016 09:46 AM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Only God know what tomorrow holds for Nigeria. They youth are frustrated Reply
Google Removes 13 Malicious Apps From Google Play Store News oi -Sudhiir

Google has removed 13 Android apps front he Google Play store after it was notified by users and agencies that these apps made unauthorized downloads to the phones and stole user information. These malicious apps attempt to get root privileges, and also copy files to the system partition. Some of these apps have close to a million downloads. Google removed these apps from the Google Play Store.

SEE ALSO: Lenovo's new Project Tango Android Smartphone can create live 3D-experience

The apps that have been removed include Cake Blast, Jump Planet, Honey Comb, Crazy Block, Crazy Jelly, Tiny Puzzle, Ninja Hook, Piggy Jump, Just Fire, Eat Bubble, Hit Planet, Cake Tower, and Drag Box.

The malicious apps were spotted by a security researcher named Chris Dehghanpoor from Lookout, a mobile security company. According to Dehghanpoor, the Honeycomb app has close to a million downloads. The apps have a high number of downloads, and also have several positive app reviews. The positive reviews get automatically posted without user permission.

Dehghanpoor suggests that if such an app has infected an Android smartphone, the best way to do this would be to factory reset the handset. The apps claim that they were made by developers behind apps like Brain Test.

SEE ALSO: Meizu announces partnership with UC Browser

In past too, Google has removed apps that were in violation of the Google rules. In past Google removed apps that were replica of original apps of were very similar to some highly downloaded apps. Google took action in past against some apps that were self-downloading getting through the vulnerability of the Google Play Store.

It is said that from a perspective of security, the several flaws in Google's Android platform that could effect several users as data-thieves can steal data using these flaws of the Android platform.

SOURCE

Best Mobiles in India
Lenovo Vibe K4 Note First Impressions: A budget smartphone with interesting features Reviews oi -Harshita

A lot of teasers were being posted and buzz was created ahead of the launch of the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note smartphone, which finally got unveiled on January 5 in India. The K4 Note is the successor to Lenovo's Vibe K3 Note smartphone that got pretty popular for its design, specs as well as aggressive pricing.

The K3 Note is not even a year old, and Lenovo thought of giving consumers an upgraded version of the phone in order to encash on its predecessor's popularity and keep the bells ringing for its Note series. The Vibe K4 Note has been promoted as a Killer smartphone, and does bring features that look interesting and promising, however its fate depends on its performance.

PROS 3GB RAM

Fingerprint scanner

Features VR software CONS Lacks water resistance

Speaking of features and specs, the Lenovo K4 Note does not have significant upgrades in specifications, but as the company puts it, the phone is more about features and user-experience than just about specifications. Moreover, Lenovo is trying to spice up the user-experience by adding VR headset compatibility to this device.

Lenovo is eyeing a higher traction for the K4 Note in India, considering that the phone has been announced only in India, as of now, and comes with Indian-consumer centric features.

We got to test the Lenovo K4 Note smartphone for a brief time at its launch event in Delhi, and here is how we felt about it during this hands-on:

Design and Display

The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note looks pretty nice due to some noticeable changes in its design language. Lenovo K4 Note has a curved back panel design, with features metallic rim defining its sides. Unlike the K3 Note, the K4 Note gets a removable panel that can be taken off to put in dual SIM cards and a microSD card. Weighing in at 158 grams, it is quite light on hand. The slight curve on back panel adds to the looks as well as makes it pretty comfortable to be used single handedly. The phone thinnest edge is 3.8mm and thickest part measures in at 9.1mm. Over all it looks much better than the K3 Note.

On the left of the phone, you get volume key and power key. Long pressing the power key launches a window to access VR option.

20 Best Budget 4G Smartphones To Buy In India This January 2016

The front adorns a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display with 1920x1080pixels resolution giving way to a pixel density of 441PPI. It has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The display reproduces colours well and has good viewing angles. Its touch interface works smoothly.

Processor:

In the hardware department, Lenovo Vibe K4 Note features a 64-bit MediaTek MT6753 Octa-Core Processor with a Mali T720-MP3 GPU with 450MHz 3D graphics accelerator. The chipset is supported with 3GB of RAM, which as per the company is good enough for a smooth performance of the device. It has an internal storage of 16GB eMMC, which can be expanded by up to 128GB via microSD.

Camera:

The phone features a 13MP rear camera with PDAF, f/2.2 and a Dual-color LED flash, and a 5MP front facing Selfie camera. The ambient lighting condition of the hall was not apt to test the camera and form an opinion about it. We will give you details about the camera performance in our review of the K4 Note.

Lenovo's new Project Tango Android Smartphone can create live 3D-experience

VR Tech:

The key highlight of the K4 Note is that it comes with VR headset and run supporting software. The K4 Note features TheaterMax VR software, a VR technology from Lenovo, which converts any multimedia content like movies, games and online content into a virtual reality based cinematic experience.

Software:

Lenovo K4 Note runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop wrapped under the company's Vibe UI, which runs on the company's higher range smartphones. The UI looks familiar, and worked smoothly during the brief test.

Conclusion:

The Lenovo K4 Note is not exactly in to specification war, as also said by the company, but it still gets an edge over competitors due to its additional features like VR Headset and software support, fingerprint scanner, Dolby surround sound, and more. The company has worked on its design to give it premium looks and feel. Overall, the phone looks promising but it will be facing tough competition from the likes of Micromax Canvas 5 and the upcoming Xiaomi Redmi3 smartphone.

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note has been priced for Rs 11,999 without VR headset, where as the VR Bundled variant is sold for Rs. 12,499. The VR headset will also be sold separately for Rs 1,299. It will be retailing exclusively on Amazon.in.

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Microsoft is creating its own SIM card for cross-carrier data access News oi -Sudhiir

Microsoft is creating its own SIM card that can be specifically used with Windows 10 devices. The SIM card works with the Cellular data app that has been released on the Windows app store. The best part about the Microsoft SIM card is that one has the freedom to choose between different telecom carriers and choose the internet plan that one wants.

SEE ALSO: Google Removes 13 Malicious Apps From Google Play Store

The Cellular data plan can be purchased via the Windows Store. This is particularly handy for travelers who find it difficult to get network coverage of one Telecom carrier, and where another telecom carrier has a better network coverage.This is even convenient when one is trying out data plans from different cellular carriers.

To purchase a data plan, one should click on the WiFi icon at the far right of the taskbar. One can look at a list of Networks and find "Cellular Data" and then select the "View plans " and follow the steps to buy the mobile Data plan that is available.

SEE ALSO: Lenovo's new Project Tango Android Smartphone can create live 3D-experience

However, when released the Microsoft SIM card will be available only on Domestic plans. It also says that the Microsoft SIM card will work with Windows 10 smartphones.International plans will be announced only later. This seems to be a cutting edge innovation from Microsoft that can be really useful. The Cellular Data app is currently available only in the US. Release for other regions should follow soon.

SOURCE | VIA

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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.
Solutions needed to stem global refugee crisis, says new UN agency chief

7 January 2016  With record numbers of refugees and displaced people worldwide, the new head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is urging greater diplomatic efforts to find solutions to the conflicts and abuses driving people from their homes.

"UNHCR is navigating extraordinarily difficult waters," Filippo Grandi said on Thursday at his debut press conference after taking office at the first of the year.

"We owe it first and foremost to the forcibly displaced themselves, but we also owe it to StatesStates are desperately looking for solutions to situations involving refugees," he declared, stressing that "even under more desperate circumstances we have to think of solving displacement."

Noting that there are now some 60 million people displaced around the world as a result of conflicts from South Sudan to Syria, Mr. Grandi pledged to work closely with partners. He urged governments to invest more energy and resources to solving wars and conflicts and providing solutions to the causes of refugee crises.

The new UN High Commissioner for Refugees stressed that countries which host especially large numbers of refugees, such as Lebanon, now home to over one million Syrians, need better help. He also highlighted resettlement, humanitarian visas and family reunification as tools which can allow refugees to find safety in other countries, "not through trafficking but by what we call legal pathways."

Following a year in which over one million refugees and migrants arrived on Europe's shores, Mr. Grandi said he would urge the European Union to pursue a "coordinated and cohesive" approach to dealing with people seeking safety, and warned that the rest of the world was watching the continent's response closely.

He said that if Europe erected barriers and closed doors, the rest of the world would do likewise.

"The EU is struggling with an equal sharing of the burden of refugees within the Union, within the continent," he said while noting that less than 10 per cent of the world's current refugee population was actually in Europe.

"The massive arrival of refugees in Europe has opened the eyes of this very rich part of the world to the fact that refugees have massive needs that are not met," he added.

Mr. Grandi also noted that UNHCR is ready to help refugees return home to countries that have become safe again. Focusing on refugees and forcibly displaced people in Cote d'Ivoire and Colombia, he underlined the importance of successful peace talks and reconciliation to create these opportunities for return.

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UN agency condemns demolition of homes of Palestinian Bedouins in West Bank

7 January 2016  Condemning the demolition by Israeli authorities of the homes of Palestinian Bedouins in the West Bank, a senior United Nations relief official today called on Israel to end such destruction and halt its plans to forcibly relocate Bedouin families.

"The humanitarian consequences of this destruction of property are grave and I am seriously concerned, particularly about the children who are now homeless," said Felipe Sanchez, the Director of West Bank Operations for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

According to UNRWA, the demolitions were carried out on the morning of 6 January by the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) in the vulnerable community of Abu Nwar, in Area C  the largest of the administrative jurisdictions under the Oslo Accords  near East Jerusalem. In the midst of the winter, a total of five residential structures were demolished, leaving 26 refugees, including 17 children, displaced and without a home.

With more than 7,000 inhabitants, the majority of them Palestine refugees, Abu Nwar is one of 50 Palestinian Bedouin communities in Area C that have been slated for transfer to three proposed 'relocation' sites by the Israeli authorities. The communities have refused to be relocated and have faced the daily threat of their homes being demolished.

In May 2015, the UN warned about the rapidly advancing plans to transfer the Palestinian Bedouins and the risk of demolitions after residents of Abu Nwar were informed by the Israeli authorities that they would have to move to the Al Jabal area outside of East Jerusalem, where the preparation of the ground had been taking place for several months.

Prior to and during the demolitions on 6 January, residents were repeatedly informed by Israeli Civil Administration officials to move to the proposed transfer site of Al Jabal West. UNRWA has been providing urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the displaced communities.

Demolishing residential structures exacerbates an already coercive environment, driving Bedouin communities off the land they have inhabited for decades. UNRWA recalls that Israel has strict obligations under international law regarding the prohibition of the destruction of private property and of forcible transfer, including as a result of policies creating a coercive environment. Forcible transfer is a grave breach under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

"The distress in the community is heartbreaking," said Mr. Sanchez.

"When children should be enjoying their holidays from school, they are instead picking up the broken pieces of their destroyed homes. How can a child grow up in such an environment? I condemn these demolitions and reiterate my call to respect the Bedouins' decision to remain where they are," he continued, adding: "I urge the Israeli authorities to halt all plans and practices that will directly or indirectly lead to the forcible transfer of the Bedouin."

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Yemen: Ban condemns expulsion of UN rights official; 'extremely concerned' for staff

7 January 2016  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today condemned the Government of Yemen's decision to expel the United Nations Human Rights representative in the war-torn country, voicing "extreme concern" for the safety of the remaining national and international staff.

"The Secretary-General stresses that United Nations staff must never be threatened or sanctioned for doing their work, which is based on the United Nations Charter," a statement issued by his spokesman said.

According to media reports, the Yemeni foreign ministry said George Abu al-Zulof, the head of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) office in Yemen had not been "impartial" in his assessments of the human rights situation in the country.

"The Secretary-General recalls that the people of Yemen have suffered grave human rights violations. OHCHR is actively and effectively helping to document these violations and promote and protect their rights, while strengthening justice and accountability," the statement said.

"Respect for human rights is absolutely essential for long-term peace and stability. By impeding the United Nations' human rights work, the Government is failing to uphold its obligations. Doing so can only be harmful for the country's return to peace and stability," it added.

"The Secretary-General reiterates his full confidence in the representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sana'a and urges the Government of Yemen to reconsider its position on his expulsion."

Earlier today, the UN health agency called on all factions to allow immediate unconditional access, noting that more than 250,000 people have been living under virtual siege in the central city of Taiz since November, with convoys of life-saving medicines blocked.

"In times of crisis, it is vital that health facilities remain functional and provide people in need with uninterrupted access to life-saving medical care," the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said in a news release, citing the deteriorating health situation in Taiz, where the city's six hospitals are overwhelmed with injured patients and have been forced to partially close services.

"Humanitarian organizations are struggling to deliver medical and surgical supplies due to the insecurity," it added in the latest of a series of appeals calling for humanitarian access. "Five WHO trucks carrying medicines and medical supplies have been prevented from entering the city since 14 December 2015.

"The trucks contain trauma medicines, medicines for the treatment of diarrhoea, and other health supplies that urgently need to be delivered to Al-Thawra, Al-Jumhoori, Al-Rawdha and Al-Mudhaffar Hospitals. Three of the trucks are carrying 500 cylinders of oxygen that are critically needed by the hospitals.

"WHO calls on all parties involved in the conflict to allow the secure movement and delivery of medical and humanitarian aid to all people, regardless of their location."

Last month, WHO reported delivering more than 100 tonnes of medicines and supplies for 1.2 million people in Taiz governorate, where over 3 million people, almost 400,000 of them internally displaced, are in dire need of humanitarian aid.

But it said distribution of an additional 22 tonnes of medical aid to five health facilities in Taiz City was on hold due to access issues.

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has been trying to broker peace talks between the various factions to end the fighting that has torn the country apart over the past year, but he adjourned them last month until mid-January to allow for bi-lateral in-country and regional consultations to secure full adherence to a ceasefire.

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Yemen War Intensifies Amid Saudi-Iran Diplomatic Standoff

by Heather Murdock, Almigdad Mojalli January 07, 2016

Men and boys on the streets of Sana'a, Yemen's largest city, sell fuel for cars and generators out of jerry cans, water bottles and barrels.

The fuel black market is one of the few ways to keep a family afloat during this relentless war, they say.

Meanwhile, airstrikes are only getting worse.

"Yemen is under siege," shouts Nasser Mohammed Al-Sa'adi, buying fuel for his car in the Yemeni capital. "No oil is coming in by the sea so the prices are soaring."

Saudi-led coalition airstrikes have intensified in recent days here, and Iran has accused Saudi Arabia of attacking its embassy in Sana'a. Saudi Arabia sees Houthi militants  the target of the attacks  as agents of Iran, a charge Tehran denies.

Long-time rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran severed diplomatic ties this week after the execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric in Saudi Arabia prompted protesters to attack its embassy in Tehran.

Analysts say the biggest losers in this rivalry are countries like Yemen, embroiled in regional conflicts seen as proxy-wars for Saudi Arabia and Iran, the two most powerful countries in the region. Besides geopolitical and economic competition, the two countries are at the heart of the regional sectarian divide. Saudi Arabia is the main Sunni power; Iran, the strongest Shi'ite country.

"This conflict is manifesting itself all over the Middle East, but especially in Syria, in Yemen and to a lesser extent Iraq," says Max Abrahms, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a professor at Northeastern University. "In all three of those conflicts, the Saudis and Iranians have different positions and are really at loggerheads with each other."

Black market fuel

As the war drags on with coalition airstrikes now in the 10th month, Yemenis say the economic crisis and mass fuel shortages have become as deadly as the battles.

Black market fuel can cost as much as seven times the subsidized price Yemenis are used to paying, and the consequences are disastrous.

Food prices have gone up, and food production has dropped sharply, says Sadiq al-Qeyari, a Sana'a resident.

"Farmers are only able to plant enough to feed their own families because large equipment requires fuel," he explained.

More than half a million Yemeni children are already in danger of dying from starvation, according to UNICEF.

Black market fuel is also slowly eroding the equipment and vehicles it powers, further damaging the economy, according to Nabil al-Rada'e, who sells auto-parts.

"We buy fuel at very high prices on the black market," he said. "The sellers sometimes cheat, add fake materials to the fuel that damages the cars. I see a lot of cars broken because of this."

Besides the threat of further starving the country and economic decimation, oil officials say people are now dying because of fuel shortages.

"The price of all commodities, including vegetables and other food products has increased," said Anwar al-Ameri, the spokesman for the Yemen Oil Company. "More and more people are dying because of this, the lack of electricity and the lack of fuel to keep the hospitals operating."

Politically, the war appears to be a battle between Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other foreign powers, Sana'a residents say. But they point out that while the power players may be locked in battle here - the victims are all Yemeni.

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Kerry: Nuclear Deal Nears; N. Korea Not 'Unattended'

by Pamela Dockins January 07, 2016

Secretary of State John Kerry says implementation of the Iran nuclear deal could be just "days away," if "all goes well."

He commented in a Thursday briefing in which he highlighted U.S. foreign policy progress over the past year and urged U.S. lawmakers to confirm key diplomatic nominations that have languished in the Senate.

Kerry said he spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who assured him that Iran intended to complete its obligations "as rapidly as possible."

The so-called Implementation Day will occur when the U.N. nuclear watchdog verifies that Iran has met requirements to the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

As a result of compliance, Iran would receive relief from crippling international nuclear-related sanctions. Late last year, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani predicted Iran would reach Implementation Day by mid-January.

Kerry said Thursday that Tehran has already shipped most of its stockpiles of enriched uranium overseas.

"It literally shipped out its capacity, currently, to build a nuclear weapon," he said.

Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans moved to give Congress more authority to scuttle the deal. The House Foreign Affairs Committee cleared a measure Thursday that would give lawmakers more oversight of the agreement Iran signed with the U.S. and other nations last summer. Reuters reported the bill could go before the full House as early as next week.

North Korea not 'unattended'

Kerry highlighted foreign policy progress made during the past year, including the re-opening of the U.S. embassy in Havana and U.S.-led coalition efforts that have cut the Islamic State's territory in Syria and Iraq.

Asked if the U.S. lost its focus on North Korea because of challenges in other regions, Kerry said "North Korea has never been left unattended to, not for one day."

He commented after North Korea conducted what it said was a "successful" test of a hydrogen bomb, this week, an action that the U.S. and other world powers have deemed "provocative."

Earlier Thursday, Kerry discussed North Korea's nuclear test with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. China, North Korea's key regional ally, has condemned the test.

In his remarks, Kerry said Beijing had "had a particular approach that it wanted to take," and that the U.S. had agreed to give the Chinese opportunity to implement that. But Kerry added that during his talks with Wang, he made it clear that the approach had not worked and the U.S. could not continue "business as usual."

Middle East Tensions

Kerry also addressed concerns that escalating tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia could hamper this month's planned launch of U.N.-led talks on a political transition in Syria.

Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are part of the International Syria Support Group.

However, Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran this month after protesters stormed Saudi missions in Iran. The protesters were angered by Saudi Arabia's execution of a Shi'ite cleric.

Kerry said in recent days, he spoke to his counterparts in both countries and they offered assurances that differences between them would not interfere with their willingness to work cooperatively to address Syria's crisis.

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Carter Gets Update on 'Provocative' North Korean Action

By Lisa Ferdinando DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, January 7, 2016  Defense Secretary Ash Carter received an update today from the commander of U.S. Pacific Command about recent events on the Korean Peninsula, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters today.

North Korea claimed yesterday to have conducted a successful hydrogen bomb test.

Discussions between Carter and Navy Adm. Harry Harris included 'North Korea's latest provocative act, as well as steps to further our military-to-military dialogue with allies in the region,' Cook said.

The United States, he added, is committed to the defense of its close ally South Korea.

Ironclad Commitment

'We're there every day in South Korea," he said. "There are more than 28,000 U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula right now. We stand resolutely with our South Korean allies, our commitment to them is ironclad, and we will do everything we can to ensure their defense.'

Carter spoke to his South Korean counterpart yesterday, Cook noted.

'The government has concluded that a nuclear test took place, but we're still assessing new information we've received at this point in time,' he said.

Officials hope to receive more information that might give them a better understanding of exactly what took place in North Korea, he said. 'Our analysis again indicates that it's not consistent with the North Korean claims of a hydrogen bomb test,' Cook told reporters.

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Feb. 12 is the deadline for applications to participate in a new program designed to help entrepreneurs develop or expand businesses in uptown Martinsville.

The Chambers Partnership for Economic Growth (C-PEG), an independent affiliate of the Martinsville-Henry County Chamber of Commerce, is launching Startup Martinsville, Virginia with $60,000 in state funds that it recently received from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development through the Second Annual Virginia Community Business Launch (CBL) initiative.

C-PEGs program will be a big help to people who are planning to start a business to see if they are ready to go into business for themselves, said Amanda Witt, president of the chamber and executive director of the affiliate.

Startup Martinsville, Virginia is an intensive eight-week boot camp program for entrepreneurs ending with a business plan competition in which participants vie for a share of $45,000 in grant funds, other awards and loan opportunities to start or expand businesses in the citys central business district.

C-PEG and the city each will contribute $7,500 toward the program. Money not used toward grants will help cover administrative and promotional costs for the program, according to Witt.

Depending on their needs as revealed in their business plans, three to six entrepreneurs will be eligible for grants of between $5,000 and $20,000, according to program details on chambers website.

C-PEG will administer the program with help from city and state officials, Patrick Henry Community College, the Martinsville Area Community Foundation, Longwood Universitys Small Business Development Center, the Senior Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and the Martinsville Uptown Revitalization Association, as well as community banks that are based in the region.

A selection committee comprised of representatives of C-PEG and the other participants will review applications and choose business plan competition winners based on various criteria, including their participation in all eight boot camp sessions.

Because a lot of information is to be provided over a short period of time, you cannot miss one of the classes and still be eligible for the competition, Witt emphasized.

If a participant cannot avoid missing a class due to an extreme emergency, such as a severe illness, C-PEG will try to work with that person, but he or she will have to make up the class somehow, she said.

Classes will be held from 6-9 p.m. on Thursdays from Feb. 25 to April 14 at the community colleges Dalton IDEA Center uptown.

Participants must be able to communicate ideas for their businesses clearly and concisely, as well as show how their businesses would be different from any similar establishments in the local market, the website shows.

Now that the former Henry Hotel has been turned into an apartment building, and with people living on upstairs floors of other buildings uptown, C-PEG is hoping to attract entrepreneurs wanting to open businesses targeted to largely serve people living in the district. Grocery stores and restaurants are examples of such businesses.

Businesses that complement the New College Institute, the Dalton IDEA Center and the planned College of Henricopolis School of Medicine  a bookstore is an example  are sought, as well as businesses based around technological innovations, according to the website.

Yet those types of businesses will not necessarily have a leg up, so to speak, when decisions are made as to who receives a grant, Witt said. There are certain to be ideas for other types of businesses that would be of great benefit to uptown residents and visitors and ultimately enhance the districts vitality, she said.

Program participants must be at least 18 years of age and either a United States citizen or someone with a legal authorization to work in the country. Also, they must be able to open their businesses by Sept. 30.

More information about Startup Martinsville, Virginia and an application to participate in the program are on the chambers website at http://www.martinsville.com/info/startup-martinsville.cfm.

Witt said she hopes the program can become an annual event.
CALGARY, Jan. 8, 2016 /CNW/ - Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. (CLC  TSX; "Connacher" or the "Company") announces that in light of the current low commodity price environment, the Company will accelerate planned maintenance at Great Divide. The Company plans to reduce output over the next couple of months by approximately 3,000 barrels of bitumen per day as this work progresses. The Company will advise if further production decreases become necessary.

About Connacher

Connacher is a Calgary-based in-situ oil sands developer, producer and marketer of bitumen. The Company holds a 100 percent interest in approximately 440 million barrels of proved and probable bitumen reserves and operates two steam assisted gravity drainage facilities located on the Company's Great Divide oil sands leases near Fort McMurray, Alberta. For more information about Connacher please visit www.connacheroil.com.

Forward-Looking Information

Certain information regarding the Company contained herein constitutes forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements") under the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance, or other statements that are not statements of fact including statements regarding the reduction of production at Great Divide and the timing thereof. Although Connacher believes that the assumptions underlying, and expectations reflected in, such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such assumptions and expectations will prove to have been correct. There are many factors that could cause forward-looking statements not to be correct, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties inherent in the Company's business.

The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release. Connacher may, as considered necessary in the circumstances, update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, but Connacher does not undertake to update this information at any particular time, except as required by law. Connacher cautions readers that the forward-looking statements may not be appropriate for purposes other than their intended purposes and that undue reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking statement. The Company's forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd.
TORONTO, Jan. 8, 2016 /CNW/ - Anaconda Mining Inc. ("Anaconda" or the "Company")  (TSX: ANX) is pleased to report its financial and operating results for the three and six months ended November 30, 2015. All amounts are expressed in Canadian Dollars unless otherwise noted. During the second quarter of fiscal 2016, the Company sold 4,605 ounces of gold resulting in $6,798,075 in revenue at an average sales price of $1,476 per ounce (USD$1,118). Cash cost per ounce sold at the Point Rousse Project for the three months ended November 30, 2015 was $913 (USD$691). Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses ("EBITDA") at the project level were $2,594,851. Net income for the three months ended November 30, 2015 was $766,040. As at November 30, 2015, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $972,479 and net working capital of $2,473,693.

President and CEO, Dustin Angelo, stated, "Anaconda had an exceptional second quarter, both operationally and financially, buoyed by a quarterly sales volume record of 4,605 ounces. The continued improvement of the Pine Cove mill has given us the ability to increase our throughput significantly compared to last year. The mining staff has done an excellent job at efficiently mucking and optimizing grade to supply the mill at the higher tonnage levels. The resulting upturn in our gold sales volume has helped us drive our cash cost per ounce sold below $1,000 per ounce for the quarter and year to date. Moving into the second half of the year, we are looking to gain further efficiencies through completing our mill automation project and making further upgrades to equipment in the mill."

Highlights for the three months ended November 30, 2015

As at November 30, 2015, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $972,479 and net working capital of $2,473,693.

For the three months ended November 30, 2015, the Company sold 4,605 ounces of gold, a quarterly sales volume record, and generated $6,798,075 in revenue at an average sales price of $1,476 per ounce.

For the six months ended November 30, 2015, the Company sold 8,561 ounces of gold and generated $12,583,876 in revenue at an average sales price of $1,470 per ounce.

Cash cost per ounce sold at the Pine Cove Project for the three and six months ended November 30, 2015 was $913 and $996 per ounce respectively.

All-in sustaining cash cost per ounce sold ("AISC") (see Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures), including corporate administration, capital expenditures and exploration costs for the three and six months ended November 30, 2015 was $1,364 and $1,424 per ounce respectively.

The mill processed 1,181 tonnes of ore per operating day for the three months ended November 30, 2015.

The overall recovery in the mill for the three and six months ended November 30, 2015 was 87%.

At the Pine Cove Project, EBITDA (see Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures) for the three and six months ended November 30, 2015 was $2,594,851 and $4,057,279 respectively.

On a consolidated basis, EBITDA for the three and six months ended November 30, 2015 was $2,032,078 and $2,972,055, respectively.

Net income for the three and six months ended November 30, 2015 was $766,040 and $581,121 respectively.

Purchase of property, mill and equipment for the six months ended November 30, 2015 was $1,804,419. Key items included mill automation and equipment upgrades of $590,000, tailing expansion costs of $346,000, polishing pond construction of $221,000, construction of ore shed enclosure of $203,000 and development costs of $380,000.

Production stripping assets for the six months ended November 30, 2015 include additions of $414,397 and amortization of $37,258.

Approximately $814,000 was spent at the Point Rousse Project on exploration for the six months ended November 30, 2015. The Company's exploration initiatives included publishing a 43-101 Technical Report outlining mineral resources at the Stog'er Tight and Pine Cove deposits, a trenching program adjacent to the Stog'er Tight deposit to expose near surface mineralization, geological mapping and trenching program at the Argyle zone and drilling at the Pine Cove Pond area adjacent to the Pine Cove pit.

On December 18, 2015, the Company entered into an agreement (the "Agreement") with Auramet International LLC ("Auramet") through which Auramet has paid USD$500,000 (USD$980 per ounce) (the "Prepayment Amount"), less fees, to Anaconda in exchange for 510 ounces of gold.

Operations overview

During the three months ended November 30, 2015, the gold sales volume of 4,605 ounces represented a 34% increase over the same period in fiscal 2015, due to increased mill throughput, grade and recovery. Ore tonnes processed increased from 85,515 ore tonnes to 95,629, a 12% increase compared to the three months ended November 30, 2014. Grade for the three months ended November 30, 2015 was 1.66 g/t, a 4% increase from the same period in fiscal 2015. Recovery also increased from 85% to 87% period over period. Average sales price for the three months ended November 30, 2015 was $1,476 per ounce compared to $1,398 per ounce the same period in fiscal 2015. As a result of the higher sales volume, gross revenue for the three months ended November 30, 2015 of $6,798,075 was higher period over period by $1,999,896 or 42%.

The following table summarizes the key operating metrics for the three and six months ended November 30, 2015 and 2014:

OPERATING STATISTICS: For the three months ended For the six months ended November 30 2015 November 30 2014 November 30 2015 November 30 2014 Mill







Operating days 81 81 167 168 Availability 88% 88% 91% 92% Dry tonnes processed 95,629 85,515 192,161 169,297 Tonnes per 24-hour period 1,181 1,056 1,151 1,008 Grade (grams per tonne) 1.66 1.60 1.64 1.70 Overall mill recovery 87% 85% 87% 85% Gold sales volume (troy oz.) 4,605 3,431 8,561 7,364 Mine







Operating days 64 63 142 127 Ore production (tonnes) 105,947 77,489 210,225 166,728 Waste production (tonnes) 529,718 457,387 1,172,546 949,427 Total production (tonnes) 635,665 534,876 1,382,771 1,116,155 Waste: Ore ratio 5.0 5.9 5.6 5.7

MILLING OPERATIONS

The Pine Cove mill operated for 81 days during the second quarter of fiscal 2016 at an availability rate of 88% (which included an eight-day mill shutdown for scheduled annual maintenance). For the three months ended November 30, 2015, the mill processed 95,629 dry tonnes of ore at an average head grade of 1.66 grams per tonne. Overall mill recovery was 87%, compared to 85% in the second quarter of fiscal 2015. The mill's run rate for the quarter was 1,181 tonnes per operating day versus 1,056 in the same period in the previous fiscal year, a 12% increase.

During the second quarter of fiscal 2016, the mill had its annual scheduled shutdown for an eight-day maintenance program. During the shutdown, the primary ball mill was relined, repairs were completed on the ball mill electric motor, new feed boxes were installed and several components were installed for the mill automation project. The repairs to the ball mill motor enabled it to start up with a higher ball charge, which helped improve throughput in November to a new monthly high of 1,212 tonnes per operating day.

MINING OPERATIONS

The mine operated for 64 days in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 producing 105,947 tonnes of ore and 529,718 tonnes of waste. Mining production increased 19% in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2015 to accommodate the increased levels of throughput at the Pine Cove mill.

EXPLORATION

The Company is pursuing a strategy to leverage the existing infrastructure at the Point Rousse Project by exploring and developing its mineral licenses and mining leases in search of two general mineralization styles: Pine Cove-like, quartz-carbonate-pyrite hosted (2+ g/t) mineralization (baseload production sources) and higher grade (5+ g/t) quartz vein  carbonate  pyrite mineralization. The Company is working on expanding the current Pine Cove pit resource and bringing the Stog'er Tight deposit into production to extend the life of the Point Rousse Project beyond its current three plus years. Anaconda is also exploring and delineating potentially higher-grade deposits such as Romeo & Juliet to blend with relatively lower grade Pine Cove and Stog'er Tight ore. With the high grade "layer" and a marginal increase to throughput, the Company expects to increase annual production to approximately 30,000 ounces. The Company envisions creating an operating complex on the Ming's Bight Peninsula with multiple pits and trucking the ore back to the Pine Cove mill.

Consistent with this strategy, in the quarter ended November 30, 2015, the Company has made the following advances in exploration:

Published a 43-101 Technical Report outlining mineral resources at the Stog'er Tight and Pine Cove deposits;

Conducted a trenching program adjacent to the Stog'er Tight deposit to expose near surface mineralization;

Conducted a geological mapping and trenching program at the Argyle zone;

Conducted drilling at the Pine Cove Pond area adjacent to the Pine Cove pit.

During the course of Anaconda's exploration and development efforts, three primary gold trends have been identified within the Point Rousse Project area, with a cumulative prospective strike length of approximately 20 kilometres. The Company's recent exploration work, combined with historical results, has brought more clarity, understanding and confidence to the Company's geological interpretations and models. The Company believes it has the potential to discover and develop multiple deposits on the Ming's Bight Peninsula. As a result, Anaconda believes that the Point Rousse Project area could double production and continue for 10 years or more. Exploration and development efforts during the past year has focused entirely on implementing this strategy by focusing on extending the baseload production centered on Pine Cove and Stog'er Tight, as well as evaluating a potential high-grade gold source at Romeo & Juliet and advancing grass roots projects at Goldenville and Argyle.

Below is a brief overview of the gold trends on the Ming's Bight Peninsula and Anaconda's exploration efforts within them with specific reference to the Pine Cove and Stog'er Tight deposits and recent exploration work on these deposits.

The Scrape Trend

The Scrape Trend consists of a belt of highly prospective rocks approximately 7 kilometres long and approximately 1 to 2 kilometres wide. It begins southwest of the Pine Cove mine site and continues eastward to the community of Ming's Bight. The Scrape Trend includes the Pine Cove and Stog'er Tight deposits as well as the Romeo & Juliet, Anaroc and Animal Pond prospects and a new discovery referred to as the Argyle zone. These gold occurrences align with a fault delineated by a topographic lineament coincident with a broad. The Scrape Trend hosts both baseload and high-grade styles of mineralization.

The Stog'er Tight and Pine Cove Resource Calculation

On October 22, 2015, the Company announced the results of a 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate at the Stog'er Tight and Pine Cove deposits. These resource calculations represent an important step in the Company's strategy to extend the life of the Point Rousse Project. With these new resource calculations, the Company is beginning to build a portfolio of ounces and demonstrate the potential of the Point Rousse Project.

The following tables summarize the Mineral Resources and reserves estimate for the Point Rousse Project:

Stog'er Tight Resources1 Category Cut-Off (g/t) Tonnes Grade (g/t) Ounces of gold Indicated 0.8 204,100 3.59 23,540 Inferred 0.8 252,000 3.27 26,460

Pine Cove Resources2 Category Cut-Off (g/t) Tonnes Grade (g/t) Ounces of gold Indicated 0.7 1,499,500 1.61 77,390 Inferred 0.7 220,700 1.59 11,260

Pine Cove Reserves Category Cut-Off (g/t) Tonnes Grade (g/t) Ounces of gold Probable 0.7 858,855 1.46 40,400

1  Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability

2  The Pine Cove Resource statement includes the Pine Cove Reserves

The Stog'er Tight deposit trends east-southeasterly, is exposed over approximately 300 metres of strike. Mineralized lenses vary from a few, to greater than 10 metres in thickness and to a depth of, approximately, 100 metres. The deposit is characterized by intense carbonate, albite, pyrite alteration of gabbroic rocks with gold closely associated with pyrite as at the Pine Cove deposit.

The Pine Cove deposit generally trends easterly and consists of a series of stacked mineralized zones across 350 metres that vary in strike length from 25 to 250 metres. Mineralization extends down dip for approximately 800 metres, though approximately 300 metres of the dip extent has been excluded from the current resource estimate since it is not currently feasible for open-pit mining because of its depth (between 175 and 300 metres from surface). The deposit is characterized by carbonate, quartz, pyrite, albite alteration with gold occurring with pyrite. The deposit has been continually mined since 2009 with a current production rate of approximately 15,000 ounces per year.

The Stog'er Tight Trenching Program

On December 17, 2015, the Company announced the results of its fall exploration program on the Stog'er Tight deposit. The program was focused on continuing to expand mineral resources along strike and adjacent to the Stog'er Tight deposit. The program included the excavation of 6 trenches and the collection of 219 one-metre channel samples in the East, West and Gabbro zones following up on historical mapping and trenching that indicated the presence of mineralization.

The primary goal of the program was to test the hypothesis that the East and West zones are continuous with the Stog'er Tight deposit at surface and that the East Gabbro zone is a separate zone of mineralization. The deposit has a known, near-surface strike length of approximately 300 metres. The results of the trenching and channel sampling program indicate that the East zone mineralization is contiguous with the Stog'er Tight deposit over a distance of 100 metres. The West zone was confirmed to contain mineralization over a strike length of at least 80 metres, but appears to be offset by approximately 25-40 metres along a fault south of the main trend of the deposit. Consequently, the strike length of mineralization exposed at surface at Stog'er Tight, including the deposit and the East and offset West zones, is now approximately 480 metres. Trenches across the East Gabbro zone intersected alteration, but did not produce appreciable gold grades. The table below summarizes the composited grades associated with the trenching and channel sampling program.

Channel ID Interval (m) Grade (g/t) STtr15-05-A 3 0.56 STtr15-05-B 8 10.77 STtr15-05-C 11 17.76 STtr15-05-D 12 11.02 STtr15-05-E 3 9.21 STtr15-05-F 4 6.86 STtr15-08 1 1.43 STtr15-09 12 0.98 STtr15-10 9 4.38 Composites are 80-95% of true thickness.



The recognition of significant near-surface mineralization immediately along strike from the Stog'er Tight deposit is a positive sign that near-term growth of mineral resources is possible. The results of this program enable the Company to develop a focused diamond drill program targeting near-surface mineralization with the goal of expanding the mineral resource at Stog'er Tight.

The Argyle Zone Trenching Program

On January 8, 2015, the Company announced the discovery of the Argyle zone through a trenching program. The new discovery is located approximately 5 kilometres from the Pine Cove mill and consists of two areas of mineralization located approximately 200 metres apart. On November 16, 2015, the Company announced a geological mapping and trenching program to better understand the geological controls and surface distribution of mineralization. The mapping indicated that the Argyle zone is associated with a style of alteration very similar to the Stog'er Tight deposit  specifically the albitization and carbonatization of gabbroic rocks. Four trenches were designed to expose the potential along strike continuation of the two zones of mineralization.

Drilling at the Pine Cove Deposit

On November 16, 2015 the Company announced it initiated a targeted exploration program consisting of 1,000 metres of diamond drilling adjacent to the Pine Cove deposit focused on the southern margins of the mine in an area known as Pine Cove Pond. The goal of the drill program was to expand near-surface mineral resources at the Pine Cove mine adjacent to the current ultimate pit design. Geological and geophysical data indicate that the Pine Cove Pond area may contain the easterly and westerly continuation of the southern portion of the Pine Cove deposit.

The Goldenville Trend

The Goldenville Trend is an 8-kilometre long trend of highly prospective rocks centered on an iron stone unit referred to as the Goldenville Horizon. The Company believes the trend to be highly prospective because the trend is thought to contain ironstone hosted gold deposits including the Corkscrew deposit recently optioned from Seaside Realty (see press release of August 4, 2015). Mineralization within the Goldenville Trend is a well-established geological model and the region is known to host these deposits. The Goldenville Trend has numerous gold prospects including four small, historical, hand-dug shafts, which were developed to mine visible gold. Anaconda is exploring the Goldenville Trend for high-grade deposits on the order of approximately 250,000 ounces of gold at 5 g/t or more (based on similar deposits and historical production within the region). If the Company is successful, it will have a longstanding high-grade feed source for the Pine Cove mill to layer on top of the baseload production from other sources like Pine Cove or Stog'er Tight.

No exploration field work was conducted during the three months ended November 30, 2015.

The Deer Cove Trend

The Deer Cove Trend is located in the northern part of the Ming's Bight Peninsula and consists of a belt of prospective rocks approximately 3.5 kilometres in strike length. It is associated with the Deer Cove thrust fault and includes the Deer Cove deposit as well as various other showings and prospects.

Historical drill results suggested that the Deer Cove deposit could be a source of high-grade feed for the Pine Cove mill. Past development work includes a drill program on the Deer Cove deposit in 2014 to better outline the distribution of high-grade gold within the vein and to test the vein down-dip. The program consisted of 2,090 metres of diamond drilling in 20 holes (see press release dated February 27, 2015). The results indicate that the deposit does continue at depth but that the high-grade portion of the deposit was not present to the depths tested.

No exploration field work was conducted during the three months ended November 30, 2015. The Company plans to update the deposit model with the most recent drill results and assess the deposits ability to be developed and included within the mine plan as a source of high-grade ore.

Completed and anticipated fiscal 2016 exploration work

Anaconda continues to pursue its strategy of leveraging the existing infrastructure at the Point Rousse Project by exploring and developing its mineral licenses and mining leases in search of the two general mineralization styles. The Company is attempting to demonstrate a minimum of 10 years of baseload production as well as develop a high-grade deposit to layer with the baseload to ultimately expand production to 30,000 ounces per year. Work in fiscal 2016 continues to focus on the Pine Cove and Stog'er Tight deposits with ancilliary work on other projects such as Romeo and Juliet and the Argyle zone.

The goal at the Pine Cove deposit is to outline at least three more years of production by focusing on the Northwestern Extension and Pine Cove Pond areas. In fiscal 2016, the Company has conducted drilling programs within the Northwestern Extension and, more recently, the Pine Cove Pond areas. Following the evaluation of the Pine Cove Pond drilling and deposit modelling, the Company will evaluate the potential to bring mineralization within these areas into the mine plan and if further work is required to expand or better define these areas of mineralization.

The goal at the Stog'er Tight deposit is to outline and begin development of at least five years of production. Consistent with this goal, the Company conducted a stripping and channel sampling program to expose and characterize the deposit and the associated geology. This was followed up with a small drill program to test the extents of mineralization adjacent to the deposit. Plans were also developed to conduct metallurgical test work and to take a bulk sample for processing at the Pine Cove mill. Following a resource calculation the Company began work to expand on that resource by testing the limits of surface exposures of mineralization along strike from the deposit and also within adjacent areas. Based on the success of the most recent trenching, the Company is planning a drill program to test the down dip extents of mineralization exposed at surface, outside of the current resource.

The Company plans to further evaluate the resource potential at the Romeo & Juliet prospect and the Argyle zone. At the Romeo and Juliet prospect, the Company has the goal of demonstrating the potential to host five years of production as a high-grade (5+ g/t) source of gold that can be processed with the baseload production. At Romeo & Juliet, an in-house resource calculation and review of historical ground induced polarization data is planned to determine and develop drill targets with the goal of growing potential resources. Planned work on the Argyle zone includes the evaluation of recent trenching and channel sample data. If warranted, plans will be developed to further test the Argyle zone.

The information contained within the exploration section above has been reviewed and approved by Paul McNeill, P. Geo., VP Exploration with Anaconda Mining Inc., a "Qualified Person", under National Instrument 43-101 Standard for Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

SUBSEQUENT EVENT

On December 18, 2015, the Company entered into an Agreement with Auramet through which Auramet has paid the Prepayment Amount, less fees, to Anaconda in exchange for 510 ounces of gold. Anaconda will deliver these ounces to Auramet in 10 deliveries of 51 ounces per month from January to October 2016. The Prepayment Amount was priced based on a spot price on December 18, 2015 of USD$1,067 per ounce. Anaconda also agrees to sell 100% of its production to Auramet for a minimum of one year from the last contractual delivery date (October 2016). In addition, Auramet has the option ("Call Options") to purchase 1,800 ounces at a strike price of USD$1,250 only on the applicable expiration date of December 30, 2016.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Company has included certain non-GAAP financial measures in this document. These measures are not defined under IFRS and should not be considered in isolation. The Company believes that these measures, together with measures determined in accordance with IFRS, provide investors with an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the Company. The inclusion of these measures is meant to provide additional information and should not be used as a substitute for performance measures prepared in accordance with IFRS. These measures are not necessarily standard and therefore may not be comparable to other issuers.

Adjusted net earnings measures the performance of the Company, excluding certain impacts which the Company believes are not reflective of the Company's underlying performance for the reporting period, such as the impact of foreign exchange gains and losses, impairment charges, and non-hedge derivative gains and losses. Although some of the items are recurring, the Company believes that they are not reflective of the underlying operating performance of its current business and are not necessarily indicative of future operating results.

The following table provides a reconciliation of adjusted net earnings for the three and six months ended November 30, 2015 and 2014:



For the three months ended For the six months ended

November 30 November 30 November 30 November 30

2015 2014 2015 2014

$ $ $ $ Net income (loss) 766,040 (3,170,174) 581,121 (3,345,984)









Adjusting items:









Foreign exchange loss (gain) (20,312) (281) (17,461) (10,165)

Unrealized loss (gain) on forward sales contract derivative (29,423) 67,819 (26,615) 52,597

Write down of Chilean assets - 2,260,158 - 2,260,158

Reclamation expense 24,988 14,358 30,030 28,716 Total adjustments (24,747) 2,342,054 (14,046) 2,331,306 Adjusted net earnings (loss) 741,293 (828,120) 567,075 (1,014,678)

Cash cost per ounce sold is cost of sales before depreciation divided by gold ounces sold. All-in sustaining cash cost per ounce sold is cash cost, corporate administration, purchase of property, mill and equipment and purchase of exploration and evaluation assets divided by gold ounces sold.

The following table provides a reconciliation of cash cost per ounce sold and all-in sustaining cash cost per ounce sold for the three and six months ended November 30, 2015 and 2014:



For the three months ended For the six months ended

November 30 November 30 November 30 November 30

2015 2014 2015 2014 Cost of sales 5,462,305 5,137,634 10,839,106 10,665,663 Less: Depletion and depreciation (1,259,081) (952,923) (2,312,509) (2,033,556) Cash operating cost 4,203,224 4,184,711 8,526,597 8,632,107 Corporate administration 546,286 472,330 1,043,430 976,826 Purchase of property, mill and equipment 1,043,515 813,512 1,804,419 1,130,931 Purchase of exploration and evaluation assets 489,888 679,017 814,090 1,101,048 All-in cash cost 6,282,913 6,149,570 12,188,536 11,840,912









Gold ounces sold 4,605 3,431 8,561 7,364 Cash cost per ounce sold 913 1,220 996 1,172 All-in sustaining cash cost per ounce sold 1,364 1,792 1,424 1,608

EBITDA is earnings before finance expense, foreign exchange loss (gain), unrealized gain on forward sales contract derivative, share-based compensation, income tax recovery and depreciation and depletion.

Point Rousse Project EBITDA is EBITDA before corporate administration, other revenues and expenses and write down of Chilean assets.

The following table provides a reconciliation of EBITDA for the three and six months ended November 30, 2015 and 2014:



For the three months ended For the six months ended

November 30 November 30 November 30 November 30

2015 2014 2015 2014

$ $ $ $ Net income (loss) 766,040 (3,170,174) 581,121 (3,345,984)









Add back:







Finance expense 3,111 - 3,111 336 Foreign exchange loss (gain) (20,312) (281) (17,461) (10,165) Unrealized loss (gain) on forward sales contract derivative (29,423) 67,819 (26,615) 52,597 Share-based compensation 86,581 51,078 167,390 99,197 Income tax expense (recovery) (33,000) (45,865) (48,000) (108,865) Depletion and depreciation 1,259,081 952,923 2,312,509 2,033,556 EBITDA 2,032,078 (2,144,500) 2,972,055 (1,279,328) Corporate administration 546,286 472,330 1,043,430 976,826 Other revenues and expenses 16,487 25,480 41,794 (279,972) Point Rousse Project EBITDA 2,594,851 613,468 4,057,279 1,677,684

ABOUT ANACONDA

Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Anaconda is a growth oriented, gold mining and exploration company with a producing project, called the Point Rousse Project, and approximately 6,300 hectares of exploration property on the Ming's Bight Peninsula located in the Baie Verte Mining District in Newfoundland, Canada. Since 2012, Anaconda has increased its property control by almost ten-fold. It is currently exploring three primary, prospective gold trends, which have approximately 20 kilometres of cumulative strike length and include four deposits and numerous prospects and showings, all within 8 kilometres of the Pine Cove mill. The Company's plan is to discover and develop more resources within the project area and double annual production from its current rate of approximately 15,000 ounces to 30,000 ounces.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This document contains or refers to forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information includes, among other things, statements regarding targets, estimates and/or assumptions in respect of future production, mine development costs, unit costs, capital costs, timing of commencement of operations and future economic, market and other conditions, and is based on current expectations that involve a number of business risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement include, but are not limited to: the final approval of the private placement by the Toronto Stock Exchange; the grade and recovery of ore which is mined varying from estimates; capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates; inflation; changes in exchange rates; fluctuations in commodity prices; delays in the development of the any project caused by unavailability of equipment, labour or supplies, climatic conditions or otherwise; termination or revision of any debt financing; failure to raise additional funds required to finance the completion of a project; and other factors. Additionally, forward-looking statements look into the future and provide an opinion as to the effect of certain events and trends on the business. Forward-looking statements may include words such as "plans," "may," "estimates," "expects," "indicates," "targeting," "potential" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Anaconda's beliefs in the potential mineralization, are based on current expectations and entail various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and we assume no responsibility to update them or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

SOURCE Anaconda Mining Inc.
VANCOUVER, Jan. 8, 2016 - Caza Gold Corp. (the "Company" or "Caza") (TSX VENTURE:CZY) (FRANKFURT:CZ6) announces today that it continues to explore various means of raising capital to, among other things, advance exploration of its portfolio of projects and overall improve the company's financial condition as well as potentially enable it in the future to grow its pipeline of projects. Caza's leadership is exploring a range of options in this regard, including an equity and/or debt financing. The company also will explore potential joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions and other strategic alternatives and transactions.Caza's management believes that the current market environment offers an opportunity to pursue these potential transactions in an expeditious manner and plans to pursue them in earnest. Caza Gold Corp. is a greenfields exploration company focused on discovering new gold deposits in Nicaragua. The Company controls a large land position in the highly prospective but largely undeveloped gold belts of Nicaragua. Caza has developed a large portfolio of projects in Nicaragua, including the Los Andes gold-silver project and the Piedra Iman copper-gold project.Caza controls over 750 square kilometers of prospective ground within the central Nicaragua Gold Belt. In addition to the Los Andes Gold Project, Caza is exploring the Piedra Iman porphyry in northern Nicaragua along with five high-sulfidation volcanic hosted Au-Ag targets located in west-central Nicaragua near the Pan-American Highway.CAZA GOLD CORP.Brian Arkell, President and CEO"Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release."This news release includes certain statements and information that may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws or forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, including statements regarding future estimates, plans, objectives, assumptions or expectations of future performance, the likelihood of commercial mining and financing requirements and the ability to fund future exploration and development are forward-looking statements and contain forward-looking information. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or "occur". Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. We seek safe harbour.Toll Free: 1-877-684-9700(604) 685-9750(604) 685-9744brian.arkell@cazagold.comwww.cazagold.com
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Outdoor, formal spots available

By Ami Mizell-Flint

From rustic to formal, landscaped to natural beauty, locations in San Angelo can help turn the dream of a perfect wedding into reality.

Historic Fort Concho holds about 50 weddings a year in their commissary and stables, said Janet Phinney, administrative assistant at the fort.

And the Officers Quarters, for example, can be rented overnight.

"A lot of people in town do not realize we do rentals out here," she said. "People like the ambiance of the buildings, some are just history buffs, and some like to get married at a historic site."

Perhaps one of the most well-known sites for weddings in San Angelo is the Cactus Hotel.

More than 60 weddings a year take place at the Cactus, said Marilyn Flage, manager of the Cactus.

While many get married in the renowned mezzanine and ballroom, Flage said they also can hold smaller weddings on the 15th floor of the hotel, known as the "Top of the Cactus."

The Top of the Cactus is best known for its view, she said, "especially if we have one of those spectacular West Texas sunsets."

Many hotels and both of San Angelo's country clubs are possibilities for wedding venues as well.

The Holiday Inn's Staybridge Suites and the Marriott's Fairfield Inn offer packages including "beautiful suites, a nontraditional style and excellent proximity," said Cali Dill, director of sales for both hotels.

Also the pool area at the Staybridge is a good location for a Cabana-style wedding, she said, "and meeting rooms at the hotels work for smaller weddings and receptions."

The San Angelo Inn and Conference Center has a ballroom with a capacity of about 300 but can be split up to accommodate smaller parties, said Lisa Leslie and Peter Helfrich, sales managers of the Inn and Conference Center.

Renovations being made to the hotel include a new restaurant opening in the next six to 12 months, which will allow for catering as well.

"I think it's a unique place," Leslie said. "It's so close to everything historic."

Angelo State University's LeGrand Alumni Center is available for rent, and the couple do not have to be alumni of the university to use the facility, said Melinda Springer, the center's office manager.

"We're not a cookie-cutter wedding location," she said. "We want to reflect the bride and groom's taste and vision of what they want their day to be."

Jeska Bailey married her husband, Jason, at Bentwood Country Club in November.

"I just love the elegance Bentwood can offer," she said.

Bentwood's wedding coordinator, Kelly Millward, "kept me sane," Bailey said. "Never have a wedding without someone to at least make sure the day goes well, because you need them."

Another location with an in-house wedding coordinator is The Venue, owned by Beth and Michael Martinez.

"What makes us different is the fact that we are a full-service wedding location," Beth Martinez said.

Couples can have their ceremony, dance and reception all in one place. Michael Martinez also owns Horizon Signs and Branding, which sells wedding invitations, and Beth Martinez serves as a wedding coordinator and decorator in her other business, "Dress It Up."

For an outside wedding, Jeff and Nan Lay have announced the opening of their new venue, Paradise Falls.

With over 500 blooming shrubs, three gazebos and waterfalls throughout the 1.8-acre property, the Lays said they worked for "three years solid" to create the perfect wedding atmosphere.

In the event of rain, the Lays can provide a walled tent that can be cooled or heated.

"No matter the weather," they said, "we've got you covered."
<p>FILE - In this Thursday, April 17, 2014, file photo, journalists visit Takata Ignition Systems in Schoenebeck, Germany. U.S. safety regulators are threatening fines and legal action against Takata Corp. for failing to admit that its driver's-side air bag inflators are defective and should be recalled nationwide. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent a letter to the company Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014, detailing the threats, which include a public hearing and possible court action. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)</p>

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By Jerry Hirsch Los Angeles Times (Tns)

Federal safety regulators levied fines of $14,000 a day on Japanese air bag manufacturer Takata Corporation for not cooperating with the Department of Transportations investigation into defective air bag inflators that have killed at least six people and injured more than 60 others in the U.S and overseas.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has ordered Takata to provide pertinent information about the flaws in its air bag system. Some inflators, which use an explosive charge to quickly inflate the air bag to provide a cushion for vehicle occupants in a crash, are blowing apart, sending shrapnel into the cabin.

Most recently, Honda said an air bag inflator in a 2002 Accord exploded on Jan. 18 in Houston, killing a 35-year-old man.

Regulators said Takata flooded the agency with 2.4 million pages of documents but failed to provide any type of index or guide, which is required by law and vital for a speedy investigation.

Safety is a shared responsibility and Takatas failure to fully cooperate with our investigation is unacceptable and will not be tolerated, Anthony Foxx, U.S. Transportation secretary, said in announcing the fines. For each day that Takata fails to fully cooperate with our demands, we will hit them with another fine.

In a letter to the air bag manufacturer, NHTSA chief counsel O. Kevin Vincent said, Takata is neither being forthcoming with the information it is legally obligated to supply, nor is it being cooperative in aiding NHTSAs ongoing investigation of a potentially serious safety defect.

He said the agency plans to take depositions of Takata employees based in the U.S. and Japan.

A Takata spokesman did not return calls seeking comment Friday.

Takata has rejected demands that it recall its air bags, which are in millions of cars dating back more than a decade. Automakers are recalling the cars, but some repair efforts have been stymied by a lack of replacement parts.

Honda is the most affected and has urged owners of its cars to bring them to dealers to have the inflator replaced.

Approximately 6 million Honda vehicles in the U.S. have Takata air bags, and about 2.8 million have officially been recalled.

Though Honda is Takatas biggest customer, air bag flaws havent been limited to that maker. Roughly 11 million vehicles in the U.S. have been affected, including models from Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Chrysler, Ford and BMW.

The problem has sparked several safety investigations and litigation.

A lawsuit against Takata and Honda filed last year in federal court in Los Angeles by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, seeks class-action status and claims Takata cut corners to build cheaper air bags and that Honda purchased the parts to slice its manufacturing expenses.

The Berman complaint claims that Takata knew of the deadly defect at least 13 years ago, first seeing the problem in an Isuzu vehicle but failing to take action.

NHTSA stepped up its enforcement action last year after being criticized in congressional hearings for not moving quickly enough to force the recall of older General Motors Co. vehicles with faulty ignition switches that have been linked to crashes that have caused at least 52 deaths.

Last month the agency fined Honda $70 million for two violations related to a failure to report deaths and injuries in a timely matter. The fines were tied to 1,729 cases, some of which regulators believe involved faulty Takata air bags.

Transportation officials are pushing for the passage of the Grow America Act. The legislation would raise the maximum amount of NHTSA fines to $300 million from the current $35 million. It would also increase NHTSAs investigations budget threefold, to $31.3 million, and give it the power to halt sales of defective vehicles.

The legislation, Foxx said, would provide the tools and resources needed to change the culture of safety for bad actors like Takata.

Foxx and NHTSA chief Mark Rosekind announced the penalties during a informational tour to push for increased safety regulation and funding.

They also urged Congress to pass legislation prohibiting rental car agencies and used car dealers from renting or selling vehicles subject to a recall without first making necessary repairs.

The rental car companies and traffic safety advocates support the legislation, but it has run into opposition from some car dealers and dealer groups.
Universal Pictures Nia Vardalos and John Corbett star in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.

SHARE 20th Century Fox Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman appear in a scene from Eddie the Eagle. Universal Pictures Scarlett Johansson and Josh Brolin star in Hail, Caesar!

Theres plenty to see thats not Star Wars

By Michael Phillips

I drove by a four-screen neighborhood theater the other day, and the marquee said, simply: STAR WARS. Playing on all four screens. There was a time, before the Force awakened, when other movies existed.

Friends, that time has returned. It is early 2016, and while "The Force Awakens" will be around for a while, other promising options are coming our way, in all sorts of genres.

"Anomalisa," Jan. 8: This was my second favorite for 2015 (behind "Spotlight"), though I suppose I should recommend it advisedly. It's not for kids, or for adults who need unabashedly happy endings rather than profoundly bittersweet ones. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" screenwriter Charlie Kaufman directed this unnervingly intimate stop-motion animation feature about a customer service expert who looks up an old flame in Cincinnati and then meets another woman. It's the strangest, wittiest film I've seen in months.

"Son of Saul," Jan. 29: This feature film debut from Hungarian writer-director Laszlo Nemes is set in 1944 Auschwitz, where a member of the Sonderkommando (Jewish prisoners forced to work for the Nazis) decides to rescue one boy's body from the ovens.

"Hail, Caesar!" Feb. 5: In Hollywood's era of sword-and-sandal epics, MGM studio fixer Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) must locate an AWOL movie star (George Clooney) and deal with various studio assets (Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, et al.) in this comedy from Joel and Ethan Coen.

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," Feb. 5: The literary sensation, combining Jane Austen, petticoats and a fetching collection of the undead, comes to the screen starring Lily James, Lena Headey, Sam Riley and Charles Dance.

"Where to Invade Next," Feb. 12: Michael Moore travels around the world, stealing socially progressive ideas about health care, gun control, public school lunches and the like. Gone is the screechy tone of "Fahrenheit 9/11" and, for the most part, the factual elisions of his lesser work; this movie proves Moore has much to say and a big heart.

"Eddie the Eagle," Feb. 26: In 1988 Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping. How it all went down gets the impish docudrama treatment. The cast includes Hugh Jackman and Christopher Walken.

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," March 4: Tina Fey stars in this adaptation of Kim Barker's 2011 comic memoir "The Taliban Shuffle." Barker spent seven years covering the conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan for the Chicago Tribune. (She now works for Pro Publica.)

"Midnight Special," March 18: Writer-director Jeff Nichols ventures into the realm of the supernatural, with a story of a father (Michael Shannon) and a son (Jaeden Lieberher) fleeing authorities who are very, very interested in the boy's special powers. Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver and Sam Shepard add support.

"My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2," March 25: People change; Greeks don't. That's the sell line for this sequel to the monster 2002 hit. Nia Vardalos wrote and stars in this screen reunion of the Portokalos clan.

"Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice," March 25: Ben Affleck is the new Batman; Henry Cavill returns for his second shot at Supe; Jesse Eisenberg plays a gabby, hopped-up edition of Lex Luthor; and judging by the trailers, director Zack Snyder unloads another round of his pummeling, gargantuan action.
Bush claims the endorsement of 22 supporters of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.

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GOP hopeful wins another Graham ally

By Michael C. Bender

WASHINGTON  Jeb Bush picked up more support for his presidential campaign in South Carolina on Thursday, signing up more than a dozen military veterans in the state and collecting another member of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham's national security coalition.

Bush, the former Florida governor and son and brother of former presidents, now claims support from four members of Graham's national security team, even as U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio describes himself as having the best foreign policy resume in the Republican field. The campaign says it has endorsements from 22 supporters of Graham, who ended his presidential bid last month.

"The South Carolina endorsements are reflective of a campaign that's worked hard at the grass-roots level, and work is starting to pay off," Sally Bradshaw, a senior Bush adviser, said in an interview.

Bradshaw said Bush has secured endorsements from more supporters of Graham because Bush is addressing their biggest concern: Donald Trump. "They want a serious candidate with strong plans for the future and who voters can trust with the presidency," Bradshaw said. "Senator Graham certainly fit those criteria, and they're moving to Governor Bush for those same reasons."

In a CBS/YouGov pollreleased Dec. 20, Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz were leading the race in South Carolina, which holds the American South's premier presidential primary and offers momentum to candidates before heading into Nevada's caucuses on Feb. 23 and the hectic month of March, when more than 30 states and territories hold Republican presidential nominating contests. Bush placed fifth in the poll at 7 percent, within the margin of error with Rubio, who was third with 12 percent.

Bush's new supporters in South Carolina include retired Gen. Melvin Zais, according to the campaign. The others are retired Brig. Gen. Butch Kirven, retired Maj. Gen. George Goldsmith and retired Col. David Lobb.

Bush's team also announced backing from former South Carolina Education Superintendent Jim Roy, a retired chief master sergeant of the Army, and 14 other veterans. Support among veterans is crucial in an area with a politically influential military presence, which includes a swath of bases in the central and southern areas of the state.

"Our country is facing serious challenges, and we need a serious, qualified leader as our next president," Roy said in a statement. "Jeb Bush has proven that he has what it takes to be a strong and decisive commander in chief. Our country needs a president who understands, believes in and cares for our military. Jeb Bush will be that president."

Bush's performance in South Carolina's primary on Feb. 20  and that of his Republican rivals  may depend largely on the New Hampshire contest 11 days earlier. Trump is leading in New Hampshire, but Bush is in a fight for second place there, according to a survey by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling released Wednesday.

It's a different story in Iowa, which holds the first nominating contest on Feb. 1. Bush is trailing badly in the state  a CBS/YouGov poll in mid-December showed him with just 2 percent.

The former governor returns to the state for a campaign swing next week, and his allied super PAC, Right to Rise USA, has started to run negative ads in the state aimed at Rubio.
Bob Gathany/AL.com via Associated Press Gay marriage activists gather Wednesday outside the Madison County Courthouse in Huntsville, Ala., to protest Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moores order saying the Alabama Supreme Court never lifted a March directive to probate judges to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples.

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Alabama chief justice denies defying US Supreme Court

By Kim Chandler And Phillip Lucas

MONTGOMERY, Ala.  Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore  ousted from office a decade ago when he refused to remove a Ten Commandments monument from state property  on Thursday stood by his assertion that Alabama probate judges should not issue marriage licenses to gay couples, a seemingly direct challenge to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that effectively legalized same-sex marriages nationwide.

Moore's stance first appeared on Wednesday in an administrative order; he reiterated his position Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press.

"Until further clarification, (the probate judges) are bound by state law," Moore said.

His order on Wednesday and his remarks on Thursday drew immediate condemnation from civil and gay rights organizations and from a nationally known legal advocacy group, which filed a complaint against him in court. His critics promptly suggested that he should be removed from the bench again for his refusal to accept the U.S. Supreme Court's decision six months after it was handed down.

Some of the judges who stopped issuing licenses Wednesday immediately after Moore's order, meanwhile, resumed the service Thursday after consulting with attorneys.

In his order, Moore noted that the Alabama Supreme Court has not lifted a March 3 ruling prohibiting probate judges from issuing licenses to gay couples. He said it's up to the state court to decide what to do with that order following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision.

Moore insisted Thursday that he is not defying the high court, but seeking to resolve what he says are lingering questions about the impact of the federal decision. He said he issued the order Wednesday because "there's a lot of confusion out there among probate judges about what to do."

"Some are issuing same-sex marriage licenses, some are not, some are issuing no marriage licenses at all."

Two federal prosecutors in Alabama, however, said on Wednesday that there should be no confusion, because the U.S. Supreme Court ruling trumps whatever the state court has to say on gay marriage. Other Legal experts interviewed by the AP agreed.

Richard Cohen, president of the Montgomery-based legal advocacy group the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Moore should be removed from office  again.

"You know back in 2003 he was kicked out of office for violating a federal court order," Cohen said. "This time he's urging 68 probate judges to violate the federal court order that was entered by the district court in Mobile. He's also asking them to ignore the ruling of the United States Supreme Court."

The center  which sued Moore over the Ten Commandment monument  filed an ethics complaint to the state's judicial inquiry commission last year after Moore publicly criticized a federal judge's ruling overturning Alabama's same-sex marriage ban. The advocacy group filed a supplement to that complaint on Wednesday, saying Moore has violated the canons of judicial ethics by refusing to respect the U.S. Supreme Court's decision. The court has not acted on the earlier complaint filed by the SPLC.

Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission Executive Director Jenny Garrett said she couldn't comment specifically on Moore, but that any potential sanctions for a judge accused of misconduct would be imposed if the commission filed charges in the court of the judiciary and the court found the judge to have committed ethics violations.

All proceedings before the commission are confidential and don't become public until they move to the court of the judiciary, Garrett said. Sanctions the court could impose on a judge include removal from office, suspension without pay, censure and more, Garrett said.

Wayne Flynt, a former Auburn University history professor, said Moore's tactics echo Southern states' resistance to federal school desegregation orders long after the segregation had been ruled illegal.

"We arbitrated these issues between 1861 and 1865," Flynt said of the Civil War conflict that determined who has the final say, states or the federal government.

Regardless of his stance, Moore's order did not appear to have widespread impact.

Probate judges in Lawrence and Madison counties who had stopped issuing all marriage licenses in response to Moore's order Wednesday said they had resumed the service Thursday after consulting with attorneys. Mobile County said licensing operations would resume on Friday.
associated press Presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is being criticized by his opponents over  what they claim  is Rubios small presence on the campaign trail.

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Senators aides focus on TV spots

By Lisa Mascaro

WASHINGTON  Marco Rubio has missed so much time in the Senate that he's been forced to defend himself by saying he's too busy running for president to show up for votes that "don't count" in hopelessly "broken" Washington.

But on the campaign trail, the Florida Republican isn't exactly a workaholic either.

Rubio's strategy is built on a preference for made-for-TV rallies and cable news appearances rather than the endless handshaking and baby-kissing that tradition suggests pave the way to the White House. His approach has Republican strategists questioning whether Rubio is willing to do the grinding work of retail politics required to win the early nominating states.

"People are looking for more of a robust Rubio campaign," said Craig Robinson, a Republican strategist in Iowa. "There's something beyond your ability to give a stump speech that's necessary. That's something I think his campaign overlooks. You've got to let people in."

Rubio hit the road in Iowa last week with a year-end bus tour, but his reluctance to pound the pavement appeared evident even in that campaign trope: He put his wife and children on the bus, while he dashed ahead in a private plane. His campaign said the plane enabled him to cover more ground meeting voters.

The frequency of Rubio's visits to the early nominating states and the fly-by nature of some events have not been lost on his rivals, who have started poking fun at his work ethic.

Since summer, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a favorite to win Iowa, has logged 61 events in the Hawkeye State, about 50 percent more than Rubio, according to a National Journal candidate-tracking tool. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush bested Rubio by a similar margin in New Hampshire.

"Dude, show up to work," chided New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in Iowa last week. Christie has stepped up his efforts in Iowa with an apparent goal of beating Rubio there.

At a recent town hall in New Hampshire, Christie told the crowd that he would stay as long as it took to answer questions.

"We go at this for a while, so don't get nervous if I don't ask you in the first one or two questions," he said. "This is not like a Marco Rubio thing where you get three questions and he leaves."

A pro-Bush super PAC smacked Rubio with a TV ad highlighting his poor attendance in the Senate.

And in a tweet, Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler joked that Rubio had missed a year-end Senate budget vote because he had "1 event in a row in Iowa  a record-setting breakneck pace for Marco."

Rubio's supporters have dismissed the complaints as whispers designed to halt his rise, and his campaign staff notes that he logged more appearances during December in the early states than other candidates. His overall attendance record in the Senate is high, and he hasn't missed as many votes as then-Sen. Barack Obama did when he was running for president.

"He's working really hard," Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said. "We said our campaign was going to talk about Marco and his message, not about polls and staff and strategy."

The approach is nontraditional. It relies heavily on a national campaign of TV appearances and ads in which the first-term senator distills complex policy positions into smart sound bites and his youthful optimism provides an easy contrast to other GOP candidates  and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Even if polls don't show a Rubio surge, his campaign predicts that his personal story and charisma will be enough to distinguish him from the others and propel voters to his candidacy by the time voting begins Feb. 1 in Iowa. He has ample staff in the early states.

With a candidate of Rubio's oratory skills and telegenic charm, supporters say they are confident the strategy is a winning one and leaves the campaign less reliant on surrogates to deliver his message. Cruz, by contrast, leans heavily on his long lists of local backers in the early states.

"The more people that are exposed to Marco, the more people get on board," said Jack Whitver, a state senator in Iowa and Rubio's campaign chairman there. "One of the things people talk about is the fact that they think he can win. That's what is appealing to more and more people around the state as we get close to caucus day."

Although Rubio's team publicly still hopes to perform well in all four early nominating states  Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada  supporters privately acknowledge the likelihood that his best chance at a first-place victory has trickled down to Nevada, where he has logged more visits than most other candidates.

Fundraising for Rubio lagged in the third quarter of 2015  Cruz raised almost twice as much  but the Rubio team expects year-end numbers that will be released later this month to be among his best ever.
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By Staff Report

The House of FiFi DuBois has been selected by Wide Open Country as one of the Best Country Music Venues in Texas.

Located downtown at 123 S. Chadbourne St., the place also known locally as "FiFi's" joins the ranks of Gruene Hall, Billy Bob's Texas and Luckenbach, Texas, along with a dozen other bars and honky tonks around the state.

"San Angelo continues to be recognized for its long history and contribution to country music, and this is another step of maintaining this tradition," said Del Velasquez, executive director of Downtown San Angelo Inc.

Wide Open Country announced the top country music venues in a recent online article at wideopencountry.com.

Its comments about San Angelo's gem:

"This San Angelo spot is, without a doubt, one of the coolest in all of West Texas. With a lounge vibe that loves all things retro  and a full airstream trailer inside  FiFi DuBois' feels like a blast from the past but welcomes all kinds of Texas music from the present. The unique stage setup allows for all band members to be in a straight line  which helps keep the sound balanced from bleed. And the artists are always offered to stay in rooms above the venue, where the owners also live."

Other selections for the honor include several in Austin, with one in Lubbock being the nearest to San Angelo.

"The recognition of a downtown business and their success is an indication of the ability to achieve their goals and dreams," Velasquez said. "As an organization who strives towards the revitalization of the central business district, this type of recognition gives all downtown businesses a boost!"
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By Rashda Khan

With the new traffic ordinance banning texting while driving going into effect Saturday, questions are flying.

The San Angelo Police Department took a shot Thursday at clarifying the situation.

According to the statement sent in by Assistant Chief Jeff Fant, the gist of the ordinance is relatively simple. He took time to explain the basics and answer some questions.

THE LAW

A driver of a vehicle shall not use a wireless communications device, which includes cellphones, I-Pods, I-Pads, tablets, PDAs or laptop computers, to read, write, or send any text message, picture, or email or to access/use any software App while driving his/her vehicle on a public street.

EXCEPTIONS

While legally parked or stopped out of traffic

While dialing or talking on the cellphone or other device

To read directions when using the device as a navigation system (travel map)

To call for police, fire or ambulance assistance to report an emergency such as a traffic accident, crime in progress or medical emergency

In conjunction with voice operated, hands-free (Bluetooth) or push-to-talk technology

PENALTY

Violations of this ordinance are punished through the San Angelo Municipal Court. Each violation is subject to a fine not to exceed $500.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is a "wireless communications device?"

A wireless communications device is an electronic device that is used to compose (write), send and/or receive texts, symbols, pictures, emails, etc. This includes any cellphone, smartphone (iPhone or Android), I-Pod. I-Pad, tablet, kindle, laptop computer or other similar device that is capable of sending or receiving information by use of cellular service or Wi-Fi connection.

What does "hands-free" mean?

It means the capability of a phone or other device that allows it to be used without the use of the driver's hands other than to activate (answer) or deactivate (hang-up) the device. Bluetooth is authorized.

Note from Fant: I would still recommend all drivers use the utmost care and caution when doing so. According to a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute's Center for Truck and Bus Safety, the activities performed while completing a call increase a drivers risk of accident by three times. Be safe and use your wireless device, even in hands-free mode, with extreme care.

What do you mean by "other application software?"

Some examples are games, navigational applications, calculator, weather apps, etc. These are usually identified by an icon on the device's screen. As a general rule, if you have to "click" it to turn it on or bring it up to use, it is a piece of application software.

How will police officers enforce this ordinance?

If a police officer sees a driver of a vehicle using a wireless communications device in a manner that reasonably infers that the driver is texting or using an application in violation of the ordinance, the officer will have probable cause to stop the driver and issue a citation.

A driver may raise one of the exceptions, at which point it will be in the officer's discretion whether or not to issue a citation. Often the easiest way to remedy this problem is to freely provide evidence to the officer of the exception you are raising. Any defenses or exceptions the driver believes exist may be presented to Municipal Court during trial.

Note: A citation is not an admission of guilt or innocence, it is simply your written promise to appear at municipal court within the prescribed time to answer for the alleged violation.

Will the ordinance be enforced outside the city limits?

No. The ordinance affects only those drivers within the city limits of San Angelo.

Can we dictate our texts?

Yes. Use of a mobile device is authorized under the ordinance when a hands-free, voice activated or Bluetooth technology is utilized.

Can I still use my phone for GPS and music?

Yes. Using your mobile device as a GPS or navigation device is allowed by the ordinance, however, writing, entering, or searching for locations and addresses while driving may be considered a violation of the ordinance for which a citation may be issued.

Likewise, using a mobile device to play music in a hand-free mode would be authorized under the ordinance, but enter, searching for, otherwise "using" the device while driving may be considered a violation subject to citation.

With the safety of all drivers involved, when using the device as a navigational tool or music player, pull to the side of the road in a safe location to search for and enter a destination or music to play.

If I am stopped for texting while driving, can the officer inspect or take possession (seize) of my phone?

You may present your phone (or other device) to the officer for review or inspection; however the officer may not inspect, seize, or otherwise take possession of your phone without your consent or without a search warrant authorized by state or federal law. If you are asserting that an exception or defense exists, providing evidence to support your position may assist the officer in doing his duty.

Typically, a seizure and search warrant would only occur in the very extreme case of an accident involving serious bodily injury or death.

Do police officers and firefighters have to follow the same rules? What about their laptops?

Police officers and firefighters are subject to the ordinance just as any other driver. However, police officers and firefighters are specifically exempt from the provisions of the ordinance if they are acting within the scope of their employment, regardless of the type of wireless communications device being used.

Laptop computers are a visual extension of the radio system in which officers receive calls and other emergency information. Officers are trained to use care and caution when using the computers. They are further directed by policy on the specifics of when and how to use the laptop computers.

During emergency situations, critical information is typically relayed over the radio system as well as the laptop to provide the officer both an audible and visual record of the information.
Butterflies in plight: Monarch migration is in Texas. But wait, is this all of them?
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By Rick Smith

Oak trees always are getting into something or another.

There is a Hanging Oak in Center, a town in Shelby County, where two men were put to death.

There's a Kissing Oak on the San Marcos River in San Marcos. The name goes back to Sam Houston.

The Wedding Oak is in San Saba County.

A Tombstone Oak is in Uvalde.

And Ozona's Commissioners Court Oak still at the corner of Avenue D and Waterworks Drive. The first district court took place under the live oak in March 1892, when the judge sentenced a man to five years in the penitentiary for horse theft.

What about San Angelo? Where's our oak story?

The recently cut-down oak tree at the Civic League Park was a beauty, but it wasn't much different from many of the bigger oaks that stretch from one end of our town to the other.

I thought the sprawling live oak living in my backyard was big, but it's nothing compared to others I've seen in town.

San Angelo's a city of trees. Find a window on the fourth floor of Shannon Medical Center or the top of the Cactus Hotel and look out. The great, green canopy of trees stretches as far as you can see, like a story with no end.

So on Thursday I took a tree tour, driving through neighborhoods across town to see the trees at ground level.

Almost every place I passed had at least two trees, usually an oak or pecan. Some trees had died, and others may soon unless it rains.

I tried to keep track of the number of trees I passed, but finally gave up. There must be hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of trees in San Angelo. Some are small and withered but many look even bigger than the oak tree recently removed from Civic League Park.

Most of the trees are just part of the scenery, but some are giants, towering over two-story, three-story homes and higher than the Lone Wolf Bridge.

Even so, I doubt we have anything like "The Big Tree," a thousand-year-old oak tree that's the current Texas Champion Live Oak. The tree is in the Goose Island State Park on Lamar Peninsula.

But who knows?

I've discovered the best oaks also come with good stories.

San Angelo's best oak story isn't about a sawed-down tree or sassy water lilies.

As many of you know, Angelo State University is a tree paradise. Big oaks cover much of the campus, giving shade to students and safe havens for squirrels roaming the campus.

One part of the campus is particularly shaded.

There are 30 trees in the Memorial Oak Grove on the northeast end of ASU's administration building.

Each oak tree marks the memory of a former San Angelo College student who died in World War II.

Planted Nov. 11, 1949, the oaks have steadily grown until now they make up a small forest, a special place to remember or give thanks.

Not a lot is known about some of the 30 men honored in the oak grove. We do know they all were young, went off to war in the 1940s and never came home.

We also know they are not forgotten.

Every Veterans Day ASU's Air Force ROTC students have a ceremony to honor the men. They hold an all-night candlelight vigil at the Memorial Oak Grove to remember the young veterans who lost their lives.

Every 30 minutes an ROTC cadet places a rose on the memorial plaque, reads the name of a deceased veteran and recites something about the former student.

All night it goes on. Wind whispering through leaves in the dark grove. Limbs swaying on 65-year-old oak trees.

The night vigil in the old oak grove continues. Until the last name is read. The last rose placed. The last story told.

Rick Smith is a local news and community affairs columnist. Contact him at rsmith@gosanangelo.com or 325-659-8248.
associated press People attend a funeral of policemen killed Thursday in a truck bomb at a police base in the western Libyan town of Zliten. A massive truck bomb exploded near the base, killing at least 70 and wounding dozens.

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Islamic State loyalists suspected in suicide attack

By Ali Salem And Ramadan Al-Fatash

TRIPOLI, Libya  At least 70 people were killed Thursday when a truck bomb exploded at a police camp in Libya's northwestern coastal city of Zliten, a local hospital reported.

Dozens were also injured in the suicide bombing that occurred when a crowd of policemen were gathering at the camp in the morning, witnesses said.

The truck, packed with explosives, crashed into the gate of the camp, which is used to train coast guards, according to the witnesses.

Most of the casualties are believed to be policemen.

Hospitals in Zliten, located about 100 miles east of the capital Tripoli, have appealed to local residents to donate blood for the injured victims of the attack, Libya's official news agency LANA reported.

U.N. envoy on Libya Martin Kobler denounced the attack.

"I condemn in the strongest terms today's deadly suicide attack in Zliten, call on all Libyans to urgently unite in fight against terrorism," the German diplomat said in a tweet.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the bombing is suspected to have been carried out by loyalists of the Islamic State terrorist group.

"We have information that a boat carrying strangers arrived in the town two days ago," Siarj al-Rashdi, an official at the Zliten security directorate, told dpa.

"Yesterday we mounted a campaign to collect all strangers staying in the town illegally. But unfortunately, this did not stop the disaster."

Zliten, a commercial town not known for sheltering militants, is regarded as a center for illegal migrants seeking to reach Europe.

Libya has been gripped by fighting between rival militias since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

The oil-rich country is also split between two competing parliaments, each backed by different militias. The Islamic State group has taken advantage of the anarchy to establish a foothold in Libya.

Earlier this week, the al-Qaida splinter group launched an attack on al-Sidra and Ras Lanouf, Libya's major oil terminals.

Clashes between guards at the terminals and the jihadists set seven storage tanks on fire late Wednesday, an official said.

The Islamic State group, which is based mainly in Syria and Iraq, controls an area of Libya's Mediterranean coast centered around the towns of Sirte and al-Nofaliyeh, west of al-Sidra.
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Both sides uneasy about new law

By Lauren Etter And Shannon Pettypiece

AUSTIN  Managers at Walmart Stores Inc. in Texas have a new task to add to their list of duties: asking customers if they have a permit to carry a handgun.

To comply with state liquor rules, the world's biggest retailer sent a written notice last month to stores that sell alcohol, telling managers to ensure that customers who openly carry firearms under a new law have licenses. Cashiers or door greeters who see someone with a gun are to alert the highest-ranking employee, who is to approach the customer and ask to see the paperwork.

"We do try to ensure that people have a licensed firearm," said Walmart spokesman Brian Nick. "We are giving direction to our store employees to ask for a license as our management sees appropriate."

The measure has put retailers in a quandary, forcing them to take sides in one of the nation's most fraught debates. Gun- rights activists are boycotting stores that forbid firearms, saying people shouldn't be punished for exercising their rights. Gun-control advocates, meanwhile, are shunning stores that allow customers to bear arms, saying no one should have to shop where they feel unsafe.
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After the Goliath winter storms, it becomes even easier to preach that we are in the midst of "climate change," as global warming is called.

The climate talks in Paris last month were not expected to solve the most important problem of global warming  actually bringing industrial gases down to a safe level. According to columnist Paul Krugman, "the talks, even without any kind of agreement, could mark a turning point of world action avoiding ... catastrophe."

"I'd urge everyone outside the climate-denial bubble to frankly acknowledge the awesome, terrifying reality," he wrote in a Dec. 4 column in The New York Times. "We're looking at a party that has turned its back on science at a time when doing so puts the very future of civilization at risk. That's the truth, and it needs to be faced head-on."

Krugman refers to the Republican Party, of course. Read what the GOP and those right-leaning individuals write about the "great lie" that is climate change. Discovering what they think of the coming years in weather changes helps us to understand this Krugman comment: "Those climate-denial people are responsible if they continue to use unscientific science and refuse to admit industrial gasses are killing the planet.

Carbon dioxide and other air pollutions are collecting in the atmosphere like a thickening blanket, trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm. As little as I know, that makes sense to me and to many scientists who have spent years studying the situation. That is why coal-burning power plants should be a thing of the past. (The largest U.S. source of carbon dioxide pollution produces 2.5 billion tons every year. Automobiles, the second- largest source, create nearly 1.5 billion tons of CO2 annually, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.)

The debate on the world's environmental future is about the emissions contributing to greenhouse gases. This fact is lost on those saying the industrial involvement is not even a little part of the dangerous ongoing global climate change.

I can remember 30 years ago in Beijing, China, clear skies and bright sunshine all over the city and suburbs. It was not the ghastly gray, almost solid misty fog that endangers the lives of tens of millions of people today.

Before China industrialized and became "modern" like the Western world there was little pollution. As the Chinese try to catch up with the rest of the world, they use the same methods we did generations ago.

It is becoming evident the environment cannot continue as it is. The world God created has a natural cycle for minerals, earth, water and even humans. But like anything good, it can be and evidently is being misused.

We have misused the blessings of the many invented means of production, almost miracle-working machines, that make life easier. Our world has progressed in material wealth since the start of the industrial revolution like no other period of human history.

But have we kept up with the science that makes all the mighty machines work properly and perform better for the environment as well as people?

Man-made global warming or climate change has slowly become as important as any Middle East wars. But this fact has still evaded too many representatives and senators in Washington.

Again quoting Krugman: "Last year PolitiFact could find only eight Republicans in Congress, out of 278 in the caucus, who had made on-the-record comments accepting the reality of man-made global warming. And most of the contenders for the Republican presidential nomination are solidly in the anti-science camp."

Senior Republican members of Congress routinely indulge in wild conspiracy theories, alleging that all the evidence for climate change is one giant hoax.

Conservative Christians are among those who are skeptical of man having anything to do with global warming. Relying on 2,000-year-old books for science is not helpful in the ongoing debate.

Why should my generation of advanced years even spend time thinking of such climate changes? Few my age will be around when the ice melts and the party begins. We should care because this is so beautiful a globe, with so many wonderful people, and it still has a great future. It is like a heaven on Earth. Human beings have abused it too long.
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In interviews and on the stump, Sen. Ted Cruz likes to attack President Obama, Hillary Clinton and "some of the more aggressive Washington neocons" for their support of regime change in the Middle East.

Every time we topple a dictator, Cruz argues, we end up helping terrorists or extremists.

He has a point. But what interests me is his use of the word "neocon." What does he really mean?

Some see dark intentions. "He knows that the term in the usual far-left and far-right parlance means warmonger, if not warmongering Jewish advisers, so it is not something he should've done," former George W. Bush adviser Elliott Abrams told National Review. Another former Bush adviser calls the term "a dog whistle."

I think that's all a bit overblown. Cruz is just trying to criticize his opponent Marco Rubio, who supported regime change in Libya. There's little daylight between the two presidential contenders on foreign policy, and this gives Cruz an opening for attack.

But Abrams is right  and Cruz surely knows  that for many people "neocon" has become code for suspiciously Hebraic superhawk. It's an absurd distortion.

At first, neocons weren't particularly associated with foreign policy. They were intellectuals disillusioned by the folly of the Great Society. As Irving Kristol famously put it, a "neoconservative is a liberal who was mugged by reality and wants to press charges." The Public Interest, the first neoconservative publication, coedited by Kristol, was a wonkish domestic policy journal.

Kristol later argued that neoconservatism was not an ideology but a "persuasion." William F. Buckley, the avatar of supposedly authentic traditional conservatism, agreed. The neocons, he explained, brought the new language of sociology to an intellectual tradition that had been grounded more in Aristotelian thinking.

The neocon belief in democracy promotion grew out of disgust with Richard Nixon's detente and Jimmy Carter's fecklessness, but it hardly amounted to knee-jerk interventionism. When Jeane Kirkpatrick articulated a theory of neoconservative foreign policy in Commentary magazine in 1979, she cautioned that it was unwise to demand rapid liberalization in autocratic countries, and that gradual change was a more realistic goal than immediate transformation.

During the Cold War, neocons weren't any more hawkish than anyone else on the right. They were advocating containment of the Soviet Union while National Review conservatives were demanding "rollback" and Barry Goldwater was talking about nuking the Kremlin.

Even through the late 1990s, neocons were far from outliers in their belief that the United States should use its military power to support democracies abroad. Many members of both parties held that view. Remember, it was Bill Clinton who in 1998 signed the Iraq Liberation Act calling for regime change.

After 9/11, some neoconservative intellectuals had off-the-shelf foreign policy ready for George W. Bush  which, yes, was hawkish in nature, but other Republicans and even Democrats supported their prescriptions, at least at first. As the Iraq War went south, the neocons were the only ones left defending it, and so got all of the blame.

The association between neoconservatism and Jews stems partly from the fact that the first neocons were mostly Jewish, partly from the reality that they are all to this day  gentiles included  pro-Israel. That's not particularly remarkable, though, since neocons want to help America's democratic allies everywhere and since most Christian conservatives are pro-Israel, too.

Today the neocon sociological persuasion is simply part of the conservative mainstream. The idea that self-identified neocons are uniformly more "pro-war" than other conservatives is ludicrous.

Granted, neoconservatives contribute to the confusion. They like to claim that the alternative to their approach amounts to "isolationism"  another horribly misused word. Rubio recently leveled that charge at Cruz.

Neoconservatism is a product of the Cold War. It's understandable that neoconservative intellectuals who helped win the Cold War might want to hold onto the label, but it's time to give it a comfortable retirement in the history books.

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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It's 2016, when the election will finally get to the voters. Yes, the presidential cycle is already more than 3 years old. Republican candidates started competing for this year's nomination the day after the November 2012 election, and Hillary Clinton probably started planning for 2016 at some point in 2009. But now it's time to start watching other races, too.

SENATE

Republicans currently hold 54 seats, but Democrats have several opportunities to close the gap. That's because the third of the Senate contested this year was elected in 2010, a good Republican year. "The question is not whether Democrats will pick up Senate seats next year, it is almost certainly how many," the National Journal's guide predicts.

Republican incumbents in Illinois, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania are all endangered, as is an open Republican seat in Florida. The only similarly vulnerable Democratic seat is in Nevada, where Minority Leader Harry Reid is retiring. But the state has trended Democratic.

In recent cycles, a presidential vote has tended to predict House and Senate elections. And a relatively large turnout in presidential years has seemed to benefit Democrats, with midterms appearing to favor Republicans. But it's hard to know if that effect is linked to different electorates (older and wealthier voters, who tend to be Republicans, show up more often in lower-interest elections, for example), or if it could be a consequence of the ebb and flow of a president's popularity, the economy and other events.

Perhaps the most likely result this time is that the Senate will follow what happens in the White House race, so the incoming president's party will likely have a narrow majority in the upper chamber. But it's easy to imagine continued divided government, including a flip with Democrats taking the Senate while losing the White House.

HOUSE

Everyone expects Democrats to gain some seats but fall solidly short of regaining a majority. After two Republican landslides in the last three elections, there aren't many weak Democratic seats remaining. If it's possible for Republicans to win a House seat, they've probably already won it.

But it's still early. Watch for retirements in swing districts over the next several weeks. So far, more Republicans (20) are leaving than Democrats (13).

Again, House voting will be closely tied to presidential voting. So the only way Republicans might pick up more House seats in 2016 is for the party's presidential candidate to win by a landslide. And a Democratic presidential rout might be the only way Democrats have a chance to pick up the 30 seats they need for a House majority.

STATES

Most elections for governor are now held during presidential off years; only 12 will be contested in 2016. That schedule may account for some recent Republican successes. It also may be a reason GOP governors have mostly sat on their hands in the current presidential nomination battle. They have less at stake because they don't have to share a ballot with their party's national candidate.

While Senate elections in 2016 look back to 2010, a good year for Republicans, gubernatorial elections this year look back to 2012, a presidential election year that was better for Democrats. Consequently, some Democratic statehouses are in some danger in Missouri, New Hampshire, Vermont and Montana. Fewer Republican-held seats are at risk.

On the other hand, if Democrats retain the presidency, it will be their best chance to try to reverse large recent losses in state legislatures.

Elections  looked at in bulk  are about opportunity, on the one hand, and partisan tides on the other. Because of big Republican wins in 2010 (Senate) and 2014 (House), Democrats have the opportunities for congressional pickups; Republicans have more chances for gains in gubernatorial races. As for partisan tides? Watch Obama's approval ratings (currently mediocre, but not terrible) and the state of the economy for the general lay of the land.

Most models right now predict a close race, with perhaps a small edge for Republicans. But it also will depend on whether a party nominates a particularly poor candidate. Donald Trump, an unusually unpopular candidate, would qualify; Ted Cruz, because he's perceived as extremely conservative, would probably count as well, but I've underestimated him before.

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg View columnist. Contact him at jbernstein62@bloomberg.net.
The National Governors Association (NGA) has signaled a renewed sense of optimism that Congress, under new Republican leadership, will listen to governors more about federal legislation.Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, the Republican chair and Democratic vice chair of the bipartisan organization, respectively, delivered the annual State of the States address at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.The NGA has seen its influence decline in the past decade with the rise of rival partisan groups that raise money for Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates. In 2014, detailed the struggles that the NGA and similar bipartisan groups representing states and localities have had in fulfilling their legislative agendas.Governors had long wanted to replace the 2002 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act to give states more oversight authority in education. They also pushed for a long-term transportation bill and sought the right to collect tax revenue from online transactions.For more than a decade, governors' priorities resulted in no change. But things may be looking up.In December, after Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan ascended to the role of House Speaker, Congress replaced the NCLB education law and passed its first major transportation bill in years. Earlier in the fall, Congress passed a budget bill that prevents the possibility of another sequester for at least two years.I couldnt be more overjoyed, said McAuliffe. He and Herbert met with Ryan and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California on Wednesday. In McAuliffes words, it was a lovefest.Herbert, in his prepared remarks, called for a restoration to the balance of power between the states and the federal government and described recent changes in congressional leadership as a real opportunity.Herbert and McAuliffe's address comes about a month after the NGA hired a new executive director, Scott Pattison. Pattison held the top administrative position at the National Association of State Budget Officers for 14 years, and was once Virginia's budget director."This is not his first drive around the block," Herbert said about Pattison.In an interview with, Pattison said he hopes to raise the profile of the organization, not only in the eyes of Washington power brokers but also among governors themselves. Convincing governors who haven't been dues-paying members to get involved again "is an extremely high priority," he said. "I want to show them that membership is valuable."Toward that end, Pattison said NGA will be more aggressive about highlighting state initiatives and educating interested members about how they might replicate successful policies. In the past, NGA might have published a lengthy report about best practices only after months of study, but the group will now start to generate shorter, more timely briefs online.The group will also expand efforts to educate federal policymakers and improve their perceptions of state governments. After all, states end up implementing much of the policy that's set and funded by Congress."We are not just another interest group," said Pattison. "We are part of the federal system."Still, one of the major challenges for NGA -- or any national bipartisan organization -- is that political polarization has made it difficult for members to coalesce around positions and then advocate with one voice to Congress. Red-state governors disagree with blue-state governors on a range of hot-button issues, from gun control to abortion rights to environmental regulation.Pattison acknowledged that partisan divides will remain a reality in 2016."Are we going to take a strong position on global warming? No."
Gov. Robert Bentley on Thursday announced the state of Alabama is suing the federal government for non-compliance of the Refugee Act of 1980, which requires federal government to consult with state government before placing refugees in the state.Bentley said this consultation never occurred, which according to his release, means the federal government, "failed to provide the State of Alabama with sufficient information about the refugees who have settled or will be settled in the state."In the release, Bentley said the state can't adequately plan for the arrival of refugees "in regards to security, requests for social services and public assistance" because he hasn't been provided information.He requested in the suit that a federal judge compel the federal government to consult with the state on this issue.Bentley announced on Nov.15 that he would not allow Syrian refugees to enter the state through the federal government's refugee resettlement program, citing concerns over the refugee vetting process."On three separate occasions I have sent letters to the White House requesting information on the Refugee Reception Program in Alabama and these letters have gone unanswered," Bentley said in the press release. "The process and manner in which the Obama Administration and the federal government are executing the Refugee Reception Program is blatantly excluding the states."A significant portion of the complaint addressed Bentley's concerns about allowing Syrian refugees into the state who may be providing support to terrorists, or are terrorists themselves."Refugees who provided material support to terrorists could be eligible for admission under a waiver granted by the federal government if, among other things, the support was 'insignificant' and the refugee 'poses no danger to the safety and security of the United States,'" the complaint read.However, a footnote in the suit ensured this legal action regards consultation with the federal government about all refugees it has already settled or intends to settle in Alabama, not just those from Syria.During a press conference on Thursday, Bentley said if the federal government met the criteria requested by the state, then he wouldn't be opposed to allowing Syrian refugees to settle in Alabama. He said his goal in filing suit is to "reform the way the U.S. Department of Health and Human services and the State Department handle the refugee resettlement program, and to ensure our state receives critical information."Because he hasn't received this critical information, Bentley said he doesn't know how many refugees have currently settled in the state.According to a State Department report,16 refugees from Burma, Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq and Somalia were settled in Alabama between October and December.But Bentley said he had no knowledge of this report."I'm not aware of how many are here," Bentley said. "We have been given no reports."Bentley also said the state asks for a complete file on each of the refugees, including their medical history."(Refugees) could be bringing in a severe communicable disease and we need to know that. We require that when people go to school, so why not require that when people come into our state?" Bentley asked.On Monday, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal rescinded his executive order which aimed to block the entrance of Syrian refugees into the state after the state's attorney general ruled that the governor lacked authority to issue such an order.However, Bentley said he had no knowledge of Deal's order."I'm not familiar with (Deal's) executive order," Bentley said. "My job is to protect the people of Alabama. His job is to protect the people of Georgia. I'm doing my job."Kristi Graunke, senior supervising attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center's Immigrant Justice Project, said in an emailed statement that the law suit lacks legal merit, and that the state of Alabama has no authority under the Constitution to block the settlement of refugees."Gov. Bentley's grandstanding is fueling xenophobia and helping to create an environment ripe for hate and violence," Graunke wrote.On Wednesday, a Department of Defense spokesman confirmed that the Department of Health and Human Services planned to visit Gunter Annex as part of a nationwide assessment of Department of Defense facilities that might accommodate undocumented immigrant children.The federal government is also examining the possibility of housing the children at Maxwell Air Force Base, though that is still in the preliminary phases.The Department of Health and Human Services was named as a defendant in the suit, as was Secretary of State John Kerry, the U.S. State Department, The State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) and HHS's Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The Chicago Teachers Union has officially added its voice to those calling for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez to step down in light of the city's ongoing controversies over police tactics and accountability.The union said its House of Delegates "voted overwhelmingly" last week to support efforts aimed at getting Emanuel and Alvarez to resign. CTU President Karen Lewis will talk about the issue at the union's annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Breakfast on Jan. 15, the union said.The resolution passed by the delegates has no legal bearing and is simply a political statement from the union, which is in stalemated negotiations with the mayor's school board over a contract to replace one that expired last June.The resolution also comes as little surprise. The CTU's opposition to Emanuel began practically with his election in 2011. Lewis, who led a seven-day teachers strike in September 2012, had been expected to challenge Emanuel's re-election last year but was stricken with cancer before she could announce her candidacy. The union instead supported Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia's unsuccessful bid to unseat Emanuel.In the wake of the release a dash-cam video showing the police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, the CTU helped coordinate a downtown protest, and union leaders have continued criticize the mayor's response to the situation.The resolution approved by CTU delegates last Wednesday includes a series of allegations against Emanuel and Alvarez. Among them are that the two officials "delayed the release of (the police shooting) videos for their own political gains in order to secure victory in their 2015 re-election bids."The union also endorsed pending legislation that would allow voters to recall Chicago's mayor.Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins said in a statement that "the CTU organized against the mayor's campaigns in 2011 and 2015, and this is nothing more than a continuation of their long-standing political position."
Gov. Paul LePage made a racially charged comment in Bridgton on Wednesday night during one of his regular town hall meetings to promote his policy agenda.About 30 minutes into the meeting, which was rebroadcast Thursday night, LePage responded to a question about how he was tackling substance abuse in Maine. He began talking about how much of the heroin is coming into Maine from out-of-state drug dealers."These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty ... these types of guys ... they come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home," LePage told a large crowd. "Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we have to deal with down the road."Lance Dutson, a Republican operative who runs the Get Right Maine website, which seeks to restore a more moderate brand of Republicanism in Maine, described the remark in a blog post as "one of the most offensive statements yet from this Governor."Peter Steele, the governor's communication director, said in a written statement Thursday night that LePage's remarks were not about race, but about the emotional toll drugs have on children."The governor is not making comments about race. Race is irrelevant," Steele said. "What is relevant is the cost to state taxpayers for welfare and the emotional costs for these kids who are born as a result of involvement with drug traffickers. His heart goes out to these kids because he had a difficult childhood, too. We need to stop the drug traffickers from coming into our state."Maine Senate President Michael Thibodeau, R-Winterport, said he had neither heard the governor's comment or read any reports about them. He declined to provide a reaction when LePage's comments were read to him by a reporter.
A Republican state lawmaker has filed a measure that would list sex between lobbyists and lawmakers or their staff as gifts that must be reported to the state ethics commission.Rep. Bart Korman, R-High Hill, filed the measure Wednesday, the first day of the 2016 legislative session where leaders have vowed to reform the state's ethics laws. The emphasis on ethics reform follows two scandals last year that led to legislative resignations. Missouri is the only state in the country with no campaign contribution limits, no lobbyist gift limits and no laws governing when a lawmaker can become a lobbyist.Korman said the bill would "help create integrity, accountability and transparency.""If an activity like that occurred, at least citizens would know about it," Korman said.Under the measure, reporting such relations would not need a dollar valuation attached.Additionally, relationships between married individuals or those in relationships prior to registration, election or hiring would be excluded.Korman is chairman of the House Telecommunications Committee, which drew heavy media attention after being treated to dinner at the Jefferson City Country Club by the Missouri Cable Telecommunications Association. This led to former House Speaker John Diehl banning committees from meeting for dinner outside the Capitol.The bill is House Bill 2059.
New York City officials on Thursday announced a landmark settlement of a sweeping 2013 lawsuit over NYPD surveillance of Muslims that alleged the police intelligence division unconstitutionally deployed informants and infiltrated mosques.The settlement reiterates NYPD legal duties to not base investigations on religion or ethnicity and installs a civilian representative appointed by the mayor inside the NYPD to monitor investigations of political and religious activities for legal compliance.The NYPD as part of the deal agrees to follow practices complying with a 1985 federal court decree governing probes of political activities -- basing investigations only on "articulable and factual" information, limiting use of undercovers to situations where no less intrusive means is possible, and ensuring that investigations aren't ended.The police department also agreed to remove from its website a report titled "Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat," which critics said had encouraged religious profiling by over-generalizing and exaggerating domestic Muslim radicalization.The NYPD does not admit to any wrongdoing in its past practices or pay any damages, and police officials said that other than the new civilian representative, the settlement largely codifies practices it is obligated to follow under the 1985 case, known as the "Handschu guidelines."The 2013 lawsuit alleged that the police had gone overboard in reaction to fears of terrorism, targeting Muslims for investigation based on protected First Amendment activities and surveilling mosques -- labeling some "terrorist enterprises" -- without a sufficient factual basis.In 2014, the NYPD announced that it was disbanding a so-called "demographic unit" that had used techniques designed to develop intelligence on the Muslim community that had been at the center of the controversy, but it has not been clear what functions may have been shifted to other units.In addition to a lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court, the New York Civil Liberties Union and other groups asked a federal judge in Manhattan to review activities relating to Muslims under the 1985 Handschu guidelines."This settlement is a win for all New Yorkers," NYCLU legal director Arthur Eisenberg said in a statement. "It will curtail practices that wrongly stigmatize individuals simply on the basis of their religion, race or ethnicity. At the same time, the NYPD's investigative practices will be rendered more effective by focusing on criminal behavior.""We are committed to strengthening the relationship between our administration and communities of faith so that residents of every background feel respected and protected," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "New York City's Muslim residents are strong partners in the fight against terrorism, and this settlement represents another important step toward building our relationship with the Muslim community."NYPD intelligence chief John Miller said, "The proposed settlement does not weaken the NYPD's ability to fulfill its steadfast commitment to investigate and prevent terrorist activity in New York City."Although the New York cases were settled, another lawsuit filed in federal court in New Jersey by Muslims in that state who were targeted by the NYPD intelligence efforts remains alive.That lawsuit seeks monetary damages on behalf of some plaintiffs. Last year, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia said the suit could go forward, ruling that terror fears did not justify discriminatory scrutiny of Muslims.
Determined to lessen the toll of gun violence, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Wednesday the state will seek to strengthen background checks by improving information sharing among agencies and reduce suicides by implementing a statewide prevention plan."While Congress has failed for years to make progress on reducing gun violence, we are not afraid to take action in Washington state," Inslee said at a Burien news conference, where he was joined by public-health and law-enforcement representatives.Inslee issued an executive order that directs state and local agencies and the University of Washington to gather and review data on firearm deaths and injuries -- and to recommend strategies to reduce those numbers.To strengthen the background-check law approved by voters in 2014, Inslee directed the state Office of Financial Management to analyze how information is shared among state agencies, courts, local jurisdictions, law enforcement and other entities to make improvements to the system.A year ago, Washington voters passed Initiative 594, which expanded gun-purchase background checks to include private sales and transfers. The initiative received nearly 60 percent of voter approval statewide. In the 2015 legislative session, most other proposals from I-594 backers went nowhere.The governor also directed the state Attorney General's Office to analyze enforcement practices to better hold accountable those trying to buy a gun illegally. He said 5,000 background checks were run since the new law took effect in 2015, but it's not clear if anyone who attempted to purchase a gun illegally was prosecuted.Inslee's announcement comes a day after President Obama, frustrated at Congress' refusal to pass tougher gun restrictions, came out with plans for expanded background checks and other modest measures.Between 2012 and 2014, according to Inslee's office, an average 665 people per year died in Washington state from firearm injuries, compared with 497 from automobile accidents. About 80 percent of the firearms deaths were suicides, the governor said, adding that the statewide plan would focus on those at highest risk.Inslee said government has taken a public-health approach in the effort to reduce motor-vehicle deaths and injuries, including seat-belt and tougher DUI laws as well as safer vehicle designs.He said his initiatives on gun violence and suicide take that same approach.Those strategies also draw on a similar initiative under way in King County for a number of years. For example, local hospitals, law enforcement, medical examiners and researchers share data on gun-related injuries and fatalities to better identify the risks and needs in the community.The county also has run a firearm safe-storage program for several years with the support of local gun retailers and law enforcement. Led by Public Health -- Seattle & King County, the program received a $30,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice for billboard and bus advertisements urging gun owners to lock up their weapons.But with suicides accounting for the majority of gun deaths in Washington, some criticized Inslee for linking the national gun-control debate with suicide prevention.Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation based in Bellevue, said he and the gun industry have been working for the past year with suicide-prevention advocates on strategies including safe storage and keeping guns away from criminals and people with mental illness."When he (Inslee) starts mandating through executive action gun-control measures, he's going to sabotage all the efforts of the past year to lower suicide rates," Gottlieb said.Joining Inslee at the news conference was Jennifer Stuber, an associate professor at the UW School of Social Work whose husband killed himself with a gun in 2011. She said focusing on suicide prevention avoids the divisive debate over gun control."Nobody wants guns to be misused in suicide, homicide or mass murder. We need to work harder to find the common ground and not do things that are destructive to collaboration," she said.King County Sheriff John Urquhart called Inslee's approach "measured and comprehensive."He said the issue of gun violence is too often reduced to bumper-sticker slogans and bullies on either side of the debate yelling at each other."Both sides believe in the Constitution. Both believe gun violence has to be reduced in this country because it is too high. We need to shame both sides into sitting down and talking or we'll continue as we have for years and years," Urquhart said. "That is unacceptable to me as a police officer and as a citizen of King County and the United States."As the federal government and many states have declined to enact gun-violence-prevention measures, some cities have taken action on their own. In August, the Seattle City Council unanimously approved a tax on firearms and ammunition, with the funds to be used for research and prevention.The Seattle tax of $25 per gun and 2 or 5 cents per round of ammunition took effect Jan. 1. A King County Superior Court judge last month dismissed an NRA lawsuit that sought to block the tax.
$500 million to the Air Resources Board to provide incentives for zero-emission and hybrid vehicles.

$500 million for the High Speed Rail Authority, which is pushing to build a new train corridor running up and down the state.

$500 million for the Strategic Growth Council (SGC), $400 million of which will go toward a program meant to focus affordable housing development in areas that reduce the need for driving, and $100 million of which will go toward an initiative to support multifaceted greenhouse gas reduction efforts in the states most disadvantaged communities.

$600 million to the State Transportation Agency for its Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program.

$100 million to Cal Recycle for waste diversion.

$60 million to the University of California and California State University systems to support renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Californias cap-and-trade money keeps growing.After pulling in $257.4 million in the programs first year , the 2012-13 budget year, California Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday, Jan. 7, put forward a 2016-17 budget that now includes $3.1 billion in cap-and-trade spending  including some left over from last year. Brown set aside large chunks of the money for many of the same uses as previous years:The cap-and-trade program works by the state selling "allowances" for companies to emit greenhouse gases. Companies with leftover allowances can then sell their extras to companies that exceed their allowances.The amount of $3.1 billion would be more spent from the program's proceeds than ever before.Brown's funding allocations for affordable housing and transit-oriented development adhere to a theme the state is beginning to embrace more and more: reducing the need for people to drive personal vehicles on a regular basis. The idea behind the SGCs Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program is, per its website , to encourage infill and compact development of low-income housing. That means putting new low-income housing in places where it is either close to most of the things its residents need or close to public transportation that can get them there. The ultimate goal is to reduce a metric called vehicle miles traveled associated with those places.But the state also has begun focusing on the opposite side of that equation  trying to bring destinations closer to the places people live, or at least closer to transit. Right now thats taking the form of state officials beta testing a smart location calculator developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which gives a location efficiency score for different locations. State officials are planning on using the tool in the short term to try to site state government infrastructure in places that are easier to get to for the people who travel there regularly. In the long term, it might be used in some way to encourage the private sector to do the same.The overall focus on greenhouse gas pollution has been something of a rallying cry for Brown, who has ramped up his environmental efforts during the past couple of years. Brown was one of the original founders of the Under 2 MOU, a pledge among subnational government entities to try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and pushed through a major climate package , Senate Bill 350, toward the end of 2015. The bill called for doubling the percentage of power coming from renewable sources, as well as doubling building energy efficiency standards. Brown took that message to Paris during the 21st Conference of Parties, which saw the world join together in the signing of a legally binding climate pact for the first time.I set a goal for 2030 and that goal is extremely challenging, Brown said during a press conference announcing his budget proposal on Thursday. Were [emitting] something like 460 million tons of greenhouse gases every year in California; were trying to get down around 265 million tons. How we get there is what Im working on, and its not just budget. Its changing a lot of different things in the residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural sectors.
(TNS) -- Time Warner Cable announced Thursday that as many as 320,000 customer email passwords may have been stolen in a hacking attack.Company spokeswoman Nathalie Burgos in an email Thursday said that the FBI recently notified the company that some customers email addresses, including account passwords, may have been compromised.Nationally, the cable giant has 16 million business and residential customers.The information was likely stolen through malware downloaded through phishing attacks or indirectly through data breaches of other companies that stored Time Warner customer information, Burgos said.We havent yet determined how the information was obtained, but there are no indications that our systems were breached, Burgos said.The company is alerting its residential customers through email to take precautions and update their passwords, she added.The Winslow and Waterville police departments warned customers about the security breach in Facebook posts Wednesday morning.
Politwoops Returns

Cities, States Use 18Fs Web Tracker

The site Politwoops is on its way back, and with it comes renewed power to keep politicians honest about deleted tweets. After negotiating new terms with Twitter, the Sunlight Foundation will relaunch the political tweet-tracking service in the U.S. while its parent organization, the Open State Foundation, reactivates Politwoops internationally in 25 countries The site has gained public notoriety since its 2012 launch for publishing deleted tweets using Twitters application programming interface ( API ). In 2014, Politwoops caught Arizona State Rep. Adam Kwasman (R) protesting a bus of YMCA children he confused for immigrants. Politwoops likewise caught six politicians backtracking after Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was freed by Taliban forces. The politicians had first praised Bergdahls return, but quickly quieted after learning it was due to the exchange of five Taliban fighters at Guantanamo Bay.Despite these and many other significant callouts, Sunlight had an abrupt falling out with Twitter last June when it was told Politwoops violated Twitters terms of use agreement. The company cut the organization's access to its API in May and was emphatic about the decision  even going so far as to deny all appeals. In a response , Sunlight decried Twitters actions as disturbing for citizens and transparency itself. The position was supported internationally by 50 rights and transparency groups spread across five continents, including Access Now, the Human Rights Watch and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.We are truly mystified as to what prompted the change of heart, and it's deeply disappointing to see Twitter kill a project they had supported since 2012, Sunlight said at the time.The 180-degree turn this week is likely the result of Jack Dorseys October 2015 return as Twitter's CEO. Dorsey was brought on after Twitter began losing ground as a publicly traded company and has sought to revitalize the social media platform by making it more relevant to average consumers. At Twitters Flight conference, also last October, Dorsey publicly apologized to developers on behalf of Twitter for its murky relationship with developers and specifically credited Politwoops for realizing part of the companys core mission  to be a messaging service "for the people" and "by the people." Talks with Sunlight and the Open State Foundation followed shortly thereafter.Somewhere along the lines, our relationships with developers got a little complicated, a little bit confusing  Dorsey said in his Flight keynote. And we want to come to you today and first and foremost apologize for our confusion. We want to reset our relationship, and we want to make sure that we are learning, that we are listening and that we are rebooting.With Politwoops back online, the Open State Foundation reported that under the agreement, it will scale the service to other countries and add non-elected government officials on the watch list.This agreement is great news for those who believe that the world needs more transparency," said Arjan El Fassed, Open States director of digital transparency. Our next step is now to continue and expand our work to enable the public to hold public officials accountable for their public statements. Boulder , Colo.; and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation are publishing new Web statistics for the public, thanks to the federal governments Digital Analytics Program.The initiative, which was led by the federal governments 18F and U.S. Digital Services, published website data from all major U.S. agencies on the site Analytics.usa.gov . Citizens visiting the site can immediately see a dashboard identifying the most popular pages, the top downloads, anonymized user locations, and common devices and operating systems.Since 18F created the site, its captured attention as a transparency measure that can be applied to any kind of government. Seeing this opportunity, the four jurisdictions copied  or in developer-speak, forked  the open source code and customized it for their own sites. In a blog post, 18Fs Melody Kramer interviewed officials from the jurisdictions to see how the process went. The general sentiment was that the process was relatively simple, and now provides staff with better metrics for citizen demand and communications strategies.
Telugu Student Ends Life In US

Hyderabad: A student from Hyderabad studying in North Carolina University in the US committed suicide after scoring low marks in exams, according to information reaching his family here.

Shiva Kiran (23) ended his life by hanging from the ceiling fan in his room in the university hostel on Thursday. The authorities in the US informed the distraught family on Friday.

He had taken admission in the university six months ago and was scheduled to come to Hyderabad. The family lives at Indira Nagar in Ramanthapur area.

Shiva Kiran, who did mechanical engineering from a college here, was apparently depressed after he failed to secure better grade in the recent exam.

The family has appealed to the state and central governments to help bring his body home.
Dictator Story Copied From Hollywood Movie!

Even as Nandamuri Balakrishna's "Dictator" is gearing up for grand release on 14th January, speculations are rife that the movie's story is lifted from a Hollywood movie.

According to industry gossips, the movie has resemblance to the story of Denzel Washington's "The Equalizer".

In the Hollywood movie, Denzel Washington has played the role of an amiable home depot worker with a mysterious past. In Dictator, Balakrishna plays a simple guy working in a supermarket but he also has a mysterious past.

Even in the recently released trailer of Dictator, it is shown that villains are talking about a professional guy who must be behind the killings as they don't seem to be a war between two mafia factions. There is a similar scene in "The Equalizer".

How much truth lies in these gossip can only be revealed after the release. Since it has three heroines unlike the Hollywood movie and lot of comedians (as per trailer), lets hope that the movie has nothing to do with "The Equalizer".

Dictator is written and directed by Sri Wass with screenplay by Kona Venkat and Gopi Mohan.
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Hyderabad Turns Into 'Pink City'

Jaipur in India is famous as 'Pink City'. But it might have to make way soon for Hyderabad for that appellation.

The entire city of Hyderabad has been flooded with placards, posters and giant hoardings featuring the TRS Party and leaders in view of the upcoming GHMC elections.

With virtually every nook and corner being taken over by the TRS, the opposition parties are dismayed at lack of space to showcase their own candidates and achievements.

And conveniently forgotten amid all the color of the poll activity is the High Court order that had called for all the hoardings featuring politicians in the city to be removed on a war footing.

While the existing hoardings have not yet been removed, newer ones in far more numbers have come up. Such is the respect shown for the judiciary in the states capital.
KTR Wants To Be Bhimavaram Bullodu!

Telangana Rasthra Samithi leadership seems to be going to extreme lengths to appease Seemandhra voters in Hyderabad in the ongoing elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.

Minister for IT and Panchayat Raj K T Rama Rao, who is entrusted with the responsibility of securing victory for the TRS in the GHMC polls, on Friday went to the extent of announcing a change in the name of the TRS as Telugu Rashtra Samithi, to represent the Telugu people.

He said TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao was the favourite of all the Telugu people including in Telangana and Andhra. In fact, KCR has a bigger following among the Seemandhra people than AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

It was evident from the love and affection showered by the people of Andhra when KCR visited Amaravati for the capital city foundation laying ceremony, he recalled.

Not stopping with it, KTR further said if he gets an opportunity, he would contest from Bhimavaram in West Godavari in the coming Assembly elections, if the TRS contests in AP.

I know Rajus of Bhimavaram very well. They are like real kings when playing hosts, serving food liberally. If cock fights are legalized, I can win from Bhimavaram very easily, he remarked.
Telangana Bhavan To Become Telugu Bhavan?

Minister for IT and Panchayat Raj K T Rama Raos statement that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi can be rechristened as Telugu Rashtra Samithi has triggered a hilarious debate among the political circles.

As expected, the Telugu Desam Party reacted strongly to KTRs statement. Telangana TDP working president A Revanth Reddy, known for his KCR-bashing, sought to know whether KTR would change the name of his party office from Telangana Bhavan to Telugu Bhavan.

It is pretty obvious that KTR has made the statement to woo the Andhra voters in Hyderabad in the GHMC elections, he said.

While welcoming the announcement of KTR that he would contest from Bhimavaram in the next elections, Revanth demanded that the minister and his father K Chandrasekhar Rao should first tender an apology for describing the TDP as Andhra party and describing Andhra biryani as Paeda Biryani (fried rice made of cow dung).

The Seemandhra people will not believe such gimmicks of the TRS before the GHMC elections, he said.
Why The Center Will Not Contribute

The spending spree of Chandrababu Naidu has once again landed AP in a financial mess. Despite increase in revenue from commercial taxes, land registrations and sale of liquor, the AP government is left with a financial deficit of Rs 12000 crore for the last nine months.

Probably, the only state where increase in revenue leads to increase in deficit. Why has this happened? Fiscal irresponsibility!

For example, the Godavari Pushkarams were allotted Rs 300 crore, yet the government ended up spending Rs 1600 crore for it not to mention the loss of lives as well.

Rs 100 crore has been spent on the renovation of the Chief Ministers camp offices in Vijayawada and Hyderabad.

A fitment of 43% has been given to employees who refuse to move out of Hyderabad. And do you know how much it has cost the state for the travel of Ministers in chartered flights for the last one year? Just Rs 70 crore.

Naidu once again is looking to the Center to bail AP out of its predicament. But the BJP will not do it. They strongly disapprove of the financial loot by Naidu in the name of development and hence view with suspicion, each and every appeal of the latter.
Benjamins for vegetables. Photo: Matthew Eisman/Getty Images

Actress turned lifestyle guru Gwyneth Paltrow is about to become a restaurateur, of sorts: Shes backing Jose Andress new enterprises. He just closed a round of funding on his chain-let Beefsteak  a vegetable-centric take on fast food that launched in Washington, D.C., last March  and, along with the usual venture capitalists, Paltrow is among his investors. Shes expressed interest in the restaurant business before, if timidly, and apparently shes a big fan of Beefsteak, which serves bowls and sandwiches and the usual healthy-ish offerings.

Just how much Paltrow invested in the business is not public knowledge, but eight investors contributed $9.25 million to the round, and all of them had to contribute, according to a filling with the Securities and Exchange Commission, at least $100,000. The money will be used for Andress expansion plans  so, much to Adam Platts chagrin, this means that bowl trend is not going away any time soon.

[WP]
Again, theyre still here. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Theres more evidence that higher wages may not in fact lead to the end of days for the hospitality industry. Through November, the SeattleTacomaBellevue area has seen an uptick in restaurant jobs since April, when an ordinance went into effect in Seattle requiring companies with 500 or more employees to raise the minimum wage to $11 an hour and companies with 500 or fewer employees to raise it to $10 an hour. More hikes will come as Seattle phases in a $15 minimum wage through 2021, while Tacoma will phase in a $12 minimum wage by 2018, with the first hike coming this February. Bellevue has not followed suit, but Washingtons statewide minimum wage is already above the federal standard at $9.47 an hour.

And now, according to figures collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, jobs in the region have increased from 134,500 in March to 136,200 in November. Immediately following the wage hike, there was a drop in restaurant jobs, from 135,300 in January to 133,300 in May, which caused some to go all doom-and-gloom and falsely say it was causing restaurant closures in Seattle. A think tank called American Enterprise Institute pointed to it as proof that a higher minimum wage would have a negative effect on the industry. But those lost jobs have since been gained and then some, with 2,900 added following the May low point, and a total net gain of 900 jobs since January. This is a limited sample, so itll have to be seen what happens long-term, and Seattle just hiked wages again on January 1 to $13 for large companies and $12 for smaller companies. Even still, these results seem promising.

[Forbes]
News

Husband demands wife to pay Dhs500,000 over false accusation of her jewellery theft in Abu Dhabi

The court explained that the wife used her legitimate right guaranteed to her by law when she resorted to the competent authorities to report the thef...
Turkish anti-terror branch police teams have raided Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) Beyoglu district building on early Jan. 8.

Numerous riot police officers, special operations teams and police helicopters supported the raid. Reports said teams have been searching the office.

Teams took wide security measures in the Agaccilegi Street of Beyoglu in central Taksim district of Istanbul, while water cannons and ironclad vehicles were deployed to block entrance to the street.

(Photo)




Haiti - Diplomacy : The United States welcomed the announcement of the 2nd round





In a note, the United States welcomes the announcement of the Presidential Decree, published on January 6, calling on the people of Haiti to participate in the second round of the presidential election and the remaining legislative elections on Sunday, January 24, 2016 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16257-haiti-flash-elections-of-january-24-the-people-is-convened.html



"We look forward to the completion of the electoral process and encourage all Haitians to participate peacefully and calmly in the vote. This is an opportunity for the Haitian people to have their voice heard regarding the future leader of their country. To that end, we urge everyone to ensure transparency and credibility in this fundamental democratic process.



As noted in a statement put out by the Core Group on January 4 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16241-haiti-politic-the-core-group-demand-to-respect-the-february-7.html , the United States and the international community in Haiti urge state institutions and political actors alike to take all steps necessary to ensure a peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected President by the constitutionally mandated date of February 7.



We reaffirm our commitment to working with the Provisional Electoral Council and Haitis international partners in support of fair, credible, and secure elections that reflect the will of the Haitian people. The United States looks forward to working with the next democratically-elected government on the numerous challenges facing Haiti."



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Elections : 2nd round, A step in the right direction dixit EOM/OAS





In a statement, the Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (EOM/OAS) in Haiti welcomes the establishment of a date for the presidential run-off as a "step in the right direction". It calls upon all actors to work towards improving conditions ahead of the voting announced for January 24th. Concluding the electoral process will allow for a constitutional transfer of power to a newly elected President.



The Mission considers the separation of the local elections from the presidential run-off as a positive measure, as this reduces the number of party representatives ("mandataires") at polling stations and avoids the repetition of the problems generated on October 25th.



The EOM/OAS takes note of the recommendations recently issued by the Independent Electoral Evaluation Commission, and urges the Electoral Provisional Council (CEP) to factor them into the preparation of the presidential run-off to allow for a strengthened and truly competitive electoral process.



Some of the irregularities identified by the Evaluation Commission which must be addressed before the next phases of the electoral process had been highlighted in the recommendations presented by the OAS Mission following the August 9th and October 25th elections, both in public preliminary statements and in two reports to the CEP. Despite these irregularities, the information gathered by EOM/OAS on the ground did not show inconsistencies with the final results presented by the CEP in terms of which two candidates go to the run-off.



The electoral process can and must be improved, but efforts have to go beyond the introduction of new technical safeguards. The EOM/OAS urges Haitians to participate in the presidential run-off and to actively engage in the electoral process to prevent the irregularities and violence seen in the past from happening again. The EOM/OAS appeals to the two candidates to fully participate in the electoral process and to make their voices heard through the balloting.



The EOM/OAS has maintained a permanent presence in Haiti since the start of the electoral process and will observe the next phases with a robust Electoral Observation Mission, and it hopes that Haiti will continue to strengthen and consolidate its democratic system so it can achieve long-lasting peace and development.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2016/01/07 | Source

Korean drama of the week "Ojak Brothers" (2011)

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Directed by Ki Min-soo

Written by Lee Jeong-seon

Network : KBS

With Baek Il-sub, Kim Ja-ok, UEE, Jung Woong-in, Ryu Soo-young, Joo Won,...

Also known as "Ojakgyo Family"

Previously known as "Golden Pond" (, Hwang-geum-yeon-mot)

58 episodes - Sat, Sun 19:55

Synopsis

It's a family drama about passionate mom Park Bok-ja, father Hwang Chang-sik and their four sons who live in Ojakgyo Farm near Seoul. One day, one girl named Baek Ja-eun comes into the farm and she stirs up the drama! The drama doesn't stop there. Also Kim Mi-sook moves into the outbuilding of the farm and Grandma, Shim Gap-nyeon, who is stern and unbending always tortures Bok-ja. The family with many troubles like a bomb which we never know when to blow! Their unpredictable daily life story is what makes this drama fun. This drama will portrait the family who fights to regain their farm and, by doing so, remind you the importance of family.

Broadcasting dates in Korea : 2011/08/06~2012/02/19

Available on DVD from YESASIA



DVD (SG - Ch Tr, English Subtitled)
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
Watauga County High School sophomore Hallmon Hughes has been selected to represent Watauga County at the 2016 National Student Leadership Conference to be held on the campus of Harvard University.

For over 25 years, a select group of students from across the country and around the world have been selected to attend the National Student Leadership Conference. Hughes hopes to one day attend Harvard Medical School and study to become a Neuro Surgeon. At the NSLC, Hughes will gain an insiders perspective on her future career as she meets with nationally renowned leaders in the medical field.

Hallmon Hughes

While at Harvard this summer, Hughes will take part in hands-on classes and career simulations to help her reach her leadership potential.

Rick Duffy, Executive Director of the NSLC, stated that upon completion of her coursework this summer, Hughes will be awarded an Academic Transcript, Letter of Recommendation and a Certificate of Achievement to include in her college applications.

Duffy went on to say that the skills Hughes will earn while representing Watauga County will benefit her in high school, college and her future career.

Plans for the Future

While at Harvard Medical School, Hughes plans to explore the relationships between the brain and human behavior.

Hughes said that she is eager to learn how chemicals and drugs impact neural activity and the effect of aging on cognition.

Last month, in her anatomy and physiology class, Hughes and her classmates dissected a mink. While studying at Harvard this summer, Hughes said that she most looks forward to the opportunity to dissect a human brain.

In addition to her medical studies, Hughes will receive extensive leadership training and topics tailored to neuroscience. Hughes will study public speaking, communications, personality types, conflict resolution, and ethical decision making.

It was a great honor to be selected to represent Watauga County, said Hughes. I hope to be able to apply the leadership skills I learn this summer during my last two years at Watauga High School.

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Friday Bridge Program in Sugar Grove Continues in January

The Western Watauga Community Center in Sugar Grove will be continuing the Friday Afternoon Bridge program in January. Starting time 12:00. Ending time 3:45. New members welcome. Call to sign up and reserve your spot.

Bahai Devotional Set for Sunday in Stony Fork

There will be a Bahai devotional meeting on Sunday 10 January at 11am in Stony Fork. The theme will be Working for unity  the foundation of peace. All are welcome. For directions and more information call 268 2191.

Organist J. William Greene to Host Guest Recital at ASU on Jan. 19

J. William Greene, organist and choirmaster at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, will present a guest recital Jan 19 at Appalachian State University.

The Hayes School of Music event will begin at 8 p.m. in Broyhill Music Centers Rosen Concert Hall. Admission is free.

Greene graduated from Appalachian, where he was a student of the late H. Max Smith. He also holds degrees from Northwestern University and the Eastman School of Music, where he received the Doctor of Musical Arts and Performers Certificate. Greene has taught organ at Appalachian, the Nazareth College of Rochester and Ithaca College.

The recital program includes Offertoire from Messe pour les Paroisses by Francois Couperin, Praeludium in G Minor by Nicolaus Bruhns, Aria, BWV 587 by J. S. Bach, Fantaisie in C Major by- Cesar Franck, Fuge fur die Orgel by Johannes Brahms and Consolation by Franz Liszt.

Watch Hyde Park on Hudson at Watauga Library on Jan. 11

High Country Lifelong Learners in association with the Watauga County Public Library invite you to join us for a movie viewing of Hyde Park On Hudson on January 11th from 2:00 pm  4:30 pm.

The story of the love affair between FDR and his distant cousin Margaret Daisy Suckley, centered around the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of the United Kingdom visited upstate New York.

Stars: Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Olivia Williams

This film has an MPAA rating of R and an approximate run-time of 94 minutes.

For more information please email [email protected], Attention: Deb Gooch.

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New York (HedgeCo.net)  The year has started as badly as possible for most world stock markets, but Chinas market has seen the worst of it as the Shanghai Composite Index is down 11.7% in the first week and two of the four days have tripped the circuit breakers and resulted in halted trading sessions.

Thursdays trading was so chaotic that the market was only open for 29 minutes before the circuit breaker was hit and the market was closed for the rest of the day. This action led to a worldwide selloff on Thursday.

One Shanghai based hedge fund was so concerned about the selling this week that they dumped all of their holdings. Bloomberg reported that Shanghai Heqi Tongyi Asset Management liquidate their entire portfolio and quoted Chief Investment Officer Chen Gang. This is insane, we were forced to liquidate all our holdings this morning, Chen stated. Shanghai Heqi Tongyi manages approximately $46 million.

Rick Pendergraft

Research Analyst

HedgeCoVest
Scheinin writes on his blog that if Soini wanted a public image free of racism allegations, he would be less generous in his praise of Jussi Halla-aho (PS), a Member of the European Parliament.

Martin Scheinin, a professor of public international law and human rights at the European University Institute, has called into question the tactics of Timo Soini, the chairperson of the Finns Party.

He also points out that the predecessor of Soini as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Erkki Tuomioja (SDP), has written daringly about the contributions of Soini to the current attitudinal climate. Tuomioja recently argued on his blog that the attitudinal climate in Finland has been shaped systematically in a direction where hate speech is becoming more acceptable.

I claim that the single greatest reason for this is the leadership of the Finns Party, which out of its failings and/or opportunism has lacked the courage or willingness to intervene as its rank and file participate openly in the distribution of hate speech  similarly to how other members of the ruling coalition have lacked the willingness to intervene as long as the Finns Party stands behind the decisions of the Government, Tuomioja wrote on his blog.

He brought up a touchy subject, says Scheinin.

It is vital for Soini that the supporters of his party are able to choose between two opposing lines and yet think that he is of the same opinion as them, Scheinin writes. If a speech act is interpreted in its context to constitute incitement to discrimination or violence, it would determine criminal liability  also in the event that the communication was symbolic and occurred on social media.

Scheinin proposes that a scientifically tested questionnaire about racist attitudes be formulated and sent to all Members of the Parliament. It is rather befuddling that such a section has yet to be introduced to the increasing number of voter guidance pages. Now would be the time to develop one, in between elections, he suggests.

His views have already received support from the Finnish Somali League.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Vesa Moilainen / Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
The Government of Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre) has drawn up a number of employment-related measures to improve the competitiveness of domestic industries, including a legislative change that would allow for local bargaining.

Lauri Ihalainen (SDP), a former Minister of Labour, has called attention to the words of President Sauli Niinisto on price competitiveness.

Improvements in price competitiveness cannot be solely about the easier distribution of gains. We must implement sufficiently general  or even company-specific  commitments to using the gains as discussed, in order to safeguard jobs, Niinisto stated in his New Year's Speech.

His ideas are both interesting and topical, according to Ihalainen.

I dare concretise and elaborate on this important idea further. An essential precondition for local bargaining in Germany is trust, which rests upon the representation of employees in the administrative boards of companies. Company-specific, so-called recovery agreements have also been adopted there during difficult times. The employees have been rewarded for their flexibility after the difficulties have been overcome, Ihalainen said in his speech in Vantaa on Wednesday.

Of course, this is not unheard of in Finland, he added.

Several companies in Germany, however, have also committed to not making any lay-offs during the period of recovery agreements for the sake of their credibility. Fair game. Could a concrete idea such as this, which supports the thinking of the President, become a part of local bargaining also in Finland? Ihalainen asked in his speech.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Petteri Paalasmaa / Uusi Suomi

Source: Uusi Suomi
CITY OKs PUBLIX ON GREENVILLE HIGHWAY

The Hendersonville City Council on Thursday authorized a developer to build a new Publix store on Greenville Highway at White Street, the first Henderson County store for the Lakeland, Fla.-based grocer that has thrived for decades on a reputation for customer service and an up-to-date shopping experience.

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The project would take up a 6.8-acre piece of land currently occupied by Atha Plaza, the old Tractor Shed building, the Pro-Source contractor supply company and El Paso restaurant.

Tom Vincent, president of Halvorsen Development, described his company as one of the oldest developers of Publix-anchored shopping centers in the entire Southeast. The Hendersonville market, he added, is an attractive area for the Florida chain.

Once Publix started looking as a market Hendersonville was one of the towns they were excited about being able to bring a store to, he said. This is definitely an exciting opportunity for us.

The council approved variances to allow a retaining wall and driveway to encroach on the Mud Creek stream buffer at the rear of the property and to relocate required landscaping from the back property line to the southwest corner, and the council approved a special-use permit and rezoning to Planned Commercial Development that will allow the project to go forward.

The council heard concerns about flooding and traffic but found none of them severe enough to derail the project.

Jim Barnett, who owns property across Greenville Highway from the site, for the fifth or sixth time in recent public hearings on southside development made the case for acting now to solve persistent flooding problems in the area. This time, he seemed to get some traction.

Barnett said he supports the project. However I feel obligated to point out to you that its going to create some flooding problems, he said. The Publix project, combined with a new Ingles market the council has already approved, could cause flooding of adjoining properties, he said.

You have the opportunity if you have the desire and will to solve this problem. I suggest you make a retention pond out of that 12 acres that would help solve the flooding problem down there tremendously.

Now is the time to do this because you have access to it, he added. Once they begin the project you wont have access to it.  That would be a blessing to the south side of Hendersonville. And this is your opportunity. Youll never have it again because youll never have access to the property again.

The developer will need to elevate the entire site, which is in the Mud Creek floodplain, by 5 feet. But while doing that, the applicant said, it will make stormwater treatment and drainage improvements that ensure flooding and water quality are no worse than it is now. In fact, engineers said, runoff will be cleaner. The development will bring two stormwater best management practices on site that will both treat the stormwater  and also provide retention, which will lessen the severity of flooding, said Eric Hampton, an engineer with Kimley Horn.

Under questioning by the council, Hampton acknowledged Barnetts proposal would alleviate flooding.

The idea is excellent and it was actually something we considered previously, Hampton said. From our site specifically, the challenge is that were downstream. From our project specifically, unfortunately were not in the right spot.

Council members Steve Caraker and Jeff Miller said they saw merit in Barnetts proposal.

Weve got an opportunity here to do something good, Caraker said.

The council directed city staff to work with Halvorsen on stormwater improvements, including potentially an easement that would allow the city to run a pipe from the Publix site to the 12-acre city-owned parcel behind the store. It's possible the city could pitch in to the flooding prevention project by making a retention pond on the city land, as Barnett proposed.

Council members and adjoining property owners also expressed concerns about two traffic issues: the narrowness of White Street and the fact that the developer does not plan a stoplight at the southern entrance of the parking lot  across from Copper Penny Drive. DOT district engineer Steve Cannon said the projected trips per day are not so high that they triggered a requirement for a stoplight.

White Street improvements have been moved up on the DOTs funding schedule. Were looking at about six years out, Cannon said of the completion date for White Street widening.
Blue Ridge getting new CEO in April

Richard Hudespeth will become CEO of Blue Ridge Community Health Services on April 1.

The medical director of Blue Ridge Community Health Services will become CEO of the nonprofit health care provider on April 1 when CEO Jennifer Henderson transitions to a senior development role, BRCHS announced on Thursday.

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Dr. Richard Hudspeth will become the new CEO at BRCHS on April 1 in a move the agency said in a news release was the result of a year-long strategic plan.

We realized that succession planning played an essential role in our strategic plan, BRCHS Board Chair Cindy Pierce said. During the process, we also identified the organizations need for an even greater emphasis on business development activities. Given the growth already established under her leadership, Jennifer requested to move from CEO into a role solely focused on new ventures, expanded services, affiliations and partnerships. The board then worked closely with Jennifer and BRCHS leadership to identify her best possible executive successor.

Richard brings strong physician leadership skills to his new role," Pierce said. "During his short time with BRCHS as CMO, he has already demonstrated his commitment to our patients, mission and quality. He has quickly become a valuable member of a strong leadership team that works exceptionally well together. We look forward to what his leadership will bring as CEO."

Since Henderson joined the organization as CEO, the non-profit health center has experienced dramatic growth from serving 10,000 patients in two locations in 2007, to serving over 40,000 active patients in 13 locations across western North Carolina in 2015.

Im confident that BRCHS has the right people in the right places to position BRCHS well for the future," Henderson said.

Hudspeth has served as the Chief Medical Officer since May of 2015 and on the BRCHS medical staff since June 2013. He has been practicing in Henderson County as faculty in the MAHEC Hendersonville Family Practice Residency program at Hendersonville Family Health Center, as well as at the Henderson County Health Department and Pardee Hospital for over 10 years. Prior to assuming the position of CMO, Dr. Hudspeth served as the Medical Director for Community Care of Western North Carolina. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He did an obstetrics fellowship at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where he practiced in a community health center before returning to North Carolina.

BRCHS is a non-profit community health center that operates medical, dental and mental health care at Blue Ridge Health Center, Hendersonville Family Health Center; Seventh Avenue Health Center in Hendersonville; Brevard Health Center, Arden Health Center, Rutherford Health Center in Spindale, and the Polk Health Center in Columbus and in four Henderson County Public Schools.
Operation Toasty Toes standing down

Patricia Pirog, Leslie Skowronek and Sigi Hendrickson receive applause after the Henderson County Board of Commissioners honored Operation Toasty Toes.

After 13 years of shipping socks, caps and slippers to warm military personnel in war zones across the globe, Operation Toasty Toes is standing down.

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On Monday the Henderson County Board of Commissioners honored the Flat Rock-based knitters with a resolution of appreciation for their years of "providing warmth, comfort and support for military personnel whether on land or sea."

The local knitters formed as Chapter 7 of the Ohio-based organization. They mailed their first box containing 106 pairs of slippers on March 14, 2002, to the Western North Carolina-based U.S. Army National Guard 210th and the 211th MP Units, which had been deployed to the mountains of Afghanistan.

Hazel McDermott and Chris McFadden were the first two Henderson County ladies offering to help, Pirog said in a farewell letter. To this day I miss both of them. Hazel was an advanced knitter. I related stories of this generous woman to the committee.

A fantastic part of the committee was their generosity to share knitting and crocheting techniques. I have found that knitting instruction books still assume that you know the small procedures one only can learn from an experienced crafter.  The response from former knitters brought the committee hundreds of skeins of yarn as well as needles and books. We had no funds and no yarn at that point. Often theirs words stressed I can no longer knit but want my yarn to go to a good cause. As the program became known the funds came in.

Pirog announced last week that for personal and medical reasons she is giving up leadership of the chapter and disbanding it.

In accordance with the chapters charter, the knitting group donated all its possessions to the V.A. Medical Center in Asheville including a new computer, a DVD player, four Christmas trees with lights, patriotic ornaments and photos of military personnel who received Toasty Toes packages, and a certified check for $10,000. Pirog thanked her husband, Joe, for letting her turn their home into a yarn shop, military personnel who served, Toasty Toes donors and knitters and elected leaders.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has claimed Fianna Fail are not fit for government and Micheal Martin has "isolated" his party from that possibility.

In the first real fighting talk of the election campaign, the two party leaders traded blows over who should be the next Taoiseach.

During a radio interview, the Fianna Fail leader said people want Enda Kenny out of office and that Fine Gael's right-wing policy for reducing tax would damage public services.

He also insisted he can lead the next government despite his party lagging behind Fine Gael and Sinn Fein in the polls.

But responding from the Netherlands, where he is on a trade mission, Mr Kenny said the attack was an act of "desperation".

"They've already isolated themselves completely from government and that's in the words of Micheal Martin himself.

"Here's the leader of a party, the direct link to what caused an economic catastrophe in our country, which drove away thousands of our young people," the Taoiseach said.

He argued that Mr Martin "wants to return back to the ways that drove those people away".

Cliches

And he suggested Fianna Fail are now "convulsed" with attacking Fine Gael in an effort to distract from their battle with Sinn Fein.

Mr Martin then issued a statement through the press office accusing Mr Kenny of resorting to "a string of well-worn cliches".

"No matter how much he blusters, Enda Kenny can't get away from the fact that his tax plans are deeply unfair," Mr Martin said.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams also weighed into the argument accusing both politicians of engaging in a "sham fight".

"The present Fine Gael-led Government is merely implementing a policy plan laid out for it by their Fianna Fail predecessors," he said.
A New York restaurant has developed the ultimate in decadent doughnuts, all filled with champagne jam and finished with gold leaf

It is a ring, and it is covered in bling - but as the jam filling and icing suggest, this is for eating, not wearing.

A New York restaurant has developed the ultimate in decadent doughnuts, all filled with champagne jam and finished with gold leaf, which is selling for $100 (70) each or $1,000 for a dozen.

It was the idea of Bjorn DelaCruz, head chef of the Manila Social Club, in Brooklyn. He was inspired to create the Golden Cristal Ube Doughnut after teaming up with a local brewery to make a beer-flavoured icing, which was then dusted with 24k gold.

Inside is ube mousse and champagne jam

He stumbled on the right combination while sipping a particular brand of champagne with a doughnut.

"The reason I chose Cristal champagne is because it has really great honey notes, which go great with ube," he said.
Eight post offices have been targeted by armed raiders nationwide since the start of last month (Stock photo)

Eight post offices have been targeted by armed raiders nationwide since the start of last month leading to calls for An Post to carry out a review of its security procedures.

Sources have said there is concern among gardai that the glass partitions in post office counters are "not secure enough" after a number were smashed open by criminals during recent robberies.

Of the eight armed raids since December 1, two happened last Tuesday in Dublin.

Machete

In the first, at around 9am at Jobstown post office on Kiltalown Road, Tallaght, two men armed with a sledgehammer and a machete took the contents of the till before making off in a grey Mitsubishi Spacestar.

Thirty minutes later, shots were fired during an armed robbery at Roebuck post office in Dundrum.

After entering the premises, one of two men fired shots that shattered the glass partition at the counter.

He then jumped over the counter and stole an amount of cash. The second man took money from a cash register.

The pair then fled in a stolen Subaru, which was later found near Mount Carmel Road in Goatstown.

While these were the first armed post office robberies of 2016, there were six in December.

At 2.30pm on December 23, three men were arrested after a robbery at the post office in Athboy, Co Meath, in which one raider was armed with a sawn-off shotgun.

A sum of cash, believed to be several thousand euro, was handed over and three men fled the scene in a car, but it crashed a short distance away.

Two days earlier, the Bawnogue post office in Clondalkin was the target of a raid in which a sledgehammer was used to smash a glass partition.

On December 17, the Killinarden Post Office in Tall- aght was targeted, and sources said gardai are investigating whether the same local gang responsible for this robbery were also behind the Jobstown raid.

On December 12, the post office in Crosshaven, Cork, was targeted, while on December 3, three men were arrested after a botched robbery at the Leonard's Corner post office in south inner city Dublin.

At about 12.30pm, three masked men armed with knives, a crowbar and other weapons entered the post office before threatening customers and staff.

They failed in their attempts to open a safe and fled empty-handed.

A post office in Carlow town was also targeted on December 1.
Ceremony held for new baseball stadium, games months off

A ceremony was held for a multi-use sports facility in Hagerstown on Tuesday, but the first pitch is still months away.
Hundreds of students gathered together outside of the UCF's Student Union to celebrate with the Jewish organization Chabad and its co-sponsors AEPI, AEPHI, ZBT and Knights for Israel with a menorah lighting ceremony. The event provided latkes, Chanukah music and a toy drive.

President Hitt opened the ceremony and lit the Shamash, the center candle on the menorah, which is used to light the other candles. Hitt welcomed the evening and Chabad with some inspirational words.

"When I became president in 1992, one of the five key goals that I established for UCF was to become more inclusive and diverse. This event illustrates the inclusivity and diversity that distinguishes our campus along with the universal value of coming together for the common good," Hitt said.

Dean Pizam of the Rosen School of Hospitality sang the blessings, lit the candles for the third night of Chanukah, and led the crowd in Maoz Tzur and other traditional Chanukah songs.

Rabbi-Chaim Lipskier took to the podium to speak briefly about the holiday.

Many students were excited to be at the event including freshman Rachel Huss. She explained why joining Chabad was important to her. "I went to a small Jewish school so I wanted to continue to learn about Judaism and Chabad's a great place. I've learned a lot and hang out with a lot of Jews so it's really nice. It's like a little community."

The highlight of the evening was the toy drive represented by Jewish Adoptions and Foster Care Options (JAFCO). Hundreds of toys were donated by the students.

JAFCO is an organization that provides services to abused and neglected children. Representing the organization for the toy drive was Chabad member Samantha Simon. JAFCO is near and dear to her heart for many reasons and she explained why, along with how she collaborated with Chabad. "JAFCO was a big part of my life, my parents were the first foster parents when the organization began in 1992, so my little sister was adopted through JAFCO. I actually had foster kids in my home growing up. I had been going to Chabad and one Chanukah I came to Rabbi Lipskier and said let's give back, we have such a large community, I would love to find a way to reach out to them and give back to an organization I love."

The evening concluded with some final words about the message Chanukah brings from Rabbi Lipskier, who was also celebrating the birth of his son who arrived a couple of hours before the event.

Brothers from Zeta Beta Tau.

"When you see darkness in the world, when you see pain in the world, when you see what's wrong with the world, there are two options. Either A, its G-d telling you this is your mission in life, it's your job to fix it but that's why he showing you these problems, or B, it's time to bring light into your own life and you need to fix yourself. If we take that message to heart, that every time we see pain and suffering, every time we see a moment of darkness, every time we see a struggle, or something that's not okay, ask yourself, A, what can I do about it, is this my mission to fix? Because often times it is. Or B, am I just seeing things a little bit off cause I need some fixing? I think it's essentially what the message of Chanukah really is: adding light."

To learn more about JAFCO please visit Jafco.org

To learn more about Chabad at UCF or to make a donation please visit jewishucf.com

This article was originally published on Knights News.
Whether it's your first time in Israel or your 50th, there's something undeniably magical about Eretz Yisrael. For me, our December trip was my fifth visit to the Land of Milk and Honey. It was my husband Micah's first.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned at all about security prior to our trip. We traveled on El Al and, knowing the airline's stringent security procedures, we were confident of our safety. On advice from a friend who had recently traveled to Israel, we packed pepper spray in our luggage. Although it was unopened, El Al confiscated it at the Newark Airport. However, security personnel did not confiscate the packages of candy and cards I brought for Israeli soldiers from Hebrew school students. More on that later.

Once we were in Israel, however, we felt safe. We both said we felt safer there than in some parts of Philly. In fact, we walked back to our Jerusalem hotel at 11:30 at night after an evening of Israeli dancing. On our walk, we saw several people walking their dogs, and women walking alone as well. We did wear backpacks a lot, in a feeble effort to thwart any potential knife attacks from behind.

However, signs of previous terrorist tacks are inescapable. Every time I saw a young person walking with a cane or in a wheelchair, I had to wonder what caused their physical condition. Was it service in the IDF? A terrorist attack? We often think of the fatalities, but we also often forget those who must live with injuries for a lifetime. And our view of the now-defunct Dolphinarium from our hotel in Tel Aviv was a stark reminder. The nightclub was the site of a Hamas terrorist attack in 2001, killing 21 Israeli teens and four adults. The building stands as a memorial to the victims.

We had a slight scare one night in Jaffa. It was a Friday night and, although Jaffa is a mixed city of Arabs and Jews, the shops were closed. We walked up a darkened alley to window-shop, and I stopped to take a photo of a plaque about an old synagogue. We then heard several popping sounds, and Micah said he smelled gunpowder. We calmly walked out of the alley back into the lit plaza, a bit dazed and shaken.

While riding in the relative safety of our tour bus, I did notice police frisking a young Arab man close to the Old City in Jerusalem. Our bus went through East Jerusalem as well as the West Bank. In the West Bank, our tour guide explained the ABCs of Palestinian control. Area A is under full control of the Palestinian Authority and consists primarily of urban Palestinian areas. Area B is under Palestinian civil control and shared Palestinian and Israeli security control and includes the vast majority of the Palestinian rural areas. Area C is under full Israeli control. My husband and I declined an optional tour to Bethlehem, which is under Palestinian Authority rule.

When our group was walking in the Muslim section of the Old City, I saw a nearby vendor take a small knife out of his pocket. I kept an eye on him the entire time, as he proceeded to peel a piece of fresh fruit. I felt slightly guilty about profiling him, but one can't be too careful.

In the Golan Heights, we saw United Nations observers who were monitoring the situation in Syria. We could actually view Syria at one point. I was half expecting to see and hear Russian warplanes overhead.

We were on a group tour, but we had plenty of free time. As an active member of Hadassah Greater Philadelphia, I contacted Hadassah in Israel in advance to arrange a tour of the new Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower at Ein Kerem. This visit was one of the high points of our trip. It held special meaning for me; my mother, Janet Landy, passed away in March and one of my Hadassah "sisters" made an extremely generous donation to the Tower in my mother's memory.

When our taxi pulled up to the Tower, we noticed a military helicopter on the landing pad not far from the Tower entrance. While it may have been unrelated, the afternoon that we visited the Tower, a terrorist rammed his car into a group of Israelis at a bus stop in Jerusalem; six of the injured were brought to Hadassah Ein Kerem. We were oblivious to this; I only found out later from an Israel news email I received.

We ended our hospital tour in the chapel that bears the famed Chagall windows. While they certainly are beautiful, it is disappointing to me that this is all most Israel tours show. Hadassah is so much more than that; it conducts cutting-edge medical research and is a bridge-and a window-to peace.

Other highlights for me were giving the students' candy and cards to off-duty police at the Western Wall and to soldiers in the northern Galilee; witnessing two bar mitzvah processions in the narrow walkways of Tsfat; being the only person from our tour to walk up the snake path to Masada; riding a dromedary (not a camel) for the first time; running into a University of Florida student whose friend knows my son (also a student there) at the bar at a kibbutz hotel; seeing two folks wearing Gators gear at another hotel; revisiting Yad Lakashish, Lifeline for the Old in Jerusalem, which offers senior citizens social services, trains them in crafts and sells their beautiful merchandise; and lighting the candles on the last night of Chanukah with Dr. Ruth Westheimer at our hotel in Jerusalem!

Darcy Grabenstein UN observers in the Golan Heights at the Syrian border.

As I was writing this article, I received an email about a terrorist stabbing attack at the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem's Old City. Three people were killed, and another critically injured. This hits terribly close to home, as we used that gate numerous times during our stay in Jerusalem.

Everywhere we went in Israel-Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Tiberias, Haifa and Tel Aviv-there were no visible signs of fear among the residents. It was business as usual, with throngs shopping in the markets for Shabbat, people relaxing at sidewalk cafes and filled city buses traveling their routes.

Would I go back to Israel any time soon, given the recent terror attacks? In a heartbeat. Israel needs our support now more than ever.

Am Yisrael chai.

Darcy Grabenstein, formerly Darcy Silvers, is a former editor of the Heritage Florida Jewish News, and now lives in Philadelphia.
JERUSALEM (JTA)-The hardest part was loading the assault rifle.

That's not because he was a newbie, unaccustomed to the workings of a Tavor rifle. Rather, 1st Sgt. Izzy Ezagui had lost an arm in combat.

He'd overcome seemingly insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles and got a posting on a base in the Negev. And so his next challenge began: He had to prove he could still fight.

Ezagui is the only combat soldier with an amputation to serve as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces reserves. For him, returning to the army meant proving to himself that his life could still be the same-even with a single arm.

"It's a weird thing to send a guy with one arm into combat," he told JTA. "I was so excited to go back and erase the damage that was done."

Today, seven years after his injury, Ezagui travels around the United States, advocating for Israel's moral standing and giving motivational speeches about overcoming injury.

But the most challenging element of his recovery wasn't physical. It was convincing the army to let a one-armed soldier go back to war.

"When I woke up, everything was difficult," Ezagui said. "Whether by force or innovation, there was always a solution waiting for me. I imagined that would translate to combat as well."

Ezagui, now 27, grew up in a Chabad community in central Florida. He moved to Israel with his family in 2007 and enlisted in the IDF in 2008. He was stationed on the southern border that December, about to take part in Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip, when a mortar shell hit him, knocking him out and ripping off his dominant left arm.

Not long after he came to at the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva, Ezagui said he resolved to fight again in the army. Ezagui is a Zionist and feels an obligation to serve. But he said his main motivation for returning to the IDF was a desire to restore his old life as much as possible.

"I feel whole when I'm back," he said. "I don't feel held back because of what happened, but I thought for sure I would never see combat again."

IDF officials were also sure Ezagui could never re-enlist. After his injury, a string of officers visited him in the hospital. He asked every one of them to help him get back in uniform, but they all said it would be impossible.

Then he met Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Galant, then-head of the IDF Southern Command. Galant took Ezagui's aspirations seriously, and pushed his request through IDF bureaucracy. He also took Ezagui into his home, hosting him for a Passover seder the spring following his injury.

"Not just getting back into the army, but getting into the army as a combat soldier would be something illogical," said Galant, who is now Israel's housing minister. "But he was determined, with a lot of willpower."

About a year after his injury, in December 2009, the IDF agreed to reinstate Ezagui on one condition: That he pass all the tests combat soldiers take during their training. Ordinary privates get eight months to pass the tests; Ezagui got just one.

"I made sure to come off very secure in the fact that it would work, and I'm pretty sure I fooled everyone," he said. "I probably fooled myself too."

Ezagui had to complete tasks ranging from climbing a rope to throwing a grenade. He lived on an army base while he trained, and climbed a rope outside a cafeteria before every meal. To unpin his grenade with one hand, Ezagui wrapped scotch tape around the pin and pulled it out with his teeth.

Then there was loading that rifle. It's a task soldiers learn in basic training-and with two hands, it's not that hard. Hold the rifle, put the magazine in, snap it into place.

But without an extra hand to stabilize the rifle, the magazine would pop back out as soon as he loaded it. Over and over, he tried to load the Tavor single-handedly; he attempted the drill so many times at one point that he had to rest his remaining arm in a sling.

After a week of failure, Ezagui realized there was only one way to complete the task: Prop the rifle up on the ground, brace himself and press the stump of his amputated left arm into the gun, holding it in place.

It hurt; phantom pain shot through him as the rifle's jagged edge cut into the stump. He fought to stave off a blackout. But after a few seconds, a shot of adrenaline coursed through his body. With the extra energy, Ezagui loaded the gun, rested it on his shoulder and hit his targets.

"If I kept pressing, that darkness would dissipate, and I was boosted with adrenaline," Ezagui said. "I was shooting better because of the injury. I was seeing the target clearer. Time was slowing down. What started out as a flaw became a potent weapon for me."

Ezagui passed all the tests without a hitch. He served until December 2011, spending much of that time in Hebron.

When he was called back on reserve duty in 2012 for the next round of fighting in Gaza, he found himself once again stationed on the border. The troops ended up not invading, but the setting brought Ezagui back to his 2008 injury.

"We were lying on the concrete in sleeping bags, ready to go in whenever they tell us," he said. "I heard the snores of all the reservists, and I was just thinking, 'holy crap, there are so many things I haven't done in life, and I may not be able to do them.'"

Following his service, Ezagui traveled to Thailand, where he worked as a bartender. He began giving speeches in the U.S. in 2012. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is writing a memoir.

Ezagui still comes back to Israel for reserve duty every year-something most male Israeli veterans do until age 40 or 45-completing exercises and trudging through the mud with the rest of his unit.

"It's a part of who I am today," he said. "I've done so much, it was such a struggle to make it back. It would feel like a waste to not continue."

Ezaqui also has been a spokesman for Ezra International, an organization that locates Jewish people in remote parts of the world and helps them move to Israel. In an article that ran Feb. 7, 2014, Ezaqui told the Heritage why he was involved with this organization. "They are bringing the rest of us home. We can protect them here."
Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has proposed a bill that would require NGOs that receive foreign government funding to publicize that fact in all public communications.

TEL AVIV (JTA)-Its backers call it a victory for transparency. Opponents say it smacks of dictatorship.

Either way, a new bill requiring certain Israeli nongovernmental organizations to publicly declare their foreign government funding is moving toward passage after it was approved by a Cabinet committee on Sunday. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who proposed the bill, said it uncovers foreign meddling in Israeli affairs.

"The transparency law, which passed the ministerial committee for legislation today, doesn't label people and doesn't label organizations," Shaked, a member of the pro-settler Jewish Home party, wrote Sunday on Facebook. "It labels the foreign interest of different states, which seek to enable NGOs here, and in whose name they give hundreds of millions of shekels."

Shaked's bill is the latest in a string of measures undertaken by Israel's right-wing governments to target left-wing NGOs. Sunday's vote occurred two weeks after government ministers restricted the activities of Breaking the Silence, an organization of military veterans that draws attention to alleged Israeli military abuses in the West Bank.

In 2011, the Knesset enacted a law requiring NGOs to declare any foreign government funding on a quarterly basis. A 2013 bill sought to levy high taxes on foreign government donations, but foundered after the Israeli attorney general advised that it was unconstitutional.

Recent years have also seen legislative efforts to prohibit boycotts of settlement products and allow individual soldiers to sue groups that defame the army.

"This is part of the attempt to hurt groups that criticize the regime," said Amir Fuchs, a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute think tank. "They're trying to put NGOs on the stand and say they're not legitimate."

Shaked's bill would require NGOs that receive a majority of their support from "foreign political entities" to declare that funding and detail it every time they put out a report or speak with a public official. An earlier draft of the law would have required representatives of such groups to wear badges identifying themselves as lobbyists of foreign governments.

The NGOs affected by the bill have decried the measure as an attempt to silence opponents in Israel of the government's policies. They say by singling out foreign government funding, which goes mostly to left-wing groups, the bill ignores foreign funding of right-wing groups by private donors.

"This creates a negative image and has no place in a democratic state," said Yariv Oppenheimer, executive director of Peace Now, which would fall under the bill's purview, having received donations in the past from the British, Belgian and Spanish governments. "There's no reason I should wear a tag that says I get foreign funding while right-wing NGOs will stand next to me as if they got all their funding from home."

Right-wing politicians have been working to clamp down on left-wing NGOs since 2009, when a United Nations report accusing Israel of war crimes cited research by left-wing groups. Shaked's bill, which would expand the disclosure requirements of the 2011 law, comes amid a campaign by the right-wing organization Im Tirtzu, which has posted ads in major cities accusing prominent left-wing activists of being foreign "moles" in Israel and supporting terror.

Im Tirtzu's founder, Ronen Shoval, wrote in a column on the news website Walla that the bill provides necessary transparency around foreign entities seeking to meddle in Israeli affairs.

"Imagine what would happen if the state of Israel chose to give money to groups in Spain working toward Catalan or, God forbid, Basque independence," Shoval wrote. "For years, European states have been undermining Israeli democracy."

NGO Monitor, an Israeli organization that scrutinizes the work of human rights organizations, says European governments provide some $100 million in direct or indirect funding to NGOs operating in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza-funding that constitutes an illegitimate effort to sway Israeli policy.

"When sovereign states disagree, they disagree through diplomacy and other measures," said NGO Monitor President Gerald Steinberg, who said his group neither opposes nor supports the bill, though it has long drawn attention to what it calls the "problem" of foreign NGO funding. "They do not do it through the manipulation of civil society. When states provide money to influence policy in another country, that's a unique infringement on sovereignty."

Critics counter that Shaked's bill represents a ploy to suppress dissent by taking aim largely at groups on the left. The New Israel Fund, which funds several groups that would be affected by the law, said Sunday in a statement that the bill "is a very precise imitation of the policies of Putin's Russia and other authoritarian regimes clamping down on civil society."

Centrist and left-wing politicians are also criticizing the bill as a vehicle to shame left-wing groups. The notion that the law enhances transparency is a sham, they say, since the 2011 law already requires financial disclosure.

Critics also called the bill inconsistent for mandating a public declaration of governmental funding, but not of private donations. Peace Now released a study earlier this month reporting that hundreds of millions of shekels in private donations to nine right-wing NGOs could not be traced to a specific individual or organization.

"This is not a law aimed at transparency, rather a law aimed at labeling Israelis," opposition lawmaker Tzipi Livni wrote Sunday on Facebook. "The goal in this law is to label bodies that oppose the government's policy."
(Jewniverse via JTA)-A priest, a rabbi, and an imam walk into a bar...

Actually, this isn't a joke or a bar. It's an extraordinary new building called the House of One, which will combine a mosque, a synagogue and a church in Petriplatz, also known as "the medieval birthplace of Berlin."

Yes, Berlin-as Rabbi Tovia Ben-Chorin says in House of One's promotional video, "For me as a Jew, this city is 'The City of Wounds' and 'The City of Miracles.'"

The House of One will welcome people of multiple faiths and hopefully mark a new era in religious tolerance. The religious leaders spearheading the project along with Ben-Chorin are Pastor Gregor Hohberg and Imam Kadir Sanci. The design team, which was picked through a competition, is from the Kuehn Malvezzi architectural firm, and it has released some images of the proposed structure. There will be one door for everyone to walk through. From there, each worshipper may climb the stairs and choose one of three prayer spaces to enter.

Even the construction phase is about collaboration. Everyone is encouraged to donate a brick for 10 euros a pop-that's nearly $11. The founders encourage everyone to get involved, and even invite people to send in suggestions for their calendar of events, which will include prayer, festivals, art and debate.

Americans, relax: You'll get one, too. NPR just reported that one is coming to Omaha, Nebraska-on the site of an old Jewish country club!

Abby Sher is a writer and performer living in Brooklyn.

Jewniverse is a daily email list and blog featuring extraordinary, inspirational, forgotten, and just-plain-strange dispatches from Jewish culture, tradition and history. Sign up at www.TheJewniverse.com.
Throughout 2016 the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida will be celebrating its 30th anniversary. During the year they will present special programming that honors both the past and the future of the Center.

Included in the plans is a series titled "I Remember: Reflections of Eyewitnesses to the Holocaust" which will feature local Holocaust survivors who will share their stories. These programs will begin on Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and will include a brief presentation by the Center's founder, Tess Wise. That evening will also feature the opening of a new exhibit, The Profound Effect.

The history of the Holocaust Center reflects the extraordinary vision of its founders. In the early 1980s, a committee came together to explore ways to create a memorial to those who had died in the Holocaust and to educate against the prejudices that allowed the Holocaust to happen. In spite of expert advice that suggested that Orlando was too small for a large project, the committee, led by Tess and Abe Wise, laid the groundwork for an active educational Center.

They began with a broadly-supported community-wide conference on the Holocaust in 1981, co-sponsored by the newly-formed Holocaust Center (then known as the Holocaust Project of Valencia Community College), Florida Humanities Council, Valencia Community College, and the Jewish Federation. It brought in nationally known scholars, and it was so successful that it was followed in 1982 by a local Conference on Terrorism. In 1982 the Holocaust Education and Resource Center, housed at the JCC, became an autonomous organization and elected its first board of directors.

From the beginning, the focus was on the social, historical, moral, ethical and economic implications of the Holocaust for today. Its earliest projects centered on teacher education, programs for school-aged youth, community awareness, preservation of survivor testimony, and a community commemorative event for Yom HaShoah, a day of remembrance of the six million Jews who died under Nazi rule. The Center's staff and supporters were also actively involved in the campaign to include Holocaust education in the mandated state curriculum. That statute was finally adopted in 1994.

In 1986, a Holocaust Center facility was constructed, a professional museum exhibit was installed, and a library with documentary and archival collections was developed. The Center received national recognition for its unique facility-the only one of its kind in the Southeast until 1996-as well as for its dedication to world-class, innovative programming. The building was significantly enlarged in 1994 to accommodate larger class visits, and a new storage area was added in 2005.

Today, the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center offers a variety of programs to sensitize the public to issues of tolerance, diversity and respect for cultural differences. Its leadership and supporters firmly believe that preserving the past helps us protect the future, and that a moral and just community grows from understanding the watershed events of human history.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, executive director of T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, at a protest in New York organized by the right-wing Americans for a Safe Israel, Dec. 22, 2015.

WASHINGTON (JTA)-The issue of torture in Israel has received unusual attention in recent weeks because of the identity of the alleged victims.

Human rights groups say nothing is new in the allegations that Jewish youths, arrested in connection with an arson attack over the summer that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents in the West bank village of Duma, were tortured by Israel's Shin Bet internal security service.

For years, Palestinians have charged Israeli authorities with doing much the same. And it is likely that, despite the renewed attention to the issue, little will change for a number of reasons, including the overarching trust that most Israelis place in their security services and the human tendency to fret over one's own more than the perceived enemy.

But for a moment, however brief, claims by Jewish suspects have yielded an unusual convergence, with left-wing groups that have long decried Israeli interrogation methods making common cause with groups on the right angry that the Shin Bet has swept up some of their own.

"As long as it happens to others-in our case, the Palestinians-it's one thing. But when it happens to a group that has greater access to media attention, it's another," said Yuval Shany, the dean of the law faculty at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, a group of experts that monitors compliance with international human rights standards. "A lot more attention was paid to these allegations than to parallel allegations by Palestinians."

Lawyers for the three Jewish youths detained in November alleged last week that their clients were deprived of sleep, blindfolded and beaten. At least one of them, Elisha Odess, has dual Israeli-American citizenship. His family maintains he is innocent.

Supporters of the youths, who are being held without charge-a practice known as administrative detention that is normally reserved for Palestinian terror suspects-have stirred some sympathy in light of the allegations. A protest rally in Jerusalem last week drew hundreds, and a right-wing American pro-Israel group, Americans for a Safe Israel, organized a vigil outside the Israeli Consulate in New York.

Moshe Feiglin, a one-time contender for the leadership of the ruling Likud party, bemoaned the allegations of detention in an Op-Ed in the Jewish Press, an Orthodox New York weekly.

"What kind of state will be left after this horror, taking place with the authorization and oversight of the 'law'?" Feiglin asked.

The Shin Bet, Israel's main internal security agency, denied the allegations in a rare statement, calling them "lies," and the prevalent reaction among Israeli leaders was to side with the agency. Naftali Bennett, an Israeli Cabinet minister and leader of the pro-settler Jewish Home party, defended the agency in a statement typical of a political class that, with exceptions only on the margins, tends to defer to the security establishment as the best guarantor of the country's safety.

"Those who, like us, support the Shin Bet's actions on Palestinian terrorism, whose objective is to save Jewish lives, can't oppose them when they're applied to Jewish terrorism," Bennett said at a conference for Orthodox educators, according to the Times of Israel.

David Haivri, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Kfar Tapuach, said there has been a mix of reactions among settlers, in part because of an appreciation of the Shin Bet's role in quelling Palestinian terrorism.

"If this case of suspected Jewish terror hadn't come up, many would have been content with ignoring or even supporting the need for torture when interrogating [Arab] terrorists," Haivri said in an interview. "Now this case has caused a predicament."

The deference to the security establishment extends to mainstream American Jewish organizations, with groups that tend to pronounce on human rights issues-including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs-declining to comment on the charges.

Americans for a Safe Israel involved itself only because of its familiarity with the communities where the suspects lived, said Judy Kadish, a member of the group's board of directors.

"We tend to be action oriented, and knowing so many of the people in these settlements, knowing they're very good people and of very fine character, and they're religious Zionists, we felt this was what we should do," Kadish said.

Kadish said she did not expect the issue would continue to be a priority for her organization as it has become for left-wing groups, who have seized on the allegations to advance a wider campaign against Israeli interrogation methods. Rabbi Jill Jacobs, who directs T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, joined the Americans for a Safe Israel vigil, in part to make clear that torture is unacceptable regardless of the victim.

"The real test of human rights is whether you will apply it to people who are not sympathetic, to people who have done reprehensible things, including people who have killed a toddler, or people who are stabbing someone on the streets of Jerusalem," Jacobs said.

B'tselem, the leading Israeli human rights group in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, launched a campaign to show that Palestinian allegations exactly parallel those of the youths in the Duma case.

"People under interrogation must not be subjected to abuse and torture, no matter what," the group said on Twitter, captioning a picture of a man handcuffed to a chair with a quote from a Palestinian describing sleep deprivation methods similar to those that lawyers for the Duma suspects have related.

Naomi Paiss, a spokeswoman for the New Israel Fund, which helps fund B'Tselem, among other groups, said its American donors are keenly interested in the allegations. She said the donors also favor greater Israeli scrutiny of the extremist community that produced the Duma murderers and their enablers.

"Human rights are human rights," Paiss said. "It's so cynical for the Israeli government to make human rights a leftist issue. Torture is torture. You don't use it, period."
An Israeli man scavenging for food, June 24, 2015. Israel has among the highest food prices among advanced democracies, a recent study found.

TEL AVIV (JTA)-It has the highest poverty rate among affluent democracies, the fourth-worst income inequality and the seventh-lowest government spending on social services.

Those are among the dismal conclusions of the State of the Nation report, an annual set of papers on Israel's economy and society released last week by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies, a socioeconomic think tank. There is some good news sprinkled in, but the prognosis is mostly grim.

Here are six figures that portray the (largely) sad state of the Israeli economy.

More than one in five Israelis lives below the poverty line.

In 2015, 22 percent of Israelis lived below the poverty line, including one in three Israeli children. In 2011, the figure was slightly better, at 21 percent, but it was still the highest rate in in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, a group of the world's richest countries that is the comparison standard used by the Taub center.

More than three-quarters of haredi Orthodox Jewish men and Arab-Israeli women don't work.

As of 2011, only 20.9 percent of haredi Orthodox men and 22.6 percent of Arab women work. That, along with high birthrates, is why Arabs and haredim are the two poorest communities in Israel.

Arab women often don't work because of cultural pressures to stay at home and lack of access to jobs, according to Taub's research. Many haredi men choose to study Torah and live off government subsidies rather than work.

"The haredi parties want a lot of transfers for their parties, a lot of money for their people," Avi Weiss, Taub's executive director, told JTA. "When you give them that money, they sit at home."

Only three countries in the OECD are more unequal on income than Israel.

Israel fared better than only Turkey, Chile and the United States in after-tax income inequality in 2011, the latest year for which much of Taub's data is drawn. Israel ranks somewhat better in comparisons of gross income.

Taub attributes this to a steep income tax cut in 2007 that was meant to incentivize employment. Instead it lowered tax revenue and, with Israel spending so much on defense, left scant resources for social services.

"Israel is not closing the gap as much as other countries are," Weiss said. "We are paying a relatively low rate of taxes compared to European countries. If what is important to the politicians is decreasing inequality, one way to go about doing that is to get more from taxes."

Israel has had an above-average cost of living for 24 of the past 25 years.

When Israelis took to the streets to protest the cost of living in 2011, the data backed them up.

Israelis spend more on consumer goods in comparison to the residents of other OECD countries. Food prices are particularly inflated, Taub found, because there's too little competition between food producers and a low import rate. In industries where there are a lot of imports and healthy competition, such as furniture, prices have remained relatively low.

Israel's high-tech sector has become 66 percent more productive since '75.

Weiss calls Israel "a tale of two economies."

While its service and low-skill workers have below-average productivity, Israel's flagship sectors, like its high-tech ecosystem, are punching above their weight. Productivity in the service sector has barely increased since 1975, while productivity in the high-tech industry has shot up 66 percent. But high-tech and other productive sectors only make up one-third of Israel's economy.

Nearly 60 percent of Israeli jobs could be lost to computerization.

Like inequality and poverty, computerization is a challenge not unique to Israel. Like the United States, Israel could see most of its jobs become automated in the next 20 years. Workers from cashiers to telemarketers face a high risk of computerization, while bus drivers could also lose their jobs if self-driving cars hit the road. Doctors, social workers and creative professionals, however, would probably be safe.

Israel should rise to the challenge, Weiss says, by training haredim and others entering the labor market to work in high-skilled jobs that are likely to drive Israel's economy for decades.

"You can't train them in something where, 10 years down the line, they're not going to have a job anymore," Weiss said. "That's not going to last."
JERUSALEM (JTA)The United States monitored phone conversations between top Israeli officials and U.S. lawmakers as well as U.S. Jewish groups in the U.S., current and former U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.

The National Security Agencys foreign eavesdropping included conversations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his aides, and private conversations held between Israeli officials and U.S. lawmakers, according to the report published late Tuesday afternoon, citing more than two dozen unnamed U.S. officials.

The White House declined comment on the issue.

As a general matter, and as we have said previously, we do not conduct any foreign intelligence surveillance activities unless there is a specific and validated national security purpose, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said. This applies to ordinary citizens and world leaders alike.

Price in the statement outlined in detail the Obama administrations work on behalf of Israel.

No Administration has done more for Israels security than this one, from support for the Iron Dome missile defense system, which has saved countless Israeli lives, to an unprecedented munitions package valued at close to $2 billion that will ensure Israel continues to have access to state-of-the-art munitions for years to come, Price said.

The White House planned to use the intercepted information to counter Netanyahus campaign against the Iran nuclear deal on Capitol Hill, according to the Journal. A senior White House official told the Journal that the NSA decided what to share with the White House, and that while the Obama administration did not specifically order the eavesdropping, it did not order it halted.

Responding to the article, Israels intelligence and transportation minister, Yisrael Katz of Netanyahus ruling Likud party, said Wednesday that Israel does not spy on the United States and expects the same from Washington intelligence agencies. He called the United States our great friend.

If the Wall Street Journal reports turn out to be true, Katz told the Hebrew-language Ynet news website, Israel will file a formal protest with the American government and demand it stop all such activities.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., among the front-runners in polls for the Republican presidential nomination, said Israels concerns were legitimate.

They have a right to be concerned about the fact that while some leaders around the world are no longer being targeted, one of our strongest allies in the Middle East, Israel, is, he said in comments delivered to the Fox News Channel and reported by The Hill.

The intercepted conversations showed the White House how Netanyahu and his advisers had leaked details of the U.S.-Iran negotiation reportedly learned through Israeli spying operations to undermine the talks; coordinated talking points with Jewish-American groups against the deal, and asked undecided lawmakers what it would take to win their votes, the officials told the Journal.

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed the NSAs spying operations on friendly countries in 2013, an action that had been a closely held secret. Obama promised the following year to curb the eavesdropping.

The monitoring of Netanyahu continued, however, since it served a compelling national security purpose, the Journal reported, citing U.S. officials.

Israeli and U.S. intelligence units have been spying on each other since Obama took office, often using shared intelligence tools. The United States ramped up the spying in 2011 and 2012 while the U.S. held secret talks with Iran, due to concerns that Netanyahu would order an Israeli attack on Iran without U.S. knowledge, and later due to concerns that Israel would find out about the secret talks and leak them.

The eavesdropping later was used to get inside Israeli efforts to turn Congress against the Iran nuclear deal. The NSA removed the names of lawmakers from intelligence reports and removed personal information that could identify the lawmakers, the officials told the Journal.
Two Jewish-Israelis indicted in deadly Duma firebombing

JERUSALEM (JTA)Two Jewish-Israelis have been indicted in the deadly firebombing of a Palestinian familys home in the West Bank village of Duma.

Israeli prosecutors filed the indictments in Lod District Court on Sunday, when a gag order was lifted on some details of the July 31 arson attack case.

The main suspect is Amiram Ben-Uliel, 21, of Jerusalem, who was charged with three counts of murder, according to Israel Police. Three members of the Dawabshe familyan 18-month-old boy and his parentswere killed in the firebombing.

A minor, who cannot be named because of his age, also was charged as an accessory to murder, the police said in a statement.

According to the indictment, Ben-Uliel admitted to planning and carrying out the Duma attack. He said it was in retaliation for the murder of Malachi Rosenfeld, 25, in June in a drive-by shooting by Palestinian attackers in the West Bank on a road near Duma.

The police said in a statement that Ben-Uliel returned to the scene of the Duma attack and walked them through its events, in which he allegedly spray-painted graffiti including vengeance and long live the Messiah on the house before throwing firebombs through the window. Along with the three deaths, a child remains hospitalized and faces a difficult rehabilitation.

Members of Ben-Uliels family say they believe he is innocent and that he confessed to the crime because he was tortured during questioning.

The Shin Bet has denied allegations of torture, though it has acknowledged the interrogations included extraordinary actions, including moderate physical pressure that was approved and overseen by the relevant government authorities.

Ben-Uliel reportedly was detained by the Shin Bet security service on Dec. 1. His father, Reuven, is the rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Karmei Zur, where he grew up. The younger Ben Uliel was active in the movement to save the Ramat Migron outpost. Since the arson attack, he and his wife, who also was a settlement outpost activist, moved to Jerusalem, where they had a baby and became haredi Orthodox.

In its statement, the police hailed the extraordinary cooperation among the security agencies during what it called a complex investigation.

The investigation was of national importance and came to an end with the filing of indictments, the police said. In the fight against terrorism there are no shortcuts.

Also Sunday, in the same court, charges were filed against Yinon Reuveni, 20, for an arson attack in June on the Church of Loaves and Fishes in the Galilee. Reuveni and two minors also was charged with another arson attack in Jerusalem more than a year ago. Another minor was charged in a series of incidents of vandalism and arson.

Tel Aviv shooter identified as Arab-Israeli with history of violence

JERUSALEM (JTA)The gunman who shot up a bar in central Tel Aviv, killing two, was an Arab-Israeli man with a history of violence, Israel Police said.

The attacker was named as Nashat Melhem, 31, of Arara, a village in Wadi Ara in northern Israel. A gag order was lifted on his identity on Saturday evening, the day after the shooting that also injured several people.

As of Sunday night, a massive manhunt was on for Melhem, who received a five-year jail sentence in 2007 for attacking an Israeli soldier and attempting to seize his gun.

Schools in Tel Aviv opened as scheduled, but only about half the students showed up. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said children whose parents did not send them to school would not be penalized.

Leaders of the Arab-Israeli community in Wadi Ara condemned the attack.

Melhems father, a volunteer policeman, called police Friday after seeing security camera footage of the attack on television and recognizing his son. Melhems brother, Jaudat, was arrested Friday on suspicion of being an accessory to the crime, according to reports.

The shooter opened fire on a pub next to the popular Dizengoff Center Mall in an area full of people enjoying what is a weekend afternoon in Israel.

In 2007, Melham said he attacked the soldier to avenge the death of his cousin, who was killed in 2006 in a police raid. Melhem also was arrested prior to his jailing for selling drugs. According to the family attorney, he suffers from mental disorders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site of the Tel Aviv attack on Saturday night. Standing amid a makeshift memorial to the victims of the attack, including dozens of memorial candles, he sent condolences to the families of the victims of what he called a heinous and unbelievably vicious murder, and wishes for a quick recovery to the injured. He called on the public to be on maximum alert.

I appreciate the condemnations of the crime that have been made by the Arab public, Netanyahu said. I must say that I expect all Arab MKs, all of them without exception, to clearly condemn the murder without hesitation. Murder is murder, and must be condemned and acted against from whatever quarter.

The prime minister also acknowledged what he called wild radical Islamic incitement against the State of Israel in the Arab sector.

There is incitement in mosques, in the educational system and in social media, he said. I am not prepared to accept two states of Israela state of law for most of its citizens and a state within a state for some of them, in enclaves in which there is no law enforcement and in which there is Islamist incitement, rampant crime and illegal weapons that are frequently fired at events such as weddings. This era has ended.

2 Israeli soldiers hurt in Hebron-area shootings

JERUSALEM (JTA)An Israeli soldier was injured in a shooting attack in the Hebron area hours after another soldier was wounded in a shooting attack in the area.

In the second West Bank attack, on Sunday evening in the south Hebron Hills, the soldier was moderately wounded with a bullet to the leg. Israeli soldiers were searching the area for the shooter, the Israel Defense Forces spokesman said.

The previous attack occurred in the afternoon, when a female soldier was shot by a sniper near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. The soldier, 20, was taken in moderate condition to Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem. The shooter aimed at the sites parking lot from a nearby Palestinian village, Israeli military forces said.

The IDF was searching for the gunman.

The attack cames days after an Israeli man who worked as a maintenance worker at the site succumbed to injuries sustained there in a Dec. 7 stabbing attack. There have been several stabbing or attempted stabbing attacks at the site in the last two months.

Jews and Muslims revere the Tomb of the Patriarchs as the gravesite of their forefathers. There is Jewish worship and a mosque there.

Between the two shooting attacks Sunday, a Palestinian youth attempted to stab an Israeli man at a bus stop in eastern Jerusalem, Israel Police said. Israeli security forces caught the assailant, who had fled the scene.

Palestinian apprehended after stabbing attempt at Jerusalem bus stop

JERUSALEM (JTA)A Palestinian youth attempted to stab an Israeli man at a bus stop in eastern Jerusalem.

The failed attack occurred Sunday afternoon in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood. The would-be attacker fled but was caught by Israeli security forces, Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Twitter.

Hours earlier, a female Israeli soldier was shot and moderately injured by a sniper at the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The Armon Hanatziv neighborhood was the site of a Rosh Hashanah eve rock attack on a car that left a Jewish-Israeli dead. The attack spurred the recent wave of Palestinian violence on Israelis.

The neighborhood, also known as East Talpiot, also was the site of a shooting attack that left three dead, including a dual American-Israeli citizen, Richard Lakin.

Novel banned from Israeli high schools is runaway best-seller

JERUSALEM (JTA) A novel about a Israeli-Palestinian romance that was banned at secular state schools in Israel is a runaway best-seller.

Following reports that Gader Haya, or Borderlife, by Israeli author Dorit Rabinyan, was banned from the curriculum of advanced high school literature classes, the book was leading sales in Israeli bookstores, according to reports.

The Education Ministry last month rejected an advisory panels recommendation to include the book, about a romance between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, in the curriculum for advanced literature students.

Meanwhile, Haaretz reported Sunday that Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein will investigate the ministrys decision to ban the book from high school reading lists.

The decision to open the investigation came after a letter sent by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which called on the ministry to change its decision.

The Education Ministry said last week it rejected the book, Haaretz reported, in part because of the need to maintain what was referred to as the identity and the heritage of students in every sector and the belief that intimate relations between Jews and non-Jews threatens the separate identity.

Naftali Bennett, chairman of the right-wing religious Zionist Jewish Home party, heads the ministry.

The minister backs the decision made by the professionals, Bennetts office told Haaretz.

Bar Refaeli announces pregnancy on Instagram

JERUSALEM (JTA)Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli announced in an Instagram post that she is expecting her first child.

Refaeli, 30, posted a photo of a positive pregnancy test on her Instagram account on Dec. 31.

2016 is going to be like  she wrote, followed by an icon of a baby bottle and one of a baby. The post received over 75,000 likes in just a few hours.

In September, Refaeli married businessman Adi Ezra, whose family owns the Israeli food importing company Neto ME Holdings. The wedding was preceded by a conflict over whether it was permissible to impose a no-fly zone over it.

2 Israeli actors to appear in Game of Thrones

(JTA)Two Israeli actors will appear in the upcoming sixth season of the hit HBO series Game of Thrones.

It is unknown what roles Ania Bukstein and Yousef Sweid will play, the Times of Israel reported last week.

Bukstein, 33, is a household name in Israel for roles in shows and movies such as Rabies, False Flag and The Secrets. Sweid, 39, an Arab-Israeli, is known for parts in shows like Homeland and plays like Walk on Water.

According to the Times of Israel, three other Israeli actorsYuval Scharf, Neta Garty and Leem Lubanyhave also tried out for Game of Thrones roles. Lubany is rumored to have secured a part.

The sixth season of Game of Thrones, based on the fantasy book series by George R. R. Martin, will air in April.

Rabbi apologizes for lowballing number of halachic Jews killed in Holocaust

(JTA)A New York-based haredi Orthodox rabbi apologized for saying that only about 1 million halachic Jews died in the Holocaust.

I wish to apologize for my incorrect statement regarding the six million Kedoshim (holy ones) that were tragically murdered in the Holocaust, Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi said in an apology emailed to the Yeshiva World News, the news website reported Sunday.

Mizrachi, who has posted thousands of popular outreach lectures online, said in the apology, I have been shown the accurate statistics and I realize that those that were not halachically Jewish were a very small minimal number. I do not wish to offend any of the Holocaust survivors or their family members it has never ever been my intention.

The Kedoshim of the Holocaust need to be remembered and sanctified in the most honorable way possible. My goal was to wake up our nation to the silent holocaust that is happening now which is the increasing intermarriage cases in the U.S.A. and the rest of the world.

Mizrachi said his words were taken out of context since only part of the video, made several years ago, was broadcast.

In the video posted Tuesday on his YouTube channel, Mizrachi cited high assimilation rates in Europe before World War II to make his claim that 80 percent of those identified as Jews killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust were not Jewish according to halachah, or Jewish law.

If you look at the percent of assimilation that there was in Europe, which already reached 80 percent, its reasonable to assume that 80 percent of the 6 million were not Jews, said Mizrachi, who teaches at a yeshiva in Monsey.

The truth is that not even 1 million Jews were killed. Not that this is, God forbid, an insignificant number, its massive, but there is a difference between 1 million and 6 million.

Diary of Anne Frank published online with expiration of copyright

(JTA)Two editions of the Diary of Anne Frank were published online in a challenge to the foundation that allocates the books royalties.

A French lawmaker and a French scholar published the diary on Jan. 1, when the current copyright expired.

European copyrights generally expire 70 years after an authors death, thus the copyright was expected to expire at the end of 2015. However, Anne Frank Fonds, the Swiss foundation that Franks father, Otto, established to allocate the books royalties to charity, announced recently that it planned to list Otto Frank as a co-author, thus adding 35 years to the copyright. Otto Frank, the sole survivor of the eight Jews who sought refuge in the attic, died in 1980.

Early last week, however, an Amsterdam court ruled that the original text of the diary may be copied for academic research.

Isabelle Attard, a French Parliament member whose grandparents died in the Holocaust, published the entire Dutch text of the diary on Friday, the French news agency AFP reported. Separately, Olivier Ertzscheid, a lecturer at the University of Nantes, published the text on his website the same day.

The intimate diary, written in a secret apartment in Amsterdam by a Jewish teenager, born German but stripped of her nationality, has finally entered the public domain, Attard said in a statement on her website. Seventy years after the authors death, the whole world can use, translate and interpret these works, and use them to create new ones.

Franks diary, which chronicles two years of hiding from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic, may be the most famous Holocaust-era document and has inspired several play and film adaptations. Anne died in 1945 at the Bergen-Belsen extermination camp.

Adolf Hitlers anti-Semitic book Mein Kampf also entered the public domain on Jan. 1.

Treaty between Vatican, state of Palestine goes into effect

ROME (JTA)Nearly three years after the Vatican recognized a state of Palestine, a treaty signed this summer defining relations between the two entities has gone into effect, despite condemnation from Israel.

The Vatican announced Saturday that in reference to the Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine signed June 26, the Holy See and the State of Palestine have notified each other that the procedural requirements for its entry into force have been fulfilled.

It said the agreement regards essential aspects of the life and activity of the Church in Palestine, while at the same time reaffirming the support for a negotiated and peaceful solution to the conflict in the region.

Israel sharply criticized the agreement when it was signed as a hasty step that damages the prospects for advancing a peace agreement and harms the international effort to convince the Palestinian Authority to return to direct negotiations with Israel.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said it also could have implications for Israels relations with the Holy See.

The Vatican extended de facto recognition to the Palestinian state in February 2013, making the recognition official with the Comprehensive Agreement.

Dutch Jewish familys home vandalized in anti-Semitic attack

AMSTERDAM (JTA)The Amsterdam home of a Jewish family was vandalized by assailants who shouted cancer Jews and Free Palestine.

The incident on the night between Dec. 31 and Jan. 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.

Hasidic newspapers airbrushed photo subject of newly released Clinton email

(JTA)Hillary Rodham Clinton complaining about being airbrushed from an official White House photo for use in a New York-based Yiddish language Hasidic newspaper is among 5,000 pages of emails of the former secretary of state released by the State Department.

The emails released Dec. 31 are part of a trove sent and received by Clinton, the leading contender among Democrats for the 2016 presidential nomination, on a personal account while serving as secretary of state.

The State Department also announced Dec. 31 that 275 of the emails were upgraded to classified, bringing to 1,274 the number of emails that were newly classified. More emails are scheduled to be released this month; others were released previously.

Clintons email on the airbrushed photo has the subject line Unbelievable, the VosIzNeias news website reported. Some Hasidic and haredi Orthodox newspapers have a policy of not publishing photos of women, citing modesty concerns.

Clinton wrote: The Jerusalem Post reported today that a NY Hasidic paper Der Zeitung published the sit room photo w/o me (or Audrey T) photoshopped out perhaps because no woman should be in such a place of power or that I am dressed immodestly!!

Der Zeitung apologized to the White House and the State Department for altering the photo. The White House photos are provided with the stipulation that they not be altered.

2 teens arrested in attack on Jewish man in Brooklyn

(JTA)Two Brooklyn teenagers have been arrested in the beating and robbery of a 60-year-old Jewish man in the New York City borough.

Eldin Sabovic, 17, and Baskim Huseinovic, 19, were arrested Dec. 31, the New York Post reported, and were charged with robbery and assault. The attack is not considered a hate crime.

The attack on the kippah-wearing victim, whose first name is Eli, took place Dec. 27 in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, a neighborhood with a large Orthodox Jewish population. It was recorded on a nearby homes surveillance video.

Eli was punched at least four times and thrown to the sidewalk. With the help of an accomplice, the assailant then stole the victims iPhone and wallet. The two assailants fled the scene in a black car driven by a third man, according to WPIX-TV.

The following day, a 17-year-old yeshiva student was attacked in the same neighborhood.

Im just in complete shock over the recent spate of violence and brutality, New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind told Yeshiva World News following the second attack.

Shomrim, a Jewish security patrol, reportedly stepped up its activity in the neighborhood after the attacks.
It was possible to hope that this wave of violence was winding down. Soon after Friday prayers at the mosques, there was not much more excitement than routine stone throwing at a light rail train as it passed by an Arab neighborhood. For some time now, the management of the rail line has coated the windows with material that prevents serious damage.

Then began an event that has occupied Israels media more than anything earlier. It also revealed some of the complexities that suggest the conflict is endless, with ups and downs in outbreaks.

A gunman fired into a bar in the center of Tel Aviv during a busy Friday afternoon, when it was crowded with the citys Yuppies. The toll was two dead, several severely wounded, and lots of panic. Radio and television followed the story to the exclusion of any other news well into the evening, and again after the end of the Sabbath. The shooter managed to escape. The police learned who he was, but havent located him as of this writing.

One of the men killed had been interviewed recently. A TV clip was re-broadcast along with news of his death. It showed a good looking and articulate young man, a recent law school graduate about to do an apprenticeship with one of the countrys most prestigious firms, describing his view of the good life.

Early on the media showed pictures of the shooter from store security cameras close to the event. It didnt take long for the mans father to identify him. Dad appears to be a good citizen, and a volunteer policeman. The family lives in one of the Arab towns of the Galilee. The police report that the killer served a term in prison, and may have been motivated by the police killing a cousin, after the stealing of a motor vehicle.

Much of the country huddled inside over the weekend, not out of fear but in an effort to keep warm and dry. A winter storm sat over the country for several days, with cold, lots of rain, and snow in the north. The snow did not come to Jerusalem as had been forecast, but we received 12 cm of rain (close to 5 inches) on our balcony.

Police and other Israelis have sought, with limited success, to define the traits of a typical terrorist. Most are Palestinians from the West Bank or East Jerusalem, between the ages of 18 and the mid-20s. However, there have been several pre-teens, and at least one old grandmother. While a number of the terrorists have had personal problems and shaky positions on the edge of their families, some have appeared normal and well adjusted until the day they sought to kill Jews.

The latest terrorist, if his identity is confirmed, will also be unusual in being an Israeli Arab. Coming from a family with a father being a police volunteer may also be unusual, but its not the first time that one family member is extreme while others appear to be good citizens. The Knesset Member who may qualify for the most extreme anti-State expressions and behaviors--Hanin Zoabi--has one close relative who volunteered for the IDF, and others who avoided controversy while in high municipal and national government positions.

The day after the recent rampage, his father apologized to the families of those killed, wished the injured a speedy recovery, and said that he had not raised his boy to do such things. Other family members said that the young man was unstable, and urged him, in Arabic and Hebrew, to turn himself in. Along with these statements of sorrow and cooperation, the police searched the family home, and took away another son for questioning. Claims of mental illness and instability dont square with the mans coolness of action and his success in evading capture from sophisticated security services.

The police have yet to decide if the Tel Aviv episode should be defined as an act of terror. Among the problems is the failure of the perpetrator to kill more people when he had the opportunity. He has also shown more skill than others in evading capture, as well as luck that he did not encounter an Israeli with a weapon to bring the shooting spree and the shooters life to a quick end.

The police received a court order allowing them to keep their inquiry secret. As usual, it hasnt kept a range of media personalities from massaging the details available, and interviewing a number of individuals retired from the police and other security services. Israelis could write any number of thrillers on the basis of information and speculation provided about an attacker who chose one of the neighborhoods favored by the countrys most photogenic people.

A few days before this event, the Israeli government approved a major increase in funding for various programs in the Arab sector. Advocates said that the multi-year program should narrow gaps in the quality of education, job opportunities in the public sector, housing, and municipal services.

It isnt easy for Israel to tempt Arabs toward good behavior with the carrot of improved benefits. To reach agreement on the details, and then to implement them, officials need the cooperation of Arab politicians. The relevant people in Knesset and municipalities are always looking over their shoulder, concerned of being charged with selling out to the Jews.

The stick is never far from governmental hands. Security personnel continue nightly raids into areas of the West Bank, with morning reports of how many have been added to those held for interrogation.

After the end of Sabbath, the Prime Minister visited the site of the killings, and spoke forcefully against Israeli Arabs who incite violence. He spoke also about Arabs who promote co-existence with Jews, but the tone of his comments was harsh. He spoke against Arabs who benefit from living in Israel yet feel loyalty toward Palestine. He demanded that Arab Members of Knesset condemn terror, and promised a renewed emphasis on law enforcement within the Arab sector.

The next day the Haaretz web site featured a commentary that accused the Prime Minister of cheap politics. MK Ahmed Tibi said that he needed no lectures from the Prime Minister about the condemnation of murder.

We hear that Hamas operatives are seeking candidates in the West Bank for training as suicide bombers. Palestinians and Israeli Arabs have been attracted to the Islamic State. Some have gone to fight for the cause in Syria. Those surviving and returning home have been arrested on the charge of aiding the enemy. Others have sought to develop a cadre of the Islamic State that can operate close to home.

Theres been occasional exchanges of missile firings and air force attacks with Gaza, with no reports of casualties.

Israeli experts are priding themselves in being able to spot efforts at serious mayhem before they can put plans into operation. A combination of human and electronic intelligence may pick up indications of anything elaborate, but is less able to identify in advance an individual, operating alone, with knife, firearm, or a car to be driven into a group of people alongside the road.

Optimists expect Israel to muddle through another difficult period, and compare the country favorably to places less desirable. Among the candidates are the chaos in Syria and Iraq, warfare between Saudi Arabia and Iran, European critics of Israeli imperfections now wrestling with mass migration, and Americans, always sure of their superiority, having to ponder a presidency of Donald Trump.

Comments welcome. Ira Sharkansky (Emeritus), Department of Political Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Ira Sharkansky (Emeritus), Department of Political Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, irashark@gmail.com.
State Department officials and Middle East experts are always warning us that if the Palestinian Authority collapses, Israel will be harmed because Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation will come to an end. But an incident in Ramallah this week makes one wonder if that security cooperation really exists at all.

The Palestinian news agency Maan boasted on Dec. 22 that Palestinian police ordered Israeli Border Police forces out of the Beituniya area of western Ramallah and threatened to use their weapons if they refused, local security sources. And indeed a YouTube video of the incident appears to confirm Maans characterization of the episode.

Ramallah is the capital of the Palestinian Authority, and under the Oslo accords, the city is under the complete security control of the PA--as opposed to some other parts of the territories, where Israel has the responsibility for security. So what were Israeli Border Police doing inside Ramallahs city limits?

Israeli forces had been chasing Palestinian schoolchildren in the area, when a number of Palestinian police officers led by Lieutenant Akef al-Shalan arrived, Maan reported.

Here we have a textbook case of how Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation is supposed to work. Young Palestinians were throwing rocksa time-honored method of execution in the Middle Eastin an attempt to maim or kill Israelis. Last Septembers murder-by-stoning of 64 year-old Alexander Levlovitz, as he was leaving Rosh Hashana dinner with his family, is a grim reminder of how serious rock-throwing is.

So the Israelis were in hot pursuit of a group of Palestinian would-be murderers. When the terrorists crossed into Ramallah, the Palestinian police should have arrested them. Instead, the police turned against the Israelis, screaming and threatening them (as the YouTube video clearly shows) as they expel the Israelis from the area.

Writing on ForeignPolicy.com last March, Nicholas Heras and Ilan Goldenberg of the Center for a New American Security dramatically warned of the West Banks potential transformation into an ungoverned space that could become a haven for terrorism if the Palestinian Authority collapses.

And in April, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy issued a report titled Preserving Israeli-Palestinian Security Cooperation which claimed that security cooperation [between the PA and Israel] and the positive dynamics it creates are one of the few hopeful spots in an otherwise grim arena... Washington should prioritize efforts to protect and support security cooperation, and clearly convey this sense of priority to Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

This perspective has clearly filtered down into policymaking circles. On Dec. 5, Secretary of State John Kerry declared in a speech at the Brookings Institution that the collapse of the PA would threaten the security of Israel because it would lead to chaos, lawlessness and desperation and Israel would be forced to assume all governance in the West Bank...

If the current governance by the PA consists of protecting terrorists, then what kind of governance is that? How is it hopefulas the Washington Institute put itif PA security forces prevent Israeli soldiers from pursuing rock-throwers? While the Center for a New American Security is claiming that the collapse of the PA could turn the area into a haven for terrorism, doesnt the Ramallah incident show that, in fact, it has already become a haven for terrorism?

The PAs security forces have, in effect, informed young Palestinians: Go ahead, try to cripple or murder Jews, and if the Israeli soldiers chase you, then come to us and we will protect you from them. If thats what Secretary Kerry and the foreign policy wonks call security cooperation, then I guess were speaking two different languages.

Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in a Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.
WASHINGTON (JTA)Yet again the Israeli Knesset is considering legislation to single out and punish progressive nongovernmental organizations, particularly the human rights groups that are such a thorn in the side of those who favor the continued occupation of the West Bank.

Carefully constructed to evade the inevitable legal challenges it would face if passed, the legislation approved by a Knesset committee this week would require representatives of organizations receiving foreign government funding to identify themselves as such in every public venue, including the Knesset, the media, and in all printed and online materials. Failure to do so would trigger huge fines.

That every human rights organization in Israel is already required to make its funding sources public is apparently irrelevant. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and her Likud and Jewish Home allies designed this nakedly political maneuver to further delegitimize progressive organizations, especially those opposing the occupation and its inevitable human rights abuses.

The legislation, purportedly for transparency, comes as new reports are surfacing about the millions of foreign dollars flowing to the settlements, the NGOs that defend them and allied institutions on Israels ultranationalist right. The new reports make a mockery of the rights stated objective of transparency, not to mention its self-righteous disdain for foreign funding.

In a series of investigative reports for Haaretz, Uri Blau has shown how American donors gave the settlements more than $220 million over the past five yearsdonations that went through tax-exempt American nonprofit organizations. Despite the longstanding American government view that settlements are impediments to peace, at least 50 organizations from across the United States are involved in raising funds for settlements and settlement activities, according to Haaretz.

Blau found that American donations fund everything from air conditioning for settlers to payments to the families of convicted Jewish terrorists. Among the recipients of tax-exempt American donations is Honenu, a right-wing legal aid group that has provided stipends to Yigal Amir, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabins assassin. The yeshiva whose rabbis wrote the The Kings Torah, a book purporting to demonstrate when it is legitimate to kill non-Jews, also benefits from tax-deductible contributions from the United States.

Yet the proposed legislation would exclude these organizations and their funders. Only money from foreign political entities are targeted, a formulation designed to ensnare Israels human rights community, which receives significant funding from European governments motivated by shared values and an interest in protecting the millions of Palestinians living under military rule.

Longtime observers of the growing power of the Israeli right and its links to a network of mostly foreign millionaires are not surprised by this. After all, Israels leading newspaper is a freebie to its readers, funded by American billionaire Sheldon Adelson and faithfully parroting the Likud line. Israel permits its politicians to receive foreign funding for their party primaries, and nearly all the money donated to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus campaign in the last election came from overseas, according to government records. And many of the neoconservative and ultranationalist think tanks and political NGOs in both Israel and the United States share donors, staff and volunteer leadership.

We at the U.S.-based New Israel Fund, ourselves a partnership of Israelis and Jews worldwide with program and grant recipients in Israel, take no issue with overseas dollars funding Israeli organizations and institutions. But the manipulation of Israels political process to single out organizations of the left for obloquy is both wrong and dangerous.

Selectively deciding that foreign funding for human rights must be shamed and labeled, while millions of dollars flow unimpeded to neutral and right-wing institutions, is not just a matter of stigma. It tells Israelis that those who criticize the occupation on the grounds of human rights need not, or must not, be heeded.

The current governing coalition, the most hard line in Israels history, has made it clear that it will do everything possible to stifle dissent. At a time when Israels relationships with its most important partners, the United States and the European Union, are already shaky, the signals sent by the governments arrogant defiance of supposedly shared democratic values also further damages Israels international standing.

Lets be clear. BTselem, Yesh Din, Rabbis for Human Rights and other beleaguered protectors of human and civil rights will do their jobs even if they have to wear neon deely boppers to visit the Knesset. No amount of harassment will shut down these organizations, short of the sorts of measures used by police states like Russia and China.

But the treatment of organizations with unpopular missions and activities is the canary in the coal mine of democracy. We who defend Israel as a liberal democracy must make clear to our counterparts in Jerusalem that we see through the hypocrisy and double-dealing, and take a stand for an honest, free and democratic Israel.

Naomi Paiss is the vice president for public affairs at the New Israel Fund.
Next month marks the first anniversary of the death of Alberto Nisman, the Argentine federal prosecutor who spent a decade investigating the 1994 Iranian-backed bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires. In that massacre, 85 people were murdered and hundreds more injured.

Nismans lifeless body, readers will remember, was discovered in the bathroom of his Buenos Aires apartment on Jan. 18, 2015the night before he was due to elaborate on his formal complaint against the government of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in front of the Argentine Congress. Nisman had concluded, based on the mountain of evidence that was available to him, that the main purpose of Fernandez de Kirchners 2013 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Iranian regime was to abandon the demand for six Iranian suspects in the AMIA bombing to be extradited, thereby paving the way to restored relations between Buenos Aires and Tehran.

The Argentine president made one spectacular miscalculation in all of this. At no point did it occur to her that Daniel Scioli, the candidate she chose to succeed her in the presidential election this year, would end up losing the ballot. But thats exactly what happened. With the victory, in November, of the pragmatic Mauricio Macri, all of Fernandez de Kirchners bets regarding the future of the AMIA investigation have been made redundant.

There is a lesson here for politicians that goes far beyond Argentinas borders. Very basically, the lesson determines that while colluding with Iranian terrorism may deliver short-term gains, in the long-term there are no benefits yielded and quite a few costs to boot.

In the case of Fernandez de Kirchner and her principal cohorts, among them her foreign minister Hector Timerman, those costs could conceivably include a jail sentence. Securing the MOU with Iran required Argentinas leaders to lie about the circumstances of the AMIA bombing. At the time, anyone with even superficial knowledge of the atrocity and its tortured aftermath knew that they were lying. Now it can be proven.

Last week, previously unknown recordings of Timermans telephone conversations with local Jewish leaders were released into the public domain. No-one quite knows how the recordings surfaced, but its reasonable to believe that with Fernandez de Kirchner out of the presidential palace, and with President Macris new government declaring that it regards the MOU with Iran as null and void, whoever unveiled them has figured that doing so will not result in a knock on the door in the middle of the nightor a bullet in the back of the head.

One of the ugliest aspects of the MOU with Iran was that it left open the issue of the mullahs guilt for the AMIA bombinga complete reversal of the stance adopted by Fernandez de Kirchners late husband, Nestor, during his time as Argentine president, in explicitly identifying the Iranians as the culpable party. Unlike Nestor, Fernandez de Kirchner was under the sway of the Venezuelan tyrant, Hugo Chavez, as well as by a coterie of pro-Iranian radicals gathered around her. This was the political context in which the myth of Iranian innocence regarding the AMIA bombing was cooked up.

Thats why, on the recordings, Timermaneven as he berates his Jewish interlocutors for not appreciating that it was in Argentinas interest to surrender to Iran on AMIAmatter of factly states that it was indeed the Iranians who planted the bomb. Despite that, Timerman, acting on the instructions of Fernandez de Kirchner, was willing to make a pact with the devil by abandoning the struggle for justice of the families of the 85 Argentine citizens (not all of them Jews, incidentally) who lost their lives in Irans murderous attack.

Were it not so tragic, it would be almost comic. When one of the Jewish leaders attempted to sympathize with Timermans predicament by saying that he wished there was someone other than the Iranians to negotiate with, Timerman snapped back, If there was someone else, they wouldnt have planted the bomb. So we are back to the beginning. Do you have someone else for me to negotiate with? Knowing the Iranians were guilty, Timerman still pushed the MOU as a breakthrough, bitterly condemning anyone who questioned his or Fernandez de Kirchners judgement.

Now that they are out of power, the Kirchneristas look distinctly vulnerable. Macri has made it clear that the investigation into the AMIA bombing needs to be revived. So too with the circumstances of Nismans death. If, as the forensic evidence suggests, Nisman was murdered, all eyes will be on Argentinas former leaders and on their friends in Tehran.

As more evidence regarding this shameful agreement emerges, the underlying theme that the Iranian regime cannot be trusted will be resonate even more strongly. More immediately, the AMIA scandal gives us an important glimpse into how the Iranians negotiate. What they dont do is compromise. Instead, they present a mixture of threats, ideological venom and faith in the reluctance of Western leaders to take military action as a negotiating strategy. Thats why any country that declares a conflict with the Iranians satisfactorily resolvedwhether thats the AMIA issue or Tehrans nuclear ambitionshas reached that conclusion in spite of the facts, not because of them.

So watch what happens in 2016. Iran is going to start feeling some pressure. Ironically, its source lies in Buenos Aires rather than Washington, D.C. How the Obama Administration assists or hinders the new resolve in Argentina to secure justice for the AMIA victims will be one of the more colorful foreign policy stories of the coming year.

Ben Cohen, senior editor of TheTower.org & The Tower Magazine, writes a weekly column for JNS.org on Jewish affairs and Middle Eastern politics. His writings have been published in Commentary, the New York Post, Haaretz, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. He is the author of Some of My Best Friends: A Journey Through Twenty-First Century Antisemitism (Edition Critic, 2014).
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The sustained calls by both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to go ahead with the bilateral dialogue and their decision to cooperate in uncovering the planners of the Pathankot Air Force Base attack do create the political environment within which the two leaderships can genuinely reach out for the tipping point.

The tipping point would be the engagement of the principals of India-Pakistan intelligence agencies and of their relevant operational-level teams, to jointly identify the mastermind behind the attack. Why would this be the tipping point? One, because it will help to show the opponents of the dialogue that their acts of terror can no longer veto dialogues; two, it would demonstrate that the Indian political leadership is now capable of ensuring that its military-intelligence institutions will comply with the elected governments agenda of cooperating to fight terrorism; and three, because such engagement can be the first step to signal that the two countries recognise the futility of using terrorism as a policy tool to provoke chaos and instability on the others territory.

Such an engagement will also send important signals within the policy and public spheres of both countries, where experience-based distrust has influenced perception of the other. Many in Pakistan see India as a neighbour that continues to fuel insurgency within Pakistan.

Many in India view Pakistan as a country that doesnt genuinely seek dialogue but uses 1993-type Mumbai bombings, 26/11 Mumbai- and Pathankot-type attacks and Kargil-Khalistan type adventures to force it to concede ground on the Kashmir dispute and to avenge the 1971 breakup of Pakistan.

Institutional cooperation on Pathankot will send positive signals to both sides. From Pakistans side, it conveys the army chiefs reiteration that Pakistan has zero-tolerance for terrorists and also rules out using of any militant group as a tool to promote any policy objective.

Indian cooperation will convey to Pakistan that the Indian army and intelligence agencies have decided to break away from the mode of a naysayer on intelligence-level cooperation with Pakistan. The Indian army and intelligence agencies twice prevented Manmohan Singh from operationalising the 2006 anti-terrorism mechanism agreed with Pervez Musharraf in Havana.

The cumulative impact of all this is that the present context of the India-Pakistan relationship lends itself to recurrent crises and militates against taking even small steps towards resolution of critical people-centred issues like Kashmir.

Instead, it repeatedly finds major efforts made by its top leadership become a casualty of terrorism. Reaching out and institutionalising this tipping point is an essential prerequisite for Islamabad and New Delhi to return to addressing the Kashmir issue in the Nawaz-Vajpayee and Musharraf-Manmohan mode.

Sharif and Modi must therefore actively cooperate to identify the Pathankot terrorists. Fortunately, the groundwork for this was done at the Bangkok meeting between the two national security advisers.

In recent years the law of diminishing returns has kicked in for Pakistan and India. Most of these approaches, plus use of sabotage and proxies, have not delivered sustained gains. Its time to work together to shrink space and opportunities for all brands of terrorists.

Nasim Zehra is a Pakistan-based TV anchor and columnist

The views expressed are personal
There has been a long-standing demand that women be part of security, peacemaking, peacekeeping, get protection during armed conflicts and be politically empowered. The Union home minister has said that there will be 33% reservation for women in constable-level posts in the Central Reserve Police Force and Central Industrial Security Force, which are paramilitary forces. Will this empower women or securitise and militarise society? Further, what about other reservations for women, like in Parliament?

The argument for affirmative action for women in security is, first, women should have more roles in security and peacekeeping. Second, women should have equal opportunities in all public institutions. Third, since more women are engaged in all types of armed conflicts, insurgencies and even terror attacks, state security needs more women security personnel. Fourth, the nature of military methodology has dramatically changed from pure physical combat to more push button and smart technologies. Fifth, the UN Security Council has passed many resolutions like 1325 and others that ask countries to involve women in peacekeeping and protect women in conflict situations.

There are several aspects to the debate of womens role in war, security and peace. The traditional point of view is that security is a male affair. And indeed, wars have been dominated by men who planned, fought, became heroes and martyrs and then wrote war histories and made war films. War, security and even strategic thinking are largely masculinist discourse that intersects comfortably with patriarchal and militarised frameworks.

It was generally believed that women have been absent from wars. But this has never been the case. Women played secondary roles in wars, as wives and mothers of soldiers, as care givers, maintaining logistics involved. Womens bodies have always been seen and equated as territory during war, where women are symbols of honour who can be either violated or safeguarded.

The belief that women are essentially peaceful and should remain this way is a binary stereotyping rejected by all genuine social research, which shows that men and women can be trained to be militarist and aggressive, with the caveat that since women do have motherhood functions and roles, they are just less inclined to use force. Further, women are more inclined to oppose wars because through history they have been at the receiving end of violence during war, post-war reconstruction and during peace. In addition, they are left out of peacemaking, power-sharing and state political activities that remain the domain of men.

Many argue that it is best to keep women out of security forces because this will militarise women and increase the use of force in civil relations, making society even more violent. Why should women be excluded from the huge security complex? Women, like men, have the right to make the choice of joining security forces. Moreover, if security forces follow international laws, especially the Geneva Conventions and its additional protocols, they would be better places to work in.

In Israel, every adult has to do military service. However, women are not sent into major battles, but do participate in security activities. There is currently a debate in Israel if women should be involved in major combat roles and hostilities. The situation in the United States and the European Union is similar. The experience of US women security posted in Afghanistan is known to have been very controversial, where many women were raped and sexually harassed by their own colleagues.

So what does 33% reservation for women in select security services, and that to at the lowest level, mean? One small step forward, which needs to be assiduously followed up by meaningful changes for womens effective participation in State institutions. This can come if there is affirmative action for women at all levels and all institutions, beginning with Parliament. Women constables will clearly not be in any position to take decisions  their importance lies in their presence and training.

The intention of bringing in women should be to make a more gender-sympathetic and pro-people security force. The key would be to train the security forces, both men and women, to be gender-sensitive, work in accordance with the Constitution and be trained in human rights. Further service conditions for women need to be improved. This means adequate facilities, including for child care and medicare.

Ultimately, women cannot be deployed merely as constables. A move such as this will have real meaning if women have avenues to be promoted, join the security at different levels and, most important, are also decision-makers and participants in peace processes. Currently there are several peace talks between the Indian State and insurgent groups. One that was recently concluded was the talks with the NSCN (IM). None of these talks have any presence of women. For serious security sector reforms, there is a need to have women, civil society and peoples representatives participating in these talks.

There is a need for India to adopt the UNSC resolution 1325 and other following resolutions in a much more serious way. It is clear that while women are needed for security, they are much more needed for peace. To make peace sustainable and think of security as one that combines national with human security is the only way that security itself can be truly achieved. Getting 33% reservation for women in one section of the paramilitary will only have meaning if it is urgently followed up with real feminisation of security doctrines.

Anuradha M Chenoy is professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. The views expressed are personal.
Red tape can slow a countrys progress, and at times  as this septuagenarian farmer in Madhya Pradesh realised to his detriment  even kill.

The tragedy occurred while Mula Vishwakarma, a 75-year-old farmer from Pipria village in Satna district, was shuttling between the Shahnagar tehsil headquarters and a bank on Thursday afternoon to procure Rs 2,000 in compensation against his drought-affected field. He had reportedly fallen ill after sleeping in the intense cold under the open sky at the tehsil headquarters on Wednesday night.

Vishwakarma had reportedly gone to enquire if he would get any compensation from the state government for the two-three acres of agricultural land he owned at Daupura village in Shahnagar tehsil. As per the police report, the farmer had been camping at the tehsil headquarters along with his daughters for the last two days. However, revenue officials told him that he would get the money only if he held a bank account.

The elderly farmer explained that he did not have a bank account, and he would face a lot of difficulties in opening one, but to no avail. Faced with little choice, Vishwakarma went to a nearby bank on Thursday morning, and then again in the afternoon. However, he fell violently ill sometime then and had to be taken to the district hospital  where he died.

When asked to comment on the issue, Panna collector SNS Chouhan said the rules stipulate that farmers have a bank account in order to claim compensation.

Sahnagar station officer AS Danghi said the body had been sent for a post-mortem examination and the report was awaited. Perhaps due to his old age and winter he was taken ill and died.

Recently at Raipura village in Panna district a farmer Hira Singh Lodhi (50) had attempted suicide after police had lodged a case against him and two others in connection with their altercation with a woman patwari and his husband. The farmer was upset on not seeing his name in the list of farmers who were supposed to get compensation against damaged crops.
Income tax searches that began on Thursday on the premises of the Shivhare group, a liquor contractor in MP, continued on Friday as well.

By Friday, income tax sleuths had found Rs 2 crore in cash apart from jewellery worth Rs 2 crore and investments in land, colleges and a cold storage, said sources.

The searches have been taking place at 55 premises spread over MP, UP and Jharkhand, including in Gwalior, Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur continued on Friday as well.

Income tax sleuths said that they found that a lot of business transactions of the liquor contractor were in cash and were unaccounted for. They also found evidence of violation of the excise act, which resulted in a loss of revenue to the MP government.

Evidence of investments in real estate, engineering and MBA colleges was also found, they said.

The control room for the search has been established at Gwalior and the entire investigation wing has moved to Gwalior to co-ordinate the search better since the Shivhare group is headquartered there.
The Aam Aadmi Party government on Friday told the Delhi high court that it may extend the odd-even scheme beyond the 15-day trial period, saying it has a definite positive effect against air pollution in the capital.

Senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for the Delhi government, submitted before a bench of chief justice G Rohini and justice Jayant Nath a status report on the data collected during January 1-8 on air pollution post implementation of the even-odd scheme.

Salve defended the scheme saying it was a result of the emergency situation that has arisen because of high air pollution level in the city. There is a definite positive effect of the scheme and has to be continued beyond this 15-day trial period, Salve said.

He submitted a report of Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority which stated that pollution in Delhi this winter is four times beyond the safety standard. There has not been a single good air quality day this winter, Salve said.

Pollution is not going to go away. The odd-even scheme is an emergency measure to arrest peaking of the air pollution level, Salve said adding that the scheme has succeeded in arresting the upward trend in air pollution.

The AAP government also told the high court that it was in the process of buying more buses to augment the fleet of the existing public transport system.

At the outset, the bench asked AAP government whether data collected till now post the implementation of even-odd scheme was enough to gauge the effectiveness of the policy. Why is it necessary to have it for 15-day... Is there any better method which can be brought in, the bench asked as it reserved the verdict on a bunch of petitions challenging the scheme for January 11.

Delhi transport minister Gopal Rai and AAP member Ashish Khetan and environmentalist Sunita Narain were also present in court during the hearing.

For 15 days from January 1, private cars are being allowed on the citys roads every other day to try to reduce pollutant levels, which regularly hit 10 times the World Health Organizations safe limits.

Cars with odd-numbered licence plates have been directed to ply on odd-numbered dates, and those with even-numbered plates on the other days.

The government on Thursday had said that the road-rationing plan was working and would not be cut short as pollution levels in the city had dropped considerably. A week into the 15-day trial run, the city government, battling criticism that the odd-even formula for private cars had failed to clean citys dirty air, had said the concentration of finest particles, known as particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5), had fallen significantly.

Sixty micrograms per cubic metre is considered the maximum safe level while the World Health Organization recommends 25 micrograms. These tiny particles released by factories and motor vehicles can cause respiratory distress and have also been linked to cancer and heart disease.

Read | Cant you restrict odd-even scheme to a week? HC asks AAP govt

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In addition to the continuing crackdown on gold smugglers, the customs at Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) are also now focussing on smuggling of chemicals used to manufacture party drugs. Since, most of staff is posted at the arrival hall to check smuggling of gold, customs are relying on dogs to nab drugs smugglers.

Recently, three Labradors of Customs department were trained in the academy of Border Security Force (BSF) and they will be used to sniff drugs and other suspicious chemicals. Gold is usually smuggled into the country and our focus is at the arrival hall to stop gold smugglers. We have got dogs now to ensure that drugs smugglers must not allowed to sneak away taking advantage of our vigil on gold smugglers, said a customs official.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which also has its dog squad, focus largely on security aspect. After getting its Labradors trained, the customs may go for small dogs as it can easily sneak into small openings.

According to experts, while Labradors have an excellent track record as sniffers, small size of cocker spaniels makes the breed ideal choice for large areas.

We often carry out random checks and have detected 70 cases of currency smuggling and over a dozen cases of drug smuggling. Apart from profiling, we rely on human intelligence, the official added.

In August this year, customs had nabbed a person for smuggling currency worth R 18 lakh. According to customs, the money was to be sued to purchase gold in the Gulf and then to be smuggled back to Delhi. People from several small cities are roped in by these smugglers and trained as carriers to avoid detection. Customs said that they have also increased the vigil at the departure terminal as smugglers were using it to their benefit.

We will also provide an advanced drug testing kit to the dog squad so that illegal drugs can be stopped immediately. There have been cases where dogs have helped us check unattended baggage. We are sure it will help is in curbing drugs smuggling at the departure hall of Terminal 3, the official said.

The customs officials have busted several smuggling rackets involved in smuggling gold into India from Delhi airport. Most of the culprits were found to be bringing in the precious metals from the Gulf countries. The smugglers use innovative ways to hide gold from the eyes of customs.

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Delhi woke up to the seasons worst fog on Friday morning as low visibility affected movement of nearly 500 flights and forced the Railways to tinker with the schedule of several long-distance trains departing from the city. Saturday weather, however, is expected to be better.

Departures at the Indira Gandhi International Airport were suspended for about two hours in the morning. Hundreds of passengers were stuck for as long as four hours with visibility between 7.40am and 10.30am dipping to way below the required 125 metres for takeoff.

The visibility at IGI airport improved after 10am. Departure schedule of flights between 4:14am to 10:08am was disrupted due to runway visual range below the required Low Visibility Take Off minima, said a Delhi airport official.

According to officials, 10 flights were diverted, 22 were cancelled and around 400 were delayed for anything between ranging one hour and five hours. This was the second spell of dense fog that affected flight movements badly, an airport official said.

The minimum temperature on Friday morning was recorded at 12 degrees, five degrees above normal. Met officials said the dense fog was due to a combination of high humidity and low wind speed.

The cloud cover over the city on Thursday made conditions conducive for dense fog. We were expecting it and fog will be seen on Saturday morning too, but will be much lesser, said RK Jenamani, director, IGI Airport Met centre.

According to Jenamani, Fridays fog was unique in the sense that it developed despite the high minimum temperature.

Railway officials said 56 trains were running late and the scheduled departure times of 19 others had to be altered. The Sikkim Mahananda Express train (15483) was the only train that was cancelled, according to railway officials..

We are updating details on the website and public are being informed through the helpline numbers. Apart from that, we have taken several other preventive measures during the winter season, said Neeraj Sharma, Chief Public Relations Officer, CPRO.

The officer said that in view of fog, the railways have restored 18 trains, which were earlier cancelled, scheduled for travelling between January- February.

As the delays piled up, hundreds of disgruntled passengers began tweeting about the hassles they were facing at the airport and airline officials were seen doing their best to pacify them.

Entire city is enveloped with dense fog. Travel safe Delhi, Delhi Police tweeted on Friday morning.

The Capital is generally enveloped in a thick sheet of fog for several days in December and January, wreaking havoc on train and flight schedules.

But the city is going through its warmest winter in eight years.

The maximum temperature has so far hovered around 23 degree Celsius, quite high for this time of the year.
The Indian Science Congress is getting to be a controversial affair, not quite in character with the image of scientists as dour people focused on the tasks at hand in bettering human lives. The low point in the 103rd edition of the congregation held in Mysuru this week was when Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, the Indian-born British Nobel laureate (speaking in faraway Chandigarh), dismissed the event as a circus. The Baroda-educated molecular biologist has questioned scientists considering astrological auspiciousness for the launch of the Mangalyaan mission to Mars, and has also raised his eyebrows at how a research paper purporting to be on aviation in ancient India could be presented at the congress, in a reference to last years congregation. This year, a scheduled paper that painted Lord Shiva as an ancient conservationist figure has raised a furore  though it was not presented.

Read | No place for Lord Shiva as environmentalist at the science congress?

What we need is a sober look at the congress and separate genuine criticism from ones that smell of political biases or differences. The word science itself need not refer to the physical sciences as it has come to be believed over the decades. We now refer to as social sciences some subjects previously or still clubbed into the arts or humanities. However, given the global adherence to rigorous logic and proof in physical sciences, perhaps the historical and mythological elements are best presented in events linked to history or to esoteric subjects such as aesthetics. However, there is reason to question Dr Ramakrishnans cynicism. A counterpoint came from a person of comparable stature, Princeton academic Manjul Bhargava, who has won the prestigious Field Medal, the Nobels equivalent in mathematics. Dr Bhargava remarked that the congress may be seen as an event for scientists to build connections and discuss common areas of interest. It would be appropriate to weigh the opinions of both these men in the right balance. In modern India, it is best to treat a science congress as an event for physical sciences, while equally engaging subjects rooted in antiquity or esoteric subjects are best shifted to the rigours of other disciplines. There is a need to restate some of ancient Indias glory, but we need to avoid the pitfalls of romantic ideologies. The congress, nevertheless, justified its existence when Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon scientists to keep five Es  economy, environment, energy, empathy and equity  at heart in their work.

Read | Sanskrit, yoga debut at Indian Science Congress

The science congress is best viewed not as a circus or jamboree but as a gathering of scientists to cross-fertilise ideas, connect with the society at large and weld vital linkages for the sake of public policy.

Read | Homeopathy is bogus, harmful: Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
Classes at the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) campus in Bhopal suffered on the very first day of the new semester as teachers remained away from classes to press their demands for promotion and a higher payscale.

The assistant professors have been holding the non-cooperation movement for the past four days.

MANIT director Appu Kuttan said, The decision is not in my hands. I have informed the ministry of human resource and development (MHRD) and the board of governors (BOG) about this situation. Only the BOG can take a decision in this regard. I am waiting for their reply.

The assistant professors are asking the administration to hold an emergency BOG meeting to resolve the issue. The statute of MANIT states that the BOG can hold emergency meetings, so there was no question of delaying it, said a professor.

According to the professor, in 2013, the MHRD had issued an order that before applying the four-tier flexible system of recruitment, National Institutes of Technology (NITs) should clear their backlog. However, unlike other NITs, MANIT had not clear the backlog of promoting assistant professors, which is why the grade pays of many assistant professors had not been upgraded for the past five to six years.

According to new rules, faculty members would be interviewed for promotion from tier-3 to tier-4.
Team Fast and Furious are established globetrotters. Vin Diesel, Tyrese Gibson, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris have been to Japan, Abu Dhabi and London. But for Fast and Furious 8, they are going where Hollywood has not ventured in more than 50 years -- Cuba.

Multiple sources say that F Gary Gray, the director of Fast and Furious 8, recently returned from a scouting trip which included the previously embargoed nation, reports hollywoodreporter.com. In addition, the sources explain that the production has moved forward with the paperwork to shoot there.

Read: Vin Diesel announces the end of Fast and Furious franchise

Universal Pictures is currently in the process seeking approval from the United States and Cuban governments to explore shooting a portion of the next installment of the Fast & Furious series in Cuba, read a statement from the studio.

If it is approved, the street-racing movie will be the first Hollywood film to shoot on the island since the embargo in the 1960s. Vin Diesel will return as the lead actor in the movie.

He will be joined by Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson, with Jason Statham and Kurt Russell expected to return. Fast and Furious 8 will be released in North America on April 14, 2017.
The madrasa teacher, who was arrested by Delhi Police for suspected links with the al Qaeda from Bengaluru, was on Friday sent to police custody till January 20.

The alleged member of the terror group, identified as Maulana Anzar Shah, was arrested by the anti-terrorist special cell of Delhi Police in its ongoing operation against al Qaeda in the Indian sub-continent (AQIS) on Wednesday, PTI reported quoting unnamed police sources.

The sources told PTI that Shah was plotting to carry out a series of terror strikes in the country. He was brought to Delhi on a transit remand and was produced at the Patiala House court on Friday.

The aim of the group was to attack some prominent leaders along with the crowded and tourist places, the sources told PTI.

The special cell had in December last year arrested two AQIS operatives Zafar Masood and Abdul Rehman. Reportedly, Shahs name popped up during their interrogation. Another terrorist in custody, Mohammed Asif, the recruitment and training head of AQIS, had also confessed to meeting Shah at a religious congregation in Bengaluru, sources said.

Shah had reactivated himself to provide logistical support when contacted by the AQIS operatives. The special cell also has the details of financial transaction between them and Shah, PTI reported.
BJP general secretary Ram Madhav will visit Srinagar on Friday to meet party legislators and decide on extending support to Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti who is tipped to be the Jammu and Kashmirs first female chief minister.

Madhav instrumental in stitching up the alliance between the ideologically-divergent BJP and PDP after the last assembly elections -- is likely to hold a meeting with party MLAs in the presence of the BJPs state in-charge Avinash Rai.

The party is likely to back Mehbooba, who is widely expected to take over the reins after her father and sitting CM, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, died of cardio-respiratory failure on Thursday.

Confirming the development, BJP spokesman Sunil Sethi told HT all party MLAs were in Srinagar.

The meeting is likely to take place in the afternoon and the decision will be conveyed to the governor accordingly, Sethi said. A PDP leader confirmed to HT that the party has already sent its letter of support for Mehbooba to the governor.

Sayeed is the third J&K chief minister to die in office but a delay in the announcement of the successor is unprecedented.

When Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq died in a Chandigarh hospital on December 12, 1971, the transfer of power took place the same day and Mir Qasim succeeded him.

National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was succeeded by son Farooq Abdullah, even before the legendary Kashmiri leader was laid to rest on September 8, 1982.

But in spite of indications that the coalition partners were likely to back Mehbooba, the saffron party is yet to formally submit its letters of support for the 56-year-old leader who is credited with building the party from the ground up in the Valley.

Sources, however, said the letter is likely to reach the governor by afternoon and oath ceremony will be held soon after.

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Entertainment / Music

by Musavengana Hove

Former Zvishavane Sounds Rhythmist, Davison Matsheza has urged budding music outfits in Zvishavane to be original if they want to attain the fame Zvishavane sounds enjoyed during the 1990s.In an exclusive interview, Matsheza affectionately known as Chitoto ( their hit song) by his hordes of fans said music industry in the mining town is dying because upcoming artists want to be photo-copies of household names in the music industry such as Alick Macheso and Oliver Mtukudzi."Our hit songs such as Mutongi Gava and Chitoto were popular because we were original. They were popular musicians during our time but we resorted to our own style," said Matsheza.Matsheza also urged upcoming musicians in Zvishavane to be united to make sure they come up with quality music which is competitive in Zimbabwe and abroad."As Zvishavane sounds members we used to work in unity. Chitoto was a result of unit. The late Trevor Madamombe composed the song and we worked together with the likes of Gift Amuli to ensure that the piece was perfect," he added.Zvishavane Sounds was a popular music outfit during the 1990s and their Songs such as Mutongi Gava Maenzanise are still famous on national radios such as National FM and Radio Zimbabwe. The group faced financial constrains during early 2000s and members eventually separated as the country's economy turned sour. The group was revived by Gift AMuli and his comeback album Munombo Zvigona sei made some inroads, but the steam seems to be losing its efficacy as his popularity failed to stand the test of time.
The Centre on Friday allowed the popular but controversial bull-taming sport Jallikattu to be held in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, overriding protests from animal rights activists following a strong political push for the banned traditional event.

People in the state cheered and bursts crackers welcoming the move but activists said the governments decision -- in contravention of a 2014 Supreme Court ban disallowing use of bulls as performing animals -- was aimed at strengthening the BJPs foothold in the state where it does not have much of a presence.

Less than a week before the Pongal festivities in the state that goes to elections this year, the ministry of environment and forest issued a notification allowing Jallikattu and bullock cart races in some states despite the law ministry and attorney general Mukul Rohtagis contention that lifting the ban would be a violation of the apex courts order.

What we have allowed is with proper safeguards and (while) ensuring that there is no cruelty (meted out) to animals. Cultural and historical practices of the communities are being allowed with many restrictions, environment minister Prakash Javadekar said.

Thousands of people erupted in joy, especially in Palamedu in Madurai and Tiruchirapalli that host the event, as they broke into song and dance in public, flashing victory signs. The new guidelines came after a massive campaign by farmers associations, villagers and a host of cultural and social organisations, which was backed by all political parties.

Read | Jallikattu allowed: Centre makes arrangements for bull-taming in TN

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi backing the sport, which wasnt held last year for the first time in decades.

Thank our PM for facilitating this to happen. I thank everyone who supported Jallikattu, said Pon Radhakrishnan, Union minister of state for roadways and senior BJP leader from the state. Animal rights activists, who said the new notification would not stand the scrutiny court of law, vowed to challenge the Centres decision.

We would take whatever action is legally possible, Animal Welfare Board of India vice-chairman Chinny Krishna said. The Chennai head-quartered AWBI is a statutory and advisory body of the government of India.

Other animal rights activists are also up in arms over the decision that they vow to fight in the Supreme Court.

People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) slammed the decision to permit events like Jallikattu and bull races and said the U-turn in allowing the events is being seen even by BJP supporters as reckless, heartless and weak.

Peta India CEO Poorva Joshipura said in a statement that lifting the protection against cruelty that was afforded to bulls is a black mark on our nation, which has always been looked up to by people around the world for our cultural reverence for animals.

Read | Jallikattu allowed with proper safeguards, restrictions: Javadekar
A week after a deadly terror attack hit Punjabs Pathankot airbase, confusion persists over the number of militants involved, sources said on Friday.

A senior official said while the National Security Guard (NSG) which led the counter-terror operation maintains it killed six militants, bodies of just four attackers have been recovered.

The remaining attacker or attackers were badly charred and we are only left with their ashes from the second encounter site. We are getting DNA tests done to ascertain whether they belong to one attacker or two, said the counter-terror official, requesting anonymity.

Doubts over the number of attackers have lingered since the terror strike began last week.

On January 2, sources in the internal security establishment told HT that all four attackers had been killed. But home minister Rajnath Singh tweeted about five terrorists being neutralised. He deleted the post later as the encounter raged on.

The next day, Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and Air Marshal Anil Khosla said two terrorists were holed up at the airbase while four had been killed.

While Punjab police officer Salwinder Singh, who was allegedly abducted and later released by the terrorists, mentioned five gunmen in his first complaint before authorities, a friend and a cook who were with him at the time counted four militants.

The NIA on Friday issued summons to the SP also being probed by local police on a bigamy charge to appear before it on Monday for detailed interrogation.

A Punjab intelligence officer said the air force station may have been saved from large-scale damage because the terrorists accidentally left a walkie-talkie in Salwinder Singhs car and could not contact the other team that was already inside the airbase, allowing government forces more time to prepare.

Authorities were also left baffled when a combat-style search near the Tibri army cantonment in Gurdaspur not far from the base came to naught after locals reported seeing two men in military fatigues acting suspiciously near the military facility.

Security forces had arrived in armoured cars on Thursday afternoon, carrying rocket launchers and latest weapons to catch the two men after a drone detected their presence.

But the combing ended without a shot being fired as the suspected militants seemed to have vanished into thin air.

(With inputs from Chitleen K Sethi in Chandigarh and Kamaljit Singh Kamal in Gurdaspur)
Congress party on Thursday rebuffed suggestions of a breakthrough on a landmark tax reform, hours after the government said it had accepted the demands set by the main opposition party to back the measure.

The proposed goods and services tax (GST), Indias biggest revenue shake-up since independence in 1947, seeks to replace a slew of federal and state levies, transforming the nation of 1.2 billion people into a customs union.

Supporters say the new sales tax will add up to two percentage points to the South Asian nations economic growth.

The Congress party, the original author of the tax reform, has opposed what it calls the flawed version now before parliament, where it has been able to block a key constitutional enabling amendment in the Rajya Sabha.

The government is using optics of meetings and is not serious about GST, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal told reporters.

His comments came after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the government had agreed to accept the opposition partys demands.

Naidu also said the government was willing to bring forward the next parliament session to pass the proposed goods and services tax (GST) bill if Congress backed the measure.

The minister met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday to convey the governments decision. Gandhi did not assure him of her partys support, however.

Sonia said they (Congress) will discuss among themselves and take a final decision, Naidu said.

We had invited Soniaji and Manmohan Singhji and discussed with them the GST and other bills. In the same context, as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister of the government, I met the Congress president and recalled to her that as per the discussion held earlier, the Congress should finalise its stand. They had raised some issues, which were answered by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Since the government had already spoken to Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and the Deputy Leader of the Congress in the House Anand Sharma in this regard, I reminded her that a quick decision should be taken and we should move forward immediately on the GST and the real estate bill, Venkaiah Naidu said.

But Sibal said the party was still waiting for written proposals from the government.

Congress wants the government to cap the GST rate at less than 20 percent, scrap a proposed state levy and create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states.

The political slugfest between the two sides has ensured that Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys self-imposed deadline of April 1 for the GSTs launch will be missed.

While Jaitley has yet to set a new date for the rollout, aides say passage of the constitutional amendment bill in Februarys budget session of parliament would allow them to implement it by October.

Yet even that deadline, which would fall in the middle of the tax year, appears optimistic, say economists.

There is still a substantive legislative process that has to be completed, said Aditi Nayar, an economist at ICRA, the Indian arm of rating agency Moodys.
In a setback to transparency in judiciary, the Delhi high court on Thursday set aside a Central Information Commission order that directed the Supreme Courts information officer to give information on the number of cases in which verdict hasnt been delivered after completion of hearing.

We do not find any other provision under the (RTI) Act under which a direction can be issued to the public authority to collate the information in the manner in which it is sought by the applicant, said a division bench of chief justice G Rohini and justice Jayant Nath.

The HC reversed a 2014 order of a single judge who had upheld the CICs order directing the Supreme Court registry to maintain the records in a manner so that information regarding the period for which the judgments are pending after being reserved is available with the top court.

RTI activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh K Batra wanted to know the figures for such cases for 2007, 2008 and 2009. However, the Supreme Courts CPIO refused to give information saying data is not maintained in the registry in the manner sought for.

The top court had been cagey about sharing information regarding its functioning.

Supreme Court Additional Registrar had said data is not maintained in the registry in the matter sought for by youThe matters filed in the Supreme Court are pending/sub judice matters before the honble court till they are decided.

In 2001, the Supreme Court had issued guidelines for the high courts and lower courts, asking them to pronounce verdicts within reasonable time. If a judgment is not delivered within three months from the date of reserving it, any of the parties can move the same high court for an early judgment, it had said. Batra told HT, I will challenge the verdict after consulting with my lawyer.

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Indian security agencies have identified five key figures from Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad who were involved in the conspiracy to attack the Pathankot air base, home ministry officials said.

Troops are deployed after two terrorists were reportedly seen in Pandher village of Gurdaspur.

The key conspirators include Jaish-e-Mohammeds chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Rauf Asghar, Maulana Ashfaq Ahmad, Hafiz Abdul Shakur and Kasim Jan.

India wants Pakistan to credibly act against them, said a home ministry official requesting anonymity.

Maulana Masood Azhar remained in Jammu prison for six years before being released in the passenger swap after Indian Airlines flight IC-814 was hijacked. Rauf was mastermind of hijack of the plane in Kathmandu in 1999, which was later taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.

Read more: India links talks with Pak to action over Pathankot attack

Rauf is an operational man but his brother Masood Azhar is basically an ideologue. The other key conspirator Ashfaq Ahmed is brother-in-law of Masood Azhar and once used to be manager of Al-Rehmat Trust, allegedly the front charity of Masood Azhar, said a security source.

Investigators say they have recovered four assault rifles of Russian make from the Pathankot attackers. Three Chinese make pistols have also been recovered. Their serial numbers have been erased to make their identification difficult.

Sources say Masood Azhar has been given huge land in Pakoccupied-Kashmir in the name of running educational institute. Though, Pakistan banned Jaish-eMohammad but it never took any action against Al Rehmat Trust.

We want Pakistan to first arrest them and make them face the consequences of carrying out the attack, said the official.

But the shoes worn by the five attacks, the body of sixth attacker is yet to be found. The NIA investigators are conducting DNA tests on all body parts recovered from the air base to check whether they belong to six persons or five, said sources.
Jammu and Kashmir might be headed for a few days of governors rule as the PDPs chief ministerial candidate Mehbooba Mufti is not ready to take oath before the four-day mourning for her father is over, a senior party leader said on Friday.

Mehboobaji is not ready and oath-taking will happen only after chahrum (the fourth day ceremony) is over, said senior leader Muzaffar Hussain Beigh who is tipped to succeed Mehbooba as PDP president.

The states chief minister and Mehboobas father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, died at AIIMS in Delhi on Thursday leaving the state technically without a government.

Beigh, who is also senior lawyer and a constitutional expert, added that there will be no constitutional crises due to the vacuum. There will be a few days of governors rule but he will be a caretaker till another chief minister takes oath, said Beigh.

Barring any last-minute hitches, Mehbooba, 56, is set to become the states first woman chief minister with coalition partner BJP indicating it was comfortable with her at the helm.

Beigh also stressed that the party does not want to put pressure on Mehbooba. She is a mother, a daughter, a sisterthe tragedy is huge and she is everybodys source of strength. It will be unfair to force her to do something, he said.

Though the BJP is yet to submit written support for Mehbooba, Beigh said the ally had no problem with the transition. My old BJP friends tell me that the party has no problem with Mehboobaji as CM, he added.

Meanwhile, the BJP is likely to submit by Friday afternoon a formal letter pledging support to Mehbooba.

BJP general secretary Ram Madhav  instrumental in stitching up the alliance between the ideologically-divergent BJP and PDP after the assembly elections  is also arriving in Srinagar this afternoon.

BJP spokesman Sunil Sethi told HT that all party MLAs were in Srinagar where Madhav is likely to hold a meeting with them in the presence of state in-charge Avinash Rai.

The meeting is likely to take place in the afternoon and the decision will be conveyed to the governor accordingly, Sethi said.

Sayeed is the third J&K chief minister to die in office but a delay in the announcement of the successor is unprecedented.

When Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq died in a Chandigarh hospital on December 12, 1971, the transfer of power took place the same day and Mir Qasim succeeded him.

National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was succeeded by son Farooq Abdullah even before the legendary Kashmiri leader was laid to rest on September 8, 1982.

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Militant outfit Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen on Friday criticised hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani for condoling the demise of Jammu and Kashmirs chief minister, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.

The outfits spokesperson Jameel Ahmed, in a statement to a local news agency in Srinagar, accused the veteran separatist hawk of playing with the sentiments of martyrs families when he offered condolences over the demise of pro-India politician.

This act of Geelani is beyond comprehension. He disappointed the people of Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah (former chief minister) and Mufti were both sailing in the same boat and both aided and helped India in suppressing Kashmiris. When we are jointly fighting against Indian rule, it becomes necessary for us to differentiate between good and evil, Ahmad said.

Moderate as well as hard-line Hurriyat factions on Thursday had expressed condolences to the family of Mufti after his demise at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi.

If we start looking at the things through Geelanis prism then we should also express sympathies with the bereaved families of policemen, special operations group (SOG) and Indian troops, the militant spokesperson said.

The Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (JUM) was a breakaway faction of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) after some of the militant commanders of former opposed the move to transform the Hizb into Jamaat-e-Islamis armed wing in early 90s. The outfit is quite reticent in its operations right now.

Ahmad wanted Geelani to stop looking at things through the prism of socio-religious organization Jamaat-e-Islami.

It is this thinking of Jamat-e-Islami that people like Ghulam Nabi Fai in a bid to appease Mehbooba Mufti condoled the demise of Mufti Mohamamd Sayeed from USA.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his ally Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday spoke in different voices on Prime Minister Narendra Modis surprise visit to Lahore and the subsequent terror attack in Pathankot.

While Kumar welcomed Modis visit and called it a good gesture and initiative, RJD chief Lalu Prasad was critical and lashed out at the central government for its failure in Patahankot.

In my personal opinion, his (Modis) visit was right. For the relation with Pakistan to improve and the resolution of controversial issues, it is necessary that the democratic forces there (be engaged)..., the JD(U) leader said, noting that the internal situation of Pakistan should be understood.

If the Prime Minister went there on Nawaz Sharifs birthday or some wedding in his family, I consider it a good gesture. I do not look at it from any other angle. Some people say the visit was pre-planned but this is not an issue. It is a good thing and such an initiative is good, he told reporters.

Prasad, on the other hand, took a swipe at Modi for the visit, saying, Only he knows what he talked about or what biryani he ate!

Targeting the government over the terror attack, the RJD chief said, BJP people would boast about looking Pakistan in the eye and 56-inch chest. What happened? How did terrorists enter our home?

Noting that eight persons, including an Army officer, were killed, he said the Modi government had failed in securing the country. The country is not safe.

Striking a different note, Kumar said whenever the two countries work to normalise the situation, incidents like these happen and noted that Kargil infiltration occurred after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee went to Pakistan.

There are many forces which do not want good relations between the two countries. When a democratically-elected government in Pakistan makes an effort to solve the disputes, many problems are created in the way, he said.

Kumar said, When democratic government gains strength, other organisations would lose influence which would pave the way for improvement in ties. This is my personal thinking and has nothing to do with politics.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday said there is no communal tension in the state. Banerjee, who was speaking at Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata, said unity in diversity is the mantra of the TMC regime.

She also claimed that Maoist violence has come down in West Bengal.

Even the people residing in the hills are smiling. There is no tension, she said.

Mamatas comments comes five days after one lakh protesters went on the rampage in a town called Kaliachak in West Bengal, setting fire to a police station and damaging vehicles.

On Sunday, over a lakh protesters gathered for a rally called by a little-known Muslim organization Idara-e-Shariya against a right-wing activists alleged hate speech in Uttar Pradesh. The minority group was protesting against Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari, saying his speech had derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed. Kamlesh Tiwari had called Prophet Muhammad the first homosexual in the world.

Violence broke out in the Malda district when the protesters came across a North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) bus trying to cross the rally.

The protesters, some of whom were allegedly armed, blocked traffic on the National Highway 34 that runs past Kaliachak. A Border Security Force jeep was stuck in the traffic. BSF officials in the jeep got into an angry altercation with protesters.

Accusing the state government of shielding those behind the violence, BJPs Rahul Sinha on Thursday alleged that the Kaliachak police station was set on fire to destroy criminal records and pointed out that prime suspects have not been arrested. The Communist Party of India-Marxist also criticised the government for failing to control communal incidents.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday reviewed Pakistans progress in acting on information provided by India on the Pathankot attack, a move aimed at ensuring that a crucial meeting of the foreign secretaries next week is not derailed by the terrorist assault.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been assessing the situation and stressed on the need for urgent action when he spoke to Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, is likely to visit the air force station on Saturday, government sources said.

However, Punjab DGP Suresh Arora told HT there was no official communication on the visit.

Even as Islamabad pushed for a sustained dialogue in the wake of the terrorist attack that has cast a shadow on bilateral ties, authorities in New Delhi said they were awaiting a formal response from Pakistan regarding the demand for prompt and decisive action against the perpetrators of the incident.

An official said India had shared actionable intelligence with Islamabad and said, There is no deadline. But we hope Pakistan takes action in time so that the scheduled talks (between the foreign secretaries) are not hampered.

The foreign secretaries are expected to meet in Islamabad on January 15 and India had on Thursday linked the talks to its demand for action on the Pathankot attack, blamed on the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) are probing whether the attackers in Pathankot had help from inside to enter the airbase and remain hidden for more than 12 hours, sources said.

The possibility of inside help cannot be ruled out. The NIA is probing this aspect. Let the probe get completed and we will be in a better position to say something, a senior home ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sharif in Islamabad, also attended by army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, reiterated Pakistans commitment to cooperate with India to completely eradicate terrorism.

Read | India links talks with Pak to action over Pathankot attack

A statement issued by Sharifs office after the meeting contained several assurances that appeared to be aimed at assuaging India.

In line with Pakistans commitment to effectively counter and eradicate terrorism, the meeting reviewed the progress made on the information provided by the government of India, the statement said, without giving details of the progress that had been made.

The meeting expressed the confidence that building on the goodwill generated by the recent high level contacts, the two countries would remain committed to a sustained, meaningful and comprehensive dialogue process, it said.

The statement reiterated Pakistans 2004 commitment about not allowing its soil to be used for terrorism directed at India. The people of Pakistan have evolved a political consensus for action against all terrorists and terrorist organisations without any distinction, and have resolved that no terrorist would be allowed to use Pakistans soil for committing terrorism anywhere in the world, it said.

Pakistan repeated its condemnation of the Pathankot attack and the statement said the countrys entire leadership and institutions were working in complete harmony to counter terrorism and extremism  an indication that the powerful army was on board.

Besides the army and ISI chiefs, the meeting was also attended by interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz, national security adviser Nasser Janjua, foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry and the director general of military operations.

The Pathankot attack had figured in another meeting between Prime Minister Sharif and his top aides on Thursday. Pakistani media reports said Sharif had directed authorities to launch a probe on the basis of the information provided by India.

Indias demand for action against the JeM had also figured at a meeting of corps commanders chaired by army chief Gen Sharif on Wednesday, sources said.

Read | Why was Gurdaspur SP let off? The many mysteries of Pathankot attack
News / Africa

by Stephen Jakes

A Zimbabwean man who was thrown in jail in September last year for allegedly engaging in sex with a donkey had his prison remand extended by a Palapye magistrates court.Decent Vee Mulilo (23) was allegedly caught enjoying sex with the donkey at Phuduhudu lands, and while the state believes that forensic evidence will prove that he was more than taking the animal for a ride, the man has maintained his innocence.The Voice reported that Palapye Magistrates court denied him bail as prosecutors pleaded for more time to secure forensic evidence.He complained to Magistrate Thapelo Buang that his case was being delayed and that other suspects whose cases are also awaiting forensic results have come after him and left prison while he rots in jail."The prosecutor brings me here and presents the same story all the time regarding my remand. The case should be withdrawn because I do not have a case to answer," he said.The prosecution however opposed his bail application as they said as a foreigner he was a flight risk and might skip back to his country.State Prosecutor, Ditsapelo Emmanuel, told the court that he did not know why the forensic laboratory was delaying with the results and asked the court to have forensic experts summoned to explain the delay.The case continues on January 20th.
Lieutenant Colonel EK Niranjan, the NSG commando who was killed during the Pathankot terror attack while trying to retrieve a grenade from the body of a dead terrorist, reminds Lieutenant Colonel (retd) Darshan Singh Dhillon of the 2002 Kaluchak Cantonment attack.

My role, this time, was played by Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan, but he was not as lucky as me, Dhillon, who was with the 4 Engineer Regiment for 22 years, told HT in an exclusive interview from Ludhiana.

Dhillon, who headed the Northern Command bomb disposal (BD) unit responsible for disposing IEDs in Jammu and Kashmir from 2001-04  had led the mopping up procedure after the Kaluchak shootout.

On May 14, 2002, three suicide bombers had hijacked a bus at Vijaypur in Samba district. When the bus neared Kaluchak, they opened fire on passengers, the driver and the conductor, before storming into the army family quarters at the Kaluchak Cantonment, about 10km from Jammu city, leaving around 30 people dead. The casualties included soldiers, spouses and children of army personnel.

When I reached the spot, one militant was still alive. The militants were carrying explosives, besides arms. My task was to clear the area of any explosives after the encounter, Dhillon, who has defused more than 2,000 explosives in his nine years of service in the BD unit, said.

It was a horrible experience as the site was strewn with bodies of children, women and elderly parents of soldiers. The militants didnt even spare the tiny tots playing on the swings at a park, he added.

According to the army veteran, there was a quick response from the soldiers, despite the fact that they had no prior intelligence about the attack. The only difference in Pathankot was that air force officials there had been alerted about the possible terror attack, which though could not be utilised due to confusion in command, he said.

Dhillon said an element of hurry might have cost Niranjan his life.

There was a hurry to close the (Pathankot) operation to show it to the press as home minister (Rajnath Singh) had already declared the operation as over, the retired officer said, adding that BD procedures are very tricky as bodies are often booby trapped, which if not removed carefully can take the BD persons life.

Army given a peripheral role

Dhillon accused national security adviser (NSA), Ajit Doval, for inept handling of information that transformed what should have been a short, intelligence-driven, counter-terrorist operation into something that seemed like a debacle.

The NSA, he said, left the Pathankot airbase in the hands of Defence Security Corps (DSC) jawans, a handful of air force Garud commandos and the National Security Guard contingent, despite knowing that armed terrorists were prowling the vicinity.

The NSG is not a first responder, and is neither trained nor equipped to protect sprawling air bases; it is meant for pinpoint operations such as hostage rescue or flushing out terrorists holed up in a house The army, which flushes militants out of large forests every day in J-K, was given a peripheral role, he said.

It was only when things started going wrong the army was asked for more troops The mopping up operation could have been done better by the army as they are far better equipped and trained than NSG BD units, Dhillon added.

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Villagers in Jharkhands Hafua say he is a befitting example to contradict those who equate the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha (RSS) with the terror group Islamic State and its leaders with terrorists.

His contributions towards the progress of the Muslim-dominated village and bringing its once crime-inclined youth into the mainstream dwarf those of several Muslim leaders, social workers and politicians. It is this selfless service over the past two decades that invariably makes the local youth respect him.

Meet Siddhi Nath Singh, RSS kshetriya sanchalak or the regional head for Bihar and Jharkhand and the chairperson of RSS social development wing, Rashtriya Seva Bharti. Singh, a resident of Jharkhands electricity hub Patratu in Ramgarh district, has been imparting free skill training and creating livelihoods for the youth of hundreds of villages across the country at his firm Kalpataru.

But what makes the engineer-turned-entrepreneur different from others is the devotion with which he remains involved in changing the lives of every youth in Hafua, with a population of approximately 1,000 people, around 70 km north of capital Ranchi.

Some two decades back, a mere mention of Hafua used to alert the police and intelligence agencies. Majority of those involved in bank robberies and snatching incidents in Ramgarh and Ranchi were traced to this village. Children did not go to school and elders never worked in the fields even though most of them had vast tracts of land in their names.

Men picked up fights with anyone over trifles and exerted their supremacy in the region.

(Hindustan times)

It was during one of his sojourns to the village, while researching on storage of rain water, that 68-year-old Singh came across a few parents who were worried about the future of their teenage children.

I met the youth and saw the spark in their eyes. They had everything barring education and proper guidance. I invited them to my engineering firm and trained them. Soon they were repairing heavy machines with ease, Singh said while interacting with a fresh batch of boys from the village.

Over the last 15 years, Singh has provided skill training to no less than 150 Hafua men, who are now working across India and in the Gulf, earning handsome salaries. Their children now go to schools and the living standard of their families has also improved.

Afzal Ali, 38, trained as a welder with Singhs firm and is now working with Adani Group in Gujarat earning a salary of Rs. 15,000 per month. Taslim Ansari, trained as a fitter, works with Hindalco in Renukoot.

Lauding them, Singh said, Hafua boys are gifted. Give them a problem and they will solve it. I only routed their energy in the right direction.

And in return they have nothing else, but, praise for Singh.

Hafua residents do not have any criminal case for the last 10 years. We are now earning with dignity and living with pride, said Zubair Ahmad, who has been working with the RSS leaders firm for the last 12 years.

For Janisar Ansari, a class 10 student at Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Singh is like a god. He is meeting all my expenses. I want to crack IIT and become the first engineer from my village, he said.

Lal Mohammad Ansari, a landlord and whose five sons have been Singhs students, said that he stands as an epitome of religious harmony at a time when some feel that the country has grown intolerant.
It was an encounter that never happened.

The army, police and BSF personnel called off their combat-style search on Friday evening, convinced there were no militants hiding in a 28-acre sugarcane field on the outskirts of Gurdaspurs Tibri cantonment as reported by villagers.

The security forces had arrived in armoured cars on Thursday afternoon, carrying rocket launchers and latest weapons to catch two militants who appeared to have vanished into thin air. The operation followed an alert that a drone had located the presence of the duo.

Drones continued to scan the field during the operation, as did helicopters. The combing ended without a shot being fired. Nobody was arrested and no weapon seized.

On high alert, the army had cordoned the area around Tibri cantonment on Thursday, barely a kilometre from the sugarcane field where villagers reportedly spotted the two suspects.

The search was intensified early Friday morning with scores of police along with SWAT and BSF personnel moving into the field. Combat and armoured circled the area, while the Gurdaspur-Tibri stretch was closed for traffic.

About 20 teams comprising 20 members each conducted the search that ended fruitlessly.

The police, though, said the forces were maintaining high alert and would continue searching the buildings and adjoining areas.

We have not recovered anything nor arrested any person, but we are not lowering our guard. We acted on a similar input from Bamial area near Pathankot, DIG (border range) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh told HT.

Gurdaspur SSP Gurpreet Singh Toor said the siege laid by the forces around the area would continue.

Meanwhile, police said locals who had informed about the militants were being cross-examined.

Some residents of Pandher and Bhulle Chak villages had left their homes in panic, while others stayed indoors during and after the operation.
A seemingly tongue-in-cheek comment turned into a foot-in-mouth moment for NCP chief Sharad Pawars daughter Supriya Sule, as the Lok Sabha lawmakers remarks that MPs indulge in small talk during lengthy debates in Parliament sparked a swirling controversy.

Sule faced flak from political leaders as well as on social media after she told a group of female students in Maharashtras Nashik district on Thursday that she discusses matters like sarees with fellow legislators if discussions in the House get repetitive.

When I go to Parliament, I hear the first speech, the second speech and the third speech. Till the fourth speech, the one who is speaking is saying the same things the earlier speakers have said, she said at an event organised by the Nashik-based Fravashi International Academy.

If you ask me what was said, after the fourth speech, I am unable to do so. We speak to some other MP We discuss things like: from where did you buy your saree and from where did I get mine.

After facing a wave of criticism on the issue, the Baramati MP said on Friday that she was misquoted.

Shiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe said Sules remarks were irresponsible.

There is plenty of work while Parliament session is on. To make such comments demeans the sincere women legislators and MPs who have struggled to become House members, she said.

Sules remarks have triggered outrage at a time when MPs have been facing criticism over Parliament seeing repeated disruptions leading to crucial legislative agenda being stalled.

Senior advocate and womens rights activist Abha Singh termed the MPs comments highly shameful and demanded her resignation, saying every minute of Parliament was precious.

She has been elected and sent there to shape the countrys future, to decide for the welfare of the common man. And if in this precious time, she is wasting on gossiping and discussing about saris than it is highly shameful and condemnable, Singh told ANI.

I think she should step down. Just because she is Sharad Pawars daughter, she has reached Parliament. And that is why everybody says that dynasty politics should not be allowed in India.

Sule also said in the same speech that male MPs tease her that if theres 50% reservation for women in Parliament, discussions would only revolve around parlours, facials and sarees.

I have told them many times that you are the ones who make comments on sarees and have not done much welfare for the country, she said. So it should not be a problem to give the proposal a chance.

The twitterverse had a few things to say on this:

Of course Supriya Sule has to talk about saris in Parliament. What else can she talk about, her father's career as an honest politician?  lindsay pereira (@lindsaypereira) January 8, 2016

Must women typify and slot other women as frivolous, even if in jest @supriya_sule #notfunny  harinder baweja (@shammybaweja) January 8, 2016

Supriya Sule says they discuss Sarees in Parliament.Thus shutting up all those trolls who say nothing is discussed in Parliament  Gappistan Radio (@GappistanRadio) January 8, 2016

@supriya_sule's comment on gossip in parliament is no big revelation. we should stop pretending like it's news. NE India had a quake #News  Ishaan Ajay Jindal (@Ishaan_Ajay) January 7, 2016

Supriya Sule trolled for a comment that delivered bitter truth wrapped in sense of humour, something even netas have more of than us hacks  Kamlesh Singh (@kamleshksingh) January 8, 2016

@supriya_sule Hey its just the human nature, not all can be serious 100% of the time! ..am nonpolitical Puneri :) eg pic.twitter.com/0fQ4Vx9ajk  Shubh (@LostInDCrowd) January 8, 2016

Supriya Sule: We discuss sarees in Parliament? Arvind Kejriwa: Is it true? Han Solo: pic.twitter.com/tlFKigFNdF  Nirmalya Dutta (@nemo_dutta23) January 8, 2016

@ibnlive It is shameful that MPs discuss such things in parliament, but appreciate the frankness of Supriya Sule https://t.co/cr6tCv3KC5  C Vasanth (@cvasanth) January 8, 2016
A string of US lawmakers have condemned recent terrorist attacks on Indian facilities in Pathankot and Mazar-e-Sharif, sending, according to observers, a strong signal to Pakistan.

Not all of them mentioned Pakistan in their statements, but the condemnations, even from lawmakers not known to have had much to do with India, were said to be noteworthy.

The new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, has not had much say or do with India in the past, yet he was among the first to condemn the attacks.

Our hearts are with the people of India following the senseless #Pathankot attacks. We stand with you in confronting & defeating terrorism, Ryan, a Republican, tweeted.

His Number 2 in the House, Majority leader Kevin McCarthy, went a step further by calling India an ally: Praying for the Indian soldiers killed in the #Panthankot attacks. America will continue to stand with our ally #India to fight terrorism.

Neither mentioned Pakistan, and the Obama administration has refused to question Islamabads commitment to fighting terror without differentiating good terrorists from bad terrorists.

Islamabad is known to treat anti-India terrorists, such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, said to have carried out the Pathankot and Mazar attacks, as good and those that target Pakistan as bad.

This issue comes up often in US Congress, especially during hearings, and some lawmakers have expressed growing frustration with Pakistans perceived lack of action and intent.

This weeks deadly terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase is a reminder that our ally India faces the same threat of radical Islamic terrorism, Republican House member Ted Poe said.

Unfortunately, Indias neighbour Pakistan has provided safe haven to terrorists for years, from shielding Osama bin Laden to backing covert terrorist operations around the world. It is being reported that members of the Pakistani military may have provided training and assistance to the jihadists who attacked India this week.

Other lawmakers who issued statements or tweeted support for India included Democrats Ami Bera, the Indian-American member of the House who is co-chair of the India caucus, Eliot Engel, ranking member of the House foreign affairs committee, House Democratic whip Steny Hoyer, Tulsi Gabbard, the only Hindu member of the House, and Grace Meng.

The Republicans included McCarthy and Poe, Ed Royce, chairman of the powerful House foreign affairs committee, and Pete Sessions.

A congressional source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the condemnations and expressions of support may seem routine, but they contained a message, a signal.

Look at the number of members that called India an ally, he said.

Republicans McCarthy and Sessions and Democrat Meng also used the term friend, as did Poe.
Deputy inspector general, Indore, suspended three policemen of Vijay Nagar police station in Indore on Thursday for negligence of duty in relation to the death of an engineer whom the officials had admitted to a hospital for head injury.

The DIG suspended ASI Khaka Singh, head constable Jabar Singh and constable Hirom Dwivedi, besides ordering an inquiry into the matter.

On December 31, Saurabh Suryavanshi, an engineer and resident of Bhagirathpura, was found injured at Narmada Nagar by ASP (west) Devendra Patidar of Vijay Nagar police, who called the control room. A squad of two constables led by an additional sub inspector took him to a private hospital and left him at MY hospital without informing his family members.

The victim, however, went missing and was found dead on January 4 inside the hospital premises on January 4. The family members came to know about the incident after the postmortem was done in MY hospital in the presence of police.

An enquiry by a CSP level officer has been ordered and if other staff of any police station was found guilty, action will be taken against them. Doctors or administrative staff of both the private and public hospitals involved in this case will also be under the ambit of the enquiry and criminal cases will be lodged if found guilty, said the DIG.

How come an injured person, admitted to a hospital, went missing? What was the hospital staff doing then? The ASP had dutifully called the police control room but Vijay Nagar police have shown gross negligence, added the DIG.

Police sources said the victim lost sanity because of his injuries and kept on roaming in and around the premises of MY hospital for four days.

Demanding action against the hospital authorities for negligence, family members of Saurabh alleged that he had enough documents for anyone to identify him but neither the police nor the hospital staff bothered to inform them. Sandeep, the victims brother, said Sourabh had gone to attend a party on the New Year Eve at Patel Resort and had not returned since then.

Constable Hari Om Dwivedi had recovered Sourabhs wallet and his mobile phone but did not inform his family members. Addressing mediapersons, Dwivedi said he had informed his senior officers and had gone home to change his dress after an allegedly drunk Saurabh vomited on him on their way to MY Hospital.
The Bombay high court on Friday reserved verdict on a bunch of petitions, challenging the ban imposed by the state government on possession of beef, and thus, indirectly prohibiting the consumption.

A division bench of justice Abhay Oka and justice SC Gupte concluded a hearing on the petitions challenging constitutional validity of the two provisions of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act, 1976, which were introduced by a 1995 amendment, but brought into force 20 years later, in March 2015.

The provisions are section 5 (d) that prohibits possession of beef imported from other states and section 9 (a) that penalises such possession with imprisonment of up to one year and fine of Rs2,000.

These provisions impose an indirect ban on beef eating as they prohibit and criminalise possession, thus imposing a ban on importing beef from other states or countries.

There is no reason for the state to be worried as to whether there are enough cows, bulls and bullocks in Ireland or for that matter some other country or some other state in India, senior advocate Aspi Chinoy, who represented one of the petitioners, had said.

He added that the indirect ban on importing beef was beyond the intent of the legislation. The state government contended that the amendment has not been enacted to harass beef eaters, but to prohibit slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks in the larger interest of the agrarian society.

Lets not look at the Act as something put in place to harass people, advocate general Shrihari Aney said. Aney added that the ban on possession was merely incidental to the purpose of the enactment and the central purpose of the Act is to prohibit slaughter to fulfill the goal enshrined in Article 48A of the Constitution of India, which demands protection of cows and calves, and to

fulfill the duty of the state imposed by Article 51 (a) (g), which makes it a duty of every individual to have compassion towards living creatures.
After failing to extract any significant information or leads by questioning Chintan Upadhyay, a suspect in the murders of his wife Hema and her lawyer Haresh Bhambani on December 11, 2015, the Mumbai police have turned to another tool  jail informants.

Police informants at Thane Central Prison have been told to keep tabs on Chintan, especially his conversations with visitors, for clues. The police claim Chintan was the main conspirator in the double murder, even as they admit they dont have any concrete evidence against him. Police teams, meanwhile, continue to search for Vidhyadhar Rajbhar, a key suspect who remains at large.

Chintan was sent to judicial custody on January 1 and shifted to Thane Central prison. The police have alerted all of their informants inside the prison to keep tabs on Chintans conversations with visitors and other inmates. They have been told to alert us if they see or hear something relevant to the case, said a police source.

The source also said the police are hoping that Vidhyadhar will try to contact more people associated with Chintan now that he is in judicial custody. After fleeing the city, Vidhyadhar allegedly telephoned several people in the artists fraternity for money, and the police have recorded the statements of these people. The source said Vidhyadhar recently telephoned a Mumbai lawyer for legal advice. His wife and mother have been living with relatives in Goregaon as the police have sealed their home and warehouse.

Hema and Haresh were allegedly smothered with a chloroform-laced cloth at Vidhyadhars warehouse on December 11 last year. The killers packed their bodies in cardboard boxes and dumped them in a Kandivli sewer. The bodies were found on December 12.

The police believe that Vidhyadhar murdered the two after Chintan gave him and others a contract to kill them. They also claim that Chintan used a mediator  whose identify they have not established  to arrange meetings with the other suspects in the months leading up to the murders.
Forcibly converted to Christianity, hung by the wrists from a ceiling fan, starved for days and beaten mercilessly for failing to recite Bible passages  this is what a nine-year-old boy said he had to endure at an illegal shelter.

He was among 30 children, all from poor families, rescued on December 29 after police raided two homes run by the Emmanuel Seva Group in Greater Noida and Meerut. The child, who along with his younger sister and brother had been confined to the home for three years, said their stay was like a jail term during which his name was also changed.

I was allowed to meet my parents once a month for only 15 minutes. The only thing I was taught was the Bible. They forced me to memorise its passages, the boy told HT on Thursday and added that the children were forced to consume buffalo meat and paraded before potential donors.

They gave us good clothes whenever visitors came. They made us stand in line and recite Bible passages. Faltering meant a beating with sticks and belts later, he said. Once the guests left, the shelter in-charge snatched away our clothes, sweets and gifts and we were back in rags again.

His 11-year-old sister said the children were forced to sleep on a dirty floor that was littered with rodent droppings.

They never allowed us to step outside. We were not given food for three days at a stretch if we forgot a Bible passage.

A case was registered at the Bisrakh police station following the raid. The children complained they were tortured and beaten up for not following the orders of the caretakers. We are investigating whether the organisation had permission to run a shelter home. Three persons, including the caretaker of the shelter home, have been detained and are being questioned. We are investigating the claims of the rescued children, said Ashwani Kumar, in charge, Bisrakh police station.

Their mother, whose complaint with a childrens helpline led to the raids, said she was approached by one Josua Devraj at a Delhi hospital around three years ago. He said he will raise my children and make them IAS officers. He forced us to circulate pamphlets and copies of the Bible in public places but never paid us, she said.

Their ordeal has not ended even after being rescued. The woman said the shelters employees came to her house on Tuesday night and threatened to take her three children back. They pelted stones at our house and beat us up with batons. They fled when the neighbours gathered, she said.

The victims mother had approached us on December 28. We contacted the police and conducted a raid at Naya Haibatpur village in Bisrakh area. It was found that a shelter home with the name of Emanuel Sewa Group was operating illegally. Seven children were kept there in squalid and untidy condition. The children were also found to be malnourished. A subsequent raid was conducted at the shelter home of the same organisation in Meerut from where 23 children were rescued, said Satyaprakash, programme manager, FXB Suraksha NGO.

Satyaprakash further said, The complainant said she was not allowed to meet her children for months and told us that they might have been shifted to some other place. After we conducted a raid, it was found that her children were lodged at an illegal shelter home of the same trust in Dehradun. Following the raid, the children were brought back to Greater Noida.

He said the children revealed that they were being served cockroach-infested food and were forced to live in a substandard condition.

Most of them are malnourished and sick. They need proper medication and care. We are in talks with their family members. They will be sent back to their homes soon, Satyaprakash said.

When contacted, accused Joshua Devraj accepted that a raid was conducted at his shelter homes but refused to comment on the issue.

Yes, raids were conducted but I cant tell you much about it. I will comment on this issue later, he said.

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A local CBI court on Thursday turned down a plea of sub-inspector Surinder Kumar, one of the accused in Rs 70 lakh economic offences wing (EOW) graft case, regarding the release of his mobile phone and identity card.

The accused, on December 24, 2015, had submitted an application that during personal search, the investigating officer concerned had taken away these articles as Jama-talashi, so they should be released.

In its reply, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) averred that the identity card of the accused was a government property and could only be returned to the competent authority of the accused-applicant. It was also contended that the mobile phones of the accused and co-accused were forwarded to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi, for analysis.

The CBI added that the investigation in this case was kept open to establish the role of other private persons involved in the conspiracy.

The supplementary chargesheet, if required, will be filed on the basis of the mobile analysis report of the accused persons. These mobile phones are duly sealed and might be used as case properties during the filing of the supplementary chargesheet, read the CBI reply, adding that they should not be released.

Meanwhile, the defence counsel had averred that there was no record of any kind of conversation between Surinder Kumar, co-accused and complainant Guneet Kaur, or any other private persons named in the transcription produced by the CBI.

Moreover, the CFSL report about the recorded conversation between other accused persons and complainant Guneet Kaur has already been received by the CBI and produced in the court. As such, Surinder Kumars mobile phone was not required for any purpose, said the defence counsel.

However, in its order, the court stated, At this stage, the prosecution needs the mobile phone of the accused, so the contention raised by the defence counsel is not sustainable.

Case History

On August 12, complainant Guneet had filed a complaint with the CBI in which she had alleged that Deepa Duggal, a resident of Sector 9, in December last year had got a case of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy registered against her father Gurkirpal Singh Chawla, Jagjit Kaur Chawla and brother Hamrit Singh Chawla with the EOW wing of the UT police.

The case was being investigated by SI Surinder Kumar under the supervision of DSP EOW wing RC Meena.

Aman Grover is the sonin-law of Deepa and Sanjay is a friend of Aman, who had demanded `75 lakh bribe on behalf of deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Meena and SI Surinder through Dahuja for not arresting her parents and brother, said the complainant. Aman had assured her of help in the case through Dhauja, if the bribe money was paid to Dahuja for further delivery to DSP Meena and Surinder.

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News / Africa

by Ihechukwu Njoku

Ihechukwu Njoku is a Nigerian journalist currently in Abuja

The visit of International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde to Nigeria has placed an uncomfortable spotlight on the fiscal woes of Africa's biggest oil producer as the pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari to devalue the Nigerian currency has increased.ez\Several articles from international financial news providers have reiterated the call for Buhari to devalue the Nigerian naira in lieu of the steadily decreasing oil prices or risk further economic woes.In a report titled, 'Pressure Mounts for Nigeria Naira Devaluation on Oil Plunge', Bloomberg noted, "The Central Bank of Nigeria may revise its target for the naira by more than 20 percent to 240-250 per dollar as oil continues its decline," citing the research of London based economist Alex Cameron."Cumbersome foreign exchange restrictions are strangling economic growth," the media house further quoted economist John Ashbourne as saying. "The authorities will be forced to devalue the naira in the first half of 2016."Financial Times published an article titled, 'Nigerian naira: is the end nigh?' The newspaper surmised, "A currency crisis is brewing in Nigeria, with investors betting Africa's largest economy could soon be forced to devalue its currency as lower oil prices strain its finances.""Such a devaluation will be painful, but probably less damaging in the long run than the gradual strangulation imposed by the current system," the article concluded.Oluseun Onigbinde wrote a practical report titled, 'It's Naira or Never: Nigeria Needs Decisive Action On Its Currency' for The Guardian UK.He noted, "This devaluation is keenly anticipated by many foreign investors, but some analysts have warned it could lead to more speculative trade, and have questioned how the naira's 'fair value' will be determined. Until now, the government has rejected this course of action, but it may be forced to reconsider."Although Lagarde has not officially stated any agenda to discuss devaluation of the naira during her four-day visit to Nigeria, analysts have suggested the sore subject is high on the priorities for the IMF chief's meetings with Buhari.Several online commentators have observed the heightened calls for devaluation come several days after a 'prediction' by prominent Nigerian 'Prophet', TB Joshua who allegedly warned Buhari about the currency crisis."The president will do everything to reject revaluation of the naira  which is a good idea from a good leader. But there will be overwhelming pressure which he will not be able to resist," Joshua purportedly stated in his New Year 'prophecy' on Christian television network Emmanuel TV."He has good intentions but a king's intentions cannot be carried out properly without the support of the subjects. He needs your support to lead us out of the valley," the cleric added. "Nigerians, support and pray for your leader. The future is crying for help."Joshua's supporters claim he had similarly predicted the rapid decline in oil prices in December 2013, stating Nigeria would soon be forced to 'drink' its own oil.
Terming the proposed elevated road from Sector 39 to Kharar as constant source of nuisance, the residents of SAS Nagar Phase 6, whose houses are adjoining the road, demanded relocation of the starting point of the bridge from Sector 39 to Verka Chowk in Phase 6.

Though the residents admitted that the proposed road would ease the traffic congestion, they want the starting point to be changed to save them from noise pollution and persistence disturbance.

The elevated road starts from Sector 39 so the residents of Phase 6 would be the most inconvenienced as they would not be able to use the road. They will have to travel either to Sector 39 or Balongi to access the elevated road. All the houses numbered between 210 and 264 would be directly affected, said BS Pooni, patron, Welfare Action Committee, Sector 56, SAS Nagar.

The residents who have houses adjacent to the road fear that their houses will loose the resale value due to the unfavourable condition, he said.

Starting from Sector 39 roundabout, the elevated road will go along Max Hospital up to the new bus stand in Phase 6, SAS Nagar, from where two lanes would reach Balongi light point. The elevated road would go right up to Kharar junction from where one of its arms would go towards Ludhiana and another (400 metres) would go towards Rupnagar.

There are provisions of having underpasses near the North Country Mall in Kharar and Sunny Enclave in Kharar.

Other than houses, a gurdwara, hospital, college and a few government offices are there along the road whose boundary walls have to be shifted. Markings have already been done for this.

POLITICIANS OPPOSE PROJECT

Though several politicians have been taking up the issue, nothing concrete has emerged as despite assurances, the NHAI has already given contract to the Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for the construction of the elevated road.

I would once again take up the issue with the Union government and would press upon them to reconsider the beginning of the road from Verka Chowk instead of Sector 39,said Prem Singh Chandumajra, member of parliament.

Chandumajra said he had already raised the issue with Union minister for transport and highways Nitin Gadkari in June 2015. The proposed elevated road has put the existence of gurdwara and houses in danger as some portion of these buildings would be acquired for the purpose, hence the starting point needs to be reconsidered, he said.

Taking up the issue, SAS Nagar MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu too had written to Union government. He wrote, There is not much traffic problem on the stretch from Sector 39 to Phase 6, so why are the residents subjected to such an inconvenience. The six lane road from Kurali to Chandigarh via Mullanpur is acting as an alternative for the diversion of traffic coming from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and JK, he said in his letter.

Sidhu said once the road connecting Kharar to Zirakpur gets operational, it too would reduce the vehicular rush.

SAS Nagar mayor Kulwant Singh in September 2015 too had written to the NHAI for reconsideration of the project. In fact, the municipal corporation House had approved the agenda of constructing the elevated bridge from Verka Chowk till Kharar, instead of Sector 39, considering the demand of the residents. He had pointed out that in case the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) goes ahead with the present proposal, the InterState Bus Terminal (ISBT) under construction would become unviable.

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All India Congress Committee (AICC) member Aman Arora has decided to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab, the latest in a series of defections by political leaders as the state gears up for the assembly elections next year.

Son of former Punjab minister Bhagwan Das Arora, who passed away in 2000, Aman is the third leader to have deserted the Congress for AAP in the past three weeks. He will formally join AAP on Saturday.

In December last, the Congress was left red-faced after former MLA from Bholath, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, decamped, leaving the party struggling to find a new face there. Days later chairman of the Congress Punjab intellectual cell, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, left too.

Sources said Aman, 41, who was considered close to Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh, resisted all efforts by party leaders to hold him back.

AAP is emerging as a better party than the conventional political parties. Its policies and programs are public-centric, and being in politics I want to serve the people, Aman told HT.

Aman has contested assembly elections twice so far  in 2007 and 2012  from Sunam constituency in Sangrur district, but lost to SADs Parminder Singh Dhindsa both times.
The management of Millennium School, SAS Nagar, has given a shocker to students and parents by changing the school name to Learning Paths School. A circular was sent to parents about the name change in December.

The school authorities say the name has been changed as the contract with Educomp (the company that owns the brand) has ended.

Te circular issued to parents by the school principal states: The transformation portends a brighter future for your children while keeping our management, staff and myself as principal intact. The students will get added benefits including more progressive textbooks from Class 1 to 8, after school communication class facility, special training for competitive exams, minor changes in uniform, enhancing existing sporting instruction with workshops and camps. Most importantly, it will also become a senior secondary school from the upcoming session and will introduce commerce in Class 11.

Parents rents feel cheated

While a few parents are trying to make peace, others feel its unfair call and are planning to take their wards out of the school. Sunita, who shifted base to Chandigarh so as to enrol her child in Millennium School, said: I am not satisfied with the schools explanation as I shifted my child from Millenium School, Lucknow, to the one in SAS Nagar only for its brand value. I dont think i will like my child to study here once the session is over.

Another parent said: A child begins to associate himself with a school. How will I answer my child when the uniform will be changed?

What at school authorities say

School principal Komal Singh told HT: The contract with Educomp came to an end and hence we had to change the name. Our values continue to stay the same with a couple of minor changes here and there. We will also give two sets of summer and winter uniforms to students to cover up the extra cost for change in uniform.

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Security agencies have failed to reach conclusions in the terror attack on the Pathankot airbase. The local police, meanwhile, are on their toes chasing different rumours on suspected people.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other agencies seem to be groping in the dark. They undertake daily visits of the airbase and the Bamial sector. The porous border at the point has a rough terrain with the Ravi river flowing, and tall grass standing. The 750-metre area is without a barbed fence. Officials say the terrain and the fast current of the river sway the fence in case it is erected.

Air force officials on Friday had to cancel the medias scheduled visit to the site of the encounter as NIA officials kept them occupied for they wanted to inspect each and every point in the air force area to find clues as to how the terrorists entered the high-security area with so much ammunition.

The officials, who are also quizzing Punjab Police superintendent of police (SP) Salwinder Singh and his two associates, also visited the route which the SP had taken after his visit to the religious place from where he was abducted.

Intelligence agencies are also considering the arrest of a Military Engineer Services (MES) employee from the air force station on Thursday, who could have helped the terrorists by changing the direction of the floodlights on the fence.

The three suspected mentally challenged people, who were picked by the police recently near the airbase for suspicious behaviour, have also not revealed anything.

Meanwhile, rumours about suspected men are flying thick and fast keeping the local police on their toes. On Friday morning, helicopters were pressed into the Bamial area where someone had claimed that he had seen terrorists in the area, while nothing was found later.

Pathankot station Air Officer Commanding (AOC) JS Dhamoon claimed that the investigating agencies were taking care of each and every clue in the airbase and outside to reach a conclusion.

Meanwhile, Pathankot SSP RK Bakshi said the police were on their toes as they could not take any news lightly.

RPF DGP takes stock of security at railway station

Pathankot: Government Railway Police director general of police RR Verma on Friday visited the Pathankot Cantt railway station. Around 200 trains pass daily from this junction.

Verma was seen ordering officials to gear up security. The railway station is 500 metres from the Pathankot airbase gate. Scores of army officials and other security forces daily board trains from here.

The DGP, accompanied by senior officials, pointed to the tall grass at the station. He told the officials to ensure cleanliness and to make all CCTV cameras operational at the earliest.

He said he had instructed the officials to ensure foolproof security of the railway station. He said he also told officials to soon make barracks for security personnel.
First, the good news. Punjab has made a record contribution of rice to the central pool. During the 2015-16 crop season, the state contributed 93.5 lakh tonnes to the public distribution system (PDS).

Now, the bad news. To grow one kilogram of rice, as many as 5,337 litres of water is required  more than 260 buckets of 20-litre capacity. The water consumed by rice for the central pool is five times more than the capacity of the Gobind Sagar lake, the reservoir of the Bhakra dam. The reservoirs gross capacity is 9,621 million cubic metres.

According to figures recently released by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Punjab has gone past the earlier all-time-high mark of 92.75 lakh tonnes, recorded in 2009-10.

The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), which fixes the minimum support price (MSP) mainly for paddy and wheat, has observed that the water requirement for paddy in West Bengal is less than half (2,605 litres per kg of rice) as compared to Punjab.

In the 2015-16 season, the total paddy harvested was 180 lakh tonnes, of which the rice shelled was 120 lakh tonnes - consuming six times the capacity of the Gobind Sagar lake (the rice shelled is two-thirds of a given quantity of paddy).

Irrigation water for agriculture in Punjab is fed 27% by canals and 73% by tubewells. As agriculture in the state is not much dependent on rain, it is largely fed by underground water, which is extracted with the help of about 12 lakh tubewells.

Incessant extraction of water with tubewells has forced the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to declare two-thirds of Punjab a grey zone, where the water level has gone as deep as 400 ft.

Talking to HT, agriculture economist Sardara Singh Johl said: We have been telling the Punjab government to restrict paddy cultivation to 16 lakh hectares, but the area has touched 29 lakh hectares. In a report submitted in 1986, he had told the government to curtail paddy cultivation in the state. In 2012, the Punjab state farmers commission had asked the government to reduce this area to half.

In a recently compiled report, the CACP said, this shows that the most efficient state (Punjab) in terms of land productivity is not the most efficient if other factors of production, namely water, are factored in.

India exports about 100 lakh tonnes of rice annually, which implies that more than 38 billion cubic metres of water is consumed  equivalent to 20 times the capacity of the Gobind Sagar lake.

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Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday said Punjab is not prepared for a terror attack in case terrorists target civilian installations in the border state.

The state, due to its long border along Pakistan, part of which has proved porous, needs to take its vulnerability seriously, he said in a statement issued here.

Amarinder said the response of the state government, especially of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal, during the earlier attack in Dinanagar and now in Pathankot was casual and disappointing. They (the Badals) behaved as if they belonged to another country, he remarked.

He maintained that the SAD-BJP government could not shrug its responsibility just because the militants attacked a central installation. After all, the attack took place on Punjab soil and it was the second attack in less than six months, he said.

Amarinder expressed doubts over the preparedness of the state against any further attacks by terrorists.

The Badals did not learn any lessons then and they are least expected to learn any lessons now, he said.

Amarinder said Punjab Police deserved the credit for the timely alert that saved the vital IAF assets.
Police on Friday used water cannons and cane-charged Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) workers, who were undertaking a padyatra (march on foot) to the international airport here, demanding that the airport be named after martyr Bhagat Singh.

The clash between the PYC workers, who have been undertaking the padyatra for the past four days, and police took place near Singh Shaheedan gurdwara at Sohana here as police had put up barricades. As a result, a few workers suffered minor injuries. As a result of the use of water cannon, the turbans of a few policemen were toppled.

As a few stones were reportedly thrown at the police, this led to the use of water cannons on the workers, followed by a cane-charge to disperse them. The police said they had to resort to this as the workers tried to break the barricades and hurled stones at them.

PYC president Amarpreet Singh Lally, who was one of the injured, said, Fascist tendencies of the Punjab government were on display as the police attacked us without provocation. Our intention was to pay due respect to the freedom fighter. The action clearly shows that the Badal government is not concerned about preserving the legacy of the Shaheed-e-Azam. People of Punjab will give a befitting reply to such dictators in 2017. We will keep pushing the demand and will knock every at door to press the issue.

Many Congress supporters, along with former MP Vijay Inder Singla, Lally and Barinder Dhillon, were arrested.

The 115-km padyatra had started on January 4 from Bhagat Singhs native village Khatkar Kalan in Nawanshahr district and was to culminate at the international airport here after passing through Nawanshahr, Rupnagar, Morinda and Kharar.

SAS Nagar superintendent of police (detective) GS Grewal said, When we asked the workers to stop, they pelted the police with stones and tried to break the barricades, so we had to resort to cane-charge and water cannons to control the situation.
Following a positive response to northeast tour for the Delhi University students, the IRCTC has planned to offer customised tours and packages for students of the city schools and colleges.

Besides, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has also planned to start a special train for students from the Chandigarh railway station this year. As per the initial plan, the train will offer tour to three places - Delhi, Jaipur and Agra - and will be named Golden Triangle.

IRCTC, Chandigarh, spokesperson Shubham Arya said, Starting a special train completely for children is a part of our future plan. We will be writing to the city schools and colleges so that we could analyse their common demands and plan a trip as early as possible.

The tours and packages from our side will be completely customised, trips will be planned as per the convenience of school heads as schools will demand such trips only during summer or winter vacations, he said.

We will ask for the feedback of the schools on the kind of trips they wish to organise for their students. We have planned to offer tours to northeast as well, he added.

The other IRCTC officials said the plan to start a train from Chandigarh, especially for school and college students is being worked after the train, which was started for the Delhi University students, received a good response.

The Chandigarh train will start on the similar pattern, but here as a pilot project, we will like to club the schoolchildren on a single platform and we may later offer the same packages for students at the college or university level, said an official.

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The Haryana government told the Punjab and Haryana high court that it had finalised the cases of 89 life convicts for premature release from the state prisons.

Additional advocate general Sandeep Moudgil told division bench of justice SK Mittal and justice HS Sidhu on Thursday that as a model code of conduct was in place for panchayat elections, these prisoners could not be released.

But a committee headed by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, also the jail minister, had cleared 61 cases for release in October 2015 and 28 cases after that. More than 74 other cases had been identified, which would be considered after the panchayat elections, Moudgil told the high court bench.

The life convicts are those who would be released prematurely in the wake of July 2015 decision of SC, whereby the states were allowed to release and consider premature release of certain category of life convicts. The information was given during the resumed hearing of a public interest litigation wherein the high court is monitoring welfare activities to convicts and undertrials in the jails of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. The government also informed the court that there were 117 sick prisoners in six jails of the state who were lodged either in separate barracks or wards.

During the hearing on Thursday, the Centre sought more time to file its response on the instances of overstay of foreign prisoners in Punjab jails. The high court had sought Centres response following Punjab and told the court that nearly 38 foreign nationals who have completed their sentences were either in jails or in transit camps as they could not be released without prior permission from the central government. But, the Centre was not responding to states letters on the matter.

The matter would further come up for hearing on April 27.
Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday gave full marks to the state police in sharing information and combat response that resulted in prompt deployment of the National Security Guard (NSG), the army and the air force personnel at the Pathankot airbase, averting a far bigger tragedy.

Sukhbir, who called on Union home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi, pointed out that it was only because of this timely deployment that the terrorists were not allowed to inflict any damage on the most sensitive, strategic and technical assets and equipment, including fighter and bomber planes.

He urged the home minister to strengthen, reinforce and completely modernise the functional capabilities and combat-response vigil of the Border Security Force (BSF) all along the border with Pakistan adjoining Punjab. Sukhbir said although the BSF and other forces tasked with the sensitive responsibility of blocking infiltration of hostile elements, including terrorists, had always stood up to the challenge in the most commendable manner, yet there had been instances that left something to be desired, while citing the attacks by highly-trained terrorists at Dinanagar and Pathankot.

He said the numerical strength of the BSF and other forces had been shown to be inadequate to deal with the rising spectre of cross-border terrorism.

Expedite Bargari probe

The deputy CM urged the Union home minister to direct the CBI to put the Bargari sacrilege case on the fastest, most expeditious and priority mode so that culprits in the case are identified, apprehended and given exemplary punishment under the law. This must be deemed as a national priority as it involves the profound and sacred sentiments of millions of people all over the world, Sikhs as well as all right-thinking people in every community everywhere, Sukhbir told Rajnath.
News / Local

by Stephen Jakes

There juveniles in Chitungwiza are in trouble after they were arrested for [participating in public violence which saw the police engaging in running battles with touts and vendors.The violence reportedly resulted to death of a rank marshal.Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights communications iofficer kumbirai Mafubnda said in Chitungwiza, ZLHR lawyer Kennedy Masiye is representing three juveniles Lizbert Saruchera aged 15 years and a Form 2 student at Mutero High School in Masvingo, Takudzwa Chirwadzimba aged 16 years, a Form Four student at Zengeza 2 High School and Simbarashe Nkwezaramba aged 19 years, who were arrested by police officers on Tuesday 05 January 2016 and charged with contravening Section 36 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 for allegedly commutting public violence."The trio was arrested together with 40 other residents of Chitungwiza," he said.
The arrival of Netflix in India this Wednesday has been largely welcomed by the Tamil film industry, although as with any discovery or introduction, some skepticism is bound to emerge. Nobody wanted the steam engine or even the electric bulb, but time proved detractors wrong. And so shall it be with Netflix and Tamil cinema.

Of all the movies made in India, those in Tamil suffer the most for want of distributors or exhibitors or both. Despite a surge in the number of multiplexes in Chennai and some other Tamil Nadu cities, there are not enough theatres for the 250 or so films produced every year in the state. Merely 200 or so get a theatrical release, and many of these too are not allowed to run beyond a week (one reason why Tamil producers/directors are so averse to allow reviews to appear on a Friday, the usual day a movie opens), because there is long queue.

Read: Netflix finally comes to India, plans start at Rs 500

This Pongal, which falls on January 15 and which is one of the biggest festivals in Tamil Nadu, at least four Tamil films will open, each cutting into the others revenue, and for all one knows, three of them may just fade away after seven days.

There is also another reason why movies do not find takers. Production values are very low, and stories are cliched, and as Sreedhar Pillai, trade analyst, told this writer on Friday, With the age of digital technology, anybody with a camera can make a film... No wonder, there may be as many as 500 movies (some half made) languishing in the cans for 10 years now.

If Netflix can buy some of the better or good works from this unsold inventory, it can be a win-win situation for all.

Netflix comes to India: 5 shows to kick start the bingefest

Also, Netflix can go a long way in curbing piracy in a state like Tamil Nadu, where the evil is rampant. Kamal Hassan tried doing precisely this when he wanted to release his Vishwaroopam simultaneously in cinemas and on the direct-to-home platform. But he was not allowed to do so by a group which lacked foresight. The result, hundreds of pirated copies of the film flooded the market.

Every week, week after week, just about every Tamil work which opens in theatres is already to be found on pirated disks.

Finally, Netflix, known for its extremely good quality content, can go miles to engineer better production values in Tamil cinema.

Obviously, smaller movies can benefit by Netflix, smaller works that either fade away from theatres in just a week, unsung and unwritten, or those that remain in the cans for years.

As one producer (who does not wish to be quoted) says that if only Netflix can lower its pricing from the current Rs 500 a month, it will find many, many more takers -- who are fed up of watching bad quality stuff on pirated disks (at Rs 40 each).

Admittedly, Tamil Nadu still has the lowest theatre entry rates in the entire country. A ticket cannot be priced above Rs 120. But this is bound to change sooner than later, because cinema owners have been contending that they cannot run their establishments with this kind of income.

However, even the Rs 500 a month, charged at the entry level by Netflix, seems like a song if a family of four or five can watch several films in a month and in the comfort of their drawing room.

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Netflix is here, you may have heard. Youve survived without it all your life. But now, with its Wonka-like world finally available to you, a new problem has arisen: where to begin? We chose Making a Murderer. A decision - we conceitedly report after quickly giving ourselves a pat on the back - was as wise as it was enlightening. We emphatically urge you to do the same.

Lets get some things out of the way right off the gate. Making a Murderer is a documentary. And it isnt about the breeziest subject in the world. But what it lacks in finesse it more than makes up for in sheer watchability. In fact, its one of the most engrossing stories put on screen, small or large, this year. By the time youre done with its 10 deeply addictive episodes, youll either be left catatonic with rage or in disbelief with shock. Maybe its just us, but when a show or film manages to elicit a reaction this strong, its hard to just Netflix and chill.

Read: Netflix comes to India: 5 shows to kick start the bingefest

There is no way to adequately explain what this show is about without, and we hate to use that word in this context, spoiling it. Spoiling is reserved for Star Wars, is it not? But Making a Murderer might well be about a galaxy far, far away as well.

The series is about Wisconsin miscreant Steven Avery, a man who has been living a life of petty crime since his youth, always having run ins with the law, and, like every other poor white trash kid who takes a step out of line (or in this case doesnt), losing.

The eternal loser: Steven Avery.

In 1985 Avery was arrested and convicted for the rape of Penny Beernsten, a lady who identified him out of a police line up and testified against him in court, providing a positive id. Open and shut case youd say. And you wouldnt be wrong. The evidence is all there and the victims testimony is as good as a guilty verdict. Then, after serving 18 years in prison, never having settled for the plea bargain that would have drastically cut short his term, new DNA evidence is found and Steven Avery is exonerated of his crimes.

A free man now, he gets back to work on his familys large junkyard, posing for pictures with strangers babies and giving interviews to anyone who cares. Upon advice from his lawyers he decides to sue the state for his wrongful imprisonment for $36 million. Then, in 2005, a woman named Teresa Halbach is reported missing. And whose door do the cops knock on? You guessed it.

Averys joy would be short lived.

Unbelievably, all this happens in the first episode. There are nine more to go. This is where we advise you to start early. Bingeing is the only way. This is a story that is difficult to walk away from, despite the infuriating nastiness of whats happening on screen.

The two directors of the show, Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos arrived at the scene soon after the disappearance of Halbach and the second arrest of Avery. They filmed this case for over a decade, simply and bluntly. To them, the injustice is there for all to see, no reconstructions or flashbacks or voiceovers are needed. The Manitowoc county messed up once and instead of admitting its blunder and settling the lawsuit, it slapped another case on Avery.

Shows like this remind us that the American legal system is broken. Theres no two ways about it. Like any other bully, its unfair towards those who cant defend themselves. And thats exactly who it targets, time and time again, having assured itself that it is too big to fail. Here, the prosecutors target Brandon Dassey, Averys nephew. He is interrogated without the presence of an elder for three hours till he is coerced into confessing a horrific account of rape, murder and burial. Oh, and another thing: Dassey is a minor, with severe learning disabilities.

You can watch the first episode here

It is a volatile time in America. On one side we have unrelenting violence against the blacks, on another there is a man running for president who wants to kick out all the immigrants by literally building barriers. But its stories like these that usually go unreported. Stories of ignored, forgotten white trash families living in abject poverty, uneducated and simple. Errol Morris great documentary The Thin Blue Line, about a similar premise is eclipsed only by the legendary Paradise Lost trilogy, about three Arkansas kids convicted of murdering children just because they listened to Metallica and wore black.

The Wisconsin of Making a Murderer, like the Bible belt lunacy of Paradise Lost, is a hellscape. There are no straightforward relationships between two people. Everyones a half-something or ex-something. Both Avery and Dassey have an IQ of less than 70. Snide hints at the inbred nature of the family are made more than once.

Read: Netflix finally comes to India, plans start at Rs 500

Make no mistake: Avery is no saint. He would probably be the first to admit that. But its like that great line from Oldboy: Just because I am a monster, does that mean I dont have the right to live? And Avery isnt even a monster.

So how in the world does a documentary series about a white trash miscreant from Wisconsin capture the imagination of the Internet like The Red Wedding happened all over again? Like we said, it isnt something most people would be immediately attracted to. What it does have, however, is a raging desire to tell its story. There are Atticus Finch-like heroes out there to fight the system but there is also evil, fighting back just as hard.

The villain: State prosecutor Ken Kratz.

Making a Murderer is a gripping courtroom drama, a harsh critique of a flawed and corrupt system, and an angry call to action. Above all, Making a Murderer is the kind of work that has the power to save lives. Take that for a blurb.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

The author tweets @NaaharRohan
At least 140 people have been killed in Ethiopia over the past two months in a crackdown on anti-government protests sparked by plans to expand the capital into farmland, Human Rights Watch said on Friday.

Security forces have killed at least 140 protesters and injured many more, according to activists, in what may be the biggest crisis to hit Ethiopia since the 2005 election violence, HRWs Felix Horne said.

The number reported by HRW is almost double the previous toll of 75 the group gave last month.

There was no immediate response from the Ethiopian government, which has previously put the death toll at five.

The protests began in November when students opposed government proposals to take over territory in several towns in the Oromia region, sparking fears that Addis Ababa was looking to grab land traditionally occupied by the Oromo people, the countrys largest ethnic group.

Over the past eight weeks, Ethiopias largest region, Oromia, has been hit by a wave of mass protests over the expansion of the municipal boundary of the capital, Addis Ababa, Horne said.

The generally peaceful protests were sparked by fears the expansion will displace ethnic Oromo farmers from their land, the latest in a long list of Oromo grievances against the government.

On December 23, police arrested Bekele Gerba, 54, deputy chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), Oromias largest legally registered political party. Bekele was previously convicted in 2011 of being a member of the banned Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), spending four years in jail.

By treating both opposition politicians and peaceful protesters with an iron fist, the government is closing off ways for Ethiopians to non-violently express legitimate grievances, Horne said.

This is a dangerous trajectory that could put Ethiopias long-term stability at risk, he warned.

With at least 27 million people, Oromia is the most populous of the countrys federal states and has its own language, Oromo, distinct from Ethiopias official Amharic language.

HRW has said the protests -- and bloody crackdown -- echoed protests in April and May 2014 when police were accused of opening fire and killing dozens of protestors. The government said eight people died in the 2014 unrest.

Some 200 people were killed during post-election violence in 2005.
China is preparing over 20 space missions this year, including a manned one and the maiden flights of two rockets, a media report said on Friday.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp said it plans to launch the Tiangong 2 space laboratory and the Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft and to test fly the Long March 5 and Long March 7 rockets, the China Daily reported.

China will also launch two satellites for the domestically developed Beidou Navigation Satellite System and the Gaofen 3 for the Gaofen High-Resolution Earth Observation System.

This year will see more than 20 space launches, the most missions in a single year, the company said.

The company will also launch a communications satellite for Belarus, marking the first time China has exported a communications satellite to Europe.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp is also finalising the development of the next-generation carrier rockets.

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology is carrying out final tests on the Long March 5, the heaviest and most technologically challenging member of the nations rocket family.
An Islamic State fighter executed his own mother in front of hundreds of people because she reportedly asked him to leave the terrorist group, a Syrian rights group said on Friday.

The fighter  identified as 20-year-old Ali Saqr in some media reports  killed his mother in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which is the main stronghold of the IS, on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on its website.

The woman, originally from the city of al-Tabaqa and in her forties, was executed in front of hundreds of people near the post office building in Raqqa where she was employed, the rights group quoted its sources as saying.

The IS arrested the woman and accused her of apostasy after her son turned her in, the group said. She was executed for allegedly inciting her son to leave the Islamic State and escaping together. She had also reportedly told him that coalition forces would kill all members of the IS.

The incident was also reported by the rights group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently.

Since it captured parts of Syria and Iraq, the IS has built up a reputation of carrying out beheadings and mass executions and filming them for propaganda videos that are posted on online jihadi forums.
New copies of Hitlers Mein Kampf hit bookstores in Germany on Friday for the first time since World War II, unsettling some Jewish community leaders, as the copyright of the anti-Semitic manifesto expires.

Bavaria was handed the copyright of the book in 1945, when the Allies gave it control of the main Nazi publishing house following Hitlers defeat.

For 70 years, it refused to allow the inflammatory tract to be republished out of respect for victims of the Nazis and to prevent incitement of hatred.

But Mein Kampf -- which means My Struggle -- fell into the public domain on January 1.

Copies of an annotated version, running to 2,000 pages prepared by German researchers, went on sale on Friday, with authors arguing that their version would serve to demystify the notorious rant, which in any case can be found easily on the internet.

The version by the Institute of Contemporary History of Munich (IFZ) has been in the works since 2009 and aims to deconstruct and put into context Hitlers writing.

Retailing at 59 euros ($65), the book looks at key historical questions, the institute said, including: How were his theses conceived? What objectives did he have? And most important: which counter-arguments do we have, given our knowledge today of the countless claims, lies and assertions of Hitler?

Christian Hartmann, who led the editorial team for the annotated version, said the version could show a wider public how aggressive the hate sermon was.

Education minister Johanna Wanka has argued that the annotated text should be introduced to all classrooms across Germany, saying it would serve to ensure that Hitlers comments do not remain unchallenged.

Pupils will have questions and it is only right that these can be addressed in classes, she said.

But some among the Jewish community questioned whether it was necessary to propagate the incendiary text again.

Poison cabinet of history

Partly autobiographical, Mein Kampf outlines Hitlers ideology that formed the basis for Nazism. He wrote it in 1924 while he was imprisoned in Bavaria for treason after his failed Beer Hall Putsch.

The book set out two ideas that he put into practice as Germanys leader going into World War II: Annexing neighbouring countries to gain Lebensraum, or living space, for Germans, and his hatred of Jews, which led to the Holocaust.

Some 12.4 million copies were published in Germany until 1945, some of which can be found in academic libraries.

Newspaper Tagesspiegel said the reprint serves as a historical documentation of the Nazi atrocities when witnesses, victims or perpetrators are no longer around. That cannot be stopped, it added.

The Berliner Zeitung noted that the tract should have been banned for sedition during the Nazi era, and not now.

Today, the book must be made available precisely for this reason, it said, adding that it serves as an arsenal against anti-Semitism.

But opinion is divided among the Jewish community, with some leaders welcoming the new version and others slamming the reprints.

The president of the Germanys Jewish Council, Josef Schuster, told broadcaster NDR that he welcomed the publication of the annotated version as it would serve to undo the myth of this book and show how completely wrong and ridiculous Hitlers theories and theses were.

Charlotte Knobloch, leader of the Jewish community in Munich, however said she could not imagine seeing Mein Kampf in shop windows.

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, told AFP that not only would Holocaust survivors be offended by the sale of the anti-Semitic work in bookstores again, but that he also failed to see a need for a critical edition.

Unlike other works that truly deserve to be republished as annotated editions, Mein Kampf does not, he said, arguing that academics and historians already have easy access to the text.

And even though it should be studied and German students taught about the devastating impact it had, Lauder said the idea that to do so requires an annotated edition with thousands of pages of text is nonsense.

Now, it would be best to leave Mein Kampf where it belongs: The poison cabinet of history, he said.
Mexican authorities have recaptured fugitive drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, six months after his prison break, President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Friday, triumphantly declaring mission accomplished.

Mexican marines have conducted extensive operations in the northwestern states of Sinaloa and Durango in search of Guzman since the 58-year-old drug lords spectacular July 11 escape.

But neither Pena Nieto nor other authorities gave immediate details about the location and day of the Sinaloa drug cartel leaders arrest.

Pena Nietos arrest makes for a major sigh of relief for the President, whose administration was humiliated by Guzmans prison break.

Mission accomplished: We got him. I want to inform Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been arrested, Pena Nieto wrote on Twitter, without elaborating.

A presidential spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the tweet to AFP, but declined to say more, adding that a press conference would be held later on Friday.

Clash in Sinaloa

News of his arrest came shortly after the navy reported that five suspects were killed in a clash with marines in the Sinaloa city of Los Mochis, but it did not indicate whether it was related to Guzman.

Six people were detained after the shootout, which broke out when marines were tipped off about the presence of armed men in a home, the navy said in a statement.

A suspected gang leader, identified as Orso Ivan Gastelum Cruz, was in the house but managed to escape, the navy said.

On July 11, after 17 months at the Altiplano maximum-security prison in central Mexico, Guzman slipped through a hole in his cells shower, climbed on a motorcycle mounted on rails, and traveled 1.5 kilometres (one mile) through a tunnel.

This photo shows the shower area where authorities claim drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman slipped into a tunnel to escape from his prison cell at the Altiplano maximum security prison, in Almoloya, west of Mexico City. (AP File Photo)

US and Mexican law enforcement officials say Guzman then flew to his home turf at the Sinaloa-Durango state border, where he is revered as a modern-day Robin Hood.

More than a dozen prison and federal police officials have been arrested on charges of helping Guzman flee, along with several associates of the drug lord who worked from the outside on building the tunnel.

Marines nearly recaptured him in October in a remote mountain region straddling the two states. Authorities said Guzman injured his face and a leg while falling in the rough terrain, but special forces failed to nab him.

Guzman had been captured on February 22, 2014, in the Sinaloa resort of Mazatlan. He was found in a condo with his wife and their young twin daughters.

He had been on the lam for 13 years after escaping a first time in 2001 from another prison, in western Jalisco state, by hiding in a laundry cart. He had spent eight years in prison following his 1993 capture in Guatemala.

Questions will now likely turn on whether Mexico will extradite Guzman to the United States.

Pena Nieto had refused to hand Guzman over to the United States before his escape, but the authorities have since then secured an arrest warrant to extradite him.

Lord of tunnels

The man whose old nickname means Shorty had used the money from a drug empire, whose tentacles reach Europe and Asia, to dig himself out of trouble.

He is a legend of Mexicos underworld, with musicians singing his praises in folk ballads known as narcocorridos, tributes to drug capos.

With his daring underground escapes and ability to sneak narcotics under the US-Mexico border, he also earned the nickname of Lord of the Tunnels.

The bathtub in one of his houses in Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa, opened into an escape route into drainage systems that he used to flee from troops in early 2014.

US and Mexican authorities have regularly discovered sophisticated tunnels with rails and electricity to ship marijuana, cocaine and other drugs into the United States, with cash and weapons coming the other way.

Born on April 4, 1957, to a family of farmers in La Tuna, Guzman had humble beginnings in a region known as a bastion of drug trafficking.

He dropped out of primary school to work in marijuana and opium poppy fields as drug consumption rose in the neighbouring United States.

He was recruited by Guadalajara cartel boss Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, the godfather of Mexicos modern drug cartels.

After Felix Gallardo was arrested in 1989, Guzmans Sinaloa drug cartel began its meteoric rise.

The mustachioed drug lord married an 18-year-old beauty queen, Emma Coronel, in 2007 and is believed to have 10 children with various women.

Guzmans family has paid dearly for his life of crime. One of his brothers was killed in a Mexican jail in December 2004 and a son was shot dead in a Culiacan shopping centre parking lot in May 2008.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins cast doubt on the identity of a man shot dead by police in the capital on Thursday as authorities sought to establish whether he represented a significant threat or was acting alone and without support.

The man was killed on the first anniversary of deadly Islamist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in the French capital as he tried to enter a police station wielding a meat cleaver.

An official account said the man, identified by a judicial source soon after the attack as Moroccan-born, shouted Allahu Akbar, (God is Greatest), and was equipped with what turned out to be a fake suicide belt.

Molins told a French radio station the man may have given a false identity some months ago. He also said a mobile phone found on the body was being examined and contained a German SIM card.

I am not at all sure the identity he gave was real, Molins told France Inter radio on Friday.

A judicial source said on Thursday that the dead man was Ali Sallah, a Moroccan born in 1995 in Casablanca. He was homeless and known to police for theft in 2012 in the Var region of southern France.

Molins said authorities had established from fingerprints that the dead man identified himself as Sallah to police when they intercepted him last year.

However, he said a sheet of paper found on his body gave a different name, and a Tunisian nationality.

Authorities under pressure

The name Ali Sallah was not known to intelligence services, so We will need to establish the identity -- know which is the real identity, Molins said.

Also on the sheet of paper was the Islamic State flag and a claim of allegiance to the militant group written in Arabic.

Islamic State, which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for another deadly attack in Paris on November 13 in which 130 people died.

Molins went on to say anti-terrorist authorities were working on 215 cases involving 711 individuals in France.

Some 240 people had been taken in for questioning in connection with them.

He said about half the cases had reached the inquiry stage, and that even though the number of investigating magistrates had risen to 11 from 7 last September, anti-terrorism authorities risked being overwhelmed because since 2012 we have seen a doubling of these cases every year.

Belgian investigators said they believed explosives used in the November Paris attacks may have been made in an apartment in Brussels that was rented under a false name and where a fingerprint of a key fugitive was found.

Police found material that could be used to make explosives, traces of explosive acetone peroxide and handmade belts during a raid on the apartment on December 10.
News / Local

by Stephen Jakes

The Bulawayo City Council has expressed concerns over continued random littering of the city by careless residents.The latest council report states that illegal dumping by irresponsible residents continued in the city despite the waste education efforts of the department."Three such irresponsible residents were caught and deposit fined. In one case where the department received information of a vehicle seen dumping, liaison with ZINARA and Zimbabwe Republic Police had revealed that the number plates on that truck were fake. Efforts to apprehend the truck were therefore unsuccessful," reads the report.The reports states that Nkulumane Seventh-day Adventist Church had conducted a clean-up campaign in Nkulumane whereas Zimbabwe Prisons Services and Harvest House International conducted two clean-up campaign in the Central Business District."Twenty seven (27) waste education sessions were carried out. There were two clean up campaigns that were conducted in at Makokoba by Seventh-day Adventist Church and Robert Sinyoka by World Vision and Robert Sinyoka residents. Five deposit fines were issued for illegal dumping and 31waste education sessions were carried out," reads the report.
The godfathers of North Koreas nuclear weapons programme were an elderly trio: a nuclear physicist, a military general, and a broker with contacts in Pakistan.

The broker is reported to have died in 2014, but together, the three helped lay the groundwork that led to the isolated countrys fourth nuclear test on Wednesday.

Roughly 6,000 people are involved in North Koreas nuclear and missile programme, according to a 2009 report by South Koreas Science and Technology Policy Institute, and they are an elite corps. Many are given brand new houses and those at the very top are awarded medals listing them as heroes of the state.

Just like the Manhattan Project, in order to build a nuclear bomb you need eggheads, logistics personnel, and military personnel, said Michael Madden, an expert on the North Korean leadership.

Thats guys like So Sang Guk, Jon Pyong Ho, and O Kuk Ryol.

Even by the standards of secretive North Korea, the three have remained firmly behind the scenes. Some sketchy details however have pointed to their role in the isolated states nuclear programme.

So Sang Guk: The Nuclear Scientist

The brain, experts say, is 77-year-old So Sang Guk, a skilled scientist and PhD who rose to become the head of Kim Il Sung Universitys Department of Nuclear Physics.

According to North Korean state media, So is the author of forty books, with titles including Quantum Mechanics and Elementary Particle Theory.

A decorated hero, So was given a spread of food for his 60th birthday in 1998 by then-leader Kim Jong Il, state media reported at the time.

He was Kim Jong Ils tutor on nuclear physics and nuclear science, said Madden.

So was appointed to the Organisation and Guidance Department (OGD), a secretive body used by Kim Jong Il to wrest power from his father before becoming leader in 1994.

The reason he had the OGD title was to supervise personnel and give people jobs in the weapons programme, said Madden. A job there also effectively gave him security clearance so that he could have access to secret documents as he needed them.

Using connections forged as a young student in the Soviet Union, So made a solo trip to Russia to arrange a deal to import nuclear parts, South Koreas Yonhap news reported in 2006.

His daughter won a place at a top music school thanks to her fathers patronage, according to Jang Jin-sung, a North Korean defector who left in 2004 but studied alongside Sos daughter as a student.

She once complained she could not study abroad because her father was engaged in some big, secretive project, Jang told Reuters.

So was listed as a target of financial sanctions by the European Union in 2009.

General O: The Military Man

Late leader Kim Jong Il built patronage with gifts and around 2001, he gave two of his most-trusted aides in the nuclear department a large American van each as a present, according to Jang, the defector.

So Sang Guk received one van. Jang said the other was awarded to O Kuk Ryol, a slender man with thinning hair and tinted spectacles said to be the military coordinator behind the nuclear programme.

A health nut who walks several miles a day, the 85-year-old O is an anomaly among the North Korean elite for avoiding excessive partying, according to Madden.

He was promoted to general in 1984 and was born in China, according to South Koreas Ministry of Unification.

His rapid rise in the Korean Peoples Army was aided by being related to a guerrilla soldier who fought alongside North Koreas founder President Kim Il Sung during the Japanese colonial period.

O was named in U.S. sanctions against North Koreas weapons programme in 2013 specifically to further impede North Koreas weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes.

He was last seen in state media alongside Kim Jong Un in November last year.

Jon Pyong Ho: The Logistician

In July 2014, state media said Jon Pyong Ho, the ruling Workers Party bureaucrat credited with the development of Pyongyangs ballistic missile programme, had died.

He had helped broker a deal with Pakistan in the 1990s that provided Pyongyang with critical technology for its uranium enrichment programme, experts have said. Jon was the main contact for North Korea with Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistans nuclear programme who confessed in 2004 to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

Hwang Jang-yop, a former mentor to the late Kim Jong Il and North Koreas highest-ranking defector before he died in 2010, once told a Japanese newspaper that Jon had approached him to ask if they could make a few more nuclear bombs.

Can we buy some more plutonium from Russia or somewhere? Hwang quoted Jon as asking him.

By the autumn of 1996, he said Weve solved a big problem. We dont need plutonium this time. Due to an agreement with Pakistan, we will use uranium.

A graduate of Moscow State University and a close adviser to Kim Jong Il, Jon worked for more than four decades as a senior figure in the production and development of North Korean arms before retiring from public life in 2011.

Jon was the logistician who oversaw the factories, scientists and technicians working on the isolated countrys missile and nuclear programmes, according to Madden.

Although he has passed away, an obituary for Jon in state media said, the exploits he performed on behalf of the party, the revolution and the country will shine on.
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Billionaire Republican donor Maurice Hank Greenberg has made a $10 million donation to Right to Rise, the super PAC backing Jeb Bushs presidential campaign, according to the Wall Street Journal. Greenberg did not deny making the donation, but declined to discuss it with the paper.

With the contribution, Greenberg, the former chairman and CEO of American International Group (AIG), joins the largest financial backers of the 2016 election cycle, who have largely chosen to support Republican rival Ted Cruz, according to the Hill. Those contributions include $15 million from the Wilks family fracking fortune, $11 million from hedge fund manager Robert Mercer and $10 million from private-equity fund founder Toby Neugebauer.

The massive donation from Greenberg came to the pro-Bush super PAC despite what is generally seen as a weak performance from the former Florida governor. According to RealClear Politics national averages, Bush currently sits in sixth place in the 2016 field with just 3.3 percent of respondents supporting the candidate. In early state voting, Bush does slightly better in Iowa, in fifth place with 4.8 percent, but stays in sixth place in New Hampshire with 8.3 percent.

In an October interview, Greenberg said he was supporting Bush and planned to donate to Right to Rise despite perceived weaknesses. Does he have the flair others are looking for? No, but that's not what you judge a candidate on, Greenberg told Bloomberg. You judge him on his competence, and he got the job done in Florida.

According to NBC News, Bush and his allies have spent $49 million in advertisements - $47.5 milion from Right to Rise and $1.5 million from his campaign - including $23 million in New Hampshire and another $10 million in Iowa. That $49 million represents more than a third of the $139 million total spent on ads in the entire 2016 race among all the candidates.

Bush and Greenberg have had a long-standing relationship, dating back to when Bush was the governor of Florida, noted Politico. When a series of hurricanes decimated large parts of Florida in 2004, Greenberg, who was then the chairman of an AIG foundation, wrote a $1 million check to help with relief efforts.

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A big part of keeping your pet happy is keeping them clean. If your pet is small, you can probably wash them at home, but if they're extra-fussy or extra-large, you may need to go pro, because good hygiene is very important to a pet's health. Many issues, like infections or lumps, are discovered by groomers because washing and trimming fur and nails often exposes the problem, says The Humane Society.

Here's our guide to choosing the best groomer, because your pets only deserve the best.

1. Research online. Find all the groomers in your area. Ask your veterinarian and friends for recommendations. Narrow it down to two or three groomers to go check out.

2. Reach out. Call ahead and ask a staff member if it's alright for you to come by and take a look at the facilities. There should be no problem, and if they're hesitant to show you around, this is not the right place to drop off your furry friend.

3. Check out the scene. On your visit, consider the following: How's the lighting? Does the place look and smell clean? Are the staff friendly and professional? Are the animals kept in correctly-sized cages? Do they keep records of each pet's experience? All these questions are important for your pet's comfort and safety, according to the Humane Society.

4. Ask for certification. It's important that the groomer be certified or licensed to deal with ticks, fleas, or other specific issues, says PetMD. These issues can cause major discomfort for your furry companion.

5. Vaccination records. Make sure they require a vaccination record, as this is the best way to prevent the spread of diseases, says PetFinder. Also ask about their accident policy.

6. Discuss your pet's specific needs. Do they get anxious or fearful in new situations? Do they need extra-thorough brushing or trimming? Make sure to tell the groomer everything they need to know, it'll only make the process easier for them.

7. Pros and cons. Compare and contrast the facilities you've visited and pick which one you think will be best for your pet.

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The mystery of how sharks manage to naturally navigate seemingly straight lines in the chaotic ocean might have been solved thanks to a new study, which suggests that they may, in fact, be using their noses.

Their sense of smell may be so sensitive that they are able to sense the key chemical changes in the water as they swim toward their destination.

"We've known for a long time that sharks are capable of long distances migration. They travel long distances along fairly straight paths," Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Birch Aquarium researcher Andrew Nosal told Fox News. "That begged the question: how exactly do they do it? What sorts of cues do they use to find their way?"

The researchers caught 27 leopard sharks and released them six miles from the shore of California. Half of the sharks had their olfactory system, or sense of smell, impaired with petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls.

Those sharks were, on average, 37.2 percent closer to their target shores, but sharks with their smelling faculties in check were 62.6 percent closer on average, according to Science Daily.

"Even the sharks that we released in the offshore direction, they started to swim offshore initially. Within 30 minutes, they made a corrective U-turn and just bee lined it back to shore. They made it quite close to shore," said Nosal.

The study was published in the Jan. 6 issue of the journal PLOS ONE.

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Microsoft revealed on its website that it is ending support for older versions of its iconic Internet Explorer browser, encouraging users to upgrade to the newest version of the browser, IE 11, or risk leaving their system vulnerable to hackers.

News of this comes after Microsoft announced the demise of IE back in March, after it announced that the 20-year-old browser would be replaced by Microsoft Edge, which was only known as Project Spartan back then. At the time, IE was bombarded by years of negative coverage as newer, faster rivals such as Google's Chrome and Mozilla Firefox over took them. Project Spartan was Microsoft's bid at a fresh start on equal footing.

Now, beginning Jan. 12, 2016, only Internet Explorer 11 will receive security updates, security fixes and technical support on current Windows OS' leaving IE 8, 9 and 10 to rot.

Microsoft notes, however, that not even IE 11 is safe from the passage of time and will only be supported for the life cycle of Windows 7, 8.1 and 10, and is only really being kept alive for the sake of enterprise compatibility, reported DNA India. Afterwards Microsoft Edge, which is capable of launching IE 11 for sites that require better backward compatibility, will be Microsoft's go-to Internet browser.

Microsoft Edge is hailed as Microsoft's all-new browser for Windows 10. It is faster and more streamlined than IE and has new features such as instant sharing, built-in note taking, a special reading mode, and integration with Microsoft's riff of Siri, Cortana.

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For the first time in six years, a Panamanian night monkey - also known as Chocoan night monkey - has been born at the Apenheul Primate Park in the Netherlands, according to Zooborns. The baby was born Dec. 9 and is currently doing well, living in the Night Monkey Enclosure of the primate park.

There are many things that make Panamanian night monkeys special, reported Zooborns: they are one of the few species of monkey that is monogamous, staying with one mate for life and having multiple babies with them; they live in small packs, usually with up to six monkeys; males tend to carry the infants after birth and the females feed them; as their name suggests, the monkeys are nocturnal, living mostly in forests in South America; and their amazing, huge eyes allow them to get around in dark surroundings.

Panamanian night monkeys have been classified as "data deficient" by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, seeing as little information is available about their populations or any threats that could endanger them, said IUCN.

Panamanian night monkeys are small, growing to weigh around two pounds. They get around by walking on all fours and leaping if necessary. They live in the lowlands of Panama and the Choco region of Colombia, explained iNaturalist. It's possible to see night monkeys in Panama if you follow a knowledgeable guide on a monkey tour.

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A new study published by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology examined the link between the value placed on time and money and found that those who place a greater value on time are happier.

The research is based off six studies, with more than 4,600 participants total, that contained an almost even number of people who consistently valued either time or money more in their daily interactions and major life events.

"It appears that people have a stable preference for valuing their time over making more money, and prioritizing time is associated with greater happiness," Ashley Whillans, lead researcher of the study, said in a press release.

Although the participants were almost evenly split, there were slightly more participants that stated they valued their time more than money and when comparing younger people and older people, the team found that older people were more likely to value their time more than money in comparison to young people.

"As people age, they often want to spend time in more meaningful ways than just making money," Whillans said.

The research consisted of surveys with a sample of Americans that accurately represented the nation, students from the University of British Columbia and random adults that were visiting a Vancouver science museum. They found that both gender and income had no affect on the participants' values, although the study omitted anybody living at the poverty level who would likely need to prioritize money for survival reasons.

"Having more free time is likely more important for happiness than having more money," Whillans said. "Even giving up a few hours of a paycheck to volunteer at a food bank may have more bang for your buck in making you feel happier."

The findings were published in the Jan. 7 issue of Social Psychological and Personality Science.

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Everton Biddersingh was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his teenage daughter 21 years ago, as the jury at the trial in Toronto returned its verdict only hours after deliberations began on Thursday morning, according to CBC News.

Everton Biddersingh, 60, had pleaded not guilty in the death of 17-year-old Melonie Biddersingh, whose body was found in a burning suitcase north of Toronto in 1994. The crown alleged that after years of prolonged abuse, Everton Biddersingh drowned or starved his daughter.

Melonie's brother, Cleon Biddersingh, was a key witness in the case. He testified that in addition to beatings and starvation, Melonie was frequently chained to the wall, confined to the broom closet and her head forced into the toilet. He claimed that in the days before her death, she could barely walk and couldn't keep down any food, according to Global News.

Elaine Biddersingh also testified, claiming her "monster" husband beat her daily, contrary to any supporting evidence. She also testified that she accompanied her husband, on his orders, to an industrial area north of Toronto, where Melonie's charred body was found.

Superior Court Justice Al O'Marra noted that Elaine Biddersingh was present during the abuse of the teen, and faces her own first-degree murder trial in April. "She has an interest in the outcome of the case, a strong motivation to lie," O'Marra said.

The case had taken two decades to get to trial because police weren't able to identify Melonie's remains. Police arrested Everton Biddersingh and his wife in March 2012 after receiving a tip that broke open the case, according to The Winnipeg Free Press.

"His reign of terror over Melonie ultimately resulted in her death," Crown prosecutor Mary Humphrey said in closing arguments. "But for his actions or his omissions, Melonie would have been alive today. She would have been 38 years old."

Victim impact statements and sentencing have been scheduled for Feb. 8, according to CBC News.

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and U.S. Homeland Security will be working alongside authorities in Guyana to investigate international gold smuggling operations, officials announced today. In particular, the U.S. will help to trace the money trail that is generated by the contraband.

Weekly, around 15,000 ounces of raw gold is illegally exported from the country, reports the Latin Correspondent, which means that more than half of the gold produced in Guyana is lost to smuggling.

"Indicators are that the gold is going to Brazil. It is going over the borders to Suriname, not to stay in Suriname but to go to Europe," explained Guyanese Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman in a press conference, according to the Jamaica Observer. "It is being landed at Miami International Airport. It is being landed at John F. Kennedy and it is going to the Middle East."

Trotman stated that said the FBI contacted the Guyanese authorities upon discovering that significant quantities of gold were being declared at the American border, but not in Guyana. He also noted that some of the gold comes from Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil, "passing through what could be weak or porous systems" in Guyana.

He did not reveal which business operators are being investigated, but Sydney James, head of the Guyanese Special Organized Crime Unit, declared that some suspects have already been prosecuted, reports The Associated Press via ABC News. "We are now getting information we had always wanted from the federal agencies," James said. "All the relevant departments are cooperating with us."

The illegal trade is instigated in part by better prices that can be obtained overseas and income that can be concealed from the government in order to avoid taxation, explains Caribbean360.

Supervised by the Guyana Gold Board and the Guyana Revenue Authority, the investigation will also involve tightening protocols connected to the export of gold, according to the Associated Press. The Guyana Gold Board announced that in 2015, gold exports reached 451,000 ounces in declarations, bringing export earnings close to $500 million (USD).

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News / Local

by Letwin Mubonesi

A teenage trader is in trouble after being caught red handed smuggling 16 bales of second hand shoes into the country from Mozambique through an undesignated entry point.This led him to be fined $100.Appearing before Mutare magistrate, Langton Mukwengi, Tinashe Kufahakurambwi pleaded guilty to contravening Section 174 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act which outlaws the smuggling of second hand clothing into Zimbabwe without declaring them at the border.It was the State's case led by Mr Fletcher Karombe that on December 24, 2015 at Odzi Business Centre, Kufahakurambwi was found in possession of 16 bales of second hand shoes which he had allegedly smuggled from the neighbouring Mozambique.Kufahakurambwi boarded Tenda Bus from Mutare to Harare to resale the second hand shoes he had smuggled from Mozambique. The bus was then stopped at the roadblock for inspection by the police officers and they inquired to see the owner of the 16 bales of second hand shoes but Kufahakurambwi made a good escape from the scene.The shoes were taken to Odzi police station and later Kufahakurambwi surrendered himself to the police officers leading to his arrest.Kufahakurambwi asked for forgiveness and later indicated that it was a way of earning a living together with his siblings."I was trying to earn a living but however, I erred please forgive me Your Worship," pleaded Kufahakurambwi.Mukwengi ordered him to pay $100 fine or serve the alternative of 60 days imprisonment.Mukwengi said: "Your goods have been forfeited to the State and you are ordered to pay $100 fine. If you fail to pay the fine, you will serve an alternative 60 days imprisonment and I would advise you to desist from that bad behaviour because crime doesn't pay."
The Saudi Arabia-led coalition of Arab nations has dismissed Iran's allegations that it' warplanes attacked an Iranian diplomatic mission in Sana'a.

"The coalition command confirmed that these [Iranian] allegations are false and void, stressing that it does not carry out any operations in the vicinity of the embassy or near it," the grouping said in a statement released on state-run Saudi Press Agency Thursday, according to Reuters.

Iran earlier accused Saudi Arabia of attacking its embassy in Yemen's capital city.

"This deliberate action by Saudi Arabia is a violation of all international conventions that protect diplomatic missions. The Saudi government is responsible for the damage caused and for the situation of members of staff who were injured," an Iranian foreign ministry official told state television, according to AFP.

NewsAlert: SANAA, #Yemen (@AP)  AP reporter: No visible damage at Iran's Embassy in Yemen; #Iran said Saudi-led strike hit it.  Jon Gambrell  (@jongambrellAP) January 7, 2016

"Nothing happened here" says a guard at Iran's Sanaa embassy, despite Iranian allegations that Saudi bombed it. https://t.co/AByzTnehNr  Liz Sly (@LizSly) January 7, 2016

Photo taken appears to show #Iran embassy in #Sanaa undamaged despite reports it was hit by airstrikes. via @kfahim pic.twitter.com/WcVxBVewHq  Tony Toh (@tonytohcy) January 7, 2016

Saudi Arabia severed its diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday after a group of protestors stormed its embassy in Tehran following the execution of al-Nimr, as HNGN previously reported.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani responded by saying that Saudi Arabia cannot hide its "great crime" of beheading the cleric by cutting diplomatic ties with Tehran.

"The Saudi government, in order to cover up its crime of beheading a religious leader has resorted to a strange measure and has severed its ties with the Islamic Republic, whereas, undoubtedly, such moves will never hide that great crime," Rouhani said Tuesday, according to state-run Press TV.

Saudi Arabia executed the cleric and 46 others last week. They were convicted of plotting and carrying out serial bomb blasts in the kingdom.

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Mmamoriri, a lioness in Okavango Delta, Botswana, is one of the growing cases of "genderfluid" wild cats in the area.

"Genderfluid," in this case, refers to how a female lion is able to showcase male traits, such as a mane, a deeper voice, and a near-male size.

The rare genetic structure of these female lions gives them the advantage in carrying out their responsibilities like hunting. Their male physique helps ward off other predators who might have plans of attacking their group.

"Two similarly aberrant Serengeti lionesses were outwardly female-they did not have manes, but were almost male-sized, and they challenged and fought unfamiliar males for territories as though they were males," said Luke Hunter, president of Panthera, a big-cat conservation group in Botswana, according to UNILAD.

Hunter shared this insight with the idea that the masculine lionesses in the area were not isolated from their prides.

One of the hypotheses by scientists about this matter is that these "genderfluid" lions were disrupted during their embryo stages. They also believe that these changed traits can be passed down to offsprings, according to White Wolf Pack.

As beautiful as Mmamoriri is, this is not actually the first species to exhibit this kind of adaptation. This has already been observed by other studies on some male deer species. While some regular male deer grow antlers, some do not, so they have more chances of mating with females, as they do not draw any threat to other males who focus on fighting for dominance before getting a mate, METRO reported.

With "genderfluid" cases coming into the spotlight, we could expect that the list of species exhibiting this will soon grow.

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Iraqi officials reported Thursday that Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, ISIS' chief spokesman and a top member, is under heavy guard after being wounded in an airstrike in Iraq's western province of Anbar.

"There are confirmed reports that the so-called terrorist Abu Muhammad al-Adnani the spokesman of the Daesh (Islamic State) terrorists was wounded in an air strike ... in the region of Barwana," the military said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The statement indicates that Adnani lost "a large amount of blood" following the attack several days ago, prompting him to be transported to the city of Hit for treatment. He was later transferred to Mosul, a northern Iraqi city currently under Daesh control, under tight security.

Details about the airstrike are unknown, with officials only saying that the airstrike and subsequent wounding of Adnani is the result of more than a month's worth of tracking and effort, CNN reported.

Adnani's wounding was also reported by Iraqi state television, but U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the coalition bombing Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, was unable to confirm the Iraqi report, saying that Adnani was not the target of a coalition airstrike.

If it turns out that Adnani was in fact incapacitated, it could be a major victory for the U.S.-led coalition, as well as the fight against terrorism in the Middle East as a whole. While Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the unquestioned leader of the terror group, Adnani is arguably its most public figure and has been touted as a replacement for Baghdadi should anything occur, according to The Daily Star.

"If he's incapacitated, Baghdadi has lost a very trusted adviser," Brookings scholar William McCants said. "His name has been floated as a possible successor... and he's an effective propagandist."

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FedEx announced on Friday that its proposed deal with TNT Express has been approved by the European Commission, according to Reuters.

The deal has been in the works since April 2015 and has FedEx buying TNT for $4.8 billion.

"Following an in-depth investigation opened in July 2015, the Commission has concluded that the acquisition will not give rise to competition concerns, because FedEx and TNT are not particularly close competitors and because the merged entity will continue to face sufficient competition from its rivals in all markets concerned," the European Commission said in a statement, according to the International Business Times.

The approval comes as a surprise to some, as the European Commission denied a similar merger between UPS and TNT two years earlier.

UPS has since filed an appeal with the EU in order to see this decision overturned, according to Bloomberg.

The approval, however, means good things for FedEx, as it will strengthen its European presence and increase competition with its Dutch rival, DHL.

"We are extremely pleased to receive the European Commission's unconditional approval. We believe the combination of TNT Express and FedEx will provide significant value to the employees, customers and shareholders of both companies," said European FedEx Express President David Binks.

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UPDATED, 11:41 a.m. ET: A spokesman for the Cologne police department reports that Police Chief Wolfgang Albers has been dismissed following allegations of mob sex attacks and muggings that took place throughout the city on New Year's Eve, according to CNN.

German authorities have identified 18 of the 31 suspects linked to crimes committed in Cologne on New Year's Eve as asylum seekers, who have now been linked to similar incidents on the same date in other cities across Europe.

"Of the 31 suspects whose names are known, 18 have asylum seeker status," interior ministry spokesman Tobias Plate told reporters on Friday, citing federal police figures, according to BBC News.

The Cologne suspects include nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians and four Syrians, two Germans and one each from Iraq, Serbia and the U.S., Plate noted.

Other European cities had similar attacks the same night, but the Cologne attacks, which had 121 criminal complaints, including two alleged rapes, were the most prominent and publicized, reported CNN. However, officials didn't want to publicize the incident initially due to its "politically awkward" nature.

Initial reports indicated that the purpose of the attacks was to steal from passengers, while the assault was secondary. However, authorities close to the investigation say those priorities were actually reversed.

"For the mostly Arabic offenders, sexual assault was the priority, or, to express it from their point of view, their sexual amusement was the priority. A group of men would encircle a female victim, close the loop, and then start groping the woman," said an official speaking on the condition of anonymity, according to DW.

Other cities that reported such cases include Zurich, Switzerland, where six women reported being "robbed from one side, [while] being groped ... on the other side" by groups of men with "dark skin," as well as Helsinki, Finland, where police reported receiving reports of "widespread sexual harassment."

In response to these attacks, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas warned that if anyone seeking asylum is convicted of such crimes, then they would be deported.

"The law allows for people to be deported during asylum proceedings if they're sentenced to a year or more in prison, and that's possible with sexual offenses," Maas said.

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Two refugees from the Middle East who came to the U.S. three years ago have been arrested on federal terrorism charges in California and Texas, the Justice Department announced late Thursday.

The men, both revealed to be Iraqi-born Palestinians, were identified as Omar Faraj Saeed Al-Hardan, 24, and Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, reported CNN. Al-Hardan, who was arrested in Houston, Texas, came to the U.S. in November 2009, while Al-Jayab, who was arrested in Sacramento, Calif., entered the country in 2012 as a Syrian refugee.

While both weren't found to be connected to a specific terrorist plot or attack, they are accused of providing false information to immigration officials about their alleged ties to international terrorist organizations.

Specifically, Al-Hardan is charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, and the indictment alleges that he had offered his services to provide expert advice and and assistance. Meanwhile, Al-Jayab is charged with making a false statement involving international terrorism, with officials alleging that he lied about traveling to Syria and posting his support for terrorist groups on social media.

Officials say that the arrests aren't related to one another but believe that the suspects may have been in contact with one another, according to Reuters.

News of the arrest comes as concerns over national security arise following President Barack Obama's pledge to take in 10,000 refugees in 2016 as Syria's civil war rages on.

Alluding to this pledge and the Houston arrest, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Texas) said: "This is exactly what we have repeatedly told the Obama administration could happen and why we do not want refugees coming to Texas. There are serious questions about who these people really are, as evidenced by today's events," according to The Hill.

In the meantime, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in Sacramento said "there is no current threat to public safety associated with this arrest."

Both men will appear in court Friday. If convicted, Al-Hardan faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while Al-Jayab would face a maximum of eight, and both would be slapped with a $250,000 fine.

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A macaque monkey who rose to fame for its selfies has been found by a federal judge to not be the rightful copyright owner of the photos, according to the Guardian.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick ruled Wednesday that "while Congress and the president can extend the protection of law to animals as well as humans, there is no indication that they did so in the Copyright Act," according to CBC News. In 2014, the U.S. Copyright Office said that works "produced by nature, animals or plants" cannot be granted copyright protection, according to the Telegraph.

The monkey came to public attention in 2011 when photographer David Slater claimed that it took the photos while the camera was left deliberately unattended in order to attract animals in Indonesia, according to USA Today. After organizations such as the Wikimedia Foundation classified the images as belonging to the public sphere, an argument about the copyright about the photos broke out, according to USA Today.

A lawsuit was filed on behalf of the monkey by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who identified the creature as a 6-year-old male called Naruto and argued that he was the true copyright holder of the images, according to reports by NPR.

Slater obtained a British copyright for the photographs in 2011 and is adamant that it should be recognized worldwide, stating on his Facebook page that it is PETA and the media "who create the idea that there is somehow a loophole allowing them to use my images, oft citing the U.S. Copyright Office in their defense of willful infringement."

Slater also doubts the identity of the supposed "Naruto," referring to him as "a fraudulent 6-year-old male monkey falsely impersonating the one in my photos."

"I'm not the person to weigh into this. This is an issue for Congress and the president," Orrick told the courts, according to Ars Technica. "If they think animals should have the right of copyright, they're free, I think, under the Constitution, to do that."

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Uber, the cab-hailing company, has settled two investigations that the New York Attorney General's office was pursuing against it. The settlement was announced by Eric Schneiderman, New York's Attorney General, Thursday. These investigations had subjected Uber's data protection policies and practices to a lot of scrutiny. The terms of the settlement include a fine of $20,000 as well as an undertaking by Uber to overhaul its data security processes.

The announcement brings an end to two investigations that had been ongoing for nearly 14 months now. The first related to a data breach that took place last September in which the Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of nearly 50,000 drivers was compromised and accessed illegally. Under New York law, such breaches are required to be reported "in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay." However, Uber informed the Attorney General's office five months after the original incident had taken place, according to CNET.

The second case the Attorney General's office was investigating related to a report by BuzzFeed that claimed Google used a "GodView" of its cabs, drivers and riders to execute its operations. This view also displayed some PII relating to drivers and riders on a grid indicating the location of these parties on a map. The second investigation was looking at whether the display and use of PII was in breach of applicable data protection law and principles, according to BuzzFeed News.

The settlement with the Attorney General's office imposed a fine of $20,000 for the delay of five months between the time the data breach (relating to the PII of the 50,000 drivers) occurred and the time it was actually communicated externally to the people affected. Regarding the internal use and processing of the PII of drivers and riders internally (the "GodView" probe), Uber undertook measurements to strengthen its internal policies on data protection, encrypt PII and permit only those with "a need to know" to access such sensitive data, according to Bank Info Security.

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Authorities in Nicaragua have discovered 15 migrants from Bangladesh wandering single file along a highway 12 miles south of the capital city of Managua. The men, between 18 and 33 years old, had been abandoned by their smugglers, Police Commissioner Leonidas Roque explained to El Nuevo Diario.

They had entered Nicaragua through the blind spots at the country's southern border with Costa Rica and had been walking for three days. Citing the testimony of Morobel Ali, the only one of the migrants able to speak some Spanish, Roque explained to local media that the men had paid the "coyotes," or traffickers, between $100 to $500 each to take them across Nicaragua to Honduras, according to the Associated Press.

"They also say that the mafia [migrant traffickers] robbed them," Roque stated. The men were hoping to ultimately make it to the U.S. and had left Bangladesh because of political problems.

After rescuing the migrants, the police took them to a health centre in the city of San Rafael del Sur, where they were treated for dehydration, digestive issues and minor injuries that they had sustained during the three-day walk, reported Bangladesh News 24. They were then taken to an immigration holding centre managed by the Directorate of Immigration in Managua.

Latin America often serves as a transit region for Asian and African migrants heading to the U.S., joining the flow of South and Central Americans also hoping to flee from violence and political strife by heading north, according to The Guardian.

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Trevor Noah did not hold back on Thursday night's episode of "The Daily Show." During his monologue, Noah slammed Fox News correspondents who accused President Barack Obama of fake-crying during his recent address on gun violence. Obama teared up during a speech Tuesday in which he detailed his executive action on gun control as he discussed the 20 elementary students and six staff members who were killed at Sandy Hook in 2012.

"See that thing you're feeling right now? That pain in your chest that comes from watching someone weep on national television, because he knows that society can do better than to file the shooting of children under 's--t happens,'" Noah said. "That feeling is how you know that you're human. No matter how opposed to Obama's policies some people may be, or how cynical their politics, they have to at least acknowledge and respect the raw authenticity of that emotion. Or so you would think."

"The Daily Show" then went on to play numerous clips asking why the president did not cry in speeches after the shooting in San Bernardino or the terrorist attacks in Paris, including one statement from Fox News' Andrea Tantaros, who said: "I would check that podium for like a raw onion, or some no more tears. I just, it's not really believable."

"Are you f-king kidding me?" Noah responded. "Shedding tears when you think of murdered children is not really believable? You know what? There is something here that is not really believable, the fact that the rest of us have to share the title of human being with you."

Check out Noah's full response below:

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News / Local

by Staff Reporter

A RETIRED Zimbabwe National Army soldier was in trouble after he was found in possession of an army uniform.He was ordered to pay $20 fine by a Mutare magistrate.Gladman Gavhu (55) pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawful possession or wearing of a camouflage uniform as defined in Section 32 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23.Presiding over the matter was Mr Langton Mukwengi, while Mr Fletcher Karombe represented the State.It was the State's case that Military Police at HQ 3 Brigade received a tip-off that Gavhu was drinking beer at Piki Business Centre wearing a ZNA camouflage.Karombe said "Upon arrival at Piki Business Centre, the military police received another tip-off that Gavhu had already left for his home. They followed him there and found him wearing the camouflage."Gavhu surrendered the camouflage to the military police.In mitigation, Gavhu told the court that he was in possession of the military camouflage because he was a retired member of the Zimbabwe National Army."When I retired, I surrendered everything and was left with the shirt as a souvenir. I erred Your Worship for I did not know that it was illegal," he told the court.Mukwengi, however, told him that his failure to surrender all military property when he retired had been the cause of the arrest and dragging to court.
Guatemalan authorities arrested 14 ex-military officials this week for crimes against humanity that transpired during the country's 36-year civil war. Among those arrested this week was Benedicto Lucas Garcia, 83, a former military commander and brother of the late president Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia, who ruled the country as an oppressive regime from 1978 to 1982, according to the Associated Press.

The suspects are facing charges for massacres and the disappearances of people during the war. "The cases that we have documented were (attacks) against the non-combatant civilian population, including children," said Attorney General Thelma Aldana, who labelled the attacks as constituting one of "the largest forced disappearances in Latin America."

The Guatemalan government has only started investigating the crimes from its civil war period (1960-1996) in the past decade. Victim testimonies during the investigative process led to the discovery of over 500 skeletons in a secret graveyard located within a military zone, and officials were able to connect the mass graves to the suspects, state prosecutor Orlando Lopez explained, according to Reuters.

"If I killed, I killed in combat, leading my troops and not as a coward or anything like that," Benedicto Lucas, who has been credited with initiating Guatemala's paramilitary groups, told local media this week, AP reported.

Also among the detained were Byron Barrientos, minister of the interior from 2000 to 2004, and retired general Francisco Luis Gordillo, who facilitated the rise of former dictator Jose Efrain Rios Montt to the presidency from 1982 to 1983, noted The Latin Correspondent.

Guatemala's civil war involved clashes among a series of right-wing presidencies and leftist groups, ultimately contributing to almost a quarter-million deaths. The military was responsible for over 80 percent of the human rights abuses that occurred during the era of conflict.

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News, events, history, and other mid-week tidbits.

Candidates for federal, state, county, township, municipal, and school board offices in Itasca County, Koochiching County, and northern St. Louis County are invited to submit a statement to Hometown Focus sharing their background, qualifications, reasons for running for office, and positions on important issues. Candidates must focus on their own merits and may not speak negatively about specific individuals and groups. Candidate statements are not paid advertisements, nor do they indicate endorsement by Hometown Focus or any of its employees.

Submissions should be no longer than 400 words. Candidate statements will be published in the October 21 and October 28 editions of Hometown Focus to ensure our print subscribers are able to read them before Election Day (Tuesday, November 8). The deadline is one week prior to publication (Friday for the next Fridays edition).

Send your candidate statement and a photo (optional), along with a contact phone number, to tucker@htfnews.us. Statements can also be mailed to or dropped off at 401 6th Ave. N., Virginia, MN 55792. Call 218-741-0106 with questions.

* * * * *

The Celebration of Life service for Dorothy Jalonen that was planned for October 10, 2022, has been postponed due to complications from Hurricane Ian.
I was delighted a few weeks ago when I saw that Airbnb had created a new product off the back of Google market research around micromoments and mobile that was released earlier in 2015.

Micromoments are about providing information that is snackable and easily consumed. It provides the most relevant content at the right time and the right place.

It is based on the new reality that among leisure travellers who are smart phone users, 69% search for travel ideas during spare moments, like when they're standing in line or waiting for the subway, says Google Micromoments

Understanding this, Airbnb took the argument to the next step by creating the excellent Hosted Walks.

When a traveller or a user searches for things to do on Google, they will be prompted by an ad, asking them if "they wish to see New York like a local". When they click on the ad, Google Maps is brought up and it is auto populated with the user's location.

It then maps out the route to the users desired location, via local gems along the way  a hidden alley way, a old Polish coffee shop, a plaque to a loyal pet, a restored statue that makes a great photo op, and so on.

The information is relayed via speech bubbles and narrated by real Airbnb hosts.

As Airbnb's global head of advertising and content, Peter Giorgi, says: "Mobile gives us the opportunity to tailor our message to the point that it's so insightful, so useful and so relevant at the moment of consumer intent..Hosted Walks provides travellers something special that they would not have had otherwise."

Giorgi correctly argues that due to mobile technology, 21st century advertising can offer tourists a local, tailored service like they've never had before.

The result: the disruptor, Airbnb, is becoming mainstream (and rich) because they turned freely available market research about micromoments and mobile into a practical mobile tool for tourists who want to go local  a global trend.

Airbnb and Hosted Walks are successful, in part, because they are based on trends, insights and the latest research about travellers  not hunches.

We can all learn from their example.

Action Micromoments like Airbnb

So, how can you start turning insights into action like Airbnb?

One of the easiest and cheapest (free, in fact) tactics is to get as much product into Google Maps. Your local businesses, not just hotels and tour companies need to claim their Google My Business pages and populate them with awesome content that makes people want to go and stop there. Think about local boutiques, bars, 'hole in the wall' coffee shops and sandwich bars. This is such an accessible starting point for absolutely everyone.

Ensure your content speaks to your Google micromoments with visually appealing video and images. Make it easy to book. Tourists will abandon you no matter how loyal they have been in the past if you don't make it easy to find information about your business or destination in a micromoment.

Think snackable content.

Based on our research and experience, MyTravelResearch.com will help tourist businesses turn snackable content into a long term moveable feast. Contact us to find out how.

Bronwyn White

MyTravelResearch.com

+61 (0)408 225 766

MyTravelResearch.com
As someone who has been working in the hotel industry for more than 13 years, I still find it shocking to discuss independent properties' pricing strategies with revenue managers. I am always amazed at how many of the properties are still using the OTAs as their main source of revenue and completely ignoring the direct channel.

Phocuswright and h2c's Independent Lodging Market: Marketing, Distribution and Technology Strategies for Non-Branded Properties, shows that in 2015 "OTAs will represent 58% of US independent properties' online volume this year, compared to a 48% share for chains". European independent properties have an even greater reliance on third-party channels: the OTAs "will represent 74% of European independent lodging online bookings in 2015".

Although many hoteliers may believe otherwise, independent properties often have a big advantage over branded properties in driving business to the direct channel, as it applies to revenue management strategy. Independent properties have a smaller staff and, typically, can be more nimble to adapt to market changes and update revenue management strategies and rates accordingly.

Why should the direct channel be the primary booking channel for independent properties (vs. the OTAs)?

Most independent hotels don't have the immense marketing budgets necessary to have a strong presence in the online channel so the OTAs should never be used as the primary source of bookings. Instead, independent properties should use the OTAs as a marketing medium designed to increase the property's online visibility in order to generate an increase in direct bookings. In other words the billboard effect.

If you aren't familiar with the billboard effect, there is some great reading available from Cornell on the subject but I'll give you a quick overview: the billboard effect refers to the increases in direct bookings experienced by hotels when they are listed on the OTAs.

This statistic makes sense because of the huge number of consumers that start their search for a hotel room on an OTA or a metasearch engine. In fact, "Expedia partners are featured in more than 150 brands in 70 countries, exposing partners through more than 140 mobile sites worldwide", which demonstrates the significant impact on a property's visibility that the OTAs can have.

Cornell University's studies on the billboard effect have shown that many hotels listed on the OTAs experience increases in direct bookings by up to 26%. That is a huge increase in direct bookings, especially when you consider that properties typically only receive 26% (in Europe) to 42% (in the US) of their online bookings through the direct channel (based on Phocuswright and h2c's study).

Not only does the direct channel help minimize the cost of promoting and increasing a property's visibility online, it also decreases the cost of acquisition. Since OTAs charge between 15% to 35% commission on each and every booking, that is a huge amount of money for hotels to be giving away, just to put a head in a bed.

In order to compete more effectively against the OTAs in the online channel, independent properties should also be equipping their revenue management team with the right tools and systems, such as revenue management systems (RMS) and channel managers. These technologies can empower revenue managers to increase their online visibility via the OTAs (instead of using it as the primary source for new bookings)  and by doing so, ensure that the direct channel is their most profitable channel.

So make it your property's new year's resolution to perfect your revenue management strategy in 2016. Your RevPAR statistics will be all the proof that you need!

To find out more about how your independent property can direct more bookings through your Brand.com site (creating a decrease in the cost of acquisition and increasing revenue), please visit www.revparguru.com. We'd love to help!

Andrea Carr

RevPAR Guru Inc.
News / National

by Freeman Razemba

Media houses in Zimbabwe will need to have content ready when the country commissions its high definition television channels in April, with initial plans for 12 channels, six going to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, while the remainder will be shared among private broadcasters.Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister, Dr Christopher Mushohwe, said yesterday during his tour of Zimpapers' business units in Harare that local producers had to come up with strategies to ensure that there is enough content to broadcast when the process was completed.Addressing journalists, Dr Mushohwe said despite the financial problems, the partners in China would deliver equipment before payment."Before April we should have completed all the infrastructure construction and that is the major part of it, so that by the end of this year we should be full swing. We should see some new television stations shaping up."Of the 12 (stations) that we are going to come up with, we think that six can go to ZBC, that is four to Harare and two to Bulawayo and the other half would be for private broadcasters who may want to take them up," he said.He said the convergence of the print and electronic media was very critical."We need to make sure that all our print media platforms must be prepared for a tough competition with the electronic media and if you can't beat them why not join them."I also see a lot of business opportunities in this sector because this is a sector were you can never quench the desire for news consumption from people regardless of the economic climate, people will always want information, will always want to know what's happening, they will always want to be acquainted with what's happening even beyond our country," Dr Mushohwe said.He said Government was committed to make sure that signals reached every corner of the country after the digitisation process.He said some people were receiving signals from neighbouring countries such as Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana.Dr Mushohwe urged local producers to come up with strategies to ensure that there was enough content to broadcast when the process was completed."We have a lot of talent in this country and we urge local producers to ensure that we have enough to broadcast. Look at what is happening in Nigeria, India and look at what the Philippines are doing. Ghana has collaborated with Nigeria for their content and therefore we also need to collaborate with others," he said.Dr Mushohwe said as a result of technology, most people in the country were no longer reading hard copies of newspapers as they would read them through their mobile phones."We need to embrace the current future technology. Let's embrace it, it is for our own good," he said.Dr Mushohwe said The Herald was still the most popular newspaper in the country. He urged journalists at The Herald to continue working as a team.He said President Mugabe set up the ministry in recognition of this sector and its contribution towards national development."The ministry was set up by President Mugabe for your sake. So I say we must work together and we must also work as a team. If Government didn't recognise this sector, the President would not have set up this ministry," Dr Mushohwe said.He urged journalists to disseminate information responsibly and truthfully for the benefit of the people. During the tour, Dr Mushohwe was accompanied by his deputy, Thokozile Mathuthu and the ministry's principal director, Mr Regis Chikowore.Deputy Minister Mathuthu recently said while Government was in the process of meeting the technical side of digitisation, it was the content side that mattered most.She said Zimbabweans were anxiously waiting to feel the results of digitisation.Digitisation, she said, was not about ZBC alone or Government, but all broadcasters who would come on board with digital migration.Permanent secretary in the ministry Mr George Charamba recently said the $125 million that Government committed to digitisation was clear testimony of its interest in the broadcasting industry.He said it was high time local film producers sought to end Nigeria's dominance of the film industry in the continent.Government bought 28 HD cameras, 20 editing suites and other equipment that would be hired out to film producers.So far, 15 cameras and eight editing suites are already in the country while 13 cameras and 12 editing suites are expected on January 22, 2016.
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Hotel room rates in the top-25 most popular U.S. destinations are averaging $176.7 this January, up from $172.92 in December, according to trivago hotel price indices (tHPI) released today. The U.S. online average daily rate (oADR), the industrys best analytic for competitive pricing, currently ranges among the top-25 destinations from a high of $253 to a low of $118 this January. Based on industry surveys, eforecasting.com estimates that in 2015 about 60% of all reservations are made online via brand websites and travel agent merchant websites, compared with only one-fourth eight years ago.

On year-over-year basis, the U.S. average online ADR is up (+3.4%) in January from a year ago, higher than the previous month's year-over-year growth rate of (0.3%). This January, trivago online room rates in Miami after rising (+4.1%) from last year hit $253 a night, making the city the most expensive destination among the top-25 U.S. hotel markets. New York takes the second place in January with an online room rate of $228, after a drop of (6.2%) from a year ago. In San Francisco, the online room rate in January is currently remaining the same as last year at $225 a night, ranking the city in the third place of the most expensive destinations in the United States.

At the bottom of the list, the three least expensive, or most affordable, cities to visit this January is Indianapolis recording a trivago online ADR of $124 a night after a (+5.1%) change from a year ago; St. Louis posts an online ADR of $122 following a (3.2%) change from last year; and lastly, the most affordable popular destination in the country is San Antonio with an online ADR of $118 after a nil change from a year ago. With a median online ADR of $169 amongst the top-25 most popular U.S. destinations, Phoenix is the country's average affordable city to visit this January.

Moving from data to hotel-biz-analytics, eforecasting.com's Smoothed Seasonally Adjusted (SSA) U.S. average online room rate has hit $205.64 in January. On a month-over-month basis - the hoteliers' analytic for tracking changes of what's now vs. what's happened in comparison to twelve months ago - SSA online ADR this January is down (0.5%) from the previous month, which is the same percent change as in the previous month. Looking at the top-25 hotel destinations, the month-to-month percent change in January ranges from a high of (+0.6%) in Miami to a low of (2.6%) in Las Vegas. Amongst the top-25 destinations, the SSA online monthly room rate is growing in 8 cities; and is falling or staying flat in 17 cities.

"The latest US Monthly Hotel Forecast predicts profits per online room rates to advance on a year-over-year basis by 4% and 3.5% in the first and second quarters in 2016 respectively," said Maria Sogard, CEO of eforecasting.com. For more information on the full US Monthly Hotel Forecast with two-year predictions of occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, online ADR, costs per room, profitability and predictive analytics for investing in hotel properties, email us at info@e-forecasting.com with subject: USHOTfcast.

Looking at profitability, hoteliers' ultimate gauge for decision-making, profits per room are down (0.3%) on a year-over-year basis in January, since U.S. trivago's average online room rate has gained (+3.4%) while eforecasting.com national unit (per room) cost index is up (+3.6%). For U.S. hoteliers, year-over-year profit margins posted a reading of (2.7%) in the previous month (December), compared to a mark of (+2.8%) a year ago (January 2015). Using trivago's online hotel room rates for the top-25 U.S. destinations and eforecasting.com's city-centric hotel unit (room) cost indices, year-over-year percent change in profits per room currently range from a high of (+13.2%) in San Jose to a low of (9.4%) in New York in January. Amongst the top-25 destinations, profits per room are up in 14 cities; they are down or are flat in 11 cities.

On tracking monthly the risk for business losses in providing services per room, the probability for U.S. hoteliers being in a negative profits (losses) phase of the industry's business cycle hit 97% in January, which is higher than December's reading of 88%. In the top-25 hotel destinations, the risk for hoteliers being in a period of losses per room in January ranging from a high of 100% in Seattle to a low of 6% in Las Vegas. The probability of losses per room is above 50% in 19 cities; it is 50% or below in 6 cities.

About e-forecasting.com

e-forecasting.com, an international economic research and consulting firm, offers forecasts of the economic environment using proprietary, real-time economic indicators to produce customized solutions for whats next. eforecasting.com collaborates with domestic and international clients and publications to provide timely economic content for use as predictive intelligence to strengthen its clients competitive advantage. For more information visit www.e-forecasting.com

About trivago

Founded in Dusseldorf in 2005 with operations in 39 countries, trivago is the worlds largest online hotel search site, comparing room rates from over 700,000 hotels on over 200 booking sites worldwide. Each month, more than 45 million visitors use trivagos unique online technology, which compares 5 billion hotel deals a day - more than a trillion a year - and saves them an average of 35% per booking. Visit online http://www.trivago.com.
News / National

by Fungai Lupande

Some prisoners at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison trap rats for food, one of the nine men accused of masterminding a foiled jailbreak at the prison told the court yesterday.Lucky Matambanadzo (39), who is a self actor, made the revelations while cross-examining a State witness Claudius Mutizwa.Each prisoner will be accorded the opportunity to cross-examine the State witness.Matambanadzo is jointly charged with Robert Martin Gumbura, Blessing Chauke (25), Lucky Mhungu (38), Taurai Dodzo (47), Thomas Chacha (37), Thulani Chizema (32), Jacob Sibanda (28) and Elijah Vhumbunu (38).Matambanadzo asked if Mutizwa would dispute that starving inmates were eating rats."Since you said your evidence is confined to B Hall alone not other cells, would you then dispute it if I tell that starving inmates in your cell were feeding on rats just like inmates from my cell, C Hall. Inmates resorted to trapping rats for food. Would you dispute it if I tell you that was what prisoners were going through at Chikurubi Maximum Prison," asked Matambanadzo.Mutizwa replied that there was never food shortage at the prison."If prisoners were being given two slices of bread it meant that the government was only able to provide that," responded Mutizwa. "The country is going through socio-economic hardships and Chikurubi is not an exception."However, Matambanadzo insisted that food was never enough at the prison and the inmates would scramble for food, running away with food bins while others became bullies."The prison is just like the society where one will find street kids and such kind of people," replied Mutizwa.Matambanadzo added that that prison officers broke windows after the alleged prison break to strengthen their case against the nine accused.Harare magistrate, Mr Francis Mapfumo, adjourned the trial to Friday.
Joe Sebestyen and Tim Goodman Join Company

Atlanta-based Hotel Equities (HE) added two Regional Director of Operations positions to its infrastructure and tapped industry veterans Joe Sebestyen and Tim Goodman to its roster of leaders.

Mr. Sebestyen and Mr. Goodman report to Rob Cote, the firm's Vice President of Operations. Each has responsibility for the oversight of multiple brands in his assigned region of the country.

An award-winning and successful hotel management professional with more than 30 years of operational and sales experience, Joe Sebestyen oversees a portfolio of the firm's hotels in Oklahoma and Texas. His focus is to deliver financial results through service and operational excellence.

A former Regional Director of Operations for both Marriott International and Compass Group, Joe began his career as a teenager at his family's restaurant. With a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management from Southern Illinois University, he holds extensive experience in managing conference centers.

Tim Goodman Joined Hotel Equities with over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Beginning his career in full service as a Food & Beverage Director, he then moved into operations as a GM in select service continuing on into full service. Tim has held leadership positions for select service properties such as Marriott, Hilton, Drury and LaQuinta brands. On the full service side, he operated resort, airport, suburban and downtown convention center hotels in brands including Starwood, Hilton and IHG. Tim's experience includes opening new builds and conducting major multi - million dollar renovations and brand flag changes.

"The addition of two top-notch industry professionals to our regional operations team comes as a direct result of Hotel Equities' robust growth to over 100 properties in the past year," said Chuck Powell, Senior vice President of Operations. "Their leadership, guidance and focus on success is critical to the success of the properties in their respective regions. We continue to strengthen the depth of experience and leadership with the talent and experience these two bring to our corporate team."

Hotel Equities (HE) is an Atlanta-based full-scale hotel ownership, management and development firm operating more than 100 hotels throughout North America. Frederick W. Cerrone, CHA, serves as Chairman and CEO; Brad Rahinsky serves as President and COO.
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Travel Trends For 2016

2015 was a good one for travel - hotel occupancy rates hit an all-time high, travel companies worldwide went above and beyond to meet travelers' demands for wellness and technological advancements, and hotels' commitment to sustainability continued to pick up steam, but NYC-based Hawkins International PR predicts that 2016 will be an even better year for travel.

With airfare prices expected to remain relatively steady, U.S. business travel volume predicted to reach 502.8 million person-trips in 2016 and over one-third of millennials (who account for close to $300 billion annual spending worldwide) planning to take more vacations in 2016, the year ahead is sure to be adventurous. Travel brands will keep things fresh and continue to intrigue and impress with creative programs, amenities and experiences. From multi-sensory dinners to farewell amenities that leave guests with inspiration to return, below Hawkins International PR predicts the top ten trends travelers will experience in 2016.

1. DINING FOR THE SENSES

What's out: Multi-Course Tasting Dinners

What's in: Multi-Sensory Dinners & Drinks

Hotel restaurants are turning dinner time into story time with multi-sensory dining experiences that provoke more than the sense of taste. At The Dolder Grand in Zurich, Executive Chef Heiko Nieder works with Swiss concert pianist Gabriel E. Arnold to develop custom five-course menus inspired by Arnold's classical piano compositions, with each course of the meal accompanied by complementary songs. Guests at Solage Calistoga in Napa can try Mindful Awareness Practice (MAP) Wine and Food Tastings which incorporate the senses of taste, smell and sight into a guided meditation that encourages tasters to appreciate wine and food from a new perspective. Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg's Bar du Faubourg invites guests to enjoy a menu of cocktails created by Parisian Chef YannickAlleno inspired by the visual beauty and luxe textures of couture fashion. Haute libations include the Christian, a champagne cocktail with floral notes, as delicate as an organza corolla skirt designed by Dior; the Yves, where the Moroccan flavor of spicy mandarin evokes Saint Laurent's oriental satin decorated with mauve sequins; and the Gabrielle, reminiscent of Coco Chanel's white tweed decorated with black ribbon.

2. THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

What's out: Ultra Niche Travel Services

What's in: Hybrid Travel Services

Hybrid travel companies that combine the best qualities of two "traditional" travel services to offer an innovative, new service will be hot in 2016 as brands strive to make travel easier and more convenient than ever. Madrid-based Room Mate Hotels' BeMate.com offers travelers a roster of stylish apartments with the services of a local hotel - from luggage storage to airport transfers to housekeeping to concierge access - combining the hospitality of a hotel stay with the convenience and flexibility of an apartment stay. Tradewind Aviation's Signature Shuttle Service throughout the Northeast and Caribbean offers the comfort and convenience of a private charter - with no TSA security checkpoints, complimentary snacks and drinks, free checked bags and a flexible booking and cancellation process - for the cost of a single seat on a scheduled flight. All-business class airline La Compagnie recently unveiled their own Chauffeur&Co service which enables travelers to book car transfers through the airline to and from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. 3. A PUCKERING PUNCH

3. A PUCKERING PUNCH

What's out: Sugar and Spice

What's in: Fermented Food and Drink

Vinegar will be the ingredient of the year in 2016 - from switchels and shrubs on cocktail and drink menus to fermented ingredients like kimchi, pickled vegetables, kraut and miso incorporated into meals. The craze for tang is driven by wellness, too, with fermented foods' probiotic properties proven to benefit gut health. Set inside the Nines hotel in Portland, OR, modern steakhouse Urban Farmer's shelves are stocked with pickled fruits and vegetables prepared by Chef Matt Christianson. The culinary team and bartenders use this public "pantry" to incorporate the vinegars and ingredients into cocktails and recipes. In Burlington, Juniper at Hotel Vermont serves a variety of vinegar-based libationsincluding The Farmer's Tan made with brine from the bar's housemade pickles and Cherry Street Shrub made with Silo Whiskey, a Vermont ice wine vinegar, sour cherry juice and soda water. In 2016 Omni Rancho Las Palmas in Rancho Mirage, California will launch a pickle program for guests to enjoy seasonal vegetables, herbs, vinegars and spices - all served straight from the mason jars where they were cured.

4. SWEET FAREWELL

What's out: Welcome Amenities

What's in: Farewell Amenities

Inspired by idea that the "after glow" of a vacation is the most powerful stage of travel, hotels are gifting guests farewell amenities that leave a big impression - not to mention inspiration to return again and again. The legendary Hotel Plaza Athenee in Paris treats departing VIP guests and those celebrating birthdays with a personalized gold-dusted chocolate tablet carved in the shape of the guest's zodiac sign. In New York City, Dream Downtown and Dream Midtown send loyal guests home with tokens of NYC hospitalityranging from Broadway tickets for their next stay to a favorite bottle of wine.

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What's out: Amenities for a Full Night's Sleep

What's in: Amenities for a Quick Snooze

Sleep-inducing spa treatments and bedtime menus have been a hotel trend for years, but now hotels are introducing nap-focused amenities and programs that encourage guests to snag a rejuvenating snooze in the middle of the day. Spa Solage in Napa has put a unique twist on the region's famous mud baths with their signature mudslide treatmentwhich ends with a 20-minute nap in a state-of-the-art sound chair that blends soothing harmonic music with healing vibrations to lull guests into a quick nap. At the chair's zero-gravity position, a 20-minute nap is equivalent to two hours of REM sleep! At The Spa at Carillon Miami Beach guests can opt for the Deep Sleep Treatment that promotes an instant state of tranquility. Floating on a specialized warm dry flotation spa bed, blood courses through all the tissues, natural endorphins kick in and the brain releases alpha waves that promote calmness and a meditative state of mind. Paris' edgiest hotel Molitoroffers a resting room, library, and herbal tea room in the Spa by Clarins where guests are invited to escape for midday relaxation.

6. SURPRISE HOTEL POP-UPS

What's out: Pop-up Shops

What's in: Pop-up Hotel Experiences

In 2016 the luxury and service of a hotel stay will no longer be confined to the property's grounds, with hotels and resorts offering guests offsite experiences with all the comforts of a hotel stay. A two and a half hour hike into the Swiss Alps, guests of the Gstaad Palacewill find the Walig Hut, a traditional Alpine farmhouse built in 1783 where they can eat a custom dinner and spend the night surrounded by some of the most dramatic mountain views in the country. New England travelers can enjoy ice fishing on frozen Lake Champlain in the comfort of Hotel Vermont's on-ice shanty. The small wooden structure allows guests to escape from the cold while enjoying clear views of the city from the center of the lake, complete with hot beverages and blankets.

7. SPLURGE ON WORDS

What's out: Binge Watching

What's in: Binge Reading

Hotel and video streaming partnerships may have been the hot trend last year, but this year hotels are encouraging guests to splurge on words throughout their stays. Hotel Vermont in Burlington worked with the Burlington Writers Workshop to publish a book filled with stories, essays and poems from local writers. The hotel also offers live storytelling by the fireplace in the lobby during the winter months. The Nines in Portland features a hidden library just off the lobby stocked with floor to ceiling books from nearby Powell's Books, the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. Wilderness Collection's Segera Retreat in Kenya's Laikipia region features the "Zeitz Collection" composed of artifacts and manuscripts that have been carefully assembled through specialized dealers, auctions and exhibitions, and are displayed in the property's Explorer Lounge and select villas. The extensive collection includes personal letters, diary entries and unique photographs from Charles Darwin, Theodore Roosevelt, David Livingstone, Ernest Hemingway and Karen Blixen. This year Montage Hotels & Resorts will introduce a literacy ambassador and offer children visiting all five properties books from Brad Meltzer, one of the only authors to ever have books on the bestseller list for fiction, non-fiction, advice, children's and comic books. A selection of Meltzer's children's series, Ordinary People Change the World will be available for young guests to enjoy on-property beginning mid-2016.

8. DIAMONDS AREN'T FOREVER

What's out: Diamond Dust Facials

What's in: Spa Treatments Using Precious Gems and Stones

In 2016 spas will utilize precious gems and metals to provide spa-goers with major results and relaxation. In Switzerland, Gstaad Palace's new Gemology Face and Body Care treatments draw cosmetic properties from precious stones including jade, rubies, pearls and sapphires to fade wrinkles and fine lines, while in Los Angeles, The Beverly Hills Hoteland Hotel Bel-Air have incorporated pure platinum into their anti-aging, head-to-toe Platinum Rare Facial treatment, resulting in hydrated, rejuvenated skin. In Telluride, Colorado, Madeline Hotel & Residences' Gemstone Ritual helps guests purify, soothe and enhance overall balance in the body and mind using organic aromas, crystal energy wandsand the soothing effects of four distinctive gemstone-energized oils.

9. OUTSIDE-IN

What's out: Crowded Tourist Destinations

What's in: Destination-inspired Attractions Inside the Hotel

Why fight the crowds at tourist destinations when many hotels are bringing the attractions inside? Guests at the JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa can create and take home an iconic Venetian mask without the stress of souvenir shopping. The resort offers a two-day mask workshop where guests work with a local artisan to create a bespoke mask - they can even use their own faces as a mold before decorating it in true Venetian style. In Spring 2016, Dream Midtown in NYC will unveil The Fish Bowl - a revival of the billiards room. The hotel's iconic two-story fish tank will be the centerpiece of the underground bar and games lounge that will introduce New York's Midtown neighborhood to Mini Bowling and also feature classics like pool and darts.

10. SOCIAL SPA-ING

What's out: Isolated Zen

What's in: Group Rejuvenation

Relaxation doesn't need to happen alone! Hotel spas are introducing group-focused programs that invite guests to spa socially. Groups at Solage Calsitoga in Napa can book a Floating Meditation experience and be led through a calming sequence of visualization and breath work while floating atop rafts in the resort's geothermal mineral pool under the stars. Groups at Montage Laguna Beach in California can book a Spa Soiree at Spa Laguna Beach which includes a welcome toast, choice of spa treatment and goodies for each attendee.
Also step this way for Hinds, David Bowie, Rufus Wainwright, Bear Worship & LOTS more!

We cant believe its a whole year since we saw all you lovely people last.

To help banish those back to work blues, weve assembled a Free Music Friday of proportions so epic its downright scary. If you havent got your download, stream, video and trailer fill by the end, we promise to give you your money back, no questions asked.

Christmas may be over  boo!  but there are still pressies being doled out with the Red Hot Chili Peppers gifting fans their Cardiff, Wales 06. 23. 04 album.

Available from [link]livechilipeppers.com/live-music/0,12265/Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-mp3-flac-download-6-23-2004-Millennium-Stadium-Cardiff-Wales.html[/link] it includes such monster hits as Scar Tissue, The Zephyr Song, Californication, Under The Bridge and Give It All Away plus a load of live faves. The signing-up process is a bit awkward, but its worth persevering for some primetime Chilis!

With Leeds and Reading festival headliners confirmed for late August, dont be surprised if the chaps dart over to Ireland for an outdoor show. No mere exercise in nostalgia, the band will be touring with a new album that just requires Anthony Kiedis vocals to be finished.

Santa refuses to give up with ten Brooce & The E Street Band tracks available for free from [link]live.brucespringsteen.net/live-music/0,13637/Free-MP3-Download-11-5-1980-ASU-Activity-Center-Tempe-AZ.html[/link]

The tunes are part of the same November 5, 1980 show in Tempe, Arizona that graces The Ties That Behind: The River Collection in abridged form, but didnt make it on to the monster, must-have box-set. They include particularly nifty versions of Darkness On The Edge Of Town and Backstreets.

The free music keeps on coming with a [link]anothercentury.com/host/ArtOfAnarchy/download[/link] click rewarded with a digital copy of the Art Of Anarchys self-titled 2011 album. Its being released in honour of Scott Weiland who featured in the outfit alongside Bumblefoot, John Moyer and John and Vince Votta. The supergroup never quite took off as it should have done, but some of the tunes, and Weilands vocals, are incendiary.

DJ Shadow returns to musical duties with Swerve, his ace new single, which is available for free download. The first fresh material under the DJ Shadow banner since 2012s The Less You Know, The Better  theres been some covert moonlighting as Nite School Klik  it will hopefully remind some of these EDM upstarts who the turntablist Guvnor is. Wed dearly love to see Mr. Davis back at the Electric Picnic, which he played in both 2006 and 2011.

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Rufus Wainwright is in frolicsome form on his Live In Coventry EP, which includes Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk, Foolish Love and Poses.

Conor J. OBrien has his excellent new (well, sort of!) Where Have You Been All My Life? album streaming on Spotify. Comprising of old songs re-worked, a newbie or two and his awesome cover of Wichita Lineman, its another Villagers triumph.

Spotify also has first dibs on David Bowies latest reinvention, Blackstar, which is all kinds of avant jazz awesome.

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One of the Hot Press Hot For 2016 picks youll be reading about shortly in Irelands most fortnightly magazine, Spanish indie foursome Hinds are streaming their debut Leave Me Alone album.

Hot For 2016-dom also beckons for Bear Worship, aka Irish maverick Karl Knuttel whose Shimmerings freebie couldnt be more perfectly titled.

Lynchy launches into 2016 with the release of debut single Spotlight, which was co-written with Rainy Boy Sleep who also appears in the accompanying video. Having bagged himself a deal with Universal Music Ireland, we reckon its only a matter of time before the 18-year-old YouTube sensation crosses over to the mainstream.

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Matt Berninger isnt the only member of The National whos been indulging in extracurricular activities, with Bryce Dessner helping Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto to assemble the soundtrack for The Revenant. A real emotional rollercoaster of a ride it is too.

The enviably cheekboned Dylan LeBlanc does his Muscle Shoals thing again on the moodily atmospheric Cautionary Tale.

MIA since 2009, Senegalese sensation and Reginald D. Hunter lookalike Baaba Maal

returns with The Traveller, a record quite unlike any other youll hear this week.

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Dropping on February 19, Death Yawn suggests its going to be a very good 2016 for Shauna Tohill and Collette Williams, AKA frothy Northern Ireland popsters REWS.

Netflix has released the first trailer for The Get Down, Baz Luhrmann's luscious looking 1970s hip hop coming of age tale.

The budget might be a tiny bit less, but we're also impressed with our first glimpse of TG4's EIPIC, which is airing at 10pm on Thursday nights.

Slash and his band the Conspirators paid New Years tribute to Lemmy with, natch, a killer version of Ace Of Spades. His final interview with Germanys ZDF has also appeared online. In it, he recalls playing Le Bataclan in Paris at least ten times.

It was a very good show for us, he reflected. These people who attacked it are so dumb. Killing innocent people  assholes, cowards. Motorhead had been due to the play the venue the night after the Eagles Of Death Metals ill-fated gig there. Finally, weve found a 1981 TV performance of their eponymous theme tune, which encapsulates all thats great about the band.

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And thats where we sling our first Free Music Friday hook of 2016 Well be gargling some Jack Daniels tomorrow in honour of the great Mr. Kilmister and hoping that no FA Cup Third Round giantkilling goes down at Goodison. In the meantime, keep those links coming to @stuartclark66
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News / National

by Nyemudzai Kakore

Anti-riot police severely assaulted Herald correspondent Lovemore Meya while he was covering the violence that erupted in Chitungwiza between touts and residents on Tuesday.Meya, who sustained injuries all over the body, reported the matter at Harare Central Police Station under case number IR01/02/64.He said police officers in riot gear hit him with batons, slapped and kicked him several times, despite displaying his Zimbabwe Media Commission accreditation card and explaining to them that he was a bona fide reporter assigned to cover the skirmishes.After bashing him, the police officers seized his camera and ordered him to delete the pictures he had taken."The anti-riot police officers were hunting for some rowdy residents that were fuelling violence," he said. "Suddenly, one of them charged towards our vehicle demanding to know who we were and what we were doing, threatening to smash the vehicle's windscreen."He called his colleagues who seized my camera and they took turns to assault me."Meya was taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital on the same day where he was examined and treated by Dr Kamutika.The medical report indicated that he experienced trauma, generalised limb pain, a mild swelling forearm and bloodshot in the left eye.Zimbabwe Union of Journalists president Michael Chideme said the attack on Meya was uncalled for, especially considering that police officers were expected to be conversant with the law."ZUJ condemns in the strongest terms any form of abuse and harassment of journalists," he said. "Journalists deserve protection and respect."We appeal to the police to extend an apology to Meya and all journalists as an injury to one is an injury to all."National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi said journalists were allowed to carry out their work and said investigations were in progress to find out what transpired on the day."We want to assure journalists that their safety is guaranteed," he said. "In this particular case, we will conduct comprehensive investigations with a view to finding out what happened."As long as journalists are conducting their work in terms of the country's laws, there is nothing that will hinder them from doing their job."The incident came after another Herald correspondent, Fungai Jachi, was threatened by a police officer while she was covering a court case in which the officer was accused of assault.Jachi reported the case at the Harare Central Police Station.
Avitus Group Announces Employee of the Quarter; Congratulates Administrative Assistant to Accounting Services for Excellent Service and Commitment to Clients Avitus Group Awards Administrative Assistant to Accounting Services Katelyn Schultz for Dedicati

Posted by Press Releases on Friday, 01-08-2016 4:23 am

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BILLINGS, MONTANA (PRWEB) JANUARY 06, 2016Avitus Group Administrative Assistant to Accounting Services, Katelyn Schultz was nominated by her co-workers and selected by the company's Employee of the Quarter Committee for making significant contributions to the company, clients and co-workers. The committee selected Schultz after a near record number of nominations from co-workers that all pointed to her excellent customer service, attention to detail and enthusiastic attitude that brings the entire accounting department up a notch each day. Were lucky to have Katelyn on our team providing exceptional customer service, says Avitus Group Public Relations Manager, Dianne Parker. One of the comments about Katelyns performance that stood out to the selection committee was that even though she has a full client load, she still makes time to ask for projects. That type of productivity is hard to come by, and this award is well deserved. Katelyn is certainly a...

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J. LeRoy Ward to Join International Institute for Learning (IIL) as Executive Vice President, Enterprise Solutions J. LeRoy Ward, PMP, PgMP, PfMP, CSM, GWCPM, SCPM and recognized expert in Project, Program, and Portfolio management, will join Internation

Posted by Press Releases on Friday, 01-08-2016 4:11 am

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NEW YORK CITY, NY (PRWEB) JANUARY 07, 2016As Executive Vice President, Enterprise Solutions, he will be serving IILs global clients in implementing their strategic initiatives through enhanced project, program and portfolio practices, as well as helping to boost PMO performance and delivery, among other critical activities. Improving the effectiveness of the partnership between project manager and sponsor will also be a critical area of focus for Ward.Formerly Executive Vice President at ESI International, Mr. Ward guided clients to improve every aspect of project and program performance. His experience in working with all ten sectors of the S&P 500, including more than 50 Global Fortune 500 organizations and large government agencies, made him a sought after advisor, consultant, and speaker. Additionally, as head of product strategy, he oversaw the market introduction of an innovative, and highly popular suite of offerings in project management, business analysis, contract ...

Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web.

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Oak Ridge Investments Launches Two New Small Cap Funds Firm targets asset growth through ongoing strategy additions

Posted by Press Releases on Friday, 01-08-2016 3:51 am

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CHICAGO, ILINOIS (PRWEB) JANUARY 06, 2016Oak Ridge Investments, LLC, an investment management firm focused on select, actively managed equity strategies recently launched two new mutual funds in the small cap core category. These funds add to the firms established leadership in small cap stock investing. The Oak Ridge International Small Cap Fund (ORIIX) and Dynamic Small Cap Fund (ORSIX), will be sub-advised by Algert Global, LLC which has a historical track record of strong outperformance versus respective benchmarks.The Oak Ridge International Small Cap Fund will invest in companies across foreign developed markets targeting a cap range similar to the MSCI EAFE Small Cap Index. The Oak Ridge Dynamic Small Cap Fund will invest in a universe of small cap U.S. traded stocks and will seek to outperform the Russell 2000 Index.Both Fund strategies will focus on analyzing inefficiencies in global equity markets that result from investor behavioral biases. This systematic process see...

Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web.

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OTO Development Announces New VP of Human Resources.OTO Development announces its addition of Sonia Santana, VP of Human Resources, to their corporate headquarters. Santana will manage human resources operations for OTO; she joins the company following an

Posted by Press Releases on Friday, 01-08-2016 4:20 am

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SPARTANBURG, SC (PRWEB) JANUARY 06, 2016OTO Development announces its addition of Sonia Santana, VP of Human Resources, to their corporate headquarters. Santana will manage human resources operations for OTO; she joins the company following an executive position with Festiva Development Group, an Asheville-based real estate development company.OTO Development has maintained a near-matchless pace of expansion since its inception in 2004. Recently recognized by SC Biz News as South Carolinas 6th fastest growing company, OTO has also spent four consecutive years on Inc. 5000, a list of the fastest growing privately held companies in the United States.Ms. Santana has over 20 years of experience in human resources management, including leadership positions with the Biltmore Estate (Asheville, NC) and for Fisher Island, a private-equity club, resort, and residential development. Its an honor to join OTO Development, and Im looking forward to contributing my skill ...

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R2 Logistics Appoints New Director of LTL.R2 Logistics, Inc., a Third Party Logistics service provider, today announced that Kris Orent has joined the Florida based company as Director of LTL.

Posted by Press Releases on Friday, 01-08-2016 4:14 am

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JACKSONVILLE, FL (PRWEB) JANUARY 07, 2016R2 Logistics, Inc., a Third Party Logistics service provider, today announced that Kris Orent has joined the Florida based company as Director of LTL.Kris will provide a skill set for R2 that will enable us to expand our carrier base while targeting customer account specific LTL opportunities as we progress into 2016, said Co-VP of Operations, Brad Schneider. His focus, along with the upgrade to our TMS platform in the very near future, will allow Kris the ability to demo and cross sell into markets we were unable to in the past.As Director of LTL, Orent will work out of the Dallas operations office and his sole objective will be to exponentially grow the companys LTL portfolio. This will include on-boarding of LTL carriers, handling LTL RFPs and training the Sales staff. In his previous position as Senior Business Development Manager at Cardinal Logistics Management, Orent implemented a cloud based TMS,...

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Some considerations to note before renting a house

Posted by Amjad Butt on Thursday, 01-07-2016 9:42 pm

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Need to move to another location? Need to live temporary in someplace? Renting a house may be a good solution for those who just want to live temporary in one location. But, of course you do not want to feel uncomfortable when living in your rented house. Honestly, renting a house looks simple, but in fact there are some things to note. A discomfort could be happening, if you, as the renter, do not pay attention to some of these things before renting a house. Do Survey & Create Alternatives Before renting a house, you should do at least a survey first. Make sure, you are not only pegged at one house only. Find out some alternatives and by doing this, you can determine which the most suitable one according to your budget and needs. If you live in UK, one recommended way to do is to rent care homes in the UK and Bedfordshire. Take note! While visiting the candidate house, be sure to pay attention to all details of the house. Take note of these details, started from the building a...

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Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 16-01-07 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. 03/16 06-07.01.2016 [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Bozkir: Very important developments await the "TRNC" and Turkey in 2016 [02] Bozkir: "2016 is an important year" [03] Talat met with Turkes in Ankara [04] Turkes will visit the breakaway regime [05] Ozersay established the People's Party in the breakaway regime [06] The water from Turkey has started flowing in the occupied Panagra Dam again; The political crisis on the water management still goes on [07] A land of 16.5 km2 belonging to Greek Cypriots in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus has come into Turkish possession since 2006 [08] The "ombudsman" has launched investigation against the so-called council of ministers' decision [09] Ankara looks to strengthen ties with EU during the Dutch presidency [10] Davutoglu: Ball in Parliament's court on new Constitution [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Bozkir: Very important developments await the "TRNC" and Turkey in 2016 According to illegal Bayrak television (online, 06.01.16), Turkey's Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozkir paid illegal visits to " government officials" in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus on Wednesday morning. First, he met with the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci. Self-styled foreign minister Emine Colak, the illegal Turkish ambassador to the occupied part of Lefkosia Derya Kanbay, Turkish Cypriot negotiator Ozdil Nami, Akinci's undersecretary Gurdal Hudaoglu, self-styled foreign ministry undersecretary Erhan Ercin, Akinci's spokesman Baris Burcu and a delegation that accompanied. Bozk?r to the occupied area of Cyprus were all present at the meeting.The press were only allowed to record some footage before the meeting that took place behind closed doors. After Bozkir concluded his visit with Akinci, he met self-styled parliamentary speaker Sibel Siber. In a statement he made during the visit, Bozkir said that as the EU Affairs Minister of the 64th government of Turkey he was very pleased and honoured to be visiting the "TRNC" (editor's note: the breakaway regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus). Noting that very important developments awaited the "TRNC" and Turkey in 2016, Bozkir said that in respect to the solution process on the island a very important phase has been reached in Cyprus and added that Turkey's EU membership negotiations process has also reached a new platform. Pointing to the importance of visiting the "TRNC" prior to his visit to Europe, the Turkish Minister said that he first wanted to exchange views in the "TRNC" before going to Europe and expressed the hope that the expectations of the "TRNC" are met in the near future. He also voiced his desire for the "TRNC" to take part as a new founding partner in a bizonal, bicommunal new Cyprus State based on political equality. Siber, for her part, said that important developments in 2016 are a joint desire of the two "countries". "We want to reach a bizonal, bicommunal solution based on political equality. Despite the negative remarks made by the Greek Cypriot Parliamentary Speaker (editor's note: as he refers to the House Speaker of the Republic of Cyprus) regarding the Cyprus issue, we generally use the language of peace", Siber argued. "We expect the Greek Cypriot Parliament and other Greek Cypriot officials to show respect to our rights", said Siber and added that the Turkish Cypriot "people" want a solution where they will not feel as though they are a minority. "We want a solution where we will feel safe. That's the only time we will say yes to a solution", Siber noted. Bozkir also met with self-styled prime minister Omer Kalyoncu. During his visit with Kalyoncu, the Turkish Minister said that he wants to show the importance he gives to Cyprus before he goes to Europe and touches upon Turkey and "TRNC" EU harmonization workings. "Over 250 EU reform laws have been prepared and we are prepared to give every kind of support to the 'TRNC' during their EU harmonization efforts", said Bozkir. Kalyoncu, for his part, pointed to the infrastructure workings that are taking place regarding the European Union and added that what is important is to find a solution to the Cyprus problem first. Bozkir then paid a visit to Colak and held a meeting with her during a working lunch. On the same issue, Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen (07.01.16) reports that during her meeting with Bozkir, Colak expressed her pleasure to meet with the EU Minister Bozkir and his delegation, adding that their meeting will consist of three main headings. Colak stated that they will discuss the role of the EU in the ongoing negotiation process, as well as the committee which is established under the umbrella of the negotiations, adding that they will engage in an exchange of views regarding what sorts of legislations are necessary from the "TRNC government and parliament" to expedite the process. Stating that she will also inform EU Minister Bozkir regarding the issues which may potentially arise during the settlement and post settlement processes, Colak thanked Minister Bozkir and his delegation for their cooperation. Colak concluded by saying that she wants to be briefed by Bozkir on his contacts in the EU. In the afternoon he further met with the self-styled public works, environment and cultural minister Kutlu Evren and self-styled communications minister Tahsin Ertugruloglu respectively. Bozkir also gave a conference titled 'Political Science and International Relations' at the illegal Girne American University (GAU), where he received the title of honorary PHD from "GAU's senate". (DPs) [02] Bozkir: "2016 is an important year" Under the front page title: "2016 is an important year", Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (07.01.16) reports that Turkish EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozkir, in statements to illegal Bayrak television, expressed the view that 2016 will be an important year not only for the Cyprus problem but also for Turkey's EU negotiation process. Stating that Turkey's ties with the "TRNC" are based on healthy conditions, Bozkir added that their first priority is to support the "TRNC" in all matters. "There were a lot of important developments in 2015, our expectations continue for this year as well. The Cyprus problem exists for 50 years now and for various reasons it was not possible to be solved. Even the Berlin wall has fallen; it is not right for Cyprus to be divided", Bozkir said. Supporting that the Cyprus problem has reached to a point that is possible to be solved, Bozkir added that the natural gas and the water transferred from Turkey are important factors as well. Stating that many hopes exist that the Cyprus problem will be solved this year, Bozkir recalled that if the two leaders agree on a final text, this would be set to a referendum. Bozkir also pointed to the importance of reaching to a bi-zonal, bi-communal solution based on the political equality of the two communities in the island and reiterated Turkey's full support to the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci. Evaluating Turkey's EU negotiation process and its connection with the Cyprus negotiation process, Bozkir alleged that the Cyprus problem and Turkey's EU bid are two separate matters in spite of the fact that the Greek Cypriot side exerted efforts to connect them. He further said that if the Cyprus problem is solved, then Turkey's EU negotiation process will progress as well. Bozkir also added that the solution of the Cyprus problem is amongst Turkey's priorities and said that the solution will please Turkey. (AK) [03] Talat met with Turkes in Ankara Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (06.01.16) reported that the leader of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Mehmet Ali Talat paid a one day visit to Ankara on Tuesday in order to participate in a round table meeting on the Cyprus problem organized by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV). Talat met during his visit to Ankara with Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey and Responsible of Cyprus Affairs Tugrul Turkes. Speaking to Yeni Duzen after the meeting, Talat stated that they discussed with Turkes the developments on the Cyprus problem, the issue of the administration of the water transferred from Turkey and the economic reforms that are needed to take place in the breakaway regime. Reporting on Talat's visit to Ankara, Kibrisli (06.01.16) reported that Talat also met with the former Speaker of the Turkish Assembly Cemil Cicek. (CS) [04] Turkes will visit the breakaway regime Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (07.01.16) reports that Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey and Responsible of Cyprus Affairs Tugrul Turkes, will visit the breakaway regime next week. Turkes made this statement during a meeting he held with the leader of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Mehmet Ali Talat in Ankara. (CS) [05] Ozersay established the People's Party in the breakaway regime Turkish Cypriot daily Vatan newspaper (07.01.16) reports that Kudret Ozersay established a new political party in the occupied area of Cyprus under the name "the People's Party" (HP). The motto of the new party is "New policy with the will of the people". Speaking during a press conference Ozersay stated that the new political formation was born out of the need for a new political understanding. "The aim of the People's Party is to create a democratic, secular, open and accountable party which protected people's basic rights", he stated. Refering to the Cyprus problem, Ozersay stated that the party will support a solution "that will be accepted by the two peoples on the island". "A balanced solution that protects the rights and interests of the two peoples on the island and where there are no losers is what the People's Party supports", he added. (CS) [06] The water from Turkey has started flowing in the occupied Panagra Dam again; The political crisis on the water management still goes on Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (07.01.15) reports that Birol Cinar, "director of the water transferred project in the TRNC", in statements to the paper, said that all technical problems appeared recently with the flowing of the water from Turkey to the occupied Panagra dam were solved and as of last Monday, the water flowing continues constantly in the dam. Stating that in case no other technical problems appear, the dam will totally fill up in four months, Cinar said alleging that Turkey's State Water Affairs Department (DSI) will cover all the cost until the filling up of the dam and also all the electricity cost expenses. Meanwhile, the paper adds that although the technical problems were almost overpassed, the political crisis towards the issue of the water management continues. In statements on the water management crisis, so-called minister of agriculture, natural resources and food, Erkut Sahalli, said that their efforts towards solving this issue has not yield to a result yet. He proposed the issue to be solved thought a mechanism envisaging cooperation and partnership of the private-state sectors and clarified that it is out of question for them to accept any impositions towards the water management. (AK) [07] A land of 16.5 km2 belonging to Greek Cypriots in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus has come into Turkish possession since 2006. Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris (07.01.16) reports that the "immovable property commission" established by Turkey in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus announced that land of 16.5 km2 belonging to Greek Cypriots in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus has come into Turkish possession since 2006. Ayfer Erkmen, "vice president" of the "commission" announced that since 2006, 6,250 persons have applied to the "immovable property commission" and only 730 cases of them have been concluded. Noting that until today 220 million British sterling were paid to the applicants as compensation by the "commission", Erkmen added that around to 50 more cases that have been concluded will also be compensated. He explained that there is a delay due to some works in the "finance ministry" and added that the payments are around to 50 million British sterling. Erkmen said that during the meetings the Greek Cypriot property owners have with the "ministry of interior" under the name of "friendly settlement", in case there is an agreement on the price issue, the "immovable property commission" starts its investigations. Erkmen explained that in case the "commission" considered it appropriate, then the process starts at the "land registry office. He added that with the signature of the documents, the Greek Cypriot property becomes automatically a Turkish property and at the same time, the person who lives inside this property becomes the owner of the property. Erkmen announced that 16.5 km2 of Greek Cypriot immovable property has passed into Turkish land property. Erkmen concluded by saying that 5,520 applications are still pending. (DPs) [08] The "ombudsman" has launched investigation against the so-called council of ministers' decision Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi newspaper (07.01.16) reports that the so-called council of ministers has decided to provide to a foreign company the control-inspection services of the T&T airport company. The above foreign company will carry out inspections and controls to the T&T airport company which undertook the management of the illegal Tymbou airport with the build-operate transfer (BOT) model. The foreign company will provide services for a period of 50 months and this will cost 11 million 250 thousand US dollars, writes the paper. According to the paper, Emine Dizdarli "ombudsman" in the occupied area of Cyprus, reacted strongly over the decision of the "council of ministers" to assign a foreign company for this matter and announced that they had decided to launch an investigation since no tenders took place. Dizdarli further said that the control services could be provided by the "attorney general", the "ombudsman" or other organizations in the "TRNC". (AK) [09] Ankara looks to strengthen ties with EU during the Dutch presidency Turkish daily Sabah (online, 07.01.16) reports that Ankara is hopeful that its EU accession process will accelerate during the Netherlands' term in the European Council presidency. The Dutch envoy to Ankara says that the EU-Turkey summit held in Brussels last November restored trust and brought fresh impetus to relations. Dutch Ambassador Kees Cornelis van Rij spoke to officials in Ankara on Tuesday evening at an event organized by the Dutch Embassy to commence the start of the Netherlands' term in presidency over the European Council, which they will hold for the first half of 2016. Cornelis van Rij said that the Dutch presidency is significant for the credibility of the EU enlargement process and that the Netherlands anticipates the speeding up of Turkey's accession process. "The EU-Turkey summit held in Brussels last November restored trust and brought fresh impetus to relations between the two countries," the newly appointed Ambassador said. Turkey's EU negotiation process began in Ankara with the previous Dutch presidency in 2004, with officials now planning to open five additional policy chapters in the first half of 2016. The Netherlands' work program focuses on four key areas, including migration, international security, sound finances and a productive Europe. These areas will focus on innovation, job creation and climate and energy policies that focus on the future. "We welcome the European Commission's commitment to completion of preparatory efforts in the first quarter of 2016 to open additional chapters, including the crucial Chapter 23 and 24 on justice and fundamental rights," van Rij said. Ambassador Hansjorg Haber, head of the European Union Delegation to Turkey, emphasized in his speech that Ankara and the EU are committed to meeting deadlines and succeeding in the process with emphasis on the implementation of standards and criteria rather than deadlines. "Our plan is sincere, and so far [we are] convinced that the timeline we have agreed on can actually be met. What we need under these conditions is very close and trustful cooperation in both directions," he said. Underlining that their government is aiming to achieve reforms in various fields, including EU-related reforms, EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozkir said that the government has announced more than 250 reform packages and reiterated its determination to achieve these goals. "We take these steps for the European Union to make important progress in many aspects in Turkey. Making progress according to the chapters also affects the daily lives of Turkish citizens. Of course, what we will be able to achieve in terms of reform will be one of the most important elements to potentially change the negative concept of Turkey in the Western world," Bozkir added. [10] Davutoglu: Ball in Parliament's court on new Constitution According to Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online, 07.01.16), the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and two other opposition parties have reached a consensus on a number of key issues necessary to produce a new Constitution and now the Parliament is responsible for moving the process forward, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stated on Dec. 6. "I think six months will be enough [to write a new Constitution] when the current acquis on the matter is also considered," Davutoglu told press members. "A new constitution was a priority among our election pledges," he said after meeting with Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman earlier in the day. Davutoglu said that the Parliament Speaker would now be inviting the opposition parties, including the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), to found commissions to conduct work for a new charter. The current number of seats of the AKP does not allow it to produce a new Constitution on its own and so the text should be a product of all parties in Parliament, he recalled. As expected, all three opposition parties expressed their objection to the adoption of a presidential system and proposed instead to correct malfunctioning and weaker parts of the existing parliamentary system. The commission is planned to be composed of members from all four parties equally, like similar previous commissions, but uncertainty continues over whether it will have to take decisions unanimously or by a simple majority vote. 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 Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-08

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] "Ariadni" ferry with 395 refugees on board tol arrive at Piraeus port on Friday [02] Appeal Council rejects the extradition of two students to Italy

[01] "Ariadni" ferry with 395 refugees on board tol arrive at Piraeus port on Friday

Another ferry "Nissos Mykonos" carrying 61 refugees from Mytilene and 24 refugees from Chios arrived late on Thursday.

[02] Appeal Council rejects the extradition of two students to Italy

The decision on another two students will be announced later in the day.
News / National

by Fungai Jachi

A Midlands State University student was yesterday ordered to perform 105 hours of community service after being convicted of defrauding Alpha Omega Dairy of $970 in a salary scam.Twenty-one-year-old Tapiwa Nyoni, pleaded guilty to fraud charges when he appeared before Harare magistrate, Ms Nomsa Sabarauta.He was sentenced to 12 months in jail before three months were suspended on condition he restitutes $970 to the complainant by March 31 this year.The remaining months were suspended on condition Nyoni performs 105 hours of community service at the Harare Magistrate's Court.Nyoni, who was employed as a truck assistant, told the court that he committed the offence out of ignorance and was willing to restitute the complainant."I am just a chemical technology student at MSU and I plead for a non-custodial sentence. I kept on withdrawing the money with the impression that it was money that the company owed me," he said.Circumstances are that Nyoni resigned from work in July 2014.Alpha Omega Dairy, however, continued to deposit his monthly salary of $242 into his CBZ bank account.Nyoni continued to withdraw money from his account for four months and by December 5 he had withdrawn $970.88.The company discovered the offence and reported the matter to the police leading to Nyoni's arrest.
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-08 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Studies show Knossos three times larger than previous estimate [02] Greek police, Frontex to begin ID checks of NGOs, vols on Aegean islands [01] Studies show Knossos three times larger than previous estimate Recent fieldwork at the ancient site of Knossos on the island of Crete apparently shows that during the early Iron Age (1100 to 600 BC), the settlement was rich in imports and was nearly three times larger than what was believed from earlier excavations, according to researchers from the University of Cincinnati. The discovery suggests that not only did this spectacular Greek Bronze Age city (between 3500 and 1100 BC) recover from the collapse of the socio-political system on the islands around 1200 BC, but also rapidly grew and thrived as a cosmopolitan hub of the Aegean and Mediterranean regions. Antonis Kotsonas, a University of Cincinnati assistant professor of classics, will highlight his field research with the Knossos Urban Landscape Project at the 117th annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America and Society for Classical Studies. The meeting will take place on January 7-10 in San Francisco. [02] Greek police, Frontex to begin ID checks of NGOs, vols on Aegean islands Greek Police on Friday announced the launch, in collaboration with the EU border agency Frontex, of round-the-clock ID checks of volunteers and members of non-governmental organisations currently operating on various eastern Aegean islands as part of efforts to assist Middle Eastern refugees landing on the isles after leaving Turkey. "It is not our intention to offend the volunteers or the NGO staff and their work, but only to stress the presence of the police along the coast and at the points where migrants and refugees generally arrive," a senior police officer told the ANA-MPA. The source said the police operation chiefly aimed to identify individuals who posed as volunteers in order to steal the belongings of the third country nationals, or make off with the boats and outboard motors they arrived in. He said that volunteers working on the coast will be asked to produce a police ID card and to name the organisation they are with, at which point police officers will check to see if the specific NGO is accredited. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-08 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Athens expresses 'extreme concern' over N. Korea nuclear test [01] Athens expresses 'extreme concern' over N. Korea nuclear test Greece's foreign ministry expressed "extreme concern" over the nuclear test carried out by North Korea, in an announcement issued on Friday. "We express our extreme concern at the nuclear test carried out on 6 January in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. This test constitutes a threat to international peace and security and runs counter to UN Security Council resolutions and the international efforts towards disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea needs to comply with its international commitments, halt the production and testing of nuclear weapons, and return to the table of dialogue with the international community, particularly within the framework of the six-party talks." Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Cologne police chief to leave post over New Year's Eve assaults by gangs of men - German media reports https://t.co/R0t4ylUaPX

Police officer: "A group of men would encircle a female victim, close the loop, and then start groping the woman. https://t.co/6VaGt8hNE4 January 8, 2016

Germany must have frank talk about integrating migrants, says Merkel as outrage grows over #Cologne sexual assaults https://t.co/GVSRRnJF8W January 8, 2016

Reminder: The #Cologne police didn't even put this in their morning report the next day - Forced to reveal all info https://t.co/9XgaUX2p9Q January 7, 2016

Lest anyone tells you #cologne was isolated - More complaints of mass sexual assaults surfaces in German cities https://t.co/b0m2HbDKEy January 8, 2016

Internal police report shows how helpless officers were in face of Cologne New Year's violence + sexual assaults: https://t.co/QqHCvwsynx January 7, 2016

Germany must look again at deporting foreigners convicted of crimes following Cologne sex attacks - Angela Merkel https://t.co/3iE2GITI3e January 8, 2016

WamS also received information contradicting another official statement by the city police, which said the main intention of the men in Cologne was to steal from passengers and that assault was secondary. However, "what actually happened was the exact opposite," a police officer said on condition of anonymity."For the mostly Arabic offenders, sexual assault was the priority, or, to express it from their point of view, their sexual amusement was thepriority. A group of men would encircle a female victim, close the loop, and then start groping the woman," WamS quoted the officer as saying.The deputy chief of the trade union for police employees (the GdP), Ernst Walter, suggested that the Cologne police's mishandling of the case could cost city police chief Wolfgang Albers his job: "I'm asking myself this," Walter said. "How could the police publish a message on January 1, saying that New Year's celebrations had been peaceful?""All these shocking incidents" had become known the same night, he said, adding that officers from the federal police were trying to help women and were worried that "people could have even died."
Four aboriginal women told the CBC they were sterilized against their will at the same Saskatoon hospital, according to a report on The Current Thursday.

Melika Popp went to the Royal University Hospital to deliver her second child by C-section in 2008. She said doctors coerced her into having her fallopian tubes tied. The procedure was suggested to her while she was in labour, already open for surgery, she said.

Popp said hospital staff lied to her by saying the procedure was reversible.

Another woman, Brenda Pelletier, told CBC News in November she was hounded by a social worker to agree to the procedure after giving birth. A recovering addict at the time, said she was told, We dont want you leaving this hospital until its done.

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Why are you guys doing this to women?

After coming forward with her story and learning other women had similar experiences, Popp hired a lawyer in November. Shes calling for a class action lawsuit against the Saskatoon Health Region (SHR) and possibly the provincial and federal governments.

Why are you guys doing this to women? Popp said in her interview with The Current. Why are you hurting aboriginal women? This is not happening to anyone who is not coloured or is not a single mother.

"I was in a vulnerable position." Melika Popp says she was pressured to be sterilized. https://t.co/IQ0JQGsWdppic.twitter.com/xPvZWzAuAU  CBC-The Current (@TheCurrentCBC) January 8, 2016

In response to complaints received in October, SHR apologized and changed their policy so tubal ligation requires a woman's consent before she arrives at the hospital to give birth.

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The health authority has also committed to hiring an external investigator. No one has been hired yet, as of mid-December the StarPhoenix reported.

Losing the ability to have children made her feel even more disconnected from her aboriginal identity, Popp said. She was taken away from her own birth mother in the 60s scoop and was taught to be ashamed of her culture, she told the StarPhoenix.

Its another form of cultural genocide.

Canada should recognize both the 60s scoop and her sterilization were acts of systemic racism, Popp said. Its another form of cultural genocide. The province disagrees.

The suggestion the provincial government is responsible for this is flat-out wrong, Health Minister Dustin Duncan told the National Post. Clinical decisions are made between patients and their physician and care team, he said.

For anyone to suggest that it occurred because of a government policy is offensive.
The cumulative impact of human activity on the Earth may have pushed the planet into a stratigraphically distinct geological era, suggests a group of international scientists.

A new study published in Science on Friday supports the argument Earth has entered a new epoch  dubbed Anthropocene  after reviewing climatic, biological, and geochemical signatures of human activity in sediments and ice cores.

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The paper cites increased deposits of aluminum, plastics and concrete can now be seen in sedimentary layers of rock around the world. Authors say that area of the report makes the strongest case that human activity is responsible for a new epoch.

Alexander Wolfe, an adjunct professor of paleobiology at the University of Alberta, is one of the papers 24 co-authors. He contributed to study with pollution data collected from remote Arctic and alpine lakes.

Stability is no longer a given.

Aerial view of Ginza, Tokyo at night. (Photo: Michael H/Getty Images)

Wolfe told The Huffington Post Canada the study shows how humans can sufficiently alter the physics, chemistry, and biology of the planet  but scientists arent quick to label the change as something good or bad.

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We are simply signalling that the Earth has entered a fundamentally new mode of operation, and this can be recognized in the geological record, Wolfe said. He added changes observed in the Anthropocene are evolving more rapidly than in two prior epochs, Holocene and Pleistocene.

Stability is no longer a given, he said, referring to the rapidly changing environment.

Living beings certainly do have the potential to modify the planet in fundamental ways.

When asked what significance the study has in supporting the argument of a new geological era, the Edmonton scientist said the paper resoundingly proves that humans really can change the planet.

Living beings certainly do have the potential to modify the planet in fundamental ways, Wolfe said. This time it just happens to be a bipedal hairless ape with a large cranium that is responsible  all 7.3 billion of them!

In a 200-acre-plus dump five kilometers north of Port-au-Prince, hundreds of Haitian men, women and children scavenge day and night through the burning wasteland in January 2015. (Photo: Giles Clarke/Getty Images)

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Wolfe works in the 36-member Anthropocene Working Group  24 of whom co-authored the Science paper.

Dr. Colin Waters, another co-author and principal geologist at the British Geological Survey, said the study is a big deal in the canon of Anthropocene research.

That this paper does, is to say the changes are as big as those that happened at the end of the last ice age, he told The Guardian.

While the study doesnt firmly conclude the Earth has officially entered a new epoch, it presents a strong case that an accelerated population and technological growth, buckled with pollution and industrialized farming and fishing, have permanently reconfiguring Earths biological trajectory.

The research will be reviewed by a geological body responsible for formally declaring divisions of time later this year.

If the panel approves the paper's evidence, it will declare the Holocene epoch  which stretches back to the last ice age nearly 12,000 years ago  as officially over.

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Also on HuffPost
The most popular premier in Canada has explicitly ruled out a run for the federal Conservative leadership.

Saskatchewan's Brad Wall, dubbed the last conservative provincial leader left in Canada, firmly closed the door while on SiriusXM radio's "Everything is Political" Thursday.

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Though Wall's conversation with David Akin focused mostly on TransCanada's plan to sue the U.S. government over its rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, he was also asked about his rumoured federal ambitions.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greet Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall as he arrives at the First Ministers meeting in Ottawa. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/CP)

"I think Johnny Cash said that lies have to be covered up, but the truth can run around naked," Wall said. "So here's the naked truth: I am not running for federal politics. Period. I've said that several times."

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Though he added it was an honour to be thought of in such a light, Wall said he already has the "best job in Canada" and will be "re-applying" this April when Saskatchewan voters head to the polls.

"People should be asking federal leaders, actually, 'Hey why don't you want to be premier of Saskatchewan?' Because I think this is the best job going," he said.

Listen to his full interview:

Wall said much the same to the Regina Leader-Post in a story that ran on New Year's Eve  though he would not guarantee he would stick around for the full four-year term if he wins again this spring.

The premier also denied a report that he was taking French lessons.

A December poll from the Angus Reid Institute, which surveys provincial leaders' job approval ratings each quarter, pegged Wall's support at 60 per cent, down three points from September.

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In December 2011, the firm had Wall at an astounding 71 per cent approval rating.

"People should be asking federal leaders, actually, 'Hey why don't you want to be premier of Saskatchewan?' Because I think this is the best job going."

But a poll from Abacus Data on potential Conservative leadership contestants, also released in December, showed Wall would have some work to do to win the top Tory job.

Abacus put Wall in the "top tier" of potential candidates with former cabinet minister Peter MacKay, veteran Alberta MP Jason Kenney, Ontario MP Lisa Raitt, and former Quebec premier Jean Charest (who has also ruled out a run).

But while Abacus put Wall at 26 per cent support in the Prairies, he was at nine per cent support across Canada. MacKay, meanwhile, garnered 31 per cent support nationwide.

That online poll was conducted among 1,500 Canadians between Nov. 23 and 25. The margin of error for a comparable survey is 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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Called out Trudeau

Wall sparked headlines in November with an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, urging him to "re-evaluate" his pledge to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year.

In light of the attacks in Paris, the premier asked Trudeau to halt the plan in the interests of security.

Wall also broke from some premiers at Paris climate talks in December by saying leaders should keep the energy sector in mind.

"My number 1 responsibility is back to the people of Saskatchewan and not necessarily worrying what the other kids in class think about me," he said at the time.

With a file from The Canadian Press

ALSO ON HUFFPOST:

Conservative Leadership Candidates See Gallery

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Jay Spooner via Getty Images

As Calgary's vacancy rate continues to balloon, rental prices in the city are dropping rapidly.

Rental rates on RentFaster.ca are down between 11 and 18 per cent, website owner Mark Hawkins told CBC News.

The site reports that the current average monthly rental in the city is $1,581. Shared accommodation averages out to $679, while an apartment is around $1,281.

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Vacancy rate quadruples

Calgary's vacancy rate jumped to 5.3 per cent in October 2015, up from 1.4 per cent the same month last year, according Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

The country's national average for urban centres is 3.3 per cent.

It's a renter's market, which has some landlords struggling to find creative ways to rent out their properties.

A quick search of online rental sites turned up incentives such asreduced security deposits, free months of rent, free amenities like TV or Internet and even Visa gift cards, writes Emma McIntosh in the National Post.

High unemployment, too

Low oil prices is one reason behind the dropping rental prices and high vacancy rate, said Bob Dugan, chief economist at CMHC, said in a press release.

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In December, Alberta's unemployment rate rose to seven per cent  a rate not seen in the province since 2010. Alberta's unemployment rate was 4.7 in December 2014.

Also on HuffPost:
"We are truly sorry if we have offended anyone with this piece. Everyone is welcome at H&M and we never take a religious or political stand. Our intention was never to upset anyone. Stripes is one of the trends for this season and weve been inspired by this. The quantities were small and the products are no longer available in some markets. The item is currently not available in stores in Israel following a local decision of removal."
A Hungarian journalist and human rights lawyer wanted to call attention to women from tribes across Africa who she said are "at the brink of extinction," but the Internet was not having it.

Woman thinks it's a good idea to photoshop herself with blackface to "raise awareness" https://t.co/hNK8g26K46pic.twitter.com/4scLgwlgfP  Princess Slaya (@zaniemaree) January 7, 2016

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Boglarka Balogh submitted an article and photo series to BoredPanda, but has since deleted it after it sparked controversy.

She posted seven photos, each showing a photo of women from tribes from Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia and other African countries, specifically the Himba, Turkana, Mursi, Arbore, Daasanach, Karo and Wodaabe communities, according to the Guardian. Next to these photos was a version that had Balogh's face and features transposed over it, that was edited by artist Csaba Szabo .

Since the project was posted to the site, the comments section received pages of criticism calling the project racist and insensitive, and called the finished product blackface.

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The original post has now been replaced it with a message maintaining that Balogh's intentions for the project were pure.

"I have never imagined that my work will annoy so many people and that I will have to explain myself," she writes. The Guardian says that in her original post, she writes that her goal was to celebrate these stunning tribal beauties at the brink of extinction."

In one response to a comment, Balogh says she got the idea after travelling to Africa and being dressed up by tribal women in their traditional clothing, and that many of them approved.

The post is still being viewed and commented on. The Guardian reported it was viewed more than 130,000 times yesterday. It's now jumped to 231,000.

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While some appreciated the fact that she wanted to highlight these different tribes, to many, it came across as her highlighting herself. Across Twitter and blogs, people questioned why she wouldn't use the original photos as a standalone to draw attention to the beauty of these tribes.

Credit: Mario Gerth

@kashmirVIII Why not just use pictures of the actual people she tried to recreate? IMO she ended up making it about her rather than them.  HabitualLineStepper (@AdrianNichols) January 6, 2016

great concept but you could've used actual tribal women instead of yourself to raise awareness lmao. pic.twitter.com/SfpBx6yWPt  jessikawaii (@jessicagravity) January 7, 2016

A Hungarian version is still posted on the site Szeretlek Magyarorszag, and seems to have been viewed positively by her Facebook friends (based on Facebook auto translations and emojis).

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with Csaba SzaboAz afrikai torzsekrol szolo cikk most mar teljes terjedelmeben magyarul is olvashato.. :) Posted by Boglarka Balogh on Monday, December 28, 2015

Jezebel put out a satirical piece about the project titled: "World Weeps in Gratitude for Woke Hungarian Who Did 7 Types of Blackface to Save Africa From Going Extinct," commenting on the small-scale approval Boglarka received.

In interviews with Buzzfeed, and Hungarian news site VS.hu, however, Balogh seems blithely unaware of why her project caused so much controversy.

She told BuzzFeed News that she was confused by the outrage from Americans on Facebook and thought it was blown out of proportion.

Blackface is a product of the U.S., where it was used in the past in theatre and minstrel shows designed to mock black people and their features. It is still even used today, but knowledge of this history doesn't seem as pronounced in Hungary. The country's population is mostly Hungarian, Romani and German, and its black population is small.

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But Balogh tells Buzzfeed she "would only willingly pay attention attention to negative comments from those who" have volunteered in marginalized countries the way she has.

In her interview with VS.hu (which was loosely translated using Google Translate), she says she is still proud of her project and shares sentiments similar to what she shared with Buzzfeed.
News / National

by Nqobile Tshili

POLICE have expressed concern over the increase in the number of teenagers committing heinous crimes across the country. The police have attributed these crimes to alcohol and drug abuse. Yesterday, police in Harare arrested a 19-year-old teenage driver who knocked down a pedestrian while trying to evade a roadblock.Paul Tadzima went through a red robot, knocking down a 60-year-old pedestrian and was found in possession of two twists of dagga when he eventually stopped.The teenager is facing negligent driving, failing to comply with police orders among other charges. National police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba also made reference to two Gweru teenagers who have made headlines after they allegedly killed their guardians in cold blood.A 14-year-old boy from Gweru allegedly killed his 41-year-old family maid after she accused him of stealing a memory card.In December, another Gweru teenager aged 19 confessed to killing his mother whom he claimed had refused to give him money and her car.Snr Asst Comm Charamba said alcohol and drug abuse are the major contributory factors in such crimes."Teenagers are operating under the influence of alcohol and drugs. It's important that we issue a stern warning against the use of drugs by teenagers. This leads them to commit all sorts of crimes. We've a 14-year-old who killed his family maid and a 19-year-old boy who killed his mother. This can only be a result of alcohol and drug abuse. Parents should monitor their children so that they don't misbehave," Snr Asst Comm Charamba.Last year, a 17-year-old Form Three pupil from Pumula South suburb was arrested after he killed his aunt who had tried to reprimand him for using a cellphone containing pornographic material.
This may not have been the best advertisement.

While testing out a company's anti-stabbing vest for a TV segment, Israeli reporter Eitam Lachover was actually injured, according to CNN.

"You are going to stab me with this?" Lachover asks Yaniv Montakyo, a company vice-president.

"Yes, you have nothing to worry about, we are very confident in our product," Montakyo, who works for FMS Enterprises, responds.

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He then repeatedly stabbed Lachover in the back, but the knife actually pierced the vest, BBC reports.

The reporter wrote on Twitter that he received stitches for superficial wounds.

Montakyo told Channel 2 that he stabbed Lachover in a part of the item that didn't contain protective material, according to the BBC.

The journalist wasn't injured in an earlier take of the demo, which was set to air Wednesday, a representative for Israel's state broadcaster told the Telegraph.

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The company's CEO told CNN that the material hadn't been secured inside the vest Lachover was wearing, so it shifted down, leaving an upper part unprotected.

The vests were created after a number of recent stabbings in Israel.

You can watch the whole cringe-worthy segment above.
ASSOCIATED PRESS Prince William, centre, Kate Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry walk along the street to celebrate the start of the Tour de France in Yorkshire at West Tanfield, England, Saturday, July 5, 2014. The 198 competitors in the 101st Tour de France have started their grueling three-week ride through four countries before ending the world's greatest cycling race in Paris on July 27. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell/Pool)

Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge are scheduled to embark on an Indian adventure.

Prince Harry is expected to visit Nepal for the first time, while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be visiting Bhutan in the spring, also for the first time, the young royals announced on their social media accounts.

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Bhutan is an impoverished country situated between China and India on the east end of the Himalayas. The primarily Buddhist country is guarded when it comes to tradition and culture, essentially secluding itself from public eye. It's also known as the "happiest country in the world," with a Gross National Happiness index that includes an emphasis on psychological well-being, health, time use and education.

Though William, Kate and Harry have not been to these destinations before, the royal family are no strangers to the Himalayan countries. Prince Charles and Prince Andrew have previously visited Bhutan, while Princess Diana and The Queen made visit to Nepal in the past.

The Duke and Duchess and Prince Harry are very much looking forward to their official tours this spring where they will follow in the footsteps of previous generations of their family. Photos  Press Association A photo posted by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Jan 8, 2016 at 3:16am PST
Conservatives are amplifying a retired major-general's remarks that Canada's international influence could be diminished if the Liberal government ends the bombing mission against the so-called Islamic State.

The Globe and Mail's Robert Fife revealed Thursday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet is reviewing at least six options when it comes to the ISIS mission  and not one involves continuing airstrikes.

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Trudeau repeatedly pledged during the federal election campaign to end the bombing mission and shift the focus to enhanced training of Kurdish Peshmerga forces on the ground. He has held fast to that commitment even after the November attacks in Paris ramped up pressure on him to reconsider.

Retired major-general David Fraser, who commanded troops in Afghanistan, told The Globe that pulling out CF-18s will irk Western allies, including the United States.

Retired major-general David Fraser receives the Meritorious Service Cross from Governor General Michaelle Jean in 2007. (Photo: Fred Chartrand/CP)

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"If we don't have our fighter jets, we are not going to have much of a voice," he told the paper. "We won't get much recognition. Strategically, at the political level, we are going to lose here."

Tory defence critic James Bezan highlighted Fraser's comments in a media release Thursday and urged the Liberal government to scrap its "ill-advised" promise.

"We can of course support further humanitarian assistance and a larger training mission beyond the 69 members of the Special Operation Forces," Bezan said. "But for the past year, Canadians have done this work at the very same time that we have carried out airstrikes to degrade ISIS capabilities in the region.

"The government has made no coherent case for why this shouldn't continue."

One of the options referenced in The Globe story involves training Iraqi troops in Jordan, seemingly to prevent firefights on the ground. Fraser suggested while that move would make political sense for Liberals, it would not be welcomed by Iraqis and Kurds.

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Conservative defence critic James Bezan speaks in the House of Commons. (Photo: CP)

Rookie Tory MP Pierre Paul-Hus, an associate defence critic and veteran, said in the release that Canadian trainers should be working closely with allies on what helps them, not what "works best politically for the Liberal Party."

"We have the capability to help where it's needed most against a brutal enemy, and we should remain absolutely committed to doing so," Paul-Hus said.

"The government has made no coherent case for why this shouldnt continue."

Last month, Canadian commandos in Iraq supported Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in a 17-hour battle against ISIS on the ground. Later, during a briefing in Ottawa, Maj.-Gen. Charles Lamarre said two CF-18s eliminated an ISIS fighting position near the occupied city of Mosul.

Bezan and Conservative foreign affairs critic Tony Clement released a statement arguing the events underscore why Canada's jets have to stay in the fight.

Bezan also criticized Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan for not directly mentioning CF-18 pilots or the Royal Canadian Air Force in his initial statement on the incident.

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"It appears to be too much for the Liberals to even thank our fighter jet pilots for a job well done," Bezan said.

Former defence minister Jason Kenney has similarly hinted the Liberals are not showing enough respect for the contributions of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

After Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion congratulated the Iraqi government last month on the liberation of Ramadi, Kenney took to Twitter to question why the minister's statement did not mention the RCAF.

Why does Mr. Dion's statement on the liberation of Ramadi fail to mention the contribution made by RCAF airstrikes? https://t.co/C45PJdGmvr  Jason Kenney (@jkenney) December 30, 2015

By ending our combat operations against ISIS? https://t.co/TQVZ8VC0mz  Jason Kenney (@jkenney) December 30, 2015

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The Hill Times reported Wednesday that Canadian jets have conducted at least three airstrikes against four ISIS targets since Jan. 2.

Trudeau: Allies understand, support change

Liberals, however, maintain that changing the ISIS mission will not hamper relations with the U.S. or other allies.

When interim Tory Leader Rona Ambrose pressed Trudeau on the matter during question period in December, the prime minister said Canada continues to be involved in the fight in a "robust" manner.

"Not only are our allies understanding of that, they are supportive of that," he said. "In fact, for the first time in almost 20 years, the White House will be hosting a Canadian prime minister for a state dinner. That is the kind of good relationship we are building with our allies."

Trudeau and his wife will break bread with the Obamas on March 10. The last prime minister to be invited to the White House for such an occasion was Jean Chretien, who dined with Bill Clinton in 1997.

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With files from The Canadian Press

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Torontos taxi industry, already battling for business against Uber, doesnt need another headache. But it just got one.

Police allege a group of cab drivers in the city have been running a scam on passengers, swapping and stealing their debit cards and emptying their accounts.

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The scam has reportedly been going on since November, and has targeted passengers primarily in the downtown area, at night or in the early morning.

Toronto police told the National Post that there appear to be dozens of victims: TD Bank alone has filed 65 claims linked to the scam.

A passenger identified only as Rachel told CityNews she used her debit card to pay for a cab after the driver told her he didnt have cash change.

Rachel noted the cab driver skipped over the part in the transaction where the passenger is asked to enter a tip amount.

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The next day, she discovered that the card he returned to her was not hers, and her bank account had been emptied and overdrafted into the hundreds. She lost $720 in all.

The scams were not carried out by drivers at any one cab company, but police would not say which companies were linked to it. They believe the drivers involved are likely independents, meaning they work for multiple cab companies.

Police say passengers should look out for taxi receipts that dont have the cab companys name on it, instead bearing generic names like GTA Taxi or Toronto Cabs.

And watch them with the machines, Det. Chris Beattie told the Post.
Bloomberg via Getty Images The Periscope logo is displayed on the screen of an Apple Inc. iPhone 6 as the video streaming site unit of Twitter Inc.'s internet homepage is shown on a laptop screen, in this arranged photograph taken in London, U.K., on Friday, May, 15, 2015. Facebook Inc. reached a deal with New York Times Co. and eight other media outlets to post stories directly to the social network's mobile news feeds, as publishers strive for new ways to expand their reach. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

What does the New Year have in store for the business of public relations?

That was the question posed to me by Marketing Magazine for their annual round up of PR industry trends for 2016. It gave me the chance to reflect on accessible new technologies that are beginning to make it easier to build the reputations and increase the profiles of companies and their senior executives via social media; a practice that more and more companies are asking their PR agencies to manage.

Based on Canadians' deep attachment to their smart phones, I believe we'll see significant growth in 'Real-Time Communication,' aka 'RTC'. This term refers to a new integrated communication medium that allows users to access a vast array of multimedia, including video, audio and chat capabilities -- all in real time.

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Periscope, the innovative live streaming mobile video app, was among the first to introduce RTC. It quickly became popular with anyone who wanted to record and live stream video recordings on-the-go. Their community of followers who could then instantly comment and ask questions, creating buzz around a topic at lightning speed.

Since Periscope was acquired by Twitter, and recently named Apple's App of the Year, its popularity among content-hungry audiences that crave fast, un-polished access to news- and trend-makers is rising. And RTC's impact is bound to skyrocket, in light of the recent launch of Facebook Live, a similar concept that enables public figures and VIPs to transmit mobile videos to their legions of followers among Facebook's astounding reach of 1 billion social media users.

What does this have to do with the practice of PR? Plenty, since RTC makes it easy to create a mini, mobile broadcast station to share video and audio and interact directly with targeted local or even global audiences.

So far we've seen this new platform used mainly for bold, behind-the-scenes reporting on product launches. For example, trendy design houses and fashion bloggers are using RTC to broadcast live from runway shows in Paris and Milan to stir up shopper buzz from New York to Montreal.

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Beyond turning haute couture into fast fashion, RTC has considerable potential to shake up traditional corporate, analyst and investor communications as well. For example, with the public's hunger for immediate, authentic access to news-makers and opinion leaders, RTC creates a new avenue to help corporate communicators bring senior executives into the spotlight as personable and credible, 'on-the-ground' experts.

For example:

Imagine using RTC to help the owner of a trendy restaurant broadcast live from a celebrity-filled Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) party, enabling followers to join the party and post questions to favourite stars via their smart phones.

Or, picture how RTC could spotlight the foreign travels of a national grocery store executive to exotic village markets in search of new organic products, with foodie followers tagging along on social media.

How about using RTC to enable media, investors and analysts to observe and interact with an energy company CEO as he examines the progress of a west coast pipeline project, including on-site interviews with environmental inspectors, community leaders and project engineers?

Now doesn't this sound more exciting than your run-of-the-mill press release, analyst call, executive blog post or on-location Twitter message?

And what a great way to help introduce gun-shy corporate communicators to fresh, creative uses for social media that build their brands and elevate the profiles of their senior leaders.

Now if you're thinking that there are risks for companies that wade into these new social media waves, you're right. It's absolutely critical that corporate communicators educate themselves on the technology, observe its application, and test the waters before diving in. The RTC trend speaks to the need for tech-savvy, forward thinking PR advisors who can help clients prepare for and expertly navigate these emerging media opportunities.

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Also, the astounding speed and unedited nature of RTC reinforces the important risk mitigation role of PR practitioners, by helping clients develop crisis and issues management plans to protect company reputations should something go "off script."
ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images SHANGHAI, CHINA - OCTOBER 18: (CHINA OUT) English soul and R&B singer-songwriter and actress Joss Stone performs onstage during the 2015 Shanghai JZ Festival on October 18, 2015 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images)

More than a week ago, Joss Stone was awarded the Reggae Billboard Artiste of the Year. Certainly, eyebrows were raised about the legitimacy of Stone's status as a reggae artiste. Dancehall DJ Bounty Killer took to social media to critique this development, and he directed most of his frustration at the Jamaican Government for its failure to promote and develop reggae.

It would be great to see the Jamaican Government capitalize on the island's music as a profitable resource in a similar manner as it has done with tourism. The thing that is missing from this discourse is the Jamaican Government's total lack of power to transform how the music industry has for centuries used white faces to economically exploit and rebrand Black culture.

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Within a Jamaican context, the economic exploitation of reggae took place at the onset with white and Asian ownership of the infrastructure while working-class Black Jamaicans served as the raw talent. The popular Jamaican filmThe Harder They Come best exemplifies this power relation and the exploitation of Black Jamaicans in the early inception of Jamaican music industry.

This exploitation and rebranding of Black musical forms is also evident in other genres. For instance, when jazz gained mainstream popularity in 1917, the faces of its creators were totally absent. In fact, Perry Hall, in his chapter entitled "African-American Music: Dynamics of Appropriation and Innovation", reminds us that the first jazz record to be released to the mainstream populace was that of the self-proclaimed "Original Dixieland Jazz Band," which consisted of five white musicians.

Some years later, a white musician by the name of Paul Whiteman also enjoyed success performing what Hall calls "symphonic jazz," a style that he notes tamed the "primitive rhythms" of original jazz and became "more acceptable to white audiences". As jazz moved from the underground African-American social spaces, Whiteman earned one million dollars in a single year in the 1920s and was dubbed the "King of Jazz".

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The trend of mainstream absorption of Black musical genres has also reared its capitalist head in countries such as Canada. With the migration of Jamaicans to Canada came the importation of reggae music. Many already famous Jamaican acts such as Leroy Sibbles and Jackie Mittoo were a part of this migration flow and they contributed greatly to the success of the growth of reggae music outside of its birth place, Jamaica.

Yet Canadian reggae artist Snow, a white Canadian, held the top spot on the U.S. Billboard Singles Chart for seven weeks in 1993 with his single "Informer". Snow went on to earn a Guinness Book of World Records spot for earning both the biggest selling reggae single and highest charting reggae single in history. No Jamaican Canadian reggae artists have ever enjoyed this type of success inside or outside of Canada.

Are we supposed to believe that the crowning and success of white people performing Black musical genres is due to Black people's inability to organize or to maintain better infrastructure to produce quality music? If we continue to buy into these misconceptions, we will continue to overlook the power structures that foster the economic exploitation and cultural appropriation of Black cultural art forms.

The repackaging of Black music continues to support a lopsided system by granting the financial success to the controllers of the music industry which, in many cases, are white people. Black musical products are bought and sold in the marketplace and most of the economic returns or profits go to white entrepreneurs, other music industry players, and artistes. The media (i.e. music magazines, radio shows etc.) and other institutions that disseminate culture are also chiefly owned and controlled by white people and positioned to engage in the economic exploitation of Black music.

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Clearly, there remains a power disparity between white music industry owners and Black artistes. History has shown that the music industry has chosen to use white recording artists to reproduce the sounds of Black musicians in order to make it more appealing to a white mainstream audience, so as to gain more capital and acceptance of the music. As a result of the preceding state of affairs, musical forms such as rock-n-roll have been largely associated with white performers, despite the fact that Black musicians were pioneers of the genre.

This is not to say that black musical forms cannot be experimented by non-black people. However, history has shown while black musical genres were initially seen as culturally inferior and marginalized in mainstream popular culture, they later emerged as staples of a capitalist driven market that works hand-in-hand with white supremacy.
Photo credit: Strange Luke

The holiday season has passed and it's time to start planning for your upcoming escape from the cold. However, choosing exactly what to pack for a warm destination, when summer is in the distant past, can be tricky for many travelers. Afterall, you don't want to leave Toronto in your flip flops, but you don't want to arrive in Cuba in your down jacket. These seven simple tips will help you pack strategically for your warm winter getaway without worrying about excess baggage fees.

1. Wear Your Warm Clothes

Departing from and arriving back in a cold destination means you'll need at least a couple of layers to get to and from the airport. If possible, leave your heavy winter jacket behind and opt for a sweatshirt or light jacket as your outer layer. You probably won't be spending much time outside between leaving your home and checking-in for your flight, so it's best to leave the bulkiest items behind. Wear a t-shirt underneath your outer layer, so you're not forced to sweat in transit to your hotel upon arrival.

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A comfortable pair of pants and light sneakers are items you'll probably want to use at your destination. Wearing them onboard the plane will also lighten the load in your luggage.

2. Choose Three Bathing Suits

Photo credit: Rodrigo Suriani

Three bathing suits may seem like overkill to some, but you'll probably be spending a lot of time in the ocean or pool, and you don't want to wear a soggy suit everywhere you go. You'll probably find that bathing suits are some of your most used items when in a warm-weather destination.

3. Don't Forget a Beach Coverup

Beach coverups are some of the most convenient items to have when you'll be spending a lot of time by the pool or ocean. It doesn't hurt to bring a couple, but if you're short on space, you'll likely find one that you "have to have" at your destination. Coverups are easy to throw on for trips to the snack bar or bathroom, and they can prevent sunburn when you're not ready to go back inside.

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4. Pack Lightweight Clothing

Photo credit: Jason Pratt

Comfortable, lightweight clothing is essential for every warm-weather getaway. You don't have to sport button-down, Hawaiian-style shirts or baggy pants to remain comfortable in hot climates. A number of popular sportswear companies, like Nike and Under Armour, create stylish clothing that wicks moisture away from your body to keep you cool. Stock up on a few essential pieces of moisture-wicking clothing for hot, humid weather, and you'll quickly discover that you can be comfortable and stylish in warm climates.

5. Remember Sunscreen (and Shades)

Sunscreen isn't as affordable in many destinations as it is in the U.S. and Canada. Stock up on the sunscreen you need before you go, and you won't waste time searching for an affordable bottle upon arrival. Remember to pack your sunscreen inside a plastic bag or secure case when placing it in your checked baggage before flight.

Your favorite pair of sunglasses should make it on every warm-weather getaway too. You can pick up a pair for a few dollars at the drugstore or spend a little extra on a pair with polarized lenses that will block glare and increase visual performance.

6. Choose Your Shoes Wisely

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Photo credit: Philip Choi

Shoes require a lot of space in your luggage, so it's important to choose only the pairs you will need. Wear your bulkiest pair of shoes, commonly sneakers, onto the plane, and leave your sandals easily accessible in your bag for when you arrive. Boat shoes are another lightweight and breathable shoe option for travelers who don't prefer flip flops or other sandals. Limit yourself to two or three pairs of shoes if you're hoping to keep your luggage light.

7. Don't Worry About What You Forgot

Packing for a warm weather getaway will probably make you feel like you're forgetting something. However, packing light means packing the items you need and leaving the extras behind. More important than what you wear on vacation is that you enjoy a relaxing and adventurous time away from the frigid winter temperatures of the north. Stop worrying about the items you may have left behind, and remember that you now have plenty of room in your suitcase to purchase a few new items while you're away.
artisteer via Getty Images Backpack, Bible, Book Bag.

The kids are back in class and the new year is upon us. In light of the shocking honesty from Catholic school trustees in Edmonton and Toronto just before the break, it's perfect timing to make a resolution to achieve equality (and fiscal responsibility) by finally ending our publicly funded separate school system.

Last month, the Edmonton Catholic School Board caused an uproar over the inclusion of the word "unjust" beside "discrimination" in the second reading of a new transgender policy after a seven-year-old trans girl was initially banned from using the girls' bathroom. (The final deadline for the policy, which requires a third reading, is March 31.)

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ECSB Trustee Cindy Olsen actually argued that "just discrimination" was, like, totally cool: "If we had a teacher who was teaching religion and wasn't Catholic in a Catholic school, is that discrimination? Or is that unjust discrimination? Because how can a non-Catholic teacher teach religion?"

"Somehow in three provinces it's still considered kosher that one religious group gets tax-funded schooling but not Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist, Hindus, etc. It's the dictionary definition of privilege."

The answer is, of course, the same way that a Catholic teacher could teach science. (Also, denying a job to someone based on their religious beliefs does sound unjust, especially since this means a huge slice of government employment is now reserved for just one group.)

But that seems like an obfuscation of what their real concern is -- one critic, University of Alberta's Dr. Kristopher Wells, described the language as "cloak and dagger" -- because the bigger issue at hand is the Catholic Church's view on LGBT issues and the fact that their schools in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario are still paid from the public purse.

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As another Edmonton Catholic school board trustee, Larry Kowalczyk, made clear in a CBC News interview back in September on transgender students: "My stand is with that of the church. God has not made a mistake in the gender of me, or you, or anyone else."

In case the church's position here wasn't clear enough, Calgary Bishop Fred Henry penned a letter on this topic on January 14, in which he called the anti-discrimination bill "totalitarian" and "anti-Catholic" and stated that "in [God's] plan, men and women should respect and accept their sexual identity."

But that wasn't all. He also said "[gay-straight alliances] and [queer-straight alliances] are highly politicized ideological clubs which seek to cure society of 'homophobia' and 'heterosexism,' and which accept the idea that all forms of consensual sexual expression are legitimate" and that "the government, because we're not willing to kowtow and accept the LGBTQ agenda, is all of a sudden starting to try and play a little bit of hardball with us."

His letter failed to mention that this government is also completely funding Alberta's Catholic school system, despite the church's unequivocal antipathy to LGBTQ students and parents.

Then there's Angela Kennedy, the recently acclaimed chair of the Toronto Catholic District School Board, who said in the announcement press release that the school board "must stand up for what we believe in."

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This was how she responded to a CBC Metro Morning interview question about gay-straight alliance clubs, which Catholic schools are no longer legally allowed to ban.

Matt Galloway: "You have said in past that you have opposed gay-straight alliances. Do you think they belong in Catholic schools?"

Kennedy: "I think that we have supportive programs for students and I think students need to have these supportive clubs." Galloway: "Does that include a gay-straight alliance?" Kennedy: "We have different clubs in all of our schools and our secondary school students benefit from them. We have a mental health strategy."

A MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGY?!?

Now, having grown up on the West Coast, where all religious schools are private schools, I cannot fathom why public funding is even still on the table anywhere in Canada.

When the right of a tax-funded separate Catholic school system was put into the constitution back in 1867, it was a way of protecting the religious, cultural and language rights of the minority French (who were predominantly Catholic) from the majority English (who were predominantly Protestant) at a time when all schooling was church-run.

We now live in a multicultural country based on equality and yet somehow in three provinces it's still considered kosher that one religious group gets tax-funded schooling but not Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist, Hindus, etc. It's the dictionary definition of privilege. (Quebec, B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan do offer partial funding for any private school, including religious ones, that meet specific criteria, which is a whole other issue.)

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The United Nations Human Rights Committee actually called us out on this a decade ago for failing to "adopt steps to eliminate discrimination on the basis of religion in the funding of schools in Ontario."

When Ontario premier Kathleen Wynn ran for reelection in 2014, she was asked in a debate about merging the school boards because "it's one of those ways to be more efficient and to save those tax dollars and make sure those dollars get to our children."

Her response, no doubt influenced by a tight election and a powerful Catholic voting bloc, was to dismiss the issue as a "distraction."

"If we were creating a school system today in Ontario, we'd have a different discussion," she added. "But we're not. We have a school system that exists and it works and that's the school system that we'll support."

But tradition is a terrible reason to maintain a Catholic school system or any outdated legislation. After all, that was the argument against same-sex marriage that would have made it impossible for Wynne to marry her wife.

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Not to mention this tradition has been upended repeatedly, beginning back in 1890. Manitoba was the first province to do away with the separate Catholic school system, sparking a national crisis dubbed the Manitoba Schools Question. According to Canada's History magazine, this legislation meant that "not only would Catholic schools no longer receive public funding, but parents choosing a Catholic education for their children would still have to pay taxes to the public system."

(Unfortunately, this did not apply to federally funded, Catholic Church-run residential schools, hence the current anger in Winnipeg over plans for a private Catholic school in Winnipeg's heavily indigenous North End. Activists are arguing -- and Education Minister James Allum agrees that "those concerns are genuine" -- that in the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission revelations about residential schools, "the Catholic Church has caused us enough damage. It is time for this to stop.")

B.C., New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. have never had a separate school system and they function just fine. But it turned out to be just as easy for Quebec and Newfoundland to get constitutional amendments to end their own separate school systems in the late '90s. Quebec simply switched from Catholic and Protestant school systems to French and English ones while Newfoundland created a single system following a provincial referendum.

"Residents of Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan shouldn't be forced to pay for a Catholic school system that doesn't ground education in the fundamental separation of church and state."

The status quo can be changed, and based on the behaviour of the Catholic School boards and trustees, enough is enough. A push for a single public school system came up in 2012 in Ontario, when they fought Bill-13 (the Accepting Schools Act) because of its legal guarantee for students to start gay-straight alliance clubs in Catholic schools.

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"It mocks religious freedom and disrespects parental rights," wrote the Catholic Register at the time. "It undermines the authority of elected trustees and school principals by giving veto power to children and teens with respect to some after-school clubs. It awards special status to certain types of bullying rather than uniformly attacking bullying in all its forms."

And then it reared its head again during last year's uproar over the new sex-ed curriculum. Though the Toronto Catholic District School Board ultimately rejected a call to delay implementation, they were asked to do so by now-chair Angela "mental health strategy" Kennedy.

Described by the Toronto Star as an "outspoken" sex-ed critic, she released a statement at the time that "substantial parts of the curriculum contradict Catholic teachings" and "Catholic schools shouldn't be forced to teach a program that doesn't ground the expression of sexuality in love and marriage."

By the same token, residents of Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan shouldn't be forced to pay for a Catholic school system that doesn't ground education in the fundamental separation of church and state.

A Forum research poll from last summer found that 51 per cent of respondents want to move to a one-school system: "We have tracked this issue for several years, and opposition to funding is always at about one half, while support is nearer one third. If it were ever put to a public referendum, Catholic school funding would lose, fair and square."

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And how much funding are we talking? In Ontario, for example, it's about $7 billion while in Calgary the Catholic school board gets $470 million to the public school board's $1.1 billion.

This brings us to the money argument. The Toronto Star reported in 2012 that merging Catholic and public systems would save almost $1 billion via "cuts to administration, fewer empty classrooms, savings on busing and what it called 'economies of scale.'"

Currently both the public and Catholic school boards in Toronto are running $16-million deficits, as well as servicing debts, which means we are not making the best fiscal decisions to ensure our children can the education they deserve.

Now, anyone can attend any private, faith-based school they wish, or home-school for that matter, because it's a free country. However, they should pay for it, not have it subsidized by the public. If they choose to take advantage of a school system funded by people of all -- and no -- faiths, then they must accept an equality-rooted and evidence-based education.

It's time to defund and merge the remaining separate Catholic school systems in Canada because it's inequitable, discriminatory and, to update our prime minister's famed catchphrase, because it's 2016.

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Former Zanu-PF Harare provincial youth chairman Jim Kunaka will have some of his household property auctioned today over an undisclosed debt owed to one Prince Jack.The property to be auctioned by Revelations Auctioneers includes a double-door upright fridge, four-piece sofas, flat screen television, glass table with six chairs, seven dining room chairs and a DVD player.Contacted for comment yesterday, the former Zanu-PF Chipangano militia group leader professed ignorance over who had attached his property and the reason behind that.He alleged this was Zanu-PF's way of getting back at him."It is not new to me. I am fed up of talking about Zanu-PF. Whatever happens, I do not care. It does not change my life," Kunaka said. "I do not really know the reason as I did not even bother to check. I am a hard worker and I can buy even better stuff. In fact, I have already bought new stuff. I am not cheap."Kunaka said he just knew it was coming from his enemies and was praying for them to live longer so they could see him prosper."I do not really know these people. When these things happen and it is coming from your enemy, give him a chance, then pray for him so that he lives longer to see you prosper," he said.Kunaka was notorious for being the face of the Zanu-PF terror group, Chipangano, which turned Mbare and other parts of Harare upside down at its peak.He was fired from Zanu-PF together with the likes of ousted former Vice-President Joice Mujuru, who were accused of trying to topple President Robert Mugabe ahead of the ruling party's December 2014 elective congress.In October last year, Kunaka admitted that he was the face of Zanu-PF violence and used to terrorise opposition supporters and residents of Mbare."I was the political violence master when I was in Zanu-PF, but what I want people to know today is that when you join a cult, you behave like the people in that cult," he told South Africa's ANN7TV channel last October.
Heidi Orcino Photography via Getty Images Surgeon

Ontario's College of Physicians and Surgeons receives numerous deeply concerning reports of doctors sexually abusing their patients each year despite the adoption of a "zero tolerance" approach to such abuse 20 years ago.

This persistent problem has eroded public trust in doctor self-regulation. But now both the college and the province are poised to make long-overdue improvements in this area. The college recently proposed several reforms, while the government has appointed a task force to examine patient abuse.

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It's a good start, but more needs to be done.

Under the current approach, doctors often continue treating patients (subject to restrictions) while the disciplinary process drags out over several years. For example, Dr. Tariq Iqbal, who was the subject of four different complaints of inappropriate pelvic and rectal exams in 2011, did not receive practice restrictions until 2014 or his final penalty (which he is appealing) until October 2015.

These delays may put additional patients at risk, particularly if the college does not adequately monitor compliance with restrictions. For example, pediatrician Dr. Eleazar Noreiga's license was restricted after he sexually abused a patient in 2003. He was then subject to additional discipline in 2013 for flagrantly breaching restrictions that he only treat female patients with a chaperone and that he post a notice to patients.

Even after other abused patients came forward, the College Discipline Committee commented that their penalty was not a "professional death sentence," citing Dr. Noreiga's ability to apply for reinstatement of his license.

An important concern with the current regime is that the "zero tolerance" approach only applies to the most egregious conduct. When the behaviour falls short of the requirements for mandatory revocation of license, the college has the discretion to order various penalties, including reprimand, restrictions, temporary suspension, or revocation of license.

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The college is often criticized for its lax approach to penalties in these discretionary cases. For example, only eight months after putting his mouth on a female patient's breast, family doctor Dr. Sastri Maharajh was permitted to resume treating male patients.

"Regulatory changes must come from the government, including expanding the zero tolerance approach and empowering the college to revoke a license without waiting for a penalty hearing."

The college recently proposed the mandatory revocation of a medical license for any "sexual contact" with a patient and the discretion to order immediate revocation after a finding of misconduct, without waiting months for a penalty hearing. This has been a long time coming, but even if the government amended legislation to adopt these important changes, several gaps would remain.

First, there would be concerns with the adequacy of penalties for conduct falling short of "sexual contact." Second, doctors subject to practice restrictions may continue to put patients at risk if the college does not properly monitor these restrictions.

It is also unclear whether doctors who have displayed the poor judgement necessary to engage in sexual contact with patients have the requisite judgement to carry on professional relationships with any patients, regardless of gender.

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Another concern with the current model relates to the patient's role in the disciplinary process. The college has proposed allowing victim impact statements and enhanced privacy of witness' medical records during the disciplinary process. Again, a good start. However, these piecemeal changes fall short of meaningfully empowering patients.

During the disciplinary process, doctors are backed by their formidable defence organization, the Canadian Medical Protective Association, which is notorious for zealously defending its members. Taxpayers controversially bear the bulk of the nearly $200 million per year in defence costs employed to defend doctors against malpractice, professional discipline and even criminal charges.

Conversely, patients receive no publicly funded representation during the disciplinary process and are treated as witnesses rather than parties to these hearings.

Although the college's proposals represent important progress, there is more to be done. Regulatory changes must come from the government, including expanding the zero tolerance approach and empowering the college to revoke a license without waiting for a penalty hearing. By enshrining these changes in the Regulated Health Professions Act, patients would be protected not only from abuse by physicians, but myriad other regulated health professions in Ontario.

Provinces must also push for greater accountability of the Canadian Medical Protective Association, given the share of physician defence costs borne by taxpayers.

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More broadly, regulatory bodies and the medical profession as a whole must train young doctors to respect appropriate boundaries with patients and create an environment where doctors can speak out about the inappropriate conduct of colleagues.

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Lisa Stokes via Getty Images Toronto skyline from Bathurst Street bridge looking east CN Tower, financial district and new condominium construction.

Nobody envies Toronto Mayor John Tory's latest challenge: making Toronto's $23 billion capital budget shortfall disappear. Any moderately informed observer understands that this will inevitably involve increased taxpayer pain. Among proposed measures Tory has suggested, is a new tax to fund transit and housing projects. Topping out at 2.5 per cent after five years, the property tax is intended to pump millions into a dedicated City Building Fund for infrastructure projects.

But there are ways of funding badly needed projects that are already at hand and don't involve squeezing the long-suffering taxpayer harder. Although it would take some political will, Toronto could realize millions in savings that would go a long way in addressing its budget shortfall.

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Here's how. Change the way construction projects are tendered. Currently Toronto is required to tender infrastructure projects only to companies with ties to select unions. This means many well-respected companies aren't allowed to compete on construction work -- even if they're more experienced and can do the job at a lower price. This lack of competition is costly to Toronto taxpayers. According to research by the Cardus think tank, Toronto is paying anywhere from 20 to 30 per cent more than it should for construction projects. Apply that to the billions of dollars in work the city performs, and it translates into major savings to carry out needed repairs at Toronto Community Housing, or to go towards other projects that are tens of billions of dollars short.

A study published in the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management by Cornell professor Paul G. Carr concludes that competition is good for taxpayers. Carr notes that there is no credible evidence suggesting that less competition has any benefit whatsoever -- not lower prices and not better quality, especially when contractors must adhere to strict standards and regulations. Carr is crystal clear.

"On taxpayer funded construction projects, government officials should be doing all they can to find savings and increase competition. It is in the public interest."

Isn't it in the public's best interest for a city that prides itself on being open and competitive for business, to walk the walk? There's no good reason why millions in taxpayer dollars should be squandered each year, not just in Toronto but also in other major construction markets, including Hamilton and Waterloo, where select construction unions are allowed to shut out competition (both union and non-union) and monopolize projects at taxpayers' expense. The Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Large Urban Mayors' Caucus have urged the Ontario government to fix out-dated labour laws that stymie construction competition and drive up costs. Toronto could protect its taxpayers, by joining them.

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As Toronto councillors go through another painful round of number crunching, and the city and province make their case for a generous federal infrastructure handout, let's be sure that we're getting maximum value for taxpayers by making those precious infrastructure dollars go further.

Paul de Jong is President of the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA)

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Jean-Pierre Lescourret via Getty Images Buildings in False Creek in Vancouver.

News this week that the Vancouver housing market enjoyed a record year in 2015 may be cause for celebration for those who already own a home. But for those hoping to buy one, it's quite another matter.

Vancouver real estate is many things: the most expensive market in Canada, a top destination for foreign investors, the "hedge fund to the world," and a "vicious cycle" for locals.

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These are the words of Carsten Love. The Burnaby native and realtor with Coldwell Banker Love Realty has a unique perspective -- and some pretty strong views -- about the city he loves.

Stopping short of describing himself as a "realtor to the stars," Love counts a number of professional athletes and entertainers as his clients. Among them is lifelong friend Michael Buble, who discussed his own real estate interests in a recent issue of Vancouver magazine.

I spoke to Love to get his insights on the hot Vancouver market, and what the future holds. Some of his answers might surprise you.

Q: How has the market changed in your 13 years as a realtor?

A: When I started in 2003, I was 28 years old and worked with mostly young people who were buying condos. The market would predictably go up, and in three to five years, they were able to sell, having built equity, and upgrade to a townhome or detached house. Today, the stakes are much higher, and the opportunity to grow wealth through real estate is out of reach for most young people.

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Q: Where are some of the best opportunities today?

A: All areas have great opportunities, if you can afford to be a part of the action. Condos didn't really recover from the 2008 collapse until fairly recently, so buying condos can see good returns today. Vancouver and close outlying areas have seen massive price increases over the last few years, which is pushing people east in search of affordable property.

As for housing types, larger townhomes (generally in older developments) are seeing an above-average price increase, as the gap between attached and detached house prices grows. Townhomes will end up being most families' end-game, with respect to buying property and raising their family.

Q: What are some of the risks? Is the huge price growth pricing Vancouverites out of the market?

A: Greater Vancouver is a special place in terms of property ownership. We are landlocked, with the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Northshore Mountains to the north, the U.S. border in the south and the Agricultural Land Reserve in the east. We also have an extremely agreeable climate, world-class amenities, restaurants, shopping, and endless beautiful landscapes.

People come here from all over the world, and feel safe and at home. This has created a firestorm with respect to owning property, not only from our neighbours to the south, but also China, South Korea, Iran, India and other parts of the world. This has driven up prices far beyond what average Vancouverites can afford. This is changing the landscape, not only in newly built housing, but also with who is living in these houses, and the make-up of the neighbourhoods. This force can't be dampened, despite lots of talk on strategies to slow the housing market.

Vancouver has become a hedge fund for the world, a great place to park millions of dollars. Then there are others who buy here because there is no place quite like it in the world. It all adds up to pricing that is in line with the most sought-after mega-cities in the world. There is one difference -- those cities have many high-paying jobs which give traditional, born citizens a chance to buy and live in the city or outlying areas. With Vancouver, this isn't the case, and it leaves the younger population looking at either buying small condos or moving east to other parts of Canada or the U.S.

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Q: What's the prognosis for first-time buyers in this market? It can't be great...

A: It isn't good, and has caused many people to be forced into the rental market. This has increased the demand on rentals, which pushes up rents, which causes further anguish and depletion of their savings which they need in order to buy one day. It's a vicious cycle.

Q: CMHC recently said there's only weak evidence of overvaluation in the Vancouver market. How long can the strong price growth continue? Is it sustainable?

A: It is sustainable as long as the foreign money continues to cascade into the market. To the average buyer in Vancouver, it seems unbelievable what people are paying for all levels of real estate, but when you look at it from an international level, this city is very attractive.

Q: There's been a lot of discussion about the influence of foreign investors in Canada, particularly Vancouver. What's your take on this?

A: I work with foreign investors... Look, its not just Vancouver or Toronto, or Canada for that matter. It's happening all over the world. Land is the new gold rush; there isn't enough supply to satisfy demand, and this pushes prices up. It's simple economics.

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Q: Is their influence in this market a problem?

A: Yes, to future generations who will most likely never know the feeling of buying their own real estate and watching it increase in value. Only the rich will be able to buy and sell real estate, as local salaries do not match up with housing prices. It has already begun, and I don't see it changing.

Q: What might be the solution?

A: Foreign buyers should have to pay an extra levy/tax, and this money could go to building low-income housing to compensate for the erosion of affordable housing.
Gunter Ziesler via Getty Images

Written by Brandon LaForest, Senior Specialist, Arctic Species & Ecosystems

The government of Manitoba released today its first provincial plan to protect the beluga habitat in Western Hudson Bay. This population's status is currently listed as being of special concern and today we issued this statement of support.

Belugas are a priority species for WWF-Canada. WWF works to identify critical beluga habitat in the Arctic and for endangered St. Lawrence River populations to ensure they are well protected. We've also completed oil-spill trajectory modeling that maps out multiple oil spills in the Arctic's Beaufort Sea and how spills from ships and oil and gas exploration would interact with wildlife, including belugas.

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WWF has identified many threats facing belugas, including pollutants and climate change. These are the top four recommendations from the Manitoba report regarding what Canada can do to protect what Raffi calls the 'little white whale on the go."

Find out what beluga's want

Canada's Western Hudson Bay is home to the largest summering concentration of belugas in the world; 57,000 individuals making up nearly 50 per cent of the Canadian beluga population. We don't yet know why belugas return here each year, although the shallow, warmer and productive waters are likely the main attraction. To understand which areas need protecting the most, Canada needs to conduct more research on beluga behavior.

Curb pollution sources

As industrialization increases in Western Hudson Bay, the threats to belugas from contamination and spills are increasing. But we don't know how bad the problem is. More research is needed to understand pollution levels and sources in the region, and regulations and policies are needed to ensure pollutants and waste are properly managed.

Protect the most sensitive areas

Currently, there are no protections in place for the summer grounds for these belugas. We know that the marine regions around the Churchill, Nelson and Seal rivers are regular gathering places for belugas with their young calves. These regions should be prioritized for inclusion in Parks Canada's National Marine Conservation Area program to create a vital corridor of habitat for the summering belugas.

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Create safe migration zones

With increasing industrialization in Hudson Bay comes increased shipping. Governments, researchers and companies must work together to develop a marine traffic plan to ensure large ships stay away from beluga migration routes.

While threats for the species are imminent, Manitoba's plan, alongside the Canadian government's recent commitment to protect 10 per cent of Canadian marine areas by 2020, leave us optimistic.

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Disturbing images of a dead fox killed during the annual Fitzwilliam New Year's Day Hunt have been shared on Facebook.

Cambridgeshire Police are investigating the death of the fox to establish whether the killing was lawful or not after the animal was killed when the hunt reached Elton at 2pm on Friday.

South Cambs Hunt Saboteurs posted the images of the dead fox on its Facebook page on Wednesday.

The group said that the fox died after being attacked by a pack of hounds.

We can now release our pictures of the immediate aftermath of the new years day incident. Here, the fox has just been... Posted by South Cambs Hunt Saboteurs on Wednesday, January 6, 2016

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The post continues: The redcoat was on the scene, and made no attempt to call off the hounds, although he could see what was happening. The man sitting on the foxs body is with the hunt. The man in the background with the bin bag in his hand is also a hunt supporter.

He took the body away in this bag after this photo was taken, despite protest from the saboteurs.

The hunt saboteurs added: We apologise for the distressing images, but we feel it's important to share this to show the reality of constant illegal hunting in the UK. We need to fight not only to keep, but to strengthen the ban.

The Huffington Post UK has contacted the Fitzwilliam Hunt for comment regarding the images.

Sergeant Dave Walker from Cambridgeshire Police 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.

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We are taking this matter seriously and will conduct a thorough investigation to establish whether a crime has been committed.

Images the dead fox posted on Facebook by South Cambs Hunt Saboteurs

Under the 2004 Hunting Act, hunting foxes with dogs is illegal and those found guilty can be fined and jailed.

Mark Randell, Director of Operations at the League Against Cruel Sports, said: We are pleased that the Cambridgeshire Police have launched an investigation into the killing of a fox during the Fitzwilliam Hunt.

There are regular reports of hunts killing foxes, but rarely is there enough evidence for them to be prosecuted.

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But around Christmas and New Year more people tend to be out and about in the countryside and so more incidents are witnessed by members of the public.
Barack Obama attacked the imaginary fiction that he wants to confiscate firearms during a town hall meeting on gun control on Thursday, bemoaning the National Rifle Association's consistent mischaracterisation of his position on the issue. "The way it is described, is that we are trying to take away everybody's guns," he said.

Speaking at George Mason University in Virginia, an event broadcast live by CNN, the president attempted to assure detractors that his executive order unveiled earlier this week was not an attack on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.

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The NRA was invited to the event but declined to take part.

And by the way, there's a reason why the NRA is not here, Obama said. They're just down the street. This is the reason they exist. You'd think they'd be willing to have a debate with the president."

.@POTUS doesnt want an intellectually honest policy discussion. He wanted #NRA to be an audience member at his PR stunt. No thanks  NRA (@NRA) January 8, 2016

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandamb told CNN that the organisation saw "no reason to participate in a public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House. The broadcaster, not the White House, organised the event.

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Obama speaks at a town hall meeting hosted by Anderson Cooper at George Mason University in Virginia, Thursday, January 7, 2016

During the hour-long meeting, the president chastised the lobby groups over the top, and so overheated rhetoric, adding that he would be happy to meet with them... but he conversation has to be based on facts and truth, not some imaginary fiction in which Obama's trying to take away your guns.

Offering a long defence of the tightening of existing gun laws, Obama dismissed the conspiracy theorists that believe proposals to improve gun control is a prelude tyranny. This notion of a conspiracy out there it gets wrapped up in concerns about the federal government, theres a long history of that, Obama said. Thats in our DNA. The United States was born suspicious of some distant authority.

Is it fair to call it a conspiracy, questioned host Anderson Cooper.

Yes, it is fair to call it a conspiracy, the president shot back. What are you saying? Are you suggesting... we are creating a plot to take everyones guns away so we can impose martial law? Yes, that is a conspiracy.

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Obama said peddling that message is really is profitable for the gun manufacturers and a great advertising mechanism, but it's not necessary.

Taking questions from a partisan audience that included Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu and Taya Kyle, the widow of sniper Chris Kyle, Obama said much of the polorisation on gun ownership came down to differences between rural and inner city communities. "Part of the reason, I think, that this ends up being such a difficult issue is because people occupy different realities," the president said, admitting that he had never owned a gun.

.@POTUS can talk about background checks all he wants, but thats nothing more than a distraction from the fact that he can't keep us safe  NRA (@NRA) January 8, 2016

Following the meeting, the New York Times published an opinion column written by Obama outlining how he will not support any presidential candidate who refuses to back gun reform. Read the article here.

Obama See gallery
An Austrian student's attempt to convince the world that she witnessed a UFO on New Year's Eve appears to backfired.

Marie Mela posted a video of her celebrations being interrupted by a flash of lightning hitting a white ball.

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WTF?! UFO uber Niederosterreich oder Wetterphanomen?!?Was ist das?! Hat das gestern sonst noch wer gesehen???#blitz #silvester #ufo #mostviertel #rakete #party #aliens Posted by Marie Mela on Friday, January 1, 2016

The seemingly intriguing aspect of the footage is the weather conditions reported in that local area.

Meteorologist, Roland Reiter, told local news website, Kurier: "We have also seen the video, so once again checked the weather conditions at the time. There was no lightning discharge in the area."

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The video gained a lot of attention on the social media platform, with 78,155 views and 447 shares at the time of writing.

Oddly enough, her post only had one comment, from Mela herself, who wrote: "there's no solid declaration."

It is also worth noting that Mela is reportedly a media student at the University of Vienna and skeptics have suggested the footage is either an elaborate hoax or a grand project to show the world how quickly falsities can spread online.
David Cameron is facing mounting pressure to get the RAF involved in securing aid to starving inhabitants of the Syrian town of Madaya.

Amid shocking new footage of emaciated children and the elderly in the rebel-held town of 40,000 people, the Prime Minister said that the stories were heart-wrenching and underlined the importance of new peace talks due in London next month to get a ceasefire in the Syrian civil war.

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But Mr Cameron was urged by Labours Hilary Benn and backbench MP Jo Cox, as well as former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown, to act with more urgency and be far bolder to help those who have been trapped in the siege by the Assad regime and its Hezbollah allies since July.

Residents of the town have been forced to eat leaves, grass, cats and dogs in order to survive, and 31 cases of death by starvation were officially recorded last month.

Following outcry across the world, Damascus finally agreed overnight to allow the United Nations to break the siege with medical and food aid and trucks are due to arrive by Monday January 11.

Yet despite TV footage appearing yesterday, Downing Street appeared caught cold by questions as to the UK governments response today, referring only to the need to work through the UN.

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PM: Stories out of Madaya are heart-wrenching & underline why next month's Syria summit in London is vital for those in desperate situations  UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) January 8, 2016

Mr Cameron tweeted his thoughts, but critics urged much more action.

Ms Cox told BBC Radio 4s World at One programme that it was time to even consider RAF food drops to the town.

On #wato today, @Jo_Cox1 tells us we have a moral obligation to help families at risk of starvation in Madaya #Syria https://t.co/mwWytCYNm4  The World at One (@BBCWorldatOne) January 8, 2016

In a letter to the Prime Minister, she and Lord Ashdown said that the UN estimates that 400,000 people remain besieged across the country.

We find it astonishing that so little has been done by the international community to break these sieges when life-saving medical and food aid are often only minutes away.

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Ms Cox and Lord Ashdown added that if the UN continued to be denied access , the UK should strongly consider airdropping aid to those communities at risk of starvation.

In some of these areas, the RAF is already flying anti-ISIS missions, and if necessary this is something we should press our European partners to support.

Like the airdrops by the US in 2014 to the Yazidis in Iraq, and the leadership shown by the last Conservative Government to save lives with similar action in Northern Iraq, there are immediate steps we can take to stop more vulnerable people dying needlessly of hunger. We cannot sit by and watch this happen.

They added that while Damascus agreement to allow the UN into Madaya was welcome, the move may prove to be yet another empty gesture, and does not change the pattern of besiegement across Syria.

The UK played a critical role in negotiating several Security Council resolutions authorising UN agencies to deliver aid across conflict lines and break these sieges.

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To date, however, far too little has been done to challenge the Assad regimes unacceptable veto over aid distribution to these areas.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn called for more urgent diplomacy

Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn said: "It is vital that humanitarian aid is urgently delivered to the long-suffering people of Madaya and the other besieged towns.

 The residents there are among hundreds of thousands who are short of food in Syria. What they need more than anything else is an end to hostilities and a ceasefire as quickly as possible.

"The difficulties of establishing aid corridors to Madaya and elsewhere through territory controlled by several different armed combatant groups is a reminder that this terrible conflict needs to be brought to an end through negotiation and diplomacy.

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I urge the government to strain every sinew to ensure significant progress is made when the peace talks resume on 25 January.

A Department for International Development (DfID) spokesman told HuffPost UK that the Government had been "at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria since day one", and "remained seriously concerned about the acute humanitarian situation in Madaya and all other besieged areas".

It is essential that the Syrian government delivers on its commitment to allow aid to Madaya, and we are closely monitoring the convoy which was approved yesterday.

But DfID said there were no plans for the RAF to deliver humanitarian assistance by air, believing the idea to be high risk and only considered as a last resort when all other means have failed.
A five-year-old boy, who was rushed to the doctor's surgery after his younger brother accidentally dropped a toy on his eye, has been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

William Richardson was playing with his brother when the accident happened. At the time, he was left with an incredibly sore and swollen eye.

The youngster, who is from Northumberland, was sent for tests which revealed that he had childhood rhabdomyosarcoma - a disease in which malignant cells form in muscle tissue.

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He has since undergone proton beam therapy in the US and is now waiting to see if the treatment worked or not.

William Richardson after being hit in the eye

According to William's parents, the accident happened when he was lying down under the table and had popped his head out to scare his younger brother Alex, who is now 18 months old.

Alex accidentally dropped a toy onto William's face and it wasn't long before his eye had ballooned.

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He was referred to the eye clinic at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, who tested him for blood clots.

To his parent's horror, scans revealed William had rhabdomyosarcoma - a cancer that starts in muscles. The key sign of which is a lump or swelling that keeps getting bigger.

William's mum Marie, 37, said the awful news left her in a state of shock.

"The first thing you think is 'is he going to make it?' then your head is just full of hundreds of questions, even though you know the doctors won't be able to answer half of them," she said, according to the Mail Online.

William Richardson following chemotherapy treatment

After the diagnosis, William was sent for an MRI and biopsy. One week later, after doctors shared their concern that William's eyeball could be pushed out of the socket by the tumour, the five-year-old had begun chemotherapy treatment.

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Following chemotherapy, doctors recommended for William to have proton beam therapy - a treatment which is not yet available in the UK.

Proton beam therapy is a type of radiotherapy which uses beams of protons (sub-atomic particles) to destroy cancerous cells.

With other types of radiation treatment, surrounding tissue can also be damaged leading to side effects such as nausea and occasionally disrupted organ function.

With proton beam therapy, the beam of protons stops once it "hits" the cancerous cells resulting in much less damage to surrounding tissue, states the NHS website.

Shortly after being given the option of proton beam therapy, the family was on a plane to a specialist clinic in Oklahoma City where William spent nine weeks receiving treatment.

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The Richardson family is now back in the UK, waiting patiently to see if the treatment has worked. If it hasn't, William will need to have more chemotherapy.

His mum Marie said: "What happened to William has been a life changing thing for the whole family. It's been a dramatic change for us all.

"However, we are so grateful for the help and support we have received from family, including William's grandparents, friends and the NHS."

For showing courage throughout his cancer battle, William has been awarded the North East Braveheart award.

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Breakdown of the new guidelines

On regular drinking:

:: You are safest not to drink regularly more than 14 units per week, to keep health risks from drinking alcohol to a low level.

:: If you do drink as much as 14 units per week, it is best to spread this evenly over three days or more. If you have one or two heavy drinking sessions, you increase your risks of death from long-term illnesses and from accidents and injuries.

:: The risk of developing a range of illnesses (including, for example, cancers of the mouth, throat and breast) increases with any amount you drink on a regular basis.

:: If you wish to cut down the amount you're drinking, a good way to help achieve this is to have several drink-free days each week.

Men and women can reduce risks by:

:: Limiting the total amount of alcohol you drink on any occasion.

:: Drinking more slowly, drinking with food, and alternating with water.

:: Avoiding risky places and activities, making sure you have people you know around, and ensuring you can get home safely.

The sorts of things that are more likely to happen if you do not judge the risks from how you drink correctly can include: accidents resulting in injury (causing death in some cases), misjudging risky situations, and losing self-control.

As well as the risk of accident and injury, drinking alcohol regularly is linked to long-term risks such as heart disease, cancer, liver disease, and epilepsy.

On drinking in pregnancy:

:: If you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all, to keep risks to your baby to a minimum.

:: Drinking in pregnancy can lead to long-term harm to the baby, with the more you drink the greater the risk.

:: The risk of harm to the baby is likely to be low if a woman has drunk only small amounts of alcohol before she knew she was pregnant or during pregnancy.

Women who find out they are pregnant after already having drunk during early pregnancy, should avoid further drinking, but should be aware that it is unlikely in most cases that their baby has been affected.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

The Former Radio Two presenter Eric Knight has commended Acting President Phelekezela Mphoko for declaring the coming Saturday and Sunday as the days for prayer for the nation at the time when the country faces double crisis of crumbling economy and drought"The Acting president of Zimbabwe, Mr Phelekezela Mphoko, has declared the coming Sabbath day and Sunday to be national days of prayer for the nation. This is indeed a commendable move as far as I am concerned," Knight said."We have to know where to put the demarcation line between a Party and the nation. Participating in these prayers does not make you Zanu PF. I personally urge every Zimbabwean who can to attend and partake."He said the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Whether genuine or not once government leaders recognise God is central to the country's problems it is definitely a positive maneuver."Please do not let political differences compromise your faith in the Lord. He invited pastors from different churches and asked them to lead their churches in the program," he said."Among things to pray for is the rain and that God may heal Zimbabwe. God is not Zanu, MDC or any Party. He is universal. God bless Zimbabwe! God bless Africa!"
BIRMINGHAM, UK: Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, befriended Omar Khadr during his early incarceration at the U.S. base in Bagram. (Michelle Shephard/Toronto Star via Getty Images) Michelle Shephard via Getty Images

The National Union of Students (NUS) has tried to rubbish a Daily Mail story that claims Jihadi John sympathisers are speaking at universities, but has come in for heavy criticism for its relationship with the group.

The Mail ran a front-page investigation revealing CAGE, the group that called Islamic State executioner Jihadi John a "beautiful young man", was involved in 13 student events last term.

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NUS president Megan Dunn promptly released a statement slamming the article as a "hatchet job" and an "attack" on unions' work to keep students safe. However Dunn did not address the Mail's claims about CAGE speakers appearing on university campuses.

But an academic condemned the NUS' position on CAGE, saying "no one in their right mind would let them shape the debate".

In an email circulated to all NUS student members, and seen by The Huffington Post UK, Dunn added: "Today the Daily Mail is doing what the Daily Mail does best  the governments bidding. But students unions are doing what is right to keep students safe."

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The NUS has been vocal in its opposition to the government's counter-terror strategy Prevent, saying it is "counterproductive in preventing violent extremism".

It has also been forced to deny having a relationship with CAGE, after inviting the group's director Moazzam Begg to speak at several NUS events last year.

The president told students in the email said the Mail "has misrepresented NUS several times and suggested that we are working with organisations like CAGE".

Dunn added: "I do want to say that I am intensely frustrated that students unions legitimate concerns on Prevent and representing students is being overshadowed by discussions about NUS relationship with CAGE, an organisation that we do not have any relationship with."

Speaking to LBC radio, a spokesperson for CAGE slammed the Mail's front page.

Following the publication of CAGE's comments about Jihadi John, the group released a statement saying it had made mistakes handling the affair - but reiterated calls for an inquiry into why the terrorist felt alienated in the UK.

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A leader column in the Mail said its investigation raised "deeply disturbing questions about national security and the radicalisation of the young". According to the paper, "terrorist sympathisers are.. indoctrinating Muslim students".

Speaking to HuffPost UK, Stefano Bonino, a criminology lecturer at Northumbria University's social sciences department, said the NUS had ruined its reputation "much before the sensationalist story run by the Daily Mail".

"Unfortunately, Megan Dunns words are contradicted by the facts. And the facts show that only three months ago, about 100 student leaders protested her decision to cut ties with CAGE

"There are several moderate organisations and individuals out there that are equally concerned about the well-being of British Muslims, so my question is: why would NUS invite CAGE if not to make a clear political statement and stoke up anti-Western sentiments?

"NUS should know that if they play with fire they will burn their hands. If they wish to do politics, they must accept the rules of politics. They are not above criticism, especially when they make the wrong decisions."

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The academic added: "The credentials of CAGE staff members and volunteers are not particularly strong : no one in their right mind would let them shape the debate.

"We do not need to throw a symposium in Oxford to realise that these people live on another planet compared to 99% of British society.

"You would not give Al Capone and his gang a platform to discuss how to fix the banking system. There are better partners than CAGE and it is high time that NUS went out to find them."

The NUS did not address the Mail's claims student unions were hosting CAGE speakers, merely saying: "If your students union is directly mentioned in the article from the Daily Mail, NUS will already have been in touch with you."
Alex Reid has accused his ex-wife Katie Price of inciting hate towards the transgender community, over comments she made on Loose Women earlier this week.

Katie appeared on the panel show on Tuesday afternoon, and raised eyebrows during a discussion about Eddie Redmaynes latest film, The Danish Girl.

When asked whether she feels she could stand by a partner if he came out as transgender, Katie remarked shed been in a similar situation in the past, referencing her marriage to Alex, who has been known to dress as a female alter-ego, Roxanne.

Katie on 'Loose Women'

She added: If he does end up being a transgender then it wouldn't surprise me. It's hard for me to say why on daytime TV.

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Story continues after the video:

Alex has now issued a response to Katie, suggesting she was being irresponsible by making such comments.

Alex Reid

She says she doesn't want to talk about me, or give me airtime but she continues to talk about me - it's disgusting.

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"Furthermore, her ridiculing me is inciting prejudice and hate against trans people."

Insisting he has no intention of transitioning, Alex added to BANG Showbiz: The sniggering and coquettish giggling actually upset me more for those facing ridicule every day, perhaps going through transition, as it somehow became a joke, something to be laughed at and made fun of.

Katie Price and Alex Reid, while they were still an item

This isnt the first time that Alex has criticised Katie, for discussing his private life in the press.

In a recent blog on HuffPost UK, he said that Katie had made him a comedic figure by speaking so candidly about Alexs private life, suggesting the media tried to portray him as little more than The Cross Dressing Cage Fighter.

He also voiced his support for the trans community last year, recreating Caitlyn Jenners Vanity Fair cover for a magazine photo-shoot.

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Dr Richard North, left, and Leave.EU's Arron Banks

Pro-Brexit group Leave.EU has today hired an adviser who has previously described the organisation as "mad", "useless" and producing "crap".

Dr Richard North, who has written numerous books critical of the EU, also accused Ukip leader Nigel Farage of talking total, unmitigated bollocks and making a total prat of himself after the Oldham West and Royton by-election.

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Mr Farage is one of the key cheerleaders for the Leave.EU campaign.

In October, the Twitter feed linked to Dr Norths website, eureferendum.com, claimed Leave.EU was run by a chimpanzee on drugs.

Leave.eu today claimed Dr North was one of the countrys foremost Eurosceptic thinkers as they unveiled him as an adviser on their policy team.

Andy Wigmore, the groups Head of Communications, described Dr North as being hugely important in developing a Brexit strategy, but in November Dr North publicly accused Mr Wigmore of making basic errors with the campaign.

Dr North has also taken aim at Arron Banks, one of the co-founders of Leave.EU, accusing him of wasting his money on the campaign, making too many unforced mistakes poisoning the wellday on day.

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Mr Banks described the exchanges with Dr North, which took place on Twitter - as very colourful discussions, before praising him as one of the Eurosceptic movements finest minds who can help present a clear, credible plan that will win peoples trust and expose the idle threats which make up the remain campaigns Project Fear for what they are.

Since @vote_leave is to conceding winnable battles and @LeaveEUOfficial is run by a chimpanzee on drugs, it looks like you're stuck with us.  EU Referendum (@eureferendum) October 29, 2015

@LeaveEUOfficial@andywigmore Are you people mad, spouting this Vote Leave BS? What are you doing for brains?  RichardAENorth (@RichardAENorth) December 29, 2015

@andywigmore@YouTube "people turning up at polling stations with bundles of postal votes" ... total, unmitigated bollocks.  RichardAENorth (@RichardAENorth) December 5, 2015

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@andywigmore@YouTube The question is, when your Farage, what does it take before you admit you've made a total prat of yourself?  RichardAENorth (@RichardAENorth) December 5, 2015

In a statement on his website Dr North appeared to allude to the bickering as he wrote: "Following a meeting with Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore in Bristol last Tuesday, I have agreed to work with Leave.eu as a consultant for the duration of the EU Referendum campaign  unless, of course, we fall out and slaughter each other."

Dr North claimed Leave.EU has adopted his 'Flexcit' proposal as their formal exit plan.

This plan envisions the UK still having access to the single market, and therefore maintaining the freedom of movement rules which Ukip currently opposes.

Britain Stronger in Europe, the campaign urging for a 'remain' vote in the referendum, claimed 'Flexcit' would leave the UK paying money to Brussels without having any say over how it is spent.

Will Straw, Executive Director of Stronger In, said: "This would give the UK all of the costs but fundamentally undermine the benefits of EU membership, removing Britain's voice at the European top table. Britain would be forced into a position where it still has to pay, but has no say.

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Leave.EU have also openly attacked and abandoned UKIPs central immigration policy, showing the utter chaos of the Leave campaigns. This is an extraordinary rejection of Nigel Farages most defining policy position."

Mr Wigmore claimed Stronger In were making a "gross misrepresentation of Flexcit" and added: Far from having to pay with no say, countries like Norway and Iceland participate in hundreds of EU committees, helping to shape the Single Market regulations which they apply, retaining a veto where they find them particularly objectionable.

Moreover, they have full control over their agricultural policies, external trade and fishing waters, unlike EU members.
'Lip Sync Battle' has proved a phenomenon States-side, and tonight it comes to the UK, with Mel B and Professor Green hosting the brand new show on Channel 5.

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It's not a complicated idea. Basically, two celebrities take to the floor, to mime the lyrics of one of their favourite songs. Each performs two songs, one as themselves, one impersonating another artist. The better at doing this, wins.

Daniel Radcliffe and Stephen Merchant are just two of the surprisingly talented performers at this particular game, both of them leaving chat show host Jimmy Fallon standing when they debuted this party trick on his show.

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Kicking off tonight in the UK, David Walliams channels his inner Adele for a rendition of her 'Hello'...

While Alesha Dixon gets suitably sassy for Skepta's 'Shut Down'

Mel B told BBC Newsbeat of about the British version: "With it being a UK show [we're going to get] UK celebrities to come on but they're going to be the same quality of people as the American show."

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REX Features

A pregnant MP was reportedly told off for playing the "pregnancy card" as an excuse to break parliamentary conventions.

According to the Evening Standard, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq was involved in a tense exchange with the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Eleanor Laing, on Wednesday as MPs debated the government's Universal Credit.

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Siddiq, who is seven months pregnant, left the debate in order to have something to eat. Upon her return, Laing is said to have called her over to the Speaker's chair.

The paper reports witnesses heard Laing telling Siddiq she was "bringing down the whole of womankind" and had "made women look bad".

Deputy Commons Speaker Eleanor Laing

Laing is reported to have added: "People will think that women cant follow the conventions of the House because theyre pregnant.

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Laing is also have said to have told Siddiq: "Dont play the pregnancy card with me". Although Siddiq is said not to have mentioned being pregnant.

In the time when Siddiq was out of the Commons chamber. Laing criticised the behaviour of MPs, like Siddiq, who were elected in 2015.

"I have to reduce the time limit to five minutes. I also remind the House, because perhaps newer Members have forgotten, having been away for Christmas, that if one makes a speech in the Chamber, it is courteous and required by the rules of the House that one stays in the Chamber certainly for the following speech and usually for at least two speeches thereafter. The people who have not done so today know who they are," she said.

Siddiq told The Evening Standard the incident showed the Commons conventions are "outdated" and what she had done was "common sense".
Here is the video clip of deputations from both Maria Miller MP and my big sis Lindsey Lawman, this took place today from Winchester County Council offices. She spoke eloquently and passionately about the invaluable Hampshire breast feeding drop in service, that is due to have its funding stopped in 12 weeks. She received a standing ovation from over 80 Hampshire councillors. Take a look...#breastfeeding #hampshire Posted by Laura Haystaff on Thursday, 7 January 2016

A mum's impassioned speech to save her local breastfeeding support service from closure moved a county council to give her a standing ovation.

Just four days after her son's first birthday, Lindsey Lawman, from Basingstoke, stood in front of Hampshire County Council to ask for funding to be secured for the not-for-profit Hampshire Breastfeeding Counselling.

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"When my son Patrick was a newborn, I gritted my teeth and counted down the days until I would allow myself to give up breastfeeding at six weeks," she said on Thursday 7 January.

"I hated it. Yet, here I am, a year later, still breastfeeding my son thanks to the skilled support of the breastfeeding counsellors.

"And here I stand pleading with you to enable future mothers and their babies the chance to experience the same.

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Lindsey Lawman initially struggled to breastfeed her son Patrick

"It fills me with dread to consider future mothers being deprived of this vital service," added the mum-of-one. "And it crushes me to think of all the babies who will go without if the funding stops."

Hampshire Breastfeeding Counselling is set to close in 12 weeks unless sustainable funding can be found.

The organisation provides support, advice and information to women struggling to breastfeed at eight drop-in centres across the county.

Lawman quoted stats that show 500 women had visited the service in 2014 - over 17% of all new breastfeeding mothers registered with local GPs at the time. She also stated that 98% of those visitors would recommend the service.

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Lawman brought up the health benefits of "life-saving and life giving" breastmilk, and outlined the problems many new mums face.

"In the first six weeks of Patricks life, when I was struggling to breastfeed, I saw five midwives, two nurses, two GPs and four health visitors in five separate locations," Lawman explained.

"And in between worries about breastfeeding my son, we also had to cover his weight, nappies, jaundice, heel prick tests, hearing tests, immunisations, and my own postnatal recovery.

"Faced with a myriad of healthcare professionals in various locations covering a plethora of issues, is it any wonder that 99% of UK women stop exclusively breastfeeding before the recommended six months?

"Problems with confidence, pain, supply, tongue-tie, and mastitis can all see a womans breastfeeding journey come to a premature end, but all these issues are being regularly addressed and resolved in the drop-ins."

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Lawman told HuffPost UK Parents she was nervous about standing in front of the council, but she was blown away by the positive response she received.

"It's been amazing," she said.

"I was reticent before because the council is mainly made up of men, so I didn't know how receptive they'd be to a woman talking about breastfeeding, but it couldn't have gone better."

Lawman added that she understood that "hard decisions were having to be made by the people holding the purse strings," but she wanted them to take into account the importance of breastfeeding.

MP Maria Miller also spoke in front of the council in support of Hampshire Breastfeeding Counselling.

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She said: "It offers expertise and professional support for mums who might be running into some really difficult situations following the birth of their children.

"84% of the mothers who've been supported by the service, - and remember these are mothers who were experiencing difficulties with breastfeeding at the time - have continued to exclusively breastfeed at six weeks and this is compared to 38% of mothers who didn't receive that support.

"We have a fantastic body of expertise that is second to none and we need to safeguard this for mothers to access in the future.

"Not only for their children's health, but for their own health as well. Councillors you simply can't afford to lose this expertise."

Miller talked to HuffPost UK Parents about the effect Lawman's testimonial had on the council.

"Our objective was to make sure the councillors understood we had a really successful model in this area, so Lindsey sharing her personal experience really helped to make that clear," said Miller.

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"Hampshire Breastfeeding Counselling is not just a great service but it's effective too, and I hope the model will be replicated in other parts of the country.

"I've been working with the group for about a year. Their funding continues until March and the County haven't yet finalised their evaluation of the service, which they promised to do. I want a commitment that someway of ensuring the continuation of this service is going to be found."

Lindsey's sister Laura Haystaff shared a video of her speech on Facebook and the clip has already started to get a lot of support from other mums:

"I am speechless," wrote one commenter. "You had me in tears.

"You more than deserved that standing ovation. What a wonderful thing you have done. So much respect for you."

Another added: "Watched this clip whilst breastfeeding my almost nine-month-old! Very well put together, let's hope the support out there for Hampshire mothers continue. I'm very lucky that Camden is very pro breastfeeding. It should be like this everywhere."

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It's been a while since we heard from her, but it transpires Naomi Campbell has a fresh beef.

It's been a few years now since the always stunning diva complained about her precious time being taken up with having to attend a Sierra Leone courtroom to explain the provenance of a 'blood' diamond she received from Liberian president Charles Taylor. The supermodel pronounced this appearance, during which she remembered very little about her gift, "a big inconvenience" for her.

Naomi Campbell finds it very unfair that models are criticised for taking acting roles

And she is banned for life from British Airways following her reported bad behaviour towards airline staff, following an argument about her lost luggage.

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To be fair to Naomi, her complaints about being photographed by the press leaving Narcotics Anonymous in 2002 were spot-on.

So let's see what you think of her latest moan... here's the lady herself (thanks to AudioBoom), who was speaking just before the recent launch of the Burberry Christmas ad. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was with her, and they were asked if they talked to each other about acting alongside modelling (Rosie appeared in 'Mad Max: Fury Road' earlier this year).

The Streatham-born star, who has herself appeared in 15 films over the course of her career, most recently the 2009 'Karma, Confessions and Holi' as well as 'Empire' and 'American Horror Story' on TV, is in good company. Former model Cara Delevingne recently felt pressure to justify her work on screen during the press rounds for her film 'Paper Towns', when two US chat show hosts seemed scathing about her level of commitment to her role of Margo.

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Cara made her bemusement clear during an interview with the hosts of Good Day Sacramento, when her hosts asked her if she'd read the book it was based on by John Green.

Cara Delevingne... not happy

As the tension arose between them, they then enquired if she was tired, before bringing the interview to a close and suggesting she get herself a power drink.

Meanwhile, Naomi continues to do what she does best, looking absolutely stunning in a new set of images proving she and her fellow 1990s supermodels are still around and looking better than ever, in a new shoot for Balmain.

Naomi joined fellow cover stars Claudia Schiffer and Cindy Crawford for a series of wow-ing images, putting to rest any argument that there's an age limit on looking fabulous.

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A photo posted by BALMAIN (@balmainparis) on Jan 7, 2016 at 7:32am PST

Starring in the fashion house's spring/summer 2016 campaign, Crawford, 49, Campbell, and Schiffer, both 45, all look jaw-droppingly stunning in a range of daring, cut-out designs.

A photo posted by BALMAIN (@balmainparis) on Jan 7, 2016 at 6:06am PST

Click here for more pictures...
The Foreign Secretary has been condemned for "appalling" comments saying all those killed in recent mass executions in Saudi Arabia were "terrorists", despite the outcry that one of them was a peaceful opponent of the regime.

Nimr Al-Nimr, a 56-year-old Shia cleric in the Sunni-dominated kingdom, was one of 47 men beheaded and shot on January 2, triggering global outrage, protests across the Muslim world and a standoff with Iran.

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His country's secretive judicial system had convicted him of disobeying the ruler, inciting sectarian strife and encouraging, leading and participating in demonstrations in Shia-majority towns in 2011 and 2012. He was a driving force behind the "Arab Spring" protests across the Middle East and North Africa.

A portrait Al Nimr in Beirut after his execution

When the sentence was passed in October 2014, Amnesty International called for it to be quashed and said it was part of the Kingdom's efforts to "crush all dissent, including those defending the rights of the Kingdoms Shia Muslim community".

On Friday, Philip Hammond said all those executed were "terrorists", repeating what the Saudi state news agency reported about the men who were executed.

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The British government had said it was "disappointed" with the killings and presenter Nick Robinson had invited him to be "more robust" in condemning it now.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Hammond said: "Let's be clear, first of all, all of those executed were convicted terrorists."

Robinson pointed out that Al Nimr's execution was widely attributed to his peaceful opposition to the regime but Hammond did not acknowledge the point.

Philip Hammond suggested Al Nimr was a 'terrorist'

"We are clear that the use of the death penalty is wrong in all cases. We make that point relentlessly to all countries that use the death penalty," he added.

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The interview did not return to Al Nimr and later moved on to discussing the EU.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned Hammond's refusal to condemn the executions and said his words amounted to "excusing" the repressive state's killings.

David Mepham, the UK director of the group, told HuffPost UK: "British policy on Saudi Arabia has reached a new low. It is appalling that Phillip Hammond refused to condemn the mass beheadings that took place in Saudi on January 2, including the execution of the prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al Nimr."

He added: "The legal process leading to his death sentence was seriously flawed, and his execution has massively increased sectarian tensions across the region.

"Yet pressed on the case in this mornings BBC interview, the Foreign Secretary chose not to criticise Saudi executions but rather to contextualise, explain and seemingly excuse them.

Maya Foa, head of the death penalty team at Reprieve, said: While Philip Hammonds efforts to prevent the execution of Ali al Nimr and other juveniles are welcome, it appears he is alarmingly misinformed about the mass executions.

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"Far from being terrorists, at least four of those killed were arrested after protests calling for reform  and were convicted in shockingly unfair trials."

She added: "The Saudi government is clearly using the death penalty, alongside torture and secret courts, to punish political dissent.

"By refusing to condemn these executions and parroting the Saudis propaganda, labelling those killed as 'terrorists', Mr Hammond is coming dangerously close to condoning Saudi Arabias approach.

Al Nimr only took part in peaceful demonstrations before his arrest in 2012, according to his supporters.

A 2011 BBC Arabic report quoted him as saying: "The roar of the word against authorities rather than weapons  the weapon of the word is stronger than bullets, because authorities will profit from a battle of weapons".

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Andrew Stroehlein, also from HRW, told HuffPost UK Hammond's comment was "inappropriate. [Al Nimr] was convicted on vague charges apparently based largely on his peaceful criticism of Saudi officials."

Journalist Peter Oborne called it "outrageous" and said Hammond was "a mouthpiece for Saudi propaganda machine".

Outrageous that a British foreign secretary should act as mouthpiece for Saudi propaganda machine.  Peter Oborne (@OborneTweets) January 8, 2016

Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International's UK head of policy, said: Contrary to what Mr Hammond says theres nothing complicated about this...

Mr Hammond undermines the UKs commitments to complete opposition by saying but Shariabut they were terrorists but Iran is worse. Parroting those sorts of justifications seriously threaten the UKs credibility on human rights.

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A Foreign Office spokesman told HuffPost UK: "We oppose the death penalty both publicly and privately. We don't shy away from raising human rights concerns in Saudi Arabia."

When asked whether he would clarify the Foreign Office's view on Al Nimr, he said: "I have nothing further to add."

All the 47 men were beheaded except four who were shot by firing squads. The Saudi state news agency linked them to a series of Al Qaeda bombings in 2003 and 2004.

HRW said it was not specified which men were executed for which crime.

It said Al Nimr's trial was conducted over 13 sessions over 18 months, some without informing his advocate, and the vague charges he faced did not "resemble recognisable crimes".

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Authorities had accused him of resisting arrest and fighting a gun battle with security forces in which he was wounded. But his family said he did not own a firearm and disputed he had resisted.

Amnesty International's most recent report on Saudi Arabia says discrimination against the Shia minority is "entrenched" there.

"Some Shia activists were sentenced to death and scores received lengthy prison terms. Torture of detainees was reportedly common; courts convicted defendants on the basis of torture-tainted confessions and sentenced others to flogging," it says.
Thought it wasnt possible to love Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes any more? Then prepare to be proved wrong.

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The legendary This Morning hosts have performed their own Lip Sync Battle in honour of the UK version of the US show launching tonight (8 January).

Ruth Langsford... what a woman

The husband and wife pairing filmed themselves miming along to their favourite songs in a cheeky VT, as they interviewed Lip Sync Battle UK host Mel B on todays edition of the ITV daytime show.

Ruth got down to Pharrell Williams smash hit Happy, while Eamonn went for a more retro number, jigging about to the B52s Love Shack, providing us with an image that will stay with us for a very long time.

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Eamonn Holmes... the next big thing?

Their skills certainly impressed Mel, who said: Youve got the moves, I loved that!

Speaking about her new show , which she hosts with Professor Green, she continued: I dont want to give too much away, but it is hilarious - I dont think Ive ever laughed so much during my work process, its brilliant!

The more you kind of take the mickey out of yourself, the better, everybody gets involved.

The first episode will see Britains Got Talent judges David Walliams and Alesha Dixon take each other on, and while Mel is on hosting duties, she revealed that she had previously been approached to be a contestant on the US show, which has seen the likes of Anne Hathaway, Justin Bieber and Channing Tatum taking part.

I did actually get asked to do the American version, but I got a bit too scared! she said.

Well Im not used to lip syncing for a start - I figured if I did it, Id probably mess it up.

Lip Sync Battle UK airs tonight at 10pm on Channel 5.
BRIGHTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 29: Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Kerry McCarthy speaks to delegates during a session entitled 'Living Standards and Sustainability' during the third day of the Labour Party Autumn Conference on September 29, 2015 in Brighton, England. The four day annual Labour Party Conference takes place in Brighton and is expected to attract thousands of delegates with keynote speeches from influential politicians and over 500 fringe events. (Photo by Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images) Ben Pruchnie via Getty Images

Shadow Environment Secretary Kerry McCarthy has refused to back down on her view that meat eaters should be treated the same as tobacco smokers in public health campaigns.

Jeremy Corbyns shadow minister, who is a vegan herself, joked that it was an amusing thought to make burger-eaters stand out in the rain like smokers but stressed that was not Labour policy!

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In an interview to Parliaments The House magazine, Ms McCarthy also insisted that methane emissions from cows were a major part of global warming and said it was frustrating that the issue had not been on the agenda of the Paris climate change summit last month.

Hitting out at tabloid reports of her views, she added I dont want to go back to wearing smocks or whatever, but said that she was keen to support organic farmers and pulse people who wanted different ways of farming than dairy and meat producers.

Amid new guidelines on alcohol and Government moves to look again at a sugar tax, the Bristol MP also said that her remarks about meat could easily apply to sugar.

Ms McCarthy was met with a barrage of militant vegan headlines following her appointment by Mr Corbyn in September, and the Countryside Alliance said her views verge on the cranky.

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The Labour leader, who is himself a vegetarian, kept her in post this weeks reshuffle in recognition of her determination to give Labour a new voice on food and farming, as well as flooding issues.

The Daily Mail and others highlighted an early interview with a vegan magazine, in which she had said she wanted meat treated the same way as tobacco, with public campaigns to stop people eating it.

Ms McCarthy said she did not resile from her remarks but stressed that she was more interested in offering the public more information rather than urging them to go vegan or vegetarian.

People seem to think it was about making people eat their burgers standing out on the doorstep in the rain. Which is quite an amusing thought, but its not Labour policy! she told The House.

"The context was I was talking to a guy that I know well from a magazine thats going to a vegan audience in a vegan cafe in Bristol. If I was giving an interview to, certainly the Daily Mail, I wouldnt say exactly the same words.

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"The reason I was talking about meat is its a vegan magazine. But on the underlying point actually I could quite easily have been talking about sugar, or a whole range of other things that people eat that may not be good for them.

"I dont resile from what I said then, because its in the context of people being given more information to make decisions. And then you had two weeks later the World Health Organization report on carcinogens and processed meat and red meat. So that was all I was saying, really, and lots of other people had been saying it for a long time.

She added: Theres telling people to do something, encouraging them to do something, or just giving them the information so they can make up their own minds. At the moment I dont think the government is even doing the weakest option. I think they could do more on that.

Kerry McCarthy, not 'an Islington hippie'

And the shadow minister stressed she was not an 'Islington hippie' or a 'knit your yoghurt' type.

Im slightly concerned that peoples perception of me is that Im a sort of Islington hippie. What one of my colleagues would call a knit your own yoghurt type.

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I dont knit. And actually Im from Luton, which is about as down to earth as you can get. Ive worked in the City for the best part of a decade, Ive actually worked for Merrill Lynch in the financial markets. It doesnt really sit with me being off the wall. But I think you just have to get on and do the job and then people will actually realise that youre actually fairly sensible.

Referring to press reaction to other remarks shed made about global warming and meat farming, the Shadow Environment Secretary was defiant, pointing oiut that she was prepared to take the flak from the media if it raised a serious issue.

There was a story about how Id suggested that flatulent cows were responsible for global warming. Actually that was quoting a UN report! Theyre not totally responsible, but theyre quite a major part. Its quite easy to ridicule people when theyre saying these things but theyre factual.

I think the debate has broadened out and people are a lot more aware. I think its moving in the right direction. But my role is not to resile from some of the things that I would have said before I got this job, just because Im going to be getting a lot more flak for it.

What Ive got to think now that Ive got this job is these are things I was trying to bring to public attention, and more or less being ignored except in circles where it was already received wisdom. So despite the flak that you get for saying these things in the public eye, you actually ought to be quite pleased that someones listening.

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Best Sources Of Protein For Vegans See gallery

Ms McCarthy also argued that it was time to get away from the 'mainstream' debate on farming.

It seems that the mainstream conversations are all about dairy prices and livestock. And if you talk to the fresh produce people or the pulse people, nobody has ever paid attention to them.

I was speaking at the British Edible Pulse Association Dinner, and everyone was saying this is the most vegan thing youve ever done, she says. And I thought, well dont you eat mushy peas? Or beans on toast? Pulses are very underrated!

I dont want everyone to go back to wearing smocks or whatever. But its about seeing what more we can do with the natural environment; bringing beetles back to the land for pest control.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

A political commentator Alex Magaisa has described the Acting Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko as an absolute disgrace to the nation by staying at the hotel for more than a year squandering the state funds in hotel bills at the time when the country faces serious economic challenges."This gentleman is called Phelekezela Mphoko. He is presently the Acting President of Zimbabwe, in the absence of his boss, President Mugabe, who is vacationing somewhere in the Far East. He has lived in the presidential suite of the Rainbow Towers, a major hotel in Harare, since December 14 2014, when he was elevated to become the Vice President," said Magaisa."The overall cost is upwards of $500 a night or somewhere near or around that figure. This for nearly 400 nights and counting. Government has struggled to pay civil servants their wages, let alone their bonuses."He said they had to wait until after Christmas to receive wages, some after the New Year."Things are generally not well in the country. Hospitals are suffering and infrastructure is deteriorating. Government is broke. There is no money. Yet, this man and his family and aides all live in a hotel, at taxpayers' expense," he said."When the Chinese President visited Harare early December, he had to vacate the presidential suite to make way for the important visitor. The indignity of it all, but he doesn't care. After the important guest left he moved straight back in. When a group of people tried in December to demonstrate against this profligacy, they were arrested and detained."Magaisa said as one of the country's two VPs, this man has a 50 per cent chance of stepping into the Office of the President should, for whatever reason, a vacancy suddenly arise."That is what the constitution says. In other words, this man who has lived in a hotel room at taxpayers' expense for nearly 400 days might well be Zimbabwe's President one day, at least for up to 90 days, should a vacancy arise. Should a vacancy arise today, because he is the Acting President, he would rule Zimbabwe for up to 90 days, from Rainbow Towers! Perhaps more! It's a farce, I know," he said."How did we end up with such a farcical situation? Whom among the gods of politics did we offend to deserve such characters for leaders? Leaders without care; without heart? Is there anyone in Zanu PF who understands or supports this behaviour? They might favour us with an opinion. I would be pleased to know. How does he command respect even among his compatriots and subordinates in Zanu PF? There are a lot of absurd things that go on within this regime but this surely takes the biscuit!"The political commentator said Mphoko has the temerity to say let us pray for rain."No, Mr Mphoko, we pray that you find reason and check out of that presidential suite and start behaving like a responsible leader. That prayer doesn't even need God's intervention. He has bigger issues to attend to. It simply requires an exercise of common sense and reason. It's an absolute disgrace," he said.
The five things you need to know on Friday January 8, 2016

1) CAM THE EURO-SEPT?

Nick Watt in the Guardian has an eye-catching story suggesting that the EU referendum looks more likely in September than June. Both Leave and Remain camps expect the later date because the PMs renegotiation deal - with continuing problems over 'non-discriminatory' welfare bans on migrants - may be more ready for the March summit than the February one.

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Hungarys Viktor Orban, while jibing Cameron not to treat his people as parasites, hinted a deal on something less than a four-year benefit ban could be done. Yet as Watt points out, a March deal would mean a July referendum at the earliest and ministers have ruled that out because of Scottish school holidays. These few weeks' delay on a deal would mean months of delay for the actual referendum, and the risk of images of a fresh summer migrant crisis.

And the Governments handling of the parliamentary rules for a referendum suggests that it may have given up on a referendum before September. Ministers have not yet begun the process of introducing the secondary legislation to allow the referendum to take place - and the electoral commission says six months need to elapse between the introduction of the secondary legislation and the referendum. The Telegraph says we're 'on the brink' of a deal for February. So, let's see.

What about the Tory partys internal politics? At his New Year drinks on Wednesday, Liam Fox was in confident mood. In the Telegraph, Fraser Nelson has news that wont surprise but will still dismay Eurosceps: that privately David Cameron has made up his mind to stay, and is letting the secret slip. He points to the looming civil war over the referendum, with one MP saying: Osborne is a dead man walking: a remainer will never lead the Conservative Party. Fraser reveals Osborne may well run on a joint ticket with a prominent Eurosceptic, to whom hed promise the Treasury. But hes worried that Boris will opt for the Leave campaign.

And this remains Boris biggest call of his political career. Yesterday he irritated some in No.10 with another bit of Brexit footsie, telling the BBC there was a great, great future for the UK outside the EU. Asked if hed join the Leave camp, he said lets see what Cameron comes up with.

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2) RESHUFF HUFF

Its Day Five of the reshuffle (Im still running the clock, even though Corbyn allies say its kinda really over, because theyve still not replaced Angela Rayner in the whips office) and the repercussions continue.

Ken Livingstone was swiftly contradicted by Labour HQ yesterday for saying Nato membership could be part of the defence review. And despite Hilary Benn digging in, its Trident that really is at the heart of the Corbyn camps victory in the reshuffle (Benn has zero remit on it Im told). Though its worth noting that Kevan Jones replacement Kate Hollern is an ex-unilateralist, not a current one.

The latest squall over the reshuffle though is the reaction of sources close to Corbyn at the news that Laura Kuenssberg and Andrew Neil worked together to get former Shadow Foreign Minister Stephen Doughty to announce his resignation live on air on the BBC just before PMQs on Wednesday. One source told DailyScrapbook: These events question credibility of all involved ... raises questions at the heart of democracy.

In a string of tweets overnight Doughty explained the process, stressing he wanted to explain my reasons without spinners getting in first. Call me old fashioned, but I cant see the problem in Laura K wanting him to choose the BBC first to reveal his decision. Yes it was for maximum journalistic effect ahead of PMQs, but thats what journalists do with good stories. The only blunder seems to be a clumsily worded (now deleted) blog written by Daily Pols Output Editor which suggested it was making the news, as well as a line about big political impact.

Jez himself was pretty Zen yesterday, explaining the tantric reshuffle was due to people who talk at great length (a jibe at Hilary Benns several meetings?). He revealed to the regional newspaper Lobby lunch yesterday that he texted the final junior appointments, while he was on a rally platform about to speak on defending legal aid. He also had a delicious account of his own experience as a local paper reporter, and let slip perhaps the inspiration for his Geography Teachers Stare: he taught geography while on youth work in Jamaica.

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Meanwhile, media manipulation means even Simon Danczuks friends must be despairing of his latest conduct. The Sun reports him texting Sophena Houlihan to arrange a funny meeting, and suggesting a media agency will pay you a fee etc take photos. Senior Labour sources suggest his initial offer to work for him is what will really matter in expelling him from the party.

3) BRUCE, FALL MIGHT HE?

Charlie Cooper has a corking splash in the Independent, revealing an email trail that suggests Department of Health sexed up a warning from NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh about the junior doctors strike threat.

The emails show how a controversial letter from Keogh - questioning whether doctors would respond to a Paris-style terror attack - was revised after inteventions from the DH. Sir Bruce was advised that the more hard-edged you can be on this, the better. One email from an official makes clear that Jeremy Hunt wanted to see the final letter and if you are happy to make these changes we will be able to get him [Hunt] over the line.

Sir Bruce who is nominally independent and works for NHS England not the Government, angered thousands of junior doctors with his letter back in November. The BMA today says this level of political interference is extremely concerning. Sir Bruce seems unrepentant, saying it was entirely appropriate to coordinate responses of DH and the NHS.

I wonder what Simon Stevens thinks of it all? Calls for Keoghs resignation could come next. Old hands wont be surprised at politicians trying to sex up a strike warning, but they may be surprised a senior medic would agree.

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BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR

Watch this little kid take out Darth Vader and then a Stormtrooper. The force is strong with this one.

4) NANNY MATE

The papers are full of the latest advice that theres no safe level of alcohol consumption. The Sun had a neat scoop yesterday with its splash on this (Dame Sally Davies doesnt brief newspaper hacks, she only briefs telly people, Im told). Dame Sally told Good Morning Britain that when we home after a hard day we should drink a glass of tea, or cup of tea, instead of a glass of wine and save a glass of wine for a special occasion. A glass of tea, now theres a new craze.

But the most interesting story politically is the ongoing sugar tax saga. It seems that Jeremy Hunt is behind the scenes pushing one and David Cameron yesterday gave his first serious hint that he was not entirely opposed to the idea.

Speaking in Hungary, Cameron said it would be better not to have to resort to new taxes but said that "what matters is we do make progress" on obesity. No.10 scrambled to insist that he was not backing a tax, oh no sirree. The PM may have been making a clumsy attempt to scare the food industry into voluntary action rather than a preference for a tax. But if any junior minister had expressed themselves the same way, I suspect they would have got a Downing Street reprimand. Jamie Oliver was swift to claim Cameron was on board, even if he wasnt.

Sugar drinks taxes are one thing, but what would surely make a big difference would be proper labelling. Can you imagine any parent buying a cereal/fruit bar/smoothie, let alone a can of Coke, if they saw a 8 sugar cube symbols on the packet/can? Thats what may scare the food industry more.

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5) CHAIRMAN NAO

The DWP is getting it in the neck from the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee over the vexed issue of privatised disability work assessments. The FT is among several papers to point to the 76m cost to the taxpayer of the medical test failures, with private firms still struggling to meet performance targets.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "This report, while disappointingly limited in its scope, casts grave doubts on the policy of privatising this very sensitive public service.

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The puzzle of how we got here appears to have a few more clues, after scientists discovered an ancient strain of gut bacteria in a 5,300-year-old 'Iceman' mummy.

According to researchers, the older strain of Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) bacteria is quite similar to a modern strain found in Asia.

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This suggests that early European farmers may have had contact with Asians before they migrated to Europe.

It provides almost literally a mirror image of human population structure, said Yoshan Moodley, an author of the paper told ABC News.

Published in Science, the paper suggests Otzi the Iceman's ancestors inherited the pathogen from Asia and not Africa.

Today, the bacteria is found in around half the worlds human population, causing stomach ulcers and cancer in less than 10 percent of those who carry it.

When researchers sequenced the genome from Otzi's gut bacteria, they found it closely resembled strains found in Asia rather than those found in modern Europe or Africa.

Comparatively, today's European strain has more DNA from the African version of H.pylori, which has lead scientists to propose a new theory about human migration.

Lead author, Frank Maixner, of the paper told Science:
The White House has responded to a petition calling for the release of Steven Avery, the focus of the hit Netflix series 'Making a Murderer'.

Over 355,942 people signed the Change.org online protest, asking for Barack Obama to pardon the convict for the murder of Teresa Halbach.

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In a statement on the We The People site, the White House said the President couldn't free Avery.

Steven Avery

"Under the constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those adjudicated in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President," the statement reads.

"In addition, the President's 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."

The 10-part documentary details Steven Avery's release from jail after being wrongly convicted of a violent sexual assault, only to then be dubiously convicted of the murder.

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His nephew, Dassey, confessed to assisting with the crime but the only evidence was a confession obtained when the then 16-year-old was interviewed without a lawyer or guardian.

Meanwhile the only person who could allow the pair a reprieve from prison delivered some disappointing news for the convicts.

Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker, 48, vowed the 'Making A Murderer' subjects would not be released from prison, despite the vast number of signatures on the White House petition.

"Just because a documentary on TV says something doesn't mean that's actually what the evidence shows, Walker told WQOW television on Tuesday.

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"The bottom line is that there was a crime that was committed a decade ago.

"There is a system... by which individuals can petition the courts to get relief like others have done in the past that shows that someone might actually be innocent. But I am not going to override a system that is already put in place."

Avery was sent to prison in 1985 for sexual assault and attempted murder. DNA evidence later proved he was innocent of the crimes, and in 2003 his conviction was overturned.
Following a new advertising campaign in which tea cake giants Tunnock's referred to their iconic Scottish snack as the 'Great British Tea Cake' and removed the Scottish Lion from its packaging, nationalists in Scotland have called for a boycott of the company. Some pretty severe anti-Tunnock's sentiment from patriotic Scots can easily be discovered by a quick Google.

This strange eruption of ill-feeling towards the traditional confectioners threatens to make us aware of a very peculiar relationship: the connection between nationalists and biscuits. It raises a slightly odd question: can a biscuit company be wrong to abandon its use of national identity in advertising campaigns, letting down its Scottish roots? Perhaps more interestingly, it raises a question that is even odder still: could the biscuit company have been wrong to employ imagery that would encourage nationalism in the first place?

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Many nations have national biscuits: Scottish shortbread, Italian biscotti, German Spritzgeback (the list is endless). Generally speaking, they are a fairly harmless example of national pride in traditions of baking and have little to do with negative nationalist feeling. Despite this, the latest Tunnock's saga is not the first time biscuits have caused nationalists a bit of serious trouble. In the early 1990s, in the midst of the conflicts that led to the break- up of Yugoslavia, Serbians and Croatians squabbled about whether Gingerbread Hearts were part of Serbian or Croatian culture. As each side desperately fought to avoid losing their prized confectionery to their greatest enemies, many reports surfaced of arguments about Gingerbread Hearts resulting in full scale fights and significant nationalist violence.

There are various opinions as to the most important things in determining national identity. In Imagined Communities, one of the most influential books ever written on nationalism, Benedict Anderson argued that newspapers and the media are the most important factors in creating and constructing our sense of national identity. Famous historian Eric Hobsbawn took a different view: he felt that the elite classes were the force most in charge of constructing national identity. Both of these are compelling claims in the case of us British: the royal family, as well as other aristocratic and elite traditions, are obviously powerful signifiers of our national identities, supporting Hobsbawm's view. At the same time, the media's reportage, celebration and portrayal of aristocrats (and of other things) clearly play an equally powerful major role in forging our sense of our Britishness, Englishness, Scottishness, etc. Both the elite and the media construct national identity: but so does the biscuit.

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Gingerbread Hearts: the trigger of nationalist violence in the 1990s

These are not just the views of two academics analyzing nationalism: they are the two main ways in which we talk about nationalism generally at the present moment. We often stress that the elite is to blame for nationalist sentiment. In the ongoing refugee crisis for example, those in power have often been the least open and most preservative of their own national boundaries and their own national identities, even if this comes at the cost of disaster for others. Likewise, we notice how the media is often to blame for whipping up further nationalist feeling. The elite and the media are remain to influential forces in forging nationalist sentiment.

As the Tunnock's saga unfolds it might be worth asking: what about biscuits? Could they rival the elite classes or the media as the force most in charge of how we conceive of our national selves? Do we need to get into discussion about the media's portrayal of biscuits, or whether the biscuits are a class signifier of any kind? Probably not.

What we can at least see though, is the relevance of the everyday in forming and constructing national identity. Whilst we are familiar with the elite and the mainstream media constructing national identity and encouraging nationalist sentiment, we are less attentive to everyday signs of national identity and the impacts of them on us. The humorous saga of the Tunnock's Tea Cake rubbing some Scottish nationalists up the wrong way forces us into this very serious realization. That is it not just the elites and the media that are responsible for nationalism but the everyday; the times we inadvertently or unconsciously see a British flag, a Welsh dragon or a Scottish lion rampant emblazoned innocently on a packet of crisps, or Irish shamrock on the side of a packet of sausages.

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To return to the two questions raised by the Tunnock's business. First, can the company be blamed for either leaving behind its Scottishness? And second, should we consider whether the confectioner is guilty of contributing to the buildup of nationalism in the first place?

The answer is, I think quite obviously, a resounding no. Of course, neither act committed by Tunnock's (using Scottish patriotism to sell biscuits or ceasing to do so) is particularly reprehensible. We probably will not get away with making the (admittedly quite reasonable) claim that all advertising should be free of patriotic pride in their product in case a few people get too far into it and become nationalists. But what we must do is be attentive to the power of the everyday in forging national identity: if a Tunnock's advert can ruffle nationalists up the wrong way then a great deal more seemingly innocent things are responsible for our conceptions of our national selves as well.
Some years ago, following a flight to America, I noticed a large red spot on my leg. Blood clot, I thought, I may be about to die! Ok, post-flight blood clots happened to be getting press at the time, and I'm as susceptible as the next guy. So, needing reassurance and forgetting I was no longer in the land of the NHS, I demanded that my sister drive me to the nearest emergency room. Big mistake.

First, we had to scrape together one hundred dollars before anybody would talk to me. "This would never happen in the UK," I grumbled. "Yeah, but you'd wait about four days to see anybody, wouldn't you?" the white-coated cashier replied. "Um... no." Sarcasm on my side; shrugs behind the hospital desk. "Quiet," my sister whispered, kicking my good leg.

Several hours, scans and blood tests later, I was told by a very nice doctor that no clot was in evidence. Of course, I was relieved and as grateful to this doctor as I would be anywhere. She was wonderful. I was going to live after all. Hungry and seemingly healthy enough to indulge in fast food, I bought a celebratory portion of fries on my way home. Little did I know that behind the scenes of my A&E visit, the veritable cash register of American healthcare was leaping to life.

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Several months later, the bills (take note, bills in the plural) began to arrive. My treatment was not only costly, mounting to over $1000, but horrendously fragmented. I was charged separately for the intake, blood tests, scan, and the eventual consult. The nursing service appeared to have its own agency and itemized invoice. Each demand had to be presented to my travel insurer. Most of the costs were eventually covered, but it was a bureaucratic nightmare.

This all happened before Obamacare and before our own Health and Social Care Act (2012). While Obamacare takes the US in the right direction, American healthcare will never be put right unless/until a single payer scheme is adopted. Meanwhile, dear Brits, meet your future.

The 2012 Act was long and complex. The mainstream media gave woefully inadequate coverage of the detail of the legislation and the growing numbers of voices raised against it. Licence fee payers were let down by the failure of our public broadcaster to meet its own stated objective of "providing in-depth explanation of the most significant issues facing the UK."

So, forget the BBC. Our public broadcaster won't help you. You might start by looking at Section 75 of the Act, which put into place compulsory competition for NHS contracts. Since then, the private sector has massively increased its presence in the NHS. And in what Jacky Davis has termed the "privatisation of privatisation," many of these companies are now outsourcing entire services to other private companies.

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Apologists for the Act deny privatisation by claiming that our health service remains free (so far) at the point of need. That is to collude in the stealthy processes taking place behind our iconic NHS logo, where there is now a gathering of other logos, the signature of those private companies (Virgin, Serco and others) actively bidding for the most profitable services. Our NHS is, in a manner that is largely invisible to us, being carved up and delivered to providers that are, by definition, market-driven.

Here we have the same elements glimpsed in my humble visit to an American A&E: healthcare held hostage to the profit incentive in a complex proliferation of private sector contracts. This fragmentation will increasingly leave patients stranded between services, at pains to find out how they are coordinated and how to hold them to account. It is little wonder that I meet many Americans at meetings and protests against the Health and Social Care Act. We know what it means.

Alongside these relatively invisible processes, the government treats what remains of our NHS and its staff along the lines identified by Noam Chomsky in another context: "If you want to privatize something and destroy it, a standard method is first to defund it, so it doesn't work anymore, people get upset and accept privatization."

Every perceived weakness of the NHS is held up by the government and reported by the media without analysis of how that weakness came about. Of course, the NHS must come under scrutiny like any other service, but not without signalling the chronic underfunding and understaffing that followed in the wake of the Act. An increasingly demoralized staff is struggling to maintain the standards we take for granted. We need to defend them and hope that they too, will join public efforts to reinstate the NHS.

In this context, two campaigns deserve our immediate attention: the junior doctors' strike and the Tory threat to scrap the NHS bursary for new student nurses, midwives, and allied health professions. Not only will poor treatment of junior doctors and trainees cause hardship, but it will exacerbate recruitment problems. We need to come out in support of fair pay and conditions for junior doctors and all NHS staff and trainees.

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I can't wait to get started.

Work is at the centre of all our lives.

The lack of it. The low pay. Poor conditions. Zero hours contracts. The lack of progress in work.

The endemic unfairness and inequalities that work too often brings.

As a low-paid care worker, this was the life I lived not so long ago. As a single mum, I knew how hard it was to put food on the table and worry about how you were going to find the money for the next pair of trainers for the kids.

Like many others, I needed benefits to get by and to give me a foot on the ladder so I could make something of myself and provide for my family.

Now of course, the Tories are kicking away that ladder of opportunity for millions of the poorest-paid working families, with the introduction of Universal Credit. I am appalled at their attacks on the most vulnerable, especially disabled people.

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Those people being hit now are not scroungers or shirkers. They are the strivers. Working hard for a better life for themselves and their families.

But the Welfare State, founded by a Labour Government to provide the basic framework to help people get on in life, is now being systematically dismantled by the Tories.

This will be the focus of all my attention as part of Owen Smith's team.

We aim to expose the Tories at every turn. Labour forced George Osborne to back down over working tax credits last year. We can do so again whenever his policies threaten to make Britain a more unequal, less fair, less decent country.

But we want to do more too. We want a Britain where people have decent jobs - I will be a champion for a proper Living Wage. A Britain where work is an opportunity, not a dead end. Where all those who want to work will have the opportunity to do so. Where people are properly valued for the contribution they can make to building a better society.

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Labour faces many challenges. Not least in countering the Tory myth of 'scroungers'. As you might expect from someone with my background, I have never believed in 'something for nothing'. You get out what you put in. That's the way it should be.

Work and Pensions is a difficult brief. But hey, it's difficult caring for the most vulnerable people when you get little reward and little recognition. It's difficult getting rejection letters for every job you apply for. It's difficult being sanctioned when you are ten minutes late for a JobCentre appointment.

We are all determined to make life just as difficult for the Tories now.
In England, home to the glorious English language, everyone knows that bad grammar is the same as bad thoughts, and bad thoughts are the sure road to terrorism.

It's even felt, in certain elite Westminster circles and the editors of The Times, that bad grammar practically is terrorism.

Take the immediate response to ISIS's latest death video by an esteemed 'leading forensic analyst'. Speaking exclusively to The Times, in an article which was - alas - quickly removed (I fear under editorial intervention), said 'expert' was able to deduct, through the sheer might of their expertise, that the killer's 'poor grammar in the script indicated that he was badly educated'; and, in addition, '"[i]f this person has grown up in England, which his fluency suggests is the case, then he did not do very well at school"'.

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As I'm sure we all agree, it's damning stuff. And as for this analyst - well, get them a knighthood for services to the Crown. Now, surely - having ascertained this heady fact - we are en route to identifying this lone wolf? This one failure of the glorious British educational system?

Well, actually, no. Because there are whispers, somewhere - clearly not stemming from our government's finest linguistic analysts, to whom this must come as a shock - that our schools are actually, quite often, failing to teach young people the basic tenets of their own language. That, in fact, this could be the voice of millions of British men, with the same experiences, and the same education, and - yes - the same bad grammar.

So there are many ironies to the starring role that language must play when waging war against masked murderers in ski masks.

Suffering daily indignities in the age of social media slovenliness and almost total neglect in schools, it's suddenly all we're left with: the verbal fingerprint of British-brand terror.

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Queue a frenzied interrogation by our security experts of dropped T's and rolled R's; the desperate analysis of whether an ISIS thug wields his pronouns with the precision of his beheading sword. Observe the hard, fast class lines drawn between the Southeast Asian accent and the plummy Etonian vowels that will later denounce it in soundbites ('It's desperate stuff' said Cameron, possibly caught on the way to the rugger, 'from an organisation clearly on the backfoot').

Of course, there is no denying the links between poor education, ignorance, and bigotry. For light relief, see UKIP, in general (but particularly for this).

But this article in The Times, though short-lived, says something important about our national reaction to the tremors of terror.

Though most of us couldn't honestly swear we know what an adverb is, we like to comfort ourselves that these men and women are clearly buffoons. In many cases, watching them fumble through unwieldy scripts lifted straight from their do-your-own-death-vid handbook, it would certainly appear to be true. We are heartened by Boris Johnson's dismissal of Jihadis as a bunch of porn-watching wankers who can't get a girlfriend.

And while we should take heart in the the British scorn and the vindicated contempt and, yes, the mockery - for nothing enrages a self-appointed god squad more than a right old laugh at their expense - there is also something wilfully blind in this response.

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Because the message is this: not people like us. Not democracies like ours (or at least the good bits). And certainly not - heavens forfend - Times readers.

To be sure, it's a tempting a position, sometimes. There is something irreconcilably alien about people who reject democracy. The mind boggles at individuals who can sit there, fed, watered, and housed; using free speech to declaim free speech; using their freedom to deny it to others. It simply does not compute.

But to go down that path is to deny a much more difficult truth: that our democracy ushered this mess in, and our democracy needs to fix it.

And if there is a dreadful irony in ISIS terrorists with bad grammar - busy imposing the deadly rules of a book onto others, when they themselves can't follow the basic rules of their mother tongue, or, indeed, even interpret the Qur'an - there is also something shameful about a government of Eton thoroughbreds, seemingly uninterested in ensuring that all British children (not just the posh ones) have the basic tenets of language, and the rich history of critical thought that accompanies it, suddenly pouncing on 'poor education' and 'poor grammar' as game, set, and match in the battle of terrorist finger pointing.

I've taught enough students in the last eight years to know that there is something very bad happening in our education system. Most kids have no idea how to use grammar, 30,000-a-year education or not. Few have any sense of how what they learn helps them make sense of the world around them. Even fewer have any idea how to think for themselves.

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In these conditions, it's really pot luck if the influencer in their life is the CEO they call daddy or a radical islamist. It's not enough to draw lines between intelligent or not, educated and not, privileged and not. There are enough lines. The point is: how do we bridge them?

George Orwell famously wrote of language:

'It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.

... If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers.'
Forty years ago this week, hapless newbie ghost Fred Mumford teleported himself into a dustbin, marking the start of Rentaghost. First broadcast on Tuesday 6 January 1976, it became a staple of '70s/80s UK children's TV.

Rentaghost centred on a group of misfit ghosts hiring out their skills to the living under the management of Harold Meaker - Mr Suburbia incarnate. It spanned two distinct eras - 1976-8 and 1980-4. The first starred a trio of sprites: contemporary ghost Fred Mumford (played by Anthony Jackson), who'd recently drowned aged 28; Victorian ghost Hubert Davenport; and Timothy Claypole, a jester from the court of Queen Matilda.

The death of actor Michael Darbyshire, who played Davenport, forced the series in a different direction. Mumford left, and Claypole was now joined by veteran Glaswegian actress Molly Weir (Hazel the McWitch) as a regular and, one series on, by Sue Nicholls as Nadia Popov. Plots now focussed on the ghosts coming up with crazy business ideas for Harold Meaker and his wife Ethel, as well as altercations with the Meakers' next door neighbours, Arthur and Rose Perkins.

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I've enjoyed Rentaghost for different reasons in two eras of my life too.

In my childhood, I lapped up the energy and wordplay. Mumford, complaining about his over-intrusive parents wished they'd 'get lost'. Mischievous sprite Timothy Claypole cast a spell, ensuring they'd do just that - in a later scene we find a worried Mr and Mrs Mumford who can't find the way to the bathroom in their own home. This was sheer brilliance - common sayings given a concrete, literal meaning, watched by children at the stage of intellectual development when they can just about start thinking metaphorically. The fun was as much about knowing you could get the joke as the ridiculousness of the joke itself.

Rediscovering Rentaghost as an adult, it's the slap-stick pantomime quality and bonkers scripts of the later series that appeal:

Department Store owner, Adam Painting (a young Christopher Biggins) seeks Claypole's help when several of his staff go off sick. They set on the idea of transferring illnesses to objects in the store - a shop dummy literally sneezes its head off, a phone gets laryngitis and Ethel Meaker's birthday present, a music centre (now there's a '70s/80s term) catches measles and blows up as she switches it on.

The Meakers help Painting out again by arranging for the ghosts to transport furniture to his customers. This culminates in the Meakers unwittingly gliding down a residential street in South Ealing on a furniture-laden flying carpet, singing 'Make Believe' from Showboat to piano accompaniment. The carpet crashes into a lamppost.

A gale in the Meakers' kitchen causes chaos. Instigated by Claypole to dry a pile of washing, it deftly lifts three custard pies which just so happen to be lined up on the kitchen counter, each hitting a face with superb accuracy.

Where else in '80s kids' TV could you find a magic talisman - a non-too-realistic piece of cardboard with a tiny lightbulb - which lights up to grant wishes? It had been surreptitiously given to placate the Meakers' next-door-neighbours. Trouble was, Rose and Arthur Perkins knew nothing of its wish-granting powers:

Mrs Perkins expresses dislike at a pot geranium but nevertheless - 'Let's hope it grows on me'. After a faint flash of the talisman, the plant ends up growing out of her head.

The Perkins, worried about Harold Meaker not getting any sleep - 'Let's hope he gets 40 winks'. Meaker, winking at fellow train passengers, causes such a commotion he gets thrown off.

The Perkins, exasperated by the at the Meakers' erratic behaviour - 'Go away, hop it!' The Meakers, ghosts, and Dobbin the pantomime horse do just that, 'hop it' down the BBC set masquerading as a back garden. It's a good job the Perkins were so polite and hadn't just told them all to f- off!

Writer Bob Block's imagination was given free rein, a little too free. The actors were clearly given similar freedom to just have fun, as proved by the outrageous campery.

In a way, this was a show by outsiders for outsiders. The series' longest-standing actor, Michael Staniforth who appeared in every episode as Timothy Claypole, was gay in those dark days when this typically meant being ostracised. He died of an AIDS-related illness in 1987, the year before the UK government passed the infamous Section 28. And Fred Mumford, desperately hiding the fact that he was now a ghost from his parents, trying to pass as 'alive', seemed very familiar to gay men in the closet never plucking up the courage to tell their parents.

Rentaghost was much more though - every oddball had a place. This was inclusivity without even trying. In fact the entire production had a feel of easy spontaneity, something to be treasured.

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The show was introduced to new young audiences as part of Saturday morning kids' telly The 815 from Manchester in the early '90s, and Dick and Dom in da Bungalow in the '00s, not to mention '90s satellite TV repeats. It's as if it never really went away, sporadically haunting YouTube and bootleg copies turning up for sale online. Sadly though, only the first series has been released on DVD.
Much of the excitement and furore surrounding driverless cars is due to two potential benefits; reducing the number of accidents caused by human error, and allowing us to be transported whilst having freedom to engage in other activities. But one of the benefits often included in the 'long list' rather than the headlines of driverless cars is the independence driverless cars could give to people with a whole array of disabilities. This effect could be the way that society is most changed by the introduction of this incredible new technology.

The UN estimates that 15% of the world are disabled, amounting to one billion people. There are around 11.9million people who are classified as living with a disability in the UK, amounting to 19% of the population. For many of these people, transport is a key issue. For obvious reasons those with physical disabilities often cannot learn to drive cars, but it also extends to those with mental incapacities; for example, those with epilepsy cannot drive if they have had a seizure in the previous 12 months. To compound this issue, outside of the major cities, public transport in the UK is often of limited quantity and quality. Despite efforts by the government, many aspects of public transport are still not disability-friendly.

The nature of public transport means that individuals with disability often do not have the independence to travel when and where they want to. This can lead to a sense of entrapment that causes stress and anxiety. Furthermore, disabled people are still 30% less likely to be unemployed, and difficulty with transportation could be considered an important reason behind this trend.

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However, driverless cars have the potential to change this. With driverless cars likely to be able to take people to destinations at a single command, this could create the independence that is a central desire for many disabled people. It could offer a whole new world of possibilities to this 19% of the population, both at work and socially.

This could have the added effect of helping to change attitudes towards people with disability. More able to be involved in society and at work, the stigma surrounding disability could be shed more quickly as engagement with able-bodied individuals becomes more frequent.

This seems like a positive story. But there is a small sticking point. Recent draft legislation in the state of California regarding driverless cars has included the need for a qualified driver to be behind the wheel of an automated car. Similarly, Nissan were recently quoted as saying driving without an able-bodied driver behind the wheel was not a priority.

For this and other associated reasons, Google are fighting hard to take this requirement for an able-bodied driver out of the draft legislation. This is an example of a company trying to ensure the automotive industry change will be truly transformational for society, against the aversion of government. A focus by the industry on ensuring this complete change will be crucial to achieving this goal.

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1. Be prepared. After visiting the doctor for a routine repeat prescription, I didn't expect to leave with a referral for an ultrasound of my thyroid, which apparently seemed unusually large. Whether out of kindness or genuine belief, everyone remained positive - the ultrasound technician who stated that the nodules on my thyroid 'were not necessarily cancerous' and the doctors at the biopsy who were only concerned by the size of the nodules. When I received a call from the hospital the day before Halloween asking me to come in tomorrow, it now seems stupidly naive to have assumed that I was being invited for a routine appointment. I wasn't ready psychologically or practically to be told that I had cancer. As the doctor unloaded this information and asked if I had any questions, I didn't have a rational and emotionally calm person accompanying me, who would remember the important details and be ready with a useful response. Always expecting the worst is clearly not a healthy way to live life, but if a friend asks whether she should come along to your appointment, say yes.

2. Be understanding. After my cancer diagnosis I didn't turn down the offer of company during hospital visits. For those early appointments I was fortunate enough to be joined by my closest friend. She even stayed for hours in a cramped waiting room while I lay unconscious in surgery. My parents flew over from the UK to Montreal, Canada with just a week notice of my surgery date. But when the operation was done and I was supposedly recovered, people returned to their own lives and I found myself uncomfortably alone. My cancer treatment unfortunately came at a time of job and immigration-related insecurity, and my troubles began to feel like a burden too big to bear. When I lay still for hours wrapped in linen like a mummy in a CT scan tomb, a camera claustrophobically close to my head, there was no one waiting to ask how the scan went. Another friend later told me that we each carry a bucket with us, and this bucket can only hold so much of our own troubles or anyone else's. As devastating as cancer is, it can be easy to forget that there may be others struggling with their own over-flowing buckets.

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3. Be imaginative. When you meet a friend or worse an acquaintance at a party or another purposefully upbeat occasion and they ask how you are or what you've been up to, you're probably not going to want to reply with 'well today I discovered I have cancer' or 'today I cried after being told again that I can't have the treatment I need'. Even if it took all of your energy to come to this party and you really don't think you have anything positive to say, use your imagination. Tell someone you're going to Hawaii next week if it will prevent another public display of tears.

4. Be patient. Having my thyroid removed and taking a new prescription meant that my body was going through some changes. Despite the intense fatigue, it became impossible to sleep at night. Heat intolerance made me sweat in a most disgusting way and forced me to open up my windows on a frigid winter evening. Feelings of fear, frustration and irritability finally culminated in an anxiety attack that brought tears so intense they shook my entire body with an alarming profundity. My heart felt as though it was trying to escape my chest in search of a more worthy body. Monitoring my weight each day and the amount of hair left on my comb after showering was a way to feel somewhat in control of the situation. Discovering new, unanticipated symptoms, like the dark hairs slowly staking claim of my chin and the skin tags appearing around my eyes, only intensified the feeling that I had become the occupier of a body I no longer recognised. It took a while to feel better. Before my surgery I ran at least three times a week. My first major solo outing after the operation involved trudging in the snow a few blocks down the street to a bookshop, and it seemed like the greatest achievement I had ever made. Even now, a year on, I'm still waiting for my thyroxine dose to be optimised. But I'm running again, maintaining a stable temperature and only experiencing insomnia some of the time.

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News / National

by Stephen Jakes

A political Commentator Josepher Madlanduna has said MDc-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai seem to be too soft even against the people who brutalised him such that he is not matching the caliber of people to challenge the vigorous Zanu PF.In his Facebook post Madlanduna said as for himself he can not allow another man to violate him like what was at some pint done to Tsvangirai by Zanu PF"I cannot allow another man to do this to me and pretend nothing happened by accepting a fake smile! Sometimes I feel Tsvangirai is too soft and no match for Zanu PF!" he said.
As another day goes by in the Saudi-led bombardment of Yemen, news reports told of air-strikes hitting a community centre for blind people. The unlawful bombings by Saudi Arabia, backed by her Gulf allies and the United Nations Security Council, have been described by Amnesty International as deliberately targeting civilian populations, particularly schools, which have put thousands of children out of education in a clear breach of international humanitarian law.

BBC News Night recently led on a story detailing Campaign Against The Arms Trade's (CAAT) potential legal action against the government over the supply of UK military equipment. Indeed, the United Nations' Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) clearly states that weapons should not be sold to countries if there is a potential that the arms or items could be used to facilitate a serious violation of human rights.

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Our mutual economic relationship makes us complicit in the systematic abuses taking place, our government deliberately turning a blind eye because the authoritarian Gulf regime is the UK's biggest arms export market - and the arms trade is good business for a corporate elite who yield huge profits from death and destruction on a massive scale.

When we consider Saudi Arabia's approach to human rights domestically the picture becomes even bleaker, authorities stamping out freedom of speech, expression or belief outside of Wahhabi Islam, and regularly imprisoning opponents without trial. Take for example the Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi, sentenced to 1,000 lashes for publishing material considered anti-Islamic. Homosexuality, lesbianism, and behaviours deemed gender inappropriate are branded a crime, punishable by torture and execution - often by way of beheading.

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With such a huge amount of evidence pointing to Saudi Arabia as being the biggest sponsor of global terrorism, why is it that successive UK governments continue to support a rogue state while warning of decades long counter-terror operations? A state which is engineering international instability and an increasingly more dangerous world?

At a time when our civil liberties are gradually being eroded in the name of national security, and in the name of protecting the public from terrorist attacks, there is a much needed debate about how we choose our allies, and about creating a coherent strategy in alleviating our world from the 'Global War on Terror.' How can we claim to be a country that supports equality, diversity and freedom of speech when we continue with this inherently hypocritical trade relationship; a trade relationship which is facilitating such huge loss of life in Yemen and other Middle Eastern states?
When one of my closest friends, Rachel, was diagnosed with breast cancer just before Christmas a few years ago, I was speechless and didn't know what I could possibly do to make her feel better.

The horrible news was made worse by the fact that her mum had died of breast cancer when she was only 13-years-old. It seemed really unfair when Rachel found out she too had cancer after seeing its devastating effects first-hand when she was a teen.

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Rachel's cancer was already stage three when it was diagnosed, so it was quite advanced and she needed surgery and chemotherapy immediately, making the news even more of a shock to those of us who know and love her - and believe me, there's a lot of us!

We have a big group of girls that get together regularly - whether it's for a drink in the local or a cuppa in the kitchen. We're all mums and met Rachel at our childrens' school - she's a teaching assistant there and we hit it off straight away. It didn't take long for the whole friendship group to grow - everyone adores her!

The ten of us desperately wanted to do something to get behind her and show her that although we couldn't truly empathise with what she was going through having not experienced cancer personally, she had the support of her closest female friends and we were prepared to give up on some of the things we love - including the occasional tipple - to show this.

After hearing about Cancer Research UK's alcohol-free challenge, Dryathlon, we decided to kick the booze for a month and raise as much money as we possibly could to fund research and treatments that Rachel and many others benefit from. That January, 'Sober Sisters' was born and, determined to lift Rachel's spirits, we put down our own (as well as the wine and beer) for 31 long days.

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It wasn't easy - we regularly catch up over a glass of wine but we knew we had the best chance of sticking to it if we did it together. And we did. For the whole of January the bar bill didn't stray from the soft drinks. The toughest was undoubtedly a Friday evening after a long week at work, but if Rachel could fight cancer we sure as hell could fight the urge for alcohol!

We found substitutes for drinking, things like fizzy water in a nice wine glass - it's easier to pretend you're still treating yourself that way. At one point my husband even handed me a cold Stella and asked me to hold it for him for a minute - I couldn't believe he could be so insensitive!

We all got through the month without cracking and raised more than 1000 for Cancer Research UK. Thankfully Rachel's treatment has been successful and two years on from her original diagnosis, she's recovering well.

Doing Dryathlon was difficult - but definitely worth it and the struggle of four weeks off the booze is nothing compared to what cancer patients go through every day. This January, we're bulk buying the sparkling again as 'Sober Sisters' is making a comeback and we're determined to raise even more funds for our wonderful best friend and for Cancer Research UK's life-saving work.

Whether you've been affected by cancer yourself, know someone who has gone or is going through it, or just want to do your body some good - whilst doing a good deed too - I'd urge you to put down the pint glasses and get on board for a brilliant cause!

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To support the Sober Sisters and their challenge this January, visit their JustGiving page..
Thursday's speech from George Osborne is nothing short of astounding. After five and a half years in charge of the UK's economy he's reaching for excuses to explain his own failure. And while he is right to warn how what is happening in China and the rest of the world could affect Britain, the truth is that he's been far too late to wake up to this threat.

After an Autumn Statement and Spending Review in which he trumpeted unexpected high levels of growth allowing him his supposed reprieve on tax credit and police cuts, his admission today that the UK economy is facing a 'cocktail of threats' is an embarrassing admission of his own failure and, quite frankly an incompetent u-turn.

In a blog post on the Huffington Post last summer I explicitly warned George Osborne about his complacency and hubris when it comes to world economic growth and the strength of the Chinese economy.

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And in October John McDonnell warned Osborne about the uncertain medium-term future for the global economy when Labour - along with most economists - opposed Osborne's fiscal charter.

Everyone other than George Osborne seemed to recognise the warning signs early on. Chinese growth has slowed from an annual rate of around 10% before the financial crisis to approximately 7% currently. Last year Chinese business and household debts rose to 207% of national income and China's foreign reserves shrank for the first time since 1992 as private capital flowed out of the country.

Not only has Osborne been blind to the risks of the Chinese economy, one of his closest advisers - the Treasury minister charged with heading up investment and devolution, Jim O'Neill - actually dismissed fears that the Chinese stock market was dangerously overvalued and other concerns about the country's financial stability.

The Bank of England - if not George Osborne - has been clear about the threat to the UK economy. In November the Bank warned that if Chinese GDP were to fall by 3% relative to its trend then output in the UK would be around 0.3% lower as a result. Similarly they highlighted how in the second half of last year global asset prices were "noticeably sensitive" to developments in China.

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It is only now, in a week where China has had to twice suspend trading on its markets because of share price collapse, that George Osborne has chosen to highlight the danger.

Not content with turning a blind eye to the warning signs, George Osborne has over the last few months been doing everything he can to court Chinese investors. On his trip to China in September Osborne insisted that "no economy in the world is as open to Chinese investment as the UK". He subsequently agreed a deal offering 2billion investment in order for a Chinese company to build and run a huge nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point. Labour has been clear about the security and economic threats of selling off national assets to China, with no adequate response provided by the Chancellor.

But let's also be clear about what is behind this new found recognition from the Chancellor. Today's speech isn't simply about what's happening in China and elsewhere in the world it's about his own failure right here in the UK.

The only people who have been complacent about the outlook for the UK economy are George Osborne and his Tory colleagues. As Labour has warned, the Tories' economic plans are reliant on rising household debt, more borrowing from overseas, an unbalanced economy still too focused on the City and have overseen the biggest current account deficit since the Duke of Wellington was Prime Minister. George Osborne's failure to deliver on his infrastructure pledges, support manufacturing and drive forward our exports markets mean our economic recovery is much too fragile.

It is too little, too late for George Osborne to warn about the risks to our economic recovery, including those coming from China. Now is not the time for him to line up excuses for his own failure - if there is a cocktail of risks lined up for the British economy, it's one Osborne has helped to mix. It's time for him to accept responsibility for a crisis that has developed on his watch, and become far worse because his own policies. These are your chickens, George - don't disown them when they come home to roost.

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We're living in a technology-driven world. Calculations can be done in an instant; you no longer even need to reach for your calculator. A tablet, ipad, laptop or mobile telephone will almost certainly have a calculator function - you're never far away from something that will help you to deal with basic arithmetic if you can't do it for yourself.

Why, then, is learning times tables in any way relevant in a modern classroom? You'd be forgiven for thinking that Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has got it wrong, yet again, when she suggests that all children should know their times tables up to 12 x 12 by the age of 11. Yet as a former Maths teacher I'm convinced that knowledge of such essential arithmetic by the end of primary school is vital. I have a sneaky suspicion though that she may be correct by accident; right for completely wrong reasons. The unions have now come out and opposed Morgan, for the puerile and overly-simplistic reason that 'everyone has a calculator now'. I speak from personal experience when I say that this spectacularly misses the point. Shouldn't the teaching unions be talking to the maths teachers they represent?

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There's a tendency in the Conservative Party to hark back to the 'good old days', to suggest that education has lost something in recent decades as trendy teaching methods have replaced the traditional, that a certain amount of learning by rote can be a useful academic exercise and develop concentration. As a former teacher, I think that's an over-simplistic approach which has the occasional grain of truth. Different children learn in different ways. The modern approach encourages children to develop skills of problem-solving, which in some ways offers a significant advantage. But it also risks leaving other children behind. Depending on the subject, or even the topic, factual learning is vital.

When I learned Spanish at school, there was an emphasis on vocabulary and verbs. If you don't learn the words you need to know, or learn patterns of regular and irregular verbs, you won't be able to speak the language. As teaching of modern foreign languages has lessened its emphasis on such learning, I've noticed a decline in the ability of students to speak correctly in the target language. Recently, on one of the Spanish islands, I was discussing an image with a graphic designer. He made a change which I hadn't requested, and it didn't look right. "No, the one you had before", I said. He undid the change, then said "When English people speak Spanish they always get the verbs mixed up. But you use them perfectly". In Spanish (as in English) there are many past tenses. All I'd done was choose the correct one. Learn a couple of phrases which use the tenses correctly, drop them into an exam - and hey presto, you've fooled an examiner into believing that you know the tense. Great for picking up a decent exam grade, but unhelpful for actually using the language.

Here's the point: factual learning should never be done for the sake of it, harking back to some halcyon days that probably never even existed in the first place. When there's a genuine educational need, that's a different matter altogether. There is such a need for learning times tables, but I haven't heard it come from Nicky Morgan's mouth.

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When I was teaching Mathematics, I always found it far easier to teach a range of topics, from algebra to geometry, from trigonometry to Pythagoras, to those who already had a basic arithmetic knowledge. The difference became more striking to me when teaching older children; at age 15 or 16 it became more important than at age 11. Questions might require, say, five steps of working out. At different stages, there will be a need to perform a simple arithmetic calculation. Those who did not know the answer would either have to work it out, or (if a calculator was allowed on that examination paper) input the numbers into a calculator. The thought process was broken; in having to take time to deal with basic arithmetic they would forget some of the detail of the question. From there, mistakes would creep in. The student who knew their times tables (and was proficient in adding and subtracting quickly) was in a position to continue and solve the problem uninterrupted. Those who possessed basic arithmetic proficiency would consistently outperform those who did not. If we want to improve mathematical standards in our secondary schools, then it is important to make sure that we first improve standards of numeracy in our primary schools.

To take a more advanced example, as a personal point of professional awareness whilst teaching I made sure that I knew all of my square numbers up to 50 x 50. If you know that 10 x 10 = 100, then 11 x 9 is one less than 100, which is 99. Know that 12 x 12 = 144? Then it follows that 13 x 11 = 143. Using that simple trick, and because I knew 23 x 23, I could work out instantly that 24 x 22 = 528. After learning a few more similar tricks, two-digit multiplications became very easy for me - though no doubt politics has dulled some of my sharpness by now.
The election of Jeremy Corbyn has been seen as a swing to the left in the Labour party - as a majority of members and registered supporters put the nails in the coffin of the New Labour project. But it may have as much to do with a call for greater democracy - something that the British political establishment has long been deeply suspicious of.

Although many politicians describe democracy as a central 'British value', democracy arrived relatively late in Britain, long after the culture and institutions of the state were well established. Only in 1918 did working class men and women over 30 get the vote, and only in 1928 was a complete franchise granted, with votes for all men and women over 21 (lowered to 18 in 1969). But Britain's democratic revolution remained unfinished - retaining a range of undemocratic institutions: a hereditary monarch - who is head of the armed forces (thus theoretically able lead a coup against parliament in a crisis), a House of Lords with substantial powers to delay legislation and a civil service which constitutes a permanent unelected strand that is highly influential in the running of the country.

Even in the supposedly democratic element of the British system - elections - there is a deeply held antipathy to giving Britons real and meaningful choice. We continue to use First Past the Post - an archaic system which is only used by Britain and former British colonies. Our system massively limits limits choice, ensuring that there are only ever two main parties. The absence of preferential voting causes small parties to lose out as voters are forced to vote negatively, to keep out the party they dislike the most. Unless a party is territorially concentrated, (like the SNP or Plaid Cymru) it is unlikely to win more than a handful of seats until it reaches around 30% of the national vote share. The lack of a multiparty system limits the ideas that are discussed - there is great pressure on the parties not to differ too much from the other, and to focus disagreement on relatively minor issues. The fact that the electoral system has remained in place, is a measure of how little emphasis Britain places on democracy. One of the most common arguments in favour of the status quo is that it 'ensures strong government'. This is by its very nature an anti-democratic argument - a system that continually distorts the national vote is maintained because of its ability to uphold an meta-democratic ideal - that of strength and stability.

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Given the lack of meaningful choice at (most) general elections, it might be presumed that the real democracy happens within those parties, in internal elections to choose the leader. But in fact, Party members choosing their leaders is a very recent innovation. Until 1965 the leader of the Conservative Party 'emerged' - appointed by Party grandees. The party has only given members a vote since 1999, from a shortlist of 2 drawn up by MPs. Labour members have only had a vote since 1981, and until Ed Miliband's reforms of 2014 they voted as part of a complex 'electoral college' in which the votes of Labour MP's were worth far more than those of rank and file Trade Unionists and Party members. The 2015 Labour leadership was the first to feature One Member One Vote, allowing members a genuine choice between 4 divergent candidates. While the new rules required nominations from 15% of the Parliamentary Party (35 MPs) an intense grassroots campaign persuaded MPs to include Jeremy Corbyn, creating a genuine choice in what was arguably the first genuinely democratic election of a party leader in British political history.

Since winning, Corbyn has consulted members extensively, instituting the novelty of asking questions received from the public at Prime Minister's Questions, and culminating in the approx. 70,000 emails received in response to party's Syria consultation. The latter was mocked by opponents - who questioned how the leadership could possibly read so many emails. They were right - but the answer to that problem is not less member participation, but the building of a genuine system of internal online democracy so that members can vote regularly on a range of policy issue. This has been promised by Corbyn and Ben Soffa, Labour's new Head of Digital organising, has confirmed that the digital infrastructure is currently being built in order to deliver this.

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Such an approach is totally new to the UK - British political culture prefers to talk of 'consultation' rather than direct democracy, and mass votes on specific policies have only taken place a handful of times in British history, all since 1973. But interntationally the idea of political parties operating through internal democracy is not new - in fact it is becoming something of a trend. The poster child for this movement is Podemos, the Spanish anti-austerity party that emerged out of the 15-M 'Indignados' movement and received 20.65% of the vote in the recent Spanish election. It practices radical internal democracy, with online deliberations and voltes on all policy questions through an app and a sprawling set of Reddit pages known as 'Plaza Podemos' as well as in-person 'citizens assemblies'. Direct democracy is also a key feature of Italy's 5 Star Movement, founded around the comedian Beppe Grillo in 2009. Proposals put forward by representative of the movement in parliament are those that prove most popular in online votes held on its website 'Sistema Operativo'. A similar approach is taken by Germany's Pirate Party who use a system called 'liquid feedback' which allows a wide range of members to edit and refine policy documents. Rival policy documents are then voted for to see which has most support. From 2002-2013 a local Swedish party Demoex elected councillors as delegates - they are strictly obliged to vote according to the result of a prior membership decision. The party is now a member of the national grouping 'Active Democracy' - which aspires to implement such an approach across the whole of Sweden. The ideal software for mass participatory democracy has probably not yet been designed - it requires a mix of discussion forums, collaborative editing in order to co-write policy proposals, and multi option ballots, with most current systems offering one or two of those. Due to its ubiquitous nature many political groups organise through Facebook - but it only really offers a forum for discussion. An alternative platform, Loomio, which emerged out of the Occupy movement, allows a group to edit a proposal until it all are happy, but the designers' belief in consensus decision making means that there are no multi-option ballots, making decision making rather laborious. The mass participation movement is still waiting for the free, user friendly digital technology that will allow direct democracy to truly flourish.
With a New Year and the holiday season coming to an end, the EU referendum campaign is heating up. But since our membership of European Union is a crucial constitutional issue, there's one issue that can't be ignored: democracy.

We need a real debate on Britain's democratic relationship with Europe, beyond simple in/out divides. This is something that can unite both camps. Whether Britain stays in the European Union or not, there's a democratic deficit that must be addressed when it comes to our relationship with Europe.

On Monday, Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones and Ukip leader Nigel Farage will go head to head at the Institute of Welsh Affairs.

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There are key questions both camps must answer.

Carwyn Jones has in the past raised the issue of the so-called 'Bridgend Question' - the fact that in the European Council of Ministers, Britain's case on for example farming policy is always put by Westminster's Minister for Agriculture, regardless of whether Welsh, Scottish or Northern Ireland Ministers agree to the line or not. How do we address this question in the context of the referendum if voters choose to stay in the EU?

And there are questions for Nigel Farage too - if Britain does vote to leave the EU, it will have no say over the trade rules we'll need to comply with in order to conduct our business with Europe. How will Britain outside Europe ensure that citizens and their elected government have real influence over these issues? And if the devolved nations vote to stay in the UK but England votes to leave, should England's votes pull Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland out of the European Union?

What's more, the scale of the constitutional change that would result from Britain leaving Europe would have to be addressed nationally. We would need a constitutional convention of citizens to look at how we move forward as a democracy, after what would be a huge political change.

If we remain in Europe, there are vital reforms we must make to improve the UK's democratic relationship with the EU - and give Wales and the other devolved nations more of a voice over European affairs.

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Today, the Electoral Reform Society are making four key recommendations if Britain votes to stay in the EU:

Change the voting system for electing MEPs from a 'closed list' to an open, candidate-centred electoral system, the Single Transferable Vote Consensus should be sought with Ministers in the devolved nations on the stances taken by the government during EU policy negotiations Allow Ministers from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to take part in meetings of the EU's Council of Ministers Open up the EU policy-making process to enable citizens to become more involved

Why? For a start, the voting system for the EU elections puts power in the hands of parties, rather than citizens, allowing party bosses to draw up candidate lists behind closed doors. We need a system which lets the public decide: a candidate-centred voting system - the Single Transferable Vote - where citizens can actually pick the representatives themselves.

Secondly, Ministers from the devolved nations should have a right to hold UK ministers to account on the stances taken by the government during negotiations. The discussions in the run-up to the vote affect people in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland significantly - whether it's in terms of employee rights or free trade, environmental legislation or government vetoes.

And if we vote to stay in, Ministers from the devolved nations should have the opportunity to take part in meetings of the Council of Ministers. It is not right that they are locked out of essential debates: other EU countries such as Germany and Belgium allow federal regions to participate - there's no reason we can't.

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Citizens also need far more of a say over what happens in the EU - including shaping EU legislation. From citizens' assemblies to public hearings and open debates on EU legislation in Parliament, we can open up the policy-making process so that the people affected by European law aren't left out in the cold if the UK votes to stay in.

Stay or go, the elephant in the room is clearly a need for a proper debate on democracy and our relationship with Europe.
Former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has a habit of finding others to blame for Government failures. He notoriously accused the badgers of 'moving the goalposts' to excuse the badger cull shambles under his watch. Now he seems to be saying that Britain's membership of the European Union is to blame for the floods.

Last month's floods in Cumbria and Lancashire cost farmers and rural businesses an estimated 20 million. And the costs of the Christmas flooding in Lancashire and Yorkshire are still being counted.

As climate change worsens, the risks of flooding increase. Periods of intense rainfall could increase in frequency by a factor of five this century.

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Rather than acknowledge this, Brexit campaigners like Owen Paterson choose to ignore it and to peddle EU myths again. This issue is far more complex than he seems able to grasp. But then, who can take seriously anything said by a climate change denier, who, as Environment Secretary, removed flooding from the Environment Department's priorities.

It is complacent to suggest that more dredging is all that is needed. Owen Paterson, the soi-disant saviour of Somerset, seems to think the area is no longer at risk. Local residents will no doubt be paying more attention to the Environment Agency, which only this morning had 3 flood warnings and 19 alerts in place for Somerset.

We do need to look at ways in which we can work better with farmers and land owners to achieve flooding resilience objectives. Clearly, what has been done so far is not enough. As the NFU has said, services provided by farmers which protect urban areas downstream are at present "unrewarded and often unplanned".

The Environment Agency has said the UK needs a complete rethink of flood defences. And this must include better management of river catchments, from land use in our upstream areas, to estuaries and lowland areas.

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Owen Paterson also ignores the benefits that EU membership brings to British farmers, with nearly two-thirds of our agricultural exports going to the EU and EU subsidies providing 50-60% of UK farm incomes. Liz Truss confirmed at the Oxford Farming Conference this week that Defra has no Plan B for protecting farmers if the UK were to vote to leave the EU.
Back in 2008 as Barack Obama was moving to prominence as the presumptive Democrat nominee for the US Presidency in pockets of American society a new phenomenon was taking hold.

People who for whatever reason simply couldn't stand the idea of Mr Obama becoming Commander in Chief began questioning his eligibility to stand for office.

Small numbers of political activists who were opposed to his campaign began questioning the fact that the future President was born in Hawaii. They speculated that Mr Obama could actually have started his life in Kenya, homeland of his father, or even Indonesia, where he spent part of his childhood.

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The argument of the activists was that if he was not a natural born citizen of the United States Obama would not under Article Two of the US Constitution be eligible to become President.

The Birther Movement had arrived.

In the years that followed it has been proved beyond any reasonable doubt, not least through the release of his long-form birth certificate, that of course Obama had been born where he had always claimed and had validly become President.

Of course trifling matters such as formal government documents didn't convince the Birthers. You see when you subscribe to a conspiracy theory no amount of evidence will ever prove anything, because evidence can always be fabricated, can't it?

Eight years after the Birther Movement started it's still alive and kicking and with President Obama approaching his final year in office in a revisionist twist is now being used by some Republicans as a tool against Hillary Clinton, who they argue (despite plenty of evidence to the contrary) was the original orchestrator of the allegations.

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The truth is conspiracy theories are nothing new and will always be with us.

Conspiracy theorists are nothing new either and they always have one thing in common: their theories come to the forefront when they are losing the argument.

At the moment Labour has its own set of political conspiracy theorists and this week they have gone into overdrive because they believe the BBC has begun plotting with the Conservative government to discredit Jeremy Corbyn.

Their evidence for the conspiracy is thin to say the least. They claim that the BBC, in particular in the guise of Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg, connived with ex-junior minister Stephen Doughty MP in getting him to resign live on their lunchtime Daily Politics show.

Now the BBC bias conspiracists won't be swayed by the fact Mr Doughty had already decided to resign prior to appearing on the show. They won't be convinced that he was particularly aware of his own media management.

They won't be persuaded that the job of any news organisation is to break news and undoubtedly in the wake of a shadow cabinet reshuffle the unexpected resignation of one of Mr Corbyn's front bench team was newsworthy.

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They won't believe that, in the same circumstances, any other news organisation would have done exactly the same.

They will only see another tenuous link to an idea that despite all of their editorial standards requiring balance the BBC, alongside the rest of the 'Tory controlled' media will stop at nothing to prevent Mr Corbyn from ever taking up the office of Prime Minister.

The problem is for those that see conspiracies most ordinary people in turn see cranks not willing to accept the truth. Definitely not the sort of people you are going to lend your vote to.

Jeremy Corbyn has a strong narrative, he is a man of clear views and principles. The BBC is a news organisation who, just like every other, will broadcast news stories.

Instead of turning into some sort of British birther movement the job of Labour activists, and our leaders, is to win the argument, to strongly oppose and set out clear, positive alternatives.

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I admit - I love America. I love the country, the people, the diversity, the food, the craziness. I know it has its faults but in general I love it.

Except for one major thing. Guns. The country is a mess over this. If it wasn't so tragic it would be laughable. The whole thing has become a farce and I want to add my bit of nonsense to the subject.

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Barak Obama is finally going to act and try to do something about gun control across the US. About time too, but I fear it will be a false dawn again due to the difficulties he will face.

It is a ludicrous situation. He says that he "can't just sit around and do nothing" any more due to the "letters he has received from parents, teachers etc", yet he is almost powerless. This is due to the power of Congress and the influence that minor states yield who want to uphold the second amendment and maintain the right to bear arms. There is also the farce that is the influence of the National Rifle Association (NRA) who seem able to control the government with regards to gun policy.

Now let's look at some facts.

The second amendment was ratified in 1791. It 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". It hardly even makes literary sense but, also, note some things within it. A Militia - i.e. a military organisation, not Joe Public who lives in suburbia, or a disgruntled student. "Bear arms" - technically by definition (on Dictionary.com) that means they can carry arms but not actually have permission to use them!

It was also written to safeguard against the Federal Government at the time, who were an opposing militia, not for people to shoot each other over an argument or if they are feeling marginalised by a part of society.

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In short, the second amendment has no relevance to modern life but it still remains in place and is being interpreted so that people can keep their weapons. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to argue against as it is written in law and it does give people a constitutional right.

So legally it may be correct, but is it morally correct? No. Absolutely not. The statistics alone speak for themselves. Add to that the emotional turmoil that is caused by gun deaths in the US and there is no sane argument in favour. Although, I am not a lawyer and there are people with far bigger brains than me and with legal knowledge that would be able to rubbish my arguments.

However, it is still unlikely that President Obama will succeed in his latest quest.

Fear not, I have a solution. Instead of trying to ban guns or put stricter controls on them, follow my simple plan.

Ban bullets.

As far as I can see, it is flawless.

I have conducted some research into this. The dictionary definition of "arms" is essentially "weapons". A bullet is not a weapon, it is a projectile that is fired from a weapon. Therefore, in banning bullets there are no constitutional rights being infringed but it is still rendering the weapon a non-killing device. There is a National Bullet Association but it has no power compared to the NRA therefore will hold no power in Congress, and from what I can see, the NRA has no policy on ammunition.

People can keep as many weapons as they want - pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, anything they can lay their hands on, but they will not be allowed to fire anything out of them. It will save thousands of lives and the make the country a far safer place.

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If people still want to have guns and run around the countryside with them, they still can. They can live out their frustrated dreams of being in the military or being a super-hunter, they can even carry a weapon on them on show at all times if it makes them feel better, but they will cause no damage.

A brilliant aside to this is the vision of some nutter dressed in camouflage running around and having to make gun noises so that he feels he is using his weapon. Bang! Rat-a-tat-tat! Uh-hu-hu-hu-hu-hu-hu-hu! They could even have those material signs that unravel under the barrel saying "BANG!" - I would give that as a concession too. It would be hilarious to see these people reduced to behaving and sounding like the idiots they so clearly are.
Next Monday (11th January 2016), the UK Parliament will debate an amendment to the current Armed Forces Bill that has been tabled by Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Fallon. If the amendment is agreed and enacted it will repeal 24 words from statute law dealing with "homosexual acts" and the armed forces. Although it is nearly 16 years since the "ban" on gay men and lesbians serving in the armed forces was lifted - following judgments by the European Court of Human Rights in Lustig-Prean and Beckett v the United Kingdom and Smith and Grady v the United Kingdom in 1999 - Parliament has never repealed sections 146(4) and 147(3) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 which continue to make provision for a "homosexual act" constituting a ground for discharging a member of Her Majesty's armed forces from the service.

Parliament's consideration of these provisions in the 1994 Act is the result of written evidence that former Lieutenant Commander Duncan Lustig-Prean and I submitted to the Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill in October 2015. In that submission, we set out our case for why these provisions should be repealed - which was, in essence, that they served no purpose and were discriminatory. In our view, Parliament had not simply forgotten or overlooked the 1994 provisions because they had been subject to a minor amendment by the Armed Forces Act 2006. Furthermore, they had been left untouched by the Law Commission who last reviewed the 1994 Act in 2015. Although the 1994 provisions were effectively made redundant by the change in Ministry of Defence policy relating to homosexuality and the armed forces in 2000, we argued that they could not be regarded - as is the case with any statute law currently in force - as entirely "dead letter".

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The provisions in the 1994 Act came into existence at the moment that homosexual acts ceased to be an offence under service law. They were enacted to ensure that although it would no longer be possible to prosecute personnel under the former Service Discipline Acts for engaging in a homosexual sexual act - which had previously been considered to constitute the offence of "disgraceful conduct" of an "indecent or unnatural kind" - the armed forces would still be able to administratively discharge (in effect, sack) gay men and lesbians. As Viscount Cranborne explained in the House of Lords, during Third Reading of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill, the aim was "to put on the face of the Bill a statement to the effect that the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the services ... would not affect their ability to discharge homosexuals". This reflected the dominant belief in Parliament at the time that, although it was acceptable to (albeit somewhat grudgingly) "decriminalize" homosexual sexual acts committed by service personnel, it was certainly not acceptable to continue to employ gay men and lesbians once they were "discovered".

One of the most interesting features of the Parliamentary consideration of our proposal to repeal the provisions in the 1994 Act so far has been the unanimity among MPs and other stakeholders. When the Select Committee took oral evidence in November 2015, it put our case to a range of witnesses, which included General Sir Nick Carter (Chief of the General Staff), who all agreed that the repeal was appropriate and necessary. No member of the Select Committee dissented from that view and Kevan Jones MP - who was, until Wednesday, Shadow Minister for Defence - moved an amendment to include a new clause in the current Armed Forces Bill to repeal the 1994 provisions. That amendment was deemed not to be acceptable because, since the 1994 provisions relate to the Merchant Navy as well as the Armed Forces, the Government's view was that "it would appear unfair and inconsistent to amend the provisions in the 1994 Act only on behalf of the armed forces".

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We could see the Government's point, but we continued to argue that the Armed Forces Bill was the most appropriate legislative vehicle for repealing discriminatory law relating to armed forces personnel. We were pleased, then, when Kevan Jones again moved his amendment when the Bill was considered in December 2015 in a Committee of the Whole House. MPs - including Martin John Docherty and Kirsten Oswald, both of the SNP - were supportive and there was again universal agreement about the need to repeal the provisions. However, the Government would still not accept the amendment because, as Mark Lancaster MP explained, although they were keen to see the legislation repealed, "[w]e would wish to repeal the legislation for both groups, but that is not possible in this Bill as the merchant navy falls under the auspices of the Department for Transport".

It appears, from the contents of the amendment tabled by Michael Fallon, that the Government has changed its mind and now agrees that it is both appropriate and important to repeal the 1994 provisions immediately. If the House of Commons adopt the amendment at Report Stage of the Armed Forces Bill it will, upon enactment, remove the 1994 provisions relating to the armed forces and leave in place the provisions relating to the Merchant Navy (which can be repealed at the next legislative opportunity). Given that the amendment now has Government backing, it appears highly likely that it will be accepted. If it is, some might remember it as the "Kevan Jones amendment" and be grateful for the way he twice made a strong case for its inclusion.

The Parliamentary passage of this amendment to the 1994 Act tells us much about the degree of change that there has been in the armed forces, and in society more generally, in respect of issues relating to homosexuality. Next Monday, when Michael Fallon's amendment is debated, will be the day before the 16th anniversary of the end of the "ban" on gay men and lesbians serving in the armed forces. During that time, the armed forces have gone from being homophobic institutions to being recognized as some of the most "gay friendly" workplaces in the UK. Parliamentarians, who used to fall over each other to decry the evils of homosexuals and homosexuality in the armed forces, appear united in the belief that this change has been positive and beneficial. The repeal of the provisions in the 1994 Act will have no immediate impact on serving personnel, but their passing will be a strong signal that the days of the State tolerating any discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in the armed forces are well and truly over. And this signal will be relevant to those around the world who continue to be criminalized and discharged from the armed forces for being gay.

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by Stephen Jakes

The MDC-T has unreservedly condemned what it termed the police heavy handedness in the brutal clampdown and the throwing of teargas on commuter omnibus operators in Chitungwiza early this week.In a statement the MDC said it appreciates the efforts by local authorities to bring order and sanity in urban transport sector, but we add that it is advisable for councils and commuter omnibus operators to engage in dialogue and come up with a peaceful way to bring order in our urban areas."In this regard, we welcome the exemplary way in which the Bulawayo City Council and commuter omnibus operators engaged in meaningful and fruitful dialogue to bring sanity in urban transportation in the country's second largest city. We urge other local authorities and commuter operators to emulate the city of Bulawayo example so that we tame the traffic jungle in our urban areas," reads the statement.The party said however, while the police have every right to assist in bringing order in our communities, the MDC condemns in the strongest terms the police decision to fire teargas on innocent commuter operators in legitimate demonstration against what they perceived to be Chitungwiza city council's punitive levies on all commuter operators in town."The barbaric action by the police to engage in a violent clampdown on citizens exercising their constitutional right should be condemned in the strongest terms. We expect the police to assist in facilitating meaningful dialogue between disputing parties and not to worsen the situation by brutally attacking commuter operators who are struggling to eke a living in these trying times," said the MDC-T."The MDC is on the side of any legitimate, constitutional and peaceful expression by citizens of the country, including commuter bus operators. There is no reason whatsoever for such heavy handedness by the police, whose responsibility is to maintain law and order and not cause unnecessary pain to citizens exercising their constitutional right of freedom of expression."The party said it notes that it is the police themselves who have gravely affected the transportation of urban commuters by their punitive fines of $100 for even small traffic offenses at a time Zimbabweans are surviving on less than US$1 a day."While we need the police on our roads to stem the road carnage, the new regime of punitive fines by the police will fuel corruption and are not consistent with the economic situation in the country," reads the statement."The MDC roundly condemns the stiff fines gazetted by government which have fuelled corruption on our roads by police officers as well as the law enforcement agents' use of hard, brutal power on innocent commuter operators exercising their Constitutional right in Chitungwiza. The police should operate within reasonable and civil limits and not be agents of brutality and disorder."
Junior doctors. We're everywhere these days, bleating and moaning about Jeremy Hunt and unfair this and unsafe that. I've made it my business to bleat and moan recently; but believe me I'd prefer not to have to. So what's riled us up so much? Could it be that the new contract the government is proposing is an absolute joke? You know the sort of joke your uncle would make at a family dinner and someone, who at that exact moment happens to be blowing up a balloon, let's the air squeak out slowly in total disbelief. To us, it's one of those moments.

The Conservatives came up with a clever slogan to put into their election manifesto - 'A truly seven day NHS'. However, it had one major problem: they didn't have any money to fund a 'truly' seven day service, or any more doctors, or indeed any idea what they meant by it. Cue slow balloon squeak and silence.

Undeterred by little things like reality, but Jeremy Hunt needed some advice. Not from the friendly NHS staff. No, no. Much better to pay management consultants and get some non-NHS executive types to draw up a report. The outcome is beyond parody. I happened to find their strategy briefing document stuffed behind the ladies loo in Waterloo station cradled by an empty bottle of Lambrini. Weird. See below:

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-Attack your doctors: Already working flat out well beyond their hours, ignore the higher than average suicide rate and highest drop out rates since records began. Imply that their 'lack of vocation' and the 'fact they are not prepared to work seven days' is the blockage (Never mind that they already do). Keep repeating 'we need a seven day NHS' as though it doesn't already exist. Ignore the fact that doctors want to improve care across seven days, and can provide many suggestions for how to do so based on what is actually happening in hospitals at 1am on a Sunday night; they are the problem and they are not really there. Keep repeating this. Repeat the lie so much that real patients decide not to go to hospital on weekends, delaying treatment for serious conditions. Look directly into the camera. Repeat 'we need a seven day NHS' without clarifying what on earth you mean.

-Bend the statistics: Use very limited studies done by your mates to claim 'more patients die at weekends'; even though this is not true, repetition again is key. Ignore the fact that actually fewer patients die at weekends and that the most patients die on Wednesdays. Claim 'variations in any care system can be fixed without actually knowing WHY they occur'. Make up willy nilly plans to tackle these 'variations'. Who needs science? Look directly into the camera. Repeat 'we need a seven day NHS' without clarifying whether you mean emergency or routine work.

-Ignore recruitment crisis: Ignore the exodus of doctors; pretend it doesn't exist and that gaps in rotas created by a lack of staff aren't crippling those who remain. Reduce pay to those who offer to fill those gaps as locums, completely ignoring the basic principles of supply and demand. The fact that only now only 53% of doctors continue to train in the NHS after their first few years can be buried, because we'll make the remaining ones work longer. Ignore that one of the greatest dangers to patient safety is tired doctors and deplete workforces. Claim stretching an overstretched overworked workforce even further is the way to make the NHS safer. Claim this tactic won't cause more of them to leave. Look directly into the camera; repeat 'seven day NHS'.

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-Remove safeguards: in particular penalties on NHS Trusts for forcing doctors to work unsafe hours. Ignore that tired doctors make mistakes. In later negotiations, offer as a 'compromise' to appoint a 'guardian', another expensive bureaucrat, not independent but appointed by the employer. Don't introduce a proactive system to design safe rotas; instead let juniors complain to the guardian when they realise their rotas aren't safe (putting more pressure on them, and when it's too late). Be sure to claim that this is a SAFER contract for doctors. Unfortunately, the pilot who transformed healthcare safety standards by ensuring maximum working hour limits in the NHS was on the honours list this year; so we'll need to distract everyone with Cameron's Wellies', to avoid a focus on this irony. Look directly into the camera; repeat 'seven day NHS'.

-Be belligerent: Negotiate for two years; don't budge at all on key points of concern of 50,000 frontline doctors who see the relevant issues daily. When talks fail and the BMA ballot for industrial action, claim they have 'refused to negotiate at all' despite the negotiations being on public record; hide those in an inaccessible section of the Department of Health Website and no one will know. Call them 'militant'; get your mates in the press to start a smear campaign against the vocal ones. Look directly into the camera; repeat seven day NHS.

-Manipulate and mislead with media stunts: Misrepresent study data, get mates to do so too. Scaremonger about patient deaths that don't exist as you describe them or aren't as simple as you make out. Use a recent tragic terror plot to release a sexed up 'hard edged' letter to scare the public. Spin the junior doctors concerns with the contract as 'just about pay'. When your dangerous stunts mean patients come to harm because you scare them into avoiding hospitals at weekends; Don't apologise about the 'Hunt effect', or about breaching patient confidentiality in a tweet. Carry on playing with people's lives. Look directly into the camera; seven day NHS.

-Act like nothing's happening: Push 98% of junior doctor BMA members to vote in favour of industrial action, then claim the BMA doesn't represent them. When 20,000 of them march on the streets of London, say they are confused and misled. Claim they are not putting patients first, then when BMA offers to talk with an independent arbitrator say 'No', then a day before the strike is to go ahead, change your mind and still claim all the cancelled operations and clinics are the BMA's fault, never mind that you could have taken up the offer to talk earlier and prevented it. Look directly into the camera; 7 day NHS.

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Junior doctors strike next week; if the government had an iota of common sense on this matter we wouldn't have to.

As the Times Journalist Jenni Russell put so eloquently a few days ago; 'The idea that Jeremy Hunt can conjure up an excellent week-round service by forcing already stretched junior doctors to work longer for less is a delusion... When the present service is practically on its knees, it makes no sense to stretch it further.'

Junior doctors are the backbone of the NHS and we have lost trust in the government - can you see why? Maybe the problem is the advice they've had; maybe they should listen to the advice thousands from NHS staff all of whom are shouting "stop, don't". Maybe they should consider that stretching them even further, when they're already struggling, in order to deliver an ill-conceived election promise is dangerous. Maybe they should listen to the public, only 3% of which replied to their consultation on the NHS as believing a 'seven day NHS' is needed in times of austerity. Maybe they should base changes on actual evidence and stop misrepresenting evidence to the public. Maybe we won't let them play poker with your and our safety, your and our NHS, ultimately your and our lives.
My heartbeat was getting faster and faster as I looked down at toy towns drifting past on arid land, before a vast expanse of blue appeared and we were out over the sea.

As I thought back to the last few days I'd had in Spain, I realised one thing: I didn't want to go back to the UK. I could feel the heat rising up my body and my palms were becoming clammy. What was it that was making my pulse race so much? The thought of returning to work? The weather? The lack of adventure ahead?

That moment on the plane was life changing. It was like a switch had been flipped, and all I could think about was doing something different. It seems ludicrous really; I had a great job in radio - one that I'd worked hard to get and that I loved...but something wasn't right. I started making a list of things that made me happy, and exploring new places came out top. I decided then that that was what I needed to do.

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I'd read a few articles in magazines about women in their thirties taking career breaks, so I knew I wasn't the only one. But these women had 'proper' careers; they worked full time or had partners to share the cost with. They'd saved up a lot more than me, and were taking a full year to see new things, explore remote places and learn new skills.

I don't have much and can only afford to go for a few months. Still, the lure of adventure can't detract from that. Everyone makes their own journey, right?

Of course I worry about things. I wonder whether I'll be able to get a job when I get back - after all, media is such a competitive industry it seems crazy to just drop everything and go off on a whim. I'm concerned I haven't saved enough and will constantly worry about whether I can afford to do the activities I'd like to, or be able to pay for dinner. Most of all I wonder if I've done the right thing. I've been lucky enough to go travelling before, and once is enough for most people.

But I'm not most people. And despite all of this, I felt such relief when I made the decision to do this that I know it's the right thing for me. I was stuck in a rut at work. I felt trapped and, despite my best efforts, I couldn't seem to get help or progress. The only way to escape was to leave, and if you're going to do that you may as well do it in style.

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My family think I'm mad to give up a steady job. They were less than impressed when I said I was spending what could potentially be a deposit for a house on a trip around the world - without any clue of what would happen when I finished gallivanting - but they understand why I need to do it. Friends and (former) colleagues think I'm some sort of hero for making such a bold choice, which I find somewhat bemusing. They've called me brave, which I've rather enjoyed.

When people say they admire me for making such a life-changing decision, I wonder why. It is a big change, and it is exciting - but what's stopping anyone else from doing the same thing? To me, life's too short for settling. It should be exactly what you want it to be. If that's settling down with a family and all that that experience brings, great. If it's to give yourself over to your career because that brings you fulfilment, fantastic. If you're not sure what you want out of life, that's fine too - experiment; try different jobs out, try different countries out and see what works for you.

My travels come to an end in June, when I'll be returning from a five month trip around the USA, Australia and Hong Kong. I expect to be broke and unemployed - but full of life, new experiences and stories to tell. Travelling can teach you just as many skills as university or work can, and I can't wait to find out what's in store.
The next chapter in the aviation saga has been written. The Government want to do more work to shore up the environmental case for Heathrow. This is right and proper. An extra few months to ensure that we have got the best possible deal out of Heathrow with the best possible mitigation in place. Successive governments have avoided this difficult decision, the issue has been passed from pillar to post for far too long, but being in government is about difficult decisions. The next few months will show whether this government is prepared to show leadership and make the right decision on Heathrow.

There is reason to be hopeful. Heathrow are confident that they can reassure us of their plans to deliver a new runway within environmental limits. It is vital that this is done as soon as possible.

But the reason that we keep circling back to Heathrow is not just because it is the right technical solution. But because it is the only politically deliverable solution. No other UK airport offers value to every nation and region of the UK. Which, incidentally, is also why it is the only UK airport which is full - and it has been for a decade now.

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There are many airports which are vital to their local economy. Cardiff airport serves South Wales. Manchester is going from strength to strength. Gatwick does a great job for Croydon and Kent. But only Heathrow complements these local airports. That's why over 35 other UK airports support Heathrow expansion.

It is the only UK airport with the range of long haul destinations necessary to support British business. Because of this network of routes, and the facilities available at the airport, Heathrow today carries over a quarter of all British exports by value - more than every other UK airport combined. But it needs to expand if great exporters across the country are going to take advantage of all the new emerging markets around the globe. And expansion would also allow the nations and regions of the UK to be better connected to this great gateway to the world. There would be more domestic air connections as well as new rail links to Scotland, the North, East London and of course, South Wales.

Wales is, in fact, a great example of why Heathrow has so much political and business support. With the best will in the world, Cardiff airport is never going to have a direct connection to Caracas or Wuhan. In the UK, it is only Heathrow that has sufficient demand and the facilities to pool passengers to make these flights viable. It does this with connecting flights and extensive surface transport options from across the UK. And this is only set to improve. Electrification of the Great Western Mainline and a new spur from Reading into Heathrow will put South Wales within 2 hours of Heathrow. For high value tourists landing at Heathrow it will soon be as easy to 'turn left' and find yourself in the Brecon Beacons as it will be to 'turn right' and experience the delights of London. For international investors, Cardiff will be as attractive as East London.

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The story is the same across the UK. HS2 will improve access to Heathrow from the Midlands Engine, the Northern Powerhouse and Scotland. Crossrail will connect East London and the City directly. New domestic air connections from the likes of EasyJet and Flybe could connect Liverpool, Newquay, Inverness and Humberside. But only if there is new capacity at Heathrow. Which is why, according to a Dods poll, 69% of MPs support expanding Heathrow. It is the only option which commands political support across the country. If the Government satisfy themselves of Heathrow's environmental mitigations and put it to the House of Commons, expansion will be approved.

There is much doom and damnation about this delay. For much of the business community, the Government has already had its last chance. We should not underestimate the strength and breadth of their frustration. Britain is undoubtedly falling behind our European competitors. But democracy is about balancing competing interests. The Government will now do the detailed work on Heathrow's environmental proposals and then - for the sake of Wales, and the whole of the UK - we urge them to take a firm and final decision to expand Heathrow.

Stephen Kinnock is the Labour MP for Aberavon
Some commentators have billed 2016 as the year for difficult decisions for the UK. Airport expansion has been cited as chief amongst the big, thorny issues we face. Step back for a minute, however, and the solution to this particular question is actually very simple.

If we choose growth at Gatwick over inertia at Heathrow, 2016 can be the year that Britain finally solves one of its longest running policy challenges.

There have always been two sides to balance in this debate - the economy and the environment.

However much of the debate, the focus was almost exclusively on the former with little attention paid to the latter. That has all changed. Those who dismiss the Government's announcement in December as being about just 'politics' misunderstand the importance of the environment to aviation and misrepresent how our democracy works.

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All major infrastructure projects represent a trade-off between benefits and impacts. And it has to be for politicians to decide where the right balance lies - and, crucially, take forward an option that is legal. It is pointless to give the green light to a project if it cannot be delivered because the environmental hurdles are too high and their effects on people too great.

The Treasury economic analysis in the Airports Commission's Report shows that the economic benefits of expansion at Heathrow or Gatwick are largely the same. Both airports have business support but what unites all business is the need to deliver a new runway. Clearly, a runway that cannot be delivered offers no economic benefit at all.

That is why the Government is right to say they need to look in more detail at the impacts of noise and air quality. Heathrow adversely affects more people with noise than all the other major airports in Europe combined. Air quality around the airport is already at illegal levels because of road traffic.

It defies common sense to think that millions more car journeys on a 16 lane M25 with a new runway extending over it will actually improve the situation. It would obviously make it worse and the vain pursuit of illegal expansion would prove fruitless once again.

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As Einstein said it is the definition of insanity to do the same thing over and over again and to expect a different result. Even the airport's most ardent supporters must recognise that if Heathrow was going to expand it would have gone ahead by now. Heathrow has been tried and failed repeatedly; it's not going to happen and it is time for a new solution.

We recognise that expansion at Gatwick would adversely impact more people by noise than are presently affected but, in both cases, the numbers are a fraction of those at Heathrow. Heathrow would affect near 700,000 people. At Gatwick, that number is 36,000 and we have created

Europe's most innovative noise mitigation scheme to help residents deal with noise.

Most importantly Gatwick has never breached legal air quality limits and would not do so even with a second runway. Moreover, as a lower cost, more efficient proposition, expansion at Gatwick would enhance competition and be in line with the current trends in aviation, the rise of lower cost travel, and the growth of point-to-point flights. There is a reason why the other major UK airports do not want Heathrow to expand - they want to look to a future where they can attract more direct flights themselves rather than turning the clock back to the old monopoly in West London.

So this year should herald a change. It should mark the moment Britain recognises that if we want aviation to grow environmental concerns cannot be wished away. Expansion cannot come at the cost of poorer public health as air quality deteriorates further. It cannot mean subjecting hundreds of thousands more people to the adverse impacts of noise. What it can be is the year Britain takes a global leadership position as a modern 21st Century democracy and in choosing Gatwick shows that we can make these big infrastructure decisions without having to choose between the economy and the environment.

As we enter 2016, it is clear that the centre of gravity of the airport expansion debate has changed. The momentum is now with Gatwick as people increasingly recognise it is the only deliverable option for the country.

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The choice is clear. Groundhog Day with illegal expansion at Heathrow and Britain losing out again or guaranteed growth at Gatwick as we choose to be the builders and see Britain reaping the benefits. The answer is obvious.
As we dismantle the festive scenes around us, dust off the glitter and remove the last of the pine needles stubbornly embedded in our carpets; we are presented with surprisingly bare surroundings and an unshakable sense of unease, how different things looked only a week ago.

The latter certainly rings true for those junior doctors amongst us. The arrival of January 4th and the much anticipated outcome of our contact negotiations has caused considerable splitting of opinion; not only in the media, but also the public and yes, even between junior doctors.

A month ago, I was 100% behind strike action, and just short of this figure, so were the rest of the UK's junior doctors; or at least the 37,000 of us who were balloted. I proudly marched with my colleagues through Whitechapel, solidarity was at an all-time high and our profession stood united. The public largely seemed to support us too; even some of the papers took an uncharacteristically sympathetic view towards our cause. It was clear that NHS Employers and the Department of Health were being unreasonable and they finally agreed to re-enter into negotiations; albeit too late.

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However, despite strike action being averted, there remained an overwhelming feeling of disappointment and a palpable frustration festered. Then Christmas happened. Smiles were put back on our faces and a spring placed back in our step, even Bieber managed to lighten our mood. But now that December is over, the stark reality of January has arrived, and with it, the emergence of this 'dispute' has reared its ugly head once again.

As the turbine of social media whirs back into life, opinions are more divided than ever. Doubt over our momentum and questions regarding our resilience have served only to strengthen the more militant doctors amongst us. Whilst the rest of us (or maybe just me), are left feeling slightly perplexed about the evolving situation, and admittedly, a little saddened by it all.

Having read the recent negotiation summary posted on the BMA website, it is clear that elements of the contract remain completely unfair and unsafe; though the former seems to be the bigger issue now. Certainly points surrounding working hours, which directly affect patient safety, appear to have reached some common ground, though proper mechanisms of implementation are yet to be defined. It would also seem that both sides agree on issues around pay progression, minimising gender disparity and pay for all work done whilst importantly, taking into account responsibility and intensity of work. Progress, one might dare say.

However, reaching a mutual agreement on pay for unsocial hours seems almost a distant fantasy. Unfortunately my mathematical prowess is limited and I cannot make sense of the accuracy of the Government's claims that 99% of us will be better off or at least not worse off from changes to pay. I suspect there is some equivocation with these 'calculations'.

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It is true that many other professions, ranging from the military and emergency services to those in retail and hospitality, also work unsocial hours yet do not benefit financially. I also appreciate that certain specialties have more unsocial hours than others and recruitment to those will ultimately suffer if they are not paid accordingly, which could have a devastating effect on the sustainability of our NHS.

It's a tricky one and an area that goes beyond my capabilities to decipher. I certainly do not envy the BMA nor the Government with the difficulties these negotiations present, and actually, I take my hat off to both parties for the hard work that has gone in to these discussions thus far.

Ultimately, one of my biggest concerns is that this 'dispute' has the potential to descend into a power struggle. Government bashing and attacking individual opinions is not going to win this 'war'. Education and negotiation is key, and failing that, yes, strike action is unfortunately a last resort.
Al Seib via Getty Images 023687.SO.0128.beauty.5.AS Studio City,CA. Use of food in beauty treatments food in spa services, such as facials and other skin treatments. Esthetician, Traci Pokelsek at Spoiled A Day Spa in Studio City puts cucumber slices over the eyes to calm, soothe, and filter light for the eyes while applying a facial in which fresh mushed bananas and warm honey are applied to the face of customer Alyson Fox. (Photo by Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Your favourite exfoliating face wash or toothpaste may be up for a recipe change as Australia's supermarkets make moves to phase out plastic-derived microbeads.

On Thursday night, Environment Minister Greg Hunt said major supermarkets Coles and Woolworths would no longer create products with the tiny plastic balls.

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But what are microbeads, how do they compare to microplastics and what effect are they having on our oceans?

Here's the big picture on micro plastics.

What's been announced?

When asked about microbeads and their contribution to microplastic build up, Hunt told ABC program 7.30: "I have to confess, it's one of those issues which emerged later than it should have.

"We want to work with industry to do this. Already Coles and Woolworths have responded and committed to banning microbeads from their shelves by the end of 2017.

"But we want to see a full national phase out."

As it stands, it is not against any law or code to produce products with microbeads and while Coles no longer produces any of its own products with microbeads, a Woolworths spokesman told The Huffington Post Australia they were working to replace the ingredient.

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"We have been working to phase out microbeads in our own brand skin and body wash products and at present we have one remaining product -- it is due to be phased out in the coming months," the Woolworths spokesman said.

Neither supermarket has committed to a ban on selling products with microbeads but both noted they would work with suppliers in regards to the government's call for a voluntary phase out.

What are microbeads?

They're tiny pieces of plastic added to face wash, toothpaste, abrasive cleaners and other products. They're too small to be caught in water filtration systems and can be swallowed without noticing.

You can find them on a list of ingredients labelled polyethylene, HDPE, high-density polyethylene or PEHD.

What are microplastics?

Microplastics are any piece of plastic smaller than 5mm, including microbeads. Some are visible to the naked eye and some are not.

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What are the main causes of microplastics?

Interestingly, not microbeads.

University of NSW professor of ecotoxicology Emma Johnston headed up research undertaken at Sydney Institute of Marine Science looking for microplastic in sediment and fish around Sydney Harbour.

She said the big culprit in both instances was most probably derived from synthetic clothing.

"In Sydney Harbour, microbeads are not the major contaminant as far as microplastics are concerned. In sediment and fish samples we made, by far the dominant contaminant was microplastic in fibre form," Johnston said.

These fibres come from things like nylon and polyester which points to clothing. Then other fibre sources are some fishing gear, sandbags, nappies, even flushable wipes."

She said the second most common source of microplastic was as a fragment, broken down from bigger plastic pieces like PET bottles.

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Microbeads were last, however she cautioned Sydney Harbour was just one site.

"Every marine environment harbors different contaminants," Johnston said.

"Maybe microbeads are more buoyant and they float out of the Harbour."

How do we know microplastics harm marine life?

Johnston said there were two ways: by being eaten, and by absorbing toxins attached to them. She said they'd seen everything from very small worms right through to mullets and bream that had eaten microplastics, with different effects.

Direct metabolic disruption is likely in very small organisms like plankton, Johnston said.

They ingest microplastics and it accumulates in the gut to the point where it blocks the passage of food.

"One issue with bigger fish that its been shown microplastics can transfer from the gut into the blood stream and muscles which is a big concern, because the body doesnt like foreign objects, it causes fibrosis.

"Though it has only been shown in three studies so we need to know lot more about it."

What's more concerning is the fact that microplastics are often coated with toxins.

Microplastics are like sponges  they will suck up all other hydrophobic contaminants around them that bind to surface," Johnston said.

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When fish feed on contaminated microplastics, the toxins de-absorb in the gut and are taken up by the fish into their tissues.

We calculated an average mullet encountered 10,000 microplastic particles per year and that means theyre potentially absorbing a lot of chemicals and other contaminants.

Do we eat them too?

Humans swallow microplastics in some toothpaste, they eat seafood that has ingested microplastics and the toxins that come with them. Even table salt has been shown to be packed with microplastic.

How are they being dealt with around the world?

In the U.S. President Barack Obama signed a bipartisan bill to ban microbeads in December 2015.

Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Luxembourg have called for the European Union to ban microplastics and their chemical additives.

Though keep in mind, microbeads are just one small source of microplastic pollution.

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What can you do to limit your use?

Avoid nylon and polyester fibres in clothing, bags and fabrics around the home.

Check your toothpaste and cleaning products for the use of microbeads.

Exfoliate with natural products like kernels, sugar or a wash cloth.
The White House will leave several State of the Union seats empty to honor gun victims, and in a stirring show of bipartisanship, the empty seats will be mixed between Democrats and Republicans. Martin O'Malley might not qualify for the next Democratic debate, meaning his best hope is a Change.org petition calling for a one-person undercard debate. And Paul LePage apologized -- but not really -- for worrying that drug traffickers with names like 'D-Money, Smoothie and Shifty' were impregnating white girls. He insisted that he would work more closely with his civil rights commissioner, a frayed VHS copy of Mandingo. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, January 8th, 2016:

OBAMA VETOES ANTI-OBAMACARE BILL - The ancients used to use these votes to know when to plant crops. Jeff Young: "President Barack Obama notified Congress on Friday that he has vetoed their legislation to repeal huge parts of the Affordable Care Act, because of course he did. Republicans celebrated this week after finally managing to push a repeal bill through the House and Senate for the first time, reveling in their impending failure to actually achieve anything. Obama just officially ended the party...Congress intends to continue beating this dead horse anyway, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made clear in a press release responding to the president. 'Its no surprise that someone named Obama vetoed a bill repealing Obamacare,' he said. 'But we will hold a vote to override this veto, taking this process all the way to the end under the Constitution.'" [HuffPost]

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WHITE HOUSE NOT SORRY ABOUT SENDING MOMS AND KIDS TO THEIR DOOM - Elise Foley: The White House plans to stay the course on its policies toward undocumented mothers and children fleeing violence in Central America, even as Democrats say its deportation raids are putting families in jeopardy. 'We're of course aware of these concerns, but the enforcement strategy and priorities that the administration has articulated are not going to change,' Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Friday -- a day after administration officials attended a meeting with House Democrats, and the same day activists held a press conference condemning the raids outside the White House. The Department of Homeland Security began raids last weekend targeting families that entered the U.S. after May 1, 2014, and received deportation orders. During the first few days of the raids, the agency picked up 121 people, all of whom had exhausted their legal remedies to stay in the U.S., DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Monday." [HuffPost]

WHITE HOUSE SAVING STATE-OF-THE-UNION SEAT FOR CLINT EASTWOOD - Amanda Terkel: "The White House spends a considerable amount of attention each year on who will receive the honor of sitting with the first lady during the State of the Union address. These are some of the most high-profile spots in the chamber, and the guests usually reflect a message or policy priority that the president will discuss. This year, however, the first lady's box will be most notable for who is not there: The White House will be leaving a seat empty at Tuesday's event to honor people who have died due to gun violence. President Barack Obama made the announcement on a conference call with grassroots supporters Friday, where he discussed the steps he's taking to address gun violence. A White House official said the seat will be left empty to give victims a voice, 'because they need the rest of us to speak for them. To tell their stories. To honor their memory. To support the Americans whose lives have been forever changed by the terrible ripple effect of gun violence -- survivors who've had to learn to live with a disability, or without the love of their life. To remind every single one of our representatives that its their responsibility to do something about this.'" [HuffPost]

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We hereby declare that this autopen machine drawing a map of the U.S. is Washingtons new mascot.

SPOTTED: Ed Schultz, enduring the wrenching poverty of unemployment, at Cafe Milano.

DELANEY DOWNER - The HuffPost Politics podcast had two people named Murphy today. One is Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). The other is Becky Murphy of Summit Lake, Wisc., who doesn't want to get kicked off food stamps like a million other Americans will this year, so she's doing her homework. "Every week I have to meet with a caseworker, which requires driving about 18 miles to the nearest town, and I have to show him my 'activity report form,'" Murphy said. The activity report form is for Wisconsin food stamp recipients who are able-bodied adults without dependents. Thanks to a federal policy change taking effect across the country, unemployed people who don't have kids in most states will no longer be allowed to have more than three months of nutrition assistance without working at least 20 hours a week. Click HERE to check out the podcast.

Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill

GOP SENATORS MULLING FILIBUSTER REFORM - If you put your ear to the ground, you can hear a gang of eight forming and the ensuring Washington Post editorials praising them for their forward thinking leadership. Burgess Everett: "Senate Republicans will make one last effort to reform the Senate's arcane rulebook this month, in hopes of putting the chamber on course to pass all 12 appropriations bills this year. On Wednesday, shortly before heading to Baltimore for a joint retreat with House Republicans, the Senate GOP will huddle over strategies to speed the passage of spending legislation, according to a notice given to chiefs of staff obtained by POLITICO. The discussion, led by Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, will focus on a proposal to potentially eliminate an individual senator's power to filibuster a spending bill before it's even debated on the Senate floor." [Politico]

@MEPFuller: Rep. Rodney Davis, ready for the weekend, goes to House votes carrying a plastic shopping bag of Bud Light.





O'NO - Zeke Miller: "Former Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley faces a polling test in the next week in order to make the next Democratic primary debate on Jan. 17, under qualifications announced Friday by NBC, the hosting network. NBCf is requiring candidates to average at least 5% nationally, or in one of the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, in order to participate in the debate. OMalley, who has participated in the first Democratic debates, is currently polling at 6.3% in the RealClearPolitics average of polls in Iowa. He doesnt yet meet that threshold in New Hampshire, where he is polling at about 2.3%, South Carolina, where he sits at 2.5%, or nationally, where he averages about 3.5%." [Time]

PAUL LEPAGE IS ONE JIVE ASS TURKEY - Somewhere, we suspect, there is a giant cache of Paul LePage-penned blaxploitation spec scripts, and we will do anything in our power to find it. Amanda Terkel: "Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) held a press conference Friday to stop some of the damage from his recent comments about heroin dealers, insisting he was not being racist when he said that men with names like 'D-Money' come to the state and 'impregnate a young white girl before they leave.' 'I apologize again,' LePage told reporters, saying he 'slipped up.' 'My brain was slower than my mouth.' During a town hall meeting Wednesday, LePage told constituents that Maine needs to beef up enforcement in order to address the state's heroin crisis. He said there were traffickers coming from Connecticut and New York with names like 'D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty' who 'come up here, they sell their heroin and they go back home LePage, however, said Friday that his remarks had nothing to do with race. 'I tried to explain that Maine is essentially all white,' he said. 'I should have said 'Maine women.'" [HuffPost]

TEXAS STILL BEING ITSELF - Sam Levine: "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Friday proposed a series of amendments to the U.S. constitution that would permit states to override the Supreme Court and ignore federal laws. One of the proposed measures would allow a two-thirds majority of the states to override federal regulations, while another sets the same threshold for overturning decisions by the Supreme Court. The governor also wants to change the Constitution to block Congress from 'regulating activity that occurs wholly within one state,' and to require a supermajority of seven Supreme Court votes before a 'democratically enacted law' can be overturned." [HuffPost]

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BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a jedi cat.

AMERICA DOESN'T CARE ABOUT THOSE MILITIA GOOFBALLS - Ariel Edwards-Levy: "The anti-government militants in Oregon may have occupied a federal building, but they're not really occupying most Americans' attention, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll shows. Nearly a week into the occupation of Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife refuge, which the group seized to protest the federal sentencing of two ranchers, just 18 percent of Americans say they've heard a lot about the situation. Nearly a third haven't heard anything about it at all. Only 17 percent of Americans believe the group was justified in taking over a building in protest, while 43 percent say the move was unjustified, with the rest unsure. Just 6 percent of Americans feel that the Oregon protesters represent people like them." [HuffPost]

COMFORT FOOD

- This isn't any old deer. This is a deer ... in a puddle.

- A cafe run by cats.

- Never forget:

TWITTERAMA

@dbernstein: Hey.... if they caught El Chapo, then who have I been hiding in my cellar???

@LOLGOP: Martin O'Malley should definitely be in the next debate if he can discover the secret time and location.

@nickmullen: it goes Black Guy President => White Woman President => Chinese Overlords


Cook (above) is from New Jersey

Heroin is the worst thing that's ever happened to me.

Heroin is holding the person I used to be hostage. I used to laugh more. I used to be more light-hearted and whimsical. I used to smile in more than just pictures.

I try to remember the moment my world began to revolve around it.

It is mentioned in nearly every conversation I have, even when it's not said outright, but in knowing glances, exasperated sighs or pity stares.

Most of my hobbies have fallen to the wayside ever since heroin entered my life.

I used to write about more than this.

I used to read about more than this.

I am a phony. My normalcy is a charade. Heroin forces me to keep secrets from the people who matter most in my life. I can't tell my family how much pain I'm in because I can imagine the pain they are feeling too, and I don't want to add to it.

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Like all families whose path it crosses, heroin has ruined some of the best parts of mine. We have fought with one another out of desperation, out of anger. We have said things we cannot take back.

Heroin is the un-welcomed guest who has ruined holidays, birthdays and weddings. Heroin is the elephant in every room I inhabit. If I am there, so is heroin. It's ever present.

Heroin has taken sleep away from me. The days of a peaceful night's slumber are far behind me. Heroin haunts me even when my eyes are closed. I go to sleep thinking about it; I wake up thinking about it.

My daily routine:

I wake up and think about heroin.

I go to work and think about heroin.

I talk on the phone and bring up heroin.

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When it's really bad, I spend some days sick to my stomach, with very little strength and lacking the motivation to even get out of bed.

Heroin has aged me. I look in the mirror, and I know I look tired, gaunt and disheveled.

Heroin took my peace of mind and replaced it with a constant state of worry. I lost my innocence a long time ago -- I admit, I miss the blissful ignorance that came with knowing nothing about this drug.

The deeper I fall into this world, the more scared I become. I know this drug kills people, but I can't stop its pull. It's out of my hands.

Heroin has taken so much from me over the years. Time I can never get back. People I will never see again. Memories I never had a chance to make.

And the craziest part of all of this? I never touched the stuff myself.

I have never used heroin, but I love someone who did. Addiction has such a large ripple effect, the collateral damage is immense, and what is hit the most and the hardest by heroin's shrapnel is the family, the loved ones.

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Cook lost her cousin Jessica (right) to a heroin overdose in 2006

Addiction is a "family disease." This nightmare became my reality, I never asked for this, and that is what gets me so angry at times. I woke up, and my entire life changed. It may never be the same. The thing is, even though I am not an addict, I am suffering just as much, though in a different way because the family witnesses helplessly how one lapse in judgment, one wrong decision, one chemical dependency, can ruin everything.

Yes, heroin has taken so much from me -- but it hasn't taken away my voice. It will not take away my voice.

It is my hope to use my words to raise awareness about drug addiction and its direct effect on not only the addict, but the addict's family.

I started sharing my experiences, not to find answers, but to find momentary peace of mind. It was scary at first -- but I am of the belief that one person's story may change someone else's and give a struggling individual or family member the strength to persevere through hard times.

I believe it was Bob Marley who said, "You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice."

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And you never know who needs to hear exactly what you are saying.

So families, stay strong. Never give up hope.

Follow Cook on Instagram: @thealiciacook

___________________
People set candles to form the word 'Peace' and in a heart shape during a demonstration to support sex workers rights on December 17, 2015 in Paris. / AFP / JACQUES DEMARTHON (Photo credit should read JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images)

One of the questions I am invariably asked by journalists who interview me about my book, Getting Screwed: Sex Workers and the Law is: Do you think society's attitudes toward prostitution will ever evolve to the point where lawmakers might actually introduce legislation decriminalizing sex work? Up till now, my response has been a cautious one, recognizing that changing entrenched moralistic attitudes about sex work will be an uphill battle. But perhaps I've been unduly pessimistic.

Just this week, a state representative from New Hampshire introduced a bill in that state legislature to decriminalize adult consensual prostitution. And last year, Washington, D.C. Councilman David Grosso said he was also considering introducing legislation that would decriminalize sex work in the nation's capital.

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Both Grosso and Rep. Elizabeth Edwards of Manchester, who introduced the New Hampshire bill, said they were influenced by Amnesty International's recent call for decriminalizing sex work globally. As I blogged then, Amnesty International reached that decision for public health and safety reasons. They discovered (as I did in researching my book) that in countries that have decriminalized prostitution and regulate it to some degree, sex workers not only have much safer working conditions but are much less likely to develop HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Indeed, countries like New Zealand and the Netherlands, where sex work is legal, have among the lowest HIV rates in the world.

Amnesty International also realized that decriminalization is the right thing to do from a human rights perspective. As Rep. Edwards recently told one news outlet, when sex work is illegal, as it is in the United States, sex workers are not able to negotiate and organize for their rights, or gain access to the criminal justice system. Indeed, as I have argued in my book and blogs, sex workers are like canaries in the coal mine. Violent predators are more likely to target them because they are less likely to go to the police (for fear of being arrested themselves), and such sociopaths often prey on non-prostitutes, as well.

And it's not just criminals who prey on vulnerable women when sex work is illegal. Cops are sometimes corrupted as well. Take the example of Daniel Holtzclaw, the Oklahoma police officer recently convicted of 18 counts of rape and sexual assault, including against a grandmother and a teenager. Many of the women he targeted, some of whom were engaged in sex work, were afraid to report the crimes because they feared they would be penalized or not taken seriously. And so Holtzclaw was able to continue his reign of terror until he made the mistake of molesting a woman in her 50s who was not a prostitute.

While decriminalizing sex work is the right thing to do for so many reasons, that doesn't mean bills like the one introduced by Rep. Edwards are a done deal. Far from it. A leading member of the New Hampshire state legislature has made it very clear he will fight the proposed legislation. Why? "Because society is just not ready for it," House Majority Leader Dick Hinch told one news outlet.

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North Korea's claim of enhancing its nuclear weapons program draws attention to the failure of global non proliferation regimes. The real failure however may not be in North Korea but in Pakistan. The presence of U.S. troops on the Korean peninsula and China's willingness to keep Pyongyang in check act as constraints on North Korea. The tendency of Washington to treat Pakistan with kid gloves leaves it without any sense of being contained.

On January 6, 2016, Pyongyang claimed it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. Experts will take days to fully analyze whether or not North Korea had the technical capability to undertake a test of that magnitude but preliminary reports state that Pyongyang was lying. The AQ Khan Network run by the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, sold sensitive technology to help North Korea build its program.

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Khan was removed from his position but there was no accounting for his actions. An official Pakistani pronouncement to the effect that the problem had been addressed was deemed enough. Pakistan insisted the matter was closed and the United States accepted Pakistan's explanation because Washington needed Islamabad's help in the war in Afghanistan.

For decades, the United States has sought to control and curb the global proliferation of nuclear technology. Yet in an inexplicable development last year, some American experts and administration officials argued offering Pakistan a civil nuclear deal along the lines akin to the 2006 India-US civil nuclear deal. The delusion was this would bring Pakistan within a restraint regime and increase American knowledge about Pakistan's rapidly rising nuclear arsenal.

For the last six decades succeeding American administrations have indulged in the fallacy that more aid and materiel will provide them with greater leverage in Pakistan and that in turn will help them convince Pakistan to change its policies. As the title of former Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States Husain Haqqani's seminal book on U.S.-Pakistan relations notes the United States has lived in Magnificent Delusions for decades.

Right from independence in 1947, Pakistan's foreign and security policy has been centered on the desire for parity with its larger neighbor, India. Decades later, India is still the existential threat, instead of the radical jihadis that threaten to break up Pakistan.

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Desirous of but unable to achieve conventional military parity with India, Pakistan's security establishment saw nuclear weapons as providing that parity. Pakistan's nuclear weapons program was and remains India centered. Pakistan's nuclear weapons, both for the state and the lay public, are integral to Pakistani national psyche and the needs of a security conscious state obsessed with India.

Over the years many experts, primarily American, have argued for India to accept restraints on its program and sign the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT). They assert Pakistan will follow suit thus placing the burden on India to act. However, that is a misconception.

The aim of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program is not deterrence that was achieved decades ago--- it is parity with India. Hence, it is almost impossible for any Pakistani government to accept restraints on their program unless they have achieved the impossible task of parity with India in this sphere as well.

Pakistan built its nuclear weapons program during the 1970s and 1980s while receiving massive American economic and military assistance. The military regime of General Zia ul Haq promised the Reagan administration that it would not build nuclear weapons. Yet as has been demonstrated in declassified U.S. government documents, Washington often turned a blind eye because of the need for Pakistan as an ally during the anti-Soviet Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union.

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Other countries part of the network were Iran and Libya: the former is now seeking recognition as a nuclear weapons state while the latter agreed to give up its technology in return for removal of international sanctions and aid.

Six decades of interactions with Americans have affirmed the Pakistani military's belief that cosmetic changes or words alone will suffice to convince the U.S., that Pakistan is a serious member of the international community and deserves to be treated as one.

That the fundamentals of Pakistani policy have not changed was demonstrated when in March 2015 an official from Pakistan's Strategic Plans Division, the key administrative organ within Pakistan' Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) made light of Jihadists having penetrated Pakistan's nuclear program. "We filtered out people having negative tendencies that could have affected national security," said the NCA official, as if that was sufficient to assuage international concerns.

This attempt to reassure the international community that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are in safe hands and will not fall into the hands of the Jihadis differs little from Pakistan's response to the troubling sale of nuclear weapons technology by Dr. A.Q. Khan and his criminal network.

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Pakistan's reassurance about the security of its nuclear program ignores the possibility of a military officer with Islamist sympathies rising up the ranks. In that event, an Islamist would have his fingers on the nuclear trigger and could act independent of his institution, just as Dr. Khan single-handedly sold nuclear material and plans to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

There has been no introspection within Pakistan about the presence of a network that violated all international norms and there is little to no discussion globally on this issue either. Pakistan remains unwilling to change the substance of its policy on terrorism and also continues to build its nuclear arsenal even as it succeeds in reassuring the international community that it is ready for a drastic transformation.

Washington could, as before, simply ignore these warning signs and move on with business as usual. Or the next time Pakistan's army chief comes to town instead of being feted he could be asked tough questions on Pakistan's proliferation record.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A rift has developed between the Ministry of Defence ministry and a Chinese investor over a multi-million dollar shopping mall after the army unilaterally used the property as collateral to secure a US15,8 million loan on behalf of a local communications service firm, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt.Information at hand shows that the Chinese investors, co-owners in Long Cheng Plaza, located in the capital, are unhappy with government's decision to act as a guarantor for Africom, which got a loan from the African Export-Import Bank three years ago.Afrexim Bank is a pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra and extra-African trade.The Defence ministry, through its investment arm, Fernhaven Investments, has shares in Africom. The National Social Security Authority (Nssa), which also has shares in Africom, guaranteed the loan in 2013, thereby exposing public funds.Africom has, however, failed to service the loan, exposing Nssa to the tune of $15,8 million, while also putting at risk the mall built by the Chinese.Longcheng Plaza Mall, built on wetland in Belvedere, Harare, started operating in December 2013. The mall was constructed by a Chinese company, Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Corporation (Afecc), at an estimated cost of about US$200 million.Sources close to the deal told the Independent this week that the Chinese were not happy the mall was used as collateral on a mortgage without their consent.Afecc did not benefit from the US$15,8 million deal. "What happened is that the Chinese had money to buy the wetland while the army used its influence to convince Local Government ministry to sell the land, ending up in partnership in which the army gained shares," the source said."However, the Chinese are not happy the mall was used as collateral for Nssa without their acknowledgement."The Chinese are, however, negotiating to buyout the army's shareholding in the property following the fallout. However, the army is trying to convince Nssa to release the mortgage bond, so that the title deeds are registered in the name of Afecc.Details of the deal are also contained in an audit report compiled by international audit firm Deloitte, seen by the Independent.According to the report, Afrexim Bank extended a US$15,8 million loan to Africom in 2013, which Nssa guaranteed. Essentially, Nssa agreed to assume Africom's loan in the event that it failed to perform.Nssa, whose investment interests span banking and finance, equities, property and infrastructure, holds an unquantifed amount of shares in Africom.The audit report shows that on September 21, 2015, Nssa received a letter of demand for the US$15,8 million from International law firm Baker & McKenzie on behalf of Afrexim, indicating that Africom was failing to service the loan.Nssa guaranteed the loan after a meeting with the Office of the President and Cabinet, which pressured the authority to support the transaction.The approval was signed by former Public Service minister Nicholas Goche on December 4, 2013."Interim Board at a meeting held on November 7, 2013 resolved that Nssa guarantees the Africom Holdings debt to the extent of its shareholding only, which was 4,3%," reads the report.The report also says the Defence ministry registered a mortgage bond on Longchen Plaza Mall in favour of Nssa.Nssa wanted collateral in case Africom and Fernhaven Investments fail to pay the US$15,8 million to Afrexim Bank.On September 23, 2015, Nssa received another letter from legal practitioners Chihambakwe, Mutizwa and partners, highlighting the demands of Afrexim Bank, which had a deadline of October 2, 2015. According to the report, there was no response from Nssa.The report says: "Meeting between Afrexim guarantors and Africom held on September 30, 2015, resolved that Africom lawyers draft a response to Africom and circulate it to guarantors for review before forwarding to Scanlen and Holderness legal practitioners for drafting the actual letter to Afrexim Bank."Nssa board chairman Robin Vela said the social security agency was negotiating with Zimbabwe Asset Management Corporation (Zamco) to absorb the US$15,8 million loan.
Detail from a USA visa document with magnifying glass.

Co-authored by Morteza Karimzadeh, Ph.D. candidate with the Department of Geography at Penn State.

Much of the debate over the Republican primaries has centered on Donald Trump's racist statements and xenophobic political platform. While Democrats and Republicans alike have condemned Trump's most recent 'proposal' to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. as unconstitutional and un-American, this hateful rhetoric has manifested itself in a profoundly discriminatory policy. The Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 (henceforth referred to as H.R. 158) effectively renders dual citizens and those who have traveled to Iran, Iraq, Sudan, and Syria second-class citizens by creating a two-tiered system of citizenship.

Since 1986, the Visa Waiver Program has enabled U.S. citizens to travel to 38 countries, primarily located in Europe, without a visa. However, changes to this program through H.R. 158 denies visa waivers to anyone who has traveled to or holds dual citizenship with Iran, Iraq, Sudan, and Syria. Although the stated impetus of this bill was the San Bernardino mass shooting, the origin countries of the perpetrators (i.e. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan) were not included in the bill, yet another indicator of the political backdrop. As the Visa Waiver Program is based on reciprocity, a key concern is that the 38 U.S. allies will respond to H.R. 158 by imposing similar restrictions on born and raised U.S. citizens. Ambassadors representing 28 European countries penned an open letter urging Congress to vote against the bill, warning of the detrimental effects to the more than 13 million European citizens who travel to the U.S. annually, and the potential for legally-mandated reciprocal measures.

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This troubling legislation follows a season of increasingly dogmatic and incendiary statements from American politicians. The Republican debates have morphed into outlandish theatrics, with presidential hopefuls competing to prove who can come up with the most exclusionary policies. Xenophobia has become fashionable through campaigns to refuse resettlement of vulnerable Syrian refugees (who were already subject to thorough and prolonged security screenings), and culminating in Trump's suggestions to create a national registry to monitor American Muslims and prohibit Muslims from entering the U.S.

Capitalizing on widespread anxiety and fear following the Paris terrorist attacks and the San Bernardino shooting, Tea Party supporter Congresswoman Candice Miller slid the H.R. 158 rider into the must-pass budget bill, the Omnibus Appropriations Bill 2015. Despite widespread public denunciations of Trump's hate speech by both Democrats and Republicans, policymakers from across the political spectrum voted in favor of the discriminatory bill. Although more than 200 non-governmental organizations - including the American Civil Liberty Union, the Leadership Conference, and the National Iranian American Council - raised numerous objections to the ways H.R. 158 curtails the most basic of rights, this bill was passed almost unanimously in the House and signed into law by President Obama on December 16. While the media heralded the relatively painless passage of the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, coverage of H.R. 158 remains conspicuously absent.

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While H.R. 158 will have countless repercussions for Americans and citizens from countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program, we will focus on Iran's inclusion in H.R. 158 to demonstrate how this legislation is a product of sordid political maneuvering within Congress that harms rather than protects Americans.

Targeting Iran through H.R. 158 is a deliberate provocation by members of Congress to derail the fragile international nuclear agreement, brokered by the Obama administration and ratified by the Security Council of the United Nations in July 2015. Through the passage of H.R. 158, Republicans have found yet another way to obstruct the nascent and precarious working relationship between the Obama and Rouhani administrations. A powerful bargaining chip used by the U.S. to reach a nuclear agreement included lifting punitive economic sanctions and fostering international trade opportunities for Iranians, which will undoubtedly be impeded by the new visa regulations. American and European business communities will be discouraged from traveling to Iran, fearing the strict limitations in their international mobility following a visit to Iran.

Recognizing the ramifications of new visa regulations to the nuclear agreement,

Secretary Kerry promptly sent a letter to his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif. Kerry affirmed his commitment to the nuclear deal, assuring Zarif that the Obama administration has the ability to waive visa requirements and offer multiple entry ten-year visas - but only for the business community. So far, the only public discussion of protections of rights and mobility is reserved for the business elite.

Meanwhile, anxiety is building among the Iranian American community that our mobility will be drastically curtailed if any of the participating 38 countries in the Visa Waiver Program replicate the actions of the U.S. Congress. If Visa Waiver countries retaliate, Iranian Americans and other dual nationals will become 'less than' American citizens. We will be forced to go through long, expensive, and invasive security processes to secure visas for international travel. (This also raises important ethical questions about privileged passports.) This differential treatment of Americans solely based on national origin is unacceptable and a grave violation of the basic rights of U.S. citizens.

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Since climbing to the apex of global power, the American Empire's foreign policy has been earmarked by stupidity on steroids.

Our chronic gratuitous interventions abroad at staggering expense under the delusion of spreading democracy and peace have diminished our security and spiked the world's misery index.

Yet the architects of these failures have paid no price. They have been neither punished nor professionally ridiculed.

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The establishment treats them like Montessori School students with grades based on effort irrespective of the catastrophic results.

Our race towards self-ruination will accelerate unless we begin to hold the authors of foreign policy debacles accountable and create disincentives for stupidity.

In 1953, the Central Intelligence Agency engineered the overthrow of democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq on behalf of the megalomaniacal, brutal, and corrupt Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlevi. Prime Minister Mossadeq was unthreatening to the United States. His democratic dispensation was the first in the Middle East. His agreement to pay compensation for nationalizing the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company satisfied international law. There never would have been an Iranian Revolution if the United States had left Iran's democratic dispensation unshipwrecked.

The 1979 Revolution was provoked by our support for the keenly execrated Shah.

On December 31, 1977, in Tehran, President Jimmy Carter effused: "Iran, because of the great leadership of the Shah, is an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world. This is a great tribute to you, Your Majesty, and to your leadership and to the respect and the admiration and love which your people give to you."

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Then came Ayatollah Khomeini as the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the hostage crisis, Hezbollah, and Iran's decent into a theocratic, tyrannical, terroristic state with nuclear ambitions.

No official or advisor has been held accountable for this foreign policy calamity.

In 1954, the C.I.A. orchestrated the overthrow of democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. He was an unthreatening socialist like Norman Thomas. We next supported four decades of Guatemalan military, genocidal dictatorship featuring hundreds of thousands of unspeakable atrocities. We made Guatemala a failed state that fuels illegal drug trafficking and immigration across our borders.

No official or advisor has been held accountable for our stupendously stupid and wicked Guatemalan interventions.

The Vietnam War was a fool's errand from its beginning in 1955 to its conclusion in 1975. Indochina posed no threat to the United States. The domino theory was bogus. We engineered the overthrow of President Ngo Dinh Diem, and then supported a phalanx of unpopular, corrupt, and brutal military dictators in tandem with the C.I.A.'s notorious Phoenix assassination program. The war cost more than $1 trillion in current dollars, and more than 58,000 American soldiers were killed. The boundless stupidity of the Vietnam War is confirmed by our current support for Vietnam in its disputes with China over the South China Sea or otherwise; our 2001 extension of permanent normal trade relations with Vietnam; and, out inclusion of Vietnam in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

Why no professional ignominy for the officials or advisors who engineered the Vietnam non-natural disaster?

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We initiated war against Iraq's Saddam Hussein in 1991 to undo his occupation of Kuwait to restore the 300-year-old Al-Sabah dynasty marginally less tyrannical but more religiously extremist. The war weakened Iraq's capacity to contain Iran at zero cost to us, and was superfluous to deterring Saddam's WMD ambitions. Israel had destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, and was poised for a repeat performance if necessary. Oil would continue to flow through the Persian Gulf to the United States--directly or indirectly--irrespective of Kuwait's fate as it did throughout the Arab OPEC oil embargo following the Yom Kippur War. Force does not defeat the law of supply and demand as the failed trillion-dollar War on Drugs corroborates.

Operation Desert Storm was taken to a new level of stupidity twelve years later in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2003, Iraq was a cost-free Chinese Wall against Iranian regional hegemony. Our no-fly zones and sanctions had eliminated Saddam as a danger to the United States. To believe that Saddam could be replaced with a democratic dispensation featuring freedom of religion, the rule of law, and separation of powers required doltish hallucinations.

The post-Saddam government predictably became an appendage of arch-enemy Iran. Iraq splintered on religious, ethnic, and tribal lines creating an opening for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. To date, the United States has expended $1 trillion in Iraq and sacrificed the lives and limbs of thousands of brave American soldiers over thirteen years to make Iran and ISIL stronger and Iraq convulsed.

No official or advisor has been stigmatized for complicity in our Iraqi follies.

Since we haven't taxed foreign policy stupidity, we have gotten more of it in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, West Africa, South Sudan, the South China Sea, ad infinitum.

We have entrusted foreign policy to persons without any theory of man necessary to avoid catastrophes born of mistaking God for Mephistopheles.

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Update your headline with keywords about you do (consultant, technology, sales)

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Like, share others content (and your own) and comment to profiles you have an interest in getting to know

Follow companies and influencers you're interested in, "like" & comment on their updates

It's important to comment to connections outside of groups. Be social with current connections

Note: We all do it sometimes. Our current connections are as important as establishing new ones. It's important to comment to connections outside of groups. Be social with current connectionsWe all do it sometimes. Our current connections are as important as establishing new ones.

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The best and fastest way to get recommendations and endorsements, is to give them out first

Note: Although some endorsements may come from people you don't know - it offers you exposure in the news feed. The best and fastest way to get recommendations and endorsements, is to give them out firstAlthough some endorsements may come from people you don't know - it offers you exposure in the news feed.

5) Make Connections

There is a number of ways to build connections. Organically, directly and your current email lists.

Accept and request connections expands your network and professional exposure

Conduct a general search using keywords for people in the industry your looking to connect with - but also utilize the advanced search.

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Type a personal thank you for connecting. It only takes seconds. It will go a long way to being remembered

Note:Flip over to another platform and connect there for all new connections. It takes time -- but a great strategy to be remembered and acted upon.

To view the 5 practices in grid format please feel free to email me at address below. My gift to you!

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TORONTO, ON- JULY 27 - Uranranebi Agbeyegbe chants with the crowd during a Black Lives Matter protest that marched from Gilbert Avenue to Allen Road on Eglinton Avenue. The protest shut down the southbound Allen Road for around 30 minutes, causing traffic to reverse and exit through Lawrence Avenue. (Melissa Renwick/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

We are officially a week into 2016, and by now people are pretty much over greeting colleagues and friends with the jovial cheer of "Happy New Year," and the gym is losing its novel appeal with each passing day. So much for that "I'm going to work out everyday" thing. But over the course of this first week, one thing remains evidently clear: Victim blaming did not get left in 2015.

Before most of us even had time to take down our Christmas and Kwanzaa decorations, we were watching Bill Cosby stumble out of a Pennsylvania court room after being arraigned on three felony charges of aggravated indecent assault on December 30. The news of the New Year was about Cosby, and the countless women who, over the course of more than a decade, have accused him of sexual violence. Many, including members of the Black community, drew conclusions of conspiracy around why this was happening to "America's Dad," while the victims of his assaults have been bombarded with criticism, skepticism and heaping mounds of blame not unfamiliar to survivors of sexual and physical violence.

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Because of Cosby's role as a so-called Black History Month figure, people have found it necessary to connect his being charged with the recent non-indictments that have occurred in cases of police killings of young Black people. The commentary around this is intriguing and disturbing to say the least, as many are trying to equate the situations by using Blackness and injustice as binding ties. However, I and many others would argue that the only real similarity here in terms of injustice is the blaming of the victims.

During a press conference on Monday, Dec. 28, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty stated that in regard to the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, the grand jury found "no criminal conduct by the police," and that it was "reasonable" for the officers to respond the way they did when arriving at the scene. A "perfect storm of human error," but not a crime. How someone claiming to be an ethical and moral public servant could stand resolute in the idea that killing an unarmed child is reasonable and not criminal, escaped me momentarily. But then I remembered how this country's criminal justice system has historically treated Black victims of state violence from the days of slavery and lynching to the present.

McGinty went on to mention yet again that Tamir Rice looked older than he was, and that he was previously told the toy gun could get him in trouble. This is nothing more than the same tired and racist victim-blaming we've seen employed by prosecutors, judges and juries in cases of police shootings of unarmed Black youth. It is also very similar to the accusatory narratives we hear about survivors of rape and sexual violence, particularly when those victims are women of color; that "She Was Asking for It," kind of nonsense.

The not-so-subtle insinuation here is that Tamir Rice was just as responsible for his death as Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, the officers who shot and killed him within two seconds of arriving at the scene. Rice's audacious Black youth is at fault, not the officers of the law who pulled the trigger.

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Prior to that, we learned that a Texas grand jury failed to charge anyone connected with the death of Sandra Bland, the young woman whose name joined the chorus of #BlackLivesMatter chants. No officers were indicted, yet we heard similar rhetoric... that Sandra was arrested for assaulting a public servant and shouldn't have resisted arrest. Since that time, the officer involved in Sandra's arrest has been charged with perjury, as his account of Sandra's arrest was not truthful. There might be hope of seeing some justice for Sandra yet.

We heard the people of Baltimore cry out on Dec. 16, after the trial of William Porter, the first of six being charged in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, ended in a mistrial. In November 2014, we watched Ferguson implode after the verdict came down that Officer Darren Wilson would remain a free man after shooting and killing 18-year-old Michael Brown.

We are now a week into 2016, but for people of color and victims of violent crimes perpetrated by powerful people, it might as well be one hundred years ago. How similar all of this is to the story of 14-year-old Emmett Till, the young boy in Money, Mississippi, who was kidnapped, tortured and killed before being tied to a cotton gin and thrown in the river...all for allegedly whistling at a white woman in 1955. It was said that Till should have known the rules of the Jim Crow South. His killers were acquitted. In 1918, Mary Turner, a 19-year-old woman in Lowndes County, Georgia, was captured, lynched and burned eight months pregnant for protesting the extrajudicial killing of her husband. The mob said she knew better than to speak out, and therefore the blame for her murder and that of her unborn child was cast upon her in death.

Some find these kinds of comparisons dramatic and inaccurate, but those young people died because of state-sanctioned violence, were blamed for their own deaths and received no justice just like Trayvon, Michael Brown, Tamir, Sandra Bland and others. Today loaded guns and badges replace nooses and Billy clubs, and police officers and the criminal justice system that protects them are nothing more than a democratized lynch mob. Sadly, Black people themselves are often guilty of casting blame on victims of this kind of violence as well, thanks to impact respectability politics has had on segments of the Black community.

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In his piece, The Number of Cops Indicted for Murder Spikes Upward, Conor Friedersdorf, a staff writer with Atlantic Magazine, noted that in the past five months, only 14 police officers have been charged for on-duty killings, which is more than five times the normal rate.

Included in those charged are the six officers connected to the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Ray Tensing, the University of Cincinnati police officer who shot and killed Samuel DuBose during a traffic stop and Michael Slager, the former officer who shot Walter Scott in the back in South Carolina earlier this year. Friedersdorf stated something at the end of the article that stayed with me:

"Regardless of how many officers are charged in coming months, the year-end number of cops charged will be scandalous, even though it almost certainly undercounts the number of unjust killings. Defenders of the status quo in policing should wake up to the need for reforms."
Jerry Seinfeld took the stage last night at the Beacon Theatre for the first time in a long time. The excitement coursing through the audience was palpable. I found myself giddy with anticipation and when he appeared onstage after a theatrical post-opener blackout, it was hard to believe that he was there in the flesh - knowing him from my well-worn copy of the Seinfeld DVD set and his more recent webisode series, "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." He alluded to the familiarity that we felt with him with a gracious "we know each other" and then thanked us for coming out. This turned out to not just be a social convention but the beginning of one of the strongest bits of the night on the hassles and undue preparations of "going out." Whether he was talking about the dilemma of whether to get dinner before the show or after the show or simply in deciding what restaurant to go to, an existential current pulsed below as it does in all of his best material. What are we doing here? How are we choosing to spend our time and does any of it - whether you go to a Michelin-starred restaurant or the diner next door to the Beacon as I did with my girlfriend - matter? Are our actions just a result of not knowing what else to do? Seinfeld's delivery is as sharp as ever and his jokes land with perfect rhythm and with such ease that they feel like blunt utterances despite being part of a well-written set.

Quentin Tarantino's new film, The Hateful Eight, has been getting a lot of slack. Some of this comes from it being set mainly in one room, an isolated general store of sorts in the middle of a brutal storm. Many have wrongly likened it to a play because of the singular setting, but it's unmistakably cinematic. The tension is built with close up shots and sophisticated editing that would be impossible to render on stage. Like Django Unchained the film has a lot to say about race relations and doesn't do it in a way that makes it easy for liberals to pat ourselves on the back without delving into difficult questions. Tarantino is a master at making meticulously crafted genre films, and The Hateful Eight is a big bad western in the best sense.

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Ivo Van Hove is one of the most skilled directors at reimagining classic works to the extent that you feel like you're watching them for the first time. I first experienced this with his Hedda Gabler, and there's a scene in which Hedda is defiled with a can of tomato juice that will be etched into my mind forever. His production of A View from the Bridge, which is currently making the argument for Broadway's relevance and vitality in modern theater, has a similar moment that I won't spoil. There's a dull sheen of realism that Van Hove coats the scenes with as the inevitability of tragedy pulses beneath that makes the cathartic moments all the more riveting. The excellent performances by Russell Tovey, Mark Strong and the rest of the cast feel stripped down to their most primal elements, giving Miller's words an added clarity. I've seen many good productions, but this one made me feel like I was seeing a new play.

Jack Cummings III's joyous Once Upon a Mattress is ripe with invention, rooted in the atypical casting of downtown drag legend John "Lypsinka" Epperson as the queen with impossible standards and Jackie Hoffman as the princess determined to pass her tests. The singing is top-notch - "better than Broadway," my girlfriend exclaimed. Her grin remained wide throughout the show. Madcap fun abounds throughout both acts, but you can't help but view it through the prism of the pressure of beauty norms and what it means to belong in society, whether through sexual orientation, job choice or even just sensibility. I couldn't help but think that David Greenspan's king would be much happier frolicking about without the weight of a kingdom.

The czar is the unseen figure who looms a little closer and in more darkly pronounced shadows in Bartlett Sher's deeply moving revival of Fiddler on the Roof. I wouldn't have seen it if anyone else was at the helm but Sher is a master at making classic musicals explode in Technicolor before your eyes. The King and I, still running at Lincoln Center is a shinning example of that. In Fiddler though he does it with bleakness. The joy of the score is enjoyed in contrast with Michael Yeargan's meticulously muted set pieces that make you feel like you've stumbled into a production of The Cherry Orchard. The result is chilling and doubled by Danny Burstein's nuanced Tevya. When he sings, "If I Were a Rich Man," he does so with the weight of years of struggle in his voice. Jessica Hecht brings a sardonic yet warm wit to Golda that helps liven the dynamics of their relationship. Eric Bogosian remarked recently on Marc Maron's podcast that he can't believe we're not caring more collectively about helping the Syrian migrants. Maybe more people in power would be well-served to see this production.

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Parade sees thousands defy rain to celebrate the LGBT community.

In the summer of 2011, the United Nations declared access to the internet not only a necessity, but a human right in modern society. This declaration was hardly a surprise when it was released, access to the internet had become a vital tool to combat inequality, react in emergencies, and develop human progress. In that same report, the UN urged the world to make ensuring universal access to this crucial tool a priority. And, as of this year, New York - with the help of Google - is beginning to answer that call.

New York has taken a fun, retro feel to their streets and has begun replacing outdated payphones with tall, slim, and functional Links that provide free internet access to the city. This will have sweeping and powerful results for the most vulnerable of the LGBT community - the thousands of LGBT youth living on the streets of New York. Of those currently homeless in America today, over 40 percent identify as either lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender - a disproportionate inequality that speaks volumes.

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To a disheartened, forgotten, and frustrated LGBT youth - homeless, scared, and desperate - access to the internet can be everything. It can be access to support, to services, to friends. It can be the ability to find shelter for the night, food for the day, and a coat for the cold. It can be the ability to overcome an emergency - criminal or medical. Ultimately, it can be the ability to change their lives; to find a job, a bed, and to rebuild. Furthermore, these new Links will also have the ability to provide several other important services to those in need. For one, they will provide a place to charge devices. Even more, they feature a screen that acts as an android device that will help those without access to a life-saving phone. The Link will also provide an emergency 911 button that will contact help quickly, a service that can not only prevent crime but save lives. The first of the Links will be operating in New York later this month, providing internet access to many populations previously denied it.

While New York is to be lauded on their innovation, it is not a program that should end in the Big Apple but one that should be mirrored in cities around the nation. The program isn't costing New York tax payers a dime, instead it is being funded by individual investors and will be maintained by ad sales on the Links themselves. In fact, through ad revenue the city will actually be making millions within the first decade of operation. If other regions picked up the idea of providing free internet access to their vulnerable populations such as LGBT youth on their streets the country could see a great change in the homeless population. Providing internet access to those who need it most will help many overcome their situation and begin rebuilding their lives. And, as mentioned before, internet isn't a luxury anymore - it's a human right.
Canadian company TransCanada's announcement that it will sue the American people for $15 billion over the Obama administration's Keystone XL rejection perfectly illustrates how today's corporate-empowering trade policies not only undermine our climate ambitions, but threaten the way democracy is supposed to work.

TransCanada is using rules in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to challenge a central tenet of democracy: that people can sway their elected governments to do the right thing. This suit once again reveals the dangers of NAFTA, and highlights the same corporate rights that would be expanded if Congress approves the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an international trade deal between the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim nations.

TransCanada is using "investor-state" rules in NAFTA, which empower corporations to sue governments for up to billions of dollars if they argue that countries have treated them unfairly.

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At the heart of TransCanada's new case is its claim that the Obama administration's decision to reject the pipeline was "arbitrary," stemming from TransCanada's assertion that whereas in 2010 the State Department was "inclined" to approve the project, subsequently "politicians and environmental activists...continued to assert that the pipeline would have dire environmental consequences" which ultimately led President Obama to reject it for "symbolic reasons, not because of the merits."

Firstly, this is bogus. In announcing the Keystone XL rejection, President Obama connected curbing the rampant development of fossil fuels to keeping "large parts of the Earth" from becoming "uninhabitable." That's called a decision based on the public interest. (For clarification, symbolism is bringing a snowball to Congress to disprove climate change during a record-breaking heat year).

Even more worrying, TransCanada's suit suggests that under today's trade regime, corporations can demand billions of taxpayer dollars from a government that learns from and eventually listens to the governed people. The fact that the Obama administration ultimately heeded the wishes of communities is what solidified the Keystone XL fight as one of the great struggles of our century. Originally, the administration did seem inclined to support it. Then over the years, Indigenous communities, farmers, and ranchers in the pipeline's path educated policymakers on its terrible threats to their homes. Climate scientists and economists illuminated how the pipeline would undermine our chances for a stable climate. Nobel Prize Laureates, including a former U.S. president, detailed its risks to humanity. Millions of people marched in the streets and contacted their elected leaders. Eventually the Obama administration listened, and acknowledged that countries cannot both talk the climate talk and keep developing massive fossil fuel projects.

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously told activists of their demands, "Make me do it." This exchange between the governed and the governing is how democracy works.

Today's trade agreements embolden corporations to demand compensation every time governments yield to the pressure of social movements calling for a better world. In 2010 Quebec paused fracking around the St. Lawrence River in response to community concerns, and a U.S. corporation operating there sued Canada for violating their "valuable right to oil and gas."

Our battles to keep fossil fuels in the ground, to have a just transition to clean energy, and to have an economy that benefits all will never come easily. Communities will always need to push our elected officials to improve. But trade rules that threaten countries with billion-dollar lawsuits over democratic decisions make those struggles much harder.

Now communities are asking the U.S. government to listen again, and reject the critically flawed Trans-Pacific Partnership. Yesterday, a coalition of more than 1,525 public interest groups wrote to Congress asking them to oppose the TPP. This builds on years of rallies, meetings, and town halls as labor, environmental, and other communities push for the rejection of the TPP and the adoption of a new trade model.
The Supreme Court has once again decided to reconsider "settled law." This time it is a case involving the rights of public-employee unions to charge employees a fee for the services the unions are required by law to provide to all employees -- even those who are not members of the union. The goal is to bankrupt the unions by denying them the funds necessary to perform the required services.

The argument is that since unions protect working people's pay and rights, paying fees for union services therefore violates the "free speech" of those who support concentrated wealth and power.

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This case is going to be argued before the Supreme Court on Monday. Here's why you need to pay attention.

Payment For Services Unions Are Required By Law To Provide

When a public-employee union negotiates a contract, even employees who are not union-members get the pay increases, sick pay, vacation pay, union services and other benefits of the contract. Union services include the cost of collective bargaining, administering the resulting contract, and representing employees who have grievances under the contract.

Currently, unions are required by law to provide these services to every employee covered by a union contract, even if those employees are not union members. So, the unions charge an "agency fee" to those non-union employees to cover the costs.

Public-Employee Unions Support Communities, Not Just The Workers

Public-employee unions, by their nature, fight for the interests not just of employees but of the entire community. On a Wednesday call about the implications of the Freidrichs case, members of public-employee unions described how their unions help them serve the whole community.

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Vincent Variale, a New York Fire Department EMS lieutenant and 9/11 first responder, said it is important for first responders to have a voice at the table, because they fight for preventive safety regulations, good equipment and adequate staffing levels.

For example, he said that on 9/11 they had no respirators, so it was hard to provide medical care as needed. His union local brought these concerns to the fire department and fought to get better equipment. Now they have respirators and protective equipment that allows them to work in harsh environments, like building collapses, providing medical care that is needed. And now that there is such a concern about "active shooters," the union is proactively trying to get bulletproof vests. This demonstrates how unions protect the citizens their members serve.

Pankaj Sharma, a high school teacher in Illinois, talked about how his union works to stop cuts to the most marginalized and at-risk students. Special education, for example, is an expensive program and is often a target for cuts. The union fights this. The union also advocates for referendums to get high quality facilities. Because teaching has a high turnover rate, the union created a mentoring program to help keep teachers. This helps school districts and the students.

Coming Soon: Not Just Public Employees

In 2014 the Court ruled 5-4 that the First Amendment prohibited unions from collecting a fee from home health care providers who are not members of the union, even though the union was required to provide services.

Because of the makeup of the Court it is likely to rule in Freidrichs that nonmembers no longer have to pay those fees while the unions will still be required to provide those services. (Why else would the Court have taken this case?)

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These cases are about public employees, but undoubtedly all of this is intended to lead also to attacking the same requirements for private-employee unions. This is about making every state a "right-to-work" state, and suppressing unions and wages.

Corporate Conservative Court Is Reconsidering Supposedly "Settled" Cases

In 1977's Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that public-employee unions can charge this fee. So for decades this has been considered to be "settled law."

But now the Supreme Court has a majority of members who made their way to the court with corporate-funded conservative backing. So the court is systematically reversing older "settled" cases that affect corporations, workers rights, and other elements of conservative ideology like voting rights and womens' rights.

This time the conservatives on the Court are reconsidering the unanimously and four-decade-settled Abood decision. The case the Court is using to accomplish this is Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. The court is going to decide if non-union public employees will still be required to pay for the services unions required by law to provide them. All bets are that it will be another 5-4 decisions in favor of the corporate-conservative position.

The "Free Speech" Argument

The argument being used this time is that making people pay for services they receive, even when those services are required by law, violates their "freedom of speech." This is said to be about "speech" because unions represent working people, enabling them to band together and collectively bargain, and thereby confront those with concentrated wealth and power on a more level playing field. Therefore, by their very nature, unions are engaging in "political activity," and making people pay for the services unions provide is "unconstitutionally compelled political speech."

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In other words, because unions engage in the activity of fighting for better wages, rights, and protection, therefore the "rights" of those who would deny people those things are put at risk if unions are funded. Assisting unions in this mission by paying this fee thereby violates the free speech of those who support concentrated wealth and power.

We The People vs Concentrated Wealth And Power

The current majority of the Supreme Court was brought to its position with funding and backing of those on that other side -- corporate-funded conservatives. These are the "people" whose "free speech rights" the Court says are being violated if unions receive funds enabling them to represent working people. These corporations are also the "people" who the Court ruled are allowed to put unlimited money into our elections because of "free speech."

The Supreme Court repeatedly takes the position that anything that protects working people and regular citizens from concentrated wealth and power is by its very nature "political advocacy" and therefore violates the "free speech" of those few with concentrated wealth and power.

But the United States of America was founded by We the People -- all of us "created equal" -- with the purpose of banding together to protect ourselves and secure our liberty from concentrated wealth and power. This Supreme Court is consistently issuing 5-4 rulings that go against the very reasons our country was founded and our Constitution was written.

As the Supreme Court hears this case on Monday, that day will mark the beginning of a week of action to ensure that the public is aware of what's at stake: the ability of workers to stand up for themselves and for the people they serve.

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Please visit America Works Together -- a coalition of working people and their allies, working people like teachers, nurses, firefighters, and other public service workers who are passionate about our work, and learn more about what you can do during the week of action.
Larycia Hawkins, a Christian who is wearing a hijab over Advent in solidarity with Muslims, attends service at St. Martin Episcopal Church in Chicago on Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images)

It's been several weeks since news broke that Wheaton College, an explicitly Christian liberal arts institution in Illinois whose motto is "For Christ and His Kingdom," suspended a tenured professor for her actions in taking a stand in solidarity with American Muslims, and yet the case remains unresolved and continues to spark heated discussion.

The facts are not in dispute. Dr. Larycia Hawkins pledged to wear a hijab, the headscarf worn by many Muslim women, throughout the pre-Christmas season of advent. She explained her position on Facebook including the statement "I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God."

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The case has drawn national attention, and in progressive circles was widely seen as evidence of Christian intolerance and hostility toward Islam, and further proof that evangelical Christianity today is quick to stand for religious liberty for itself but not so eager to extend that liberty to other faiths.

One of the voices advancing that position was Huffington Post reporter Willa Frej who posted "A Christian College Placed a Professor on Leave for Wearing a Hijab" and a flurry of commenters piled on, slamming the college for hypocrisy and bigotry.

Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that the professor is an African-American woman. Although there is no clear evidence race or gender played a role in the college's decision, the history of conservative Christianity's comfort with patriarchy and spotty record on issues like slavery and civil rights raised even more antipathy toward Wheaton. Indeed, the college's website features a photo of the college's Board of Trustees which appears to show 14 white males, three women, and only two people of color. Clearly, Wheaton is not a beacon of the multi-cultural reality that is global Christianity today.

So it is easy to conclude that Wheaton's decision is another reason to be disdainful of what evangelical Christianity has often become in America, a self-righteous and intolerant force out of step with our increasingly pluralistic society.

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But, not so fast! Let's take a deeper look at this case, beyond headlines like "A Christian College Placed a Professor on Leave for Wearing a Hijab." It turns out an official statement from Wheaton actually affirmed her right to wear the hijab "as a gesture of care and compassion."

In fact, it was the lines quoted above in her Facebook post that troubled Wheaton's leadership. In their view, her statement was in contradiction to the "Statement of Faith" that Wheaton's faculty is required to sign as a condition of employment.

Let's return to Professor Hawkins's own words.

"I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God."

So here is the rub, not that she chose to wear a hijab but that her expressed theology was deemed inconsistent with the college's Statement of Faith. Reference to the Pope's statement may score points as a celebrity endorsement, though not necessarily a persuasive one in Protestantism, but it is hardly relevant to Wheaton's statement of faith that Professor Hawkins signed.

Ruth Graham wrote an incisive article in the Atlantic, "The Professor Suspended for Saying Muslims and Christians Worship One God" that clarifies the real issue in this case. The subtitle of Graham's article reads, "It was her theology--not her hijab--that got her in trouble with the evangelical college."

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The question of whether Muslims, or for that matter Jews, worship the same monotheistic God, separated by different understandings of who God is and how we are to respond is a complex subject. People in each of what are known as the "Abrahamic faiths" have varying views on those questions.

Many of us, myself included, find compelling evidence that adherents of each faith are united in worshiping a common creator and deity. We are, in effect, members of the same broader faith family. Those holding this position believe it is an important starting point in reducing the hostility and tension that separates us, and at worst has led to violence and war.

Others disagree, and point to critical differences such as differing beliefs about the divinity of Jesus, the need for salvation, or even the very nature of God.

These are important questions for those of us who identify with the three Abrahamic faiths, though admittedly irrelevant to those who don't, and they complicate the case of Wheaton College and Professor Hawkins.

On that matter, one important question is whether Professor Hawkins statement is in line with the college's required Statement of Faith for her continued employment.

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Many of us are rooting for Professor Hawkins to prevail, believing her compassion toward our Muslim brothers and sisters is not only our Christian duty but critical in today's polarized and distrustful environment.

But we need to get beyond the lazy and inaccurate analyses that accuse Wheaton of anti-Islamic bigotry, and understand that private colleges have every right to require their employees adhere to the core beliefs and values of that institution.

Here Wheaton's leadership is within their rights, but also in the wrong. A vibrant and dynamic faith institution should acknowledge that whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God is a legitimate and unsettled question for many faithful Christian believers. This discussion might be threatening to the college's current Statement of Faith, but it would be in line with the model of a Christ who challenged the prevailing religious authorities by speaking to a Samaritan woman and breaking down barriers of race and class wherever He went.

This is a moment that could transform Wheaton, demonstrating a courageous Christian witness of embracing "the other" while boldly exploring a challenging theological question. Professor Hawkins has provided Wheaton an opportunity to do just that.
BURLINGTON, VT - JANUARY 07: Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump on stage during his event at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts on January 7, 2016 in Burlington, Vermont. The line to enter the event wrapped around the venue and down multiple streets and multiple groups of protesters were present outside. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

The white working class sold their votes cheap. Back when they were the stalwarts of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal coalition, the southern and working class voters of the industrial Midwest were living the dream. Their votes mattered. The members they sent to Congress, particularly the southern Democrats, sat atop the most powerful committees and brought home the bacon. Then things began to change. Somewhere between the integration of the army under Truman, the Democratic Party embrace of civil rights, and the social upheaval of the 1960s, those white working class voters left their ancestral homeland and began their migration to the GOP. Whether one views that political shift as the denouement of the 19th century post-Civil War struggles or a rear guard action to resist the multicultural world to come in the 21st century, those voters left behind the political and economic power they wielded in the Democratic Party for what they thought would be a better deal as part of the Republican Party.

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For the better part of a half a century, the Republican Party leadership has kept the modern Republican coalition together. They have been strange bedfellows -- traditional Republican, Main Street business people and Wall Street bankers finding common cause with less educated workers from the south and industrial Midwest drawn to the GOP by Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy and as Reagan Democrats -- but they have stuck together with few defections. Sure, many liberal Republicans found they could not vote for John McCain if it meant putting Sarah Palin one bullet away from the Oval Office, and Wall Street was seduced for a while by Bill Clinton's commitment to financial deregulation, but through it all, those white working class voters held true. They were the rock, the immovable base of the modern GOP.

As it turned out, if you look at who got what out of the deal, the white working class voters got the short end of the stick. For decades now, the GOP has made good on its commitment to those voters and delivered a strong commitment to national defense, gun rights and a range of social and faith-based issues. For their part, Wall Street Republicans were more than willing abandon traditional Republican liberalism on social issues and embrace a coded racial appeal in each election cycle in exchange for support for a wide-ranging pro-business regulatory and economic agenda that was in other respects hostile to the white working class and middle class voters that joined their ranks. Put another way, the middle class white voters bought support for their conservative social positions by selling off their economic position. It was a deal with the devil that ultimately cost those voters dearly.

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The members of Congress those working class voters sent to Washington, DC voted for legislation year after year adverse to the interests of their constituents. They voted for bankruptcy reforms that made it increasingly difficult for consumers to get out from under massive debts sold to them by predatory lenders. They voted to increase the cost of student loans and similarly make those debts increasingly difficult to discharge in bankruptcy. They voted for financial deregulation that further advanced financial interests at the expense of consumers. They voted for intellectual property laws that extended patent protection and increased the costs of prescription drugs. They approved legislation that tightened Monsanto's grip over the farming industry. Then there was the most important change of all, expanding international trade and the facilitation of corporate outsourcing, as American jobs and wages were undermined by international competition. One step after another, the transformation of the American economy was made possible as those white working class voters conspired in their own demise.

GOP leaders argued that each of those changes were in the broader interest of economic growth and efficiency, and certainly they were a boon to corporate profitability. But if you were at the receiving end of those changes, those families and communities whose livelihoods were built around farming and manufacturing that were undermined, and who watched as the rich got richer and their own families got poorer, you might come to a different conclusion. Over the course of three decades, white working class families watched in increasing shame and despair as their incomes first stagnated and then declined in real terms, and their hopes for the future faded.

Now, it has become apparent that many in those communities are literally killing themselves. Last fall, two Princeton economists published a paper documenting the rising death rate among less-educated, white, working class Americans in their 40s and 50s -- primarily as a result of poisoning, suicide and drug and alcohol abuse. When marine mammals begin killing themselves as they have in recent years, it makes news. The scientific community dives into the problem, and environmental groups posit theories and suggest courses of action to ameliorate the concerns for the impacted species. But when it became apparent that the base constituency of the Republican Party was in a state of existential pain leading to massive numbers of suicides, the study made news for a day or two, but there has been no noticeable rush within the party to diagnose the problem and find solutions.

As illustrated in this graph from that paper, the data is quite stark. In contrast to a consistent pattern of declining death rates across other industrialized countries -- and among other groups in the US -- that cohort of less-educated whites (USW) are literally killing themselves off. Over the period from 1999 to 2013, the number of deaths were almost 100,000 higher than would have been the case had mortality rate held constant. Had the rate continued to decline as it had during the prior decade -- and as it did in other countries as shown here -- a half a million deaths would have been avoided -- a number comparable to the number of Americans who died due to the AIDS epidemic.

This year, that cohort of less-educated, white working class Americans are overwhelmingly supporters of Donald Trump. While much has been written about their anger, there has been little outpouring of concern for their existential plight. Instead, they are being widely decried as bigots and racists for supporting the billionaire real estate developer who is now crushing the Republican field in the presidential nomination battle. There is growing consternation among the leadership of the Republican Party about how those voters can be pried away from Trump in favor of a candidate acceptable to the GOP establishment, but even in the face of the dramatic mortality statistics the GOP leadership has shown little interest in the linkage between the Trump phenomenon and the evident depths of depression and pain afflicting the base of their party.

Much of the Republican establishment has little but disdain for the suffering of their compatriots, as Jeb Bush suggested succinctly. "We have people that mope around thinking 'my life is bad, my children will not have the same opportunities that I had.' What a horrible notion in America, the most optimistic of places." Faced with the very real anger and pain -- evidenced by a half a million deaths that might have been avoided -- none of the leading Republican presidential hopefuls have any meaningful prescription for what ails a large swath of their party's base. No mention is made of decades of policies that served the interests of the party establishment, while eviscerating the livelihoods of its base. The only policy prescription any of them have to offer is tax cuts, which are largely irrelevant that cohort of Americans who pay little or no income tax.

It is against that backdrop that the passionate embrace of Donald Trump makes sense. Trump gives voice to their deep anger, and also, at some level, their shame. They made a bad deal, and Trump is touting himself as a deal man who will change that. No one else in the Republican Party -- even as they fight to replace him -- will acknowledge the things Trump will acknowledge. That our politics have been corrupted by corporate and financial interests seeking special favors. That the past decade and a half of war has devastated military families and the nation's treasury, and stolen resources from badly needed domestic investment. That free trade and corporate outsourcing has been a bad deal for working men and women. No one in the GOP but Trump is willing to talk about those things that have afflicted the white working class, because they do not believe any of those things are bad. As much as the GOP depends on the votes of the Republican base, establishment Republicans are with Jeb on this: Americans have no business whining. They are blessed to live in land of unparalleled opportunity. If they don't like their lot in life, they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps and do something about it. A half a million deaths, and there is little but contempt.

Perhaps the Trump voters have finally woken up to realize that the people they are in bed with have been screwing them over all these years. The Republican Party that they signed on to was and remains the party of the wealthy, of corporate America, and of Mitt Romney and his cabal of hedge fund managers. The GOP establishment needs them for their votes on election day -- after all, that was why Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan sought them out to begin with -- but after that they don't want to be in the same room with them. That is not true about Trump. Those Republican voters are rabidly pro-Trump, because he is the only person who is rabidly pro-them. He is an old time economic populist of the Huey Long school. Screw the fat cats and their holier than thou attitude, it's our turn. His words are the opposite of the disdain Jeb has shown them. Trump strokes his followers at his rallies."I love you people, I love you. I love you.... I'm winning with the smart people," he continues. "The people are smart. The people that are representing them are either dishonest, not smart, incompetent, or they have some other agenda that we don't even know about."

They love Donald Trump because he says he loves them. No one else loves them, no one else cares about their pain.
News / National

by Staff Reporter

Zimbabwe heads of Christian denominations have declared the 9th to the 17th of January the prayer week for rains.This follows the persistent dry weather spell which has seen the church and government join hands to seek divine intervention.Zimbabwe and other countries are currently experiencing the effects of the El Nino phenomenon.Among some of the effects are very hot temperatures and a prolonged dry spell.Reports compiled by the ZBC News from all the provinces have pointed to a drought as not much agricultural activities are taking place.The church has now joined hands with the government seeking divine intervention.A representative of the Zimbabwe heads of Christian denominations Dr Shingi Munyeza says the indications of drought ahead have necessitated the church to come in and pray for the rains.Other heads of denominations say as Christians they have faith that no Zimbabwean will starve.Prayer for rains is not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe.Traditionally, Zimbabweans especially in rural areas, used to carry out some traditional ceremonies to ask for the rains.
People watch a TV screen showing the news reporting about an earthquake near North Korea's nuclear facility at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. North Korea said Wednesday it had conducted a hydrogen bomb test, a defiant and surprising move that, if confirmed, would put Pyongyang a big step closer toward improving its still-limited nuclear arsenal. The letters read: " North Korea's nuclear test." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Here we go again. Various friends email me every time something regarding North Korea erupts. The missives are usually filled with concern about what's happening with me and on our peninsula. When the news broke that North Korea had tested a hydrogen bomb, friends from around the world sent me emails asking what the mood was like here. Of course we're worried. It is difficult not to become overwhelmed by such an event.

But I was no less surprised seeing the HuffPost U.S.'s splash in the aftermath of North Korea's hydrogen bomb announcement. The picture depicted a huge cloud from a hydrogen bomb explosion. I never even thought to use such an image here in Korea. Had I, we would've been lambasted for scaremongering. If you, as a foreigner living in Korea for less than a few months, had seen such a front page headline and image, you probably would've taken a tranquilizer and began searching for a plane ticket home. Or, you might've stumbled out onto the streets of Seoul looking for a grocery shop to store up on emergency supplies, only to be flabbergasted to find its citizens blithely going about their businesses as if nothing had happened. Well, there are others who think South Koreans' reactions very odd.

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"To South Koreans, North is neither an immediate nor a physical threat. It's just beyond the border but hardly anyone has actually experienced it in person; it remains a political mirage..."

Lara Pierce, an editor at HuffPost Australia, wrote an excellent blog about her own experience in Korea in 2013 after North Korea's nuclear test. "The newsroom carries on as usual, preparing the front page story about the bomb threat and working quickly to get a story up on their website. As lunchtime approaches, my colleagues debate the pros and cons of sushi versus bulgogi. I am baffled. After all, Seoul is a mere 56 kilometres from the North Korean border -- a short trip for a nuclear missile or war plane." I really appreciated this passage because I thought Lara had pegged South Koreans' attitude about North Korea's nuclear threat dead on.

I'm sitting at my desk now, trying to divine what's hot and newsworthy among all the items that other media outlets are covering. Except for the news that South Korea is restarting the loudspeaker broadcast aimed at North Korea this afternoon in retaliation, the hydrogen bomb issue is fading quickly from the headlines. I look at other headlines. Kara, Korea's top female K-pop girl group during the last decade, is about to break up. Hadn't they been disbanded already? Who benefitted most from last year's almost two-fold cigarette price increase? Certainly not me, a smoker. Metropolitan Seoul's rent is through the roof, which is worrisome for me as well because my landlord has raised the rent too.

"A South Korean's image of North Korea is probably akin to a Canadian imagining that all Texans tote their guns around in the open wearing their cowboy hats and boots."

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It's been a couple of days since North Korea announced that it had successfully exploded a hydrogen bomb, but many experts contend that it probably was not a hydrogen bomb. I'm not saying what happened wasn't dangerous, but the fact is Koreans in less than a day have turned away from that news. To be honest, even the day it happened, people here didn't make a huge fuss about it. For example, the most popular article during the last two days on HuffPost Korea was "Nine Things That Make Good Employees Quit." (FWIW: I think this is a very important story, as it's my duty to avert in advance any reasons for good editors quitting).

A visitor attempts to view North Korean territory from Ohdu Unification Observatory in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea.

So just exactly why are Koreans seemingly less concerned about North Korea-related news than foreigners? In Korea right now, there are far more people who have not experienced war than those who have. To South Koreans, North is neither an immediate nor a physical threat. It's just beyond the border but hardly anyone has actually experienced it in person; it remains a political mirage, one that because of more than 50-years of anti-communist rhetoric appears only slightly menacing. In the '80s, I was educated by the anti-communist rhetoric, which even described North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung as a red pig at schools.

"South Korea has lived the past 60 years with an ornery neighbor/brother/whatever threatening periodically to torch all of Seoul. South Koreans no longer have the interest to bend their ears with worry and care at their blackmail."

What's more, news and information about North Korea still remain limited to South Koreans. We hardly know how our northern brethren really live. When HuffPost posts photographs of North Korea taken by a foreigner, people's reactions border on dismay with comments ranging from "unbelievable" to "people actually drive their own cars there?" A South Korean's image of North Korea is probably akin to a Canadian imagining that all Texans tote their guns around in the open wearing their cowboy hats and boots.

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That everyone here is exhausted about the neighbor up north should also be pointed out. South Koreans don't even flinch anymore when North Korea spills vitriol about turning Seoul into an ocean of blaze. Instead we think: "Our northern neighbors must be low on rice again and they want us to donate." Imagine a cranky, obstinate relative from long, long ago who shows up periodically banging on your gate with a hammer, insisting that you extend him a loan.

As for politics, North Korea is South Korea's conservative party's favorite scapegoat, especially near election season. For some reason, whenever a congressional or presidential election nears, North Korea inevitably ends up blasting or threatening to blast some near-border missiles. During the last(19th) congressional election, a similar thing happened, tilting the then political climate. There's another congressional election in April this year. People here believe that North Korea's aggression helps to unite the conservative forces, which leads to more votes. Some even spout conspiracy theories about the conservative party bribing North Korea to act bellicose come election time. In fact, many people in South Korea actually believe this conspiracy theory.

As explained, it should not come as a surprise why South Koreans react so nonchalantly to North Korea's supposed hydrogen bomb threat. South Korea has lived the past 60 years with an ornery neighbor/brother/sister/whatever threatening periodically to torch all of Seoul. South Koreans no longer have the interest to bend their ears with worry and care at their blackmail. So then what is the most real, physical threat that South Koreans cringe from right now? Spoilers of Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

I remember when North Korea bombed Yeonpyeong Island on Nov. 23, 2010. I was at a gigantic outlet mall on the outskirts of Seoul contemplating whether I should purchase the scarf or not. The mall's huge LCD screen lit up with neon-red subtitles and images of missiles being rained down on Yeonpyeong Island. For a while people watched the screen with concerned faces, but then as time neared for the mall to close, they began to walk away in droves. No, they were not heading for shelters but to individual stores to make their last purchases. I, too, lurched back to the shop. Purchasing the scarf, I said to the colleague who'd gone there with me, "If there's a war, we probably won't have electricity, and it being winter soon, a cashmere scarf would be nice, huh?" I still have that cashmere scarf, a perfect answer to a nuclear winter.
Prison Hands 2

Pushed by students and workers, the University of California has announced that they will divest from private prison companies like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group. This is yet another win for criminal justice reform -- Columbia University divested from CCA last summer. The private corrections industry, which makes more profit when more people are in the system, is an obstacle to the changes many of us want to see.

The industry doesn't want change. An executive with GEO Group, the second largest private prison operator in the U.S., recently boasted that the country would continue to "attract" crime. He shared the 'good news' to investors: "The reality is, we are a very affluent country, we have loose borders, and we have a bad education system."

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Private prison companies claim to do a better job for cheaper, but too often they cut corners to turn a profit. They've left three decades of deadly riots, prisoner deaths, lawsuits, accidental releases, and high correctional officer turnover in their wake.

And they stand in the way of meaningful reform. For example, for-profit companies operate almost two-thirds of the beds in our immigration detention system, which has ballooned in the past two decades. Recent analysis by the Center for American Progress shows that, between 2004 and 2014, CCA and GEO Group spent millions of dollars on lobbying, which opened the door for these companies to influence immigrant detention legislation.
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - DECEMBER 02: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (R) and Montenegro's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Igor Luksic (L) hold a joint press conference on the second day of the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on December 02, 2015. NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday invited Montenegro to become the 29th member of the alliance in its first expansion in six years. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Is NATO a military alliance or a social club? The "North Atlantic" Treaty Organization invited Montenegro to join. With 2,080 men under arms, Podgorica is a military nullity. Having peacefully separated from Serbia years ago, Montenegro neither threatens nor is threatened by anyone. Adding it to NATO is like accumulating Facebook Friends. They do little more than allow preening Washington officials to wander the globe gloating how popular the U.S. is.

During the Cold War NATO was viewed as deadly serious. Washington was determined to defend Western Europe from the avaricious, totalitarian Soviet Union. The allies had been devastated by World War II and faced an aggressive communist superpower. The nightmare scenario was a Red Army armored attack through the Fulda Gap. For years war seemed to be a real possibility.

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Then the Soviet Union collapsed. The Warsaw Pact dissolved. The Central and Eastern Europeans raced westward. And NATO lost its raison d'etre. The quintessential anti-Soviet alliance no longer had anything to defend or defend against.

For a time allied officials were nervous about the organization's future. But as Public Choice economists would predict, institutional instinct took over. Supporters proposed new roles for NATO, such as promoting student exchanges and combatting the drug trade. Eventually they subordinated the military to the political, and being less concerned about economic and legal reform, became a geopolitical Welcome Wagon for former Warsaw Pact members. The slogan seemed to be "come one, come all."

The good times came to a halt with the Ukraine crisis. The Baltic States suddenly looked vulnerable and alliance members remembered the little matter of Article 5, which committed them to battle against a nuclear-armed power to protect largely indefensible nations. Worse, the Baltic three, which had been absorbed by the Soviet Union, were irrelevant to the security of the rest of Europe. Nor did Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania add meaningful military assets to the alliance: they currently have, respectively, 5,750, 5,310, and 10,950 men under arms. Americans and Europeans were expected to risk nuclear war as an act of international charity.

Proposals to add Georgia and Ukraine would multiply the dangers. Russian aggressiveness, though unjustified, illustrates how important Moscow views its influence in both nations, which also never were seen as relevant to European security. Both were not only part of the Soviet Union but the Russian Empire. Bringing them into NATO would be seen by Russia as comparable to the Warsaw Pact inducting Mexico and Canada. Washington would not, shall we say, be pleased.

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The West's laudable desire to protect the right of Georgians and Ukrainians to chart their own course unfortunately is seen by the Russian government--in part because of maladroit allied policies, such as NATO expansion--as provocative attempts at encirclement. Nothing in Kiev or Tbilisi is worth a nuclear confrontation. Especially one in which the U.S. likely would find most of its European allies back in Brussels locked in a fetal position.

The problem is not just NATO's recent expansion. An alliance on autopilot ignores changes within existing members. For instance, Turkey is proving to be another area of confrontation that undermines U.S. and European security. Never quite the geopolitical lynch-pin that it was made out to be, Ankara spent years prosecuting a brutal campaign against Kurdish separatists and occupied more than one-third of the Republic of Cyprus, creating an ethnic Turkish state recognized only by Ankara. Turkey turned in an ever more authoritarian and Islamist direction once President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped his early liberalizing pretensions. Ironically, he now appears determined to create a presidency modeled after that of Vladimir Putin. So much for NATO promoting liberal democracy. (That always was a job for the European Union anyway.)

Worse, though, is Ankara's irresponsible shoot-down of the Russian plane. Even assuming that Turkey's claims as to the Russian incursion and Turkish warnings were accurate, 17 seconds over Turkish territory did not warrant such a deadly response. Indeed, Ankara routinely violates the airspace of fellow NATO member Greece. That policy forces cash-strapped Athens to waste its limited resources responding. One wonders at the Erdogan government's reaction if Greece chose to down the Turkish offenders. (NATO is talking about bolstering Turkey's air defenses against Russia; how about aiding the Greeks against Ankara?)

Of course, Turkey knew that Russian forces have no hostile aims--indeed, none of the active combatants, including Syria, are targeting Turkish personnel or materiel. Ankara may have been protecting the illicit oil trade or insurgents in an area dominated by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, or attempting to punish Moscow for backing Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. The first two undermine American interests. The latter might fit with an official aim of Washington, but runs against the more fundamental objective of destroying the Islamic State. None of these potential Turkish goals justifies allowing Ankara to drag NATO into a war with Russia. My Cato Institute colleague Ted Galen Carpenter suggests defenestrating this misbegotten alliance member.

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Striking is how all of these members, new and old, as well as aspirants--the Baltic States, Georgia and Ukraine, and Turkey--degrade U.S. security. Montenegro, at least, plays the harmless role of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick in The Mouse that Roared. Although its inclusion in the alliance will further antagonize an already paranoid Russia, Podgorica really is irrelevant strategically and militarily. The others are not. In a worst case all of them could ensnare America in a war with a nuclear-armed power over modest, indeed, minimal, security stakes. The policy frankly is mad.

However, even if Washington's NATO commitments did not bring far more dangers than benefits, they would be unjustified. Europe could, if it was so inclined, defend itself. Why, more than 70 years after the conclusion of World War II, 26 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and 22 years after creation of the European Union, are the Europeans still dependent on America?

Retired Gen. Robert Scales, commandant of the Army War College, recently complained that: "At 30,000, here are fewer American soldiers protecting Western Europe, a piece of the planet that produces 46 percent of global GDP, than there are cops in New York City." But why can't an area that accounts for almost half of the world's production (an overstatement, but never mind) and has a larger population than America provide its own soldiers for defense? Why can't an area of such economic prowess, which has around eight times the GDP and three times the population of its only possible antagonist, Russia, deploy an armed force capable of deterring any threats?

The reason the Europeans don't do so is because they don't want to and don't have to. Some don't believe that Moscow actually poses much of a threat. Others figure only the nations bordering Russia face any risk, and there's little interest in "Old Europe" for confronting Moscow over "New Europe." And almost everyone assumes America will take care of any problems.

Particularly striking is the lack of military effort from those supposedly threatened by the supposed new Hitler to the east. This year NATO-Europe came in at 1.5 percent of GDP, well short of the two percent objective. Only Estonia, Greece (mostly to confront Turkey), Poland (first time ever), and the United Kingdom made that level. Notably missing are France, Germany, and Italy (the continent's other major powers), Latvia and Lithuania (squealing loudly about Russian threats), and Turkey (challenging Russia over parochial rather than alliance interests).

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Over the years American officials have pleaded, cajoled, contended, and begged the Europeans to do more. Even during the Cold War such efforts failed to yield much fruit. They have even less chance of working in the future. Reported Jan Techau of Carnegie Europe: "the dependence of European NATO allies on the United States has further increased since the end of the Cold War, not decreased." Indeed, he added, "while European membership in NATO has nearly doubled since 1990, defense spending by Europeans has gone down by 28 percent since then."

First, the U.S. insists that it will never leave. So long as it frenetically "reassures" allies, trying to convince them that Americans are worthy to subsidize Europe, the latter will respond by doing not much. Second, Russia doesn't threaten America or most of Europe. The latter have little incentive to spend more. Third, domestic economic concerns remain paramount throughout the continent. There are few votes to be gained from supporting greater military expenditures to meet a phantom threat because it would gladden hearts in Washington, Vilnius, and Kiev.

The U.S. should do in 2016 what it failed to do in 1990. It should announce that the world has changed since creation of a U.S.-dominated NATO. It was time to refashion the alliance for a world in which allies had prospered and enemies had disappeared. One possibility for the future would be a European-run NATO, with America perhaps as an associate member. Another alternative would be a continental defense run alongside the European Union. Maybe there's something else.
Whenever I visit Ethiopia I have to recalibrate my definition of "rural" and "remote." On my most recent trip I traveled with John Snow Inc.'s Zenaw Adam to the Udeledaba kebele (the smallest administrative unit of Ethiopia usually less than 5,000 people) situated within the Afar region of northeastern Ethiopia. We went to see the work he and his colleagues are doing to improve immunization coverage in the region. After flying to Semera, the tiny capital of Afar, and then driving 3.5 hours, we arrived at a tiny health post serving a small population of largely nomadic families. Along the entire drive in this harsh and sparsely populated landscape, I couldn't recall passing a settlement larger than about 50 people.

"Wow, this must be one of the most remote places you work," I commented to Zenaw. "Not really," he said. "Some of our health posts are a day's walk or more from the nearest road."

Upon arrival, I met a highly skilled and committed frontline health worker named Humayse Ashab. He serves his community of about 5,000 people admirably, treating common ailments and doing his best to protect people against preventable disease. His supplies are limitedthey consist primarily of first aid products, antibiotics, and treatments for malaria and skin conditionsand his basic tools include rapid diagnostic tests for malaria and a stethoscope, which he uses skillfully to diagnose pneumonia cases. When I asked him what pneumonia sounds like, he reached for a piece of paper and crinkled it, describing these 'crackles' as one of the common sounds found in the lungs of pneumonia patients.

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For all his enthusiasm and competence, Humayse is limited in what he can provide. His health post has no electricity, and he has no transportation beyond his own two feet. In a community hard hit by diseases like maternal mortality, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and childhood pneumonia and diarrheaall of which are compounded by acute malnutrition and lack of access to clean water and sanitationthe health system limitations down to Humayse's heath post further complicate his ability to meet the community's needs.

The lack of refrigeration capacity at Humayse's health postand the requirement that vaccines must be kept cold to maintain their potencymean that vaccines can't be stocked locally and must be brought to the post for this purpose. With these limitations in mind, vaccine outreach campaigns where health care workers bring vaccines to the hardest-to-reach locations in this region on a set date have demonstrated success as a way to get everyone in a small population vaccinated in a single day.

Humayse's daily experiences, and the environment in Afar, are stark reminders of what it will take to reach "last-mile" populations in Ethiopia and elsewhere with more reliable health services. In some cases, innovative technologieslike cooler equipment that works reliably on solar power or ice packs, or improved 'thermostable' vaccines that don't require constant refrigerationcould help overcome some of the challenges of keeping vaccines readily available.

But innovative tools alone won't deliver the health services remote communities need. Health care workers like Humayse need mechanisms to accurately track which women are pregnant, when children are born, and when they are due for vaccines to employ a system for follow up to administer doses on schedule. The data they record on local vaccine stock and usage must flow reliably to supervisors, and continue up through the supply chain. And transport and distribution managers need to turn those data into 'on time and in full' deliveries of needed vaccines.

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Without this attention to detail, innovations can't deliver the fullest impact. I'm hopeful about what can be done for communities in Afar, but also under no illusions as to what it requires. First and foremost, it starts with strong political willand the Government of Ethiopia continues to demonstrate its commitment to equitable delivery of vaccines using a variety of different approaches.

Their Woreda Transformation Program and internationally-praised Health Extension Program are both efforts designed to reach the people of Ethiopia with improved health services. In Afar, the government's partnership with John Snow Inc., with its focus on quality improvement, is designed to help the government achieve its commitment to quality and equity by engaging health care workers and the communities they serve to ensure that every child, even in the most remote areas, is immunized.
The basic facts concerning the world's growing population and the food supply are so daunting that they demand wider appreciation:

We have 7.2 billion people living on our planet today. By 2050, that number will grow to 9.5 to 10 billion.

Global wealth, especially across Asia and Africa, will increase dramatically over the next 35 years, and an estimated 2 to 3 billion new consumers will join the middle class.

The combination of more people, increased incomes and improving diets will increase the demand for food by 2050 by 70 to 100 percent.

Climate change and shrinking fresh water supplies will make it even more challenging to grow enough food to meet the demand.

In confluence, these facts are creating one of the biggest and most complex global challenges humanity has ever faced. This challenge clearly will require a whole host of solutions. There is no single magic bullet.

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But we already know what many of those solutions are, and if we can align and work on them together - instead of wasting energy in fruitless disputes over issues such as organic versus conventional farming and genetic modification (GMO) versus non-GMO - we can make the 21st century a success for food production.

We know we need to grow more food. We know we can't keep converting our forests and grasslands to create more farm land, because if we do so it is at the long term environmental peril of the earth. We know we need to reduce food waste, in our farming operations, during food production, transportation, storage...and at the dinner table. And we know we need continued innovation along with more investment and rational, science-based public policies.

The good news is we are making progress.

Crop losses in the developing world are being addressed through advances in harvesting, logistics and refrigeration. In the developed world we're getting smarter about food waste in our homes and restaurants, so less is wasted, landfills are avoided and more food is getting to people who need it. And all over the world, we're growing more food on the same amount of land due to a wide array of advances in biological research and data science.

Today we can breed seeds precisely, literally gene by gene, and make genetic improvements that would have been impossible only a decade ago. We can farm fields, meter by meter, using GPS navigation systems and detailed knowledge of soil type, land elevation and water movement. Farms of all sizes--in all areas of the world--will benefit from these advances.

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These phenomenal advances fit within a strategy called sustainable intensification - growing more food on each acre of land using fewer resources or more sustainable inputs. It's a strategy in which nearly all of us in the polarized debate over food and agricultural issues - agriculturalists, food companies, environmental groups, policymakers and consumers - can find common ground. This strategy was best articulated in a white paper published last spring, "An Ecomodernist Manifesto," by prominent environmental scholars from around the world as well as officials of the Breakthrough Institute, a think tank based in Oakland, Cal.

To be successful, we must accelerate our progress now. The rate of global agricultural productivity growth has fallen below the level needed to meet global food demands in 2050, according to calculations by the Global Harvest Initiative, a Washington, D.C.-based private sector collaborative. This is one of the key reasons why an increased emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education is an imperative--we need the best minds across the globe to solve these challenges. We need more students with the training and tools, and we need to excite and encourage them to bring their talents to help solve food production issues.

We also need to increase our investment in agricultural science. Steven Leath, the president of Iowa State University, recently lamented the decades-long stagnation of federal research funding for agriculture. As this spending has stagnated, he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), so has the growth of U.S. agricultural productivity. Yet the world needs greater agricultural productivity than ever before, he observed, because of the combination of global population growth, rising prosperity and climate change.

I believe we can (and must) do it. In fact, I believe that by fully utilizing these remarkable technological advances, we can not only feed our growing population but also begin to shrink our farming footprint around the world - while reducing the pressure to clear more forests, drain more wetlands and till more prairies.

But first, we have to stop fighting over issues that don't matter and align on common-ground goals based on sustainable intensification. Most importantly, we need to work together--nobody can do this alone.

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Over the past two months the Republic of Cyprus has hosted a parade of foreign leaders -- German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Secretary of State John Kerry -- each declaring support for reunification negotiations that will end the 41-year division of Cyprus. With the Middle East in shambles, and no real prospect for Israeli-Palestinian peace in the next year, the prospect of resolving the second longest standing issue before the UN Security Council must be tantalizing to all diplomats. But get past the encouraging rhetoric and delve into the details of the Cyprus negotiations, and one starts to suspect that world leaders desperate for peace in a volatile region and a generation of Cypriots yearning to reunify their home as they ride into the twilight, may all be pushing so hard for a deal -- any deal -- to be reached that they have lost sight of how to negotiate a sustainable deal. The 41-year history of Cyprus since Turkey's invasion in 1974 and subsequent occupation of the northern part of the island features several diplomatic efforts and promising initiatives that came short. The general consensus among diplomats and Cypriot leaders is that Cyprus is to be reunified in a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation (that is, a federal state with two sub-federal entities -- one administered by Greek-Cypriots, the other by Turkish-Cypriots). One of the failed initiatives to reunify Cyprus that many consider a "near miss" was the 2004 Annan Plan that was overwhelmingly defeated when put to a referendum. More than 10 years later, there is little analysis -- either by diplomats or by the media covering Cyprus -- as to exactly why the Annan Plan failed. Perhaps they don't know why, or maybe they are just hoping that "this time is different". Yet any plan for reunification is going to be put to referendum once again, and the disregard for the failures of 2004 do not inspire hope that a different result will ensue.

The most puzzling aspect of the present Cyprus negotiations is that Turkey is being treated as a facilitator of peace when it remains the biggest obstacle. Turkey has made many positive statements and declared its commitment to resolving Cyprus. Moreover, its occupation forces on Cyprus have made some minor moves in association with crossings of the Green Line (the line of occupation) and allowing access to sites so the search for 1,500 Cypriots missing for four decades can continue. What Turkey has not done is make any concessions regarding its presence on Cyprus -- either now or in the future. A 2004 exit poll showed that 75% of those who voted against the Annan Plan listed "security" issues as their reason for voting "No". Despite this, security issues are being pushed to the final stages of negotiations. If one wished to set any future referendum on a course to failure, they would allow Turkey to continue to claim a right to intervene in Cyprus. Just as it did in previous failed negotiations, that is exactly what is happening in Cyprus.

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by Rod Collins, Director of Innovation at Optimity Advisors

In a recent article in Acoustic Guitar, Adam Perlmutter chronicles the unusual career path of Dick Boak, one of Martin Guitar's most creative luthiers. Today Boak is the historian-in-residence of the 183-year old company and one of the most respected craftsman in his profession, but his entree and advancement in the revered company is an intriguing and unconventional tale.

Boak was enamored with music and woodmaking at an early age. He began making little instruments in his basement when he was 12 from balsa wood he would purchase at a local hobby shop. His artistic bent expanded when he became fascinated with the visual arts while attending Gettysburg College in eastern Pennsylvania. After dropping out of college in the late 1960's, the self-described hippie worked a series of odd jobs as an illustrator working his way cross-country where he settled in a commune in a rural area outside of San Francisco. By the mid-1970's, Boak made his way back to Pennsylvania working as a performing artist and dabbling in lutherie when an act of trespassing would turn into a life-changing event.

An Unusual Hiring . . . And Firing

Boak would routinely skulk behind the Nazareth, Pennsylvania headquarters of Martin Guitar and rummage through their dumpsters for discarded wood. One day he was caught by a foreman who wanted to know what he was doing with the wood. Boak reached into his car and handed over two instruments. The foreman told him to stay put while he summoned the head of the company, C.F. Martin III, who was so impressed with the budding luthier's creativity that he hired him on the spot.

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Having had years of unsteady work, Boak appeared to have settled into his calling as he quickly developed a reputation as an innovative and creative luthier. When the CEO of the company hires you and everyone loves your work, you would certainly think job security would not be a problem. This would not be so for Boak because, at the end of his first year, he was abruptly fired.

Like so many companies of its time and most companies today, Martin Guitar was structured as a top-down hierarchy, and while the CEO may have hired him, the CEO was not Boak's direct boss. After Boak had joined the guitar company, Martin hired an engineer who became his supervisor. Boak had been working on the design of the components for a new banjo model when his boss instructed him to move one of the joints in the design. Boak argued that repositioning the joint would cause the banjo to break, but the engineer refused to listen and ordered him to make the design modification. Regardless, Boak was convinced the relocation of the joint would cost the company tens of thousands of dollars. He couldn't sit idly by and let this design error go forward, so he reported his concern to the personnel manager. The following morning, Boak was fired by his boss with a stern rebuke for violating one of the prime rules of hierarchical management: Never go over the boss's head.

Creativity Wins Back a Dream Job

Boak was stunned and crushed that his dream job was suddenly gone. Deep down he felt this was wrong. After all, why should you lose your job when you're acting in the best interests of the company? Why should following orders be more important than getting it right?

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Landing this dream job had been a long journey, and Boak decided he was not going to simply give in. He would go over the boss's head once again, but this time in a very creative way. He drew a limited edition of signed pen-and-ink prints of Martin's acclaimed D-28 model, and personally delivered one to C.F. Martin III with the inscription, "Please consider this my reapplication for employment." Martin was delighted with the print and appalled to discover that Boak had been terminated. Martin immediately rehired Boak, eventually assigning him to produce designs for the factory gift shop where the fruits of his efforts resulted in a tenfold increase in sales. Boak would go on to become Martin Guitar's director of artist and public relations and develop the lucrative Signature Editions line of guitars. As for Boak's former boss, he was dismissed a few years after Boak was rehired when a spike in broken banjo rims resulting from the joint design modification created a major quality issue for the company.

Dick Boak was fortunate that Martin Guitar was not a typical large corporation where his creative reapplication would have likely fallen on deaf ears. That's because, while C.F. Martin & Company may appear to be hierarchically organized, it has always been and remains today a family-owned business dedicated to providing a workplace with open communications and promoting a safe environment of teamwork and cooperation. C.F. Martin III's rehiring of Boak demonstrates that the company's core values were not empty words but guiding principles for how to lead a company.

The Foundational Principle For Creating a Great Work Culture

Dick Boak's story highlights an important foundational principle for business leaders who are serious about creating a great work culture: No single individual should have the authority to kill a good idea or to keep a bad idea alive. This is the key guidepost for the new peer-to-peer network management architecture that is increasingly becoming the preferred management structure among today's most innovative enterprises.

While Boak was not a highly educated engineer, he was a skilled craftsman who knew how to build stringed instruments, and most importantly, he was right in his concern that the joint modification would create a financial loss. Yet, in this case, Boak's engineer supervisor assumed he had the authority to make a unilateral decision and to mute the craftsman's voice because that's the way the world of hierarchical management works. In the typical hierarchical organization, the operating rule of thumb is clearly understood: Keep your mouth shut and do what you're told.

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A Dangerous Rule of Thumb

Unfortunately, this rule of thumb can be very dangerous because, if the most knowledgeable voices can be systematically silenced, the organization is, by design, embracing structured ignorance. Were there people inside Kodak or Blockbuster who knew their companies' strategies and assumptions were fatally flawed, but had no way to bring their insights forward for fear of termination? What might have happened to the fate of these once corporate giants if their fundamental organizing principle prevented anyone from killing a good idea or keeping a bad idea alive? We can only imagine.

Even though C.F. Martin III did the right thing in bringing Boak back into the company family, he failed to take the step of implementing Boak's recommendation on the placement of the banjo joint. While this lack of action was not a fatal flaw in this instance, hopefully Martin Guitar has learned from this experience and would handle a similar situation differently today.

Avoiding Structured Ignorance

As counterintuitive as it may seem, one of the most important--if not the most important--step a business can take to make sure it sustains high performance is to limit the authority of the bosses. If your organization has legions of supervisors--all of whom have the authority to silence their employees under the threat of termination for insubordination--then it's probably just a matter of time before structured ignorance creates a difficult, and hopefully not fatal, business crisis.

There are companies who understand this counterintuitive wisdom and avoid structured ignorance by dismissing the very notion of insubordination. For example, when Chris Rufer founded Morning Star, the world's largest tomato processor, 45 years ago, he structured his company on two foundational principles: No one person should have the authority to coerce another person, and all individuals should keep their commitments to the company mission. With this in mind, Rufer designed his organization as a peer-to-peer network without any supervisors, where individual workers negotiate specific commitments with their colleagues and measure the status of these commitments on a bi-weekly basis. Without bosses, insubordination is not possible, and, with bi-weekly measures, the necessary transparency exists to allow anyone in the company to highlight something that might cost the company tens of thousands of dollars.

Google is another example of a company that avoids structured ignorance by making it difficult for its supervisors to micromanage and creating a space where it's safe not to follow orders. The ratio of employees to supervisors at Google can be as high as 60 to 1, making it difficult for bosses to hover over people's shoulders. And the technology company's well-known 20 percent time makes sure that no one has the authority to kill a good idea by providing employees with time where they are free to work on anything they want, even if it's contrary to direction given in their regular work.

What Morning Star and Google both appreciate is that work cultures are most innovative and productive when there is the free flow of both information and ideas, which is why they dismiss the notion of insubordination.


As I rushed out the house to make an appointment in downtown Atlanta, I didn't think twice about wearing my brightest-colored headscarf. It was a couple of days after Donald Trump made racist comments against Muslims, but I was not afraid of being visibly Muslim, especially in a city full of black folk.

Yes, I have high expectations when it comes to African Americans and Islamophobia. I do not expect black Americans, who experience hate crimes more than any other group in this country, to turn around and treat with contempt another group that does not look like the white majority. Further, I would hope that African Americans, painfully aware of how the dominant media has historically vilified black people in this country and around the world, would see through the lies, biases, and distortions of the media and of racist individuals when it comes to Islam and Muslims, here in America and abroad.

Realistically, however, as we know from Ben Carson's Islamophobic comments, the high standards to which I hold black Americans do not always hold.

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Still, the unique growth of Islam in black communities, especially in the mid-to-late 20th century, makes black Americans strong allies in American Muslims' fight against Islamophobia. Largely because of Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam, the novel economic, educational, and media enterprises it brought to poor, urban communities, and the charismatic personalities of Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and Louis Farrakhan, Islam came to be forever associated with black power, freedom, and justice.

And there's more to black people's respect for Islam. The historically high rates of conversion to Islam in black communities meant that it was common for an African American family to have at least one Muslim, especially in urban centers like Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. If it wasn't your daughter who joined the Muslims, it was your cousin.

On the day I wore my bright pink scarf in a climate rife with Islamophobia, I learned once again, after having written two books about Islam in America, that Islam continues to stand strong in black America, and especially in black families.

As I waited for my appointment, the time came for me to pray my afternoon prayer. I found a quiet corner a few feet from a bench where an African American woman, my mother's age, played with her grandchild. "Hello," I politely summoned her. "Please excuse me, but I just wanted to let you know that I am about to pray in this corner." She responded, "Oh, I'll move." "Oh, please don't move," I answered. "I just wanted you to know what I was doing so you wouldn't feel uncomfortable."

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"I know exactly what you're doing," the woman said reassuringly. "My two sons are Muslims. I respect you praying."

The Christian woman's words confirm that Islam has continued to grow in black families, where dialogue, understanding, and ultimately love for kin make African Americans who are not Muslim stand up for us to pray and practice our faith visibly without fear of violence and hate.

I know firsthand the mutual love and respect between Christian and Muslim family members as I have prayed hand in hand with Christian relatives at Christmas brunches and Thanksgiving dinners. At my grandmother's funeral, I too cried to "Amazing Grace" after I spoke on her legacy before the Baptist congregation.

My parents brought Islam to their Christian families when they joined the Nation of Islam in 1971. In 1975, they followed Imam W. D. Mohammed, the son of Elijah Muhammad, to Sunni Islam. This is the Islam in which I was born and raised, the Islam that taught the teachings of love and mercy lived by the Prophet Muhammad, and the Islam that connected me with Muslims across the globe, from Senegal to China.

This, too, is the Islam that my cousins and aunts and uncles have come to know, respect, and even admire. I am undaunted by the ignorance and hate of Islamophobia, and largely because I know that my people -- my family -- will stand up for me in the spirit of love and justice.

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A newly published book has reminded those who care about social justice in America about one of its strongest and most effective advocates, the late James Dumpson. The book is Reflections on the American Social Welfare State by Alma Carten, and it sheds new light on the life and career of this courageous, lifelong crusader for human rights.

Jim Dumpson set out in the early 1930s as a social worker, and although he took on many other assignments during the next six decades, that remained his real vocation. His timing was perfect because it was the era of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and the transformation of government's role in social and economic affairs.

Dumpson became one of the most vigorous proponents of the compassionate policies Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt stood for, and a national leader in designing and administering programs to ease the lives of the nation's poorest citizens.

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He was the first black welfare commissioner in U.S. history and the first social worker to hold that title in New York City's history. He was, moreover, an outstanding educator and scholar, an administrator of hospitals and health services, and a consultant on social welfare for the United Nations.

Among the qualities that made him such an outstanding leader was his unwavering courage. Soon after Mayor Robert Wagner named him welfare commissioner, the editorial page of the New York Daily News - which in those days was staunchly conservative - scoffed at his job, saying, "Ladies have babies by assorted gentlemen so as to keep the relief checks growing fatter each year."

Dumpson was not about to be cowed, not even by the newspaper with what was at the time the largest circulation in America. "There's no comfort in living on a subsistence level," he fired back. "No comfort in the necessary intrusions into your private life to find out if you qualify for assistance."

And in 1964 when Barry Goldwater, on his way to the Republican Party's presidential nomination, called welfare recipients lazy, Dumpson dismissed him as "the wealthy cowboy."

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His determined bravery became especially important to New York and the nation during the years of backlash against FDR's New Deal and Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. Throughout it all Dumpson remained a powerful counterforce - an unswerving defender of the simple principle he held most dear, "We are all our brother's keepers." One of his proudest memories was when a minister told him, "You sound more like a clergyman than I do."

We know Eleanor Roosevelt met Dumpson at least once, because she wrote about it in 1960 in her syndicated newspaper column, My Day, only months after he became New York's welfare commissioner. Eleanor described a fundraising luncheon for UNICEF she attended and added that Dumpson was there. Then in her characteristically gentle yet insightful style, she said, "I am sure [he] is trying to do a very good job, but he must have many frustrating experiences in this city."

Frustrated in New York? She got that right!

All of us at Hunter College are proud of our own connections with Jim Dumpson. He was associate dean of our renowned school of social welfare during the '60s. He was an inspirational commencement speaker in 1992. And in 2005, when he was a still-active 96-year-old, I presented him, on behalf of Hunter's Brookdale Center on Aging, with a "New Yorker Forever" award.

It was an especially fitting honor, for the arc of his career spanned 60 years, five New York mayors, and a complete change in the definition of government's responsibility to help those in need.
MARSHALLTOWN, IA - JANUARY 06: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) speaks to guests during a rally on January 6, 2016 in Marshalltown, Iowa. During the event Rubio slammed North Korea after it was reported the country carried out a hydrogen bomb test on Tuesday. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) comes from an immigrant family, but has no problem stepping all over the immigrant community to propel his political career. As a presidential hopeful, Senator Rubio trades on his family's immigrant experience, while simultaneously advocating policies that keep immigrants down.

Rubio may not need support from the Latino, APIA, and immigrant community in order to win the Republican primary, but he will need these votes in order to win the general election.

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Here are ten moments on Rubio's timeline that pro-immigration voters are unlikely to forget.

1. MARCO RUBIO HITCHED A RIDE ON THE REPUBLICAN BORDER-FIRST BANDWAGON

Before he even entered the halls of Washington, Rubio advocated a "secure the border first" approach to immigration reform.

Of course, with record levels of enforcement and deportation already the reality, this is actually just a cynical excuse for inaction, one that immigrants and experts can see from a mile away. As the Wall Street Journal put it in 2013: "Republicans who claim we must 'secure the border first' ignore the progress already made because their real goal isn't border security. It is to use border security as an excuse to kill immigration reform."

Rubio's piecemeal vision for immigration reform starts with the "securing the border first" and, practically speaking, ends there too. It is the height of circular logic: we can't reform immigration until the border is secure, but the border will not be deemed "secure" until we end unauthorized migration, which cannot be ended without reform. So we turn up enforcement, and never move on to the other parts of reform. It gives a policy-sounding argument to continually move the goalposts so that nothing is done for 11 million undocumented immigrants settled in our nation.

2. MARCO RUBIO OPPOSED THE 2010 DREAM ACT

In 2010, congressional Democrats planned to take up the DREAM Act in a lame duck session of Congress. Marco Rubio, who had just been elected Senator from Florida, expressed his opposition, calling the measure "too broad": "But the DREAM Act, as I have read it, goes well beyond that. It's much broader and is not the right approach to that issue. In fact, it makes having a legal immigration system that works harder to accomplish. I have the same position I had during the campaign."

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With no thanks to Rubio, the DREAM Act actually passed the House and won a majority in the Senate. However, it failed to meet the 60 vote threshold it needed to become law, because senators like George LeMieux, who was keeping Rubio's Senate seat warm, voted against it.

This left Dreamers without any protection from deportation until the President created DACA.

3. MARCO RUBIO PROMISED TO INTRODUCE HIS OWN DREAM ACT BUT NEVER DID

Take a look at this video, where Marco Rubio discusses his plans to introduce his own version of the DREAM Act. The measure was never filed by Rubio, nor did he explain how his legislation would get through a Republican-controlled House of Representatives where opposition to any version of the DREAM Act was strong enough to block it.

When it became obvious that Rubio was enjoying the media limelight but was not serious about moving legislation, President Barack Obama decided to move the ball forward under his existing executive authority. The result was Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), another pro-immigrant measure Rubio opposes.

4. MARCO RUBIO OPPOSED DACA

After failing to follow through with his own version of DREAM Act, Marco Rubio went on to criticize President Obama for creating DACA, despite the policy's benefits for own constituents and similarities to his own, never-released legislation. Rubio called the DACA plan a "bureaucratic nightmare" and said "When the president ignores the Congress, ignores the Constitution and forces a policy like this down the throat of the American people, it's going to make it harder to have a conversation [about legislative reform]."

Of course, everyone knew Republicans were not planning on having a "conversation" about legislative reform, not in that election year. Obama only acted after the community rose up against his unrelenting deportations, and rather than support policies that help the community, Rubio chose once again to criticize.

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5. MARCO RUBIO PLEDGED TO END DACA AS PRESIDENT, WHETHER CONGRESS PASSES REPLACEMENT LEGISLATION OR NOT

In 2014, Rubio joined with the rest of his Senate Republican colleagues in an attempt to end DACA and told Politico that he would "love to defund the immigration order."

Then, on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Rubio told reporters: "DACA is going to end and the ideal way for it to end is that it's replaced by a reform system that creates an alternative. But if it doesn't, it will end. It cannot be the permanent policy of the United States."

United We Dream-Action issued an immediate response. Jassiel Perez, a United We Dream-Action leader from Florida and DACA-recipient said: "Let's be clear: by taking away my DACA, Sen. Rubio wants to deport me, and hundreds of thousands of immigrant youth. This is a personal attack and is further proof that he does not stand with the immigrant community."

6. MARCO RUBIO (ONCE AGAIN) ABANDONED HIS OWN IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL

Think Progress has an excellent timeline on Rubio's attempt to champion immigration reform before deciding to abandon his own comprehensive bill in 2013. The timeline vividly illustrates how Rubio began the transformation from champion to opponent of his own piece of legislation before the bill had even cleared the upper chamber.

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In early May 2013, Rubio was confronted by DREAMer moms in the halls of Congress and he assured them of his support, stating: "I don't want you to worry about me [supporting immigration reform]." On May 24, 2013 Rubio appeared on Fox News and urged senators to support his bill.

On June 4, 2013, he told Hugh Hewitt that he would consider voting against the legislation. Additional border provisions were ultimately attached, and Rubio voted aye. But by October 2013, Rubio had transitioned so far that he didn't even want the House to pass a limited bill that could lead to a conference with the Senate.

So much for being a champion.

7. MARCO RUBIO TALKED DOWN TO DREAMERS

It's no secret that there has been some tension between immigrants, activists, and Marco Rubio. (Witness his hallway meeting with Dreamer moms in May 2013).

In August 2014, Rubio was confronted at a fundraiser by Florida Dreamers with United We Dream over his opposition to DACA.

After unfurling a banner that read, in Spanish "Rubio wants to deport me" and asking why their senator won't stand up for them and their families, the young people were booed, blocked, and escorted out of the event. Rubio's response showed his complete lack of understanding: "You [Dreamers] are hurting your own cause. They are hurting their own cause, because you don't have the right to illegally immigrate to the United States."

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This may be technically true -- not everyone qualifies for the same policies as Rubio's family. But it also shows a lack of compassion and connection to the struggles of today's immigrants, proving once again that Marco Rubio truly is no champion.

8. MARCO RUBIO SUPPORTED "MERIT-BASED" IMMIGRATION OVER FAMILY TIES

After benefitting from family-based immigration policies, Marco Rubio has pledged to pull up the ladder on future immigrants just like him. This is Rubio speaking at a Republican presidential primary debate:

Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956.But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American.

Rubio uses a Republican codeword, "merit-based immigration" which really means "elite immigration" to some in the GOP base. In this world, engineers and scientists may qualify for green cards, but not farmworkers and bartenders with American family members. The policy is particularly offensive since Rubio trades on his parents' immigration story and work ethic often in this campaign. As president, he would deny the same opportunities his parents had to others.

9. MARCO RUBIO VOTED FOR LEGISLATION INSPIRED BY DONALD TRUMP

In October 2015, Senator Rubio voted in support of Senator David Vitter's anti-immigrant proposal, a bill that was largely inspired by Donald Trump. The legislation would undermine the relationship between immigrants and their local police, a relationship that is needed to promote community safety.

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The legislation is opposed by some in law enforcement for this very reason. But that fact was not compelling enough to Marco Rubio, who claimed: "No one involved in this debate understands this issue better than I do. I understand immigration, the good, the bad and the ugly, but this part is not good -- this part about people who are openly violating our laws."

Rubio claims to "understand" immigration, but his policy positions show that he's more in line with the restrictionist wing of the GOP than with immigrants. And this was not the only time Rubio fell victim to the Trump Effect: just look at his Trump-inspired stance when it comes to shutting down mosques. With these positions, Marco Rubio is not and cannot be a leader for the immigrant community.

10. MARCO RUBIO IGNORED HIS MOTHER'S ADVICE ON IMMIGRATION

Marco Rubio loves to share his family story -- how his parents came from Cuba in search of a better life, worked hard, and pursued their version of the American Dream. However, Rubio seems to forget to mention the advice his mother once left him in a voice mail:

Rubio's Mom: "Tony [her name for Rubio], some loving advice from the person who cares for you most in the world. Don't mess with the immigrants, my son. Please, don't mess with them. They're human beings just like us, and they came for the same reasons we came. To work. To improve their lives. So please, don't mess with them."
News / Press Release

by PDP

The People's Democratic Party (PDP) strongly condemns the continued onslaught on the media by the state following this week's arrest of two NewsDay journalists, deputy editor Nqaba Matshazi, reporter Xolisani Ncube and the publication's legal officer Sifikile Thabethe.The arrests of the three on Thursday will again open a dark chapter in Zimbabwe as we now have a government that clearly disregards the country's Constitution, which states how any aggrieved party can lodge a complaint against any media organisation or journalist.As the PDP, we find it worrying that the latest round of arrests come less than a month after information minister, Chris Mushowe threatened journalists against reporting on security matters. Similar threats and attacks against journalists have also been issued by President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace.From these barbaric actions, it shows that Zanu PF has turned into a rogue state as it openly disregards the national Charter, which guarantees press freedom and freedom of expression as fundamental and democratic rights.However, the PDP urges all journalists in Zimbabwe not to be intimidated by the threats made by the Zanu PF regime and to continue doing their professional work without fear or favour. The government must at all times be made accountable for its actions and the media must feel emboldened in that the regime is now panicking despite its threats and attacks.This sense of insecurity by the state was again exhibited early this week in Harare and Chitungwiza when the heavily armed police officers used brutal force by beating and arresting innocent citizens demonstrating against non-payment of government workers salaries and the unilateral increases operating licences for transport operators by the Chitungwiza municipality. Some of the demonstrators assaulted by the police are still admitted in hospital where they receiving treatment.The clueless Zanu PF government, which has failed to turn around the economy, has instead opted for the people of Zimbabwe to live under a de-facto state of emergency where it is able to trample upon their rights every day.The stone-age mentality that the Zanu PF has resorted to is totally uncalled for in a modern Zimbabwe. It is an affront to the people's basic human rights demands.Therefore, the PDP salutes the bravely shown this week by the Rural Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (RTUZ) and Zimbabwe Alliance Activists in standing up against the Zanu PF regime and demonstrated against the non-delivery and the substandard performance of the Zanu PF government.The PDP is in total support of the people of Zimbabwe and urge them to come together and use their constitutional rights and hold peaceful demonstrations against the corrupt and evil Zanu PF government. The government of the day should be hold accountable and it should brace for more peaceful demonstrations against the misrule of the economy.It is time that the people of Zimbabwe rise against this Zanu PF dictatorship.
It was Christmas Eve, and we were flying home on JetBlue Airways from the Bahamas on a full flight. The flight attendant approached our area and made the announcement that there was a peanut allergy passenger in the vicinity and asked if the passengers in our immediate area would refrain from eating any nut products on the flight if they had them on their person. She then went on to say, in a very kind manner, that if anyone had a problem complying with this request, JetBlue would be happy to re-seat him or her in another area of the plane. No one had an issue. Airline travel would be far less stressful for those with food allergies if all airlines chose to treat this potential life threatening condition with dignity and respect.

The extremely positive and kind manner in which our flight attendant handled my son's nut allergy reminded me of a recent testimonial shared on my website No Nut Traveler about a flight on American Airlines. The treatment of the passenger with a nut allergy on American Airlines could not have been more different than my stellar JetBlue experience.

The story starts out with a woman, let's call her Jane, calling American Airlines four months prior to her flight to inform them she had a nut allergy. She was instructed by an employee on the phone to inform the crew on the day of travel. Jane was lead to believe that her allergy would be taken seriously so that she could fly safely. On the day of her travel, however, the crew refused to refrain from either serving nuts nor informing those around her of her condition. She was told that American didn't want to deny its First Class customers their expected nut snack. This part of the story did not surprise me since, as an advocate for safe airline travel for food allergic passengers, I am well aware of American's policy not to inform others or suspending serving nuts to its customers. What I found truly astonishing is that the flight attendant went on to suggest, according to Jane, that she should never fly, and should simply take a boat. I swear I had to take a double take as I read this submitted story, as I thought I must have read it wrong.

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What I found even more ironic is that during the same month this story was shared with me, an overweight support dog named Hank was all over social media for his successful first class flight on American Airlines. There were even pictures of him with the smiling American crew who were more than happy to accommodate him and his companion so they could fly safely to their destination. Before you judge me, understand that I have no issue with dogs flying or otherwise. In fact, my 18-year-old dog is probably the best-treated member of our family. But I have to question how an overweight support animal is treated with kindness and respect on the same airline that will not help a passenger with a legitimate medical condition take simple steps to mitigate her risk of flying with a food allergy. American's policy, in my opinion, actually hinders one's ability to protect themselves.

The time has come for airlines to face the unfortunate reality that food allergies are increasing at an alarming rate. More and more people with food allergies will begin flying. As food allergic passengers, we don't ask to have others notified not to consume nuts around us because we secretly desire unwarranted special treatment. We just want to mitigate the potential risk that we face in the air. Cleaning our area for nut residue and limiting the exposure around us are reasonable asks that can be done without burdening the airline - just look at JetBlue's policy for example. This is a medical condition that no one asks for, and no one wants, and it can lead to death if and when a person is exposed to his or her allergen.

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NBC News published a disturbing story about a 53-year-old California grandmother and widow who had gotten swept up in one of the oldest cons in the book: the sweetheart swindle.

The widow had joined an online dating site. In no time at all, she received a message from a man going by the name of John, who claimed to be a 60-year-old widowed engineer from Colorado.

The widow was very taken with John. He showered her with compliments, charmed her, and declared that she was "the one."

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Months later, John said that he had to make a business trip to Africa. He was rocked by a series of emergencies soon after. To resolve these emergencies, John asked for financial help from the widow.

The widow finally insisted that John reveal himself on a webcam. Instead of finding a middle-aged Coloradan, the widow found a college-aged Ghanaian.

In spite of the unmasking of John's true identity, he continued to profess his love for the widow. She responded by reporting him to the local sheriff and the FBI.

The whole charade cost the widow $125,000. The authorities never recovered her money, and she was forced to take out loans to live.

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The widow's story is a classic case of a romance scam. In the U.S. alone, romance scammers sweet-talked 5,900 victims out of more than $86.7 million in 2014. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, as romance scams are grossly underreported.

In an earlier blog post entitled "7 Unromantic Facts About Online Dating," we looked at the growing phenomenon of online dating as a modern approach to dating and mating. Next, let's discuss the risky side of it.

"Catfishing"

A romance scam, often called "catfishing," is a special breed of fraud where the con artist fakes romantic interest in his or her mark (victim), wins his or her affection, and then abuses that amity to perpetrate a fraud. Increasingly, these scammers are hitting online dating sites, social networking sites, and chat rooms to troll for victims.

According to Dr. Phil McGraw, popular mental health expert and host of daytime talk show Dr. Phil, it's hard to tell whether you're getting hooked on a catfish. McGraw writes, "It's easy for some of the smartest people to lose all sight of common sense when they're being reeled in by a catfish: an online imposter who tries to win your sympathy -- and your love -- by creating an elaborate scheme."

Flirting With Disaster

If you've ever been targeted by a romance scammer, you probably know how this scam works. It begins when the scammer contacts you online and expresses an interest in you, often commenting on your profile picture or some other personal information that you've uploaded on a dating or social media site. The scammer will exhibit strong emotions, often instantaneously, and attempt to beguile you.

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"The whole process of becoming attached through texts and emails is fascinating. While it harkens back to the days of romantic letter writing and courtship from afar, it's amazing how completely sucked in and duped we can get even while being suspicious and cautious. The power of our projections of romantic fantasies is so seductive, and the resultant raging hormones fueling our hopes and dreams can leave us with limited capacity to see reality, thereby potentially endangering our lives," remarks distinguished psychotherapist and professional speaker Marta Fuchs, MLS, MFT.

Red Flags to Watch Out For

Red flags that your so-called "match" could be a romance scammer include the following:

Taking It Offline. Your match presses you to leave the dating site and persuades you to communicate via personal email or instant messaging. Why? Because scammers know that online dating sites are able to surveil members and oust those who display questionable behavior or attempt to commit a scam. So the scammer must steer you offsite swiftly. Not getting caught is important to the scammer, as he or she will want to "troll" the site again for fresh victims when he or she is done with you.



Living the Life of Riley. Your match gives every appearance of living high on the hog--profile pictures of mansions, luxury cars, exotic destinations, and so on, yet persuades you to loan him or her money. By stealing the identity of a wealthy person, the scammer masquerades as a man or woman of means.

Doing Linguistic Gymnastics. Poor grammar, wonky sentence structure, or odd word choices could spell a foreign scammer. This is especially true when your match claims to be well-educated and tries to pass him- or herself off as a native speaker.



Hiding Behind Borders. Your match finds every excuse not to meet face to face. There's a good reason this. Many scammers run their operations out of a foreign country, such as Nigeria, Ghana, Russia, or the Philippines, even though their profiles may indicate that they're geographically nearby. A common ruse is for the scammer to claim to be from the U.S. but is currently unavailable because he or she is temporarily outside of the country.

Faking Sudden Emergencies. Your match is faced with a sudden emergency, often occurring overseas, requiring your financial assistance to pay for things like travel, visas, hospital bills, a financial misfortune, and so on. The first request for money is seldom the last.



If you think that you've fallen prey to a romance scam, report it to the online dating site or the website where the scammer found you. Contact your local police department to assist you in making a paper trail. File a complaint with an appropriate agency, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the Federal Trade Commission, or your state's Attorney General's Office.

A romance scam is not a victimless crime. A victim can suffer financial losses and mental anguish, as well as grow distrustful or suspicious of others. What's more, the victim often won't be able to take comfort in the knowledge that the perpetrator will be brought to justice.

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Earlier on Huff/Post50:
I recently had a conversation with a friend about local, and world issues that are currently in the news. We discussed everything from gun control, global warming, and banning of Muslims, to the Presidential race, and ISIS. We had differing opinions on some of the topics, and like opinions on others, but we heard each other out and were civil to each other!

One thing we both agreed on is, Americans seem to be polarized on issues that effect us now more than anytime in history. We were both wondering why some people feel their views are the only ones that count, and that somehow their views makes them smarter than, or superior to those who differ?

I recently listened to an NPR interview with Bob Templeton, the founder of Crossroads of the West Gun Shows in Arizona. The interview was about President Obama's executive actions on guns and what it could mean for his business. Mr. Templeton's thoughts on the issue were well thought out, rational, and very well articulated.

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After the interview was over, I looked at the gun control issue from a totally different perspective. Two things about this interview stood out to me:

1.NPR, who has been maligned in the past for leaning too far left, was giving a gun dealer a platform to speak.

2.How thoughtful, respectful and understanding Mr. Templeton was on both sides of this complex issue.

Another friend who was just visiting his relatives in Georgia over the holidays, told me one of his friends there is convinced President Obama is working on legislation to gain a third term in office. I seriously doubt this is true, and don't believe it's even possible, but this man believes it.

I heard the same type of ridiculous rumors when President Bush was in office; most notably his administration was behind the attacks on 9/11. These type rumors come from organizations and individuals that can't accept the results of elections, and refuse to listen to or respect the views, and opinions of others, or the facts.

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Despite my underprivileged upbringing, and the liberal leaning environment I grew up in, I try very hard to understand and listen to other viewpoints. I also make an effort to find some common ground on the issues, and I over inform myself when it's time to vote. I think these practices are currently lacking in America.

Most Americans are relying solely on the media, and their circle of friends and associates for their information. America has almost become a nation with an either you are with us, or against us mentality more so now than ever before. This mentality permeates throughout the media, and from Washington, to our state and local governments.

There are good people from all races, religions, and backgrounds living in America; people who contribute to our society and help solve our most complex problems. All Americans need to recognize and accept that there are different ways to address problems, and resolve issues than the ways we are personally accustomed to, and feel comfortable with.

I believe blind loyalty is the root cause of the amount of polarization we currently have in America. We cannot live in an echo chamber that validates our own views and still remain objective and open to others opinions, and ideas. I am leery of any person, group, or political party that tries to convince me that any one thing or initiative is all good, or all bad, without providing facts to substantiate their opinions.

During my military career, I had the opportunity to travel to many places outside the United States. I quickly came to the conclusion that there is absolutely no better country in the world to live in. There is nothing wrong with expressing views and opinions on issues that we are passionate about, and feel are important. There is also nothing wrong with being tolerate of views and opinions that differ from ours.
BLOOMINGDALE, GA - DECEMBER 19: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks to crowd during a campaign rally at Ottawa Farms December 19, 2015 in Bloomingdale, Georgia. This stop on the 'Take off with Ted Cruz Country Christmas Tour' featured one of the largest crowds of his tour so far at one of the last cattle farms in the county. (Photo by Nicholas Pilch/Getty Images)

I grew up thinking that I couldn't become president of the United States because I was born in France. This seemed unjust as my overseas birth was due to my father serving as a U.S. Army officer, and both of my parents were native-born Americans, but still, given what seemed to be the prevailing perspective during my youth, I figured there wasn't much that could be done about it.

It wasn't until John McCain ran for president that I had serious reason to think otherwise. McCain's situation was much like my own since he was born in the Panama Canal Zone to a Naval officer and his Oklahoma-born wife -- and on a U.S. military base to boot. As such, it was widely agreed that he was a "natural born citizen" as specified by Section 1 of Article Two of the Constitution that spells out eligibility requirements for serving as president. Of course, there was discussion about Mitt Romney and Barack Obama as well, but both had been born in the United States to at least one American parent.

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So maybe I could have run for president if I wanted. Who knew? The matter of "natural born citizen" had been settled. And then came Ted Cruz.

Chatter first began about his citizenship a couple of years ago when he released his birth certificate to the Dallas Morning News. The paper then queried him about whether he might be a dual national since his birth in Calgary, Alberta to an American mother meant that he was likely both a Canadian and American citizen.

Cruz expressed surprise. His response at the time was, "Because I was a U.S. citizen at birth, because I left Calgary when I was 4 and have lived my entire life since then in the U.S., and because I have never taken affirmative steps to claim Canadian citizenship, I assumed that was the end of the matter." But he then took the necessary steps to renounce his Canadian citizenship and officially ceased to be a Canadian citizen on May 14, 2014.

As someone with a similar dual national situation, this struck me as curious. By virtue of my birth to American parents in France, I became a citizen of -- and have birth certificates from -- both countries. And I have always been hyper-aware of this even though in my case, it was addressed by my parents who had me naturalized into exclusively American citizenship at the age of three -- an event I only "remember" through my parents' recollection, a photo, and my resulting certificate of naturalization (and yes, for those following closely, this makes me both a "natural born" and naturalized citizen, a combination many don't realize is possible). How could a foreign-born attorney whose parents, and father in particular, had such an unconventional residential history never have contemplated this, especially given his presidential aspirations? But the story quickly faded, as did my interest.

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Fast forward 18 months and fellow presidential candidate Donald Trump re-triggered the debate by openly questioning Cruz's eligibility. I didn't want to be a political rubbernecker, but the "natural born citizen" aspect is personal to me, so I decided to take another look.

To begin with, there's that unusual Cuba-U.S.-Canada-U.S. migration of Ted Cruz's father, Rafael Bienvenido Cruz. Born in Matanzas, Cuba, Cruz came to the U.S. in 1957 on a student visa and studied mathematics at the University of Texas. In 1959, he wed Julia Garza in a marriage that would produce two daughters before the couple divorced several years later.



Marriage index entry for Rafael B. Cruz and Julia Garza

In a 2013 NPR interview, Cruz said that once his student visa expired, he was granted political asylum in the U.S. and obtained a green card. Sometime around the end of his first marriage, he moved from Texas to New Orleans where he was living as of July 1967 as seen in his Selective Service System registration card below.



Selective Service System Registration Card for Rafael Bienvenido Cruz, father of Ted Cruz

According to that same NPR interview, he then married his second wife (Eleanor Darragh, who had a previous marriage to a man named Alan Wilson), and moved to Canada to work in the oil industry. Their son, Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz was born there on December 22, 1970.

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Rafael Cruz is quoted as saying, "I worked in Canada for eight years. And while I was in Canada, I became a Canadian citizen." Since multiple sources state that he moved to Texas in 1975, this would suggest that his time in Canada stretched from roughly 1967 to 1975, and this 1974 Calgary voters list offers at least some substantiation.



1974 Voters List for South Calgary, Alberta, Canada showing "Raphael" and Eleanor Cruz

The senior Cruz further asserted that he renounced his Canadian citizenship when he finally became a U.S. citizen in 2005. Asked why he had taken so long -- almost half a century since he had left Cuba and three decades since his return from Canada -- he replied, "I don't know. I guess laziness, or -- I don't know."

Somewhere along the way, Rafael B. Cruz's parents, Rafael and Emilia Laudelina (Diaz) Cruz, had also come to the U.S., where they eventually passed away in 1991 and 2004, respectively.

All of this is interesting, but Ted Cruz's Cuban/then-Canadian/then-American father may well be irrelevant when it comes to his citizenship status. After all, even if born out of the country, you only need one American parent to become an American citizen, so his Delaware-born mother, Eleanor, ticks off this requirement.

But immigration law is confusing and constantly evolving, and in Ted Cruz's case, there's both American and Canadian law to consider. And that's where the voters list above raises a question. Was his mother American, Canadian, or both?

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I don't pretend to be a legal expert, but as far as some Googling permits me to understand (and granted, that's only so far with ample room for correction), it appears that Cruz's parents had to have at least begun the Canadian citizenship process to be on this 1974 list. His father has stated that he became Canadian and since this register is from the last year before the family departed for Texas, he must have been a citizen by then. His mother is also listed, so had she also become Canadian?

Even with this question raised, my take is that Ted Cruz probably is a "natural born citizen." The only exception I see would be if his mother had 1) become a Canadian citizen, 2) done so before his birth, and 3) renounced her American citizenship, as opposed to becoming a dual national. And I assume that this narrow set of criteria does not apply since the Cruz family was able to move back to America and Ted Cruz was later permitted to renounce his Canadian citizenship. That he was able to do so indicates that he was indeed a dual national. Otherwise, dropping his Canadian citizenship would have effectively rendered him stateless.
Michael Marshall died last November at the Denver jail from injuries he received under the custody of Denver Sheriff deputies. Earlier today, his death was ruled a homicide by the City coroner's office. In addition to serious questions about use of force and why another unarmed person of color has died at the hands of Denver law enforcement, his case illustrates several systemic deficiencies of our criminal justice system, both in Denver and nationwide.

Jailing the Poor: It is worth asking why Mr. Marshall was in custody in the first place. Mr. Marshall was arrested on a nonviolent charge of trespassing, and he was held on a supposedly nominal $100 bond. A bond that low indicates that he was not considered a risk to the community if released. Many people would easily bail out for that amount, but for those who are living in extreme poverty, it might as well be a million dollar bond. Clearly, Mr. Marshall could not afford to post bond, and that lack of access to just $100 cost him his freedom and ultimately his life.

At any given time, the majority of people in our jails are not there because of conviction for a crime. They are being held in pre-trial detention, most often leading to a plea bargain for time served in order to be released. Most of them are poor. If nominal bonds are given to people deemed to be a low risk, why not release them on personal recognizance instead of setting a financial threshold that presents a barrier only to people without money?

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Lack of Mental Health Support: Marshall suffered from a mental illness that may have played a role in his arrest and detention. Too many people with mental illnesses are funneled into our jails and prisons. There is still inadequate mental health care both in our communities and in the criminal justice system, and law enforcement officers are often inadequately trained in how to interact with people who have a mental illness.

Racial Disparities: Once again, a person of color has died from an encounter with law enforcement. Whether there is conscious racial bias or not, the fact remains that black men and other people of color are much more likely to be arrested, incarcerated and killed by police than whites, and the difference is not in proportion to underlying rates of criminal behavior.

Lack of Transparency and Accountability: Denver has thus far refused to publicly release video showing exactly how Michael Marshall was injured and died in custody. And the track record of law enforcement accountability for use of excessive or deadly force is abysmal, both in Denver and across this nation. Denver has paid millions in settlements, but it has been decades since the Denver District Attorney's office has indicted law enforcement personnel for excessive force or homicide.

Our jails and prisons continue to be filled not in proportion to who actually commits serious crimes, but disproportionately with people who are poor, people living with mental illness, and people of color, at great personal cost to those who are jailed and their families, and at great financial cost to all of us who pay for crowded prisons and jails. No country puts more people behind bars than the United States, and it isn't because we have the most criminal population in the world. Jail time is an over-used and often counter-productive tool in this nation and state, and it is time for reforms to end costly mass incarceration.
Last December, the U.S. Congress passed the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, also commonly referred to as H.R. 158. This bill restricts the Visa Waiver Program so that citizens of the 38 countries participating in the program with dual citizenship in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan, and those who have visited these countries since March 2011, can no longer enter the U.S. without obtaining a visa.

H.R. 158 was approved in the aftermath of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks, and aimed to improve U.S. national security and prevent future attacks. Iran's inclusion in the bill caused uproar in the Iranian-American community because there have been no connections between Iran and the attacks that motivated the bill. Iranian-Americans and civil rights organizations criticized the bill for its overly-broad language and targeting of individuals based upon their national origin. Regardless, H.R. 158 received overwhelming support in Congress and was quickly ratified. Therefore, one must ask, why was Congress so willing to include Iran in the bill when there was no clear nexus between Iran and the recent attacks, and what can be done to challenge this legislative behavior?

The bipartisan support of H.R. 158 is demonstrative of the deeper problem of "Iranophobia," which necessitates a response if one is to prevent future discriminatory policies. As a challenge to this phenomenon, in September 2015, a group of young Iranian students established "See You in Iran," a Facebook platform where former and future Iran travelers can connect and exchange information. Non-Iranians can share their unfiltered narratives about their visit to Iran, and future travelers can ask questions about their upcoming trips. Through this mechanism, "See You in Iran" aims to promote travel and provide an unguided understanding of Iran, a country that been demonized in the West for a long time.

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"See You in Iran" creates a horizontal paradigm of information sharing where participants guide the discussion. In this member-run platform individuals convey their own perception and first hand experience of Iran without any intervention by a political structure or entity. "See You in Iran" believes that although its members and audience may experience and be exposed to oppression in Iran one cannot repress the existing political dynamics of the country. Nevertheless, while the group encourages global solidarity and understanding, it adamantly stands for the fact that political repression in Iran is merely an Iranian concern and does not require foreign intervention.

In response to whether "See You in Iran" aims to present a specific image of Iran, Mr. Navid Yousefian, the group's founder, stated, "we do not pursue a presentation of 'real Iran,' because we believe that Iran has many diverse faces and it is not clear whose Iran is implied by that term."

To this end, the group aims to show Iran as an assemblage and to challenge the pervasive monolithic perception of the country. This portrayal is critical, because once a nation is understood in all of its different layers it becomes much more difficult to ratify laws, such as HR158, that punish the collective without a justification.

Imperialism and the Orientalist view of the Middle East have for years shaped Western foreign policy towards Iran and the region. These policies have thrived on the narrative of "us" vs. "them," resulting in cultural isolationism. They have created a sharp divide between citizens of the world who are much more similar in essence than our global politics allow us to recognize. For example, an American citizen wrote to the members of "See You in Iran" stating, "I would buy a ticket to Iran today if I could. However, I'm former US military, as I was seventeen and bought the US neoconservative marketing manual before realizing it was . . . terrible foreign policy to homogenize an entire group of people." Such uncensored comments highlight the importance of the group's efforts in challenging the existing narratives, and effecting the future direction of US and Western foreign policy towards Iran.

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Furthermore, the anecdotes shared on "See You in Iran," indicate that while governments insist on identity politics, within the discourse of clash of civilizations, ordinary people's political identities are often based upon affinity. For example, a British visitor recently wrote, "I'd say that one of the main feelings that I have felt since being in Iran is surprise; exemplified both by the sheer amount of staggeringly beautiful natural places throughout the country . . . and the lack of prejudice about being British or American expressed by ordinary Iranian people." It is through exposure that skewed perceptions can be mended and mutual understanding can be fostered.

To date, "See You in Iran" has more than 29,000 members and the numbers are growing daily. New members pose questions regarding upcoming trips and request information on a variety of topics including: best bus routes, hostels, travel safety, free VPN, local restaurants, and currency exchange, among others. Iranian locals' warm and thorough responses to these inquiries are telling of the eagerness among members of the Iranian society to embrace visitors and to defeat the ongoing misconceptions about Iran. Given the extent of the enthusiasm and participation by both non-Iranian and Iranian members of the group, "See You in Iran" aims to launch a mobile app to further facilitate travel to Iran and connect visitors with local Iranians.
Outside Restaurant Miami in Qamishly in Syria before it was bombed

They carry them on their shoulders - coffin after coffin. The priest calls out their names, proclaims them martyrs. The church is packed. There are tears, there are screams, and there are cheers. Yes, we cheer for our martyrs- those who refused to leave our homeland in order to keep our representation. The video went viral on Facebook very fast. I don't think anyone could hold back tears.

On December 30th, many Assyrians/Syriacs sat in restaurants in Qamishly in northeastern Syria, planning their New Year celebrations. And on that very night, 17 people were blown to pieces, and many others severely injured. Several acquaintances lost their relatives.

"We don't know who carried out the attacks, what we know is that we don't fit in the picture, that they think that Syria should be emptied of Christians," said a friend of mine on the phone just hours after.

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He was sitting at one of the restaurants when it was destroyed. When the first message came from ADFA (A Demand For Action) in Qamishly about the bombings, I couldn't think rationally. It took me two hours to get the courage to call my cousins. I wanted so badly for it not to be true. Just three days before, we had posted photos of our teams on location handing out gifts to the refugee children who fled to Qamishly. They were photos full of joy. I wanted to keep that feeling, but I couldn't. Instead, I've been shaking, crying and struggling to get the word out, to make the world aware of the attacks.

The genocide of my people has now reached our last stronghold. There were many memorial services held in Sodertalje, south of Sweden's capitol Stockholm, after the attacks. I attended a few of them. On Sunday January 3rd, St. Jacob's Cathedral in the city was full; thousands of people dressed in black had come to honor the victims and show their support for their families who live here. We had, only a few days earlier, felt a certain relief that the terrible year was soon over, and held on to the hope that a better one would supersede it. At the time, we did not yet know what was to come on the penultimate day of the year.

Syriac Orthodox archbishop Mor Julius Ablahad Shabo began his speech by saying: "Many of you were not here, in this church or in Sweden, just a year ago."

After the service, I sat in the adjoining area to participate in the memorial. I sat with my friends and relatives. We noticed that there were several, newly-arrived people who couldn't have been in Sweden for more than a year-people that we did not recognize or people who had fled Syria recently. An old man asked me to hand him the thermos with coffee. He saw me taking notes. "You know that Qamishly was built by the Assyrians/Syriacs after the genocide of our people in 1915. It became a safe zone where we were protected by the French," he said. I told him that a part of my family also fled there and helped build the city with connected villages.

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In Qamishly, they grew cotton and many kinds of fruits and grains. I have spent many nights with my cousins on those cotton farms. I've slept in beds outdoors. I have danced, laughed and partied in taverns in the city. I don't know how many times my aunt tried to marry me off. "You're not too bad to look at and you're neither deaf nor blind" was, according to her, attractive to the women of the town. Qamishly was simply charming.

I almost wrote a whole book at Gabriel's, one of the restaurants in the city. When the Assyrians/Syriacs/Chaldeans and Armenians fled in large numbers from Iraq in 2008, I interviewed many of the refugees in that exact restaurant. The day before New Year's Eve 2015, a century after the 1915 genocide, Gabriel's and Miami, another popular restaurant in Qamishly, were demolished.

In recent years, Christians from major Syrian cities like Aleppo and Homs have also fled to Qamishly. Churches, monasteries and organizations have been overcrowded, as well as people fleeing from the terror sect IS or those who have been kidnapped and released after paid ransoms.

In Qamishly, there are YPG, Kurdish security forces, and two Assyrian/Syriac forces - one that cooperates with the Kurdish opposition, and one with Bashar al-Assad's government. Speculation about who may have carried out the attacks is intense. Could it be the opposition, Kurds or Arabs who want to eliminate government supporters? Is it IS - the terror sect who claimed responsibility?

The actual terrorist attack took place in the area of the city where the majority of the population is Christian and is controlled by supporters of the Syrian government. Here, we thought, we would at least be a little safer. But now the terror has even reached this amazing city-a city that is full of theaters, concert halls and other cultural institutions.

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100 years after the genocide that nearly eradicated the Armenians, Greeks and my people, I went to the White House to, among other things, persuade President Obama's staff to recognize the current cleansing of Assyrians/Syriacs/Chaldeans and other minorities as genocide. That was a month ago, on December 8th. We had with us statements from 51 experts from the Convention on Genocide, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948. The experts wrote that the criteria for genocide are not only met, but that it is worse than that. Hillary Clinton said that it is genocide. Obama should, if he is to retain any credibility, also recognize it. European parliamentarian from Sweden, Lars Adaktusson is desperately fighting to get it recognized in the European Parliament. Margot Wallstrom, Swedish minister for Foreign Affairs, you declared in February that what is happening is genocide. What more are you prepared to do?
In 2015, every time you ran over a pothole, read about the effects of climate change, complained about a medical bill, worried for the safety of your country, protected your data online, voiced your opinion about immigration, or mourned the loss of lives in a terrorist attack, you probably asked yourself one question: What can I do?



For 2016, the answer may be simpler than you imagined: vote.



In a country where discussion is currently dominated by topics from refugees to education, and in a time period where it is easier than ever to express one's opinion, many of us are neglecting to exercise our most basic right as citizens of the United States: voting, and as a result we are compromising the liberty that makes this country so great.

A lack of attention on our voter turnout proves we underestimate the severity of the issue. In the 2012 Presidential Election, only 57.5% of eligible voters turned out to vote. In the 2014 Midterm Elections, only 36.7% of eligible voters turned out to vote, our lowest turnout in over 70 years. The United States is ranked 120th in the world for voter turnout, placing us far below most developed and developing nations in the same metric that is frequently used to measure the strength of a democracy. For a country that is famous for exemplifying the democratic-republic, we are lagging behind in the most crucial aspect of one.



The problem doesn't stop there. According to CIRCLE, only 21.5% of eligible young Americans (aged 18-29) voted in 2014, a number so miniscule for a generation that without fail plays one of the most important roles in current political discourse. The same people who don't vote are the ones who are protesting, starting movements on social media, and expressing their opinions on a daily basis. So while our nation as a whole already has an abysmal voting rate, our most involved citizens, the young people seeking to enact social and economic change, cannot see the correlation between voting and civic empowerment.



Why exactly does this happen? Political scientists believe the issue is multi-faceted, and the problem may correlate to our system of opt-in voter registration, a lack of education on civic duty, and a sheer lack of attention towards the issue. Regardless of the cause, for now, we need to realize as a society that we cannot continue to complain, debate, and protest our country's current situation, whether at the local or national level, without taking matters in to our own hands in the simplest way: exercising our right to vote.



You might question, "Why should I vote when my vote doesn't matter?" What you should be questioning instead, is what would happen if everyone who didn't vote in 2014 decided to vote in 2016. The result is simple, those votes would be the majority, and the country we live in could be entirely different. Right now, when voting rates are all-time lows, your vote counts more than ever. While voting democratic won't turn Texas blue and voting republican won't turn California red, your vote in a primary will contribute to choosing the candidates who compete in the general election, your vote in a mayoral election can determine if those potholes outside your house actually get fixed, and your vote in a school-board election can determine if children in your community get the best education they possibly can.

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The same argument holds for those who claim they don't vote because "there are no good candidates," or "the winners are already chosen." While you will likely never find a politician you completely agree with or a system that is completely fair, you aren't supposed to be voting for an ideal candidate in an ideal system, but rather for the best candidate in our current system. Contrary to popular belief, all politicians are not the same, and a quick look at voting records, campaign websites, and public statements should suffice to show how different they really are.

For the 2016 Presidential election, over a dozen people are running for the most powerful position in the world, surely there is a candidate you share a majority of your beliefs with. A simple online search or two hours of your time spent watching the debates will offer you more than enough information to decide who deserves your vote.



While 2015 was a year of debate, discussion, and social change, it was also a year filled with some of the most controversial political statements made in the history of this country. In 2015, we chose not to stand by and watch when things went wrong, but rather to get involved and to share our opinion. In 2016, it's time to take the next step and work towards tangible change. In 2016, your vote can define policy on immigration, taxation, technology, guns, healthcare, and hundreds of other issues that you likely already have an opinion on.

In the next few weeks, while you decide your New Year's Resolutions regarding your health, habits, and choices, add another to the one list, one that can impact every aspect of yourself, determine the opportunities you have, and govern the life you live.

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Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., talks to reporters about his 2016 agenda and GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare, formally known as The Affordable Care Act, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. The House passed legislation yesterday to gut President Barack Obama's signature health law, fulfilling a promise to Republican voters in a presidential election year but inviting a certain veto. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Paul Ryan has been no shrinking violet when it comes to talking about poverty.

As chair of the House Budget Committee, Ryan released a lengthy report on the 50 anniversary of the War on Poverty and convened a series of hearings focused entirely on the topic. He famously took a "poverty tour" and subsequently released a big antipoverty plan to overhaul our nation's safety net.

And just last month, Ryan devoted his first major policy speech as Speaker of the House of Representatives to discussing "the millions of people stuck in neutral... the 45 million people living in poverty."

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Ryan is hardly alone. Indeed, 2015 seems to have been the year of Republicans finding religion on poverty and inequality, with GOP presidential candidates like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and former Governor Jeb Bush making major speeches on the subject, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and then-Speaker Boehner (R-OH) lamenting the ever-widening gap between rich and poor in a widely-noted joint interview on 60 Minutes.

And on January 9th, Speaker Ryan -- along with Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) -- will be hosting an "antipoverty summit" in Columbia, South Carolina, featuring the GOP presidential candidates.

Republicans' sudden concern for struggling families is no doubt newsworthy, particularly in the wake of Mitt Romney's radioactive remarks about "the 47 percent." Ryan in particular has received no shortage of praise as a supposed anti-poverty crusader. But as we marvel at Republicans' seeming about-face on poverty and inequality, we must not lose sight of the other half of the story -- their policies. While Ryan and his colleagues' newfound talking points may be pitch-perfect, unfortunately their policies remain nothing short of a blueprint for exacerbating poverty, inequality, and wage stagnation.

For example, while the refrain of Ryan's first big policy speech as Speaker -- "Push wages up. Push the cost of living down. Get people off the sidelines." -- sounded more like the slogan for one of the Democratic presidential campaigns than the grand finale to a policy speech by a Republican Speaker of the House, you could drive a truck through the gap between his rhetoric and the reality of his policies.

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For starters, Ryan has voted against raising the minimum wage at least 10 times since taking office. It's pretty hard to "push wages up" while maintaining a poverty-level federal wage floor.

And let's not forget Ryan's budget proposals. Year after year as chair of the House Budget Committee, Ryan's budgets got two-thirds of their cuts from critical programs that help keep struggling families afloat -- such as nutrition assistance, housing assistance, and Medicaid -- all to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.

While Ryan made headlines this past fall for extolling the importance of balancing work and family while weighing the notion of picking up the Speaker's gavel, he has consistently opposed legislation that would help families access paid family and medical leave.

And Ryan's big antipoverty plan? Despite being billed as bold and new, it amounted to little more than the same tired policies Republicans have been pushing for years: block granting and slashing funding for effective programs and sending them to the states. We need look no further than the failed experiment that is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families to know how that movie ends.

It will take more than shiny new talking points to tackle poverty and inequality in America. The upcoming anti-poverty summit offers a test of whether Ryan and his GOP colleagues mean what they say on these issues -- by abandoning their failed policies of the past.

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If so, the summit will feature announcements of their support for raising the minimum wage, as well as for job-creating investments in research and infrastructure and pathways to good jobs such as national service and subsidized jobs. They'll call for strengthening key safety net programs, such as by eliminating counterproductive savings caps, and will encourage states to expand Medicaid. They'll adopt work-family policies such as paid leave and paycheck fairness. And they'll embrace high-quality affordable childcare, universal pre-K through a partnership with the states, and put higher education within reach for all families.

But if not -- we'll know they're still just putting lipstick on a pig.
This week, Robert Scheer sits down with Tom Dine, currently the senior policy advisor at Israel Policy Forum, but best known as the head of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), a powerful pro-Israel lobbying organization from 1980-1993.

Robert and Tom discuss some of the highs and lows in a 53-year-long career in public service as well as why Tom considers going to war in Iraq in 2003 one of the worst decisions in the history of American foreign policy. They talk about why the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 was a turning point in the peace process from which the region still has not recovered. Tom Dine also reveals his role in negotiations between Syria and Israel in recent years and how close the parties came to an agreement on major issues.

Adapted from KCRW.com

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Read the full interview below

Robert Scheer: Hello, I'm Robert Scheer, and welcome to Scheer Intelligence, my new podcast in collaboration with KCRW. My guest today is Tom Dine, the Senior Policy Advisor at the Israel Policy Forum. He has had a 53-year career in American foreign policy. Highlights of his public service were 10 years in the U.S. Senate, where he worked with the legendary Frank Church from Idaho; he worked with Ed Muskie; and he worked with Ted Kennedy, when Ted Kennedy ran for president in 1980. He also at one point was president of Radio Free Europe, based in Prague, during the height of the Cold War. But he's probably most well known--I shouldn't say probably; he's unquestionably most well known--as having run AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. And AIPAC is well known as probably the most powerful lobby in Washington; it's a lobby, basically, for Israel. It is a lobby that's gone through different transformations. It's been feared as having enormous political power, and maybe that's been exaggerated, maybe it's not.

But that's not the reason for talking to Tom Dine. I'm talking to him as yet another person in these podcasts who I consider an American original. And the crazy quilt of American culture, with our immigrants, and slave, ex-slaves, and people of different religions and backgrounds, throws up very interesting personalities. And Tom Dine is one such personality. He started out as an idealistic volunteer for the Peace Corp in the Philippines; he was definitely on the liberal side of things during those years in the Senate. I first met him when he was working for Ted Kennedy, who I did admire very much. And you know, then he went to work for AIPAC, and he took a rather strident position; he was hanging around with people like Jean Kirkpatrick and Richard Pearl; he certainly enthusiastically supported the first Gulf invasion; he wasn't at AIPAC for the second one, but he did support it. And then most recently, he's had some reservations about the more hawkish side of things. He was one of a hundred prominent supporters of Israel who asked Bibi Netanyahu to be more responsive to what Barack Obama was trying to do in the negotiations with Iran, and to revive a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians as a way towards peace. And now he's emerged as a more dovish presence, as have many people before.

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I want to begin with my own personal reflection on this. I happened to go to Israel at the time of the Six-Day War; I was in Egypt at the end of that war, I saw it from the other side, and then went over to Israel. And when I was in Israel, I went over into the West Bank, which was occupied. And one thing that struck me is that the Palestinians had not attacked Israel; the Palestinians were in fact an occupied people. They were occupied in what we now think of as the West Bank by Jordan, in the Golan Heights by Syria, and Egypt had occupied Gaza. And Gaza was a particularly miserable place. So these were not mild occupations. And there was no Palestinian army; the Palestinians were not in a position to threaten Israel. So this was a war with Arab powers--Arab powers that Israel has come to peace with; Syria a little more problematic, certainly with Jordan, certainly with Egypt. And somehow the Palestinians get left out. And at that time I remember interviewing Moshe Dayan, who was the legendary leader of the Israeli victory, [and] others. They were doves in the basic sense; they were supporters of the Labor Party, they believed in peace, they believed you shouldn't occupy a people. They talked about, you know, 'Come back in five, 10 years, you'll see; this will be wonderful; there will be irrigation, these people will be happy, and of course they'll move to their own society and not be threatened by us, and we'll live in peace.' I think they believed that, in some basic way. But now, talking to Tom Dine, somebody who's lived through this world; you've had drinks with [Yitzhak] Rabin, you were in Israel many times; you were actually in Syria as well. And you've been up to your eyeballs in this whole thing. Was that a naive reading on my part of those early days, and in fact, what has changed?

Tom Dine: It is not naive, what you just said. But it's a long history. And frankly, I agree with what you said and still believe it. There's a, for some of us, there's a dream about Israel, that we will live up to what Hillel told us to do: act on your values. The values being a nation state in which Jews are not slaughtered; a nation-state that [is] based on Talmudic ethics, on modern contemporary rule of law in which justice is equal for all. So all those things are still certainly in my head, and in my drive for Israel to come to terms with, as you said, the Palestinians, who have been left out. Left out for a variety of reasons, mainly because Arabs don't like them. In fact, as we're seeing now in this blood-soaked region of the world called the Middle East, the Arabs don't like each other.

RS: Let me stop for a second on that: 'The Arabs don't like them.' Because I think there is a kernel of truth to this. The Palestinians were very much like the Jews; people of the diaspora. And that diaspora included the Arab world. Very often, they were people who took up occupations that required a certain kind of learning or a certain kind of skill that wasn't being supplied in that society. When I was in Egypt, there were Palestinians who were advisors to the government, or who knew how to make things work, or who had medical education. And the Palestinians spread throughout the world; they are basically a diaspora people.

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TD: And a smart people.

RS: Yeah, and--we'll I'm of sort of the view that most people are smart, or can be smart with the proper education. But leaving that aside, it always struck me as ironic that they're two people that really had a great deal in common, were the Palestinians and the Jews--including the Jews who went to Israel. But basically, [they] came out of the whole European experience; they were treated with suspicion where they went, they were marginalized at times. And as I said, with the Six-Day War, nobody really on either side wanted to give them a state at that point; they were used as a pawn. Was that not the case?

TD: It was the case, but you're leaving out part of that history, which is that the Palestinians, Arabs, whatever words you want to use--and in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, 'Arabs' was the name for Palestinians--and the Arabs rejected the 1936 commission that the British put together to try to make it a two-state solution. Then the U.N. activities in '47 and '48, and the Palestinians, or Arabs, rejected having a half a loaf. The Jews took a half a loaf, they were to take a half a loaf--

RS: Well.

TD: --and have two states.

RS: Yeah, we can--

TD: I don't want to debate that, Bob--

RS: --yeah, we can have that discussion, because there's always the other side, who drove who out, who made it so--

TD: --yes, but all I wanted to say was that in my experience, the Palestinians, the Israeli Jews, have so much in common. And whether you love them or hate them, it doesn't make any difference; they could get along.

RS: I was going to make a point about that. Because somebody I got to know at the time, right at the end of the Six-Day War, I believe his name was Ibrahim Shabat. And I believe he was the mayor of Nazareth. That's my memory. And people listening to this can fact-check me, but that's my memory. He had actually given blood to the Israeli Army. And even though Palestinians living in Israel, what was then Israel, were not in the military, they certainly, many of them seemed to support the Israeli position. So what I'm trying to get at, without revisiting that whole history, for someone like yourself who came from the more progressive side of Jewish life, and believed in the two-state solution, it must be disillusioning to find one going from Rabin to [Benjamin] Netanyahu, just to put it crudely. That there was an idealism to the Labor Party and to Israel, and these people with their memories of the oppression of Jews as an oppressed people, to now a situation where they don't seem to have as much sympathy for other people who are oppressed.

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TD: Well, you know, there aren't that many people who would describe Yitzhak Rabin as idealistic. [Laughs] I would describe him as pragmatic. And the older he got--and I got to know him pretty well when he was out of power--he wanted, he had a concept of a peace process with the Palestinians. And he knew because of his military background and the role he played in '67, and then his endless discussions within the body politic of Israel, that he could bring it about. And so his assassination is a defining turning point, whatever term you want to use, because it created a different kind of direction for Israel. You know, the what-ifs of history--I'm trained as a historian, and what-ifs are a no-no. But what if Kennedy had lived? What if Lincoln had lived? What if Rabin had lived? Oh, man! I think it would have been, all those situations would have been a different landscape.

RS: Well, and maybe that's the reason Rabin was assassinated. Because after all--everyone forgets this--Hillary Clinton wrote a piece for [The Forward], a Jewish paper that I grew up with in New York when I was a kid. And I read this column, and it was, you know, reaching; it was fawning in her reaching out to Netanyahu, it was an embarrassment. But it began, I thought, rather sadly, by invoking Rabin and his death. And she doesn't mention in that piece that Rabin was killed not by a Muslim fanatic; he was killed by a Jewish fanatic--forgotten, that the most vicious attack on the democratic process in Israel on an elected leader was conducted by a Jewish fanatic.

TD: A religious fanatic.

RS: But also a religious fanatic who was participating in a movement that was condemning Rabin as a traitor, that included Bibi Netanyahu.

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TD: The assassin said before his terrible deed that he wanted to stop peace. Which to me is a violation of not only ideals, but also pragmatism. And he did. The guy did it. And it's just heartbreaking.

RS: Let me defend calling Rabin--I don't know whether an idealist, because Rabin is also the one who defended breaking the bones--

TD: Correct.

RS: --of protestors and so forth. I'm not going to exonerate him. But what I'm saying is there was an idealism to the original Zionist mission; I just don't think you can doubt that. And whether rightly or wrongly, these are people who said that unless Jews become normal, in the sense that they're open to all occupations and can have a place where they're not a marginalized group, that they will never find security. But the idealism was certainly--and you know, this is why you had the kibbutz movement; that Jews would not be exploiters, they would not be occupiers. You know, the whole idealism of the Zionist enterprise in that phase, certainly the Labor Party and people like [Shimon] Peres and Rabin and others, was one of a normalcy. You were not going to be the top one percent or something; that, you know, that was a prescription for disaster. You were not trying to get your own little cut of the thing, but instead you wanted to be farmers; you wanted to have a normal life; you wanted to produce things. Because after all, this had been the basis of anti-Semitism; that Jews were not allowed to live normal lives. So that's the idealism I'm invoking. And now what you have is a caricature of that. That might be a little far for you, I don't know--

TD: It is, Bob. Because I was just thinking as you were discussing this idealism, which I share--and you see it when you go into Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is this glass city now. It exploded as the center of technology, of--I know this is a little bit too much, but--Jewish genius. The technological world of today and tomorrow is all there. And that's where Israeli energies have been channeled. Those people--and I've gone there and begged them to get into politics. Bring a different breed of people, a different perspective, to government, to public service--and they have said, to a person, 'No. I don't want to be mixed up with politicians.' It's the same kind of spirit, or lack of spirit, in Washington today.

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RS: OK. But let me just stop you there for a second. So you have this Tel Aviv, very smart people doing stuff. And I have to admit, at that time after the Six-Day War, when I landed and I was in Tel Aviv, I felt incredibly excited. And I'd come from Egypt, which was obviously an authoritarian dictatorship. And I felt free, and I felt excited, and you know, as a Jewish person I felt in many ways liberated; I thought that was very exciting. But then I saw the other side. And the other side was religious fanaticism; belief in a very primitive Old Testament view of life. That hasn't died. I thought that would go away. I thought as people get educated, just as with fundamentalism in every other religion, you have the hope that somehow, OK, religion will recede in that sense; it'll inform a different view of spirituality. That was the hope. In fact we've seen--and obviously not just in the Jewish world; we've seen it in the Muslim world and we actually see it in part of the Christian world--a desire for what Erich Fromm once called "Escape from Freedom." A turning to totalitarian, you know, dogmatic, religious-based models. And that has to depress you, I think.

TD: Well, I read that book when I was in college many years ago. It depressed me then, and it also motivated me, which was, if you're going to make a better world, you can't make it like this. You've got to have freedom and democracy, and tolerance of each other. So the word I would have used is 'disappointment.' Disappointment, it's, you know, the key to me is creating a state for the Palestinians. Enhancing the Jewish state. There will be norms by which those two can get along, and they will behave in the Westphalian state model: they will have to respect each other's borders, they will have functioning governments; how you deal with corruption is everybody's issue, but they won't go to war. They won't go to war. But right now you've got undeclared violence within each society toward each other and toward themselves. And remember I said earlier, the Middle East today is blood-soaked. And there's more blood surrounding Israel than within Israel and occupied territory, but the whole region has become a sin against humanity.

RS: Well, let's talk about that sin. I'm talking to Tom Dine, who for 13 years was head of AIPAC, the much--what's the right word?--feared, you don't want to say feared; the incredibly important pro-Israel lobbying organization that many politicians have said you better not cross or you'll be finished. In fact, when you were running AIPAC, there were a few members of Congress who said you destroyed their career. I think [Paul] Findley was one of them, in Illinois, was it?

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TD: Yes, he wrote a book on it. He called me "King of the Jews."

RS: Yeah, and there were others. And it was not without some cause; AIPAC has a great deal of power. But let me ask you a question about this. One, there had been the assumption among, I would dare say, most Jews, who basically are secular; I don't think that can be denied. But I guess most people in America who are basically secular; whatever the polls show, the fact is if you look at the way people conduct their lives, they're pretty much trying to figure things out by a whole range of moral values. Who knows where they get it--the Golden Rule, their mother, whatever. And there had been a sort of assumption we would all become more the same, and then we would meet on other competing fields for technology, or inventing things, or sports, or what have you. But we see the survival of primitive religion, and as I say, in every society; so in the case of Israel, its history was very much disturbed and continues to be disturbed--and I'm using the word advisedly--by people who harken back to the Old Testament, which is not a great book to harken back to. There's a lot of meanness and blood and violence and so forth in the Old Testament. But leaving that aside, we look at the Arab world, and there again, you know--and here I ask you to be reflective about it--we had basically secular dictators. I mean, the Egypt that I visited had Gamal Nasser as head of it, and these colonels; they were not particularly religious people. They were not driven by some interpretation from Muhammad, or what have you. And then we had less appealing people than even Nasser, and Saddam Hussein, and [Muammar] Gaddafi in Libya, and now [Bashar al] Assad in Syria. And Israel seems to have been on the side of those or worse than the religious leaders. Israel seems to get along with Saudi Arabia better, and that's the center of Muslim, Sunni fanaticism. It prefers, with the exception of Egypt where it seems to prefer a military dictatorship to say, [Mohamed] Morsi, who got elected, who seems to be a somewhat more moderate Muslim leader. But you've spent a lot of time in the Arab world; you've been in Syria. Why don't you give me your take on what seems to be an extreme disintegration, and whether in fact U.S. policy and going into Iraq and trying to find a different way for Syria, whether that's been unwise.

TD: Well, first of all, the decision to go to war against Saddam Hussein turned out to be probably the worst decision in American foreign policy, not only in our lifetime but previous to that. But I had a very complicated perspective on that, which was, when I was running Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and living in Prague--by the way, it was post-Cold War; it wasn't during the Cold War as you said in your introduction--we began broadcasting to Iraq and Iran in 1998. And I was visited by officials of the United States government and told that Saddam Hussein had 'told his henchmen to blow up Radio Free Europe and kill you, Dine.' And I took that seriously, but I also was going to live my life as I know it as best I could. But I got, we set up a security system, and they never did that. But--

RS: But it does get your attention.

TD: It certainly [laughs], it still is on my mind. And--

RS: I've had a few of those. Not from Saddam Hussein, but.

TD: One of the things that I did, Bob, that my bio really doesn't reflect, after I came back to Washington D.C. in 2008 I joined a group of prominent Americans--former ambassadors, former congressmen, journalists--who wanted to deal directly with Syria. The George W. Bush White House was thinking about a third Middle Eastern war at that time: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, because they hated the Syrians and the Syrians were encouraging foreign fighters to come through the Damascus airport, cross over into Iraq, and challenge American troops, NATO troops. But we wanted to figure out a way to mediate. And we dealt with counterparts, quote unquote prominent Syrians. There were eight of us, eight of them, and we all had access to different, to our governments.

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RS: This is '09?

TD: This is '08, '09, '10, it faded in '11 for obvious reasons when as you said earlier, Bashar Assad went to war against his own people and started killing them indiscriminately. So we really tried very, very hard to find common ground. And it was one of the most exciting periods of my life, because here I am, a former head of AIPAC, known to be pro-Israel; I'd never, I'm never going to deny that. But I also believe in finding ways to coexist. And there came a time when the Syrians around Bashar and Israelis around [Ehud] Olmert were beginning to talk to each other. And because I had friends on both sides, I was shuttling. I had no official role; I don't want to pretend that I was prominent. But I was peripheral. And interestingly, they came this close to finding ways to negotiate an end to the occupation of the Golan Heights, to signing a peace treaty between the two countries, which were always at war. In fact, the raison d'etre of the Bashar Assad regime, and his father, had been anti-Zionism. So there was this opportunity, and then Olmert decided to go into Gaza in '08, and that was the end of it. And the Turks had been playing a role. So I've been to Syria nine times, with all my credentials. And I have met some of the finest people I've ever met in my life. And to go back to your word, secular, these were not fanatics; these were not against-the-world people. These, you know, a certain degree of chips on the shoulder; certainly the Israelis do, certainly American Jews do, and certainly the Arabs do. So there were times when it was close. Another effort was made during George Mitchell's time as the negotiator for early-days Obama. And again, there was some documents drawn up, and lo and behold, both sides were responsive but it never got there. So Syria and Israel do live, do coexist next to each other, share a common border, or former border too, and--but they just can't seem to get there. Now Syria really doesn't exist; it's a broken, broken country, the death and crippled families are pervasive, political and social fabrics shattered, and some have become terrorists, to use the common nomenclature now. And certainly the economics are in ruins.

RS: Well, let me ask you--I'm talking to Tom Dine, who's certainly been one of the key Washington insiders following events in the Mideast for 50 years, and unquestionably very pro-Israel. And yet you see the consequence of militarism. I think that's a fair description. And what happened? Who were these people like [inaudible] and others, who you did give some support? Where did they ever get the idea we could go into Iraq and do regime change and get a good outcome? Did they not know that the Shiites might be responsive to Iran? Did they not know there were historic divisions? And the same thing applies to Syria and actually to Libya; I mean in Syria, whatever you think about Assad, the fact is these are the people trying to protect Christians, trying to protect Alawites, they're trying to protect other people. They weren't the Sunni majority in that country. Why did you think that if you opened this door to some notion--again, it was regime change--you're going to find the good Syrians? This is like Graham Greene's book "The Quiet American." You're going to find that third way in Vietnam--well, maybe you don't know how to find the third way; maybe it's an act of arrogance to even think you're supposed to reorder these countries. And I would argue, just to throw my own view into this, I think you make it more dangerous not just for all--I don't mean "not just" for the people living there, but for Israel. I think you create--and if we think of terrorism, right now where we're meeting, at a time when a Russian fighter was shot down over Turkey, where you know, people are now afraid to go travel in the holiday season, and so forth--well, both of us are old enough to know that this terrorism has been ramped up largely in direct proportion--maybe it's not directly responsible all the time, but certainly in direct proportion to our intervention. There was been blowback. How can we deny that?

TD: Well, I don't deny it. Because it's--I have tried to deal with it throughout my career. And I see intervention as into three parts: no intervention, moderate intervention, and then full intervention meaning armies. And why--and there's no success record of armies. Moderate intervention would be not only diplomacy, economic development, but commercial exchanges and a degree of give and take over political structure. The worst thing the left wing can say about me is that I've spent my career trying to export democracy. To me, yes, I have [laughs]. And to me that's been a part of my public service, if you will. And I think because I grew up with the Wilsonian statement about 'make the world safe for democracy,' and I grew up with the four freedoms of FDR, and have fully integrated them into my brain and how I've tried to act out my values. What's happened today is a total breakdown of the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 to 1924: create nation states where there are no real boundaries. There's nothing but tribes. And the tribes hate each other, or they're certainly in competition and rivalry. The sects of religion hate each other and can't get along. And so authoritarian dictators grow up, and they're the ones who keep the lid on. Saddam Hussein did that in Iraq; you have to admit that. We wiped him out, and Iraq today is a failed state.

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RS: Well, you should mention that we were his ally in going against Iran, and Iran was supposed to be--you know, let me just--a gut question I have. Do we have adults watching the store?

TD: [Laughs]

RS: And the reason I ask that question, because both of us--I'm talking to Tom Dine, and we haven't always agreed; let's put it that mildly; and I've interviewed you, and I've been on different sides. But when I come away from it, I wonder--and I teach at a university, where we have--and you talked about yourself being a historian--we have a lot of bright people. But we went through the whole Cold War where no one seemed to be informed by the fact that there was a Sino-Soviet dispute; that there really were not two Communist countries in the world that liked each other, yet we talked about a monolithic international Communism. So we lose in Vietnam in the most ignominious defeat, and what happens? Communist Vietnam and Communist China go to war. You know, and they're still fighting over these islands, and neither of them--

TD: Right. These are ancient rivalries.

RS: Right, and neither of them liked the Soviet Union, OK. So now we go shift to the Muslim world. And again, we want some bogeyman out there; we want the Muslim terrorist, blah--we ignore that there are different Muslims. You know? There are the Muslims living in Indonesia, and they're not the same as Muslims living other places. There are Shiites, Sunni, there are other splinter groups and so forth. And so I keep wondering, where are the adults? Where were the people to tell George W. Bush in Washington, get close to him and say wait a minute, you can't be both anti-Iran and for getting rid of the Sunnis here and breaking up their party and breaking up their claim to any expertise--you know, De-Baathification and everything else--without opening the door to Iran. Because after all, these Shiites, many of them have been living in Iran and have been protected by the Ayatollah. So you know, my goodness, where are the people who would say, wait a minute! Stop, time out, you sure you want to do this? You know, do we know what we're doing?

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TD: Well, when it comes to Iraq--and I was living in Prague, so I was not in Washington picking up conversations morning, noon and night--but I heard enough and knew enough that -

RS: Well, you were broadcasting to Iraq, though.

TD: Yes. So I followed events in Iraq very closely. But what I was getting to, Bob, was that Bush, George W. Bush, I believe, wanted to seek revenge for his father. The Kuwait, the first intervention in the Gulf in 1990, '91, and then George H. W. Bush goes to Kuwait to receive an award, and the word comes forth they wanted, the Iraqis wanted to assassinate him while he was in Kuwait. Whether it's true or not, I have no idea. All I know is that what was coming out of the White House and getting as far as Prague was 'We're gonna get 'em. This time we're gonna get 'em,' and the father didn't go far enough into Baghdad and regime change. So American intervention in Iraq turned out to be a failure, a big failure; maybe even bigger than Vietnam, as you described Vietnam a little earlier. And there's this belief in certain circles in the American foreign policy establishment that the American sword will control people, put people in their place, and we will be the most, not just the most powerful country in the world, but act that way. You know, if we didn't say a word, we would still be the most powerful country in the world. Economy, values, social integration--

RS: Well, that's George Washington's model in his farewell address. Use gentle means, engage in commerce, but force nothing.

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TD: Good for you. That's a good recall, that's really important. But you hear it today in the presidential debates.

RS: Oh, I was going to ask you about that.

TD: Who's gonna--who can outhawk whom? And to me, that's, there's no exit there. The old [Sartre] play. If we continue to go down those roads--and I give Obama credit. Obama is not my cup of tea, and I can say he's been disappointing to this person--

RS: Is Kerry your cup of tea? He seems to be a pretty good Secretary of State.

TD: Well, he's certainly active.

RS: No, but he's also--you know, the opening to Cuba, the negotiation with Iran. I didn't think he had it in him. I mean--

TD: Oh, I understand. I knew him before he was a senator, and I knew him, I was there in fact the day he threw his medals, his Vietnam medals into the pile in front of the Capitol. So I've known him a long time. And, but we all grow on the job. You're looking for adults; I'm looking for people who are bigger in office than you thought they were. And I don't think we have those people today. I don't know why, because we're such a well-educated country. And it's not a question of how many degrees you have; it's your judgment.

RS: Well, your integrity, also. I mean, the fact of the matter is, you have to be willing to go against the grain and speak sense. And let me just--

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TD: Well, excuse me--I'll defend Obama this way. He has gone against the grain. For those of us brought up on the American exceptionalism school of thought, he doesn't want us in another ground war.

RS: Yeah, well, but they have these drone wars, they have this high tech--

TD: And 50 guys here, and 50 guys there, and pretty soon you got combatants.

RS: --but you could also get a lot of people killed. But let me ask you a question, because you're Tom Dine, and you were the head of AIPAC. Which, again, I think, probably the most powerful lobbying organization in Washington. And that's one force, you know; no politician is going to go against Israel. Let's just face it. And certainly on the Republican side; did you ever think you'd have so many allies?

TD: Yes, because my policy was bipartisanship.

RS: Yeah. And so, that. But you also have something called the military-industrial complex, which Eisenhower, General Eisenhower turned President warned us against. And you went through a whole controversy about AWACS to Saudi Arabia. Well, right now we're in the midst--here we have Saudi Arabia, where 15 of the hijackers on 9/11 came from, and the leader came from there. And they're clearly supportive of all this Wahhabi fanaticism all over the world. And we just concluded another arms deal with Saudi Arabia and we're selling an enormous amount of supplies, and what are they doing? The richest country in the world, Saudi Arabia, is bombing the poorest country in the world, Yemen--a country that they could have made wealthy just by paying attention to a neighboring country; but no, they ignored them and exploited them and used them as servants, and now they're bombing them back to the Stone Age--and we're supplying the weaponry. What is this about? Is this the military-industrial complex?

TD: It definitely is. Because I've lived through this, in terms of my career in American foreign policy. Out of--the Pentagon is conscious of how much these weapon systems cost. And the way to reduce the cost, with their industrial and manufacturing allies, is to sell abroad. And arms sales abroad to a receiving country means, ah, we've got the lethality that we needed to go after our own citizens, often. In the case of Saudi Arabia, the AWACS of 1981 was an $8.5 billion deal. Now, you have to multiply today to get today's value. It's incredible! But if you sell another batch for $15 billion, and this and that--and pretty soon, as Everett Dirksen once said, it's real money! And it reduces your own costs. So there's a compelling reason, financial reason, to do all of that. But as indicated, and not to be naive in this regard, it kills a lot of people. And it creates instability. And if the real fetish of American foreign policy intellectuals is to find ways to bring stability about--I always thought that was sort of, it was too cleansing a term for me--but there will not be stability if the plethora of weapons is all over the place. And today, even Islamic State, al-Nusra in Syria, or Al-Qaida, wherever it is in its proliferation--they buy arms from the Gulf states as if you're going into a candy store. Well, after a while, even the candy rots your teeth. And you know, these weapons will come back and bite you.

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RS: This is Robert Scheer. I've been talking to Tom Dine, a veteran of American politics going back to Senators Frank Church and Ted Kennedy, and AIPAC and Radio Free Europe. I just want to end with one question. And I just woke up this morning with this Russian fighter plane shot down over what is supposed to be part of Turkey intruding into Syria and so forth, and the president was on the air saying well, you know, this is the fog of war, really, and what were they doing. You know, and it occurred to me, if your enemy--this goes back to '1984,' you know; you're going to get a totalitarian society because your leaders can evoke enemies, and the enemies can be interchangeable, but it certainly supports a defense industry; certainly a lot of people get rich and you can also be jingoistic and you can intimidate people not to notice their own problems and to focus. That enemy isn't very good if the enemy's living in tents. The enemy's not good if, you know--because you can't really justify your high-level, technical, expensive armor, you know, and your fancy planes and all your carriers and everything. And I get the sense there's almost a revival or desire to revive the Cold War to have a technologically competent enemy that can justify a military budget. And there's a certain language about Putin; whatever you think about Putin, the fact is, the Russians had a base in Syria. They were supporting Assad. They are players. They also have a big military, which we tend to forget; and they have the ultimate military weapon, which is the nuclear arsenal. And I wonder, why is there this willingness or even eagerness to put the stick in the eye of the Russian bear once again? That didn't work for Hitler [laughs], it didn't really work for anyone, going back to the czars, you know. And do you get any sense at all that this might be a very dangerous moment?

TD: Well, you said you woke up this morning, and I talked to my son-in-law this morning and of course we discussed the news, which was this plane. And he said--

RS: Just for people, they should know we're not talking about the plane that had civilians; we're talking about the Russian fighter plane, yeah--

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TD: Fighter plane shot down by two Turkish F-16 [jets]. And my son-in-law said to me, 'But what good will that do?' It's a basic question. The machoism--I can feel it in Washington--the machoism will say, 'Good, those Turks were, they did the right thing.' I wonder if two months from now we'll say that. Because Putin's going to have to do something to counter. Is he going to do it against [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, the leader of Turkey? Is he going to do it against the Turks? Is he not going to join in this coalition that the Americans, the French, the British and others are trying to form to deal with these current problems in the Mideast, collectively and in solidarity? So it feels good, but I don't think it does good. And that's a hard reality, and it will be very difficult for people to swallow. And after I've said that now on the air, I'm not so sure I'm going to be welcomed by my friends in Washington, because I can feel the drumbeats. 'The Turks did it, we didn't have enough courage to do it, they did it, now we got to follow the Turkish leadership here.' I'll be damned if I'm going to do that. So.

RS: Well, thank you, Tom Dine, for this reasonable [laughter] approach. You don't want to blow up the world. And thanks for being a guest on Scheer Intelligence.

Thanks so much.

[omission]

RS: Hello. I'm Robert Scheer, and welcome to another edition of Scheer Intelligence, my new podcast in collaboration with KCRW. My guest today is someone I knew as a journalist when I was working for the LA Times and other publications, Tom Dine, one of the more respected and yet feared individuals in Washington. Respected for his long career in foreign policy, 53-year career; he worked with legends Frank Church and [Edmund] Muskie, and he was involved with Ted Kennedy when he ran for President in 1980. He also at one point was the head of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. But he's best known as being the Executive Director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee for 13 years, from 1980 to 1993. And at that time, I doubt if there was a politician in the country that didn't worry about what Tom Dine was thinking. And so welcome, Tom. We want to know what you're thinking these days.

TD: Thank you. Hi, Bob.

[omission]
Opinion / Columnist

Whenever President Mugabe and ZANU-PF are questioned by Diaspora based Africans, especially the so-called African Americans, concerning their relationship with the Chinese; past and present, we hope each and every inquisitor is pointed in the direction of the nearest library.Upon their arrival a copy of the speech given by the Pan African giant and freedom fighter Dr. WEB DuBois on his 91st birthday at the University of Peking will be handed to them, the quote that will be underlined is as follows:"Africa does not ask alms from China nor from the Soviet Union nor from France, Britain nor the United States. It asks friendship and sympathy and no nation better than China can offer this to the Dark Continent. Let it be given freely and generously. Let Chinese visit Africa, send their scientists there and their artists and writers. Let Africa send its students to China and its seekers after knowledge. It will not find on earth a richer goal, a more promising mine of information".After the inquisitors receive this powerful historical reference, the question then becomes: "Will they be moved to join the fight to lift US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe, or seek other additional excuses to stand on the sidelines along with those who have unwarranted criticism of President Mugabe and ZANU-PF and the Third Chimurenga, in the manner an alcoholic or heroine addict craves their next drink or needle in the vain?"These sentiments rooted in apathy and fear were on display when the revolutionary government of Cuba announced to the world that they would begin engaging the Obama administration on normalised relations, this was followed by baseless gossip in these reactionary circles suggesting that our Sister Assata Shakur would be extradited back to Babylon by our Cuban comrades in order to gain the trust of US Imperialism.As both President Mugabe and Commandante Raul Castro have grown accustomed to analyses from admirers, who find it immensely difficult to relinquish their fear of US imperialism, therefore creating the illusion of neutrality when it comes to the struggle to end the US blockade on Cuba and US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe, the resolve of their people to fight until their very last breathe of air and drop of blood.Before these inquisitors stumbled on Zimbabwe's Look East policy, some of them were parroting the baseless rhetoric of the late US Congressman Donald Payne who called Zimbabwe's historic and groundbreaking land reclamation programme misguided and wrong, or calling the decision by the Zimbabwean, Namibian and Angolan military, known as Operation Sovereign Legitimacy, that prevented a US led reinvasion of the DRC adventurist and unnecessary.When so-called African Americans and Africans throughout the Diaspora study the relationship between Zimbabwe and China, this should begin with the first five ZANU-PF guerillas who went to Beijing for military training; and the leader of the delegation was none other than one of Zimbabwe's Vice Presidents, Comrade Emmerson Mnangagwa.After that introduction, they will eventually discover the essay entitled "Comrade Tongo: A Legend and Role Model" written by the former Zimbabwe ambassador to the US Dr Simbi Mubako, which reveals Zimbabwe's boldest and patriotic guerilla fighter, Josiah Magama Tongogara in 1966 led 11 ZANU cadres to the Nanking Academy in China where they received training in mass mobilisation, military intelligence, political science, mass media and guerilla war strategies and tactics.Before this life changing experience Zimbabweans who had demonstrated both the propensity and courage to take up arms, were limited to the ideological orientation of the Soviets that taught the quality of your weaponry determined the outcome of a war.The lesson the inquisitors will hopefully receive is that the Chinese did not just show up in Zimbabwe in the new millennium with fancy Western attire and briefcases hoping to outbid US based Fortune 500 for access to Africa's material wealth. In 2008 China along with the Soviet Union vetoed an attempt by US-EU imperialism to persuade the UN Security Council to impose additional sanctions on Zimbabwe,If we are guided by the annals of history and not emotionalism or suspicion it should be clear this move by the Chinese was even more valuable than all the rifles and explosives they provided ZANU-PF guerillas at the height of the Second Chimurenga with. It should come as no surprise to Zimbabweans that a minute segment of Africans in the US and other parts of the Diaspora will argue that they should have fought the British and Rhodesians with spears and shields, and not received weapons from the Chinese because they are not daughters and sons of Africa.These same Africans more than likely will thumb their nose when they think of Mozambique's first President Samora Machel, who provided President Mugabe and ZANU-PF with physical space for their guerilla stations, and ZANU-PF openly boasted how FRELIMO guerillas studied the lessons of the Vietnamese Guerilla icon General Giap. This naive outlook positions those who fall for the imperialist propaganda to discuss Gukurahundi and say President Mugabe and ZANU-PF should have never sent soldiers to be trained by North Koreans in the first place.We as Africans at home and abroad have to recognise that strengthening genuine solidarity is a crucial part of defending your national sovereignty, and it is by no means a deviation from a strong nationalist and Pan-Africanist foundation, which comrades and detractors alike, acknowledge has guided President Mugabe and ZANU-PF from the beginning.In the essay "China contributes to the African Green Revolution" Kizito Sikuka highlights the Gwebi Agricultural Demonstration Centre outside Harare built by the Chinese, which since 2012 has trained 3 000 students and farmers. Control of the centre was handed over by China to Zimbabweans later in 2015.The centre was leasing farming equipment such as tractors and combined harvesters for the purpose of boosting agricultural mechanisation in Zimbabwe. There will be 20 similar centres built in Africa with seven already in existence in southern Africa where 62 percent of the SADC region depend on agriculture for their livelihood. This should further explain SADC nations' love affair with Zimbabwe's land reclamation programme and President Mugabe.The inquisitors could possibly make the outrageous demand that President Mugabe should bulldose Mahusekwa Hospital, commonly referred to as the China-Zimbabwe Friendship Hospital (built by the Chinese a few years ago), and let Doctors without Borders who refuse to acknowledge the impact of US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe's health ministry and infrastructure ,along with pro-imperialist health driven NGOs, heal our sick.This explains why when President Mugabe announced the Look East policy in 2005 US State Department officials immediately felt the need to begin measures aimed at damage control, and if the truth be told, President Obama and these inquisitors of the Look East policy would celebrate like Brazilians during carnival if Africa would tell the Chinese that AGOA (the African Growth and Opportunity Act) introduced by the Clinton administration is a more viable option.For these inquisitors amongst us at home and abroad who have become accustomed to tooting their own horn, which has contaminated our movement to say the least the humble example of President Mugabe and ZANU-PF provide in terms of shaping Mother Africa's political direction and approach revolutionary solidarity, teaches opportunists and political prostitutes the importance of staying the course.-----Obi Egbuna Jnr is the US correspondent to The Herald and the external relations officer of ZICUFA (The Zimbabwe-Cuba Friendship Association). His email is obiegbuna15@gmail.com
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz attends the second day of the 136th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit held in Riyadh, on December 10, 2015 as kings and emirs from six Gulf states began two days of talks, at the same time as unprecedented discussions by the Syrian opposition at a luxury hotel in another part of the city. Salman called for political solutions to the wars in Syria and Yemen, while condemning 'terrorism,' at the opening of the annual Gulf summit. AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE / AFP / FAYEZ NURELDINE (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images)

Saudi Arabia started 2016 shamefully by carrying out its largest mass execution since 1980, putting 47 men to death on Jan. 2. Among them were at least four prominent Shia activists, including a leader of the kingdom's Shia minority, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. The killings have spurred a new round of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the two regional powers. The senseless executions were enough to provoke a group of Iranian protesters to storm the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Shia Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, predicted there would be "divine vengeance" for the execution of al-Nimr. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani declared that "one does not respond to criticism by cutting off heads." However, in a letter to Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, Rouhani called for the urgent punishment of the Saudi Embassy attackers.

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After the attack on the Saudi Embassy, Saudi Arabia, along with Sudan, Bahrain and Djibouti broke off diplomatic relations with Iran. The U.N. Security Council issued a statement condemning the embassy attack and urged all sides to take steps to reduce tensions in the region. Unfortunately, it made no mention of the event that set off the crisis -- Saudi Arabia's execution of Sheikh Nimr, a peaceful cleric whose death sparked widespread protests not just in Iran but around the world.

It is clear that world powers fear that the rising tension between the two powerhouses in the Middle East will increase sectarian divisions, escalate proxy wars and have disastrous repercussions across the region. It is important, however, to understand the root causes of Saudi Arabia's recently more aggressive regional policies. I believe that the shortcomings and failures of Saudi Arabia in the past four decades play a fundamental role in guiding Saudi policies today, which are aimed at compensating for perceived losses and a fear of total regime collapse. Let's review some of these failures:

An Iranian woman holds up a poster showing Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Saudi Shiite cleric who was executed by Saudi Arabia. AP/Vahid Salemi, File.

Saudi Arabia and other Arab states fully supported Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq, during his invasion of Iran (1980-1988), including financial support amounting to billions of dollars aimed at disintegrating Iran. They all failed. Saddam is gone, and Iran is more powerful than ever. Saudi Arabia supported Wahhabi Salafist groups in Afghanistan in the form of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, dolling out $4 billion in official aid between 1980 and 1990. Iran, on the other hand, invested on the Tajik, Hazara and Uzbek groups in Afghanistan. Immediately after 9/11, the world witnessed the "the most significant cooperation" between Iran and America since the 1979 revolution, as leaders from Tehran assisted Washington in its mission to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda and form a new Afghan government. Since the establishment of the Iraqi state in the 1920s, all of the country's leaders have been from its Sunni Arab minority. For a long time, the majority Shia Muslims were discriminated by the Sunni-dominated regimes. After the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein, Shia Muslims came into power through democratic elections. Saudi Arabia maintains that the United States "delivered" Iraq to Iran. Since 2005, Saudi Arabia has pushed the United States to "cut off the head of the snake" by attacking Iran's nuclear facilities, according to WikiLeaks. However, the U.S. declined to do so. The House of Saud was instrumental in sustaining the corrupt dictatorship of Tunisia headed by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. On January 14, 2011, Ben Ali fled Tunisia in the midst of a revolution after 23 years in power. He was the first Arab head of state in recent history to be removed by a popular uprising. Saudi Arabia supported another corrupt dictator, Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for almost 30 years. Mubarak was toppled in just 18 days during the 2011 Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings. After the collapse of the dictators in Egypt and Tunisia, in March 2011 Saudi Arabian troops crossed into Bahrain to support continued iron-fisted Sunni minority rule in that country. Bahrain's pro-democracy protesters descended upon the center of the capital, Manama, marched on government buildings and palaces and called for free elections and equal rights. Even after five years of military occupation, Saudi Arabia has failed to manage the crisis in Bahrain. A Bahraini anti-government protester carries a national flag. AP/Hasan Jamali. Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, Saudi Arabia has pushed the United States to intervene more in the country beyond just sending arms. It has failed to convince the United States to militarily attack Syria. Saudi Arabia's insistence on "Assad must go" has failed. Assad still is in power and world powers, including the United States, are convinced that Assad must be a part of the solution to the Syria conflict. "Rather than forcing the regime to the table -- essentially to negotiate its own demise -- it has led only to a military stalemate that is benefiting the extreme elements of the opposition, including the Islamic State. The result has been a growing, open-ended conflict, with devastating humanitarian, strategic, and geopolitical consequences," wrote Philip Gordon, a former Obama administration official and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. The 2013 election of President Hassan Rouhani created a new opportunity for Iranian-American engagement and resulted in the nuclear deal signed in July 2015 after almost two years of intensive negotiations. If the final nuclear agreement is fully implemented, the two sides may negotiate and cooperate on the other issues, notably Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia has even said it would try to get nuclear weapons from Pakistan. Since early 2015, Saudi Arabia has been bombing Yemen, its southern neighbor, hoping to force the retreat of the Houthis. It has killed thousands of innocent civilians in the process and has little to show for it in terms of any actual achievements. "Further evidence #Yemen becoming Saudi Arabia's Vietnam; blowback may well weaken stability of #Saudiarabia itself," recently tweeted Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. Saudi Arabia played a key role in dropping the price of oil from $120 to $30 a barrel today in order to hurt Iran. However, Riyadh has confirmed it would itself suffer a $98 billion budget deficit and would have to implement unprecedented austerity measures. Saudi Arabia faces huge domestic challenges due to corruption, poor services, lack of democracy, discriminating its Shia minority and political fights within the House of Saud with one of the world's worst human rights offenders. And last but not least, today, the world is convinced that the self-proclaimed Islamic State is the most important threat to international peace and security. According to a recent New York Times op-ed, ISIS "has a father: Saudi Arabia and its religious-industrial complex." Furthermore, many policymakers and politicians in the United States have become convinced of the fact that Saudi Arabia is the world's largest source of funds for Sunni terrorist militants.

Demonstrators chant pro-ISIS slogans as they wave the group's flags in Iraq. AP, File.

What is the end state? Riyadh needs to understand that these real problems need real solutions. Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, Saudi Arabia's top geopolitical goal has been to maximize its power at Iran's expense. To address all of its self-created problems, the House of Saud has pursued one solution: blaming Iran. But the reality is that Saudi Arabia has overstretched itself in Yemen, Bahrain and Syria, supporting terrorist groups and totally breaking down its ties with Iran. Saudi Arabia needs substantial reforms in its domestic and foreign policies. The fact is that Saudi Arabia is a failed regional power, and if it continues with its traditional policies, sooner or later it will collapse.

Ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian is a scholar at Princeton University and a former Iranian diplomat. His latest book, "Iran and the United States: An Insider's view on the Failed Past and the Road to Peace" was released in May 2014.

Earlier on WorldPost:
PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 05: Reza Aslan attends the Ovation 2016 Winter TCA Tour introducing three series featuring Rachel Hunter, Reza Aslan, Norman Lear And Yannick Bisson at Langham Hotel on January 5, 2016 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Araya Diaz/Getty Images for Ovation)

At the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, President Obama responded to the latest terrorist attacks in Paris and made a slightly surprising allusion.

In a response to a question about the relationship between Islam and terrorism, he said "... I also think the Muslim community has to think about how we make sure that children are not being infected with this twisted notion that somehow they can kill innocent people and that that is justified by religion. To some degree, that is something that has to come from within the Muslim community itself, and I think there have been times where there has not been enough pushback against extremism."

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The President, who almost put forth a motion for reform in Islam, couldn't help but later sanitize an otherwise promising declaration, padding his statements with obfuscation and taking great pains to disqualify a connection between the teachings of a religion and the actions of terrorists.

I understand his unwillingness to be inflammatory, and I get that there are reasons he tries to remove terrorist ideology from the Everyman. And I understand his reluctance to offend millions of Muslims. But this effort to avoid causing offense seems to be obscuring an otherwise useful conversation about the relationship between religion and extremism. The President's doublespeak is symptomatic of an unsettling problem.

Legitimate criticism of Islamists has been acute but sparse, and the pushback against debate has come in many flavors -- almost all widely missing the point. In Europe and the United States, the left are a great deal of the problem. One of the characteristics of the liberal left is a political preoccupation with defending those who are disenfranchised; those that are viewed as victims. Often, I count myself as one of these liberals.

In the last 50 years, the liberal left has accomplished much by flouting a negligent Establishment, strengthening civil liberties that would have otherwise been lost in stagnant conservatism. But any chronic preoccupation eventually leads to myopia, and in the case of Islamism, the left seems to have lost its way. Perhaps this is a result of some deep-seated fear of offending, but I submit that dishonesty is at the heart.

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This conflict between pragmatism and the liberal tradition is typified in Sam Harris and the reaction he has received from the left. Among other things, he is a rare counter-voice to simple liberal Islam apologists, bringing to light the connection between Islamic doctrine and violent behavior.

Harris' analysis has been met with knee-jerk cries of racism, bigotry and the weak label "Islamophobia." I hold the left mostly responsible for the term Islamophobia, which cleverly equates racism and xenophobia with criticism of the ideas of a specific religion -- an unfair lumping together. It is a favorite tool used to silence those who link a religious ideology with negative concepts. When an interpretation of any religious teaching equates to blatant human rights abuses or harm to society, it is simply irresponsible to let it slide. Many liberals on the left seem to confuse criticism of other cultures (religion, in this case) with an endorsement of racism.

Nick Cohen makes the important clarification that "a trap springs when you fail to realize that tolerating is not the same as respecting or endorsing. A tolerant society does not abandon the freedom to argue." Tolerating the ideas of Sam Harris does not somehow mean that one is a xenophobe. Far from it. Cohen distinguishes two groups of liberals: one group decries human rights abuses that result from religion in any culture (objectification of women, criminalizing gays, punishment for diverse beliefs...etc.), while the other is selective in its human rights pet projects. This latter group of liberals is a serious problem.

In the moral response to theocracies like Saudi Arabia, the hypocrisy seems to be laid bare, as that loathsome regime has institutionalized religion, using the same scripture and philosophy as terrorist groups like ISIS, the Taliban and Al-Shabaab to justify appalling atrocities. Sam Harris criticizes Islam's bad ideas by way of example and thought experiment and analogy, trying to debate, and instead of being judged by his analysis, he is labeled with lazy terms like "dangerous" and "bigot" by leftist apologists who work very hard to find racism and bigotry where none exists.

Comedian Dean Obeidallah and commentator Glen Greenwald are shining examples of the limitations of the liberal tradition, both resorting to easy personal attacks on Harris, ignoring any link between doctrine and violence (Greenwald just being more verbose and dishonest about it). Reza Aslan also attempts to cast Harris as dangerous and unqualified to criticize religion because he thinks Harris isn't an expert on religion. He dresses his affectations in the standard obfuscations of an academic, the kind of thing the left eats up. Yet his gab is nothing more than a convoluted blanket apology for religions veiled in more sloppy ad hominem attacks of character on Sam Harris and those who think like him (Aslan calls these people his disciples).

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These dodges and excuses are becoming numerous, but they generally take form in at least one of the following standard talking points of the left, talking points that usually place blame on ourselves: vague notions of inequality, imperialism, the CIA, American foreign policy, poverty, the Iraq War, failure of integration into European society...etc. These are all real issues that deserve attention, but in the case against radicalization and Islamism, they seem to be camouflage on the elephant in the room.

Unfortunately, many of the voices that are approaching any venture into the moral landscape of this problem are the loudest voices of demagoguery in the West -- those on the far right (one of several key notions that Greenwald has trouble grasping). It is unfortunate and frightening because these are the people that have at best a tenuous grasp on the issue at hand, and they are often the most religious themselves, as well as uninformed, genuinely racist, bigoted, xenophobic or overtly nationalist.

In France, Marine Le Pen has been at her most puffed-up lately, riding a wave of fashionable blanket fear of immigrants, of bearded men in skull caps and of any French citizen who disagrees with the limited National Front party platform. The drivel from Republican politicians in the U.S. has been spectacular these days: rejecting desperate Syrian refugees, imagined no-go zones in Paris and London where the police are afraid to enter for fear of Sharia, screening immigrants for acceptable religious affiliations, Ben Carson's half-witted "monitoring" of every single visitor that travels to the United States. But however easy it is to dispense with the appalling ideas of the right, it is all the more disconcerting that they are the ones even approaching a real debate. The left's problem is a bit more complex.

In a free society, often uncomfortable things must be said to opposing parties to effectively work out complex issues. But when someone attempts to criticize the beliefs of a religion (mostly Islam), the left will invariably attach that criticism to racism. But racism cannot also be used for those who question the ideas of a religion, or their dogmas, or attempt to demonstrate the relationship of religious ideas to terrorism. This only cuts off the kind of debate that has usually taken place in the conversations of the liberal left.

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There will always be people who agree or disagree with whether or not a particular interpretation of a text (holy or otherwise) is correct. And that is the point. The goal of an enlightened people is to be able to discuss those interpretations for the benefit of society, to discuss what is harmful and what is not. There are many people in the United States, for example, who fervently believe that all the animal life we see today once packed into a wooden boat to escape a global flood from an angry God. We have come to the conclusion that no one should be prevented from believing this, but those believers must live with their ideas being scrutinized (and for the most part, they do), and more importantly, they must accept that these ideas will not be institutionalized. It would not be helpful for the left to denounce the criticism of literal readings of the Bible as racist or contriving a term like Christophobic.

So, what is there to do?

Firstly: have ideas, discuss, criticize. I reserve the right to criticize any belief system that seems to me to violate rational thought, human rights or free speech. Much less, I expect my criticisms not to be criminalized. I may be wrong, I may be partly right, but I expect to be able to discuss without fear of reprisal, either from the left or from Islamic religious fundamentalists.

In the Information Age, it has become easier than ever to witness the behavior of far-off cultures first hand, testing the limits of cultural relativism. The debate on what is moral (and what is not) cannot be cut off for whatever reason, the least of all because of selective liberal political correctness.

Secondly, Muslims must be allowed to have ideas, discuss and criticize their own belief systems without fear. Yes, this is easy for me to say, a non-Muslim living in Western Europe. But anyone can recognize the courage of people like Maajid Nawaz, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Malala Yousafzai and Saudi blogger Raif Badawi (amongst many others) who have dealt with the consequences of questioning their Muslim religious establishments, to the detriment of their own safety, well-being and worse.

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But this is exactly the ambiguous middle ground that is required for debate and change. Muslim theocrats do not like this middle ground. In Iran, the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei says it best: "The present US officials are against the principles of Islam and unlike their statements they are after fomenting differences among Muslims and its example is creating terrorist groups like Daesh...." It seems to me that these differences between Muslims is what is needed, not through incitement or force with ulterior motives, but as natural processes; differences created by free conversation, what Maajid Nawaz calls the "grey zone," a healthy disruption of fundamentalism. He stresses that by forcing everyone to pick sides, what ISIS clearly wants, non-Muslims and Muslims will only drift to opposite poles. What about all the Muslims in the middle who question some parts of their religion but not all? So that they are not judged by the actions of extremists, should they not also be allowed to question and speak freely and think critically without fear of those in their own community? In that grey zone I would place the ability to accept (and provide) criticism without calls of blasphemy or racism (again, from fundamentalists or liberals).

It is not necessary to be an expert on the complexities of Muslim movements to notice that Muslim tolerance of believers in other strains of Islam is by moderate estimates low, and tolerance of non-believers even lower. And it should not be unacceptably offensive to Muslim apologists like Dean Obeidallah and Reza Aslan to mention that this intolerance is noticeable, nor should it be unacceptable to suggest that the teachings of religious ideas have much to do with the actions of the some Muslims, to whatever extent they are a minority, who are activists and jihadists. As Nawaz stresses, Islam doesn't have everything to do with their actions, but it has something to do with it.
In 2011, the Swiss food company, Nestle, opened a 75,000 square foot facility in Cleveland, Ohio. In November 2012, Sasol, a South African energy company, announced that it would build a multi-billion dollar project to convert natural gas to other liquid fuels. And in 2014, the German automaker BMW announced a $1 billion investment in their plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, making it the company's largest factory in the world.

These three examples of foreign direct investment (FDI) illustrate why for three years running, the United States has earned the title of best place in the world to invest by the business consultancy AT Kearney -- the first time that any country has earned this title for three consecutive years. In 2013, 6.1 million people were employed by majority-owned U.S. subsidiaries of foreign firms, the largest figure since the financial crisis. And the Bureau of Economic Analysis recently announced that in 2014, FDI expenditures made by foreign investors acquiring, establishing, and expanding U.S. businesses totaled $241.3 billion.

These numbers prove a critical point when it comes to foreign direct investment and the U.S. economy. The same competitive advantages that make our goods and services exports so in demand to foreign consumers are the same advantages that make the U.S. market so attractive to foreign investors: a workforce that is second-to-none in terms of productivity, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit; our global leadership in the use of innovative technology and advanced manufacturing; a high-quality supply chain; and a landscape defined by the rule of law, world-renowned educational institutions, and the broadest and deepest capital markets.

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These reasons are precisely why the Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration -- the leading U.S. government agency responsible for attracting FDI -- is focusing on three historic opportunities in 2016 to attract greater business investment into the United States. The first will take place April 25-29 at the Hannover Messe trade fair in Hannover, Germany, the largest industrial trade fair in the world.

With President Obama's expected participation, and the United States participating as the "Partner Country" for the first time since the launch of the fair in 1947, Hannover Messe will represent a historic opportunity for American companies to showcase their goods, services, and investment opportunities. As a result of the added benefits coming from our Partner Country status, economic development organizations (EDOs) spanning approximately 30 states and regions, which actively work to encourage business investment, are already committed to attending. And businesses participating in our investment pavilion will achieve exposure to the 200,000 expected attendees, most of whom will have purchase-decision making authority.

The next opportunity will take place because of the efforts of our SelectUSA program, the first all-of-government program to attract FDI, which has facilitated $17 billion in investments since it was launched in 2011. The SelectUSA Summit in Washington, DC from June 19-21 will bring together representatives from business, government, and EDOs to highlight investment opportunities in the United States. SelectUSA will work to surpass the huge success of last year's summit; a summit that included the participation of 2,600 people from 70 international markets, as well as companies, business associations, and EDOs from all 50 states.

Finally, there will be our work with members of the House and Senate as well as other stakeholders to secure congressional passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). TPP is the largest negotiated trade agreement in American history, and will reduce and eliminate trade barriers to 11 Pacific Rim markets, representing 40% of global GDP and 300 million consumers. This will incentivize companies from all over the world to set up operations in the U.S. to take advantage of this expanded access to our partner markets, in addition to our other competitive advantages. TPP represents a generational opportunity to enhance existing FDI flows and generate new investments that will drive economic growth throughout the United States.

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Of course, none of these opportunities will create outcomes for American businesses and workers on their own. When American businesses attend Hannover Messe and the SelectUSA Summit, they can rely on the work of the trade and investment specialists from our Commercial Service, and our SelectUSA team, to assist in creating networking and matchmaking opportunities. Our business community can also rely on our dedicated staff in the 11 TPP markets to help generate greater foreign investment when that agreement comes into force.
The recent "occupation" of government-owned lands in Eastern Oregon by disgruntled ranchers' motivated Quoctrung Bui and Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times (NYT) to produce an edifying essay on January 6. It was aptly titled "Why the Government Owns So Much Land in the West." Curiously, the NYT essay fails to mention one of the most significant, recent, and contentious attempts to "dispose" of federal public lands.

When Ronald Reagan was elected president for his first term in 1980, he received strong support from the so-called Sagebrush Rebels. The Rebels wanted lands owned by the federal government to be transferred to state governments. Their champion was James Watt, a self-proclaimed Sagebrush Rebel who became the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

When I was operating as one of President Reagan's economic advisers, an early assignment was to analyze the federal government's landholdings and make recommendations about what to do with them. This was a big job. These lands are vast, covering an area six times that of France.

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These public lands represent a huge socialist anomaly in America's capitalist system. As is the case with all socialist enterprises, they are mismanaged by politicians and bureaucrats dancing to the tunes of narrow interest groups. Indeed, the U.S. nationalized lands represent assets that are worth trillions of dollars, yet they generate negative net cash flows for the government. I first presented my findings and recommendations publically at the annual Public Lands Council meeting of September 1981 in Reno, Nevada. The title of my speech was "Privatize Those Lands" -- privatize being a word Mrs. Hanke, a Parisian, had imported from France.

My Reno speech caused a stir. James Watt, the Secretary of the Interior, was furious because he wanted to hand over the lands to the state governments-- exchanging one form of socialism for another. Needless to say, I thought I was in deep trouble. Hoping to avoid political immolation, I rapidly sent my analysis to the President.

Reagan instantly responded, taking my side. Better yet, he swiftly made my proposals the Administration's policy. The president endorsed privatizing federal lands in his budget message for the 1983 fiscal year: "Some of this property is not in use and would be of greater value to society if transferred to the private sector. In the next three years we would save $9 billion by shedding these unnecessary properties while fully protecting and preserving our national parks, forests, wilderness and scenic areas."

It turned out that Reagan had already thought about this issue. The book Reagan, In His Own Hand (2001) makes that clear. This volume contains 259 essays Reagan wrote in his own hand, mainly scripts for his five minute, five-day-a-week syndicated radio broadcasts in the late 1970s. Reagan, In His Own Hand contains several essays on the subject that clearly foreshadowed his policy statement on privatizing public lands. His 1970s musings on public lands echo the writings of Adam Smith. While Reagan never cited Smith, he employed similar reasoning.

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Indeed, Smith concluded in The Wealth of Nations (1776) that "no two characters seem more inconsistent than those of the trader and the sovereign," as people are more prodigal with the wealth of others than with their own. In that vein, Smith estimated that lands owned by the state were only about 25% as productive as comparable private holdings. Smith believed Europe's great tracts of crown lands to be "a mere waste and loss of country in respect both of produce and population."
When I started my career in education as a Teach For America corps member in East Oakland, California, I led community circles every day for my second graders to talk about their feelings and resolve any playground conflicts. One little seven-year-old raised his hand and said that he heard gunshots the night before. He felt scared and worried that the bad guys were going to come to school. I paused and asked who else had heard the gunshots. Every one of my 30 second-graders raised their tiny hands. That was what they heard at night -- gunshots. And, I couldn't honestly calm their fears. We had lockdowns almost every month -- due to drive-by shootings or gang activity on the corner. The security guard chained the downstairs doors from the inside. We were prisoners in our own public school.

My first personal experience with gun violence came a few years later when I was in Houston, Texas, interviewing for a KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) urban principal fellowship. While there, I got mugged in broad daylight, at gunpoint, by two young men. One pointed a sawed-off shotgun at me. It looked like a rifle as I stared down the barrel. The other, apparently tweaking from drug withdrawal, held a pistol pointed at my face. So imminent was death, I saw my life flash before my eyes. It looked like a filmstrip rushing by. I felt surrounded by people whom I'd loved. I thought about my parents and brother finding out I'd been shot in the street. It was the most terrified I have ever been, and continues to cause a strong "flight or fight" response in me to this day.

My twentieth, and last, year as an elementary school educator, two gunmen came on my school campus in Berkeley, California. They robbed a home across from the school then ran onto the schoolyard to mix into the crowds of students. The police notified us to go on lockdown. I was the teacher designated to go classroom to classroom, telling other teachers to shelter in place until further notice. Students spent all day locked inside as police searched the school thoroughly. The secretary and I could only shout to panicked parents through the mail slot, "No one is allowed on campus or off campus until further notice." I wrote notes in Spanish and English and posted them at every entrance. Police moved worried parents onto the other side of the street, to safety, which (ironically) meant keeping a distance from their child's public school.

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After several hours, when we'd been given the all clear, I read each child's name aloud and released five and six-year-olds to their sobbing parents. News crews surrounded, helicopters hovered and I fought back tears while children embraced their mothers and fathers, finally safe.

That incident prompted me to leave teaching. I loved the kids, and the parents, but risking my life to go to work just didn't seem worth it. I can't imagine how the teachers at Sandy Hook or Columbine managed to return to work after those horrific massacres.

A professor I had at The University of Michigan taught us the concept of NIMBY -- or Not in My Backyard. As in -- we feel empathy and outrage when the San Bernardino or Oregon shooting rampages happen but won't actually take action until it is in our neighborhood, at our local school.

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Nowadays, the proliferation of gun violence has, unfortunately, made it more like six degrees of separation. I grew up in the safe suburbs of Detroit and never saw a gun out of a police holster until Houston. And, yet, one of my best friend's parents were brutally murdered during an armed robbery at their store in Detroit when we were 14. Another friend accidentally shot his brother in his own backyard with his father's gun. Just last week, I heard on the news that a former teacher colleague got shot by a stray bullet while driving her car through what is known as Richmond, California's Iron Triangle. She is still in critical condition. Can we not run errands anymore without risking driving through a war zone?

Students everywhere across this country -- even in the wealthiest of communities -- have regular shelter in place drills to prepare for a potential gunman on campus or as a result of bomb threats. What is our country coming to? Children and teachers in classrooms across the country huddling together, shaking in fear, sheltering in place, locked down on a regular basis? How are our children's right to safety of less value than the right to own a gun? Just within the last ten years, a staggering 280,024 Americans were killed by guns. Not overseas, fighting a war, but struggling to survive on the streets of U.S. cities and while studying or teaching in our schools.
High quality 3d render of North Korea with Nuclear Warhead. Clipping path included.MORE LIKE THIS:

North Korea has done it again.

With its latest nuclear testing of an alleged H-bomb, it has overshadowed its egregious violations of human rights, garnered global attention to re-establish itself as a serious international threat, and reminded the world that we need to do something, anything, about North Korea because its bizarre antics are far from coming to an end.

The question has always been and remains: But what? What can be done about North Korea?

After all, there is rarely any consensus when it comes to policies regarding North Korea. Although recently, it has been undeniable that current US policies are not working. This latest nuclear test is simply a culmination of policies which even key Republicans have called an "abject failure".

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It is well past the time to try another approach and to re-think US policies towards North Korea. The "oops, I did it again" refrain being carried out by the North Korean regime is not funny and must be stopped. Similarly, the repetitive rhetoric of sanctions and condemnations lack any sense of creative innovation nor do they have any actual impact. Most importantly, the plight of the North Korean people is continuously being forgotten despite the documentation of ongoing atrocities which "shock the conscience of humanity" and amount to crimes against humanity.

What most experts fail to recognize is that the nuclear threat of North Korea goes hand-in-hand with its threat to international human rights. Indeed, failing to keep North Korea accountable for its systemic and brutal human rights violations, including a failure on behalf of the international community to follow through with the recommendations made by the UN Commission of Inquiry, is what has resulted in North Korea's lasting power as an international threat to peace and security.

This latest nuclear test only shows the irrefutable reality that approaching the North Korean regime by focusing on the issue of denuclearization will undoubtedly fail. Asking North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons is tantamount to demanding an unreasonable toddler to give up his beloved lovey or blanket. Military intervention is also clearly not an option. Most agree that it has been a "great achievement" to maintain peace on the Korean peninsula for the past six decades and it is unlikely and irrational to argue that this peace or stability should ever be put at risk.

Sanctions have been the most common, and currently for the US the sole, remedy when approaching North Korea. In fact, the current bills being proposed in Congress are all variations on the same theme: sanctions, sanctions and more sanctions. However sanctions have failed to have any meaningful impact due to the economic support of North Korea's long-time ally: China. Although China has responded to this most recent nuclear test with strongly worded condemnation, it appears unlikely that it would abandon its long-time support for North Korea.

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All other possible approaches point to engagement; Engagement is the only viable option when it comes to approaching North Korea. Whether six-party, three-party or two-party talks, if engaging with North Korea is inevitable why not change the focus of the talks away from the typical demands for denuclearization and instead start with the crimes against humanity documented by the UN Commission of Inquiry? Why not utilize the threat of a potential referral to the International Criminal Court as a point of leverage? Why not focus the engagement on the international human rights issues which are bi-partisan and common-ground to all interested states and parties?

This is no longer the era of the Cold War. We expect absurd statements and reactions from North Korea. But Washington has a unique opportunity to lead the way from "strategic patience" to strategic engagement; Engagement which could include the internal empowerment of the North Korean people in addition to the external international pressure to bring proper accountability to the North Korean regime.
In January 2015, Maithripala Sirisena, unexpectedly thwarted Mahinda Rajapaksa's quest for an unprecedented third presidential term. According to his campaign pledges, Sirisena hoped to address various issues including constitutional reform, anti-corruption and improved governance. The broad coalition that supported his campaign could at least agree on one thing: that Rajapaksa needed to go.

Years from now, how will the election of Sirisena be remembered? And what about healing those wounds of war and finding a lasting political solution to an ethnic conflict that has burned for seven decades?

Here's the deal: war-related matters weren't discussed during either of the country's two big elections in 2015. (Sirisena dissolved parliament last June and a parliamentary election was held last August.) However, in October 2015 the Sirisena administration agreed to co-sponsor a resolution on Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council. In several areas, the resolution lacked clarity, but its passage was still a welcome development. Essentially, Sri Lanka's coalition government has established the broad outlines of what could be a strong transitional justice agenda, although Colombo's been reluctant to implement its purported plans. Without question, the most difficult and controversial part of transitional justice will be accountability for wartime abuses, which could include war crimes.

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A former member of Rajapaksa's cabinet, is Sirisena really a man who could lead the way on such controversial issues? As acting defense minister during the bloody end of Sri Lanka's civil war, would Sirisena be interested in the possibility of senior government officials being held accountable for horrific abuses?

Besides, there have already been some questionable appointments of senior military officials under his watch. For example, Sirisena appointed Major General Jagath Dias to chief of staff for the Sri Lanka Army. During the end of the war, Dias commanded the army's 57th division which has been accused of war crimes.
You cannot police a man's penis.

Ask Hillary, or Camille Cosby, or Huma Abedin.

What does a woman do when allegations against the man she's married to include unprovable and alleged crimes that make her ashamed?

Mrs. Cosby has chosen to deny, deny, and then her lawyers petitioned and got a stay on her deposition in the defamation suit brought by seven Cosby accusers. But what does she think of the women who are victims of her husband? Mrs. Cosby is quoted as saying she "stopped being embarrassed long ago" during years of Bill Cosby's serial philandering. The public now knows this includes allegations from over 50 women, including that he drugged and sexually assaulted them.

No one's blaming Camille Cosby.

Hillary's not so lucky.

... Flowers accused Hillary of being "an enabler that has encouraged [Bill] to go out and do whatever he does with women." -- Karen Tumulty and Frances Stead Sellers (Washington Post)

That's because Hillary wants to be president. So when she told the Des Moines Register that Donald Trump has "demonstrated a penchant for sexism," a whole new discussion blossomed, which includes people using Hillary Clinton's own words against her.

Remember this tweet back in November?

Every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported. https://t.co/mkD69RHeBL  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 23, 2015

Donald Trump has now created an Instagram video that targets Hillary Clinton using her husband, also featuring Bill Cosby and Anthony Weiner.

Thursday in Iowa on the campaign trail, former President Bill Clinton was asked to comment and he said, "If he wins the Republican nomination we'll have plenty of time to talk about it." Betting that Trump won't win even if the state-by-state polling doesn't support that point of view, the Clintons were surprised that Donald Trump would go where he did and quickly recalibrated.

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Trump's strategy is to separate Hillary Clinton from women supporters by using her husband's behavior, over which she had no control. Will it work?

It depends whether women voters are going to hold Hillary Clinton accountable for her husband's "bimbo eruptions," which are separate from the allegations of sexual assault being dragged out of the past and dusted off to hurt the first woman politician to have a viable chance to be the nominee of her party.

"Every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported," Hillary tweeted, so does that mean we should give Juanita Broaddrick the benefit of the doubt? Yes, but there remains no proof.

When the Rolling Stone rape article came out, "Jackie" was believed and she should have been. Until her story started falling apart. As a feminist, I always consider the sexual assault charges true when made, but it's the 21st century and we also have to encourage and expect women who are victims of sexual assault to come forward with proof to back up their claims. It's how we stop the cycle.

Back decades ago when Bill Cosby was allegedly assaulting woman after woman we were living in a different era. The same goes for the allegations made against Bill Clinton. Ms. Flowers, as well as Monica Lewinsky, were both consensual relationships.

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What does a woman do who loves a man who can't be faithful? She accepts it or leaves. What about when allegations surface that he's done something worse? Camille Cosby is standing by her man. Back in the early '90s, Mrs. Clinton infamously said to Steve Kroft on "60 Minutes," "I'm not sitting here some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette." Hillary continued, "I'm sitting here because I love him and I respect him."

Does her president husband, a much-beloved man around the world and in the Democratic party, campaigning as her top surrogate demand the Clintons address the past allegations? More importantly, does the resurrection of allegations against Hillary's husband disqualify her from trumpeting her signature slogan, "Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights," without looking like a hypocrite?

It depends on whether you believe a woman can police her husband's behavior.

Why does a woman stay with a man who cheats on her over and over again? When he's been accused of sexual assault, why would a woman stay?

It's the question I received most often from women when I was on the front lines of the 2008 Democratic election cycle. Religious faith and marriage vows don't cut it today because more and more young people see "faith" as spirituality that's unmoored from traditional religious rules. Marriage is a different institution today too because women have the money to leave, which changed everything.

Explaining the Clinton marriage in the modern era isn't easy.

Blaming Hillary because of what her husband did isn't fair.

For women looking on and considering the first woman president, as the cable airwaves and social media rehash the sordid sexual drama of an American marriage, it's a reminder of what it took for Hillary Clinton to make it out of the shadows of her husband. Who now represents part of a patriarchal system that used to treat women as second-class citizens.

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Taylor Marsh is a political writer and cultural voyeur. Her new novel, Below the Beltway, is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. Enter the Goodreads Book Giveaway to win a copy!
The following is part three of a three-part series on the recovery movement in North Carolina. You can read part one here and part two here.

Recovery is exciting, empowering, and essential. The movement that's happening nationwide attracts more support every day. 2016 truly could be a turning point for the recovery movement as momentum builds from 2015 and our country turns its attention towards the next presidential election. As important as the national recovery movement is, the most substantial work that can be done still falls to the local level.

North Carolina is one example of a state working collaboratively to address the addiction epidemic by putting a significant emphasis on recovery. In parts one and two of this series, I touched upon the implementation of collegiate recovery programs and the development of advocacy initiatives, respectively. In this concluding section, I'll aim to briefly focus on the strategy and sustainability efforts that enabled North Carolina to achieve such resounding success.

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Community members in North Carolina rally together this past September for their annual Recovery Month walk.

Jimmy Cioe is the Program Coordinator of Recovery Initiatives for the Governor's Institute on Substance Abuse. In his capacity at the Governor's Institute, he works to bring visibility to recovery while shifting the state toward a recovery oriented system. The Governor's Institute has produced some "Recovery Vignettes" of individuals sharing their stories, which are posted on YouTube here.

Jimmy is also a person in long-term recovery, celebrating 23 years today, January 7th. According to Jimmy's bio, "he became licensed in alcohol/drug treatment and, for the last nineteen years, has worked and managed virtually every aspect of the treatment continuum, including a city detox, outreach, case management services, outpatient treatment, in-patient, long-term residential treatment and intervention". Jimmy has traveled throughout the state of North Carolina providing recovery-messaging training along with the organization Recovery Communities of North Carolina (RCNC). As discussed in part two of this series, organizations like RCNC provide vital state-wide advocacy efforts to spread a message of recovery, develop key partnerships, and increase the overall access to recovery support services.

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Betty Currier, a Board Member of RCNC, has delivered many of these messaging trainings through RCNC and just celebrated 40 years of sobriety this past Wednesday, January 6th. Community members like Jimmy and Betty are integral parts to the recovery movement. We need faces and voices of recovery. We need individuals who can articulately and passionately talk about recovery. We need to hear the success stories. Most of all, the general public needs to know that we're here. The general public is our greatest enemy and our greatest ally. The perception of an 'addict' or 'alcoholic' is still a negative, stigmatized image for the majority of Americans, but that can change. By following the leads of individuals like Jimmy and Betty, or organizations like RCNC and the Governor's Institute, we begin to make long-lasting change in how our country views and treats addiction.

Chris Budnick, Chairperson of RCNC, has tracked data since 2012 that includes presentation details and statewide exposure. As recently as 2012 and 2013, RCNC had a total of thirteen presentations (which would include anything from rallies, trainings, or documentary screenings). In 2014 and 2015, RCNC had approximately 100 total presentations. The growth has been substantial, and the organization estimates that they have reached over 2,200 people this past year alone. Along with tracking data over the years, RCNC archives presentations such as their recovery messaging trainings on the Recovery NC YouTube channel.

There is no particular formula for developing a powerful recovery movement like we've seen in North Carolina. Outstanding supporters such as Betty, Jimmy, and Chris are crucial, but so are the average community members who just show up to town halls or movie screenings. Community organizations that can mobilize and engage individuals throughout the state are a huge asset, but so are small local chapters of larger organizations. Never underestimate how much of an impact you can have. Your story is meaningful, and your voice is powerful.

As the recovery movement enters a pivotal time and President Obama enters his last year in office, I urge everyone to follow the words of one of his most memorable quotes:

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** FILE ** Saudi Arabia's King Fahd right, talks with U. S. president Bill Clinton in this undated file photo. Saudi Arabia's King Fahd, who moved his country closer to the United States but ruled the world's largest oil producing nation in name only since suffering a stroke in 1995, died early Monday Aug. 1, 2005, the Saudi royal court said. He was said to be 84. (AP Photo/ Saudi Gazette)

At his first press conference after getting elected, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani singled out Saudi Arabia as the country his government would try particularly hard to build friendly relations with. He even referred to Saudis as Iran's "brothers."

Things didn't turn out quite as Rouhani had hoped. Middle Eastern geopolitics have changed dramatically since the mid-1990s, when Rouhani had helped engineer a Saudi-Iran rapprochement. The Iraq war had caused Saudi to lose both faith in American intentions and competence. The Arab Spring -- and what the Saudis viewed as the betrayal of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak by the U.S. -- convinced Riyadh that Washington would no longer uphold its promise to secure and protect pro-Western Arab dictators.

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Moreover, by refraining from using military force against Syrian President Bashar Assad, America had proved that its desire to avoid new wars in the Middle East superseded its hegemonic obligations to uphold security and stability in region. It looks to the Saudis like America has simply abandoned its ally.

The U.S.-led order for the region established in the 1990s was bound to collapse.

Moreover, Saudi oil has lost its lure. The U.S. has significantly increased its own oil production and reduced its dependence on Saudi oil. And as a result of the Iran nuclear deal -- which Saudi Arabia vehemently opposed -- Iranian oil will soon return to the world markets. Many states are planning to reduce their dependency on Saudi oil by shifting some of their consumption towards Iranian crude.

And then of course, Iran is no longer checked geopolitically by Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Add to that the lifting of sanctions on Iran -- which "may be days away" according to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry -- and it becomes clear why Riyadh fears that its geopolitical decline will be exacerbated by Iran's ascendancy.

Despite this dramatically altered geopolitical map, the Rouhani government did attempt to mend fences with Saudi Arabia. Rouhani appointed Admiral Ali Shamkhani as the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council -- Iran's equivalent of national security advisor. Shamkhani, who is ethnically Arab, received Saudi Arabia's highest medal in 2004, the Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud, for his efforts to improve relations with the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The thinking appears to have been -- at least in part -- that Shamkhani was the best suited official to orchestrate Iranian outreach to Saudi.

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American order was based on the exclusion of two of the region's most powerful states -- Iran and Iraq -- and could only be sustained as long as the U.S. was willing to pay for it through its own blood and treasure.

Furthermore, Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif declared his willingness to travel to Riyadh but didn't receive an invitation until King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud died in January 2015. Zarif attended the king's funeral but no Saudi official agreed to meet with him during his visit. Months earlier, Zarif did have a brief sit-down with the then-foreign minister in New York, the late Prince Saud al-Faisal, but in retrospect it is clear that very little was achieved.

Part of Iran's problem in dealing with Saudi Arabia is Riyadh's inherent sense of insecurity, rooted in its dependence on the U.S. and the outsourcing of its security to Washington. As Iranian academic Nasser Hadian points out, Saudi Arabia outspends Iran on arms by a factor of six. Its military has the most modern American weaponry. It is the key state in the Gulf Cooperation Council -- a body that was created to balance Iran's power.

Thus, Iran's power or military capabilities cannot explain Saudi Arabia's sense of insecurity. Rather, Hadian argues, Saudi's sense of vulnerability is inherent in the very political nature of the Saudi regime -- the fact that it is renting its security from the U.S. (which, incidentally, is increasingly reluctant to provide that protection). A tenant will never enjoy the same sense of security as a homeowner, so to say. This leaves Iran with limited options, as there is little Tehran can do to alleviate Saudi Arabia from this innate uncertainty, Hadian maintains.

Kerry discusses a long-term nuclear deal with Zarif at the U.N. April 27, 2015, in New York City. (Jason DeCrow-Pool/Getty Images)

What is the solution to the Saudi-Iranian conflict then? There are no obvious short-term solutions available. Rather, the first step must be to contain tensions and ensure that they don't spill over into other areas.

Second, there must be a recognition that the Middle East suffers from a diplomacy deficit. The limited diplomacy that exists must be strengthened. The recent Saudi-Iranian escalation cannot be permitted to collapse the existing diplomatic activity -- particularly not the Syrian negotiations.

While expectations on what the Syria talks can achieve must be tempered, the fact that all key outside players are at the table is an important achievement in and of itself. Neither the execution of a Shia cleric nor the sacking of an embassy -- however unacceptable -- can be permitted to scuttle the fragile Syria talks.

Part of Iran's problem in dealing with Saudi Arabia is Riyadh's inherent sense of insecurity, rooted in its outsourcing of its security to Washington.

Third, the rhetoric must cool down on both sides and the Rouhani government must ensure that the vigilantes torching the Saudi embassy are brought to trial and punished. Iran has a shameful history of failing to protect foreign embassies, and any failure to bring the perpetrators to justice will be perceived as a lack of sincerity in reducing tensions with Saudi Arabia.

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Fourth, the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council must pressure both sides to deescalate and, if possible, explore opportunities to mediate the conflict. Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit Iran and Saudi Arabia later this month. Mindful of the strong relations China enjoys with both of these Persian Gulf powerhouses and mindful of China's own interest in stability in the region, Beijing may be able to play a helpful role in defusing tensions.

In the long run, however, sustainable security can only be ensured if a new inclusive security architecture is established for the region. Any power that is excluded will develop an interest in undermining the region's security precisely because its interests are not respected. This is why the U.S.-led order for the region established in the 1990s was bound to collapse. It was based on the exclusion of two of the region's most powerful states -- Iran and Iraq -- and could only be sustained as long as the U.S. was willing to pay for it through its own blood and treasure.

It looks to the Saudis like America has simply abandoned its ally.

But until now, Saudi Arabia has sought to prevent Iran from being rehabilitated in the region's security structure. It opposed Iran's inclusion in the Syria talks, for instance, and only reluctantly agreed to partake after pressure from President Obama. Friends of Saudi Arabia need to intervene once more and convince Riyadh of the inevitable: Iran is part of the region; it is a major power and long-term stability necessitates its inclusion in any security order. The influence and privilege Saudi Arabia enjoyed under American order will no longer be the same -- because that order is no more.

Earlier on WorldPost:
Opinion / Columnist

The current dry spell being experienced in Zimbabwe and other southern African countries which is attributed to the Elnino effect will definitely act as a precipitant to a revolution in Zimbabwe the same way the cold weather and bad harvest did to the French revolution of 1789 that brought liberties and freedoms to the people of France, Europe and the world at large. Who said history will never repeat itself?For starters, natural disasters have a compelling effect on conservative people such as Zimbabweans who have deep-rooted beliefs that these occurrences spell of an impending doom or catastrophe triggered by the anger of the gods. For reference sake, the rinderpest and occurrence of droughts acted as catalyst for the First Chimurenga and by the same standard the consequences of this natural phenomenon will press a revolt button in the hearts of the relatively docile Zimbabweans. And it is the divine interpretations given to this phenomenon that edify the embers of revolution.From the very onset of his rule Mugabe has been clearing and cultivating a fertile ground for a revolution. A myriad of problems have being churned out one after the other from the Gukurahundi massacre, villagisation of the economy through populist policies such as the indigenisation and chaotic land reform least we talk of the extravagant spending of his second wife Grace who is now turning the entire state into her bedroom. Our youths have since time immemorial being turned into airtime vendors or touts. Industries are closing down at an alarming rate, the once vibrant economy has been turned into a "supermarket economy", there is glaring poverty in the countrysides whilst urban poverty has also become the order of the day. Whilst Zimbabwe is burning Mugabe and his extravagant and insensitive wife are wining and dining on holiday in Asia. The octogenarian and his wife have now become a liability to the country and are now synonymous of Louis xiv and queen Marie Antonette respectively. The infamous queen once retorted that if there is no bread on market let the people eat cake..the same with the disgraceful Grace who recently claimed that Mugabe is among the poorest in Zimbabwe whilst addressing the poverty-stricken people of Mberengwa in one of her wasteful and fiscus-draining rallies.The gods are not pleased with the privatization of the Madzimbabwe state by Mugabe and his cronies. The once vibrant jewel of Africa is now a basket case thanks to Mugabe's 36 year rule of unprecedented corruption and an artful act of mismanagement. Chaminuka, Nehanda and Umulugulu and the likes of Hebert Chitepo, Josiah Magama Tongogara and Alfred Nikita Mangena among other revolutionaries must be turning in their graves. Is this the Zimbabwe they all sacrificed their lives for? Surely, our departed heroes now want a democratic Zimbabwe where rule of law, freedom of expression and separation of powers are not only enshrined in a constitution but adhered to in an environment conducive to every Zimbabwean. SADC has been unwillingly to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis and the gods have also extended this bad omen to them.There is no doubt the biting effect of the Elnino is and will be felt across the breadth and length of Zimbabwe. To date even the so called drought resistant crops are wilting and the few pockets of water bodies are fast running dry. The revolutionary orgasm is fast getting pace, rural teachers took their grievances to the streets of Harare and the touts from Chaminuka's land turned Chitungwiza into a war zone. There is no vein of doubt that things are falling apart for Mugabe and his disgraceful dynasty that was once anchored on pillage of our natural resources, brute force and a subtle abuse of the history of the liberation struggle.It is no longer a fantasy but a pre-determined case for uncle Bob. Ask his lieutenant, Mr. Hotel Mboko on this subject he will surely agree that Elnino is not an western conspiracy but the gods are not happy that he is junior to Dis-Grace Mugabe hence this punishment. It's an abomination for a man with colorful liberation credentials such as his to be beholden to Mugabe's former pool typist.2016 is the year to untie this bondage of oppression. No amount of violence, corruption and patronage will stop the train of liberty whose driver is the Lord. It is God's time and l shudder to imagine Mugabe going against the tide this time around. In summation, let me drop this famous quote from the "one and only professor" in Zimbabwe who uses his academic acumen to sustain this oppressive system writing in 2005."Perennial wisdom from revelation and human experience dictates that all earthly things great or small, beauty or ugly, foolish or wise must finally come to an end. It is from this sobering reality that the end of executive rule has finally come for Robert Mugabe who had his better days after 25 years in power," the Croc buster.The MDC has been brutalized, the Zimbabweans at large cowed, the Western countries demonized but surely this Elnino effect will endure all sorts shenanigans thrown on its way by ZANU PF.Indeed, the end is nigh for Baba Chatunga if Zimbabweans take heed of this silent call for a revolution which mother nature has put forward.
LAS VEGAS, NV - DECEMBER 15: Republican presidential candidates (L-R) Ben Carson, Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz stand on stage during the CNN presidential debate at The Venetian Las Vegas on December 15, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Thirteen Republican presidential candidates are participating in the fifth set of Republican presidential debates. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

With presidential primaries and caucuses fast approaching, Republican voters should be asking themselves a few provocative questions about their front-runners and their Party.

Are conservatives in the United States so bereft of ideas that their only response to global climate change is to pretend it doesn't exist?

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Is the Republican Party so bereft of qualified candidates that it is preparing to nominate someone who believes that scientists, environmentalists and Mother Nature are engaged in a liberal plot?

Are Republicans so cavalier about their credibility that they will continue to allow their irrational wing to speak for the Party?

Is the Party so out of touch that it hasn't noticed its own voters prefer candidates who will confront climate change? Does it concern anyone that the views of the front-runners in the GOP nomination process have been discredited not only by science and the actual weather, but also by the entire international community?

These questions are worth asking because on an issue so vital to our safety and our future, the American people deserve a thoughtful debate between the two major political parties. Voters deserve it, but they are not getting it.

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Let's step back a moment and assess the situation. Climate change is no longer a scientific theory or a scenario cranked out by computer models. It is killing people and destroying property in the United States as well as worldwide.

It is not just another issue that shows up near the bottom of public concerns. It is a threshold issue in this election because it heavily impacts so many other things the American people consider important, from economic stability to public health and from federal spending to terrorism. Climate change is a far-reaching multi-tasking clear-and-present threat. Everything we do to reduce the risks of global warming also reduces the risks to many other critical parts of our lives.

Although how we deal with global warming is still a matter for discussion, the fact that we must do something is not. While U.S. negotiators were in Paris working on an international climate agreement last month, and while Republican leaders in Congress were working hard to undermine them, the weather caused more than $4 billion in economic losses and killed at least 64 Americans across the Midwest, Great Plains, Rocky Mountain, Southeast and Northeast regions of the country.

While presidential candidates were throwing their hats in the ring last year, the United States suffered 10 extreme weather and climate events that killed 155 people and caused damages of more than $1 billion per event. Last week, 2015 ended as the second-hottest year since people began measuring these things and the 19th year in a row that temperatures were higher than average.

The extreme weather in recent decades validates 30 years of research by the world's climate scientists. Yet leading Republicans in Congress and the presidential race remain loyal to the "denial industry" - the organized efforts by vested interests to discredit the science and prevent a government response.

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There are conservative options for confronting the risks and realities of climate change. Many of them could be preferable to and more effective than government regulations and other market interventions. The American people deserve to hear about them and to see them tested in thoughtful debate. Instead, we are hearing incredibly immature, ill-informed and even paranoid positions from the GOP's front-runners. For example:

When President Obama said that climate change is a more serious long-term threat than terrorism, Carly Fiorina called the president "delusional" and Donald Trump said it was one of the "dumbest things" ever said. In effect, Trump and Fiorina have declared that our most experienced military and intelligence officials don't know what they're talking about. Obama was merely echoing the experts' conclusions. It was not terrorists that just destroyed hundreds of homes along the Mississippi River, or set fire to the Pacific Coast last summer, or flash-flooded Texas and Oklahoma last May, killing more than 30.

Ted Cruz says climate change is an excuse that "power hungry politicians" are using to control the lives of the American people. But one of the principal complaints from conservatives - the EPA's attempt to regulate carbon pollution from power plants - is not a power grab. It is the result of Congress's failure to approve a more conservative market-based solution to climate-damaging emissions.

Marco Rubio warns that the "left wing government" is trying to "destroy our economy" -- a ridiculous argument on its face, but also part of the conservative gospel that switching from fossil fuels to clean energy will kill jobs. Experience is proving otherwise. For example, a study just issued by two national laboratories has found that the renewable energy requirements in 29 states and the District of Columbia supported nearly 200,000 jobs in 2013, contributed more than $20 billion to the GDP in those states and produced more than $5 billion in environmental and public health benefits.

Ben Carson has said that global warming is being used as "an excuse not to develop our God-given resources". But one of the principal ways to combat global warming is to use our God-given energy from sunlight, wind and plants. Not all natural resources are equal. It was either God, Mother Nature or both who wisely buried carbon deep underground eons ago. We have dug it up and burned it at the expense of other God-given natural resources. Forests, coral reefs and countless plant and animal species are among the resources dying as a result.

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So we come back to some of the more important curiosities of this campaign season: Why are rational Republicans allowing sophistry and stupidity to ruin their Party's credibility? Why does the Party persist in making climate change a Republican versus Democrat issue when it is actually a Far Right versus the rest of the country issue? Why should even that split exist?

Why are the Party's leading candidates for Congress and the White House so out of step with the voters within their own party? Where in this race are experienced and rational Republicans like Bob Inglis, Christie Todd Whitman, John Huntsman and Bill Reilly, or the Party's next-generation leaders like Jay Faison?
"I am moving towards a dark cave and a dark life in the shadow of a dark prison. This is a prison that does not know humanity and does not know except the language of power, oppression, and humiliation for whoever enters it.

It does not differentiate between the criminal and the innocent, and between the right or the sick or the elderly who is weak and is unable to bear and a man who is still bearing all this from the prison administration that is evil in mercy.

Hardship is the only language that is used here. Anybody who is able to die will be able to achieve happiness for himself; he has no other hope except that.

A world power [America] failed to safeguard peace and human rights and from saving me. I will do whatever I am able to do to rid myself of the imposed death on me at any moment in this prison."
STR via Getty Images Indian Bollywood film actors Amitabh Bachchan (R) and Aamir Khan attend the tenth anniversary celebration party of Hindi film 'Lagaan' in Mumbai on June 15, 2011. PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Aamir Khan was never the Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of Expression in India. One could argue that freedom of expression and tolerance are part of what makes Incredible India "incredible" but that was never the main objective of his role. It is the tourism ministrys prerogative to decide who it wants as a brand ambassador for Incredible India or mascot as tourism minister Mahesh Sharma rather quaintly put it, making Aamir Khan sound like Sheroo the lion. And its hardly incredible that given his recent sharply-worded remarks about tolerance in India, the ministry decided Aamir Khan was trying to be more sher than sheroo, and not the mascot they wanted.

But to present this as clinching proof of intolerance as Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha is doing is patently ludicrous. Aamir Khan might not take any money for his role but that does not mean the government has to be masochistic and appoint him as a brand ambassador for anything. This is a role that requires a bit of two-way goodwill between both parties and when that has run its course, its best to part ways gracefully. And the ten-year mark is as good a point of time to do that as any.

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Aamir Khan might not take any money for his role but that does not mean the government has to be masochistic and appoint him as a brand ambassador for anything.

Aamir Khan certainly showed plenty of grace when he said it had been an honour and a pleasure to be the Brand Ambassador for Incredible India for the past decade and that he was always available for service to his country and most importantly, whether I am brand ambassador or not, India will remain Incredible and thats the way it should be".

Thats the part most of us miss in the acrimonious debate about tolerance these days. Madhu Kishwar tweets that If Aamir Khan had a grain of integrity, he shd hv cancelled contract for Incredible India brand ambassadorship b4 he decided to demonize India.

Kiswhar thus falls into the same trap of equating India with a particular administration. Aamir, like many others, was expressing his qualms about certain incidents happening in India, incidents that worried him, incidents that the government was silent or lackadaisical about. His words might have been rather inelegantly phrased, his concerns might have been unwarranted or selective, but he was not demonising India just because he was speaking up. If those incidents and the governments attitude towards them were tarnishing the very idea of Incredible India, then more power to him for speaking up. He was the brand ambassador for Incredible India not Incredible NDA even though he serves at the pleasure of the government of India (and McCann Worldwide).

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Whats especially stupid about it all is how the government is bending over backwards to try and pretend that this has nothing to do with it.

Whats especially stupid about it all is how the government is bending over backwards to try and pretend that this has nothing to do with it. After Mahesh Sharma said Aamir was no longer the "mascot", his ministry took pains to emphasize its contract was with McCann anyway and the ministry had nothing to do with Aamir directly. Ministry has not hired Aamir It was the agency that hired him, said Sharma trying very firmly to put several degrees of separation between him and Aamir. That was hogwash as well as if McCann would have selected someone the then-government did not like for a Rs 2.69 crore contract with the government. And it does not answer the hypothetical question about whether the government would have continued with Aamir if he had not been so stingingly critical.

In a way this hullabaloo diminishes and trivializes the real debate about tolerance in the country, one that sprang into sharp focus at the opening of the Hyderabad Literature Festival this week when author Nayantara Sahgal and chief guest Governor E S L Narasimhan butted heads about tolerance at the opening ceremony of the festival. Sahgal excoriated the failure of the state to safeguard Indias diversity.

Narasimhan ditched his pre-written speech and said freedom is a universal right but dissent is a subjective matter, accused the civil society of having double standards and exhorted Indian children to learn their culture. Media reports described the governor as incensed but that at least sounds more like a real debate about ideas than this one involving Aamir Khan and Atithi devo bhava.

Anyway theres really no need to find a celebrity to be the next brand ambassador for Incredible India. India already has one. Whatever he might be doing or not doing at home, our globetrotting Prime Minister Narendra Modi certainly seems at his happiest and most comfortable playing brand ambassador for Incredible India abroad.

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Why bother with actors like Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan when the PM himself has assumed that role in real life? PM clearly brand ambassador bhava whether or not Atithi Devo Bhava.

Contact HuffPost India

Also see on HuffPost:
Courtesy Kahwa Entertainment

Some followers of Indian independent and regional cinema may be more familiar with Bikas Ranjan Mishras now-on-hiatus website DearCinema.com than the man himself. The portal, which doggedly covered the film stories usually ignored by the mainstream media, ran out of funds and shut shop  temporarily, he says  about a year ago.

Now, his readers as well as lovers of offbeat cinema will get a chance to see Mishras love for the medium via another labour of love. His directorial debut Chauranga arrives in theatres across the country today after a successful run at various international film festivals. In November 2014, it had won the top prize for Indian films at the 16th Mumbai Film Festival, the Golden Gateway Of India Award (India Gold), beating out the much-praised Marathi feature Killa. Later, in April 2015, it won the Grand Jury Prize (Best Feature) at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.

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An uncompromising film about caste and sexual oppression in a small village in the Chhota Nagpur region of Jhardkhand, Chauranga has taken six years to go from an idea to a full-fledged feature that has been partly crowd-funded and partly funded by a number of entities. These include filmmaker Onir (whose company Anticlock Films is a co-producer), actor Sanjay Suri (who also plays one of its leads), filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh, the government-run National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), and others. Aside from that, it has also received cash grants from Swedens Goteborg Film Festival as well as the NFDCs annual Film Bazaar, by way of an award for best project in the co-production market.

Many players, clearly, have placed their faiths in Mishras first ever feature-length film, which is entirely in an eastern dialect called Khortha that borrows from Hindi, Bengali, and Oriya. Chauranga largely follows brothers Santu and Bajrangi (Soham Maitra, its protagonist, and Riddhi Sen), belonging to a low caste, who rear pigs with their mother Dhaniya (Tannishtha Chatterjee); it examines their relationship with the family headed by the cruel village alpha-land-owner Dhaval (Suri) and his daughter Mona (Bengali TV actress Ena Saha), who also happens to be the object of Santus affections. Several criss-crossing story threads strive to highlight the realities of caste hierarchies in rural India, the ever-pervasive threat of violence, and the repressed sexuality that is also often hypocritical in its nature.

It's not a demonstrative film about the caste system," said Mishra, in a phone conversation with HuffPost India earlier this week. It's the story of a boy, in which caste plays a huge role in his journey.

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Sanjay Suri, in a still from 'Chaurangaa'

Tannishtha Chatterjee, in a still from 'Chaurangaa'

The 35-year-old drew from his own childhood experiences for the film. The son of a lawyer, his childhood was spent in Hazaribagh, a small town in Jharkhand. There, his father would take him often to one of the oldest cinemas in town, owned by a client. When I was there, the caste system was very noticeable in everyday life, he said. But in recent years, Ive noticed one thing: there are no drummers in the village anymore, which would usually be men from the lower castes. The newer generations are trying to move away and find newer opportunities, either there or in cities, and moving away from the hierarchy.

In his teens, Mishras family moved to the states famed steel-town, Jamshedpur. You could say it was a cinema-literate town, he said. Thats where my fascination with films really began. The late 90s saw Bollywood break away from formula with films such as Satya (1998), Dil Se (1998), and Kaun (1999). They released in theatres there to long queues and full houses, remembers Mishra. As a member of a local film society called Celluloid Chapter, he spent his spare time devouring films by renowned filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard and Andrei Tarkovsky at frequently-held retrospectives and a bi-annual film festival.

His introduction to the world of filmmaking was through a one-day workshop conducted by filmmaker Imtiaz Ali. It was the late 90s and Ali wasnt a known name yet. He would also get opportunities to interact with Bengali filmmakers such as Mrinal Sen and Rituparno Ghosh, who would travel there for the film societys events.

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This continued when he graduated college with a degree in mass communication, and headed to Delhi to do a masters at Jamia Milia Islamia. By then, video cassettes and later DVDs had made it very easy to watch a lot of films; plus, I was also meeting a lot of critics and historians, he said.

Mishra (right), during the shoot of 'Chauranga'

Having decided to become a filmmaker, he took up a job as a producer at a business channel to be able to move to Mumbai. For four years, he worked on shows that dealt with personal finance and white-collar crimes. Around the same time that the wildly popular film blog Passion For Cinema (defunct for many years) came up, he quit his job to start DearCinema.com and gave up smoking to save money so he could fund his passion project.

DearCinema was about bringing in learned assessment and writing from professionals who really knew what they were talking about, he said. Noted film journalists and critics associated with FIPRESCI wrote for the website for free, while a rag-tag staff worked for very little money.

Over the years, Mishra worked on getting Chauranga made while running the website, which enjoyed a small-but-regular following, and freelancing for various publications as a cinema writer. Meanwhile, he continues to work as an independent screen-writer (he has penned a Marathi indie coming out later this year).

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Presently, he is simply looking forward to completing this final leg of the films journey. This is the most important time, because its when the imaginary world in which you made the film meets the real world. He hopes to make his next film a political satire which wont be quite as grim as his debut. One thing Ive realised is that just because I am angry about something, it doesnt mean it needs to show in my film.

Chauranga has released with English subtitles in select theatres across India.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Guns of killed policemen lie on the spot after suspected Maoist rebels detonated a roadside bomb near Tandwa village, in Aurangabad district, Bihar state, India, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. Six police officers and their driver who were patrolling in a vehicle died instantly in the blast, police said. The rebels have been fighting the government for more than four decades, demanding land and jobs for tenant farmers and the poor. (AP Photo)

PATNA -- Five Maoists have been killed in an encounter with the elite commando unit of the CRPF after a fierce gun battle in the jungles of Aurangabad district of Bihar.

Officials said the encounter began late Friday evening in the Dibhara area of the district after which five bodies of the Maoists, an A-K series assault rifle, one carbine, a country-made gun and some other ammunition have been recovered from the spot.

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As darkness has set in the jungle area, the troops are taking time to sanitise the area and provide further details of the encounter. The CoBRA team was out for operation based on some inputs about the movement of armed Maoist cadres in the area, they said.

They said the operation was conducted by the troops of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) unit of the CRPF which has been raised by the force exclusively for jungle warfare operations.

A commando of the 205th battalion of the CoBRA has been injured in the encounter, they said, adding the forces are still combing the area for further recoveries.

The CoBRA and other regular CRPF units are deployed in these areas of Bihar for undertaking anti-Naxal operations.

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Foundation_Building" data-caption="NY Landmarks Preservation plaque for Ford Foundation Building, 320 East 43rd Street, New York, NY en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Foundation_Building" data-credit="D_M_D/Flickr">

The frosty relations between the US-based Ford Foundation and the Modi government are showing signs of thawing. The foundation - which had irked the government for having donated huge sums of money to Modi critic Teesta Setalvad's NGO - will now be off the 'prior permission' list.

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The 'prior approval' list comprises a group of organisations under government scanner for alleged 'anti-India' activities. As a result, every time these organisations - mostly headquartered outside the country - transfer money to an Indian account, they have to seek the permission of the home ministry. Before the BJP government decided to crack down on these NGOs and funding organisations last year, they could transfer money directly to the recipients in India as long as they were following the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act (FCRA).

Ford Foundation, on its part, froze all the donations and fundings that they were slated to make to several NGOs and individuals in India for developmental work. Investigating the aftermath of the fall-out, Reuters reported in 2015, "Among NGOs hit by the Ford Foundation's funding freeze is the Joint Women's Programme, which campaigns for the empowerment of women and children. Last year, Ford Foundation accounts show it gave $30,000 to the NGO, run by a 77-year-old retired professor of English, that helped set up a computer training centre and hire three teachers for 160 children in a slum near Delhi. This year the NGO was due another tranche that has not come through, so it halved the number of children it looks after and can no longer afford to provide kids with fruit and milk."

According to various reports, Ford Foundation has pumped in funding worth at least $500 million in India since it opened its India office in 1952. After it stopped the funding process, a spokesperson told Reuters, "We don't want to move ahead until the time we are clear about the rules and nothing we do is viewed as illegal."

While the real reason behind the the government softening its stance on Ford Foundation is still unclear, according to a report on The Economic Times, the organisation still has to inform the MHA while receiving donations from foreign donors, though it doesn't have to seek its permission.

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ET reports: "Ford Foundation has been allowed by government to operate in India under Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema), and therefore the ministerial watchdog will be finance ministry. Other NGOs operate under the ambit of the Foreign Contribution Registration Act (FCRA) and the ministerial watchdog is the home ministry."

The foundation had drawn government ire after it made a $250,000 grant to Teesta Setalvad's NGO. Alongside clamping down on Ford Foundation, a CBI inquiry was also instituted against Setalvad on allegations that she has embezzled the said funds to her NGOs -- Citizens for Justice and Peace and Sabrang Trust. Her house was raided and an attempt to arrest her was made but a Supreme Court order came in the way.

The Hindu reports that the Ford Foundation decided to comply to the government's demand to register itself under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999. Registering itself under FEMA will allow the organisation to receive funding from foreign sources in its accounts.

"The Ford Foundation, which has been operating in India since 1952, was not registered either as an NGO or under any other category like the Indian Society Act till now," the report says. An unnamed government official said the organisation will be taken off the 'prior approval' list 'soon'.

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STRDEL via Getty Images Indian actor Gajendra Chauhan attends the cremation ceremony of late veteran Bollywood actor A.K. Hangal in Mumbai on August 26, 2012. Bollywood veteran and favourite character actor A.K. Hangal, dubbed the 'grand old man' of Hindi cinema for his elderly roles, died on August 26 aged 95. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read STRDEL/AFP/GettyImages)

PUNE -- Amidst protests and lathicharge on students, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) chairman Gajendra Chauhan on Thursday said that he is willing to address the demands of protesting students.

"I really wanted to meet the students of the institute. I am willing to talk to protesting students any time and listen to their grievances," Chauhan told reporters here.

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When asked to respond on the protesting students, Chauhan said, "Staging a protest is someone's democratic right, taking action on them is not under our jurisdictions, it is for police to look into the matter."

"I came here to fulfill my responsibilities and the meeting has been very fruitful and it has been conducted with lot of positive attitude," he said.

"The most prominent part of the meetings was that the decisions were taken unanimously without any opposition," he added.

The newly appointed Chairman outlined that the governing council was committed to the Union Government's vision of transforming FTII into a national institute of excellence.

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Chauhan, who had a forgettable outing on first day as FTII chairman, saw 40 of the agitating students allegedly manhandled and detained by the Pune police.

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The India Today Group via Getty Images MUMBAI, INDIA JANUARY 27: Shahrukh Khan at Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Padma Shri honour celebrations in Mumbai.(Photo by Milind Shelte/India Today Group/Getty Images)

MUMBAI -- Reports that the Mumbai Police has downgraded security of around 40 Bollywood celebrities after an annual assessment of threat perception, has been denied by them, according to fresh inputs.

Actors Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra were among those whose security had allegedly been downgraded.

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Security of 40 Bollywood personalities including Shahrukh Khan,Aamir Khan and Vidhu Vinod Chopra downgraded or withdrawn by Mumbai Police  ANI (@ANI_news) January 8, 2016

Now, according to fresh reports, Mumbai police has declined any such rumour saying that there is no downscaling of existing personal security provided to these film personalities.

There is no downscaling of existing personal security provided to film personalities: Mumbai Police  ANI (@ANI_news) January 8, 2016

The Mumbai Police had earlier said that there was nothing new in upgrading or downgrading personal security of prominent personalities, as it was a routine practice to analyse threat perception and review it accordingly.

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Creatas via Getty Images Handcuffs

NEW DELHI -- Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested the founder of PACL Ltd over allegations the property company cheated investors of $6.8 billion, in what local media is calling the country's biggest financial scandal.

The arrest of Nirmal Singh Bhangoo comes 17 months after markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) ordered PACL to return money to millions of investors, saying the company was running an illegal investment scheme.

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The scheme promised depositors returns on investments in agricultural land, the regulator said.

PACL has argued it was selling land to customers and not investment schemes, and so was not subject to SEBI's regulations.

Reuters did not get any response to phone calls to PACL's head office in New Delhi on Friday.

PACL founder Bhangoo and three other company officials were arrested on Friday as part of the ongoing investigation into allegations of criminal conspiracy and cheating, said R.K. Gaur, a spokesman for India's Central Bureau of Investigation.

The case involves alleged collection of about 450 billion rupees ($6.8 billion) from roughly 55 million investors across the country, Gaur said, terming it a "Ponzi scheme case".

Indian regulators have stepped up scrutiny of unregistered investment products over the past two years, plugging regulatory loopholes that had long allowed unregulated entities to raise billions of dollars from small investors. Many people ended up losing their life savings in these schemes.

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The founder of conglomerate Sahara India has spent the last 21 months in jail for not complying with a court order to return $5.4 billion to investors who put money in a 2008-11 time deposit plan that was later ruled illegal.

Sahara's business empire includes overseas hotels such as the New York Plaza and a Formula 1 racing team.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS ** FILE ** Maulana Masood Azhar, the imprisoned leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, or Army of Mohammed, which was outlawed by Pakistan's government and declared terrorist group by the U.S. government, waves from a police van at the High Court in Lahore in this March 22, 2002 file photo. An appeals court in Lahore Saturday, Dec. 14, 2002 ordered the head of one of the country's main Islamic militant groups released from house arrest, adding to a growing list of radicals freed in recent months. (AP Photo/str, File)

Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad, and his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, have been identified by Indian security officials as two of the four people who were acting as the handlers for the terrorists who attacked a heavily-guarded air force base in Punjab's Pathankot, 25 km from India's border with Pakistan.

Incidentally, Azhar is also the mastermind behind the IC-814 hijack case. An Indian Airlines Flight en route from Kathmandu in Nepal to New Delhi on 24 December 1999 was hijacked by the terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The hijackers forced the aircraft to land in Kandahar, Afghanistan and demanded that three militants -- Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Azhar be released from prison. The eight-day crisis ended after the release of the three hardcore militants, including Azhar, in exchange for the freedom of passengers and crew members who were held hostage

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Security agencies claimed to have found evidence that the conspiracy was hatched near Lahore, a top government source told PTI.

Yesterday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup was cautious in his response to reporters about the fate of the Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan in Islamabad on January 15. He did not rule out India's participation, but he said that New Delhi would keenly observe whether Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif holds good on his promise of "prompt and decisive" action.

Swarup said that Islamabad had eight days to act on actionable intelligence provided by New Delhi before the Indo-Pak talks. "The ball is in Pakistan's court," said Swraup. "The immediate issue is Pakistan's response."

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Indian agencies identified Azhar, Rauf, Ashfaq and Kashim, PTI reported. Asked as to what action India wants Pakistan to take against these four, sources told PTI they have to be arrested and handed to New Delhi so that they could be questioned in the ongoing investigation.

Security agencies are also looking for a connection between the strike at the Indian consulate in Afghanistan last week and the Pathankot attacks. Terrorists who attacked the consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif allegedly left a graffiti on the wall written in their own blood stating that theyve avenged the death of Afzal Guru, who was hanged in 2013 for planning the 13 December, 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament. Guru had possible links to Jaish-e-Mohammed that intelligence services believe is responsible for the deadly attack on Pathankot.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had recently said there are indications that some of the materials used by the terrorists were made in Pakistan.

Six terrorists, who had sneaked into the country from Indo-Pak border in Pakistan, had attacked Indian Air Force base in Pathankot during the intervening night of January 1 and 2. They were killed during a counter-operation by Indian forces that lasted for about three days in which seven security personnel lost their lives.

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An NIA team visited several spots and continued to question several eyewitnesses including senior police officers. There was a possibility that some of the eyewitnesses could be brought to Delhi for some scientific tests including polygraph test (lie detector test).

As it recorded the statements of Superintendent of Police-rank officer Salwinder Singh and two others who were kidnapped by the terrorists, the NIA team visited the border village where the terrorists could have possibly entered and spoke to the villagers and BSF personnel.

A team of NIA, central agency created after Mumbai attack to probe terror-related cases, quizzed Salwinder Singh in Pathankot which showed there were some discrepancies in his statement which was being looked into.

The agency had taken Singh to the places he had visited before he, along with his jeweller friend Rajesh Kumar Verma and cook Madan Gopal, was kidnapped. Singh, who is facing charges of alleged breach of discipline and was transferred recently as Assistant Commandant of 75th battalion of Punjab Armed Police, had claimed that he was returning from a temple at 11 PM when terrorists kidnapped him.

The NIA also recorded the statement of caretaker of the shrine who is believed to have told him that Madan Gopal and Verma had come during day time on December 31 only to return in the evening.

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The NIA plans to question Verma and Gopal again as there were some discrepancies in the account of the kidnapping incident that preceded last Saturday's terror attack at Pathankot air force base given by all the three.

(Inputs from PTI)

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Opinion / Columnist

The cynical phrase "Vote early . and vote often!" is often attributed to Al Capone a USA, Chicago Mafia gangster notorious being corrupt and unashamed vote rigging schemes to manipulate the democratic process.Zimbabweans know all about rigged elections, you would think, after all 36 year after independence the nation is yet to hold free, fair and credible elections. There is one critical difference between vote rigging by Al Capone Mafia on the one hand and by President Mugabe's regime on the other; the former is organized criminals against State machinery whereas the latter is State Institutionalized vote rigging against the individual.Al Capone's vote rigging schemes could add 5% maximum 10% of the votes and in a tight race that could make all the difference between losing and winning. In Mugabe's Zimbabwe it is impossible to win because he controls every aspect of the voting process each with a potential to produce a 50% to 95% swing vote in his favour!In 2008 Mugabe demonstrate that notion that it does not matter how the voting goes on the day it is controlling those doing the counting that matters. In the March 2008 vote count done at each polling station Tsvangirai had 67% to 73% lead to President Mugabe's less than 30%. It was agreed that the final vote count was to be done in Harare. When the official count was finally concluded however, after five weeks, Tsvangirai's vote had dropped to 46% hence the need for a run-off.In the 2013 election Zanu PF demonstrated there was another tool in the regime's vote rigging kit. Just two days before the elections the regime announced the number of Polling Stations had been increased from 2 000 to 9 000, a four and half fold increase in the number of Polling Stations. On polling day election observers came across Polling Station manned by Zanu PF officials only with no ZEC or opposition officials.During the 2008 presidential run-off elections Zanu PF demonstrated a more sinister and lethal vote rigging tactic; wanton violence which included harassment, beatings, rape and even murder. The country had always had problems of politically motivated violence with those in authority like the Police turning a blind eye to it if the violence was by the ruling party operatives. The opposition supporters accused of causing any disturbance were always made to feel the full force of the law. Indeed sometimes the opposition supporters were arrested even though they were the victims.In 2008 there was a truly more sinister and barbaric dimension in that State Security operative like the Police, CIO and Soldiers were actively involved in the planning and execution of the wanton violence against the opposition and the public at large. For the next four months the State "declared war" on the people as opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai described it when he announced his forced withdrawal from the race.What 2008 demonstrated beyond all doubt is that an election pitting a State sponsored vote rigging machinery is simply unbeatable.SADC refused to recognized President Mugabe's presidential election run-off victory and forced him to sign the 2008 GPA agreeing to the implementation of a number democratic reforms designed to restore State Institutions' independence and impartiality in ensuring elections are free, fair and credible.Sadly the opposition MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai, tasked to implement the reforms, failed to get even one reform implement at the end of the five years of the GNU. SADC's advice to MDC was not to take part in the elections until all the reforms were implemented but MDC paid no heed.Mugabe went on to rig the July 2013 elections running an elaborate vote rigging scheme involving paying an Israeli company NIKUV to corrupt the voters roll, bribing officials, bussing a few supporters to rallies and then later to one Polling Station after another casting multiple votes at each, etc. President Mugabe did not use violence still the scheme costed billions of dollars and bankrupted the nation in the process.Many people are arguing that Zanu PF should be pressure to accept the implementation of the GPA reforms to ensure the next elections, due in July 2018, are free, fair and credible.Few people would dispute that free, fair and credible elections are a basic human right and not a privilege to be given to some or denied to others at the whim of whomever. The government of the day has a statutory duty to the people to ensure the people enjoy this very important and crucial right.The right to free, fair and credible election is the key requirement in whether the nation has a good and competent government or a corrupt and oppressive one. It all hinges on the regime being accountable to the people or not and the ability of the people to change the regime in a free and democratic vote is the ultimate expression of people's power over those in power."What if there are no reforms by 2018?" asked Vince Musewe in his recent article. It is a legitimate question and it deserves a serious answer.If that was to happen then the opposition must not take part in an electoral process everyone knows they will never win. SADC's advice to the opposition before the July 2013 elections was not to take part; it was sound advice then and it is sound advice now. This advice becomes even more ominous when the possibility of Zanu PF resorting to wanton violence cannot be discounted.The attitude of some opposition politicians of considering the acts of violence including murder of the innocent as "patriot blood watering the tree of liberty" is totally irresponsible and unacceptable.Even if the regime resist all peaceful efforts to force it to accept democratic reforms it should be noted that the country's economic chaos will not go away since the nation will still have the same corrupt and incompetent system of government. In other words the nation will still have to deal with this issue of ending the present corrupt and oppressive system of government.Vince Musewe is therefore asking the wrong and misleading question. The right question should be "After 36 years of denying people their right to a free vote, a pre-requisite for good governance; how much suffering does are we to endure before every Zimbabwean is granted this right and the nation has good governance?"Zimbabwe is in this hell-on-earth because for the last 36 years we have failed to formulate a system of government in which the rulers are democratic accountable to the ruled; we are not getting out of this hell until we have such a system of government. And the only sure way of creating a democratic system of government is by implementing the GPA reforms, all of them!
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images LAHORE, PAKISTAN - DECEMBER 25: Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif (R) welcomes Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) at Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore, Pakistan on December 25, 2015. (Photo by Indian Press Information office/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered a probe into the leads provided by India about the Pathankot airbase attack, a media report said on Friday.

He chaired a high-level meeting on Thursday and discussed the attack on the Indian airbase, The Nation reported.

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The prime minister and his aides agreed to launch investigations into the evidence provided by India, it said.

A senior official said the leads provided by India were handed over to Intelligence Bureau chief Aftab Sultan for further action.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Sharif said Pakistan was ready to boost cooperation with neighbouring India as part of counterterrorism efforts.

Sharif directed National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua to remain in contact with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in a bid to keep renewed dialogue on track after the attack on Pathankot air base.

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Another official said the information provided by India was "not enough" as it was just limited to telephone numbers and Pakistan might ask for additional information.

"We would like to have solid information to build a case for action otherwise courts intervene and the suspects will be bailed out," he added.

He said the meeting agreed that strong action would be taken after probe against anyone found guilty of involvement in the attack.

The official said that the meeting also decided to speed up implementation of National Action Plan.

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STR via Getty Images Family members and relatives mourn on the arrival of the mortal remains of thirty-four-year-old lieutenant colonel Niranjan Kumar, who died while defusing a grenade at the scene of a terror attack in Pathankot, at his residence in Bangalore on January 4, 2016. Indian troops backed by helicopters searched an air force base January 4, after a weekend of fierce fighting with suspected Islamic insurgents in which seven soldiers and at least four attackers were killed. AFP PHOTO / AFP / STR (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

A scathing newspaper editorial that cautioned against canonising soldiers killed in the line of duty, after a bomb squad officer lost his life following a stand-off with terrorists at a highly fortified Air Force base in Pathankot, has infuriated many Indians who hailed the slain men as martyrs.

In a column titled 'Martyr's rites', republished online under the header 'An officer like Lt Col Niranjan should be taken to task even after his death', The Telegraph asked the prickly question: Does Niranjan deserve to be honoured? The unsigned editorial argued that lieutenant colonel Niranjan went into the operation without following required safeguards and endangered the lives of his colleagues.

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It went on to say that the officer's 'bravado' or 'stupidity' not only cost him his life but also caused injuries to others.

"The death of E.K. Niranjan, a lieutenant colonel in the Indian army, during the operation in Pathankot is a case in point. He is the only officer to have died in the operation. Niranjan was the head of the bomb squad, but during the combing operation to clear the area of explosives, he was not wearing a blast-shield uniform. He fell victim to a simple booby trap planted by the terrorists. Niranjan also chose not to use specialized equipment like remote-controlled robots to move a dead body. Owing to this act of bravado, or stupidity, he lost his own life and had five of the soldiers with him seriously injured. Yet the last rites of Niranjan were performed with full State honours, with thousands paying their respects to him. No one is asking the question: does he deserve to be honoured?"

It has set off furious reactions in a country that holds its armed force personnel in high esteem. The seven men who died during the operation were laid to rest with full military honours.

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"The question transgresses the customary injunction regarding not speaking ill of the dead. But the transgression is urgently required because it opens up a line of enquiry, seldom pursued, concerning the falling standards of discipline and security in the Indian army," the editorial stated.

It alleged Niranjan, as the head of the bomb disposal squad, was not wearing a blast-shield uniform and fell victim to "a simple booby trap planted by the terrorists". "He also chose not to use specialized equipment like remote-controlled robots to move a dead body", it claimed.

The editorial has opened a floodgate of emotional tweets from people who accused the publication of being "insensitive" and "atrocious" and started a debate among a section of readers on whether soldiers -- even those killed on duty -- should be made accountable.

WHAT A PASS? SOME INDIANS EVEN THINK AND WRITE LIKE THIS. HIGHLY CONDEMNABLE - Martyr's rites: https://t.co/5WD1my8MSV  Fauji Magazine (@faujimagazine) January 8, 2016

Purely atrocious piece. Sacrifice is Sacrifice. Apology is a must to the family and this Nation. Martyr's rites: https://t.co/WNwdhixq5H  Lavanya Panwar Menon (@Panwar_Menon) January 8, 2016

Martyr's rites: https://t.co/gbOJuReEgU The report is insensitive and demoralizing for the nationalist Indians  V K MISHRA (@vkmishra1957) January 7, 2016

An army veteran wrote a response to the editorial pointing out that as per regulations, Niranjan's death was a battle casualty, an accident in an operational area, and he is entitled to the honour he was bestowed after death.

"To be killed by a bullet or the vagaries of nature is inconsequential when the task at hand is operational. A soldier falling down a gorge while patrolling in a counter-insurgency operation or an officer dying of cardiac arrest while deployed in one of the coldest battlefields or dying of a snakebite in a trench on the border, are all battle casualties, even as per regulations," wrote Navdeep Singh, a former military reservist.

My response to what I thought was a tastelessly cynical piece in 'The Telegraph' on a Colonel's death in Pathankot: https://t.co/lcTA0cw8bT  Navdeep Singh (@SinghNavdeep) January 7, 2016

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"The Delhi High Court, in 2013, also reiterated that all personnel who are present in operational areas and whose aid and assistance is essential and perhaps crucial for success and those who imperil themselves, directly or indirectly, and are in the line of fire during the operations, would be covered under the category of battle casualty. In any case, for the gallant ones, the line between fearlessness and stupidity, as the editorial puts it, is pretty thin and breachable, and it is all very well to comment on it while writing a piece on a laptop in ones room."

Singh drew attention to the harsh ground realities that soldiers face in operations without directly countering the paper's allegations that Niranjan was negligent.

His response triggered some strong reactions, most in support of his article.

@vaisloorkar Oh no :) everybody has a right to his/her opinion and we have a right to write back. Democracy. Freedom of Expression.   Navdeep Singh (@SinghNavdeep) January 7, 2016

@SinghNavdeep excellent rebuttal.could u not have dwelled more on what was lacking in bomb disposal -viz.robots.Col. worked without it.  krishnaswamy (@Sheks65) January 8, 2016

@SinghNavdeep Rough language for an editorial. Fail to see how it passed muster. @GulPanag  Man Aman Chhina (@manaman_chhina) January 7, 2016

@SinghNavdeep@GulPanag Derogatory remarks about martyrs r in v bad taste.Strict action should b taken against the writers of the piece.  navneet gill (@seerat2624) January 7, 2016

The attacks came even as an impromptu visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistan to wish his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday was being seen as a thaw in the frigid relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

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Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - JANUARY 7: Assam rifles battalion rehearse for the Republic Day Parade on a foggy winter morning at Rajpath on January 7, 2016 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Arvind Yadav/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

In a first, French soldiers will march down the Rajpath on Republic Day along with Indian troops in the presence of President Francois Hollande who is the chief guest for this year's celebrations.

Government sources said that a contingent of French soldiers would be participating in the Republic Day celebrations.

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This is a the first time when a foreign army would be marching down the Rajpath along with Indian troops as part of the Republic Day celebrations.

Incidentally, a French contingent comprising 56 personnel of 35th Infantry Regiment of 7th Armoured Brigade is already in the country to take part in a joint exercise which began in Rajasthan today.

Some soldiers will also fly down from France to form a proper marching contingent, the sources said.

The French soldiers are taking part in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency joint exercise called 'Shakti 2016'.

The 35th Infantry Regiment's origin dates back to its raising in 1604 at Lorraine, France.

The regiment has as many as 12 battle honours to its credit. The battalion has varied combat experiences, having served in Algeria, Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan, amongst other places.

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The India Today Group via Getty Images MUMBAI, INDIA DECEMBER 21: Actor Sanjay Dutt was recently released on parole after he cited wife Maanyata's ill-health.(Photo by Milind Shelte/India Today Group/Getty Images)

MUMBAI -- A petition filed in the Bombay High Court today sought to restrain Maharashtra government from releasing Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, sentenced to five years in jail in the 1993 bomb blasts case, before the end of his prison term.

The government has allowed remission of the actor's sentence by 18 months.

Pradeep Bhalekar, the petitioner, alleges that Dutt is getting a favour and there are 27,740 others prisoners in the state who deserve to be released on the same ground.

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The petition would come up for hearing next week, he told .

The petition also levels an allegation against a senior prison official that he favoured Dutt and demands an inquiry into the official's assets.

According to the state home department, Dutt will walk free on February 27. His jail term was reduced by 18 months on account of his good behaviour and work done by him in prison.

The actor has spent three and half years in jail, including the period spent as an undertrial.

Dutt was convicted for illegal possession of an automatic assault rifle, a part of cache of arms and ammunition that landed ahead of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts in which 257 people were killed.

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Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - DECEMBER 4: (Editor's Note: This is an exclusive shoot of Hindustan Times) NCP MP Supriya Sule during a session on the day 1 of Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on December 4, 2015 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Gurinder Osan/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Indian lawmakers shooting themselves on the foot can never be passe  especially when they appear completely unaware of the consequences of their statements. One such recent example is that of Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule, who reportedly told a group of young women students in Maharashtra's Nashik district on Thursday.

"If you saw me talking to an MP from Chennai you might think we having a big discussion on the Chennai rains," said the 46-year-old MP. "We don't discuss anything like that. 'Where did you get your sari from, where did I get my sari from.' We gossip all this. Don't you gossip in the same way?"

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She apparently claimed during the same speech that male Members of the Parliament tease her that if there is 50 percent reservation for women, discussions in the Parliament would only revolve around parlours, facials and sarees.

"I told them you comment on our sarees but you'll have done no good for the country. So there is no harm in giving a chance to us," she said.

Worse, Sule, who is the daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, told the audience in apparent light-hearted banter that speeches are regularly repeated in the Parliament and she loses interest by the time the fourth speaker has the podium, and that she "really can't remember anything" he or she says.

While she received several rounds of applause from her audience, her statement has racked up controversy, and the Indian public is not pleased.

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Supriya Sule But, we think it is a curse to India that it had leaders like u. But one day everything will be absolutely alright. U must see.  D.I.B. (@Dib_Speaks) January 8, 2016

This type MP we send to Parliament #SupriyaSule  JAYARAJ MATHEWS (@jayarajmathews) January 8, 2016

Most of the time Parliament does not function - when it does, men watch videos/sleep & women gossip about sarees....https://t.co/I2beiWvddv  vC (@vijucherian) January 8, 2016

As expected, the criticism soon turned to her being Pawar's daughter.

Of course Supriya Sule has to talk about saris in Parliament. What else can she talk about, her father's career as an honest politician?  lindsay pereira (@lindsaypereira) January 8, 2016

#SupriyaSule This is wt happens wn Bimbos becum MPs thanx to Daddy Dear!!  RDB (@DharRenuka) January 8, 2016

Even if Sule meant her comments as a joke, Indian voters didn't see the humour.

.@supriya_sule revealed MPs gossip abt sarees in Parl. IS THIS A CONSPIRACY BY PARAG SAREES TO SELL MORE SAREE MEIN SAREE? #notfunnySupriya  ORNOB GOSWAMI (@arnabinator) January 8, 2016

Brave @supriya_sule says MPs talk about sarees, facials in Parliament! And yes, she claims she is not joking!!  ashok upadhyay (@ashoupadhyay) January 8, 2016

We've probably all been there  bored at work  but Sule's position as a key lawmaker makes her statement less excusable.

Sule has since claimed that her comments were taken out of context, but the damage was done.

@chitraSD I respect your comments but pls trust me it is shown out of context - if u give me your number I could call u tell u the truth  Supriya Sule (@supriya_sule) January 7, 2016

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Festus Mogae served as president of the southern African country of Botswana from 1998 to 2008. He is the recipient of several international awards, including the 2008 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. In this interview held recently in New York with Tefo Pheage for Africa Renewal, the former president shared his thoughts on gay rights, the reform of the UN Security Council, the right to protect civilians in humanitarian crises and the fight against HIV/AIDS. These are excerpts from the interview.

Africa Renewal: Let us start with the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Some African leaders are of the view that gay rights are un-African. They applauded Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe when he declared at the UN 70th General Assembly that Africans were not gay. As an advocate for LGBT rights, what is your view on Africa and human rights?

You have on several occasions clashed with Botswana's current leadership and religious organisations due to your persistent advocacy to decriminalise LGBT practices in Botswana. How has it been?

Are you hopeful that LGBT rights will be respected in the near future in Africa?

The UN has been heavily criticised of late by some member states for being ineffective and undemocratic. Do you think the UN has lived up to expectations?

The African Union has been pushing for a seat on the Security Council but it seems to be unable to agree on which country would occupy such a seat. What's your comment on this?

How do we balance a country's sovereignty with the right of outsiders to intervene particularly in times of economic failure, humanitarian crisis or internal conflicts?



You are regarded globally as a champion in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In your travels throughout Africa, how do you assess this fight?

Fetus Mogae: It's not surprising that we appear to be speaking from different corners of the mouth. Differences in opinion are welcome. While I admit that the West often push their agendas on Africa, which we must be wary of, I also believe that we must, as Africans, admit that the world is changing and we must move with the times. This means often abandoning some of our long-held convictions about life, if the need arises. In my long interaction with LGBT groups and extensive research, I have come to the realisation that we are limited in our knowledge and must be open to new discoveries. I have been converted; I used to hold the same beliefs as my counterparts. President Mugabe has said that he hates homosexuals and is on record as saying they are worse than pigs and dogs. That is still his position. Leadership is not always about you, it is about people and often circumstances. I call upon African leaders to open up to second generation rights.Obviously not easy, but when you believe in something, nothing should stop you. Botswana inherited a law that outlaws is against homosexuality. We have not repealed it, but generally we have not harassed or arrested these groups (gays and lesbians). But the international community would say it is not enough to say you haven't made any arrests because if you have such a law, you or another leader may wake up the next day and apply its provisions. Our argument as a country has always been that we haven't imprisoned any member of these specific groups.Yes, some countries like South Africa have already paved the way and others are following slowly. Change takes time and often meets resistance in some quarters. One of the challenges we have in Africa is that even the traditional leaders or chiefs are against LGBT groups. I once participated in a debate organised by the BBC. Traditional leaders argued that they didn't like homosexuals because young people will follow their ways. They said they wanted their children to get married, give birth and keep family names alive and bring bride prices, amongst many other benefits. I found this to be selfish and a wrong mentality towards LGBT rights.Just like any other organisation, the UN has its own problems and limitations. I think the problem is with the Security Council and its veto power. The UN would be better off and more democratic without veto powers. Even we as Africans have to advocate for total abolition of the veto, but not permanent Security Council membership. In that case, states will be more equal. It is without a doubt that at the UN, some member states are more equal than others. The concept of vetoes is outdated and is tarnishing the good name of the UN.I support Africa's demand for an AU permanent seat on the Security Council. The question, however, is whether we are capable of nominating one of our own to represent us. You will recall that there is Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt and others who want to join the Council. We should be advocating for a permanent seat for an African country that will take its mandate from all the AU heads of states.As with everything else, it is always the difficulties at the margins. Even if a country is well governed, it could still face unprecedented levels of unemployment as we have here in Botswana. But that should not justify outside intervention. However, if a country starts to experience inter-ethnic conflicts, the international community could feel they cannot sit on the sidelines and watch people being butchered willy-nilly by those who once vowed to protect them. Sovereignty has limits like any other right. A leader cannot kill and harass his people and hide behind sovereignty. A true leader does not kill but protects his people. We still have leaders in Africa who think they are indispensable, larger than life and more important than their countries. That must stop. If a leader loses control, the world will and should intervene to save the people.We have fought a good battle but we are still experiencing new infections. I think our worst enemy is complacency. You will recall that after the virus was first discovered in the 1980s in Africa, people were dying on a massive scale. We entered into a state of panic and too much stigma and discrimination was attached to the deadly virus. All that has since changed. But the biggest mistake will be to think we have won the war. In Botswana, we declared the virus an emergency. I took the HIV/AIDS fight from the Ministry of Health to the presidency for close and more authoritative monitoring, and it paid off. The situation has greatly stabilised, according to statistics, and I have learnt that the same has been happening in other countries.Africa Renewal
Boo at the Zoo is back

Boo at the Zoo will take place from 2-5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29, throughout the grounds of the zoo, and is free to the public.
American International Group is looking to improve its understanding of workers compensation losses through a new investment in wearables manufacturer Human Condition Safety.The trackable device, which is embedded in construction workers vests, is designed to monitor the movements of employees in factories, on construction sites and in other high-risk workplaces. The sensors transmit data on the wearers movements in real time. The hope is that the sensors will help managers keep track of where their workers are at all times and also help to decrease fraud.Through the investment, AIG is hoping to leverage the received data analytics to cut costs and boost profits in its workers comp business.In addition to preventing fraud, AIG hopes the sensors could warn employees of potential danger if they are wandering in the path of a forklift or into an electrified area.Other workers comp insurers and brokers have expressed support for the idea, including Marsh & McLennan, which has endorsed the concept of wearables as able to cut costs and boost profits.However, consumer advocates are expressing concern over worker privacy. The wearables may give employers and insurance companies access to detailed information on individuals behavior and health with which workers may not be comfortable.Marsh and AIG have both acknowledged the privacy concern, but assure reporters that they are prepared to work with attorneys and unions.[We] take the privacy of our clients and their employees very seriously, AIG said in a statement. And we consider the protection of data one of our highest priorities.The company said its focus on aggregating data from the wearables is to help make work sites safer for all employees.Human Condition Safety has a pilot project involving the wearables underway at Citi Field in New York to simulate conditions at construction sites and large venues. Workers have been wearing the vests to determine what series of events leads to trips, falls and other preventable injuries.The pilot project is expected to run for another year before sensors are made available for use in workers compensation insurance programs.Theres a lot to be figured out, and were trying to do it as responsibly and ethically as possible, Human Condition Safety Chief Executive Peter Raymond told the Wall Street Journal. Those are all things were learning in our pilots.
A new series that is characterizing itself as Yelp for insurance agents announced this week that it has closed its seed funding round and will begin fundraising for its Series A investment this month.Agent Review is a free online platform to connect consumers with accredited independent agents and unbiased insurance education. It has more than 200,000 members to date, and was voted one of the Six Most Innovative Products of 2015 by industry publication LifeHealthPro.The angel investment in Agent Review was led by insurance leaders Joe Pulitano and Doug May, and by industry investors Towpath and Anabranch. The amount of money raised was not disclosed.Investor Joe Pulitano is president of Advanced Resources Marketing, a Boston-based national distributor of long term care insurance, and Doug May is a senior executive with Willis Reinsurance. Towpath and Anabranch are international investment companies.Jonas Roeser, co-founder and chief executive officer of Agent Review, said the successful fundraising is proof that the service is needed in the industry.This seed round was led by very experienced investors, offering further validation that Agent Review is a valuable tool for consumers to get objective information and be connected with verified local insurance professionals, Roeser said in a statement. Its a challenge for consumers to find reliable information and agents when it comes to insurance.There still are a large number of insurance products that a consumer feels more comfortable buying from an agent versus an online program. Agent Review is the first of its kind.Roeser says the company plans to continue to grow at its already rapid rate.Meanwhile, venture investor Mike Hurst has offered the product its further endorsement.Anyone who has shopped for insurance recently knows the process needs improvement. The market is ready to evolve and Jonas is the right entrepreneur for the job, Hurst said. We are excited to support his efforts.
The owners of the Greylock Mill are planning an $18 million investment. They are asking for an exemption on property taxes during the renovation. The first phase of the renovation in taking place in the massive Shed on State Road. PreviousNext

North Adams Mill Owners Requesting Five-Year 'Increasing' Tax Exemption

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The owners of the Greylock Mill are asking for a tax break as they invest $18 million into the massive building over the next five years.



The City Council on Tuesday will decide on a special tax agreement that will raise the property tax on the more than 240,000 square foot building from zero to 100 percent over five years.



In his communication to the council, Mayor Richard Alcombright wrote that "the STA has been drafted in compliance with all state regulations and provides for tax benefit to Greylock for the significant investment and eventual job creation while fully protecting the City should certain milestones within the agreement not be met.



"Additionally, Greylock will be required under the agreement to provide reporting that demonstrates their compliance with the terms of the STA."



The mill, also known as the Cariddi mill, was purchased by Salvatore Perry and Karla Rothstein, principals of Latent Productions of New York City, an architectural design firm, last July. Latent, under the name Greylock Works, plans to transform the former textile mill into a multiuse space for artisanal foods, hospitality, residential and performances.



Work has already begun on what's being called "The Shed" portion, a long one-story building that is being renovated for food production and event use. The building is currently vacant, although a successful dinner and dance party was held New Year's Eve that attracted hundreds.



"This is a complex project that we believe can catalyze solution to some of the pivotal challenges of our time  intelligent adaptive re-use, environment and energy, and interweaving culture with business. The total estimated cost of this endeavor is anticipated to exceed ten [sic] million private dollars," according a letter submitted by Latent Production with its application for the Massachusetts Economic Development Program in North Adams.



Current taxes on the mill are $28,769.45, based on an assessment of $759,200. The STA formula as prescribed by state law sets year 1 at zero; year 2 at 25 percent; year 3 at 50 percent and year 4 at 75 percent, and year 5 (fiscal 2022) at 100 percent. The STA only exempts property tax, not personal property taxes as in a tax incremental financing agreement.



In granting the STA, the company would have to meet investment benchmarks, stay current on all other fees and taxes, and "use its best efforts to encourage tenants to hire City residents" and work with local schools, colleges and Regional Employment Board to provide opportunities for training and employment.



The agreement being set before the council states "The Project is expected to provide economic benefits to the City through significant investment in the building which will bring new businesses, and have a positive economic effect in the Route 2 commercial corridor in the City; and,



"The City strongly supports this increase in economic development to provide additional jobs for residents of the ETA, the City and surrounding area, increased commercial and industrial activity within the City leading to the further development of a healthy and diverse economy while growing the tax base ... "

Update: Edited headline to clarify content to encourage readers to read the full article.
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HILLSBOROUGH, North CarolinaFor more than two years Adam & Eve Pictures, a division of PHE Inc. has been searching for a file transfer solution that would meet their needs. The adult studio reports that at last it has found the just the right service.

Called eSecureSend (eSS), the service offers fast transfer speeds and a non-traditional pricing model of pay-as-you-go. Useres can transfer files without requiring their IT department to open up new ports.

Said Rachel Vigneaux, production manager at PHE, We had been looking into ways we could send large files to our clients all over the world and had talked to a few other companies that offered such services. We found eSecureSend and really liked how they took the time to understand what our exact needs were and not just tried to sell us a one-size-fits-all package."

Adam & Eve Pictures works with both scheduled and popup projects based on the contracts that representatives negotiate with vendors around the world. Before eSS, they would send and receive hard drives resulting in high shipping costs, man hours and slow turnaround for meeting clients requests. If they were going to replace the $200 it takes to ship a single hard drive internationally, the file transfer solution had to address the following:

 Be easy for clients to use

 Beat the pricing for buying and shipping the hard drives

 Transfer 100GB+ files quickly and reliably

SaaS companies that provide file transfer services often charge a monthly flat fee and bind companies to year-long contracts. eSecureSend's policy is that clients should use their product only if they are happy with the service, meaning no long-term contracts and paying only for the number of gigabytes being delivered.

After connecting with a few different VoD and production houses, eSecureSend CEO Jami Choudhury said, File transfers arent the same for everyone. Some people are dealing with very large files only once or twice a month while others are moving terabytes at a time. It doesnt make sense to not accommodate needs based on each companys workflow. So when PHE needed a solution that made sense for them, we listened and we adapted.

PHE and eSecureSend have been working together for the better part of 2015. With every file transferred, the team would check in not just with PHE but with their clients that were receiving the files as well. "Their attention to detail and follow through on the service they provide is amazing. That alone makes them stand out, Vigneaux said.

What eSecureSend offers is more than just software. If PHEs clients arent happy with our file transfer experience, were not happy. Because thats PHEs name on the line and they cant do their work if their client isnt able to download the file due to a language barrier or slow bandwidth, Choudhury said. So well do whatever it takes to make sure everyone involved in the file transfer is getting what they need."

PHE movie editor Joe Kinder said, Ive been in the tech industry since the 90s. The team at eSecureSend has outclassed every vendor that Ive ever worked with in those 25 years. Whenever were sending movies to clients in Korea, Hong Kong, Canada or Germany, I dont have to worry. I know that eSecureSend will be there to help in any way needed because theyve been there every time, even at 3a.m."

Built by Dmorph, Inc., eSecureSend is the result of a small team of developers who are driven to make file transfers over the web work reliably, securely and efficiently. eSecureSend is looking to partner with businesses searching for a file transfer solution that will meet their needs. Sending large files via FTP and shipping hard drives through the post office can be inefficient and costly methods for transporting data. eSecureSend believes it offers a better way.
LOS ANGELESAl Tom and his company Altomic Visuals will be among the sponsors 2016 Transgender Erotica Awards.

Altomic Visuals is proud to be a sponsor of the 2016 TEA show, Tom said. In the last few years we have been one of the lucky people given the privilege of capturing the highlights of the TEA show and After Party. Altomic Visuals is more than happy to support Grooby Productions, an organization that stands behind the LGBTQ community and finds ways to give back to the performers in the trans adult industry through recognition at the TEA show, their Trans Adult Industry Foundation (TAIF), and also through their participation at various LGBTQ events.

Al Tom from Altomic Visuals has been photographing trans women since 1989. Starting out shooting for a few straight and trans adult websites, he slowly developed his own style. His photos have been displayed in an art gallery show and used in a music CD insert. He is also a contributing photographer/writer to Transformation magazine. He is a regular photographer/videographer shooting at Jamie Jameson's Saturday T-Girl Nights event at Hamburger Mary's in Long Beach. Being a supporter of the LGBTQ community he has also given his photography time to various community events. To see more of Al Toms work, visit his official website at AltomicVisuals.com.

Al has been a strong supporter of our industry and an integral part of documenting the TEAs each year, said Groobys Marketing and Editorial Director Kristel Penn. His photography is beautiful and he really manages to capture the essence of our festivities with a great eye.

The Transgender Erotica Awards, now in its eighth year, celebrates the accomplishments of the trans adult industry and its performers. The 2016 Transgender Erotica Awards take place Sunday, March 6, at the Avalon in Hollywood, Calif. The official After Party will be held on Monday, March 7, at the Avalons connecting property, the Bardot.Visit TheTEAShow.com for more information.
LOS ANGELES, CA  Continuing in her comeback tour de force, Ryan Conner is pitted against Lexington Steel in her latest release from Evil Angel, entitled Lex Vs Ryan Conner. Included in this showcase are several firsts for the Conner, including her first interracial blow bang and first interracial double penetration.



When asked about this project, Nexxxt Level-represented Conner had this to say, "When I heard about this project, I was so excited. Working with Lex is always a dream come true, but to be put in several different sex scene situations, including my first IR DP was mind blowing. I am extremely proud of this project and I know my fans will love it.



Steele appears in all four of the interracial scenes featured in this project and said, "Ryan Conner is the purest form of sex, and this was a project I had to put together for the fans



Lex Vs Ryan Conner also features current Performer of the Year Anikka Albrite in a threeway with both Conner and Steele. This showcase also features porn studs Jon Jon, Jovan Jordan, Ricky Johnson, Mo Johnson, and Chris Cock.
BURBANK, CA  Portland, OR-based BDSM products companySpartacus Leathers gears up for the semi-annual ANME Founders Show, January 11 and 12. The ANME Founders Show represents the latest in the adult novelty and toy industries, featuring adult toys, novelties, lubricants, lingerie, and games.

Were thrilled to be returning to ANME, especially so for its 20th Anniversary, says Spartacus Leathers Vice President Josh Miller. We enjoy meeting distributors and retailers at every show, and look forward to reconnecting with our established partners, and forging new agreements.

Miller continues, We strive to bring high-quality BDSM products to the bedrooms, dungeons, and play parties of fetishists everywhere. It has been our mission for over 28 years, and our happy customers and partners are a testament to our dedication to that end. We encourage everyone to meet with us to see all of our products first-hand, including our newest catalog items.

Held at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport, the ANME Founders Show is open to US and Canadian based manufacturers to showcase and sell products to distributors and retail buyers. Attendance at the trade show is complimentary. The show never charges admission for pre-registered, qualified buyers. For inquiries, email [email protected]

Spartacus Leathers will be located at Tent Booths 45 and 47 at the 2016 ANME Founders Show. Held at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport, the trade show is open to US and Canadian based manufacturers to showcase and sell products to distributors and retail buyers. For those interested in booking an appointment with the Spartacus Leathers team, please call 971-925-1350 or email [email protected]

For more information, visit SpartacusLeathers.com.
The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA), an organization dedicated to best practices in professional publishing, is pleased to announce the call for entries for the "SOPA 2016 Awards for Editorial Excellence". Entering its 18th year, the premier publishing awards represent the most outstanding journalistic accolade in Asia Pacific. Deadline for entries is February 25, 2016.

The 2015 SOPA Awards received a record number of entries from across Asia Pacific competing in 18 categories among English and Chinese regional, local print or digital publications and wire services. To encourage wider participation, SOPA members who submit entries are eligible for a discount in the submission fee. Other publications are encouraged to join and to support SOPA, a not for profit organization.

The judging criteria for the award category "Journalist of the Year" will remain the same as last year, in which entries from Group A, B and C will be combined for judging resulting in only one winner. Journalist of the Year is designed to honor the journalist who has best demonstrated excellence in editorial achievement.

For the purposes of the awards, Asia-Pacific is defined to include the region of Afghanistan and the Central Asia republics, in addition to the Indian subcontinent, North and East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands.

With the dramatic changes taking place in the media landscape, the news industry is heading towards a dynamic digital world with many traditional media firms shifting their core business on to the Internet and developing an extensive network around smart phones and digital devices.

Meanwhile, the core value of freedom of the press is facing an unprecedented challenge. "Entering SOPA's 18th year, we are witnessing the challenges traditional media are facing with the transformation towards the digital world. While the quantity of information is expanding infinitely, defending freedom of the press remains to be one of the main concerns of the industry. SOPA is a guardian of free press in Asia Pacific, where fine journalism often fights against powerful forces that seek to suppress its voice. The SOPA Awards is the best forum to celebrate best reporting, writing, photographic and graphic design in publishing in Asia Pacific to gain deserved attention" said Mr. Tom Leander, Chairman of the SOPA Editorial Awards Committee.

The SOPA Awards highlight editorial excellence in both traditional and new media as well as emphasize the importance of freedom of the press. The awards are designed to honor and encourage editorial vitality and innovation throughout the region, and welcome entries from English and Chinese-language publications for Asian journalism.

The awards cover a broad range of categories reflecting Asia Pacific's diverse geo-political environment and vibrant editorial scene.

The SOPA Awards' judging panel includes journalists, designers and photo editors from the region's leading newspapers, consumer and trade magazines, as well as notable academics from the journalism and media departments of prestigious universities.

Judging for the 2016 Awards will be conducted by a team of more than 100 international judges stationed across the globe. The Journalism & Media Studies Centre at The University of Hong Kong has been the Awards Administrator since 2011.

SOPA has started accepting entries. To encourage various entries from both large and small publications, entries are classified by circulation size and language type - either English or Chinese.

Entries can be submitted from now until 4pm February 25, 2016 at www.sopawards.com.

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CEMAC: A Stronger Community for Stronger and More Inclusive Growth

By Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

Yaounde, January 8, 2016

As prepared for delivery

Introduction

Mr. Prime Minister,

Ministers of Finance and Economy of CEMAC Member Countries,

President of the CEMAC Commission

Governor of the BEAC,

Representatives of the CEMAC,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a privilege to speak before such a distinguished audience and at such an important moment for CEMAC.

CEMAC is one of the most important regional groupings in Africa. Your countries are virtually the heart of Africa. The continents fortunes are tightly linked to those of the region.

Over the past few years  and much like the rest of sub-Saharan Africa  the region has seen robust growth and macroeconomic stability. The high tide of oil prices boosted activity and supported a surge in much-needed infrastructure investment. Today that tide has receded, and may stay out for a prolonged period.

At the same time, security related disruptions are taking an additional toll  not only on economic activity and fiscal resources but emotionally as well. Having been in Paris during the November attacks, I know firsthand the sorrow that terrorism can inflict.

Clearly, the prolonged slump in oil prices presents a new reality for CEMAC. So todays round table on Low oil prices and the financing of infrastructure is quite topical. First, it allows us to take stock of progress in infrastructure financing since the March 2014 conference. And second, to identify how to sustain this infrastructure investment in the face of low oil prices and tighter financing. In certain cases, an adjustment in large scale investment plans may be necessary in the short run, to preserve fiscal viability and debt sustainability in the medium term.

Adjustment to this new reality also means tapping new sources of growth within the Community. As the saying goes: Lunion fait la force. An ambitious reform agenda, focused on diversification and regional integration, is needed more than ever to restore strong growth  and make sure that it is inclusive.

With this in mind, I would like to focus my remarks on three issues:

 First, touch briefly on the outlook for the global economy.

 Second, drill down on the outlook for CEMAC.

 And third, discuss key priorities for stronger, more inclusive growth in CEMAC.

1. The global economymodest and uneven growth

Let me start with a quick pulse check of the global economy.

The global economy saw a modest and uneven expansion in 2015, estimated at about 3.1 percent. This fragility is expected to persist in 2016, under the weight of three significant transitions.

The first transition is the increased divergence in monetary policy in major advanced economies. Last month, the U.S. Federal Reserve took the first step in raising rates for the first time in nine years. So far, the lift-off went smoothly. It was clearly communicated and priced in by financial markets. The key issue going forward is the pace of normalization. It will certainly be gradual, as the Fed has stressed, and should be based on clear evidence of firmer wage or price pressures.

At the same time, however, vulnerabilities in many emerging economies are rising and their prospects are being reassessed. So surprises  including those related to policies in advanced economies  that in normal circumstances would not have a major impact could lead to bouts of financial volatility, especially in emerging and developing economies.

The second transition is unfolding in Chinasub-Saharan Africas largest trading partner. China is embarking on a historic rebalancing of its growth model, and activity is moderating to more sustainable levels. Nonetheless, this rebalancing is a bumpy process whose effects are being felt worldwide  which reinforces the need for more clarity on policies, especially exchange rate policy. As I underlined several times in the past weeks, this transition will certainly be far from easy, and is also feeding into lower demand for commodities.

The turn in the commodity super cycle is the third transition. It is perhaps the most relevant for your countries.

Oil prices have dropped by close to 70 percent since June 2014  from a peak of US$120 per barrel to US$32 today. Not surprisingly, this turnaround is making itself felt in this part of Africa: activity is down and fiscal pressures are rising.

Yet the bigger challenge is that  unlike in previous cycles  oil prices this time around are expected to stay low for long. Indeed, futures markets point to only a modest recovery of prices to about US$60 by 2019. Why?

On the supply side, several factors are contributing to the global glut. These include the advent of shale oil, the change in OPECs strategic behavior, and a projected increase in Iranian exports.

There are equally important forces on the demand side. The secular decline in oil consumption in the United States and the general weakness in activity, especially in emerging market economies, are exerting downward pressure on oil prices.

2. CEMACadjusting to twin shocks and a new global reality

This takes me to my second topic. What do these developments portend for CEMAC and its outlook?

Currently oil represents about 70 percent of CEMACs exports and more than a third of its fiscal revenues. So the slump in oil prices poses a big challenge. The good news is that several CEMAC members have used the windfall from oil revenues to remove longstanding impediments in the economy.

For example, Gabon used a large part of windfall to reduce its debt by 50 percent in 2008 and rebuild reserves  from US$10 million in 2001 to US$1.3 billion in 2014. In Chad, the increase in expenditure on education was reflected in a substantial increase in primary school enrolment  from 68 percent in 2000 to near universal enrollment in 2012. And in the Republic of Congo an ambitious National Development Plan was launched to address large social and infrastructure gaps.

These are all important initiatives. Yet the prospect of prolonged low oil prices implies much tighter financing envelopes going forward.

Another shock comes from Boko Haram. Attacks in Cameroons extreme north and parts of Chad have disrupted economic activity and necessitated an increase in military spending. These operations crowd out spending in critical areas such as education and health.

The toll on activity of these two shocks has been significant. Growth in CEMAC is estimated to have slowed to about 2 percent in 2015, though outcomes vary widely across members. For instance, Equatorial Guinea experienced a severe contraction, while Cameroon posted robust growth that is projected to carry over to 2016.

At the same time, the sustained implementation of large infrastructure programs has brought fiscal pressures to the fore. The combined fiscal deficit for CEMAC is estimated to have widened to 6.5 percent of regional GDP in 2015, with only a modest improvement projected for this year.

Looking forward, activity in CEMAC is projected to rebound to about 3.5 percent this year. But this outlook is predicated on sound policies that safeguard macroeconomic stability and remove the drag on growth. How can this be achieved?

I am reminded of a Chadian proverb: If you always walk down the same path, youll go where youve already been.

Confronted with this new reality, CEMAC needs to chart a new path for its prosperity.

3. Toward strong and inclusive growthspend better, collect more, make the region work for you

This takes me to my third topic for todaythe policies needed to secure strong and inclusive growth in CEMAC.

With oil prices projected to remain low for long and oil reserves depleting, macroeconomic stability will hinge on smart fiscal policies and determined structural reforms to strengthen the business climate and regional integration. It will require the region to open up to its neighbors and tap into their markets to regain momentum.

I see three priorities: spend better, collect more, and make the region work for you. Let me take each in turn.

First priorityspend better. The right set of complementary infrastructure projects is clearly a pre-requisite for sustainable and inclusive growth.

Yet in an environment of rising fiscal pressures, careful consideration needs to be given to priorities. That may mean scaling back some plans. Selectivity in infrastructure development  based on economic merit and cost efficiency  can help guide this effort.

Equally important is a more judicious approach to external financing. For several members, the window of sustainable external financial support on non-concessional terms is narrowing because of the buildup in commercial debt. Concessional sources of financing should be tapped to ensure that medium-term debt sustainability is preserved.

Turning to the second prioritycollect more. Alleviating fiscal pressures also requires better mobilization of domestic resources. As the Central African Republic proverb goes: A big river is enlarged by its tributaries. That means determined action on the non-oil revenue base.

The good news is that non-oil revenue in CEMAC improved last year to about 13 percent of regional GDP. Yet there is scope to reach the regional indicative level of 17 percent.

How? By reducing the widespread use of discretionary tax and customs exemptions within the region. These exemptions undermine overall state revenues and weaken governance.

CEMAC members would also benefit from better inter-governmental cooperation and coordination on tax policies. A number of Directives in the tax area have been published by the Commission in the last few years, yet very few have been actually incorporated into national legislation and implemented. So more could be done to improve credibility and commitment.

Domestic resource mobilization should also focus on important international tax issues that affect the extractive revenue tax base. This includes areas such as indirect, offshore transfers of interest on assets located in developing economies. This can be particularly relevant for resource-rich nations, like some CEMAC members, to help avoid base erosion and profit shifting.

More broadly, raising revenues to fund the investments that will be needed to meet the new Sustainable Development Goals, for all IMF members, is at the top of our agenda. We are already engaged with several CEMAC members through technical assistance and training on this issue.

For example, our technical assistance in Chad and the Republic of Congo is focused on enhancing customs revenue administration as a way to expand the non-oil revenue base. And we stand ready to assist on various aspects of domestic revenue mobilization going forward.

How about the third prioritymake the region work for you? Of all formal trade conducted by CEMAC countries, less than 5 percent involves intra-CEMAC commerce. There is scope to do more. There are obvious synergies to be reaped from working together.

By leveraging new infrastructure projects, such as the deep-sea port and hydroelectric dams in Cameroon, the boundaries of the Community could expand well beyond its national limits. The big consumer markets in Nigeria and East Africa could be tapped, providing a significant impetus for private sector development and economic diversification.

This requires action on two fronts: the business climate and regional integration.

Lets start with the business climate. Global experience consistently points to the importance of a vibrant private sector to boost growth and diversification. Competitiveness indicators suggest that CEMAC members have a lot to gain from catching up with their peers.

Our own analysis indicates that facilitating tax payments and intra-CEMAC trade would significantly improve the business climate. On average, it takes 572 hours per year in CEMAC versus 304 in other African countries to pay business taxes, and the waiting time for clearing goods is of 40 days for exports and 50 days for imports. Reforms in these areas would yield the highest benefits.

Improvements in the business climate are best achieved if supported by increased regional integration. The existing governance framework needs to become more effective by streamlining the decision-making process. The Community could also benefit from fiscal rules that set regionally consistent frameworks for scaling up investments. The IMF stands ready to help with technical assistance in this area.

Clearly, deeper regional integration will require a collective effort by all members. As the largest, most diversified, and least affected economy in CEMAC, Cameroon is well placed to sustain, and reinforce, the momentum of integration.

Conclusion

Let me conclude. CEMAC members are confronting a new reality. Low oil prices for long necessitate policy adjustment to preserve macroeconomic stability and create new sources of growth. Once again, the IMF can help through policy advice, capacity building and financial support if needed.

So I would like to leave you with one thought, drawing on a proverb from Equatorial Guinea: If you dream of moving mountains tomorrow, you must start by lifting small stones today.

There is strength in your diversity and success in your unity. By coming together today, you can harness the dividends from integration and deliver on the regions promise of greater prosperity for its people tomorrow.

Thank you.
Imperial Valley News Center

First Anniversary of the Attacks in Paris

Washington, DC - Secretary of State John Kerry: "On the one-year anniversary of the January 7-9, 2015, attacks that took the lives of 17 people, we honor the victims of this tragedy and share the sadness of their loss. Their legacy endures as a challenge and inspiration to all of us. Charlie Hebdo continues to publish, and journalists around the world continue in their essential mission to tell the stories that people everywhere need to hear.

"No country knows better than France that freedom has a price, and that no rationale can justify attacks on innocent men, women, and children. But what was intended to sow fear and division has, in fact, brought us together. We must remain committed to protect each other and renew our determination to turn this moment of profound loss into a lasting commitment. Just as we tackle todays most daunting challenges side by side, the United States and France will always stand together."
Imperial Valley News Center

President Barack Obama on the Celebration of Orthodox Christmas

Washington, DC - President Barack Obama: "Michelle and I wish a blessed Christmas to Orthodox Christians in the United States and around the world. During this holy season, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and pray for peace on Earth.

"This day gives us a special opportunity to commemorate the contributions of American Orthodox leaders to our progress. It also gives us a chance to reaffirm our commitment to protect religious minorities, including Christian minorities, who too often face violence and persecution throughout the world. Today and every day, we stand with all those who suffer attacks and discrimination  because we believe that the freedom to practice your religion as you choose is a birthright of every person and part of the bedrock of a just society. So we join with our Orthodox brothers and sisters in celebration, and in hopeful prayer for peace and justice the world over."
Imperial Valley News Center

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Expanded Market Access for U.S. Poultry, Pork and Beef Exports to South Africa

Washington, DC - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today released the following statement:

On Jan. 7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in collaboration with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), reached agreement with South African officials to allow most U.S. exports of poultry, pork and beef and their products to re-gain access to the South African market, pursuant to an out-of-cycle review of South Africa conducted under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The agreement was reached following intense U.S. government engagement with South African officials over the last year. Only a limited number of U.S. poultry and meat products have been exported to South Africa in recent years, due to unwarranted sanitary requirements by the South African authorities, with most poultry exports blocked for the last 15 years. With this renewed access for U.S. red meat and poultry products, U.S. exports to South Africa could generate $75 million of shipments annually.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today made the following statement regarding this announcement:

"This is good news for American farmers, ranchers and poultry, pork and beef companies. We welcome this move by South Africa and will continue our efforts to break down barriers and expand access for high-quality, safe and wholesome U.S. food and agricultural products around the world. With this agreement, South Africa reaffirms the scientific soundness and integrity of the U.S. system for ensuring animal health and food safety, and this will result in high-quality U.S. meat and poultry being available for South African consumers.

The regained access for American meat and poultry exports we're announcing today is the culmination of many months of hard work by USDA and USTR staff. The past seven years have been the strongest in history for agricultural trade, with U.S. agricultural product exports totaling $911.4 billion since 2009. Strong agricultural exports contribute to a positive U.S. trade balance, create jobs and boost economic growth. Those exports supported approximately 1 million U.S. jobs last year. The economy is strengthened in rural communities and throughout the entire country from the additional economic activity that flows from the expanded farm and processing business."
Imperial Valley News Center

ICE arrests more than 1,400 human traffickers in 2015, identifies nearly 400 victims across the US

Washington, DC - In Fiscal Year 2015, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested 1,437 individuals for human trafficking  the illegal trade and exploitation of people for commercial gain, most commonly in the form of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. From those cases, nearly 400 trafficking victims were identified and offered critical services.

This year marks the sixth anniversary of President Barack Obamas proclamation of January as National Slavery and Trafficking Prevention month. ICE participates in a variety of human trafficking awareness events in January and throughout the year.

Our special agents work tirelessly to disrupt criminal trafficking networks and help their victims, but there is still so much to be done, said ICE Director Sarah R. Saldana. While the efforts of law enforcement are crucial to the cause, educating the public to recognize signs of trafficking and supporting the organizations who work to make victims whole are also important parts of our overall strategy.

While human trafficking can occur in a variety of scenarios and industries, indicators of trafficking activities often look the same across cases. Educating the public to recognize the signs is crucial to identifying victims and bringing traffickers to justice.

Examples of HSI human trafficking cases in 2015 include:

Multistate Sex Trafficking  In October 2015, HSI arrested 29 people in eight states for sex trafficking more than 13 Hispanic women and girls from Mexico and Central America through a system of brothels across the southeastern United States. Now with 41 indictments, this case has the highest number of indictments of any HSI human trafficking investigation. The 15-month investigation was a success because of the combined support from DHS Joint Task Force  Investigations, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Federal Emergency Management Administration and multiple state/local law enforcement agencies.

Domestic servitude  A military official from Qatar and his wife brought two domestic servants with them to San Antonio, Texas. The couple allegedly housed the workers in primitive conditions, threatened them with arrest and jail, withheld their wages, and deprived them of cell phones, passports, visas and food. HSI made the arrest on forced labor charges on May 30, 2015.

Human Trafficking Top 10 Fugitive Captured  Paulino Ramirez-Granados was arrested March 31, 2015, in Tenancingo, Mexico through a joint investigation by HSI Mexico City, HSI New York and the Mexican Federal Police. The Granados family and its associates would romance young women before coercing them into prostitution in Mexico, smuggling them into the United States, and then continuing the control, physical and sexual abuse, and threats in New York City. HSI identified 26 victims and 19 other traffickers and smugglers.

Since 2010, HSI has arrested over 7,000 individuals for human trafficking offenses.

ICE is one of the primary federal agencies responsible for combating human trafficking. ICE works with its law enforcement partners to dismantle the global criminal infrastructure engaged in human trafficking. ICE accomplishes this mission by making full use of its authorities and expertise, stripping away assets and profit incentive, collaborating with U.S. and foreign partners to attack networks worldwide and working in partnership with nongovernmental organizations to identify and provide assistance to trafficking victims.

If you notice suspicious activity, please contact ICE through its tip line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or www.ice.gov/tips. For more information about the Department of Homeland Securitys overall efforts against human trafficking, please visit http://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign.
FTC and State Law Enforcement Partners Announce More Actions and Results in Continuing Crackdown Against Abusive Debt Collectors

Washington, DC - In four separate actions, the Federal Trade Commission is announcing that it has stopped illegal debt collection tactics of several debt collection operations. In addition, other federal and state law enforcement officials have taken 12 more actions as part of a federal-state-local law enforcement initiative against deceptive and abusive debt collection practices. The cases announced today bring to 130 the number of actions taken over the past year by more than 70 law enforcement partners in Operation Collection Protection.

The continuing nationwide crackdown targets collectors whose illegal tactics include harassing phone calls, false threats of lawsuits and arrest, attempts to collect phony debts, not providing consumers with legally required disclosures, and noncompliance with state licensing requirements.

The FTC actions announced today include:

AFS Legal Services

In November 2015, the FTC brought an action against National Payment Processing LLC; National Client Services LLC, also doing business as AFS Legal Services, AFS Services, Account Financial Services, and Account Financial Solutions; Omar Smith; and Ernest Smith. The operation allegedly called consumers and demanded payment of payday loan or other purported debt, even when consumers disputed the debt and the defendants failed to verify that money was owed.

According to the FTCs complaint, the defendants impersonated investigators and law enforcement and threatened to arrest or sue consumers if they did not pay. Because they often had consumers personal information such as Social Security and bank account numbers, consumers believed the calls were legitimate and thought they would be arrested for check fraud or sued. The collectors also made harassing calls and contacted relatives, friends and co-workers about consumers debts. The defendants allegedly have caused around $4 million in consumer injury, using multiple corporate names and locations to avoid detection, and failing to identify themselves as debt collectors.

The defendants have agreed to be bound by a preliminary injunction, pending the litigation in which they are prohibited from using the illegal collection tactics described in the FTCs complaint. They are also barred from activities that violate the FDCPA.

The FTC appreciates the assistance of the Rockdale County Sheriffs Office, DeKalb County Police Department, Gwinnett County Police Department, and Hapeville Police Department in bringing this case.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint for permanent injunction was 4-0. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, issued a temporary restraining order against the defendants on November 3, 2015, and a stipulated preliminary injunction on January 5, 2016.

Samuel Sole and Associates

In May 2015, the FTC obtained court orders temporary halting the operations of Premier Debt Acquisitions LLC, also doing business as PDA Group LLC; Prizm Debt Solutions LLC, also d/b/a PDS LLC; Samuel Sole and Associates LLC, also d/b/a SSA Group LLC and Imperial Processing Solutions; Charles Glander; and Jacob E. Kirbis. The FTC alleged that the defendants had impersonated law enforcement officials or process servers, threatened to have consumers arrested for nonpayment, falsely threatened consumers with lawsuits and wage garnishment, and withheld information consumers needed to confirm or dispute debts.

The defendants have now agreed to a stipulated order for permanent injunction, that will ban them from debt collection activities, and prohibit them from misrepresenting material facts about financial-related products and services and from profiting from their former customers personal information. The order imposes a judgment of $2,229,756, representing the amount of the defendants debt collection revenue, which will be partially suspended upon surrender of certain personal assets, including real estate.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file a proposed stipulated order for permanent injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York was 4-0. Stipulated orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

Warrant Enforcement Division

Defendants Municipal Recovery Services Corporation, d/b/a Warrant Enforcement Division, and its owner, Marcos Nieto, a/k/a Mark Nieto have agreed to settle FTC charges that they violated the FTC Act when they sent consumers letters and postcards that falsely implied that they had come from a municipal court and falsely threatened consumers with arrest if they did not pay while collecting overdue municipal utility bills, traffic tickets, court fines and other debts for local governments in Texas and Oklahoma. One letter, labeled WARRANT FOR YOUR ARREST, falsely threatened arrest at the consumers home or office, jail time, vehicle impoundment, and inability to renew a drivers license. A FINAL NOTICE BEFORE ARREST letter followed, falsely stating that WARRANT OFFICERS HAVE BEEN GIVEN YOUR CURRENT ADDRESS. The defendants also mailed postcards to collect on past-due utility bills, stating PAY YOUR FINE NOWAVOID GOING TO JAIL. According to the complaint, the defendants also failed to inform consumers of the amount of the debt and the creditors name, and their right to dispute the debt, as required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Under a proposed stipulated order for permanent injunction, the defendants are prohibited from misrepresenting any material fact while collecting debts, including that a failure to pay a debt will result in the consumer being arrested or jailed, having their vehicle impounded, or being unable to renew their drivers license. The order imposes a $194,888 judgment that is suspended based on the defendants inability to pay. The full judgment will become due immediately if the defendants are found to have misrepresented their financial condition.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint and proposed stipulated order for permanent injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, was 4-0. Stipulated orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

Williams, Scott & Associates

The FTC has obtained a permanent injunction against the final defendant in its case against Williams, Scott & Associates, LLC. On November 4, 2015, the court granted summary judgment in the FTCs favor and banned Chris Lenyszyn from debt collection activities, and ordered him to pay more than $565,000 for using deception and threats to collect on phantom payday and other loan debts that consumers didnt owe. An earlier order, in April 2015, banned John Williams, Williams, Scott & Associates, LLC; and WSA, LLC from debt collection and ordered them to pay $3.9 million.

The FTC thanks the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Consumer Protection Unit of the Georgia Attorney Generals Office, the State Bar of Georgia, and the Financial Institutions Division of the Nevada Department of Business and Industry for their assistance in this case.

In addition, since Operation Collection Protection was announced in November 2015:

the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has resolved four law enforcement actions and issued a compliance bulletin on in-person debt collection;

the Minnesota Department of Commerce signed consent orders that stopped Collect Pros and Service Investment Company from further law violations and imposed civil penalties totaling $33,000, and convinced a court to impose a receivership on CLX/Westwood Management, Inc. (details can be found here);

the Colorado Department of Law denied Collect Pros renewal application and 4-Star Resolutions license application and took action against PC Legal Services for engaging in collection practices without a license, resulting in a $613,500 civil penalty (details can be found here);

the Indiana Attorney Generals Office also took action against Collect Pros, entering into an assurance of voluntary compliance with Collect Pros; and

the Massachusetts Attorney Generals office sued one of the largest debt collection law firms in Massachusetts, Lustig, Glaser & Wilson PC and its owners, Ronald Lustig and Kenneth Wilson, who allegedly used illegal threats of lawsuits to obtain payments and sued consumers for debts they did not owe or for debts that were inaccurate.

The FTC also is announcing a new consumer education video series showing first-person experiences with consumer protection issues, and the help that is available in diverse communities. The first video, Fraud Affects Every Community: Debt Collection, shows how Bryan Noyes, a Veterans of Foreign War Service Officer, worked with Pine Tree Legal Assistance in Portland, Maine, to overcome deceptive debt collection practices. The video was produced with help from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Pine Tree Legal Assistance (PTLA). PTLA is a statewide, non-profit organization committed to providing high quality, free, civil legal assistance to low-income people in Maine. PTLAs Veteran Legal Services Outreach program serves Maines 127,000 veterans, many of whom have lower incomes and otherwise lack access to legal services.

To learn more, read Facing Debt Collection? Know Your Rights and Fake Debt Collectors.
Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra to Lead Energy Departments Clean Energy Investment Center

Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra will be the first Director of the Clean Energy Investment Center (CEIC), located within the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT). CEIC was established in 2015 as part of the Obama Administrations Clean Energy Investment Initiative to advance private, mission-oriented investment in clean energy technologies that address the present gap in U.S. clean tech investment. CEIC will also help to enhance the availability of DOEs resources to private sector investors and potential partners in the public.

Dr. Malhotras unique experience as an accomplished scientist, entrepreneur, and businessman will be invaluable as the first director of the Clean Energy Investment Center, said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. Under Dr. Malhotras leadership, the center will play a significant and vital role in the Administrations Clean Energy Investment Initiative aimed at expanding private sector investment for innovative technologies that can reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change. Dr. Malhotra will further strengthen an outstanding clean energy finance team at DOE.

As the centers first Director, Dr. Malhotra will be responsible for standing up the CEIC, which will serve as a single point of contact for investors to access technical experts, acquire the latest reports on clean energy technology, and identify promising projects. He will also be instrumental in supporting Mission Innovation, an initiative that was announced at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris to dramatically accelerate public and private global clean energy innovation to address global climate change, provide affordable clean energy to consumers, including in the developing world, and create additional commercial opportunities in clean energy. Through the initiative, 20 countries, including the top five most populous nations, committed to double their respective clean energy research and development investment over five years.

Dr. Malhotra brings extensive leadership and experience in sales and international business development, establishing public-private partnerships, managing and directing engineering and research programs at various stages of product development, and attracting private sector equity investments.

He joins the center after most recently serving as a consultant with the Departments Fuel Cells Technologies Office. Previously, from 2005-2014, he served as the founder, President, and CEO of Oorja Protonics, a global leader in the design, development, and manufacturing of methanol fuel cells. During his time at the company, he attracted more than $32 million in investments from private sector equity firms, and he brought the company to profitability.

Over the course of his diverse career, he has been an advisor at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, served as part of the executive management team at DCH Technology and H Power Corp, and worked as a researcher at DOEs Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory.

Dr. Malhotra holds a bachelors degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, and he holds a masters degree in business administration and a doctoral degree in chemical and biochemical engineering from the University of Iowa.
DHS Announces The 2016 Cyber Student Volunteer Initiative

Washington, DC - The Department of Homeland Security announced it will begin accepting applications for the 2016 Secretarys Honors Program Cyber Student Volunteer Initiative for current undergraduate and graduate students. Beginning in the spring of 2016, over 50 selected students will complete volunteer assignments supporting the DHS cyber mission at department field offices in over 40 locations across the country.

Through this initiative, student volunteers currently pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees related to cybersecurity will gain invaluable hands-on experience and exposure to the cybersecurity work performed across DHS. The Department is committed to expanding our cybersecurity workforce and developing future professionals. In support of this goal, the selected students will gain invaluable experience while supporting activities such as cyber threat analysis, digital forensics, network diagnostics and incident response, while participating in mentoring and professional development events with DHS managers and senior leaders.

The Department created the Secretarys Honors Program Cyber Student Volunteer Initiative in April 2013, and expanded it in 2015 to feature more than 50 student assignments across more than 30 states. Students selected for the current cohort will complete assignments at one of the following organizations: Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, National Protection and Programs Directorate, Management Directorate/Office of the Chief Information Officer, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, Office of Policy/Cyber, Infrastructure and Resilience Policy, Transportation Security Administration, and United States Coast Guard.

For more information about the Secretarys Honors Program Cyber Student Volunteer Initiative, including the selection and application process, visit http://www.dhs.gov/secretarys-honors-program.
Condemning Recent Terrorist Bombings in Libya

Washington, DC - The United States strongly condemns the January 7 bombing at a security training center in Zliten, Libya, as well as the attacks since January 4 on the oil terminals in Es Sidra and Ras Lanouf. Todays attack - which targeted young people attending a graduation ceremony- reportedly killed as many as 65 people and injured many others.

We extend our condolences to the families of those killed and injured. Violent extremists including ISIL-affiliated groups threaten all Libyans throughout the country. With their attacks on oil fields, they are threatening resources that belong to the Libyan people and that all Libyans must strive to protect for future generations.

These incidents stress again the urgent need for Libyas new leaders to formalize the Government of National Accord (GNA), as outlined in the Libyan Political Agreement. This is a vital step to address the countrys critical humanitarian, economic, and security challenges.

The United States stands ready to help the new Presidency Council and other Libyan leaders implement the Libyan Political Agreement. We are committed to providing the unified government full political backing and technical, economic, security and counter-terrorism assistance.
Secretary of State John Kerry's Phone Call With Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi

Washington, DC - Secretary Kerry spoke this morning via phone with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi regarding the Democratic Peoples Republic of Koreas nuclear test.

They discussed the highly provocative nature of North Koreas actions, and its grave threat to international peace and security and blatant violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. The Secretary and Foreign Minister Wang agreed that the United States and China would continue to coordinate closely in the U.N. Security Council and with partners within the Six-Party Talks framework to take appropriate action.
Watch: Viral Video Of Glass Octopus Leaves Internet In Wonder
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One of Britains leading young actors turn as a transgender artist and a film about a lesbian relationship are among the frontrunners for this years prestigious Baftas.

Nominations for British Academy of Film and Television Awards, which are seen as a good indicator of who may walk away with an Oscar next month, has been announced in London.

Carol, which depicts an affair between a shop assistant played by Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchetts glamorous older woman in 1950s New York, was nominated for nine awards.

And Eddie Redmayne is looking to make it two best actor awards at the Baftas in as many years after he was nominated for his role as a transgender artist Lili Elbe in the true story The Danish Girl. Elbe was one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgery in the early 20th century.

Elizabeth Karlsen, producer of Carol, told The Independent: Its amazing for a film like Carol to get that many nominations. Its an extraordinary love story.

As well as best film and director nods for Todd Haynes, Blanchett is in the leading actress category and her co-star is nominated for supporting actress. Todd is one of the most important directors working in the States today, the producer said. She added that the film appealed to British tastes as he has a European sensibility as a director.

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in Carol (AP)

Blanchett will be up against Dame Maggie Smith, who has been nominated for her role as Miss Shepherd in the Alan Bennett-scripted The Lady in the Van.

Bridge of Spies, the Cold War thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance, also picked up nine nominations, including for film, director and supporting actor for much-loved British actor Rylance, his first Bafta nomination.

Redmayne, the 2015 Bafta and Oscar winner for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, will be up against Leonardo DiCaprio who, after four nominations, is still searching for his first win for best actor.

DiCaprio is nominated for The Revenant, which is released this week.

Leading actress category is among the most keenly fought with Blanchett and Danish Girl star Alicia Vikander up against Saoirse Ronan, Brie Larson and Maggie Smith. Some, however, bemoaned the omission of Charlotte Rampling and Helen Mirren.
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Kevin Spacey is one step closer to running Hollywood  he now owns movie studio Relativity Media.

The actor's production company Trigger Street Productions  which he runs alongside Dana Brunetti  is replacing Chapter 11 as the overseer of "all creative and film production" following Relativity's plunge towards bankruptcy.

This is quite a coup considering Spacey has previous of successfully running a respected establishment as exemplified in his past work as artistic director of The Old Vic Theatre Company.

Spacey will be chairman while his producing partner Brunetti will become president. CEO and founder of Relativity Media Ryan Kavanaugh said, "I could not be more excited to partner with such talented professionals."

Spacey and Brunetti's Trigger Street Productions has extensive credits to its name, including The Social Network and Captain Phillips, as well as Spacey's very own Netflix television series House of Cards.

"Dana and I coming in at this moment hopefully will bring a credibility, a righting of the ship. It's a very excited position to be in, where we can green-light a film," the actor told Deadline.

House of Cards is returning to Netflix for a fourth series on 4 March. In the series, Spacey plays President Frank Underwood  a role for which he won a Golden Globe in 2015.
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If any bit part Stormtrooper was going to become a meme from The Force Awakens, youd have thought it would be the one voiced by Daniel Craig.

But no, it was the guy who couldnt conceal his anger at Finns disloyalty and wielded a Lightsaber-resistant baton.

Quickly nicknamed TR-8R after his one line in the film, Traitor!, you might have thought the Stormtrooper was a hastily-tacked-on addition - hence his apparent lack of backstory.

But no, he is actually named FN-2199 and hes firmly part of Star Wars canon.

His name is FN-2199, but his friends call him Nines. the official Star Wars website wrote in a new blog.

As detailed in Greg Ruckas excellent book Before the Awakening, Nines trained and served on a squad with Finn (then FN-2187) in the First Order. That explains why he seems just a little extra angry upon seeing Finn during the attack on Mazs Castle. You can see FN-2199 in the image below by Phil Noto from Before the Awakening  hes the trooper seated in the background with red hair. Whod have thought?

That fancy baton wasnt just added to shift more merchandise either.

'Theres a reason that Nines gets to use an awesome weapon (which is called a Z6 baton),' the blog continues. 'Hes riot control, and part of an elite squad that enforces order or squashes uprisings. While their weapons are non-lethal in theory, the Z6 can definitely cause harm or kill an opponent when used with brute force. Look, if a lightsaber cant cut it, you know it aint good news.'

FN-2199s time in the sequel trilogy was short-lived however, as you may remember Finn was saved from him thanks to a bolt through the troopers chest from Chewies bowcaster.
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If you're a fan of Deadwood, you've most likely long lost hope of a continuation. Well, it's coming.

In very welcome news, HBO president Michael Lombardo confirmed to TVLine he has officially greenlit a resurrection in the form of a movie.

David Milch's beloved US Western series ran for three seasons from 2004 before receiving an untimely cancellation in 2006.

"David has our commitment that we are going to do it," revealed Lombardo.

He pitched what he thought generally the storyline would be  and knowing David, that could change. But it's going to happen."

Starring Ian McShane, Timothy Olyphant and Molly Parker, it seems Milch would have a struggle on his hand reassembling his former cast; McShane has numerous upcoming films to shoot  including the recently announced John Wick 2  while Parker stars as Jacqueline Sharp in Netflix series House of Cards.

Lombardo, however, doesn't see this as a problem. He commented: "I'm going to leave that in David's hands. He's confident he will be able to."

Deadwood is set in the 1800s and revolves around citizens of the corrupted South Dakota town of the title, including Al Swearengen (McShane), Seth Bullock (Olyphant) and Sol Star (John Hawkes).

McShane is set to appear in an episode of Game of Thrones when it returns to screens for season six on 24 April.
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The Paris Agreement to tackle global warming has actually dealt a major setback to the fight against climate change, leading academics will warn.

The deal may have been trumpeted by world leaders but is far too weak to do help prevent devastating harm to the Earth, it is claimed.

Recommended Read more The one word that nearly killed the climate deal

In a joint letter to The Independent, some of the worlds top climate scientists launch a blistering attack on the deal, warning that it offers false hope that could ultimately prove to be counterproductive in the battle to curb global warming.

The letter, which carries eleven signatures including professors Peter Wadhams and Stephen Salter, of the universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh, warns that the Paris Agreement is dangerously inadequate.

Because of the Paris failure, the academics say the worlds only chance of saving itself from rampant global warming is a giant push into controversial and largely untested geo-engineering technologies that seek to cool the planet by manipulating the Earths climate system.

The scientists, who also include University of California professor James Kennett, argues that deadly flaws in the deal struck in the French capital last month mean it gives the impression that global warming is now being properly addressed when in fact the measures fall woefully short of what is needed to avoid runaway climate change.

This means that the kind of extreme action that needs to be taken immediately to have any chance of avoiding devastating global warming, such as massive and swift cuts to worldwide carbon emissions  which only fell by about 1 per cent last year  will not now be taken, they say.

 UN climate change announcement

The hollow cheering of success at the end of the Paris Agreement proved yet again that people will hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest. What they disregarded were the deadly flaws lying just beneath its veneer of success, the academics write in the the letter, also signed by Dr Alan Gadian of the University of Leeds and Professor Paul Beckwith of the University of Ottowa in Canada.

What people wanted to hear was that an agreement had been reached on climate change that would save the world while leaving lifestyles and aspirations unchanged. The solution it proposes is not to agree on an urgent mechanism to ensure immediate cuts in emissions, but to kick the can down the road.

The authors dont dispute the huge diplomatic achievement of the Paris Agreement  getting 195 world leaders to sign up to a global warming target of between 1.5C to 2C and pledging action to cut carbon emissions.

But they say the actions agreed are far too weak to get anywhere close to that target. Furthermore, the pledges countries have made to cut their carbon emissions are not sufficiently binding to ensure they are met, while the Paris Agreement will not force them to rachet them up as often as they need to.

Of even greater concern, they say, is the lack of dramatic immediate action that was agreed to tackle global warming. The Paris Agreement only comes into force in 2020  by which point huge amounts of additional CO2 will have been pumped into the atmosphere. The signatories claim this makes it all but impossible to limit global warming to 2C, let alone 1.5C.

Climate change protests around the world Show all 25 1 /25 Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Rome, Italy Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators gather in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world People hold hands to form a human chain during a gathering called by ecologist organisations in Marseille, southern France, to protest against global warming a day ahead of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) held in Paris Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during protests on Place de la Republique, ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during a protest on Place de la Republique ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world A group of people perform during a rally to promote climate protection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Climate change protests around the world A protester sits next to his sign that reads 'Monsanto the Devil Incorporated ' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Environmentalists dance during a protest near the Place de la Republique after the cancellation of a planned climate march following shootings in the French capital, ahead of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21), in Paris, France Reuters Climate change protests around the world People protest next to characters dressed as wild animals during a march against climate change near the Monument to the Revolution, in Mexico City AP Climate change protests around the world Protesters carries a banner while they take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People take part in a protest about climate change around New York City Hall at lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Piazza Castello, Turin, Italy Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a globe during a protest for the global climate day in Lugano, Switzerland Climate change protests around the world Yemenis hold banners as they participate in the Global March for Climate in the old city of Sanaia, Yemen Climate change protests around the world Protesters dressed as Santa Claus take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People gather at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, during the Global Climate March to demand action on climate change telling world leaders on the eve of a crunch UN summit that there is "no planet B". From Sydney to London, humid Rio to chilly New York, at least 683,000 hit the streets in 2,300 events across 175 countries at the weekend, co-organiser and campaign group Avaaz said, calling it the largest number of people to protest over climate change all at once Getty Images Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators participate in the Global March for Climate in Athens, Greece Climate change protests around the world A man wearing a Bernie Sanders mask leads hundreds of demonstrators who marched near City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Patricia Hauser joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a poster of a sick Earth as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators march around City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world A demonstrator holds cut-out of US Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world George Patten holds a sign that reads 'No Fracking Ever!' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Gabrielle Sosa wears 'Rising Sea Levels' sign as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA

The Paris Agreements heart was in the right place but the content is worse than inept. It was a real triumph for international diplomacy and sends a strong message that the sceptics have lost their case and that the science is correct on climate change. The rest is little more than fluff and risks locking in failure, said Professor Kevin Anderson of Manchester University, who has not signed the letter but agrees with its argument.

Peter Wadhams, professor of ocean physics at the University of Cambridge and a signatory of the letter, said the prospects for curbing global warming following the Paris Agreement are now so dire that he advocates a charge into geo-engineering  not something he recommends lightly. Other things being equal Im not a great fan of geo-engineering but I think it absolutely necessary given the situation were in. Its a sticking plaster solution. But you need it because looking at the world, nobodys instantly changing their pattern of life, Prof Wadhams said.

Pumping huge amounts of water spray into clouds to make them bigger and brighter so that they reflect sunlight back into the atmosphere  known as Marine Cloud Brightening  offers the best geo-engineering prospect, he said.

Geo-engineering technologies  which also envisage putting giant mirrors in space or whitening the surface of the ocean to deflect incoming solar radiation back into space  are controversial because of fears that they are technically demanding, would be extremely expensive while interfering with the climate system could have damaging unintended consequences for the planet.

A spokesman for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change said: The Paris Agreement is a resounding declaration of political intent by all the worlds nations. We are fully confident that countries are not sitting on their haunches waiting until 2020 before doing anything, he said.

The letter

The hollow cheering of success at the end of COP21 agreement proved yet again that people will hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest. What people wanted to hear was that an agreement had been reached on climate change that would save the world while leaving lifestyles and aspirations unchanged.

What they disregarded were the deadly flaws lying just beneath its veneer of success. As early as the third page of the draft agreement is the acknowledgment that its CO 2 target wont keep the global temperate rise below 2 deg C, the level that was once set as the critical safe limit. The solution it proposes is not to agree on an urgent mechanism to ensure immediate cuts in emissions, but to kick the can down the road by committing to calculate a new carbon budget for a 1.5 deg C temperature increase that can be talked about in 2020.

Given that we cant agree on the climate models or the CO 2 budget to keep temperatures rises to 2 deg C, then we are naive to think we will agree on a much tougher target in five years when, in all likelihood, the exponentially increasing atmospheric CO 2 levels mean it will be too late.

More ominously, these inadequate targets require mankind to do something much more than cut emissions with a glorious renewable technology programme that will exceed any other past human endeavour. They also require carbon to be sucked out the air. The favoured method is to out-compete the fossil fuel industry by providing biomass for power stations. This involves rapidly growing trees and grasses faster than nature has ever done on land we dont have, then burning it in power stations that will capture and compress the CO2 using an infrastructure we dont have and with technology that wont work on the scale we need and to finally store it in places we cant find. To maintain the good news agenda, all of this was omitted from the agreement.

The roar of devastating global storms has now drowned the false cheer from Paris and brutally brought into focus the extent of our failure to address climate change. The unfortunate truth is that things are going to get much worse. The planets excess heat is now melting the Arctic Ice cap like a hot knife through butter and is doing so in the middle of winter. Unless stopped, this Arctic heating will lead to a rapid release of the methane clathrates from the sea floor of the Arctic and herald the next phase of catastrophically intense climate change that our civilisation will not survive.

The time for the wishful thinking and blind optimism that has characterised the debate on climate change is over. The time for hard facts and decisions is now. Our backs are against the wall and we must now start the process of preparing for geo-engineering. We must do this in the knowledge that its chances of success are small and the risks of implementation are great.

We must look at the full spectrum of geoengineering. This will cover initiatives that increase carbon sequestration by restoration of rain forests to the seeding of oceans. It will extend to solar radiation management techniques such as artificially whitening clouds and, in extremis, replicating the aerosols from volcanic activity. It will have to look at what areas that we selectively target, such as the methane emitting regions of the Arctic and which areas we avoid.

The high political and environmental risks associated with this must be made clear so that it is never used as an alternative to making the carbon cuts that are urgently needed. Instead cognisance of these must be used to challenge the narrative of wishful thinking that has infested the climate change talks for the past twenty one years and which reached its zenith with the CO21 agreement. In todays international vacuum on this, it is imperative that our government takes a lead.

Signed by

Professor Paul Beckwith, University of Ottowa

Professor Stephen Salter  Edinburgh University

Professor Peter Wadhams  Cambridge University

Professor James Kennett of University of California.

Dr Hugh Hunt  Cambridge University

Dr. Alan Gadian -Senior Scientist, Nation Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, University of Leeds

Dr. Mayer Hillman - Senior Fellow Emeritus of the Institute of the Policy Studies Institute

Dr. John Latham  University of Manchester

Aubrey Meyer  Director, Global Commons Institute.

John Nissen - Chair Arctic Methane Emergency Group

Kevin Lister - Author of "The Vortex of Violence and why we are losing the war on climate change"
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When Lulu, one of the last remaining members of Britains only resident orca whale population, was found washed up on a the shores of a Scottish island earlier this week her death prompted an unprecedented outpouring of public concern.

Specialists say Lulus demise harbingers even more tragedy, however. Her pod  a community of orca, or killer, whales with a unique set of characteristics  is now thought to be just too small for it to survive.

The so-called West Coast Community  an isolated population of killer whales, whose members are slightly bigger than other orcas thanks to hundreds of thousands of years of evolution  is now down to eight members; Nicola, Moneypenny, Floppy Fin, John Coe, Comet, Aquarius, Puffin and Occasus.

The prospects for the population were never good but now theyre worse. With a population as low as eight the chances of them recovering is slim to nil at this point, said Dr Conor Ryan, of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, which has been monitoring the community since the 1990s.

The pod has been in long-term decline, producing not a single calf since monitoring began  although whether this is because the females are too old to reproduce, their food supplies are dwindling or pollution is taking its toll, is unclear said Dr Ryan.

Lulu photographed from from the Waternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye in 2014 (PA)

Lulu, a 6.2 metre killer whale, is thought to have met an excruciating death after becoming entangled in a fishing rope that prevented her from swimming and drowned her gradually over a period of several days before she was washed onto the shores of the Scottish island of Tiree.

Her death has been met with a public outpouring of grief which the man in charge of her post-mortem says dwarfs anything he has seen in his seven years as Scotlands chief marine mammal pathologist.

Dr Andrew Brownlow, who runs the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, has worked on 2,700 separate marine mammal strandings since 2009  the vast majority of them involving dead animals  but says he has never seen anything like this before.

The response has been astonishing. Its the highest level of reaction Ive seen by an order of magnitude. Killer whales are so charismatic and so iconic that they really capture the imagination. And people have been very affected by the images of Lulu stranded on the beach, said Dr Brownlow, who has yet to complete the post mortem but thinks it very likely that her death was caused by fishing rope.

She is one of a very small population, she had a name, her death was unpleasant and unfortunately, directly or indirectly, it was due to human impact. When you stack these reasons up you can see why people have been so bothered about it, he said.

Although the population has been monitored by various parties for four decades, remarkably little is known about its membership because there are so few of them and they roam around thousands of square miles of sea. Lulu was found on the shore of the most westerly island of the Inner Hebrides but members of her community have been spotted everywhere from the Outer Hebrides, to the Moray Firth on the North East coast of Scotland, the coast of Donegal in Ireland and the Welsh coast. Their favourite hangout, however, is the Isle of Skye.

Given how little is known about the pod, the death of Lulu does at least have one silver lining  she is the first member of the population that has been found dead giving a unique opportunity to learn more about the community, says Dr Brownlow.

A genetic analysis of Lulu should provide valuable clues about how the population is genetically, behaviourally and socially different from other killer whale populations and an examination of her reproductive organs may tell us something about why the community hasnt produced any calves for decades.

Dr Brownlow will also conduct tests on Lulus blubber layer for contaminants which could tell us the role pollutants are playing in the demise of the community.

But the results could take some time and people are going to have to be patient, he says.

Its going to take months Im afraid. It isnt CSI [US forensic crime drama] - its not like you can put it in the machine and get the result by next week unfortunately.

Cartridge cargo spill threatens widlife

Thousands of printer ink cartridges are washing up beaches on the South-west coast of Britain, after a cargo spill that could pose a risk to birds and sea turtles.

The Hewlett Packard cartridges are believed to have floated in from a cargo ship spill more than a year ago.

Beaches in France, Portugal and the Irish Republic are among those where cartridges have been found, along with the Azores near Portugal and the Hebrides off Scotland.

Hewlett Packard said the cartridges were spilled in an Atlantic storm, and is setting up a fund to pay for local groups to collect and return them to be recycled.

Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer estimates as many as 370,000 cartridges could be at sea, based on the pattern of where they are emerging and the possible size of the containers.

Adam Barnett
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Internet giants have joined forces to attack parts of the Governments proposed new snooping Bill.

Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo criticised plans to force firms to help security services hack into devices as very dangerous and called for several changes to the draft legislation.

The draft Investigatory Powers Bill unveiled last year includes a requirement for internet firms to store records of data relating to peoples web and social media use for up to a year, and domestic communications providers will be required in law to help officers hack into suspects smartphones and computers.

In a 2,000-word joint statement to the committee of MPs and peers, the five US technology firms said the actions of the Government could have far-reaching implications.

They stated that as a general rule users should be informed when the Government seeks access to data. They also criticised opaque aspects of the Bill and claimed that allowing warrants on overseas companies to be served on British-based offices presents a risk to UK employees.

Security minister John Hayes said: We are clear about the need for legislation that will provide law enforcement and the security and intelligence agencies with the powers they need in the digital age, subject to strict safeguards and world-leading oversight.

Press Association
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Apple will definitely be removing the headphone port in its next major iPhone release, according to a report.

The company is set to swap the traditional headphone jack and instead send sound through the lightning port that at the moment is mostly used for charging, according to a report in Fast Company. That process will allow the phone to be even thinner than normal, alongside a range of other design changes.

As well as the changes to the headphone setup the phone will also be waterproof and able to charge wirelessly, the magazine reported citing a source with knowledge of the companys plans.

Apple is working with the company that has helped create its audio chips to make an iPhone that will be able to play music out of the port, the magazine reported. It will also use new noise-cancelling technology made by a UK company called Wolfson Microelectronics, which will allow the phone and headphones to work together to remove background noise while listening to music and making phone calls.

Other headphone makers will be able to use that special technology but will have to pay Apple a fee to do so, the report claimed.

Little is known about how Apple will implement the new headphones, and the company itself has not said anything about how it would do so or suggested that it actually will.

But its likely that Apple will encourage people to listen to their music in one of three ways. Either they could use Bluetooth headphones, which dont need a plug anyway; buy headphones that plug straight into the lightning port, some models of which already exist; or Apple will also make an adapter that will allow people to plug their traditional headphones into the phones lightning port.

Apples phone would be the first major handset to get rid of the traditional 3.55mm headphone jack. That plug is used in almost every audio system in the world, allowing phones and other devices to connect into headphones and hi-fis for audio playback.

In pictures: iPhone 6s goes on sale Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: iPhone 6s goes on sale In pictures: iPhone 6s goes on sale Despite the rain, some 40 on-line reservation buyers visit the Apple Store in Omotesando neighborhood as the iPhones new models - iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus go on sale in Tokyo, Japan Rex In pictures: iPhone 6s goes on sale Sam Shaikh holds up two bags containing the new iPhone as he is surrounded by store staff after the release and sale start of the new Apple IPhone 6S at the Apple store in Covent Garden, London In pictures: iPhone 6s goes on sale Apple fans pose for selfie at the store in Australia, during the launch of the new iPhone 6s In pictures: iPhone 6s goes on sale People cheer at the launch of the new iPhone 6s, at the store in Australia In pictures: iPhone 6s goes on sale 19-years-old David Kiss from Debrecen, Hungary, shows off his new iPhone 6s at the Apple store in Munich, Germany. Kiss camped in front of the shop for almost a week to be the first to get the new smartphone In pictures: iPhone 6s goes on sale A customer tries out a rose gold iPhone 6s Plus smartphone at the Apple Store near the West Lake in Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province, China In pictures: iPhone 6s goes on sale A member of staff processes a transaction as customer purchase phones during the launch of the Apple iPhone 6s at The Apple Store Opera, in Paris, France In pictures: iPhone 6s goes on sale The Apple store in Beijing launches the new iPhone 6s In pictures: iPhone 6s goes on sale Veronika Babochkina, 27, from Moscow, Russia, looks at the new iPhone 6s at The Apple Store in Opera, after queuing for few days, in Paris In pictures: iPhone 6s goes on sale Jonathan Pierrard, 26, from Rossignol, Belgium is the first customer to leave with the new iPhone 6s at The Apple Store in Opera, after queuing for few days, in Parisr to open new shortcuts - a feature Apple calls 3D Touch. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

But the new phone will borrow features from existing competitors like waterproofing and wireless charging, according to the same report.

The iPhone 7 is expected to go into full production in the coming months. It is likely to be released in September or October.

But Apples next phone release might be the iPhone 6c, which has been rumoured to be launching in March.
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Motorola, the company that brought the flip phone to the world, is dead.

The iconic phone companys branding is going to be killed off by its relatively new owner Lenovo, it has been announced.

The company will slowly phase out Motorola, its chief operating officer told Cnet. The Moto name that has been attached to its recent phones will continue to live on and the phones will keep the classic M logo, but those phones will now be branded Moto by Lenovo.

Motorola was once perhaps the most famous brand in mobile phones, making many people's first handset. It invented the now-iconic Razr flip phone  the first of its kind  and its Hello, Moto ringtone heralded the beginning of the popularity of the phones.

But the company had less success in the era of smartphones and the iconic brand has had less interest. It has still had some success with its Moto line of phones, however, and the company will keep that brand for its more high-end handsets.

The company has been through a number of different incarnations in recent years. It was bought by Google in 2012, and then sold on to Lenovo two years later.

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

At the time of Motorolas sale to Lenovo, its boss said that the new company was our treasure. We plan to not only protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger," said Yang Yuanqing.

But now the Motorola brand will disappear entirely.
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The Government-appointed information watchdog has criticised Theresa Mays spying plans, arguing that they could lead to the exposure of personal information and are of real concern.

The upcoming Investigatory Powers Bill gives spies sweeping new powers, and forces internet companies to keep records on all of their users. Parts of the law also seem to suggest that the Government will make companies weaken their security so that intelligence agencies can read messages.

The Government has claimed that the law is written to keep people safe and that the powers are limited and safeguarded. But the Governments own appointed figure has said that the powers could be damaging.

On the day the Investigatory Powers Bill was presented to parliament, Theresa May claimed that encryption would not be banned and that the law would be safe.

It will not compel overseas communications service providers to meet our domestic retention obligations for communications data, Ms May said of the law. And it will not ban encryption or do anything to undermine the security of peoples data.

All of those claims have been criticised by a range of technology companies. And now the ICO has said that parts of the law that touch on encryption are of real concern.

If the possible obligations surround the weakening or circumvention of encryption then this is matter of real concern, the office writes in its submission to a parliamentary committee that is scrutinising the bill.

The Information Commissioner has stressed the importance of encryption to guard against the compromise of personal information. Weakening encryption can have significant consequences for individuals.

 Theresa May: Extremism challenges

The constant stream of security breaches only serves to highlight how important encryption is towards safeguarding personal information. Weakened encryption safeguards could be exploited by hackers and nation states intent on harming the UKs interests.

The office also says that the way that the law is written is unclear and that it is not possible to assess the powers fully because they are not specific enough.

As well as the encryption parts of the law, the commissioner criticised the Governments claims around internet connection records. If passed, internet companies will be required to store information about their users for a year, in case spies want to look over them.

The Government has likened that data to phone records, since it shows such limited information. But the submission criticises the argument and says that in fact they could be much more expansive.

Although these are portrayed as conveying limited information about an individual they can, in reality, go much further and can reveal a great deal about the behaviours and activities of an individual, the office wrote. Such records would show particular services that are connected to and this could be a particular website visited although not the pages within them.

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

This could lead to a detailed and intrusive picture of an individuals interest or concerns being retained and then disclosed.

The Information Commissioners Office is an independent body that was set up to look after the information of the public. It reports to parliament and is sponsored by the Department for Media, Culture and Sport.

The office is entirely independent but it is rare that members publicly criticise government decisions.

The submission were presented to the same committee that has heard criticism of the bill from companies including Apple and Google. Those companies have raised some of the same concerns  that they may be forced to hack into peoples phones and make them less secure so that spies could have access to communications.
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Bringing a person into the world, teaching them wrong from right, and equipping them with the skills to live a happy life make parenting an extremely challenging and daunting job.

Its no wonder, then, that mothers and fathers can obsess over the minute details of their parenting skills, while simply trying to care for a childs basic needs.

A thread on the question and answer website Quora laid bare the fear surrounding this issue, as one user asked: What is the most psychologically damaging thing you can say to a child?

Members of the website advised each what not to tell children: drawing from their own experiences and anecdotal evidence.

One woman wrote that her mother was sometimes like a volcano when she became angry, and that her verbal attacks started with the words: Are you listening? Look at me! She then berated her until she cried.

Another member suggested the opposite: that simply saying nothing  by barely communicating or interacting with your child  was what could really damage them.

But can an unkind comment said in a rage, a joke that your child misinterprets, or a formal silence unravel otherwise good parenting?

It depends on what you mean by damage, explains Dr Matt Woolgar of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King's College London, who works with families for the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

'Ghost' kids need more time from parents

You can certainly say things that hurt a child and contribute to their development of self-concept. But youre not going to say one thing that is going to scar them neurobiologically.

Instead, Dr Woolgar stresses, it is important for parents to understand that all children are individuals who cope differently with scenarios.

Giving the example of a three-child family, he says: One or two siblings might be absolutely fine with the throwaway comments parents say, but one might find it quite damaging and it will get below their defences.

The key task of parenting is understanding what your child is like <p> </p>

But such responses arent necessarily negative, and can enable a child to be more receptive to a parent's positivity.

The evidence is that being sensitive can mean a child is also quite responsive to positive things, he says.

Dr Sam Wass, a developmental psychologist based at the University of East London and Cambridge University, details a similar phenomenon with children described as dandelions and orchids.

Citing a study by Dr Megan Gunnar, an expert in child development, he explains that dandelion children are neurobiologically less sensitive and will flourish in supportive or unsupportive households. On the contrary, orchid children thrive when they are in supportive environments, but suffer greatly in unsupportive homes.

But how can a parent tell whether their child is particularly sensitive?

The key task of parenting is understanding what your child is like and be tuned in to them. You would hope people are sensitive enough to notice the impact theyre having on a child.

And the affect of a parents behaviour may not be immediate, adds Dr Woolgar, recalling how his three-year-old son sometimes repeats comments he made a week earlier.

The added difficulty comes for the parents of children of differing ages, as a four-year-old will likely not grasp irony or sarcasm in the same way a 10-year-old can.

It does make life difficult because you have to always be thinking about how each child will pick up on what you tell them, says Dr Woolgar.

The best cities in Britain to raise a family Show all 10 1 /10 The best cities in Britain to raise a family The best cities in Britain to raise a family 1. York andyspicturesurl/Creative Commons The best cities in Britain to raise a family 2. Plymouth Creaitve Commons The best cities in Britain to raise a family 3. Stoke-on-Trent Getty The best cities in Britain to raise a family 4. Newcastle upon Tyne The best cities in Britain to raise a family 5. Birmingham Creative Commons The best cities in Britain to raise a family 6. Wolverhampton Creative Commons The best cities in Britain to raise a family 7. Coventry Creative Commons The best cities in Britain to raise a family 8. Bristol Matt Cardy/Getty Images The best cities in Britain to raise a family 9. Peterborough Creative Commons The best cities in Britain to raise a family 10. Leicester Creative Commons

But both experts are clear children are not psychologically "damaged" unless they are put under significant, prolonged, stress - experiences which average parents never get close to.

A recent Harvard study on children who lived in a Romanian orphanage where they were severely abused showed that their brain development was affected by what they were subjected to. However, the changes were relatively small and not widespread.

Therefore, parents who generally support, nurture, and show their children love are highly unlikely to cause harm with flippant phrases.

Every child gets shouted at and thats not a problem, says Dr Wass.

Research on animals shows that [only] a year of stresss early in development tends to have permanent effects," a level not reached by most parents.

Dr Woolgar mirrors Dr Wass reassurances: I think theres an anxiety that nothing is definite in how you can impact your child."

He adds: "Trust your instincts about what you know about your child. You will always be saying things that arent helpful, but youll hopefully be saying more things that are helpful. You cant be a perfect parent.

You have to keep telling yourself as a parent youre doing your best and there are lots of opportunities for change and nothing is definite. There are lot of opportunities to make things better.
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After weeks of agony with a raging toothache, Claire Skipper made a desperate bid to stop the pain once and for all.

At 3am, she downed several shots of whisky, went into the garden shed and began yanking at her rotten molar with a pair of pliers.

Her attempt at amateur dentistry was, unsurprisingly, a failure. The tooth snapped in half and Claire, 29, was left writhing in even more agony.

Such is the difficulty for people in accessing and affording an NHS dentist in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

But now a charity, Dentaid, which cares for peoples teeth across the developing world, has come to the rescue of low-income families, homeless people, migrants and others in the town who are missing out on dental services.

It is working with local dentists, who are providing their services for free, to offer its first out-of-hours pay if you can emergency scheme in the UK, with the support of a community food project.

It comes as NHS dentists across the country warned this week that the system is unfit for purpose and that dental health is falling to third-world levels in parts of England.

The Independent found a steady flow of patients using the out-of-hours service at the Dewsbury Dental Centre in Halifax Road, which first opened in the 1920s.

Its very hard to get a dentist in Dewsbury, says Jack Swallow, an 81-year-old grandfather of seven, who has just had a filling. Im just grateful that they have seen to me tonight.

I managed to see a dentist some time ago to have a cap on one of my teeth and was told afterwards that it would cost 220. I couldnt pay it with my pension and had to get help from my family.

Other patients having fillings include Fatima Sidat, 41, who says she was crossed off the register at her NHS surgery after being a patient for 10 years. Ive been trying to find a new dentist for two years, she says. People shouldnt have to do this, but you cant live with the pain and you have to eat. Its fantastic that these dentists are giving up their time like this.

Upstairs are two brothers, Hader and Ale Maneeb, aged 13 and 11, who are taking turns to have teeth extracted. The boys, who recently arrived in Dewsbury from Italy, are with their father Maliq and younger brother Umar.

Its really good, says Hader as he leaves the surgery, his cheeks flushed red after the extraction. Now, Im not in any pain at all.

Previous patients have included a woman with only one tooth who had not seen a dentist for 28 years and man whose face was swollen with an abscess. A group of Hungarian patients even arrived with their own translator.

Id like to think all dentists joined the profession because they want to help people, says Nick ODonovan, who owns the surgery.

This is one way that we can give something back. Of course, the best thing for people to do is to have regular check-ups and good oral health, but there are people who are falling through the net for all sorts of reasons.

A report by Healthwatch Kirklees, the local authority area that includes Dewsbury, found in 2014 that significant numbers of people were struggling to see an NHS dentist and that dental contracts were inflexible and based on historical demand.

The out-of-hours scheme was the idea of staff at the Real Junk Food Project in Dewsbury, a community initiative which supplies meals to those in need.

Paul Burr from the project contacted Dentaid after he realised visitors were not able to enjoy their meals because of their painful teeth. Dentaid is more commonly seen in African countries where there is only one dentist for a quarter of a million people and where people often turn to witch doctors for help. In the UK, there is around one dentist to 3,000 people.

Ms Skipper is now fully recovered from her attempt at amateur dentistry. That pain was indescribable, she says. Id tried to get an NHS dentist, but nowhere was taking any new patients. Sometimes, I dont have enough money for the electricity meter, so I cant afford private care.

No one in Britain in 2015 should have to resort to pulling their own teeth.
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Drinking more than one glass of wine or pint of beer a day increases the risk of developing cancer, according to medical experts.

New guidelines for alcohol consumption by the UK published Friday by chief medical officers warn that drinking any level of alcohol has been linked to a range of different cancers.

The evidence from the Committee on Carcinogenicity (COC) overturns the oft-held view that a glass of red wine can have significant medical benefits for both men and women.

Recommended Read more The drinks which are equivalent to the new 14 unit alcohol guidelines

Instead, the committee says that people who do not drink are significantly at less risk of cancer than those who do, and even those who give up drinking may take years before they reach the low risk level of cancer in teetotallers.

Dame Sally Davies has also defended the new guidance from critics who have accused her of "scaremongering" the public with advice that goes "too far".

In the greatest overhaul of official medical advice on alcohol in 20 years, men are now being advised to drink the same level of alcohol as women - no more than six or seven pints, or small glasses of wine, a week.

Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, said: "Drinking any level of alcohol regularly carries a health risk for anyone, but if men and women limit their intake to no more than 14 units a week it keeps the risk of illness like cancer and liver disease low."

She added that pregnant women should not drink any alcohol whatsoever, rather than the currently recommended limit of one to two units once or twice a week.

Even the idea that certain wines, drunk once in the evening, can aid good health is challenged in the new report.

The benefits of alcohol for heart health only apply for women aged 55 and over - and only when wine is limited to around two glasses a week - the COC report found.

Drinking for health reasons is "not justified", the group concluded.

Yet some critics have said the new guidance amounts to "nanny state intervention", the Daily Telegraph has reported.

The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol Show all 10 1 /10 The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 10. Poland Results from an OECD report The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 9. Germany The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 8. Luxembourg Rex Features The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 7. France The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 6. Hungary Rex Features The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 5. Russia AFP/Getty Images The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 4. Czech Republic The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 3. Estonia Rex Features The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 2. Austria Getty Images The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 1. Lithuania AFP/Getty Images

Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said alcohol consumption was falling in the UK and the strong guidelines were unnecessary.

"The change to the guidelines will turn hundreds of thousands of people into 'hazardous drinkers' overnight, thereby reviving the moral panic about drinking in Britain and opening the door to yet more nanny state interventions," he told the Daily Telegraph.

Dame Davies disputed this accusation, saying the guidance was based on clear evidence that cancers increase with the amount of alcohol consumed.

If you take 1,000 women, 110 will get breast cancer without drinking. Drink up to these guidelines and an extra 20 women will get cancer because of that drinking. Double the guideline limit and an extra 50 women per 1,000 will get cancer," she told BBC Breakfast.

"Take bowel cancer in men: if they drink within the guidelines their risk is the same as non-drinking. But if they drink up to the old guidelines an extra 20 men per 1,000 will get bowel cancer.

"Thats not scaremongering, thats fact and its hard science.

By bringing men's alcohol consumption down from 21 units a week to 14, meanwhile, the UK is now one of a few countries to have the same drinking recommendation for both sexes.
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More than a thousand doctors will call on the Medical Director of the NHS to resign over allegations that he let the Department of Health sex up and sign off on a letter warning of the risks to patient safety of strike action.

The Independent has revealed details of emails between officials in the Department of Health and Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director of NHS England, that showed Sir Bruce allowed Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, to have final sign-off on the letter he sent to the doctors union.

The emails also showed that the letter, which was released to the media, went through a number of revisions to ensure concerns about the possible impact of a major incident  such as a Paris-style attack  during the strike were made as hard-edged as possible.

They also showed Mr Hunt only agreed that Sir Bruce would not be asked to speak to the media on the day the strike was declared so long as his letter reiterated his opposition to strike action.

Doctors have written to Sir Bruce calling for him to apologise for his collusion with the Government and to take the only decent course of action and resign.

At the same time, the former health minister Norman Lamb, who worked with Sir Bruce and Mr Hunt in Government, called for a Cabinet Office inquiry into the emails, which he said raised serious concerns about potential political interference.

He said: In cases like this, it is crucial to establish who had involvement in something that risks further damaging the Governments relationship with junior doctors.

NHS Medical Director Sir Bruce Keogh (Getty)

In their letter, passed to The Independent, the doctors point out that Sir Bruce wrote his letter just days after the terrorist attacks in Paris which led to the loss of 130 lives.

You implied that, were a similar event to occur during junior doctors industrial action, we might not return to work to help the victims, an insinuation we found deeply offensive, they write.

Moreover, your use of the tragic events in Paris for political ends was, we felt, disrespectful of those who lost their lives, and wholly unbecoming of a senior medical leader.

Imagine now our dismay in discovering that you engaged in covert crafting and recrafting of this letter with Whitehall officials, in order to ensure the final product was as hard-edged as possible.

Do you really feel that we, the countrys junior doctors, deserve to be attacked  with your permission  by the full force of the Governments spin machine? To have the publics trust in us put at risk by the Governments actions?

The doctors add that as the Medical Director of NHS England, a supposedly independent body, Sir Bruces conduct should transcend political agendas.

It should not fall upon us, the junior doctors you purport to lead, to have to remind you of your own professional and ethical duties as a doctor. However, since your conduct in this matter clearly falls short of those obligations, may we reiterate that the GMC expects you to be honest and open and act with integrity and, furthermore, to never abuse your patients trust in you or the publics trust in your profession.

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said Sir Bruce and Mr Hunt should both appear before the Health Select Committee.

Senior advisors and ministers have questions to answer about what has happened over this letter.

The Government has poisoned the well of relations between junior doctors and NHS bosses. As well as a full inquiry to establish the facts, Sir Bruce Keogh and Jeremy Hunt should also be called to appear before the Health Select Committee.

Meanwhile, both sides in the dispute over the new junior doctor contract said they thought there was almost no chance of a resolution before the first strike is due to be staged next week.

Despite talks aimed at resolving the dispute taking place at Acas, a BMA source described the prospects of a deal as infinitesimally small, while sources in the Department of Health said they saw no prospect on an 11th hour resolution.

Barring something extraordinary happening, it is going to go ahead, they said.

NHS England had not responded to a request for a comment at the time of going to press.

The Response: Junior doctors demand resignations

Dr Hoong-Wei Gan, junior doctor, London

Discovering Professor Sir Bruce Keoghs complicity with Jeremy Hunt makes me seriously question the credibility of his widely publicised study on increased deaths over weekends, which is now being used to dictate health policy on junior doctor and consultant contracts. The NHS already offers 24/7 emergency care  but further extension of these services needs more doctors and nurses, not overworking the current ones to unsafe levels. One in five paediatric junior doctor jobs at my level are already empty. Ive never worked on a fully-staffed rota and more of my colleagues are leaving.

Taha Nasser, a junior clinical fellow, Frimley

The dismaying but unsurprising revelations give proof to the claim that we junior doctors have been making since this dispute began: that the Department of Health, with Jeremy Hunt alongside Bruce Keogh of NHS England, have been playing politics with the health and wellbeing of the public. We are deeply dismayed that an entrusted government minister and a senior doctor would collude in creating such an offensive document. As such, we no longer feel that either individual can be trusted in their respective roles and call for both of their resignations.

Dr Catherine Nunn, paediatrics

As a doctor and a researcher Bruce Keogh is expected to uphold ethical standards. Knowingly using sensitive and distressing events purely to forward a governmental agenda, especially when he is being paid to give impartial advice to that government, falls well below these standards.

Mr Yezen Sheena, plastic surgery registrar, Cambridge

Surely it did not escape Keoghs notice that, with the majority of doctors picketing just outside their A&E departments, colleagues could easily call a much greater number of back-up in to help in the unlikely event of a terrorist attack than on normal days with chronic under-staffing?

Dr Robert Jay, GP trainee, East Midlands

The role of a medical director is to provide leadership for staff, while the whole point of NHS England was to be an independent organisation. In light of Keoghs interactions with the Department of Health, NHS staff no longer has faith in him and is justified in calling for his resignation.

Dr Grant Harris, anaesthetic trainee, Liverpool

The fact that Sir Bruce Keogh has obviously colluded with the Government when he is supposed to be independent is not only disappointing but also breaks several of the GMC codes of conduct. It is another example of government-influenced spin during the campaign.
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A form of male contraception has been invented that allows a man to make himself temporarily infertile by simply flicking a switch.

German carpenter Clemens Bimek claims the invention, an implanted valve to stop the flow of sperm, will revolutionise contraception.

The surgery required sees a valve, less than an inch long and weighing less than a tenth of an ounce, implanted on the vas deferens, the ducts that carry sperm from the testicles.

(Bimek SLV)

This valve can be operated by a switch that a man can control from the outside of his scrotums skin, which will stop and resume the flow of sperm as desired.

Mr Bimek has so far only implanted the contraceptive in himself but will begin trials with 25 men this year.

Hartwig Bauer, a urologist who led Mr Bimeks surgery, told Spiegel magazine that such an innovation would be a safer bet than getting a vasectomy, due to the number of men who look to have them reversed.

A third of patients want to have the operation reversed later, but it doesnt always work, he said.

However other doctors have been less keen to praise the implant, with Wolfgang Buhmann, spokesman for the Professional Association of German urologists, concerned about potential scarring that would stop sperm flowing altogether.

Anneke Loos, head of a testing centre for medical products in Hannover, expressed concern over potential clogging in the valve.

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Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been sitting on a shelf unused, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised ideological reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide new class of treatment for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work could halve risk of cancer and heart disease Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests  but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty

"Other implants made of this material have been well tolerated elsewhere in the body, she said.

The question is whether it will cause problems when it is implanted in this area.

Mr Bimek told Spiegel that his inspiration for the valve came when watching a documentary 20 years ago.

Once he found that no patent had been filed for one he set upon developing his own.
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8 January

Campaigners claimed a major victory yesterday after MPs unanimously voted by 158 to 0 to help women hit by state pension age rises.

The House of Commons debate centred around the fact that some 2.6 million women had their state pension age delayed  in some cases twice, and by up to six years in total  without proper notice, leaving them no time to prepare adequately for their later retirement date.The womens pension age was 60, but is increasing to 66 by 2020, in line with rising life expectations.

Launching the debate, SNP MP Mhaira Black urged the government to introduce transitional arrangements to help the women affected. She pointed out it affected women across the country and from all classes and said women were being "shafted and short changed" purely because of their gender and their birthdate.

After the three-hour debate, Anne Keen, co-founder of Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) said: That the motion was unanimously carried by a vote of 158 to 0 is an embarrassment to the Governments position, and especially the intransigence of the Minister.

* * *

Two-thirds of Britons accessing their pension pots under new rights have simply chosen to cash them in, according to new figures that appear to confirm fears about the consequences of the Governments controversial reforms.

The Financial Conduct Authority reported that of the 178,990 people who accessed their pension fund between July and September last year, 120,969 took the whole lot out.

Just 23,385 people  13 per cent - used the money to buy a traditional annuity, which gives them an income for life. However, some people cashing in their pots may have invested it elsewhere - like in property, or an ISA.

The figures will increase fears that the new pension freedoms introduced last year could leave millions sleepwalking into a financial disaster in retirement.

* * *

Investors concerned about volatile stock markets should diversify, advises Adrian Lowcock of Axa Wealth. Yesterday the Footsie fell 2 per cent and there are fears of a further sell-off on worries over the Chinese economy and rising tensions in the Middle East.

More often than not stock markets fall with little warning, leaving investors suffering significant drops in the value of their investments. Acting after the event does little to restore the value of your portfolio, Mr Lowcock pointed out.

By having a well-diversified portfolio and holding funds where the managers look to protect capital from the effects of volatile markets means investors are better prepared for the next correction in stock markets whenever that will be.

* * *

There have been more cuts in loan rates. The AA has reduced its personal loan rates to 3.9 per cent and car loans to 4.1 per cent when you borrow between 7,500 and 15,000. Nationwide made similar reductions earlier this week.

* * *

The fees on Santanders 123 Current Account will climb 150 per cent on Monday. It means youll be charged 60 for the benefits the account offers, rather than the existing 24.

Is it worth switching? If you make the most of the cashback plus interest on savings, it may still be worthwhile staying with Santander, says Susan Hannums of SavingsChampion.co.uk. The account pays up to 3 per cent cashback on bills and also pays 3 per cent on balances between 3,000 and 20,000, said Ms Hannums.

,Alternatives include TSBs Classic Plus Account which pays 5 per cent on balances up to 2,000 plus 5 per cent cashback on up to 100 of contactless payments a month.

7 January

Todays parliamentary debate on the impact of the equalisation of the state pension age offers a glimmer of hope for women, says Aegons Kate Smith. It would seem reasonable to allow women to take their state pension from the age they had expected, even if this comes at the cost of receiving a lower amount to compensate for earlier payment, she said.

But Hargreaves Lansdown warned: The question is whether the government will make any concessions, knowing that the cost could very quickly run into billions, or stick to their guns and suffer the inevitable ill-feeling and negative publicity this would cause.

TUC General Secretary Frances OGrady said women have been let down by the inadequate pensions system in this country and have borne the brunt of flawed policy making. We must not repeat the mistakes of the past, she said. The state pension age review should be overseen by an independent commission.

Leading the debate in the House of Commons this afternoon will be SNP MP Mhairi Black, who said: The pace of the changes in the pension age equalisation programme have placed an unfair burden on women.

* * *

Are you owed money by bust payday lender Cash Genie? Around 1.5m remains unclaimed by borrowers who were overcharged by the firm. If thats you the liquidators RSM want to hear from you. Call 0333 366 0023.

* * *

One in four British breadwinners with dependents has no life insurance, warns MoneySuperMarket. It means almost 8.5 million Brits run the risk of their families facing financial problems if they die.

Health and education workers are most at risk with two out of five having no life cover.

6 January

Millions of Britons are facing a financial struggle this month after overspending at Christmas, according to research published today.

Almost one in three of us felt pressured to spend more than we could afford just before and over the festive period, while one in 10 people have fallen into debt, or further into existing debt, as a result of spending too much, according to the Money Advice Service.

The problems will be worsened by the fact that almost half of all workers were paid early in December. That means that more than 13 million people will have a longer wait until their payday this month. The net result is that millions will be feeling anxious, worried or even depressed throughout January.

The Money Advice Service has created a Survive January toolkit to give you checklists, tips and advice to get your finances back on track in January.

Go to moneyadviceservice.org.uk/survive-january for more information and to sign up for updates.

***

HSBC customers endured another day without online banking yesterday after the troubled bank failed to solve the technical glitches. "We are getting closer to solving the problem, but are not there yet," HSBC admitted. It said any fees incurred by customers will be waived and advised that those needing to make urgent payments should call 03457 404 404 while business customers should call 03457 60 60 60.

However the bank came in for scathing criticism from MP Andrew Tyrie, Chairman of the Treasury Committee. He said: Barely six months after the last glitch in their under-performing IT systems, HSBC is apologising again to its customers.

I will be asking the Chief Executive of HSBC, and the regulators, for an explanation of these failures, and action taken to sort them out. They just keep coming.

***

TalkTalk customers need to act fast to snap up the free upgrade offered by the firm as an apology for last years hacking scandal.

The deadline for claiming is tomorrow, Thursday 7 January and even those not directly affected by the security breach can claim a free upgrade. Following the incident TalkTalk wouldnt allow customers to cancel contracts without good reason so its definitely worth cashing in on the apology, said Hannah Maundrell of money.co.uk.

You can apply for a free upgrade at TalkTalk.co.uk.

5 January

Thousands of HSBC customers had fresh difficulties accessing their online accounts yesterday. Problems began at 8am with customers unable to access online and mobile banking.

One fed-up customer told the Independent: This is not good as Im in the middle of trying to buy a house! Hope the whole chain doesnt collapse.

The bank restored mobile banking by noon and said: We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused and our teams are working non-stop to restore all other services. We will update our customers regularly. Customers with problems should call 03457 404 404.

* * *

Nationwide Building Society is today cutting its loan rate to 3.4 per cent  its lowest ever level. But its only available if you have your main current account with the mutual. If you dont, youll be charged 4.6 per cent. The rates are being offered on loans between 7,000 and 15,000.

* * *

M&S Bank is today launching a new reward-based current account offer which offers customers a chance to earn more than 316 in the first year.

Anyone transferring their current account to M&S Bank will get a 100 M&S Gift card plus 10 per month added to the gift card as long as they pay in a minimum of 1,000 each month and have a minimum of two direct debits set up.

Theres also a monthly savings account paying 6 per cent linked to the account: save the maximum 250 per month and youll earn interest of 96.63 gross in 12 months.

But Andrew Hagger of Moneycomms warns that the 10 per month incentive is for the first year only. You should always consider the suitability of any current account based on the way you run your day to day finances, he advises.

4 January

The level of reliance on debt to make ends meet has climbed to worrying levels. Consumers borrowed more money in the run up to Christmas than in any month since February 2008, at the height of the credit crunch woes.

The Bank of England's Money and Credit report for November reveals that the amount of cash being borrowed by consumers ahead of Christmas climbed by 1.5bn. The report shows that in November consumers owed a total of 178.2 billion on credit cards and loans.

The figures raised fresh concerns about a new and possibly unsustainable credit boom.

***

Shock figures published today suggest the New Year may not prove happy for millions of families. Research by Shelter shows with a quarter of rent or mortgage paying parents in England is being forced to cut back on winter heating and clothing to meet housing costs.

One in ten parents fear they will be unable to pay their rent or mortgage this month, despite the fact that many have already cut back on Christmas to help meet their housing costs, including reducing their spending on presents and food.

The charity is urging anyone starting to have difficulties paying their rent or mortgage to get help as early as possible to avoid losing their home.

Shelters helpline adviser Danielle Goodwin said: It never gets easier to hear a parent on the phone in tears, and at breaking point from the weight of their spiralling housing payments.

But theres no shame in asking for help. Getting advice early can make all the difference, and were only ever a click or a call away at shelter.org.uk/advice or on 0808 800 4444.

***

Today has been dubbed Divorce Monday as one in five married couples are expected to consider separating from their partners after the festive period.

But the move could leave many women in financial hot water as almost two-thirds of men take control of most of the household finances.

Hannah Maundrell of money.co.uk said: When the dust has settled, some people just dont know where to start when it comes to money management and many are women. Learning how to take control of your finances at such a stressful time can be difficult especially if youre juggling children and the burden of many other responsibilities alone too.

She said that should be a powerful motivator to get better understand of your finances, even if its not your traditional comfort zone.

Financial strain can be a key tipping point for many relationships so getting better informed may even help people avoid divorce, Ms Maundrell added.
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The runaway favourite to become the new head of the Financial Conduct Authority has shocked the City by withdrawing from the recruitment process despite growing speculation that her appointment was all but assured.

George Osborne made the surprise announcement that Tracey McDermott, acting head of the FCA, did not want the job permanently in a BBC interview.

In a statement hurriedly released in its wake, she said: Going through the recruitment process has made me reflect on what I want to do with the rest of my career. As a result, I have decided that this is not the right job for me at this stage of my career. This was a decision taken after many months of careful thought and was not one that I took lightly.

Recommended Read more Situation vacant again at the City watchdog

Ms McDermott, a 15-year veteran of the FCA and the Financial Services Authority that preceded it, will continue to run the regulator until a replacement is found. She said she remained committed to, and passionate about, the important work we do.

As part of that work she will have to defend her decision to drop a review into Britains banking culture, which had been identified as a key priority in the FCAs most recent business plan.

Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, has described the move as curious and told Ms McDermott and FCA chairman John Griffith-Jones to attend a hearing.

Both the FCA and the Treasury have insisted that the decision was made by the regulator alone and no pressure was brought to bear on it.

Despite the controversy, Ms McDermott was thought to have been within weeks of being unveiled as the watchdogs new permanent boss, having taken over from Martin Wheatley in the summer after he was forced out by Mr Osborne. Her decision leaves the Treasury, which is handling her successors recruitment, with a problem; its headhunter, Zygos, will have to decide whether to restart the process of drawing up a shortlist for the 700,000-a-year role.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

Its original list is understood to have been headed by Ms McDermott but also included the Australian securities regulator Greg Medcraft and the British head of the Swiss regulator Finma, Mark Branson  as well as, reportedly, one other unidentified person.

Mr Osbornes fall-out with Mr Wheatley, and his comment that the age of banker bashing has ended, have led to speculation that the new FCA boss will have to tread a fine political line as the Government attempts to improve its strained relationship with Londons financial centre.
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The Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is known as someone who often finds himself having to explain away his verbal slips and slides.

On Thursday, the former neurosurgeon had to work hard to try and reassure a youngster whom he unintentionally humiliated in front of his entire school.

Delivering a speech at the Isaac Newton Christian School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mr Carson began to make what he thought was a joke.

Mr Carson spoke at the Isaac Newton Christian School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Twitter)

A reporter from the Des Moines Register was attending the event and live tweeting Mr Carsons remarks.

With a crowd of 500, Ben Carson just called out to 5th grade class: whos dumbest kid in class? At least half dozen kids point to 1 student, the reporter tweeted.

The reporter pointed out that Mr Carson had not intended or anticipated this sort of response. Indeed, the candidate later met with the red-faced youngster backstage where he apparently told him he wanted him to become a neurosurgeon as well.
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An empty bottle of Jack Daniels sat on the street outside the Rainbow Bar and Grill this week, the centrepiece of a makeshift shrine to Ian Lemmy Kilmister, the late, lamented godfather of heavy metal. The Motorhead frontman was a fixture at this historic restaurant on Hollywoods Sunset Boulevard, where he could often be found playing video poker at the end of the bar. Few so embodied the rocknroll spirit of Sunset Strip, and for the neighbourhood his passing marks the end of an era.

Recommended Read more Lemmy funeral will be streamed live on Youtube

Almost as famous for hard living as he was for hard rock, Lemmy once claimed to drink a bottle of the Tennessee whiskey daily, though his recent ill health had obliged him to give up alcohol altogether. Two days after his 70th birthday on Christmas Eve, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The Rainbows owner, Mikael Maglieri, took it upon himself to bring the ailing rockers favourite video game to his home nearby, and was reportedly at his bedside when he died on 28 December.

Tomorrow, the Rainbow is hosting a 12-hour memorial for its most famous regular, which is expected to spill out on to the Strip and into several other nearby venues. A ceremony for Lemmys close friends and family at the nearby Forest Lawn Cemetery is also being streamed on YouTube from 3pm local time (11pm in the UK). On their Facebook page, his bands surviving members urged fans everywhere to get together and watch the service with fellow Motorheadbangers.

Since his death, several online campaigns have sprung up in Lemmys honour: one to send Motorheads best-known hit, Ace of Spades, to the top of the UK singles chart; another to have his cocktail of choice, Jack and Coke, renamed the Lemmy. A petition urging the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry to call a newly discovered heavy metal element Lemmium has attracted well over 100,000 signatures. As he studied the shrine outside the Rainbow on Thursday, tattooed fan Joe Bagnato said he had travelled from Florida to attend the memorial. Lemmy had a big impact on my life. He taught me its OK to be who I want to be, said Mr Bagnato, 42, who hosts an online radio show, Metal Joes Headbangers Asylum. If there was no Motorhead thered be no Metallica, no Judas Priest. The metal we have today is all because of Lemmy. Hes a true icon and a legend. Im going to miss him.

 Lemmy Kilmister dies at 70

Lemmy had lived in West Hollywood since 1990, when the Strip was still the scuzzy epicentre of the West Coast rock scene, lined with legendary rock clubs such as the Viper Room, the Roxy and Whisky a Go Go  which, like the Rainbow, was founded by Mr Maglieris father, Mario. Whisky a Go Go is where bands including The Doors and Motley Crue launched their careers, while the Rainbow was frequented by generations of hard rock royalty, from Keith Moon to Ozzy Osbourne to Slash.

Tattoo artist Mark Mahoney, the owner of the celebrated Shamrock tattoo parlour, situated just across the Strip from the Rainbow, said he had known the Motorhead frontman for 20 years. Lemmy was the king around here, he said. Weve done a zillion Motorhead tattoos for people, and a couple of Lemmy portraits. I remember one girl who flew in from Europe just to meet him, get him to sign her arm and then have the autograph tattooed.

Today, the LA music scene is spreading to other pockets of the city as the seedy glamour of the Strip succumbs to creeping gentrification, its strip clubs and head shops supplanted by high-rise hotels and luxury car dealerships. The scene isnt what it was even 10 years ago, said Dan Graham, promotional director at Book Soup, the independent bookshop where Lemmy used to buy his reading material. Most of the people who made it have moved on. The new Strip is more about hotels, restaurants and shopping than it is about clubs.

Last summer, one of the Strips major venues, the House of Blues, closed its doors after more than 20 years, to be replaced by a retail and residential development. A few blocks away, the familiar red and yellow sign at the former site of a flagship Tower Records has just been restored to its former glory  but only to advertise a new, nostalgic documentary about the famous shop in its 70s and 80s heyday. In reality, it was closed a decade ago when the company went bust.

And now, with Lemmy gone, rocknroll pilgrims will have one less reason to visit the Strip. We dont have that many landmarks in LA, said Mr Mahoney, but Lemmy perched at the bar at the Rainbow  now that was a draw.
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Private Eye magazine used to run a feature called Mrs Wilsons Diary. It was a satire on the madhouse that was 10 Downing Street, viewed through the eyes of a homely, comfortably middle-class wife who only wanted to live a quiet life.

That was how a generation of university students was introduced to Mary Wilson, wife of the last Labour leader before Tony Blair to win a general election.

She was a clever, self-disciplined woman, from the wartime generation brought up never to complain.

Her poems were collected into two published volumes in the 1970s that sold well, although their audience was never as big as that reached by the satirists who created the fictional Mrs Wilson.

Given that it was 20 years ago that her husband died, many may be surprised to learn that the real Mrs Wilson, now Lady Wilson of Rievaulx, still lives in Victoria Street, near the Houses of Parliament, in a flat that has been her London home for decades.

Her family say she is in good health for someone of 99.

One of Harold Wilsons well-known foibles, when he was Prime Minister, was to take his holidays on the Scilly Isles rather than at any of the worlds more luxurious holiday spots. His widow still owns their little house on Scilly, and took a holiday there only last year.

On 12 January, she will celebrate her 100th birthday. But curiously, there is another elderly lady still around who saw 10 Downing Street and Chequers from the inside, even before Mary Wilson first set foot there. She is Clarissa Eden, Winston Churchills niece and the widow of his successor, Sir Anthony Eden.

Lady Eden, who is 95, was moving in high-ranking Conservative circles almost from birth, but nothing in Mary Wilsons childhood suggested a life destined to be out of the ordinary.

Mary and Harold on their way to the Guildhall to receive the freedom of the city of London in 1971 (Getty Images)

Her father, the Rev Daniel Baldwin, was a Congregationalist minister in Diss, Norfolk, who insisted that his children observe Sundays by attending church twice and reading no novels.

Mary missed out on university, and was working as a shorthand typist in a soap factory on the Wirral in 1934 when she met Harold Wilson, just before he went up to Oxford University.

When they married, on New Years Day 1940, she had every reason to expect a quiet, secure future as the wife of a precocious Oxford don. But in 1945 he was swept into Parliament in a seat not held by Labour since 1929. In 1947, aged 31, he was a Cabinet minister. By 1964, he was Prime Minister.

Mary Wilson could never bring herself to think of 10 Downing Street as home.

When her husband resumed the premiership after the February 1974 election, she persuaded him to not move back there. She must have been hurt by the rumours about Wilsons mercurial relationship with his strong-willed political secretary, Marcia Williams (later Lady Falkender).

The rumours resurfaced in 2003, when Wilsons former press secretary, Joe Haines, published a book giving an exact date on which he alleged the relationship had gone beyond the purely professional. The journalist Francis Wheen turned this whirlwind story into a BBC4 drama in 2006. That play had two unforeseen effects. Lady Falkender sued and the BBC settled out of court for 75,000 damages, and Lady Wilson, then 91, gave a rare newspaper interview to her husbands old colleague, Roy Hattersley.

She cannot be said to have given her side of the story, because it would have been out of character for her to talk about anything so personal. But Hattersley reported that Lady Falkender and Lady Wilson were fast friends who lunched together every Wednesday at the House of Lords. That was in 2007. Lady Wilson no longer visits the Lords.

The other great distressing experience of her life came after her husbands resignation in 1976, when she had to witness his brilliant mind going to pieces under the influence of Alzheimers disease. She marked his funeral on Scilly by writing a 10-line poem (see left).

A spell in No 10 is no guarantee of a healthy old age. Many of its occupants have died early or unhappy. None has yet lived to be 100. This week, the much underestimated Mary Wilson will be the first.

Mary Wilsons poem on Harolds death

My love you have stumbled slowly

On the quiet way to death

And you lie where the wind blows strongly

With a salty spray on its breath.

For this men of the island bore you

Down paths where the branches meet

And the only sounds were the crunching grind

Of the gravel beneath their feet

And the sighing slide of the ebbing tide

On the beach where the breakers meet.
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They gave us soap, hot baths and communal toilets. But when it comes to asking what the Romans did for us, it seems their fixation on personal hygiene did nothing to protect us from body parasites.

A study of the middens, latrines and burial grounds of ancient Britain has found evidence to suggest that parasites such as intestinal worms and skin lice actually increased during the Roman occupation compared to the preceding age of the great unwashed.

Archaeologists scoured the earth for signs of an improvement in personal hygiene after the Latin invaders established themselves as conquerors in AD43. But all they found in the discarded Roman combs and textiles, the latrines and fossilised faeces or coprolites, were more and more parasites, from the whipworm and roundworms of the gut, to the hair lice and fleas of the head.

Recommended Read more Scottish butcher claims national dish Haggis was invented by Vikings

The ectoparasites living outside the body on the skin and hair were it seems just as prevalent during the time of the Romans as in the following centuries when the country was invaded by Vikings, Danes, Angles and Saxons  a time when bathing was a notoriously niche activity.

In fact, excavations suggest that the special combs used by the Romans to strip lice from their hair were always in demand and delousing may have been a daily routine right across the Roman Empire.

The findings, published in the journal Parasitology, are at odds with what would be expected from regular washing with soap and hot water, and good public sanitation, according to Piers Mitchell, of Cambridge Universitys department of archaeology and anthropology. This latest research on the prevalence of ancient parasites suggests that Roman toilets, sewers and sanitation laws had no clear benefit to public health. The widespread nature of both intestinal parasites and ectoparasites such as lice also suggests that Roman public baths surprisingly gave no clear health benefit either, Dr Mitchell said.

It seems likely that while Roman sanitation may not have made people any healthier, they would probably have smelt better, he said.

Modern research has shown that toilets, clean drinking water and removing faeces from the streets all decrease risk of infectious disease and parasites. So we might expect the prevalence of faecal-oral parasites such as whipworm and roundworm to drop in Roman times  yet we find a gradual increase. The question is why? he asked.

One possible explanation is that although the Romans were keen advocates of hot-water bathing, the high temperatures were also conducive to the spread of parasites, especially in bathing houses where the water was not changed regularly.

Clearly not all Roman baths were as clean as they might have been, said Dr Mitchell. Dirty water led to a build up of scum were parasites could have thrived while passing from one bather to another, he explained.

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Another possible explanation comes from Roman innovations in public sanitation, exemplified by the communal toilets seen in many city centres, and the careful separation of human excrement rather than the use of open sewers.

Although the Romans realised the importance of public sanitation, this did not extend to a knowledge of the dangers of using human excrement as a crop fertiliser. Without several months of composting, the parasite eggs in faeces could survive on crops and be eaten with food, Dr Mitchell said.

It is possible that sanitation laws requiring the removal of faeces from the streets actually led to reinfection of the population as the waste was often used in farms, he said.
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A bomb scare shut down Liverpool city centre after a man entered a solicitor's office carrying a suspicious package.

Merseyside police confirmed a man had been arrested following the incident in Tithebarn Street, Liverpool at 10:30am on Friday morning and had been taken to a nearby police station for questioning.

The police were called to scene after staff at the office on the fifth floor became concerned about the man who was behaving suspiciously.

Video footage taken by the Liverpool Echo shows a balding, white man being led out of the building at gunpoint.

One staff member at the firm, MSB Solicitors, pulled the fire alarm and the building was evacuated.

A woman who was working in the building told the newspaper: "We have a routine fire alarm test on Friday mornings so when it went off, everyone ignored it at first and carried on with what they were doing.

"Obviously when it continued ringing, we realised it was something out of the ordinary and had to evacuate the building. We were told we had to leave all our stuff and might not be allowed back in today."

The surrounding streets were cordoned off as a safety precaution and bomb disposal van was put in place as police attempted to contact the man.

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Other buildings in the area - including a nursery and the local Crown Prosecution Service office - were not been evacuated.

MSB later tweeted to apologise to its customers for the disruption and confirmed a bomb scare had led to the evacuation of the fifth floor.

According to the Liverpool Echo, the man - described as a white middle aged man - had entered the offices to complain about an insurance claim.
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The majority of sexual assaults on the Tube are committed during peak travel times, according to new figures which challenge the popular belief that women are most at risk when travelling late at night.

Statistics from the British Transport Police (BTP) showed that between 1 January 2014 and 8 December 2015, 322 sexual assaults were reported on the London Underground network between 5pm and 7pm, along with 291 from 8am until 10am. This compares to just 110 between 11pm and 1am.

Sarah Green, the acting director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: These figures tell a compelling story about how sexual harassment is mostly experienced during daytime commuter journeys  not during late-night social hours.

The findings explode a myth that women who have been drinking or who are dressed a certain way provoke sexual harassment, because the victims at peak morning and early evening travel times are largely working women making commuter journeys, she added.

The figures may also similarly explode myths about perpetrators of sexual harassment, because at 8am they are sober men who purposefully look for chances to offend, not late-night opportunists, said Ms Green.

Bryony Beynon, co-director of Hollaback London, a campaign dedicated to ending street harassment, said: Sexual assault is a 24-hour problem. Its not about drunk men taking an opportunity, its still very calculated.

The figures partly reflect the fact that more people travel on public transport at peak times. But they also suggest that measures aimed at making it safer for women to travel late at night will be insufficient for getting to grips with the problem.

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During the Labour leadership campaign in August, Jeremy Corbyn said he would listen to calls to introduce women-only carriages on the London Underground after 10pm. This proposal highlights how the issue of sexual assault during the day is largely overlooked.

There has also been a spike in reported sexual assaults on the London Underground in recent months. July was the month during which most sexual assaults were reported in 2014, with 71 incidents recorded.

In 2015, however, 94 sexual assaults were reported in October, 81 reported in June and over 71 assaults reported each month between August and November.

BTP highlighted that the rise in the number of recorded sexual assaults may be due to campaigns, such as Project Guardian, which encourage victims not to suffer in silence.

A spokesperson from BTP said: Significant work has taken place to encourage reporting of sexual offences on trains and tubes under the successful Report it to Stop it campaign.

The Report it to Stop it YouTube advert urges viewers to text 61106 to report incidents of sexual assault.

Case study: I was paralysed with shock and fear

Candy, a 26-year-old masters student, was the victim of a sexual assault while travelling on a train in London at peak time in April 2015.

My mum was over from Australia and she came to get me from work. We were on the TfL Overground train from Stratford and it was very crowded. I was facing her and we were talking, and then I felt something touching my bum.

I thought it was someones bag at first, but then it became obvious that it was deliberate. Then the guy started really going for it and kind of kneading my bum, and I could hear him panting too. It went on for ages and I was too scared to say anything out loud, paralysed with shock and fear.

I always thought I would be the sort of person who would speak up for themselves but its actually really different when it happens to you. I didnt see the point in reporting it.

We are taught as women to be aware of getting onto transport late at night. If someone drunk gets on the Tube with you, you move to another side of the carriage.

But this wasnt even in winter, it was about 5pm and light outside. It was absolutely not the situation I would have expected anything like that to happen in at all.
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Dozens of homes have been evacuated in Aberdeenshire amid 'threat to life' warnings issued following heavy downpours and flooding. Emergency services have declared a "major incident" as they battle swelling riverbanks.

Flights were unable to land at Aberdeen Airport last night after "unprecedented rainfall" caused part of the runway to collapse.

Flooded houses at Port Elphinstone, near Aberdeen, this morning after the River Don burst its banks.

The River Don burst its banks and the River Ythan also threatens to overflow.

Residents in Aberdeenshire were put up in rest centres while a number of local hotels also opened their doors to flooding victims free of charge



Chief Superintendent Campbell Thomson said: "Over the past 24 to 48 hours, and indeed the past week, we have responded to a number of flooding incidents and co-ordinated the multi-agency response to the adverse weather.

"A major incident was declared due to the severity of the warnings in place and the potential for serious impact on communities.

"Our focus over the past 36 hours has been the Donside area, Keith to Huntly, Turriff, Inverurie, Kintore, Ellon and into Aberdeen including Riverside Drive and the Grandholm area. Additionally, we continue to support the recovery effort in Deeside, specifically in the Ballater and Braemar area, following the impact of Storm Frank."

Flooding in the village of Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland

Management at Aberdeen Airport said around 20 people slept in the airport terminal on Thursday night as cancellations mounted and advised passengers to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.

Trains between Aberdeen and Dundee have also been cancelled due to the flooding. Police have urged people not to travel unless they deem their journey essential.

There has been little respite for the north east since New Year when Storm Frank brought flooding to villages around the River Dee.

A Met Office amber warning for heavy rain in the area remains until this morning.

 Corbyn explodes over lack of reply on floods

A yellow warning for snow and ice is also in place for much of Scotland, Northern Ireland, north west and north east England.

Richard Brown, head of hydrology for the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), said water levels around the River Don were "pretty exceptional".

10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Show all 10 1 /10 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Flooding at Millside in Peterculter Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Homes in Millside in Peterculter were evacuated Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Flooding at Millside in Peterculter Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Men working during flooding in Pitullie Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Flooded Station Road Longside, Peterhead Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods A woman on a boat during severe flooding in Scotland Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods River Don at Kemnay flooding Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Members of the emergency services wade along Canal Road in Port Elphinstone, near Aberdeen, this morning after the River Don burst its banks 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Flooded houses at Port Elphinstone, near Aberdeen, this morning after the River Don burst its banks 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Flooding in the village of Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland

He told BBC Scotland: "We have had a gauging station up at Alford for the last 42 years and it has exceeded anything we have ever recorded."

NHS Grampian have raised concerns over private water supplies in Aberdeenshire and urged residents to drink bottled water.

A spokesman said: "If a private well or spring has been covered by floodwater, proceed with caution and contact Aberdeenshire Council for advice.

"While waiting for an answer or if you are in doubt, assume the water is unsafe to drink and source bottled water."

There was some relief during the flooding as missing camper Terence Kilbride, believed to have been swept away by flood waters from the Dee, was found by police safe and well.

Scotland's Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: "The impact of this latest round of flooding is causing transport difficulties and putting properties at risk of flooding.

"The Scottish Government's resilience committee is monitoring the situation very closely and we have discussed the unfolding events and work to mitigate the impacts and ensure the safety of people in local communities."

With additional reporting by Press Association
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Dozens of cases in which British soldiers are accused of unlawfully killing Iraqi civilians have already been referred to prosecutors, The Independent can reveal, with more than 50 deaths set to be examined.

The Iraq Historic Allegations Team (Ihat) has sought advice from the Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) on unlawful death cases involving 35 alleged killings, and 36 cases of alleged abuse and mistreatment, it can be disclosed.

The SPA  the military equivalent of the Crown Prosecution Service  is preparing to advise on an additional 20 cases of unlawful killing and 71 cases of mistreatment in the near future.

The director of the SPA has vowed that his team would not flinch in prosecuting British soldiers where there is evidence of unlawful killing and torture.

Andrew Cayley QC, a former war crimes prosecutor, told The Independent: Make no mistake we will give all these Ihat cases the thorough scrutiny the law requires and if prosecution is warranted we will not flinch from proceeding.

Equally I want to make it absolutely clear that no member of the British Armed Forces will be prosecuted unless there is sufficient evidence to do so.

Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on Show all 31 1 /31 Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20169.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20158.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20159.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20160.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20161.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20157.bin AFP/GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20162.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20163.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20164.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20136.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20165.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20138.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20139.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20140.bin AFP/GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20141.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20142.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20156.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20155.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20154.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20152.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20151.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20150.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20149.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20148.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20147.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20145.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20144.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20143.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20135.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20166.bin GETTY IMAGES Where are they now? The faces of the Iraq war five years on 20167.bin GETTY IMAGES

The Independent revealed last week that Ihat, the body created by the MoD to investigate the allegations, believed there may be enough evidence to bring criminal charges in some cases.

But the news that dozens of unlawful killing cases have already been shared with prosecutors highlights how seriously the allegations are now being treated.

It will also fuel the backlash against law firms Leigh Day and Public Interest Lawyers (Pil), which represent the majority of claimants, and have already been dubbed ambulance-chasers by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.

Mr Cayley made clear that military prosecutors would give the allegations close scrutiny. I have spent the past 20 years of my professional life advising and prosecuting in cases involving genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, he said. I know very well what these crimes look like.

It emerged this week that Leigh Day has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, after the MoD complained about the firm, and Pil, to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) last year. The allegations, which both companies deny, include touting for business. A decision on Pil will be made in the near future, according to the SRA.

Britain remains under scrutiny by the International Criminal Court, which is continuing a preliminary examination of war crime allegations. It is dealing with 1,268 cases of alleged ill-treatment and unlawful killing. Some 259 civilian deaths are being examined, including at least 47 Iraqi persons who reportedly died in UK custody and others who were allegedly killed by UK services personnel in situations outside of custody, according to a recent ICC report.

So far, Ihat has referred just two cases to the SPA for a charging decision. Although a decision not to prosecute has been taken on these two cases, a far greater number are approaching the stage where charges may be considered.

According to the prosecutors latest annual report, it is dealing with 33 alleged unlawful death cases involving 35 victims and approximately 36 cases of mistreatment and abuse, involving multiple complainants. And there are an additional 20 cases of unlawful killing and 71 cases of mistreatment where legal advice from prosecutors will soon be required.

In a statement, a Pil spokesperson said: It is becoming increasingly pressing for the Ihat and SPA to demonstrate they are willing to prosecute culpable individuals when there is evidence to do so. Ihat was established in 2010 and some five years on there has not been a single prosecution as a result of its work. This raises questions as to its ability to deliver results for victims and relatives.

An MoD spokesperson said: The vast majority of UK 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.
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Police have closed off a number of streets in the centre of Liverpool after a man claiming to be in possession of a bomb sparked a possible terror threat at a high-rise building.

A fire alarm was triggered by employees at the Silkhouse Court building on Tithebarn Street in the city centre, after which police evacuated it and a number of nearby streets and dispatched a helicopter.

In a statement, Merseyside Police said all employees in the building had been accounted for and the man, who had been "acting suspiciously" was still inside.

According to the Liverpool Echo, police negotiators are attempting to speak to the man, while a bomb disposal team has arrived at the scene.

"Merseyside Police is dealing with a security alert at a business premises in Silkhouse Court, Tithebarn Street, Liverpool," a police statement read. "Officers were called to the scene at about 10.30am today following reports of a man acting suspiciously and claiming to be in possession of a suspect package.

"The fire alarm was activated by staff, who evacuated themselves. All employees have since been fully accounted for. The man is still inside the building and negotiators are seeking direct contact with him, in order to safely resolve the situation.

Local reporters said the unusually large police presence in response to the initial fire alarm had raised concerns among residents.

The police statement said no one had been injured, and described the police cordon around the building as "a safety precaution"

It said: "There are a number of road closures in place, they are Tithebarn Street, Old Hall Street at the junction with Union Street. Police are advising motorists to avoid the area. There is also disruption at Chapel Street, George Street and Exchange Street at the junction of Dale Street."

This article will be updated shortly
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The succession of powerful storms and severe flooding which has devastated parts of Scotland over Christmas and the New Year has already cost the economy up to 700 million, experts have said as the country faces another day of heavy rain on Friday.

The awful run of weather, which forecasters said would not improve until at least the weekend, has dealt a hammer blow to the Scottish economy and is also likely to result in insured losses of up to 350m, according to the business services provider PwC.

The dire prediction came on another day of weather-related disruption which saw dozens of schools closed, many roads rendered impassable and key train routes suspended. Two severe flood warnings have been issued in Aberdeenshire, with some residents in Inverurie and Kintore being advised to evacuate their homes.

Recommended Read more How a town in Yorkshire worked with nature to avoid the floods

The Met Office has already confirmed that December was Scotlands wettest month since records began in 1910, and PwC said continued rainfall into January meant there was little relief in sight for many businesses.

Some would have to pay an average of between 35,000 and 100,000 to repair their properties, as well as replacing stock damaged by floodwater, the firm estimated. Others may have been forced to closed their doors early or were affected by power outages and road closures that could delay or halt deliveries.

Storms Frank and Eva were particularly hard on Scotland in particular and it is still difficult to ascertain what the full financial impact of the storms and the rainfall from this will be, said PwCs general insurance leader Mohammad Khan.

Recommended Read more UK to take lessons from Dutch on how a low country can avoid flooding

More than two dozen schools were closed today in Aberdeenshire, while motorists were advised not to travel unless it was essential and trains running between Aberdeen and Dundee were suspended. In Perth and Kinross, a mother and her children had to be rescued from their BMW by firefighters after it got stuck in floods in Killiecrankie.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency said further significant flooding may lie ahead, with very high rain totals of up to 80mm expected in the north east of the country over the next 24 hours. Falling temperatures may also lead to snow and ice in the Strathclyde, Dumfries and the Borders.

During a visit to view flood defences in East Renfrewshire, the Environment Minister Aileen McLeod said local councils would be provided with extra financial assistance to deal with the immediate and unforeseen costs of flood damage.

The Scottish Governments resilience committee remains in constant contact with the relevant agencies as we continue to support affected communities and businesses, she added. As many areas focus on recovery, we are continuing to monitor the current flood alerts and work with local partners in affected areas.
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Unprecedented rainfall in the north east of Scotland has resulted in rivers reaching their highest level for almost half a century, leaving several towns partially underwater and forcing the evacuation of more than 50 homes as emergency services struggled to cope.

Residents of Inverurie, Port Elphinstone and Ellon in Aberdeenshire had to be evacuated by coastguards in the early hours of 8 January after the River Don and the River Ythan burst their banks and sent floodwaters racing down the streets, as a major incident was declared by police.

Recommended Read more River Don bursts its banks and homes evacuated in Aberdeen

Nicola Sturgeon will visit the flood-hit communities of Aberdeenshire on 9 January, to set out how Scotland will spend its share of UK emergency funding to cope with the devastation left by weeks of extreme weather, as opposition parties accused ministers of dithering over where the money should go.

Many of those evacuated from their homes after the latest round of flooding were forced to sleep on the floors of nearby pubs or in hotel reception areas. Around 40 people stayed at the Strathburn Hotel in Inverurie free of charge, including local resident Steve Russell, who was forced to evacuate the house he shares with his partner and dog.

The walls themselves are destroyed, the floors are destroyed, the larger items of furniture that we could not move, he told the BBC. The furniture is now probably destroyed and all that is really, really hard to take, particularly as this is our first house togetheryou think you can make preparations but they dont always work.

10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Show all 10 1 /10 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Flooding at Millside in Peterculter Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Homes in Millside in Peterculter were evacuated Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Flooding at Millside in Peterculter Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Men working during flooding in Pitullie Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Flooded Station Road Longside, Peterhead Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods A woman on a boat during severe flooding in Scotland Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods River Don at Kemnay flooding Fubar News 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Members of the emergency services wade along Canal Road in Port Elphinstone, near Aberdeen, this morning after the River Don burst its banks 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Flooded houses at Port Elphinstone, near Aberdeen, this morning after the River Don burst its banks 10 pictures of northern Scotland's floods Flooding in the village of Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland

The north east of Scotland has endured a miserable start to the year, which began when Storm Frank flooded villages around the River Dee. At its peak late on 7 January, the River Don reached 18ft, the highest level recorded in 45 years, while at 14ft the River Ythan broke the previous record set in 1983.

Flood-affected companies and homeowners across Scotland are counting the cost of the succession of storms, with business services provider PwC predicting that the total setback to the Scottish economy could already be as high as 700m. Travel disruption is continuing, with busy roads closed and trains south from Aberdeen cancelled.

As the floodwaters began to recede, revealing the extent of the damage, Ms Sturgeon faced growing pressure from opposition parties at Holyrood to set out how she planned to spend Scotlands share of the UKs 50m emergency fund amid accusations that ministers had been glued to their seats during the crisis.

This is an ever-changing emergency situation that requires urgent attention right now, and people here are wondering when the Scottish Government is going to sit up and take notice, said Alison McInnes, Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for North East Scotland.

After chairing a meeting of the Scottish Governments resilience committee on the floods, the First Minister acknowledged the devastating impact that the unprecedented weather had had on some communities. Praising the response from the emergency services, she said she would outline plans for further financial assistance on 9 January.

Earlier, Ms Sturgeon rejected calls from Labour for a full review of Scotlands flood defences, arguing that work had already been scheduled and it was better to get on with it than hold a further review.

Although a Met Office amber warning for heavy rain expired on 8 January, it was rapidly replaced with a yellow warning for snow and ice for much of Scotland, Northern Ireland, north west and north east England. Snow fell in Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders, where motorists were urged to exercise extreme caution in the freezing conditions.
Dave and Chloe on the San Antonio malecon Our home base is in Baja Sur, but there's so much of the huge country of Mexico that we haven't seen. So when a...

3 weeks ago
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Jewish Orthodox councils in the UK are institutionalising marital captivity and upholding discriminatory religious laws that victimise women and secular alternatives need to be introduced by politicians, according to an academic study being launched in Parliament.

New laws should be enacted in Westminster to give women of all faiths equal access to end their marriages, said the researcher Machteld Zee, ahead of releasing a book regarded as perhaps the most comprehensive analysis of religious courts in the UK.

The study by Ms Zee, from Leiden University in the Netherlands, first came to attention last month when The Independent revealed her findings that Muslim sharia courts allegedly set out to frustrate women whose husbands do not want them to leave. Her work has been backed by the crossbench peer Baroness Cox, who is sponsoring a law that could restrict religious courts and calls Ms Zees evidence the tip of the iceberg.

The academic, whose book will be launched on Tuesday at a House of Lords event chaired by the former High Court judge Baroness Butler-Sloss, said there were striking similarities between sharia courts and Jewish Orthodox Beth Din councils in how they deal with women seeking a religious divorce.

According to Jewish law, both spouses must consent to a religious divorce. But it is executed by a writ  the get  delivered by the husband, of his own free will, which the wife needs to accept.

According to Jewish law, both spouses must consent to a religious divorce (Getty Images)

Without a get, any future offspring of the woman  and nine generations of children  will be mamzerim, and would only able to marry another mamzer.

Ms Zee said the Jewish councils deserve scrutiny as well as sharia courts, because they contribute to women remaining in marital captivity. The academic said that while the rights of faith groups to follow their beliefs were important, some practices are in breach of a UN treaty  the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women  and need to be reformed.

Jewish law is religious law based on domination over women, Ms Zee told The Independent. The point is, with both sharia courts and Jewish courts, women may not decide freely whether they exit a marriage. She said the UN treaty is very clear on that.

Sharia councils and Batei Din operate as bodies under the Arbitration Act 1996, to resolve disputes among community members.

But Ms Zee  the author of Choosing Sharia? Multiculturalism, Islamic Fundamentalism and Sharia Councils  challenges their status as arbitrators. She claims they are not independent and often act for one party rather than as a mediator.

25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Show all 12 1 /12 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Untitled-5.jpg AFP / Getty 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Untitled-1.jpg AFP / Getty 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Untitled-3.jpg AFP / Getty 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Untitled-2.jpg AFP / Getty 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Untitled-4.jpg AFP / Getty 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Untitled-6.jpg AFP / Getty 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Untitled-7.jpg AFP / Getty 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Untitled-8.jpg AFP / Getty 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Untitled-9.jpg AFP / Getty 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Untitled-10.jpg AFP / Getty 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Untitled-11.jpg AFP / Getty 25,000 attend huge wedding between Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families Untitled-12.jpg AFP / Getty

Like Muslim women, Jewish women often find themselves at a disadvantage in the religious divorce process, Ms Zee argues in her book.

Unlike sharia councils, where a qadi can issue a divorce in the absence of a husband, it is not possible for a Jewish woman to obtain a get without her husbands co-operation (at least, not according to classic interpretations). In that vein, a Beth Din does not function as a court; it is a witness to the dissolution of the marriage.

She alleges that, in theory, Jewish women can be worse off than Muslim would-be divorcees. A sharia council can issue a divorce without the mans involvement.

In contrast, the Divorce (Religious Marriages) Act of 2002 specifically applies to the usages of the Jews and means a civil judge can withhold divorce until a religious divorce has been carried out.

But, she adds, other religious groups such as Muslims would have to opt in to this legislation, and have not done so. In practice, she says, most Jewish women have civil divorces and are aware of their rights, so this act is successful within the Jewish community.

The Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) bill, sponsored by Baroness Cox, is expected to complete its final stage in the House of Lords this month, then move to the Commons.

This law would make it a crime for an arbitration service falsely claiming legal jurisdiction. A spokesman for Baroness Cox said that if there was a problem in Jewish communities of women being pressured to participate in voluntary or consensual arbitration, the Bill will affect a Beth Din in the same way as it will affect the sharia courts.

Baroness Cox said Batei Din do not purport to be legal courts, but if women were pressured to go there, her legislation would apply.

The law is going through Parliament at a time of fierce debate over religious councils. The book predominantly focuses on criticisms of UK sharia councils, to which Ms Zee gained access to observe hearings in 2013. The Jewish aspect of the book was informed by studies of academic literature, interviews with an Israeli scholar and two leading rabbis from the London Federation of Synagogues, a Beth Din in London.

Her criticisms of sharia courts have upset some. Khola Hasan, a scholar at the Islamic Sharia Council, said Zees PhD thesis  the basis of the book  was: Factually inaccurate, distorts case studies, makes wild accusations about individuals, misinterprets history, manipulates world events to conform to her agenda and is generally a huge farce.

The books assessment of Batei Din is likely to prove controversial to some Jewish groups too.

In recent months, the London Beth Din has twice resorted to naming and shaming men who were refusing their wives a get, by sending posters to synagogues publicising their details and photographs. They have called on the men to do the right thing. But David Frei, registrar to the London Beth Din, said he did not accept the criticisms in Ms Zees study. There is a worrying trend that sees anything associated with religion as prejudiced, flying in the face of modern life, he said.

The key British values of tolerance and mutual respect are essential tenets of Jewish law. As Jews, we are proud citizens, fully integrated within British society and it is a privilege that our rabbinical courts have for over 200 years worked hand in hand with the British legal system.

Our judges discharge their duties in an independent manner, at all times conscious of the strictures of British law. 

But Ms Zee believes there is a fundamental point of principle when it comes to human rights. Its crazy to say that for Muslims or Jews or another religious group with unequal marriage rights, that there should be separate laws, she said  adding: Its not racist to think that every citizen should have the same laws.
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The British National Party (BNP) is no longer a registered political party in the UK, thanks to an administrative delay.

The Electoral Commission removed the controversial group from its official list today, meaning that it can no longer field candidates.

A spokesperson said the BNP had failed to confirm its registration details, which must be submitted annually for a 25 fee, according to legal requirements that bind all parties.

Their annual confirmation of registered details was due on or before 7 January 2016, he added.

The Electoral Commission did not receive the notification by this date and is required by law to remove the BNP from its register of political parties in Great Britain.

Shortly after the ruling, the party announced on social media that it would be re-registering immediately, putting the removal down to a small clerical error.

Any application will be considered by the Commission in line with its usual processes, the Commission said.

The BNP, which has seen a dramatic decline in support since the rise of Ukip and emergence of new far-right party Britain First, was still active online today.

Its Twitter account continued to send out calls for new members, attempting to draw them in using sexual assaults on women during Colognes New Years Eve celebrations.

 Farage: We don't want BNP vote

Coming to your town soon, a tweet said. Don't say we didn't warn you. Join us to help end this madness.

The partys website also appeared to be taking donations and membership applications, although there was no answer on its enquiries line.

Adam Walker, who replaced Nick Griffin as chairman after his predecessor was expelled in 2014, had hailed an exciting new era for his party.

The BNP enjoys huge support from the British public and its my principal aim to convert that huge support into votes and real electoral success, he claimed.

BNP controversies Show all 15 1 /15 BNP controversies BNP controversies December 2014: Nick Griffin's visit to Syria Former BNP leader Nick Griffin went to Syria where he visited one of the holiest mosques in the Islamic world amid comments questioning whether he is working as "an MP for president Bashar al-Assad" Twitter BNP controversies November 2014: Controversial poster George Gill did not give permission to the BNP to use his image or his quote, and had no idea he was the subject of a recruitment poster, calling it "disgusting" BNP BNP controversies November 2014: BNP calls for Remembrance Day minute silence  a day late 'Others forget but we remember', the BNP said of the traditional Remembrance Day silence on Twitter on 12 November, only they managed to forget the very date on which the First World War ended themselves BNP controversies October 2014: Nick Griffin expelled from BNP The British National Party expelled former leader Nick Griffin for allegedly trying to cause disunity in a bid to destabilise the organisation Getty images BNP controversies May 2014: Fight Back video BNP released the Fight Back video, featuring Jack Renshaw as the leader of the BNP youth Facebook BNP controversies May 2014: BNP Twitter gets hacked, no-one really notices Someone claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous hacked into the party's official account, and began posting messages including 'F*ck ALL govs'. It seems they weren't looking to push a particular message and didn't even really know much about the far-right party, but were instead just looking to cause trouble BNP controversies April 2014: BNP food banks 'are for indigenous Brits only' says Nick Griffin Nick Griffin tweeted: For the avoidance of doubt, our BNP food banks are for indigenous Brits only. 'Minorities' all have their own (taxpayer-funded) charities Getty BNP controversies BNP accused of using food bank handouts to win support British National Party activists are going door to door with mobile food banks in a bid to win support ahead of the local and European elections. The far-right party has even produced a YouTube instruction video to teach volunteers how to build trust with voters in deprived areas by offering soup, teabags and washing powder on the doorstep BNP controversies January 2014: Nick Griffin stars in first cookery role as BNP TV chef offering traditional British fare The BNP leader Nick Griffin appears to have made a first attempt at launching himself into a career as a TV chef, with what threatens to be the first of many cookery programmes on BNP TV. Dressed in a Help for Heroes rugby shirt and standing in his home kitchen, Mr Griffin talks the viewer through his recipe for a beef stew, in a video posted to YouTube entitled Recipe for beating the Tory blues YouTube BNP controversies January 2014: BNP leader Nick Griffin declared bankrupt BNP leader Nick Griffin announced his bankruptcy claiming the declaration made him happy as it freed him from "financial worries" Getty Images BNP controversies December 2013: BNP wish members a 'White Christmas' in racist looking greetings card The far-right British National Partys (BNP) Christmas card appeared on its website, and features the sinister slogan: Wishing you a White Christmas. Signed from the partys leader Nick Griffin and the BNP, a photo of a blonde-haired Caucasian girl holding a white box wrapped with a red ribbon appears on the front. The gift is tagged with a heart-shaped BNP logo. According to the BNP website, recipients included those officially signed up to the party, as well as "various people in the media, bishops and opposition politicians" British National Party BNP controversies June 2013: BNP and anti-fascists clash on the streets of London At least 58 people were arrested in London after anti-fascist demonstrators clashed with British National Party members outside the Houses of Parliament. The far-right group's march was one of around 60 planned across the country to mark the death of Drummer Lee Rigby, murdered in Woolwich Rex Features BNP controversies June 2013: Nick Griffin urges supporters to ignore police ban on planned march at scene of Drummer Lee Rigby's brutal murder The leader of the far Right British National Party Nick Griffin urged his followers to ignore a police ban on the organisation's planned march near the scene of the brutal murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich. The call comes despite police warnings that any BNP members who try to demonstrate in south east London risk arrest Getty BNP controversies November 2012: Nick Griffin makes B&B gay couple tweets Michael Black and Jonathan Morgan were told they could not stay at a guesthouse by its Christian owner, who was later prosecuted for discrimination. Following the decision to take action against the guesthouse owner, Mr Griffin had urged his Twitter followers to demonstrate outside the couple's home. As a consequence they had a police presence at their house for several days GETTY IMAGES BNP controversies July 2012: The General Synod of the Church of England clears the way for a ban on clergy membership of the BNP Members of the Church's national assembly gave final approval to legislation making it "unbecoming" or "inappropriate" conduct for clergy to be members of a political party with policies and activities declared "incompatible" with Church teaching on race equality Getty

But the party was all but wiped out in Mays general election, securing just 1,667 votes compared to more than half a million the year before.

It fielded eight candidates  half the total offered up by the Official Monster Raving Loony Party  and blamed a constant stream of poison from the left-wing press for plummeting support.

The BNP, whose policies take a nationalist and anti-immigration stance, has been accused of inciting racism, facism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and homophobia.

A spokesperson for the BNP could not be reached for a comment but a statement on Twitter said: Lots of media coverage over a small clerical error from a party that is supposed to be dead in the water. Re-registering now with the EC.
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Ministers are facing demands for an inquiry into The Independents revelation that Department of Health staff strengthened and signed off a controversial letter by the NHSs top independent medic that raised concerns about a strike by junior doctors.

Emails between senior Department of Health (DoH) staff and Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, the Medical Director of the non-partisan body NHS England, reveal that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was given approval on the text of the letter, which questioned whether striking junior doctors would be available to help in the event of a Paris-style terror attack.

It went through a number of revisions, seen by The Independent, to ensure concerns about the possible impact of a major incident during the strike were made as hard-edged as possible.

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the letter was further proof that the Government had poisoned the well of relations between junior doctors and NHS bosses.

His partys health spokesman and former social care minister, Norman Lamb, called for the Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood to set up an independent inquiry into the revelations, which he said had raised serious concerns about potential political interference by the Conservative Government.

Mr Farron has urged the Health Select Committee to call Mr Hunt and Sir Bruce to appear before them for questioning over the letter.

The Lib Dem leader said: "Tory ministers said when they set up NHS England it would be free of interference. These words have been shown to be meaningless. The Tories are guilty of blatant and utter hypocrisy over this sorry saga."

In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London

The letter by Sir Bruce was sent and made public in the week after the Paris terror attacks in November last year, causing a storm of protest from junior doctors.

Three thousand medics wrote to Sir Bruce accusing him of using fears of a terror attack for political purposes.

They said any insinuation that striking doctors would not come back to work in the event of an attack was not in keeping with the inherent duty that junior doctors have to serve the public.

The Independent's disclosure of how the final text was negotiated has caused an uproar among medics.

In one email, sent the day before the strike was declared, Sir Bruce was told by a DoH official that the risk of a major incident would be pressed quite hard in the media once the strike is formally announced and he was advised that the more hard-edged you can be on this, the better.

The emails also reveal that Mr Hunt agreed Sir Bruce would not be asked to speak to the media on the day the strike was declared so long as his letter reiterated his opposition to strike action, and was clear about the assurances the Department of Health wanted to hear from the BMA.

Mr Lamb, who worked under Mr Hunt in the Department of Health during the last Government, said: In cases like this it is crucial to establish who had involvement in something that risks further damaging the Governments relationship with junior doctors. This cannot be done by the Department and I am calling for Sir Jeremy Heywood to set up a suitable inquiry that will command respect to look into this.

Responding to the release of the emails, Sir Bruce said that it was entirely appropriate that the NHS, the Department of Health and hospitals had co-ordinated the operational response to the strike threat.

A DoH spokesman insisted it was completely right that the Department expressed a view on communication with the BMA.

Talks between the Government and the British Medical Association (BMA) aimed at resolving a dispute over a new contract for junior doctors are resuming ahead of three spells of strike action, with the first strike scheduled for next Tuesday.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "Industrial action of the kind planned by the BMA creates a major safety risk for patients so it was absolutely right that ministers insisted on Sir Bruce Keogh giving his independent view of the NHS's capacity to respond in the event of a major terrorist incident."
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The Government is spending more money assessing whether people are fit to work than it is saving in reductions to the benefits bill, a damning official report has revealed

The study by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that the Department for Work and Pensions is handing over 1.6bn over the next three years to private contractors who carry out the controversial health and disability assessments.

But at the same time, the Governments own financial watchdog has warned that savings in benefits payments are likely to be less than a billion pounds by 2020 as a result of the new tests.

The NAO report also found:

The cost of carrying out each employment and support allowance (ESA) test had risen from 115 to 190 after the controversial outsourcing firm Atos pulled out of its contract to run the tests last year.

Benefit claimants are still waiting for more than six months before they are assessed during which time they are not entitled to full payments.

None of the companies carrying out the tests met the Governments own quality assessment threshold  with reports including spelling mistakes and unintelligible acronyms.

The report found evidence that ministers set completely unrealistic targets for the number of ESA assessments that could be carried out each year.

As a result, there is a backlog of at least 280,000 new claims while ministers have been forced to suspend plans to carry out periodic reassessments of those already claiming the benefit.

The Department is paying more for assessments, but providers are still not meeting expected performance levels, said Amyas Morse, head of the NAO.

The Department needs providers to complete the planned number of assessments so that it can achieve the significant benefit savings it expects to make over the next few years. The report also found significant problems with the American outsourcing company Maximus which took over the contract to carry out ESA assessments from Atos.

Only half of all the doctors and nurses hired to carry out the assessments completed their training against a target of 95 per cent, while average staff costs rose from 26,000 in 2014 to 44,000 last year.

Over the summer the company was carrying out just 37,000 face-to-face assessments a month compared with a target of 57,000. It had carried out 10,000 fewer paper assessments than it had promised the Government.

Recommended Read more Man has benefits sanctioned while waiting to start job with the DWP

As a result of the NAO report Iain Duncan Smith and senior Department for Work and Pensions officials are likely to be called to explain the failures to the Commons Public Accounts Committee.

Its chair, Meg Hillier, said disabled people and taxpayers in general had been failed by the departments inability to manage the assessments.

The departments approach has been unclear, its targets untested and consistently missed and future delivery is under threat, she said.

With the annual cost of assessments now expected to rise to a staggering 579m in 2016-17, taxpayers have been left to foot the bill.

Contracting out the delivery of public services does not absolve the department from its responsibilities to ensure that taxpayers money is well spent, Ms Hillier said. The department needs to do more to ensure private providers deliver a better deal for sick and disabled people as assessments have a huge impact on their ability to access vital cash to live with dignity.

Debbie Abrahams, Labours shadow minister for disabled people, said the Government was in a cycle of optimistic targets, contractual underperformance and costly recovery.

Too many disabled people have been badly let down by these assessments and this research shows that its not only been costly for those whove been mistreated, but all taxpayers, she said.

Its yet another example of incompetence from the DWP and a thorough overhaul of the systems is desperately needed.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: We welcome the NAOs recognition that we have made significant progress to improve contracted-out health and disability assessments. We are determined to support more people into work and provide individuals who cant with the correct support that they need  the effective assessment of peoples abilities is key to this.

To ensure that support is targeted correctly and that we achieve value for money, we operate a strict competitive contract tendering process and factor all costs into departmental spending plans. This also ensures that the quality of the assessments for claimants improves at the same time.
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Jeremy Corbyn's new shadow Defence Secretary Emily Thornberry has admitted: "I don't know why Jeremy gave me this job".

Her promotion to the role was a significant move by the Labour leader as he attempts to assert his opposition to renewing Trident as party policy.

Ms Thornberry, who supports Mr Corbyn's life-long commitment to scrapping Britain's nuclear deterrent, replaced the pro-Trident Maria Eagle in the Labour reshuffle this week.

The move triggered a series of frontbench resignations, including shadow Armed Forces minister Kevan Jones, who said voters will "look on in dismay" at the decision.

Ms Thornberry has described Trident as the "ultimate weapons of mass destruction".

Asked whether she had been appointed Shadow Defence Secretary to smooth the way for Mr Corbyn to change party policy on Trident, which is currently in favour of renewal, she said: "I don't know why Jeremy gave me this job but I know that I'm really honoured to be doing it and hugely looking forward to meeting up with people and listening to what people have to say.

"I have always said that politicians must listen and learn and that is what I will be doing.

"But I do come from a position of huge respect for the military.

"As I say, I have family members who are in the military, my father was a peacekeeper he worked across the whole world.

"He was Irish but do you know what the forces he talked most favourably about were the British. And he said how disciplined we are, you know, the humanity of the British forces and how good we are at peacekeeping and how much he always enjoyed working with them.

In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Show all 11 1 /11 In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Jonathan Reynolds,Shadow Railways Minister: RESIGNED He resigned as shadow railways minister in protest at the reasons for sacking Pat McFadden In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Kevan Jones, Shadow Defence Minister: RESIGNED He resigned as a shadow defence minister who strongly supports renewal of Trident. Has spoken out against Jeremy Corbyns leadership before and was also the centre of a row with Ken Livingstone after he said Jones might need some psychiatric help (Jones has previously spoken about his struggle with depression) In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Stephen Doughty, Shadow Foreign Minister: RESIGNED He quit as a shadow foreign minister in protest at the sacking of his colleague Pat McFadden as shadow Europe minister. He said he had looked at his own conscience and decided to step down In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Pat McFadden, Shadow Europe Minister: SACKED He was sacked as shadow Europe minister for "disloyalty" to leader Jeremy Corbyn In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Pat Glass, Shadow Europe Minister: SAFE Former junior shadow education minister Pat Glass replaced Pat McFadden as shadow Europe minister In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Emily Thornberry, Shadow Defence Secretary: SAFE She was promoted to shadow defence secretary. She is anti-Trident and therefore more in tune with Corbyns stance and replaces Maria Eagle, who was pro-Trident Getty In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Emma Lewell-Buck, Shadow Minister for Devolution and Local Government: SAFE Emma Lewell-Buck was promoted to shadow minister for devolution and local government In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Michael Dugher, Shadow Culture Secretary: SACKED Outspoken critic of Jeremy Corbyns leadership, has been sacked as shadow culture secretary for his "incompetence and disloyalty" In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Hilary Benn, Shadow Foreign Secretary: SAFE Hilary Benn remains as shadow foreign secretary, but Corbyns team has insisted his role now comes with new conditions that he must agree with Corbyn over foreign policy. Benn insists there are no new conditions attached to his job and insisted: "I haven't been muzzled. I'm going to be carrying on doing my job exactly as before In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Maria Eagle, Shadow Culture Secretary: SAFE Maria Eagle, moved from shadow defence to shadow culture secretary as part of Corbyns move to make his defence team match his anti-Trident views In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Andy Burnham, Shadow Home Secretary: SAFE Reports linked him to foreign secretary brief, but Corbyn appears to have backed down on sacking Hilary Benn. He does not see eye-to-eye with Corbyn on home affairs such as the Snoopers charter, but removing your shadow home secretary so soon after starting would have been a dangerous move by Corbyn

"I'm going to really enjoy working with them too."

Ms Thornberry and Mr Corbyn are close and their north London constituencies border each other.

The outgoing Mr Jones said her promotion was evidence of Mr Corbyn turning the Shadow Cabinet into a "talking shop".

"Our defence policy is being controlled by a north London part of the party," he said after quitting the frontbench on Wednesday.
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Mhairi Black has questioned the Government's commitment to gender equality after claiming only five Conservative MPs attended a debate on increases in the state pension age that discriminate against women born in the 1950s.

Westminster's youngest MP said the Government's decision to accelerate the rate at which the state age pension is equalised "shafted and short changed" women and demanded that the Government give women affected extra help.

The state pensions age for women was due to rise to 65 - the age for men - by 2020 but the Coalition Government sped up the process in 2011.

Campaigners say the move will mean women born after April 6 1951 will have to rethink their retirement plans due to the "unfair" changes.

MPs who did attend the debate overwhelmingly backed Ms Black's proposals to introduce transitional arrangements for those women affected by the decision to speed up the rise in the state pension age for women.

She won the debate 158-0, with the Government refusing to take part. The result of the backbench debate was not binding on the Government.

Ms Black said: "I think it is noticeable and it is a pity that so few Conservatives have turned out and I think it's important to highlight that not a single letter was sent out by the Government to women.

"There was no official correspondence from the Government to the individuals affected, alerting them of the changes that were going to happen to them."
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A Conservative minister has appeared to admit that David Cameron has no evidence that benefit tourism encourages EU migrants to come to the UK.

The Prime Minister has insisted that his plan to block EU migrants from claiming in-work benefits for four years will significantly reduce immigration to the UK and hopes it will be enough to convince voters concerned with Britains rising levels of immigration to remain in the EU in the upcoming referendum.

But after Lord Kinnock requested the Government release the factual evidence it holds that proved EU migrants moved to the UK to claim benefits, welfare minister Lord Freud failed to provide any.

The only information he produced was analysis of 2013 data by the Department for Work and Pensions that between 37 per cent and 45 per cent of recent EU migrants lived in households that claimed benefits.

These statistics were dismissed as very dubious by Jonathan Portes, from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, who uncovered the Governments admission buried in its written answer to Lord Kinnock - published three weeks after the former Labour leader asked the Government for the information.

Mr Portes said Lord Freud's answer "doesn't show any connection at all between people coming here and wanting to claim benefits" and said many Government insiders do not believe that the UK's benefit system is the reason for high levels of immigration from the EU.

"If they wanted evidence of benefit tourism they could commission a study - the government knows that perfectly well," he told Mirror Online.

"I know lots of people in Whitehall and there's no senior policymaker in Whitehall that thinks benefit tourism is a big problem, or that changing the rules will stop people coming to Britain.



"I think the government know that and that's why they're trying to blow smoke."

Here is Lord Freud's full answer to Lord Kinnock's request, which asked the Government to "provide all factual evidence they have, together with their sources, that UK in-work and out-of-work benefits are a factor in encouraging immigration to the UK from other EU member states".

Lord Freud, 4 January 2016: "The benefits system is one of a range of factors attracting migrants to Britain. Net migration to the UK stood at 336,000 in the year to June 2015 according to the November 2015 Migration Statistics Quarterly Report from the Office for National Statistics, and EU nationals are a significant contributor to recent increases. Meanwhile, an analysis of administrative data held by the Department for Work and Pensions showed that between 37% and 45% of all recent EU migrants were in households supported by the benefits system as of March 2013.

"The Government has already introduced tough new measures to ensure that EU jobseekers will have no access to means-tested benefits whatsoever as Universal Credit is rolled out.

"And now we want to ensure that the welfare system plays no part in the migration decisions of any EU national. The Prime Minister is therefore pursuing further reforms to ensure that EU migrants who come to the UK for low-paid work cannot claim in-work benefits until they have lived here and contributed to our country for a minimum of four years."
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Nigel Farage says some areas of Brussels have become "no-go zones for young women", linking an apparent rise in sexual harassment and attacks to the refugee crisis.

The Ukip leader was speaking on LBC radio in the wake of a shocking spate of sexual violence on New Year's Day in Germany, particularly in Cologne where scores of women were groped and at least one raped.

But for some listeners, the comments were dangerously close to the risible views of US presidential hopeful Donald Trump, who suggested some parts of London were so radicalised that "police are afraid for their lives".

"I've been working in Brussels for 17 years, and there are sections of Brussels now that for a young woman are effectively no-go zones," Mr Farage said.

The Ukip leader said his PA had been told to "cover up" by a group of people on the streets of the Belgian capital, interpreting this as "saying she should wear a headscarf or niqab or whatever it is".

He said: "I've seen it myself walking in downtown Brussels at night, women just accosted again and again, and that's become a feature of life in Brussels."

Linking the perceived phenomenon to the refugee crisis, Mr Farage described Germany's welcoming stance as "the biggest post-war policy error of any European country".

He said too many of the more than a million people settling in Germany in the past year "dont even appear to be grateful for people giving them a new place to live".

"What do we do about this? Were going to have to be very tough in terms of law and order, and standing up for what we consider to be correct values," he said.

James Brown, an aid worker based in Brussels, said Mr Farage was "just scaremongering a la Trump". "As someone living in Brussels, I can say, quite frankly, that this is rubbish."

Earlier, a leaked police report described the chaotic scene on New Year's Eve in Cologne, with thousands of men - mostly of a migrant background - taking to the streets.
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The BBC has been criticised after it emerged it arranged for shadow foreign affairs minister Stephen Doughty to quit live on air.

The Labour minister dramatically resigned on the BBCs Daily Politics show moments before the start of Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday.

Mr Doughty was one of three shadow ministers to step down following the sacking of Europe spokesman Pat McFadden, who had criticised Labour leader Jeremy Corbyns soft stance on terrorism.

In a blog post for the BBCs Journalism Academy - which has since been deleted - the output editor for the programme, Andrew Alexander, explained how Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg had sealed the deal for Mr Doughty to exclusively break his resignation live on air.

But critics on Twitter have claimed this is a sign of the Corporations right wing bias and have accused it of engineering the news.

Others said as the state broadcaster the BBC should not be helping Mr Doughty maximise the political impact of his resignation by doing it on television directly before PMQs.

Mr Doughty said on the programme that he had looked at his own conscience and had decided to step down as he believed the leaders office had told lies about Mr McFaddens dismissal.

In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Show all 11 1 /11 In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Jonathan Reynolds,Shadow Railways Minister: RESIGNED He resigned as shadow railways minister in protest at the reasons for sacking Pat McFadden In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Kevan Jones, Shadow Defence Minister: RESIGNED He resigned as a shadow defence minister who strongly supports renewal of Trident. Has spoken out against Jeremy Corbyns leadership before and was also the centre of a row with Ken Livingstone after he said Jones might need some psychiatric help (Jones has previously spoken about his struggle with depression) In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Stephen Doughty, Shadow Foreign Minister: RESIGNED He quit as a shadow foreign minister in protest at the sacking of his colleague Pat McFadden as shadow Europe minister. He said he had looked at his own conscience and decided to step down In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Pat McFadden, Shadow Europe Minister: SACKED He was sacked as shadow Europe minister for "disloyalty" to leader Jeremy Corbyn In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Pat Glass, Shadow Europe Minister: SAFE Former junior shadow education minister Pat Glass replaced Pat McFadden as shadow Europe minister In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Emily Thornberry, Shadow Defence Secretary: SAFE She was promoted to shadow defence secretary. She is anti-Trident and therefore more in tune with Corbyns stance and replaces Maria Eagle, who was pro-Trident Getty In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Emma Lewell-Buck, Shadow Minister for Devolution and Local Government: SAFE Emma Lewell-Buck was promoted to shadow minister for devolution and local government In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Michael Dugher, Shadow Culture Secretary: SACKED Outspoken critic of Jeremy Corbyns leadership, has been sacked as shadow culture secretary for his "incompetence and disloyalty" In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Hilary Benn, Shadow Foreign Secretary: SAFE Hilary Benn remains as shadow foreign secretary, but Corbyns team has insisted his role now comes with new conditions that he must agree with Corbyn over foreign policy. Benn insists there are no new conditions attached to his job and insisted: "I haven't been muzzled. I'm going to be carrying on doing my job exactly as before In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Maria Eagle, Shadow Culture Secretary: SAFE Maria Eagle, moved from shadow defence to shadow culture secretary as part of Corbyns move to make his defence team match his anti-Trident views In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Andy Burnham, Shadow Home Secretary: SAFE Reports linked him to foreign secretary brief, but Corbyn appears to have backed down on sacking Hilary Benn. He does not see eye-to-eye with Corbyn on home affairs such as the Snoopers charter, but removing your shadow home secretary so soon after starting would have been a dangerous move by Corbyn

The BBC defended its decision saying Mr Doughty had already decided to resign and willingly chose to make his announcement on the programme.

In a statement it said: "The shadow cabinet reshuffle was a major story this week and many MPs from all camps had strong opinions which were fairly reflected across BBC output".

Mr Doughty also rushed to the organisations defence, saying he had already told friends he was about to resign and agreed to do so on the BBC before he could get smeared by the same people who attacked [the] colleague I resigned over.

Another Labour MP, John Woodcock, also came to the BBCs defence, tweeting: "We rightly deride SNP for their unhinged claim that BBC was biased in the referendum. We shouldn't let unnamed sources drag us to that level.

BBC Newsnights senior broadcast journalist, Jess Brammar, also pointed out the Corporation is regularly criticised over its perceived bias towards both sides of the political spectrum.

She highlighted a series of tweets about both the left wing and right wing bias of Newsnight regarding the same edition of the programme:

The BBC has come under increasing pressure over recent years as it comes up to the review on the renewal of its Royal Charter. Many senior Tory backbenchers believe it has a left wing bias.

The Labour party confirmed last night it had made an official complaint with the BBC over Mr Doughty's resignation.
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When Iain Duncan Smith was reappointed to the Department for Work and Pensions after last Mays election, the word amongst his civil servants was that we have got him for a year. At the Treasury, some officials plotted to strangle his flagship Universal Credit benefits shake-up if he resigned from the Cabinet in spring 2016.

The assumption in Whitehall was that Duncan Smith would have to quit to campaign for an Out vote in the EU referendum, while David Cameron recommended that Britain stay in. But this week the Prime Minister announced that Eurosceptics would be allowed to keep their ministerial posts and argue for withdrawal once his new deal with the EU is struck.

Downing Streets decision was inevitable, since a wave of damaging resignations by Eurosceptic ministers would have revived the Tory civil war on Europe and given the Out camp a huge boost. But the timing was forced Duncan Smith; Chris Grayling, the Commons Leader; and Theresa Villiers, the Northern Ireland Secretary, who made clear they would quit the Cabinet if they were not given free rein to back the Out campaign. Iain didnt threaten to resign; he offered to resign, one ally said. Polite, but same difference.

Yet Camerons concession is less generous than it looks. Avoiding a Cabinet walk-out will make divisions less bitter and personal during the referendum, and the wounds easier to heal afterwards. That, in turn, would make it easier for his favoured successor George Osborne to win the Tory crown when he departs before the 2020 election. The Cameron operation is all about George now, whispered one insider.

Eurosceptic backbenchers wanted their ministerial allies to be free to speak out immediately but, by waiting until Cameron seals the deal, they will have to hold their fire until after the EU summit next month  or the following one in March. According to the Out camp, that gives the PM an advantage, since ministers can make the case for Europe over the next six to 10 weeks. They say the myth that Cameron could urge an Out vote has exploded. Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, who once paraded Eurosceptic credentials, said he could not envisage arguing for leaving while the PM did the opposite. The Out campaign fears Downing Street will wheel out other pro-EU ministers over the next few weeks, giving Cameron a sense of momentum, while Duncan Smith and his allies remain muzzled for now.

His decision leaves a critical group of Cabinet ministers with a dilemma  the Inbetweeners whose heart is with the Eurosceptics but whose head tells them it might be in their personal interest to stick with Cameron. They include Theresa May, the Home Secretary; Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London; Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary; Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary; John Whittingdale, the Culture Secretary; and Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary.

The Inbetweeners are now coming under intense private pressure from Eurosceptics to take advantage of their new found freedom. Some MPs believe they could even determine the result of the referendum, by undermining Camerons arguments about the merits of his new deal.

True, the Inbetweeners may not all be big beasts like the ministers let off the leash by the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who also suspended collective Cabinet responsibility for the Europe referendum in 1975. That saw Roy Jenkins and Shirley Williams from the Yes campaign go head-to-head with Tony Benn, Michael Foot and Barbara Castle in the No camp.

But the Inbetweeners could draw blood if they sank their claws into Cameron. If May, after six years as Home Secretary, said the only way to bring immigration down to manageable levels was to leave the EU, it could be a game-changer. Johnson saying the City of London would prosper outside the EU, and Javid talking up the trade deals that could be struck if Britain went alone, would also be powerful messages.

On the face of it, Camerons decision should allay the fears of Eurosceptics wary of opposing him. But political life is more complicated than that. If he wins the referendum, Cameron would be in a strong position, able to promote those who remained loyal to him on Europe and sideline or sack those who did not. People are realising that a free vote is not always as free as it looks, one prominent Tory Europhobe admitted. We hope they will do the right thing but some may be tempted to stick with Cameron if they think hell win.

Their allies insist that Eurosceptic ministers should be reassured by talk of a reconciliation reshuffle in which Eurosceptics such as Liam Fox, the former Defence Secretary, would be restored to the Cabinet. But ministers know that such hints from No 10 are not bankable.

In the end, the Inbetweeners may decide that their best bet is to remain loyal to Cameron. But another factor will weigh on their minds. When Cameron departs, he will not choose his successor. The partys members will, and a survey by the ConservativeHome website this week found that 67 per cent of them want to leave the EU, while only 25 per cent want to remain.

As Wilson found, referendums do not always settle the issue, and Tory members may well be tempted to elect a Eurosceptic leader next time. Which makes the dilemma facing the ambitious May and Johnson very acute indeed.

Twitter: @IndyPolitics
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Isis has claimed responsibility for an attack on a hotel near the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo yesterday.

The terrorist group released a statement via the Amaq news agency claiming it was a response to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis call to target Jewish people "everywhere.

No one was injured in the attack at the Three Pyramids Hotel on Thursday morning, where a group of Israeli Arab tourists were preparing to board a bus. Their religion was unclear.

Michael Horowitz, a security analyst with the Levantine Group, wrote on Twitter that the Isis statement incorrectly claimed there were casualties and could be trying to maximise the media impact of the attack.

There were conflicting reports of the weapons used in the attack, with a witness reporting that Molotov cocktails were thrown at the building and describing gunmen firing at the building with live bullets.

But the Egyptian Interior Ministry said security guards, not tourists, were the intended target and claimed only a homemade pellet gun and fireworks were used.

 Shots fired at police guarding Cairo hotel

No injuries occurred. The security forces followed these individuals and caught an individual who was hiding behind the hotel and is now in custody, a spokesperson said.

Security forces have intensified their efforts to identify and seize the other individuals involved in this incident.

The attack came as Egypts tourist economy struggles to recover from unrest triggered by the Arab Spring and military coup in 2013.

Tourists wave from a bus as they leave the Three Pyramids hotel in Cairo's al-Harm district on January 7, 2016 (AFP/Getty Images)

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has declared an all-out war on Islamist militants who have launched suicide bombings and shootings across the country.

Egypts most active terrorist group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, pledged allegiance to Isis in 2014 and started calling itself Wilayat Sinai.

Its jihadists are mainly active in the Sinai Peninsula, where they claimed to have bombed a Russian passenger plane with 224 people on board in October, and have also claimed responsibility for attacks in Cairo, the western desert and Nile delta.

Additional reporting by agencies
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Two assailants have stormed the entrance to a hotel in the Egyptian city of Hurghada, before attacking and injuring three tourists with knives, security sources have said.

The two attackers wounded two Austrian tourists and a Swedish tourist at the four-star beachside Bella Vista Hotel in the Red Sea resort city, according to Egypts Interior Ministry.

Officials say police opened fire at the attackers, killing at least one.

Egypt's Interior Ministry identified the slain attacker as 21-year-old Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Mahfouz, a student from Cairo's neighborhood of Giza. It said both attackers carried knives and pellet guns.

All three wounded tourists have been taken to hospital, where one was treated and discharged, a ministry statement said.

The condition of the other two tourists was not made clear, however Health Ministry spokesman, Khaled Megahed, described the condition of all three as "not serious".

A member of the hotel's management staff, who witnessed the incident, said the attackers entered the Bella Vista from a hotel next door, accessing the facility from the beach.

He added the slain attacker attempted to take a female tourist hostage by dragging her into the hotel's lobby with his knife held against her neck, before he was shot dead by police.

The Red Sea city resort of Hurghada, Egypt Google Maps (Google Maps)

Security sources previously said the two attackers were armed with a gun, knife and a suicide belt, injuring one tourist from Denmark and one from Germany.

It comes after the militant group Isis said on Friday that an attack on Israeli tourists in Cairo on Thursday was carried out by its fighters in response to a call by the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to target Jews "everywhere".

Security sources said those tourists were Israeli Arabs. No one was was hurt and Egyptian authorities said the attack was focused on security forces.

Tourism, which is a cornerstone of the Egyptian economy, has been badly hit by years of political turmoil.

A Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai on 31 October, killing all 224 people on board, most of whom were tourists returning home from the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh.

Cairo says it has found no evidence of terrorism in the crash. Russia and Western governments have said the airliner was probably brought down by a bomb, and Islamic State said it had smuggled explosives on board.

Additional reporting by various agencies
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A US-based human rights organisation has accused the Ethiopian government of killing 140 protesters over a land dispute.

Security forces have killed at least 140 protesters and injured many more, according to activists, in what may be the biggest crisis to hit Ethiopia since the 2005 election violence, writes Felix Horne, a Human Rights Watch researcher.

Mass anti-government protests have erupted across Oromia, Ethiopia's largest region, disputing the capital's plan to expand its control. Demonstrators fear that local farmers will be displaced.

However, the administration has accused the protesters of having strong links to terror groups in the region, BBC reports.

People mourn Dinka Chala's death in Yubdo Village. Zacharias Abubeker/Getty (Zacharias Abubeker/Getty)

Mr Horne also said that prominent locals have been targeted by the government including Bekele Gerba, deputy chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), the regions largest registered political party.

He was first taken to the notorious Maekalawi prison, where torture and other ill-treatment are routine. The 54-year-old foreign language professor was reportedly hospitalized shortly after his arrest but his whereabouts are now unknown, raising concerns of an enforced disappearance, he writes, noting that several other senior officials and journalists.

The frustration of the protests have been rooted in angers over a lack of political and economic inclusion, according to the BBC.

The Oromia are currently the reigion's largest ethnic group with 25 million people out of nearly 75 million residents.
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Notorious drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman has been recaptured by the Mexican authorities after escaping from a maximum security prison last year. President Enrique Pena Nieto announced his arrest on Twitter, in a message that translates as: Mission completed: we have him. Id like to inform the Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been detained.

Guzman, who is thought to be 58, had been on the run since July 2015, when he escaped from Altiplano prison, 56 miles west of Mexico City, reportedly via an elaborate tunnel that led directly from beneath the shower in his cell to a building one mile beyond the prison walls. According to the Associated Press, he was apprehended early on Friday following a gun battle with Mexican marines in Los Mochis, a city on the Pacific coast of Sinaloa, his home state.

The Mexican navy said it had followed a tip to a home in Los Mochis, where the marines were fired upon as they staged a pre-dawn raid. Five suspects were reported killed in the ensuing shootout, and six others arrested, including El Chapo. One Mexican marine was wounded, but his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. The marines seized weapons and hardware at the scene including two armoured vehicles and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Guzman  whose nickname translates as Shorty, a reference to his 56 stature  is the feared boss of the powerful Sinaloa cartel. He has been imprisoned twice since his first arrest in 1993, and escaped twice: first in 2001, when he broke out of the maximum-security Puente Grande prison in Jalisco state. It was reported that he escaped with the help of guards who hid him in a laundry cart, though that version of events is disputed. He was finally re-arrested in 2014.

His escape last year was a stinging embarrassment for Mr Pena Nieto, who has staked his reputation in part on his uncompromising approach to the drug wars, arresting or killing several of the countrys top cartel bosses since taking office in 2012. His administration had offered a 60m peso reward (2.3m) for information leading to Guzmans recapture.



At least 20 prison officials were arrested last year in connection with the escape, including the former head of the Mexican federal prison system and the former director of the Altiplano prison itself. Questions will now be asked as to whether the Mexican prison system can guarantee Guzmans long-term detention, and whether he should instead be incarcerated and tried by the US, which has indicted him on federal trafficking charges and demanded his extradition.

In 2013, Chicago designated Guzman its Public Enemy Number One, with federal agents saying his organisation supplied most of the drugs sold on the citys streets, more than 2,000 miles from Sinaloa. Drug trafficking is widely blamed as the underlying cause of Chicagos epidemic of street violence.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said on Twitter that it was extremely pleased at the news of Guzmans arrest, adding: We congratulate the [Mexican] Government and salute the bravery involved in his capture.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reportedly interrupted and shut down a massive online child abuse network after hacking into the so-called dark web in an operation that may lead to 1,500 prosecutions.

Vice Motherboard reported that federal investigators used an unprecedented approach to hack into the dark web bulletin board site named Playpen. The bulletin board was launched in August 2014 and within one year had 215,000 accounts with 11,000 unique visitors each week.

The report said that the FBI seized the North Carolina-based server running the board in February 2015 but did not shut it down immediately. Rather, the investigators ran the site via its own servers and deployed a hacking tool known, or network investigative technique (NIT), to identify the IP addresses of those visitors to the site.

The FBI apparently used unprecedented hacking methods to break up the network (AP)

The dark web is a section of the internet not discoverable by conventional means, such as through a server search or by directly entering a website URL.

Playpen was apparently the largest child abuse site discovered to date. It enabled users to sign up and then upload any images they liked. According to court documents, the websites primary purpose was to advertise and distribute child pornography.

According to the report, the NIT was able to capture the actual IP address of the computer, the type of operating system the users computer was using, the computer's architecture, the computer's MAC address and the computer's host name.

It was also able to identify the the computers active operating system username and was able to issue a unique identifier to the user in order to distinguish all data collected from another user's IP address.

At least two people were charged in connection with the investigation in the summer of 2015

Over 1,500 investigations and probes have resulted from the investigation

Fifteen-hundred or so of these cases are going to end up getting filed out of the same, underlying investigation, Colin Fieman, a federal public defender for the Western District of Washington who is handling several of the related cases, told Motherboard Vice.

There will probably be an escalating stream of these cases in the next six months or so. There is going to be a lot in the pipeline.

Last summer, at least two people, including a former New York City school teacher, were charged in connection with the ongoing investigation.

Reuters said that Alex Schreiber, a former math teacher, was arrested in July on a federal charge of knowingly possessing child pornography and later released on a $100,000 bond following an appearance in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

A second man, Peter Ferrell, was indicted by a federal grand jury for receiving and possessing child abuse materials.

The website operated on a network designed to facilitate anonymous communication over the internet that protected users privacy, court papers state.
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Google cardboard has saved a babys life when doctors in Miami used the simple device combined with 3D imaging to map out intricate heart surgery.

Doctors at Nicklaus Childrens Hospital in Florida said they used the contraption - which is made of cardboard and costs about $20 - to envision a surgical procedure that they couldnt have envisioned otherwise, according to CNN.

Baby Teegan Lexcen was born in August 2015 with one lung and half of her heart missing. Doctors in Minnesota told the parents there was nothing they could do and the baby was sent home to die with a hospice nurse.

Two months later baby Teegan was still alive, although her twin sister Riley was a healthier size.

After researching their options, the parents found an article called The 20 Most Innovative Pediatric Surgeons Alive Today and number three was Dr. Richard Burke, the chief of cardiovascular surgery at Nicklaus Childrens Hospital in Miami.

The hospital's 3D printer, used to make models of organs that doctors can analyze before carrying out surgery, was broken. Instead, Dr. Juan Carlos Muniz, a pediatric cardiologist who specializes in imaging, used an app called Sketchfab to download images of Teegans heart onto his iPhone and showed them to Dr Burke through the Google cardboard device.

With the goggles on, it was possible move around and see the heart from every angle and check its structure, preparing a map for surgery.

The 3D imaging also helped doctors to access the babys heart, which was unusually placed in the far left of her chest, and also to re-routing her right heart ventricle so that it could do the job of both the left and the right ventricle over the longer term.

It was mind-blowing, said mother Cassidy Lexcen. To see this little cardboard box and a phone, and to think this is what saved our daughter's life.

The baby has been taken off a ventilator four weeks after surgery and is breathing on her own. Doctors expect her to return home within two weeks and make a full recovery.
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Hillary Clinton has taken to social media to express her support of banning so-called conversion therapy in the US, a controversial practice which attempts to cure gay children and turn them straight.

The Democratic Presidential candidate tweeted on Thursday that LGBT kids dont need to be cured of anything.

Mrs Clinton spoke in Nevada on Wednesday and took the opportunity to also denounce Republicans who voted to defund pro-choice organisation Planned Parenthood and repeal Obamacare.

The most recent state to ban conversion therapy for minors was Illinois, which came into effect on 1 January.

President Barack Obama supported the ban in March 2015, and a the first bill to ban the therapy on a federal level was introduced in Congress on 19 May last year.

Activist Matthew Shurka who undertook conversion therapy and then campaigned to ban it, spoke in a YouTube video: Every morning I woke up thinking I couldnt be myself.

There are only five states in the US that explicitly ban conversion therapy for minors.

California was the first state in 2012 when a law was passed which prohibited licensed therapists from trying to change the sexual orientation of any client under the age of 18. New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Illinois followed.

According to information from the Human Rights Campaign at least 18 states have introduced similar legislation which has not yet been made into law. More information on each state can be found in this document.

Many states have attempted to ban the practice but have failed, including in Virginia last January.
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The White House has said it cannot pardon Making a Murderer subjects Steven Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey for their role in the 2005 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach after more than 100,000 people signed a petition demanding their release.

A petition on the governments We The People website called for the Obama administration to free Avery after the 10-part Netflix documentary series highlighted what it was said were serious flaws in the judicial process.

The Making a Murderer series scrutinised the details of the case and the claim by Avery's defence team that some of the evidence against him had been planted by the Manitowoc County sheriffs department in Wisconsin.

Petitions that reach over 100,000 signatures on the US government's website automatically receive an answer, but in its official response to the 129,886 signatures the White House said it was unable to intervene as it was only able to grant pardons for offences committed against the United States as a whole and Averys conviction was decided at state level.

The Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, previously said he has not watched the programme and will not pardon Avery, saying he should use the court system to appeal.

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.

Avery initially came to public attention after he was wrongfully convicted for the 1985 rape of Penny Beernsten. He was exonorated by DNA evidence in 2003.

 Making A Murderer- Where are they now?

Two years later, Ms Halbach went missing on the same day she visited Averys salvage yard to photograph a minivan for Auto Trader magazine.

Avery was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole but alleges Manitowoc County framed him.

At the time of his arrest for Ms Halbach's murder he had filed a $36m (24.7m) civil suit against the department for his wrongful conviction for Ms Beernsten.

Steven Avery (Netflix)

His nephew Dassey - who was 16-years-old at the time and has learning difficulties - was also sentenced to life in prison after he confessed to being Avery's accomplice.

He has since claimed he was coerced into confessing and has recanted his testimony. But the prosecutor, Ken Kratz, who convicted Avery alleged there were crucial pieces of evidence against Avery that were omitted from the Netflix programme and he was not given an opportunity to respond to the series claims.
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Police said the man accused of ambushing and shooting a Philadelphia patrol officer had pledged allegiance to Isis and that he claimed to have carried out the attack in the name of Allah.

Suspect Edward Archer, who has been arrested, has been accused of firing up to 13 shots from a semi-automatic pistol at point blank range through the window of the officers car, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross told reporters.

He walked towards the car as he fired, eventually getting close enough to reach in the window, said the police chief.

Police said suspect Edward Archer claimed allegiance to Isis (YouTube)

He has confessed to committing this cowardly act in the name of Islam, Mr Ross said at a press conference.

Philadelphia Police Captain James Clark added: He said he pledges his allegiance to Islamic State, he follows Allah and that was the reason he was called on to do this.

US officials have been on high security alert following a series of Isis-linked attacks at home and abroad over the last few months.

In November, gunman and suicide bombers affiliated with Islamic State killed 130 people in a series of coordinated attacks in Paris. Last month, a married Muslim couple fatally shot 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in an attack inspired by Isis militants.

Police said the gunman fired 13 times using a semi-automatic pistol (AP)

Reuters reported that police said there was no evidence as of yet as to whether the shooter had worked with anyone else. The attack happened at around 11.30pm on Thursday in west Philadelphia.

He was savvy enough to stop just short of implicating himself in a conspiracy, said Mr Ross.

He doesnt appear to be a stupid individual, just an extremely violent one.

Vocativ said that according to court records, Mr Archer had a litany of felonies and jail time awaiting him. He had previously been charged with making terrorist threats years ago and was due in court later this month, it said.

The police officer was shot three times (AP)

Police released still images from a surveillance video that shows a gunman, dressed in a white robe, walking toward the patrol car and approaching the drivers side door. He was firing all that time, police said. Mr Hartnett shouted into his police radio.

Shots firedIm bleeding heavily! he yelled, as he requested back-up. Im bleeding. Get us another unit out here!

Mr Hartnett, who was able to return fire and hit the suspect in the leg, was taken Penn Presbyterian Hospital and will require several surgeries.

Were just lucky, thats all I can say, said Mr Ross. I cant even believe that he was able to survive this.

Police said the suspect used a gun that had been stolen from a Philadelphia police officer's home several years ago, but not by the alleged shooter.
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President Barack Obama hosted a town hall on Thursday night addressing his executive actions on gun reform at George Mason University in Virginia.

President Obama has announced several executive actions on gun restrictions, released a New York Times op-ed condemning his potential successors who do not support gun control, and participated in a town hall forum on primetime television to address the nation on the issue  just seven days into 2016.

As protesters lined outside of George Mason University, the president explained his plan to implement what he considers commonsense gun laws as well as protect the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms.

What Ive said consistently throughout my presidency is I respect the Second Amendment, I respect the right to bear arms, I respect people who want to have guns for self-protection, for hunting, the president told participants. Everybody agrees that it makes sense to keep guns out of the hands of people who want to do others harm or do themselves harm.



CNN moderated the debate on Thursday and said that the National Rifle Association declined to participate in the conversation.

President Obama called the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, that took the lives of 20 children and six adults, the darkest time in his presidency. The president said that it was the only time he'd ever seen secret service members cry on duty.

More follows...
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Bulldozers have demolished part of a hospital in China, whilst patients and medical staff were still inside, it has been reported.

The official Xinhua Agency reports that unsuspecting staff and patients at the No 4 Hospital of Zhengzhou were suddenly sent fleeing for safety when bulldozers tore through the building.

A photo from inside the hospital immediately after the bulldozers tore through the building, injuring staff members and crushing six bodies stored in the morgue (AP)

Six bodies which were being processed at the morgue were crushed and buried in the rubble. Several members of staff were injured and close to 20 million yuan worth of damage to medical equipment was caused.

The hospital claims that local government had ordered them to accept the building being bulldozed as part of a state road expansion project. However, the hospital had refused the request, after which the state officials sent in bulldozers without any warning or permission.

The Huiji District Government Information Office said in an online statement yesterday that they had asked the hospital to allow part of the building to be demolished, however the staff had refused their request.

They confirmed that they then ordered for the bulldozers to enter, but said that their staff had made sure there were no people inside before beginning the demolition.

A doctor shows local press the aftermath of the bulldozing incident, including equipment torn off sockets and bricks strewn across the clinic (AP)

A spokesperson for the hospital, Zhang Yuan, said: Burying the remains of patients is enormously disrespectful to the dead. I never imagined anything like this would ever happen.

Forced demolitions are not uncommon in China, as local governments pursue real estate projects on behalf of the state.

A half-demolished apartment building standing in the middle of a newly-built road after a Chinese couple refused to acquiesce to the government's request that the building be bulldozed. The couple eventually moved after media attention. The phenomenon is called a 'nail house' in China, as such buildings stick out and are difficult to remove, like a stubborn nail.

A couple in Xiayangzhang became a symbol of resistance to the practice in 2012 when they refused to vacate their home which had been earmarked as part of a housing block to be torn down and replaced with a public road.

They insisted on staying in their home, forcing the road to be built around them. However, the couple eventually grew tired of the media attention sparked by their act of resistance and finally agreed for their home to be bulldozed.

With additional reporting by Associated Press
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The Chinese authorities appear to have destroyed a giant gold statue of Mao Zedong after it became the subject of online mockery around the world.

The 120ft (37m) tall construction started to take shape around nine months ago, according to Chinese media reports, but unconfirmed photos circulating online on Friday appeared to show a huge chunk torn from its centre and a black sheet draped over its head.

Images of the almost-complete Chairman Mao, towering over fields in rural Henan province, went viral three days earlier after they appeared on a Chinese news website.

It's not known if the fact it became an international laughing stock had any role in the statue's demise. A website linked to the state-run People's Daily quoted local officials saying the project "was not registered or approved".

The statue was funded by local businessmen, and cost around 3 million yuan (313,000). As its fame spread it met with some criticism, with farmers and villagers quoted as saying the money could have been spent better on education and other public services.

The exact location of the statue, in Tongxu county, was more or less the epicentre of a famine which killed millions in the late 1950s, partly as a result of Mao's policies.

China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Show all 8 1 /8 China's extraordinary 'nail houses' China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A general view shows the demolition of a 'nail house', the last house in the area, at a construction site in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. The owners of the house had filed but lost a lawsuit against the developer of the land to seek more compensation before agreeing to the demolition of their home. The land will be used for a high-rise apartment project. Chinese media have since seized on disputes between developers and owners of so-called 'nail houses', whose owners have stuck to their ground and resisted demolition, holding up development projects in the world's fastest-growing major economy China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A half-demolished apartment building standing in the middle of a newly-built road thanks to a Chinese couple that refused to move in Wenling, in eastern China's Zhejiang province. Luo Baogen, 67, and his 65-year-old wife have waged a four-year battle to receive more than the 41,300 USD compensation offered by the local government of Daxi, a Chinese newspaper said. The phenomenon is called a 'nail house' in China, as such buildings stick out and are difficult to remove, like a stubborn nail China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A 'nail house', the last building in the area, sits in the middle of a road under construction in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. According to local media, the owner of the house didn't reach an agreement with the local authority about compensation of the demolition China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A three-storey 'nail house', the last building in the area, with a Chinese national flag on its rooftop is seen in the middle of a newly-built road in Luoyang, Henan province. According to local media, the house owner did not agree with government's compensation plan for relocation and refused to move out China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A six-floor villa is viewed on the construction site in the central business district of Shenzhen. Choi Chu Cheung, the owner of the villa, and his wife Zhang Lian-hao, refused to accept the compensation offered by the developer who plans to build a financial centre on the site. The couple are demanding that the developer compensate them with property similar in size or raise the offer from 6,500 yuan ($840) to 18,000 yuan ($2,327) per square metre China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A 'nail house', the last house in this area, stands in the centre of a construction site which will be developed as a new apartment zone in Chongqing Municipality. The owners of the house insist in seeking more compensation before agreeing to the demolition of their home, local media reported China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A view of where 75-year-old Yao Baohua's house (C) still stands in the rubble of a vast development site in the city of Changzhou in China's eastern Jiangsu province. The Yao home is the last one standing in the rubble of a vast development site in Changzhou, a Chinese 'nail house', the moniker earned for both their physical appearance and their owners' stubborn resistance China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China Chinese authorities carry sticks as they stand guard while workers demolish houses which are claimed illegal by the local government in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province. Land seizures have been a problem for years in China, and have given rise to the term 'nail house' to describe a holdout tenant or occupant, likening them to a nail refusing to be hammered down, and violent resistance has been reported in numerous cases as ordinary people take matters into their own hands to resist eviction they deem unfair

Yet the leader is still revered as a hero by many Chinese citizens, including President Xi Jingping, who has previously praised the late dictator as a "great figure."
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On the banks of the frozen Tumen River, dividing China and North Korea, there was little sign of Beijings displeasure at its rogue neighbour and its so-called H-bomb of justice.

Military officers and police stopped tourists taking photos of the few North Koreans walking along a craggy path with a horse and cart to the rivers edge on Thursday. On the Chinese side, children skated on a frozen pond and lorries regularly crossed the bridge that divides the countries.

Recommended Read more How North Korea justified detonating the most powerful weapon on earth

Im worried about the health impacts. The test was so close to us, and a nuclear bomb is a dangerous thing, said Liu, outside a railway station in Tumen, 120 miles from North Koreas nuclear test site.

I feel a little afraid, said Piao Yanjin, 23, an ethnic Korean student in Yanji, a nearby town. If theyre going to carry out even larger-scale nuclear weapons tests, this will definitely harm our lives. We should definitely think of more ways [to prevent it].

On Friday, its leaders 32nd or 33rd birthday, North Korea faces increasingly stringent United Nations sanctions. China has signed up to the measures, which include border inspections. The official China Daily newspaper said in an editorial that there would be no tolerance and compromise from Beijing when it came to North Koreas pursuit of a nuclear arsenal. But China also provides large amounts of aid off the books to Pyongyang.

Xie Tao, a North Korea expert at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said that if China dramatically changed course with North Korea, it would raise questions about historical mistakes made by the Chinese Communist Party.

We fought a war, he said, referring to the 1950-53 Korean War in which China sided with North Korea. Half a million Chinese people died, and now you say, sorry, we made a terrible mistake. If you made that terrible mistake, are there any other terrible mistakes that you made since 1949?

Firmly aligned against Pyongyangs nuclear posturing is Seoul. The government was said to be in talks with the US to deploy strategic weapons on the Korean peninsula.

South Korea also said it would resume propaganda broadcasts by loudspeaker into North Korea from Friday, Mr Kims birthday. The broadcasts, which are likely to infuriate the regime, are meant to raise questions in North Korean minds about the infallibility of the ruling Kim family. They will not, however, be heard in Tumen.

Reuters
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A Thai beauty company has apologised after its advert tagline, being white makes you a winner, caused an uproar on social media.

The advert for Snowz skin lightening pills was uploaded to the Facebook page of company Seoul Secret two days ago. The video sees a smiling Thai celebrity, Cris Horwang, attribute her professional success to her pale skin.

Its not easy to stay at this point for a long time, says the 35-year-old model and actress  warning that, without the product, all the whiteness I have invested in will be gone.

A newcomer will replace me and turn me into a dark star, she says, a Thai idiom that describes her fame fading. The skin of a second actress turns black, as Horwang promises that Snowz pills will help you not to return to being dark.

Whitening creams and pills remain popular in Thailand and many other Asian countries, where a pale complexion is still considered the standard of beauty in the media.

But many Thai commenters on social media complained that the advert was racist and reinforced narrow conceptions of beauty.

It indicates that dark skinned people are losers, and this is clearly racist, wrote a Thai commenter named Tammaijang on online forum Pantip.

Ten adverts that shocked the world Show all 10 1 /10 Ten adverts that shocked the world Ten adverts that shocked the world Les Droits des Non-Fumeurs A poster from an anti-smoking campaign by Les Droits des Non-Fumeurs Ten adverts that shocked the world Angelina Jolie and Paris Hilton with no make-up A South American beauty clinic called Xiomara Coronado Beauty Center launched this campaign featuring digitally enhanced images of Angelina Jolie and Paris Hilton, alleging that they'd look that wrinkly in years to come if they neglected their skincare routine Ten adverts that shocked the world Benetton's Aids sufferer campaign This Benetton advert features a photo of Aids sufferer and activist David Kirby and his family by Therese Frare (1990). The original picture, which won the World Press Photo Award, was published in black and white, but Benetton's advertisers decided they wanted to use a colour version to make it seem more shockingly like a real ad. The ad was designed to raise awareness of Aids and Kirby's family and Frare approved of the photos use. But it provoked a storm of criticism from other Aids activists who claimed the campaign was in some way a vindication of homosexuality Ten adverts that shocked the world Statutory rape This poster of a grotesquely over-developed child is part of a campaign by ad agency Serve, commissioned by the Family Violence Partnership in Milwaukee, to raise awareness about statutory rape. The tagline reads 'If you see a child as anything more, it's wrong.' Ten adverts that shocked the world Deutsch Magazine This bizarre advert appears to show a young woman getting intimate with a dog. It was designed to promote a new magazine for jetsetters 'Deutsch Magazine', although quite what the 'international lifestyle' it claims to promote consists of, one might wonder Ten adverts that shocked the world Red Cross blood M&C Saatchi is responsible for this campaign for the Australian Red Cross aimed at promoting blood donation. The gruesome image of a blood filled donation pot certainly provokes a reaction Ten adverts that shocked the world Prius murder A spoof campaign for the virtuously eco-friendly Prius portrays three immoral scenes - murder (above), prostitution and adultery- bearing the tagline 'Well, at least he drives a Prius' Ten adverts that shocked the world Tom Ford's Vaginads Dubbed 'Vaginads' by the media, the campaign for Tom Ford's menswear featured a series of close-ups of naked women with a cologne bottle covering their most intimate parts. Naturally, we couldn't publish such raunchy pictures, but you'll find a variation on the theme above Ten adverts that shocked the world Fair trial, my arse Bearing the slogan 'Fair trial, my arse,' this Agent Provocateur advert bears a cheeky message. Having teamed up with human rights campaigners Reprieve, the sheer orange undies were part of a wider campaign against the illegal detention of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay Ten adverts that shocked the world 'We all have aids' Fashion designer Kenneth Cole's 'We all have Aids' ad campaign caused ripples because the posters (see above) so closely resembled normal fashion ads. The tagline 'We're all potential carriers' refers not to the bag the model is brandishing, but to Aid

Another post read: Having dark skin can be beautiful  without being ashamed as well.

The advert is a manifestation of a pattern of racism that has existed in Thailand for centuries, where paler skin was considered a sign of status, explained Yukti Mukdawijitra, a professor of sociology and anthropology at Thailands Thammasat University. But the influence of the West has also contributed, he told CNN.

"Those who look Western, those who are white, those who have bodies that look like Westerners', become preferable  in a way, people in Thailand internalize a colonial attitude into themselves."

On Friday, Seoul Secret removed the advert from its website. "Our company did not have any intention to convey discriminatory or racist messages," the company said in a statement. "What we intended to convey was that self-improvement in terms of personality, appearance, skills, and professionality is crucial."
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A McDonalds customer has posted a picture of a gourmet burger covered in blue and green mould on Facebook.

Rebecca Hantzis criticised the fast food giant, describing the bun as "disgusting".

The 23-year-old told Daily Mail Australia: When I noticed the mould it was my boyfriend who took the picture and took it back to the counter..

We didn't really get an apology or anything, they just made a fresh one. But there was another burger on the counter ready to be served with mould on it as well.

It was disgusting.'

the image was widely shared with many replying that they had experienced similar problems in McDonalds restaurants.

One said he had received a mouldy Filet-O-Fish but staff had told him the specks had been caused by the steamer - though they did replace it for him.

Others questioned why the staff had not noticed the flecks when they had handed it over.

Food trends in 2016 Show all 11 1 /11 Food trends in 2016 Food trends in 2016 Celeriac root We had a kale obsession in 2015, but 2016s vegetable sine qua non is predicted to be the knobbly celeriac root. Celeriac milk (Tom Hunt at Poco in Bristol serves it with winter mussels and wild water celery), celeriac cooked in Galician beef fat (from Adam Rawson of Pachamama, hot new chef in the capital) and salt-baked celeriac (to be found in Matthew and Iain Penningtons kitchens at The Ethicurean in the West Country) are just a few examples. Getty Images Food trends in 2016 Middle Eastern food The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook (24.95, Phaidon) by grand-dame Salma Hage, author of the bestseller The Lebanese Kitchen (whose halva is pictured here), is out in April  Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton Food trends in 2016 Non-alcoholic cocktails Grain Store mixologist Tony Conigliaro has created Roman Redhead, a riot of red grape juice, beetroot, pale ale and verjus, and Rose Iced Tea (black tea, rose petals, anise essence, pictured here) Food trends in 2016 Gin The discerning will be slurping Hepple gin  from chef Valentine Warner and cocktail guru Nick Strangeway  which is punctuated with bog-myrtle nuances Food trends in 2016 Argyll and Bute Restaurant followers are getting in a froth about Pam Brunton in Scotland, who opened the Inver restaurant in Argyll and Bute to acclaim last year Food trends in 2016 Andy Olivers Som Saa One of the most eagerly awaited restaurants of 2016 will be the permanent incarnation of Andy Olivers remarkable pop-up Som Saa opening very soon in east London. Oliver, who worked at Thai god David Thompsons Nahm in Bangkok, raised a whopping 700,000 through crowdfunding, and is renowned for his piquant Thai flavours and obsessive attention to detail, including in his home ferments and DIY coconut cream  Adam Weatherley Food trends in 2016 Venison Another ruminant in vogue is venison, with Sainsburys doubling its line for 2016. It provides a protein-packed punch, with B vitamins and iron, and its low in fat. Its entry into the mainstream is in part thanks to the Scottish restaurant Mac and Wild, just opened in London, whose Celtic head chef Andy Waugh (who also runs the Wild Game Co) has been touting it as street food for years (his venison burger pictured here) Food trends in 2016 Goat From Brett Grahams The Ledbury to Angela Hartnetts kitchens at Lime Wood Hotel in the New Forest, Cabrito is the go-to goat supplier among the chef cognoscenti (roasted loin of kid pictured here)  but this year, domestic cooks can get in on the action, as Sushila Moles and James Whetlor of Cabrito offer their meat through Ocado Mike Lusmore / mikelusmore.com Food trends in 2016 Coffee Coffee sage George Crawford is launching the much-anticipated Cupsmith with his partner, Emma. Crawford believes that 2016 is the year purist coffee will finally meet the masses; Cupsmiths mission will be to make craft coffee as popular as craft beer on the high street. The company roasts Arabica beans in small batches, improving its quality  but sells it online, at cupsmith.com, in an approachable way: expect cheerful packaging and names such as Afternoon Reviver Coffee (designed for drinking with milk  no matter how uncouth, most of us want milk) and Glorious Espresso Julia Conway Food trends in 2016 120-day-old steak Hanging meat for extremely long lengths of time has become an art. In Cumbria, Lake Road Kitchens James Cross is plating up 120-day-old steak (pictured here). The beef is from influential ager Dan Austin of Lake District Farmers, who is currently investigating the individual bacterial cultures that go into this maturing process Food trends in 2016 Lotus root Diners can expect root-to-stem dining - cue the full lotus deployed by the Michelin-starred Indian Benares in its kamal kakdi aur paneer korma Getty Images

A McDonalds spokeswoman said the incident was being investigated.

She told news.com.au: McDonalds takes food quality seriously and issues like this are rare. We are disappointed this has happened and are investigating with the restaurant.

It comes as a woman in New Zealand had a similar problem with mould in a Burger King restaurant - being given mouldy burgers on two separate occasions and have one replaced with another bun with the blue specks on.

Maggie Lawson from Christchurch said she was served the first mouldy bun on 26 December and again on New Year's Eve - and the replacement she asked for on the second occasion also had mould on.
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A Maori couple has posted a photo of their newborn baby with his placenta cord spelling out the word Love and inspired a discussion of traditional post birth rituals.

Next to the image of baby Harper taken by professional photographer Emma Jean it explained the placenta would now be buried in accordance with Maori tradition.

It explained that the words for land and placenta whenua are the same and the ritual of burying the placenta symbolised the connection between people and the land.

The post said: The word 'whenua' relates to the placenta and to the land. Whenua (placenta) is returned to the whenua (land) with the pito (umbilical cord) the link between the newborn and papatuanuku (mother earth).

With this affinity established, each individual fulfils the role of curator, for papatuanuku, which remains life long.

Commenting on the post, mothers from around the world - both Maori and non-Maori - shared how they chose to mark the birth of their children.

One mother said she had buried the five placentas from her childrens births and they refer to the trees plant above them by their names.

Another said it was also a Tongan tradition and all of her children and grandchildrens placentas are buried at her house.

Childbirth crisis: From the cradle to the grave Show all 8 1 /8 Childbirth crisis: From the cradle to the grave Childbirth crisis: From the cradle to the grave 8168.bin Childbirth crisis: From the cradle to the grave 8169.bin Childbirth crisis: From the cradle to the grave 8170.bin Childbirth crisis: From the cradle to the grave 8171.bin Childbirth crisis: From the cradle to the grave 8172.bin Childbirth crisis: From the cradle to the grave 8173.bin Childbirth crisis: From the cradle to the grave 8174.bin Childbirth crisis: From the cradle to the grave 7363.bin

One woman said she buried her son's placenta on her great-grandmother's grave to mark the closet relationship she had with her when she was alive.

One poster, Tiria Tiria, said Cook Islanders also followed the tradition and believed children developed personalities that were connected to the plant that grew in the ground where it is buried.

For instance "the most popular belief is that "coconut tree" kids are hard-heads or tough, or that "lemon tree" kids are sour and easily angered".
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A massive bushfire has destroyed at least a third of a small town in Western Australia, 125km south of Perth, and is threatening more towns still.

An estimated 95 houses out of 300 in the town of Yarloop were razed to the ground in the fire, which began sweeping through the town on Thursday evening.

Three people who had been unaccounted for earlier have now been located and evacuated to safety, The Australian reports.

The bushfire, dubbed the Waroona fire, was sparked by lightning on Wednesday. It has now burnt more than 58,000 hectares (nearly 224 square miles).

Wind gusts of up to 60km/h (37mph) fanned the flames, which reached heights of 50m.

Historic buildings, workshops, factories, a fire station and part of a school have also been destroyed, according to Fire and Emergency Services Commission (DFES) Wayne Gregson.

Yarloop Bowling Club president Ron Sackville told Western Australian Today that the fire ripped through the main street of the town, which has a population of 545.

In pictures: Sydney bushfires Show all 27 1 /27 In pictures: Sydney bushfires In pictures: Sydney bushfires 40-sydney-gt.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-bushfire-1.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-bushfire-2.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-4.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-bushfire-8.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-bushfire-7.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-bushfire-6.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-bushfire-5.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-bushfire-4.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-bushfire-3.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-2.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Sydney bushfires 5613348.jpg Art Gallery of Ballarat/National Gallery of Australia In pictures: Sydney bushfires australia-10.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires australia-4.jpg Reuters In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-10.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-9.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-11.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-12.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-13.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-14.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-1.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-15.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-3.jpg AP In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-8.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-7.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-6.jpg EPA In pictures: Sydney bushfires sydney-fire-5.jpg EPA

He said very little of Yarloop remains, and everything around his home, which he managed to save, were burnt to a cinder.

Mr Sackville, a volunteer firefighter, blasted government authorities for the disgusting lack of water which led to the swift destruction of the town, and called for the Minister of Water to resign.

Yarloop residents used a community meeting held on Friday to demand answers about the water supply.

According to Perth Now, some of the residents said there wasnt a drop of water to defend their homes and they were forced to flee.

Mr Gregson confirmed to media he had heard complaints about the water situations, and it would be looked into, but advised the public not to rely on scheme water or guaranteed power, as they are likely to fail when you have such a situation.

The shires of Harvey and Waroona, and surrounding areas including Preston Beach and Myalup have been declared emergency situations.
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It comes in two volumes and is 1,966 pages long; it weighs 10kg and it contains more than 3,500 largely academic footnotes. The long-awaited new German edition of Adolf Hitlers anti-Semitic diatribe Mein Kampf is not the sort of work easily handed round at a political rally.

The book emerged from a 70-year ban in Germany today, going back on sale for the first time since 1945, despite its continued reputation as one the most pernicious pieces of writing ever to have emerged from the country.

Yet the new edition of the Nazi leaders autobiographical and racist rant seems unlikely to inspire even the most ardent of Germanys new generation of neo-Nazis or of its budding anti-immigration movements. If sheer weight and bulk were not a deterrent, the 59 (44) price tag for the first print of 5,000 copies surely will be.

Our aim is to debunk and demystify this book, said Dr Christian Hartmann of Munichs Insitute for Contemporary History, one of a team of historians who have spent three years preparing the critical edition. We wanted to surround Hitler with our own words, he said at a press launch.

For 70 years, the state of Bavaria, which owned the copyright, refused to allow it to be republished, but its copyright expired on 31 December. Most German Jewish organisations have welcomed the publication.

Andreas Wirsching, another of those involved, said the ending of the copyright left historians with a problem. We could have simply ignored the book and done nothing  but we were convinced that we had to do something. We wanted to put Mein Kampf firmly in its historical context, he said.

The critical edition, seen by The Independent, will delight academics but would challenge school pupils or the readers of popular historical novels. There are two pages of footnotes and comments to every half page of text.

A cursory glace shows that Hitlers anti-Semitisim is omnipresent. Mein Kampf is packed with references to supposed sub-humans, such as the black-haired Jew boy with an expression of Satanic joy as he prepares to prey on an unwitting German maiden. But often the footnotes merely tell us that the term was a 19th-century cliche.

Professor Ian Kershaw, the British author of a two-volume biography of Hitler, who was in Munich for the launch, described the new edition as excellent and said it was long overdue. There was never any sense in banning this book in the first place, he said.
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Two men of an immigrant background have been arrested in the German city of Cologne following a string of alleged sexual assaults on women on New Years Eve, according to reports.

The pair are understood to have been detained overnight while near the citys central station  an area where many of the assaults took place.

One of them was carrying a note written in both German and Arabic carrying translations of phrases including "Beautiful breasts", "I want to have sex with you" and "Ill kill you", the Telegraph reported.

Germanys privacy laws have prevented the men being named, the newspaper added. Their nationality remains unclear.

 Cologne victims speak

Women protest against sexism outside Cologne Cathedral on 5 January after the assaults (Oliver Berg/EPA)

The news follows claims in a leaked police report that some of the perpetrators of the Cologne sex attacks claimed they were Syrian refugees, with one telling officers you have to treat me kindly! Mrs Merkel invited me.

Tensions remain high in Germany in the aftermath of the sexual assaults of nearly 100 women in Cologne on New Years Eve. There were similar attacks in other German cities, including Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Dusseldorf on the same night.

Women march through Cologne holding placards reading Against Sexism, Against Racism (Reuters)

In total more than 120 criminal complaints were filed in Cologne alone, with a further 50 in Hamburg  many of them alleging that large groups of men were hunting female revellers during the New Years celebrations and subjecting them to sexual assault and robbery.

In many cases police described the alleged perpetrators as being of southern or Arab or North African appearance.

Police officers stand in front of the main train station in Cologne on New Year's Eve (EPA)

Such claims have sparked anger across Germany, where many have been quick to accuse asylum seekers of carrying out the New Years Eve sexual assaults and robberies, adding that the criminality is the result of German Chancellor Angela Merkels unpopular open door refugee policy.

The policy led to the arrival of 1.1 million asylum seekers - many of them desperate Syrians fleeing their war-ravaged homeland - in 2015.

Germany's justice minister Heiko Maas yesterday warned that deportations would certainly be conceivable for any asylum seeker found to have taken part in the New Years Eve attacks.
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A leaked police report has revealed chaos beyond description in Cologne on New Years Eve, as seen through the eyes of the outnumbered officers trying to contain the disorder.

An account seen by Der Spiegel magazine and Bild newspaper was written by a senior officer in the German Federal Police.

He described terrified women being forced to literally run through a gauntlet of extremely intoxicated men outside the citys main railway station as fights, thefts, sex, assaults on women continued all around.

 NYE celebrations in Cologne

Police have come under heavy criticism for their response on the night, which is now the subject of more than 120 separate criminal complaints  mostly of sexual assault and robbery.

In the course of the operation numerous crying and shocked women and girls approached officers to report sexual assaults by male migrants or groups, the report said.

Unfortunately it wasn't possible to identify them all.

The unidentified officer wrote that police could not prevent or even record all the crimes and attacks because there were just too many at the same time.

He said the police presence did not seem to deter the men committing offences, including some who even mocked police as they struggled to reach victims through the crowds.

Vans arriving as back-up were also allegedly targeted by fireworks and officers pelted with glass bottles by huge crowds between Colognes iconic cathedral and railway station.

Police sent 143 local officers and 70 federal officers into the area in a large-scale operation to clear the area. (YouTube, Report24)

The report described several thousand people, mostly male, of a migrant background who were firing all kinds of fireworks and throwing bottles into the crowd at random.

A 17-year-old British girl previously told how she escaped serious injury when a rocket exploded behind her as she celebrated New Years Eve with her boyfriend.

We heard a woman screaming and crying somewhere in the midst of this crowd, appearing to be escaping from a foreign man, who was shouting back and pointing his finger at her and chasing her with his accomplices, she wrote.

Later on, we saw two men corner women at the cathedral and touch them while they were screaming for help and trying to fight back.

The square was cleared shortly after midnight, police said, although some of the suspects complained of their treatment.

A man claiming to be an asylum seeker is quoted in the report as saying: Im Syrian, you have to treat me nicely! Angela Merkel invited me.

Women march through Cologne holding placards reading Against Sexism, Against Racism (Reuters)

A spokesperson for the German Federal Police, Jens Floeren, confirmed the authenticity of the report to The Local but said it was one officers subjective assessment of the incident three days afterwards.

Angela Merkel said Germany will not accept the assaults and said changes could be made to policing, while asylum seekers and Muslims across the country have voiced outrage.

Among members of a Facebook group for Syrian refugees in Germany, some called for the perpetrators to be strongly punished and deported immediately, blaming them for stoking anti-migrant prejudice and increasing the risk of attacks.

Police said investigators working with video footage have identified 16 young men - mostly of North African origin - who may be suspects.

Additional reporting by AP
By David Delony, Contributing Writer

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A new year might mean a new job for people in North Augusta (News - Alert), South Carolina. Agero, a provider of vehicle safety, security and information services, will be holding a job fair to fill positions at its new call center there.





We are excited to meet the residents of the North Augusta area and discuss potential employment opportunities, said Sandra Savage, vice president of human resources for Agero. Agero has been recognized by clients and industry experts as having award-winning contact centers committed to quality and excellence. Obtaining this recognition would not be possible without the world-class teams that we have in place at all of our facilities. It is their dedication and professionalism that make them heroes to drivers in need every day. Were looking forward to building out a new team and discussing with applicants at the North Augusta recruiting event about how they could be a fit.

Agero contracts with car makers and insurance companies to offer roadside assistance through its regional contact centers. The company is also making use of mobile and big data technology.

The job fair will be held from January 11-12. Agero is looking to fill positions such as response associates, supervisors, operations managers, contact center director as well as IT and facilities positions. The company said that it is looking for candidates who have a history of participating in their local communities. The company supports the local communities with education programs, building events, fundraising and corporate giving.

The company will also offer extensive training to maintain its high level of service.

Agero said that the company, which serves over 75 million drivers across the U.S., has a high-energy work environment and a casual dress code.

The companys North Augusta call center joins its other inbound regional call centers in Clarksville, Tennessee, Medford, Massachusetts, Sault Ste. Marie on Ontario, Sebring, Florida and Tucson, Arizona.

Edited by Kyle Piscioniere
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The arrest of three Syrians in Germany over the alleged gang rape of two teenage girls on New Years Eve has fuelled anti-refugee sentiment after hundreds of women across the country came forward to claim they were sexually assaulted on the same night.

A 21-year-old man and two 14-year-old boys are understood to have been detained in the town of Weil am Rhein on suspicion of taking girls aged 14 and 15 captive and gang raping them in an ordeal that apparently lasted several hours.

Prosecutors say the alleged rapes took place at the home of the oldest suspect in the village of Friedlingen after the girls attended a New Years Eve party there.

Police are hunting for a fourth alleged rapist, believed to be the 15-year-old brother of the oldest suspect, according to the Telegraph.

The newspaper said the three arrested Syrians are not asylum seekers, citing local police as saying the 21 and 15-year-old suspects are long-term German residents and the 14-year-olds live in Switzerland and the Netherlands respectively.

Police officers stand in front of the main train station in Cologne on New Year's Eve (EPA)

The three suspects were arrested on Sunday but details of their arrest were kept secret in an attempt to protect the victims identities, prosecutors claim.

Although the alleged attack took place on New Years Eve, prosecutors apparently believe it was in no way related to the flood of sexual assault claims from German cities including Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Dusseldorf on the same night.

 Growing fury in Germany over New Years Eve assaults on women in Cologne

In total more than 120 criminal complaints were filed in Cologne alone, with a further 50 in Hamburg  many of them alleging that large groups of men were hunting female revellers during the New Years celebrations and subjecting them to sexual assault and robbery.

In many cases police described the alleged perpetrators as being of southern or Arab or North African appearance. One purportedly leaked police report appeared to claim that some suspects said they were Syrian refugees and demanded to be treated nicely as Mrs Merkel invited me.

Such claims have sparked anger across Germany, where many have been quick to accuse asylum seekers of carrying out the New Years Eve sexual assaults and robberies, adding that the criminality is the result of German Chancellor Angela Merkels unpopular open door refugee policy.

The policy led to the arrival of 1.1 million asylum seekers - many of them desperate Syrians fleeing their war-ravaged homeland - in 2015.

Germany's justice minister Heiko Maas yesterday warned that deportations would certainly be conceivable for any asylum seeker found to have taken part in the New Years Eve attacks.

Finland also saw a spike in sexual harassment claims on New Year's Eve

The news comes as Finnish police reported an unusually high level of sexual harassment in Helsinki on New Year's Eve and said they had been tipped off about plans by groups of asylum seekers to sexually harass women.

"There hasn't been this kind of harassment on previous New Year's Eves or other occasions for that matter... This is a completely new phenomenon in Helsinki," the Finnish capital's deputy police chief Ilkka Koskimaki told the AFP news agency.

Security guards hired to patrol the city on New Year's Eve told police there had been "widespread sexual harassment" at a central square where around 20,000 people had gathered for celebrations.

Three sexual assaults allegedly took place at Helsinki's central railway station on New Year's Eve, where around 1,000 mostly Iraqi asylum seekers are said to have converged.

Finnish police said they increased their preparedness for sexual assaults 'to an exceptional level' on New Year's Eve after being tipped off about possible problems (Getty Images)

"Police have...received information about three cases of sexual assault, of which two have been filed as complaints," Helsinki police said in a statement.

The suspects were asylum seekers. The three were caught and taken into custody on the spot, Ilkka Koskimaki told reporters.

Police said they had increased their preparedness "to an exceptional level" in Helsinki for New Year's Eve after being tipped off about possible problems.

Ahead of New Year's Eve, the police caught wind of information that asylum seekers in the capital region possibly had similar plans to what the men gathered in Cologne's railway station have been reported to have had, police said in a statement.
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A five-month-old baby boy is believed to have died while travelling on board an aircraft being used to deport his French mother from Turkey over her suspected links to Isis.

Muhammed al-Amin Mahiev was on board an internal flight from the southeastern city of Gaziantep to Istanbul when he died of heart failure, a diplomatic source in Turkey told the AFP news agency.

The baby boy, who is understood to have been born prematurely last summer, was travelling alongside his mother Iman Mahiev when he died. Mahiev, a French national of Syrian origin, had been due to board an ongoing to France from Istanbul airport.

Turkish media said efforts were made to save the babys life on board the plane but he was declared dead shortly after landing their Turkish Airlines flight landed at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

Both Mahiev and her son were French nationals who are believed to have been staying in southeastern Turkey, close to the border with Syria.

Turkish authorities suspected her of having unspecified links to Isis terrorists and sent her and her son back to Paris under the guard of security officials, according to Paris Match. Turkey has a policy of regularly arresting foreigners close to the Syrian border and deporting them to their homeland.

Gaziantep, the Turkish border city where Mahiev is believed to have been detained, is one of the main routes used would-be jihadis trying to reach war-ravaged Syria.

It is also where a lot of Isis fixers are based, preparing would-be militants and jihadi brides for life under the so-called caliphate and introducing them to people smugglers who can transport them over the border to ISIS-held areas of Syrias Aleppo province.
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Military experts from Britain are allegedly working with Saudi Arabia's military operation in Yemen by helping select locations for attacking rebels.

The claim that six experts were helping Saudi Arabia with targeting was made by Sky News. But the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said personnel from the UK were only offering Saudi Arabia advice and training on best practice targeting techniques.

A coalition of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia has been supporting President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi by targeting the Houthi forces, an ally of Iran in Yemen, since March 2015.

Thousands of people have died in the conflict, many of whom are civilians.

Commenting on the claims made by Sky News, a spokesperson from the MoD said: UK military personnel are not directly involved in Saudi-led Coalition operations, we are offering Saudi Arabia advice and training on best practice targeting techniques to help ensure continued compliance with International Humanitarian Law.

We support Saudi forces through longstanding, pre-existing arrangements and will consider any new requests.

David Mepham, director of Human Rights Watch UK, told Sky News that the group condemned Britains involvement in Saudi Arabias campaign in Yemen. The group has previously produced reports in which it states the actions of the coalition could amount to war crimes.

"Human Rights Watch has put out numerous reports about what the Saudis are up to in Yemen.

He said it was deeply regrettable and unacceptable that Britain was "working hand in glove with the Saudis".

Britain has come under fire for selling arms to Saudi Arabia. And was recently announced that the Government had licensed 5.6 billion in the sales of arms and fighter jets.

A spokesperson from the Government said: UK military personnel are not directly involved in Coalition operations, but are supporting Saudi forces through pre-existing arrangements and additional liaison officers in Saudi headquarters.

We operate one of the most rigorous and transparent arms export control regimes in the world with each licence application assessed on a case by case basis, taking account of all relevant information, to ensure compliance with our legal obligations. No licence is issued if it does not meet these requirements.
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Turkey has reacted angrily to claims in Iranian state media that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was involved in Saudi Arabias execution of a prominent Shia cleric.

Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was among 47 people charged with terror offences and killed, mostly by beheading, across the Saudi kingdom on 2 January.

The Turkish president has refused to condemn the killings, describing them as an internal legal matter for the Saudi authorities, amid improved ties between the two majority Sunni Muslim states.

The executions were carried out only days after Mr Erdogan visited Riyadh for talks with King Salman, and Iranian news reports were quick to draw a connection between the two.

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,

The Turkish foreign ministry has summoned the Iranian ambassador in protest, and said in a statement: We strongly condemn the linking of our president's recent visit to Saudi Arabia to the executions sentenced in the country in stories published on media outlets linked to Iranian official bodies.

The statement said some Iranian papers were directly accusing Mr Erdogan in an attempt to sour his image among the Iranian public, and asked for these kinds of publications to be halted immediately.

The Turkish government also criticised attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions by Iranian protestors. It said : It was stressed to the ambassador that the attacks on Saudi Arabian embassy and consulate in Tehran and Meshed were completely unacceptable and inexplicable.

Additional reporting by agencies
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In a shocking low even by the standards of the so-called Islamic State, a militant has publicly executed his own mother after accusing her of apostasy.

The activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RIBSS) said 20-year-old jihadi Ali Saqr al-Qasem shot his mother Lena, 45, in the head with an assault rifle in front of a large crowd.

Lena al-Qasem is understood to have been accused of apostasy  a crime that usually means leaving ones religion but in practise is used by Isis as a justification for murdering anybody who doesnt support or speaks out against the terror group.

The exact charge against Ms al-Qasem was inciting her son to leave the Islamic State and escaping together to the outside of Raqqa, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.

The UK-based conflict monitor said Ali Saqr al-Qasem had reported his mother to his Isis superiors, who then sentenced her to death and ordered him be the one to kill her.

The Observatory said hundreds of people turned out to watch Ms al-Qasem's execution.

 IS Missile Clip Sky News

It is not known why her son was given the task of killing his own mother but the reason the execution took place outside Raqqas post office is because that is where Ms al-Qasem had worked.

The news comes as Isis chief spokesman in neighbouring Iraq, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, was reportedly left with severe injuries following an airstrike.

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

Al-Adnani, who has been singled out as a potential successor should anything happen to Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, required initial emergency treatment in the jihadi-held city of Hit after losing large amounts of blood, Iraqs Joint Operations Command said.

He has since been moved to Isis Iraq-stronghold of Mosul, MailOnline reported, adding that his condition remains unknown.
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Saudi Arabias Deputy Crown Prince has defended the kingdoms mass executions, which have sparked regional instability and a crisis in relations with Iran.

He said that fury at the execution of a lone cleric was a strange thing. Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Defence Minister and the son of King Salman, was asked by The Economist if he now considered Iran to be the kingdoms greatest enemy. He replied: We hope not. Because a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the beginning of a major catastrophe in the region... for sure we will not allow any such thing.

Recommended Read more Sectarian fault lines widen after Saudi execution of Shia cleric

Prince Mohammed defended the executions, which included the killing of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. The court did not, at all, make any distinction between whether or not a person is Shia or Sunni, he said. They are reviewing a crime, and a procedure and a trial and a sentence, and carrying out the sentence.

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia deteriorated further as Tehran severed all commercial ties with Riyadh and accused Saudi jets of attacking its embassy in Yemens capital, Sanaa.

On Thursday night, in Saudi Arabias eastern Shia heartland, people were due to gather to honour the executed cleric. There were fears it could spark further unrest, as witnesses in eastern Saudi towns reported hearing gunfire and armoured personnel carriers driving through streets.

Irans state-run news agency said a Saudi-led air strike hit the Iranian embassy in Sanaa. There was little visible damage to the building.

The diplomatic stand-off between Iran and Saudi Arabia began on Saturday, when the kingdom executed Sheikh al-Nimr and 46 others convicted of terror charges  the largest mass execution it has carried out since 1980. The cleric was a critic of the Saudi government and demanded greater rights for the kingdoms Shia population, but he always denied advocating violence.

Iranian protesters responded by attacking the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad. Since Saudi Arabia severed ties to Iran, a group of its allies have cut or reduced their ties as well. On Thursday Somalia joined Saudi allies, such as Bahrain and Sudan, and entirely cut diplomatic ties.

The Somali Foreign Ministry said it recalled its acting ambassador to Tehran and ordered Iranian diplomats to leave Somalia within 72 hours over Irans continuous interference in Somalias internal affairs.

In eastern Saudi Arabia, home to the kingdoms 10-15 per cent Shia population, three days of mourning over Sheikh Nimrs death ended on Wednesday night. Mohammed al-Nimr, the sheikhs brother, said a service was planned for Thursday, though authorities had already buried his body in an undisclosed cemetery. There are concerns new unrest could now erupt.

More than 1,040 people were detained in Shia protests in eastern Saudi Arabia between February 2011 and August 2014, according to Human Rights Watch. The watchdog alleged Saudi officials discriminate against the Shia by rarely allowing them to build mosques and limiting their access to public education, government employment and the justice system.

Iran has banned the import of goods from Saudi Arabia, according to Iranian state television. It said the decision was made during an emergency meeting of the cabinet of President Hassan Rouhani. Irans annual exports to Saudi Arabia are worth about 90m a year and are mainly steel, cement and agricultural products.

Meanwhile, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir arrived in Pakistans capital, Islamabad, for meetings with Pakistani leaders. Pakistan, predominantly a Sunni state but with a large Shia minority, has expressed hope that Saudi Arabia and Iran will improve relations.

AP
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The UK Foreign Secretary has been accused of parroting Saudi Arabian propaganda after he refused to condemn the mass execution of 47 people in the conservative kingdom.

The government says it has expressed its disappointment at the killings, which included a prominent Shia cleric and sparked a diplomatic fallout across the Middle East.

Appearing on the BBC's Today programme, Philip Hammond was asked if Britain was willing to be more robust in denouncing the actions of its ally.

But he instead preferred to point to the fact that Iran executes far more people than Saudi Arabia does, and said: Let us be clear, first of all, that these people were convicted terrorists.

According to rights groups, at least four of the 47 were arrested and killed in relation to political protests, including Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr himself.

But when this was put to Mr Hammond, he suggested there was no point objecting to all Saudi executions because Sharia law calls for the use of the death penalty and however much we lobby countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran they are not going to end its use.

The Foreign Secretary also revealed that he spoke to his Saudi Arabian counterpart in December about reports in this newspaper and others that a mass execution was about to take place. I urged him that they should not go ahead, he said, but to no avail.

Human rights groups said it was appalling that Mr Hammond refused to go beyond the standard assertion that the UK does not support the death penalty under any circumstances.

Maya Foa, head of the death penalty team at Reprieve, said the minister appeared to be alarmingly misinformed about the mass executions, repeating the Saudi crown princes line from an interview with the Economist where he described all those killed as terrorists.

By refusing to condemn these executions and parroting the Saudis propaganda, labelling those killed as 'terrorists', Mr Hammond is coming dangerously close to condoning Saudi Arabias approach.

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 Mepham, the UK director of Human Rights Watch, told the Huffington Post that British policy on Saudi Arabia has reached a new low.

It is appalling that Phillip Hammond refused to condemn the mass beheadings that took place in Saudi on January 2, including the execution of the prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Yet pressed on the case in this mornings BBC interview, the Foreign Secretary chose not to criticise Saudi executions but rather to contextualise, explain and seemingly excuse them.

Reprieve said its figures showed that of the 158 people killed by the Saudi state in 2015, 72 per cent were convicted of non-lethal offenses such as political protest or drug-related crimes.

It added that, despite Mr Hammonds welcome lobbying on their behalves, three juvenile offenders  Ali al-Nimr, Dawoud al Marhoon and Abdullah al-Zaher  remain on death row and could be executed at any time.
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Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets of the capital Tehran to protest against Saudi Arabia in the wake of its execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Worshippers who took part in Friday prayers joined the rally, carrying pictures of Sheikh Nimr and chanting Death to al-Saud, referring to the kingdoms royal family.

Similar protests took place in other Iranian cities and towns, Iranian state media reported.

Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran after crowds of protesters attacked two of its diplomatic posts in Iran. The attacks came after Saudi Arabia executed Sheikh Nimr and others on 2 January.

Among those executed were inmates suffering from mental illness, according to reports, as well as some who were juveniles at the time of their arrest. Four of the men were from the Shia-majority Eastern Province, while the other 43 were accused of having links to al-Qaeda. Among the juveniles was Mustafa Abkar from Chad, who was 13 years old at the time of his arrest in 2003, the Middle East Eye reported.

The escalating tensions between the two adversaries may imperil efforts to end the wars gripping Syria and Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and Iran back rival sides.

Additional reporting from AP
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Aid agencies have expressed alarm about dire conditions in a besieged town west of Damascus where people have been eating cats and grass to stay alive and as many as 23 people are reported to have died of hunger.

No food has arrived in the rural town of Madaya since October, and desperate residents have posted photographs on the internet showing frail, skeletal corpses and emaciated people, including children.

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders said 23 people have died of starvation since 1 December at a clinic the group supports in Madaya, six of them infants less than 1 year old.

 Weakened, cold and starving to death in Syrian town

The town has become an open-air prison, Brice de le Vingne, director of operations for Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement. Desperate people who try to flee have been injured or killed by bullets or by land mines planted around the town, he added.

According to Hassan Abu Shadi, a rescue worker in Madaya, one or two people have been dying daily of hunger over the past week, since snow fell on the mountain town and blanketed the last remaining vegetation.

"We were eating leaves and grass, but these days there are no more leaves because of the snow," he said, speaking by telephone. "There is nothing left but salt and water."

A starving boy is seen in a picture released by the Local Revolutionary Council in Madaya (AP)

The United Nations said in a statement that it has received "credible" reports of people dying of starvation and being killed while trying to leave the town. It welcomed what it said was a commitment from the Syrian government to allow aid to be delivered soon.

Madaya is an opposition stronghold that has been besieged by pro-government forces since July. The United Nations put the number of people trapped in the town at 42,000, but Doctors Without Borders said there were 20,000.

In pictures: Syria conflict Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Syria conflict In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrians carry children amid debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man carries a girl on a street covered with dust following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrians react as they stand amid debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man carries a girl amid debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis An injured Syrian man walks out from the rubble of a destroyed building following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian woman makes her way through debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis People stand on the rubble of collapsed buildings at a site hit by what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in the Al-Fardous neighbourhood of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian residents stand amid the rubble of destroyed buildings In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian resident grasps a mattress amid rubble in the al-Firdous neighborhood of the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A view taken from Tel al-Sawadi shows a large explosion allegedly at the Wadi Deif Syrian army base in northwestern Idlib on May 14, 2014, which opposition fighters have been trying to capture for more than a year. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamist rebels detonated explosives planted in a tunnel under the army base killing or injuring dozens. AFP In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A bullet-riddled parking sign stands amid debris in a deserted street leading into the old city of Homs In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A general view shows abandoned buildings on a deserted square in the old city of Homs after Syrian government forces regained control of rebel-controlled areas In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A military vehicle that belongs to the Free Syrian Army is seen in Al-Amariya district in Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A mosque is pictured through shattered glass in the old city of Homs, as rebel fighters withdrew from the city centre in line with a negotiated withdrawal deal with the government after having held out under tight siege for nearly two years In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Buses carrying Free Syrian Army fighters leaving Homs. Exhausted and worn out from a year-long siege, hundreds of Syrian rebels left their last remaining bastions in the heart of the central city of Homs under a cease-fire deal with government forces. The exit of some 1,200 fighters and civilians will mark a de facto end of the rebellion in the battered city, which was one of the first places to rise up against President Bashar Assad's rule, earning it the nickname of "capital of the revolution" In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian government forces hold up a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad (L) while others raise the national flag on top of a pole in the old city of Homs In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad run through Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr crossing after their release by rebels. They were freed as part of a larger deal which saw the last remaining Syrian rebels in central Homs city evacuate their positions and free captives in several locations in northern Syria In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian woman and two children walk past heavily damaged buildings in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man carries a wounded girl following a reported bombardment with explosive-packed "barrel bombs" by Syrian government forces in the al-Mowasalat neighborhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A wounded man sits as he is treated at a makeshift hospital following a reported bombardment with explosive-packed "barrel bombs" by Syrian government forces in the al-Sakhour district of the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Debris rises in what Free Syrian Army fighters and Islamic rebels said was an operation to strike Al-Sahaba checkpoint, which is considered a gateway to Al-Dayf valley, and remove forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in Maarat Al-Nouman, Idlib province In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Men try to put out fire at a site hit by what activists said was an air strike by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Azaz, north of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Civil Defence members try to put out fire In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Survivors react at a site hit by what activists said was an air strike by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Azaz, north of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Residents queue as they wait to receive food aid distributed by the UNRWA at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, south of Damascus In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Belongings of Syrian rebels inside a chapel at Crac des Chevaliers, the world's best preserved medieval Crusader castle in Syria. The village was destroyed in fighting between the government and rebel forces while the castle, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, also has been damaged over the past two years In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Hosen Sabah, a 16-year-old student is comforted by his mother at a hospital in Damascus. Nosen was wounded by a mortar outside his school, while 14 other students were killed and over 80 wounded In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Free Syrian Army fighter works on a locally made launcher before firing it towards forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in Mork town In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian policemen and citizens inspecting the site of a car bomb at the entrance of Moadhamiyet al-Sham neighborhood in rural Damascus. According to Syria's Arab News Agency (SANA), a car bomb explosion has gone off in the countryside of Damascus and initial information say there are casualties, where a car rigged with explosions was remotely detonated at the entrance of Moadhamiyet al-Sham neighborhood in rural Damascus during engineering units it was trying to dismantled it In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Opposition fighters carrying a rocket launcher during clashes against government forces in the Sheikh Lutfi area, west of the airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man helps a woman to make her way through debris following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man reacts as he carries the body of injured boy following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 33 civilians were killed in the attack In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian rescue workers carry the body of a woman following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian woman walks past the burning wreckage of a car following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man and two children run to a safer place following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man holds an injured child after, according to activists, two barrel bombs were thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Hullok neighbourhood of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis An injured man talks on a walkie-talkie after, according to activists, two barrel bombs were thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Hellok neighbourhood of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man walks inside a mosque damaged by, according to activists, a barrel bomb thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Old Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrians gather at the site of reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Rebel fighters carry their weapons as they run to avoid snipers loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Morek in Hama province

Fighting over Madaya, which fell into rebel hands in 2012, was supposed to have ended last summer under a cease-fire deal that also encompassed two rebel-surrounded towns in northern Syria. According to the terms of the cease-fire, rebel fighters from Madaya and nearby Zabadani were escorted by the United Nations to Turkey, and government loyalists from the towns of Foua and Kefraya were permitted to leave for government-held areas of Syria.

The deal stipulated that food aid and other supplies be allowed to reach civilians inside the towns. But only one delivery was made to Madaya, on 18 October, and residents since then have almost entirely run out of food.

The United Nations pointed out that it requires Syrian government permission to send food aid to the estimated 400,000 needy people living in various areas around Syria that are besieged by government forces. But in the past year, only 10 per cent of requests have been granted, the United Nations said.

People are going hungry in many of those locations, but Madaya appears to be the worst-afflicted by far.

The Syrian government has long used siege tactics to compel the surrender of towns that fell under rebel control during the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. At the entrance to Madaya, Abu Shadi said, pro-Assad fighters have hung a sign proclaiming "Kneel or starve," a slogan intended to capture the stark choice confronting rebels in the besieged communities.

He said most of the fighters surrounding the town belong to the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which supports Assad and has been leading the battle to recapture Syrian towns in the vicinity of the nearby Lebanese border.

Hezbollah denied the allegations, saying that rebels were preventing residents from leaving. "Terrorist groups are exclusively responsible for starving out the civilians in the town," said a report carried on the website of Hezbollahs al-Manar television station. The towns of Foua and Kefraya also have not received aid, the report said.

Although the reports of starvation deaths cannot be independently confirmed, videos and photographs posted on social media showing emaciated people suggest that conditions are dire. In one, a mother is shown feeding her gaunt 16-month-old daughter sips of jam diluted with water, because, she says, there is no milk. A photo circulated on Tuesday showed the skeletal frame of a man who had died of hunger that day.

The United Nations said the Syrian government promised to allow aid to be delivered "in the coming days" to Madaya as well as the two northern towns surrounded by rebels.

Copyright: Washington Post
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They are two hundred miles apart and support different sides in Syrias grinding civil war. But the fate of two pairs of besieged towns has been bound together, their inhabitants at the mercy of the forces that are fighting each other.

One is Madaya, a former holiday resort that has become a starvation camp after a six-month siege imposed by the Syrian army and its allies from the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Amid a growing international outcry in response to images of emaciated corpses and starving babies, the Syrian government promised this week to allow the first shipment of aid since October. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent has said that it hopes to deliver food and medicine on Monday.

At the same time, it will take aid to Kefraya and Fua, two villages in Syrias northern Idlib province. Since March, they have been surrounded by a rebel coalition dominated by groups linked to al-Qaeda who have threatened to massacre the mainly Shia Muslim villagers. Together with Zabadani, which lies next to Madaya, the towns are part of a four-way pact that has linked the plight of the civilians who live there.

Recommended Read more Starving citizens in Madaya forced to live off salt and water

About 400,000 people across Syria are being subjected to siege tactics, according to a recent UN report. Half of those trapped are in the government-controlled western part of the city of Deir el-Zour, which is surrounded by Isis jihadists. Thousands more are in the restive Eastern Ghouta region of Damascus.

The plight of Madaya, a mountain town between the capital and the Lebanese border, rose to the forefront this week after starving families warned that they were being forced to eat weeds, cats and dogs. Surrounded by land mines, the estimated 40,000 residents are unable to leave. The charity Medicines Sans Frontieres said that 23 patients in the health centre it supports in the town have died of starvation since 1 December.

Though they have received less attention, those from the two pro-government villages in Idlib say that they too are suffering. Their enclave faces regularly shelling. Surrounded by Sunni rebel groups with a strongly sectarian ideology, its Shia inhabitants live in fear of being slaughtered.

 Weakened, cold and starving to death in Syrian town

Their future became tied up with that of Madaya and Zabadani in March last year when a rebel coalition dominated by the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and the conservative Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham took control of Idlib city. They laid siege to Kefraya and Fua, home to an estimated 12,500 civilians, cutting off their only remaining supply line.

The Syrian army, then reeling from a series of defeats, launched a joint offensive with its ally Hezbollah against Zabadani and Madaya, two towns on the border with Lebanon containing fighters from groups including Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham.

Rebels in Idlib retaliated before finally approaching the United Nations to ask for negotiations to bring the stand-off to an end. Basically, it was just a coincidence that you had a dynamic of reciprocal sieges and offensives on those two villages and Ahrar al-Sham was involved in both, said one diplomat.

Fighters from a coalition of rebel groups called 'Jaish al Fateh' escort a convoy of Syrian Arab Red Crescent ambulances and buses evacuating fighters and civilians from the two besieged Shi'ite towns of al-Foua and Kefraya (Reuters)

In September, a deal known as the four towns truce was struck. A delivery of aid to all four areas went ahead in October. After Christmas an elaborate evacuation took about 450 injured and sick people out of the towns via Turkey and Lebanon, but no further aid has been allowed in.

Unlike opposition groups, the Syrian government can use helicopters to make aid drops into Kefraya and Fua. The towns do not appear to have suffered the same level of shortages as Madaya. Nonetheless, Abu Yusuf, a student from Kefraya, told The Independent that there were limited supplies of medicines and food.

Helicopters dropped some provisions but in very small quantities and it wasnt enough for the residents, he said. Some aid came from the Red Crescent but it was a very small quantity and it was intercepted by the [armed] groups which stole from it before it reached Kefraya.

Despite their linked futures, it is hard to find much sympathy exchanged between the two opposing sides of the conflict. Some in Madaya have voiced solidarity with people in Kefraya and Fua. But on social media Syrians in rival camps trade claims about whose people are more hungry.

Hussein Assaf, a Syrian-American who has been campaigning for Madaya, said that it was important to condemn all sides. We are against any type of blockade of any civilian community, whether they are Sunni, Christian, atheist, he said. We urge all parties besieging Fua and Kefraya to stop. Take your fights outside the town and leave the civilians out of it.
By Casey Houser, Contributing Writer

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transcosmos, a provider of contact center, human resources, and sales services to businesses across the globe, has announced its intention to launch a multilingual contact center in the Marketing Chain Management (MCM) Center Sapporo, Kita-guchi in Japan.





The launch of this center, which will seek to heighten multilingual contact center services for foreign visitors to the country, will begin with 30 seats. However, transcosmos wants to grow that number to 300 seats at various locations in Japan and in other countries. These centers will reportedly act on behalf of a number of companies that have incoming workers and associated foreign travelers who need information about Japan.

The primary ways in which transcosmos can lend these services begins with basic help desk knowledge about products and services. Employees and visitors of private enterprise and government offices can take advantage of that information, and they can also access information about popular destinations in the country. In all cases, the contact center can serve three-way interpretation (client, translator, and contact center agent) to make the translation of languages as smooth as possible.

In addition, it appears that the contact center will also natively support the languages of Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and several other Asian and European languages as part of a partnership with Merlin Information Systems.

This contact center will not stand alone in its operation. It will also have a link to 31 other transcosmos contact centers dispersed in various countries. Agents will have voice, email, and Web chat at their disposal to best meet the needs of their clients. They will also link to contact centers that have similar capabilities, to ensure consistent services for each visitor.

Although the start of this journey, with only 30 seats in the contact center, appears somewhat small, its ability to scale should not go unnoticed. An influx of workers and tourists to Japan is expected to continue to rise through at least 2020, and these types of contact center services will be essential to their transition to life, however temporary, in this new area. transcosmos will place itself at the center of each transition with the hope of making every individuals journey a successful one.

Edited by Kyle Piscioniere
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Arab Spring was always a misleading phrase, suggesting that what we were seeing was a peaceful transition from authoritarianism to democracy similar to that from communism in Eastern Europe. The misnomer implied an over-simplified view of the political ingredients that produced the protests and uprisings of 2011 and over-optimistic expectations about their outcome.

Five years later it is clear that the result of the uprisings has been calamitous, leading to wars or increased repression in all but one of the six countries where the Arab Spring principally took place. Syria, Libya and Yemen are being torn apart by civil wars that show no sign of ending. In Egypt and Bahrain autocracy is far greater and civil liberties far less than they were prior to 2011. Only in Tunisia, which started off the surge towards radical change, do people have greater rights than they did before.

What went so disastrously wrong? Some failed because the other side was too strong, as in Bahrain where demands for democratic rights by the Shia majority were crushed by the Sunni monarchy. Saudi Arabia sent in troops and Western protests at the repression were feeble. This was in sharp contrast to vocal Western denunciations of Bashar al-Assads brutal suppression of the uprising by the Sunni Arab majority in Syria. The Syrian war had social, political and sectarian roots but it was the sectarian element that predominated.

Why did intolerant and extreme Islam trump secular democracy? It did so because nationalism and socialism were discredited as the slogans of the old regimes, often military regimes that had transmuted into police states controlled by a single ruling family. Islamic movements were the main channel for dissent and opposition to the status quo, but they had little idea how to replace it. This became evident in Egypt where the protesters never succeeded in taking over the state and the Muslim Brotherhood found that winning elections did not bring real power.

Demonstrators gather in Tahrir Square on May 27, 2011 in Cairo during The Arab Spring (Getty)

The protest movements at the beginning of 2011 presented themselves as progressive in terms of political and civil liberty and this belief was genuine. But there had been a real change in the balance of power in the Arab world over the previous 30 years with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies taking over leadership from secular nationalist states. It was one of the paradoxes of the Arab Spring that rebels supposedly seeking to end dictatorship in Syria and Libya were supported by absolute monarchies from the Gulf.

The West played a role in supporting uprisings against leaders they wanted to see displaced such as Muammar Gaddafi and Assad. But they gave extraordinarily little thought to what would replace these regimes. They did not see that the civil war in Syria was bound to destabilise Iraq and lead to a resumption of the Sunni-Shia war there.

How the West was caught out by the Arab Spring Show all 6 1 /6 How the West was caught out by the Arab Spring How the West was caught out by the Arab Spring {g-32-arab-main-pa.jpg PA How the West was caught out by the Arab Spring Pg-32-arab-afp_1.jpg AFP How the West was caught out by the Arab Spring Pg-32-arab1--afp.jpg AFP How the West was caught out by the Arab Spring Pg-arab4-afp.jpg AFP How the West was caught out by the Arab Spring Pg-32-arab3-afp.jpg AFP How the West was caught out by the Arab Spring pg-32-revolution-afp.jpg AFP

An even grosser miscalculation was not to see that the armed opposition in Syria and Iraq was becoming dominated by extreme jihadis. Washington and its allies long claimed that there was a moderate non-sectarian armed opposition in Syria though this was largely mythical. In areas where Isis and non-Isis rebels ruled they were as brutal as the government in Damascus. The non-sectarian opposition fled abroad, fell silent or was killed and it was the most militarised and fanatical Islamic movements that flourished in conditions of permanent violence.

Click HERE for larger annotated version of the graphic

Country-by-country

1. MOROCCO

Concessions by King Mohammed VI, including a referendum in July 2011 that led to changes in the constitution, helped ensure that protests fizzled out by end of 2012.

2. ALGERIA

Barely affected after an initial year-long state of emergency; some terrorist activity, including 2013 gas plant attack in which dozens of foreign hostages were killed.

3. TUNISIA

The birthplace of the Arab Spring is also its one success story. There were free elections in 2011 and 2013, and the country is largely peaceful  although up to 300 people died in the unrest that overthrew President Ben Ali in 2011. Terrorist attacks in 2015 have cast a shadow, and threaten to cause a disastrous fall in tourism.

4. LIBYA

Hopes raised by Nato-aided overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in August 2011 were bitterly disappointed. An elected parliament, the General National Congress, took power in August 2012 but was forced to withdraw to Tobruk as a rival government seized Tripoli. Much of the country is now under control of neither, with Isis established in some parts.

5. EGYPT

Up to 900 people were killed in protests that led to fall of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. His successor, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, was ousted by the army in July 2013. Nearly 1,000 people were killed in the protests that followed. A new President, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, was elected in 2014; hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members have since been sentenced to death.

6. LEBANON

The country has taken in more than a million Syrian refugees as a result of the Spring. Also at risk of violence spilling over from Syria. Sectarian violence in some cities, notably Tripoli.

7. JORDAN

Moderate protests led to modest reforms, and a few changes of government, by King Abdullah II. The main effect of the Spring has been the arrival of a least 600,000 Syrian refugees (and a similar number of Syrians who are not classified as refugees).

8. SYRIA

A few weeks of hope in 2011. Since then, endless catastrophe, defined as a civil war by the UN since mid-2012. Up to 350,000 people have died, 4.4 million are refugees, swathes of the country are controlled by Isis, moderate rebels have been massacred, the Assad regime remains (partly) in place, and intervention by foreign powers  including Russia, Iran, the US, France and the UK  has not slowed the slaughter.

9. IRAQ

Minor protests in 2011 and major ones in 2012-13, aimed at corruption and anti-Shia discrimination. The electoral defeat of Nouri al-Maliki as Prime Minister in 2014 came too late to disperse the resentment; by then, Isis was running amok. Despite recent gains by the Iraqi army, large regions are under Isis control.

10. SAUDI ARABIA

Kept a lid on domestic discontent through a mix of authoritarianism and state largesse. Helped crush protest in Bahrain. Military intervention in Yemen has been bloody and inconclusive. Plummeting oil prices and a change of monarch have destabilised the regime.

11. KUWAIT

Protests in 2011-12 fizzled out after fall of one government. The Al-Sabah family continues to rule.

12. BAHRAIN

Around 30 people died when protests against the ruling Khalifa family were suppressed, with Saudi help, in early 2011. Thousands have since been jailed in the crackdown by the Sunni regime on its majority Shia population.

13. QATAR

Largely unaffected by domestic protests, but involved in upheavals elsewhere, notably by joining the Nato-led campaign that overthrew Colonel Gaddafi in Libya.

14. UAE

Calls for greater democracy fizzled out. Remains stable and, for now, prosperous.

15. OMAN

Protests in 2011 led to the creation of a Public Authority for Consumer Protection.

16. YEMEN

President Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced out of the country and office in, respectively, 2011 and 2012. An uprising by Shia rebels led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, which began in 2014, led to the flight of Salehs successor, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, in 2015. The Iran-aligned Houthis now control the capital but are under attack from a Saudi-led Sunni coalition.

Timeline

2011

14 Jan: after several weeks of protests in Tunisia, President Ben Ali resigns.

25 Jan-25 Feb: protests in Egypt and Lebanon (25 Jan); Yemen (3 Feb); Bahrain and Jordan (14th); Libya (15th); Morocco and Iraq (20th); Algeria (22nd); Jordan (25th.)

11 Feb: Hosni Mubarak resigns as President of Egypt.

6 Mar: unrest in Deraa, Syria.

14-15 Mar: Bahrain unrest crushed with Saudi help.

19 Mar: Nato intervenes to support Libyan rebels.

3 June: President Ali Abdullah Saleh flees Yemen.

July: Syrian defectors form the Free Syrian Army.

20-22 Aug: Libyan rebels take Tripoli.

20 Oct: Muammar Gaddafi killed in Sirte.

23 Oct: Islamist Ennahda party wins elections in Tunisia.

2012

27 Feb: Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi elected Yemens President.

24-30 Jun: Mohamed Morsi is elected President of Egypt.

7 July: elections in Libya.

11 Sep: Islamists attack US diplomatic compound, Benghazi.

2013

9 May: Isis formed.

3 July: Morsi ousted as Egypts elected President.

21 Aug: chemical attack in Damascus; US and UK vow serious response.

29 Aug: Commons votes against anti-Assad action.

2014

4 Jan: Isis takes Fallujah, Iraq.

14 Jan: Isis takes Raqqa, Syria.

28 May: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi elected Egypts President.

29 Jun: Isis declares caliphate.

8 Aug: US-led coalition starts air strikes against Isis in Iraq.

19 Aug: Isis beheads its first Western hostage, James Foley.

22 Sep: US-led coalition starts air strikes against Isis in Syria.

21 Dec: Beji Caid Essebsi wins Tunisias presidential election.

2015

7 Jan: Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in France; 12 die.

26 Jan: Saudi-led air strikes on Yemens Houthi rebels.

1 Apr: Isis takes Palmyra.

26 Jun: 38 killed in beach attack in Sousse, Tunisia.

14 July: Iranian nuclear deal.

21 Oct: Russian airliner brought down in Sinai; 224 killed.

30 Sep: Russia starts strikes against Syrian rebels.

12 Nov: Mohammed Emwazi (Jihadi John) killed.

13 Nov: Paris terror attacks.

20 Nov: UN backs anti-Isis action; UK follows suit (2 Dec).

28 Dec: Iraq retakes Ramadi.

2016

3 Jan: Saudi Arabia executes 47 alleged terrorists.

6 Jan: images of starving people emerge from Madaya, Syria.
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Student nurses, midwives, and other allied health professionals are to march on Downing Street on Saturday to defend our NHS after the Government announced plans to scrap the bursary for new student nurses in 2017, instead, turning it into a loan.

Organised by the student nurses of Kings College London, the universitys students union (KCLSU) described how the new move means healthcare students could face over 50,000 debt for a three-year long degree course.

While some healthcare courses require students to work up to 2,300 clinical hours - in addition to course hours - the students union said they don't have time to pick up additional jobs, therefore, affecting them financially. KCLSU added: The change would mean theyd be paying to work.

Speaking with the National Union of Students (NUS), Gail Adams - who is head of nursing for Unison, Britain's largest public sector trade union - described the loss of money as an enormous sum for many in such professions. She said: For example, the current starting salary for a nurse is 21,692. Loan repayments will mean a nurse, midwife, or allied health professional will lose over 900 a year.

The march on January 9 will begin at St Thomas Hospital in Central London at 12pm and continue down York Road to Waterloo Bridge, across the Strand and Whitehall before finishing outside Downing Street, where a selection of speakers will talk about the impact of the NHS bursary.

Adams also added Unison Northern has organised a rally in Newcastle in protest at government plans to remove the NHS bursary on the same day, which will take place from 1pm at Greys Monument in Newcastles City Centre.

In an impassioned statement ahead of the demonstration, the team at KCLSU said: We work in hospital as part of our training: we bath, feed, administer medication, tend wounds, manage extreme emotions, visit people in their homes, wear our heart on our sleeves, with a smile on our face every day that we go to work. We care: bringing hope to the most most troubled and in support of those most in need.

The team of students insisted how they need to learn in hospital under the supervision of good, efficient nurses and midwives, but also said they need to learn from research which they called the best practice.

It continued: The Government funds research, it needs to start using it. As student nurses, midwives, and other allied health professionals, our bursary means we are paid roughly 3 for each hour we work in hospital. This does not cover our living costs, but it does offer some support in an increasingly money-driven society.

KCLSUs vice president for education (health), Sophia Koumi, said the union wants to see this rally be bigger and louder than the last which took place on December 2. Quoting Aneurin Bevan - founder of the NHS 0 Koumi said: The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it.

Decembers demonstration saw more than 500 protesters turned out to rally near the Department of Health in the capital. As well as this, a petition against the changes has gathered close to 151,000 signatures, meaning a parliamentary debate will now be taking place January 11.

Supporters of the campaign are being urged to use the #BursaryorBust hashtag on social media.
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Imagine waking up beside an iconic Pacific surfing beach  but thousands of miles from the one you expected, on a day you thought you would never see. Sounds weird? Well, that's what happened last week to passengers on United Airlines flight 863 from San Francisco to Sydney.

Twenty-first-century aviation is a means to an end. Passengers simply want to arrive on time, in the right place, together with their luggage.

The passengers who took off aboard UA863 on New Year's Eve arrived in the wrong place on a day they expected to lose. They had invested 15 hours of their lives and quite a lot of dollars to fly from a wintry California to a sunny New South Wales. The Boeing 777 was due to take off at about 10.30pm on the last day of 2015, then tick off the time zones towards the International Date Line, whereupon it would skip New Year's Day.

Everyone expected to touch down in Sydney at 8.30am on 2 January, in time for Sunday breakfast overlooking Bondi Beach. But when the plane was 700 miles south-east of Hawaii, smoke in the cockpit triggered a diversion.

The Pacific is short of places to land a wide-bodied plane in a hurry. The nearest alternate was on Hawaii's Big Island: Kona airport, which has a two-mile-long runway for just such emergencies. On the way there, the smoke dissipated. But continuing to Sydney was no longer an option because of the time and fuel lost. So the captain headed for the Hawaiian airport with the greatest number of hotel beds nearby: Honolulu.

On the day they were expecting to delete, 1 January, passengers woke up at Waikiki Beach. They made it to Bondi on the third day of the year; United said sorry with travel vouchers.

Diversionary tactics

Should you be planning a trans-Pacific jaunt, bear in mind that, a year earlier, the same flight was thwarted by debris on the runway at Sydney. It diverted to Canberra. The Australian capital is not set up to process more than 250 unexpected international arrivals. Nor could the crew refuel and fly back to Sydney because they were out of hours. So, the passengers were stuck on the Tarmac for seven hours.

All these incidents happened because of an abundance of caution, to use the phrase of the moment. Long may it prevail. But how do you measure the very safest in the world? This week, AirlineRatings.com published a list of the 30 safest airlines. The criteria, it says, are: audits from aviation's governing bodies, lead associations and governments, and a fatality-free record for the past 10 years. I was surprised to see Lufthansa on the list; its subsidiary, Germanwings, suffered the second-worst crash of 2015 when 150 people died after a co-pilot deliberately crashed into a French mountainside. But AirlinesRatings.com says: If deaths occurred through acts of terrorism, hijackings or pilot suicide they have not been included.

Safe bets

As they say in financial adverts, past history is no indication of future performance. But I reckon a pretty good sign of a superb safety culture is flying many hundreds of millions of passengers with no loss of life. By this measure, three airlines are way ahead of the pack. Since it was born in 1971, the Texan airline Southwest has carried 1.5 billion passengers without a single fatal accident. Ryanair and easyJet started later, but have also maintained fatality-free records while flying 760m and 650m passengers respectively.

None of these three gentle giants rates even a mention in the AirlineRatings.com top 30, but for me they are the safest bets in the business.

Click here for the latest travel offers from Independent Holidays
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Trouble getting your 40 winks when you fly long-haul? Sleeping pills and alcohol  traditional antidotes to insomnia and jet lag  now have some digital rivals. Many airlines have relaxed the rules for using phones onboard, and app makers are high-fiving themselves as the market for wellbeing apps flourishes.

But how can an app mitigate the effects of jet lag? Here's a snapshot of the science: light detected by our retinas' ganglion cells sends messages to the suprachiasmatic nucleus  our body clocks. As light fades, melatonin (the sleep hormone) is released from the pineal gland. The idea behind jet lag apps is to use scheduled exposure to light to sync your body clock to your destination time-zone. Here are four apps worth checking out:

Jet Lag Rooster (iOS), created by the sleep consultancy Swan Medical Group, defines itself as an app used by frequent travellers and airlines training their pilots and flight crew. Its developers claim research shows that light exposure at the right times can shift your body clock to reduce jet lag. Jet Lag Rooster suggests when to expose yourself to sunlight and when to avoid it.

Entrain (iOS/Android), developed by the University of Michigan, offers passengers a light-exposure regime that's tailored to their travel itinerary.

SkyZen (iOS), the creation of the International Air Transport Association, uses wearable data from a Jawbone device, blended with flight data to provide insights to the passenger so that they can have a better inflight experience.

And there's ANA Takeoff Mode (iOS/Android), designed by Japanese airline ANA to provide a mind-diverting game and soothing sounds formulated to promote relaxation.

Or, if you simply don't click with apps, there's one more button you can push: the orange flight-attendant call button to order that gin and tonic.
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Light up

The capital welcomes its first light festival next weekend. At certain times between 14 and 17 January, parts of Mayfair, Piccadilly, Regent Street, Trafalgar Square and King's Cross will be closed off to host Lumiere London. Exhibits will include glowing plastic bottles in Trafalgar Square's fountains, aimed at highlighting the damage done by rubbish dumped in the Pacific.

visitlondon.com

NZ via TX

Travellers to New Zealand have a new one-stop option: to fly via Houston. Air New Zealand now flies five times a week from Texas's largest city to Auckland. The 15-hour flight is a code-share with United Airlines, which has three flights a day from Heathrow to Houston. On a round-trip it could be combined with stopovers in San Francisco or Los Angeles.

airnz.co.uk

Castle rescue

A 15th-century castle, seven miles south-east of Glasgow, that was formerly ruined, is to open on 1 April as a luxury nine-bedroom hotel. Crossbasket Castle, overlooking the River Calder in High Blantyre, will be managed by the same firm as Andy Murray's Cromlix.

crossbasketcastle.com

Channel hop

Aurigny Airways is adding new routes to Guernsey this summer. The island's flag carrier will fly from Leeds/Bradford four times a week, and from Norwich on Saturdays. Both services begin in May and are operated by ATR42 turbo-props.

aurigny.com

Piton des Neiges

Island trek

World Expeditions has several adventurous new itineraries for 2016, including a Reunion Island Explorer. The six-day guided trip to the Indian Ocean island includes trekking in the collapsed caldera of Piton des Neiges volcano and the chance to spot wildlife including parrots and panthers. Departs May-September, from 1,490pp, excluding flights.

worldexpeditions.com

Border check

Passengers travelling from Denmark to Sweden now face identity checks. The new European Rail Timetable says these take place at Copenhagen's Kastrup airport, which has rail links with both the Danish capital and Malmo in Sweden. There will no longer be a direct service between the two cities.

europeanrailtimetable.eu

Lyft off

Transport from Los Angeles airport gets easier from this week. The ride-sharing app Lyft has gained permission to make pick-ups at LAX. Its rival, Uber, is expected to follow suit soon. Until now, both services could take travellers to the airport, but not collect them.

bit.ly/LaxLyft

Cruise news

The most extreme cruise ship repositioning voyages are made between Antarctica and the Arctic. Hurtigruten has expanded its range to include a 19-night cruise that connects Brazil with Morocco. From 2,586pp; departs March 2017.

hurtigruten.co.uk
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With January seeing a spike in holiday bookings as families give themselves something to look forward to over winter, the thought of long waits at the airport might dampen any excitement.

Some airports are better than others at ensuring travellers face minimal disruption, however, with airline industry monitor OAG releasing details of the worlds most punctual airports.

For those looking to ensure the smoothest of journeys, the list - which is split into small, medium and large airport divisions - is dominated by hubs in Russia, Japan, Finland and the US.

Germanys Munich airport came in second place in the large class with 87.71%, while Brazils Sao Paulo Guarulhos (87.47%) and Americas Minneapolis (85.27%) were third and fourth respectively. OTP stands for 'on time percentage' (OAG)

Somewhat embarrassingly the only British airport to make the list in any category is Bristol which sneaks in at number nine in the small airport class. Major British hubs such as Heathrow and Gatwick were conspicuously absent from the list due to their low punctuality rankings.

By some way the best performing large airport is Tokyo Haneda, which saw 91.25% of its flights departing and arriving on time in 2015.

In the medium class Denmark's Copenhagen Airport (pictured) took first spot with 88.53% (Getty Images)

Germanys Munich airport came in second with 87.71%, while Brazils Sao Paulo Guarulhos (87.47%) and Americas Minneapolis (85.27%) were third and fourth respectively.

In the medium class, Copenhagen, Denmark took first spot with 88.53%, followed by Moscow Sheremetyevo, Russia (88.48%), Helsinki, Finland (88.43%), and Brisbane, Australia (88.31%).

In the medium class, Copenhagen, Denmark took first spot with 88.53%, followed by Moscow Sheremetyevo, Russia (88.48%), Helsinki, Finland (88.43%), and Brisbane, Australia (88.31%) (OAG)

In the small airport division, Japans Osaka Itami took spot with 93.85%, followed by Belgiums Brussels South Charleroi (93.61%) Panamas Tocumen International (92.55%).

Large airports are defined as having seen more than 20 million seats per year, medium as having between 10 and 20 million and small as being under 10 million.

Somewhat embarrassingly the only British airport to make the list in any category is Bristol (pictured) which sneaks in at number nine in the small airport class (Getty Images)

Speaking to MailOnline, a spokesperson for Heathrow claimed that capacity constraints affected the airports punctuality performance.

Heathrow is the only major hub airport in the world to operate at 99% capacity and we operate more than twice the number of aircraft movements on just two runways than the combined average of other global hubs, they said.

n the small airport division, Japans Osaka Itami took spot with 93.85%, followed by Belgiums Brussels South Charleroi (93.61%) Panamas Tocumen International (92.55%) (OAG)

A spokesperson for Gatwick told the website that their airport only missed out because of incidents beyond their control.

'Gatwick is operating near capacity and its on-time performance was affected by Air Traffic Control strikes in Europe and periods of adverse weather across the continent also affected scheduling," they added.
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Five years on from the misnamed Arab Spring, the Arab world has not seen the flowering of democracy, justice and tolerance for which many of us in the West had  perhaps naively  hoped, even if we didnt truly expect it.

The region from Morocco to Oman is a toxic mix of autocracy, stuttering freedom movements, failing states, civil wars and theocratic monarchies. The implications for the millions of Arabs who deserve better, are generally woeful; and the impact of the Arab Springs failure can be felt much closer to home, too.

A brutal civil war in Syria  the latest evidence of which were pictures this week of starving children  has brought anarchy to that country and to neighbouring Iraq. This has been the principal factor behind the almost biblical exodus of desperate migrants to Europe in 2015, which has slowed slightly but certainly wont stop this year.

We reveal today that fresh settlements planned by Israel will, according to the aggrieved Palestinians, pour gasoline on the fire of the seemingly insoluble conflict between these peoples. No sign of progress there, despite the frenetic efforts of the US Secretary of State, John Kerry. In North Africa, permanent instability appears to be the constant condition of the regional powerhouse Egypt, while post-Gaddafi Libya is a failed state that has become expert in both importing and exporting terror. The same is true of Yemen, perhaps the most neglected of the modern failed states in the Arab world, now run by militias and fanatics.

Meanwhile, the various Gulf monarchies show an unattractive mixture of brutal repression, exploitation of workers, and deplorable attitudes to minorities  whether sexual, political, ethnic, or otherwise  that cannot be defended on grounds of cultural difference. Over the past week, the House of Saud fired the latest shot in Islams sectarian war, inflaming Iran and delaying any hope of major reconciliation between Sunni and Shia. Given the rumbling Islamists who are Saudi Arabias main opposition, the House of Saud might be the Wests best hope for stability: a grim situation.

As for the other Gulf monarchies, where a collapsing oil price could be the trigger for unrest, this newspaper has led the way in exposing terrible working conditions in the United Arab Emirates  especially Abu Dhabi. Secret prisons, torture that leads to the extraction of false confessions, and a nasty intolerance of any who dissent from the government line on official matters, have become a hallmark of the region.

Not quite what some hoped for when revolutions broke out across the region, then. Only in quietly effective Morocco, on the western tip of the region, do peace and democracy look like they have a chance. Clearly, for such a range of problems and conflicts the solutions will be various and slow-paced. But some priorities for Western policy are still easy to determine.

In Syria, the aim must be the defeat of Isis through other rebel groups, based on local ceasefires encouraged by Western forces and intelligence. In Israel and Palestine, only a renewed diplomatic effort towards a viable two-state solution will do. In places like Libya and Egypt, all policy must be directed ultimately towards stable government. And in the Gulf monarchies, British co-operation on trade and investment should be used as leverage to fight for human rights and decent treatment of workers and minorities.

There is so much that we take for granted which seems destined not to exist in the Arab world  yet. Accountable governments; recognition of diversity and tolerance as human virtues; lasting peace: all these seem as far as ever from becoming the norm for the region. For all that, the Arab Spring did reveal and unleash the yearning for freedom and prosperity of people living under tyranny. It would be an unforgivable moral abnegation for those of us who have both to deny those hopes to the long-suffering people of this region.
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Another prize specimen for my collection of Genuine Shop Names. The Marquis de Salade is a real restaurant in Budapest  thanks to Alastair Meeks. Perhaps the Prime Minister went there yesterday on his grand tour of European capitals.

 This catch-up is now a Corbyn-free zone. As Martin Kettle says, "perhaps we should let Labour go for a while. As a party of government, it has left the electorate behind to go on a voyage from which it may or may not return." (Kettle's analysis of why George Osborne switched from sunlit uplands to darkling vale yesterday is very good.) Except that I will note contributions made by Peters Kellner and Mandelson.

 The 532 pages of transcripts of conversations between Tony Blair and Bill Clinton published yesterday have attracted a lot of interest. What strikes me is the economy of both the small and the big talk. A couple of sentences of silly jokes about bananas and into the hard politics of Kosovo or Northern Ireland, and always short conversations, dense with information and calculation. Although Clinton likes to range widely, it's usually for a purpose and they get through a great deal in short bursts.

The Blair-Clinton transcripts are the product of a Freedom of Information request (under US law) made by the BBC of the Clinton Presidential Library, and just happened to be published on the same day the Foreign Affairs Committee published transcripts, supplied to it by Blair, of Blair's two phone calls to Colonel Gaddafi from 25 February 2011. More primary source material for "The Blair Years" that I am co-teaching with Jon Davis at King's College, London, from 18 January. The 30-year rule for official documents is currently being phased to a 20-year rule, but both these releases have got ahead of the timetable: this year we are getting the papers from 1989 and 1990.

 This by John Kelly at Oxford Dictionaries on the etymology of short farm words ending in g, such as dog, frog, hog, pig and stag, is engrossing. It is all about medial gemination.

 And finally, this is from Albro two years ago but I still like it:

"Is your refrigerator running?"

"Hasn't decided yet," I say, winking at my refrigerator and hanging up. A "FRIDGE 2016" banner hangs above him.
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When the estimable James Naughtie gave his last broadcast on Radio 4s Today programme just before Christmas, he ended by saying he would still be interviewing authors on Radio 4 and the BBC News Channel. And I immediately thought how telling that was.

Look for a book programme on the BBC and you will find one on the Radio. You will find author interviews on the News Channel. Indeed, I have also discovered, entirely by accident, some good author interview on the BBC Parliament channel, where MPs with books out have a chance to talk about them. BBC Parliament and BBC News Channel are both places where by accident you might get people talking about literature. What you wont find is a book programme on any of the main BBC channels. Indeed you wont find one on terrestrial TV at all.

Not that Sky is any less reprehensible on this score. It had a very fine books programme, indeed it was one of the mainstays of Sky Arts. The Book Show hosted by Mariella Frostrup was on every week, and there were special relays from the Hay Festival, where Sky was also one of the sponsors. Now it has dropped the sponsorship, dropped the relays, and more puzzlingly long since dropped its book programme.

Should a channel with the word Arts in its title not have a book programme? Should BBC television not have a book programme. The BBC tells me: Books and authors are at the heart of the BBC's output, from TV Seasons on Poetry and Theatre and BBC Ones recent adaptation of Tolstoys War and Peace to forthcoming pan-BBC programming celebrating Shakespeare and Childrens literature, in addition to regular strands such as Simon Mayos Book Club on Radio 2, Mariella Frostrups Open Book on Radio 4, Harriett Gilberts World Book Club and the Radio 4 Book Club.  Er yes, but sorry I dont really count a dramatisation of War and Peace as a book programme. And I ask again, why no dedicated book programme?

What on earth is wrong with a proper, fully fledged book programme? Skys much missed show interviewed authors with books just out, but also had added extras such as looks at where they write, bestseller charts etc. It helped literature to come alive.

I can only think that TV controllers and producers have decided, in curious unison, that book programmes arent sexy, arent visual, arent viewer-friendly. How pathetically wrong they are. Viewers have never shared TV executives distaste for talking heads, never shared TV executives fear of upmarket arts coverage, never shared what seems to be TV executives fear of books.

When Frostrups book programme was axed by Sky back in 2013, she tweeted: Not a single book show on British TV now  sad day for UK arts programming. That was two years ago, and theres still not a single book show on TV. Sky Arts should also take a long, hard look at itself and restore what was actually one of its best offerings.

I look forward to James Naughties expertise on literature on Radio 4 and the News Channel, but cant for the life of me see why we wont be able to watch it on mainstream television. I also cant for the life of me begin to understand why TV executives have such an antipathy towards book programmes.

Take that, David Bowie!

Former Beckenham resident Mary Finnigan has a diverting tale to tell of her affair with her former lodger in the London suburb in 1969. An extract from her memoir told of her fling with the young David Bowie in the year that he released "Space Oddity". She would seem to be one of the very few, though, who feels that he lost his way after his Beckenham period. She said this week: After Ziggy Stardust I really didnt like his music very much. I loved the scruffy, folky rocknroll stuff, but when he started doing this glam stuff...I found it all a bit pretentious. At least she didnt add: You should have stuck with me, kid.

A curious reason for pirating Tarantino

The piracy group which leaked Quentin Tarantinos latest film, The Hateful Eight, have come up with an endearing reason for their actions. Apparently it was not personal profit, which motivated them but altruism. Issuing an apology, the group said in a statement that it uploaded the film online ahead of its cinema release because it wanted to share new films with those who are not rich enough to see them at the cinema. Im not totally convinced that the price of a cinema ticket is an impediment to would-be viewers. Now, if they had said theatre...

d.lister@independent.co.uk; Twitter:@davidlister1
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For nearly 15 years the fight against terrorism has been used by political leaders as the justification for strong measures.

The September 11 attacks in 2001 prompted the Blair government to rush in a move allowing terror suspects to be held indefinitely without charge, a procedure that was later ruled illegal. The threat from such individuals, ministers argued, was so severe that it represented grounds for Britain to opt out of the relevant section of the European Convention on Human Rights. The policy was replaced by a system of house arrests of suspects  known as control orders  that also eventually fell foul of the courts.

David Blunkett, then the Home Secretary, enthusiastically promoted the introduction of identity cards as a vital tool against terrorism  a scheme that proved hugely controversial and was scrapped by the Coalition government.

In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, troops with armoured vehicles were deployed to Heathrow Airport amid warnings of a terrorist threat. Two years later, when bombers murdered 52 people on the London transport network in the 7/7 attacks, Tony Blair announced 12 proposals for fighting terror, many of which withered on the vine.

The most notorious was a plan to lock up terrorist suspects for up to 90 days without charge, which was thrown out following a huge Labour rebellion, although the maximum detention time was still doubled from 14 to 28 days. His successor, Gordon Brown, attempted to raise the limit to 42 days, but had to back down. By then his government was pressing ahead with its ill-fated snoopers charter proposals to monitor the nations mobile phone, email and internet browsing use.

An updated version was blocked in the Coalition by the Liberal Democrats, but has been revived by the current Tory administration. The Investigatory Powers Bill gives the police and security services the power to access records of every Britons use of the internet without requiring a warrant.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, argued: There should be no area of cyberspace which is a haven for those who seek to harm us to plot, poison minds and peddle hatred.

The Bill is set to become law next year, although David Cameron suggested the extension of surveillance powers could be brought in earlier following the attacks on Paris in November.
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The Red Tory name-calling - which I thought my party had knocked on the head since the summer, yet was rekindled yesterday - has got to stop.

It is one thing to describe somebody as foolish. We can all be foolish. Its natural to think other people wrong or naive. I would go so far as to say even pathetic or stupid maybe unnecessary, but it's not that hurtful. But telling a fellow Labour member that they are a conservative is something different.

John McDonnell stepped over that line on Wednesday when he said Progress, the group of Labour activists I chair, pursues a right-wing conservative agenda and are somehow hard right. First I gave him the benefit of the doubt - we all misspeak when we are tired- but he went on to repeat this disappointing slur as he toured the media studios in an attempt to defend the messy and divisive reshuffle he has been helping to organise. He clearly meant it and, as Shadow Chancellor, he should know better.

So what is in this conservative philosophy that I it to be a term of abuse? Conservatives value the status quo and have a poverty of ambition for those with less in society that I reject utterly.

For some in politics, the answer to a rapidly changing and turbulent world is to lament the passing of years gone by, and to try to apply a break to progress. They are conservative because they want the conservation of the past as a political end in itself. Tories are not progressive. They are conservative.

Whether its George Osbornes defence of damaging culture in banking, or the cuts to tax credits that will hammer lone parents, this is conservatism in action. Standing up for the old order: the few rather than the many.

And the reason why I could never be a conservative is that much about our past in fact was really, really bad for people: oppression of working classes, women, how those with disabilities were treated, racism, xenophobia and discrimination towards the LGBT community.

So when it comes to the conservative establishment, Labour is, naturally, the rebel party, and Im proud of that.

Labour - and Progress for that matter - are the radicals of British politics. We have a big vision for our country and are ambitious for all our citizens. Some may say we are on the back foot politically, and for sure, we must accept the result of the Labour leadership election in September. But when it comes to politics, I never give up.

This September at Labour conference, I listened to young members tell me about their experiences growing up under Labour. Change has happened. Not for them that sinking feeling that those in power just didn't really care. Rather, they told me how the EMA and the re-introduction of a maintenance grant for those who really needed it had made them feel that the Government was behind them, investing in them.

Thats the difference when a political movement has power. Giving the people we serve a voice, a proper chance, and a decent government that works every day to help, come what may. That is what it means to be a progressive: to demand and achieve change.

If there is a difference between various members of the Labour movement, as Ive said before, I suspect it is between those of us who are desperate to change our country and see progress happen, and those who find the politics of protest a better virtue signal. They are wrong not to be serious about real power.

But allow me to end on a note of harmony.

No one can call me a conservative, because I am not one. Its just not true. Those are not the values in my heart. Lets put this to bed now. We have far too much to do  and to campaign for  to continue this silly round of insults. A Labour Government is urgently required; we have elections to win. People need us, and we cannot ever turn away.
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NHS managers will need to be careful as they deal with the junior doctors dispute, which will come to a head on Tuesday when strike action is expected. It is not the role of public servants to take sides in an industrial dispute, but they also have a duty to patients and an obligation to think about the worst that might happen when junior doctors withdraw their labour.

Sir Bruce Keogh, the Medical Director of NHS England, had every right to ask the BMA, after the terrorist attacks in Paris, whether junior doctors would be available to tend the injured if there were an emergency of that kind during the dispute. The answer could be summed up in two words: Of course.

This perfectly reasonable exchange need never have caused any trouble, had it been conducted in private. But as soon as the BMA received the letter, it was made public  as if Sir Bruce sought to use the horror in Paris to turn public opinion against the doctors action. A letter of protest, supported by more than 3,000 doctors, asked if he had been put up to writing it by the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt.

We now know that there was, indeed, collusion between Sir Bruce and the Department of Health during the drafting of the letter, from a series of emails obtained through a Freedom of Information request. In one, addressed to Sir Bruce, an unidentified civil servant wrote: I have woven the points from my email earlier this morning into your letter.

Later Sir Bruce is told to make his point about the risks of a terror attack during the strike more hard-edged and reminded that the issue will be pushed hard with the media on the day of the strike declaration.

In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London

Other emails refer to the SoS, or Secretary of State, making clear that Mr Hunt was involved. The fight between Mr Hunt and the BMA is not Sir Bruces fight. He should never have been dragged into it.
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When Mohammed bin Salman was just 12 he began sitting in on meetings led by his father Salman, the then governor of Saudi Arabias Riyadh Province. Some 17 years later, at 29 and already the worlds youngest defence minister, he plunged his country into a brutal war in Yemen with no end in sight.

Now the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is jousting dangerously with its regional foe Iran, led by a man seemingly in a big hurry to become the Middle Easts most powerful leader.

Prince Mohammed was still in his early teens when he began trading in shares and property. And when he ran into a scrape or two, his father was able to take care of things. Unlike his older half-brothers, MbS, as he is known, did not go abroad to university, choosing to remain in Riyadh where he attended King Saud University, graduating in law. Associates considered him an earnest young man who neither smoked nor drank and had no interest in partying.

In 2011, his father became deputy Crown Prince and secured the prized Ministry of Defence, with its vast budget and lucrative weapons contracts. MbS, as a private adviser, ran the royal court with a decisive hand after his father was named Crown Prince in 2012.

Every step of the way, Prince Mohammed has been with his father , who took his favoured son with him as he rose in the hierarchy of the House of Saud. Within the Saudi religious and business elite it was well understood that if you wanted to see the father you had to go through the son.

Critics claim he has amassed a vast fortune, but it is power, not money, that drives the prince. When Salman ascended the Saudi throne in January 2015, he was already ailing and relying heavily on his son. Aged 79, the King is reported to be suffering from dementia and able to concentrate for only a few hours in a day. As his fathers gatekeeper, MbS is the real power in the kingdom.

 Expert discusses Saudi Arabia s power reshuffle

That power was dramatically increased in the first few months of Salmans rule. Prince Mohammed was appointed Defence Minister; put in charge of Aramco, the national energy company; made the head of a powerful new body, the Council for Economic and Development Affairs with oversight over every ministry; and put in charge of the kingdoms public investment fund. He was named deputy Crown Prince but ensured ascendancy over his rival Mohammed bin Nayef, the Crown Prince and Interior Minister, by absorbing the latters royal court into that of the Kings.

Impatient with bureaucracy, MbS has been quick to make his mark by demanding that ministries define and deliver key performance indicators on a monthly basis, unheard of in a sclerotic economic system defined by patronage, crony capitalism and corruption. His sudden early morning visits to ministries demanding to see the books is rapidly becoming the stuff of legend, startling sleepy Riyadh into action and capturing the admiration of young Saudis. He is very popular with the youth. He works hard, he has a plan for economic reform and he is open to them. He understands them, enthused one businessman.

That counts, because 70 per cent of the Saudi population is under 30 and youth unemployment is running high, with some estimates putting it at between 20 and 25 per cent.

But the same zeal with which he is pursuing economic reforms has also led Saudi Arabia into a messy war in neighbouring Yemen. Last March, he launched an aerial campaign against rebel Houthi forces that had run the Saudi-installed President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi out of the country. Decades of Saudi caution were thrown to the wind as MbS presided over Operation Decisive Storm.

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 must have seemed a very good idea at the time: the young, ambitious son of an aged king leading a war against a rebellion in a troubled southern neighbour. That the rebellion was supported by Iran made the adventure even more attractive. The Saudi military was bristling with new weapons  billions of dollars worth. MbS had a powerful older rival in the Interior Minister and wanted to prove his mettle both to his rival and his own supporters. The plan was to win a quick, decisive victory to confirm his stature as a military leader, placing him in the same league as his grandfather Ibn Saud, the great warrior king and founder of modern Saudi Arabia.

MbS ignored the fact that the Houthis were a useful buffer against the real threat to the House of Saud, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). He seemed, too, to have overlooked that the tenacious Houthis had embarrassed the Saudis in a border war just a few years previously. That was in 2009, when they seized the Saudi Red Sea port of Jizan and left only after a substantial payment of some $70m (48m).

Thus far Operation Decisive Storm has proved anything but. The war has dragged on for close to a year, causing infinite misery to the people of Yemen. In intense aerial bombardments, much of the countrys infrastructure has been destroyed while the Houthis remain defiantly in control of the capital Sanaa and most of the north. In the south, AQAP has had an open field. Undeterred, MbS has vowed to carry on, determined to bomb the Houthis to the negotiating table.

He is quite belligerent, says Jason Tuvey, a Middle East economist at Capital Economics. But Tuvey, like many other analysts, has been impressed by Prince Mohammeds grasp of the often maddeningly complex problems that bedevil the kingdoms economy. On the economic front he has done very well. He has shifted policy and he should be commended for that, Tuvey says.

Where the good in his impetuous nature may come undone is over the growing struggle with Iran for regional hegemony. When MbS announced the formation of a council of 34 Muslim nations in mid-December to combat terrorism, he clearly had Iran in mind. The Iranians have strongly backed the beleaguered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, both directly and through Hezbollah, a militia trained and armed over the years by Iran. The Saudis are determined to see Assad defeated before any Syrian peace talks commence.

Now, with the Saudis executing the senior Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a tit-for-tat battle is escalating. The Iranians allowed the sacking of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, and the Saudis together with other Gulf Co-operation council (GCC) states withdrew their ambassadors in retaliation. The apparent bombing of the Iranian embassy in Sanaa has further ratcheted up tensions.

In a widely circulated letter last summer, enemies within the ruling family decried the arrogance of the young prince, even going so far as to call for his ousting along with his father and Mohammed bin Nayef. But those calls have led nowhere and MbS continues to ride a crest of popular support in Saudi Arabia. The question remains, though, how far his impetuous nature will take him in the conflict with Iran.

It is not outside the realm of possibility that this brilliant, brash young man casting himself in his grandfathers mould as a Sunni warrior may be weighing up the options, may be thinking of a military strike against Shia Iran  a frightening thought in a region already riven by sectarian war.
Campaigners fighting for full restoration of the last buildings used by the 1916 Rising leaders have called for detailed assurances on the protection of the entire site.

About 30 people occupied the terrace at 14-17 Moore Street in Dublin from Thursday evening before several hundred people at a street protest heard calls for the Government to explain the redevelopment.

Descendants of the rebel leaders and heritage campaigners fear No 18 will be demolished to make way for a museum entrance next door to a huge shopping complex.

There are also concerns that No 10 and No 13 will not be protected as only 14-17 must be preserved.

Heather Humphreys, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, said 13 and 18 and 19 are not part of the National Monument order and are not historically significant.

"The minister is very disappointed that any group would attempt to delay these works and jeopardise the project," a spokeswoman said.

The Save Moore Street campaign described the construction works as a "demolition of history" and vowed to have protesters in the building site until they get adequate commitments on the protection of the terrace.

Among those who took part in the occupation is a grandson of The O'Rahilly, Proinsias O'Rathaille while David Ceannt, grand nephew of Eamonn Ceannt, and Tom Stokes, whose grandfather fought at Boland's Mill, also attended the lunchtime demonstration.

The Government bought part of the terrace last year in a four million euro restoration plan, including No 16 Moore Street where the rebel leaders held their last council of war.

As many as 300 Irish Volunteers and Cumann na mBan members fled into the terrace from the back of the GPO after a bombardment of British artillery set the rebel headquarters ablaze.

Soldiers tunnelled their way through the houses and ultimately surrendered from their base at No 16.

Barry Lyons, honorary secretary of the 1916 Relatives Association, said they felt as though they had been deceived by Government despite assurances that they would be fully consulted and briefed on plans.

"We are fully supporting the occupation, and encouraging it," he said.

"When we were dealing with Minister Humphreys we felt as though we were deceived by what we were told.

"We were told nothing would go ahead without us being informed or without our consultation, but the deal was signed off before our last meeting. While the minister was at a photocall to announce it, we were in Kildare Street being told about it.

"They are going ahead with demolition."

A number of politicians took part in the demonstration including Sinn Fein chiefs Gerry Adams and Mary Lou McDonald, Independent TD Maureen O'Sullivan and People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett.

The site has been dogged by controversy since being designated a National Monument in 2007 only for planning permission to be granted for a shopping centre on 2.7 hectares from the old Carlton Cinema on O'Connell Street to behind the GPO on Moore Street.

Descendants and campaigners believe the works are being done from plans for the original retail complex next door to what historians regard as a battlefield site.

Proinsias O'Rathaille sent a text to Taoiseach Enda Kenny criticising the decision to allow demolition for the commemorative centre.

"It's an absolute disgrace and a shambles," he said.

Frank Allen, who organised the Arms Around Moore Street campaign, described the works as "turning Anne Frank's home into a Burger King".

The restoration is one project in the Government's plans for the centenary, which also involves 22 million euro being spent on other projects by next Easter to create permanent reminders of the 100-year anniversary.

Ms Humphrey's office said work began on the site in November, but the City Council is responsible for work on the wider Moore Street.

Officials claimed Nos 18 and 19 were in ruins before the Rising and No 13 retains none of its "historic fabric" as the interior has been replaced and the facade is new brick.
Fugitive banker David Drumm is back in court in Boston today, where he will again ask for his release from prison on bail, on the grounds that he is being unlawfully detained.

Lawyers for the former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive have claimed in filings that there is a legitimate risk" to his safety.

In 31 pages of documents filed on Christmas Eve, his legal team have petitioned for a habeas corpus and included information about a series of highly unusual past and ongoing incidents that the 49 year old has experienced since his incarceration.

As a result of threats to his safety, the 49 year old has been transferred four times in two months, according to his lawyers.

Mr Drumms legal team haver referred to threats to their clients personal safety previously, however the nature of those threats has not been revealed.

The Dubliner, who is fighting his extradition to Ireland to face 33 charges in relation to transactions carried out during his time at the helm of Anglo, was arrested at his home in a leafy suburb of Wellesley in Boston on October 10th.

In November, David Drumm made a personal plea to a Massachusetts Court to be released, insisting that he did not flee Ireland after his resignation from Anglo in 2008 and offered to be placed under house arrest ahead of his extradition trial, which is likely to go ahead in March.

Judge Donald Cabell rejected that application last month, ruling that although Mr Drumm found jail uncomfortable it didnt amount to special circumstances permitting release.

In his decision, Judge Cabell said separate US Bankruptcy Court rulings that rejected the disgraced bankers bid for a fresh financial start on the grounds that he had failed to disclose assets and transfers and deliberately misled investigators, had an impact on his decision not to grant bail.

His legal team have claimed that Judge Cabell was wrong to keep Mr Drumm behind bars until his trial; that he failed to recognise the impact of the bankers incarceration on his family as well as understating the risks posed to Mr Drumm's personal safety behind bars.

Mr Drumm, who has been jailed for almost three months will be transported from the Plymouth Country Correctional Facility outside Boston ahead of his hearing, at 3pm Irish time.
Insurance Ireland, the representative body of Irelands insurers, has said that the Government must build significant flood defences before it would agree to a new scheme to help those suffering from flood damage.

Yesterday the insurance industry warned that if a national levy was imposed to assist those without flood cover, all policyholders would witness an increase in their premiums.

Insurance Irelands non-life insurance manager, Michael Horan, told RTE that flooding problems have been caused by a lack of investment from Government.

"The flood problem has been caused by inadequate investment in flood defences over the years combined with development on flood plains.

"That has made it more difficult for insurance companies to provide insurance in areas of repeat flooding, Mr Horan said.

Speaking on Wednesday, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that it was time to be frank with insurance companies, who he says make sizeable profits from Ireland.

We need to have a very frank discussion with the insurance companies who make very sizable profits from Ireland about what this situation is and how it can be addressed. I hope we can do that in a clear fashion or at least commence it on Tuesday, or at least explain what the nature of the problem is," he said.

However, Mr Horan refuted the claims that insurers are making sizeable profits in Ireland.

"I don't agree that the industry makes profits. Property insurers lost 35m in 2014, Mr Horan.

Insurance Ireland also dismissed claims by environment minister Alan Kelly that areas protected by flood defences cant get flood insurance.

"The vast majority of people living in areas protected by flood defences can get flood insurance, 98% of homeowners have flood cover," said Mr Horan.
Motivational speaker Tony Robbins delivering his masterclass at the Pendulum Summit 2016 at the Convention Centre in Dublin. Pic Steve Humphreys

The worlds top motivational speaker Tony Robbins has praised the Irish economic recovery, saying that we were in a different place a few years ago and that progress has been made thanks to someone who foresaw a better future.

The billionaire business leader  who has advised Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, President Bill Clinton and Barack Obama amongst countless high profile others  said that he knows Irish people because of their presence around the globe.

He described the Irish as humble people who work hard, keep their heads down and dont need accolades.

To work really hard to do the job necessary, he added.

Later, he said he loves the cultural excitement that we have and said the country was somewhere seven billion would love to live  but asked audience members if they were taking it for granted.

It took Deepak Chopra to persuade Robbins to bring his iconic brand of high energy positive thinking to Ireland for the first time.

Organiser of the Pendulum Summit, Frankie Sheahan revealed that high level negotiations took place to secure Robbins for the event taking place at the Convention Centre in Dublin.

Chopra sent a text message to Robbins, recommending that he attend, saying it was the best event in which he had ever personally taken part.

A week later, a letter came back from Robbins saying he would attend.

At the event in Dublin today, introduced by throbbing 90s music, Robbins said he was delighted to be in Ireland for the first time professionally  though he has visited before for the beautiful environment.

Early in the day, the audience  made up of a cross section of business leaders  including Ivan Yates, Gavin Duffy, former Presidential candidate Sean Gallagher and wife Trish  were urged onto their feet to jump enthusiastically into the air and ramp up their energy levels, going full tilt.

As they jumped up and down, he then instructed them to turn to the person beside them and scream I own you  explaining that this meant they had more energy than the next person.

Afterwards, they were told to high five their partner and say You rock, baby.

Later, they gave each other back massages, with Robbins shouting at them to tell them if you want it hard or soft.

Make a little noise if it feels good, he urged, as the audiences laughed and really got into it.

For five hours, they were given a masterclass in Robbins life skills, peppered with messages like Positive thinking is nice but intelligence is nicer, Anyone can feel good when its easy, and Socrates says learning is remembering.
Despite widespread call for a presidential pardon for convicted killer Steven Avery, Barack Obama's hands are tied

Despite widespread call for a presidential pardon for two US prisoners, Barack Obama's hands are tied.

Nearly 354,000 people have signed a Change.org petition for convicted killer Steven Avery to receive a pardon from US president Barack Obama. Another petition on the White House's website has collected over 35,000 signatures.

Both call for Obama to grant a presidential pardon to Avery, who supporters believe was wrongfully convicted with the 2005 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach.

These petitions hope to correct that supposed injustice. If it reaches 100,000 signatures, the White House is required to respond to the petition posted on its website.

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This petition also calls for the release of Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, who was also convicted for Halbach's death.

However, constitutional laws regarding presidential pardons will keep Obama from utilising the move for Avery. According to the United States Department of Justice, presidential pardons can only be used on federal convictions.

"Under the Constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those adjudicated in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President ... the President cannot pardon a state criminal offense," the department's site reads.

"Under the Constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those adjudicated in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President ... the President cannot pardon a state criminal offense," the department's site reads.

Appeals for state convictions are to be filed in local courts and petitioned to the state's governor.

A big announcement from the filmmakers behind #MakingAMurderer: https://t.co/iB0rXpge6I  TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 5, 2016

"If you are seeking clemency for a state criminal conviction... you should contact the Governor or other appropriate authorities of the state where you reside or where the conviction occurred (such as the state board of pardons and paroles) to determine whether any relief is available to you under state law."

Avery was launched into unexpected fame after his trial was the subject of Netflix documentary Making A Murderer. Convicted of a 1985 sexual crime that he did not commit, the Wisconsin man was released from prison after serving 18 years of a 32-year sentence ,after DNA evidence pinned the crime on another man.

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The case, the documentary alleges, was grossly mishandled by the Manitowac County officials. A year after he filed a US$36 million lawsuit against the county, officials arrested Avery again, this time for the murder of Teresa Holbach.

The documentary goes on to allege that this case, like the previous one, was also filled with corruption and that Avery was set up under increasing pressure felt by county officials.
William McAteer will stand trial alongside three other Anglo and Irish Life and Permanent officials

Jury selection in the trial of former Anglo Irish Bank executive William McAteer and three co-accused has been adjourned until Monday after Dublin Circuit Criminal Court ran out of potential jurors.

Over 270 people answering their jury summons passed through Court seven today for the selection of an enlarged 15 member jury for the trial, which is expected to last five months.

One man was excused after describing himself as an adamant protester, while others were allowed go due to personal and work commitments.

Judge Martin Nolan said the jury, once sworn, would likely not begin hearing evidence in the case until the week after next.

Mr McAteer (65), who has an address at Greenrath, Tipperary town, Co. Tipperary is accused with three other Anglo and Irish Life and Permanent officials.

They are: John Bowe (52), from Glasnevin in Dublin, who had been head of capital markets at Anglo Irish Bank; Denis Casey (56), from Raheny, Dublin, who was chief executive of Irish Life and Permanent (IL&P) until 2009 and Peter Fitzpatrick (63), from Malahide, Dublin, who had been IL&Ps former director of finance.

They have all pleaded not guilty to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors through financial transactions to make the bank appear 7.2 billion more valuable that it was between March 1st and September 30th, 2008 in Dublin.

Judge Nolan today informed the jury panel before the selection process that a person must not serve if disqualified or if they had any strong views on Anglo.

He repeated that the four accused were entitled to a fair and impartial trial and it was the duty of jury members to come to court with an open mind.

The judge said a person should also not serve as juror if they had been employed by any of the financial institutions in question, knew any of the witnesses, the prosecution or the defence teams or had any connection to named accountancy firms, including Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC).

Judge Nolan emphasised that anyone who has expressed very strong views in a public forum such as the internet, which could cause embarrassment, should not serve on the jury.

He then listed the names of witnesses to be called, including 14 members of the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation (GBFI), previous Anglo employees, as well as employees of Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland and RBC Capital Bank London.

It took several hours to empanel seven women and seven men on the jury.

Once these 14 jurors had been sworn, the judge warned them not to investigate any matters concerning the case on the internet as that would be against the oath they had sworn.

He also told them they must not discuss the case with other parties, before asking them to return to Court 7 at 10am on Monday for the empanelling of the final juror.
FOOTAGE of a nurse slapping away a non-verbal resident who was seeking her attention has been played in court today.

Joan Walsh (42) Carrowilkeen, Curry Co Sligo is charged with assault against a resident of Bungalow 3 in Aras Attracta on November 15, 2014.

Ms Walsh, who was the nurse in charge of Bungalow 3 was seen slapping Miss B on the hand as she shows a colleague something on her phone.

She is also seen on camera lifting the same resident away from another member of staff as she tried to get attention, before dropping her into a floor.

She told the court she regretted the incident describing it as "poor practice and poor judgement".

Ms Walsh said she had no recollection of the incident until she watched it on camera.

"I regret it, it's not something I would do, in hindsight I'd like to think I would do things very differently," she said.

She said all staff had been very fond of Miss B, who had been at Aras Attracta since it opened.

Martin Maguire, a clinical nurse specialist attached to Aras Attracta said the actions of Ms Walsh were "unacceptable". He said he had known Ms Walsh for 20 years describing her as a "competent nurse". He said he was surprised by what he had seen on the Prime Time Investigates programme.

The court heart that Miss B has a severe intellectual disability, is non-verbal and has been in care her entire life.

The court heard that Ms Walsh was coming to the end of a 12 hour shift when the incident caught on camera occurred.

It also emerged that Ms Walsh, who has been a nurse for 16 years, working in Aras Attracta since 2000, had asked for her hours to be cut just days before the recorded incident.

She told the court she had raised concerns about resources at the unit on the morning of the incident. She said she had found working conditions very stressful.

Counsel for Ms Walsh said her actions did not constitute an assault.

The case against another care worker accused of assault at Aras Attracta has been stalled after a rulling by the judge that it must be heard in full before another judge.

Anna Ywunong Botsimbo (34) Low Park Avenue, Charlestown Co Mayo is facing one charge of assault at Bungalow 3, Aras Attracta in Swinford Co Mayo.

Evidence had been heard in the case yesterday. However, this morning Judge Mary Devins said that following details of a garda memo put before the court yesterday she could no longer hear the case.

Judge Devins said two answers included in the memo of a garda interview with Ms Botsimbo, "involved a complainant who is mentioned in other cases".

"All of that is in my view and consideration this court is compromised.

Highly inappropriate for me to continue hearing the case of Ms Botsimbo," she said.

She requested that the entire matter be heard in full in front of another judge and put the matter back for mention in Ballina District Court on a date next month.

Meanwhile, a health care assistant who is seen pushing an elderly woman into a chair and hitting her with some paper went from being a domestic worker to caring for patients with no training.

Kathleen King (56) Knockshanvally Straide, Foxford in Co Mayo faces a single charge of assault against Miss C who has severe physical difficulties and the intellectual age of a two or three year old child.

She is seen on camera pushing Miss C back into an armchair and then hitting her on the face with a piece of paper. She can be heard saying: "Don't you dare come out of that chair".

Ms King was doing administration work, filling dietary charts while keeping "one eye" on Coronation Street, when the incident occurred, the court heard.

The defendant said she was trying to keep Miss C, who had severe osteoporosis, from sliding out of her chair onto the floor and suffering a possible injury.

"All I wanted to do was keep this poor woman on the chair to keep her safe, that's what I was trying to do.

"If she broke a hip I'd be in trouble and my job would be on the line and I really didn't want that to happen," she added.

When questioned about hitting Miss C with a sheet of paper, she said it was a "spontaneous reaction."

"I didn't even remember the incident with the A4 paper. I had it in my hand, it was just a reaction," she added.

She said she had been trying to "distract" Miss C but accepted it was poor judgement and bad practice adding: "I wish every day it didn't happen".

When pressed Ms King said she would "probably agree" that it was unacceptable but denied it was an assault.

Ms King accepted she was shouting in the footage but said separate residents need the television and radio on at a loud level.

It also emerged Ms King moved from a domestic assistant to a care assistant with no training. She did not have Fetac Level Five courses on care and communicating with patients, which was not mandatory at the time but is today.

"One day she was a domestic assistant, cleaning tidying and food preparation and the next she was a nursing assistant dealing with extremely vulnerable but extremely challenging residents," said Eoin Garavan, defence for Ms King.

The court heard Ms King had requested the necessary training course but was unable to take up a position offered due to a personal commitment. Mr Garavan told the court Ms King offered to pay for the course herself and made it clear to management that she was eager to have the training.

"I wanted to do this course. I felt I hadn't enough skills to do what I was doing, it was such a challenging environment," she said.

When asked by the prosecution what course she would have needed to tell her her actions were wrong, Ms King replied: "I'm sure there is no course".

It also emerged that 16 staff from Aras Attracta were in need to such training but the facility was informed by the college and the HSE that it could release eight staff at a time for training.

The court heard there was a number of litigations from members of staff after injuries sustained during the course of their work. One member of staff who had her nose broken by Miss A described Bungalow 3 as "the most stressful place" she had ever worked.

It also emerged that staff in Bungalow 3 had serious concerns for the safety of undercover reporter Caoimhe Delaney, believing her to be a student nurse.

"Staff had said they were terrified for the safety of Caoimhe Delaney as a student nurse.

"She needed to be minded as much as the residents. She was a young girl with no experience," Mr Garavan said.
LAWYERS for David Drumm have asked a Boston Judge to release the fugitive banker from his cruel and intolerable conditions while he fights his extradition to Ireland.

Appealing a Judges decision last month to refuse him bail pending his extradition hearing, Mr Drumms legal team outlined a number of reasons why the 49-year-old should be allowed to return to his family home, pending the outcome.

Wearing a grey sweatshirt and green tracksuit bottoms, the Dubliner was led in to court by US Marshalls.

The 49-year-old has been behind bars in the US for just under three months, since his arrest at his home in a Boston suburb on October 10th.

Lawyer for Mr Drumm, Edward McNally told District Court Judge Richard Stearns that a complex white collar extradition hearing can take many years.

Mr Drumm is being charged with crimes allegedly committed in 2008 but wasnt charged until 2015.

Even in the light most favorable to Irish state, it means Irish authorities sat on their hands for at least 5 years, he said and there was no reasonable explanation for the delay.

Ireland itself has not placed a high premium on its case, or the return of Mr Drumm, he added.

Judge Stearns took the matter under advisement at the John Moakley Courthouse in Boston and said he would need at least the weekend to make a decision.
A man who sexually assaulted a woman following a party as she slept in her bed has been given a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence.

Stephen McCarthy (23) initially told gardai when questioned that he tripped and landed on top of the victim.

McCarthy, of Esker Hills, Portlaoise pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexual assault at a house in the city in June 2013.

Suspending the sentence today, Judge Martin Nolan said it had been a particularly disturbing event for the woman and it was reprehensible that McCarthy did not make candid admissions to the gardai at the time.

However, he took account of McCarthys guilty plea, his lack of any previous convictions and the fact that 2,000 in compensation had been accepted by the victim as a token of remorse.

The judge also ruled that that press was free to name McCarthy but not identify the victim.

Judge Nolan remarked that McCarthy had travelled to Australia to work after the incident but returned when he was told the gardai were looking for him. He noted McCarthy had been in custody since December 7 and over Christmas.

The question I have to decide is does Mr McCarthy deserve a further period of custody, the judge said. It seems to me by reason of the good mitigation that that type of sentence is not necessary.

He suspended the sentence on McCarthy entering a bond to be of good behaviour for two and a half years.

Anne Marie Lawlor BL, prosecuting, said there was no bar to the press identifying the accused.

McCarthy spoke only to say yes when the judge asked him to acknowledge his signature on the bond.

Previously, Garda Mary Brophy said the woman had gone to sleep in her bedroom at about 1.30am following the party and awoke later that night feeling "something weird."

McCarthy had his fingers in her vagina and was moving in to kiss her. She screamed and jumped out of bed.

Her sister came up to the room but found no one there. She went to another room and saw McCarthy there but suspected he was just pretending to be asleep.

He was later arrested and initially told gardai that he had tripped, landed on top of the victim and she had started screaming.

He had been released without charge following his garda interviews and a few months later had left to work abroad. As soon as he became aware he was to be charged, he returned home.

The woman outlined in her victim impact statement that her life had been changed for ever in a way she had no control over. She said the idea that the safest place you could be was at home in your own bed had been taken away from her.

Gda Brophy agreed with Ronan Kennedy BL, defending, that the incident had happened at about 4am and the accused had effectively been drinking all day.

She agreed that McCarthy had co-operated with gardai and that she had become aware during the interviews that he was "of limited intelligence."

Mr Kennedy said his client wished to make an unreserved apology and was deeply ashamed of himself.

Mr Kennedy said his client had little recollection of what happened and accepted the victim's account. He had entered an early guilty plea to acknowledge his wrongdoing and spare the woman the trauma of coming to court to relive what had happened.

McCarthy had been seeing a counsellor and was now on antidepressant medication.

Judge Nolan said it was an uninvited assault but accepted that the man was under the influence of alcohol.
A 28-year-old man accused of attacking Dublin glamour model Ava Van Rose has had his bail conditions relaxed.

Sean O'Dea (28) with an address at Woodside, Clontarf, in Dublin, is charged with assault causing harm to his then partner Bridget Byrne (26) from Clondalkin, who works under the name of Ava Van Rose.

The model and mother-of-three starred in the short-lived reality show Infectious along with Big Brother's Marc O'Neill.

It is alleged the assault happened at Mr O'Dea's address on November 27 last. The charge is under Section Three of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act and Mr O'Dea, who has not yet entered a plea, made his second appearance at Dublin District Court today.

Dressed in a grey suit, black overcoat and white shirts, he remained silent during the brief hearing.

Gda Pauraic McNearney told Judge Anthony Halpin that directions from the DPP needed to be obtained and he expected that would take four weeks.

Defence solicitor Michael Finucane said there was no objection to the adjournment.

Judge Halpin said he was putting the case back for six weeks and jurisdiction could be decided on the next date. This will determine if the case will stay in the district court or instead go forward to the Circuit Court which, on conviction, has tougher sentencing powers.

Mr Finucane was also granted an order for disclosure of the prosecution evidence which the garda confirmed he would be able to furnish to the lawyer.

Gda McNearney also said he had no objection to relaxing a condition of bail stating Mr O'Dea had to sign on at a garda station three times a week. Judge Halpin reduced the requirement to once a week and remanded him on continuing bail.
Molly Martens (left) walks with a member of her legal team as they arrive at the courthouse. Photo: Winston-Salem Journal

MURDER accused Molly Martens Corbett has been portrayed as a violent fantasist who was anxious to leave her husband but desperate to keep custody of his children.

A sister of her slain husband Jason Corbett (39) has alleged Ms Martens (32) engaged in a series of incidents involving violence against her young stepson Jack. Tracey Lynch also claimed the murder accused confided to a family friend she "wanted to leave Jason because she did not love him any more and did not care what happened to him".

It was claimed Ms Martens said she had "reconnected with an old boyfriend on Facebook".

However, she could not bring herself to leave because she had no rights to her husband's two children from a previous marriage.

Mrs Lynch said her brother made a deliberate decision to keep his Irish passport and those of the children because of "his concerns" about his wife. It is also claimed by Mrs Lynch in court papers that Ms Martens had a long history of lying, claiming she was an Olympic swimmer, a teacher, a foster parent to a six-year-old boy and a book editor.

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Mrs Lynch alleged Ms Martens would drink alcoholic margaritas throughout the day from a cup, including when she was driving Mr Corbett's young children.

It was claimed the beverage was so strong that when Mrs Lynch tried one, she later had to be helped to bed and was ill for two days.

The shocking claims are contained in affidavits and transcripts released by a court in the US.

Tennessee-born Ms Martens and her father Thomas (65) are facing a murder trial after Limerick man Mr Corbett was beaten to death at his home in North Carolina last August. The documents reveal how Ms Martens was anxious to formally adopt Mr Corbett's two children from his first marriage, Jack (11) and Sarah (9), but he refused to allow it.

After his violent death, Mrs Lynch and her husband David secured guardianship of the children following a legal battle against Ms Martens. As part of the case, Mrs Lynch's lawyers filed an affidavit making several allegations about Ms Martens' conduct, including claims of erratic, violent and deceitful behaviour.

One document said Ms Martens had told many of her friends in the US she had been penpals with Mr Corbett's first wife Mags, who died suddenly in 2006.

Mrs Lynch said she "became aware of this lie" when she attended her brother's wedding to Ms Martens, his family's former au pair, in 2011.

She alleged during a court hearing that "Molly flipped out at the wedding and completely lost control and began screaming at Jason and at my husband... She threw her chief bridesmaid and her parents out of the wedding."

She is said to have been upset because a guest was allergic to some of the wedding banquet meal and went to get a McDonald's instead.

Ms Martens is said to have told Mrs Lynch she was bipolar and had experienced numerous miscarriages over a number of years.

A family friend is alleged to have seen her engage in self-harming behaviour, "such as hitting herself while curled up in a ball".

It was claimed Ms Martens was obsessed with having the stepchildren call her "mom".

"Jack resisted and was punished for resisting," one affidavit claimed.

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It said Ms Martens had been observed over a number of years exhibiting volatile behaviour and explosive anger, especially towards her stepson. It is alleged Ms Martens became violent during a family outing in 2012 after Jack splashed her with water while playing.

"She yanked him up under her arm and with some force brought him into the kitchen. And she turned on the faucet... and put him under the tap where the water was running over his face," Mrs Lynch alleged. "Jason ran in to try and intervene and Molly pushed him away. We were all shouting at her to stop. And she was shouting: 'Now you'll think twice about splashing water on me'."

The following year, during a holiday in Co Clare, it was claimed Ms Martens told the youngster to paddle his surf board into an unsafe zone in the water. "She said he needed to learn a lesson," Mrs Lynch testified. On a further occasion it is alleged she was seen pulling the boy out of his bed while he was asleep "with an expression of utter rage" on her face.

It was claimed Ms Martens was "extremely possessive" of Sarah, to the extent where she wouldn't allow Mrs Lynch to hold the child's hand during an outing to the museum.

"There was regular conflict and Molly was very erratic in terms of she would lose control quite quickly and equally be very calm in a short period of time.

"It was very distressing. It was disconcerting," Mrs Lynch told a court hearing.

As part of her bail conditions, Ms Martens is prohibited from contacting the two children.

She had denied claims about her behaviour, calling allegations against her "slander, harassment, lies and absolute utter corruption."
Raymond Dunne attacked the man, punching him in the face (Photo: Justin Farrelly)

A young man punched another man in the face in a "random act of mindless violence" that left the victim with two missing front teeth.

Raymond Dunne (21) attacked the man for no reason as they passed in the street, then kept walking.

Judge John Cheatle said he can avoid a three-month jail sentence if he is found suitable to carry out 140 hours of community service.

Staggering

Mr Dunne, of Killinarden Estate, Tallaght, admitted assault causing harm to the man (38) at the Hole In The Wall Road, Donaghmede, on August 21, 2013.

Dublin District Court heard the attack happened at 11.30pm when Dunne was drunkenly staggering and "for no obvious reason" struck the victim with a single, unprovoked punch to the mouth.

There had been no verbal exchange or confrontation and Dunne continued walking.

"It was a random act," the prosecuting garda said.

Dunne later told gardai he was not "in the right frame of mind," at the time, and apologised.

The victim had two teeth removed afterwards, the court was told. Four lower teeth remained loose. The man was already missing two front teeth and had grave pre-existing gum disease, defence barrister Karl Monahan pointed out. However, the assault exacerbated his dental problems.

Dunne had himself been the victim of assaults and this had led him into a cycle of drinking, Mr Monahan said. He was taking an addiction studies course and was now alcohol-free.

There had been "no animus" against the victim and it had been a "senseless act," Mr Monahan said.

Judge Cheatle adjourned the case.
TWO Slovakian men were hired in the North to cut down trees at the centre of an alleged land dispute in Co Donegal, a court has heard.

The men  caught at 3am on Monday morning past in the tourist village of Dunfanaghy  were given suspended prison sentences when they appeared at Letterkenny District Court yesterday.

Fulsop Dusan, (44), from 104 Meadowlands, Antrim, and Juraj Bajmoczy (30), from 25 Millhouse Road, Antrim, pleaded guilty to charges of criminal damage.

Both men were dressed all in black and armed with a bow saw and a knife when gardai challenged them at the back of Patsy Dans bar in Dunfanaghy, Gda Niall Maguire told Judge Paul Kelly.

Nightclub owner Daniel Devine had called gardai after three large conifer trees had been felled, said the garda in evidence.

Two gardai chased the men and were able to arrest them nearby.

Gda Maguire told the court: There is a right of way there  I cant mention the other parties involved. We are not able to prove any linkage to this.

They (the Slovakians) were contracted to cut these trees down under the cover of darkness. They were paid a sum of money to do this  they are two Slovak nationals living in Belfast.

He said the trees, which were mature, had been valued at 500 each.

Defence solicitor Kieran Dillon said the actions may have improved the view from another property.

He said he understood the offences related to matters which may eventually come before the civil courts adding: It is an ongoing dispute and there may be matters separate to this.

The lawyer said his clients realised they had foolishly become involved in something in a village they had no connection with at all.

He said the men  who run a car washing business  had brought 1,500 to court for compensation for Mr Devine.

Judge Paul Kelly jailed both men for a month, but suspended the sentence for a month.

He told the two men: This was the most hare-brained enterprises I have ever come across here. I fail to see how they thought they were going to get away with this so close to so many dwellings.

It involved an element of planning and premeditation. The fact that they were asked by someone to do this and were paid for it surely should have alerted them that it was unlawful.

When Dusans interpreter explained to him that he was free to leave, Dusan said: Thank you judge.
Gardai have charged two men in connection with the investigation into the escape from custody of prisoner Derek Brockwell from Tallaght Hospital last year.

The men , 32 and 58 years, are due to appear before Tallaght District Court this morning.

The two men were arrested in the County Meath area this morning and remain in Garda custody at Rathfarnham Garda Station.

Derek Brockwell escaped from Tallaght Hospital on February 17th 2015. He was escorted there from Portlaoise Prison for a scheduled hospital appointment.

Two prison officers were injured during the incident - one officer underwent life-saving surgery after receiving stab wounds to his stomach.

Brockwell was driven away from the hospital on a motorbike.

Brockwell was located by PSNI officers in Belfast the following evening - he was drinking outside a city centre pub at the time.

Officers tasered him and he had been treated in Royal Victoria Hospital in the city since then.
Aisling Nolan, DJ Cahill and Wiktoria Biedron (all 17) have developed an innovative way of detecting drugs added to liquids. Picture Credit: Frank Mc Grath

A complex 'absorption spectrometer' could hold the key to identifying spiked drinks, according to a group of Cork students.

Aisling Nolan, DJ Cahill and Wiktoria Biedron (all 17) have developed an innovative way of detecting drugs added to liquids.

The machine passes a beam of light through a drink, and the white light is split into the colours of the rainbow. Any missing colours indicate what drug is in the drink.

"A lot of us are affected by drugs involuntarily and voluntarily. We wanted to prevent the involuntary cases," said Aisling. "Our judges said that it's well-needed, especially at our age."

The group hope to develop an app called Spyked that will allow people to check drinks on nights out.
Tanaiste Joan Burton: 'I think our future is in very intelligent hands. Looking at the creativity theyve applied to their subjects, we have a set of very intelligent kids here today'. Photo: Tom Burke Photo: Tom Burke

Ireland's leading political figures are taking note from the next generation at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

The annual event opened its doors to the general public yesterday and was thronged as young scientific innovators met the prestigious competition's judges throughout the day.

Tanaiste Joan Burton was one of the first to visit some of the 550 stalls in the RDS.

"I'm delighted to see so many girls participating," she said, adding that she expected to see many of the exhibitors excel in international competitions.

"I think our future is in very intelligent hands. Looking at the creativity they've applied to their subjects, we have a set of very intelligent kids here today."

Children's Minister James Reilly also attended and was particularly impressed by a drone that could assist someone suffering from a cardiac problem.

"These are lifesaving, innovative, thinking-outside-the-box approaches to things that fill you full of confidence for the future," he said.

"We've been poor in encouraging girls in particular to be involved in the sciences, and it's great that 62pc of the people here today are girls," he added.

"The only thing that limits us is our imagination, and there's no shortage of it in that room."

Meanwhile, Health Minister Leo Varadkar revealed that he often felt "inadequate" when visiting the exhibition each year.

"I meet all these very young people who have patents and all sorts of things," he said. "But it does give you hope and confidence for the future that our young people are so bright."

Meanwhile, RTE's Bryan Dobson gave budding journalists a masterclass in interview skills.

"It gives me a tremendous boost at he start of a new year to come and meet these young people," he said.
Members of the Garda Water Unit search for Michael Bugler, who went missing last month. Photo: Andy Newman

The family of a young student missing since before Christmas have said they are relieved to finally have him home after a body was recovered from the sea.

Michael Bugler (20) had been missing since December 18 last.

A massive search operation was launched, involving a large number of volunteers tirelessly combing parts of the county for clues into his disappearance.

Yesterday, a body was spotted approximately 20 metres offshore by a search party at Oranmore, Co Galway. It is expected to take some time to officially confirm whether the body recovered is that of the missing NUIG student.

However, Mr Bugler's older sister Laura thanked the public for their support in bringing him home: "On behalf of myself, my family and Michael's friends I'd like to thank you all for your help and support over the past three weeks," she wrote in a Facebook post.

"Thankfully we are so relieved to finally have Michael home today."

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The young law student is originally from Newmarket on Fergus on the outskirts of Ennis, Co Clare.

Local councillor Pat McMahon offered his condolences, and that of the town and parish, to Mr Bugler's family.

"People really feel for them," he said.

"We've all got families and this could be anybody's story. At least with finding his body they have a final reprieve."

Galway RNLI were called to the scene near Oranmore, outside Galway city, at 1.15pm yesterday by gardai: "Galway RNLI Lifeboat recovered a casualty from waters at Renville, Oranmore," it said.

"The casualty was taken onboard the Lifeboat by Galway RNLI volunteer crew and transported back to Galway Docks.

"The casualty, a young man, was pronounced dead at the Lifeboat station by the Galway RNLI doctor, Dr Dan Murphy, at 1.20pm."

The remains were transferred to Galway University Hospital where a post-mortem is due to take place.

Mr Bugler was last seen before 1am on the Friday morning of December 18, after he left the Quays Bar in Galway city. Last week, his sister Laura posted an emotional message thanking volunteers who were involved in the search.

"We are still on the search for Michael," she wrote.

"I never thought I would be entering 2016 with my little brother gone, and the fact that we haven't yet found him, makes it even harder to get through milestones like tonight.

"As Michael's big sister it's always felt like my job to mind, protect, and look after my little man, and if anyone can help me finish off that job and spare a few hours in trying to bring him home tomorrow, it'd mean the world to myself and my family."

The last confirmed sighting of the student was a CCTV video of him passing a church in Claddagh, in the west of Galway city, just before 1am.
FORMER attorney general Patrick Connolly has passed away.

Mr Connolly played an unwitting role for one of the most extraordinary sequence of events to have occurred in Irish society in the 80s, which led the then Taoiseach Charlie Haughey to utter the term "grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented".

Haughey's comment prompted Conor Cruise O'Brien, a high profile critic of Haughey, to coin the phrase 'GUBU', which he used to describe Haughey's government.

In the summer of 1982, double killer Malcolm Macarthur was the country's most wanted man following the murder of nurse Bridie Gargan in the Phoenix Park, and the shooting dead of Offaly farmer Donal Dunne.

Macarthur was eventually arrested in the Dalkey apartment of Mr Connolly.

The arrest caused huge sensation at the time, and was exacerbated by Mr Connolly heading off to the US for a planned holiday very shortly afterwards.

The controversy plunged Haughey's then government into crisis as speculation surrounding the arrest of Macarthur mounted.

Connolly was a completely innocent party and had no idea that his friend Macarthur had been involved in any crime.

It subsequently emerged that prior to his arrest, Macarthur went to the All-Ireland semi-final in Croke Park as a guest of the attorney general, where they sat in the ardcomhairle box beside the then garda commissioner and other high profile guests.

Connolly flew to the US on a planned holiday after the arrest of Macarthur.

However, he flew back home soon afterwards as the crisis grew and addressed the situation.

It later emerged that Connolly gave Macarthur accommodation at his Dalkey residence at the request of a mutual friend, another innocent party who had no idea that Macarthur was involved in any crime.

Connolly resigned from the role as attorney general and returned to the bar.

The late Mr Connolly was in his 80s and passed away yesterday.

He served as attorney general from March to August 1982.

His funeral will take place tomorrow in the Church of the Assumption in Dalkey at 10am and he will be laid to rest at Deansgrange Cemetery.
The grisly discovery of a dog found dead inside a plastic bag by a roadside after it was shot in the head has prompted an appeal for information.

The body of a young female German Shepherd was found abandoned in a ditch in County Meath, near the towns of Moynalty and Kingscourt, on Wednesday morning.

A local man came across the dead animal and reported the grim find to the Meath County Dog Wardens.

It is believed the dog was dumped the night before as the man who made the discovery walks the road each morning and had not seen the body the previous day.

The animal appears to have been shot twice at close range, said Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Inspector Elaine Whyte.

She was in good condition prior to her death so the reasons for the killing are unsure.

Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The 2-year-old German Shepherd was found on Wednesday morning Credit: ISPCA The 2-year-old German Shepherd was found on Wednesday morning Credit: ISPCA The 2-year-old German Shepherd was found on Wednesday morning Credit: ISPCA / Facebook

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Maybe she wandered into a nearby field and was killed by a farmer but this seems unlikely given how her body was dumped inside a plastic bag.

It would be very unusual for a farmer to dispose of a dog like that.

Ms Whyte told Independent.ie that the 2-year-old German Shepherd was found wearing a black collar, but said that there was no ID tag or microchip.

The ISPCA said the discovery comes less than two months after the carcasses of five dogs and a goat were found dumped in bags just 35 kilometres away in Killalon, Co Meath.

This spate of killings would be unusual for the area so were keen for people to come forward with information, Ms Whyte added.

Anyone with information as to what may have happened to the German Shepherd are asked to contact the ISPCA National Animal Cruelty Helpline in confidence on 1890-515-515 or via its website.
Patients who are already enduring trolley misery are facing even greater risk following a warning by nurses that they will strike in seven emergency departments next Thursday.

Angry members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), who met to discuss a ballot in favour of rolling, two-hour stoppages in protest at emergency overcrowding, refused to pull back from their threat which will see nurses walk off the job.

Talks are due to take place between the union and the HSE to avert the action, which will bring chaos to struggling hospitals coping with the surge in patients and causing dangerous levels of overcrowding.

However, INMO chief Liam Doran warned that hospitals and employers had a "mountain" to climb to convince nurses who have little faith that promised measures to relieve the bottlenecks will be implemented.

He said Monday's cramming of patients in congested emergency departments could have been eased if these measures were put in place last weekend.

Nurses now had "real concerns" they could end up facing inquiries because of the conditions which were leaving them hampered in delivering a proper range of care to very ill patients, he insisted.

If it is not resolved, the work stoppages will be triggered from 8am in Beaumont Hospital and Tallaght Hospital in Dublin; Mercy Hospital Cork; Cavan General; Tullamore Hospital; University Hospital Galway; and University Hospital Waterford.

The union welcomed a Special Delivery Unit review promised by Health Minister Leo Varadkar of 10 hospitals to examine how well they prepared for Monday's influx of emergency patients.

If a resolution is not found early next week, hundreds of waiting list patients will also have operations cancelled.

Mr Varadkar said yesterday he understood the frustration of the nurses, but he hoped they can be convinced of the level of commitment needed to tackle the ongoing overcrowding crisis.

He warned again, however, that there was no quick fix and it would require around five years of sustained investment before the level of change needed is achieved.

The numbers on trolleys fell slightly yesterday but 427 were still waiting for a bed, with Beaumont, Limerick, Kilkenny as well as Our Lady of Lourdes Drogheda, under major pressure.

Commenting on revelations in yesterday's Irish Independent that 100 of the promised 300 new hospital beds were still not open, Mr Varadkar said: "That's not a decision not to open them. It's just wasn't possible to get staff in certain hospitals.

"I should say that it would be a mistake to think that everything is about additional beds in hospitals. We have 500 beds more than we had this time last year, yet overcrowding is only down by 100 or so.

"There is rising demand, and we need to do a lot more in primary care and social care. But bed capacity is part of the problem and we shouldn't forget that.

"During the boom period under the last government, 1,000 hospital beds were taken out of our hospitals and 1,000 more were turned from acute beds into day beds.

"It's only now that the economy is recovering that we are able to put 300 or 400 of those back into action. We will need, as we keep the economic recovery going, a five-year plan to restore the capacity that was taken out of our hospitals during the boom period by the last government."
LUAS drivers have voted emphatically for strike action in a move that could see widespread disruption commence early next month.

Drivers today voted 221-2 in favour in action - which is likely to come in the form of one or two day stoppages.

SIPTU organiser Owen Reidy told independent.ie that turnout was 99pc, which he says sends a "very strong message" to the company.

The turnout was emphatic, he added.

The decision to strike centres around a row over pay, with Luas drivers seeking to be paid in line with their counterparts in Irish Rail.

But their demands, if met, would see the company operating the Luas pay drivers 20,000 extra each.

These demands total30m over five year.
A clinical nurse manager caught on camera sitting on a severely autistic woman told a court his actions were "playful interaction" and "a bit of fun".

Pat McLoughlin (56), Lalibela, Mayfield, Claremorris, Co Mayo, is one of five care workers charged with assault of residents at aras Attracta in Swinford, Co Mayo in November 2014.

Another defendant, agency worker Anna Ywunong Botsimbo (34), Low Park Avenue, Charlestown Co Mayo, was filmed pulling Miss A by the hoodie and steering her back to her chair. She told gardai she had done what she was shown to do by other staff members.

When asked if she found that acceptable, she replied: "Of course it's not, but that is how I was shown to do it."

Castlebar District Court heard how another staff member worked for more than two years as a care worker in the unit without proper qualifications. Christina Delaney (35), Seefinn, Lissatava, Hollymount, Co Mayo, was also caught on camera sitting on Miss A.

She originally worked in the canteen from 2003 to 2006 before being appointed a health care assistant. However, she did not obtain the relevant qualifications until around 2009.

She told the court she had been trying to keep Miss A "in a safe zone and to keep her safe".

Mr McLoughlin, a Clinical Nurse Manager in Bungalow 3, told the court he sat on Miss A after she struck him twice on the back but this was not caught on camera. He said his actions were an attempt to defuse the situation. "I thought I'd get to the chair before she did, but she actually did. I sat down partially on her and partially on the chair. I was just having a bit of playful interaction," he added.

Martin Maguire, Clinical Nurse Specialist at aras Attracta, told the court none of the actions were acceptable.

Self-harm

The court heard Ms A had a history of self-harming and an invasive supervision plan was put in place to stop this. Mr Maguire said this plan did not explain the actions of the defendants.

The court heard that Ms A has since been moved to a residence where she lives alone and her self-harming had improved.

"I have no record that Ms A has engaged in any self-injurious behaviour in her new residence," he added.

Counsel for the defence said the evidence fell short of the standard required for a conviction on assault. Judge Mary Devins reserved judgment on the cases of Mr McLoughlin and Ms Delaney. She adjourned the third case to consider an application for dismissal.
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said it is right to update the courts infrastructure

THE Justice Minister has put a halt to a housing estate proposed by boom-time developer Greg Kavanagh.

TD Frances Fitzgerald and her constituency colleague councillor William Lavelle lodged an appeal against planning permission for 58 houses granted by south Dublin county council to Crekav Landbank Investment Ltd, of which Mr Kavanagh is a

director.

An Bord Pleanala overruled the decision of the local authority because it felt that 58 houses would be an under-use of the land, which is suitable for at least 124 units.

The inspector also cited

substandard layout and design of the planned estate.

In correspondence with the planning authority the Fine Gael politicians denied that the appeal attempts to

micromanage local authorities.

They argued that locals were not properly consulted when revised plans were submitted.

In the past number of months, Mr Kavanagh has lodged planning applications with at least three Dublin local authorities.

Last February he lodged an application to build 74 houses on a 2.47 hectare site near

Adamstown in Dublin west.

The application proved

controversial with locals because it involved the removal of several tall trees in the area and also a boundary change with a nearby estate.

Following public outcry the council introduced a draft tree protection order that means any developer will have to keep the trees during future builds.

A decision was made to allow Mr Kavanaghs firm to build 58 of the 74 planned dwellings, which in his appeal the developer described as overly cautious. The firm believed it could build 69 units while

keeping the trees.

Crekav have also argued that some of the trees are not in good enough condition to warrant protection.

values

Local residents also lodged an appeal with the planning board and argued, among other reasons, that the development should not go ahead because the removal of a hedge-grow boundary would lower property values and increase anti-social behaviour.

A spokeswoman for Minister Fitzgerald said that she has no objection in principle to the development of housing on this site. Furthermore, in her original appeal to An Bord Pleanala the minister noted that the original planning application was generally acceptable.

However, substantial

changes were made during the planning process, particularly in relation to the boundary with the adjoining Finnstown estate

In submitting an appeal to An Bord Pleanala, the minister sought to support the local residents.
Peter Robinson watches as Finance Minister Arlene Foster reacts after she was elected as leader of the DUP. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

First Minister in waiting Arlene Foster has vowed she will not be associated with anything to do with marking the centenary of the Easter Rising.

Republicans across Ireland are preparing to celebrate the centenary of the Dublin-based rebellion against the then British administration. Although the rising was a failure, it sparked a wider effort which resulted in Ireland getting its independence a few years later.

Expand Close Peter Robinson watches as Finance Minister Arlene Foster reacts after she was elected as leader of the DUP. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Peter Robinson watches as Finance Minister Arlene Foster reacts after she was elected as leader of the DUP. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Plans for commemorations in Northern Ireland have already sparked rows at a number of councils.

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt said he will not attend any Rising commemoration events, but his party is planning its own event to "challenge the causes and consequences of Easter 1916".

In her New Year message Mrs Foster struck a conciliatory note when she said: "We will reflect on the centenary of the Easter Rising and the role events in Dublin in 1916 had in the creation of Northern Ireland."

But in an interview this week with the Impartial Reporter, she gave her personal view when she was asked if she would attend an Easter Rising event

She said: "I certainly would not commemorate a violent attack on the United Kingdom. I can understand why those of a republican deposition would want to commemorate that event but I certainly wouldn't want to be associated with it."

"You have to remember that the rebellion led to a loss of hundreds of lives, Irish people being killed, I would say needlessly at that time," she said.

Mrs Foster explained: "The rebellion which took place 100 years ago this Easter was directly to attack the State to which I owe my allegiance. I don't think I would be invited, but even if I was invited, I certainly would not be going to commemorate a violent attack on the United Kingdom."

The new DUP leader also spoke about her "excitement" at taking over as First Minister from Peter Robinson next week.

Sinn Fein MLA Chris Hazzard voiced his disappointment at Mrs Foster's stance.

"This is an important year of commemorations as we mark the centenaries of the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme," he said.

"Both of these events are landmarks in our history and Sinn Fein has made it clear that both anniversaries should be marked inclusively and respectfully. Doing so would demonstrate a genuine political maturity.

"Therefore it is disappointing that Arlene Foster has said she does not want to be associated with any events commemorating the Rising.

"The Easter Rising commemorations will not only mark the anniversary in a dignified and respectful manner, but will also provide an opportunity to engage in positive and constructive dialogue with a wide range of opinion from across the political spectrum."

An Ulster Unionist spokesman said: "Mike Nesbitt has already made clear the Ulster Unionist Party will not be celebrating the Rebellion, but nor will we ignore the event that started the chain of events that led to the partition of the island and the creation of Northern Ireland.

"We will continue our practice of recent years of visiting Grangegorman Military Cemetery in Dublin to lay wreaths at the graves of some of the British soldiers who lost their lives in 1916.

"We are also planning to hold our own event which will challenge the causes and consequences of Easter 1916. This is not something that can be ignored because the impact still reverberates today and we should accept the challenge of how to deal with its legacy."
President Barack Obama tore into the nation's largest gun lobby accusing it of peddling an "imaginary fiction" that has distorted the debate about firearms violence.

In a primetime, televised forum, the president dismissed what he called a "conspiracy" alleging that the government - and Mr Obama in particular - wants to seize all firearms as a precursor to imposing martial law.

He blamed the notion on the National Rifle Association (NRA) and like-minded groups that convince its members that "somebody's going to come grab your guns".

Mr Obama said: "Yes, that is a conspiracy. I'm only going to be here for another year. When would I have started on this enterprise?"

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Meanwhile, South Korea retaliated for North Korea's nuclear test with broadcasts of anti-Pyongyang propaganda across the rival's border.

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Today is believed to be the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who is thought to be in his early 30s, and the broadcasts will draw a furious response from North Korea, which considers them an act of psychological warfare.

Pyongyang is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of his authoritarian leadership, and its reaction could be especially harsh because of the high emotions surrounding his likely birthday.

When South Korea briefly resumed propaganda broadcasts in August after an 11-year break, the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire, followed by threats of war.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel promised to respond decisively to assaults on women in Cologne on New Year's Eve which have stoked a fierce debate about her refugee policies after police said the attackers appeared to be of foreign origin.

Some 121 women are reported to have been robbed, threatened or sexually molested there by gangs of mostly drunk men between 18 and 35 years old while out celebrating. Police say they have identified 16 suspects.

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Cologne's police chief, under pressure for the force's handling of the event, has said the perpetrators appeared to be of "Arab or North African" origin.

German magazine Focus and newspaper Die Welt said police had found registration papers on some of the suspects, suggesting they had only recently arrived in the country. But authorities have not confirmed that.

In the papers this morning, the Irish Independent is leading with a story on home loans with the headline 'Mortgage war heats up with banks' offer of cash to switch'. In the piece, Charlie Weston details how Permanent TSB have become the second bank to pay a cash lump sum to those who take out a home loan. The move will match Bank of Ireland's popular offer of 2pc cash-back on the value of the mortgage.

The Herald lead with further revelations from the Jason Corbett case as it is revealed that widow Molly Martens Corbett admitted killing her husband, a US court heard.

Mr Corbett's sister, Tracy Lynch, claimed Ms martens Corbett (32) confessed to the killing.

The Irish Examiner leads with the story that Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy TD Catherine Murphy resorted to using "throwaway" mobile phones at the height of the Siteserv/IBRC saga.

The Star leads with teh story that gardai have launched a probe into a photo of UFC champ Conor McGregor wearing a balaclava and brandishing a replica gun.

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The Irish Sun also leads with shocking information from the Jason Corbetts trial and claims that the Limerick man was 'choking his wife Molly when he was beaten to death, according to claims in police documents.

In the Irish Mirror, model and TV star Vogue Williams reveals that he life is "falling apart" since she split with her husband, Brian McFadden. The model (30) has claimed that she has struggled since their three-year marriage ended last July.

Finally, the Irish Times leads with a mortgage story. Its lead story claims that the Central Bank is to to review mortgage rules. The current regime, which have particular impacted upon first-time buyers, is to remain in place for thwe spring and summer of this year but then will be altered.
Suspects who claim free legal aid will have their assets and personal finances raided for the first time if they are suspected of abusing the system, the Irish Independent can reveal.

The Legal Aid Board is to be given CAB-style powers that could see suspects forced to repay legal aid bills that have been footed by the taxpayer.

The radical new proposals by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald will also apply to criminals who are planning future appeals against their convictions.

The State pays around 50m per year in providing free legal aid, which goes towards the cost of hiring solicitors and barristers, witness expenses and technical and medical reports.

All individuals facing criminal charges can apply for free legal aid under the Constitution. The decision to grant the legal representation is made on the spot by the relevant judge.

However, Ms Fitzgerald is to bring the Heads of the new Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Bill 2015 to Cabinet, which will give the Legal Aid Board new powers to force criminals to make a contribution, if it is deemed they can afford to do so.

The board will share information with CAB, the Department of Social Protection and other relevant agencies, to probe the ability of suspects to foot their legal aid bills.

It's expected that the new law, which runs the risk of being challenged on constitutional grounds, will form part of the Fine Gael manifesto.

In an interview with the Irish Independent, Ms Fitzgerald said the move is in response to suspicions being raised by members of the public over some individuals claiming legal aid.

"If criminals got legal aid, I'm going to give a power to look at assets and to make sure there is a contribution if there is any question of them having assets," Ms Fitzgerald said.

"If people see known criminals - whether it's very expensive cars, or whether its homes, or whatever assets, it seems to me that it's very reasonable to raise the question about criminal legal aid," she added.

If it is deemed that a suspect or serving prisoner has the means to pay the bill, the board will have the relevant powers to force them to do so.

"Head 10 (of the bill) will give the Legal Aid Board power to investigate the means of a person, following the grant to that person of legal aid by the court," Ms Fitzgerald said.

"The board could then make a determination that the person's means are sufficient to pay the legal costs, or a contribution to those costs, and the Heads provide for a procedure to bring this to fruition," she added.

Several high profile criminals, including murderer Graham Dwyer and drug dealer John Gilligan, have all claimed legal aid.

In the case of Gilligan, who was released from prison in October 2013, the State incurred a multi-million euro bill for his numerous appeals against his conviction and his ongoing battle against CAB.

Ms Fitzgerald confirmed that in future a serving criminal could be scrutinised by the Legal Aid Board.

Admitting that her proposal will be seen as "radical", the Dublin Mid-West TD pledged to implement the measures if Fine Gael is re-elected.

However, she admitted that the bill could potentially be challenged in the courts and that she is trying to "push the law as far as you can push it constitutionally, recognising obviously the constitutional right."
There will be no question of an Irish referendum on membership of the European Union even if Britain decides to leave, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

Mr Kenny ruled out the possibility and said the 2012 fiscal treaty, passed by 60pc of voters, was effectively a referendum on Irish support for the union.

"In the middle of the recession Ireland was the only country to have a referendum on the fiscal stability treaty. The people voted 60:40 in favour of that thereby linking our future to the euro, the eurozone and the European union," he said.

Speaking in the Netherlands where he is on trade mission, Mr Kenny said: "Ireland is committed to continuing to be a member of the EU."

British Prime Minister David Cameron was in Germany yesterday where he said he was "even more confident" of getting the reforms necessary to convince British people to stay in the EU after meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel. He said what was good for Britain was "actually good for Europe".

Mr Kenny said: "We want Britain to continue to be a strong and central member of the EU. We will support that in as far as we can," he said, adding that a union with a population of 500 million "is easier to do business in and make a greater impact than if it is beginning to break up".

He indicated that he would hold discussions on the issue with Mr Cameron before the EU meets to discuss his demands next month.

He said 1bn of trade crossed the Irish Sea every week and a Brexit would cause significant difficulties for business.

Meanwhile, Mr Kenny will conclude his three-day trade mission by visiting the German city of Munich today, but he is not scheduled to meet with Ms Merkel.
Evelyn on the way to Mass with her daughter-in-law Bernie Healy Kennedy and granddaughter Sara Kennedy. Photo: APX

Even floods of near biblical proportions couldn't stop one elderly resident from attending Mass.

Offaly native Evelyn Kennedy (97) wasn't going to be deterred by the deluge which has seen her family marooned for the past month.

The great-grandmother, who has been living with her son in Banagher since the flooding began in December, insisted on attending Mass despite being surrounded on all sides by water.

Her daughter Maura Flannery explained: "She is 97, 98 in March, and she decided she was going to Mass on Sunday. I said, look it, if she wants to go, let her go."

So the family mounted a chair on the tractor's transport box and Evelyn was wrapped up in warm clothes for the quarter-mile journey.
Having a baby can improve employability and performance because post natal brains are re-wired to cope with the increased necessity to plan and multi-task

It is a popular belief often seized-upon by new mothers convinced their brain has turned to mush.

But scientists now claim that the curse of baby brain is a myth and that, to the contrary, women are actually better workers after giving birth.

Having a baby can improve employability and performance because post natal brains are re-wired to cope with the increased necessity to plan and multi-task, experts found.

Although early research discovered that the brain shrinks by up to seven per cent during pregnancy, scientists found that it later expanded as new mothers developed the ability to manage stress and improve strategic thinking, judgment and empathy, becoming more emotionally resilient.

From the third trimester onwards, there is a reduction in the flight or fight area of the brain, meaning that mothers are likely to become much less stressed in order to cope with increased demands, they said.

Experiments have also shown that from late pregnancy, women get better at detecting fear, anger and disgust in others faces to enable them to protect their child and detect threats.

Craig Kinsley, a neuroscientist at the University of Richmond in Virginia, said that in adults such rapid changes in grey matter would otherwise only occur as a result of major events like illness or brain injury.

He said it proved that pregnancy is not just some minor event but represented a developmental period every bit as important as sexual differentiation or puberty.

An analysis of data published in the New Scientist, concluded: There is now a large body of evidence that a womans intellect does not suffer in any way after having her baby.

The article, titled The Real Baby Brain, noted that up to four-fifths of pregnant women claimed to have more trouble remembering phone numbers or stringing a complex sentence together than before they got pregnant.

But it suggested that the prevalence of the baby brain phenomenon may simply be down to cultural priming and social norms which influenced womens perceptions of their own brainpower.

Research scientist Kelly Lambert, who contributed to the article, said: Being able to be more efficient in your decision-making, being emotionally resilient, maybe being able to engage in different strategies to solve a problem that sounds like a wonderful executive or manager to me.

Sally Adee, features editor at New Scientist said: "Starting in early pregnancy I became increasingly nervous about what would happen to my brain after having kids.

"Would I stop caring about my job - or worse, keep caring but no longer be capable of doing it?

"After returning from maternity leave, I began to notice unexpected changes - where I used to be a fairly anxious person, after having my twins, it was much harder to rattle me.

"My to-do list also seemed to evaporate more readily.

"When I started looking into the science behind all this, I found researchers had uncovered some really surprising changes that maternity causes in the brain."

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Hay fever sufferers set to cope with itchy eyes and runny noses next summer can thank their ancestors, who indulged in passionate affairs with their ancient cousins The Neanderthals, according to researchers.

Two scientific studies have suggested that key genes in the immune system are inherited from our ancient cousins the Neanderthals and Denisovans which predispose some to allergies including hay fever.

Neanderthals and Denisovans are extinct species of human.

The genes which cause hay fever were passed onto modern humans because our distinct relatives mated with Neanderthals and Denisovans more than 40,000 years ago.

The research found that all non-Africans carry 1pc-6pc of Neanderthal DNA. Those who did not leave the continent would not have crossed paths with the Denisovans or the Neanderthals who lived around Serbia at the time.

The three genes responsible for hay fever, asthma and other allergies are amongst the most common strands of Denisovan and Neanderthal-like DNA pin-pointed in modern humans. The genes can also be attributed to a boosted immune system as those who have them have better defences against pathogens like bacteria and fungi.

The genes are thought to have been passed onto modern humans when small groups of explorers left Africa and discovered Neanderthals.

A small group of modern humans leaving Africa would not carry much genetic variation, said Janet Kelso, lead researcher at the Max Planck Institute for evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.

You can adapt through mutations, but if you interbreed with the local population who are already there, you can get some of these adaptations for free.

The scientists analysed the genes of modern humans as well as those of the Neanderthals and Denisovans to study the changes in our immune system throughout tens of thousands of years.

The researchers admitted that the interbreeding might make those with the genes more likely to have allergies, but it has benefited modern humans greatly in terms of fighting pathogens.

"The evidence suggests that this genetic region contributes to the immune system of modern day humans," Dr Michael Dannemann of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.

"At some point in history it might have been an advantage to have these Neanderthal genes in terms of fighting off infections or lethal pathogens from 10,000 years ago.

"It could also still be an advantage today but this is difficult to pinpoint."

A second group of researchers in the United States and France came to similar conclusions when they independently analysed the genetic data of modern humans and pitted them against those of ancient humans.

Dr Lluis Quintana-Murci of the Unit of Human Evolutionary Genetics, Institut Pasteur, Paris said the findings were interesting.

"Our big surprise was to find that this gene region has such a high Neanderthal ancestry because this region has been shown to have a major biological relevance in host survival against pathogens," he said.

"Maybe we should thank Neanderthals for having given us diversity in innate immunity to survive better against pathogens."
High flying: Ettore Bilottas new uniform for Etihad Airways cabin crew, pictured by Vogue and Vanity Fair photographer Norman Jean Roy in Abu Dhabis Liwa desert

Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, is starting a recruitment drive in Dublin.

A recruitment day is planned at Dublin's Hilton Airport Hotel, with interested candidates asked to drop in their CVs to the hotel on Monday, January 11.

Applicants that meet the airlines criteria will be invited back for an assessment the following day, January 12, the airline says.

"Imagine visiting Sydneys Opera House at the start of the week, dining on the Champs-Elysees in Paris later in the week and then browsing the many stores on New Yorks Fifth Avenue the following week," it gushes.

As well as cabin crew, the award-winning carrier is seeking applications for the positions of in-flight chefs and food & beverage managers.

The Dublin date is the first of six global recruitment days planned by Etihad, which employs some 200 Irish staff at Dublin Airport, its Dublin line maintenance operation, and across its global network.

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"Ireland has been chosen to host the first day of our new global recruitment drive due to its excellent workforce, which is renowned for its advanced aviation skills and experience," said Linda Celestino, VP of Guest Services for the airline.

"We are on the lookout for talented individuals with a passion for hospitality and those who share our commitment to excellence in customer experience, she added.

If you can't make Monday, don't fret.

Candidates that are unable to attend on the day can submit their CV with a covering letter to etihad.com/en-ie/careers/cabin/recruitment.

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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.
It's Groundhog Day for the thousands of patients left waiting in our country's emergency departments this week. There is a slight improvement, year on year, on numbers presenting to EDs and needing admission to hospital in the last few weeks. But the numbers are way too high and nowhere near where Minister Leo Varadkar wanted them weeks ahead of the next general election.

Fifteen years ago, when the 2001 health strategy was being prepared, more than 1,500 people responded to a public consultation for the strategy. Emergency departments (EDs) (then called A&Es) received by far the highest percentage (83pc) of negative mentions when the public was asked about their recent experiences of the health services.

Action 86 of the 121 actions in the health strategy committed to introduce a 'substantial programme of improvements in accident and emergency departments'.

There were 10 sub-actions under this heading, some of which were acted on - such as increasing the numbers of ED consultants and better access to GPs out-of-hours. But many others, such as access to diagnostics and improving IT in EDs, were not.

Under Micheal Martin's stewardship in health, things got worse in EDs as more people waited on trolleys. Weeks after her appointment as minister in 2004, Mary Harney launched a 10-point plan to resolve the 'A&E crisis'.

Within six months of this, actor Brendan Gleeson spoke angrily on the 'Late Late Show' about his parents' treatment in A&E.

In a tirade against the politicians' failure to sort out A&Es, he described "the indignity of it as unspeakable  like a military field hospital  a disgrace  it's a war crime what's happening in [A&Es]  it's disgusting that we are allowing people to die when we have billions".

Gleeson was right. All this was happening under successive Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats-led governments when the health budget quadrupled.

Within two weeks of Gleeson's outburst, Ms Harney declared the A&E crisis was a 'national emergency'. A year after that, there were more people than ever previously recorded waiting on trolleys in Irish EDs.

Why is it that, more than 10 years on, the ED crisis persists, despite three different ministers, two separate task force reports and hundreds of millions of euros being thrown at the problem?

Much time, effort and money has gone into improving conditions in our country's EDs, preventing people going there and freeing up hospital beds. But many underlying problems persist and have not been addressed.

EDs still act as the only door into some of our major public hospitals. The use of acute medical assessment and surgical units as well as minor injury clinics needs to be mainstreamed so there are other doors into and out of all acute hospitals.

While there have been increases of emergency medicine consultants, there are still not enough senior decision makers in EDs and across our hospitals, especially at night and weekends. There are not always daily ward-rounds and the absence of consistent discharge planning means patients remain in hospital unnecessarily.

While many consultants work way beyond their contracted hours in hospitals, the absence of information systems means we simply do not know who works, where and when.

Because the incentives are wrong, people keep on coming in the ED doors. Better resourcing of GPs to manage chronic diseases and access diagnostics is required so that fewer people are referred unnecessarily into EDs.

The persistent under-resourcing of primary and community care means people end up in hospital when they should and could be cared for in the community.

Failure to bring down wait times for outpatient appointments and planned hospital treatments mean some of these people end up as emergencies in EDs.

Our growing population is living longer and this is a good thing. But many ED presentations are from the oldest of our old people. Significant increases in geriatricians and fast access to high quality care, preferably outside of hospital or in hospital, without going through EDs, is required for these citizens.

The maximum nine-hour wait time target for people on trolleys in EDs is pure myth.

The clock starts counting only when a decision to admit is made, not when a person presents at the ED.

The vast majority of EDs collect this information (known as Patient Experience Time) from the time of first presentation to either discharge or getting a hospital bed, but conveniently this information is not in the public domain.

We know that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity.

Yet, do we really need more than 30 EDs for a population of less than five million people? Dublin certainly does not need six EDs for its population. A greater concentration of ED resources would facilitate better access and quality care.

But no politician has the courage to raise this thorny issue as it is quite simply electoral kamikaze.

This week's various media interviews with a despondent Health Minister revealed that Leo Varadkar realises even doing more is not enough.

It is blatantly clear that Groundhog Day will persist in EDs unless much more fundamental reform that tackles the underlying structural causes of ED overcrowding is embarked on.
Police were warned that one of the 'Charlie Hebdo' gunmen had turned up three months before the attack to say it would be targeted, it has been reported, as French film stars leant their weight to the satirical magazine's anniversary.

The magazine's release came as fresh details emerged of alleged security failings in the run-up to the attacks, which have prompted the widows of two victims to file criminal complaints.

'Le Canard Enchaine', the satirical weekly, said three months earlier, a journalist working next to the 'Charlie' offices had phoned one of two policemen tasked with protecting its editor to warn him he had just seen a man in a car outside talking to himself, saying: "That will teach them to criticise the Prophet."

The journalist later recognised the man as Cherif Kouachi, one of the two brothers who carried out the killings. Kouachi asked him: "Are these 'Charlie Hebdo's offices? Is it here they criticise the Prophet?'

He went on: "In any case, we're watching them. You can pass the message on."

The journalist memorised his licence plate and informed the policeman. His superiors confirmed to 'Le Canard' that a police report was compiled, but the information apparently never reached intelligence services, or if it did they failed to follow it up or boost security at the magazine.

Moreover, this entire episode is curiously "missing" from the judicial report on the killings, reported 'Le Canard'.

In another damning revelation, Paris police had several minutes in which they could have warned 'Charlie' staff to barricade themselves into their offices but they failed to link the address to the magazine, 'Le Canard' reported.

Police headquarters were alerted to two people being injured at that address at 11.23am, but failed to realise the building housed 'Charlie Hebdo'. It took the gunmen several "long minutes" more to find the magazine's offices and detonations were only heard there at 11.32am. In that period, 'Le Canard' warned, police had ample time to phone 'Charlie' staff.

Ingrid Brinsolaro, whose police bodyguard husband Franck died while trying to protect the magazine's editor, called security at the office "too light" and a "sieve".

The revelations came as 'Charlie' released a million copies of its special anniversary edition.

Juliette Binoche was among a string of famous French actors offering words of support, jokes or thoughts a year after the Kouachi brothers gunned down eight 'Charlie' staff, including its editor and star cartoonists Cabu, Tignous and Wolinski.

"We are at an impasse where we can't see a way out. No doubt there isn't one, so we must seek inside ourselves and every day take the time to look, to spare a smile or a kind thought," wrote Ms Binoche, who said that "feelings of peace and images of kindness" were the best antidote to "anger and chaos".

Others were more light-hearted. Comic actress Karin Viard wrote: "We won't let these arseholes stop us living. Indeed, I've got one and live quite happily with it."

British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, long under a fatwa himself and who vocally supported 'Charlie' after the attack, is the subject of two cartoons. One declares: "Salman Rushdie is no longer threatened with death."

His wife stands next to him with a bin bag, saying: "So perhaps you can take down the rubbish."

The Prophet Mohammed features in another with the caption: "A year on, mentalities change." Sitting at an easel, pencil in hand, the Prophet says: "I've taken up self portraits."

Isil is lampooned in two cartoons. One shows leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi crying in despair at not being given an op-ed in 'Charlie', while another mocks Isil's "kind gesture" of renewing its subscription to the magazine despite alling on harder financial times.
Statistics show that there has been a mark improvement in the GCE General and a drop in the GCE Technical. Also, there has been an improve...
WB Yeats's iconic poem 'Easter 1916' will feature widely during this centenary year of the Easter Rising.

It is a many-layered work, but is essentially a love poem to Maud Gonne, whom the poet still hoped to capture. Maud rejected the poem in a famous letter to Yeats, writing, "No, I don't like your poem, it isn't worthy of you and above all it isn't worthy of your subject."

She objects to the line "Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart" in reference to the Rising, but also to herself. Scholars have concentrated on this metaphor, but omit the other plainly stated reason she rejected the poem further along in her letter. Maud had sought a rapprochement with her husband John MacBride in 1910 but was rebuffed. After his execution, there was no obstacle, though Yeats's unwelcome poem stirs the old feud.

She tells him, and posterity: "As for my husband he has entered Eternity by the great door of sacrifice which Christ opened & has therefore atoned for all so that in praying for him I can also ask for his prayers & 'a terrible beauty is born'." Maud herself may well have been atoning for all to her late husband, John MacBride, in this remarkable sentence.

Anthony J Jordan

Dublin 4

The destruction of Coole Park

Might the National Parks and Wildlife Service care to explain why huge areas of woodland at Coole Park, Gort, Co Galway, have been laid waste? Many of the formerly tree-lined walks now consist of paths through desolate fields littered with stumps. There does not appear to be any information on display at the site to inform visitors about what is happening.

Are the Seven Woods of Coole, immortalised by Yeats, to be destroyed at the stroke of a pen without any explanation or public discussion? From a recent visit it appears that a number of them already have been.

Mark Coen

Dublin 1

Getting the Rising facts right

Depending on one's point of view, we are about to commemorate, celebrate, denigrate, repudiate, exaggerate - maybe even fumigate - the events of Easter 1916.

As long as we do these "inclusively" and "respectfully" we will be alright. May I make a humble request of those who write or speak about Easter 1916 in the coming months, especially the historians?

Can they, in their heartfelt endeavours to describe and analyse the 'how' and the 'why', make sure that they are accurate regarding the 'when'? Diarmaid Ferriter asserted erroneously recently on RTE that The O'Rahilly died on Good Friday, 1916. This is a result of the current confusion between Holy Week and Easter Week.

The Rising took place during Easter Week, after Easter. Good Friday is in Holy Week, before Easter.

Historians like to share the fruits of their research with us and also their opinions. The day of the death of The O'Rahilly is a matter of fact, not opinion.

Eileen Casey

Dublin 15

Europe is bleeding us dry

The seeming consensus that plucky little Ireland has finally turned the much-vaunted proverbial economic corner seems to have blanketed many with a sense of comfort and feel-good factor - whatever that is. I demur.

With 25,000,000,000 outstanding in promissory notes (this basically means real money raised on financial markets is borrowed by the NTMA, given to the Central Bank to cancel ECB- issued bonds, and is then literally shredded and incinerated), we continue to be used by our so-called equals in mainland Europe.

Worse still, we as a nation continue to participate in this abusive public policy.

Every month this State destroys money, money that would allow us to operate with the same dignity demanded by our fellow citizens in Europe. This, seemingly, is the price we continue to pay for not regulating our banks, and indeed, by logical extension, the banks in Europe that lent recklessly to those reckless banks.

Let's be clear and honest, the real price paid by ordinary people was paid in stealth, through the starvation of public services, most notably health services.

It can easily be argued that every night spent by a citizen in an emergency department trolley is directly linked to money forcibly removed from the Irish Government to satisfy the interest of larger states, who, at least in part, threw our nation under a bus to ensure that their standards in public health and other social services remained intact.

Germany and France would never impose on their people the terrible public health standards we are forced to tolerate here.

Neither of these states - states that failed to regulate their banks when they lent to Anglo or Irish Nationwide - imposed any public service cuts during this crisis.

Ireland is indeed the best little vassal state in the world. The continued payment of these disgusting reparations acts like a vile jig on the graves of the people that thought they might relieve Ireland of the yolk of foreign usurpation almost 100 years ago.

Declan Doyle

Lisdowney, Kilkenny

Don't blame EU on dredging

Listening to radio and watching TV since the flooding began, all politicians and commentators seem to be of one mind: that the failure to dredge rivers and to clear ditches contributed in a big way to the present flooding.

All seem agreed that the EU directives, namely the Water Framework Directive and the EU Nature Directive, are the main stumbling blocks to dredging the rivers and clearing ditches. The OPW and the county councils continually refer to the EU directives as the hurdles they find it difficult to overcome.

It is interesting that the European Commission issued a statement - headed 'Flooding' - on January 5 contradicting these assertions. The statement says: "With regard to the widespread flooding in Ireland, the European Commission would like to clarify the following points. Any suggestion that EU environmental rules are somehow to blame for the recent severe flooding in Ireland is completely without foundation."

EU law does not ban dredging. The Water Framework Directive and the Floods directive do not include rules on how member states manage their watercourses - that is decided by the member states themselves.

The report goes on for three pages and can be seen on europa.eu.

Hugh Duffy

Cleggan, Co Galway
Recording artist Harry Styles of music group One Direction attends 102.7 KIIS FMs Jingle Ball 2015 Presented by Capital One at STAPLES CENTER on December 4, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 22: Model Kendall Jenner attends the 2015 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 22, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

Khloe Kardashian is certain Kendall Jenner and Harry Styles are dating.

The reality TV star's half-sister Kendall and the One Direction star have sent the rumour mill into overdrive with their closeness, even enjoying a vacation in St. Barts together earlier this month.

"Do I think theyre dating? Yes," Khloe candidly told ET. "I don't know if they're like boyfriend-girlfriend. Nowadays I don't know. People are weird with stuff. So, I don't know their title. But I mean, they were in St. Barts together hanging out, so to me that's dating."

There have been mixed reports about the stars' relationship status, with some claiming Kendall is taking things slow because she doesn't want to get hurt. However, others believe it could be something serious.

Expand Close Recording artist Harry Styles of music group One Direction attends 102.7 KIIS FMs Jingle Ball 2015 Presented by Capital One at STAPLES CENTER on December 4, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for iHeartMedia) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Recording artist Harry Styles of music group One Direction attends 102.7 KIIS FMs Jingle Ball 2015 Presented by Capital One at STAPLES CENTER on December 4, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

"He'd love to have a proper girlfriend," an insider told Us Weekly of where Harry stands. "If she's (Kendall) keen to take it to a serious level, he would be too.

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"They've sneaked around to meet in private. She really cares for him. He's the only guy for her."

Meanwhile her older sister Khloe also has questions.

Expand Close LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 22: Model Kendall Jenner attends the 2015 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 22, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 22: Model Kendall Jenner attends the 2015 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 22, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

"I would call that dating," she continued. "(But) I don't know what they are. You know, you have the have 'the talk' (and) I don't know if they've had that talk yet."

Harry and Kendall were linked in 2013 and 2014 but nothing was ever confirmed. The singer is known for his popularity with the ladies, previously romancing Taylor Swift and British TV presenter Caroline Flack.

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Kendall on the other hand has kept her love life on the down low, with no details known about past boyfriends.
Actor Kurt Russell and actress Goldie Hawn attend the "Brooklyn Laundry" Play Performance on May 19, 1991 at the Coronet Theatre in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage)

The Princess of Wales takes her sons William and Harry out on the boat 'Maid of the Mist' at Niagara Falls, October 1991. (Photo by Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)

Diana, Princess of Wales once stayed at Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn's Colorado home in a bid to escape the glare of the paparazzi.

The Furious 7 star met the late first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales at a premiere for his movie Backdraft in 1991, and offered her the keys to his retreat after she chatted to him about trying to organise a break with her sons, Princes William and Harry, away from nosy photographers.

And Diana took him up on his offer.

"There was a royal premiere and I sat between Lady Diana and Prince Charles, which was an interesting experience at the time," he tells late night host James Corden. "Things weren't going the best (between them) at the time, but during the course of the evening we got to talking about this and that and the paparazzi that she had to deal with.

Expand Close The Princess of Wales takes her sons William and Harry out on the boat 'Maid of the Mist' at Niagara Falls, October 1991. (Photo by Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp The Princess of Wales takes her sons William and Harry out on the boat 'Maid of the Mist' at Niagara Falls, October 1991. (Photo by Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)

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"So I mentioned that we lived on a ranch in Colorado that might be a nice getaway and she said, 'Maybe some time I could do that'."

"Years later Fergie (Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York), who Goldie knows, she worked it out and I guess Diana wanted to come and stay with the boys and they were welcomed and came and stayed at the ranch and they had a great time," he continues. "It was great because our housekeeper, Bonnie, became very close with her and every Christmas she would get a nice card from Diana."
Jessica McGurk, who was conferred with a Honours Degree of Bachelor of Arts from UCD with mother Miriam O' Callaghan. Picture: Colm Mahady/Fennells

Paul Costelloe with Miriam O'Callaghan and her daughter Alannah McGurk at the launch of Paul Costelloe Living Studio, an exclusive capsule womenswear collection for Dunnes Stores at The Dawson Brasserie. Photo: Kieran Harnett

RTE star Miriam O'Callaghan has opened up about her own issues with fertility.

The Prime Time presenter has eight children from ages nine to 29 and said she underwent fertility treatment after her first child Alannah and would encourage others to make their own choices when having childern.

I always say I feel very lucky and blessed and privileged that I had eight healthy kids, she said at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition in Dublin. Along the way, I did have fertility treatments but I would never, ever judge anybody else.

"If more people in life let people make their own choices, I think we would have a much better world.

Expand Close Jessica McGurk, who was conferred with a Honours Degree of Bachelor of Arts from UCD with mother Miriam O' Callaghan. Picture: Colm Mahady/Fennells / Facebook

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Whatsapp Jessica McGurk, who was conferred with a Honours Degree of Bachelor of Arts from UCD with mother Miriam O' Callaghan. Picture: Colm Mahady/Fennells

"After my first child, I couldn't get pregnant so I went to a gynecologist. I got three children in 10 months. I would always say I had fertility treatment because there are a lot of women out there who haven't been able to have kids so I don't take it for granted."

The popular broadcaster, who is married to Head of BBC Northern Ireland Steve Carson, said she never "set out to have eight children."

"But I didn't set out to have eight children. I really, really can't believe I have eight children. They are healthy and they are very grounded, so I'm lucky," she added.

Miriam also added her well wishes to new mother Georgia Penna (nee Salpa), who welcomed twin boys with her hedge fund manager husband Joe in December.

Expand Close Paul Costelloe with Miriam O'Callaghan and her daughter Alannah McGurk at the launch of Paul Costelloe Living Studio, an exclusive capsule womenswear collection for Dunnes Stores at The Dawson Brasserie. Photo: Kieran Harnett / Facebook

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"I am thrilled for Georgia and wish her all the best with her beautiful twins," she added. "They are a joy, I have twins too."
Now: Thalia Heffernan pictured at the Paul Stafford Foundation Lunch 2015 in aid of Teenline at The Dean Hotel. Photo: Anthony Woods.

They are two of Ireland's best-known models and it seems Thalia Heffernan and Vogue Williams share more than a love for the camera.

Blonde beauty Thalia is dating well-known Dublin graffiti artist Maser, whose real name is Al Hester, the Herald has learned.

Maser (31), who is famous for his iconic street art, was in a relationship with reality TV star and DJ Vogue for five years before the couple went their separate ways in 2011. Soon after, Vogue met and fell for former Westlife star Brian McFadden and the pair were married in 2012 before announcing their separation last June.

Thalia (20), who has known popular artist Maser for several years, is said to be "really happy" with her new man. The couple have been dating since October, according to sources, and have been spotted looking loved up on several nights out together.

Expand Close Thalia Heffernan pictured at The NMH Foundation 4th Annual Fashion Show at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Photo: Anthony Woods / Facebook

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Whatsapp Thalia Heffernan pictured at The NMH Foundation 4th Annual Fashion Show at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Photo: Anthony Woods

"They share mutual friends and have known each other for a long time so it is very natural for the both of them," a source told the Herald.

"They were making no effort to hide their relationship on a recent night out, kissing and cuddling, and Thalia was telling pals how happy she is with him."

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The couple have been friends for years and Thalia has modelled his art in the past with Maser sharing snaps of the model on his social media account.

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One photo shows a young Thalia promoting some of his art work, while in another post in March 2013, Thalia thanked Maser for his support of her career, describing him as "amazing". Ranelagh native Thalia, who split with boyfriend of nearly one year, doorman Andrew McGuinness, last year, did not reply when contacted by this newspaper.

One of Ireland's rising model stars, Thalia is signed to five different agencies across the globe, including Premier in London and Ford in New York.

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Meanwhile, model and TV host Vogue, who has been single since her split from husband Brian last year, has admitted she thought she would have had a family by now.

The 30-year-old said that her head is "all over the place".

Expand Close Vogue Williams in Dublin / Facebook

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"I wanted to be married and I wanted to have kids for so long and now that's sort of gone."
Actor James Nesbitt has said he shares concerns voiced by bereaved families of the Troubles that the latest political deal struck at Stormont has let down victims.

The Coleraine-born star was awarded an OBE in the New Year's Honours list, in part for his charity work with those impacted by the conflict.

Last November's Fresh Start agreement between Stormont's leaders and the UK and Irish governments resolved a number of wrangles besetting the power-sharing administration in Belfast, but notably did not find consensus on legacy issues.

New mechanisms for tackling the past had been agreed by politicians in late 2014 - in the Stormont House Agreement - but they have since been derailed by a row between Sinn Fein and the UK Government.

The root of the impasse is the Government's insistence on retaining a veto, on national security grounds, over disclosing certain historic documents on Troubles killings.

The Fresh Start deal has been heavily criticised by a number of victims.

Nesbitt, in an interview to be broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster's Sunday News programme, was asked if he shared the concerns expressed the families. "Very much so," he replied.

Nesbitt added: "You cannot move on without fully addressing what is clearly the ongoing and indelible legacy of the past and really looking after the people who have suffered and are still suffering."

"These are real people who continue to be impacted, and [the trauma] is passing on to their family members."

The Missing star, who is a patron of victims support group the WAVE Trauma Centre, was awarded the OBE for services to drama and to Northern Ireland.

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"For services to acting, that's great," he said in the interview.

"But I've been very lucky in my acting career - there are plenty of actors more able than me.

"What was more important to me was the mention of services to the community in Northern Ireland.

"Because of the lucky nature of my success, I've had the opportunity to do quite a lot in Northern Ireland, which is a duty, but also a real privilege.

"So if this brings more awareness to the ongoing work WAVE is doing, then I'm thrilled."
Swedish actress Alicia Vikander has added two Bafta 2016 nominations to her growing list of accolades.

The 27-year-old is nominated in the leading actress category for her performance as Gerda Wegener in The Danish Girl, which stars fellow nominee Eddie Redmayne.

She is also recognised in the supporting actress category for sci-fi thriller Ex Machina, in which she plays humanoid robot Ava.

This weekend in Hollywood, Vikander is competing for two Golden Globes in the same two categories for the aforementioned movies.

Her seemingly overnight rise to fame is actually the result of years of quiet endeavour.

Here are 10 things you should know about the woman destined now to be a huge star:

1. Vikander grew up in Gothenburg, Sweden. Her mother is a stage actress and her father is a psychiatrist.

2. She trained with the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Gothenburg from the age of nine. At 15, she moved to its upper school in Stockholm.

3. Vikander began her career in Swedish short films and television series.

4. She came to international attention in 2012 when she was cast in Anna Karenina, alongside Keira Knightley. Vikander played the rather naive Kitty.

5. Anna Karenina was her first English-language film.

6. For her movie A Royal Affair, she learnt Danish in two months.

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7. In 2015, Vikander gained recognition for her portrayal of Vera Brittain in Testament Of Youth. The British feminist is the mother of Baroness Shirley Williams.

8. In preparation for her role in Testament Of Youth, the actress had tea at the House of Lords with the Lib Dem peer to get a personal insight into her mother.

9. Vikander's father read the script for The Danish Girl and told her she should take the role of Gerda Wegener, wife of Eddie Redmayne's Einar Wegener, who becomes Lili Elbe.

10. Vikander lives in London. She has been dating fellow actor Michael Fassbender since 2014.
A Swiss woman has been kidnapped from her home in the northern Malian town of Timbuktu, army officials say.

A spokesperson for the Malian army, Souleymane Maiga confirmed the abduction to Reuters but refused to give details of the incident.



"I confirm that a European woman was kidnapped in Timbuktu at 3:30 am," he said.



"A neighbour alerted the security forces around 6 am."



However a local resident told the news agency the victim is the same missionary who was held for more than a week by Islamist gunmen in 2012 when the north had been taken over by groups linked to al-Qaeda.

In 2012, Islamist fighters in northern Mali kidnapped Beatrice Stockly, a Swiss woman working as a missionary in Timbuktu, and released her days later.

A resident of Timbuktu who knows Ms Stockly told Reuters it was she who was kidnapped last night.

The Swiss foreign ministry in Berne said it was aware of the "alleged kidnapping" of a Swiss citizen in Mali.

"The Swiss local representative is in contact with the local authorities," it said in an email.

"For privacy and data protection reasons, no further information can be given at the moment."

French forces drove Islamist fighters from major urban centres in 2013 but the fighters remain active in the West African country and have recently intensified their insurgency.

France continues to fight militants in Mali and elsewhere in the desert band known as the Sahel with a 3,500-strong counterterrorism force called Barkhane.

There are 10 Irish military personnel currently in Mali as part of an UN mission to train the Mali army.
U.S. President Barack Obama is seen on a monitor as he speaks during a live town hall event on reducing gun violence hosted by CNNAos Anderson Cooper at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia January 7, 2016. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

President Barack Obama tore into the nation's largest gun lobby accusing it of peddling an "imaginary fiction" that has distorted the debate about firearms violence.

In a primetime, televised forum, the president dismissed what he called a "conspiracy" alleging that the government - and Mr Obama in particular - wants to seize all firearms as a precursor to imposing martial law.

He blamed the notion on the National Rifle Association (NRA) and like-minded groups that convince its members that "somebody's going to come grab your guns".

Mr Obama said: "Yes, that is a conspiracy. I'm only going to be here for another year. When would I have started on this enterprise?"

He defended his support for the constitutional right to gun ownership while arguing it was consistent with his efforts to curb violence and mass shootings.

He said the NRA was refusing to acknowledge the government's responsibility to make legal products safer, citing seatbelts and child-proof medicine bottles as examples.

Mr Obama, taking the stage at George Mason University in Virginia, said he has always been willing to meet the NRA.

He said the NRA was invited to the forum but declined to participate. Several NRA members were in the audience for the event, which was organised and hosted by CNN.

"There's a reason why the NRA's not here. They're just down the street," Mr Obama said, referring to the group's nearby headquarters.

"Since this is a main reason they exist, you'd think that they'd be prepared to have a debate with the president."

The White House portrays the NRA, the nation's largest gun group, as possessing a disproportionate influence over politicians that has prevented new gun laws despite polls that show broad support for measures like universal background checks.

Last year, following a series of mass shootings, Obama pledged to "politicise" the issue in an attempt to level the playing field for gun control supporters.

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said before the event that the group saw "no reason to participate in a public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House".

The American Firearms Retailers Association, another lobby group, did participate. Asked how business had been since Mr Obama took office, Kris Jacob replied: "It's been busy."

He added: "There's a very serious concern in this country about personal security."

Mr Obama's actions on guns have drawn major attention in the presidential campaign, with the Democratic candidates backing him and the Republicans unanimously voicing opposition.

Donald Trump, addressing a rally in Vermont, said he would eliminate gun-free zones in schools on his first day if elected to the White House.

The Republican frontrunner told the crowd: "You know what a gun-free zone is for a sicko? That's bait."

Mr Obama's attack on the NRA came two days after unveiling a package aimed at keeping guns from people who should not have them.

The centrepiece is new guidance that seeks to clarify who is "in the business" of selling firearms, triggering a requirement to get a licence and conduct background checks on all prospective buyers.
The Banksy mural targeting the issue of Government surveillance that has been vandalised with silver and red paint

A house featuring a Banksy artwork targeting the issue of Government surveillance has gone on the market for 210,000.

Spy Booth shows three 1950s-style agents, wearing brown trench coats and trilby hats, using devices to tap into conversations at a telephone box.

It appeared overnight on the wall of a house in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, just a few miles from GCHQ where the UK's surveillance network is based.

The mural has been repeatedly subjected to vandalism since being painted on the period end-of-terrace home in April 2014.

Bristol graffiti artist Banksy confirmed responsibility for the piece, situated on the corner of Fairview Road and Hewlett Road, through a Q&A on his website.

Estate agents Peter Ball & Co describe the sale as "a rare opportunity to acquire a Grade II listed, Victorian, three-bedroom end-terrace property with a genuine 'Banksy' on the gable wall.

"The property is being offered for sale with no onward chain and requires a comprehensive schedule of refurbishment offering accommodation comprising, entrance hall with doors to the living room, dining room, kitchen/breakfast room and stairs up to the first floor.

"On the first floor are three bedrooms and a bathroom which is fitted with a coloured suite. To the rear of the property is a patio courtyard."

Spy Booth was granted retrospective planning permission in February last year, meaning it cannot be removed without the approval of councillors.

David Possee, the owner of the house, told Cheltenham Borough Council at the time that the mural had caused him "significant financial problems".

Speaking after the piece appeared in Cheltenham, a spokesman for GCHQ said there was a "lack of trench coats and dark glasses" in modern day intelligence.

In February 2014, Banksy's life-size black and white graffiti work Kissing Coppers sold to an anonymous buyer in Miami for 345,000.

The piece was removed from the wall of the Prince Albert pub near Brighton City Centre, where it was painted in 2004, and sold at auction in the US.
Police were called after two neighbours became locked in a dispute over grazing sheep

Police summoned reinforcements after a farmer nearing 90 and a neighbour nearly half his age became embroiled in a spring morning spat over where a flock of sheep could graze, a court heard.

Two officers initially arrived at Wells Farm, Cradley, Herefordshire, and arrested 88-year-old Dennis Johnson and his 49-year-old neighbour Richard Williams, a judge in Birmingham was told.

They then called for back-up and about 30 minutes later another eight officers turned up in four "fast response vehicles", Judge David Grant heard.

Meanwhile, the sheep had got through a hole in a fence and wandered off, the judge was told.

Detail of the saga - in March 2013 - has emerged in a ruling by the judge following a civil court trial centred on a dispute over a boundary.

Mr Williams, now 52, claimed that Mr Johnson, now 91, had wrongly released sheep onto his land at Wells Farm early one morning.

He said there had been "unpleasant exchanges" and Mr Johnson had warned "I could get violent".

And Mr Williams said his wife Swarni, now 44, had "videoed the incident" on an iPhone.

Mr Johnson had denied harassing either Mr Williams or his wife and had told Judge Grant: "I am 90 years old, and Mr Williams is probably half my age and about twice my size."

Judge Grant, who had analysed the dispute at a trial in the specialist Technology & Construction Court in Birmingham, said footage taken by Mrs Williams showed that "none of the three persons present" was "behaving in a violent or aggressive manner".

And he said neither Mr Williams nor Mr Johnson had been charged with any criminal offence.

The judge said the incident featured in a number of complaints Mr Williams had made about Mr Johnson's behaviour.

He said Mr Johnson's conduct could at no stage have been classified as "harassment".

But he said there had been "instances" where Mr Johnson had been a "nuisance".

And concluded that Mr Williams was entitled to a total of 500 "general damages for nuisance".

The judge said he had considered a number of issues - an underlying issue was a boundary dispute.

"The (two men) are neighbours in Cradley in Herefordshire," said Judge Grant. "The adjoining properties are in rural or farming countryside close to the Malvern Hills."

He added: "Sadly the parties have fallen out."

Mr Williams had outlined detail of the sheep spat in March 2013 in a witness statement, said Judge Grant.

"At about 7.20am I found Dennis moving metal gates across the track," Mr Williams had explained.

"He told me he owns the whole area and that we were illegally trespassing on his land.

"He said 'stop it or I could get violent'."

Mr Williams added: "Swarni videoed the incident."

And he said his wife had called police.

"Two arrived at about 8.15 am," added Mr Williams.

"Dennis wanted to move his sheep onto the field. The police suggested that I should allow him to do this, and that I would be arrested if I did not. I declined and was arrested. Dennis was also arrested.

"At some stage the police must have called for reinforcements, as at about 8.50am four fast response vehicles arrived with a further eight policemen.

"While I was under arrest about 150 sheep that Dennis was proposing to put on to Wells Farm got through a hole Dennis had created in the boundary fence."

Mr Williams went on: "After Dennis and I and the police had left, Swarni with the help of neighbours had to round up the sheep."
Tracey Ullman's Show will be her first UK project in 30 years

Comedienne Tracey Ullman once mistook Kanye West for a shop assistant and asked him about swimming trunks for her son.

She revealed the embarrassing story on The Graham Norton Show.

The star said: "I once took my son shopping for swimming trunks and in the shop I asked what I thought was a handsome sales assistant if they had what we wanted, and my son just kept saying: 'Mum, mum, mum.'

"It turned out to be Kanye West. That was embarrassing!"

Ullman returns to British TV screens for the first time in 30 years with Tracey Ullman's Show, for the BBC.

"I never got offered a job in this country until now. I'm really flattered to be asked," she said.

"I love it but people don't know who I am - they think I am Julie Walters!"

Actor James Nesbitt, who was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours list, revealed he "ticked the wrong box", prompting the Palace to phone him and check if he wanted to decline the honour.

"It will be a nice day out at the Palace for me and my girls," he said.

He returns to TV screens in a new series of ITV's hit drama Cold Feet this year.

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"We start in three weeks for a read-through, and I haven't seen loads of them for 12 years. The scripts look good and they tried to get us to do it for a number of years and they hadn't quite worked it out or sorted out the number of zeros on the cheques," he explained.

"It will be very exciting to do it and I can't wait to see what those characters are like now."

Harry Potter actor Ralph Fiennes said since playing the bespectacled wizard's nemesis, Lord Voldemort, he doesn't take on roles that require prosthetics.

He added: "But I knew the look (Voldemort's) was working when I walked past the script supervisor's five-year-old child, and when I looked at him he just burst into tears."

Fiennes told host Graham Norton fans often mistake him for Taken star Liam Neeson.

"I have been complimented for my performance in Taken 2 and Liam has been complimented on his English Patient," he said.

:: The Graham Norton Show airs on January 8 on BBC One at 10.35pm.
Researchers discovered fossils of "huge scrapes" left in rocks more than 100 million years, suggesting the ancient animals may have attracted mates with "scrape ceremonies"

Despite their reptilian traits, mating behaviour in dinosaurs may have also made them more similar to modern birds, scientists have found.

Researchers discovered fossils of "huge scrapes" left in rocks more than 100 million years, suggesting the ancient animals may have attracted mates with "scrape ceremonies" similar to those performed by modern evolved birds.

The ceremonies, or "nest scrape displays" typically see the males of the species show off their ability to provide by digging up pseudo nests for potential partners.

The researchers at the University of Colorado Denver found evidence of more than 50 dinosaur scrapes, some as large as bathtubs, in fossils obtained across two National Conservation Areas near Delta, Colorado.

Professor Martin Lockley, a paleontologist who led the research at the University of Colorado Denver said: "These are the first sites with evidence of dinosaur mating display rituals ever discovered, and the first physical evidence of courtship behaviour.

"These huge scrape displays fill in a missing gap in our understanding of dinosaur behaviour."

He said the new evidence supports theories about the nature of dinosaur mating displays within the "sexual selection" process, which drives evolution. Throughout history, males looking for mates have driven off weaker rivals, while females have chosen the most impressive male performers as consorts.

This behaviour is common in mammals and birds so, until now, scientists could only speculate about dinosaur mating rituals and assume any similarities.

Prof Lockley said: "This is physical evidence of pre-historic foreplay that is very similar to birds today. Modern birds using scrape ceremony courtship usually do so near their final nesting sites.

"So the fossil scrape evidence offers a tantalising clue that dinosaurs in 'heat' may have gathered here millions of years ago to breed and then nest nearby."

He and his team created 3D images of the scrapes by layering photographs and then made rubber moulds and fibreglass copies. These are currently being stored at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
A 7-year-old boy has died after been gang raped in Pakistan, according to reports today

The child went missing on Tuesday, according to a report in The Express Tribune.

The following day his body was reportedly found in a field and a post mortem examination revealed that he had been gang raped and then killed.

The alleged attack took place in Bahawalnagars Christian district, situated in the south east region in the Punjab province.

Local police official Sahar Fareed said that three men have been arrested in connection with the case and operations are on-going to find a fourth man who is understood to have avoided arrest by fleeing the scene
Operators are concerned about the availability of seasonal workers in Australia after the number of Irish backpackers dropped almost sixty per cent in one year.

In 2013/14 almost 12,000 Irish people were granted a working holiday visa but in 2104/15 the same visa was granted to only 5,000. Applications peaked in 2011/12 with 19,492 visas granted and 18,200 people departing Irish shores, according to the CSO.

A total of 23,205 Irish citizens were holders of temporary visas in Australia in June of last year, down 44 per cent from two years prior.

A rise in popularity for working visas to places like Canada and increased job opportunities in Ireland are being pinpointed as the reason behind the massive drop by fellow backpackers, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Speaking to the SMH, backpacker Danny Keenan said that the trend of leaving Ireland to go to Australia has "slowed down".

"When I was a teen, every second week there was an Australia-leaving party".

Fewer Irish visa holders are opting to extend their visa for a second year, with applications for extensions dropping by more than 25 per cent to just 5,233.

Richard Mulcahy, CEO of industry body AUSVEG said that Australia is "facing a very real threat to the future of our industry".

"The working holidaymaker program, and especially the second-year visa extension for regional work, is a huge contributor to the on-going productivity and profitability of the Australian vegetable industry", Mulchahy said.

Bars, cafes and restaurants are suffering the hardest, with those in the hospitality sector reporting a 38,000 worker shortage. Deloitte Access Economics reported that this could increase to 120,000 within four years.

Approval for the subclass 457 visa, (employer-sponsored) also dropped in the same time period. The number of Irish workers granted this visa dropped by 43 per cent to 3,760. However, 6,171 Irish workers became permanent residents, up 18 per cent.

Numbers of backpackers coming from South Korea and Taiwan saw similar declines in the same year and the total number of visas granted has seen a five per cent drop each year. Just 226,812 people were granted the working holiday visa last year, according to figures by the immigration department.

CEO of the Tourism and Transport forum, Margy Osmond, told the SMH that the increasing cost of the visa and the decision to abolish the $18,000 tax-free threshold for travellers will worsen these figures.

In contrast to the official figures, a number of reports have claimed that the figure of undocumented Irish - who are living in Australia without the required documentation - is increasing.

The number of Irish people becoming permanent residents of Australia also increased, up 18 per cent from June 2013 to June 2014, totalling 6,171 workers and their families. 2,843 Irish people became citizens of Australia in the same period, up 1,000 from the previous year.
Seoul and Washington have discussed the deployment of US strategic military assets to the Korean peninsula, according to a South Korean military official, after North Korea detonated what it claims was a hydrogen bomb.

The two governments have declined to provide details of what those assets might be, but analysts suggest they could include the deployment of the THAAD anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea and an increased presence by the US 7th Fleet in waters off the east coast of the peninsula.

In early 2013, another period of escalated tensions in the region, the US sent a nuclear submarine to the region and carried out sorties of nuclear-capable B-2 and B-52 bombers in South Korean airspace. A similar show of force is very possible, the experts suggest.

Pyongyang's latest act of belligerence may even prompt new discussions on the reintroduction of US tactical nuclear weapons into the South. The last such weapons were withdrawn in the early 1990s, although South Korea remains firmly under Washington's nuclear umbrella.

Both governments remain reluctant to push ahead with the reintroduction of US nuclear weapons to the peninsula, but there are some in the South who insist they should remain an option.

"The US and South Korea are being intentionally vague on their possible reactions, but it is likely that they are considering exo-atmospheric interceptors," Lance Gatling, a defence analyst and president of Nexial Research Inc, said. "They are involved in a strategic and diplomatic tit-for-tat at the moment, with the North's nuclear test raising the technical and threat levels, meaning the South and the US have to respond by raising their defence levels."

North Korea took the world by surprise when it announced on Wednesday that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. Although most analysts doubt the claim, and seismic data suggests it was more likely to have been a less powerful atomic bomb of the sort it has detonated three times before, the test provoked a wave of international condemnation.

Han Min-koo, the South Korean defence minister, said the military was exploring possible responses to the latest North Korean provocation, including resuming propaganda broadcasts through loudspeakers across the Demilitarised Zone that divides the two nations.

Similar broadcasts triggered a brief exchange of artillery fire in August of last year.

Provocative

Washington has reiterated its "ironclad defence commitment" to South Korea during a telephone discussion between Mr Han and Ashton Carter, the US defence secretary, with Yonhap News reporting that the agreement "includes all kinds of extended deterrence assets".

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, confirmed Washington's position that the test was a "highly provocative act" and an unacceptable challenge to the international community, as well as a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea for its nuclear and missile programmes.

President Barack Obama also held talks with Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, in which he reaffirmed the US commitment to Japan's security. The two leaders agreed to "work together to forge a united and strong international response to North Korea's reckless behaviour", the White House said.
French police stand behind a barrier set up near the Rue de la Goutte d'Or in the north of Paris on January 7, 2016, after police shot a man dead as he was trying to enter a police station. French police shot dead the knife-wielding man as he attacked a police station in Paris, a year to the day since jihadist gunmen killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo newspaper

Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins cast new doubt on the identity of a man shot dead by police in the capital on Thursday as authorities seek to establish whether he represented a significant threat or was acting alone and without support.

The man was killed as he tried to enter a police station wielding a meat cleaver. An official account said he shouted Allahu Akbar, (God is Greatest), and was equipped with what turned out to be a fake suicide belt.

The incident took place on the first anniversary of deadly Islamist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in the French capital.

Molins told a French radio station the man may have given a false identity some months ago. He also said a mobile phone found on the body was being examined and contained a German SIM card.

"I am not at all sure the identity he gave was real," Molins told France Inter radio on Friday.

A judicial source said on Thursday that the dead man was Ali Sallah, a Moroccan born in 1995 in Casablanca. He was homeless and known to police for theft in 2012 in the Var region of southern France.

In his comments on Friday, Molins said authorities know from fingerprints that the dead man identified himself as Sallah to police when they intercepted him last year.

However, he said a sheet of paper found on his body gave a different name, and a Tunisian nationality.

Molins said that although the name Ali Sallah was not known to intelligence services, "We will need to establish the identity - know which is the real identity."

Also on the sheet of paper was the Islamic State flag and a claim of allegiance to the militant group written in Arabic.

Islamic State, which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria, has claimed responsibility for another deadly attack in Paris on Nov. 13 in which 130 people died.
For German women, 2016 has got off to a shocking start. Dozens of women trying to see in the new year in the centre of Cologne found themselves trapped in a crowd of some 1,000 men, who groped them, tore off their underwear, shouted lewd insults and threw fireworks at them.

To make matters worse, a series of sexual assaults that would normally make headline news went almost completely unreported for five days, and the scale of what happened that night in the western German city is only now emerging.

Women looking for reassurance from the authorities, therefore, were shocked when Henriette Reker (pictured inset), the mayor of Cologne and a survivor of a far-Right assassination attempt, said that German women should behave according to a certain 'code of conduct'.

"We will publish online guidelines that these young women can read through to prepare themselves."

She made a public announcement advising women to travel in groups and stay at "arm's length" from men they did not know to avoid such attacks happening to them.

'This means they should go out and have fun, but they need to be better prepared, especially with the Cologne carnival coming up.

'For this, we will publish online guidelines that these young women can read through to prepare themselves," she said.

Her comments have been condemned and met with accusations of victim blaming by women's rights campaigners.

To cap it all, a Cologne city councillor - far-Right activist Judith Wolter - has written an open letter declaring the city centre unsafe and a "no-go area" for women.

This is all highly unusual in a country where women are generally used to a high degree of personal safety.

In recent years, the number of rape cases and associated offences in Germany has fallen by around 8pc.

In Hamburg, where a series of attacks also took place on New Year's Eve, bouncers warned women not to leave nightclubs because of an increasingly hostile crowd on the streets.

But the warning was so unusual that several women ignored it and were sexually assaulted by those outside.

The reason so many women in Cologne were caught up in the violence was because they believed the area around the main station would be safe.

Police have now confirmed that sex attacks took place in three cities: Cologne, Hamburg and Stuttgart. So far around 120 women have come forward, claiming to be victims.

The first accounts are now trickling out of Germany. Witnesses have told newspapers that men were entering bars and clubs, grabbing women's backsides.

One woman, only identified at Katia L (28) told the Cologne tabloid 'Express' that she and three friends were stopped by a group of "foreign-looking men" outside the station.

Evelyn (24) and a student from Rheinland-Pfalz, was also at Cologne train station.

As reported in newspaper 'Bild', she said: "I had a knee-length skirt on, and suddenly I felt a hand on my backside under my dress. I turned round immediately and saw a grinning face."

She fled into the cathedral where she was surrounded again. "The only English they knew was 'Hey Baby'. I was grabbed and held by the arm and it was a nightmare. We were trapped in a mass of people."

Officers in Cologne were overwhelmed by crowds of men. Witnesses described them watching helplessly and one unnamed policeman said: "If you spoke to a suspect you were immediately surrounded by his friends. It was threatening."

What makes this highly unusual situation even more combustible are police reports that the crowd of attackers was made up of men "of North African or Arab appearance".

There have been allegations of a police cover-up for fear of setting off racial tensions.

The sexual assaults were barely reported by the German press until five days after they took place, and a former interior minister has accused the media of observing a "news blackout" and "code of silence" because of the ethnicity of those involved.

At the heart of this is the possibility that the perpetrators may be among the 1.1 million asylum-seekers who arrived in Germany last year under Angela Merkel's widely-criticised "open-door" refugee policy - something that's already threatened to rock her seemingly unshakeable Chancellorship.

The government has been quick to announce there is no evidence that refugees were involved. The far-Right say there's no evidence they weren't.

Many German women are now beginning to voice fears that their personal safety is being compromised in the name of political correctness.
The owner of a book shop looks through a copy of the book 'Hitler, Mein Kampf. A Critical Edition' at his store in Munich, Germany January 8, 2016

A copy of the book 'Hitler, Mein Kampf. A Critical Edition' is displayed for media prior to a news conference in Munich, Germany January 8, 2016

An annotated edition of Mein Kampf, the first version of Adolf Hitler's notorious manifesto to be published in Germany since the end of the Second World War, has gone on sale.

The Munich-based Institute for Contemporary History has worked for several years on the plain-covered volume, officially titled Hitler, Mein Kampf: A Critical Edition.

Expand Close The owner of a book shop looks through a copy of the book 'Hitler, Mein Kampf. A Critical Edition' at his store in Munich, Germany January 8, 2016 / Facebook

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It launched the book days after the copyright of the German-language original expired at the end of 2015 - 70 years after Hitler's death.

Over the years, Bavaria's state finance ministry had used its copyright on the book to prevent the publication of new editions. The book was not actually banned in Germany, though, and could be found online, in secondhand bookshops and in libraries.

The new edition "sets out as far as possible Hitler's sources, which were deeply rooted in the German racist tradition of the late 19th century", said the institute's director, Andreas Wirsching. "This edition exposes the false information spread by Hitler, his downright lies and his many half-truths, which aimed at a pure propaganda effect."

"At a time when the well-known formulae of far-right xenophobia are threatening to become ... socially acceptable again in Europe, it is necessary to research and critically present the appalling driving forces of National Socialism and its deadly racism," Mr Wirsching said.

Hitler wrote Mein Kampf - My Struggle - after he was jailed following the failed 1923 coup attempt known as the Beer Hall Putsch. The rambling tome set out Hitler's ultra-nationalist, anti-Semitic and anti-communist ideology, which would culminate in the Holocaust and a war of conquest in eastern Europe.

Millions of copies were printed after the Nazis took power in 1933, and it was published after the war in several other countries.

German authorities have made clear that they will not tolerate any new editions without commentary, though none is known to be in the works, with incitement laws likely to be used against any such publications. They are, however, broadly supportive of the annotated edition.

"I think one shouldn't pretend the book doesn't exist," education minister Johanna Wanka told n-tv television. "Such taboos can sometimes be counterproductive. It's important that people who want to debunk this book have the appropriate material."

Ian Kershaw, a Briton who is a leading biographer of Hitler, joined Friday's book presentation and said it was "high time for a rigorously academic edition of Mein Kampf" to be made available.

"For years, I have considered the lifting of the ban on publication long overdue," Mr Kershaw said. "Censorship is almost always pointless in the long term in a free society, and only contributes to creating a negative myth, making a forbidden text more mysterious and awakening an inevitable fascination with the inaccessible."

Germany's main Jewish group, the Central Council of Jews, said it has no objections to the critical edition but strongly supports ongoing efforts to prevent any new Mein Kampf without annotations. Its president, Josef Schuster, said he hopes the critical edition will "contribute to debunking Hitler's inhuman ideology and counteracting anti-Semitism".

Jewish opinion has been divided, however. One of Mr Schuster's predecessors, Charlotte Knobloch, has said she worries the new edition will simply awaken interest in the original, not the commentary.

The bulky new edition is priced at 59 euro (44). But Mr Wirsching cautioned that it is important to avoid reducing the Nazi regime to Hitler - "that would be falling back to the 1950s".
Angela Merkel's government is facing damaging allegations of a police cover-up over a series of New Year's Eve sex attacks in Cologne, after claims that most of those responsible were asylum seekers who arrived under her "open-door" refugee policy.

An internal report on the attacks by a senior police officer, leaked to the German media, described offenders claiming to be Syrian refugees.

Two German newspapers published separate allegations that police checks on New Year's Eve had revealed most of those involved to be asylum seekers.

Scores of women were sexually assaulted after a crowd of some 1,000 men took over the square near Cologne cathedral on New Year's Eve.

Senior ministers have said there is no evidence refugees were involved and Cologne police have claimed they do not know the backgrounds of the perpetrators.

But allegations are mounting that police may have sought to cover up evidence of the involvement of asylum seekers.

The leaked police report, published in 'Bild' newspaper and 'Spiegel' magazine, claims one of those involved told officers: "I am Syrian. You have to treat me kindly. Mrs Merkel invited me."

Another, it says, tore up his residence permit before the eyes of police, and told them: "You can't do anything to me, I can get a new one tomorrow."

The report describes the violence as more serious than thought. It was written by the commander of a force of around 100 officers sent to the square as reinforcements, according to 'Bild'.

'Welt am Sonntag', a Sunday newspaper, described the official version of events as "untrue" in a rare online report ahead of its edition and claimed police had checked the ID papers of more than 100 suspects on New Year's Eve.

"Most of them were newly arrived asylum seekers. They presented documents that are handed out at asylum application offices," it quoted an unnamed police officer as saying.

Questions

'Express', a local newspaper, claimed a group of 15 asylum seekers were briefly held by police on New Year's Eve in connection with the attacks, before being released.

If confirmed, the reports could have far-reaching consequences for Ms Merkel's refugee policy.

She called yesterday for a "fundamental" debate on how to integrate immigrants, saying the attacks raise "serious questions that go beyond Cologne".

She said: "We must speak again about the cultural fundamentals of our coexistence."

The attacks had shown there was "contempt for women in some quarters", she said, adding: "We need to confront that with the utmost determination.

"We'll need to examine whether we've done everything that's needed in terms of expulsions from Germany, so we send a clear signal to those who aren't willing to obey our legal standards."

Ms Merkel said: "I don't think that these are isolated cases. The feeling among women of being unprotected and defenceless is personally unbearable to me. It's important and a good thing that there have been so many criminal complaints and that police are pursuing all of these."

The German chancellor warned her counterparts that the Schengen system of free movement would die unless they take a greater burden of migrants and better patrol their borders.

Wolfgang Albers, the Cologne police chief, has described the majority of suspects as "of North African or Arab appearance", while press reports have identified most as Syrian.

One reason for the discrepancy may be that many asylum seekers arriving in Germany claim to be Syrian wherever they are from. Until last week, Syrians were let into the country automatically under a fast-track procedure.

Finnish police yesterday reported an unusually high level of sexual harassment in Helsinki on New Year's Eve. Three suspects, reportedly asylum seekers, were taken into custody.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Two teenage girls were reportedly held captive and raped by four Syrians on New Year's Eve in a horrific ordeal lasting for several hours, according to the latest revelation from the slew of sex attacks against women across Germany.

Three Syrians - including two boys - have been arrested in southern Germany in connection with the crime.

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Germany has been left reeling with the latest disclosure from the series of sex attacks flood in of sexual assaults against women across the country.

The man (21) and two boys (aged 14) are being held in the Weil am Rhein, for the alleged rape of two girls aged 14 and 15.

Lawyers have said that the two girls were held for several hours and gang-raped after attending a New Year celebration at the home of the 21-year-old man in the nearby village of Friedlingen.

Although the suspects have been in custody for several days, news of the arrests only emerged last night .

Police are said to be searching for another suspect - believed to be a 15-year-old boy - in connection with the attacks.

While lawyers have said they do not believe that he incident is connected to the slew of attacks in Cologne and other German cities over the New Year, it is the latest shocking disclosure.

The suspects are not thought to be asylum-seekers. The 21-year-old man and his brother are long-term German residents, while the two 14-year-olds live in Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised to respond decisively to assaults on women in Cologne on New Year's Eve which have stoked a fierce debate about her refugee policies after police said the attackers appeared to be of foreign origin.

Some 121 women are reported to have been robbed, threatened or sexually molested there by gangs of mostly drunk men between 18 and 35 years old while out celebrating. Police say they have identified 16 suspects.

Cologne's police chief, under pressure for the force's handling of the event, has said the perpetrators appeared to be of "Arab or North African" origin.

German magazine Focus and newspaper Die Welt said police had found registration papers on some of the suspects, suggesting they had only recently arrived in the country. But authorities have not confirmed that.

Merkel, whose support slipped last year when she resisted pressure to impose caps on refugees, insisting Germany could cope with the 1.1 million migrants who arrived in 2015, said the events were "completely unacceptable" and "intolerable".

"There are some very serious questions which arise from what has happened which have relevance beyond Cologne," she said, including establishing whether there are common patterns of behaviour by some groups of people who do not respect women.

She said she would consider changing the law, boosting police numbers and making sure the deportation system was effective. She added that "cultural coexistence" must be continually discussed.

"We have a duty to give the right answers," she said.

Germans have been shocked by the attacks, which are reported to have taken place on a smaller scale in other cities including Hamburg. A poll for broadcaster ARD showed that 30 percent of those surveyed said they would avoid big crowds because of the events in Cologne.

Similar events may have taken place in other countries.

Finnish police say they received information that assaults had been planned on women at new year. In Switzerland, about six women have reported being sexually molested and robbed during New Year's Eve celebrations in Zurich after being surrounded by groups of men.

The ARD poll also showed 57 percent of those asked wanted to bring back border controls, up 12 points from September.

Right-wing parties in Germany, including the Alternative for Germany (AfD), have jumped on the events to renew calls for a limit on the number of refugees allowed into Germany and for Merkel to close the country's border.

Top-selling daily Bild published excerpts of a report from a policeman on duty in Cologne on New Year's Eve which was later confirmed as accurate by police.

One man is reported to have grinned as he ripped up his residency permit and told a policeman: "You can't do anything to me. I'll just pick up another one tomorrow."

Another is reported to have said: "I'm Syrian. You need to be nice to me. Frau Merkel invited me here."

German weekly Die Zeit contrasted the violence in Cologne with the feel-good scenes in Munich four months ago when locals greeted arriving refugees with cheers, food and blankets.

Even if there was no proof the attackers were recent arrivals, the newspaper said that what happened seemed to confirm the fears of some Germans that young men were coming into the country who were violent, disdainful of women and prepared to ignore German laws.

"Cologne is a tipping point. Policy towards refugees must not be reinvented because of these assaults. But can only be sold successfully if the rule of law is defended with determination," the paper wrote.
The record Powerball jackpot has climbed to 800 million US dollars (550 million) as sales soar ahead of the draw.

Multi-State Lottery Association officials have raised the estimated jackpot for Saturday night's draw from 700 million dollars (481 million) because of strong sales, said Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery.

Powerball sales on Thursday were double the previous record for that day and it is possible the estimated jackpot could rise again before the draw, Mr Grief said.

A winner would have the option of being paid 800 million dollars through annual payments over 29 years or opting for 496 million dollars (341 million) in cash.

Powerball is played in 44 states as well as the District of Columbia, US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
Gunmen opened fire at the entrance of a hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Hurghada this evening, wounding two foreign tourists, security sources said.

One of the injured was from Denmark and the other from Germany, the sources said. Security forces repelled the assault after killing one of the gunmen who was wearing a suicide bomb belt.

The attackers had arrived by sea to launch the onslaught on the beachside Bella Vista Hotel, security sources said.

The Islamic State militant group said on Friday an attack on Israeli tourists in Cairo on Thursday was carried out by its fighters, in response to a call by the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to target Jews "everywhere".

Security sources said those tourists were Israeli Arabs. None was hurt and Egyptian authorities said the attack was aimed at security forces.

A Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai on Oct. 31, killing all 224 people on board, most of whom were tourists returning home from the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh.

Cairo says it has found no evidence of terrorism in the crash. Russia and Western governments have said the airliner was probably brought down by a bomb, and Islamic State said it had smuggled explosives on board.

Tourism is a cornerstone of the Egyptian economy but has been badly hit by years of political turmoil.
Supporters of the Houthi movement protest against the execution of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia, during a demonstration outside the Saudi embassy in Sanaa, Yemen. Photo: Reuters

Iran has accused Saudi-led coalition warplanes of bombing its embassy in Yemen, deepening an already poisonous rift between the two countries.

A spokesman for Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Jaber Ansari, blamed Saudi Arabia for "damage to the embassy building and the injury to some of its staff". But residents in the capital, Sanaa, said an air strike had missed the compound by 700 yards.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been fighting a proxy war in Yemen for nine months, with Riyadh leading bombing raids against Iran-backed rebels who forced the country's internationally-recognised president into exile in March last year.

Simmering tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia came to the boil last week, following Riyadh's announcement that it had executed a Shia cleric whose fate Tehran had followed closely. On Saturday night, mobs torched the Saudi embassy and consulate in the Iranian capital, prompting Riyadh and several of its Gulf and African allies to sever or downgrade diplomatic relations with Tehran.

Although a reporter in Sanaa said he saw no damage to the Iranian embassy there yesterday, the provocation of a nearby strike was enough to prompt further retaliation from the Iranian government. "The cabinet has banned the entry of all Saudi products and products from Saudi Arabia," it said in a statement, noting that a ban on Iranians travelling to the Saudi holy city of Mecca for the umrah pilgrimage was also in place "until further notice".

Human rights organisations have accused the Saudi-led coalition of indiscriminate bombing in Yemen. Almost 6,000 people have been killed and schools, hospitals and public weddings have been targeted.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has been accused of squandering nearly 400m (540m) in taxpayers' aid to Yemen through its support for the Saudi-led military offensive in the country's civil war. Britain has not only sold Saudi Arabia weapons that have allegedly been used, but also supports Riyadh diplomatically, despite claims by aid agencies that Saudi forces are making the situation worse. ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
A toddler is held up to the camera in this still image taken from video said to be shot in Madaya. Photo: Reuters

Up to 40,000 people in the besieged Syrian settlement of Madaya have been forced to turn to leaves and flower petals to stay alive after eating all of the town's stray dogs and cats.

Photographs and videos taken inside the former holiday resort show the corpses of men, women and children who have died of starvation as the siege enters its sixth month.

As the Syrian winter grips the city, electricity is in short supply and food sources almost non-existent.

Soldiers loyal to Syria's embattled president Bashar al-Assad and members of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah continue to surround the city, cutting off fresh supplies of food and drink and preventing citizens from escaping by filling the surrounding countryside with landmines.

One image shared on Facebook appears to show a desperate citizen preparing to slit the throat of a cat while other photos show malnourished children eating a broth made of olive tree leaves and water.

"There are no more cats or dogs alive in the town. Even tree leaves that we have been eating have become scarce," local resident Abu Abdul Rahman told Al Jazeera.

"Describing the situation as tragic is merely airbrushing reality on the ground," he added.

The situation is so desperate that starving residents spend their days trying not to move in an attempt to conserve energy.

With temperatures falling, the Red Cross says locals have been forced to burn plastic to keep warm, exposing themselves to fumes.

As the city's 40,000 inhabitants consume the final few animals living in the city, many have turned to grass and flower petals to provide basic nutrients.

While this may be just about enough to keep some otherwise healthy adults alive, children, the elderly and the sick are dying on a daily basis.

"We cannot provide milk for infants," Dr Khaled Mohammed told Germany's 'Deutsche Presse' news agency.

"Today, a 10-year-old child died of malnutrition," he added.

Fainting

The price of a kilogram of rice, once the staple food of the town, is understood to have risen to a staggering 230 - far beyond the budget of all but the wealthiest residents.

Dr Mohamad Youssef, who acts as the manager of the medical council in Madaya, told Sky News that two or three residents are dying of starvation every day.

"The death toll is striking mostly the elderly, the women and children," he said.

"The medical staff are on high alert, 24 hours [a day]. They are receiving people who are severely ill and fainting all hours - day and night," he added.

Madaya lies just 15 miles from the Syrian capital Damascus, where Assad's regime is based. The Red Cross says it hopes to be in a position to bring aid to Madaya in the coming days but food packages are likely to have a limited effect.

In mid-October, more than 20 lorries were allowed to deliver medical and humanitarian supplies to Madaya but those items have already run out.

The situation has deteriorated significantly since then, meaning larger and more frequent deliveries are desperately required.

Up to 4.5 million people in Syria live in hard-to-reach areas, including nearly 400,000 people in 15 besieged locations who do not have access to the life-saving aid they urgently need. ( Independent News Service)
Princess Ashraf Pahlavi of Iran talks with UN secretary-general Kurt Waldheim during the International Women's Year Conference in Mexico City in 1975 (AP)

Princess Ashraf Pahlavi of Iran, the outspoken and glamorous twin sister of the country's deposed shah, has died aged 96.

Reza Pahlavi, a son of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, announced Princess Ashraf's death on Facebook on Thursday night, without giving a cause.

A long-time adviser to Princess Ashraf in New York could not be immediately reached for comment.

After her brother was overthrown in Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, Princess Ashraf shuttled between homes in Paris, New York and Monte Carlo.

The French press dubbed her La Panthere Noire, or the Black Panther.

She published a memoir and remained outspoken immediately after the overthrow, but gradually faded from public view in later years.
SHARE S.C. state Rep. Mike Gambrell West Day Riley Harvell

By Kirk Brown of the Independent Mail

Several Anderson County Republicans are thinking about running for the vacant South Carolina Senate District 4 seat.

The potential candidates include the chairman of the Anderson County legislative delegation, a Belton city councilman, a former Anderson city official, a former school district trustee, the chairman of the Anderson County Republican Party and his son.

Sen. Billy O'Dell, who had held the District 4 seat since 1989, died Thursday. A funeral was held Monday in Greenwood for the 77-year-old Republican.

The district encompasses southern and eastern Anderson County, a small section of Abbeville County and the western edge of Greenwood County.

The winner of a May 17 special election will serve the final months of O'Dell's term, which ends in January 2017. The filing period for the special election is expected to run from noon on Jan. 22 to noon on Feb. 2, said South Carolina State Elections Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire. The primary will take place March 22 and a runoff, if needed, would be April 5.

Rep. Mike Gambrell, a Republican from Honea Path who is the county legislative delegation's chairman, is widely expected to seek the District 4 seat. He said last week that he would wait until after O'Dell's funeral to make a decision. Gambrell, 57, attended the opening day of the South Carolina General Assembly's session on Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

Belton City Councilman Jay West said Tuesday that he is considering running for the District 4 seat.

Running as a Democrat, he unsuccessfully challenged O'Dell in 2004  one year after O'Dell switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.

West, 51, said he would run as a Republican if he enters the race this year.

Willie Day, who retired last year as the city of Anderson's neighborhood and transit director, said Tuesday that he will make a decision this week about whether to seek the District 4 seat. Day, 61, has previously discussed running as a Republican against state Rep. Anne Thayer.

Businessman Greg Taylor also is eyeing the seat, according to state Sen. Kevin Bryant. Taylor could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Taylor was 22 years old when he was elected to the Anderson School District 3 board of trustees in 1994. He also has previously run for the South Carolina House of Representatives.

Anderson County Republican Party Chairman Dan Harvell said Tuesday that he "is not closing the door" to running for the Senate 4 seat. Harvell, 58, is a former Honea Path Town Council member who lost to Gambrell by 210 votes in the 2006 Republican primary for the House District 7 seat.

Harvell said his son, Riley Harvell, also has been contacted about the District 4 race. Riley Harvell, 28, could not be reached.

O'Dell defeated Riley Harvell in the 2012 Republican primary.

Dan Harvell said he and his son will not compete against each other for the Senate seat.

Anderson County Democratic Party Chairman Mike Kay said no one from his party has yet expressed an interest in running for the District 4 seat. No Republicans from Greenwood County have announced their intentions to seek the seat, said Buck Griffin, the county's GOP chairman.

Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM
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By Ed Dutton, Anderson

I am troubled by what I see and hear concerning the word "Muslim."

When you cut your finger, it should be cared for right away. If left unattended, infection could result in a lost finger  or worse. I view the current use of the word Muslin like that cut finger that is beginning to need attention.

I feel that many Americans have been misled by some of our "leaders" and indeed by the news media in general. They seem to have let the use of the word Muslim be used irresponsibly without challenge.

If you take the time to acquaint yourself with Islam you will quickly see that there is no way these terrorists could be Muslims (Muslim in Arabic means "one who submits to God"). Vladimir Putin is quite familiar with Muslims, and he rejects the use of the term relative to ISIL terrorists. He has stated that terrorists are nothing more than mercenaries and are paid by their leaders.

What should we now do? First, we should stop using the word Muslim when referring to terrorists. Next, we should start apologizing for the misuse of the word Muslim. Next, we should  while working with Muslim leaders  provide some degree of education about Islam to the non-Muslim Americans in order to offset the erroneous reporting thus far. Also, the Muslim leaders should hold classes in their mosques to teach the young members to not fall victim to ISIL propaganda. The consequences of this effort might well be better than bombing in the long run.
14 years of rich experience in handling the Marketing arena of a wide spectrum of beverages including Coffee, Tea and Ready to Drink Beverages. He has also handled the sales function heading a Zone for the entire portfolio of brands with Tata Global Beverages in the Eastern part of India. He has been the Brand Architect for the "Jaago Re" campaign where he was responsible for the nationwide launch of the Jaago Re campaign in 2007 and its follow up campaign on 'Voting' during 2008. He joined the Tata Group as a TAS Manager in June 2000.

He joined Tata Tea Limited as a brand Manager for coffee and has since then been associated with the company and its products. Rishi holds an MBA degree from

The branded tea segment has been making good inroads across the country. To what extent are brands able to push premium varieties?

You recently launched Tata Tea Fusion Rap. What prompted this format?

Traditionally, your ads have been more message-driven. What has been the outcome of those campaigns including Jago Re?

Could you share some insights from the survey you undertook before you launched the rap film?

Is tea losing out a lot to the cafe culture? What steps are you taking to improve awareness of the benefit of tea?

What has been the response to your Premium brand?

Give us a break-up of your top brands. How much do they contribute to your revenues?

Is there a peculiar pattern in tea consumption in India. Which parts of the country consume more of your brands?

How has the year 2015 been for the tea industry? What is the outlook ahead?

Besides the labour issues what are the other challenges faced by the industry?

On the bright side what do you see for the tea industry?

, hasSymbiosis Center of Human Resource Development (SCMHRD).is a global beverage business; its brands have presence in over 40 countries. The Company has significant interests in tea, coffee and water and is the worlds second largest tea company. 250 million servings of its brands are consumed everyday around the world. Tata Global Beverages annual turnover is US$1.4bn, it employs around 3,000 people across the world. The company focuses on good for you beverages and has a stable of innovative regional and global beverage brands, including: Tata Tea, Tetley, Himalayan natural mineral water, Tata Water Plus and Tata Gluco+, Good Earth tea, Grand Coffee and Eight Oclock coffee.In an interaction withof IIFL, Rishi Chadha talks about the Tata Tea Fusion Rap campaign and says, With the changing attitude of consumers and responsiveness to innovation, brands now hold the liberty to create novelty offerings that touch upon factors such as health etc to break the competition clutter and stand out.The tea market in India has been growing at a rapid rate over the last decade. The branded and packaged tea space is one of the most penetrated segments in the branded products industry in the country.Rising health consciousness among consumers and changing lifestyle are factors that have led to a significant growth of this space. Increasingly aware consumers are now looking at options that will add a quotient of health to their purchase. Owing to the alteration in the consumer behavior, packaged tea brands now offer products that enhance weight loss, are effective against diseases and strengthen immune systems. Additional driving factors for this growth include easy availability of brands offering products at diverse price points and retail formats to suit consumer needs. These changing dynamics have not only resulted in preference of premium variants, but also given a holistic push to the unit consumption price point per kg.Staying true to our rich heritage of innovation, this initiative is an attempt by the brand to introduce a highly engaging platform for its consumers. Music as we know is a universal bond that connects people across boundaries and geographies and hence we chose to communicate with our audience through this tie.The video aims at reaching out to the masses and introducing them to Tata Tea Fusion- a brand that enables customers with the freedom to brew tea, the way they chose to. The rap which is sung by Anu Malik, stand-up comedians Abish Mathew and Aditi Mittal portrays the message that one can find their much needed solace in a perfectly-brewed tea, even if life continues to be imperfect.Similar to all our campaigns, this initiative too portrays a message to our audience. Chai Jaise Chaho Waise Banao is a means to connect with consumers and direct them to the brand that aims at helping one find his or her relaxation over a cup of tea. The rap depicts Tata Tea Fusion as a companion to attain the much needed solace and helps consumers unwind from everyday stress.The campaigns that relate to existing social snags have led to higher engagement with our audience as they are in a position to relate to these situations and are willing to express their views on issue. The campaigns help position the brand as a socially aware entity that identifies these snags and generates awareness regarding the same among masses thus calling for action.As Indians, we are the worlds largest tea consuming population. Thanks to that, there are many references about it in your pop culture. But just as Tata Tea Fusion is twist on the widely consumed Assam Tea, we found Ek Garam Chai Ki Pyaali Ho to be perfect as a widely consumed piece of content to which we gave a twist. This rap is the result of that.India is the largest tea consuming nation and the second largest producer of tea only after China. While the nation also comprises a large chunk of population that indulges in coffee, tea still remains a popular beverage among the masses.Tata Tea, which is the countrys largest tea brand, constantly strives to introduce products to keep pace with the ever changing preferences of the consumers. Through our diverse range, we straddle premium and economy offerings to enhance consumer experience. To sustain and strengthen our foothold in this segment, the brand is adopting a mix of marketing initiatives and product innovations. This approach would also help us enhance communication with our audience to understand their needs and enable superior consumer satisfaction.The initial response for the product has been extremely positive. We have just started our launch activities and hope that with the awareness and buzz created we would get more consumer trials.Tata Tea premium is the largest tea brand in the country and contributes to the largest chunk of our revenue.The rest of the brands are extremely profitable as well, Tata Tea Gold, Chakra Gold , Tetley Green Tea & Gemini.We have brands that operate across all geographies. We have national brands such as Tata Tea premium, Tata Tea gold, Agni & Tetley that operate across geographies. We have strong regional brands that dominate the markets they operate in for eg in the south we have Chakra Gold, Gemini & Kanan Devan.The tea business has undergone several hitches through the year. The industry has witnessed immense labor unrest as a result of demand for higher wages. India's tea production in October dropped 7 per cent from a year earlier to 158.06 million kg, the state-run Tea Board said. However, the industry strives to overcome all the existing glitches and continue to grow drastically leading to higher service avenues and innovative product offerings.The packaged tea industry just like any other sector is posed with challenges and hurdles. Some of the prevalent challenges the industry has been facing include unrest among laborers who play a major role in the smooth operation of this space. While the tea industry provides direct and indirect employment to a large portion of the population, labor absenteeism, and shortage of workers are factors that restrict business activities. Foray of new entrants in the market, stringent government regulations in the packaged food unit, climate change leading to crop damage and exuberant operational costs are some of the other factors that affect this industry.With the sector witnessing a substantial growth and demand with every passing year, the opportunities are immense. Employment opportunities lie at its peak given the expansion in product portfolios and increased dependency on technology and human resource expertise. With the changing attitude of consumers and responsiveness to innovation, brands now hold the liberty to create novelty offerings that touch upon factors such as health etc to break the competition clutter and stand out.
Eric Vas, President of Bajaj's Motorcycle segment said they will merely need four months time to change and upgrade their technology to BS VI, if the need arises to meet requirements of the new vehicular norms in 2020, as they are technologically advanced and ready to face the change. He also said a lot of investment will have to be made but that will be mostly on the part of vendors and not them. (IndiaInfoline)Delhi's transport minister Gopal Rai claimed that levels of PM 2.5, primarily caused by vehicular pollution, had come down by 25-30%. "Yesterday, the levels recorded at 18 locations in Delhi were below 300 ug/m3. This was between 400-465 ug/m3 in the month of December," he added. The monitoring is being done by Delhi Pollution Control committee (DPCC). (TNN)German car maker Volkswagen reportedly said that it will not buy back any car models as its models and others sold under SKODA and Audi brands. (IndiaInfoline)Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG is developing plans to produce a family of new battery-powered luxury vehicles, the automaker's research chief said. (Reuters)Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Mueller will meet with the top U.S. environmental regulator next week for the highest-level talks since the German automaker admitted to using software to evade emissions requirements for 580,000 U.S. vehicles. (Reuters)More than 1,000 drivers attached to cab aggregator Ola staged a protest on Thursday, raising three issues: Money deducted to clear car loan not reaching the banks; non-payment of incentives, and app outage. (TNN)Mahindra & Mahindra expects to launch two more passenger cars/utility vehicles by the end of March to complete the planned launch of 10 vehicles during FY16, reports a business daily. (IndiaInfoline)Toyota Motor Corp's and PSA Peugeot Citroen's car factory in the Czech Republic increased its production by 8 percent to 219,054 vehicles in 2015, the company which operates the joint venture said. (Reuters)Bajaj Auto will launch a new motorcycle product in the executive segment in the current quarter, reports a financial newspaper. (IndiaInfoline)Embattled German auto giant Volkswagen expects to have to buy back around 115,000 diesel vehicles in the United States that are affected by the massive pollution-cheating scandal, the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported. (Reuters)Kia Motors will reveal a new concept car January 11 at the 2016 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). Conceived at the automakers California design studio, the concept offers an abundance of advanced technology  including state-of-the-art health-and-wellness technology  and takes Kias design language in a bold new direction, suggesting styling of a possible future premium large SUV in the brands lineup. (IndiaInfoline)The alliance between automakers Renault and Nissan will launch more than 10 cars with self-driving technology over the next four years in the United States, Europe, China and Japan, the partnership's leader said. (Reuters)Union Minister for Road, Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari will meet representatives of automobile companies on January 14 to allay their concerns about the Governments move to directly move from BS IV emission norms to BS VI emission norms by April 2020. (IndiaInfoline)The sixth edition of 21 Gun Salute International Vintage Car Rally will be held on February 7. (PTI)
Jet Airways is in talks with Etihad to raise $300-400 mn via convertible bonds, according to reports. Etihad may raise its stake in Jet up to 49% from 24% currently. Read More Budget carrier GoAir is likely to get a clarity on the A320 Neo delivery schedule in two weeks, according to reports. The airline was to induct these fuel- efficient aircraft from the next fiscal. Read More The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its ex-post facto approval for signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was signed in November, 2015 between Airports Authority of India (On behalf of Government of India) and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (On behalf of Government of Singapore) in Civil Aviation during Prime Ministers visit to Singapore. Read More Jet Airways may move the Bombay High Court to seek approval for convening shareholders meet on the merger of subsidiary JetLite with the parent company, according to reports. Read More SpiceJet, Indias favourite budget airline, has increased frequencies in existing sectors and upgraded seat capacity on various routes across its domestic and international network to service additional demand from growing markets. Read More Haveus Aerotech India, chosen by Dubai World Central (DWC) to build first& most advanced MRO at Dubais Al Maktoum International Airport has signed a MOU with Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL) a subsidiary of Air India to help set up the first and most advanced engine MRO facility to cater to the burgeoning demand of Engine Maintenance, repair &overhauling Services in the Gulf region. Read More Jet Airways, Indias premier international airline, has introduced all-inclusive JetEscapes holidays for guests in Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand seeking a winter vacation in India and select international destinations on the airlines network. Designed to provide guests with an enchanting travel experience, the all-inclusive offers start at HKD 5,140, SGD 880, THB 16,690 per person for guests in Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand, respectively. Read More SpiceJet Ltd has announced that it is considering Embraer jets to expand its fleet, according to reports. Brazilian aircraft maker had given a presentation on its aircraft to the SpiceJet management, which is exploring all options before taking a final call on the purchase order. Read More The apex consumer court has asked SpiceJet to pay compensation and penalty of Rs. 60,000 to a Tripura resident for losing luggage in one of its flights, according to reports. Justice J M Malik asked the airline to pay the compensation amount to Agartala resident Dr Atanu Ghosh. Read More
Major Asian stock markets showed signs of partial recovery after havoc during the week. The Chinese state funds have reportedly infused huge amount of capital in equities which lifted the momentum on the last day of the week. Buoyed by the significant buying by state-controlled funds in equities, CSI 300 index rose 3.09% to 3,396.30 points on January 8.The Shanghai Composite index is currently trading 2.61% higher at 3,206.50 points.The Chinese authorities have started taking corrective measures to rekindle investors confidence in the equity markets, which saw erosion of more than US$ 1 trillion in first four trading sessions of this week. According to Goldman Sachs Group, the Chinese state funds have poured in US$ 236 billion in equities in past three months. The state funds buying was mostly seen in government-linked stocks.Taking positive cues from the recovering Chinese stock markets, other Asian indices reacted positively. Singapores Straits Times is currently trading at 2,7352.60 points (0.82%), Hong Kongs Heng Seng at 20,562.57 points (1.11%), Taiwans Taiex at 7,868.52 points (0.56%), South Koreas Kospi index at 1,914.78 points (0.55%), Thailands SET Composite at 1,236.75 points (0.96%) and Singapore Nifty (SGX Nifty) at 7,599 (0.35%).However, Japans Nikkei 225 index is currently trading 0.36% down at 17,7603.99 points and Indonesias Jakarta Composite at 4,520.68 points (-0.22%)Meanwhile, Indias S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 are currently trading 0.47% and 0.37% higher at 24,968.33 points and 7,596.50 points respectively.




Debuting at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, January 6-9, Kias innovative DRIVE WISE technologies are currently under development. Engineered to improve safety for all road users, DRIVE WISE will enable Kia to introduce intelligent safety technologies to its future model range, helping to eliminate potential dangers  and, for many, the boredom  of driving, while changing the ways in which owners interact with their vehicles.



Kia unveils DRIVE WISE technologies at CES 2016

Kias CES 2016 illustrates the progression of its autonomous driving technologies, from those available in current models to cutting-edge features being developed over the next 15 years under the DRIVE WISE banner. Kias exhibit at the increasingly popular show gives visitors the chance to experience a host of next-generation technologies and concepts with interactive displays.



Tae-Won Lim, Senior Vice President, Central Advanced Research and Engineering Institute of Hyundai Motor Group, commented, Kia is undergoing a very promising and gradual process of introducing partially and fully autonomous technologies to its vehicles. Although the first marketable fully-autonomous car from Kia will not be available in the immediate future, the work our R&D teams are currently doing to develop our range of DRIVE WISE technologies is already improving on-road safety and driver assistance. The innovations presented at this years show demonstrate the future direction we are taking.



DRIVE WISE technologies to improve on-road safety

By 2020, Kia aims to introduce its first partially-autonomous car with DRIVE WISE technologies, building upon the current generation of driver-assistance systems.



The more advanced technologies under development by Kia provide the driver with greater levels of assistance, anticipating and reacting to changing road conditions and potential hazards to improve safety for all road users. By helping to eliminate many of the inherent dangers, stresses and hassles of driving on today's congested roads, DRIVE WISE will enable owners to focus more on the pleasures of driving.



Kias future DRIVE WISE technologies on display at CES 2016 include Highway Autonomous Driving, Urban Autonomous Driving, Preceding Vehicle Following, Emergency Stop System.



Traffic Jam Assist and a new Autonomous Parking & Out function: Kia Motors has introduced the launch of a new sub-brand, DRIVE WISE, to encompass its future Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). DRIVE WISE embodies Kias philosophy to realize intelligently safe vehicles featuring Kias latest and forthcoming ADAS technologies. Kia recently announced plans to manufacturer partially-autonomous cars by 2020, and aims to bring its first fully-autonomous vehicle to market by 2030.Debuting at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, January 6-9, Kias innovative DRIVE WISE technologies are currently under development. Engineered to improve safety for all road users, DRIVE WISE will enable Kia to introduce intelligent safety technologies to its future model range, helping to eliminate potential dangers  and, for many, the boredom  of driving, while changing the ways in which owners interact with their vehicles.Kias CES 2016 illustrates the progression of its autonomous driving technologies, from those available in current models to cutting-edge features being developed over the next 15 years under the DRIVE WISE banner. Kias exhibit at the increasingly popular show gives visitors the chance to experience a host of next-generation technologies and concepts with interactive displays.Tae-Won Lim, Senior Vice President, Central Advanced Research and Engineering Institute of Hyundai Motor Group, commented, Kia is undergoing a very promising and gradual process of introducing partially and fully autonomous technologies to its vehicles. Although the first marketable fully-autonomous car from Kia will not be available in the immediate future, the work our R&D teams are currently doing to develop our range of DRIVE WISE technologies is already improving on-road safety and driver assistance. The innovations presented at this years show demonstrate the future direction we are taking.By 2020, Kia aims to introduce its first partially-autonomous car with DRIVE WISE technologies, building upon the current generation of driver-assistance systems.The more advanced technologies under development by Kia provide the driver with greater levels of assistance, anticipating and reacting to changing road conditions and potential hazards to improve safety for all road users. By helping to eliminate many of the inherent dangers, stresses and hassles of driving on today's congested roads, DRIVE WISE will enable owners to focus more on the pleasures of driving.Kias future DRIVE WISE technologies on display at CES 2016 include Highway Autonomous Driving, Urban Autonomous Driving, Preceding Vehicle Following, Emergency Stop System.

Highway Autonomous Driving (HAD) employs a combination of radar and camera detection systems to interpret lane markings, allowing the car to stay in its lane or switch into others to overtake other vehicles or follow a different road; all without driver input.

Urban Autonomous Driving (UAD) applies GPS and sensors to identify the cars position on the road, allowing it to safely navigate through densely-congested city environments while responding to live traffic updates.

Preceding Vehicle Following (PVF) is an enhanced lane-keeping system which monitors the vehicle in front and allows the car to calculate its own path relative to it, following at a safe distance if road markings are indecipherable due to poor conditions or road layout.

Emergency Stop System (ESS) operates in correlation with Kias Driver Status Monitoring (DSM) system, to analyse the drivers face, ensuring their attention does not stray from the road for too long. If it detects that the driver takes their eyes from the road for too long, ESS can automatically direct the car into an appropriate side lane and come to a halt.

Traffic Jam Assist (TJA) monitors the vehicle in front during congested traffic conditions, maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle in front and moving into appropriate spaces to gain ground.

Autonomous Valet Parking allows drivers to exit the car and let the vehicle park itself remotely, activated using the smart key or a smartwatch.

DRIVE WISE technologies are primarily designed to make driving safer and easier for Kia customers by identifying hazards at the earliest possible opportunity and allowing the driver  or the car  to take appropriate action, though drivers can circumvent them with direct control, enabling closer control of the car as desired.

Next-generation vehicle interaction

DRIVE WISE technologies will also facilitate communication and interaction between the driver and vehicle with innovative new Human Machine Interface (HMI) functions, such as gesture control, fingerprint sensors and smart-device connectivity.



Featured in a special I-Cockpit display at CES, Kias next-generation HMI is based on the concept of blind control, with a fingerprint touchpad and gesture recognition used to operate the cars controls. Automatically recognizing individual drivers preferences on start-up  based on their fingerprint or smartwatch  the car can immediately change the cabin ambience for the driver with their favourite music, preferred climate control temperature and the type of information displayed by the instrument panel.



Drivers gestures are recognized by the I-Cockpit if they want to change any setting in the cabin, without taking their eyes off the road ahead.



License granted to test Kia DRIVE WISE on Nevada public roads

The preliminary investment by Kia  totalling US$2 billion by 2018  will enable the company to fast-track development of its new DRIVE WISE technologies. The U.S. state of Nevada recently granted Kia a special licence to test the new technologies on public roads. Kias all-electric Soul EV  the companys first globally-sold electric car  is acting as the brands testbed for the development of next-generation DRIVE WISE technologies, as it takes to the roads around Death Valley.



Fully-autonomous cars on the market within 15 years

Key to Kias future DRIVE WISE technologies is the development of its vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications system. For Kia to advance its partially-autonomous ADAS technologies far enough to bring the true self-driving car to market by 2030, V2X must be fully integrated into real-life driving environments and be able to react as a human driver can.



V2X applies a series of sensors, radar, LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) and external cameras, to perceive the surrounding environment and all relevant obstacles, as a human driver does. The system incorporates vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technologies as well, allowing the car to recognize, judge and control every driving scenario, obstacle or potential threat.
Chinese slowdown continues to play havoc on the global economy, ET Nows Consulting Editor, Mythili Bhusnurmath explains why the troubles are far from the end.Bhusnurmath said that the pressure in China will continue to haunt the global markets, and the latest intervention by Chinese authorities is certainly not the last one. While delving on the series of events that occurred last year, Bhusnurmath recalled that Chinese authorities undertook one massive intervention in 2015, which followed another one towards the end of the year.She told ET that the slew of measures from the Chinese government would only intensify and become routine going ahead. She said that the real degree of slowdown in China is still unknown as conflicting accounts emerge while few of the stories point out to a more intense slowdown occurring in the region. If this is the case, then one can only expect more extensive intervention from the government.Bhusnurmath added that it is in the very nature of the Chinese government to start controlling things when the situation does not bend as they like. According to her, the government in China is highly aggressive as compared to governments of other countries such as India. Hence, the latest jolt from China should not be considered as the last one anytime. In fact, the world should prepare to face more violent blows as more intervention is likely to take place in China.Bhusnurmath is of the view that the uneasiness in the global markets will be rampant until and unless the Chinese economy settles down at a level that can be perceived as its new normal. However, it is difficult to say as to when such time will come. At the same time, Bhusnurmath underlined the impact of the China slowdown on the Federal Reserves monetary stance. She suspects that the latest tremor in China will once again force the Fed to keep its rates unchanged, which may have repercussions for the global economy.
Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties. - Helen Keller

It could be a week best forgotten for the stock market world over as Chinas woes had a cascading impact on sentiment world over. Thursday's selloff, which saw one of the worst shows in five months, resulted in Rs 2.5 lakh crore of investors wealth vanishing into thin air. Amidst all the gloom,

A challenging macro environment is here to stay. A conservative portfolio positioning would be a prudent approach given modest earnings growth and above-average valuations calls.

Sectors and stocks with low earnings and valuation risks should be on the buying list. Consumer staples, energy, and IT would be sectors to nibble on while financials, industrials and materials could be given a miss for the time being.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley says Indian economy has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world indicating that the economy is firmly on the path of economic revival.The outlook is a flat to positive start. Whether it can sustain till the end of the day remains to be seen. Global cues are encouraging for now. Funds are showing more interest in large-caps which have shaved off value in the recent turmoil. The currency movement will also be closely eyed even as the world keeps on watch on where crude prices are headed. Investors will prefer to remain a bit on the sidelines and probably look to play on counters which will announce their results in the coming week.Auto stocks will be in focus in the coming days as Union Minister for Road, Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari will meet representatives of automobile companies on January 14 to allay their concerns about the Governments move to directly move from BS IV emission norms to BS VI emission norms by April 2020.German car maker Volkswagen reportedly said that it will not buy back any car models as its models and others sold under SKODA and Audi brands do not violate the Indian emission norms.Saudi Arabia is reviewing an initial public offering (IPO) of Saudi Aramco, the worlds biggest crude oil producer, the kingdoms deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has been quoted as saying.Wipro has appointed a new COO Bhanumurthy BM and also assigned new roles to other veterans such as GK Prasanna as part of a newly-unveiled organizational structure, as per media reports.The Govt is considering diluting its 11.7% stake in Axis Bank it holds through the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India to meet shortfall in disinvestment proceeds and revenue collection during the current fiscal, according to reports.Mahindra & Mahindra expects to launch two more passenger cars/utility vehicles by the end of March to complete the planned launch of 10 vehicles during FY16, reports a business daily.Titan Co. expects to take a hit of up to Rs. 500 crore in FY16 due to the Governments move to lower the transaction threshold of quoting permanent account number (PAN) to Rs. 2 lakh from INR 5 lakh earlier, reports a financial newspaper.The company has announced that it is expecting India steel output around 10 mn tn in FY16, according to reports. The Kalinganagar plant will start commercial operations on April 1, the company was quoted as saying.The company has entered into a strategic alliance with MetricStream Inc to deliver governance risk and compliance management applications across the globe, the city-based information technology services provider said.As part of its ongoing transformation journey to simplify decision making and improve operational excellence, Cipla Ltd has announced the creation of a six member Management Council that will be the apex executive leadership team for the company.Jaiprakash Associates has signed an agreement with Shree Cement to divest its stake in the 2.1-MT Bhilai Jaypee Cement for an enterprise (BJCL) value of Rs 21-22bn.The company is planning launch series of new products, double capacity at one of its plants and also to launch new a brand this year even as it targets to increase its domestic market share, as per media reports.The Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on January 07, 2016 have approved for issuance and allotment of 2647313 convertible warrants at Rs.22/- per warrant on preferential basis to M/s. Edelweiss Finance & Investments Limited in compliance with all statutory and relevant regulations.The Company has received 25% amount towards the issue price i.e. Rs.5.50 per warrant, totaling to Rs.1,45,60,221.50 from M/s. Edelweiss Finance & Investments Limited.Canara Bank has informed BSE that as per the powers delegated by the Board of the Bank, the Bond Committee has decided to raise Basel III Compliant Tier -II Bonds amounting to Rs. 900 Crore (as Series - II) by way of Private Placement. Accordingly, the Bank has successfully raised Rs. 900 Crore under BASEL-III Compliant Tier-II Bonds on January 07, 2016 with a coupon of 8.40 % PA.Maruti Suzuki has unveiled their latest offering in their flagship model, Maruti Suzuki DZire equipped with Auto Gear Shift (AGS) technology.L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE), a fully owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro, in consortium with McDermott has bagged an offshore contract from Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) valued at Rs 24.50 billion.BHEL, an integrated power plant equipment manufacturer, has commissioned two 220/20kV substations in Afghanistan on EPC basis.FMCG firm Bajaj Corp reported 18.6% increased in net profit at Rs.49.6 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015. The company's total income for the third quarter stood at Rs.213.1 crore, up 3.4% from Rs.206 crore in the year-ago period.: 8K Miles Software Services, Goa Carbon and Integrated Capital ServicesRetail Sales s.a. (MoM) (Nov) AUD, Labor Cash Earnings (YoY) (Nov) JPY, BOJ Deputy Governor Nakaso Speech JPY, Unemployment Rate s.a (MoM) (Dec) CHF, Industrial Production s.a. (MoM) (Nov) EUR, Industrial Production n.s.a. w.d.a. (YoY) (Nov) EUR, Current Account n.s.a. (Nov) EUR, Imports (MoM) (Nov) EUR, Exports (MoM) (Nov) EUR, Trade Balance s.a. (Nov) EUR, Exports, EUR (Nov) EUR, Imports, EUR (Nov) EUR, Trade Balance EUR (Nov) EUR, Consumer Price Index (MoM) (Dec) CHF, Consumer Price Index (YoY) (Dec) CHF, Total Trade Balance (Nov) GBP, Goods Trade Balance (Nov) GBP, Trade Balance; non-EU (Nov) GBP, Industrial Production (YoY) (Nov) EUR, NFIB Business Optimism Index (Dec) USD, Nonfarm Payrolls (Dec) USD, Average Hourly Earnings (YoY) (Dec) USD, Average Weekly Hours (Dec) USD, Unemployment Rate (Dec) USD, Labor Force Participation Rate (Dec) USD, Average Hourly Earnings (MoM) (Dec) USD, Building Permits (MoM) (Nov) CAD, Participation rate (Dec) CAD, Unemployment Rate (Dec) CAD, Net Change in Employment (Dec) CAD, Wholesale Inventories (Nov) USD, Consumer Credit Change (Nov) USDThe FIIs were net sellers of Rs. 10.51 bn in the cash segment on Thursday. The domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of Rs.1.90 mn as per the provisional figures released by the NSE.arm Mahanadi Coalfields has crossed 100 MT production milestone and is taking steps to achieve the target of 150 MT output for the current fiscal. (ET)'s hydrocarbon arm, in consortium with US-based engineering company McDermott, has bagged an offshore contract from ONGC worth Rs 24.5bn for the development of S1 deepwater fields situated off the east coast of India. (ET)(MSIL) has launched auto gear shift technology in top-end diesel version of entry-level sedan DZire tagged at Rs 839,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi). (BS)Government is mulling selling part of its stake in, to meet its asset sales target. (BL)expects to take a hit of up to Rs 5bn this fiscal due to government's move to lower the transaction threshold of quoting PAN to Rs 200,000 from Rs 500,000 earlier. (BS)Government of India has declined's request to reconsider restrictions on output from its mines in Moher and Moher Amlohri Extension blocks - linked to its Sasan UMPP as the case is in the court. (ET)has signed an agreement with Shree Cement to divest its stake in the 2.1-MT Bhilai Jaypee Cement for an enterprise (BJCL) value of Rs 21-22bn. (BS)has entered into a strategic alliance with US-based Metric Stream to deliver governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions across the globe. (ET)(M&M) is contemplating closing the current fiscal with the launch of two more passenger cars/utility vehicles, thereby completing the planned launch of 10 vehicles during the year. (BL)will launch series of new products, double capacity at one of its plants and launch new a brand this year even as it targets to increase its domestic market share. (BS)Issues including impact of FTAs signed by India, ways to promote start-ups and boost economic growth were deliberated upon during the meeting between Commerce Ministry and the industry chambers. (BS)A minimum dividend of 30 per cent, declaration of special dividend and issue of bonus shares are the new guidelines from the central government as the owner for central public sector enterprises (CPSE). (ET)

TEN MOST ACTIVE FUTURES

Symbol No.of Cont Traded Last price Open Interest % chg in Op.Int RELINFRA 22,273 567.70 10,407,800 -4.29 LT 19,236 1,207.50 13,223,400 -0.36 RELIANCE 19,228 1,016.10 28,326,500 1.06 SBIN 16,338 209.80 84,064,000 2.32 MARUTI 14,947 4,288.00 2,153,375 6.78 TATASTEEL 14,668 250.55 31,422,000 -2.34 TATAMOTORS 14,211 343.90 30,168,000 -0.33 RELCAPITAL 13,746 420.20 13,456,500 0.40 JETAIRWAYS 13,118 745.55 3,727,800 11.16 ICICIBANK 12,692 246.20 55,627,400 1.92

TEN MOST ACTIVE OPTIONS

Option Type Strike price No.of Cont Traded Open Interest % Chg in Op.In RELIANCE CE 1,040 4,425 1,033,000 58.56 LT CE 1,300 3,349 755,400 11.22 SBIN CE 230 3,047 6,414,000 11.78 SBIN CE 220 2,956 2,886,000 37.04 MARUTI PE 4,300 2,584 58,625 14.11 RELINFRA CE 600 2,523 1,114,100 12.91 RELIANCE PE 1,000 2,437 462,500 1.43 TATASTEEL CE 270 2,383 2,026,000 33.29 MARUTI CE 4,500 2,359 88,625 229.77 RELIANCE CE 1,060 2,351 497,500 25.16

SUPPORT & RESISTANCE LEVEL

Company Name S3 S2 S1 Close R1 R2 R3 Sensex Index 24,585 24,650 24,718 24,852 24,985 25,054 25,119 Nifty Index 7,490 7,509 7,529 7,568 7,607 7,627 7,646 ABB Ltd 1,042 1,045 1,049 1,056 1,063 1,067 1,071 ACC 1,284 1,288 1,292 1,300 1,308 1,312 1,316 Ambuja Cements 193 194 195 198 200 201 202 Bajaj Holdings 1,645 1,648 1,652 1,658 1,665 1,668 1,672 BHEL 146 148 150 154 158 160 161 Bharti Airte 315 317 318 321 324 326 327 Cipla 626 629 633 639 646 649 652 Dabur India 260 261 263 266 270 271 273 GAIL India 365 366 368 370 373 374 375 Grasim Ind. 3,491 3,505 3,519 3,548 3,577 3,592 3,606 HCL Tech 810 813 817 824 831 835 838 HDFC Bank 1,042 1,045 1,048 1,053 1,058 1,061 1,064 Hero Honda 2,468 2,479 2,491 2,513 2,536 2,547 2,558 Hindalco 75 75 76 77 78 78 79 Hindustan Unilever 805 808 812 820 827 831 835 ICICI Bank 243 244 245 247 249 250 251 Infosys Tech 1,038 1,041 1,045 1,051 1,058 1,061 1,064 ITC Ltd 306 307 308 310 311 312 313 L&T 1,187 1,191 1,196 1,206 1,216 1,221 1,226 MTNL 20 20 21 21 21 22 22 M&M 1,160 1,168 1,177 1,194 1,210 1,219 1,227 Maruti Suzuki 4,127 4,161 4,197 4,267 4,337 4,373 4,406 Mahindra Satyam 500 503 506 511 517 520 523 National Alumin 36 37 37 37 38 38 38 ONGC 221 222 224 227 230 231 232 Oriental Bank 122 123 124 127 130 131 132 PNB 102 103 103 105 107 107 108 Ranbaxy Labs 771 774 778 784 790 794 797 Reliance Capital 401 405 410 419 428 433 437 Reliance Comm 79 80 80 81 82 83 83 Reliance Energy 549 553 557 565 573 577 581 Reliance Inds 999 1,002 1,005 1,012 1,018 1,021 1,024 R Power 54 54 55 55 56 56 57 Siemens India 1,093 1,104 1,115 1,136 1,157 1,168 1,178 SBI 206 207 208 210 212 213 214 TCS 2,357 2,360 2,363 2,370 2,377 2,380 2,383 Tata Motors 329 332 336 343 350 354 357 Tata Power 65 65 65 66 67 67 68 Tata Steel 240 242 245 250 255 258 260 Tata comm 418 420 422 426 431 433 435 Wipro 543 545 547 550 553 555 556 Wire And Wireless 34 34 34 35 35 36 36 Zee Entertainment 410 411 412 415 418 419 421

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The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley said that Indian economy has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world with its GDP growth accelerated at 7.3 percent in 2014-15 compared to 6.9 per cent growth in 2013-14 and 5.1 per cent in 2012-13, indicating that the economy is firmly on the path of economic revival. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley was making the Opening Remarks during his fourth Pre-Budget Consultative Meeting with the representatives of IT (Hardware & Software) Sector today in New Delhi.

Highlighting the contribution and importance of IT Sector, the Finance Minister said that the Governments Make in India programme has included the electronic systems and IT & BPM (Business Process Management) sectors among the 25 key sectors. He said that the Governments recognizes this Sectors potential and the Information Technology sector is a key pillar in various flagship initiatives like digital India, Make in India, Skill India as well as Start-up India among others.

The participants expressed their gratitude and congratulated the Government for the measures undertaken in the previous year which facilitated their market performance and enabled them to revive and improve their growth .They expressed full confidence in India being the next big player in the manufacturing field in the world. They further said that Manufacturing will be the major driving force of our economic growth and they will be able to achieve the committed target of creation of job opportunities.

Various suggestions were received during the aforesaid Consultative Meeting. Major recommendations were to continue with measures to facilitate the exports, facilitating ease of doing business, measures for simplifying and rationalizing tax procedures. Other suggestions included the provision of Place of Effective Management (POEM) to be deferred by couple of years as this short period can be a hurdle for industrial growth. There was also suggestion that the scope of POEM need to be rationalized and made applicable to overseas shell companies. It was suggested that GST be implemented at the earliest.

On the proposal of sunset clause in case of SEZ companies, the tax relief to the eligible development activities and the sales activities by a SEZ unit may be extended till March 2019, as it will be unfair to deny the tax benefits to such SEZ developers who have planned large investments in setting-up SEZ infrastructure. Other suggestions were reduction of corporate tax, specific time bound policy to revive the mobile industry, incentive to pollution free industries and vehicles, TRIPS Plus (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ) commitment need to be relooked, directive to make all State and Inter-State duties and procedures online among others. There is also need to create duty differential benefits for Indian (IT hardware) manufacturers especially in case of mobile and tablets.

It was also suggested to reduce Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) and utilization period under MAT be increased from 10 years to 15 years.

Along with the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, the aforesaid Pre-Budget Consultative Meeting with the representatives of IT (Hardware & Software) Sector was also attended among others by R.N. Watal, Finance Secretary, Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, DEA, Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, Revenue Secretary, Ms Anjuli Chib Duggal, Secretary, Financial Services and Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA). The representatives of the IT (Hardware & Software) Sector present during the meeting included Shri Ramadas Kamath, Infosys, Shri P.V.Srinivasan, WIPRO, Shri Anil Chanana, CFO, HCL, Shri Pauroos D Karkaria,TCS, Shri R. Chandrashekhar, Chief Economist, NASSCOM, Ms Nisha Tompson, Founder, Datameet, Shri Vinod Sharma, Chairman, Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council, Shri Nitin Kunkolienker, Vice President, Manufactures Association for Information Technology (IT), Shri Rajoo Goel, ELCINA Electronic Industries Association of India, Shri Hari Om Rai, Co-Chairman Task Force on Mobile Phone Manufacturing, Shri Suraj Saharan Ajit Pai, COO,Delhivery, Shri Sumandro, the Centre for Internet & Society and Shri Vikas Jain, Member, Task Force on Mobile Phone Manufacturing among others.
It could be a week best forgotten for the stock market world over as Chinas woes had a cascading impact on sentiment world over. Thursday's selloff, which saw one of the worst shows in five months, resulted in Rs 2.5 lakh crore of investors wealth vanishing into thin air. Amidst all the gloom, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley says Indian economy has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world indicating that the economy is firmly on the path of economic revival.At 9:27 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 25,020 up 167 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 7,618 up 50 points.The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 1.01% at 10,959, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 1.19% at 11,647.All sector are in green on BSE.Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, RIL, BHEL, GAIL and SBI are among the gainers, whereas Redington (India), ZEEL, Kajaria, Emami, Page Ind and Central Bank of India are losing sheen on BSE.The India VIX (Volatility) index is down 5.9% to 17.82. Out of 1,746 stocks traded on the NSE, 207 declined and 1,197 advanced today.A total of 25 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while three stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.Indian Rupee opened at 66.72/$ higher by 21 paise in early trade on Friday as against the previous close of 66.93/$. On Thursday, Indian rupee extended the weakness against US dollar, as turmoil in the global equities augmented the safe haven appetite for the greenback. Concerns over fragile Chinese economic landscape have triggered the meltdown in the broader markets.In Europe, the recent flow of macro numbers has been positive. Survey compiler Markit reported that composite PMI for the Euro region (19 country bloc) during December rose to 54.3, a four month high.A challenging macro environment is here to stay. A conservative portfolio positioning would be a prudent approach given modest earnings growth and above-average valuations calls.Sectors and stocks with low earnings and valuation risks should be on the buying list. Consumer staples, energy, and IT would be sectors to nibble on while financials, industrials and materials could be given a miss for the time being.Auto stocks will be in focus in the coming days as Union Minister for Road, Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari will meet representatives of automobile companies on January 14 to allay their concerns about the Governments move to directly move from BS IV emission norms to BS VI emission norms by April 2020.German car maker Volkswagen reportedly said that it will not buy back any car models as its models and others sold under SKODA and Audi brands do not violate the Indian emission norms.Saudi Arabia is reviewing an initial public offering (IPO) of Saudi Aramco, the worlds biggest crude oil producer, the kingdoms deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has been quoted as saying.
With trade unions and industry chambers suggesting alignment between reduction in corporate tax (25%) and withdrawal of tax incentives and allowances, in their meeting with Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, the forthcoming budget is likely to have industrys demands addressed.In a backdrop of IT industry body Nasscom proposing tax breaks for start-ups considering they lack revenue with ambiguous profit prospects in their initial phase, cushioning start-ups, reduction of corporate tax rate and lifting of minimum alternative tax (MAT), has long been on the industrys wishlist.Both CII president Sumit Mazumdar and FICCI President Harshavardhan Neotia expressd the need to remove MAT in the meeting, while also asking for greater clarity on the way forward regarding corporate tax, as reported by Hindustan Times.Putting forward a request before businesses to hike private investment, FM Arun Jaitley while addressing the meeting unveiled governments plan to continue increasing public investment, the report mentioned.Growth prospects for 2016-17 look upbeat considering the existing growth rate of the countrys economy and fiscal fundamentals being in sound health presently, said Jaitley, added the report.
Wipro: Wipro has appointed a new COO Bhanumurthy BM and also assigned new roles to other veterans such as GK Prasanna as part of a newly-unveiled organizational structure, as per media reports.Axis Bank Ltd: The Govt is considering diluting its 11.7% stake in Axis Bank it holds through the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India to meet shortfall in disinvestment proceeds and revenue collection during the current fiscal, according to reports.Mahindra & Mahindra: Mahindra & Mahindra expects to launch two more passenger cars/utility vehicles by the end of March to complete the planned launch of 10 vehicles during FY16, reports a business daily.Titan: Titan Co. expects to take a hit of up to Rs. 500 crore in FY16 due to the Governments move to lower the transaction threshold of quoting permanent account number (PAN) to Rs. 2 lakh from INR 5 lakh earlier, reports a financial newspaper.Tech Mahindra Ltd: The company has entered into a strategic alliance with MetricStream Inc to deliver governance risk and compliance management applications across the globe, the city-based information technology services provider said.Cipla: As part of its ongoing transformation journey to simplify decision making and improve operational excellence, Cipla Ltd has announced the creation of a six member Management Council that will be the apex executive leadership team for the company.Jaiprakash Associates: Jaiprakash Associates has signed an agreement with Shree Cement to divest its stake in the 2.1-MT Bhilai Jaypee Cement for an enterprise (BJCL) value of Rs 21-22bn.Bajaj Auto: The company is planning launch series of new products, double capacity at one of its plants and also to launch new a brand this year even as it targets to increase its domestic market share, as per media reports.Bharati Shipyard Ltd: The Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on January 07, 2016 have approved for issuance and allotment of 2647313 convertible warrants at Rs.22/- per warrant on preferential basis to M/s. Edelweiss Finance & Investments Limited in compliance with all statutory and relevant regulations.The Company has received 25% amount towards the issue price i.e. Rs.5.50 per warrant, totaling to Rs.1,45,60,221.50 from M/s. Edelweiss Finance & Investments Limited.Canara Bank: Canara Bank has informed BSE that as per the powers delegated by the Board of the Bank, the Bond Committee has decided to raise Basel III Compliant Tier -II Bonds amounting to Rs. 900 Crore (as Series - II) by way of Private Placement. Accordingly, the Bank has successfully raised Rs. 900 Crore under BASEL-III Compliant Tier-II Bonds on January 07, 2016 with a coupon of 8.40 % PA.Maruti Suzuki: Maruti Suzuki has unveiled their latest offering in their flagship model, Maruti Suzuki DZire equipped with Auto Gear Shift (AGS) technology.L&T: L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE), a fully owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro, in consortium with McDermott has bagged an offshore contract from Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) valued at Rs 24.50 billion.Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd: BHEL, an integrated power plant equipment manufacturer, has commissioned two 220/20kV substations in Afghanistan on EPC basis.Bajaj Corp: FMCG firm Bajaj Corp reported 18.6% increased in net profit at Rs.49.6 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015. The company's total income for the third quarter stood at Rs.213.1 crore, up 3.4% from Rs.206 crore in the year-ago period.
Self preservation is a natural human tendency. Because nobody wants to die, right? Heres where courage and bravery comes in. Would you stand in the way of danger? Would you save someone elses life while putting yours in jeopardy? Most of us wouldnt. But that didnt stop these people from making these quick decisions that went against their instinct. Its these acts of courage that saved thousands of lives and made heroes out of ordinary people.

1. Jagdish Chand

Twitter

A cook in the Army, he was in the mess at the Pathankot Air Base getting breakfast ready when the militants attacked. He chased down and caught one of the intruders. In the hand-to-hand combat that followed in the morning of February 2, he struggled with the rifle of the intruder and shot him with it. He later fell as the other intruders fired at him.

2. Tukaram Ombale

During the 26/11 attack, the Maharashtra Police Sub-inspector received information about terrorists being on the move towards Marine Drive. He positioned barricades to block the cars passage and managed to stop the vehicle. As soon as the car came to a stop, the terrorists opened fire. Ombale, without fearing for his own life, managed to snatch the weapon from one of the terrorists, Ajmal Kasab, despite being hit by a bullet. He overpowered Kasab and was instrumental in capturing him alive. Ombale would later die of his injuries.

3. Baljeet Singh

The SP of Police led from the front when terrorists attacked Gurdaspur. He engaged the terrorists in a heated conversation and dared them to come out in the open. While exchanging fire with them, he was hit in the head with a bullet and succumbed to his injuries while going beyond the call of duty. Incidentally his father was mortally wounded during combing operations against militants in Bhikhiwind, Tarn Taran back in 1984.

4. Mhonbeni Ezung

TOI

She was only 8 years old when she displayed exemplary courage and determination to save her grandmothers life. She was out fishing with her grandmother when the latter suffered cramps, followed by a stroke and fell unconscious. Sensing trouble, Mhonbeni ran back 4-5 km through the thick forests all alone to the village to call for help. She said her love for her grandmother gave her the courage to travel all the distance alone as saving her was her only concern that acted as a driving force.

5. Ganibhai Mohammed Sheikh

On seeing a crocodile attacking a 17-year-old youth, the 47-year-old autorikshaw driver from Vadodra, jumped into the water with an iron rod. Without any consideration for his own safety, he managed to save the kid after a 15-minute tussle with the croc.

6. Dola Mallaiah

The 56-year-old driver of a school bus died while saving the lives of 20 school children. At around 9 AM when at a crossing, he saw a truck taking a wrong U-turn. In a bid to avert a collision with the truck, Mallaiah steered the bus to his left driving it into a small canal. His quick thinking saved the childrens lives, but he succumbed to his injuries.
On January 2, the country awoke to the horror that had struck the Pathankot Air Force base in Punjab. Answering to an alert that had sounded for a suspected terrorist attack, a batch of helicopters with thermal imagers were dispatched to survey the military base.

Within a few minutes after the take-off, the first images of the four suspects - moving slowly towards their mission - were captured. Soon thereafter, 12 Garud Commandos were called on duty where they were divided into 'buddy' teams.

AP

"They (the suspects) were moving slowly, to avoid any detection," a senior IAF official told NDTV.

While three 'buddy' pairs stationed themselves outside the Mechanical Transport Wing to stop the terrorists from moving ahead, the other three readied themselves to face the threat head-on.

Gursevak Singh, the martyr of the Pathankot attacks, was the first to come in contact with the terrorists. After he was shot, Shailabh and Katal who made the second team, marched ahead to fight off enemy fire. Shailabh took six bullets in his lower abdomen but continued fighting.

In spite of bleeding profusely, he showed immense bravery in the face of death. He didn't abandon his post, and along with his partner Katal, kept the fire-fight on for nearly an hour without replenishment or back-up.

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The fight that lasted for 80 hours saw seven heroes fall as martyrs and 20 others gravely injured. The 24-year-old braveheart, Shailabh, was one of them.

Facebook

He was evacuated soon thereafter and taken to the hospital just outside the base. He is currently in the ICU wing and recuperating.

Facebook

Every time our soldiers put their lives on the line to save their motherland from falling into enemy fate, we are reminded of how lucky we are. We salute Shailabh and many others who sacrificed themselves to protect India's honour. Their determination and courage will always be remembered, for they are our real heroes.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said that there is no communal tension in the state, days after protests broke out in Malda.

PTI

The state which will go to polls later this year has been in the grip of communal clashes for the past few days following a hate speech by Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamalesh Tiwari.

This is what happened in Malda

Reacting to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan who called RSS members homosexuals, Kamlesh Tiwari allegedly called Prophet Muhammad the first homosexual in the world.

Jagran

Nearly one lakh protesters led by a Muslim organisation, Anjuman Ahle Sunnatul Jamaat held a march in Malda against Tiwari on Sunday.

PTI

The demonstration took a violent turn after a North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) bus tried to cross the rally. Many of those participating in the protest were reportedly already armed.

Zee News

Some of those injured in the clashes were hit by bullets.

Indian Express

Protesters who set fire to the bus went on a rampage, setting fire to a police station, several government offices and commercial establishments.

Twitter

Twitter

Twitter

As many as 35 vehicles in the neighbourhood including police and BSF vehicles were torched.

Indian Express

BJP accused the state government of shielding the rioters as most of them are still at large.

Indian Express

The central government has sought a report on the violence from the West Bengal government.
Follow us on without bribe no work gets done in india arvind kejriwal

Kolkata: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal believes that doing business in India is very difficult because one needs to bribe officials to get work done.



The more I get deeper into governance, I realise how difficult it is to do business in the country. 'Nani yaad aa jati hai.' Don't know how you are managing. Go to any government department, without bribe no work gets done," Kejriwal told industrialists while addressing the inaugural event of the two-day Bengal Global Business Summit here.



The status now is such that even after giving the money, the work is not done. This has to be changed, Kejriwal added.



Arvind Kejriwal called upon industrialists to invest in the national capital.



Promising that all their issues would be resolved to their satisfaction, Kejriwal announced that his government would hold a business summit in Delhi soon.



He further said his government was taking steps to simplify procedural formalities required for doing business.



Kejriwal cited the moving out of the event management industry out of Delhi to buttress his point of the lack of ease in doing business.



We have too much complicated the system. The event management industry in the last 10 years has moved out of Delhi because one needed to go around 27 government departments for permissions to organize a single event.



Now we have simplified things. You don't have to submit affidavits, to take certificates. After talking to event industry stakeholders, we have now changed all the laws and now you can get the permission within minutes, that too online, he said.



Wooing the industrialists, he asked them to spell out the problems they faced in doing business in Delhi.



"We will soon organise a business summit in Delhi. Come and invest in Delhi. We are now simplifying the procedures, but we need more help from you.



Please tell me what difficulties you are facing in doing business in Delhi. The time you take in telling me your problems, I can assures you, we will take less than that in resolving those," added Kejriwal.



(With IANS inputs)

Latest Business News
Follow us on shocking woman live blogs her rape ordeal on instagram

New Delhi: A feminist campaigner did something which was unheard of even when their is hardly anything left to be revealed on internet, She live blogged her rape in an attempt to encourage other rape victims to speak out about their trauma.

Amber Amour, 27, in a series of harrowing posts on Instagram claimed she was raped by a man in the bathroom of a youth hostel.

Amour, a New Yorker, was in South Africa to promote her "Stop Rape. Educate" campaign.

Describing her feeling of "shame, disgust, suffering, she said the feelings of helplessness that can be experienced by rape victims .

Narrating her harraowing experience she wrote --

After agreeing to take a shower with a man, she says, because she'd spent two days being sick and "just really wanted a hot shower", he "forced me to my knees".

"I said "stop!" but he just got more violent"," she wrote. "I asked him to stop, again, as I began to cry."

She claims he raped her and she "passed out" - only to come round several minutes later, at which point he noticed she was awake and "came back to finish me off in the shower".

I'm here, alone, and any DNA has been wiped away in the shower. The South African police will just roll their eyes when I walk in. Feel sicker than ever now."

She posted two further pictures - including one of her at hospital with a "rape kit" in front of her knees.

Dealing with cops is tough and the rape kit is the last thing I want - tools and metal instruments and combs all up in my private parts...But this is what I stand for.

"I tell you guys to speak up every single day and I know that I need to practice what I preach."

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Follow us on video pak sikh ranger participates in beating retreat at wagah border

New Delhi: Making for a historic moment, a Sikh ranger from Pakistan participated in the traditional Beating the Retreat Ceremony at Wagah Border, for the first time ever.

People from both the sides of the border welcomed the Sikh ranger with a huge round of applause when he came for the ceremony on Thursday evening. The surrounding filled with the sound of claps when he shook hands with the Indian ranger.

Named Amarjeet Singh, the ranger is the residence of Nankana Sahib, the holy city of Sikhs situated in Pakistan. He is said to be the first person ever from Sikh community to join the Pakistani army.

Media reports say that he has joined the Pakistan army in 2005 and completed training this year, after which he was included in the defences forces on the Wagah border.

Talking about his duty for Pakistan, Amarjeet said that he is proud of being a part of the Pakistani army and would happy to lay down his life for the nation.

Like Amarjeet, Gyan Chand was the first Hindu to join the Pakistani army in 2009. On the other hand, a Hindu ranger named Ashok Kumar lost his life while fighting for the Islamic nation in Waziristan. Though, Pakistan didn't give him the status of a martyr which led to a serious controversy later.

Now, with Sikh ranger's entry into Pakistan army, we hope the history doesn't repeat itself.

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Follow us on 5 moments from airlift trailer that will overwhelm you with feeling of patriotism

New Delhi: The response towards the recently released trailer of Akshay Kumar starrer Airlift' has been unanimous. It is being applauded in a big manner by one and all. In fact, the amount of appreciation that the trailer is receiving is very rare in today's scenario.

The untold story of the biggest ever human evacuation by India is winning hearts all over, ensuring an earth-shattering opening for the film. People are going gaga over Akshay Kumar's choices of films as he is maintaining a perfect balance between sensible and commercial cinema.

The 2:52 minute long trailer carries such immense patriotic appeal that it is hard to resist. We ourselves are so thrilled by the trailer that we decided to pick out its 5 most impactful moments that are sure to give goosebumps to every Indian-

1- In this scene the major of the Iraq Army threatens Akshay Kumar and says, Mauka hai family lekar nikal jao, social work me lag gaye toh phas jaoge Mr. Ranjeet. And he very calmly, in a subtle voice says, Ji main phasne waalo me se nahi hoon.

The significance of his reply is that, at the end, every word of his sentence will come out to be true.

2- Terrified by the ongoing conditions in Kuwait, Nimrat Kaur, who plays Akshay's wife in the film, says to him, Lets just leave. Just get us out of here. If he wanted he could have easily gotten out of the country with his family but instead, he decides to stay and help the fellow Indians.

He answers to Nimrat, Mujhe bhi yahan se nikalna hai, lekin in sab (fellow Indians) ke liye arrangement karne ke baad.

3- This is one of the most powerful scenes of the trailer. With a fierce look on his face, Akshay is seen explaining the power of unity to a fellow Indian. He says, Humari koi aukaat nahi hai, agar humari pehchaan hai toh sirf ek ki hum Kuwaiti nahi Hindustani hai. Saath hain toh kuch hain, varna nothing.

Now this is an evergreen dialogue and the way Akshay has said it, people will be remembering it for a long period of time.

4- The intensity of this particular scene is such that you don't even need a dialogue to compliment it. Seeing the Indian Flag getting raised by a foreigner with Vande Mataram playing in the background, it will bring tears of joy in every Indian's eyes.

This scene will give you goosebumps every time you see it.

5- The best has been saved for the last. The trailer ends with a clap worthy dialogue by Akshay Kumar. One fellow Indian, named Ibrahim, says, Vaise Dilli ko bhi kya kosna, yahaan bahut se hain jinki ginti me 10 din pehle tak Dilli nahi thi, Kuwaiti samajhne lage the apne aap ko.

To this, Akshay smiles and replies back, Aadmi ki fitrat hi aisi hai Ibrahim, chot lagti hai na toh aadmi maa maa hi chillata hai sabse pehle.

Now watch the trailer again and relive these epic moments!

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Follow us on bigg boss 9 suyyash rai s 5 shocking revelations about salman khan

New Delhi: The popular reality show Bigg Boss 9 is going through a lot of twists and turns these days.

Recently, the show makers shocked the contestants and the audience after they announced the double elimination' for the week.

Yes! Suyyash Rai and wild card entrant Nora Fatehi were evicted from the reality show.

While the elimination came as a rude shock for all, Nora Fatehi reportedly stated that she saw it coming and was prepared for it.

On the other hand, Suyyash Rai was just not expecting this.

However, Suyyash says that his experience in the "Bigg Boss Nau" house taught him how to live with people he doesn't like.

He also stated,I am short tempered, but I have learnt to be a little calm; learnt to live with people I do not like. In life, if one doesn't like a certain person, we have the option of walking out, but in the show, one had to see that person everyday all the time. You have to talk to the person as well.

Post his eviction from the reality show, Suyyash has come up with some shocking' revelations about the reality show and its contestants:

1. Suyyas Rai, was quite amazed when he was eliminated from Bigg Boss 9 as he wasn't expecting it at all. While talking to a leading daily, Suyyash stated that When I came out and checked out the voting details, I was the second highest this week after Mandana. But then I put 2 and 2 together and I realised how it goes about! I was the captain of the house I should have been immune according to the rules mentioned, but maybe that's how it was always supposed to work! The show will only keep people who benefit them, benefit their TRPs'! Neither is it scripted, nor is anyone given a cue on how they need to behave inside! Maybe, I was lacking somewhere so it was time for me to leave! But I have no regrets against anyone! It's a show and they have all the rights to play on the editable! At the end of the day, it's business right? There can be only one of the match and we need to accept that.

2. On being quizzed if it was host Salman Khan that decided the elimination, Suyyash straight away denied it. He said, Why will he decide the eviction? He has much better things to do in life! He is the host and he's simply doing his job on the show! See if he genuinely likes someone he will make sure he corrects that person if he/she is going wrong! Atleast he did that too me! He genuinely asked me to apologise to Mandana for being harsh on her and I respected that! So I can openly comment about Salman sir that he has NOTHING to do with eviction!

3. Suyyash also talked about the contestants of Bigg Boss 9, and ended calling Rishabh Sinha a Rishabh Sinha a pervert. He stated, Pervert is an understatement for this man! There is no problem in being a pervert but when you cross that line, then you are a c#$%t! Sorry to say, but that's what he is! He has said things about girls that are really, really bad!

4. Talking about Mandana Karimi, Suyyash was quite confident that the Iranian beauty will get evicted in the 16th week because of her forthcoming adult comedy Kya Kool Hain Hum 3'. I can give you in written that Mandana is going to leave the house on the 16th of this month. Now that's according to my calculation! That too because her film Kya Kool Hain Hum 3 is releasing on the 22nd of January so the makers will take her out to promote the film, physically outside the Bigg Boss house! They can't only play on Bigg Boss ka promotions, he was quoted saying.

5. Suyyash also opened on his grudges with ex-contestants Ankit Gera, Roopal Tyagi and Digangana Suryavanshi. He said, Ankit and Roopal were brought on the show because they were ex-lovers and the channel hoped to see some spark between the two! But yeh log dosti karne lage. If they wanted to patch up, they could have might as well gone to a coffee shop why on a show like Bigg Boss? Similarly, Digangana's parents have made statements that they spent so much money in getting votes for Dig but she still got evicted! Now that's so stupid! It's a game yaar! I dunno what is with the ex-contestants but I am glad I was a part of this show and it's time to move on!.

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Follow us on sanjay dutt to be a free man soon bollywood reacts to homecoming of munna bhai

Mumbai: Filmmakers like Sanjay Gupta, Mukesh Bhatt among others said that they are happy that actor Sanjay Dutt will finally walk out of jail this February.

Mr Dutt, convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case and currently lodged in Pune's high-security Yerawada Central Prison, will walk out of jail on February 27 after the Maharashtra government cleared a proposal for remission of his sentence.

Producer Boney Kapoor hoped that Mr Dutt walks out of the jail as a changed person. "I am very happy for him. He is someone who deserves to be out. I hope he comes out as a better man, a better person and a better actor," he said.

Sanjay Gupta said, "It's fantastic that he will be a free man again and finally be home with his family. His long and painful ordeal will end and he can start life afresh. I am personally very pleased," he told PTI.

Mr Dutt is being given remission as per the jail manual after clearance from the Home department.

Minister for State (Home) Ranjit Patil signed the file allowing Mr Dutt's release, without penalising him for reporting late from his furlough in January 2015.

Producer Mukesh Bhatt said he was happy the Munna Bhai actor will now lead a normal life.

"I am very happy to hear the news. Finally he has served his term, has washed his hands clean and will now lead a normal life. And this on the fact that he has been released on his good behaviour during his term. I am extremely happy," he said.

Director Anubhav Sinha said, "I'll be so happy for him when he gets out. He will finally be a free man."

Mr Dutt was sentenced to five-year imprisonment after he was convicted for possessing an illegal weapon, part of the cache meant to be used during the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts in which 257 people were killed.

The 56-year-old actor was jailed in 1996 and spent 18 months behind bars before walking out on bail.

In 2013, the Supreme Court sentenced him to five years in prison for the crime. Mr Dutt is now completing the remaining prison term of 42 months.

After he was sent to Yerawada jail in May 2013, Mr Dutt had been out on parole twice and an equal number of times on furlough.

Latest Bollywood News
Follow us on i believe in reunification of india pak bangladesh francois gautier

New Delhi: French writer, journalist and noted Indophile, Francois Gautier, believes in "reunification of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh". "Whether it will happen violently or naturally, I don't know", he adds.

Sixtysix-year-old Gautier, who has made India his home since 1971, seconded the views of BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on reunification of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh by pointing out that even Sri Aurobindo and The Mother of Pondicherry Sri Aurobindo Ashram had wanted the same.

Gautier says, "Indians have become clones because they do not take pride in their rich ancient culture and traditions".

In an exclusive conversation with indiatvnews.com, Gautier opened up on his journey from France to India, on his image as a defender of Hindus', on Islam and the theory of clash of civilisations and India-Pakistan relations.

Read Also: 'Intolerance' was always practiced in India by left-wing circuit: Bibek Debroy, NITI Aayog member



Interestingly, Gautier holds Mark Tully of BBC responsible for creating a bias in Western media against India in general, and Kashmiri Pandits in particular. He blames Tully of deliberately using the word gunmen' and not terrorists' for those who perpetrated violence in Kashmir, which the Western media is still following.



Here goes the full text of the interview:

Journey from a Catholic Family in France to India

I had a normal upper class education in Paris, France. My family was catholic. I also went to a school in London for some time. But I was searching for something and I was unsatisfied with my education. It just happened that in 1969, my best friend's father was Governor of Pondicherry.



There was a caravan of 5 cars driving from Paris to Pondicherry and I thought it would be a good way to experience life and know the world. From India, I planned to go to South East Asia, Japan, America and come back after a year. This is why I drove from Paris to Delhi.



When I came to Delhi, I stayed in Sri Aurobindo Ashram on Aurobindo Marg. There I had a very strong experience that India was my country and destiny had taken me to a place that was a country of my heart'. So, I stayed in India and did not proceed further. I stayed in Pondicherry for 7 years.



The Mother of Pondicherry (Sri Aurobindo's companion who was French by birth) was still alive then and I met her twice. It was a turning point in my life actually.



I also read Sri Aurobindo who was not only a Yogi but a great poet, a great philosopher and also a nationalist. Not many people remember today that Sri Aurobindo was an intense nationalist in the spirit of Srimad Bhagwad Gita. He wanted the British to leave India and contrary to Gandhi, he believed that it should be achieved by force, if necessary. Sri Aurobindo was imprisoned twice by the British who thought he was the most dangerous man in nationalist India. So, that part of Sri Aurobindo influenced me a lot.



He was also a great defender of Hindus. He thought that the word Hindu' was a misnomer and that it is actually the spirituality that stands behind and props up Hinduism, that ancient knowledge which is universal in nature.



When The Mother died in 1973, I did not know what to do as I was totally lost. Since I had done a little bit of local journalism in France before I came to India, I started freelancing. I did some photo feature in the South as I was based in Pondicherry. Slowly, I became the political correspondent for the then most important Swiss newspaper and subsequently for Le Figaro, the French political newspaper. That's how I became a journalist.



Defender of Hindu culture



Of course, I'm known as a defender of Hindus. There are not many foreign journalists who defend Hindus, at least I don't know anybody.



I defend Hindus not because of Hinduism but because I believe, as Sri Aurobindo said very clearly, that this ancient knowledge that some people call dharma, some people call Hinduism is very precious because it's the only one left in the world where people can understand who they are, where they come from, what happens when you die, what happens when you are reborn, what is karma, what is dharma etc. This knowledge is lost in the world. It's there only in India.



This knowledge is under attack from all sides, not only from Marxists, Islamic state and Christian conversions but also from westernisation.



Islam and Clash of civilisations



I remember even Murali Manohar Joshi, who I used to defend in those days, kept saying that there was nothing like clash of civilisations. But there is one between Islam and the civilised, democratic or free world of which India is a part. It's very much there. People don't want to see it. They keep blinking and say there is no clash of civilisations and it's only a minority, but there is a war going on.



It's true that it's a minority that is violent in Islam. But the problem is not with the people of Islam. Muslims are as good as anybody else in the world. If you meet Muslims in India, so many of them are wonderful people, they offer wonderful hospitality, many of them are very refined.



The problem is not with the Muslim people but it is with their scriptures which were written 1500 years ago and never adapted to modern times. Even the Christians, somehow, have adapted to modern times. The Pope accepts that Buddhism is more politically correct than Christianity or Hinduism. More and more Christians are opening to the world. There is a need to adapt to 21st century but Islam has not.



When the scriptures of Islam, including the Holy Quran, were written, it was OK in those times because the mentality was different, humanity was different. It was OK in those times to behead people, to wage war against infidels but it's totally inappropriate today. That battle is happening now. People don't want to see it. They are crazy. The conflict is not with the armed terrorists only, it is also with those Muslims who believe that the Holy Quran is the ultimate truth and that Islam is the only true religion. That is the problem. Islam does not want to change.

Latest India News
Follow us on india shares phone numbers of pathankot attackers ustaad

New Delhi: Intelligence agencies have identified Pakistan-based banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar and two others (Ashfaq Ahmed and Kashim Jaan) as 'handlers' behind Pathankot IAF base terror attack.

Evidences shared by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval with his Pakistani counterpart Nasir Janjua, according to sources, also mentioned that the conspiracy to attack the IAF base was hatched near Lahore.

While Azhar, who masterminded Kandahar hijack in 1999, oversaw the entire operations, his brother Asghar and two others were in constant touch with the terrorists who stormed the IAF base last Saturday.

India has also shared the telephone numbers and the identity of the handlers with Pakistan. According to Times of India, the two numbers to which calls were made by the attackers after they entered India on December 31 night are 92-3017775253 and  300097212.

According to intelligence agencies, terrorists called their handler 'ustaad' while describing their positions inside Punjab after crossing over from Pakistan.

In total, according to agencies intercepting the phone calls, militants made 4 calls in Pakistan. While three of these calls were made to their handlers, a fourth call was made by one of the terrorists to his mother in Pakistan informing her that he was on a suicide mission.

The TOI report, citing detailed investigation, stated that one of the first calls made by the terrorists to  300097212 was at 9.12 pm on December 31 from the phone of taxi driver Ikaagar Singh, whom they had killed.

The last call, made to -3017775253 by one of the terrorists, was to his mother from the mobile phone of jeweller Rajesh Verma, who was kidnapped by militants along with Gurdaspur SP Salwinder Singh and his cook. The call.

Besides, India has given the details of two types of Pakistan-made drugs -- Neuro Bedoxine and Dicloran -- found on the bodies, as evidence.

"We have given some information to Pakistan. They have to act on that information. All individuals and groups will be included in that," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said yesterday.

Meanwhile, India has said that the ball was in Pakistan's court on continuation of the resumed bilateral talks.

"As far as we are concerned, the ball is in Pakistan's court. The immediate issue is Pakistan's response to the terrorist attack and the actionable intelligence provided to it," Swarup said.

Stating that the Indian government's Pakistan policy was clear and consistent, Swarup said India wanted friendly relations with all its neighbours, including Pakistan.

"We have extended our hand of friendship to Pakistan but we will not countenance cross-border terrorist attacks," he said.

Seven security personnel were killed in the attack early on Saturday morning on the Pathankot Indian Air Force Station by six terrorists who, according to officials, crossed over from Pakistan. All the six terrorists were killed by security forces later.

Latest India News
Follow us on madrassa teacher with al qaeda isi links held in bengaluru

New Delhi: Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested a Madrassa teacher from Banashankari near Bangalore for making hate speeches and forging links with Pakistan-based militant organisation al-Qaeda.

According to police, he has been identified as Maulana Anzar Shah and has links with the al-Qaeda module in the Indian sub-continent.

A senior police officer said that Anzar will now be interrogated by officials to establish further links, adding that also under the scanner are his connections with Pakistani spy agency ISI.

"Investigation is underway. Further details will emerge during Anzar's interrogation," the official said.

Anzar, police said, studied at Darul Uloom, Deoband and is said to have some followers in Karnataka.

Once employed at a mosque in Bengaluru, he was asked to leave after he delivered a speech demeaning women.

Police said that Mosque authorities had cautioned him in past against making hate speeches and provoking the youth but he ignored. Following this, intelligence agencies had kept Anzar under watch for his provocative speeches leading to arrest.

Anzar's arrest is the fourth arrest in operation against al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the newest branch of the terrorist organization.

In December, an active module of al-Qaeda was busted with the arrest of Mohammed Asif, the head of its India operations. His arrest led to another suspected al-Qaeda operative, Rehman, being nabbed in Cuttack.

Special Cell teams are also conducting search operation in several cities, tracking other potential operatives of the jihadi outfit.

The arrest of all 4 al-Qaeda operatives came after its leader Ayman al Zawahiri announced the formation of an Indian wing of the terror group to raise the flag of jihad across the subcontinent.

Intelligence had suggested that ISI was helping al-Qaeda's Indian subcontinent wing, AQIS to carry out attacks in the country by targeting some prominent leaders and tourists spots.

Latest India News
Follow us on downgrade in unwanted security cover for aamir shah rukh

Mumbai: Bollywood superstars Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan are among 25 film personalities who will no longer enjoy what officials have termed as an unwanted security cover, The Indian Express reported today. The actors had been provided with additional security cover post their comments on the intolerance' issue.

According to officials, a review of the security cover provided to these personalities concluded that the actors no longer faced any threat and hence did not need the cover. Following the security revamp, only two constables will accompany the two actors and will work in shifts. Armed vehicles and armed protocol that was attached to the actors has now been recalled, the report said.

However, the Mumbai Police has officially denied any such move in the offing. "There is no downscaling of existing personal security provided to film personalities," Mumbai Police said in a tweet sent out today afternoon. Interestingly, the tweet was removed soon after it was posted. Now, Mumbai Police has said it is going to hold a press conference at 4.30 PM today. Clarity on the issue can be expected at the briefing.

Shah Rukh Khan has been considered a target following trouble for his film My Name is Khan' in 2010 and Hafiz Saeed offering him accommodation in 2013. Aamir, on the other hand, waded into troubled waters for his film PK'. However, he was given an additional cover after he expressed his views on acts of intolerance in November.

Following the overhaul, only two armed constables will shadow the two actors in two shifts. The armed protocol and armed vehicles have been called back, confirmed officials.

Shah Rukh and Aamir are among 25 Hindi film personalities whose security cover has either been trimmed or removed totally. Of the 25 personalities whose security has now been fully withdrawn are Bollywood director and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, director Rajkumar Hirani, director Farah Khan and producer siblings Ali and Karim Morani, The Indian Express report said.

The Mumbai Police was, until now, providing security to around 40 Bollywood celebrities. The list has been brought down to around 15 personalities.

These personalities are faced with what senior police officials have termed a genuine threat perception. These 15 personalities include actor Akshay Kumar, producers Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt, Lata Mangeshkar, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan.

Akshay Kumar has been given security in view of the threat perception since the release of his movies Khiladi 786 and Oh My God. He also received extortion calls from the underworld.

While the Bhatt brothers have allegedly received threats both from the underworld and terror outfits like the Indian Mujahideen, Bachchan, Dilip Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar will enjoy round-the-clock security cover besides a police escort as they are viewed as iconic figures.

Latest India News
Follow us on malda effect protesters attack police station in purnea bihar

Patna: In a grim reminder of Sunday's Malda violence, a huge mob went on rampage in Bihar's Purnea district on Thursday in protest against the alleged derogatory comments on Prophet Mohammed made by Bharat Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari

A crowd returning from an All India Islamic Council-led procession against Tiwari's comments turned violent and protestors torched vehicles and ransacked the Baisi police station.

The crowd also pelted stones at the police during the procession. The situation was later controlled by Pankaj Kumar Pal, District Magistrate, Purnea.

More than a dozen policemen were injured and about 30 vehicles were torched after a massive Muslim protest rally turned violent in West Bengal's Malda district on Sunday.

The purportedly objectionable comments by the Hindu Mahasabha leader have resulted in violence in Uttar Pradesh (Kanpur, Lucknow and Bareilly) and West Bengal (Malda) already.

On December 3, Tiwari called Prophet Mohammad the world's first homosexual. Kamlesh Tiwari's statement had come a day after UP Cabinet minister Azam Khan called RSS members homosexuals'.

He is also reported to have allegedly circulated pamphlets against the Muslim community. He was arrested in Lucknow the same day and has been in custody since then.

Bihar DGP PK Thakur today said "The protest march was organised with the permission of local SDO and some anti-social elements mixed up in the crowd after the procession ended. They were responsible for the incident,"

Dismissing reports of arson, he said that a government vehicle was vandalised.

He also said that the police is trying to ascertain the identity of the miscreants through a video footage.

When asked to comment on the Purnea rampage, RJD Supremo Lalu Prasad said he had no information about the incident.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, on the other hand, avoided to answer the question asked by reporters on this incident.

Latest India News
Follow us on uphaar tragedy sc to hear plea to reconsider jail for ansals

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today agreed a plea to hear a review petition to reconsider an earlier verdict excusing the owners of Delhi's Uphaar cinema from imprisonment. The plea was filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) along with another organisation formed by the relatives of the victims of the tragedy.

Gopal and Sushil Ansal - owners of the cinema hall - had escaped jail term in August last year when the apex court found the Ansals guilty of charges - including that of criminal negligence, but ruled against any jail term for them, partly because of their old age.

They were fined Rs 30 crore each instead. A total of 59 people lost their lives in the tragedy, most of them choking to death. Another 103 were injured when a fire began at the cinema. Probe into the incident found that the builders had flouted basic safety laws. Even exit doors were blocked to accommodate more seats than allowed.

The court's verdict letting off the Ansals with just a penalty raised many an eyebrow. The verdict was subsequently challenged by the CBI along with an association that consists of a group of relatives of the victims' relatives.

The Ansals  both senior citizens now  went to prison briefly when they were much younger. They were subsequently released after they appealed against their conviction by a lower court.

The organisation of the victims' relatives is headed by Neelam Krishnamurthy, who lost her children in the tragedy. The organisation has called for stiff punishment for the real estate magnates.

Latest India News
Follow us on 20 yr old isis militant publically executes his mother in syria

New Delhi: In a shocking incident, an Islamic State militant executed his own mother in front of a crowd in the Syrian city of Raqqa because she asked him to cut ties with the dreaded terror group.

According to media reports, ISIS had accused the victim of abandoning Islam and inciting her 20-year-old son to end all ties with the jihadi outfit.

The victim, believed to be in her 40s, wanted to escape with her son and reportedly told him that 'the coalition' will kill all members of the organization.

Confirming the news, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said that 45-year-old Leena Al-Qasem -- originally from the city of al-Tabaqa -- was killed by her son Ali Saqr publically for committing apostasy.

ISIS has carried out executions such as beheadings, mass shootings and burnings of foreign nationals on camera and posted videos of them on social media.

This week, reports surfaced that ISIS executed its first female citizen journalist for writing against the outfit and sharing her life experience under its rule in Raqqa.

The United States-led coalition is conducting airstrikes in Iraq and Syria targeting ISIS strongholds. Reports say that the coalition has so far killed more than 2600 militants in the two Islamic countries.

Latest reports also suggest that ISIS spokesperson Abu Muhammad al-Adnani has been wounded in an airstrike in Iraq's western province of Anbar.

Latest World News
Follow us on indian american entrepreneur frank islam receives up ratna award

Washington: Azamgarh-born Indian American entrepreneur and philanthropist Frank Islam has been awarded the inaugural UP Ratna award for his contribution as a son of Uttar Pradesh.

An Indian American friend, Dr. Fazal Khan, received the award on Islam's behalf from UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on the opening day of the inaugural UP Pravasi Diwas in Agra on Monday.

Islam, who came to the US in the early 1970s to study at University of Colorado, said the "award means much to me and I am most pleased to accept it with the humility that I have learned as a son of Uttar Pradesh."

Islam praised the Uttar Pradesh government for engaging the diaspora through the Pravasi Diwas and instituting a mechanism to engage the diaspora in a serious and meaningful way for the development of the state.

Offering to help the state especially in the field of education, an area that is close to his heart, Islam said: "I'm convinced that the best way for Uttar Pradesh to realize its vast potential is to empower people by education and economic mobility."

The entrepreneur last year announced a $2 million contribution to Aligarh Muslim University, for building a new school of management with an emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Islam, who has also pledged to provide considerable financial support to develop a technical training school for women in Azamgarh, said he intends to support more such educational initiatives in UP

"Education is the best way that we can build an economy commensurate with the size and potential of the state," he said, pointing out that Uttar Pradesh, despite its massive size and population has a GDP of just $130 billion.

Washington DC, which has just 0.3 percent of UP's population, has an economy roughly the size of Uttar Pradesh.

Islam said creating an NRI department is a great first step towards engaging the diaspora. "Uttar Pradesh has not been able to harness the power of the diaspora the way states such as Gujarat and Kerala have been able to do," he said.

"Non-resident Gujaratis and Keralites have made significant and sustainable contributions to the development of their states. Similarly, let us also roll up our sleeves and step up to the plate."

Islam founded an information technology company, the QSS Company, in 1994 with him as the sole employee. He built the company to more than 2,000 employees and sales of $300 million before he sold it in 2007.

Latest World News
Follow us on pathankot attack nawaz sharif asks intelligence agency to probe indian leads

Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has asked the Intelligence Bureau to probe the leads provided by India on the alleged Pakistani links to the terror attack in Pathankot, a report said on Friday.

Sharif gave the directive to the Intelligence Bureau after chairing a high-level meeting here on Thursday, The Nation newspaper reported.

Among those who attended the meeting were Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, National Security Adviser (NSA) Nasser Khan Janjua, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Intelligence Bureau chief Aftab Sultan.

"Officials said the prime minister and the aides agreed to launch investigations into the evidence provided by India," the report said.

Hours earlier, India linked the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan to Islamabad's action against suspected Pakistani terrorists who raided the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on January 2.

The pre-dawn attack left seven Indian security personnel dead. Security forces killed all six attackers.

Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi spoke on the telephone after the terror attack. India said it had provided "actionable" inputs to Pakistan, and Sharif assured Modi of "prompt and decisive" action against groups and individuals who might be linked to the attack.

The Nation quoted an official as saying that the leads provided by India were handed over to IB chief Aftab Sultan for further action.

Addressing the meeting, Sharif said Pakistan was ready to boost cooperation with India as part of counter-terrorism efforts.

Sharif also directed NSA Nasser Khan Janjua to remain in contact with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in a bid to keep renewed dialogue on track.

Another official, however, said the information provided by India was "not enough" as it was just limited to telephone numbers. He said Pakistan might ask for additional information.

"We would like to have solid information to build a case for action. Otherwise courts intervene and the suspects will be bailed out," he added.

Latest World News
Follow us on nawaz sharif orders probe into leads provided by india

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered a probe into the leads provided by India about the Pathankot airbase attack, a media report said on Friday.

He chaired a high-level meeting on Thursday and discussed the attack on the Indian airbase, The Nation reported.

The prime minister and his aides agreed to launch investigations into the evidence provided by India, it said.

A senior official said the leads provided by India were handed over to Intelligence Bureau chief Aftab Sultan for further action.

Another official said the information provided by India was "not enough" as it was just limited to telephone numbers and Pakistan might ask for additional information.

"We would like to have solid information to build a case for action otherwise courts intervene and the suspects will be bailed out," he added.

He said the meeting agreed that strong action would be taken after probe against anyone found guilty of involvement in the attack.

The official said that the meeting also decided to speed up implementation of National Action Plan.

Latest World News
Follow us on scientists in search of intelligent life on planets hosted by globular star clusters

New York: Contradicting current beliefs, a team of researchers, including one from India, has said that globular star clusters that hold a million stars in a ball only about 100 light-years across on average could also host planets with intelligent life.

Globular star clusters are extraordinary in almost every way. Dating back almost to the birth of the Milky Way, they are densely packed with stars. And according to this new research, they also could be extraordinarily good places to look for space-faring civilizations.

"A globular cluster might be the first place in which intelligent life is identified in our galaxy," said lead author Rosanne DiStefano of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CFA) in the US.

Our Milky Way galaxy hosts about 150 globular clusters, most of them orbiting in the galactic outskirts. They formed about 10 billion years ago on average.

As a result, their stars contain fewer of the heavy elements needed to construct planets, since those elements (like iron and silicon) must be created in earlier generations of stars.

Some scientists have argued that this makes globular cluster stars less likely to host planets. In fact, only one planet has been found in a globular cluster to date.

However, DiStefano and her colleague Alak Ray from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, argue that this view is too pessimistic.

"It is premature to say there are no planets in globular clusters," Ray said.

So if habitable planets can form in globular clusters and survive for billions of years, what are the consequences for life should it evolve?

Life would have ample time to become increasingly complex, and even potentially develop intelligence, the researchers said.

Such a civilization would enjoy a very different environment than our own, according to the research.

The nearest star to our solar system is four light-years, or 24 trillion miles, away. In contrast, the nearest star within a globular cluster could be about 20 times closer - just one trillion miles away. This would make interstellar communication and exploration significantly easier.

"We call it the 'globular cluster opportunity'," says DiStefano.

"Sending a broadcast between the stars wouldn't take any longer than a letter from the US to Europe in the 18th century," DiStefano noted.

The research was presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Latest World News
Follow us on syrian refugee allows smugglers to rape his wife as payment

New Delhi: A Syrian man who had run out of money allegedly allowed smugglers to rape his wife as payment for his family being trafficked to Europe.

The unidentified woman and a mother-of-four children, is now believed to be living in Berlin. The woman remains in constant fear that her husband is going to kill her. According to the woman, her husband had run out of money and purportedly volunteered her for payment to smugglers.

Susanne Hohne, the lead psychotherapist at Berlin who treats refugee females, said that the woman displays all symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, including flashbacks, insomnia and has trouble concentrating, media reports quoted her as saying.

Susanne further said that at least 44 women in her care have experienced sexual violence.

Shocking pictures of a drowned toddler emerged in September 2015. The child, thought to be a Syrian, was washed up on a beach. The boat was trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea but drowned because of high waves in the water.

Syria's civil war advocates the worst humanitarian crisis of all time. Families are struggling for safe conditions to live and are forced to make neighbouring countries their new home.

More than 136,000 people have been brutally killed in the war of Syria since March 2011, and millions have migrated to other countries.

Refugee displacement in the Mediterranean countries has gained momentum in recent months. The migration is coupled with thousands of unreported cases of sexual assault on migrant women.

According to a report, more than 2,600 people have died while trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in 2015. Some have drowned while others have been killed in stampedes.

Latest World News
Follow us on gst naidu meets sonia says govt ready for early budget session

New Delhi: As the deadlock over passage of the Good and Services Tax (GST) Bill continues, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and sought cooperation for the early passage of the crucial bill.

He also said that the government was ready for an early Budget session if the parties agree to pass the legislation.

The Union Minister drove down to the residence of Gandhi at 10, Janpath here early today and held discussions with her for about 20 minutes during which the Congress president is learnt to have asked him about the government's view on the three main suggestions given by the Congress on GST.

Sources said Naidu told Gandhi that issues raised by the Congress in respect of GST bill were considered by the government and the government's position was communicated to Congress leaders earlier.

Regarding the Real Estate bill, Naidu told Gandhi that as decided by Congress and other parties, the Bill was referred to a select committee of Rajya Sabha and the government had accepted almost all recommendations of the committee.

Naidu told the Congress President that if required, the government will like to advance the Budget session of Parliament for early passage of these bills if political parties agree to it.

The Congress President is learnt to have told Naidu that she will get back to him after consultations with her party leaders.

The Constitution Amendment bill to roll out GST is stuck in the Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA does not have a majority of its own. The bill is being opposed by Congress although many other opposition parties are on board.

Venkaiah later told reporters that he met Gandhi in his capacity as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister and that he asked the Congress President to take a final stand on the two pending bills.

He said the government has already spoken to Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma in this regard.

"I reminded her (about Congress taking a decision on the issue after meeting the Prime Minister) and asked her to take a quick decision on GST and Real Estate bill," he said.

"I indicated to her and did not make a commitment that if the party takes a positive stand, we can convene the Parliament session early," Naidu said.

Congress is seeking three changes in the bill, including a constitutional cap on the GST rate, to support it.

The other two changes sought by Congress in the GST bill are removal of one per cent additional tax on inter-state transfer of goods and a Supreme Court judge headed dispute resolution panel.

GST, which seeks to simplify and harmonise the indirect tax regime across the country with a single uniform rate, has been stuck for many years in a political gridlock.

While the previous UPA regime failed to get it passed in Parliament due to opposition from the BJP and some other parties, Congress has now refused to support the bill proposed by the NDA government in its present form.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had recently said that the rolling out of the ambitious GST regime is "certainly" doable this year and added that he was in "continuous touch" with the Congress in a bid to persuade them to cooperate.

Jaitley said the passage of GST remains one of his key priority areas for the New Year, along with rationalising the direct taxes and further easing of process for doing business.

With PTI Inputs
Follow us on j k cm sayeed passes away mehbooba mufti set to be new cm

New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed died this morning at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where he was admitted for the past 15 days.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences said he breathed his last at 9.10 am. "We tried to revive him but failed to," an AIIMS spokesperson said.

Mehbooba Mufti, daughter of deceased CM Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and president of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is expected to take over as the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, sources said.

While there is unanimity among the PDP over CM's choice, its main alliance partner BJP has also indicated its support for her elevation to the post.

Updates:

* Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's mortal remains reach his residence in Srinagar.

* J&K government announces 7-day mourning as mark of respect to late CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed

* PM Narendra Modi pays tribute to late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed at Palam Airport

* Going to Srinagar to participate in the last rites of late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed sahab: Rajnath Singh

* I express great shock over his untimely demise, its sad for all of us: J&K Deputy CM Nirmal Singh

* Mufti Mohammad Sayeed will be laid to rest at his ancestral town of Bijbehara later in the day: Abdul Ghani Kohli, J&K Transport Minister

* University of Kashmir & State board of school education postpones all examinations in view of the demise of J&K CM

* We are saddened, he was a hard-working man: Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad

Sayeed, 79, is survived by his wife, three daughters including PDP President Mehbooba Mufti, and a son.

The mortal remains of the Chief Minister would be flown to Srinagar where the body will be kept for people to have the last glimpse of their leader. He is likely be buried in his ancestral village in South Kashmir.

Sayeed was admitted with complaints of fever and neck pain on December 24 after which the doctors at AIIMS diagnosed him to have sepsis, decreased blood counts and pneumonia.

He was in the Intensive Care Unit of AIIMS and during hospitalisation his platelets had dropped dangerously low. For the past few days, the Chief Minister was on a ventilator.

Sayeed took over as chief minister of PDP-BJP coalition on March 1 last year.
Follow us on j k bjp legislature party meeting today to decide on support to mehbooba mufti

Srinagar: The BJP legislature party will meet today to decide on the issue of extending support to PDP president Mehbooba Mufti as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir following the death of incumbent Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

"We are meeting today. A decision on this issue will be conveyed to you later today," BJP state president Sat Sharma told PTI.

The PDP, which is coalition partner of the BJP in the state government, yesterday wrote to Governor N N Vohra about its support to Mehbooba for becoming the next Chief Minister of the state.

The PDP move came following death of Sayeed at AIIMS in Delhi yesterday.

The PDP president can take oath only after the BJP informs the Governor about its support to Mehbooba for becoming the Chief Minister.

BJP, the junior coalition partner which has 25 members in the 87-member Assembly, yesterday made it clear it will go with the PDP's choice.

Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav, who played a pivotal role in stitching up the alliance with the PDP following the hung verdict in assembly elections in 2014, is expected to arrive here later in the day to put the process of new government formation in motion.

Meanwhile, official sources said preparations are being made at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) for the swearing-in ceremony likely to be held later today.

"We do not want to get caught off guard. We are just keeping the venue ready if the swearing in ceremony is taking place any time soon," an official said on the condition of anonymity.
Follow us on keep your mouth shut on islamic state is sympathiser warns owaisi

New Delhi: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi has received threat from a sympathiser of the dreaded terror outfit Islamic State.

The Hyderabad MP said that he has been warned by the ISIS on Twitter to keep his 'mouth shut' but he will not.

"It is better for you to shut your mouth on Islamic State if you don't know the truth. Islamic State will invade India soon," Twitter handle @abotalout, believed to be managed by an ISIS sympathiser, warned Owaisi.

Responding to the tweets, he said that 'ISIS murderers have no right to decide his final destination' and that he doesn't feel the need to lodge a police complaint as the tweets are purely ideological.

"@abotalout sir you are a bloody Takfiri, if you want to debate on evil, ISIS, I am ready. You will not be able to counter my Theological Points," he tweeted.

"@abotalout you can dream so keep dreaming Takfiri read @Shaykhabulhuda book on ISIS will bring y out of Darkness of ISIS Allah give Taufeeq," he said in another tweet.

Owaisi had in recent past condemned the ISIS activities and said that militant group have nothing to do with the Islam or its teachings. He had also described ISIS men 'murderers and rapists'.

Indian Muslim scholars have declared ISIS as 'Khawrij' (rebels of Islam) and they had no right to speak about Islam.

Last, BJP MLA from Sardhana in UP, Sangeet Som, had claimed that he got a threatening call from the ISIS.
Follow us on days after malda incident mamata claims there is no communal tension in bengal

Kolkata: Days after thousands of protestors, most of them Muslims, went on a rampage in Malda district raising concerns of communal tension in the area, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said that there is no communal violence in the state.

Mamata was addressing a gathering at the Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata. Mamata and the Trinamool Congress are hoping to bring in some big-ticket investments into the state which goes to polls later this year.

The state has suffered in terms of flight of capital in view of strong unionism and the alleged high-handedness of the chief minister. There is a vast majority of unemployed youth in the state and setting things in order will require roping in investors to set shop in the state.

Pushing a peaceful image of West Bengal will be crucial to draw such investments. Unity in diversity is the mantra of the TMC regime, Mamata said. She further claimed that Maoist violence has come down in West Bengal.

Even the people residing in the hills are smiling. There is no tension, she said.

The comments gain significance as they come barely four days after violent mobs ransacked a police station in Malda district of West Bengal. The violence began with a 1 lakh-strong crowd protesting against derogatory comments on Prophet Mohammed made by Bharat Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari. It soon spread from a rally organised by the Anjuman Ahle Sunnatul Jamat (ASJ).

However, an ASJ official later claimed that outsiders had masterminded the rampage.

According to a report in The Indian Express, 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.

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.

A suo motu FIR lodged by the police a day later named 30 suspects responsible for causing the riot. 10 were arrested, six of who walked on bail soon after.

The area, in the north Bengal district of Malda bordering Bangladesh is known to be a hub of criminal activities including smuggling, running of counterfeit currency rackets, opium farming and human trafficking. No surprises then that the police station would have housed records of such organised crimes and their destruction would benefit criminals who may be internationally connected.

BJP has attacked the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal over the "rampaging communalism" in Malda, alleging that the accused behind it are indulging in violence under its protection.

The BJP has also accused Banerjee's Trinamool Congress of protecting those behind Sunday's violence.

The Union Home Ministry has already sought a report from the West Bengal government on the Malda violence.

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.
Follow us on no headway on gst venkaiah naidu s meeting with sonia gandhi all optics congress

New Delhi: Logjam today continued over the GST between government and Congress, which dismissed as "all optics" Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu's meeting with party chief Sonia Gandhi to seek her support for its passage and alleged that there is no end to BJP's "obduracy" on the issue.

"What proposal? There is no proposal from the government side. If he had to accept our demands why would Finance Minister Arun Jaitley say that shrinking Congress strength in Rajya Sabha will make GST happen," party spokesperson Kapil Sibal said.

He also rebuffed suggestions that the government accepted the demands of Congress and sent a proposal to Gandhi through Naidu.

Claiming that BJP was not ready for any compromise with the Opposition party on the issue, Sibal said, "RSS and Swadeshi Jagaran Manch have red-flagged the reform measure."

When repeatedly asked why Naidu met Gandhi if there was no forward movement on GST, he said, "This is all optics. Naidu came and met Sonia Gandhi.

They have to show all this. Had there been anything substantial, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Jaitley would have gone on Twitter now.

"Had there been any formal assurance, the Prime Minister would have been the first to speak. The Finance Minister would have gone and said everything on his blog and started tweeting."

A party functionary separately said that the government is resorting to these "optics to divert attention" from Pathankot attack.

With the stalemate continuing over the key economic reform measure, Naidu called on Gandhi seeking her support for its passage and also suggested calling an early Budget Session to pass the pending bills including GST.

This is the second major outreach of the government to the top Congress leadership on the GST bill after Modi had met Gandhi and his predecessor Manmohan Singh over tea at his 7 RCR residence on November 27.

Replying to questions as why Congress is putting hurdles in the GST, Sibal said his party was not doing it but the related issues must be resolved first and reiterated the three demands of Congress including a constitutional cap on the GST rate, to support it.

Asserting that GST is Congress' bill, he wondered why his party will be against it.

"They should answer why Modi then as Gujarat Chief Minister and Jaitley were opposing the GST bill, when the UPA brought it. Why the chief ministers of BJP were opposing it?

"We are not opposing the bill. We are saying that we have certain demands, which you accept. They will not make any compromise on their stand on GST because the RSS and Swadeshi Jagaran Manch have red-flagged it long back," Sibal said.
Follow us on pdp writes to governor mehbooba mufti set to be first woman cm of jammu kashmir

Srinagar: Ruling PDP president Mehbooba Mufti is set to be the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, succeeding her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who passed away on Thursday, with party MLAs unanimously electing her as their leader and writing to Governor N N Vohra in this regard.

A party delegation met the Governor at Raj Bhavan in Srinagar and handed over the letter which says that the PDP legislators back the 56-year-old Mehbooba to take over as the 13th Chief Minister of the state, a senior PDP leader said.

He said the selection of Ms. Mehbooba, a Lok Sabha member, as the leader of 28-member PDP Legislature party was a unanimous decision.

The party leader, however, did not specify the date or time for her swearing-in.

"It will follow in due course of time as we are still in the process of performing last rites of our beloved leader," the PDP leader said.

Earlier, BJP, which is the coalition partner in the state government, left it to PDP to choose its nominee for the post of Chief Minister.

"As the BJP has left it to the PDP to select its Chief Ministerial nominee, decks seem to have been cleared for Mehbooba to become the first woman Chief Minister of the state," the PDP leader said.

"As far as PDP is concerned, we are unanimous that Mehbooba shall succeed Mufti Sahib," senior PDP leader and Lok Sabha member Muzaffar Hussain Baig told reporters soon after the demise of the Chief Minister in AIIMS in Delhi after a prolonged illness.

Ms. Mehbooba is currently member of Lok Sabha, representing Anantnag Constituency of Kashmir.

The BJP, the junior coalition partner which has 25 members in the 87-member Assembly, made it clear it will go with the PDP's choice.

"It is for PDP to decide who will be their leader...Our alliance is with PDP," BJP vice president and its Jammu and Kashmir in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna told PTI when asked about his party's stand on Ms. Mehbooba succeeding her father.

Ms. Mehbooba has had her share of detractors in the saffron ranks for several reasons, including her passionate espousal of her party's 'self-rule' concept, which used to be dubbed "as soft separatism" by many in the BJP.

Sources said the sudden death of Sayeed leaves BJP with little choice but to go with his obvious successor.

"It was one thing for her to take over from her father when he was still around and totally another when he is gone.

She is the obvious choice," they said, adding that both parties had invested a lot in bringing about an alliance that was seen as improbable.

Sayeed had crafted an unlikely alliance with BJP helping it share power for the first time in the Muslim majority state in March last year.

Ms. Mehbooba, who has assumed the image of a fiery leader, started her political career in 1996 by joining Congress along with her father.

The mother of two daughters won her first Assembly polls as Congress candidate from her home segment of Bijbehara.

Ms. Mehbooba played a key role in her father's victory as Congress candidate in Lok Sabha elections of 1998 when Sayeed defeated NC's Mohammad Yousuf Taing from south Kashmir.

The Muftis, along with some key associates, floated their own regional party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999.

In 2002 Assembly elections, PDP bagged 16 seats and Sayeed for the first time became Chief Minister with the support of Congress and some independent MLAs.

In 2004, Ms. Mehbooba contested and won her first Lok Sabha election from Anantnag.

In 2008, she contested Assembly polls and was elected from Wachi segment of Shopian in south Kashmir when PDP bagged 21 seats but lost power to NC-Congress coalition.

In May 2014, she was yet again won Lok Sabha polls from Anantnag.

Later in November-December Assembly elections, PDP got 28 seats and in March 2015 it formed its second government in Jammu and Kashmir this time in an alliance with BJP.

Ms. Mehbooba has never lost an election from South Kashmir so far.
Police have charged a 25-year-old Chattanooga man with rape after getting a DNA match tying him to the crime scene.

Arrested in the incident that took place Sept. 23, 2014, was Joshua Orlandus Wells.

Police were summoned to Memorial Hospital, where a woman had arrived saying she had been raped inside her vehicle at an unknown location.

She said she did not remember too many details of the incident because she had taken one and a half Xanax pills.

She said she was at the Brainerd Walmart when she saw two black males she did not know. She said she was unsure if they spoke to her first or she spoke first.

She said they left together and she followed them to several locations. She said finally one of the men got into her vehicle and drove her to an unknown location.

She said he stopped at what appeared to be a dark alley. He turned off the ignition and locked the doors.

The woman said she said "no" when he told her to take off her clothes.

She said he proceeded to hit her in the right temple, pull down her pants and rape her.

A full sexual exam was performed on the woman at the hospital. The findings were sent to the TBI Lab.

Police said during the processing "a CODIS match was found to belong to Joshua Wells."


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The immediate past Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, has urged politicians in Benue State to focus on issues that will affect people positively instead of dissipating their energy on campaign of calumny.

Moro specifically warned those attacking former Senate President David Mark ahead of the rerun election in Benue South senatorial district to desist, saying because he cannot be distracted by the antics of a few disgruntled elements, whose stock in trade is to spread falsehood.

The ex-minister, who is the director-general of the Senator David Mark Campaign Organisation, said: We are concerned with the rerun in Benue South, as ordered by the tribunal.

A few uninformed persons have engaged in spreading falsehood that 16 years of Mark in the Senate did not benefit the Idoma. History will judge.

Mark is not just another senator, he is a man who stood to be counted when it mattered. He presided over the Senate that stabilised democracy through the invocation of the Doctrine of Necessity and saved politics from disaster.

Im confident that the Idoma man and woman, who appreciate the worth of Mark, will neither betray nor let him down. He is the choice. A Daniel Onjeh cannot be an option for the Idoma nation.

He continued: Noting can be farther from the truth. Mark remains the only individual who has been consistent with scholarship awards to Benue State students since 2005. At the moment, 20,000 students have been given scholarship.

In 2008, he built and donated a multi-million naira complex to the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Otukpo study centre.

For his effective representation in the Senate, he attracted the multi-billion naira Otobi Water Dam project that will solve water problem in the zone.

In addition, the dam will improve electricity supply and thousands of people will be employed.

The multi-billion naira Oweto/Loko Bridge in Benue South is nearing completion. When completed, movement of goods will be enhanced and it will boost the economy.

In fact, a journey from Otukpo to Abuja would have been reduced from seven hours to just two and a half hours.

Nobody can undermine the importance of education which Senator Mark made his pet project. It was under his effective representation that the Federal Government approved the Federal University of Health Sciences in Otukpo.

He has influenced the appointment of Benue sons and daughters into federal boards and parastatals.

The attack on Senator Mark is uncharitable. I dont understand why somebody with conscience will say he has not done anything for his people.

Yet, our brothers from the other side of the divide still complain that federal appointments and projects go to Benue South.

I think there is a limit to treachery. No amount of falsehood will change facts.

If the campaign of calumny is about the rerun in Benue South, I can say boldly that the promoters have failed because the Idoma nation will not yield to blackmail. They know that Senator Mark is our choice.
While couples in China are welcoming the end of the nations decades-long one-child policy, private companies seem to be reacting to the news with ludicrous new policies regarding maternity leave. Theyre actually asking female employees to submit an application of pregnancy, seeking the companys approval to become a parent up to a year in advance.

It seems that these companies are introducing reproductive schedules to avoid too many maternity leaves arising from simultaneous pregnancies. A woman who recently applied for a job in northeast Chinas Jilin Province was told that if recruited, shed have to apply for pregnancy approval at least a year in advance, and wait for her turn to become a mother. Its out of helplessness that we regulate this, she quoted the companys HR department as having told her. After the easing of the one-child policy, many of our working staff say that they want a second child. But from the management side, we need to take the interest of the company into consideration.

Another company in Chinas Henan province issued its employees a rather controversial notice that stated: An employee birth plan has been established and will be strictly enforced. Employees who do not give birth according to the plan and whose work is impacted will face a one-time fine of 1,000 yuan and will not be considered for promotion. The notice added that women who gave birth outside the schedule may also have to forego their year-end bonuses.

Mr. Zhang, a manager at a private company in China, explained to the media how overlapping maternity leaves could affect his organisation. There are six women at my department in total, and three of them are now pregnant, he said. Because of limited budget, its almost impossible to recruit new people; thus some other colleagues may need to take extra work during the leave of pregnant workers. According to some news reports, the policy to fine women who dont get pregnant on schedule isnt legal yet. But in a country where 64 percent of the workforce is made up of women, experts say that laws protecting pregnant workers arent always enforced. In the meantime, citizens who are aware of the nations labour laws are taking to social media to express their outrage.

Oddity Central.
When George Pickering II learned the hospital in which his comatose son was being cared for planned to take him off life support, he did the only thing he could think of: He loaded a gun and held hospital staff hostage until they changed their plans. While his actions may be considered extreme, they ended up saving his sons life. George Pickering III was declared brain dead after suffering a massive stroke in January. He spent months on life support at Tomball Regional Medical Center in Texas before hospital staff decided there was nothing more they could do for him. They ordered a terminal wean to slowly take the 27-year-old off life support. Fifty-nine-year-old Pickering II, however, was convinced his son wasnt brain dead and was determined to show the hospital staff he was right.

They were saying he was brain dead, he was a vegetable, said Pickering II, according to KRPC. They were moving too fast. The hospital, the nurses, the doctors. In an act of desperation Pickering II pulled out a 9-millimeter handgun while standing at his sons bedside. Eyewitnesses said he yelled, Ill kill all of you, as he pointed the weapon at hospital workers, KRPC reported. Although a SWAT team was able to quickly disarm him, it wasnt until three hours later that he felt his son squeeze his hand on command, and subsequently agreed to leave the bedside.

Pickering II was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He admitted to being drunk and acting aggressively, but pleaded his reasoning was out of desperation to save his sons life. At that point I had blinders on. All I knew I just needed to have this time with George, he said.

Pickering III eventually awoke from his coma, and today hes fully recovered from the incident. As for his dads actions on that day, he had this to say: There was a law broken, but it was broken for all the right reasons. Im here now because of it. It was love, it was love. In a statement to KRPC, the hospital claims that although it will recommend plans of care for patients, it is up to the appropriate decision-maker to decide whether or not to go ahead with the recommended care plan. However, due to privacy issues, the hospital did not disclose who Pickering IIs decision-maker was.

MSN News.
A truck-bomb attack on a police training centre in a western town in Libya has killed at least 65 people, according to hospital and police officials. Witnesses said on Thursday the truck crashed into the gate of the police academy in the coastal city of Zliten, about 160km east of the capital, Tripoli.

Zliten Mayor Miftah Lahmadi told Reuters news agency the truck exploded as hundreds of recruits were gathering at the academy. The UN Special representative to Libya, Martin Kobler, said the blast was a suicide attack. No one has claimed responsibility for the assault. Libyan news agency LANA, meanwhile, reported at least 50 people died. The news agency quoted the director of the towns hospital, Abdel-Motleb bin Halim, saying 127 had been wounded.

Meanwhile, fires caused by clashes between fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and security forces at Libyas biggest oil ports have spread to five oil storage tanks that were still burning. At least nine troops were killed and more than 40 wounded in fighting around the perimeter of the area on Monday and Tuesday, said Ali al-Hassi, a spokesman for the security forces.

Aljazeera.
Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday stormed the residence of the immediate past Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko, in Abuja.

The EFCC operatives arrived at the house located at 6, Ahmed Musa Crescent, Jabi, at about 7 a.m., the News Agency of Nigeria reported.

Recall that Dikko resigned on August 18, 2015 after putting in six years as the head of Customs, one of Nigerias major source of revenue after oil and gas.

It was learnt that the former customs boss was not at home at the time of raid even as the mission of the personnel was not disclosed to any member of the family who were at home at the time of the raid.

Armed officials of EFCC were still around the property by Friday noon, NAN said.

The agency quoted an armed police at the house as saying that they were deployed to ensure there was no breakdown of law and order.

The report also quoted Mohammed Usman, a relative to the former Customs boss, as saying that the EFCC operatives arrived at the residence at about 7 a.m.

According to him, about seven operatives searched different sections of the property for documents.

A team of about seven operatives of the EFCC in company with some armed policemen arrived at the residence at about 7am and have been in the house for the past five hours.

From the information available to me, no search warrant was presented before the commencement of the search.

As I speak to you, they are currently in my uncles bedroom carrying out the search in his absence, he said.

Mr. Usman faulted the search on the ground that the operation was being carried out in the absence of the former comptroller-general.

The only people in the house at the commencement of this search and even till now are his children who are below the ages of 18, he said.

When contacted, Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC Spokesman said that he had not been informed of the search on the former comptroller -generals residence.

(NAN)
The federal government yesterday disclosed that it had finalized plans to help resettle internally displaced persons, IDPs, in the North-East.

The Minister of Interior, Abdulraman Dambazau, made the disclosure on Thursday when he received a delegation of the West Africa Conflict and Security team in his office in Abuja.

Dambazau said winning the war against terrorism is important as well as winning the peace after the war is over.

He posited that: The military has been up and doing in dealing with insurgency in the North-East but it doesnt stop at the success of the military operation. There are two parts to it; winning the war and winning the peace.

To win the peace, there must be smooth transition between winning the war and the re-establishment of governance in those areas where the war has been won. This is where the ministry of interior comes in.

Dambazau also assured that the ministry will do everything possible to provide stability in the region after the successes of the military.

Already, we have gotten the request and we are working on it to deploy the Police and Civil Defence in that region.

We have to look at governance as a whole and we will ensure that lives and properties are well protected and people at that area feel safe particularly those who are currently in IDP camps to be able to resettle back to their homes.

Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Catherine Weiss, said they were in the country to continue discussion on how to develop security stabilization in Nigeria.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Weiss said: We came here today to discuss further work that is ongoing since 2014 on security stabilization in Nigeria.

We talked about a roundtable that was held at the National Defence College in 2014, looking at insecurity mapping and sharing experiences from Northern Ireland and we are delighted at the conversation that we had this morning with the Minister about how we can work together going forward on this important issue in Nigeria.

We are going to hold a round table in early February and we like to continue working with the different Services [in the Ministry of Interior] and the Armed Forces on these issues.
Monday Hounga, the 28-year-old-man, who was believed to have killed his live-in lover, Cecelia Joseph, and fled to Benin Republic, has voluntarily submitted himself to the police.

Hounga claimed that he and Cecelia were attacked by a three-man gang on Christmas Day, adding that the armed men stabbed 21-year-old Joseph to death and ripped open his stomach.

He said after he was rejected by four hospitals in Nigeria, a relative got a cab which took him to Porto Novo, Benin, on the fateful day, where he underwent a life-saving operation.

Hounga said he decided against medical advice to risk his health and submit to the police after he learnt that he had been declared wanted for murder.

The 28-year-old had been declared wanted by the Interpol for allegedly killing Cecelia in Raji Rasaki Estate, in the FESTAC Town area of Lagos State.

Our correspondent had reported that the suspect and Cecelia had had a disagreement on Christmas day which culminated in a bloody fight during which the victim was stabbed to death.

The Lagos State Police Command had contacted Interpol to assist with the arrest of the suspect, after he was said to have escaped to Benin Republic.

The police later released a statement saying it had arrested a woman, Taiye Ganiyu, and one Sodjinou Singbo, for aiding his escape.

However, PUNCH Metro was told that Hounga surrendered himself to the police in Benin on January 1, 2016, and was transferred to the FESTAC Police Division the next day.

The matter was immediately transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba.

The suspect told our correspondent he had never had a fight with Cecelia in the house he rented in Raji Rasaki Estate.

While Hounga is an iron bender , Cecelia worked in a shop in Mile 2 as a hairdresser.

Hounga said, We have known each other for more than 10 years now. We met while in the primary school. Although we attended different primary schools, we usually met during inter-house competitions and that was when we started dating.

I rented the apartment where we lived and we had been living together for more than one year. We would have been married, but her parents said she should get pregnant for me first.

On December 25, around 12.30am, while we were both asleep, she (Cecelia) suddenly shouted, Monday, help me. As I opened my eyes, I woke up to see a gun pointed at my head. The intruders were three, but only one carried a gun. He said if I shouted, he would blast my head off.

They stabbed me in the hand and in the wrist when I tried to struggle with them. They later stabbed me in the stomach. I forced myself to pull out the knife from my stomach. When I checked Cecelia, she was dead.

He said the landlord of the house and a few other people later arrived and put him in a tricycle which took him to a nearby hospital where he was rejected.

He said he was also taken to the FESTAC Police Station, where he was issued a police report to enable him get quick treatment.

However, around 4am, after being rejected at a general hospital and two other places, a relative was said to have suggested that he should be taken to the Porto Novo Hospital in Benin.

The doctors at the hospital were said to have operated on him, before placing him on admission.

He said, I was on admission when I heard in the news that I killed Cecelia. Here was somebody I loved so much and would many times kneel to beg whenever we had issues. Why would I kill her?

Hounga explained that Cecelia had once separated from him after she was impregnated by another man, whom she claimed her family supported.

He said after a few years with the man, she returned to him, adding that she had two stillbirths for the former boyfriend.

She came back in 2014 and because of the love I had for her, I accepted her. Despite what happened, I have not stopped loving her and if I get out of this case, I dont think I will ever love any woman like I loved her, he said.

However, the elder sister of the victim, Titilayo Joseph, denied that Hounga and Cecelia lived together, saying that her sister was staying with her in Mazamaza.

She said, Cece (Cecelia) lived with me and not him. She would go to work in the morning and return home at evening.

I called her on December 24 to know why she was not at home and she said the Yuletide season had kept her busy at work.

On December 25, she came home to pick something and my neighbours said they saw her. I was sick and couldnt go out.

I was at home on December 26 when I received a call that she had a fight with her boyfriend and he had stabbed her to death.

He claimed they were attacked by robbers; were they the only one living in that compound? Why was she the only one that was stabbed to death? Why didnt he raise the alarm?

Titilayo said the family was not aware of the relationship, urging the police to bring the killer of her sister to justice.

A source said the police would accommodate all witnesses and sieve the evidence to arrive at the truth.

He said, It was a miracle that he survived because all his entrails were out. One of the doctors in the hospitals he was rushed to has made statement to corroborate Houngas story.

The Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, ASP Aliyu Giwa, confirmed the arrest.

He added that the police would get to the roots of the case and give justice to the deceased.

Source: Punch
The Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival will celebrate its silver anniversary with the 2016 event set for Saturday through Sunday, at the Hiwassee Refuge.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is the primary sponsor for the festival and many staff members and volunteers will again be contributing their services. For the fifth year, Olin Chlor Alkali Products is the corporate sponsor for the festival. The festival is a celebration of the thousands of sandhill cranes that migrate through or spend the winter on and around the Hiwassee Refuge in Birchwood as well as an opportunity to focus attention on the rich wildlife heritage of the state and the Native American history of the area.

Beginning in the early 1990s, the recovering population of eastern sandhill cranes began stopping at the Hiwassee Refuge on their way to and from their wintering grounds in Georgia and Florida. TWRA has been managing this refuge for more than 60 years for waterfowl, and the cranes found a perfect combination of feeding and shallow water roosting habitat. As many as an estimated 12,000 of these birds now spend the entire winter at the confluence of the Hiwassee and Tennessee rivers.

Free bus shuttle service will be available from the Birchwood Community Center to the Hiwassee Refuge and Cherokee Removal Memorial Park each day beginning at 8 a.m. No public parking is available at the refuge.

Various vendors will be at the Birchwood Community Center beginning at 8 a.m In addition, breakfast will be available for purchase at the community center each day from 7-8 a.m. and lunch will be available from 11:30 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Music, special programs, and childrens activities will be ongoing throughout each day. The American Eagle Foundation will be present for its always-popular live raptor show each day with times at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. There will be a new presentation this year, Birding Makes Cents (and Dollars): The Economic Impact of Birding and Bird Festivals which will be held Jan. 16 at 1 p.m.

An official welcome and live music will start the programs each day at 11 a.m. TWRA Information and Education Division Chief Don King, also a Nashville recording artist and friends will perform each day. Traditional heritage music led by Tom Morgan, Lynn Haas with friends will also perform in the morning and afternoon and will include a special childrens music appreciation program each morning.

The group, South Wind, will perform from noon until 12:45 on Saturday.

The nearby Cherokee Removal Memorial will feature Native American folklore specialists. They will present performances, artifacts and objects used in everyday life by Native American inhabitants in the Hiwassee River area.

Along with the wildlife viewing at the refuge, wildlife and birding experts will be on hand. They will provide visitors with a unique educational experience by sharing viewing scopes and information.

The Hiwassee Refuge comprises about 6,000 acres. The Birchwood Community Center is only three miles from the wildlife-viewing site at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge. The Cherokee Removal Memorial is found just to the side of the refuge near the Tennessee River.

Other Sandhill Crane Festival partners include the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, Tennessee Ornithological Society, Birchwood Area Society Improvement Council, Cherokee Removal Memorial Park, American Eagle Foundation, Chattanooga Chapter TOS, Meigs County Tourism, and Rhea County Tourism.
The Senate on Thursday said it would not take any decision on oil subsidy that would aggravate the suffering of Nigerians.

Spokesperson of the Senate, Sen. Aliyu Sabi, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Sabi said that the upper chamber had not taken a decision on removal of subsidy, adding that the chamber would not support any move that would put further pressure on Nigerians.

As much as I will say, the senate has not come up with a position on that (subsidy removal); if you we are going to remove subsidy or increase Value Added Tax (TAX), we must strike a balance.

We cannot be putting too much pressure on the masses. The masses are in pains right now and we are surely going to do things that will ease that pain, he said.

Sabi said that subsidy in itself was not injurious because even the advanced countries provided subsidies to make life bearable for their citizens.

He, however, said that the major problem with subsidy implementation in the country was corruption.

If we can deal with corruption for instance, what stops us from making sure that we look at the entire management framework of the subsidy?

On oil benchmark, the senate spokesman said the red chamber would note the advice by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) when considering the 2016 Appropriation Bill.

He said that the lawmakers would give priority to the consideration of the bill when they return from recess.

He said that with emphasis on non-oil revenue and the political will to block leakages, the nations economy would rebound. (NAN).
The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Demcoratic Party, PDP, and its All Progressives Congress, APC, counterpart have engaged in a war of words over the arrest of the formers national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Mr. Metuh was invited by the EFCC to clear the air on some contentious issues on Tuesday and since then, has remained in custody of the anti-graft agency.

Reacting to the plight of its spokesperson, the Lagos PDP accused the governing APC on instigating the persecution of Metuh.

In a statement by its publicity secretary, Mr. Taofik Gani, the party noted that the arrest of Metuh is only being made convenient by the issue of money allegedly involved.

The PDP accused the APC of its resolve to clamp down on the PDP publicity office superintended by the now arrested Metuh.

But in a swift reaction, the APC in Lagos State described the PDPs allegation as unfounded.

Publicity Secretary of the APC in Lagos, Mr. Joe Igbokwe said opposition must be real opposition and not band of looters of the common patrimony. They must not be wreckers of Nigeria and not partakers in the destruction of everything we hold dear.

PDP can be a real opposition if it chooses to be, but you cannot give what you do not have. The APC is not stopping PDP, but it must first of all, redeem itself. PDP must re-examine itself and call a spade, a spade. The PDP needs our help, he added.
Working up a credit score for Walter Cavanagh has got to be a mathematical nightmare  the man has nearly 1,500 valid credit cards to his name and holds the Guinness record for the most credit cards. Mr. Plastic Fantastic  a title conferred on him by Guinness World Records  is also the proud owner of the worlds longest wallet. It stretches 250 feet, weighs 38 pounds, and can hold 800 cards. But he uses it only to carry a few cards, while the rest are safely stowed in bank safe-deposit boxes.

Cavanagh started collecting credit cards in the late 1960s. Me and a buddy in Santa Clara, Calif., made a silly bet: the guy who could collect the most credit cards by the end of the year would win dinner, he recalled. I was fresh from the Peace Corps and I got 143 cards by the end of the year. My friend gathered 138.

After winning that bet, Cavanagh decided to simply keep going with his bizarre collection. He got credit cards from gas stations, airlines, bars, and even a Texas ice cream store  all with varying limits, some as low as $50. Hes got a few antique cards back from when credit cards were made of paper and aluminum and he recently inherited a sterling silver card from the Mapes Hotel, Renos first hotel-casino. Its a collectors item with unlimited credit privileges.

If theres one card missing from Cavanaghs epic collection, its that from the long defunct J.J. Newberry Co. They denied him a card in the early 1970s, even though hed collected over 100 by then. They said I had too much credit. And to this day I dont have a Newberry card in my collection, he said. Cavanagh hasnt stopped applying for new cards  hes held the Guinness Record since 1971 and has no intention of letting go of it. He copies whole pages from a U.S. directory of businesses and keeps sending applications. If he receives a rejection, he now writes back to the company explaining his goal and intentions. But he doesnt count expired cards in his total collection.

Thanks to all the cards to his name, Cavanagh has access to about $1.7 million at any moment. Despite this privilege, he has managed to maintain an excellent credit score. Its nearly perfect, he said, proudly. I use only one card and I pay it off at the end of the month. But you should see the length of my credit report  wow!

via ABC News and OCentral
The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, on Friday described the continued detention of the National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, as unhealthy for the nations democracy.

Ekweremadu, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser (Media), Mr. Uche Anichukwu, decried what he termed the trampling of the opposition and total disregard for the rule of law in the guise of anti-corruption war.

He reiterated the PDPs support for what he called a genuine anti-graft crusade.

The deputy Senate president, however, deplored a situation where such crusade became a calculated attempt to decimate and silence the opposition, while members of the ruling party with serious corruption allegations went about their businesses.

The deputy Senate president expressed fear that Nigeria was fast descending into authoritarianism.

The continued detention of the PDP mouthpiece was an attempt to gag the opposition and, therefore, unhealthy for democracy.

An anti-graft trap that catches only members of the opposition and those with axe to grind with the government of the day is compromised, Senator Ekweremadu was quoted as saying in the statement.

He called on the citizenry to denounce and resist the prevailing situation where people were held in custody against the directives of the courts and laws of the land.

Ekweremadu pointed out that there would be no justice without the rule of law.
Vanguard

Release or charge our son to court, Metuhs family tells FG

FOUR days after the arrest of the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, his family has cried out, demanding that he should be released or charged to court.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/release-or-charge-our-son-to-court-metuhs-family-tells-fg/

Punch

Well invest in science, tech educationBuhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said his administrations goal of ensuring safety of lives and property as well as encouraging economic stability could best be achieved if the country embraced science and technology.

http://www.punchng.com/well-invest-in-science-tech-education-buhari/

The Sun

Bayelsa poll: Armed men bomb speakers house Speaker of Bayelsa House of Assembly, Kombowei Benson, has claimed that masked men yesterday morning, in Korokorosei bombed his country home, 48 hours to the supplementary election in Southern Ijaw Local Government and 101 polling units in the state.

Thisday Jonathan, Commonwealth Secretary-General Meet, Discuss Credible Elections Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday paid a courtesy call on the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, at its headquarters at Marlborough House. http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/jonathan-commonwealth-secretary-general-meet-discuss-credible-elections/229776/ Daily Times Edo commences recruitment of 5,000 teachers The Edo state government has commenced the process of recruiting 5,000 teachers for its public primary and secondary schools, Mr. Gideon Obakhan, the states Commissioner for Education, has said. http://dailytimes.com.ng/edo-commences-recruitment-5000-teachers/ Daily Trust Senates 3 bills in 7 months So far, only three bills have been passed by the Senate since the inauguration of the Upper Chamber seven months ago. Our correspondent looks at the task head of the Red Chamber as the lawmakers resume for the second leg of the 2015 /2016 legislative year

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/politics/senate-s-3-bills-in-7-months/127801.html
A woman in India suffered a shoulder injury when she was struck by a falling ball of frozen matter believed to be human waste from an airplane toilet. Witnesses said Rajrani Gaud, 60, was struck in the shoulder Dec. 17 by a block of ice believed to contain human urine and feces dropped from an airplane flying over Aamkhoh village in Madhya Pradesh.

I was only 25 feet away from the spot where the monster came crashing down. Children and villagers witnessed the fall and then heard screams. We ran towards Rajranis house and referred her to hospital, Deepak Jain, a government school teacher in Aamkhoh village, told the Times of India. Jain said the woman narrowly avoided incurring more serious injuries.

The ice ball hit the roof first. Otherwise, it would have smashed her skull, he said. Aviation experts suggested the falling object may have been blue ice, a term referring to waste dropped from an airplane lavatory. They said liquid waste may have leaked from a plane and froze on its way down to earth.

District officials said they did not open an investigation into the incident as it hadnt been officially reported, but aviation consultant Bimal Kumar Srivastava said he reported the object to the director general of civil aviation and the director general of the India Meteorological Department. A New Zealand woman said her house was covered in poo she believed to have fallen from an airplane in September 2014, and a Pennsylvania Sweet 16 party came to an abrupt end in May 2015 when suspected airplane bathroom waste rained down from above.

UPI.
Saudi Arabia does not foresee war with its arch-foe Iran despite heightened tensions between the regional heavyweights, its deputy crown prince was quoted as saying. Saudi Arabia severed relations with Iran after an attack on its embassy in Tehran on Sunday following the kingdoms execution of Shia religious leader Nimr al-Nimr, who was put to death along with 46 mostly Sunni Muslims convicted on terrorism charges.

Asked about the possibility of war, Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the Economist magazine: It is something that we do not foresee at all, and whoever is pushing towards that is somebody who is not in their right mind. Because a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the beginning of a major catastrophe in the region For sure we will not allow any such thing.

The deputy crown prince, widely thought to wield considerable power in the monarchy, also defended the kingdoms execution of Nimr in the interview with the London-based magazine. The court did not at all make any distinction between whether or not a person is Shia or Sunni. They are reviewing a crime, and a procedure, and a trial, and a sentence, and carrying out the sentence, Prince Mohammed said.

Tensions between the two regional powerhouses  which support opposite sides in the war in Yemen and Syria  have risen in recent days. Regional Sunni nations have backed Saudi in the current diplomatic crisis. Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia deteriorated even further on Thursday as Tehran severed all commercial ties with Riyadh.

Aljazeera.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara yesterday visited one of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, where he donated food items and clothing materials.

Dogara, who was accompanied by some members of the Green Chamber, also assured the IDPs in Wassa camp of the lawmakers resolve to bring the insurgency to an end in the nearest future.

According to him, as leaders who enjoyed the votes of the people, we cannot sleep over your plights in the camps.

The Speaker said the visit was informed by his concern to their plight and to personally appraise the living conditions of the IDPs in Abuja.

Such visit would also be made to the camps outside the nations capital as soon possible as a palliative intervention, Dogara added.

Items donated by the Speaker for the four Abuja IDP camps were: 250 bags of rice, 550 bags of maize, 600 bags of millet, 200 cartons of noodles, 80 bags of sugar, 250 bags of beans, 100 bags of table salt, 100 jerry cans of vegetable oil, 700 units of Super Print wax and 700 units of brocade material.

Receiving the items on behalf of the other camps, chairman of the Wassa camp, Hamman Bukar, commended the lawmakers for the gesture.

He, however, appealed to the Speaker to champion the provision of basic amenities like potable water, schools and hospitals in the camps, the absence of which is making life difficult for the IDPs.
President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of using his anti-corruption fight to witch hunt members of the opposition PDP. PDP claims Buharis fight against corruption is a ploy to silence the opposition. Looking at this allegation, INFORMATION NIGERIA has put together 4 reasons why even if the allegation is true, Buhari should carry on anyways

 The fight against corruption no matter whom it affects must start from someone. Looters shouldnt be allowed to go free just because they are members of the opposition and because critics will see it as witch hunting.

 Buhari will do all he can to ensure he doesnt use public funds for personal purposes, because the opposition will also come after him when he leaves office.

 Fighting this anti-corruption war means Buhari has set a precedence for prosecuting looters which will be copied by administrations after him.

 The opposition PDP also has the opportunity to fish out corrupt APC officials and report them to the EFCC, so they can be equally prosecute.

Do you agree???
Gates Foundation donates $1B to prioritize math education AP - 30 minutes ago The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced Wednesday that it is making grants of more than a $1 billion as part of a sweeping national plan to improve math education over the next four years. Its goal:... $SPX : 3,712.68 (-0.20%) $DOWI : 30,554.99 (+0.10%) $IUXX : 11,169.39 (+0.19%)

Grain is piling, not exporting Heartland Investor Services Inc. - 55 minutes ago The grain is coming fast from the 2022 harvest, and it's piling up on the shores of the Mississippi, maintaining pressure on the grain complex.

Bears in Command Monica Kingsley - 56 minutes ago S&P 500 had arguably made a local top  formed a black body candle with sizable lower knot, which Im looking to get follow through selling today, and on tomorrows set of (likely disappointing)...

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Feed Me The PRICE Futures Group - 1 hour ago The Biden administration is now talking about another release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), just in time for the midterm elections. Rumors are circulating that they plan to release 10 million...
ALDI will host a hiring event for its Chattanooga, Cleveland and Hixson-area Tennessee stores and Dalton and Fort Oglethorpe-area Georgia stores on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 1:30-5:30 p.m. at Hampton Inn & Suites, 2014 Hamilton Place Blvd. in Chattanooga.

"The hiring event is in support of the ongoing growth of ALDI in the area, offering customers the ALDI brand promise of high-quality grocery items at impossibly low prices," officials said.

Opportunities include store associate and shift manager positions. Store associate positions pay $11.50 per hour. Shift manager positions pay $11.50 per hour base pay plus $4 per hour premium when performing manager duties.



Job Requirements:

 Must be 18 years or older to apply;



 High school diploma or GED;



 Must be available to work anytime between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., Monday - Sunday;



 Retail experience preferred;



 Drug screening and background check; and



 Ability to lift 45 pounds.



Quick Facts:

 ALDI offers employees wages and benefits that are higher than the national average for the retail industry;



 Employees averaging more than 25 hours a week are eligible for full health insurance benefits and dental coverage; and



 All employees are invited to participate in the 401(k) program.


Former PayPal comrades Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk have gotten the band back together to fund a $1 billion effort around artificial intelligence.

The initiative, known as OpenAI, is a nonprofit research company focused on investigating how AI can benefit human life. In the words of OpenAI itself: "Our goal is to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return."

Musk, along with Sam Altman of Y Combinator are the co-founders of the project, while Hoffman and Thiel front an effort committing $1 billion in investments for the center. AI research scientist Ilya Sutskever, who has been in the employ of the Google collective known as the "brain team" for the last three years, is on board as research director.

A relatively unprecedented undertaking, this move comes on the heels of an open letter signed by many in the scientific community expressing concern with the potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence. In fact, just last year Musk donated $10 million to the organization that penned the letterthe Future of Life Institutefor a program specifically tasked with addressing this very issue. In turn, the institute distributed $7 million in grant money last year to researchers exploring different questions related to AI. Paul Allen is another philanthropists who's interested in artificial intelligence. The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation backs research into this area through its Allen Distinguished Investigator awards.

Related:

Musk, in particular, has spoken quite a bit recently on the potential implications of AI down the road, and he's keen on getting out ahead on this issue. In the past, Musk has referred to AI has humanity's "biggest existential threat." Regarding his decision to open the center, he said, "We could sit on the sidelines... or we could participate with the right structure with people who care deeply about developing AI in a way that is safe and is beneficial to humanity."

While we expect more philanthropic dollars from Musk and others to go toward AI work, it's interesting to see this area attract big impact investment capital. That certainly fits the interests of tech types, many of whom are looking beyond traditional philanthropy in approaching major problems.

The structure of OpenAI is another example of the blurring lines in the social sector. It's a nonprofit, but also a private company, a setup that tracks with some of the organizational models we've been seeing in Silicon Valley, like the Chan/Zuckerberg Initiative, the Emerson Collective run by Laurene Powell Jobs, and the Omidyar Network.

Related: Will Omidyarism Conquer Philanthropy?

One explanation for how OpenAI is structured is Musk's hesitancy about balancing the interests of shareholders with what he views as the public goodper OpenAI's website: "Since our research is free from financial obligations, we can better focus on a positive human impact. We believe AI should be an extension of individual human wills and, in the spirit of liberty, as broadly and evenly distributed as possible."

And just as long as real AI doesn't turn out like it does in the movies, that should be just fine.


Policymakers at the Peoples Bank of China set the yuan daily reference rate slightly higher today after revealing that total costs related to open market interventions in December exceeded $100 billion. The mounting cost of defending both Chinas currency and its equity markets now threatens to undermine confidence of investors spurred by the banks massive foreign currency reserves. Separately, state media outlets today reported that Chinas State Administration of Foreign Exchange has instructed banks to limit dollar purchases in a further attempt to stem capital outflows. Meanwhile, the wild ride for stocks continued with the Shanghai Composite index vacillating between a nearly 3 percent rise and a 2 percent retreat within 15 minutes of the open.

SNB assets tumble on currency moves. The Swiss National Bank released data today indicating that total losses incurred last year after abandoning a currency band were in excess of $20 billion. Despite the drawdown in currency reserves, the bank intends to pay a dividend and distribute more than $1 billion to the Swiss federal government. After SNB policymakers abandoned its peg, the Swiss franc rose by more than 10 percent against the euro in 2015, causing deflationary pressures.

Aramco mulls IPO. State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co., better known as Aramco, the worlds largest corporate oil producer, revealed yesterday that management and government officials are considering an initial public offering. The option of either taking the parent company public or listing subsidiaries are under discussion.

Bank of Japan says increased easing unlikely for now. In a summary of notes from the December policy meeting released today by the Bank of Japan, the door for further intervention was left open with the statement that the central banks leaders will act if necessary but that downside risks to the outlook for economic activity and prices have not increased. Separately, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data released this morning showed that wages were flat in November, a negative indicator in a month were total consumer price index less housing climbed.

European Union clears FedEx for TNT buyout. European regulators provided approval today to Memphis, Tennesseebased delivery giant FedEx to complete the proposed acquisition of TNT Express with no requirements to pare assets. The nearly $5 billion transaction was deemed to present no antitrust issues within the EU despite the fact that regulators blocked a similar bid by UPS for the Dutch delivery firm in 2012.

Weaker-than-expected factory data out of Europe. Industrial production data released by the German Ministry of the Economy today revealed a slower pace of activity among manufacturers in November than anticipated by analysts. Total output for the period slid by 0.3 percent versus Octobers reading, with a sharp decline in the production of investment goods making the biggest contribution to the fall. Separately, output data for French factories released this morning by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies included a 0.9 percent month-over-month contraction in November, the largest one-month decline since June of last year.

The pace of job creation picked up sharply in December with nonfarm payrolls rising by 292,000, well above consensus economist forecasts while November job creation figures were adjusted up. The headline unemployment index remained unchanged while average wages were slightly weaker than anticipated by analysts. While experts note that the year-over-year gains are distorted by a weak reading at year-end 2014 the pace of job creation appears to justify the Federal Reserves plans to continue with more rate hikes this year.

Portfolio Perspective: Assessing the Risk Event  Jim Strugger, MKM Partners

Until yesterday, the U.S. equity market pullback had triggered little listed option volume and only a mild volatility surface distortion. Twelve to 15 million listed contracts were traded the first three days of the year while the S&P 500 index declined 2.6 percent. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) had just nudged above the 20-level at close Wednesday, the six-month VIX future/spot inversion was 0.46, five-day SPX realized volatility was 12.5 percent and VVIX sat at 103.06. None of those readings were indicative of significant equity-market stress.

But with the 2.4 percent SPX dive yesterday, options volume jumped to 25 million contracts, VIX spiked toward 26 intraday, the VIX futures curve inversion approached 5 points, SPX five-day realized volatility rose to 17.5 and VVIX closed near a high around 116. Each of those metrics approaches levels from October 2014 when the SPX pulled back 7.4 percent, the most recent event comparable to the current 6.4 percent slide measured from the December 29 high.

We dont have any tools to precisely gauge the peak magnitude of a volatility event once it has begun. But we do have the precedent of prior cycles to provide a gauge. The average VIX futures curve at distinct peaks and troughs during the low-volatility regime from January 2013 to August 2015 and high-volatility regime from July 2007 to January 2013.

Our expectation going forward is for the futures curve to oscillate in a range similar to this prior high-volatility period. That doesnt mean the average spot VIX peak of 33.7 will be reached during every shock but that has to be embedded in risk-management considerations.

Jim Strugger is a managing director and derivatives strategist for MKM Partners in Stamford, Connecticut.
Tolerating blind obedience in the name of patriotism or religion ultimately takes our lives. - Epilogue

At age 38, Terry Tempest Williams declared herself the matriarch of the family, which she described as The Clan of One Breasted Women. Her book Refuge documents the journey which brought her to this conclusion.

Throughout the book she has woven several interconnected stories. In one she described the journey of her mother, Diane Tempest, from health to death by cancer, which she had thought she had beaten with a mastectomy several years before. Her illness resurfaced as abdominal cancer, which took her life after surgeries and chemotherapy.

Meanwhile, the waters of Great Salt Lake are rising and inundating the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge where her grandmother taught her the art and science of bird watching. The waters threaten not only the birds, but also the airport and other human developments. Government officials, political organizations, and chambers of commerce plan various strategies to ameliorate the damage to their built environment, and perhaps even develop an engineering feat that will save business and investment and also become a tourist attraction in its own right.

Along the way, Williams takes the reader along on two archaeological digs, one of which ends in a farcical emergency trip home. She describes artistic instillations in the desert, ancient cultures, her work at the Utah Museum of Natural History her Mormon heritage, and her family.

She talked a bit about her dad, her brothers, and her husband Brooke, but the women of her family comprised the focus of her narrative. Within a short time after her mothers death, both of her grandmothers died (both had suffered cancer), and she realized that only two of nine closely related women remained alive.

In the book she discussed her realization that she is a down winder, exposed to fallout as a result of nuclear testing in Utah and Nevada. She spoke of the red scare of the 1950s and of how any opposition to the testing made one suspect, possibly believed to be in favor of a communist regime. At one point she said The evidence is buried, dead sheep.

Ultimately, the birds returned to Bear River, but Williams realized that her only refuge was within. She stated, perhaps as a result of a dream, that she is one of many women who mourn the deaths and the changes to the desert, and they will no longer be silent.

---

Ray has organized events and served as Master of Ceremonies at numerous venues throughout the Chattanooga region. He has appeared as a storyteller and performance poet at The Camp House (Chattanooga), Barking Legs Theatre (Chattanooga), The Southern Festival of Books (Nashville), Solstice Story Telling of the Joseph Campbell Mythological Round Table (Chattanooga), The Chattanooga Nature Center, Audubon Acres (Chattanooga) and the Beatnik Poetry Readings of the Trenton Arts Council (Trenton, Georgia).
The New York Department of Motor Vehicles is warning drivers of the risk of identity theft from posting images of their newly-obtained permits and driver licenses on social media, particularly popular among young adults.

Officials said the sensitive information on DMV identification documents, including a driver address, date of birth, and signature, make it easy for any social media user to steal a victims identity.

Passing a drivers test is a very exciting time in a young persons life and DMV understands why teens are excited to show off their permits and licenses, said DMV Executive Deputy Commissioner Terri Egan.

Just dont make your personal information public in the process. Having your identity stolen and your privacy compromised is not a good way to celebrate getting your driver license, Egan advised.

About 6 percent of identity theft victims are 19 years old and younger, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), but posting photos of IDs on social media is just one way teens and young adults can get into financial trouble down the road.

In August, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a warning to college students that purchasing fake IDs and false identification documents increases the chances of becoming a victim of identity fraud.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, a non-profit group founded to provide victim assistance and consumer education, victims whose identity is compromised from driver license information most often discover trouble when they find unexplained traffic violations appearing on their driving records.

Identity theft topped the FTCs national ranking of consumer complaints for the 15th consecutive year in 2014.

Topics New York Personal Auto
Hospitals and doctors told New York senators Wednesday theyve got $200 million or more in unpaid bills because of last years financial failure of the insurance cooperative Health Republic, and they want the state to step in.

Other insurers and care providers who met at the Capitol also questioned the state Department of Financial Services methods for setting insurance rates lower than Health Republic had requested and obviously needed.

Health Republic had about 200,000 members enrolled through New Yorks health exchange when it went under. State regulators automatically enrolled about half with other insurers who agreed to take them in November, and the rest were small group insurance plans that had to find other coverage.

Well see if the governors going to do anything with regard to making up the immense shortfalls. That would be a part of the budget process, Senate Health Committee Chairman Kemp Hannon said afterward.

Senate Insurance Committee Chairman James Seward said hell again advance legislation to make the insurance rate-setting process more transparent.

The DFS has an ongoing investigation. A restructuring firm installed at Health Republic is still determining the total amount of unpaid claims after all offsets are applied, said Richard Azzopardi, spokesman for the governor. Once this analysis is completed, well evaluate what, if any, steps are appropriate to take, he said.

The Greater New York Hospital Association proposed that the state establish a guaranty fund, which is financed by a temporary assessment on other insurers when a health plan becomes insolvent, that could retroactively pay bills and protect hospitals and patients. New York is the only state without such a fund, said association Senior Vice President Kathleen Shore.

An association survey found Health Republic owed hospitals as much as $165 million through October, a number that was expected to rise significantly.

Dr. Joseph Maldonado, president of the Medical Society of the State of New York, said many physician practices that took a financial hit are small and stretched to weather it. Health Republic is the 12th insurance plan nationally to go bankrupt, and the society told state officials a year before it failed about issues getting paid, he said.

New York State Conference of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans opposed establishing a guaranty fund. It is nothing more than an after-the-fact tax on consumers who purchase coverage, said spokeswoman Deborah Fasser.

David Anderson, chief executive of Buffalo-based HealthNow New York, said that as a nonprofit without deep reserves, his organization needs state-set rates to be accurate. He backed using medical loss ratio, which requires insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on medical care and not overhead, instead of prior DFS approval of rates.

Troy Oechsner, special assistant to the DFS superintendent, said that Health Republics insurance rates were certified by its actuaries, but some issues like subsequent cuts in federal support were not foreseeable in 2014. Insurer solvency is at the core of what regulators do, he said. We feel we did the right thing at the time given the uncertainty.

Donna Frescatore, executive director of the state health exchange, acknowledged state officials have pushed for affordable premiums and that the New York has reduced its rate of uninsured residents to less than 6 percent.

Related:

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics New York
Reinsurance rates in the marine sector continued to fall at the start of the year, in spite of the huge cost of explosions at Chinas Tianjin port last August, reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter said on Thursday.

Rising competition to offer reinsurance and slower activity in China, were two factors depressing rates, it said.

The blasts at Tianjin caused insured losses of up to $3.3 billion, Guy Carpenter has estimated, while reinsurer Swiss Re has called it the largest man-made insurance loss in Asia. The explosions killed more than 170 people.

Tianjin has had little or no impact on marine pricing, Chris Klein, head of EMEA strategy management at Guy Carpenter, told a news conference.

Many reinsurance contracts are renewed in January and Klein said marine reinsurance prices this month were down by between 5 and 20 percent from a year ago.

Reinsurance rates have been falling across the board for several years, with traditional reinsurers seeing increasing competition from alternative investors such as pension, hedge or sovereign wealth funds, who often choose to buy reinsurance packaged as a capital markets instrument.

In the marine sector, falling commodity prices had reduced the cost of cargo, while flagging growth in key importers such as China was also hitting activity levels, driving down reinsurance rates, Klein said.

Less cargo is being moved, the cargo which is being moved is worth less  you can see how that has had an effect.

Aerospace reinsurance rates have also fallen, despite large losses last year, including the crash of a Germanwings plane in the French Alps, Klein said.

After a big damage claim, reinsurers typically raise the price they charge their insurance company clients for helping to shoulder future losses. However, this has not happened due to players willingness to take on risk at the same or lower prices.

Aerospace reinsurance rates were down between 10 and 20 percent from last January, Klein added.

New entrants continue to enter the market  reinsurance has to follow, he said.

In aviation reinsurance, rival broker Willis Re has also said it has seen price falls of 10 to 15 percent.

Germanys Allianz has estimated insurers will pay $300 million in claims and costs stemming from the crash of the Germanwings plane.

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn and Jonathan Gould; editing by Susan Fenton)

Related:

Topics Reinsurance China
U.K. Financial Conduct Authoritys acting top executive withdrew from the race to take the role permanently after manning the post following the governments ouster of the last head.

Chief Executive Officer Tracey McDermott interviewed for the position last year. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne told the BBCs Today program Thursday McDermott didnt want the job full-time.

Theres a very effective interim leader in Tracey McDermott who has been doing a good job, Osborne told BBC Radio 4. Were looking now for the very best candidate.

McDermott took over as acting CEO after former chief Martin Wheatley was ousted by Osborne in July. The move came shortly after the Chancellor said the era of ever-larger fines for bank misconduct was over and that it was not a long-term answer. In a statement at the time, Osborne said the government believes that different leadership is required to take the regulator to the next stage of its development.

The regulator said she pulled out of the race to replace Wheatley last month.

The recruitment process has made me reflect on what I want to do with the rest of my career, McDermott said in a statement. As a result I have decided that this is not the right job for me at this stage of my career. This was a decision taken after many months of careful thought and was not one that I took lightly. 

McDermott, a lawyer by training, has worked at the regulator since 2001, holding various top positions including heading both the enforcement and supervision units.

Its not known whether she will stay once a permanent CEO is appointed.

Osbornes statements and removal of Wheatley last year was taken as an indication of the governments intention to trim bank regulation after an overhaul of the industry post-crisis. The FCA has levied many multi-million pound fines against financial firms in recent years over scandals including interest-rate and foreign-exchange benchmark manipulation.

McDermott said in a speech in October the industry must beware the regulate, de-regulate, repeat cycle seen throughout history if it is to avoid returning to the chaos of the last few years.

The U.K. regulator came under fire from lawmakers over the last week after dropping a review of banking culture, saying it wont deliver an overarching report on the industry but work with firms individually instead. Treasury Committee Chair Andrew Tyrie said in an e-mailed statement Thursday the committee had asked McDermott and FCA Chairman John Griffith-Jones to explain their decision to drop the review. A hearing is planned for later this month.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Amlin plc, the London-based specialist insurer, announced the successful completion on Jan. 4 of the cross-border merger of two of its insurance company subsidiaries, Amlin Europe N.V. and Amlin Insurance (UK).

The combined post-merger insurance company is called Amlin Insurance SE, a European corporate entity (Societas Europaea) domiciled in the U.K. The existing European offices will continue trading through branches in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany.

The restructuring will help align Amlins European commercial insurance portfolio more closely with its U.K. commercial business and enable it to provide a more consistent and enhanced service to its clients across all markets, the company said in a statement, noting that the merger also simplifies the groups corporate structure and regulatory footprint.

All business written by Amlin Europe and Amlin Insurance (UK) prior to the merger transfers automatically to Amlin Insurance SE, and it will be business as usual for their clients and brokers, the company said.

Amlin Insurance SE has an S&P rating of A (stable), which represents a strengthening from the A- rating previously held by Amlin Europe.

S&P commented that the merger showed Amlin Insurance SE to be a core part of the Amlin group and thus entitled to benefit from the groups rating.

The companys core status primarily reflects our expectation that it will be extensively integrated within the group and will fit in with its strategy, S&P said, noting that.

While legally separate, Amlin Insurance will be 100 percent-owned by the group and it will effectively operate as a division using common systems and branding and writing broadly similar lines of business. It will be strongly aligned with the group in terms of strategy, business, management, and operations, the ratings agency said.

Source: Amlin and Standard & Poors

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Europe
A former benefits plan manager for Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson Inc. has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for defrauding the company of more than $550,000.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, Kenneth Elser, announced that under a plea agreement, Brenda Blair of Gentry, Ark., was sentenced on one count of wire fraud. Her federal prison sentence will be followed by two years of supervised release.

She was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $551,343.52.

According to a plea agreement, Blair had worked for Tyson for more than 25 years. As the special benefits plan manager, Blair managed contributions into and handled administrative duties related to the Tyson Foods Inc. Pre-65 Retiree Health Insurance Benefit Plan.

From June 2005 to September 2014, Blair devised and implemented a scheme to defraud money from Tyson Inc. by generating fraudulent payments in the name of actual participants in the Pre-65 Retiree Health Insurance Benefits Plan and directing these payments to her own bank accounts.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS)  Criminal Investigation Division, and the Department of Labor. Assistant United States Attorney Kimberly N. Davis prosecuted the case for the United States.

Source: Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas

Topics USA
The Cunningham Insurance Group announced the opening of its newest property/casualty insurance agency, Wilkerson/Cunningham Insurance, in Alexandria, La. This office joins with offices in Natchitoches and Mansfield, La., to give the group a regional presence in central- and northwest Louisiana.

Kris Wilkerson, a 13-year veteran of the insurance industry, will serve as a partner and lead producer for the Alexandria office. The agency will focus on small- to mid-size commercial lines prospects and personal lines packages in the Louisiana and East Texas area.

Joe Cunningham Jr., president of Cunningham Insurance Group, said the company plans more growth and is actively looking for additional acquisitions in Central and North Louisiana, as well as in East Texas.

Cunningham Insurance Group is a member of the Northlake Insurance Group of agencies, one of the largest groups of independent insurance agencies in the southern United States.

Source: Cunningham Insurance Group

Topics Louisiana
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCartys successor has yet to be announced, but whoever takes over will have his or her work cut out for them when McCarty leaves office after 12 years on May 2.

These are some pretty huge shoes to fill and its going to be tough, said Jay Neal, president and CEO of the Florida Association for Insurance Reform (FAIR). We need someone who is experienced in that role or we will see problems.

No candidates have been confirmed as potential replacements, as of yet, but a few names have been floated so far. Two Florida movers rumored to be in the running include Florida State Rep. Bill Hager, a former Iowa Insurance Commissioner, former president and CEO of the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) and current vice chair of the state Insurance and Banking subcommittee; and Tom Grady, former interim president of Floridas Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Hager has been vocal for flood insurance reform in the state, an issue that has also been a major focus for McCarty over the last six months. Hager told Insurance Journal last fall that lawmakers were turning up the heat on the National Flood Insurance Programs ratemaking practices.

Grady is currently awaiting confirmation by the State Senate to the Florida Board of Education after he was appointed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott in Oct. He was accused of allowing excessive travel expenses during his short-lived position with Citizens.

There is also the possibility that a candidate Scott considered last year, Louisiana Deputy Commissioner of Consumer Advocacy Ron Henderson, could be in the running again.

The decision, however, is ultimately up to the Florida Cabinet, which was created in 2003 through a change to the Florida State Constitution. The Cabinet consists of the governor and three constitutionally elected state executives  the chief financial officer, the state attorney general, and the state commissioner of agriculture. The current Florida Cabinet  CFO Jeff Atwater, AG Pam Bondi, and Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam  is now tasked with appointing the next insurance commissioner.

According to the rules of the Florida State Constitution, the commission appoints or removes each director by a majority vote consisting of at least three affirmative votes, with both the Governor and the Chief Financial Officer on the prevailing side.

The minimum qualifications for the Director of the Office of Insurance Regulation include 5 years of responsible private sector experience working full time in areas within the scope of the subject matter jurisdiction of the Office of Insurance Regulation or at least 5 years of experience as a senior examiner or other senior employee of a state or federal agency having regulatory responsibility over insurers or insurance agencies. The experience must be within the previous 10 years, according to the Florida Constitution.

Atwaters office wouldnt comment on any potential McCarty successors, saying the news just happened and these conversations will take place as time moves forward.

This is the first time the position has opened up since former Gov. Jeb Bush chose McCarty back in 2003 after the constitutional change.

This is a new ball game in terms of how this person is selected. Florida hasnt done this before, said Jeff Grady, president of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA). [McCarty] was in the job and it became his and no one else has been in that position since.

While the cabinet is not required to seek input from other interested parties, they will likely get their fair share of feedback.

When asked about Hager and Grady as potential successors, Grady wouldnt comment, but said they would provide their opinion if asked by the Cabinet.

We are part of the industry and have a voice in the industry and want to see someone with experience there. If we have an opportunity to weigh in we would certainly welcome it, he said.

FAIRs Neal said the association would not support Grady or Hager if appointed, Neither one of these choices would be in the best interest of Florida consumers, he said.

Neal said he hopes the process will be fair and not politicized. He said his group will be watching closely to see how it plays out and will be ready to challenge the Florida Constitution, if necessary.

If the process is overly-politicized and if there is an agenda and someone who is not a capable regulator is selected, we will look at going back to the way it was and having an elected regulator, Neal said. But if the process is one where the selection is transparent and a credible regulator for this huge market comes in we can say OK, we have established a new precedent now and there is no need for a constitutional change.

Neal said FAIR plans to reach out to the Governor and CFO offices and ask to be a part of the decision making process. He hopes his groups input and that of other stakeholders will be considered, especially in light of the backlash Scott received last year when he toyed with removing McCarty.

I am confident that the people we have elected will learn from that mistake and the process will be open and transparent with a lot of people considered. That will be the best direction for Florida, Neal said.

Related:

Topics Florida Legislation Agribusiness
Insurance industry reactions to Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCartys decision to resign have been rolling in since the long-time state regulator announced Jan. 5 that he would step down from his position after 12 years in office.

The privilege of serving the people of Florida as Insurance Commissioner has been the highlight of my professional career, McCarty said in a statement released by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR).

Jeff Grady, president of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA), said at first glance the news of McCartys resignation came as a surprise. However, Florida Gov. Rick Scotts bid to replace him early last year may have been a catalyst for McCarty to begin exploring other options.

He did a good job with what is a very difficult job. The Florida Insurance Commissioner is probably one of hardest posts you can have, given the catastrophic perils [Florida] has, Grady said. He has navigated that successfully and youve got to give him credit for that. But he saw that it was time for him to move on.

The Florida Association for Insurance Reform (FAIR) presented McCarty with a lifetime achievement award last fall. Jay Neal, president and CEO of FAIR, said he wasnt surprised by McCartys move, particularly after Scotts public, albeit brief, quest to fire him.

If you dont feel welcome where you are, you will respond to other opportunities that knock on the door, Neal said.

So whats next for McCarty?

McCarty has not said what direction he will go after leaving office, just that he has plans to pursue other opportunities.

I am looking forward to exploring new opportunities that will allow me to use the skills, knowledge and expertise Ive gained as Insurance Commissioner. In the meantime, I will continue my service and provide whatever assistance is desired to facilitate a smooth transition, he said on Jan. 6.

However, a report from Florida Politics via SNL Financial quoted unidentified sources saying McCarty may be vying for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) chief executive officer position that opened up when former U.S. Senator Ben Nelson announced in October that he would not renew his contract with the group. McCarty has worked closely with the organization through the years, including as a former president, vice president and secretary/treasurer.

OIR did not confirm or deny the report, when contacted by Insurance Journal.

Whatever he ends up doing, those who have worked with him in Florida expect he isnt done leaving his mark on the insurance industry.

He has served this state selflessly and his international regulatory experience will provide him endless opportunities in the private market. The world is his oyster and no matter where he lands, the organization he joins will be better for it, said Lisa Miller, former Florida Deputy Insurance Commissioner who served with McCarty in the early 2000s and during the 2004-2005 storm season.

He still has quite a few working years ahead of him and things to do, said Neal. But what he has managed to accomplish here in Florida could be considered accomplishments of a lifetime.

Industry Reaction

McCartys colleagues through the years responded to his resignation announcement with praise and appreciation for his work in the industry.

Commissioner McCarty has been a devoted public servant for nearly 30 years. His contributions to state-based insurance regulation have been invaluable  especially during this last decade. Weve counted on his leadership on numerous domestic and international issues. We will miss having him as an NAIC member and we wish him all the best as he pursues new opportunities, NAIC President John M. Huff said in a statement to Insurance Journal.

The Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) called McCarty a leader in property insurance regulation in Florida.

His dedication to shifting the risk associated with hurricanes away from residents and businesses and onto private markets should be noted. Commissioner McCarty has worked hard to reduce the likelihood of future hurricane taxes in Florida, a legacy that keeps billions of dollars in the wallets and purses of for Floridians and businesses statewide, ABIR said in a statement.

Logan McFaddin, PCI regional manager based in its Florida office, said:

PCI has worked closely with Commissioner Kevin McCarty since 2003. We applaud his recent efforts to restore a competitive and healthy insurance marketplace for homeowners, motorists, and business owners. PCI will continue to work with Commissioner McCarty over the next several months to combat fraud in Florida and protect hard working citizens from those trying to take advantage of the system. Its important for the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation to continue to be a strong and effective advocate for state-based regulation.

The Florida Surplus Lines Service Offices Executive Director Gary Pullen commented as well:

Commissioner McCarty has executed a strong career of public service in Florida. We will always be grateful for his support of the surplus lines market; and our office and efforts in particular. It is a very complex and tumultuous industry and he has shown great leadership and vision. We wish him much success going forward.

Related:

Topics Florida Legislation
Tennessees upcoming tourism news is consolidated for your convenience below. For a complete list of Tennessee events, visit tnvacation.com/calendar.



Ongoing



Union City  The traveling exhibit In the Footsteps of Sergeant York remains open through Feb. 14 at Discovery Park of America.



Jan. 8-9



Spring City  Matt Cordell performs a tribute to Jason Aldean on Friday and to Elvis on Saturday 7:30 p.m. ET at the Tennessee Valley Theatre.



Jan.

8-10Chattanooga  An expert crew shares a two-hour Sandhill Crane viewing cruise 10 a.m. ET and 2 p.m. ET on the River Gorge Explorer.Jan. 9Chapel Hill  Local Tennessee wineries and heavy hors doeuvres are featured at the Taste of Horton 2016 6 p.m. CT at Henry Horton State Park Lodge. Tickets are $40 for meal and membership.Cookeville  Win prizes and meet WestSide merchants 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the WestSide Scavenger Hunt at the Cookeville Depot Museum.Nashville  Experience a musical journey with scenery from around the world and from NASA science data during Bella Gaia as part of Dome Club 6 p.m. CT at Adventure Science Center.Jan. 10Nashville  Its your last chance to see Ink, Silk and Gold: Islamic Art from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Shinique Smith: Wonder and Rainbows before they close at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.Jan. 12-17Memphis  Matilda the Musical brings its heart-warming story to Memphis at The Orpheum Theatre. Tickets range from $25 to $125.Jan. 14Nashville  Enjoy music by Choro Nashville, a six-member acoustic music group that performs century-old Brazilian music 6-8 p.m. CT in the Frist Center Cafe at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.Jan. 16Maryville  Hansel and Greta Opera by Humperdinck is performed as a full opera by the Knoxville Opera Company 11 a.m. ET in the Main Gallery of Blount County Public Library.Granville  The Sutton Ole Time Music Hour has its 400th performance of the syndicated radio show 6 p.m. CT in the Sutton General Store.Jan. 16, 28Bristol, TN/VA  Local community members can share their Tennessee Ernie Ford stories, photographs and memorabilia as part of History Harvests 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET Jan. 16 and 1-5 p.m. ET Jan. 28 at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.Jan. 16-17Elizabethton  Learn from Tennessee crafters in watercolor painting 9 a.m. to noon ET Jan. 16 and sewing 1-4 p.m. ET Jan. 17 as part of the Traditional Arts Winter Workshops at Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park.Jackson  See the latest and greatest at the Gun and Knife Show 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT Sunday at the Fairgrounds in Jackson.Jan. 17Nashville  Let Freedom Sing is an annual music tribute to the triumphs of the civil rights movement performed by the Nashville Symphony 7 p.m. CT at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.Jan. 19Memphis  The Science of Beer brings together professional and home brewers while educating attendees on breathalyzer chemistry, the history of beer and beer making and PTC Paper and Bitter genetics 6:30-9:30 p.m. CT at The Pink Palace Museum.
Sewage overflows during heavy rains have fouled a poor neighborhood in Centreville, Miss., for years because the city has failed to fix its sewage system, a lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit was filed against Centreville on Jan. 5 in federal court by the Gulf Restoration Network, a New Orleans-based environmental group. The group announced the suit Jan 6.

The suit alleges the town is violating the Clean Water Act by allowing sewage to flow into tributaries of Stafford Creek during heavy rains. The suit charges the sewage also gets into a neighborhood in south Centreville by coming up through two manholes and through cracked pipes.

The suit claims the city and Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality have failed to take action to stop the sewage overflows.

Mayor Larry J. Lee did not return a telephone call Wednesday seeking comment.

Robbie Wilbur, a spokesman for MDEQ, said the agency was not involved in the suit and could not comment on the truthfulness of the allegations in the complaint.

Andrew Whitehurst, the water program director for Gulf Restoration Network, said MDEQ investigators were aware of the problems but failed to enforce state regulations and order repairs.

They tolerated sewage spillages in violation of the Clean Water Act and state regulations, Whitehurst said.

The suit was filed in the Southern District of Mississippi.

The Gulf Restoration Network said sewage gets into yards and homes. The problems, the suit contends, stem from discharges of sewage from the Centreville South Treatment Plant during heavy rains.

This has been a long process and our sewage troubles have always been ignored, said Sherry Jefferson, a resident who lives in the neighborhood that allegedly suffers from the sewage contamination.

We need to take this step because of health issues that have gotten worse over time, she said in a statement issued by the Gulf Restoration Network.

The suit says the sewage overflows have been a problem for at least five years. The suit seeks to get the city to fix its problems by installing back-up equipment and repairing the sewage system.

Topics Lawsuits Pollution Mississippi
The owner of a Northern California construction firm was arrested Thursday on nine felony counts of workers compensation insurance fraud and tax evasion totaling $187,707 in losses.

William Huffman, 47, of Sacramento, owner of Capitol City Contractors, allegedly underreported $755,899 in payroll to avoid paying workers comp premiums for dozens of employees.

An insurer notified the California Department of Insurance of suspected fraud. A forensic audit of the companys bank records revealed the alleged fraud. Detectives reportedly discovered evidence that Huffman was paying employees under the table and classifying some payroll checks as expenses for supplies and materials.

Employers who commit workers compensation insurance fraud cheat the system leaving their employees at risk and their clients vulnerable to financial disaster, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said in a statement.

Huffman was booked into Sacramento County Jail, and bail was set at $100,000. The Sacramento County District Attorneys office is prosecuting this case.

Topics California Workers' Compensation Fraud Construction
Lincoln Financial Group has appointed Kenneth S. Solon to EVP and CIO, effective immediately.

Solon, who joined Lincoln in 2008, last was SVP responsible for enterprisewide I.T., administrative services and the digital business group. In his new role, he reports to company president and CEO Dennis Glass and sits on the companys Senior Management Committee.

With a distinguished background that includes a proven track record of successfully leading IT initiatives, Ken is the perfect individual to help us elevate the role technology plays as a strategic driver of business objectives, Glass said. I congratulate Ken on this important appointment, and I am confident that his expanded leadership of our talented IT team will yield significant contributions moving forward, with enhancing the customer experience notable among them.

Before joining Lincoln, Solon worked at Chase Manhattan Bank and Prudential Financial in operations and IT functions.
Tax-loss selling is an investment strategy that can help an investor reduce their taxable income for a given tax year. Tax-loss selling involves selling a security that has experienced a capital loss in order to report it as a capital loss when filing yearly income taxes, and thus lower or eliminate any capital gain that may be realized by other investments.

In order to successfully realize the loss for tax purposes, you have to take the step of liquidating the position during the tax year. Any unrealized loss on an investment cannot be deducted from your income taxes.

Sometimes an investor will decide to replace that security with a similar security, allowing them to maintain a consistent, optimal asset allocation and achieve their desired returns. If you take this approach, it is important to be mindful that you do not accidentally trigger a wash sale in your investment account.

Key Takeaways Wash-sale rules prohibit investors from selling a security at a loss, buying the same security again, and then realizing those tax losses through a reduction in capital gains taxes.

Tax-loss selling is an investment strategy that can help an investor reduce their taxable income for a given tax year; investors may be able to claim up to $3,000 in capital losses per year in order to offset their taxable income (if they are married filing jointly).

A common strategy for avoiding violating the wash-sale rule is to sell an investment and buy something with similar exposure.

What Is a Wash Sale?

A wash sale occurs when you sell or trade stock or securities at a loss and within 30 days of the sale (either before or after), you purchase the sameor a "substantially identical"investment. The wash-sale rule is a regulation established by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in order to prevent taxpayers from being able to claim artificial losses in order to maximize their tax benefits.

When a wash sale occurs in a non-qualified account, the transaction is flagged and the loss is added to the cost basis of the new, "substantially identical" investment you purchased. If you continue to trade the same investment, the loss gets carried forward with each transaction until the position has been fully liquidated for more than 30 days.

The same rules apply if the spouse of the individual that sells the security, or a company controlled by that individual, purchases the same or substantially equivalent securities within the 30-day timeframe.

In addition, your holding period for the new stock or securities (for designating whether or not the investment will represent a short- or long-term capital gain) includes the holding period of the stock or securities that were previously sold.

Investments Subject to Wash Sale Rules

The wash-sale rule applies to stocks or securities in non-qualified brokerage accounts and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). The sale of options at a loss and the reacquisition of identical options within a 30-day timeframe would also violate the wash-sale rule.

The IRS provides guidelines about what is considered a "substantially identical" investment and thus may trigger a wash-sale violation, in IRS Publication 550, entitled "Investment Income and Expenses (Including Capital Gains and Losses). A substantially identical investment can include both new and old securities issued by a corporation that has undergone reorganization, or convertible securities and common stock of the same company.

When an investor holds several different investment accounts, wash-sale rules apply to the investor, rather than to a specific account. The IRS requires that brokers track and report any sales of the same CUSIP number in the same non-qualified account. However, investors are responsible for tracking and reporting any sales that occur in all other accounts that they control, including any accounts belonging to their spouse.

Offset Capital Gains Through Tax-Loss Selling

While some investors turn their attention to tax-loss selling towards the end of the calendar year, it is possible to use this strategy throughout the year to capture tax losses through rebalancing or replacing positions in your portfolio. Capital losses are used first to offset other taxable capital gains. After this, up to $3,000 per year can be used to offset other taxable income for an individual filer or married couple filing jointly (up to $1,500 for married filing individually).

For example, if an investor realizes $5,500 in long-term losses during the year, at the time that they file their income taxes, they can use $2,000 of those losses to offset the taxes on other capital gains and $3,000 to offset the taxes on their ordinary income. If this investor's long-term capital gains tax rate is 20% (based on their income) and their effective federal income tax rate is 25%, using this strategy the $5,500 loss can be reduced by $1,150.

Depending on the state they live in, the investor may also be eligible for a reduction in their state taxes. The remaining $500 in capital losses can be carried forward to future tax years. Unfortunately, losses cannot be transferred at death.

Strategies for Avoiding Wash Sales

There are strategies for avoiding wash sales while still taking advantage of taxable gains and losses. If you own an individual stock that experienced a loss, you can avoid a wash sale by making an additional purchase of the stock and then waiting 31 days to sell those shares that have a loss. A potential drawback of this strategy is that it can increase your market exposure to a given sector and could potentially increase your risk.

In this same situation, an investor may decide to liquidate the holding, recognize the loss, and then immediately buy a similar investment that will also satisfy their investment goals or portfolio allocation. For example, an investor may decide to sell their stock of The Coca-Cola Company (KO) and then immediately purchase a similar investment of PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP).

Similarly, an investor may decide to sell their shares of the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFIAX) and replace them by purchasing shares of the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI).

Correction: Jan. 20, 2022. The offset amount for individual taxpayers was incorrectly specified in a previous version of this article.


Slack primarily makes money selling annual or monthly subscriptions to large organizations.

With over 10 million daily active users, it leads the market for enterprise communication software and has used advanced technology to create cloud-based, intuitive, and flexible tools for teams at companies or other institutions. Slack says its product helps increase collaboration, transparency, and organizational agility. It has also achieved the integration of various third-party applications on a single platform, making it easier for users to perform different tasks quickly and easily. Apart from providing a chat room for office teams, Slack has become more of an operating system for the workplace. Just like Facebook is the foundation for many consumer logins, Slacks chat interface has the potential to be the basis for digital services and apps used at work. More than 65 companies in the Fortune 100 are paying for their workers to use Slack.

Slack went public on June 20, 2019, with a direct offering and its reference price was set at $26 per share, which translates to a $15.7 billion valuation. According to Crunchbase, it has raised $1.4 billion in 10 funding rounds from investors that include a majority of the top VC firms and angels. In June 2017, Bloomberg reported that Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) inquired about a potential takeover with a price tag of $9 billion.

According to its S-1 filing, the firm's revenue in the year ended Jan. 31, 2019, was $400.6 million, representing an 82% increase from the previous year. It generated a net loss of $138.9 million for the latest fiscal year, a drop from $140.1 million in FY 2018 and $146.9 million in FY 2017. Its cash burn rate was $97 million and its cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities stood at $841 million in FY 2019.

The company reported total revenue of $145 million, an increase of 58% year-over-year, and a non-GAAP loss of 14 cents a share in its first earnings report since going public. However, investors were disappointed with weak earnings guidance.

The Business Model

Slack advertises that it is completely free to use for as long and with as many people as you want. So how does it make money?

A percentage of organizations pay premiums for special features. Such features include access to an unlimited communication history, unlimited app integration, additional file storage, screen sharing, statistics, and more. With no apparent plans to run ads in the near future, Slack relies on a simple business model, charging monthly fees of $6.67 per user for the standard subscription and $12.50 per user for the plus subscription. It has also launched Enterprise Grid for larger organizations that have tens of thousands of users.

Key Takeaways Slack is used by over 600,000 organizations with three or more employees.

More than 95,000 organizations are paying for subscription plans, as of April 30, 2019.

Slack generated revenue of $400.6 million in the year ended Jan. 31, 2019, an 82% increase from the previous year, but growth is slowing.

Slack is still not profitable and posted a net loss of $138.9 million in FY 2019.

Unlike many competitors, Slack charges organizations only for active users, according to its fair billing policy.

To the benefit of the users, customers only get charged per workers actively using the software, not "per seat" like the majority of enterprise software in the past.

The quality element is paying off. As of April 30, 2019, Slack had more than 95,000 organization with three or more users on a paid subscription plan. The company calls these "paid customers" and they make up about 16% of the total user base, which is 600,000. The company says 575 of these paid customers accounted for approximately 40% of its revenue in FY 2019. Organizations based overseas accounted for 36% of its total revenue in the same period. Slack also offers credits to customers when its uptime is below 99.99%.

Engagement on Slack is also very high, with active use topping 50 million hours for the week ended Jan. 31, 2019. On a typical work period in the same week, paid customers averaged nine hours connected to Slack through at least one device and spent more than 90 minutes actively using Slack.

Future Plans

Slackco-founded by CEO Stewart Butterfield, Eric Costello, Cal Henderson, and Serguei Mourachovwas launched in Aug. 2013. As a platform for desk worker collaboration, it seemed to gain traction effortlessly. In April, just a few months after launch, Slack raised $42.8 million and reached a valuation of $250 million. Venture capitalists heard the buzz and saw the adoption of the software at their portfolio companies. Butterfields history of successful entrepreneurshipincluding co-founding Flickr, which was sold to Yahoo in 2005further helped Slack receive upwards to 10 funding offers weekly.

International Expansion

The company hopes to maintain this momentum as it hits the stock market. Slack says a big contributor to its growth is expansion within existing customers. Its net dollar retention rate (NDR), a ratio of monthly recurring revenue from existing customers, was 143% as of Jan. 31, 2019. "We believe that our Net Dollar Retention Rate is a reflection of the rapid pace of adoption that often occurs as usage spreads within and across teams. We believe that all of these factors will contribute to a high lifetime value of an organization on Slack," it said in a filing. The company also plans to grow in international markets and anticipates requiring "significant capital expenditures" in order to complete this expansion while maintaining its standards and culture. It is currently being used in 150 countries.

The company also wants to invest in partnerships, product development, customer experience, customer support, sales and marketing, and acquisitions as it chases profitability.

Key Challenges

While Slack hit the ground running and has enjoyed phenomenal growth over the last few years, the numbers show this growth is slowing. Although its annual revenue grew by 82% in 2019, its annual growth in revenue was 110% in the year prior. Similarly, its revenue grew 67% in the first quarter of FY 2020 and 89% during the same period the previous year. Even its NDR has decreased as its penetration grew. It was 171% in FY 2017, 152% in FY 2018, and 143% in FY 2019.

The credits Slack offers customers when its service is disrupted also eats into its revenue. Slack distributed credits worth $8.2 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020.

Experienced Competition

Slack also faces the threat of competition from older, more established players. It has named Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) its primary competitor. The tech giant offers a communications software called Teams for free or as part of its Office 365 suite of productivity tools. BernsteinResearch says data cited by The Wall Street Journal says that Teams has roughly 285 million paying commercial users. Slack has been able to fight it with a superior user interface, but the question is for how long.
Large-cap securities, or those invested in companies with a market capitalization of more than $10 billion, provide stability in price, and often, steady dividend payouts that enhance the overall return on a portfolio. In the large-cap equities market, core mutual funds, which allow investors to gain exposure to specific market segments through a single investment position, are a popular choice.

Core mutual funds with a focus on large-cap positions provide investors access to all aspects of the large-cap market, including growth- and value-tilted stocks. While investing in a large-cap core mutual fund provides some advantages, investors should be aware of the potential loss of principal and volatility inherent to equity holdings.

Among the top large-cap mutual funds to consider are the Columbia Large-Cap Enhanced Core Fund (NMIAX), the Fidelity Large-Cap Core Enhanced Index Fund (FLCEX), the Schwab Core Equity Fund (SWANX) and the BlackRock Advantage Large-Cap Core Fund (MALRX). The information presented here was current as of Q1 2022.

Key Takeaways A large-cap stock is a company with a market capitalization of around $10 billion or more.

Large-cap stocks tend to be more stable and less volatile than smaller and younger companies.

Owning a diversified portfolio of large-cap stocks can be achieved through one of several mutual funds specializing in these names.

Here, we look at four good mutual fund options for large caps.



1. Columbia Large-Cap Enhanced Core Fund (NMIAX)

The Columbia Large-Cap Enhanced Core Fund (NMIAX) was established in July 1996 and has $402.3 million net assets. Fund managers seek to provide investors with a total return, before fees and expenses, that exceeds the total return of the Standard and Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500). They strategically shift the number and percentage of holdings within the fund in an effort to outperform the Index and reduce the potential of underperforming over time. Through December 2021, the fund has generated a 10-year annualized return of 13.7%, and carries an expense ratio of 0.84%.

Fund managers focus on investment holdings in the U.S. market, with the majority of securities falling in the giant- and large-cap ranges. The fund is diversified, with 27.1% of the portfolio invested in technology securities, 13.7% in health care securities, 12.4% in financial services securities, and 11.7% in consumer discretionary securities. Top holdings of the Columbia Large-Cap Enhanced Core Fund include: Microsoft, Apple, Amazon.com, Meta [formerly Facebook], and Alphabet Inc (Google).

2. Fidelity Large-Cap Core Enhanced Index Fund (FLCEX)

The Fidelity Large-Cap Core Enhanced Index Fund (FLCEX) started in April 2007 and has more than $1.6 billion in net assets. Fund managers seek to provide long-term capital appreciation by investing substantially all of the net assets in common stocks found within the S&P 500 Index. Although similar market capitalization weightings can be found within the Fidelity Large-Cap Core Enhanced Index Fund, managers utilize computer-aided quantitative analysis of common stock to understand a company's historical valuation, growth, profitability and other factors that present the opportunity to outperform the benchmark index. As of year-end 2021, the fund has generated a 10-year annualized return of around 14%.

Fund managers have the flexibility to invest in domestic and foreign issuers as they see fit, although the investment mix is focused within the United States. The majority of the fund's assets are held in giant-cap securities, followed by large-cap positions and minimal exposure to mid- and small-cap equities. Technology stocks make up the largest sector weighting at 28%, followed by Healthcare (13.9%), financials (13.3%), and consumer discretionary (13%). Top holdings within the fund include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Meta, Tesla Inc., and Alphabet Inc. The fund has a relatively low net expense ratio of 0.39%.

3. Schwab Core Equity Fund (SWANX)

The Schwab Core Equity Fund (SWANX) started in July 1996 and holds $1.5 billion in net assets. The fund seeks to provide investors with long-term capital growth by investing primarily in domestic equities. Substantially all of the mutual fund's assets are invested in securities of domestic issuers with market capitalizations no less than $500 million. Fund managers seek to outperform the overall S&P 500 Index over time. As of December 2021, the fund had generated a 10-year annualized return of 12.3%.

While all of the fund's portfolio is composed of domestic equities, fund managers offer some diversification through sector exposure. Technology securities make up 29.2% of the investment mix, followed by health care stocks at 15.1%, consumer discretionary stocks at 13.3%, and financial services stocks at 10.1%. Top holdings with the Schwab Core Equity Fund include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Accenture, and Alphabet. The fund has a net expense ratio of 0.73%.

4. BlackRock Advantage Large-Cap Core Fund (MALRX)

The BlackRock Advantage Large-Cap Core Fund (MALRX) was established in December 1999 and has $3.2 billion in investor assets. Fund managers seek to provide investors with long-term capital growth by investing the majority of the fund's net assets in equity securities of large companies. The investment mix consists of mostly common stock of domestic issuers found within the Russell 1000 Index. Through 2021, the fund had generated a 10-year annualized return of 13.1%.

Sector diversification is most heavily weighted in information technology stocks, making up 26.4% of the portfolio. Financial services stocks comprise 15.% of the fund's holdings, followed by healthcare stocks at 13.6%, and consumer discretionary at 10%. Top holdings within the fund include Microsoft, Apple, Amazon.com, Johnson & Johnson, and Alphabet. The net expense ratio for the core mutual fund is 0.48%.
What Is a Large-Value Stock?

A large-value stock refers to an investment style categorization comprising a large-cap stock that is also a value stock. A large-cap stock is generally considered to be the stock of a company with a market capitalization of more than $10 billion. A value stock is often considered underpriced based on fundamental analysis, often paying a relatively high dividend to shareholders and having a low price to equity (P/E) ratio.

Value stocks are often contrasted with growth stocks, where a growth company invests its earnings back into corporate growth instead of paying a dividend and have high P/E's.. Large-cap stocks are contrasted with companies with lower market capitalizations.

Key Takeaways Large-value stocks refer to those companies that are both large-cap (greater than $10 billion in market capitalization) and also value stocks.

Large-value stocks are often mature and stable companies that pay regular dividends, attractive to lower-risk value investors.

Like all value stocks, however, investors should be wary of value traps and deteriorating financials being responsible for undervaluation.

Understanding Large-Value Stock

A large-value stock is the stock of a big cap company where the intrinsic value of the company's stock is greater than the stock's market value.

The philosophy that underpins the strategy of seeking out and investing in value stocks whose prices are undervalued is the belief that the market has "gotten it wrong" and the price of the stock will eventually recover, leading to significant gains for the investor. Reasons for the market mispricing a value stock include management changes or corporate turnaround strategies that haven't yet been priced into the market. There can also be temporary disruptions to the company's market share or artificially depressed earnings. Essentially, the analyst working up the stock sees something in the company's future that the market hasn't yet recognized which the analyst believes will lead to increased prices as this future positive event comes to fruition. The stock's intrinsic value can be determined by using a valuation model such as discounted cash flow and multiples.

Pitfalls of Large-Value Stock Investing

One of the largest pitfalls of investing in a large-value stock is something called the value trap. The value trap springs from the classic investing idea that markets are efficient and if a stock's price is depressed then there is a legitimate reason for it. There is not some stock price savior out on the horizon that everybody is but that one particular value analyst is failing to see. A stock's market value can fall below its intrinsic value for a number of reasons.

For example, if a company seeks Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, many shareholders could become concerned that the company will go bankrupt, and therefore sell their stock. If the company has enough assets to pay all of its liabilities, then there will be intrinsic value left in the company's stock. This value may be greater than the stock's market value, which results in a large-value-stock investing opportunity.
It probably is not surprising that political drama on Capitol Hill is heightened with Donald Trump occupying the White House. Nor is it surprising that gold and the related exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are benefiting from that increased political uncertainty.

Year to date, the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and the iShares Gold Trust (IAU), the two largest U.S.-listed gold ETFs, are each up 11.6%, bolstering the thesis that the yellow metal remains a preferred destination for investors worried about political volatility. If GLD and IAU can hold double-digit gains for 2017, it will be the best annual performances for the gold ETFs since 2011, when the funds barely missed out on annual gains of 10%. (See also: Getting Into the Gold Market.)

Impressively, gold is performing well against the backdrop of the Federal Reserve boosting interest rates. The Fed has increased rates twice this year and is likely to unveil one more rate hike before year end. Lower interest rates favor gold because the commodity does not pay a dividend or interest. "Gold is most correlated with real interest rates (in other words, the interest rate after inflation), not nominal rates or inflation," said BlackRock in a recent note. "While real rates rose sharply during the back half of 2016, the trend came to an abrupt halt in early 2017. U.S. 10-year real rates ended July exactly where they began the year, at 0.47%. The plateauing in real yields has taken pressure off of gold, which struggled in the post-election euphoria."

While equity market volatility has been benign this year, the same cannot be said of Capitol Hill, a theme that is lifting gold ETFs. "Using the past 20 years of monthly data, policy uncertainty, as measured by the U.S. Economic Policy Uncertainty Index, has had a more statistically significant relationship with gold prices than financial market volatility," according to BlackRock. "In fact, even after accounting for market volatility, policy uncertainty tends to drive gold prices." (See also: 3 Positive Chart Patterns for Precious Metals.)

GLD is the world's largest gold ETF, but IAU is not to be ignored. IAU has $8.9 billion in assets under management, a figure that is rising due to its favorable expense ratio. IAU charges 0.25% per year, or $25 on a $10,000 investment, compared with 0.4% for GLD. Since the start of the third quarter, investors have added nearly $212 million to IAU, bringing the ETF's year-to-date inflows total to almost $788 million. That is good for one of the best inflows tallies among all commodities ETFs this year. (See also: Fees Matter With Gold ETFs Too.)
The Star Wars movies are one of the most famous and successful film franchises ever. When the first film was released in just 42 theaters in 1977, few could have predicted that the franchise would be around decades latermuch less trading hands between two huge film companies for more than $4 billion. Thats the price that Walt Disney (DIS) paid for Lucasfilm in 2012.

The franchise accounted for the bulk of the deals value, though some consideration was paid to films in which Harrison Ford wears a funny hat.

The first Star Wars film spawned a number of prequels, sequels, stand-alone films, animated films, television series, and merchandise. Together, these products have raked in trillions of dollars. So why is the Star Wars franchise so valuable? What is its enduring appeal, and why does it resonate with so many people?

Key Takeaways The Star Wars franchise, created by George Lucas in the 1970s, is one of the most successful in the world.

Disney purchased the franchise from Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in 2012 in order to make more content to leverage its popularity.

The success of the Star Wars franchise is due to three factors: great story, innovative marketing, and clever targeting of many demographics.

The Star Wars Numbers

The first Star Wars trilogy was released in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was followed by the second trilogyknown as the prequel trilogyfrom 1999 to 2005. Thereafter, another sequel trilogythis one to the original Star Wars trilogyopened in theaters in 2015.

The final Star Wars film relating to the Skywalker saga was released in 2019. In addition to the nine films, three other Star Wars moviesdistantly related to the main storylinewere made to keep fans sated. According to estimates, the 12 films have garnered more than $10 billion at the box office.

Remember, that figure only includes box office receipts and does not take into account the billions of dollars that the franchise has made off its franchise deals, T.V. shows, and merchandising, with more content to come.

Why Is Star Wars Popular?

The numbers for Star Wars testify to its astounding success. Love it or hate it, the Star Wars brand is one of the most successful around, right up there with the ones for most well-known corporations. While it is difficult to quantify and delineate the exact reasons for its enduring appeal, there are some common elements that it shares with all successful businesses.

A Story With Many Elements

Just like any other great film, much of the success of the Star Wars franchise is due to its story. On the surface, the Star Wars story premise is that of the classic conflict of good versus evil. Within this core-shell of a story; however, there are several interwoven themes and subplots. The Star Wars story is a mash-up of many dramatic, comic, and action motifs.

For example, there is the parable about the struggle for power between the Jedi underdog and the powerful Imperial army. Luke Skywalkers relationship with his father traces a dramatic arc. His coming of age evokes wistfulness and resonates with adolescents. The Jedi lightsaber and the Death Star add fantasy and action.

The first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, cost $11 million to make.

Chewbacca is the comedy factor. Yodas Buddha-like wisdom amid chaos and disorder inserts elements of spirituality. Add to this the mystique and adventure of space and exploration and great costumesthat translate well for cosplay and Halloween. Memorable catchphrases and one-liners like I am your father and May the Force be with you have also enhanced recall of the franchises story.

The Star Wars franchise was particularly well-managed throughout its expansion, with none of the spin-off content subtracting from the core story told through the movies. In fact, the stories of the video games and books are seen as an improvement over particular films.

Cultivating New Audiences

When Star Wars: Episode VIIThe Force Awakens was released in 2015, after a gap of 10 years, Walmart ran an advertising campaign titled A New Generation of Fans is Born. The retail behemoth had it right.

The longevity and endurance of the Star Wars franchise mean that it spans a broad age range from a 4-year-old kid, newly introduced to the franchise through its latest movie installment, to the 70-year-old Grandpa reliving its thrills with the original.

Targeting multiple demographics is also a smart strategy. It evokes a range of emotionsnostalgia, happiness, excitementin fans. The producers of Star Wars further stoke demand by spacing out their releases.

Each age range represents a new market and new customer segment. There are those who enjoy the movies for their thrills and stellar direction, and there are hard-core fans who know each detail and argue fiercely about its nuances. Thats a far cry from the Star Trek franchise, Star Wars' nerdier niche sibling.

Innovative Marketing and Distribution

The Star Wars franchises success owes as much to the intangibles of creativity as to the tangible figures resulting from innovative marketing and distribution. The franchise has several innovations to its credit.

Unlike other movie franchises, which release merchandising and action figures after the movies release, the directors of Star Wars built up anticipation for the blockbuster by releasing novels and comics before its release. For example, Alan Dean Foster, a writer, novelized Star Wars: Episode IVA New Hope, the first movie in the franchise, six months before the movie was released.

Charles Lippincott, who was responsible for marketing the movie, substantially increased his budget after he was hired and expanded the franchises intellectual property universe to include multiple products, including posters, costumes, and clothing. The merchandise created new ways for us to engage the audience, which resulted in more fan fervor, he said in an interview.

The Star Wars universe has only expanded since. Now it encompasses mugs, theme parks, childrens beds, and barbecue utensils. Besides ensuring a family audience for Star Wars movies, a PG rating also expanded the product portfolio for its franchise. In fact, Lippincott said that if Star Wars wasnt aimed at a PG audience, wed even have condoms and sex toys.

The innovative marketing of Star Wars is complemented by Disneys distribution chops. Take a look at the company credits for the movies distribution. It is littered with the names of big studios across the world coming together to ensure that the franchise is available to the widest possible audience in all corners of the world.

In recent times, social media has amplified the Forces message to fans. Facebook and Twitter have become vital channels for the movies marketing team to connect with fans.

Disneys hefty reach runs toward its various divisions. They collaborated with each other to make the Star Wars franchise a monster hit. For example, during promotions of The Force Awakens, show anchors at ABC, a division of Disney, presented in Star Wars regalia.

Disney did not have a hand in the first trilogy (19771983) or the second trilogythe prequel trilogy (19992005). Its first Star Wars films were the sequel trilogy to the original Episode IV-VI films, beginning with The Force Awakens (2015) and ending with The Rise of Skywalker (2019). The four Star Wars films that Disney produced between 2012 when they purchased the franchise and 2018 raked in $4.8 billion at the box office.

Star Wars also released a 2008 animated film based on the original Clone Wars animated TV series that ran from 2003 to 2005not to mention the 1980s Ewoks and Droids cartoons. On top of the long-running bombardment through film and TV, Star Wars has an expanded universe of books, comics, board games, and video games.

Franchises Galore

There are few equivalents to the Star Wars universe that have developed the same demographic reach and content variety, and all of them are valuable commodities. One is the Harry Potter franchise, which has its core in the books and films, and additional revenue streams from toys, theme parks, and video games, as well as a Broadway play. The Potterverse likely wont explode while J.K. Rowling maintains direct control, but the potential is there.

Take the Star Trek franchise, based on the original television series created by Gene Roddenberry. This franchise inspires similar fandom across generations. Unlike Star Wars, Star Trek grew from TV first, then expanded to film, but the expanded universesno pun intendedparallel each other in variety and reach.

Disney has created many Star Wars T.V. shows that are viewable on its streaming platform, Disney+.

The Star Trek world, like Star Wars, includes a number of television series, animated series, and a slew of films, not to mention endless merchandise. For those who arent familiar, theres a Canadian Prairies town in Alberta called Vulcan, which is known as the official Star Trek capital of Canada. The town of about 2,000 people has a number of Star Trek-themed attractions, although the towns name had nothing to do with the franchise.

Then, of course, we have the Marvel Universe, which was another $4 billion Disney purchase made before the Lucasfilm buyout. That original investment made Disney more than $18 billion from box office receipts.

The Marvel Universe came with even more history than the Star Wars franchise and hundreds of established characters with which to work. This allowed Disney to accelerate movie and TV production, increase the merchandising already in place, and pump out Marvel content at an unprecedented pace.

Of course, Marvel Studios already had some of the plans in place and deserves full credit for the masterful execution from the 2008 film Iron Man to now, but the Disney magic in merchandising adds extra revenue to each film. It is estimated that Disney already made back the purchase price of Marvel by the time the first Avengers film was released.

It Goes Far Beyond Box Office

Obviously, the ability to spin off from a tentpole film into different areas of content and merchandise is a key advantage that underlies many movie franchises. Star Wars already has a large universe, with opportunities up and down the narrative stream for new stories.

Star Wars also has a lot of merchandising experience, with consumers able to buy just about anything imaginable. This includes figurines, models, T-shirts, stamps, comics, Nerf guns, Lego sets, water bottles, key chains, phone cases, costumes, blankets, beds shaped like the Millennium Falcon, slippers, hats, suggestive Darth Vader underwear, watches, business card holders, lunch boxes, stationery, car accessories, kitchenware, luggage, and much, much more.

With Star Wars now an in-house property, Disney will continue to develop the merchandising and integrate the brand and universe into its resorts business and theme parks. Maybe we will see a theme room where you can sleep inside a replica Tauntaun, but theyll likely start with something less gruesome.

In short, Disney gives Star Wars even more opportunities for merchandisingT-shirts with Mickey Mouse as a Jedi, for exampleand new crossover content.

Is Star Wars or Star Trek More Popular? In terms of media content created, Star Trek is more popular than Star Wars. Star Trek has significantly more films and T.V. shows than Star Wars; however, the popularity levels of both are extremely high, with many devoted fans, merchandise, and content on a multitude of platforms, from movies to shows to comics.

How Much Is the Star Wars Franchise Worth? Taking into consideration all the media aspects of Star Wars, which includes movies, shows, theme parks, merchandise, and more, the estimated value of the brand is $68 billion, and only expected to increase as the popularity of Star Wars only seems to be growing.

How Much Has Star Wars Made? The worldwide box office revenue of the Star Wars franchise is $10.32 billion.

The Bottom Line

There is no doubt that Star Wars was well worth the $4 billion-plus purchase price. The box office receipts of all the movies exceed that amount if you adjust for inflation, and there is a reasonable chance that higher-earning movies are still in the future.

These movies will be backed by a multitude of merchandising and spin-off content that will add value for Disney for years to come. In short, the value of the Star Wars franchise owes to the consumersyoung and oldwho pay to escape to a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Contributing to a spousal individual retirement account (IRA) is a way for married couples to build a bigger retirement nest egg, even if only one spouse is currently employed. Individuals without income from jobs generally can't contribute to tax-advantaged retirement accounts, such as IRAs, because they don't have "eligible" compensation. However, there is an exception for married, non-working individuals whose spouses are employed, as long as they both meet certain requirements. Here is what you need to know.

Key Takeaways If one spouse has eligible compensation, that spouse can fund an IRA for the non-employed spouse as well as their own IRA.

Traditional and Roth IRAs have the same contribution limits but different eligibility requirements.

Each spouse's IRA must be held separately. IRAs cannot be held jointly.

Eligibility for Spousal IRA Contributions

If you are the working spouse and want to make an IRA contribution for your non-working spouse, you must:

Have eligible compensation of at least the total spousal IRA contribution, plus your own IRA contributionif any. For IRA contribution purposes, eligible compensation includes wages, salaries, tips, commissions, nontaxable combat pay, and income from self-employment.

File a joint income-tax return with your spouse.

Age Limits

There are no longer any age limits on making IRA contributions. (At one time traditional IRAs had such limits, but that changed in 2019.)

It might be worth keeping in mind, however, that Roth IRA account owners must have had a Roth for at least five years in order for their withdrawals to be tax-free. This will generally not be an issue for younger taxpayers, but older ones may want to plan accordingly.

Contribution Limits for Traditional and Roth IRAs

For 2022, the individual contribution limit for both traditional and Roth IRAs is the lesser of:

$6,000 a year for individuals under age 50 as of the end of the year and $7,000 for anyone 50 or older, or 100% of eligible compensation

You can contribute those amounts to both your and your spouse's IRAs, for up to a maximum of $14,000 if both of you are 50 or over.

Note that those are the total amounts you can contribute for the year, regardless of how many IRAs you have. For example, if you have both a traditional and a Roth IRA, you could split $6,000 between the two, putting $3,000 in each.

Compensation Limits

There is no income cap on your eligibility to make traditional IRA contributions, although people with incomes over a certain level may not be able to take a tax deduction for their contributions. These rules are explained in IRS Publication 590-A.

However, if you want to contribute to a Roth IRA for your spouse (or yourself), there are income limits. For 2022, a married couple who file a joint tax return and have a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) of up to $204,000 can contribute the full amount to each of their Roth IRAs.

Couples with incomes between $204,000 and $214,000 can make partial Roth contributions. If their income exceeds $214,000, they no longer qualify for Roth IRAs.

Other IRA Rules

In addition to the spousal IRA rules addressed above, there are some other relevant rules that apply to IRAs in general.

No joint accounts

Individual retirement accounts are just that: individual accounts. Unlike a checking or savings account, for example, they cannot be held as joint accounts. Instead, each spouse's IRA must be held under that spouse's name and taxpayer identification number (typically their Social Security number).

When to contribute

Your IRA contributions for the year must be deposited or mailed to the financial institution you have chosen as your IRA custodian or trustee by your tax-filing due date for that year, typically April 15 of the following year. (When April 15 falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline is extended to the next business day.)

So, for example, you can make a contribution to an IRA for 2022 anytime between Jan. 1, 2022, and April 17, 2023.

Note that even if you file for an extension to complete your taxes, your IRA contributions are still due by the April deadline.

Bear in mind that you don't have to make your full contribution in one payment. Instead, you can make partial contributions throughout the year, as long as they all arrive before the April deadline.

You can also make an IRA contribution even after you have filed that year's income tax return, providing you meet the deadline.

If you mail your contributions, be sure to obtain a receipt or send them by traceable mail. You may need to provide proof of the date of mailing should your contribution reach your IRA custodian or trustee after the deadline.



Remember to specify the tax year

Finally, remember to indicate the tax year to which your contribution should be applied. IRA custodians or trustees will generally deposit your contribution for the year they receive it unless you indicate on the check or accompanying documentation that the contribution is for the previous year.

What Is a Non-Working Spouse? A "non-working" spouse is a bit of a misnomer. It simply refers to a spouse who is not bringing home income from a job or self-employment. The spouse may be doing plenty of work caring for children or an elderly relative, maintaining a household, studying for a degree, volunteering for charity, etc. A retired spouse who no longer works for a living would also qualify.

What Can a Spousal IRA Invest In? Your investment options for a spousal IRA are the same as for any IRA. These include mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), individual stocks and bonds, and so forth.

What Is the Difference Between a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA? The primary difference between a traditional and Roth IRA is how they are taxed. With a traditional IRA, you're eligible for an upfront tax deduction for your contributions but your withdrawals will be taxed as income. With a Roth IRA, you don't receive a tax deduction, but your withdrawals can be tax-free if you follow the rules. Both types of IRA enjoy tax-deferred growth over the years (ultimately tax-free in the case of the Roth).

The Bottom Line

A spousal IRA allows a working spouse to fund an IRA for a non-working spouse, effectively doubling their retirement savings for the year. Otherwise, spousal IRAs are subject to the same rules as any traditional or Roth IRA.
An Belfast local history project has published an exceptional collection of historic photos of the city from before and after The Troubles.

Dating as far back as 1906 and from as recent as the early 1990s the images from the Glenravel Local History Project and published on the Facebook page 'Old Belfast Photos' give a glimpse into the social history, and the everyday life in the County Antrim city. Some of the most interesting images in the collection include the most iconic neighborhoods of West Belfast  the Shankill and Falls Roads areas.

The Shankill Road and the Falls Road are probably the most famous roads in Belfast, due, mostly, to the political unrest and violence that made them newsworthy and the communities' strong backgrounds and close proximity to one another.

However, its not all doom and gloom in these photos. There are shots of everyday life dating back to 1906, snapshots of elegant ladies going about their business and ones, like the photos above, taken off the Falls Road in 1912 of smartly dressed young women and children.

The archives contain amazing images from the 1950s such as this wide angle of the Falls Road (below) and the two local cinemas  the Clontard and the Diamond.

The photo below shows the Falls Road taxi stand at King Street, and the former Club Orchid Building in the background.

Later images from the collection depict unrest on the Falls Road c. 1969 and destruction due to The Troubles from the late 1960s on.

Again the photo collection shows that, despite the violence and devastation wrought by the bombings and violent attacks, everyday life continued in Belfast throughout. Below is a shot of a police checkpoint in Donegal Place, in front of Belfasts City Hall. This police stop and frisk style search was standard for those in the city. Note the man on the left is still smiling!

The photos also reveal the resilience of Belfast's people. One image from the collection taken at the Grand Opera House on Great Victoria Streets Gold Mile in the 1980s shows, as the Old Belfast Photograph page describes it, the re-emergence of nightlife in Belfast.

Do you remember this Belfast from bygone days? Have you visited recently?

Let us know below.

If you have any old photos of Belfast City get in touch with the Glenravel Local History Project. For more information on the Glenravel Local History Project and their contact details visit www.glenravel.com and check out the Old Belfast Photographs Facebook here.
A team of five amateur divers discovered the wreckage of a UC-42 submarine which sank while laying mines during the First World War off the Cork coast.

The remains were located in 2014, in 80 feet of water just off Roches Point on November 6 last.The U-boat measured about 115 feet long and was found in good condition.

All 27 crew on board the vessel died when the submarine sank. It is thought that divers using explosives from the HMS Vernon torpedo school destroyed the vessel in July 1919.

Ian Kelleher, who was part of the team who made the recent discovery described the search as a religion for diving enthusiasts.

"It was a religion in diving terms around here that there was a U-boat missing out there. The fact that it had never been found made it more of a mystery, and we believed that by finding it that maybe we could tell the story of what happened it and its crew, so we set out many years ago actually to look for it. We got lucky and we found it," he told the Irish Examiner.

Kelleher, who is a chemistry student at Cork Institute of Technology said the original dive team had laid a plaque of remembrance for those killed near the propellers.

"Once it sank in September 1917, the British Admiralty dived to confirm that it was there. We believed that if any damage had been done to it by the British, there would still be remains of it there. We just wanted to find it and see what was left of it. What we found, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. It was an intact submarine lying on the bottom and not the scattered remains we had believed we would find down there," he said.

The chemistry student said the team planned to attempt to contact the relatives of the crew and urged divers to respect the site as a grave

"There arent very many U-boats in Ireland that are within the reach of ordinary divers. This is, possibly, within the reach of most divers out there. I do believe it will be a magnet for divers. I would like to stress that it is a grave, however. We have treated it as such and we have laid a plaque there and anybody that dives it we would ask to look but not touch," he said.

* Originally published in 2014.
The Irish state is ready to spend 430 million over the next five years to tackle the flooding threat.

That was revealed this week after continued flooding around Ireland through Christmas and the New Year. Hundreds of people were forced to move out of their homes for the holiday period.

Following pre-Christmas destruction by Storm Eva, Storm Frank swept water into hundreds of homes and left thousands of acres of farmland under many feet of water as the Shannon and other rivers burst their banks.

Office of Public Works Minister Simon Harris said in Tuesdays Irish Independent that the governments capital investment plan will see 430 million spent in the next five years -- more than was spent in the past 20 years  on flood risk investment and flood works.

Meanwhile, the government gave Harris an immediate 10 million at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to distribute to local authorities to deal with the aftermath of recent flooding. Thats in addition to 8 million already earmarked to deal with the damage.

There will be regular reviews in the coming weeks in case more immediate money is needed as the cost of the damage becomes clearer.

\Ministers believe more than 40 million will be required to deal with road damage, the most expensive heading in the final clean-up bill.

The government is drawing up long-term strategies to deal with 300 areas across the state which are in danger of flooding.

The flood damage, the worst in living memory in Ireland, has been caused by a combination of events  climate change, construction of homes without adequate assessment of flood-risk plains during the Celtic Tiger building boom, and failure to dredge rivers for many decades.

A woman trapped in her Co. Kilkenny home when the river Nore overflowed claimed it and many other rivers hadnt been dredged or treated in any way for over 100 years.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny was harshly criticized for failing to visit any of the flood areas over Christmas.

Following the criticism in the national press he visited a number of areas, including farmland and homes heavily flooded by Shannon overflow in the Athlone area.

Horse trainer Tom Cleary, who had to move his animals from his flooded training center near Athlone to facilities at the Curragh, told RTE that Kenny was stunned when he saw the damage caused by the floods.

Tanaiste Joan Burton appeared on every newspaper front page and on television as she toppled into flood waters from a canoe carrying her through the waterlogged streets of Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny.

President Michael D. Higgins, who visited flood areas in Galway and Wexford, rejected that an EU Habitats Directive, brought into force in 1997 when he was a government minister, was somehow responsible for preventing flood protection measures such as river dredging. Higgins said the effects of climate change were altering how all such matters were addressed.

He was backed by the European Commission which on Tuesday rejected suggestions that EU laws are to blame for the recent severe flooding in Ireland.

A spokeswoman for the commission said member states decide their own rules on how to manage their water courses.
New York City had its own Magdalene Laundry . In fact, from the 1830s onwards it had several, after the establishment of the Magdalen Society in Manhattan which quickly set about rescuing women from lives of prostitution and vice, sometimes quite literally kidnapping them from brothels.

In the early years the group rented an upper floor on Carmine Street, and the society was initially constrained to caring for no more than 10 women at a time. But according to research recently published by local Inwood historian Cole Thompson, by 1836 the Magdalen Society had moved uptown into a large wood frame structure on 86th Street and Fifth Avenue.

But rising real estate values kept Manhattan's neighborhoods moving northwards and eventually made the 86th Street building too expensive to maintain. The society decided to move to Inwood, the last stop on the island of Manhattan which would later become an Irish stronghold.

Tasked with the charge of building the new dwelling were architects Carleton Greene, W.W. Bosworth and F. H. Bosworth, writes Thompson. The building was to have a magnificent facade designed in the style of a French chateau. In reality it would be another asylum of stone and concrete.

In 1907, the New York Tribune described the result: On every side are great windows, looking out into the woods or over the waters of the Hudson. The workroom where the girls sew is like the deck of a steamer, and so are the dormitories where they sleep.

The walls that confined the women were 40 feet high, according to The New York Times. A large number of New Yorkers sent their laundry to the society and in one year it cleared $6,000, an enormous sum at the time (the inmates worked unpaid).

Some parents of the wayward girls are sensible about committing them; others are foolish, or worse, and want to get them out, a woman referred to as Superintendent Harrison told the Times in 1907.

By 1913, every police detective in northern Manhattan was familiar with the Magdalene asylum on the hill, Thompson writes. Distress calls were made by the homes matrons with alarming frequency and usually involved either an escape or a riot that needed to be quelled.

On the night of June 19, 1913 another desperate call from the Magdalen asylum was made to the police: a riot had broken out. When special officer William Hartigan arrived on the scene, he was staggered by what he saw.

At least 75 girls were involved in an uprising  scratched, bleeding, clothing shredded, tossing every stick of furniture out of the windows, in a scene of pandemonium.

The New York Herald reported: The fight raged through the main corridors of the institution. The women guards and attendants were powerless to separate the combatants. William Hartigan, a special officer, was called in and he, too, was severely beaten by the girls.

Six girls were arrested after the melee, and police theorized they had rioted in hopes of being sentenced to other institutions with shorter minimum commitments. A year later in 1914 16-year-old Sarah Greene was killed in an hasty escape attempt.

According to the New York Herald: Being unversed in even the elemental theories of physics, Sarah Green... tied one end of a rope composed of ripped bed clothes to a chair on the forth floor of the Magdalen home... and started to lower herself from a window to the rocks bordering the Hudson. As soon as she changed her weight from the window sill to the rope the chair followed her out of the window and 17 bones in her body were broken when she fell on the crags.

Two years later another young woman was killed in a similar fall. Helen Miller, a 23-year old hunchbackknown to the police as an incorrigible, plunged, dressed in her laundry uniform, to her death from a third floor window. Magdalen administrators claimed the young woman had a habit of walking in her sleep, but they could not explain why she was fully clothed, according to a report in The Evening World.

Riots, gathering in size, continued year after year, as did escape attempts. Young Irish girl Margaret Darcy's 1916 flight became the stuff of legend.

One Friday evening in 1916, just days into her three year commitment to the home, she faked illness. Alone on the third floor dormitory, she squeezed her thin young frame into a 24-inch tube used as a laundry chute.

Surviving the 20-foot vertical drop into the basement, she opened a window, cut a hole in a heavy wire screen and raced across the courtyard just as a night watchman sounded the alarm. But the girl was exceptionally agile and reached a tree near the wall, the New York Herald reported. This she climbed so fast that she was out on a large branch before the guards reached the yard. In a second she had dropped outside the wall and was gone.

The laundry continued its mission in Inwood through 1929 when it was purchased by officials representing the Jewish Memorial Hospital. Although the Magdalene laundry has long closed Inwood House, as it would later come to be known, exists to this day and still pursues its mission to aid young and unwed mothers in Manhattan.
Unlike in America, Irish general election dates are picked by the sitting taoiseach, or sometimes forced upon him.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his Fine Gael/Labour coalition were elected for five years, which ends in April. Sometime in the next two months Kenny will make the short drive to the presidential residence, Aras an Uachtarain, and ask President Michael D. Higgins to dissolve the Dail.

Sometimes unstable governments have lasted only six months or so in Ireland, but Kenny has had a very stable political coalition for most of the past five years.

However, the question is now being asked if he has left it too late in his five-year term to pick the election date.

Before Christmas Kenny looked set to call an election, and with opinion polls for his party rising it seemed the stage was set for his return as taoiseach.

But as Harold Macmillan, a former British prime minister, once responded events dear boy when asked what was the most crucial factor in shaping election outcomes. Kenny may have hung on too long.

Consider that the front page newspaper splash literally on New Years Day was Kennys deputy Joan Burton falling overboard from a boat when inspecting flood damage. The media has excoriated Kenny for not paying more personal attention to the devastating floods which soaked much of Ireland around the holidays, so the critics may well be right.

The rumored election date is mid to late February, but if the freakish storm systems which are causing massive flooding all over Ireland continue the feel-good factor of an improving economy and Christmas cheer may well evaporate.

The fact that unscrupulous builders built vast estates in flood plains during the Celtic Tiger has also come home to roost. Tens of thousands of homeowners will now find it impossible to get flood insurance, and will find it very difficult to sell their homes without such a provision.

Read more: Will the floods have subsided for Enda Kenny come the elections?

Massive flooding is not a problem that's easy to fix with a stroke of a politicians pen. Kenny seemed to be clutching at straws when he suggested houses may have to be rebuilt from scratch on higher ground. But who will foot the bill for that?

Under the new weather warning system, the storms battering Ireland and Britain now have names. I personally experienced Storm Frank when in Ireland between Christmas and New Years. It was a souped up version of a bad noreaster, with no end in sight to follow-up storms either.

The flooding appears to be a worsening problem tied to climate change. The frequency of storms is far greater than it was even a decade ago when many of the flood plain houses were first built. Experts in Ireland are in no doubt that climate change is playing a huge role, pointing to the huge volume of rain and gale force winds hitting the country almost every year now.

It is an ill wind for opposition parties however, even if Kenny remains the overwhelming favorite to be returned to power.

Burton, who fell overboard, is in dire danger of losing her own seat and seeing her Labour Party decimated.

That will throw up the intriguing question of who will coalesce with whom. A senior politician outlined five likely scenarios, noting that Kenny as leader figured in four of them.

But if the rains keep falling and the big floods keep coming, a potent and unknowable factor will be introduced to the election. Those who predicted an easy Kenny return to power may end up being all wet.

Read more: The truth about the flooding in Ireland - reality, prioritizing and planning
The US commemoration of Irelands 1916 Easter Rising was launched yesterday in New York by Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan, Ambassador Anne Anderson, and leading figures from the Irish and American communities including writer Colum McCann, Senator Chuck Schumer, singer Maxine Linehan, Irish tenor Antony Kearns, and actor Liam Neeson.

Ireland 2016 will consist of a year-long program of over 200 events across the country, exploring the history of Easter Week 1916 and forming a larger celebration of the shared history and enduring bond between Ireland and America.

At the Irish Consulate in New York and, later, at Pier A Harbor House (the spot where thousands of immigrants arrived in New York city from Ellis Island; recently rehabilitated as a venue by Irishman Danny McDonald), the Irish American community gathered to mark the start of the 1916 centenary and to learn what the coming year has in store.

This is a highly significant year in Ireland and for Irish people across the globe. Theres no other small country with such a hugely engaged diaspora as Ireland, Minister Flanagan told IrishCentral.

He noted that it was highly appropriate to launch the commemorative program for 2016 in New York, since no other city, and no country, played a more important role in the Easter Rising and the subsequent one hundred year journey for a lasting and just peace settlement, than the United States.

Irish America must play a key role in the 1916 commemorations, he explained, because the Risings overarching aim of Irish independence was a cause for which generations of Irish Americans had dedicated themselves and, without whose support, Ireland would never have achieved its place amongst the nations of the earth.

Five of the seven Irishmen who signed the Proclamation of the Irish Republic had spent significant time in the US before the Rising, and one of them, Thomas Clarke, was even a naturalized American citizen. America also holds the distinction of being the only foreign country to be mentioned by name in the Proclamation, which, Flanagan added, was itself inspired by the American Declaration of Independence.

The year of Ireland 2016 events across the Unites States was organized by the Irish Embassy and the six consulates general in New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin and San Francisco, which worked closely with partners in the federal and local governments, with key cultural institutions and leading academic institutions, as well as many Irish community groups.

Rather than simply focusing on New York, Boston and other American cities with the strongest historic links to the Rising, the 2016 program of events will be spread out across country, offering the larger Irish diaspora in America an array of cultural, community and educational events. I am Ireland, an initiative led by Culture Ireland, will bring even more Irish art and culture to the US in the year ahead.

The centerpiece of the 2016 celebrations will be Ireland 100, a three week festival of Irish arts and culture from May 17 to June 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC featuring some of Irelands best known and most exciting artists, including actress Fiona Shaw, The Abbey Theatre, dancer Jean Butler, musical group The Gloaming, and writers Colum McCann, Anne Enright and Colm Toibin.

Another cornerstone of the program will be 1916: The Irish Rebellion, a feature-length documentary on the Rising produced by the University of Notre Dame.

The documentary narrator is Liam Neeson, who attended yesterdays launch at Pier A. It is set to air on PBS and will be screened in various venues across the US.

Flanagan expressed the hope that the program would extend beyond the Irish community in its appeal. Its not only for Irish people, its not only for Irish Americans, its for everybody here across the United States, and I hope there will be people who will become involved in sharing our heritage for the first time  people perhaps with no immediate association or connection with Ireland, in the wider America. I invite them to become involved in Ireland America and our strong relationship.

On the subject of criticism that the global events for the 1916 centenary have been too politically correct in their inclusiveness of British commemoration, he said it was important to acknowledge the past with an eye to the future.

In our decade of centenaries we reflect on what is the rich tapestry of Ireland and Irish politics. The years of 1920  1922 were particularly turbulent, and its important we recognize that and we reflect on the events, but its also important that we do so in a way that commemorates our past 100 years and that we also look to the future of a political climate on the island of Ireland, particularly with our nearest and closest neighbor, the United Kingdom, He said.

I am fresh from 10 weeks in Belfast, I had talks with [Northern Irelands] Secretary of State Teresa Villiers just before Christmas. Its important to acknowledge the great progress we have made there, but also to acknowledge that this is an ongoing project, and I believe that the centenary program, here in the United States as well as at home, is very much reflective of this.

Irish Ambassador to the US Anne Anderson also expressed her hopes for the impact of the Ireland 2016 program.

When these centenary events draw to a close, I hope we will look back on a year that has raised Irelands profile in America, that has educated us and animated us, challenged us and illuminated the path forward, she said.

She observed that Americans, particularly during election time, have a tendency to affirm things in terms of this is who we are.

I love the way that Americans, as they confront choices and challenges, reach for that affirmation. This is who we are. It does not suggest a perfect America, it does not erase the flaws or the errors, but it summons what is best and truest in America, the generous-spirited, open-hearted land of opportunity, she said.

I hope that in 2016, in our centenary program, we can show America this is who we are. This is Ireland at its best. Not perfect, not airbrushed, but a country of abiding values, endless questing, unsurpassed talent, and extraordinary achievements.

For a full schedule of events, visit the Ireland 2016 website here.

For more coverage of the 1916 Centenary, click here.
The finest attractions, events, places, and people (yours truly included) of the Faithful County are here to show you why County Offaly is the greatest place on this planet.

If you're planning on visiting Ireland any time soon, here are 7 reasons why you should hop in your car and head inland for a truly unique Irish experience:

We gave birth to former US President Barack Obama

Not literally, of course  that would be a medical impossibility but the current US President can trace his ancestry all the way back to the tiny village of Moneygall in the southwest of the county.





Offaly is home to one of Ireland's only extinct volcanoes...

Standing out like a sore thumb in a county flatter than a steamrolled pancake, the 234-meter high Croghan Hill commands quite a view over much of the eastern half of the county. But there's a very good reason for its relative isolation. It is the remains of an extinct volcano.

Sadly (thankfully), it's been dead for thousands of years, but it does make for a very cool obstacle course.

... and a world-famous whiskey!

True story: this writer was in one of those dodgy electronics shops in Times Square, New York back in 2000 when the owner, on hearing we were Irish, asked were we from Tullamore. Not Dublin or Cork, but Tullamore.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tullamore Dew Our Distillery (@tullamore_dew_our_distillery)

Now I suspect that the man had never set foot outside Times Square, let alone New York, so we came to the conclusion that he had a fondness for one of Ireland's most popular exports, Tullamore Dew.

The whiskey was first produced in the town in 1829, although sadly that's not the case anymore (it's now made in Middleton, Co Cork). Still, you can visit the excellent visitor's center in the town center today, detailing the long and fine tradition of whiskey-making in the Midlands.

Read more Why a vacation in Ireland is different from the rest

Birr Castle was home to the world's largest telescope

While the rest of the country was looking into the gutters, Offalians were looking at the stars. The Leviathan of Parsonstown (to give it its official name) was the largest telescope in the world between 1845 and 1917.

We respect the beauty

Bog lands in Offaly have an inherent natural beauty  and we're making the most of it. Thousands of hectares of cutaway bog have been transformed into parkland, like the nature reserve at Boora Bog. It's no Grand Canyon, but we'll take it.

We were pioneers in the fight against cancer

The man who developed radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer was born in Offaly. John Joly from Bracknagh was a bit of a whizz-kid when it came to all things science. He's also known for developing techniques to accurately estimate the age of a geological period, based on radioactive something or other.

Even ghosts want to live here

Kinnity Castle outside Tullamore and Leap Castle near Birr are often described as two of Ireland's most haunted locations  and both have featured heavily on those ghost-hunting television series too. You know the ones.

Traveling to Ireland Are you planning a vacation in Ireland? Looking for advice or want to share some great memories? Join our Irish travel Facebook group.
Farmers who have lost fodder due to the severe flooding are being urged to apply quickly to the Government's assistance fund.

2m has been set aside to help farmers replace lost feed for their animals in the coming days and weeks.

Floodwaters have encroached on farmlands and sheds - destroying food that had been stockpiled for the winter months.

The deadline for applications is this day fortnight and the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has said it is a simple application process: They will get the full market value of that lost fodder,

Farmers essentially need to fill out a self declaration form that they can download from the Departments website, and they put in the details, it is literally only a one pager.

They put in the details of what has been lost and the volumes of what has been lost, we will send an inspector out then to verify those numbers and pay people quickly.

To download the form click here.

The Road Safety Authority is joining calls for drivers in flood hit areas to stick to diversion routes and follow safety signage.

It is after Gardai said yesterday that people using Sat Navs won't follow common sense and are putting themselves in danger on roads that are NOT safe to travel on.

After a night of freezing conditions on already flooded roads - many routes are expected to be treacherous this morning.

The RSA's Brian Farrell is appealing to drivers to put safety first: People have to heed the advice of the gardai and Local Authorities given, especially in relation to road closures and heed any of those diversions,

You know, if you dont heed that advice you end up getting yourself into trouble and the emergency services having to divert their attention having to rescue you from a situation you shouldnt have gotten yourself into in the first place.
A potential initial public offering is under review for Saudi Arabian Oil Co, also known as Aramco, Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdoms deputy crown prince, said in an interview with The Economist.

A decision will probably be taken in the next few months, he said, without giving further details.

Personally, Im enthusiastic about this step, Salman said.

I believe it is in the interest of the Saudi market, and it is in the interest of Aramco by helping to promote transparency and counter corruption, he said.

Aramco could rival Apple as the worlds biggest listed company.

It is solely responsible for tapping the worlds second-largest crude reserves, with production double that of its nearest rival.

The company is one of the key players in balancing the oil market and its investment decisions have the potential to move crude prices and affect economies around the world.

Saudi Aramco officials werent immediately able to comment on IPO plans.

The company has previous experience listing a business  in 2008, it floated a subsidiary called Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co in the local stock market.

The refinery, which processes 400,000 barrels a day, has a market capitalisation of $2.3bn (2.1bn).

Saudi officials believe the company could be worth trillions of dollars, according to The Economist.

Aramco controls 261bn barrels in oil reserves, more than 10 times that held by Exxon Mobil Corp, which has a market value of $319bn.

Opening Aramco up to investors would be the most dramatic change in the kingdoms economic policy since it started nationalisation in the 1970s, with Salman comparing his plans to Margaret Thatchers shakeup of the UK economy in the 1980s.

This is an epochal change in the oil industry, said Bob McNally, founder of Washington-based consultant The Rapidan Group and a former senior White House official.

Saudi Arabia is getting ready to ride the oil-price rollercoaster, not control it.

Salman has held two meetings related to the sale of Aramco shares, The Economist reported citing unidentified officials.

Options include selling shares in the parent company, which controls oil exploration and production, to offering smaller units that operate petrochemical, refining and marketing, according to the report.

The Economist said about 5% of the company could be offered initially in Riyadh and more shares could be sold later, although the kingdom would retain control.

Since the ascension last year of his father, King Salman, the young deputy crown prince has been given ample powers to modernise the Saudi economy.

He is the chair of the countrys Council of Economic and Development Affairs and the head of the Supreme Council that oversees Aramco.

As such, he could push ahead with an IPO, although the final word remains with his father.

While Saudi Arabia earned $285bn from petroleum exports in 2014, the slump in crude prices has squeezed revenue for oil producers.

The price of crude sold by OPEC members slid below $30 a barrel on Wednesday, the lowest level in almost 12 years, as turmoil in Chinese markets deepened the global commodities rout.

The groups members lost about $500bn in revenue last year because of the slump, according to the International Energy Agency.

Despite oils crash, the Saudi economy is far from a crisis, Salman said.

Non-oil revenues rose by 29% and steps have been taken to cut public spending, he said.

Aramco pumps all of Saudi Arabias crude oil, with production at 10.25m barrels a day in December.

Among listed companies, Russias OAO Rosneft produces more than 5m barrels a day while Exxon pumps about 4m barrels.

Exxon, the worlds biggest publicly traded oil company, had oil and gas reserves equivalent to about 25bn barrels at the end of 2014 while Rosneft had almost 40bn.

Saudis oil reserves alone totaled 267bn, according to BP Plc data. Oil companies are typically valued on reserves they hold.

Opening up Aramco would advance Saudi plan to bring in foreign investors and funds after it opened its IPO market last year.
Not So Shocking Study Shows Chicago Isn't Very Affordable For Millennials

By Kate Shepherd in News on Jan 7, 2016 10:16PM



pantagrapher

It's no shock that Chicago isn't the most affordable city in the world for young people.

The YouthfulCities affordability report ranked Chicago as the 16th most affordable city out of 55 world-class cities. Notoriously expensive New York City followed Chicago at number 17.

The top ten cities deemed most affordable for young people are: Sydney, Montreal, Detroit, San Francisco, Berlin, Tokyo, Boston, Osaka (Japan), Paris and Los Angeles. We are surprised that San Francisco came in as the fourth most affordable city.

The report relied heavily on the minimum wage (which hurt Chicago) and included other costs of daily living, such as cost of a dozen eggs and a movie ticket, for people aged 15 to 29.

With the highest minimum wage at $16.28 an hour (in U.S. currency), Sydney took the top spot. The ranking used 2014 data which means they factored in Chicago's then-minimum wage of $8.25, not the increase to $10 an hour. Chicago's minimum wage might be better now but it also has a higher sales tax of 10.25 percent than it did in 2014 (the highest of any major U.S. city), making it less affordable.

There is some positive news: Chicago did come in ninth place for affordable rent ($1,995 per month), second place for cheapest dozen eggs ($2.37) and fourth place for the low cost of a tube of toothpaste ($1.81).

Job opportunities for young people are much more important in the long run than the minimum wage, Michael Wenz, associate professor of economics at Northeastern Illinois University told RedEye.


We are not confirming this rumour or commenting further, Sarah Meron, a spokeswoman for Yahoo said.

The layoffs would result in more than 1,000 people leaving the tech giant, it was reported.

They are set to affect Yahoos media business, its European operations, and its platforms-technology group, according to the report.

The move follows activist investor Starboard Values letter to Yahoo on Wednesday ramping up pressure on the company, taking aim at chief executive Marissa Mayer and her leadership team, and raising the prospect that a proxy battle is approaching.

Starboard implied that Mayer and her officers needed to go, without naming her specifically.

The activist investor also threatened to shake up the board if Yahoos stock continued to suffer.

Report: #Yahoo plans to lay off 10 percent of its workforce as early as this month. https://t.co/cGva89VL6K pic.twitter.com/IwxP9NUyRr  ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) January 7, 2016

To be successful, dramatically different thinking is required, together with significant changes across all aspects of the business starting at the board level, and including executive leadership, Starboard chief executive Jeffrey Smith said in its letter.

Yahoo spokeswoman Rebecca Neufeld said the company will provide more details on its turnaround plan prior to its fourth-quarter earnings call this month.

Starboard owns about 0.75% of Yahoo.

It has been pushing for changes at the internet company since 2014.

The investor seeks it to separate its Asian assets and auction off the core business.

The investor  together with other shareholders  has demanded that Yahoo separate the Asian assets.

Those assets include stakes in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba and Yahoo Japan.

The investor also wants Yahoo to conduct an immediate public auction of the core business, including search and advertising businesses.

But Yahoo is resisting, instead pursuing a tax-free spinoff of the core business, which could take at least a year.

Yahoo had appointed management consulting firm McKinsey, in November, to help with the reorganisation of its core businesses.

The company also had plans to make big changes to its media unit, restructuring and consolidating it, including making cuts and shuttering some efforts.

In December, Yahoo shelved plans to spin off the Alibaba stake.

The company said that it would create a separate company that would house Yahoos Internet business and its stake in Yahoo Japan.
The disclosure follows an appeal from the descendant of a patient of St Lomans Hospital, in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, who wants the crosses returned.

Julianne Clarke made the plea in an interview on the Ryan Tubridy Show on RTE Radio 1 yesterday. She also revealed she had traced her great-grandmother, Julia Caffrey-Leonard, to the institution.

Ms Clarke discovered that her great-grandmother died in St Lomans, but she does not know which of the 1,304 plots in the hospital graveyard contains her remains.

Each grave previously bore a cross with a reference number, which corresponded with the patients records.

In 2011, some officials decided they wanted to do maintenance work. They wanted to mow the grass, so they decided they would take up all the crosses and put them in a shed and the grass was mowed, she said.

The crosses have yet to be returned.

Ms Clarke said the handling of the crosses showed the discrimination and stigma suffered by people with mental health issues, and said there would be shock and horror if such actions were carried out in a community graveyard.

In 2011, if they decided were going to take up these crosses, they could have decided were going to put the names of the people on the crosses. But, instead, they decided to take up the crosses, she said.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the HSE said a register of burials is kept at St Lomans Hospital, where the cemetery was in use from 1907 to 1970.

Over the years, due to the frequent trespassers and vandalism, hundreds of the grave crosses were removed and damaged. The remaining crosses, which were interfered with and moved around by trespassers, were collected and put into storage, the statement read.

Ms Clarke said she discovered that her great-grandmothers husband had her committed to St Lomans in 1898.

From what I can gather, they had some sort of a row, and she threw scalding tea at him and accused him of having affairs.

He called the guards, what would have been the constabulary back then, wed know as the guards today, and he had her committed to the asylum in St Lomans, she said.

Ms Caffrey-Leonard was pregnant with her sixth child  Ms Clarks grandfather  at the time.

Psychiatrist notes show that she maintained her sanity throughout her time in St Lomans, and made a number of attempts to escape.

She spent 22 years in St Lomans, before she died of heart failure aged 54.
They said the rockets pose a new threat by the terrorists, as do their use of mobile phones to remotely detonate explosives. Security chiefs also fear dissidents will use the 1916 centenary to launch attacks.

Gardai yesterday warned that not only were dissidents becoming more sophisticated in their capabilities, but were recruiting young people, some of whom were displaying engineering skills.

Assistant Commissioner John OMahony, Garda Crime and Security Branch, said there was a very real threat from the dissidents, particulary in the North.

It follows comments from PSNI assistant chief constable Will Kerr last October, who warned that a dissident terror attack there was highly likely. He also said dissidents would aim to ramp up their violence in the run-up to the 1916 centenary.

Mr OMahony said dissident groups were displaying growing technical knowledge and skills.

There is a steady and growing rise in dissident republicans becoming more sophisticated. From some of these devices, and the way they are operated, there are increasing signs of sophistication in relation to engineering, he said.

Detectives from the Garda national security units seized four rockets last year, including two large ones, modelled on the Kassam rockets used by Hamas in attacks on Israel  the first seizures of their kind here.

They were put on display at Garda headquarters yesterday, along with Semtex, explosive components, mortars, rifles, machine guns, and ammunition seized from dissidents in the last two years.

Gardai said the large rockets were prototypes and that dissidents were developing them to use on major targets, such as PSNI and British army stations.

Experts said the rockets have a maximum range of 6km and could store a couple of kilograms of Semtex, enough to create a 50ft blast zone on impact.

The weapons are crude and can only be directed by changing the degree of their trajectory. Gardai believe dissidents are working on designing guidance systems and are conducting tests in remote locations.

Mr OMahony said he believed without hesitation gardai foiled planned attacks by dissidents on Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles in their respective visits here in 2011 and 2015.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said he accepts entirely that dissidents were active and posed a real threat: In the centenary year of 1916, I would love those groups to seize this year to get off the scene.
Mr Martin has ruled out going into power with Fine Gael and Sinn Fein so was always facing an uphill battle to be even in contention to be Taoiseach.

Speaking yesterday, Ms Burton said: I dont at this point in time, judging by the statement made by Fianna Fail, believe that their heart really is in going into government.

I think Fianna Fails difficulty is very simple. Fianna Fail were the party which crashed the economy and I dont know if they were asleep at the wheel when it happened but they were responsible for the disastrous crash that resulted in 330,000 people losing their jobs, which in turn put a huge burden on public finances in Ireland. As a number of their spokespeople have said from time to time, that they would like another spell in opposition, while I suppose they regroup and reconsider their policy for Ireland, the Tanaiste said.

Micheal Martin

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said Mr Martins personalised attack on him yesterday was an act of desperation. Speaking in the Netherlands, Mr Kenny said the lead opposition party is now convulsed with attacking Fine Gael ahead of the general election. Mr Kenny, whose standing as leader was called into question by Mr Martin, said the Fianna Fail leaders attack was an attempt to distract people from the battle his own party is having with Sinn Fein.

Micheal Martin is a direct link to the party that drove our country off an economic cliff, said Mr Kenny. During a sometimes tetchy radio interview on RTE Radio 1, Mr Martin said the people no longer want Enda Kenny as Taoiseach, adding that it was a recurring theme coming up at the doors.

Mr Martin for the second day in a row, said Mr Kennys desire to move to a US-style tax system would cause enormous damage to public services. Mr Martin also told broadcaster Sean ORourke that his party can lead the next government, but struggled to outline a possible scenario which would deliver sufficient numbers in the Dail to make that happen.

Recently, the partys director of elections, Cork North-Central TD, Billy Kelleher, publicly said he expected Fianna Fail to win about 40 seats on a good day  vastly short of being the biggest party. He also delivered a scathing verdict on Fine Gael and Enda Kenny. He said they were offering huge tax cuts which would devastate public services.

Enda Kenny

Already the health services are in chaos and there are not enough council workers to fight against problems like flooding but the Government is pledging American-style rates of tax, he said.

When you have US tax rates, you have US inequality, Mr Martin said. Mr Martin said Labour had failed to put the brakes on Fine Gael in government.
Ms Burton was one of a number of ministers who visited the RDS yesterday to find an abundance of imagination and curiosity.

She described it as a fantastic exhibition and was delighted to see so many girls participating.

With the quality of the entries enormously high, Ms Burton said she was confident that the winning projects would do well when they go forward to the various European and international competitions.

Joan Burton

I think it shows the growing confidence around the study of science, technology, and mathematics both by boys and girls.

Ms Burton also visited the RDS Primary Science Fair where fourth, fifth, and sixth class pupils from 120 schools are exhibiting projects over three days.

Ms Burton was impressed by what she saw.

I saw so many intriguing ideas being explored by the children, she said.

I think it bears out the recent OECD survey showing big improvements in Ireland in a generation, in terms of reading and mathematics. I think it bodes well for the future of young people in Ireland.

Asked if Irelands future was in safe hands, Ms Buton replied: I think our future is in very intelligent hands.

The RDS Primary Science Fairs in Dublin and Limerick  a non-competitive event  received a record number of entries. It was oversubscribed by 40% and almost half of the applicants were first-time entrants.

Representing 27 counties from across Ireland, the 180 projects will be split between the RDS, where it is being shown alongside the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, and the inaugural Primary Science Fair in Limerick.

The Limerick Fair will be held next Friday and Saturday, January 15 and 16, at Mary Immaculate College.

RDS chief executive Michael Duffy said the increasing interest in the fair showed teachers desire for innovative ways of teaching science in the classroom and for pupils to have fun participating.

The move to Limerick is the first of a national expansion that the RDS intend to roll out over the next few years and we know that the schools and people of Munster will help make it a great success, said Mr Duffy.

The winner of the Young Scientist of the Year will be announced tonight.
Ms Murphy made the revelations as she hit out at the ongoing delays to the States investigation into a series of controversial transactions by IBRC, saying if the problems are not overcome, you can never, ever have another inquiry of this type.

Ms Murphy said at the height of the Siteserv-IBRC controversy in April that she and her colleagues became concerned their phones and other equipment were under surveillance.

Ms Murphy said that, after taking prudent advice on a range of different things, including our phones from a number of independent IT and security experts, whom she declined to name, it was decided to resort to drastic measures.

From April, Ms Murphy and other officials began using throwaway mobile phones to contact individuals helping them with their inquiries in a bid to keep their identity confidential.

The decision was made at a time when the Siteserv/IBRC controversy led to a short-lived constitutional crisis following revelations made by Ms Murphy under Dail privilege.

She confirmed the security measures are still being used from time to time eight months on, due to the continuing failure by the State to get to the bottom of the Siteserv row.

What we did was we took some advice on a range of different things, including our phones. Look, it was prudent that we took some advice, I wont be behind the door, said Ms Murphy.

We took some advice, we had some little throwaway phones where if we were making contact with people we were making sure to protect the people who we would talk to.

We used them from April. We still have them just from time to time, but well use third parties if weve got to. We were acutely aware that anyone who talked to us talked to us very confidentially, people who wouldnt really want to be named.

Asked who provided her with the advice, Ms Murphy said: We got it from several sources and I really dont want to go further than that. It was just prudent to consider those kind of things.

The Siteserv/IBRC controversy has dominated the political agenda for almost a year. When a commission of inquiry was set up on June 3, Finance Minister Michael Noonan gave assurances that the investigation would be completed before the general election and was not being used to block further Dail debates on the subject which were proving damaging to the Coalition, and Fine Gael in particular.

Brian Cregan, the judge overseeing the inquiry, last month said it would take years to complete due to serious legal and privacy issues.

Over Christmas, the judge announced he was suspending the investigation until after the general election due to the ongoing legislation issues involved.

Ms Murphy said she does not want something thats going to go on forever, thats going to cost a fortune.

However, she stressed that if the issues blocking the investigation are not overcome, Ireland can never, ever have another inquiry of this type  a situation she said will be a removal of a type of oversight to prevent future scandals.

Hitting out at the problems facing the inquiry, she added: I dont think the political will was ever there to do it before the general election.
EVERYBODY told Tommy Pallotta he was crazy to want to go to Africa and shoot a documentary about Somali pirates. In the end, the respected director found himself in agreement.

Originally, the situation in Somalia wasnt that bad and the plan was for me to be there, personally, says the Texas filmmaker, best known for his collaborations with Richard Linklater (he was a producer of Linklaters acclaimed animated features Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly).

By the time we had funding in place, it had grown worse. The American government advised me against going; they said they wouldnt do anything to help me. I was uninsurable; the people funding the movie couldnt back it if I was not insured. The alternative was to go with armed guards, but you arent going to get intimate stories out of people if youre surrounded by 20 men with guns at all times.

Instead, Pallotta worked remotely, contracting a pair of on-the-ground cameraman in Mogadishu, while he oversaw the project from afar. The result is the eerie and dislocated new documentary Last Hijack, ostensibly the study of one individual pirate in the worlds most lawless country, but in truth, the portrait of a poverty-ravaged state in a condition of perpetual collapse.

The emotional impact of the film is ratcheted further through animation by Dublins Piranha Bar studio. The technique allowed Pallotta to recreate scenes  such as a dramatic raid on a cargo vessel  that would have been impossible to capture on camera.

Tommy Pallotta worked with Piranha Bar to bring his film to life.

FAKE PIRATES

We thought we were going to get two pirates, an older one and a younger, less-experienced guy just getting into it. It was a very lengthy process. There is a whole industry over there of fake pirates: People who make a living from appearing in news clips and are paid just to stay stuff. Its hard, because the real pirates often dont wish to speak. Theyre afraid that if they ever leave Somalia theyll be arrested.

Pallotta finally found his subject in Mohammad, an experienced pirate who, on screen, comes across as phlegmatic about his choice of career. We see him matter-of-factly planning his next raid and reflecting on the rewards reaped by previous forays onto the open ocean. It is a chilling portrait of an ordinary man who has done apparently terrible things.

Mohammad is a tricky character, says Pallotta. I had mixed emotions about him, as a filmmaker. My feelings changed quite a bit along the way.

Piracy has become Somalias best-known export, costing the shipping industry some $7bn in lost cargo and insurance hikes in 2011 alone, but the situation was not black and white, Pallotta suspected. Somalis claim piracy was forced upon them as the fishing reserves were decimated by foreign trawlers, but there has recently been a backlash against pirates, seen by many as bringing further instability to a country without anything approaching a functioning government since the bitter civil war of the early 1990s.

Every year, a list is published of the years most under-reported stories, says Pallotta. Several years ago, I saw piracy feature. I didnt know anything about it. I had this romantic notion of pirates from movies. We never heard anything from the perspective of the pirates in Somalia. I was reading a lot of things about illegal fishing and I wondered why people would go to such extremes. You see these guys in pretty small fishing boats taking on these giant cargo ships. It struck me as a story of simple survival. What would any of us do in those circumstances?

HOLLYWOOD VERSION

It was while Pallotta was trying to put funding together that Tom Hanks and Paul Greengrass made Captain Phillips, a recounting of a real-life hijacking, with the Somali pirates as one-dimensional bad-guys.

A Hollywood movie is always going to rely heavily on the perspective of the character played by the lead character, says Pallotta (in the film Hanks is the eponymous captain of the captured vessel). Thats the way Hollywood works. The reality of the situation isnt black and white.

Attitudes towards piracy in Somalia had begun to shift during shooting of the documentary.

At the start, it brought an influx of cash and was regarded as this non-violent thing. Then, it started to turn violent and attitudes changed. We had trouble filming Mohammad, because people were throwing rocks.

IRISH ANIMATION

Shadowing Mohammad during a raid at sea was, naturally, impossible. This is where Piranha Studios stepped in, bringing to life haunting still-life portraits of the pirate originally created by artists Hisko Hulsing (Montage of Heck) and Aaron Sacco (A Scanner Darkly).

Tommy understood that our studio was interested in developing and pushing new looks and technology rather than emulating things that had been done before. He really wanted an organic look for the animation, says Piranha Bars Gavin Kelly. The budget and timescale necessitated the use of digital tools. Creating computer animation with a hand-painted feel is extremely difficult; these two areas dont play well together. We had to develop a complex pipeline, from 3-D animation to multilayered compositing, which gave the computer animation an illustrated look.

The style matches the content of the scenes.

Kick off the new year in style - a Q&A with visionary #LastHijack director Tommy Pallotta: https://t.co/s2vR13DxdS pic.twitter.com/TmUeliQR57  Still Films (@StillFilms) December 29, 2015

Mohammed is haunted by memories of his past and, by visualising the traumas he lived through, we gain a deeper understanding of his choices in the present day. As memory itself is subjective, biased and sometimes fabricated, fluid and painted animation is the perfect medium to represent the shifting sands of our minds eye.

The biggest surprise for Pallotta was that, despite the chaos and lawlessness, the people of Somalia had found a way to get on with life.

I thought it was going to be dystopian, like Mad Max, and, in a way, it is. In other ways it isnt at all. They have a clan-based culture and it was interesting to see how order imposed itself over chaos. I found that to be very optimistic.

The Last Hijack opens today at the IFI in Dublin. It will also show at Triskel in Cork on January 22-25
Cmere, I read in the paper that house prices in Cork city went up 20% last year. Im half thinking of selling up here in Turners Cross and moving to a bigger place in the country. Does that sound like a good idea?  Noelie, I spent an afternoon in Kanturk once and it took me a while to get over it.

It depends what you mean by the country. Kinsale is grand for seafood and wife-swapping, but the house prices are even crazier than in the city. I hear great things about east Cork. Mainly from people who live in east Cork and are trying to sell me their house so they can move into town. It terms of bang for your buck, youd probably get a much bigger house for your money in rural areas of north Cork. This is a great option if you dont mind learning a new language. Not to mention living dangerously close to Tipperary.

Im in a boutique resort in the Alps on our annual ski-break. Dont ask me how he found out about it, but there is a plumber called Mossie wandering around in what Im told is a Glen Rovers jersey. He keeps shouting how are ya boy? at me across the slopes. Youd swear we have something in common. Any advice on how I might rescue our holiday?  Hugo, Sundays Well, Ive never even watched a GAA match on our 4,500 TV.

I strongly recommend you read my book, An Idiots Guide to Shaking off a Norrie. (It would be spot-on because you strike me as an idiot.) Its got some great tips in there, such as wearing a t-shirt that says Im not looking for any recipes that include bodice. You could always turn to the last chapter. Its called Nuclear Option  Pretend Youre from Limerick. Personally, I dont think its ever worth it.

Howre oo going on? The missus told me that if I didnt go off the booze for the new year, there would be precious little action in the bedroom department, and its freezing outside. Now that Im off the porter, I find Im not so attracted to herself, given that shed remind a fella of an old sow we had on the farm long go. Is there anything that I can do to rekindle my urges?  Tim Pat Pauline, head north from Dunmanway until you lose mobile phone reception.

You must be one of the few people from West Cork who isnt turned on by farm animals. Have you considered pornography? Watching it, that is, not making it. I know there are all kinds of fetishes out there. But I doubt that anyone has ever googled man from outside Dunmanway getting it on with his missus. Not even the internet is that weird.

Ciao. I just booked a romantic trip to Cork with one of my many girlfriends this weekend. What should I bring?  Marco, Milan, trust me when I say that Ill be looking at your women.

Id recommend you bring a canoe. The way things are going here at the moment, Cork will soon make Venice look like the Gobi Desert. Let me know where you are going to dinner and Ill come and sit at the next table in a short skirt. (I know people say you shouldnt encourage a sex pest. But my Conor has taken up Mindfulness for the new year and is so taken up with himself that he has stopped noticing that Im not bad looking for a 43-year-old.) I presume your girlfriend wont mind me making eyes at you. We all know there is nothing calmer and more level-headed than an Italian woman with a grudge. Or is that Norwegians?

I didnt buy a new car in the first week of January because I dont want people to think that Im from Ballincollig. (Some people just cant handle money.) Anyway, my new BMW arrives next week and Im wondering is it okay to set off the car-alarm a few times so my neighbours will come out and see it?  Lucy, Ballinlough, but were planning a move to the Blackrock Road.

Theres no need Lucy. I live in Ballinlough and I can guarantee most of your neighbours will already be out admiring their own 161-C cars and making it clear they know the annual fees for Pres and Christians. Were so classy. I can think of only one thing that could make the area classier. And thats if you moved out. Let me know if theres some kind of fund where I can contribute and help you on your way to Blackrock.
ON APRIL 24, 1916, Padraig Pearse stood outside the GPO on Sackville St  now OConnell St  in Dublin and read the Proclamation.

The reading of the Proclamation, signed by him and six others, marked the start of the Easter Rising. The historic document, which the signatories knew could cost them dearly, spoke of a Republic with religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens.

At a time when women were not allowed to vote in Britain, Pearse and his colleagues were promoting, among other things, gender equality. The theme of equality was further underlined when the document spoke of cherishing all the children of the nation equally. The sentence meant cherishing all the people of Ireland equally and not favouring one tradition over another.

However, over the last 20 to 30 years, people have tended to interpret it as having relevance for the treatment of children themselves in our Republic.

Our treatment of many children was shameful down through the decades. Our history of institutional abuse gained world headlines.

On the publication of the Ryan Report into institutional abuse the findings were described as a devastating indictment of Church and State authorities. One commentator noted that the document read like the map of an Irish hell.

The report detailed a frightening picture of the treatment of children in institutions, and a disgraceful picture of the failure of the authorities and others to act in the best interests of children.

Crucially the report also contained the following observation: Failure to speak directly to children about what happened to them allowed abuse to continue. In order to properly promote the safety and welfare of children and young people, services need to take considered account of the childs perspective and enable their voices and wishes to be heard.

As we recently set up the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matters, it reminded us yet again of how society failed to value children and unmarried mothers.

There is much to regret.

But it is a mistake if we feel that all our failings are decades old. Less than 10 years ago, we didnt even count the number of children that died in care.

So right at the outset in 2011 when this Government came to power, a full Department of Children and Youth Affairs was established. It was a decision underlining this Governments serious commitment to improving the lives of children and young people.

We have set up Tusla, the Children and Family Agency, placing the protection of children on a new level of priority. And we successfully put to the people the Childrens Referendum, recognising clear rights for children themselves.

As we approach 2016, do we still have problems related to children? Yes we certainly do. Take the issue of children whose families are homeless. Take the issue of children at risk of poverty. No minister for children should rest easy while such problems exist. These are significant, serious matters that need the sustained response of a range of government departments. But this government is repairing the economy, which increases our power to tackle social problems.

For example, in 2015, we had thousands of children who had not been allocated a social worker despite their case being referred to Tusla. But we measured the problem accurately and armed with a business plan for tackling the issue, an increase of 38m for the agency was secured. Tusla is now clear it can deal with the problem.

I could not have secured that extra money if the economy wasnt improving. That improving economy has afforded us a proud moment  the setting up of a new scheme to support children with disabilities in free preschool.

I am deeply aware of the consequences when a child is left behind due to the failure to assist with their special needs and the sense of panic and frustration that parents feel in such circumstances.

But now with 15m extra for next year alone, we have designed a seven level programme to ensure that early education can benefit all children including those with special needs.

In 2016, there will be an increase of one third in our spending on childcare, up to 345m. More investment in childcare helps in producing better outcomes for children and giving parents greater access to work, generating yet more economic buoyancy for further investment in social improvement  a virtuous circle.

The best way of ensuring equality and good outcomes is to give all children the best possible start in life. Investment in the early years has been shown to achieve that, particularly with preschool.

Children then start primary school with better reading ability and better social skills. It affords them better opportunities in later life leading to better employability. There is also a gain for society with less antisocial behaviour and indeed less criminality.

We have made much progress, especially in the last number of years, but would the leaders of 1916 be satisfied with where we are?

No not yet. Not while children are forced with their families to live in a hotel room with no cooking facilities. Not while children in poverty go to bed hungry.

But in 2016, we will get even closer to a point where all children are being cherished equally. We must make the aspiration  that Ireland be one of the best places to grow up in  become a reality not just for some, but for all our children.

James Reilly is minister for children and youth affairs

READ MORE: Watch exclusive extract from 1916 film: 'Ireland: Birth of a Nation'
Its hard to imagine how Green party leader Eamon Ryan restrains himself from blurting out na, na, na, na, na when watching the images of our flooded landscapes on the TV news each evening.

After all havent he and his ilk have been warning us about climate change for the longest time, and we havent exactly paid much attention now, have we?

In truth though its impossible to imagine him doing such a thing, even in the privacy of his own home. Its not his way and he knows that such an attitude would hardly be much of a vote catcher.

He has been raising the subject, but in a restrained way. Check out his Twitter feed and youll see a photo of a large For Sale sign, advertising a site for housing with frontage onto the River Shannon. It has a large Sold sign plastered over it. The joke is that the sign is waist deep in water and site is flooded.

He tweets how a one-degree Celsius increase in global temperatures leads to a seven per cent increase in precipitation, or how daffodils were flowering in November and his rose bush was a blooming Christmas tree. He also calls for a pre-election debate on what each political party will do about climate change  a point which colleagues from other parties are avoiding rather steadfastly, despite our recent deluges.

Surely though, the countrys battles with the elements and the unprecedented levels of rainfall weve had which have proved devastating for so many people with flooded homes and businesses, must provide some sort of opportunity for the Greens in the General Election campaign?

Even better is the fact that apparently the thinking of the global Green movement has changed now, so that rather than making us as individuals feel guilty for how weve neglected the environment, the far more effective approach, they believe, is to tackle it globally at the source of the problem.

Weve made people feel guilty, acknowledges Ryan, in our look at me having my sustainable coffee kind of way. We realised we were getting it wrong. But the environmental movement realise now that to tackle it you do so through politics and government, you go to the source, rather than the end result. Rather than being presented as a hardship it is in fact a better option.

As leader of the Green Party hes facing into a general election campaign after five years on the sidelines and an experience of being in Government with Fianna Fail and the PDs which might best be forgotten, except by some voters who will nurse that grudge regardless of the time that has elapsed.

He has stuck with the project over those years and kept the party going, and came pretty close to getting elected in Dublin in the European elections last May. The Greens are expected to run a candidate in all 40 constituencies, but Ryan has the best chance of getting elected in his Dublin Bay South Constituency. But its a hard call. A win would clearly be a reason to celebrate, but it would a rather lonesome station if he is the sole party representative in Dail Eireann.

Its easy to like Eamon Ryan and admire how hes stuck with the project since their ignominious exit from Government in 2011. Clearly this was a personal choice but assisted, probably, by the fact that the Green movement has been around for so long and has a global network and wasnt a new entity. Hes optimistic after the agreement reached before Christmas at the Paris Climate Conference, as well as the 17 sustainable development global goals ratified by UN members last year in New York that provide the blueprint for the worlds development over the next 15 years.

While there is already a dizzying array of pronouncements from other parties on who they will and will not coalesce with the afterwards, the Greens are apparently open to all comers as long as they have been democratically elected and have a mandate, he says. Not for them the pre-election game of ruling in and ruling out which can be thrown to the wind once the numbers fall a certain way on election day. As far as the Greens are concerned their project needs parties from the left and the right to ensure its success.

Ryan feels strongly on the issue of corporation tax and how it presents us as being utterly sleeveen and rightly or wrongly seen as a tax haven, which is not in our interests. Its very difficult to disagree with that but youll find few politicians to say it out loud given the job dependence we have on these multi nationals.

There is a Green constituency, he says, who get the Green way of living and the quality of life thing. They dont want to eat junk and prefer not to drive their kids to school. They like Ireland having a successful economy but they dont want us to be a tax haven.

He is straight up on the abortion issue, saying that his view goes further than that of the party, and what will be in the Green manifesto. He comes from a pro-life position, he says, but believes it is unacceptable that Irish women travel to the UK and elsewhere for terminations for what should essentially be an issue between a woman and her doctor. However he would want to see a 12-week limit.

The abortion issue does come up on the doorsteps, he says, and while in the past it was always raised from a pro-life perspective, now many of those asking want to know when will changes be made to our restrictive regime. This might be expected given the profile of the Dublin Bay South Constituency.

In Government the Greens did have some moments of incredible political naivete but Ryan says he doesnt make any apologies for the decision taken by them and Fianna Fail while in Government saying that hes heard no viable economic alternative presented since then of the decisions they had to take in the face of our national bankruptcy.

When the party left Government it had 200,000 in the bank and used that to rent a party premises for the last few years. Hes been getting a ministerial pension of 40,000 for the past two years, and does some consultancy for an international climate change organisation.

In contrast, say to Fine Gael, who are currently rocking a Conor McGregor type optimism, he says they might get no seat in the general election or they could get up to five. Theyve zero budget  literally not a penny  so will be relying on their wits for exposure and attention.

Listening to him its hard not to come to the conclusion that Irish politics is a better place with the Greens in it. There are lots of people out there who are realising how little we seem to have learnt from our spectacular fall from economic grace; how the political research shows that while apparently none of us want to go back there collectively as a society, we would rather like to do so for ourselves individually to regain all that we personally lost.

While the Greens say theyve given up on being our guilty conscience they could well serve a purpose in reminding us that it is not all simply about money.
Antique Taco To Open A Second Location In Bridgeport

By Mae Rice in Food on Jan 7, 2016 8:20PM

As the proud owner of an Antique Taco trucker hat, Im pretty excited that the number of Antique Tacos in the world is poised to double.

In addition to the original, always-bustling Wicker Park location, owners Rick and Ashley Perez plan to open a second Antique Taco at 1000 W. 35th St. in Bridgeport, possibly as soon as this spring, Eater reports.

The Bridgeport location makes sense; Ricks family has roots in the neighborhood that, according to Eater, trace back to the '50s.

Antique Tacos soon-to-be second address was once a gas station, so itll have a smaller interior balanced by a 100-seat patio. However, the real news is the way Rick plans to update the menu.

For example the menu will slim down to serve single tacos, according to Eater:

Food-wise, chef Ortiz will slim down the menu a little and serve single tacos, unlike the original, on metal trays instead of antique dishware. He'll incorporate more family recipes and nods to the neighborhood, such as more spins on authentic Mexican tacos in addition to the creative tacos with Midwestern ingredients at the Wicker Park location. He's getting an al pastor spit and is contemplating cooking enchiladas. It will also serve alcohol and drinks like the original, including beer, margaritas and agua frescas.
The report added to witness accounts describing a string of sexual assaults that have sparked a heated debate about migration and the polices failure to prevent the mayhem.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany must examine whether it has done enough to deport foreigners who commit crimes, after police said the perpetrators of the attack were of Arab or North African origin.

While officials have cautioned against casting suspicion on migrants in general, the attacks have been seized on by some opponents of Germanys welcoming stance toward those fleeing conflict after the country registered nearly 1.1m asylum-seekers last year.

We must examine again and again whether we have already done what is necessary in terms of ... deportations from Germany in order to send clear signals to those who are not prepared to abide by our legal order, said Ms Merkel.

What's the future of German refugee policy after the Cologne attacks? New FT Podcast: https://t.co/WMZHbfpEB2 pic.twitter.com/vWE67d2KB1  Financial Times (@FT) January 7, 2016

She described the new years assaults as repugnant criminal acts that... Germany will not accept, and said changes to the law and increasing police presence may be examined.

The feeling women had in this case of being at peoples mercy, without any protection, is intolerable for me personally as well, she said.

And so it is important for everything that happened there to be put on the table.

Daily paper Bild published extracts from an unidentified police officers report on the attacks.

It recounts how federal units, were met by anxious citizens with crying and shocked children when they arrived at Colognes main railway station on New Years Eve.
A man carrying a butchers knife and wearing a fake explosive vest tried to attack a Paris police station, a year almost to the minute after two Islamic extremists burst into the offices of Charlie Hebdo and unleashed a bloody attack 12 months ago.

The attacker, Sallah Ali, who was born in the Moroccan city of Casablanca in 1995, was killed by police. He was homeless and was known to police in southern France.

The Paris prosecutors anti-terrorism unit opened an investigation after what officials described as an attempted attack on the police station in the citys north.

Ali had a conviction for theft and had been homeless.

Found on the mans body was a mobile phone, a piece of paper with an emblem of Islamic State, and an unequivocal written claim of responsibility in Arabic.

The prosecutors office did not provide details about what the claim meant.

France has been under a state of emergency since a series of attacks claimed by IS killed 130 people in Paris on November 13.

Tensions increased this week as the anniversary of the January attacks approached.

Soldiers were posted in front of schools and security forces were more evident than usual amid a series of tributes to the dead.

Officials said the man shot dead yesterday threatened officers at the entrance of a police station near the Montmartre neighbourhood, home to the Sacre Coeur Cathedral.

Just moments before, French President Francois Hollande, speaking in a different location, paid respects to officers fallen in the line of duty.

In a statement, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said a terrorism inquiry had been opened into the attack.

[The man] shouted Allahu akbar and had wires protruding from his clothes. Thats why the police officer opened fire, a police official said.

Police do not believe anyone else was involved.

Alexis Mukenge, who saw the shooting from inside another building, said police told the man, Stop. Move back, adding that officers fired twice and the man fell to the ground.

The Goutte dOr neighbourhood in Paris 18th arrondissement was briefly locked down and two metro lines running through the area were halted. They reopened after about two hours.

Two schools were under lockdown, and police cleared out hundreds of people in the area. Shops were ordered closed and shop owners hastily rolled down metal shutters.

Nora Borrias was unable to get to her home in the neighbourhood because of the barricades. Shaken by the incident, she said its like the Charlie Hebdo affair isnt over.

Hollande said earlier that a terrorist threat would continue to weigh on France.

The government has announced measures extending police powers to allow officers to use their weapons to neutralise someone who has just committed one or several murders and is likely to repeat these crimes.

At 11.35am on January 7, 2015, two French-born brothers killed 11 people at the building where Charlie Hebdo operated, as well as a Muslim policeman outside.

Over the next two days, an accomplice shot a policewoman to death and then stormed a kosher supermarket, killing four hostages.

A total of 17 people died, as did all three gunmen.

Hollande called for better surveillance of radicalised citizens who have joined IS or other militant groups in Syria and Iraq when they return to France.

We must be able to force these people  and only these people  to fulfil certain obligations and if necessary to put them under house arrest... because they are dangerous, he said.

Hollande said officers die in the line of duty so that we can live free.

Following the attacks, the government announced it planned to give police better equipment and hire more intelligence agents.

France has been on high alert ever since, and was struck again on November 13 by extremists in attacks that killed 130 people at a concert hall and in bars and restaurants.

Laurent Sourisseau, the editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo and cartoonist who is better known as Riss, told France Inter radio security is a new expense for the newspaper budget.

This past year weve had to invest nearly 2m to secure our office, which is an enormous sum, he said.

We have to spend hundreds of thousands on surveillance of our offices, which wasnt previously in Charlies budget, but we had an obligation so that employees feel safe and can work safely.

After the attacks, people around the world embraced the expression Je suis Charlie to express solidarity with the slain journalists, targeted for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

Its a phrase that was used during the march as a sign of emotion or resistance to terrorism, said Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Corinne Rey  known as Coco.

And little by little, I realised that I am Charlie was misused for so many things. And now I dont really know what it means.
US district judge William Orrick said in federal court in San Francisco that while Congress and the president can extend the protection of law to animals as well as humans, there is no indication that they did so in the Copyright Act.

The lawsuit filed last year by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sought a court order allowing PETA to represent the monkey and let it to administer all proceeds from the photos for the benefit of the monkey, which it identified as six-year-old Naruto, and other crested macaques living in a reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

The photos were taken during a 2011 trip to Sulawesi with an unattended camera owned by British nature photographer David Slater, who asked the court to dismiss the case. Slater says the British copyright obtained for the photos by his company, Wildlife Personalities Ltd, should be honoured worldwide.

PETA sued Slater and his San Francisco-based self-publishing company Blurb, which published a book called Wildlife Personalities that includes the monkey selfie photos.

The photos have been widely distributed elsewhere by outlets, including Wikipedia, which contend that no one owns the copyright to the images because they were taken by an animal, not a person.

Slater described himself as a nature photographer who is deeply concerned about animal welfare in court documents and said it should be up to the US Congress and not a federal court to decide whether copyright law applies to non-human animals.

Puddle is down the drain

ENGLAND:

A puddle that gripped the nation has been drained by two council workers unaware of its celebrity status.

Hundreds of thousands of Britons watched a livestream on the internet of people trying to negotiate their way around the puddle just off Jesmond Road West in Newcastle.

It was broadcast on the video app Periscope by staff at marketing company Drummond Central Ltd and quickly began trending on Twitter with the hashtag Drummondpuddlewatch.

But now it is no more as two engineers from Newcastle City Council, who were inspecting for flood damage, drained it away to clear the path.

Violin nearly bowed out

GERMANY:

An American violinist who left her $2.6m (2.4m) 1727 Stradivarius in the luggage rack on a regional train in western Germany was more than relieved, police said, when officers retrieved it one minute before it left the station.

The woman, who police described as being in her 20s, left the General Dupont Grumiaux edition of the famous violin brand on a train travelling on Tuesday from Mannheim to Saarbruecken in western Germany, where she alighted.

Realising her error after leaving the train, she alerted the police. One minute before the train heading back to Mannheim departed, police found the violin and returned it to the woman.

Secret millionaire

USA:

A northwest Missouri man held on to a secret for three weeks to give his wife the Christmas surprise of a lifetime.

Robert Bowlin, of Platte City, won a Missouri Lotto jackpot in early December, splitting a $4m prize with another person who matched all six numbers.

Bowlin is a retired operating engineer from Platte City. He discovered he had won on December 3. He notified a financial adviser and a CPA, but otherwise didnt tell anyone until Christmas, when he told his wife. He collected his winnings on December 29.

Rainbow warrior

USA:

A Detroit artist is suing to protect an enormous multicolour mural thats been described as a bleeding rainbow on a building that could be developed into apartments.

Katherine Craig says a federal law gives her the right to protect the mural from changes or destruction.

The mural was created in 2009 with more than 100 gallons of paint poured from the roof of the brick building. The paint was spread with a variety of tools, including fire extinguishers and salad dressing bottles.

Craig fears the mural will be ruined if windows are installed on the building.

The new owner says it disagrees with Craigs interpretation of law as well as the facts of the dispute.

Animating the Army

ENGLAND:

A lost episode of Dads Army will be seen for the first time since it was aired almost half a century ago  but only in animated form.

The recently discovered high-quality audio recording of the episode, titled A Stripe For Frazer, will be used to create an animated version.

The sitcom about the British Home Guard during the Second World War was originally broadcast on the BBC from 1968 to 1977. But many tapes of programmes from this era were either recorded over or discarded, meaning that this episode  which aired on March 29, 1969  was lost, seemingly for good.
The UN said it is preparing to deliver humanitarian assistance to the town of Madaya, which is being besieged by pro-government forces, and to two Shiite towns in the province of Idlib which are under rebel siege.

Medical staff and aid workers in the besieged Madaya have pleaded with international authorities to step in to save its 40,000 residents from starving to death, as they have resorted to eating cats and dogs.

Other have eaten leaves.

In the past month alone, more than 30 people have died of starvation or been killed trying to escape, according to activists.

Dr Mohamad Youssef, who acts as the manager of the medical council in Madaya, said two or three residents are dying of starvation every day, in addition to about 50 who are either fainting or becoming severely ill.

Just 60km away from Beirut, about 40K civilians are slowly starving to death in besieged town of #Madaya #Syria pic.twitter.com/0Kdsj2Cd2E  Ahmed Eldin |    (@ASE) January 7, 2016

He said: People are surviving by consuming water with sugar, salt, or spices if they can find any. The death toll is striking mostly the elderly, the women, and children.

The worsening conditions have given rise to hepatitis, diarrhoea, skin diseases, and malnutrition-related conditions.

With scarce supplies and basic facilities, medical staff are severely limited in what they can do to help.

Dr Youssef said: The medical staff are on high alert 24 hours. They are receiving people who are severely ill and fainting all hours  day and night.

One of the only options was to administer saline solution, he said.

In October, 31 aid trucks with supplies for 30,000 people reached Fouah and Kafraya in Syrias Idlib Governorate, Zabadani, and Madaya.

However, the situation has deteriorated and supplies have dwindled.

Dr Youssef said: We ask the world and the aid and health organisations, and the UN Security Council, to act now to save the 40,000 people in Madaya who are starving to death in very cold weather.
Italy is the last major country in the West that has not given same-sex couples rights or protection on issues such as parenthood.

It was condemned last year by the European Court of Human Rights for failing to legislate on the matter.
Walker has not watched the Netflix documentary examining the case for Steven Averys innocence, in what is arguably the most infamous murder case in Wisconsins history.

Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, are serving life sentences for the 2005 killing of freelance photographer, Teresa Halbach, who was found outside Averys home in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.

Walker, a former Republican presidential candidate, has not been swayed by 300,000 signatures on online petitions at the Change.org website, calling for Averys exoneration, Walker spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, said.

Those who feel they have been wrongly convicted can seek to have their convictions overturned by a higher court, she said.

A Whitehouse.gov petition, asking President Barack Obama to pardon the men, has received 113,000 signatures, which is more than the 100,000 needed for the administration to comment on the request.

However, the president does not have the authority to issue pardons on state cases.

Why Scott Walker will never, ever issue a pardon in response to 'Making a Murderer' https://t.co/WkDtsXhJS6  Jennifer Cambra (@jencambra) January 7, 2016

Only Walker, who has not issued a pardon since his election in 2010, has that power.

Steven Avery should be exonerated at once by pardon, and the Manitowoc County officials complicit in his two false imprisonments should be held accountable to the highest extent of the US criminal and civil justice systems, the Change.org petition states, addressing Mr Obama and Mr Walker.

The 10-episode documentary, Making a Murderer, on the Netflix streaming service, questioned the handling of the case and the motivation of Manitowoc County law enforcement officials.

Avery was convicted of an unrelated rape and sent to prison in 1985, serving 18 years before DNA evidence exonerated him.

He filed a $36m (33m) federal civil rights lawsuit against the county, and its former sheriff and district attorney, in 2004.

That case was settled in 2006, for $400,000, according to online court documents.

A year after he filed the lawsuit, Avery and Dassey were accused of killing Halbach. They were convicted in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison.

The documentary suggests authorities planted evidence against the men, a claim that has been rejected by Robert Hermann, the current sheriff of Manitowoc County, which is about 80 miles (130 km) north of Milwaukee.

Walker said: Just because a documentary on TV says something doesnt mean thats actually what the evidence shows, he told WQOW television.

The bottom line is that there was a crime that was committed a decade ago.

There is a system... by which individuals can petition the courts to get relief, like others have done in the past, that shows that someone might actually be innocent.

But I am not going to over-ride a system that is already put in place.
Asia Thailand Takes Aim at Double-Decker Buses to Cut Road Deaths

Thailand ratchets up efforts to monitor reckless driving and ban the registration of new double-decker buses in an attempt to curb traffic accidents.

BANGKOK  Thailand will install GPS systems in public buses to monitor reckless driving and ban the registration of new double-decker buses in an attempt to curb traffic accidents and road fatalities, the transport minister said.

The New Years holiday, also known in Thailand as the Seven Dangerous Days, ended with the highest number of road deaths in five years. Motorcycle and car accidents left 380 people dead from Dec. 29 to Jan. 4, despite a crackdown on drunk drivers by the countrys ruling junta that led to thousands of vehicles being impounded.

Thailand has the second-highest traffic fatality rate in the world, according to a 2013 survey done for the World Health Organization.

In response to the recent increase, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha ordered the Transport Ministry on Tuesday to enforce the new measures before the next expected seasonal surge. Another Seven Dangerous Days comes during the Buddhist New Year in April.

The measures include banning new operating licenses for new double decker buses, said Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith.

Road safety groups have repeatedly called for stricter standards on double-decker buses, saying the buses are improperly built without regards to engineering safety and should be barred from hilly, winding roads where many accidents occur.

Prayuth also instructed the ministry to strictly enforce a tilt test for all buses over 3.8 meters (12.5 feet) in height, whereby the buses are placed on a 30-degree slope to measure whether they would tip over on a road.

All public buses will also be required to install GPS technology so drivers speed and location can be monitored, the minister said. The Bangkok Post reported that the GPS-equipped buses will be linked to the Department of Land Transport and tracked at all times.

In December, 11 Malaysian tourists died in a bus crash when their driver lost control on a downhill mountain road.

The Thai Transportation Operators Associated urged the government to reconsider its ban on new buses, saying human error is the problem not the vehicles.

Double-decker buses are not the real cause of road accidents and the ban on double-decker buses doesnt mean the death toll from road accidents will be reduced, said Wasuchet Sophonsathien, the groups president, who said the 20,000 buses currently in operation meet safety standards.

More than 100 new double-decker buses are awaiting registration and 600 others are being assembled, he said.
Burma By-Election Mandate on Filling Empty Seats Passes Both Chambers

Both houses of Parliament approve of amendments to Burmas election laws requiring a by-election within six months of a chamber seat being vacated.

RANGOON  Both houses of Parliament have now approved an amendment to Burmas election laws requiring a by-election within six months of a chamber seat being vacated.

During a parliamentary session on Thursday, the Upper House sent the amended laws, which would apply to the countrys bicameral Union Parliament as well as regional legislatures, back to the Lower House with no changes to the legislation, which the lower chamber passed last month.

The changes will now be sent to President Thein Sein for review, becoming law upon his approval.

The amended laws would mandate that the Union Election Commission (UEC) organize by-elections within six months of a legislative chambers speaker informing lawmakers of a seat opening. Under the existing election laws, no timeframe is provided for when a vacant seat must be filled.

If a National League for Democracy [NLD]-led government selects cabinet members from their elected lawmakers, as the Union Solidarity and Development Party [USDP] did, then the by-election might need to be held this year, Upper House lawmaker Phone Myint Aung said.

A by-election was called in 2012 after members elected to office in Burmas discredited 2010 general election were later appointed to cabinet positions in the victorious USDP government, removing them from their seats. The opposition NLD won 43 of 44 contested seats in that by-election.

The NLD won almost 80 percent of contested seats in Burmas historic Nov. 8 polls, and the party is set to form the countrys new government in March.
Burma Govt Escalates Rhetoric Against Arakan Army as Casualties Mount

The military vows to remove the Arakan Army from western Burma after a commander and several other government soldiers are killed fighting the group.

RANGOON  A commander and several other members of the Burma Army have been killed in recent fighting with the Arakan Army in Kyauktaw Township, according to state-run media, which on Friday reported that the military intended to remove the ethnic armed group from Arakan State.

An incongruous front page of the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar on Friday featured a detailed account of fighting over the period of Dec. 28-Jan. 4. Above the article was reported the latest developments in the government-led peace process with non-state armed groups who have signed a so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement with Naypyidaw, a grouping of eight that does not include the Arakan Army.

The former report said the Burma Army commander was shot and killed by sniper fire from the Arakan Army. The Burma Army seized arms and other equipment from the ethnic armed group as it mounted an operation to clear the Ranchaung area in Kyauktaw Township of the rebel group, according to the report, which described the Arakan Army as insurgents.

An apparent discrepancy between English- and Burmese-language state dailies on Friday described the military as having alternately captured and recovered the dead bodies of three Arakan Army soldiers.

Yan Naing Soe, the deceased Burma Army commander, was killed on Dec. 31, according to an obituary printed in state-run newspapers this week. In an unexplained curiosity, the commanders obituary ran twice, first stating that he had succumbed to sudden illness, and one day later revising the cause of death to explain that he was killed in the line of duty.

Hundreds of local Arakanese people have fled their homes due to the fighting. About 500 Kyauktaw Township locals on Thursday protested the conflict.

The Burmese-language state-run daily The Mirror reported that the Arakan Army sought assistance from a Kalar terrorism illegal armed group along the border with Bangladesh, Kalar being a derogatory term in Burmese for individuals of South Asian descent.

The report in The Mirror went on to accuse some Arakan Army members of splitting up and retreating to Mrauk-U, Minbya and Kyauktaw townships, where they were said to be laying low by attempting to pass as civilians while planning to carry out future terrorism.

They have no commitment to what they are doing, and they just threaten the people or even try to divide trust between the people, said the report in Fridays edition of The Mirror, which originated from the military mouthpiece Myawaddy.
Chicago Housing Authority Allocated Millions For Empty Units, Investigation Shows

By Mae Rice in News on Jan 7, 2016 11:00PM



Lathrop Homes (Photo credit: Gabriel X. Michael)

The Chicago Housing Authority collects millions of taxpayer dollars per year for dilapidated, boarded up units in a public housing development Lathrop Homes, according to a CBS investigation.

Located in prime real estate right on the riverfront, the developmentlisted in National Register of Historic Placesconsists of 925 low-rise units scattered across more than 30 acres.

Of those 925 units, about 775 are vacant, Leah Levinger, executive director of the non-profit Chicago Housing Initiative, told CBS. If her estimate is correct, that means CHA takes in $7.7 million, by CBSs calculation, for empty units.

This money does not go towards meaningful maintenance. The few residents report poor conditions to CBS, both in the inhabited apartments and the empty ones:

J.L. Gross, a Vietnam veteran, live with poor conditions. Gross says he has water damage from the vacant units above him which he says also caused mold to grow. There also are fire dangers including a broken escape door to the roof.

Levinger told CBS that she thinks the poor conditions are meant to drive out residents, so the city can sell off the valuable parcel of land Lathrop Homes sits on.

In February 2015, NPR reported on different plans for Lathrop Homes:

The latest plan for a redeveloped Lathrop Homes calls for one half of the historic development to be torn down and the rest rehabbed. The new Lathrop would include 500 market-rate condos and townhouses, but only about 200 low-income or affordable apartments and 400 public housing units, down from the current 925.

That plan hasnt changed, according to the CHA. In a statement to CBS, the agency said that Lathrop Homes is a key component of CHAs housing portfolio and the agency plans to begin construction this year to create a mixed-income neighborhood.

As CBSs investigation demonstrates, however, the extensive lag between the planning and execution has been lucrative for the CHA.

In its vague statement, the CHA suggested the millions it makes on empty units in Lathrop Homes go into its cash reserves, which it uses for capital and development projects and real estate development and other housing activities.

Levinger sees something insidious afoot here, though.

Everybody should be angry about it, said Levinger. Were all being scammed.
Burma Lower House MP Seeks Halt to High-Rise Construction in Rangoon

A National League for Democracy parliamentarian puts forward an urgent proposal to suspend construction of Rangoon high-rises that are not in accordance with existing laws.

RANGOON  A National League for Democracy parliamentarian on Thursday put forward an urgent proposal to suspend construction of Rangoon high-rises that are not in accordance with existing laws.

May Win Myint told The Irrawaddy that she submitted the proposal because she had learned that some private and government-owned high-rise projects were going forward without the necessary approval, sometimes in the face of opposition from residents of the neighborhoods hosting them.

I found out that some ministries are building high-rises without budget approval from the Union government. There are some privately owned buildings under construction despite YCDC [Yangon City Development Committee] objections because they have got approval from someone upstairs, she said on the floor of Parliament.

She referred to two high-rises currently under construction as examples: a 12-story building within the compound of Rangoon General Hospital, which is being built by the Ministry of Health, and a privately owned 12.5-story building at 74 University Avenue.

The urgent proposal comes at a time when the commercial capital is under threat due to a lack of urban planning and municipal controls. The weak regulatory framework has led to a boom in construction projects and widely varying population densities across the city of more than 5 million, causing social, commercial and infrastructural problems for residents and businesses alike.

Local urban planning experts have been calling for urgent government action to rein in unruly urbanization projects and to enact the Myanmar National Building Code and Zoning Plan, both of which have existed in draft form for more than two years.

Last year, a joint-venture high-rise project with foreign investors near the Shwedagon Pagoda was shut down by the government amid growing public objection.

On Thursday, May Win Myints proposal was supported by 246 out of 391 Lower House parliamentarians.

During the discussion in Parliament, Health Minister Dr. Than Aung said the building in the Rangoon General Hospital compound was being constructed as an expansion of the existing hospital.

Given the proposal, we will suspend construction, he said, without offering further explanation.

Responding to the proposal, Deputy Construction Minister Soe Tin said that his ministry was not directly responsible for regulating high-rises construction, a task assigned to relevant municipal departments.

May Win Myint asked Parliament to record her proposal, and urged lawmakers to keep an eye on construction nationwide of high-rise buildings, an increasingly common feature of urban centers in the growing economy.

I told Parliament to keep it on record because the current Parliament will end soon. As the proposal is now recorded at Parliament, I will keep pushing it in the next term, she told The Irrawaddy.

The new Parliament is due to convene on Feb. 1, when the majority of lawmakers in both houses will be from the NLD, with the party winning nearly 80 percent of seats in Burmas Nov. 8 general election.
Burma New Drone Policy Still Hovering on the Horizon

Burmas Department of Civil Aviation is making progress on a new policy to oversee the use of drones, according to a Ministry of Transportation official.

RANGOON  Burmas Department of Civil Aviation is making progress on a new policy to oversee the use of drones, according to an official from the Ministry of Transportation.

Deputy Minister Zin Yaw told the Upper House of Parliament this week that the department is taking steps to distribute advisory circulars regarding the classification of drones according to weight and capacity, registration and issuance of permits for commercial use.

The deputy minister said the new rules are necessary because, if left unregulated, drones could be used for unlawful acts such as terrorism. Streamlining a legal policy would enable permissible use of the technology for the media, agricultural planning, traffic management, defense and research, he said.

The new policy will allow the ministry to designate prohibited and restricted areas and enact other regulations in line with provisions of the Myanmar Aircraft Act.

Drones will not be allowed to fly over military bases without permission from of the commander-in-chief of the air force, the official said.

In the absence of a comprehensive national policy, some restrictions have already been put in place at the local level. Last December, the Shwedagon Pagoda board of trustees imposed a ban on drone flight above the grounds of the religious site in Rangoon.

Businesses catering to drone users welcomed the forthcoming policy but expressed concern that they might face hurdles in acquiring legal permission to operate.

Htay Aung, owner of Sky Photo and Video Studio, said he believed it was good that regulations will be imposed and drones will be registered, but I am a little worried that small businesses like us wont be allowed to use drones even if we follow the regulations.

The department is working in collaboration with the ministries of defense, home affairs, finance and tourism to develop a comprehensive set of regulations, Zin Yaw said, though he did not indicate when the policy was expected to be enacted.

A director from the Department of Civil Aviation told The Irrawaddy on Friday that their department has been working on the Advisory Circular since three months ago and that the draft is now complete.

The department still needs to discuss the proposed regulatory framework with other related ministries this month, however, to take input from them before finalizing the circular.

According to the draft, registration of drones will be required of most devices based on their capacity level and specifications, while some smaller devices will not be required to register.

The Advisory Circular will pertain mainly to registration and ownership of the aerial devices, while permission to use drones in specific locations such as military compounds, government buildings or near pagodas will remain the purview of concerned authorities in those areas.

Nyana, the founder of Myanmar Aerial & Video Solutions (MAVS), told The Irrawaddy that the limited scope of the Advisory Circular could only guarantee that an individuals device would not be seized if it is properly registered, leaving actual usage of drones to the whims of local authorities.

It cannot be an effective policy as long as users still have to apply for permission to concerned authorities of [specific] areas, he said.

Like in other countries, a typical system for Burma should centralize all permissions and regulations for drone usage as the responsibility of one specific department, he continued.
Burma Road Fatalities in Burma Continue to Rise

Traffic accident fatalities in Burma continued to climb last year, with the latest data placing the figure at more than 4,000 deaths in 2015.

RANGOON  Traffic accident fatalities in Burma continued to climb last year, with the latest data placing the figure at more than 4,000 deaths in 2015.

Official traffic police statistics indicate that of the countrys 4,233 traffic fatalities in 2015, Mandalay Division topped the list with 609 deaths, followed by Rangoon with 574. The former capital, which has some 500,000 registered vehicles, saw 15,046 road accidents last year, the most in the country.

Burmas state-run newspapers reported Thursday that the figure for traffic fatalities last year had doubled from the number recorded in 2011, though the increase was marginal compared with 2014, when Burma recorded 4,163 traffic fatalities.

Despite Progress, Road Deaths Remain Too High, the press release to a World Health Organization (WHO) report declared in October of last year, adding that traffic accidents claimed an estimated 1.2 million lives each year across the globe.

Road traffic fatalities take an unacceptable tollparticularly on poor people in poor countries, the WHO director-general said in the report.

Neighboring Thailand ranked second in the world for road fatalities, with an average of 80 lives lost per day in 2014. The Thai government recently said that 380 people died during Thailands so-called Seven Dangerous Days, referring to the Buddhist New Years holiday, known for fueling drunken and reckless driving.

Nearly 3,000 police are on duty to enforce traffic safety nationwide, Burmese state media reported this week.
Heritage Yoma Extends Lease on Railway Heritage Site Slated for Restoration

Yoma Strategic Holdings extends its lease of Myanmar Railways former headquarters, with plans to transform the heritage building into a luxury hotel and mixed-use development.

RANGOON  Myanmar Railways and Yoma Strategic Holdings have signed an agreement to extend the latters lease of the state-run train operators former headquarters, which Singapore-listed Yoma is calling its landmark project in Rangoons Kyauktada Township.

The Rangoon division of Yoma Strategic Holdings announced Thursday that the companys lease would be extended in line with provisions in Burmas Foreign Investment Law, but the length of the extension was not revealed, with the signing parties saying they would coordinate with the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) on the matter.

Tun Aung Thin, general manager of Myanmar Railways Lower Burma unit, confirmed the signing of a lease extension but declined to provide details on the agreement.

This project has been under consideration since 1993, but the handover to Yoma began in 1998, he said.

Yoma Strategic Holdings was awarded the contract to rent the former office of Myanmar Railways for a 50-year period beginning in 1998. It will reportedly divide the 10-acre plot of land into two areas, building a five-star hotel and multi-purpose development project at the site on the corner of Sule Pagoda Road and Bogyoke Aung San Road in downtown Rangoon.

The landmark project includes transforming the former railway headquarters building into the Yangon Peninsula Hotel, as well as constructing posh flats and commercial office spaces.

Yoma Strategic Holdings will partner with Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd., Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Real Estate on the project. The firm said the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is also involved in the dual development projects.

The projectwhich will include four glass and steel high-rise towers across a large complex connected to the red-brick colonial buildinghas previously been projected to cost US$350 million.

Melvyn Pun, CEO of Yoma, said in this weeks statement: We are delighted to have extended our land lease for the main site of the Landmark Project and signed the framework agreement.

This project draws together expertise from an esteemed group of organizations and we are confident of transforming the Landmark Development site into an iconic project that would be pivotal in the development and growth of downtown Yangon.

The Myanmar Investment Commissions spokesperson could not be reached for comment by phone on Friday.

The IFC, an affiliate of the World Bank, has provided loans to Yoma Strategic Holdings for private sector development projects that the US Campaign for Burma has criticized as an ineffective poverty reduction initiative, one of the loans stated aims.
Burma Yangon gridlock: solutions elusive as traffic chokes city

Experts say a holistic approach is needed to resolve Rangoons ever-worsening traffic jams, but the governments response has been to tinker around the edges.

RANGOON  Than Htwe lives in Hlaing Tharyar, a sprawling township 20 kilometers west of central Rangoon, but his job is downtown. Every morning he wakes up in the early hours, quickly downs a cup of tea and rushes to the bus stop at 6:30 so he can get to his workplace by 9 oclock.

He meets his fellow commutersmen and women, young and oldalready sweating in the packed bus and gearing themselves up physically and mentally for the grueling daily journey.

It used to take only an hour-and-a-half each way to get to and from work. Now Im having to spend about six hours every day, Than Htwe said. I can only get home at 10 at night. Theres no time to rest properly, I just spend my time on the bus.

Kay Thi Tun, a sales clerk in a clothing store downtown, spends at least four hours each day on the bus from her home in the North Dagon outskirts. If I dont get to the store before it opens, money is docked from my salary, she said.

Than Htwe and Kay Thi Tun are among the millions of commuters who find themselves spending hours on Rangoons old and overburdened public transport system every day, a routine that takes its toll on the health, well-being and income of the citys residents.

Without an efficient mass transport system like those in other cities in the region such as Singapore, many commuters have to rely on old Japanese and Chinese buses that are notorious for overcrowding, rude conductors, and for women, sexual harassment.

And the situation is only getting worse.

Liberalizing Car Imports

When Burmas military-backed civilian government took power in March 2011, one of its first reform measures was to liberalize the import of automobiles, a sector that had been monopolized by a handful of businessmen with close links to the ruling establishment. The move caused car prices, which for years were exceptionally high, to plummet. Car showrooms popped up on almost every corner and new vehicles flooded the streets.

Four years later, Rangoon, the countrys commercial capital, now rivals neighboring capitals such as Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila in the dubious honor of having some of the worst traffic jams in Southeast Asia, while lacking a mass rapid transport system.

The government has been playing catch-up ever since, enlisting the assistance of foreign donors to build bridges and flyovers, and to improve traffic management systems.

Experts, however, say a holistic approach is neededand urgentlyto solve Rangoons ever-worsening traffic problem.

In order to mitigate the traffic situation, [authorities] need to do a number of things. What is needed is a combination of hard and soft measures, said Sanjo Akihito, a senior representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) office in Rangoon, which has worked with authorities to develop a master plan to overhaul the citys transport system.

These measures could include building new roads and mass rapid transport systems, as well as ensuring that existing laws and regulations are respected, Akihito said. Traffic signals should also be part of an integrated system to better manage the traffic flow, which is not the case at the moment.

Subway could be one of the components, but that is not the only solution. It should be combined with other solutions, including other mass rapid transport systems, as well as looking at things like [preventing] illegal parking, he said.

Six Times More Taxis Than New York

The situation is urgent as Rangoon has more than doubled the number of vehicles on its roads in the past four years, according to Kyaw Soe, a Rangoon Region minister for forestry and energy and a spokesman for the Rangoon Regional government.

By October 2015, there were more than 500,000 vehicles in Rangoon, compared to 214,000 in August 2011, according to Rangoon Region government figures.

There are 349 bus lines currently serving around 7 million people in Rangoon Region, and each bus carries between 4,500 to 4,900 passengers a day, figures from Mahtatha (the control committee for private bus lines) show.

The Mahtatha also estimates there are now 100,000 taxis in Rangoon, representing a fifth of all cars on its roads. In comparison, New York City, a global financial center home to 8 million people, has fewer than 14,000 licensed taxis.

The [lifting of import restrictions] was done so that middle class families could also afford cars, the whole country can afford cars now. But Yangon [Rangoon] is the place where the largest number of cars have been imported so we are experiencing traffic problems, Kyaw Soe told a news conference on the congestion issue on Dec. 9.

Mayangone Township Deputy Traffic Police Officer Win Naing told the same news conference that drivers lack of respect for traffic rules exacerbates congestion, adding that more road space needs to be created. If the road already has all the cars it can take, theres just no way we can solve this with only human resources. You need engineering solutions, he said.

Health Costs

Long hours spent commuting on overcrowded buses can be detrimental to the health and well-being of city residents, according to Dr. Aung Soe Win, a medical consultant to private companies in Rangoon. Passengers can suffer from stress, disruptions to eating patterns, insufficient air circulation, carbon monoxide gases and dirty surroundings, he said.

Some women feel worried about possible sexual harassment on public buses, and people have to spend their precious time amid traffic congestion, he added.

Figures from the Thai capital Bangkok offer an indication of the health costs of traffic congestion. According to a US Environmental Information Administration report from 2001, airborne particle matter was estimated to have caused 3,300 premature deaths and almost 17,000 hospital admissions in Bangkok at a total health care cost of up to US$6.3 billion.

Ko Aung, a bus driver from Line 39, said the strain of long, congested journeys has made drivers feel exhausted and irritable.

Traffic congestion made us ill-tempered and we then break traffic rules. We feel more tired at the end of each working day compared with the situation five years ago. So we go to bars for a drink afterwards. This lifestyle has negative impacts on your health, he said.

Zaw Min, a taxi driver, said the effects of traffic congestion go beyond health complaints and stress, as for taxis it has also meant a fall in income.

We cannot ask more taxi fees from the potential passengers because of the traffic congestion. We now have to take about two hours to reach the destination for a route that would take only 20 minutes some years ago, he said.

A Lack of Solutions

A major challenge in dealing with traffic congestion is a lack of government funds to find traffic and infrastructure solutions, said Kyaw Soe, the Rangoon Region minister.

He said four fly-over bridges have been constructed so far and three more are underway in Rangoon. The congestion has eased because of these fly-over bridges but has not been totally solved, he said, adding that new projects such as by-passes may be implemented in the future.

When authorities in Rangoon attempted to start a boat ferry project along the Hlaing River to divert traffic in the western part of the city, the scheme fell through as few people used the boats.

Than Htay, head of the Department of Engineering at Yangon City Development Committee, said an offer has been made to companies for a project to supervise a traffic light system that could improve flows.

However, experts say Rangoon should look at how other cities, especially those in Southeast Asia, have tried to solve this problem. There, solutions range from underground and overground trains to motorcycle taxis, bus-only lanes, congestion charges in downtown areas, and park-and-ride systems.

Bangkok, which struggled with traffic problems in the 1990s, launched its skytrain system in 1999 and a metro in 2004. It also allowed for licensed motorcycle taxis, a solution Rangoon cannot yet implement as motorcycles are banned.

In Jakarta, the government implemented controls on motor vehicle ownership, increasing the tax of vehicles and fuel, while also improving the train system and designating special bus lanes.

A Better Public Transport System

Other solutions that JICA has proposed include operating a bus rapid transit system (BRT), installing cameras at traffic points and upgrading the local railway system. A BRT is a system to speed up buses by giving them a dedicated lane. A number of bus stops have been built for the BRT system which is expected to run beginning this year.

You have to get people out of private cars and into different transport modes: buses, bicycle, walking, subway, light rail, said Akihito, the JICA representative. Thats what Yangon really needs to be focusing on because you cannot just keep building roads and squeezing cars in.

Myat Nyana Soe, a Rangoon Region lawmaker for the National League for Democracywhich will form a government next month after winning the Nov. 8 general electionsaid improving the citys public transport system should be a priority.

Even though Yangon has a circular railway for example, few people rely on it because it is not efficient, he said, referring to the decades-old, slow-moving railway that rings the city. He said authorities should consider developing a skytrain system like that of Bangkok.

Poor City Planning

Yet the citys approach still seems to be focused on the construction of flyovers. Currently, they are being constructed at four major intersections, leading to severe bottlenecks in and out of the city.

A police lieutenant colonel from the Rangoon Traffic Police Force, who declined to be named, told Myanmar Now that flyovers would not resolve underlying problems and merely offered the public an impression that something is being done.Overpasses are appearing in Yangon at random, instead of [projects] focused on reducing traffic in one particular area, he said.

Myat Ko Ko, an official with Rangoon Regions Civil Engineering Department, said many residential apartments constructed during the junta era lacked parking areas, a planning error that has contributed to congestion by increasing the number of cars parked on the streets.

All downtown areas in Yangon need multi-level parking garages, although the six major downtown areas have no more empty plots for building construction, he said.
Burma Is Tony Blair Pursuing a Governance Mission in Burma?

With former British PM Tony Blair meeting Aung San Suu Kyi and Shwe Mann this week, a look back at one of his last visits.

Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, was in Burma again this week for at least the fourth trip he has made to the country since President Thein Seins quasi-civilian government took power in 2011. The former UK leader met with Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann and National League for Democracy chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday, but as with previous Blair trips to Burma, few details on the purpose of his latest visit were forthcoming.

In this story From The Irrawaddy Archive, we look back at one of the last times Blair touched down in Burma, in a piece published March 20, 2013.

Britains former Prime Minister Tony Blair was in Burma on Saturday meeting with top government officials.

He led a delegation, including Britains ambassador to Burma, Andrew Heyn, which met with Vice President Nyan Tun at the ostentatious Presidential Palace in Naypyidaw on Saturday.

The representatives from The Office of Tony Blair, an organization staffed by Blairs aides that oversees his numerous charities and companies, discussed the implementation of a long-term plan for economic development that is crucial for frameworks of economic and social reforms, according to Burmas Presidents Office website.

But the exact details of what was discussed are being kept quiet.

When asked about the meeting, a spokesperson for Blairs office said: At the present time we are simply having wide-ranging discussions with the [Burmese] government on the development of the country because Mr. Blair is interested in it.

Blair made a previous trip to the country in October last year. This weekends visit, during which he also met Aung San Suu Kyi, according to his spokesperson, was to continue discussions that began in October.

But the goal of Blairs two appearances in Burma remains a mystery, and there are lingering questions over the exact nature of his sudden interest in a country his critics say he showed little interest in while in power.

An official source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the talks could pave the way for a governance initiative Blair is considering establishing in Burma.

It is not clear what such an initiative could entail, but it is possible he may assume an advisory role with the Burmese government if he has not already done so in an unofficial capacity.

The problem is that he hasnt taken the time to contact or try to meet with any democracy activists or human rights groups before his visit, said Mark Farmaner, the director of Burma Campaign UK. Hes showing more interest [in Burma] now, but he backtracked on sanctions and getting his government to do anything was a struggle.

While in office, Blair called for stronger sanctions on the military junta and warned tourists to stay away from the country, which was ruled by a military dictatorship until a nominally civilian government was elected in 2010.

During the trip he also met with presidential insider Soe Thane, the former industry minister and head of Burmas navy, before calling on ethnic Kachin and Karenni groups to be patient with a shaky ceasefire in the countrys north, in what The Irrawaddys insider source called an impromptu visit to the National Peace Center.

According to Farmaner, Blair is desperate for any contacts in the [Burmese] government.

If Blair was to assume a role as an adviser to Naypyidaw, it would not be the first government he has worked for with a dire record on human rights.

In 2011, Blair added the Kazakhstani regime of Nursultan Nazarbayev to his roster of resource-rich client states, a deal said to be worth about US$13 million, although Blairs aides denied he profited from the arrangement.

As well as Kazakhstan, he has advised Kuwait, South Korean oil firm UI Energy Corporation, and Abu Dhabi investment fund Mubadala, and is employed by investment banking giant JP Morgan. A Financial Times investigation last year found he earns about 20 million ($30 million) a year through such deals.
Obama Answers To Chicagoans Worried About Gun Violence

By Kate Shepherd in News on Jan 8, 2016 5:45PM



President Discusses Executive Action On Guns via Getty Images

Chicago gun violence was the focus on a live CNN town hall with President Barack Obama, who fielded questions and concerns by Chicagoans.

"Back in 2007, 2008, when I was campaigning, I'd leave Chicagoa city which is wonderful, I couldn't be more proud of my citybut where every week there's a story about a young person getting shot," Obama said in his town hall at George Mason University, according to the Tribune. "Some are gang members with turf battles or sometimes innocent victims. Sometimes this happened a few blocks from my house, and I live in a pretty good neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago."

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church, was one of the locals to ask Obama tough questions about gun control.

"It's easier to get a gun in my neighborhood than it is a computer," Pfleger said. "The reality is because many of those guns have been bought legally. ... I don't understand why we can't title guns just like cars. If I have a car and I give it to you, Mr. President, and I don't transfer a title and you're in an accident, it's on me."

Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton, whose daughter, Hadiya, was shot and killed near Obama's Chicago home in 2013, wondered how guns can be kept out of the hands of criminals and asked about laws restricting sales across state lines.

Obama noted that Chicago has had strict gun laws but still grapples with widespread gun violence, which he blamed on lax gun laws in neighboring Indiana.

Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton, whose daughter, Hadiya, was shot and killed days after performing in Obama's inaugural festivities in 2013, asked how "guns can be kept out of the hands of criminals and asked about laws restricting sales across state lines", according to the Tribune.

Despite Chicago's strict gun laws, the violence hasn't stopped because of Indiana's lax gun laws, Obama told Pendleton.

Local teen Tre Bosley told the president that "most of us aren't thinking of life on a long-term scale."

Obama responded to Bosley:

When I see you, I think about my own youth because I wasn't that different from you. Probably not as articulate and maybe more of a goof-off. But the main difference was, I was in a more forgiving environment. If I screwed up, I wasn't at risk of getting shot. I'd get a second chance. There were a bunch of people looking out for me and there weren't a lot of guns on the streets. And that's how all kids should be growing up, wherever they live. My main advice to you is keep being an outstanding role model to the young ones who come up behind you, keep listening to your mom, work hard and get an education."

"Guns in America" was hosted by CNN's Anderson Cooper and featured in addition to the president, Taya Kyle, widow of "American Sniper" Chris Kyle, and former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Friday, January 8th, 2016 (1:10 pm) - Score 601

The UK Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) and Internet Telephony Services Providers Association (ITSPA) have officially swapped their Ofcom approved consumer complaints handler (ADR) scheme from CISAS to Ombudsman Services.

The national UK telecoms regulator requires that all broadband ISPs become members of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme. The schemes are designed to supplement (not replace) an ISPs own internal complaints procedures and are only used after a customer dispute has gone unresolved for 8 weeks (i.e. the Deadlock Letter stage).

Members of the above trade organisations have until now been able to gain free access to an ADR via the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (CISAS), although this changed on 1st January 2016 when both the ISPA and ITSPA adopted Ombudsman Services: Communications as a replacement for CISAS.

Apparently CISAS will continue to deal with any complaints currently logged with them, but they wont be taking on any new cases. Further details of how ADR providers work can be found under our ISP Complaints and Advice section

Lewis Shand Smith, Chief Ombudsman, said: Ombudsman Services roots began with resolving telecommunication complaints. We are the largest communications dispute resolution service and are delighted to be working with the companies that provide services through ITSPA and ISPA. We look forward to further helping them to improve their customer service models, as well as offering customers our free and impartial resolution service should they encounter a problem with internet telephony products or services.

Nicholas Lansman, ISPAs Secretary General, said: Free ADR is an important member benefit for ISPA members and their customers, giving peace of mind should a dispute arise. We are pleased to be working with Ombudsman Services.

A lot of ISPA members have yet to update their websites to reflect the change, which could create confusion among customers, but no doubt theyll get that sorted out over the next few weeks (note: members dont strictly have to use the ISPAs ADR choice).

Meanwhile consumers might well welcome the ADR process as a useful tool, although ISPs remain generally unhappy with it because they can be forced to pay hundreds of pounds in ADR fees, even when a customers dispute is rejected by the ombudsman.

The ISPA has been using CISAS for a long time, although ISPreview.co.uk understands that the switch was made because CISASs 3-year contract was up for renewal and OS was apparently able to deliver a more competitive offer for their members.
Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2016

The White House is dispatching a number of top national security officials to Silicon Valley this week to seek help eliminating ISIS. It is unlikely to be successful because of the way the Obama administration has been treating the industry with regard to things like warrantless search, illegal spying, and an approach to privacy, particularly with regard to foreign nationals, that is destroying much of their business. If you are actively destroying someones ability to earn a living, asking them for any help is not likely to be very successful.

Lets talk about why.

China vs. U.S. Government Interaction

One of the most interesting discussions that Ive had on this subject was last year with the head of a multi-national U.S.-based company on the difference between working with the U.S. and China. He said that when working with the U.S., it was all about compliance and oversight, that it was like the government thought he was a criminal and they were working to prove him guilty or put him out of business. Government was either ordering him to do things that werent prudent, violating the privacy of his customers, or doing things that were scaring foreign customers from his offerings.

Most painful recently was the idea of warrantless search, which forced firms to provide information on foreign nationals without due process. Just the rumor of this was driving customers in massive numbers away from his services and making it nearly impossible to operate in much of the rest of the world.

China, on the other hand, constantly asked what they could do to make him more successful and made resources available. That made him want to build and staff his efforts there rather than in the U.S. They were more of a partner in the business, working to ensure its success so he could maximize revenue and they could maximize related tax income.

This creates an environment wherein firms in China are more likely to want to help if asked because the government is working to make them successful. In the U.S., they are less likely to want to help because they dont trust the stated government goals. Actually, they pretty much dont trust the government.

What the Administration Wants

They have a big ask. Apparently, they not only want the valley to support disrupting ISIS communications over social networks and email, they want help in creating a government-grade smart gun. The first effectively would put these communications and collaborations firms in the propaganda business, potentially creating even more distrust between these companies and foreign users and governments than they currently enjoy. The second is so aggressively blocked by the NRA, which funds massive ad campaigns, that the backlash could be incredibly painful for the firms (many of whom are partially or wholly ad-funded) supporting the effort.

Both efforts also clearly have benefits for national security and citizen safety, but if you dont trust someone to have your best interests at heart, its far better to stonewall than help them because youre convinced youll get screwed with collateral damage in the end.

Wrapping Up: Why Trust Is Important and the Effort Will Fail

If the administration  any administration  wants to work with an industry, it has to create a foundation for trust and a balance between the entities so they can cooperate on projects like this. Without the trust and a sense that the administration has their back, the willingness to actually help with anything is remote.

So, as it was with the Affordable Healthcare Act, where the administration should have addressed the excessive cost of health care problems first, it is again going after the issue backwards. They need to establish trust with the folks they want to help before they make their request. Doing it the other way around might get lip service but it likely wont get progress.

Rob Enderle is President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, a forward-looking emerging technology advisory firm. With over 30 years experience in emerging technologies, he has provided regional and global companies with guidance in how to better target customer needs; create new business opportunities; anticipate technology changes; select vendors and products; and present their products in the best possible light. Rob covers the technology industry broadly. Before founding the Enderle Group, Rob was the Senior Research Fellow for Forrester Research and the Giga Information Group, and held senior positions at IBM and ROLM. Follow Rob on Twitter @enderle, on Facebook and on Google+.
ILY is aiming to be a communications brand exclusively for families. At the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, the startup company introduces a new home phone kit that keeps families connected.

A good parent always wants to keep in touch with his/her kids when he/she is not at home. However, it is always a challenge to stay connected when a family member travels for work or is out of the country.

Insensi Chief Executive Officer and Founder of ILY Ilan Abehassera talks about his vision at the 2016 Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show about a communication device that keeps families connected and has demonstrated the ILY device on stage during the CES hardware battlefield. The product should be out in the market in the next few months. A Kickstarter campaign is also planned soon and a ship date this year in the second quarter.

Ilan Abehassera is a father of three children ages eight, six and three. His work requires him to travel a lot, and he is frustrated by the challenges of getting in touch with his kids. His home does not have a landline, and his wife works as well. His kids are too young to have mobile phones of their own as an average child in the United States can get his own cellular phone at age 12. Communication gets even tougher when relatives are in other countries.

The ILY home phone is specifically designed for communication among the family. The ILY device includes a wireless handset, speakers, a camera, and an eight-inch touchscreen. Users can basically make video and voice calls with it, but it is limited within the family only. With this device, parents can call home to check on their children. Kids can also call their grandparents or other relatives without anyone's help. Other relatives can purchase their own ILY devices if they would want to, but adults can simply connect via the ILY apps for Android, iPhone or iPad also.

ILY apps and devices can save family conversations so it can be relived. In addition to video and voice calls, it can also send photos, text messages and even drawings.

ILY is a device that parents can feel comfortable giving their kids access to. The device will be available in retail stores at a price of US$149.
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Three people were taken to hospital on Monday after firefighters cut them out of their car.

A fourth person, the female driver of the Honda which crashed on The Broadway in Southall escaped unhurt.
12 Of Our Favorite Events In Chicago This Weekend



See the story of Japanese American dancer Sono Osato at the Saturday premiere of Sono's Journey. Photo courtesy of Thodos Dance Chicago.

There are lots of reasons to bundle up and get out of the house (and laugh) this weekend. Here are a few of our favorite plans.

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. Can't make it to Zanie's? She's also headlining Paper Machete on Saturday.



SATURDAY JANUARY 9

LIVE MAGAZINE: Yes, in addition to her weekend run at Zanies, comedian Beth Stelling is also headlining Saturdays Paper Machete at the Green Mill. The weekly live reading series boasts a pretty impressive lineup, with local comic Sam Irby and NY-based comedy troupe Team Submarine also on the bill. Funk/soul band Fatbook will also play. 3 p.m. Free.

CONTEMPORARY DANCE: Thodos Dance Chicago presents the world premiere of Sono's Journey on Saturday at the Auditorium Theatre. The piece, choreographed by company founder Melissa Thodos, chronicles the life of Japanese American dancer Sono Osato. 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $28.

MARTIAN FILM + PANEL: Did you have a lot of questions about space after watching The Martian? Join the University of Chicago on Saturday for a screening of the film followed by a panel discussion with geophysical and planetary scientists Edwin Kite and Mohit Melwani Daswani. Theyll talk about Mars, icy moons and exoplanets and answer questions like why the air is so thin and how robots and humans interact. 6:30 p.m. at the Max Palevsky Cinema in Ida Noyes Hall. Admission is $5 at the door. RSVP here.

THEATER: Red Theater presents the opening of their latest free production, Year of the Rooster. The fiercely comic play opens at 7:30 p.m. at The Frontier.

BEEKEEPING CLASS: Admit it, youve always been kind of curious about what it takes to be a beekeeper. Wonder no more with Beginning Beekeeping at Garfield Park Conservatory this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Head Beekeeper, Marcin Matelski, will teach the basics of beekeeping from hive design and construction to bee management. Cost is $70 ($50 for Members and Volunteers) and pre-registration is required.



SUNDAY JANUARY 10

FITNESS DAY: It's Fitness Day on the 606! It might be cold out, but that's no excuse for not exercising. Participate in walks and runs on the trail or take yoga and Latin dance classes at the Kimball Arts Center from 1 to 4 p.m. Free.

LUAU + BANDS: Kick off the first day of Tomorrow Never Knows with an El Nino Luau at Schubas from 4 to 8 p.m. DO312 and Red Bull celebrate the beginning of the winter music fest with tiki drinks, hula dancers and a roast pig. Of course theyll have music, too, from Akasha, Bleach Party and more. Free with RSVP.
The 50 billion dollar valued app and company, Uber has been fined $20,000 for using a "God View" mode where it can track their users. This is an apparent breach of user security and data protection.

Uber is available in sixty countries and over 300 cities. Currently, it has rostered eight million people. Statistically, the company acquires 1 million bookings everyday.

But regardless of its success, Uber had made a little trip when it was accused of security breaches exposing information of over 50,000 drivers across the United States. And then it made another small stumble, this time because of an aerial-tracking tool the company used to track passengers.

Uber employees can look up passengers and reveal locations and destinations for those who booked the service.

This was a slip up from Josh Mohrer when she mentioned that he was tracking Uber rides and logs of rides books - all these without permission.

And with that statement, an investigation was initiated for Uber's data and security policies. The result of the investigation has fined the company $20,000.

This amount is apparently laughable for the mobile app. This fine is not connected to the God View tool used but the company has promised to be more stringent in their privacy and security profiles, calling them "protective technologies". The company is happy to have reached an agreement with the New York Attorney General.

A copy of the settlement was acquired by Buzzfeed, and reports have posted the following statement:

Uber has represented that it has removed all personally identifiable information of riders from its system that provides an aerial view of cars active in a city, has limited employee access to personally identifiable information of riders, and has begun auditing employee access to personally identifiable information in general.

Because of its billion dollar amassed success, they recently may have most likely driven the Yellow Cab business to bankruptcy.
Just like Tatiana Romanova, Denise Richards, Halle Berry and Eva Green, the Philippines' very own Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach wants to be James Bond's sexy sidekick. The 2015 Miss Universe took to Good Morning America to reveal her Bond girl dream. If this happens, she would be.

During her first ever sit down interview as the reigning Miss Universe, Wurtzbach tells the host Lara Spencer how she has always dreamed of becoming a Bond girl and how she hopes to be able to do it. She also added that even if she's had this dream for the longest time, she knows her priorities and has already set them. Wurtzbach is focusing on HIV awareness and relief operations for the communities that are affected by certain calamities. "I have these causes which I want to put some light into...like relief operations for places which were hit by calamities like the Philippines and also cyberbullying," she explains.

The 26-year-old actress and beauty queen definitely owns the phrase 'confidently beautiful with a heart'. The past couple of weeks of her reign, she stayed in New York City where she celebrated New Year's in Times Square and watch the ball drop with the people in the Big Apple.

Wurtzbach also finally commented on the crown-sharing proposal by Trump which she slammed by saying that it would be more difficult for two girls to share a crown, and that though everything has been said and done, she says that she has high hopes that this happening will open bigger doors and greater opportunities for her and Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez.

Wurtzbach assured the people that they are in good terms despite the issues. She shared that on Christmas day, which happened to be Gutierrez's birthday, the two of them were able to share a private comversation for the first time after the pageant.
Photos: Chicago's Segregation Problem, As Seen On The CTA Red Line

By Mae Rice in News on Jan 8, 2016 5:01PM



A Red Line car near the Argyle stop. (Photo by Austyn Wyche)

Austyn Wyche, an 18-year-old Morehouse freshman from Chatham, didnt ride the Red Line north of the Loop until he was 16. When he did, to visit a friend, he realized just how deeply segregated Chicago was.

"It intrigued me how once I got to a certain point, I no longer saw people who looked like me, Wyche, who is black, told Chicagoist. I was an overwhelming minority on the train."

Data analysts have documented this phenomenon in their way, annually naming Chicago one of the countrys most segregated cities.

However, Wyche, who first took up photography in eighth grade, captured the phenomenon in a photoset called Connected Division. It charts the Red Lines changing passenger demographics as it goes from 95th/Dan Ryan up to Howard.

Wyche took the photos between December and May of last year. All told, he put in three solid, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. shifts on the Red Line, with a friend whos like my brother.



A Red Line car near 75th stop (Photo by Austyn Wyche)

He shot with assorted DSLR cameras, but I was really just a fly on the wall, he said. I was very discreet. I was in the cut of the train and I had my camera at waist level.

His fellow passengers only reacted two or three times. Older guys, he said, wanted to talk about the craft of photography. He also got younger guys asking me if I shot music videos.

Wyche said that while he never felt like he was treated differently on the Red Lines north end, There's definitely a different vibe.

The North Side of Chicago and the South Side of Chicago are two completely different worlds, he said. "The overall culture of the communities, the amount of wealth that exists within the communities."

In his photoset, you can really see it.
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Chinese actor Hu Ge made an announcement yesterday on Weibo, a social media platform, saying that he's grateful for everyone's concern and he wishes the public may give him some space, so he can live a normal, simple life.

Hu Ge [File Photo: mtime.com]

The statement is allegedly in response to earlier media reports about him getting a new girlfriend.

Reports say the alleged girlfriend, who graduated from Beijing Dancing Academy, is not in the show business, unlike Hu Ge's two ex-girlfriends.

Hu Ge is one of the most popular actors of the past year, thanks to his TV dramas "Nirvana in Fire" and "The Disguiser".

Hu Ge has won the best actor award in China's "Domestic TV Series Ceremony" and was nominated for best actor at the Flying Apsaras Awards, both for his leading role Mei Changsu in "Nirvana in Fire."

He's also been appointed as Shanghai's tourism ambassador for two years.
WASHINGTON  Fragile is the word that journalist Karen Elliott House used to describe Saudi Arabia in her 2012 book about the country. Observing Saudi Arabia is like watching a gymnast dismount the balance beam in slow motion, she wrote. The world holds its breath wondering if the Saudis will nail the landing or crash to the mat.

This past week, the House of Saud seemed to have lost its footing. The kingdoms fear of a rising Iran led it to execute a dissident Shiite cleric, triggering riots in Iran, a break in diplomatic relations and a sharp escalation in the sectarian feud that is ravaging the Middle East.

What led Saudi Arabia to take these risky actions, and what U.S. policies might reduce the danger that the Middle East mess will get even worse? You cant answer these questions without examining the Saudis insecurity, which has led them to make bad choices.

Saudi Arabia is a frightened monarchy. Its beset by Sunni extremists from the Islamic State and Shiite extremists backed by Iran. Its bogged down in a costly and unsuccessful war in Yemen. And it mistrusts its superpower patron and protector, the United States, in part because of Americas role in brokering the nuclear deal that ended Irans isolation.

Countries that feel vulnerable sometimes do impulsive and counterproductive things, and that has been the case recently with the Saudis.

Compounding Saudi Arabias external problems is its internal ferment. King Salmans ambitious son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 30, has devised a plan for modernization and economic growth, with input from McKinsey & Co. and other global consultants. The plan makes all the right recommendations: boost private enterprise; diversify the economy away from dependence on oil exports; reduce the stultifying role of the Saudi state. But these reforms would challenge powerful senior princes and disrupt a society that is resistant to change.

A defensive, anxious Saudi leadership tried to show its resolve with last weeks execution of 47 extremists. Though global attention was focused on the death of Shiite cleric Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, most of the executed men were Sunni radicals who were allied with Islamic State, al-Qaida and other jihadist groups. Some Saudi-watchers think that killing Nimr was partly a cover for the execution of the radical Sunnis. Regardless of the motivation, Nimrs execution was a mistake.

The Saudis compounded their error by rashly cutting diplomatic relations with Iran and pushing other Arab Gulf countries to do the same. The rationale was that the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran appeared to be government-condoned. Saudi pleas for help went unanswered for more than eight hours; the rioters scaled a 20-foot fence; their first target was the embassy computer system. The Saudi action was understandable, but an overreaction.

Saudi Arabias desire to resist Iranian hegemony had already gotten it in trouble in Yemen. The war is said to be costing the kingdom nearly $1 billion a month, with little to show but rubble on the ground. The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have retaliated by attacking towns across the border in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis seemed eager for U.N.-sponsored peace talks on Yemen until last weekends blowup.

Whats the best policy for the U.S. as the Saudi-Iranian sectarian battle deepens? The Obama administration has rightly tried to protect its Syria diplomacy, which just weeks ago had succeeded in bringing Saudis and Iranians together for negotiations in Vienna. The administration was reassured by a statement Tuesday from U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura, who said after meeting Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir: There is a clear determination on the Saudi side that the current regional tensions will not have any negative impact on the Vienna momentum.

The broader U.S. goal should be de-escalation of the ruinous confrontation between Tehran and Riyadh. This inferno has engulfed the region  from Beirut to Damascus, Baghdad to Sanaa  and last weekends events show how easily it could expand even further. The U.S. is talking to both sides, but it also must restrain them  in part by checking Irans meddling in other countries internal affairs.

Saudi Arabias insecurities have been a driver of conflict for 40 years. Fearful of domestic threats, they bankrolled PLO terrorism, jihadist madrassas, al-Qaidas founders and Syrian warlords. Riyadhs current enemy is Iran, but the anxiety goes much deeper.

The Saudis need reassurance that Washington has their back. Even more, they need to build a society thats self-confident enough to combat extremism, at home and abroad.
While farmers may welcome the rain, the rainy season also brings with it a deadly insect: the mosquito. According to Dr Diabate,. People may be bitten up to 100 times a night during the rainy season, resulting in the rapid spread of the disease., explains a young mother who has also suffered from malaria. Since mosquitoes have recently adapted their behaviour by biting their victims earlier in the evening, professor Gibson is worried that time is running out. Scientists are urgently conducting experiments to eradicate malaria, but with little financial support, this is proving difficult. Despite the government's attempts to initiate a publicity campaign, it is still a challenge to persuade people that mosquitoes are dangerous.

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China will provide full support for the coal and steel sectors, which suffer serious overcapacity, to help them out of their current difficulties, according to an official statement issued Thursday.

Since last year, overcapacity in those sectors became a prominent problem due to weak demand at home and abroad and dropping commodity prices on the global market, the statement cited Premier Li Keqiang as saying at a meeting on the topic.

As companies in deteriorating hardship weighed on both economic growth and steady employment, the country must defuse overcapacity in an orderly manner and help companies find a new development path.

In the past three years, China eliminated more than 90 million tonnes of steel production capacity and over 200 million tonnes of coal mining capacity.

Li said the country will carefully study market conditions to set a reasonable target for the next three years.

Since 2013, the country has stopped approving new steel capacity. The country will suspend the approval procedure for new coal mines, technology upgrade projects and for raising capacity of existing coal mines, Li said.

China will also gradually close steel mills that fail to meet environmental, energy conservation and safety standards. Coal mines using forbidden mining methods or falling short of safety standard will also be shut down.

Remaining capacity should be optimized partly by raising market access standards on environment protection and the uses of energy, materials and water. Companies should upgrade their products toward a more sophisticated, smart and green direction, the premier said.

The country encourage mergers and acquisitions and "will guide the voluntary exit" of weak companies that cannot cease making losses, he said.

The government should take "a combination of measures" to resolve problems from overcapacity, including fiscal and financial support, ensuring the lives of laid-off workers and enhance supervision on local governments' work around overcapacity, Li said.

China will support steel and coal companies to engage in mass entrepreneurship and innovation to create new job opportunities.

The central government is going to set up a special fund to subsidize the efforts of local governments and companies to defuse overcapacity. The fund will be mainly used in taking care of laid-off workers, according to the premier.

The country will safeguard the legitimate interests of laid-off workers by offering new jobs, supporting them to start businesses and providing posts in non-profit endeavors.

Li added that local governments must abandon all preferential policies and protective measures for fields with overcapacity, and efforts of eliminating excessive capacity will be one of the major aspects in evaluating the work of local governments.

Industrial restructuring and optimization should not just focus on old industries, but also on new sectors that will provide new impetus for growth to provide more jobs lost in the traditional sectors, he said.

The meeting was held in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province Monday. It was attended by officials from some major steel- and coal-producing provinces and 24 leading companies in the fields.
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The Wisconsin insurance agency Ansay & Associates has sold its wellness program unit to a Maryland-based health benefits management firm.

Financial terms of the sale of PopSpring Wellness to Healthcare Interactive Inc, of Glenwood, Md., were not disclosed.

PopSpring provides wellness programs to enhance companies' health benefits plans. The two firms had been working together previously.

In a statement, Mike Ansay, chief executive of Port Washington-based Ansay & Associates, said that by being part of Healthcare Interactive, "PopSpring is better positioned to provide new and innovative technology, additional resources, controlled costs and top of the line customer support."

In other transactions of late, Ansay & Associates has been the acquirer, buying agencies in Wisconsin. In November, Ansay announced it had acquired Koehler Insurance of Cedarburg, continuing its expansion in the state. The company has nearly tripled its workforce since 2009 to 215 employees.

Ansay & Associates has offices in Port Washington, Cedarburg, West Bend, Manitowoc, Appleton, Green Bay, Madison, Mosinee and Burlington.
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If 2016 is the year you plan to build a house or improve your existing property, you'll find plenty of ideas  along with people willing to do the work  this weekend at the Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park in West Allis.

If you are planning to get married this year, you might want to visit the Expo Center over the weekend, too.

And if you expect to get married and build or remodel a house in 2016, well, you almost have to go to the Expo Center on Saturday or Sunday.

That's because while the Metropolitan Builders Association is holding its 27th annual Home Building and Remodeling Show Friday through Sunday at the Expo Center, the two-day Wonderful World of Weddings 48th annual wedding show will be taking place there as well.

Taking advantage of the coincidental juxtaposition and timing of the events, the builders' organization and wedding event organizers said they are offering half off the adult admission to their show to those who present a ticket stub from the other show.

"That was just the two show managers putting their heads together on a way to make it easier for attendees on either side to come in and check out what each show has to offer," said Carrie Seibel, sales manager for the Wonderful World of Weddings.

Said Kristine Hillmer, executive director of the Metropolitan Builders Association: "If folks are getting married, guess what  they may need to buy a house, remodel a house. There are things they are going to need once they're married. So actually it's a very nice tie."

The wedding show has been held at State Fair Park throughout its history. But the annual home and remodeling show previously was held in downtown Milwaukee at the Wisconsin Center. It has a "little bit of a different feel and a little different flavor" in its new venue this year, Hillmer said.

As always, it's a spot where Wisconsin consumers temporarily can escape winter and think about what they want to do with their home and yard in the new year.

"The nice thing with our home show is it's not only about building. It's about building and remodeling and updating your house," Hillmer said. "If you're interested in building or doing a big remodeling project, we've got a lot of members who can help with that. But even if you're looking for a new flooring option, new carpeting, new paint, a new garage door  things like that  we also have a lot of options for folks."

The home and remodeling show will feature about 130 exhibitors, along with special home improvement areas, cooking demonstrations by area chefs and a marketplace of food and beverage products from Wisconsin vendors.

Home Building and Remodeling Show hours are noon to 8 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

A free home show app  new this year  that helps visitors navigate the event is available for download.

Home show admission is $12 for adults and $8 for seniors at the gate and at MBAhomeshow.com. Attendees can receive $2 off admission at the gate by donating two nonperishable food items. Tickets will be $6 for those with Wonderful World of Weddings ticket stubs. Children 12 and younger enter free.

The Wonderful World of Weddings runs 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Fashion shows take place each day at 12:30 and 3 p.m., and the event includes about 175 exhibitors.

Wedding show admission is $10 at the gate. Advance tickets are available online at www.epishows.com/wedding/ticket-information for $7 (with a $1.50 processing fee per transaction) until midnight Friday. With a home show ticket stub, admission is $5. Children 12 and younger enter free.
Josh Krsnak, president of Minneapolis-based retail and office property owner Hempel Cos., recently joined with Milwaukee investors Tony Janowiec and Chuck Biller to buy the Shops of the Grand Avenue. He is pictured at the mall's Stone Creek Coffee outlet. Credit: Tom Daykin

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A craft brewery and a climbing wall are among the possible additional uses the owners are considering for downtown Milwaukee's Shops of Grand Avenue.

"We've been talking with a lot of different people, just kind of getting ideas," said Josh Krsnak, president of Minneapolis-based Hempel Cos.

"We want to make the Grand Avenue a destination again," Krsnak said Friday.

Hempel, which operates office and retail properties in the Twin Cities, is partnering with principals from two Milwaukee-based parking structure operators and investors, Interstate Parking Co. and Aggero Group LLC, that in late December bought the mall. He visited Milwaukee this week to discuss the Grand Avenue's future with his partners, possible tenants and others.

The new owners "are well down the road" in negotiating a lease with Ross Dress for Less, Krsnak said.

Ross, which would lease almost 30,000 square feet at the former Linens n' Things space in the mall's Plankinton Arcade, is among the nation's largest off-price clothing and home fashion chains. The Dublin, Calif.-based retailer is opening other Milwaukee-area stores and would be next to the mall's T.J. Maxx store.

Also, Interstate Parking plans to move its offices from the nearby Empire Building, 710 N. Plankinton Ave., to 6,000 square feet at the mall, Krsnak said.

Krsnak and his partners, Tony Janowiec, a principal owner at both Interstate Parking and Aggero Group, and Chuck Biller, Aggero Group managing director, are not naming other prospective tenants.

There's strong interest in the Grand Avenue, Krsnak said. The 293,596-square-foot mall has several vacancies in both the Plankinton Arcade and the West Arcade, the portion of the mall that connects to the Boston Store building.

"Right now, everyone wants to talk to us," Krsnak said.

Krsnak and his partners say other developments on downtown's west side, including the new Milwaukee Bucks arena and new apartments, are helping fuel interest.

"We think there's a fair amount of good things happening," Biller said.

The new owners will be selective in considering prospective tenants, Krsnak said. They should complement existing retailers, some of which are doing well, said Krsnak and Janowiec.

"It's not all about building revenue," Krsnak said. "It's about building the right tenant mix that's best for the long term."

He said that's a contrast from the approach of the previous owner, a group led by Brooklyn, N.Y., investor Alexander Levin.

Krsnak said Levin's strategy was to spend "as little money as possible" to maintain the property, while reaping the cash flow from the retail space and especially the Grand Avenue's 1,748-space parking structure.

"They made a ton of money" doing so, Krsnak said.

Levin and his investors paid $16.5 million for the Grand Avenue in 2014. It was sold on Dec. 18 for $24.6 million through two transactions: one involving the mall and one for the parking structure.

According to state real estate records, the parking structure was sold to Milwaukee Parking JV Owner 1 LLC for $23.1 million. The retail space was sold to Haggeros Mall LLC for $1.5 million. The new principal owners have shares of both groups.

Separating the Grand Avenue's ownership into two groups makes sense, Krsnak said.

Janowiec and Biller have an expertise in parking structures, while Krsnak has experience with retail properties.

The parking structure, among the largest in downtown, is underused, Janowiec and Biller said. Interstate Parking can make some upgrades and combine it with the firm's other downtown parking structures to offer its clients more options, they said.

Janowiec and Biller have long wanted to acquire the Grand Avenue parking structure but knew it wouldn't be sold unless the buyer also acquired the retail space.

So, Janowiec approached Krsnak in August about the property. The two met as University of Minnesota students, and Janowiec's firm operates a parking structure at Canadian Pacific Plaza, a downtown Minneapolis office tower that Hempel Cos. recently sold for $69 million.

Having two separate but cooperative ownership groups also allows possible additional partners to more easily invest in just the retail space, Janowiec and Krsnak said.

Krsnak said the new owners have already been approached by investors who want to buy the Plankinton Arcade.

The new owners control the arcade's lower level, street level and second floor. There are few retailers there, with some of the arcade space filled by nonprofit groups and other uses, including an office furniture virtual showroom.

The Plankinton Arcade's remaining upper floors, including apartments and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Continuing Education, are controlled by other owners, including the UW System and developer Ken Breunig.

The Plankinton Arcade is attracting prospective buyers because "it's a cool historic building," and part of its space can be more easily converted to offices than the West Arcade space, Krsnak said.

The West Arcade has more retail activity, including the third-level food court. It features an atrium, just off W. Wisconsin Ave. at N. Old World 3rd St., where Krsnak said a possible climbing wall could be installed to attract a younger crowd.

But that concept, along with the possible craft brewer, are just at the ideas stage, he said. And redeveloping the mall will take time.

"It's not an easy puzzle to put together," Krsnak said.

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Companies less than a year old accounted for all of Wisconsin's net new job creation in 2012, according to a new study conducted by two University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.

More than half of all net new jobs in the state in 2012 were created by companies with less than 50 employees, according to the study, by Tessa Conroy and Steven Deller, a research associate and professor, respectively, in the department of agricultural and applied economics at UW-Madison.

But when the pair looked at it by age of company, they found that the youngest companies  those less than a year old  created all net new jobs in Wisconsin during that year.

Those companies have not been around long enough to lay people off, which tilts the net job creation account in their favor. However, the bottom line: Start-ups contribute more than 100% of net job creation and offset the net job losses of older companies, Deller said.

Given the disproportionately large share of job creation from new business start-ups, supporting entrepreneurs may be one of the most effective public policy levers, he said. These findings indicate that supporting new business owners, even those that do not yet have employees, could lead to higher gross and net job creation, he added.

"The story really is we don't want to ignore the larger established businesses, but we want to devote more time and effort to business start-ups," Deller said.

Generally, only half of newly established companies survive to five years, Conroy and Deller said. But in some ways, given that young companies create the jobs, that high failure makes it even more vital to have a high rate of start-ups, they said.

Conroy and Deller published two versions of their study. One, intended for policy-makers, is called, "Where do the Jobs Come From? Strategies for Job Creation." The other, which details all of their data analysis, is called "Employment Growth in Wisconsin: Is it Younger or Older Businesses, Smaller or Larger?"

Both researchers have joint appointments with the University of Wisconsin Extension.
Santino Emanuele (left) sets up a model of The Denali, a cross between a cabin and an RV created by Vertical Works Inc. The Denali is at the Wisconsin RV Super Show Friday through Sunday at the Wisconsin Center. Credit: Michael Sears

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It's a house with a 12-foot ceiling, a full kitchen, sleeping quarters for four, a 60-inch flat-screen TV mounted on the living room wall, a party deck that could easily accommodate a dozen people, enough windows to fit out an observatory  and five axles.

Straddling the line between the tiny home and the recreational vehicle, a small Oak Creek firm is venturing into building shelters that, potentially, could be either.

Vertical Works Inc., a six-employee company owned by Justin Kreger, has been producing modular homes for most of its eight years in business.

Now, however, the firm is bringing out a hybrid  a 399-square-foot unit that is built on a chassis and qualifies as an RV, but looks like a miniature vacation home and can be used year-round.

The company is showing off its first model, dubbed "The Denali," at the Wisconsin RV Super Show, being held Friday through Sunday at the Wisconsin Center downtown.

With its unusual design  the tiny structure has three different roof lines, for example, including two that slope into each other  the Denali, which retails for $79,000 to $139,000, stands out in an exhibition hall otherwise crammed with shiny metal boxes.

That was deliberate, said Nathan Kreger, sales manager and brother of the company's owner. The idea: grab attention and generate talk.

"When you walked in it, we wanted it to be like, wow, this is bigger than my apartment," Kreger said.

In all likelihood, the Denali and its future brethren  work has begun on a truly teeny, 158-square-foot model called "The Dragonfly"  will end up towed by a heavy-duty "toter truck" to an RV park somewhere and installed semi-permanently for use as a recreation home.

Such so-called park model RVs have been rising in popularity among operators of Kampgrounds of America locations and similar resorts, said Sherman Goldenberg, publisher of RV Business, a trade journal covering the recreational vehicle industry.

That has come amid a rise over the past 10 years in what the sector calls seasonal camping, said Matt Wald, an executive with the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association.

"It sort of started when gas prices were rocketing up in the mid 2000s," Wald said. "People were taking shorter trips in their RVs. They were staying longer in campgrounds.

"Rather than sort of taking the long-haul trip to Yosemite or to Alaska, they would take their RV to the local campground, park it there and then visit it on the weekend. As that market has grown, so has the popularity of the park models, because it's sort of the ultimate seasonal camping product."

Most park models  Wald estimated there are about 30,000 scattered across the U.S.  are owned by the people who use them.

But operators of KOAs and other camping resorts have been acquiring the house-like shelters for rental to those who don't own RVs, yet want to spend time outdoors without roughing it, Goldenberg said.

For the campgrounds, he said, that represents "potentially a huge breakthrough into a new market."

Vertical Works created a new division, Utopian Villas, to produce and sell its park models.

The firm already is in talks with a large RV resort in Michigan about possible purchases, Nathan Kreger said.

As RVs, park models carry a vehicle license and are not assessed property taxes.

They must be under 400 square feet and are not intended to be used as permanent residences.

But Kreger said the Utopian Villas also meet modular housing building codes, opening the possibility that the tightly insulated, well-heated structures could appeal to people who dream of simplifying and joining the movement that has spawned television shows such as Tiny House Nation and Tiny House Hunters.

"And this would be better than my house," Kreger said. "It is laid out that well. ... We have maximized every inch of space."
David Sapiro, Shannon Nettesheim and Ben Parman rehearse a scene from Parmans play Starlings, which opens Jan. 14 at Soulstice Theatre. Credit: Laura Heise

SHARE Shannon Nettesheim and Ben Parman enjoy a lighter moment during rehearsals for Starlings. Laura Heise Ben Parman Doreen Piper

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"The studio execs think it's too Christian for the gay demographic and too gay for the Christian demographic."

So says 31-year-old Neal of the self-described "sitcom" in which he finds himself with his onetime high school friends, together again in a Chicago hotel for a gay Christian conference.

Neal could be describing the challenge  and opportunity  presented by "Starlings," a new play by 31-year-old Ben Parman that will receive its world premiere in a Soulstice Theatre production being directed by Erin Nicole Eggers.

It opens Thursday, backed by a strong cast that includes Parman as well as Shannon Nettesheim, Claudio Parrone Jr. and David Sapiro.

Neal is the surrogate for Parman, a Milwaukee resident who is both gay and Christian.

And when a friend asks Neal if God knows he's gay, one can hear Parman himself in the answer: "I will not be put in a box you can check."

"People are always defining who they are by splintering and separating," Parman noted in an interview in the Soulstice lobby, shortly before an early January rehearsal. "We're all saying, 'this is my experience, you can't understand my experience.'

"And yes: There's value in identifying yourself. But if your identity is going to exclude someone else's identity, you're perpetuating the very problem you're trying to solve. That's what happens when we take one characteristic of someone and make that their defining characteristic."

There's part of everyone surrounding Neal in "Starlings" who wants to fly free of narrowing definitions of the self; one of the many strengths in Parman's script is its refusal to pigeonhole people. But while they're attending a gay Christian conference, many of these characters are nevertheless beating their wings against self-imposed cages involving religion, sexuality or both.

Matt, Kelly's sweetheart and soul mate in high school, is still struggling with the fallout from his ensuing admission that he's gay.

Kelly has since married Ethan, who idolized Matt in high school and has been fighting his deep-seated homophobia ever since. Deante must negotiate what his bisexuality means for him as a black man, rightly wary of others' efforts to equate very different forms of discrimination.

A screwball comedy, with footnotes

While he has his own blind spots, the Hamlet-like Neal is particularly adept at parrying others' efforts to pin him down. "Nobody puts me in a corner," he says, invoking a famous line from "Dirty Dancing."

With Neal leading the charge, there will be scores of such occasions in which Parman's characters make reference to films, plays and television as well as the Bible, philosophical treatises, spiritual meditations and pop culture icons  many themselves figures who have resisted limiting definitions of their sexuality and sexual orientation. Parman's script includes nearly 150 often playful footnotes in which he explains many of the references.

Sitting in on the interview, Eggers made clear that delightful as they can be, those footnotes are for the actors, not the audience. Confident in her cast, she's intent on conveying what Parman's script suggests: a furiously fast and funny screwball comedy. While a run time hasn't yet been set, Eggers is projecting that "Starlings" will unfold over approximately 75 minutes (not counting intermission).

"You'll know where you are even if you don't get all the references," Eggers insisted. "This cast will make sure you know what they're talking about, what the subtext is and what their intention is. You won't be able to catch your breath for several pages because you're just laughing, and then it will hit you."

"It's why I can go see a Beckett piece and hear lines that make me laugh and ring true, even if I can't tell you exactly what they mean," Parman said. "It's why, when I watched the Kenneth Branagh 'Much Ado About Nothing' at 13 and didn't understand much of what was being said, I simultaneously understood all of what was being said. The actors found and conveyed emotional truth. Linguistic truth. All forms of truth."

Message in the madness

No matter how wild and witty "Starlings" plays, Neal and his surrounding flock flit from cultural reference to reference for a reason. In a script that can be poignant as well as funny, they're learning to fly and desperately hoping to find a place to land, where they might feel welcome and loved. And where they might learn to better love themselves.

When someone like Neal invokes countless personae, he isn't just having fun with language and indulging his penchant to pun. He's also reaching toward a more expansive definition of who he is. Parman likens Neal to Emily Dickinson, dwelling in possibility rather than settling for a reductive view of the self.

And hoping  as every playwright always hopes  that in addition to entertaining an audience, "Starlings" might encourage others to expand their own living quarters.

"There've always been stories  think 'Good Times' in the '70s, or 'The Cosby Show' in the '80s, or 'Will and Grace' in the '90s  featuring people who those watching haven't met before," Parman said.

"Hopefully, people will see a piece like this and it will partially deconstruct all this scaffolding we place around each other. We spend so much time arguing about words rather than engaging. But a person can't be reduced to a drawer in a filing cabinet. Words like 'gay' and 'bisexual' and 'black' are social constructs. They put us in a box."

Ditto, for Parman, the persistent tendency to define homosexuality and Christianity as mutually exclusive enclaves.

"There'd have been no reason to write this play if we'd solved that problem," Parman said. "But while I know this statement won't be popular with some people, God is more interested in who we are than what we do."

IF YOU GO

"Starlings" runs from Jan. 14-30 at Soulstice Theatre, 3770 S. Pennsylvania Ave., St. Francis. For tickets, visit www.soulsticetheatre.org.
One of the nation's toughest passenger rights laws  a rule that fines airlines for stranding fliers on an airport tarmac  may actually increase passenger delays instead of reducing them.

That is the conclusion of a new study by professors from Dartmouth College and MIT. The good news, according to the study, is that the 2010 law can be modified to reduce passenger delays.

The focus of the study is the so-called tarmac delay rule, which gives the U.S. Department of Transportation the authority to fine airlines up to $27,500 for each passenger on a domestic flight who is stranded on an airport tarmac for more than three hours. The time limit is increased to four hours for international flights.

The rule was adopted after blizzards on the East Coast in 2006 and 2007 left passengers stranded on planes for up to 11 hours.

But the new peer-reviewed study, which used algorithms to analyze airline flight data, concludes that airlines are now more likely to cancel flights that are delayed to avoid being fined by the Department of Transportation, thus creating more passenger delays.

For every minute the rule saves passengers from being stuck on a tarmac, passengers are delayed three minutes on average because they have to book new flights to get to their final destinations after their original flights are canceled, according to the study.

"There is no surprise that sometimes when you try to do something good you have these negative effects," said Vikrant Vaze, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor at Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering.

Previous studies have concluded that flight cancellations are more likely because of the tarmac rule, but the Dartmouth-MIT study says it is the first study to analyze the actual effect on passengers.

The study concluded that passenger delays can be reduced if the tarmac rule is modified to increase the tarmac time limit to 3.5 hours and if the law applies only to flights scheduled to depart before 5 p.m., when passengers have more options to rebook.

Kate Hanni, a passenger-rights advocate who helped push for adoption of the tarmac rule, rejects the findings of the Dartmouth-MIT study, saying she believes the universities are biased and accept funding from airlines.

She blames the passenger delays on airlines that schedule more flights per day than can be accommodated by the airports.

Vaze said the study was funded by a research branch of the Federal Aviation Administration and "was not funded in any part by any airline, major or otherwise."

Los Angeles Times
The stage curtain at the Stoughton Opera House was restored several years ago. Credit: Brian E. Clark

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In the late 1800s, cities and towns around Wisconsin vied with one another by putting up impressive public buildings. Even the small burg of Stoughton  which had only 3,431 residents in 1900  got into the swing of things, opening a lovely, three-story opera house in 1901 that included a soaring clock tower.

But folks in Stoughton were a practical sort (the community was settled mainly by Norwegian immigrants, after all), so the first floor and basement of the Richardsonian Romanesque structure were designed to house city offices, as well as the police department, library, fire department and jail.

Upstairs, however, people were treated to a charming, Victorian theater with nearly 500 seats, several large chandeliers, four boxes for special seating and an ornately decorated ceiling.

The theater's opening performance was "The Doctor's Warm Reception," penned by playwright Ullie Akerstrom. For the next five decades, it was the site of plays, concerts, operas, recitals, fiddlers' contests and madrigals, as well as conferences, weddings, temperance meetings, rosemaling workshops, fashion shows, auctions, political rallies, conferences and high school graduations. Backstage graffiti dates to the early days of the theater.

"It may seem especially extravagant now for a small town, but at the turn of the 20th century, it was common for places like Stoughton to have their own opera house," said Christina Dollhausen, the facility's events coordinator.

"It was a major source of pride to have a nice place for community gatherings and theater productions. The townsfolk and farmers needed something to do on weekends. And to be honest, they wanted to show off to other towns in the area. It was a prestige thing."

But time and lack of maintenance took its toll. By the early 1950s, the opera house had been painted over with dull gray paint and plaster was peeling off the walls. Worse, it had suffered significant damage from a leaking roof. The fire marshal declared the balcony unsafe and closed it off not too long before the opera house was shuttered. In 1961, the building's clock tower was taken down.

"By 1980, the place had gotten really shabby, a lot of pigeons were living in here and there was a debate about taking down the whole building," Jon Lewis, vice president of the opera house board, told me on a recent tour of the facility.

Civic pride prevailed, however. The first community project was to restore the clock tower, which was accomplished in the 1980s. Next came the renovation of the entire opera house. Stoughton-area residents raised more than $1 million in grants and volunteered countless hours of time and labor to renovate the structure.

It took more than a decade, but the work paid off and modern amenities were added, including air conditioning, new carpets, floor lights, dressing rooms, paint, handicapped accessibility, an elevator and state-of-the-art equipment.

Lewis said workers built a false floor so they could redo the ceiling. He called the results "fantastic. I'm certainly no expert, but when I look up there, I always have to say, 'Boy, is that cool.'"

The "crown jewel" of Stoughton, as it is known locally, reopened in 2001  in time for its 100th anniversary.

Lewis said the facility has been well maintained since then. The most recent project two years ago refurbished the theater's original stage curtain, which was made of an asbestos-impregnated cloth.

"It was ripping, so we got a $30,000 grant from a foundation to restore it, which required re-rigging the whole thing," he said. "It had the original rigging, which meant that it took about half an hour to get it up and down. I thought we'd have to take pictures of it and make a fake replacement, but Bill Brehm, the opera house director, found someone to restore it."

When Lewis showed it to me, he pointed out the big 1901 ads on the curtain that boasted the products of Stoughton stores, including one run by the Christianson Brothers. Steven Christianson, Lewis noted, is the grandson of one of the brothers and a good friend of his.

Lewis said the theater has grown in popularity in recent years, thanks in part to the arrival of Brehm around 2007 and his assistant, Dollhausen, shortly after that.

"It's a big success now and the number of shows has gone up dramatically," Lewis said. "Arts venues never support themselves entirely, but we now have 70 to 75 shows a year in here. If you look at the program, you can see we get some big names. Marty Stuart, for one, is a mandolin player with his own television program. We tend to have a lot of bluegrass acts here, such as Del McCoury, who played with Bill Monroe, and actor Jeff Daniels, who writes music, plays guitar, sings and performed with his son's band. Author Michael Perry also speaks and performs twice a year. We haven't had Garrison Keillor, but we'd love to get 'A Prairie Home Companion' here."

Dollhausen said performers and audiences alike enjoy the opera house because of its excellent acoustics, which she called "world class. You can hear a whisper from on stage all the way in the back of the theater. It's actually an intimate theater."

She said the opera house no longer does opera, other than one children's performance.

"There used to be an opera company here in Stoughton," she said. "But there was too much competition from Madison, which is just 20 miles up the road. So we had to find our own niche."

More information: For ticket information and upcoming performance schedules, see stoughtonoperahouse.com or call (608) 877-4400. For ideas on other things to see and do in the area, see stoughtonwi.com.

Getting there: The Stoughton Opera House, 381 E. Main St., Stoughton is about 80 miles west of Milwaukee via I-94 and County Highway N.

Brian E. Clark is a Madison writer and photographer.
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Kenosha police are searching for a man accused in a domestic violence assault and abduction early Friday morning.

A neighbor called 911 about 4:30 a.m. Friday to report possible family trouble in the 1600 block of Birch Road, and when officers arrived they saw evidence of a struggle in the vacant apartment, according to a news release.

Surveillance video from the apartment complex showed Jeremy Tyrone Shorter, 33, forcefully removing a woman from the apartment, the release says.

Authorities believe the man fled with her in a silver 2006 Dodge Charger with Illinois license plates of 872 3106. Shorter is the father of two of the woman's children, Kenosha police said.

The woman was found in Oshkosh later Friday morning and was being treated for injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening, according to police.

Kenosha detectives are on their way to Oshkosh to interview the woman.

Anyone with information about Shorter's location is asked to call Kenosha detectives at (262) 605-5203.
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Wisconsin has the second widest gap in college degree attainment in the nation between African-Americans and white non-Hispanics  second only to West Virginia, according to a new report that grades states on how well they support public higher education.

Nationally, the rate for both African-American and Latinos earning postsecondary degrees generally has gone up, but the attainment rate for white adults has grown at a faster rate, causing the gap to increase, says the 2016 State Report Card from the Student Impact Project, an initiative of the Young Invincibles advocacy group that represents the interests of 18- to 34-year-olds.

Only 10 states saw the African-American college attainment gap narrow since 2007, before the recession.

The postsecondary degree attainment gap between African-Americans and white non-Hispanics in Wisconsin is 23 percentage points  22% of African-Americans are degree-holders, compared with 45% of white residents, according to the report.

While the gap in Wisconsin is less than in West Virginia by 1 percentage point, West Virginia actually has higher degree attainment for both African-Americans and whites: 24% and 48% respectively. Minnesota's gap is 20 percentage points: 27% African-American vs. 47% white college degree attainment.

Researchers graded each state on its support for public higher education by looking at metrics like tuition increases, the related financial burden on families and the availability of need-based financial aid.

One of the more interesting metrics in the report is "burden on families."

In Wisconsin, the family's share of public college costs is 48%. And tuition at four-year public universities equals 17% of Wisconsin's median income. Wyoming has the lowest family share of college cost  15%  and tuition at the four-year public schools is 8% of the state's median income.

Nineteen states, including Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, received an overall grade of F.

Wyoming was the only state to receive an A.

While Wisconsin's overall grade was a D+, it received an A- for "education as a state priority." Higher education expenditures made up 14% of total state expenditures in 2013, greater than the national average of 12%, the report said.

At the same time, Wisconsin received an F for state spending per student. Wisconsin spends an average $5,786 per student  although the amount varies widely among University of Wisconsin System campuses  well below the national average. Since the recession, spending per student in Wisconsin has dropped by 18%, the report said.

Three-quarters of all college students attend public institutions, according to U.S. News & World Report, but the Young Invincibles analysis showed that states cut per-student spending by an average of 21% between fiscal 2008 and 2014.

More than 95% of states in the United States have been spending less on their public higher education systems than they did before the Great Recession, the report found.

Only two states are spending as much as they did before the recession: Alaska and North Dakota.
The electrically powered Ehang 184 [Photo/ehang.com]

Chinese drone maker Ehang on Wednesday unveiled the world's first drone capable of carrying one passenger, which might help achieve the long-standing dream of automated short-to-medium-distance everyday flights.

The electrically powered Ehang 184, unveiled at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, can carry a single passenger weighing up to 100 kg for a 23-minute flight at sea level at a speed of 100 km per hour, the company said.

After setting a flight plan, passengers only need to send two commands: "take off" and "land," each controlled by a single click on an accompanying tablet, it said.

There's no need for a runway because the drone takes off and lands vertically.

"Due to the 184's fully automated navigation, made possible by Ehang's 24/7, real-time flight command center, passengers have no need for a pilot's license -- they simply sit back and let the drone take over from there," the Guangzhou-based company said in a statement.

"This first realization of automated flight signifies a major turning point not only for the transportation industry, but also for a huge swath of other fields such as shipping, medical care and retail," said the statement.

As to safety, Ehang said the drone has built in reinforcements for all flight systems, so that in the unlikely event that a component does fail, backups can seamlessly take over.

If there's damage during a flight, for example, from a bird, the drone will automatically determine whether it will need to land to ensure its passenger's safety. In the event of an emergency, passengers can also choose to halt flight and simply hover in the air with just one click.

In addition, while the drone is able to fly during thunderstorms and other extreme weather conditions, Ehang's real-time flight command center can prohibit it from taking off as a precaution.

Derrick Xiong, Ehang co-founder and chief marketing officer, told Xinhua that his company plans to sell the drone later this year at a price of $200,000 to $300,000 per unit, but acknowledged that it initially may be only used in designated places such as tourist areas.

"But in the end, we hope people can use it as a means of transport for short-to-medium-distance travel," he said.

Currently, there are no regulations that apply to such products because it represents an entirely new category of technology.

"We are in uncharted waters, and are working closely with government agencies across the planet to develop and regulate the future of transportation," Ehang said.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
Craig Griffie (center) helps Cory Tucker (left) put screws into a kiosk in for Brown Deer Park as Edward Fueling (right)watches during a shop class at Brown Deer High School. Credit: Rick Wood

SHARE James Peter (left) shows Tejhaun Palmer, a sophomore, how to glue boards together for various uses during a shop class at Brown Deer High School. Rick Wood Craig Griffie (left) helps Justin Jefferson, 17, staple roofing sheathing strips to a model of a framed house during a shop class at Brown Deer High School as Edward Fueling looks on. Rick Wood

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Brown Deer  Considering all the power tools, it's relatively quiet on the sprawling Brown Deer High School shop floor. Small crews of students  mostly boys, but a few girls  are stationed around the room, measuring pieces of wood, sawing, drilling.

Teachers Craig Griffie and James Peter move from post to post offering suggestions on technique or explaining the science behind a particular process.

Griffie and Peter arrived at Brown Deer on circuitous paths. College-educated with backgrounds in construction, they were brought in last school year under the state's emergency licensing procedure designed to help districts temporarily fill a critical vacancy.

Griffie has since received an "experience-based" license for technical education teachers approved by the Legislature as part of the 2015-'17 biennial budget, and Peter is awaiting his.

The state has issued 19 such licenses to date. Now school districts are asking lawmakers to expand that alternative to cover a host of other hard-to-fill vocational education subjects, from business and marketing to agriculture, child care and culinary arts.

Critics, including the state Department of Public Instruction, the state's largest teachers union and university schools of education have raised concerns, saying the measure will lower the bar on teacher standards and create an uneven licensing system across the state.

District officials point to the critical shortage of tech and vocational education teachers, saying they need the flexibility to lure experienced professionals to the classroom or discontinue popular courses that prepare young people for work or continued training at the state's technical colleges.

"Wisconsin has a job skills gap," said Emily Koczela, finance director for the Brown Deer School District who headed a consortium of districts that helped write the budget language and companion bills now pending before the state Senate and Assembly.

"If we can't get the teachers to get students into those jobs, then we've failed them," Koczela said.

Critics acknowledge that quandary but say what's needed is a comprehensive plan to address teacher shortages and not shortcuts to licensing.

"Effective teachers need a lot more than just the skills and knowledge of a specific subject area," Betsy Kippers, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, told lawmakers at a hearing on the bill before the Assembly's Education Committee last month.

The teacher shortage, she said, "is a broad-based systemic issue and we cannot continue to use Band-Aids to fix it."

The bills would allow professionals with relevant experience  though not necessarily a college degree or the extensive methodology taught in schools of education  to qualify for a vocational education license if they meet criteria spelled out in a point system and fulfill a curriculum designed by the hiring school district. The point system weighs heavily college degrees in math, technology, science or engineering, but it would not preclude someone without a degree from obtaining a license.

Proponents say it's designed to get candidates like Peter and Griffie: smart people with the skills and an aptitude for teaching, who may not be in a position  financial or otherwise  to return to school for a technical or voc-ed license, according to Koczela.

Peter has two history degrees from Marquette University and taught at a Catholic school in Sheboygan before deciding he could earn more money rehabbing homes and managing a big box home improvement store. Griffie graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in economics and spent three years training high school volunteers to do home repairs in Appalachia.

To come in under the state's traditional tech-ed license, the two said they would have had to enroll at UW-Stout, the state's primary tech-ed program, for 60 or more credits at cost of $15,000 or more.

The state Department of Public Instruction says it already has 11 alternative paths to licensure, including at least two less costly options for Peter and Griffie.

Both men had availed themselves of the state's emergency license, but those are for a limited time, and applicants must show progress toward a traditional license during that time.

"An emergency license works for someone who is close to getting all of their requirements," Koczela said. "But sometimes, it's too much to ask."

Shortage of specialists

Districts face similar issues trying to fill other voc-ed positions, according to school officials.

Few of the state's education schools even offer majors in such voc-ed specialties as agriculture, business and marketing, or family and consumer sciences, and those that do have seen enrollments decline.

Over the last three years, there were two to four times as many vacancies in voc-ed specialties as graduates available to fill them, according to data compiled for the consortium by Judy Mueller, human resources director for the Franklin School District.

At the same time, districts lose experienced vocational education teachers to the technical colleges and private sector, said Lisa Olson, superintendent of Hartford Union School District, about 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee.

"Two years ago, we had a business marketing instructor go to Kohl's Corp. And the same year a business and computer instructor left to go to Moraine Park Technical College," Olson said.

This year it lost two more teachers  one in agriculture and the other in family and consumer sciences  in August.

"We were luckily able to steal an ag teacher from a small rural district. They still haven't filled that vacancy. And I feel really bad about that," she said.

West Allis-West Milwaukee schools lost both its business and family and consumer sciences teachers this fall. It covered the consumer sciences class with substitutes, and just hired a new business teacher this month.

"For high school positions, we usually get 60 to 100 applicants in any subject area," said Kristen Gurtner, the district's director of human resources. "For business, we had three applicants, and only one was certified."

Proponents of the bill say midcareer professionals with current industry experience have as much or more to offer students than traditional teachers with no or outdated industry experience. And they say the vocational courses provide students important exposure to career options at a time when many students are graduating from traditional four-year colleges with limited job options and no discernible career path.

"I have a doctorate. I love education and learning," Hartford Union's Olson said. "But I'm also realistic. We all have different strengths ... and we want people to contribute to the economy any way they can."

Critics argue such programs duplicate what's already offered in technical colleges and may pigeonhole students too early, before they can be exposed to other career paths. And they say skill-based licensing ignores the importance of pedagogy  the method and practices of teaching  that is emphasized in traditional schools of education.

"A teacher should be well-rounded, someone who is there for the purpose of educating the whole child. And that means understanding how your curriculum fits into the curriculum of the school. And how that intersects with how you become a good citizen," said Brian McAlister, an associate dean who heads the technology education program at UW-Stout.

"These are children and some people are treating them like the are human capital that needs to be molded into something that industry needs. And I have a problem with that," he said. "We should be educating kids and not training them to fit into someone's economic model."

TEACHER

LICENSING

The Legislature approved experience-based licenses as part of the 2015-'17 budget. The state has issued 19 such licenses to date.

Now, school districts are asking lawmakers to expand that to cover other hard-to-fill vocational education subjects, from business and marketing to agriculture, child care and culinary arts.
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There will be a fourth candidate for Milwaukee County executive on the ballot in a Feb. 16 primary election.

The county Election Commission has accepted a corrected statement of economic interest that Joseph Thomas Klein initially submitted without a signature by the Tuesday deadline for candidates in the spring election to file nomination papers, Elections Director Julietta Henry said Friday.

Klein, a Milwaukee resident and member of The Wisconsin Pirate Party, signed the statement by the Friday deadline for candidates to correct documents, Henry said.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele is seeking re-election this spring. The other two challengers are state Sen. Chris Larson of Milwaukee and Steve Hogan of Franklin.
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A former Milwaukee man who allegedly traveled to Syria to fight alongside terrorist organizations there was arrested Thursday in Sacramento, Calif., and charged with lying about his involvement with the groups.

Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, is charged with making a false statement involving international terrorism, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Thursday.

According to the complaint:

Al-Jayab is a Palestinian born in Iraq who emigrated from Syria to the United States as a refugee in October 2012, residing in Tucson, Ariz., and Milwaukee.

While in Milwaukee in early November 2013, bank records indicate Al-Jayab received approximately $4,500 from an auto insurance settlement.

He then wrote to an individual identified in the complaint as "L" that he was at a shooting club and wanted to learn long-range shooting.

He also sent photos from a gun range in Wisconsin, as well as photos of himself with various weapons, according to the complaint.

On Nov. 8, 2013, he purchased an airline ticket in Chicago and flew to Istanbul, Turkey, before making his way to Syria, according to the complaint.

From November 2013 to January 2014, Al-Jayab allegedly reported on social media that he was in Syria fighting with various terrorist organizations, including Ansar al-Islam, a designated foreign terrorist organization since 2004.

He returned to the United States on Jan. 23, 2014, and settled in Sacramento, according to the complaint, which also alleges Al-Jayab lied to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services when asked about any involvement in terrorist activity.

He told authorities that he had traveled to Turkey to visit his grandmother, according to the complaint.

Benjamin Wagner, the U.S. attorney of the Eastern District of California, said although Al-Jayab "represented a potential safety threat, there is no indication that he planned any acts of terrorism in this country."

Al-Jayab's arrest came on the same day federal authorities unsealed an indictment of a Houston resident and Iraqi refugee on charges of attempting to support the Islamic State.

But it was not immediately clear how the cases were linked, if at all.

In addition, FBI agents arrested three people in Milwaukee on Thursday, but the charges were not related to terrorism, said Leonard Peace, a spokesman for the FBI's Milwaukee office.

He added "there was no threat to the public."

Peace said the three individuals are expected to appear in court Friday, but he declined to provide other details.

Ahmed Quereshi, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, said its imams and leaders are not familiar with Al-Jayab but said he was reaching out to other mosques to see if he was on their radar.

Very few of the Iraqi refugee community participate at the Islamic Society, he said.

If convicted, Al-Jayab faces a maximum statutory penalty of eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office of the Eastern District of California.

Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Demond Means, the superintendent of the Mequon-Thiensville School District, is seen at his alma mater, Riverside University High School on E. Locust St. in Milwaukee in November. Means was named to lead a state-mandated turnaround district aimed at improving Milwaukees poorest-performing schools. Credit: Mike De Sisti

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Who is fighting for poor children in Milwaukee to have a better education and brighter future? These kids, who, through no fault of their own, often live in broken homes and dangerous neighborhoods, grow up with the odds stacked against them.

With time running out to save them, the Milwaukee Public Schools system is in a state of emergency. Four out of every 10 children at MPS attend a school that is failing, according to metrics developed by the state Department of Public Instruction. Only 60% of children graduate from high school. Thousands of kids choose the streets over the classroom.

This is a crisis. Put simply, Milwaukee needs more high-quality schools, regardless of whether they are private, public charter or traditional MPS.

But too many times, Milwaukee politicians act as if the most important priority is to defend the jobs and prerogatives of those who work for Milwaukee Public Schools.

This is why last spring, due to the leadership from state Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield), the Legislature passed two laws to help create more high performing schools. The commissioner of a newly created Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program (OSPP) must take over one to three failing MPS schools this year, an additional one to three next year, and no more than five schools each year after that. Most significantly, the commissioner can partner with independent charter and private schools to run any of the 55 failing MPS schools.

An additional law allows charter and private schools to finally purchase the many vacant and underutilized MPS school buildings.

However, as we move into the new year, it is difficult to forecast the success of these reforms.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele appointed Demond Means as OSPP commissioner. Means has tools that could greatly benefit the community. Yet, upon his appointment, Means immediately proclaimed that he will not do what the law requires him to do, saying that "he has no intention of taking control of any of MPS' struggling schools." Instead, he will work with the MPS School Board to "help them achieve their goals."

Come again?

The law was passed because, as Darling put it, "(MPS has) blocked reforms over the years, instead protecting teachers or the status quo." Bold reform is not simply advocating for business as usual by helping the same people at MPS do more of the same thing.

Of course not every charter or private school is successful, though studies show many successes. And not all MPS schools are failing. But, that's not the point. We must be open to expanding the best schools without regard to who runs them.

Yet, Milwaukee politicians, led by the unions, are more interested in protecting entrenched interests.

Consider MPS' empty school buildings. MPS is still hanging on to at least 17 empty facilities, costing taxpayers over $1.6 million since 2012 to maintain. An additional 27 buildings are operating at or below 60% of capacity. High-performing private and charter schools have offered millions to purchase these buildings, only to be rejected by the MPS board.

A new state law was supposed to finally fix this problem by giving private and charter schools a chance to purchase the vacant buildings.

Unfortunately, the leadership at MPS is trying to use the law to reobtain all of their empty buildings, even though they have been unused for an average of nearly seven years. If it cannot keep the vacant buildings, MPS is working hard to make sure no one else can purchase them by claiming that there is a purpose for their emptiness.

For example, a private school in the Parental Choice Program recently submitted a letter of intent to purchase Fletcher Elementary School, which has been closed since 2010. But MPS says that Fletcher School cannot be sold because it is being used for "staging and support" with plans to eventually, maybe, become an "MPS engagement center" (odd uses for a building full of classrooms).

In fairness, MPS has unloosed its grip a few times, by approving the Milwaukee Excellence Charter School and working with Carmen School of Science & Technology. But, given the state of affairs and the high stakes involved, these are few and far between.

Milwaukee needs to embrace bold ideas and courageous leaders in order to turnaround its struggling school system. That is the only way to fix the issues of racial inequality and poverty that plague our city.

C.J. Szafir is the vice president for policy and deputy counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a law and policy center based in Milwaukee.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sits at the steering wheel of his automobile at Warm Springs, Ga., April 4, 1939. Columnist Jonah Goldberg argues that FDR, like President Barack Obama and Donald Trump, had little regard for the Constitution. Credit: Journal Sentinel files

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There has been a lot of talk  almost all of it accurate  about how Barack Obama's presidency has fueled the rise of Donald Trump.

The president's fans hate this talk, for understandable reasons. They see the president as dignified and cerebral. They see Trump as crude and bigoted, a "short-fingered vulgarian," as Graydon Carter famously put it.

The argument that Obama paved the way for Trump takes many forms. He "lowered the bar" for presidential qualifications, argues Peggy Noonan. Trump's Don Rickles act, writes Michael Barone, reflects "the coarseness of Obama's non-stop insults of Republicans and anyone who does not share his views and priorities."

"It is no accident that President Obama's America has given rise to Donald Trump," writes Ben Domenech, publisher of The Federalist. "It is an America that is more tribalist, where people feel more racially and religiously divided; more politically correct, where people feel less free to speak their minds; and it is an America where trust in the nation's elites, whose skills are credentialed but unproven, are at historic lows."

My colleague (my euphemism for "boss") at National Review, Rich Lowry, recently argued that Obama's contempt for the law and the Constitution also is partly to blame for Trump's appeal and sparked a new "post-constitutional" moment on the right.

For much of the Obama presidency, conservatives seemed to have intensified their reverence for the rule of law and the Constitution. But what did it get them? Obama went and did what he wanted to do anyway. He vowed to use his pen and phone like a ball and scepter.

"Middle-class families can't wait for Republicans in Congress to do stuff," Obama told a crowd last year. "So sue me." He was referring to a lawsuit launched by then-Speaker John Boehner over the Obama administration's nakedly lawless chicanery implementing Obamacare. A few days later, the president demanded, "Really? Really? For what? You're going to sue me for doing my job?"

The problem: Obama the constitutional lawyer hasn't read his job description; it says the president should "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Obama doesn't really care. He sees his job as doing the things he wants to do and being the sort of president his biggest fans want him to be. That's why over the holidays, he reportedly ordered his lawyers to "scrub" the laws to find ways he can take new unilateral action against gun ownership.

Well, two can play at that game.

Enter Trump, via his fabulous escalator. The GOP front-runner isn't openly contemptuous of the Constitution; it just doesn't enter his thinking very much. If he believes something is worth doing, he says he will do it. He makes little effort to explain how he will get Congress to agree, never mind write the laws the president is supposed to faithfully execute. And that's the way Trump's fans like it.

We've seen this sort of thing before. "I want to assure you," Franklin Roosevelt aide Harry Hopkins told New Dealers in New York, "that we are not afraid of exploring anything within the law, and we have a lawyer who will declare anything you want to do legal." When the Supreme Court continued to stand in his way, FDR tried to pack it with pliable hacks.

Trump already has spoken fondly of Roosevelt's internment of Japanese Americans (which was constitutional according to the court at the time. Eight of the nine justices had been appointed by FDR. The one Republican appointee was among three dissenters.) It seems a sure bet that a President Trump would follow FDR's  and Obama's  example in doing whatever he could get away with.

If Obama didn't inspire so much partisan loyalty from fellow Democrats (and the news media), it might have occurred to them that he  and Senate Democratic leader Harry "nuclear option" Reid  was laying down precedents that the next president would use and abuse.

Jonah Goldberg is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior editor of National Review. Email goldbergcolumn@gmail.com Twitter: @JonahNRO
One of about 25 Indian mounds at Lizard Mound County Park near West Bend. Under proposed legislation, property owners could excavate and possibly develop some of the surviving Indian mounds of Wisconsin. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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The state Legislature is moving quickly on a slew of bills designed to advance the rights of property owners at the expense of local governments, community interests, the environment and potentially pieces of the state's history, including its Native American heritage. Hearings were held this week in hopes of pushing through this agenda before the current session ends.

Legislators need to slow down, and make sure that each of these bills is in the public interest. Our support of property rights is second to none  after all, we are property owners  and we agree that there can be too much red tape when it comes to developing private property.

But we also believe that the common interest and public health should on occasion trump property rights, and that officials need to find the proper balance between those interests to avoid serious negative consequences. We also believe excessive red tape can be trimmed locally, without bills imposed by the Legislature on a statewide basis.

Among the bills are measures that:

Could allow property owners to excavate and possibly develop some of the surviving Indian mounds of Wisconsin  many dating back more than a millennium. The result could be the desecration of sites significant to the state's tribes and the state's history. How can anyone think that's a good idea?

Prohibit municipalities from designating properties as historic landmarks without the consent of their owners. But there already are avenues for property owners and local officials to work together to mitigate any issues, and this measure simply puts too much power in the hands of property owners at the expense of a community's heritage. Supporters of the bill say they're willing to consider changes for a better balance. Those changes need to be made.

Rewrite regulations dealing with waterways and land around them. Supporters of the changes in the Republican-backed bill say that protections for wetlands and other affected properties will remain, but landowners will have more flexibility to dig up soil in these sensitive areas. But environmental groups say the measure goes too far. They say it would allow the removal of up to 30 cubic yards, equivalent to 10 dump trucks, of soil annually.

Codify a past court decision by stating that in cases where an ordinance is challenged and found to be unclear, the court ruling should favor the rights of the property owner. The bill also would lock into place local permit rules for a development proposal once a permit application has been filed at either the state or local level. That means local governments would be barred from rewriting their rules to affect the outcome of a given project, even if it was only being considered by state officials and not yet formally before the local officials  once again, limiting local control.

All of this is moving much too fast with insufficient discussion of bills that could have far-reaching ramifications. There is no urgency for these bills; no emergency that they are addressing. Slow down and find a way to respect property rights while maintaining local control and serving the public interest.
By of the

Nearly 1,900 emails and letters have poured in from around the state, from Clintonville and Chippewa Falls to Cedarburg and Madison.

Hundreds of Wisconsinites have written to state officials in recent days to oppose limits on citizen access to public records. The emails were posted to a state website in advance of a Monday meeting, where the board that oversees state public records is set to revisit the requirements for holding on to some documents.

The 1,876 written comments came in from a host of communities, with former local officials writing in alongside the leaders of prominent groups, the editors of small weekly newspapers and citizens ranging from a professor of dance to a property appraiser and a president of a small manufacturer. The number might have been larger  a few citizens told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that their emails had bounced back.

A random review of more than 100 of the submitted emails found that every one of them criticized the board's previous action, often pairing those comments with a call for rescinding that earlier vote.

Running through these letters like a livid red thread was the writers' outrage and weariness over the repeated attempts by state officials in 2015 to curtail access to open records.

"If you or any other person who claims office, by appointment, election or employment, do not agree that democracy requires open government, you have no business holding the position," wrote Julia O'Connor of Milwaukee. "We should not have to petition you to do your job ethically or properly."

The Public Records Board quietly voted in August to change the definition of transitory records, or records deemed to have only temporary significance. But in December they backtracked after an outcry from open government advocates. The change has since drawn criticism from conservative and liberal groups alike, including the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

Now ordinary citizens are joining in. A Pewaukee couple said they have served as local and school board officials, and always understood the public had a right to know what they were doing.

"Although there were times we had to make difficult decisions, it never crossed our minds that the process should be done in secret," Leon and Carole Burzynski wrote.

Gordon Lipsky of West Allis raised concerns about government openness and transparency, noting that out of all the state's many agencies and offices, the Public Records Board should be particularly sensitive to input from citizens.

Paul Seeling, the publisher of two weekly newspapers in St. Croix County, likewise called for changes, saying the board's August vote has already had "significant, unintended, adverse consequences for open government."

And a conservative group said the change opened the door to abuses.

"Allowing government officials to subjectively determine whether a particular government record can be destroyed is an invitation to abuse," wrote Thomas Kamenick, deputy counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. "...Giving officials such discretion robs the sovereign people of their right to oversee government action."

People will also get the chance to speak at Monday's meeting, which will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Risser Justice Center near the state Capitol in Madison. Each individual's comments, however, will be limited to 1 minute.

The board's previous vote, which expanded the definition of transitory records, was on Aug. 24.

One day later, a spokesman for Gov. Scott Walker's administration said it didn't have text messages requested by a newspaper, and added that officials do not have to retain such "transitory" messages.

Open records attorneys and advocates have accused the Public Records Board of violating Wisconsin's open meetings law with its notice for that August meeting, which did not specifically mention the transitory records issue, and with its minutes, which failed to provide details of the board's action. They also raised questions about whether the board had overstepped its authority.

The action by the board could limit the access of citizens and media outlets to information from texts, emails, Facebook messages and other electronic methods that public employees might use to communicate about official actions.

The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council filed a verified complaint on Dec. 14 with the Dane County district attorney against the state board, alleging open meetings law violations.

Cullen Werwie, who was then a spokesman for the Walker administration, disagreed that an open meetings violation had occurred, but he and the governor both indicated changes would be made.

The head of the board initially said the move to cut back on requirements for maintaining some records was not significant enough to warrant advance public notice. But just a few days after the open meetings violation complaint was filed, Matthew Blessing, chairman of the state Public Records Board, said it would re-evaluate the matter in hopes of avoiding an expensive court battle.

That's the point of Monday's meeting.

Before the board's August vote about, transitory records were described as "correspondence and other related records of short-term interest which have no documentary or evidentiary value." The new definition expanded that description to include "emails to schedule or confirm meetings or events, committee agendas and minutes received by members on a distribution list, interim files, tracking and control files, recordings used for training purposes and ad hoc reports for individual use."

The recent battle over open records in Wisconsin is just the latest fight to erupt around the country over public access to government officials' texts and other electronic messages.

It's also the last in a string of actions taken in Wisconsin over the past year aimed at limiting open records.

In July, just before Independence Day weekend, Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee unexpectedly amended the state budget to put sweeping limits on open records. Under withering criticism from both Democrats and other Republicans, GOP leaders quickly retreated, saying they would instead appoint a study committee to consider how to treat the matter.

The governor's office has withheld some records that include internal deliberations, saying that releasing them could inhibit the free exchange of ideas within his administration. State law doesn't specifically recognize that as a reason for withholding records.

Walker has said that text messages from government officials should be public records and has pointed out that his office has released some texts to media outlets such as the Journal Sentinel. But in an interview Thursday Walker stuck to his administration's refusal to turn over records showing internal deliberations.

"It's something where I'm brainstorming and talking to some of my staff about that. That's not the same as...if you do that you might as well stop all creative thinking, because nobody's gonna put on paper any ideas that they have," Walker told WKOW-TV. "So to me that's a big difference between...the purpose of open records is to find out who may or may not be influencing people."

The GOP-controlled Legislature also recently passed legislation removing the requirement that campaign donors disclose where they work, making it harder for the public to know when the executives of companies are investing heavily in certain politicians.

As with other recent efforts to citizen access to records, the public has been vocally opposed to the move to limit transitory records.

"The people's right to know is not 'transitory,' " Sheila Plotkin wrote. "'Exemptions' from transparency are unacceptable in a democracy."
Walnut Way steps into We Energies rate case as voice of low-income gas, electric customers

Advocates say the pain of a large utility rate increase will fall hardest on low-income residents who are already struggling to make ends meet.
Three linked to terror suspect charged with trafficking stolen goods

Editor's note: This story originally posted Jan. 6, 2016.

Three men related to a terrorism suspect are themselves facing criminal charges of trafficking stolen electronics, according to court documents unsealed in federal court Friday in Milwaukee.

Even as details of the terrorism and stolen goods cases unfold, it remains unclear what, if any, connection there is between the man alleged to have gone to Syria to fight alongside terrorists and a notorious cigarette store in Milwaukee, known for drug trafficking and sales of stolen iPhones.

In separate cases, four men  three brothers and their cousin  were arrested this week, two in Milwaukee and two in Sacramento, Calif.

In the Milwaukee case, Younis Mohammed Al-Jayab, Samer Mohammed Al-Jayab and Ahmed Waleed Mahmood are charged with conspiracy, interstate transportation of stolen goods and other counts.

Younis Mohammed Al-Jayab, 24, and Mahmood, 22, appeared Friday before U.S. Magistrate David Jones. Jones ordered the men released with electronic monitoring.

Samer Mohammed Al-Jayab was arrested in Sacramento, and prosecutors will seek to have him returned to Milwaukee.

In the Sacramento case, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, a 23-year-old Iraqi refugee who once lived in Milwaukee, is charged with lying as part of a terrorism investigation. He traveled to Syria to fight alongside terrorist groups, a trip he planned while living in Milwaukee in 2013, court documents say.

It's unclear what connection there is between the cases filed in Milwaukee and Sacramento, besides the defendants being related. Officials said the Milwaukee stolen goods charges are not terrorism related.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Kanter, who is prosecuting the stolen goods case, declined to say Friday if one case arose out of the other.

The stolen goods investigation started in May 2014 when an informant told the FBI that Younis Mohammed Al-Jayab was buying stolen merchandise and selling it overseas.

At the time, Younis Mohammed Al-Jayab was working at the 27th St. Tobacco store, which more recently has been the target of a nuisance action by the city of Milwaukee, according to the complaint.

Over roughly six months, undercover FBI agents sold Younis Mohammed Al-Jayab, Samer Mohammed Al-Jayab and Mahmood 32 new Apple iPhones, a laptop and a television, together valued at $21,500, the complaint says. Some of the items were shipped overseas, to Romania and Cyprus, it says.

The city moved in September to close 27th St. Tobacco, saying it functions as a "safe haven" for illegal drug sales and should be declared a public nuisance.

A lawsuit claims Milwaukee police have been called to 27th St. Tobacco, at 848 N. 27th St., 140 times in 2015, and more than 400 times since January 2013 for "drug activity, firearms, loitering, suspicious activity, theft and physical altercations."

Hazim Farrah and his son Midhat Farrah own the business. Brian Kinstler, an attorney for Midhat Farrah, said the men facing federal charges may be related to the store's previous owner but were not employed by the Farrahs since they took over.

According to the city's civil suit, Hazim Farrah told police he often bought Apple electronics, TVs and other items for resale from people who came in off the street, without receipts and without paying tax. He said many people enter the store trying to sell guns, and that he bought a shotgun from one of them for $400.

After an October hearing, a judge declared 27th St. Tobacco a nuisance but imposed only a very limited temporary injunction  that no illegal drug sales take place there. Another hearing is set for Feb. 1.

Terrorism Case

According to the terrorism criminal complaint filed in Sacramento, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab is a Palestinian born in Iraq who emigrated from Syria to the United States as a refugee in October 2012, residing in Tucson, Ariz., and Milwaukee.

It's unclear from the complaint when Al-Jayab moved to Milwaukee, however social media posts indicate he was in the area by 2013.

In April of that year, Al-Jayab wrote of his desire to go to Syria to fight.

"America will not isolate me from my Islamic duty," he wrote. "Only death will do us part."

In June 2013, he wrote to an individual identified in the complaint as "L" that he was at a shooting club in Wisconsin and wanted to "learn long-range shooting."

He also sent photos from the gun range, as well as photos of himself with various weapons, according to the complaint.

In early November 2013, Al-Jayab was in Milwaukee and bank records indicate he received approximately $4,500 from an auto insurance settlement. No other details were provided.

On Nov. 7, 2013, Al-Jayab wrote to someone identified as "Individual N," saying "Haji, I managed to get money and everything. I do not want money from you, just find me a way, I beg you. Make arrangements for me, my Sheikh ... I will be going to turkey and it is very important that you provide me with a telephone number."

The next day, Al-Jayab purchased an airline ticket in Chicago and flew to Istanbul, Turkey, before making his way to Syria, according to the complaint.

From November 2013 to January 2014, Al-Jayab reported on social media that he was in Syria fighting with various terrorist organizations, including Ansar al-Islam, a designated foreign terrorist organization since 2004, according to the complaint.

He returned to the United States on Jan. 23, 2014, and settled in Sacramento, according to the complaint.

Al-Jayab's arrest came on the same day federal authorities unsealed an indictment of a Houston resident and Iraqi refugee on charges of attempting to support the Islamic State. It was not immediately clear if the cases were linked.

The arrests in Houston and Sacramento are likely to inflame the ongoing national debate about immigration and whether the U.S. system for vetting refugees is stringent enough to weed out would-be terrorists or terror sympathizers.

Washington University law professor and former Homeland Security official Stephen Legomsky believes it is.

"The risk can never be zero, but the risk of admitting dangerous individuals is small given how thorough the process is," said Legomsky, who served as chief council of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Obama administration.

On Friday, Gov. Scott Walker said the terrorism-related arrests vindicate his stance against Syrian refugees.

Walker tweeted Friday, asking if people still wonder why he raised concerns about ensuring that Syrian refugees coming into Wisconsin are safe. He included a link to a story about the arrests.

If convicted on the terrorism charge, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab faces a maximum statutory penalty of eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The penalties for the three on the stolen goods counts is five years in prison.

Annysa Johnson, Bruce Vielmetti and Cary Spivak of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Together with her fellow villagers, Deng Yingxiang used hammers and shovels to cut through a mountain, carving a path from her isolated village to the outside world.

Mahuai Village, in southwest Chinas Guizhou Province, is surrounded by mountains. Villagers have been living in poverty for generations. The nearest road is only a few hundred meters away as the crow flies, but it used to take over two hours to get there.

Born in a neighboring village, Deng married a man from Mahuai in 1990. On her wedding day, the 18-year-old had to climb over the mountains to get to her husbands home. On her first night in the village, she was impressed by the darkness. There was no electricity and even the moonlight was blocked by the mountains, she recalled.

Villagers would get up around 4am to take their vegetables to market but it took so long to get there that their produce was past its best by the time they arrived.

To build a new home, villagers had to carry construction materials on their backs, one basket at a time.

Children suffered the most. The nearest primary school was a two-hour trek over the mountains.

Change was in the air in 1999 when the village was earmarked for connection to the national power grid, but the mountains got in the way as usual.

When villagers started to look for easier ways across, a small cave was discovered and they decided to embark on a painstaking endeavor to transform the cave into a tunnel

It was narrow, and we had to kneel down or even lie on our stomachs to cut the stones, Deng said. After cutting for a while, we would sit on the ground and pass the stones and sludge out.

One night in 2001, Deng suddenly heard shouting from the cave: Were through! Were through!

The 200 meter passage shortened the journey to the road from two hours to 15 minutes and work to connect the village to the grid could begin.

Easier access to the outside world opened the villagers eyes. Many left for jobs in the cities. In 2006, Deng walked through the tunnel to find a job in a shoe factory.

In 2010, she went back home for her daughters wedding. It was raining and her daughter, in a white wedding dress, had to walk through the passage knee-deep in dirty water.

The path was still too narrow, so I decided that we should widen it into a tunnel which can allow the passage of cars, Deng said. She started the project by herself with hammers and chisels, but more and more villagers joined her.

With money, cement and explosives from the government, we worked day and night, she said. By the summer of 2011, the job was done.

Since then, development has been rapid. Roads were laid in the village and over 80 percent of residents have moved into new houses. Some have bought farm vehicles and cars.

Deng, now head of the village, has been leading the villagers to plant medicinal herbs. Leaving the village is not the ultimate solution to poverty. The village cannot become rich without a pillar industry so we are trying to develop specialty agriculture, she said.

Reliable transport is a powerful support for agricultural development, she added.
A wolf picks through the remains of a moose on Isle Royale National Park in Michigan in 2009. Credit: Photo courtesy Rolf Peterson / MCT

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By of the

Wildlife researchers who spent the winter on an island in Lake Superior report that Isle Royale's moose population is booming while wolf numbers remain near an all-time low.

Moose have roughly doubled in the past three years, Michigan Technological University biologists Rolf Peterson and John Vucetich said in a blog post.

The two spend seven weeks every winter on the 45-mile-long island monitoring wolves and moose  both by foot and by air  in one of world's longest continuous studies of predator-prey relationships.

That relationship has tipped clearly in favor of moose, whose population the biologists said has been increasing at an annual rate of more than 20% in each of the past three years.

The latest population figures and a host of other data will be released probably next week, Peterson said. A year ago in their last report, Peterson and Vucetich counted 975 moose from their winter observations.

That means moose numbers in the latest count could rise above 1,100.

The picture, however, is far different for wolves. The population now stands at nine. The lowest number recorded since research began in the 1950s was the eight that were counted last winter.

The declining population has sparked a debate about human intervention: Should wolves be imported to the island to boost the genetic pool?

Elk have been reintroduced to northwestern Wisconsin, and turkeys and whooping cranes were brought back to the state.

Isle Royale is different because, as an island, it is virtually a closed ecosystem.

In Wisconsin, the results of reintroduction efforts have been mixed: Turkeys have flourished while elk and whooping cranes have struggled.

Peterson and Vucetich favor a genetic rescue, and the National Park Service, which manages the island, is studying the issue.

This winter was marked by prolonged cold  the average minimum temperature was below zero on 33 of 48 days, the scientists reported.

The cold and record ice cover in the Great Lakes raised the possibility wolves from the mainland would venture onto the island.

That has happened in the past but has been less common in recent decades.

An over-the-ice migration last occurred in 1997 when a male, known as Old Gray Guy, walked across and provided the island's wolves with a genetic shot in the arm. Numbers rose, and so did the wolves' efficiency in killing moose.

But instead of new arrivals this winter, a 5-year-old female, Isabelle, who had never found a mate, wandered over the pack ice and was found dead on Feb. 8 on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation in northeastern Minnesota.

A necropsy revealed the wolf had been killed by a pellet, fired from a low-power pellet gun, that hit her between two ribs and severed an artery.

An investigation by the park service and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources found no violation of wildlife laws.

Now with so few wolves, the biologists say those remaining suffer from a lack of genetic diversity and a growing inability to hunt.

Only six moose were killed over a 47-day period this winter, the biologists reported.

"All told this amounted to an estimated predation rate of only about 2%...," Peterson and Vucetich wrote. "This was the third year in a row that wolf predation has been so low, almost absent."

While the biologists are at a loss to explain it, the declining genetic vigor has "reduced the ability of wolves on Isle Royale to effectively kill moose."

JSOnline.com

To see a photo gallery, go to jsonline.com/photos.
Michael Belleau, 72, was convicted more than 20 years before Wisconsin passed a 2006 law requiring that child sex offenders discharged from civil commitment under the states Chapter 980 remain under 24-hour electronic monitoring forever, and pay for it. Credit: Wisconsin Department of Corrections

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Wisconsin tried Friday to persuade a federal appeals court to reverse a judge's decision that lifetime GPS monitoring of some sex offenders violates the constitution.

Michael Belleau, 72, was convicted before Wisconsin passed a 2006 law requiring that child sex offenders discharged from civil commitment remain under 24-hour electronic monitoring forever, and pay for it.

In 2012, two years after Department of Corrections officials affixed an ankle bracelet on him after his discharge from civil commitment, Belleau sued the department, claiming the practice amounted to retroactive punishment and unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant.

In September, Chief U.S. District Judge William Griesbach agreed and granted summary judgment to Belleau, who the judge said had served his sentences and couldn't be punished further just because the state now thinks the original sentence was too lenient.

"Nor may the state force Belleau to wear a GPS tracking device around his ankle so that it can record his movement minute-by-minute for the rest of his life because it believes he might commit another crime in the future," Griesbach wrote. "The state's authority over the individual is not unlimited."

The state argues that GPS monitoring is merely regulatory, not punitive, and doesn't limit where Belleau can go, like someone on probation. It also argues it's not an illegal retroactive law because it was triggered by Belleau's discharge from civil commitment in 2010, not his earlier convictions.

Arguing the case before the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago on Friday were Assistant Attorney General Anthony Russomanno for the state and Larry Dupuis of the ACLU for Belleau.

According to Dupuis' brief, the Department of Corrections monitors about 200 other offenders like Belleau who have completed their sentences.

2006 law

Under the 2006 Wisconsin law, a sex offender who completes a prison term can apply to terminate GPS monitoring after 20 years. But those whose prison terms are followed by civil commitment under the state's Chapter 980 law, and who are later discharged after treatment, can never escape the bracelet.

Belleau was convicted in 1992 for repeatedly molesting a boy starting in 1987, when the victim was 8. While on probation for that offense, he was convicted of assaulting a 9-year-old girl in 1988 and sentenced in 1994 to 10 years in prison, then paroled in 2000.

The parole was revoked in 2001 after Belleau had contact with two young girls and admitted he would likely have molested them if he'd had an opportunity. He was returned to prison.

At the end of his sentence in 2005, he was committed under Chapter 980. A year later, the Legislature passed the law requiring lifetime GPS monitoring.

In 2010, state doctors found Belleau was no longer more likely than not to reoffend and a Brown County judge discharged him from the civil commitment. Shortly after he was released, corrections agents found Belleau at a bus station, brought him in and installed the GPS ankle bracelet.

Belleau's lawsuit

According to his lawsuit, the GPS unit is uncomfortable and obtrusive and leaves the impression to anyone who sees it that Belleau is dangerous. Every night, corrections officials download a map that plots everywhere Belleau has been that day and maintain the data indefinitely.

For at least an hour a day, he must remain in one place while the device is charged via a cord plugged into an outlet and must allow technicians to work on the device for repairs and battery replacement.

If he were to remove it, he would be charged with a felony. He is billed $50 a month toward the cost of the monitoring, but the state says he has never paid.

The state admits the GPS monitoring constitutes a warrantless search, but argues it is a not unreasonable but rather "directed at mitigating risks from an especially worrisome subset of sex offenders."

Griesbach found that while the Legislature may not have intended the law to be punitive, it clearly has punitive effect.

"To accept the argument that the unquestionably good end of preventing despicable crimes against children justifies the state imposing such restraint upon those it thinks more likely to commit such crimes in the future has dangerous implications for the liberty of all," he wrote.
A new campaign finance law allows corporations  for the first time  to give as much as $12,000 a year to state political parties and campaign committees controlled by legislative leaders.

But the measure has one glaring omission:

It does not require Democrat or Republican party officials to disclose anything about the corporate cash, including where they get it or how they spend it, according to state election officials.

Everybody will now have to trust the political pros to do the right thing. The new law took effect last week.

"The advice we're giving (to the political parties) is that the statutes do not currently require registration and reporting of these corporate donations, though the Board and the Legislature could review that in the future," said Reid Magney, spokesman for the state Government Accountability Board.

"Thus, there is no way to track them in CFIS unless a party chooses to disclose them (voluntarily)," Magney added. CFIS refers to the Campaign Finance Information System, the state's online database of election spending.

Officials with the state's two major political parties would not say this week if they plan to make public this information on their own. Both issued statements saying they would simply follow the law.

What's not clear is whether GOP lawmakers  who drafted and passed the bill  intentionally left out the public disclosure requirement. Were they, in short, guilty of being sloppy or secretive?

Either way, Matt Rothschild of the liberal Wisconsin Democracy Campaign said Republicans should address the issue immediately, calling the omission "outrageous."

"We need transparency  we need openness," said Rothschild, whose group opposed the campaign finance law. "We're already drowning in a sea of dark money."

No need to worry, said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who led the fight for the new law.

Last year, Vos argued that the measure would increase transparency by encouraging corporations to give to political parties instead of third-party groups, which have limited disclosure requirements.

The Rochester Republican said Thursday that he had no idea that the new state law could add a new layer of secrecy to the campaign system.

"That was clearly not our intent," Vos said.

He said he would go to work on a bill to correct the oversight. In the meantime, he said, his legislative committee, the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, will disclose any corporate donations, even if the parties don't. He urged other legislative campaign committees to do the same.

This disclosure loophole comes at a time when Vos and other top Republicans are under fire for encouraging greater secrecy on public records.

In July, Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee slipped a provision in the state budget bill to limit what records lawmakers would have to release to the public about their work. After coming under sharp criticism from the left and the right, GOP lawmakers quickly retreated.

But then an aide to Vos sought a new bill to give the Legislature and individual lawmakers a different status on open records from other government bodies and officials in Wisconsin. The Assembly speaker backed off when this came to light in September.

In addition, an obscure state body, the Public Records Board, quietly voted last year to change the definition of transitory records, or records deemed to have only temporary significance, but recently backtracked after an outcry from open government advocates.

The board will meet Monday to revisit the issue.

Problems with the new campaign finance law first came to light at the December board meeting of GAB.

Staff members urged the board to impose registration and reporting requirements on political parties and legislative campaign committees because the new law failed to do this for corporate donations.

Until now, corporations, Indian tribes and labor unions had been barred from making contributions to Wisconsin candidates or political parties. But the new law says they can give to segregated funds created by the parties or legislative committees, all of which are barred from transferring the money directly to candidates.

Originally, the Assembly's bill put no cap on the corporate donations, but the Senate limited the sum to $12,000 a year. A compromise bill adopted the Senate language. Gov. Scott Walkersigned the bill last month.

"In order to ensure that the segregated funds are not receiving more than $12,000 per calendar year from the restricted entities, and to ensure the segregated funds do not contribute to candidates or spend on express advocacy, both receipts and expenses must be reported and tracked," said the staff memo to the accountability board members. "This should include cash balance reporting, similar to committee reports."

But the board, which is being dismantled by lawmakers, decided last month to take no action to fix the problem.

Now it appears that there won't be public disclosure of this money without a change in the law.

Asked this week if his party would voluntarily disclose corporate donations, Brandon Weathersby, spokesman for the state Democratic Party, issued a vague statement:

"The Democratic Party is continuing to work with attorneys to determine the full effects of the new law. Of course, we plan to comply fully with all state reporting laws."

Pat Garrett, spokesman for the Republican Party, offered a similar response.

"The Republican Party of Wisconsin is currently reviewing the recent changes to campaign finance regulations," Garrett said, "and, as always, will continue to operate in compliance with the law."

Not much of an answer from either party. Once again, the public is kept in the dark.

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.
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Maan News Agency |  

BETHLEHEM (Maan)  Greek Aegean airlines on Wednesday apologized to PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat for the forced removal of two Palestinians from a flight.

CEO of the Greek airline, Dimitris Gerogiannis, sent a letter to Erekat expressing the airlines greatest regret after a group of Jewish Israelis reportedly pressured cabin crew earlier this week to force the Palestinians on board to disembark.

According to Israeli media reports, the group said the two Palestinians  both citizens of Israel  constituted a security risk and prevented the flight from taking off until the two were removed from the aircraft.

The PLO Secretary-General in response expressed outrage at the discrimination and prejudice at the hands of the Aegean cabin crew.

We call upon the Greek government to take strong action against this racist act, Erekat said following the incident, adding that the move was reminiscent of apartheid-era South Africa, which is not different than the policies carried out by the Israeli government against Palestinians under the pretext of security.

Aegean CEO in reply to Erekats statement acknowledged that there was unwarranted and indeed unfair continued reaction by a large group of passengers.

Gerogiannis letter concluded: Again we regret the whole event, once which is quite unprecedented in our experience despite flying for many years to the Middle East.



Related video added by Juan Cole:

2 Arab Israelis booted from Greek plane after Jewish passengers cry terrorists
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

France24 Arabic reports that the Syrian government agreed Thursday to allow humanitarian aid into Madaya and two other besieged towns near the Lebanese border northwest of Damascus. The step was praised by the United Nations.

The siege of Madaya, pop 40,000, has been going on for two years. It and Zabadani are Sunni Arab population areas that joined the rebellion against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. However, as the struggle turned into civil war, the fighters were radicalized. The towns became divided into quarters, some of which supported the Nusra Front (Syrian al-Qaeda) while others supported the Syrian Freemen (Ahrar al-Sham). The two hard line Salafi jihadi groups have a visceral hate for Shiites. Fear that they would make incursions into Lebanon brought Hizbullah across the border to join the siege. The location of the towns also makes them a threat to the capital.

When pressed on the starvation tactics, Hizbullah maintained that the 600 armed terrorists in Madaya have taken the town hostage and is primarily responsible for the plight of the townspeople.

In other words, Hizbullah has brazenly stolen from Israel the terrorists are using human shields argument!

On the other hand, Hizbullahs allegation is correct that Shiite towns in Idlib are also under similar sieges. But two wrongs dont make a right.

The war in Syria is horrible. Among the warring sides, there is no longer much to choose from. The 600 mostly Salafi fighters in Madaya, some large proportion of whom went over to al-Qaeda, arent very sympathetic from an American point of view.

But the children in Madaya and the non-combatants dont deserve to be starving. It might make the war go faster if you starve out the guerrillas, but it is a war crime to do that to innocents.

Good that the regime and Hizbullah finally relented. But they should do more, they should let all the non-combatants leave who want to leave. The reports are that they are shooting those who try to depart.

BBC Monitoring reported on Jan. 4, based on Arabic press sources:

Residents of the Syrian city of Madaya  near Damascus are starving to death, pan-Arab and local social media sources are saying. Madaya is located close to the city of Al-Zabadani which was part of a multi-phase truce agreement between the Syrian government and armed opposition forces. The second phase of the agreement, which also included Madaya was supposed to allow aid into the besieged areas. On 2 January, Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV broadcast a video report showing images of people who it said suffered severe weight loss and death due in the areas of Madaya, Al-Zabadani and nearby town of Buqayn which seems to be paying the price of its strategic location between Damascus and Beirut. The report said that given that their pleas for help were not answered, the people were forced to eat tree leaves, garbage and even dogs and cats meat. It added that the months-long government siege of the city is not allowing in even childrens milk. News of at least two people dying out of huger and lack of food supplies was also reported by several media outlets. Paris-based independent Syrian Rozana FM website quoted activists inside the city as saying that two of Madaya residents had died due to severe cold and hunger. It added that the snow and low temperature seen in Syria in the past couple of days made the situation worse. On 3 January, Turkey-based Huffington Post in Arabic website quoted an activist in Madaya as saying that the price of one kilogram of rice has reached over 100 US dollars. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), even those who try to save their life by fleeing the city are being shot dead on their way out. On 4 January, the SOHR website said that three civilians -including a pregnant woman and her child- were shot dead by the government and Lebanese Hezbollah forces as they were trying to get out of the town. SOHR added that the death of the three raises the total number of people who died in the city since the start of the siege to at least 23. It listed explosions, sniper fire, poor sanitary conditions and the lack of food and necessary treatment as causes for the deaths. The dire situation in Madaya prompted social media activists to launch the Arabic hashtag #Madaya to shed light on the plight of its inhabitants. The hashtag was used over 25,000 times in five days. . . Al-Madaya plight also raised calls for vengeance as the Islamic Judge of the alliance of Jaysh al-Fath, which includes Al-Qaidah-linked Al-Nusrah Front and Islamist Ahrar al-Sham Movement, posted a series of tweets on 2 January to call for the destruction of the Shii populated village Al-Fuah in Idlib countryside if the siege on Madaya is not lifted. An agreement between the Syrian opposition and the government, as well as Iran and Lebanons Hezbollah, to ease the siege on the opposition in the strategic town of Al-Zabadani and Madaya in southern Syria near the Lebanese border in exchange for the opposition doing the same for the two Shii villages, Al-Fuah and Kufrayah in the northwestern province of Idlib was announced last summer. Implementation of the deal reportedly started late December though.



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Euronews: Madaya, a town on the brink of starvation, granted UN food aid by Assad
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By Rebecca Gordon | ( Tomdispatch.com ) |  

Theyre back!

From the look of the presidential campaign, war crimes are back on the American agenda. We really shouldnt be surprised, because American officials got away with it last time  and in the case of the drone wars continue to get away with it today. Still, theres nothing like the heady combination of a populist Republican race for the presidency and a national hysteria over terrorism to make Americans want to reach for those enhanced interrogation techniques. That, as critics have long argued, is what usually happens if war crimes arent prosecuted.

In August 2014, when President Obama finally admitted that we tortured some folks, he added a warning. The recent history of U.S. torture, he said, needs to be understood and accepted. We have to as a country take responsibility for that so hopefully we dont do it again in the future. By pinning the responsibility for torture on all of us as a country, Obama avoided holding any of the actual perpetrators to account.

Unfortunately, hope alone will not stymie a serial war criminal  and the president did not even heed his own warning. For seven years his administration has done everything except help the country take responsibility for torture and other war crimes. It looked the other way when it comes to holding accountable those who set up and ran the CIAs large-scale torture operations at its black sites around the world. It never brought charges against those who ordered torture at Guantanamo. It prosecuted no one, above all not the top officials of the Bush administration.

Now, in the endless run-up to the 2016 presidential elections, weve been treated to some pretty strange gladiatorial extravaganzas, with more to come in 2016. In these peculiarly American spectacles, Republican candidates hurl themselves at one another in a frenzied effort to be seen as the candidate most likely to ignore the presidents wan hope and instead do it again in the future. As a result, they are promising to commit a whole range of crimes, from torture to the slaughter of civilians, for which the leaders of some nations would find themselves hauled into international court as war criminals. But war criminal is a label reserved purely for people we loathe, not for us. To paraphrase former President Richard Nixon, if the United States does it, its not a crime.

In the wake of the brutal attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, the promises being openly made to commit future crimes have only grown more forthright. A few examples from the presidential campaign trail should suffice to make the point:

* Ted Cruz guarantees that we will utterly destroy ISIS. How will we do it? We will carpet bomb them into oblivion  that is, we will saturate an area with munitions in such a way that everything and everyone on the ground is obliterated. Of such a bombing campaign against the Islamic State, he told a cheering crowd at the Rising Tide Summit, I dont know if sand can glow in the dark, but were going to find out. (Its hard not to take this as a reference to the use of nuclear weapons, though in the bravado atmosphere of the present Republican campaign a lot of detailed thought is undoubtedly not going into any such proposals.)

* Kindly retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson evidently has similar thoughts. When pressed by CNN co-moderator Hugh Hewitt in the most recent Republican debate on whether he was tough enough to be okay with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian[s], Carson replied, You got it. You got it. He even presented a future campaign against the Islamic State in which thousands of children might die as an example of the same kind of tough love a surgeon sometimes exhibits when facing a difficult case. Its like telling a child, he assured Hewitt, that were going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. Theyre not happy about it, believe me. And they dont like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. So, presumably, will those dead innocent children in Syria  once they get over the shock of being dead.

* Jeb Bushs approach brought what, in Republican circles, passes for nuance to the discussion of future war crimes policy. What Washington needs, he argued, is a strategy and what stands in the way of the Obama administration developing one is an excessive concern with the niceties of international law. As he put it, We need to get the lawyers off the back of the warfighters. Right now under President Obama, weve created this standard that is so high that its impossible to be successful in fighting ISIS. Meanwhile, Jeb has surrounded himself with a familiar clique of neocon advisers  people like George W. Bushs former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and his former Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, who planned for and advocated the illegal U.S. war against Iraq, which touched off a regional war with devastating human consequences.

* And then there is Donald Trump. Where to start? As a simple baseline for his future commander-in-chiefdom, he stated without a blink that he would bring back torture. Would I approve waterboarding? he told a cheering crowd at a November rally in Columbus, Ohio. You bet your ass I would  in a heartbeat. And for Trump, that would only be the beginning. He assured his listeners vaguely but emphatically that he would approve more than that, leaving to their imaginations whether he was thinking of excruciating stress positions, relentless exposure to loud noise, sleep deprivation, the straightforward killing of prisoners, or what the CIA used to delicately refer to as rectal rehydration. Meanwhile, he just hammers on when it comes to torture. Dont kid yourself, folks. It works, okay? It works. Only a stupid person would say it doesnt work.

Only a stupid person  like, perhaps, one of the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee who carefully studied the CIAs grim torture documents for years, despite the Agencys foot-dragging, opposition, and outright interference (including computer hacking)  would say that. But why even bother to argue about whether torture works? The point, Trump claimed, was that the very existence of the Islamic State means that someone needs to be tortured. If it doesnt work, he told that Ohio crowd, they deserve it anyway.

Only a few days later, he triumphantly sallied even further into war criminal territory. He declared himself ready to truly hit the Islamic State where it hurts. The other thing with the terrorists, he told Fox News, is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, dont kid yourself. When they say they dont care about their lives, you have to take out their families. Because its a well-known fact  in Trumpland at least  that nothing makes people less likely to behave violently than murdering their parents and children. And it certainly doesnt matter, when Trump advocates it, that murder is a crime.

The Problem with Impunity

Not that youd know it in this country, but the common thread in all of these proposed responses to the Islamic State isnt just the usual Republican hawkishness. Each one represents a serious violation of U.S. laws, international laws of war, and/or treaties and conventions that the United States has signed and ratified under Republican as well as Democratic presidents. Most campaign trail discussions of plans  both Republican and Democratic  to defeat ISIS have focused only on instrumental questions: Would carpet bombing, torture, or making sand glow in the dark work?

Candidates and reporters alike have ignored the obvious larger point  if, that is, we werent living in a country that had given itself a blanket pass on the issue of war crimes. Carpet-bombing cities, torturing prisoners, and rendering lands uninhabitable are all against the law. They are, in fact, grave crimes. That even critics of these comments will not identify such potential acts as war crimes can undoubtedly be attributed, at least in part, to the fact that no one  other than a few low-level military personnel and a CIA whistleblower who spoke publicly about the Agencys torture agenda  has been prosecuted in the U.S. for the startling array of crimes already committed in the so-called War on Terror.

President Obama set the stage for this failure as early as January 2009, just before his first inauguration. He told ABCs George Stephanopoulos that, when it came to the possible prosecution of CIA officials for U.S. torture policies, We need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards. He didnt, he assured Stephanopoulos, want the extraordinarily talented people at the Agency who are working very hard to keep Americans safe to suddenly feel like theyve got to spend all their time looking over their shoulders and lawyering up. As it turned out, lawyering up was never a problem. In the end, Attorney General Eric Holder declined to charge any CIA personnel, closing the only two cases the Justice Department had even opened. Nor did any of the top officials responsible for the enhanced interrogation program, including President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, or CIA Director George Tenet, need to waste a cent on a lawyer. Instead, theyre now happily publishing their memoirs. Or, in the cases of Jay Bybee and John Yoo, the Justice Department authors of some of the more infamous torture memos, serving as a federal judge or occupying an endowed chair at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, respectively.

On December 1, 2015, perhaps driven to frustration by the Obama administrations ultimate failure to act, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a 153-page report titled No More Excuses. In it, the organization detailed the specific crimes relating to that CIA torture program for which a dozen high-level officials of the Bush administration could have been brought to trial and called for their prosecution. HRW pointed out that such prosecutions are not, in fact, a matter of choice. They are required by international law (even if the alleged criminals have run the planets last superpower). For example, the United Nations Convention against Torture, a key treaty that the United States signed in 1988 (under President Ronald Reagan) and finally ratified in 1994 (under President Bill Clinton), specifically requires our nation to take effective legislative, administrative, judicial, or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.

It doesnt matter if theres a war on, or if theres internal unrest. The Convention says, No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

Whenever torture is used, its a violation of that treaty, and that makes it a crime. When its used against prisoners of war, its also a violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and therefore a war crime. No exceptions.

But when Obama acknowledged that we tortured some folks, he claimed an exception for American torture. He cautioned us against overreacting. Its important for us not to feel too sanctimonious in retrospect about the tough job that those folks had, he said, referring to the CIAs corps of torturers. He pointed to American fear  of the very sort were seeing again over San Bernardino  as an exculpatory factor, reminding us of just how frightened all of us, including CIA operatives, were in the days after 9/11.

As it happens, whatever the former constitutional law professor in the White House or hotel-builder Donald Trump may believe, torture remains illegal. It makes no difference how frightened people may be of potential terrorists. After all, its partly because people do wicked things when they are afraid that we make laws in the first place  so that, when fear clouds our minds, we can be reminded of what we decided was right in less frightening times. Thats why the Convention against Torture says no exceptional circumstances whatsoever excuse such acts.

But the U.N. Convention is just a treaty, right? Its not really a law. In fact, when the United States ratifies a treaty, it becomes part of American law under Article VI of our Constitution, which states that the Constitution itself and

 all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

So even if torture did work, it would still be illegal.

War Crimes for the New Year

What about the other proposals weve heard from Republican candidates? Some of them are certainly war crimes. Carpet bombing, a metaphor that describes an all-too-real air-power nightmare (as many Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians learned during our wars in Indochina), means the saturation of an entire area with enough bombs to destroy everything standing without regard for the lives of anyone who might be on the ground. It is illegal under the laws of war, because it makes no distinction between civilians and combatants.

Because aerial bombardment hadnt even been invented in 1907 when the Hague Conventions were signed, they dont name carpet bombing specifically in a list of prohibited means of injuring the enemy, sieges, and bombardments. Nevertheless, at the center of the Hague Conventions, as with all the laws and customs of war, lies the crucial distinction between combatants and civilians. To destroy an entire populated area in order to eliminate a handful of fighters violates the long-held and internationally recognized principle of proportionality.

The Hague Conventions also put into the written international legal code long-held beliefs about the importance of distinguishing between civilians and combatants in war. Ben Carsons willingness to allow the deaths of thousands of civilians and children in the pursuit of ISIS fundamentally violates exactly that principle.

In another shameful exception, the United States has never ratified a 1977 addition to the Geneva Conventions that specifically outlaws carpet bombing. Additional Protocol 1 specifically addresses the protection of civilians during warfare. Apart from such U.S. allies as Israel and Turkey, 174 countries have signed Protocol 1, explicitly making carpet bombing a war crime.

If the United States has not ratified Protocol 1, does that mean it is free to violate its provisions? Not necessarily. When the vast majority of nations agree to such an accord, it can take on the power of  international customary law  a set of principles that have the force of law, whether or not they are written down and ratified. The International Committee of the Red Cross maintains a list of these rules of law. One section of these explicitly states that indiscriminate attacks, including area bombardment, are indeed illegal under customary law.

Senator Cruzs promise to discover whether or not sand glows in the dark, presumably through the use of nuclear weapons, would violate the 1907 Hague Conventions prohibitions on employing poison or poisoned weapons and on the use of arms, projectiles, or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering. It no more matters that the United States ratified this convention over a century ago than that the Constitution is more than 200 years old. Jeb Bushs suggestion that we get the lawyers off the back of the warfighters notwithstanding, both remain the law of the land.

That they dont appear to have the force of law in the United States, that the description of possible future war crimes can rouse crowds to a cheering frenzy in this political season, represents a remarkable failure of political will; in particular, the willingness of the Obama administration to call a crime a crime and act accordingly. Globally, it is a failure of power rather than of the law. Prosecuting a former African autocrat or Serbian leader for war crimes is obviously a very different and far less daunting matter than bringing to justice top officials of the planets only superpower. That is made all the more difficult because, under George W. Bush, the United States informed the world that it would never ratify the accords that set up the International Criminal Court.

In the Glare of San Bernardino

Human Rights Watch released its report on December 1st. The next day, a married couple, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, attacked a holiday party at San Bernardinos Department of Public Health, where Farook worked. They killed 14 people before dying in a police shootout. It was a horrific crime and it appears that the two were, at least in part, inspired by the social media presence of the Islamic State (even if they were not in any way directed by that group). Not surprisingly, the HRW report sank like a stone from public view. With it went their key recommendations: that a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate and bring to trial those responsible for CIA torture practices and that U.S. torture victims be guaranteed redress in American courts, something both the Bush and Obama administrations have fought fiercely, even though it is a key requirement of the U.N. Convention against Torture.

As last year ended, the fear machine had cranked up once again, and Americans were being reminded by those who aspire to lead us that no price is too high to pay for our security  as long as its paid by somebody else. Expect more of the same in 2016.

And yet it is precisely now, when we are most afraid, that our leaders  present and future  should not be stoking our fears. They should instead be reminding us that there is something more valuable  and more achievable  than perfect security. They should be encouraging us not to seek a cowardly exception from the laws of war, but to be brave and abide by them. So heres the challenge: Will we find the courage to resist the fear machine this time? Will we find the will to prosecute the war crimes of the past and prevent the ones our candidates are screaming for? Or will we allow our nation to remain what it has become: a terrible and terrifying exception to the international rule of law?

Rebecca Gordon, a TomDispatch regular, teaches in the philosophy department at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of Mainstreaming Torture: Ethical Approaches in the Post-9/11 United States and the forthcoming American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes.

Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Nick Turses Tomorrows Battlefield: U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa, and Tom Engelhardts latest book, Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World.

Copyright 2016 Rebecca Gordon

Via Tomdispatch.com



Related video added by Juan Cole:

If you are in Favor of World War 3 you have your candidates | CNN Republican Debate Rand Paul
In a campaign to crack down pornography and illegal activities online in 2015, the police found some suspects faked as celebrities to make a profit when providing prostitution services through Internet platforms.

In a campaign to crack down on online pornography and illegal activities in 2015, the police found suspects pretending to be celebrities when providing prostitution services by using Internet platforms.[Photo/CNTV]

In early 2015, local police in Shenzhen City were informed that a certain criminal ring was making use of the WeChat app to organize models and actresses for "high-end" prostitution, CNTV.cn reported. In March, the police made a breakthrough when the police raided a sex trade venue and arrested a woman with the ID of a female celebrity.

Chen Shuai, a patrol policeman working for theShenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau, said their raid also discovered several ID cards of B-list or C-list models and celebrities. For instance, when the investigators searched one of them online, they indeed found hundreds of search results claiming she won certain titles of Miss World pageants. But when they continued probing, the ID proved to be fake.

Those prostitutes all have one thing in common they were pretending to be famous people. Their pimps would pretend to be their managers and make videos and photo shoots for them, then crafted celebrity CVs and put them online. Some even made a new virtual celebrity with a fake stage name and fake resumes.

Zhou Kun, another Shenzhen policeman, added that the pimp studios would charge prostitutes 2,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan for making these fake identities. Those websites which published their information would never check these IDs before publish them, because the money was able to buy the websites cooperation.

Some prostitutes even invested more into their status. They flew to South Korea to have plastic surgery to be more like certain celebrities. When they became "stars," their sex service would be paid better. When arrested, many of them were driving Porsche and Mercedes cars, the police revealed.

At the same time, the pimp ring leaders used online instant message tools to recruit and organize huge groups of prostitutes to do business in the major cities of Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and even abroad with the help of WeChat and Weibo. Some downstream industry businesses, like those agencies promoting the fake resumes of these "celebrities" online, were also established for the criminal chain.

"The online platforms including WeChat app help build the prostitution chain even more easily than traditional organized prostitution, with a wider scope and faster spread of information. Their profits were very huge," said Zhang Xiaopeng, an official working for the Ministry of Public Security.

The Shenzhen ring involved suspects from 28 provinces and municipalities. The police cracked down on it twice last year by means of the national campaign to bring it down. Twenty online prostitution cases have been dealt with and 103 individuals have been detained.
The records of a sperm bank in central China's Hunan Province show that the quality of Chinese men's sperm is declining, according to a Hunan Daily report on Thursday.

Sperm samples are stored in liquid nitrogen in the Reproductive and Genetic Hospital of CITIC-Xiangya. [Photo:Voc.com.cn]

According to Lu Guangxiu, a veteran gynecologist and head of the Reproductive and Genetic Hospital of CITIC-Xiangya, college students are major sperm donors, but their sperm's quality has been declining in recent years. Records show that in 2006, 45.9 percent of the sperm bank's potential donors met the national requirements, but the figure lowered to 37.9 percent in 2010, 17.9 percent in 2014 and only 17.8 percent in the first half of 2015. This means that in every 10 potential donors, only two were able to produce enough healthy sperm.

"Declining sperm quality signals an unhealthy lifestyle," Lu said. "But it doesn't necessarily point to infertility." A sperm bank study found that college students in China have acquired many habits that harm sperm quality, such as smoking, drinking, a lack of exercise as well as too much sex and masturbation.

The Reproductive and Genetic Hospital of CITIC-Xiangya is China's first sperm bank and the only one in Hunan Province. It has a collection of 146,000 sperm samples, which are used by 45 fertility centers nationwide.
China's State Science and Technology Awards ceremony is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 8, 2016. [Photo: Xinhua/Wang Ye]

China honored a group of domestic and foreign scientists with state awards for their outstanding contribution to the country's scientific and technological progress on Friday.

The prize winners were presented with certificates by Chinese President Xi Jinping at an annual ceremony held to recognize distinguished scientists and research achievements.

Other state leaders, including Li Keqiang, Liu Yunshan and Zhang Gaoli, also presented awards.

When addressing the ceremony, Premier Li stressed that innovation should be placed at the very core of the overall national development to maintain medium to high-speed economic growth and march towards medium to high-level development.

Li vowed to nurture new drivers of economic growth while upgrading traditional industries.

"We must step up implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy," Li said.

China will carry out new scientific and technological projects, establish more national labs, innovation centers and other infrastructure for scientific research, nurture a number of innovation-oriented enterprises with international competitive power and build pilot bases for mass entrepreneurship and innovation, he said.

He highlighted the need to make good use of the market to reduce overcapacity and connect traditional industries with the Internet.

The premier underscored measures to further liberate scientific talents, reform the income distribution system to spur innovative spirit and give more power to higher learning institutions on talent cultivation.

Li also vowed to tap into social forces such as enterprise and the public to encourage innovation. "Limitless wisdom resides in the 1.3 billion Chinese people; more than 100 million of them have higher education, which is our greatest innovative resource and advantage," said Li.

He mentioned new ideas like crowd sourcing and crowd funding in the Internet age to promote innovation, asking governments at all levels to streamline administration, cut red tape and help people raise money for innovative projects.

Li noted that China must embrace the outside world to make the best use of resources both home and abroad, enhance international cooperation and take the lead to initiate major scientific research projects.

China needs to revolve around the construction of the "One Belt and One Road" initiative to help more Chinese technologies and products go global, and make China a world innovation hub, said Li.
Fashionably late [By Zhai Haijun/China.org.cn]

The Korean nuclear issue dates back to the mid-1960s, when the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) acquired its Yongbyon nuclear reactor from the Soviet Union. The DPRK announced to withdraw from the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1993, making it a "powder keg" in Northeast Asia since the end of the Cold War.

However, when people talk about the Korean nuclear issue, they usually focus on specific issues, and miss the bigger picture.

These specific issues include the DPRK's natural disasters, the death of important figures, power transition, the development of nuclear weapons and missiles, provocation and interaction with the Republic of Korea and the United States.

A case-by-case approach to the Korean nuclear issue begets short-term or makeshift solutions, which can cool down the situation temporarily, but foster the next round of fermentation and proliferation of the issue. The Korean nuclear issue cannot be solved by expedient solutions.

What is the bigger picture of the Korean nuclear issue? The essential aspect of the issue is the geopolitics and regional security of Northeast Asia.

The key points are whether the DPRK has the ability to develop the so-called nuclear deterrence power, whether it makes up its mind to become a nuclear state, how the answers of the two questions will influence regional security in the peninsula and the whole of Northeast Asia, America's role in the security frame in Northeast Asia, and how the Korean nuclear issue will influence interactions among the countries in the region.

The DPRK has so far conducted four nuclear tests. There are always similar questions following a test, particularly, whether the "nuclear test" was an explosion of conventional ammunition, whether the DPRK has the ability to test a uranium bomb and whether or not it was hydrogen bomb explosion on Wednesday.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
 Flash

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday held phone talks separately with U.S. and South Korean presidents, seeking cooperation with the two countries to cope with the fourth nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the previous day.

Japan and the United States confirmed their close cooperation to deal with the DPRK's nuclear test, which the country said was a successful hydrogen bomb test, according to Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda.

During the phone talks earlier the day, Abe told U.S. President Barack Obama that the international community has to take resolute action to send strong message to the DPRK in order to prevent further provocations from the country, Hagiuda was quoted by Japan's Kyodo News as saying.

For his part, Obama said the nuclear test is a threat to the region and the international community, adding his country would take measures to ensure the security of its allies, including Japan, the official said.

Abe on Wednesday strongly condemned the test, saying the move was a "significant threat" to Japan's national security. The Japanese leader also said his country would consider further sanctions against the DPRK.

As one of the 10 non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, Japan discussed with the United States to take the lead in efforts to adopt a new resolution to toughen sanctions against the DPRK, according to Kyodo.

In a separate phone call, Abe told South Korean President Park Geun-hye that Japan wants to closely cooperate with South Korea and the United States so that the UN Security Council will swiftly adopt a resolution on DPRK, Hagiuda was quoted as saying.

The two leaders agreed that the international community needs to make a "firm response" to the nuclear test that violated UN resolutions imposed on the DPRK.

After a magnitude-5.1 shallow-focus earthquake was detected on Wednesday in northeast part of the DPRK, the country's official media made a special report and announced it had successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test. The country had conducted three nuclear tests before.

The move prompted the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting over the issue and drew international criticism that the test jeopardized efforts to realize a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.
 Flash

The Syrian government has agreed to allow in aid convoys to the besieged town of Madaya north of the capital Damascus, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported on Thursday.

Syrian children carry placards as they call for the lifting of the siege off Madaya and Zabadani towns in Syria, in front of the offices of the U.N. headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon December 26, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

Citing the head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, Abdul-Rahman al-Attar, the report said the government has agreed to allow aid convoys to enter Madaya, which has been besieged by government troops for more than six months.

According to al-Attar, aid and foodstuffs will enter rebel-held Madaya simultaneously with aid to the besieged towns of Kafraya and Foa, which have been suffocated by the rebels in the western countryside of the northwestern province of Idlib.

Over 300 Red Crescent volunteers are ready to deliver aid to Madaya, said al-Attar.

More than 40,000 people are trapped in Madaya due to the government siege which is similar to what the rebels in Idlib have done to Kafraya and Foa, two Shiite towns loyal to the government.

Apparently, the rebels besieging Kafraya and Foa have agreed for the entry of food convoy to the two towns, which pushed the government to allow the entry of aid to Madaya.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has called for unimpeded humanitarian access to reach those in need.

"We are particularly concerned about the plight of nearly 400,000 people besieged by parties to the conflict in locations such as Deir Ezzor province in Eastern Syria city, Daraya, Foa and Kafraya, as well as besieged areas of East Ghouta in Damascus," according to a UN statement.

Last year, only 10 percent of all requests for UN inter-agency convoys to reach hard-to-reach and besieged areas were approved and delivered, said the statement.

It added almost 42,000 people remaining in Madaya are at risk of further hunger and starvation.

The United Nations has received credible reports of people dying from starvation or being killed while trying to leave, said the statement.

Up to 4.5 million people in Syria live in hard-to-reach areas, including nearly 400,000 people in 15 besieged locations who do not have access to the life-saving aid they urgently need.

The ongoing conflict continues to hamper the humanitarian response, while freedom of movement is restricted by the presence of armed actors and landmines.

Madaya last received a joint UN/Red Crescent/Red Cross convoy last October and medical evacuations in December, "but has been inaccessible since then despite numerous requests for access. "

"The UN welcomes today's approval from the government of Syria to access Madaya, Foa and Kefraya, and is preparing to deliver humanitarian assistance in the coming days," the statement said.
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China has urged that all relevant parties should advance denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula under the framework of six party talks.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying made the statement one day after North Korea announced its first successful hydrogen bomb test.

"To achieve the denuclearization as well as the long-term peace and stability on Korean Peninsula is in the common interests of all the relevant parties, thus all parties should take responsibility and make joint efforts. Just like a tango dance needs two people's cooperation, six party talks require cooperative and conscientious dialogues. We hope that relevant parties get back onto the right path of settling the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue under the framework of six party talks in view of regional peace and stability."

The spokesperson also said that China consistently advocates a peaceful settlement of relevant parties' concerns through dialogues and negotiations.

The Six Party Talks involving North Korea, South Korea, China, the United States, Russia and Japan, were launched in 2003.

The dialogue has been suspended since 2008.
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South Sudan's government and rebels have agreed on sharing the country's ministries for a proposed transitional government, according to the Joint Monitoring and evaluation Commission (JMEC) of the Inter-Government Authority for Development in Africa (IGAD).

"South Sudan government and the opposition group have agreed on a transitional government and allocation of ministries during joint talks in Juba," said Festus Mogae, former Botswana president and head of the JMEC, in a statement late Thursday.

He said the two sides agreed on a transitional government consisting of 30 ministries, with 16 ministries going to the government, 10 to the rebels, two to the political detainees group and two to the other political parties.

The ministries of defense, finance, justice, and information are among the portfolios that will go to the current government.

The rebel group, led by former Vice-President Riek Machar, meanwhile, will take among others the ministries of petroleum, interior and water resources and irrigation.

The ministries of foreign affairs and international cooperation and transport will go to former detainees group, while the ministries of cabinet affairs and agriculture and food security will go to other political parties.

The South Sudanese parties' agreement on sharing the ministries paves the way for the formation of a transitional government of national unity by January 22 as scheduled by the JMEC.

In August last year, the South Sudanese rivals signed a peace deal under the patronage of the IGAD to end the violence in the new-born country.

The signed deal grants the current government a legislation majority, the presidency and 53 percent of the ministerial portfolios.

It gives the rebels the position of first vice president and 33 percent of ministerial portfolios, while the remaining 14 percent was allotted for other opposition groups, excluding the Greater Upper Nile region (Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity States) where 53 percent were proposed to go to the rebels and 33 for the current government.

South Sudan nosedived into violence in December 2013, with fighting erupting between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir Mayardit and defectors led by his former deputy Machar.

The conflict soon turned into a full-fledged war, as violence espoused an ethnic element pitting the president's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.

The clashes left thousands of South Sudanese dead and forced 1.9 million individuals to flee their homes.
KDramaStars has teamed up with CJ Entertainment to give away five DVD's of "The Piper," a gruesome retelling of the legendary Brothers Grimm classic, starring Ryoo Seung Ryong (The Admiral: Roaring Currents) and Lee Joon (Heard It Through The Grapevine).

Set within post-war Korea, "The Piper" tells the tale of Woo Ryong (Ryoo Seung Ryong), a man who assumes odd jobs in order to cover the treatment of his tuberculous-inflicted son, Young Nam (Goo Seung Hyun).

Woo Ryong discovers that the village is plagued by rats and he takes on the responsibility of ridding the town of the rodents.

When the village chief refuses to pay Woo Ryong for his work, he conjures the rats, bringing a foretold fate upon the quiet community.

Former MBLAQ member Lee Joon rounds out the main cast as Nam Soo.

"The Piper" is a gripping thriller that will be released on DVD on February 2.

Here is how you can enter to win.

[REQUIREMENTS]

1. Like our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/KDramaStars

2. Share this post on Facebook or Twitter!

3. Fill out this form completely with the information needed.

http://goo.gl/forms/PpQVJiUVRC

This contest is only available to residents of the United States and Canada. All entries should only have one submission. Winners must complete all steps to be considered. The contest ends on Wednesday January 27th, 2016 at midnight (EST). You must respond within 24 hours to claim the prize.

Good Luck!
WASHINGTON  President Barack Obama will head straight to Omaha on Wednesday just hours after delivering his final State of the Union address.

Obama is holding the city up as evidence of progress that everyday Americans have seen under his administration, according to information provided by a White House official on the condition that he not be named.

Next weeks trip will be Obamas first real visit to Nebraska as president.

Details on exactly what Obama will do during his time in Omaha  including when and where he will speak  have not been released.

Its become something of a tradition for presidents to rattle off a laundry list of policy proposals in their high-profile annual speech to lawmakers, then barnstorm across the country in an effort to drum up support for their initiatives.

Staring down his last year in office, however, Obama is expected to talk a lot about areas of success over the past seven years  and he thinks Omaha makes for a great poster child.

The White House official noted that the unemployment rate in Nebraska has fallen from 4.8 percent at the height of the recession to 2.9 percent today. That translates into the creation of more than 70,000 jobs in Nebraska, more than 40,000 of them in Omaha, since 2010.

Look for the White House to highlight increases in Pell Grant funding to help students attend college, as well as protections in the new health care law that mean that Nebraskans no longer face coverage denials, reduced benefits or higher premiums as a result of pre-existing conditions.

Obama also will talk about actions he still wants to take during his remaining time in office. And the visit serves as an opportunity for him to call on Nebraska to expand Medicaid, a move that the White House says would grant health coverage to an additional 42,000 Nebraskans.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and many of his fellow Republicans in the Legislature have resisted the expansion, casting it as an expensive, misguided step that would overly burden taxpayers.

Rep. Brad Ashford, D-Neb., who plans to accompany Obama on Air Force One, said its an honor that the president picked Omaha for his first stop after Tuesday nights big speech.

Were in a better place certainly than when he took office, Omahas congressman told The World-Herald. Weve turned the corner, and I think thats why hes coming to Omaha. We have the lowest unemployment in the country. We still have a lot of work to do to reduce violence ... but were working on those things. In the last seven years, Omaha has done well and continues to do well.

Ashford said he hopes to hear more from Obama about efforts to boost trade and improve the economy further, increasing both employment and wages.

In the past, Obama has gone everywhere from Florida to Nevada following the State of the Union. Nebraska might seem an odd choice given its status as a conservative bastion.

Most of the states top political leaders are Republicans who have been highly critical of the Obama administration, blaming policies such as the health care law and environmental regulations for hampering the economic recovery.

Mitt Romney carried the state easily in the 2012 presidential election, as did John McCain in 2008.

Still, Obama has plenty of backers in Nebraska. And he should have fond memories of Omaha from his visit during his successful bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Back then, he attended a rally where supporters declared it Obamaha in his honor. And he snagged one electoral vote from Nebraska in 2008 by winning the Omaha-based 2nd District. Unlike other states, Nebraska and Maine split some of their electoral votes by congressional district.

Technically, Obama has visited Nebraska as president before  in August 2012. But on that trip he landed at Offutt Air Force Base south of Omaha and promptly headed across the river for a rally in Council Bluffs and a campaign swing through Iowa.

Ashford said next weeks visit is a recognition that while Omaha still has problems to tackle, it also has plenty to be proud of.

This is an opportunity to celebrate who we are and what weve done, Ashford said.
To: Denise A. Christensen

Executive Director

Merryman Performing Arts Center

Dear Ms. Christensen:

I just wanted to thank you for providing an opportunity for some of the youths of the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center in Kearney to attend Erik Kaiel: Duets on Dec. 7.

Once again, you have helped provide our youths with exposure to an art form that they normally would not have been exposed to. The group of youths we brought with us were from widely varying backgrounds, from one young man who was born in Sudan, to another from right here in Kearney. Most of them were 17 or older, but one group member was a bit younger. They were initially skeptical about attending a dance show, but after reading the program and after your introduction, they were curious.

Initial reactions after Weather Vein closed, were dramatically different. Also, I was surprisingly pleased to hear mostly positive comments from the boys, interlaced with the occasional, No seriously, I could do that.

The UNK cast and their production was quite entertaining and offered us an opportunity to teach about some of the possibilities that post-high school education can offer.

The finale No Man is an Island was a treat and the boys talked about it during our trip back to our campus. None felt that they could have, done that.

Kudos to you and your staff at the Merryman. As always, it was a great production and a terrific opportunity for our youths. As always, the volunteers were warm and welcoming. Each time we attend a performance with you, we discuss your volunteers and use it as a way to teach about one of the principles of daily living that we encourage the boys to practice at YRTC: citizenship. Most of the youths in our care have never even considered that part of being a good citizen is volunteer work. They are normally stunned to learn that the ushers do not get paid for their time assisting with the show.

I could go on and on, but mostly I wanted you to know that, on behalf of everyone at YRTC, we truly appreciate your kindness and thoughtfulness in inviting the youths in our care to attend this event. It truly made for an enjoyable evening.

Sincerely,

Bo Whaley

Youth Counselor Supervisor YRTC-K
(Kitco News) - Gold prices are hanging on to the $1,100.00 level on Friday. The focus was on the Chinese stock market after being shut down after only 30 minutes of trading Thursday and losing 7% in value during that short time.

The big issue is the equity markets  the Chinese equity market has tumbled-- but to understand the relationship with gold, one has to go back to 2012-2013 when we saw a big move down in gold prices  this was predicated on a massive shift from gold to equity markets, Martin Mureenbeld, Chief Economist for Dundee Economics, told Kitco News Thursday.

He added, What we are getting now is some uncertainty about the market - that has made gold interesting again; it is a play against equity markets.

Murenbeeld highlighted that the firms average annual forecast for the metal sits around $1,175. Given the kind of problems we see developing this year, I dont think it is going to be a good year for equity markets and China does have the potential of undermining growth in the world economy, he said. February Comex gold was last down $13.20 at $1,094.50 an ounce.

Billionaire financier, George Soros said on Thursday that the market could be reliving 2008, Murenbeeld does not agree entirely. Do I see a 2008? Probably not, I dont expect any financial institution on this side that is going to break down.

However, Murenbeeld said the message behind Soros forecast is that the Fed will most likely not be raising rates in 2016. I agree that the U.S. Federal Reserve will actually not be raising rates as much as the market expects  the markets consensus will be four hikes this year. We are kind of sitting there where the Fed is not in a position to seriously raise rates, he said.

Murenbeeld added that from an economic point of view, there was no requirement for the central bank to raise rates. Now the question is whether they will hike significantly, and our view is they will not, and this will bode well for gold, he said.

By Daniela Cambone of Kitco News; dcambone@kitco.com

Follow me on Twitter @DanielaCambone
SHARE Larry Seaquist

By Chris Henry

GIG HARBOR  Former 26th District Rep. Larry Seaquist announced Thursday that he will run in November for state superintendent of public instruction, hoping to fix a system that is "slipping into crisis."

"Underfunded, saddled with a jumble of 'reforms,' our whole education system is flashing red," said Seaquist, a former Navy officer who served four terms in Olympia. Seaquist, a Democrat, led the House Higher Education Committee before losing his seat to Michelle Caldier in 2014.

In October, when incumbent Randy Dorn announced he would step down, Seaquist said he was exploring a bid to head the state's K-12 schools. Since then, he's been talking to educators and community leaders about the shortcomings of the public school system.

Along with inadequate school funding, a shortage of teachers and students' stress over testing are two big problems he's heard over and over.

Seaquist hopes the campaign for superintendent of public instruction will loosen the legislative logjam over how to fully fund education for the long term.

"I think education in this election cycle is the most important issue facing the state," Seaquist said. "And I'd like to be in a leadership position to help lead the whole state in a healthier direction."

Seaquist sees the end of No Child Left Behind and loosening of federal oversight as an opportunity for the state to adjust its academic standards and make a "radical change" in testing.

Speaking of the new Every Student Succeeds Act, he said, "They (the feds) took their hand off our shoulder. We can use this opportunity to basically reset our education system."

Seaquist joins three other official candidates. state Rep. Chris Reykdal, D-Tumwater, is an administrator in the state system of two-year colleges. Erin Jones is a Tacoma Public Schools official and a former teacher who has worked as an administrator in the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Gilbert Mendoza is a deputy superintendent at OSPI.

Seaquist lives in Gig Harbor with wife Carla.
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Hal Fernandez

of Seattle

Nov. 24, 1948

to Jan. 2, 2016

Veteran

Anytime a political, personal or social issue needed more analysis, Hal wanted to discuss it with God's auditor. He has been given his chance, and knowing the loquacious disposition of this man, the long awaited conversation will go on awhile.

Hal B. Fernandez, the son of William and Jean (Goehrs) Fernandez was born at Bremerton Naval Hospital on Nov. 24, 1948. His father's Navy career transported Hal to 17 different schools including classrooms on Midway Island, Guam and remote Adak, Alaska. He graduated from West High in Bremerton at the age of 16 while taking classes at Olympic Junior College, then signed up for Air Force ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) while enrolled at the University of Washington where he earned a B.A. degree in political science and Russian language. Throughout his life he read constantly, the morning paper and coffee to start the day, then anything in print.

After graduation from UW in 1969, he became a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force and was assigned to weapons security in Little Rock, Arkansas after flunking out of rocket school (much to his relief). During this time, Lieutenant Fernandez began experiencing a number of unrelated physical symptoms that disrupted his military dream, leading to an honorable discharge when doctors determined the problems "were all in his head".

While considering a career in advertising, the opportunity to become a domestic steward for United Airlines opened in 1973 and what better way to travel and meet people, especially pretty girls! Six months after his flying career began in San Francisco, the symptoms reappeared and MS was finally diagnosed through a pneumoencephalogram test which has blessedly been replaced with MRI imaging. The dull-normal health patterns became something he tolerated without complaint. He was fond of saying, "if you like surprises, you will love MS". Hal returned to the friendly skies where he rallied with his smile and tenacity for almost 30 years until he could no longer balance or walk without a cane. Prior to that retirement in 2002, while on a stopover at the Kansas City airport in 1980 Hal met his future wife, United flight attendant Kathryn, and was happy to learn she was also based in Seattle and had a 3-year-old daughter who won his heart when she asked if he knew his ABC's. After the couple married in 1984, Hal adopted the little girl whose energetic personality matched his own.

Despite a maximum hour flight schedule and an active family life, Hal found time to volunteer at Ryther Child Center in Seattle, the Veterans Hospital Puget Sound and while living in Oregon, the Lincoln County Cultural Center.

Disappointed but determined to tackle more life, Hal retired from inflight service with fond memories of the fun he had onboard, playing games and making sure everyone had a good time. He spoke highly of his fellow "stews", and looked forward to their reunions each year. Hal loved music and dancing, and had an impeccable memory, naming any tune including release date and artist, and quite possibly who he had a crush on at the time!

His passion for good food in generous portions, writing poetry, walking on Oregon beaches, attending theater performances and keeping up with current events continued to enrich his soul when he and Kathryn moved to Neskowin, Oregon in 2003. He folded origami habitually, and the growing supply of birds led way to an origami studio he named Birds and Be in nearby Lincoln City. He was a published writer, and was thinking about sorting through hundreds of pages written with numb fingers when the auditor called Jan. 2, 2016. His tired body could not keep up with that mighty spirit. His comedic talent, quick wit, calming presence, and abundant charm will be forever missed by his loved ones and friends.

Hal is survived by his mother, Jean Fernandez; loving wife, Kathryn; daughter, Morgan Stuller and son-in-law, Travis Stuller; grandchildren, Lucille and Archie Stuller; sister, Jan Fernandez; and brother, Russell Fernandez; and family in fur coats, Eddie Haskell and Olive Rose.

The family would like to thank the staff at Wesley Homes Assisted Living and the team at Stafford Health Care for their support and encouragement, and Dr. Thomas Wear, PhD.

In Hal's memory, gifts may be sent to Ryther Child Center in Seattle or North End Senior Solutions, Lincoln City, Oregon.

"I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me." - A Course in Miracles
A man who spent 18 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit will get a damage award of $25,000 plus attorneys fees from the state -- the maximum the law allows but only a fraction of what he requested.

In making its decision Thursday, the Wisconsin Claims Board took no position on whether Steven Avery should get the entire amount he is seeking as compensation for his time behind bars -- more than $1.1 million.

Avery, who appeared before the board, said he needs money and feels his life is still on hold despite his release more than a year ago.

Claims Board chairman Alan Lee said he believes Avery deserves more than state law currently allows -- $5,000 for each year wrongly incarcerated with a cap at $25,000, plus attorneys fees. In Avery's case, that means a total of $48,791.61.

But Lee said members wanted to wait on deciding whether to ask lawmakers to write legislation that would give Avery more than the caps allow until a task force finishes its work on possible changes in state law to better prevent wrongful convictions.

Avery can then come back to the board to request the rest of the money he believes would be just compensation.

"Because of the length of incarceration, it points out very starkly the shortcomings of the statute," Lee said.

UW-Madison professor Keith Findley, who led the effort to free Avery, said he was pleased the board left the door open to Avery seeking additional money. Still, he said the board's decision was confusing because the Avery Task Force is not addressing the $25,000 cap on compensation, nor is it expected to make a recommendation on increasing the limits on such awards.

Findley said he would continue to push for legislation that would fairly compensate Avery. "The Legislature and the state of Wisconsin really owes it to Steven to do much better than that," Findley said.

Avery was 23 in 1985 when he was sentenced to 32 years in prison for raping a woman on a Lake Michigan beach. He was released last year after the Wisconsin Innocence Project, a group of UW-Madison law students headed by Findley, pushed for DNA tests that exonerated Avery.
A man who served 18 years in prison for a rape he did not commit said Tuesday night he is afraid he is being framed for the disappearance of a Calumet County woman whose car was found at a junkyard run by his family.

"It's a headache. Everybody's worried about it. They can't sleep, they're so worried," Steve Avery said of himself and his large family, who live in Manitowoc County, mostly in the Two Rivers area.

Calumet County authorities are searching for 25-year-old Teresa Marie Halbach of Hilbert. Halbach, a freelance photographer for Auto Trader Magazine, was last seen Oct. 31, when she had three scheduled appointments for the publication. One of the appointments was at the salvage yard run by Avery's brother.

Investigators on Tuesday discovered evidence that makes them fear for the safety of Halbach, the Calumet County sheriff said.

Investigators still were searching Avery's property Tuesday, Sheriff Jerry Pagel said. He refused to provide any details except to say the search included excavations on or near the Avery property.

Avery's parents, Delores and Allen Avery, live on the property, and Steve Avery said Tuesday he's been living rent-free in "a house trailer close to the junkyard."

Avery was convicted of a 1985 sexual assault and exonerated by DNA evidence 18 years later. He was released from prison Sept. 11, 2003. Since then, the high school dropout has "been helping out at the yard, eight hours a day," he said. His work is unpaid, but "they help me out with food and gas. I work for my older brother. It gives me something to do until the lawsuit is settled," he said.

Avery sued Manitowoc County and its former sheriff and district attorney for $36 million over his wrongful conviction, and he has said he fears someone is trying to set him up as a suspect in Halbach's disappearance. Avery said he has nothing to hide.

"Everybody's taking it pretty rough," Avery said. "My mother breaks down. My brother broke down."

Rumors are flying, Avery said.

"I'm afraid. I heard tonight that a cop put her car in the (Avery salvage) yard."

The junkyard, his parents' adjacent home and his trailer remain under control of the authorities, and his parents have not been able to get inside their home for his mother to retrieve her medications, Avery said.

"I can't go home. Nobody can go home. They got it all blocked off," he said.

"I had to borrow a car. They took my car. Where I'm going to stay tonight, I don't know. I might stay in the back of the car."

Avery's attorney, Walter Kelly, has said he's confident Avery had nothing to do with Halbach's disappearance.

Is Avery afraid they'll arrest him in connection with the missing woman?

"That's always in my mind," he said.

Manitowoc County Sheriff Ken Petersen couldn't be reached for comment on Avery's suspicions Tuesday night.

Manitowoc County District Attorney Mark Rohrer has appointed the Calumet County district attorney, Ken Kratz, special prosecutor in the Halbach case because he wants to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Kratz said investigators executed search warrants on the Avery property as well as in other counties, including in Marinette County, where the Avery family has a cabin.

Halbach's vehicle was found at the Avery salvage yard Saturday, when Avery was at his father's vacation property near Crivitz. Officers searched the cabin Saturday and impounded Avery's car and a flatbed truck.

- The Associated Press contributed to this story.
MISHICOT -- A man who was wrongly convicted of rape 20 years ago was arrested Wednesday and charged with a weapons violation by a special prosecutor investigating the disappearance of a woman whose vehicle was found on property owned by the man's family.

Calumet County Sheriff Jerry Pagel, leading the investigation into the disappearance, told reporters evidence found in a search of the property included some that could be "human in nature."

Deputies found two guns in Steven Avery's trailer while searching for evidence in the disappearance of 25-year-old Teresa Marie Halbach, whose vehicle was found at the Manitowoc County salvage yard owned by Avery's family, according to a criminal complaint charging him with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The deputies also found 11 spent .22-caliber shell casings in Avery's unattached garage, the complaint said.

Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz said the only connection the weapons have to Halbach's case is that deputies found them while searching for Halbach. He said he felt it was his duty to arrest Avery.

"I felt uncomfortable allowing that individual to remain on the street," said Kratz, who was appointed special prosecutor in the case because Avery is suing Manitowoc County over his wrongful conviction.

Pagel said deputies found significant evidence at the salvage yard, but he refused to say what evidence was found.

When asked whether investigators found human remains, Pagel said the crime lab is analyzing evidence its experts feel is "human in nature."

Kratz said authorities also ordered members of Avery's family to provide blood and saliva samples and palm and hand prints. They also were told to detail any wounds they may have.

Avery's attorney, Walt Kelly, said he thought deputies took Avery into custody so they could interview him about the missing woman.

"I fear ... that they will try to use his words against him," Kelly said.

Avery was convicted of burglary twice, in 1981 and 1982, in Manitowoc County, according to the complaint. He also was convicted of cruelty to animals in 1982 and of endangering safety and being a felon in possession of a firearm in 1985.

In the 1985 case, Avery was accused of running a deputy sheriff's wife off the road at gunpoint, according to the state Department of Justice.

Deputies searching for Halbach found the shell casings and guns -- a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle and a .50-caliber black-powder muzzleloader -- Sunday, a day after Halbach's family found her green SUV at Avery's Auto Salvage, according to the complaint.

Halbach, a freelance photographer, was last seen Oct. 31 when she had three appointments for Auto Trader Magazine, taking pictures of cars for sale. One stop was at the Avery salvage yard near Mishicot in Manitowoc County.

Avery, 43, has said Halbach took pictures of a minivan the family had for sale and left, apparently driving toward the Interstate. Halbach's family didn't hear from her for days, became alarmed and reported her missing Nov. 3.

Since her car was found, investigators have searched the 40-acre lot and the family's residences, seizing Avery's car and the salvage yard's flatbed truck. More than 100 volunteers have helped in the search.

Avery, who lives in the trailer near the salvage yard, was imprisoned in 1985 after a jury convicted him of sexual assault and a judge sentenced him to 32 years. He was freed after a law school group convinced a judge to allow new DNA testing, which linked the crime to another man already in prison for another sexual assault.

Halbach's brother, Mike Halbach, said the family was disappointed and worried to hear investigators may have found evidence of human remains.

"We are definitely hopeful still," he said. "At the same time we understand the reality of the situation. As they find more evidence, our opinion of what happened is slowly changing."

He said his family considered Avery's arrest unrelated to his sister's disappearance, and that ordering DNA tests for the Avery family was logical because her vehicle was found on their property.

About 60 people continued to search Wednesday. Halbach said Pagel told them to search within about a half mile of the Avery salvage yard.
Mark Hames/Charlotte Observer/TNS Justice Crawford (violin) and Nathaniel Nitkin (cello), students from low-income homes, picked up instruments through a Charlotte Symphony Orchestra program at Winterfield Elementary in Charlotte, N.C.. They became so proficient that they passed auditions to the Northwest School of the Arts.

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By Lawrence Toppman

CHARLOTTE, N.C.  Sometimes you grab a cello, only to realize it has grabbed you back. Sometimes you pick up a violin and find it has picked you up out of your old life and shown you a new one. Justice Crawford and Nathaniel Nitkin have begun to figure this out.

They're sixth-graders at Northwest School of the Arts, the first young musicians to move to that public magnet school out of a long-running experiment sponsored by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra at Winterfield Elementary.

For the past six years, the CSO has taught after-school classes to kids in grades two through five at the east Charlotte, N.C., location, where three-quarters of the students come from low-income homes.

Now, with a full-time CSO staffer assigned to oversee school programs, the symphony will crunch data to learn whether this training also does the nonmusical things it's meant to do: cut down on absences and behavioral infractions and improve study habits and grades.

That wasn't an issue for Justice and Nathaniel. The former was a schoolwide Math Bee winner at Winterfield, the latter a Chess Club competitor and artist. In their case, music had a different result: It enabled them to avoid middle schools their parents didn't want them to attend and launched them on a path that will provide a lifetime of pleasure and  who knows?  maybe a job in the arts.

"I would love to see him go on to play in an orchestra someday," says Endora Crawford, Justice's mom and a flutist herself. "But having him in a class where he flourishes, a class he enjoys  that makes the whole school day more attractive. That's the main thing right now."

"As he adds technical skills, he's showing more confidence all around," says Neil Nitkin, Nathaniel's dad and a former multi-instrumentalist. "He's better able to concentrate on what's in front of him, both the musical and nonmusical stuff. It makes a big difference."

That's the kind of talk Courtney Hollenbeck has hoped to hear since she founded her first music program at Winterfield in 2007. By the 2009-10 school year, she had bought 30 violins for beginners and asked the symphony for help.

"As a girl, I had lots of opportunities: sports, Girl Scouts, traveling on vacations with my family. My students didn't always have that," she said.

Rosemary Furniss, wife of CSO music director Christopher Warren-Green and an accomplished violinist, led a cadre of teachers who came to Winterfield to teach after classes were over for the day. The school now offers instrumental training in strings, wind and brass, as well as a "bucket band" where kids practice percussion with drumsticks and empty 5-gallon paint buckets.

REVOLUTION BEGINS

The goals were simple, yet profound:

 Teach kids to take responsibility for something of value. (They are allowed to take smaller instruments home to practice.)

 Encourage cooperation by placing them among children they might not otherwise know.

 Teach practice habits that become valuable study habits in other subjects.

 Expose them to arts experiences they might not get any other way.

Attendance has fluctuated over the years.

"Winterfield has a transient population, and we struggle with that," he says. "Not a lot of kids go there for four straight years. But this year, we're working with 82 to 84 students, we have a school programs manager on our staff"  new hire Phoebe Lustig  "and we are gathering data to find out how the musical group compares with (the school as a whole).

"We look at the musical component, but it's also about the community component. It's about getting parents who may never have come to the school before to participate in the process."

Adds Lustig, "The goal for elementary kids is getting them involved in music for however long they have, even if it's just for a few weeks. One child came for a short time and had to leave because the family got deported."

GEMS IN THE ROUGH

Erica Hefner, who teaches Justice and Nathaniel in her sixth-grade string class at NWSA, says she sees Winterfield as a potential pipeline for her school.

A visit to her class revealed the kind of chaos and concentration that happens when a roomful of 11-year-olds prepares Christmas music. Yet neither seemed flustered. Nathaniel sat quietly, practicing a cello solo amid the hubbub. Justice, approached by a noisy pal, put up a hand solemnly as he worked out a passage.

Yet until recently, music was something both students found on YouTube, not something to play. Justice had never picked up a stringed instrument before coming to Winterfield two years ago, nor had Nathaniel before joining the music program a year before that.

"When I started, it looked easy, but I knew it would get tougher and tougher," says Nathaniel. "Practicing is a pleasure: I'm always trying to get a song perfect, plus working on my keyboard. It's a big step for me, going to a school where almost everything you do is (related to) the arts."
SHARE Facebook photo Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, left, and Steve Belding of Oak Ridge stand together during the show.

By Maggie Jones of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Steve Belding of Oak Ridge has won more than $50,000 on "Jeopardy" and will compete for the fourth night in a row at 7:30 p.m. Friday night on WBIR.

Belding, an engineer, has won $58,801 so far, according to "Jeopardy's" website. He appeared on the popular trivia competition show for the first time on Tuesday and amassed $24,401. He won $24,001 on Wednesday and $10,399 on Thursday.

A longtime fan of the show, Belding traveled to Los Angeles on Dec. 8-9, 2015, for a taping, according to release from AECOM and its legacy companies, where he has worked for more than 23 years.

He took the Jeopardy online test many times. In March 2014, he attended a live audition in a hotel ballroom in Raleigh, N.C., where he and 30 other potential contestants took a 50-question practice test, participated in practice games and interviews and received advice from the shows contestant coordinators, the release said.

Those who went to the audition were told they would be in the shows contestant pool for around a year and a half. Belding thought his chance was over after he didnt hear anything in that time frame, but he received a call in November 2015 inviting him to attend the December taping.

It all went so fast, said Belding in the AECOM release. I was nervous, but I didnt embarrass myself. I had a fantastic experience taping the show, meeting Alex Trebek, meeting and competing against my fellow contestants, and especially working with the wonderful crew and contestant coordinators. My bucket list is now one item shorter.

Friday night, Belding will face off against Ava Hadaway, a chemistry tutor from Hayward, Calif., and Adam Hoskins, an attorney from Columbia, Mo., the website said.
SHARE Constantine D. Christodoulou

By Don Jacobs of the Knoxville News Sentinel

KNOXVILLE  The former treasurer of St. George Greek Orthodox Church this month will enter a Knox County jail to begin serving one year of a 10-year split sentence for the theft of more than $400,000 from church coffers.

on Friday pleaded guilty to stealing more than $400,000 from the church and agreed to a 10-year sentence.

Constantine D. Christodoulou, 48, of Knoxville, will serve one year in jail and nine years on state-supervised probation, according to Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen.

Christodoulou is scheduled to surrender Jan. 22 to begin serving his sentence.

Christodoulou appeared Friday morning with his attorney, Mike Whalen, before Criminal Court Judge Bob McGee and agreed to be charged through an information and waived his right to be tried only by indictment issued by a grand jury.

Christodoulou between Dec. 30, 2010, and Feb. 21, 2015, "wrote checks to himself from church accounts that were not authorized by church officials," Allen stated in a news release. He placed the money into "business and personal accounts," Allen said.

Allen placed the total theft at $415,950. Christodoulou has repaid $145,000 of the pilfered money, Allen said, and the church's insurance company paid out $50,000 on the claim.

Allen said the church spent $3,725 internally investigating the theft.

Allen said Christodoulou has agreed to pay another $224,675 in restitution to repay the stolen funds.

"Under the terms of this agreement, we made sure Christodoulou will serve time in custody for his crime and will be supervised upon his release," Allen said.

"Most importantly, we have retained jurisdiction over the case to make sure Christodoulou pays his restitution and the church is made whole."

Christodoulou's probation means officials will have legal control over him to be sure he repays the embezzled money.

The Rev. Anthony Stratis announced the theft in a Feb. 26, 2015, letter to the church membership. Stratis said in the letter that Christodoulou would repay the stolen money.

The theft left the church will with less than $2,000 in its bank accounts, prompting church leaders to approve obtaining a $150,000 loan to stabilize finances.

More details as they develop online and in Saturday's News Sentinel.
By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Weeks before a 3-year-old boy died from a traumatic brain injury suffered while in the care of Campbell County school shooter Kenneth Bartley, he suffered a broken wrist and fractures to his spine and sternum in what a child abuse expert concluded was no accident, records show.

Beckett Josef Podomonick died in May, two days after he suffered massive injuries including a fractured skull and a set of previously undisclosed head injuries deemed consistent with being struck by an object while in Bartley's care. Bartley was living with Beckett's mother, Erin Tepaske, in her Vienna, Va., home at the time.

Bartley had been freed from prison in 2014 thanks to a favorable jury verdict in the shooting death nine years earlier of an administrator in the office of the Campbell County Comprehensive High School when he was 14. He immediately ran into trouble for assaulting his parents in two separate instances.

Tepaske, a counselor by trade, had promised in February 2015 she would take the troubled 23-year-old under her wing and get him mental health and substance abuse treatment in lieu of a jail sentence for violating probation in those cases. Records obtained by the News Sentinel show the pair were involved in a sexual relationship.

Beckett died three months later. Tepaske said she left the boy with Bartley to go for a hike on Mother's Day. Bartley said he and Beckett were in the backyard "looking for deer" when the boy ran up three steps and tugged on the back door, which Bartley said was locked, according to the new records. He insisted the toddler fell backward onto gravel.

Virginia medical examiners aren't sold on the story of an accidental fall, but they've declined to label it a homicide. The Fairfax County Child Protective Services has deemed Beckett a child abuse victim. CPS Investigator Lisa Alexander relied in large part on the analysis by Dr. William E. Hauda II, medical director for the Inova Ewing Forensic Assessment and Consultation Team Department. Hauda and the team are child abuse experts.

The News Sentinel obtained a copy of Hauda's findings. He concluded that the accidental fall claim was suspect and that Beckett weeks earlier suffered injuries for which his mother could offer no viable explanation and that were consistent with abuse. Those injuries included a broken wrist and myriad fractures to his spine and sternum.

Hauda opined that while a fall down three steps might explain the skull fracture and part of the bruising on Beckett's head, further examination revealed a separate set of injuries to his scalp for which the fall story could not account.

"The regularity and grouping (of that set of injuries) suggest injury from an object or device," his report stated. "A simple fall as described does not commonly cause such a severe injury."

X-rays also revealed the fractures, which were in the healing stage, likely occurred at the same time, were "uncommon in young children" and could have resulted from Beckett "being thrown in a nonaccidental fashion," Hauda wrote.

"It was not possible to definitely date the fractures, but they were at least a couple of weeks old and may have been several weeks old," Hauda wrote.

Tepaske, who has refused to comment, gave differing accounts for how those injuries might have occurred. She suggested the spinal and sternum fractures were caused by too-tight harness straps on his car seat. She bolstered the claim with a snapshot of an online chat she had on the website my.justanswer.com with a doctor from India identified as Dr. Gaurav Sawhney, who concluded her theory was "entirely possible."

Hauda disagreed.

"It appears based upon these communications Dr. Sawhney did not actually review the images but only reviewed the radiologists' reports," he wrote. "I have found no evidence to suggest that this mechanism is even possible."

Other explanations Tepaske offered to CPS investigators included Beckett fell "once off the counter in the kitchen and he fell backward from a book shelf in the basement" when no one was around and "he fell once and hurt his wrist," according to interview notes obtained by the News Sentinel. She said he didn't appear to suffer from those falls nor did she take him for treatment.

Hauda was suspicious of Tepaske's claim Beckett never seemed to be in pain, particularly with the wrist fracture.

"(It) would cause persistent pain in the forearm and he would not use the arm normally for some time after the injury," Hauda wrote. "Over the succeeding several hours or days, he may begin to use the arm and hand more normally, but he would still have pain upon use of the arm or if a caregiver (touched) or pulled on the forearm. It would take several days for the injury to heal so that Beckett would have no further pain."

Hauda ultimately rejected the notion any of Beckett's injuries, including the fatal ones, were accidental.

"In summary, Beckett had multiple occult fractures without any accidental explanation," he wrote. "His head injury was more severe than expected from a fall and had wounds on his scalp which would not be expected based upon the description of the injury. These clinical findings were highly concerning for nonaccidental injury."

The documents obtained by the News Sentinel also shed more light on Bartley's account of the events surrounding the fall. He said he saw Beckett fall, and the boy "started to cry and have trouble standing."

"(Bartley) carried him to the front of the house and inside," notes from an interview showed. "At this point, Beckett was losing consciousness so (Bartley) carried him up the stairs, took his clothes off in the hallway and put him into the bathtub in order to revive him."

He called Tepaske, who told him to call 911.

All the information obtained by the newspaper was provided to detectives with the Vienna Police Department, according to the notes. A Vienna police spokesman has not returned repeated phone calls about the status of the case.

Beckett's father, Matthew Podominick, said Tepaske never told him of any falls or injuries suffered by Beckett. Podomonick and Tepaske never married, and records described their relationship as "off and on again." Podominick regularly visited the boy and provided financial support for him but lives in Chattanooga.

He said Tepaske lied to him about Bartley, saying she was merely taking him to a residential treatment facility, not moving him into her home. He provided the News Sentinel with a text message sent when Bartley was released into custody in Campbell County. It read, "Me and his father are planning on driving him to a long-term care facility out of state. It's the best option for him right now."

Bartley's Campbell County probation officer balked at Bartley's release into Tepaske's custody during the February hearing, testifying she believed Tepaske once had a sexual relationship with Bartley's father. She later said she believed Tepaske was involved sexually with Bartley as well.

Tepaske first met Bartley when he was sent to a mental health facility where she worked as an unlicensed counselor. He was 11. When he was charged in the school shooting, Tepaske took a job at the juvenile detention facility where he was housed and again began working with him. She testified at the February hearing she grew so close to the Bartley family she visited them and stayed with Bartley after his release from prison while his father underwent surgery.

Tepaske, records show, reached out to Bartley's attorney, Gregory P. Isaacs, with a plan to avoid jail in the probation case.

Podominick has grown increasingly suspicious as he's learned more about his son's injuries and told the News Sentinel this week "it is obvious to me and everyone else that it was either Kenny Bartley or Erin Tepaske or both" who are responsible for his son's death. He said Vienna detectives have told him their probe is "open yet stalled."

This week, he has sent a letter to Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe asking the governor to enlist the Virginia State Police to investigate his son's death, noting the Tepaske family has ties to a state senator. He also has penned a letter to Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam in which he asks the state to extradite Bartley back to Campbell County on an outstanding probation violation warrant.

That charge was filed  but never entered in the National Crime Information Center fugitive database  a month before Beckett's death after a monitoring device signaled Bartley was drinking in violation of the terms of his probation. Bartley is accused of removing the device after Beckett's death. He left Vienna but, according to records, returned and was staying with Tepaske. She confirmed that to authorities, although she insisted he had plans to rent a home.

Technically, Bartley remains a fugitive, although Campbell County authorities have said the state won't extradite him because his violation charge is only a misdemeanor. No law in Tennessee bars extradition in misdemeanor cases, but the state must authorize any extradition request and typically won't do so in misdemeanor cases because of the expense.

"Doing nothing is not the answer," Podomonick said when asked why he is soliciting the two governors' help. "I have to continue to apply pressure to the investigators, and I feel going to a higher level of authority  could put more pressure on the local police to get justice. Somebody has to speak for Beckett, who was a helpless, defenseless, abused child."

See also:

Mom a reluctant witness in school shooter's assault case

Bartley pleads guilty to assault, granted probation

3-year-old boy living with school shooter Kenneth Bartley dies

Campbell County school shooter questioned by police in death of Virginia toddler

Father glad for police probe of school shooter's story in death of his son

Bartley no longer living with counselor

Kenneth Bartley still on the run; warrant issued for his arrest

Probation officer files loaded' warrant against Bartley

Bartley's fugitive status, alleged Facebook taunt draw a yawn from authorities

Judge: Kenneth Bartley a ticking time bomb'

Anderson Co. drops robbery charge against Kenneth Bartley

Kenneth Bartley ID'd as Anderson County robbery suspect, found in Virginia

3-year-old boy in Bartley's care died of blunt head trauma'

Records: Boy who died in Kenneth Bartleys care deemed abuse victim
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By News Sentinel Staff

KNOXVILLE  Police are investigating a shooting in the Fort Sanders neighborhood where one man was sent to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday, Knoxville police responded to a call at 1402 Highland Ave. When officers arrived a man told them he had been "assaulted and possibly shot," according to Sgt. Brian Bumpus of the Knoxville police.

Officers determined that the man was shot in the upper back, and he was transported to University of Tennessee Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.

Police did not identify the victim, but said he is not a UT student. The investigation is ongoing.

More details as they develop online and in Friday's News Sentinel.
Anna M. King

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By Mamie Kuykendall of the Knoxville News Sentinel

A Bean Station gunshot victim is in critical condition after being wounded in the upper left side Wednesday night, according to the police department.

Police found the victim of the 8:20 p.m. shooting at 120 Bluff Village Road. The victim was later airlifted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, according to authorities.

Though no arrests have been made, police have identified a person of interest, according to police.

Neither the victim nor suspect has been identified.

More details as they develop online and in the News Sentinel.
Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, left, leads a Knox County Emergency Communications District board meeting after he was elected chairman Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, at the E911 Center. With Burchett is new board member Juanita Walls, center, and Executive Director Bob Coker. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

SHARE Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett leads a Knox County Emergency Communications District board meeting after he was elected chairman Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, at the E911 Center. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Don Jacobs of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Despite two previous failed attempts, Knox County Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones on Thursday again tried to get the Knox County E-911 board of directors to join a regional radio system in Chattanooga.

But he tossed in a twist on his third try in an effort to overcome the perceived drawback of surrendering control of Knox County emergency communications to Chattanooga.

Jones said he is proposing Knoxville become "another Chattanooga" in the regional system by buying a "master controller" for Knox County's radio center. A master controller determines which radios have priority access to available broadcasting bandwidth. That would be an important factor in the event of a widespread emergency such as a paralyzing winter storm or series of tornadoes.

A regional emergency communications system serving Northern Georgia and the Chattanooga area was launched in 2010 using state and federal grants. The Tennessee Valley Regional Communications System was not let for bids, but used the existing statewide Motorola Solutions radio contract to buy equipment and radios.

Several East Tennessee emergency providers, including the Blount County Sheriff's Office, have since opted to join the TVRCS rather than buy and maintain their own radio systems.

"I want the best system to speak to all the other agencies in the area," Jones said after the meeting.

"I understand that with the TVRCS, we can talk to the other agencies with the flip of a switch. With P-25 on the Harris system, it can take 10 minutes to reset the radio for that, and by then the event could be over."

P-25 is the national standard adopted by emergency providers that allows all emergency workers  no matter their brand of radio or type of radio system  to talk with each other.

Jones' summation, however, is contradicted by a $40,000 study the board of directors commissioned last year to review the TVRCS and the $8.9 million Harris Corp. radio system that was deemed the winning bid by the board's evaluation committee.

The Blue Wing study concluded the Harris proposal offered more control of the radio system and was less expensive over the life of the equipment than joining the TVRCS.

"Further, any Knox County P25 radio can also be activated on TVRCS, which would allow a radio user to travel outside the County, communicate with other TVRCS system users, and Knox County Dispatch," the report states.

"The only requirement the radio user would have is to switch his/her radio to the TVRCS zone for access to the regional system."

Blue Wing noted Knox County E-911 already is on the TVRCS system and Harris radios would work on the regional system.

The board, however, has repeatedly refused to accept the Harris contract. The board also refused in November to act on Jones' two motions to reject the findings of the Blue Wing report and join the Motorola-powered TVRCS.

The board on Thursday, without a vote, directed Knox County Purchasing Director Hugh Holt to assess the costs involved in buying equipment and a master controller to join the TVRCS. Holt said because the Blue Wing report had covered most of those costs  but not a master controller  he would have the figures for the board's April 20 meeting.

The board launched a search for a new digital emergency radio system in 2013. The existing Motorola radio system was installed in 1985 and is outdated and hard to maintain because of a lack of spare parts.

The board appointed Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett the new chairman at the Thursday meeting. Previous chairwoman Linda Murawski had declined a second appointment to the board.

The board also seated its newest member, Juanita Walls, who serves as a citizen representative on the eleven-person board. Walls said Burchett's office contacted her about accepting the position.

Walls is a retired FBI agent who founded Security Walls, LLC in 2003. The company provides armed guards for government agencies nationwide and conducts background checks for companies.
By Gerald Witt of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Tennessee state Sen. Frank Niceley said he plans to propose a bill in the upcoming General Assembly that would allow localities to elect their own school superintendents.

The 8th District senator serves Claiborne, Grainger, Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson and Union counties, but he said the recent tumult in Knox County's superintendent's office could have been avoided with an elected administrator.

This week Knox County Schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre said he would agree to step down with one year of severance pay ahead of an election expected to place a majority on the school board who would be critical of him.

The proposal to elect a superintendent would come with caveats, according to Niceley. The bill would require a two-thirds majority by a county commission to put a referendum on local ballots for a superintendent vote. And the bill would only apply to counties that previously had elected superintendents before state education reforms made them appointees of the local school board.

Niceley said the bill will mandate a master's degree and other higher standards for superintendent candidates. Additionally, he said, electing a superintendent would avoid severance payouts. The voters simply don't re-elect that individual.

A similar piece of legislation Niceley backed last year died in the Senate Education Committee. If his upcoming proposal makes it further, and to Gov. Bill Haslam's desk, Niceley doesn't expect it to carry through.

"The governor doesn't like it," Niceley said. "He subscribes to the chamber of commerce model ... he likes the business model where the board of directors picks the CEO."

In Knox County, Allen Morgan was the last elected superintendent. He took office in 1992. In 1996 when the state law changed to school board appointees, Morgan was hired by the school board and remained superintendent until 1998 when he stepped down to take a job at Clayton Homes.

The board then hired Charles Lindsey, who served from July 1999 until February 2007, followed by McIntyre.

McIntyre was hired under a school board that largely supported him, but recent elections have eroded that base to a school board that recently passed his contract renewal with a 5-4 vote.

When Knox County Board of Education Chairman Doug Harris steps down this year and is replaced in an election by unopposed Tony Norman  a noted critic of McIntyre  the school board will have a majority critical of the superintendent.

Harris opposes the concept of an elected superintendent.

"The job of superintendent is probably the most complex and tough job in the entire city of Knoxville," Harris said. "To leave that decision up to people that would possibly have the choice between people who would have no qualifications at all  it would be a disaster for Tennessee."

School board member Mike McMillan, the past chairman, is in favor of locally elected superintendents. If Niceley can get the bill through the Legislature, he expects Knox County residents would approve it locally, McMillan said.

"I know there are some people who are adamantly opposed to it, and say it would be a step in the wrong direction," he said. "What you got now, you've got five people controlling what goes on and who makes the rules."

According to Knox County Commission Chairman Dave Wright, voting for the superintendent already happens in a tangential way. Residents elect school board members who then hire or terminate a school administrator. He agreed that as attitudes of people in a locality change, so does the school board's makeup.

"The electorate is electing a board of education of the flavor that it wants," Wright said. "It's taken awhile for the electorate to get through the rotation."

Whether the superintendent is elected or chosen by an elected school board is "six of one, half-dozen of the other," Wright said.

He didn't say whether he prefers an elected or school board-appointed superintendent.

"The electorate ought to have a choice to choose whether they want to elect (a superintendent) or not," Wright said.
The board that oversees health benefits for state workers plans to vote next month on a move toward self-insurance.

After a special meeting Thursday to discuss the issue, the Group Insurance Board, largely controlled by the governor, is set to vote Feb. 17 on whether to issue requests for proposals from companies that would assist the state in self-insuring workers, on a regional or statewide basis, starting in 2018.

Such proposals would give the board better information on whether the move would be good for workers and taxpayers, said Jon Litscher, board chairman.

Currently, we dont have hard data to make a final choice, Litscher said.

The state could save $42 million a year by self-insuring state workers instead of buying insurance from 17 HMOs, Segal Consulting said in a report to the board in November.

The state would pay benefits directly and assume the risk for large claims, likely hiring one or more insurance companies to administer the program.

Previous consultant reports have said self-insurance could save $20 million a year or cost $100 million a year.

Separately, the board is considering another recommendation by Segal to offer no more than two health plans in each of three regions, plus one statewide plan. That move, which would involve no more than seven HMOs, could save $45 million to $70 million a year, Segal said.

The Wisconsin Association of Health Plans, which represents 12 of the 17 HMOs in the current program, said the moves would disrupt the states competitive health insurance market, reduce access for patients and increase risk and costs to the state.

Legislators and state worker unions have also expressed concerns, in part about the impact on the states health care system overall.

In December, Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill giving the Legislatures Joint Finance Committee oversight of any contract for self-insurance. Walker had opposed a broader version of the bill.

Nearly 250,000 state workers and family members are covered by the $1.4 billion health benefits program.

Nearly 100,000 of them are in Dane County, where Dean Health Plan, Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, Physicians Plus and Unity compete for their business.

Twenty states self-insure all state employees, and an additional 26 states self-insure some of their workers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Wisconsin self-insures less than 5 percent of state workers, through a plan outside of the 17 HMOs administered by Monona-based WPS Health Insurance.

Ken Vieira, a consultant from Segal, told the board that Wisconsin should join most states in self-insuring most of its workers.

It seems very practical that you would go that route, he said.

But board member Michael Heifetz, referring to Wisconsins unusual predominance of regional health systems and provider-owned health plans, said: Our market is vastly different than other markets.

Segals report in November said self-insurance would let the state avoid $18 million in Affordable Care Act fees, cut $11 million in administrative costs and eliminate $11 million in insurance company profits, among other savings.

The move would also give the state more control over benefits, which would help it avoid the health laws planned Cadillac tax on rich benefit programs, Segal said.

To prepare for unexpected claims, the state would need to increase its cash reserves, Segal said.

But the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans noted that in December Congress suspended the Affordable Care Act fees for 2017 and delayed the Cadillac tax from 2018 to 2020.

Is it responsible to increase the states costs and create new financial risks for projected savings that now are much smaller than previously estimated and, in the long run, may not materialize? the groups CEO, Nancy Wenzel, asked in a letter to the state in advance of Thursdays meeting.

Segal said the state could save $45 million to $70 million a year through regional consolidation of health plan contracts by maximizing gains in pricing and provider discounts.

Wenzel said the regions proposed dont match provider delivery systems and referral patterns, however, and the resulting disruption would increase costs and harm patient access.

Meanwhile, the board is also considering changes in pharmacy benefits and wellness programs, along with restructuring the cost tiers for health plans.

Last year, it doubled most out-of-pocket costs for medical services this year, though premiums are down slightly.

The 11-member board includes the governor, the attorney general and three state administrators, or their designees, plus six members appointed by the governor.
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The Tennessee Higher Education Commission is requesting more funding for a proven program that trains students for the high-tech jobs coming to the state, especially those that might be difficult to fill. THEC is asking legislators to expand a $10 million grant program to pair employers with colleges and develop programs to meet the needs of local job markets, including the state's auto supply and other hard-to-fill jobs.

The Labor Education Alignment Program, which provided grant funding to a dozen coalitions in 2014, showed "major growth and success in just the first year of implementation," according to a report released by THEC at the end of 2015 and reported by the Tennessean.

The success of the program thus far justifies continuation and expansion. So does the fact that the program fits well with Gov. Bill Haslam's Drive to 55 initiative to boost the state's post-secondary education level to 55 percent by 2025.

The grant helped 1,591 high school students taking dual enrollment classes. The funding also paid for instructors and equipment to aid 630 students in community or technical college programs and helped 13,363 students who took part in extracurricular activities such as internships, clubs or other training.

The LEAP effort involved students in 51 of the state's 95 counties. THEC wants to increase the number of grants and expand the program into other counties, keeping Tennessee competitive in the national labor market.

The program was started after complaints from manufacturers who said they couldn't find workers with enough experience to fill high-tech jobs, such as those in automobile assembly and parts plants. Mike Krause, executive director of the governor's Drive to 55 initiative, said LEAP offers a different education model because it seeks input from business leaders on the front end to ensure the program works to meet their needs.

State Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville, who sponsored the LEAP legislation three years ago, appears amenable to proposing extra funding. Since he is the Senate majority leader, his influence will be vital.

Meanwhile, another aspect of the governor's Drive to 55 campaign is getting a boost. That is Tennessee's Reconnect and Complete initiative, a move to encourage adults who dropped out of college to return and earn a degree, perhaps helping them hold a difficult-to-fill job. An advertising campaign is beginning this month to reach an estimated 110,000 Tennesseans between the ages of 25 and 64 who quit college after 2007 and were more than halfway toward completing their degree at the time they left.

Haslam said reaching the adults who might qualify for the program is no small task. He asked, "How do we get the 40-year-old single mother of two back to school?" It is a problem the advertising campaign and college outreach programs can resolve more than legislation at this point.

LEAP, on the other hand, can benefit from legislation expanding and funding its efforts to connect students and jobs. In fact, Tennessee's stake in the nation's high-tech employment future depends on it.
This house located on Herman Street is where a home invasion happened after midnight, Jan. 8, 2016 in Nashville, Tenn. A 16-year-old was shot twice in the head and is in critical condition.

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By Adam Tamburin, The Tennessean

Police believe the overnight shooting that critically wounded a 16-year-old boy in his home Friday was the result of a botched robbery.

Metro Captain Christopher Gilder said two men in masks and black hoodies approached a woman as she returned to her home on Herman Street around 12:30 a.m. She ran inside to scream for help, and in the chaos her 16-year-old brother came out of his bedroom.

He was running back into his room to hide when one of the men shot him in the back of the head, according to investigators. The teen was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he remains in critical condition.

Continue reading at The Tennessean.
9:58 a.m., January 8, 2016

Proposals being accepted to operate Smokemont Riding Stable Concession









Smokemont Riding Stables, Great Smoky Mountains National Park ATLANTA - The Southeast Region of the National Park Service (NPS) is accepting proposals for the award of a concession contract to operate Smokemont Riding Stables which is located in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The new concession contract is expected to begin on January 1, 2017 and will be awarded for a ten year term.



Services required under the new contract include guided horseback rides, wagon and/or carriage rides along with vending and firewood, ice and souvenirs sales. Smokemont is located on Newfound Gap Road approximately 6 miles north of Cherokee, North Carolina.



The current contract holder, Elizabeth Burns Cooks, has been operating the stable since 2008. That contract will expire on December 31, 2016.



Proposals must be received by the Chief of Commercial Services, Southeast Region, National Park Service, 100 Alabama St, SW, Bldg 1924, Atlanta, GA, 30303 by 4:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, March 23, 2016, in order to be evaluated and considered for award of the Concession Contract.



The prospectus is available at www.concessions.nps.gov. Hard copies will be available upon request for a printing cost recovery charge. The fee is $50.00 per copy to be delivered via Federal Express or $45.00 per copy if picked up in person. Persons interested in obtaining a prospectus can submit payment by mail or in person via a check or money order made payable to the NPS. Cash will not be accepted. You must include a business address (no post office box) and telephone number to receive a Federal Express package. For personal pick up please contact Molly Schroer, Concessions Specialist, Great Smoky Mountains National Park at 865-436-1209 or Bill Stevens, Chief of Commercial Services, Southeast Region, NPS, in Atlanta at 404-507-5636 prior to arrival.



If you download a prospectus from the website, please advise Bill Stevens, Chief of Commercial Services, at 404-507-5636 of your contact information in order to receive future responses to questions or amendments to the prospectus. Those requesting a hard copy or who have been placed on the mailing list will be provided with any additional information specific to the prospectus in writing. Information relative to the solicitation will also be posted at www.concessions.nps.gov.

Published January 8, 2016










By Choi Sung-jin



While domestic shipbuilders recorded one of their worst performances last year because of failures in the offshore plant business, they also suffered a dearth of new orders, darkening the outlook for years to come, industry sources say.



According to Clarksons, a British agency analyzing the shipping and shipbuilding industry, Korean shipyards received orders totaling 10.15 million CGT (compensated gross tonnage) last year, 100,000 fewer than the 10.25 million recorded by their Chinese competitors. Japan came third with 9.14 million.



Korea reduced the gap with China, which has topped the order-receiving list since 2012. In the second half of last year, however, the difference was shocking: Korean berths managed to win 3.43 million CGT in the Jan.-June period, less than half of China's 6.92 million and even lagged Japan's 4.24 million.



"In the first six months of 2015, Korea's order receipts almost doubled those of China but the table completely turned around in the latter half-year," said a shipbuilding industry executive. "The three largest domestic shipyards, discouraged by massive losses, seemed to be less than eager to win new orders."



Also, Chinese companies began to gain ground in the high value-added shipbuilding market, such as very large crude and container carriers (VLCCs), which had been all but monopolized by Korean shipyards. Japan also increased its share in the VLCC market from 16.5 percent in 2013 to 27.1 percent last year.



All this explains why the combined losses of Korea's big-three shipyards amounted to a record 8 trillion won ($6.6 billion) last year, sources said. The loss in 2014 was 2 trillion won. Smaller shipbuilders, such as Hanjin Heavy Industries, STX and SPP, are barely staying afloat with financial support from the government or state-run banks.



"Korean shipbuilders, who have handed over their market-leading status to their Chinese rivals, received a double punch from the industry slump," said the executive. "It will be difficult for them to get out of the crisis easily, as new orders are unlikely to increase this year, too."




By Choi Sung-jin

Foreigners made commitments of direct investments worth 23.8 trillion won in Korea last year, exceeding $20 billion for the first time (at last year's exchange rate), officials said.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, foreign direct investments reported to it totaled $20.91 billion last year, up 10 percent from 2014, to hit its highest level. The actual arrival of money also broke the annual record with $15.95 billion.

G2  the United States and China  took the lead in making direct investment in Korea. U.S. investors made investments of $5.48 billion, up 51.8 percent from 2014. Their Chinese counterparts made investments worth $1.98 billion, an increase of 66.3 percent. Middle East investors recorded a hefty 514.1 percent increase in direct investment, thanks mainly to Dubai Investment Agency's takeover of Ssangyong Construction. On the other hand, European and Japanese investment plunged sharply, by 61.6 percent and 33.1 percent, respectively, the ministry said.












By Lee Hyo-sik





POSCO Chairman

Kwon Oh-joon

POSCO and its affiliates, including Daewoo International, have been struggling to push ahead with their business projects in Saudi Arabia, Iran and other Middle Eastern nations amid deteriorating economic conditions in the region.

Besides falling crude oil prices, the escalating tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran has made matters worse for the world's fourth-largest steelmaker, which may force it to choose one nation over the other should bad go to worse, according to industry analysts.

POSCO, headed by Chairman Kwon Oh-joon, is currently seeking to export its FINEX technology to Iran, while Daewoo International, its trading and resources development arm has been trying to establish a joint car plant with the Saudi government.

POSCO Engineering & Construction (E&C) plans to set up a construction firm jointly with Saudi's sovereign wealth fund. But the project has remained in the doldrums because of Saudi's worsening economy.

"After the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia purchased a 38 percent stake in POSCO E&C for $1 billion last year, POSCO has been exploring a range of business opportunities there," said an analyst at one of Korea's major business associations, who declined to be named. "But things have not proceeded smoothly amid plunging oil prices and the escalating geopolitical tension."

The analyst said it would take longer than initially expected for POSCO and its affiliates to see their investments payoff in the Middle East.

"Saudi Arabia is suffering from massive fiscal deficits, hit hard by falling crude prices. Iran has been emerging at a slower pace than expected from the years-long economic sanctions imposed on it by the United States and other Western countries," he said. "The escalating conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran will make things much more difficult for POSCO to find new business opportunities in the increasingly unstable region."

Reflecting the steelmaker's difficulties in the Middle East, POSCO Chairman Kwon said Wednesday that the global business environment will likely deteriorate in 2016.

"We will have to wait and see," Kwon said, when asked about POSCO's business prospects in Saudi Arabia and Iran, indicating that things have not moved as the firm had planned.

A company spokesman said nothing has been decided yet as to whether it will export FINEX technology to Iran.

"We are talking with the Iranian government to help it construct the FINEX steel mill, capable of producing 20 million tons of steel annually. But the project is still in its early stages. The economic sanctions imposed on Iran have not been completely lifted," he said.

The FINEX technology is said to allow the direct use of cheap iron ore fines and non-coking coal as feedstock, resulting in significantly lower operating costs and lower emissions than a blast furnace process.

POSCO E&C's plan to set up a joint venture with PIF has not moved forward either, given the fund's deteriorating financial health.

"We opened an office in Saudi Arabia to establish a joint construction firm with the Saudi fund," a POSCO E&C spokesman said. "We are moving as planned but there isn't much we want to share with the press at the moment."

Daewoo International is also having difficulties in setting up a joint carmaker with the Saudi government as it is taking much longer than expected to recruit auto parts suppliers and other entities that offer components and technologies needed to produce vehicles.

"We are now fine-tuning terms of the contract with our Saudi counterparts. We will soon be able to sign a contract to begin the project," a Daewoo International official said. "Daewoo will have a 15 percent stake in the envisioned carmaker. We are also talking with engine and other auto parts makers to have them join the project."

But it may take many years for the planned plant to be built and start producing vehicles, mostly compact sedans, the analyst said.
By Lee Hyo-sik



Hyundai Motor saw its domestic market share fall below 40 percent in 2015 for the first time since 2000, as consumers purchase more import cars, from companies such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz. GM Korea, Renault Samsung Motor and Ssangyong Motor also increased their competitiveness in 2015 on the back of their many popular models.



The country's largest carmaker said Friday that its market share fell to 39 percent in 2015 from 41.3 percent a year earlier. The figure had reached as high as 49.1 percent in 2007 but has since faced a steady decline as more consumers opt to buy German- and Japanese-made vehicles.



The combined market share with its affiliate Kia Motors also dropped below 70 percent for the second consecutive year.



The two automakers accounted for 67.7 percent of the domestic market in 2015, down from 69.3 percent in 2014 when the figure fell below 70 percent for the first time since Hyundai acquired Kia in 1998.



The combined market share peaked at 76.8 percent in 2009 and has since declined over the past six years.



Industry analysts say that over the past few years Hyundai and Kia have been losing market share to BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and other foreign carmakers as the growing number of motorists seek to drive vehicles produced outside the country.



Foreign brands sold a combined 243,900 cars in 2015, up 24.2 percent from the previous year. BMW topped the list with 47,877, followed by Mercedes-Benz with 46,994, Volkswagen with 35,778 and Audi with 32,538.



In addition, Renault Samsung, GM Korea and Ssangyong Motor have fared well at the expense of their larger domestic rivals. Renault Samsung enjoyed brisk sales of its compact SUV QM3, while GM sold a record number of cars here thanks to the popular Impala sedan. Ssangyong also had a record year in 2015 as more people purchased its SUVs the Tivoli and Korando C.



However, Hyundai and Kia said they will make every effort to bolster their market shares this year.



They plan to introduce a wide range of new vehicles, including the Ioniq hybrid compact sedan and the new K7 mid-size sedan, and promote the EQ900, the first premium vehicle launched under the Genesis brand.



"We expect foreign brands will continue to pose a threat to us this year," a Hyundai Motor spokesman said. "However, we will introduce a series of new eco-friendly smart vehicles and promote the EQ900 premium sedan. We will secure larger market shares in 2016."



The world's fifth-largest carmaker by production, the Hyundai-Kia team 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.




Health benefit changes for more than 200,000 state workers and family members would have to be approved by the Legislatures Joint Finance committee, under a bill the budget panel passed unanimously Thursday.

Gov. Scott Walker plans to veto the bill, his spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said.

The move comes as the Group Insurance Board, a governor-controlled group that oversees the $1.5 billion state employee health benefit program, is poised to consider replacing a model involving 18 HMOs with self-insurance, in which the state would pay benefits directly.

The switch, expected to be discussed by the Group Insurance Board next month, could save the state $70 million or cost $100 million, consultants have said. It could harm the regional health care systems that own many of the HMOs, say critics and leaders of the Joint Finance Committee.

Walker vetoed a provision in the state budget this year that would have let a different legislative committee block or approve such a change.

The bill giving the Joint Finance Committee oversight is expected to be approved by the Legislature and go to Walkers desk.

My concern (is) the potential disruption to the private market, not just the state employee plan, said Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee.

Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, the other co-chair, said she wants to control state worker medical costs but is concerned about maintaining health care quality and access for everyone.

The idea of how this pool of employees, of 200,000-plus, can affect the whole marketplace statewide is significant, she said. Thats why we feel we have to have an oversight role.

The Wisconsin Association of Health Plans, which represents most of the HMOs insuring state workers, opposes self-insurance and supports the bill.

Self-insurance would eliminate health plan choices, disrupt doctor-patient relationships and destabilize the health insurance market, WAHP CEO Nancy Wenzel said in written testimony.

About 209,000 state workers and dependents, and about 40,000 local government workers and dependents, choose among the participating HMOs available in their areas.

Nearly 100,000 of the workers and dependents are in Dane County, where Dean Health Plan, Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, Physicians Plus and Unity compete for their business.

Under self-insurance, or self-funding, the state would pay benefits and assume the risk for big claims, likely hiring one or more private insurance companies to administer the program. Such firms could be from out of state.

Self-insurance could save $20 million, partly by avoiding fees from the Affordable Care Act, but could cost $100 million, according to reports in 2012 and 2013 by the consulting firm Deloitte.

Segal Consulting said this March the move could save $50 million to $70 million. Segal is expected to release a more detailed report at a Group Insurance Board meeting Nov. 17.

In May the board, acting on recommendations from Segal, doubled out-of-pocket costs for medical services for state workers next year, though their insurance premiums are going down slightly.

The 11-member board includes the governor, the attorney general and three state administrators, or their designees, plus six members appointed by the governor.

Walker vetoed a budget measure that would have required the six appointees to be approved by the state Senate. The measure also would have expanded the board to 15 members, including two appointed by the Senate and two by the Assembly.
By Yoon Ja-young



The privatization of Woori Bank is facing a deadlock again, as a potential buyer is making requests the government can't fulfill. The buyer requested that the government guarantee an investment return of over 15 percent. The bank's falling share price is adding to the troubles facing the government, which injected 12.8 trillion won in public funds to save the ailing bank in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.



According to a report by the daily newspaper Chosun Ilbo and other local media, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) requested that the government guarantee a 15 percent investment return in case they purchase a stake in the bank.



The government, which owns a 51 percent stake in Woori Bank through Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation, had attempted various times but failed to sell a controlling stake of the bank to a single bidder. Following that failure, last July the Public Fund Oversight Committee (PFOC), a deliberative body of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) in charge of privatizing Woori, decided that the bank should be sold to multiple buyers in smaller portions ranging from 4 percent to 10 percent.



It since then has been contacting the sovereign funds of Middle-Eastern countries, which are known as long-term investors in the Asian markets, looking to sell stakes between 15 and 18 percent.



The sovereign fund of the UAE, which has expressed interest in Woori Bank, however, demanded that they be guaranteed an investment return of at least 15 percent. As the government deemed the demand unacceptable, the sales plan fell in deadlock. According to sources, the government is suggesting that the Middle-Eastern sovereign fund participate in the bank's management, but an industry analyst said that funds from the region are likely to turn more passive due to falling global oil prices.



The FSC said that no details have been determined. "We have been negotiating with a number of sovereign funds from the Middle East over sales of Woori Bank," said an FSC official. "Regarding sales terms, however, nothing has been decided yet."



The government is expected to sustain huge losses from Woori Bank as its share price has already fallen steeply. It bought shares of Woori Bank at 13,500 won per share, but the price currently stands at around 8,500 won. This means the government will sustain over a 30 percent loss even if it sells its stake at the current price.




A North Korean guard post is seen from the South Korean-controlled Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at the western front in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. / Yonhap



By Jun Ji-hye

Calls are growing for a total overhaul of the Park Geun-hye government's inter-Korean policy in the wake of North Korea's defiant claim that it conducted a hydrogen bomb test Wednesday.

Observers and some politicians say the North's fourth nuclear test is shaking President Park's trust-building process, designed to gradually build trust with the North through small projects and eventually offer generous help to the authoritarian state if it abandons its nuclear weapons program.

Prior to its fourth test this week, the North conducted a third nuclear test just two weeks ahead of Park's inauguration in February 2013. Observers say Wednesday's test proved that Pyongyang is unwilling to work toward denuclearization despite three years of the Park administration's "trustpolitik" initiative.

The only notable achievement between the two Koreas under the Park administration was the resumption of reunions of separated families that took place twice in February 2014 and October 2015.

The six-party talks, aimed at denuclearizing the North, are still stalled, while the likelihood is mounting that the North is upgrading its nuclear technology day by day.

Politicians, especially from the ruling Saenuri Party, claim that a new approach to deal with the unpredictable state is needed at this stage, and this would include the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons to the South, which were withdrawn during the administration of George H.W. Bush in 1991.

Rep. Kim Jung-hoon who chairs the ruling party's policy committee said he completely agrees with the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but the peninsula is yet far from that goal so long as the North has no intention to give up its nuclear ambitions.












A K-9 self-propelled howitzer is transported on a truck through South Korea's western border city of Paju, north of Seoul, Friday. At noon that day, Seoul resumed anti-Pyongyang broadcasts along the heavily fortified border with North Korea in retaliation to the North's claimed H-bomb test two days earlier. / Yonhap



By Kang Seung-woo





Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping is under increasing pressure to exert influence over North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in order to keep the unpredictable leader from furthering his nuclear ambitions.

Although the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has slapped the repressive state with sanctions for conducting previous nuclear tests and pursuing missile programs, a lack of full support from Beijing led to loopholes in the punitive measures imposed that the North then exploited. China is one of the five UNSC permanent members.

However, with the international community and key neighboring countries across the region set to impose stricter sanctions, it remains to be seen if China will join the action to ensure that the North will pay the price, analysts said, Friday.

China is the repressive state's singular economic lifeline and political backer, so it has been reluctant to exert more influence over the ally because it could lead to the North's collapse and therefore further instability on its border.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday after talking with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that the North's latest nuclear test has proven that Beijing's approach to the North Korean nuclear issue "has not worked."

"Today, I talked with Foreign Minister Wang Yi at some length. We discussed various options and ways in which we should proceed forward. We agreed that there cannot be business as usual," Kerry told reporters in Washington.

"China had a particular approach that it wanted to make and we agreed and respectfully gave them the space to be able to implement that, but today in my conversation with the Chinese I made it very clear, that this has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual."

Donald Trump, the leading Republican presidential candidate, also called on China to solve the North Korea problem.












By Kim Se-jeong



The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) which swept Korea last year underwent a mutation not found in the strains of MERs samples collected in Saudi Arabia, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), Friday.



The mutation may have affected the virulence of the virus as it has shown different patterns of spreading and infection in Korea from those in Saudi Arabia, such as an unusually fast human-to-human transmission.



While investigators suspected a mutation at the time of the epidemic, health authorities denied it.



This is the first official confirmation of the mutation.



"Spike glycoprotein genes of the MERs virus strains from South Korea were closely related to those of strains from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, the virus strains from South Korea showed strain-specific variations," chief author Kim Dae-won reported in a journal published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month.



Spike glycoprotein, found on the surface of a virus, is believed to play a critical role in virus proliferation in human cells. Researchers of the KCDC analyzed spike glycoprotein genes from samples of eight patients here and compared them with those obtained in Saudi Arabia.



However, the research team said it cannot conclude that the mutation was responsible for the fast spread of infection, saying it needs more study.



A KCDC official said the center is conducting a separate test on MERS patients. "We're running gene sequencing on 32 patients, including five super spreaders. Today's finding is meaningful, but more research is needed to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the mutation and its effects on the epidemic."



An anonymous professor at Catholic University lauded the team's findings. "Not fully, but this finding can hint at why the MERS virus spread so fast and killed so many people in Korea."



The virus infected 186 people and killed 36 in the span of two months, with another two dying later. On Dec. 23, the government officially declared Korea to be free of the deadly respiratory disease.



One of the eight samples tested was that of the first patient, a 67-year-old man who contracted the virus during his trip to Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia for two weeks during April and May.



He showed symptoms on May 11, but his case was confirmed to be MERs on May 20. In between, he visited several hospitals, infecting his family members, other patients and their families.




Lee Joon-sik, education minister nominee



By Kim Se-jeong

Questions are arising over whether Lee Joon-sik, the nominee for education minister and deputy prime minister for social affairs, can fix various problems facing the education sector, after he demonstrated a lack of knowledge on education and other social issues.

On Friday, the National Assembly approved his appointment to be the new leader in charge of education and social affairs, despite a controversy over whether the former mechanical and aerospace engineering professor from Seoul National University is qualified for the job.

In the confirmation hearing the previous day, he was criticized by both ruling and opposition party members for displaying a lack of knowledge on key issues in education as well as for a number of ethical lapses.

Lee said that daycare centers are educational institutions under the supervision of the Ministry of Education  an incorrect answer because they are childcare facilities supervised by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The issue over which government body has a purview over the centers has prompted recent conflicts between the central government and regional education offices over who should pay for the free preschool program, called the Nuri Curriculum. Amid the conflicts, the program is on the verge of being stopped.

When asked how he would solve the conflict, Lee said he would pressure the education offices to pay.

"I will keep the program going by making education offices reorganize their budgets," the nominee said.

"I assume you have had time to learn," Rep. Park Joo-sun, an independent, told Lee. "It looks like you have not done your homework."

Regarding the government's plan to publish state-authored history textbooks, Lee defended the Park administration, saying that it was a good decision, and that the authors have enough time to meet the deadline which is later this year.

Lee also supported a recent agreement between the Korean and Japanese governments on sex slavery in World War II. He sided with President Park Geun-hye, saying, "The victims are getting old. In the need for an urgent conclusion, I believe the government produced the best solution possible."

He also said the deal was necessary to cement constructive diplomatic relations with Japan.

He was also criticized for accumulating wealth through unethical means and for the fact that his daughter has U.S. citizenship.

Documents have shown that he did not pay taxes after a property sale in 2003, and that he changed his address in Seoul to evade paying taxes. Lee responded that he was unaware of these issues. When asked about his four properties in Seoul and earning 1 billion won through their sales, he said the purchases and sales were not part of property speculation.

Lee also said that he wasn't aware of the fact that his second daughter, who had dual citizenship after being born in the U.S., lost her Korean citizenship in 2007. He added that his daughter has promised renounce her U.S. citizenship and regain her Korean citizenship.


By Jun Ji-hye

The South Korean military resumed broadcasting anti-North Korea propaganda via loudspeakers located along the border between the two nations at noon Friday in response to Pyongyang's claim on Wednesday that it conducted a hydrogen bomb test.

The North is expected to respond by with its own loudspeaker propaganda.

Seoul is broadcasting the propaganda at 11 sites near the Inter-Korean border, four months after this was halted on Aug. 25 when the two Koreas reached a landmark deal to ease military tension on the Korean Peninsula.

The broadcasts include a greater variety of content, including not only pertinent truth about the repressive state including a purge of the North's high-ranking officials, criticism about the Kim Jong-un regime, the superiority of democracy, but also international news, weather information and K-pop music, according to a military official.

"The broadcasts will be carried out at irregular times of the night and day to maximize effectiveness," said the official on condition of anonymity.

The Aug. 25 inter-Korean deal states that Seoul agreed to stop broadcasting the anti-Pyongyang propaganda unless "abnormal" events take place. The South regards the North's latest nuclear test as an abnormal event, officials said.

The South's loudspeakers can be heard 24 kilometers away at night and 10 kilometers away during the day, according to experts.

The broadcasts are expected to influence residents in the North's border city of Gaeseong, just 10 kilometers from the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), as well as North Korean soldiers along the border.
A U.S. U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flies over the western border city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. / Yonhap



By Kim Hyo-jin



The United States and Japan appear to have known in advance about North Korea's nuclear test conducted on Wednesday, according to a U.S. media report.



The report, published by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), came amid criticism of South Korean intelligence authorities for failing to obtain the information beforehand.



If the report turns out to be true, the South Korean government is expected to come under fire for failing to coordinate with its allies regarding the North's nuclear development.



NBC News on Thursday summarized comments given by an unidentified senior U.S. military official as, "that the U.S. was aware of the North's test preparations two weeks ago and launched drones to take a baseline air sample near the test site."



The report continued, "The air was sampled again on Wednesday to test for traces of tritium that could indicate whether North Korea has detonated something more than a standard-sized nuclear weapon."



Washington expressed skepticism about the North's claim that the tested device was in fact an H-bomb.













"The initial analysisis not consistent with the claim that the regime has made a successful hydrogen bomb test," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest at a press briefing on Thursday.



In the face of mounting criticism, Seoul's Ministry of National Defense dismissed the report as "speculation."



"A drone can't possibly enter the air over North Korea," a defense ministry official said. "Even if it went over through the East Sea, it must have been a drone for reconnaissance, not one for collecting air samples."



Meanwhile, questions are being raised whether Tokyo had also noticed the North's move prior to the test.



When asked if the Japanese government had noticed signs of the test beforehand, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga answered, "I'd like to say we are always in close coordination with the U.S."



Suga underlined "Japan-U.S. coordination" again, in response to the question whether Japan shared information with the U.S. prior to the test.



Earlier, Tokyo-based Kyodo News Agency reported that a U.S. spy plane flew out of Japan's Okinawa Island just before the seismic activity caused by the test detonation was detected in North Korea.



It said the RC-135V reconnaissance plane took off from the Kadena Air Base at 10:20 a.m on Wednesday, 10 minutes before the test, fuelling speculation that the plane was trying to gather information on the test.



In December 2014, South Korea signed a military pact with the U.S. and Japan to share classified military intelligence about North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programs.
By Oh Young-jin

North Korea's fourth nuclear test Wednesday forces the world to confront an old question anew: why we can't fix this rogue state once and for all.

It's been more than 20 years since the October 1994 Agreed Framework, the first significant effort to put a cap on the North's nuclear program.

From its Oct.9, 2006, first nuclear test, there have been two more, one each in 2009 and 2013, and followed by the Jan. 6, 2016, test that the North claimed involved a hydrogen bomb. The North also test-fired long-range missiles, which experts say can reach the West Coast of the United States.

The North Korean issue has been too conspicuous to ignore. Then, what has let the North grow to be as big a threat as it is?

To blame above all are competing interests of nations concerned. South Korea has insisted that it is an inter-Korean issue; its ally, U.S. sees it as an issue of changing priority; China, the only benefactor of the North, takes Pyongyang as a frontline province to protect its northeastern flank and Japan maintains its traditional view of Korea as corridor to China.

So to learn from the past mistakes and reconcile these competing views with each other is naturally the first step to resolve the North Korean challenge.

South Korea

South Korea should change its view on North Korea's nuclear weapons programs -- plutonium-based, highly enriched uranium (HEU) and now one allegedly about hydrogen bomb. So far, Seoul has, with differing degrees of success, tried to portray them as something between international problem and inter-Korean problem. From Wednesday on, the North Korean challenge should be dealt with more as an international one. Seoul should remain as one of the concerned stakeholders in this issue so it will be able to deal with the North less emotionally.

Looking back at how the North has become as big a threat as it is, the necessity for a sense of detachment is clear. The North has adroitly played its hand: insisting on talking to U.S. only and using the South's anxiety to talk with it for handsome handouts.

Also worthy of note is the manifested confusion in Seoul's coordination with the U.S.

For example, the late liberal President Kim Dae-jung's "Sunshine Policy" of reconciliation with the North got sidetracked when the conservative George W. Bush succeeded Bill Clinton as U.S. president and Barack Obama's succession also created a similar problem.

What Seoul requires to do is draw up a part of a North Korean solution that can be accepted to the rest of the concerned parties and that also can be subject to few changes even if there is a change of power, say, in U.S. or Seoul.

The United States

The United States policy toward North Korea for the past seven years under President Barack Obama can be summed up in the phrase "strategic patience", which was contained in a national security strategy document his administration published in February 2015. For the lack of a better expression, this has proved to be a laughable failure. Wednesday's blast in the North's Pungae-ri test site increasingly appears to be from a hydrogen bomb as the North claimed and has set Pyongyang on the path to becoming a nuclear state, whether or not the world recognizes it as one.

As the world is collectively wringing its hands not knowing what to do about the increasing threats from the impoverished rogue state, its young dictator, Kim Jong-un, may be enjoying every moment of it.

This all-too-familiar situation capped by a sense of hopelessness regarding what to do about the dictatorship, has followed three previous nuclear tests conducted by Pyongyang. It is the result of a dereliction of duty by Obama as the leader of the global superpower.

At the start of his presidency in 2009, he offered to talk with the North without any preconditions, but this was met by the North's second nuclear test, which occurred only four months after his inauguration. Since then, his administration had been left rudderless with neither leadership nor interest in its resolution, calling on the North to come back to the long-stalled Six-Party Talks. Obama opted to concentrate on Iran to reach a deal, similar to the Agreed Framework that his Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton had with the North; so emerged the term -- strategic patience -- to cover his inaction on the North.

However, Obama is only one of three U.S. presidents who have aggravated the North Korean problem. His Republican predecessor George W. Bush regretfully applied a domestic spin on the North Korean problem as part of his "anything but Clinton" policy. He designated the North as part of his self-styled axis of evil together with Iran and Iraq and overturned the so-called 1994 Agreed Framework, an elaborate effort made to stop the North's nuclear program. No sooner had Bush's policy started to work by putting a stranglehold on the North's overseas cash flows than he succumbed to a pattern, similar to that of Obama but to a lesser degree, by relenting from its stance and allowing the North to go back to its old habits.

Bill Clinton was credited with making the first deal with the North and his policy appeared to be peaking as he agreed with the approach of the late liberal former President Kim Dae-jung, paving the way for a detente in inter-Korean relationships under Kim's Nobel Peace Prize-winning reconciliatory "Sunshine Policy." Clinton, however, didn't follow through with his efforts and forwent his plan to visit Pyongyang.

History shows that the inconsistency in U.S. policy, which changes from one president to the next, is one key cause of its failure to settle the North Korean issue. Therefore drawing up a policy that can be maintained by a change of power is the key for finding a solution to the North Korean problem. Considering Wednesday's bomb blast, it wouldn't be hard to form a consensus to define the North as a nuclear loose cannon. Obama should try to reset his government's policy accordingly and the president to follow him should pick up where he leaves off. (This section can be read in the editorial under the title, "Obama's fault."

China

Chinese President Xi Jinping has a lot at stake in the resolution of North Korea's runaway nuclear program, after the Wednesday blast Pyongyang claimed was from its first H-bomb test.

First of all, Xi has to prove that China is capable of playing a leading role on the international stage. The world looks to Beijing to put pressure on Pyongyang to force it to give up its nukes. China is just about the only state friendly to the North and a key provider of fuel and food to the destitute nation that cannot feed its population of 20 million without outside help.

If China halts trucks and trains of supplies heading to the North through their borders, the North can take a direct hit and buckle. Xi has repeatedly vowed to see to it that China follows international norms and fulfills obligations as a responsible member of the global society.

If he sides with the North out of old communist-era camaraderie, it would be as good as his reneging on his promise and set his country apart from the rest of the world. During his past three years as president, Xi has taken his country so far on the path of globalization so, in a way, it is unthinkable for him to go back to the old Chinese isolationist way.

The first responsibility test for China comes at the United Nations where, as one of five permanent members on the U.N. Security Council, it torpedoed efforts to punish Pyongyang for defiantly pressing ahead with its nuclear development. It is a matter of course that its failure to act on the North has contributed to the North progressing so much in its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.

If Xi objects to more U.N. sanctions on the North, it would also run the risk of being held hostage by Pyongyang. Already, rumor mills are working overtime that the North's young dictator, Kim Jong-un, pressed ahead with the Wednesday test knowing that Xi has his hands tied and will, as usual, protect it. Kim has already ignored Beijing's good counsel and gone his way, sending their relations to their lowest point. Before the latest test, he did not even bother to inform China. So the world is closely watching whether China will allow further loss of its face on its supposed ally.

Seoul is eager to see Xi punish the North. Korea has invested a great deal to foster its ties with Beijing, with their economies already intertwined as major trading partners. Xi, meeting President Park Geun-hye, declared Beijing's position of denuclearizing Pyongyang. For one, Park went out on a limb to attend Beijing's Sept. 3, 2015, celebration of Japan's World War II surrender as the only head of state among the U.S. allies. The two expressed their friendship during their summits. Only action will prove Xi means what he says. (This section can be read in the editorial, titled "Text on Xi Jinping).
A newspaper published by China's ruling Communist Party on Thursday called on North Korea to change its "nuclear path," as the North's claimed test of a hydrogen bomb has drawn international condemnation.

In an editorial, the state-run Global Times also warned of a unspecified "long-term negative impact" on bilateral ties between North Korea and China, saying that social stability in China's northeastern region bordering North Korea will be undermined by the nuclear test.

"It is hard to say whether nuclear weapons are Pyongyang's asset or its liability," the editorial reads. "The country should not choose a nuclear path but one that can accommodate its vitality."

The latest nuclear test by North Korea, the fourth since 2006, is seen as a diplomatic failure by Chinese President Xi Jinping of trying to rein in the key ally.

China is North Korea's economic lifeline, but it has been reluctant to use more leverage over the ally because it could lead to the North's collapse and instability on its border.

"Wednesday's nuclear test will add anxieties to China's northeastern cities that border North Korea," the editorial said.

"If North Korea keeps doing such tests, it will hurt social stability in these Chinese regions, posing a big challenge to the Chinese government. Pyongyang must consider the long-term negative impact on Beijing-Pyongyang ties and its own development," it said.

North Korea said Wednesday that it had conducted a "successful" hydrogen bomb test.

The test, which came two days before the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was detected as a 5.1-magnitude tremor near the North's main nuclear test site. (Yonhap)
By Dan C. Pak

ISIS, the terrorist group, is waging war against the civilized world. The extremists are committing crimes against humanity. The Jihadists are bent on destroying our way of life, as we believe in individual freedom, democracy and the rule of law.

The worldwide economic downturn in recent years made people face an uncertain future. Everyone was apprehensive and many people despaired. People were losing their jobs and homes. Families were torn apart and marriages were failing.

The stock market was responding with a convulsive irregular curve. The uncertainty has not subsided completely since then. Politicians are polarized, adding to the confusion. In the meantime, the political and social upheaval in the sensitive regions of the world's major oil suppliers turned out as a new source of great concern. The trouble there could very well be the next seismic center that could affect the whole world in the future.

Looking over world's history, troubled times usually call for a great leader to emerge. Admiral Yi Soon-shin, a "god-sent" hero in the history of Korea and an unparalleled naval strategist, saved the nation from further devastation during the Hideyoshi invasion in the late 16th century. In America, George Washington led the Revolutionary War to victory and Abraham Lincoln saved the Union during the War Between the States. The hardships they endured back then were reported as no less severe than what we experience today. One wonders what common thread runs through great leaders.

During the years of my army service, I was privileged to serve in the proximity of generals. They were commanders of infantry divisions or army corps. There were also other commanders at the lower level. All of them had to face the horror of war. The pressure was mounting as the fast changing combat situation developed. The response to pressure varied. Some maintained calm and composure and others responded to the challenge with compulsive behavior.

Even among those who appeared calm, I could detect signs of anxiety such as the nervous tapping of fingers or constant coughing. Only a selected few were self-confident: Their voices remained the same as usual; their demeanor was poised; emergencies did not disturb them; they made quick and accurate assessments of the situation and issued timely decisions. When their staff officers were agitated, they had enough equanimity to alleviate their anxiety.

Through my observations, I am convinced that a true leader of men is born with innate qualities, not trained. Training alone cannot contribute to producing a good leader; only to a degree. Maintaining serenity in a crisis-laden situation cannot be manufactured any more than tranquility can be brought in to calm a storm.

Lesser individuals, who were placed in leadership positions, fell apart at the first sign of trouble. The consequences were disastrous. In order to hide their nervousness, these men tend to resort to profanity or blasphemous swearing. I suspect that the profane barrack language and obnoxious swearing in the army originated from fear and stress during combat.

Upon leaving my army service, I entered the corporate world. There, I discovered the same principles applied. The combat situation in the military is replaced with competitive situations in business. The small arms fire and artillery shell explosions were replaced with negotiations between sellers and buyers, lenders and borrowers, producers and consumers. The corporate conference room replaced the command briefing room. The CEO took the place of the commanding general. The vice president and director replaced staff officers at army headquarters. The workers on the plant floor were front line soldiers.

In peace as in war, many lives are dependent on the leader. If I have to pick one single most important quality of a dependable leader, it is imperturbability, which is to stay calm under pressure. I hope people remember this when they vote for the nation's leader.

The writer is a Korean War veteran and author of the novel "The Wood Bracelet" published in January 2015. Reach him at dc.p@mindspring.com.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has a lot at stake in the resolution of North Korea's runaway nuclear program, after the Wednesday blast Pyongyang claimed was from its first H-bomb test.



First of all, Xi has to prove that China is capable of playing a leading role on the international stage. The world looks to Beijing to put pressure on Pyongyang to force it to give up its nukes. China is just about the only state friendly to the North and a key provider of fuel and food to the destitute nation that cannot feed its population of 20 million without outside help.



If China halts trucks and trains of supplies heading to the North through their borders, the North can take a direct hit and buckle. Xi has repeatedly vowed to see to it that China follows international norms and fulfills obligations as a responsible member of the global society.



If he sides with the North out of old communist-era camaraderie, it would be as good as his reneging on his promise and set his country apart from the rest of the world. During his past three years as president, Xi has taken his country so far on the path of globalization so, in a way, it is unthinkable for him to go back to the old Chinese isolationist way.



The first responsibility test for China comes at the United Nations where, as one of five permanent members on the U.N. Security Council, it torpedoed efforts to punish Pyongyang for defiantly pressing ahead with its nuclear development. It is a matter of course that its failure to act on the North has contributed to the North progressing so much in its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.



If Xi objects to more U.N. sanctions on the North, it would also run the risk of being held hostage by Pyongyang. Already, rumor mills are working overtime that the North's young dictator, Kim Jong-un, pressed ahead with the Wednesday test knowing that Xi has his hands tied and will, as usual, protect it. Kim has already ignored Beijing's good counsel and gone his way, sending their relations to their lowest point. Before the latest test, he did not even bother to inform China. So the world is closely watching whether China will allow further loss of its face on its supposed ally.



Seoul is eager to see Xi punish the North. Korea has invested a great deal to foster its ties with Beijing, with their economies already intertwined as major trading partners. Xi, meeting President Park Geun-hye, declared Beijing's position of denuclearizing Pyongyang. For one, Park went out on a limb to attend Beijing's Sept. 3, 2015, celebration of Japan's World War II surrender as the only head of state among the U.S. allies. The two expressed their friendship during their summits. Only action will prove Xi means what he says.




US needs to reset NK policy



The United States policy toward North Korea for the past seven years under President Barack Obama can be summed up in the phrase "strategic patience", which was contained in a national security strategy document his administration published in February 2015. For the lack of a better expression, this has proved to be a laughable failure. Wednesday's blast in the North's Pungae-ri test site increasingly appears to be from a hydrogen bomb as the North claimed and has set Pyongyang on the path to becoming a nuclear state, whether or not the world recognizes it as one.



As the world is collectively wringing its hands not knowing what to do about the increasing threats from the impoverished rogue state, its young dictator, Kim Jong-un, may be enjoying every moment of it.



This all-too-familiar situation capped by a sense of hopelessness regarding what to do about the dictatorship, has followed three previous nuclear tests conducted by Pyongyang. It is the result of a dereliction of duty by Obama as the leader of the global superpower.



At the start of his presidency in 2009, he offered to talk with the North without any preconditions, but this was met by the North's second nuclear test, which occurred only four months after his inauguration. Since then, his administration had been left rudderless with neither leadership nor interest in its resolution, calling on the North to come back to the long-stalled Six-Party Talks. Obama opted to concentrate on Iran to reach a deal, similar to the Agreed Framework that his Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton had with the North; so emerged the term  strategic patience  to cover his inaction on the North.



However, Obama is only one of three U.S. presidents who have aggravated the North Korean problem. His Republican predecessor George W. Bush regretfully applied a domestic spin on the North Korean problem as part of his "anything but Clinton" policy. He designated the North as part of his self-styled axis of evil together with Iran and Iraq and overturned the so-called 1994 Agreed Framework, an elaborate effort made to stop the North's nuclear program. No sooner had Bush's policy started to work by putting a stranglehold on the North's overseas cash flows than he succumbed to a pattern, similar to that of Obama but to a lesser degree, by relenting from its stance and allowing the North to go back to its old habits.



Bill Clinton was credited with making the first deal with the North and his policy appeared to be peaking as he agreed with the approach of the late liberal former President Kim Dae-jung, paving the way for a detente in inter-Korean relationships under Kim's Nobel Peace Prize-winning reconciliatory "Sunshine Policy." Clinton, however, didn't follow through with his efforts and forwent his plan to visit Pyongyang.



History shows that the inconsistency in U.S. policy, which changes from one president to the next, is one key cause of its failure to settle the North Korean issue. Therefore drawing up a policy that can be maintained by a change of power is the key for finding a solution to the North Korean problem. Considering Wednesday's bomb blast, it wouldn't be hard to form a consensus to define the North as a nuclear loose cannon. Obama should try to reset his government's policy accordingly and the president to follow him should pick up where he leaves off.




Park Byung-woo, second from left, visits two officials at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with Jun Lee, left, CEO of KOSAnet, a job agency working with the Human Resources Development Service of Korea, on Dec. 30. / Courtesy of Park Byung-woo



By Kim Se-jeong

Park Byung-woo, 27, has become the first Korean male nurse at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), a government-funded general hospital in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

He is also one of the first-ever male nurses in the country, which previously did not allow male nurses in hospitals for religious reasons. But it recently opened its doors to men in the intensive care units, and KAMC is the first hospital to do so.

Arriving at the medical center on Christmas Day, Park is currently attending an orientation session at the hospital.

"People here are nice to Koreans and want more Korean medical staff," Park said in an e-mail interview with The Korea Times. He will be working in the intensive care unit once the orientation is completed.

Park joins male colleagues from all over the world. "I am learning a lot from my colleagues who are from almost 50 different countries," he said, adding that he is very happy with his working environment.

For Park, the experience in Saudi Arabia is a stepping stone. "I've been working to get a job in the United States, but it's not possible because I'm not fluent enough in English."

Park's adventure was made possible thanks to the Human Resources Development Service (HRDS) of Korea, a public entity assisting jobseekers with finding jobs abroad. His contract includes a 4 million won monthly salary, accommodations, 30 days of vacation and a round-trip ticket home once a year.

With 1,229 beds, the Saudi medical center is the biggest hospital in the country. It employs nearly 30 Korean female nurses.

He studied nursing at Yeungnam University College in Gyeongsan, a city near Daegu. After graduation in 2012, he worked at Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital for three years.

"This could be an interesting opportunity," he said. "You can practice English and learn about the medical system. I hope more Koreans will apply."
Music is a time-based medium, so naturally musicians should always be living in the moment.

On her latest single "Star Wars," released Dec. 18, South Korean rapper Cheetah and winner of last year's reaity show "Unpretty Rapstar," lives that maxim to the hilt. "Star Wars" is one of the most singularly contemporary pieces of pop music in recent memory.

It's very 2015, while simultaneously being rather 2016, as well.

Born Kim Eun Young, Cheetah has been in the public consciousness since 2010 as a member of the duo Blacklist. Having recently emerged victorious on last year's "Unpretty Rapstar," a reality show of competing female MCs, she has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the Korean hip-hop scene.

When discussing this song's total grasp of the zeitgeist, the most obvious point would be the title. Whether or not J.J. Abrams had any awareness of Cheetah's song, let alone synergistic intentions, remains to be seen. Cheetah smartly slips onto the coattails of the blockbuster film franchise and who can blame her? Whatever the case may be, it's nothing if not timely.

With that out of the way, we can get down to the business of discussing the music itself. While this is short even by pop music standards, not even lasting two minutes, there's brilliance in that brevity.

Not only is the listener denied the opportunity to get bored, the short duration of "Star Wars" distills the song's excitement to its core, rather than padding it out with unnecessary digressions. It keeps the listener attentive, lucid and "in the now."

Cheetah's personality is widescreen-huge. In 2007, when she was 18, the rapper was left in a temporary coma after being hit by a bus while crossing the street. The accident left her without the abilty to sing because of her extended time using a respirator. But it's hard not to interpret the vigor and lust for life Cheetah projects in her rhymes though her fierce, uncompromising delivery as a celebration of life and her determination to persevere. The MC sounds completely unconcerned with her painful past, and unworried about our shared uncertain future. She is, in a word, present.

Her toughness has some precedent in the recent bravado displayed by Nicki Minaj, but Cheetah's flow often skids off the rails, displaying a boldness rarely exhibited by her American counterpart. While typically an unhinged delivery is anchored by rock-solid backing, the music on "Star Wars" is all over the place. Yet, somehow, it works.

While rapid-fire trap hi-hats rub shoulders with EDM "special effects," that's just the tip of the iceberg. On the verses of "Star Wars," the percussion takes on a machine gun-like quality, spraying the track with off-kilter accents. It combines the biggest trends of the past year, while sounding every bit like it's riding the wave of contemporary musicmaking that couldn't have emerged anytime other than now.

Overall, it's an impressive piece of pop music modernism.

Watch the music video for Cheetah's latest single "Star Wars" RIGHT HERE

Jeff Tobias is a composer, musician and writer currently living in Brooklyn, New York. As of late, he has been studying arcane systems of tuning and working on his jump shot.
James Lee of Korean-American pop band Royal Pirates recently spoke about a life-changing injury.

On Jan. 6, Korea's Sport Donga published an interview featuring the band member, where Lee revealed that he nearly lost his life last June. Due to a serious injury, Lee lost the ability to play the bass guitar, which he played for more than a decade.

The interview was the first time James Lee revealed extensive details about his injury, which had been downplayed prior to the group's November comeback with "Run Away." Lee played the keyboard rather than the bass for that performance.

"I went to eat dinner with a friend at a restaurant in Seoul," James said. "I opened the door and looked around for my friend, who had arrived before me. Then the steel frame of the door and the glass wall crashed down on me. The glass fell on my head and the sharp frame crushed my left shoulder and wrist."

Lee said he lost conciousness and required an eight-hour surgery to reconnect his wrist. The doctors offered him the use of a prosthetic, due to intense pain from nerve damage if he didn't severe the wrist completely. However, James refused because it would mean he wouldn't be able to continue playing music.

Following the surgery, it became apparent that James couldn't play the bass. However, Royal Pirates' producer Jung Jae Yoon convinced Lee to take up the keyboard.

Lee described the pain from nerve damage being akin to a knife constantly cutting into his skin.

"I cannot forget the nightmare of that day," he said.

James has shared pictures of his injury and scars on Instagram, revealing the extent of his damages but showing an attitude of not giving up. He previously shared a picture of himself in hospital garb and described it as "hell."

During the interview, James rolled a ball in his hand as a form of exercise to help him regain full use and feeling of the damage nerves.

The restaurant aimed to reach a settlement through a lawyer, but Royal Pirates agency refused and are starting legal proceedings.

"How can you compensate for the future of a musician who knows nothing except music?" an agency rep asked.

Royal Pirates is a Korean-American rock band that grew popular after posting K-pop covers on YouTube. The band made its last comeback in November with "Run Away."

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More than 200 Airmen with the 112th Fighter Squadron from Toledo Air National Guard Base, Ohio, are set to deploy mid-January to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, as the 112th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron in support of the U.S. Pacific Command Theater Security Package.

The 112th EFS will assume the TSP mission from the 125th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron which is presently at Kadena Air Base, Japan. The 125th EFS is scheduled to redeploy to Tulsa Air National Guard Base, Okla. However, 12 of their F-16 Fighting Falcons will move to Andersen for the 112th EFS to operate.

U.S. Air Force routinely deploys fighter aircraft to the region to provide U.S. PACOM and Pacific Air Forces with Theater Security Packages, which help maintain a deterrent against threats to regional security and stability.

Movement of U.S. Air Force TSPs into the region has been a routine and integral part of U.S. Pacific Commands force posture since March 2004.

These theater security packages demonstrate the continuing U.S. commitment to stability and security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
TWO RIVERS -- A man freed after spending 18 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit arrived home Thursday to hugs, kisses, and two gulps of champagne at a family celebration.

"Oh God, I love you baby," cousin Rita Sittman shouted as she rushed into Steven Avery's arms, tears running down her cheeks. "You start life over now, here we go."

About a dozen family members and friends greeted Avery outside his parents' rural Two Rivers home.

Taped to the garage door were three homemade signs, including one that read "Always Believed in You." Avery's niece, Carla Avery, delivered a half-sheet marble cake with the words, "Welcome Home Steven."

Earl Avery, 33, was among the first to wrap his arms around his brother in a big bear hug.

"It is about time," he said. "How are we going to make up the time?"

He said his brother would be invited to be a partner in the family's salvage yard.

Steven Avery, 43, was released earlier Thursday from the Stanley Correctional Institution in northwestern Wisconsin, thanks to a law school group that pushed for the DNA analysis that proved his innocence.

He was sentenced to 32 years in prison in 1985 on charges of first-degree sexual assault, attempted murder and false imprisonment stemming from an attack on a woman jogger near Two Rivers.

The same Manitowoc County judge who sentenced him to prison ruled Wednesday that the new DNA evidence proved Avery was innocent and linked the crime to another man serving a 60-year sentence for a different sexual assault and kidnapping.

After his release, Avery got one of his first wishes as a free man: He savored a lunch of ribs with his family as they headed home to Two Rivers.

"I feel terrific," Avery said, his blue eyes shining and a breeze blowing through his graying beard. "The wind, no bars, no fences. I figured this day would come sooner or later."

But there was also bitterness for the years spent in custody.

"The system ... needs to be fixed," he said. "I lost my marriage, my kids and my family."

At the time of the attack, Avery was married with five children, including twin sons born six days before his arrest. He was divorced after going to prison.

Avery left prison with his parents, sister and 19-year-old daughter, Jennifer. "I am glad it's over, very glad," said his father, Allen Avery.

The elder Avery said he spent eight years listening to his wife, Dolores, cry at night over the ordeal, and he's still angry at authorities for blaming his son.

Daughter Jennifer was just excited to see the dad she barely knows.

Avery's sister, Barb Janda of Two Rivers, took two days off work to get reacquainted with her brother.

"He should have been out years and years ago," she said. "I think we all need an apology, too, for even some of the words they said in the courtroom."

Students in the Wisconsin Innocence Project at the UW-Madison Law School worked on Avery's case for two years.

The group obtained a court order to allow further testing of the DNA in a hair sample from the crime scene. The testing by the state crime lab matched the DNA to another man already in prison for an unrelated crime, said Innocence Project co-director Keith Findley.

Manitowoc County District Attorney Mark Rohrer said Thursday that the statute of limitations on sexual assault is six years, but no decision had been made about whether the other man would face prosecution. He would not elaborate.

The other man was convicted in a 1995 Brown County case, he said.

Avery's exoneration is the first under Wisconsin's DNA-testing statute adopted in 2001, according to the state attorney general's office. The law requires the preservation of biological evidence as long as anyone remains in custody and provides a right to post-conviction DNA testing.

Avery could petition the state Claims Board for compensation, according to Mike Bower, an administrator for the state Justice Department.

Under a state law that provides compensation for innocent convicts, those who successfully petition the board are eligible for up to $5,000 per year they were imprisoned, not to exceed $25,000, he said.

The board can submit a report to the Legislature with the amount the board believes is sufficient.

Avery said it was too early to say whether he would file a civil lawsuit.

"Maybe in a couple days I will think about it," he said.
The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

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Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said Friday he would be willing to raise the $25,000 cap on state compensation for wrongfully convicted people, after the release of a man who spent 18 years in prison for a rape and attempted murder he didn't commit.

"I don't know when the law was last looked at, last adjusted, but I think clearly it's something that deserves to be looked at," Doyle said in Madison. "I guess I'm like everybody else, very saddened that a person spent years in prison for a wrongful conviction."

Steven Avery, 43, of rural Two Rivers, walked out of the Stanley Correction Institution in northwest Wisconsin Thursday, thanks to a law school group that pushed for the DNA analysis that proved his innocence.

Under a state law that provides compensation for innocent convicts, Avery could petition the state Claims Board for up to $5,000 for each year he was wrongly imprisoned, not to exceed $25,000.

Avery's older brother, Chuck Avery of Two Rivers, said the family would seek the money. "Twenty-five thousand dollars is nothing," the brother said. "He lost everything. He lost his wife, his kids."

Steven Avery, the father of five now grown children, was sentenced to 32 years in prison in 1985 on charges of first-degree sexual assault, attempted murder and false imprisonment stemming from an attack on a 36-year-old woman jogger near Two Rivers.

The same Manitowoc County judge who sentenced Avery ruled Wednesday that the new DNA evidence gathered from a pubic hair found on the victim proved Avery was innocent and linked the crime to another man serving a 60-year sentence for a 1995 sexual assault and kidnapping in Brown County.

Avery's exoneration is the first under Wisconsin's DNA-testing law adopted in 2001, according to the state attorney general's office. The law requires that biological evidence be preserved as long as anyone remains in custody and provides a right to post-conviction DNA testing.

Keith Findley, co-director for the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which worked on Avery's case for two years, said Avery is owed far more than $25,000 for his ordeal.

"No reasonable person would consider it a fair deal to receive $25,000 for 18 years imprisonment and all its attendant stigma and loss," Findley said. "That sum is woefully inadequate. It is disgraceful."

Doyle said he wasn't sure what the reasonable compensation should be to help someone like Avery get going in life again.

"I'm sure if you went to Mr. Avery and asked if there was any dollar figure that could compensate, there isn't," Doyle said.

According to John Pray, another attorney with the Innocence Project, a man in Texas who was wrongfully imprisoned for 12 years recently reached a settlement for $9 million in compensation from a city government there.

If the Wisconsin Claims Board decides the amount it's permitted to award under the law is not adequate, it can submit a report to the Legislature with the amount the board believes is sufficient.

State Rep. Frank Lasee, R-Bellevue, represents the Two Rivers area where Avery now lives. Lasee said Friday the government certainly owes Avery something but he doesn't know what would be fair and reasonable.

"It would be real nice to give the guy lots and lots of money. But ultimately, how do you pay for it?" Lasee said. "The fact is we do limit the liability of the government on a whole variety of issues."

The lawmaker said he would need to think more about whether to champion Avery's cause in the Legislature for receiving more than $25,000.

"We can't right all the wrongs in the world. Where does it end?" Lasee asked. "Sometimes things don't work quite right for an individual and that's a tragedy."

The Wisconsin Innocence Project also called for the state Justice Department to investigate whether errors could have been made in Avery's case that led to the wrongful conviction, Pray said.

Specifically, the procedures that the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department used in a lineup in which the assault victim picked out Avery as the assailant need to be looked at in great detail, Pray said.

"What kind of feedback did the victim get (from police) in her identification?" Pray asked.

The state probe should also explore whether there were other alternative suspects that investigators failed to look at because they "may have latched onto Steve at a relatively early date," Pray said.

Pray said the Innocence Project is investigating about 30 other cases, about half of them in Wisconsin, to explore whether prison inmates were wrongly convicted.
Mette Ivie Harrison swung for the fences, connecting with readers and critics, in her debut mystery, The Bishops Wife, an insiders look at marriage and small-town life in a Mormon enclave in Draper, Utah. Linda Wallheim, Harrisons middle-aged sleuth, possessed a refreshingly independent streak at odds with her conservative faith, making her an insightful guide to the Mormon Church.

The book was enough of a success to spark a series; His Right Hand returns to Draper and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and again features Wallheim, a savvy Mormon Miss Marple.

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Conscripted by her husband, Bishop Kurt Wallheim, to attend the annual bishopric dinner, Linda witnesses the rigid views of Carl Ashby, an official, regarding the roles of women and men in the Mormon Church. First she overhears an argument between Ashby and his wife, Emma, about his authority in their marriage and then, at dinner, his stern reading of prophet Gordon B. Hinckleys 1995 Family Proclamation, which explained why gay marriage was impossible in the Mormon Temple. Its clear to Linda hes a TBM  a True Blue Mormon. The Church was everything in his life.

Concerned that Carls critical and controlling ways are taking a toll on Emma, Linda plans to pay a bishops wife visit of comfort and support. Before that can happen, Emma calls to ask about a mysterious meeting Carl is attending  Linda wonders if hes covering for an offense such as gambling, substance abuse or an affair. The Wallheims go to the church to check on Carl and find him dead, a womans pink scarf nearby seeming to confirm Lindas suspicions.

Carls death turns Emma into a helpless mess, full of guilt and doubt about her ability to raise their adopted children alone. Meanwhile, the Mormon hierarchy seems to go into overdrive to protect its flock; Emma is urged not to identify her husbands body because of her current fragile state.

Stake President Frost even intervenes with Mormons in the police department in ways Linda fears might impede the investigation  something that happened in real life with Elizabeths Smarts abduction. Although Linda notes the dismaying Mormon habit of trusting other Mormons in their community more that they trust government authorities, neither she nor anyone else in Draper is prepared for the curveball coming from the coroners office.

Spoiler alert  this is a big one, but its also on the book jacket, so its something readers can learn before diving into the novel: Carl was biologically female.

The news throws Kurt and the Mormon hierarchy into disbelief and condemnation. In the Mormon church, gender is integrally tied to an individuals soul. But Linda is more forgiving, believing, God loves us all, no matter how disgusting we are to others. God would have seen the man Carl Ashby was trying to be.

Lindas knowledge of the LGBT community comes from her own struggles with sexuality and church doctrine in a failed first marriage, a dark time in her life that she blames the church for in its attempts to keep Mormon women ignorant of the basics of sex. Was poor Emma similarly duped and had lived in a sexless marriage all these years? Its a theory that may be hard for those outside of the faith to believe, but Harrison mounts a convincing argument.

Between consoling her husband over the unsettling news of his friend and attending to the fragile Emma, both victims of Carls secrets, there is a murder to sort out, a challenge Linda feels Carls spirit is calling her to accept. Her quest leads her to Grant Rhodes, Carls secret lover who knew the person beneath the bombastic facade, and some surprising revelations about Carls early life that present more suspects for Linda and readers to consider.

Amid all the secrets and lies, Linda begins to think that she should come clean to her sons about her past. But she hesitates; her children are mostly grown, with only the youngest, 18-year-old Samuel, still at home. A Sunday dinner brings revelations from Samuel that test Kurts love for his youngest son and bring the Mormon LGBT debate directly to the Wallheims front door.

For all of its thoughtful exploration of LGBT people and issues, His Right Hand is also a good mystery. Yet its the issues the book raises that will make readers hungry for more of Linda and her close-knit community.

At the time Harrison wrote the novel, the Mormon Church had seemingly recovered from its failed support of Californias Proposition 8 in 2008 and tentatively begun to signal more love and understanding of LGBT Mormons. Novembers stunning reversal of that position, which denounced members in gay marriages, gives His Right Hand even more currency as it explores the agonizing dilemmas faced by people who believe in gay rights while struggling to accept Mormon doctrine. It will be fascinating to see what gold Harrison mines from the contradictions.

::

His Right Hand

Mette Ivie Harrison

Soho Crime: 352 pages, $26.95

Woods is the editor of several anthologies and four novels in the Charlotte Justice mystery series.
Troubled retailer American Apparel Inc. has received a takeover bid of more than $200 million from an investor -- part of a plan that would return ousted Chief Executive Dov Charney back to the company, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The Los Angeles clothing manufacturer, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in October, is set to emerge from bankruptcy this month. The reorganization plan submitted at the time of the bankruptcy filing would take the company private and hand nearly 100% control to its largest bondholders.

This takeover bid could complicate the proceedings. The deal, which was submitted in late December, would return Charney to American Apparel in a senior role, the person said.

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Charney was fired in 2014 as chief executive and chairman after an investigation into alleged inappropriate behavior with employees and misuse of company funds. Since then, he has been fighting to regain control of the company he founded.

Charney announced in December that he had hired Cardinal Advisors to help explore options with potential investors. It was the first indication that Charney may try to offer an alternative plan in Bankruptcy Court.

Cardinal Advisors declined to comment.

American Apparel said in a statement that it evaluates all bids consistently.

The company remains focused on the completion of its financial restructuring following its planned Bankruptcy Court hearing at the end of this month, the statement said.

The takeover bid will be competing against the reorganization plan, which already has the approval of 95% of its secured lenders. But existing shareholders, including Charney, would be left with nothing.

Under that agreement, more than $200 million in bonds would be eliminated in exchange for shares in the reorganized company  a transaction known as a debt-for-equity swap. The participating lenders are led by Monarch Alternative Capital.

Charney argued in a motion filed in Bankruptcy Court on Thursday that the alternative bid would provide meaningful increases in cash and liquidity when American Apparel emerges from bankruptcy, and also offer more money to unsecured creditors.

He also argued that American Apparels lenders failed to provide enough time for potential investors to complete due diligence. A potential investor was never even contacted by the lenders advisors, the filing said.

Moelis & Co., the investment bank that is advising on potential offers, has said that American Apparel could be valued between $180 million and $270 million. But that estimate assumed the company, which has been fighting years of sales declines, would reach certain financial goals.

Follow Shan Li on Twitter: @ByShanLi

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With ailing residents, displaced neighborhoods and a potential decline in property values, the leak at Southern California Gas Co.'s Aliso Canyon storage facility could cost the utility billions of dollars, some legal experts say.

So far, the gas company has spent more than $50 million combating the leak that began Oct. 23, according to a securities filing Thursday. More than 25 lawsuits have been lodged against the utility; the cost of defending the lawsuits, and any damages, if awarded, could be significant, the filing stated.

The utility has told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it had at least four types of insurance policies that it believes will cover many of the current and expected claims, losses and litigation  associated with the natural gas leak at Aliso Canyon, which has forced thousands of people from their homes. Those policies, the utility said, have a combined limit available in excess of $1 billion.

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But legal experts and lawyers for residents in the Porter Ranch community near the natural gas storage facility argue that $1 billion might not come close to what the utility will need.

Part of the reason, they say, is that the company has yet to plug the gas leak.

Even the devastating 2010 Pacific Gas & Electric natural gas pipeline explosion in the Bay Area city of San Bruno, which killed eight people, didnt have the ongoing hazard that Aliso Canyon does. That explosion has cost PG&E more than $2 billion in penalties, with the cost of litigation continuing to mount.

Im unaware of anything of this magnitude that has happened before, said Brian Panish, an attorney for some of the homeowners. Theres no study to know what the long-term effects are. What about some of these children? Do you think peoples homes are going to be worth the same?

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The Los Angeles utility is a subsidiary of San Diegos Sempra Energy, which has seen its stock price fall more than 15% since the leak was discovered at the facility in the northern part of the San Fernando Valley.

Most Wall street analysts that follow the stock have a buy recommendation on Sempra, which also is the parent of San Diego Gas & Electric. But some say they are reviewing the leaks financial impact for possible updates to their stock opinions.

Even after recruiting several of the worlds leading experts to stop the leak, Southern California Gas efforts have faltered. The company began drilling a relief well to help stop the leak but that is expected to take three to four months.

The utility says it does not believe it is possible at this time to accurately measure the amount of natural gas being lost from the leak.

 A Porter Ranch resident describes her familys experience as they relocate from their home during the holidays. A massive natural gas leak has sickened residents in the area since October.

In the meantime, the site of the leak, about a mile from the closest homes, forced the utility to relocate thousands of families through the holidays to hotels as winds caused fumes to waft through neighborhoods. Residents complained of respiratory problems, headaches, nausea, nosebleeds and other short-term ailments. Health officials have said the fumes pose no serious long-term health risks.

Aliso Canyon is one of four such storage facilities the utility operates. The company says its Playa del Rey natural gas storage facility is the only other one that sits close to homes.

Southern California Gas declined to talk about its liability because of the pending lawsuits. The utility prefers to focus on what it is doing to reduce the adverse impact the leak is having on neighborhoods.

We are working with families who want to move to temporary accommodations until the leak is stopped, and weve also established a claims process for anyone who feels theyve suffered harm or injury as a result of this incident, said Trisha Muse, a utility spokeswoman.

Loretta Lynch, a lawyer and former president of the California Public Utilities Commission, said the gas company ultimately will have to respond to two sets of issues: its responsibility as a regulated utility under California law and its liability for damages as determined by the courts as a result of pending lawsuits.

Under state law, Lynch said, utilities are required to provide adequate and safe service to customers at a reasonable cost. The Aliso Canyon leak coupled with the ongoing inability to stop it raises questions about how the gas company is performing its job.

I think the utility has failed in its central duty, Lynch said.

The gas company is likely to argue that the state standards are poor or insufficient, which could be a winning position before the PUC, she said. The best recourse for consumers may be to sue the utility, Lynch said.

These homeowners are going to go through the very painful dance of tort liability, Lynch said. Both as a lawyer and a former PUC president, I believe these homeowners will get better justice from the courts than this PUC.

When determining a utilitys responsibility in cases such as the Aliso Canyon gas leak, the PUC in general reviews whether the utility gave proper notification about the problem and performed regular maintenance of the facility. In addition, the commission assesses the cost of the problem  an expense that usually is borne largely by ratepayers rather than company shareholders.

The PUC can issue fines of up to $50,000 per violation per day for violations of the California Public Utilities Code, CPUC General Orders and the Federal Code of Regulation involving safety in natural gas transmission and distribution, commission spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said. State law requires that those funds be deposited into the California general fund.

Prosper said the PUC can order additional penalties, such as refunds of ratepayer costs through their energy bills. There is no cap on additional penalties, and they vary by case.

The commission, however, does not get involved in civil litigation and any compensation that a utility may pay directly to the impacted members of a local community, Prosper said.

In April, the current five-member PUC issued a record $1.6-billion fine against PG&E for the San Bruno pipeline explosion.

Browne Greene, a former president of the California Trial Lawyers Assn., said he believes that Southern California Gas is looking at significant penalties for the ongoing leak.

I would think that they would be looking at a huge fine in terms of endangering the public, said Greene, who has practiced law for some 50 years. But thats where he and others believe that compensation from the PUC for residents harmed by the leak will largely end.

I think effectively theyre much more lenient toward SoCal Gas and any of these other utilities that are dealing with them all the time, Greene said.

That leaves residents to battle the utilities in court.

If you really want to hold people accountable and you want to get to the truth and you want to avoid the politics of regulators, youve got to use the court system, said Frank Pitre, a lawyer who represented residents in the San Bruno gas pipeline explosion and is representing some Porter Ranch residents.

Pitre declined to put a figure on the harm that the Aliso Canyon leak is causing. But where the San Bruno explosion was a single incident that led to hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, Aliso Canyon continues with unknown issues of health and safety, he said.

Every case is unique, Pitre said. In the PG&E case, there were people who were killed. There were people whose homes were destroyed. Those are perhaps different damages than, say, Porter Ranch.

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Of the likelihood that there will be loss in property value, theres simply no question, said Randall Bell, chief executive of Landmark Research Group, who specializes in real estate damages. Porter Ranch has been in the news so much, potential buyers are going to be aware of that.

Having worked on these cases all over the country and all over the world, really, if I were a property owner there, I would be very concerned, Bell said.

The gas companys $1 billion in insurance may end up looking more like a floor than a ceiling, Panish and Greene said.

This would be promising because it looks like theres a lot of insurance, Greene said. But theres a deeper pocket  the gas company behind it.

ivan.penn@latimes.com

Twitter: @ivanlpenn

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When it comes to comedy, there is the kind of funny that makes you go ha!, and theres the kind of funny that makes you go huh?

This years roster of Golden Globe nominees in the comedy or musical category encompasses both definitions. Its reflective of the distinctive identity of the Globes themselves  the only major award that separates drama and comedy  and the complicated nature of some of todays movie comedies from filmmakers such as the Coen brothers and Wes Anderson.

Among the major Hollywood awards shows, the Globes have the biggest tent, taking in traditional Oscar fare  which has increasingly come to mean smaller, darker independent fare  and the kind of populist movies that the Motion Picture Academy generally overlooks, as well as a few outliers that may not have been on anyones radar. This year is no exception, especially in the comedy or musical category.

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Golden Globes 2016: Full Coverage | Complete list | Snubs, surprises and reactions | Top nominee photos

Alongside two broad crowd-pleasing movies clearly aimed almost entirely at getting laughs  Melissa McCarthys Spy and the raunchy Amy Schumer rom-com Trainwreck  are three films that, to varying degrees, stretch the definition of what might be considered a comedy: Joy, The Big Short and The Martian.

All have comedic elements, but none is what youd call a nonstop laugh riot, nor are they designed to be. Two of the films  David O. Russells Joy and Adam McKays The Big Short  can be seen as commentaries on the corruption and depletion of the American economy  while Ridley Scotts The Martian is a sci-fi adventure in which the fate of Matt Damons stranded astronaut is at stake.

The films in the drama category are for the most part more traditional award season bait  Carol, The Revenant, Room and Spotlight  although the fifth nominee, Mad Max: Fury Road, is the kind of high-octane action flick rarely acknowledged this time of year.

Whatever the Globes may lack in predictive power for the Academy Awards (as cant be repeated too often, Globes nominations are made by a small group of members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., not film industry professionals), they frequently make up for in their surprising array of nominations, and a Globes win can imbue a film with a sense of momentum as the awards season rolls on.

Thats especially relevant for The Big Short, which has solidified its standing as an Oscar force to be reckoned with in recent weeks, with a slew of nominations and critics awards. It was directed by one of the industrys most successful comedy filmmakers, McKay, who also brought us Anchorman and Talladega Nights.

But the films subject matter  the 2008 financial crisis  couldnt be more serious, and alongside many moments of darkly hued comedy, the film delivers a sobering look at the greed and corruption that led to the brink of an economic doomsday.

McKay told The Times recently that he had been looking for years for an opportunity to push beyond the traditional boundaries of comedy.

The studios like certainty, so Im a comedy guy and theyll let me make any comedies I want, he said. But there was a little bit of resistance on different types of projects. I just love movies. Ive always admired Danny Boyle  the way hes able to jump genres at will.

The inclusion of Scotts The Martian raised eyebrows among many who felt that calling the film about an astronaut fighting for survival alone on Mars a comedy bordered on category fraud.

A comedys a film whose #1 goal is to make people laugh, Spy director Paul Feig tweeted in response. If that wasnt the filmmakers top goal, its not a comedy.

For his part, Damon said in an interview last fall that comedy was an essential ingredient of the film from the start, as his character, Mark Watney, uses his wry sense of humor to keep his desperation at bay.

That was one of the things Ridley and I talked about in our first meeting: How do you hold on to the terror and danger and the enormity of what the stakes are for this person and also retain the humor? Damon said.

The fact is, the Globes nominations may simply be reflecting the fact that, both in film and on television, once-rigid genre distinctions are blurring more than ever  something McKay, for one, is happy to see.

I dont think genres are as restrictive as they used to be, he said. Id like to keep not obeying the genre so much. The movie I always think about is Something Wild. That had a shocking tone shift halfway through, but it worked.

The broad spectrum of films nominated by the HFPA is best reflected in the directing category. Five filmmakers who made vastly different movies  including George Millers gonzo action film Mad Max: Fury Road, Alejandro Inarritus western The Revenant and Todd Haynes period romance Carol  will face off.

But while Tom McCarthys ensemble drama Spotlight is among the few certified Oscar front-runners, some are predicting the HFPA may give the award to Ridley Scott in part to recognize his entire career.

The acting categories will see Hollywood veterans such as Lily Tomlin, Al Pacino and Jane Fonda face off against relative newcomers such as Schumer, Paul Dano and Alicia Vikander. In a nomination that surely struck a nostalgic chord with older moviegoers, Sylvester Stallone proved a Globes contender for supporting actor in a drama for his understated performance as Rocky Balboa in Creed  39 years after his last Globes nod for the original Rocky.

I remember reading that Eugene ONeills father [actor James ONeill] played the Count of Monte Cristo for 30 years  and Im past that, Stallone told The Times of his history playing the perennial underdog boxer. Its the one character I actually wanted to follow in perpetuity until maybe his final demise. Theres just something about this journey.

Now that that journey has taken Stallone to the Globes, could it soon take him all the way to the Hollywood title fight that is the Oscars? Stallone laughed off the prospect.

My God, he said, shaking his head. Listen, Ive been more than blessed with my share of good fortune.

josh.rottenberg@latimes.com
The supernatural thriller The Forest begins with an intriguing premise and fun, ghost story-type potential but quickly devolves into convoluted hokum that produces more laughs than scares.

Sara (Natalie Dormer), a married young American, learns that her punkier twin sister, Jess (also Dormer), a teacher living in Japan, is missing after visiting the eerie Aokigahara Forest near Mt. Fuji. What if the forest, a legendary suicide spot said to be populated by angry spirits, drew Jess into its evil clutches?

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Sara, convinced Jess is still alive, hops a plane to Japan. Upon arrival, Sara conveniently meets a hunky travel writer (Taylor Kinney), who happens to be going to the forest the next day.

Off they traipse into the woods, of which Sara is told, If you see something bad, its in your head. This conceit pretty much allows for anything to happen to anyone for any reason, upping the films sloppy-silly quotient.

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Director Jason Zada has trouble squaring the spooky action with the scripts stabs at emotional resonance choppily penned by Ben Ketai, Sarah Cornwell and Nick Antosca. By the films fuzzy climax, it feels as if the editor went home early. Audiences may want to follow suit.

The Forest

MPAA Rating: PG-13, for disturbing thematic content and imagesRunning time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Playing: In general release
When director Mark Osborne approached Jeff Bridges about his bold vision for reviving The Little Prince in an animated film, the actor was leery. After all, Antoine de Saint-Exuperys beloved 1943 novella is as well known for its myriad, often unfortunate, adaptations as it is for its mystical views on love and loss.

If you believe the Internet meme, Michael Jacksons signature moves can be traced to a 1974 live action musical adaptation of the book and Bob Fosses performance as the Snake. Otherwise, The Little Prince as radio play, ballet, BBC opera, stage musical, Claymation short, graphic novel, video game and Japanese anime seemed to have exhausted all possibility.

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But as Bridges tells it, Osborne had a killer pitch.

FULL COVERAGE: 2016 movies guide

He said it wasnt going to be this simple movie animating the beautiful drawings of the book, that it would be a story within a story, Bridges recalled during a recent call from his Santa Barbara home. I said, Hmm. He said, Id like to show you something. He pulls out this suitcase. Its the most incredible piece of art.

Osborne called it the magic suitcase. Handmade by Coraline modeler Joe Schmidt, it looked like an artifact that the books narrator, the Aviator, who discovers the Little Prince in a desert, himself might have left behind. Mysterious-looking rivets, gears, vents and metal plates gave the piece a mechanical feel, as if it might rumble to life and fly away on its own. B-612, the name of the Little Princes asteroid, was stenciled in red on one side.

Inside, Schmidt had created a snapshot of Osbornes vision for the film. A constellation of tiny planets and stars lighted up on one side. A giant art book of illustrations filled the other. From somewhere deep inside the case, Osborne pulled out two large white circles that held slides that when placed up to each eye displayed 3-D images of stop-motion puppets. Then Osborne started flipping switches.

1 / 2 Donnie Yen returns as the real-life grandmaster who mentored Bruce Lee, this time taking on gangsters led by Mike Tyson. Directed by Wilson Yip. WellGo USA Entertainment (Ritchie B. Tongo / EPA) 2 / 2 Newly widowed investment banker Jake Gyllenhaal pursues a destructive path until customer service rep Naomi Watts takes an interest. With Chris Cooper, Judah Lewis. Written by Bryan Sipe. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee. Fox Searchlight (Anne Marie Fox/ AMF Photography)

What is essential is invisible to the eye, Osborne said as he worked, quoting the book.

In no time, a one-way mirror slid away to reveal a hidden chamber holding a collection of yellowed pages below. It was a mock-up of Saint-Exuperys original manuscript, a key plot point in Osbornes film. Paramount Pictures releases it in the U.S. on March 18.

It came to life for me, Bridges said. I said, This is where the sensibility of this movie is coming from!

During the 51/2 years it took to make the film, that suitcase traveled the world, charming investors and artists alike, winning over composer Hans Zimmer as well as a stellar cast including Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Paul Rudd, James Franco, Ricky Gervais and Benecio Del Toro.

I had people in tears at the end of the pitch, Osborne said. It was the manifestation of the story and of the danger of this ephemeral story not existing. It became this very emotional way to communicate to people.

A beloved story

Le Petit Prince, with its watercolor illustrations and simple, clear prose, became one of the last centurys most successful books. Its the story of a precocious boy who enchants a stranded pilot with his sad, allegorical tales of traveling the universe.

One of the first examples of modern magic realism, the novella is believed to have been inspired in part by Saint-Exuperys own experiences as a pilot stranded in the Sahara Desert during a long-distance race. The author also flew with the Free French Air Forces during World War II and was revered for his nonfiction books on aviation. He disappeared on a mission over the Mediterranean a year after The Little Prince was published. That bit of mystery inspires Osbornes script as well.

Osborne, who earned an Oscar nomination for his 1998 stop-motion short More, was about to get a second nod for 2008s Kung Fu Panda when he was approached to direct The Little Prince. French producing partners Dimitri Rassam and Aton Soumache had success with an animated French TV series based on the novella and a good relationship with the authors estate. But Osborne had his misgivings about the offer.

They asked, Do you want to make a big CG movie? Osborne said. I said, No. You just cant. Theres no way. The more I thought about it, the more I realized there was an opportunity to make something maybe a little different than what they were expecting.

Osborne wanted to illustrate how the book could change the course of ones life, and he worked with screenwriters Irena Brignull and Bob Persichetti on the script.

The more I talked about this idea to other artists, everybody felt the same way I did, said Osborne. That you cant just take the book and make it into a movie. Youre never going to fulfill what they have in their imaginations. The movie should be about celebrating that personal experience.

He made his hero a little girl after research from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media revealed the gender disparity among characters in animated films. Played by Interstellars 12-year-old Mackenzie Foy, she represents the spirit of adulthood, he said.

Reality in the film is dull and uniform, depicted by the sleek, seamless CG animation. It was Osbornes attempt to create the future as Saint-Exupery might have seen it.

The Little Princes story within the story is told with a stop-motion so elegant that its as if the watercolor illustrations of Saint-Exuperys book had come to life. It was Osbornes way, he said, to keep the poetry of the book alive.

Osborne added 40 years to the timeline of the book itself, imagining the Aviator as a bearded old kook with the sole overgrown yard in a neighborhood of stark, concrete buildings occupied by disapproving drones. As Osborne describes it, the story asks, What if at age 46 when [Saint-Exupery] finished the book and he brought it to the world, nobody understood it? What if it never got published?

Stalwart fans of the book may be unsettled with the films third act. Osborne takes the story  and the Little Prince  into surprising places. But Osborne said he didnt want to shy away from the books darker themes of melancholy and loneliness. Besides, he added, the material itself demanded bold, unexpected choices.

Olivier dAgay, the authors grand nephew and spokesman for the Saint-Exupery estate said in an email: The movie is extremely faithful to the book. The story of the little girl, her friendship with the aviator, her conflict with her mother, [illustrate] the place of children today in a tough world of competition and solitude. Its why the two stories are really well linked. This is the originality and the genius of that movie: to show that the magic and the power of the book is still operating today.

calendar@latimes.com
To prepare for his latest role, Bryan Cranston was in luck: He sort of looks like former President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Fortunately my own natural makeup is what every man hopes for -- beady eyes and thin lips, Cranston, the former Breaking Bad star, joked to reporters at the Television Critics Assn. media tour in Pasadena on Thursday. Thats what I share with LBJ.

Cranston plays the 1960s president who was at the center of everything from the introduction of Medicare to the escalation of the Vietnam War in All the Way, HBOs upcoming movie adaptation of the play by Robert Schenkkan. The movie, slated for the spring, focuses on Johnsons relationship with civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., played by Anthony Mackie.

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Despite his physical similarities with Johnson, Cranston said he still had to spend more than two hours in makeup every day of shooting. But the effort was worth it to bring his interpretation of one of the most controversial figures in U.S. history to a wider audience, he said.

Theater is theater, Cranston said. In the six months we were performing All the Way [onstage], we could now reach millions more and tell this important story by way of HBO.

Steven Spielberg (who was not present in Pasadena) serves as executive producer of the film, with Jay Roach directing.

Schenkkan said the story will remain faithful to the complexity that was LBJ. He quoted former White House aide Bill Moyers, who once said: The 11 most interesting people I ever met was Lyndon Johnson.

Whats more, Schenkkan said, viewers will see how LBJ continues to impact America. We live in LBJs world today, he said. All the things were still arguing about today, in 2016, we started in 1964.

And Johnsons magnetic personality is at the center of it all.

You like him and youre appalled by him and youre pulled into him and youre repelled by him, Cranston said. Youre constantly doing this trombone with LBJ, and that really comes out in the story.

Twitter: @scottcollinsLAT
Kerry Washington was just 14 when the groundbreaking Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas investigation riveted a nation.

Now the woman best known for bringing Washington to its knees each week as the go-to Beltway fixer in the ABC hit Scandal finds herself playing the woman who shook up the political class in HBOs Confirmation.

Washington portrays Hill in the film that covers the 1991 monumental sexual harassment allegations that changed the way we talk about victims rights and race relations. Hill, a young African American law professor, was thrust into the spotlight after she accused her former boss and Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas (Wendell Pierce) of sexual harassment.

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Washington, appearing Thursday afternoon at the Television Critics Assn. media tour in Pasadena, downplayed the idea that playing two women embroiled in the politics of the U.S. capital has yielded a cynical view on D.C.

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I think Im really inspired by the difference that a person can make in Washington and the kind of cultural shift that happened after the events that take place in our film, said Washington, who met with Hill in preparing for the role. I think its really inspiring to think about how much changed, how we were all transformed by these events in terms of our language changing around sexual harassment, around victims rights, around how we think about the workplace, how we think about women, how we think about race, how we think about power.

Premiering in April, the film was directed by Rick Famuyiwa (Dope) from a script by Susannah Grantand. In addition to Pierce as Thomas, the film also stars Greg Kinnear as Joe Biden, who was then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and presided over the Thomas confirmation hearings.

Despite her age at the time of the proceedings, Washington said she understood there was significance to what was unfolding.

It was one of the first times that we all stood still and began to partake in what we now think of as a 24-hour news cycle, Washington said. My mother was an academic who had very passionate feelings about it as a woman of color. My dad had very passionate feelings about it as a black man. And I was immersed in how complicated and how complex the issues were from a very young age.

Washington said that ahead of production on the film, the cast and crew had to sit through a sexual harassment orientation, which she referred to as a surreal moment.

Some of the issues are still rearing their head in terms of gender and in terms of race and how we understand those things, she said. So I think, really, the outcome of what happened was that the conversation began and we want to make sure that that conversation continues.

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Starz is looking to better reach Latino audiences and has three new projects in the works adapted from Spanish-language formats.

During the networks session of morning panels Friday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena, Starz CEO Chris Albrecht announced the networks new focused effort to attract Latino viewers.

The move comes at a time when networks are striving for more diversity to appeal to underserved audiences. Starz has found success reaching African American audiences with its series Power and Survivors Remorse.

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To better go after the Latino viewer, the network has three projects in development  and all boast Latino creators, writers and producers.

The network is partnering with Televisa USA, a division of Mexican media company Grupo Televisa, to develop Malefecio, which is based on the popular Mexican telenovela that originally aired in the early 80s. The supernatural thriller will center on a powerful Mexican businessman who has made a deadly pact with the devil. Writer and producer Mauricio Katz (Nino Santo, The Bridge) will serve as showrunner. Pedro Peirano (No, Nino Santo) will serve as executive producer and will co-write the first episode with Katz.

Theres also Santeria, an idea from Cuban writer-director Alejandro Brugues (From Dusk Till Dawn), that also lives in the supernatural world. The Cuba-set series, according to a release on the project, centers on two undercover agents who investigate a bizarre murder. Tension arises from the complex relationship between the Cuban people and Santeria, the ancient religion born on the island of Cuba.

And Pour Vida is a half-hour series that follows the Hernandez sisters, who inherit a building in East Los Angeles from their deceased aunt and plan to open a wine bar  and in the process, according to Starzs description, they attempt to put the gente in the gentefication of the historic barrio. Big Beach TVs Marc Turtletaub (Little Miss Sunshine), Dan Pasternack and Erin Keating (Portlandia) will produce.

Albrecht said he imagines that the shows will be bilingual, given that the aim is to target the growing bilingual, second-generation audience. (We write more about the demographics role in shifting Spanish-language TV habits here.)

Its an audience that is hard to corral because there are a lot of cultural elements there, Albrecht said. But I think its an audience if we lean into them a little bit, we can show them that Starz has them on our minds.

I tweet about TV (and other things) here: @villarrealy
As Valencia drugmaker MannKind scrambles to replace the strategic partner it was relying on to market and distribute its Afrezza inhalable insulin treatment, diabetics who have come to rely on the drug are wondering whether theyll be able to continue using it  despite assurances that it will remain available.

On Twitter, on online diabetes discussion boards and even in a YouTube video parody, Afrezza users also took shots at Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical giant that earlier this week pulled out of the marketing agreement.

So disheartened to see that @sanofi dropped #Afrezza. This drug has made managing my daily life 10x easier and I can't go back. #t1diabetes  Hayes (@hayesfejer) January 6, 2016

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We may have to figure out a way to buy up all the remaining supply and stockpile it, an Afrezza user wrote on a TuDiabetes.org discussion board.

A world-changing drug deserves better marketing. Ive done more to market Afrezza myself than Sanofi ever did, another TuDiabetes user wrote.

There is no doubt that Sanofi has been a poor partner. One wonders if there was ever any commitment to the product at all, wrote a third.

Sanofi has defended its decision to no longer sell the drug, saying that patient and doctor demand was disappointing despite strong marketing support. Since the drug hit the market in February, the company had reported U.S. sales of only about $5.5 million through Sept. 30. It was not yet available overseas.

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Some experts say the drug may have run into unexpected competition from a new class of diabetes treatments. And it might not have been able to overcome the high-profile failure of Exubera, a previous inhalable insulin from Pfizer that was torpedoed by concerns that it impaired lung function, among other issues.

Meanwhile, MannKind executives said patients shouldnt lose access to the drug, which the company manufactures at a plant in Connecticut.

Still, even before Sanofi pulled out, Afrezza was difficult to get.

Many insurers require special authorization for doctors to prescribe it, with some limiting it to patients who cannot give themselves injections because of a physical impairment or documented needle-phobia.

Afrezza is whats known as a fast-acting or mealtime insulin. Its meant to be taken just before or after meals to help prevent blood-sugar spikes. It is approved for both Type 1 diabetes, in which the body does not product any insulin, and Type 2, the diseases most common form, in which the bodys own insulin loses effectiveness.

Its not a replacement for all insulin treatments. But for Larissa Zimberoff, a New York freelance writer who has Type 1 diabetes, using Afrezza means taking fewer shots.

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Now 44, shes been taking insulin since she was 12, which has left her with scar tissue at injection sites. She still takes a daily shot, but, with Afrezza, doesnt have to do so before meals  something shes particularly grateful for when dining out.

I got really good at taking a shot under the table so people dont see, she said. People are much more interested in seeing me inhale something than seeing me taking a shot. I love it and I would be extremely sad to see it go.

Cynthia Goldstein, a West Los Angeles woman whos been using Afrezza since May, said she only uses the drug a few times a week when her blood sugar is especially high  for instance, after particularly carb-heavy meals.

She also uses an insulin pump, which supplies a steady insulin flow throughout the day and a boost at mealtime. But she likes Afrezza because it acts more quickly than her pump.

It takes effect immediately. Its amazing, she said.

Now, with Sanofi out of the picture, Goldstein said shes concerned a new sales and marketing partner  assuming MannKind can find one  will mean more disruption. It took her months for her doctor to get approval to prescribe Afrezza, and she now worries that she and others might have to repeat the process.

Even if they replace Sanofi, its still change, Goldstein said. There will be mistakes and learning curves and all that. Any kind of change like that is going to be troublesome.

During a brief conference call Tuesday, MannKind Chief Financial Officer Matthew Pfeffer said his company and Sanofi aimed to ensure there was no interruption of coverage or therapy for patients, and that MannKind would be looking for new partners to market the drug.

Pfeffer did not respond to requests for further comment.

Joel Hay, a professor of pharmaceutical economics at USC, said patients should not be concerned that Afrezza will suddenly become unavailable. He said that even without Sanofi, MannKind will probably be able to get Afrezza to customers, though he said a new distribution deal could come with unattractive terms for MannKind.

There is always some specialty distributor that will stock it at the right price, he said.

The wholesale price of the drug is between $7 and $9 a day, already pricier than the roughly $5 a day for an injectable insulin from Sanofi. Still, sales of the drug werent covering manufacturing costs.

Through the first nine months of last year, MannKind reported manufacturing costs of $15.7 million on Sanofis $5.5 million in Afrezza sales.

Hay said a retail prike hike could be the next move.

That happens all the time. If this is a small, vocal group that supports it, it would not surprise me if that were the strategy, Hay said.

Hay and Dr. Alan Marcus, an endocrinologist in Laguna Hills, noted that Afrezza may simply have come too late to be a big hit. In 2014, the same year the FDA approved Afrezza, a new class of diabetes drugs hit the market. Doctors say those drugs  taken orally, not injected  could be taking some of the market share Afrezza hoped to capture.

The new drugs, with brand names including Farxiga and Invokana, allow the kidneys to expel some excess sugar through urine. That allows patients to take less insulin than they otherwise might, Marcus said.

Hay said the rise of those drugs could explain why Sanofi pulled out of its worldwide marketing agreement less than a year and a half after it was signed in August 2014.

That seems to be the most obvious innovation in that time frame, Hay said. I dont think most people, including Sanofi, see inhaled insulin as fitting a really important need at this point, particularly with these new diabetes drugs.

Twitter: @jrkoren

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Barcelona striker Luis Suarez was suspended Friday for two Copa del Rey matches for insulting rival players.

The referees report for the heated match at Camp Nou that ended 4-1 for Barcelona on Wednesday said Suarez insulted Espanyol players in the tunnel after the match.

Referee Juan Martinez Munueras report states that Suarez told Espanyols players: I am waiting for you, come here. You are trash.

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Suarez picked up a yellow card during the match, and televised images showed him taunting Espanyol goalkeeper Pau Lopez after Lionel Messi scored a free kick just before halftime to make it 2-1.

The ban will rule the Uruguay striker out of the return leg set for next week at Espanyols stadium and possibly the first leg of the quarterfinals.

This is Suarezs first suspension since his four-month ban for biting an Italian player at the 2014 World Cup. The former Liverpool striker had already earned multi-match bans on two previous occasions for biting opponents and another for racial abuse.

Barcelona said in a statement it has appealed the ruling, denying Suarez insulted his opponents with the language recorded by the referee in his report.

Espanyol had two players, Papakouly Diop and Hernan Perez, sent off in the loss, and both will also miss the return leg. Diop earned a direct red card for insulting Suarez.

Wednesdays match was the second of three derbies within two weeks between the crosstown rivals.

Last weekend, Espanyol held Barcelona to a 0-0 draw in the Spanish league in a home match that was marred by racist insults directed toward Barcelona striker Neymar. The Spanish league has denounced the insults to the Spanish governments anti-violence committee for sport.

Suarez helped Barcelona win a rare treble of the Champions League, Spanish league and Copa del Rey last season. He also scored five goals in two matches to lead it to the Club World Cup title in December.
Three Chinese students studying in the San Gabriel Valley will serve prison time for the kidnapping and assault of a classmate under a plea deal reached this week, ending a case that drew international headlines.

The attack in March of last year turned the spotlight on the growing number of so-called parachute kids  mostly Chinese students who live and attend school in Southern California while their parents remain in China.

Authorities alleged that Yunyao Helen Zhai, Yuhan Coco Yang and Xinlei John Zhang were part of a group of teens who forced Yiran Camellia Liu to use her hands to wipe cigarette butts and ice cream from the floor of a Rowland Heights ice cream parlor.

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Liu, who was 18 at the time of the assault, testified that she was taken to a nearby park, stripped naked, kicked with high-heeled shoes, slapped and burned with cigarettes.

The three defendants, who are all now 19 years old, were charged with torture, kidnapping and assault. Attorneys for Zhai and Yang previously acknowledged that their clients participated in the attack. A lawyer for Zhang argued in court that his client was only a bystander.

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At the preliminary hearing for the teens, a judge said the case reminded him of Lord of the Flies, William Goldings 1954 novel about boys stranded on a deserted island.

The attack on Yiran Camellia Liu occurred last year near this gazebo in Rowland Heights Park. Three of her classmates at the time will plead no contest to kidnapping and assault, a prosecutor said. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Under the agreement with prosecutors, the trio will plead no contest to charges of kidnapping and assault, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Casey Jarvis, who is prosecuting the case. Zhai will be sentenced to 13 years in prison, Yang to 10 and Zhang to six, he said.

Jarvis said his office agreed to drop the torture charge, which carries a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole, because the teens had no criminal history.

We felt in the interest of justice it was the right thing to do, Jarvis said.

Attorney Rayford Fountain, who represents Yang, said the agreement was the best outcome for his client.

It was too much of a risk to go to trial.  Rayford Fountain, attorney

It was too much of a risk to go to trial, Fountain said.

The teens are among thousands of students from mainland China who attend high schools in California without much in the way of parental supervision. In recent years, the number of parachute kids settling in the San Gabriel Valley has surged, mostly in Arcadia, San Marino, Rowland Heights, Temple City and Walnut.

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The students pay for room, board and transportation from their hosts, who act as substitute parents. For parachute kids, living in the U.S. is a chance to learn a new language and culture and to escape Chinas ultra-competitive college entrance exams. Some thrive in their new environment and go on to colleges such as UC Berkeley and UC San Diego. For others, struggles with dating, friendships or school can spiral out of control without the steadying influence of parents and other family members.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Feb. 17. A 20-year-old man, Zheng Lu, was arrested on similar charges related to the attack and is awaiting a preliminary hearing, the prosecutor said.

stephen.ceasar@latimes.com

Twitter: @sjceasar

cindy.chang@latimes.com

Twitter: @cindychangLA

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Los Angeles has struggled for decades to conquer homelessness, only to see the problem grow worse in recent years as tent-and-tarpaulin shantytowns have taken root in neighborhoods from Venice to Boyle Heights.

Elected city officials have said that solving nations worst homelessness crisis is among their top priorities, but they have devoted comparatively little money toward housing and services, including $30 million this fiscal year.

On Thursday they were presented with a much larger tab for getting 26,000 men, women and children into homes: at least $1.85 billion over the next 10 years, according to long-awaited recommendations from the citys top budget analysts.

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The report  prepared by City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana and Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso  comes after months of collaboration between the city and county to craft the regions first comprehensive plan for curbing homelessness in more than a decade.

The reports principal  and most expensive  suggestion is the expansion of long-term housing for the homeless.

It concludes that homelessness in L.A. is in part the result of underfunding and under-building affordable housing over an extended period of time, while failing to build adequate capacity to serve and house existing homeless Angelenos.

The analysts suggest improving the citys short-term shelter options and creating a centralized case-management system for the homeless.

The report offers dozens of options for raising the money needed to carry out this plan, such as state and federal grants and the use of fees on real estate transactions and development. For such a large sum, however, the report noted that city voters may also have to approve a bond or tax increase.

The analysts recommendations could reverberate powerfully at City Hall. With its premise that homelessness can be reduced only through long-term government spending on housing and social services, the report places the responsibility for one of L.A.'s most recognizable social ills squarely on the citys political class.

The citys report appeared on the same day as a county blueprint for spending $150 million in the near term on its own homelessness strategies.

The budgetary implications for the county are not as stark, however, since county officials already have ongoing sources of funding for addressing homelessness. The county plan also did not identify an overall dollar figure needed to address homelessness, as the city plan did.

In relying heavily on permanent housing coupled with medical and social services and expanded outreach, the city and county reports largely hewed to practices espoused by homeless advocates across the country.

But Santana and Tso were unusually frank in acknowledging that only a massive expenditure of public funds, perhaps needing the approval of city voters, would suffice to underwrite that vision.

While costs to fully address homelessness are significant, the cost of inaction will continue to grow, the report states.

The report also notes that the estimated $1.85 billion the city must spend to combat homelessness includes primarily the price of building or leasing new housing units  not the cost of many supportive services for the homeless or for expanding the citys system of outreach workers, as the report also recommends.

It is unclear how warmly the reports strategies and and spending recommendations will be received by the council and Mayor Eric Garcetti.

In a statement, Garcetti said the report gives us the blueprint we need to guide our decision-making process, and its recommendations will help us allocate the critical funding we need to address this issue over the next decade.

Council President Herb Wesson said in a statement that the council rolled up its sleeves and crafted a strategic plan that not only creates a blueprint for Los Angeles, but also complements the county and states efforts.

Councilman Mike Bonin, whose Westside district has seen one of the sharpest increases in homeless encampments, suggested that he supported the long-term approach recommended in the report but would like to see it coupled with more immediate action.

I am grateful, encouraged and tremendously impatient, Bonin said in a statement, adding that the city needs " immediate action that will reduce the number of encampments in our neighborhoods and get people living on our streets the support and services they need and deserve.

Elected officials did not address the reports details.

Should city officials choose to follow the reports recommendations, they could potentially lean on either the state or federal government for financial help.

Earlier this week, state senators proposed spending $2 billion to build or rehabilitate permanent housing for mentally ill homeless people across California.

In the last year, council members have been repeatedly castigated for inaction as homeless encampments continue to spread.

The reports come at a time when the risks to L.A.'s homeless have been aggravated by El Nino storms that bore down on Southern California this week.

Last fall, the council set aside $12.4 million for emergency relief, especially for those who live in areas prone to flooding.

Teams were sent to warn more than 1,000 people living in watersheds and riverbeds to move to winter shelters or at least high ground.

Naomi Goldman, a spokeswoman for the city-county Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, said that as many as 700 homeless people remained in dangerous areas along the Los Angeles River as the brunt of the first big storm hit Monday.

In its separate report, the county proposed launching 12 initiatives now, and studying others.

The priorities set for this year include spending $26million to rapidly re-house families that fall into homelessness; allocating 35% of federal housing vouchers that become available to people who are chronically homeless; and giving $11 million for short-term housing such as shelters and group homes for people coming out of county institutions such as jails and hospitals.

County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said the county, which has a $28-billion annual budget, has more resources than the city to put toward addressing homelessness and will have to make a larger commitment in the long term.

The county is going to be called on to do the heavy lifting, and I think we are making an unprecedented commitment to do that, she said.

Times staff writer Emily Alpert Reyes contributed to this report.

peter.jamison@latimes.com

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abby.sewell@latimes.com

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Air quality regulators and Southern California Gas Co. have agreed on a plan to capture and incinerate at least some natural gas from a leaking well that has sickened and displaced thousands of residents of Porter Ranch, according to a legal document filed this week.

Under the plan, the gas company would deploy pollution control equipment as early as next week to burn off both methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, and foul-smelling odorants that are added to the gas for leak detection.

The steps are being proposed to satisfy an administrative order that the South Coast Air Quality Management District is seeking to reduce emissions and odors from the companys Aliso Canyon underground storage facility in the Santa Susana Mountains. For more than two months, a damaged well there has spewed more than 1,000 tons of planet-warming methane a day into the air and sent foul odors into nearby communities.

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While state and county officials say emissions from the leak do not pose a long-term health risk, the sulfur-like additives in the gas are causing headaches, nausea, nosebleeds and other ailments.

To minimize those emissions, the gas company plans to use air pollution control devices known as carbon adsorbers and thermal oxidizers to capture and burn off at least some of the gas, using an enclosed flame that is not visible, air quality officials said.

If the plan works, emissions will be reduced but by no means eliminated.

The devices should help mitigate to some extent the foul odors and also will destroy the methane, but theyre not going to be able to capture all the gas thats leaking, air district spokesman Sam Atwood said. He called the pollution control equipment established technology that has been in use for decades.

However, the gas company will have to take precautions. State oil and gas regulators say the risk of ignition near the leak is so great that workers are barred from bringing cellphones to the site.

To address that concern, the gas company plans to use pipes to collect gas in a large depression around the leaking wellhead and route it to incineration equipment some distance from the leak, Atwood said.

The piping would carry the gas to separate units that will remove the fluids from the gas and then either incinerate it or filter the odorant out of it, said Melissa Bailey, a gas company spokeswoman. The captured odorized natural gas will be combusted by thermal oxidizers that will safely burn the gas in an enclosed, ceramic-insulated chamber.

The system, to be designed and installed in two phases, could incinerate as much as 20 million standard cubic feet of gas per day once it is fully operational, Bailey said.

Paula Cracium, chairwoman of the newly formed Porter Ranch Community Advisory Committee, said she was initially concerned about the proposal to capture and burn some of the gas, but was relieved to hear from company officials at a community meeting Thursday that the incineration would be contained and occur away from the leak site.

Thats a lot less disconcerting than an open flame shooting out from the top of the mountainside, Cracium said. Once theyre able to capture that escaping gas and incinerate it, were hoping it will greatly diminish the public health impacts on the community.

The 11-page order, filed late Thursday, was prepared jointly and agreed to in advance by the air district and the gas company.

The order would also require the company to fund a health study on the potential effects on the community, to pay for stepped-up air monitoring at the facility and in Porter Ranch, and to continuously monitor the leak with an infrared camera.

Additionally, the gas company would have to improve its leak detection, reporting and inspection practices in order to withdraw the maximum amount of gas from the storage facility in a contained and safe manner as quickly as possible. The company would also provide records to air quality regulators, including odor complaints it has received and the amount of gas it has injected and withdrawn from the facility, which can hold 86 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Activist groups, including Food & Water Watch and Save Porter Ranch, said the proposal falls short of what is needed to protect residents health, the climate and to guard against future leaks.

Residents have lodged more than 1,600 odor complaints with the air district since the leak began Oct. 23.

The order must be approved by the air districts hearing board. The five-member panel was set to consider the proposal at a court-like proceeding at 9 a.m. Saturday at Granada Hills Charter High School, where it will hear arguments from air district attorneys and sworn testimony from the public.

The gas company said its attorneys will present an opening statement at the hearing.

The air district cited the gas company on Nov. 23 for posing a public nuisance with its odors, about a month after the leak was detected by the company.

As part of the agencys investigation into the leak, air quality inspectors visited the Aliso Canyon facility Dec. 9 and 10 and used an infrared camera to check for leaks, but were unable to inspect the leaking well, called SS-25, for health and safety reasons.

The inspectors were able to use the camera to assess 16 of the 115 wells that the gas company operates at the site and found 15 of them to be leaking from their valves, fittings and flanges. The leaks, however, were considered relatively minor and below levels that would violate the agencys air quality regulations, according to the air district document.

The company later repaired those leaks, the air district said.

After a series of failed attempts to repair the well, the gas company is drilling relief wells in an effort to plug the leak. The utility has said that the process could take until the end of March.

On Monday, the company confirmed that its crews were installing mesh screens to prevent an oily mist at the leaking well from drifting off the site and through the air into nearby communities.

After visiting with Porter Ranch residents this week, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday declared a state of emergency because of the leak and ordered new regulations  including increased inspections and safety measures  for all natural gas storage facilities in California.

For more environment and air quality news, follow me @tonybarboza on Twitter.

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The 15 politicians who sit on the Los Angeles City Council have plenty of reasons to stay put.

They receive a yearly salary of $189,041, up from $184,610 in 2014. Theyre offered a city vehicle when they take office, and more for their staff. If they last in their post for a decade  12 years is the maximum under term limits  they also can receive a healthy city pension.

Councilman Felipe Fuentes, 44, decided to walk away anyway, announcing Friday that he will not run for reelection next year  or any other office. That means he will conclude his career as a city elected official after a single four-year term, a move thats astonishingly rare for City Hall.

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Veteran legislative analyst Avak Keotahian looked through council records over several decades and could not find another example of an L.A. city lawmaker who walked away voluntarily after a single four-year term without seeking another office.

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Going back to the 50s and 60s, theres nobody who did what this guys doing, said Keotahian, who has been at City Hall since 1977. They either died, were defeated or went on to some other office.

Fuentes, who represents the northeast San Fernando Valley, said that after 16 years in government  working in public office or as a political aide  he wants something different. The Sylmar resident also said hes not ready to make the same time commitment during a second term that he had in the first.

Im making a decision that my stewardship of 16 years is all I can do, said Fuentes, who plans to step down when his term ends in June 2017.

Councilman Bob Blumenfield, who took office in 2013, the same year as Fuentes, said he was shocked and bummed by the news. Councilman Mike Bonin, also elected that year, said he felt stunned and really, really disappointed.

I have always been really impressed with how remarkably bright and thoughtful he is, and how much he added to the conversation, said Bonin, who represents coastal neighborhoods from Westchester north to Pacific Palisades.

Two people have already filed the initial paperwork to run for Fuentes seat in March 2017: Tujunga bookkeeper Bonnie Corwin and Nancy Woodruff, who sits on the Foothill Trails District Neighborhood Council. Woodruff said she was not surprised by Fuentes announcement, noting he has been facing criticism from his constituents on homelessness, traffic and other issues.

People were not happy with the responses they were getting, the Sun Valley resident said.

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Last fall, community activists also criticized Fuentes decision to push the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council out of a city-owned building where it had previously held its meetings. One neighborhood council leader said this week that Fuentes had declared war on them.

Fuentes, in turn, said the change would free up space for groups that address homelessness and other community issues. Im not going to be apologetic for bringing more services into the district, he said.

Fuentes, elected in 2013, represents such neighborhoods as Pacoima, Lake View Terrace, Shadow Hills and Sunland-Tujunga. His decision comes during a period of churn in Valley politics  both in elections and in the criminal justice system.

Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, a longtime Fuentes ally, lost his reelection bid in a major upset two years ago. Councilman Mitchell Englander, whose district borders Fuentes, is running to replace departing L.A. County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

An aide to U.S. Rep. Tony Cardenas, who also represents part of the Valley, disclosed last year that she had received a subpoena to appear before a federal grand jury. Months later, The Times reported that several aides to another Valley officeholder, Councilwoman Nury Martinez, also had received grand jury subpoenas.

Fuentes district director, Yolanda Fuentes Miranda, went before the grand jury in December. The councilman declined to comment on Miranda, who is also his aunt, but said her appearance had nothing to do with his decision to leave after one term.

Fuentes got his political start in 1999, as an aide to then-Councilman Alex Padilla, now Californias secretary of state. He worked as liaison to the Valley for Mayor James K. Hahn as city officials fought a Valley secession ballot measure. He spent nearly six years in the state Assembly before joining the council.

On Friday, Fuentes said he never accepted a city car and was never satisfied with the pace of government. Although he spoke broadly of his interest in utilities and public infrastructure, the councilman said he does not know what he will do next.

I want to write a new chapter, he said.

Follow @DavidZahniser on Twitter for whats happening at Los Angeles City Hall.

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Daniel Wozniak told police that he laughed as he cut the head off the man he had shot to death a day earlier.

I was actually smiling and laughing, Wozniak said in a videotaped interview with detectives that was shown last month in Orange County Superior Court.

When one investigator asked why he laughed, Wozniak replied: I dont know. I reached a point where I couldnt even believe I was doing this.

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Prosecutors highlighted that and other gruesome scenarios Thursday as they closed their case against Wozniak, a 31-year-old community theater actor from Costa Mesa.

Jurors convicted Wozniak on Dec. 16 of two counts of murder for the slayings of 26-year-old Army veteran Sam Herr and Herrs friend Juri Julie Kibuishi, 23, in 2010.

This week, the same jurors heard evidence in the penalty phase of the trial, in which prosecutors tried to convince them that Wozniak deserves a death sentence.

Wozniaks defense team is expected to finish presenting its closing argument Monday, after which jurors will start deliberating Wozniaks fate.

If they choose to spare him the death penalty, Wozniak would receive life in prison without parole.

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Prosecutors last month presented evidence that Wozniak shot Herr to death in a Los Alamitos theater on May 21, 2010, and then tried to cover it up. Wozniak used Herrs phone to lure Kibuishi to Herrs apartment, where Wozniak shot her twice in the head. The next day, prosecutors said, Wozniak ripped the pants off Kibuishis body and propped her remains against Herrs bed to make it seem as though Herr had raped and killed her and fled.

Wozniak then returned to the theater, where he dismembered Herrs body with an ax and a saw before tossing some of the pieces into a Long Beach park, according to detectives testimony and Wozniaks videotaped confession.

Thats as ruthless as a murder gets, prosecutor Matt Murphy said Thursday. Its as cold-blooded as a murder gets. Its as unnecessary as a murder gets.

According to Murphy, Wozniak killed Herr so he could steal Herrs ATM card and access about $62,000 Herr had saved from his Army service.

This is the most base, vile motive of all. Its money, Murphy said. And in our case, it gets even worse because the next question is, what does he need the money for?

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Wozniak was scheduled to marry his fiancee, Rachel Buffett, about a week after the killings, but he was broke and needed cash to fund his honeymoon, Murphy said.

This was as cold as cold gets for the worst reasons of the worst reasons, Murphy said. Not just for money, but for money so he can go on a trip.

As defense attorneys began their closing argument Thursday, they raised the possibility that Buffett may bear some responsibility for the slayings.

Shes crafty. She just is, public defender Scott Sanders said.

Sanders reminded jurors of testimony from Costa Mesa police Lt. Ed Everett, who said he thinks Buffett should be on trial alongside Wozniak, even though police were unable to find evidence to support charging her with murder.

Buffett is facing a charge of accessory after the fact on allegations that she lied to police to try to help Wozniak. She has pleaded not guilty.

Dobruck writes for Times Community News.

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At the end of a nearly 30-person line at the historically lucky Bluebird liquor store in Hawthorne, Mark Willis clutched his blue lottery ticket holder. The lettering on the thin plastic booklet, which he calls his book of dreams, was faded.

Inside its pockets, atop his penciled-in lottery tickets, he had slid in photos and crinkled newspaper clippings of his fantasy possessions: a Bentley, Rolex, G-IV plane (hed name it Angel), beachside mansion and glamorously dressed model to represent Gladys Knight concert tickets.

Seven hundred million dollars, thats a lot of money, the Leimert Park resident said, who added that he would also give to charity and pay off his student loans. You could have your whole life changed.

With the Powerball jackpot at that unprecedented amount on Wednesday, the fever has spread across the nation, leading thousands like Willis to flock to stores to try their luck.

Saturdays jackpot amount marks the largest single jackpot of any draw game in the United States, lottery officials said. The pot has been rising since November and shot up to the record-setting amount Wednesday night after there was no winner for the 18th consecutive time.

Sales are going crazy right now, said Russ Lopez, California State Lottery spokesman. Were not surprised. Any time the jackpot gets to this point, Californians especially get very excited about it.

On Tuesday, there were $7 million in sales in California. On Wednesday, $20 million. By 7 p.m. Thursday, sales were already more than $37 million.

If a lottery player were to match all five numbers plus the Powerball, that person could win an estimated $428.4 million lump sum (before taxes), officials said. The retail location that sells the lucky ticket would receive the maximum bonus of $1 million.

People get caught up in, Are you kidding me? Its that much? Whats two bucks? and it makes sense because if you dont play, you cant win, Lopez said -- though he emphasized that people should play responsibly.

When sales are this good, Lopez said, lottery officials often choose to raise the jackpot, which he said could very well happen again between now and Saturday.

The Bluebird liquor store, which has sold at least four winning tickets of $1 million or more since the lotterys inception, has been packed in the last few days, owner James Kim said. Kim estimated about 5,000 people came in Thursday and 3,000 yesterday in spite of the relentless rain.

The ceilings of the store are covered in cardboard slips of paper with winners names and prize amounts, and a sign outside proclaims: Millionaires made here. Are you next? Entrants have a tradition of rubbing small blue bird figurines for good luck.

The excitement was palpable among those waiting in the line on Thursday night.

You saw it on the news yesterday, huh? Did you see it? a woman said, laughing, as she saw another walking out of the store with a grin across her face, an orange and white ticket Powerball ticket in her hand.

Saw it in a dream, Tracy Paris said, laughing with her.

Cmon baby, cmon baby! the woman said as Paris walked past. Hey! Whats the number?

Uh-uh, uh-uh, Paris said, shaking her head in jest.

Though Paris has dreamed about winning the lottery (she can never remember the numbers when she wakes up, unfortunately), shes not a gambler, she said. She doesnt play the lottery regularly, but her husband convinced her to buy Powerball tickets this time when the jackpot reached epic proportions.

I truly believe in doing it this way: When you feel it, play it, she said. We didnt wipe out our savings. We just took out a couple of dollars and said OK, lets go play. 

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Paris said her family has been having a tough time this year after losing several family members. The three tickets she bought -- one for her, one for her son and one for her husband -- could be the good news their family needs.

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For some reason I get down to my last pennies, and it seems like for some reason a whole waterfall opens up, Paris said. So Im thinking thats what it is right now.

Follow me on Twitter: @taygoldenstein

Times staff writer Joseph Serna contributed to this report.

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A man who came to the U.S. as an Iraqi refugee was arrested in Sacramento on Thursday on suspicion of lying about fighting alongside terrorist organizations in Syria, federal authorities said.

On the same day, federal authorities in Houston announced that an Iraqi refugee in Texas, who had been communicating online with the man in California, was charged with attempting to provide support to the militant group Islamic State.

The allegations against two men residing in the U.S. with links to foreign terrorist groups comes as the nation reels from the Dec. 2 shooting in San Bernardino, which left 14 dead. That is considered the deadliest terrorist act on U.S. soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

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And the arrests of two refugees from Iraq, part of a wave of about 103,000 Iraqi refugees admitted from 2006 to 2014, is likely to add fuel to the debate over whether the U.S. should welcome refugees from Syria, and if so, whether the screening process is adequate.

The man living in Sacramento, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, had reported in private messages on social media that he fought alongside various groups in Syria, including Ansar al-Islam, a Sunni terrorist group and an affiliate of Al Qaeda, according to a federal complaint filed Wednesday and unsealed Thursday.

Al-Jayab, a Palestinian who was born in Iraq and first arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in October 2012, had begun communicating extensively with people in the Middle East before departing for Turkey and crossing over into Syria in November 2013, according to the complaint.

He returned to the U.S. on Jan. 23, 2014, and settled in Sacramento.

While he represented a potential safety threat, there is no indication that he planned any acts of terrorism in this country, U.S. Atty. Benjamin Wagner said in a statement announcing the charges.

But during an interview with federal immigration authorities, Al-Jayab denied being affiliated with any rebel or terrorist group. Of his travels to the Middle East, he said only that he was visiting his grandmother in Turkey, according to the complaint. No mention was made of his alleged time in Syria.

Online, Al-Jayab appeared to be more candid about his alleged activities abroad.

According to social media accounts reviewed by investigators, he told several people that he was in Aleppo, Syria, and gave out a Syrian phone number, the complaint said.

He told a person in Indonesia that he joined Ansar al-Islam and detailed a joint action among his and other Sunni extremist groups opposing the Syrian government.

I came to Syria.... I fight alongside, he wrote, according to court papers.

Still, he expressed fears about punishment by the U.S. In a message to an unidentified person, he wrote that the government is alert for everything, [and] my trip here constitutes a charge.

When he left Syria, he wrote that he was disturbed by the infighting among Islamic extremist groups. He vowed to return when the seditious acts are over, he wrote, according to the complaint.

In the months leading up to his departure for Syria, Al-Jayab communicated with a man in Texas identified in court papers as Individual I.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorneys office for the Eastern District of California said the unnamed person was Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, who was taken into custody by federal authorities.

Al Hardan, 24, was charged with one count each of attempting to provide support to a foreign terrorist group, unlawfully procuring citizenship or naturalization by not mentioning his alleged ties to terror groups, and lying to federal authorities about his weapons training, an indictment unsealed Thursday said.

Al Hardan, who entered the U.S. as an Iraqi refugee in November 2009 and became a permanent resident in 2011, is accused of offering support to Islamic State, according to the indictment.

In spring 2013, Al Hardan allegedly wrote to Al-Jayab, asking, Do you know that I have never sprayed fire with a Kalashnikov?  a type of Russian assault rifle.

Al-Jayab responded, God willing, you will have your chance to shoot.

Each man is scheduled to appear before a federal judge Friday. If convicted of the charge of providing support to terrorists, Al Hardan faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Al-Jayab faces up to eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno.

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The arraignment of three Los Angeles County sheriffs officials accused of handcuffing a jail inmate to a wall for hours has been delayed until February.

Deputy James Hawkins, Sgt. David Moser and retired Sgt. Rex Taylor were scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Santa Clarita, but Mosers attorney filed a motion challenging the charges against his client.

Attorneys for Hawkins and Taylor plan to join the motion, which, if granted, would result in the dismissal of the case.

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The arraignment has been rescheduled for Feb. 18.

Hawkins, Moser and Taylor are charged with cruel and unusual punishment -- a misdemeanor -- in the Sept. 5, 2014, incident. Hawkins also is charged with misdemeanor assault.

Through his attorney, Hawkins has argued that he was merely following a written policy instructing deputies at North County Correctional Facility, a maximum security jail in Castaic, on how to handle inmates suspected of harboring contraband in their bodies.

The inmate, Omar Estrada, was suspected of having a kite, or unauthorized note to another inmate, in his rectum.

Contraband watch, known informally as potty watch, is a fact of life at jails and prisons across the country, as inmates conceal drugs, weapons and other forbidden items in their body cavities. Potty watches often become tests of patience, stretching for hours during the wait for the inmate to use the toilet.

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Inmates must be prevented from secretly disposing of contraband, but there are ways to restrain them short of handcuffing them to a wall, such as securing their hands to a waist chain and keeping them under constant surveillance, corrections experts say.

Estrada was placed in a holding cell for an extended period of time after his return from a court appearance, according to a spokeswoman for the district attorneys office.

He was in various stages of undress while restrained, suffering injuries to his wrists and midsection, the spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman would not say how long he was restrained.

Hawkins attorney, Vicki Podberesky, said she has viewed a video of the incident. In the recording, Estrada can be seen sitting on a stainless-steel bench with his hands cuffed to the wall, Podberesky said.

Podberesky did not know how long Estrada was handcuffed. She said it was not as long as the total detention, which she believed was 11 to 13 hours.

The sole evidence for the misdemeanor assault charge was an allegation from Estrada that was not backed up by video or physical evidence, Podberesky said.

Hawkins and Moser have been relieved of duty without pay. Taylor has already retired.

The North County Correctional Facility contraband watch policy had been in place since April 2014 and applied only to that facility, not the other county jails. It stated that deputies shall handcuff inmates to wall brackets in a seated position and that inmates feet may also be shackled to the floor.

The department policy at the time gave little guidance on how to perform contraband watches, directing each facility to develop its own rules.

When top Sheriffs Department officials found out about the North County facilitys policy in February, they replaced it with a new department-wide policy specifying that inmates hands should be cuffed to their waists but not to any fixed object.

Fourteen North County Correctional Facility employees, including the head of the facility, Capt. Anselmo Gonzalez, were reassigned to positions in which they had no contact with inmates.

Twenty-four cases were sent to the district attorneys office for possible prosecution.

So far, the Estrada case is the only one to result in charges. Sixteen handcuffing cases have been rejected by prosecutors, including one contraband watch that lasted 11 hours, and a case in which the inmate sustained injuries to his wrists after being handcuffed for eight or nine hours. The inmates were typically handcuffed while half naked or even fully naked, sometimes with their feet shackled to the floor.

Advocates for the deputies argue that its unfair to blame low-level officials who were simply following department policy.

The new policy, which instructs deputies to create a dry cell with the inmate fully clothed and restrained only by waist cuffs, resembles the one used by the California state prison system.

The toilet is taped shut to prevent the inmate from flushing any contraband, and a deputy must always be present to help with food, water and bathroom needs.

Twitter: @cindychangLA

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West Hollywood doesnt have a Metro rail station within its city limits, so, this month, its going to start busing people to the nearest subway station for free.

The new mini-bus service, dubbed CitylineX, will offer free weekday commutes from West Hollywood to the Hollywood & Highland Metro Red Line station in neighboring Los Angeles. The service will have its official launch Tuesday night.

The city of West Hollywood is always looking for innovative ways to provide transportation alternatives that give people an opportunity to move around without cars, West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey P. Horvath said in a statement, adding that the service will improve regional connectivity.

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CitylineX is an extension of the citys regular Cityline bus, which operates within West Hollywoods 1.9-square-mile city limits.

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CitylineX will run during morning and evening commuting hours from 7 to 9 a.m. and 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, offering seven trips in the morning and five trips in the evening to Hollywood & Highland. The trips will be 15 to 20 minutes apart, city officials said.

Eastbound shuttles will depart from the West Hollywood Library at 625 N. San Vicente, and westbound shuttles will depart from the west side of Highland Avenue.

CitylineX was approved by the West Hollywood City Council as a six-month pilot program through June.

In true West Hollywood fashion, the city will be hosting CitylineX informational outdoor pop-up tables next week along Santa Monica Boulevard, complete with free breakfast burritos.

CitylineX is just the latest free bus service added by West Hollywood. In 2013, the city launched a popular bus -- called the PickUp line -- that offers free late-night rides to partygoers traveling between bars and nightclubs along Santa Monica Boulevard.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

The city called the PickUp, which has a jar of free condoms next to the bus driver, a flirtatious take on public transit.

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Iranian Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, the twin sister of the countrys deposed shah  who campaigned for womens rights, shrugged off torture and declared that monarchy is in the blood of the people  has died in exile. She was 96.

Many in Iran before the countrys 1979 Islamic Revolution believed Princess Ashraf served as the true power behind her brother, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and she played a pivotal role in the 1953 U.S.-engineered coup that installed him.

Immortalized in her royal prime by an Andy Warhol portrait with bright red lips and raven-black hair, Princess Ashrafs years out of power more resembled a Shakespearean tragedy. Assassins killed her son on a Paris street just after the Islamic Revolution, her twin brother died of cancer shortly after, a niece died of a 2001 drug overdose in London and a nephew killed himself in Boston 10 years later.

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Yet during decades of living under guard in exile, she defended her brothers rule and held on to her royal past.

At night, when I go into my room, thats when all the thoughts come flooding in, the princess told the Associated Press in a 1983 interview in Paris. I try not to think. But the memories wont leave you.

Robert F. Armao, a longtime advisor to the princess in New York, said she died in Europe on Thursday. He declined to elaborate on the cause of her death. In Iran, local media reported her death relying on international reports. State television reported that she died in Monte Carlo and described her as being famous for being corrupt. Armao criticized that characterization.

Her Highness did an awful lot for her country, whatever her human faults, he said.

Born Oct. 26, 1919, Princess Ashraf was the daughter of the monarch Reza Shah, who came to power in a 1921 coup engineered by Britain and later was forced to abdicate after a 1941 invasion by Britain and Russia.

In 1953, the U.S. sought to orchestrate a coup that overthrew Irans popularly elected prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, over fears he was tilting toward the Soviet Union, and bring her brother to power.

But the shah was a man of indecision, according to a long-classified CIA account of the coup first published by the New York Times in 2000. So the plotters reached out to the shahs dynamic and forceful twin sister who already had been in touch with U.S. and British agents, according to the account.

After considerable pressure by her and a U.S. general, the shah reportedly agreed and the coup went forward.

As her brothers government ruled in opulence and its secret police tortured political activists, Princess Ashraf focused on womens rights in an appointment to the United Nations. She and her sister, Shams, also were among the first Iranian women to be seen in public with their hair uncovered, breaking traditional norms in the Shiite country. Pahlavi decried honor killings and the practice of stripping widows of custody of their children. She also worked on diplomatic missions.

She traveled widely and became known for gambling on the French Riviera, the French press dubbing her La Panthere Noire, or the Black Panther. She survived a 1977 apparent assassination attempt in Cannes that killed her aide and wounded her chauffeur.

The political opposition during the shahs era criticized Princess Ashraf over allegations of corruption and her highly publicized love affairs with Iranian actors and public figures.

After her brothers 1979 overthrow in Irans Islamic Revolution, Princess Ashraf shuttled between homes in Paris, New York and Monte Carlo, and relied on bodyguards and a pet German shepherd for protection. I am not a happy woman, she told the Washington Post in 1980.

She published a memoir and remained outspoken, dismissing criticism of the familys excesses. She told the Associated Press that under her brother, people in Iran had been too free.

Princess Ashraf married and divorced three times and had three children. She gradually faded from public view though she attended President Nixons funeral in 1994. She maintained she regretted nothing, and said that death had become a part of her.

I had rather die being shot than die in my bed, from a sickness, she told the Post.

But, she said, it was not in her hands.

news.obits@latimes.com

Times staff writer Jill Leovy and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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President Obama defended steps he initiated this week aimed at reducing gun violence as a modest effort just to make progress, underscoring the limits of his new unilateral actions while vowing to seek more significant change through the ballot box.

In a New York Times op-ed published Thursday evening just before he appeared at a nationally televised town hall meeting on gun violence, Obama pledged not to support any candidate for political office, even a fellow Democrat, if he or she does not support what he called common-sense gun reform.

And if the 90 percent of Americans who do support common-sense gun reforms join me, we will elect the leadership we deserve, he wrote.

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Speaking later at the CNN-hosted forum at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., Obama explained the limited actions he announced this week while bristling at how he says his views on gun ownership have been consistently mischaracterized by political opponents.

The way Washington changes is when people vote, Obama said. The debate wont change, he said, until gun control advocates show the same focus and discipline at the ballot box as those opposed to gun control. And Im going to throw my shoulders behind folks who want to actually solve problems instead of just getting a high score from an interest group.

Obamas announcement that guns would become a litmus test for his political endorsement was the latest example of how he views the issue as central to his legacy. The regularity of high-profile mass shootings and the inability of Obama to enact new limits on gun ownership came to weigh heavily on a man who first ran for the presidency on a pledge to end the Iraq war and end an era of political gridlock.

The massacre of young children and school officials in Newtown, Conn., led to the first major legislative effort to expand background checks, one that ultimately failed. Obama noted the emotional toll the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School took on him, saying his visit with victims families days later even brought members of his Secret Service detail to tears.

A more recent mass shooting at an Oregon college led the president to consider anew ways he could act on his own authority on guns. He announced Tuesday he was directing federal agencies to warn private gun sellers that they may be vulnerable to prosecution if they dont register with the government and conduct background checks on gun buyers, among other steps.

This is not a recipe for solving every problem, he said. The goal here is just to make progress.

Obama mocked the nations most powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Assn., for refusing to engage in a meaningful policy discussion. He noted that the NRAs headquarters was just down the street from the town hall venue but that the group had refused to participate.

Since this is the main reason they exist, youd think theyd be prepared to have a debate with the president, Obama said.

The idea for a town hall discussion initiated with CNN after last months San Bernardino shootings, both the network and the White House said Thursday. Attendees included representatives of law enforcement and gun sellers, as well as families of victims of gun violence and other advocates.

The president took questions from Taya Kyle, widow of American Sniper inspiration Chris Kyle, as well as the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Chicago pastor and gun control activist.

Though the president didnt suggest the forum, the extended discussion, touching on a myriad of issues related to gun rights and public safety, was precisely the kind of substantive exchange hes craved on an issue that has lent itself to extreme rhetoric.

Earlier Thursday the presidents chief spokesman criticized Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz for a campaign solicitation that declared, Obama wants your guns, and included a sinister portrayal of the president.

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I think hes appealing to peoples anxieties and insecurities and even outright fears in an attempt to win votes for his presidential campaign. And thats unfortunate, said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. In some cases, it veers into the territory of being irresponsible.

During the discussion Obama repeatedly addressed what he said was a conspiracy propagated by political critics that he wanted to take peoples guns away. He noted bluntly that gun sales have skyrocketed during his administration.

It is a false notion that I believe is circulated for either political reasons or commercial reasons in order to prevent a coming-together among people of goodwill to develop common-sense rules that will make us safer while preserving the 2nd Amendment, he said.

Follow @mikememoli for more news out of Washington.

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The schools have been closed since the holidays and the front doors to the tiny courthouse are locked tight. Even the local chapter of the 4-H club has nowhere to meet.

Life in Burns, a two-lane highway town that has never entirely crawled out from under the closure of the timber mills, has been put on pause since a band of armed ranchers and activists broke into a compound of vacant government buildings on the edge of a wildlife reserve outside of town.

At a town hall meeting where hundreds turned out to talk about their anxiety, some said they worried that the standoff was bound to end badly and that a deep current of fear had overrun the towns better sensibilities.

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Ive seen this before, cautioned Steve Atkins, a retired U.S. Forest Service worker who addressed his fellow residents Wednesday night, and it only ends in bloodshed.

As if to set the tone that higher powers may be needed to bring order back to this high-desert community, residents agreed that the meeting should start with a prayer.

David Ward, the county sheriff who is the lawman in Burns and neighboring Hines, peered through the crowd for a suitable candidate.

Tim! Tim! people shouted. They were calling for Tim Titus, pastor of the nondenominational West Bank Christian Fellowship in Hines. An assured presence who speaks in slow, considered sentences, Titus was a natural choice.

Titus waited. Ward looked at him, but continued to search the crowd. In that moment, Titus feared that he had become the latest casualty in a tug of war that has torn this county along ideological lines.

The pastor had met with the activists to share his concerns about their aggressive methods and prayed with them, asking for cooler heads to prevail.

Am I a convert? he later wrote on Facebook. No, they are still breaking the law even if just for trespassing but I do feel I understand their position.

Ever since the 15 or so ranchers and activists  many of them veterans of dramatic showdowns with authorities over grazing rights on federal land  the community has been divided over whether the occupiers deserve their sympathy or a good strong push straight out of the state. Some feel a bit of both.

The armed occupiers, now calling themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, have assumed a with-us-or-against-us attitude, even labeling Ward an enemy of the people after he told the activists they were breaking the law and must leave.

Those tensions were on display at the meeting at the Harney County Fairgrounds, normally only this crowded when the rodeo sets up for the annual county fair.

Theres people threatening to boycott other peoples businesses theyve known their whole lives, said rancher Jesse Svejcar.

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The daily rhythm of life has been interrupted since the strangers arrived, residents agreed.

From the middle of April until sometime in September, the twin towns of Hines and Burns teem with people. As the only cities for miles, birders, cyclists and pickups carrying ATVs stream along Broadway Avenue and Monroe Street, the only true commercial district in this 7,000-person county.

But when winter arrives, things come to a crawl. Snow blankets roads, the traffic through town thins, and whiteout conditions blur the line between ground and sky. So the caravan of television crews, FBI agents and sheriffs deputies from across the state pouring into town is an arresting sight.

A homeowner in Burns, Ore., expresses an opinion about the armed occupation. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

For some  such as the local hotels and restaurants  the attention showered on the occupiers has been a boon. But in many other ways, it has thrown off the towns equilibrium.

The courthouse is closed, parents have to watch their children because schools are shut, and resources at the sheriffs office are stretched so thin that Ward has had to reach out to neighboring counties to send in patrol cars.

Ward said it had affected him on a personal level too. One of his wifes tires had been flattened, he said, and someone had followed his parents home.

You dont come here and intimidate people. Thats not how we live our lives in Harney County, Ward said. Our wives have a right not to be tailed home. Our pastors have a right to not be shouted at on the street.

You dont get to threaten me because I disagree with you.

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The sheriff delivered the last line to raucous applause, then asked for a show of hands: How many people want the occupiers to go home? he asked. Hundreds raised their hands.

As a first step, he said half-jokingly, the entire town needed to delete Facebook, which has been an incubator for heated arguments about the occupiers.

Svejcar, the rancher, said the town had been divided by cliques in the past  who goes to church with whom, which ranching family gets along with their neighbors. At least the standoff has brought people together in one place, he said.

If I have to have an armed standoff to get this many people and have a dance in town, he said, trailing off to loud laughter. Lets just knock this crap off. Lets go back to being friends and neighbors.

nigel.duara@latimes.com

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At its annual convention this week, the Modern Language Assn., which represents 26,000 language and literature scholars, will become the latest academic body to consider the merits of adopting a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. This follows endorsements of such a boycott by the Assn. for Asian American Studies, the American Studies Assn. and, most recently, the American Anthropological Assn., which voted 1,040 to 136 to endorse a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions at its November annual meeting in Denver; the AAAs entire membership will soon vote on the resolution, which is expected to pass.

The justification for an academic boycott  which targets institutions, not individual scholars  stems from the peculiar relationship between Israels educational system and its broader structures of racism.

The hurdles Palestinian Arab students face from kindergarten to university function like a series of sieves with sequentially finer holes.  Human Rights Watch

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FOR THE RECORD:

Israel: A Jan. 8 Op-Ed arguing for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions cited a study saying there wasnt a single high school in Palestinian communities in the Negev desert in southern Israel. The author and the study were referring specifically to Bedouin villages that are unrecognized by Israel. 

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The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination points out with alarm that Israel maintains two separate educational systems for its citizens  one for Jewish children and another for the children of the Palestinian minority  a structure that reinforces the profound segregation of Israeli society in everything from matters of citizenship and marriage to housing rights.

According to official Israeli data cited by the human rights organization Adalah, by the turn of the 21st century Israel was investing three times as much on a per capita basis in the education of a Jewish as opposed to that of a Palestinian citizen.

The consequences are obvious: Schools for Palestinians in Israel are overcrowded and poorly equipped, lacking in libraries, labs, arts facilities and recreational space in comparison with schools for Jewish students. Palestinian children often have to travel greater distances than their Jewish peers to get to school, thanks to a state ban on the construction of schools in certain Palestinian towns (for example, according to Adalah, there is not a single high school in the Palestinian communities of the Negev desert in southern Israel).

These naked forms of discrimination extend into the university system as well. The hurdles Palestinian Arab students face from kindergarten to university function like a series of sieves with sequentially finer holes, Human Rights Watch points out. At each stage, the education system filters out a higher proportion of Palestinian Arab students than Jewish students.

In other words, children denied access to adequate kindergartens do less well in elementary school; students in dilapidated and resource-starved high schools find themselves funneled into work as carpenters or mechanics rather than doctors, lawyers or professors. Indeed, the university admissions process is the point at which the countrys two separate and unequal schooling systems converge, with calamitous results for Palestinian students, who fall short on matriculation or psychometric exams that are weighted toward the Jewish school curriculum, according to Human Rights Watch.

About a quarter of Israeli schoolchildren are Palestinian. But as a recent study by the Assn. for the Advancement of Civic Equity points out, the higher you go in the system, the lower the number of Palestinian students. As of 2012, according to data published by the Israeli Council for Higher Education, Palestinians constituted only 11% of bachelors degree students, 7% of masters students, and barely 3% of PhD students. A mere 2.7% of the faculty in Israeli universities are Palestinian, and the percentage of Palestinians in administration is even lower.

According to sociologist Majid al-Haj of the University of Haifa, Israeli universities systematically fail their Palestinian students. These students end up feeling alienated in an academic environment that stubbornly resists integration and seems designed to consolidate rather than challenge discrimination.

All of this is damning, but there is more: Israels long-standing assault on the right to education of Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel has bombed schools and besieged university campuses; it detains and harasses students and teachers at army checkpoints; it has restricted the flow of school materials to Gaza; it has prevented Palestinian students from studying overseas.

One must conclude that Israels educational system is intended to consolidate the nations putative Jewish identity and further dispossess the Palestinians. This is a process that the Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling once identified as politicide. Surely one of its components could be called educide, which international educators ought to reject by endorsing the academic boycott of institutions that engage in it.

Such a boycott wouldnt affect individual Israeli scholars, whose freedom to participate in international conferences, publish in journals or collaborate with other scholars would not be threatened. Rather, it calls for a break in institutional cooperation and affiliation. For example, the MLA would not co-sponsor an event with Tel Aviv University.

Boycotts have been among the most effective means of nonviolent protest against institutional injustice in the modern era. They played a key role in bringing about the transformation of the Jim Crow South and the downfall of apartheid in South Africa, both of which bear an unmistakable resemblance to the situation in Israel. It is as unthinkable to turn a blind eye to the racism of the Israeli educational system as it would have been to disregard those earlier forms of injustice.

Saree Makdisi is a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA and a member of the Modern Language Assn. He presented a longer version of this piece at the MLA convention in Austin on Thursday.

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How much has human technological progress affected the planet? Enough, some scientists say, that its time to declare we are in a new geologic era. Welcome to the Anthropocene Epoch.

In an article published in Science on Thursday, a group of scientists add to recent arguments that human use of concrete and plastics, not to mention all those fossil fuels weve burned, has altered the Earth sufficiently to declare the end of the Holocene Epoch, which began about 12,000 years ago with the ascent of humans.

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Over the last 70 years, weve really distinguished ourselves from our Holocene ancestors by generating unprecedented combinations of plastics, fly ash, radionuclides, metals, pesticides, reactive nitrogen, and consequences of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations that are discernible in deposit layers in glaciers, lake beds and other stratigraphic records, according to an abstract of the report. The appearance of manufactured materials in sediments, including aluminum, plastics, and concrete, coincides with global spikes in fallout radionuclides and particulates from fossil fuel combustion. Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles have been substantially modified over the past century.

In other words, that man-propelled global warming that so many of the Republican presidential contenders disbelieve is happening has combined with the rest of modern lifes detritus to leave an imprint that scientists centuries from now (well, if any survive) will be able to read by taking core samples from the earth (but probably not glaciers, because were melting them away).

The environmental impact of all that progress could have a similar effect to the asteroid strike that killed off the dinosaurs, the last of five great extinctions.

The Guardian reports that the organization that sets such definitions, the International Commission on Stratigraphy, could vote on it later this year.

So when was the dawn of the age of Anthropocene (to borrow the title of an old pop tune)? The mid-1900s, with the development of atomic weapons and energy, the rapid growth in both population and industrialization, and the rise of such products as plastics.

To be sure, the technological advances have made human existence unique in the history of the planet, and that means I get to write this on an electric-powered laptop in my home office with the furnace running rather than inking up some papyrus over a fire in my hut. But the environmental impact of all that progress could have a similar effect to the asteroid strike that killed off the dinosaurs, the last of five great extinctions scientists have identified. And many believe we are in the midst of a sixth great extinction -- this one caused not by a massive rock from outer space or volcanic eruptions from the earth itself, but by us. And the evidence will be part of the geologic record were leaving behind, as well.

To some, its a bit of a stretch to go naming a new epoch while were in its early days. Kind of like writing history as it happens.

Its really rather too near the present day for us to be really getting our teeth into this one, Cambridge University geologist Phil Gibbard told the Guardian. Thats not to say I or any of my colleagues are climate change deniers or anything of that kind, we fully recognize the points: the data and science is there. What we question is the philosophy, and usefulness. Its like having a spanner but no use for it.

Maybe. But at a time when positive human action to counter negative human action is critical, and perhaps too late, a new designation could help focus attention on the seriousness of the hole weve dug for ourselves. Im not suggesting political considerations should affect a scientific designation, but it certainly would come in handy.

Remember, the new climate agreement reached in Paris last month, in which nearly 200 countries committed to cutting their carbon footprints, coincides with revelations that Volkswagen lied about emissions from its vehicles, Los Angeles port officials let a shipping line ignore agreed-to emissions controls, and the U.S. decided to let oil companies resume exporting oil, the wrong step when youre trying to reduce its use. So on the one hand, the world recognizes we need to change. On the other hand, its the same old same old.

How will the epoch end, and when? Theres no way to predict. But that Anthropocene Park movie that follows ought to be a real downer.

Follow Scott Martelle on Twitter @smartelle.

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To the editor: Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates followed their Sunni Muslim allies in Saudi Arabia in severing or downgrading relations with Iran. This came despite a lecture to Saudis from the U.S. State Department and many in the Western press for executing a Shiite cleric over the weekend. (Mideast rift widens as Saudi allies cut ties with Iran, Jan. 4)

Well, what did the Obama administration and its media allies expect? The U.S. didnt listen to Saudi Arabia about the Iran nuclear deal, which it believes signals a U.S. strategic tilt toward Iran and its Shiite allies in the Middle East. The Saudis see the administration backing down on sanctions against Iran for testing ballistic missiles that can reach Riyadh long before they get to New York.

They feel under threat from an Iran liberated from sanctions, and they dont believe President Obama will defend them in a conflict. Why should they heed the U.S. now?

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A Middle East dividing into Sunni and Shiite blocs is the predictable consequence of Obamas retreat from the region. As elsewhere, U.S. allies in the Middle East will do what they feel they must to survive, regardless of American disapproval.

Brian J. Goldenfeld, Woodland Hills

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About Church Arise! LivingWater Ministries CHURCH ARISE! The Church Arise! LivingWater Ministries (CALM), Ile-Ife, Nigeria is a non-denominational non-profit organization whose vision is to arouse the Body of Christ to the challenges and opportunities of these end times. We seek to warn about the wiles of the devil (on a wild rampage knowing that he has but a short time Rev 12:12); and simultaneously encourage the Children of God to maintain a Kingdom perspective viz-a-viz daily occurring issues, which appearing mundane on the surface, could actually turn out to be of eternal consequences. We dare not fritter away the great priviledge of being on planet Earth at a time like these (see Matthew 13:17). The vision for the ministry was received at the 1997 God's End-Time Army Conference; and operations commenced January 1, 1998 with the launching of Vol 1 No 1 of the bi-monthly newsletter, Church Arise!. The ministry was formally launched on April 6 2001 by a team led by Bishop Francis Wale Oke (SOTSM), Pastor Adewole Haastrup (RCCG) and HRH, Pastor Julius Fatanmi (RCCG). Dr Joshua Ojo is the President. Please visit our website www.churcharise.org for useful downloads. View my complete profile
Jeanne Serrano traveled nearly 400 miles from the Bay Area suburb of Vallejo to San Gabriel to hear Hillary Clintons pitch to woo Asian American voters. When the 46-year-old attorney walked out of the hotel ballroom after the Democratic presidential hopefuls speech Thursday, she was nearly in tears.

Clinton had devoted time to calling for immigration reform, and she drew some of her strongest applause when she vowed to shorten wait times for those seeking visas.

I have a brother that we have been waiting more than 15 years and still he is not here, he is the last person we have in the Philippines, Serrano said. To hear her talk about it  I was so fired up.

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It was exactly the kind of connection Clintons campaign was looking to make at the San Gabriel Hilton in the official kickoff of an effort to cement support from the fastest-growing racial group in the nation. While California is considered a lock for Democrats next fall, Asian voters in swing states such as Nevada and Virginia could make the difference. The event was aimed as much at solidifying votes of those in the crowd as recruiting volunteers to help sway other Asian voters across the country.

Before introducing Clinton, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), chairwoman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, pointed to Virginia Sen. Mark R. Warners razor-thin 2014 defeat of his Republican opponent, in which one exit poll found 68% of Asians voted for the Democrat.

Weve gone from being marginalized to becoming the margin of victory, Chu said.

Hundreds  some from as far away as Nevada  snaked through the lobby of the Hilton hotel on a stretch of Valley Boulevard dotted with strip malls to hear Clintons 30-minute stump slamming Republican presidential candidates. But not everyone was a lock to back her second presidential bid.

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Myron Dean Quon, the executive director of the nonprofit National Asian Pacific American Families Against Substance Abuse, brought his mother, Loran, 74, to the event. Quon said his parents, who live in Alhambra, voted for then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008 but were disappointed when he did not deliver on all of his campaign goals. In 2012, they voted for Mitt Romney.

Quon said he and his mother liked what they heard Thursday, praising Clintons pledge to increase federal funding to find a cure for Alzheimers and her proposal for a new tax break for people who take care of aging family members. But his mother was still skeptical of whether those ideas could become reality.

The Asian American vote should not be considered a slam-dunk for Clinton, Quon said, especially among older voters, who are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Many in the crowd were drawn to the historic nature of Clintons candidacy. That was the case for Margie Llorente-Gonzales, chairwoman of the Asian American & Pacific Islander Democratic Caucus in Nevada, who remembers when Clinton, then the first lady, accompanied President Bill Clinton on a trip to the Philippines in the 1990s.

In the Philippines, two women have been president, Llorente-Gonzales said. It happened in the Philippines, it needs to happen here.

Other young voters, such as University of Pennsylvania freshman Cassandra Dinh, 19, of Rosemead, were considering voting for Clintons chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. But Dinh said Clintons foreign policy experience, especially in Asia, outweighed Sanders progressive domestic proposals. And it mattered to Dinh that Clinton was making the trip to the San Gabriel Valley to talk to Asian voters.

This event alone is a big deal, she said. The fact that she is willing to come here and talk to us is a show of how open-minded she is to all minorities.



Follow @jpanzar

For more, go to latimes.com/politics.

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The holiday spirit of peace on Earth and good will toward man seems positively quaint as the presidential candidates returned with a vengeance this week to the campaign trail in a final, furious dash to the first 2016 balloting, now just over three weeks away in Iowa.

Good afternoon, Im Mark Z. Barabak, filling in for Washington Bureau Chief David Lauter. Welcome to the Friday edition of Essential Politics, in which we look at the major developments of the last week in the race for president and highlight stories that provide insight beyond the immediate headlines.

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A new year brought a familiar dynamic, with Donald Trump again dominating the campaign dialogue, this time raising questions about Canadian-born Ted Cruzs eligibility for the White House. The Texas senator, a U.S. citizen by virtue of his mothers citizenship, batted away the issue as a deliberate distraction, but it dominated several days of headlines as the GOP field looks toward its next debate Thursday in South Carolina.

GOP Trifecta

The Republican race has effectively settled into a three-way contest between Trump, Cruz  the Iowa front-runner  and a clutch of candidates vying to emerge as the establishment-backed alternative. One of the contenders in that latter category, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, has drawn mocking criticism from rivals for his less-than-breakneck campaign pace, as Lisa Mascaro and Michael A. Memoli reported from New Hampshire.

As Congress returned to work on Capitol Hill, Mascaro also reported on Paul Ryans desire to use his position as House Speaker to lay out an agenda for the GOP that could buoy candidates fearful of running with the unpredictable Trump atop the Republican ticket.

Hillary Clintons charm offensive

On the Democratic side, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders went to Wall Street to shake his fist at an old nemesis; Hillary Clinton traveled to Iowa; and Martin OMalley, Marylands former governor, joined the two of them for a forum in the home state of outgoing Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

Chris Megerian followed Clinton and reports from Iowa that, while not exactly warm and fuzzy, the former first lady and secretary of State is a lot fuzzier than she was when her presidential ambitions crashed and nearly burned in the 2008 caucuses.

Cathleen Decker was on hand when Clinton came to Southern Californias San Gabriel Valley for an event aimed at Asian American and Pacific Islander voters, and notes the appearance was less about carrying in-the-bag California than competing in battlegrounds Nevada and Virginia, where minority turnout will be key.

Finally, David Lauter offers a year-opening look at the handful of questions that could decide this most volatile and unpredictable race for the White House.

In California, meantime, Gov. Jerry Brown outlined a $171-billion spending proposal that boosts public education, offers modest help to low-income families and seeks to stash money away to ward off future budget deficits. Our Sacramento team has all the details.

What were reading

The Washington Post does a boffo job summing up the past year in politics and how it brought the 2016 race to where it stands today. Very long, but worth the time.

Writing in the Boston Globe, David Shribman offers a panoramic take on the Trump phenomenon, summoning memories of William Jennings Bryan, Huey Long, Joseph McCarthy, H. Ross Perot and others.

That wraps up this week. On Monday, my colleague Christina Bellantoni will be back with the daily newsletter. Until then, keep track of all the developments in the 2016 campaign with our Trail Guide, at our politics page and on Twitter at @latimespolitics.

Send your comments, suggestions and news tips to politics@latimes.com.
As Gov. Jerry Brown introduced his latest spending plan Thursday, he took a break from his typical warnings against exuberant legislative spending to put a damper on exuberance at the ballot box.

Brown sounded a distinctly sour note on pending ballot measures that would extend taxes on high earners, raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour and finance billions in new school construction.

Its a clear signal he wants to negotiate with the Legislature rather than see these issues on the ballot  thats always been his preferred approach and where hes had the most success, said Steve Maviglio, a Democratic strategist who served as spokesman for former Gov. Gray Davis.

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Its a message that initiative proponents will probably take to heart, Maviglio said. To have a popular governor oppose your ballot measure is never a place where you want to be.

Im not going to talk too much about ballot measures, Brown said early in his news conference Thursday, but when he did, it wasnt to offer compliments.

He warned that raising the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour  as two potential ballot measures seek to do  would cost the state $4 billion and could lead to a string of unintended consequences.

These are all good things. The government does not consciously do bad things. But too many goods too quickly becomes bad, Brown said, adding that in times of economic recession, youll find jobs have got to be cut, particularly in lower-income areas ... like the Central Valley.

Backers of the higher minimum wage plans said they saw no conflict between their proposals and the governors calls for caution.

Steve Trossman, spokesman for SEIU-United Healthcare Workers, which backs a proposal that would phase in the wage increase until 2021, labeled his groups initiative responsible.

In principle, we completely agree with the governor that it should be done responsibly, he said.

The other initiative, proposed by the SEIU California State Council, would also incrementally increase the wage, as well as expand the states mandated paid sick leave. Neither initiative has qualified yet for the ballot.

Trossman said his group was not daunted by Browns words of caution about a higher minimum wage. We feel very confident that if its put in front of voters, theyll approve it, he said.

Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said efforts to increase the minimum wage have taken on momentum, be it in statewide ballot initiatives or local wage hikes in places like Los Angeles. She said the budget should prepare for a $15 statewide minimum wage. (The current minimum wage is $10 as of last week.)

We could either start that discussion and dialogue now ... [or] not be prepared to cover the cost, and thats not prudent, Atkins said.

Brown was similarly unenthused about a proposal to continue the income taxes on high earners, which were initially approved by voters under Proposition 30 in 2012. A coalition of powerful interest groups, including the California Teachers Assn., are seeking to put such an extension on the ballot this year.

The governor criticized the proposed initiative, which would exempt those tax revenues from being included in the states rainy-day fund.

Those tax measures dont incorporate what people said they wanted by an overwhelming supermajority, Brown said. That, in my opinion, is a fatal flaw.

Gale Kaufman, a Democratic strategist who is running the initiative campaign, said the governors spending proposal illustrated how Proposition 30 taxes have helped improve the states fiscal health and how important an extension of those income taxes would be for future budgets.

An extension of these Prop. 30 revenues is a critical component to keeping our state on track and not letting us slide back into years of deficits and cuts, Kaufman said in a statement. We look forward to more conversations with the governor and are hopeful we can address his concerns.

The governor also took a disapproving tone on a $9-billion school bond that has already qualified for the November ballot.

The proposal is sponsored by the Coalition for Adequate School Housing, which promotes school construction, and the California Building Industry Assn. The bulk of the money would go toward building and modernizing K-12 facilities, but $2 billion is included for community college projects.

Brown said the bond measure would do nothing to change the state program that oversees construction and maintenance of school facilities  a process, he said, that favors rich school districts over poor ones. He said lawmakers should work to craft an alternative plan.

The Legislature could do a better job than the developers who put that one together, Brown said.

Proponents of the bond note there has not been a statewide school bond since 2006 and there is a growing need to build or improve existing school facilities. There is a $2-billion backlog of K-12 projects already approved, and the state has estimated at least $17 billion in future construction needs over the next decade.

This week, supporters rolled out a string of high-profile endorsers, including the California Chamber of Commerce and the State Building and Construction Trades Council, a labor coalition. The bonds supporters said Thursday they were undeterred by Browns comments.

The bond qualified by Californians for Quality Schools continues the states highly successful school facilities funding program, and also sufficiently addresses the billions in backlogged project applications and future identified need, said campaign spokesperson Erin Shaw. We are strongly committed to passing the $9 billion bond in November so that districts are adequately funded to build new schools where needed and also upgrade older classrooms with the resources necessary to prepare students for college and the workforce.

Follow @melmason for more on California government and politics.

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Brown again preaches prudence in state budget

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Homing pigeons are bred for their navigation skills. They find their way along a mental map of signs and smells, using the sun and the Earths geomagnetic field as a biological compass to find their way back to their roost.

But what happens if pollution makes the air so hazy that some of these senses get disrupted?

You might expect them to fly more slowly or get lost more often, but scientists at UCLA were shocked to find that the opposite was true: Despite a thick layer of air pollution, racing pigeons on the North China Plain actually flew faster on days when the air quality was worse.

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We all thought it would hurt their lungs, said Dan Blumstein, who studies the intersection of behavior and conservation biology at UCLA. We feel the result is robust  but we dont really know why.

Researchers Zhongqui Li of Nanjing University and Franck Courchamp of the University of Paris, both visitors at Blumsteins lab, led the study, which was published this week in Scientific Reports.

Air pollution is a health concern for humans and birds alike. In birds, its been known to cause liver and lung damage from exposure to heavy metals and fine particles. It also interferes with flight and navigation ability.

In a country known for its dirty air, the North China Plain stands out. During the study period, the air quality readings soared as high as 482, on a scale in which 500 is the worst.

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Li and the other researchers wanted to see how air pollution affected pigeons homing performance, which could help them understand more broadly how pollution affects bird behavior.

They analyzed the results of 415 pigeon races flown in various weather and environmental conditions. A number of factors affected homing speeds, including beeline distance, wind direction and weather conditions.

Pigeons flew fastest when given a boost from a tailwind on sunny days, the researchers found.

But the air quality changed the race in a way they didnt expect.

The researchers developed a statistical model that allowed them to look at the effect air quality had on the time it took the pigeons to find their way home, after controlling for the other factors.

According to the model, pigeons increase their homing speed from about 35 mph on clear days to about 42 mph on days with an air quality index of 500. Thats an increase of about 20%.

The scientists arent sure why this happens, but they proposed three theories to explain their unusual finding.

Its possible the birds were just scared. In hazier air, the pigeons may feel more vulnerable to predators because they cant see as well.

Or, since the particulate matter is known to strain pigeon hearts, its possible that the birds are able to sense the poor air quality. That triggers a rapid escape response.

They feel physically threatened by the pollution and they want to escape that, Blumstein said. Whenever animals feel exposed, they may wish to get home sooner.

Another theory is based on the fact that smell is a key mechanism in pigeons ability to find home. Perhaps the pollution allows the birds to create a richer olfactory map, with more opportunities to associate certain smells with certain locations. The type and strength of the smells can help them figure out where they are.

Smells can be used in the same way that sights and sounds can be used to figure out where home is, Blumstein said. If its a really stinky day and you live near the dump, then you know where home is.

To explain the results, the researchers will need to do further experiments, Blumstein said.

Ideally, some racing pigeons could be outfitted with GPS trackers to provide better data on true homing behavior. The trackers could show if the pigeons are stopping less or flying faster, Blumstein said.

Also, by selectively blocking certain pigeon senses, the researchers could better understand how the animals perceive polluted air.

For example, they could plug the birds noses and see if it takes them longer to fly home. If so, that would suggest they use a richer olfactory map instead of relying more on another sense.

Follow me on Twitter @seangreene89

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Along with a stocking full of goodies, a special treat awaited Calder DuPont on Christmas morning: special Santa-made, candy-cane-striped tickets for a flight from Burbank to San Francisco for him and his mother. It would be his first time flying, a longtime wish list item for the 6-year-old.

I woke up before my mom. My mom was like way asleep, Calder said at Bob Hope Airports Gate A6 Wednesday, recalling his discovery of Santas gift. I felt excited.

Awaiting that first flights departure from the Burbank airfield, he got a taste of another air travel first when the departure time had to be delayed more than an hour due to wet weather in the Bay Area. He and his mother, Michelle DuPont of Los Angeles, passed the time tossing back and forth a foam airplane, a gift not from Santa this time, but from airport staff.

The planes, along with slices of a large cake from Portos Bakery, were offered to passengers in celebration of yet another first: Southwest Airlines Flight 1860s inaugural trip to San Francisco International Airport. It is the first route added to the carriers roster at the Burbank airfield since 2011, when it added service to Denver.

With three flights to San Francisco each day Sunday through Friday and two flights on Saturdays, Southwest now provides service to all three Bay Area airports from Bob Hope Airport. The airline announced last month that it will also be adding a new route to Dallas this summer.

However, cake wasnt reserved for travelers heading to San Francisco this week. Kerry Gustafsson stopped to enjoy a piece after arriving in Burbank on a trip that originated in Omaha, Neb. Gustafsson had just learned her sisters flight from Portland into Burbank had been diverted to Las Vegas due to local wet weather over the Media City.

The airport received nearly 1.2 inches of rain on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

With three flights to San Francisco each day Sunday through Friday and two flights on Saturdays, Southwest now provides service to all three Bay Area airports from Bob Hope Airport. The airline announced last month that it will also be adding a new route to Dallas this summer. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

As of Thursday afternoon, not all of the airlines had yet reported on how the previous days weather had impacted their operations, said Lucy Burghdorf, an airport spokeswoman, but at least two United Airlines flights were canceled and a total of 11 departures on Southwest Airlines  the local airfields largest carrier  to various destinations were delayed an hour or two, she said.

Gustafsson, who came to Los Angeles for the Friday night opening of an art show by her sister Nicole Gustafsson, was told her sister would arrive from Las Vegas more than two hours later than planned.

She said she chose to fly into Bob Hope Airport because it was cheaper than Los Angeles International Airport, although last time she flew into Burbank, the runway lights wouldnt illuminate. She said as savvy travelers they anticipated possible delays on this trip.

Thankfully, we planned so that we allow extra time, Gustafsson said. After cutting into a slice of cake with her fork, she added: We have to have some fun while were making a trip.

For Calder and his mom, the trip north was expected to be pure fun, Michelle DuPont said. They planned to visit the Exploratorium later Wednesday before driving down the coast for an overnight stay and a Thursday trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Calder, wearing green, dinosaur claw-inspired rain boots, showed off the gear hed packed in preparation for the trip: sunglasses, a jacket, a flashlight, mittens and three stuffed animal sharks  sand shark, tiger shark and a great white.

And I dont know why my mom brought this, but an umbrella, he said.

Michelle DuPont said she had a feeling theyd need it.

She said she chose to fly out of Burbank without even realizing it was the first flight on the new route. She selected it because the airport reminds her of what it was like to fly when she was a kid.

It makes me happy, she said. I like the fact that you have to go outside, even though its raining.
When you see the magazine, you think 1960s, which is part of the problem.

Nothing against the 60s. It was, after all, one of the most significant periods in American history.

But it was 50 years ago.

Star Shields of Laguna Beach lived it  and is still living it through the pages of Oracle Odyssey, a slim, full-color psychedelic magazine that has been published sporadically since then. The challenge now is keeping the magazine alive and evolving it in a way that reaches new generations.

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Thats definitely a challenge I have in my life  even against odds, said Shields, who calls himself the magazines visionary concierge but is essentially the editor and publisher.

Some of my family says, Oh, magazines, theyre never going to sell. ... Why are you doing this? he said. Its a labor of love, first of all. Ive always loved printed graphics. Ive been with the Oracle since 1967.

True to the time, the underground magazine has a ramshackle history. The first 12 issues were published out of San Francisco and Los Angeles from 1966 to 1968. But it was the San Francisco Oracle that was the most substantial, printing works by Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and other Beat writers.

In its heyday, the magazine boasted a circulation of about 125,000. The editor was Allen Cohen, a poet who dreamed of publishing a rainbow-colored newspaper filled with poetry and art. He died in 2004, but his former wife, Ann Cohen, still lives in the Bay Area and consults with Shields on the current magazine.

Shes a good friend, and she gives me a lot of advice on the direction were going, Shields said. Shes also one of the editors and I run covers by her. Shell say, Yes, thats an Oracle cover.

This notion of what is Oracle-worthy is both specific and vague. When the magazine resurrected itself in 2012 for another printing, there was no psychedelic or New Age movement. The closest approximation was the already-fading rave culture, backed by electronic dance music (EDM).

To that end, the magazines volunteers tried to woo various advertisers involved with any type of counterculture activities: eco-foods, holistic medicine, hemp producers, green supporters and, yes, EDM promoters.

Oracle is bridging the generations, Shields said. We involve the younger generations by giving them some space for their art, for their writings, for their works  photography, poems, or even music.

But Shields admits its a tough road. Hes trying to muster enough funds for a May printing, perhaps coinciding with the 80th birthday of Wavy Gravy, a famous peace activist and master of ceremonies at the original Woodstock.

Coincidentally, Gravy was the official clown for the Grateful Dead, which helped fund the Oracle during the Haight-Ashbury days, according to Shields.

Part of the plan is to get sustainable corporate sponsorship, so that we can actually give it away free at big transformational and important spiritual festivals across the country, Shields said.

The rack price for the magazine is $10 per issue, and it can be found at Mystic Arts in Laguna or by visiting oracleodyssey.net.

The transition to a free publication is difficult with limited advertising. Shields hopes to expand the message and production in a way that makes sense without compromising the magazines values. He hopes to include a digital version and perhaps run events or workshops.

Fundamentally, the issues that were important to the underground leaders of the 1960s are still very relevant today, if not more so.

The 60s was one thing, the anti-war movement was one thing, but now look at it all these years later and what do we have? Shields said. We have more war now than we did then. We have more corruption and more corporate BS and lies and deceit than we ever had then.

To make these issues transcend generations  through art, poetry and essays  is the Oracles conundrum.

Does each generation need its own curated Oracle? Can the stylized art of one decade make a transformative impact on another?

Shields knows he has to find the right mix and market; otherwise, the magazine will be lost amid the din of the online world where all content is free. And despite Lagunas legacy, he has to expand.

The most hip area of Orange County is not Laguna anymore, he said. Its not Balboa or Newport or Dana Point or San Clemente. Its Santa Ana. Santa Ana is happening. The whole scene there is amazing.

Either way, Shields is hoping there are enough people who can see the value of psychedelic consciousness and help unite the generations before its too late.

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at hansen.dave@gmail.com.
Defense attorneys for convicted double murderer Daniel Wozniak wont be allowed to tell jurors that one of Wozniaks victims was arrested in a murder case years earlier, an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday.

Wozniaks defense team was hoping to reveal Sam Herrs arrest before jurors decide whether Wozniak, a 31-year-old community theater actor from Costa Mesa, should be sentenced to death for the slayings of Herr, 26, and his friend Juri Julie Kibuishi, 23, in May 2010.

Wozniak was found guilty last month of two counts of murder. Since Monday, jurors have been hearing the prosecutors case that he deserves death for the crimes instead of the other possible option, life in prison without parole.

On Wednesday, Wozniaks public defender Scott Sanders asked Judge John Conley for permission to call witnesses who would testify about Herrs arrest in connection with a gang-related killing in Los Angeles County 14 years ago. Ultimately, a jury acquitted Herr of murder and manslaughter charges.

According to Los Angeles County court documents, prosecutors believed that Herr and 17 members of the Brown Familia gang ambushed a rival gang member in a Santa Clarita parking lot on Jan. 16, 2002.

Prosecutors alleged that the group beat 19-year-old Byron Benito with crowbars and stabbed him 33 times, eventually striking a fatal blow by puncturing a lung.

Benito allegedly was targeted for revenge after a Brown Familia gang member was found slain a day earlier, according to court documents.

Though there was no evidence connecting Benito to that slaying, the Brown Familia crew selected him to die because he belonged to a rival gang and was therefore the enemy, prosecutors wrote.

The Los Angeles County district attorneys office argued that Herr was Benitos close friend and was selected to lure him to the site of the ambush, according to court filings at the time.

Sheriffs deputies arrested Herr the day of Benitos killing, and while they questioned him, Herr gave detailed statements that clearly incriminated him in the brutal murder of his friend, according to a district attorneys office filing.

Sanders said jurors deciding Wozniaks fate should hear that because witnesses so far have presented Herr as a loyal friend, loving son and heroic veteran who served in Afghanistan.

Prosecutor Matt Murphy countered that he has intentionally limited witnesses descriptions of Herr to avoid presenting a possibly misleading picture to jurors that would open the door to rebuttal from the defense.

Sam was a war hero, said Murphy, who added that he avoided asking Herrs friends and family about the multiple times Herr risked his life in a war zone. I didnt go into any of that stuff.

Conley agreed that prosecutors had not presented a dishonestly flattering picture of Herr. Beyond that, he noted, Herr was acquitted in Benitos slaying.

But Sanders argued that the decision in Herrs case was based on a technicality.

Herrs defense attorneys had persuaded a judge to throw out the allegedly incriminating statements. Herr, they argued, was arrested under false pretenses, so anything he said in custody should be inadmissible.

In a series of motions, the attorneys alleged that deputies pulled Herr over during a traffic stop with the intent of questioning him about the killing because they thought he might have been the last person to see Benito alive.

When deputies searched Herrs car, they found a handful of childrens scooters in the trunk and arrested Herr on suspicion of possession of stolen property.

While he was in custody, deputies interrogated Herr about Benitos death, according to court documents.

Later, they discovered that the scooters in Herrs car were not stolen, Herrs attorneys wrote. As Herr told deputies during the traffic stop, they belonged to kids in the neighborhood who would ride in his car and forget them in the trunk.

Herrs attorneys argued that the scooters were merely an excuse for deputies to get him into custody so they could grill him about the killing.

"[Herr] was going to be arrested regardless of any explanation he gave about the scooters, the defense wrote.

Beyond getting Herrs allegedly incriminating statements thrown out, his attorneys argued that he never intended for Benito to be killed but he was pushed to participate in the plot by one of the gang members.

Defendant Herr did not know the victim would be killed, the defense wrote. Defendant Herr did not participate in the victims beating and, in fact, defendant Herr was injured himself during the killing of Benito.

One witness said Herr was punched when he tried to stop the attack. He told investigators that Herr attempted to get Benito back in the car so they could drive off, according to court documents.

Herr was found not guilty in May 2004.

Yes, there is some damning evidence in respect to Mr. Herr, Conley said before denying Sanders motion Wednesday. But I think we have to respect the jurys verdict and not open that Pandoras box.

Sometime after his acquittal, Herr joined the Army.

He had completed his service and was attending Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa when Wozniak, his neighbor, decided to kill him in May 2010, according to Murphy.

Wozniak targeted Herr for money, Murphy said during Wozniaks trial, which lasted for about a week in December.

Herr had saved thousands of dollars from his time on a remote Army base in Afghanistan, and Wozniak was desperate for cash to cover his rent and fund his wedding, which was scheduled for the following week, Murphy said.

After somehow getting Herrs ATM PIN so he could withdraw money from the veterans bank account, Wozniak shot Herr to death in a Los Alamitos theater where Wozniak acted, Murphy said.

In a cover-up attempt, Wozniak used Herrs phone to lure Kibuishi to Herrs apartment, where Wozniak shot her and staged her body to look as though Herr had sexually assaulted her before fleeing, according to prosecutors.

To finish the gruesome plan, Wozniak returned to Herrs body and dismembered it before dumping the head and other parts in a Long Beach park, Murphy told jurors.

Days after the killings, ATM withdrawals from Herrs account led investigators to Wozniak.

After a series of interviews with police, Wozniak confessed on video to both slayings.
Defenseman Luke Schenn didnt have to do any serious reconnaissance work when he found out he had been traded to the Kings from the Philadelphia Flyers.

After all, the Flyers had been in the Los Angeles area for a few days last week and played (and lost) to the Kings on Saturday afternoon.

We were all talking after the game about how it was probably the toughest team we played all year, against the Kings, Schenn said on Thursday shortly before the Kings played Toronto at Staples Center.

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To get traded to a team like that, theyve got respect around the league, its a pretty good feeling.

Schenn and the veteran center, Vinny Lecavalier, were dealt to the Kings on Wednesday in exchange for rookie forward Jordan Weal and a third-round draft choice in 2016. The move, the Kings hope, will address some deficiencies up the middle and shore up their third defensive pair.

The Kings have been missing the physical element on the blue line, which was once supplied by Matt Greene (shoulder surgery) and the now retired Robyn Regehr.

Its part of my game, to be physical, Schenn said. When Im most successful is when Im physical. I dont want to say Im going to replace Matt Greene or this guy or that guy. Im going to try to help the team and try to fill whatever role they want me to fill.

Lecavalier, who said he will retire after this season, found himself in a greatly diminished role in Philadelphia. He hasnt played since Nov. 12 and appeared in seven games this season, recording one assist, which came in the Flyers season opener.

The decision for me to go there was mainly for Peter Laviolette, and he left after three games, Lecavalier said of the 2013-14 season. He got let go and the mentality kind of changed and I wasnt really part of their plans after that. Very frustrating, but Im happy Im here now.

Schenn, whose younger brother Brayden was drafted by the Kings in 2009, praised Lecavalier for how he handled the difficult turn of events.

You know what? I think if you ask any guy on our team in Philadelphia, a guy with that career, and the way the situation was the last couple of years, hes nothing but a true professional, Schenn said. Hes handled it better than anyone possibly could.
Frankie Edgar can recall when he was Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight champion, asking his bosses if he could fight to win a second belt at featherweight.

They wouldnt allow me to do that, Edgar said Friday.

The rules are different now for Conor McGregor, the newly crowned featherweight champion who, according to reports, will have the opportunity to become the first UFC fighter to simultaneously hold two belts when he fights lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 197 on March 5 in Las Vegas.

UFC Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta and President Dana White told The Times late Thursday night in text messages that contracts have not been signed for the bout, but the expectation is that the card will also include the womens bantamweight title fight between champion Holly Holm and former title challenger Miesha Tate.

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McGregors ability to pursue double-belt standing -- only B.J. Penn and Randy Couture have previously won belts in two divisions -- is certainly connected to his drawing power.

The $7.2-million live gate he drew for Julys UFC 189 was surpassed by his $10.1 million gate at UFC 194 on Dec. 12, when McGregor ended then-champion Jose Aldos 10-year unbeaten streak with a knockout in 13 seconds.

When you have that power he has -- he brings in money for them -- you can dictate a little more than others, Edgar said. Money talks. And when you bring in the money, I guess you can have more of a say.

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The 34-year-old Edgar (19-4-1) wants to see what kind of say he has as the second-ranked featherweight. He said hell board a Tuesday flight from New Jersey to Las Vegas to meet with Fertitta and White.

I honestly dont really know what Im going to do yet, Edgar told The Times in a Friday telephone conversation. Ive got to weigh some things out. Do I want to wait for Conor -- could something happen? Someone get injured? Do I want to wait for that fight or fight and make some money? Thats what Im weighing right now.

1 / 18 Conor McGregor, left, knocked out Jose Aldo with his first punch at UFC 194 in Las Vegas to claim the featherweight title on Dec. 12. (John Locher / Associated Press) 2 / 18 Conor McGregor reacts after defeating Jose Aldo for the featherweight title at UFC 194 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 3 / 18 Conor McGregor reacts after defeating Jose Aldo during a featherweight championship bout at UFC 194 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 4 / 18 Luke Rockhold prepares to face Chris Weidman in a middleweight championship bout at UFC 194 on Dec. 12. (John Locher / Associated Press) 5 / 18 Luke Rockhold throws a left hand at Chris Weidman, left, during their middleweight championship fight at UFC 194 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 6 / 18 Chris Weidman, above, fights Luke Rockhold in a middleweight championship bout at UFC 194 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 7 / 18 Chris Weidman is attended to between rounds of his middleweight championship fight with Luke Rockhold at UFC 194 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 8 / 18 Luke Rockhold rests between rounds of hig middleweight championship bout with Chris Weidman at UFC 194 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 9 / 18 Tecia Torres (top) punches Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger in a strawweight fight during UFC 194 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus / Getty Images) 10 / 18 Tecia Torres celebrates her victory over Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger in a strawweight fight during UFC 194 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus / Getty Images) 11 / 18 Frankie Saenz, left, locks up Urijah Faber during a bantamweight bout at UFC 194 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 12 / 18 Frankie Saenz lands a kick on Urijah Faber, right, during a bantamweight bout at UFC 194 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 13 / 18 Jeremy Stephens throws a kick at Max Holloway, left, during a featherweight bout at UFC 194 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 14 / 18 Jeremy Stephens looks on during a featherweight bout against Max Halloway at UFC 194 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 15 / 18 Gunnar Nelson, right, fights Demian Maia during a welterweight bout at UFC 194 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 16 / 18 Demian Maia reacts after defeating Gunnar Nelson during a welterweight bout at UFC 194 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 17 / 18 Yoel Romero, above, fights Ronaldo Souza during a middleweight bout at UFC 194 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press) 18 / 18 Yoel Romero, right, comes down on Ronaldo Souza with a left hand during a middleweight fight at UFC 194 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. (John Locher / Associated Press)

Edgar has won five consecutive bouts, including a first-round knockout of UFC 189 interim title fighter Chad Mendes on Dec. 11.

He understands the peril of risking a fight before a McGregor bout.

But for the last three years, Ive been trying to situate all my fights to lead toward a title and it seems like its not really working for me, he said. Ive missed out on fighting more often, making some money and thats something  I dont want to be sitting here until June or July expecting to fight Conor and then something else happens like it has in the past, and then Im left with another scenario of no-fight, no-money. Thats something I have to consider.

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McGregor has told the UFC hed like to fight four times this year, and a match against Edgar could find its way to UFC 200 on July 9, which is also expected to feature the Holm-Ronda Rousey rematch at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The UFC doesnt typically grant stay-busy fights, so Edgar would probably be pitted in a difficult test if he were to fight before he faced McGregor.

I dont know if theyre trying to get me out of the picture or what, but Im hanging in there, Edgar said. Before I even think about who I want to fight, I have to think about what I want to do -- if Im even going to take a fight or not. Im on the fence.

In the meantime, Edgar finds himself in the unwanted position of analyzing McGregor-Dos Anjos.

Its not an easy matchup for McGregor, he said. Dos Anjos brings a lot of pressure. Hes a bigger guy, has world-class jiujitsu. His wrestling is phenomenal as of late, and he has power in his hands and kicks. I definitely lean toward him, but I thought Aldo wouldve done a lot better, too, so you never know in this game.

Conor feels himself, believes in himself, and thats what were supposed to do as fighters. He has a reason to do so.

Still, Edgar believes hes the man to beat the charismatic Irishman.

Im not like anybody hes fought, Edgar said. I dont stay stationary. I can get him with takedowns  I have a good tank and a lot of volume. Itll be tough on Conor. Im going to keep him guessing.

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The Cologne police chief was fired Friday following reports that authorities in Germanys fourth-largest city may have covered up information that refugees had been connected to sexual attacks against women outside the central rail station on New Years Eve.

Wolfgang Albers, head of the police department, was sent into early retirement by the North-Rhine Westphalia state government.

State Interior Minister Ralf Jaegers move came after Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker complained that Albers had not given her all relevant information about the molesting, groping and robbing of more than 100 women at the central square near the Cologne Cathedral.

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People rightly want to know what happened on New Years Eve, they want to know who the assailants were, and they want to know how such attacks can be prevented in the future, said Jaeger, sending the 60-year-old into early retirement as Germans usually treat such dismissals.

The issue of violence against the women in Cologne and at least four other cities Dec. 31 has unsettled Germany this week and has threatened to turn public sentiment against Chancellor Angela Merkels controversial policies of allowing more than 1.1 million refugees into the country last year. Aside from Sweden, Merkel has had little support for her open-door policies from any other European Union country.

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My confidence in the Cologne police leadership has been deeply shaken based on the information I now have available, Reker said in a statement. I simply cannot accept it when I only get information from the media about the investigation into the New Years Eve attacks, especially information about the origins of the groups of suspected assailants.

Cologne police had initially issued a press release early Jan. 1 saying that it had been a peaceful New Years Eve in Cologne, which Albers later admitted had been a mistake. Police at first had cited victims testimony that the assailants were from the north Africa region of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

German media reports Friday, however, said police had known that many of the attackers were refugees from Syria but that the information had been withheld from the public -- and the mayor.

German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported on Friday from a leaked internal police report that officers on duty outside the rail station had done ID checks on many suspects on New Years Eve and discovered that many of them were asylum seekers.

There were, to the contrary of what was announced publicly, identity checks on numerous people, one officers report is quoted saying. Most of them were refugees who had arrived only recently.

Another newspaper, the Cologne Stadt-Anzeiger, reported that an officer writing a press release on the incidents wanted to include mention of the Syrians and other refugees as suspects but was ordered not to by his superior because it would be politically awkward.

The German government said Friday that two-thirds of 29 foreign men and two German citizens identified and questioned in connection with the assaults in Cologne are in the country as registered asylum seekers.

The total number of women in Cologne, Hamburg and Stuttgart who have filed complaints with police alleging they were groped, molested or robbed by mobs of up to 1,000 men when street-party celebrations turned into wanton violence climbed toward 300.

In Cologne, where 170 complaints had been filed, many of the attackers spoke Arabic or English, according to testimony from victims and eyewitnesses to police.

A spokesman for the interior ministry in Berlin said Friday that after an intensive manhunt, officials have identified and questioned a total of 31 men in their investigation of the assaults, a group of suspects that includes 18 refugees registered as seeking asylum. Among those identified were nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, one Iraqi, one Serb, one American as well as two German citizens.

Kirschbaum is a special correspondent.

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In a deadly, predawn shootout, Mexican naval special forces on Friday captured Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, the worlds most sought-after drug lord and commander of a vast narcotics empire that stretches across continents.

Mission accomplished, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced on his Twitter account. Weve got him.

Guzman, a billionaire thanks to his Sinaloa cartel, which traffics in cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine, escaped from jail in July  for the second time  using an elaborate tunnel out of Mexicos top maximum-security prison. He had been jailed for less than 17 months, and there was a great deal of doubt in Mexico that hed ever see the inside of a cell again.

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He was captured Friday in a firefight between his bodyguards and Mexican marine special forces in the Sinaloa city of Los Mochis, on the Pacific coast and not far from his home, government officials said. Five of his associates were killed, six injured and several captured, the navy said. One marine was wounded.

The special forces were responding to a citizens tip regarding armed people in a home when they came under fire, the navy said. There were reports he once again attempted to flee through the tunnels that have been his trademark, but they failed him this time.

Photographs released by officials and circulating in Mexican media showed a chubby Guzman in a soiled tank top with his famously jet-black hair and mustache.

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A rocket launcher, two armored vehicles and other weapons were seized in the operation, officials said. Video images showed Guzman, head covered by a white towel, being trundled onto a small airplane and transported to Mexico City.

His escape last year was a major embarrassment for the Pena Nieto government, exposing deep levels of corruption and Mexicos inability to mete out justice.

The U.S. government lamented Mexicos refusal to extradite Guzman to the U.S., where he has been indicted in California, Illinois, New York and elsewhere because of his cartels expanding operations.

Washington is likely to revive extradition requests now. It was the Guzman escape that prompted Pena Nieto to approve a number of extraditions in recent months, something he had generally resisted.

Since that escape, Mexican officials have searched far and wide for Guzman, including in Guatemala and other countries where he is known to operate. Authorities worked day and night, Pena Nieto said, carrying out months of intense, careful intelligence work and criminal investigation.

Although details were not immediately available, most high-profile captures have relied at least in part on U.S.-provided intelligence, and that was likely in this case.

Guzmans escape last year, on July 11, added to the great folklore surrounding the legendary kingpin, who managed to pay for the digging of a tunnel from the shower inside his cell to a house nearly a mile away. The tunnel was equipped with lighting, ventilation and a motorcycle.

The Mexican website Plaza de Armas published this photograph of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, right, after his capture Jan. 8, 2016. (Plaza de Armas / AFP/ Getty Images)

Weeks of digging and the removal of tons of dirt apparently went undetected, or ignored, by prison guards, who also failed to promptly raise the alarm when Guzman was no longer visible on the closed-circuit camera that monitored his cell.

Several prison officials were eventually fired or jailed for their role in the escape.

In recent months, residents of Sinaloa state, the cradle of Guzmans cartel, have reported seeing Mexican special forces conducting raids, often with collateral damage.

Guzmans earlier arrest, in 1993, occurred in Guatemala. He was placed in what was then Mexicos maximum-security prison until he escaped in 2001, purportedly by hiding in a laundry cart, as the U.S. was preparing to extradite him.

As a fugitive for the next decade, Guzman became one of the most powerful drug lords in the world. Forbes magazine once estimated his fortune at more than $1 billion. He expanded his empire across the U.S. and to Europe and Australia  his cartel killing tens of thousands of people in the process, for crossing it or getting in the way. In Mexico, local government and security officials were on his payroll.

On Feb. 22, 2014, after 13 years on the lam, he was tracked down to an oceanfront apartment complex in the city of Mazatlan, also in Sinaloa, with his most recent wife, a former beauty queen, and twin daughters, who were born near Los Angeles in 2011.

He put up no resistance, and not a shot was fired.

In Fridays shootout, however, he appeared to be much more a man on the run, surrounded by his gang and enmeshed in the violence of organized crime.

The U.S. government congratulated Mexico for the capture, with the Drug Enforcement Administration calling it a victory for the rule of law.

The arrest is a significant achievement in our shared fight against transnational organized crime, violence, and drug trafficking, the agency said in a statement. The DEA and Mexico have a strong partnership and we will continue to support Mexico in its efforts to improve security for its citizens and continue to work together to respond to the evolving threats posed by transnational criminal organizations.

Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch said: Guzmans latest attempt to escape has failed, and he will now have to answer for his alleged crimes, which have resulted in significant violence, suffering and corruption on multiple continents.

------------

FOR THE RECORD

Jan. 9, 8:51 a.m.: An earlier photo caption said that Guzman escaped in 2014. He escaped in 2015.

------------

Times staff writer Wilkinson reported from Washington and special correspondents Bonello and Sanchez from Mexico City.

Twitter: @TracyKWilkinson

Hoy: Lea esta historia en espanol

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Pope Francis' Mexico visit in February is expected to draw a crowd of 2.3 million at the main event on the outskirts of the country's capital.

According to Fox News' report from the Associated Press, government officials in Mexico will deploy 10,000 state police officers to maintain the peace and ordinance at a 5.5.-mile (8.8 kilometer) motorcade and rally on Feb. 14.

On Wednesday, Mexico State Gov. Eruviel Avila announced that medical and aid facilities will be available for the event scheduled to take place in the city of Ecatepec, which is situated north of Mexico City, Fox News further reported. Bleachers will be set up alongside the main boulevard for the motorcade. Around 300,000 people are expected to attend the Mass.

The pontiff's Mexico trip will start on Feb. 12, the news outlet noted. He will also visit the states of Chiapas, Michoacan, and Chihuahua.

An estimated 100 million Catholics are said to be residing in Mexico, making up more than 80 percent of the nation's population, Fox News Latino wrote.

Just like his tour through Washington DC, New York, and Philadelphia in the United States last year, Pope Francis reportedly aims to meet freely with the public despite of the maximum security around him, The Guardian wrote. His U.S. visit drove one of the biggest security operations in the country, with the city police, the secret service, and the FBI deployed.

"The pope has called for no extraordinary measures," Alberto Suarez Inda, the archbishop of Morelia, said at a news conference on Tuesday, as quoted in The Guardian's report. "On the contrary," he added, the pontiff intends "to be near the people."

"He would not come if he did not have his confidence in God, in the goodness of the people," the archbishop noted, as reported by the news outlet. "We're all mortals, but as far as I know there has been no change in politics to necessitate more protection."

Pope Francis will visit Morelia on Feb. 16 and will meet with young people and visit the city's cathedral, The Guardian noted. He will give a speech at a stadium there afterwards. A day later, the pope will head to Ciudad Juarez, the border city that has experienced years of disappearances and violent murders.

The pontiff is expected to discuss migration while in Ciudad Juarez, as what he did in his chief speech in Philadelphia on the same topic, The Guardian added. Migration has become one of the most essential issues in the 2016 presidential election in the U.S.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
About 8,000 stranded Cubans are given the "deal of a lifetime," as five countries in Central America joined forces with Mexico, agreeing to aid them until they reach the United States.

After weeks of getting no news on how they would move on from the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border, the Cubans are finally moving on with the help of their fellow Latin Americans.

According to CNN, the Central American countries and Mexico had just signed an agreement last week that indicates how they will help the stalled Cubans reach American soil.

The group of Central American countries decided that they would transport the migrants to El Salvador by plane, and to Mexico via buses, where they willl be given the chance to cross the border to the United States.

Officials are not extending the migrants' suffering any longer, and declared that they will begin transporting them this month.

The first batch of 180 refugees will depart by plane to El Salvador on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, the trip is not free, as the migrants will have to pay a total of $550 for their travel and visa expenses, according to officials.

This news comes amid the recent refugee crisis that Daily Mail believes began after U.S. President Barack Obama decided to "unfreeze relations with Cuba."

According to the report, Obama's move ignited panic among the Cubans who immediately travelled to claim refugee status in the U.S. for fear that the open-door policy would be short-lived.

"As many as 8,000 are living in squalor in Costa Rica where their attempts to reach the United States have stalled, with the central American country facing a growing humanitarian crisis over their presence," the report stated.

Past reports revealed how and why the Cubans ended up in the borders of Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Apparently, the citizens of the Communist country fled their homeland for fear that the current automatic refugee status granted to Cubans who reached American soil would end.

For most of the refugees, their journey towards the "American Dream" began with plane trips to Ecuador and lengthy road trips through Panama and Colombia.

But after being given a temporary free pass in Costa Rica, thousands of Cubans, including children, women and elderly, were stalled after the Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega ordered for the borders of his country to be sealed.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
To address the lack of manpower in the health sector in the seaside city of Brazil, the government announced that it will hire 2,943 servers to be deployed to the six federal state hospitals.

Jornal Floripa said the sum of the contracts of all additional personnel, mostly doctors, nurses and technicians, amount to more than $130.9 million. They are expected to start working come February 1.

The Secretary for Health Care Ministry Alberto Beltrame announced on Thursday that the registration for the new job openings has started, and will last until Jan. 22.

It was also noted in the Jornal Floripa report that the contracts of these servers will be six months long, and could be renewed for up to two years.

TelesurTV said the move in Rio was done amid a funding crisis that caused a lower number of hospital staff and lack of needed equipment in medical facilities.

The same report said that the Health Care Ministry has announced that it will hire 693 doctors and 605 nurses in the coming days.

"It's a significant increase, equivalent to opening a new hospital in Rio rapidly," Beltrame said in the TelesurTV report.

It also noted that this is a welcome development after Rio de Janeiro declared a "state of emergency" when it lacked the funds to purchase health equipment, supplies and even salaries for hospital workers.

A Reuters report published by Channel News Asia noted that the health problem in Rio is one of the worst the country has witnessed.

"This is the worst crisis I've seen," 60-year-old nurse Anjela Caldas told Reuters.

She claimed that patients in emergency cases were not treated by hospitals because of lack of space and people. Chronic health issues were said to be the priority in medical facilities.

According to Folha de S. Paulo, the medical system in Rio reached its lowest when the government was not able to pay suppliers and give out wages on time to the workers.

The said crisis greatly affected 17 emergency facilities and seven hospitals, which were forced to "partially or totally close" during the past days.

But this may soon change as Beltrame added in the Jornal Floripa report that the contracts for the improvement in the health sector will also activate 34 ICU beds and 120 surgical beds.

"It amounts to an opening of a new midrange hospital," the secretary added.

However, Reuters highlighted that the health problems of the country are not only in Rio. It said that the entire nation is battling with the outbreak of mosquito-borne virus Zika.

This virus was linked by health experts to the increase in the number of babies born with microcephaly, a condition where there is incomplete brain development.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
When the word 'gondolas' are mentioned, the first place that comes to mind is Venice. Mexico, too, has a rather unusual way of coping with Monday morning traffic -- floating gondolas!

Traffic jams in Mexico City have a notoriety of being among the worst in the world. Rush hours are known to drive Chilangos insane, which has resulted in the residents of Mexico City coming up with creative ways to beat the traffic blues.

In a report with Fusion, Mexico City goes over the traffic problem, in a literal sense. The city's ministry of science, innovation and technology this year is expected to launch an innovative prototype for a new public transit system that resembles a ski lift suspended above the streets.

According to the report, each gondola unit will be fully automated. These can be individually programmed to transport users directly to their destination without making any local stops like subways and trains do.

The project, known as the "Personalized Elevated Urban Transport" (or TUEP in Spanish), has a goal of transporting some 37 million people across the city each year. The system hopes to up that goal to 200 million once the system is extended to longer distances.

"The TUEP gondolas will travel at a speed of 9 miles per hour and each of them will have two seats to make this transportation method more personal," said an official statement regarding the new prototype.

The design and technology behind the system is purely 100% Mexican. Developers say that the system is more efficient than taking the bus or the subway.

Rodolfo Zamorano, the engineer behind the project, told the website that the user can save time in taking the floating gondola because commuters can easily program their final destination at the start of the trip.

Quartz reports that Zamorano also told the website that the initial testing of the prototype should be done by March of this year. The plans will then commence in building the first 3-mile stretch of monorail, which will come complete with 1,000 gondolas. He added that the first phase will require an investment of $46 million from public and private partners.

The protoype has already gained public interest and has already gained support from the Mexican government. Mexico City has already offered more than $2 million to support the prototype. Running and maintaining the gondolas would be 40% cheaper than the metro and the city's rapid bus lines, which run on their own dedicated road lanes.

The engineer added that private investors from the U.S., Spain and The United Arab Emirates have shown interest in the project. He said that it would cost Mexican commuters 50 cents for a 3-mile ride -- approximately 20 cents more than the average bus ride.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Prostate Cancer Can Be Treated By Exercise: Study

media@latinoshealth.com By Ivan Menchavez Jan 07, 2016 08:46 PM EST

People have been taught that exercise and proper diet are the secrets of living healthy. For health conscious, the New Year is always a good time to start practicing these things in able to achieve their goal to get fit. There are definitely many positive effects exercising can do to the body and one of which could be treating prostate cancer.

According to a report by BBC, there are currently 50 men with prostate cancer included in a study led by Sheffield Hallam University to determine if exercise is indeed an effective way in treating the disease. One of the main goals is to find out if this kind of therapy can stop the cancer from spreading.

It will be a year-long study, which is believed to be the first of its kind. The people involved are pretty hopeful that the study will give a positive result; especially that prostate cancer is most common in the U.K. It is reported that at least one out of 9 men in England will get the disease at some point in their lifetime, and there were already indications that suggested a positive outcome of exercise in prostate cancer treatment.

This could be good news for people who are currently suffering with the rigorous methods of radiotherapy or surgery. These procedures will have long lasting negative effects on the body and that is why many men would want to avoid them. Exercise could become a form of treatment that could be recommended on the NHS if the outcome of this current study suggests being helpful, Cancer Research UK reported.

Dr. Liam Bourke from Sheffield Hallam University, who leads this study, stated that there is already evidence suggesting physically active men have better chance of surviving cancer than those who are not. They are not sure it why it appears to be helpful in treating the disease; however, he cited that exercise may control the cancer cell preventing it to spread.

"The clinical academic team in Sheffield have been working hard for eight years to develop the intervention that is being tested in this exciting study. It builds on what we already know and is the first step towards finding out whether exercise could be an effective and practical NHS treatment for localised prostate cancer," Dr. Bourke explained. "If we show it works and is feasible, it could be a real leap forward and good news for cancer patients."

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Birth Control Pills not Linked to Birth Defects: Study

media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Jan 08, 2016 05:30 AM EST

The Guttmacher Institute reports that in the United States alone, the largest proportion of American women use the pill as contraceptive (28%), with tubal sterilization following closely (27%), and finally, the condom at 16%. Statistics also show that sterilization is the most common method used by black and Hispanic women while white women commonly use the pill.

A new study published in the medical journal "BMJ" conducted by researchers from the United States and Denmark show that te use of contraception shortly before or during pregnancy are unlikely to result in birth defects, TIME reports. Researchers used national medical registries to collect and analyze data from Denmark from 1997 to 2011 on all live births, birth defects, and mothers' medical conditions. The results showed that in over 880,000 births, 2.5% of them had a birth defect such as a cleft palate or an arm or leg defect.

HealthDay reports that researchers led by Brittany Charlton, an instructor in the department of epidemiology at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, found that for every 1,000 births, 25.1 infants of mothers who never took the pill had birth defects, as well as 25.0 of infants of mothers who did use birth control pills over three months before the pregnancy. The rate of having a birth defect in their babies was 24.9% in mothers who used birth control pills within 90 days of becoming pregnant, and 24.8% among mothers who used the pill before being aware of the pregnancy.

"Women who become pregnant either soon after stopping oral contraceptives, or even while taking them, should know that this exposure is unlikely to cause the fetus to develop a birth defect," Charlton said. "This should reassure women as well as their doctors."

NPR reports that epidemiologist Kim Waller of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, wrote a 2010 study analyzing oral contraceptive use and 32 categories of birth defects. Like this study, hers found no links between the usage of the pill and most kinds of birth defects. However, results showed a statistically significant risk of the same heart problem in babies born to women who used the pill during the first trimester.

Charlton said, "The prevalence of birth defects was consistent across each of the oral contraceptive groups as well as when we added in pregnancies that ended as stillbirths or induced abortions. Similarly, the results were also consistent even when we broke down the birth defects into different subgroups, like limb defects."

Dr. Diane Horvath-Cosper, a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told NPR that this new study "provides me with a lot more convincing evidence that there's no link between oral contraceptives and birth defects."

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Latest Cancer Detection Method can 'Light Up' Tumor Cells for Easier Removal: Study

media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Writer Jan 08, 2016 05:30 AM EST

A new imaging technique developed by researchers at Duke University Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts Institute of Technology can help easily remove tumor cells by "lighting them up."

The researchers developed a probe called LUM015 in which they developed to attract and make residual cancer cells light up to make it easier to see and remove. The preliminary study published in Science Translational Medicine states that the technique is safe and could be an effective way of detecting residual cancer.

"When a patient has cancer, the surgeon tries to find the tumor and cut it out," said Dr. David Kirsch, senior author and professor at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, via WebMD. However, there can sometimes be microscopic residual cancer left behind that the surgeon can't see.

"So this imaging technique is meant to help the surgeon see the cancer during the operation, to avoid the patient having to go in for a second operation," he explained.

The unique challenge that surgeons face when removing cancerous tumor are the residual and a couple of small ones that are not very visible.

"Better imaging is always needed. Because with a big, massive tumor it's easy to see the cancer. But when it's just a few cells or a small tumor, it's very hard to see and properly target therapy," said Dr. Stephen Fredland of Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, via CBS News.

"But if this [experimental approach] pans out, which is still a huge 'if' at this point, it holds the promise to do that," Dr. Fredland explained, who is not involved in the study. "I do think using these little enzymes, these protease, to tell us where the cancer is absolutely does make sense. And in theory, this concept should work for the vast majority of cancers. So although it's at a very early stage, there's a lot of promise here. And hopefully, they [the study researchers] on the path to something great."

The early trial involved mice and 15 patients who either had breast cancer or soft-tissue sarcoma. They injected the LUM015 in the area where the cancer is located on the patients and the liquid spread into the metastasized tissue instead of the healthy ones.

In the test subjects, researchers were only able to perform the removal of cancerous cells using the technique. On humans, they only studied how the fluorescent tumor tissue can affect them. The researchers found the "light up" technique to be safe and possibly without side effects.

Further trial will be conducted on 50 breast cancer patients and Dr. Kirsch hopes to have the technique ready by 2017.



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Mexico 'Sugary Drinks Tax' Reduced Sales by 12 Percent

media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Jan 08, 2016 05:30 AM EST

Back in January 2014, a 10% sales tax on sugary drinks was implemented in Mexico to help address te world's highest obesity rate, The Guardian reports. 32.8% of the Mexican population are obese, and 14% have diabetes.

A new study published in the journal "BMJ" shows that the sales tax on sugary drinks has been effective in curbing the consumption of such beverages, HealthDay reports.

Researchers analyzed data from over 6,200 Mexican households in 53 large cities and found that in 2014, the average person bought 4.2 fewer liters of sugary drinks than they would have before the tax was implemented. Sales of sugary drinks went down the most among poor households, with a 17% decrease by the end of 2014. However, the study was observational, and researchers noted that they cannot draw any definitive conclusions about cause and effect.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Mexico consumes more sugary drinks per capita than any other country in the world, and contributes to about 5% of Coca-Cola's global sales.

The American Heart Association released a statement on Thursday, saying, "Scientific research shows that overconsumption of added sugars contributes to heart disease and other chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Mexico has paved the way for other nations to decrease sugary drink intake and has shown sugar-sweetened beverage taxes are an effective strategy to make healthy choices easier."

"Reducing consumption as part of a heart-healthy lifestyle will help improve rates of obesity, diabetes, dental caries, and heart disease," the statement said.

However, TIME reports that as per senior health economist Franco Sassi of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, he believes that "taxes can be part of a public health strategyand Mexicos is a great example for other countriesbut they cannot be viewed as a magic bullet in the fight against obesity."

According to Medical Xpress, Sassi recommends more research to find out how taxes can play a role, partnered with policies like health education for a more comprehensive anti-obesity campaign. He recommends regulatory measures, health education around food choices, incentives for research and development in food production, and changes in the food choice environment. He said, "If all of the above policies were used systematically and effectively, the focus of the policy debate might shift away from taxes in the future."

Additionally, William Dermody Jr., vice president of policy at the American Beverage Association, argues that this reduction isn't enough to make an impact on actual weight loss.

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Chocolate as a Cough Remedy? Expert Says Cocoa is the Best Treatment

media@latinoshealth.com By Rachel Cruz Jan 08, 2016 05:07 AM EST

There are plenty of home remedies or nonpharmaceutical treatments to alleviate and soothe a nasty cough. Honey and lemon, ginger, turmeric, milk and almonds are just some of the recommendations. However, a latest study revealed that chocolate can also be just as effective as these items.

Professor Alyn Morice from the University of Hull stated in her piece on the Daily Mail that a regular chocolate bar proved effective in suppressing cough. She came to the conclusion following a trial of a cough medicine that makes use of cocoa as the ingredient.

"We have just seen the results of the largest real-world study of an over-the-counter cough remedy ever undertaken in Europe. This proves that a new medicine which contains cocoa is better than a standard linctus," she wrote.

Morice further stated that the randomized research called ROCOCO involved 163 patients but the complete findings have yet to be published in a medical journal. However, one interesting facet of their research showed that patients who took the medicine for cough experienced less coughing episodes and sleep disruption. "Twice as many patients taking it were able to stop treatment early because their cough had cleared," Morice said.

This is not the first time chocolate has been suggested as cough treatment since previous studies done in 2004 indicated that cocoa's chemical theobromine component can work with persistent cough. "Not only did theobromine prove more effective than codeine, at the doses used it was found to have none of the side effects," said study author Maria Belvisi per BBC. Codeine is an ingredient common in many cough medicines, per Good Housekeeping.

However, Morice advised that drinking hot chocolate might not bring the same effect. "The cocoa isn't in contact with the throat long enough to form a protective coating."

Morice was also part of another study on chocolate as cough medicine back in 2012, before the actual medicine was developed. Participants were given 1,000 mg of theobromine from unsweetened dark chocolate bar, per Medical Daily. "Eating a bar of dark chocolate a day which has high levels of the compound may also be effective for people with diagnosed persistent cough," Morice said back then.

With the medicine still on trial, it's unclear when this will be available in drugstores once it finally gets approval. However, should you find yourself with cough and looking to go with a more natural remedy, Morice suggested "slowly sucking on a piece of chocolate" for relief.

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome can be Cured by Hypnosis, Psychological Therapy

media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Jan 08, 2016 05:30 AM EST

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is defined by the Mayo Clinic as a common disorder that affects the large intestine, causing cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, diarrhea, and constipation. The cause of IBS is still unclear, but treatment often focuses on the relief of such symptoms.

A new study published in the journal "Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology", however, shows that the effects of psychological therapy, which include hypnosis and relaxation methods, for IBS can be beneficial for at least six up to 12 months after therapy, Business Standard reports. Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 41 clinical trials and found that those who suffered IBS and received psychotherapy had more lasting reductions in symptoms compared to their counterparts who did not have any treatment.

Researchers analyzed studies in which participants were asked to answer questionnaires about their symptoms at the start and end of their treatment, Yahoo! Health reports. Results showed that 75% of the group who had psychotherapy reported feeling better than the average member of the group that received no treatment. Researchers also found that the effects of psychotherapy lasted for 12 months after the psychotherapy.

Lead study author Kelsey T. Laird, a doctoral candidate at Vanderbilt University, told Yahoo! Health, "Its exciting that this benefit appears to last, as IBS is notoriously difficult to treat."

Laird said that the relationship of the gastrointestinal tract to the nervous system is why psychotherapy is effective. IBS is thought to be a result of a dysfunction of the brain-gut axis, which is why the brain can affect the body, and vice versa.

Psychotherapy is then effective because it helps patients retain and practice new skills to use as long as they know it, compared to just taking medication every time IBS occurs.

"Western medicine often conceptualizes the mind as separate from the body, but IBS is a perfect example of how the two are connected," Laird explained, via Tech Times. She added that gastrointestinal symptoms can increase anxiety and stress, causing the symptoms to become more severe.

Health 24 reports that according to lead author Lynn Walker, a professor of paediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, "Our study is the first one that has looked at long-term effects."

"We found that the moderate benefit that psychological therapies confer in the short term continue over the long term," Dr. Walker said. "This is significant because IBS is a chronic, intermittent condition for which there is no good medical treatment."

Laird said that in contrast to medications, psychotherapy can help break the vicious cycle of gastrointestinal symptoms increasing stress and anxiety, offering better relief from IBS.

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Drugstore Shortage Concerns Doctors

staff@latinoshealth.com By Monica Antonio Jan 08, 2016 06:00 AM EST

A study published from the Academic Emergency Medicine has reported a significant shortage on drugs available for patients, and it's alarming doctors.

According to Med Page Today, the drug shortage has inflated by five times between 2008 and 2014 after a seven-year decline in medicine supply. This shortage is hurting physicians and emergency centers.

The study noted that among the 1,798 drugs that were reported to have experienced a lack in supply from January 2001 to March 2014, 610 or 33.9 percent of the number are emergency medicine. Meanwhile, 321 or 52.6 percent are life-saving drugs or for high-acuity conditions while 32 or 10.0 percent cannot be substituted by any alternative.

But it doesn't end there, because from January 2008 to March 2014, the shortage on emergency medicine inflated from 23 to 123 or by a whopping 435 percent. Meanwhile, life-saving or high-acuity drugs also increased from 14 to 69 or by 393 percent while those without any substituted grew four to nine or by 125 percent.

Due to this shortage, doctors are forced to find alternatives to unavailable drugs that they have previously prescribed to their patients. Jesse Pines, MD, MBA, director of the Office for Clinical Practice Innovation and professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, said that these alternative medicines carry with them unfamiliar side effects and may not show yield the expected effectiveness rate as that of the originally prescribed drug.

When the manufacturers' of these drugs were contacted, no clear reason for the shortage was given. The study also notes that emergency medicine for infectious disease showed the highest number of shortage. Med Page Today notes that a quarter of the shortage was due to manufacturing delays while 15 percent of the shortage was due to outstripped supply.

Pines also attributed the shortage to the stricter rules implemented by the FDA, which resulted to the halt in manufacturing certain drugs. He also observed that the shortage is somehow correlated with the economic fluctuation from 2008 to 2009.

"I think the FDA thing is a minor issue. I think the real issue is economics.", Mark Reiter, MD, MBA, president of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and an emergency physician in Nashville, Tennessee, said.

Pines also agrees to Reiter's statement, saying, "Basically a lot of these companies are stopping producing these medicines primarily for business reasons."

Reiter said that the reason emergency medicine is seeing a shortage because it heavily relies on generic drugs; however, pharmaceutical companies earn more revenue on branded products than generic ones. He further added that to alleviate this drug shortage, the government must coordinate with these manufacturers to ensure a steady supply of vital medicine to the public.

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After war veteran Matthew DeRemer died on New Year's Eve, his last Facebook post on the morning of December 31 went viral for its prophetic quality.

Is this another case of a person sensing his time on earth is nearing its end? You tell us.

"Matthew DeRemer, 31, was riding his motorcycle in Largo, Florida when he was struck by a drunk driver," Fox 13 News said. "DeRemer was pronounced dead at the scene."

The drunk driver, later identified as 59-year-old Steven Clarke from Seminole, Florida, was arrested on the spot and now faces DUI manslaughter charges, as well as failure to yield right-of-way, NBC News reported. However, he was released on bail the following day.

What did DeRemer post on his Facebook account that got netizens getting the goosebumps?

"Last day of 2015!!!! For me I'll be meditating through all I do, on this entire year," the update began. "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!" it went on.

"And I really don't know where I'll end up tonight but I do know where I windup is where I'm meant to be," the last line said.

The post was accompanied by a picture message that said, "We are born in 1 day. We die in 1 day. We can change in 1 day. And we can fall in love in 1 day. Anything can happen in just 1 day."

Did these words give you the chills? You're not alone.

Some users had commented on his post, saying they were inspired by the message.

"I have never believed in fate, or a higher power. The fact that he posted this powerful post 11 hours before the accident has got me rethinking a lot," commented an Andy Lamar, as noted by ABC.net.au.

The former Marine corporal, said to be a decorated soldier, had just got hired as a surgical technician and was looking forward to his new career after shifting from being a physical trainer.

His sister, Lynsey DeRemer, revealed to NBC News that although they'd been raised in a Christian household, her brother grew closer to God in 2015 and was in fact an officer in his Christian motorcycle group.

"After his death, his friends gathered at the accident scene - an intersection in Largo, Florida - to share memories of him," the news outlet relayed. "Some erected a cross, as a symbol of DeRemer's faith."

WATCH:

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"Fifty Shades Darker" star Dakota Johnson revealed in a recent interview one thing she regrets about taking up the role of Anastasia Steele.

With the year just getting started, many fans of "Fifty Shades of Grey" are anticipating the second instalment of the film which is scheduled for production for this year. Lead cast Dakota Johnson took the time to look back on her experience playing the controversial role of Anastasia Steele. Johnson said that she is ever so grateful and has no regrets playing the role except for one.

In an interview with Vogue UK, the star said that the movie was able to open up a lot of opportunities for her, but later on, she admitted that with her increasing popularity because of the film, she feared that it would take away her anonymity.

"I think about my dwindling anonymity. And that's really scary because a very large part of me would be perfectly happy living on a ranch in Colorado and having babies and chickens and horses - which I will do anyway," Johnson said.

However, the actress remains positive regarding the movie and the role. She said that she doesn't have plans to distance herself from the film. In fact, it is a chance for her to show the public about the other works she can do.

She also talked about the cutthroat industry which is Hollywood. The actress admitted that when she has her down time, she sometimes feels that she might not work again.

"No matter how tough you are, sometimes there's the feeling of not being wanted. It's absurd and cutthroat. 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," the actress confessed.

A lot of fans are now excited to see Johnson with her leading man Jamie Dornan back together in the movie. According to Parent Herald, the next instalment will be bolder and sexier than the first. There are also rumors that Dornan is being offered a big amount of money to do full frontal for the film. The news wasn't confirmed but the actor did express his excitement to be back as Christian Grey once again.

I'm looking forward to embodying Christian again -- and getting a chance to show more of him," Dornan said.

"Fifty Shades Darker" is scheduled for release on February 10, 2017.

 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A new Windows 10 smartphone from Alcatel OneTouch is about to give Microsoft a boost, after the lackluster release of the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. Called Fierce XL, the budget smartphone is equipped with Windows 10 and a number of other interesting features.

WMPowerUser stated that the Alcatel OneTouch Fierce XL will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor and 2GB of RAM. It will feature a 5.5-inch 720p touchscreen with Dragontail glass display protection. The device will also have an 8-megapixel primary camera and a 2-megapixel front shooter. The Fierce XL will have 16GB of internal memory, microSD card support and a non-removable 2,500mAh battery. GSM Arena also wrote that the handset will have VoLTE support, Wi-Fi Calling 2.0 and capacitive buttons.

Based on the specifications, the Fierce XL with Windows 10 will belong in the lower-midrange class. Without a contract, the smartphone should be available at under $199. It will become available in the following months, with T-Mobile being the U.S. carrier. T-Mobile has prepared an extensive training guide on Windows 10 for its employees, which means that the carrier will most likely be showcasing more Windows 10 mobile devices in the coming months. Users can also avail of the new phone at MetroPCS.

CNet revealed that the Fierce XL is the first among many Windows 10 smartphones that Alcatel is planning to release in 2016. The company is also aiming to launch a new Windows 10-based superphone that will possibly compete with Apple and Samsung flagship models, according to Steve Cistulli, senior vice president of Alcatels North America region. Currently, iPhones and Android-based handsets comprise almost 93 percent of the mobile phone market, while Windows has a mere 2.6 percent. Microsoft reportedly had over 110 million people install their new software in the first 10 weeks after it was launched in July 2015.

The move would be a change for Alcatel OneTouch, which has built a reputation for creating low-end phones. At present, there is no Alcatel phone that can be deemed as a superphone. However, Cistulli hinted that they will be releasing one later in 2016. One of the main reasons why Alcatel is banking on Windows 10 is the platforms ability to run the same apps across various devices, regardless of type, based on the same CNet report.

Were going to have the leading specs to take on the best smartphones. Were committed to Windows 10, said Cistulli during an interview before the Consumer Electronics Show.

 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A Korean passenger jet was forced to return after one of its doors was discovered to have been left open at 10,000 feet. Passengers reportedly had to listen to the horrific sound of air rushing through the gap.

We presume that the windy sound came from a gap in the door, which could have led to a drop in cabin pressure, said a Jin Air official in a Telegraph report.

CNN cited that the passenger plane was a Boeing 737-800 that came from Cebu, Philippines and was bound for Busan, South Korea, on Jan. 3, 2016. There were 163 people on board and the open plane door was only found 40 minutes into the flight. Staff noticed the gap in the door because of the noise produced by the wind while the aircraft was at an altitude of 10,000 feet. The pilot had to go back to Cebu for safety reasons.

Telegraph also reported that one passenger was able to capture the incident on video. The footage featured whistling noise of air coming from the divide between the fuselage and the door. The gap was not very wide, only sufficient for a pinky finger to slip through, although there were still effects in the cabin pressure.

International Business Times revealed that some passengers suffered from nausea and ear pain during the flight, although no serious injuries were reported. The pain in the ears was described by one as similar to the eardrum being torn. The symptoms may have been due to the gradual loss of cabin pressure, resulting to a fatal lack of oxygen inside the jet.

One passenger stated that he was scared that he would die inside the plane since he was already numb with a headache. The children may have suffered more. Another passenger reported seeing a small boy rolling back and forth while holding his ears. The child seemed to have been in pain and not merely overacting.

Park Mun-seong, head of Jin Air in Busan, apologized for the occurrence. The door seemed to be fully functional and allegedly shut properly when staff attempted to close it. It is still uncertain whether the open door was caused by flight attendant error.

Once in Cebu, the passengers had to disembark and take another airplane at 9 p.m. and arrived at Gimhae airport in Busan safely, albeit 15 hours late. No passenger was hospitalized from the incident. Jin Air reportedly promised to compensate each passenger 100,000 won (about $83), Telegraph wrote.

 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Over the past weeks, the Miss Universe 2015 has been the talk of the town. In a recent interview, Miss Universe Pia Wutrzbach revealed that she reached out to Miss Colombia and the Latina did reply back to her.

US Weekly reported that Wurtzbach texted Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez, and she replied back. In a previous interview, the beauty queen revealed that she greeted the Latina on her birthday in December but she kept mum about other details of their conversation. The 26-year-old Miss Universe title holder also added that she is not sure where Gutierrez is right now.

"I heard she was in Miami, but I don't know if she went back to Colombia yet. If I ever visit Colombia, I hope to see her," Wurtzbach said.

In a previous statement by Steve Harvey, the comedian said that he messaged Gutierrez but did not hear anything back from her. To recall, Harvey mistakenly announced Miss Colombia as the winner of the pageant and later apologized for the confusion. In his defense, the host owned up to the mistake and took full responsibility of the incident.

While Gutierrez did not respond to Harvey's apology, Wurtzbach said that if it were her, she would respond to the host, seeing his efforts to reach out and make amends.

"I would respond to him. I think it takes a lot for him to admit that he made a mistake, especially like that. It was on live television. For him to consistently keep on reaching out to her - it's a very admirable move from him. But that's me. I wouldn't really know. Maybe she's still in the process of understanding what's going on right now, and I respect that. That's OK. I think she will eventually," Miss Universe 2015 said.

In a report by New York Daily News, the 22-year-old Latina beauty queen admitted that she feels like her dreams were destroyed in mere four minutes. She said that the incident could have been handled differently and criticized the pageant by saying that her feelings didn't seem to matter even if she worked all her life for the Miss Universe crown.

The Latina beauty also revealed that she was so devastated after the pageant. She went to her parents after the show and cried that night.

While many suggested that the two just share the crown after the humiliating incident, Wurtzbach did not approve of the idea and said that it would be difficult to share the crown and the responsibilities tied to it.

 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Ninety women complained of groping and harassment at Cologne's New Year's Eve event, with at least one woman saying she had been raped, according to the BBC.

Due to the origin of the suspects, a public debate into Germany's acceptance of migrants ensued, and Mayor Henriette Reker's comments at a Tuesday conference weren't any help.

Cologne's mayor, Henriette Reker, is now under fire after giving advice to women for the organized sexual assault attacks by 1,000 men at the city's main train station. The thing is, women didn't like her advice.

According to the German mayor, women and girls must follow a certain "code of conduct" in order to avoid "such" incidents. She also suggested staying "one arm's length" away from strangers.

See Mayor Henriette Reker's advice here.

This first public comment from Reker Tuesday evening was quickly followed by a wave of livid comments on social media from concerned individuals. The furious commenters used the trending hashtag #einearmlaenge (an arm's length).

See furious comments here and here.

Other pieces of advice she gave were that women should always go in groups at public events and that bystanders should be asked for help in emergencies.

Reker addressed the issue and justified her statements by saying that the media simply distorted them. She added that people of other cultures should be informed that the "jolly and frisky attitude during our Carnival is not a sign of sexual openness."

By Wednesday, German police have conducted an investigation into the New Year's Eve sexual assaults at Cologne. However, more outrage ensued as victims claimed the suspects are of "Arab or North African" appearance.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 of the perpetrators who were suspected to be from North Africa were also connected to organized theft crimes since 2014, according to a Duesseldorf City police spokesman.

The sexual assaults during New Year's Eve in Cologne could have reportedly been used to divert the revellers' attention so that the perpetrators could steal their devices at hand.

At the same day in Hamburg, there had been 38 sexual assaults and 14 thefts reported, while in Stuttgart, two women were robbed of their mobile phones. The women said they had been robbed by men who appeared Arabic as well.

The number of crimes has continued rising, and now Cologne police still couldn't determine the total number of reported crimes at the event. A quarter of the complaints were related to a quarter of the complaints, according to CNN.

 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A Chinese court is set to hear a case that could help pave the way for gay marriage in the world's most populous country, which currently does not legally recognize same-sex unions in any form.

The hearing is the result of a lawsuit brought by a 26-year-old man who is suing a local civil affairs bureau for denying him the right to marry his 36-year-old partner, Reuters reported. Sun Wenlin told the newswire the tribunal in Changsha, the capital of the central Hunan province, informed him on Jan. 5 it would weigh his request.

"I think from a legal point of view, we should be successful," Sun said. "Our marriage law says there is the freedom to marry and gender equality. These words can be applied to same-sex marriage."

Officials at the Furong district civil affairs bureau, the defendant in the case, were unavailable for comment, and the court itself noted that it would "not comment on cases before they are heard." But the mere fact that judges agreed to consider the case is a huge step in a country where homosexuality was officially listed as a mental disorder until 2001, Reuters noted.

Sun's main legal argument is based on the fact that Chinese law does not specifically spell out that marriage is between "a man and woman," but merely between "a husband and wife," the Wall Street Journal reported.

"A husband and a wife can be understood in terms of both relationship and identity," Sun told the Journal's China Real Time blog. "In terms of relationship, two people who have no blood ties can form a family."

But the young man insisted that beyond the legal implications, his desire to marry his partner was largely personal, the newspaper noted.

We just hope that we can legally become each other's family in our own country someday in our lifetime," Sun said. "Our most basic desires and rights have been denied and it is very difficult to vindicate. I feel very angry."
Planned Parenthood announced Thursday that it will endorse Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

The nonprofit's advocacy arm is scheduled to officially endorse Clinton at an event in Manchester, New Hampshire on Sunday, marking the first time that the 100-year-old organization has endorsed a candidate in the primary. The endorsement will also launch the Action Fund's efforts in the current election season.

"Let's be clear - reproductive rights and health are on the ballot in 2016," said Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards in a statement sent to Latin Post. "We're proud to endorse Hillary Clinton for President of the United States."

"No other candidate in our nation's history has demonstrated such a strong commitment to women or such a clear record on behalf of women's health and rights. This is about so much more than Planned Parenthood. Health care for an entire generation is at stake," she added.

Clinton said she was "honored" to have the support of Planned Parenthood, one of the leading providers of health services to women, including cancer screenings and abortions. She also vowed to defend the women's health group from congressional Republicans who want to defund it. Most recently, the Republican-controlled House voted to pass a bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act and cut federal funding for the women's group.

"There has never been a more important election when it comes to women's health and reproductive rights-and Planned Parenthood's patients, providers, and advocates across the country are a crucial line of defense against the dangerous agenda being advanced by every Republican candidate for president," said the Democratic front-runner in the statement.

Clinton, a staunch supporter of abortion rights, also showed her gratitude for Planned Parenthood's support on twitter.

I'll take on Republicans or anyone who tries to interfere with women's health. Proud to have @PPact's support in this important election. -H  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 7, 2016

The Planned Parenthood Action Fund plans to spend $20 million on presidential and Senate races the 2016 election cycle, which will go towards key battleground states like New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The U.S. Navy announced Wednesday that it will name a ship after Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Georgia to honor his legacy as a civil rights hero and tireless fighter for freedom in America.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said in a press release that naming a United States Navy replenishment oiler after Lewis "is a fitting tribute to a man who has, from his youth, been at the forefront of progressive social and human rights movements in the U.S., directly shaping both the past and future of our nation," reports NBC News.

The vessel, on which construction will begin in 2018, will be "the first ship of the next generation of fleet replenishment oilers," he said. Oilers are ships responsible for providing fuel replenishment along with fleet cargo and store to ships at sea.

"As the first of its class, the future USNS John Lewis will play a vital role in the mission of our Navy and Marine Corps while also forging a new path in fleet replenishment," Mabus said.

In an interview with NBCBLK, Lewis said he cried when first learned that a ship would be named after him. He added that Mabus paid a visit to his office a few months ago to tell him about the idea in person.

"He said, 'I have been so moved and inspired by your work and others during the civil rights movement. My idea is to name a ship in your honor,'" Lewis said.

"In Troy, we couldn't use the swimming pool, so I never learned to swim," he said. "All these years later, to hear the Secretary of the Navy say he wanted to name a ship after me - we cried a little together and we hugged."

Lewis played an instrumental role in the Civil Rights Movement before he was elected to Congress in 1986. Not only did he put his life on the line by participating in the Freedom Rides, he also served as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was a keynote speaker at the historic March on Washington in 1963. The congressman, however, is most widely remembered for surviving a violent attack by Alabama state troopers during the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" march in Selma.

"I believe in freedom. I believe so much that people should be free. I was prepared to give it everything I had," Lewis said.

Mabus says that the USNS John Lewis will symbolize Lewis' passion for freedom.

"T-AO 205 will, for decades to come, serve as a visible symbol of the freedoms Representative Lewis holds dear, and his example will live on in the steel of that ship and in all those who will serve aboard her, " Mabus said.
Democrat Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently stood up for undocumented immigrants in their call to stop immigration raids, which are currently being held since New Year's weekend in light of the orders from the Obama administration to finally deport and detain U.S. illegal immigrants.

Sending a letter on Thursday to President Obama himself, Sanders, who is currently the Democratic presidentiable candidate, urged that the raids should be stopped immediately so that employment, education and travel authorization by the immigrants may not be taken away, per Sanders' official website.

According to The Washington Post, since the beginning of the year, it has been reported that the Department of Homeland Security has started their large-scale raids of immigrants' homes to be able to detain and deport those who have not been able to comply with final deportation orders.

The effect of such, according to Sanders, have led parents and their children to stop their normal scheduled businesses and schooling out of fear.

"Our nation has always been a beacon of hope and a refuge for the oppressed. As a country, we have a fundamental responsibility to keep families together and welcome those seeking refuge from extreme violence and persecution," Sanders wrote on his letter.

"I am therefore extremely disappointed that this weekend the Department of Homeland Security began large-scale raids in our communities to deport families who made the perilous journey to flee extreme violence," he said of the families seeking political asylum in the U.S. from their home countries that are currently hostile.

Sanders further explained his displeasure to the way the administration handled deporting immigrants. "Raids are not the answer. We cannot continue to employ inhumane tactics involving rounding up and deporting tens of thousands of immigrant families to address a crisis that requires compassion. It is critical to acknowledge that most of this [sic] families are refugees seeking asylum and entitled to humanitarian protection and legal counsel," Sanders wrote.

Meanwhile, Latino advocates have also given their support to the immigrants advising them not to open doors to agents seeking other names when in fact, they are the target. "Invading homes is inhumane and adds to the trauma of these families fleeing violence and oppression," Rep. Linda Sanchez, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman said as quoted by Fox News Latino. "These minors could be our sons, daughters, nieces and nephews," Sanchez added.

The publication further reports that approximately 100,000 immigrants have entered the U.S. borders since 2014. And most cases are from hostile countries like Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.


In light of yet another surge of undocumented minors entering the U.S. borders from Central America through the southern Mexico borders, the Obama administration has orchestrated an initial plan to respond to the growing number of unaccompanied children.

According to Fox News Latino, the government seemed to be concerned of yet another possible outpour of illegal minors entering the U.S. borders like those 63,000 that entered in 2014, which prompted them to seek housing in military bases for a temporary shelter, which the U.S. military has already approved.

The publication further reports that the move is an emergency response to the second surge of children, who crossed borders without their guardians or parents. The government reportedly eyes six military bases, including the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, to temporary give a place for the children, until a relative or sponsor in the U.S. claims them and while they await their immigration court proceedings.

In a letter to Rep. Martha Roby, the Pentagon says six military bases including Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, Naval Support Activity Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts and Travis Air Force Base in California may be considered to house the illegal minors, BreitBart reports.

"The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at HHS is expanding its capacity to provide shelter for the current influx of Unaccompanied Children at the U.S. Southern Border," the letter from Office of the Secretary of Defense's Matthew Rhoades reads as quoted by the publication.

"This temporary increased shelter capacity is a prudent step needed to ensure ORR meets its statutory responsibility to provide shelter for the unaccompanied children referred to its care and to assist CBP in ensuring that the US Border Patrol continues its vital national security mission to prevent illegal migration and trafficking, and to protect the borders of the United States," he added.

Furthermore, two federal facilities will also be activated in light of the current surge of illegal minors including Homestead Job Corps in Homestead, Florida and Denver Federal Campus in Lakewood, Colorado. Such are expected to provide up to 1,800 beds for the children.

According to Fox News Latino, In October and November of 2015, 10,588 children entered the U.S. illegally, double than the number in 2014 which was just at 63,000 according to statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Furthermore, this week, the Department of Homeland Security kicked off their large-scale immigration raids to respond to the Obama Administration's call to detain and deport illegal immigrants.
United Airlines was slapped with a $2.5 million fine by the U.S. Department of Transportation for violating consumer rules and handling flight delays. The department investigated the airlines after an increase in complaints from disabled passengers and five delays in the past two years.

According to the Associated Press, the DOT found that United Airlines failed to give disabled passengers quick and proper services in getting on and off planes while also providing damaged or delayed wheelchairs. The second-largest US carrier was also fined for the flight delays where passengers were kept waiting for more than three hours at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago last Dec. 8, 2013, and at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston on May 20, 2015, due to bad weather conditions.

"A review of these disability-related complaints revealed that United failed to provide passengers with disabilities prompt and adequate assistance with enplaning and deplaning aircraft," the DOT said in a statement via the Los Angeles Times.

The $2 million fine was for violations against disabled passengers while the $750,000 was for the flight delays. United announced in their bulletin on Thursday that they will spend $150,000 for the improvement of the company's audits of its wheelchair providers while an added $500,000 will be for the development of a new technology on easier passenger wheelchair requests.

The technology is a mobile application for both passengers and crew for a better and quicker wheelchair service. United will also spend $375,000 for a better plane parking system that will reduce taxi times during a winter storm.

"We expect this to greatly improve our ability to have wheelchairs where they need to be, when they need to be there, so that our customers can get on their way home or to their next destination with ease," said United Airlines Senior Vice President of Airport Operations Jon Roitman.

The latest incident involving United and a passenger was back in October 2015 when D'Arcee Neal, a man with cerebral palsy, reportedly crawled out of his seat because a special wheelchair that fits in the plane aisle was not immediately available. The airline acknowledged the incident and quickly gave an apology to Mr. Neal plus $300 compensation, per NBC Washington.

In a report by Reuters, United Airlines is not the first carrier company to be fined by the DOT. US Airways was given a $1.2 million fine in 2013 for poor wheelchair assistance policies at two airports while Southwest Airlines was fined $1.6 million last year for breaking the flight delays ruling.
The imminent return of United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz this quarter will be delayed due to his surprising heart transplant on Wednesday. While Munoz is "recovering well" after the surgery, the uncertainties about his health outlook left United employees and investors baffled and sparked concerns on the company's leadership.

Munoz's heart transplant also raised new queries on "how and when" United has disclosed information about his health condition following his heart attack on Oct. 15, just six weeks after his CEO appointment in September 2015. And since the prognosis and timetable for his full recovery remain unclear, a detailed update on his health will help ease the concerns felt by investors, who were largely left in the dark.

Following the confirmation of the transplant on Wednesday, United issued another brief statement late Thursday about Munoz's recovery progress, Wall Street Journal noted.

"[Munoz had been] progressing well, with the assistance of an implanted medical device," the company said in a statement, as per Chicago Tribune. "A transplant was considered a better alternative to long-term reliance on the implanted device and was not the result of a setback in his recovery. Munoz had been cleared to return to work prior to the transplant."

Medical experts at Northwestern Medicine, where the transplant was performed, also reassured employees and investors for Munoz's quick recovery.

"The surgical team was quite pleased with how the procedure went," Northwestern Medicine heart transplant program director Dr. Duc Pham said in the company's statement. "The patient's early course has been excellent, and the transplanted heart is functioning very well."

Northwestern Medicine Cardiac Surgery Chief Patrick McCarthy also added that given Munoz's "excellent physical condition and the rapid pace of his recovery prior to the transplant," a quick recovery and a return to his CEO duties are expected.

Munoz, 57, has been on medical leave for much of his tenure as a CEO at the world's second-largest airline. And though his leadership came during a tumultuous time at United, particularly after former chief executive Jeff Smisek's forced resignation and years of strained labor relations, Munoz made efforts to resolve the complaints of customers and employees on United Continental in recent years. He also concentrated on rebuilding the morale of the company by listening to employees and customers on how to improve the company, as previously reported.

Since early December, Munoz had been gradually resuming company-related activities, CNN Money reported. In fact, he had been collaborating with interim CEO Brett J. Hart, visiting with employees and participating in meetings. He also reportedly visited United's operations center in Chicago on Thanksgiving.

"We will, of course, be monitoring Oscar's progress closely," United's Nonexecutive Chairman Henry Meyer said. "And both his and the board's focus will be on the best interest of our shareholders."
When the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement was signed in October 2015, countries in the Latin American region, particularly Mexico, Peru and Chile, immediately found their investment opportunities in Vietnam and vice versa. However, the Trans-Pacific Partnership post a different threat for Latin America in terms of multinational investors from the U.S.

According to the Truth Out, the trade talks between multinational investors might eventually put the language barrier as one that will slow down the development. While German economist Friedrich List also believes that the TPP is not at all for the benefit of the Latin American region, he also has some different thoughts about why it won't work.

In his statement, he said, "It is a very common clever device that when anyone has attained the summit of greatness, he kicks away the ladder by which he has climbed up, in order to deprive others of the means of climbing up after him."

He arguably said that the motive is clear and that these developed countries' interest to extend their trade with these undeveloped countries is fraudulent, in a way that they want to easily acquire dominance through the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Citing Britain and the U.S., both countries only adapted these free-trade policies after they were able to make it on their own, thanks to the help of technological advancement.

The U.S.' eagerness to enter the free trade policies such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership is said to be a straight brush down of what the country went through over the century. Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton has not been shy about expressing her disapproval on the said policy, whereas President Barack Obama defended the decision to enter such open trade policies.

President Obama said in his statement, "Ninety-five percent of the world's consumers live outside our borders. They want to buy American products. They want our cars, our music, and our food. And if American businesses can sell more of their products in those markets, they can expand and support good jobs here at home."

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is participated by 12 countries mainly the U.S., Australia, Japan, Chile, Peru, Brunei, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Canada and Mexico. The policy provides several economic expansions through a free-trade agreement that also includes tax breaks on investors as well as negotiations on the part of intellectual property, agriculture and investments. The Trans-Pacific Partnership has also been largely criticized by protesters because of its secretive policies.
Samsung Gear S2's iOS compatibility might arrive this month. The release date for the anticipated update might have been revealed by Samsung UK's head.

Earlier rumors about Samsung Gear S2's iOS compatibility revealed that the update will arrive at some point this 2016. However, a recent report from Phone Arena, citing Kyle Brown, the Head of Product Launch Programmes at Samsung UK, may have just disclosed that the iOS support will roll out mid-January.

A previous report from Latin Post cited Sam Mobile's post confirming that Samsung is creating a Gear Manager compatible for iOS devices. The iOS support will enable iPhone users to connect their Apple smartphone to the wearable device from the South Korean tech giant.

iOS support for Samsung Gear S2 is coming. Sam Mobile confirmed on their report, citing their insiders, that the South Korean tech giant is developing a Gear Manager app for iOS.

However, Phone Arena's report noted the iOS users will not have the full benefits and features supported by Samsung Gear S2. For instance, Samsung Pay is expected to arrive to the Gear S2 this year but, given that this feature only works with Samsung mobile phones, it is safe to assume that iOS device users with Gear S2 will not be able to take advantage of the payment service from Samsung.

Samsung Pay is the South Korean giant's version of the Cupertino-based payment service called Apple Pay.

For those who are not aware of the Samsung's latest smartwatch device, the official website described that the "Gear S2 comes full circle with a durable stainless steel body that sits slim and sleek on your wrist." It can be a "device or all occasions" because the Gear S2's watch bands can be replaced conveniently and customizations are easy to do.

Below is a video from Android Authority sharing its comprehensive review for Samsung Gear S2:

Samsung Gear S2 became available in the market in the last quarter of last year, with October 2015 as its initial release daate. The Samsung smartwatch is currently available in Korea and US.

The smartwatch currently offers compatibility support with Android mobile devices running on Android 4.4 KitKat OS and newer versions. One of the wearable device's vital features is its unique rotating bezel that functions as the main control for the elements showing onscreen.

Check back on this site regularly for updates about Samsung Gear S2's iOS update.
A Latin American exhibit set in New York makes it way to New Mexico this coming weekend. "New Territories: Laboratories for Art, Craft and Design in Latin America" will be showcased at the Albuquerque Museum with the opening reception celebrated on Saturday, Jan. 9.

According to a report from KRQE, the opening celebration will include an introductory talk by Lowery Stokes Sims, who is the curator of the Museum of Art and Design (MAD) in New York, where the exhibit came from. Those who attend the talk will find out the background of the art pieces on display in the new showcase.

Andrew Connors, Curator of Art at the Albuquerque Museum, explained that "New Territories" highlighted just how similar and "connected" the cultures and aesthetics of New Mexico and the different Latino countries.

"One of the great things about New Mexico is that we are so connected to Latin America," Connors, said. "And yet we also tend to separate ourselves as somehow different from Latin America. An exhibition like this allows us to cross those bridges and understand that designers in Mexico, designers in Chile, designers in El Salvador are creating in the same sort of interesting dynamic way as we are here in the American side of the Southwest."

Visitors will be able to see a wide range of items and mediums in the new Albuquerque exhibit. All of the pieces were reportedly created after the year 2000.

In a post about the book and exhibit at the Ernesto Oroza website, it was explained that "New Territories" was put together to explore "the collaborations between small manufacturing operations and craftspersons, artists, and designers, and demonstrates how the resulting work addresses not only the issues of commodification and production, but also of urbanization, displacement, and sustainability."

Some of the themes that may be picked up from the showcase are the fusion between contemporary and legacy in Latin American art, the utilization of repurposed materials, the combination of digital and traditional mediums, and the "reclamation of public and personal space".

The official website of the Albuquerque Museum revealed that the exhibit will feature over 75 designers, artists, craftspersons and collectives. It's slated to run from Jan. 9 to April 17. Apart from the museum's admission price, there are no additional fees required to see the "New Territories" exhibit.

Other exhibits that are ongoing at the Albuquerque Museum are "The Artistic Odyssey of Higinio V. Gonzales: A Tinsmith and Poet in Territorial New Mexico" until April 4, and "Chasing the Cure to Albuquerque" until May 30.
There is no denying that the world of VR will soon populate the gaming world, and despite its ridiculous price perception, gamers still look forward to the experience. So why do VR have a steep price tag?

Sony explains on BBC that the PlayStation VR, for instance, is currently being handled by at least 200 developers. That alone rings excessive financing on both parties, and with the PlayStation VR currently holding at least 100 titles, there seems to be a challenge on its marketing strategy.

Apparently, whether it is the PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, they all undergo strenuous development and testing that literally rips funds from its financers. That being said, the lost during the developmental period is being handed to its end consumers in order to compensate what was spent during the trial period.

The material, as well as the system and artificial intelligence used in the VR development, have also pried on the funds for such device. Now that you have an idea on why VR gaming costs so much, you may want to know what's already been done for the VR and how far the development of such device has been.

The PlayStation VR, also called the Project Morpheus during its early stage, is a product of Sony. It is the company's entry on the world of VR games. Despite the lack of detailed information about it, the PlayStation VR is said to be compatible with the PlayStation 4 console. Should Sony decide that it shouldn't be as pricey as everyone thinks, critics believe that it will be the same price as the PlayStation 4.

The Oculus Rift, on the other hand, is a product of Facebook and entrepreneur Palmer Luckey. The Oculus Rift doesn't need much introduction as it has already been sold in the market few hours after it was introduced.

Currently available in the U.K., the Oculus Rift has a price tag of 499 with two games in it: EVE Valkyrie and Lucky's Tale.

HTC Vive is a product of Taiwanese phone company HTC and Steam's VALVE. The HTC Vive follows the emergence of the other two giant VR devices and announced their version to arrive this April. The HTC takes pride on its full room experience, where gamers can walk around with their headsets on. HTC has not officially released the Vive's price, but rumors say that it could be the most expensive among the three.
The tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran continues to intensify after the Iranian government announced on Thursday that they are ending all commercial ties with their fellow Middle East nation.

Iran criticized Saudi Arabia for their decision to execute cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who was accused of doing terrorism-related activities. Riyadh insisted that the decision was questionable because Nimr did not wrong aside from criticizing the ruling dynasty in Saudi Arabia.

Iran president Hassan Rouhani called for a cabinet meeting on Thursday, where a bold decision was made. Tehran announced that they will ban all imports from Saudi Arabia, which came after Riyadh also decided to end trade partnership and air traffic with Iran.

Iran Revolutionary Guards Brigadier General Hossein Salami criticized Saudi Arabia's policy, comparing it to the policies of former Iraq president Saddam Hussein.

"The policies of the Saudi regime will have a domino effect and they will be buried under the avalanche they have created," Salami said. "The path the Saudi regime is taking is like the one Saddam took in the 1980s and 90s. He started a war with Iran, executed prominent clerics and top officials, suppressed dissidents and ended up having that miserable fate."

The Iranian government also accused Saudi Arabia of attacking their embassy in Yemen. According to their officials, the attack was launched in a public square near the embassy, while stones and shrapnel were scattered in the area, Reuters reported.

Iran foreign ministry spokesman Jaberi Ansari said that the attack is an act of provocation and also claimed that embassy personnel were hurt during the incident.

"This deliberate and intentional act by the Saudi Arabian government is in violation of all international conventions and legal treaties regarding the protection and impunity of diplomatic compounds under all circumstances," Ansari said via Guardian. "Iran holds the government of Saudi Arabia responsible for this act and wounding of a number of embassy staff and damages made to its building."

However, multiple reports suggested that there were no damages, which created speculation that reports about the embassy attack are inaccurate. One Saudi Arabian defense official also told The Guardian that there were no sign of damage after they ordered investigation of the alleged attack.

"All embassy coordinates in Sana'a have been known to the air force since the start of operations," the official said. "This claim is not true. It is propaganda."

Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia ended their diplomatic ties with Iran after their embassy in Tehran were attacked by angry protesters, and accused the Iranian government of doing nothing to prevent the violent protest.
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Voted as one of the best restaurants in Latin America, Santiago Chile's Borago is not just offering their customers an amazing taste of great food but also an impressive dining experience while sharing a glimpse of Chile's beauty.

Borago located at the heart of Chile in Nueva Costanera, Vitacura, Santiago, is "much more than a restaurant." It is like a book with pages that speaks a lot about Chile's wonderful and colorful culture. Every dish presented by Chef Rodolfo Guzman is the pages that will teach every customer so much about Chile's vision, culture, history and products. The restaurant stands as an example to other businesses by using local produce which the Borago team is cooking and presenting in a special and innovative level.

Guzman's inspiration for Borago came mostly from the natives, how they prepare their food and use products which are gathered only from nature. That is because of his great love and dedication for Chilean culture. He became persistent to use only Chilean ingredients for his restaurant to produce extraordinary flavors to create one memorable dining experience.

Techniques and recipes used in his restaurant are also greatly influenced by Pehuenches, Mapuches and how the locals cook over the years. By using these ideas, he created his dishes into something unique yet experimental and magnificent which can only be found in Borago and nowhere else.

Borago team with Guzman oftentimes makes various trips all throughout Chile to look for the most amazing ingredients freshly available in nature. They travel across the wide diversity from Atacama Desert to Patagonia to explore the lush valleys, Andean Mountain Range and beautiful Pacific coastline. The foraging adventure is where he gets endless motivation of how he will incorporate the beauty of nature and ecosystems to his dishes.

Aside from the food, there is also a touch of Chile's culture in the accents used to beautify the restaurant's ambience too, according to the website, Matching Food and Wine. "A nectar-centred quail's egg, slotted into a dehydrated mushroom nest, balancing gingerly on top of the fine branches of a stripped bonsai, painted a picture of a bird's nest out in the desert. A lemony ice cream and wisps of plant-based cotton candy made up the camanchaca (thick fog) and rica rica (a Chilean bush plant) from the Atacama."

Since it opened to the market in 2006, the restaurant still doesn't have plans to open other branch yet. According to The World's 50 Best, Borago is focused on "Conectaz project, researching and documenting Chile's under-used natural larder."
The Consumer Electronics Show 2016 has been filled with amazing gadgets that boast of sophisticated technological advancements. But there is one unlikely item that was also presented during the show- the First Response's Pregnancy Test Pro Stick.

It is a pregnancy test kit that uses Bluetooth technology to give either positive or negative results to expectant women. This hi-tech invention is now available to help mothers detect pregnancy.

On the Jan. 6 press release posted by the Church & Dwight, Co., Inc., the makers of First Response, the company's vice-president of Stacy Feldman stated: "We are thrilled to be unveiling the next generation of in-home pregnancy testing on a stage like CES, where so many technological advancements have made their debut."

She added, "With Pregnancy PRO, we've leveraged unique consumer insights to develop a product that not only revolutionizes the pregnancy test category, but more importantly, provides women with the information they need during their journey."

The pregnancy test stick is similar to the ordinary test kits. The appearance and size are about the same. The only difference is that, it is digital and the results are read through the smartphone when connected via bluetooth.

To use the device, the user must download the First Response app first. The pregnancy stick is then removed from the foil and drop a small amount of pee on the provided space.

The next step is to activate the Bluetooth and make sure it is connected to the phone. The screen will show the next steps to get the results.

In addition, aside from the test results, users can also choose to use the Pregnancy PRO App's feature where mothers can store important information like when and how many tests were already taken before, PC Mag reported.

Senior vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Life Rick Valencia explained how they came up with the idea of producing the digital pregnancy test: "Consumers today, more than ever, are living a truly connected life. Whether they are tracking personal health information with wearables or apps, managing their chronic disease with connected medical devices, or conducting DIY diagnostics in their home, consumers are beginning to demand digital tools and frictionless experiences when it comes to health care."

And regarding their partnership with Church & Dwight Co. Inc. Valencia said, "We're proud to work with Church & Dwight Co. Inc. to deliver this new evolution of connected pregnancy testing, and to continue the leadership First Response has already demonstrated in the pregnancy test category."

The first Bluetooth pregnancy testing kits are set to be sold from $14.99 to $21.99 apiece. Users can also get access to the test app through authorized retailers of First Response's Pregnancy PRO Digital Pregnancy Test & App.

Watch the video below and learn more about this newest technology for testing pregnancy.
Adding on to the commonwealths financial crisis, Puerto Rico has now been sued for failing to repay creditors.

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced Wall Street insurers have sued the island. News of the lawsuit is not necessarily new, as Garcia Padilla previously expected it due to the lack of a legal framework from the U.S. Congress to help solve its debt crisis.

Who's Suing Puerto Rico?

Bond insurance subsidiaries of Assured Guaranty Ltd. announced it has filed a lawsuit to protect certain income rights and the constitutionality of the commonwealth's "revenue clawback."

"The Commonwealth has not satisfied the preconditions to the clawback and is disregarding the priorities of its own Constitution and the rule of the law," said Assured Guaranty President and Chief Executive Officer Dominic Frederico in a statement released on Thursday. "This confiscation of revenues pledged to bondholders is illegal. We encourage the Commonwealth to instead focus on measures that build market credibility and develop specific fiscal plans to address its critical issues, including revenue collection."

"These actions stand in contrast to the consensual agreement that we and other creditors recently reached with Puerto Rico's electric utility, PREPA. That agreement provides for the reform and efficient recapitalization of PREPA. Assured Guaranty continues to stand ready to work constructively with Puerto Rico in a consensual way, in keeping with our long term support of the island," added s Frederico added.

Puerto Rico Responds

On Friday morning, Garcia Padilla responded to the lawsuit. The governor said the lawsuit will develop all while there is still no legal framework to respond to Assured Guaranty President 's litigation.

"The most dismaying part is that Congress could have easily prevented the coming litigation pandemonium at no cost to the U.S. taxpayers. But, in answering to Wall Street lobbyists, Congress has ignored Puerto Rico's crisis and instead allowed the Island's 3.5 million American citizens and their creditors enter into chaos," said Garcia Padilla.

Garcia Padilla and other officials had hoped Congress would have provided language into the recent omnibus spending bill to give Puerto Rico the tools to handle its debt; this includes the same Chapter 9 bankruptcy rights given to all U.S. states. Although the omnibus bill did include language addressing the island's health crisis, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., has instead referred to relevant House committees to "come up with a responsible solution" for the island's debt during the 2016 first quarter.

Referring to the island's debt crisis as a humanitarian crisis, Garcia Padilla said Congress can still act by enacting the Puerto Rico Emergency Financial Stability Act of 2015 (H.R. 4290), introduced by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and supported by Congressional Hispanic Caucus members Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and New York's Jose Serrano and Nydia Velasquez.

Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wisc., also introduced legislation (H.R. 4199) that would give Puerto Rico the choice on debt restructuring. Both Democratic and Republican bills have been referred to other House committees.

"Swift action from our congressional leaders is necessary and what the people of Puerto Rico deserve," said Garcia Padilla.

As Latin Post reported, Puerto Rico's debt has climbed to over $70 billion.

Must Read: Declining Population, Jobs in Mainland US Linked to Puerto Rico's Troubles

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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 Mexican parents of a 35-year-old orchard worker, who was killed by police in Pasco, Washington in 2014, have filed a federal lawsuit accusing the officers of using excessive force.

As The Associated Press reports, Agapita Montes Rivera and Jesus Zambrano Fernandez filed the lawsuit on Jan. 6 in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington.

The defendants in the suit include Pasco Police Chief Robert Metzger and the three officers who shot at Antonio Zambrano Montes: Officers Adam Wright, Ryan Flanagan and Adrian Alaniz.

Zambrano Montes was shot by police multiple times, after he threw rocks at the authorities at a downtown intersection. Footage of the Feb. 10, 2015 shooting, which was recorded on a cellphone, went viral and led to weeks of protests.

As NBC News, Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Shawn Sant announced that an investigation into the death led to no basis to criminally charge the officers.

"I think if anyone of you had a five-pound rock thrown at you, I think most people would determine that that rock is a deadly weapon in how that was used in that case," Sant said.

The authorities maintained that the rocks being hurled at the officers could have caused severe injuries to them or to others. They first used a Taser on Zambrano Montes, but the device did not deter him. According to an autopsy, Zambrano Montes had amphetamines in his system at the time of his death.

Charles Herrmann, the Seattle-based attorney who filed the federal lawsuit, said the evidence for excessive force in the case was profound.

Its obvious that 17 shots, resulting in 7-8 bullet wounds in a man who was first fleeing and then attempting to surrender, was excessive in the extreme, Herrmann said.

The attorney faulted the city, as well as its police chief, for not training officers to de-escalate conflict when dealing with people who are mentally disturbed.
Latinos lawmakers stood united against the Obama administrations latest deportation raids. As Latin Post reported, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), detained and deported several dozen immigrants who illegally entered the U.S.

In a statement released on Monday, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson confirmed the deportation raids and 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."

Since news of the deportations raids, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) have called on Johnson to halt further ICE campaigns, but Johnson has said it is his discretion to continue additional deportation raids.

A United CHC

"As an immigrant myself, I know that we can't turn our back on those during their greatest time of need," said Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., on Friday morning. "Many of the families coming from Central America are refugees and could qualify for asylum status -- they are fleeing forced gang recruitment, domestic violence, and extortion and fear for their lives."

The CHC members, standing with House Democratic White Steny Hoyer, D-Md., questioned the methods of the ICE raids and whether the immigrants have received their proper due process.

"We have heard of ICE using deception and misinformation to gain access to residences. Immigrants -- documented or not -- have rights," said Rep. Nydia Velasquez, D-N.Y. "And these raids are being conducted in a way that violates those rights. These are some of the most vulnerable members of society -- and we are treating them like criminals."

@RepCardenas: Congress hasn't done it's job on this issue. These people are fleeing for their lives. pic.twitter.com/AfRIxqxBBR  Hispanic Caucus (@HispanicCaucus) January 8, 2016

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@NormaJTorres: Guatemala's president is in prison. It's no surprise that the gangs have taken over in 3 countries. pic.twitter.com/mLj5eccmmb  Hispanic Caucus (@HispanicCaucus) January 8, 2016

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CHC Chairwoman Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., said the U.S. asylum system requires fixing, and the immigrants, referred to as refugees, should receive Temporary Protective Status.

As Hoyer noted in his remarks, many of the immigrant families are fleeing violence in Central America, including El Salvador, which was named the murder capital of the world.

"The Obama Administration must provide a fair hearing to anyone, especially children, who come to this country seeking refuge or asylum," said Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., in a statement. "We should not return or turn away people who fear for their lives and demonstrate that their fear is real. Congress has known for a long time that our immigration system is broken. Ultimately, to end the suffering of our families, Congress must act to fix it and make it work."

White House Protest

Prior to the press conference, fellow CHC member Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., gathered with several immigration rights groups and families impacted from the deportation raids outside the White House.

"We will not stand by and allow this to happen to families who came to the U.S. to escape extreme violence and poverty," said Sulma Arias, spokesperson of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), one of the several organizations that were present outside the White House. "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."

Gutierrez and FIRM gathered with representatives from the National Immigration Law Center, Service Employees International Union, United We Dream and the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

Despite the calls and protest, Johnson appears to support future raids. On Monday's confirmation statement, he also said, "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. 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.
Chaos erupted at a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Vermont on Thursday, as protesters repeatedly interrupted the GOP front-runner and clashed with his supporters both inside and outside of the event.

Trump was welcomed by a swarm of supporters and protesters at the rally, which was held in the historically left-leaning state of Vermont, just blocks away from Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' headquarters.

Thousands lined up to attend the event, after the Trump campaign distributed 20,000 free tickets, despite the fact that the auditorium contained only 1,400 seats, reports NBC News.

Before the event began, Sanders' supporters and anti-Trump protesters both made their presence known with their signs and chants. Some protesters even managed to make it inside of the event, in spite of efforts by Trump's campaign staff to screen attendees who did not pledge their support.

At one point, a group of demonstrators moved toward the stage with a "dump Trump" sign before being escorted out. At another point, those backing the billionaire businessman tried to drown out protesters by booing and chanting "Trump."

In the beginning, Trump seemed to embrace the disruptions, asking the crowd, "Isn't this more exciting?" reports The Associated Press.

However, he later appeared to become frustrated by the disruptions and urged security to move faster to remove hecklers.

"We've got to get the security moving a little bit faster here," he said.

"This is why we're losing control of our country. This is why. We lose control of our country 'cause everybody's afraid to do anything," he added. "They're afraid to lose their jobs."

He also suggested that his security staffers confiscate protesters' coats as they continued to interrupt him throughout his remarks.

"Keep his coat! Confiscate his coat! You know it's about 10 degrees below zero outside," he called from the stage. "You can keep his coat. Tell him we'll send it to him in a couple of weeks."

During the rally, Trump spoke about his plans to protect the Second Amendment and vowed to ban gun-free zones on military bases and schools on his first day in office in the White House.

"I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools and - you have to - and on military bases, my first day, it gets signed, OK? My first day," he said. "We need our guns."
Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz on Jan. 7 dismissed front-runner Donald Trump's suggestion that the Texan's Canadian birth could affect his constitutional eligibility to serve as president of the United States.

The senator insisted that there was no legal uncertainty about the definition of a "natural-born citizen," one of the requirements Article II of the U.S. Constitution spells out to hold the nation's highest office, CBS News noted.

"This issue is a non-issue," Cruz told the network. "The law is quite clear. The child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen."

Trump had suggested that if Cruz were elected to succeed President Barack Obama, he could be "tied up in court for two years" because he was born outside the United States and that such a delay would be a "big problem," according to The Washington Post.

The real estate tycoon also seemed to believe that Cruz -- who was born in Calgary, Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father -- continued to hold a Canadian passport, even though the senator already renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2013, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation noted.

On Jan. 6 the GOP front-runner doubled down on his remarks, recommending that Cruz seek a declaratory judgment from a federal court to ensure that he is eligible to run for president.

"You go in seeking the decision of the court without a court case," Trump said on CNN. "You go right in. You go before a judge, you do it quickly. Declaratory judgment. It's very good. So when there's a doubt -- because there's a doubt -- you want the court to rule."

Trump has insisted that he is stirring the debate about Cruz's birth out of concern for the senator, insisting that a court should look into the issue "for the good of Ted." But Cruz himself did not seem to buy that argument.

"The funny thing about politics, it's fairly unusual for your opponents who are running for the same position to be actually trying to help you," the senator said.
A federal judge in San Francisco dismissed a lawsuit filed by PETA on behalf of an Indonesian macaque monkey against a wildlife photographer who used the monkey's selfie picture for profit.

In the suit, PETA argued that a rare crested macaque was the legal copyright owner of a selfie that it took using British photographer David Slater's unattended camera in 2011. PETA also claimed that the monkey was entitled to receive damages for copyright infringement, since Slater used the picture of the macaque, identified as "Naruto," in a wildlife book.

The famous monkey selfie has since been widely distributed by outlets like Wikipedia, which argues that no one owns the copyright to the image because it was not taken by a human being.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William Orrick ruled that the Copyright Act did not protect the endangered monkey in this case.

"While Congress and the president can extend the protection of law to animals as well as humans, there is no indication that they did so in the Copyright Act," Orrick stated in a tentative opinion, according to The Guardian. The judge is expected to issue a written order of dismissal at a later time.

Following the ruling, PETA issued a statement calling the decision "disappointing." PETA lawyers also promised to file an amended complaint, reports CBS News.

"We will continue to fight for Naruto and his fellow macaques, who are in grave danger of being killed for bush meat or for foraging for food in a nearby village while their habitat disappears because of human encroachment," general counsel to PETA Jeff Kerr said. "This case is a vital step toward fundamental rights for nonhuman animals for their own sake, not in relation to how they can be exploited by humans."
A chauffeur who served Sweden's ambassador to the United Nations has filed a lawsuit against the Swedish Mission for alleged ill treatment against him.

Carlos Figueroa, a 52-year old Bronx native, filed a $1.7 million lawsuit against the mission in the Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday, saying he was hurt on the job and was also discriminated by his superiors, according to a report on the New York Post.

Figueroa, who first worked as a driver and clerk for the Swedish Mission in 2006, said that his Puerto Rican heritage made him a subject of discrimination as he was being repeatedly accused of stealing. As per the court documents, he was also told that Spanish people are "loud" and "smoke pot".

But the incident that eventually triggered the lawsuit was one that happened in May 2012. The New York Daily News recounted that Figueroa was assigned to go to an IKEA store in Elizabeth, N.J., to pick out a wardrobe cabinet that would be set up in the residence of the Swedish Ambassador to the UN.

After the item was delivered, which was not fully assembled yet, Figueroa was ordered to build it himself, even though the instructions said it requires two people. He requested for help but was denied since he was reportedly told that it was cheaper to just have him do it.

After 3 days of trying to assemble the cabinet, he fell from a 5-foot ladder trying to hang the wardrobe's sliding doors, severely injuring his back and legs. He claimed he had to have back surgery and take lengthy medical leaves as a result but the Swedish mission did not offer any assistance.

The Daily Mail reported that the mission reportedly tried to get Figueroa to lie about the nature of the injury so as to avoid an uninsured Workers Compensation claim.

So far, the Swedish Mission has not made any comment in response to the lawsuit as it was closed during the holidays.
Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet has been confirmed bound for the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update this quarter. The most sought-after update in Android history is expected to come to the tablet as soon as January.

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet is confirmed to receive the Android 6.0 Marshmallow software, as the Japanese tech giant revealed on October 6, 2015 a list of lucky devices to get the update through a post on its official blog site. Sony Mobile posted its roadmap for Marshmallow following a series of revelations from a mobile carrier and phone manufacturers like Samsung, Google, Motorola, LG and HTC.

Sony fans can be rest assured that their phones will be getting the update very soon. The tech firm, however, has not released the exact date of roll out and that is what fans should be looking after. In fact, Sony Mobile stated that that the company is working hard to take along the major Android software update to as many of its devices as possible and as quickly as it can.

Meanwhile, some unfortunate Xperia devices are doomed to Android update's end including Xperia Z1, Xperia Z1 Compact and Xperia Z Ultra.

Android 6.0 Marshmallow brings in key features, allowing users to work out greater control over app permissions; purchase easily and securely with fingerprint sensor and Android Pay; experience extended battery life with Doze; and a redesigned App Drawer.

Google Now becomes smarter. It recognizes diverse contexts, offers answers and aids users take action.

Apps Permissions provides users better control of the permissions of downloaded apps. Users are given the choice to assent to or reject permissions entirely. It is important to take note that Permissions are required the first time users try to use a feature, not at the point of installation.

Mobile payments like American Express, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover are now supported. The update also brings Google Pay.
Conservative. Idaho. Software engineer. Historian. Trying to prevent Idiocracy from becoming a documentary. Email complaints/requests about copyright infringement to clayton @ claytoncramer.com. Reminder: the last copyright troll that bothered me went bankrupt. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." -- Rom. 8:28
When we see records being broken and unprecedented events such as this, the onus is on those who deny any connection to climate change to prove their case. Global warming has fundamentally altered the background conditions that give rise to all weather. In the strictest sense, all weather is now connected to climate change. Kevin Trenberth HIT THE PAGE DOWN KEY TO SEE THE POSTS Now at 8,800+ articles. HIT THE PAGE DOWN KEY TO SEE THE POSTS
For Jayliel Vega Batista's father, his most poignant memories are of the two of them laughing as they watched cartoons.

Jayliel Vega Batista. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Before the autistic 5-year-old walked away from a family New Year's Eve party in Allentown.

Before search teams and the community scoured the city's east side for any signs of the boy who left without shoes, socks or a jacket.

Before Jayliel's tablet was found in the Lehigh Canal, and his body discovered soon after.

"My family is so grateful," Gilberto Vega said Friday afternoon outside Calvary Temple in South Whitehall Township.

The public viewing started at 2 p.m. Friday and a service is scheduled for 5 p.m. The burial is scheduled for Saturday.

The family had a private ceremony on Thursday, where they mourned together.

"I knew it would be hard for me and my wife," Vega said.

Vega spoke about watching "Peppa Pig" with his son during those now-precious hours on New Year's Eve. The father talked about laughing with his little boy, who kept asking for episode after episode.

As Vega spoke, a little boy walked up to the church with his family, carrying balloons and "Peppa Pig" toys.

Gilberto Vega, father to Jayliel Vega Batista, thanked the community for its response to his disappearance and death. The five-year-old Allentown boy died after walking away from a family New Year's Eve party in Allentown. (Sarah Cassi | Lehighvalleylive.com)

Mourners wore white, many with T-shirts and sweatshirts with Jayliel's picture on them. Vega's shirt had a family portrait on the front, and a picture of Jayliel and his candle memorial on the back beside the Autism Awareness ribbon.

Vega said he and his family have so much appreciation for everyone who searched for the little boy, and spoke about the police officers, search teams, neighbors and officials who supported them.

All of those people only knew of Jayliel after he was gone, and Vega said the public memorial service is in part "to make sure people know Jayliel" as he was.

While the crowd of people included family members from Puerto Rico, Florida and Georgia, it also included strangers.

Justin Nieves helped search for Jayliel in the hours after his disappearance.

Nieves said his niece passed away in 2014, and he can empathize with what Jayliel's family is going through. Nieves came to the service to pay his respects.

"It's only what's right," he said.

While Jayliel's death is still under investigation, and a cause and manner of death have not been determined yet, authorities have called the child's death "a tragic accident."

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A Northampton County man is accused of raping a girl and sexually assaulting two others from 2008 until last year.

Allentown police say a Northampton County man repeatedly sexually abused two girls and raped a third over seven years. (Sarah Cassi | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Antonio Rosario, 20, of the first block of Oakwood Court in Bath, is charged with two counts of rape of a child, three counts of statutory sexual assault, and a single count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

Rosario was arrested on Dec. 31 and initially freed on $100,000 unsecured bail.

Prosecutors filed a motion to change Rosario's bail and, as of Friday, he was being held in Lehigh County Jail.

Rosario's attorney, Joseph Lento, declined to comment on the case.

Allentown police said detectives began investigating the case in December. The victims -- now ages 11, 13 and 15 -- reported Rosario sexually assaulted them on a regular basis from 2008 to 2015, police said.

On Dec. 11, police interviewed Rosario, who admitted to sexually assaulting the two younger girls, and raping the older girl, police said.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Northampton County Prison

Bars on the window near the entrance of Northampton County Prison.

(Rudy Miller)

An Allentown karate teacher was sentenced Friday to 18 months to four years in prison for having sex with a 15-year-old student.

Christopher Calcagni, 52, was teaching her karate at her home in Bethlehem when he had sex with her multiple times over a two-month period in 2012.

He told the girl he would kill himself if she broke off their affair or told anyone about it, according to psychologist Veronique Valliere.

Calcagni pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors.

He pleaded guilty to the same two crimes in April 2015 but withdrew the plea in October 2015.

Defense attorney Phil Lauer said the case had languished due to an investigation into Calcagni's previous conviction in 1988. He was accused of molesting four girls at the Children's Home of Easton in Wilson Borough.

Neither Lauer nor the district attorney's office could find documentation about the case. Calcagni said he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and served three years of probation.

Valliere used the conviction as part of the basis for her recommendation that Calcagni be determined a sexually violent predator, which would require him to register his address with state police for the rest of his life.

"We had some disagreements over the accuracy over what she was reporting," Lauer said. He said the girls all said Calcagni has a mark on his private area when in fact he has no such mark.

Northampton County Judge Stephen Baratta said Calcagni admits to some wrongdoing, otherwise he wouldn't have pleaded guilty. It's unclear whether prosecutors offered the plea deal as part of a compromise or because they feared there wasn't enough evidence to convict Calcagni of the more serious charges.

The judge agreed to wait until March to decide whether Calcagni is a sexually violent predator. By sentencing him now, Calcagni can go to state prison and start a one-year sex offender therapy program.

Lauer said a psychologist will evaluate Calcagni and may offer testimony to rebut Valliere's conclusion. Valliere is a member of the Pennsylvania sexual offenders assessment board.

Baratta gave Calcagni credit for time he's served in prison but no credit for the more than 10 months he spent on house arrest awaiting a conclusion to the case.

Two years of county probation will follow Calcagni's parole time as per Baratta's sentence.

Calcagni told the judge the four girls in 1988 conspired against him. He said he was coerced into pleading guilty because he was promised a sentence of probation.

He said his mother told him, "Take that deal. It's the deal of the century."

As for the 2012 crimes, Calcagni said, "I made a mistake. I'm sorry," but added he was "1,000 percent innocent" of the 1988 allegations despite his guilty plea.

"Everyone told me to take the plea," he told the judge. "I had to let you know. I had to let the public know."

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
Easton police were looking for two men who committed a robbery Friday morning on the city's South Side.

(lehighvalleylive.com file photo)

Police said it happened about 10:45 a.m. in the 100 block of West Grant Street.

The bandits forced their way into a residence, robbed a 36-year-old woman then fled east on West Grant Street with an undisclosed amount of cash, according to police.

The men wore gloves and facemasks and were dressed all in black with long sleeves, police said. Both men were black, slender and about 5-feet, 8 inches tall, police said.

Police are asking that anyone with information contact Easton police detectives at 610-250-6656 or the department's anonymous tipline at 610-250-6635.

Jim Deegan may be reached at jdeegan@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @jim_deegan. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook.
UPDATE: Hundreds in Easton honor airman killed in Afghanistan

A memorial service began Friday morning in Easton for a U.S. serviceman who died last month in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan.

Mourners arrived at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church at South Third and Ferry streets.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Peter W. Taub, 30, was among six troops who died in a suicide bombing Dec. 21 near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

Taub's wife, Christina (Paar) Taub, is an Easton Area High School graduate whose family belongs to the Easton church.

A viewing was scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday, with the funeral service beginning at 11 a.m.

A portion of Ferry Street was closed for the memorial service.

Peter Taub, a graduate of Cheltenham High School in suburban Philadelphia, was the father of a 3-year-old daughter, Penelope. The Taubs are expecting a second child in the spring, according to Peter's obituary.

Taub had been based at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.

An effort to raise money for the family on gofundme.com had raised nearly $50,000 by Friday morning.

Sue Beyer may be reached at sbeyer@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sbeyer_photo. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook.
Leominster.TV highlights: October 17-23, 2022

What's on Channels 8/9/99 on Comcast (32/33/34 on Verizon) this week.
Welcome to our weekly roundup of what the Scottish Liberal Democrats, led by Willie Rennie, have been getting up to. This week, our MSPs have had a lot to say about flooding, policing, A & E waiting times Thatcherite testing, housing and fostering. Oh, and Alex Cole-Hamilton and Edinburgh West are back, bigger than ever.

The week started with Willie Rennies Bright, green, liberal vision:

I will set out why four key liberal values should be at the heart of the next parliamentary session. They are that every individual should be free to achieve their potential, that we should stand with the weak against the strong, that power is safer when it is shared and that we are trustees of the world and must pass on a sustainable legacy.

Flooding: when will the SNP Government help?

Alison McInnes criticised the Scottish governments lack of response to the flooding in the North East:

Towns, villages and even Aberdeen have been cut off from one another and from the wider country. Many roads are impassable, trains are not running, schools are closed and power is out. After the Scottish Governments resilience meeting last night, the deputy first minister said the committee was monitoring the situation very closely. But people here do not need ministers who are glued to their seats. The councils have been coping as well as they can with some of the worst flooding this area has ever seen but its been more than a week since it struck communities in Marr. With the Met Office now issuing warnings for cold temperatures  and snow boots are already needed on the ground  emergency resources are needed urgently. The deputy first minister telling us additional funding will be made available to Aberdeenshire Council is welcome in the longer term. But this is an ever-changing emergency situation that requires urgent attention right now and people here are wondering when the Scottish Government is going to sit up and take notice.

National testing will increase teacher stress

Liberal Democrats oppose the SNP Governments plans to reintroduce national testing in schools and to publish league tables. Education Spokesperson Liam McArthur was a bit perplexed by a Government announcement of plans to reduce the stress on teachers.

Scottish teachers are being stretched to the limit. Not only are they having to get to grips with new qualifications introduced by the Scottish Government, but they are also coping with increased class sizes and face the prospect of deep cuts to council education budgets. Although Im pleased this group will examine issues surrounding teacher stress and workload following the introduction of the new National Qualifications, this is at odds with the First Ministers determination to reintroduce national standardised testing. Rolling back the years with this return to a Thatcherite policy will only increase workload for teachers as well as stress levels for teachers and pupils alike.

Liam also highlighted parents scepticism about the testing plans:

Parents are quite right to say that a test score alone does not capture the strengths and achievements of pupils who do not test well. While assessment by teachers is a valuable tool, this is already carried out in our schools. A national standardised test will not close Scotlands growing attainment gap and help pupils fulfil their potential.

Parents want to see a government that is focused on how to improve learning and allowing teachers to teach. Unfortunately, once again, this government appears to believe that Ministers know best

More help needed for alcohol addiction

Health spokesperson Jim Hume said that while it was all very well to issue guidelines for alcohol consumption, the Government needed to provide more treatment for alcohol related diseases:

Alcoholism and binge drinking are still huge issues in Scotland and these updated guidelines are certainly a step in the right direction when it comes to tackling the drink problem in this country. These guidelines must be supported by readily-available treatments, education and awareness-raising of the health risks of drinking too much alcohol. The Scottish Government must look at whether the schemes already in place are helping reduce binge drinking and alcoholism that can lead to these kind of horrific diseases.

Political squabbling will not help people find homes

This week, Labour have come out with a plan to help people buy their own home. The SNP slated them for it, but they havent exactly delivered on their social housebuilding pledge. Jim Hume said:

On the one hand we have a Labour, with a proposal that we dont really know how they would pay for, and on the other an SNP government who will not admit that they have broken their promise to build 30,000 homes for social rent. Their squabbling and point-scoring will not help a single family find a home. Of course we all want to see more affordable homes available but unless we also see action to increase homes for social rent, people on low incomes who are unlikely to be able to get a mortgage are left stranded.

More foster parents needed

The Fostering Network produced a report which said that 800 more foster families were needed in Scotland. Liam McArthur said:

Over 5,500 children are living with foster families in Scotland each day, children who deserve the best start in life but who havent always had that chance. Foster families dont simply provide shelter for these children, they provide much needed stability, and a loving and caring environment for them to grow up in. Children in care each have their own individual personalities and backgrounds and as more and more foster families come forward, children are more likely to settle with someone best suited to support them. Being a foster carer is a rewarding opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of young people in Scotland and I encourage anyone thinking of becoming one to contact their local fostering service.

McInnes calls for enquiry into undercover policing

Alison McInnes called for an enquiry into the use of undercover policing in Scotland. The SNP Government opposes this.

The allegations that have been made against the officers in question are serious and the revelations have resulted in serious emotional trauma for those who feel duped by them. The police-public interaction in these circumstances has shocked us all, it is the kind of behaviour that transgresses professional and moral boundaries and flies in the face of common decency. It is in fact the kind of behaviour that threatens the very legitimacy of policing. The Scottish Government has said it is supportive of widening the Pitchford enquiry to include activities in Scotland, but does not believe that there should be a separate Scottish inquiry. Citizens are entitled to expect the highest standards of policing and rightly expect that there should be clear justification and authorisation of any clandestine policing. Equally those officers engaged in undercover policing should be carefully regulated and trained and regularly assessed. Can we guarantee that has always been in place in Scotland? Is it in place now? We dont know, and that is why an open and unflinching examination of the extent of undercover policing past and present and its governance and oversight here in Scotland is necessary  to learn lessons and establish clear terms of engagement.

A & E Departments struggling

Figures this week showed that A & E Departments were still struggling to see people within 4 hours despite fewer patients attending. Jim Hume said:

A&E departments are struggling to keep their heads above water  in November they had the lowest attendance since February last year and yet performance got worse. It was the second month in a row that the A&E target was missed and over the last two years the target has only been met three times. If the number of people attending emergency departments drops, people reasonably expect to see that drop mirrored in the number of patients suffering lengthy waiting times. But there have been significant increases in those having to wait over eight and over 12 hours, particularly in NHS Lothian. The Health Secretary has called on health boards to build on improvements but hard working NHS staff need more than lectures from the SNP.

McInnes requests meeting with mew Chief Constable

Nobody has been better in this Parliament at highlighting the problems with Police Scotland and in getting the SNP to back down on putting armed police on routine duties and excessive use of stop and search.

Alison McInnes has requested a meeting with Scotlands new chief constable to discuss how he plans to resolve the remaining issues which undermine public confidence in the Police.

On his very first day the new Chief Constable will be well aware of the extremely serious issues facing Police Scotland, which he must tackle head-on immediately. Call centres are being pushed beyond what is safe, morale is at rock bottom, black holes are appearing in finances, the list goes on. He will be inundated with these challenges and the force looks to him for leadership and guidance at what could be one of the darkest hours for policing in Scotland. I have sought an early meeting with him to discuss how he plans to ensure officers and staff get the support they need to do their jobs well and enjoy them but the SPA and Scottish Government must also ensure they provide the resources required. The publics faith in Police Scotland must be restored and steps taken right away to get the force back on track.

Scottish Fiscal Commission should produce its own forecasts

Willie Rennie suggested that the new Fiscal Commission should produce its own forecasts, not scrutinise those by ministers.
Following Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday and the on air resignation of Shadow Foreign Minister Stephen Doughty, renewed accusations are doing the rounds claiming BBC bias. One of the most shared blogs Ive seen regarding this accusation uses a now deleted post by Andrew Alexander to illustrate how the Daily Politics was not reporting news, its making it. But this is once again people misunderstanding, and showing contempt for, the role political journalism has in a healthy democracy.

The role of political journalism has been developing and changing for years and its only a recent development that we have constant access and cover of government and parliament. What has never changed however is the political establishments contempt for the medias access to their business and the reporting of it. As Nick Robinson described his role back in 2012:

This may sound as if, for me, political journalism is about catching out, tripping up or embarrassing a politician. It is not. It is, however, about exposing publicly what many know to exist privately: tension between colleagues, policy contradictions or a failure to have thought through a policy clearly. The job I did then and to a large extent still do now, is to identify these problems and seek to bring them to light.

This insight to what he does in his work as a political journalist is the best summary Ive ever seen or could offer. Not least due to its relevance in this situation, as we all know the Labour Party is carrying out a war against itself right now; when was the last time three shadow ministers all resigned in one day?

It was also not too long ago all political coverage happened across only three, maybe four, TV channels and was only covered on the news. Nowadays there is a torrent of political coverage and each outlet has to compete for the public attention, forcing them to do what they can to get the scoop. The blog above illustrates that this is exactly what they did. The lines singled out by the author are either taken out of context or simply illustrate three political journalists doing their job and doing it well.

Our politicians and those who follow them could all do worse than to learn from Justin Trudeau. Shortly before becoming Prime Minister of Canada and at the height of campaigning a journalist was in the middle of a question the activists behind him objected to but without a moments hesitation Trudeau turned around and told them We respect journalists in this country, they ask tough questions theyre supposed to.

Political journalists have a very important role in a democracy. They are there to expose the issues within governments and parliament that the public simply cannot find out for themselves. Only by doing the work they do can we realistically expect to have the knowledge and information we need to make educated and informed decisions about how we vote. We need them to probe the internal disputes, the half-baked policies and the inherent contradictions and hypocrisies that come with a healthy representative democracy.

* Jonathan Waddell is a History and Economics student at the University of Aberdeen and President of the Aberdeen University Liberal Democrats.
Apr 29, 2021, 9 PM

Four decades of circus poster art are displayed on a souvenir sheet from Monaco. The sheet of four stamps was issued Jan. 5 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo.

The Netherlands issued a pane of 10 stamps showing The Haywain by Hieronymus Bosch. The labels explain the scene that is depicted on each stamp.

One stamp in Romanias Love Art! The Brukenthal National Museum set reproduces Still Life With Fruits and Parrot by the Flemish baroque painter Jan Fyt. The stamp is shown here on a maximum card from Romanias philatelic bureau, Romfilatelia.

By Denise McCarty

Three postal administrations began the new year by issuing stamps related to art.

Romania pictures Flemish paintings, the Netherlands shows a work by Hieronymus Bosch, and Monaco features examples of circus poster art.

Romania

On Jan. 6, Romania issued four stamps in a set called Love Art! The Brukenthal National Museum.

Located in Sibiu, this museum was opened to the public in 1817 in Brukenthal Palace. In addition to art galleries, the complex includes museums of history, natural history, pharmacy and hunting.

The museum is named after Baron Samuel von Brukenthal (1721-1803), who collected paintings and other works of art. He had Brukenthal Palace built while he was serving as governor of the principality of Transylvania between 1777 and 1787.

The four stamps reproduce Flemish paintings from the museums European Art Gallery: St. Jerome in Scriptorium by Marinus Claeszoon van Reymerswaele, 4.70 lei; Ceres, Bacchus and Venus by Abraham Janssens van Nuyssen, 5 lei; Lion in Front of the Cave by Roelant Savery, 7.60 lei; and Still Life With Fruits and Parrot by Jan Fyt, 9.10 lei.

Mihai Vamasescu designed the stamps. They were printed in sheets of 20 and in panes of five stamps and label. Romfilatelia also offered first-day covers and maximum cards. The cards feature the same paintings as shown on the stamps.

The Netherlands

A pane of 10 se-tenant (side-by-side) stamps issued Jan. 5 by the Netherlands reproduces the central panel of The Haywain, a triptych painted by Hieronymus Bosch shortly before his death in 1516.

The painting, which belongs to the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, was loaned to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for its Uncovering Everyday Life: From Bosch to Bruegel exhibition, held from Oct. 10, 2015, to Jan. 24, 2016.

In a press release announcing the exhibition, the museum described the painting:   a procession of people walks behind a haywain, a metaphor for materialism, straight into hell. In the foreground we can see medieval scenes with drunken monks, teeth-pullers, merry musicians and fortune-telling gypsies. A pair of lovers sits atop the haywain, an angel and a demon on either side: existing and new traditions come together.

The Haywain is one of the first paintings in art history to depict everyday scenes. Painters in subsequent generations made these scenes the main subjects of their paintings. In his work Jheronimus Bosch showed worlds his contemporaries had not thought possible. His characteristic panels and triptychs, full of illusions and hallucinations, extraordinary monsters and nightmares, present an unequalled picture of the major subjects of the time  temptation, sin and accountability.

The painting will become part of another exhibition, Jheronimus Bosch: Visions of Genius, to be hosted by the Noordbrabats Museum Feb. 13 to May 8.

Both the exhibition and the pane of 10 stamps mark the 500th anniversary of Boschs death.

As an aid in interpreting the painting, the Netherlands PostNL included brief explanations about the 10 scenes shown on the stamps on labels that surround them.

Cartor printed the stamp pane by offset in a quantity of 180,000 panes.

Monaco

A souvenir sheet from Monaco displays the art of the circus poster.

The sheet was issued Jan. 5 to commemorate the 40th International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo, held Jan. 14-24.

Established by Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1974, the festival has grown to become one of the worlds largest and most prestigious.

For the first edition of the festival, Monaco issued a set of seven stamps Nov. 12, 1974, showing human and animal circus performers (Scott 920-926).

Starting in 1975, Monaco pictured circus posters on stamps commemorating the international festival (Scott 999).

The four stamps in the new souvenir sheet depict the posters advertising the 10th, 20th, 30th and 40th festivals, designed by Alain Andre, Ramel and Studio Bazzoli. The first two stamps are denominated 0.80, and the other two are 1 stamps.

The 10th anniversary poster depicts an elephant.

Clowns are featured on the 20th anniversary and 30th anniversary posters, both of which have been shown on previous stamps.

The 20th anniversary poster appeared on a 2.40-franc stamp issued in 1996 (Scott 1987), and the 30th anniversary poster on a stamp issued in 2005 (Scott 2402).

The poster for the 40th anniversary shows a theater curtain with images of Prince Rainier and a clown at the top and lions at the bottom.

Monacos Office des Timbres reports that Princess Stephanie, who organizes and presides over the festival, requested that the souvenir sheet be issued.

Also issued on Jan. 5 was an 0.80 commemorative featuring the circus poster created by Elena Zaika for the fifth New Generation Circus Festival. This circus competition for young artists will take place Jan. 30-31.
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When it comes to a townships authority to place restrictions on the development of wind turbines, at least three townships are standing their ground against the Butler County Board of Supervisors official request.

Its not a simple situation.

In October, after six townships passed regulations limiting wind turbine development, the County Board sent a letter to notify all of the countys 17 townships that the new regulations exceeded the townships authority. The letter from County Attorney Julie Reiter said the townships had passed zoning-like regulations and that he regulations led to confusion to other entities that might be affected.

The letter asked six townships - Franklin, Savannah, Linwood, Skull Creek, Oak Creek and Richardson  to void the regulations that were overwhelmingly approved in September. The regulations were proposed as safety rules, proponents said. The first banned high voltage power lines under township roads. The second placed setback limits of 1,640 feet from wind turbines to the nearest township road and non-participating property. The second set of rules also placed lower overnight noise limits, as determined by a study, on the turbines.

Lincoln attorney Greg Barton, representing Linwood, Oak Creek and Richardson townships, sent a letter in response to Reiters. Asked about the letter, Barton said he preferred not to litigate cases in the press, but he explained that the townships were not overstepping their authority.

He said the County Boards letter also asked the townships to do something very difficult to dooverturn policy that was put forward and approved by township electors.

In townships, board members handle the business of keeping records and paying bills, but when it comes to policy, it is up to the individual electors to initiate policies and to approve or disapprove them by a majority vote. Further complicating matters is that the township policy questions are only raised for a vote once during the year, at the fall annual meeting.

It was adopted at the township respective annual meetings, Barton said in a phone interview. My view is the (township) board cant just invalidate that which the townships electors adopted. If it could be done, it would have to be somebody putting on that next township (annual meeting) agenda.

In addition to pointing out the complications of voiding the regulations, Bartons letter argued that the regulations limiting electric lines placed under roads were not the equivalent of zoning a zoning regulation.

Going further on that theme, Barton noted that the townships passed safety regulations and were not trying to classify property located within a township as residential, commercial, industrial or agricultural. He cited the 2012 Butler County Dairy vs Butler County case, in which a judge rejected a challenge to Read Townships regulations of underground manure pipelines.

No one at the County level got excited when Summit and Read (townships) enacted the three regulations in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and the Summit and Read Regulations are structurally comparable to the three 2015 Regulations, Barton wrote.

Barton wrote that he still hadnt received an explanation for what the countys end game was for the request to void the township policies.

The boards of Linwood, Oak Creek and Richardson townships must respectfully decline the Countys request that they take some undefined action to void the three 2015 Regulations, Barton concluded in his letter.

The response of the townships to the county helped to clarify the situation for some township residents.

Indeed, when the County Board put out its October letter asking the townships to void the regulations, there was some confusion, said John Stanner, a member of the Bohemian Alps Wind Watchers, a group of concerned citizens that helped to draw up the regulations.

He said some township residents thought the County Board had the authority to effectively overturn the regulations. The Wind Watchers reassured the residents that that was not the case, Stanner said.

Even though the County Board and the townships are at odds on the policy, there doesnt appear to be any pressing need to settle the matter.

On Monday, Reiter said that there was nothing such as a court case which would force the issue. The county, she said, is not taking any further actions.

Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources is looking to build complex of up to 112 wind turbines across northern and eastern Butler County and western Saunders County. Last year the company had acquired easements on more than a dozen properties.

Aside from NextEra, the regulations in Franklin Township also could affect Bluestem Energy, based in Omaha. The company proposes to build two turbines east of David City. Bluestem is developing the project under allowances made by the Nebraska Public Power District for a percentage of electricity to come from alternative or green sources.
Great Company event Sunday

PHOTO

STROMSBURG -- All area women are invited to Great Company of Women at 4 p.m. Sunday at Living Word Church Int'l., 120 East 3rd St.

Peggy Dunston of Bellevue will be the guest speaker. Dunston is the director of benefits for Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society, in Omaha, and serves her local church in the areas of womens ministry, prayer ministry, Christian education and small group facilitator. She has also traveled to Kenya, Africa as part of a mission team. Dunston will also be sharing at the 10 a.m. Sunday service.

Those attending are asked to bring a friend for the afternoon. For more information, call Mary Ulffers at 402-366-4000.

CDA meeting set Monday

COLUMBUS -- Court Little Flower #988 of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at the Knights of Columbus Hall.

The speaker will be Karen VanDyke, with the topic of "Educate Uganda." Dessert and meeting will follow.

There will also be a baby shower for Birthright.

GriefShare group to meet weekly

COLUMBUS -- GriefShare, a weekly support group for those grieving the death of a loved one, will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday evenings beginning Thursday at First United Methodist Church, 2710 14th St.

This support group will provide an environment of understanding and helpful information that will guide those attending through this difficult time. Sessions will run through March 31.

For more information, call 402-564-8463.

Pancake feed at Peace Lutheran

COLUMBUS - Peace Lutheran Church, 2720 28th St., will host a pancake feed from 4:30-7 p.m. Jan. 15.

Cost is $6 for adults, $3 for kids 6-11 years, and free for children 5 and under.

This event is sponsored by the Peace Lutheran Laymans League, and proceeds will support Lutheran Hour Ministries. Supplemental funds will be applied for through Thriven Financial for Lutherans.

Women's retreat at St. Benedict

SCHUYLER -- Toolbox for Interiority is a retreat for women at St. Benedict Center from 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22- 3:30 p.m. Jan. 24.

This retreat will help participants learn the fine art of listening and responding deeply to Gods call in their lives. Teresa Monaghen, AO, Father Thomas Leitner, OSB, and a team of consecrated and lay women will present various aspects of discernment, share life stories, and give a chance for personal input and reflection.

The schedule will include silence, Mass, confession, fellowship, brief conferences and spiritual direction with retreat directors.

For more information, call 402-352-8819 or visit www.StBenedictCenter.com.

Mens retreat slated Jan. 31

SCHUYLER -- Listen! Be Attentive, is a retreat for men from 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29- 3:30 p.m. Jan. 31 at St. Benedict Center.

This retreat offers many useful tools for attentiveness, explained and practiced during the weekend. Brother Damian Cayetano, OSB, Teresa Monaghen, AO, Father Thomas Leitner, OSB, and a team of consecrated life members will present various aspects of discernment, share life stories and give a chance for personal input and reflection.

The schedule will include silence, Mass, confession, fellowship, brief conferences and spiritual direction with retreat directors.

For more information, call 402-352-8819 or visit www.StBenedictCenter.com.

Belfast preacher gains acquittal

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP)  An Irish preacher who was charged with hate speech against Muslims has been acquitted after a judge ruled that his sermon had not been sufficiently offensive.

Scores of Christian supporters cheered Tuesday's judgment at Belfast Magistrates Court as Pastor James McConnell walked free. McConnell faced a charge of spreading grossly offensive messages after his church put his May 2014 sermon denouncing Muslims online.

Outside, the 78-year-old McConnell said he hadn't intended to offend Muslims when describing their faith as satanic and many Muslims as terrorists. He said: "I wouldn't hurt a hair on their head."

District Judge Liam McNally said courts must be "careful not to criminalize speech which, however contemptible, is no more than offensive. It is not the task of criminal law to censor offensive utterances."

College plans to fire professor

CHICAGO (AP)  Officials of a suburban Chicago Christian college have begun efforts to fire a political science professor who was placed on leave after saying Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

A statement on Wheaton College's website Tuesday said Provost Stanton Jones has initiated a termination-for-cause proceeding regarding Larycia Hawkins.

The action follows efforts by college officials and Hawkins to work out their differences. The private evangelical school says those efforts have reached an impasse.

The college has said it placed Hawkins on leave last month because of statements she made on social media about similarities between Islam and Christianity. Hawkins also donned a headscarf to demonstration solidarity with Muslims.

A spokeswoman for Hawkins didn't immediately return a call seeking comment on the college's move.

Group wants action on statue

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  An out-of-state Hindu organization has asked the state of Arkansas for action on several requests to erect monuments of varying themes on the Capitol grounds.

The Nevada-based Universal Society of Hinduism has issued a statement calling on Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin to set a meeting of the state Capitol's grounds commission to discuss its request to erect a privately funded statue of a Hindu deity. The organization also called on Martin to examine requests from other groups.

A spokesman for Martin's office said Monday no date has been set for a meeting of the commission.

Several groups have reached out to Martin's office after a law allowing the creation of a Ten Commandments monument on the Capitol grounds went into effect in April.

Vatican OKs loan of relic

VATICAN CITY (AP)  The Archbishop of Canterbury is getting a special show of solidarity from the Catholic Church as he convenes Anglican primates from around the world to discuss the future of the 80 million-strong Anglican Communion, which has been badly divided over issues of female bishops and same-sex marriage.

The Vatican has approved the loan of the ivory top of the pastoral staff of St. Gregory the Great, the 6th-century pope who dispatched missionaries to England to spread Christianity. The relic will be displayed in Canterbury Cathedral before and after the Anglican primates' meeting, which begins Monday.

Gregory, who was pope from 540-604, sent a mission to England in 597. The mission leader, Augustine, became the first archbishop of Canterbury, and both Augustine and Gregory remain important figures for Anglicans.
Storytelling program Jan. 23

SCHUYLER -- The public is invited to attend a free storytelling program with Linda Garcia Perez at 10 a.m. Jan. 23 at the Schuyler Public Library.

Abuelita (grandmother) Stories I Heard When I was a Girl is made possible by a grant from the American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Kickoff event for 4-H slated Feb. 2

COLUMBUS -- A 4-H Kickoff and Recruitment event will be held from 5-7:30 p.m. Feb. 2 at Pizza Ranch.

Program staff for 4-H will be available to answer questions about the program. The Platte County 4-H will receive 10 percent of the sales and 100 percent of the tips collected.

A youth development program for youth ages 9-18, 4-H promotes and teaches life skills to youth through a variety of projects and activities.

There is also a Clover Kid program for kids ages 6-8.

Super Bowl Food Drive Feb. 5-6

COLUMBUS -- A Super Bowl Food Drive will be held Feb. 5-6 at Super Save and Hy-Vee.

All food collected will be donated to the Platte County Food Pantry, the Mission, Simon House and the Salvation Army.

Nursing classes at Central CC

COLUMBUS -- Registration is open for nursing assistant classes that will be held during the spring semester at Central Community College-Columbus.

Two sessions will be offered, with the first session meeting from Wednesday through March 5 and the second session meeting from March 14 through May 4.

Students must attend a mandatory orientation session, but will be able to attend class during the hours most convenient to them. Each session is limited to the first 30 individuals who register.

The cost is $376, which includes in-state tuition, fees, books and supplies.

For more information or to register, contact the CCC Extended Learning Services Office at 402-562-1225; toll-free at 1-877-222-0780, ext. 1225; or e-mail lneid@cccneb.edu.

Tree drop-off set for Ag Park

COLUMBUS  The Christmas tree drop-off site for residents of Columbus will be at Platte County Agricultural Park.

This is only for live Christmas trees; no wreaths or garland will be accepted. Deadline for disposing of trees is Jan. 18.

All ornaments, lights and bags need to be removed from the trees before depositing them south of the south entrance to Ag Park.

Lions Club to hold pancake feed

COLUMBUS -- The Columbus Noon Lions Club will hold a pancake feed from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Jan. 21 at the American Legion Club, 23rd Street and Third Avenue.

All-you-can-eat pancakes will be available for $6 for adults, $3 for kids ages 5-12, and free for children 5 and under.

There also will be sausage and beverages available.

For advance tickets, contact Sandie Fischer at sandief@megavision.com or call 402-564-2769.

Healthy lifestyle class at library

COLUMBUS -- Columbus Public Library will host a healthy lifestyle class at 2 p.m. Jan. 23 in the library auditorium.

Registered nurse Joan Plummer will be the presenter. Healthy treats will be provided.

This class is free, and no registration is needed.

Cemetery group to meet Jan. 25

DUNCAN -- The Jackson Cemetery Association will have an annual meeting at 1 p.m. Jan. 25 at the fire hall in Duncan.

The meeting is open to the public.

Computer class Jan. 27

COLUMBUS -- Central Community College-Columbus will offer a Basic Excel 2010 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Jan. 27.

Preregistration is required at least a week in advance. The cost, which includes a book, is $105 per class.

For more information or to register, contact Sue Mahlin at 402-562-1409; toll-free at 1-877-222-0780, ext. 1409; or email smahlin@cccneb.edu.

All-day bus trip set for Omaha

COLUMBUS -- The Columbus Arts Council will be sponsoring an all day bus trip Jan. 30 to visit the Omaha Cathedral Flower Festival and the Joslyn Art Museum.

The bus will leave Columbus at 8:30 a.m. and will return at approximately 6 p.m.

The price is $60 per person for CAC members and $65 for non-members. The price includes transportation, boxed lunch at the Cafe Durham/Joslyn Museum, continental breakfast and snacks on the bus.

There is a freewill offering at the flower festival. Admission to the Joslyn Museum is free, but if you would like to visit the Go West, Art of the American Frontier exhibit there will be a $10 admission fee.

For more information or to make a reservation, call Lisa or Mary at 402-563-1016.

Six Sigma training at CCC

COLUMBUS -- Registration is now open for Six Sigma training that will be held during the 2016 spring semester at Central Community College-Columbus.

Black Belt training will be Feb. 22-26, March 21-24 and April 25-29. Green Belt training will be Feb. 22-26, March 22-24 and April 29.

The cost for each participant is $4,950 for the Black Belt training and $4,500 for the Green Belt training.

Class size is limited, so registration is required to reserve a space and must be completed by Feb. 1.

For more information or to register, contact Doug Pauley at 402-562-1280; toll-free at 1-877-222-0780, ext. 1280; or email dpauley@cccneb.edu.

Account set up for Brock family

COLUMBUS  An account has been established to benefit the family of a local man critically injured recently in a two-vehicle accident.

Donations can be made at any Great Western Bank location to assist 28-year-old Ryan Brock and his family, including wife Kari and young son Levi.

Brock, of Columbus, was injured in a two-vehicle accident on Monastery Road. The local man was flown to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, where he remained in critical condition.

Donations will be used to help the family pay for medical expenses.

Cell Phones for Soldiers project

COLUMBUS -- The VFW Club, 2720 23rd St., is still accepting used cell phones to be donated to the Cell Phones for Soldiers project.

Phones can be dropped off from 411 p.m. WednesdaySunday. For every cell phone valued at $5, calling cards are issued to deployed troops giving them 2 1/2 hours of free talk time.

Since 2004, more than 11.6 million phones have been recycled or repurposed. Approximately half of the phones processed are reconditioned and reused. Phones and components that cannot be refurbished are dismantled and responsibly recycled to reclaim materials.

For more information about this program, visit www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com.
Gas is a state of matter that has no fixed shape and no fixed volume. Gases have a lower density than other states of matter, such as solids and liquids. There is a great deal of empty space between particles, which have a lot of kinetic energy and arent particularly attracted to one another. Gas particles move very fast and collide with one another, causing them to diffuse, or spread out until they are evenly distributed throughout the volume of the container.

According to the educational website Lumen Learning (opens in new tab) gas can only be contained by either being fully surrounded by a container or held together by gravity.

When more gas particles enter a container, there is less space for the particles to spread out, and they become compressed. The particles exert more force on the interior volume of the container. This force is called pressure. There are several units used to express pressure. Some of the most common are atmospheres (atm), pounds per square inch (psi), millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and pascals (Pa). The units relate to one another this way: 1 atm = 14.7 psi = 760 mmHg = 101.3 kPa (1,000 pascals).

Related: Greenhouse gases: Causes, sources and environmental effects

A gas can be converted to a liquid through compression at a suitable temperature, according to Purdue University (opens in new tab). But if the critical temperature is reached, the vapor cannot be liquified regardless of how much pressure is applied. Critical pressure is the pressure needed to liquefy a gas at its critical temperature.

Examples of critical temperatures and pressure of different substances according to Engineering Toolbox (opens in new tab)

Substance Critical temperature (degrees Fahrenheit) Critical temperature (degrees Celsius) Critical pressure (psi) Oxygen minus 181.5 minus 118.6 732 Helium minus 456 minus 271 33.2 Ammonia 270 132.4 1636 Chlorine 291 144 1118.7

Measurable properties of gases

Besides pressure, denoted in equations as P, gases have other measurable properties: temperature (T), volume (V) and number of particles, which is expressed in a mole number (n or mol). In work involving gas temperature, the Kelvin scale is often used.

Because temperature and pressure vary from place to place, scientists use a standard reference point, called standard temperature and pressure (STP), in calculations and equations. Standard temperature is the freezing point of water  32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius, or 273.15 Kelvin). Standard pressure is one atmosphere (atm)  the pressure exerted by the atmosphere on Earth at sea level.

Gas laws

Temperature, pressure, amount and volume of a gas are interdependent, and many scientists have developed laws to describe the relationships among them.

Boyle's law

Chemist Robert Boyle stated that if the temperature is held constant, volume and pressure have an inverse relationship; that is, as volume increases, pressure decreases. This is known as Boyles law. (Image credit: GeorgiosArt via Getty Images)

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Named after Robert Boyle, who first stated it in 1662. Boyle's law states that if the temperature is held constant, volume and pressure have an inverse relationship; that is, as volume increases, pressure decreases, according to the University of California, Davis' ChemWiki (opens in new tab).

Increasing the amount of space available will allow the gas particles to spread farther apart, but this reduces the number of particles available to collide with the container, so pressure decreases.

Decreasing the volume of the container forces the particles to collide more often, so the pressure is increased. A good example of this is when you fill a tire with air. As more air goes in, the gas molecules get packed together, reducing their volume. As long as the temperature stays the same, the pressure increases.

Charles' law (Gay-Lussac's law)

In 1802, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, a French chemist and physicist referenced data gathered by his countryman, Jacque Charles, in a paper describing the direct relationship between the temperature and volume of a gas kept at a constant pressure. Most texts refer to this as Charles' law, but a few call it Gay-Lussac's law, or even the Charles Gay-Lussac law.

This law states that the volume and temperature of a gas have a direct relationship: As temperature increases, volume increases when pressure is held constant. Heating a gas increases the kinetic energy of the particles, causing the gas to expand. In order to keep the pressure constant, the volume of the container must be increased when a gas is heated.

This law explains why it is an important safety rule that you should never heat a closed container. Increasing temperature without increasing the volume available to accommodate the expanding gas means that pressure builds up inside the container and may cause it to explode. The law also explains why a turkey thermometer pops out when the turkey is done: The volume of air trapped under the plunger increases as the temperature inside the turkey climbs.

Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac collects air samples at different heights with Jean-Baptiste Biot in 1804. (Image credit: Luisa Vallon Fumi via Getty Images)

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Avogadro's number

In 1811, Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro proposed the idea that equal volumes of gas at the same temperature and pressure will have an equal number of particles, regardless of their chemical nature and physical properties.

Ideal gas constant

The kinetic energy per unit of temperature of one mole of a gas is a constant value, sometimes referred to as the Regnault constant, named after the French chemist Henri Victor Regnault (opens in new tab). It is abbreviated by the letter R. Regnault studied the thermal properties of matter and discovered that Boyle's law was not perfect. When the temperature of a substance nears its boiling point, the expansion of the gas particles is not exactly uniform.

Ideal gas law

Avogadro's Number, the ideal gas constant, and both Boyle's and Charles' laws combine to describe a theoretical ideal gas in which all particle collisions are absolutely equal. The laws come very close to describing the behavior of most gases, but there are very tiny mathematical deviations due to differences in actual particle size and tiny intermolecular forces in real gases. Nevertheless, these important laws are often combined into one equation known as the ideal gas law. Using this law, you can find the value of any of the other variables  pressure, volume, number or temperature  if you know the value of the other three.

Additional resources

Learn more about supercritical fluids and their uses with this article from SciMed (opens in new tab). For quick children-friendly facts about gases head over to the educational website Love My Science (opens in new tab). Discover more examples of gases with this informative material from the educational website Science Notes (opens in new tab).
LINCOLN  Paving the way for another big boost in spending on Nebraska roads, Gov. Pete Ricketts and key lawmakers unveiled plans to pull $150 million from the state's cash reserve to pay for highway construction and other infrastructure work.

The move would establish a "transportation infrastructure bank," a state fund that would provide up-front money for major highway projects that might otherwise take years longer to complete.

"We need to grow Nebraska, and of course our infrastructure is vital to that," Ricketts said Thursday during a news conference at the Capitol.

State Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion will propose the changes in the Legislature next Thursday, following the governor's annual State of the State address.

The deal brings Ricketts into the fold a year after he came out against raising the state's gas tax to provide additional roads funding.

That effort, championed by Smith and passed over the governor's veto, is expected to boost roads funding by $76 million a year once fully implemented.

Creating an infrastructure bank will give road builders access to that money and other revenue sources quicker, supporters say, as will other changes being proposed this year.

Others in the Legislature raised concern about the $150 million price tag.

Appropriations Committee Chairman Heath Mello of Omaha has expressed skepticism that the state could afford it.

And Omaha Sen. Bob Krist has already proposed eliminating the 2011 Build Nebraska Act, another major source of roads funding, questioning why Ricketts would support this year's move when he opposed the gas tax increase.

"The administration didn't want any money to build roads," Krist said.
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Columnists Press Releases
Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela's military pledged loyalty to President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday, ramping up a high-stakes standoff between his socialist government and a center-right opposition that has vowed to use its new legislative powers to oust him.

The opposition laid claim to a big majority in the National Assembly, which could empower it to force out Maduro. He has rejected the assembly as illegal and formed a new hardline leftist cabinet to fight it, in a deepening political crisis.

Venezuela's defense minister and armed forces chief, General Vladimir Padrino, weighed in, saying the military was unwavering in its backing for Maduro -- who has vowed to resist "with an iron hand."

"The president is the highest authority of the state and we reiterate our absolute loyalty and unconditional support for him," said Padrino, after the under-pressure government sued to stop the emboldened opposition using its newfound powers to kick out Maduro.

The pledge from the armed forces will only ratchet up fears of unrest in the South American oil-producing country, which is stricken by recession, shortages and rampant crime.

The new speaker of the congress, Henry Ramos Allup, said on Twitter that two premises of his Democratic Action party were attacked with explosive devices, but no one was hurt and no damage reported. He said police were investigating.

Padrino lashed out at the opposition after Ramos Allup had portraits of late president and socialist icon Hugo Chavez removed from the assembly building on Wednesday.

View gallery Venezuela's new parliament. 90 x 113 mm (AFP Photo/Marime Brunengo, Pablo Lopez, Esther Poveda)

"This is an outrage to military honor," he warned.

The government side also responded by pledging to fill the streets of Caracas with pictures of Chavez and of Simon Bolivar, Venezuela's 19th-century independence hero.

- 'Illegal parliament' -

On a day of fast-moving developments in Venezuela, Maduro's side applied to the Supreme Court to declare null any legislation passed by the opposition-controlled congress.

Maduro supporters say the opposition's two-thirds majority in the assembly is not legitimate since it swore in three lawmakers whom the court had ordered to be suspended pending allegations of electoral fraud.

"The decisions made in that circus they have set up should be ignored," said pro-government deputy Pedro Carreno at the court, where he presented the suit.

View gallery The new president of the Venezuelan parliament, Henry Ramos Allup (C) is greeted by other opposition 

"This is an illegal parliament and therefore its decisions are illegal and null."

He accused the opposition of planning a "coup d'etat" and being in contempt of court.

Ramos Allup rejected the charge.

"The ones who are in contempt are the ones who have disregarded the public will after the elections," he said.

The opposition MUD coalition won a majority in the assembly for the first time in nearly 17 years at elections on December 6.

The MUD has vowed to find a way within six months to get rid of Maduro by constitutional means. But Maduro's side vowed to block it by suing, withholding funding and refusing to publish its legislation.

View gallery Picture released by the Venezuelan presidency press office showing Venezuelan President Nicolas Madu 

"They give us six months to survive. You need balls to carry out a coup d'etat. We'll see if they have any," said Diosdado Cabello, the number two in Maduro's leadership.

"Get ready for a long struggle."

- Bleak economic outlook -

As the battle lines formed, Maduro reshuffled his cabinet, filling key posts with defenders of the socialist "revolution" launched by his late predecessor Chavez.

Facing a "new stage of the revolution" and a "bourgeois legislature," Maduro said his new cabinet team would work on the "grave economic situation."

He appointed hardline socialists to the key posts of economy, finance and foreign trade and investment, while keeping in place his oil minister.

He named economist Luis Salas economy minister.

Ramos Allup said the opposition too would present urgent economic proposals.

Analysts warn the political deadlock will compound the hardship of Venezuelans who are suffering shortages of basic goods and soaring inflation.

Plunging oil prices have sharply curbed the country's revenues.

"The president's support for the radical ideological wing of Chavismo, sidelining pragmatists, does not generate positive expectations for change," said analyst Luis Vicente Leon, head of polling firm Datanalisis.

"Expectations of institutional conflict increase the negative outlook for the nation's economy."

One of the first measures the opposition wants to pass is an amnesty for 75 political prisoners, a plan backed by the United States. Mauro has vowed to veto that move.





"After discussing the portraits in his broadcast, the president turned to some changes in his economic team, which will be led by Luis Salas, a little-known professor at a university founded by Mr. Chavez. He is a sociologist and specialist in development, according to an essay called 22 Keys to Understanding and Combating the Economic War that was published last year.

Inflation doesnt exist in real life, Mr. Salas wrote, arguing that inflation was actually the product of businessmens raising prices on consumers. When a person goes to a store and finds the prices have gone up, they are not in the presence of inflation. "





If the NY Times didn't misquote the guy for political purposes, he's an example of an economic illiterate.
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)
What is the extent of the reach of EU regulations?

A senior EU official has threatened legal action against Poland's new conservative government over its controversial media law.



The EU Commissioner for the Digital Economy, Guenther Oettinger, said: "There are solid grounds for us to activate the rule of law mechanism and put Warsaw under monitoring."



Polish MPs have approved a law giving the government direct control over top appointments in public broadcasting.

Poland's public television HQ

It undermines free speech, critics say



Under the EU's rule of law mechanism, adopted last year, the Commission can escalate pressure on a member state to amend any measure that is considered a "systemic threat" to fundamental EU values.



In the last resort, a state's voting rights in the EU Council can be suspended. The Commission is the EU's top regulator, enforcing EU treaties.



Media watchdogs in Europe have voiced alarm about the media shake-up. It will put TVP and Polish Radio - which have a huge audience - under the control of a new national media council close to the ruling PiS



Comparisons have been made with Hungary, whose conservative Fidesz government also clashed with the EU Commission over human rights

and

What happens when a state's legislations contradict EU policy?blog entries are indexed. Use the search box to look for country names or concept labels attached to each entry.The Comparative Government and Politics Review Checklist.Two pages summarizing the course requirements to help you review and study for the final and for the big exam in May. . It contains a description of comparative methods, a list of commonly used theories, a list of vital concepts, thumbnail descriptions of the AP6,a description of the AP exam format. $2.00. Order HERE. Order the book HERE

Labels: EU, sovereignty
The Defense Department announced today that Fayez al Kandari, who was detained at Guantanamo since 2002, has been transferred to his home country of Kuwait.

The Pentagon cited a Sept. 8, 2015 decision by the Periodic Review Board (PRB) as justification for Kandaris transfer. The PRB determined that continued law of war detention of [Kandari] does not remain necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States. Therefore, the review board recommended that Kandari be transferred and the Pentagon complied.

But the PRB did not determine that Kandari was an innocent who was wrongly detained. Nor did the PRB argue that Kandari should be outright released. Instead, the board recommended the implementation of a comprehensive set of security measuresincluding monitoring, travel restrictions, and continued information sharing.

These security assurances are necessary because US officials have repeatedly warned that Kandari is a threat.

As The Long War Journal has reported in the past, US military and intelligence officials compiled an extensive dossier on Kandari. Declassified and leaked files, as well as a district court ruling, indicate that US intelligence analysts suspect Kandari helped recruit an al Qaeda cell responsible for killing a US Marine on the Faylaka Island in Kuwait in October 2002.

Indeed, US authorities recommended against transferring Kandari on at least three occasions in the past. And a district court denied Kandaris petition for a writ of habeas corpus, finding that his claim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time in Afghanistan in 2001 was simply not credible.

A high risk

In a leaked threat assessment, dated April 15, 2008, Joint Task Force  Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) deemed Kandari a high risk, who is likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies. JTF-GTMOs analysts recommended that Kandari remain in the Defense Departments custody, finding that he was a committed member of al Qaeda who served as [an] advisor and confidant to Osama bin Laden.

Kandari has numerous connections to senior al Qaeda members and was an influential religious figure for al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan, JTF-GTMO found. He also allegedly provided ideological training to al Qaeda trainees and acted as a propagandist on behalf of the terrorist group.

President Obamas own interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force agreed that Kandari should not be transferred or released.

In its final report, released in January 2010, the task force wrote that there were 48 detainees who were determined to be too dangerous to transfer but not feasible for prosecution. Kandari was one of them. Obamas task force recommended that Kandari be held in [c]ontinued detention pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (2001), as informed by principles of the laws of war.

Nine months later, in September 2010, a district court judge denied Kandaris petition for a writ of habeas corpus. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that Kandaris claim to have been a mere charity worker in Afghanistan prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was implausible and not credible. [See LWJ report, Judge finds that Kuwaiti Gitmo detainee was no charity worker.]

According to Judge Kollar-Kotellys decision, Kandari fled to the Tora Bora Mountains in late 2001. Kandari admitted that he was given a Kalishnikov rifle and taught how to use it. He also met and associated with various members and high-level leaders of al Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated enemy forces in Tora Bora. Given that Kandari admittedly was armed at Tora Bora, shown how to use the weapon, and met with senior al Qaeda terrorists, Judge Kollar-Kotelly found it was unreasonable to assume that Kandari accidentally found his way into the mountains at precisely the same time that al Qaedas forces were battling in the area.

A Periodic Review Board (PRB) heard Kandaris case in 2014 as well, but came to precisely the opposite conclusion of the one cited by the Defense Department today. Kandaris continued detention remains necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States, the PRB wrote in an unclassified summary of its decision, which was released in July 2014. [See LWJ report, Kuwaiti Gitmo detainee should remain in US custody, review board finds.]

The differences between the PRBs decisions in 2014 and 2015 are striking. In 2014, the review board concluded that Kandari almost certainly retains an extremist mindset and had close ties with high-level al Qaeda leaders in the past.

In 2015, however, the PRB claimed that Kandari had demonstrated a willingness to examine his religious beliefs and engaged more openly with the Board. The PRB noted [Kandaris] willingness to engage with Kuwaiti officials and rehabilitation center staff members, comply with security requirements, and disassociate with negative influences since his last hearing.

The PRB did not explain further why Kandari, a committed jihadist since before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, should be believed with respect to his supposed willingness to re-examine his religious beliefs.

The PRB also did an about-face when it comes to Kuwaits ability to mitigate the threat Kandari poses.

In 2014, the PRB noted a lack of history regarding the efficacy of the rehabilitation program Kuwait will implement for a detainee with [Kandaris] particular mindset, but appreciates the efforts of the Kuwaiti government and encourages the officials at the Al Salam Rehabilitation Center to continue to work with [Kandari] at Guantanamo.

But in 2015 the PRB determined [Kandaris] threat can be adequately mitigated by the Kuwaiti governments commitment to require and maintain [Kandaris] participation in a rehabilitation program and to implement robust security measures to include monitoring and travel restrictions.

It remains to be seen which one of the PRBs decisions proves to be more prescient.

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.
Malta Named #3 on New York Times '52 Places to Go in 2016' List

January 8, 2016

A European country situated between Sicily and the North African coast, has three UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Valletta, Malta's capital, was named the European Capital of Culture 2018.



An excerpt from The New York Times describes Malta as, An affordable Mediterranean playground with a superb climate, sublime beaches, megalithic temples and a distinctive crossroads culture. The article further described the Archipelago, There are three inhabited islands to explore  Malta, home to buzzing Valletta, a UNESCO World Heritage city of stunning limestone buildings; Gozo, more tranquil and with a dramatic coastline filled with great spots for diving; and idyllic, car-free Comino, which has one hotel and few residents.



Paul Bugeja, CEO, Malta Tourism Authority, stated We are very pleased that Malta was named number three by such a prestigious newspaper as the New York Times. Since reestablishing a Malta Tourism Authority presence in the US two years ago, we have seen an increase in the number of Americans visiting Malta, however, now with this New York Times Travel Section spotlight, we will lure even more visitors from the US to discover the hidden gem' of the Mediterranean."



Photo: Valletta Harbor in Malta
The African Network for Environmental Sustainability (ANFES) aims to ensure that environmental sustainability research agenda and commercial exploitation of local communities natural resources benefit local communities by responding to their needs and aspirations and by improving their livelihoods opportunities.
An Ideal Valentine's Day Destination: Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort, Fiji

Nestled in one of the world's most pristine and spectacular settings, surrounded by elegant palms, a mystic mountain backdrop, and the calming Savusavu Bay, the eco-luxury Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort is a leading destination in the South Pacific for couples seeking to experience authentic romance, magical natural surroundings, warm Fijian hospitality, world-class dining, and an exclusive escape from daily life.A true tropical paradise, the all-inclusive resort offers couples a wide variety of amenities. Couples will stay in bures, traditional thatched-roof Fijian huts that provide an unparalleled level of privacy and comfort, peacefully situated just steps from the ocean. The bures have no telephones or televisions, in order to ensure utter tranquility while away from everyday life.A pioneer in experiential travel, the resort offers an outstanding lineup of romantic activities, such as day trips to a private island, intimate dinners on the dock, snorkeling/scuba diving, and an array of Fijian-inspired spa treatments. The socially-conscious resort also offers couples an engaging, cultural experience with the local community, resulting in an emotional connection that continues to bring guests back year after year.Visit website:
Spearheading the Marine attack on the Southern frontier of Kuwait during the opening moments of Operation Desert Storm has earned Genesis II, M60A1 Main Battle Tank, a permanent place in the National Museum of the Marine Corps, in Triangle, Virginia.

The tank, along with an Assault Amphibious Vehicle, Humvee, and M198 Howitzer, are scheduled to be displayed at the museum in November 2018. These items are among many artifacts that will represent Marine Corps history for the time period 1976 to the present.

Restoration of the equipment began here in July 2014, and was completed with a final inspection and hand-off ceremony held Jan. 7 at the Marine Depot Maintenance Commands production plant.

Production Plant Albany employees restored the tank along with a Humvee and an amphibious assault vehicle, while the artisans at Production Plant Barstow in Barstow, California, restored the M198 Howitzer.

Col. Jeffrey Q. Hooks, commander, MDMC, spoke of the relationship between the museum and MDMC workers.

Weve built a great partnership with the National Museum of the Marine Corps over the years and for them to continue to come back year after year is a testament to our dedication and the capabilities resident within Marine Depot Maintenance Command, Hooks said. The men and women that tirelessly work at restoring this gear know the history of the vehicles they are working, and one day, they will visit the (museum) with their families or friends and will get to say I helped put that together. I look forward to continuing our partnership with the National Museum of the Marine Corps and helping keep the (museum) the best in the Department of Defense.

Kater Miller, assistant ordnance curator, National Museum of the Marine Corps, said the M60A1 Main Battle Tank was chosen for the museum because of its documented history in the ground offensive during Operation Desert Storm in January and February 1991.

Genesis II and its crew, attached to Company C, 3rd Tank Battalion, Twentynine Palms, California, were the lead element for Task Force Ripper and led the charge into Kuwait from Saudi Arabia, Miller said.

After the war, a team of historians marked the tank to be sent back to Quantico, Virginia, to be stored, according to Miller.

Miller, a former Marine Corps Logistics Command employee, is familiar with the capabilities of MDMC -- a subordinate command under LOGCOM -- and requested their assistance in restoring the artifacts.

After seeing the artifacts firsthand, Jody W. Nesbitt, project officer, MDMC, said refurbishing the museum pieces would be a major undertaking -- one he knew MDMC and its employees could handle.

The M60A1 had been painted over a couple times and there was rust and damage on the exterior, Nesbitt said. None of the distinguishing markings were visible, but fortunately we had photographs of the tank during the war to help us replicate the insignias.

Nesbitt said the tank had corrosion due to sitting out in the weather, so he knew it was going to be a complete down to the hull restoration project to meet the museums requirement.

We haven't touched some of these parts in more than 20 years, he said. To say the least, a lot of these parts were hard to come by. We even had to fabricate the cover that goes around the gun mantle.

During the disassembling process, workers removed the turret from the tank and found a map and a pair of goggles used by the crew during Operation Desert Storm, which was turned over to the museum to be displayed with the tank.

Nesbitt recalled the interior of the tank being in good condition, even though it had been exposed to the elements for many years.

We refurbished the inside of the tank by removing the drivetrain and internal components, he said. We restored everything to its original condition to include repainting and stencil work. The Marines had handwritten -- in black marker -- grid coordinates, fire coordinates and markings of how many tanks they had destroyed, on the walls inside of the tank.

Overall, we were able to take something that had been sitting around rusting and deteriorating and transform it into a functioning and firing combat mechanism, minus the fluids and rings in the motor, he said.

Nesbitt, a U.S. Navy veteran who served during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, said he and all the workers had took pride and ownership in helping preserve a part of Marine Corps history.

I don't think Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm get a lot of attention, he said. We have had such a volume of large scale wars go on since that time that it is almost a forgotten piece of history. But for those of us that were there, it is an important part of our life and history.

After conducting the final inspection of the tank, Miller said he was pleased with the work of the MDMC employees.

The crew restored the tank, faithfully recreating the markings, inside and out, so that the tank will appear exactly as it did in February 1991, he said.

Miller explained how the tank will be displayed in the museum.

We are going to display the tank as it appeared on the morning that it breached the berm separating Saudi Arabia into Kuwait, he said. We are going to have cast figures in the tank dressed (exactly) as the crew was during the actual event. We will also outfit the tank with the supplies they stowed over the outside of the tank.

Miller went on to explain the history of each artifact.

The Humvee will portray the Marines in Haiti during Operation Uphold Democracy, he said. The Humvee will enable us to showcase the peacekeeping and humanitarian aid missions that Marines perform.

Representing the Marine Corps' focus on amphibious warfare will be the AAV, which also saw combat in Operation Desert Storm as well, Miller added.

The Iraqi Army hit the AAV with a propelled grenade which rendered it inoperable, Miller said. It (was) also (sent) to the Air-Ground Museum, Quantico, Virginia, in 1991, but was recalled to active service the next year.

The vehicle, which received a new turret and armor, was scheduled to go through an extensive upgrade but was saved by the (amphibian tractor) community, which made sure it ended up back at the museum, he added.

Like the AAV and M60A1 tank, the M198 Howitzer is also a Desert Storm veteran.

The M198 Howitzer was part of the battery that fired the first rounds into Kuwait at Iraqi Forces in a series of artillery raids, Miller said. In the raids, artillery crewmen drove to a discreet location, set up, conducted a fire mission, packed up and drove away.

We are going to display this artifact with a crew preparing it for use in an artillery raid, he said.

Like the AAV, the M198 Howitzer was recalled and received several upgrades. As the Marine Corps transitioned from the M198 to the M777 Howitzer, the museum was able to get it back.

Miller praised all MDMC workers for their dedication and hard work.

The National Museum of the Marine Corps staff is extremely satisfied with the restoration of the artifacts, he said. A museum restoration is not an easy process and refurbishments are time consuming and tedious.

I do not think it can be stressed enough how important Marine Depot Maintenance Command's work is for the Marines (forward deployed), he said. Marine Depot Maintenance Command's staff (in Albany, Georgia and Barstow, California) serves the Marines by providing quality equipment to the warfighters and now they are serving the Marines in a different way, this time by preserving history.
The Henry County School Board voted Thursday morning to officially name the new Collinsville area elementary school Meadow View Elementary.

The decision to name the school Meadow View was made following the naming committees recommendation, having taken suggestions from the community for one month. The committee was comprised of community members, students and school staff. The committee received a total of 28 suggestions that met the submission criteria. Submission criteria required the suggesting community member to include the suggested school name, the community members name that made the suggestion and the reason or reasons for suggesting the name.

Prior to the vote on Thursday, the naming committee met on Dec. 17, reaching a verdict on what its recommendation for the name would be.

During the Dec. 17 meeting, Monica Hatchett, coordinator of family and community engagement, noted that each submission received discussion and a look into the reasoning behind the submission.

Hatchett noted that the 28 submissions eventually were narrowed down to eight viable names, Meadow View Elementary emerging as the selected name by a popular vote by the naming committee.

"This name [Meadow View Elementary] was submitted based on the view of the property, the landscape of that particular area, what it looks like when youre standing on a hill from where we did our ground breaking ceremony," Hatchett explained. "The students on our committee really felt that this really encapsulated what they thought about the particular property and thats why they voted for Meadow View Elementary."

Hatchett went on to note that the naming committees reasoning was in part influenced by the architecture of the building itself and how it plays into the "landscape."

The six-person School Board voted unanimously to adopt Meadow View Elementary as the schools official name.

Once opened, the school will replace the older John Redd Smith Elementary and Collinsville Primary schools.

The school is located on Figsboro Road, sitting on nearly 93 acres that was purchased last June.

Vice Chairman Curtis Millner raised the concern that there currently are two churches within noteworthy distance from the newly named Meadow View Elementary that bear the name "Meadow View" or some combination of the name, however all parties seemed to be in agreement that the duplicate names would not pose an issue. Hatchett remarked that several other name suggestions were eliminated based on "close proximity," however added that Meadow View Elementary was the name settled on by the committee.

"Thats what they came up with and Ill be happy to support it," remarked board member Francis Zehr.

Board member Dr. Merris Stambaugh noted in his motion to adopt Meadow View Elementary as the schools official name that the board refer to the school by its proper name for all future correspondence.

Meadow View Elementary is set to open in 2017, however possible delays with the commissioning mechanical systems could push the opening into 2018.

Superintendant Dr. Jared Cotton recommended that the school board approve the award of contract for commissioning mechanical systems for Meadow View Elementary at the Thursday meeting. However, that recommendation was derailed temporarily by Zehrs concerns.

"I dont understand why were paying RRMM $73,000 and then theyre hiring their buddies up there," Zehr said.

After a spirited debate, the board voted four to three to postpone the vote until its Feb. 4 meeting at 9 a.m., allowing the board further consideration of the details of the contract.

Keith Scott, director of facilities, explained to the board members that the contract would go towards checking the electrical; heating and cooling systems, ensuring "everything that was installed is operational."

If the contract is in fact awarded, the contract will go to RRMM Architects, who would in turn contract the work to Lawrence Perry and Associates. The contract is set for $73,000.
There was never any doubt that President Barack Obamas executive actions on gun control would be divisive.

As Obama himself pointed out Tuesday during his remarks from the East Room of the White House, he will not be on the ballot in 2016, and hes not looking to score any points.

Obama claims that the executive actions are motivated by an all-encompassing desire to prevent unnecessary deaths. Based on his increasingly exhausted appearance at past press conferences regarding mass shootings  and his tearful demeanor on Tuesday  it seems clear that tragedies such as the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting weigh heavily on the President.

In the days, weeks and months following the executive actions, there will be no shortage of talking heads discussing Obamas plan and politicians attempting to either undermine or defend it.

With that in mind, its important to understand as early as possible precisely what the order does  and does not  intend to do.

The executive actions are a package consisting of 10 provisions, according to the White House.

The most controversial of those provisions, without a doubt, is a plan to extend the use of background checks to cover more firearm sales at gun shows.

To understand why this is important, its important to understand how the existing law is worded. Under existing law, a firearms dealer is defined as someone who devotes time, attention and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms.

It is not, however, someone who makes occasional sales, exchanges or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms.

A person who owns a firearms store is a firearms dealer, as the law goes, and is required to perform background checks. A private citizen who wants to sell a hunting rifle to their next-door neighbor they have known 30 years isnt a firearms dealer, and isnt required to perform a background check.

All of that is well and good, but where the issue gets foggy is the vast area between a private citizen selling one gun and a licensed firearms dealer who makes his or her living selling guns.

What Obamas executive action aims to do is more clearly define who is a firearms dealer and who is not. The practical effect of this is that many people who previously sold guns at gun shows without being registered as firearms dealers may now have to register as dealers and conduct mandatory background checks before selling guns.

That, of course, doesnt mean that the average law-abiding citizen will no longer be able to purchase guns, and it certainly doesnt mean that anyones guns will be taken away. Rather, it means that many of those who would exploit gun show loopholes because they legally cannot purchase a gun will no longer be able to do so.

Those who think that the executive actions dont sound all that meaningful might be surprised to find that the National Rifle Association agreed.

In a Monday New York Times article, Jennifer Baker, an official with the NRAs Washington lobbying arm, said that the plan seemed thin.

This is it, really? Baker said. This is what theyve been hyping for how long now? This is the proposal theyve spent seven years putting together? Theyre not really doing anything.

While the NRA has voiced harsher criticisms since then, the fact remains: If anyone tries to say that Obamas executive actions are a sweeping attack on the Second Amendment, take their words with more than few grains of salt.
CheckPresentation12345-2 (2).jpg

Robert Charles Photography presented a $20,000 check to Baystate Children's Hospital at the Delaney House in Holyoke. From left to right: Robert Francis Zemba, Robert Charles Zemba, Guiseppe Zemba, Edward Zemba, Robbie Zemba, Jenna Gleason, Michelle Graci, Christine Little, Susanna Zemba

(Photo Provided)

HOLYOKE - Robert Charles Photography presented a $20,000 check to Baystate Children's Hospital at the Delaney House in Holyoke recently.

This is as a result of the company's 10th annual holiday portrait fundraiser, according to a news release.

The effort began when studio founder, Robert Charles Zemba was diagnosed with Glioblastoma, Multiforme Type IV brain cancer in 2005.

At the time, he was told it was a terminal condition and that he had 6 months, to 2 years ahead of him. Now, over ten years from diagnosis, Robert happily be attended the check presentation. Upon learning of his condition, Robert asked that any support being offered to him, be redirected to children with the same affliction. This was the beginning of their effort to help the little heroes of Baystate Children's Hospital.

To attain the lofty goal of $20,000, Robert Charles Photography reached out to multiple local businesses. They are proud to say that 100% of those contacted offered their support. Delaney House, 94.7 WMAS, Ryan James Videography, Family Bike, Kiddly Winks, Fred Marion, Pop's Biscotti and Chocolate, Little Bear, and ERC5 all contributed in some way. Many were in attendance on Thursday to assist with the check presentation.

"To say we are fortunate to be part of the Western Massachusetts community is a true understatement", said Edward Zemba, studio president. "With the help of local businesses and countless amazing families, we were able to bring our cumulative total to over $100,000 for Baystate Children's Hospital! It was a wonderful team effort and demonstrated how even small businesses can make a large impact in their community."

As the only full-service accredited children's hospital in the region, Baystate Children's Hospital provides a comprehensive range of children's primary care and sub-specialty services -- over 50 inpatient and outpatient services in all, including many not found anywhere else in our region. Each year over 40,000 local children are seen at Baystate Children's Hospital from newborn infants to adolescents. Baystate Children's Hospital also includes the areas only Pediatric Emergency Department and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), which is the regional tertiary care facility for newborn infants delivered in Western Massachusetts who require highly specialized care.

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Champagne

Photo by Sam Howzit/Flickr (http://bit.ly/1SEwHz0)

The Student Prince and Fort Cafe will offer a champagne pairing dinner on Thursday, January 28, at 6 p.m.

The evening's pre-fixe menu starts with an appetizer course of oysters and Ossetra caviar, paired with Gloria Ferrer Brut from California. Second course will feature a lamb and white bean ragu with glasses of French Moet & Chandon Imperial Rose.

Third course will be lobster and green pea risotto with the classic Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label. Fourth course will highlight an Allen Brothers sirloin roast with glace de viande and potato puree, again matched with Moet & Chandon Imperial Rose. A sweet chocolate mousse with almond brittle and a Vueve Clicquot Demi-Sec will be the final course.

Tickets to the dinner are $60 per person and reservations can be made by calling 413-734-7475.
A Boston police officer was shot this morning, 7News is reporting.

Few details are currently available. The shooting took place around 10:30 a.m. on Mount Bowdoin Terrace in Dorchester, according to 7News.

The male officer was shot in the leg and is expected to recover, WCVB is reporting. The officer was taken to Boston Medical Center

According to NECN, state police are reporting that a suspect is in custody.

#BREAKING: State police say one suspect is in custody in @bostonpolice officer shooting. https://t.co/ektB3hH26F  necn (@NECN) January 8, 2016

The Massachusetts State Police expressed support for the officer who was shot in a Twitter post.
051515 boston police commissioner william evans.JPG

Boston Police commissioner William Evans addresses the media in May after the verdict in the penalty phase of the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on Friday.

(CHARLES KRUPA / ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A suspect identified as a drug dealer out on probation shot a Mattapan drug unit officer after police stopped him this morning, Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said in a press conference.

Evans identified the suspect as Grant Hedley, 27, of Dorchester. He was well-known to the department and had been released in April following a three year sentence on a firearms charge, Evans said.

Evans praised responding officers for quickly tending to their wounded colleague and showing restraint by apprehending Hedley without using deadly force.

"I want to commend my officers," Evans said. "I think we were fortunate here that we don't have an officer who suffered a more severe injury."

At about 10:20 a.m., officers from the Mattapan drug unit were in Dorchester investigating Hedley, who they suspected of dealing drugs. Officers boxed Hedley in on Bowdoin Terrace to stop him, at which point Hedley left his vehicle and allegedly opened fire unprovoked at officers, Evans said.

One officer was struck in the leg and returned fire, Evans said.

"The officer quickly exchanged gun fire. At that time, the suspect took off," Evans said.

Other officers chased the suspect down and tackled him, Evans said. Another officer tied a tourniquet around the wounded officer's leg before he was transported to Boston Medical Center.

The officer, a nine-year decorated veteran, has a serious leg injury and is expected to recover, according to Evans. The name of the officer was not released; Evans said he was not sure if all of the officer's family had been notified.

Mayor Marty Walsh, also speaking at the press conference, praised the Boston police department and its efforts to take guns off the city's streets.

"Here in the city of Boston, our police department certainly is the best in the nation," Walsh said. "We're not going to tolerate anyone going after the Boston Police Department. Their job is to protect the community and protect the neighborhoods, and that is what they do day in and day out."
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Welcome!

Grad school in the humanities did its best to kill my love of the written word. Post hooding, I'm attempting to reclaim that love through copious reading of fiction, and to make writing slightly less of a hateful task through writing about that fiction.


This years program focuses on property tax growth across the state, an issue of importance to many living or doing business in Montana.

For the 41st year, the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana will visit nine Montana cities to deliver its local, state and national economic outlooks. New this year, BBER will release its inaugural Montana Economic Report 2016, a comprehensive assessment on the Montana economy, at the half-day events, which kick off Tuesday, Jan. 26, in Helena.

This years program focuses on property tax growth across the state, an issue of importance to many living or doing business in Montana. According to BBER economists, one of the reasons why Montanas oldest tax is among the least popular is because it also is the least understood. And in most communities, it continues to increase. The BBERs 2016 Economic Outlook Seminar series, to be held around the state January-March, takes aim at that issue.

Full Story and Event Dates: http://news.umt.edu/2016/01/010716bber.php
Do you love marketing, branding and the wide technology avenues available today? What about world travel and adventure? Want to combine the two passions? Then, Adventure Life could have your next career opportunity.

Adventure Life is looking for an Integrated Marketing Manager (IMM) to work with the executive team to develop, implement and measure marketing campaigns across a broad mediascape. The ultimate goal is increasing lead generation, and the marketing areas include organic search, paid search, social media, newsletters, strategic content creation, blogs, print publications, client advocacy, press advocacy, PR events, contests and more.

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Wed appreciate it if youd mention that you found this opportunity on MATR.net Thank you
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, January 7, 2016

A federal appellate court has upheld Facebook's $20 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit stemming from "sponsored stories" ads.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by parents who contended the deal should be scrapped on the grounds that it allows Facebook to use minors' names and images in ads. The parents argued the settlement enables Facebook to violate laws in seven states, including California, that prohibit companies from using minors' names and photos in ads without their parents' consent.

But the appellate judges said it's not clear whether Facebook's ad program actually violated California's law. The judges added that the settlement offers "more protection for minors from Facebook's advertising practices than existed before."

The settlement requires Facebook to pay $15 each to around 600,000 users who were featured in sponsored stories -- ads featuring users' names and images and shown to their friends. The deal also requires Facebook to pay several million dollars to various nonprofits and organizations.

advertisement advertisement

Facebook also agreed to revise its terms of service to require that users give permission for their names and photos to be shown in ads. Users under 18 must represent that at least one parent agrees.

Facebook recently stopped selling sponsored stories ads, but now allows marketers to show people's likes to their friends, next to ads.

The settlement, which was approved by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg, resolved a class-action lawsuit alleging that Facebook's sponsored stories violates a California law about endorsements. That law says companies need adults' permission before using their names or images in ads. When minors' names or images are used in ads, companies must obtain parental consent. The measure provides for penalties of $750 per violation.

While the lawsuit dealt with California's law, six other states also prohibit companies from using minors' name and images in ads without obtaining permission from parents.

Some people who objected to the settlement argued that cash awards of $15 were too little, given that the law provided for higher damages. But the 9th Circuit said that the $15 figure was reasonable, given that Facebook users experienced "minimal (if any) harm."
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, January 8, 2016

Amazon this week announced it will push deeper into the smart home market by selling semiconductors from a chip design company it purchased last year for $350 million. The chips from Annapurna Labs will sell to home equipment designers that build products for the Internet of Things.

Advertising and media executives may not realize that these ARM-based silicon chips act as the brain for IoT devices. The brain automates functions, similar to the way advertising platforms buy and bid on ad placements. The chips are used by original equipment manufacturers that build network-attached storage, WiFi routers, and streaming media, among other devices. These programmable chips have the ability to search and pull in data, serve or save information, and connect with other devices.

advertisement advertisement

Amazon's decision will see companies integrate search into a variety of hardware devices.

This week we learned of Amazons new product line, Alpine, that will serve as a foundation for next-generation digital services for the connected home, according to a press release.

The chips can enable functions such as voice search in a device. Voice search will drive new behavior and understanding for marketers in 2016, according to David Pann, GM of Microsoft Search Advertising, who made seven search predictions for 2016. Panns predictions range from using search data to predict the outcome to using paid-search advertising to go beyond keywords to audience and action buying, and mobile to personalize the experience.

Search marketing will harness the majority of digital marketing spend, predicts Pann, but the industry will need to find a way to automate more functions into chips and devices.

Search marketing will represent 45.4% of digital marketing spend in 2016, per Forrester Research Digital Marketing Forecasts, 2014 to 2019 (US). That likely doesnt include future search investments that will become automated in devices.
by Larissa Faw , January 8, 2016

Dentsu Aegis Network continues its acquisition spree with the purchase of Navegg, a data strategy shop based in Brazil. Founded in 2009, Navegg specializes in the collection, analysis and multichannel activation of audience data, particularly for programmatic buys.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Navegg has a database of over 250 million Internet users on more than 100,000 Web sites, blogs, price search engines and ecommerce.

Navegg will continue to operate under its own name and remain headquartered in Curitiba, Brazil. Luciano Juvinski, Naveggs current CEO and chief technology officer, will continue to lead Navegg and will assume the position of managing director.

He reports directly to Abel Reis, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Brazil, and to Ashwini Karandikar, global president, Amnet, Dentsu's programmatic unit.

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"The acquisition of Navegg reflects our view on the power of data and significantly strengthens our ability to deliver real-time audiences at scale for brand and performance advertising. Additionally, the acquisition brings market leading innovation, skills and talent," stated Karandikar.

For Navegg, the deal provides access to Denstu's additional resources and reach.

This is Dentsu's second acquisition in 2016. Earlier this week the network purchased full-service agency Grip.
by Larissa Faw , January 8, 2016

Allen & Gerritsen (A&G) is creating a new Engagement & Innovation practice and has named George Ward to spearhead it. He's been promoted to Chief Engagement and Innovation Officer.

In his new role, Ward will work with all agency departments to boost consumer engagement with clients brands in the marketplace.

In addition to leading engagement strategy Ward will now oversee A&Gs social strategy, user experience, media, production, development and technology departments while continuing his work on clients such as XFINITY and Sunoco. Ward also leads the shops A&G Labs, a think tank unit.

Ward will also work closely with A&G's new chief creative officer Jen Putnam to insure that experimentation is a more widespread part of the agencys culture.

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"I think that marketing as an industry is too siloed and overly concerned with trying to label where work comes from and where it best fits in an org chart," says Ward. "Our clients were once CMOs but now theyre also CTOs, and COOs, and folks in charge of physical spaces."

His vision is for the agency and its clients to "be comfortable with the gray area that defines your role versus mine. Im okay with it being a little weird as we blend, so long as we have talented people, with amazing tools at their disposal, collaborating to come up with the best possible solutions for our clients."

Ward has recruited Timothy Parcell from SapientNitro to become VP Experience Planning. Parcell will work out of the agency's Boston office. "My main responsibility is playing the role of the customer voice in a room," says Parcell. "Really that means I am here to partner across all the disciplines within the agency to fan our obsession with brand audiences and synthesize it in a way that makes customers take action."

One of Parcell's first projects is an initiative called AMPERSLAM (playing off the ampersand in A&G), which is a "cross-office ideation session that broadens how we collaborate," says Parcell. "When there is a need for an AMPERSLAM, I send out an agency-wide email with the name of the client, the problem we want to solve, the date and the time, and the first 20 people to respond lock in a seat. By agency-wide  I mean it. Every discipline. Every department. Every level. Every location. This enables us to get to ideas that are creative, diverse, and oftentimes unexpected."
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, January 8, 2016

Yahoo has agreed to add new language to its privacy policy in order to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that it wrongly scans email messages for advertising purposes, according to court papers filed on Thursday.

The proposed settlement also requires the company to make some technical changes to the way it scans emails, but doesn't require Yahoo to stop surrounding emails with ads. The agreement also doesn't call for Yahoo to pay monetary damages to Web users whose privacy allegedly was violated, but provides for payments of up to $4 million to the attorneys who brought the case.

If accepted by U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh in the Northern District of California, the deal will resolve a lawsuit filed in 2013 by a group of Web users who said Yahoo violates a California privacy law by scanning messages without people's consent.

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California requires that all parties -- senders as well as recipients -- consent to the interception of electronic communications. Yahoo's terms of service provided that the company analyzes email in order to display ads, but the people who are suing alleged that they didn't have Yahoo email accounts, and therefore never agreed to the company's terms of service.

Yahoo lost a key battle in the case in 2014, when Koh rejected the company's bid to dismiss the case.

As part of the settlement, Yahoo says it will add the following paragraph to its Privacy Center page: Yahoo analyzes and stores all communications content, including email content from incoming and outgoing mail.

The company's Yahoo Mail page also will include a new bullet point stating: "Yahoo may share keywords, package tracking and product identification numbers with third parties in order to enhance your user experience and provide targeted ads.

The engineering changes that Yahoo promised to make appear to relate solely on Yahoo's technical operations. The court papers say that the company will now retrieve incoming email from the servers only after Yahoo Mail users can access the emails in their inboxes. Outgoing emails will only be retrieved from servers when the messages are accessible by Yahoo Mail users.

Google is facing a similar lawsuit, filed last September by San Francisco resident Daniel Matera. That case is pending in front of Koh.
by Jess Nelson , January 8, 2016

Email was the overwhelming favorite in a survey of 156 marketing professionals titled marketing director to CMO, with 79% of respondents saying email marketing was the best marketing channel for lead nurturing. The study was released by Act-On Software and Ascend2.

A companys Web site followed in second place with 47% of respondents, while 38% of marketers cited social media as an effective channel for new leads. Thirty-one percent of respondents selected their companys blog, followed by 26% selecting events, 25% search and 12% mobile.

Marketers agree that increasing conversion rates and sales opportunities are the top objectives of their lead nurturing campaigns, according to the report -- but they struggle to incorporate the tactics and tools needed to boost their email marketing success rates.

Only 19% of marketers selected multichannel engagement or data segmentation as objectives to their lead nurturing campaigns, but these have been shown to significantly boost the ROI and engagement rates of email marketing.

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Marketers also report that they struggle to create new, relevant and personalized content.

Some 69% of marketers responded that creating relevant content was the most effective lead-nurturing tactic, but 58% also cited it as their most challenging obstacle.

Furthermore, segmenting campaigns also remains elusive. Only 41% of marketers said targeting by prospect persona was an effective lead-nurturing tactic, followed by 40% selecting personalized campaigns as beneficial and 39% targeting by decision state.

Yet personalized emails have been shown to increase transaction rates by as much as 600% per Experian. Segmenting campaigns also boost revenue by as much as 760%, per Campaign Monitor.
Targeting exercises to muscles that support and control the spine may help to reduce pain and disability caused by lower back pain, says research published in the Cochrane Review.

Share on Pinterest Exercises that target muscles supporting the spine could reduce pain in the lower back, researchers say.

Lower back pain (LBP) is one of the most common health conditions globally, incurring substantial health and economic costs due to disability, general ill health and lost days at work.

Despite its high prevalence, the source of pain is often unclear, with the result that it is often described as non-specific LBP.

Previous studies have suggested that LBP involves impairments in the control of the deep trunk muscles. These muscles are responsible for maintaining the coordination and stability of the spine.

Motor control exercise (MCE) was developed with the aim of restoring the coordination, control and capacity of the trunk muscles that support the spine. It is widely prescribed for people with LBP.

MCE involves training the isolated contraction of deep trunk muscles, with further integration of these muscles into more complex static, dynamic and functional tasks. It should also improve coordination and optimal control of the global trunk muscles.

Patients are initially guided by a therapist to practice normal use of the muscles through simple tasks; as their skill increases, more complex exercises are set, including the functional tasks needed to perform work and leisure activities.

In the the new study, researchers, led by Bruno Saragiotto, a physiotherapist from The George Institute, University of Sydney in Australia, gathered data from 29 randomized trials involving a total of 2,431 men and women, aged 22-55 years.
Personality has a big impact on the type of office environment people prefer to work in. Modern features such as hot-desking and open-plan floors appeal mainly to extroverted workers with others finding them uncomfortable.

This is one of the findings of a study by John Hackston, Head of Research at business psychologists OPP, who presents his findings today, Friday 8 January 2016, at the British Psychological Society Division of Occupational Psychology's annual conference in Nottingham.

John Hackston said: "Despite changes in technology many people still work in an office. Understanding how personality interacts with the office environment is key to improving job satisfaction and productivity."

Over 300 people (71 per cent female and average age 47 years) completed an online survey about their current office environments. The participants had previously completed a personality test to ascertain their personality type.

The results showed that many features of the modern office were much more likely to be preferred by extroverts than by introverts. Extroverts were significantly happier at work and had higher levels of job satisfaction. Personality differences were also shown to be behind areas of conflict in the office, such as people's reactions to the idea of a clear desk policy. Some features were desired by almost everyone, such as having your own desk and working area, having well-designed workplaces and having 'quiet areas' available. Others, such as desk-sharing or hot-desking, were disliked by most people.

John Hackston said: "These results support previous research into the unpopularity of open-plan offices and hot-desking and the positive effects of personalisation. However, there are some simple changes that can be made to improve staff satisfaction and increase productivity.

"These include allowing staff more storage for personal items when hot-desking; creating smaller neighbourhoods within open-plan offices; not overdoing clear desk policies as clearing away all personal items can be demotivating to some people and providing quiet zones for people to work in when needed."
As the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders continues to rise, medical professionals have emphasized early diagnosis, intervention and treatment. However, less attention has been given to children with autism once they reach their teen years and adulthood. Now, one University of Missouri researcher is working to find ways to support teens with autism and their caregivers so the teens can transition into adulthood successfully and independently.

"We need to focus our efforts on addressing the needs of young adults with autism in a much bigger and broader way," said Nancy Cheak-Zamora, an assistant professor in the MU School of Health Professions and a researcher at the MU Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. "As health care providers, we cannot only help them take care of their health care needs; we also need to assure they're connected to resources necessary to live independently and succeed in employment and education."

Cheak-Zamora and her colleagues conducted two focus groups with youth with autism and two focus groups with the teens' caregivers to explore the teens' experiences transitioning into adulthood and their plans for the future. Specifically, the researchers wanted to know the teens' and caregivers' needs, beyond health care. The researchers found both teens with autism and their caregivers felt fearful and anxious about the teens becoming adults; caregivers also reported lacking social, educational and vocational resources to help their children prepare for their futures. The caregivers said they were struggling to fill those gaps in resources themselves.

"Some parents get apartments for their young adults and then maintain two households," Cheak-Zamora said. "The mom, in most cases, is taking care of her house and her young adult's home. It's wonderful that the adult with autism is getting independence, but it can be unbelievably burdensome for the family and the parents."

Caregivers should start talking to their children with autism early about their plans for their future, Cheak-Zamora said.

"A lot of the young adults in our study told us about their goals for their future, but few had ever communicated these goals to their caregivers," Cheak-Zamora said. "Our young adults with autism really want to be able to socialize and succeed in higher education, but sometimes they don't know how to go about doing that. Caregivers need to start saying to their children at the age of 12 or 13, 'What do you want to do? We've got 5 years, so let's make a plan.' They can even do that in the doctor's office and with a school counselor."

Cheak-Zamora said finding ways to facilitate independence for the young adults with autism is important, and it doesn't have to be expensive. However, it does take some creativity and help from others, she said.

"Care coordination should be in the health care setting, and this is a part of the medical home model -- making sure that the family isn't just meeting with the doctor for 15 minutes -- that somebody else is following up with them to again think about what resources and unmet needs they have and how to connect them with resources. It would also be an opportunity for the family to feel supported."

The Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities published the study, "'Transitions are Scary for our Kids, and They're Scary for us': Family Member and Youth Perspectives on the Challenges of Transitioning to Adulthood with Autism." Co-authors from the University of Missouri include Michelle Teti, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences in the School of Health Professions and Jennifer First, from the School of Social Work in the College of Human Environmental Sciences. Cheak-Zamora recently received Young Professional Award from the American Public Health Association for her significant contributions to the field of maternal and child health. Cheak-Zamora currently is working on a project, "Improving Healthcare Transition Planning and Health-Related Independence for Youth with ASD and Their Families," funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.


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Sasaki said, "Energy sensing is vital to the successful proliferation of cancer cells. A large amount of GTP is required in rapidly dividing cells, and cells need to know that the fuel is available to them. If we can interfere with the ability of PI5P4K-946; to sense fuel availability and communicate that information, we may be able to slow or halt the growth of cancers, including the aggressive brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme and cancers that have metastasized to the brain."The publication inis Sasaki's first to address PI5P4K-946; as a molecular sensor of GTP concentration. Initially, he and his team faced skepticism regarding the existence of GTP energy-sensing; however, with a pilot grant funded by Cincinnati's Walk Ahead for a Brain Tumor Cure and other local sources, the researchers were able to pursue their high-risk research and acquire enough promising data to earn a five-year, $1.67 million grant from the National Institutes of Health in 2014.Ronald Warnick, medical director of the Brain Tumor Center and the John M. Tew, Jr., Chair in Neurosurgical Oncology, said, "The publication inis another milestone for Atsuo Sasaki and the UC Brain Tumor Center. The seeds of this discovery, which were planted locally by friends of the UC Brain Tumor Center and nourished by federal tax dollars, are now bearing their first fruit as we gain a better understanding of cancer's energy mechanisms."Sasaki and his team identified PI5P4K-946; as a GTP sensor by demonstrating, in a laboratory setting, its ability to bind to GTP and by demonstrating, at the atomic level by X-ray structural analysis, the molecular mechanism by which it recognizes GTP. They then designed PI5P4K-946; mutant cells that were unable to sense GTP concentration and, as a result, impaired the ability of PI5P4K-946; to promote tumor growth.His next step is to use both pharmacological and molecular approaches that target PI5P4K-946; in a cell culture and in animal tumor models.Sasaki said, "By unveiling PI5P4K-946;'s role as a GTP sensor, we now have a potential new therapeutic target for patients. If we can find drugs that stop PI5P4K-946; from acting as the fuel indicator, we could get these aggressive and tragic cancers into energy-depleted status."Source: Eurekalert
Against the backdrop of reports that North Korea has tested a hydrogen bomb, the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh published an editorial titled "Iran Following in the Footsteps of North Korea," which harshly criticized the superpowers' inadequate response to North Korea's nuclear policy, and discussed the implications of this for the Iranian nuclear dossier. The daily expressed fear that the failed policy vis-a-vis North Korea would be repeated in the case of Iran, placing the Gulf states in a situation similar to that of South Korea.

The following are translated excerpts from the editorial:[1]



Image: Businessinsider.com.au

"In mid-June of last year, a month before [the announcement of] the nuclear agreement between Iran and the superpowers [the JCPOA], Iranian President Hassan Rohani met with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong. The two agreed to continue their cooperation. As regimes that are similar to each other, Tehran and Pyongyang have found many points in common: Both are hostile to the West, both are highly controversial in their [respective geographic] regions, and both repeatedly do damage to their neighbors.

"Both countries have a long history of cooperation that arouses concern, in nuclear and missile [technology]. According to reports, North Korean nuclear technicians have regularly visited [Iran] in order to provide their Iranian counterparts with the necessary guidance and technical supplies. It should be mentioned that Iran has already confirmed that it has produced a gram and a microgram [sic] of plutonium, which is used to make a nuclear bomb, at its Arak heavy water reactors. [Furthermore,] it is known that North Korea possesses advanced technology for arming warheads with [only] small amounts, up to five kilograms, of plutonium; this material is highly compatible with use in missiles.

"This background is essential in order to understand the idea I wish to clarify in this article. Two days ago, North Korea conducted its first hydrogen bomb test. This is a grave development in terms of international and regional security. Indeed, the superpowers did not hide their displeasure at this test - [a test] that constitutes a clear example of what can happen [when the superpowers] rely on promises made by regimes that show hostility and endanger regional and world security. One outcome of this is that a regime of this sort [manages to] violate the global order and upset the regional balance of power. The implications of this are magnified when the regime in question is failed and tyrannical to the point of insanity.

"[The likelihood] that this model will recur in our Middle Eastern region is great, because Iran is not all that different from North Korea, and because the superpowers are repeating the same mistake and following the same methods to [attempt to] resolve the [Iranian] nuclear dossier. In 1994, the U.S. signed a framework agreement with Pyongyang, which violated it several years later, continuing its [nuclear] program until it could detonate its nuclear bomb. Today, the superpowers, led by the U.S., can do nothing in the face of a nuclear nation. Moreover, paradoxically, they are very interested in indirectly protecting Kim Jong-un's tyrannical regime, because anarchy or upheaval in that nuclear nation could cause real damage to international security. This scenario could recur in the case of Tehran, which is three months away from completing the stage of becoming a so-called 'threshold nuclear state.' This means that it requires [three months] to produce the uranium needed to build a single nuclear [bomb].

"North Korea lied when it signed the framework agreement with the U.S., since it was [at the same time] secretly enriching uranium. After this was exposed, it expelled the [UN] inspectors and detonated its nuclear bomb. This scenario can recur with the regime in Tehran, which can neither be trusted nor relied upon, especially because it continues to act aggressively against its neighbors. The Western countries, led by the U.S., will find themselves condemning a theocratic regime that calls for their downfall and yearns for their death, while the Gulf states will face a fate similar to that of South Korea, becoming hostages of American protection. Will anyone learn this lesson?"

Endnotes:
A prominent voice in the inter-Iranian conflict between the ideological camp led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who opposes openness to the West and especially to the U.S., and the pragmatic camp led by Hashemi Rafsanjani, who promotes such openness, is that of reformist intellectual and Tehran University professor Sadegh Zibakalam.

Zibakalam, who in 2014 was sentenced to 18 months in prison criticizing the regime's nuclear policy and for his reformist and pro-U.S. opinions,[1] recently again took up his public calls to the Iranian regime to abandon the anti-Americanism preached by Khamenei, arguing that it harms Iran's interests and democratic life. According to Zibakalam, the Islamic Revolution never advocated hostility towards the U.S. - it only opposed dictatorship and supported free elections. He has stressed that the anti-U.S. policy has hijacked the true message of the Revolution and that this policy is being used as a tool by the camp that controls Iran's domestic and foreign policy. But, he said, the younger generation is not fooled by this, and seeks rapprochement with the U.S. - and the JCPOA is a harbinger of that.

This paper will review some of Zibakalam's notable public statements in recent months critical of the institutionalized Iranian regime hostility towards the U.S., and in favor of the JCPOA for the benefit that he says it that it will bring Iran.



Sadegh Zibakalam (image: iranhumanrights.org)

"In My Opinion, The JCPOA Is The Beginning Of The End Of The [Chanting Of] 'Death To America'"

At a November 2, 2015 public debate with Ebrahim Asgharzadeh at the Sharif University of Technology marking the anniversary of the November 4, 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Zibakalam said:

"Has hostility towards the U.S. existed from the onset of the Revolution, and was it part of the will of the people? In response to this question, I will say that hostility towards the U.S. and the 'Death to America' [slogan] were not part of the goals of the Revolution. The goals of the Revolution were to oppose the dictatorship, and efforts were devoted to achieving free elections - not hostility towards the U.S...

"In Iran's current history, no stream has harmed our national interests like [the one that advocates] hostility towards the U.S. I believe that hostility towards the U.S. has harmed [Iran] more than war with Russia [would have]. Hostility towards the U.S. has completely paralyzed us, both in our political development and in other matters.

"Hostility towards the U.S. was the biggest factor in the continuation of the situation that preceded the Revolution - that is, restricted elections and so on. Our only way out [of this situation] is to ask why such a thing has happened - not just to say that there should be no such hostility.

"Much of what we said about the U.S. was not true; some of it was a revision of history. For once, we should ask ourselves whether the U.S. really was so idiotic as to want a coup d'tat on November 4, 1979.

"When the Shah was there, and the military, [the U.S.] did not act to stage a coup d'tat - but it did act to stage one after everything was destroyed?! Or, with regard to the Tabas events [i.e. the failed 1980 U.S. hostage rescue attempt], which involved only aircraft - how can you call this a military assault?...

"Who says that the Shah was a nobody? Between 1943 and 1978, he made all the major decisions. What proof is there for those who claim that the U.S. dictated all his actions? Do you think that if the U.S. truly supported the Shah he would have been toppled? It was [the Shah's son-in-law and foreign policy chief] Ardeshir Zahedi and other rulers who believe that the U.S. did not support the Shah. In fact, at the start of the Revolution, the U.S. did not know what to do with it...

"In my opinion, the JCPOA is the beginning of the end of the [chanting of] 'Death to America.' Two or three days ago, [U.S. Secretary of State John] Kerry and [Iranian Foreign Minister Javad] Zarif spoke about Syria, not about nuclear issues. In fact, this is the beginning of the end of 'Death to America.'"[2]

"If The Purpose Of The Nuclear Industry Is Purely To Produce Electricity And Medicine, Then What Was The Need For The Secret Measures At Natanz?"

In September 2015, at the Conference To Explore The Political And Security Dimensions Of The JCPOA, in Iran, Zibakalam defended the agreement's achievements, which included Iran distancing itself from the "Death to America" slogan and rapprochement with the U.S. He also noted that the Iranian nuclear industry was an important factor in anti-U.S. policy in Iran. He said:

"That there is an agreement is more important than the agreement's details, because in the shadow of the outcome of the JCPOA, a certain atmosphere has been created between Iran and America, in which we can work out the details of the agreement. The JCPOA train left [the station] on July 15 [the day after it was announced]... Iran and the U.S. are the two main actors in this matter, and they have reached an historic turning point in their relationship...

"After [the JCPOA was announced in] Vienna, the strongest and most principled reaction of the elements hostile to the U.S. [in Iran] was their statement that they did not recognize the agreement as the end of 'Death to America' and that they will continue to chant it... Iran is already on board the train that is moving away from 'Death to America,' so it can be said that we have already passed the main stages of the JCPOA... The other side [the U.S.] has already accepted the reality of post-Revolution Iran..."

Criticizing the building of the Fordo site, Zibakalam said: "Between Tehran and Qom, in the heart of the mountains, large funds were spent in order to build a series of special facilities whose main purpose is to withstand enemy airstrikes and prevent the destruction of nuclear infrastructure. Now that Fordo has become a research center, I ask: Why was so much money and time wasted on building the Fordo facilities?

"We should not look at the JCPOA as part of goals that were predefined - because that way the entire agreement will be questioned. That is the wrong approach.

"In fact, the nuclear industry was created in Iran to show hostility to America... If the purpose of the nuclear industry is purely to produce electricity and medicine, then what was the need for the secret measures at Natanz? After the Natanz activity was exposed by the munafiqeen [i.e. the Mojahedin-e Khalq], the nuclear dossier became an issue and a banner to show hostility against the U.S....

"The government of [Iranian president Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad devoted all its efforts to making the nuclear industry an issue for showing hostility to America... The problem started as soon as the extremists would not say why America and the West opposed [Iran's] nuclear industry, and instead said that America and the West opposed Iran's advancements in the nuclear industry and in science. This is a blatant lie, because there is no economic or scientific advancement on the nuclear front, and a good example of this is Pakistan.

"The West opposed a nuclear Iran because we repeatedly stated proudly that we wanted to destroy the Zionist regime, while Brazil and other countries with nuclear industries never said anything like that.

"None of the activities at Fordo, Natanz, and the Arak heavy water reactor, which have now stopped, served Iran's national interests; they were based solely on resistance to the U.S....

"Public opinion in Iran does not support the nuclear program... The Iranian people want the nuclear crisis in Iran to end, and if we polled various groups of people, we would see that they absolutely do not agree with Iran's nuclear program...

"The emergence of the Islamic State [ISIS] has caused many changes and developments in the Middle East, creating rapprochement between Iran and the U.S., Iran and Saudi Arabia, and Iran and the Arabs. Iran and the U.S. share views in Afghanistan and Iraq... Extremists have noticed that in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen, Iran and the U.S. are indirectly cooperating, which makes them worry. This is also true for Lebanon.

"The Majlis never had, and today does not have, any standing in [Iran's] domestic or foreign policy. The days of the Majlis heading the agenda are over. Today, the country's agenda is constantly moving forward - however, Majlis members are preoccupied with their own affairs.

"Hostility towards the U.S. has no connection to the Islamic Revolution, because the Iranian people revolted for other reasons. It is more accurate to say that the Islamic Revolution hijacked hostility towards the U.S., particularly because this hostility served a special purpose in its inter-Iran policy.

"But now, Iran has encountered a problem with the hostility towards the U.S., because the young people are highly educated and there is openness in public opinion. It is this that drives their opposition to the hostility towards the U.S., and makes things difficult for those who hide behind it.

"The hostility towards the U.S. has become the identity of the extreme conservatives, and if we take 'Death to America' away from them, the conservative stream will have nothing left to say. Those who persist in hostility towards the U.S. are preventing Iran's expansion and development."[3]

Endnotes:
The following are some of this week's reports from the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) Project, which translates and analyzes content from sources monitored around the clock, among them the most important jihadi websites and blogs. (To view these reports in full, you must be a paying member of the JTTM; for membership information, send an email to [email protected] with "Membership" in the subject line.)

Note to media and government: For a full copy of these reports, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to [email protected]. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.

EXCLUSIVE: In New Video, Members of Al-Qaeda In Islamic Maghreb-Sahara Region Promise To Expel The Foreign Enemy And Invade European Cities - And Call On Muslims In Mali To Expel The French

On January 7, 2016, the Al-Andalus media organization, which belongs to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), released a 13-minute video titled "From The Depths Of The Sahara - 1"; the video was disseminated via the AQIM Twitter account. The video is divided into a number of segments documenting the organization's activity in the Greater Sahara. One of the fighters promises that one day the mujahideen will expel the foreign enemy from the land of the Sahara, and will also attack it in its own land, in Naples, Madrid, and Rome.

EXCLUSIVE: ISIS Supporters Provide Rationalizations, Encouragement Following Loss Of Ramadi

In light of recent setbacks for the Islamic State (ISIS), especially in the battles around the city of Ramadi in Iraq, supporters of the organization scrambled to rationalize the situation and encourage their fellow supporters to not be discouraged. Writing on jihadi forums and social media, writers stressed that the fight for Ramadi was merely one battle in a large war, and that the setback was a test of faith for the jihad fighters and their supporters. One writer rationalized the loss of Ramadi by saying that in military terms, an organized retreat was tantamount to a military victory. Further indication of the need for encouragement were the many calls to offer prayers for the jihad fighters on the front lines.

Following are several examples of this trend:



ISIS fighters on the front lines in the North Baghdad province

"An Organized Retreat Is A Military Victory"

Writing on the leading pro-ISIS forum Shumoukh Al-Islam, user Abu Al-Qa'qa' Al-Zubaidi posted an article on December 30, 2015 titled "Do Not Weaken and Do Not Grieve... An Organized Retreat is A Military Victory". He wrote: "Yes, do not grieve. I say this not to boost your morale, which is, Allah willing, already high, nor as an emotional reaction. I say this from a military perspective to those who have no military knowledge and understanding of military operations, basing [my analysis] on the worst case scenario..."

EXCLUSIVE: Following Executions, Jihadists Issue Threats Against Saudi Regime

On January 2, 2016, Saudi Arabia executed 47 individuals on terrorism charges, most of them radical Sunnis, members of an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group that operated in the kingdom in 2003-2006. The most prominent figure among them was Fares Al-Zahrani, aka Abu Jandal Al-Azdi, who was one of the group's major ideologues. The executions touched off tempestuous reaction amongst jihadists, and supporters of jihadist organizations as well as several calls for revenge on the Saudi authorities. It is noteworthy that a few weeks ago Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) explicitly threatened to harm Saudi Arabia if it went ahead with the executions. The calls for vengeance are coming from Al-Qaeda and supporters of the Islamic State (ISIS) alike.

Below are a few representative reactions:

Al-Munasiroun, a media group devoted to supporting jihadist prisoners incarcerated in Saudi jails, condemned the execution of the jihadists, and announced: "This crime will not be passed over in silence. If vengeance is not exacted for the religious scholars and the righteous [who were executed], than [being buried] underground is preferable to life."

An AQAP militant nicknamed Mawlawi 'Abdallah posted Fares Al-Zahrani's picture on his Twitter account, and wrote: "We swear to avenge [your death]. We prefer to die rather than abstain from vengeance."

A Twitter user who calls himself Muraqib 'Aam posted a short video showing two armed men, apparently ISIS fighters, driving in a car, threatening the Saudi royal family and especially the crown prince Muhammad bin Na'if. Muraqib 'Aam commented: "By Allah, we enraged you with words and we will enrage you with deeds. O Ibn Hayef ['corrupt', derogatory nickname for Muhammad bin Na'if] expect the worst. The lions [ISIS warriors] have reached you."

EXCLUSIVE: Social Media Groups Raising Awareness Of 'Muslim Prisoners' Have Radical Islamist Links

Groups that raise awareness of the alleged plight of jihadi prisoners are very active across a range of social media platforms. The two groups that appear to be the most popular groups are Free Our Sisters and Muslim Prisoners. Although the names of the organizations might imply interest in Muslims who are incarcerated simply for being Muslim, they seem to focus on individuals who have been detained for or convicted of jihadi terrorism or extremism.

The two groups share a similar objective, calling on Muslims to write to jihadis in prison in the West. Free Our Sisters posts photos of the colorful cards and letters sent to inmates, and Muslim Prisoners provides, on its own website, addresses of prisoners to whom interested individuals can write.

Muslim Prisoners is also active on Twitter and Instagram; Free Our Sisters is active on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook, where the German-language page has 1,740 "likes." As of this writing, Free Our Sisters has 1,277 followers on Twitter, among them many ISIS members and supporters. Muslim Prisoners boasts many of the same supporters, however, the group has nearly 10 times more Twitter followers, 11,300 as of this writing.

ISIS Supporters Tighten Security Measures To Join ISIS Channels On Telegram

Supporters of the Islamic State (ISIS) are turning more creative in order to stop their channels on the secure communication app Telegram from being reported and shut down.

One pro-ISIS blog is now only allowing people to join the English Nashir channel, a top disseminator of ISIS content in English on Telegram, by submitting their request online.

ISIS Threatens Britain And David Cameron, Executes 'British Spies'

On January 3, 2016, the Islamic State (ISIS) in Al-Raqqa province, Syria, published a 10:30 video titled "They Are The Enemy So Beware Of Them - 3" (a reference to Koran 63:4) - the third in a series of videos depicting ISIS exposing and executing spy cells. The video, which was also posted on the jihadi forum Shomoukh Al-Islam, documents the execution of five men accused of spying on ISIS members in Al-Raqqa.

Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV

Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade: We Are An Independent Organization, Not Affiliated With ISIS

In a communique it issued on December 31, 2015, the general command of the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade (Liwa Shuhada Al-Yarmouk), a jihad organization operating in southern Syria, denied rumors that have been circulating in the last year that it is affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS). The communique, posted inter alia on the jihadi form Al-Shumoukh (shamikh1.biz), stated emphatically that the brigade is independent and is not affiliated with any organization or state.

Jihadi Eulogizes ISIS 'Governor' In Libya, Killed In November 2015 In U.S. Airstrike

On January 5, 2016, a eulogy for Abu Al-Mughira Al-Qahtani, leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Libya, was posted online. Al-Qahtani, whose real name is Wissam Najm Abd Al-Zayd Al-Zubaydi, was ISIS's wali (governor) in Libya. He was killed in November 2015 in the U.S.'s first airstrike against an ISIS leader in Libya, near the coastal city of Derna.

Al-Qaeda-Affiliated Group's Video Shows Beheading Of Al-Qaeda Facilitator Who Spied On Adnan Al-Shukrijumah

The Ittehad-e-Mujahideen Khorasan, an alliance of jihadi groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, has released a video showing their fighters beheading an alleged spy who had tipped off Pakistani security forces to the location of senior Al-Qaeda member Adnan Al-Shukrijumah.

Al-Shabab Recruitment Video Showing Donald Trump Urges African-Americans To Convert To Islam, Join Jihad, Make Hijra

On January 1, 2016, the Somali-Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen released a recruitment video aimed at African-Americans, urging them to convert to Islam and to either make hijra or wage jihad where they are. Titled "The Path to Paradise: From the Twin Cities to the Land of the Two Migrations [i.e. Somalia] 2," the video is the second in a series featuring Somali-Americans from Minnesota who have joined Al-Shabab in recent years. Part 1 was released over two years ago, in August 2013. A number of the Somali-American Al-Shabab fighters appearing in it appear in the current video as well.

New TIP Film Documents Organization's Battles South Of Aleppo

On January 6, 2016, the Voice of Islam, a media body identified with the Uyghur organization TIP (Turkestan Islamic Party), released an 11-minute video titled "And Victory Is Only from Allah" (Koran 8:10). The video, posted on the Voice of Islam Twitter page and elsewhere, documents a battle fought by TIP and by the Salafi- jihadi Jund Al-Aqsa organization in Aleppo's southern outskirts against forces supporting the Assad regime, mostly pro-Iranian Shi'ite militias.

Turkestan Islamic Party Mourns Death Of AQIM Official

On December 31, 2015, the Syrian branch of the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP), an Al-Qaeda affiliate consisting mostly of Uighur fighters, published a statement mourning the death of Abd Al-Hassan Rashid Al-Bulaidi, the head of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) Shura Council. Al-Bulaidi was killed recently by Algerian forces in the Bu Nu'man area in Tizi Ouzou province.

Urdu Daily: ISIS Emir For Islamabad Arrested By Pakistani Officials

According to an Urdu-language daily, a militant commander working as the emir of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Islamabad has been arrested in the town of Sialkot in Pakistan.

Pakistani Daily Report Reveals Pakistan Is In Denial About Pakistani Women, Men And Children Moving To Syria Via Iran And Joining ISIS, Lahore Is Major Recruitment Center

Following are excerpts from a Pakistani media report indicating that the Pakistani government is clueless about Pakistanis moving to Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS):

In South Waziristan, the above message in Urdu reads: "[We] offer praise to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the chief of the Daesh [ISIS] organization in Syria."

"The Female Principal Of A Lahore-Based Islamic Center Left Home Along With Her Four Children, Telling Her Husband That She Was Going To [The Town Of] Kasur"

"On the morning of September 12, the female principal of a Lahore-based Islamic center left home along with her four children, telling her husband that she was going to [town of] Kasur for Dars-e-Quran [a lesson in Koran] but never returned.

"A week later, Khalid felt relieved on receiving a call from his wife. Bushra was in Quetta. However, the conversation that followed was not music to Khalid's ears; she was on her way to Syria through Iran to join Daesh [ISIS] along with the kids. The eldest among them is 15 years old and the youngest is nine years old."
In a piece published January 2, 2016 on the New Age Islam website, titled "The Stabbing Of A Policeman In Yavatmal Reveals Pro-ISIS Radicalization," MEMRI South Asia Studies Project director Tufail Ahmad examined the case of the stabbing of a policeman in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra state, India, of which Mumbai is the state capital. While the stabbing was depicted in the Indian media as a young Muslim's anger against the state government's ban on the slaughter of cows, it has turned out to be a case of pro-ISIS radicalization. The attacker, Abdul Malik, was found to have been radicalized by an Islamic cleric.[1]

The following is the article in full:



Image courtesy: Deccan Chronicle

"Your Government Bans Beef, So Take That!"

"On September 25, 2015, soon after offering the annual Eid Al-Azha (Feast of the Sacrifice) prayer, a Muslim youth stabbed a policeman in the town of Pusad in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the state capital. Two policemen who rushed to save their colleague were also wounded, but Abdul Malik, the 20-year-old youth, was ultimately overpowered and arrested. While attacking the cop, Malik, a pharmacist by profession, shouted: 'Tumhari government beef ban karti hai, toh tum yeh lo' - 'Your government bans beef, so take that!'

"At the time of the incident, the government of Maharashtra, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was embroiled in controversy for bringing in legislation to ban the slaughter of cows, although the legislation itself had been enacted by the predecessor government under the Congress, a center-left secular party. Cows are not sacrificed by Muslims across the Islamic world, but in South Asia, because the majority Hindus revere cows, Islamic clerics have, over the course of the past 1,000 years, made it a common practice to sacrifice cows in order to undermine the Hindu cultural ethos.

"As a result, the Indian Constitution, which came into force in 1950, directs the government to enact legislation to ban cow slaughter. Therefore, in various Indian states, governments led mostly by the secular Congress party have banned cow slaughter over the past six decades and more. Cow slaughter was also banned during the reign of the 16th century Mughal Emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, a ruler known for his respect of all religions. For his ban on cow slaughter, Akbar was severely criticized by Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi, a leading Islamic scholar of the time.

"Abdul Malik's statement at the time of the stabbing regarding the cow slaughter ban was presented in the Indian media as legitimate criticism of the government's interference in the food habits of Indians. The governments indeed must not interfere in food habits of citizens, but it appears now that the cow slaughter ban was merely an issue used by a local cleric to radicalize Malik. Over the past few months, the stabbing case was investigated by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra government. The results indicate that Abdul Malik was part of a radicalization plot.

"The Radicalization of Abdul Malik

"On November 2, the ATS arrested Maulana Hafiz Mujib Rehman, a 26-year-old local Islamic cleric, who was involved in the radicalization of Abdul Malik. During his interrogation, Malik had revealed that the cleric had been 'filling his ears against the government on various subjects, including how the beef ban was infringing on their rights.' Niket Kaushik, the ATS's Inspector General of Police, told journalist Jayprakash S. Naidu of The Asian Age: 'The maulana [cleric] is part of a bigger group. We have learned that he was indoctrinating Malik.'

"The journalist Naidu wrote in his report: 'The work of indoctrination was gradual and went on for over a period of two to three years. Malik... told the police that Mujib [the cleric] asked him whether his parents would find something amiss if he went missing for a couple of weeks. The police strongly suspect that Mujib wanted to send Malik to Afghanistan via Bangladesh to get Al-Qaeda-level arms training.' Further reports indicate a larger terror plot involving at least six Muslim youths wanting to connect with the Islamic State (ISIS).

"On October 21, Rashmi Rajput, a journalist with The Indian Express, wrote: 'The ATS suspects that Malik was trained along the lines of a lone-wolf attack.' Rajput quoted an unidentified ATS official as saying: 'During his interrogation, Malik told us that a local maulana radicalized him, and therefore he stabbed the constable. The maulana allegedly told Malik that Muslims in India were under threat and that they should do something about it.'

"Pro-ISIS Cell of Six Youths

"On December 8, Mateen Hafeez, a journalist with The Times of India, reported that the ATS probe into the stabbing case had revealed a terror plot involving six Muslim youths who were radicalized in favor of ISIS; of them, three have been arrested. Hafeez wrote: 'Six youths in the cell in Yavatmal district had been brainwashed to join the Islamic State... At least three arrests in the state have broken its back, believe the ATS, which is looking at it as a breakthrough.' Abdul Malik's interrogation led to a second man involved in the cell: Shoaib Khan. As per the report, 'though both are from Pusad, Malik and Khan met in a radical chatroom online and discovered they are from the same place.'

"It's not clear who the six persons in the cell are, but the three arrests include Abdul Malik, Shoaib Khan, and Hafiz Mujib Rehman, the last being the cleric. It seems that the group of six broke up at some point, due to the revelation that Rehman had demanded a dowry at his marriage, an act of impiety. Niket Kaushik, the ATS official, stated: 'There were six youths in this new cell. Rehman had brainwashed them and exhorted them to join ISIS. During interactions, however, the youths learned that Rehman had demanded a dowry from his wife, and this 'un-Islamic act' led to divisions.' Another unidentified ATS official said: 'The group planned to first send Khan to ISIS. They decided Khan would go and evaluate the situation, and if things went fine, he would request his commanders to arrange for the smuggling out of more youths from the cell.'

"Shoaib Khan's arrest led the trail to Hyderabad, a southern Indian city that has been in the news headlines along with Mumbai for heavy pro-ISIS related radicalization. Khan was first arrested in October 2014 in Hyderabad along with two others, Talha Shah and Mohtasin Billa, as they tried to leave the southern metropolis for abroad to join ISIS. Over the past 18 months, police in Hyderabad have stopped some two dozen young men from leaving India to join ISIS. However, Shoaib Khan received bail, and returned to his hometown of Pusad to work at his father's business. Once in Pusad, he connected with Abdul Malik, who would go on to stab the cop. As per Mateen's report, Shoaib Khan has revealed: 'In case of failure to join ISIS, the group kept open the option of joining the Taliban in Afghanistan." The ATS is on the lookout for two more individuals.

"Some Conclusions

"Some conclusions follow from the Yavatmal stabbing case. One: It is not the central Syria-based leadership of ISIS that is trying to recruit Muslims from India. On the contrary: We are witnessing self-radicalization by young Indian Muslims who are considering ISIS one of their options. Their other options include Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and a host of Pakistani military-backed jihadi groups like Jaish-e-Muhammad and Jamaatud Dawa.

"Two: Islamic clerics in India are using local issues to arouse anti-government sentiment which undermines loyalty to India. This is largely in conformity with the Islamic teaching that all Muslims form a single Ummah, the global Muslim nation.

"Three: The controversy over beef witnessed last year by India was stoked by the country's non-Muslim intelligentsia, including journalists, actors, and authors who largely belong to left-of-center politics and were therefore opposed to the BJP-led governments in Maharashtra and elsewhere. This controversy was used by Islamists for their own benefit.

"Four: It is possible that all these young men might be released by the courts, because in such cases it is always difficult for intelligence agencies to produce police-like forensic evidence, complicated further by the fact that India doesn't yet have a counter-radicalization law.

"Bibi Zohra, the mother of stabber Abdul Malik, told journalist Aarefa Johari: 'My boy was not even fond of meat... He always preferred vegetarian food at home. Why would he be angry about the beef ban?' Aarefa Johari wrote: 'For Abdul Malik's family, this is just one of the many perplexing questions...'

"Yes indeed, common Muslims become perplexed about this phenomenon of our times. Bibi Zohra is right too. Her son's story is indeed not a story about beef or a ban on cow slaughter. It is a story of radicalization by Islamic scholars in India, in favor of the global jihad that is being inspired by ISIS, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and their lesser-known cousins in our streets."

Endnote:
As a tribute to Pathankot martyr National Security Guard Lieutenant Col Niranjan Kumar and to avenge the attack at the Air Force Base Station, a group of Indian hackers have defaced seven Pakistani websites, including important Pakistani Govt websites.

According to cyber crime experts several hacking groups of India is responsible for the mass defacement of important Pakistani websites. One of them that has been identified is the hacker group Indian Black Hats, operative from Kerala, who said they have dedicated the hacking to the 18-month old daughter of Late Lt Col Niranjan Kumar, Vismaya.

 New Indian Express

According to The Times Of India, one of the members said that the intent of the hacking was to not start a cyber war but to send the message across; which is why they did not delete any content from the websites, but only uploaded the photograph of the late officers daughter.

The official sites that were hacked had the image of Lieutenant Col Niranjan Kumars daughter with the following message underneath.

This Attack is dedicated for Vismaya, the daughter of NSG Commando Lt Col Niranjan!! A Big Salute from team IBH To the familys of brave soldiers who lost their life in Pathankot Attack!! A Small Tribute to those Brave Soldiers who Laid their Precious Life for our Country and our People!!

RIP Brave Souls of Pathankot !! We Are Proud Of You Guys !! Bharat Maata Ki Jai !! Vande Matharam !!

We forgive...

We forget..

Don't Expect Anything from us.. !!

With F**K FrOm: Ind_Cod3r & L!u M!nyu

You can check out the full list of hacked websites, some of them which has been since restored, here!

1: Pakistan Government Home Remount Depot Mona

http://mona.gov.pk/IBH-Payback.html

2: CSD - Pakistan Government caring store.

http://www.csd.gov.pk/IBH-Payback.html

3: Centre for Pakistan and Gulf Studies

http://cpakgulf.org/IBH-Payback.html

4: FOTILE Kitchen Appliances

http://fotile.pk/IBH-Payback.html

5: SOLP Institute of Modern Languages

http://www.solp.pk/IBH-Payback.html

6: Pakistan Bar Council

http://pakistanbarcouncil.org/wp-content/themes/wisdom/ibh-payback.html

7: http://www.maslamsons.com/

H/t- The Times Of India
As the nation mourns the death of 7 valiant soldiers who died in a gun battle in the recent Pathankot attacks, a leading publication wrote an op-ed that insulted Lt Col Niranjan, one of the martyrs who died fighting for the country. Not only did the publication call the brave heart stupid, it even went on to question whether he deserved to be laid to rest with full State honours. And now, Major Navdeep Singh ha come forth with a befitting reply, defending the martyrs honour and it hits the nail right on the head.

 Facebook

Spare Military Casualties from Cynicism: My Response to an oped in The Telegraph

Navdeep Singh

I, for one, am not emotive or touchy when negative articles and opinions are written about our Defence Services. I sincerely feel that the military forces should never be treated so hallowed so as to prevent the citizenry at large from holding a mirror to them, but then the mirror should be held not to shame but to trigger introspection and debate for our common good. This I say since the military, like any other institution, belongs to, and if I may say so, is answerable to the people of this country.

That said, the oped in The Telegraph titled Martyrs Rites published 7th Jan 2015, rankled, nay, hurt me.

Besides stating that Lt Col Niranjan EK of the National Security Guard lost his life due to his stupidity (Yes, that was the word used), the opinion piece gets it wrong at many places. First things first. Battle is not mathematics. Nor is it a scientific formula. Battle is gray. Battle is ambiguous. Battle is bad. It seems that the mandatory Statutory Court of Inquiry into Colonel Niranjans demise too may not be necessary, now that the editorial team of the paper has reached the conclusion that he was at fault, providing a detailed list of his acts and omissions, and has also declared that the standards of discipline as well as security of the Indian Army have fallen. Further, the editorial has also pronounced the verdict that the booby trap planted by the terrorists was simple.

The write-up further questions the honour bestowed upon the Late Colonel on his death, forgetting that such honour was not just the done thing in such eventualities but also in many other circumstances, including in certain situations for retired officers, people of eminence and even political personalities. To question whether he deserved it, is nauseating, to put it mildly.

Now coming to main issue that I would want to address for clarity of the general reader.

Military operations, the world over, do not just involve bullets and bombs, as perceived by many. Military operations, from start till culmination, involve aspects that are at times invisible, volatile and fickle even for the elements who participate in them. It is redundant even to question whether the Colonels death was an operational casualty or not! Of course it was. To put it in simple terms, would he have died if the Pathankot terrorist attack had not taken place? Negative. Recently four of our soldiers died in an avalanche near one of the highest battlefields in the world, was it not an operational casualty? Of course it was. Surely they were not there on a picnic but were deployed for our defence in an operation notified in that area in the Gazette of India. To be killed by a bullet or the vagaries of nature is inconsequential when the task at hand is operational. A soldier falling down a gorge while patrolling in a counter-insurgency operation or an officer dying of cardiac arrest while deployed in one of the coldest battlefields or dying of a snakebite in a trench on the border, are all battle casualties, even as per regulations. So much so that the rules related to monetary benefits to such casualties ordain that even an element of negligence, if any, would not come in the way of such grants.

None couldve describe it better than the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a case decided in the year 2010 when it recorded that an act of heroism was an exaggerated expression and a person need not have his finger on the trigger or hurling a bomb so as to be entitled to benefits and any person who suffers injury, including an accident in an operational area, is a battle casualty. The Delhi High Court, in 2013, also reiterated that all personnel who are present in operational areas and whose aid and assistance is essential and perhaps crucial for success and those who imperil themselves, directly or indirectly, and are in the line of fire during the operations, would be covered under the category of battle casualty. In any case, for the gallant ones, the line between fearlessness and stupidity, as the editorial puts it, is pretty thin and breachable, and it is all very well to comment on it while writing a piece on a laptop in ones room.

Rather than commenting in vacuum that there was lack of discipline on the part of the late officer or that the Army is being reduced to an object of ridicule, we would have been rather fortunate if the oped had set its energy on calling for better equipment for our foot soldiers and restricted itself to the improvement in procedures to prevent such casualties in the future, since after all, what are we going to do with all those Missiles and deterrent hardware which in reality we are never going to employ, if the men and women on the ground go to battle without basic necessities or safety! Instead, The Telegraph indulged in cynicism about the life of a soldier we just lost in a terrorist attack and before the dust in the lives of the families of all those we lost could settle, took the path of tastelessly and insensitively calling out and stating that an officer like Niranjan should be taken to task even after his death.

If this is the reaction a military casualty is going to elicit, I wonder where we are headed. But then there is solace in the thought that it was just an opinion.

 Facebook

The letter by Major Navdeep Singh was originally published here and has been garnering a lot of support from all over the country. This powerful letter is a tight slap on everyones face who take freedom of expression as a means to insult and belittle the efforts of the jawans who sacrifice their lives fighting for us, making sure were safe in our homes. Share this so every cynic out there knows that we still are proud of the Indian Army!
The heated debate of Free Basics vs. Net Neutrality should be laid to rest because Indians have finally given their verdict, and the result looks highly in favour of Net Neutrality.

 Independent

An incredible 81% of Indians have voted against Facebooks Free Basics spreading the message that they want unbiased and neutral internet for themselves and everyone else loud and clear. This survey was conducted by Local Circles and as many as 30,000 citizens from across the country participated in the poll voicing their opinion.

From the result, 78% of the audience wanted the government to provide some kind of free conditional internet access which covers essential citizen services, information, news, emergency alerts, education, etc.

This is definitely a huge step in our bid to keeping the internet neutral and shows what exactly the citizens of India want. However, its actually the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) who will have the final say in the matter and they are yet to release the final count of the mails that they have received in favour of net neutrality, post the last day (Thursday) for the public to give their feedback.

 YouTube

This was the final poll results as submitted by Local Circles.

Poll Results:

Poll # 1: Do you support neutral/unbiased access to the internet for all Indians as opposed to the Free Basics model proposed by Facebook?

Yes  81%

No  19%

Total Votes  15,638

Poll # 2: Should the Central/State/Local Governments instead of a private entity like Facebook provide free conditional access to useful internet (Citizen Services, Education, Information, News, etc.)?

Yes  77%

No  23%

Total Votes  14,617

H/t- Business Wire India
Thanks to Greg Folkers for sending the link to this comment in The Lancet: Civilmilitary cooperation in Ebola and beyond. Excerpt:

Several high-level panels, including a Lancet report, are examining the domestic and international response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Central to the lessons learned will be the role that militaries had during this crisis.

More than 5000 military personnel were deployed from the USA, UK, China, Canada, France, and Germany. These forces were seen by many as a game changer in the Ebola response.

We studied the effect of civilmilitary cooperation during the Ebola outbreak by conducting more than 70 semi-structured interviews between February and September, 2015. Our respondents included local health workers, non-governmental organisation representatives, officials from international organisations, government ministers, ambassadors, and officers from both foreign and domestic militaries.

We asked about what worked and what failed in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Based on this research, we outline just four key findings here that should be considered when thinking about the role of the military during global health crises.

The first finding is that several challenges arose from how the Ebola crisis was initially framed as a health emergency instead of a humanitarian crisis. This situation created confusion in a number of responder agencies, resulting in ad-hoc and untried arrangements being createdsuch as the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Responserather than well-established humanitarian coordination systems and processes.

The initial description of this outbreak as a health crisis was understandable, but, as wider social and economic consequences arose, there was a need to reconsider the event for what it had becomea humanitarian disasterand respond accordingly.

The second finding is that the deployment of foreign militaries was key to convincing several non-governmental organisations to maintain or establish operations in the affected countries. Although Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Red Cross were able to reprioritise their activities to care for patients with Ebola, many organisations found themselves unprepared for a crisis of this nature. Several closed operations and exited the affected countries. These organisations only returned or established operations once western governments announced that they were deploying military forces to help contain the outbreak.

Third, it is important to note that most respondents found militaries open, engaging, and keen to learn. The services they provided in constructing Ebola treatment units and training health workers were well received, as was the medical care provided by a small number of military health professionals. The general consensus was that civilmilitary relations worked well in response to Ebola.

Nevertheless, concerns were raised about the slow speed with which the militaries constructed Ebola treatment units, the risk aversion displayed by some forces (eg, refusing to transport infected patients), the absence of mission flexibility, and the masculine spaces of decision making that sometimes limited productive engagement.

Fourth, no common framework was established for how different militaries operated during the Ebola crisis. The US military remained at arm's length, supporting Liberia's Ministry for Health and Social Welfare via the United States Agency for International Development. The Liberian armed forces and security sector stepped back their response after the West Point shooting of a civilian. The British military workedin principleunder the direction of a civilian led by the UK's Department for International Development, but integrated some personnel within the Sierra Leone armed forces. Although some militaries provided clinical care, others refused even to transport biological samples and patients.
Thanks to Greg Folkers for alerting me to this report in Science: A race to explain Brazil's spike in birth defects. The abstract:

Brazil is facing a disturbing spike in a severe birth defect called microcephaly. Babies are born with heads that are far too small, a sign that the brain failed to fully develop. Doctors there have reported nearly 3000 cases since July 2015more than 20 times the usual rate.

Scientists are scrambling to understand what is going on. The leading theory so far is that the condition is caused by a little known mosquito-borne virus called Zika that surfaced in Brazil in March and is quickly spreading through Latin America. The news has prompted the government to declare a public health emergency; some doctors are recommending women not get pregnant until more is known.

Researchers are trying to develop better diagnostic tests for the virus so they can track whether mothers of affected babies were infected during their pregnancies, and other groups are hoping to use stem cell models of the developing human brain to understand how the virus might affect fetal growth.

Meanwhile, the virus is advancing fast. It surfaced in Colombia, Suriname, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico in October and November; Puerto Rico reported its first cases in late December.

Researchers warn that countries across the Americas should be prepared for a similar wave of birth defects in coming months.
Such behavior is seen nowadays in some birds, and the discovery suggests that two-legged, meat-eating dinosaurs called theropods did it about 100 million years ago, the researchers said.

Martin Lockley of the University of Colorado Denver said the dinosaurs, probably males, apparently gathered in groups and "went crazy scraping" with their clawed, three-toed feet to attract mates. The beasts were built roughly like smaller versions of a T. rex. Footprints near the grooves suggest a variety of body lengths, up to about 16 feet from snout to tip of the tail.

The grooves they carved are up to 6 feet long.

The ritual would have been entertaining to watch, Lockley said in an interview. "These animals would have been really frenzied."

Lockley, an emeritus professor of geology, is an author of a paper on the discovery released Thursday by the journal Scientific Reports. The grooves were found at three sites in western Colorado and another just west of Denver.

Dinosaur expert Thomas Holtz Jr. of the University of Maryland, who didn't participate in the work, said it's reasonable to think that theropods created the grooves. But was it for mating?

Holtz said he wasn't convinced that the new paper had sufficiently ruled out other explanations. But he added that there's no particular evidence for rejecting the mating idea.

"Whatever behavior is being recorded here, it is an expression of the fact that dinosaurs_like all animals_did more than hunt and attack and devour and fight and all that limited set of behaviors that popular culture often portrays," Holtz wrote in an email.
HURON COUNTY  Helicopters flying in the area again were from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose agents made three arrests early this morning in the Bad Axe area, according to the Huron County Sheriffs Office.

They were in regards to local individuals having parts in criminal activities involving illegal immigrants, the sheriffs office said in a news release.

Sheriff Kelly J. Hanson says his office took calls from residents asking about helicopters flying overhead.

They were connected to this, Hanson said of the reported helicopters.

The agents arrested two adult females and one adult male at about 6:30 a.m. Friday, according to the release.

These arrests were the result of a lengthy ongoing investigation that originally began as a local joint investigation involving the Bad Axe City Police and our office, the release states.

The two females and male were taken to the Bay City federal courthouse to be arraigned on federal charges.

Their investigation is likely to continue, the sheriff said in the release.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Michigan State Police also assisted in the incident.

A message seeking comment was left with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Tribune also requested further information from Customs and Border Protection. Public Affairs Officer Kris Grogan said he is looking into the request.

Its at least the second time in three weeks residents called the sheriffs office to ask about helicopters flying overhead. Hanson said he was told helicopters in the area on Friday, Dec. 18, were taking photos.

They were flying routine missions while patrolling the international border with Canada, Grogan previously told the Tribune. He said they were assigned to the Great Lakes Air and Marine Branch Selfridge ANGB in Harrison Township, Macomb County. Grogan said there was no reason for residents to be concerned.

The story (http://bit.ly/1YmPkw6) gained national attention after it was reposted by the Drudge Report on Facebook in a post that read: HOMELAND CHOPPER TAKING PHOTOS OVER MI COUNTY  SHERIFF KEPT IN DARK
The first concrete response to North Korea's claimed detonation of an underground H-bomb will be the blasting of "K-pop" hip-hop and rock across the demilitarized zone while the allies consider tougher sanctions and other "serious consequences."

Cho Tae-yong, deputy chief of South Korea's presidential office of national security, said the enormous system of loudspeakers would resume blaring Korean pop and anti-North messages across the DMZ on Friday, which is either the 32nd or 33rd birthday of "Great Successor" and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Thursday.

"There is a high possibility that North Korea could react in an ultra-harsh manner by regarding South Korea's decision as ruining the birthday celebration," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute, Yonhap reported. The North has previously said that it regards the broadcasts as an "act of war."

However, Cho, the presidential office spokesman, said, "Our military is maintaining military readiness and will retaliate sternly should there be any North Korean provocation."

In a phone conference Wednesday, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and South Korean Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo "agreed that North Korea's provocations should have consequences," according to a readout of the call from Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook.

In a statement, Seoul's Defense Ministry said the response could involve the deployment of U.S. "strategic assets" to the peninsula. After North Korea's last nuclear test in 2013, the U.S. sent B-2 stealth bombers, B-52 bombers and F-22 Raptor fighters for drills in South Korea in a show of force.

The latest test at North Korea's underground site at Punggye-ri on the northeastern coast could also lead the U.S. to renew pressure on South Korea to accept placement of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile unit. South Korea has resisted stationing of a THAAD unit in the past for fear of offending China, a major trading partner.

At a Pentagon news conference Thursday, Press Secretary Cook said, "THAAD was not on the table for discussion" when Carter spoke to his South Korean counterpart on Wednesday. "We've still not had formal consultations on the THAAD system," Cook said. "No decisions have been made on the deployment of the THAAD to the Korean peninsula."

Cook said Carter had also conferred on possible responses by phone with Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command.

Although North Korea claimed that the underground blast Tuesday was a thermonuclear hydrogen bomb, the U.S., South Korea and major allies have cast doubt on the claim.

"We're still assessing the information we've received," Cook said, but "our analysis, again, indicates it's not consistent with North Korean claims of a hydrogen bomb test."

The United Nations Security Council met Wednesday to consider a possible new set of sanctions on North Korea. China, North Korea's largest trading partner and main energy supplier, also called on the North to rein in its nuclear ambitions.

"We urge North Korea to fulfill its promise of denuclearization and stop any action that would worsen the situation," China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@military.com.
It was the second time this year that restrictions have been placed on the use of amphibious combat vehicles.
BOSTON  The Coast Guard Auxiliary is taking part in a mission Thursday to rescue endangered Kemp's Ridley Turtles cold-stunned from the shores of Cape Cod.

Kemp's Ridley turtles come up to northeast waters in summer and become trapped in the elbow of the Cape's arm as water cools in the fall. These cold-blooded reptiles experience a hypothermic reaction to the cold temperatures with slowed breathing and heart rates, lethargy, thinning, and oftentimes pneumonia.

Without intervention many of these rare turtles would die.

"It is extremely helpful to the turtle population as well as the rehabilitation organizations trying to manage this critical event," said Kate Sampson a sea turtle stranding and disentanglement coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. "Larger turtles are stranding now and creating a crisis of space at the New England Aquarium."

A Coast Guard Auxiliary flight crew from the 1st District Southern Region, flying out of Marshfield Airport, plan to fly about 25 of the turtles to Orlando, Florida, where they can be released into warmer water.

During transport, the turtles will be loaded into the airplane in special boxes with insulation to keep them warm. While in flight the turtles have to be kept between 68 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

"We're honored to work with our partners at NOAA and the New England Aquarium to ensure these turtles arrive safely in Florida," said Coast Guard Auxiliary pilot Steve Trupkin.

The Coast Guard Auxiliary is the voluntary, un-paid, uniformed component of the Coast Guard. Congress established the Auxiliary June 23, 1939. The Auxiliary exists to support all Coast Guard missions except roles that require direct law enforcement or military engagement. As of 2015, there were approximately 32,000 members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Collectively, the Auxiliary contributes more than 4.5 million hours of service each year and complete nearly 500,000 missions in service to support the Coast Guard. Every year, Auxiliarists help save approximately 500 lives, assist 15,000 distressed boaters, conduct more than 150,000 safety examinations of recreational vessels, and provide boater safety instruction to more than 500,000 students. In total, the Coast Guard Auxiliary saves taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
The director of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility on Friday described getting the call to prepare five Taliban prisoners to exchange for Bowe Bergdahl, revealing that the prisoners had been surreptitiously moved while a group of reporters were present at the facility.

Marine Gen. John F. Kelly, who also commands U.S. Southern Command, will retire this month following a 45-year military career. In a final brief to reporters at the Pentagon, he discussed the role he had played in the 2014 prisoner exchange for the Army sergeant, who was held captive by the Taliban Haqqani network for five years.

Kelly said the order to transfer the prisoners was unusual in that he received a direct call from a "senior official" within the Pentagon rather than getting a written notice with an order to move a given group of prisoners.

"It was, 'Get these guys ready to go,'" he said.

Kelly had previously served as senior military adviser for then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta when a previous transfer for Bergdahl was attempted, and he said he recognized the list of prisoners.

"When they gave me those five names I said, 'Is this the Bergdahl crowd?'" Kelly recalled. "I follow orders. I said, 'Is this on the up-and-up? My question was, 'Am I going to get the paperwork on this? They said, 'The paperwork is coming but it's got to go quick.'"

The general clarified that he had not assumed that any Pentagon official would break the law, but wanted to ensure the paperwork was in order for the transfer. Kelly also noted that the transfer order presented another problem: getting the prisoners off the base without alerting a cadre of reporters who were there to cover a commissions period, in which military tribunals are partially opened to the press.

"When the press were waiting for their airplane and the families of the 9/11 crowd were down there, we were doing the transfer," Kelly said. "And we didn't get caught. I'm sure that anyone was down there at the time probably should have been able to pay a little more attention."

Kelly described the transfer as a policy decision and emphasized that his role was to follow the order he had received.

A government accountability organization audit would later find that the Pentagon broke the law by conducting the swap without giving Congress the required 30 days' notice.

Bergdahl remains on active duty and is facing general court-martial this summer on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.

Kelly said the "Taliban Five" exchanged for Bergdahl were "pretty senior guys," and he had been pleased to see Qatar agree to extend a one-year ban on travel for the men.

But with those prisoners and other transfers out of Guantanamo Bay, Kelly said leaving the prison might put them back in American cross-hairs.

"If they go back to the fight, we'll probably kill them, so that's a good thing," he said.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@monster.com.
The Pentagon rejected Thursday charges from former SEAL commander and now Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, that ground and air support may have been delayed for hours in the firefight in Afghanistan Tuesday in which Army Special Forces Staff Sgt. Staff Matthew Q. McClintock was killed.

"We don't have any indication there was any delay here" or "that there was any delay whatsoever," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in response to Zinke's allegations.

"Every effort was made by the commanders to try to address this situation" in which McClintock, his team, and Afghan Special Forces were engaged in a firefight with the Taliban in Marjah in Afghanistan's southwestern Helmand province, Cook said at a Pentagon news conference.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Zinke, an outspoken critic of the Obama administration, said that the rules of engagement in Afghanistan were "so restrictive that when a unit is pinned down available assets are not given the latitude to respond in a timely manner and it appears in this case that it cost lives."

Zinke, who was a SEAL from 1985 to 2008 and retired as a commander, said he learned from Special Operations troops familiar with the Marjah operation that a quick reaction ground force was "arbitrarily delayed" in reaching the scene. He also said that an AC-130 gunship was warned to avoid firing on the enemy to avoid collateral damage.

In response to Cook, Zinke's office issued a statement: "While we appreciate the quick reaction from the press office to defend the administration's over-restrictive rules of engagement, the Congressman is committed to discovering the facts of what exactly happened in Marjah and why exactly our forces were pinned down in a compound under enemy fire for hours without support."

Two other Special Forces troops were wounded in the firefight in which McClintock, 30, originally of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was killed. Cook said the two wounded troops were taken to Kandahar in neighboring Kandahar province for treatment but he did not immediately have additional information on their conditions.

Two Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters sent to the scene for the initial medical evacuation were unable to carry out the mission.

One was waved off because of enemy ground fire while the other was disabled when a rotor hit the wall of an Afghan compound. Cook said that the second helicopter has since been helo-lifted back to Kandahar.

McClintock, who had a wife and an infant son, "lost his life doing something important" in fighting for America's security and a better future for Afghanistan, Cook said.

The Special Forces team was in Marjah in the train, advise and assist role to which U.S. troops have been limited since the end of 2014 but Cook said, "This was clearly a combat satiation. They found themselves in a very difficult, dangerous situation. That is crystal clear. Obviously there can be some terrible consequences."

He said of the firefight, "This is a combat situation but they are not in the lead intentionally. The Special Forces team was there "in a back-up role" to the Afghans but became involved in actual combat as the operation progressed, Cook said.

McClintock's death came as the U.S. has increased the involvement of Special Forces teams with the Afghans and also stepped up airstrikes to counter Taliban offensives and the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, in Afghanistan.

An Afghan military official, Maj. Mohammad Rassoul Zazai, told the independent Pajhwok news agency that at least 34 Taliban fighters had been killed in the joint operation by Afghan and U.S. forces in the Marjah district.

McClintock was assigned to 1st Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group, in Buckley, Washington. He joined the Army in 2006 had deployed to Afghanistan with the 1st Battalion in July.

McClintock joined the Washington National Guard in 2014 after several years as an active duty soldier.

"Staff Sgt. McClintock was one of the best of the best," Washington National Guard Maj. Gen. Bret Daugherty said. "He was a Green Beret who sacrificed time away from his loved ones to train for and carry out these dangerous missions. This is a tough loss for our organization, and a harsh reminder that ensuring freedom is not free."

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@military.com.
The man caught in surveillance footage ambushing a Philadelphia officer in a squad car, shooting him multiple times, claimed he acted "in the name of Islam," police said at a news conference Friday.

The suspect's gun, a 9mm Glock 17, had been stolen from police in 2013, Commissioner Richard Ross said.

The suspect, 30-year-old Edward Archer, told homicide investigators he "pledges his allegiance to Islamic State, he follows Allah, and that is the reason he was called upon to do this," Captain James Clark revealed.

Archer wore "Muslim garb," a law enforcement source told Fox News. The source would not elaborate.

Officer Jesse Hartnett was in critical but stable condition at a hospital, police said. The suspect fired a total of 13 shots Thursday night, Ross said. Three bullets struck the officer in his left arm.

FBI and other law enforcement investigators searched his homes Friday, according to police. They say the suspect has addresses in Philadelphia and the suburb of Yeadon. He did not reveal whether he was engaged in a larger "conspiracy," Ross told reporters.

Police officials say the gun was reported stolen from an officer's home in October 2013 but they don't know how many people handled the weapon before Thursday's shooting.

Hartnett returned fire, Ross added. Doctors treated Archer for a gunshot wound.

"We are working side-by-side with the Philadelphia Police Department. They remain the lead agency as we work together to gather information about the attack on their officer," the FBI announced.

Hartnett is a four-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department.

"This is absolutely one of the scariest things I've ever seen," Ross said at a news conference a few hours later. "This guy tried to execute the police officer. The police officer had no idea he was coming."

The suspect ran away, but was quickly apprehended by other officers roughly a block away.

In a statement, Governor Tom Wolf said, "This alleged intentional act of violence against an officer seeking to help a fellow citizen is horrifying and has no place in Pennsylvania."

Jim Kenney, who is in his first week as mayor of the nation's fifth largest city, said, "There are just too many guns on the streets and I think our national government needs to do something about that."

His statement comes on the heels of President Barack Obama's announcement on Tuesday of his plan to tighten control and enforcement of firearms in the United States.

Fox News' Matthew Dean and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
ARABIAN GULF  The U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia joined Commander, Task Force 51, Jan. 3-4 for a tour of amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3).

Ambassador Joseph W. Westphal and Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Carl E. Mundy III were among the many distinguished visitors who took advantage of the opportunity to visit Kearsarge while the ship is forward deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.

"It was an honor to host the ambassador," said Capt. Larry G. Getz, commanding officer of Kearsarge. "Our international partnerships and coalitions are critical for mission accomplishment. We could not do what we do without the support of our allies."

While aboard, Westphal and Mundy interacted with top leadership, visited with Sailors and Marines, and viewed the many aspects of Kearsarge's operations and capabilities during a tour of the ship's spaces.

"Thank you to Maj. Gen. Mundy and the Task Force 51 staff, and the men and women of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group and 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit," said Westphal. "It was a truly amazing experience to see the tremendous capabilities of this group, its leadership, Sailors, and Marines. I'm grateful to Capt. Getz, Capt. Bennett, Col. Fulford, and all aboard for their service and hospitality."

During the two-day visit, the staffs and guests had the chance to get to know the crew members during shared meals in the chief petty officer's mess, mess decks and during various briefs.

"It was great to meet and speak with the ambassador during his tour of the medical department," said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Kerrye Barrett. "Being a casualty-receiving ship, we have six operating rooms, 15 intensive-care unit beds, and can extend out to 541 ward beds, making our medical capabilities second to the hospital ships, USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) and USNS Comfort (T-AH 20). Being able to showcase one of the ship's largest mission assets makes me proud to be part of the Kearsarge crew."

Kearsarge is the flagship for the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (KSGARG) and, with the embarked 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), is deployed in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.
The U.S. Army is deploying 1,800 soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan over the next several months.

The 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, will deploy 1,300 soldiers from its 2nd Brigade Combat Team to Iraq this spring in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, according to an Army press release.

The "Strike" brigade will advise and assist Iraqi Security Forces, replacing the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, which will return to Fort Drum, New York.

The "2nd Brigade is ready, trained, well-lead and fully prepared to take on its new mission in support of coalition operations in Iraq," said Maj. Gen. Gary J. Volesky, commander of 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell.

"The brigade recently returned from the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana, where the soldiers validated their outstanding ability to conduct complex operations in any environment and win," he added. "This ability will be critical in supporting the Iraqi Army."

In addition, the 10th Mountain Division, stationed in Fort Drum, New York, will deploy 500 soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment to Afghanistan this winter in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel.

Combat operations for U.S. forces ended in 2014 and President Barack Obama's plan had been to reduce the number of American troops there to about 1,000 by the end of 2016.

However, Obama later went along with a recommendation from Afghanistan commander Gen. John Campbell to keep the troop strength at about 9,800 through 2015 while aiming to reduce forces to about 5,000 by the end of 2016.

The 2-87 soldiers will join the 10th Mountain Division Headquarters, currently in Afghanistan serving as the National Support Element at Bagram Airfield.

"Our nation's Army continues to call upon Mountain Soldiers to serve around the world in places like Afghanistan due to their proven record of high standards, mission success and selfless service," said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey L. Bannister, commander of the 10th Mountain Division.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
The Reds have agreed to re-sign right-hander Ryan Mattheus, whom the team non-tendered last month, per SB Nations Chris Cotillo (on Twitter). MLB.coms Mark Sheldon reported this morning that a deal was close (via Twitter).

Mattheus will most likely receive a minor league contract, Sheldon notes, which seems like a rational expectation, given the fact that he was non-tendered despite a modest salary projection of $1.3MM from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

The 32-year-old Mattheus, a client of the Boras Corporation, was designated for assignment by the Angels in May and claimed by Cincinnati off waivers. The longtime Nationals reliever went on to log 55 innings for the Reds in 2015, making him one of their most-used and most durable pen arms. Mattheus recorded a 4.09 ERA with Cincinnati (4.02 ERA overall), averaging 5.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 to go along with a 52.7 percent ground-ball rate and a fastball that sat at 92.9 mph. Mattheus did struggle against lefties, yielding a .324/.355/.515 batting line, though he was better against same-handed batters, who hit .256/.345/.301 against him.

Cincinnatis bullpen picture is wide open after the trade of Aroldis Chapman to the Yankees, as J.J. Hoover and Jumbo Diaz are probably the only locks from the right side. Mattheus will compete with Carlos Contreras, Blake Wood, Keyvius Sampson and possibly Michael Lorenzen (though he could still be used as a starter) as he looks to earn a spot in manager Bryan Prices relief corps.
08.01.2016 LISTEN

An Accra court on Thursday froze all four bank accounts of Sylvester Adinam Mensah, former Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

The Financial and Economic Court issued the freeze order after the Financial Intelligence Center (FIC) had made an ex-parte application praying for the order.

Legal brains however, argue it is improper to use an ex-parte application to freeze the bank accounts of Mr. Mensah without giving him an opportunity to be heard.

The accounts were frozen at a period the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) is investigating Mr. Mensah over what is being speculated to be financial malpractices that happened at the NHIA when he was the Chief Executive.

The four accounts are at Access Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Energy Bank and Ecobank.

Mr. Mensah said he would need clearance from his lawyers before granting DAILY GUIDE an interview over the frozen accounts.

DAILY GUIDE gathered however, that Mr. Mensah's account at UBA as at when it was frozen on Thursday, contained a little below GH7,000, saying that is the account through which he runs his salary.

The Ecobank account contained the exact amount given to him as his end of service benefit after he had served his first term as NHIA Chief Executive, while the Access Bank and Energy Bank accounts were in debt to the tune of GH17,000 and $170,000 respectively.

The former NHIA boss has taken a loan from Access Bank to build his house and was left with an amount of GH17,000 to complete payment. He also recently took a mortgage of $170,000 to purchase a real estate facility which was being sold at a reduced price.

Mr. Mensah was arrested and detained at the BNI on New Year's Day (January 1) when he reported himself at the security outfit in response to an invitation from the (BNI) Director. He was subsequently released on bail after some eleven hours in custody.

He has since been reporting himself to the BNI every single day but has not been charged with any offence yet.

Prior to his January 1 arrest, seven fully armed BNI officials on raided his private residence in search of him and created a scene which attracted neighbours and passersby to gaze at the display with awe.

He was out of Accra with his family when the armed men put his residence under siege.

Though BNI officials have denied the invasion, a CCTV recording of the incident captured all seven gunmen as well as the vehicles with which they went to Mr. Mensah's house.

Crisis Meeting

Sylvester Mensah, a former Member of Parliament for La Dadekotopon on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), yesterday called for an emergency crisis meeting with the party's leadership in the constituency.

The meeting was to persuade them to rescind their announced decision to permanently suspend all NDC-related activities in the constituency as a protest to the 'Rambo-style' attempted arrest and public embarrassment.

I have submitted myself to the BNI and I have answered most of their questions. I am still waiting for further questions they may have and as we speak today, what I can assure you is that of all the discussions I have had with the BNI, there is nothing that makes Sylvester Mensah guilty of fraud and I have not been charged, Mr. Mensah indicated.

He continued, Against this reason, there is no need to say we are suspending party activities. I would want to appeal to you to be mindful of the times in which we are. We are in an election year and we must appreciate that our margins of victory are very slim and it takes just about one or two constituencies to win general election.

It is important you have shown solidarity and I appreciate it, I congratulate you, I salute you. But let us not overstretch this solidarity to the point of harming our very objective of winning the 2016 elections I can assure you that I am safe and sound and all is well, Mr. Mensah told his constituents.

By Halifax Ansah-Addo
The family of the late physician, Dr. Stella Adadevoh, has threatened to take a legal action against the makers of 93 Days , a movie dedicated to the memory of Ebola victims and survivors in the country.

In a letter issued by Dr. Ama Adadevoh on behalf of the Cardosos and the Adadevohs in Lagos on Monday, the families faulted some claims by the filmmakers that were reflected in the yet-to- be released movie.

The families noted that even though the script was given to both families for approval, it claimed that some aspects of the movie did not represent the true accounts and role of the late physician during the Ebola outbreak.

Adadevoh stated, It has been brought to our attention that a movie titled, 93 Days , written by Paul .S. Rowlston and produced by Native Filmworks, Michelangelo Productions and Bolanle Austin-Peters Productions, is in works for imminent release. The movie about Nigerias Ebola story and dedicated to Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh was not endorsed by the family.

The Adadevoh and Cardoso families have not consented to the use of the Stella Adadevohs name, likeness or image for commercial profit. The families intend to hold the filmmakers legally accountable for any falsehoods and innuendos in the movie, 93 Days with regard to Dr. Adadevoh and her family.

The families stated that they were committed to ensuring that the true story that pertains to the late physician was told to the public.

Adadevoh was the first Nigerian to have died of Ebola after contracting it from an American-Liberian diplomat, Patrick Sawyer.

She raised the red flag about the viral disease after Sawyer was admitted at the First Consultants Hospital, Obalende, Lagos.
Bamako (AFP) - Gunmen have abducted a Swiss woman from her home in fabled Timbuktu in northern Mali, the second time she has been taken captive, officials told AFP on Friday.

Her capture is the first in the area since the kidnap and murder of two French journalists late November 2013 in Kidal.

"Beatrice, a Swiss citizen, was kidnapped in her home in Timbuktu by gunmen," a Timbuktu government official told AFP.

A Malian security source said armed men had gone to her home Thursday evening, "knocked on the door, she opened, and they left with her".

In Bern, the Swiss foreign ministry said it was "aware of the apparent kidnapping of a Swiss woman in Mali" and was in contact with the local authorities, but refused any further details.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the capture of Beatrice Stockly, a woman in her 40s who has lived in Timbuktu for years and was kidnapped a first time in April 2012 by Islamist fighters.

The social worker was said at the time to be the last Westerner living in the legendary desert city, which she refused to leave when it fell to Islamist Ansar Dine rebels on April 1.

Two weeks later, special forces from Burkina Faso swept into rebel-held northern Mali aboard a helicopter and whisked her to safety in a pre-arranged handover by Islamist rebels.

Stockly at the time appeared tired but in high spirits on the helicopter flying her to Ouagadougou after Ansar Dine handed her over in Timbuktu.

"I am offering you freedom chocolates," she told the officials, security personnel and an AFP journalist on the helicopter, after fumbling through her leather satchel and, with a beaming smile, producing chocolate.

Ansar Dine's 2012 assault on Timbuktu had been backed by fighters from Al-Qaeda's north Africa branch, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

At the time a loose alliance of Tuareg and Islamist rebels took advantage of the political chaos in Mali's capital that followed a March 22 army coup by capturing the country's vast desert north, including Timbuktu.

Stockly's capture that year brought to 21 the number of hostages seized in the Sahel region, 20 of them held by AQIM and another Islamist group, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).

Almost all were subsequently released, but two foreign hostages seized in 2011 by AQIM, a South African and a Swede, remain in captivity.

The jihadist fighters were chased from Mali's vast remote north in 2013 by a French-led military intervention.

A regional French counterterrorism force is still conducting operations in the area.

But entire swathes of the north remain beyond the reach of both the Malian army and foreign troops.

In November, 20 people, 14 of them foreigners, were killed in an attack claimed by jihadist groups on the Radisson Blu hotel in the capital, Bamako.
Ghanaians have been expressing misgivings about the panoply of taxes that have been disproportionately imposed in a rather difficult year. Some have graver concerns. Moses Quashie, a Ghanaian resident in London warned we should also be concerned about blanket powers given the Commissioner of Tax to charge landed properties as securities for tax debt, power to request your statement of accounts directly from your bank, holding current and previous managers of an entity personally liable for the entitys tax debt, holding receivers personally liable if the estates they administer cannot produce enough funds to discharge the estates tax obligations, tax on a deceased persons estate with no provisions whatsoever for inheritance, taxes on divorcees for what they gained out of a divorce and even taxes on lottery win.

True, all governments depend on taxes. However, there is a tolerable limit beyond which the very existence of the productive sources of taxes becomes perilous. This ultimately affects capital accumulation for reinvestment in existing businesses and certainly dwarfs hopes for business start-ups. Worse still, the propensity for law abiding citizens to evade taxes soars.

Two important measurable indicators exist to guide our concerns; they can be found in the World Bank Doing Business Reports. Ghanas ranking in the World Banks Ease of Doing Business Index has been falling in recent years, particularly in the category of Paying Taxes and Ease of Starting a Business. In the 2015 report, Ghana ranked 102 in the World for its ease of Paying Taxes, whereas, in the 2016 report its ranking had fallen to 106. In the 2015 report, Ghana ranked 97 in the World for its ease of Starting a Business, whereas, in the 2016 report its ranking had fallen to 102.

There is empirical evidence that show us that countries with better and more efficient taxation systems have higher GDPs, reduced poverty [1] and fewer bribes. The proposed reforms for starting a business are important as we have also found empirical evidence indicating a positive correlation between a better Starting a Business ranking and higher GDP per capita and lower inequality. We are concerned about Ghanas position and have suggested some proposals Ghana could adopt to make starting a business and paying taxes easier.

Starting with taxation, the first important rule is to exhibit prudent management of resources, however meagre. We have had numerous cases of impropriety associated with our tax revenue. There must be vigorous efforts aimed at narrowing the gaps that allow corruption to fester and punish corrupt public officials.

Given 2016 is an election year, we directly plead with the President to do the following.

a. Ask each minister and deputy/ies to list of all programmes and projects to be initiated and executed in 2016.

b. Ask each minister and deputy/ies to list of all programmes and projects already initiated and executed between 2012 and 2015.

c. Submit the listed programmes and projects to Ms Valerie Sawyer, the experienced technocrat appointed as an 'Administrator- General' or Validator of Value for Money Projects to conduct a stress test including Vested Interest analysis and with her limited team independently tell you what programmes and projects were poorly executed and what remedies and sanctions should be initiate to claw back allocated funds.

d. Regarding all new programmes and projects to be initiated in 2016 Ms Sawyer should decide which ones merit financial support given our precarious financial circumstances.

Whilst the above are easily doable, the following will require some calibrated plan and discipline to implement.

Install a fully electronic system to allow online VAT and NHIL payments. Additionally, extend this electronic system to allow for online filing of social security contributions. This will make paying taxes faster and easier, as recently shown by countries such as Kenya, Zambia, Mozambique and Morocco. Not only does it save time and efforts for taxpayers and authorities, it will also allow for automatic electronic storage of individual tax payment information, and hence provide a better overview of payment history or missing contributions.

Subsequently, train taxpayers in the use of the online filing systems. Besides offering training, hand out descriptive leaflets, provide information online and personal assistance at the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). Madagascar leads by example and significantly improved paying taxes by educating the public on the use of online payment systems. By assuring the population is well informed about how to file taxes online, errors can be avoided and full efficiency benefits can be reaped.

What should be done to stabilise the business environment?

We propose implementing three reforms to stabilise the business environment, particularly encouraging start-ups.

While we recognise that Ghana has already established an option to register companies online, we feel that an upgrade of the current system is needed to increase its reliability and trustworthiness. An improvement in this system would save time and money in the long run for those registering and would be a more efficient system for the government, enabling them to keep electronic records. Five of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with higher rankings than Ghana for Starting a Business (Liberia, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso and Zambia) have established computerised systems that make the process easier.

In addition to this, we recommend creating physical one-stop shops where representatives of various relevant agencies would be located in one place. This would save time and make the process more efficient, as forms can be handed directly to the subsequent agencies.

All but one of the twelve countries in Africa ranked higher than Ghana have one-stop shops that enable entrepreneurs to do many procedures at one time and in one place. Ghana could implement this by forming a physical one-stop shop, following in the steps of Burundi, Sao Tome and Principe, Liberia and Burkina Faso, to name a few. For example, representatives for the Commissioner of Oaths, the Registrar-General Department and the Metropolitan Authority could all be located in one place, enabling the processes of acquiring the certificate to commence business and applying for business licenses to be handled within one day.

Finally, we encourage Ghana to either eliminate or reduce the amount of paid-in minimum capital. There have been many examples of countries that have adopted either measure, and have improved their rankings. Mauritania eliminated the requirement for paid-in minimum capital in the last year, and as a result, improved their World ranking from 161 to 70 from the 2015 report to the 2016 report. Similarly, Burkina Faso recently reduced the minimum capital requirement and improved their World ranking from 153 to 78 in the last year.

In conclusion, many Sub-Saharan countries have adopted these policies and have thus achieved improvements in the World Banks Ease of Doing Business Index; we do not see a viable reason why Ghana cannot adopt the measures to create an easier business environment and become more internationally competitive.

We are convinced that the suggested policies will return sustainable efficiency gains, not only for administration, but also for every potential Ghanaian entrepreneur. An efficient and effective business environment will be beneficial for Ghanas economy on the long run, raising its GDP and reducing inequality.

This publication is part of the Atlas Life Project, a joint IMANI and Atlas Network research aimed at improving the business environment in Ghana

[1] reduced poverty headcount ratio for people living under $1.90 and even stronger evidence for people living under $3.10

Respectfully yours,

Franklin Cudjoe

Founding President & CEO, IMANI

www.imanighana.com

Wikipedia info

Franklin Cudjoe's bio data

Franklin Cudjoe Declared World Economic Forums Young Global Leader

What the World Bank says of IMANI
07.01.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Jan.7, GNA - Government has responded positively to a request to assist in the resettlement of a number of persons from Rwanda and Yemen.

It said it took cognisance of the grave humanitarian crises in the Middle East by providing refuge to some displaced persons in Syria who have relatives in Ghana.

A statement issued by Ms Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, said.

It said prior to winding up its affairs on the 31st of December 2015, the Government was approached by representatives of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to resettle some of the persons who were tried and had either been acquitted and discharged or had been sentenced and had served their time but did not find it appropriate to resettle in Rwanda.

"We have decided to respond to the request of the tribunal and have indicated our readiness to take two of such persons and give them residence in Ghana."

At the request of the US Ghana has agreed to accept two detainees of Yemeni origin who were detained in Guantanamo but who have been cleared of involvement in any terrorist activities and are being released, the statement said.

It explained that the refugees are unable to return to Yemen at the moment 'and we have indicated our readiness to accept them for a period of two years after which they may leave the country.

Additionally, Government has decided to allow relatives of members of the Syrian community resident in Ghana who have been displaced as a result of the conflict in their country to resettle in Ghana.

In all instances the persons who are being allowed into the country are subject to security clearance and their activities will be monitored during their stay in the country.

'Ghana recognises that as a member of the international community we have a responsibility to assist in international crises situations having regard to our own resources and capacity to assist, and it is in this regard that the Government has decided to take these actions.

"We wish to assure the public that in doing so we are cognizant of the need to protect the safety and security of our own citizens and are taking all the necessary steps to ensure that is done."

GNA
Accra, Jan. 7, GNA - The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) in an effort to create jobs, would from February this year recruit 20,000 people to serve as Community Health Workers (CHW).

This would strengthen Ghana's Community- based Health Planning and Services for primary health care delivery.

The programme would be implemented in collaboration with Ghana Health Service (GHS), World Vision International Ghana and the One Million Community Health Workers Campaign, an international NGO.

It would recruit community health workers who would fill the unemployment gap while promoting universal health coverage, especially for rural and deprived communities.

Speaking during the launch of the CHW module in Accra on Thursday, Mr Harunna Iddrisu, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, said the programme would not encounter financial challenges since it would be funded by the GET Fund and the Communications Service Tax as stipulated in the YEA Act, 2015.

Mr Iddrisu said the decision to collaborate with agencies such as the World Vision, GHS and the One Million Community Health Campaign was to ensure that it is managed and implemented by credible institutions.

He said the other modules which would be rolled out in the course of the year, would be implemented in collaboration with state and other credible institutions to ensure that recruits or beneficiaries get the needed employment skills after their two years of working under the schemes.

Mr Alex Segbefia, Minister of Health, said Ghana made progress under the Millennium Development Goals hence the need to keep it up by rolling out modules which would sustain the success chalked out.

He said the new module would help Ghanaians, especially rural dwellers who are most of the time in need of primary health care.

Mr Kobina Beecham, Chief Executive Officer, YEA, cited the Youth in Security, Youth in Coastal Sanitation, Youth in Agriculture and Youth in Afforestation Modules as some of the modules or programmes which would be rolled out by the Agency this year.

He noted that although the Agency would only collaborate with state institutions for the implementation of its modules, private agencies with proven track record could also apply to partner with them.

'The Agency would like to state on record that, any institution or organisation indicted in the erstwhile 'GYEEDA' Auditor General's Report will not be considered for any of our current modules,' he warned.

He said advertisement would soon be put out for recruitment for the various modules soon, adding that this time round there would be no sale of application forms as registrations would be done online or at the various district and regional offices of YEA.

Mr Hurbert Charles, Country Director, World Vision Ghana, said the Organisation would continue to work to enhance health care delivery, as well as prioritise the sustained well-being of children and the vulnerable.

He noted that from 2012 to 2014, World Vision donated medical supplies and equipment valued at $19 million to support the healthcare of Ghana.

'World Vision Ghana in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service and partners has provided technical expertise and funding in excess of GHE 465,000.00for the development of the curriculum to train those who would be recruited for the CHW module,' he added.

GNA
Sunyani, Jan. 7, GNA - Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), an anti-corruption media advocacy NGO is to implement an 8,000 dollar project to empower and amplify the voice of mine-take communities in Brong-Ahafo Region.

Dubbed "projecting issues affecting mining communities at public domain", the six month project to be implemented in eight mine-take communities at the Ahafo project of Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGL) at Kenyasi in Asutifi North District is being funded by the Global GreenGrants Fund.

The beneficiary communities are Ola Resettlement sites Phase One, Phase Two and Phase Three, Ntotroso Resettlement Sites Phase One and Phase Two, Yarogrumakrom, Damso, and Dormaa Katinka.

Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Chief Executive Officer of GLOMEF disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Sunyani.

He explained that the project, which would commence in the middle of January, would help control human rights abuses and enhance citizens participation in natural resource governance in the various beneficiary communities.

Mr Ahenu noted with concern that though the Mining and Minerals Act made provision for active engagements of mining communities in the release of concessions, most of the communities are always sidelined, which creates misunderstandings between the local communities and mining companies leading to all forms of human rights abuses.

He noted that little attention is always given to environmental pollution, human rights abuses and general welfare of communities during negotiations between the government and mining companies, indicating that if mining communities were empowered, they would be in a better position to actively engage mining companies on issues relating to especially resettlement and compensation.

GNA
Kasapreko continues to extend its position as a leader in innovation within the beverage industry as it launches its new purified drinking water Awake.

Awake is a charity-driven bottled purified water focused on changing lives in Ghana  the first of its kind.

Awake purified drinking water highlights Kasaprekos ability to couple its award winning products with its corporate social responsibility across communities in Ghana.

Awakes tagline One4Life underpins this initiative, as each bottle purchased will have a significant impact on someones life.

Through this unique partnership venture with its consumers, AWAKEs One4Life campaign multiplies the impact of each Ghanaians individual efforts towards those less fortunate as Kasapreko has committed to donating a percentage of each bottle sold towards the One4Life Fund, from which the charitable donations will be made.

At the launch of Awake, the first charitable institution identified is the Ghana National Cardiothoracic Centre at Korle Bu. Kasapreko has pledged, through the One4Life Fund, to pay for surgery and heart transplants for patients with serious heart conditions, and for whom the cost of such life-saving medical care is beyond their economic means.

Commenting on the new initiative, Director of Water and Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSDs) at Kasapreko, Eunice Adjei Bonsu said For us at Kasapreko we are aware of the needs in our society and we always look for opportunities to make a positive impact in peoples lives.
Members of Organised Labour have given government a one-week ultimatum to withdraw recent levies on petroleum products or face series of naitionwide actions.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) members are also demanding a reduction in utility tariffs that came into force in December last year.

Organised Labour gives government up to the close of day (18hrs GMT) on Wednesday, 13 January 2016 to meet these demands. If these demands are not met by the said, Organised Labour would unleash series of nationwide actions, said a release Thursday.

The release was issued after a meeting by the labour unions Thursday to deliberate on the recent spate of increases in utility tariffs , taxes and levies on incomes and petroleum products .

The meeting decried the lazy recourse to taxation and its attendant economic and social hardships on the already overburdened Ghanaian by government, said the release signed by nine labour organizations and the TUC General Secretary, Kofi Asamoah.

Nationwide action Organised Labour intends to take to drive home their demands include demonstrations and picketing at the national capital as well as all regional capitals.

The labour unions say they would embark on a two-day nationwide strike from January 21, 2016 if government fails to meet their demands by that time.

Organised Labour says its position is that the recent utility tariff and petroleum price increases are reckless and a display of the insensitivity on the part of managers of the economy to the plight of the ordinary Ghana.

Read the full release here.

Click to access Organised Labour Road Map for Nationwide Actions.
Hon. Gordon Asubonteng MCE of Dormaa and police stormed the Dormaa Ahenkro Presby park where ATV was hosting it's "Asem Yi Di Ka" show demanding they stop the show that was supposed to air for two hours.

The move that nearly caused a heated confrontation between the crowed and the police as the aggrieved clients of the Bono Micro Finance crisis who has flooded the venue stopped the ATV crew from leaving.

Speaking to the host of the show Speaker Nana Fianko, he explained that the production team invites representative of political parties and the MCE to be part of the show but the MCE told the team he can't be available for the show since he had a program elsewhere but surprisingly stormed the place with policemen to stop the program.

"The MCE and the police only told us it is an order from above to come stop the show since the president and his people are not happy with the show. But this is a current affair news talk show that discusses and addresses topical issues in the country. It is only in the region to give viewers an opportunity to express their views and concerns on issues affecting them. So we don't really know why there should be an order to call off the program in the region" he added.

The ATV crew were later invited by the police commander of the area for further interrogations.
Asking all Ghanaians and Ghana supporters, by their millions, to log-on to the internet to sign "Fair-Trade Oil Share-Ghana (FTOS-Gh/PSA Petition" to Mr. Mahama and Parliament of Ghana:

1. Withdraw "Ghana Hybrid System" oil bill from Ghana Parliament

2. Approve Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) contract for Ghana's crude oil!

All Ghanaians and Ghana Supporters agree that 17% out of 100 (of crude oil revenues) is a terrible betrayal of Ghanaians and Africans!

This is a matter in the public interest of Ghana!

This is not a partisan issue!

Please log-on to the internet and sign the petition at: https://www.change.org/p/ghana-fair-trade-oil-share-psa-campaign-ftos-gh-psa.

Then send a personal email about this public matter asking President Mahama to "withdraw the E&P bill from Parliament", to:

Flagstaff House: [email protected]

Parliament: [email protected]

(Note: Because of potentially shady dealings, we regret that this is the only email address we have for the entire Parliament of Ghana. GOGIG should take note. If any reader has the correct business email addresses, please send to the FTOS-Gh/PSA petition organizers).

GHANA MUST ACT NOW FOR GHANA: We are asking you to lend your powerful collective voices to the "Fair Trade Oil Share-Ghana (FTOS-Gh/PSA)" campaign. Let us secure more oil revenues for Ghana's oil and gas. We are asking you to demand that President Mahama and Mr. Adjaho (the Speaker of Parliament), withdraw the oil bill called "Ghana Hybrid System" from Parliament immediately.

That Ghana Hybrid System bill has fraud written all over it!

SUCCESS: Our success is your success. Your effort has already stalled the Ghana Hybrid System law.

Our final success will be your success too.

Final success will mean the PSA is adopted and instead of Ghana losing $1 billion every years for the five more years, Ghana would rather receive about $1 billion more each one of the next 5 years for needed economic, social, and cultural development, for Ghana.

Final success will mean Ghana will receive better than 55% of all Oil and Gas revenues, as sovereign owner of those resources!

Let's to the bleeding!

Go sign the petition now!

Thank you so much for supporting Ghana.

Visit http://ghanahero.com/FTOS_GH_Campaign.html, for more information.
CARLISLE  Air quality, reading graphs, weather patterns and helping others are part of the same equation for a group of math students at Lamberton Middle School.

Every school day since Thanksgiving, they have been visiting The Sentinel website at www.cumberlink.com to obtain air quality readings from the monitor atop the newspaper building on East North Street.

Using the readings, the students raise brightly colored flags to show how clean or polluted the air is in the Carlisle area for each day school is in session, said Susan Greenbaum, an eighth-grade math teacher.

The flags are hoisted up the light pole near the entrance to the school parking lot and can be seen by motorists on South Hanover Street. A green flag means good air quality, while yellow is moderate.

An orange flag means the air pollution is unhealthy to sensitive groups like children and adults with asthma. A red flag signals a higher risk for everyone. The colors correspond to an Air Quality Index developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which runs the flag program to help protect peoples health.

The kids are reaching, Greenbaum said of the Lamberton students. They are providing a service to the community. They love doing it. I am hoping the enthusiasm continues.

First period

The service project begins every school day with the first-period algebra class checking the air quality reading for that morning. The students then take turns raising the colored flag that matches the conditions.

As the day progresses, her students in other math periods check The Sentinel website to determine if there has been a change in the air quality. If there is, they go out and change the color flag.

Otherwise, the current flag stays up even if it is overnight. Greenbaum only takes down the flag on Friday nights because the service project does not extend over the weekends.

Typically it stays constant during the day, she said. This fits in nicely with my curriculum. We are studying lines and graphs. Looking at the Cumberlink website is a great way for students to see the application of a math concept we are learning.

The flag program has helped students to realize the relationship between weather and air quality. When it is windy, the hourly reading is within the color green; when the air is stagnant, it can read orange.

They are making lots of connections, Greenbaum said. The students are learning a lot about graphs. It helps to make them more aware of their environment.

She first got involved in air quality awareness when her daughter Shannon was 13 and working on a science fair project that tracked pollution data recorded over a six-month period.

The project got the attention of Clean Air Board members who invited Shannon to speak at their meetings. Soon after, Susan Greenbaum joined the Clean Air Board and was involved for several years. Shannon Greenbaum is a now a student at Penn State University.
08.01.2016 LISTEN

I have written several times to express my views about him, when I have felt that his reported actions and general conduct at party headquarters were not positively advancing the cause of the countrys main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

And when he was recently indefinitely suspended, I did not hesitate to express my tired approval of the same. Tired approval because I felt that the process that got us to this all-too-desirable destination, strategically speaking, at least, though deliberately democratic, had, nevertheless, taken unduly long.

Now Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, the indefinitely suspended General-Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, has finally decided to tell us a bit of his version of what he terms as the sort of unethical media practice, largely by one formidable media organization and one well-known journalist employed by the same media organization, that significantly damaged his character and reputation and may well have played a major role in the decision of the partys Disciplinary Committee (DC), and resoundingly approved by the NPPs National Executive Committee (NEC), that precipitated his indefinite suspension as the second most powerful administrator at the partys Asylum Down national headquarters (See Petition Against Joy Fm and MyJoyOnline.com Opinions Column / Ghanaweb.com 12/26/15).

That one formidable privately owned media organization is the Multimedia Group Limited of Kokomlemle, Accra, owned by Mr. Kwasi Twum. Disclosure: I have been apprised by a relative that the owner of the Multimedia Group is one of our relatives. I have, however, never met or communicated with Mr. Twum.

Well, the one media operative, or reporter, that Mr. Agyepong, largely through his lawyers, Korsah & Associates, is accusing of a flagrant breach of professional trust is Mr. Evans Mensah whom the aggrieved Mr. Agyepong claims had collected sensitive information from him, off-the-record, only to recklessly and deviously publish the same.

For those of us who have been active media practitioners for a considerable span of time  in my case for nearly three decades  off-the-record conversations, while a prime grist of an order very close to the ethical equivalent of truth is, nevertheless, highly protected. It is the moral equivalent of Attorney-Client Privilege, whereby legally incriminating information or evidence shared with ones hired and remunerated attorney is mutually understood to be information provided in confidence and thus not subject to judicial disclosure. Indeed, about the only reason for which an attorney may disclose such information is where national security is deemed to be direly endangered.

In the case of Mr. Agyepong, it is not quite clear upon what basis Mr. Mensah, the Joy-Fm/MyJoyOnline.com reporter, came to the conclusion that the information provided to him in confidence by the suspended NPP General-Secretary needed to be fully disclosed before the court of public opinion. Mr. Agyepong, as the reader may have already learned, is petitioning the National Media Commission (NMC) for redress in the form of having some punitive sanctions, perhaps even monetary damages, or compensation, awarded in favor of the plaintiff.

The complainant has also cited several instances in which information obtained by Multimedia reporters from the NPP headquarters, perhaps in the form of press releases, have been significantly altered to put Mr. Agyepong in a bad light. Well, I have absolutely no doubt, whatsoever, in my mind that Mr. Agyepong may very well have been wronged in quite a significant way.

But I also have a fairly well-informed appreciation of the fact that the decision taken by the NPP-DC and the NPP-NEC to indefinitely suspend Mr. Agyepong was largely based on first-hand experience and observation of the conduct of Mr. Agyepong and his close associates, namely, Messrs. Paul A. Afoko and Sammy Crabbe, NPP National Chairman and Second-Vice Chairman, respectively.

So far, most prominent party stalwarts, including former President John Agyekum-Kufuor, have publicly expressed their unreserved support and approval of the decision by the partys Executive and Disciplinary committees to sanction these three men.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
08.01.2016 LISTEN

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp was establishment in January 2002 to interrogate detainees and if found guilty, prosecute them for war crimes. This act met with heavy backlash across the world because the Bush administration asserted that detainees were not entitled to any of the protections of the Geneva Conventions which afford some basic rights of wartime prisoners.

President Obama during his campaign in 2008 made the promise to close down that camp because of the stories that emanated from the camp was putting America in a bad light. He tried several times without a success. Now the Congress have given the green light to transfer the prisoners in order for them to close down the facility. Before that, they passed the Defense Policy Bill which includes a provision that bans any movement of the detainees to the United States.

I was terrified when I saw the press release by the Foreign Affairs ministry that they have accepted the request of the US Government, to give shelter to two detainees of Yemeni origin who were detained in Guantanamo without consulting the good people of this country first. We are told that the duo Yemeni Mahmud Umar Muhammad bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih al-Dhuby will settle in Ghana for two years.

I know the bedrock every foreign policy action of a state is it's national interest. Now the question is, what do we have to achieve as a nation for housing these alleged terror detainees?

These two people are Yemenis who went to Afghanistan to fight and they were caught and sent to Guatemala bay. According to military records, Mahmoud Omar Bin Atef is a Yemeni citizen born in Saudi Arabia in 1979 and was handed over to the US following his capture by Northern Alliance Forces in Afghanistan in 2001. US official documents say Khalid al-Dhuby was born in Saudi Arabia in 1981 and travelled to Afghanistan to fight.

With these track records, no one can convince me that they have been cleared of any involvement in terrorist activities. It is simply to help president Obama fulfil his promise and eventually close down the facility.

If United States with all their weapons of mass destruction and other missiles are afraid to harbour such people, why should Ghana do that? Countries that accepted such people have a very potent security apparatus. We live in a country where pickpockets can break jail and escape.

Government should have consulted the people of Ghana through their parliamentarians before accepting to grant the United States request.

We are watching...

Awal Mohammed

[email protected]
I write as a youth who is stack in WAITHOOD. This is a stage of stagnation for the present day young person after he/she graduates from our tertiary and other training institutions. This stage spans from between 5 to 10 years depending on several factors like how connected your parents are, where they stand on the economic ladder, which part of the country you find yourself etc. Many of us young people are at this stage and we have worsened our situation due to some leaders we have elected to control the affairs of our nation in these few years, I know these leaders are going to be anathematic to this assertion but it is the truth, they have made our life a living hell these few years.

They have DANGEROUSLY increased our period of WAITHOOD. This prolonged stage of stagnation in the development of young people has led to anarchy in places like Tunisia and Egypt in recent years. Young people out of frustration have chased some crazy bald heads out of town, but in Ghana, the youth are restlessly calm because of the old lady we all call democracy.

There is an adage in the Akan language that says that once you dip your hand into an old womans food you are bound to eat the food to the end, whether the food is delicious or not. Many of us young people have really lived this adage in these few years. We have really dipped our hands in a pot we cannot remove our hands from until the food in the pot is totally done with, and we will for a long time, after the food is done with, live with the bitter taste of this food in mouth.

In our country, we vote to elect a president and parliamentarians, IMF executives dont elect our leaders, we therefore expect our leaders to be accountable to us and be sensitive to the plight and needs of Ghanaians. As we speak, I can confidently conclude, with historical antecedents, that our leaders are being accountable to the IMF and other external powers rather than being accountable to the people that gave them the jobs they have now. The IMF blood money they call bailouts, which has led to bloodshed and anarchy in other countries has been visited on us, and our WAITHOOD as young people is bound to be prolonged. The bitter taste of this blood money will linger in our mouth for years to come.

In 2015, entering 2016, Ghanaians have been hit with senseless utility tariff, fuel and tax increments among other austerity measures simultaneously. These increments dont make any economic and political sense yet they have been harshly imposed on the stagnant youth and the rest of the Ghanaian population, most of these increments were tyrannically rushed through parliament and approved thereby using democracy to entangle us with these economic suicide bombs. Our leaders refuse to listen to the agony of the people who employed them because of one reason, THE IMF. History has taught us that any third world country that engages the IMF for the kind of bailout our leaders have gone for due to mismanagement are subjected to what we are going through now. The IMF, hijacks these wasteful and corrupt leaders who present themselves to them due to their own mismanagement, and covertly pull these tyrannical economic strings which only goes to balance and profit the accounts of other people rather than the suffering masses.

In July 2000, the IMF gave a $198 million assistance to the Kenyan government then lead by President Arap Moi, the so called macroeconomic and structural reforms that came with this assistance brought untold hardship on the people which lead to several peaceful demonstrations that ending in violence. For example a peaceful demonstration organized by the Kenyan Debt Relief Network, the Green Belt Movement and other human rights organizations calling for an end to IMF conditions ended in violence and the arrest of church leaders, nuns, and other protestors. Many people were injured including children.

Elsewhere in Nigeria, on 4th August 2000, the IMF gave Nigeria US$1,031 million for its 2000-01 economic program, in giving out that money, the IMF noted that  An acceleration of the implementation of structural reforms is urgently needed, including to tackle serious deficiencies in the provision of power, telecommunication and petroleum that are obstacles to growth. Does this rhetoric sound familiar? Upon receiving this IMF money, Obasanjo declared his intention to deregulate the oil sector and raise fuel prices. Upon the declaration of this intention, the Nigerian Labour Congress took over 5,000 worker on a march to show their opposition to the deregulation of the oil sector and fuel price hikes, armed security personnel were unleashed on them in a dictatorial regime fashion. People were injured and lives were lost.

In the face of opposition and alternative solution however, Obasanjos government implemented his plan in June 2000. Does all these sound familiar in the Ghanaian setting today?

Well, as we know of our West African neighbors, they never became better off after chopping the IMF blood money and the eminent bullet biting that followed. These strategies that are being employed in our dear mother land Ghana has been repeated in a number of the so called third world countries without a single success as far we know, one can talk of Colombia in the late 90s, Ecuador in 2000, Paraguay in the late 90s, Zambia in the late 90s etc.

As we speak now, you cant exactly put your finger on what the priority of the leadership of our country is, the talk of the stabilization of our currency has died down. You cant also say the priority is economic expansion because with their actions and policies you can tell without much stress that they are not committed to the rhetoric about the growth of our industries and businesses, so the question is, where exactly are we headed towards?

Our leaders willingly mismanaged our countrys finances and submitted themselves for this bloody hijack which has visited this senseless suffering on the people of Ghana. Ghanaians are dyeing and getting frustrated by the day. The youth is getting restless as we continue to wait in our WAITHOOD and continue to bite the bullet. As the late Prof Ali Mazrui once said, just as absolute power corrupts absolutely, absolute powerlessness also leads to acts of DESPERATION.

WHOEVER HAS EARS, LET THEM HEAR.

Kenneth Nii Yeboah

[email protected]
08.01.2016 LISTEN

The effusions of madness get more obnoxious by the day with overboard pronouncements by the general secretary of the ruling NDC party; a party that is synonymous with a sty that is maligning the whole Ghanaian body. It is condemnable that such an implacable megalomaniac as Asiedu Nketiah would even insinuate that the prescient running mate, Dr Genius Mahamudu Bawumia, should be arrested.

In any case, what forgery was this dunderhead talking about? The pink sheets adduced in court were incontrovertibly authentic, and so was every other evidence. But when there are dissenting judges like Atuguba, what better adjudication can be expected? Hence the scourge we are facing in Ghana today under a piggery to which asideu belongs. By the way, it is said that Atuguba is fighting for his life at a catholic center in Kumasi where he is being prayed for. I hope so. That is the least he can suffer for putting the nation through this crisis of NDC thievery. Asiedu Nketia, your fate shouldnt be different from his with all the curses that continue to be heaped upon you. It is just a matter of time.

The Togolese register that was used to determine the level of rigging that characterised the 2012 elections was original and authentic. Have you forgotten that NPP people are much cleverer than NDC fools? No sooner did you come out with your insalubrious and unreasonable request to the CID for Dr Bawumia to be arrested than the Togolese opposition confirmed to the nation on radio that it was a true document. What foolishness could be more nauseating than listening to a nothing as you?

You see what happens to you when you forget to take your drugs? Your madness is irredeemable, and George Boateng made no mistake when he said that your madness had protracted since 1988. Even Rawlings confirmed that you used to carry Kimathis underwear on your head and run around shouting, Kimathi wo pioto ehwam (Kimathi your underwear smell nice). What really breaks my heart is the fact that your evil machinations do not go far at all. You reek of the pungent stench of neglected mouths, which gives you away shortly without much accomplishment except to confirm that your NDC cult is the eponymous founder of chronic hooliganism.

The steroids that you have been put on to boost your buffoonery are quite potent. After doctoring a tape to slur the honest youth of the NPP who are on their way to greatness, like John Boadu, Anthony Karbo, Sammy Awuku, and the much admired Kennedy Agyapong, your outfit proceeded further to state that Abu Ramadan was from Niger or GOD knows where. Well, haranguing fools cannot be pardoned, hence this lambaste that should scale you down to the rat that many see you to be.

You hail from Broko in the Bondouku district of Ivory Coast, and your brother was the MP of Bondouku (many people will be shocked to hear this); Rawlings is Scottish; Kofi Adams is Togolese; Harry Zakour is Lebanese; John Mahama is Burkinabe; Ade Coker is Nigerian; and the list of people of foreign descent in your party is endless. However, these people are all Ghanaian now and that is what is important. Are you not a Ghanaian even if your roots are Ivorian? Ghana, since pre-colonial times, had been a melting pot for many people from other nations and tribes, so please tell your goons not to open this can of worms otherwise it will be fed to them.

Man, try any of the nonsensical threats on Dr Bawumia and you shall regret. You will see a barrage of lawsuits that will certainly culminate in the inevitability of sending you back to the asylum.
08.01.2016 LISTEN

Accra Jan. 7, GNA - Thirteen magistrates and circuit court Judges were on Thursday sworn in by the Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood at a ceremony in Accra.

The circuit court judges, comprising two males and three females, are Baah Forson Agyapong, Malcolm E Bedzrah, Mercy Adei Kotei, Priscilla Dirkro and Mary M.E. Nsenkyire.

The magistrates are Joyce Boahen, Rita Amonyiwah Edusah, Athoney Aduku-Aidoo, and Evelyn Asamoah.

The rest are Gloria Mensah Bonsu, Susana Eduful, Agnes Opoku Bamieh and Afia Owusuwaa Appiah.

They were made to recite the National Pledge following a request by the Chief justice.

After administering the oath of allegiance and secrecy and judicial oath, Mrs Wood asked the new judges and magistrates to ponder over the words of the national pledge.

According to her, she attended a programme at the Flagstaff house and the national pledge was recited there and she reflected over the words.

'I want you to apply and address the words in the national pledge,' she said.

She congratulated them saying 'half of your numbers are not here hence you deserve a part on your back.'

Mr Justice Alex Opoku explained that the judicial service for the first time published the names of the applicants in the national dailies and requested for memoranda from the public.

The exercise enabled the citizens and non-citizens to participate in the selection of judges and to weed out people who lack integrity and therefore are not eligible to be appointed.

Mrs Hellen A.A. Zewu, Acting Solicitor General, noted that the Judiciary deserves commendation for initiating a system of thoroughly screening and selecting new members of the bench before their appointment.

According to her the judiciary in recent times has been assailed with incompetence and corruption.

She, therefore, urged the magistrates and judges to approach their new career with dedication and be good agents of change.

Mr Benson Nutsukpi, President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), implored the magistrate and Judges to hold fast to what was good and worthy.

Mr Nutsukpi said the GBA would provide them with support and cooperation and asked them to extend the courtesies and cordialities due them and other officers of the court.

'It would be our wish that your courts will be more communicative, It is our hope that where you may not for one reason or other, able to sit or attend court , we get informed early enough so as not to sit in court and waste valuable time.'

GNA
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors [CBOD], Mr. Senyo Hosi has condemned allegations of connival with government to reap petroleum consumers in the high spate of the 27percent on petrol prices.

Thats absolutely falsehood. Everybody who is following my practice knows my relationship with government has been better sweet, he stated.

Senyo Hosi has described those allegations as diabolic and unfair on anyone especially for some government communicators to suggest that BDCs decided to increase the prices further to 27percent after they were directed by government to increase prices to 5percent.

Taxes are not our business, but for some government communicators to suggest that they came to approve 5percent and we decided to go and do 27percent, thats diabolic. You have given us specific taxes and we put it in the model and these are the impacts, he intimated.

According to him, the BDCs are misconstrued to be the reason for the price increment.

We are not the reason, we have not increased our margins, the taxes are what have come in and there is a benefit in there for us, in that, our debts will be partly paid. As to whether it is adequate or not, for the part that we get which is the 15pesewas out of the 94pesewas, we think probably we will need a bit more but government may have a different plan to pay us but it is not our purview to determine that, he noted.

Speaking in an interview with the Punch newspaper, Mr. Hosi said those taxes are applied at the Oil marketers level which are paid and not at the BDCs level.

But for some reasons the suggestion is being that we were given a 5percent leeway and we took advantage to do a 27, 28 percent leading to 30percent increment. Those were not true, that information is wrong. We were never asked to increase by x -percent or Y- percent. The industry apply taxes and even not at the BDCs level but at the Oil Marketers level and the impact of the taxes are what people see on the market, he indicated.

He posited that the figures were explained for everyone to see what the incremental impact on the taxes are-the incremental impact for petrol was 86pesewas, 93pesewas for diesel and 56pesewas for LPG.

However, Ghanaians should not suggest or assume that BDCs or OMCs are reaping consumers.

I stand for what I believe in, I stand for what am mandated to do to pursue the interest of my Chamber and its membership and thats what we do. Am not in to help government, not at all. If government is taking a step thats legitimate, I will support it or I will not, he maintained.

According to him, the Chamber is struggling to survive considering the hard conditions in business environment; they are struggling to survive under the pressure of the debt that are owed them.

He added that they are rendering their services to this country at every point in time in a very dedicated way.

It will be just unfair for anyone to suggest that someone is reaping the people of Ghana, he lamented.
Juba (AFP) - Health workers on Friday celebrated a key step towards eradicating the flesh-burrowing guinea worm after South Sudan, once by far the worst-affected country, recorded a massive drop in infections.

"South Sudan is on the verge of eliminating guinea worm disease," South Sudan Minister of Health Riek Gai Kok said in a statement, after workers recorded just five cases last year, a more than 90 percent drop from 2014, when 70 cases were recorded -- the highest number globally.

Guinea worm is a debilitating parasite that digs out the body -- including even eyes and sexual organs -- but is close to being stamped out for good following a two-decade campaign by The Carter Center, a not-for-profit organisation founded by former US president Jimmy Carter.

Last year there were 22 cases in just four nations across Africa, compared to 3.5 million in 20 countries in 1986 when The Carter Centre began its massive push began to stop the water-borne parasite.

If the campaign succeeds, guinea worm will become the first parasitic disease to be eradicated and only the second human disease to wiped out worldwide after smallpox in 1979.

"Eradication of this painful and debilitating disease is within our reach," Kok said of the progress which occurred despite a civil war which has gripped South Sudan for the past two years.

Aside from South Sudan, guinea worms exist only in Chad, Ethiopia and Mali. In 2015, Chad recorded nine cases, Mali had five and Ethiopia just three, the Center said.

"As we get closer to zero, each case takes on increasing importance," Jimmy Carter said in a statement Friday. "Full surveillance must continue in the few remaining endemic nations and neighbouring countries until no cases remain."

Also known as dracunculiasis, from the Latin for "little dragons", the long white worms dig through the body towards the skin, releasing chemicals to burn the flesh and then spewing thousands of larvae as they exit.

The breeding cycle can be broken by making sure people do not wash in sources of drinking water while the worm is emerging from the skin.

They must be teased out by wrapping the wriggling worm around a stick -- the reported origin for the medical symbol of a snake coiled around a staff.
08.01.2016 LISTEN

Ghanaians are seething with rage over the decision to allow two Al Qaeda suspected terrorists to be hosted in the country for at least the next two years.

The Mahama administration, to the shock of Ghanaians, has rolled out red carpet for the terrorists who were previously being held at Guantanamo Prisons in the United States.

Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby are being offered humanitarian assistance in Ghana under a deal signed by the Mahama administration and US authorities.

Bin Atef is an admitted member of the Taliban and fought for Osama bin Laden, while Al-Dhuby trained with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, US-based Fox News reported Wednesday. According to a statement from Ghana's Foreign Affairs Ministry, the assistance being offered the ex-inmates is at the request of the US government.

At the request of the US Government, we have also agreed to accept two detainees of Yemeni origin who were detained in Guantanamo but who have been cleared of any involvement in any terrorist activities and are being released, the statement signed by the Minister, Hannah Tetteh, said.

However, Ghanaians are not happy with the decision to house the suspected terrorists in the country since in their opinion the two men could have been returned to their home country of Yemen.

Their fear is that the suspects' presence in Ghana could make the country a target of an attack, especially with rising suspicion of Ghanaian youth joining insurgent Islamist groups like Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Prof H. Kwasi Prempeh, a US-based Ghanaian law professor, in his Facebook post said:

It is 2008. You wake up one morning to learn that the Kufuor government, following a secret agreement with the US Government, has accepted into the country certain released Guantanamo detainees. What do you think the opposition parties, notably NDC and its agents, would say and do in reaction?

Just imagine it. No better way to illustrate the meanings of the terms hypocrisy, opportunism, dishonesty and unprincipled.

Who knows, this may be their way of placating the Americans and saving the MCC Compact after their crony AMERI deal left GE disappointed and the Americans predictably peeved. Compromising our national interest with this Guantanamo bargain is a small price to pay to mend fences with the Americans and save MCC after AMERI.

Thats the only plausible interpretation I could come up with for this bizarre development.

Prof Prempeh is not the only Ghanaian livid with this decision.

Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso of Legon Centre of International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) and a security analyst, Emmanuel Sowatey, could not understand the reason for accepting the terrorists in Accra, making the country very vulnerable.

They wonder the prize Ghana is receiving for accepting the Guantanamo detainees.

A political pressure group, STUNNAD, in a statement said: Gradually Ghana is carelessly receiving attention on almost everything called 'evil.' If President Mahama and Hannah Tetteh think it is safe for Ghana to accommodate these suspected criminals who, according to the US media, have admitted working with the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda Bin Laden, then I think it will be safe for President Mahama and Ms Hannah Tetteh to house them in their homes.

The statement, signed by Chris Arthur, added: It's a fact, according to report, Atef is an admitted member of the Taliban and fought for Usama bin Laden, while Al-Dhuby trained with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. So how on earth should Ghana come into terms of accepting them into the country when terrorism has become a global concern?

We are told the suspects are already in Ghana and that is the most careless decision made by President Mahama and his government and we urge all well-meaning Ghanaians to rise and chase these suspects out of the country.

However government believes that the suspected terrorists would cause no harm in Ghana, according to deputy Communications Minister Felix Kwakye Ofosu.

We are confident that the number of arrangements we have put in place, we will be able to handle the situation.

United States government, he noted, will bear the cost of the upkeep of the two Guantanamo detainees.

We are [only] helping the United States, he said.

The US in a statement, expressed its gratitude to Ghana for accepting to house the terrorists.

The US is grateful to the Government of Ghana for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The United States coordinated with the Government of Ghana to ensure these transfers took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures.

A DAILY GUIDE Report


08.01.2016 LISTEN

Justice Paul Uutter Dery, one of the 22 High Court judges indicted in the Anas Aremeyaw Anas bribery and corruption scandal, has withdrawn the contempt proceedings brought against Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, a Court of Appeal judge, from hearing his case.

The embattled judge had filed the suit at the Supreme Court seeking to prevent the judge from presiding over any of his cases involving ace investigative journalist Anas and four others on claims of bias.

Justice Dery, in the suit, cited the Registrar of the High Court Fast Track Division, Tiger Eye PI, the Chief Justice and the Attorney General as interested parties.

Retreat

Interestingly, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, lawyer for Justice Dery, withdrew the application after a barrage of questions from the five-member panel of judges presided over by Justice Julius Ansah.

Justice Paul Baffoe Bonnie, among other things, argued that he saw no reason the action was initiated against Justice Torkornoo.

Justice Anim Yeboah said per article 127 (3) of the 1992 Constitution, the judge was clothed with immunity, insisting that even the common law grants same.

Earlier, Nii Addo had argued that Justice Torkornoo lacked jurisdiction on the matter, adding that in the absence of jurisdiction, the court exercises no judicial power.

According to Justice Dery's lawyer, the case was not listed among the list of cases before the judge.

However, the court had ordered that Messrs Samuel Frimpong and Ernest Addo, parties cited in another suit with Justice Dery, be served while parties in another suit involving Tiger Eye PI, CJ and the AG were asked to consolidate their cases.

Justice Torkornoo was represented by Danieyal Abdul Karim.

Dery's Writ

Justice Dery has managed to stop the impeachment process being initiated against him in the interim in his determination to clear his name after he was alleged to have exchanged justice for money, guinea fowls and a goat.

He had wanted the Supreme Court to disqualify Justice Torkornoo, who had been assigned to hear all cases relating to the Anas corruption scandal, from sitting on his legal suits.

Justice Dery demanded That this Honourable Court make an order prohibiting the trial court judge, Her Ladyship, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, from presiding over suit number AP 228/2015 and AP 232/2015.

The writ dated October 29, 2015, filed by Nii Addo, claimed that Justice Torkornoo exhibited bias or a real likelihood of bias when she dismissed his contempt case against the undercover journalist and four others on September 29, 2015 without giving him a hearing.

Contempt

Justice Dery, who was caught on video allegedly taking bribes from litigants to influence his decisions, went to the High Court to stop Anas and the four others from publicly screening the said video on September 22 and 23 last year.

He said notwithstanding the said applications for both interlocutory and perpetual injunction, Anas and his agents went ahead to publicly screen the video, prompting the contempt action against them.

Justice Dery argued that Justice Torkornoo breached the audi alteram partem [listen to the other side] principle of natural justice when she dismissed the contempt action suo moto [on her own].

Meanwhile, he has petitioned the Chief Justice on the matter and has filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal against the dismissal of the contempt case, grounding it on claims that the judge erred when she heard the matter on September 29 instead of the scheduled date, October 12, without notifying him.

Justice Dery is already in the Supreme Court in his zeal to exonerate himself from the alleged bribery quagmire.

In that application, he is invoking the apex court to declare the processes and proceedings that have arisen out of the contents of the entire expose by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas as having no legal basis.

Justice Dery is further praying for a perpetual injunction against any adjudicating body whatsoever from determining any issues arising out of Anas petition on the matter to President Mahama.

By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson

[email protected]


08.01.2016 LISTEN

A HUGE AMOUNT of money belonging to scores of traders got burnt into ashes following a ferocious fire that gutted shops at the Kumasi Central Market.

The inferno, which started around 10pm on Wednesday, consumed about 400 shops and also destroyed items including foodstuffs and clothes.

The exact cause of the blaze was not immediately known but eyewitnesses suspected that an ember, left by a yam seller, started the inferno.

Fire fighters were called to the scene but even though they responded swiftly to the distress call, there was little they could do to save the situation.

Paa Kwasi Arhin, a fire fighter, said his men could not get immediate access to the fire scene inside the market because several shops had blocked the way.

He described the fire outbreak as very serious, noting that his outfit released six vehicles filled with water to battle the ferocious blaze.

Mr Arhin, who was speaking to newsmen, said investigations into what actually started the fire was underway and that in due course the Fire Service would let the public know it.

below are some pictures from the scene:



Cash Burnt In Kumasi Market Fire1

Cash Burnt In Kumasi Market Fire2

Cash Burnt In Kumasi Market Fire4

When DAILY GUIDE visited the scene on Thursday morning, the entire place had been turned into a funeral ground, with affected traders wailing uncontrollably.

Some of the affected traders indicated that they had lost huge sums of money through the fire and feared a miserable future awaited them.

According to them, they kept the proceeds of their sales in the market and were unlucky as the fire had consumed all the money, putting their businesses in danger.

People in the city, including Peter Anarfi Mensah, the Ashanti Regional Minister and Kojo Bonsu, Kumasi Mayor, were there to console the traders.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
HARRISBURG  Pennsylvania Farm Show visitors enjoyed baked potatoes 75 years ago, milkshakes 50 years ago, and honey candy 25 years ago.

This year, they can indulge in filling beef and mushroom burgers, creative fish nachos, tasty fish sliders, sweet chocolate-covered bacon and walking goat tacos. One food vendor calls it a new level of yum.

The 100th Pennsylvania Farm Show, which opens Saturday and runs through Jan. 16, features foods never thought of for earlier Farm Shows.

Food trucks (large vehicles which bring restaurants to the people instead of the other way around) are very popular now, said Christian Herr, executive vice president of PennAg Industries. Our Farm Show Food Court is a place for grazing and sampling. So PennAg Industries added some interesting food for people to try.

The new foods, offered at a media tasting event on Thursday, will be available to the public from noon to 9 p.m. Friday on Farm Show food preview day. Parking on Friday will be free. All visitors must enter through the Cameron Street Lobby. The Farm Show opens on Saturday.

Food Court vendors said they wanted to offer some new choices to visitors to supplement the traditional favorites of lamb stew, apple dumplings, maple cotton candy and fried vegetables.

PennAg already has an extensive Farm Show menu, said Mindy Fleetwood, PennAg Industries Association assistant vice president. Weve added to that. Pulled pork is our best seller, but we have something for everyone.

New choices

PennAgs Farm Show menu, which includes several poultry, pork, veal and fish entries and soup, hot dogs, pretzels, sweets, beverages and barbecue sauces, this year offers some new choices.

We added fish nachos, with the customers choice of seasoned trout or tilapia on a warm corn tortilla atop a bed of crisp nacho chips with fresh pico de gallo, fresh shredded slaw, pickled onions and topped off with light and tasty lime crema, Fleetwood said. Its a new level of yum.

She said that people enjoyed the chocolate-covered bacon so much on Thursday that they asked for seconds! People like bacon and people like chocolate, so I wasnt surprised.

PennAg also is offering gluten-free baked trout and tortilla-crusted tilapia sliders and two PennAg Pennsylvania Farm Show barbecue sauce in original or spicy flavors along with Mike Dawgs bacon barbecue sauce and Mike Dawgs mesquite barbecue sauce.

State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding tried all the sauces and said he likes the PennAg Pennsylvania Farm Show original the best.

Nearby, the Mushroom Farmers of Pennsylvania married mushrooms to ground beef in the blend, which can be served in sandwiches, tacos, chili, soups and salads.

This is our first new item here since grilled portabellas five years ago, said Gale Ferranto, president of Buona Foods and a member of the Mushroom Farmers of PA. This year, its all about the blend.

Dave Santucci, regional sales manager of Country Fresh Mushrooms, said the blend includes 30 percent chopped sauteed mushrooms and 70 percent chopped beef.

Mushrooms add moistures, nutrition and flavor, he said. You can do this with any variety of mushrooms. We think these will be hot sellers.

Other new food items at the Farm Show include carrot cake funnel cake, breakfast pretzel rolls, walking goat meat tacos and ribs, chicken bites and a barbecue beef bowl. The Pennsylvania Dairymens Association will introduce a new flavor of milkshake today. (Friday)

Food sold in the Food Court in the Weis Expo Hall and in the Food Court annex in the Main Hall provides income to Pennsylvanias non-profit commodity organizations.
08.01.2016 LISTEN

Workers in the country have given government up to Wednesday, January 13, 2016 to reduce the utility tariffs or face a series of nationwide protests.

They have also asked government to immediately withdraw the Energy Sector Levy Act, 2015 (Act 899), which has resulted in astronomical and unjustified increases in the prices of petroleum products.

The warning came in a statement endorsed by Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of Trade Union Congress (TUC); Kotei Solomon, Industrial & Commercial Workers Union-Ghana; Albert Yamoah, Ghana Federation of Labour; Vida Sapabil, Coalition of Concerned Teachers; Kojo W. Krakani, CLOGSAG and Derrick Annan, Judicial Services Association of Ghana (JUSAG).

Others include Justice Yankson, Ghana Medical Association (GMA); M.V.V.K Demanya, Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT); Kweku Asante-Krobea, Ghana Registered Nurses & Midwives Association (GRNMA) and Christian O. Odue, National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT).

The Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) has increased electricity and water tariffs by 59.2 percent and 67.2 percent respectively.

Fuel prices at the pumps have also been increased by between 22 percent and 27 percent following the passage of the Energy Sector Levy (ESL) by Parliament in December 2015.

Workers are unhappy with the imposition of new taxes since the issue of the new tariff hikes, which is in court, is yet to be settled.

Organised Labour, in statement released yesterday, expressed grave disappointment in the manner in which Parliament went about the promulgation of the Energy Sector Levy Act, 2015 (Act 899).

It said the increases in tariffs, taxes and levies showed the insensitivity of the managers of the country's economy.

Government's Position

However, the Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, said government would not reverse the increased utility tariffs and new taxes.

According to him, the increase in the prices of petroleum products was necessary to fix the erratic power supply that has bedevilled the country for about four years.

The Employment Minister made this known after a meeting with Organised Labour on Tuesday over the tariffs, which ended in a deadlock.

He said any attempt to reverse the increases would negatively affect government's ability to fix the energy crisis.

The Minister explained that there is an outstanding debt of GH4.5 billion which needs to be settled, hence government's decision to introduce the new Energy Sector Levy.

TUC, Govt Meeting

Organised Labour held a meeting with government on Tuesday after the increase in the prices of petroleum products.

According to sources, the Organised Labour asked for a reduction in the prices of the utility tariffs.

[email protected]

By Cephas Larbi


08.01.2016 LISTEN

There is no gainsaying the importance of credible and transparent polls in any given democracy.

If the integrity of the electoral process is hinged upon the voters' roll as the most prominent factor, it presupposes therefore that no stone should be left unturned towards achieving this feat.

It is disappointing to note that the issue of a credible roll of voters as presented by protagonists of its replacement, given the compromised state of the current one, has been reduced to a matter of pedantic taunts by elements in the ruling government led by its General Secretary, Asiedu Nketia.

Democracy is not built through pranks by persons who appear to be underrating this tested system of governance, the result of power inebriation.

A few days ago, an unnecessary press conference which sought to ridicule to no avail though, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia ended up exposing the ruling party.

The Togo factor which the NDC jitters over when it is mentioned was given a fresh lease of life yesterday as an opposition element from that country spoke about it.

We wish to repeat here and now that the register in its flawed state  the result of painstaking undercover transporting of persons from neighbouring countries to be captured in it  inured to the benefit of the ruling party in the last polls. They expect that a repeat of the module could help them as they face the wrath of the Ghanaian electorate in November.

The use of a similar module as they did in the last elections is rather going to be an impossible one, even if the status quo is maintained and Charlotte Osei, the EC boss, maintains her partisan course.

Be it as it may, we wish to ask the chief scribe of the ruling party to be wary about the sanctity of the issues of democracy, especially as they pertain to elections.

Rigging at the polls cannot be undertaken indefinitely. Doing so is a threat to the stability of the country  something we should avoid at a time when the country is especially reeling under an unusual economic downturn, one engineered by corruption and irresponsible governance.

Elsewhere in this edition there is a story about meetings between two election experts with critical stakeholders in the country's elections.

We are pleased to learn that Prof Merloe of the National Democratic Institute (NDI)  the US-based think-tank working towards transparent elections worldwide  and the now renowned Prof Attahiru Jega of the Nigeria INEC fame discussed how to ensure acceptable outcome of the 2016 polls.

It is our hope that everything that would ensure that it is the party which the majority of Ghanaians want to govern them that takes over the mantle of leadership should be done. Only a credible general election can ensure this.

Unfortunately, the body language of the Chairman of the EC and her language leave many questions about whether she has the interest of the country at heart lingering as conundrums.

Ghanaians would not allow the political recklessness of Charlotte to throw this country asunder. Never! All we are asking after all is for a credible voter register so that at the end of the process victory is genuine and not fraudulent.
08.01.2016 LISTEN

The Togolese register submitted by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the Electoral Commission (EC) to back its demand for the compilation of a new Biometric Voters Register (BVR) appears to be credible.

This was confirmed yesterday by Masseme Esse, who said he was an advisor to Togo's main opposition leader, Jean Pierre Fabre.

I can confirm that I have seen the Togo register presented by the NPP and it is the same that we used for our elections, he told various radio stations during their morning show programmes.

Controversy over the register was the basis for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) calling on the police to arrest NPP vice presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, for allegedly deceiving public officers.

Three NDC members lodged a bogus complaint against Dr Bawumia at the CID headquarters yesterday, even though their party's General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia had said he was not ready to report the erudite economist to the police.

EC Rejection

The EC has since rejected the NPP's request for an entirely new register and said it would rather do an audit of the document as recommended by a five-member panel that was instituted by the commission to look into the matter.

Interestingly, the EC opted for the approach which the ruling party  National Democratic Congress  proposed and seemed comfortable with (that is to audit the register), because the commission claimed the Togolese EC had declined to allow it access to that country's register to verify the NPP's claims.

The Commission was also unable to confirm the authenticity of the Togolese Register used by the NPP in their analysis as the Electoral Commission of Togo declined to provide the EC with a copy of its register or confirm the authenticity of the soft copy of the register used by the NPP, the EC said in a response to the party recently.

It added, On November 27, 2015, the EC received a response from the Togo EC stating that they were unable to confirm the authenticity of the register submitted by the NPP as the Togolese register is a security document containing the private information of Togolese citizens.



Details Emerging

Masseme Esse, who said he was a leading member of Alliance Nationale Pour Le Changement  ANC  (National Alliance for Change), asserted that he had been following the development in Ghanaian politics since the NPP presented the Togo register in August last year.

The NPP is not lying about the register. What the NPP presented is the exact copy of Togo's register and it shows all the details as we have it in our register, Mr Esse affirmed.

He said that some democracy-loving civil society organisations (CSOs) in Togo organised a news conference to raise the issue when the NPP presented the register to the EC in August last year, adding that the CSOs published the pictures of the people who were captured in both the Togo and Ghana registers.

From our checks, those people were in the register given to us by the commission in Togo. I have seen the Togo register presented by the NPP and confirm they are the same people in our register, he stressed.



Cross-Border Voting

Mr Esse noted that the issue of cross-border voting had been there for ages, saying, It is very common for people to cross the border and register to vote in Ghana.

He said all political parties in Togo were given copies of the register before exhibition and also had it unedited. It is that register we used for our analysis and strategy before the election.

It is because we have a register that we raised concerns and which made it easy for the Ghanaian parties to come to Togo and look for the register to solve their issue.



Mutual Understanding

He said the best way to deal with the issue was for the EC in Ghana to pick representatives from all the parties who would then go to the Togo EC to ascertain the truth to put matters to rest. The Ghanaian EC can sit down with its Togolese counterpart.

Mr Masseme Esse pointed out, I think the Togo EC has no right to refuse or reject Ghana EC's request to look into the Togolese register in order to solve problems in Ghana.



Presidential Intervention

He said President Mahama played a pivotal role in calming tensions in Togo last year when a dispute over their register arose.

The time we were having problems, President Mahama came here to intervene and solve the problem between us. So if Ghana is also having a problem, the Togo EC can help them.

He said the EC should know how to go to competent people in Togo and solve the problem amicably, adding, We are sister-countries and we are members of ECOWAS and why can we not solve the problem between us?

He also said his personal view on the matter was that the Ghanaian EC should compile a completely new register to solve the problem once and for all.

By William Yaw Owusu


08.01.2016 LISTEN

Pressure group, Progressive Nationalist Forum (PNF), is calling for the head of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei, for allegedly compromising her position. She is said to be holding another public office while serving as the electoral head of the country.

There are indications that Ms Osei is still holding on to her position as a board member of Ghana Reinsurance Company Limited (Ghana Re)) in breach of the country's Constitution.

We demand that Madam Commissioner resigns her post as a member of the board of directors of Ghana Reinsurance Company or as the Chairman of the Electoral Commission with immediate effect, a statement issued in Accra and signed by Richard Nyamah, convenor of PNF, said.

Richard Nyamah, who led the campaign for the removal of former Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) chairperson, Lauretta Vivian Lamptey, accused Ms Osei of pocketing money from the Ghana Re, which she does not deserve, asking her to refund all payments made to her since her appointment as the EC boss.

Ghana Reinsurance Company Ltd prides itself as the leading international reinsurer in the country.

The EC boss' name has been spotted in the 2016 diary of the company as a member of its board of directors. A report monitored on Asempa Fm yesterday afternoon indicated that she had resigned at the end of December.

Article 44 Clause 4 of the 1992 Constitution states that the chairman and the two deputy chairmen of the commission shall not, while they hold office on the commission, hold any other public office.

But six months after assuming the position as EC chair, Progressive Nationalist Forum said, Ms Osei is still serving on the board of the company.

Evidence we possess show that Ms Osei, before her appointment as EC chair and since her appointment, has remained a member of the board of the company, Mr Richard Nyamah intimated in a press release.

The group has also asked that she should by January 30, 2016 pay back all allowances received as board member of Ghana Reinsurance or forfeit her salary and entitlements as Chairman of the Commission, which ever option she chooses to exercise, from 1st July, 2015 till date.

Failure to do that, the PNF has threatened to use every legal means to ensure that the right thing is done.

Ms Osei was said to have travelled within the period to Kenya for a Ghana Re-sponsored programme.

Charlotte Osei was, before his appointment as EC chairperson, the boss of National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE)  another constitutional body. While serving as NCCE chairperson she was equally drawing allowances from Ghana Re, a state-owned company, the statement observed.

The group has since admonished all Ghanaians, especially those holding public office, to refrain from breaking the law and shun corruption in whatever shape or form it comes in 2016 and beyond.

As at press time, she had not responded to the allegation.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
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08.01.2016 LISTEN

It is amazing how fast days run these days. When days run fast, they come with both the good and the bad. To the prisoner, his days of incarceration reduce by the day as he looks forward towards regaining his freedom. To the debtor, the faster the days run, the closer he gets to his creditors. To the poor and the distressed, the prayer is that the new days come with hope and a change for the better. That is why the traditional greetings by Ghanaians during the Christmas and New Year festivities have been that 'next year by this time, we should be better than this; that our sorrows and problems would have been consigned to the dustbin and prosperity would have been our lot'.

I remember as a child growing up in Takoradi, we would contribute pesewas to have a few drums for the purpose of the Christmas. We moved from house to house where we played and sang for the tenants or better still the occupants to donate something to us for the Christmas. The donations could be in the form of sweets, 'crackers', food or money. More often than not, we preferred the one pesewa or three-pence coins. Once we received any of these, our final message was 'Maame woyemu Ye, Dabi ebo wo ntta', which literally translates 'Madam you are so kind, may God bless you with twins', and they responded amen. Dare tell any woman today that you wish her twins and you will hear what she will tell you.

Most Ghanaians had great expectations towards the year 2015 when the year 2014 was unwillingly moving towards the end. Ghanaians, as usual, built their future on hope and not on concrete plans and actions which had the potential to improve their lot. Our hopes for the future were hinged on those in whose hands we had entrusted our collective resources and the promises and assurances they gave to us. While I believe more on planning one's life and working very hard towards the attainment of those plans, it is also a fact that a man's attitude towards any plan is the hope and belief that the plan will work. I am sure most Ghanaians could not achieve their set targets in 2015 not because they did not believe in their own plans; the painful truth is that this nation went through a very negative influencing environment.

Surely, there were some negative external factors which had very bad effect on the nation, gold prices had plummeted in the last 24 months, cocoa prices have not seen appreciable stability and oil prices have had their lowest point in the last 12 years. These are factors among many others that can influence the economic performance of any country. However, the level of effects of the above factors on any economy will also depend on the internal policies of the handlers of that country's resources and policies that direct the economy.

Any Accounting student or practitioner will tell you that for one to have clean Books and a stable financial position in the scheme of things, two major ingredients are very much essential. The revenue side, which is how much monies come to the entity from various legitimate sources and the expenditure side which is the appropriation of funds in the most efficient and effective manner. Nations which are able to withstand external economic shocks look more to the expenditure side of their finances than the revenue side. Common sense will tell you that one has full control over expenditure, but little control over revenues.

The year 2015 will go down the history of this country as the most difficult period of our history since the fourth Republic. The reason is not about shortage of revenues, the problem is about thievery of public funds with impunity. It is about Mahama's insensitivity towards the cries of the people of this country. Yes, this is the only President in the history of the civilized world who looks straight in the eyes of his pitiable citizens, complaining of hardships, pleading for mitigation, and the response is, ' I am a dead goat, I fear no knife'. Meaning, 'I don't care what you say or what happens to you.'

This is the only President in the civilized world, who makes a promise, asks his citizens to read his lip, and have the confidence that he was going to solve a problem which has lingered on for four years and fails to honour that promise and still beats his chest and prides himself of unprecedented achievements. This is the only President elected through adult suffrage, who has made thievery an official policy and honours and elevates his appointees who have excelled in the art of stealing in the name of governance. Yes, I initially talked about the fall in crude oil prices on the international market because, courtesy President Kufuor, Ghana is producing crude oil in commercial quantities. In that case, a fall in the world market price affect our revenues from the oil, but a country like Ghana which is a net importer of crude oil must benefit from the sharp drop in crude oil prices.

Poor Ghanaians, we have not benefited from this global relief and as if the hardships of 2015 were not enough an excruciating economic quagmire, the insensitive block-headed Mahama administration finds it relieving to compound the existing problems by putting salt into the wounds of an already bleeding citizenry just at the beginning of the year. Various taxes have been smuggled into an unobserving Parliament to approve to further aggravate our situation. The last Christmas happened to be the worst in recent times, most parents decided to celebrate it modestly so they can meet their wards educational and other obligations in the new year.

The people of this country are gnashing their teeth, wringing their arms in despair and utter regret, as if they are cursing their creator for imposing an inhumane, insensitive, careless, irresponsive, bunch of sadists, who relish in the pain of the mass of the people whose interest they are supposed to work towards, but where cometh their salvation before November 7.

The year 2015 saw among others, fire gutting the Medical Stores of Ghana Health Services in Tema, no report has come to the public as yet, one way of covering up corruption and thievery under Mahama. Filth which took the lives of over 200 Ghanaians in Accra alone through cholera climaxed its activity on June 3 when fire was engaged to fuel, again in Accra and also took away almost 200 lives all under the Mahama administration.

Doctors had to strike for over a month to get the Mahama administration to sit down to address their needs, meanwhile nurses were not paid after having worked for more than two years, young doctors also had not received their salaries for years until they came to Accra to live with the Controller and Accountant General. Don't forget the Nursing Trainees, teachers and a host of public servants treated with contempt in the year just gone by. One of the most amazing acts of governmental indiscipline was the Police recruitment scam. It was a big shame and a tragic way of doing things under Mahama.

The worst of 2015 was the institutionalized corruption at the Ministry of Transport headed by the President himself. A supposedly USD29million project done on the Kumasi Airport was too high a cost for the maintenance of the run-way when in Ethiopia, a similar amount is being used to build a complete airport from the scratch. Do you remember the scandalous to- err- is- human thievery at the DVLA also under the same Ministry? A GH3.6 million project ended up being GH9.3million? The Ministry crowned its stealing expedition in the year with bus branding at the cost of GH3.6 million. The lady might have resigned because she has had more than enough or the crooks were feeding fat and rubbing her lips with the oil from the feast.

One would have expected a change in the attitudes of brainless brigands parading as leaders for the year 2016, but nay, if last year was tragic, 2016 has begun with suffocation. Just wondering how many will survive the year. I pledged to halt mahogany bitters, but circumstances.

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IOM this week (6-7 January) assisted 154 Senegalese and 133 Burkinabe nationals stranded migrants in Libya to return to Senegal and Burkina Faso. Many of them had spent months in immigration detention centers.

The migrants flew out of Tripoli's Mitiga Airport on two charter flights that arrived in Dakar, Senegal and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, respectively. The IOM office in Libya worked closely with the Senegalese and Burkina Faso Embassies in Tunis and Tripoli, the Libyan authorities to facilitate this repatriation.

Almost all of these migrants had entered Libya irregularly via Algeria and Niger, paying smugglers between USD 800 and USD 1,500 for a trip that lasted anywhere from two weeks to8 weeks.

During their stay in Libya, migrants reported to have faced tough conditions just to survive, not only because of the lack of paying jobs, but mainly due to widespread insecurity and crime. Being constantly at risk of being robbed or taken hostage for ransom was the hardest part, many said.

Mussa, a 50-year-old Senegalese married father of eight said, "I came to Libya through the Niger desert. On the way we had an accident. Three people (two men and a woman) were seriously injured and the truck driver left them to die in the desert. I continued with my brother, who broke his leg in the same accident, until we finally arrived at the Libyan border where we met with other smugglers who forced us to pay almost USD 1,800 to take us to Sabha (780 km south of Tripoli)."

Said Camara (42), a Senegalese construction worker and married father of three, who suffers from a broken leg because of a shooting incident during his arrest by the police in Qarapoly (60 km east of Tripoli): I came to Libya 5 months ago, after my brother convinced me to earn enough money so I could cross the sea to France and seek a decent life there. He added: After my leg injury  which probably will be amputated according to doctors  I have no choice but to return to my country and my family. Without the help of IOM, my return would have not been possible. The desert road is unbearable for those who are in my situation.

We heard a lot about the work opportunities for Africans in Libya, especially during Gaddafi's era. All this was confirmed by our friend Idris, who came six years ago and convinced us to catch up with him. In the beginning things were good, we were able to work and earn some money for our family. However, in the last year, things turned out very badly for us, we were unable even to feed ourselves, said Moktar and Malik, two brothers from Burkina Faso who went to Libya four years ago.

Abdullah from Burkina Faso said, I was scheduled to return with IOM support on 17th December but a gang has stolen my phone, my money and my travel document and I missed the previous trip, but thank God and thanks to IOM who rescheduled me for 6 January 2016.

IOM Libya Chief of Mission Othman Belbeisi said: Those two movements would have not been possible without the direct evolvement of the respective embassies, Senegal and Burkina Faso, the Libyan Directorate of Combating Illegal Migration and IOM Missions in Senegal and Burkina Faso. With their support we were able to provide these 287 migrants with a possibility of a fresh start in 2016.

Before departure, all migrants received food, hygiene kits and clothes and the most vulnerable cases (20 per cent) were allocated reintegration grants to facilitate their socio-economic reinsertion back home.

Upon return in Senegal, migrants were received by Sory Kaba, General Director for Senegalese abroad, and Jo Lind Roberts Sene, Head of Office, IOM Senegal. In addition, all migrants were supported with an onward transportation grant to facilitate their transportation to their final destinations.

Upon return in Burkina Faso, migrants were received by Daouda Ouedraogo, Permanent Secretary of High Council for Burkinabe abroad and Boubacar Milougou, Permanent Secretary of National Council for Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation, and Abdel, Head of Office, IOM Burkina Faso. In addition, all migrants were supported with onward transportation grants to facilitate their transportation to their final destination.

Funds for the two charters were provided by the State Secretariat of Migration, Switzerland as part of an IOM project Humanitarian Repatriation for Stranded Migrants in Libya (Swiss). The charters were the third and fourth of a series of repatriation flights that IOM Libya is organizing in the coming months to Senegal, Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso.
08.01.2016 LISTEN

The Ghana Association of Biomedical Laboratory Scientists (GABMLS) has refuted claims by the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) that biomedical scientists at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KATH) are preventing doctors from entering and practising their profession at the various laboratories at the hospital.

According to GABMLS, allegations by the GMA and further notice to government of the intention of the medical doctors to withdraw all services to protest what they called 'threats and abuse' at the hands of biomedical scientists at the hospital are shocking and in bad faith.

GABMLS also said the claims of intimidation and threats either verbal and/or physical assaults by biomedical scientists on GMA members is unfounded and unsubstantiated.

This has never happened anywhere in the KBTH central laboratory or any of its satellite laboratories, a release signed by Michael Amo Omari, GABMLS general secretary, said.

He explained that medical doctors have no job description in medical laboratory practice and neither are they licensed to play professional roles in the laboratories.

In other words, medical doctors are not recognised as qualified medical laboratory practitioners. The place for medical doctors to practise their profession is not the laboratory but rather the consulting rooms, wards and theatres, he said.

Responding to the claims by Dr Justice Yankson, GMA general secretary, who described the efforts by biomedical scientists in KBTH to defend and protect their own profession from unqualified practitioners as ridiculous and an act of impunity, Mr Omari said biomedical scientists in KBTH, like all registered medical laboratory scientists in Ghana have sworn to uphold and to protect the professional integrity of medical laboratory practice in Ghana.

We believe that the GMA and all other health professional groupings are committed to protecting their professions from quackery We owe it a professional duty to ensure that only registered, thus competent professionals are allowed to enter medical laboratories to practice, he said.

Mr Omari further mentioned that the association was shocked and appalled at the caution and threat of the force and might of the GMA to be brought to bear on its members in this matter and advised the GMA to encourage their colleagues to join them in the consulting rooms and wards instead of moving to laboratories only to generate unhealthy professional role conflict to the disadvantage of the innocent and poor patient.

He also indicated that GAMBLS will cooperate with the management of KBTH and the Ministry of Health (MoH) towards resolving these issues amicably and speedily.

Whilst we hope to commit ourselves to frank and open dialogue, we shall resist any act of intimidation, threats and unfounded allegations from any quarters, he underscored.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
Ebenezer Amankwah, Corporate Communications Manager, Vodafone, presenting the cheque to Colonel Joseph Agbeka

08.01.2016 LISTEN

Vodafone Ghana Foundation, charitable arm of Vodafone Ghana, has paid the medical bills of 300 patients at the 37 Military Hospital.

The bills, amounting to GH28, 535, 65, was paid to 'free' the patients who could not pay their bills after being discharged through its annual 'Homecoming' initiative.

Vodafone 'Homecoming' is an annual event of the telecom company to show love to insolvent patients who have been kept in hospitals because they are unable to pay for their bills.

This year's package also included the setting up of an endowment fund, bill payment for the eight patients, GH16,000 donation to procure a dermatome equipment.

Vodafone employees also painted the paediatric unit and organised a party for the kids.

Commenting on the foundation's Christmas outreach, Head of Vodafone Ghana Foundation and Sustainability, Nana Yaa Ofori-Koree, said it has always been a joy for Vodafone Ghana and the foundation to come to the aid of patients.

Today, the medical bills of many patients who were once confined to the hospital have been fully paid so they can reunite with their family and friends. We pledge our continued support to this cause, she pointed out.

Mrs Ofori-Koree, leading the Vodafone team and media to visit the various wards in the hospital, said the foundation has set up an endowment fund with GH200, 000 seed money annually to support financially challenged patients in hospitals across the country.

Acting Commanding Officer of 37 Military Hospital, Colonel Christian Agbeka, thanked Vodafone for instituting a fund to support the treatment of underprivileged patients.

The beneficiaries took turns to thank Vodafone for coming to their rescue. Six-two-year-old Richard Anka, a beneficiary, said, God bless Vodafone for footing my huge bill. My entire family in the Volta Region is grateful to them.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri


Michael Allotey addressing the news conference with some party supporters around him

08.01.2016 LISTEN

Some supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Tema West Constituency have appealed to the leadership of the party to call the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Irene Naa Torshie Addo to order.

According to them, the MP is planning to launch a campaign to promote the flagbearer of the party and ensure the parliamentary candidate Calros Kingsley Ahenkorah loses the 2016 parliamentary election.

They alleged that Hon. Naa Torshie met some party faithful in the constituency to declare her intention to brand some pick-ups and T-shits with 'Nana Raw' inscriptions to promote the presidential candidate of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The supporters said the party in the constituency was not ready for separate campaign teams but a united one with Mrs. Torshie-Addo joining Mr. Ahenkorah for victory 2016.

It would be recalled that two persons filed a suit against the parliamentary candidate for him to be disqualified.

The two one Nana Yaw Ntim of BAC 2/4, Baatsona, Accra and Christian Joseph also of H/No S/59, Ofoe Agronti, Sarkomono prayed the court to disqualify Carlos as a parliamentary candidate of the NPP.

Addressing a news conference in Tema on Tuesday, Michael Allotey, spokesperson of the party's supporters, said the move of the MP was diabolic and preconceived to discredit the party and the elected parliamentary candidate.'

He said the sitting MP Irene Addo was doing everything possible to make sure the party fails in its bid to retain the Tema West seat and create disaffection for the flagbearer in the constituency through her actions and inactions.

According to him, She has managed to create deep-seated divisions in the constituency among the executives and runs down the elected parliamentary candidate at the least opportunity.

Mr. Allotey noted that the incumbent MP recently attempted to stop a meeting of all polling station executives in the constituency.

He said that Mrs. Torshie-Addo, who embarked on a thank you tour of the constituency, told some party supporters that she was going to launch her own campaign in the Tema West Constituency for Nana Addo and that by the grace of God her face will be on the ballot paper come 2016 parliamentary elections of the Tema West Constituency.

Nana Boakye, a supporter of the party, in an interview with DAILY GUIDE, called on the party to suspend one Stephen Nana Yaw Ntim, a member of Disciplinary Committee in the constituency and an aide to the incumbent MP for suing Mr. Ahenkorak.

According to him, the plaintiff has violated party article 3(d) and (3d) II and article 4 of the constitution which states that a member cannot take any member of the party to court without exhausting all channels in the party.

Mr. Ntim has sued Mr. Ahenkorah twice, with the initial suit challenging the residency of the defendant in Tema West, which was thrown out by a Tema Court.

But when Mrs. Torshie-Addo was contacted, she declined to comment on the allegations by the party's supporters.

Some party supporters, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE, rubbished the allegations leveled by their colleagues against the MP.

Peter Mckwei, a coordinator of Mrs. Torshie-Addo 'Thank You' Tour, denied the allegations, saying The MP never said anything like that during the thank you tour but advised supporters to unite and ensure Mr. Ahenkorah and Nana Addo win the elections.

From Vincent Kubi, Tema


In the wake of President Barrack Obama announcing new executive action that he would take in an effort reduce gun violence; Congressman Scott Perry, R-4, introduced the Second Amendment Defense Act. The bill is meant to block unilateral action taken by the executive branch to create more restrictive regulations on law-abiding gun owners, Perry said in a written statement.

State Rep. Will Tallman, R-New Oxford, has introduced a bill that would attempt to block implementation of Obamas actions within the state.

Q: What made you decide to introduce the Second Amendment Defense Act?

A: I firmly believe that a policy that would affect the fundamental rights of our citizens outlined in the Second Amendment should go through the traditional lawmaking process, which starts in Congress. The Constitution doesnt allow the President to unilaterally create more restrictive regulations on law-abiding gun owners.

Q: What have you heard from constituents when it comes to gun control and gun violence?

A: Ive heard from both sides on these issues, which are obviously very emotionally-charged for all of us. The vast majority of the constituents Ive heard from have serious concerns with the unilateral executive action taken by President Obama. They are rightfully concerned about gun violence, but they have serious reservations about whether new regulations on lawful gun owners is the answer to that problem.

Q: How would you rather see the problem of gun violence be addressed in the United States?

A: Theres no simple answer. One common element to many of the recent mass shootings is an individual not being treated for mental illness. Thats why I am a co-sponsor of the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, which aims to fix the nations broken mental health system by focusing programs and resources on psychiatric care for patients and families most in need of services. The U.S. Government also already has 240 pages of gun regulations passed by Congress. President Obama should be focusing his efforts on pushing the Department of Justice to aggressively investigate and prosecute gun trafficking crimes involving real criminals.

Q: Do you personally own firearms and if so why? (Personal protection, hunting, recreation, etc.)

A: Yes.

Q: What do you see as the biggest misconception surrounding the gun control debate and why?

A: The biggest misconception is that enacting policies that target law-abiding gun owners will somehow keep guns on of the hands of criminals who have no intention of following the law. We already have comprehensive gun laws on the books to stop illegal unlicensed gun trafficking  lets start enforcing them.
Prof Jega in a group picture with some IEA staff and other stakeholders

08.01.2016 LISTEN

Two election experts from the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in the United States, Prof Merloe, alongside the immediate past Chairman of Independent Nigeria Election Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, have held separate meetings with the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra in the past few days.

The engagements were under the auspices of the Kofi Annan Foundation and geared towards ensuring credible and transparent elections scheduled for November this year.

The Kofi Annan Foundation, set up in 2013 in pursuance of credible polls, floated the Election Integrity Initiative which brings together election experts to share ideas on best practices that would ensure credible and transparent polls.

The visit to the country and the various meetings with stakeholders, which included the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), provided platforms for valuable discussions on how to meet the target of ensuring credible elections in consonance with internationally acceptable best practices.

A source close to the IEA told DAILY GUIDE that the meeting explored ways of guaranteeing the transparency of the process in a way that would result in acceptable results to all parties.

Continuing, the source explained that one of the key issues discussed was the display of the voter register on an EC server accessible to all parties and persons with a stake in the roll of voters.

Also discussed at length was the Prof Jega module of engaging the services of academics and other professionals to play roles of collation officers during the election. This, they agreed, is a means of ensuring the credibility of the electoral process.

The meeting, DAILY GUIDE learnt, was also a fact-finding mission about what arrangements were on the ground to ensure that the management of the 2016 polls meets internationally acceptable best practices.

Before the curtains were drawn over 2015, the IEA organized a major forum which had Prof Attahiru Jega  the man whose feat in organizing one of the best elections in Africa has earned him international acclaim  make a presentation.

Disappointedly though, the EC declined an IEA invitation to partake in the discourse ostensibly pointing at the pending Amenfi West by-election and a pending trip abroad by the Chairman of the Commission, Charlotte Osei.

Prof Jega repeated the Accra presentation in Kumasi, hammering on the fact that the integrity of every election is hinged upon the quality of the voter register. He recalled how he followed a similar path in Nigeria when it became clear according to him, that the electoral roll was flawed.

The visit of the two experts has taken place at a time when the EC is coming under attack from proponents of a replacement of the voter register because according to them, it has largely been compromised with the inclusion of foreigners, especially Togolese, among other deficiencies.

The US-based NDI works towards ensuring credible elections across the world.

The meeting with the EC was behind closed-doors and so the media were denied access.

By A.R. Gomda


The NADMO boss presenting the items to the MCE

08.01.2016 LISTEN

The National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) has delivered relief items to victims of the explosion at the A. K. Y quarry site at Peabo in the Nsawam Municipality in the Eastern region.

They included 100 packets of roofing sheets and 8,000 pieces of wood worth GH122,000.

They were delivered by the Head of Relief and Reconstruction of NADMO, Gavivina Tamakloe.

They were received on behalf of the victims by the MCE for Nsawam Adoagyiri Ben Ayeh, who thanked NADMO for the gesture.

The explosion occurred on Wednesday, December 23 2015 after fire gutted containers with the Ammonium Nitrate.

There was an explosion thereafter which injured over 100 commuters in the area.

Some of the residents, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE, stated that they saw smoke at the quarry site and quickly drew the attention of the Ghana National Fire Service at Nsawam, which also responded quickly and came to put off the fire.

According to them, 30 minutes after the fire service team left, they heard an explosion which shook the ground. Some of them thought it was an earthquake.

They indicated that they heard another explosion which affected their homes and destroyed their foodstuffs.

Meanwhile, two suspects Ransford Akwasi Nuamah, 40, and Kwabena Asare, 31, have been arrested by the Regional Police Command to assist in investigations for attempting to smuggle explosives at the A.K.Y Mining Site in December last year.

The suspects were busted by the police on a tip-off.

They were allegedly smuggling the Ammonium nitrate from the Peabo quarry site, which had been cordoned off following the explosion to sell in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. One person died while 27 others sustained injuries after the explosion.

The acting Inspector General of Police, DCOP John Kudalor, who was accompanied by the Eastern Regional Police Command and the Regional Minister, Antwi Boasiako Sekyere and the Deputy Interior Minister and the National NADMO boss, have travelled to the site to assess the situation and visited the victims.

Three persons were earlier reported dead but police confirmed that only one person, Ibrahim Mohammed, 38, died on the spot.

It was alleged that he met his death when he rushed to the quarry site to assess the situation. Thirteen others were also critically injured.

The former MCE of Nsawam/Adoagyiri, whose residence is opposite the quarry site, was not spared.

The Eastern Regional Security Council reported that other explosives had been discovered at the site which makes it unsafe for residents to live there.

BY Daniel Bampoe


The Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, received the newly-appointed Foreign Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania, Dr Augustine Mahiga, on 5 January 2016, in Durban, South Africa, to discuss the prevailing situation in Burundi. It should be recalled that Tanzania is the current Chair of the East African Community (EAC), the organization leading the ongoing efforts aimed at finding a political solution to the serious crisis facing Burundi.

The discussions took place against the backdrop of recent developments in the efforts to find a negotiated solution to the current crisis. In this respect, mention should be made of the decision adopted by the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC), on 17 December 2015, authorizing the deployment of the African Prevention and Protection Mission in Burundi (MAPROBU), as well as of the ceremony organized in Entebbe, on 28 December 2015, under the chairmanship of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, EAC Mediator for Burundi, to mark the resumption of the inter-Burundian dialogue.

Both the Chairperson of the Commission and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tanzania expressed deep concern at the political, security, and humanitarian situation prevailing in Burundi and at its consequences for regional security and stability. They stressed the imperative for renewed efforts to assist the Burundian stakeholders overcome the challenges confronting their country and preserve the important gains made since the signing of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement of August 2000. They agreed on the need to vigorously purse an all-inclusive dialogue among all stakeholders in Burundi, without excluding anyone, whilst at the same time ensuring an immediate end to all acts of violence and the protection of civilians and Government institutions.

The Chairperson of the Commission and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tanzania welcomed the resumption of the inter-Burundian dialogue in Entebbe, and commended President Yoweri Museveni for his tireless efforts and commitment. They look forward to the continuation of the talks in Arusha, Tanzania, as planned by the Mediation, and to speedy progress on the contentious issues, so as to ensure the early resolution of the crisis. They highlighted the commitment of EAC Chair, the Chair of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region  ICGLR (Angola), the AU Commission and South Africa, in view of its longstanding involvement in the search for peace in Burundi, to extend to the Ugandan Mediation whatever assistance and support that may be needed for the successful and speedy conclusion of the dialogue.

The Chairperson of the Commission and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tanzania, bearing in mind the imperative of ending all acts of violence and human rights violations, urged the Government of Burundi to fully cooperate with the AU towards the early deployment of MAPROBU. They underlined that MAPROBU has no other objective than to assist the Burundians overcome the challenges confronting them, in the spirit of continental solidarity and the search for African solutions to African problems, consistent with the relevant AU instruments.

The Chairperson of the Commission and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tanzania agreed that all African stakeholders should closely coordinate their efforts and speak with one voice, within the framework provided for by the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), in order to effectively assist the Burundians to move forward towards stability and peace.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) presented 12 Nissan pickup vehicles to the Northern Regional Coordinating Council (NRCC) in Tamale, Ghana, on January 8, 2016. The vehicles were distributed to nine metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies (MMDAs) and three regional departments in the Northern Region of Ghana to improve service delivery to their citizens.

The Tamale Metropolitan, Savelugu, Central Gonja, Saboba, East Mamprusi, Nanumba North, Nanumba South, Tolon, and West Gonja MMDAs and the Northern Region Health Directorate, Northern Region Environmental Health Unit, and the Northern Region Department of Social Welfare each received a vehicle.

USAID/Ghana Mission Director Andrew Karas handed over the vehicles on behalf of the U.S. government. These vehicles will enable local governments to provide more efficient and improved services to even their most vulnerable and remote citizens, said Mr. Karas at the handover. I strongly believe that through our partnerships, we can foster healthier, more resilient communities and together build a stronger Ghana.

The handover of the vehicles was made possible by the $60 million USAID Resiliency in Northern Ghana (RING) project. RING, which is part of the U.S. governments Feed the Future and Global Health Initiatives, works to improve the livelihoods and nutrition of the most at-risk households in the Northern Region, with an emphasis on women of child-bearing age and children under five. RINGs main goals are to achieve a 20 percent decrease in stunting of children under five years old and to double the incomes of targeted vulnerable households in the North. RING partners with the Government of Ghana to achieve these goals, and directly supports the NRCC and 17 MMDAs.

About USAID

USAID is the lead U.S. government agency that works to end extreme global poverty and enable resilient, democratic societies to realize their potential. For 55 years, USAID has supported Ghana in increasing food security, improving basic health care, enhancing access to education, and strengthening local governance to benefit all Ghanaian people.
08.01.2016 LISTEN

GOD, the Father of Jesus Christ, is a GOD of love, peace, righteousness and wisdom. Churches in Europe are attended by few old widows and widowers and Teenagers wanting to be confirmed by which their family will give them a Scooter or sponsor the upcoming driving license lessons.

African Churches are plenty and full of Visitors on Sundays as well as during daytime on working days. Pastors pride themselves once having big cars and enjoying the comfort of a big Manson knowing how the average Church Member supporting his Church has to live.

The Templer Knights during the Middle Ages promoting Christianity in Europe and going out on Crusades to Jerusalem to guard the holy places of the Bible were well educated Men from rich families with Lands and Properties. The Templer Order had the rule who so ever wanted to join them not only had to be willing to give his life in the fight to spread the good news, but also had to accept a life with no payment, no money and no procession. All they had in earthly wealth the Templer Knights had to give to the Templer Order making it the richest Financier of political, social and cultural Processes in Europe and beyond.

Being an Order of enormous influence they created the modern form of a banking system with less cash money but letter of credit and money available wherever the Knights had to be employed to.

African Churches going on their Crusades have only in mind to increase the number of Church member to get more revenues via offerings and thiths to make their economic success sustainable.

Jesus Christ once said someone that does not follow him is against him, in other words he hates what GOD, the Son and Holy Spirit stand for most: love. Love GOD gives is selfless with no conditions attached.

Africans, by their own account, characterize themselves as greedy, selfish, ignorant and shortsighted people with lack of wisdom which is the complete opposite of what GOD stands for.

Show me a single African that is truthful and I will proof to you that the Devil is worshiping GOD on a daily basis.

GOD is asking us to have a certain character (love, peaceful, righteous etc.) and that humankind should develop itself to wisdom as in wisdom the Kingdom of GOD can be seen and experienced. GOD is the Almighty of wisdom and we humans are called to follow him into the place where he is seated.

The center of wisdom is the Truth, the rim of wisdom are the actions done by wisdom to make this world a better place. Jesus Christ is the Truth! Africans are too blind to see, yet still Jesus Christ is the Light that they do not see!

Germany with the one time help of the Marshall Plan developed itself to the richest country in Europe again just 15 years after the end of World War II that had created a country with a complete loss of a political, social, economic and cultural system and destroyed values. Unlike Africa Germany is not blessed with natural resources only living by the character of its people.

Africa has received over the past 50-60 years more AID support from Donors than the Marshall Plan had ever made available for the restoration of Europe. Yet still, there are violent conflicts, high unemployment rates, poverty and starvation self-inflicted in Africa. No White Man has ever asked or encouraged a Black Man to be corrupt, the opposite is the truth.

Africans kill themselves and lose sight of what GOD has asked us to become: people filled with wisdom in our daily living.

Pastors are ordained to assist us simple Believers to always staying in the word of GOD and in times of our sins finding forgiveness with him to be put afterwards back on track besides giving us comfort in times of trials which we all face in our seasons.

A selfless and loving Pastor cares for us always no matter in which situation we find ourselves in living a true life as a Man of GOD that is demonstrating to be humble at any time. To worship Men, the Bible teaches us, is pagan style.

The Glory is to GOD of what he is doing to and for us and cannot be found in the offering and thithing envelopes that manifest themselves in big cars and houses in which the Pastors enjoy their Bible meditations.

Take your pick: Should a Believer worship GOD (.) or his Pastor (.)?

Author: Dipl.-Pol. Karl-Heinz Heerde, Sakumono Estate, Block D10, Aprt.9, Tema West, Ghana, phone +233(0)265078287, [email protected] , 02.01.2016
BBC World Service is to broadcast Professor Stephen Hawkings BBC Reith Lectures, giving audiences around the world the chance to hear his unique perspective on the topic of black holes and what they can tell us about the universe. The lectures will air as two parts on 26 January and 2 February at 1500-1530 GMT.

Professor Hawking will describe the history of scientific thinking about black holes, and explain how they have posed tough challenges to conventional understanding of the laws which govern the universe. These collapsed stars challenge the very nature of space and time, as they contain a singularity  a phenomenon where the normal rules of the universe break down. Black holes have held an enduring fascination for Professor Hawking throughout his life. Rather than see them as menacing, destructive and dark he says if properly understood, they could unlock the deepest secrets of the cosmos.

Professor Hawking says: I'm delighted to be the BBC's Reith lecturer and to be able to convey the thrill of science to millions of listeners around the world through my lecture. I want to encourage people to imagine and explore the possibilities of science. Both the known, and the as yet unknown.

We should never stop trying to tell these extraordinary stories from science, and I hope my Reith lecture will enthuse a new generation to develop ideas that will have an impact on our understanding of the world and never to be overwhelmed by the task of discovery.

Hosted by Sue Lawley and recorded in front of an audience at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London, the lectures will also include a question-and-answer session with Professor Hawking.

The programmes will broadcast internationally on the BBC World Service and on BBC Radio 4 in the UK. BBC World Service listeners can tune in on 26 January and 2 February at 1500 1530 GMT or catch up online via www.bbc.com/worldserviceradio

Mary Hockaday, Controller of World Service English said: Professor Hawking is recognised around the world as one of the most iconic scientists of our time and were thrilled to bring his exclusive lectures to our global audience.

The BBC Reith Lectures began in 1948 and each year the BBC invites a leading figure to deliver a series of lectures on radio. Last year Atul Gawande examined the future of medicine, and other past lecturers include Aung San Suu Kyi, Niall Ferguson, Atul Gawande and Daniel Barenboim.
Dr Thomas Anaba

09.01.2016 LISTEN

Upon the protest against his appointment as Medical Director for the Ridge Regional Hospital, I went out to uncover who Dr Thomas Anaba really is. I wanted to know if he deserved the new appointment or not.

I found out that, not was he given a favour, but, he had really worked and deserves whatever position he has been appointed to.

To start with, Dr Anaba and others, applied to an advertised position, went through interviews and got selected and passed for the position of Medical Director to the Ridge Hospital.

Dr Anaba holds a Masters Degree in Critical Care and Emergencies from the La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy in 2009. He also graduated as a Specialist Anaesthesilogist and Resuscitation from the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences, Havana, Cuba in 2007.

He became a Medical doctor in 2001 after he graduated from the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences, Santa Clara, Cuba.

The Cuban trained doctor is currently a Senior Lecturer and Head of Department, Anaesthesia at the School of Medical and Health Sciences, University for Development Studies positions he held since 2009.

Dr Thomas Anaba is also currently the CEO and Medical Director of Habana Medical Services Tamale.

Dr Anaba did his Clinical Attachment with the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital between October 2001 and January 2002. He became a House Officer at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital from March 2002 to February 2003. He was a Medical Officer between March and October 2003 at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

Between 2007 and 2008 he was a Specialist Anaesthesilogist and Resuscitation at the Ridge Regional Hospital. Between 2009 and 2012, he was Consultatant Anaesthesilogist and Head of Department Anaesthesia and Critical Care at the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

As part of his achievements during these few years of practice, he successfully developed and established a critical care unit for the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

He secured a grant from Rotary International and established an obstetric High Depended Unit for the Tamale Teaching Hospital in 2015.

He had organized and facilitated several training workshops for anaesthetists in northern Ghana and beyond.

He conducted a country wide needs assessment of pulse oximeters for LifeBox Foundation UK, leading to a donation of 320 pulse oximeter to the country by the foundation. This eradicated the lack of this vital monitor from most Ghanaian operation rooms.

Dr Anaba developed the first ever BSc Nurse Anaesthesia Programme in Africa. This programme was approved by the National Accreditation Board and had been rolled out at the University for Development Studies since 2012. This programme had come to resolve a huge national problem; created a clear career pathway for nurse anaesthetists in Ghana who hitherto had no opportunity for career progression in the specialty.

He established and manages a private clinic HABANA MEDICAL SERVICES in Tamale.

He won the International Award in Excellence and Business Prestige in the Gold Category at the International Quality Submit, New York in 2015.

He is a celebrated Humanitarian Hero by LifeBox Foundation for 2105 in UK for his contribution in the development of anaesthesia in the world.

He again succeeded in getting Duke University School of Nursing and UDS to sign MOU to assist the department of anaesthesia which rolled out the first BSc Nurse Anaesthesia Distance Programme in Africa. This allows practicing nurse anaesthetist pursue the programme without abandoning their facilities.

He also collaborated with John Hopkins University as country local coordinator to conduct a train-the-trainer on assessment and training exercise on universal precaution adherence in August 2015, Tamale.

He received a World Leader Business Person Award from The World Confederation of Business, August 2015 in Houston, Texas.

Contributions and other scholary activities of Dr Anaba include; contribution to the Policy and Guidelines for Hospital Accident and Emergency Services in Ghana.

He also contributed to the National Referral Policy Guidelines for the Ministry of Health. Dr contributed to the Guidelines for Public Health Units in hospitals, Ministry of Health.

He developed the Preoperative Anaesthesia Assessment Protocol for the Tamale Teaching Hospital. He equally designed the Anaesthesia Monitoring Chart for the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

He also contributed in the transformation of the Tamale Regional Hospital to a Teaching Hospital and also played a significant role in the expansion of its infrastructure.

He is the chairman of the interview panel for selection of candidates into the BSc Nurse Anaesthesia programme for University for Development Studies, School of Medicine and Health Sciences since 2012.

Thomas Anaba was and is also a member of many boards and committees. He is a member of the Academic Board, University for Development Studies.

He is also a member of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences Board a position he held since 2012.

Dr Anaba was a member of the WHO Global Initiative for Emergency and Essential Surgical Care. Anaesthesiology Working Group.

He was a member of the Tamale Airport Emergency Committee between 2010 and 2013

He was also a member of the Ministerial Committee on Emergencies for the Ministry of Health between 2011 and 2013.

He is also a Board Member, Nazareth Home for Gods Children Northern Region.

He is also a member of other professional bodies. He is a member of the Ghana Medical Association. He equally is an Associate member of the Caribbean Medical Association.

Dr Anaba is an Associate member, Cuban Society of Anaesthesiology and Resuscitation.

He is a member of the Ghana Anaesthetist Society since 2007 as well as a fellow of the Cuban College of Anaesthesiology and Resuscitation.

Finally, he is an Associate member of the Association of Anaesthetist of Great Britain And Ireland.

Dr Anaba had been instrumental in the organization, participation and facilitation of many workshop programmes since 2006.

Dr Anaba's clinic was among the three short listed health facilities in Ghana for the 2014 SME Awards organized by the Ministry of Trade.

Out of his busy schedules, he has given himself to serving his people. He is currently the Assembly man for the Garu-Tempane District Assembly.

This year, his clinic Habana Medical Service has just been selected as a Quality Ambassador for the period 2016 to 2018 by the Quality Committee of BID and BID Group One, Geneva.

Dr Anaba, was one of the heros of doctors who defied the strike action declared by the Ghana Medical Association of which he is an active member over non-agreement over conditions of service and stood by the oath he took to save lives at the Ridge Hospital.

His appointment comes as no surprise looking at the work he had done and his enviable record since joining the medical profession.

What else does he lack for the position especially having gone through the process of applying for an advertised position and getting appointed upon coming out successful?
An indigene of Tolon, Mr Alhassan Alidu, has renovated an old abattoir located at Tolon for the Tolon District in the Northern Region at a cost of 22,000 Ghana Cedis.

The gesture follows Mr Alidu's willingness to support President John Dramani Mahama to fulfill his Better Ghana Agenda.

When inaugurating the facility for use, he said he was worried about the poor condition of the only abattoir in the district.

He said unhygienic abattoir was a threat to the health of those who consumed meats prepared from it.

He indicated that since it was the only abattoir in the district, it was necessary that every step must be taken to put the facility into good shape.

Mr Alidu who is also known as the "President's Boy" said the renovated abattoir would create jobs for the people in the town especially the youth.

He explained that the abattoir directly and indirectly employed a number of people in the town.

According to him, the livelihoods of many people depended on the abattoir.

Mr Alidu, therefore, pledged that he would continue to venture into areas that would benefit the people of Tolon and its environs.

He also called on well-to-do indigenes of the area to contribute their quota towards the development of the district and the constituency as a whole.

He said it was about time those from the area played their individual roles well to ensure that the area catch up with its equals in the areas of development.

Mr Alidu who has also constructed a toilet facility for the community's basic school promised that he would continue to embark on other essential projects for the town to lessen the burden of the president.

The Chief butcher at the abattoir,Tibogu Nakoha-Naa Abdulai Ibrahim, thanked Mr Alidu for renovating the facility.

He said the facility had been there without renovation for more than 23 years.

He also pleaded with Mr Alidu to continue to support other developmental projects in the district.

Picture shows Mr Alidu with some of the workers at the Tolon abattoir in front of the renovated abattoir
08.01.2016 LISTEN

I wrote the caption of this column in red-ink while drafting it for press preparation and publication, because this article deals with the most dangerous decision to be made by any postcolonial Ghanaian leader since independence. But that such decision was taken by President John Dramani Mahama, a man who succeeded to the presidency a la the politically prejudicial decision of the Wood Supreme Court, on the blind side of national public opinion, makes the subject of our present discourse all the more disturbing.

On this occasion, though, we must quickly point out, it was a fellow Northerner Brother by the name of Justice William Atuguba who handed over Mr. Kofi Antubams Chair to this most reckless, unconscionable, benighted, callous and dangerous leader of postcolonial Ghana.

Indeed, I am deeply embarrassed and disconsolately ashamed to have to be forced to write these words, against my best wishes and intentions. And here, of course, I am talking about the spirit-shrinking and soul-cringing decision by this most reprobate of Ghanaian leaders to accept two of the most dangerous terrorist inmates of the globally infamous Guantanamo Bay Prison on the island of Cuba, a prison that was specially and specifically established by the United States Government in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 apocalyptic attacks on New York Citys Twin-Towers of the World Trade Center that saw the genocidal destruction of the lives of some 3,000 humans from all corners of the globe, although by citizenship identification and affiliation most of the victims were Americans.

As of this writing, quite a remarkable number of New York City residents continue to suffer the deadly after-effects of the sanguinary legacy of Al-Qaeda and its Chief Architect, Mr. Osama Bin Laden, and the latters sometime Taliban Islamist hosts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Indeed, what all levelheaded and progressive-thinking Ghanaians ought to be asking themselves and their fellow countrymen and women is why the United States Congress passed a special edict, called The 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, just this past November, in order to ensure that no hardcore Islamist terrorists like Messrs. Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby, both Saudi-born Yemenites, from setting foot on American soil. Needless to say, the United States has, perhaps, the most advanced and best-funded national security apparatus in the world.

Guess what, dear reader: even the Trokosi Nationalist Militants, those notorious gun-running Aflao thugs, the closest Ghanaians come to having a pre-Atef and Al-Dhuby terrorist presence in our midst, are crying foul.

One quite prolific agitprop tout among them who has written and published reams of filthy propaganda pieces celebrating the slain Libyan terror sponsor, Col. Muammer El-Qaddafy, and currently teaches at an inner-city campus of a private university right here in New York City, wrote and published a rambling self-righteous tirade questioning why President Mahama had not deemed it ideal or appropriate to publicly consult with the Ghanaian people before making the patently lame and unwise decision of having Ghana serve as a veritable dumpster for Guantanamo Bay  aka Gitmo  rejects. This would be obstreperously amusing if Mr. Mahamas decision was not so morbidly and inexcusably criminal.

Now, lets get to brass-tacks. What we have here in these two Gitmo rejects is the deadly weapon of a personality disorder that their scandalously naive Ghanaian advocates and Muslim Brothers, such as Mr. Irbad Ibrahim (see  Gitmo Transfer: Ghanaians Fussing Over Nothing  Irbad Classfmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 1/8/16) prefer to sweep under the proverbial carpet or rug. And it is the fact that Messrs. Bin Atef and Salih Al-Dhuby are carrying around with them, each of them, to be certain, at least 13 years of pent-up rage that could well explode during the 2 years that they are contractually bonded to be guest-hosted by the Mahama-led government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Let no one be fooled or make any costly mistake; it was exclusively the key operatives of the so-called National Democratic Congress who contracted with the American government  I hope President Barack Obamas public expression of affection for Ghanaians, and he has a maternal historical links to back it up, in retrospect, did not play any major part in this harebrained decision  to make our beloved country the veritable dumping ground for the deadly nuclear waste that are these two Gitmo rejects.

Then, we also learn that some of their Arab kinsmen and women, generically speaking, will soon be joining them on state side, under the murky guise of Syrian-war refugees. Farcically, though, dubious security experts like Ghanas Mr. Irbad Ibrahim have been telling the nation that the ominous arrival of these hardened Islamist terrorists comes with a lot of goodies that should make this entire criminal and deadly racket seem like a godsend.

We hope Brother Muslim is correct in his expert assessment of this most dangerous of very bad situations. We shall be studiously watching and informing our readers of what we think and feel.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
08.01.2016 LISTEN

A GNA feature by Alexander Nyarko Yeboah

Accra, Jan. 8, GNA - The resignation of Dr Abu Sakara Foster, flag-bearer of the Convention People's Party, CPP, leaves many Ghanaians shocked and worried about the fate of the party and its relevance within the Ghanaian body politic.

As the first political party to win political power in Ghana, the CPP has over the decades dwindled to a state where it is but a shadow of itself. This has very negative consequences on the politics of the nation because the ideals of the Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah could in so many ways help to salvage the many challenges confronting Ghana.

The woes of the CPP started with the overthrow of Ghana's First President, Nkrumah. After the 1966 uprising, the party was banned by the military regime such that it was not allowed to contest in the 1969 elections. That was the first blow. What it did to the party was to begin the process of fragmentation so it could not be one complete whole again.

Firstly Dr Komla Agbeli Gbedemah, an affiliate of the CPP formed the National Alliance of Liberals.

With the Dawn of the third republic, another fragment of the CPP surfaced in the form of the People's National Party, which eventually won power. But the regime did not last long because of the 31st December, 1981 coup d' tat.

The Fourth Republic has seen the most of this fragmentation. One would have thought that the various fragments would have united after many years of division but no, the People's Convention Party (PCP) emerged. The PCP even formed alliance with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of the Danquah-Busia-Domo tradition in the 1996 general election.

This could be the reason why this one time great party has been reduced to its level of failure because the various Nkrumah families, notably the PNC, PCP, PPP, GCPP, have failed to unite.

And so we have a situation in which all these parties are clearly struggling for some political relevance in Ghana.

What is more worrying is the poaching of key CPP politicians by the two major political parties today. It is on record that a number of functionaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were in many ways associated with the CPP.

Mention could be made of the late President John Evans Atta-Mills. The current president; John Dramani Mahama, also has roots in the CPP. The result is that the NDC now looks like the true replacement of the CPP, but that is also not possible because the NDC has evolved over time with its own ideologies and a recognised founder.

It leaves CPP now as a party with a chunk of its membership swept away by the NDC. Even the NPP could boast of poaching Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom to serve under President John Agyekum Kufuor.

As if that was not enough members of the CPP are on a resignation spree to further deepen the woes of the party.

It looks like either the leadership of the party does not have the capacity to contain internal disputes or some individuals are impatient in dealing with problems. Firstly, it was Dr Nduom, Flag-bearer of the party in the 2008 elections who resigned and formed the Progressive People's Party. That made the party weaker and the results were clear during the 2012 general election.

Now Dr Abu Sakara Foster has also decided to go independent in the upcoming 2016 elections. This comes days after Mr Hassan Ayariga, flag-bearer of the Peoples National Convention (PNC) in the 2012 general election also resigned after his defeat in the PNC presidential primaries.

How come this great fraternity cannot unite, only God knows? But one thing is sure. Ghana would need a third force that would act as king-makers by wining substantial votes to be able to determine which party becomes the next to win power, just like the Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom.

The media front of the CPP is also another heart breaking scenario. The fraternity is blessed to have had great media practitioners like Kweku Baako Jnr, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, but one is yet to see the expertise of the two men brought to bear on the party's organisation as far as projecting the CPP in the eyes of Ghanaians is concerned.

Apart from the CPP not having a media outlet its media men are clearly seen fraternising with either the NDC or the NPP.

It is time all fragmented members of the CPP join forces to form a single party and then they are sure to attract all those who are naturally tired of the NPP and the NDC.

For this to happen it is necessary that people bury their pride and seek only the interest of the party and that of mother Ghana.

The leadership of the party should understand that it could only be relevant in numbers and therefore should do everything possible to retain their members instead of losing them indiscriminately through unresolved misunderstandings.

GNA
CHICAGO  A video showing a white Texas state trooper shouting I will light you up while pulling a black woman from her car brought national outrage, troubling the womans family, the troopers boss and, perhaps, even a grand jury.

But as Sandra Blands mother fumed Thursday over Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Brian Encinia being only indicted on a misdemeanor charge of perjury, the outcome was less surprising to some legal experts and civil rights groups who for months have cautioned that while the dashcam footage might show bad policing, its not necessarily felony misconduct.

Bland, a 28-year-old former resident of Naperville, Illinois, was found dead in her jail cell three days after the confrontational July traffic stop on the outskirts of Houston. Authorities say Bland hanged herself with a garbage bag, and the same grand jury in December declined to charge anyone in her death.

Blands family and activists in the Black Lives Matter movement argue justice slipped away again with the relatively light charges brought against Encinia. If convicted of the perjury charge, he faces a maximum of one year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

To charge this guy with a misdemeanor, are you kidding me? Blands mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, said during a news conference in Chicago. Im angry, absolutely. ... Thats not justice for me.

DPS announced shortly after Wednesdays indictment that Encinia would be fired.

Encinia surrendered Thursday afternoon at the Waller County Jail and was freed a short time later after posting a $2,500 bond. He was processed in the same room where Bland was booked last summer, a 45-minute process that included taking a mug shot, getting fingerprinted and getting medical and mental screenings.

Encinia pulled over Bland for not signaling a lane change near the campus of Prairie View A&M University. Video shows the trooper being calm and courteous toward Bland until she questions his order to put out a cigarette. From there the traffic stop quickly escalates into a physical and verbal confrontation, with Encinia at one point drawing his stun gun while trying to make her get out of the car.

Bland can later be heard off-camera screaming that hes about to break her wrists and complaining that he knocked her head into the ground.

Blands mother said she had little confidence in the prospect of a conviction and that Encinia should have been charged with assault, battery and false arrest.

But to some outside legal observers, the video is not so clear-cut.

I dont like what I heard on there. I would be very surprised if DPS didnt wince when they saw that video, said Phillip Lyons, director of the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University. But when it comes to outlining a specific felonious offense, I dont see it.
Sunyani, Jan. 8, GNA - The Bank of Ghana's (BoG's) recent decision of revoking the licence of 70 micro-finance companies in the country has become a topic of discussion among many people in Sunyani.

Many of the people Ghana News Agency spoke to wanted to know the fate of the clients of the affected companies concerning the retrieval of their deposits.

Mr Kofi Poku, an educationist welcomed the BoG's explanation for its decision as published in the newspapers, but with mixed feelings.

He said the sudden newspaper and radio announcement by the BoG about the action without ensuring how the depositors could retrieve their monies was not the best.

'Now that the news about it has reached public domain, would it surprise affected clients to wake up one day to learn that Management of the Companies have packed off?, Mr Poku asked.

'And if that supposition becomes reality then where, how and when would the affected clients get their deposits back?'

He however blamed the micro-finance investors for persistently refusing to abide by the BoG's requirements to qualify for operation.

Madam Adwoa Agyeiwaa, a trader said the scrapping of the 70 micro-finance companies nationwide would no doubt compound the already existing financial problems of micro-finance clients, particularly those in Brong-Ahafo Region.

Her fear was in reference to the current controversial tight financial situation created by financial bodies like DKM, Jastar Motors, God is Love Fun Club in the Region.

Madam Agyeiwaa disagreed with the Management of BoG's explanation that for more than three years the Bank fruitlessly kept drawing the attention of the affected companies about the penalty to suffer if they failed to adhere to the requirements to operate.

She said the clients kept on saving with the companies because they found no fault with them until last Monday when BoG came out with the shocking decision.

GNA
Pomadze (C/R), Jan 8 , GNA - Alhaji Maulvi Mohammed Bin Salih, Ameer and Missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Ghana, has admonished Ghanaians to collectively stand up to tackle religious and political extremism and sectarianism, which was gradually gaining grounds in the body politics of the country.

These acts, he noted, had a high potential of causing unrest and ultimately destabilizing the country and therefore must not to be allowed to rear its ugly head to gain roots in a secular state such as Ghana.

Maulvi Salih said this at the opening of a three day annual National Convention of the Ahmadiyyat Muslim at Pomadze in the Central Region.

The 84th Annual Convention on the theme 'Tolerance and Peaceful Co-existence, a prerequisite for Progressive National Building", is being attended by more than 5,000 Ahmadi Muslim men and women across the country as well as other believers from different faiths.

Maulvi Salih said the polarized nature of the country's national politics with the lava of hatred that erupts from time to time between the political parties accounted for prevalent disorders and poses an inherent danger to national peace and cohesion and must also be condemned.

He stressed that intolerance in any dimension was an extremely poisonous weed, which once deeply rooted, flourishes and becomes difficult to deal with especially when it creeps into a religious or political soil.

Citing examples from the recent incidents at the National Democratic Congress (NDC) primaries in the Upper West Region where religious differences were reportedly invoked and exploited as a potent political tool, he said such religious extremist bigotry could eventually give birth to terrorism in the country if not properly checked.

'It is highly immoral to sweep such un-meritorious, deliberate, diabolic and un-calculated acts under the carpet and allow it to fetter. Rather, it must immediately engage the attention of the state particularly those institutions which have the mandate to ensure continuous peace in the country.' he stated.

He asked Ghanaians not to be overly complacent but concede to the fact that peace at any given time, no matter it apparent momentary enormity and the amount of conscious efforts to establish it, was always fragile.

He charged political parties to cooperate and collaborate in the interest of the nation to achieve the true and correct approach of politics in promoting national development.

Maulvi Salih was however optimistic that with the matured and credible political groupings as well as credible Human Rights institutions, there would be no cause for despondency after the general election in November.

He therefore called on political leaders to cultivate the spirit of service and sacrifice and come out with innovative programmes that would help create a peaceful environment and ease the burden of the people.

Vice President, Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur entreated religious leaders to intensify religious education to the youth and instill in them moral values to enable them live in peace with one another.

He said Ghana over the past years have been successful in mending the diverse groupings and urged religious bodies to cooperate to stop extremist religious bigotry.

Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur asked Muslims for a continued prayer for the nation to sail through the general election successfully to prove to the world that Ghana deserved that touted accolade of a matured democratic country.

GNA
Kumasi, Jan. 08, GNA - Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Alhaji Collins Dauda, has pledged increased support to stimulate the growth of local businesses.

He said the government was determined to ensure that they had access to credit, appropriate training programmes and market.

Supporting the indigenous industries to become more viable would provide jobs for the people, create wealth and help to lift many out of poverty, he noted.

The Minister was speaking at a special service held in Kumasi to bring the curtains down on the silver jubilee celebration of Prefos Limited, an electrical company, which has been assembling street light bulbs locally.

The event was held under the theme; 'We have come this far by grace'.

Alhaji Dauda said it was important for the private and public sectors to work together to keep the economy on an even keel.

He again called on all to show strong commitment to the nation's development agenda, asking that, nobody should sit on the sidelines.

Everybody, he said, must find space to make meaningful contribution to the progress of the country.

Mr. Alexie K. Fosu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Company, said they were making good progress and attributed this to hard work, resilience and best practices.

'From a humble beginning, our company has worked with determination to be where we are today.'

Prefos produces about 600 street light bulbs a day and employs 200 people.

Prophet Victor Kusi Boateng, Founder and General Overseer of Power Chapel Worldwide, advised the youth to do away with the unbridled lust for money and extravagance.

They should be modest, accept to work hard and engage in decent jobs to avoid running into trouble with the law.

GNA
Dormaa - Ahenkro (B/A), Jan.8, GNA - Mr Gordon Kwaku Asubonteng, Dormaa Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), solicited the assistance of the Police to abruptly end a live television programme, which was being carried by the Amansan Television at the local Presbyterian Park.

The MCE was quoted as saying the programme was 'inciting the people against President John Mahama's government, making his administration very unpopular'.

The television programme, 'Asem Yi Di Ka', was being aired to offer an opportunity for customers who have been affected by the fraudulent activities of micro finance institutions in the area, an opportunity to air their grievances.

Forty - five minutes, into the programme, the MCE emerged in the company the Police including Superintendent Washington Foli, Municipal Police Commander and Assistant Superintendent of Police Samuel K. Yeboah and demanded that the ATV crew stop the live transmission of the programme, for the reason, that the crew had not sought permission from the Police for the public event.

The MCE's action angered the spectators who begun to protest vehemently against his directive.

Nana Tufour, the Producer of the Programme, speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, claimed he had earlier called the MCE to participate in the event but he declined.

'We were expecting the MCE to send his representative but he did not because we had invited some representatives of other political parties', the producer stated.

When contacted the MCE explained that he ordered the ATV crew to end the programme because they were in breach of the Public Order Act, as the teeming crowd of the disgruntled customers were to gather to air their views.

Additionally, the crew failed to notify the Police about the impending programme and this was absolutely illegal according to the 1992 Constitution.

'They are journalists, and for a programme of that kind, they were expected to know better by conducting background checks and investigations first because this is an issue, we are still working on to resolve', he added.

Mr Asubonteng confirmed that the producer had called him, but he informed him that he was in Sunyani and would proceed to the venue, "which I did to stop them'.

'I didn't give them the permission to do any programme because I'm not the Police', he added

Supt Foli, corroborated the assertions of the MCE stating 'they were never notified about such an impending programme'.

He said once there were members of the opposition parties involved as panelists, it was proper for the crew to do the right thing to prevent any inconvenience.

The Municipal Police Commander described the television programme as 'politically motivated'.

GNA
Pomadze(C/R), Jan. 8, GNA - Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has called on Muslims to live peacefully with other religious faiths in order to enhance the country's development.

He also called for frank and honest debate in the sharing of the nation's resources to address the concerns of groups who feel marginalized in the society.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur made the call at the 84th Annual National Convention (Jalsa) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Ghana, at Pomadze near Winneba Junction.

The three-day convention which is on the theme: 'Tolerance and peaceful co-existence, a pre-requisite for progressive nation building', is to enable every sincere individual to personally experience religious benefits as well as enhance their knowledge by Allah.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur also said despite the diverse religious and ethnic groups, Ghana has been successful in bringing the different groups together and avoiding the worse examples of intolerance.

He said the nation needs to do more especially in the creations of conditions for balance development which requires greater citizen's participation and better appreciation of their respective roles.

He charged the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission to intensify its religious education among the youth in terms of moral and spiritual upbringing in order to ensure peace and stability necessary for nation building.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur also charged the adherents of both Muslim and Christian faith to be tolerance of others and not to attack each other because of certain interpretation of their religion.

He said the Muslim religion is not a violent religion, but it is only some misguided people who would want to use the religion to create conflict, adding, that it is important for all of us to combine to stop the extremists in our mist.

Alhajj Maulvi Noor Mohammed Bin Salih, Ameer and Missionary in-Charge of Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana, called on the political leaders of the country to cultivate the spirit of service and sacrifice, which he said are necessary to selfless approach to politics.

He charged them to stop the pettiness and come out with innovative programmes that would help create a peaceful environment and ease the burden on the people.

He said politics in its true and correct approach and application should have a positive role in the promotion of peace and national development.

Alhajj Maulvi Bin Salih also stated that politics, just like religion in the hand of a fanatic, a pervert or an avaricious person, can be a dangerous tool for wreaking havoc on the society.

He said it is the collective responsibility of all the people to defend the life and civil liberties of all citizens to ensure peace and tranquillity of every individual regardless of their faith.

'We need to act here and now to tackle this violent extremism problem in all its dimensions, whether political, economic, social and religious,' he said.

Alhajj Maulvi Bin Salih further stated that nature of national politics with its lava of hatred that erupts from time to time between the political divide in the country accounts for most of the prevalent disorders and inherent dangers to national peace and cohesion.

He said politics has been negatively applied and this mis-application has succeeded in breeding intolerance among the people.

He called for measures on the part of the people to deal with the issue of intolerance, which he describe as poisonous and once deeply rooted become difficult to be easily rooted out.

GNA
A pressure group - United Zongo for Bawumia - is calling on the security agencies to arrest the National Democratic Congress (NDC) general secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketiah.

The group alleged that General Mosquito as Nketia is popularly called imported about 10,000 Togolese nationals to Ghana to register to vote in the 2012 elections.

The groups spokesperson Ibrahim Adjei at a press conference alleged the NDC general secretary engaged some party members to do the recruitment.

On August 20th 2015 a group of NDC activists engaged the media to communicate how they have been financially resourced by the leadership of the NDC, led by its General Secretary to illegally recruit over 10,000 Togolese citizens to register on the Ghana electoral roll in 2012, Adjei alleged.

The leader of the group, Robert Tetteyfio Adjase, accompanied by other leaders of the group namely Hohoe NDC chairman Harker Brempong, Ketu South chairman Doe Gadekah, Public Relations Officer Robert Kabutey and Victor Bogah stated categorically that the current register is riddled with names of Togolese from Aflao to Nkwanta in the northern Volta and that the over 76,000 Togolese found in the Ghanaian register was just an insignificant number compared to what really is the case, the group said.

The group has therefore petitioned the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and other state security agencies to arrest and prosecute Nketia.

The revelations by Adjase and his colleagues clearly affect national security yet the institutions that protect our state - in this case the BNI are sitting idle so we urge the security services to exercise the authority that the State has invested in them and in light of the revelations of Adjase and his colleagues about how the NDC party financed the illegal registration of Togolese citizens  proceed forthwith to arrest Johnson Asiedu Nketia, Adjei said.

The group warned that failure to do so will lead to a citizens arrest of the ruling partys General Secretary.
08.01.2016 LISTEN

Kenya has published new broadcast regulations, which will place strict limits on sexual content and ban preachers from soliciting money on air.

Explicit content will only be allowed on the airwaves between 22:00 and 05:00 in order to protect children, Kenyas Communications Authority says.

Broadcasters have until June to comply with the new rules.

A BBC correspondent says this is the first time a concerted effort has been made to censor Kenyan radio stations.

The new rules apply to programmes as well as advertisements, programme listings and promotions.

Analysis: Anne Soy, BBC News, Nairobi

Popular radio stations in the country often broadcast explicit content during peak hours to attract audiences.

A morning ride to work on a bus in Kenya will often mean listening to radio call-ins from fathers confessing to having sexual feelings for their children, or women who are dissatisfied with the performance of their husbands in the bedroom.

Many listeners say they are happy that the authorities are now taking steps to censor inappropriate material.

The new broadcast code also bans preachers from soliciting money from audiences in exchange for blessings.

Some preachers are thought to have built large fortunes from the practice, gaining huge popularity in a country where 84% of the population are Christians, although there have been cases of people suing them when their blessings failed to materialise.

Traditional churches have been highly critical of these types of preachers, describing them as false teachers.

-bbc
08.01.2016 LISTEN

A pressure group  United Zongo for Bawumia  is calling on the security agencies to arrest the National Democratic Congress (NDC) general secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketiah.

The group alleged that 'General Mosquito' as Nketia is popularly called imported about 10,000 Togolese nationals to Ghana to register to vote in the 2012 elections.

The group's spokesperson Ibrahim Adjei at a press conference alleged the NDC general secretary engaged some party members to do the recruitment.

On August 20th 2015 a group of NDC activists engaged the media to communicate how they have been financially resourced by the leadership of the NDC, led by its General Secretary to illegally recruit over 10,000 Togolese citizens to register on the Ghana electoral roll in 2012, Adjei alleged.

United Zongo for Bawumia addressing the press

The leader of the group, Robert Tetteyfio Adjase, accompanied by other leaders of the group namely Hohoe NDC chairman Harker Brempong, Ketu South chairman Doe Gadekah, Public Relations Officer Robert Kabutey and Victor Bogah stated categorically that the current register is riddled with names of Togolese from Aflao to Nkwanta in the northern Volta and that the over 76,000 Togolese found in the Ghanaian register was just an insignificant number compared to what really is the case, the group said.

The group has therefore petitioned the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and other state security agencies to arrest and prosecute Nketia.

The revelations by Adjase and his colleagues clearly affect national security yet the institutions that protect our state  in this case the BNI are sitting idle so we urge the security services to exercise the authority that the State has invested in them and in light of the revelations of Adjase and his colleagues about how the NDC party financed the illegal registration of Togolese citizens  proceed forthwith to arrest Johnson Asiedu Nketia, Adjei said.

The group warned that failure to do so will lead to a citizen's arrest of the ruling party's General Secretary.
08.01.2016 LISTEN

In December last year, parliament of Ghana passed the Energy Sector Levy, 2015 that resulted in the increments on petroleum products effective this year which ranges between 18 and 27%.

In as much as the levy is important, some of us are of the view that the timing of the implementation is wrong. Ghanaians are already overburdened with utility increments. In that vein, I perfectly agree with the labour unions calls that, the government must reverse or better still defer to some other time.

As the discussions went on, The chairman of the Tema District Council of Labour, Wilson Agana told a radio station in Accra that, if government refuses to reverse the price hikes, then their salaries must be increased and they will not settle for anything less than 50%.

This is what he said "We have to go back to the table and force for a salary increment for all workers. At least we have to go and fight for a salary increment of at least 50% else we cannot survive. Before we accept the increments then it means we must have salary raises for all workers. On Tuesday we will come out with our plans to press home our demands,

Whenever there's a hike in utilities or petroleum products, the workers will threaten strike and government will sit with them and add some percentage. A typical example was last year when government gave workers 10% as cost of living allowance (COLA).

We have 25 million population in this country out of which less than a million work in the public sector. Since the implementation of the single spine salary structure, government we are been told through the budget statements, spends more than 60% of our tax revenue on their salaries alone.

The buzzwords of the opposition elements and their leaders who grant interviews to media houses has always been "why should there be an increment in utilities without commensurate increment in salaries?

Is that the practice worldwide? That whenever utilities are increased, the few public sector workers experience pay rise? Can someone tell me any country in the world that does that?

I think the president should keep to his promise he made to Ghanaians last year that, in an election year he will not be pushed by workers to yield to their demands just for political expediency.

We are watching...

Awal Mohammed

[email protected]
There has been a lot of talk  almost all of it accurate  about how Barack Obamas presidency has fueled the rise of Donald Trump.

The presidents fans hate this talk, for understandable reasons. They see the president as dignified and cerebral. They see Trump as crude and bigoted, a short-fingered vulgarian, as Graydon Carter famously put it.

The argument that Obama paved the way for Trump takes many forms. He lowered the bar for presidential qualifications, argues Peggy Noonan. Trumps Don Rickles act, writes Michael Barone, reflects the coarseness of Obamas non-stop insults of Republicans and anyone who does not share his views and priorities.

It is no accident that President Obamas America has given rise to Donald Trump, writes Ben Domenech, publisher of The Federalist. It is an America that is more tribalist, where people feel more racially and religiously divided; more politically correct, where people feel less free to speak their minds; and it is an America where trust in the nations elites, whose skills are credentialed but unproven, are at historic lows.

My colleague (my euphemism for boss) at National Review, Rich Lowry, recently argued that Obamas contempt for the law and the Constitution is also partly to blame for Trumps appeal and sparked a new post-constitutional moment on the right.

For much of the Obama presidency, conservatives seemed to have intensified their reverence for the rule of law and the Constitution. But what did it get them? Obama went and did what he wanted to do anyway. He vowed to use his pen and phone like a ball and scepter. Middle-class families cant wait for Republicans in Congress to do stuff, Obama told a crowd last year. So sue me. He was referring to a lawsuit launched by then-Speaker John Boehner over the Obama administrations nakedly lawless chicanery implementing Obamacare. A few days later, the president demanded, Really? Really? For what? Youre going to sue me for doing my job?

The problem: Obama the constitutional lawyer hasnt read his job description; it says the president should take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Obama doesnt really care. He sees his job as doing the things he wants to do and being the sort of president his biggest fans want him to be. Thats why over the holidays, he reportedly ordered his lawyers to scrub the laws to find ways he can take new unilateral action against gun ownership.

Well, two can play at that game.

Enter Trump, via his fabulous escalator. The GOP front-runner isnt openly contemptuous of the Constitution; it just doesnt enter his thinking very much. If he believes something is worth doing, he says he will do it. He makes little effort to explain how he will get Congress to agree, never mind write the laws the president is supposed to faithfully execute. And thats the way Trumps fans like it.

Weve seen this sort of thing before. I want to assure you, Franklin Roosevelt aide Harry Hopkins told New Dealers in New York, that we are not afraid of exploring anything within the law, and we have a lawyer who will declare anything you want to do legal. When the Supreme Court continued to stand in his way, FDR tried to pack it with pliable hacks.

Trump has already spoken fondly of Roosevelts internment of Japanese Americans (which was constitutional according to the court at the time. Eight of the nine justices had been appointed by FDR. The one Republican appointee was among three dissenters.) It seems a sure bet that a President Trump would follow FDRs  and Obamas  example in doing whatever he could get away with.

If Obama didnt inspire so much partisan loyalty from fellow Democrats (and the news media), it might have occurred to them that he  and Senate Democratic leader Harry nuclear option Reid  was laying down precedents that the next president would use and abuse.

But such realizations always come too late. During the height of the Watergate hearings, Alan Cranston, a Democratic senator from California, made an awkward admission: Those who tried to warn us back at the beginnings of the New Deal of the dangers of one-man rule that lay ahead on the path we were taking toward strong, centralized government may not have been so wrong.

Jonah Goldberg is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior editor of National Review. You can email at goldbergcolumn@gmail.com.
Johannesburg (AFP) - Branden Grace surged to a share of the second round lead at the SA Open on Friday alongside compatriot Keith Horne before storms brought more havoc to the second oldest Open event in the sport.

Grace carded a 69 on Thursday and followed that with six birdies in his first 11 holes on Friday before play was abandoned with half the field still to complete their second rounds.

Horne shot a 69 earlier in the day to follow his opening 67.

Jbe Kruger was also in the clubhouse a shot behind the leaders after a 70 with Justin Walters, Brandon Stone and Englishman Ross McGowan all having completed their rounds a further shot back.

Horne has yet to win a European Tour title while Grace has triumphed six times. Three of those wins have come on home soil.

"Whether they go past me or way past me, there are still two days to go so we'll concentrate on that and I'm very happy with eight under after two days," said Horne.

"I just hung in there and managed to make three birdies, no bogeys, and I think that was the key, keeping the bogeys off my card. I didn't make a lot of birdies, but as long as you keep the bogeys off the card you feel like the momentum is still with you.

"The one disappointing thing I had today was that I played all the par fives - I parred all of them."

Grace hit four birdies from the second to get within one of the lead. He bogeyed the sixth but an eight-foot putt after a fine approach on the tenth got him back to seven under.

He then birdied the 11th to move to a share of the lead just before play was abandoned for the day.

Overnight leader Jaco Van Zyl was heading in the other direction, ending on the 11th hole at four over for the round and five shots off the lead.
A Bank of Ghana audit report has revealed, managers of DKM microfinance invested depositors money totalling GHc113 million in their personal businesses.

The investigative report showed the company amassed GHa113million in deposits but only GHc10.7 million was left in its account after the regulator began checking their books.

Investing depositors funds in the managers' personal businesses is in clear breach of the central banks regulations.

The current development places the Sunyani-based financial institution in a difficult position to pay back monies collected from depositors.

Agitations to pressurise the company to pay back the monies started September 2015 , but DKM has been unable to raise the funds as directed by the Bank of Ghana.

A frustrated client, Latif Dagama, at the prospect of getting 50% returns in his deposits, made a decision to work with DKM.

I have benefited GH2, 500 cedis from the deposit of GH5, 000. I was expecting to get another fifty percent interest for my fees but since then, I have not received anything, the sentiments of a frustrated tertiary student.

Brong Ahafo regional minister, Eric Opoku told Joy News Elton Brobbey, the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) has held several meetings with DKM officials, leaders of depositors and Bank of Ghana officials to find a solution to the crisis.

After it was found that less than 10% of deposits remained, DKM clinched an agreement to raise GHa50million in one month.

If they are able to provide the GHa50m, BoG will clear them and this time around guide them to do their business, the minister said.

But after one month DKM pleaded for an extension by another month. The company failed to raise the money and REGSEC was forced to take them to court. But DKM lawyers secured bail for their client.

The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister has expressed fears depositors may never get their monies back.

"If we are not careful, our people will not get the money," he said.
Tripoli (AFP) - The Islamic State group, which has claimed two deadly attacks in Libya, moved in 2014 into the country, fertile ground for jihadists after the ouster of dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

IS has become yet another player in the lawless North African country, where rival governments and militias are already battling for control of territory and major oil reserves.

-- 2014 --

- November 19: The US State Department says it is "concerned" by reports that radical extremists with avowed ties to IS are destabilising eastern Libya, having already seized vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

News reports say the eastern coastal city of Derna is emerging as an IS stronghold and has been transformed into an "Islamic emirate".

- December 27: A car bomb claimed by IS explodes outside the diplomatic security building in Tripoli without causing casualties.

-- 2015 --

- January 8: IS claims to have killed two Tunisian journalists -- Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari -- who went missing in September.

- January 27: IS claims an attack on Tripoli's luxury Corinthia Hotel. Nine people are killed, including an American, a French national, a South Korean and two Filipinos.

- February 15: IS releases a video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians, all but one of them Egyptians, that the jihadists say they captured in January. Egypt carries out air strikes on IS in Derna.

- February 20: IS claims suicide car bombings in Al-Qoba, near Derna, that kill 44. It says the attacks are to avenge losses in the air strikes.

- April 19: A new video shows the execution of 28 Christians originally from Ethiopia.

- June 9: IS announces it has captured Sirte, east of Tripoli. It already controlled the city's airport.

- July 12: The group acknowledges it has been pushed out of Derna, after several weeks of fierce fighting with members of the Mujahedeen Council of the town.

- August 11: Heavy fighting erupts in Sirte, where inhabitants took up arms to fight IS, leaving dozens of people dead.

- November 5: A chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court says IS jihadists are killing more civilians in Libya than the other warring factions. IS is blamed for 27 of 37 suicide attacks in the country in the year.

- November 13: The US bombs IS leaders in Libya for the first time and says it killed Abu Nabil, an Iraqi also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi. He is identified by Libyan officials as the head of IS in Derna.

- December 4: France says it has carried out reconnaissance flights over Libya in November, notably at Sirte, and plans others.

-- 2016 --

- January 4: IS launches an offensive to seize oil terminals in Ras Lanouf and Al-Sidra, which lie in an "oil crescent" along the northern coast.

- January 7: A suicide truck bomb at a police school in Zliten, east of Tripoli, kills more than 50 people, the worst attack since the 2011 revolution. A second attack kills six people at a checkpoint in Ras Lanouf. Both attacks are claimed by the IS.
Prof. Ebenezer Owusu has been appointed new Vice Chancellor of University of Ghana, Joy News has learnt.

The Professor of Entomology was until his appointment Friday afternoon, the Provost of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences (CBAS).

The outgoing Vice-Chancellor Professor Ernest Aryeetey is set to retire in July 2016.

Profile



Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu was born in Ghana and started his elementary school education at Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) primary school, Akim Tafo from where he proceeded to St Peters Secondary School, Nkwatia Kwahu for his Ordinary Level School Certificate.

He later did his Advanced level at Ghana Secondary Technical School (GSTS), Takoradi . He gained admission to the University of Ghana to read BSc Agriculture and graduated with a Second class Upper Division in 1987. He later served as a Teaching/Research Assistant in the Department of Crop Science for two years. Professor Owusu was awarded the prestigious Japanese Government Scholarship (MONBUSHO) in October 1989 and left Ghana to pursue his Master of Science degree at Kochi University, Japan.

He successfully completed his Masters (Agricultural Chemistry) in 1992 and was awarded another scholarship (MONBUSHO) to pursue a PhD in Entomology. Professor Owusu successfully completed his PhD in 1995 with a gold medal award (for best PhD candidate), and has researched extensively into insect pests of agricultural and medical importance, as well as carrying out monitoring and evaluation assignments. Professor Owusu has an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA Project Management option).

After completing his PhD, Professor Owusu was immediately appointed Assistant Professor at Kochi University in April 1995, and then Associate Professor in September, 1995. In March 1996, Professor Owusu was appointed a Research Fellow at the International Crops Research for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and was posted to Niger as an Entomologist.

Significant among his achievements was; the development of a system for the management of the millet headminer, Heliocheilus albipunctella (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) based on indigenous plant species, and the host interactions (semiochemicals and use of resistance varieties).

In 1998, Professor Owusu was appointed lecturer at the then Department of Zoology, University of Ghana (now Animal Biology and Conservation Science). He was promoted to Senior lecturer in September 2000 and then to Associate Professor and Professor in June 2005, and March 2010 respectively. He has mentored several students to obtain their MPhil and PhDs.

Prof Owusu has edited several research articles for many journals, and authored over hundred scientific papers in the area of Entomology. He has also served as consultant to many agencies in the areas of pesticide science, pest management, agriculture and project management and evaluation.

Prof. Owusu has worked extensively on millet, vegetable, and urban insect pests, especially in the areas of insecticide resistance and use of indigenous plant materials for management of major insect pests. He has attracted some funds for research, and in 1999, personally built a laboratory (Food Security) at the University of Ghana for use by staff and students. He was solely responsible for the acquisition and installation of a Scanning Electron Microscope (first of its kind in West Africa, worth US$500,000) through a grant from the Government of Japan.

Prof. Owusu is the Provost of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, having previously served as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Science, and Dean/Ag. Dean of the School of Biological Sciences, University of Ghana. As Head of the Department of Zoology (2008-2010), Prof. Owusu provided respectable academic and managerial leadership, culminating in the change of the Departments name to Animal Biology and Conservation Science.

Prof. Owusu has served the University of Ghana in various capacities and is a member of numerous boards and committees. Prof Owusu is a member of the University of Cambridge African Research Partnership (CAPREx) team. He serves as the Editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Ghana Science Association, Regional Editor for the UNESCO African Journal of Science and Technology as well as reviewer for a number of international journals.

In August 2008, Professor Owusu was significantly decorated as a LIVING LEGEND by the People of Kochi Japan for his contribution to Science and the Internationalization of Kochi city. In 2010, he was named the Tourism Ambassador of Kochi Prefecture, Japan. On August 29th 2013, Prof. Owusu was awarded the prestigious Japanese Foreign Ministers commendation award for his immense contributions and outstanding roles in the promotion of friendship between Japan and other countries, and for helping improve the social and economic partnership between the people of Ghana and Japan.
The constituency offices of the La Dadekotopon NDC remain locked despite the appeals from the embattled former National Health Insurance Authority boss, Mr Sylvester Mensah.

The offices were locked by the constituency executives in protest over the arrest and investigation of Mr Mensah.

The former NHIA boss is being accused of fraudulently paying claims to some health facilities. A court has since granted a motion for his personal accounts to be frozen.

But the executives in the constituency say the action is being undertaken by persons within the party to destroy the reputation and presidential ambition of Mr Mensah.

The executives on Tuesday locked up all offices in the constituency insisting that until the investigation is terminated there will be no political activity in the constituency.

They have threatened not to vote in the 2016 elections and have begun tearing apart posters of the NDC 2016 parliamentary candidate.

On Thursday, Mr Mensah formally appealed to the executives to cease fire and open the constituency offices.

Even though he was appreciative and commended the executives for their solidarity during his arrest, he charged the supporters to be mindful of the times ahead.

"The margins of victory in the election are so slim. It takes one or two constituencies to lose election

"I appreciate your solidarity but let us not over stretch it," he told the teeming supporters. But his call appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

Joy News' Joseph Opoku Gakpo who visited the constituency reported the party offices remain closed.

The Constituency Acting Secretary Lawrence Lamptey said they are not going to open the offices until the investigations are over.

He said they are also waiting for the national and regional executives to intervene.

Meanwhile, the Greater Accra Regional branch of the governing National Democratic Congress is asking for an official petition by the constituency executives in order for them to act.
Staff of Multimedia spent this morning in church giving glory to God for a successful 2015 and praying for his mercies this New Year, which is also an election year.

The congregation was led in prayer by Bishop James Saah.

Mamazimbi and her iconic head gear were both there to praise and pray.

Adom FM presenter Captain Smart demonstrated his flair for leading in praises.

Dancing was an irrepressible item during the thanksgiving service.

CEO Kwasi Twum has always acknowledged that Christ is at work at Multimedia Group Limited. And after a very difficult year, who can disagree with his convictions?

In church, only one title matters, Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords...

It got emotional at some point...but if you can not understand her pain, you can never understand her praise.

Kwasi Twum hugs the Bishop....

And then the Ghanaian in us exerted itself...



Lunch is one of the 'problems' men can solve without 'bothering' God.

An absolute beauty...

Click here to view over 200 pictures
Cairo (AFP) - An assault involving a car bomb against an Egyptian security checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula killed seven policeman and a civilian on Monday, the interior ministry said.

The ministry said assailants tried driving a vehicle packed with explosives into a checkpoint, but police fired on it, setting it off before it reached the post.

The assailants also fired rocket propelled grenades at the checkpoint in the North Sinai city of El-Arish.

Seven policemen and a civilian passerby were killed in the attack, the ministry said, adding that policemen who returned fire killed five militants.

The Islamic State group's Egyptian branch in the Sinai Peninsula has carried out several such attacks over the past two years.

Eight people were also wounded in the attack, state newspaper Al-Ahram reported on its website.

Jihadists have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, which unleashed a bloody crackdown on his supporters.

Most of the attacks have taken place in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

In November, a car bomb attack on a checkpoint in Sinai killed eight soldiers.
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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

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 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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The biggest risk in the world is China. Overnight, the government removed the circuit breaker that caused two trading halts this week.

Its the market, its China

We are only beginning the new year and we have already run into a big problem with the Telstra stock. No, it is not the fundamentals of the stock. It is the whole Aussie market which Telstra is part of, it is China!

The biggest risk in the world is China. Overnight, the government removed the circuit breaker that caused two trading halts this week.

By last night, we all knew that the circuit breaker does not work, because it arguably caused the Chinese market to hit its stop-loss level within 15 minutes on Thursday.

The circuit breaker does not work because it prompts people to just line up and panic-sell their positions on the following morning.

So the score is: market democracy 1, government interventionism 0.

The Chinese government cannot stop what the market wants to do, they have to learn that. The government is still going about it the old way, what Chinese call the Chinese way, which is hard-line, punishment-driven management.

The market is going to do what it chooses to do. Capital is democratic, it does not matter what the government does.

The biggest risk in the world is Chinas financial reform risk.

I have told New Frontier Investor readers that 20152016 will be a pivotal time because of the rise of China. That is unfortunately true.

I also told the readers that the problem is not with free-market economics, it is the sort of partially-free, ill-priced, planned-economy structure that China operates in.

This results in behind-the-door policy-making.

Let me quote Deng to demonstrate the mentality of the regulators. When China first started its own stock market, Deng said in an internal conference: We should try out this stock market. If it doesnt work, we can always shut it down.

I cannot stress enough how important politics and policy-making are in China. On a higher level, it is not about economics in China, it is about power, political rivalry and military control.

We see that sort of hard-line mentality in full swing in China this week, with them going back-and-forth with their decisions, trying to dictate what essentially is uncontrollable.

And you can be sure that they will continue to deliver surprises to the markets. Only now what they do has global ramifications.

The Chinese financial regulators are managing a number of reforms at the same time. first is the economic rebalancing from manufacturing to consumption. Second is currency reform, pushing the yuan to the wider world by letting in market forces. And third is capital market reform in equity markets and debt markets (the debt market is a problem in itself).

The problem now is the three areas are undermining each other. The currency reform sees the Chinese regulators wanting to move away from the loose-peg to the US dollar, and to make the yuan reflect more of market forces.

Market forces say down with yuan and out with capital flow. So the regulators drain the reserve to defend the yuan.

The target of the regulators in the short run is more depreciation against the US dollar to reflect market forces. Over the long run, growth and additional demand for the yuan should see it strengthen.

However, the problem occurs when a more-than-expected depreciation of the yuan hits global market sentiment. That has a ramification on the stock markets, including Chinas own.

Ken Wangdong+

Emerging Market Analyst, New Frontier Investor
January 08, 2016

Open Thread 2016-02

News & views ...

Posted by b on January 8, 2016 at 18:45 UTC | Permalink

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The conservation of the Mauritius Pink Pigeon started in the 1970s when the birds numbers in the wild dwindled to a little less than a hundred. Due to its critically endangered state, captive breeding was chosen as the strategy to save these animals from extinction. The program has succeeded in promoting the species state from critically endangered to endangered, but there are pressing problems that has been observed from years of work with these pigeons. Problems have been identified under two general groups, 1.) high costs and 2.) the efficiency of the facility to produce fit individuals for reintroduction into the wild. High costs are normal and are unavoidable in such a program, but with continued cooperation and agreement among parties, a steady source of funding is possible. Costs can also be minimized by reducing transportation and food costs by building facilities near the natural habitat of these species. Problems with disease, genetics and behavior were also identified, as these problems lower the survivorship of the birds in the wild once reintroduced. Measures to control disease include testing for the presence of pathogens for both wild and inbred individuals and continued monitoring of the deaths that occur and genetic aberrations because of inbreeding may be avoided by modern genetic testing methods and modern breeding techniques. Behavioral problems that pose danger to reintroduced individuals may be avoided by minimizing human contact and creating an environment that is similar to their native habitat.IntroductionBiodiversity is much more in peril than it was half a century ago. Biodiversity is threatened so much by human population and its activities that tend to destroy and overexploit resources. The extent of the effect of human activity to the lives of other organisms is reflected in the reports of the World Conservation Union or the IUCN. They report that there are over 5000 species all over the world that are threatened to very low population numbers, even to the point of extinction, and it is highly possible that this number is a mere estimate.Many of the species found in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species are endemic meaning that if lost, the whole world loses them forever.This paper is a report on the conservation efforts done to save the Mauritius Pink Pigeons from extinction. It will include information about the species, the conservation program and the limitations challenges that the program faces. A set of recommendations to answer the limitations and challenges will also be included by the author.Conservation Status of the Mauritius Pink PigeonThe Mauritius Pink Pigeon (Columba mayeri) is a member of the family Columbidae, the dove and pigeon family. This species is endemic to Mauritius and used to be widely distributed among its islands. Today, it is only found in Mascarene Island having been extinct from its neighboring islands. The Mauritius Pink Pigeon, which gets its name from the color of the feathers that cover its belly, wing tips and head, is known to feed on the flowers, leaves, fruits and seeds of the native vegetation on the island.The pink pigeon species was once considered very rare and was put in the IUCN Red List as critically endangered as its estimated numbers in the wild were very low. In the 1950s, scientists estimated the number of individuals of the population found in the wild to be only 40-60, and it continued to dwindle to an alarming number of just 10-20 individuals in the 1970s. The dwindling populations of many species in the Mauritius are caused by threats that go beyond than just habitat fragmentation and destruction. For example, natural pressures such as frequent typhoons that threatened the number of the pigeons combined with the presence of invasive species like black rats and crab-eating macaques that feeding on the pigeons, raiding their nests and competing with them for fruits and food made it difficult for the birds to recover.Sadly, the ecosystem cannot be fully restored anymore because of the extent of damages caused by such threats. Conservation biologists, therefore, only have to rely on certain strategies that will allow them to create the maximum effect on the survival and propagation of the threatened species.The first program that aimed to save this species was started by Durell Wildlife Trust in 1977. The foundation decided that the species would be bred in captivity. Captive breeding is a strategy employed by conservation biologists to rehabilitate species that are threatened. This strategy is an ex situ (out of site) approach, wherein members of the population are taken from their native habitat and bred in another facility under supervision of a team of scientists, veterinarians and wildlife experts. The goal of captive breeding is to be able to produce fit and healthy individuals to sustainably grow the species population to be later released into the wild. Threatened species are captive bred following a consideration of various factors and conditions. Species that are critically endangered and are living in an environment where threats to their survival are difficult to be controlled are perfect candidates for captive breeding. Imbalanced predator activity, disease, unnatural competition and large scale damage brought about by human activity, among others, are examples of these threats.Pink pigeons were first bred in captivity in the Jersey Zoo and at the Black River aviaries in Mauritius. Today, the efforts of the Durell Wildlife Trust have managed to lower the status of the pink pigeon species from critically endangered to endangered in 2000, and as of 2003, the number of living individuals was raised to 355.Inasmuch as captive breeding has produced such good improvement on the state of the species, there are several considerations that many conservation biologists have seen regarding the said strategy. There are several limitations and problems that this method faces that if left unchecked could defeat the purpose of the conservation efforts through captive breeding.Problems encountered by the captive breeding programSeveral set-backs of captive breeding of species have been outlined over the years of observation and research on the facilities, system and the reintroduced species themselves. Several of the most common charted problems include concerns with high costs and efficiency of the facility to produce fit individuals for reintroduction into the wild.CostsCost problems are considered intrinsic to any captive breeding program because the facility is quite difficult to maintain. The efforts to control factors in the facility that may be detrimental to the survival of the species while in captivity need significant amounts of money to be continued. Considerations for space and land area, maintenance costs like electricity, lighting, food, medical attention for the animals and staff compensation are some factors that can cause the rise in the cost of maintaining the facility.These costs pushed several conservation programs to turn zoos into captive breeding facilities. The revenues gained by zoos in their operation can help answer the costs for maintaining the species. The problem, however, is the fact that most endangered species in need of conservation are not profitable in the sense that they lack the visual display quality that most zoo animals have. Another option chosen by programs is to put animals in the care of a private breeder. The problem encountered in this set-up is the fact that several conflicts in interest and ownership will ensue. The animal is compromised as the private breeder is most often unwilling to allow a special group of biologists to monitor the animal and lax in monitoring the genetic welfare of the animals.DiseaseSeveral studies have described how individuals of a species in a captive breeding facility and even free-living populations can be affected by pathogens. Captive-bred individuals risk obtaining exotic diseases from being captive bred and transmitting them to other individuals in the wild when they are finally reintroduced. Wild populations possess no immunological mechanism to overcome a new disease, and the species risk dying out because of this threat. One such case involves Hawaiian endemic bird species wherein their numbers declined significantly and some were totally lost because of avian malaria.In the case of the pink pigeon, one specific pathogen that limits its recovery is Trichomonas gallinae. The source of this pathogen is unknown, as this particular bacterial strain is only observed in wild populations of the birds and the individuals bred in captivity did not exhibit any signs of the disease prior to reintroduction. Other birds of the islands of Mauritius were also found to carry this pathogen and could be the source of this pathogen.Genetic problemsThe fact that individuals of the species are isolated in a captive breeding facility presents several implications in their genetic fitness and this is a potential threat to the species recovery. Inbreeding is the mating of two very closely related individuals allows the appearance of recessive characteristics that have the potential to reduce the genetic fitness of the offspring. If this occurs for numerous generations, a decreased genetic fitness of the whole population is observed, an effect called inbreeding depression. This effect is not only observed in captive bred birds, but more so in wild populations. The very small population size of the birds in the wild leaves individuals with little mate choice, which leads to inbreeding. Inbreeding compromises the survival of individuals because detrimental characteristics are fixed in the gene pool of the species if this effect is allowed to continue. Another factor that could compromise the species recovery is the fact that inbred individuals displayed a decrease in their reproductive capabilities and fertility.Behavioral devianceCaptive bred individuals could have decreased survivorship in the wild because of certain problems that center on changes in behavior of the animal. A study conducted by McPhee (2003) highlighted the changes in the behaviors of captive bred animals in relation to the presence of a predator. The study shows that the longer an individual is held under captivity, the higher its tendency to not hide from a predator. With protection-seeking behavior dramatically reduced among captive bred individuals their potential to survive in the wild is also significantly decreased.Proposed SolutionsThe problems highlighted in the studies discussed in the previous section were reasons that moved scientists to question the effectivity and the actual benefit of captive breeding programs in saving endangered species from extinction. In this section, the author will present his recommendations based on these studies that would hopefully solve and reduce the risks that these problems pose on the species.Very important prerequisites in captive breedingSome of the problems have even caused biologists to recommend that captive breeding should be the last resort, and is not supposed to be viewed as a long-term solution for the problem.Captive breeding requires a specific set of knowledge about the species that is to be saved. Lack in knowledge has lead to the failure and aggravation of the state of many species that are endangered. Therefore, it is important that before a species is decided to be taken in for captive breeding, an excellent base of the causes of its dwindling number, characteristics, life cycle, feeding patterns and other ecological considerations like their niche and relationships exists. It is very risky for bold moves to be done on the species as they might be lost forever because of hasty decisions.Potential facilities must be carefully considered and designed so as to create the best possible environment for the rehabilitation of the species. It is important that the needed technology and equipment are available in the facility. Furthermore, those that will work with the animals need to be trained and experienced when it comes to working with such species. Their knowledge of and care for the species are some of the key concepts that will determine the effectivity of the program as a whole.Lastly, it is also important that the program be continuously updated and improved through research. There might be new considerations that were not present in the early years of the program which might be detrimental to the species. Constant investigation, monitoring and observation will lead to new knowledge that will ultimately benefit the program.Cost reductionIt is natural for such a program to incur high costs therefore, the problems of cost will always be present. Expenses that involve transportation, food, medical attention and expert fees are the most common factors that heighten the costs. It is important for such programs to get a sure source of funding that will continue to support the program to ensure its success but it is important to put the welfare of the animals first in considering such offers. Terms and conditions of a deal should be sealed under the condition that the survivorship of the animals and integrity of the program is not compromised. Therefore, species can be allowed to be captive bred in zoos and in private breeders facilities provided that should be regularly monitored by a team of experts and should be protected from behavioral and genetic aberrations that the species might incur in such facilities.To further reduce the costs of protecting these species via captive breeding, it is highly encouraged that a captive breeding facility be built in an area very near the native habitat of the species. This allows the facility to reduce the cost of transportation and food as the proximity of the native habitat allows the breeders to procure food naturally occurring in the area. In the case of the pink pigeons, aviaries owned by the Mauritian government provide such a convenience to the breeders.Controlling DiseaseIsolated and small populations have the most tendencies to die out due to an outbreak. Immunologically nave populations will die out even before genetic adaptations occur that can save the species from extinction. This risk is heightened if captive bred individuals are exposed to a pathogen from the outside, get infected and are released in the wild.Therefore measures to know the epidemiology and control measures of the disease is very essential to control disease from further jeopardizing the survival and recovery of endangered species. In pink pigeons, regular and routine testing of individuals living both in captivity and in the wild for the highly pathogenic T. gallinae have been performed in the effort to understand the dynamics of the disease and how to prevent it from spreading. A method that can be employed is by monitoring the deaths and their causes that occur in both the wild and captive bred population. The risk of bringing an infected individual in a captive breeding facility or releasing an infected individual in the wild could be prevented by first testing for the presence of a potential pathogen before further action is performed. Sophisticated techniques that include DNA-based pathogen presence kits can hasten the process.Avoiding genetic anomaliesGenetic anomalies due to a small founder population produce deleterious effects on the species overtime. Genetic aberrations that exist in recessive alleles will appear in greater frequency causing serious set-backs on the goals of the conservation methods. The best way to avoid such genetic aberrations to occur within populations is to perform genetic testing and examinations to the individuals of the population.This recommendation would require the cooperation of molecular biologists, conservation biologists and the breeders in the facility. Education and training of staff members in this respect is emphasized with utmost importance.Genetic analysis would reveal which individuals are fit to be mated and which are not because of relatedness. These tests, if performed correctly would allow the breeders to gauge which individuals would produce the best offspring that are fit for release into the wild. Several measures to control breeding like separating males and females during mating season and monitoring can be performed to prevent captive bred birds from randomly mating with each other.Correcting behaviorCaptive bred individuals receive more human contact compared to their wild counterparts. This produces both positive and negative effects with regards to the welfare of the birds in the facility.Captive breeding requires utmost human guidance and attention for it to be successful but set-backs observed in the reintroduced individuals behaviors in the wild is a negative effect of frequent human exposure. The individuals get used in such a sheltered and protected environment that they tend to lose their natural instincts and behaviors developed in the wild.It is important, therefore, to make sure that the facility holding the animals would mimic their natural surroundings as much as possible. Setting up the facility quite near their native surroundings lessens the risk of them being too acclimatized to a foreign surrounding. Minimizing human contact is very necessary. Scientists and staff members working with the birds should not expose themselves too much to the animals, most especially juvenile ones. It is also possible that exposing the animals to training sessions that involve a pseudo-predator (like a rat) could help them develop protective behaviors.ConclusionThe program to save the Mauritius Pink Pigeon from extinction have adapted captive breeding as its strategy for conservation due to various considerations and so far it has achieved to remove the bird from the IUCNs critically endangered list. The program is still ongoing, and over the years problems and limitations that involve costs and concerns about factors that affect the welfare of the animal have emerged that could potentially jeopardize conservation efforts.To address these problems, a wide knowledge base about the animal, continuous support, and monitoring are essential. Constant research and improvements in the methods that are utilized to take care of the animals must be done. In captive breeding programs, the welfare and the high survivorship of the animals must come first.
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.

If the first day of the trading year is any indication of what investors should expect from 2016, were in for a bumpy ride. Troubles in China caused the FTSE to lose a whopping 30 billion, as contagion spread across the global markets.

But one voice that remained sanguine throughout was stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdowns head of research Mark Dampier.

If there is one thing I want to say to investors at the start of 2016, it is stop worrying about the markets, the macro, the noise, he said. At this point in the market cycle your worst enemy is yourself. Take a 10 year view, hold on tight and remember: you havent lost anything if you dont sell.

This advice may seem flippant when news headlines rage with market turmoil  but it is essential for long term investors to remain focussed. If you are torn off-track by fear of losses, you greatly reduce the chances of achieving your investment goals.

The years of double-digit returns in developed market equities are over  the fantastic market rally in the US following the global recession may not have yet turned into a bear market, but the bull has certainly slowed down its charge. Bonds too are facing losses after a near-three decade run of positive returns. Emerging markets are troubled; Chinas commitment to an investment-led economy and the oil price slump has wreaked havoc among markets. But for the long term investor who holds their nerve, Dampier assures that in time all these threats will be nothing but a memory of a bad dream.

Stability is Key

While the consensus view for 2016 is far from positive, Dampier is not the only voice to be cautiously optimistic. Multi-asset fund manager Marcus Brookes who runs among others the Bronze Rated fund of funds Schroder MM Diversity said while there was soft patches ahead, investors could expect modest growth this year.

This time last year we were underweight emerging markets  in fact we held next to nothing, and now we have taken a small positive position, he said. Asset prices have thrashed around predicting the impact of a rate rise, but now things are looking more stable.

Stability is particularly key when it comes to the oil prices says Brookes  and much more important than returning to the norms of old.

This time last year, we were looking back at 2014  a period where the oil price had halved. No one would have ever predicted that it would halve again over 2015, but it did. Now, I am not saying that the oil price will rise this year, but I would be very surprised if it fell any further. Stability at $40 a barrel is more important for markets than great gains or losses.

Where to Invest for 2016?

As for where the opportunities lie, it is a case of working out what is right for your personal portfolio says Dampier.

If you are saving for retirement, be bold and opt for Asia, Find a fund manager you trust, buy and hold. Add to your investments when the market dips and ignore the negative noise.

For Brookes more cautious portfolios he says he is sticking to the markets that have delivered over the past 12 months  Europe and Japan, and adding to emerging markets for the more aggressive portfolios.

I am wary of the impact of the US dollar, he said. But on the whole modest growth looks achievable.
Matthew Harris worked for a number of years as an investment manager. But when it comes to his own retirement savings he prefers to stick to passive investments, so he can avoid the risk of a fund manager making poor decisions.

He explains: From working in the investment industry I know that fund managers can outperform the index. But Im looking at the long-term when it comes to my own pension money; a thirty-year plus timeframe. Most fund managers dont outperform over these longer timescales. In fact most wont be in the same job for anywhere near this length of time.

As a result hes decided to invest the bulk of his pension money in low-cost passive funds. Taking this long-term view means he has focused on pension investments, rather than ISAs.

He says: I take the view that if you investing in equities then you need to be prepared to lock your money away for at least 10 years. To me there doesnt seem to be much point investing in an equity ISA, when I could put my money into a pension and get upfront tax relief on top. Rather than putting 1,000 into an ISA I get 1,250 by investing the same amount into a pension.

Harris points out he is 41, which means he could access these pension funds in just under than 15 years, should he need to. However he says: These are earmarked for my retirement. If I think Ill need the money sooner I prefer to keep it in cash savings.

Taking His Own Investment Advice

Harris now runs his own financial advisers Dalbeath Financial Planning, based in Dunfermline with his wife, Wendy Cochrane. He says he tries to apply the advice he gives to others when it comes to his own savings.

Diversification is key to pension saving, he says. Getting the right spread of assets is more important than which individual funds you hold, he says.

Currently I have around 60% of my portfolio in equities. This is split between UK and overseas funds. All are tracker funds run by Fidelity, Black Rock, Vanguard and L&G.

He then has around 15% exposure to corporate bonds, and15% in government bonds - both of which are again in passive funds.

Opting for Active When it Comes to Property

The remaining 10% of his pension is invested in commercial property. Here, he has opted for a more active approach preferring funds that buy bricks and mortar rather than tracking the shares of commercial property companies.

He says: Nine out of 10 years commercial property will deliver a good steady income. The value of the rents of a shopping centre in Essex have very little correlation with the stock market so this is a good diversification holding. He points out that when markets fall, these falls can be dramatic and funds can be illiquid.

But he says that the active management of these funds now mean most carry a larger cash holding, up to 25% of the fund can be in cash, to help manage these redemptions.

Harris invests in both the Henderson and Threadneedle UK commercial property funds. Neither of these funds have a rating from Morningstar but both have delivered steady income in recent years combined with capital growth in recent years.

Buy-to-Let Alongside Stock Market Bets

Alongside his pension he is also keen on the buy-to-let market. Harris currently has nine properties in the Dunfermeline area. He says: These have been good investments to date, yielding around 7 to 9%. But he says recent Budget changes are likely to make this a less attractive investment in future.

The stamp duty changes - which see an additional 3% tax levied on second home purchases - haven't yet been applied in Scotland.

But Harris says he thinks it is only a matter of time before the Scottish Parliament makes a similar move.

He says: Our properties arent mortgaged to the hilt so the change to mortgage interest wont hit us too hard. We will keep our current holdings but I dont think we will be adding to them.

He says most are small one or two bed flats. These are cheaper to buy but often easier to rent, with good yields in this area.
Hamilton police say they've charged a local mortgage broker with sexual assault.



They say the charges stem from an incident in September of last year when a female client went to the man's office on King St. W.



Police allege the woman was sexually assaulted during that visit.



They arrested 60-year-old Dinesh Khanna of Oakville last month and charged him with one count.



Police say they believe there may be other victims and are encouraging anyone with information to come forward.





Canadian Press
India-France military exercise Shakti-2016 begins

Published: January 8, 2016

India and France have started their eight-day counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency bilateral military exercise Shakti-2016 in Rajasthan.

In this bilateral exercise, French contingent comprising 56 personnel of 35th Infantry Regiment of 7th Armoured Brigade are participating. Indian side is being represented by the 2nd Battalion of Garhwal Rifles which is part of the Sapta Shakti Command.

Key facts

Shakti-2016 joint exercise aims at conducting infantry tactical operations, combating conditioning in a counter-terrorism environment under the United Nations mandate.

It will culminate the tactical exercise encompassing clearing of pockets of terrorists in rural and urban environment.

The exercise will include firing, tactical operations, combat conditioning, heli-borne operations among others.

This military exercise is an important step for both the armies to train together and gain from each others rich operational experience.

It will also facilitate sharing of each others military experiences as both countries have deployed troops in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations.

35th Infantry Regiment of 7th Armoured Brigade of French army has varied combat experiences, having served in Algeria, Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan, amongst other places. It origin dates back to its raising in 1604 at Lorraine (France) and has as many as 12 battle honours to its credit.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2016

Topics: Current Affairs 2016  Defence  India-France  Indian Military Exercises  Military exercise  Terrorism

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Brenham-based Blue Bell released a statement Thursday that the company has identified locations where listeria may be present in its facility, but says every batch of ice cream is tested before it is sold and there have been no positive tests for the bacteria.

We continue to strictly adhere to our enhanced operations, policies, employee training and cleaning procedures to help give regulatory agencies and the public assurance that all aspects of our facilities and operations are resulting in a safe product, the company said in a statement.

A listeria outbreak in 2015 killed three in Kansas and was traced back to Blue Bell, prompting a nationwide recall and a voluntary shutdown not just in the Brenham plant, but in Alabama and Oklahoma as well. Another seven people in Kansas, Arizona, Oklahoma and Texas were sickened by listeria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The shutdown resulted in layoffs of 750 full-time and 700 part-time employees, or 37 percent of its total workforce in May.

Blue Bell stressed in Thursdays release that eliminating potential sources of contamination is the top priority for the company.

The company said it is working closely with a team of microbiologists to develop a testing system designed for each facility to identify any presence of listeria in the production environment. The system includes environmental testing and testing each batch of ice cream before it is sold.

We are pleased that our enhanced environmental and product testing procedures are working. We have identified locations where suspected listeria species may be present in our facility, and we continue to extensively clean and sanitize those areas and make additional enhancements to the facility and our procedures based on the environmental test results, the company said in the press release.

To confirm that our robust environmental program is effective, and that our seek and destroy goals are being achieved, we expect to periodically find microbiological indications in our facilities. Since our plants reopened, we have tested and will continue to test every batch of ice cream produced, and no products produced have tested positive for listeria, the statement read.

We will continue to work closely with our regulatory agencies, as we have throughout this process, and our number one priority will continue to be making sure our products are safe for our customers to enjoy, the company said in a release.

On Monday, the ice cream will return to El Paso, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee, as well as areas in Kentucky, New Mexico and Mississippi. Beginning Jan. 18, the company will begin phase five of re-entry into the market and will arrive in parts of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Beginning the week of Jan. 25, the ice cream will return to Florida, parts of Georgia and the southern tip of South Carolina.

Upon the completion of phase five, we will turn our attention to building inventory for the spring as well as adding additional products and flavors to our line-up. Ricky Dickson, vice president of sales and marketing for Blue Bell said in a release. Even though we do not have a specific date, we plan to expand our sales territory whenever we are properly positioned to do so.

---

Distributed by the Associated Press
On Saturday, Grace Lutheran Church intends to help further knowledge on the religion of Islam with the special session Muslims and the Gospel, From Challenges to Opportunities: Getting to Know our Muslim Friends. The seminar will be conducted by Rev. Dr. Abjar Bahkou, a senior lecturer of Arabic language and culture at Baylor University.

We had him here last year on a mission Sunday, and his story intrigued me, Grace Lutheran pastor Robert J. Pace said. He was raised in Syria, and hes a Christian. So we asked him to come share with us a way to reach out to the Muslim community.

The church expects an average of 80 to 100 people, but everyone in the community is invited.

I wanted to do it because theres so much partial information out there about Muslims, Pace said. The media and the politics, they often take one aspect and run with it. To understand them, we have to learn their culture.

Bahkou has been delivering versions of this seminar for the past five years and has included it in some graduate level lectures. The goal is to cover multiple ideas that should help people better understand the religion of Islam including how it got started and how Christians can build bridges and be good neighbors.

Basically, its how we as Christians should relate to Muslims and how we talk about our faith to Muslim people, Bahkou said. The whole philosophy is not to have a war or fight with them, but to talk with gentleness and respect.

Both Bahkou and Pace are aware of the current political dialogue and how recent world events have put a spotlight on Islam.

Its so relevant because of what is happening in the world now, Bahkou said. All the stereotypes in the various groups. Islam is not just in the Middle East; its here and in Europe. They are our neighbors and coworkers. Its very important that when we see a Muslim, we dont assume they are terrorists.

Pace added that this is solely a theological event meant to help Christians understand the Islamic religion, with politics mostly left out.

There are things I just dont know, so Im excited to hear what he says, Pace said. We cant paint with a broad brush. To do that is wrong. All of us have prejudices in a certain way, depending on how we were raised, but it shouldnt affect how we view people. I plan to take copious notes.  Primarily, Bahkou hopes that through his presentation, people will come away more informed than when they left.

Most people always say that we learned a lot and want to learn more, Bahkou said. A few people came to me and told me they have a very negative stereotype, but after seeing me they changed their minds and said they need to show love to their brothers.
Women's health organization Planned Parenthood has been at the center of a political tug of war for years. Last year doctored videos appeared to show employees engaging in unethical behavior, providing rhetoric for GOP presidential candidates like Carly Fiorina, and may have inspired a violent attack at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs last year. Republicans in Congress have repeatedly threatened to pull federal funding for Planned Parenthood because abortion is among the services it provides.

Many Democrats are supporters of Planned Parenthood, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who received the first endorsement from the organization in its 100-year existence.

Clinton will formally accept the endorsement at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Sunday. According to Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood: "Everything Planned Parenthood has believed in and fought for over the past 100 years is on the ballot." Richards is referring to a measure, approved by the House, to strip federal financing for the organization.



Clinton released a statement saying she was "honored" by the endorsement and called the bill to before the House "a jarring reminder of what's at stake in 2016." She added that if elected she would "defend against attacks on reproductive health care, and protect access to affordable contraception and safe and legal abortion across the country."

According to a New York Times-CBS News poll from September 2015, 60 percent of female voters believe Planned Parenthood should receive federal funding. The same poll found that 72 percent of voters feel abortions should be generally available, or "available with limits."

At the rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Sunday, Natarsha McQueen, a 40-year-old Planned Parenthood volunteer from Brooklyn, N.Y., will tell her story of the life-saving test at a Planned Parenthood clinic that detected her breast cancer.

"If you aren't in the same economic state or haven't been to our communities, you can't relate to how important this is to women of color," Ms. McQueen said.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Chris Christie is a fighter. After being told to drop out of the race by The New York Times, and being downgraded to the pre-debate stage, many thought Christie's chances in the Republican primaries were essentially nixed. However, Christie has showed remarkable resilience, and has made huge inroads in New Hampshire. The candidate went from an afterthought to a serious contender for the establishment position in this tight race. Some attribute this success to Christie's "no nonsense" approach, and his ability to eschew political correctness to make a point. In keeping with these trends, Christie shared his opinions about Senator Marco Rubio's viability in the general election. Christie asserts that Hillary Clinton would "cut [Rubio's] throat out."

"This isn't my first rodeo," Christie said in an interview on Wednesday. "And if Marco Rubio thinks by putting out a couple of negative ads on me that somehow he's going to intimidate me it just shows how inexperienced" and "unprepared" the senator is to take on Hillary Clinton.



He said that whoever faces Mrs. Clinton, who is now leading the polls of the Democratic field, must be someone "who has been through the wars. Not somebody who's a first-term United States senator who has never had a tough race in his life. This guy's been spoon-fed every victory he's ever had in his life."

He went on: "That's the kind of person that we want to put on stage against Hillary Clinton? I don't think so. She'll pat him on the head and then cut his heart out."

Senator Rubio laughed off Christie's comments, calling into question his record in New Jersey and viability as a presidential candidate. "Chris has a very liberal record for a Republican," he said. "I mean he supported Common Core. He ran for office as a supporter of gun control. He personally gave a contribution to Planned Parenthood. So I'm sure he doesn't really want to have a conversation about the issues because the truth is our next president has to be someone who's going to overturn all the damage Barack Obama has done to America, not continue it."

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
   PM:                PM 
If you're looking for another way to relish in the best and biggest music of 2015, look no more. On Friday (Jan. 8), the full tracklisting for the 2016 Grammy Nominees album was revealed, and featuring everyone from Taylor Swift to Chris Stapleton to Meghan Trainor and Alabama Shakes, the 21-song LP is a who's-who of popular music today.

The lengthy album not only covers the best music from October 2014 to September 2015 but also gives a nice summation of this year's nominees. As Idolator reports, that includes all of the Best New Artist contenders and choice selections from the other "big four" categories, including songs from D'Angelo and the Vanguard, Ed Sheeran, James Bay and more.

Curiously enough, the album is country-heavy, with all five songs for Best Country Solo Performance making the tracklist. Little Big Town's "Girl Crush" and Sam Hunt's "Take Your Time" also made the cut for their Song of the Year and Best new Artist nods (respectively).

Of course, we also get a selection of other genres, including a little rock from Best New Artist nominee Courtney Barnett and from the powerhouse Florence + The Machine. Hip-hop is well represented through 11-time nominee Kendrick Lamar as well as Wiz Khalifa. Pop gives us the most offerings, with Swift, Sheeran, Maroon 5 and Tori Kelly leading the pack.

2016 Grammy Nominees Album Tracklist:

01. "Uptown Funk," Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars

02. "Blank Space," Taylor Swift

03. "Can't Feel My Face," The Weeknd

04. "Thinking Out Loud," Ed Sheeran

05. "Sugar," Maroon 5

06. "Ship to Wreck," Florence + The Machine

07. "Don't Wanna Fight," Alabama Shakes

08. "Really Love," D'Angelo and the Vanguard

09. "Alright," Kendrick Lamar

10. "Traveller," Chris Stapleton

11. "Girl Crush," Little Big Town

12. "See You Again," Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth

13. "Lips Are Movin'," Meghan Trainor

14. "Should've Been Us," Tori Kelly

15. "Take Your Time," Sam Hunt

16. "Hold Back the River," James Bay

17. "Pedestrian at Best," Courtney Barnett

18. "Little Toy Guns," Carrie Underwood

19. "Burning House," Cam

20. "Chances Are," Lee Ann Womack

21. "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16," Keith Urban

The album is due to be released on Jan. 22. The 2016 Grammys will air on Feb. 15.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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musings on the mainstream "press corps" and the american discourse
CHP Central Division Special Ops Command Nevada Falls Rescue Jan. 3, 2016 View Photos

View Video

Yosemite, CA  An unplanned but nonetheless spectacular exit came via a hoist rescue for a hiker hurt after an icy misstep at Yosemite National Park.

According to California Highway Patrol (CHP) Central Division Special Operations Command Flight Officer/Paramedic Andrea Brown, who helped retrieve the hapless hiker, the call for an assist came in Saturday around 3:30 p.m. from the Yosemite National Park Search and Rescue (YOSAR). Officer Brown says the request was to check out reports of an injured person at the top of Nevada Falls, who might have suffered a back injury.

By the time [YOSAR] would be able to access the patient and we could have gotten a hoist-qualified flight medic into the office it would have been too dark to do a hoist, because we do not do hoist missions in the dark, Brown explains. Subsequently, she and her flight partner, CHP Helicopter Pilot Ty Blasingame would have to wait until first light to depart from their Fresno base. Meanwhile, Brown recounts, YOSAR made the two-and-a-half-hour trek up through snow and ice to locate the hiker, identified as 63-year-old Sue Hopley, of Palo Alto, and confirmed that she had indeed, sustained a significant back injury.

Sheltering In Place Ahead Of The Hoist

So, Brown explains, They sheltered her in place with sub-zero sleeping bags in a tent, and the park medic who had made it up to her gave her some pain medication through the night to make her as comfortable as possible. Arriving in their H40 helicopter around 7:15 the following morning, Brown and Blasingame set up the hoist after a recon of the area and air-lifted Hopley without incident to Ahwanhee Meadow Park, where she was transferred to another unit and flown to a Modesto-area hospital.

Once we got down into the meadow and shut down, and talked with her, she was incredibly appreciative of our efforts to get her out of thereI am sure that was probably the longest night of her life up there, Brown shares. The two have since corresponded via email, where Hopley indicated that she had seen the video footage of the air rescue. Wryly, Brown comments, [Hopley] said, yikes, I cant believe you hang outside of the helicopter like that. To view the video footage, click here.

According to YOSAR, the area where Hopley fell is known to become treacherous during the day as, when the sun is warm enough, it will melt the snow in the flat granite area, which refreezes as temperatures get colder. The YOSAR guys told me it is like an ice skating rinkit is super, super slippery, Brown states. She calls Hopley very lucky to have come out of her ordeal only needing a back brace for a few months.

A Really Lucky Lady

Ten feet is a pretty significant fall, especially into rock, and it sounds like she did not have a head injury either  and that is even better, Brown remarks. I dont know what kind of gearor experiencebut when [Hopley] got up in that area, she slipped and fell back about ten feet onto some rocks and that is where she broke  I have been told  a couple of vertebrae. I dont know how close she was to completely going over the side but she is really lucky to not have any permanent neurological damage or paralysis to her legs. Too, Hopley was hiking with a partner, who had somehow been able to get a hold of somebody to get help, Brown adds. She probably would have froze to death if no one had been with her, Brown notes.

Sunday turned out to be a busy one for H40. Originally scheduled to fly Hopley to Modesto, Browns unit was cleared early in order to help search for a family that had not returned to their camp. That search that turned out to be a short assignment, according to Brown, as the missing people were successfully located in their vehicle by other family members. They were stuck in a snow bank on a forest service dirt road in the middle of nowhere, but everybody was okay, she chuckles.
The teen at the center of an Osceola County shooting spree two years ago has pleaded guilty.



Konrad Schafer was one of four accused of being involved in the killing of two people back in 2013. At the time of his arrested, police said he killed David Guerrero and Eric Roopnarine "for fun."

Schafer pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. In exchange hell have all his other charges dropped.

"Fifteen years old ... that's the hard part to wrap your head around," State Attorney Jeff Ashton said. "That this was a 15-year-old."

Investigators said ballistic evidence points to Schafer and another man being responsible for shooting into random homes and cars in Kissimmee two years ago.

"This community lived in terror for about two weeks in July of 2013," Osceola County Sheriff Bob Hansell said. "And now today there is some solace for the family."



One of those bullets killed 17-year-old David Guerrero near a bus stop on his way to work. Days later, prosecutors say Schafer and three others forced their way into the home of 22-year-old Eric Roopnarine and killed him. In the police report, Roopnarine's last words are noted as "Please don't kill me."

A friend of one of the victims said he is pleased with the guilty plea.

"Honestly, he knows he did it. And I think him right now pleading guilty is the best thing for him," the friend said.



While satisfied with the plea, Roopnarine's father, Pooran Roopnarine, said he was too distraught to speak on camera.

"It is hard for me to say anything right now," Pooran Roopnarine said.



"What he pleaded to or his potential sentence is exactly the same as it would have been had he gone to trial," Ashton said. "So, we didn't really give anything up except for some sort of peripheral charges and the other shootings."

How much time Schafer will spend in prison is still to be decided. There will be a sentence hearing at 9 a.m. April 15, 2016. Schafer could face up to life in prison.

PREVIOUS STORIES



(Clockwise L-R) Konrad Schafer, Victoria Rios, Juan Sebastian Muriel and David Damus were arrested July 9, 2013 and charged with first-degree murder, home invasion with a firearm and grand theft for the murder of Eric Roopnarine. (PHOTOS/Osceola County Sheriff's Office)





David Guerrero, 17, was shot and killed while walking to a bus stop on June 26, 2013. Eric Roopnarine, 22, was shot and killed during a robbery on July 4, 2013. (PHOTOS/File)
Sanford police are asking the publics help to identify people who were at a store the day the owner was shot and killed last month.



Investigators say the people seen in surveillance video are not suspects and believe they may have information regarding the events leading up to and surrounding the shooting.

On Dec. 23, 2015, Joshua Hur, owner of Kims Food Store located at 315 Poplar Ave. in Sanford, was fatally shot and killed while closing up his store.

The Sanford Police Department is asking for the public's help in identifying the three people who were inside the store that evening.



Sanford Police Department Investigators would like to speak with each of them about the homicide investigation.

Anyone with information on the identity and location of the three is asked to call Crimeline at (800) 423-TIPS (8477).





Joshua Myung Hur, 63, was closing Kim's Food Wednesday at 7:20 p.m. when he was shot, according to Sanford police. (Sanford Police Department) (John Davis, staff)

Police investigate the scene of the shooting, including searching the wooded area using K-9s. (John Davis, staff)
To the Editor:

Plainview has many wonderful cultural opportunities each year and an exceptional one is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, in Waylands Harral Auditorium.

Dove-winning gospel group Ernie Haase and Signature Sound will join J. Mark McVey, who has performed more than 3,000 times as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, to present Inspiration of Broadway.

EHSS and McVey teamed up last year to rave reviews. The show, which will include several gospel numbers, features bass Paul Harkey, a Petersburg native and Wayland graduate, singing Old Man River. Paul brought the house down with that number when Signature Sound performed at Wayland in May 2014.

Other hits include Climb Every Mountain, You'll Never Walk Alone, Sunrise, Sunset, I Got the Sun in the Morning, and McVeys stirring Bring Him Home from Les Miserables. We guarantee youll go home saying, Im sure glad I didnt miss that.

Tickets are $25 for the Artist Circle near center stage and $20 for general admission. They can be purchased by calling 806-291-3603, by emailing andrewsd@wbu.edu, at Happy State Bank and at the Trinity Building at Ninth and Utica.

Proceeds from the concert, sponsored by the Association of Former Students, will benefit Waylands upcoming capital campaign and scholarships.

We look forward to seeing you at this wonderful performance.

Danny Andrews

Wayland Baptist University
Authorities have apprehended a suspect believed to have been involved with a string of burglaries since Christmas, including hits in Floydada and Lockney.

The Floyd County Sherriffs Department announced Friday that Daniel Zavala was arrested in Ward County for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, unlawfully carrying a weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

Zavala was found driving the 2010 white Chevrolet Malibu, which Floyd County authorities believe was involved in the burglary of a daycare and HeadStart building as well as a Fast Stop convenience store a day later.

On Dec. 27, Floydada police said suspects cut the power of the daycare buildings before entering. This caused the buildings water pipes to freeze and burst in the HeadStart building.

Burglars got away with electronics and money while also causing major water damage.

A day later, money and merchandise was stolen from a Fast Stop in Floydada. Cameras caught the Malibu at the scene.

Upon searching the Malibu, scratch off lottery tickets were found.

Ward County Deputies spoke with Texas Lottery Commission who advised the lottery tickets were stolen from the Floydada convenience store as well as some tickets were stolen from a Fast Stop in Shallowater.

As of now charges are pending from several agencies across the State of Texas.

The Malibu was stolen from Arlington and the license plates were stolen from Plainview.

The vehicle in question does match a description of a burglary in Lockney as well.

The Floyd County Sheriffs Department stated they have concluded that is the type, color, and year model of the vehicle was used both in Floydada and Lockney. A Chevrolet Impala was not the vehicle used as previously thought.
The six-county area served by the Plainview Herald began 2016 the same way it ended 2015, with a healthy increase in sale tax rebates.

The 15 taxing entities that add 0.5 to 1.75 percent to the states 6.25 percent base sales tax rate saw a combined increase of 6.32 percent for January 2016, compared to the same time a year ago. That translates into an increase of $34,694 in revenues, going from $549,367 in 2015 to $584,060 this year.

The largest percentage jump was shown by tiny Edmonson, which shot up 115.36 percent. Its payment climbed from $189 in 2015 to $406.

Floydadas payment grew 63.1 percent, climbing to $33,582, while Hale Countys rose 17.24 percent. Plainview is up 6.59 percent.

This is great news for Plainview, Hale County and most of our entire region, commented Mike Fox, executive director of the Plainview/Hale County Economic Development Corp. The healthy sales tax increase for our area is coming at a time when the state of Texas overall is flat.

While a major driver of the increase is coming from the activity surrounding wind energy construction, a good portion is coming from our local citizens who are confident in the economic future of Plainview and Hale County, Fox added. I am hopeful that this trend will continue and have no reason to doubt otherwise.

Plainview Assistant City Manager Andrew Freeman added that through the first four months of the citys fiscal year, sales tax revenues are up 10.66 percent overall. Plainviews payment for January is $315,681.

The January sales tax payments represent retail sales made in November and reported to the state in December.

We are pleased to see the continued rise in retail sales in Plainview, said Mayor Wendell Dunlap. The Chamber of Commerces Buy Local campaign kicked off at the end of October and appears to have paid off with an increase in our local spending in November. We have now seen increases 14 out of the last 17 months in Plainview.

Sales tax collections, according to Freeman, account for about 16 percent of all general fund revenue at the city. Last fiscal year, sales tax revenues exceeded $4 million for the first time.

While revenues are up overall, seven of the 15 taxing entities in the area posted positive numbers. In addition to Edmonson, Floydada, Plainview and Hale County, Lockney posted a gain of 13.84 percent, Tulia was up 13.41 percent and Swisher County was up 4.12 percent.

The deepest reduction was posted by Castro County, which saw revenues fall 59.8 percent, followed by Silverton with 11.08 percent and Hale Center with 7.06 percent. Others posting losses were Hart, -7.04 percent; Abernathy, -3.99 percent; Petersburg, -2.44 percent; Olton, -6.17 percent; and Kress, -5.4 percent.

Statewide, according to Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, local sales tax allocations for January are down 0.1 percent from January 2015. Overall, sales tax revenue for the state in December was $2.33 billion, down 1.1 percent compared to a year earlier.

As with the previous two months, December sales tax revenue was down largely due to spending reductions in oil and gas-related sectors, Hegar said. This was expected, given ongoing weakness in oil and natural gas prices. Remittances from other sectors, such as construction and information, continued to grow.

Current sales tax payments and the change from a year ago for area entities include:

Abernathy, $13,853.35, -3.99%

Castro County, $12,971.14, -59.8%

Edmonson, $406.01, 115.36%

Floydada, $20,588.83, 63.1%

Hale Center, $6,700.05, -7.06%

Hale County, $132,475.05, 17.24%

Hart, $3,045.63, -7.04%

Kress, $944.94, -5.4

Lockney, $8,806.60, 13.84%

Olton, $11,014.32, -6.17%

Petersburg, $3,146.44, -2.44%

Plainview, $315,680.75, 6.59%

Silverton, $5,127.91, -11.08%

Swisher County, $11,090.86, 4.12%

Tulia, $25,688.93, 13.41%
Plainview's City Council will vote to purchase new sport utility vehicles for the Plainview Police Department in its upcoming regular session Tuesday.

On Thursday, Plainview Police Chief Ken Coughlin presented the city council with bids submitted by dealerships for the purchase of four SUVs that will be used as patrol vehicles.

The purchase of the vehicles with additional police equipment has already been budgeted this year.

However, the bids presented on Thursday were just the price for the stock vehicles.

Plainview received four bids for the vehicles, including Plainview's Bill Wells Chevrolet. Plainview's Reagor Dykes dealership was invited but did not submit a bid.

Going with the standard SUV's used by police departments across the country, dealerships could bid prices for a Chevrolet Tahoe or a Ford Explorer.

Each dealership submitted bids for the Tahoes.

Coming in with the lowest bid was Gene Messer Chevrolet of Lubbock whose bid price was $33,755 for each vehicle for a total of $135,020.

Caldwell Country Chevrolet made a bid of $34,176 for each Tahoe for a total $136,704 and Freedom Auto Group of Dallas bid at $137,200 for four Tahoes.

Bill Wells' bid was $35,340.54 for a total of $141,326.

Plainview City Manager Jeffery Snyder said state law allows a municipality to purchase 5 percent above the lowest bidder if the city prefers to buy from a local dealership.

Bill Wells' bid would fall in that threshold of being under 5 percent or under $141,771.

City council members will consider voting to award a bid Tuesday.

The move to purchase the SUVs seems to have perfect timing as a recent winter storm left many patrol cars stuck in the snow and officers using city work trucks to patrol.

Also Tuesday, the city council will vote to adopt guidelines and criteria for granting tax abatements in Reinvestment Zones designated within the city limits of Plainview.

The resolution will set up flexible criteria for granting tax abatements and reinvestment zones.

The tax abatement guidelines will serve as one of the tools the City of Plainview will utilize to attract new business and industry to the area.

Snyder said guidelines were designed with room to accommodate each business specifically.

Some guidelines set in the policy for businesses looking for tax abatements include providing at least five new full-time jobs to Plainview as well as invest at least $500,000 into Plainview with their new construction or expansion of facilities.

However, the guidelines in each application for abatement can be tweaked by the council.

The City Council will end Tuesday's meeting with a closed session to appoint representatives to the airport board, board of health, library board, Main Street Program/Tourism Coordinating Board, Runningwater Draw Retired and Senior Volunteer Program community advisory board, the Civil Service Commission, the Board of Adjustments, the Board of Minimum Housing Standards and the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The Leadwood Board of Alderpersons have taken the next step toward a new city hall. Until Jan. 19, the city will be accepting sealed bids for the construction of a new building.

Bids must be submitted in writing, sealed in an envelope marked Sealed Bid City Hall and turned into the city clerk by 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 19. The builder will be required to obtain a business license from the city clerk and produce certificates of liability and workers compensation insurance.

Preliminary drawings and details for the new building are available at Leadwood City Hall.

The former city hall building and its contents were damaged in a fire on Sept. 17. An interim office was opened in the basement of the Leadwood United Methodist Church at 201 Church St., and city business was resumed less than a week later.

Although the investigation into the cause of the fire by the Missouri State Fire Marshals Office is still ongoing, city officials were given the go-ahead soon after the fire to clean out the building and salvage content that had not been completely destroyed.

In early October, a preliminary insurance settlement was reached and the Leadwood Board of Alderpersons began to make preliminary plans for a new building. The initial settlement included $39,405 for the building, $25,000 for contents and city property and up to $10,000 to tear the building down.

After careful consideration of their options, city officials decided to rebuild on the current site rather than rent or buy a new building.

Although the exact final costs of rebuilding cant be calculated until the building plans are finalized, estimates have shown that the costs will exceed the insurance payout. Charlie Lewis, Leadwoods mayor pro tem, and city aldermen have been working with financial institutions on a plan to finance the remaining costs.

City crews have completely removed the old building and recently tore out the concrete foundation in preparation for new construction.

According to City Clerk Charlotte Lewis, the new building will be at least twice the size of the former city hall. The larger building will allow for city board meetings and court proceedings to be conducted within a dedicated courtroom/board meeting room inside the city hall.

Due to the size of the former building, many city functions have had to take place at other public facilities.

In addition, the new building will include a shared office for the mayor and municipal judge, a small meeting/conference room, an employee restroom and break room, and room for storage.

The public entrance will lead into a small lobby with two windows for making payments for water bills and other city fees. The lobby will also include a handicapped-accessible public restroom.

The new buildings front entrance will face toward Church Street. The former building faced Bank Street.

After the construction bids have been received and reviewed, city board members will proceed with securing financing for costs that will not be covered by the insurance settlement.
PASADENA, Calif.  San Antonio native and MacArthur High graduate Bruce McGill soon will lose his TV series of many years.

TNT female buddy cop show Rizzoli & Isles will close up shop after its upcoming 13-episode seventh season airs this summer, TNT and TBS president Kevin Reilly announced to TV critics today.
Regulation-cutting legislation authored by Congressman Jason Smith, R-8th District, passed the U.S. House on Thursday with a bipartisan vote of 245-174.

The bill, known as H.R. 1155, the Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act will, according to the representative, eliminate and remove outdated federal regulations now estimated to impose nearly a $1.86 trillion burden on Americans.

Following the vote, Rep. Smith explained why he authored the bill.

One-hundred-and-seventy-five-thousand, two-hundred-and-sixty-five pages of federal regulations are stifling economic growth and opportunity in this country. The SCRUB Act sets up a process to finally review and get off the books and out of the way many of these outdated, burdensome, duplicative and unnecessary regulations, Smith said, A bureaucrat in Washington should not be telling a farmer in the bootheel of Missouri or a small business owner in Poplar Bluff how to run their operation.

"With the SCRUB Act we place that power back into the hands of the people who are actually affected on a daily basis by the regulations coming out of Washington.

The SCRUB Act establishes a commission set by the President, U.S. Senate & U.S. House Leaders to review, remove and eliminate regulations that are unnecessary, outdated or conflict with state or local regulations. According to a recent estimate, the federal regulatory burden adds up to a cost of approximately $15,000 annually per U.S. household.

Specifically, the legislation provides a system of checks and balances in the review process and prioritizes review of regulations that are major rules, are more than 15 years old, impose paperwork burdens that can be reduced substantially without significantly diminishing effectiveness, or impose disproportionately high costs on small businesses. Additionally, the commission will prioritize removing federal regulations that are either duplicative or conflict with state regulations or can be strengthened while reducing costs.

The SCRUB Act was supported by the National Association of Manufacturers, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, National Taxpayers Unions, Americans for Tax Reform and others.
SAN ANTONIO  A 71-year-old woman with a walker was killed Thursday night after being pulled under a VIA bus in downtown San Antonio, according to police.

Emergency personnel responded at about 10:33 p.m. to the intersection of Soledad and East Commerce Street.
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The San Antonio Zoo won't allow visitors to openly carry firearms allowed under a new state law, but it's unclear whether the ban will last.

The zoo's executive director Tim Morrow said in a Friday interview that zoo officials decided on banning the practice of openly carrying firearms out of concern for the atmosphere created for patrons, not safety reasons.

"We just had concerns on what the environment would be for our guests and we don't want them to feel uncomfortable and uneasy," Morrow said.

Morrow added, "We don't have any issue with the law. We don't think it's a good fit for us."

RELATED: Guns OK in portion of San Antonio City Hall

There's a potential legal hitch, though: the San Antonio Zoo is technically a nonprofit organization and thus private. The open carry law allows private businesses and entities to ban open carry on their premises.

However, the zoo leases its land from the city of San Antonio, which potentially puts the decision by zoo officials in conflict with another law passed by the Texas Legislature in 2015 that enabled the state to fine entities that ban guns on publicly owned property.

RELATED: San Antonio Zoo tiger, Kemala, predicted TCU victory in Alamo Bowl

Morrow said zoo officials consulted with City Attorney Martha G. Sepeda, Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood and state Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio before making their decision. Each of them gave the zoo the go-ahead.

But, that could change if Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office decides to rule in favor of open carry sometime in the future, Morrow said.

The Texas Tribune reported that the attorney general's office has received 24 complaints about the Dallas and Fort Worth zoos after they decided to ban open carry in their facilities.

"Ultimately, it will come down to a state decision," Morrow said.

Scroll through the above slideshow for nine facts you need to know about the new open carry law.

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports
SAN ANTONIO  The San Antonio Police Department is searching for suspects wanted in connection to a homicide that left one man dead on Christmas Day on the Southeast Side.

Trayvouns Edwards, 28, got into an altercation with three other men and a woman in the parking lot of a convenience store in the 200 block of Goliad Road.
DEAR ABBY: Do you think parents should intervene in arguments between 10-year-olds? My daughter, "Amy," was playing at a neighbor's house with two other girls and they had an argument over something stupid. The neighbor's daughter, "Kathy," started to cry, so her mother asked my daughter and the other girl to leave because they had upset Kathy. Afterward, she called and wanted me to punish my daughter for upsetting hers.

I didn't do it because I think 10-year-olds are old enough to make amends with each other. When Amy explained the situation, I concluded that Kathy started to cry because she didn't get what she wanted. The girls were playing with each other again two days later.

This isn't the first time this has happened, but it's annoying because they make a big deal out of it. Kathy is an only child and we have three children. What do you think about this? -- AMY'S MOM IN ANTWERP, BELGIUM

DEAR AMY'S MOM: Hang onto your sense of humor and take "Helicopter Mom's" suggestions regarding parenting your child with a grain of salt. Kathy's mother means well, but she should stop trying to fight her daughter's battles for her.

DEAR ABBY: I have two brothers and two sisters. We all earned a modest but comfortable living and made plans for our retirement -- except for one. He blew his money on cars, vacations and gambling. He retired as early as possible, and because of it he doesn't get much Social Security. Now he's broke.

He thinks one of us should take him in and complains that we are a "bad family" because no one has offered to let him live with us. None of our retirement plans were made with provisions for him. He is selfish, irritating and untrustworthy. I don't want to spend my retirement being miserable. What do I do? -- RETIRED IN CHICAGO

DEAR RETIRED: If taking your irresponsible brother in would ensure that your retirement would be miserable, you shouldn't do it. Your brother has lived his life the way he wanted, without consideration for the consequences. If his retirement plan was gambling that you and your siblings would support him for his poor choices, it appears he has lost that bet, too. As a kindness, direct your brother to resources that help low-income seniors.

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I decided to go our separate ways and have filed for divorce. Although I moved out, we agreed to keep prior engagements. One of them is a trip to Europe to visit family and friends.

When we talked about traveling together, my understanding was that it meant sitting next to each other in the car and on the plane. Now he is making the hotel arrangements and has asked me if he should book a room with two beds or two separate rooms. This is confusing and it's making me feel awkward. How should I answer? -- THE EX-MRS. IN MICHIGAN

DEAR EX-MRS.: Be honest. If the idea of sharing a room with your almost-ex-husband makes you uncomfortable, tell him you would prefer separate accommodations.

DEAR ABBY: I am an administrative assistant. Part of my job is to make the arrangements for our department Christmas party. Every year we go out in a group of about 15 people. I no longer wish to attend these events. Group settings make me nervous. In addition, we all have to buy gender-neutral gifts to exchange.

I have tried to talk with my boss about it, but he doesn't seem to understand. We have bi-monthly staff meetings, and after everyone is done with business, we always have discussion time for things other than work. Most of us have lunch together every day and talk then. We also have group birthday celebrations four times a year.

I get a sick feeling every time I think about going to this party, and then the headache of trying to choose a gift that won't be made fun of. (I am not good at it.) Last year I called in sick so I wouldn't have to attend. I have tried taking a personal day off, but then my boss gets mad at me. Should I be forced to go to this? -- NOT A GIFT PICKER IN ST. PAUL

DEAR NOT A GIFT PICKER: No, you shouldn't. Because you find these functions to be onerous, consider putting in a short appearance at the Christmas party and then "rushing off" because you have a "schedule conflict." As to your gift selection problem, at this time of year most people are inundated with catalogs with all sorts of offerings. Open a few, select any item in your price range and order it. Or consider a gift card. Problem solved.

DEAR ABBY: Is it OK to hang up the phone on someone who's making you angry on a personal call? I'm referring to adult conversations, not children calling each other.

For instance, when I'm talking to my husband, my mother or a friend and the conversation has deteriorated to an argument or become unbearable and insufferable, can I just hang up the phone? Or must I first blurt out, "I'm hanging up the phone now"?

Are there rules for hanging up the phone angry? Do manners require that phone calls must end by mutual agreement? Please, Abby, give us your permission to "cut off the crazies." -- SICK OF IT IN MICHIGAN

DEAR SICK OF IT: I do not think it is constructive to slam the phone down. If a caller becomes abusive, you could say, "I can't listen to this," or, "We'll talk later when you're not upset," before putting the phone down. However, if these ugly conversations happen often, you might be wise to consider screening your calls before answering.

DEAR ABBY: My fiance, "Rob," and I are pregnant. This should be an exciting time for me, but he keeps bringing up a previous relationship during which he had an unplanned child. That was 10 years ago, and the mother denied him access.

I have told Rob how much his mentioning it upsets me and I have asked him not to do it, especially during my pregnancy. I want to feel happy and special as the woman who will be providing Rob with an actual family unit. But instead I feel like second-best and resentful.

This should be a time to focus on us and our new baby, not the child that isn't in his life or that woman and her stupid actions. Please advise me. -- SOON-TO-BE MOM IN DENVER

DEAR MOM: You ARE special and you ARE the person who is creating a new family with Rob, but your pregnancy may be a painful reminder of the child he "lost." He may be afraid the same thing could happen again and need all the reassurance you can give him that it won't.

Because his bringing up the past relationship is hurtful, suggest he talk with a licensed mental health professional about it. Sometimes the best way to stop grieving is to talk about it.

DEAR ABBY: Call me ungrateful, but I am very uncomfortable receiving gifts. How can I get longtime friends to stop bringing hostess gifts when I invite them over? I don't need anything, and I resent feeling I am obligated to take something to them, too.

Why do women do this and men not feel so compelled? I have tried remarking, "The present of your 'presence' is present enough," but it continues. I need your help. -- UNGRACIOUS IN FLORIDA

DEAR UNGRACIOUS: Women usually bring hostess gifts because they were raised to believe it is the gracious thing to do. ("Don't come empty-handed.") Since "remarking" hasn't gotten your message across, you will have to be more direct with your friends. TELL them that when they visit, you would prefer they bring only themselves and nothing more. Then explain that you are at a point where you have enough "things" and do not need or want any more.

DEAR ABBY: I have been married to "Tom" for nine years. I moved into his house after we married. I downsized a lot of my belongings, but the problem is, Tom doesn't want me to have anything of mine in his house. He's always giving my things away or making remarks about what I do have is trash. I have decided to put everything of mine into storage. I will even keep my clothing elsewhere and keep only a comb and toothbrush in his home.

This makes me very sad because I feel he does not value me. I feel homeless even though I have a place to stay. I work and we split the bills. I don't know why he's so negative about anything that is mine, and I'm wondering if I should just move out.

I have tried talking to him and he says he is "only joking" when he offers something of mine to someone else. However, because he has given away my things in the past, it's not a joke to me. -- GUEST IN MY OWN HOUSE

DEAR GUEST: When a couple marries, depending upon their circumstances, they find a way to combine their belongings or start fresh. That your husband would give your things away without your permission is insensitive and disrespectful. That you have tolerated it until now tells me your marriage is not one of equals, which is not healthy for you. Under these circumstances, I can understand why you would want to leave.

If Tom is willing to accompany you to couples counseling, it MIGHT help you to communicate better. However, if he isn't, YOU should talk to a therapist about your entire relationship with Tom so you won't find yourself in a subservient position in future relationships after you move out and divorce him.

DEAR ABBY: I am a 25-year-old who has been dating a great guy for a year. The relationship is everything I have dreamed of -- and more. My only concern is that my friends don't seem to care much for him. That doesn't bother me, but what does bother me is they are distancing themselves from me now.

I'm no longer invited to gatherings. My "best friend" doesn't keep in touch anymore, and I have given up on trying to reach out every time. If I do manage to talk to her, she makes an excuse to get off the phone as quickly as possible.

I have never done this to any of my friends, regardless of whom they were dating or what life threw at them. Is this a normal part of life? Should I reconsider my friendships? -- BOTHERED IN BOSTON

DEAR BOTHERED: Relationships sometimes ebb and flow. Before "reconsidering" these friendships, have a frank and honest chat with these women about why they don't like your boyfriend. That your BFF would treat you the way she has is puzzling, unless she's jealous because you spend so much time with your boyfriend or he has offended her in some way.

On a different note, does this man have friends of his own? Do the two of you socialize with other couples? Having been together for a year, are you making new friends together? If the answer to these questions is yes, then it may, indeed, be time to move on from this tribe of girlfriends.

DEAR ABBY: So many of your letters involve people having difficulty communicating with others. Here's a safe, honest, straightforward technique for targeting the behavior, sharing feelings and explaining the reasons for those feelings. It is called an "I-Statement" and has three parts: (1) "When you ..." (2) "I feel/felt ..." (3) "Because ..."

I-Statements can be used for the sharing of any and all feelings by kids, teens and adults. Feelings are valid because they are our honest emotions. In addition to giving positive strokes to one another, people can learn to better understand each other and have whole, complete and satisfying resolutions to problems. Try it! -- SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST (RETIRED) IN OHIO

DEAR PSYCHOLOGIST: I will! When I received your suggestion about improving communication, I felt grateful that you took the time to share it because it was not only generous of you but also may be helpful to many of my readers. Thank you for sending it.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
Posted on 01/08/2016, 1:30 pm, by mySteinbach

The provincial and federal governments are expanding the provinces network of automated weather stations after installing 17 new stations in 2015. This announcement was made by Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Minister Ron Kostyshyn.

Manitoba has a total of 61 automated weather stations operated by the provincial government that provide timely, detailed information useful to Manitoba farmers, free of charge. By 2018, the agro-meteorology program will expand to 84 stations.

The minister noted climate change and moisture management as issues raised in the Agriculture Risk Management task force report, which was released in early 2016. An expanded network will give farmers important information on soil conditions, risk assessment for crop diseases and insects, and support decision-making for the crop-residue burning program.

These automated stations are located in areas that best represent the climate of the region. They are solar-powered and communicate wirelessly, allowing them to be set up in remote and rural areas. Measurements of air temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, wind speed and direction and soil temperature are collected, verified and posted to the provincial website hourly. Data from these weather stations will also be used to enhance flood and drought forecasting, precipitation maps, and monitoring severe weather.

Funding for the expansion of the agro-meteorology program comes from Growing Forward 2, a five-year, federal-provincial-territorial policy framework to advance the agriculture industry, helping producers and processors become more innovative and competitive in world markets.
Yves here. Yet another reminded that pre-moden peasants were subject to all sorts of hardships, like disease, war, and the lack of heating, plumbing, and Neflix, but long working hours appear not to have been one of them.

By Bruce Webb. Originally published at Angry Bear

Too wide a scope for a blog post? You betcha. But this was going to be the core of my PhD Dissertation back when I was in such a program and had delusions of adequacy. So those who wonder WTF does any of this have to do with labor hours? Well bear with me. Or scroll away. Because much tedium and obscurity is found under the fold. A pure dose of tl/dr which doesnt even get to either Smith or Marx. Yet.

In 1086 and twenty years after his crowning as King of England in 1066 (and all that) William the Conqueror directed that inquiries be made and recorded on what today would be a combination population and economic census which results were recorded in a couple of books now known collectively as Domesday. And whether you see Domesday as being some sort of national agricultural rent book or as a tax assessment it is clear from beginning to end and top to bottom that the fundamental unit of assessment was the hide. Now what is the exact definition and origin of the hide. Well huge parts of early medieval British economic historiography revolve around that but by 1086 it was clear that the working definition was the amount of land that in midland England could be plowed by a standard heavy plow drawn by an eight oxen team in a year under a three field system. Now I will be happy to discuss any of those terms in comments but what it amounts to is 120 acres of arable cornfield (corn in England meaning grain).

Now the definition of acre is a little more firm than that of hide. The standard acre is 43,560 square feet or in terms more familiar to you all one chain (four rods) by 1 furlong. Ha,ha! I jest. A rod is nominally 16.5 making a chain 66. While a furlong is either 600 or 660 with the latter give us a standard 43560 acres (66 x 660). Now a furlong is in origin a furough long and is the nominal length that an 8 ox team can pull a plow in a single go. Now you will have to trust me on this one, but it turns out that in normal conditions a plow team could plow an acre a day in furlong long pulls. And over the course of a year could keep 120 total acres in cultivation which is why this area was also called variously a carucate from caruca Latin for heavy plow, or ploughland whose derivation should be pretty damn obvious. So this sets up a schematic but more realistic than not identification of hide carucate ploughland and area plowable by eight oxen in the course of a year.

Now while the equation of hide and land plowable by an 8 ox team is clear enough in Domesday, even more clear is that in early Medieval England no actual cultivator of the ground could expect to own a full team or the land to plow it. Instead you had landlords who owned multiple hides, often grouped in fives (600 acres) and peasants of varying economic, legal and social status who held specific fractions of hides, for the more prosperous a virgate or oxgang or 30 acres or 1/4th of a hide or a semi-virgate or bovate or 15 acres or 1/8th of a hide.

Now here is where arithmetic and labor economy comes in. You can plow 120 acres in a year with an 8 ox team. Yet this ploughland or carucate was split between typical 4 holders of oxgangs (which comes from a word meaning two oxen in a yoke) or 8 holders of bovates (from Latin bos, bovis ox). And those names indicate that in order to make up the plough-team each holder of a bovate was obligated to supply one ox and each holder of an oxgang two oxen to match their proportional holding of the ploughland.

Now all of this has been well-known for decades now and relatively uncontroversial but the question that has never really been addressed in the literature as it was when I left the Berkeley PhD program is what does this imply for labor time. Because it turns out that the standard labor requirement to run an 8 ox plough team is two people, a man to man the plow and an oxboy to guide the team. Which has the result that on any given day of plowing the land of four to eight English peasants can be done by a single man and boy which assuming a rotation of labor means that your typical peasant only needed to work his land one day a week during the heaviest work weeks in a year. Leaving him five full work days to fulfill all his other obligations including often enough plow work for his landlord. But even at that the landlord needed only a single ploughman a day for each 120 acres of demesne land and normally though not always supplied the physical plows and oxen on his own account.

What is more, though many people have the idea that medieval plowmen worked from dawn to dusk (often derived from the literary work Piers Plowman) in real life plowing knocked off at noon. Not because of any idea about medieval labor law but because the oxen needed half a day to browse and be watered so as to be able to be yoked up the next morning.

So my provocative question is how exploitative of labor time can a medieval economy firmly rooted on cultivation of grain really be if the most labor intensive part of that labor required the work or only one of four or eight participants for one half of the day on their own plots? Did landlords actually have enough land under their direct control to keep the other three or seven peasants fully occupied in plowing duties? That would suggest a ratio of landlord to tenant holdings of somewhere of 3 or 7 to 1. And exactly nothing in the records supports that. Instead landlords were more likely to take their slice in in kind and cash rents than in direct labor.

Now of course plowing isnt everything. On the other hand there were only 120 typical plowing days in a year. Which were half days. Which begins to raise the question of what the actual work week of your standard serf/peasant in the Year of Our Lord 1000 given an agricultural system whose basic units were ploughlands and ploughteams whose operations only required a fraction of the standard household members supported. Or to jump forward 700 years or so was the 60-80 hour week in a early 19th century factory or mine really an advance over the workweek in William the Conquerors days?
Vibeke Flornes, from left, Richard Burks, Callie Storm, and Bryce Lawrence prepare signs for the Run 4 The Cause 5K at Living Waters Church in Estero on Thursday, January 7, 2016. The race is being put on by Christy's Cause, a non-profit started by Christy Ivie to raise money for organizations that are working to end child sex trafficking. (Scott McIntyre/Staff)

SHARE Christy Ivie, center right, works with her team as they prepare for the Run 4 The Cause 5K at Living Waters Church in Estero on Thursday, January 7, 2016. The race is being put on by Christy's Cause, a non-profit started by Ivie to raise money for organizations that are working to end child sex trafficking. (Scott McIntyre/Staff) Kelly Luck, from left, Ken Esquilin, and Stephany Abraham prepare shirts for the Run 4 The Cause 5K at Living Waters Church in Estero on Thursday, January 7, 2016. The race is being put on by Christy's Cause, a non-profit started by Christy Ivie to raise money for organizations that are working to end child sex trafficking. (Scott McIntyre/Staff) Signs ready to be used for inspiration in the Run 4 The Cause 5K at Living Waters Church in Estero on Thursday, January 7, 2016. The race is being put on by Christy's Cause, a non-profit started by Christy Ivie to raise money for organizations that are working to end child sex trafficking. (Scott McIntyre/Staff) Vibeke Flornes, right, laughs along with Bryce Lawrence while they prepare for the Run 4 The Cause 5K at Living Waters Church in Estero on Thursday, January 7, 2016. The race is being put on by Christy's Cause, a non-profit started by Christy Ivie to raise money for organizations that are working to end child sex trafficking. (Scott McIntyre/Staff) Related Coverage Christy's Cause inaugural 5K raises more than $16K

By Maryann Batlle of the Naples Daily News

Christy Ivie watched a "tuk tuk," an open air buggy pulled by a bike, ride past her on a Cambodian street. It carried a boy and an older man.

"I couldn't turn my head," she said.

The boy resembled the hundreds of impoverished children she had met on her visit to the country, where she led classes on proper hygiene near the resort town of Siem Reap. The man looked like her. He was white  possibly European. She did not see them talk.

Something is wrong, she thought.

"You can tell. You can tell when you see somebody  it just looks out of place," said Ivie, recalling the moment that happened in the fall of 2014.

They continued on their way and left her without a definite answer. Ivie said she still does not know whether that boy was  is  trapped inside of Cambodia's sex trade, as she suspected. A desperate parent there can sell a child to traffickers as a way to sustain the rest of the family, Ivie learned.

The mental, sexual and physical abuse she was exposed to throughout her childhood because of her father made it impossible for her to forget the boy, Ivie said. When she returned to her hotel room that night, she wrote an online message to her husband: "I cannot come home the same," Ivie remembered.

More than a year later in Southwest Florida, Ivie is the founder of a new nonprofit, Christy's Cause, that has taken on the mission of raising money for groups attempting to end child sex trafficking.

"We seek out organizations that already have their sleeves rolled up, on the front lines, working in this arena," she said.

Christy's Cause has its first major fundraising and awareness event on Saturday, a 5K walk and a run behind her church in Estero, Living Waters. She has gathered an array of local sponsors in less than a handful of months, including Chik-fil-A and auto dealer Sam Galloway.

"This is about our community, and that's why I want to pull in as many people as possible," Ivie said.

More people are realizing there are adults and children living in Lee and Collier Counties who are forced into labor or sexual slavery, said Alex Olivares, coordinator of the Human Trafficking Resource Center at Florida Gulf Coast University.

There is no one reason why human trafficking has taken root in Lee and, particularly, Collier, he said.

"It's the climate. It's the agricultural fields, plus you have a lot of areas in Collier that are pretty remote," Olivares said.

Ivie credits HTRC with providing much of her training, which Olivares said centers around learning how to identify the signs of potential human trafficking cases. Simple awareness can save a life every time, he said.

"The more people know about it, the more they are going to be on the look out," he said. "You have to identify them and report them to the local authorities."

Neophyte Christy's Cause is partnering with HTRC's human trafficking symposium on Jan. 21. Ivie is a "shining example" of how someone, regardless of his or her background, can offer a solution, he said.

"All you have to do is care about an issue and get it going," Olivares said. "You may feel like it's just you tackling an issue, but that's how it starts."

Trying to help underage victims of human trafficking and sexual abuse is just a part of her own healing journey, Ivie said.

"That little girl, the little girl that I see, that I think of that was me  she haunts me sometimes, and it won't let go of me," Ivie said. "I have to be a freedom fighter for other little boys and girls out there."

***

Run 4 The Cause 5K Fun Run & Walk

Saturday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Living Waters Church, 22100 U.S. 41, Estero

Registration is $30 online for the first registrant, $25 for the second registrant

$35 per person on race day

For more information visit run4thecause.com
SHARE Greater Naples Leadership volunteer Ron Ferguson of Naples paints a wall at St. Matthew's House in Naples on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. (Dorothy Edwards/Staff) Greater Naples Leadership volunteers Joan Sehdev, left, and Myra Williams, both of Naples, paint a gate together at St. Matthew's House in Naples on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. (Dorothy Edwards/Staff) Greater Naples Leadership volunteers John and Vi Steffan of Naples paint a gate together at St. Matthew's House in Naples on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. (Dorothy Edwards/Staff) Greater Naples Leadership volunteer Vi Steffan of Naples paints part of the front gate at St. Matthew's House in Naples on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. (Dorothy Edwards/Staff)

By Laura Layden of the Naples Daily News

They call themselves GNL'ers.

They are hundreds strong in Collier County, but their group  Greater Naples Leadership  is little-known to outsiders.

The group is not to be confused with Leadership Collier, a program affiliated with the Greater Naples Chamber that's for young professionals and designed to develop future community leaders.

Greater Naples Leadership, or GNL, educates local retirees, many of them from other areas, about the issues in Collier County and connects them with nonprofits and volunteer opportunities. Every year, a new class graduates from the program, which includes 13 weeks of classes. Most of the organization's members are in their 50s, 60s and 70s.

"GNL is kind of one of Naples' best kept secrets. You know, we don't advertise. We don't do fundraising, so a lot of people don't know we exist," said Sheila Harris-Schutz, a graduate and a past president of the group.

GNL promises its members firsthand learning experiences, rewarding relationships with accomplished, like-minded people and access to meaningful board and volunteer roles. With more than 700 graduates and 500 active members, the organization is celebrating its 20th year in operation starting this month by doing 20 projects for local nonprofits in 10 days.

The "Done in a Day" projects started Monday and will continue through Thursday. On some days, the group will do more than one project to reach its lofty goal.

On Thursday, nearly a dozen GNL graduates met at St. Matthew's House, a homeless shelter off Airport-Pulling Road, ready to paint. The bright orange buckets that surrounded them with Home Depot's "Let's Do This" slogan on them, fit their go get 'em mood.

With smiles, laughs and a few mishaps, the small group of retirees brightened outdoor walls, pillars, gates and fencing with a fresh coat of white paint. Harris-Schutz, 67, who lives in North Naples, took charge when she noticed one wall didn't get enough paint on it, pointing it out to another volunteer.

"When it comes to painting I'm a perfectionist," she readily admitted.

Joan Sehdev, a graduate of GNL's 12th class, didn't disagree. She offered to help out, brushing another coat of paint on the bottom half of the wall. "OK, Mrs. Quality Control, is that OK?" she asked Harris-Schutz, who gave her a nod of approval and a thank you.

Standing back and surveying her own work a few minutes later, Sehdev looked please. "Not bad for old ladies," she quipped.

As she continued painting, Sehdev bent all the way down to the ground with her brush with ease, but said she knew she'd feel it later. "I'm 75. Tomorrow, I'll feel 80," she said.

After retiring as a family practice doctor up north and relocating to North Naples, Sehdev said she was looking for a way to give back to her new community. "I didn't want to practice medicine again, been there, done that," she said.

She learned about GNL from a neighbor. So did Ron Ferguson, who built up a sweat painting walls and pillars alongside her and others, including his wife.

When his wife offered him a cup of lemonade, Ferguson, a graduate of GNL's 19th class, gladly took it, but then winced when he took a gulp and realized the pitcher she poured it from must have had something else in it, bleach or maybe turpentine. His wife had no idea. He dumped his cup and rushed to get some water.

Before his mishap, Ferguson, 70, a former transplant surgeon from Ohio who now lives in North Naples, described the Greater Naples Leadership program as both spectacular and intense.

Each year, GNL accepts a class of 36 to 46 men and women, offering them sessions on history, culture, health care, education, the environment, economic development, human services, government and law enforcement, as well as introducing them to volunteer opportunities. Sessions include presentations, panel discussions, site visits and field trips planned by members of the class that graduated before them.

"It really, really does open up not only opportunities, but provides a lot of information that you might not otherwise get," Ferguson said.

Vi Steffan, who introduced Ferguson to GNL, agreed. She was in the 13th class, the same class as Harris-Schutz.

"I like the fact that it gave us a perspective of the entire county in so many areas, environment, health care, the arts, so you really understood how the parts worked together," said Steffan, 71, taking a break from painting.

She worked for the CIA for 15 years and relocated here from Virginia to retire.

"I love Naples," she said. I would not go back to Virginia."

Despite a few mishaps, including spilled paint on the sidewalk, the improvement project at St. Matthew's House was a big success  and may not have gotten done without the help of GNL volunteers.

Vann Ellison, president and CEO of St. Matthew's House, said volunteers are key to his organization's success. By having volunteers do the painting, he said, his staff can focus on the more critical work.

"Things don't get done until someone stands up and says, 'I'm willing to make a difference,'" Ellison said. "That is how not-for-profits work."

Half of the board directors for the shelter have been graduates of Greater Naples Leadership program, so there's a much bigger connection between them.

"They are a great strong group," Ellison said. "There is a real sense of camaraderie among them. I really do believe they are some of our best and most committed board directors. They are people that care and really want to make a difference."

Other local charities GNL members will help over the next week are Youth Haven and Habitat for Humanity.

Greater Naples Leadership evolved from a Leadership Collier Masters program that the Naples chamber started in 1996 and ran for two years. When the chamber decided to no longer support the program, members of the third class, who had already been chosen, founded Greater Naples Leadership in 1999 and became its first board of directors. After all these years, some of those founding members are still involved in GNL.

Currently, tuition is $1,700 for the leadership class and financial assistance is available. GNL is now accepting applications for the 2016-17 class.

More information can be found at gnlwebsite.org/masters-program.
An emergency department sign.

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By Associated Press

FRUITLAND PARK, Fla.  Authorities say a Lake County appliance store worker was accidentally killed while helping load a washing machine into a customer's vehicle.



Fruitland Park Police Chief Michael Fewless tells the Orlando Sentinel the incident happened Wednesday.



Police say the unidentified worker offered to help the customer load the washer in his vehicle and waited by the curb.



Fewless says the employee started readying to load the washer when the man accidentally hit the gas, reversing the vehicle into the building, pinning the worker.



The worker was taken to a hospital, where he died.



Fewless says police are still determining whether the driver will be charged.
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William Houze, Bonita Springs

Americans' resolve

The adage "he who doesn't learn from history is doomed to repeat it" seems a fitting lesson for ISIS. It's difficult today to understand barbaric thinking of the Mid-Eastern Islamists who think they can be new, uneducated world leaders.

It is possible these leaders have never read a U.S. history book detailing the years of combative formation of the U.S., a world power. Over years, we've fought many wars costing thousands of American lives for freedom and a way of life, something their ignorance cannot accept.

Cowardly terrorist attacks killing unarmed civilians in Paris or San Bernardino will not cause Americans to surrender rights, values, patriotism and faith. ISIS has much to learn about American people.

They should be informed of the sacrifices American troops made on Normandy Beach and across Europe in 1944 to protect our country and allies. Someone might tell them the end result of the Nazi regime. They might also learn the history how Japan destroyed Pearl Harbor in 1941 plus how U.S. retribution in return decimated Japan ending the war in August 1945.

ISIS might further learn how Russia built missiles in 1962, placed them in Cuba hoping to intimidate our leaders to bow to their demands, but instead faced ultimate humiliation only to return home with shiploads of missiles.

The United States was built like China's "Great Wall"  one stone, one battle at a time. National pride was made of fighting disasters and wars to gain freedom, wealth, and military independence. We will never give that up.

But we do need a committed, fearless government administration with proper leadership to once again uphold American traditions and overcome terror. Presently that doesn't exist.
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Louis S. Herkalo, Naples

No history lesson

I would like to respond to letters by Don Brown and Richard Niehaus who both commented on my letter, "Warmongers."

I think the two of them just couldn't comprehend the meaning of my letter. I want to get the point across that I wasn't giving a history lesson or framing an outline for a thesis. Every point the two touched on is common knowledge and I was talking about the here and now.

Every war they spoke of wasn't started by the United States with a Democratic president in office. Vietnam is self explanatory after France bailed, leaving the U.S. to fight North Vietnam alone.

Mr. Niehaus brought up the War on Poverty initiated by Democratic President Johnson and the trillions of dollars it cost. He failed to mention the War on Drugs that was started by Republican President Ronald Reagan that is still going on today. He didn't mention the staggering amount of money that has been and is still being spent or the millions of lives lost directly or indirectly to this "war" that can never be won.

It's like Afghanistan. We've been fighting the Taliban for 15 years now and haven't succeeded.

My letter was about the Republicans who are in office "today"  they are warmongers. They want President Obama to send in units of troops to fight ISIS on their turf. They would also be happy to start a war with Iran.

Obama as commander-in-chief is handling it the right way so there is not a repeat of the debacle by President Bush and his true reason to start the war with Iraq and the damage it caused to the U.S. soldiers and their families.

Obama doesn't want to repeat that.
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Emil Hinterthuer, Naples

Russian recession

The recent article about the Russian recession did send an alarm to me.

I was born in Germany in 1938 and there was not much happiness around for the people in Germany.

Germans had a hard time feeding their children, to shower them with gifts and so on. This was the time for Hitler to get a good grip of all the blue-collar working class and middle class. But this was not the fault of other nations.

It was our government who put this on the people. I look now on the situation in Russia and feel the pain of the children and parents there.

President Vladimir Putin is a man who loves Russia (Hitler did not love Germany, he wanted power) and does things we do not like and appreciate, but our government also does things other nations do not like.

So we give Russians what they deserve, right? Wrong.

If you push any peaceful person far enough into a corner without escape, this person will go in your direction to save his life. This could be the result in Russia because of all the sanctions and boycotts our government arranged throughout the world.

Hunger and fear makes strong fighters if called up to fight for a better future.

I believe that Putin is capable to start a war and, with our enemies in the world, could do much more damage to the Western world and America than we would like to see.

Are the people in the White House waiting for this to happen?

This would be a sure way to destroy this country. I hope I am wrong, because I'd like to finish my life in a safe country and not in a war.
'What about the people's interests?

'Open rebellion'

(NaturalNews) Beginning in 2010, voters across America began electing conservative Republicans to the U.S. Congress and to statehouses and state legislatures in greater numbers, a direct rebuke of the insane progressive Marxism of Barack Obama and his Democratic Party Following the 2014 elections, in fact, voters returned or elected Republicans to office in record numbers, with Democrats losing more than 900 seats at the state level and 70 in Congress.The message, say politicos, is plain: Americans don't want what the president is selling, and they have attempted to tell him so at nearly every opportunity. Turns out, though, that congressional Republican leaders are as tone-deaf as the president, as evidenced by the recent offering of a massive omnibus spending bill that not only explodes the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars, but would also fully fund every single Obama and Democratic priority.It's as if Republicans are unaware of their election victories or incapable of utilizing the political clout they've been given. Whatever the case is, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., labeled the GOP budget as a betrayal of the highest order to the millions of voters who empowered Republicans tothe Democrats generally and Obama specifically.In a speech on the floor of the Senate following the introduction of the $1.1 trillion spending package, Sessions lamented funding of many of Obama's least popular measures, including Obamacare, immigration policy and higher domestic spending."They sent us to Washington, they sent us here, the people did, to protectinterests, to protect theinterests, to ensure the defense offamilies," Sessions said regarding funding for Obama's immigration priorities, which include allowing thousands more Syrian and Muslim migrants into the U.S. before they are properly vetted, and at a time when Islamo-terrorism is rising again."They did not send us here to bow down to the president's lawless immigration policies," he continued, "or to line the pockets of special interests and big business."That's not what we're here for," he said.Continuing, Sessions noted:"This omnibus bill approves the president's request for increased refugee admissions, allowing him to bring in as many refugees as he wants, and he can bring them from anywhere he wants, and allow them access to unlimited welfare and entitlements at the taxpayer expense, which is not scored as a cost ..."Under this bill, it will ensure that at least 170,000 green cards  that means permanent residency with a guaranteed path to citizenship  refugee and asylee approvals will be issued to residents of Muslim countries just over the next 12 months. ..."Sessions further noted that during a time of "record immigration," the last thing that most Americans want is more of the same. In fact, according to recent surveys ( here from the Right, and here from the Left), most Americans are opposed to Obama's and the political establishments of both parties' calls for more immigration  a fact Sessions noted during his speech."The Republican-led Congress is about to deliver the president a four-fold increase in one of the most controversial foreign worker programs that we have," he said.Sessions also said that he and a few others in the House and Senate had asked for language to be inserted into the bill "that would protect the interests of the American people," but added that no such language made it into the final version.For his part, newly minted House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and a vice presidential candidate during Mitt Romney's second failed bid for the White House in 2012, said the budget measure was the best he could get because it amounted to "the cards I was dealt." But that lame excuse didn't wash with conservatives who countered, correctly, that it is Congress, not the president, who controls the power of the purse.For his part, Sessions noted that the GOP sell-out on the budget, as well as Democratic priorities, are why " voters are in open rebellion " against the establishment wings of both parties.You can watch his full speech here
Definite similarities

Punishing critics

(NaturalNews) Before he took office in January 2009, then-Senator Barack Obama pledged that, if elected president, he would end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, seven years later, Obama has kept half his promise.Despite recommendations from the Pentagon to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement (SoFA) with Iraq, to leave at least a small force of U.S. troops there, Obama was not interested in doing that, for, after all, he had a campaign promise to keep (one of the few). So he pulled all American forces out of Iraq, which then created a power vacuum that someone would eventually fill. That "someone" was ISIS  a Muslim extremist organization whose leaders have since carved out a caliphate (a government based on Sharia law), in territory captured from both Iraq and Syria, the latter of which has been mired in civil war for more than three years.In a recent interview with Charlie Rose's executive editor  Michael Weiss, co-author of, noted that regardless of how the outside world views the caliphate, its leaders consider what they have created to be a legitimate state  as legitimate as any other nation-state. He says IS has a functioning administrative infrastructure whereby taxes are collected, restaurants are inspected to ensure safety and quality, a court system is in place based on Sharia law, and so forth. Weiss further noted that all members of ISIS receive free healthcare ("you might call it 'BaghdadiCare'") and other elements of social assistance, all of which combines to form the group's "hearts and minds" strategy.If any of this sounds familiar, that's no accident; many policies and social infrastructure practices implemented by ISIS resemble those implemented or supported by Obama Then there is the ISIS "deterrent" element, Weiss noted further, and that is largely embodied in the violent acts committed against non-ISIS members or existing ISIS members who violate the laws and covenants of the organization."If you're caught smoking cigarettes, if you're caught drinking alcohol, they'll put you in a cage in the center (of town) for three days," said Weiss. "And they'll mark your body with the crime that you've committed."If you've done somethingbad," he continued, "such as commit treason  if they suspect you of being a spy for the coalition or of some foreign power  they'll cut your head off, put it on a stick in the middle of town and let it rot and suppurate as a deterrent to forestall any kind of resistance."So when we say, 'Why aren't people rising up against the caliphate?'" Weiss went on, "it's because they are employing those two strategies, both the carrot and the stick, at a very adept level."The carrot and the stick  just what the Obama administration does with the American people.Consider how the White House reacts to criticism of its politics and policies, and for this, we needn't look much further than Obama's use of the federal bureaucracy to punish, and his treatment of the media.As Natural News reported , Obama has used both the IRS and the EPA to punish political opponents. Officials with the Internal Revenue Service, under pressure from Congress, finally admitted that the agency inappropriately targeted conservative groups seeking legal tax-exemption status in the years and months leading up to the 2012 election. Those same officials eventually apologized, and one the top officials, Lois Lerner  who led the division that approved or denied tax exempt status for organizations  has since resigned. Officials with the EPA, who also targeted conservative groups, have not been held to account.As for the media, the Obama administration has used the 1917 Espionage Act to go after whistle-blowers who leak information to journalists more times than any previous administration. And the White House has even sicced the Justice Department on reporters , stealing their phone records in an attempt to find out what they were working on.Now, finally, with Obama's reluctance to go after ISIS in a serious, meaningful way, his national security policies are directly helping the organization remain in power.Is this president as evil as the leaders of ISIS? Of course not  but there are definitely similarities in the way both administrations conduct business and implement policy.
Monsanto executive spearheads deception campaign to have university academics endorse GMOs

EPA drops proposal to more thoroughly evaluate GMO safety thanks to Monsanto meddling

(NaturalNews) More evidence has emerged proving that chemical giant Monsanto is anything but neutral when it comes to presenting the facts about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). A series of secret emails between Monsanto employees and various university scientists reveal that, regardless of whether or not money was involved, Monsanto is actively working within academia to create bias in favor of its products.It's a dark saga that's been unraveling for several years now, and one that's sure to continue in the coming years  Monsanto's illicit allying with college faculty and government officials for the purpose of trying to gain more rapport in the public eye. The agri-chem giant believes that if it can successfully get enough credible names on board the GMO train hawking its wares, then more people will accept GMOs, even in spite of a total lack of safety evidence Thanks to the valiant work of the group U.S. Right to Know (USRTK), we now have concrete evidence that Monsanto has been working directly with university academics to help them pen op-ed articles and participate in speaking events, all in the promotion of GMOs. Emails dating back to 2013 reveal that at least nine prominent academics have been working with Monsanto to recreate a more positive image for GMOs, which amounts to nothing short of deceptive fraud Leading the charge to take Monsanto's reputation up a few notches is Eric Sachs, the company's strategic engagement lead, who wrote one of the first emails uncovered by USRTK asking university academics to write "short policy briefs on important topics in the agricultural biotechnology arena." He explained in this email that these were specifically chosen "because of their influence on public policy, GM crop regulation, and consumer acceptance."In conjunction with the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) and a public relations firm known as CMA  both of which are unabashed supporters of all things GMO  Sachs and his sellout academics wrote and published a series of pro-GMO puff pieces designed to mislead the public into thinking that there's a scientific consensus in support of GMOs . The truth is that there is not.Some of the participating names include none other than Kevin Folta of the University of Florida, who became a main target of criticism in an op-ed piece in(NYT) that helped blow the lid on Monsanto's agenda of deception. Sachs approached Folta with a concept article that would "[hold] activists accountable," referring, of course, to people who oppose GMOs out of concern for safety and necessity.Others who cooperated with Monsanto include Nina Fedoroff, an emeritus professor of biology at Penn State University who played a key role in convincing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to back off on a proposal that would have bulked up the regulatory scrutiny for approving new GMOs. Fedoroff did Monsanto's bidding by setting up a meeting with the EPA, in which she successfully convinced the EPA to drop its proposal.Another name involved in the scam was University of Illinois professor emeritus Bruce Chassy, who along with Fedoroff spearheaded the EPA bullying agenda to limit the agency's ability to properly regulate GMOs.op-ed piece explains that Chassy led this effort in conjunction with Fedoroff, as well as an industry lobbyist by the name of Stanley Abramson, and Adrianne Massey, managing director of science and regulatory affairs at the pro-GMO Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO), which claims Monsanto as one of its members.
(NaturalNews) Do animals deserve to be free? Should they be granted legal rights that protect them from imprisonment, suffering and prolonged captivity? Steven M. Wise with the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) thinks so; in fact, he believes that at least some "nonhuman animals" should be granted legal rights and be treated as "persons," rather than mere "things," who possess the right to "bodily integrity" and "bodily liberty."A New York appeals court doesn't share Wise's ideology. Their disagreement was made apparent following the court's rejection of an animal rights advocate's attempt to extend "legal personhood" to chimpanzees. The court ruled that "[p]rimates are incapable of bearing the responsibilities that come with having legal right," reports Al Jazeera.The case was filed by the NhRP on behalf of a 26-year old chimp named Tommy who is currently being kept alone in a cage in a warehouse in Gloversville, New York. Tommy's owner, Patrick Lavery, says it's his decision where the chimp will go and not anyone else's, adding that Tommy is on a wait list to be taken in by a sanctuary.The case was the first of its kind to be heard, and while the five-judge panel of the Albany court agreed that Wise had shown that Tommy was an "autonomous creature," they eventually ruled that it wasn't possible for a chimp "to understand the social contract that binds humans together.""Needless to say, unlike human beings, chimpanzees cannot bear any legal duties, submit to societal responsibilities or be held legally accountable for their actions," Presiding Justice Karen Peters wrote.Tommy's supporters refuse to give up and are proceeding through further litigation."This is just the first appellate decision in a long-term strategic campaign" to win rights for chimps and other intelligent animals, said Wise, who helped found the Nonhuman Rights Project in 2007 in hopes of changing the law so that certain animals can be granted the right to be free from imprisonment.Holding a J.D. from Boston University Law School and a B.S. in Chemistry from the College of William & Mary, Wise has practiced animal protection law for more than 40 years. He also teaches "Animal Rights Jurisprudence" at several law schools and has authored four books.The group wants Tommy moved to a sanctuary where he's comfortable, and no longer imprisoned against his will. While the chimp can't speak our language, it can be assumed that he doesn't want to spend his life alone in a cage, said Wise.NhRP filed a motion for permission to appeal to New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, arguing that the Third Judicial Department made several "significant errors of law" in their December 5th decision."Chimpanzees are autonomous, self-determining beings. Why shouldn't they be legal persons?" asked Wise. "How is it that we can ignore the autonomy of a nonhuman, while making [autonomy] to be a supreme value of a human being?"Both as a matter of liberty and a matter of equality, you can't say that an autonomous person doesn't have any rights simply because he is a chimpanzee," added Wise. "He is remarkably like us, and he suffers like us."A similar case involving a 29-year old Sumatran orangutan named Sandra had a very different outcome. An Argentine court ruled Sandra can be freed from her imprisonment at a Buenos Aires zoo and be transferred to a sanctuary. The court recognized Sandra as a "'non-human person' unlawfully deprived of its freedom" reports "This opens the way not only for other Great Apes, but also for other sentient beings which are unfairly and arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in zoos, circuses, water parks and scientific laboratories," the dailynewspaper quoted Paul Buompadre, a lawyer for the Association of Officials and Lawyers for Animal Rights, as saying.
Anti-gun lawmakers going full-bore on this one

Obama would sign this in a heartbeat  and then the real problems would begin

(NaturalNews) Following a series of unfortunate shootings across the country  shootings that, for the record, have dramatically increased since President Obama has been in office, for some reason  the Left screams for more and more gun control , including "common sense reforms" that nearly always focus on one style of firearm: so-called "assault weapons."Included in the calls to ban an entire class of weapons, have been proposals to tax and limit ammunition sales; to curb the amount of bullets that can legally be in gun magazines; extra regulatory measures like registration; and prohibiting Americans on a government "watchlist" from owning firearms  a constitutional violation of their right to due process.In addition to these extreme Left-wing measures, the Obama administration has already engaged in targeting licensed firearms dealers across the U.S. with a Justice Department policy that forces banks to treat them like shady business enterprises, thus impeding their access to transaction processing technology and business bank accounts ( Operation Choke Point ).Still, most of the laws aimed at circumventing the Second Amendment have been enacted or are being considered by states that lean heavily to the political Left. But that's changing.As reported by, as Americans prepared for their holiday celebrations, anti-gun advocates in Congress were drafting a new piece of legislation, H.R. 4269 , that "would literally redefine the Second Amendment as evidenced by the bill's description," which is obvious in its intention:, to ensure that, and for other purposes." [Emphasis added]So in essence, the bill takes aim (no, that wasn't a pun), at every semi-automatic rifle in the U.S., as well as handguns and shotguns, that will fit a defined description. That said, the measure does specifically target certain types of semi-automatic rifles and their makers (the popular AR-15 and AK-47 style rifles).And because it would become a one that the Obama administration would gladly enforce , unlike, say immigration laws that would prevent sanctuary cities  it would apply to all states and territories, not just the uber-liberal Blue states.Included in the bill is a nationwide limit of 10 rounds per magazine, making it illegal to own one that is able to hold more. Also, there is this: Even if your firearm has a low-capacity detachable magazine, as defined in the legislation, but is further modified with any of the below accessories, it will be considered an "assault rifle," and banned outright in the United States. As reported byJust so there's no misunderstanding, any pretense of constitutionality has been completely ignored, and the Congressional Anti-Gun Caucus (not an official caucus but there may as well be one), is going full-out on this one. After all, gun legislation that declares "the right to keep and bear arms is not unlimited" is unconstitutional on its face. Can you imagine these hypocrites introducing a bill claiming that the rights to free speech, freedom of religion and expression are "not unlimited?" Of course not.It's not likely this measure will make it far in that the Congress is still dominated by pro-Second Amendment lawmakers. But if something like this does pass and Obama is still president, he'll fall over himself trying to get to his desk to sign it.Then theproblem begins: Are there enough Feds, cops and troops to confiscate these weapons from 100 million Americans?
After shunning GMO foods, Russia shifts focus to GMO weapons

(NaturalNews) The future of weaponry won't necessarily involve higher capacity firearms, more advanced bombs or better fighter jets. It will encompass an entirely new realm of genetically-modified (GM) bioweapons that threaten to destroy the human brain and cause irreversible genetic-level damage to the planet.This is the prediction of Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations, which recently issued a warning about the threat of geophysical and genetic weapons that it says will have the capacity to intercept virtually all levels of life , from microscopic atoms to large-scale systems. A combination of energy, electromagnetic, radiological, geophysical and even genetic weapons will have the capacity to literally change the way people think , which is a much more powerful weapon than simply trying to kill them.At the geophysical level, such weapons will have the ability to alter weather patterns, which we are already seeing in the form of geoengineering and " chemtrails ." Geophysical weapons will also have the ability to both create and redirect major weather events like hurricanes and earthquakes, which many have long speculated about considering the government's controversial "HAARP" program (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program).According to reports, these weapons of the future will disrupt not only economic activities like human movement and commerce, but also human. Assuming everything goes as planned, future weapons systems will have the capacity to literally alter human DNA, invoking genetic mutations that ultimately lead to chronic disease and death."According to the Emergency Situations Ministry, this [future weapons systems] will allow an attacker to interrupt a victim's entire control of the economy and administrative functions, as well as cause irreversible long-term destruction of territories and populations living in these territories," reportsRussia, in particular, is concerned about its more than 4,500 "critically important" objects, many of which are located in major population centers. It sees future GMO weaponry as a threat to its long-term viability, and is in the process of developing combative technologies to protect itself against a possible attack.The eastern bloc country has already taken steps to thwart genetic attacks via crop GMOs, which were recently banned in Russia due to safety concerns. Unlike the U.S., Russia has a problem with untested, patented food crops being introduced into its food supply without substantive evidence showing their safety or necessity."The question is complicated, but the decisions was made: We are not going to produce any food products using genetically modified organisms," stated Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich in a press conference last fall.With GMO foods now banned, Russia has decided to set its sights on GMO weapons , which it worries may be easier for terrorists to obtain than nuclear weapons. It's only a matter of time, say some, before militant groups like al-Qaeda gain access to GMO weapons, which it will likely use against political targets that it deems a threat to its perpetuity."This is everybody's big fear," says Professor Paul Cornish, director of the research group Defense, Security and Infrastructure at the RAND think-tank. "[W]hen does al-Qaeda get to have the money and labs?"What the West sees as "progress," Russia sees as a major threat to humanity. And this same sentiment is shared by many freedom-minded thinkers, who see genetic terrorism as a digression rather than progression."The technology of tomorrow, designed to carry out that behavior which is fitting of primal animals, not an 'evolved being,' is just another nail in the coffin of human civilization," wrote onecommenter.
We need a health freedom amendment

All sorts of amendments are needed... but beware of Pandora's Box

Is this Gov. Abbott's plan for Texas secession?

(NaturalNews) Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a rare champion of freedom and liberty, has announced a bold plan to add nine new amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These amendments would protect states' rights and individual liberties while halting the malicious encroachment upon those liberties by a federal government that's increasingly run like a tyrannical police state dictatorship.Details of the plan are available in this PDF document . It is known so far that the proposed amendments would include:1) A requirement that the federal government balance its budget and halt debt spending. (Try telling that to Obama, the biggest debt spender in history...)2) Prohibit Congress from regulating activities that take place wholly within a state. For example, if the state of Texas wanted to declare itself a "health freedom zone" where holistic cancer therapies are legal, the feds could not block such activities. (Same story with legalized marijuana, state gun laws, marriage laws, etc.)3) Grant states the power to override the U.S. Supreme Court with a two-thirds majority vote. This is designed to reel in the insane corruption of the Supreme Court that we witnessed with decisions on Obamacare in particular (Justice Roberts chose to ignore the meaning of words and the law in rendering his truly insane, demented decision).4) Require a supermajority of 7 Supreme Court justices to override any law passed by state or federal legislators.What's missing from this list that needs to be in the U.S. Constitution? Athat protects the rights of citizens to be free from coercive medical interventions (forced chemotherapy and vaccinations) and to be able to choose the health practitioner of their choice, especially if that person is a holistic, alternative or naturopathic practitioner.The treatment of cancer patients with pioneering, advanced medicine treatments need to be decriminalized. (Right now, healing cancer patients is a crime in America.) And the licensing monopolies of the state medical boards needs to be shattered.Furthermore, American citizens need to be protected from being labeled "mentally ill" by doctors and subsequently having their own rights and constitutional protections stripped away from them. Earlier this week, Obama granted doctors the power to call the FBI and place anyone on a "no guy buy" list merely by labeling them mentally ill (based entirely on OPINION, not science).Truth be told, all sorts of new amendments are needed to limit the tyranny of federal government and protect the rights and liberties of individuals. But be careful about opening Pandora's Box...Insane liberal leftists would also want to add all their own delusional amendments to the Constitution, no doubt asserting that the First and Second Amendments need to be stripped away entirely. The left's war on free speech and gun rights is part of their play for a totalitarian government regime with absolute thought control, speech control and gun control. They despise the fact that Americans still have protections for free speech, and they want to destroy that right for anyone who disagrees with their own warped opinions. So much for "tolerance," huh?I can see leftists trying to push for constitutional amendments that would eliminate states' rights, destroy individual liberties and demand special protections for felony criminals, rapists, organ harvesting abortionists, illegal aliens and terrorist refugees... all groups that are now supported by the left, of course.From a practical standpoint, I don't think there's any chance that a constitutional convention will succeed in passing amendments that take away power from the federal regime. My honest assessment is that Gov. Abbott is proposing this, planning on citing this attempt as a "last ditch resort" before ultimately declaring Texas' secession from the union if things continue to worsen.What people outside of Texas don't know is that. In fact, they wish for it. An independent Texas would be economically strong, militarily dominant and culturally intact. Once Texas secedes, many other states would likely join the effort. The best way to let leftists and liberals learn the lessons of how insanely stupid their ideas are is towhile distancing ourselves from their stupidity. That's also why Northern California is desperately trying to break away from Southern California, by the way.But moving toward secession is a long, multi-year process that would no doubt be halted if Ted Cruz or Donald Trump were elected next year. There might actually be hope if we can crush the GOP establishment (which is populated by total morons and decrepit zombie politicians), overwhelm the Clinton election machine (run by treasonous criminals and communists) and get an anti-establishment ass-kicker into the White House. (In a follow-up article, I'll reveal how I REALLY feel... ha ha.)However, if Hillary Clinton wins the White House, expect Texans to rapidly move in the direction of disconnecting from the insane, corrupt, criminal federal regime that would be run by Hillary Clinton and her band of violent socialist haters who literally want to imprison or execute anyone who disagrees with the Clintons.What's my opinion on all this? I'd be thrilled to call Greg Abbott my President. He's a man with principles, vision and real courage. And those qualities are sorely lacking across the political spectrum today.
Three extremely rare fossils of a 10-armed squid-like creature from the Jurassic period were recently unearthed in Germany. Researchers say these ancient sea creatures  scientifically known as Acanthoteuthis, a genus of squid ancestors  were likely swift swimmers.

Paleontologists from the University of Zurich discovered the fossil remains at a site in Solnhofen, Germany. The three new specimens measured between 9.8 and 15.7 inches long. Scientists were surprised by how well-preserved the creature's soft body parts were, including its fins and feeding structures. When analyzing the remains, never-before-seen organs were found, shedding new light on the creature's body structure and how it lived millions of years ago.

Acanthoteuthis belongs to a group of ocean-dwellers known as belemnites, which are members of a larger class known as cephalopods - the group that includes modern octopus, squid and cuttlefish. Although cephalopods have an evolutionary history spanning 500 million years, their soft bodies don't preserve well, so not much is actually known about these rather elusive creatures.

Now extinct, belemnites had tough internal shells capped by hard parts called "rostra," which preserve fairly well, as roughly bullet-shaped fossils. While these fossil bits are plentiful, and certain marks on them even indicate where the belemnites' fins attached to the mantle - the cone-shaped, muscular part of the body that forces water through a siphon for jet-propelled swimming - they only reveal part of the creature's long history.

The new Acanthoteuthis specimens, however, tell researchers a little more about the creature's past because the fossil site they were found at kept them exceptionally well-preserved.

"Solnhofen and its surroundings are world-renowned for exceptionally preserved fossils," Christian Klug, co-author of the new study and a curator at the Paleontological Institute and Museum at the University of Zurich, told Live Science in an email. "These fossils were embedded in fine-grained sediments in more-or-less quiet water lagoons between coral reefs. Additionally, microbial mats stabilized the sediments, guaranteeing perfectly flat bedding."

Rapid burial and certain chemical conditions in the soil would also have played a part in the preservation, Klug added.

For their study, researchers used ultraviolet (UV) imaging to identify morphological details that were previously invisible to scientists using X-ray techniques. The UV images revealed a hyponome, which is a funnel that directs water jets from Acanthoteuthis' mantle cavity; an esophagus and statocysts, which are sensory organs responsible for maintaining balance and detecting movement and change in direction; and a muscular mantle and collar made from cartilage.

Based on these characteristics and the creature's bullet-shaped body, Klug and his team believe Acanthoteuthis would have been a strong and rapid swimmer, and would not have needed to rely on ocean currents to carry it where it needed to go.

"We are unable, however, to determine more precisely in which water depths they lived," Klug continued in his statement made to Live Science, adding that they probably couldn't have dived deeper than 200 to 300 meters below the ocean surface, or the shell chamber inside their mantles would have imploded.

Their findings were recently published in the journal Biology Letters.

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-Follow Samantha on Twitter @Sam_Ashley13
Those of us who keep track of potentially appalling things in the universe know about lampreys. They're eel-like creatures that really give eels a bad name -- in this case, the animal has a sucker-like mouth with sharp, horny teeth and a tongue with which it can rasp at prey. It's been called vampiric, attaching itself to other fish and sucking the blood from them.

Plus, lampreys are invasive species. Native to the Atlantic Ocean and a vertebrate with an ancient lineage, they've been in the Great Lakes since at least the 1930s and have been considered an ecological disaster there. In recent years they seem to be at a more manageable level, and the Great Lakes Commission declared in 2015 that they are on a decline across those very large bodies of water. But Lakes Erie and Superior still have lamprey populations above target levels. Here's a photo of a lamprey in Minnesota, which has attached itself to a large fish and sucked blood from it.

So, the government is hoping to take further action against these villains. In one example of that, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently registered a biopesticide that works by using vertebrate pheremones, according to a release from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

That is, in the biopesticide method, a male mating pheremone known as 3kPZS will serve as "an alluring perfume" to dupe female lamprey into moving upriver in search of spawning opportunities in lake tributaries. The scent will be left behind in spots where lamprey can easily be caught and killed, according to an article on MLive, the digital home of eight Michigan daily newspapers .

"With a large-scale field trial, we demonstrated that pheromone baits can increase trapping efficiencies by up to 53 percent and baited traps can capture up to two times the sea lampreys that unbaited traps can," Michigan State University professor Weiming Li said in the release.

The scent that was registered is a synthetic version of the pheremone, developed by researchers at Bridge Organics Co. in Michigan. Canadian regulations are working through the process of registering the pheremone for use there, the release confirmed.

"The Great Lakes Fishery Commission is very excited about this accomplishment," commission chair Robert Hecky said in the MLive article. The idea is to use the pheremone to phase-out use of the chemical pesticide TFM, which is effective but expensive and can be lethal to fish species other than the lamprey.

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

-Follow Catherine on Twitter @TreesWhales
A San Francisco jury on Friday came back with a guilty verdict in the murder and racketeering case of Chinatown gang leader Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, following a two-month trial.

Chow shook his head in disbelief when the verdict was read, and his high-profile and colorful defense attorney, J. Tony Serra vowed to appeal.

We have been stabbed in the back by the jury," Serra said. "The decision was predicated on five snitches that no one should believe in. The prosecution's main witness against Chow was an undercover FBI agent who posed as a foul-mouthed East Coast businessman with mafia ties while infiltrating Chow's organization.

Then Serra added: There will be a second stage. Chow was noble in defeat and we will prevail in the second round.

Chow was convicted in all of 162 counts. The murder charge alone carries a mandatory life prison sentence. Judge Charles Breyer scheduled Chow's scheduled for March 23.

In addition to murder, Chow was also convicted in the aid of racketeering for ordering the killing, racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to murder another rival, conspiracy to traffic in stolen liquor and cigarettes, and money laundering. The jurors began deliberating on Tuesday.

Federal investigators said Chow took over the Chinese fraternal group, the Ghee Kung Tong, in 2006 after having its previous leader, Allen Leung, murdered. He then ran a racketeering enterprise that engaged in drug trafficking, money laundering and the sale of stolen cigarettes and alcohol, investigators said. Chow was also convicted of soliciting the murder of Jim Tat Kong, a suspected organized crime figure.

The Chinatown probe also ensnared former California state Sen. Leland Yee, who has pleaded guilty to a racketeering count involving bribes. Yee is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 10.



The trial follows on the heels of Chow's other legal troubles more than 15 years ago.



In 2000, Chow pleaded guilty to racketeering for crimes including heroin and cocaine trafficking, attempted murder and robbery, according to an FBI affidavit in Chow's current case. He was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison, but served a much shorter sentence after agreeing to testify in another prosecution.



Chow has acknowledged his criminal past, but maintained he went straight in 2003 after completing his federal prison sentence. His defense attorneys had hammered that point home to the jury.

But during her closing argument, federal prosecutor Susan Badger urged jurors to disregard claims that Chow was a changed man, saying deception was part of his nature.

The notorious, self-described sun of the underworld goes by many names: Kwok Cheung Chow, Raymond Chow, Ha Jai or "Shrimp Boy. Chows arrest during a FBI raid in March 2014 has drawn attention to the gangs that operate out of San Franciscos Chinatown.

After Chow's arrest, his Facebook and Twitter accounts came under intense scrutiny by the media, with some saying that the case of now-resigned senator and former street gang leader resembled a real-life version of the The Wire, American Hustle and House of Cards all rolled into one.

A History Channel documentary about Chinatown gang wars has resurfaced, in which Chow opens up about his childhood, his violent past and his path to reform.

I run this city. Who can tell me something I cannot do? Nobody, Chow says, matter-of-factly, in the opening scene of the documentary, admitting that at one point he controlled the majority of Chinatowns gangs.

The world is under my feet. I have my own security. I have everything, he tells the filmmakers. You make so much money you dont even want to count it. Im not thinking Im God, but in this city, Im the man that calls the shots.

NBC Bay Area's Chuck Coppola, the Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.
There's officially a new sheriff in town.

Vicki Hennessy was sworn in as San Francisco's new sheriff Friday morning, the first time in the department's 164-year history a woman has raised her hand to take the oath of office.

At about 9:45 a.m. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the first female mayor of San Francisco, administered the oath of office.

"For me, as the first woman mayor, to swear in the first woman sheriff in the history of this city isa very big thing," Feinstein said.

"I never thought I'd run for sheriff," says newly sworn in sheriff of #SanFrancisco Vicki Hennessy pic.twitter.com/BY8svIQDqm  Bob Redell (@BobNBC) January 8, 2016

Vicki Hennessy sworn in as first woman sheriff of #SanFrancisco by first woman mayor of SF, #DianeFeinstein pic.twitter.com/sIxB9gUIn9  Bob Redell (@BobNBC) January 8, 2016

Hennessy received a standing ovation from a room full of citizens, the mayor, supes, former mayors, the state attorney general and Public Defender Jeff Adachi, whose clients are usually at the other end of Hennessey's investigations.

Adachi called Hennessy a no-nonsense woman who doesnt come with a lot of drama to her position, a polite dig at outgoing Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, who has been at the center of plenty of political and legal firestorms.

Hennessy, who's been with the department for nearly 40 years, the first female captain in the state, said she never thought she'd run for sheriff but did so at Feinstein's urging and ended up beating the incumbent Mirkarimi in an upset, with 61 percent of the vote.

Mirkarimi was a controversial figure. Last year, his jail released an undocumented Mexican immigrant onto the streets instead of over to immigration agents. That immigrant was eventually charged in the shooting death of a woman on Pier 19.

Also while in office, Mirkarimi pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor false imprisonment for an incident involving his wife. In 2012, Mayor Ed Lee appointed Hennessy to serve as interim sheriff after suspending Mirkarimi on official misconduct charges as a result of the allegations.

Friday morning, Hennessy vowed to "restore leadership" and credibility to her department. "And make sure that we are balancing criminal justice and social justice values in a way that befits the people of San Francisco," she said.

She was a member of the sheriff's department's executive management team for 25 years and has served in every division of the department, according to Hennessy's office.

In 2008, she was appointed as director of the city's Department of Emergency Management, where she directed citywide emergency planning and 911 dispatch for police, fire and medical emergencies.

Bay City News contributed information to this report.
The State Department's search for documents during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's tenure contributed to "inaccurate and incomplete" responses under federal open records laws, including the existence of her private email account, the agency's watchdog will report Thursday.

The report from the agency's inspector general said personnel responsible for searching records in the secretary's office did not "consistently meet statutory and regulatory requirements for completeness" and rarely met deadlines, according to a draft report obtained by The Associated Press.

Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has faced criticism for relying on a private, homemade email server to conduct official State Department business. The AP first reported in March 2014 the existence of a server in her Chappaqua, New York, home. She used that server instead of an official account on government systems.

State Department Inspector General Steve Linick will also report Thursday that some requests under the Freedom of Information Act, which intersected with the secretary of state's office, have taken more than 500 days to process. Those cover the tenures of several secretaries going back to former President George W. Bush.

Overall, the report found a "lack of oversight" by agency leadership, and a "failure to routinely search emails" as part of FOIA requests. The report also faulted ongoing staff shortages.

Records involving Clinton's private email account, requested in 2012 by the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, turned up no records. It was one of four examples the report highlighted while Clinton was in charge, including how a request for her schedules by the AP "sat dormant for several years" until the news cooperative sued the State Department last March. Four months later, the agency disclosed in court filings it finally conducted a search and located at least 4,440 records.

Clinton has since handed over 55,000 pages of emails to the State Department she said pertained to her work as secretary using her personal address. The agency is expected to release thousands more pages of those records Thursday.

But the inspector general's report underscored inherent deficiencies for responses to federal records requests when employees use such a private account.

The Freedom of Information Act request, Linick found, "neither authorizes nor requires agencies to search for federal records in personal email accounts maintained on private servers or through commercial providers" such as Gmail or Yahoo. "Furthermore, the FOIA analyst has no way to independently locate federal records from such accounts unless employees take steps to preserve official emails in department record-keeping systems," it continued.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement the agency is "committed to transparency, and the issues addressed in this report have the full attention" of current Secretary of State John Kerry. Kirby said the volume of FOIA requests had tripled since 2008, and resources "have not kept pace."

"We know we must continue to improve our FOIA responsiveness, and are taking additional steps to do so," Kirby said, saying the agency has accepted the inspector general's four recommendations.

Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said Thursday the State Department "had a preexisting process in place to handle the tens of thousands of requests it received annually, and that established process was followed by the secretary and her staff throughout her tenure."

Clinton has faced questions during her campaign about whether her unusual email setup was sufficient to ensure the security of government information and retention of records. Officials have since blacked out scores of details in those emails that were later deemed classified before releasing them to the public.

Under the FOIA, citizens and foreigners can compel federal agencies to turn over copies of federal records and requires an agency to respond within 20 days, a deadline often missed in practice across the U.S. government. The AP is among several organizations that have sued the State Department over records pertaining to Clinton's time in office.

The former secretary has yet to answer in detail how her homemade server was monitored for intrusions, although she has said generally it contained "numerous safeguards." In October, the AP found Clinton's server was connected to the Internet in ways that made it more vulnerable to hackers.

The inspector general said the agency should address vulnerabilities in its FOIA process. But the report indicated the watchdog will report separately on issues associated with using non-State Department systems to conduct official business, as well as on requirements to preserve government records.
With nine weeks to the Illinois March primary, Cook County Democrats made an unprecedented move to reopen their slating process for the state's attorney race, bringing the potential for them to throw support to candidate Kim Foxx.

The party decided Friday to reopen its slating process. Originally when the Democrats met in August, they decided not to slate any candidate in the race.

Anita Alvarez is running for her third term, but has faced criticism for the delay in charging police officer Jason Van Dyke in the Laquan McDonald shooting.

"The decision demonstrates the growing recognition that Cook Countys criminal justice system is broken--and incumbent Anita Alvarez had a hand in breaking it," Foxx spokeswoman Joanna Klonsky said in a statement. "Democrats all across the County have lost faith in her leadership. We are pleased to be considered for endorsement by the diverse leaders of the Democratic Party, and Kim looks forward to discussing her 12-year track record as a prosecutor, and her vision for holistic criminal justice reform.

While the decision appears to be a done deal, it certainly could produce some political drama.

The decision pits Foxx supporters like Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle against Alvarez supporters like House Speaker Mike Madigan.

Any candidate appreciates slating by the party, because with it comes, not only campaign cash, but much needed volunteers for getting voters to the polls.

The Cook County Democratic Committeemen will meet Jan. 13 to reconsider slating in the states attorney race. A third Democrat on the ballot is Donna Moore.

More, a former federal prosecutor and state prosecutor, criticized the party's move, calling it "a blatant attempt to force feed an unqualified candidate down voters throats.


A 17-year-old boy was killed and at least 11 people were wounded in shootings Thursday on the citys South and West sides.

The fatal shooting happened at 10:25 p.m. the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

The 17-year-old boy was in the 3100 block of West 41st Place when a white SUV drove by and someone inside fired shots. The boy was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. The Cook County medical examiners office could not immediately confirm the death.

The most recent non-fatal shooting happened Thursday night in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side.

The 28-year-old was shot in both legs at 8:32 p.m. in the 1100 block of North Ridgeway, according to preliminary information from Chicago Police. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, police said.

At 6:10 p.m., three people were shot in the 1100 block of South Mozart Street in the North Lawndale neighborhood, police said. A 26-year-old man suffered two gunshot wounds to the back and one gunshot wound to the buttocks, and a 23-year-old man suffered two gunshot wounds to the right arm, two gunshot wounds to the left leg and the right foot. Both men were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious condition. Also, a 19-year-old woman suffered a graze wound to the wrist and refused medical attention, police said.

Less than 20 minutes earlier, a person was shot in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side. The male, whose age was not known, was shot by a person he tried to rob in the 8700 block of South State Street at 5:54 p.m. The man then drove away from the scene and ran over the person he tried to rob, who had a valid FOID card, police said. The man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in unknown condition, police said.

About five minutes earlier, a 24-year-old man was injured in a Woodlawn neighborhood shooting on the South Side. He was shot in the buttocks about 5:50 p.m. in the 6600 block of South Blackstone. The man was taken in good condition to Jackson Park Hospital and Medical Center, police said.

About 3:45 p.m., a man was shot in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side. The 26-year-old was walking in the 11200 block of South Edbrooke Avenue when he heard gunfire and realized hed been shot in the upper left leg, police said. He was taken to Roseland Community Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. He was later transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital.

Earlier Thursday afternoon, a 19-year-old man was critically wounded in a Humboldt Park neighborhood shooting on the West Side. He was walking out of his him at 1:57 p.m. in the 1100 block of North Monticello when someone ran up and shot him, police said. The man suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the face and was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital. A police source said the man is a documented gang member.

About 1:55 a.m., a man and a teenage boy were shot in the Fuller Park neighborhood on the South Side. The 19-year-old man and 17-year-old boy were in a vehicle in the 5100 block of South Princeton when they heard shots and realized theyd been hit, police said. The man was shot in the arm and the boy was shot in the back. They transported themselves to St. Bernard Hospital, where they were listed in good condition. A police source said both victims are documented gang members and they were being uncooperative with investigators.

Thursdays first shooting happened on the Dan Ryan Expressway on the South Side. A male, whose age was not immediately known, was in a vehicle on southbound I-94 near 75th at 12:10 a.m. when he suffered a graze wound to the shoulder, according to Illinois State Police. He was taken to Roseland Community Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, state police said. Further details about the shooting were not immediately available.
The White House has responded to a petition demanding the president pardon Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, both of which are featured in the Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer.

In its response, the White House wrote that President Barack Obama only has the constitutional ability to commute the sentences of those who have been convicted in the federal system.

As the response says, the president cannot pardon a state criminal offense, meaning Obama cannot pardon Avery and Dassey.

A pardon in this case would need to be issued at the state level by the appropriate authorities, the response read.

The response goes on to state that the president is committed to restoring the sense of fairness at the heart of our justice system, citing the fact that Obama has granted 184 commutations during his time in office. The following graphic was attached:

Department of Justice

On Wednesday, the petition to the president reached 100,000 signatures, meaning the Obama administration was required to address the case that has recently swept the nation.

An additional Change.org petition calling on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to act has garnered 340,000 supporters, despite the fact that Walker hasn't granted a single pardon since he took office five years ago.

Gov. Walkers spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said Tuesday in an email that the governor hasn't watched the series and that "early in his administration, Gov. Walker made the decision not to issue pardons."

"Those who feel they have been wrongly convicted can seek to have their convictions overturned by a higher court," Patrick said.

Both petitions were launched soon after 'Making a Murderer' began streaming Dec. 18, and have only gained momentum as more outraged viewers push their friends and family to watch the real-life thriller.

"Making a Murderer" chronicles over the course of 10 years the cases of Avery, an otherwise obscure member of a salvage-yard family in Wisconsin's rural Manitowoc County. It begins in 2003 with Avery returning home from 18 years' of imprisonment after being exonerated for a sexual assault that DNA proved he didn't commit.

He then became the focus of another grisly criminal investigation just two years later.
The wife of a paraplegic man who died the day after he was found riddled with bedsores and maggots has been charged with homicide in connection with his death, according to police in California's East Bay.

Dormanicia Lawson, 37, is charged with homicide, neglect and child abuse in what police are calling one of the worst neglect cases they've seen. Authorities said she lived at the home with her paraplegic 36-year-old husband, their 11-year-old child and their 19-year-old son, who has severe autism.

Concord police said officers responded Dec. 30 to a 911 call stating the man was having trouble breathing. When he got to the hospital, nurses realized the man was covered in maggots and bed sores.

Detectives went to his apartment, and what they found led to Lawson's arrest.

Police said they found cockroaches crawling next to a maggot-infested mattress, dead flies wedged into the ceiling and a stench oozing from Apartment 206 that neighbor Juan Matus said words cannot describe.

"Oh, my God," Matus said. "What a stinky place!"

In the middle of night, last Thursday, the 37-year-old called 911 after her husband had problems breathing, police said. At the hospital, police say nurses found signs of severe neglect.

"He could not talk. He had shortness of breath. He had maggots that were eating his body," said Concord police spokesman Corporal Christopher Blakely.

The man died at the hospital. Authorities said the apartment he shared with his wife and kids was uninhabitable.

"She had no explanation for it, other than she was tired and stressed," Blakely said of Lawson.

Lawson is being held at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond on $1.3 million bail. She is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 12.

Lawson declined NBC Bay Area's request for a jailhouse interview.
President Barack Obama defended his proposed executive actions to cut violence as he answered questions Thursday night in Northern Virginia.

Obama held a town hall meeting at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. The event, which was broadcast live on CNN as "Guns in America," came two days after Obama unveiled a series of executive orders zeroing in on enhanced gun control measures.

Obama tried to make the case for tightening gun control rules, while fighting claims by opponents of such regulations that he's trying to take away people's Second Amendment rights.

"All of us can agree that it makes sense to do everything we can to keep guns out of the hands of people who would do others harm, or would do themselves harm ... hundreds of kids under the age of 18 are being shot or shooting themselves, often by accident," he said.

Supporters and critics of Obama's plans held signs outside the town hall meeting. "Guns save lives" and "background checks save lives," opposing groups of demonstrators chanted.

The father of Daniel Barden, a 7-year-old boy killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, was part of the crowd and told News4 he supports Obama's plans.

"He gave the Congress numerous opportunities to try to do something, anything, and they were unable to, so he has to do what he has to do as the president of our country to protect our communities and our children," Barden said. "He's a father. He gets this."

National Rifle Association member Joe Lothrop was among many demonstrators who defended gun rights.

"Guns do not kill people. I can lay mine right there on the sidewalk. It's not going to hurt a soul," he said.

Obama tore into the NRA as he sought support for his actions on gun control, accusing the powerful lobby group of peddling an "imaginary fiction'" he said has distorted the national debate about gun violence.



Obama dismissed what he called a "conspiracy" alleging that the federal government wants to seize all firearms as a precursor to imposing martial law. He blamed that notion on the NRA and like-minded groups that convince its members that "somebody's going to come grab your guns."



"Yes, that is a conspiracy," Obama said. "I'm only going to be here for another year. When would I have started on this enterprise?"



He said the NRA refused to acknowledge the government's responsibility to make legal products safer, citing seatbelts and child-proof medicine bottles as examples.



NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said beforehand that the group saw "no reason to participate in a public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House." Several NRA members were in the audience for the event. The NRA pushed back on Twitter in real time, noting at one point "none of the president's orders would have stopped any of the recent mass shootings."

Obama's proposed actions include broader background checks, new regulations on lost or stolen weapons, new research into smart gun technology and a proposed $500 million investment to improve mental health care.

Maryland officials said earlier Thursday that if in place, Obama's proposed reforms may have saved the life of a 24-year-old Montgomery County woman who was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend this summer. Prosecutors say the convicted felon who killed Marie Shade Adebayo fired using an antique gun he illegally ordered by mail.

"He was not supposed to have possession of handguns, however, replicas and antique firearms are excluded in Maryland law," Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said.

Under Obama's proposed changes, anyone selling a gun, even online or by mail, would have to be licensed, and a background check would be conducted.

Del. Kathleen Dumais said she plans to take measures further in Maryland.

"There's going to be legislation that's going to be proposed by a Montgomery County delegate to try to close the gap that currently exists in the law," McCarthy said.

But not everyone believes more gun laws are the answer.

"We currently have laws in place that need to be enforced. If they're enforced, they will work," said Early Curtis, the president of Blue Ridge Arsenal, an indoor target range in Chantilly, Virginia.

He said he also wants to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands, but that criminals will find a way.

"If a criminal really wants a handgun, he'll go not to a store -- he'll go to his buddy on the corner," Curtis said.

Dumais said she plans to introduce legislation in late January.

In Fairfax, Obama will discuss the issues and take questions from people on both sides of the national issue, CNN.com reported. CNN's Anderson Cooper will host.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An Uzbek refugee authorities say had an unwavering commitment to kill personnel at a military base or civilians at crowded Fourth of July celebrations in downtown Boise, Idaho, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Fazliddin Kurbanov received the sentence Thursday that includes three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. He will also face deportation proceedings after serving the prison sentence.

A federal jury in August convicted Kurbanov of conspiracy, attempting to support a terrorist organization and possession of bomb-making components. Kurbanov has maintained his innocence.

"Your honor," Kurbanov told U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge through an interpreter, "I'd like to say that I'm not a terrorist. I've never been a terrorist."

But Lodge, in handing down the sentence, said Kurbanov "intended to commit jihad against the United States."

Prosecutors say the 33-year-old Russian-speaking truck driver who fled Uzbekistan in 2009 downloaded jihadist and martyrdom videos from a terrorist website and communicated with a terrorist organization, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Authorities monitored his communications and arrested him in 2013.

Besides targeting Boise, authorities said, Kurbanov also discussed with a confidential FBI source targeting military bases, in particular West Point Military Academy in New York.

Kurbanov received 15 years each on the first two counts to be served concurrently and 10 years on possessing the bomb-making components to be served after completing the 15-year sentences.

Defense attorney Chuck Peterson asked Lodge for a sentence in the 13-year range, noting Kurbanov hadn't actually harmed anyone and would be deported after prison.

"That's punishment enough for what he did," Peterson said.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Aaron Lucoff asked Lodge to sentence Kurbanov to 35 years in prison.

"Society needs to be protected from this defendant," Lucoff told Lodge. Lucoff said Kurbanov wanted to strike Americans on U.S. soil to avenge U.S. military action in central Asia.

Prosecutors called four witnesses at the sentencing hearing, one an FBI agent and explosives expert and three jail workers at the Ada County Jail. They also showed videos of Kurbanov in the jail spitting on a jail deputy and spitting on a camera and other areas of a special holding cell. One of the jail workers testified that Kurbanov soaked paper towels with his urine and threw it into another inmate's cell.

Lodge said he was "taken aback" by the videos and testimony. He also said Kurbanov lacked an appreciation for a system of government that would spend more than $1 million on his defense on the foundational idea that anyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty.

"The lengthy term of imprisonment imposed by the Court ensures that this defendant, who by his words and acts was intent on taking American lives, does not and will not pose any further threat to the safety and security of our community," said U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson in a statement after the sentencing.
At least four people were seriously injured in a chemical explosion at Dow Chemical Company's North Andover, Massachusetts, plant on Thursday afternoon, according to authorities

First responders were stll at the scene on Willow Street hours after the explosion was first reported.

State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan said that the investigation will begin once the scene is cleared by hazmat crews, and that it appears a chemical reacting to water - trimethylaluminum - caused the explosion.

Lawrence General Hospital spokesperson said earlier that four patients suffered critical injuries due to shrapnel and burns from the blast. Three of those patients are now stabilized and were transferred to other Boston area hospitals.

A fifth person was not seriously injured and refused treatment.

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North Andover Town Manager Andrew Maylor said it doesn't look like there's an ongoing problem at the site.

A Dow spokesperson said that the families of the injured workers have been notified, and that there are no imminent risks to the surrounding community at this time.

A Peabody man was killed at the same chemical plant in a 2013 explosion; however, Coan said there doesn't appear to be a connection between Thursday's explosion and the 2013 incident, which involved a different chemical.

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Federal and state authorities have been alerted. Two inspectors from OSHA were dispatched to the scene, as well as some area haz-mat teams.
A suspected robber with a taste for fine wine who was wanted in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey was taken into police custody in Rhode Island on unrelated charges, according to Groton Police.

Groton police got involved in the case on Oct. 19 when staff from the Octagon Restaurant at the Mystic Marriott reported that a man made arrangements to meet with the manager under the guise of planning a formal dinner party there, then stole a $4,800 bottle of 1990 Chateau Petrus while he was alone in a dining room near a wine room.

As Groton police investigated this case, they learned of similar incidents in New York and New Jersey, as well as in Connecticut, and identified 25-year-old Scott DeLuca, with a last-known address in Cohoes, New York, as a suspect. On Oct. 22, they obtained an arrest warrant for him.

On Thursday, there was a break in the case when police in Smithfield, Rhode Island took DeLuca into custody on unrelated charges, according to Groton police.

Police in Smithfield have charged him as a fugitive from justice and Groton police are working to extradite him. It's not clear what other charges have been filed against him.

Groton police are searching for the man who stole an expensive bottle of wine from a Mystic restaurant.

As Groton police were investigating, they reached out to police in Bloomfield because they believed Deluca might have stolen from a liquor store there in August.

According to Bloomfield police, a man stole from Gillette Ridge Wines twice in just a few days and got away with $1,000 in wine.I.
An 18 year old Cromwell woman was shot and killed late Tuesday night on Broad Street in Hartford.

Natashalie Hoys heartbroken family is searching for answers, while police try and figure out if this is suicide, accidental or a homicide.



Investigators are calling the teens death untimely.

Police have not arrested anyone in connection with Hoys death. Investigators have charged Hoy's friend, 21-year-old Torrick Maragh, with two counts of possession of a sawed off shot gun.

According to arrest papers, Maragh told detectives after the he and Hoy had an argument, Hoy shot herself with the shotgun. The teenagers family tells NBC Connecticut that can't be possible.

Hartford police rushed to the basement of 1688 Broad Street late Tuesday night after a frantic 911 call.

911 caller: "If you're going to save her, you got to get here quick."

Arriving officers found Hoy lying on the ground bleeding from the throat.



According to the Medical Examiner, the teen died from a bullet to the neck, but it's unclear whether Hoy was the one to pull the trigger.

Maragh told the first officer on scene that Hoy, "shot herself."

According to the arrest warrant, Maragh said the two were initially fighting over a shotgun shell and Hoy had a knife in her hand. Maragh said he was able to confiscate the knife from Hoy before she ran out of the room. When she came back, Hoy straddled Maragh who was sitting on a bed and she had the shotgun pointed at her neck when it went off.

"She didn't kill herself. My daughter is beautiful. Beautiful daughter, shes gone my baby girl is gone," Felix Hoy, Natashalies father, said.

Felix Hoy spent Thursday planning his first born's funeral at Deleon on Main Street in the Capitol City.

Hoy told NBC Connecticut, I think I should have done more."

Hoy said he saw his daughter hours before the shooting. He delivered medicine and other items to her on Broad Street because she said she wasn't feeling well told her father she had paid a visit to Maragh earlier. But he said, Shalie wouldn't let him inside.

Hoy added, Anyone that shoots themself in the head pops it in the mouth. Not going to shoot herself in the neck. Sounds kind of sketchy. I know my daughter. She was too happy."

Maragh was in Hartford superior court Thursday and was charged with gun possession.



According to arrest papers, he owns the gun that took Hoy's life and admitted he hid a second gun in the ceiling before police got to the scene.



Now Hoy's family is left searching for answers and holding onto memories of the teen they said was a senior at Prince Tech and wanted to work on cars.

I treated her like my daughter and I'm always going to love her like my daughter, very beautiful person," Jacqueline Hoy, Natashalies step mother, told NBC Connecticut.

Lizzmarie Hoy, Natashalie's younger sister, said, Whenever I needed her, whenever I had trouble, I knew where to go. She was just a phone call away when I needed her to help me through my problems."

In court the Judge stated based on circumstances that bond would be set at $800,000.

A GoFundMe account has been established to help the family with funeral arrangements.
German police have identified 18 asylum-seekers among 31 suspects in connection with robberies and assaults committed in Cologne at New Year, officials said Friday.

They were detained by federal police on suspicion of committing crimes ranging from theft to assault, and in one case verbal abuse of a sexual nature, Interior Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate told reporters in Berlin. They were believed to be among a group of up to 1,000 people in front of Cologne's main railway station on Thursday evening.

None of the 31 is currently suspected of committing sexual assaults of the kind that have prompted outrage in Germany over the past week.

Plate said the suspects were nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans and one person each from Iraq, Serbia and the United States.

Cologne police said Friday they have received a total of 170 criminal complaints related to New Year, including 120 of a sexual nature. In addition to the 31 suspects detained by federal officers, city police arrested two men from North Africa, aged 16 and 23, early Friday.

Police said the attacks on women were committed by small groups of men who were among some 1,000 people described as being of "Arab or North African origin" that had mingled with revelers in front of Cologne's main train station and gothic cathedral.

The incident has triggered calls for tighter immigration laws, particularly from politicians opposed to Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy that allowed nearly 1.1 million refugees to enter the country last year.

Government spokesman Georg Streiter said the chancellor wants "the whole truth" about the incidents in Cologne and that "nothing should be held back and nothing should be glossed over."

"It doesn't just harm our rule of law but also the great majority of completely innocent refugees who have sought protection" in Germany, he said.

Plate said authorities were investigating possible links to similar sexual assaults in other cities to see whether there had been any coordination. Swedish police said Friday that at least 15 young women reported being groped by groups of men on New Year's Eve in the city of Kalmar.
Authorities said two people with ties to the Islamic State have been arrested on terrorism-related charges in California and Texas Thursday, including a refugee from Syria who is charged with lying to federal investigators about his travels to the civil war in that country.

Federal officials said 24-year-old Omar Faraj Al Hardan, a Palestinian born in Iraq, was arrested in Houston on Thursday. Meanwhile, a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday accuses a Sacramento man of traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to investigators about it.

According to the federal indictment in Texas, Al Hardan has been charged with three counts alleging that he attempted to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization.

He is charged with one count each of attempting to provide material support to ISIS, procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlawfully and making false statements.

Federal authorities told NBC News that Al Hardan was allegedly trying to help get people in the U.S. to travel overseas and join a foreign terror organization.

There was no plot to carry out attacks in the U.S., one law enforcement official said. Another federal official said there was never any danger to people in the U.S.

An Iraqi refugee has been arrested in Houston as part of an investigation into an alleged terrorist plot, the Texas governors office confirmed Thursday.

Al Hardan is expected to appear in court Friday at 10 a.m. in Houston before U.S. Magistrate Judge John R. Froeschner.

He entered the United States as a refugee on or about Nov. 2, 2009. He was granted legal permanent residence status on or about Aug. 22, 2011, and resides in Houston, according to the indictment.

Al Hardan's arrest came to light after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office released the following statement Thursday:

"I applaud the FBI for today's arrest of this dangerous subject. However, this is precisely why I called for a halt to refugees entering the U.S. from countries substantially controlled by terrorists," he said. "I once again urge the President to halt the resettlement of these refugees in the United States until there is an effective vetting process that will ensure refugees do not compromise the safety of Americans and Texans."

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement that the arrests may have prevented a terror-related event.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento said 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, an Iraqi citizen, was arrested Thursday morning in Sacramento. He is charged with making a false statement involving international terrorism.

Federal officials say the investigation in California led to the arrest of three of Al-Jayab's relatives in Wisconsin in a separate case.

Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento, said the arrest of three suspects Thursday in Milwaukee wasn't related to national security. FBI Milwaukee Division spokesman Leonard Peace said there was no threat to the public associated with the arrests.

Peace said the three haven't made an initial court appearance, which is expected Friday. They were not identified, and no further details were immediately available.

Al Hardan's Indictment



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Investigators searching an apartment in Brussels uncovered the fingerprint of a fugitive in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, as well as possible suicide belts and traces of the same kind of explosives used in the bombings that night, the federal prosecutor's office said Friday.

The third-floor apartment in the Schaerbeek neighborhood of Brussels was searched Dec. 10, the statement said. It had been rented under a false identity that may have been used by one of the 10 people arrested in Belgium in connection with the attacks that killed 130 and injured hundreds.

The fingerprint belonged to Salah Abdeslam, whose brother was among the suicide bombers and who has been on the run since the attacks.

The prosecutor's office said the three handmade belts discovered in the search at Rue Berge in Schaerbeek "could have been intended for the transport of explosives." Traces of the highly volatile TATP, which was packed into the suicide vests in November, as well as other material that could be used to manufacture explosives were also detected.

Salah Abdeslam is believed to have played a key logistical role in the attacks, but called two friends in Brussels that night to pick him up. A French gendarme stopped their car near the border but released the men. His two friends are among those under arrest.

The Nov. 13 attacks marked the height of a violent year for France that began with the Jan. 7 assault on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper.

Paris was again jolted on Thursday when a man wearing a fake explosives vest and wielding a butcher's knife ran up to a police station and was shot to death by officers standing guard.

The Paris prosecutor, Francois Molins, said investigators are unsure of the man's true identity.

Molins told France-Inter radio Friday that the assailant carried a paper marked with the Muslim declaration of faith, an emblem of the Islamic State group and his name, and gave his nationality as Tunisian. Molins said he also had a phone with a German SIM card.

Stopped for a minor theft in 2013 in France's south, the man had identified himself as Ali Sallah and gave his nationality as Moroccan.

Islamic State extremists have claimed responsibility for the January 2015 attacks and the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris.
Dallas Cowboys cornerback Orlando Scandricks rehab is going swimmingly, but hes not about to rush his return at this stage in his career.

For that reason, Scandrick has his sights set on the opening of training camp 2016 in Oxnard, CA for his return. That means he will not participate in any organized team activities or mini-camps, which are generally considered a lot less crucial for seasoned veterans like, for one, Scandrick.

Ill be back there for training camp, but I have nothing to gain from going to OTAs, Scandrick told the teams official website. I have everything to lose. I anticipate me being healthy, but Im not going to get in live drills and run around with shorts. Im expecting to be there for camp. They said its a 10-12 month rehab. I havent suffered any setbacks. I look forward to it.

Scandrick suffered the injury, a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee, in camp last yearso if he returns when camp opens, that puts his recovery time at about a calendar year. But Scandrick says he still isnt working off any concrete timetable.

I really dont have a schedule because I got hurt in training camp, Scandrick said. Itll be a full year before I play a game. We really havent talked about a timetable. We just talked about different stages of the process.
Tonya Couch, the mother of a fugitive teen who used an "affluenza" defense after killing four people in a drunken crash was returned to Texas on Thursday to face a charge of helping her son evade capture.

While her son, Ethan Couch, continues to work with a high-profile attorney in Mexico City to avoid extradition, there are five unanswered questions in the case.

What Happened to the Pickup Truck Tonya and Ethan Couch Drove to Mexico? Sources familiar with the investigation say the two drove their black 2011 Ford F-150 Harley Davidson Edition truck to Mexico. But nobody seems to know what happened to it after the mother and son were arrested in Puerto Vallarta. Its possible they sold the truck somewhere along the way. A spokesman for the Mexican state of Jalisco, where Puerto Vallarta is located, did not return a call seeking comment.

How Much Cash Did They Have With Them While They Were on the Run? Tonya Couch withdrew tens of thousands of dollars from her bank shortly before she and her son disappeared last month, according to a law enforcement source. It is unclear how much they had with them at the time they were arrested. Texas officials say they have received no information from Mexican authorities about how much cash they recovered.

What Happened to the Couch's Dog? The Couches took their dog with them to Mexico, officials said, and it was apparently with them when they were caught in Puerto Vallarta. A Facebook post on the website of an animal welfare group in Puerto Vallarta is offering a $1000 reward for the return of a wolfdog named Virgil and asks anyone with information to call a Fort Worth-area telephone number. A resident of the apartment building where the two were caught said police returned to pick up the dog a few hours after the arrests. But nobody seems to know where the dog is now.

When Will Ethan Couch Return to Texas? Ethan Couch remains held in a detention center in Mexico City. His attorney says Mexican authorities erred by trying to deport Couch as an illegal immigrant instead of holding an extradition hearing, which is required when someone is facing criminal charges. If Ethan Couch wants to drop his legal challenge, he could be returned to Texas, where he faces a 120-day sentence for violating his probation.

Will Tonya Couch Bond Out of Jail? Tonya Couchs bond is set at $1 million on a charge of hindering apprehension of a felon. Her attorneys day her bond is unusually high and should be reduced. In any case, it is possible she could bond out of the Tarrant County jail soon.

The mother of a fugitive teen who used an affluenza defense after killing four people in a drunken crash returned to North Texas to face charges. She arrived at the Tarrant County Jail Thursday afternoon.
A man in California encouraged a fellow Iraqi refugee in Texas to join the civil war against the Syrian government and promised to teach him how to fight, federal authorities said Friday, a day after terrorism charges against the men were revealed.

A criminal complaint filed against 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab of Sacramento details the social media communication he had with 24-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan of Houston. Al Hardan is the person identified as "Individual I" in the complaint, according to Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in Sacramento.

"O God, grant us martyrdom for your sake while engaged in fighting and not retreating; a martyrdom that would make you satisfied with us," Al-Jayab wrote to Al Hardan in April 2013.

The complaint says Al-Jayab, who already had fought in Syria, promised to provide weapons training to Al Hardan and advised him on how he would be assigned to the battlefield once he arrived in Syria.

Al-Jayab described how he began fighting shortly after he turned 16, and recounted "just shooting, spraying, spraying" with his assault rifle during a battle. He said he helped execute three Syrian government soldiers, according to the document.

Authorities say Al-Jayab fought twice in Syria, including with a group affiliated with Islamic State. There is no indication that Al Hardan, an Iraqi refugee, actually traveled to Syria.

Both are Iraqi-born Palestinians who came to the United States as refugees. There was no evidence either man intended or planned attacks in the United States.

The arrests, which came a little more than a month after an attack in San Bernardino, California, killed 14, brought new life to a debate over whether the United States is doing enough to screen refugees.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called for a retroactive review of all refugees who have come to the U.S. to examine "all of the evidence that might indicate whether these individuals have ties to radical Islamic terrorists."

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said the arrests "should cause President Obama to hit pause on his nave plan to usher in thousands of refugees from Iraq and Syria over the coming year."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the screening of refugees is rigorous and thorough. He repeated the administration's opposition to proposals that would impose a religious test or bar individuals from the U.S. based on their ethnicity.

"That doesn't represent who we are as a country and, most importantly, it's not going to keep us safe," Earnest said.

Al-Jayab faces up to eight years in prison on charges of traveling to Syria to fight and lying to investigators about it. He was due to make his initial court appearance Friday afternoon.

His attorney, Ben Galloway of the federal defender's office, did not return telephone and emailed messages Thursday or Friday.

Al Hardan made his initial appearance in Houston federal court Friday morning after he was indicted Wednesday on three charges related to accusations he tried to provide material support to Islamic State. He faces up to 25 years in prison for the most serious charge.

Al Hardan, who speaks Arabic, used an interpreter to tell U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy he understands the charges.

Al Hardan, dressed in a plaid shirt and khakis, told the judge he lives in a Houston-area apartment, is married and has a child. Al Hardan said he earns about $1,800 per month. He did not say his occupation but added his wife does not work and his in-laws live in Dallas.

Prosecutors said Al Hardan entered the U.S. as a refugee in November 2009 and was granted legal permanent residence status in August 2011.

Milloy ordered Al Hardan be held until a hearing on Wednesday to determine if he should be granted a bond. Prosecutors want Al Hardan held without bond, saying he is a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Al Hardan was appointed an attorney, David Adler, who did not immediately return a telephone call or email seeking comment.

Federal officials say arrests in Milwaukee on Thursday grew out of the Sacramento investigation but are not related to national security. Two of Al-Jayab's brothers and a cousin are charged with conspiring to transport/receive stolen cellphones.

Younis Mohammed Al Jayab and Ahmad Waleed Mahmood appeared in federal court in Milwaukee on Friday to hear the allegations against them in a criminal complaint. They weren't asked to enter pleas. That could come if they're indicted through a grand jury in the coming weeks.

They were ordered released without cash bond. It wasn't clear whether they would be freed Friday or held over the weekend.

A federal prosecutor says a third man named in the complaint, Samer Mohammed Al Jayab, was arrested in California.
The confessed shooter of a Philadelphia police officer who investigators say used a stolen officer's gun and carried out his "attempted assassination" in the name of Islam traveled to the Middle East and has a history of making threats with guns.

Edward Archer, 30, of Yeadon, Delaware County, opened fire on Officer Jesse Hartnett, 33, as he drove through the intersection of 60th and Spruce streets in West Philadelphia late Thursday night.

Firing about a dozen shots, Archer moved toward the cruiser as he targeted Hartnett, surveillance video shows. Hartnett was hit three times in the arm, but was able to return fire, hitting Archer, police said.

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Archer, who was treated and released for his injuries, told investigators he carried out the shooting on behalf of Islam and did not implicate anyone else, police said.

"He certainly was targeting police," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said Friday. He was trying to assassinate this officer."

Homicide Capt. James Clark echoed Ross sentiments, calling the shooting an "attempted assassination."

"He pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State  he follows Allah  and that is why he was called on to do this," Clark said Friday.

Following his confession, local and federal investigators probed Archer's travel history to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Archer's grandfather, Ronald Archer, told NBC10 his grandson went to Mecca for Pilgrimage in the past couple years.

Archer flew from Newark, New Jersey to Saudi Arabia in October 2011, an FBI spokesperson confirmed. He returned a month later. In February 2012, he left for Egypt from New York and stayed abroad for 10 months before coming home. Officials have not found any indication illegal activity took place during the trips.

When he stepped back on American soil in December 2012, Archer was arrested for an outstanding warrant on an aggravated assault charge, his former attorney, Doug Dolfman, said.

In that incident, Archer allegedly threatened a man with a semi-automatic handgun as he chased him down a West Philadelphia street, records show.

"He was very impulsive, he was very paranoid, he was someone who was always looking over his shoulder even when I was involved in an interview with him, he wasn't actually sure what was going on," Dolfman told NBC10 Friday. He represented Archer for three weeks after being hired by the man's mother.

A gunman ambushed a police officer as he sat in his marked cruiser at an intersection, striking him three times in the arm during a barrage of bullets and fleeing before being apprehended, officials said Friday.

The 2012 incident wasn't Archer's only run-in with the law. He was set to be sentenced on fraud charges in Delaware County on Monday, said court records. He pleaded guilty last year to a simple assault and firearm charge and was immediately paroled due to time served.

Dolfman said Archer had a propensity for weapons based on his history. Police are looking to find out how Archer got his hands on the gun used in Thursday's ambush.

The 9 mm Glock 17 handgun was taken from a Philadelphia police officers home in October 2013. Ross said that officer properly reported the theft and was reprimanded according to department policy.

"We don't know ... how many hands it passed through in the past few years, I have no way of knowing," said Ross. "That is one of the things that you absolutely regret the most, when an officers gun is stolen and its used against one of your own."

Dolfman believes Archer "wanted to make some mark" by targeting a police officer. But he doubts Archer, a Muslim, was radicalized to act on behalf of the Islamic State.

"I think he's trying to bolster his image and trying to do this for himself and not for Islam or for ISIS or any other radical group," he said. "This is a lone wolf trying to make a name for himself."

[PHI]Surveillance Photos Show Shooting of Officer Jesse Hartnett

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney complimented the police department on its swift investigation and said he hoped the shooters actions wouldnt be taken as a larger example of Islam.

"This is a criminal with a stolen gun who tried to kill one of our officers; it has nothing to do with being a Muslim," said Kenney.

"Our community agrees with Mayor Kenney that the senseless shooting of Officer Jesse Hartnett cannot be justified by any religion," said a statement from the Al Aqsa Islamic Society mosque in North Philly. "We are united with our fellow Philadelphians and decry this and all senseless violence and urge that we do more to prevent the proliferation of guns on our streets."

The mosque is the same one where a pig's head was left last month.



"Our Mosque and community join with the rest of our City in praying for the speedy recovery of Officer Hartnett."

Friday afternoon, federal investigators searched the suspect's Delaware County home, as well as a Philadelphia home  just blocks from the scene  where he may have also stayed, in hopes of digging up more clues. Investigators could be seen taking bags of evidence from the scene Friday afternoon.

The elder Archer said the whole thing was "a damn shame" that left him "puzzled."
An employee at a department store in Montgomery County is facing charges after he "lost it" during a disturbance that injured two co-workers, police said.

Police were called to the Kohls store on S. Township Line Road in Royersford about 3:45 a.m. Wednesday.

The store was closed and only employees were inside at the time.

According to investigators, 22-year-old Anthony Wiglusz Jr. asked co-workers for a dollar. Wiglusz Jr. then asked for more money and that is when he told police "next thing I know, I lost it.

Police say Wiglusz Jr. threw several items, including a chair, at a 64-year-old female co-worker in the stores break room. A 32-year-old woman tried to intervene, but police say she was pushed into a table.

Three male workers then came into the room and were able to detain Wiglusz Jr.

Once in custody, police said Wiglusz Jr. told them he ingested two narcotic pills before his shift.

The two female workers were taken to Pottstown Memorial Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries.

Wiglusz Jr. is facing charges of simple assault, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and harassment.

Kohl's released the following statement about the incident: "A police investigation is under way into this matter. We are cooperating with the authorities leading the investigation and are referring all media inquiries to the local police department."
A man who investigators say confessed to shooting a Philadelphia police officer multiple times "in the name of Islam" has been charged with attempted murder.

Edward Archer was arraigned on four felonies and four misdemeanor charges Saturday afternoon. He is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault on a law enforcement officer, recklessly endangering another person, possession of an instrument of crime, violation of uniform firearms act and other related offenses.

Philadelphia Police

Investigators said Archer used a stolen police gun and pledged allegiance to ISIS.

"This is absolutely one of the scariest things I've ever seen," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said of surveillance footage that captured Thursday night's near deadly encounter in West Philadelphia. "This could have easily been a police funeral."

Philadelphia Police

Ross said 33-year-old Officer Jesse Hartnett was driving in a marked cruiser through the intersection of 60th and Spruce streets when Edward Archer, 30, walked up to the car and opened fire around 11:45 p.m.

While continuing to shoot, the suspect closed in on the police car until he was actually firing from inside the driver's side window with Hartnett behind the wheel, according to Ross.

During a news conference Friday afternoon, Ross said Archer's weapon was a police firearm stolen from a home in October 2013. The weapon was reported stolen through proper protocol, officials said.

Philadelphia Police

The suspect fired about a dozen times, emptying the 9 mm handgun in his hand, Ross said.

"I'm bleeding heavily!" Hartnett shouted into his police radio when he called for backup.

The 18th District officer, who was hit three times in the left arm, was able to jump out of his car and return fire. Archer was struck in the buttocks as he ran from the scene. He was apprehended a short distance away.

"This guy tried to execute the officer," Ross said. "I don't know how this officer survived."

Hartnett suffered a broken arm and nerve damage, Ross said. He underwent surgery shortly after the shooting. Friday morning, he was out of surgery, talking and in "good spirits." Ross said the officers injuries are considered "very serious" and will require multiple surgeries.

A Philadelphia police officer was shot multiple times in the arm at point blank range by a man who ambushed him as he sat in his marked police cruiser, authorities said. Matt DeLucia has the latest details.

Archer has a criminal record and has addresses in Yeadon, Delaware County and Philadelphia, which were searched by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security Friday. Archer was treated at the hospital and later released into police custody.

Ross said the suspect "confessed to committing this cowardly act in the name of Islam" and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and other city officials were quick to say Archer's apparent motive does not "represent the religion in any way, shape or form or its teachings."

This is a criminal with a stolen gun who tried to kill one of our officers,'' he said. It has nothing to do with being a Muslim or following the Islamic faith.''

Archer has been denied bail and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for January 25.

A Philadelphia Police officer is hospitalized after he was shot multiple times during an ambush shooting. NBC10s Katy Zachry has the latest.

Hartnett is a five-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police force and a graduate of Monsignor Bonner High School in Drexel Hill. He previously worked for the East Lansdowne Police Department. A fundraising page was created to help with his medical expenses.


The Chicago Crime Commission has called for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman  the city's "Public Enemy No. 1"  to be extradited to the U.S. immediately following his capture Friday.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced on Twitter Friday that the fugitive drug kingpin had been recaptured seven months after he escaped from a maximum-security prison.

"Mission accomplished: we have him," Nieto wrote. He said in a follow-up tweet that capturing the leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel is an "important achievement for the rule of law in Mexico." A law enforcement source confirmed the arrest to NBC News.

"The Chicago Crime Commission demands that Guzman is immediately turned over to American authorities," J.R. Davis, President and Chairman of the Chicago Crime Commission, said in a statement Friday. "The two escapes by Guzman demonstrate that even the most 'high security' Mexican prisons are not equipped to hold Guzman."

Guzman was renamed Chicagos "Public Enemy No. 1" following his most recent escape. The Crime Commission said Guzman was originally given the title in 2013, but it was suspended when he was captured in 2014.

Officials with the crime-fighting group called Guzman "one of the most dangerous criminals in the world."

The drug lord was indicted in Chicago in 2009 and pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in 2013. Federal officials pushed for Guzman to stand trial in Chicago, but he was sent to Mexico for his trial instead.

Guzman was only the second person to be named Public Enemy No. 1 in Chicago, following Al Capone, who received the title in 1930.


Police in Connecticut's capital city have arrested two men in connection with the kidnapping of an 18-year-old who was held against her will and sexually and physically abused for almost a month, authorities said.

The Hartford Police Department Special Investigations Division began investigating on Sept. 27, when authorities received information about the possible kidnapping and human trafficking of an 18-year-old woman from outside the city. The woman was reported missing from Enfield on Sept. 29.

While police surveilled a building on Main Street a woman walked out they believed was the victim. She was not but when police showed her the photo of the victim she told police where they could find her because she had just seen her at the apartment.

Police knocked on the door of of a Hartford man who told them he was with his "girlfriend." When the 18-year-old victim walked by the doorway, police took her into custody because she was wanted for outstanding felony warrants, according to court documents. It is not clear what she was wanted for.

After leaving the apartment, the victim said she did not need medical attention but wanted to have McDonald's.

She told police that she went to Hartford in September to meet her ex-boyfriend at a store on Main Street. When he did not meet with her at a store she was approached by Dwayne "Crash" Hairston, 31 of Windosr, who invited her to his apartment to smoke weed and "hang out."

The pair engaged in consensual sex but after she was forced into having nonconsensual intercourse with Hairston's friends who go by "Monterey," "Cheese," "Nut," and "Brillo," she told police.

When the victim woke up, all of her clothes were missing and for the next month she was only allowed to wear a blue dress that was provided for her by a woman known as "TT," police said.

The victim was held in Hairston's room for the next week where the individuals named above and other unknown men continued to force sex with the woman. Hairston also forced the woman to snort and inject herione multiple times the day, police reported. He told the victim he would hurt her if she tried to leave.

At one point, Hairston tried to sell the woman to an unidentified individual but didn't after a disagreement ensued.

The victim was then given to a man who promised the woman he would "take care of her" but the date is unclear. The man told the woman that Hairston had made $800 from selling her body for sex, according to the police affidavit.

Police obtained an arrest warrant Dec. 28 for Hairston, charging him with human trafficking, first-degree kidnapping, promoting prostitution, unlawful restraint and second-degree assault.

Eric James "Nut" Williams, 25, of Hartford, was also identified as a suspect and police obtained a warrant charging him with first-degree sexual assault.

Detectives from the Hartford Police Department Vice and Narcotics units raided a building on Main Street in Hartford on Wednesday as part of an undercover drug investigation and determined that Hairston and Williams had spent time there as well.

Police made several arrests and seized narcotics, packaging material and counterfeit money.

Two children, 8 and 10 years old, were also at the address and the state Department of Children and Families was notified.

Hairston appeared in court on Thursday and bond was set at $800,000. He is due back in court on Jan. 25. Williams' bond was set at $500.000. He is due back in court on Jan. 26. Information on attorneys for the two was not immediately available.
Eater San Diego shares the top stories of the week from San Diegos food and drink scene, including a first look at North Park's newest eatery, Encontro, an intro to a new, local brwery in Bay Ho and an update of 38 essential restaurants.

Craft Food & Beer Combine at North Park's New Encontro

A fresh food concept has opened at the corner of 30th Street and University Avenue in San Diegos hip North Park neighborhood. Encontro specializes in housemade sausages, tucked into buns or gluten-free wraps, and salads topped with grilled-to-order proteins. The modern, casual eatery was designed by BASILE Studio (Ironside Fish & Oyster, UnderBelly) and features 24 craft beer taps and a walk-up window for late night dining.

The 38 Essential Restaurants in San Diego

Every quarter, Eater updates its list of the 38 Essential Restaurants in San Diego  the restaurants that help shape and define our local culinary landscape. The newly-published January update includes two of the biggest openings from 2015, Little Italy's Bracero and Catania in La Jolla. Featuring Mexican and Italian cuisine, respectively, both restaurants are putting a seasonal and innovative San Diego spin on traditional flavors and ingredients.

Bitter Brothers Brewing Company Taps Into Bay Ho

The first new brewery of 2016 has officially opened its doors on Morena Boulevard in Bay Ho. Bitter Brothers Brewing Co., owned and operated by a pair of real-life brothers, is now brewing eight core beers, ranging from a session IPA to a coffee porter, and pouring pints and filling growlers daily in its 700-square-foot tasting room.

Hammond's Gourmet Ice Cream Opens in Pacific Beach

The popular scoop shop, which has an original location in North Park, just launched a second store on Garnet Avenue. Frozen treat fans can sample multiple tastes via Hammond's signature mini ice cream come flight; the Pacific Beach outpost is offering new flavors including Vietnamese coffee and chocolate-mint sorbet.

Golden Hill Scores New Neighborhood Butcher Shop

Sepulveda Meats & Provisions is now open and servicing Golden Hill with a meat counter stocking traditional cuts of beef, pork and chicken. The shop plans to offer some pantry goods, from marinades to dried pastas, as well as sandwiches to-go.



Candice Woo is the founding editor of Eater San Diego, a leading source for news about San Diegos restaurant and bar scene. Keep up with the latest Eater San Diego content via Facebook or Twitter, and sign up for Eater San Diegos newsletter here.


Gov. Jerry Brown proposed a $122.6 billion budget plan for California on Thursday that attempts to balance his fiscally restrained approach to spending with increasing demands for California to invest in social service and health care programs that suffered cuts during the recession.

The plan calls for significant increases in funding for education, health care and state infrastructure, while bolstering the state's Rainy Day Fund and paying down state debts and liabilities. It also includes a $1.1 billion compromise on a new tax on health insurers to replace one that will expire in June.

In addition, per-pupil spending would increase to $10,591. Schools are guaranteed about 40 percent of general fund revenues under voter-approved Proposition 98.

Brown said soaring tax revenues allow the state to boost spending on programs, but he also warned of the boom-and-bust cycle, proposing to put an additional $2 billion into the Rainy Day fund.

"Relative to budgets of the past, this budget is in good shape," Brown said. "We also ought to look at what's the capacity of the state, and what's the taxpayer willingness to spend more."

The budget announcement sets the stage for a months-long debate with lawmakers over spending priorities.

Legislators already have been staking out their own positions, including funding to help the homeless, expanding services for the developmentally disabled and creating more early education slots.

Medi-Cal, the state's health care program for the poor, now has 12.6 million enrollees, presenting a growing strain on state coffers. Advocates have been pushing the state to raise reimbursement for doctors who provide care in the program, which was cut by 10 percent during the recession.

"We are now years past the recession, but Californians are still living with recession-era cuts to health and human services," said Anthony Wright, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Health Access California.

Brown called special sessions last year to address the health care tax and a $59 billion backlog in transportation infrastructure spending, but neither gained traction.

Brown's administration previously proposed spending $3.6 billion a year on transportation infrastructure through a combination of vehicle registration fees, increases to the diesel and gas taxes and diverting money from the fees charged to polluters.

Republicans have rejected tax increases, arguing that the state should instead return diverted transportation money and make major cuts to Caltrans.

As tax revenues continue to roll in, Gov. Jerry Brown is set to release his budget proposal Thursday, balancing his fiscally restrained approach to spending with increasing demands for California to invest in social service and health care programs.

The first focal point will be the revenue number Brown uses for his forecast.

Brown signed a $115.4 billion general fund spending plan for the current fiscal year, and the state's independent Legislative Analyst's Office has forecast revenues about $6.9 billion higher for 2016-17. But Brown's administration has typically been cautious in its approach, opting to rely on lower revenue estimates to avoid spending the state might not be able to afford later.

His fellow Democrats prefer a higher figure that gives more wiggle room to spend. Republicans are urging the governor to hold the line and devote funds to neglected infrastructure needs such as transportation, school buildings and water storage.

"If you've got one-time revenue, then you need to spend that money on one-time expenditures," said Assembly Minority Leader Chad Mayes, R-Yucca Valley.

Brown's announcement Thursday sets the stage for a months-long debate with lawmakers over spending priorities. Lawmakers this week have been staking out their own positions, advocating for $2 billion to help house the homeless, expanding services for the developmentally disabled and creating more early education slots.

Among the biggest questions confronting the governor and lawmakers is how to replace funding from a $1.1 billion tax on health insurers that will expire this year, and paying mounting road-repair costs that the administration has pegged at $59 billion over the next decade.

Medi-Cal, the state's health care program for the poor, now has 12.6 million enrollees, presenting a growing strain on state coffers. Advocates have been pushing the state to raise reimbursement for doctors who provide care in the program, which was cut by 10 percent during the recession.

"We are now years past the recession, but Californians are still living with recession-era cuts to health and human services," said Anthony Wright, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Health Access California.

Brown called special sessions last year to address health care and transportation, but neither gained traction.

On transportation, Brown's administration has proposed spending $3.6 billion a year on transportation infrastructure through a combination of vehicle registration fees, increases to the diesel and gas taxes and diverting money from the fees charged to polluters.

Republicans have rejected tax increases, arguing that the state should instead return diverted transportation money and make major cuts to Caltrans.

Under the voter-approved Proposition 98, more than 40 percent of tax revenues are dedicated to K-12 schools and community colleges.

While most projections show the state's finances continuing to climb, thanks in part to the booming tech industry, the legislative analyst has warned that a sluggish stock market will curb increases. He warned lawmakers not to make "new commitments" or risk difficult choices "such as spending cuts and tax increases."
An alleged recruiter for the al-Qaida terrorist organization has been released from the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and sent home to Kuwait, part an ongoing effort to winnow down the number of men held at the detention center and eventually close it.

Faez Mohammed al-Kandari was sent back to his homeland after a review by six U.S. government departments and agencies concluded it was no longer necessary to continue holding him after nearly 14 years at Guantanamo, the Pentagon said Friday in announcing the release.

A profile of al-Kandari released by the Pentagon last year identified al-Kandari as an al-Qaida recruiter and propagandist. It said he also "probably" served as Osama bin Laden's spiritual adviser. He denied committing any terrorist acts or having any extremist affiliations and was never charged.

His attorney, Eric Lewis, said al-Kandari would undergo a medical examination and then be placed in rehabilitation program set up by the Kuwaiti government to hold former Guantanamo prisoners re-integrate into society in the Persian Gulf nation.

"Mr. al-Kandari is delighted to be going home and reuniting with his beloved parents and family after all these years away," Lewis said. The lawyer said the former prisoner "looks forward to resuming a peaceful life and to putting Guantanamo behind him."

It was the third release this week, following the resettlement of two Yemenis in the West African nation of Ghana, and reduces the Guantanamo prisoner population to 104. The military is expected to free a total of 17 from Guantanamo this month. President Barack Obama has said he wants to reduce the number of low-level detainees and move the remainder to the U.S., a policy that is opposed by many in Congress.

Al-Kandari was the last of 12 Kuwaiti citizens held in Guantanamo since it opened in January 2002 to hold prisoners suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban. Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, a prisoner at the base who has claimed responsibility for orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, grew up in Kuwait but is a Pakistani national. He is facing trial by military commission with four co-defendants at the base.

The government of Kuwait had supported the release of its citizens and the 12 prisoners, who unlike a majority of those held at Guantanamo, have high-profile Washington lawyers and public relations firms working to secure their freedom.

That effort suffered a setback in 2008 when one of the released prisoners carried out a suicide car bombing in Iraq targeting Iraqi security forces in the northern city of Mosul.
The tail-end of a series of several El Nino-driven storms brought scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms to Southern California Thursday along with pounding surf and serious winds.

The sun even peeked out of the clouds after days of mostly steady rain had stopped cable cars in San Francisco, stranded motorists and dumped heavy snow in northern Arizona.

Damaging surf topped 16 feet in some areas, slamming against the coast  and delighting surfers in renowned spots like Mavericks. In Los Angeles County's Redondo Beach waves overtopped the breakwater and caused minor flooding in low-lying areas.

In Ventura, California, Marlyss Auster took a break Thursday from her job as director of the city tourism bureau and joined dozens of residents snapping photos of huge waves pounding the city pier, which was damaged last month by other high surf.

"The pier was holding strong," she said. "The swells were huge. Everybody was just really in awe watching them."

Ski areas celebrated a week's worth of snow, but motorists heading up the mountains were warned of icy conditions above 4,000 feet. Big Bear resort east of Los Angeles hailed more than a foot of new snow.

The week's most powerful storm came and went Wednesday after flooding roadways and stranding motorists across greater Los Angeles. Well over 2 inches of rain fell on several mountain areas, including 3.5 inches at the San Gabriel Dam in the Angeles National Forest.

Voluntary evacuation advisories in some burn areas in danger of mudslides were cancelled. But authorities evacuated 10 mobile homes in the Newhall area northwest of Los Angeles as watery mud flowed into the streets from hillsides burned bare in a June fire, Los Angeles County officials said. No injuries or serious damage were reported and residents were expected to be able to return Thursday.

In San Diego County, winds were serious enough to bring a brief tornado warning Wednesday.

The state will begin drying out on Friday before another round of light rain moves in over the weekend.

Despite the potential for problems, the wet weather in California was welcome news for the state suffering from a severe drought. But officials warned residents against abandoning conservation efforts and reverting to wasteful water-use habits.

El Nino-fueled storms also brought heavy snow to northern Arizona where Grand Canyon National Park halted all shuttle bus service. Park officials said Thursday morning that South Rim roads are snow-packed and icy.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for much of northern Arizona through midday Friday due to heavy snowfall  as much as an inch an hour. Flagstaff had 19 inches of snow on the ground as of Thursday morning.

The current El Nino system  a natural warming of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean that interacts with the atmosphere and changes weather worldwide  has tied a system in 1997-1998 as the strongest on record.
Tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers and civilians have gathered at squares and indoor venues in Pyongyang for state-orchestrated massive celebrations of the country's fourth nuclear test.

People were seen dancing in the streets Friday, two days after North Korea announced it has successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb.

North Korea's state media say the events were attended by senior members of the country's leadership, including Premier Pak Pong Ju.

The largest crowd, estimated by the state media at 100,000, gathered at a square named after the late Kim Il Sung, the nation's beloved founder and the grandfather of the current leader Kim Jong Un. At the square, soldiers stood under a banner that read: "We passionately celebrate the historic national event that is the success of the first hydrogen bomb test."

It is unclear whether Kim, whose birthday is also believed to be Friday, attended the celebrations.
Your lucky numbers are sometimes unlucky for the coffers of the Maryland lottery.

A series of notable winning numbers for Pick-3 games created a surplus of winners recently, making a dent in state lottery earnings. The impact was so significant that state officials were alerted during an October meeting of gaming officials, according to public records obtained by the News4 I-team.

The string of recent winning numbers -- all of which are popular plays by Maryland lottery players -- are "triple-digit" entries. The winning Pick-3 combination drawn Sept. 4 was 6-6-6.

The lottery reported paying out nearly $2 million in winnings to players from that day. It's a financial loss for the Maryland lottery agency, because only $330,000 in tickets were sold for that drawing.

Two other "triple-digit" Pick-3 winners were drawn in the latter half of 2015.

A winning 9-9-9 combo in Dec. 1's Pick-3 drawing cost the state $750,925 in payouts to players. The lottery took in only about $286,500 in sales for that drawing.

In August, a winning 7-7-7 drawing cost Maryland about $1 million in winnings, when just $304,000 in sales were made for that drawing.

Members of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission were formally notified about the financial impact of the series of "triple-digit" winners at an October meeting in Baltimore.

Maryland Lottery Director Gordon Medenica told commissioners the agency's "sales and revenues are still affected by unusual numbers being drawn in the Pick-3 and Pick-4 games causing large payouts."

"When unique combinations are drawn in Pick 3 and Pick 4, our players are the big winners," a spokeswoman for the Maryland Lottery told News4. "While we might feel the fiscal impact of those popular numbers for the day or week in which those payouts occur, the long-term impact to the Lottery's bottom line is negligible."

Medenica told the I-Team that Maryland sells about $10 million in Pick-3 and Pick-4 entries each week. Profit, he said, can vary widely.

He said Maryland's coffers can earn as much in $5.8 million in profits on Pick-3 and Pick-4 sales some weeks. During other weeks, the state loses $900,000.

"These swings smooth out over time," Medenica said.

State lottery officials referred News4 to a recent Baltimore Sun report, which said the agency discontinued sales of 6-6-6 entries in the Pick-3 on June 6, 2006, or 6/6/06.

The report said the number was so popular with players, the state would have been liable for an enormous payout had sales continued and had those numbers been drawn.
A North Dakota man who allegedly claimed to be Jesus was arrested in D.C. this week after planning to kidnap one of the Obama family's pets, authorities said.

Scott D. Stockert, 49, was arrested Wednesday night at a Hampton Inn near the Washington Convention Center after Secret Service agents found unregistered firearms in his truck, as well as hundreds of rounds of ammunition, according to authorities.

Agents went to the hotel after getting a "be on the lookout" alert from the Secret Service's Minnesota field office about the alleged kidnapping plan.

He allegedly told them, "You picked the wrong person to mess with. I will (expletive) your world up."

According to the Secret Service, Stockert, of Dickinson, North Dakota, allegedly planned to take Bo, the older of two Portuguese water dogs owned by the Obamas.

While being questioned by Secret Service agents, Stockert allegedly said he'd planned to go to the Capitol to advocate for $99-per-month health care and to announce he was running for president.

He also told the agents his parents were John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, the court document said.

Agents found an unloaded 12-gauge pump shotgun and a bolt-action rifle in Stockert's truck, which was parked in a lot around the corner at 5th and K streets NW, according to the document.

They also discovered 289 rounds of .22-caliber long-rifle bullets, 71 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun ammunition and two rounds of .223 rifle ammunition, plus a machete with a 12-inch blade and an 18-inch bully club, the court document said.

Stockert was then arrested.

As he was being transported, he told authorities that he was Jesus Christ, according to a court document. He claimed they could verify his identity on his driver's license, the document said. However, the license identified him as Scott Stockert.

Stockert is charged with illegally carrying a rifle or shotgun outside a home or business, an offense under District of Columbia law.

He appeared Friday in D.C. Superior Court, where a judge found probable cause for the case to move forward.

The judge ordered Stockert to be released into a high-intensity supervision program pending a court date to be set later.

While on release, Stockert is ordered to stay away from the White House, the Capitol and surrounding areas, and is barred from possessing any real or imitation weapons.

Information on an attorney for Stockert was not immediately available.
One person died in a fiery crash in Prince William County just before midnight Friday.

Authorities arrived at 12 a.m. Friday to find a 2009 Pontiac Vibe engulfed in flames in the 18100 block of Joplin Road in Triangle, Virginia.

The driver, who was found inside the car, was pronounced dead at the scene, Prince William County Police said.

According to an initial investigation, authorities say the driver was heading east on Joplin Road when the car left the roadway and crashed.

The victim has not yet been identified.

Authorities said it's still unknown whether speed, alcohol or drugs were factors in the crash.
A Prince George's County police officer will spend five years behind bars for holding a gun to the head of a Bowie, Maryland, man.

Officer Jenchesky Santiago was found guilty last month of first and second-degree assault, misconduct in office and the use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence. He was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday.

Cellphone video played during the trial showed Santiago saying, "I dare you to f---ing fight me, son," while pointing his service weapon at William Cunningham's head.

Cunningham and his cousin were sitting in a car parked in front of his Bowie home in May 2014 when Santiago approached and asked why they were there. After an exchange of words, Cunningham decided to go inside, but Santiago ordered him back in the car.

A witness testified Santiago also yelled that Prince George's County officers shoot people.

Mr. Santiagos actions that day and the fact that he continues to show no remorse for what he did and believes that the victims should actually apologize to him, shows that he had no business serving in our police department," Prince Georges County States Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said.

Last month, Prince George's County Police Chief Mark Magaw said he would recommend that Santiago be fired, adding that there is a process they must follow.
An 18-year-old Massachusetts man died when he crashed his Mercedes into a tree late Thursday night, police said.

Police in Westport say the victim was driving on Reed Road when his car struck a large tree, instantly killing him. Speeding is believed to have been a factor in the crash, according to police.

The victim's identity has not been released; however, police added that the victim used to live in Westport but was currently living in Dartmouth.

Police are asking anyone with information about the deadly crash to step forward.
A Boston police officer identified as Kurt Stokinger, father of two young children, is reportedly "doing well" after being shot in the leg Friday by a suspected drug dealer, and the suspected gunman is in custody, authorities said.

"Our officer is doing well as he continues to recover from his injuries," Boston Police said in a statement released Saturday morning.

The call came in around 10:25 a.m. Friday reporting an officer-involved shooting on Mount Bowdoin Terrace in the city's Dorchester neighborhood, according to Boston police.

Police Officer Shot in Boston

"I heard the police screaming, I heard five shots, look out the window seen the guy running, police right behind him telling him to stop, he kept on going," said Gary Bell, who looked out his window and saw the injured officer bleeding. "He seemed to be OK, he was standing up on the car and I seen blood coming from his leg."

The officer was shot in the leg and the injuries are not life threatening, police said.

Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said the drug unit officer stopped a suspect who was believed to be dealing drugs, and a shooting ensued. The suspect began to run when approached by the officer and then turned around, pulled a gun from his waistband and fired at the officer.

After being shot, the officer began to lose blood, so he took out a tourniquet and attempted to apply it to stop the bleeding. Another officer assisted him. Boston police have been issuing tourniquets to officers over the past several weeks as part of a new initiative.

Police said the suspect was captured shortly thereafter and the gun - an automatic Glock 40mm - was recovered.

Evans said the suspect's name is Grant Headley, 27, of Dorchester. Evans said Headley is well-known to police and was locked up in 2012 on firearms and drug charges. He was released on probation in April. He is expected to be arraigned next week in the officer's shooting.

"For me, it's like, mind-boggling," said Eric Gilbert, who lives nearby.

Tania Guity lives down the street.

"You could never get used to anything like this no, any violence anything, we're all still in awe if it happens at any given time, we still want to protect our children."

On Geneva, the Head Start daycare went into lockdown mode as the police chase ended nearby.

Mom Christine Clark watched it all unfold from the window as her 4-year-old daughter and her classmates were playing inside.

"There was, like, the guy running down the street, then the police tackled him down to the ground and got him, handcuffed him," she said.

The officer who was shot was a 9-year veteran of the drug unit. Evans said his name is not being released at this time.

"It's unfortunate," Evans said. "I'm just glad the officer's OK."

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh spoke sternly, saying there are "too many guns on the street," and adding that "We're not going to tolerate anyone going after the Boston Police Department."

Pat Rose, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, echoed those comments, saying "We are the targets, and that's wrong... the public should not stand for this."

The injured officer is awake and conscious and talking to medical staff at Boston Medical Center. He is expected to recover.

"In our minds, he's a hero," Evans said.
Last year, Arlington County demolished the century-old Wilson School building in Rosslyn, Virginia, and just recently Leo A Daly's and Bjarke Ingels Group's designs for the planned schoolhouse were revealed. With the planned stacked, fan-like layout for the building, CityLab described the school as having the potential to be "the most architecturally distinct public school in the country," while Curbed Flipped described the design as being "one of the mostif not the mostarchitecturally inventive public schools in the country." The designs are still likely to change, and they have already taken on different forms. Previous schemes for the Wilson School have included a ziggurat design, a "Jenga" design," and a "shifting atrium" design. The planned structure is expected to be eight times bigger than the previous one and is scheduled to deliver by 2019, reported CityLab. The school district's budget for the building is $85.9 million.



CityLab reported that the Wilson School will be composed of The H-B Woodlawn Program for those in grades six through 12, the High Intensity Language Training program for those learning English as a second language, and the Stratford Program for those students with special needs.

In April 2015, The Washington Post reported that over a dozen residents pleaded to keep the 105-year-old Wilson School building maintained. Opponents of these residents argued that retrofitting the structure to current building codes would waste millions of dollars. Additionally, the property's historic portico, columns, and cupola were removed in the 1960s. The Washington Post further reported that the school was originally called Fort Myer Heights School before it was renamed in honor of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. When Arlington County was considering whether or not the building should be called historic, the school was only used on Saturdays by a Mongolian language and cultural school.



 D.C. Could Get This Wild, Twisty, Innovative School [CityLab]

 Arlington won't call 105-year-old Wilson School historic [The Washington Post]

 All Bjarke Ingels coverage [Curbed]

 All Leo A Daly coverage [Curbed DC]

 All Rosslyn coverage [Curbed DC]
Our thoughts and prayers are with our most valued partner the @bostonpolice & especially our brother officer. We are with you !!
Opponents of Donald Trump's political views and attendees of a Trump rally in Burlington, Vermont traded verbal barbs Thursday night, but there were no major problems arising from the event, according to the Burlington Police Department.

Trump spoke of his desire to build a wall on the southern border of the United States and to protect gun owners against what he sees as any infringements of their Constitutional rights to gun ownership from the Obama administration.

The event was held in the city where Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders served as mayor in the 1980s. Trump told the audience inside the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts that it would be a dream of his to face Sanders in the general election, because it would have meant a defeat of Hillary Clinton.

However, some polls have indicated Sanders may defeat Trump if the two were on the general election ballot.

"I hope that Mr. Trump learns something from his trip to Vermont," said Sanders supporter Ben Cohen, the cofounder of the premium ice cream brand Ben & Jerry's. "I hope he learns about our respect for social justice, for equality, and the way Vermonters care about the environment."

As the Trump rally went on in the Flynn, outside, protesters blasted Trump for his views on a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. and on other policies.

"I think he has a right to be here and I respect that," said Sanders supporter Margaret Paul. "I'm just here to represent what a lot of Vermonters feel. That's that hate speech does not speak for us."

Before the event even started, the Trump campaign was kicking out ticketed attendees who would not affirm they are supporting the business mogul's campaign, according to accounts from several people inside the venue.

That list of people included Jess Kell of Burlington.

"I was surprised," Kell told necn. "I believe in free speech; this was an open, public space where people had a right to go and listen to what to what was being said."

Earlier, Trump backers explained why they were so willing to wait all day in the cold to see the man they call a strong leader.

"What's wrong with wanting America to be great again?" asked Republican voter Todd Harrington of Essex, Vermont. "What's wrong with wanting America to be safe?"

"I think he has the vision and the attitude to get it done and not just talk about getting it done," said Michael Eaton, a Trump supporter from Corinth, Vermont. "And he will get it done on a wide range of issues we've got to solve-- and solve quickly."

In the boisterous atmosphere that saw part of Main Street in Burlington closed during the event, comedian Antenna Wilde managed to find some humor.

Dressed up as Donald Trump, Wilde told necn he thought the rally was "yuge" and "great," mimicking two of Trump's favorite words.

"I may try to buy Burlington," Wilde said, imitating Trump. "It will look great in my backyard!"

The large presence of anti-Trump protesters gathered outside the Flynn, estimated by Burlington Police at around 1,000, should be an indication to Wilde's Trump character that Burlington is not for sale.

Deputy Burlington Police Chief Jan Wright told necn the event was a success from a public safety standpoint and that there were no significant problems that arose between rally attendees and protesters.


Revelation in Norwich is a Christian resource centre, offering a bookshop, a meeting place and a welcoming refuge for refreshment open to visitors of any faith or none.

Revelation in Norwich is a Christian resource centre, offering a bookshop, a meeting place and a welcoming refuge for refreshment open to visitors of any faith or none.

Farewell as Yarmouth church leader moves on Captain Marie Burr, the Salvation Army leader in Great Yarmouth, has paid tribute to everyone at the church and charity after she left her post at the end of last month to move to a new role. Read more

Norwich Cathedral chorister in BBC final Norwich Cathedral chorister Alice Platten has her sights set on being crowned BBC Young Chorister of the Year after reaching the final stages of the prestigious nationwide competition. Read more

Norwich to hear pastor, Policeman and tramp tale Essex Baptist Pastor Dave McDowell has been a Policeman, fed orphans in India and lived under a boat as a tramp. He will tell his remarkable story at the October dinner of Norwich FGB on Wednesday October 26. Read more

Pioneer UK leader speaks at Sheringham church Ness Wilson, national leader of the Pioneer network of churches, was the main speaker at a day of teaching and worship held at Lighthouse Community Church in Sheringham on 12 October, to be followed up by Word and Worship sessions at October half term. Read more

Youth for Christ lights a fire in north Breckland North Breckland Youth for Christ will be putting on a mini residential camp this year to coincide with Bonfire Night. Read more

Delia Smith interviewed at Norwich church Top TV cook and well-known writer Delia Smith spoke about her faith at SOUL Churchs weekly Chapel gathering on October 11. Read more

Children's Christian holiday club in Briston A half term childrens holiday bible club is taking place in Briston next week, and there is no charge to take part in the fun. Read more

Ashill church puts on music to touch the soul The Fountain of Life Church in Ashill is hosting an afternoon concert in early November with classical, jazz, opera, ballads and pop classics. Read more

Fakenhams new rector is officially installed Rev Tracy Jessop has been officially installed as Rector for Fakenham during a service at Fakenham Parish Church on Tuesday September 27, fourteen months after their last reverend retired. Read more

Norwich homeless charity holds information evening Homelessness charity St Martins is holding an information evening on Thursday 3rd November at The Forum in Norwich for anyone who would like to know more about the work of the charity and to potentially become a volunteer. Read more

Sheringhams harvest flowers and Fairtrade boost Giving thanks for Harvest was the theme of the Harvest Flower Festival held at St Andrews Methodist Church, Sheringham at the beginning of October, which included a Traidcraft stall. Read more

ENYP needs Project Coordinator and Youth Worker Norfolk Christian charity ENYP is seeking to appoint new workers who have a passion to support children, youth and community food provision. Read more

Christmas resources at Revelation Norwich Christian Resource Centre is all stocked up for Christmas: Cards, wrap, bags, gifts, candles and advent calendars are all ready for you to browse and buy! Read more

Christian artist captures delight of the Creator Charlotte Ashenden is a portrait artist with 22 years experience, painting children, adults, houses and animals in an incredibly detailed and realistic style, capturing the character of the subject she is painting. Read more

Christian speaker visits Norfolk and Waveney Two local Christian organisations are joining forces to bring pastor and conference speaker Andy Prime to Lowestoft and Norwich later this month. Read more

Global Leadership Conference returns to Norwich After a three- year break the Global Leadership Summit returns to Norwich on November 25 at the Kings Centre, hosted by Norwich Youth for Christ. Read more

New Bishop appointed for the Diocese of East Anglia Rev Canon Peter Collins, a priest of the Archdiocese of Cardiff, has been appointed as the fifth Bishop of East Anglia by Pope Francis, with an announcement made today at both the Vatican in Rome and at St Johns Cathedral in Norwich. Read more
Attacks on major state universities will continue in 2016, according to a non-profit cybersecurity readiness organization that specializes in the public sector.

And the problem is exacerbated because some state or small governments dont have mature cybersecurity plans in place, so they cant mitigate it.

The vulnerability has been tagged by a cybersecurity readiness organization The Center for Internet Security (CIS). The prediction was quoted in Fedscoop, a government-oriented IT website.

Intellectual property

The universities are home to an awful lot of valuable intellectual property, so a lot of the major research universities are prime targets for attackers, said Thomas Duffy, chair of the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) that's operated by CIS. He was quoted by Fedscoop, writing about threats for states and localities.

There was a lot of activity in 2014, 2015, and we dont expect that to slow down in 2016, Duffy said, of university attacks, to the publication.

University attack

For example, December saw a large education-targeted attack in the United Kingdom. It hit multiple universities who share an academic computer network.

The DDoS attack, reported by the BBC, stopped students being able to submit work to publicly funded Jiscs Janet network. That was just one of many aimed at education last year.

Wave of attacks

The Financial Times newspaper had warned at the end of November that universities needed to prepare for a slew of cyber attacks if they hadnt already.

Experts forecast a new wave of attacks from individual troublemakers, to criminal gangs tempted by databases full of student and donor data, to state-backed actors keen to discover and sometimes disrupt research that can result in valuable intellectual property, the newspaper wrote.

Funding

In the U.S, good security intentions are there, but money is the big issue, reckons CISs MS-ISAC, in a recent presentation.

Almost half (46.8%) of states have only 1-2% of the IT budget for cybersecurity. Thats no increase on the previous year.

Strategies not there

And a budget-strategy disconnect exists. States havent been able to figure out where to send the resources they do have.

Strategies and metrics are not in place to help point dollars to the right direction, MS-ISAC said in its National Webcast Initiative Cybersecurity Year in Review and 2016 Preview presentation published in December.

In other words, security issues need to be documented in a timely way and provided to the state powers-that-be in order to get funding, the experts think.

Approved strategies are missing, the organization says.

Toolsets

And other things states can do?

MS-ISAC, in its presentation reckons states have to mitigate DDoS attacks as a priority. One way it can do that is by working with telcos to put mitigation controls in place.

Working with your telecom provider can get you started, said Erik Avakian, Chief Information Security Officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the MS-ISAC year-end presentation.

Must haves

Advanced anti-malware for extortion attacks are a must have too, Avakian says, as is real-time correlation of security analytics; database firewalls; identity and access management along with multi-factor authentication.

Like a tin can under the heel of my boot, was how a hacker who attacked Rutgers three times in 2015 was quoted as saying on a hacker site, by the Financial Times.
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Major police operation seizes 1.3million of class A drugs

TWO West Berkshire men have been sentenced to more than 20 years behind bars for their part in a conspiracy to flood the south of England with class A drugs.

Gary DeOliveira, aged 35, of London Road, Newbury and 48-year-old Arthur DeSousa of Dee Road, Tilehurst were arrested in January 2015 as part of a major Thames Valley Police operation.

Officers raided a property used by DeOliveira in Newtown Road and found the men in possession of a large amount of class A drugs.

DeOliveira subsequently pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to supply a class A drug (cocaine) and was sentenced to six years nine months in prison.

While DeSousa was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to supply a class A drug (cocaine) after a trial and was sentenced to 15 years behind bars.

The police operation saw officers swoop on properties across the south of England seizing around 9kg of cocaine, 1kg of MDMA powder, nearly 5,000 MDMA tablets, 4kg of amphetamine powder, 3kg of Methoxetamine and 18kg of cannabis resin with a combined street value of around 1.3million.

As a result 11 men and two women were charged and facing trial.

And at a sentencing hearing today (Friday) ten members of the gang, including ring leader Neil Waldey from Didcot, were sentenced to more than 70 years behind bars at Oxford crown court.

Head of the Serious and Organised Crime Unit Det Supt Nick John said: This investigation and the subsequent jail terms represent an excellent result for our team, but more so for the public.

This case has managed to remove large quantity of drugs and those who supply them from our society.

I hope the length of the sentences handed down will act as a deterrent and a message to those involved in the drugs trade that we can and we will bring them to justice.

Police say those convicted and now sentenced were involved in organised crime groups which made millions of pounds supplying drugs across the south of England.

The organised crime groups in Spain, Liverpool, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, London, Reading and Southend-on-sea supplied drugs which were then stored in Didcot, Newbury, Reading and Hemel Hempstead.

The drugs were then prepared for onward distribution to people in Avon and Somerset, Swindon, Oxford, Reading and Didcot.

Det Insp Rachel Wheatman, from the Thames Valley Police Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: Neil Wadley and the rest of his co-conspirators made substantial amounts of money supplying drugs across the South of England and beyond.

Disrupting this extensive supply chain and sending those involved to jail for a long time has been extremely satisfying for all of us who worked on this series of investigations. I would like to thank all the police officers and staff for their efforts.

This has been a lengthy and complex case involving a lot of hard work over a sustained period of around 18 months. This involved liasing with officers across the country and also in Spain in order to bring these offenders to justice.

Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor for Thames and Chiltern Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: This case sends out a clear message that the CPS and the police take these offences extremely seriously and anyone involved in the drugs trade can expect to be prosecuted.

We will continue to work closely with our partners to ensure that persons involved in this kind of criminality are brought to justice to make our communities a safe place to live, work and visit.

Pictured from left to right are (top row) Neil Wadley, Arthur DeSousa, Gary Hunt, Vasil Rica, Pauil Blair. Second row Glen Beasley, Errol Brown, Gary DeOliveira, Andrew Bowden and William Alexander.
Singapore has sent 10 people to the gallows in the past seven months. At least. We cant be sure if there have been more because the Singaporean government does not see the need to notify the public about every execution it carries out. Nor does it release information about the number of inmates still waiting for their turn to hang. Anti-death penalty activists are why we know that at least 10 inmates have been executed this year and that at least 60 are currently sitting on death row. Much of their information comes from the families of the inmates themselves, who are quietly informed by the government of their relatives executions just one week before the date. During that short timeframe, they must make funeral arrangements and also prepare a set of clothes for a customary final photoshoot done in prison shortly before the execution is carried out. Death penalty opponents, who have long been vocal about what they see as the injustices of Singapores capital punishment regime, are
Fayt said: Don't be crazy. The Property Clause in Article 4 along with many Supreme Court rulings (through "Judicial Review") give the federal government power own, buy, and sell land.



It's a losing argument Jimmy. So give it up. Click to expand...

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings.

The federal government is limited to buying, holding, and maintaining land in Article I, Section 8, Clause 17:Article I, Section 10 is based off of the Northwest Ordinance.The Louisiana Purchase was a treaty, and under Article II, the President has the authority to make treaties with the consent of the Senate, and the Senate consented and ratified the treaty on October 20, 1803. The land was not purchased for the federal government to own, and was absorbed by the Northwest Ordinance to create states out of the territory and each territory became a state when they qualified to become a state.The Ordinance of 1784 limited the federal purchase of territories east of the Mississippi River to be used only for dividing the territory into states.The Ordinance of 1785 created the mechanism for the federal government to sell and settle the land into states under the Ordinance of 1784.The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 enumerated the political structure of the territories until they were made into states.The Ordinance of 1784, the Ordinance of 1785, and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 gave the federal government the power to increase the U.S. territory by creating states out of the purchased territories, and prohibited the federal government from retaining ownership of land within a states boundary except for the limited and enumerated clauses in the Constitution.Article IV, Section 3 constitutionalized the regulation and rules clauses of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. There are no Supreme Court rulings through judicial review regarding the property clause of Article IV in the context you are presenting.You cannot use114 U.S. 525 (1885), as it related to the Fort Leavenworth Military Reservation and a railroad.You cannot use Lessee of44 US 212, 11 L. Ed. 565 (1845), as it limited the federal government to only being a trustee of the land until it is sold.You cannot use, 60 U.S. 393 (1857), as it was never overturned nor was the forbidding of police powers under the property clause eliminated by the Fourteenth Amendment regarding territorial land property.You cannot use167 U.S. 518 (1897), as it regarded federal land that was not yet disposed of by the federal government from being completely fenced in by private property owners.You cannot use, 426 U.S. 529 (1976), as it dealt with the state of New Mexico selling burros from federal land not yet disposed of in violation of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.Article IV did not grant any power to any branch of the federal government. All policing powers of the federal government are found in Article I, Article II, and Article III. Article IV are issues between states and state-to-state relations. Article IV gave Congress temporary powers over territories until disposal.If you want to wade into an Article IV debate, you need to figure out if you subscribe to the police-power theory, proprietary theory, or the protective theory before making an argument. You then need to reconcile your position with there being two overlapping grants of power in the Constitution regarding federal land and how that negates any intent by the framers to create police-power theory you seem to be advocating.
Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
Reporter/Columnist

Julie Wurth is a reporter covering the University of Illinois at The News-Gazette. Her email is jwurth@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@jawurth).
NOTICE: This Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) is intended for persons living in Australia.

Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) summary The full CMI on the next page has more details. If you are worried about using this medicine, speak to your doctor or pharmacist.

Why am I using IBAVYR?

IBAVYR contains the active ingredient ribavirin. IBAVYR is used in combination with other oral agents for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C (CHC). CHC is a viral infection of the liver. For more information, see Section 1. Why am I using IBAVYR? in the full CMI.

What should I know before I use IBAVYR?

Do not use if you have ever had an allergic reaction to ribavirin or any of the ingredients listed at the end of the CMI. Talk to your doctor if you have any other medical conditions, take any other medicines, or are pregnant or plan to become pregnant or are breastfeeding. For more information, see Section For more information, see Section 2. What should I know before I use IBAVYR? in the full CMI.

What if I am taking other medicines?

Some medicines may interfere with IBAVYR and affect how it works. A list of these medicines is in Section 3. What if I am taking other medicines? in the full CMI.

How do I use IBAVYR?

Take IBAVYR exactly as your doctor has directed. More instructions can be found in Section 4. How do I use IBAVYR? in the full CMI.

What should I know while using IBAVYR?

Things you should do Use IBAVYR Tablets exactly as your doctor has prescribed. Use contraception in order to avoid pregnancy. Stop using IBAVYR Tablets if you become pregnant and immediately tell your doctor. If you are male and your partner becomes pregnant while you are using IBAVYR, ask your partner to tell her doctor immediately. Things you should not do Do not stop taking IBAVYR or change the dose without first checking with your doctor. Do not take any other medicines whether they require a prescription or not without first telling your doctor or pharmacist. Driving or using machines Be careful driving or operating machinery until you know how IBAVYR affects you. If you become drowsy from the combination therapy, do not drive or use machinery. Looking after your medicine Keep your medicine in a cool dry place where the temperature stays below 25C. For more information, see Section 5. What should I know while using IBAVYR? in the full CMI.

Are there any side effects?

Mild side effects include headache, fatigue, fever and chills, weakness, sleeplessness, stomach pain, discomfort or constipation, muscular ache and pain or joint pain, agitation, irritability, mood swings, or disturbance in attention, hair loss/change in hair texture, itching, rash or dry or redness of the skin, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath back pain. Serious side effects include signs of anaemia such as tiredness, being short of breath and looking pale, signs of liver decompensation such as a swollen abdomen lower back or side pain, severe stomach pain, fever or chills beginning after a few weeks of treatment, persistent cough or shortness of breath, depression, confusion, trouble sleeping, thinking or concentrating and allergic reactions. For more information, including what to do if you have any side effects, see Section 6. Are there any side effects? in the full CMI.

Why am I using IBAVYR?

IBAVYR contains the active ingredient ribavirin. Ribavirin belongs to a group of medicines called antivirals. IBAVYR is used in combination with other oral agents for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C (CHC).

CHC is a viral infection of the liver. There are different types of the hepatitis C virus, referred to as genotypes. If this viral infection is not managed in some people, the liver becomes badly damaged and scarred. This is called cirrhosis. Cirrhosis can cause the liver to stop working. CHC may also be associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. IBAVYR is not effective when used alone and must only be used in combination with other oral agents. For more information please refer to the respective Consumer Medicine Information of the other oral agent used during the treatment.

What should I know before I use IBAVYR?

Warnings

Do not use IBAVYR if:

Some of the symptoms of an allergic reaction may include: shortness of breath wheezing or difficulty breathing swelling of the face, lips, tongue or other parts of the body rash, itching or hives on the skin you are allergic to ribavirin, or any of the ingredients listed at the end of this leaflet, or any other similar medicinesSome of the symptoms of an allergic reaction may include: you are taking didanosine (a medicine used to treat patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). you have blood disorders including anaemia (low number of red blood cells), thalassaemia (Mediterranean anaemia) or sickle-cell anaemia If you are not sure whether you should start taking IBAVYR, talk to your doctor or pharmacist.

Check with your doctor if you: have any other medical conditions have, or have ever had any of the following medical conditions before you start taking IBAVYR: heart problems such as congestive heart failure, irregular or very fast heartbeat, heart disease, or you have ever had a heart attack anaemia (a low number of red blood cells) kidney problems liver problems other than hepatitis C organ transplant HIV Also refer to the respective Consumer Medicines Information of the other oral agent used during the treatment, for other things to be careful of when IBAVYR is taken in combination with other oral agents. take any medicines for any other condition During treatment, you may be at risk of developing certain side effects. It is important you understand these risks and how to monitor for them. See additional information under Section 6. Are there any side effects

Pregnancy and breastfeeding Do not use IBAVYR if you or your partner is pregnant or planning to become pregnant. IBAVYR may cause birth defects and/or death of an unborn baby. It is very important that you or your partner avoid becoming pregnant during treatment and for 6 months after treatment. This is because IBAVYR Tablets can affect the sperm as well as the unborn child. If you are or your partner is a woman of childbearing age, you or your partner must have a negative pregnancy test before treatment with IBAVYR Tablets starts. You or your partner must also have a negative pregnancy test each month during treatment and for the 6 months after treatment is stopped. Two effective forms of contraception must be used, one by each partner, male and female, during treatment with IBAVYR Tablets and for the 6 months after treatment is completed. IBAVYR Tablets can cause harm to the unborn child if a pregnant woman takes IBAVYR Tablets herself during pregnancy or has unprotected sex (sex without using a condom) with a man who is taking IBAVYR Tablets. IBAVYR Tablets can damage the sperm and the embryo (unborn child). Do not use IBAVYR Tablets if you are breastfeeding. It is not known if IBAVYR passes into breast milk. Therefore to avoid any potential side effects in the nursing infant, nursing mothers should stop breast feeding when taking IBAVYR.

Use in children and adolescents Do not give IBAVYR to children under 18 years of age Safety and effectiveness in children has not been established.

What if I am taking other medicines?

Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking any other medicines, including any medicines, vitamins or supplements that you buy without a prescription from your pharmacy, supermarket or health food shop. You must not take IBAVYR if you are taking didanosine (a medicine used to treat HIV). You must tell your doctor if you are taking: stavudine, zidovudine or lamivudine (medicines used to treat HIV), azathioprine (a medicine used to treat organ transplant patients), severe rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis/polymyositis, autoimmune chronic active hepatitis, pemphigus vulgaris, polyarteritis nodosa, autoimmune haemolytic anaemia, chronic refractory idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura Some medicines may interfere with IBAVYR and affect how it works. You may need to use different amounts of your medicine or you may need to take different medicines. Your doctor will advise you. Your doctor or pharmacist has more information on medicines to be careful of or avoid using while taking IBAVYR. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you are not sure about this list of medicines Check with your doctor or pharmacist if you are not sure about what medicines, vitamins or supplements you are taking and if these affect IBAVYR

How do I use IBAVYR?

How much to take The usual dose of IBAVYR depends on your weight and genotype. This can range from 600 mg to 1200 mg daily, to be taken in two divided doses (morning and evening). Routine blood tests will help your doctor to monitor your response to treatment. Your doctor may adjust your dose during therapy according to your response. Follow the instructions provided and use IBAVYR until your doctor tells you to stop. Take IBAVYR exactly as your doctor has directed. Your doctor will tell you how many tablets to take each day. Do not exceed the recommended dosage. IBAVYR has a child resistant cap. To open cap, push cap downward and twist counter clockwise. To close cap, place cap on bottle and turn clockwise IBAVYR should be taken with food. Do not crush or chew the tablets. IBAVYR 200mg tablets should be swallowed whole with water.

When to take IBAVYR Take IBAVYR during or immediately after a meal, at about the same times each day. Taking IBAVYR at the same times every day will have the best effect and help you to remember to take your tablets. Do not stop taking IBAVYR unless your doctor tells you to stop. Treatment is usually for at least 12 weeks and can go up to 24 weeks depending on your response. If you become pregnant while using IBAVYR Tablets, you should immediately stop taking IBAVYR and tell your doctor. If you are male and your partner becomes pregnant while you are taking IBAVYR, ask your partner to tell her doctor immediately.

If you forget to use IBAVYR IBAVYR should be used regularly at the same time each day. If you miss your dose at the usual time, take the missed dose as soon as possible during the same day. If it is almost time for your next dose, skip the dose you missed and take your next dose when you are meant to. Do not take a double dose to make up for the dose you missed. If you are not sure what to do, ask your doctor or pharmacist. If you have trouble remembering when to use your medicine, ask your pharmacist for some helpful hints.

If you use too much IBAVYR If you think that you have used too much IBAVYR you may need urgent medical attention. You should immediately: phone the Poisons Information Centre

(by calling 13 11 26), or contact your doctor, or go to the Emergency Department at your nearest hospital. You should do this even if there are no signs of discomfort or poisoning.

What should I know while using IBAVYR?

Things you should do Use IBAVYR Tablets exactly as your doctor has prescribed. Tell all doctors, dentists and pharmacists who are treating you that you are taking IBAVYR. Use contraception in order to avoid pregnancy. Stop using IBAVYR Tablets if you become pregnant and immediately tell your doctor. If you are male and your partner becomes pregnant while you are using IBAVYR, ask your partner to tell her doctor immediately. Keep all your doctor's appointments so that your progress can be checked. Your doctor will carry out blood tests to monitor your response to treatment. If you are about to be started on any new medicine, remind your doctor and pharmacist that you are taking IBAVYR

Things you should not do Do not stop taking IBAVYR or change the dose without first checking with your doctor. Do not use it to treat any other complaints unless your doctor says to. Do not give IBAVYR to anyone else, even if their symptoms seem similar to yours. Do not let yourself run out of medicine over weekends or holiday periods. Do not take any other medicines whether they require a prescription or not without first telling your doctor or pharmacist.

Driving or using machines Be careful before you drive or use any machines or tools until you know how IBAVYR affects you. If you become drowsy from the combination therapy, do not drive or use machinery.

Drinking alcohol Tell your doctor if you drink alcohol.

Looking after your medicine Always keep this medicine in the bottle until it is time to take it. Keep your medicine in a cool dry place where the temperature stays below 25C. Keep bottle tightly closed. Heat and dampness can destroy some medicines. Follow the instructions in the carton on how to take care of your medicine properly. Store it in a cool dry place away from moisture, heat or sunlight; for example, do not store it: in the bathroom or near a sink, or in the car or on window sills. Keep it where young children cannot reach it.

Getting rid of any unwanted medicine If you no longer need to use this medicine or it is out of date, take it to any pharmacy for safe disposal. Do not use this medicine after the expiry date.

Are there any side effects?

All medicines can have side effects. If you do experience any side effects, most of them are minor and temporary. However, some side effects may need medical attention. See the information below and, if you need to, ask your doctor or pharmacist if you have any further questions about side effects.

Tell your doctor or pharmacist as soon as possible if you do not feel well while you are taking IBAVYR in combination with other oral agents. The side effects listed below are possible side effects. For more information please refer to the respective Consumer Medicine Information of the other oral agent used during the treatment. Do not be alarmed by the following lists of side effects. You may not experience any of them

Less serious side effects Less serious side effects What to do headache, fatigue, fever and chills weakness sleeplessness stomach pain, discomfort or constipation muscular ache and pain or joint pain agitation, irritability, mood swings, or disturbance in attention hair loss/change in hair texture, itching, rash or dry or redness of the skin sore throat, cough, shortness of breath back pain. Speak to your doctor if you have any of these less serious side effects and they worry you. These are mild side effects of the medicine and are usually short-lived. If they continue or are severe, tell your doctor.

Serious side effects Serious side effects What to do signs of anaemia such as tiredness, being short of breath and looking pale signs of liver decompensation such as a swollen abdomen lower back or side pain severe stomach pain fever or chills beginning after a few weeks of treatment persistent cough or shortness of breath depression confusion, trouble sleeping, thinking or concentrating] These could be signs of a serious allergic reaction. itchy rash, swelling of the face, lips or tongue, wheezing or troubled breathing or faintness. Call your doctor straight away, or go straight to the Emergency Department at your nearest hospital if you notice any of these serious side effects. Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you notice anything else that may be making you feel unwell. Other side effects not listed here may occur in some people.

Check with your doctor as soon as possible if you have any problems while using the combination therapy, even if you do not think the problems are connected with the medicines.

Reporting side effects After you have received medical advice for any side effects you experience, you can report side effects to the Therapeutic Goods Administration online at www.tga.gov.au/reporting-problems . By reporting side effects, you can help provide more information on the safety of this medicine. Always make sure you speak to your doctor or pharmacist before you decide to stop taking any of your medicines.

Product details

This medicine is only available with a doctor's prescription.

What IBAVYR contains Active ingredient (main ingredient) Ribavirin Other ingredients (inactive ingredients) Povidone Croscarmellose sodium Microcrystalline cellulose Crospovidone Silicon dioxide Magnesium stearate

Opadry White 03F180000 (PI 109444) Potential allergens - Do not take this medicine if you are allergic to any of these ingredients.

What IBAVYR looks like IBAVYR 200 mg tablets are white, capsule-shaped, coated tablet, debossed with "200" on one side and nothing on the other side. The 200 mg tablets are packaged in HDPE bottles of 100 tablets. AUST R 243632 - 200 mg tablets
1. The current standoff is a reaction to a long list of government abuses. In order to understand this situation, it is necessary to examine the history of the area and the conflict. The area was originally inhabited by the Paiute Native American tribe. President Grant allowed white settlers into the area in 1876, and the Paiutes were forced off their land in 1878. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt created an Indian reservation devoid of Native Americans as a political scheme to create a wildlife preserve and breeding ground for birds. This would become the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.In 1964, the Hammond family purchased their ranch in the Harney Basin. The purchase included approximately 6,000 acres of private property along with four grazing rights on public land, a small ranch house, and three water rights. It was already one of the last ranches in the area, as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had been buying up ranches and adding them to the wildlife refuge. In the 1970s, these agencies revoked grazing permits and raised costs for the ones that remained, making some ranches unsustainable. In the 1980s, the agencies diverted water to flood ranch properties near the Malheur Lakes, then drained the land once the ranchers were forced to sell their submerged lands.Starting in the 1990s, the agencies started targeting the Hammond family specifically. Susie Hammond researched the situation and discovered a 1975 FWS study which found that the no use policies of the FWS on the refuge were causing wildlife to leave the refuge and move to private property, to the extent that private property had four times as many ducks and geese as the refuge and migratory birds were 13 times more likely to land on private property than on the refuge. The Hammonds also obtained a new deed for water rights from the State of Oregon, which the BLM and FWS unsuccessfully challenged in State Circuit Court. The revelation of this study and the court case led to many vindictive acts by government agents.The next action by BLM and FWS was an arbitrary revocation of one of the Hammonds grazing permits. When a federal judge ruled that the federal government does not have to observe Oregon state laws which require no obligation on the part of an owner to keep his or her livestock within a fence or to maintain control over the movement of the livestock, the BLM and FWS forced the Hammonds to either build and maintain miles of fences or have their private property rights infringed upon. The Hammonds were forced to remove cattle from their ranch because they could not afford to fence the land. The Hammonds had to sell their ranch and home to get another property with enough grass to feed their cattle. This property also had grazing rights on public land which would also be arbitrarily revoked later. The Hammonds would eventually regain their original ranch after the person who bought it from them died from a heart attack.In 2001, Steven Hammond called the fire department to inform them that he was going to perform a routine prescribed burn on their ranch. This is a common method used to remove weeds and increase productivity on ranches. The fire spread to public land and burned 127 acres of grass, but the Hammonds put out the fire without help. In 2006, lightning started a wildfire on federal lands which threatened the Hammond familys land. Steven set a backfire on their private property to stop the wildfire, which was successful. The next day, federal agents accused Steven and Dwight Hammond of multiple charges, which the Harney County District Attorney chose not to prosecute. Dwight and Susan Hammonds home was raided by federal agents in September 2006, who informed the Hammonds that they were looking for evidence that would connect them to the fires.there are some good points in this article. the rest of number one and the other eight are here
UK healthcare scheduling expert BookWise Solutions Limited has expanded its services in Southmead Hospital in Bristol by installing a brand new, unique software package in Dialysis Services at the hospitals renal department.

The growth follows on from the ongoing use of BookWises Education scheduling software in its Learning and Research Centre.

The software has been specifically designed for Southmead Hospital, as BookWises managing director, Denise Williamson explains:

BookWise Renal is a unique, innovative software system that is streamlined, improves departmental communications and frees up clinical time. With renal patients needing three slots a week to dialyse, it can naturally become a somewhat complex process. Our software helps simplify this and identifies available slots close to the patients home. Weve enjoyed a professional relationship for over ten years now and were really excited to be extending our offering in Southmead Hospital yet further.

BookWise started providing software packages to the NHS and corporate sectors in 2001 and its products are in use at many hospitals across the UK, including The Queens Hospital, Burton-on-Trent, Royal Derby Hospital, Nottingham City Hospital, Kings Mill Hospital, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester General Hospital and Glenfield Hospital, Leicester.

In addition to specialist scheduling software products with a focus on education and study, BookWise supplies the healthcare sector with oncology, outpatient and renal care products.
Dr. Ben Nowell THOUGHT LEADERS SERIES ...insight from the worlds leading experts

Please can you outline the recent pilot program that evaluated the integral participation of patients in the development of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for rheumatoid arthritis?

The study, When patients write the guidelines: Patient panel recommendations for the treatment of RA, published in Arthritis Research & Care, demonstrated the feasibility of developing CPG recommendations based on a voting panel composed entirely of patients.

Notably, it showed that patients developed nearly the same recommendations as physician-dominated panels for questions (n=18) where there was evidence warranting moderate to high confidence.

The patient panel developed recommendations for 16 out of the 18 questions and chose not to vote on two questions because they felt that they did not have enough direct data to support a recommendation.

For 13 of the remaining 16 questions, the patient panel voted in the same direction as the physician-dominated panel. The strength of the recommendation (conditional vs. strong) was the same across both panels for 10 out of these 13 recommendations.

Participating patients were recruited from the Arthritis Power Patient Governors group and trained in advance in the identical methods used by participants who create the official ACR patient treatment guidelines in order to conduct an accurate recreation of the guidelines approval process.

When there were differences between the patient-panel and physician-dominated panel (the typical make-up of the ACR CPG panel), they usually revolved around risk vs. benefit.

Patients weighed non-serious adverse events, such as gastrointestinal discomfort, more troublesome than physicians, for example.

On the other hand, they were also willing to inconveniently take more pills if there was a notable efficacy uptick with fewer side effect risks for a particular treatment option.

This study is the result of a close collaboration among lead author Liana Fraenkel, M.D. of the Yale University School of Medicine, the American College of Rheumatology, CreakyJoints, and many Arthritis Power Patient Governors who participated in the project and contributed to the analysis.

Arthritis Power is the first ever patient-led, patient-generated, patient-centered research registry for arthritis. It is a joint project between CreakyJoints, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

What are the benefits of including patients in the development of CPGs?

While healthcare provider priorities often revolve around clinical outcomes or concerns, little has been done to explore which concerns are the most pressing to the rheumatic disease patient community.

As this study demonstrated, while the priorities and risk-benefit valuations made by patients may differ from physicians, patients have the ability to understand and evaluate evidence similar to physicians. Therefore, it is important that panels that develop and update CPGs include this perspective in order to address the needs of patients.

How did the pilot study differ in terms of the number of patients typically involved in determining the final guideline recommendations?

The American College of Rheumatology has been really forward thinking in including patients in the CPG updating process.

Currently, the ACR invites two patients to join their clinical practice guidelines evaluation panel. In fact, Seth Ginsberg, president and co-founder of CreakyJoints, sat on this years panel as a patient and as a representative of the arthritis patient community.

The patient panel pilot program included 10 patients and we worked directly with the ACR to implement this pilot study.

Representatives from the professional organization provided the patient training, ran the evaluation session, and managed the technology to record the recommendations.

The ACR recognizes the needs to include patient perspectives and to have them weigh in on key issues, particularly since the CPGs affect treatment decisions and, possibly, access to treatments.

Was the pilot a success?

Yes. The pilot study demonstrated that, with the same training, rheumatology patients are able to participate on a guidelines panel. Patients received a comprehensive training regarding how to evaluate evidence.

Patient recommendations mirrored the conclusions drawn by the physician-dominated panel working on the official 2015 ACR Guidelines for Treatment of RA, which was published in parallel with this study.

While we knew there was support from guideline developers to hear the patient voice, as evidenced by the ACR already including two representatives on the existing panel, there were questions regarding how effectively an all-patient panel could be.

The study demonstrates that patients are fully able to participate in an exercise that tangibly affects treatment and access to treatment of RA. Patient communities across other conditions have an important role to play in setting the standards for treatment.

How did patient recommendations compare to physician dominated panels for questions where there was evidence warranting moderate to high confidence?

In this study, the patient panel only evaluated 18 of the 74 questions evaluated by the official ACR panel. Of those, the patient panel determined that 16 had enough evidence in order to make recommendations.

For 13 of those questions, the patient panel voted in the same direction as the physician-dominated panel. The strength of the recommendation (conditional vs. strong) was the same across both panels for 10 out of these 13 recommendations.

What areas did patients and physicians differ in opinion?

Notable differences typically came down to how patients rated quality of life (e.g., minimizing gastrointestinal side effects), convenience and potential treatment benefit.

For example, the physician-dominated panel voted conditionally against triple (versus mono-DMARD) therapy whereas patients voted conditionally for using triple therapy for DMARD-naive RA patients with at least moderate disease activity.

The patient panel concluded that the increased chance of significant improvements (e.g., remission) associated with triple therapy and the lack of significant added toxicity found in studies justified the use of three medications.

Even though the patients differed from physicians in their recommendation, they labelled their recommendation only as conditional to reflect that some patients would differ when weighing the practical and psychological burdens of taking three medications.

Another difference, the patient panel voted for using tofacitinib over methotrexate in DMARD-naive RA patients, whereas the physician-dominated panel voted against using tofacitinib in this population.

Ultimately patients voted in favor of tofacitinib because of the statistically significant incremental benefits associated with tofacitinib and its lower risk of gastrointestinal side effects (a side effect felt to have a significant impact on quality of life) compared with methotrexate.

What impact do you think this study will have on future panels?

CPGs have a huge impact on the practice of rheumatology  from both a clinical and access perspective  therefore, understanding patient preferences and priorities is vital.

This study demonstrates that patients can effectively contribute to a process that directly impacts the practice of RA treatment.

Given the ACRs direct involvement with the study, were hopeful that patients will continue to be part of their CPG panel and in greater numbers in the future.

What are CreakyJoints plans for the future and how do you think patient recommendations will influence rheumatoid arthritis treatments going forwards?

CreakyJoints, part of the not-for-profit Global Healthy Living Foundation, is a dynamic education, support, advocacy and patient-centered research organization for people with all forms of arthritis and rheumatic disease. We have over 80,000 members worldwide and we offer all of them the opportunity to participate in research and influence the future of arthritis treatments.

Specifically, CreakyJoints, in collaboration with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and supported by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), created Arthritis Power, the first ever patient-led, patient-generated, patient-centered research registry for arthritis.

Arthritis Power is part of PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, a large, highly representative, national network for conducting clinical outcomes research.

Using a web-based and mobile application, and focusing on rheumatoid arthritis as well as other musculoskeletal conditions, the goal of Arthritis Power is to collect PRO health data from tens of thousands of arthritis patients to support future comparative treatment research.

Arthritis Power includes a committee of people living with forms of autoimmune arthritis called Patient Governors, who identify research needs for study development and prioritize research requests from the CreakyJoints patient community around the world.

Its from that group that we primarily recruited for this particular guidelines study. Looking ahead to 2016, Arthritis Power will undergo a relaunch as we enhance the interface to be even easier to use.

Well also continue to offer patients the opportunity to track their health (and send that data directly to their health care team) and participate in research studies via notifications on the web-based and mobile platform.

Also, with support from PCORI and in partnership with the RAND Corporation, CreakyJoints is currently conducting a training initiative focused on research into joint replacement implant device safety and selection.

The title of the initiative is Bringing Stakeholders Together for Engagement in Research for the Selection of Arthroplasty Implant Devices (BeTTER SAID). CreakyJoints continues evolving to be both a patient support, advocacy and research organization.

Where can readers find more information?

Arthritis Power is the first ever patient-led, patient-generated, patient-centered research registry for arthritis. Focusing on rheumatoid arthritis as well as other musculoskeletal conditions, the goal of Arthritis Power is to collect health data from tens of thousands of arthritis patients to support future research to compare treatments, identify new ones, and, perhaps, find elusive cures. To learn more and join Arthritis Power, visit www.ArthritisPower.org

About Dr Nowell

W. Benjamin Nowell, PhD, is Director, Patient-Centered Research for CreakyJoints. After graduating with a BA from Gonzaga University in 1994, Ben served as the Pacific Regions regional team leader for AmeriCorps*VISTA Integrated Training and consulted as a core curriculum writer to redesign AmeriCorps*VISTA training across the U.S.

He co-founded a leadership program for AmeriCorps members in Washington and Oregon that recently graduated its twelfth class of service leaders.

Prior receiving his PhD from Columbia University School of Social Work in 2014, Ben earned his Masters in Social Welfare Management and Planning (M.S.W.) from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004.

He spent the next three years helping develop the Regional Stroke Centre at The Ottawa Hospital in Ottawa. Since moving to New York City in 2007, he has been involved in the community as a New York City chapter leader of AmeriCorps Alums and a partner with UN representatives to train staff on HIV policy and preventive health.
How Many Diyas Are Used on Diwali? Check Out the Significance of Each Here
Asimov said: If he was God, why did people have to make up stories about him after he died



This is the unsupported, undocumented statement--your own opinion--that I am challenging. Not whether you accept the Creation or Flood account. You can't prove to me that the the writers of the New Testament made up anything after Christ died. You can only say what you think. That's all I was pointing out. Click to expand...

Think about this, nearly every atheist believed in God, they came to atheism by reason.Very few go the other way.The only evidence of the stories of the New Testament, is the stories of the New Testament, and they appear in a collection which includes magical fiction.That is quite a difference from appearing in a collection that is God Inspired and every word is true.Biblical inerrancy only works if every word IS true.Once you start pealing off stories as magical fiction, you turn God's Word into a collection of myths.Those aren't my rules, that's from the nuns.
Tina Dutta celebrates the success of the show with the entire cast and crew.
When explaining why she refused to eat white bread, a friend of my explained it this way.



If you're walking down the street and a man with a gun forces you to strip until you are entirely naked, then gives you your socks back, have you been robbed or enriched ??



None of what you posted changes the validity of what I said. We have lost TENS of millions of manufacturing jobs. According to the articles you posted we're getting about 1.4 million of those jobs back over the next DECADE. So have we been robbed or enriched ?? The bigger problem is the baby boomers are retiring, taking with them the skills and tribal knowledge gained over life times of doing their jobs.



One of them also clearly states the very industries involved shot themselves in the foot by stopping their investment in training. It's not that we can't do the jobs. We just need the training.
Elections and voting in Boundary County will take a technological leap forward this year. Two months from today is the Idaho Presidential Primary election, scheduled for March 8. Boundary County voters on that day will find there has been a substantial change in how they cast their ballots. Up until now, ballots in Boundary County were counted by humans, and by hand. Four or five poll workers staffed the vote counting rooms. One worker would read each ballot aloud, one at a time, while a second worker observed closely as a witness to make sure the ballot was read correctly. Two or three other poll workers would tally votes as the ballots were read. After every 25 ballots, they would stop, and the workers tallying the votes would compare and balance their counts to ensure all were recording the same totals. Poll workers in the counting rooms were not allowed to leave the room until all votes were counted. This system led to some long nights for poll workers and for county officials in charge of elections. "In years past, we have been in the office till 4:00 a.m. waiting for results from polls," said Glenda Poston, Boundary County Clerk/Auditor/Recorder. New System makes things easier That shouldn't happen this next election. Boundary County now has seven brand new electronic vote scanner/tabulator machines, and officials plan to deploy those machines for the first time in the next election, which is the March 8 Presidential Primary. So how will counting votes now happen, in 2016 and beyond, with these new machines? Here is the new scenario: You travel to your usual polling location, and check in and verify that you are a registered voter, just like in the past. You receive your ballot from the friendly election workers, proceed to the voting booth, and mark your ballot, all just like in the past. Once your ballot is marked, that's where things change. Once your ballot is marked, you place it in a "secrecy sleeve" (if you wish), step over to the county's new electronic scanner/tabulator, and insert your ballot into the machine. The electronic scanner/tabulator will thank you for voting, and an election official confirms that you have voted. The counting magic starts once the polls close for the day at 8:00 p.m. At that time, workers will run reports from the tabulators, will post results on the doors of the precinct polling sites, and the County Clerk's office will be notified of the precincts' results. Final county-wide totals will be tallied by staff at the County Clerk's office, and all the vote counting is completed that quick. Ms. Poston is hoping to receive reports from individual precincts at her office at the Courthouse within half an hour after the polls close, by 8:30 p.m., with final results calculated and posted by 9:30 or 10:00 p.m. Much better than 4:00 a.m. The ballots used with these new machines will look a little different. Perhaps one of the main differences is that instead of the voter marking a box next to a candidate's name or a next to a question, as done with previous ballots, voters will now have an oval to fill in. These ovals are what the electronic scanner reads. Details on the new electronic machines The new electronic machines are DS 200 Precinct Tabulation Scanners, which the county purchased last October from ES&S Elections Systems and Software of Omaha, Nebraska. Ms. Poston says she has seen these tabulators at several conferences over the years, and discussions have been held from time to time about possibly getting some for use here in Boundary County. "We have talked off and on about this type of tabulator. Counties smaller than ours and larger than ours have used this tabulator for several years, and have nothing but positive comments regarding its use and reliability." Acquiring the new machines In March 2015, a representative from ES&S Elections Systems and Software traveled to Boundary County to demonstrate the machine for the County Clerk's office and other election officials. Following this demonstration, "We received nothing but positive comments," said Ms. Poston. "So we started to proceed with purchase arrangements." The seven machines purchased, one for each of Boundary County's voting precincts, cost a total of $51,516.67. Although the county made the original payment to procure the machines, the purchase price was fully reimbursed 100% about a week afterward by the Idaho Secretary of State office. The state funds used to reimburse Boundary County came from Idaho's Election Consolidation Fund, which is a reimbursement program established by the Idaho Legislature to pay for county expenses to implement the 2009 Election Consolidation laws. The new Election Consolidation laws of 2009 brought significant changes to elections in Idaho, among other things putting the County Clerks in charge of running elections for all government entities within a county (with just a few exceptions), and providing funds from the state to provide for the counties to implement Consolidation, including the purchase of voting equipment. Election officials will be ready Now that Boundary County has these machines, and the election staff has had all the necessary instruction and training, election officials plan a test run in the days just prior to the real March 8 Presidential Primary election. In addition, staff from ES&S Elections Systems will be onsite, ready to provide technical support or to troubleshoot as may be necessary. Ms. Poston notes that these machines will likely not be used for elections that historically have a low turnout, or that involve simple Yes/No questions for voters, such as municipal elections or school district voting. Those elections will probably be run with the traditional paper ballots. So, hopefully, no more late, late night and early hours of the morning vote tabulations for Boundary County's election officials and poll workers. Ms. Poston has an observation on that, also: "I would like to compliment our poll workers. They are dedicated to their job, and they do a wonderful job. But it is hard to find poll workers and then expect them to be onsite for 15 to 17 hours. Our goal is to improve this process, to get the results out earlier, and to relieve some of the hours needed to be a poll worker." Modernizing Boundary County's voting system with these newly acquired machines should go a long way toward accomplishing those goals.
Jit Samaroo dead at 65

Born on February 24, 1950, Jit grew up in Surrey Village, Lopinot the seventh of 13 children.

From an early age he was into music and played the cuatro and guitar during the family parang limes. At age ten, Samaroo joined a pan-round-the-neck side called Village Boys but that did not last long and when his mother (Lakia) died in 1961, he was charged with taking care of his younger siblings.

He formed a band to keep his brothers and sisters together.

Jit said he got his musical genes from his mother who played the dholak. At age 14, Samaroo told people he was a slave to the steelpan and joined Lever Brothers Canboulay Steelband, whose musical director, a Mr White, encouraged him to do music and start arranging calypsos for the band. Jit also drew some knowledge of music from a few Canadian missionaries.

Samaroo later began moulding a unit called the Samaroo Kids which later morphed into the Samaroo Jets that would become one of the most successful small steel orchestras in TT. They were enlisted for months, playing on weekends at the Hilton poolside.

In 1972, he took part in the ping pong solo category of the Steelband Music Festival and won hands down.

ENTER RENEGADES

It was around that time that Renegades tuner Bertrand Butch Kellman introduced Samaroo to the bands management and he became their arranger. Jit became one of the best arrangers, players, and composers in the industry.

He had a long and fruitful relationship with Renegades, the time he spent on Charlotte Street he made the band into a household name winning the National Panorama title on nine occasions.

He was the only arranger to win the title three times straight with a conventional steel orchestra and also had three back-to-back wins.

With bpTT Renegades, Jit recorded the first hat-trick by any steelband, having won the 1995 Panorama with Four Lara Four by De Fosto; 1996 with Pan in a Rage, again by De Fosto, and 1997 with Guitar Pan by Lord Kitchener. Samaroo was also winning accolades for his musical ability as he was honoured with the Humming Bird Medal of Merit in 1987, and then again in 1995 with the Chaconia Medal (Silver).

In 2003 the University of the West Indies bestowed an honorary doctorate on Samaroo, all this while he was still at the helm of Renegades. In 2007 he retired from Renegades, and wanted to give back to the community in Surrey Village, and so he formed Supernovas Steel Orchestra, but was never able to carry on because of illness.

His son Amrit, and other members of the family, fulfilled Samaroos dream when Supernovas competed and won the National Panorama Title in the Small Band category. Pan Trinbagos president Keith Diaz told Newsday, Jit Samaroo was one of the great Panorama arrangers of our time, he was exceptional and his achievements with Renegades is a testament to this.

DIAZ, MARCANO IN SHOCK

He was my personal friend for 30 years, and I extend condolences to his son, Amrit, and all his family on my personal behalf and on behalf of the pan movement.

Jit was quiet and humble, and he made his music do all the talking.

I am very glad we at Pan Trinbago were able to do a benefit concert for him last year. I am honoured to have known a man like Jit Samaroo, Diaz said.

Renegades President Michael Marcano was in a state of shock as he said, Jit Samaroo is an icon to this band and the pan movement.

He made Renegades into a musical force winning nine Panoramas in 15 years. He was like our godfather and we recognised this, which is why you can walk into the panyard and see the Jit Samaroo Wing. We named the building after him in his honour. I am heartbroken at his death, but what I can say is that we will be doing something meaningful for Jit. Tonight we will light candles and meet and discuss what we plan to do, Marcano said.

Captain Candice Andrews said death was inevitable, but when it arrives, it is still painful. And Jits passing at this time when we are preparing for Panorama is even worse. Also joining in paying tribute to Jit, was veteran journalist, Newsdays John Babb. While expressing deep sympathy to the family, Babb recalled how he and Jit grew up in Arouca, where he went to school during which Babbs wife, Mrs Lautnie Babb was Jits teacher at Arouca Boys RC School. Samaroo was immortalised in song last year with a Mark Loquan composition called Dr Samaroo which was sung by Anslem Douglas with lyrics by Gregory Ballantyne.

Following are Jit Samaroos victories at Panorama 1982Pan Explosion; 1984 Sweet Pan; 1985Pan Night and Day; 1989Somebody; 1990 Iron Man; 1993Mystery Band; 1995Four Lara Four; 1996 Pan in a Rage and 1997Guitar Pan.
New SSA chief appointed

Robinson served as interim head of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) under the former Peoples Partnership (PP) government. In announcing Robinsons appointment, Cuffie stated, Mr Robinson will be responsible for an expanded remit at the SSA which would include broader law enforcement coordination and intelligence functions. Restructing of the SSA will involve integrating functions of the National Operations Centre (NOC) and the National Security Training Academy (NSTA) within a revised structure of the SSA.

The director of the SSA is normally recruited through the National Security Council (NSC), Cuffie said. The NSC is chaired by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

Asked if Robinson is qualified for the post, Cuffie replied, Colonel Robinson has an impressive track record that is not unknown to the national community. He gave the assurance that, under this Cabinet, in terms of making decisions, we do our background checks and he would have been vetted through the NSC and all government operations to ensure we have somebody who would fit well within the organisation. The first major scandal under the PP took place with the controversial appointment of Reshmi Ramnarine in January 2011. Ramnarine resigned within days of her appointment after it was proven she was unqualified for the post.

Asked if alleged abuse of intelligence gathering at the SSA would be addressed, Cuffie said, That is why the mandate of Colonel Robinson is to lead a restructured organisation. In 2011, Persad-Bissessar claimed the now defunct Security Intelligence Agency (SIA) was being used to tap the telephone conversations of public and private citizens under the former Patrick Manning administration. Saying the goal was for the SSA to be the premier intelligence gathering organisation in the country, Cuffie said, Ultimately, everything working together should lead to a reduction in crime and dealing with the detection (of crime).
Catholic education will help in life

He spoke at the school on Pembroke Street in Port-of-Spain, for the institutions 2014-2015 awards ceremony. He explained to the students that the purpose of their education was to help them become better daughters and sons, better sisters and brothers, better classmates, better best friends, and better women and men.

Your school motto points the way to how you can live, and live more deeply your values integrity, service respect and community that you inhabit your school motto - sapientia et sciencia. Benjamin also explained to the students the meaning of Wisdom and Knowledge and said, The word wisdom comes from the Latin word sapientia. The very sound is delicious.

Sapientia actually means tasting knowledge  knowledge that is delightful, and not merely notional or abstract. It is like the experience of tasting a Julie mango, a very different experience from reading about it in a dictionary. He continued, The Gift of Knowledge gives us a true idea of the created world in relation to God: it is not a substitute for God, as we tend to make it. The created world is a stepping-stone to God, and manifests God. Without that orientation, the created world is sheer vanity, or illusion. Benjamin said the gift of wisdom provides everyone with Gods view of things, a kind of divine perspective on reality that penetrates through events and perceives the divine presence and action at work, even in very tragic and painful situations. To see God in suffering is indeed a high, if not the highest and most difficult level of the Gift of Wisdom.

That is what Blessed Anne Marie and St Paul did. It was Clive Belgrave and other members of St.

Vincent de Paul when they conceptualised a half-way house as a transition for HIV children who had grown into adults. He emphasised that the gift of wisdom is the source of the Beatitude of the Peacemakers, those who have established peace within themselves, and are also able to establish peace around them  whether it is in their families, communities, or the workplace.

Benjamin urged the students not to take what they have for granted saying, If we really do pay attention to the SJCs school motto then we can grasp what our educational opportunity really is. To go to school is a privilege. To go to a Catholic school or is a responsibility. Three students received the St Joseph trophy for best students in the CSE C and CAPE examination.

Jihanne Shepherd placed sixth in the region in CSE C, while Malika Grant was awarded for the top CAPE Unit One student and Emma Pounder,
Son: Dads death shocked us all

We are experiencing a gamut of emotions at this time although we knew that my father was in pain and not able to express himself for some time, nothing could really prepare you for when death comes, said Amrit, one of Samaroos four children. Yesterday, relatives and close friends shared memories of the ace pan arranger even as members of the steelband and cultural fraternity sent words of comfort through FaceBook and other social networking sites.

Amrit told Newsday his mother Balmatie, who had been his fathers constant companion, was struggling to come to terms with the loss. He said caregivers had assisted the family in caring for his father over the years.

Samaroo was awarded the Hummingbird Medal of Merit (Silver) in 1987 as well as the Chaconia Medal (Silver) in 1995 for his contribution to the culture and the steelband movement. In 2003, Samaroo was bestowed with an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies.

Yesterday, BP Trinidad and Tobago described Samaroo as an icon of the steelband movement, who achieved great success as a musician and arranger.

His relationship with the BP Renegades steel orchestra began in 1971 and he led the band to nine Panorama wins, becoming in the process the first and only band in the history of the competition to win the coveted title on three successive occasions, Danielle Jones-Hunte, BPs corporate communications manager, said in a statement.

Jit has for decades been part of the bpTT family and will also be remembered for his role as leader, mentor, advisor and friend to members of the BP Renegades Senior and Junior orchestras and everyone else who had the honour to meet him and work with him.

We offer our condolences to the family and friends of Jit and also to the members of the BP Renegades. Pan Trinbago President Keith Diaz hailed Samaroo as one of the countrys greatest arrangers. Diaz recalled that Samaroo was barely more than a child when he began to associate with the pan. He mastered the instruments but his favourite was the tenor pan. He was a great soloist, he said, adding he was inspired by Samaroos humility and incisiveness. Diaz regarded Miss Supporter, as one of Samaroos greatest arrangements.

Amrit observed that many of the countrys cultural icons have passed away during the Carnival season. He said the family will celebrate his fathers legacy. It is a challenge to carry on but it is something that we have to do. It has moved beyond competition for us. It is about the legacy, he said.
Bodies pile up at morgue

Over the weekend, there were 24 bodies at the mortuary and families refused to claim the bodies until being issued a death certificate.

Newsday understands that on Monday some families eventually claimed their loved ones bodies through the intervention of funeral homes who were able to secure some of the death certificates.

Yesterday, CEO of the South West Regional Health Authority Anil Gosine confirmed the pile up of bodies over the weekend and said, it was brought to my attention, it affected us over the weekend, some families did not want to move bodies without death certificates, that has been alleviated up to today, we no longer a problem. The Ministry of Legal Affairs is the body you need to talk to about this situation. Newsday understands that the Ministry of Legal affairs set up an office at the San Fernando General Hospital about 20 years ago to accommodate families of patients who died at the San Fernando General Hospital. However, only one person is now carrying out duties of issuing death certificates and because that person was so overwhelmed, no certificates were issued and the pile up began.

Newsday contacted Stuart Young Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney and Legal Affairs who said, This is the first that I am hearing of this situation and about a suggested back log. I will now have to investigate and if in fact there is any issue we will work expeditiously to resolve it. MP for Tabaquite Suruj Rambachan also confirmed yesterday that several of his constituents had complained about bodies of their loved ones remaining at the mortuary because of their inability to secure death certificates.

He requested that the Minister of Legal Affairs to intervene urgently on a matter of relatives not being able to get death certificates for relatives who died at the San Fernando General Hospital due to a lack of staff. He said checks with the authorities at SFGH reveal that the contract of a person hired to deal with these certificates had come to an end and was not renewed. As a result there was only one person tasked to issue the legal document.

Attorney General, Faris Al-Rawi, within whose constituency the hospital is located, told Newsday he heard of the situation and decided to visit the hospital himself and speak with administrative officials. He has since instructed that a second person from the Ministry of Legal Affairs be sent to the hospital to assist in clearing up the backlog.

Al-Rawi said the situation arose during the Christmas period as a result of just one official being there to issue death certificates.

He said there were a lot of short term employment at the Ministry of Legal Affairs under the last administration. Some of those contracts came to an end and the permanent secretary was now dealing with the situation.
Cap-de-Ville follows La Breas example --- protests

And while the early morning protest was not as fiery as the ones in La Brea on Monday, which saw four Government MPs rushing to placate residents of that PNM stronghold, the protest in Cap-de- Ville which is also in a constituency that is controlled by the PNM (Pt Fortin) not one Government official came to speak to residents.

Barry Cardinal, a resident of the area minced no words as he expressed his anger. Look at the condition of the road! Every single day, WASA digging up the road, digging up the road and not fixing it. We are happy they come to repair leaking underground lines but they have no right to leave the road mash up for us to be inconvenienced, he said.

Its plenty wear and tear on our vehicles and productive time lose being stuck in traffic as motorists slowly navigate through the bumps and craters left by WASA, he said.

Another resident said that WASA should instead stand for Wrecking All Surface Areas. Resident Jason Guerra described the situation in the following way, The reason for this protest is because of the terrible condition of the roads leading to Cap-de-Ville in Point Fortin. Efforts to reach WASA officials for comment yesterday proved unsuccessfu
Ministry hints at assisting fire victims

Police sources are still working on the theory that the house on Piquette #2 was burnt down at the command of an incarcerated gangster.

Relatives who wished not to be named told Newsday yesterday that they are still trying to put the pieces of their lives back together.

Family members however noted that they feel safe where they are staying because they noticed an increase in police presence in the area.

One resident said, at about 2.30 am, on Wednesday she was going to use the bathroom when she saw a bright flash of light and heard an explosion when she investigated she realised that a car outside her home was on fire. The blaze quickly spread to the house, burning it to the ground. Dianne Victor, one of the other possible benefactors of the Ministrys assistance told Newsday that while she is making preparations for her family to begin rebuilding their lives but without the proper paperwork from officials in the fire service, she believes that getting assistance from the government would take a long time.
It was my personal decision

The officers in question are Ag Deputy Police Commissioner Ann Marie Alleyne-Daly and Senior Superintendent David Abraham.

In an affidavit sworn to by Williams dated, December 18, he stated the reasons why he took a personal decision to retain the officers services. The affidavit was in response to an order by High Court Judge Justice Carol Gobin in a judicial review matter filed by Inspectors Anand Ramesar and Michael Seales of the Police Social Welfare Association (PSWA), which questioned Williams decision to retain the officers services.

The court gave the Acting Commissioner until December 18, to state who were the persons who should have been on pre-retirement leave, but are still on active duty. The name of Snr Supt Johnny Abraham was given as the only person to proceed on pre-retirement leave on January 1, while it was stated that Alleyne- Daly is expected to proceed on pre-retirement on February 1, and Snr Supt David Abraham, from March 1. According to the Affidavit by the Acting CoP, neither Alleyne-Daly nor Abraham are currently on pre-retirement leave. Williams stated in his affidavit that he kept Alleyne-Daly, until January 31, to complete duties regarding her chairing of the Promotion Advisory Board.

He said Alleyne-Daly previously sat as chairperson of the Board during the period on or about December 2014 to June 2015, and therefore acquired invaluable knowledge and experience in the interview process.

He said the issue of conducting interviews for officers seeking promotion to the rank of Corporal required urgent attention and had been a source of complaints by Second Division officers to the Police Service Commission (PSC). I decided that the most efficient way of dealing with this longstanding problem was to appoint Mrs Alleyne-Daly to chair the Board for the purpose of conducting interviews for promotion to the rank of Sergeant in order to develop and settle a merit list.

This merit list is the primary indicator in determining promotion of officers. Regarding his decision to retain Snr Supt David Abraham, Williams stated Abraham has been Divisional Commander of the Northern Division since July 18, 2011. He said prior to Abraham assuming leadership of Northern Division, it was the Division with the highest incidents of serious crime in the country.

He said since Abraham assumed leadership, there was a substantial and continuous reduction in serious crimes in this Division.

I decided it was in the best interest of the Police Service that Mr Abraham remain as Divisional Head until the end of February.

This period was chosen since the Carnival Season is usually expected to be a period with heightened criminal activity. Thus, there is not only a greater demand for police services, but the presence of an experienced officer would go a long way towards managing what would usually be a difficult situation. Mr Abraham will proceed on pre-retirement leave from the March 1, 2016, Williams said in his affidavit.
US Military Really Didn't Want

You to Know What's in New

Washington Post Investigation
Muslim Immigrants Riot in Italy

10,000 MUSLIM EXTREMISTS RIOT AND CHASE NON MUSLIMS IN LONDON

Muslims riot in Paris, France

Muslim riots in German immigration center

Muslims riot in Athens, Greece





To support Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, or John Kasich is to support a continuance of Obama's illegal immigration tyranny which includes giving legal status and work permits to tens of millions who have invaded our borders, and panders to the Chamber of Commerce, the Club for Growth and our Global Governance Crowd




(Newser)  When his child is born sometime in the coming weeks, Kensuke Miyazaki will become the first Japanese politician to take paternity leave, the BBC reports. It's been an unpopular decision, to say the least. "Does he realize that if a lawmaker goes on paternity leave, his voters' voice won't be reflected in parliament?" the BBC quotes one critic. "Paternity leave is for workers," states another critic. "Lawmakers are not workers." The secretary general of Miyazaki's own party even criticized his decision, according to the Guardian. There will be a problem during an extremely tense situation if one vote can make a difference in the outcome, he warned. Miyazaki only plans to take a month off for his child's birth.

New fathers in Japan are allowed a full year of paid leave, earning nearly 60% of their salary over that time, the BBC reports. But only 2.3% of Japanese men actually used any of their paternity time in 2015. One of the reasons, according to the Guardian, is pressure from employers (as we've seen in Miyazaki's case). Japan's government wants to get paternity-leave rates up to 13% by 2020. "It is still a long way off, so I thought by declaring that I want to take paternity leave as a lawmaker, I could set an example and cause a bit of a stir," Miyazaki tells the BBC. According to the Guardian, an increase in paternity leave would increase the number of women in the workplace, boosting both the economy and gender equality. The BBC notes it could also help increase Japan's low birthrates. (Read more Japan stories.)
(Newser)  When renowned quilt maker Joe Hadley, who lived in a small cottage on the outskirts of Warden in the UK in 1826, was found brutally stabbed to death one cold January morning, the mystery captured a nation. The crime unsolved to this day, his story was retold in the Monthly Chronicle of North-Country Lore and Legend 1887 (as recounted by the blog PieceNPeace), which notes that his cottage was finally taken down in 1872, "so that all landmarks of the mournful tragedy have vanished, leaving nothing to recall the circumstance but the silent page of the local historian." Well, not exactly nothing. The Evening Chronicle in July reported that old maps, sketches, and reports of the crime enabled the Beamish Museum in County Durham to locate the approximate location of the home.

Now a team of community archaeologists has managed to unearth actual remnants of Hadley's home, reports the Evening Chronicle as spotted by the Week. "As archaeologists it's extremely rare to be working on a site inhabited by a named individual about whom we know so much," project officer John Castling said. "It's even more unusual that the individual isn't a royal or a wealthy landowner. It gives us a poignant and tangible link to the day-to-day life of an ordinary working person in the early 19th century." So far the team has found floor pieces, pottery, remnants of the cottage's fireplace, and a "silver groat coin given as Maundy money to the poor." The museum intends to recreate the cottage; "visitors will not only be able to stand in a replica of Joes cottage, but they can stand on the flagstones Joe would have stood on," says Castling. (Over in Ireland, these bones might help archaeologists settle a controversy.)
waitingtables said: Stop blaming an entire religion when the extremists alone are to blame. Click to expand...

Apparently, like the rest of the Idiot Libs, you are not aware of Islam's goal as clearly stated in the Qu'ran:The Christian countries also practice War ...... but the central point here is that the CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE is AGAINST WARS. NOWHERE IN ITS DOCTRINE DOES CHRISTIANITY MAKE THAT THE CENTRAL GOAL OF ITS DOCTRINE. WHEREAS ISLAM DOES.As far as Islamists are concerned, the TRUE ISLAMIST is the devoted follower of the FIRST DICTUM of the Qu'ran concocted by the author, the Historically Documented MASS MURDERER, THIEF, RAPIST & PEDOPHILIC RAPIST, Whackjob MohahahaMAD. This MohahahaMAD's FIRST DICTUM (which, according to his instructions in the Qu'ran, supercedes ALL others) is: Make the World the Caliphate of Islam, preferably by word, by SWORD (caps mine) if necessary.The Qu'ran, also, SPECIFICALLY lists the TORTURE & MURDER of those, who when given the opportunity to accept Islam.....oppose it.According to Islam's own Hadiths, MohahahaMAD PERSONALLY wielded the sword chopping off the heads of ~ 20 of his prisoners who rejected Islam. Actually, those prisoners were from a Jewish village, and MohahahaMAD sold the women& children into slavery. And, he perpetrated this violence in the subsequent wars against his neighbors (usually, not necessarily Jews).
(Newser)  Almost exactly a year ago, rural Michigan resident Harold "Butch" Knight allegedly called 911 and matter-of-factly told the operator he'd strangled his wife, Sara Knight, and that she was lying dead on the living room floor in their Ganges Township home. Then he disappeared. (Audio of the 911 call is available at Crime Watch Daily.) Now the murdered woman's daughter, Roxanne Cameron-Harris, has launched a personal manhunt by asking for tips and donations through a GoFundMe page. It has has raised just $50 toward her $1,000 goal in two weeks, though MLive reports she has separately received $560 in donations. Those who donate $20 or more will get a pink T-shirt that says, "No evil goes unpunished ... Justice for Sara Lee." Since Jan. 13, 2015, when the 911 call was placed, law enforcement has searched the country for the 67-year-old, with sightings in rural Maine, reports Fox 17.

Just days after he disappeared, his abandoned vehicle was found in Franklin County, Maine, and a surveillance photo suggests Knight had dyed his hair black, reported Michigan Live back in May, when Sara would have turned 49. Fox 17 noted in September that the couple had lived in Maine for nearly a decade before heading to Michigan in 2014; the station also noted that police were investigating whether Knight could be hiding out in one of Maine's Amish communities. A vigil is planned for Monday, exactly a year after the day officials believe Sara was killed. Friends and family interviewed by Crime Watch Daily said that something always seemed off about Knight, who was 18 years older than Sara. The couple had been married for 14 years, during which time Knight never worked and sometimes showed a short temper. (Cops say they know who killed this pastor's wife.)
(Newser)  Maine Gov. Paul LePage is known for being outspoken, and equally outspoken critics are calling him a racist after remarks he made at a town hall meeting on Wednesday. When asked about the state's drug problem, the Republican started talking about out-of-state drug dealers, saying "guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty" come to Maine from New York and Connecticut, sell heroin, and leave, the Portland Press Herald reports. "Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we have to deal with down the road," he told the crowd.

Critics from both parties denounced LePage's remarks. "This is one of the most blatantly racist statements he's ever made," moderate Maine Republican Lance Dutson tells the AP. "One of the things that's offensive about it is that it's reminiscent of this fearmongering in American history that people would like to think is long gone." On Thursday night, LePage's communications director said LePage's remarks had nothing to do with race. "His heart goes out to these kids because he had a difficult childhood, too," he said in a statement. "We need to stop the drug traffickers from coming into our state." (In 2013, LePage was said to have told a GOP fundraiser that President Obama "hates white people.")
(Newser)  Tens of thousands of people are trapped in the rural Syrian town of Madaya, which has been caught in a tug-of-war between rebels and pro-government forcesand Doctors Without Borders says the situation is so bad that at least 23 people have died of starvation since Dec. 1, including six babies, the Washington Post reports. One activist says as many as 41 have died, per CNN, though a Thursday UN statement only confirms one death. There's been no food delivery since mid-October, and reports, videos, and photos (mostly still unconfirmed) coming out of Madaya portray a horrific scene of emaciated residents forced to eat cats and grass, with one rescue worker telling the Post people have been dying every day. "We were eating leaves and grass, but these days there are no more leaves because of the snow," Hassan Abu Shadi told the paper via telephone. "There is nothing left but salt and water."

One rep from Doctors Without Borders said in a statement that Madaya has become "an open-air prison," adding those who try to escape the town are wounded or killed by gunfire or land mines. Abu Shadi points the finger at pro-Assad Hezbollah fighters, but Hezbollah insists rebels are keeping people in Madaya, per the Post. The UN, which has deemed the starvation reports "credible," says government permission is required to send food to those in need, and Thursday the group noted Syria had given the OK to let aid convoys into Madaya and two other besieged towns, CNN and the AP report. Meanwhile, Madaya residents have taken to social media to plead for help and show photos of corpses. In one unconfirmed video cited by CNN, a man cries, "What did we do? My children, they're dying. Bring guns, bring angels, but God, help us." (Read more Syria stories.)
(Newser)  A mainland Chinese woman was so desperate to give birth in Hong Kong that she spent a week camped out in the airport after deliberately missing a connecting flight to Guangzhou, authorities say. Children born in Hong Kong to mainland women gain the right of abode there, and authorities have spent years trying to reduce the number of women crossing the border to give birth. The 26-year-old woman, who managed to avoid raising the suspicions of authorities during her time in the restricted area of Hong Kong International Airport last July, only sought medical help when her labor pains began, reports the Hong Kong Free Press. This week, she was sentenced to six months in prison for staying in the restricted area without a permit, the Standard reports. (Mainland authorities wouldn't let Miss World Canada board her flight from Hong Kong.)
(Newser)  Authorities said Thursday that two people with ties to ISIS have been arrested on terrorism-related charges in California and Texas, including an Iraqi refugee who's charged with lying to federal investigators about his travels to Syria. A criminal complaint unsealed Thursday accuses Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, of Sacramento, of traveling to Syria to fight in the civil war there and of lying to investigators about it. US Attorney Benjamin Wagner said in a statement that while Al-Jayab was potentially dangerous, there's no indication that he planned any attacks in the United States. "According to the allegations in the complaint, the defendant traveled to Syria to take up arms with terrorist organizations and concealed that conduct from immigration authorities," Wagner said.

Meanwhile, the US Attorney's Office based in Houston said late Thursday that Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, of Houston, was indicted Wednesday on three charges of trying to provide material support to extremists. Both men are Palestinians born in Iraq, authorities say. There is no indication from prosecutors that Al Hardan was a threat in the United States, but his arrest sparked immediate criticism of the Obama administration's refugee policies from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Federal officials say three separate arrests in Milwaukee on Thursday grew out of the Sacramento investigation but aren't related to national security. (Read more terrorism stories.)
(Newser)  As world leaders debated ways to penalize North Korea's claim of an H-bomb test, South Korea voiced its displeasure with broadcasts of anti-Pyongyang propaganda across the rivals' tense border Friday, believed to be the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The broadcasts will likely draw a furious response from North Korea, which considers them an act of psychological warfare. Pyongyang is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of the authoritarian leadership of Kim, the third member of his family to rule. When South Korea briefly resumed propaganda broadcasts in August after an 11-year break, Seoul says the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire, followed by threats of war.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that frontline troops near 11 sites where propaganda loudspeakers started blaring messages at noon local time were on highest alert. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Friday asked South Korea to refrain from the propaganda broadcasts. But South Korea sees K-pop and propaganda as quick ways to show its displeasureand a guaranteed way to get a rise from the North's sensitive and proud leadership. The broadcasts include Korean pop songs, world news, and weather forecasts, as well as criticism of the North's nuclear test, its troubled economy, and dire human-rights conditions, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry. (China is furious about its ally's latest test.)
(Newser)  A beauty company in Thailand has apologized over an ad that informed viewers: "You just need to be white to win." The ad for Seoul Secret's skin-whitening pills, called Snowz, features actress Cris Horwang. In a voiceover, the 35-year-old star explains how she uses the product to maintain her "whiteness" and keep from becoming a "dusky star" as younger actresses try to "steal the scene," per the Bangkok Post. A smiling, younger woman then enters the frame. Without Snowz, "the whiteness I have invested in will just vanish," Horwang says as her skin turns black. Now in blackface, Horwang looks with envy toward the paler model. Snowz "will help you not to return to being dark," she says, per CNN. "Eternally white, I am confident."

A sociology professor says light skin has been seen as a sign of privilege in the country for "centuries," but "I couldn't believe this kind of ad is still coming out in Thailand." Outrage was also found across social media. It's "a very outdated value," writes Miss Thailand World 2014, Mae Nonthawan, on Facebook. "Black skin can win." The South China Morning Post reports the ad was viewed more than 100,000 times on YouTube before it was removed Friday. "Seoul Secret would like to apologize for the mistake, and claim full responsibility for this incident," it said. "Our company did not have any intention to convey discriminatory or racist messages." (Read more Thailand stories.)
(Newser)  The Labor Department issued a stronger-than-expected jobs report Friday morning: US employers added 292,000 jobs in December, beating expectations and leaving the unemployment rate unchanged at 5%. Given that economists were expecting a mark closer to 200,000, the figure represents a "huge round of job creation" to end the year, reports CNBC. The department also raised the number of jobs added in October and November, bringing the average monthly jobs gain for the year to 221,000, reports the Wall Street Journal.

"Thats below 2014s monthly average of around 260,000," writes Kristen Scholer. "But its still above whats been the psychologically-important 200,000 level." The take from AP writer Christopher Rugaber: "The strong figures underscore the resilience of the US economy at a time of global turmoil stemming from China's slowing economy and plummeting stock market." China's markets were much calmer Friday morning, notes MarketWatch, boding well for US exchanges. (Read more jobs stories.)
(Newser)  Belgian authorities say they've found a hideout visited by Paris-attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam. Police found traces of the explosive powder acetone peroxide, three handmade belts that could carry explosives, and Abdeslam's fingerprint in a third-floor apartment on Rue Berge in Brussels' Schaerbeek district during a raid on Dec. 10, report the BBC and the Local. Officials suspect the flat, which the Wall Street Journal calls a "bomb workshop," was used by the Belgian attackers to craft suicide belts as they prepared to hit Paris. As for when Abdeslam was there, it's unclear. "A fingerprint has no date or time on it," a prosecutor tells AFP. "Maybe he went there to get his belt, and maybe he went back afterwards. I suppose it's a possibility of both."

But the Guardian reports men who are currently being held in Belgium told officials they drove Abdeslam from Paris to Brussels in the aftermath of the attacks and dropped him in Schaerbeek, and the BBC relays this theory from the prosecutor's office: that Abdeslam did return to the apartment, as it was probably his only "safe" option. Meanwhile, Belgium's federal prosecutor has warned of a possible terrorist attack in the country next Friday, the first anniversary of a foiled attack in Verviers, reports the Guardian. "We are conscious of the symbolic value of 15 January for the terrorists, but we are ready," he says. (Read more Paris terror attacks stories.)
(Newser)  The Central Park Five were wrongfully convicted of a jogger's brutal rape and beating in a case that shook New York City 25 years ago. Now, a city teacher says she's been fired for creating a lesson plan about the case, reports the New York Daily News. Jeena Lee-Walker says she was fired from the city's High School for Arts, Imagination and Inquiry after the school told her to be more "balanced" in her approach to the case, which involved five black and Hispanic teens. Details of why the school felt the lessons were improper aren't spelled out, but Lee-Walker says school officials feared "riots" would result.

"I was stunned," she tells the newspaper. "These boys went to jail and lost 14, 18 years of their lives. How can you say that in a more balanced way?" Over the next 18 months, Lee-Walker was given poor performance reviews that she blames on her challenging of school officials. She was fired in May. "I felt abandoned and mistreated," she says. The students "were so engaged" and "really identified with the [Central Park Five]." Lee-Walker is suing the Department of Education and school administratorswho have yet to commentalleging they violated her First Amendment right to discuss the case. (Read more Central Park stories.)
The right wing may not like the Democrat candidates - but it's because they're all socialists or communists or whatever.



The GOP candidates are just so slimy and sleazy - having them in the White House and giving a State of the Union address would be like having 2am used car salesman tv ad airing.
(Newser)  Philadelphia police say the man accused of ambushing a city cop and shooting him at point-blank range has confessed to doing so "in the name of Islam" and to support ISIS, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Officer Jesse Hartnett, 33, was in his patrol car Thursday night when a gunman approached the vehicle and opened fire with a semiautomatic pistol. Hartnett was struck three times in the arm and is hospitalized in stable condition, officials said. The New York Daily News says he suffered a broken arm and nerve damage but was able to fire back at the perpetrator. A suspect, IDed as Edward Archer, 30, was caught as he tried to get away and was also wounded. Police Commissioner Richard Ross said the attack was "absolutely evil" and "one of the scariest things I've ever seen," per the Inquirer, adding to the Daily News, "I can't even believe that he was able to survive this."

The suspect can be seen in surveillance video wearing what appears to be a long white robe over pantswhat the Inquirer describes as "Muslim garb." Ross tells the paper that the suspect got Hartnett's attention, then fired into the police cruiser 13 times. Hartnett can be seen jumping out of his car despite his injuries and firing at the suspect. "Shots fired! I'm shot! I'm bleeding heavily!" Hartnett can be heard saying over police radio. After his capture, Archer told detectives: "I follow Allah. I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State. That is why I did what I did," per homicide commander Capt. James Clark. Meanwhile, Hartnett's family says he'll be OK. "Jesse you're a super hero," his sister-in-law wrote on Facebook Friday morning, per the Daily News. (Frightening images taken from the video can be seen at ABC News.)
(Newser)  Eighteen of 31 suspects identified in the New Years Eve assaults on women in Cologne, Germany, are asylum seekers, authorities revealed Friday, the same day the city's police chief was removed from his post, per CNN. Some 170 criminal complaints have been filed in Cologne, including at least two alleging rape, per the BBC. Authorities say that a group of men, including asylum seekers, arranged to meet at a railway station ahead of the attack, reports the New York Times. In further evidence of a coordinated attack, more than 50 similar incidents have been reported in Hamburg. Six women in Zurich, Switzerland, say they were also "robbed" and "groped" by men on New Year's Eve, while police in Helsinki, Finland, are investigating New Year's Eve harassment involving "a gathering of asylum seekers."

German officials have faced intense backlash, not only in regard to the country's admission of 800,000 migrants last year. "We ran to the police. But we saw the police were so understaffed," one victim said. "They couldn't take care of us and we as women suffered the price." Along with two Germans and a US citizen, the Cologne suspects include nine people from Algeria, eight from Morocco, five Iranians, four Syrians, an Iraqi, and a Serb. Two had footage of the attack on their phones, while one was carrying Arabic-German translations for phrases like "nice breasts" and "I'll kill you." Germany's justice minister notes convictions could bring deportations as "the law allows for people to be deported during asylum proceedings if they're sentenced to a year or more in prison." A rep for Angela Merkel, however, says "this is a matter not of refugees, but above all of criminality." (Read more Cologne stories.)
Germany is at odds at how to respond to the numerous accounts of sexual assault that took place on New Year's Eve in Cologne.

According to an internal report written by a senior official that was obtained by Der Spiegel, the police were overwhelmed by the amount of cases involving groups of drunk men attacking women and children, who were either alone or with other people.

The official had written, "Women, accompanied or not, literally ran a 'gauntlet' through masses of heavily intoxicated men that words cannot describe."

He also referred to entire night as a "chaotic and shameful evening," which the German police initially failed to admit. Prior to the report, the police had described New Year's Eve as relaxed. They have since taken back that statement. The police are now stating that more than 100 women have filed criminal complaints, with two of the cases involving rapes.

The mess was - in large part - due to the lack of officers. The officers that were on duty, however, were not helpful either, as they all had "reached the limits of their abilities pretty quickly." The report added that the police could not contain the hoards of men that were attacking the women and groups. The police also could not physically help every single woman that was seeking to file a complaint.

"They grabbed our arms... pushed our clothes away, and tried to get between our legs or I don't know where," one victim told the BBC News. "They got everything we had in our pockets."

Another one recalled, "I heard a sizzling sound in my hood. I somehow tried to get it out of the hood. Then it fell into my jacket and burned everything. The scars will stay. I was lucky that it didn't explode."

The groups of men have been described as migrants, but identifying the exact perpetrators is "unfortunately no longer possible."

The official continued in the report, "Security forces were unable to get all of the incidents, assaults, crimes, etc. under control. There were simply too many happening at the same time."

The entire situation has brought up two main problems for Germany: the failure of the police department in controlling the mayhem and the presence of migrants, who are not abiding by German laws. In regards to the latter, Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the nation must now consider what to do with the attackers who had migrated to the country.

"We must examine again and again whether we have already done what is necessary in terms of ... deportations from Germany in order to send clear signals to those who are not prepared to abide by our legal order," Merkel said reported by the Associated Press via ABC News.

She added, "The feeling women had in this case of being at people's mercy, without any protection, is intolerable for me personally as well. And so it is important for everything that happened there to be put on the table."

German officials have cautioned the public to avoid generalizing the actions of these men to the entire migrant population.

Germany is known for taking in refugees and migrants from around the world. In 2015, the country welcomed almost 1.1 million people who were seeking asylum.
The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574.
London:

Britain has summoned the North Korean ambassador in London, the Foreign Office said, after Pyongyangs latest nuclear test drew international condemnation.



I summoned North Koreas Ambassador today to stress in the strongest terms the UKs condemnation of their nuclear test, Asia minister Hugo Swire said in a Foreign Office statement.



He added that Britain supported a UN Security Council (UNSC) agreement to draw up new sanctions against the reclusive state and called the test a clear violation of UNSC resolutions.



I call on the North Korean regime to act in the best interests of its people and to choose the path which will genuinely benefit them, Swire said.



Amid reports of widespread hardship and human rights abuses, the priority must be the health and welfare of North Korean people.

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Washington:

The US House of Representatives will vote as early as next week on legislation imposing new sanctions on North Korea.



Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi promised today there will be strong bipartisan support for the measure. It comes after the authoritarian regime drew international condemnation by boasting of setting off a hydrogen bomb, though the U.S. government has cast doubt on that claim.



The legislation by Republican Ed Royce and Democrat Eliot Engel strengthens U.S. sanctions against the regime, including targeting access to hard currency and other goods and stepping up inspections of North Korean cargo.



Similar legislation passed the House two years ago but did not advance in the Senate.

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Nasik:

Lok Sabha MP and senior NCP leader Supriya Sule has given a statement that may spark a major controversy. She has revealed that the parliamentarians do gossip even when serious issues are being discussed in the House, especially during repetitive speeches.



"When I go to the Parliament, I hear the first speech, then a second and then a third. And in the fourth speech the speaker repeats what the earlier three spoke. And if you ask me what the fourth speaker said, I really can't remember anything," Sule said while speaking to female students and young women in Maharashtra's Nashik on Thursday.



"So we gossip with other MPs which is common unlike in your classrooms. And to the people who watch from top (gallery) or on TV, you'll think we are discussing 'national issues'. If you saw me talking to an MP from Chennai you might think we having a big discussion on the Chennai rains. We don't discuss anything like that. 'Where did you get your sari from, where did I get my sari from.' We gossip all this. Don't you gossip in the same way?" she asked the audience.



"Male MPs in Parliament tease me that if there is 50 per cent reservation for women, then in Parliament the discussion will only be on parlours, facials and saris. I told them you comment on our sarees but you'll have done no good for the country. So there is no harm in giving a chance to us," she said.



Sule made these comments in a light-hearted mood as she was addressing a young crowd.

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Washington :

The entry of streaming pioneer Netflix in India is evolutionary in nature though its inaugural price is a bit on the higher side for what it offers, a leading US expert has said.

I would say that the current price is a bit on the high side for what Netflix offers currently and it will have to keep increasing content quantity and quality over time to justify the price point, said Puneet Manchanda, a professor of marketing at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

In India, the service will be available under three monthly packsBasic (Rs 500), Standard (Rs 650) and Premium (Rs 800). Besides, users will get a month of free trial.

His areas of expertise are business in emerging markets, business in India and strategy and marketing issues.

Netflixs global expansion is driven by three forces, he said.

First, Netflix needs to convince investors that it can keep growing. With the broadband market size outside the US about six times the size of the US market, any significant growth in the future will come from large international markets such as India.

Second, a large global reach can be a strong bargaining chip for Netflix in obtaining distribution rights from content providers.

Finally, Netflixs vision is to be a content provider itself - this expansion exposes a large part of the world to original Netflix content, he said.

In terms of entering India, Netflix can quickly capitalise on a large English speaking market. But, for the Indian media landscape, the current entry is more evolutionary rather than revolutionary as the English speaking market already has access to a lot of Netflixs India content, Manchanda said.

However, if Netflix can crack the vernacular market by producing content in local languages with local talent, it has the potential to be revolutionary, Manchanda said.

On Wednesday Netflix launched its service globally, simultaneously bringing its Internet TV network to more than 130 new countries around the world.

Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network, said Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix in a key note address at CES 2016 in Las Vegas.

However, Netflix will not yet be available in China, though the company continues to explore options for providing the service. It also will not be available in Crimea, North Korea and Syria due to US government restrictions on American companies operating there.

Since its launch in 2007, Netflix has expanded globally, first to Canada, then to Latin America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
New Delhi:

The odd-even formula has helped reduce pollution in the national capital at peak hours, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government told the Delhi High Court on Friday.

Also, the Delhi government has told the court that 15 days for the odd-even trial are not enough and if needed it may have to go beyond that.

OddEvenFormula has reduced pollution at peak hours. There are definite positive results of odd-even formula, the Delhi government said.

The AAP government told the court that the PM levels in Delhi on January 5 were 391, a figure much less than over 500 in Delcember.

A report was sought from the AAP government on changes in the level of pollution in Delhi since the scheme came into effect on January.

The Delhi High court had on January 6 asked the Arvind Kejriwal government to explain why it was necessary to run the odd-even trail for more than a week.

"You will have to admit that you don't have enough public transport to ferry the public," it had said.



The Delhi government told the court that the odd-even formula is working and very well received by people. It also told the court that it needs more time to collate data from different places in Delhi.



A recent IIT Kanpur report had suggested that vehicular pollution contributes to around 25 per cent of PM2.5 concentrations during winters and it comes down to 9 per cent during the summers.

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Mumbai:

Bidding for a roadside eatery once owned by fugitive mob boss Dawood Ibrahim may be held afresh with journalist-turned-activist S Balakrishnan failing to raise almost Rs 4 crore needed to formally acquire the property, which he had won in an auction last year.



Balakrishnan, who runs an NGO Desh Seva Samiti, failed to submit the bank draft of the requisite amount on the last day today. Another round of auction may have to be called as Dawoodi Bohra Muslim Trust, the second highest bidder of the property, is not in favour of chipping in.



I asked the Dawoodi Bohra Trust to pay the amount that they had bid and use the property for the betterment of the area. But due to fear (of the don) or other reasons they also refused, he claimed.



Balakrishnan had emerged the highest bider at Rs 4.28 crore for Delhi Zaika, located near Dawoods house in Pakmodia Street, which went under the hammer along with other properties of the gangster in December. Balakrishnan had deposited Rs 30 lakh at the time of the auction.



He had planned to start a computer education centre for poor children in the now-defunct eatery.



I feel very sad to say that I failed to raise the amount. The fear of Dawood Ibrahim was the foremost reason why people didnt came forward to support me, he told reporters.



Balakrishnan said he had approached as many as 70 businessmen for raising money, but they turned him down.



You see Rs 4 crore was not a big amount in the city where a flat is sold for over Rs 15-20 crore. So, I personally appealed and wrote to 70 businessmen across the country, but none of them came forward to help.



They told me that they are ready to donate for any other project or social-welfare cause, but they dont want themselves to be dragged into any matter pertaining to Dawood Ibrahim, he claimed.



Balakrishnan, who is now set to lose Rs 30 lakh in deposit, requested the government not to go for a second auction and to use the property to build a police station.



The auction was held by the government through a private firm under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Properties) Act, 1976.

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FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA
Kolkata:

Strong economic growth in states is imperative for pushing up the countrys GDP and giving it a cutting edge to fight poverty and generate jobs, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.

He also said that additional growth has to come from eastern states like West Bengal where industrialisation had suffered because of the policies followed in the last 35 years.

In a global situation which is so adverse, Indias GDP growth is 7.5 per cent. Is it difficult to add 1 per cent more which will give us that cutting edge to fight poverty and generate jobs? Jaitley said at the second edition of Bengal Global Business Meet.

Given the structure of Indias federal polity, it is imperative that the states grow as well. Despite political differences, strong states mean a stronger India. West Bengal contributes nearly 6 to 7 per cent of national GDP. Given the fact that growth of the eastern states was lower than those of the western states, the additional growth will have to come from the former, he said.

Referring to West Bengal, he said industrialisation in the state had suffered due to policies pursued in the last three and half decades.

Summits of these kinds held every year clearly demonstrate the intention that the need of the hour is to generate growth, increase revenue and fight poverty for which investments are required, he said.

It is in this context that West Bengal that has lost its glory of the past could be restored and I assure you that the Centre will give all its support to the states endeavour to attract investments, Jaitley said.

If Bengal followed such a policy, it would be able to generate jobs and revenue needed to fight poverty, else would have to fall back on shallow political slogans, he said.

Nationally, the services sector has improved, while greenshoots are visible in manufacturing, he said.

Our priority will be to enhance public expenditure in infrastructure, social infrastructure, enhance expenditure on the rural sector, he added.

Jaitley said the Centre had been following a policy to economically empower the states for which it had readily agreed to the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission. West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra is regularly in touch with us and all issues are cleared expeditiously despite political differences, he said.

Jaitley, who attended the summit second time in a row, shared the dais with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The summit was also attended, among others, by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, UK Employment Minister Priti Patel, Bhutan Tshering Togbay, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and industrialists Mukesh Ambani, Mohan Das Pai, Subhas Chandra Sajjan Jindal and others.

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Jodhpur:

The Jodhpur Sessions Court on Friday rejected the bail plea of self-styled Godman Asaram, who has been in jail in connection with a rape case.



A local court had on January 4 reserved its order on Asarams bail plea.



The court has refused relief to the controversial godman on six occasions earlier. Asaram was sent to jail in August 2013 for allegedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old schoolgirl.

Asaram has also approached the High Court earlier and the Supreme Court too has denied relief to him.

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Islamabad:

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered a probe into the leads provided by India about the Pathankot airbase attack, a media report said today.

He chaired a high-level meeting yesterday and discussed the attack on the Indian airbase, The Nation reported.

The prime minister and his aides agreed to launch investigations into the evidence provided by India, it said.

A senior official said the leads provided by India were handed over to Intelligence Bureau chief Aftab Sultan for further action.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Sharif said Pakistan was ready to boost cooperation with the neighbouring India as part of counter-terrorism efforts.

Sharif directed National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua to remain in contact with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in a bid to keep renewed dialogue on track after the attack on Pathankot air base.

Another official said the information provided by India was not enough as it was just limited to telephone numbers and Pakistan might ask for additional information.

We would like to have solid information to build a case for action otherwise courts intervene and the suspects will be bailed out, he added.

He said the meeting agreed that strong action would be taken after probe against anyone found guilty of involvement in the attack.

The official said that the meeting also decided to speed up implementation of National Action Plan.

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Paris:

A Brussels apartment was likely used to make bombs for the Paris attacks, and one of the plotters also hid out there after escaping a police dragnet, Belgian prosecutors said today.

The prosecutors said they found Salah Abdeslams fingerprint in a search of the apartment on December 10, but would not say why they waited a month to announce it.

The search also turned up three suspected suicide belts, traces of the same explosive used in the November 13 attacks that killed 130 people and other material that could be used to manufacture bombs, according to the Belgian Federal Prosecutors Office.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said the third-floor apartment was likely used as a hideout after Abdeslam fled the attacks. Abdeslam, who is still at large, called for two friends to pick him up amid the bloodshed and chaos that night that left 130 people dead and hundreds injured.

We found material to make explosives, we found traces of explosives and we found three belts. So you dont have to be Sherlock Holmes to make the right deduction, Van der Sypt told The Associated Press.

Abdeslam is believed to have played a key logistical role in the Paris attacks. A French gendarme stopped him and his two friends in their car near the border but released them. The friends are among 10 people arrested in Belgium in connection with the attacks.

Authorities now believe Abdeslam returned to the apartment, was eventually picked up by someone else and we lost trace, Van der Sypt said.

The apartment in the Schaerbeek neighbourhood of Brussels had been rented under a false identity that may have been used by one of those who are now under arrest.

The prosecutors office said the three handmade belts discovered in the search at Rue Berge in Schaerbeek could have been intended for the transport of explosives. Traces of the highly volatile TATP, which was packed into the suicide vests in November, as well as other material that could be used to manufacture explosives were also detected.

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Rating



Star Cast

Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar

Director

Bejoy Nambiar

Genre

Thriller

Duration

1 hr, 43 minutes

New Delhi:

Wazir presents how a battle can be claimed with a pinch of alertness and little use of mind; exactly what is done in the game Chess. Pandit Ji (Amitabh Bachchan) rules the script with his sharp moves to shape up the game played by Daanish (Farhan Akhtar) in a quest to find his daughters killer. The movie is a perfect blend of sturdy acts, emotions, mystery and thrill.



There are very few films in which all its characters compliment each other; Wazir is one of them. Big Bs character best gels with Farhans and the same flavour erupts when Manav Kaul and Aditi Rao Hydari participate in between.



While Daanish pushes himself towards Qureshi, Farhan takes a jump towards versatility in real life. After Rock On and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, he has now once again proved that he is just perfect with characters that are intense.



In movies like Wazir it is more than a necessity that audiences dont lose interest in plot but all thanks to sharp performances that whenever movie tried to fall towards boredom actors transformed themselves into saviours.



The bigger problem actually lies with the short time bracket of 1 hr and 43 minutes. There were so many elements in the film which actually needed some moments to establish themselves but when director Bejoy Nambiar tried to knit them all fast, the result lost its grace which it would had created otherwise.



Bejoy Nambiar's third directorial venture after Shaitaan and David has many of the visual and technical elements that are characteristic of his style.



What works really well for the film is the selection of cast, glassy cinematography and its haunting sound design. And what could have made it more engaging is more action, less drama, and a bit more of John Abraham.



Songs from the film are the other assets which soothe ears even on the dark backdrop of the film. Be it Tere Bin by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghosal or Tu Mere Paas by Ankit Tiwari, the music of the film stays with you.



Final Verdict: As the players Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar head smartly with the moves, the film finds it difficult to reach perfect check and mate. Watch it for high octane performances, incredible Big B and complimenting Farhan Akhtar.
New Delhi :

This picture looks like any other standard poster for a college website but if you look clearly there is one difference and a very significant one.

Do you know who is the third person looking at you in the picture. He is none other than teenage John Boyega, who recently shot to super-fame after playing the character of as Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

He is also one of the five faces lined up to be in the running for the Rising Star Award at the Bafta Film Awards next month.



Little must have the other students know that one of them would rise to fame so soon.



The post came out after a student spotted something different in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln poster which was shared on image-sharing site Imgur. The image has since gone viral.



After a closer look, you can see a teenage John Boyega. His expression is rather cool, calm, and collected - itas almost as if he knows what the future holds!

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New Delhi :

A fire broke out at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMC&H) in Jammu tonight, spreading panic among patients and attendants.

The fire broke out at a store containing equipment at the hospital.

The patients were evacuated and there was no loss of life or injury to anyone as the fire tenders were pressed into service which contained the fire, Karnail Singh, in-charge police post at GMC, said.

He said that the fire that started around 8:45 PM was contained after two fire tenders were pressed into service.

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Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.

This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media  main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.




Japan shoring up defense plans for far-flung islands as a countermeasure to Chinese aggression

(NationalSecurity.news) The Japanese military is implementing defense plans aimed at protecting its far-flung chain of islands from Chinese incursions and aggression in the East China Sea, a strategy aimed at denying Beijing dominance in the Western Pacific Ocean, Reuters has reported.

Japanese military and government sources say that the plan is to turn the tables on the Chinese navy, which is growing in strength and capability and, Tokyo believes, in its militarism.

Japans anti-access/area denial strategy, or A2/AD in military parlance, comes in response to U.S. prodding for its Asian allies to help with containment of the Chinese. Since the end of World War II, Japan has essentially been a protectorate of the United States and as such has maintained a smallish military for home defense.

But with a rising China, the U.S., as part of its pivot to Asia, is working with allies in the region to help build a credible counterweight, and Japan is an important piece of that strategy.

As such, Reuters noted:

Tokyo is responding by stringing a line of anti-ship, anti-aircraft missile batteries along 200 islands in the East China Sea stretching 1,400 km (870 miles) from the countrys mainland toward Taiwan.

In interviews with scores of military planners and government policymakers, the newswire reported that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a broader goal of enhancing the Japanese military with capabilities so it can dominate sea- and airspace around Japans remote islands.

Though the installations are not a well-kept secret, this is the first time that Japanese officials have said that the intent of the military buildup and enhancement is to keep China at bay in the Western Pacific.

Chinese ships launching from the countrys eastern seaboard will have to sail through a barrier of Japanese missile batteries in order to reach the Western Pacific  access that is important to Beijing as a gateway and supply line to the worlds oceans, as well as the projection of its own naval power.

The developing Japanese A2/AD strategy comes as China continues to flex its own military power in the South China Sea, with the construction of man-made islands in waters claimed by about a half-dozen Asian nations, new submarines and surface ships including aircraft carriers.

Indeed, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made building a blue water naval force capable of protecting Beijings global interests a priority. Also, China is developing ballistic missiles like the DF-21 that are reportedly designed to target American aircraft carriers.

As for the fortified Japanese islands, China is free to sail the waters under international law, but its vessels will do so in the crosshairs of missile batteries.

In the next five or six years the first island chain will be crucial in the military balance between China and the U.S.- Japan, Satoshi Morimoto, a Takushoku University professor who was defense minister in 2012 and advises the current defense chief, Gen Nakatani, told Reuters.

The first island chain is defined as a string that extends through Japans East China Sea territory and south through the Philippines. It may come to define a boundary between U.S. and Chinese spheres of influence, officials noted.

Other defense experts noted that Chinas goal is to become the dominant power throughout the South China Sea, and that its island-building and claims of sovereignty over other chains like the Spratlys  which are also claimed by several other Asian powers  are part of Beijings own A2/AD strategy.

See also:

Reuters

NationalSecurity.news

Submit a correction >>
China lands plane on fake island; experts believe fighters, bombers will be next

(NationalSecurity.news) China has landed a civilian aircraft on one of its manmade islands in the South China Sea as part of a series of tests that will eventually lead to the basing of military aircraft, say experts.

As reported by Reuters, the landing demonstrates that Beijings facilities in the hotly contested region are finishing on schedule and that military flights, inevitably, will come next.

According to various foreign officials and analysts, the increasing military presence by China in the region could eventually lead to a Beijing-controlled air defense zone, which would only increase tensions with resident nations in the area that also claim portions of the region, as well as the United States, which has vital economic interests in the South China Sea corridor.

One-fifth of all U.S.-bound trade transits the South China Sea annually; in all, $5 trillion worth of global trade transits those waters.

Reuters noted further:

China has confirmed that a test flight by a civilian plane landed on an artificial island built in the Spratlys, the first time Beijing has used a runway in the area. Vietnam said the plane landed on Jan 2 and launched a formal diplomatic protest, while Philippines Foreign Ministry spokesman Charles Jose said Manila was planning to do the same. Both have claims to the area that overlap with China.

Thats the fear, that China will be able take control of the South China Sea and it will affect the freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight, Jose told reporters.

China has already warned off U.S. and other naval ships and planes in the region that approach its manmade islands, though the Obama administration and the Pentagon have regularly insisted that international law provides freedom of navigation in the region and that phony islands are not the same as sovereign ground.

Still, as the Council on Foreign Relations noted in 2012 that conflict in the area was a real possibility.

The risk of conflict in the South China Sea is significant. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines have competing territorial and jurisdictional claims, particularly over rights to exploit the regions possibly extensive reserves of oil and gas, said a CFR Contingency Planning Memorandum. Freedom of navigation in the region is also a contentious issue, especially between the United States and China over the right of U.S. military vessels to operate in Chinas two-hundred-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

CFR further noted that tensions are being shaped by Chinas rising military power and aggressive actions.

China has embarked on a substantial modernization of its maritime paramilitary forces as well as naval capabilities to enforce its sovereignty and jurisdiction claims by force if necessary, the memorandum noted. At the same time, it is developing capabilities that would put U.S. forces in the region at risk in a conflict, thus potentially denying access to the U.S. Navy in the western Pacific.

Worse, as reported by The Associated Press, as China expands its fleet and as tensions rise throughout the world, the U.S. Pacific Fleet is actually shrinking  a phenomenon that is only adding to the unease of U.S. allies throughout Asia.

Still, questions about whether the Pacific Fleet has enough resources are more of a reflection of regional anxieties than the Navys actual capability, said its commander, Adm. Scott Swift, AP noted.

Swift said he was comfortable with the amount of resources the Pacific Fleet currently has, adding that technology advances make up for a lack of surface vessels and subs.

But others arent so sure, as AP reported:

An expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank said the issue in peacetime is whether there are enough American vessels to reassure friends and allies and demonstrate U.S. capacity to use power when it needs to. In wartime, it comes down to whether enough platforms survive missile strikes to carry on their work, Peter Jennings said.

I think this is emerging as a serious long-term problem, he said.

The Pacific Fleet consists of 182 vessels; overall, the Navy has 272 warships, including 10 aircraft carriers. That is 20 percent fewer vessels than in 1998.

Reuters noted that China has been building a 10,000-foot runway on Fiery Cross Reef for over a year, so the planes recent landing wasnt a surprise, per se.

The runways would be long enough to handle long-range bombers and transport craft as well as Chinas best jet fighters, giving them a presence deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia that they have lacked until now, Reuters reported.

Some on Congress believe the Obama administration is giving China too much leeway and freedom of operation in a vitally important part of the world.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the White House should order more freedom of navigation patrols within 12 nautical miles of Chinas islands.

Military landings on the islands are now inevitable, Leszek Buszynski, a visiting fellow at the Australian National Universitys Strategic and Defence Studies Center, told Reuters.

The next step will be, once theyve tested it with several flights, they will bring down some of their fighter air power  SU-27s and SU-33s  and they will station them there permanently. Thats what theyre likely to do, he said.

Sources:

Reuters

CNBC

Council on Foreign Relations

The Associated Press

Submit a correction >>
Two Middle Eastern terrorists arrested in California and Texas after being admitted as refugees

Texas, as well as several other states, has been adamant about disallowing the entrance of Syrian refugees into the region following a series of terrorist attacks resulting in heightened concerns regarding asylum seekers and their possible ties to Islamic extremism.

Ala. Gov. Robert Bentley announced yesterday he is suing the federal government over the resettlement of Syrian refugees. Texas invoked similar action against the government, filing a lawsuit in early Dec., attempting to halt entrance of Syrian refugees into the Lone Star State.

Unfortunately, their concerns have been validated after two Middle Eastern men, who entered the U.S. as refugees, were arrested on federal terrorism charges Thursday, according to the Justice Department.

Omar Faraj Saeed Al-Hardan, 24, was arrested in Houston, while Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, was apprehended in Sacramento. Both men are described as Iraqi-born Palestinians who entered the U.S. as refugees.

Terrorist suspect accused of providing material support to ISIS

Al-Hardan is being charged with a three-count indictment alleging that he attempted to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a designated foreign terrorist organization, said the Justice Department in a Jan. 7 press release.

The 24-year-old entered the U.S. as an Iraqi refugee in 2009 before being granted citizenship in 2011. His charges include one count each of attempting to provide material support to ISIL, procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlawfully and making false statements.

Al-Hardan attempted to provide training, expert advice and assistance, and personnel  specifically himself  to a known foreign terrorist organization, states the indictment. Officials say he knowingly responded, certified and swore untruthfully on his formal application when applying to become a naturalized U.S. citizen,  confirming concerns about the governments inability to accurately identify asylum seekers.

The Justice Department says Al-Hardan lied during an interview with officials in Oct. 2015 after he denied receiving in any weapons training, when in truth; he had been educated on automatic machine gun training.

Al-Hardan is also accused of saying that he was not associated with a terrorist organization when, in fact, he associated with members and sympathizers of ISIL throughout 2014, according to the charges.

Terrorism suspect fought in Syria for one year before returning to US and resettling in Sacramento

Al-Jayab, the 23-year-old arrested on federal terrorism charges in Sacramento, is accused of making a false statement involving international terrorism, according to the Justice Department. He allegedly traveled to Syria to take up arms with terrorist organizations and concealed that conduct from immigration authorities, said U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner of the Eastern District of California.

The young terrorist suspect reportedly entered the U.S. as an Iraqi refugee in 2012. While residing in Arizona and Wisconsin, authorities say Al-Jayab communicated over social media his intent to return to Syria to fight for terrorist organizations, as well as discussed his experience using firearms to fight the countrys regime.

The complaint states that on Nov. 9, 2013, he flew from Chicago to Turkey, and then traveled to Syria. Between November 2013 and January 2014, Al-Jayab allegedly reported on social media that he was in Syria fighting with various terrorist organizations, including Ansar al-Islam, a designated foreign terrorist organization since 2004. He returned to the United States on Jan. 23, 2014, and settled in Sacramento.

Al-Jayab faces a maximum of 8 years in federal prison, while Al-Hardan faces 20. If convicted, both men could also face a $250,000 fine.

Sources:

TheHill.com

Justice.gov

KCRA.com

Justice.gov

NPR.org

MediaFactWatch.com

Submit a correction >>
The issue: The Connecticut Supreme Court, five months after deciding that the death penalty could not be inflicted on 11 men who were convicted before the General Assembly banned the death penalty in 2012, is now reconsidering the matter.

State prosecutors have raised the issue in the case of Russell Peeler, Jr., a Bridgeport man who was convicted and sentenced to death for ordering the killing in 1999 of an 8-year-old boy and his mother whod witnessed a Peeler murder.

The states argument now is that the legislature, when it banned the death penalty in 2012, specifically did not intend to exclude the men already convicted.

Last August, the state Supreme Court declared, in essence, that if capital punishment was unacceptable for the future, it was also unacceptable to impose on any of the men already living in its shadow, no matter how increasingly unlikely it was that any of them would ever be executed.

It was not an easy decision.

The court voted 4-3 in a decision written by Associate Justice Richard Palmer.

The court membership, though, has changed.

What we wrote: As it has with fundamental issues like gay marriage, the stain of our slave-holding past, out thinking on four centuries of state-sanctioned executions has finally evolved to a more civilized standard.

With the decision comes the new challenge of mitigating the expense of keeping these men alive. The time to address that issue is here.

The broader impact, of course, is that as a community we have lifted ourselves to a higher plane.

Among (the decisions) observations, Whatever role the death penalty may once have played in our system of justice, it is clear that our elected representatives, acting on behalf of the people of this state, have repudiated the death penalty as a sentencing option unworthy of continued support.

Editorial, Aug. 16, 2015

Where it stands: During a 70-minute hearing Thursday, it seemed that death penalty supporters on the court, notably Associate Justices Carme E. Espinosa and Peter T. Zarella, were willing to overturn the ruling of last August.

The justices now will repair to their chambers to consider the arguments presented.

Where we stand: This issue does not need reconsideration.

The courts decision of last August was an enlightened one.

It was at least two years in the making.

The impassioned arguments on this important issue have been made, weighed and coalesced into law that is consistent with the character of Connecticut.

This court should validate the decision reached last year.
A fire that caused moderate damage to a detached garage on Northeast Seavy Avenue Thursday is believed to have been caused by a legal marijuana grow operation on its second floor.

Four engines from the Corvallis Fire Department battled the blaze at around 2:15 p.m. Thursday at 1925 N.E. Seavy Ave. They had the fire under control in under 20 minutes, fire officials said. No injuries were reported and no one was inside the garage at the time of the blaze, officials said. An initial investigation into the cause of the fire revealed that the owners of the home were operating a legal marijuana grow in a storage area of the garage.

Fire officials have not narrowed down the exact appliance that caused the fire, but the operation included a light fixture, water pump and fan related to a small marijuana grow operation in the garage, said Jim Patton with the Corvallis Fire Department.

One of those three appliances we believe was the factor in initiating the fire, Patton said.

Names of the homeowners and residents were not available on Thursday.

Deputies with the Benton County Sheriff's Office on scene confirmed Thursday that there was nothing to indicate that the marijuana grow was being operated illegally.

We havent seen anything to support (an illegal operation), said Sgt. Toby Bottorff with the Benton County Sheriffs Office, who noted that there were no charges expected in connection with the fire.

Corvallis fire officials reported that there was moderate damage to the storage room where the fire began and minor smoke damage to an adjacent bedroom located in the upstairs of the garage.

Grow operations shouldnt occur in occupancies where people live and sleep, Patton said. This occurred in a room right next to a bedroom and no smoke detectors were present in the garage. If this was a 2 a.m. fire this wouldve been a very different scenario for sure.

While there were no injuries reported, Patton said the homeowner did attempt to enter the garage after the fire started and left after realizing that it was out of control.

If a fire does occur at a grow operation, residents are encouraged to not enter the structure thats on fire, obviously, Patton said. With marijuana being legalized in the state of Oregon, more and more folks are going to try to grow their own material and were urging people to use a lot of caution when doing so.

An estimated 15 firefighters with the Corvallis Fire Department responded to the blaze, which was extinguished quickly, Patton said.

It was knocked down pretty much as soon as we hit it with water, Patton said.
/ File Photo

DANBURY  A Philadelphia man has pleaded guilty to providing cell phones, batteries, chargers and other banned items to at least one inmate of the Federal Correctional Institute in Danbury.

Dana Erwin Taylor Jr., 24, pleaded guilty Thursday before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to two counts of providing or attempting to provide contraband to an inmate of a federal prison. Taylor faces up to two years in prison and as much as a $200,000 fine when hes sentenced on May 18, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
LEBANON  Lebanon Police officers and Linn County Sheriff's Deputies, along with U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents, served a narcotics-related search warrant early Thursday morning at 785 F street, Apartment 7, in Lebanon.

Officers seized more than four grams of heroin, more than four grams of methamphetamine, scales and packaging material. Officers also arrested Bo Neal-Meyers, 22; Brenda Baarsch, 32; Gerald Pritchard, 53, and Carolyn Kennon, AKA Birman, 62.

Each were arrested for unlawful possession of heroin and frequenting a location where drugs are used or sold. Pritchard was featured in a Democrat-Herald story Dec. 30 after he received a "good deed" ticket for having properly observed a stop sign as part of an LPD outreach program.

Baarsh was also arrested for possession of methamphetamine.

All four were booked into the Linn County Jail.
When Measure 91 passed in November 2014, ending the prohibition of recreational marijuana in Oregon, it kicked off a contentious fight within the Albany City Council.

The measure allowed provisions for municipalities to continue to ban certain forms of commercial marijuana, either through council or public votes. With this in mind, the council spent the rest of the year in an ideological tug-of-war that would ultimately reveal a divided council, set the stage for a second public vote on pot, and call into question methods by which the council operates.

In the beginning

Linn County and Albany voters passed the measure by a narrow margin, 51 to 49 percent, and then the council moved to make adjustments to the rules governing operation of medical cannabis dispensaries here.

The issue began with Albanys Canna Kitchen, a dispensary on southwest Ferry Street. The city gave it a zoning exception, allowing it to exist within an industrial zone that had mixed residential. Mayor Sharon Konopa said the city granted Canna Kitchen the exception only because the shop deals just with edible cannabinoids and not products that are smoked.

A temporary ban

Some council members indicated they may not be not averse to pursing a permanent ban on recreational marijuana. On Sept. 24, 2015, the council voted for a temporary ban on sales of recreational pot at medical dispensaries, passing the measure 4-2 with Ray Kopczynski and Dick Olsen dissenting. Still, councilor Rich Kellum, an opponent of all cannabis sales, said he did not foresee a move to ban permanent recreational sales.

"I really don't want to have marijuana around, but, you know, it's here, he said at the time. "So what you do is you make the best of it.

Councilor Ray Kopczynski said he wouldn't be surprised at all if there was an attempt to ban it.

The D-H reported Sept. 29 that some businesses were enjoying growth as a result of legal pot. Albany's sole marijuana testing lab, Going Green Labs, tests for molds and pesticides, bacteria and potency in order to ensure the end product is in compliance with state laws. The company reported that its business had increased six to seven times in anticipation of recreational marijuana.

"In fact I can tell you that four of our orders right now are for rec orders in Portland," technician Cody Zuniga said at the time.

A change in plans

The council moved again to try and restrict commercial marijuana in the city. It was considering changes to zoning ordinances regulating where marijuana-related businesses inside the city limits can locate.

The motion, if enacted, would have discouraged new marijuana-related businesses and affect the city's currently operating dispensaries. Instead, the council shifted Oct. 13 to a plan to ban recreational pot. It also discussed a possible vote to reverse a previous decision and allow temporary recreational sales at dispensaries.

At this point the city seemed unsure which direction to go. On Oct. 14, the D-H reported the council had changed its mind on the plan to ban recreational pot. The council had agreed to discuss the plan, and after hearing public commentary the next night from two Albany residents on the subject, Albany City Attorney Jim Delapoer said there was never anything on the agenda about banning recreational pot.

He made the claim before a council chamber crowded with legal marijuana advocates who had come to specifically speak about and witness the council's planned deliberation on the subject.

A surprise

In a surprise move, Councilor Ray Kopczynski announced Dec. 3 that he wouldn't vote Dec. 7 on the second reading of an ordinance to ban recreational pot sales. He chose the course of action after discovering a municipal code provision, written in 1956, which allows for a councilor to change the number of votes by virtue of not voting.

This drew the ire of most on the council, and maybe most importantly, a new debate emerged on the ethical correctness of using the 59-year-old rule in such a manner, as well as the value of the council requiring a four-person vote to pass any given measure, a provision of the city charter.

In the end, the council voted 4 to 1 Dec. 7 to ban recreational pot sales and put the issue to the voters. Kopczynski had abstained, but was admittedly surprised when Councilor Bill Coburn, who in the past had voted against the ban, voted in favor. Ultimately, Councilor Dick Olsen was the only vote against it.

What's next

With recreational marijuana out, at least until the general election Nov. 8, another side effect of the great pot debate could be a revision of the Albany City charter.

Kopczynski's surprise move inspired a re-examination of the current system, which requires four votes to pass any given measure, and only allows the mayor to vote in the event of a tie. That formula let Kopczynski attempt his abstention tactic, which would be rendered useless if the council decided to move to a simple majority voting model, and perhaps allow the mayor to vote.

Such a change would require a vote in the general election, and the council has indicated an interest in exploring this option. So far, no plans are in place to affect such a change.
About 3032 soldiers, who were pardoned last August for various offences during campaigns against the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram...

About 3032 soldiers, who were pardoned last August for various offences during campaigns against the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, in the North East of Nigeria, have rejected posting to the fronts.The soldiers explained that they were never really pardoned and re-integrated into the Army, but rather, re-sentenced to the war front.It was gathered that this created anxiety at the Command and Staff College, Nigerian Army School of Infantry, NASI, Jaji, Kaduna state, when over 3,000 soldiers  who claimed to have been subjected to unimaginable ill treatment after their pardon  were gathered by the Commandant of NASI, Major General Kassim Aldulkareem, to inform them that they have been assigned new riffles and should be ready for deployment to the fronts on the 11 January, 2016.According to sources, the soldiers complained that they have not been fully re-instated into the Nigerian Army, because attempts by them to report to their units were rejected at their bases since they have no re-instatement letters.The soldiers also said that since they have been kicked out of the barracks they have not been paid for seven months making their families who live off-barracks begging for food.It was gathered that, they cried, We are not going! Give us re-instatement letters! You are sentencing us back to war, among others. According to sources, the Commandant hurriedly left when the soldiers were becoming uncontrollable.One of the soldiers who spoke to some newsmen on grounds that his name not be mentioned said: Look at me; I have put in about 28 years of my life serving this country. I have seen action in Liberia; I have been to Rwanda, Sudan and even served overseas and we the Nigerian troops did very well and were decorated in some occasions.But, our experience in fighting to save our motherland is too sad a story for the outside world to know. We are not cowards. We held on for over four months facing Boko Haram.I just want to say that after the Army dismissed about 5,000 of us, 3032 of us were pardoned last August. Since that time, the Army Authority has treated us like prisoners of wars.We were told to assemble in Jaji on August 17, which we did. Then on August 19, the General Officer Commander, GOC, of 1st Infantry Division, Maj. Gen Adeniyi Oyebade gathered us and without prior noticed moved us to Nigerian Army training Centre, NATRAC, Kontogora. Some of us found ourselves there in bathroom slippers. We were just taken straight to the place. Then, without any additional clothes or uniform, we were subjected to what was clear punishment, not training for another three weeks.Still in the clothes we came, we were again relocated to 333 artillery Barracks, Njetilo, Maiduguri. We got nothing but constant insults as cowards. We were there without uniforms no arms. They just left us there and we were abused and told to assemble at every two hours through these days for another three weeks.In Jaji, we went through another round of punishment, not training. Yet, we were not given any letter to show that we are still serving soldiers.So when the Commandant came and said we were going back to the North East, without clearing our status, we felt we have been punished enough. he said.The Public Relations Officer, PRO, of the Nigerian Infantry Corps, Major C.K Abaide, told newmen that he was not aware of the development.I shall reach you back immediately I have our side of the story, he said, but never did at the time of sending this report.
face-off between Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike over alleged N82 million spent in hostin...

face-off between Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike over alleged N82 million spent in hosting Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka to a birthday dinner has deepened.Amaechi hosted Soyinka to a birthday dinner while he was the states helmsman.Wikes camp said yesterday that his administration would write to Prof. Soyinka to return the money, if he was given any cash during the birthday bash.The governor, through his Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr. Austin Tam-George, claimed details of the N82 million was made available to the state police command, adding that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would be involved.But Amaechi, through his media office in Port Harcourt, said his administration never misappropriated N82 million in hosting the Nobel laureate.The minister warned Wike as well as his coterie of court jesters and attention-seekers to desist from peddling lies, making false allegations and criminalising legitimate government transactions in their desperate bid to discredit his person and reputation.The former governor asked his successor to go to court, if he had any case of fraud or misappropriation of the states funds against him.The N82 million allegation by Wike and his people, according to the Transportation minister, is aimed at distracting Rivers people from the incumbent governors massive electoral fraud, which different tribunals and appellate courts confirmed, as well as Wikes gross incompetence and abysmal performance in Rivers State.Amaechis media office said: Wike must stop these silly distractions. Rivers people are not interested in his lies and witch-hunt. Rather, Rivers people want to know what will happen to their children that he stopped and cancelled the funding of their scholarships abroad. Rivers people want to know why the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA) set up by law, is no longer functioning. Why, instead of quality education, a standard set by his predecessor (Amaechi), grasses and weeds have taken over the beautiful schools built by Amaechi.Rivers people want to know why the standard health facilities and services put in place by the Amaechi administration are rotting away. Not this petty rambling.Rivers people want to know why Wikes government does not care about the security of life and property, as violence and criminals have taken over. Rivers people want to know why it feels as if there is no government in Rivers State, and this is despite the billions of naira accruing to Wikes administration and the tens of billions of naira borrowed.Amaechi warned the governor against dragging the names of respected Nigerians, who had made the country proud globally and known internationally to be honest and forthright like Prof. Soyinka, into his attacks.His media office urged the governor to go to court to prove his allegations.
What a relief, my friend! What are you relieved about? It is this David Adeleke and Sophia Momodu soap opera. I tell you. It i...

What a relief, my friend!What are you relieved about?It is this David Adeleke and Sophia Momodu soap opera.I tell you. It is a perfect subject for a good home video. But what is your own?No. Nothing. I am just relieved that the parties involved have agreed to let peace reignThis will be about the third time I would hear of that matter being resolved.Well, I think the Momodus and the Adelekes should just spare us.They should not forget there is a child involved. They have suddenly made Imade Adeleke, the most famous victim of Baby Mama-Baby Papa palaver in Nigeria. Both Davido and Sophia and their supporters clubs should please protect the baby, and not make her a poster child for that kind of subject.But me, I am enjoying the story oh.Of course, too many sadists in our land enjoy other peoples misery.But really, it is a simple matter. If it were that simple, the drama wouldnt be so entertaining. What Davido wants, Davido gets. His father is rich. He is a famous musician. Davido says he wants custody of his daughter.By taking her away from her mother by force, and giving her to his half-sister, and threatening to travel out of the country with the baby for medicals, without the mothers knowledge or consent? A seven-month old baby, abducted at two months?He gave reasons for that. He is talking about the biological mother taking cannabis and risking his daughters lifeCannabis?Yes. IgboYou seriously mean marijuana?Yes, gbana as in Indian hemp. And Davido provided a medical report to confirm his claim.You saw the medical report. You are sure it is genuine? Because I understand Sophia Momodus lawyers have written the lab to produce the original report of proof of drug abuse.This their matter sef.Thats why it is the child that is most important. I dont like the way they have turned the young girl into a trophy to be fought over in a blood sport. We are in the age of the internet. Twenty years from today, someone could print out these funny details from the internet memory bank. A father, grandfather and a half-sister fighting a mother and her family over a baby and making sordid claims: It is not a fight that can be easily won.I hear Davido says the Momodus cannot force him. He may even release a special song to make his position clear: No be by force.Nobody is forcing him and his family to marry Sophia Momodu. They are just saying custody should be mutually agreed upon.And he and his family are saying they want their daughter properly brought up. They too have a point. You should not take sides.Ok. He is talking about Marijuana. When he was head over heels in love with the Momodu girl, he didnt smell marijuana? I am sure if he was given Marijuana before he was allowed to inhale, he would willingly exhale?He insists he was just 21 years old. And that he was seduced by a full-grown woman who took advantage of his youth and innocence.Innocence, indeed. Was he raped? Did he not have a relationship with her, and did he not showcase her everywhere? He was 21. If he could be tricked at 21, then he should live with the consequences. You are taking sides. I know why. You are Dele Momodus friend.I am making uncommon sense. I am saying why is Davido asking for Sophia Momodus birth certificate after the fact? When the thing dey sweet them, they no dey remember say na the thing wey fowl chop, him go shit.But you cant force any man to marry a woman. Why the girl too go carry belle for him junior brother? She suppose know say Davido sef him na pikin. You no see as him papa they follow am, make dem no carry big yansh, big chest, fine face, cheat him son for LagosHim try well, well. But Davido, your boy, him no sabi use rubber?That girl look like person wey go gree rubber?You dey crazeMy own is that fathers should just keep an eye on their sons and daughters. Let mothers also keep an eye on their daughters. To avoid stories that break the heart like this one, fine girls should just know that you cant detain any man with a baby. Er beg.The values of the younger generation are different.Some strict parents will still never have allowed this to happen.Some of these children are beyond control.But we all suffer for it. This is why Ghanaian ladies insist that Nigerian men are unreliable. They say they use and dump women.They say they?Thats what I hear.They or we?They.You mean you have tried the Ghanaian market too? Tell your brother something about ECOWAS romance?You are an incurable gossip. Ashawo, somebody.But talking seriously, it wont be fair to condemn Nigerian men. I think this is a thing about Nigerian musicians. Those people too like women. Young women, old women ohany woman. Even the women musicians sef, any man wey stand well fiamThat is more important to them than their art? No wonder many of them sing such trashy songsThere is even one of them who has seven children from five women or so. And there is one they call WhizkidSuperkid?Whatever. But there is this kid musician who also has a child from an older woman. There is this joke that when his parents heard, they quickly took charge of the situation, by telling the Baby Mama that while they would accept the baby, everyone could see that the Baby father is himself still a baby, too young to take care of another baby, not to talk of a grown woman. They pleaded that no woman should pakurumo..ko Nice joke. I laughed. Him sef na pikin, he never grow finish to take care of pikin. The girl fled.Thats why I say it is a simple matter. Davido should have consulted his seniors in this matter. That one that has seven children from five women did it so well, today all his Baby Mamas married or single, are friends.Wow. Thats a real Baba of the matter. Who is he?I cant mention his name. He is happily married now to one of the Baby Mamas. I dont want to be accused of disrespecting another mans wife.Let Davido and Sophia just make peace for their daughters sake. And when the matter is settled, Davido knows where to go for tutorials if he really wants to fish in this type of troubled waters.But our musicians sha. They can fight?Who again is fighting?Olamide and Don Jazzy.That face-off over awards at The Headies event? But they have apologizedNo. You dont get the point. Why should artistes or producers or label owners fight over awards? What I have seen is that our young artistes are obsessed with awards. They seem to be more interested in being given a plaque than developing their real work. It is this same problem with Nollywood actors. Any small award is treated as if it is the Nobel Prize.I see that too. It is the Grammy award disease.No true artist should work with an eye on winning a plaque. The best award is the acceptance of the market place, not by a group of biased judges. If you are good as an artist, you are good, nobody can take that away from you.Quite true. But it helps to have some plaques on the wall, I must say.How many of those musicians who were called the best new acts on the block in the 80s and early 90s are still making any impact today? When a work of art is good, it will be evergreen; when an artist is good, his talent will endure.Some of these new kids are great though. World-class talents. In the last few years, there has been an explosion of real talent.I want to hear more about talent. Great art. Not drama kings and queens, not Baby Mamas and Lab Reports.You are just old-fashioned. Controversy is part of art. Life itself is about controversy. Controversy produces great art. In the world of artists, all things work out as raw material.Thats why people insist artists are mad.But it is not only artists that generate or attract controversy. Politicians do.I know. Controversy is the soul of politics, but here it produces stress and oftentimes, tragedy.Ill give you one example.Which is?In Oyo State, Governor Abiola Ajimobi is trying to embarrass the Olubadan in Council by trying to determine how existing vacancies within the hierarchy are filled. He is introducing INEC guidelines to Ibadan Chieftaincy affairs!How can he possibly do that?He is asking for certificates of mental, physical and marital fitness before Ladoja and Balogun can fill the Otun Olubadan and Osi Olubadan vacancies.Marital fitness?When people ask for physical fitness, dont you know it is all encompassing?All that is politics. I am sure it will be amicably resolved. Ajimobi is smart enough to know that you dont fight the traditional institution. Governors will come and go, the Olubadan is the owner of IbadanDont tell me. Go and tell AjimobiDont worry. He knows. He just dey make body. Body language, they call it.But what is happening in Bayelsa is not body language oh. When the people of Southern Ijaw go to the polls tomorrow to determine who will be the next Governor of Bayelsa state, they wont be joking; the state will be at war.May be not real war; lets say blood sport.You are speaking grammar. I just hope the election wont be inconclusive again.It is a combat for political supremacy.Put it like this: the outcome may determine the future of Bayelsa state.No. Put it like this: the outcome will determine the future of the PDP.You are quibbling.Dickson is core Ijaw. Timipre Sylva is Nembe.I dont get it.The mind of the core Ijaw voter will make the difference. We pray for peace.I have an idea now. Yes. All things being equal.Thats politics for you.But there are other forces.Thats why there is so much at stake, and a question of where the stakeholders stand.I know. Stakeholders matter. They have just allowed MTN to buy Visafone.Really? Is that a reward for the fine MTN is supposed to pay?It is a business transaction, nothing about government.Everything is about government. Has MTN paid its fine, before being allowed to take over a home-grown company?We should study what happened. Why do Nigerians get licenses and approvals, run a business for a while and then sell to foreign interests? HiTV. Now Visafone. One glaring failure of local content!Look, lets discuss that after MTN must have paid the fine.I hear they have sacked 2, 000 Nigerian workers at Visafone, already. They have taken over.What?Oh, yes.Oh no
Speaker of the House of Representatives,Yakubu Dogara has recounted how he lost his first cousin, a Divisional Police Office, DPO, servin...

Speaker of the House of Representatives,Yakubu Dogara has recounted how he lost his first cousin, a Divisional Police Office, DPO, serving in Borno State to the Boko Haram sect in one of the attacks in the area.Dogara who disclosed this when he visited the Wassa Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, resettlement camp at the outskirts of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, with food items and clothings said majority of them from the North East had been victims of the Boko Haram onslaught on the zone.The items donated by the Speaker to the four IDP camps in the FCT were 250 bags of rice, 550 bags of maize, 600 bags of millet, 80 cartons of sugar, 250 bags of beans, 100 Jerry cans of vegetable oil, 100 bags of salt, 200 cartons of Indomie Noodles, 700 pieces of Super wax print and 700 pieces of Guinea Brocade.Speaking after donation, Dogara told the inmates who were begging to be taking back to their various communities in the Boko Haram ravaged North East that it would be irresponsible of the government to allow them go home where there was still pockets of attacks by the insurgents.
Thousands of shoppers and workers were trapped Friday as a group of gunmen took over the Delta Shopping Mall, in Effurun, Uvwie Local G...

The mall houses the popular South African consumer shop Shoprite and nearly 100 others.It is located at the Effurun Roundabout on the gateway to the East and South-south states.The Police has confirmed the incident and said the gunmen were part of the hundreds of youths who are currently protesting over lack of employment opportunities and other benefits.More later,
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 28-year-old man, Okwuchukwu Ibekwe, for allegedly selling his five-month-old son to a synd...

It was learnt that Okwuchukwu, who lives on Shinaba Street, in the Iyana Iba area of Lagos, had some difficulties in his trade and allegedly decided with his wife to raise some money by selling the baby.It was also gathered that the Ibekwes had contacted one Chinelo, who is still on the run, on December 17, 2015, for the transaction.It was learnt that Chinelo, who stayed in Ihiala, Anambra State, paid the Ibekwes N400,000  N250,000 to the father and N150,000 to the mother of the baby.It was gathered that the man, however, had a quarrel with his wife after returning from his trip to Anambra. It was gathered that when he refused to give the wife her share, she reported the matter to the police.It was also learnt that the babys mother fled the house after making the report.Okwuchukwu was, however, arrested and detained at the Police Gender Unit, Ikeja, while police operatives also arrested Chinelos husband in Anambra State. The baby and Chinelo had yet to be found.While being paraded on Wednesday, Okwuchukwu said he collected N400,000 from Chinelo in exchange for his son with the full knowledge of his wife.He said, Chinelo was to give me N400,000 for the baby. My wife was the one who suggested that we dispose of the baby to meet our business needs.But Chinelo gave me N250,000 for the baby when I went to deliver him to her in Anambra State.When I returned, my wife and I quarrelled and she ran away for three days. I did not know that she went to report the matter to the police. She was concerned with her own share of N150,000.I sell vehicle spare parts in Ladipo market.It was a lawyer who called me that my wife had reported me to the police, and that I should come and see her. When I went there, I was arrested.I do not know the whereabouts of my son. I did not know Chinelo would run away with my child.It was learnt that the police were intensifying efforts to recover the baby.The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the suspect, said the case was undergoing intense investigation.The suspect is assisting the police with information to recover the baby, he added.
Artists reception at Gallery Calapooia

Artists Favorites is the theme in January for the featured wall at Gallery Calapooia, 222 First Ave. W.

Each of the 18 member artists have chosen one of their favorite pieces to display as part of the wall. The work will include glass, pottery, jewelry, photography, watercolor, fiber arts, acrylic and oil paintings, calligraphy, cut paper, collage, and layered vinyl. A reception will be held today from 6 to 8 p.m., and the artists will be available to talk. Wine, beer and snacks will be served.

Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The gallery is a nonprofit organization and donations to it are tax-deductible.

For more information, call 541-971-5701 or see the gallerys website, www.gallerycalapooia.com.

Sweet Home historian to speak

Longtime Sweet Home historian Mona Waibel will give a presentation at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 10, at the Lakeside Center of the Mennonite Village at 2180 54th Ave. S.E. in Albany.

Waibel will discuss More Sweet Home Memories. The program, sponsored by the Linn County Historical Society, is free and open to the public.

Waibel, 85, has deep roots in Sweet Home and has many connections through family and friends. For several years she wrote a column for the Sweet Home New Era, and she has published six books of local history, including the Sweet Homes Good Old Days series about the towns history, locations and people.

Body and Breath Yoga session offered

Albany Parks & Recreation Department is offering a second session of Body and Breath Yoga, a fitness class for people who would like to have better balance, coordination and flexibility.

The class will be held from 6 to 6:50 p.m. Tuesdays in two month-long sessions at Swanson Park Action Center, 705 Railroad St. S.E. Anne Gourley is the certified yoga instructor.

Session 1 is Jan. 12- Feb. 9; Session 2, Feb. 16-March 15.

Cost is $32 for Albany residents or $42 for participants who live outside the Albany city limits.

For information or to register, call 541-917-7777 or visit www.albanyparksandrecreation.org.

R.I.P.P.E.D Fitness Classes to be held

Albany Parks & Recreation Department is offering a new R.I.P.P.E.D fitness class, with instructor Amy Knorr, in two sessions,

Classes will be held in two four-week sessions from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at Swanson Park Action Center, 705 Railroad St. S.E. Session 1 is Jan. 12-Feb. 11; Session 2, Feb. 16-March 17.

Cost is $40 for Albany residents or $52 for participants who live outside the Albany city limits.

For information or to register, call 541-917-7777 or visit www.albanyparksandrecreation.org.

Zumba/Zumba Toning classes planned

Albany Parks & Recreation Department is offering a new Zumba fitness class with instructor Angie Dedera.

Zumba/Zumba Toning is a total body workout, using choreographed dance moves to combine all elements of fitness-cardio, muscle conditioning, balance and flexibility.

Classes are scheduled in two four-week sessions from 9:15-10:15 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at Swanson Park Action Center, 705 Railroad St. SE. Session 1 is Jan. 11-Feb 12; session 2, Feb. 15-March 18.

Cost is $48 for Albany residents or $63 for participants who live outside the Albany city limits.

For information or to register, call 541-917-7777 or visit www.albanyparksandrecreation.org.
The state of Oregon has taken the next fascinating step in the long process of legalizing recreational marijuana: Starting this week, the state is collecting a 25 percent sales tax on recreational pot sales.

The states medical marijuana dispensaries  thus far, the only retail outlets authorized to sell recreational pot  started to collect the tax Monday. No one knows for sure how much money will be collected this year, but a legislative report in August estimated that the tax would generate $2 million to $3 million for the state this year. Thats not a huge amount of money, but its worth remembering that the number, like so much about Oregons nascent legal marijuana business, is tentative: Later this year, the number of retail outlets for pot sales will increase. (The state started accepting applications this week for those additional outlets.)

This years 25 percent tax is temporary; beginning in 2017, it will be replaced with a permanent 17 percent sales tax. (Medical marijuana will remain untaxed, by the way.)

Pot sellers dont expect the 25 percent tax to do much to dissuade sales, but are a little worried about the prospect of keeping additional cash on hand; since financial institutions have been reluctant to open accounts for these businesses, noting that marijuana still is illegal under federal law, many of the businesses transactions have been in cash. That has required the Oregon Department of Revenue, the agency regulating the industry, to take some unusual steps: For one, the department has opened a new cash handling location to accept large payments. The agency also has given its employees additional training on security and has set up new procedures to ensure that two people will be on hand to count up each payment. (This all underscores the need for federal action making it clear that financial institutions can work with marijuana businesses.)

Measure 81, the state ballot initiative that legalized the sale of recreational pot, specified where the tax revenue generated by marijuana was to be spent: Dispensaries can keep 2 percent of the taxes, and the Department of Revenue will keep some to cover costs of administering the taxes. After that, 40 percent goes to the states common school fund, 20 percent goes to mental health, alcoholism and drug services, 15 percent goes to the Oregon State Police, 10 percent is earmarked for city law enforcement, 10 percent goes to county law enforcement and 5 percent goes to the Oregon Health Authority for alcohol and drug-abuse prevention, early intervention and treatment services.

So its unlikely that proceeds from marijuana taxes, in the short run, will amount to a windfall for anyone, although we think it unlikely that, say, the Oregon State Police will return its $300,000 check from pot sales. We also dont expect that this will be a big issue in the various November elections throughout Oregon in those jurisdictions, such as Linn County and Albany, that will decide whether to permanently ban recreational marijuana.

Thats because its a mistake to think about any of this in the short run. Establishing the states marijuana business is a long-term proposition, and this is another step in a long journey. (mm)
In the wake of this weekends escalation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Washington seems to be increasingly favoring Tehran over Riyadh, Josh Rogin and Eli Lake reported for Bloomberg View on Monday.

After Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr was executed in Saudi Arabia on terrorism-related charges on Saturday, Rogin and Lake wrote that the State Department expressed concern that the Saudis were exacerbating sectarian tensions. Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif soon afterwards before contacting his Saudi counterpart and asked him to help calm things down. Later, State Department spokesman John Kirby seemed to contest the Saudis claims that the Iranian regime was culpable for the embassy attack by saying that Iran had arrested some of those involved (the Saudis claim that after being informed of the threat of assault on the embassy, Iran waited more than 12 hours before sending security to protect the besieged diplomats).

While the State Department insisted that it was not taking a side in the feud, Rogin and Lake reported that diplomats from the United States and the Arab world say that Americas Gulf allies see a decided tilt towards Iran.

According to Rogin and Lake, the American response to the heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran has aggravated a perception that the Obama administration is aligning with Tehran, which is fueled by Washingtons treatment of the Islamic Republic under the nuclear deal. They wrote:

At the root of the problem for Sunni Arab states is the nuclear deal reached last summer by Iran and Western nations. When the White House sold the pact to Congress and Middle Eastern allies, its message was clear: Nothing in the deal would prevent the U.S. from sanctioning Iran for non-nuclear issues. Yet that has not been the case.

a letter assuring him that the administration was prepared to issue waivers to anyone who had visited Iran, which would allow them to enter the U.S. without restrictions. After the administration planned to impose new sanctions on Iran for its illicit ballistic missile test in October , which a United Nations panel found had violated a U.N. Security Council resolution, it backed off from implementing them indefinitely in response to pressure from Iran.

In addition, Irans sentencing of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and arrest of Siamak Namazi, an American-Iranian dual national, led to no greater public friction between Washington and Tehran. The White House also pushed for closing the International Atomic Energy Agencys investigation into Irans past illicit nuclear research, even though the agency had found that the Islamic Republic was working on developing a nuclear weapon more recently than previously thought.

In explaining the administrations tilt towards Tehran, Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East peace negotiator and current vice president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told Rogin and Lake that the White House sees Iran as a stabilizing force in the Middle East. Thus, according to Miller, the Iranians hold the Obama legacy in their hands. He added, We are constrained and we are acquiescing to a certain degree to ensure we maintain a functional relationship with the Iranians.

Rogin and Lake observed that without Washington acting to confront Irans aggression, Saudi Arabia feels the need to do so itself, as if Obama wont punish Iran, Saudi Arabia will.

In April, Miller wrote about the dynamic currently being played out:
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.
Welcome to non league daily news now - your number one spot for all things relating to the National League System. Our dedicated reporters have come straight from the sidelines to bring you news fresh from the dugout - but not before theyve stopped off at the burger van first!

We know that non league football fans are full of heart, passion, and belief. You trust the manager, you believe in the team, and, for some strange reason, you trust those rickety stands, too! Here at Non League Daily, we hope we can become your trusted non league news resource - a platform thats just as passionate about non league daily news now as you.

Come rain or shine, well be out reporting on the latest non league fixtures. Well also be scouring the news, refreshing social media, and sourcing information from team websites in the hopes of finding the latest breaking non league daily news for our readers.

As youll soon see, weve got exclusive match reports on the Vanarama National League, weve got transfer speculation thatll affect the National League South, weve found great stories thatll spice up the National League North, and weve even got news on the latest giant killers of the FA Cup.

We may not be able to agree on who is going up this year, but we can all agree that any news on the NLS worth knowing will be published here, at Non League Daily.
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Outside of Mississippi, not many people know who GOP backbencher Steven Palazzo is. He beat the odious Blue Dog Gene Taylor in southeast Mississippi's deep red district (R+21) and then faded away, except for one ugly incident. His district-- which includes Biloxi, Pascagoula and Gulfport, his hometown-- was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Over 200 people died and dozens are still listed as missing. Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties looked like war zones and the economic consequences are still barely calculable, tens of billions of dollars just in Palazzo's district. And the federal government stepped up with billions in recovery aid. That's the way it should be. People in New York and California and Illinois pitched in through the federal government to help our brothers and sisters in Mississippi. A year after Palazzo took office Hurricane Sandy hit. It caused over $70 billion in damage and over 70 deaths. New York and New Jersey were hit particularly hard. Palazzo was one of the small handful of radical right hateful confederates to tell the northerns to go screw off . He voted against aid for Sandy victims.





Yesterday Palazzo was back in the news-- this time offering a resolution to censure president Obama for his executive order on guns. Palazzo, who has taken $12,051 from gun groups in his short time in Congress and boasts an "A" from the NRA. "His actions this week to take away the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens is just the latest, if not most egregious, violation of the separation of powers found in the United States Constitution." Perhaps Palazzo never read the Second Amendment but there's nothing President Obama ordered that has anything to do with the Second Amendment. Although Congress attempted to censure Nixon and Clinton, I'm pretty sure the only president ever censured was Andrew Jackson.













Above is a piece of an interview Chris Hayes did with a somewhat more extremist colleague of Palazzo's, Alabama's Mo Brooks who works very hard trying to sound like a moron but is no dummy. A crackpot? Yes, but he graduated from Duke in 3 years with a double major and later earned a law degree from the University of Alabama. Sure, Mo's a hate-filled racist throw-back and a Know Nothing xenophobe and he's always saying nutty things-- like Obama is waging a war on whites-- but he's always been an articulate defender of the Second Amendment. The NRA graded him a 93% and the more extremist Gun Owners of America gave him a 100% rating. Conversely, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence named him an NRA lap dog and gave him a ZERO rating. He speaks with some authority about Second Amendment issues. And, while Palazzo worked as a bookkeeper or accountant, Brooks is an actual attorney... with a degree from an accredited law school.





Assuming Hayes didn't get him high in the MSNBC green room before the interview, he made some news Wednesday night when he responded to Hayes' simple question about whether or not he'd favor allowing guns in his work place (which happens to be the U.S. House of Represenatives). Now, recall, that when former Congressman and Gambino crime family thug Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm-- now serving prison time-- proposed the congressmembers be allowed to pack heat on the House floor , John Boehner instructed his staff to make sure he was never left alone with Grimm again under any circumstances. Early in 2011, Grimm told a district newspaper that if congressmen "feel comfortable with that responsibility, then I support them. It could put you in a situation where you can protect yourself... If somebody pulls out a knife to attack you and you draw a gun, theyre likely going to drop it. But you have to be prepared to kill; its not for everyone."





It was definitely for him though. He loved playing Mr. Macho man and waving his gun around in crowded places screaming and threatening people. What a guy! What a Republicano! Mo Brooks, who has a concealed carry permit, has a different attitude though. Hayes asked him "Should citizens and Members of Congress be allowed to carry [guns] inside the U.S. Capitol?" Mo, said no. "I do not want citizens coming onto Capitol grounds inside the United States Capitol, into the gallery of the United States Capitol with guns, given the risks that are associated with that..." Watch for yourself up top.





Now Brooks isn't-- and likely never will-- run for president, at least not of this country. But, Chris Christie is. With a campaign weeks away from disintegrating-- the latest CBS poll of Iowa Republicans shows him tied for 9th place with 1% and that same CBS poll has him behind Trumpf (32%), Cruz (14%) and Rubio (13%) for 4th place in New Hampshire, the basket all his eggs are in. If he loses there in a month, it's back to New Jersey, where his approval rating is an astounding 31%. One of the reasons New Jersey independents and even some confused Democrats liked him is because he seemed independent enough to buck the GOP and back an assault weapons ban in 1995, going so far as to point out that the Republicans opposing the ban were "dangerous," "crazy" and "radical." He campaigned against a concealed carry law in 2009. Now that he's trying to win votes in a GOP national primary, he wants to be included in that list of the dangerous, crazy and radical. Christie was on Fox with Sean Hannity Wednesday to say he's changed his mind, claiming he was just a child-- a 460 pound, 32 year old child.













Chicago Tribune Obama didn't propose anything remotely confiscatory. The right-wing noted this week that Obama was unable to get Congress to pass background checks-- despite 91% approval from the public

If you can't get Congress to change the laws, you can do nothing-- or you can look for how to apply those laws in ways that are more sensible but within the letter and spirit of their text. Obama has elected to do the latter.



...Federal law requires a dealer's license for anyone "who devotes time, attention and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms." The idea behind that language was to exempt individuals who make only occasional sales, as many ordinary gun owners do.



But some people use the exclusion to evade the clear intent of the law. A study by Mayors Against Illegal Guns found that "high-volume sellers posted 29 percent of the gun ads listed by private sellers." On one popular online site, it found, 1 out of every 30 potential purchasers had criminal records.



...The change would fall short of the universal requirement Obama urged Congress to enact, but it would expand the number of sales triggering background checks, creating a new hurdle for felons seeking guns. It would also curb a clear abuse of the law by unscrupulous or careless sellers.



Republican presidential candidates accuse the president of overstepping his legal authority. "This is going to be another illegal executive action, which I'm sure will be rejected by the courts," said Chris Christie. Jeb Bush said Obama would be using "executive powers that he doesn't have."





But the charge doesn't stick. This step appears to be a reasonable adjustment of regulations in order to fulfill the purpose of an existing statute. In November, a group of 23 law professors signed a letter saying, "Executive action to ensure robust enforcement of the law-- including issuing clarifying guidance and directing comprehensive enforcement of federal gun laws-- is entirely compatible with the will of Congress and the president's constitutional authority."



It's not a cure-all-- just a rational attempt to make it harder for people who are barred from owning guns to buy guns. And it's long overdue.

But that isn't how hyper-partisan sociopaths like Steve Palazzo see it. He and his confederates just want to tear the nation apart and could care less how many families are devastated in the process. The NRA was too scared to go on prime time TV with the president for a discussion about his actions. Instead they're busy raising money by lying to the fools who take them seriously that Obama is grabbing their guns. Sick people, with a lot of blood on their hands-- and in Paul Ryan's case, a lot of blood money in his bank account. Ryan has taken more money from the NRA and other gun groups than anyone else currently in the House of Representatives.







You probably already read NY Times. There was a paragraph that especially piqued my interest: You probably already read President Obama's OpEd in last night's. There was a paragraph that especially piqued my interest:

Even as I continue to take every action possible as president, I will also take every action I can as a citizen. I will not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform. And if the 90 percent of Americans who do support common-sense gun reforms join me, we will elect the leadership we deserve.
Second Syrian family takes up residence

Thank you very much. Those are the first English words spoken by Hakim Alzahran, the patriarch of his nine-member family and the latest Syrian refugee family to call Sudbury home.

Hakim Alzahran and his children arrive at Grearter Sudbury Airport Thursday afternoon. Photo by Arron Pickard.

Thank you very much.



Those are the first English words spoken by Hakim Alzahran, the patriarch of his nine-member family and the latest Syrian refugee family to call Sudbury home.



Alzahran, his wife and seven children arrived at Greater Sudbury Airport on Thursday afternoon, greeted by a throng of people including the Qarqoz family, the first Syrian family in the city, as well as Michael Williams, pastor, St. Kevin's Church, and Faye Moffatt, of Trinity United Church. They are members of the Capreol Valley East sponsorship group responsible for bringing the Alzahran family to Sudbury.



Alzahran, a cab driver and curtain upholsterer, said via translator it was the best day of his life. And, while he expected a few people to greet them upon their arrival, he had no idea such a large group would show up. His wife, on the other hand, said she has come to expect nothing less of Canadians, that's how much faith she has in Canada, she said.



Looking a bit tired, but no worse for wear, Alzahran said his family is doing very well.



He said he came to Canada to give his children a better future, and that he foresees no problem in his family integrating into Canadian culture.



They come from a good family, and they know in Canada, everyone is going to treat them well, said his translator, Maha Dabliz.



Getting the Alzahran family to Sudbury was a months-long process, but it all happened very quickly in the end, said Williams. The group found out Tuesday night the family would be flying to Toronto on Wednesday, and then had to wait for more information for their flight to Sudbury.



It was short notice, but we're prepared, Williams said. We're willing to do whatever it takes to make sure they integrated successfully into our community and into our country.



This is something we've been dreaming about for a long time, said Moffatt. We sort of connected informally over the summer, but nothing became official until October. When we were looking at profiles of refugee families, most of the families of three, four and five members were already sponsored.



There were two larger families, one with eight members, another with nine members, and we just said, 'we have the resources, we have the ability to shelter nine people, so why don't we take the group that might have the most difficulty finding a sponsor.



The family will be staying at a house attached to Our Lady of Peace Church in Capreol.



It's large enough to accommodate all nine comfortably, and we have a team that has transformed it from a rectory into a home, Williams said.



The sponsorship group has already connected with the local schools, which are working on a welcome program for the Alzahran children.



We'll probably be touring at least the elementary schools tomorrow, Moffatt said.
Turning Sudburys regreening expertise into actual green

Sudbury's environmental destruction and subsequent reclamation is one of the city's defining moments.

The city will be offering a transcab services for some outlying communities starting Feb. 29. File photo.

Sudbury's environmental destruction and subsequent reclamation is one of the city's defining moments.



From a blackened, barren nickel capital to a beacon of regreening and responsible mining around the world, Sudbury has come a long way since the 1970s.



A major project is germinating between the mayor's office and Laurentian University that would capitalize on the expertise built from the recovery process.



Laurentian's vice-president of research, Rui Wang, had introduced the Sudbury Protocol at the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation's (GSDC) first Resourceful City talk in November.



Wang describes the protocol as a scientifically proven and practically implementable protocol that can be used as a step-by-step guideline and standard for government and industry at different levels, for sustainable mining industry and economic development with the environmental and the societal impacts at the centre and front of the planning and operations.



He says that since moving to Sudbury, he's pored over the hundreds of peer-reviewed journals, surveys and books related to the regreening. He wants to see the information in one, accessible document. He approached Mayor Brian Bigger in the spring to discuss the concept of condensing the information into a marketable, usable product.



Bigger and Wang have developed a strong bond over the past few months. The two men have had similar, if inverse experiences with their childhood landscapes.



Bigger grew up in the bleak, acidic 1960s Flour Mill neighbourhood.



As a kid I played on the rocks behind the flour mills  we called it the mountains; that was my area to explore, yet it was black rock and dead tree stumps and a desolate landscape. That's what we knew as little kids, said Bigger.



Wang, on the other hand, came from a lush, small village in China, next to the Mountain of Seven Treasures. He visited in 1995 before moving to Canada to say a final goodbye to his childhood memories.



There were beautiful mountains, a clean river ran through with fish, and my childhood playmates were still there, he said.



But, where Bigger says he's seen his city transform into a centre of environmental innovation and reclamation in the last few decades, Wang has seen the opposite.



When I was in China in November, I wanted to renew my childhood memory, he said. In 20 years, everything changed. There's a gold mine in front of the mountain, and a sulfur mine in the middle. The air is stinky, the trees are half dead, there's a half-bare mountain, the water has become oily with a rusty colour, the village is half empty.



The Mountain of Seven Treasures is devastated and deserted. That destroyed my childhood memory, he said.



But Wang has hope. He imagines the Sudbury Protocol could be applied to his village to prevent similar occurrences in areas engaged in resource extraction.



During that trip, I couldn't help but constantly think about Sudbury, and think about what happened in Sudbury over the same period of time, said Wang. Probably to you it's cliched, but to me it's refreshing. Thirty years ago Sudbury is just the same my father's home village today. In that time, your citizens set up a common vision, set up new environmental policies.



The protocol has a two-year timeline, with the final product anticipated in December 2017. However, Bigger emphasizes that it will generate local activity beyond the document itself. He and Wang hope to see new academic courses and industry-related tourism result from the launch of the protocol. The goal is to send the protocol out while bringing people in to Sudbury to learn.



We really need to have a sense of urgency, how to make sure our success can be continued, can be branded, can be sold. It's our challenge, said Wang.



Bigger said they are beyond the brainstorming phase and will have their task force together by January. He will include a cross-section of academia, community and industry experts. So far, Bigger has brought up the idea with Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation representatives, and Wang says they're looking at Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council funding as well.



If you're competing on a global basis, looking for people to invest and come to Sudbury to learn, to work, and to live, how do you differentiate your company? said Bigger. This is something that does differentiate us in a very positive way.



Bigger says they will be presenting the protocol at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention in Toronto this March. It will mark a more formal step forward for the protocol.
A special weather statement from Environment Canada has been issued for Sudbury. An approaching storm system is expected to bring significant rain and snowfall to the area this weekend.

A special weather statement from Environment Canada has been issued for Sudbury.

An approaching storm system is expected to bring significant rain and snowfall to the area this weekend.



Precipitation from this storm is forecast to begin late on Saturday night. It will likely begin as rain, with between 15 and 25 mm possible in some locales before it changes to snow on Sunday afternoon.



Snow is then forecast to continue through Sunday night before tapering off on Monday morning.



Some regions may receive 10 to 15 cm of snowfall during that time. Strong and gusty winds on Sunday night may also result in areas of blowing snow.



There is still uncertainty regarding the development and track of this weather system.



Small changes in the expected evolution could result in either more rain or more snow. Environment Canada meteorologists will continue to monitor this event closely.



This statement will be updated with more detail as the outcome becomes more certain.



Weather watches or warnings may also be needed. Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada.



To report severe weather, send an email to storm.ontario@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports to #ONStorm
If Lougheed case goes to trial, it will be in July

The criminal case against Gerry Lougheed Jr. took another step forward Thursday, with additional court dates determined for the spring and three weeks set aside in July should the case go to trial.

The criminal case against Gerry Lougheed Jr. took another step forward Thursday, with additional court dates determined for the spring and three weeks set aside in July should the case go to trial. File photo.

The criminal case against Gerry Lougheed Jr. took another step forward Thursday, with additional court dates determined for the spring and three weeks set aside in July should the case go to trial.



The prominent local fundraiser and funeral home director was represented by his lawyer, Michael Lacy, who made it clear he and his client are anxious to have the case dealt with as soon as possible.



If the court could have offered dates next week, I would have been available, said Lacy, a member of the firm Greenspan Partners LLP.



But the earliest available date was March 31 for the next hearing. After that, a confirmation hearing is set for May 10, when Lougheed will have to appear for the first time. At this hearing, the Crown and the defence basically confirm that they're ready to go to trial.



If the matter proceeds to trial, three weeks in July have been scheduled  the weeks of July 4, July 11 and July 18.



A pre-trial hearing took place Wednesday in front of Justice Hugh Fraser of Ottawa. Should the case go to trial, it will be handled by an out-of-town judge, Lacy told the court, at the request of the Crown.



The case is being handled by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC), which is a federal body set up to handle certain types of high-profile cases, such as human rights and other controversial cases.



Since October 2014, the service has had the responsibility to prosecute alleged breaches of the Canada Election Act.



The creation of the PPSC reflects the decision to make transparent the principle of prosecutorial independence, free from any improper influence, the service's website says.



Lougheed was charged in September in connection with a scandal that emerged in late 2014 during the Sudbury provincial byelection.



He is charged with one count of Counselling an Offence Not Committed [Section 464 (a) of the Criminal Code] and one count of Unlawfully Influencing or Negotiating Appointments [Section 125 (b) of the Criminal Code].



The charges were laid following an investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police's Anti-Rackets Branch that began in January 2015. That's when former Liberal candidate Andrew Olivier released recordings of a conversation with Lougheed in which Olivier's future as a candidate was discussed.



Those recordings led to the charges.



After Thursday's hearing, Lacy told reporters that a potential trial would take place in the summer because the court couldn't accommodate an earlier date.



"The earliest available date if this matter is going to proceed is July 4, as you heard," Lacy said.



The March 31 date is when the matter will be spoken to, to see where the parties are at," he said.



Assuming the case proceeds, the March hearing will likely determine whether there will be a preliminary hearing, or if the case would go straight to trial.




You know those states where Democratic registration is higher than Republican registration but where the GOP wins all the time anyway-- states like West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee? Far-off VA-09 in the southwest corner of Virginia borders on all 4 of those states. It's been an economically populist area but culturally conservative. As late as the 90's the district was a Democratic bastion and gave Bill Clinton 63% of its vote both times he ran. Rick Boucher was congressman there from 1983 until he was defeated in 2010 by Republican Morgan Griffith 51-46%.





The district, now with a PVI of R+15, has gotten redder and redder since Clinton's presidency. Obama lost both times-- badly-- only 40% against McCain and just 35% against Romney. The district is 90% white. In 2014 the DCCC didn't bother fielding a candidate against Griffith. That will change this year. One candidate, Bill Bunch, a farmer and retired U.S. postman, has already declared. He sounds like a Howard Dean 50-state strategy guy and is committed to rebuilding the Democratic Party in southwest Virginia. He's the chairman of Bernie Sanders' campaign in Tazwell County and he's endorsed Bernie for president and he's taken some pretty coorageous stands for his part of the country. A member of the League of Conservation Voters in the middle of coal country, he's campaigning on green energy. Here's how he explains it on his website

"Democrats Are Against Coal!"



That is all you hear! I love the electricity that makes my life so comfortable. I know that coal makes it work! Our deep mine coal is the best in the world. It will be needed far into the future. I will work to protect it. But, I will work to make the needed demise of surface mining as painless as possible. Even the workers who mine this coal know that they are doing harm. Our jobs will train and re-employ those workers in new industries. Our Green Energy Future initiatives will enable our coal mine job creating entrepreneurs to move right into related construction, manufacture and technology needed to make this possible.



Coal is and has been a major economic factor of life in our region. However, it is a scientific and medical fact that coal has negative effects on human beings, especially children. Coals biggest enemy is the truth. The EPA (see EPA position statement) was forced into enforcing the Clean Air Act because of a suit filed and won by the Natural Resources Defense Council, of which I am a Member.



I am running for our children, so I am proud to be a part of what will help make the future cleaner, greener and healthier.for them.

Sounds like he has his head on straight about guns as well. Don't expect to see the NRA giving Bill Bunch an A+ any time soon. "The vast majority of Democrats agree with the American people that it is time to enact common sense gun sale regulation. I will support universal background checks; closing the Gun Show loophole... The Gun Lobby and weapons manufacturers have mislead a majority of their supporters. They are mainly concerned with their bottom line profits. Ill get a double F from the NRA. I hope to appeal to the majority of their membership to come home to the Democratic Party where they belong!"





He's campaigning on increasing the minimum wage and protecting Social Security and Medicare, positions not shared by Morgan Griffith. But Bunch may have another hurdle to overcome before he faces Griffith. An especially odious right-wing Democrat, Roanoke Mayor David Bowers, from the next district over, is making noises about running as well . He's an anti-Choice, NRA-loving throwback to a different kind of Democratic Party. If you've ever heard of him it's because he was the freak who made national news by advocating throwing Syrian refugees into "detention camps" of the kind, he said, the U.S. used when rounding up Japanese-Americans. Since we mentioned that Bunch is the chairman of Bernie's campaign in his county, you might as well know that the racist from Roanoke hasn't backed Trumpf or Cruz but is part of the Hillary Clinton Leadership Team , right along with Rahm Emanuel. Her campaign attracts that kind of garbage.





Bowers doesn't call himself right-wing or even conservative but uses the preferred term that hides what he is: "moderate." All the rightists call themselves moderates. The Beltway media encourages it, insists on it, in fact. Does that make progressives immoderate or radical? Bowers is a conservative. Some day he'll be a Republican; he;'s just a little slow.

I dont follow the liberal party line all the time, obviously, he said.



In his discussions with 9th District leaders, which will kick off Wednesday, Bowers said he wants to talk with them about his political philosophy and let them know he doesnt currently live in the district, as Roanoke lies within the 6th District.



Election law doesnt require congressional candidates to reside in the district in which theyre running... Bowers said he plans to visit communities around the district over the next several weeks as he weighs his decision.



He did not have a timeline for making a final announcement.



I know the clock is ticking, he said.

Yeah... Mr. Mayor, train's left the station. And worse, for you, DCCC boss Steve Israel, who recruits fake Democrats like you, is also leaving the station-- though not soon enough!
Many Indians still hope for a united India where the current borders between Pakistan, India and Bangladesh would be a matter of the past, and a new currency will tie these former British colonies under a new federation. This view is not limited to Hindu extremists of the RSS, but also many ordinary Indians.

Here are some recent news on the topic. are some recent news on the topic.

"These three nations can become a 'federation'", Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said, mooting the idea of common currency, open trade and lifting of restrictions on movement of people.

BJP's National General Secretary Ram Madhav said that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh will reunite one day to create "Akhand Bharat" or an 'Undivided India'. Madhav had told Doha-based Al Jazeera: "The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) still believes that one day these parts, which have for historical reasons separated only 60 years ago, will again, through popular goodwill, come together and 'Akhand Bharat' will be created."

Here are some more info on Indian dream for a federation: are some more info on Indian dream for a federation:

Since coming to power, BJP has been making "Akhand Bharat" (Undivided India) Part of Indian School Textbooks

Students, how would you go about drawing a map of India? Do you know that countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Burma are part of undivided India? These countries are part of Akhand Bharat. Tejomay Bharat (Shining India) by Dinanath Batra Tejomay India (Shining India) is just one of six of (Shining India) is just one of six of Batra's books made "must read" by education ministry for students at all of 42,000 primary and secondary schools in the State of Gujarat, the home of India's Hindu Nationalist prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi

Batra shares something in common with Nigeria's Boko Haram for his vehement opposition to western education. He calls western-educated Indians children of Marx and Macaulay who are defaming Hinduism, according to India's First Post . He also feels that there is no need for English language education and instead advocates the teaching of Sanskrit to students along with a an emphasis on the mother tongue ("with 20 percent for Sanskrit") with Hindi as a second language. It is interesting to note that

Hindu nationalists have been battling scholars over history for decades. They tried to do in California what their Indian counterparts have already done in India. They attempted to change California history textbooks in 2006, when they argued unsuccessfully to include their claims like the indigenous origins of Aryans and tried to deny the terrible impact on hundreds of millions of Indians of the caste system and misogyny prevalent in Hindu texts and Aryan culture. Hundreds of history scholars from US and South Asia helped defeat this attempt by Hindu American Foundation (HAF) and its allies in the United States.

With regard to anti-Muslim propaganda in Indian textbooks, Dr. D.N. Pande, author of "History in the Service of Imperialism", summarized his conclusions in a lecture to members of the Rajya Sabha in 1977 when he said: Thus under a definite policy the Indian history textbooks were so falsified and distorted as to give an impression that the medieval period of Indian history was full of atrocities committed by Muslim rulers on their Hindu subjects and the Hindus had to suffer terrible indignities under Islamic rule.



Retired Justice Katju of the Indian Supreme Court has said that Dr. Pande came upon the truth about Tipu Sultan in 1928 while verifying a contention  made in a history textbook authored by Dr. Har Prashad Shastri, the then head of the Sanskrit Department in Calcutta University  that during Tipu's rule 3,000 Brahmins had committed suicide to escape conversion to Islam. The only authentication Dr. Shastri could provide was that the reference was contained in the Mysore Gazetteer. But the Gazetteer contained no such reference, according to a report in The Hindu newspaper.



Further research by Dr. Pande showed not only that Tipu paid annual grants to 156 temples, but that he enjoyed cordial relations with the Shankaracharya of Sringeri Math to whom he had addressed at least 30 letters. Dr. Shastri's book, which was in use at the time in high schools across India, was later de-prescribed. But the unsubstantiated allegation continued to masquerade as a fact in history books written later.



"The Hindutva project to rewrite South Asian history appears to be gaining new momentum with the rise of Narendra Modi . If allowed to proceed unchecked, this revisionism could prove to be very destabilizing and dangerous for India, Pakistan and the entire region," writes Riaz Haq.




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!


Your search did not match any resources.
St George Illawarra Dragons second-rower Tyson Frizell has been ruled of the NRL World All-Stars squad as a result of undergoing back surgery during the holiday break period.

The Wales international underwent the operation to correct a lumbar disk bulge after consultation with a surgeon prior to Christmas and has since commenced his rehabilitation this week.

Frizell is responding well to his light duties program but will not be able to commence any skills or contact training for at least 12 weeks.

Dragons Head of Medical and Performance Tony Ayoub said Frizell would miss the Dragons' season opener against the Storm at AAMI Park, Melbourne on Monday, March 7.

"Unfortunately, Tyson has suffered a few issues with his lumbar disk bulge prior to the Christmas break which had previously sidelined him during stages of the 2015 season," Ayoub said.

"We thought it would remain an ongoing issue throughout this year based on that fact so we sought out the opinion of a surgeon who agreed with his.

"Luckily we did do the surgery as they found three fragments from a disk in his spine which had to come out and has had instant relief because of it.

"He will most probably be right for either Round 2 or Round 3."

Read more at dragons.com.au
INDIANAPOLIS | Two legally married lesbian couples are suing Indiana's health commissioner and local officials, accusing them of violating their constitutional rights by not listing the names of both spouses on their children's birth certificates.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in June, the lawsuit says Indiana's birth certificates still treat marriage as between a man and a woman without giving equal recognition to married same-sex couples.

The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis contends that Indiana's laws overseeing birth certificates violate the Fourth Amendment's equal protection and due process guarantees.

The suit asks a judge to require that both same-sex parents be named on their children's birth certificates, which it says are vital documents often needed for parents to register a child in school, make medical decisions and arrange Social Security and inheritance benefits, among other things.

Among the plaintiffs are Jackie and Lisa Phillips-Stackman, who were married Oct. 5 and are the parents of an infant daughter, Lola, born Oct. 21 from an egg provided by Jackie and fertilized by a donor. Lisa carried the resulting embryo to term, and Lola's birth certificate only lists Lisa as her mother. In order for Jackie to legally be considered Lola's mom, she would have to adopt her  even though the infant is her biological child.

"The thought of having to adopt my own child just rubbed me wrong, especially with all the planning we had done. It's offensive," Jackie Phillips-Stackman told The Indianapolis Star.

Under Indiana's law, if a child's mother is married to a man, he is presumed to be the child's father, even in cases of artificial insemination. A mother can also provide other paternity information. But if a mother is married to a woman, the female spouse receives no legal status in relation to the child, the lawsuit states.

The new complaint states that Indiana's laws deny same-sex couple's children "the same rights accorded to children born to a married man and woman."

The suit is similar to one filed in February against Indiana and county health departments by several Indiana families. It is still pending.

The state Department of Health declined to comment on the new litigation, which also names Marion County officials who are involved in issuing birth certificates. But Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said in a statement that "there are many legal unknowns" following the legalization of same-sex marriage.

"It may take time for the lower courts to resolve any remaining issues surrounding the complex, interwoven system of laws involving birth records, divorce and parental rights, property and tax laws," he said.

___

Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com
GARY  A financial consultant for Gary Community School Corp. contends the school district's deficit is closer to $35 million to $40 million than the $23.7 million previously reported. The district's total debt is $92 million, according to the state.

Jack Martin, with Martin, Arrington, Desai & Meyers P.C. Certified Public Accountants and Consultants of Detroit, was one of three candidates initially recommended to the Gary schools by the Indiana Distressed Unit Appeals Board to work with the school district and city for one year, developing a financial plan to eliminate the district's debt.

Martin said the school district is overstaffed when one considers the declining enrollment. He said there is not enough revenue coming in to cover the payroll and benefits every two weeks.

"We will make payroll, but it's a struggle every two weeks," he said.

He has said Gary Superintendent Cheryl Pruitt has trimmed the staff but to expect more personnel cuts.

"As a general proposition, for a school district of this size, there are too many employees. But also in making that statement, we want to be sure that we don't just start laying people off wholesale without analyzing what they are doing and how efficiently they are operating," he said.

He said the district is using a recent $15 million no-interest loan from the Common School Fund to make payment arrangements with critical vendors.

"When you look at all the vendors to which the school corporation owes money, the deficit is higher," he said.

"The obligations go back years. The corporation has entered into a payment agreement with NIPSCO, Illinois Central Bus Co., the IRS and Gary Sanitary District.

"There are smaller vendors like law firms, professional firms, suppliers of trade materials, office supplies and everything it takes to run a business who are owed smaller sums, like $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000. These are people we will begin looking at in the new year."

Martin said his company is in the "diagnostic" stage right now, and 80 percent complete. He said when findings are presented to the state, he also will recommend a working group to create the deficit-elimination plan.

"We're calling them the vision working group, and they will help determine the future of the Gary school corporation, given its financial challenges," he said. That group will include educators and community members.

Martin also didn't rule out the Gary school district's trying for another general fund referendum.

"It's my understanding the earliest we can do that is May. That would be our target assuming all of our ducks are in order," he said.

Last year, the school district asked voters for a tax increase of 41 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to raise a total of $51.8 million over seven years. The referendum was designed to help the general fund, that is, the operating budget, which mostly pays for salaries and benefits and some programs.

It failed.

"If you just say to the community, give me more money and they don't know, understand or can see how that money will be used to improve education, then the natural reaction of taxpayers will be, 'I don't want any part of that,' " he said.

Martin agrees with Pruitt that there are many factors that are causing declining enrollment, and he said the situation in Gary is similar to what other urban school districts are facing across the country, challenged by a shrinking tax base, poor academic scores and pressure from charter schools and vouchers. A voucher is a state money that allows families to use public school dollars to pay private school tuition.

Pruitt said she believes there is a correlation between the test scores and the finances.

"As the test scores drop, that equals declining enrollment, which also equals economic decline because no one wants to attend an F school," she said.

"If a school district has an F, it affects the community and the economics of that community," she said.

"The Gary schools have been faced with the issues for a long time, whereas other communities are just now facing some of these issues. School grades hurt communities which are under served."
DOLTON | Dolton School District 149 recently ratified the collective bargaining agreement settlement with the Classroom Teachers Association for 2014-17, according to a news release.

Shari Gomez, CTA president, said the CTA ratified the contract with 98 percent in favor.

"The CTA is looking forward to continuing in collaboration with the Board of Education, " Gomez said.

"The compensation package will allow School District 149 to invest more in its facilities in the near future which is desperately needed," said Cedric Lewis, business manager for the district.

Details of the contract were not disclosed.
SPRINGFIELD | Maura Duffy spent a day in Chicago last September with her mother: A walk along Lake Michigan, shared meals, a boat tour highlighting Second City architecture.

But this was no typical mother-daughter outing. It was the first time the two women had ever met.

Since a handful of states, including Illinois, have unsealed birth certificates, thousands of adoptees have claimed them and learned about their beginnings. The 35-year-old Duffy, adopted at birth, is among 8,800 Illinois residents since 2010 to do so.

Not everyone who gets the document goes on a search. But for many, it's led to heart-rending reunions.

"I finally got to see and meet someone who looked exactly like me," said Duffy, a marketing professional. "It's a very kind of emotional, strange thing that you grow up your whole life and don't ever know anything about your background. And it's the first chapter of your life, that birth certificate."

Obtaining a birth certificate  something most people can do without much thought  often is a visceral, as much as legal, quest for an adoptee.

"The things that people take for granted are enormous, life-changing moments" for adoptees, said Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, a Chicago Democrat and adoptee who sponsored the Illinois law and still breaks down when discussing it.

Feigenholtz, who met her birth mother years ago, worked for more than a decade to open birth certificates in Illinois, which like nearly every other state had sealed such records from the 1940s through the 1980s. There are several reasons adoptees want access to those records, including learning medical histories crucial to determining health risks. Many adoptees believe they have a right to such a personal, intimate record.

Illinois is one of 11 states to have open birth certificates and one of nine to have unsealed them since 1999, according to the American Adoption Congress. And because of its size, the Prairie State has seen more adoptees get those papers than most. Still, the 8,800 is only 2.5 percent of the 350,000 Illinois adoptees' records that were sealed beginning in 1946.

In Oregon, which opened its records in 2000, 11,500, or nearly 11 percent of the 108,000 records sealed after 1957, have been requested. Alabama didn't seal 300,000 records until 1991, reopened them just nine years later, and 5,800 adoptees have requested them. Rhode Island reopened 24,000 records in 2012 after 68 years, and 759 people have laid claim to their birth certificates.

Some adoptive children have reunited with birth families without open-records laws. Public intermediary services, private businesses and volunteers help reunite willing adoptees and birth mothers, although sometimes it involves hundreds of dollars and no guarantee of success.

Jenny Spinner, who grew up in an adoptive home in Decatur with her twin sister, found her mother before the law changed. But Spinner, a 43-year-old mother, English professor and researcher in Philadelphia whose intrepid inquiries have prompted preparation of a book about the experience, is frustrated by the lack of documentation of her personal story. She still wanted her birth certificate for the emotional connection it brought.

"The paper that I've been looking for just to see all our names together in one space has still eluded me, outside of this birth certificate," Spinner said. "It's the only thing where her name is stamped on a document that has my birthdate. That proves it."

States generally had open birth records until the mid-20th Century when unwed motherhood became more stigmatized, said Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a not-for-profit, nonpartisan research and policy center.

Birth certificates often were stamped "illegitimate" and sealing them was thought to protect the baby, the adoptive family from intrusion and was even considered, in some circles, the cleanest break for a "maladjusted" mother to re-enter society and later marry.

Opponents contend birth mothers were promised privacy in perpetuity, which Donaldson Institute research has not been able to substantiate, and research shows both adopted children and the parents who gave them up want contact, Pertman said.

The trend is "toward greater honesty, greater openness," said Pertman, adding it's "way too slow."

In Pennsylvania, an adopted lawmaker has introduced legislation to open birth records there, and Illinois Rep. Ann Williams, a Chicago Democrat whose district neighbors Feigenholtz's, traveled to testify July 17 in favor of the bill. Williams told the committee the Illinois law brought "excitement, joy and fulfillment" to nearly 9,000 adoptees, but for her, it was "bittersweet, as I was not among them."

Dave Reynolds, a 46-year-old health care-plan operator from Deerfield, didn't seek his birth record until he met Feigenholtz, who encouraged him. He just spoke by phone about a month ago to his birth mother, who lives in another state and never told anyone in her family about her son.

"I'd love to meet my birth mom face-to-face. I'd love to give her a hug," Reynolds said. "I'd love to meet my half-brothers. That would be a neat moment. But that's on her timetable. If it never happens, then I'm just so thankful I had a chance to thank her."

The meetings can be just as wrenching and emotional for birth mothers, and many adoptees are reluctant to ask them to come forward and speak publicly. Nor is it always an easy process for the family that reared an adopted child.

Duffy's adoptive mother, who is ill with Alzheimer's, often talked with her daughter about finding her birth family. The process has been hard on her father, but "I'm not going anywhere," Duffy said.

"They were the people that put a Band-Aid on my knee when I scraped it. They're my family," she said. "It's just nice to start to get to know this person who gave so much up for me, who did such a selfless thing for me, giving me birth and bringing me into this world."
ROMULUS, Mich.  Authorities say a flight from New York to Chicago was diverted to Detroit Metropolitan Airport due to a disruptive passenger.

United Airlines flight 3461 operated by Shuttle America landed about 8 p.m. Thursday at the airport in the Detroit suburb of Romulus. Airport spokesman Brian Lassaline says in an email the female passenger was removed and remains in custody Friday.

FBI spokeswoman Jill Washburn says the woman will likely be transferred to federal custody.

WDIV-TV reports the woman assaulted another passenger on the flight and was restrained. The station broadcast video taken from inside the plane showing authorities carrying a woman through the plane's main aisle while passengers applauded.

The plane from LaGuardia Airport had 69 passengers and four crew members. It continued to O'Hare International Airport, arriving about an hour late.
Eddie Melton filed his candidacy Wednesday for the state Senate seat currently held by Earline Rogers.

Melton met with Rogers, who earlier this week announced she would not seek re-election in November, immediately after filing to discuss matters affecting Northwest Indiana, according to a news release.

Melton, a Merrillville Democrat, also attended the first meeting of the Senate Education and Career Development Committee.

I believe that our educators deserve to be valued and supported," Melton said in a statement. "We must provide our teachers and schools with the resources needed to effectively foster a quality learning environment and rewarding classroom experience for our children."

Melton also is committed to expanding industries, creating a viable climate for entrepreneurs, and ensuring local residents have access to jobs and workforce development opportunities, the release said.

Melton, a member of the State Board of Education and leader of the Indiana Commission on the Social Status of Black Males, in November announced his interest in replacing Rogers in Senate District 3, which is comprised of Gary, Lake Station, New Chicago, Hobart, Merrillville and Crown Point.

Rogers said earlier this week she will wait until the Feb. 5 filing deadline to decide whether to endorse a potential successor.

However, she spoke favorably of Melton, manager of governmental and community relations at NIPSCO.

"I think that he would make an excellent state senator," she said. "I would feel very comfortable with him in my seat."
CROWN POINT  A Lake County councilman awaiting trial on domestic violence accusations has publicly apologized.

"Even though I am innocent of all charges, I humbly apologize to my constituents and to all my supporters and my family for having to be put in the situation of wondering what happened. For that I apologize," Councilman Jamal Washington, D-Merrillville, said.

He spoke to reporters following a council study session Thursday. It was his first public appearance since Merrillville police arrested him Dec. 3 for a domestic dispute at his home.

The Lake County prosecutor's office has charged him with two counts of strangulation, domestic battery and invasion of privacy of his wife and his female co-worker who was living at his Merrillville home. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 2.5 years in prison.

The Illinois Central Bus Co. terminated Washington last month from his position as a senior contract manager and his wife filed for marriage dissolution after the incident.

A special prosecutor has entered Washington's case and there is a request for a special judge to hear the criminal charges. The local prosecutor and judge removed themselves last month, citing the power Washington has over their spending requests to the county council.

Washington, who won election to the council in 2014, was freed on bail Dec. 4, but didn't attend the council's Dec. 8 meeting. He said Thursday he plans to resume his public duties. Council members will vote Tuesday whether to renew Washington's appointment to the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission.

Washington said after the council study session, "I am innocent until proven guilty and I've not been proven guilty. I believe we have a great judicial system and I believe in due process."

Washington reminded reporters he has supported the city of Gary's attempt to lower homicides, supported Calumet Township residents opposing sand mining and supported the United Steel Workers labor contract negotiations "and many other things and I will continue work hard for my constituents as I have done in the past. Nothing will change."

The council also was preparing Tuesday to approve a labor agreement with 221 Lake County Jail corrections officers that provides 3-percent annual salary increases for the 3-year year life of the contract.

Council President Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, said he wants to postpone for 90 days a new request by Lake County E-911 Director Brian Hitchcock to restore five dispatchers to his department's payroll.
HAMMOND | A Lake County sheriff's officer denied allegations he used excessive force during a traffic stop last year involving a black college student from Chicago.

Michael Stewart's answer to Joshua A. Kruel's federal lawsuit says the officer did not use excessive force that endangered Kruel's health or safety, was not aware of any substantial risk of serious illness or injury to Kruel and took no deliberate action that directly caused any deprivation of Kruel's civil rights.

The answer, filed in U.S. District Court on Wednesday by attorney Casey McCloskey, also says Stewart acted in good faith and with objective reasonableness under the circumstances. Stewart contends he is entitled to qualified immunity.

Kruel sued Stewart, the Lake County Sheriff's Department and Lake County in September following the October 2014 traffic stop on Interstate 65 in Jasper County. Kruel, who was traveling from Chicago to Athens, Ohio, to return to college, is seeking $5 million.

In the lawsuit, Kruel alleges that Stewart broke his driver's license in half, reached in and unlocked his door, used a Taser on his face, grabbed his clothes, swore at him and used a racial epithet. Kruel also contends Stewart punched him and attempted to drag him out of the car.

Kruel drove away when Stewart stepped back from the car and appeared to reach for his waistband, the lawsuit says. Kruel contends he drove off because he feared for his life and a high-speed chase ensued. Kruel eventually surrendered to police, but he was never charged with any traffic infraction, according to the lawsuit.

John Kopack, attorney for Lake County, filed a counterclaim against Kruel that contends the county is an improper party to the lawsuit. Kruel knew or should have known Lake County has no control or policymaking authority over the arresting officer, sheriff or Sheriff's Department, the counterclaim says.

The county is seeking damages, attorney's fees and other relief.
VALPARAISO  Pleas of not guilty were entered Friday on behalf of an 18-year-old man waived to adult court to face a charge of having molested a young girl once or twice a month for three years.

Aaron Villanueva, of the 300 W. block of County Road 700 North, made an initial appearance before Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper on a felony count of child molesting.

The allegations came to light in September when the girl, who is now 13 and in 8th grade, disclosed it while performing a class project.

The case was waived to adult court because Villanueva's age prohibits him from being sent to boys school and he should not be housed with younger children at the juvenile detention center, according to the waiver order.

"Without proper treatment, which this Court cannot give, there is a concern that the sexually maladaptive behavior exhibited will not be treated successfully," the order says

A trial was set for the week of May 16, with preliminary hearings March 8 and April 5.

Bond was set at $2,500 cash, according to the court.
VALPARAISO | Pleas of not guilty were entered Friday on behalf of a Valparaiso man accused of faking the loss of a $25,573 engagement ring to fraudulently collect $30,000 in insurance money.

Investigators said Kale Christman, 37, of 56 Lincolnway, filed a police report during the summer of 2011 claiming his former fiancee, 28-year-old Rachel Glass, refused to return the white gold, three-carat diamond ring.

Christman said he did get the ring back, but accused Glass of taking it again after a fight, police said.

Police said they confirmed Christman was paid $30,000 from an insurance company for the missing ring. They then learned Christman had inquired with a jeweler in November 2013 about trading in the ring.

A search of the woman's home on Nov. 18 revealed the ring, police said.

Christman and Glass are each charged with C felony insurance fraud, according to court records.
VALPARAISO  A female customer at the Franklin House bar was surprised early Friday when she walked out to her car and found a man sleeping in the backseat.

The man, who was later identified by police as Anthony Leaf, 37, of the 900 block of Saddlebrook Court in Chesterton, would not leave the vehicle when asked, the woman told police.

When police arrived, Leaf reportedly said he was doing nothing wrong sleeping in his own car. His car was adjacent to the woman's vehicle, and similar in shape and color, police said.

Leaf was taken to the hospital because of his intoxicated state and then to jail where he faces a felony count of possessing cocaine, and misdemeanor charges of public intoxication and unlawful entry into a motor vehicle.
MEXICO CITY  The world's most-wanted drug lord was captured for a third time in a daring raid on Friday by Mexican marines, six months after he tunneled out of a maximum security prison in a made-for-Hollywood escape that deeply embarrassed the government and strained ties with the United States.

The world's most-wanted drug lord was captured for a third time Friday, as Mexican marines staged heavily-armed raids that netted drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman six months after he escaped from a maximum security prison.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the capture Friday, writing in his Twitter account: "mission accomplished: we have him."

Few had thought Guzman would be taken alive, and few now believe Mexico will want to try to hold him a third time in Mexican prisons. He escaped from two maximum-security facilities in 2001 and on July 11, 2015, the second on July 11 especially humiliating for the Pena Nieto administration, which only held him for less than 18 months. The U.S. has sought his extradition, though Mexico in the past has said he would serve sentences here first.

"I would like to inform Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been detained," Pena Nieto wrote in his Twitter account.

Guzman was apprehended after a shootout with Mexican marines in the city of Los Mochis, in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa, said a federal official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by name. He said Guzman was taken alive and was not wounded.

Five people were killed and one Mexican marine wounded in the clash in a house. It was unclear if Guzman was there or nearby when the raid was under way. Another law enforcement official confirmed that Guzman had been captured at a motel on the outskirts of Los Mochis.

But given Guzman's penchant for escaping through tunnels, the details of his capture, once they are released by Mexican officials, are sure to be startling.

In the United States, the Drug Enforcement Administration wrote in a tweet that it was "extremely pleased at the capture of Chapo Guzman. We congratulate the MX Government and salute the bravery involved in his capture."

The U.S. Justice Department had no immediate comment on whether it would push to extradite Guzman to the United States, where he faces charges in multiple different jurisdictions across the country.

Five people were killed and one Mexican marine wounded in the clash. It was unclear if Guzman was at the house or nearby when the raid was under way.

Another Mexican law enforcement official said authorities located Guzman several days ago, based on reports he was in Los Mochis.

The official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said authorities had even searched storm drains in the area. In 2014, Guzman escaped arrest by fleeing through a network of interconnected tunnels in the city's drainage system in the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan.

The Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines acting on a tip raided a home in the town of Los Mochis before dawn. They were fired on from inside the structure. Five suspects were killed and six others arrested. The marine's injuries were not life threatening.

At the home marines seized two armored vehicles, eight rifles, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Photos of the arms seized in the raid suggested that Guzman and his associates had a fearsome arsenal at the non-descript white house.

Two of the rifles seized were.50-caliber sniper guns, capable of penetrating most bullet-proof vests and cars. The grenade launcher was found loaded, with an extra round nearby. And an assault rifle had a .40 mm grenade launcher, and at least one grenade.

Some in Mexico had doubted Guzman would allow himself to be captured alive, and others doubted that Mexico  given the successive embarrassments of his two escapes from prison  would want to hold him again in a Mexican prison.

"Many people had doubted he could be recaptured," said Mexican security analyst Raul Benitez. "It is a big success for the government."

The United States filed requests for extradition for Guzman on June 25, before he escaped from prison. In September, a judge issued a second provisional arrest warrant on U.S. charges of organized crime, money laundering drug trafficking, homicide and others.

Former Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam had bragged earlier that Mexico wouldn't extradite Guzman until he had served his sentences in Mexico.

Benitez said such bragging "makes me ashamed."

"It would be better for the Americans to take him away," he said.
On Nov. 15, all Illinois adoptees and adult descendants of deceased adoptees will gain access to their original birth records. This is a law that should be adopted in Indiana as well.

For years, adoptees' quest to locate birth parents, and vice versa, has been spun as a sentimental story, and it is that. Adoptees and birth parents who are able to find each other often have a sense of closure as they reunite and find out about each other's lives.

But there's more to it than tugging at heartstrings. There's also a need for patients to fill in information about their ancestors' health backgrounds.

Illinois state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, who spearheaded the effort to open the adoption records in Illinois, is continuing her crusade. Feigenholtz told Times staff writer Lauri Harvey Keagle that she is in talks with U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., about the issue. Quigley is a second-generation adoptee.

"I said we've got to do this for second-generation adoptees for nothing other than health reasons," Feigenholtz said. "This is a national issue."

Health care is indeed a national issue, as the debate over the health care reforms passed by Congress, and promoted so forcefully by President Barack Obama, has shown. But access to adoption records is also a state issue, and state action can come quicker than a national solution.

Feigenholtz, who was adopted, said the lack of information about her birth family and her identity has haunted her throughout her life.

"It's not about trying to replace our family," she said. "It is human nature to want to know your lineage."

This is true. And that quest becomes urgent when health concerns are factored in.

Indiana began an adoption history program in 1988 to allow for the release of medical, identifying and nonidentifying information. However, identifying information can be released only when the adult adoptee and the birth parent register with the Indiana Adoption History Program, which is run by the Indiana Department of Health. Illinois has had a similar program since 1985.

What makes the new Illinois law stand out is the access to birth certificates.

Indiana should follow the lead set by Illinois in providing adoptees and their adult descendants easier access to their original birth records. This isn't just about satisfying curiosity, although that should be reason enough, but it also is about helping patients track down vital information about their birth family's health.
A Queens community came together Thursday to take a stand against gun violence a week after a 16-year-old boy was shot dead and left on the street. NY1's Ruschell Boone filed the following report.



Standing on the corner in Jamaica where her 16-year-old son was found murdered on New Year's Eve, Marguerite Tolson-Jackson made a heartfelt plea to end gun violence.



"It hurts," she said. "I wouldn't want my worst enemy to go through the pain that I'm feeling right now."



Police are still investigating Jihad Jackson's killing, but sources believe he was accidentally shot by a friend who was playing with a gun.

Sources also say the teen's body was left on the street after being shot inside a home on 109th Avenue and Merrick Boulevard.

Three people have been charged with evidence tampering. Jackson's killer is still at large.



"How many more got to go before somebody makes a change? How many more kids have to give their lives, and their parents have to cry and go through the pain and suffering and the anguish?" Tolson-Jackson said.



More than 100 people marched with mothers of victims and victims of gun violence.



"The moment my son's life was taken was the moment I became an advocate against gun violence," said Shenee Johnson, whose son was murdered. "So that's why I have to come. I have to come to continue. I have three other children I'm fighting for and other children in our community."



The gathering was organized by the community group LIFE Camp Inc. While some spoke about gun control, others talked about personal responsibility.



"If it looks like somebody's doing wrong in the house, you ain't got to go call the police. You tell his mother. Look for his father," said one speaker at the march. "Men, get back into your houses. Women, stop looking at these dudes until you find out that they are responsible enough to be a part of that household."



The evening ended at Jackson's old junior high school, where people discussed some of the changes many are hoping to see in this neighborhood.



"We are going to stand there. If we have to, we are going to stand there and take back those corners," said City Councilman I. Daneek Miller of Queens. "We have done it in other parts of the borough here."

"A lot of elected officials committed to doing more work, so we are definitely going to hold them to that," said one person at the march.



The march and rally were well-attended, but organizers say they want to see more people from this community speaking out.




The NYPD has stripped a police sergeant of her gun and badge for the chokehold death of Eric Garner, the first official accusation of wrongdoing in a case that fueled a national debate about race and police tactics. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.



Sergeant Kizzy Adonis didn't speak but was visibly upset after she was hit with departmental charges for her role in the police chokehold death of Eric Garner. But her union didn't hold back.



"Can only be described as political pandering to the anti-police rhetoric that is out there," said Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association.

The NYPD says Sergeant Adonis failed to supervise when Eric Garner died.

In addition to filing internal charges against her, the department placed the sergeant on modified duty, and took away her gun and badge.

"My embarrassment for Commissioner Bratton. My embarrassment that he is the commissioner for the NYPD," Mullins said. "I don't even think he has really evaluated the facts."



Garner died in July 2014 as police arrested him for illegally selling cigarettes on Staten Island. Police continued to restrain him even as he said he could not breathe. Adonis is said to be the first supervisor to arrive on the scene.

Cynthia Davis, the head of the National Action Network on Staten Island, says she's surprised by the charges.



"It is something that probably should have happened a long time ago," Davis said. "It certainly is a step in the right direction, but it just took so long."



Garner's death touched off protests across the city. After a grand jury declined to issue indictments, the Justice Department launched an investigation, telling the NYPD to hold off taking action against Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who placed Garner in the chokehold. But Adonis was charged now because an 18-month statute of limitations, set by the sergeants union contract, was about to run out.

The union says Adonis proved she was a good officer because she wasn't on patrol that day, but still responded to the scene when she heard the emergency calls come over the radio. At the time, she was headed to a meeting with her NYPD bosses.

"Her driver, which no one has put out, is a trained EMT. So a EMT is right on the scene when this is occurring," Mullins said. "She checked with him, and Eric Garner could breathe. He was OK."

The police commissioner will have the final say on any internal punishment of Adonis.


Ahead of upcoming contests in Iowa and New Hampshire next month, there have been a number of presidential candidates in the city this week. Thursday, it was Chris Christie. Josh Robin filed the following report.



Appearing before a pro-Israel crowd, Chris Christie didn't disappoint with the red meat.



"They're our single most important ally," Christie said.

It's an ally he says President Barack Obama neglected, saying the Democrat treated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worse than even a "thug" like Russian leader Vladimir Putin.



And so Christie says he would invite Netanyahu to Camp David, with an evening just for Netanyahu to vent.



Christie: About what it's been like for the last number of years.

Shmuley Boteach, moderator: And you know that Jews know how to vent.

Christie: I do.

Boteach: Going to be a long weekend.



Syria registered more nuance, to an extent. Warning of terrorism, Christie says the U.S. shouldn't accept any refugees, and that goes even for orphans under the age of 5.



Is he conflicted?



"Of course I'm conflicted," he said. "But I'm a leader. I have an obligation to resolve the conflict, and I resolve the conflict in favor of putting the lives of the safety of the American people first because that's my job."



2016 presidential politics also came up, with Christie offering sharp words for a Republican rival, Marco Rubio, and the Democratic frontrunner Hillary clinton.



"I think it, unfortunately, Secretary Clinton spent too much time around President Obama," Christie said. "She sees the world as she wishes it was. I see the world as it is."



And if Clinton faced Rubio in the general election?



"I think she'd pat him on the head and then cut his heart out," Christie said.

Finally, given his administration's scandal involving a certain bridge, we wondered how exactly Christie got to and from the Upper West Side if it involves crossing the Hudson. But the governor hustled out without taking questions from anyone but the moderator.


THE composer Jeanine Tesori's slim right hand seems permanently attached to her flagon of Starbucks, whence comes the dark trickle of fuel for a bright, stream-of-consciousness soliloquy on the consequences -- all positive -- of her flourishing new collaboration with Tony Kushner, the ''Angels in America'' auteur whose latest offering, ''Caroline, or Change,'' is a winter sellout at the Public Theater. Next stop Broadway. The prospect gets her glowing; add in the unlimited caffeine from her afternoon dosage, and Ms. Tesori starts flitting through her Upper West Side apartment like a gamine, Type A Peter Pan in khaki flares.

She is a tomboyish 42: cropped hair, striped sailor jersey, no maquillage. She simultaneously introduces herself, plunks a log in the fireplace of this creaky brownstone, kicks up her sockless, red-clogged feet and plops herself on a hassock. Furniture is scarce in here. She and her husband are saving for a bigger abode: their kindergartner, Siena, craves a dog, and this walk-up is not conducive. A Baldwin baby grand piano (Ms. Tesori banged out ''Edelweiss'' by ear at age 3 on her family's monster upright in Port Washington, N.Y.), a mountain range of toys and a ton of music cassettes share the living room; a hula hoop doubles as wall art.

Ms. Tesori was last on Broadway, but definitely Kushner-less, as the composer for ''Thoroughly Modern Millie,'' which cornered the 2002 Tony Award for best musical and continues to run despite its inability to win over the critics: they felt ''Urinetown'' was the superior show with the superior score, and Ms. Tesori found out what a Broadway-size snub feels like. But that was then, and ''Caroline'' is now, replete with retribution on a serious scale. Most critics haven't dared nitpick at the integrity of a musical so powerful that it makes people cry. Ms. Tesori likes that.

''Caroline'' is set in Mr. Kushner's hometown, Lake Charles, La., and charts the complex relationship between a black maid and the Jewish family that employs her in 1963, circa the Kennedy assassination. Fluffy, it isn't. Operatic is more like it, with a musical smorgasbord that samples Mozart and Motown with equal gusto.
Nearly 30 years ago, the federal courts had to place limits on New York City police surveillance to protect law-abiding citizens who happened to be politically engaged on civil rights and other issues. Based on new court filings in a longstanding suit challenging police surveillance techniques, the courts may need to intervene to stop the New York Police Department from spying on law-abiding citizens once again, this time Muslims.

The citys police came under court scrutiny starting in 1971 for what civil rights lawyers described as illegal surveillance by the departments infamous Red Squad, including its surveillance of Black Panthers who were acquitted on charges of conspiring to blow up police stations and department stores. The case, named for a plaintiff, Barbara Handschu, became a class action, spreading to other politically active groups, and was settled in 1985. The city agreed to follow court-ordered investigation guidelines that were loosened after Sept. 11 to ensure that the police had ample flexibility to ferret out terrorist threats.

The revised agreement allowed police officers to attend political and religious events, but barred them from retaining information unless it was related to potential terrorist acts or other unlawful activity. The restrictions had two purposes: to prevent the department from unfairly targeting entire political or religious groups, and to make sure that records were kept only when the police found reasonable indications of potential law breaking, not as an intrusion into the private affairs of innocent citizens.

A motion filed in federal court last week by the lawyers in the Handschu case makes a strong case that the city has simply ignored those guidelines in its antiterrorism fight and is targeting Muslim groups because of their religious affiliation, not because they present any risk.
Alison Chase (Thursday through Jan. 17) Reflecting the current global refugee crisis, Alison Chase, a co-founder of Pilobolus, depicts a harrowing one-way journey in her new work, In the Forest of the Night. Also part of her second New York season is Tracings, which uses bodies to invoke the Maine coastline where she lives. These join two repertory works, one that explores the cracks in a relationship and one that reimagines a Buddhist legend, all told with Ms. Chases physical inventiveness and storytelling sensibilities. Thursday and next Friday at 8 p.m., Jan. 16 at 2 and 8 p.m., Jan. 17 at 2 p.m., Five Angels Theater, 789 10th Avenue, near 52nd Street, Clinton, alisonchase.org/nyc2016. (Schaefer)

Chen Dance Center (Thursday through Jan. 16) In Newsteps, a semiannual showcase of emerging choreographers selected by a panel of veterans, Takeshi Ohashi looks at dynamics in relationships; Gina Montalto wonders when to stay silent and when to scream; Hannah Garner puts a positive spin on failure; Ayaka Kamei brings her experience as a volunteer in the aftermath of the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami to the stage; and Laura Henry takes inspiration from Lord of the Flies. At 7:30 p.m., 70 Mulberry Street, Chinatown, chendancecenter.org. (Schaefer)

 Coil Festival (through Jan. 17) The annual performance jubilee from Performance Space 122 has always been a boundary buster, but at this years festival, an explicit theme is borders, as in questioning, crossing and erasing them. Among the dance artists taking that mission to heart are Jillian Pena, who uses mirrors to play with perspective in Panopticon (Saturday through Jan. 17); David Neumann, with a narrative-driven dive in personal turmoil called I understand everything better (Sunday through Jan. 15); the Norwegian artists Findlay//Sandsmark + Pettersen, presenting a meditation on dying (Tuesday through Jan. 17); and the Australian duo of Helen Herbertson and Ben Cobham with Morphia Series, inspired by the Greek god of dreams, and tailored to an intimate audience of a dozen (Wednesday through Jan. 16). At various times and locations; a full schedule and details are at ps122.org/coil-2016. (Schaefer)

 Company XIV (through Jan. 17) If the traditional Nutcracker evokes the transition from childhood to adolescence, then Company XIVs Nutcracker Rouge might be the subsequent crossover into adulthood and the accompanying sexual awakening. The choreographer Austin McCormick combines a strong dose of burlesque, baroque and ballet with glittered pasties and G-strings for a charmingly sensual and playful holiday romp. Tchaikovsky never sounded so scandalous. Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 5 p.m., Minetta Lane Theater, 18 Minetta Lane, Greenwich Village, 800-745-3000, companyxiv.com. (Schaefer)

 Danspace Project Commission Reprisals (Friday through Jan. 16) In the past 20 years, Danspace Project has commissioned nearly 500 works, and its starting 2016 by remounting four recent ones. Netta Yerushalmys Helga and the Three Sailors features a solo performed by Ms. Yerushalmy in front of video clips of her as a child in her native Israel (Friday). In White, Michelle Boule applies theories of quantum mechanics and BioGeometry to spatial relations in dance (Saturday). Keely Garfield embraces sincerity in Wow and three dancers interpret a work by the avant-garde artist Joseph Cornell in Laurie Bergs The Mineralogy of Objects (Thursday through Jan. 16). At various times, St. Marks Church, 131 East 10th Street, East Village, 866-811-4111, danspaceproject.org. (Schaefer)
By Doina Chiacu and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States released a suspected al Qaeda propagandist to the government of Kuwait on Friday, leaving a total of 104 inmates at the U.S. naval prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The U.S. Defense Department announced the repatriation of Faez Mohammed Ahmed al Kandari, a Kuwaiti who had been held at Guantanamo for 13 years. It said in a statement his detention "does not remain necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States."

Kandari, 38, was suspected of being a propagandist and also may have served as "spiritual adviser" to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to a U.S. Department of Defense profile.

Kandari was transferred on Friday to Kuwait, where he will be put into a rehabilitation programme to help him reintegrate into society, according to his lawyer in Washington, Eric Lewis.

"Mr. Al Kandari is delighted to be going home and reuniting with his beloved parents and family after all these years away," Lewis said.

He said Kandari was the last of 12 Kuwaitis who had been at Guantanamo, which the George W. Bush administration established as a prison for foreign terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

President Barack Obama, who campaigned in 2008 on a pledge to close the prison, views it as a damaging symbol of inmate abuse and detention without charge that he inherited from Bush. He is still working on a plan to close it, despite opposition from the Republican-controlled Congress.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced two Yemeni detainees were transferred to Ghana. Kandari's release leaves 104 inmates at the prison, 45 of them already approved for transfer.

"It's a good illustration of our effort to chip away at the population there and to try to resolve these individual cases in a way that's consistent with our national security interests," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Friday.

General John F. Kelly, outgoing commander of the U.S. Southern Command, told reporters more Guantanamo inmates would be released this month but did not elaborate.

"I think we can all quibble on whether 13 or 12 or eight years in detention is enough to have them pay for whatever they did, but they're bad guys," Kelly said on Friday.

"If they go back to the fight, we'll probably kill them."

Kandari's release came after the parole-style Periodic Review Board determined in September that his detention was no longer necessary.

The board, established by Obama in 2011, is comprised of six intelligence and national security agencies. After detainees are approved for transfer, the U.S. government has to find countries willing to take them and provide the security arrangements.

(Additional reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Bill Trott and G Crosse)
Streaming audio is more essential to the music industry than ever before, but last week WKCR-FM (89.9), the radio station of Columbia University, abruptly shut its online simulcast, cutting off the eclectic station from listeners outside the reach of its broadcast signal.

Its a devastating setback, said Phil Schaap, the host and jazz historian who has been a fixture on WKCR for 46 years.

The station said it was working on restoring its online service, but it is unclear why it pulled the plug. A note announcing the suspension of the online feed was posted on the stations website at the end of December, and over the last week, complaints have poured in from inside and outside of the organization. One sore spot: the lack of a stream for Mr. Schaaps memorial for the pianist Paul Bley on Jan. 5. (We have some excellent stations for classical and jazz in NoCal, but nothing as good as KCR, one Facebook commenter wrote.)

A Columbia representative said that the problem was not the cost of royalties but contractual terms with the stations provider and that negotiations were underway.
More mainstream grocers like Kroger and Safeway have moved to highlight their selection of organic products, which by law cannot contain any genetically modified ingredients, and have quietly urged big food manufacturers not to oppose demands for G.M.O. labeling.

The number of products verified by the Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit group that certifies foods that are free of ingredients from genetically engineered sources, is now in the tens of thousands.

But many companies have long argued that a patchwork of state laws with different requirements for G.M.O. labeling will be cumbersome and expensive, and the quirks in the Vermont law are making their case.

Ms. Morrison noted, for example, that in Vermont, the cans of SpaghettiOs will have to be wrapped in one label stating that the product contains ingredients from genetically engineered sources because they fall under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration. But Campbell does not have to disclose that SpaghettiOs with Meatballs contains such ingredients because that product is governed by the Department of Agriculture  and the Vermont law applies only to products overseen by the F.D.A.

Image Campbell is calling for mandatory labeling of products that use ingredients from G.M.O. crops. Credit... Campbell Soup Company

A state-by-state patchwork of laws could be incredibly costly not only for our company but for the entire industry, Ms. Morrison said. Thats why we want the federal government to come up with a national standard that is mandatory.

Campbell will seek advice from the Department of Agriculture and the F.D.A. about what language it might use on its packaging. In an interview with The Des Moines Register in December, Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, said he planned to hold a meeting with food companies and others in the hope of reaching a compromise before the Vermont law goes into effect.
Federal Bureau of Investigation records show that nearly 21 million gun sales were processed through the background-check system in 2014, and retail sales of firearms came to an estimated $3.1 billion in 2015, according to IBISWorld, a research firm. But some industry analysts say as many as 40 percent more firearms might have been sold through private transactions not subject to background checks  a figure that gun advocates vigorously dispute.

On Tuesday, President Obama thrust enthusiasts like Mr. Strahan into the spotlight by clarifying that even irregular gun sellers could be considered dealers under federal law, and could face stiff penalties for selling firearms without a license.

Still, the gun industry, from hobbyists like Mr. Strahan to the National Rifle Association, has largely shrugged off Mr. Obamas efforts. Experts said it was unclear whether the plan would push unlicensed dealers to stop operating on the margins of federal and state record-keeping systems.

Mr. Strahan said he might stop dealing openly on websites, like Armslist.com, which have come under recent scrutiny for hosting what appear to be unlicensed dealers. But he can always turn to more private trading clubs on Facebook, many of which operate in his area, to continue to trade firearms, he said.

I dont think youre going to see scores of individuals racing to A.T.F. to be licensed as a dealer, said Mike Sullivan, the former director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which issues federal licenses to gun dealers.
By the late 1800s, acts of Congress were reconfiguring what was then called the public domain by creating national parks, forests and monuments. The remainder of the land was used primarily for livestock grazing  which, over the years, eventually reached destructive proportions. So in 1929, President Herbert Hoover established a committee to make recommendations for dealing with overgrazing. The committee recommended that the remaining public domain should be given to the states, but with two caveats. First, the federal government would retain ownership of the mineral estate of these lands: Revenue from their ores and fossil fuels would still wind up in the national treasury. Second, any lands not accepted by the states would be placed under active federal management.

The reaction of Western states to this proposal was best summarized by Gov. George H. Dern of Utah. During 1932 congressional committee hearings, Dern granted that Western states appreciated the compliment of being assured . . . they can be trusted to administer the [lands] more wisely than it can be done from offices in the nations capital. He then added: They cannot help wondering why they should be deemed wise enough to administer the surface rights but not wise enough to administer the minerals contained in the public lands. Without the mineral estate and revenue associated with it, the Western states had no interest in accepting surface title to the lands.

In other words, the federal government has attempted to do what Payne, Ammon Bundy and their compatriots ask  return the land to the people. Had the Western states accepted the offer, we might have avoided a long train of controversies leading to the Oregon occupation. But when the Western states declined, the second caveat in the Hoover committee recommendations was put into play, and Congress passed the Taylor Grazing Act, establishing a permit-and-fee system for regulating grazing on the public lands. All of that was to be administered by the Department of Interiors federal Grazing Service  an entity that would eventually become part of the Bureau of Land Management.

The grazing act was crafted by the Western livestock industry, but it didnt quite put an end to controversies between stock growers and the federal government. For years, though, those controversies tended to revolve around how much grazing was too much: Stock growers, unsurprisingly, tended to think the land could support a lot more animals than federal managers did. Both sides agreed, though, that grazing was the appropriate use for the land.

That changed in the 1960s, with the first rumblings of what would become the environmental movement. The emphasis on grazing, some advocates said, meant ignoring the recreational and environmental values of public lands. By the next decade, the nation had adopted policies requiring federal agencies to include environmental protection in their management missions. And Congress had passed legislation reclassifying grazing from the dominant use of public lands to just one use among many  all to be weighed and administered by the land bureau.
Earthworks are an older tradition than oil painting, going back 3,000 years, the artist Carl Andre observes late in Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art, a cogent, brisk, sometimes thrilling documentary written and directed by James Crump. More than a couple of shots of Stonehenge turn up as supporting evidence for that claim. Mr. Crumps film, though, is mostly concerned with a group of American artists who, in the early 1960s, began not just working with natural materials for their pieces but also went out into the open, sometimes arid, spaces in North America to mold or scar, or both, the land itself.

Mr. Crump does a terrific job of detailing the aesthetic and intellectual motivations of this loose movement: concern for the environment, continuation of the What is art? inquiries of earlier 20th-century forms and disillusionment with galleries and with the art scene in general. This film provides short but satisfying sketches of intriguing individuals like the artists Robert Smithson, Walter De Maria, Michael Heizer, Charles Ross, Nancy Holt and the arts patron Virginia Dwan. The relative isolation in which these artists worked makes them seem more maverick iconoclasts than actual troublemakers, but its not my title to choose.

As well as it does its job, the movies tone suggests a PBS program. So, too, does its brevity: The film clocks in at a leave-them-wanting-more hour and 12 minutes. Some potential viewers may take this as a cue to wait for Troublemakers to turn up on television, but that would be a mistake. The films generous views of spectacular works like Smithsons monumental Spiral Jetty (the work projects into the Great Salt Lake in Utah) and Mr. Heizers Double Negative in Nevada (a huge trench bisected by a canyon) are best seen on the largest screen available.
Almost from the day that the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center opened in 1986, exhibitors and hotel operators complained that the black glass complex along 11th Avenue in Manhattan was too small, too hard to navigate and perpetually damp from a leaky roof.

Successive New York governors, in turn, have announced their plans for a lavish expansion only to see them founder.

On Thursday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo took another crack at it, unveiling a $1 billion expansion that would create more than one million square feet of event space and New York Citys largest ballroom at the six-block-long complex, which stretches from 34th to 40th Street. An airy glass addition at the northern end of the center would provide meeting rooms, new exhibition halls and outdoor space for conventioneers.

Under the plan, Javits North, a semipermanent structure currently anchoring the centers 40th Street end, would eventually be demolished and replaced with a four-level garage for tractor-trailers bringing in displays and other equipment.
In that case, gunfire was exchanged, the police said, but no one was wounded.

Twice, cars from Rapid Armored Corporation, where Mr. Santiago had once worked, were singled out, the court papers said. Each robbery occurred before noon on a weekday.

In a statement, Anthony J. Annucci, the acting commissioner of the State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, said Mr. Santiago, an officer since 2014, had been suspended without pay. Whether on or off duty, he said, the department has absolutely zero tolerance for any criminal or unethical conduct by staff  period.

Use of task forces in law enforcement can rise or fall, due in no small part to personnel issues or budgetary constraints.

In 2011, New York Police Department officials pulled the forces six detectives and one supervisor out of F.B.I. headquarters, in Lower Manhattan, and deployed them to police units across the city to focus on broader crime issues, not just bank jobs. The departments head count had shrunk by several thousand at the time, and the number of bank robberies had dipped to lower levels than when the team was formed, officials said.

But the breakup was particularly bitter, according to several current team members who noted that besides bank robberies, members also work on fugitive and murder-for-hire cases, kidnappings, crimes on the high seas and offenses in more than a dozen other categories.

The task force was started in September 1979, when New York was combating what was then historic highs in bank robberies, both armed and note jobs, said Barbara A. Daly, a supervisory special agent of the F.B.I. She said there were 848 cases in that calendar year alone.

Working separately was not a very effective way to address these crimes, she said.

Once we created a formal agreement, she continued, you can see a steady decline in the bank robbery figures when were working together.
With no bed of her own to sleep in, Karen Carter took a friends advice to seek shelter at the airport. Every night for nearly three weeks, she went to a different terminal so that she would not be recognized for regularly returning.

I fit in, Ms. Carter, 52, said. People are stranded and waiting on flights. I would just sleep in the chair.

La Guardia and Kennedy Airports were safe and warm, with access to phones and restrooms, but the decor was dreary. Ms. Carter could not help but redesign the dismal surroundings in her head.

It was a zeal for decorating that first brought Ms. Carter to New York City from California in 2009, when she enrolled at the New York School of Interior Design.
Ahmad Alsalkhadi, an immigrant from Jordan, has never had a run-in with the police, but he works in a section of Astoria, Queens, that has come under police surveillance in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks because of the concentration of Muslim-owned businesses.

Mr. Alsalkhadi, 39, a butcher at Al-Noor Halal Meat & Groceries on Steinway Street, and others who work in or frequent a bustling area known as Little Egypt or Little Morocco  depending on whom one asks  chafe at what they see as unequal treatment at the hands of the police because of their religion and ethnicity.

We do not want to feel we are being marginalized because we want to be part of the bigger community and assimilate, said Mr. Alsalkhadi, who spoke in Arabic through a translator. We live in this country, and we are part of this country, and we are citizens.

New York Citys announcement on Thursday that it would appoint a civilian to monitor the Police Departments counterterrorism activities drew support from Mr. Alsalkhadi and other Muslims in this part of Queens who said that the police had put their community under undue pressure. Several said they had seen police officers patrolling their neighborhood, but had not approached them because they did not want to attract attention, or create trouble for themselves.
President Obama once said this about his administrations deportation priorities: Well keep focusing enforcement resources on actual threats to our security. That means felons, not families. That means criminals, not children. It means gang members, not moms who are trying to put food on the table for their kids.

Encouraging words, a year ago. But a new year has dawned upon an appalling campaign of home raids by the Department of Homeland Security to find and deport hundreds of would-be refugees back to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The targets are those who arrived in a recent surge of people fleeing shockingly high levels of gang and drug violence, hunger and poverty and who offered themselves at the border to the mercy of the United States, but ultimately lost their cases in immigration court.

Since New Years, the administration has been sending agents into homes to make an example of the offenders and to defend the principle of a secure border. A president who spoke so movingly about the violent gun deaths of children here has taken on the job of sending mothers and children on one-way trips to the deadliest countries in our hemisphere. Mothers and children who pose no threat, actual or imaginable, to our security.

The Homeland Security secretary, Jeh Johnson, said in a statement: Our borders are not open to illegal migration. If you come here illegally, we will send you back consistent with our laws and values. He added: This should come as no surprise. I have said publicly for months that individuals who constitute enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be removed.
By Tulay Karadeniz and Stephen Kalin

ANKARA/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An attempted attack by Islamic State on a military base in northern Iraq shows Turkey's decision to deploy troops there was justified, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, suggesting Russia was stirring up a row over the issue.

But Iraq's military later denied that the militant group had attacked or clashed with the Turkish forces "recently".

Turkey deployed a force protection unit of around 150 troops to northern Iraq in December citing heightened security risks near Bashiqa, where its soldiers have been training an Iraqi militia to fight Islamic State. Baghdad objected to the deployment.

The head of the Sunni militia said his fighters and Turkish forces launched a joint "pre-emptive" attack on Islamic State around 10 km (6 miles) south of the base on Wednesday because the militants were building capacity to launch rockets at it.

"Our forces managed to detect the position of these rockets so they conducted a preemptive strike," Atheel al-Nujaifi, former governor of the nearby Islamic State-controlled city of Mosul, told Reuters.

"This operation was ended without a single rocket being launched at the camp," he said.

Erdogan said no Turkish soldiers were harmed while 18 Islamic State militants were killed.

"This incident shows what a correct step it was, the one regarding Bashiqa. It is clear that with our armed soldiers there, our officers giving the training are prepared for anything at any time," he told reporters in Istanbul.

Iraq's military denied the reports.

"The joint operations command denies there was a terrorist attack on the position of Turkish forces in Bashiqa by the terrorist Daesh (Islamic State) recently," said a news flash on state television.

It "denies what was relayed in some media outlets from the Turkish president about clashing between the Turkish forces inside Iraqi territory and the terrorist Daesh whether in Bashiqa or any other areas."

DIPLOMATIC DISPUTE

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi accused Ankara last week of failing to respect an agreement to withdraw its troop deployment, while majority-Shi'ite Iraq's foreign minister said Baghdad could resort to military action if forced.

Erdogan said the problems over the deployment only started after Turkey's relations with Russia soured in the wake of Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter jet over Syria in November.

"They (Iraq) asked us to train their soldiers and showed us this base as the venue. But as we see, afterwards, once there were problems between Russia and Turkey ... these negative developments began," Erdogan said.

Turkey, he said, was acting in line with international law.

The camp in Iraq's Nineveh province, to which Sunni Muslim power Turkey has historic ties, is situated around 140 km (90 miles) south of the Turkish border.

Iraqi security forces have no presence in Nineveh since collapsing in June 2014 in the face of a lightning advance by Islamic State.

Ankara has acknowledged there was a "miscommunication" with Baghdad over the troop deployment.

It later withdrew some soldiers to another base in the nearby autonomous Kurdistan region and said it would continue to pull out of Nineveh. But Erdogan has ruled out a full withdrawal.

Nujaifi said the international coalition bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria had supported ground forces with air strikes in Wednesday's operation.

The coalition said it launched four strikes near Mosul on Wednesday, but a spokesman said they were not in direct support of the Turkish-Iraqi operation at Bashiqa.

(Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk, Ralph Boulton, Hugh Lawson and James Dalgleish)
Most of the ranchers I know are decent folks, men and women of a few well-chosen words, slow to rouse, distrustful of a show horse on four legs or two. And then theres the armed gang who seized an Oregon bird sanctuary  Yall Qaeda, as the twittersphere has dubbed them.

The leader, Ammon Bundy, is the son of Cliven Bundy, the deadbeat rancher and Fox News hero who still owes more than $1 million in unpaid grazing fees. The elder Bundy says he doesnt recognize the government. The younger Bundy recognized it enough to get a federal loan guarantee for his fleet repair business in the rugged sprawl of Phoenix.

Ammon Bundy says God drove him to break into the offices of an agency that works on behalf of pileated woodpeckers, yellow warblers and other avian wonders. Bundys not leaving, he says, until land that we own  that is, every American citizen  is taken from us and given to some unnamed private entity.

Yes, its comical  white privilege mixed with a Hee Haw parody. The only thing Bundy and his fellow burglars have accomplished thus far is to leave behind enough evidence for prosecutors to file numerous criminal charges against them.
For decades Mrs. Clinton has helped protect her husbands political career, and hers, from the taint of his sexual misbehavior, as evidenced by the Clinton teams attacks on the character of women linked to Mr. Clinton. When Mr. Clinton ran for president in 1992, Mrs. Clinton appeared on television beside him to assert that allegations involving Gennifer Flowers were false. In 1998, he admitted to that affair under oath. After the Monica Lewinsky affair emerged, some White House aides attempted to portray Ms. Lewinsky as the seducer.

Mrs. Clinton portrays her candidacy as a historic opportunity for Americans to elect a female president, and has repeatedly gone after Republican candidates, including Mr. Trump, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio, for their stances on womens issues. In September at the University of Northern Iowa, she pledged to combat sexual assault on college campuses, saying: I want to send a message to all of the survivors. Dont let anyone silence your voice. You have the right to be heard, the right to be believed, and we are with you as you go forward.

Last month in New Hampshire, a young woman challenged Mrs. Clinton on that. Speaking at a town hall event, the woman referred to several women who have said they were sexually harassed by her husband. You recently came out to say that all rape victims should be believed, she said, asking if Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey and Paula Jones should also be believed.

Mrs. Clintons response was odd, and unhelpful. I would say that everybody should be believed at first until they are disbelieved based on evidence, she said.
DURING nuclear negotiations in 2005, a North Korean diplomat let slip an unexpectedly candid comment, offering valuable insight into his governments nuclear policy: The reason you attacked Afghanistan is because they dont have nukes. And look at what happened to Libya. That is why we will never give up ours.

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on Wednesday, claiming that it had detonated a hydrogen bomb. The United States government disputes that, but one thing is clear: North Koreas leaders still believe that nuclear weapons will prevent others from attacking them no matter what they do. This is fanciful. What the world needs is reality. North Korea must recognize the limitations and risks of its nuclear program, and the United States must recognize that an American response is necessary.

Many serious dangers come with being a nuclear power, and the North Koreans seem to recognize few of them. One is the temptation to transfer weapons, fissile material or technology to other states or terrorist groups. North Korea has a history of selling its traditional weapons systems. But the government must recognize that selling its nuclear technology could compel the United States to respond in ways that would bring an end to nearly 70 years of Communist rule.

There are other ways that the nuclear program makes the government less secure. Over the past several years, North Korea has degraded its conventional military capacity in order to pursue nuclear weapons. Under normal circumstances, a weaker North Korean Army would be welcome news to the rest of the world, but with a budding nuclear state it can lead to rapid escalation in the event of a conflict. This could mean either pre-emptive action by the United States, or, if North Korea ever used nuclear weapons, a massive retaliation.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago built his career on the claim that he is at his best in times of crisis. But it will take more than political showmanship to calm the discontent that has roiled the city since November, when a Police Department video showed a white officer executing a black teenager named Laquan McDonald and exposed a cover-up by officers who had been at the scene. Chicagoans were still protesting the McDonald case on Christmas weekend when police officers responding to a domestic dispute killed two more African-Americans, one of whom was a bystander and a mother of five.

Public anger was focused on the Police Department. That changed on Monday, when a federal judge ruled that a veteran lawyer for the city had deliberately concealed important evidence in yet another trial about yet another fatal police shooting. The judge, Edmond Chang of United States District Court, also found that the lawyer had lied about his reasons for holding back the information in the wrongful death lawsuit. The case has raised suspicions that the citys Law Department itself has been soft-pedaling police misconduct cases.

The case focused on a 2011 traffic stop during which two officers fired their weapons, killing a black man, Darius Pinex. Mr. Pinex would be alive today had the officers simply checked his license plate number with the dispatcher, who could have told them they had the wrong car. One officer testified at trial that they approached the car with guns drawn because the dispatcher had warned that someone in the car might have a weapon.

That was disproved by a recording of the dispatch  which mentioned no weapon. But a senior Chicago corporation counsel withheld the recording until late in the trial, when it was too late for the Pinex family to make effective use of it. The jury subsequently ruled the shooting justified.
Doing things the easy way doesnt seem to appeal to Gerbase; she left Kilgour, for example, because it started to feel too straightforward. Yes, its really beautiful to work with a cashmere doeskin  but its beautiful on its own, she explains. I think on Savile Row, everything is so pristine that in the end, for me, I kind of lost interest. Now, she often works on the opposite end of the spectrum: She is fascinated by the magic of turning synthetic yarns into high-quality, luxurious garments. Its interesting, because when you say polyester, or nylon, or polyamides, its sort of a dirty word, and the link is sort of 80s. But weve just moved on so much since then, in terms of the working of these yarns.

Her new mens collection includes four-piece suits: a shirt, an overshirt, a coat and trousers  all made in very lightweight nylon. From a distance, they look like silk evening wear; to the touch, they are as soft and weightless as sportswear. Im so not interested by being able to read something from far away, says Gerbase dismissively. Alongside the suits on her rails are chunky, slouchy sweaters, again in a nylon yarn that gives them a sheen; shirts in both wool and a really beautiful polyester; and khaki and camel outerwear pieces in sheepskin.

Gerbase has always imbued her mens wear pieces with messages and secrets: an unexpected texture on the inside of a garment, for example. This season, she has gone one step further, painstakingly logging the process of creating the collection, and hiding relevant numbers inside the clothes  the exact time at which a pattern was finished, for example, might be embroidered somewhere almost imperceptible. I love putting loads and loads of time and effort into something that no one will see, she says. I think theres something really beautiful about that  that youre only doing it for the wearer.

This hyper-personal approach is the reason why she has waited several years to bring mens wear to the runway. But she has found ways to make todays show her own: She secured the Royal Institute of British Architecture as a venue, with a relatively intimate and salonlike show-space. She wants guests to be close enough to hear the sounds of the clothes. Sometimes if somethings really heavy, or like a bonded cotton, it has this punctuation when you walk, and that highlights the movement of the body, she says. So all those things are quite interesting to me and felt right in that space.
Dolce & abaya

Dolce & Gabbana debuted its inaugural abaya and hijab collection on Style.com/Arabia. The Forbes reporter Clare OConnor called the line the fashion houses smartest move in years, adding, management consultancy Bain recently reported that sales of personal luxury goods in the Middle East hit $8.7 billion in 2015  up from $6.8 billion the year before.

Grind your own business

Grindr, the geo-social app for gay men, will live-stream J.W. Andersons fall/winter 2016 mens wear show. The designer told Matthew Schneier that the choice was a no-brainer and that fashion is a sexy platform as well.

Aint Laurent without Hedi?

Saint Laurent refuted rumors of the creative director Hedi Slimanes departure, but not before the Internet had a meltdown for a good hour or two.

Oh, make me over

From Fashionista, photos of Courtney Love and Nasty Gals 18-piece collaboration that drops Jan. 14.
A Rush of Empathy

The productions required various levels of participation. In The Tower, for instance, the action took place all around us, but we werent part of it until the actors served us cake and hot dogs at the end. Meanwhile, a Marina Abramovic-organized evening at the Park Avenue Armory set rigid rules for how we were meant to listen to a performance of Bachs Goldberg Variations.

We had to relinquish our cellphones, put on noise-canceling headphones and recline for 30 minutes in silence until the pianist Igor Levit began to play. It sounded gimmicky. But it was lovely to be part of a large group sitting together in stillness, to have our minds uncluttered, to come to the piece emotionally but also with a sharpness of thought.

The theater productions that worked best were the ones that took the most care of the audience. Sleep No More felt tired to me  it has been running for more than four years  and suffered from a surfeit of thronging, pushy visitors, by turns aimless and overly focused, who crowded one another out and overwhelmed the performance. You could go for long stretches without seeing any action at all; suddenly youd see a stampede of people chasing a lone actor down a hallway, as if he were a chimeric forest creature leading the way to an elusive treasure.

By contrast, Then She Fell, which takes place in a disused mental hospital in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was intimate and tightly choreographed. The audience of 15 was divided into smaller and then smaller groups as the evening went on, and every room we were led to  we werent allowed to wander by ourselves  contained actors filling in parts of the unfolding story. After a while, it felt as if we were dreaming, or mad, so febrile and charged was the atmosphere.

My last encounter, on my own, was with the actor playing Charles Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll), the author of the Alice books, who handed me a piece of paper and a pen and asked me to take dictation. He narrated a despairing letter imploring Alice to respond to his many unanswered messages  an imaginative extrapolation of what actually happened when the parents of Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Alice, forbade Dodgson from contacting her again.

He placed the letter in a small glass container and dropped it into a pool of water and sat on a chair, getting his feet wet. The pool was filled with dozens of similar letters, and it looked as if some of them had been there for a long time.
Noah Strycker was in a hotel room in Ethiopia when he saw news that Oregons Malheur National Wildlife Refuge had been occupied by an armed group protesting the federal governments imprisonment of two local ranchers. He had just completed a record-breaking Big Year of birding, in which he often spent 18 hours a day, without taking a day off, observing some 6,042 species of birds in 41 countries on seven continents. Mr. Stryckers obsessive pursuit had taken him to the ends of the earth, but news of the occupation brought Malheur to mind as the place where he first fell in love with birding.

Fifteen years ago, when he was 14, he saw a barred owl get into a fight with a great horned owl over a snake that one of them had caught, just steps away from the Malheur buildings now being occupied.

Ive been addicted to watching birds ever since, said Mr. Strycker, who lived and worked at the refuge in 2003 as an intern. Malheur is a life-changing place.

With no resolution to the standoff in sight, Mr. Strycker and other birders are concerned that one of the nations premier observation spots for birds and other wildlife will be off limits until the occupiers leave or are removed from the refuge. Thirty miles south of Burns, in Oregons High Desert, the refuge is a 187,000-acre oasis, where more than 320 species of birds and 58 mammal species have been observed.
Oklahoma was rocked Wednesday night by two of the states largest earthquakes in recent years, further fueling scientists concern that the continued burial of oil and gas wastes in seismically active areas was courting a much more powerful earthquake.

The two quakes, measured at magnitudes 4.7 and 4.8, struck at 11:27 p.m. in rural northern Oklahoma, directly beneath a major oil and gas production area. The second quake, which came about 30 seconds later, was the fourth-largest recorded in the state. There were no reports of injuries or damage, the authorities said Thursday.

The two quakes followed a series of smaller ones last week that peeled brick facades, toppled columns and caused a power failure in Edmond, an upscale Oklahoma City suburb. Some experts said those quakes hinted at the possibility of a larger shock.

I do think theres a really strong chance that Oklahoma will receive some strong shaking, said Daniel McNamara, a research geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado, who has followed the states quakes.
HOUSTON  Two refugees from Iraq were arrested on terrorism-related charges on Thursday in California and Texas, where the governor called for an end to the resettlement of refugees from countries overrun by terrorist groups.

Both suspects are Palestinians born in Iraq who arrived in the United States as refugees and have been accused of ties to jihadist terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, including the Islamic State, according to law enforcement officials.

Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, was arrested in Houston and charged with three counts of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, according to a statement from the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.

In California, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, was charged with traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist groups, including Ansar al-Islam, and lying about his actions to the immigration authorities, according to a statement from the Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California.
Missouri state senators ordered journalists off the Senate floor Thursday after some lawmakers complained their private conversations had been posted on Twitter. Starting March 29, journalists will not be allowed at their customary 10-seat table near the dais and the desks of several senators. Photographers will still be allowed on the floor. Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard says he initiated the move because some reporters had violated the Senates trust in recent years by posting private discussions and negotiations they overheard.
He added, He just says things that have no basis in fact.

While Mr. Sanders has said that he thinks his economic message could be appealing to Mr. Trumps backers, Mr. Trump has also been promoting his potential to appeal to Democrats despite his criticism of the partys leadership and policies.

In recent weeks, backers of Mr. Trump have even started a ditch and switch movement, urging Democrats and independents to join the Republican Party so that they can vote for Mr. Trump in primary elections.

On Thursday, many who waited to hear Mr. Trump speak said they thought he and Mr. Sanders have some things in common even though they sit on opposite ends of the political spectrum.

I think hes smart, and he has the best chance of winning support and maybe flipping the state, Daniel Nadeau, 22, of St. Albans, Vt., said of Mr. Trump. Bernie is my No. 1 choice, and Trump is No. 2. Theyre not that different.

Voters who were on the fence between the seemingly polar opposite candidates said both communicated well with working-class people and made strong cases for how they would improve the economy.

Im a Trump guy, but I do like Bernie, said Peter Vincenzo, 59, who works installing hardwood floors and traveled from Ohio for the rally. There are a lot of parallels between these two guys. Theres a populist appeal that comes with both of them.
As Ive said before, if we can get an A.U.M.F. done that ensures our commanders have the flexibility they need to defeat ISIS, I want to move it, Mr. Royce said in a prepared statement. But ultimately, it is going to be up to President Obama to lead. Containment has failed. The administration already has the authority it needs to take the fight to these radical Islamist terrorists, and it needs to step up.

The White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, said he welcomed the move but questioned whether Mr. Ryan could actually get the measure through the House. He has not made hardly any progress that anybody can detect in passing an authorization to use military force against ISIL, Mr. Earnest said.

Congress voted to authorize force in 2001, to respond to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and in 2002, for the invasion of Iraq. While the Obama administration has long said those measures provide all the authority it needs for new uses of force, Mr. Obama has also asked Congress as recently as last month for another bill to confront the Islamic State.

Republicans  who, like Democrats, still feel burned by their vote in 2002 to authorize the war in Iraq  have been reluctant to debate the matter and to give Mr. Obama more war powers.
WASHINGTON  The State Department provided an inaccurate or incomplete response when a watchdog group asked in 2012 whether Hillary Clinton had used any alternate email accounts, saying it had no relevant records, even though dozens of top officials knew that she relied on a private email address for official communications, an independent investigator reported Thursday.

After the group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed its request for public records on Mrs. Clintons email use as secretary of state, the department told the organization in May 2013 that no records responsive to your request were located, according to the departments inspector general.

The request was made long before The New York Times first reported in March of last year that Mrs. Clinton had used a private email server, an issue that roiled the early stages of her presidential campaign. The F.B.I. is investigating whether the arrangement compromised national security or led to the mishandling of classified material. The issue has receded from public view in recent months, but the inspector generals report  along with the public release early Friday of another set of Mrs. Clintons emails  underscored that it could continue to flare up throughout the campaign.

Although Mrs. Clintons chief of staff, Cheryl D. Mills, knew of the watchdog groups records request, the inspector general said, there is no evidence that Ms. Mills or other senior officials familiar with Mrs. Clintons email use had approved the departments response. There is also no indication that the staff members who denied the records request were aware of Mrs. Clintons email practices.
As Christmas music plays in the background, Officer Tadlock, who is wearing a body microphone, can be heard in the video trying to persuade Ms. Dawson to leave, saying she needs to seek treatment elsewhere if she still feels sick.

He tells her that she faces charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing, the police report said.

You need to leave my room. You need to just leave. I am really feeling sick here, Ms. Dawson says on the audio. And then, I cant breathe.

I am not feeling good, Ms. Dawson says, sounding out of breath as she pleads with the officer and staff. I cant even hardly breathe. The officer urges her to walk out peacefully.

At one point, Officer Tadlock tried to take off the oxygen hose she was wearing, but she struggled, according to the police report. He then disconnected it from a port in the wall. A female voice, apparently a medical staff member, says on the video, You have been breathing just fine.

Eventually, the officer handcuffs Ms. Dawson, who he says was resisting arrest, and takes her outside.

I had to push her from behind to get her to go with me, the officer wrote in the report. As she neared the police cruiser, Ms. Dawson fell, leading the officer to believe that she was making herself dead weight in an effort to avoid going to jail.

Over the next 20 minutes or so, Ms. Dawson is largely silent and unseen in the police dashboard camera video. Glimpses of the officer and medical staff can be seen as they struggle to get Ms. Dawson into the car from where she has fallen just outside the rear door.
The coed boarding and day school in Middletown issued an 11-page report Dec. 23 in which it said six former employees had abused 26 students in the 1970s and 80s. The school acknowledged that it had failed to report the abuse to child protection authorities, as required by law. It also apologized to the victims and said it would pay for counseling.

Some of the victims and their lawyers faulted the schools report as a sanitized version of events and said it was not truly independent because it was conducted by a lawyer, Will Hannum, whose partner is the schools counsel. Late last month, the victims began an online petition calling for an objective and thorough investigation, conducted by an independent third party. As of Thursday, it had more than 700 signatures.

The victims and their lawyers, Eric MacLeish and Carmen L. Durso, said at a news conference Tuesday that they had received at least 40 credible reports of sexual abuse, including rape, that took place from 1974 to 2004. The victims said the school had not taken their accounts seriously, and some called for the resignation of the current head of school, Eric Peterson.

In the joint statement Thursday, Leslie Heaney, a 1992 graduate of the school and chairwoman of its board of trustees, said: The board is committed to a truly impartial investigation. There is nothing more important to us than that the review be thorough and exhaustive, and that its findings are found to be reliable and credible by all parties, particularly the victims.

Anne Scott, a 1980 graduate of the school whose reports of her rape by the schools now deceased athletic trainer touched off the investigations, said in the statement: Todays decision is a very important first step in what we hope will be a process of reconciliation and healing. We look forward to the input of all alumni/victims on todays developments and the new investigation.
The government and rebels have agreed on how to share the countrys ministries for a proposed transitional government of national unity, a group overseeing the peace deal to end the two-year civil war said Thursday. The Finance, Defense, Justice and Information Ministries will go to loyalists of President Salva Kiir, while the rebels under former Vice President Riek Machar, who is expected to retake his post in the transitional government, picked the Petroleum and Interior Ministries, said the oversight group, the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission. The commission said a group of former political prisoners unaligned with either Mr. Kiir or Mr. Machar would lead the Foreign Ministry, while a group of opposition parties will run cabinet affairs. Analysts have warned that despite some progress, many crucial issues in the peace agreement have not been addressed. The United Nations says tens of thousands have been killed in the civil war, and more than two million people have fled their homes.
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, chief minister of Indian-controlled Kashmir and one of Indias best-known Muslim politicians, died on Thursday in New Delhi. He was 79.

The cause was pneumonia, said Nayeem Akhter, the Kashmir State education minister.

Mufti Sayeeds party, the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, gained popularity in the restive region on a promise to bring a healing touch, and he was praised for his efforts to bring about reconciliation.

India and Pakistan have long battled over control of Kashmir, the Himalayan region that has been divided between them since 1947.

Image Mufti Mohammed Sayeed in 2003. Credit... Ami Vitale/Getty Images

Mufti Sayeeds party is in a coalition in Kashmir with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Hindu nationalist party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
I realized very early that I was an outsider, that I would have to create a place for myself, she wrote. In later years my critics would say I had overdone this somewhat, that my presence was everywhere. But as a child I was scarcely noticed at all.

Her deepest desire, to study at a European university, was thwarted by her father, who forced her into marriage at 18. I have never been a good mother, she told The New York Times in 1980. Because of my way of life, I was not with my children very much. But I am a good mother in the sense that I always insisted that they get a good education, which I didnt have because I was born a female.

Princess Ashraf was married three times. Her son from her second marriage, Shahriar Shafiq, was assassinated in front of her home in Paris in 1979 by gunmen dispatched by the new regime. She is survived by her son from her first marriage, Shahram Pahlavi; five grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren.

In 1953, when the C.I.A., working with the British, plotted the overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh, Irans left-wing, anticolonialist prime minister, it turned to Princess Ashraf to intercede with her reluctant brother, who had become shah in 1941. Kermit Roosevelt, the C.I.A. officer in charge of what was known as Operation Ajax, described his stance as one of stubborn irresolution.

Ashrafs tongue-lashings of her brother were legendary, including one in the presence of foreign diplomats where she demanded that he prove he was a man or be revealed to all as a mouse, Stephen Kinzer wrote in All the Shahs Men (2003), a history of the Iranian revolution. When agents turned up at her apartment bearing a mink coat and a stack of cash, she overcame her initial coolness to the idea and flew to Tehran for a stirring tete-a-tete.
Saudi Arabia is reviewing whether to sell public shares in its state-owned oil company, Aramco, with a decision coming in the next few months, the countrys defense minister and deputy crown prince told The Economist in an interview published Thursday.

Personally Im enthusiastic about this step, said Prince Mohammad bin Salman, 30. I believe it is in the interest of the Saudi market, and it is in the interest of Aramco, and it is for the interest of more transparency, and to counter corruption, if any, that may be circling around Aramco.

The discussions about selling shares in the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, better known as Saudi Aramco, come as energy prices are dropping and the country seeks to diversify its economy. The prince mentioned mining and revenue from religious tourism.

In the interview, according to a transcript posted online Wednesday, Prince Mohammed also defended his countrys military operations in Yemen and said he did not believe the kingdoms tensions with Iran would escalate into a war. He said that war with Iran was something that we do not foresee at all, and whoever is pushing towards that is somebody who is not in their right mind.
Israeli forces fatally shot four Palestinians in the West Bank on Thursday as the assailants tried to stab soldiers, the military said. Three Palestinian cousins from the village of Sair, near Hebron, were spotted approaching the heavily guarded Gush Etzion junction, Palestinian news reports said. The military said that all three were shot after they tried to stab soldiers who approached them. A short time later, a 16-year-old Palestinian from the same village was killed at the Beit Einoun junction near Hebron, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
In the meeting with city officials, on Dec. 23, Mr. MBow denied all of the allegations, except those that occurred where multiple witnesses were present at a staff meeting, according to the personnel directors summary of the meeting. Those specific assertions, according to the report, had to do with Mr. MBows comments to the museums assistant director, Alan Waufle, that he take a vendor out on the town and show her a good time. In the meeting with city officials, Mr. MBow denied that his remark constituted harassing, but he acknowledged having made it.

In a statement issued shortly after the firing, Ms. Thornton said her client, who was making $101,505 a year as director, is the latest victim of the politicization of MoCA and other city personnel.

Arthur H. Sorey III, the interim city manager who fired Mr. MBow, had some kind words for the former directors tenure at MoCA. Without Babacar, it would have completely folded, Mr. Sorey said. I think Babacar had an instrumental part in keeping the museum alive.

MoCA had other troubles beyond Mr. MBows sexual harassment problems. In 2012, voters in the largely Haitian-American community rejected a $15 million bond issue to expand the museum. An ensuing fight between board members and city officials over the museums future and questions about the citys commitment to the institution led to a rupture that resulted in most of the board members decamping to help found the Institute of Contemporary Art, currently in temporary quarters in Miamis flashy Design District.

Mr. MBow was appointed MoCAs director in April 2014 but was unable to prevent the boards exodus. A concurrent issue was the fate of MoCAs permanent collection of more than 600 works of art, including pieces by Robert Rauschenberg, John Baldessari, Tracey Emin and Louise Bourgeois. The collection was ultimately split up as part of a legal settlement in the dispute between the old MoCA board and the city. MoCA kept part of the collection, but some of the really great work went to the Institute of Contemporary Art, according to Craig Robins, the Design Districts developer and a founder of the ICA who helped negotiate the settlement.

Despite this temporary setback at MoCA, Mr. Robins said, referring to the MBow firing, the museum scene in Miami is growing exponentially. Mr. Robins cited the start of construction on the ICAs new building  for which he donated the land  as well as the Perez Art Museum Miami, which opened in December 2013 and last fall appointed a new director, and a major expansion, now underway, of the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach.
President Obama will not be pardoning Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, the subjects of the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer.

A petition asking the president to pardon the two men had gathered more than 350,000 signatures by Friday at Change.org, and a separate one at Whitehouse.gov attracted 129,000 signatures, prompting a White House response. But it wasnt the response many viewers of the program had hoped for, as it confirmed that the president can pardon only those who have committed federal crimes.

Since Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are both state prisoners, the President cannot pardon them, the response read. A pardon in this case would need to be issued at the state level by the appropriate authorities.

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who has vowed not to issue any pardons during his time in office, had already confirmed that he would not release Mr. Avery.
Puerto Ricos governor on Friday renewed his plea for Congress to provide bankruptcy protection for the debt-ridden island, after two bond insurers filed lawsuits over his decision to default on millions of dollars in bond payments last week.

Swift action from our congressional leaders is necessary and what the people of Puerto Rico deserve, Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said in a statement.

Two insurers of Puerto Rican bonds that are now in default sued the governor and other senior officials on Thursday, saying they had illegally diverted money from some creditors so they could pay other creditors in full.

The Assured Guaranty Corporation and the Ambac Assurance Corporation said in their complaint that Puerto Rico had diverted at least $163 million that had been pledged to pay debts they had insured. Those debts were in the form of municipal bonds issued by three governmental authorities on the island.
An Indonesian monkey that achieved Internet celebrity with a grinning selfie cannot own the photographs copyright, a federal judge said this week.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had argued in United States District Court in San Francisco that the rights to the photograph, which was snapped using a photographers unattended camera, rightfully belonged to the monkey, a crested macaque.

In a tentative opinion on Wednesday, Judge William H. Orrick disagreed.

While Congress and the president can extend the protection of law to animals as well as humans, he wrote, there is no indication that they did so in the copyright act.

The images were taken during a trip by the British photographer, David Slater, to the Tangkoko Reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in 2011. He put his camera on a tripod amid a troop of macaques, setting it so it would automatically focus and wind, and waited for the animals to get curious.
Employees who work for private businesses in New Jersey are one step closer to receiving a relatively low-cost retirement savings plan, which would be run by the state but offered through employers.

Though legislation received final passage on Thursday and was supported by several Republicans in both houses of the Legislature, it is still unclear whether Gov. Chris Christie will sign the bill.

The New Jersey Legislatures action, known as the Secure Choice Savings Program, comes just months after the Obama administration issued guidelines to encourage states to create such plans. That was part of a broader initiative to provide more choices for the nearly 68 million workers who do not have access to employer-based retirement plans like 401(k)s or 403(b)s.

The New Jersey program was closely modeled after a tax-deferred savings plan being constructed in Illinois, covering as many as 1.2 million workers. Under New Jerseys version, employers with at least 25 workers that have been in business for two years  and that do not already offer a retirement plan  would be required to enroll workers into an individual retirement account run by the state. Workers can, however, opt out.
The new year may have begun, but one old trend seems to be refusing to go out of fashion: luxury industry big-hitters who run afoul of the law for alleged tax evasion.

The latest high-profile name in question is Karl Lagerfeld. The French authorities announced on Thursday that the Chanel designer was the subject of a major tax inquiry, after the newsmagazine LExpress said that Mr. Lagerfeld had used offshore tax havens in Ireland, the British Virgin Islands and the United States to hide as much as 20 million euros ($21.7 million) from the French government.

Caroline Lebar, a spokeswoman for the designer, said that Mr. Lagerfeld had no wish to evade the law and that he had trusted his financial advisers to work out the situation with the tax authorities. There is no suggestion that Chanel, where he has been since 1983, has been caught up in the scandal.

Mr. Lagerfeld is the latest famous fashion name to face such charges. In October 2014, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were cleared of tax evasion charges by Italys highest court after a 10-year dispute with the government over unpaid income tax worth millions. At one point in the dispute, the two men had been given 18-month suspended prison sentences and a fine of half a billion euros.
A man who prosecutors say received military training in Yemen from Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born radical Muslim cleric who was later killed by the United States in a drone strike, pleaded guilty on Friday in Manhattan to three terrorism-related counts.

In 2010, prosecutors have said, the defendant, Minh Quang Pham, traveled secretly to Yemen, swore allegiance to Al Qaedas affiliate there and also helped the group prepare its online propaganda publication, Inspire.

Mr. Pham was extradited to the United States from Britain about a year ago and was scheduled for trial on Feb. 1 in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

But on Friday, he pleaded guilty to providing material support to the terrorist group  Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or A.Q.A.P.  which carries a maximum prison term of 15 years; conspiring to receive military-type training from the group, for which he could face five years; and using a firearm in furtherance of crimes of violence, which carries a maximum life prison term and a mandatory minimum of 30 years.
Mr. Logan was convicted of fatally shooting a man in a Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, vestibule in 1997, with the police and prosecutors alleging Mr. Logan murdered the man as retribution for the theft of a gold chain after a dice game.

He was cleared of the murder in 2014 after an investigation by the Conviction Review Unit of the Brooklyn district attorneys office. After his exoneration, he notified the city he would sue. The comptrollers office has the authority to settle claims before they are filed as lawsuits, and has been doing so frequently in wrongful-conviction cases and some civil rights cases. It has settled eight wrongful-conviction cases for a total of $41 million since 2014, according to comptroller records.

Somebody victimized by the system, we want to bring closure and allow them to get on with their lives, Mr. Stringer, a Democrat, said in an interview. My job is also to weigh the fiscal exposure, and act in a fiscally responsible way.

Under Ken Thompson, a Democrat, who became district attorney in 2014, Brooklyns Conviction Review Unit has cleared 17 men of old convictions, mostly murders.

The unit is examining all the cases involving a retired detective, Louis Scarcella, whose questionable methods were investigated by The New York Times. It has upheld 38 of those and moved to clear the convictions in 17 others so far, according to the district attorneys office.
Last year, more than one million refugees and migrants made their way to Europe  the largest influx of people since World War II. The arrivals are sorely testing the European Union, fueling xenophobic far-right parties and sowing discord among the unions 28 member nations over how to deal with the crisis. More than 3,700 people died in 2015 attempting to cross the Mediterranean. This year is shaping up to be even worse. On Tuesday, the bodies of at least 36 refugees headed for Greece were found on beaches in Turkey. The European Union is predicting that up to three million asylum seekers will arrive in Europe this year.

On Monday, Sweden, which had been one of the most welcoming countries in Europe, instituted border checks aimed at migrants and refugees. Denmark then imposed new controls on people entering from Germany. France and Germany had already imposed temporary controls. Borderless travel in Europe is all but over, threatening a shining achievement of the European Union.

About half of the asylum seekers arriving in Europe last year were fleeing the Syrian war. A peaceful solution would allow many to return, but Europe must do a better job on migration, whether or not progress is made on Syria.

The E.U. has not even met its pledge to resettle 160,000 qualified asylum seekers languishing in the overburdened countries of Italy, Greece and Hungary; only about 300 people have been moved. Countries must face sanctions if they refuse to do their share.
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.
To the Editor:

Re Cuomo Issues Order to Move Homeless Indoors in Freezing Weather (news article, Jan. 4):

With the cold weather finally here, the sad winter ritual begins again. This time its Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo issuing an edict to remove all homeless people from the street and place them in shelters.

Surely, the governors impulse seems humanitarian  perhaps with a pinch of pepper to tweak Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is ideologically opposed to such an effort. But whatever the motivation, the governor should know by now that it wont be effective. If weve learned anything from the past, weve learned that aggressive outreach efforts will only push people to the outer ridges of the city, making them harder, if not impossible, to reach. At best, itll give us the illusion that the problem is under control.

And while the quality of shelters certainly plays a role in choosing to remain on the street, even smaller, friendlier shelters, which the city euphemistically calls safe havens, wont lure people in from the cold.

By now, its a broken record thats played for years  its housing, housing, housing, not shelter, shelter, shelter that works. Yes, even for those who are struggling with severe mental health issues.
To the Editor:

Mexico Stubbornly Resists Accountability (editorial, Jan. 4) doesnt reflect concrete actions taken by the Mexican authorities.

This government proposed the National Transparency Law, strengthened the Superior Auditors Office and extended the powers of the federal justice court. Additionally, we are working to enhance the National Anticorruption System, comparable to some of the most stringent systems in the world.

The Mexican authorities investigated the prison escape of Joaquin Guzman Loera. The president ordered a thorough investigation. Since then, El Chapo has just been captured, and the Mexican justice system issued 23 detention orders to officials who were presumably involved and arrested 13.

As widely reported, this government has not spared any effort to investigate the disappearance of 43 college students in September 2014. Not only did it grant full support to international investigators, but it has unequivocally accepted their recommendations. There have been 111 arrests. The investigation will continue until all responsible are punished.
To the Editor:

Re Whats Going On in Our Prisons?, by Michele Deitch and Michael B. Mushlin (Op-Ed, Jan. 4):

The New York Times has consistently documented the gross abuses within our prisons, from the overuse of solitary confinement and its detrimental effects on inmates, to the horrific deaths of those under custody allegedly at the hands of correction officers.

Last month, the New York Assemblys Committee on Correction held a hearing in which experts testified about the positive impact that independent oversight entities have on improving correctional settings and laid out models that work.

The need for change is clear. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo should heed the Op-Ed writers call for the creation of such an entity in New York State prisons and include funding for it in the 2016-17 executive budget.

DANIEL ODONNELL

New York

The writer is chairman of the New York Assemblys Standing Committee on Correction.
Washington  ITS now safe to pick up your phones and read your emails. Thats right, I wont be calling to ask you to donate to my congressional campaign. As I announced on Tuesday, Ill be leaving Congress at the end of this term  sentimental about many things, but liberated from a fund-raising regime thats never been more dangerous to our democracy.

In the days after my first election to Congress, in 2000, I attended several orientation sessions in Washington, eager to absorb the lessons of history. I wanted to learn what Congressman Abraham Lincoln had learned, to hear the wisdom of predecessors like John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster and Joseph Gurney Cannon. The romance was crushed by lesson No. 1: Get re-elected. A fund-raising consultant advised that if I didnt raise at least $10,000 a week (in pre-Citizens United dollars), I wouldnt be back.

The money race began, and I attended political action committee fund-raisers, which are like panhandling with hors doeuvres. There were hours of call time  huddled in a cubicle, dialing donors. Sometimes double dialing and triple dialing. Whispering sweet nothings and other small talk into the phone in hopes of receiving large somethings. Id sit next to an assistant who collated call sheets with donors names, contribution histories and other useful information. (Hows Sheila? Your wife. Oh, Shelly? Sorry.)

Since then, Ive spent roughly 4,200 hours in call time, attended more than 1,600 fund-raisers just for my own campaign and raised nearly $20 million in increments of $1,000, $2,500 and $5,000 per election cycle. And things have only become worse in the five years since the Supreme Courts Citizens United decision, which ignited an explosion of money in politics by ruling that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in elections.
The worlds only captive great white shark has died just three days after joining an exhibit at a Japanese aquarium.

The 11-foot-long male, caught off the coast of Japan, was transferred to an exhibit called The Sea of Dangerous Sharks at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium on Tuesday. It died Friday, the aquarium said in a statement, after the sharks condition took a sudden turn for the worse.

Aquariums have for decades tried to keep great white sharks in captivity, but tank life has proven to be a challenging environment.

The shark, a torpedo-shaped symbol of terror popularized by the Jaws movies, is an open-water fish that swims fast, rips its prey to pieces and never encounters walls in its natural surroundings. In the confines of a tank, they will often refuse to eat, experts said.
HONG KONG  A Chinese technology regulator said on Friday that it would cooperate with a bank to set up a $30 billion fund to support the countrys huge electronics supply chain.

The creation of the new fund underscores Chinas ambitions to expand its tech capabilities and also signals how those ambitions are being threatened by slowing growth and recent market turmoil.

Official accounts of the fund did not make clear precisely how the money would be spent. But given the recent weakness in Chinese manufacturing and lower-end electronics manufacturers, it may be intended as a form of stimulus to the tech industry. The terminology used in media accounts signals Chinas bold technology ambitions. Reports about the new fund said it would be used to build a strong manufacturing country and an Internet power.

A report in state-run media said the fund was created to address problems faced by small and medium enterprises that have come under pressure or folded recently because of a lack of funding. The report made reference to recent factory closures, specifically pointing out the closing in October of Fu Chang Electronic Technology, a supplier to the telecom equipment makers Huawei and ZTE.
LONDON  Mime: Nowadays, you say the word, and people feel sorry for you, sighs Joseph Seelig.

Take it from one who knows. A sprightly 68-year-old, Mr. Seelig is one of the artistic directors of the London International Mime Festival, which he founded in 1977. He remains fully aware that the art form is scoffed at or misconceived by a public that sees it either botched or pastiched or reduced to one name, Marcel Marceau.

Yet the London festival, which fills stages across the city every January, is actually a diverse mix of circus, physical theater, puppetry, clowning and mask shows  anything that keeps words to a minimum. By the time mime fell out of fashion, the festivals name had stuck, and over four decades it has had a significant impact on British theater, disrupting the dominance of scripted plays  something that hasnt quite happened the same way in the United States.

Its why Cheryl Henson, president of the Jim Henson Foundation and the puppetmasters daughter, visits every year, having found nothing comparable at home. Mime has a bit of bad rep in the States, she said. People think it will take itself too seriously. The London gathering retains its lightness: Theres a playfulness about the way its curated, she said.

In fact, this years edition, which starts on Saturday, is a rarity in that it includes a bona fide mime artist: the comedian Trygve Wakenshaw.
Hillary Clinton explained her proposal for paid family leave for the first time on Thursday, and it shared a lot with other politicians plans: 12 weeks of paid time off to care for a new child or a sick family member or to recover from an illness or injury.

The difference was how she plans to pay for it.

Mrs. Clinton proposed taxing the wealthiest Americans. Plans by others have called for new payroll taxes for everyone to finance a federal paid leave fund, or federal tax credits to encourage businesses to voluntarily offer leave.

The Clinton campaign was vague about the details of the financing. American families need paid leave, and to get there, Hillary will ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share, her campaigns announcement said. Shell ensure that the plan is fully paid for by a combination of tax reforms impacting the most fortunate.

Mrs. Clintons campaign said the plan would guarantee that people who had worked a minimum number of hours would receive at least two-thirds of their pay, up to a ceiling.
Then in August, Judge Dolly M. Gee of Federal District Court for the Central District of California ordered that migrant children could not be held in a locked detention center and had to be released, with their parents, without unnecessary delay. But the judge made an exception for an emergency due to an influx, for which she permitted children to be held for up to 20 days. Homeland Security officials seized on that exception, arguing that an influx existed even before the recent spike.

By doubling asylum officers and speeding legal procedures since late October, officials have been completing most initial asylum screenings in the two detention centers here in South Texas and releasing families within the 20-day limit.

Rather than shuttering the two centers, officials are adding 500 beds at the center in Karnes City, doubling its capacity. And they won their request for a federal appeals court to swiftly review Judge Gees order to release migrants quickly. The order, the Homeland Security secretary, Jeh Johnson, said this week, significantly constrains our ability to respond to an increasing flow of illegal immigration to the United States.

On Monday, officials sent many of the more than 120 mothers and children who were arrested over the weekend to be deported back to the center in Dilley  set up to screen asylum seekers entering the United States  for final steps before they are sent out of the country.

But in a new legal setback for the administration, officials on Thursday had to halt the deportations of three Salvadoran mothers and their children arrested in the raids, removing them from an airplane at the last minute, after lawyers at the Dilley center won stays from the immigration appeals court. One woman had presented a doctors statement saying she had epilepsy and had three seizures since her arrest.
WASHINGTON  A Maryland appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court order that required a Baltimore police officer, William G. Porter, to testify against a colleague set to go on trial next week on murder charges in the death of Freddie Gray.

The appeals court said Officer Porter could not be compelled to testify until it issues its own decision.

On Wednesday, Judge Barry G. Williams of the Baltimore City Circuit Court ruled that Officer Porter  whose own trial on manslaughter charges ended in a deadlocked jury last month  was required to testify in the trial of Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr., who drove a police van in which prosecutors say Mr. Gray, a 25-year-old black man, suffered a fatal spinal cord injury.

Lawyers for Officer Porter, who faces a retrial in June and wants to exercise his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, filed an appeal Thursday with the Court of Special Appeals for Maryland, which issued the order Friday. Jury selection in Officer Goodsons case is to begin Monday.
He certainly was targeting police, he said. He was trying to assassinate this police officer.

In the wake of the massacres in San Bernardino, Calif., in December and in Paris in November, the Philadelphia shooting and its video images stoked fears of a continuing trend of young people inspired to violence by radical groups. That prompted Mayor Jim Kenney, standing with the commissioner at the news conference, to say, In no way, shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam have anything to do with what youve seen on this screen.

Image Officer Hartnett Credit... Philadelphia Police Department

Mr. Archer has recently lived at addresses in West Philadelphia and in Yeadon, Pa., a small suburban town nearby, and the police and F.B.I. were searching those locations Friday. Court records show he was found guilty in November of several charges, including fraud and forgery, and was awaiting sentencing. Last year, he was sentenced to nine to 23 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of carrying an unlicensed gun and assault.

Ms. Holliday told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Mr. Archer, the oldest of seven siblings, had suffered head injuries and had been hearing voices, and laughing and muttering to himself.

Natalie King, 68, who lives across the street from Mr. Archers Yeadon residence, said that she considered mental illness a more likely explanation than religious extremism. He wasnt what you would call radicalized or nothing like that, she said.

Mayor Rohan Hepkins of Yeadon said, To think that we have been harboring not just a criminal but a potential terrorist, it just shows that this can happen anywhere in the United States.

The gun used to shoot Officer Hartnett, which was recovered at the scene, was a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol taken from an officers home in October 2013, Commissioner Ross said. He said that it was reported stolen at the time, and that the officer it was issued to had been disciplined.
On a call with reporters on Thursday, Ron Lester, a pollster for the Clinton campaign, said that in South Carolina, Mrs. Clinton was supported by 76 percent of black voters, while Mr. Sanders was polling at 10 percent.

A Clinton aide emphasized Mrs. Clintons support among African-Americans and named African-American artists who are supporting her campaign, including Snoop Dogg, Usher and Waka Flocka Flame.

But others say Mr. Sanders still has a chance to make up ground. While acknowledging Mrs. Clintons firm base of support among African-American voters, the Democratic strategist Donna Brazile said that theres enough votes on the table for Bernie.

There are voters on the margin in the African-American community who dont have history with the Clintons, she said. When it comes to scripture, Hillary Clinton knows the message and the melody for black voters. But Hillary has to earn the votes.

She also recalled that in 2007, Mrs. Clinton had been beating Barack Obama in the polls among African-Americans. But in the course of the campaign, black voters began to make a shift to the eventual president, and ended up representing a significant part of the coalition that elected him.

Mr. Render supported Mr. Obama in that election, seeing him as a landmark candidate who would provide inspiration to a generation of African-American children. But he says that from a policy perspective, he is more enthusiastic about Mr. Sanders.
FRESNO, Calif.  Harlan Elrich is a high school teacher in California, and that means he must pay about $970 a year to a labor union. He teaches math, and he said the system did not add up.

I get to choose what movie I want to go see, Mr. Elrich said. I get to choose what church I want to go to. I get to choose what gym I want to join.

He should have the same choice, he said, about whether to support a union.

Mr. Elrich and nine other California teachers have sued the union, saying that they are being forced to pay to support positions with which they disagree, in violation of the First Amendment. Their lawsuit, if it is successful, will be the culmination of a decades-long legal campaign to undermine public unions.

And there is good reason to think they will win. The Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in the case on Monday, has twice suggested that the First Amendment bars forcing government workers to make payments to unions.
HOUSTON  An Iraqi-born refugee charged with attempting to aid Islamic militants made his first court appearance on Friday, telling a judge that he needed a court-appointed lawyer because he could not afford one as federal prosecutors pushed to keep him detained without bond.

The refugee, Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, a Palestinian who has been living in a Houston apartment with his wife and child, was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State, designated by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization.

He was also accused of procuring citizenship or naturalization unlawfully and making false statements during an interview with a federal agent.

The scope of assistance Mr. Al Hardan is accused of supplying to the Islamic State was unclear, and federal prosecutors declined to say whether he was planning any acts of terrorism or whether his efforts were sophisticated or haphazard. Mr. Al Hardan had received training on using machine guns and tried to provide training and expert advice to the Islamic State, prosecutors said, but they released few other details about suspected terrorism-related activities.
But the board reconsidered his case last year and determined in September that he could be transferred if he went through a rehabilitation program run by the Kuwaiti government for lower-level Islamist extremists. The Kuwaiti government also committed to monitor Mr. Kandari and prevent him from traveling abroad.

The detainee demonstrated a willingness to examine his religious beliefs and engaged more openly with the Board, the review board said. The Board also considered the fact that the detainees family is committed to restructure their living situation to provide more direct support to his reintegration and that his cousins, who are prominent in Kuwaiti society, are willing to help supervise and guide the detainee upon his return to Kuwait.

Eric Lewis, a lawyer who assisted Mr. Kandari, said in a statement that his client was delighted to be going home and reuniting with his family, and that he looked forward to putting Guantanamo behind him.
The government said late Friday that Mr. Guzman had been planning a movie about his life and that his people had been in contact with actors and producers, which had allowed the authorities to track him down. It said that the authorities had been watching a home in Los Mochis for more than a month when law enforcement officers finally saw movement on Thursday. Officials said that during the ensuing raid, Mr. Guzman managed to slip away through the sewers, and then he surfaced, stole a car and was apprehended. The authorities took him to a hotel to wait for backup.

The capture of the drug lord concludes a deeply embarrassing chapter for the government of Mr. Pena Nieto, which has been waylaid by a series of security and corruption scandals that reached their low point with Mr. Guzmans daring escape.

Now, a looming question is whether the Mexican authorities will try to hold Mr. Guzman for a third time  he has already escaped from prison twice  or whether they will hand him over to the Americans.

Mexican officials are busily debating the issue. Some are arguing for a fast-track extradition that could put him in the United States quickly, while others want to continue a previous process that could take months, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. Mr. Guzman, the head of Mexicos most powerful cartel, is facing indictments in at least seven American federal courts on charges that include narcotics trafficking and murder.
Others pointed out the historical irony of erecting the statue in one of the provinces worst hit by the famine caused by Mao Zedongs Great Leap Forward.

It appears that the message was heard.

Public Security officials and groups of unidentified men in olive-green greatcoats brusquely turned away visitors and blocked road access to the site of the statue, outside the village of Zhushigang.

Villagers said the guards had been sent by officials of Tongxu County, which includes Zhushigang. They said they believed that the statue was torn down on orders from provincial officials.

A person answering the telephone at the Tongxu County government offices said he did not know anything about the demolition. He referred a caller to the county propaganda department, where the telephone went unanswered. Another person, who answered the telephone at the local Sunying Township, also said he had not heard of the demolition.
BEIJING  China has rejected criticism from the United States that its policies toward North Korea had failed, suggesting on Friday that it was the Americans, not the Chinese, who were largely to blame for the Norths embrace of nuclear weapons.

In a stern rebuke that reinforced tensions between the worlds leading powers days after North Korea claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb, a Chinese official said that it was the responsibility of all countries  not just China  to persuade the North Korean government to abandon its nuclear program.

The origin and crux of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula has never been China, Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a regularly scheduled news conference in Beijing. The key to solving the problem is not China.
SEOUL, South Korea  The young leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, has often been dismissed as inexperienced, erratic and even clueless. But with the Norths test of a nuclear bomb this week, he appears to have mastered a strategy that has served his reclusive country well: playing one big power against another.

The nuclear test quickly increased tensions between the United States and China. In a strong rebuke on Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry called Chinas approach to North Korea a failure, saying that something had to change in its handling of the isolated country it has supported for six decades. On Friday, China suggested that it was the Americans, not the Chinese, who were largely to blame for the Norths nuclear program.

The United States also used the Norths test to tighten a trilateral alliance with Japan and South Korea, a relationship that China has long viewed as a check on its power.
MOSCOW  Crimea will experience power shortages until at least May, the Kremlin-appointed government of the region announced after a meeting in Simferopol, the capital, on Thursday.

A state of emergency was declared in Crimea on Nov. 22 after Ukrainian saboteurs knocked out power lines that supplied the peninsula with electricity from Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The first phase of an energy bridge from mainland Russia to Crimea started operation in December, but it was not enough to replace the shortage, and the peninsula still lacks 30 percent of the electricity it needs, the head of the Crimean branch of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, Sergei Shakhov, said at the meeting. The deficit is to be supplied by the second phase of the energy line in May, he added.

Local industry has lost 900 million rubles, or about $12 million, because of the power cutoff, Yevgeniya G. Bavykina, the deputy head of the Crimean government appointed by Moscow, said at the meeting.
In a now familiar ritual, the release on Thursday of hundreds of pages of transcribed phone calls and meetings between former President Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, then the British prime minister, from early 1997, to late 2000, was followed by journalists and political junkies sharing striking, funny or odd excerpts from the chats on social networks.

Among the exchanges that initially attracted attention were one from 1997, after Mr. Blairs sweeping victory in a general election; another conversation about Northern Ireland in which the men talked about Peter Sellers; a partly redacted chat about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who clashed with both the American leader and the British one; and a conversation just after the death of Princess Diana.
PARIS  The French police have carried out thousands of heavy-handed searches since the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, and a raft of new laws is poised to permanently concentrate even more power in the hands of the Interior Ministry.

Yet among civil libertarians, no government proposal has raised as much alarm as a recent one to strip citizenship from French-born dual nationals convicted of terrorism.

The idea, promoted by Prime Minister Manuel Valls, a Socialist with a conservative twitch, has struck at the core of Frances ideals of the rights of citizens, while underscoring the quandary the government faces as it confronts a widening threat from terrorists born and raised in France.

While the proposal to strip them of citizenship  known here as decheance, or forfeiture  is backed by the right and much of the public, it has provoked furious debate and outraged the left, including many of Mr. Vallss colleagues in the Socialist Party.
MUNICH  At a time when nationalist and far-right politics are again ascendant in Europe, a team of German historians presented a new, annotated edition of a symbolic text of that movement on Friday: Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler.

The Nazi leaders manifesto, which first appeared as two volumes in 1925 and 1927, was banned in Germany by the Allies in 1945 and has not been officially published in the country since then. A team of scholars and historians spent three years preparing a nearly 2,000-page edition with about 3,500 annotations in anticipation of the expiration on Dec. 31 of a 70-year copyright held by the state of Bavaria.

The effort by the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich to publish the new, critical edition was the subject of debate almost as soon as it was announced, with some seeing it as an important step toward illuminating an unsavory era in Germany, never to be repeated, while others argued that a scholarly edition would legitimize the rantings of a sociopath who led the country down the path of evil.

Andreas Wirsching, the director of the institute, acknowledged that debate at a news conference on Friday in Munich, where Hitler staged the unsuccessful Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, landing him in jail, where he passed the time working on the book.
CAIRO  Two militants stormed into a hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada on Friday, stabbing and wounding three European tourists, Egypts Interior Ministry said.

Security guards at the hotel, the Bella Vista Resort, opened fired on the assailants, who were armed with knives and a pellet gun, killing at least one of them, the government said. The injured tourists, two Austrians and a Swede, were transferred to a hospital. One was later discharged.

Security officials gave conflicting accounts of the attack at the beachfront resort. Photographs posted to social media, purported to be from the scene, showed the bodies of two attackers, as well as a piece of black cloth that resembled an Islamic State flag.

The attack was a fresh blow to Egypts tourism industry, which is still reeling from earlier attacks claimed by the local branch of the Islamic State, or ISIS.
BEIRUT, Lebanon  Four hundred Syrians who were trying to fly to Turkey were stopped at the Beirut airport on Friday and were being forced to return to Damascus instead, in a chaotic episode that illustrated how options are narrowing for those trying to flee the war in Syria.

The state-run National News Agency of Lebanon said that the passengers were being turned back because of new Turkish regulations that require Syrians to have a visa to enter the country by air or sea. The new rules, which took effect Friday, close off what had been one of the easiest ways out of the country for Syrians who could afford airfare or ferry tickets, and a primary route for those planning to try to reach Western Europe on smugglers boats.

It was not clear how many of the 400 passengers were refugees.

Many of those turned back on Friday had apparently been rushing to reach Turkey before the new visa rules took effect. Border crossings between Syria and Lebanon have been crowded in recent days with people intending to travel on to Turkey. (It is not possible now to fly there directly from Syria.)

Human rights groups quickly raised the question of whether the deportations violated Lebanons international obligation to refrain from sending refugees back to countries where they may be in danger.
BEIRUT, Lebanon  An Islamic State militant killed his own mother in front of a post office in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa this week, Syrian activists said on Friday, with one monitoring organization adding that the episode began when she tried to persuade him to leave the extremist group.

The fighter, Ali Saqr, 21, killed his mother in front of several hundred people for what the Islamic State called apostasy, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, two groups that monitor the conflict through contacts in Syria.

The act was the latest in a chain of brutal and bizarre killings that the Islamic State uses, and often widely publicizes, in efforts to tamp down dissent and to attract recruits.
JERUSALEM  The man suspected of killing three Israelis last week in a shooting rampage in Tel Aviv was killed on Friday in a shootout with the police near his home in northern Israel, according to police officials.

Many details of the case were unavailable because of a government order of silence, and it remained unclear what the motives of the suspect, Nashat Melhem, may have been.

Earlier this week, with Mr. Melhem still at large, the Israelis authorities had apparently not yet determined whether the Tel Aviv shooting was an act of terrorism. On Friday, after the suspect was killed, the Israeli minister of public security, Gilad Erdan, issued a statement praising the police and security forces for tracking down Mr. Melhem, whom he referred to as the vile terrorist. Mr. Erdan did not elaborate.

Mr. Melhem, a 29-year-old Arab citizen of Israel, was from Arara, in northern Israel. He was believed to be the gunman who opened fire on a crowded bar in a bustling area of Tel Aviv on the afternoon of Jan. 1. A manager of the bar and a customer were killed. The gunman then fatally shot a taxi driver after he fled the scene of the shooting and tried to get away; the cabdriver was also an Arab citizen of Israel.
On Friday, as Iranians throughout the country turned out to protest the sheikhs execution, chanting Death to Al Saud, a reference to the Saudi royal family, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey warned that the tensions were further enhancing antagonism in the region. At the same time, a spokesman for the Turkish government, Numan Kurtulmus, pointedly noted that Turkey does not have the death penalty  a veiled criticism of Saudi Arabia.

Yet, the rift between Saudi Arabia and Iran is presenting a growing challenge.

While Ankara is trying to rebuild its relationship with Riyadh  fractured during the Arab Spring, when Turkey supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Saudi Arabia opposed it  it also seeks to maintain some semblance of a relationship with Iran, despite the two countries supporting opposing sides of the civil war in Syria. Turkey, like Saudi Arabia, has supported Sunni rebels seeking the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, while Iran has been one of Mr. Assads chief supporters.

Turkey has gone to great lengths to compartmentalize its relationship with Iran, essentially walling off its rivalry over Syria while maintaining an important economic relationship. Turkey relies on Iran for natural gas imports, which have become more important in the wake of the breakdown in Ankaras relations with Russia, another important energy supplier, over Turkeys shooting down a Russian warplane in November.

As Turkey seeks to navigate the growing Saudi-Iranian dispute, it is also in the midst of a broader shift in its foreign policy, with events pulling it back to its traditional relationship with the West. The migration crisis has brought it closer to the European Union, which has sought Turkeys help in stemming the flow of refugees from Syria. The dispute over the Russian plane has forced Turkey to rely more heavily on its NATO allies. And Ankara is also in negotiations to restore diplomatic relations with Israel, which broke down in 2010 after Israeli commandos stormed an aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip from Turkey.

Still, even as Mr. Davutoglu and Mr. Kurtulmus have been measured in their comments on the Saudi-Iranian rift, Mr. Erdogan has seemed to be more pro-Saudi Arabia in his remarks. He has called out Iran for what he sees as a double standard: condemning the execution of the cleric while giving support to Mr. Assad, whose military campaign and indiscriminate bombings have been blamed for the deaths of tens of thousands of Syrian civilians.
WASHINGTON  The Obama administration on Friday announced an overhaul of its efforts to respond to online propaganda from the Islamic State after months of acknowledgments that it had largely failed in its attempts to counter extremist recruitment and exhortations to violence on social media.

The administration has emphasized that it needs the assistance of some of the nations biggest technology companies, and a group of top White House and national security officials flew to California on Friday to plead their case with executives.

In a reflection of just how urgent the White House considers the efforts, the discussions involved officials like Denis R. McDonough, the White House chief of staff; Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch; James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence; James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director; and Lisa Monaco, the presidents counterterrorism adviser. They met with Timothy D. Cook, Apples chief executive, as well as top executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google.

Given the way the technology works these days, there surely are ways that we can disrupt paths to radicalization, to identify recruitment patterns and to provide metrics that allow us to measure the success of our counter-radicalization efforts, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said before the meeting began in California.
Some of the people who give in might do better with more structure. If youre one of them, dont assume youll push a button each month or set aside a pile of $20 bills. Instead, set up automatic account transfers. Unless you automate it, its not going to happen, Ms. Olen said. (A disclosure: I see both Mr. Clements and Ms. Olen every year or two, as the guild of full-time money writers is fairly small.)

Americans have made real progress with the way they invest in recent years. Ever more money is going into index funds of various sorts that dont try to pick individual stocks that will do better, on average, than others. At the end of 2014, just over $2 trillion was invested in indexed mutual funds, according to the Investment Company Institute. That amounted to about 15.6 percent of all money in American regulated funds. Thats up from just 8.9 percent of the total 10 years earlier, and it doesnt count the $1.9 trillion at the end of 2014 that was invested in indexed exchange-traded funds, which are close cousins to mutual funds.

Still, why is most money still chasing the dream of picking investments that will do better than all the others? Ms. Olen points to lingering Peter Lynch-ism  the tendency of older investors who remember the exhortations of the famed Fidelity mutual fund manager to follow their instincts. If the parking lot is full, buy the stock!

But this approach gives people a false sense of superiority. You may be looking at the wrong lot in the wrong suburb at the wrong time in the wrong industry. Even if you arent, plenty of professional investors will notice the Costco lot with all the Mercedes in it before you do. This overconfidence leads people to invest only in companies with headquarters near them and buy too much of their employers stock, because they assume they have superior knowledge about the company.

Mr. Clements added that many people who bet on individual stocks had never actually compared their portfolio with an index fund. This used to be hard, but online brokerage firms can now do it for you in a few clicks (and you can check your brokers picks on most any investment website). Most people, if theyre being honest and including the losers that are no longer in their portfolio, will find that an index fund will beat their own basket of stocks over long periods of time.

All of the experts here think buying a home is a perfectly fine idea, but it has to be an affordable one. And many of us are delusional about exactly what that means.

Mr. Pollack, co-author of The Index Card and a professor at the University of Chicagos School of Social Service Administration, was one of them. When he shopped for a home in the Chicago area 13 years ago, he was newly tenured and had been lured away from the University of Michigan. He and his wife, however, had no savings, and his loan officer was not impressed.
AS hot, wind-fed wildfires swirled around her town in early September, Darlene Simmons, 76, was busy cooking spaghetti in her kitchen. As a resident of Middletown, a small town in Northern California, she had been through wildfires before. But her home, where she had lived for 45 years, had never been harmed.

So Ms. Simmons was staying put  until a police officer knocked on the door. He told her that she must leave immediately. She grabbed her medications and an address book, but was forced, reluctantly, to leave everything else behind, including her cane and family photos.

Im glad that I was forced to leave, said Ms. Simmons, who was near tears as she recalled the day. I could hear propane tanks exploding as I drove away.

That night, Ms. Simmonss house burned down. The wildfire, one of the worst in California history, bent her refrigerator in half and melted metal. Her entire block was reduced to ashes.
In dance as in politics, Israels visibility and influence are remarkably disproportionate to its size. For years, dance aficionados have celebrated the adventurous physicality coming from that small country, making it one of its most popular and exciting cultural exports. The familiar ambassadors have been big companies like Vertigo, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance and, of course, the Batsheva Dance Company, whose signature gooey movement style, known as Gaga, has swept the dance world.

But in the past decade, a noteworthy development in the Israeli scene has been the rise of the independent choreographer  artists forgoing company structures in favor of intimate and conceptually daring work that still exudes the anxious, palpable intensity that has become a mark of the Israeli dance sensibility. On Friday, Jan. 15, the 92nd Street Y presents the sixth Out of Israel showcase, in which the curator Dana Katz, a Tel Aviv-born New York choreographer, introduces a handful of these vigorous voices to local audiences. (Noon and 8 p.m.; 92y.org.)
Cicero, the Roman statesman whose talent for oratory was such that he remains to this day a byword for eloquence, has always divided opinion. A key player in the death agony of Romes traditional republican system of government, he was lauded by his admirers as a defender of constitutional propriety and dismissed by his foes as a vacillating opportunist. Posterity has proved similarly conflicted. While Americas founding fathers revered him as a model of civic duty, he was excoriated by the most formidable German classicist of the 19th century, Theodor Mommsen, as a precursor of that lowest class of writer, a newspaper columnist. A persons attitude to Cicero can often be most revealing.

What, then, does it say about Robert Harris that he should have made Romes greatest orator the hero not just of one novel but of an entire trilogy? Perhaps that he likes and respects politicians to a degree unusual among contemporary writers. This is not to say that he gives them a free pass. His portrait in The Ghost Writer of a former British prime minister not a million miles from Tony Blair was notably unforgiving, and the character sketches he provides in Dictator of some of the giants of Roman history, from Pompey to Julius Caesar, are similarly unsparing. Nevertheless, Harris clearly prefers activists willing to get their hands dirty to those who sit on the sidelines, preserving the spotlessness of their virtue. As a former correspondent for the BBC and political editor for The Observer, he is as well qualified as anyone to appreciate that nothing is ever achieved in a democratic system of government without a measure of give-and-take. Dictator is the work of a novelist who refuses to buy into the fashionable dismissal of politicians as inherently contemptible.

How easy it is for those who play no part in public affairs to sneer at the compromises required of those who do. So declares the narrator of Dictator in the early pages of the novel. As he did in Imperium and Conspirata, the first two volumes of the series, Harris ventriloquizes through the person of Tiro, a slave who served Cicero as his secretary and reputedly invented the Latin shorthand system. As a character, he is so pallid as to be almost invisible, barely intruding on the action except every so often to fall ill. I seem to have been blessed, he admits, with the sort of personality that nobody notices. Yet it is precisely this transparency that makes him so well suited to Harriss purposes. Ultimately, Dictator is interested in a single theme: the great game of Roman politics. Tiro, almost constantly by his masters side, provides the perfect birds-eye view.

To render convincingly a period as remote as that of Ciceros is a stiff challenge for a novelist to meet, but it is the measure of Harriss achievement that we experience a 2,000-year-old crisis as though we were reading about it in a contemporary memoir. He has done prodigious research. In his three pages of acknowledgments, he cites many scholars in the field, including me (far too generously, given our limited contact). The events he describes in Dictator were as dramatic as any in European history, and peopled by a cast of characters who remain household names.
A public relations representative for the store declined to comment on its closing or to make Mr. Ross available for comment.

Merchandise at the Kitson boutiques along Robertson (there are four) had a crumpled-up, gently used feel, like a polyester bathrobe, cinched and hanging backward, reading, weakly, I woke up like this. Shelves once stacked with shoes bore only a few wayward stilettos. There were wan displays of coffee-table books and other home curiosities, like a 2016 calendar entitled Nice Jewish Guys. At the original Robertson store, a woman in yoga pants picked up and quickly put back down a greeting card that read, Im the Kylie youre the Kendall.

At the end of the first week in January, prices on all apparel had been reduced by 50 to 70 percent, but even with the discount, many items reached well into the triple digits, like a zipper-adorned leather pencil skirt by Rachel Zoe (original price: $795). Bright yellow all sales final signs stripped away any residue of luxury. (Would Ms. Kardashian deign to dig through the piles of cashmere here?)

Its so sad, Ms. Polen said. I love to come in here because theres nothing else like it.

Even as shoppers expressed puzzlement at the chains closing, there were signs that its brand awareness was no longer at its peak.

I had never heard of it before, said Charlene Gupit, a student. I just saw, Sale! Sale! Im just wondering, why are they actually closing? I really like their stuff now that Ive come here for the first time.

Tara Radan, also a student, ambled through the original Robertson boutique with her twin sister and an armful of merchandise. They still have a lot of stock, and I dont know why theyre shutting down, she said. Its really sad. I dont know if theyre going bankrupt or whats happening, but I thought they were really popular.
RE: THE LIVES THEY LIVED

The annual year-end issue memorialized some of the extraordinary and ordinary people who died in 2015.

I forget about the The Lives They Lived issue every year until I see it. Then I remember how hauntingly beautiful the tributes are and cant put it down until Ive read it from cover to cover.

Although I dont look forward to this issue, Im grateful that these people lived and that The New York Times chooses to honor their lives and contributions in such an uplifting way. The elegies seem to soothe the loss because these people were here long enough to make a difference. Til next year. Jody Doman, New York
Almost from the moment he moved from California to Shaoxing in Chinas Zhejiang Province in October 2014, Tsalta Baptiste enjoyed a sense of notoriety. That happens when youre an African-American man suddenly living in a nation with a population of more than 1.3 billion. Mr. Baptistes passing resemblance to Kobe Bryant also helped in a country that reveres the Los Angeles Lakers star.

But its his mission to introduce China to Americas hip-hop culture and a trailer for an unauthorized Tupac Shakur biopic that have earned Mr. Baptiste global notoriety.

Hip-hop isnt even really American to them in China, Mr. Baptiste said in an online phone conversation from his home in Shaoxing. There are large quantities of people who do know, but most people dont.

Mr. Baptiste, 27, grew up listening to Shakur, Nas and Jay Z. But since he moved to China, to complete his masters degree in international development, he has encountered Chinese students who seem to think the music stems from Korean pop. Mentions of the rap stars he idolized typically draw blank stares.
New York in the mid-1980s was a city braced for powerful forces: the swaggering yuppiedom of Bonfire of the Vanities and Oliver Stones Wall Street (both 1987); the AIDS epidemic and the crack wars; the graffiti boom and the golden age of New York hip-hop. For the photographer Janet Delaney, who visited regularly from the West Coast, between trips to Nicaragua, New York in the mid-1980s was a street theater where people wore their anxieties on their faces, a city that looked you in the eye. It was also a tough place to break into as an outsider, she said.

When I brought my photographs to people in New York, they said, Youve got to be kidding  who are you to take photos of us? So after four or five weeklong trips from 1984 through 1987, where she shot mainly in the Financial District and the Lower East Side, she put the work on the shelf, where it sat for almost three decades. Now 63, she revisited the pictures a few years ago, and found a New York that may have existed only in her camera: characters who commanded center stage in their own urban dramas, culling all necessary information from the streets around them, not from their digital devices. All that was coming, of course, and if you look hard enough at these images, maybe you can sense it on the horizon, adding one more crease to the solitary faces.

Ms. Delaney used a camera from the 1960s and a compositional style that consciously evoked an earlier era. Mostly she worked without an agenda, she said. It wasnt like my work in Nicaragua. I was photographing with an eye of awe and love, going out for the pure pleasure of making photographs. But taking the photographs was exhilarating. Its how I look, how I experience a place. Photography is like owning something. Some people shop; I take pictures. I look around and say, I want that policeman on the corner.
Their denizens serve as his sounding boards. He hones and revises his works-in-progress at open-mike sessions at local bars like the Parkside Lounge on Houston Street, Black and White on East 10th, and Three of Cups on First Avenue, where he runs a performance and session on the last Wednesday of every month, in addition to the other shows and sessions that he organizes.

As a longtime East Village resident, Mr. Giambri said he savors the few remaining real East Village dive bars that offer cheap drinks and no pretense, places like the Coal Yard, International Bar, Doc Holidays, 7B and his longtime mainstay, Grassroots.

After devoting most of his life to working and partying hard, Mr. Giambri said he has begun writing in earnest, and has cultivated a large group of friends and fellow writers, mostly in bars. His first book, Confessions of a Repeat Offender, is scheduled to go on sale next month.

Life kept trying to make me a writer, and I kept trying to be a drunk, said Mr. Giambri, who began hanging out in bars as a child growing up in South Philadelphia.

I grew up around nightclub owners and gamblers, and fell in love with bars as a kid, he said. The smell, the feel, the social life. They were mysterious, dark places that smelled like men.

By 16 he was drinking illegally, and by 18 he had joined the Navy, spending much of the next four years on nuclear submarines off the Russian coast, during the Cold War.

I was a Sonar man, so I was listening to whale noises for three years, before it was popular.

After the Navy, he studied acting, and he came to New York City in 1968 to become a beatnik writer. But after moving onto St. Marks Place, across from the Electric Circus nightclub, he was swept up in the psychedelic scene.
Mr. Wallaces 1963 inaugural address as governor of Alabama (Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!) and his Stand in the Schoolhouse Door that same year seemed to limit his role to that of a strictly regional figure, part of Dixies long tradition of racist politicians. His presidential candidacy in 1964 and surprising strength in Democratic primaries in Wisconsin, Indiana and Maryland did little to change that national image. In April 1967, when Mr. Wallace told a Syracuse, N.Y., audience that he had decided to run for president as a third-party candidate, the television networks ignored his announcement, as did most of the major newspapers.

But in 1968, against a backdrop of urban riots, a war in Vietnam that dragged on inconclusively, tumultuous antiwar demonstrations and the assassinations of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, a fiery Mr. Wallace began to draw interest across the nation; by September the crowds at his rallies rivaled those for his two main opponents, Richard M. Nixon and Hubert H. Humphrey. Mindful of his reputation as a defender of segregation, the Alabama governor avoided explicitly racist language. He was a pioneer in the use of code words to attack African-Americans while seldom mentioning race, instead condemning asinine school busing, the bloc vote and the thugs from Americas inner cities who supposedly stalked the nations streets.

Uncertain of what to make of the political upstart, the nations print media initially played down their coverage of Mr. Wallace rather like parents who refuse to look when their child is doing something naughty for fear it might encourage him to show off, in the words of one British journalist.

As his poll numbers rose from single digits in the spring to more than 20 percent by the fall, it was no longer possible to ignore Mr. Wallace, and the major newsmagazines and largest newspapers attacked him with a barrage of thinly veiled invective: He was simplistic; he had not one constructive proposal to offer a troubled nation; he sought political profit in fear and hate. Attacks by the mainstream media only strengthened his support. As one of Mr. Wallaces followers told a newspaper reporter, I could care less what Time magazine thinks; I only use it once a day in the outhouse.

The hypersensitive Mr. Trump obviously cares a lot more about Times opinion. When the magazine failed to choose him as its 2015 Person of the Year, he complained that, despite being the big favorite, Time had snubbed him in favor of Germanys Angela Merkel, who is ruining Germany!
Thats why some members of the Silicon Valley elite, better known for their contempt for government, advocate all-inclusive, no-strings-attached cash grants. In November, Robin Chase, the co-founder and former chief executive of Zipcar, called for a basic income. Venture capitalists like Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures and John Lilly of Greylock Partners, which invests in LinkedIn and Airbnb, have said that its time to starting thinking about a U.B.I. The founder of HowStuffWorks.com, Marshall Brain, even wrote a basic-income novel called Manna. It contrasts a nightmare world in which robots are managers and workers slaves with a utopian settlement in the Australian desert in which citizens receive a guaranteed share of the wealth created by such robots and devote themselves to dreaming up innovative new technologies. Its the Silicon Valley version of heaven.

THIS is all very nice, skeptics say, but the U.B.I. still represents a moral hazard. Give people money for nothing, and the lazy will grow lazier and the rest of us will be bankrupted.

But that does not appear to be the case. On the contrary: The U.B.I. gives workers less reason to loll about at home than do perversely disincentivizing policies like the one whereby a dollar earned is a dollar cut from a welfare check. Research suggests that, rather than weaken the will to work, unconditional regular disbursements let people manage their careers more wisely.

In five famous studies on the negative income tax conducted in the United States and Canada in the 1970s, a minimum income did bring down work hours a bit, partly because the unemployed took longer to find new jobs. Researchers speculate that they were holding out for positions that better matched their skills. In the United States, male breadwinners scaled back by as much as 9 percent a year. In Canada, they hardly cut back at all. In both countries, teenagers stayed in school longer. And women with children did spend up to 30 percent less time on the job.

The U.B.I. has feminist critics as well as supporters, and they dont like that finding. The U.B.I. would encourage women to drop out of the work force, they say, ceding the ground feminism has fought so hard for. But that concern strikes me as, well, paternalistic. Women should have more choices, not fewer. So should men. Equality between the sexes should not require everyone to conform to traditionally male patterns of employment.

Besides, basic income policies have been shown to mitigate specifically female kinds of poverty.

When cash-transfer experiments were conducted in poor towns in India, girls gained more weight and increased the time they spent at school at greater rates than boys, probably because when cash is scarce, the girls get less to eat and are kept home more.

In the United States, as Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer showed in their book on extreme poverty, $2.00 a Day, the process of qualifying for food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the welfare-to-work program created in 1996, can be so demanding, bewildering and degrading that many applicants simply give up. And who are the patient souls who wait in those daylong lines, pee into cups for drug tests or go home empty-handed? Women, more often than not, since there are more than four times as many families run by single mothers as by single fathers, and a third more households headed by women are on the dole than those run by men.
The photographer Albert Watson, whose famous images of Alfred Hitchcock, Steve Jobs and other luminaries from various walks of life have graced magazine covers, movie posters, books and catalogs, is putting his duplex penthouse in TriBeCa on the market.

The asking price for the three-bedroom three-and-a-half-bath condominium, unit No. 3450 at 101 Warren Street, with a wraparound terrace offering panoramic views, will be $21.5 million. The monthly carrying charges total around $7,718, according to the Corcoran Group, which is listing the property.

Mr. Watson and his wife, Elizabeth Watson, who works as an agent in his studio and whom he has known since kindergarten in their native Scotland, acquired the penthouse in the summer of 2008. They bought it from the sponsor for around $13.39 million as a near white box, largely devoid of interior finishes, and transformed it into a loft-like refuge that juxtaposes industrial elements with wood and glass.

The walls of the nearly 3,800-square-foot residence on the 34th and 35th floors are fashioned from blocks of raw charcoal-gray granite, while the floors are Siberian oak laid out in a herringbone pattern. Concrete columns are throughout, and exposed steel beams with prominent rivets and mullions frame the walls of floor-to-ceiling windows that soar to 13 feet on the bottom level and 12.5 feet at the top, revealing stunning vistas from every room.
The air shaft that was once visible from the dining room window is concealed by the two pieces of stained glass she brought to New York from the library of her North Salem home.

Mr. Tucker, 64, came to the union with several treasures, including a metamorphic library chair that opens to become steps, an antique dining table and a pair of Jacobean chairs, legacies from his paternal grandmother, which are wonderful, though quite uncomfortable to sit on, Ms. Quinn said.

But the things that most matter to her in the apartment arent in the way of furniture, she said. Theyre pieces of art, like the bronze Medusas head by Audrey Flack; the small sketches by J.M.W. Turner and Edward Lear in the foyer; and the two paintings by the Abstract Expressionist John von Wicht in the living room. He was an old man living in a cold-water flat under the Brooklyn Bridge, Ms. Quinn said. Youd go to his apartment and pull out racks. Youre in that miserable setting, and out come these paintings that just light up your life.

Surely youll forgive her weakness for a bronze bust on one of the shelves in the living room. Years ago, she and Mr. Quinn owned a house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Their neighbors were a group of art students, among them a young woman named Amy Berger, who had won several prizes for her sculptures. So I said, Amy, would you do one of me? So she did, and Im extremely fond of it.

There are many objects gathered over decades of travel  frankincense and myrrh from a shop in Petra, Jordan; large salt crystals from the Dead Sea (I finally had to put them in a corner, because people thought they were hors doeuvres, Ms. Quinn said); a Buddha head from Bali that sits on a stand in the dining room and makes me feel good; and a pair of Dogon masks from Mali. You cant go there anymore, she said. You look at all the places you cant go to anymore, because theyve fallen apart, like Syria, and think, Im so grateful I went. 

Ms. Quinn likes to say that everything in the apartment tells a story. The rugs in the living and dining rooms tell a particularly poignant one.

I took a trip to Africa after David died, my first as a widow, she recalled. And, of course, the guide wants to push you into a rug store. I almost blew his mind when I said I actually did want to buy a rug. I saw a small one and asked them to make it for me in a 9-by-12 size, and they did and it was terrific, Ms. Quinn added, looking down at the geometric patterns in red, green and varying shades of blue.
In 2016, Britain takes the cake celebrating the births of several famous writers, and the death of one illustrious playwright; in the American West, an icon of contemporary bohemia approaches middle age; victory and defeat are commemorated on French battlefields; and the struggle for independence is cause for celebration in Central America.

 Children the world over know Charlie and his chocolate factory and Jeremy Fisher, but to learn about their creators, families will want to head to Wales and northern England. In the Lake District of Cumbria, Beatrix Potters 150th birthday will see a new book festival sponsored by the National Trust (March 4 to 6), exclusive tours of her Hill Top home, exhibitions and a new musical, to be presented by the World of Beatrix Potter Attraction (June 27 to Sept. 4).

 The centennial of Roald Dahls birth will turn his hometown, Cardiff, in Wales, into a City of the Unexpected, a number of citywide site-specific performances produced by the National Theater Wales and the Wales Millennium Center (Sept. 16 to 17). It is to serve as the centerpiece of a monthlong series of readings, exhibitions and other events.
Rooted in age-old West African traditions, Festima (Feb. 27 to March 5), held every other year in Dedougou, Burkina Faso, is a different kind of cacophony, mixing drumming with dance and, most important, mask-making. Musicians with hand drums, whistles and balafons, xylophone-like instruments made with gourds, pound out rhythms while dancers, masked to look like animals and bush spirits, perform and interact with spectators. Storytelling competitions and presentations on the history of regional mask-making and culture are also part of the festivities, which began in 1996 with a group of students hoping to preserve these traditions. Arrive well rested, as impromptu dance sessions often keep visitors up till the wee hours.

In March, two freshman fests, the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival (March 4 to 6) in Florida and Paradise Lost (March 10 to 12), Jamaicas first electronic dance music festival, make their debuts with impressive lineups.

Mumford & Sons, Robert Plant, Ween, Big Boi and others are to headline Okeechobees five stages, which share the vast grounds, nicknamed Sunshine Grove, with camping facilities, a yoga center and an art studio. In Ocho Rios, Paradise Lost is to have Bassnectar and Tiesto leading a pack of rising E.D.M. artists on a beachfront stage, including King Jammy, a Jamaican-born music maker who organizers said will help keep the fest tethered to its roots.

Nestled between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, the Ojai Valleys luxury spas and inns can be a respite for city dwellers. The Ojai Music Festival (June 9 to 12) assists, providing music to soothe  and inspire  the soul for the last 69 summers.
The story seems to be that when Janet writes with George, her colleagues infer that George deserves the credit. That might be a reasonable inference if women were more likely to join research collaborations as the junior partner, but in fact Ms. Sarsons finds that they are less likely to do this.

Digging deeper, Ms. Sarsons assessed how credit was attributed for work done in different types of research teams. Men get about the same degree of credit for research with a co-author, whether it is written with other men, other women or both. (The exact numbers vary a little, but in a way that may just reflect statistical noise.)

It couldnt be more different for women. When women write with men, their tenure prospects dont improve at all. That is, women get essentially zero credit for the collaborative work with men. Papers written by women in collaboration with both a male and female co-author yield partial credit. It is only when women write with other women that they are given full credit. These differences are statistically significant.

The numbers tell a compelling story of men getting the credit, whenever there is any ambiguity about who deserves credit for work performed in teams.

And this is a very big deal: The bias that Ms. Sarsons documents is so large that it may account on its own for another statistic: Female economists are twice as likely to be denied tenure as their male colleagues.

This rather extraordinary finding resonates with my own experience. My most frequent collaborator has been a woman (Betsey Stevenson, an associate professor at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, who is also my romantic partner). For years, Ive benefited from colleagues giving me the big half of the credit for our joint work. In some cases, they have been explicit about this. But I know what they dont: That work was a true partnership, the result of countless late nights crunching numbers. And their misattribution occurred despite the fact that we were working in a traditionally feminized field, assessing changes in family life.
Chambers County Sheriffs Office

Arrests:

>> Malcom Akeem Thomas, 25, of Roanoke, arrested for reckless endangerment

>> Jerry Lynn Owens, 58, of Valley, arrested for probation violation

>> Thomas Dylan Hendley, 21, of Wadley, arrested for probation violation

>> Brian Matthew Hunt, 38, of Valley, arrested for first degree theft of property and negotiating a worthless negotiable instrument

>> Larry Antonio Alford, 24, of Lanett, arrested for SORNA

Lee County Sheriffs Office

>> Breaking and entering of a motor vehicle and third degree property theft at the 100 Block of Lee Road, Salem, AL on Thursday at 4:45 a.m.

>> Unlawful breaking and entering of a vehicle and second degree property theft (greater than $500-2,500) at the 700 Block of Lee Road, Salem, AL on Thursday at 4:52 a.m.

>> Unlawful breaking and entering vehicle at the 700 Block of Lee Road, Salem, AL on Thursday at 6:43 a.m.

>> Third degree domestic violence (Harassing communications) at the 800 Block of Lee Road 11, Opelika, AL on Thursday at 9:55 a.m.

>>Third degree domestic violence at Highway 169, Opelika, AL on Thursday at 3:40 p.m.

>>Domestic dispute at Lee Road 222, Smiths, AL on Thursday at 5:49 p.m.

>>Third degree domestic violence (menacing) at 100 Block of Lee Road 193, Salem, AL on Thursday at 6:56 p.m.

>>Unlawful breaking and entering a vehicle and second degree property theft (greater than $500-2,500) at the 100 Block of Lee Road, Salem, AL on Thursday at 7:53 p.m.

>>Third degree domestic violence (criminal trespass 3) and third degree criminal trespass at the 200 Block of Lee Road 621 Opelika, AL on Thursday at 8:54 p.m.

>>Possession of controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and improper equipment / tag light at Lee Road 240, Int. Lee Road 508, Phenix City, AL on Thursday at 10:14 p.m.

Auburn Police Department

>>Second degree theft of property at the 1400 Bloack of South College Street, Auburn, AL on Thursday at 11:30 a.m.

>>Forgery of checks at the 100 Block of North College Street, Auburn, AL on Thursday at 11:22 a.m.

>> Forgery of checks at the 2100 Block of Moores Mill Road, Auburn, AL on Thursday at 11:22 a.m.

>> Third degree criminal trespass at the 300 Block of North Gay Street, Auburn, AL on Thursday at 4:23 p.m.

>>Leaving the scene of an accident at the 2900 Block of Cox Road, Auburn, AL on Thursday at 6:06 p.m.

>> Third degree criminal trespass and criminal mischief-damage to private property at the 300 Block of Webster Road, Auburn, AL on Thursday at 9:54 p.m.

>> LSOA at the 100 Block of East Samford Avenue, Auburn, AL on Thursday at 10:40 p.m.

>>Third degree criminal trespass at the 600 Block of Dekalb Street, Auburn, AL on Thursday at 11:01 p.m.

>>Second degree theft of property (greater than $500-2,500) at the 1200 Block of Shug Jordan Parkway, Auburn, AL on Thursday at 11:44 p.m.

>>Samuel Wright Folmar, 19, was arrested for driving under the influence (alcohol) on North Ross Street, Auburn, AL on Thursday.

>> 25-year-old was arrested for third degree domestic violence, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in Auburn, AL on Thursday.

>>25-year-old was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia and second degree possession of marijuana in Auburn, AL on Thursday.

>>17-year-old was arrested for second degree possession of marijuana in Auburn, AL on Thursday

Opelika Police Department

>> Second degree criminal possession of forged instrument and first degree theft of property occurred on Thursday Dec. 7, 2015, at 600 2nd Avenue, BB&T Bank. Two counterfeit checks were passed that day. A similar check had previously been passed at Regions Bank, 2401 Gateway Drive on Dec. 2, 2015, by the same suspect. The 3 checks together totaled $7,518.40. The checks were written on a business account for a business from Columbus, GA, to a local man. An investigation is ongoing.

>> In three (3) separate incidents there were more counterfeit checks passed at Regions Bank and Charter Bank, 701 2nd Avenue, over the past 45 days. Each of these incidents was reported yesterday and appear to be unrelated. There are local suspects in each case, which detectives are following up on.

>> Carlotta Loretta Cobb, 41 years old from Auburn, AL, was arrested on a warrant for second degree theft of property that was issued on Jan. 6. Cobb was arrested at 3:30 P.M. Thursday in the 900 block of North College Street in Auburn, AL. The arrest stemmed from the theft of items from a guests room at Microtel, 1651 Parker Way, on Dec. 24, 2015. Cobb was booked into the Lee County Jail, where she awaits bond.

>> Katarius Lashonta Tyner, 24 years old from Auburn, AL, was arrested on a warrant for identity theft that was issued on Jan. 6. Tyner was arrested at 2:00 P.M. on Jan. 6, in the 500 block of South 10th Street in Opelika, AL. The warrant stemmed from a case reported on Dec. 8, 2015, where the victims credit card number was used to make a fraudulent purchase. Further investigation led to the charge of Identity Theft against Tyner, who knew the victim. Tyner was booked into the Lee County Jail, where she awaits bond.

Valley Police Department

>> Melvin Gregory Ware, 49 of Smiths Station, was charged with second degree bail jumping Thursday

>> Brandy Dawn Hadaway, 36 of Valley, was charged with public intoxication Thursday

>> William Christopher Hill, 37 of Valley, was charged with public intoxication Thursday
WASHINGTON  President Barack Obama vetoed the Republican-backed repeal of his signature health-care reform Friday, following through on a pledge to beat back any threat to the centerpiece of his domestic legacy.

Rather than refighting old political battles by once again voting to repeal basic protections that provide security for the middle class, Members of Congress should be working together to grow the economy, strengthen middle-class families, and create new jobs, Obama said in a message to Congress. Because of the harm this bill would cause to the health and financial security of millions of Americans, it has earned my veto.

The bill, which also blocks federal funding for Planned Parenthood, passed the House on Wednesday 240 to 181, with only four members crossing party lines. The Senate passed the bill 52 to 47 last month.

Neither margin is large enough to override Obamas veto, but Republicans say the fact that they were able to find a path around a Democratic filibuster in the Senate and pass the repeal bill gives them momentum going into the 2016 presidential race.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Friday that it was no surprise that someone named Obama vetoed a bill repealing Obamacare. But he said the House will hold a vote to override the veto regardless, taking this process all the way to the end under the Constitution.

Ryan signed the bill in a Capitol ceremony Thursday, surrounded by dozens of fellow GOP lawmakers. If there is one story that is being told here today, it is this: the idea that Obamacare is the law of the land for a long time is a myth, he said. We will see this law either collapse under its own weight, or we will see this law, in the next session of Congress as were proving here today, be repealed and signed and replaced by a Republican president.

The veto is the sixth Obama has delivered since Republicans took control of the Senate last January. Previous measures that have garnered Obama vetoes include bills to approve the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, to override regulations governing union elections and to regulate carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Numerous other GOP-backed bills have failed in the Senate, where Democrats hold enough votes to filibuster any bill they are unified in opposing. To pass the health care repeal bill, Republican lawmakers used the complex budget procedure known as reconciliation to avoid a filibuster in this case  the same procedure Democrats used to pass the bill in 2009 when they held both the House and the Senate.
Orange County Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa were among the five most effective Republicans in the 2013-2014 session  the most recent session completed  according to a study published on the Washington Posts Monkey Cage blog.

The ranking is based on something called Legislative Effectiveness Scores, which take into account how successful each lawmaker is in moving bills they sponsored and how substantial those bills are.

Issa, the Vista congressman whose district extends into south Orange County, was the second most effective House Republican, according to study authors Craig Volden of the University of Virginia and Alan Wiseman of Vanderbilt University.

Cited are Issas FOIA Act, which would make public access to federal documents easier, and his First Responders Passport Act, which would waive passport fees for those with an agreement with the U.S. government to aid a foreign country suffering from a natural disaster. The passport bill was passed by the House and awaits Senate action. The FOIA bill remains in committee.

Royce, the Fullerton representative and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, saw nine of his 18 bills make substantial progress, including his Global Anti-Poaching Act and his Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act. That was good enough for third place.

But judging a legislator simply by this criteria overlooks other key aspects of the job, according to former Rep. John Campbell, R-Irvine. In November, we had a conversation about what makes an effective legislator.

You can have a major impact on a major bill and not have your name on it, said Campbell, who is teaching political science at UC Irvine. For instance, winning compromises on a bill you may largely disagree with is something that doesnt show up in the Legislative Effectiveness Scores.

Other qualities some consider in sizing up legislators is their ability to work across the aisle, their consistency, the quality of their constituent services and their ability to bring federal dollars to their district.

There are so many factors that go into being an effective legislator beside how many bills you pass, Campbell said. And if youre in the minority, one of your jobs is to kill bills.

Campbell himself was pretty middling when measured by the Legislative Effectiveness Scores, ranking 126th out of the 240 Republicans in 2013-2014  his last term before retiring. The countys worst Republican by that measure was Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, landing 214th.

On the other side of the aisle, Linda Sanchez, D-Whittier, was 160th out of the 210 Democrats, sister and U.S. Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez, D-Orange, was 177th, and Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, was 193rd.

Corporate logos

One of the most entertaining ballot measures proposed for the November ballot has gotten the green light for signature gathering and sounds like its got a decent chance of qualifying.

The initiative calls for state lawmakers to display on their persons the identity of the top 10 (campaign) donors while attending legislative session. Like NASCAR drivers wear the logos of their sponsors. This applies only to corporate donors, not individuals.

In the case where more than 10 corporate interests give the maximum of $4,200, the state Fair Political Practices Commission would determine which get the honor, according to California is Not for Sale spokesman Ryan Smith. The FPPC would also determine how those identifications are done  patches, stickers or something else.

One loophole, in my opinion, is that corporate donors can spend unlimited amounts for a candidate via independent expenditures and those are not covered by the proposal.

The measure is the brainchild of San Diego entrepreneur and real estate mogel John Cox, who has pledged $1 million to the effort.

Money and elections

UC Irvine political scientist Richard Hasen will be the featured speaker 7:30 p.m. Tuesday as part of the Zocalo Public Square program, discussing how U.S. elections came to be dominated by money and how citizens can promote reform.

The event will take place at Grand Central Market, 317 S. Broadway, Los Angeles.

Contact the writer: mwisckol@ocregister.com
Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled a $170.5 billion state budget proposal Thursday that divides a projected revenue boon among bolstering reserves, paying down debt, increasing funding for education and roads, and restoring some social services cuts made during the recession.

Though the budget builds on recent economic growth and anticipates $7 billion in additional general fund revenues for the upcoming fiscal year, Brown warned that the next budget-busting downturn could be around the corner.

Relative to budgets of the past, this budget is in good shape, he said, standing next to a chart showing the historical cycles of revenue shortfalls. Everything that goes up comes down.

Thats why the Legislature, which now will wrestle with possible amendments to the proposal, should be wary of committing new revenue to perennial expenses, he said.

Browns plan to put $2 billion into rainy-day reserves as well as increase debt payments drew praise from many Republicans. However, they criticized proposed fee and tax increases to address growing road maintenance demands.

While his budget includes a proposal to improve our states bad roads, we must do more to reform government and streamline existing transportation spending to provide the long-term funding that our roads need, said Sen. Pat Bates, R-Laguna Niguel. Californians should not be burdened with unfair tax increases and fees to pay for years of inaction.

Browns plan for roads includes a new $65 vehicle fee, an end to gas tax cuts made by the Board of Equalization and an 11-cent tax hike on every gallon of diesel fuel.

Meanwhile, some Democrats say Browns proposal is too frugal and that more money is needed for a range of programs, especially for the poor.

The two parties now will try to hash out their differences in the Legislature and come up with a compromise to return to Brown for approval.

Education

Brown proposes spending an additional $5.4 billion on education for prekindergarten through community college and wants to freeze tuition at 2011-12 levels for another year at the University of California and California State University systems.

For K-12 students, Browns plan would boost per-student spending from state coffers to $10,591  an increase of $368 compared with last years funding and nearly $3,600 compared with 2011-12 levels. When federal money and other sources are included, the state would have an estimated $14,550 to spend per student in 2016-17, up from $14,184 this school year.

Frank Donovan, superintendent of the Magnolia School District in West Anaheim, welcomed the boost but said its not exactly a raise. During the recession, the state cut funding to education, leading districts to eliminate programs, increase class sizes, put off maintenance projects and lay off teachers. Only recently are educators and students seeing those cuts restored after years of belt tightening.

Were continuing in a positive direction, with the understanding that were back to where we were in 2007, he said.

Even with funding back to prerecession levels, Donovan said school districts are squeezed by higher bills for things like technology required in new online state assessments and bigger contributions to employee retirement funds.

State Superintendent Tom Torlakson called it a good news budget.

Schools are making great progress with the extra resources from Proposition 98 and Proposition 30, which voters approved three years ago. Schools are reducing class sizes, adding programs in the arts and many other subjects, and continuing to upgrade teaching of math, science and English, Torlakson said in a news release. We need to make sure these extra revenues keep flowing so schools can continue their momentum.

Under new local-control funding formulas, districts with greater numbers of foster children, English learners and students at the poverty level receive additional revenues.

Health care

Brown proposed a compromise on an expiring health-insurer tax plan that would close a $1.1 billion gap in spending for Medi-Cal, the states insurance plan for 12.8 million low-income residents.

The current tax, which is paid only by managed Medi-Cal insurers, will end in June. The state will lose matching federal funds if the money isnt replaced. An earlier proposal by Brown to also tax private plans was rejected by the Legislature.

Browns latest proposal calls for a tax swap, in which private plans would pay the tax but no longer would pay two other types of taxes, said Mari Cantwell, chief deputy director for the Department of Health Care Services. She said the concerns of the insurance industry were addressed in creating the revised plan, which would result in an overall $90 million tax savings for the companies.

Some insurance industry and taxpayer advocates said the proposal sounded like a fair way to preserve Medi-Cal spending while ensuring that premiums for privately ensured consumers would not rise from a tax hike.

Orange Countys Medi-Cal insurer, CalOptima, said it would closely monitor the outcome of the proposal in the Legislature.

This funding is important to continuing our Medi-Cal and OneCare Connect programs in Orange County, CalOptima CEO Michael Schrader said in a statement.

Browns familiarity with the intricacies of the 265-page proposal was obvious as he fielded questions from reporters. Legislative analyst and commentator Scott Lay said he had never seen such a command of the budget during his tenure in the capital, which spans four governors.

Most governors would come out, read a prepared statement and then throw it to the director of the Department of Finance, Lay wrote in his daily newsletter. Jerry spoke off the cuff, with clear knowledge of the issues and also about his conservative budget principles.

The Associated Press

contributed to this story.

Contact the writer: mwisckol@ocregister.com
More than 100 teenagers from six states and four countries participated last summer in Concordia Universitys fourth annual Teen Entrepreneur Academy, hosted by the colleges School of Business.

The weeklong residential program is for high school students interested in starting a business. This year, the Irvine-based educational institution plans to hold the program July 24-30.

Capping the week of training this past summer was a competition for 25 teams of students, who presented their business plans to a panel of chief executive officers and entrepreneur judges.

First prize, $1,000, went to a team of Irvine teens  Natasha Takahashi and Tony Hsu from Woodbridge High, and Katherine Wong from Beckman High.

Karina Gonzalez, who attends Century High in Santa Ana, was among those who participated in the academy this past summer.

After the program, she was nominated by a teacher for the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerces BizFest Youth Entrepreneurship Program. During the program, held in Houston in September, Gonzalezs business plan earned her a $5,000 scholarship.

For more information about the Teen Entrepreneur Academy this summer, visit cui.edu/tea.

Contact the writer: sdecrescenzo@ocregister.com
SAN FRANCISCO  A one-time gang tough nicknamed Shrimp Boy who insisted he had changed his ways through meditation and become a role model for wayward youth was convicted Friday of racketeering, murder and scores of other crimes in a major organized crime investigation in San Franciscos Chinatown that also brought down a state senator.

The conviction of Raymond Shrimp Boy Chow was largely the work of an undercover FBI agent who posed for years as a foul-mouthed East Coast businessman with mafia ties as he infiltrated the fraternal group that Chow led. The group was among dozens of active tongs, or family associations, in Chinatown, one of the most popular and visible tourist attractions in the city.

Authorities said Chow and some other members of the group engaged in drug trafficking, money laundering and the sale of stolen cigarettes and top-shelf liquors.

Jurors convicted the 56-year-old Chow of all 162 charges against him, including racketeering, murder and conspiracy to commit murder. One of the victims was Allen Leung, the former leader of the fraternal group, who was shot and killed at his business in 2006 as his wife looked on.

The verdicts marked a big victory for prosecutors, who have now secured convictions against two of the most prominent defendants among the more than two dozen people indicted in the case.

State Sen. Leland Yee was suspended before pleading guilty in July to a racketeering count involving bribes. He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 10.

This conviction represents a just and final end to Mr. Chows long running and deadly criminal career, San Francisco FBI Special Agent in Charge David Johnson said in a statement.

One of the prosecutions main witnesses against Chow was the undercover FBI agent, who testified under a false name that he wined and dined Chow and his associates for years. Chow willingly accepted envelopes stuffed with thousands of dollars in cash for setting up various crimes, the agent said.
BEIRUT  An Islamic State fighter shot and killed his own mother before onlookers at a public square in the Syrian city of Raqqa after he was told that she was not a true believer, activists reported Friday, the latest in ISs brutal public killings over the past two years in the de facto capital of the groups self-proclaimed caliphate.

The killings  and there have been scores since IS blitzed across Iraq and Syria to capture large swaths of land in the summer of 2014  are meant to spread terror and intimidate opponents. Many have been captured on camera, with the gruesome videos later posted on social media sites.

In 2014, a woman was stoned to death after IS charged her with adultery. Last year, the group put a Jordanian pilot inside a metal cage, then set him on fire, apparently also in Raqqa. The Islamic State has also posted images of beheadings of captured foreigners, journalists and aid workers, including Americans, British and those of other nationalities.

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the Syrian conflict, 20-year-old IS fighter Ali Sakr killed his mother in a public square in Raqqa on Thursday.

The Observatory said the woman, Lina Qassem, who was in her 40s, was originally from Syrias coastal region but had been living in the northern town of Tabqa for more than 20 years. The group said she was trying to convince her son to leave the extremist group and flee Raqqa but he in turn informed IS on her.

Abu Mohammed, a member of a Raqqa-based activist group that reports on IS, known as Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, also reported the killing on his Twitter account. The Observatory said it took place near the local post office building, where Qassem worked.

Meanwhile, clashes in Iraq between a joint Turkish-Iraqi force and Islamic State militants near a training camp outside the northern city of Mosul left at least 18 IS fighters dead, the Turkish president and a former Iraqi governor said Friday.

The fighting erupted late on Thursday outside the Bashiqa camp, which was at the center of a controversy last month when Turkey moved troops there to protect Turkish trainers aiding local Sunni fighters hoping to take back Mosul from the Islamic State group.

Baghdad has demanded that Turkish troops withdraw, describing their presence as a violation of international law. Ankara has pulled some troops out but not all.

Turkish President Erdogan said on Friday that IS tried to infiltrate Bashiqa, triggering the clashes. Former Iraqi governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, who founded the training camp, said the attack was pre-empted.

But the commander of the training camp, Maj Gen. Mohammed Yahya, told The Associated Press that he was at the camp on Thursday night and there were no such clashes.

There were airstrikes on IS targets, but theres always airstrikes. Our troops were not involved in any fighting, he insisted.

A commander with the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces at the frontline near the training camp said airstrikes killed 16 IS fighters there on Thursday night. The commander, Saeed Mamuzini, said he was not aware of any fighting between the Sunni-Turkish forces and the IS group.

The disparate accounts of the events Thursday night could not immediately be reconciled.
PORTLAND, Ore.  A prominent ranching family whose legal case sparked an armed occupation of a wildlife preserve has lived for three generations in Oregons high desert, building a large cattle operation and stellar reputations for kindness and generosity.

The Hammonds are known for supporting charitable and civic causes in a remote region where residents rely on each other for survival and fellowship. Theyve also clashed repeatedly with the federal government over land management, water rights and other issues.

Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven Hammond, 46, have been embroiled for more than five years in a legal dispute over several fires they lit that damaged federal property. The two men were convicted of arson and this week returned to prison to serve out longer sentences, which stoked long-simmering hostility between ranchers and government officials over management of federal land for cattle grazing.

The armed anti-government group that has occupied a building at a national wildlife refuge near the Hammond ranch cited the Hammonds experience as one of several cases of government overreach. The mens re-imprisonment also drew anger from other ranchers who admire the Hammonds and believe the sentences are too harsh.

The Hammonds are the nicest people that ever walked the foot of this earth, said Merlin Rupp, 80, a longtime local resident. Theyd do anything for me at the drop of a hat, and they got a raw deal.

Rupp was among those who spoke out Wednesday in support of the family at an emotional community meeting called to discuss the occupation of the nature preserve. The Hammonds have not sought publicity and have distanced themselves from the armed protest.

Letters written in 2012 to the judge presiding over the case show that the Hammonds have served on school and farm-related boards and donated money, cattle and labor to countless fundraisers and events. They also supported local businesses and helped the local 4-H club.

Father and son have also helped others in crisis. When a neighbors daughter was injured in a car wreck, the Hammonds hayed their fields. When a fire burned a nearby homestead, the Hammonds let the ranchers cattle graze on their feed. And when another neighbors bulls were trapped on a rim by heavy snow, Dwight Hammond flew his airplane to drop bales of hay for them, according to the letters.

In Harney County, home to about 7,700 people and more than 104,000 cows, ranching has long been a way of life. But in recent decades, concerns over the environment brought changes in range-management rules, leading to conflicts.

Dwight Hammond and his own father bought the ranch at the foot of Steens Mountain just south of the town of Burns in 1964. The family owns nearly 13,000 acres of fields full of scrubby bushes, grasses and sagebrush. The purchase price included several federal grazing allotments  the rights to lease public land for grazing  common in the West, where the federal government owns nearly half the land.

As the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge grew to surround the Hammond ranch, the family had to stave off pressure from the federal government to sell the ranch, Dwight Hammond told The Associated Press last week. The rancher said officials mismanaged the rangeland, including failing to do controlled burns for invasive plants that snuff out grass growth.

Federal officials repeatedly accused the ranchers of breaking environmental laws and declining to follow rules. Over the years, officials refused to renew some of the familys grazing allotments and increased fees on others. They also restricted access to water sources used by the Hammonds.

In 1994, after officials sought to fence off a water source on the refuge to keep out the Hammond cows, the ranchers destroyed the fence and obstructed federal workers from continuing construction, The Oregonian newspaper reported.

Father and son were arrested on felony charges of interfering with federal employees, court records show. But after area ranchers protested, their charges were reduced to misdemeanors and later dropped.

Earl Kisler, the special agent who arrested the two in 1994, told the newspaper the Hammonds and other ranchers made repeated threats  including death threats  against refuge managers.

In the arson case filed against the Hammonds in 2010, prosecutors said the ranchers stepped out of line on land that didnt belong to them because they believed the government was too slow in controlling invasive species. Father and son were charged with starting at least eight fires during a period of more than 20 years, though a jury three years ago found them guilty of setting only two.

The Hammonds acknowledged lighting fires on their own property in 2001 to reduce the growth of invasive junipers and again in 2006 to protect their winter feed and property from wildfires. The fires spread onto federal land leased by the family and charred just under 140 acres.

Prosecutors said grazing leases did not give the Hammonds exclusive use of the land or permission to burn public property. They said the 2001 fire was used to cover up poaching of deer.

In 2012, a judge sided with the Hammonds. Though the arson convictions require a five-year minimum sentence, he said those sentences did not fit the crime. As a result, the elder Hammond spent three months in prison, the son a little over a year.

But the government appealed and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later ordered the Hammonds to be resentenced. The court ruled that the judge did not have the authority to be lenient. Earlier this year, another judge ordered father and son back to prison for five years each, minus the time already served.

To the Hammonds and their supporters, the case appeared to be a vendetta. The Oregon Farm Bureau has called the Hammonds plight a gross injustice that has severely damaged the long-term trust and cooperation that ranchers, foresters, and recreationists have had with the government.
SACRAMENTO  A man in California encouraged a fellow Iraqi refugee in Texas to join the civil war against the Syrian government and promised to teach him how to fight, federal authorities said Friday, a day after terrorism charges against the men were revealed.

A criminal complaint filed against 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab of Sacramento details the social media communication he had with 24-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan of Houston. Al Hardan is the person identified as Individual I in the complaint, according to Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in Sacramento.

O God, grant us martyrdom for your sake while engaged in fighting and not retreating; a martyrdom that would make you satisfied with us, Al-Jayab wrote to Al Hardan in April 2013.

The complaint says Al-Jayab, who already had fought in Syria, promised to provide weapons training to Al Hardan and advised him on how he would be assigned to the battlefield once he arrived in Syria.

Al-Jayab described how he began fighting shortly after he turned 16, and recounted just shooting, spraying, spraying with his assault rifle during a battle. He said he helped execute three Syrian government soldiers, according to the document.

Authorities say Al-Jayab fought twice in Syria, including with a group affiliated with Islamic State. There is no indication that Al Hardan, an Iraqi refugee, actually traveled to Syria.

Both are Iraqi-born Palestinians who came to the United States as refugees. There was no evidence either man intended or planned attacks in the United States.

The arrests, which came a little more than a month after an attack in San Bernardino, California, killed 14, brought new life to a debate over whether the United States is doing enough to screen refugees.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called for a retroactive review of all refugees who have come to the U.S. to examine all of the evidence that might indicate whether these individuals have ties to radical Islamic terrorists.

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said the arrests should cause President Obama to hit pause on his nave plan to usher in thousands of refugees from Iraq and Syria over the coming year.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the screening of refugees is rigorous and thorough. He repeated the administrations opposition to proposals that would impose a religious test or bar individuals from the U.S. based on their ethnicity.

That doesnt represent who we are as a country and, most importantly, its not going to keep us safe, Earnest said.

Al-Jayab faces up to eight years in prison on charges of traveling to Syria to fight and lying to investigators about it. He was due to make his initial court appearance Friday afternoon.

His attorney, Ben Galloway of the federal defenders office, did not return telephone and emailed messages Thursday or Friday.

Al Hardan made his initial appearance in Houston federal court Friday morning after he was indicted Wednesday on three charges related to accusations he tried to provide material support to Islamic State. He faces up to 25 years in prison for the most serious charge.

Al Hardan, who speaks Arabic, used an interpreter to tell U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy he understands the charges.

Al Hardan, dressed in a plaid shirt and khakis, told the judge he lives in a Houston-area apartment, is married and has a child. Al Hardan said he earns about $1,800 per month. He did not say his occupation but added his wife does not work and his in-laws live in Dallas.

Prosecutors said Al Hardan entered the U.S. as a refugee in November 2009 and was granted legal permanent residence status in August 2011.

Milloy ordered Al Hardan be held until a hearing on Wednesday to determine if he should be granted a bond. Prosecutors want Al Hardan held without bond, saying he is a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Al Hardan was appointed an attorney, David Adler, who did not immediately return a telephone call or email seeking comment.

Federal officials say arrests in Milwaukee on Thursday grew out of the Sacramento investigation but are not related to national security. Two of Al-Jayabs brothers and a cousin are charged with conspiring to transport/receive stolen cellphones.

Younis Mohammed Al Jayab and Ahmad Waleed Mahmood appeared in federal court in Milwaukee on Friday to hear the allegations against them in a criminal complaint. They werent asked to enter pleas. That could come if theyre indicted through a grand jury in the coming weeks.

They were ordered released without cash bond. It wasnt clear whether they would be freed Friday or held over the weekend.

A federal prosecutor says a third man named in the complaint, Samer Mohammed Al Jayab, was arrested in California.
More than 238,000 Californians have joined Covered Californias health insurance exchange as of Jan. 2.

The states health insurance exchange on Thursday also announced more than 124,000 new and renewing consumers had enrolled in the new optional family dental coverage.

The deadline is coming up, so anyone who does not have health insurance should visit CoveredCA.com and find out where they can get help enrolling before the deadline, said Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California.

During the final weeks of the enrollment period, which ends Jan. 31, more than 500 enrollment events are scheduled throughout the state at libraries, health centers, malls and churches.

In Orange County, enrollment events will take place at the Santa Ana and Tustin city libraries. Health clinics, medical centers and hospitals, including Los Alamitos Medical Center and Placentia-Linda Hospital, also will host events.

There are an estimated 750,000 uninsured Californians who are eligible for coverage, according to Covered California. An additional 1.4 million are believed to qualify for low-cost or no-cost Medi-Cal.

To find out where to enroll, visit CoveredCA.com.

Contact the writer: aratzlaff@ocregister.com
WASHINGTON  If youre going to engage in a foreign policy capitulation, might as well do it when everyone is getting tanked and otherwise occupied. Say, New Years Eve.

Heres the story. In October, Iran test-fires a nuclear-capable ballistic missile in brazen violation of Security Council resolutions prohibiting such launches. President Obama does nothing. One month later, Iran does it again. The administration makes a few gestures at the U.N. Then nothing. Then finally, on Dec. 30, the White House announces a few sanctions.

They are weak, aimed mostly at individuals and designed essentially for show. Amazingly, even that proves too much. By 10 p.m. that night, the administration caves. The White House sends out an email saying that sanctions are off  and the Iranian president orders the military to expedite the missile program.

Is there any red line left? First, the Syrian chemical weapons. Then the administration insistence that there would be no nuclear deal unless Iran accounted for its past nuclear activities. (It didnt.) And unless Iran permitted inspection of its Parchin nuclear testing facility. (It was allowed self-inspection and declared itself clean.) And now, illegal ballistic missiles.

The premise of the nuclear deal was that it would constrain Iranian actions. Its had precisely the opposite effect. It has deterred us from offering even the mildest pushback to any Iranian violations lest Iran walk away and leave Obama legacy-less.

Just two weeks ago, Irans Revolutionary Guards conducted live-fire exercises near the Strait of Hormuz. It gave nearby U.S. vessels exactly 23 seconds of warning. One rocket was launched 1,500 yards from the USS Harry S. Truman.

Obamas response? None.

The Gulf Arabs  rich, weak and, since FDR, dependent on America for security  are bewildered. Theyre still reeling from the nuclear deal, which Obama declared would be unaffected by Iranian misbehavior elsewhere. The result was to assure Tehran that it would pay no price for its aggression in Syria and Yemen, subversion in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and support for terrorism.

Obama seems not to understand that disconnecting the nuclear issue gave the mullahs license to hunt in the region. For the Saudis, however, its not just blundering but betrayal. From the very beginning, theyve seen Obama tilting toward Tehran as he fancies himself Nixon in China, turning Iran into a strategic partner in managing the Middle East.

This is even scarier because it is delusional. If anything, Obamas openhanded appeasement has encouraged Irans regional adventurism and intense anti-Americanism.

The Saudis, sensing abandonment, are near panic. Hence the reckless execution of the firebrand Shiite insurrectionist, Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, that has brought the region to a boil.

The Saudis feel surrounded, and its not paranoia. To their north, Iran dominates a Shiite crescent stretching from Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean. To the Saudi south, Iran has been arming Yemens Houthi rebels since at least 2009.

The danger is rising. For years, Iran has been supporting anti-regime agitation among Saudi Arabias minority Shiites. The Persian Gulf is Irans ultimate prize. The fall of the House of Saud would make Iran the undisputed regional hegemon and an emerging global power.

For the United States, that would be the greatest geopolitical setback since China fell to communism in 1949. Yet Obama seems oblivious. Worse, he appears inert in the face of the three great challenges to the post-Cold War American order. Iran is only the most glaring. China is challenging the status quo in the South China Sea, just last week landing its first aircraft on an artificial island hundreds of miles beyond the Chinese coast. We deny Chinas claim and declare these to be international waters, yet last month we meekly apologized when a B-52 overflew one of the islands. We said it was inadvertent.

The world sees and takes note. As it does our response to the other great U.S. adversary  Russia. Whats happened to Obamas vaunted isolation of Russia for its annexation of Crimea and assault on the post-Cold War European settlement? Gone. Evaporated. Obama meets openly with Vladimir Putin in Turkey, then in Paris. And is now practically begging him to join our side in Syria.

There is no price for defying Pax Americana  not even trivial sanctions on Iranian missile-enablers. Our enemies know it. Our allies see it  and sense theyre on their own, and may not survive.
Over the 20 years since California voters approved Proposition 215, medical marijuana policy has been left to a patchwork of widely varying local ordinances. Last year, state legislators approved the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, a trio of bills establishing the first statewide regulations of medical marijuana.

The new package of regulations is set to govern the cultivation, manufacturing and licensing of medical marijuana businesses. Local control is mostly intact, with localities free to restrict marijuana cultivation, delivery and businesses.

However, an apparently erroneous line in the regulations have sent local governments across the state scrambling to impose bans on medical marijuana cultivation, mobile delivery and dispensaries ahead of a March 1 deadline set by the regulations. Under current reading of the law, local jurisdictions without ordinances regarding cultivation in place by the deadline will thus cede authority over the matter to the state.

Further, without explicit prohibitions on mobile delivery, marijuana may be delivered to patients under the law.

This has led dozens of governments to impose bans, in part to ensure local control. Just this week, Calistoga, Merced, Paso Robles, Pismo Beach and Tustin were among those moving forward with bans on cultivation and/or deliveries. Some were more sensible, like the city of Riverside, which voted to allow a certain amount of cultivation.

But in an open letter to city and county governments, Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, described the deadline as an inadvertent drafting error. Wood intends to work with his colleagues to strike the deadline and maintain a local jurisdictions ability to create their own regulations.

This at least has helped some local governments to indicate that, with the lifting of such a deadline, they would be open to revisiting their ordinances. And they have every reason to. With the deadline almost certain to be removed, local governments should embrace regulation rather than prohibition.

Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana patient advocacy organization, advises local governments that bans on personal and commercial marijuana cultivation are unnecessary and ultimately harm patients. Lawmakers must remember that it is inappropriate to regulate medicines as they do vices, including alcohol and tobacco, the group argues in a memo to local governments.

Regardless of how one perceives the legitimacy of medical marijuana, the reality is people have, in consultation with physicians, determined that they can benefit from the use of it. While there obviously are instances where eye rolling is perfectly justified, more than 1.4 million Californians have already used medical marijuana, according to ASA  92 percent of who report significant relief from a serious medical condition.

If the past four decades of marijuana prohibition have taught us anything, though, its that simply banning pot doesnt actually prevent people from accessing, growing and selling the stuff. In the context of a state which has opened its arms to marijuana for medicinal use, and which may very well legalize it for recreational use, prohibition is simply an exercise in government power for the sake of exercising government power.

Bans on personal cultivation simply hurt those without any other means of getting what they, and their doctor, consider medicine. At best, they push people in areas without commercial cultivation or dispensing into the black market, which doesnt serve any reasonable public policy provision.

Bans on commercial cultivation would have the same practical effect. In order for dispensaries to dispense, they need legal, regulated cultivation. As ASA argues, Licensed commercial medical cannabis cultivators operate in the open. That makes the jobs of regulators and law enforcement much easier.

In time, local governments will likely make the right choices. In the meantime, they should resist the urge to panic and impose unnecessary bans which only serve the interests of the black market.
MOBILE, Ala.  Officials in Alabamas Mobile County say marriage license operations have resumed despite an order from state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore saying judges have a ministerial duty not to issue licenses to gay couples.

After Moore issued the order Wednesday, several probate judges suspended license operations for all couples and sought guidance.

Mobile County Probate Court Chief Clerk Joe McEarchern Jr. said the countys marriage license window reopened Friday morning based on further review of what the law is.

Madison and Lawrence counties had also suspended marriage license operations, but resumed Thursday after getting advice from legal counsel.

Moore has denied that he is defying the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling last June effectively legalizing gay marriage nationwide. He said hes simply trying to address confusion over conflicting orders between state and federal courts.
SEOUL, South Korea  A day after North Korea said it tested a hydrogen bomb, South Korea said Thursday that it would resume propaganda broadcasts at the countries border that infuriated the North last summer.

The South will turn on its batteries of propaganda loudspeakers at the heavily armed border at noon Friday, said Cho Tae-yong, a senior national security adviser to President Park Geun-hye. In August, the Koreas appeared on the verge of armed conflict partly because of the broadcasts, which the South used to blare news of the outside world and criticism of Pyongyang, as well as bouncy South Korean pop music, into the tightly controlled country.

Chos announcement came after top national security officials met in Seoul to discuss a response to the Norths nuclear test Wednesday. North Korea said it had detonated a hydrogen bomb, a vastly more powerful weapon than the nuclear devices it has tested three times before, but experts were extremely skeptical of that claim.

South Korean officials said privately Thursday that resuming the propaganda broadcasts was the simplest and quickest way they could think of, for now, to retaliate for the test. They insisted on anonymity while agreeing to discuss their thinking on a sensitive security issue. Like the United States, the South has few options for punishing the North for its nuclear ambitions, which it has continued to pursue despite decades of international sanctions and resolutions from the U.N. Security Council.

North Korea did not immediately respond to Chos announcement.

While loudspeakers may seem a trivial response to a nuclear test, there is little doubt that the broadcasts enrage the leadership in Pyongyang, which rigorously controls what information North Koreans receive and sees the propaganda as an attempt to undermine its authority.

The Cold War-era tactic had gone unused by the South for 11 years until last summer, after two South Korean border guards were maimed by land mines, which the South accused the North of planting.

North Korea then threatened to attack the loudspeakers and put its military on what it called a semi-war footing, moving more troops to the border. The crisis was defused after top officials from both Koreas met in talks at the border on Aug. 25. North Korea expressed regret over the wounding of the border guards, and South Korea agreed to stop the broadcasts unless an abnormal situation developed.

South Korean officials said the test qualified as an abnormal situation.

Cho also said the Souths military was ready to respond if the North reacted to the renewed broadcasts with armed hostilities.

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.
(c) 2016 New York Times News Service

BEIJING  China has rejected criticism from the United States that its policies toward North Korea had failed, suggesting Friday that it was the Americans, not the Chinese, who were largely to blame for the Norths embrace of nuclear weapons.

In a stern rebuke that reinforced tensions between the worlds leading powers days after North Korea claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb, a Chinese official said that it was the responsibility of all countries  not just China  to persuade the North Korean government to abandon its nuclear program.

The origin and crux of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula has never been China, Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry, said at a regularly scheduled news conference in Beijing. The key to solving the problem is not China.

Hua did not mention the United States by name, but her remarks were a clear reference to the belief in China that efforts by the Americans to isolate North Korea economically and politically over the past decade have worsened the situation.

U.S. officials have said that China, North Koreas main ally, is uniquely positioned to discourage the Norths nuclear ambitions by cutting off oil shipments or disrupting its financial transactions. China is North Koreas biggest trading partner, and the two countries have been allies for six decades.

On Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry intensified pressure on Chinese leaders, saying that Beijings attempts to rein in North Korea had failed. We cannot continue business as usual, Kerry said at a news briefing in Washington.

The United States is drafting a U.N. Security Council resolution to further disrupt trade in North Korea, including a partial ban on allowing North Korean ships to enter ports around the world, U.S. officials have said.

Over the years, China has taken modest steps to limit North Koreas nuclear program, including banning weapons shipments. But it has stopped short of more crippling sanctions, in part because of a fear that destabilizing North Korea could send a wave of refugees into China and cede territory along its border to South Korea, a U.S. ally.

Chinas president, Xi Jinping, who came to power in 2012, initially sought to keep a distance from the North, worried that its nuclear ambitions were threatening peace in the region. But in recent months, Xi sought warmer relations, sending a top official to meet with Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, in the fall.

On Thursday, Kerry took aim at Chinas efforts to curry favor with the North. China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, and we agreed and respected to give them space to be able to implement that, he said. That has not worked.

Since North Koreas claim of carrying out a nuclear test Wednesday  which experts doubt was of a hydrogen bomb, a far more powerful weapon than the low-grade atomic devices Pyongyang has detonated before  several public officials and news media commentators in China have denounced Kim. But many have defended the Chinese approach to dealing with North Korea, blaming other countries for escalating tensions in the region.

A commentary Thursday in Peoples Daily, the Communist Partys flagship newspaper, said the United States had inescapable responsibilities for the current tension in the peninsula.

On Friday, Global Times, a nationalistic, state-run newspaper, issued a fiery rebuttal to Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, who suggested that China should take the lead in stopping the Norths nuclear program or face trade sanctions of its own.

In no way will China bear the responsibilities that the U.S., South Korea and Japan should take, an editorial in the newspaper said. The hostilities between them and Pyongyang are actually the source of the nuclear problems. The China-North Korea relationship should not be dragged into antagonism.
BERLIN  German police Friday announced the arrests of two asylum seekers in a series of New Years Eve attacks in Cologne, a development likely to inflame what already is a fierce battle over the status of hundreds of thousands of migrants whove flooded Europe in recent months.

The police said the two suspects were arrested around midnight in the same square outside the citys central train station where the attacks reportedly took place. The police said that during the arrests theyd uncovered photos and videos of sexual assaults as well as a list of threatening phrases to use to intimidate German women.

Federal police announced that they were investigating 31 other suspects  including an American  thought to be tied to the attacks. Eighteen of those are asylum seekers, police said.

Cologne police placed the number of suspects they were investigating at 21, and it was not immediately clear how or whether the two numbers overlapped. Under German law, the federal police are responsible for probing crimes that originated within the train station, while the city police are responsible for investigating acts outside.

Initial reports had put the number of young men present during the attacks at close to 1,000, though many were thought to be revelers and not attackers.

Still, on Friday the official tally of victims passed 200, and police reports continued to be filed. In addition to the attacks in Cologne, police are investigating similar though less numerous assaults in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Stuttgart.

Meanwhile, police in Finland, which has accepted about 20,000 asylum seekers this year, reported that they had thwarted plans for similar attacks in that countrys capital, Helsinki. According to police, theyd received information that as many as 1,000 men were planning to assault women outside Helsinkis central train station on New Years Eve and had marshaled police there to deal with the possibility. Thus far, only three Finnish women have reported being assaulted by the crowd.

As in Germany  which has taken in more than 1 million refugees this year, most thought to be from Syria  the asylum seekers in Finland are predominantly young, unaccompanied men. Most are thought to have come from Iraq.

Police have said they dont think there is a connection between the attacks, but the apparent police efforts in Finland to prevent the assaults are likely to increase the criticism of German police, whove been slammed for a timid and slow response to the chaos and then for apparently attempting to cover up the extent of the mayhem. Many victims of the attacks have told German news outlets theyd pleaded with police for help but were left to fend for themselves.

As is the custom in Germany, police identified the arrested suspects with only partial names. One, Issam D., was described as a 16-year-old Moroccan, while the other, Mohamed T., was said to be a 23-year-old from Tunisia. Police said Issam D. was a known pickpocket.

Mohamed T. was reported to have been carrying what appeared to be a handwritten cheat sheet for sexual intimidation. The list had phrases in Arabic translated into German. The phrases included I want to (have sex), I want to kiss you, Big breasts, I have a surprise and most chillingly I will kill you.

Police said cellphones found on the suspects when they were arrested contained photos and videos showing attacks on women.

Meanwhile, federal police announced the nationalities of the 31 suspects they are investigating, a step that is likely to feed the debate over immigration. In addition to an American and two Germans, the group comprises nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, one Iraqi and one Serb. The police said 18 of the suspects are asylum seekers, and that most were suspected of physical assault and robbery.

No other information about those suspects was released.

On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had said the nation must not allow those who abuse German law to escape without consequences, and she noted that those consequences should include the possibility of deportation.

Deportation may not be nearly as easily done as said, however. For starters, German law allows deportation only for crimes that result in at least a three-year prison sentence. Sexual assault in Germany typically carries a one-year sentence.

Beyond that, it appears that many of the suspects are minors, and young refugees cannot be deported under German law. Beyond that, youth courts in Germany rarely hand out prison sentences, and then only very rarely a sentence as long as three years.

Beyond that, German law will not allow deportation to a country where the deportee would be in danger.

The assaults are dominating German news coverage this week, and are being used by anti-refugee groups  which had been losing the national debate on the issue by a fairly wide margin  to show that accepting refugees is problematic national policy.

Frauke Petry, a spokeswoman for the anti-immigration Alternative for Deutschland political party, said the attacks were not without precedent in Germany.

The mass abuse in Cologne reminds us of the lawless situation at the end of World War II, she said, referring the mass rapes by Soviet soldiers of German women during the occupation. Historians estimate that as many as 2 million German women were raped in the postwar years.
IRVINE  Two men were arrested and another hospitalized Thursday night after police chased them from the area of a home burglary onto the 405 freeway, officials said.

A man called 911 to report a burglary in progress around 9:15 p.m. on Seton Road after he heard a loud noise inside his neighbors residence when he knew the homeowner was not home, said Farrah Emami, spokeswoman for the Irvine Police Department.

Officials said the neighbor provided vehicle descriptions of cars parked on the street to officers, who identified a vehicle matching the description of one leaving the University Park neighborhood and followed it.

The driver of the white SUV failed to yield when police attempted to conduct a traffic stop, leading officers on a high-speed chase  with speeds exceeding 100 mph  on the northbound I-405 before exiting at MacArthur Boulevard.

A number of men ran out of the SUV after exiting the freeway, and the vehicle continued to roll before crashing into a light pole.

Dominque William Malone, 20, of Lancaster and Jermaine Edward Toomer, 29, of Los Angeles attempted to hide in the area, but Irvine police, with the help of the Orange County Sheriffs Departments helicopter Duke crew, found both of them quickly, Emami said.

A third man, who was not immediately identified, continued to run before jumping a fence and onto a I-405 overpass, causing him to break several bones.

Orange County Fire Authority responded at 9:35 p.m. and treated the man before taking him to Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, said OCFA Battalion Chief Steve Edwards.

Malone and Toomer were arrested on suspicion of residential burglary and booked into Orange County jail and scheduled to appear in court Monday. Malone was held without bail, while Toomer remained in custody in lieu of $50,000.

Police did not immediately find stolen merchandise within the crashed car, but are continuing to investigate, Emami said.

Officials said the third man may be arrested at a later time.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or aduranty@ocregister.com
A Maryland appeals court on Friday stayed an order requiring a Baltimore police officer to testify against fellow officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray until it can decide on his appeal of the order.

Officer William Porters testimony was expected to be a key piece of evidence against Officer Casear Goodson Jr., whose trial is scheduled to begin on Monday. Around 2 p.m., a court representative said the trial of Goodson, who faces the most serious charge of the six officers accused in the case, was still slated for Monday and attorneys had not filed motions to delay the trial.

A Baltimore judge on Wednesday ordered Porter to testify against Goodson and another officer, Alicia White, after prosecutors granted him limited immunity. But Porters attorneys immediately appealed that ruling, saying it would violate his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and damage his right to fair retrial in June. Porter first trial on manslaughter and other charges ended in December with a deadlocked jury.

In court filings submitted Friday, prosecutors said the injunction was unnecessary and underscored how pivotal Porters testimony is to their case against Goodson.

Enjoining Porter from testifying as a State witness in Goodsons trial  irreparably harms the goverments ability to prosecute Goodson for the death of Freddie Gray, said a filing from the Maryland attorney generals office on behalf of city prosecutors. The State has one opportunity to try Goodson. If the State is enjoined from calling Porter as a witness at the time of Goodsons trial, there is no remedy.

If Porters attorneys did want to stay Williams order to testify, they should have filed their request in city circuit court, not the Court of Special Appeals, the attorney generals office argued.

The prosecutors also argued Maryland law has protections on place to preserve the officers constitutional rights if he were to testify for the state. Prosecutors said they would have a hearing before Porters retrial to show that all the evidence the state intends to introduce against Porter would be independent of his compelled testimony. If the state cant meet that burden, the evidence would be tossed out.

Goodson drove the police van in which Gray suffered a broken neck following his arrest last April. Porter met the van at a handful of stops around the city. Prosecutors accuse both of failing to properly strap Gray into the van and ignoring his pleas for help, charges both officers deny. Grays death a week later ignited protests and then riots in Baltimore.

Legal experts said Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams decision to compel Porter to testify was highly unusual in Maryland, a fact Williams noted himself at Wednesdays hearing. I find myself in uncharted territory, Williams said, before issuing the order.

The order was a major victory for prosecutors. Legal experts said the state would likely have a difficult time proving the second-degree depraved-heart murder, manslaughter and other counts against Goodson without Porters testimony. During his trial, Porter testified that he told Goodson at one stop that Gray needed medical attention, but Goodson did not seek out care.

If Porter is compelled to testify in the other cases, his testimony could not be used against him nor could prosecutors mount evidence derived from that testimony, legal experts said. If Porter refuses to testify, he could be held in contempt of court.
Venezuelas free-market oriented Democratic Union took control of Congress on Tuesday for the first time in 16 years, ousting the Socialist Party of Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013. Mr. Chavezs successor, President Nicolas Maduro, has continued policies of strong government control of the economy bordering on dictatorship.

The Associated Press reported that the new leader of Congress, Henry Ramos Allup, said in his inaugural remarks that a six-month deadline to remove Maduro by constitutional means is not negotiable.

That was just the latest in a string of victories for freedom-oriented political parties in Latin America. On Nov. 22, Businessman Mauricio Macrio was elected president of Argentina, defeating Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who, along with her late husband, Nestor Kirchner, ruled Argentina since 2003.

Next out could be Brazils President Dilma Rousseff and her socialist Workers Party. The country  scheduled to host the Summer Olympics in August  is suffering the deepest recession since at least 1901, according to Bloomberg. Latin Americas largest economy will shrink 2.95 percent this year [and] contracted 3.71 percent last year.

Ms. Rousseff faces impeachment in Brazils Congress, where she is accused of illegally manipulating the numbers in the national budget, and has said her administration did nothing wrong, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The shift to the right is not universal. AP reported, Other leftist stalwarts in South America remain on solid footing, including Ecuadors Rafael Correa, who enjoys a 52 percent approval rating even as his oil-dependent economy struggles to fight off recession.

As in most countries, including the United States, political fortunes largely depend on economic fortunes. Yet market-oriented politicians often forget that connection, as witnessed by the large spending increases leading to massive deficits by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and President George W. Bush, both Republicans who favored market rhetoric.

Another example was Fernando Henrique Cardoso, president of Brazil from 1995-2003. He carried out the Real Plan of 1994 established under his predecessor, Itamar Franco. Both were oriented toward market reforms. But, according to a 2004 study by the International Monetary Fund, while the authorities rhetoric favored fiscal austerity, unrelenting pressures to increase expenditures more than offset increases in revenue or cuts in other expenditures, bringing massive deficits.

Voters replaced Cardoso with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers Party, whose surprising austerity, combined with rising global commodity prices, helped Brazil produce budget surpluses and weather the 2008 global economic crisis. His caution was not adopted by Rousseff.

An important player in all this is Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto and his 1989 book, The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in the Third World. It has sparked numerous free-market reforms in his native country and throughout Latin America.

One of his main points was that high taxes and a ridiculous number of regulations made it nearly impossible for the poor and middle class to start small businesses. Its a lesson all countries need to keep learning.
SACRAMENTO  Authorities said Thursday that two people with ties to the Islamic State have been arrested on terrorism-related charges in California and Texas, including a refugee from Syria who is charged with lying to federal investigators about his travels to the civil war in that country.

The arrests feed a national debate over whether the United States is doing enough to screen refugees from Syria for terrorists from that nation.

Court documents say the men wanted to aid terrorist organizations affiliated with the Islamic State group. However, one man is accused of assisting a group that allied with the Islamic State organization only after he had returned to the United States. He earlier said he wouldnt join Islamic State group himself because it was killing fellow Muslims.

A criminal complaint unsealed Thursday accuses that man, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, of Sacramento, of traveling to Syria to fight and lying to investigators about it. U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said in a statement that while Al-Jayab was potentially dangerous, there is no indication that he planned any attacks in the United States.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorneys Office based in Houston, Texas, said late Thursday that Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, of Houston, was indicted Wednesday on three charges that he tried to provide material support to the extremists.

There is no indication from prosecutors that Al Hardan was a threat in the United States, but his arrest sparked immediate criticism of the Obama administrations refugee policies from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

This is precisely why I called for a halt to refugees entering the U.S. from countries substantially controlled by terrorists, Abbott said in a statement. I once again urge the President to halt the resettlement of these refugees in the United States until there is an effective vetting process that will ensure refugees do not compromise the safety of Americans and Texans.

Both men are Palestinians born in Iraq, authorities said.

The complaint in federal court in Sacramento said Al-Jayab came to the United States from Syria as a refugee in October 2012. While living in Arizona and Wisconsin, he communicated on social media about his intent to return to Syria to fight for terrorist organizations and discussed his previous experience fighting against the regime in Syria, starting shortly after he turned 16. When he was interviewed by citizenship officials, he lied about his travels and ties, the complaint alleges.

He left the United States in November 2013, but he came to Sacramento in January 2014, the FBI said in a 20-page affidavit.

Social media and other accounts say that as soon as he arrived in the United States, he began saying he wanted to return to Syria to work, which the FBI says is believed to be a reference to assisting in and supporting violent jihad. Authorities said he eventually fought with various terrorist organizations, including Ansar al-Islam, which in 2014 merged with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after Al-Jayab had returned to the United States.

He criticized Islamic State group in several messages for killing Muslims.

If it werent for the States bloodletting, I would have been the first one to join it, he said, according to the FBI, although he later described fighting alongside the group.

The documents did not indicate how the two men are connected.

However, the affidavit says Al-Jayab communicated with an unnamed individual living in Texas in April 2013 to see if he could receive training in various weapons.

A few days later, he described, during earlier fighting, emptying seven ammunition magazines from his assault rifle during a battle and executing three Syrian government soldiers.

Ben Galloway of the federal defenders office is Al-Jayabs attorney. He did not return telephone and emailed messages Thursday.

The U.S. Attorneys Office in Sacramento said Al-Jayab was arrested Thursday morning in Sacramento.

Federal officials say three separate arrests in Milwaukee on Thursday grew out of the Sacramento investigation but are not related to national security.

The suspects in Wisconsin are relatives of the man arrested in Sacramento, said Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in Sacramento.
UNITED NATIONS  Irans foreign minister says Saudi Arabia has to make a crucial choice  either continue supporting extremists and promoting sectarian hatred or promote good neighborliness and regional stability.

Javad Zarif said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon obtained Friday by The Associated Press that Iran has no desire or interest in escalation of tension in our neighborhood and hopes Saudi Arabia will heed the cause of reason.

The current crisis between the Mideast rivals was sparked by Saudi Arabias execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric, on Jan. 2. Crowds of protesters in Iran then attacked two Saudi diplomatic posts, leading the Saudi government to sever ties with Tehran.

Zarif said that from the first days of President Hassan Rouhanis election in June 2013, both he and the president have sent public and private signals to Saudi Arabia about our readiness to engage in dialogue and accommodation to promote regional stability and combat destabilizing extremist violence.

But Zarif accused the Saudis of trying to prevent or defeat the nuclear deal reached in July with six world powers, of producing and supporting extremists who have carried out acts of terror and of waging a senseless war in Yemen.

Zarif also accused Saudi authorities of engaging in numerous direct and at times lethal provocations against Iran.

He said Saudi bombers hit Iranian diplomatic facilities in Yemen several times, killing two local service personnel, injuring a number of Yemeni guards and inflicting damage to the buildings. He said the attacks occurred on April 24 and Sept. 18 last year and most recently on Thursday.

Zarif did not specify on which dates the killings and injuries took place. An Associated Press reporter who reached the Iranian Embassy in Sanaa on Thursday just after the government announcement that it had been hit saw no damage to the building.

Zarif also accused the Saudis of mistreating Iraqi pilgrims which has fueled public outrage in Iran, and appointing preachers who have made a routine practice of hate speech not only against Iran but against all Shiite Muslims.

He said the Saudis also engaged in economic warfare by trying to strangle Irans economy with drastic reductions in the price of oil, the countrys main export.

Despite these provocations, Zarif said Iran has refused to retaliate or even downgrade diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.

Regarding the recent attacks on the Saudi diplomatic missions, he said, the government unequivocally condemned the violence and took immediate steps to protect the buildings and diplomats, and expressed its determination to bring the perpetrators to justice and launched an investigation.

Zarif urged a de-escalation of tensions, saying, we all need to be united in the face of continued threats posed by extremists against all of us.
Martin Shkreli put up his $45 million E-Trade account to secure $5 million bail after federal authorities arrested him on fraud charges last month.

The youthful founder of hedge funds and pharmaceutical companies attracted national attention in September for increasing the price of a life-saving drug more than 5,000 percent. Prosecutors say he lied to investors and used money from a company he ran to cover losses at his funds. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bond.

A court filing offers some of the clearest evidence to date of the wealth Shkreli amassed as a health care entrepreneur and investor. Under the terms of the security arrangement, he cant sell or transfer any of the assets in the account, which have a current value of $45 million, according to the filing.

E-Trade was directed to notify prosecutors if the value of the account fell below $5 million.

Stocks used as security for bail often exceed the bond amount to account for market volatility, which is less of a concern for other assets that might be pledged such as real estate, said veteran defense lawyer Sally Butler, who is not involved in the case.

Real property also has other characteristics that can make it more reliable than securities, she said, in an e-mail.It cant be moved, for example.

A lawyer for Shkreli, Marcus Asner, had no immediate comment on the document.

A frequent presence on social media and known to spend hours live-streaming himself on the Internet, Shkreli, 32, drew even more attention for buying a one-of-a-kind album by the Wu- Tang Clan and saying he had no immediate plans to play it.

Speculation abounded at the time of his arrest over whether the album could be seized as part of the case, until the FBI said it hadnt seized the record.

While prosecutors accuse him of lying to investors in his hedge funds and deceiving officials at Retrophin Inc., a biopharmaceutical company he founded, Shkreli has said the drug- price increase, which isnt part of the federal case, spurred the government to target him.

Ousted by Retrophin in 2014, Shkreli stepped down as chief executive officer from another company he founded, Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, after his arrest. Another company, KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc., fired him as CEO after the arrest and sought bankruptcy protection in late December. Investors have sued that company to recover $5.4 million.

This week, the Washington Post published an account by actress Jacklyn Collier of a night out she had with Shkreli shortly after the controversy erupted over the drug-price increase.

Collier wrote that the two met using the dating app Tinder, and went to Brushstroke, a Japanese restaurant in Manhattan, where Shkreli ordered a $120 cup of tea. When he asked if she wanted one, Collier said she declined.

I thought about making a price-gouging joke, but couldnt think fast enough, she wrote.

Collier said she was outraged about the price increase of Daraprim, a drug used to treat a parasitic infection that can be deadly to unborn babies and AIDS or cancer patients. But Shkreli, who discussed his family and philanthropy interests, was a lot more interesting and complex than I would have imagined.

Shkreli, once called a boy genius, grew up in working- class Brooklyn and is the son of Albanian and Croatian immigrants who worked as janitors. More recently, he has come to be labeled in the media by other monikers, including a poster boy for greed, pharma bro and the most hated man in America.
Re: Read the fine print [Letters, Dec. 6]: Chuck Trout in his recent letter raised the question: How much will my taxes go up if I install solar on my house? In most cases, the answer is zero. Ever since 1980, solar installations providing electricity or domestic hot water have been excluded from property tax increases. Solar pool heating systems are not excluded. This tax code provision was recently extended through 2024 by S.871 (Chapter 41, 6/20/2014).

So not only will your property taxes not go up, but the value of your home will increase overnight, perhaps by more than you paid for the solar. You will be supporting local jobs (55,000 in California as of the end of 2014) and helping to reduce the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Ideally we should eliminate all government subsidies, but only after the fossil-fuel industry pays for the social cost associated with the burning of fossil fuels, currently borne by American households.

Chris Smith

Trabuco Canyon

VP Engineering, PFMG Solar

Unworthy of praise

I understand the concern with the omnibus spending package that was expressed in your editorial [Omnibus silver linings, Rohrabacher among GOPs no votes, Opinion, Jan. 1] and by letter-writer Nick Hayman [Still the one, Letters, Jan. 1]; however, I dont understand their praise for Rep. Rohrabacher.

Evidently, Rohrabacher has no influence over his congressional colleagues or he didnt even try to convince them to write and approve a better spending package. This poor performance is just a continuation of his ineffective 26 years in congress. Over this period of time, according to Congress.gov, he has sponsored 305 pieces of legislation, but he has only gotten 3 of them to become law.

Maybe the 2016 election will give Orange Countys 48th Congressional District the improved influence and representation that it deserves.

Charles Mooney

Costa Mesa
SANTA ANA  A 65-year-old woman was identified Friday as the pedestrian who was struck and killed while crossing a street two days earlier.

Mui La, of Santa Ana, was walking around 5:30 p.m. when she was crossing the street in an unmarked crosswalk in the 4000 block of West McFadden Avenue.

A driver headed eastbound struck La, sending her to the hospital where she later died from her injuries.

Officials said the driver, who they did not name, stayed to talk to police and did not appear intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or aduranty@ocregister.com
Four Orange County teachers are among a group of educators going before the United States Supreme Court on Monday to argue that laws requiring public-sector employees help pay for collective bargaining, even if they are not union members, are unconstitutional.

The case  Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association  hinges on whether a California fair share law, which forces non-union employees to pay a portion of dues to fund labor negotiations, violates the free-speech rights of teachers who may disagree with unions on collective bargaining issues.

A key point in the oral arguments, both sides said in press conferences Thursday, is whether collective bargaining is inherently political, which would make union dues a form of political speech. If so, the Supreme Court could rule that the First Amendment prohibits states from compelling teachers to pay.

Every individual has the right to choose the organization that advocates on their behalf, said Rebecca Friedrichs, a 27-year teacher with the Savanna School District, which serves portions of northwest Orange County. I want the right for me and for everyone else to choose for ourselves.

Opponents of Friedrichs, however, say a ruling in her favor would have the opposite effect.

This is really about weakening my voice as a teacher, said Eric Heins, a Bay Area teacher and California Teachers Association president. It would weaken our voice and be bad for California.

Non-union members do not have to pay dues that go toward political activities such as lobbying or influencing education policy because of a 1977 Supreme Court ruling. But in that case, the court also said states may require teachers to help fund collective bargaining because unions must negotiate on behalf of all teachers, not just those who are union members.

Friedrichs and her fellow plaintiffs  including Santa Ana Unified teacher Peggy Searcy, Orange Unified teacher Jelena Figueroa and Saddleback Valley Unified teacher Scott Wilford  are looking to overturn the latter portion of the 1977 case.

The case would not affect private-sector unions.

Officials for the Center for Individual Rights, a nonprofit law firm representing Friedrichs, say doing away with the fair share requirement would force unions to be more attentive to the needs of all teachers because they would have to persuade nonmembers to pay dues.

(The case) does not challenge public unions or their right to collectively bargain, said Terry Pell, the centers president. In recognizing free-speech rights, our hope is that unions will become more accountable to its members.

But representatives for the California union say freeing teachers from paying their fair share of dues would drastically reduce the financial resources of public-sector unions and potentially cripple their ability to adequately advocate for those they represent.

Unions will still have to represent everyone fairly, said Laura Juran, the unions lawyer, but do it with fewer resources.

Contact the writer: 714-704-3707 or chaire@ocregister.com
SANTA ANA  A 23-year-old woman was apparently stabbed by her estranged husband Thursday after they argued following her filing for divorce.

Santa Ana police were called around 3 p.m. by medical staff after the woman arrived at a hospital for wounds in her stomach, police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

The woman did not call officers at the time of the stabbing, so its unknown when the original assault occurred, but she later told police that her estranged husband assaulted her after they argued about her filing for divorce.

After the assault, the man apparently called his mother to say he was taking the couples 6-year-old son to Mexico, Bertagna said.

Both parents have custody of the child, so the incident is not being considered by police as a child abduction.

Officials said the woman had minor injuries and will survive; they had not located her husband or son as of Friday morning.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or aduranty@ocregister.com
A funny thing happened at the rodeo. I saw the power of prayer.

The National Finals Rodeo (NFR) last December in Las Vegas came at the end of a tumultuous year of savage terrorism around the world and in our own front yard. The news media has been awash with violence. The deliverers of the death and chaos claim that their god, Mohammad, and their bible the Quran, commands Muslims to kill the infidels and thus are justified in doing it.

Obviously, most Muslims dont translate it that way, nor do the victims of what is now known as radical Islam. Yet the shootings, bombings and murders continue unabated.

Americans are walkin circles on the sidewalk waiting for someone in our government to give us marching orders, some direction to protect ourselves, someone willing to take a stand. Washington DC is dizzy. Protesters would have the 1st Amendment selectively eliminated so only they can talk. And amidst all this, our leaders threaten us with politically correct no, nos that turn us into liars, deceivers and fools.

What is missing in this picture?

Our government has forsaken the strongest force that unites us  God. It is Christians the terrorists fear the most. Terrorists watch with glee as America continues to desert the bedrock of our country. Christianity is the backbone of our Constitution, our laws, our moral compass and our daily lives. ISIS knows it and is sworn to wipe us out.

The NFR rodeo is a sport borne, supported and loved by primarily rural people. It is the superbowl of rodeos. 77% of Americans are Christians, three out of four. The belief in God is obvious at the performances. The rodeo begins with a prayer. How many other sporting events from Little League to the World Series begin with a prayer? How many grade school days start with a prayer? How many political speeches begin with a prayer?

Muslims pray publicly 5 times a day. Are Muslims forced to join Christians in prayer? No. This is a free country. But it is a Christian country. The final night, none other than the winningest professional rodeo cowboy in the world, reining All Around Champion Trevor Brazile, in front of 15,000 plus television, spoke for most of us during his acceptance speech. (I paraphrase) He gave thanks to God, said American was built on Christian faith, that we can be merciful and forgiving to others but that does not include forsaking our beliefs just because it offends somebody.

In times of war our armed forces are visible. At the rodeo they are recognized for their service. 15,000 flags were passed out. When Lee Greenwood sings God Bless the USA the roof comes off the Thomas & Mack Arena  you can hear it as far away as Tulsa!

Iran and Saudi Arabia are described as Muslim countries. In our world the United States is described as a Christian country. In our world God and Country are inseparable  as are America and Christianity.

It is common in rodeo for a rider or roper to genuflect or point upward after his run  do a Tebow, I guess. We dont mock him  we know who he is talkin to.
SANTA ANA  A Costa Mesa man convicted of killing two friends for money was influenced by his ex-fiancee, who also had an alleged role in the crimes, his defense attorney argued Thursday.

An Orange County Superior Court jury on Dec. 16 convicted Daniel Wozniak of killing his neighbor, Samuel Herr, 26, and Herrs friend, 23-year-old Juri Julie Kibuishi in May 2010.

The same jury will now decide whether the 31-year-old community theater actor should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.

Wozniaks defense attorneys, assistant public defenders Scott Sanders and Tracy LeSage, have largely focused on the alleged role of his ex-fiancee Rachel Buffett in the killings. Buffett, an actress and former Disneyland princess, has pleaded not guilty to being an accessory after the fact for allegedly lying to Costa Mesa police detectives.

In closing arguments in the penalty phase of Wozniaks trial on Thursday, Sanders said Buffetts character and alleged involvement can provide a deeper insight into the circumstances. Sanders urged jurors to consider all the factors when deciding whether Wozniak should live or die.

The circumstances of the case include who youre with and what these effects are on your life, Sanders said. Think about whos in the household and who hes marrying.

Prosecutors said Wozniak knew that Herr, an Army veteran, had earned more than $60,000 in combat pay from his service in Afghanistan.

Broke with no job, Wozniak was facing eviction from his Costa Mesa apartment and had no money to pay for his upcoming wedding when he plotted to kill Herr and drain his bank account through $400 ATM withdrawals.

On May 21, 2010, Wozniak lured Herr to the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos claiming he needed help moving boxes, and then shot and killed him. He returned the next day and cut off Herrs head, hand and forearm and tossed the body parts in Long Beachs El Dorado Park.

That evening, Wozniak took the stage as the lead in the musical Nine at the Hunger Artists Theatre Company in Fullerton.

In an attempt to throw police off his trail, Wozniak used Herrs cellphone to lure Kibuishi to Herrs apartment. He then shot and killed her and staged the crime scene to make it look like Herr had killed Kibuishi in a jealous rage, prosecutors said.

Police arrested Wozniak at his bachelor party at a sushi restaurant in Huntington Beach, two days before his wedding. He later confessed to the killings in videotaped interviews with Costa Mesa Police detectives that were played for the jury.

In his closing argument on Thursday, Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy said Wozniak killed two innocent people so he could pay for a wedding with 100 guests and then go on a lavish honeymoon.

This is the most base, vile motive of all, Murphy said. Its money. And in our case it gets even worse because the next question is, what does he need the money for?

In a scheme that was as cold as cold gets, Herr was shot twice in the head as he cried for help, while Kibuishi was killed simply as a decoy for police, Murphy said. And as their families suffered, Wozniak carried on with his wedding plans and performed on stage in musicals, the prosecutor said.

The defense is focused on Buffett because they need a villain, Murphy said, but her alleged involvement does not mitigate Wozniaks role in the crimes.

You dont get to murder people because you cant say no to your girlfriend, Murphy said.

Sanders, however, said Buffett should be a considering factor for jurors. In the trial, two Costa Mesa police detectives both testified that they believed she played a larger role in the crimes, but they said they ultimately did not have enough evidence to bring more charges.

The defense presented four witnesses in the trial, including Buffetts former friend and an ex-boyfriend who both testified that they believed she was manipulative and controlling.

The defense is expected to finish its closing argument Monday in the courtroom of Judge John Conley.

Contact the writer: kpuente@ocregister.com, 714-834-3773
Aleksandar Pirivatric, a 50-year-old Serbian dentist, appeared in the city of Belgrade last Saturday, after spending the last 15 years concealed deep in the forest of Krusna Gora, in the Czech Republic.

Aleksandar used to be a renowned oral surgeon in the Czech city of Teplice, but the Serb couldnt legally reside in either country because he had no documents. So at one point, he ended his practice and took to the forest for nearly a decade and a half, visiting the nearby city from time to time, for supplies. His bizarre story was finally discovered by Peter Silva, a Czech professor who befriended him after noticing his regular presence on the outskirts of Teplice.

Every day in Teplice I was seeing a man with a backpack on his back, in a thin dressing, hurriedly walking, Silva told the media. When I stopped him, he spoke perfect Czech, and then he said that he was a Serb. He did not look like an ordinary homeless person  he sounded very knowledgeable. Then I realised that he was a famous dentist, oral surgeon.

Wanting to help Aleksander, Silva started visiting his home deep in the forest bringing him food for over a year. He slowly learned that the Serb had been living in a partly demolished structure, without water, electricity, or a roof over his head. He also came to know the whole story  Aleksandar had moved from Serbia to the Czech Republic along with his mother when he was nine years old. He finished school in Prague and later studied Dental Medicine in college.

After graduating, Aleksandar worked as a dentist at Motol University Hospital in Prague, but when he was transferred to Teplice, his life changed forever. His mother died, he lost his job soon after, and because he wasnt a Czech citizen, he was asked to vacate the state-owned apartment. He became homeless and was forced into the forest in order to continue living in the country undetected.

Meanwhile, Aleksandars half-sister from his fathers side, Slobodanka Pirivatric, was trying to get him declared dead in Serbia, to lay claim to their dead fathers property. Fortunately, her request was denied, so when Silva sent an email to the Serbian embassy requesting help in Aleksandars case, they were able to help immediately.

After years of hardship and struggle, Aleksandar finally reached Belgrade last Saturday. It was an emotional moment for him and Silva, and for the thousands who were following his story. The trip was great, Silva said. Aleksandar has been sitting quietly and looking through a window. I think he felt quite serene. Leaving the forest was not easy for him. There were some emotions, but now everything is fine.

Speaking to the media, Aleksandar said: I have been living in the woods for a long time. During the day I would walk because there are soldiers here during the day and I did not want them to see me. I did not know how they would react. So every day I walked, up to 20 kilometers. I ate food from containers, whatever I found, and what people gave me.

He said goodbye to that place and now he is here, Silva added. It will not be easy. I think that he will have to learn again how to use some everyday things, like washing machine or a stove. This is still a big shock for him and it will take a lot of time for him to accustom to this.

Aleksandar has now found a place to live in Belgrade, and relinquished his stake on his fathers property, allowing his half-sister to use it as she wishes. Hes just grateful for all the help hes received so far.

I am not sure whether I could go back to being a dentist, he said. If there is a possibility, I could start working again. I owe a lot to Peter and the embassy of Serbia who have helped me to get all of this, to come back to Belgrade. Also, I owe a lot to the people who helped me get this apartment. It is crucial for me not to disappoint them and to get myself on track.

Aleksandars story reminds us of Carlos Sanchez Ortiz de Salazar, a Spanish doctor who went missing nearly two decades ago after he fell into a deep depression. His family searched for him far and wide, and he was finally presumed dead after 14 long years. But local villagers found him living in a deep forest in Tuscany in 2015. He told them that hed made the forest his home because he didnt want to live among people anymore. Soon after, he went missing again.

Source, Photos: Telegraf.rs
If youve always wanted to grow plants but arent blessed with a green thumb, the Parrot Pot is just the thing for you. Its a smart pot that pretty much grows plants itself, keeping them alive no matter how badly you mess up.

Priced at $99, the Parrot Pot has sensors that measure light, moisture, temperature, and the level of fertilizer, ensuring that the plant always gets what it needs. If it finds that more light, water, or fertilizer is required, it sends the user alerts through a smartphone app called Flower Power. Whats more, it can actually water your plants for you using a pre-filled water tanks.

The battery-powered pot is equipped to handle extreme water shortages  so whether youre traveling, or you simply forget to water your plants, theyll still survive. It can hold over two liters of water at any given time, which is a weeks requirement for most plants. It can also switch to water-saving mode, in which the plants are kept alive for three to four weeks without watering.



Its equipped with a PH sensor, a temperature sensor, a light sensor and a moisture sensor, said Parrot Pot designer Vincent Bihler. All of this combined allows the pot to know exactly how to care for the plant. If it needs water, the pot will water the plant by itself. It runs on four AA batteries and it runs for almost one year. The pot is an improvement over Flower Power, a device that can be connected to any pot to get similar updates on a corresponding app.

Parrot, a Paris-based company, is expected to release the Parrot Pot globally in April, along with the Flower Power app. It will come loaded with a catalogue of 7,000 supported plants  herbs, flowers, and teas  to choose from. The pot can supposedly grow cannabis as well. Interested?

Photos: Parrot

via Daily Mail
Iconic brand Radio Flyer, Inc. has named Current its PR agency of record.

Chicago-based Radio Flyer, best known for childhood mainstay product Little Red Wagon, also manufactures scooters, tricycles and bicycles. The famous toy company, which was founded in 1917, marks its centennial anniversary next year.

Current will execute communications programs for Radio Flyer, focusing on new product launches, brand awareness and ongoing media relations work. The account will be managed out of the Interpublic units Chicago office, under the leadership of executive VP Amy Colton.

Brands dont get more iconic than Radio Flyer  everyone has a personal wagon story, Current president Virginia Devlin said in a statement. "Were looking forward to celebrating those memories while also showing how Radio Flyer plans to stay relevant and exciting for families for decades to come.



Current, which was founded in 2006 and holds additional offices in New York, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco, specializes in consumer products, food and beverage, home, travel and wellness.
The OECD Observer online archive takes you on a journey through half a century of public policy and world progress.

Since November 1962, the OECDs experts and leading guests offer insights on the questions facing our member countries with concise and authoritative analysis, and provide our audiences with an excellent opportunity to understand policy debates and consider solutions.

Each edition of the OECD Observer reports on a core theme of the OECDs on-going work, from economics and society through governance, finance, and the environment, and articles are bolstered by tables and graphs.
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Concert industry publication Pollstar identified the worlds top music venues and tours in 2015, and CenturyLink Center Omaha and Pinnacle Bank Arena both appeared on the lists.

CenturyLink Center Omaha ranked in the top 100 arena venues worldwide with 225,606 tickets sold, placing the venue at No. 71. The arena rose seven spots from 2014s ranking.

The arena also had two of the largest grossing concerts of the year. Garth Brooks six-night stand in May was the No. 36 highest grossing concert, pulling in more than $6.7 million in ticket sales. (It was the second highest gross of Brooks entire 2015 tour.) More than 101,000 tickets were sold, nearly half of all of CenturyLinks concert tickets for the year.

Taylor Swifts two-night show in October ranked No. 142 with $3.1 million and 29,622 tickets.

Pinnacle Bank Arena came in at 103,469 ticket sold and No. 123 in the top 200. Thats down from No. 111 in 2014.

Among the worlds top theater venues, the Orpheum Theater ranked No. 53 with 127,900 tickets sold, Lincolns Lied center ranked No. 91 with 72,132 tickets sold, and the Holland Performing Arts Centers Peter Kiewit Concert Hall came in at No. 129 with 45,530 tickets sold.

Stir Concert Cove at Harrahs Casino ranked No. 69 among the worlds top 100 amphitheater venues.
The Revenant (aka What Horror Can We Inflict Upon Leonardo DiCaprios Body Next?) was a hard movie to make, and, by God, everyone involved would like you to know that.

Much of the fuel driving the Oscar narrative of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritus follow-up to Birdman is how grueling a shoot the film was for all involved: subzero temps, dangerous conditions, mutinous crew members. The film has one of those into-the-heart-of-darkness origin stories that mark such mad efforts as Apocalypse Now.

This crazed ambition is apparent in every frame of The Revenant, as pungent as the films bevy of bloody carcasses and festering wounds, which get enough screen time to merit their own cast credits.

The Revenants premise might be a simple revenge tale spread too thin, and its occasional philosophizing might be laughably dopey. But in the face of such formidable filmmaking, big flaws feel like minor concerns. This is just too much of a towering technical achievement to dismiss.

Equally undismissable is DiCaprio, who will probably, finally and deservedly win an Oscar for this punishing role. Playing real-life frontiersman Hugh Glass, the heartthrob cakes himself in dirt, beard and fresh scars, looking for the bulk of The Revenant like a gnawed-on chicken drumstick that fell under the fridge a few months ago.

Glass and his son, Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), are the guides of a fur trading expedition in the 1820s American West. The expedition is tenuously led by Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson), whose authority is frequently undermined by the grotesque John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy)  Hardy is even more slopped up than DiCaprio, his character having previously survived a scalping, the scar of which he only sometimes hides under a rancid bandanna.

After the hunting party is attacked by Arikara Indians, the survivors begin the long trudge back to civilization. But theres a hitch when Glass stumbles upon a couple of grizzly bear cubs and gets mauled by their mother. (The Arikara ambush and the bear attack are told in long, continuous shots, and each big moment is a testament to the level of skill in cinematography, special effects, action choreography and just sheer bloody elbow grease that went into this movie.)

Realizing that they cant take the near-death Glass with them, the Captain assigns Fitzgerald, Hawk and another young man (Will Poulter) to take care of him until the expedition can return with help.

Once his boss leaves, Fitzgerald promptly buries Glass alive  but not before killing his son.

The rest of the film is a hate-fueled Glass wiggling out of that hole and then crawling, walking and finally horseback-riding his way across the wilderness to get his revenge. Classic Western scenario. If told a bit strangely.

Hardy is the source of a lot of weirdness and what little fun the movie offers. His Fitzgerald is just a real S.O.B., but one with a surprisingly well-articulated worldview: There is no right. There is no wrong. There is only the next meal, which I will be eating at any cost.

Hardys God is a squirrel monologue is one of the best scenes in a movie that isnt especially strong in the words department  Inarritu wrote the screenplay with Mark L. Smith from the novel by Michael Punke.

For his part, DiCaprio has mercifully little dialogue, especially after a bear bites through his neck. He communicates through grunts, grimaces and violence.

His road to vengeance has a lot of detours, giving DiCaprio a lot of different gross things to do. He gets into a dust-up with French fur traders, nearly drowns in a freezing river, runs off a cliff, cauterizes a wound with gunpowder, cuts off a dudes fingers, eats a raw bison liver, sleeps naked in the gutted carcass of freshly dead animal. (God bless this movie and The Hateful Eight for giving this genteel awards season a little stomach-churning ultraviolence. Bravo.)

The staggering amount of pain and setback the movie throws at Leo does grow monotonous after a while. The suspense of the movie becomes, Good lord, what are they going to do to him next?

I half expected Inarritu to drop an ACME anvil on the poor movie stars head at some point. It might not have been period-appropriate, but it would have fit the movies agenda splendidly.

Inarritu interrupts the brutality with wispy dream sequences and Malickian voiceovers from Glass dead Native American wife. The director strains for spiritual significance, but The Revenants attempts at profundity are just as showily empty as those in Birdman.

And yet. And. Yet.

The grand visuals and nutso ambition overcome all obstacles.

Two-time Oscar-winner Emmanuel Lubezkis cinematography is the linchpin of The Revenant, the ace that turns a brutal revenge movie into an epic poem. He contrasts the still beauty of nature with the destructive carnage of man, and he expresses a key theme  that civilization and nature cannot be reconciled peacefully  better than mere words ever could.

The takeaway? Never use two words when one bite into a raw bison liver will do.

THE REVENANT

Quality: 3 (out of four)

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Rating: R for strong frontier combat and violence including gory images, a sexual assault, language and brief nudity

Running time: 2 hours, 36 minutes

Theaters: Aksarben, Alamo Drafthouse, Bluffs 17, Majestic, Midtown, Oakview, Regal, Twin Creek, Village Pointe, Westroads
MITCHELLVILLE, Iowa (AP)  A former Iowa mayor who resigned after accusations of inappropriate conduct with children now faces rape charges in Kansas City, Kansas.

The Des Moines Register reports that Jeremy Filbert faces two counts of rape with a victim younger than 14 years old and two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy with a victim younger than 14 years old. Court records show he was arrested in October.

Filbert was accused of inappropriate conduct with children in June 2014 before he resigned as the mayor of Mitchellville last April.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation found that those allegations were not substantiated. Criminal charges werent filed in the Iowa case.

A preliminary hearing on the new charges is scheduled in Kansas City on Jan. 15. It wasnt immediately clear if Filbert had a lawyer.
LINCOLN  A lawyer for two prison inmates released early as part of a series of sentence miscalculations by the state argued Friday that the pair was legally freed and shouldnt have been returned to prison.

Jerry Soucie, who represents inmates Thomas Evans and Abdul Al-Ameen, told the Nebraska Supreme Court that the pair had been issued valid certificates of discharge from prison, and at that point the state had legally waived its jurisdiction over them.

The state had no right, Soucie argued, to seize the two men and return them to prison after discovering that they had been released early.

It would be different, he said, if it was a case of some clerk who screwed up, but the sentencing policies being used by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, though legally incorrect, had been in place since the 1990s.

George Love, an assistant Nebraska attorney general, arguing the case for the state, disagreed.

Love said Corrections was enforcing a legal sentence imposed by the court by requiring the inmates to return to prison and finish out their terms.

I think the Department of Corrections found out, oops, we did this wrong, and attempted to impose the original order of the court, he told the court.

Fridays oral arguments represented the second time that the State Supreme Court has been presented with a case involving the early release scandal, which was uncovered by The World-Herald in 2014.

In October, the court rejected the appeals of two other inmates and ruled that the state had the right to round up prisoners and make them serve their remaining time.

But the states highest court ruled that inmates could challenge the roundups via a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that they had been illegally imprisoned by the state. Thats the legal argument being employed by Soucie in the Evans and Al-Ameen case.

Lancaster County District Judge John Colborn dismissed the pairs case, but Soucie asked the high court Friday to return the case to the lower court so he could argue that Evans and Al-Ameen had been illegally re-imprisoned.

Love, the states attorney, said he had not read the October ruling, but that returning the case was unnecessary because Corrections was only working to complete a legally imposed sentence.

Evans, who was sentenced in 2004 to serve 10 to 15 years for burglary and for being a habitual criminal, is on parole release, according to the Corrections website. He is scheduled to complete his sentence on May 19.

Al-Ameen was sentenced in 2004 to 10 to 15 years in prison for possession of a firearm by a felon and being a habitual criminal. He is projected to complete his sentence on Feb. 15, according to the website.

Soucie said his clients may be freed before their legal case is completed, but that it was still important to rule on their arguments to clarify whether Corrections certificate of discharge is a lawful order.

The inmates in the October case, Bruce Caton and Kena Jackson, have since been put on parole after being mistakenly released five years and 2 years early, respectively.

Contact the writer: 402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com
I believe we deserve to have readily available, unbiased facts from our news sources to help us make important choices. Id like to address a few issues, if I may; I believe too many people are basing their stance on the most recent BLM attempt to take a ranchers cattle in southern Nevada on sound bites theyve been fed for years by agencies well schooled in media manipulation.

I wont even go into the reasons the government claims to own 80-plus percent of the land mass within the State of Nevada. I will say Ive studied the reasons and Im sure that no one involved in the decisions that were made to fix the problems they created by rushing us into statehood long before we were anywhere ready, ever thought it would possibly come to this.

It was not until the mid 30s the government came to try to straighten out the mess they created. They formed and initiated the Taylor Grazing Act in an attempt to keep free grazers (cattle grazers with no private land ) from running on the range an established rancher had developed and improved water systems for the livestock and lived on property they owned privately. Long story short, they drew up boundaries, had the ranchers fence them, and issued grazing rights. These rights were then taxed as real property. Death taxes were imposed and there was no mention of a grazing privilege. Ranches sold at comparable prices (per head of cattle it would run ) as in states where the ranches were on private land. That was largely due to the rights that went with the ranch. Nevada ranchers buy the ranch and still pay rent. Welfare rancher is not even close to the case.

As a side note, other states admitted into the Union recognized private ownership before statehood as binding. It wasnt until the 1970s we started hearing the term public lands. They are federal or government lands. Grazing rights started to be referred to as grazing  privileges without dropping the taxes. You must admit both had a purpose. One to soften the sound, one to imply. Be assured, its only public land when they want our tax money or, until they decide to lock us out for their unknown agenda.

On to Southern Nevada,where a rancher was told hed have to reduce his herd (livelihood) by two-thirds, with no compensation. The reason being there were endangered species on that ground his family has been on over a century and his cattle might start stepping on them. Think about that, it is a poor excuse for anyone. They could not claim his range had been over-grazed because it hadnt. Now he gets a bill for grazing cattle on land they said he couldnt. This from the same people that are doing their best to put him out of business for an unknown reason. Isnt that quite a bit like feeding the fire trying to consume you?

Lets not even finish that, instead, lets look at the fines they imposed. With the outrageous interest fees, late charges, etc. (not unlike the IRS) they figure he owes them around $1.3 million. They wanted him to cut his herd by around two-thirds. Now lets be real conservative and do the math. If he were to have 900 cows then two-thirds would be 600.

600 cows x 80 percent calf crop = 480 calves

Weaning wt. 400 lbs. x 480 calves = 192,000 lbs.

Price $0.65 per lbs. x 192,000 lbs. = $124,800 per year

$124,800 x 10 = $1,248,000 per decade loss

Thats with no interest and figuring very conservatively.

The expenses on the ranch wouldnt decrease that much, he would definitely go broke. His generational ranch would be worth nothing on the market if it could no longer eek a living for a prospective buyer that wanted to ranch. The buyer would have to have other plans for the remote desert land.

He watched as rancher after neighbor rancher was run out of business by the same agency, until after out of fifty-some ranches in his county, he was the last standing. Lifetimes of work and good stewardship were taken on the whim of an agency with an undisclosed agenda. He feels to the bone there is something fishy going on and just wants his day in a court that is not run by the same folks who made the charges, judged the case in their favor, and are trying to ruin him. So, there is a disputed bill. We do not put people in jail for bills due in the United States unless the Feds say you owe them (IRS) but the United States Government will bring in an army of federal agents, armed, threatening theyd shoot citizens if they interfere.

His cattle, which are his livelihood, are essentially a perishable commodity, labor intensive, and expensive to maintain properly, let alone humanely, and are now being mishandled. The Feds shot bulls, orphaned calves and they completely ruined water storage tanks and troughs which also sustain wildlife of all sorts.

This is our BLM? The Feds are not equipped to handle this type of enterprise, but still they decide to gather and sell the ranchers cattle to satisfy his alleged debt. They said they budgeted $6 million to do this operation, which involved military-type tactics to collect the disputed bill of $1.3 million. Do the math. If they think spending $6 million to reap more than a 70 percent loss is a viable way to spend our tax money, as a land management agency, against a person with no history of trouble of any kind and presents a danger to no one, then we are in real trouble. Its not funny that they have that kind of money to put a rancher off the land for their unknown agenda, but not enough to do their job, take care of starving feral horses, or, pray tell, manage the land.

Now, lets address them selling said cattle. Remember the cattle rustlers in the movies? They would change the brands on the cattle when they stole them because, even back then they would have to prove ownership before they could sell them for the loot. Cattlemen needed a third party to check that the seller of the animal was indeed the owner. So as beef raisers, ranchers pay the state fees to furnish that third party. These people are known as brand inspectors. Their sole purpose is to protect the cattle rancher, horse owner, sheep man (you get the idea ) from their animals being transported across lines or sold without owners consent. The county sheriff is obligated, no, sworn to protect the people in his county from theft, violence, or threat of. Until the Feds can produce a bill of sale with both the owners and the brand inspectors signatures, a county sheriff is bound by duty to protect the owners rights in his county. Both of these departments have let these safeguards be breached by allowing these takings because the Feds told them to! Just who do they work for?

The sound bites weve been fed lately about that rancher making racist remarks made me quite upset with him until I heard it in its full content (readily available on YouTube). They took their sound bite out of context and turned him into a monster. They put an obvious lie out and let a press, too lazy to look in to check its validity, spread the liable for them.

I wish you folks would have looked into and taken a stance when the Feds stole everything from Wayne Hage. He spent the rest of his life fighting the machine with his very limited resources against unlimited tax money and stall tactics only the guilty would implement. He died before he could see that his case won. He didnt get to watch as the BLM was reprimanded for underhanded dealings and lies and fined a large sum of our taxes which they have yet to pay to their victims. Absolutely nothing from their pocket, no firings and no one held accountable for their unlawful acts.

I wish you were there when they stole Raymond Yowells and the Dan sisters livelihoods with lies for that unknown agenda. Havent we done enough to the native peoples? Since the 1980s, largely due to the BLMs unknown agendas, Nevada is running but one-third the number of cows it did then. The range is in worse condition than it was then, and the feral horse problem has been mismanaged into a nightmare. The number of BLM employees has become staggering with no accountability. We would be fired in a hurry if we were as poor at our jobs.

In short, are we to allow this? How could we side with an agency so inept and corrupt? They need firing, not our backing. I, for one, dont want to be on the wrong side of history on this one. Wed all like to be able to give our government the benefit of the doubt, but when did they last earn that from us? Name one federal agency you enjoy having to deal with, or believe is doing their job well. Look at our government holding people prisoners for years without charging them with a crime. Look at what weve learned of their spying. Where are the weapons of mass destruction they assured us we had to start wars for? At what point do we say enough? How long do we sit back and let them build precedence on their taking of property from private citizens?

I hate the situation, but thugs seldom give you a choice. I am not one for conspiracy theories, but Ill bet we find some pretty tricky politics, greed and law-breaking on the part of the instigators when the dust settles on this one.
Open up grand jury proceedings

I agree with Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine and State Senator Ernie Chambers position of making grand jury proceedings public (2 big names back opening grand juries to public eye, Jan. 6 World-Herald). As a deputy Douglas County attorney from 1972 to 1976, I witnessed many grand juries and wished that their proceedings could be made public.

University of Nebraska at Omaha criminal justice professor emeritus Samuel Walker has a good handle on the matter and what needs to change. Lets catch up to the 21st century.

Roger Holthaus, Omaha

Taxpayers are raising too many kids

I am so tired of hearing some men argue that having to pay child support isnt fair. The pittance that they have to pay toward the care of their children is a drop in the bucket.

Often, this child has to be supported by taxpayers  Medicaid, housing assistance, SNAP, free lunch programs, the list goes on and on.

Do a little research and you will get a real look at how much each and every one of those children is costing taxpayers. Then tell me who should be whining about it not being fair.

Kim Christensen, Omaha

Obama too concerned with his legacy

President Obama should ask the victims and their grieving families of the massacre in San Bernardino if climate change is the greatest threat to our country. He might discover that the concerns of many in our country dont match his.

Arrogance, denial and indifference to foreign and military affairs are dangerous traits for a president  especially one facing one of the most dangerous situation since 9/11.

A president is elected to defend our country in both war and peace, and this looks a lot like war to me. Instead of pushing an agenda meant to cement his personal legacy, Obama needs to lead us in defeating an evil that is bent on world domination.

Many people in this country dont care about our presidents personal legacy. What they do care about is having a country where our children and grandchildren can live and grow up without fear of terrorism.

Rich Brown, Omaha

Bergdahl questions need answers

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is back in the news again (Why Bergdahl faces life imprisonment, Dec. 20 World-Herald). So many questions keep emerging with this case.

For example, why hasnt President Barack Obama invited to the White House the parents of the six soldiers who were killed when Bergdahl first when missing after leaving his post? After all, on May 31, 2014, Obama gave Bergdahls parents national recognition in a Rose Garden photo op. National Security Adviser Susan Rice publicly proclaimed that Bergdahl served with honor and distinction. Why did she come up with that nonsense?

It seems only fair and appropriate that the president publicly bestow the same honor, recognition and respect to the parents of those soldiers who died looking for Bergdahl as he did with Bergdahls parents. He should state those six soldiers served with honor and distinction.

What is even more disturbing is that Obama released five vicious Taliban killers in exchange for Bergdahl. How is this justifiable?

Bob Abel, Omaha

Aiding those who dont need it

Let me get this straight: Omaha Public Power District says if youre trying to keep your electric bill down because youre on a fixed income and are trying to save money, then you can expect your bill to increase. If money isnt an issue and you want to waste energy, then you can expect your bill to go down.

Im sure this isnt what our great-grandparents had in mind when they voted for public power.

Thank you, OPPD board member Tom Barrett for speaking out about how sad and wrong this truly is. It seems OPPD cares more about the affluent that the afflicted.

Timothy Krapp, Omaha

RFS was about subsidizing farmers

Brandon Harrisons Jan. 3 Public Pulse letter, Who will Cruz represent?, on the Renewable Fuel Standard is misleading.

RFS was passed out of concern for American energy independence and supposed man-made climate change, not to support farmers. The RFS rips off consumers because it reduces the mileage per gallon of many vehicles. At the same time, it encourages farmers to neglect the potential of other types of crops.

Midwest farmers need to recognize the importance of diversifying their crops. In Douglas and Sarpy counties in Nebraska, there are numerous beer brewers who would love use locally grown hops for their beers but have found farmers are reluctant to try new crops because the agricultural subsidies for corn are too great.

Andrew L. Sullivan, Omaha

Losing record doesnt mean bad team

Isnt it ironic that the three teams with losing records that played in bowl games this year  including the Cornhuskers  all won their contests?

While I personally feel that you should have a winning record to be rewarded with a bowl invitation, it does show that some college conferences are stronger than others.

Rick Madej, Omaha
We want the government to abide by the Constitution and play by rules, Ammon Bundy, the leader of a group occupying Oregons Malheur Federal Wildlife Refuge, tweeted. This is what this protest is about.

Wrong.

Bundy and his followers are flagrant lawbreakers.

The Bundy clan has now twice crossed the line between civil disobedience and dangerous, armed anti-government agitation. Law enforcement has taken a patient approach, which is prudent. We are tempted to recommend that federal authorities simply let Bundy and his fellow crackpots shiver in the cold. That strategy may do for the time being.

Yet, as Bundy and his gang insist, this is the peoples land  and these outlaws are keeping the people from enjoying it.

Wildlife refuges exist for public recreation, such as bird watching at Malheur, as well as to preserve habitat. Eventually, Bundy and his gang will have to go  or be removed. Then they should be criminally charged.

Meanwhile, we can only hope that the Bundy clans actions help discredit the persistent movement challenging federal ownership of land.

The federal government owns roughly 30 percent of U.S. territory, its holdings concentrated in vast, relatively unpopulated Western states. These lands are open to mining, logging, ranching and other economic activities  but, since the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, they are subject to restrictions meant to balance those uses with other legitimate concerns, such as preservation and recreation.

For decades, legislatures in Western states have chafed against the rules, sometimes illegally claiming rights over federal property. It should have surprised no one when the Bundy familys first armed protest received praise from conservative pundits and politicians.

Yet the Constitution explicitly allows the federal government to own and manage land; moreover, states such as Nevada explicitly waived any rights over federally owned land when they became states.

The arguments otherwise are nothing but self-serving nonsense, and the courts have consistently said so.

Even clear law and precedent did not stop Utah from trying again in 2012, ordering the federal government to turn over virtually all federal land to the states control by 2014. The feds rightly ignored the command.

But this kind of grandstanding encourages the constitutional mythologies of the Bundys and other anti-government extremists.

The only body that can turn over federal land is Congress, which has set land policy since the countrys founding.

Western states can appeal to their representatives to fight for looser restrictions on federal property or for the federal government to sell its tracts. They would encounter opposition from environmentalists, outdoorsmen and others who prefer that the federal government properly balance the interests of ranchers and miners with those of everyone else.

Too bad: Washington  not the statehouse in Utah or an occupied wildlife refuge in Oregon  is the only place where these differences can be resolved with legitimacy.
Our relationship has changed but we're still together: Aamir Khan on divorce with Kiran Rao

Aamir Khan and Incredible India Controversy: Which side are you on?

Feature

oi-Oneindia

By Maitreyee Boruah

In one of the television commercials, featuring Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, the actor was seen asking viewers, "Which side are you on (Aap kiss taraf hain)?"

The television advertisement, part of the 'Athithi Devo Bhavah' campaign for 'Incredible India', in a nutshell, encourages countrymen to join hands to make India 'incredible' by our good deeds.

Now, when confirmed reports (after initial dilly-dally by the government) say Aamir will cease to be the face of 'Incredible India', we are all asking each other, "Aap kiss taraf hain?"

Airing political views proved costly

It is not unusual for any brand (here in this case, the tourism ministry) to end or not to renew its contract with a celebrity, promoting their cause or product.

However, the "divorce" between the Lagaan actor and the tourism ministry came close on the heels of Aamir's comments on the "rising intolerance in the country".

Thus, to outwardly reject suspicion of naysayers that Aamir's ouster from the campaign is because of his "intolerance" comments, won't be justified as well.

Social media divided over intolerance debate

The social media was abuzz with opinions-both in support and condemnation-for the actor.

The netizens were sure which side they were in. Either the country is witnessing rising intolerance, or the whole debate surrounding intolerance is fabricated by opposition parties to create trouble for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime.

Aamir's removal from the tourism ministry campaign is just incidental. The actual debate is whether intolerance exists or not, in the ground.

Tourism ministry plays it safe

To douse the fire at the earliest, the tourism ministry on Wednesday (January 6) said they had not hired the actor, but had left it to an agency to do that.

"Our contract was with the McCann Worldwide agency for Atithi Devo Bhava' campaign. The agency had hired Aamir for the job. Now, the contract with the agency is over. The Ministry has not hired Aamir. Since the contract with the agency is no more, automatically the arrangement with the actor no longer exists," Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said.

Incredible India, Incredible Aamir

On Thursday, Jan 7, Aamir issued a statement, saying:

"It has been an honour and a pleasure for me to be the brand ambassador for the Incredible India campaign for the past 10 years. I was happy to be of service to my country, and will always be available for it. I would like to clarify that all public service films I have done till date have all been free of any cost to me.



It is always an honour for me to be of service to my country, and this is how it will always be. It is the prerogative of the government to decide whether they need a brand ambassador for any campaign, and if so, who that ambassador should be. I respect the decision of the government to discontinue with my services. I am sure they will take all appropriate steps to do what is best for the country. Whether I am brand ambassador or not, India will remain Incredible, and that's the way it should be."

The actor, no doubt, conducted himself graciously since the controversy first erupted almost two months ago.

However, the ghost of his previous political opinions is still haunting him. Is Aamir paying the price for being a celebrity? Or, airing honest views in a politically charged atmosphere can prove costly to anyone?

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Story first published: Friday, January 8, 2016, 10:37 [IST]
H-bomb test: How a growing North Korea is causing headache for China

Feature

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

International politics essentially speaks about anarchy. Since there is no world government, the individual states have a perennial insecurity complex which push them to take the most dangerous route towards strengthening their defence and that is armament. North Korea's reported Hydrogen bomb test of January 6 is such an example.

And as expected, the reports have sent almost all quarters of international community into a tizzy. Even the Chinese, known to be the biggest friend that North Korea has in the international world, are worried.

The contradictions of China-North Korea relation

The growing stature of the hermit kingdom under Kin Jong-un has increased China's worries over the years. Far from the days during the Korean War in the early 1950s when Mao Ze Dong had sent troops to help Pyongyang, the China-North Korea relation has its share of contradictions today.

While China wants a stable North Korea at its borders so that an implosion in that country doesn't pose a threat to itself, it also wants the latter not to overgrow and assert itself as that would draw more flak from other regional and international powers (Japan, South Korea and the US) threatening the Chinese in their own backyard.

North Korea hence has proved to be a double-edged sword for the Chinese, who want to use it as a buffer between itself and US allies like South Korea in the Asia Pacific.

North Korea's H-bomb test a serious worry for China

The reported H-bomb testing by North Korea is bound to have serious repercussions on the regional politics of Northeast Asia and eve Asia-Pacific.

It will particularly put the Chinese interest under threat for a bellicose North Korea will draw attention of major world powers to that part of the world where the Chinese prefers to have their solo play.

But China will have a difficulty in dealing with the assertive North Korean leadership after the January 6 tests for the relation between the two countries has not been smooth, especially since the elimination of Jang Song-thaek, Pyongyang's No. 2 leader in December 2013, who was an important link between the two countries.

North Korea's subsequent recalling of its businessmen from China and the latter's warnings to the former over launching rockets added more the uneasiness between the two states. Recently, an all-girl band from North Korea cancelled its trip to China midway to return following differences with officials, signifying that even soft skills failed to break the growing ice.

Not easy for Chinese to rein in Kim Jong-un

It will be challenging today for the Chinese to rein in the ambitious Kim Jong-un, who hasn't yet visited China---a fact that runs contradictory to the traditional story of Beijing-Pyongyang bonhomie.

The North Koreans are perhaps perturbed over the improving relations between China and Japan and Japan and South Korea and hence planning to chart a course of action independent of Beijing (he had told a Chinese envoy in October last year that his country wants a better relation with South Korea). For the latter, it is not a good news.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Friday, January 8, 2016, 14:04 [IST]
Hydrogen bomb test: How a growing North Korea is causing headache for China

Feature

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

International politics essentially speaks about anarchy. Since there is no world government, the individual states have a perennial insecurity complex which push them to take the most dangerous route towards strengthening their defence and that is armament.

North Korea's reported Hydrogen bomb test of January 6 is such an example. And as expected, the reports have sent almost all quarters of international community into a tizzy.

Even the Chinese, known to be the biggest friend that North Korea has in the international world, are worried.

The contradictions of China-North Korea relation

The growing stature of the hermit kingdom under Kim Jong-un has increased China's worries over the years. Far from the days during the Korean War in the early 1950s when Mao Ze Dong had sent troops to help Pyongyang, the China-North Korea relation has its share of contradictions today.

While China wants a stable North Korea at its borders so that an implosion in that country doesn't pose a threat to itself, it also wants the latter not to overgrow and assert itself as that would draw more flak from other regional and international powers (Japan, South Korea and the US) threatening the Chinese in their own backyard.

North Korea hence has proved to be a double-edged sword for the Chinese, who want to use it as a buffer between itself and US allies like South Korea in the Asia Pacific.

North Korea's H-bomb test a serious worry for China

The reported H-bomb testing by North Korea is bound to have serious repercussions on the regional politics of Northeast Asia and eve Asia-Pacific. It will particularly put the Chinese interest under threat for a bellicose North Korea will draw attention of major world powers to that part of the world where the Chinese prefers to have their solo play.

But China will have a difficulty in dealing with the assertive North Korean leadership after the January 6 tests for the relation between the two countries has not been smooth, especially since the elimination of Jang Song-thaek, Pyongyang's No. 2 leader in December 2013, who was an important link between the two countries.

North Korea's subsequent recalling of its businessmen from China and the latter's warnings to the former over launching rockets added more the uneasiness between the two states. Recently, an all-girl band from North Korea cancelled its trip to China midway to return following differences with officials, signifying that even soft skills failed to break the growing ice.

Not easy for Chinese to rein in Kim Jong-un

It will be challenging today for the Chinese to rein in the ambitious Kim Jong-un, who hasn't yet visited China---a fact that runs contradictory to the traditional story of Beijing-Pyongyang bonhomie.

The North Koreans are perhaps perturbed over the improving relations between China and Japan and Japan and South Korea and hence planning to chart a course of action independent of Beijing (he had told a Chinese envoy in October last year that his country wants a better relation with South Korea). For the latter, it is not a good news.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Friday, January 8, 2016, 11:09 [IST]
At Pathankot, terrorists beat the pain with Mefenamic acid

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Jan 8: Carrying painkillers is a common feature among terrorists who undertake a long haul. The case in Pathankot was no different and the terrorists were found to be carrying Mefenamic Acid, 500 MG which goes by the trade name Ponstan along with them.

Timeline of Pathankot terror attack

Packets of the Megenamic acid were found at the Pathankot air force station and investigators say that these were being used by the terrorists.

This is one of the favoured pain killers that terrorists carry along with them during an attack. The packets found at the attack site shows clearly that it was manufactured by Pfizer, Pakistan, B-2 S.I.T.E, Karachi.

Terrorists were heavily stocked:

The terrorists who came to India from Pakistan for a long haul were heavily stocked. They had pain killers, syringes, energy drinks, food and water.

The most concrete of the evidence found at the attack site linking the incident to Pakistan is these tablets and syringes which have a clear Pakistan marking to it.

According to Wikipedia, Mefenamic Acid is used to treat moderate pain and also menstrual pain.

It is not a widely used drug due to side effects. Officials say that in all such operations, terrorists come fully stocked up which includes pain killers.

They do not carry pain killers that are too strong as the risk of feeling drowsy is always there. Mefenamic acid is used to reduce hormones that cause inflammation and pain in the body.

Rauf Asghar, the man behind Kandahar, Pathankot and Parliament attack

In addition to this the terrorists also had with them energy drinks. The first sighting of energy drinks was at the taxi which the terrorists had taken after they infiltrated into India.

There were several crushed cans in the car. In addition to this there was supply of food and water.

Security officials say that while terrorists are heavily stocked up, they always have limited amount of water.

The idea is to ensure that they run out of water while keeping them engaged. In any such operation, it is always found that the terrorist wears out an almost surrenders when his water supply runs out.

OneIndia News
Centre allows Jallikattu; celebrations erupt in TN

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Jan 8: The Centre today came out with a notification, allowing controversial bull taming sport Jallikattu in poll-bound Tamil Nadu following extensive demand for its restoration by political parties in the state.

The decision to allow Jallikattu and bullock cart races in other parts of the country came despite objections by animal rights groups. Crackers were burst and sweets distributed in southern districts of Tamil Nadu to celebrate the news as the decision comes just ahead of the Pongal festival. Jallikattu also known Eruthazhuvuthal is a bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations on Mattu Pongal day.

"...The Central Government, hereby specifies that following animals shall not be exhibited or trained as performing animal, with effect from the date of publication of this notification, namely bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers, lions and bulls.

"Provided that bulls may continue to be exhibited or trained as a performing animal, at events such as Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu and bullock cart races in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala and Gujarat in the manner by customs of any community or practiced traditionally," the notification said.

However, the Centre has also put some conditions, saying bullock cart race shall be organised on a proper track, which shall not exceed two kilometres. In case of Jallikattu, the moment the bull leaves the enclosure, it shall be tamed within a radial distance of 15 metre and it should also be ensured that the bulls are put to proper testing by authorities of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department to ensure that they are in good physical condition to participate in the event.

Performance enhancement drugs are not to administered to the bulls. In a tweet, Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan said, "Central government has given permission for holding Jallikattu. Union Minister @PrakashJavdekar called me now to give the good news that arrangements to conduct #Jallikattu in TN has been made."

He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the move.

PTI
Delhi police say Bengaluru cleric had prepared hitlist of BJP leaders

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Jan 8: The investigations that are being conducted by the Delhi police which arrested a Bengaluru based cleric yesterday suggests that he had many leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party on his hit list.

A Delhi police official part of the investigation informed OneIndia that during the questioning, the cleric Syed Anzar Shah Qasmi is reported to have said that there was a hit list of BJP leaders.

He was picked up from Ilyasnagar in Bengaluru by the Delhi police. He was produced before the Patiala House court which has remanded him to police custody till January 20th. [Bengaluru cleric: A motor mouth or al-Qaeda sympathiser?]

The Delhi police arrested on the suspicion that he was propagating on behalf of the al-Qaeda in the sub-continent. The Delhi police say that they are still probing his links to the al-Qaeda.

However, those who know Qasmi say that he was a loose cannon. He was a cleric at a Mosque in Banashankari and around 2 weeks back moved to Ilyasnagar. He was notorious for his fiery speeches. In all the speeches he used to propagate the Sharia law. [Al-Qaeda terrorist held in Bengaluru]

The Delhi police is probing a case relating to the presence of the AQIS. First they had arrested two persons from Uttar Pradesh and followed this up with the arrest of a cleric from Odisha. The Delhi police suggest that these persons are inter-linked.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, January 8, 2016, 13:00 [IST]
More Germans optimistic about relationship with US

Germany condemns terror attacks on India

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, Jan 8: Germany has condemned terror attacks on the IAF base in Pathankot town of Punjab and an attack on the Indian consulate in Afghanistan, external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted on Friday,Jan 8.

"We condemn the terrorist attacks on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot and on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-sharif," the German statement said.

"The perpetrators must be hunted and those responsible must be held accountable," the statement said.

Seven security personnel were killed in the January 2 attack on the Pathankot Air Force Station. Six terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, were later killed by security personnel.

On Sunday night, the terrorists attacked the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Balkh province of northern Afghanistan. The attackers carried heavy ammunitions like RPGs, Swarup confirmed at a media briefing here on Thursday.

After being kept at bay by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) posted at the consulate, all the four terrorists were later killed by the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF).

IANS
6 Rafale fighters to be flagged off by IAF chief from France

Govt-to-govt deal for Rafales likely ahead of Francois Hollande's visit

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Jan 8: A high-level team from France is here to give final touch to the government-to-government framework agreement for 36 Rafale fighter jet planes that is likely to be signed later his month.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is set to visit India ahead of the Republic Day.

However, dates have not been finalised yet. Defence sources said that the agreement, which will pave the way for a final contract, is likely to be signed ahead of French President Francois Hollande's visit.

Hollande will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations.

"A high-level French government team is in town to finalise the agreement and also discuss future scope of military cooperation," the sources said.

If all goes well, the final contract for the 36 Rafales is expected to be inked soon, which will come as a major relief for Indian Air Force which has been eyeing the aircraft for over a decade.

Though the government-to-government framework agreement was scheduled to be signed last year itself, it ran into rough weather over the issues of off-set, tweaking of weaponry technology, among others.

The sources said discussions were held at the "highest level" on both sides to get over the roadblocks.

India's insistence on 50 per cent off-set clause, tweaking of weaponry technology and plans to set up two bases for Rafale fighter aircraft were some of the issues which had cropped up during the recent talks that began after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision to acquire 36 of the planes during his trip to France in April.

They will be bought in fly-away condition.

The announcement had come as a boost for the modernisation plan of IAF as the original deal for 126 Rafale planes through a tendering process was stuck for years.

India has constituted a committee headed by Air Marshal SBP Sinha to hold negotiations with France.

PTI
Out here on the edge of the national forest, in the cattle-ranching, timber-cutting, deer-hunting Arkansas county where I live, this Ammon Bundy guy looks like the Al Sharpton of cows. His publicity seeking has created a media pseudo-event of a particularly modern kind.

Can anybody doubt that the feds could more efficiently resolve the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by confiscating TV cameras rather than guns?

Actually, theres no real standoff, since law enforcement is nowhere in sight. Blocking the roads, cutting the power and waiting them out looks like the wisest policy, although there appear to be almost as many tribal ideologues on the left hankering for a shootout as anti-government militia types.

The Washington Monthlys normally sensible David Atkins is breathing smoke and fire: I feel that if Bundys little crew wants to occupy a federal building and assert that theyll use deadly violence against any police who try to extract them, he wrote, then they should get what theyre asking for just as surely as Islamist terrorists would if they did likewise ... 

Whats good for one type of terrorist must also be good for another, Atkins continued.

Sounds downright Trump-like to me. Elsewhere, racialized insults and cries for vengeance have become common. Yall-qaeda, yee-hawdists, yokel haram, tweeted New Yorker satirist Andy Borowitz. Less witty ridicule is everywhere.

At Salon, Bundys cowboy patriots are denounced as a strident example of unapologetic white privilege in action.

Salon proclaims Theyd be killed if they were black: The racial double standard at the heart of the new Bundy family standoff.

Armed white men seize a federal building. The government stands down carefully. But a 12-year-old with a toy gun? reads the sub-headline.

Even the Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson couldnt resist making the tempting, but specious comparison between Bundy and Tamir Rice, the Cleveland child killed by cops in a city park. Think harder. Everybody acknowledges the boys death was a pointless tragedy. Nobody wanted him to die.

Its also clearly false that armed white crackpots are always given a pass. Heard of Ruby Ridge? Waco? But hold that thought.

Robinson does acknowledge the single most salient fact: that Bundys posse is holed up deep in the Oregon wilderness, 30 miles from a town of 2,800, a threat to nobody but each other. The last thing the U.S. government needs to do is give them the martyrdom a few of the crazier ones crave.

Then too, as a political matter, Bundy appears to have made an almost comical miscalculation. Hardly anybody in remote Harney County appears to support his cause. Even the father-son team of ranchers whose five-year prison terms Bundys group is allegedly protesting have renounced his support.

Dwight and Steve Hammond did plead guilty to arson, you know.

In a press conference, county Sheriff David Ward addressed the anti-government vigilantes directly: To the people at the wildlife refuge: You said you were here to help the citizens of Harney County. That help ended when a peaceful protest became an armed occupation. The Hammonds have turned themselves in. Its time for you to leave our community, go home to your families and end this peacefully.

Which is not to say those sentences are either just or equitable. Even among their neighbors, opinions differ. Five years seems like an awfully long time for torching 139 acres of sagebrush and juniper  particularly given Dwight Hammonds age, 73.

The sentencing judge thought so too, refusing to enforce the mandatory minimum as unconstitutionally severe. After prosecutors objected, the Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco imposed the statutory penalty. Indeed, the Hammonds legal appeals are not complete, making the timing of Bundys insurrection inconvenient at best.

Detailed accounts in local media make the entire affair sound like a high desert version of Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Keseys manic epic about a western Oregon logging clan. Some stress the Hammond familys business success and generous support of local charities.

Trial records, however, also make it appear that as wealthy ranchers are prone to do, the Hammonds had taken to acting dictatorially. No doubt the Bureau of Land Management bureaucracy can be maddening, but renting grazing rights on government land doesnt convey the freedom of action a rancher has on his own property.

For the past 20 years, the Hammonds have taken to confronting hunters killing their deer on federal land, and threatening U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents over water and fencing disputes. According to a 2010 grand jury indictment, Hammond family members have been responsible for multiple fires for more than 20 years. The indictment also alleged that one fire was set to destroy evidence of deer poaching  animals killed not for meat but because they competed with cattle for forage.

If true, the wonder is that they got away with it so long.
Twitterati struck with extreme level of curiosity after Harsh Goenka shares Covid isolation ward in China

Chinese military will intensify troop training, combat preparedness to fight and win: President Xi Jinping

India-US move on blacklisting Pakistan terrorist blocked by China at UN

Blacklisting Mahmood blocked by China: The man who raised funds under garb of religion in India

No way out in sight for China's zero-COVID strategy

India needs to worry! China to build 1,100 MW dam in PoK on Jhelum river

India

oi-Mukul

New Delhi, Jan 8: India needs to worry more as China is building 100 MW dam in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, despite former's strong objection for the same. Dam on the Jhelum river will be constructed by China's company, Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC).

On Thursday company announced that it won the right to develop a hydropower project in PoK.

The Kohala Hydropower Project, the firm's biggest investment in the Pakistani hydropower market, is expected to have an installed capacity of 1.1 million kilowatts, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The project is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a 3,000-km network of roads, railways and energy infrastructure to assist development in Pakistan and boost growth for the Chinese border economy.

In September, CTGC registered a subsidiary for the project in Pakistan. A Pakistani government supporting letter for the project was issued last week, CTGC said.

Established in 1993, CTGC is "a clean energy group focusing on large-scale hydropower development and operation."

It manages the development and operation of the Three Gorges Project, the world's largest hydropower project in terms of installed capacity.

OneIndia News

(With inputs from IANS)
Truth has come out, says Sasikala in reaction to OPS's remark before panel

Jayalalithaa death probe: TN cabinet to decide on enquiry against Sasikala and others

Never interfered in medical treatment of Jayalalithaa: Sasikala denies all allegations levelled by panel

Jayalalithaa DA case to be heard on day to day basis from Feb 2

India

oi-Vicky

Chennai, Jan 8: The Supreme Court will from February 2 commence hearing on a day to day basis the appeal filed in the disproportionate case filed against Tamil Nadu chief minister, J Jayalithaa and three others.

During the hearing today counsel for the Karnataka government suggested that the hearing should be posted for hearing on February 2.

The Karnataka government had gone in appeal to the Supreme Court after the Karnataka High Court acquitted Jayalalithaa and three others in the disproportionate assets case.

Today a Bench comprising Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Amitava Roy said the hearings will start from February 2 and also on February 3 and 4.

Justice Ghose said that the case would be kept at the top of the cause list on the three days of the hearing between February 2 and 4. Further hearing on the case would continue as per the exigencies of the cases listed during the month.

OneIndia News
Justice Nayak likely new Karnataka Lokayukta

India

oi-Vicky

Bengaluru, Jan 8: The government of Karnataka is likely to appoint Justice S R Nayak as the new Lokayukta of Karnataka. His name has been in the running since December 2015

The government was deciding on whether to appoint Justice Nayak or Justice Vikramjit Singh as the Lokayukta.

The post of the Lokayukta had fallen vacant following the resignation of Justice Bhaskar Rao whose son is facing corruption charges.

However now with Justice Sen writing to the Law Minister of Karnataka that he would not be interested in taking up the post, Justice Nayak is likely to be appointed to the post.

[Justice S R Nayak in running for Karnataka Lokayukta post]

Sources say that Justice Sen was not keen on the post as he thought that it would be a unanimous choice. However the government has been considering the name of Justice Nayak too and hence Justice Sen did not want this to be a race.

In addition to this there has been a campaign by a section of advocates not to appoint Justice Sen to the post of Lokayukta.

The advocates felt that Justice when he was the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court did not do enough in the scuffle that broke out between the advocates and the media and police.

Government sources say that there objections to the name of Justice Nayak too. We are considering all aspects before making any final decision.

The last time around the appoint of Justice Bhaskar Rao was objected to by the advocate's association.

However the same was overruled by the then Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar. The government does not want any sort of embarrassment this time around and wants to make sure that the new Lokayukta's appointment is free from controversy.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, January 8, 2016, 10:43 [IST]
Pathankot: 2 numbers that link attack to Pakistan and they are already out of service

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Jan 8: India was quick to provide the two numbers that the terrorists had called on prior to launching the Pathankot attack. The National Investigating Agency which is probing the case is analysing the two numbers that the terrorists had called in Pakistan prior to the attack on January 2.

How terrorists entered the Pathankot air force station

The numbers 92-3017775253 and 92 3000597212 are obviously switched off now, but NIA officials say that they expect Pakistan to investigate and track down these two numbers. The two numbers which India hopes Pakistan will trace belong to the handlers and the mother of one of the terrorists.

An NIA official informed OneIndia this is one of the many links that they have found linking the attack to Pakistan. We had found a number during our investigations into the Udhampur terror strike as well. However it remained switched for a very brief time after the attack. Today that number is non-existent.

These numbers too would be wiped out:

While Pakistan has assured that it would probe the allegations levelled by India in connection with the Pathankot attack, NIA officials say that they do not expect that these numbers would even exist after sometime. They have already been turned off and at times we get the message of the number not being in existence.

The analysis of the call records show that the terrorists had made a call to the number 92-3017775253. This was the mother's number of one of the terrorists.

The other number which the NIA has belonged to one of the handlers. There was a call made to that number as the terrorists entered into India and the records would show that they were intimating their handlers apart from taking instructions.

Ball in Pakistan's court?

Pakistan which has assured of all help in the Pathankot probe has been provided with plenty of evidence linking the attack to their country. There are medicines which the terrorists had carried with them which have a Pakistan marking on it. Further there are GPS coordinates suggesting the route the terrorists took from Pakistan to India.

It is clear through the GPS coordinates that the terrorists had made their dissent into India from possibly Bhawalpur in Pakistan which is the headquarters of the Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Timeline of Pathankot terror attack

India has also informed Pakistan about the statements made by the abducted Superintendent of Police, Salwinder Singh. Going by his statements, it becomes clear that the terrorists were from Pakistan. The other strong indication of a Pakistan link is the statement by Rajesh Verma, the friend of the SP who was also present in the car when the terrorists hijacked it.

Verma has made it clear that after letting the SP and his cook Mohan get off the car, the terrorists drover around for sometime. They asked for details of the Amritsar airport and during a conversation made on the mobile phone of the SP which they had stolen, they constantly used the word air force. Further Verma also said that they were looking into a mapping device and were waiting for a blue line which indicated that they were close to their target.

The call records of the slain taxi driver Ikagar Singh is also given as proof. There was a call that was made to his number from Pakistan. He had rushed out of his house following this call. However he was slain later allegedly by the same group of terrorists. It was found that his mobile was used by the terrorists to repeatedly give missed calls to Pakistan in a bid to use it as a diversionary tactic.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, January 8, 2016, 13:46 [IST]
After the verdict in Kathua rape case chief investigator regrets Vishal's release

Aerial Assassin: How AH-64 E Apache became the world's best Attack helicopter?

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

News Flash: PM Modi to visit Pathankot airbase on Saturday

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, Jan 8: The earthquake measured 5.0 magnitude and 32km SSE of Jarm, Afghanistan.

Get all news updates here on Friday, Jan 8:

10.30 pm: PM Modi to visit Pathankot airbase on Saturday.

9:35 pm: Dr. Urjit R Patel re-appointed as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India for a further period of three years.

9:15 pm: Army issues guidelines to public to prevent terrorist attacks, asks to avoid wearing Army pattern dresses.

Army says shopkeepers should not sell combat cloth, Army uniforms or Army equipment  ANI (@ANI_news) January 8, 2016

9:10 pm: Fugitive Arab Israeli who killed three in Tel Aviv shot dead, says minister: AFP

9:00 pm: We cant host Ghulam Ali concert at Eden Gardens because of ICC inspection on Jan 15 ahead of T20 WC: Sourav Ganguly,CAB

8:45 pm: Governor has written letters to BJP & PDP on asking our position on govt formation: Ram Madhav, BJP on next J&K CM.

8:30 pm: J&K Governor writes to PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti and state BJP chief asking them to make position clear on govt formation.

8:20 pm: Security forces recover a cache of arms & ammunition from a hideout in general area Kuliwala Forest in Chasana Tehsil of Reasi Distt, J&K.

8:10 pm: We are blocked by principal opposition party (Congress) which is a very harsh blow to democracy: Jayant Sinha, MoS Finance on GST.

8:00 pm: Search of the Air force station campus is being conducted to recover any trace evidence left behind by the terrorists: NIA.

7:55 pm: Footprints suspected to be of #Pathankot terrorists from Bamihal village in border area & IAF base have been sent to CFSL for examn: NIA.

7.46 pm: Akhil Chaudhary posted as SP Investigation Pathankot, Jaspal Singh SP Ops Pathankot, Gulneet Singh SP Gurdaspur,Surinder Lamba ASP Dinanagar

7.44 pm: 7 people die, 12 injured in a bus and jeep collision in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

7.42 pm: Five naxals killed in encounter with CRPF in Aurangabad, Bihar. Arms and Ammunition including AK-47 recovered.

7.00 pm: We have decided that we will discuss this in four days: Sat Sharma, BJP on Mehbooba Mufti's swearing in as J&K CM.

6:53 pm: In ongoing investigations by NIA in Pathankot Attack, Post mortem examinations of the bodies of the terrorists killed have been conducted.

6.45 pm: Body tissues of the terrorists have been preserved for DNA Sampling.

6.35 pm: My request was to increase strength of BSF in Punjab: Punjab Dy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal on meeting with Home Minister

6.30 pm: I completely endorse the move by the Mumbai Police to reduce the security around me, tweets Aamir Khan.

6.20 pm: Two more suspects seen by villagers in Pathankot near Indo-Pak border. Punjab police and BSF have started a search operation.

Two suspects seen by villagers in #Pathankot near Indo-Pak border. Punjab police and BSF started search operation. pic.twitter.com/9dYnGOfoUB  ANI (@ANI_news) January 8, 2016

Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal reaches Home Ministry (Delhi) pic.twitter.com/s6t3MN1e5k  ANI (@ANI_news) January 8, 2016

6.00 pm: CBI arrested Nirmal Bhangoo (CMD & Promoter-Director of PGF Ltd), Sukhdev Singh (MD & Promoter-Director of PACL), Gurmeet Singh (ED(Fin) of PACL), Subrata Bhattacharya (ED of PACL) in the PGF/PACL Ponzi Scheme Case.

Case involves alleged collection of approx. 45,000 crore from approx. 5.5 crore investors all over the country.  ANI (@ANI_news) January 8, 2016

5:42 pm: 2G Money Laundering Case: ED also filed charge sheet against two companies, says Sun Direct and South Asia FM Ltd.

5.30 pm: We cant have a system where decision making becomes impossible in the Parliament, says Arun Jaitley.

5.25 pm: Air India flight from Bangalore to Delhi delayed by over 4 hours. Passengers protest over the delay.

5.15 pm: 2G Money Laundering Case: ED files charge sheet against Dayanidhi Maran, Kalanithi Maran & four others.

5.00 pm: Will continue with our policy, we are encouraging anti-liquor campaign. We are concerned about well-being of families: Kerala CM.

4.55 pm: Air India flight from Bangalore to Delhi delayed by over 4 hours. Passengers protest over the delay.

Air India flight from Bangalore to Delhi delayed by over 4 hours. Passengers protest over the delay. pic.twitter.com/biaIVoRGq7  ANI (@ANI_news) January 8, 2016

4.50 pm: PM Modi to begin Assam campaign with rallies in Kokhrajhar and Guwahati on Jan 18.

4.40 pm: DDCA enquiry commission set up by Delhi Govt is as per law and Constitution. Centre's opinion not binding on Delhi Govt: Arvind Kejriwal.

4.38 pm: President Pranab Mukherjee promulgated the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance to amend the Enemy Property Act.

4.30 pm: Wasn't formal function.Was informal chit-chat with young students. We were joking around with each other: Supriya Sule.

4.25 pm: Car transporting explosives recovered near Indian consulate in Herat, 1 person arrested: Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha

4.15 pm: For the 1st time West Bengal is a power surplus state & ready for industry, it ranks high in terms of ease of doing business: Mukesh Ambani.

4.05 pm: Summon issued to Congress leader Digvijay Singh by Mandsaur court (Madhya Pradesh), asked to appear on March 17.

3.55 pm: Locals celebrate in Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) after Govt lifts ban on Jallikattu.

3.45 pm: Uphaar cinema case: SC agrees to hear review petition filed by CBI & victim association.

3.30 pm: Sensex gains 82.50 points to close at 24,934.33, Nifty up by 33.05 points to close at 7,601.35.

3.15 pm: Fingerprint of Paris attacks fugitive found in Brussels flat, say prosecutors.

3.09 pm: The earthquake measured 5.0 magnitude and 32km SSE of Jarm, Afghanistan.

3.08 pm: Youth Congress workers protest in Chandigarh,demand airport be named after Bhagat Singh.

2.44 pm: Earthquake reported in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

2.33 pm: Asaram Bapu's bail plea rejected by Jodhpur Sessions Court.

2.06 pm: Apart from Economy, our prime concern is National Security says Arun Jaitley.

1.47 pm: Everyone wants pollution levels to come down but this is not a clear-cut solution Odd Even Plan causing hardships to Delhi ppl says PC Chacko,Cong.

1.13 pm: Jallikattu is allowed with proper safeguards and without cruelty to animals-Prakash Javadekar,Environment Minister.

12.53 pm: There are definite positive results of Odd Even Formula. On January 5, PM levels were 391, much less than over 500 in Dec-Delhi Govt in Court.

12.50 pm: I want a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya,will donate 10 lakhs when construction starts.Will give a gold 'mukut' says Bukkal Nawab,Samajwadi Party.

12.46 pm: SC decides to hear from February 2,appeal by Karnataka Govt against acquittal of Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa in DA case.

12.29 pm: Security withdrawn for 25 Bollywood stars including Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.

12.01 pm: Unfortunate decision. It is unconstitutional and against SC judgement-Dr.Chaitanya Koduri,PETA on jallikattu.

11.38 am: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley & Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal at Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata.



10.56 am: Senior Advocate Harish Salve to appear for Delhi Government today in High Court in Odd Even Formula matter.

10.45 am: Hope that atmosphere of development & faith created by Mufti ji in J&K will be taken ahead by Mehbooba ji if she becomes CM- MA Naqvi.

10.21 am: Resumption of flights from domestic and international terminals in Delhi to begin shortly as visibility improves.

10.20 am: Germany condemns Pathankot Attack : MEA

10.19 am: Centre allows Jallikattu (Bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu).

10.09 am: IAS Amitabh Kant, Secretary(Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) to now be the CEO of NITI Aayog.

9.02 am: Police constable shot dead by unidentified assailants during night patrolling in East Midnapore.

8.39 am: BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav to meet state party leaders in Srinagar today.

8.34 am: Dense fog in Delhi.

8.33 am: Fire broke out earlier today in lower bazar area of Shimla,6 shops gutted.

8.32 am: Bus accident in Tirunelveli(Tamil Nadu) kills 10 people.

IANS
Will resign from politics if BJP proves its charge: Harish Rawat

India

oi-PTI

Dehradun, Jan 8: Reacting sharply to BJP's charge that an amount of over Rs 1509 crore released by the Centre for disaster relief in Uttarakhand was illegally siphoned off, Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Friday, Jan 8 said he will resign from politics if the opposition party produces documentary evidence to substantiate the allegation.

"I strongly refute the charge as absolutely unfounded. It is a lie concocted to defame the state government. If the BJP produces documents to prove the charge I will resign from politics," Rawat said addressing a press conference here.

Asserting that the allegations were part of a conspiracy hatched by the BJP to bring disrepute to the state government, Rawat asked the party leadership to apologise to the people of the state for spreading such lies and damaging its reputation.

Soon after taking over recently as the state BJP President Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Bhatt had alleged, citing information obtained under RTI, that Rs 1509.3436 crore allocated by the Centre to the state government for disaster relief had been illegally siphoned off.

He had also written to Governor Krishna Kant Paul demanding a probe by the CBI or the Vigilance Department into the anomaly to bring out the truth. Visibly irked by the allegation, Rawat said it has nothing to do with facts.

"I don't know from where this figure of Rs 1509 crore has emerged. I have made my own enquiries and no one is able to explain this to me. It is just another baseless allegation hurled by the opposition to malign us for political reasons," the Chief Minister said.

He also accused a section of the media of falling victim to the opposition's conspiracy to bring disrepute to the state government. In a bid to put the record straight, the Chief Minister gave details of funds sanctioned by the Centre for disaster relief to Uttarakhand.

The Cabinet Committee on Uttarakhand constituted in the wake of June 2013 natural calamity at the the time of UPA had recommended an amount of Rs 7980 crore to be allocated to the state over a period of three years for disaster relief out of which Rs 2367.74 crore have been received so far he said, adding, about 80 per cent of it has been spent on relief so far.

PTI
#BreakFree: Rape victim Amber Amour shares trauma on Instagram!

International

oi-Preeti

New York, Jan 8: In a shocking incident, a New-York based activist has alleged that she was raped by a youth inside the bathroom of a hostel in South Africa. Just minutes after the horrific incident, the bold victim blogged the gory details of rape on Instagram.

27-year-old woman, Amber Amour is a feminist campaigner, who shared her traumatic experience "to give other victims the courage to speak out".

Ironically, Amber was in Cape Town, South Africa in Nov 2015, to promote a campaign of "Stop Rape. Educate". Besides narrating her harrowing ordeal, she also posted her picture online, in which she is seen crying inside the bathroom.

She agreed to take bath with a man named Shakir, who raped her. In an exclusive interview with Marie Claire UK, Amber revealed that Shakir, who seemed to be drunk, kissed her and asked her to join him in the shower to which she agreed.

'I said yes because the water at my current hostel is pretty cold and after two days of being sick, I just really wanted a hot shower. As soon as I got in the bathroom, he forced me to my knees. I said "stop!" but he just got more violent', she explained.

Most of the Netizens came out in her support on social media with #BREAKFREE, as trending hashtag. However, some blamed Amber for the rape, as she had agreed to take shower.

"I have all those f****d up feelings that we get after rape...shame, disgust, suffering,' she wrote. 'I'm here, alone, and any DNA has been wiped away in the shower", she further wrote.

"I tell you guys to speak up every single day and I know that I need to practice what I preach. It is so incredibly hard, though, but having you all here for me makes all the difference", she added.

'No matter what a person does, it is not an invitation for rape,' she argued in the photo caption. 'It doesn't matter if I kissed him. It doesn't matter if he was drunk. It doesn't matter if I said yes to a shower.

I never said he could get violent with me. I never said he could make me bleed. I never said he could rape me. But still, that's how the scene went down", she further expressed.

Amber told Marie Claire that she first experienced sexual violence at the age of 12. In Sept 2014, she started a campaign called 'Stop Rape. Educate'.

Here's what she wrote on Instagram:

It was only a few minutes ago but sometimes these things happen so fast it's hard to remember all the details.... I've been sick for the past 2 days and today was my first day out. I went back to my old hostel to leave a note for a friend, Nick. There was another guy there, Shakir, who was desperately trying to get with me. I kissed him once but he seemed drunk so I told him it was bad timing, I had already met someone. Before heading out, I went upstairs to say hi to one more friend, Clyde from the states. Shakir followed me upstairs and said he was going to take a shower. He invited me to join. I said yes because the water at my current hostel is pretty cold and after 2 days of being sick, I just really wanted a hot shower. As soon as I got in the bathroom, he forced me to my knees. I said "stop!" but he just got more violent. He lifted me up and put his penis in my vagina. I asked him to stop, again, as I began to cry. When he shoved it in my ass, that's when I passed out. I woke up a few minutes later and saw him trying to creep out the door. When he saw that I was awake, he came back to finish me off in the shower. I have all those fucked up feelings that we get after rape...shame, disgust, suffering. I'm here, alone, and any DNA has been wiped away in the shower. The South African police will just roll their eyes when I walk in. Feeling sicker than ever now. Needless today, I'm going to disappear for a bit. Just need to enjoy the freaking sun and call my friends and family in the states. Love you guys. Thank you for always being there for me. All the more reason to continue @stoprapeeducate but not today. Today, I need rest. #StopRapeEducate

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, January 8, 2016, 17:46 [IST]
A great tragedy say activists after 200 bodies are recovered from roof of Pakistan hospital

International news brief: Confident of Pak's commitment, ability to secure its nuclear assets, says US & more

From 'dangerous' to 'secure and confident': US makes a u-turn after Biden's comment on Pak

The persecution of Hindus in Pakistan continues with a Hindu girl forcibly converted and married

Earthquake jolts Pakistan, third since Jan 1

International

oi-Jagriti

Islamabad, Jan 8: An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted parts of Pakistan including capital city Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday. Epicentre of the earthquake traced in Jarm region in Afghanistan.

Tremors were also felt in Peshawar, Malakand, Mansehra, Haripur and Abbottabad, reported Dawn online.

This is the third earthquake since the beginning of new year. People flee their home and offices after the quake hit the country.

Pakistan is located in the Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone, which is roughly 200 km north of the Himalaya Front and is defined by an exposed ophiolite chain along its southern margin.

This region has the highest rates of seismicity and largest earthquakes in the Himalaya region, caused mainly by movement on thrust faults.

Over 200 dead in Pakistan quake, army on rescue mission

More than 300 people killed in both Afghanistan and Pakistan due to 7.5 magnitude earthquake in October last year.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department recorded about 851 seismic disturbances in 2015.

OneIndia News
Hydrogen bomb test: Why worrisome for world leaders

International

oi-Jagriti

New Delhi, Jan 8: World leaders shook on January 6 morning when North Korea bragged about the "spectacular success" of its first hydrogen bomb test which resulted into a 5.1 magnitude earthquake near its nuclear site.

If true, North Korea will be the sixth country after US, Russia, France, China and UK which carried the successful test of the hydrogen bomb. The international community has rushed to verify the accuracy of the North Korea's claim.

Hydrogen bomb is a weapon energised by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes in a chain reaction. It was developed the US in 1958.

It is more powerful than basic atomic bomb as it uses fusion to create blast. Nuclear bomb is also known as thermo-nuclear bomb.

According to experts hydrogen bomb also called the thermonuclear bomb can be 1,000 times or more powerful than atomic weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

The "Little Boy" atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 had a yield of 15 kilotons, while the "Fat Man" dropped on Nagasaki a few days later had a yield of 20 kilotons.

Hydrogen bomb test: How a growing North Korea is causing headache for China

The US, Japan and South Korea have decided to launch a united and strong international response to North Korea's claim of a successful hydrogen bomb test.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denounced the action as "a grave threat to the safety of our country."

World leaders and analysts are sceptical of concerns because the massive power of the hydrogen bomb.

North Korea, yet to become a nuclear behemoth is believed to have a handful of nuclear warheads and has carried out three previous nuclear tests since 2006 - for which it earned United Nations sanctions.

The technology of the H-bomb is more sophisticated. It can be made small enough to fit on a head of an intercontinental missile.

The hydrogen bomb was never dropped on any targets.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, January 8, 2016, 14:58 [IST]
Iran accuses Saudi of bombing Yemen embassy

International

oi-PTI

Tehran, Jan 8: Iran said today that it would protest to the UN Security Council after claiming Saudi warplanes bombed its embassy in Yemen, in a new escalation of tensions that have reverberated across the region.

The Saudi-led coalition combating Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen denied the accusation, saying no operations were carried out near the mission.

Shiite-dominated Iran also announced a ban on imports from its Sunni-ruled rival. That comes days after Saudi Arabia broke off diplomatic ties with Iran in response to an arson attack on its own embassy in Tehran by protesters infuriated by Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Tehran said an unspecified number of embassy staff had been wounded in the raid on the rebel-held Yemeni capital Sanaa, which has been targeted by months of coalition air strikes.

"This deliberate action by Saudi Arabia is a violation of all international conventions that protect diplomatic missions," foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said, quoted by state television.

"The Saudi government is responsible for the damage caused and for the situation of members of staff who were injured," Ansari added, without specifying when the alleged strike took place or the seriousness of the injuries.

"The Islamic republic reserves the right to pursue its interests in this matter," he said. Later, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that "during an air raid by Saudi Arabia against Sanaa, a rocket fell near our embassy and unfortunately one of our guards was seriously wounded".

"We will inform the Security Council of the details of this attack within several hours," he said, adding that "Saudi Arabia is responsible for the security of our diplomats and of our embassy in Sanaa".

But the coalition said an investigation showed that the "allegations are false". It added: "No operations were carried out around the embassy or near to it... The embassy building is safe and has not been damaged."

Iran also announced that a ban on Iranians travelling to the Saudi holy city of Mecca for the year-round minor pilgrimage, known as the umrah, would remain in place indefinitely.

Longstanding frictions between the Middle East's foremost Sunni and Shiite Muslim powers exploded into a full-blown diplomatic crisis at the weekend when Riyadh executed Shiite cleric and activist Nimr al-Nimr.

Nimr's death unleashed a wave of anger across the Shiite world, and protesters in Iran stormed and set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in second city of Mashhad.

Iran denounced those attacks, but the repercussions quickly rippled across the region with Saudi allies Bahrain, Sudan and Djibouti also cutting diplomatic ties with Tehran. Somalia followed suit today, saying it had given Iranian diplomats 72 hours to leave.

PTI
The chance of someone we care about experiencing violence is alarming. According to the Violence Policy Center, Nevada ranks fifth nationally for female deaths at the hands of men. When we think about our daughters, spouses, mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, colleagues, and friends, its obvious that something must be done to bring about change.

Right now a boy may be looking to us for direction and guidance. Whether we know it or not, this boy may be watching the way we act, speak, treat women and interact with other men.

As husbands, brothers, uncles, grandfathers, or father figures, men have the ability to positively influence male family members. Promoting gender equality and teaching boys about healthy, equal relationships helps men contribute to building healthy families and strengthening family bonds.

While this may seem like a daunting task to some, these are some of the ways men can make a difference in the lives of the younger males in their families:

Educating boys about healthy, equal relationships. The well-being of the boys in a family includes the ability to develop healthy relationships with women and other men. Sharing values regarding gender equity is just as important as teaching them how to play ball or how to safely cross the road. Modeling positive behavior towards women gives boys the means to establish relationships based on respect, equality, and mutual responsibility.

Being a good role model. Our language, behavior, and interactions with women and men will have a significant impact on our sons values and attitudes towards women and girls. Sharing family responsibilities and chores equally with our spouses, being open with women about our feelings, or publicly questioning negative depictions of women, are ways to demonstrate to boys that we value women as equals and believe in healthy relationships. Conversely, laughing at sexist jokes, sharing magazines that objectify women, or remaining silent about violence or injustice against women are negative behaviors and values that may well end up being adopted by young family members.

Acknowledging shortcomings. It is okay to acknowledge that we dont have all the answers, that we are not experts on this topic, and freely admit when we make a mistake. We can let male family members know that we will seek the correct information to give them later. Acknowledging our feelings and imperfections is a way to demonstrate how to act constructively in building healthy and equal relationships, and it will reduce the pressure on our sons to be perfect all the time.

Accepting our role in promoting gender equality. Recognize that as adult males we have a role to play in educating boys about gender equality and healthy relationships. These are not only womens issues but issues that affect everyone, including men and boys. The majority of violence against women (and violence generally) is committed by men, therefore it is important to educate young family members about this issue and to model positive and healthy examples of male behavior.

For more information and help, please visit www.itstartswithyou.ca and www.pacecoalition.org, or call PACE Coalition at 777-3451.
India tells UNSC it is deeply concerned with developments in Jerusalem

Israeli soldiers kill 2 Palestinians

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Jerusalem, Jan 8: Israeli troops killed two Palestinians and severely wounded another on Thursday after the three allegedly tried to stab soldiers in the West Bank, the Israeli army said.

According to a military spokesperson, three knife-wielding Palestinians arrived at the Gush Etzion Junction, a major crossroad in a Jewish settlement bloc in the West Bank, on Thursday night.

They tried to stab soldiers guarding the junction, and were fired upon, the spokesman said. No Israelis were injured in the latest incident amid a three-month-long wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence, Xinhua news agency reported.

At least 139 Palestinians, 23 Israelis and a US citizen have died due to the continuing violence between Palestinians and Israelis since the beginning of October 2015.

Israel has been accusing the Palestinian authority of "inciting" the violence, while the Palestinians say it is the result of 49 years of Israeli control of their lands.

IANS
A great tragedy say activists after 200 bodies are recovered from roof of Pakistan hospital

International news brief: Confident of Pak's commitment, ability to secure its nuclear assets, says US & more

From 'dangerous' to 'secure and confident': US makes a u-turn after Biden's comment on Pak

The persecution of Hindus in Pakistan continues with a Hindu girl forcibly converted and married

Pak welcomes Saudi-led anti-terror military alliance

International

oi-PTI

Islamabad, Jan 8: Pakistan today welcomed Saudi Arabia's initiative to form a 34-nation Islamic military alliance to fight terrorism after the Kingdom's Foreign Minister met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and discussed a host of strategic issues, including bilateral ties and regional security situation.

Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir briefed the Prime Minister on the details of the Islamic military alliance against terrorism after Pakistan had announced its readiness to join it once all details were made available.

In the meeting, Sharif said that Pakistan welcomes Saudi Arabia's initiative and stressed that it supports all such regional and international efforts to counter terrorism and extremism, according to an official statement.

Riyadh had announced the formation of the coalition last month. Islamabad initially reacted cautiously to the announcement of the alliance, saying it was awaiting further details to decide the extent of its participation.

The alliance does not include countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria and Pakistan was wary of its constitution as it may pitch Islamabad against many Muslim nations which are not part of it.

Adel and Sharif also discussed regional security situation and matters of bilateral interest. The Prime Minister called for further strengthening and expanding bilateral relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, in all fields of cooperation, including defence, security, economic and commercial ties, according to an official statement.

The Foreign Minister also briefed Sharif on Saudi Arabia's growing tensions with Iran over the execution of a Shia cleric in the Kingdom. Sharif expressed deep concern at the escalation of the situation and condemned the burning down of Saudi Embassy in Tehran.

The Prime Minister called for resolution of differences through peaceful means "in the larger interest of the Muslim unity".

The Foreign Minister also held meetings with the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz and army chief General Raheel Sharif.

Adel was originally scheduled to arrive on Sunday but the trip was delayed due to Saudi Arabia's growing tensions with Iran over the execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, in the Kingdom.

During the talks with Aziz, the two sides discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in all fields and underscored the need to develop jointly a counter narrative against extremism and terrorism.

The two countries agreed to hold political consultations twice a year alternately in Islamabad and Riyadh. They agreed to make a concerted effort to promote multi-faceted cooperation and work together to defeat "common enemy  terrorism and extremism."

PTI
How can Germany work with Saudi Arabia?

Saudi minister discusses 'common challenges' with Pakistan

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Islamabad, Jan 8: Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel Bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir discussed "common challenges" with Pakistani side during his one-day visit to the country.

The Saudi foreign minister met Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Army Chief General Raheel Sharif on Thursday. He also held talks with Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz, Xinhua reported.

The Saudi foreign minister said both the sides explored options to further "deepen strategic partnership and boost cooperation in every field".

Al-Jubeir in his meeting with General Raheel Sharif discussed "regional security situation", a statement from Inter Services Public Relations said.

He also called on Nawaz Sharif to exchange views on regional security and matters of mutual interest, the prime minister's office said.

The visit came at a critical time amid the ongoing Saudi-Iran tensions that led to breaking of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

Pakistan has expressed concern at the tensions, pressing both countries to resolve their differences peacefully.
Pak, China team up again, say UN counter-terrorism mechanism being politicised

Ukraine, Russia near deal on grain exports, says UN

UN chief praises Sri Lanka's reform agenda

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

United Nations, Jan 8: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he was encouraged by the Sri Lankan government's commitment to a broad reform agenda and its efforts to advance a nationwide dialogue.

Ban on Thursday congratulated President Maithripala Sirisena, the government and people on the first year of the country's political transition, Xinhua cited a statement from the UN chief's spokesperson as saying.

Sri Lanka's reform agenda "aims to realize durable peace, stability and prosperity for the Sri Lankan people," said the statement.

The UN chief supports the Sri Lankan government's efforts to achieve a long-term political settlement acceptable to all, and welcomes its announcement to begin constitutional reform, it added.

"He calls on all stakeholders to cooperate in a spirit of inclusion and good faith," said the statement.

Sirisena, who assumed presidency a year ago, has vowed to set up a domestic mechanism to probe war crimes allegedly committed during the final stages of the country's civil conflict.

The Sri Lankan government on Thursday said it will begin a domestic accountability process next week.

The government will also release land to resettle displaced families who now live in refugee camps, said Rajitha Senaratne, a minister and spokesman for the cabinet.

Sri Lanka's civil war between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the rebels.

According to the UN, at least 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed during the conflict.

IANS
Yemen to expel UN human rights official

International

oi-PTI

United Nations, Jan 7: Yemen has declared the leading UN rights official in the country "persona non grata", the UN spokesman said today, describing the decision as "an extremely regrettable development."

George Abu al-Zulof, the head of the UN human rights office in Yemen, "has been doing an excellent job," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The decision came just days after the United Nations raised alarm over the use of cluster bombs by the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's government in its war against Shiite rebels.

The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said on Tuesday that its staff in Yemen had found remnants of 29 cluster bombs during a field visit in Haradh district in the northwest.

UN officials said they had been notified by Yemeni officials of the decision against Zulof and they were awaiting official notification asking him to leave the country.

The United Nations has been increasingly concerned by the mounting civilian toll in Yemen and the dire humanitarian crisis.

Yemen descended into chaos when the coalition began air strikes in March to push back Huthi rebels who seized in the capital Sanaa in September. At least 2,795 civilians have been killed since March.

PTI
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In the early 1970s, as assistant city engineer in Urbana, where I attended the University of Illinois, I worked on bikeways, sewer systems to minimize pollution, promoting underground power and telephone lines, and other green projects. Later, as a university research engineer, I worked on many other environmental, energy and policy issues.

After finishing a masters project in electric generating economics  from nuclear, coal, oil and gas technologies to solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro alternatives  I testified widely as an expert witness against nukes and for alternatives. But I had already learned a very important lesson back in Urbana, and it led ultimately to understanding the central issues of environmental, public health and safety regulation.

One day, Urbanas curmudgeonly conservative public works director had said to me: You want bikeways, underground power and phone lines, cable TV, better sewer systems, and all that stuff  well, its easy and cheap.

I was shocked.

Go find a green field at the edge of town and design all that stuff into a subdivision from the start, he continued. But when you plat normal lot sizes, install standard sewers, pave roads, and begin to build, and then decide to add those things, its very expensive and problematic. His point was at once profound and obvious.

Later, I helped stop a number of nuclear units around the country by showing that their plant costs, which dominated nuclear economics, were increasing rapidly and continuously. Experts testifying for utilities conceded that point, but asserted the trend had ended. But neither they nor I had a good explanation of what was causing the increases and thus why they would either stop or continue.

Working at Californias Public Utilities Commission in 1983 on nukes, I toured the Diablo Canyon plant then being completed. While there, I noticed that the building housing the reactor had a lot of beams and other structural elements and seeming junk in the corners and all around, as if thrown in on after-thought. The cause of the mess was the way nuclear regulation was applied during construction.

Regulators approved a conceptual plant design, and then engineers did the actual design as they built the plants over a number of years. Regulators had approved Diablos conceptual design based on modest earthquake standards. But as it was being built, they decided that higher seismic standards were required, and they mandated retrofit of structures to the new standards.

As the old public works director said: You can inexpensively design many good features into something if you do so from the start, but when you get the thing mostly built and must retrofit it, thats expensive and often doesnt work well. True for subdivisions, true for nukes.

I learned that all U.S. nukes faced the regulatory moving target on many safety, health and environmental fronts, and that retrofit and rework requirements had caused delays and mushrooming costs throughout the industry.

All that raised the question of just what levels of regulation are appropriate, and how far we should push such requirements. That area is where our policies and practices fail even worse. Economists understand that we should raise regulatory requirements as long as the social benefits of each additional measure required exceed its costs  but no further. That is, the basic regulatory principle is social cost-effectiveness, which promotes the overall public interest: namely, maximizing human wellbeing.

This failure of nuclear regulation actually characterizes much public-health, safety and environmental regulation. Essentially, the rule we use is that if a measure is technically feasible, its required, no matter how costly. For example, best available control technologies for pollution.

Policy-makers adopt measures to placate environmentalist, alternative-energy and public-health special interests that promote them regardless of how destructive they are to the public interest. When the failure to adhere to the social cost-effectiveness rule is compounded by requiring retrofit, its a very expensive combination.

Environmental, public health and safety movements had their genesis in sensible ideas that attracted people like me, such as not letting polluters dump unreasonable negative externalities on others. But they long ago metastasized into a religion rampantly promoting policy excess, thereby alienating sensible folks. For the wellbeing of future generations, we must rein in this destructive foolishness.
In an article titled "'Comfort Women' Deal Is a Win-Win But Japan and Korea Must Do More," posted in Huffington Post (Jan. 6, 2016), Jane Harman makes many good points regarding the so-called comfort women issue. But her praise of the recently announced "agreement" between S. Korean President Park Keun-hye and the Japanese Prime Minister Abe as a "Win-Win" agreement is totally misplaced. The core of any meaningful reconciliation of an ugly past wrong-doing should be a sincere apology and demonstration of a true understanding and acceptance of the nature of the wrong-doing by the perpetrator. But the apology which is supposed to be part of the recent agreement is so false and so outlandishly empty even on the surface that it cannot possibly constitute a true apology.



The apology by the Japanese is supposed to be conditioned on South Korean government's removal of the statue of the comfort women in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. Moreover, the agreement also declares that the "dispute" has been "irreversibly and finally" resolved. Presumably in accordance with this spirit, Prime Minister Abe has declared that since he has now issued an apology, he will never discuss the comfort women issue again, and that the S. Korean government, too, must not mention that issue ever again. Abe added that if South Korean government forgets to act in accordance with this interpretation of the agreement, the S. Korean government will be treated as an outcast by the civilized nations.



But imagine that the German government attempts to make an apology of the Holocaust on the condition that the Holocaust museum in the financial district of Manhattan, for example, must be removed, and that Israeli government should never mention the Holocaust ever again. Such "apology" would never be considered an apology but will instead be treated as a fresh insult on the victims of the Holocaust. Abe apparently thinks that there is a "dispute" of something to give and take between the two countries, and that the only real issue is how much of what each side should give to the other side. And to him, what Japan is expected to give is just one utterance of a certain kind. Once he utters that magic sentence, Japan is to automatically receive what it wants: Everyone forgets, and is forbidden to talk about, what Japan did during World War II, for good.



In point of fact, there is no such dispute of any kind. There is only the historical fact of the horrendous war crimes of systematic gang rape organized and enforced by the Imperial Japanese Army on a large, industrial farming scale. These are such shameful war crimes, and crimes against humanity, that Japan really cannot be accepted as a member of the civilized nations until it accepts its responsibility for these crimes. The only "dispute" about this is to determine what, and how much, Japan has to do to restore the dignity and self respect of the victims so that the victims, in turn, can forgive the perpetrators and allow them to be part of the civilized world. For a reconciliation that will work, the apology Japan must give to the victims is not one speech or one gesture but a state of mind in which the perpetrator truly accepts his responsibility for good. A person or a nation who makes such apology will be ready to mention and discuss his own past wrong-doing ad infinitum, if necessary, and will be willing to join the world's effort to make sure that such crimes will not occur again in the future. What Japan will receive in such reconciliation is clearly greater than what Japan gives because it will be nothing less than the restoration of the moral integrity of Japan as a nation and its freedom from the monstrosity of its Imperial past. Given the attitude of Abe, however, it is abundantly clear that Japan has not taken, and is not willing to take, even one very small step toward a true reconciliation.



From the reactions in the United States, it is also abundantly clear that the US government considers any past war crimes issues and the needed reconciliation between S. Korea and Japan merely a nuisance and huddle in the way of the potential military alliance between S. Korea, Japan and the US. Such view is not only a profoundly wrong moral failure but a diplomatic error that will be potentially very costly to all nations concerned in terms of the most practical real world consequences.


Reprinted from The Nation



Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley

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Before media and political elites began to understand the potential for online activism, MoveOn was doing it. The group, which was forged in the 1998 fight to get Congress to "move on" from petty-yet-divisive wrangling over the impeachment of Bill Clinton, and which expanded into a political force of national and international significance during the struggle to avert the war in Iraq, MoveOn has for almost two decades set benchmarks for digital activism.



Today, the group describes itself as "a community of more than 8 million Americans from all walks of life who use the connective power of the Internet to lead, participate in, and win campaigns for progressive change."

Yet only once has MoveOn made an endorsement in a contest for a Democratic presidential nomination. In February 2008, when that year's primary race was at its most competitive, MoveOn members voted 70-30 to back the insurgent candidacy of Illinois Senator Barack Obama over that of New York Senator Hillary Clinton. Four years earlier, former Vermont governor Howard Dean beat Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry in "the MoveOn primary," but fell short of the threshold to secure an endorsement.

In 2008, MoveOn backed Barack Obama. Will the group endorse in the 2016 Democratic race?

Now MoveOn members are voting again, in online balloting that began Thursday and will extend through Sunday.

"Here's your official, personal ballot, where you can vote now for your choice -- Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley, Bernie Sanders, or no endorsement," read the message that went to MoveOn members Thursday afternoon.

"A key reason MoveOn exists is to elevate ordinary people's voices in our democracy, which has been rigged by the undue influence of big money and powerful interests -- and that's exactly what this vote is about," says Ilya Sheyman, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action. "This vote gives millions of MoveOn members across the country a chance to weigh in on the presidential race prior to the Iowa caucuses, and if there is substantial alignment among our membership, MoveOn will endorse and work to elect the candidate MoveOn members support."

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Reprinted from Alon Ben Meir Blog

The Saudi decision to execute Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr at this particular juncture was a strategic act of defiance meant to challenge Iran and the United States in particular. The Saudis wanted to send a blatant and carefully calculated message that the Kingdom is capable of standing on its own, and it will not be deterred by either the already destabilized region or by the repercussions of its act.

To understand, however, why the Saudis chose to go on the offensive now, a brief review of the development of events between Tehran and Riyadh, and Riyadh and Washington, is warranted. This will also explain why the deliberate execution of the Shiite cleric provided the spark that led to the dangerously heightened tensions between the two countries.

To begin with, there was no love lost between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, as their bilateral relations have always seesawed between fragile normalcy and open animosity. The loathing between the two countries is rooted in the historical Sunni-Shiite conflict, which goes back to the conflict over the Prophet Muhammad's succession in the 8th century. In recent times, it was the 1979 Iranian revolution that intensified the rivalry between them.

Saudi Arabia supported Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war (from 1980-1988) that claimed over one million causalities between the two sides and only deepened the hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The 2003 Iraq War brought a revolutionary shift that ended the decades-long US policy of mutual containment of the two countries and allowed Iran to become the dominant player in Iraq.

The subsequent bloodshed between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq, with Iran's direct support of its Shiite brethren, destroyed any remnant of diplomatic normalcy between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Following the eruption of the Arab Spring, the civil war in Syria brought both sides into open confrontation as Syria became the proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Similarly, the conflict in Yemen became yet another battleground between the two countries, with Iran supporting the Shiite-affiliated Houthis both financially and militarily, and the Saudis supporting the Sunni regime led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in order to prevent Iran from establishing a strategic foothold in the Arabian Peninsula.

Finally, Iran's ambition to acquire nuclear weapons fueled the Saudis' legitimate concerns that a nuclear-armed Iran will make it the de facto regional hegemon; in that case, Iran would have the ability to intimidate its neighbors and impose its own political agenda throughout the Gulf.

As a country that has primarily relied on the US for protection, with which it has developed close and binding relations, Saudi Arabia felt all along that it could count on the US to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Although the US has made every effort, including the imposition of crippling sanctions, to prevent Iran from realizing its nuclear ambition, the Saudis felt betrayed by the secret nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran. In addition, Riyadh viewed the Iran deal as a bad deal for having multiple loopholes, which the Saudis believe Iran will exploit since it is determined to acquire nuclear weapons at any cost.

The Saudis became gradually convinced that the Obama administration is tilting increasingly in support of Iran for a number of reasons: a) President Obama does not want to jeopardize the Iran deal, on which much of his legacy hangs; b) the administration concluded that without Iran's participation in the peace talks there will be no diplomatic solution to end Syria's civil war; c) the US views the Iran deal as stabilizing and thus it gives relations with Iran priority in the current diplomatic tussle between Iran and Saudi Arabia; and d) the US' failure to impose sanctions on Iran for testing ballistic missiles has deeply irked the Saudis, who decided to take matters into their hands.

Knowing full well what the repercussions of executing Sheikh al-Nimr would be, Saudi Arabia went ahead with its plans because the potential gains, from the Saudi perspective, far outweighed the prospective fallout.

To demonstrate its resolve, Saudi Arabia carried out the execution of the cleric deliberately at a time when regional rivalry between Sunnis and Shiites is at its peak. The execution was also carried out to appease the Sunni Saudi clerics who are concerned about Iran's growing regional influence, and at the same time deter sympathizers of ISIS, which regard Saudi Arabia as an enemy.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia intended to exclude Iran from playing an active role in the search for a solution to Syria's civil war while impeding the growing alliance between Moscow and Tehran to control the predominantly Sunni Syria. Similarly, as Saudi Arabia is fighting a proxy war against Iran in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, it is determined not to allow Iran free regional reign.

By creating the crisis, Saudi Arabia also hopes to disrupt the warming relations between Iran and the US, which it views as contrary to its interests. In addition, Saudi Arabia hopes to undermine the EU's drive for rapprochement with Iran, as it otherwise has the potential of becoming the largest trading partner with the EU.

The ransacking of the Saudi embassy in Tehran was seen by the Saudis as a "blessing in disguise," playing into the Saudis' hands and putting Iran's President Rouhani on the defensive, prompting Iran to condemn the act. This has boosted the Saudi position and potentially changed the conflict dynamic between the two countries.
Reprinted from Campaign For America's Future



United States Supreme Court

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The Supreme Court has once again decided to reconsider "settled law." This time it is a case involving the rights of public-employee unions to charge employees a fee for the services the unions are required by law to provide to all employees -- even those who are not members of the union. The goal is to bankrupt the unions by denying them the funds necessary to perform the required services.

The argument is that since unions protect working people's pay and rights, paying fees for union services therefore violates the "free speech" of those who support concentrated wealth and power.

This case is going to be argued before the Supreme Court on Monday. Here's why you need to pay attention.

Payment For Services Unions Are Required By Law To Provide

When a public-employee union negotiates a contract, even employees who are not union-members get the pay increases, sick pay, vacation pay, union services and other benefits of the contract. Union services include the cost of collective bargaining, administering the resulting contract, and representing employees who have grievances under the contract.

Currently, unions are required by law to provide these services to every employee covered by a union contract, even if those employees are not union members. So, the unions charge an "agency fee" to those non-union employees to cover the costs.

Public-Employee Unions Support Communities, Not Just The Workers

Public-employee unions, by their nature, fight for the interests not just of employees but of the entire community. On a Wednesday call about the implications of the Freidrichs case, members of public-employee unions described how their unions help them serve the whole community.

Vincent Variale, a New York Fire Department EMS lieutenant and 9/11 first responder, said it is important for first responders to have a voice at the table, because they fight for preventive safety regulations, good equipment and adequate staffing levels.

For example, he said that on 9/11 they had no respirators, so it was hard to provide medical care as needed. His union local brought these concerns to the fire department and fought to get better equipment. Now they have respirators and protective equipment that allows them to work in harsh environments, like building collapses, providing medical care that is needed. And now that there is such a concern about "active shooters," the union is proactively trying to get bulletproof vests. This demonstrates how unions protect the citizens their members serve.

Pankaj Sharma, a high school teacher in Illinois, talked about how his union works to stop cuts to the most marginalized and at-risk students. Special education, for example, is an expensive program and is often a target for cuts. The union fights this. The union also advocates for referendums to get high quality facilities. Because teaching has a high turnover rate, the union created a mentoring program to help keep teachers. This helps school districts and the students.

Coming Soon: Not Just Public Employees

In 2014 the Court ruled 5-4 that the First Amendment prohibited unions from collecting a fee from home healthcare providers who are not members of the union, even though the union was required to provide services.

Because of the makeup of the Court it is likely to rule in Freidrichs that nonmembers no longer have to pay those fees while the unions will still be required to provide those services. (Why else would the Court have taken this case?)

These cases are about public employees, but undoubtedly all of this is intended to lead also to attacking the same requirements for private-employee unions. This is about making every state a "right-to-work" state, and suppressing unions and wages.

Corporate Conservative Court Is Reconsidering Supposedly "Settled" Cases

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Reprinted from To The Point Analyses



Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement

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Part I -- Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Most readers will know that the United States has served as the patron of Israel for decades. Why has it done so? The commonly given reasons are suspect. It is not because the two countries have overlapping interests. The U.S. seeks stability in the Middle East (mostly by supporting dictators) and Israel is constantly making things unstable (mostly by practicing ethnic cleansing against Palestinians, illegally colonizing conquered lands and launching massive assaults against its neighbors). Nor, as is often claimed, is the alliance based on "shared Western values." The U.S. long ago outlawed racial, ethnic and religious discrimination in the public sphere. In Israel, religious-based discrimination is the law. The Zionist state's values in this regard are the opposite of those of the United States. So why is it that a project that seeks to pressure Israel to be more cognizant in foreign affairs of regional stability, and more democratic and egalitarian in domestic affairs, is now under fire by almost every presidential candidate standing for the 2016 election? That project in dispute is BDS, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, promoted by civil society throughout the Western world. BDS is directed at Israel due to its illegal colonization of the Occupied Territories and its general apartheid-style discrimination against non-Jews in general and Palestinians in particular. Part II -- The Candidates and BDS With but two exceptions, every presidential candidate in both parties is condemning the BDS Movement. Lets start with the two exceptions. The first exception is the Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who has taken the accurate position that "the United States has encouraged the worst tendencies of the Israeli government." She has pledged to use both diplomatic and economic means to change Israeli behavior, behavior which she rightly believes is in contravention of international law and violates human rights. The second exception is the Republican candidate Donald Trump, who recently told a meeting of Jewish Republicans that he didn't think Israel is serious about peace and that they would have to make greater efforts to achieve it. When he was booed he just shrugged and told the crowd that he did not care if they supported him or not, "I don't want your money." Unfortunately, this appears to be the only policy area where Mr. Trump is reasonable. Jill Stein gets absolutely no media coverage and Donald Trump gets too much. And neither is in the "mainstream" when it comes to American political reactions to BDS. However, the rest of the presidential candidates are. Here is what is coming out of the "mainstream": -- Jeb Bush (Republican), 4 December 2015: "On day one I will work with the next attorney general to stop the BDS movement in the United States, to use whatever resources that exist" to do so. -- Ted Cruz (Republican), 28 May 2015: "BDS is premised on a lie and it is anti-Semitism, plain and simple. And we need a president of the United States who will stand up and say if a university in this country boycotts the nation of Israel than that university will forfeit federal taxpayer dollars." -- Marco Rubio (Republican), 3 December 2015: "This [BDS] coalition of the radical left thinks it has discovered a clever, politically correct way to advocate Israel's destruction. As president, I will call on university presidents, administrators, religious leaders, and professors to speak out with clarity and force on this issue. I will make clear that calling for the destruction of Israel is the same as calling for the death of Jews." -- Hillary Clinton (Democrat), 2 July 2015: In a letter to Haim Saban, who is a staunch supporter of the Zionist state and also among the biggest donors to the Democratic Party, she said, "I know you agree that we need to make countering BDS a priority, I am seeking your advice on how we can work together -- across party lines and with a diverse array of voices -- to fight back against further attempts to isolate and delegitimize Israel." -- Bernie Sanders (Democrat), 20 October 2015: "Sanders' fraught encounter with BDS supporters who challenged his defense of Israel at a town hall meeting in Cabot [Vermont] last year was captured on YouTube." Sanders told them to "shut up." Part III -- The Legitimacy of Boycott This hostility to the tactic of boycott runs counter to both U.S. legal tradition and the country's broader historical tradition.

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I don't know where this will end but every time I write about a book on Bernie Sanders, somebody sends me a larger one. At least my arms are getting stronger from lifting the things. One point is clear to me: if the media ever wanted to catch up on all the coverage of Bernie's campaign that it has foregone, it could do it with a minimum-wage staffer reading aloud from books -- reducing the need to find corporations opposed to oligarchy to buy the advertisements. The reporting is in books, it's just not in newspapers or boob tubes.

The latest is Bernie: A Lifelong Crusade Against Wall Street & Wealth by Darcy G. Richardson. Like the last one was, it is now the most substantial reporting I've seen on Bernie's political career. It also does the most to include the voices of Bernie's critics from the left (see Chapter 1). In addition it, by far, includes the most information on Bernie's foreign policy actions, good and bad, over the decades. The book is a bit too heavy on horse-race coverage of each of Sanders' past elections for my taste, but people who like that stuff will eat it up.

Having written elsewhere today about public diplomacy by towns and cities, I was particularly struck by Richardson's chapter titled "International Diplomacy," which covers, not Bernie's career in Washington, but his time as mayor of Burlington, Vt. It is safe to say that when it comes to foreign policy Bernie was better then than he is now, was better then than any current mayor in the United States, and was better then than possibly any other mayor ever. I say that while continuing to condemn the horrible things he did, including arresting peace activists for demanding conversion of weapons jobs to peaceful ones.

Mayor Bernie denounced the Pentagon budget, explained its local relevance, demanded nuclear disarmament, opposed apartheid in South Africa, and sought to improve U.S.-Soviet relations. "We're spending billions on military," he said, touching on a theme that today he wouldn't prod with a $10 billion screw out of an F-35. "Why can't we take some of that money to pay for thousands of U.S. children to go to the Soviet Union? And, why can't the Soviets take money they're spending on arms and use it to send thousands of Russian children to America?"

Mayor Bernie backed a successful ballot initiative telling the U.S. military to get out of El Salvador. He denounced the U.S. attack on Grenada. The Burlington Board of Alderman voted to encourage trade between Burlington and Nicaragua, in defiance of President Ronald Reagan's embargo. Mayor Bernie accepted an invitation from the Nicaraguan government to visit Nicaragua, where he spoke out against U.S. war mongering, and from which he returned to a speaking tour letting Vermonters know what he's seen and learned. He had also set up a sister city relationship for Burlington with a city in Nicaragua. He led an effort that provided $100,000 in aid to that city.

Again, articulating basic common sense wisdom that he wouldn't come near today for love or the presidency, Mayor Bernie Sanders said, "Instead of invading Nicaragua and spending tremendous amounts of tax dollars on a war there, money which could be much better used at home, it seems to me that it would be worthwhile for us to get to know the people of Nicaragua, understand their problems and concerns, and see how we can transform the present tension-filled relationship into a positive one based on mutual respect." Just try to imagine Senator Sanders saying that about the people of Syria or Iraq.

Richardson's book is of course largely devoted to the topic of taking on Wall Street greed, on which Sanders has been stellar and consistent for years and years. But we do also catch glimpses of Sanders' evolving foreign policy from his opposition to the war on Vietnam (which was more serious than other books have suggested) through to his proposal that Saudi Arabia "get its hands dirty" and kill more people. At the time of the Gulf War, Sanders was far more hawkish than a simple look at his No vote on invasion suggests. He supported the troop build up and the deadly embargo. He backed the NATO bombing in Kosovo. He opposed until very late any efforts to impeach Bush or Cheney.

But on the matter of Wall Street, Sanders has been as good in the past as he was in this week's speech. He warned of the danger of a crash years before it came, and questioned people like Alan Greenspan who brushed all worries aside. He opposed repealing Glass-Steagall. He opposed credit default swap scams. He opposed the appointments of Timothy Geithner and Jack Lew. His "big short" was perhaps to stay in politics until it became clear to all sane people that he'd been right on these matters, as on NAFTA and so much else. His favorite book in college, we learn, was Looking Backward. He found the root of most problems in capitalism. He developed a consistent ideology that makes his growing acceptance of militarism stand out as uniquely opportunistic and false.

By that I most certainly do not mean that he is a candidate for peace strategically pretending to be for war, as many voters told themselves about Barack Obama on even less basis. When Bernie was good on foreign policy he campaigned promising to be good on foreign policy. As his performance worsened, so did his campaign promises. Any elected official can be moved by public pressure, of course, but first he'd have to be elected and then we'd have to move him -- something millions of people have taken a principled stand against even trying with President Obama.

One note in Sanders' defense: Richardson cites a rightwing newspaper article claiming that Bernie and his wife together are in the top 2 percent of income earners. It's worth noting that were that true it would not put them anywhere at all near the top 2 percent in accumulated wealth. It also seems to be an extreme estimate on behalf of the author of a sloppy article. Another source places the Sanders in the top 5 percent in income, while noting how extremely impoverished that leaves them by the standards of the U.S. Senate.
Editor:

Dan DuSoleils letter Syrian refugees and Sharia law surprised me with its generalizations and unsubstantiated arguments. I challenge his assertion that Syrian refugees pose a danger to America and that Muslim refugees will bring barbaric practices to America like wife-beating and female genital mutilation (FGM).

Based on an uncited PewCenter study, DuSoleil writes three-quarters of Middle Eastern Muslims favor making Sharia the law of the land. He fears this since, in his opinion, the Quran (4:34) commands husbands to beat [disobedient] wives. Does one study of Middle Eastern Muslims accurately represent all Muslims? The Middle East is a diverse region, not a uniformity. Nothing in the study suggests Muslim refugees favor making Shariah law in the U.S. When DuSoleil claims most [Muslims] believe sharia was revealed by God, I ask: how can any one person know what all Muslims believe? This generalization conflates South Asian, North/Central African, and Sunni/Shiite Muslims.

Of Syrian refugees seeking U.S. resettlement, 67 percent are women/male children (http://www.factcheck.org/2015/11/facts-about-the-syrian-refugees/). Is it likely that with majority female/male child refugees problems with sharia will increase as DuSoleil worries? Here, Shariah has been inaccurately conflated with FGM/sexist abuse.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of Islam the Quran contains only ninety verses regarding law; the remainder of Islamic law is the result of human efforts to codify norms. Shariah is largely left open to interpretation of legislators, who might incorporate non-Quranic cultural/tribal traditions. Religious scholar Reza Aslan has argued FGM is a central African [tribal] problem, rather than an Islamic problem (CNNTonight, Sept.29, 2014).

As for claiming the Quran encourages wife-beating, I question this interpretations depth of research. The Qurans complex history includes translation from the original Arabic. The mathematician/Islamic scholar Dr. Ahmad Shafaats scholarly translation of Surah 4:34 confirms that the Arabic word for beat, dharb, also translates to the verb 'separate.' Dr. Shafaat writes In surah 20:77 it [dharb] is used to refer to the splitting of the sea to make way for the children of Israel ... in 57:13 it [dharb] is used of separating groups of people in the hereafter ... there is no warrant in this verse for wife battering (http://www.islamicperspectives.com/quran-4-34.htm).

Brianna Thompson

Spring Creek


TSA fingerprints

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"Inappropriate." "Invasive." That's how Kevin Payne of San Diego, California describes a Transportation Security Administration employee's "patdown" of his daughter Vendela at the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina airport. He's unduly kind. The "patdown" -- which Payne captured on cell phone video -- was a sexual assault which, in any sane society, would have ended with the perpetrator's arrest.

The TSA's response? The assault "followed approved procedures." Turning every airport terminal in the US into the functional equivalent of one of Uday Hussein's "rape rooms" is apparently a feature, not a bug, in America's post-9/11 "security" software.

It's time and past time to permanently disband TSA and let airports and airlines go back to providing for their own security.

After 13 years of operation, with an annual budget of nearly $7.5 billion, the TSA has yet to demonstrate its usefulness in stopping terrorism aboard airplanes. It routinely fails tests in which inspectors smuggle weapons past its security checkpoints. So far there's been not a single verifiable instance of TSA foiling a terror plot. And it's invariably local law enforcement, not TSA, which effectually responds to security incidents at airports (as in the 2013 LAX attack, in which a TSA agent was killed before local airport police shot the gunman, and the 2014 New Orleans incident in which a deputy sheriff shot a man who was chasing a TSA agent with a machete).

The only thing the organization appears to be any good at is empowering its employees to ogle and feel up travelers and steal goodies from travelers' luggage.

As for the costs, that $7.5 billion budget doesn't even begin to touch them. According to the US Bureau of Transportation statistics, there were 685 million airplane passenger boardings in the United States between October 1, 2014 and September 2015. Assuming an average wait time of 10 minutes to get through the TSA's screening line, that's 1.1 million hours of lost time for passengers -- hours they could have spent working, or shopping, or getting to where they were going, instead of waiting to find out whether or not they'd win the TSA lottery to have their genitals fondled or their laptops swiped from their checked luggage.

Yes, I get it. 9/11 was a horrible day and the urge to "do something" to prevent future attacks is entirely understandable. But the Transportation Security Administration is clearly not up to the task. It doesn't make us safer. It just inconveniences, assaults and steals from us. Let's end this nonsense.
Reprinted from Smirking Chimp

"Laissez faire" capitalists love to argue that the market itself is magic. You don't need government or regulation to rein in bad companies -- consumers will do it. The principle involved is called "reputation." It's amazing how vigorously, then, some governments will get involved to defend bad companies from shame.

Several years ago, activists in North America, Europe and Israel, began campaigning for a boycott of companies based in occupied territory. Among those is the Ahava Corporation. In the US, women organized by CodePink started showing up at Ahava stores dressed in bikinis daubed in mud. It's not pretty to be predatory, the women of the Stolen Beauty campaign said: while Ahava's packages say their skin creams come from the Dead Sea, Israel, the mud actually comes from a site inside occupied territory; it's manufactured into cosmetics in an illegal settlement deep within the occupied West Bank.

While Ahava's using Palestinian resources without permission or compensation, Palestinians themselves are denied access to the Dead Sea's shores -- although one-third of the western shore of the Dead Sea lies in the occupied West Bank.

For years, the European Union's been considering what to do about this and as you can imagine, they've come under withering attack. This fall, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu went all out and accused the Europeans of singling out Israel, invoking the holocaust and threatening to shun a series of high level meetings. The rhetorical onslaught worked to the extent that instead of a boycott, the Europeans opted for labelling.

The tepid option, products made in occupied territory will bear labels that include the term "Israeli settlement," while Palestinian products will be labelled "product from the West Bank (Palestinian product)," "product from Gaza," or "product from Palestine." The labeling will be mandatory for fruit and vegetables, wine, honey, olive oil, eggs, poultry, organic products, and cosmetics, and voluntary for industrial products and processed foods.

It's tepid, but better than anything the US government's has done so far. The Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign continues. Truth in labelling's at least a start. Now if only we could get the "laissez faire" label removed from laissez faire capitalism.

You can see my interview with reporter Antony Loewenstein on his latest book Disaster Capitalism, Making A Killing Out Of Catastrophe this week on the Laura Flanders Show on LinkTV, FreeSpeech TV and in English and Spanish on TeleSUR and find all our archives at TheLFShow.org.
Even the neocon-oriented Wall Street Journal took note of the worsening corruption in a Jan. 1, 2016 article observing that "most Ukrainians say the revolution's promise to replace rule by thieves with the rule of law has fallen short and the government acknowledges that there is still much to be done."

Meanwhile, Ukraine's GDP has fallen in every quarter since the Feb. 22, 2014 putsch that overthrew elected President Viktor Yanukovych. Since then, the average Ukrainian also has faced economic "reforms" to slash pensions, energy subsidies and other social programs, as demanded by the International Monetary Fund. Actually, the numbers suggest something even worse. More and more Ukrainians rate corruption as a major problem facing the nation, including a majority of 53 percent last September, up from 48 percent last June and 28 percent in September 2014, according to polls by International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

In other words, the hard lives of most Ukrainians have gotten significantly harder while the elites continue to skim off whatever cream is left, including access to billions of dollars in the West's foreign assistance that is keeping the economy afloat.

Part of the problem appears to be that people supposedly responsible for the corruption fight are themselves dogged by allegations of corruption. The Journal cited Ukrainian lawmaker Volodymyr Parasyuk who claimed to be so outraged by graft that he expressed his fury "by kicking in the face an official he says owns luxury properties worth much more than a state salary could provide."

However, the Journal also noted that "parliament is the site of frequent mass brawls [and] it is hard to untangle all the overlapping corruption allegations and squabbling over who is to blame. Mr. Parasyuk himself was named this week as receiving money from an organized crime suspect, a claim he denies."

Then, there is the case of Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, who is regarded by top American columnists as the face of Ukraine's reform. Indeed, a Wall Street Journal op-ed last month by Stephen Sestanovich, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, hailed Jaresko as "a tough reformer" whose painful plans include imposing a 20 percent "flat tax" on Ukrainians (a favorite nostrum of the American Right which despises a progressive tax structure that charges the rich at a higher rate).

Sestanovich noted that hedge-fund billionaire George Soros, who has made a fortune by speculating in foreign currencies, has endorsed Jaresko's plan but that it is opposed by some key parliamentarians who favor a "populist" alternative that Sestanovich says "will cut rates, explode the deficit, and kiss IMF money good-bye."

Yet, Jaresko is hardly a paragon of reform. Prior to getting instant Ukrainian citizenship and becoming Finance Minister in December 2014, she was a former U.S. diplomat who had been entrusted to run a $150 million U.S.-taxpayer-funded program to help jump-start an investment economy in Ukraine and Moldova.

Jaresko's compensation was capped at $150,000 a year, a salary that many Americans would envy, but it was not enough for her. So, she engaged in a variety of maneuvers to evade the cap and enrich herself by claiming millions of dollars in bonuses and fees.

Ultimately, Jaresko was collecting more than $2 million a year after she shifted management of the Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) to her own private company, Horizon Capital, and arranged to get lucrative bonuses when selling off investments, even as the overall WNISEF fund was losing money, according to official records.

For instance, Jaresko collected $1.77 million in bonuses in 2013, according to WNISEF's latest available filing with the Internal Revenue Service. In her financial disclosure forms with the Ukrainian government, she reported earning $2.66 million in 2013 and $2.05 million in 2014, thus amassing a sizeable personal fortune while investing U.S. taxpayers' money supposedly to benefit the Ukrainian people.

It didn't matter that WNISEF continued to hemorrhage money, shrinking from its original $150 million to $89.8 million in the 2013 tax year, according to the IRS filing. WNISEF reported that the bonuses to Jaresko and other corporate officers were based on "successful" exits from some investments even if the overall fund was losing money. [See Consortiumnews.com's "How Ukraine's Finance Minister Got Rich."]

Though Jaresko's enrichment schemes are documented by IRS and other official filings, the mainstream U.S. media has turned a blind eye to this history, all the better to pretend that Ukraine's "reform" process is in good hands. (It also turns out that Jaresko did not comply with Ukrainian law that permits only single citizenship; she has kept her U.S. passport exploiting a loophole that gives her two years to show that she has renounced her U.S. citizenship.)

Propaganda over Reality
President Obama should be given props for the progress made in thawing US-Cuban relations, but there's a piece of unfinished business that he could--and should--still attend to: returning the US Naval Base in Guantanamo to the Cuban people. In doing so, he could also solve another dilemma that has plagued his administration: closing the Guantanamo prison.





(Image by Code Pink) Details DMCA



In November 2015, CODEPINK brought 60 delegates to the city of Guanta'namo for an international conference about the abolition of foreign military bases. To delve more into the impact of the Guanta'namo naval base on the Cuban people, we took a trip to Caimanera--a small town of 11,000 people that abuts the US Naval Base on the southeastern coast of Cuba.

Caimanera is hot and humid. Small, colorful but dilapidated houses pack the narrow town streets. There are crowded sidewalk cafes where highly coveted WiFi is available. In the middle of town there's an impressive central plaza, decorated by statues of Cuban revolutionary heroes, and on the streets around the square there are schools, a community cultural center, Committee of the Defense of the Revolution offices, and more.

Since 1903, Caimanera has been a neighbor to a 73-square-mile US naval base. Before the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Caimanera bustled with visiting American civilians and Marines from the base who poured million of dollars into the tourist industry--mostly from bars and prostitution. Thousands of Cubans were employed on the naval base. After the revolution led by Fidel Castro, the US severed relations with Cuba and US military personnel were restricted to the base. The Cuban government stopped cashing the US annual $4,085 rent checks and demanded that the land be returned to the Cuban people.

As our buses pulled into the town, it was as if the entire community had come out to greet us. Men in suits, women in work uniforms, people holding large banners calling for the closure of foreign military bases, and hundreds of children in their school uniforms all lined the streets, smiling at us and waving Cuban flags. In fact, the whole town had come out to greet us, and they looked positively thrilled.

We spent the day touring the town with the mayor of the town and the governor of the province of Guanta'namo. We visited a lookout point where we could see Cuba's unwelcome neighbor through binoculars. The US naval base, we were told, is an illegal occupation of Cuban land that violates the territorial sovereignty of the island. The base sits on a critical part of the bay that would vastly improve the local economy if the land were returned. They believe, as Raul Castro has said, that the closure of the base is a condition for the full normalization of relations between the two nations.

One part of the US Naval Base that our Cuban hosts found to be particularly egregious is the infamous Camp X-Ray and the other buildings that form the US military prison that has housed 779 prisoners from the US "war on terror" since January 11, 2002. The Cubans are well aware of President Obama's 2008 campaign promise to shut down the prison and his subsequent failure to follow through. Seven years later, 105 prisoners are still there.

January 11 marks 14 long years since the first prisoners arrived at the notorious prison. Human rights activists and advocates across the world are demanding Obama utilize his executive powers to close the prison and put an end to this blight on America's history.

Blaming Congress for the hold up in closing the prison, President Obama has run out of excuses. Some of Obama's top Guanta'namo experts have argued that the President doesn't need Congressional approval to close the prison. After all, President Bush didn't get Congressional approval when he opened it. They claim that according to the Constitution, Congress cannot specify facilities in which particular detainees must be held and tried.

In his last year in office, President Obama must right two wrongs that would help salvage his legacy: close the US military prison and announce the willingness to close the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo and return the land to the Cuban people.

President Obama has said he's like to visit Cuba before leaving office. Wouldn't it be grand if he visited Caimanera to make an announcement that the prison would be closed and the lovely Cuban seaport would finally be returned to its rightful owners? The people of Caimanera--indeed people the world over--would come out to cheer him.
This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

What a scam! Noam Scheiber and Patricia Cohen described it this way in a front-page New York Times report on how a small group of incredibly wealthy Americans funded their way into another tax universe: "Operating largely out of public view -- in tax court, through arcane legislative provisions and in private negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service -- the wealthy have used their influence to steadily whittle away at the government's ability to tax them. The effect has been to create a kind of private tax system, catering to only several thousand Americans."

Yes, you read that correctly: tiny numbers of Americans live on a different tax planet from the rest of us. They've paid for the privilege, of course, and increasingly for the political class that oversees how our country runs. They've insulated themselves in a largely tax-free zone that ensures their "equality" before the law (such as it is) and your deepening inequality before the same -- and before them. Their actions have garnered them the ultimate in impunity. In this election season in a country of more than 300 million people, for instance, a mere 158 families (and the companies they control) are putting their (largely tax-free) dollars where our mouths once were. By October, they had provided almost half the money thus far raised by presidential candidates in a move meant to ensure that American democracy becomes their system, their creature. ("Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision five years ago.")

My dictionary defines "impunity" simply enough as "exemption from punishment, penalty, or harm." That's a striking trait for those who lord it over us. In the most incarcerated nation on Earth, with close to 25% of the globe's prison population, there are seemingly no bars strong enough to hold our economic elites or, for that matter, their national security brethren.

The U.S. national security state, like the billionaire class, has grown ever richer and become ever more entrenched in these years, while similarly extracting itself from what was once the American political and legal system. Its officials now exist in a world of secrecy in which, in the name of our "safety," ever fewer of their acts are open to our scrutiny. They inhabit what can only be thought of as a crime-free zone. No act they commit, no matter how extralegal or illegal, will evidently ever land them in a court of law. They have, in essence, total impunity. It doesn't matter whether you're talking about the CIA's massive, extralegal operation to kidnap "terror suspects" (often enough, as it turned out, innocent civilians) and deliver them to the torture chambers of brutal allies or to a system of "black sites" off the coast of normal justice. Lying to Congress, hacking congressional computers, and assassinating American citizens have all been green-lighted. No one was ever punished. When necessary, in the secret corridors of power, officials of the national security state simply mobilize lawyers to reinterpret the law of the land to their taste.

When it comes to impunity, their record has been the equal of anything the billionaire class has done. And none of it was more impressive, in its own way, than the use of obviously illegal methods of torture, euphemistically termed "enhanced interrogation techniques," against helpless prisoners in a secret global prison system, as TomDispatch regular Rebecca Gordon reminds us today. You want war crimes? Post-9/11, Washington could have sported the logo: War Crimes "R" Us. If you want to understand what this sort of impunity means in terms of the politics of 2016, then read on. Tom

America Revisits the Dark Side

Candidates Compete to Promise the Most Torture and Slaughter

By Rebecca Gordon They're back! From the look of the presidential campaign, war crimes are back on the American agenda. We really shouldn't be surprised, because American officials got away with it last time -- and in the case of the drone wars continue to get away with it today. Still, there's nothing like the heady combination of a "populist" Republican race for the presidency and a national hysteria over terrorism to make Americans want to reach for those "enhanced interrogation techniques." That, as critics have long argued, is what usually happens if war crimes aren't prosecuted. In August 2014, when President Obama finally admitted that "we tortured some folks," he added a warning. The recent history of U.S. torture, he said, "needs to be understood and accepted. We have to as a country take responsibility for that so hopefully we don't do it again in the future." By pinning the responsibility for torture on all of us "as a country," Obama avoided holding any of the actual perpetrators to account. Unfortunately, "hope" alone will not stymie a serial war criminal -- and the president did not even heed his own warning. For seven years his administration has done everything except help the country "take responsibility" for torture and other war crimes. It looked the other way when it comes to holding accountable those who set up and ran the CIA's large-scale torture operations at its "black sites" around the world. It never brought charges against those who ordered torture at Guanta'namo. It prosecuted no one, above all not the top officials of the Bush administration. Now, in the endless run-up to the 2016 presidential elections, we've been treated to some pretty strange gladiatorial extravaganzas, with more to come in 2016. In these peculiarly American spectacles, Republican candidates hurl themselves at one another in a frenzied effort to be seen as the candidate most likely to ignore the president's wan hope and instead "do it again in the future." As a result, they are promising to commit a whole range of crimes, from torture to the slaughter of civilians, for which the leaders of some nations would find themselves hauled into international court as war criminals. But "war criminal" is a label reserved purely for people we loathe, not for us. To paraphrase former President Richard Nixon, if the United States does it, it's not a crime. In the wake of the brutal attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, the promises being openly made to commit future crimes have only grown more forthright. A few examples from the presidential campaign trail should suffice to make the point: * Ted Cruz guarantees that "we" will "utterly destroy ISIS." How will we do it? "We will carpet bomb them into oblivion" -- that is, "we" will saturate an area with munitions in such a way that everything and everyone on the ground is obliterated. Of such a bombing campaign against the Islamic State, he told a cheering crowd at the Rising Tide Summit, "I don't know if sand can glow in the dark, but we're going to find out." (It's hard not to take this as a reference to the use of nuclear weapons, though in the bravado atmosphere of the present Republican campaign a lot of detailed thought is undoubtedly not going into any such proposals.) * Kindly retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson evidently has similar thoughts. When pressed by CNN co-moderator Hugh Hewitt in the most recent Republican debate on whether he was "tough" enough to be "okay with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian[s]," Carson replied, "You got it. You got it." He even presented a future campaign against the Islamic State in which "thousands" of children might die as an example of the same kind of tough love a surgeon sometimes exhibits when facing a difficult case. It's like telling a child, he assured Hewitt, that "we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me." So, presumably, will those "dead innocent children" in Syria -- once they get over the shock of being dead. * Jeb Bush's approach brought what, in Republican circles, passes for nuance to the discussion of future war crimes policy. What Washington needs, he argued, is "a strategy" and what stands in the way of the Obama administration developing one is an excessive concern with the niceties of international law. As he put it, "We need to get the lawyers off the back of the warfighters. Right now under President Obama, we've created... this standard that is so high that it's impossible to be successful in fighting ISIS." Meanwhile, Jeb has surrounded himself with a familiar clique of neocon "advisers" -- people like George W. Bush's former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and his former Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, who planned for and advocated the illegal U.S. war against Iraq, which touched off a regional war with devastating human consequences.

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Seven staff at the Oregon Zoo were infected with tuberculosis following an outbreak starting in 2013 among three bull elephants - Packy, his son Rama and Tusko.

The seven people who developed a latent form of the disease without symptoms had close contact with the elephants, according to a report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An eighth person, a volunteer, also developed a mysterious case of tuberculosis.

None of those people were infectious and nobody in the public was at risk, said Dr. Jennifer Vines, deputy health officer for Multnomah County.

The report adds to the somewhat thin knowledge about the transmission of tuberculosis from elephants to people, Vines said. The good news is that even though TB is highly contagious, the three infected elephants at the zoo did not spread the disease to visitors, including those who attended one of Rama's painting parties in which he created splatter paintings.

TB is a respiratory disease that's spread through the air when a person - or in this case elephant -- coughs, sneezes or otherwise spreads the bacteria. About 5 percent of the captive Asian elephants in North America are infected. The disease can be deadly to elephants. Three pachyderms at an exotic animal farm in Illinois died from the disease between 1994 and 1996, according to the CDC. One handler in that outbreak got sick as well.

At the Oregon Zoo, the first case popped up in May 2013, when a test on Rama was positive. At the time, the animals were checked annually for TB by testing secretions from their trunks. In December, Packy tested positive, followed by Tusko in June 2014.

All three animals were put on a months-long round of treatment and the zoo enacted safety measures, according to Bob Lee, the zoo's elephant curator.

He said staff with close contact with the elephants have donned protective masks that are form fitted to their faces. Employees also stopped using a pressure washer to disinfect the areas and switched to a regular hose to avoid blasting bacteria around. The infected elephants were kept away from the other pachyderms but still could see, hear and smell the other elephants.

"There was a lot of contact," Lee said. "We just don't want them sharing the same air space."

The infected elephants were also kept at least 100 feet away from the public, four times more than the recommended distance, Lee said.

Tusko completed his 18-month long treatment and was reintroduced to the herd. Rama had just finished treatment when he was euthanized last March. Tusko was put to sleep in December. Tusko had mobility issues caused by a decades-old foot injury and Rama was hobbled by an old leg injury.

Lee said they were euthanized to put them out of pain not because of the infection.

"TB wasn't a factor in deciding to euthanize them," Lee said. "They had done really well with the treatment."

While zoo staff tended to the animals, county epidemiologists launched an investigation to identify any human cases. Health officials found 118 people who they felt may have potentially been at risk. They included zoo staff with close contact with the animals and volunteers and members of the public who may be have exposed to trunk secretions or elephant feces.

Only seven people among the group of staff with close contact with the pachyderms tested positive. The report indicates that six of those people were likely infected by Rama. Investigators were not able to determine how the seventh became infected. None had any symptoms and was not contagious but they were offered free medication anyway to prevent them from getting sick.

The treatment is voluntary but the staff members will be screened periodically and none has developed symptoms, Vines said.

The eighth person is a bit of a mystery. That person was a volunteer and only around the elephants during an orientation.

"This person was a volunteer at the zoo but only had an hour of time spent in the elephant barn," Vines said.

That person had the exact same bacterial strain as the one that infected Rama. But the patient was diagnosed and treated in 2012, before any of the positive elephant tests.

"There is not a tidy bottom line to this," Vines said. "There are three possibilities."

She said perhaps it was coincidental that the strains matched, though that's highly unlikely. They were tested by whole genome sequencing. She said it was also possible that there was another animal or person who infected that patient, though the investigation didn't turn any up. The third possibility is that an elephant was infected in 2012 but that zoo staff didn't know about it. A negative elephant test is not conclusive, according to Oregon Zoo staff.

Nineteen people who attended the orientation and were tested came out negative, Vines said.

Nevertheless, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said in a statement that the infections confirm "that the risk to human health posed by captive elephants is serious."

The outbreak has changed testing among zoo staff. Lee said employees with close contact with the elephants are now tested more than just once a year, which is standard for all zoo employees across the country. The zoo's six elephants are also tested more frequently. The males are tested monthly and the females get checked once a quarter.

The new elephant space was designed to accommodate infected elephants, with Packy in an area with its own ventilation. Though he's had some troubles with the treatment, going off medication when his liver values went up, he's now doing well on the drugs, Lee said.

If all goes well, the 53-year-old bull elephant will be back with the herd when his treatment is over.

-- Lynne Terry

lterry@oregonian.com; 503-221-8503
An Oregon House of Representatives committee will hear a pitch Thursday on naming the Newfoundland State Dog of Oregon.

Becky Davis, who runs Notta Bear Newfoundlands kennel in Hubbard, is proposing the large waterdogs get the job. Davis' Newfoundlands visit nursing homes, treatment centers and hospitals as therapy animals and also participate in dog shows.

is a clear winner for Oregon due to its history in the state, Davis said. Explorer Meriwether Lewis brought his Newfoundland,

, along on his

with William Clark in the early 1800s.

Newfoundlands, with their webbed feet and thick water-repellant coats, are also known for water rescue, fitting with Oregon's collection of waterways, Davis said. Full-grown males can weigh between 150 and 170 pounds, she added, but the dogs typically have a sweet and calm disposition.

"They're non-aggressive and love their families," Davis said. "They're just natural service dogs."

Only some states currently have official dog breeds. In Alaska, the state dog is the Alaskan Malamute. Maryland has the Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

Thursday's presentation to the House Interim Committee on Rules will be a first step toward considering a state dog for Oregon, Davis said. She plans to attend with her family and two of her Newfoundlands, four-year-old Shadrach and five-month-old Olga.

"I would love to see them put in place," Davis said. "When you start giving a state something of interest, the public (wants) to come see."

Which dog do you think should represent Oregon? Feel free to weigh in with our poll.

--Laura Frazier

lfrazier@oregonian.com

503-294-4035

@frazier_laura
13037980-mmmain.jpg

The impact of the drought on the Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge.

(Beth Nakamura)

The ongoing Western tragedy, folks, is not an armed and angry posse holding a bird sanctuary hostage in the high desert of Harney County.

It's the cynical abandonment of the ranchers, fishermen and Native American tribes so dependent on water in the Klamath Basin.

Bad things happen, we are often told, when good people do nothing.

Far worse is the fallout when thoughtful men and women do everything in their power to heal a diverse community, and members of Congress profit by seeing them fail.

That's precisely what happened at year's end: Congress once again failed to implement the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, an epic water-sharing pact between irrigators, ranchers, dam owners and tribal fishermen along the 263-mile length of the Klamath River.

That accord was born in 2010, when Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ted Kulongoski governed California and Oregon. It was kept alive by wrenching negotiations between ranchers and the Yurok, Karuk and Klamath tribes.

Its most controversial element remains the dismantling of four PacifiCorp dams that have long poisoned the salmon runs and local politics.

No one was better positioned than Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., to champion that Klamath Basin agreement through the Republican-controlled House.

Greg Walden

Yet few onlookers were more dismissive. Walden was quick to empathize with the militant Mormon tour group perpetuating the farce in Harney County, but he has shown little sympathy for agreement or compromise in the Basin.

Instead, Walden perpetuates the over-hyped fears about dam removal. He drafts a ludicrous House bill that proposed the transfer of 200,000 acres of federal land to two counties in the Basin.

And Walden happily accepts credit, or blame, for derailing the agreement, argues Jason Atkinson, the former Republican state senator from Central Point.

"That's exactly what he wants," Atkinson says, "By killing it, he ensures that he doesn't get a primary challenge from the Tea Party."

Atkinson, who grew up on the Klamath, takes that personally. He spent two years making the film, "A River Between Us," that frames the sacrifices made to forge a compromise in the drought-stricken Basin.

The water-sharing agreements were a remarkable achievement. The 2001 water cutoff for farmers in Klamath Falls and the infamous 2002 kill of 80,000 salmon drove a deep and maddening wedge between irrigators, environmentalists and the tribes.

The anger and distrust were corrosive. "There were suicides. Bankruptcies. So much evil," Atkinson says. "The feelings were so hard, and the politics so bad, that it took 10 years to get people back on the same page.

"But they did. And their elected leaders said, 'It's not good enough.'"

In the water-sharing agreements, there was always a fragile coalition of stabilizing personalities and competing interests.

That coalition is finally unraveling.

Greg Addington, head of the Klamath Waters Users Association, resigned in mid-December. Don Gentry, chairman of the Klamath Tribes, is under severe pressure, Atkinson says, for giving away too much in the agreement.

Unnerved by liability issues in dismantling the dams, PacifiCorp is now pondering relicensing those fish traps.

And last November, Troy Fletcher, executive director of the Yurok Tribe and a pivotal player in this cease fire, died of a heart attack at the age of 53.

"The good guys," Atkinson laments, "are either exhausted ... or worse."

The angry guys? The Sagebrush rebels? The Agenda 21 conspiracy loons? The Bundy brothers and the rest of the grazing-fee deadbeats?

They're holding daily morning pressers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. They are, once again, all the rage.

And in rural Oregon, rage has a far more vocal audience than reconciliation.

There was a moment here, a moment of optimism. Against all odds, and the ugly trajectory of history, neighbors in the Klamath Basin united in hopes of repairing the damage done by an extended drought and outmoded dams.

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell put it well 21 months ago when she saluted the peacemakers at Collier Memorial State Park.

"This group has redefined what the future looks like," Jewell said. "We (now) have the tools to restore the Basin, to sustain the farming and ranching heritage from the headwaters of the Klamath right out to the Pacific Ocean."

But no one in Washington would close the deal. No one in Congress could take credit. No one could leverage a peace treaty into a fundraiser or another lazy term in office.

All the good done in the Klamath Basin came to nothing, and some fool handed the microphone to Ammon Bundy.

-- Steve Duin

stephen.b.duin@gmail.com

@SteveDuin
Adoption terminology: Adoptive father and adoption agency board president Erik Bergman criticizes the use of the phrase "gave up" a baby that appears in a feature article on opening adoption records. Bergman claims that "the adoption community no longer uses the negative term 'gave up' a baby" and that the preferred term is "placed" a baby.

While "gave up" is not an accepted part of the adoption industry lexicon, it is commonly used by natural mothers who do not see it as a negative term but as a term which accurately reflects their feelings. The term "placed a baby" suggests, as Bergman says, "an act of love by a woman who cannot parent." This may give comfort to adoptive parents and practitioners, but it disguises what can be an act of desperation or ignorance. Mothers often lose their children because they are unaware of resources which can help them keep their babies; the research of child welfare experts, which finds that children are best off when raised in their biological families, if possible; and the lifelong pain they will endure.

In truth, mothers give up.

Jane Edwards

Southwest Portland
ELKO  School nurses are doing what they can to keep Elko County children healthy, but they have reached the limit of their ability.

Elko County School District nurses told the Elko County Board of Health that they have stop-gap measures to immunize children so they can start school, but the county needs to work on a long-term solution, such as establishing a public health district.

After attending a Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Fellowship, Elko County School District nurses examined why some students were not starting school on time, said school nurses Victoria Richardson and Bobbi Shanks.

The health of our students impacts the entire community, Richardson said.

The top five health concerns for Elko County students are immunizations, suicide, asthma, school based health care and wellness.

Elko County is unique, in that its the largest county geographically in Nevada, spread out over 17,000 miles with a population of over 50,000 people, Richardson said. Elko County also has the highest population among rural counties with public health (services), however Elko County itself does not have a public health entity.

For the 2014-2015 school year, the District hosted a back to school immunization clinic at the central office and no one could have anticipated the amount of people who attended, Richardson said.

The line filled the hallways, the board room and people had to wait upwards of four hours to be seen to receive immunizations, she said. By 2 p.m. that day, students and families were being turned away and asked to return the next day as the staff of nine had already reached the max that could be seen for that day.

Because the county does not have a public health nurse, the burden of immunizing students has fallen on the district. It is the only district in the state that provides immunizations itself; most districts across the nation partner with public health or another entity.

In the 2014/15 school year, the District administered 4,215 vaccines and 400 of those were done so children could begin school. In 2015/16, the District has already administered 3,440 vaccines to date.

The number of students who would have been excluded from school, had they not received immunizations administered by ECSD school nurses, is equivalent to four and a half buses full of students, she said.

When students dont receive immunizations on time it affects families by parents not being able to go to work, but it also affects the District economically. If school nurses had not immunized students, the District could have potentially lost $331,254 quarterly. The state distributes money according to attendance records.

Richardson said the barriers to immunizations in the District are no public health, high fees, limited walk-in vaccinations, limited Medicaid providers, and long wait times for appointments. New patient fees can be up to $300 per student for vaccinations and many providers are booked two to six weeks out, Richardson said.

The aim of the Districts project is to remove these barriers. It has begun to work with local healthcare providers and the hospital, the county, State Health and Epidemiology, and Immunize Nevada Network.

Shanks said according to an Elko County Health Report through the state, Elko County ranked third of the rurals in communicable diseases. In 2013 and 2014, Elko County was the highest in the state, including Washoe and Clark counties, for outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases, she said.

Elko County Board of Health Chairman Dr. Harry Leo Duran said there was a pertussis outbreak in Elko County in 2014.

The school nurses were invited to speak Wednesday at the initial meeting of the Elko County Board of Health.

It is our sincere hope that we can work alongside the health board, Elko County commissioners and other stakeholders to continue to break down barriers to community health needs with the goal of achieving public health here for Elko County, Richardson said.
Peak

Demolition tax demise: When an elected official tries to use a genuine crisis as an excuse to adopt unrelated policies, cynicism is the appropriate response. For that reason, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales' colleagues deserve double credit for killing his proposed demolition tax. Not only did they stop a bad idea in its tracks, but in doing so they boosted the credibility of City Council itself.

Back in September, Brad Schmidt of The Oregonian/OregonLive reported, Hales proposed to impose a huge tax - $25,000 and then some - on home demolitions, claiming that doing so would help alleviate Portland's housing-affordability problem. Hales' rationale went something like this: If Council makes it more expensive to tear down older homes and replace them with newer, nicer and more expensive homes, then it will have done something to preserve affordable housing, right?

This, of course, makes a number of questionable assumptions, the most serious being that it would actually work. Who's to say it would slow demolitions rather than simply boosting the cost of replacement dwellings? And would the "preserved" older homes in expensive neighborhoods like Eastmoreland really be bought by modest-income people? One wonders.

Oregonian editorials

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We could go on, but to do so would be to treat Hales' argument as if it were offered seriously. It surely wasn't. It was, rather, a way to appeal to people who are displeased when neighbors tear down their homes and replace them with structures they don't like. Launching the proposal under the affordable-housing banner was nothing more than an attempt to disguise NIMBY legislation as something more high-minded.

It didn't work, and the connection between teardowns and housing affordability was strengthened only marginally by the mayor's proposal to use the tax revenue to pay for affordable housing. A NIMBY tax is a NIMBY tax regardless of how the revenue is used.

In politics, it's said, a crisis should never be wasted. It should go without saying that a crisis should never be abused, which is exactly what Hales tried to do and what his colleagues refused to support.

Valleys

Ammon Bundy's delusion: Ammon Bundy, in his face-to-face meeting Thursday afternoon with Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward, removed all doubt that he's starring in a movie only he can see.

Ward correctly and plainly said he was looking to provide Bundy and his cronies a peaceful resolution to their illegal occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge - a way out, with an escort, before things possibly turned "negative."

Bundy's response? "We're getting ignored, again," he told the sheriff.

Full stop. Ward, with armed backup and at some risk to himself, arrived at the east side of the refuge and sought to give a wildly errant Bundy a pass: a way home, to Phoenix, without losing face. He even allowed to Bundy that Harney County residents were eager to pursue a dialogue about how to correct "overreaching" by the federal government - Bundy's overriding cause in occupying the refuge in the first place.

If nothing else is clear, this is: Bundy is not being ignored. At Oregon's expense, he's become a national media phenomenon. His petulance with a remarkably composed Ward bespeaks his consistent delusion: unreasonable demands made by employing wholly unreasonable methods.

It was not clear what could be offered next in an effort to avoid a "negative" outcome.

Uber error: Portlanders saw Uber's aggressive rule-breaking ways firsthand when the ride-hailing service began operating in the city in December 2014 - without Portland officials' blessing.

Turns out Uber treated lobbying rules as similarly optional. That failure has earned the San Francisco-based company a $2,000 fine, courtesy of Portland City Auditor Mary Hull Caballero.

As The Oregonian/OregonLive's Brad Schmidt reported, Uber didn't register, as required, that it had brought on Mark Wiener as its lobbyist in late 2014 and early 2015 and failed to fully disclose his lobbying efforts. Wiener, Schmidt reported, hosted a Dec. 13, 2014 meeting at his house with Mayor Charlie Hales and City Commissioner Steve Novick - both of whom have been Wiener clients - in the midst of a tense standoff with Uber over its decision to barge into the Portland market. Shortly after, Uber voluntarily withdrew from the city while commissioners worked out regulations to authorize its lawful re-entry into the market.

A company that relies so heavily on lobbyists, here and elsewhere, and spares no effort in researching city code and state law, has no excuse for its failure to follow the law in this case. But both Hales and Novick deserve some blame as well, considering neither put the December meeting on their public calendars. Both received just a warning.

- The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board
Malheur militants: This is a message for the armed militia occupying a wildlife sanctuary in Oregon: You and your guns and your violent threats are not welcome here. No one invited you. People like you, armed with your guns and your fighting words, don't know what it's like in the real world. People like you talk about how bad the government is -- yet you ask for donations through the mail. That's ironic, considering that the United States Postal Service, a federal government program, delivers your mail. It's long overdue for you to get out of Oregon. Please put down your guns. Join the rest of us in the real world.

Sarah Walters

Gresham

*

Malheur militants: Several questions have occurred to me concerning the motivations and objectives of the militants occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge:

1. The militants state they want all federal lands in the West given back to the original settlers or turned over to state or county control. Would not the implementation of such a plan result in a "land grab" by economic interests? What would happen to local zoning, land use and environmental laws? How would the militants feel about returning the land back to the Northern Paiute Indians, who were the only truly original settlers of the Burns-Malheur area?

2. Alex Beam wrote a shocking and troubling column in the Boston Globe tracing the motivation of Ammon Bundy to a religious fanaticism ubiquitous in the early Mormon church which posited that the Constitution of the United States (a sacred document) had been hijacked by politicians and bureaucrats and must be saved by Mormons. If Ammon Bundy's motivation does spring from such a belief, should not a Mormon elder or two travel to Burns and disabuse him of such a fossilized notion? If Mr. Bundy remains unreconstructed, shouldn't he be cast out of the church?

3. Finally, and most troubling of all, is not the armed taking and occupation of government buildings coupled with demands that the people of the United States relinquish control of federal lands an act of sedition, a serious felony which should be dealt with in a prompt manner? If the militants are not arrested -- if they are just told to go home and tend to their ranches -- will this not invite further criminal acts?

Timothy Heath

Southeast Portland
The family of a retired California auditor killed at a scenic view on the southern Oregon coast has filed a lawsuit against the gun dealers who allegedly sold the weapon used in the slaying.

Kirsten Englund, 57, of Castro Valley was on her way to visit family in Eugene when she stopped along U.S. 101 in Douglas County in April 2013 to view a lighthouse, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

"The circumstances of our mother's shooting make her death even harder for us to bear," Andrew Weigardt, one of Englund's two sons, said. "She was shot and killed by someone who had no business possessing a gun."

Police identified Jeffrey Boyce, 30, of North Bend as the prime suspect in the case. He was arrested in Northern California after allegedly carjacking a man at gunpoint. He later hanged himself in the Marin County Jail.

Without a criminal trial, "bringing this case is somewhat important in discovering the facts of everything that happened and why exactly these guns ended up in his hand," said Nicholas Weigardt, Andrew's brother.

At the time of Englund's death, authorities said Boyce also was believed to be a Boston bombing sympathizer who had been trying to reach the Russian consulate in San Francisco to seek asylum. His mother called police to warn them that her son was mentally ill and had been raving that the government was out to get him, according to news accounts.

Englund was shot six times and her body burned. She didn't know Boyce, the suit said. A couple discovered her body in blackberry bushes at the Winchester Bay Wayfinding Point on Highway 101 about 3 miles south of Reedsport near the historic Umpqua Lighthouse.

Jeffrey Boyce

The lawsuit alleges North Bend's World Pawn Exchange and Arizona-based J&G II, Inc. sold the weapons to Diane Boyce, the suspect's mother. The lawsuit claims Diane Boyce acted as a straw purchaser who bought three weapons on behalf of her son.

The lawsuit alleges that Diane Boyce filled federal paperwork that she was the actual buyer of an AK-47 and two semi-automatic pistols in 2011 and 2012 and her son used his credit card to pay for one of the pistols.

The owner of World Pawn Exchange couldn't be immediately reached for comment. A representative of J&G declined to comment.

Police said a truck that Boyce was driving before the carjacking contained more than 200 rounds of assault rifle-style bullets and a loaded .22-caliber rifle.

"A burglar is responsible for robbing a home, but so is the home security company that carelessly or negligently installed a deficient security system," said Weigardt's attorney Tom D'Amore. "This lawsuit alleges that the gun dealer defendants were negligent in ignoring red flags regarding multiple fire arm sales over a period of months."

-- Tony Hernandez

thernandez@oregonian.com

503-294-5928

@tonyhreports
BURNS -- A day after Sheriff Dave Ward offered him and his fellow militants safe passage out of Harney County, Ammon Bundy gave a clear response.

"We will take that offer," Bundy said on Friday. "But not yet. And we will go out of this state and out of this county as free men."

Bundy, the leader of a militant group that has taken over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge outside Burns as a protest against the federal government's land-use policies, said he "has a lot of empathy" for Ward.

"He's not in an easy position," Bundy said. "He's being pushed from above by those who want to suppress us."

Bundy said he thinks Ward agrees with his group's position on the rights of ranchers to use the land in Harney County, most of which is owned by Uncle Sam, as they please. And Bundy said he "appreciates" that Ward disagrees with the group's tactics.

After Bundy met with reporters, he was confronted by lifelong Burns resident Steve Atkins.

"He said that the community is behind this movement," Atkins said, pointing at Bundy. "And that is bull-[expletive], as a majority."

Bundy then invited Atkins down into the refuge headquarters.

-- Luke Hammill

lhammill@oregonian.com

503-294-4029

@lucashammill
BURNS -- Members of a group from outside Oregon arrived on Friday at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to "secure a perimeter" around the compound and prevent "a Waco-style situation."

The arrival of the "3% of Idaho" was the latest development in the situation outside Burns, where an armed occupation of the refuge by an Ammon Bundy-led militant group entered its seventh day.

"They just keep an eye on everything that is going on" to make sure "nothing stupid happens," Bundy said Friday afternoon outside refuge headquarters.

"If they weren't here," Bundy said, referring to the Idaho group, "I'd worry" about a Waco-style siege by federal officials.

The group's website says it stands for "freedom, liberty and the Constitution. We will combat all those who are corrupt." The website displays the motto, "When Tyranny Becomes Law, Rebellion Becomes Duty!"

Brandon Curtiss, the president of the 3% of Idaho, would not reveal in a phone interview how many people his group was sending, although a handful of them had already arrived at the bird sanctuary. Some had what appeared to be handguns on their hips. Curtiss said he was on his way to the refuge.

He also declined to reveal specifically whether the group would circle the refuge headquarters or form some other sort of perimeter.

Curtiss and Chris McIntire, another group spokesman, called the situation a "double-edged sword" - the perimeter is meant to protect the occupiers from an outside attack but also to protect the Harney County community from those who arrive in solidarity with Bundy's cause but may be prone to violence, they said. The Idaho group is here to keep the situation "peaceful" and reassure the community that it isn't in danger, they said.

McIntire said the majority of the group's members would be heading for Eastern Oregon on Friday.

Curtiss and McIntire both emphasized that the perimeter would not be military or paramilitary in nature.

The group's arrival came a few hours after Bundy informed reporters that the militants would not immediately accept Sheriff Dave Ward's offer to peacefully escort the occupiers out of town.

-- Luke Hammill

lhammill@oregonian.com

503-294-4029

@lucashammill
To win over the public, experts say you must first win over the media.

From their modern-day cowboy personas to their emotional appeals emphasizing family and patriotism, there's "no question" the militants occupying a federal wildlife refuge in Burns are trying to manipulate the media and the public into buying into their "average guy" image.

The 20 or so occupiers have invited media outlets to the compound, given tours and held daily news briefings -- all while self-reporting on the occupation through videos and social media. Despite all that, their efforts have fallen short, experts say.

"The sheriff as well as the people that live in the immediate surrounding community have done a good job of getting their message out, loud and clear, that they are not welcome," former Department of Homeland Security analyst Daryl Johnson said. "It kind of flies in the face of their patriotism and we-the-people mantra that they tried to wrap themselves around."

Peter Laufer, a journalism professor at the University of Oregon who studied the 2014 standoff in Nevada, says most people look past the veneer and see only the underlying threat.

"They have subjected themselves into a controversy that does not exist," he said. "We have a working system in our society for addressing grievances, and it doesn't involve waving guns, making threats and taking over public property."

The occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge began Saturday, two days before father-and-son ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr., 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, were to report to prison for setting fire to federal lands in 2012. Bundy, along with others from outside Oregon, have aligned themselves with the ranchers to promote their opposition to federal land-use policies.

The leader of the anti-government group, Ammon Bundy, has said the occupiers are prepared to die for their cause. Though he's consistently said that violence is not their intent, he's also emphasized that his group won't back away from a fight.

That sentiment has led many observers to label the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom thugs, rebels and even terrorists.

"That's a threat - a threat against the government and people of the United States by white men with guns," said The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart. "We've seen unarmed African American men and boys gunned down by police for less."

The Post's Janell Ross went on to say on CNN that the media hasn't used the 'T' word because "we're talking about white Americans who are presumed to be innocent."

"They're presumed to be individuals with their own minds and their own opinions that don't apply to an entire group, and we certainly don't assume them to be violent from the get-go," Ross said.

Bundy emphasized at one news conference that the occupiers are all part of a community, and that they are holed up in Burns not because they want to but because they say they have to.

"We have children; we have wives that we've left at home," Bundy said Tuesday with a pause and tears welling up in his eyes, "that we miss very much."

Judging by the social media response, the public isn't having any of it. In fact, Laufer says, those emotional appeals are backfiring based on the responses swirling on the Internet. Several satirical hashtags have cropped up on Twitter, including #YallQaeda, #VanillaISIS and #Talibundy.

"If the fellow misses his wife and kids, then he can get in his pickup truck, fill it up with gasoline and drive back to Arizona," Laufer said. "They are attempting to represent themselves as oppressed and rebellious to an oppressive state."

The occupiers have said they would stand down when and if "the community" asks them to leave. But who exactly is the community to Bundy and friends?

Though some residents are sympathetic to the cause, townspeople and local ranchers have expressed apprehension and unease over the armed protest. And Harney County Sheriff David Ward told them early on to "go home."

-- Nuran Alteir

nalteir@oregonian.com

503-294-4028

@whatnuransaid
UPDATED January 9 to include link to Citizens 4 Constitutional Freedom website.

The widely used financial transfer service PayPal makes clear in its terms and conditions: Don't use PayPal for things that break the law.

Yet one of the militants occupying a federal building in Harney County, Oregon -- without permission of the building's owners -- has welcomed contributions for the occupation via a fellow militant's PayPal account.

The man's account remains active, and PayPal has said it is not in violation of its rules.

Since Jan. 2, an armed group calling itself the Citizens 4 Constitutional Freedom has occupied the federally owned headquarters of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, near Burns, Oregon.

Pleas on social media for donations began at least as early as Jan. 1, when militant Blaine Cooper directed people to donate money on fellow occupier Jon Ritzheimer's website rogueinfidel.com.

"History will be made here in Burns, OR," Cooper's Facebook post said. "2016 will be a great year for America." Further on, the post continues: "We will humbly accept monetary donations at www.rogueinfidel.com. Again, not asking for money and care packages would be greatly appreciated."

The Rogue Infidel's site's "Donate" link, featured at the top of the homepage, goes to a PayPal form where users may enter a dollar amount under "Rogue Infidel - Donation."

The company's "Prohibited Activities" policy states that people may not use its services for activities that "violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation."

Following questions from The Oregonian/OregonLive, a PayPal spokesman said that the company completed a "thorough investigation" and found the Rogue Infidel account wasn't in violation of PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy. The company did not elaborate further.

Ammon Bundy, who is spearheading the occupation, said donations in support of the occupation shouldn't be sent to Ritzheimer's site, but to a Citizens for Constitutional Freedom website. The site also uses PayPal. It states, above the donate button: "You can help to fund the education of the fundamental principles of our guaranteed constitutional freedoms as citizens of the United States of America."

Through Rogue Infidel, Ritzheimer sells clothes and stickers that say 'F--- ISLAM.' Using PayPal to sell those products also appears to violate the company's terms, which state that the money transfer service can't be used for activities that "relate to transactions involving.... the promotion of hate."

To determine which goods and services should be banned, the company considers the promotion or glorification of hate because of religion.

The message on the shirt "is almost the definition of promoting hate," said Mark Pitcavage, who has been studying right-wing extremism for 22 years.

"Anybody who had a T-shirt that said 'F--- Jesus' or 'F--- Christianity' would certainly be considered hateful," Pitcavage said.

Next to a picture of the T-shirt, Ritzheimer's site says: "This shirt is not for the faint of heart. This is for true infidels who are not afraid to show how they feel about Islam."

Ritzheimer could not be reached for comment.

Along with Amazon and Spotify, PayPal has been subject to criticism this year for allowing hate groups to use its services. In a series of investigative reports, the Southern Poverty Law Center claimed that PayPal was "effectively acting as the banking system of the hate movement."

As of January 2015, more than 60 hate groups used the company's services to help finance their activities, the Center found.

It's unknown how much Ritzheimer has raised using his site, or how much money people have donated, if anything. However much it is, the company takes a cut of every transaction. PayPal collects 2.9 percent of every sale or donation to a for-profit organization, plus $0.30.

Since Cooper directed donors to Rogue Infidel Jan. 1, there has been confusion about where financial donations should actually be sent. Joe O'Shaugnessy asked for donations to his fundraising site Jan. 6, but Ritzheimer has since said donations shouldn't be sent there. And on Jan. 8 there was a post on the Bundy Ranch's Facebook account saying that financial donations should be mailed to Lisa Bundy, at an Idaho address.

The Facebook post said the ranch was not asking for donations, but instead just giving the info to those of you that have been asking.

-- Fedor Zarkhin

fzarkhin@oregonian.com

503-294-7674; @fedorzarkhin
Cliven Bundy

Rancher Cliven Bundy holds his 5-month-old grandson Roper Cox at an event Saturday, April 11, 2015, in Bunkerville, Nev. Bundy is holding the event to celebrate the one year anniversary since the Bureau of Land Management's failed attempt to collect his cattle.

(aP Photo/John Locher)

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward has said that he expects that militants who have taken over the wildlife refuge in Oregon will face federal charges.

But Ward may be waiting a long time.

Many of the anti-government protesters now holed up outside of Burns joined in the tense standoff with federal rangers at Cliven Bundy's ranch in April 2014.

Some of the Nevada protesters pointed guns at police and U.S. Bureau of Land Management rangers, briefly blocked the state highway and kicked a police dog. But the state and federal governments have filed no charges against anyone in that confrontation.

Such inaction was likely to have consequences, predicted a July 2014 report by the Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis.

The militants' belief that the standoff "was a defining victory over government oppression is galvanzing some individuals," the report said, linking several criminal acts -- including the murder of two Las Vegas police officers -- to those who helped at Bunkerville.

The report warned more violence and armed standoffs were likely -- especially against government officials and law enforcement.

"At end of day, the Bundys walked away with essentially a victory," said Eric Herzik, professor and chair of the University of Nevada-Reno's Political Science Department who closely followed the events in 2014.

"The Bundys, in particular," he said, "feel they're above the law,"

Cliven Bundy reclaimed the cattle at the center of the standoff. He continues to run them on federal land. He hasn't paid the $1 million in grazing fees that a judge has ordered him to pay to the Bureau of Land Management.

And last April, on the anniversary of the standoff, the Bundys held a weekend-long party at the Bunkerville ranch.

BLM statement

"The Bureau of Land Management remains resolute in addressing issues involved in efforts to gather Mr. Bundy's cattle last year and we are pursuing the matter through the legal system. Our primary goal remains, as it was a year ago, to resolve this matter safely and according to the rule of the law."

Since the standoff, Bureau of Land Management leaders in Nevada have remained tight-lipped on the issue, typically issuing a general statement anytime someone asks that that they're "pursuing the matter."

In June, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, who oversees the agency, briefly addressed action against Bundy to the Las Vegas Review-Journal - though that, too, was cryptic.

"The wheels of justice move at their own pace," said Jewell, who was in Las Vegas to deliver the keynote address to the Western Governors' Association in late June. "I am confident this issue is going to be appropriately resolved."

After repeated calls this week, officials at Nevada's attorney general's office, the district attorney in Clark County, Nevada didn't return calls from The Oregonian/OregonLive seeking comment. Gov. Brian Sandoval declined to comment.

Cliven Bundy could not be reached in Nevada for comment. But he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last April at the anniversary celebration that he wanted people to see he was still there.

"Legalwise, I know they'd love to tie me up in a legal court battle," Bundy said. "I'm not anxious for that but let me tell you something, when we get there we're going to find out who the criminals really are. Is it the federal government and their agency or is it Cliven Bundy trying to produce for 'we the people?' "

Past and present Bureau of Land Management employees are frustrated by the situation, some saying that they'd heard in late 2014 that indictments were weeks away.

And though politicians at nearly every level spoke out during the standoff, close observers can cite no instance over the past year when a state leader has pushed for the federal government to speed up the process now.

Conversely, some state leaders have worked to free Bundy from the federal fees that he's fought for decades.

A few Nevada lawmakers pushed last spring for a law to curtail federal control of Nevada's public lands, said David F. Damore, an associate political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Governance Studies program.

But the proposed law was found unconstitutional, he said, and a later watered-down version passed out of committee and "was left to die by Republican legislative leaders."

In the meantime, some say, the Bundys have been emboldened by the lack of federal action.

"Not only do the Bundys continue with their grazing trespass unabated, but they have taken effective control of about a million acres nominally managed by the BLM and the National Park Service (Lake Mead National Recreation Area)," said Edward Patrovsky, a retired Bureau of Land Management ranger who has worked in Oregon and Nevada.

"This is interfering with conservation programs, including recovery efforts for the endangered Desert Tortoise."

Patrovsky said the Bundys' ability to flout the law seemed to energize them to become involved with -- "and often escalate" -- other disputes over public lands.

Ammon Bundy, who is leading the Oregon wildlife refuge takeover, tangled with federal officers during the Bundy standoff in 2014. He had blocked a truck trying to leave federal lands with his father's cattle, which rangers had seized because the family had not paid the grazing fees that other ranchers must pay.

A video of the encounter shows Ammon Bundy lunging at a federal ranger holding a police dog. The dog snapped at Bundy, who then kicked the dog twice, the video shows. Federal rangers used a stun gun to keep Ammon Bundy away.

While no violence has erupted at the refuge 30 miles outside of Burns, the armed protesters have said they will defend themselves if they are "attacked" by law enforcement. At times, a few members of the group armed with rifles have turned the refuge's fire lookout into a watch tower.

Out of safety concerns, the community has kept its courthouse, schools and government offices closed over the past week.

At a community meeting in Harney County on Wednesday afternoon, several residents said they appreciate that Ammon Bundy and the others have brought national attention to issues they have all faced.

But Herzik, the political science professor, said that it's unlikely the Bundys' involvement will ultimately help ranchers in Oregon.

"This really makes it more difficult for the ranchers," said Herzik, who has tracked how Bundy's sons have gotten involved in other protests in Seattle and Utah. "They have legitimate concerns and then it gets caught up in this sideshow - the weird racist, religious, extremist rants - that gets them tagged with the Ammon Bundys and hurts the legitimate voices.

"That makes the rural urban divide even worse."

-- Laura Gunderson

@lgunderson; 503-221-8378

lgunderson@oregonian.com
A 76-year-old sex offender was arrested after arranging to meet with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sex, Cowlitz County detectives say.

Walter A. Knowles of Kelso, Washington, was actually communicating with a detective online, the Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office said in a news release Thursday. The detective "clearly advised" Knowles that he was chatting with a 14-year-old, according to the news release.

"Knowles still asked to meet with her to have sex," the news release said.

Knowles was booked with no bail into the Cowlitz County Jail on accusations of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, a felony, and third-degree attempted rape of a child, which is a gross misdemeanor, the news release said.

He was arrested after arriving at an arranged location to have sex with the girl, according to the news release.

Knowles is a registered sex offender and was convicted of first-degree child molestation in 1998, according to the news release. Washington state doesn't allow the law enforcement agencies to release booking photos.

The sheriff's office urges anyone with information about the case to contact detectives at 360-577-3092.

-- Jim Ryan

503-221-8005; @Jimryan015
Federal landownership, the primary beef of Constitution-waving protesters occupying a remote Oregon wildlife refuge, is not a byproduct of a federal bureaucracy run amok but rather a bedrock principle of the founding of our nation.

Every inch of landscape in the U.S. outside of the 13 original states was initially owned by the federal government - because the Founding Fathers wanted it that way.

Federal agencies continue to hold much more land in the West - almost half of the westernmost 11 states -- than in the rest of the lower 48, where only 4 percent of land is federally owned.

But that is largely due to timing. The young nation felt compelled to transfer land to private ownership - to promote transportation, development and settlement of the vast wilderness. By the late 1800s, that view began to fall out of favor, said Michael Campbell, a communications officer for the federal Bureau of Land Management.

At that point, the East and Midwest already had been heavily settled. But the West was still overwhelmingly a federally owned frontier.

Today, Oregon is 53 percent owned by the federal government. Only three continental states - Nevada, Utah and Wyoming - have more of their acreage in the hands of the Bureau of Land Management, which mainly manages rangelands such as those that dominate Harney County and much of Eastern Oregon.

The militants occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County have decried federal ownership as "tyranny" and have demanded that land owned by the federal government since the 1840s be "given back" to Harney County ranchers.

Congressman Greg Walden, R-Ore., on Tuesday took to the House floor to decry "overzealous bureaucrats" in the BLM, and many Harney County residents say they have experienced federal overreach or intimidation firsthand.

But the notion that American land would be in the hands of the federal government, not local government responsive to local residents, was very much by design.

A 1787 agreement among all 13 founding states - that every bit of land added to the United States would be owned and controlled by a strong federal government - was the linchpin needed before delegates went on to write the Constitution.

That deal was known as the Northwest Ordinance. Thomas Jefferson was its primary architect, with fellow Founding Fathers James Monroe and James Madison also making important contributions, according to Jack Rakove, a Stanford University professor who specializes in the history of the American Revolution and the Constitution.

Their determination that the federal government would own every shred of land brought into the new nation and dispose of or manage it as it wished was enshrined in the Constitution, in a short half-sentence in Article IV:

"The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States."

As a matter of public policy, Congress could choose to give away or sell off more public lands, or order federal agencies to relax environmental restrictions on them.

But a lengthy bipartisan effort, beginning with the Public Land Law Review Commission in 1964 and culminating in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, made it the official national policy that nearly all remaining federal landholdings should remain federally owned for the common good, Campbell said.

And, outside of rural Western communities, the public has shown little appetite to change that.

Any claim that federal agencies have wielded unintended power or violated the Constitution by keeping land for themselves or regulating its use, Rakove said, is "poppycock."

--Betsy Hammond
San Sebastian as viewed from Monte Igueldo. Gonzalo Azumendi

The Basque city of San Sebastian is this years European Capital of Culture  a title it is sharing with Wrocaw in Poland  and there is an almost palpable excitement in the air.

The city has already had plenty of practice in organizing international events: its film, jazz and classical music festivals date back to 1957, 1966, and 1939 respectively, and the Cultural Capitals organizers are confident Donostia, as it is known in the Basque language, will more than live up to its reputation for excellence, leaving behind a legacy for future generations.

The city has preferred to spend the cultural capital budget on local talent and restoring existing buildings

San Sebastian 2016 director Pablo Berastegui highlights the importance of that cultural legacy, saying the city has avoided spending huge amounts of money on new infrastructure, preferring instead to use its budget on local talent, as well as restoring existing buildings, such as the refurbished fire station that is currently his projects headquarters, as well as the Tabakalera arts center, located in a renovated 19th-century former cigarette factory that now houses a cinema, multimedia archive, so-called creativity laboratories, a hotel for artists in residence, microtheater and concert spaces, cafes, a restaurant, and a rooftop terrace with spectacular views over the city. It is also the new home of the film festival and the Basque film archive.

The terrace next to Rafael Moneos landmark Kursaal center. Gonzalo Azumendi

The Tabakalera has breathed new life into the Eguia neighborhood, across the Urumea river, which Berastegui calls San Sebastians Brooklyn. Perhaps thats overstating things, but Eguia does have a certain bohemian charm and is popular with the citys younger and more fashionable residents. Le Bukowski (Egia, 18) and Dabadaba (Mundaiz, 8) have both teamed up with San Sebastian 2016 to support a music festival in the Cristina Enea park, just behind the Tabakalera. The park will be playing a big role in the year-long festivities: for four days in mid-June, to coincide with the summer solstice, it will be the location for an open-air, Spanish-language production of A Midsummer Nights Dream (www.donostiakultura.com).

Peach Kelli Pop performs in Dabadaba.

In March, another local bar, Gazteszena, will be hosting its own blues and soul festival, called Mojo Workin.

San Sebastian has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other city in Spain, an achievement reflected in the outstanding quality generally found in its eateries. Two vegetarian restaurants worth checking out in Eguia are Km.0 (Duque de Mandas, 35) and Garraxi (Tejeria, 9).

The old quarter, known locally as Lo Viejo, is packed with places to eat and drink. Try Bodegon Alejandro (Fermin Calbeton, 4), which provides a new twist on traditional Basque cuisine, and for a more traditional approach, head to Gandarias (31 de mayo, 23).

The bars in Lo Viejo are also justly famed for their pintxos, the Basque equivalent of tapas. A good starting place is Calle Pescaderia, where Nestor offers the citys best steaks and Spanish omelets, and opposite is the more sophisticated Zeruko, famed for its lobster pintxo. Nearby are Atari (Mayor, 18) and La Vina (31 de agosto, 3). Theres also an excellent cake shop in the Plaza de Guipuzcoa called Barrenetxe.

There are far worse things to do of an evening in San Sebastian than a gentle bar crawl along Calle Fermin Calbeton: among the highlights is Sport. On nearby Calle Mayor is Paco Bueno, run by a former boxer and famed for its fried prawns in batter. To finish the night, head for four bars in the old port: Ensanche (San Vicente, 1), Akerbeltz (Mari), the Iguana (Esterlines, 5) and Etxekalte, which has live jazz.

Javier Belloso

A couple of streets in from the seafront is the Gros neighborhood, where on Thursdays the bars on Calle Zabaleta offer free pintxos. Highly recommended are La Guinda, and on nearby Calle Iparraguirre, Melbourne, run by an Australian. Bernadina (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 6) and Xarma on Avenida de Tolosa are also a must. If you fancy an early night with a book and a bottle of wine, head to the Donosti bookshop on Plaza de Bilbao, and then the Ezeiza licor store (Prim, 16).
Hunkering down for days, weeks or months in a building in rural Oregon is unlikely to be a lucrative occupation.

So how can the people that make up the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, a newly-formed group of about 20 self-styled militia that have occupied the federal headquarters at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, afford to do it?

The answer, most likely, is that not many can.

"These guys are broke," said Mark Pitcavage, who has been researching far-right movements for 22 years and has studied the Harney County occupiers. "Right-wing extremists, generally speaking, have very little money."

Operating costs at the refuge are small. Utilities are paid for courtesy of the federal government. The facility has a bunkhouse that firefighters use in summer. One video from inside the headquarters kitchen shows the wife of one of the militants taking food from a well stocked refrigerator, preparing to cook grilled cheese for lunch and spaghetti for dinner.

But as the occupation comes to its sixth day, it's not yet clear what sacrifices the militants who have occupied the refuge are willing to make.

At least one of the militants has said he lost his job because of his absence, while others are doing what they can to balance work and armed protest. And though there are more than a thousand anti-government groups in the United States, Citizens for Constitutional Freedom appear to have little more than themselves and donations to rely on for an occupation they say could last years. Pleas from occupiers and allies for donations have been slow to take off.

"It's quite possible that a lot of them will get tired and feel the pressure to go back and care for their families," Pitcavage said.

A splinter group took over refuge headquarters Jan. 2 following a protest against the federal prosecution of Dwight Hammond Sr. and his son Steven. Both were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for burning 139 acres of federal land.

Vowing to stay as long as necessary, the protesters have demanded that the refuge's land be distributed among the local population. Soon after members got into the building, however, posts on Facebook asking for help indicated they weren't prepared for a long occupation.

The militants also have their families and jobs to consider. One man is already feeling the consequences of being away from work.

Jason Patrick, hailing from Georgia, said he lost a roofing job with an $80,000 annual salary, benefits and a company truck when he abruptly set out for the standoff. He had already exhausted most of his vacation days for the year attending other so-called Patriot events.

"I didn't get to give appropriate notice," he said of his voicemail message he left to alert bosses he wouldn't be coming in to work.

"The Constitution is more important," Patrick said.

That kind of devotion to a cause is what fuels most militia and anti-government groups, said Daryl Johnson, a former domestic terrorism analyst for the Department of Homeland Security.

"They'll think nothing about taking half their paycheck and using half of it to buy ammunition and guns," Johnson said.

One circumstance on the occupiers' side is their relative freedom of movement. Law enforcement is not preventing anybody from coming and going from the refuge, and some appear to have taken advantage of that to maintain their civilian lives.

Duane Ehmer, an Oregon man who appears in a YouTube video inside the compound, wrote on his Facebook page that he left the refuge to work.

"I just got back home from the bundy/ Hammond stand off I have to work a few days before I go back," he wrote Jan. 5.

A little later, he wrote, "bringing more guns."

Ehmer declined to answer questions in time for publication.

Jon Ritzheimer, 32, told The Oregonian/OregonLive he's collecting veterans' disability pay, and that he's "lucky to have a wife who works." Ritzheimer has two children and said he won't be able to stay in Oregon forever.

Although it's impossible to know for certain whether major financial sources are funneling cash to the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, Pitcavage said it is very unlikely.

"There's no large organization to give them money," Pitcavage said. "The right-wing extremist movement is broke."

Pitcavage, who has been researching the occupiers for the Anti-Defamation League, determined that two-thirds of the occupiers are part of the Patriot movement, and a third are part of the Wise Use Movement. The Patriot movement is an umbrella term for groups with antigovernment beliefs. People part of the Wise Use Movement take issue specifically with federal land ownership.

The two Patriot-movement groups that are relatively well-organized, the Oath Keepers and the III%, don't have money to donate to such causes, Pitcavage said. And even if they did, both have released statements opposing the occupation of Malheur Wildlife Refuge.

Neither is it likely the group is getting money from any religious organization, Johnson said.

Key figures in the Oregon protest, such as chief spokesman Ammon Bundy, are Mormon. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints historically has clashed with the federal government, said Johnson, who is Mormon. The religion's 'end-of-days' focus also parallels many militias' emphasis on survivalism, so the Mormon church tolerates militias despite not supporting them actively, he said.

But in Johnson's 20 years studying domestic extremism in the United States, he hasn't seen any religious group overtly funding a militia. And in the case of the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints released a statement Jan. 4 condemning the occupation.

Without any declared outside support, the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom have appealed to the public for donations. Locals have brought food, supplies and blankets to the occupiers. Some of the militants have also used Facebook to direct people to two sites where they can donate money to the cause, though it's unclear how much headway they have made

"We will humbly accept monetary donations at www.rogueinfidel.com," wrote Blaine Cooper, one of the occupiers.

The site is run by Jon Ritzheimer, an Arizona militiaman, who is also occupying the wildlife refuge headquarters.

Joe O'Shaugnessy, a supporter who is in Burns but not occupying the federal building, on Facebook asked people to donate money on a fundraising page he has had for more than a year.

Ritzheimer, who is also fundraising, asked supporters not to give money to O'Shaughnessy in a recent interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Though O'Shaugnessy's site was dormant for more than a year, the campaign raised about $1,000 in the last week. While before Jan. 1 the fund had $350, as of Jan. 7 it had $1,395.

O'Shaugnessy could not be reached for comment.

A contributor going by 'Humble Supporter' gave $500 Jan. 7, writing on the fundraising page, "Have a good camping trip guys and gals."

-- Fedor Zarkhin

fzarkhin@oregonian.com

503-294-7674; @fedorzarkhin

-- Kelly House

khouse@oregonian.com

503-221-8178

@Kelly_M_House
Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday offered her strongest remarks yet on armed militants' six-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, calling the action "unlawful" and demanding the group "decamp immediately."

Brown's poke at "outsiders," in a statement issued by her office, came about the same time as Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward parleyed with protest leader Ammon Bundy about how to end the occupation without bloodshed.

But Brown's office said the governor's stance was moved by two events Wednesday.

Early in the day, members of the Burns Paiute Tribe held a news conference asking the militants "to get the hell" off refuge land the tribe has traditionally seen as its own.

Then, Wednesday night, hundreds of Oregonians who live near the refuge gathered for a community meeting where they expressed sympathy for the militants' message criticizing federal land management but nonetheless said the group had worn out its welcome in Harney County.

"To members of the Burns-Paiute Tribe and residents of Harney County who seek a return to normal life: I hear you, and I agree that what started as a peaceful and legal protest has become unlawful," Brown said in her statement. "It was instigated by outsiders whose tactics we Oregonians don't agree with. Those individuals illegally occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge need to decamp immediately and be held accountable."

Brown had urged a "swift resolution" to the incident in a statement on Tuesday. But she'd stopped short of commenting on the militants' tactics or message. It's unclear whether she'll get her wish.

Ward, after his meeting with Bundy, said he'd check on the group Friday to see what they decided.

-- Denis C. Theriault

503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX
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Officers responded at about 10:10 p.m. on Jan. 7 to reports of gunshots heard around Northeast Dekum Street and Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to a Portland Police Bureau news release.

(The Oregonian/File)

Portland police officers are investigating reports of gunshots fired in Northeast Portland on Thursday night.

Officers responded at about 10:10 p.m. Thursday to reports of gunshots heard around Northeast Dekum Street and Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to a Portland Police Bureau news release.

Officers didn't find any gunshot victims, according to the news release, and no gunshot victims had showed up at Portland-area hospitals.

Officers found damage to a home and evidence of gunfire on Northeast Dekum Street west of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to the news release.

Portland police asks anyone with information about the incident to call the police non-emergency line at (503) 823-3333.

-- Jim Ryan

503-221-8005; @Jimryan015
portlandcityhall.jpg

Portland's City Council will vote on a resolution next week to appeal U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon's ruling that the city's prospective exclusion orders are unconstitutional. (The Oregonian)

Portland city council members want to appeal a federal judge's ruling that ordered them to cease excluding people for months at a time from council sessions or City Hall.

The mayor and council members believe they can't conduct public business "in a safe and orderly manner if the council cannot exclude a person who disrupts a council session for one or more future council sessions,'' deputy city attorney Harry Auerbach wrote in a statement attached to a council resolution.

The Council will vote next Wednesday to challenge U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon's permanent injunction, prohibiting the city from excluding people prospectively from council meetings. Commissioner Dan Saltzman will introduce the resolution, according to the council agenda.

Joe Walsh, a local activist who frequently attends Portland City Council meetings, took the City of Portland and Mayor Charlie Hales to federal court, alleging that the city's practice of excluding him from City Hall and council sessions for 30- to 60-days at a time violated his First Amendment rights. A judge ruled in his favor. (Oregonian)

Local activist Joe Walsh, who had been excluded three times from council meetings since September 2014, had taken Mayor Charlie Hales and the city to federal court.

Walsh succeeded in convincing the judge that the exclusions - two for 30 days and the most recent for 60 days - violated his First Amendment rights to free speech, assemble or petition the government to seek a redress of grievances.

In a 28-page opinion issued Dec. 31, Simon wrote that the mayor could still order someone who is disruptive during a council meeting out of the council chambers for the rest of that meeting but couldn't exclude someone from future sessions. Simon also said the city could rewrite its exclusion order to adhere to his ruling.

Simon pointed out that no federal appellate court opinion ever held that the First Amendment permitted such prospective exclusions. Simon said Portland could not "direct or enforce any prospective exclusions'' that are based solely on past incidents of disruption during council meetings. He found that the city code, which allows for a complete and indefinite ban of an individual from council meetings or City Hall, was unconstitutional.

"A permanent injunction will protect the First Amendment rights of Walsh and other similarly-situated individuals without unduly burdening defendants,'' Simon wrote.

Hales, in an interview this week, said he didn't agree with the judge's ruling.

"Unlike Judge Simon, we don't have the right to throw someone in jail for contempt of court,'' Hales said. "Either way, we'll figure out how to manage this sideshow.''

Walsh laughed when he heard of the mayor's and council's intent to appeal Simon's order.

"These people never learn,'' Walsh said. "They're going to lose again. With their money, they would not appeal. They're appealing because it's our money.''

Deputy city attorney Auerbach wrote there would be "minor out-of-pocket expenses,'' because lawyers from within the city's attorney's office will handle the appeal.

Walsh promised to be at the council meeting on Wednesday to speak out against the planned appeal. The council meets at 9:30 a.m. in City Hall.

The appeal would go before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian
The attorney for a 16-year-old boy who fired bullets into three people at the Alberta Arts District's Last Thursday festival said his client is genuinely remorseful for the hasty decisions he made.

"The bottomline here is that guns and teenagers are just a really bad mix," said defense attorney Casey Kovacic, shortly before his client was sentenced to 8 1/3 years in prison on Thursday.

"What happened last May was the result of an undeveloped, impulsive, immature, teenage brain trying to deal with a threatening situation," Kovacic continued. "And you add a deadly weapon into that mixture, and we're very fortunate that no one was killed and no one was more seriously injured."

As part of a plea agreement, Turon Lamont Walker Jr. will serve his entire sentence in a youth correctional facility, where he will receive therapy and an education in hopes of better equipping him to deal with life's challenges when he's released.

Walker's grandmother is Portland's youth violence prevention director, Antoinette Edwards. She attended Thursday's sentencing hearing in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Edwards stood up to tell her grandson that she knows he has remorse, that a courtroom of people showed up to support him, that he is "God's child" and that he is loved.

Walker's grandfather, Keith Edwards, told the judge that he hopes his grandson grows while in custody and doesn't have to pay for his mistake his entire life.

Walker's attorney read an apology letter from his client. In the letter, Walker said he will use the next eight years to improve himself. He wrote that he knows that he hurt three people "who did not deserve to get shot."

At a December hearing, Walker pleaded no contest to first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.

After his arrest on May 28, 2015, Walker said he shot a stranger who was following him and his friends and yelling at them. But the five bullets Walker fired missed his intended target and hit two of his 15-year-old friends and a 25-year-old woman. Their injuries included wounds to the elbow and shoulder and grazing wounds to the abdomen from the .40-caliber bullets.

Walker's attorney said his client got the gun from one of his 15-year-old friends -- who ultimately turned out to be one of the shooting victims. The friend was wearing sweat pants and was unable to hold the gun in his waistband. So the friend gave the gun to Walker to hold, Kovacic said.

Walker was seated in the back of a police car when he heard a radio transmission and realized the shots he'd fired struck other people, according to police reports. He has since written apology letters to his victims.

The shooting at Northeast 20th Avenue and Alberta Street sent terror through the monthly grassroots festival that attracts thousands of visitors to stroll past dancers, musicians, artists, shops and art galleries.

Walker has said he was associating with gang members at the time of his arrest. He has had a tumultuous adolescence. According to reports submitted to the court, he has a history of running away -- six times in the past three years. He was expelled from Sam Barlow High School last year because of drug problems and later from two Vancouver high schools because of fighting and marijuana, according to a report.

A pretrial services employee wrote that she didn't think family counseling, drug and alcohol treatment, mentoring and efforts by his parents had much of an impact on Walker.

But Walker's attorney, Kovacic, said he had his client evaluated by a child psychologist, who is optimistic that Walker will make significant strides in his development despite social and emotional delays he's encountered in his childhood.

Kovacic said that Walker has the support of his parents, grandparents and others in the community. Kovacic said his client has been well-behaved while in custody, and has been earning straight A's in his school work.

Judge Eric Bergstrom said he agrees with Kovacic's opening remarks, that guns and teenagers are a dangerous combination.

"When a gun is put in a teenagers hand, you might as well get an hour glass and turn it over because it's only a matter of time before that gun is used," Bergstrom said. "I've seen it far too many times."

-- Aimee Green

503-294-5119
maxim-beaverton.jpg

Maxim has nearly 700 Oregon employees, split between a research site in Hillsboro and a factory on the Tektronix campus near Beaverton. Maxim is in the process of shutting down the Hillsboro site and shifting those jobs to its Beaverton site.

(Maxim photo)

Texas Instruments and Analog Devices have decided not to pursue an acquisition of Maxim Integrated Products at this time, according to people familiar with the matter.



Neither potential buyer could reach an agreement on price with Maxim, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. Maxim never felt it needed to sell, said the people, but would have considered an offer with a large premium.

Maxim has nearly 700 Oregon employees, split between a research site in Hillsboro and a factory on the Tektronix campus near Beaverton. Maxim is in the process of shutting down the Hillsboro site and shifting those jobs to its Beaverton site.



Texas Instruments, the biggest maker of analog chips, held talks last year about a possible deal, people familiar with the matter said at the time. Maxim, based in San Jose, California, also received interest from Analog Devices, the people said.



Maxim continues to work with Goldman Sachs Group on strategic alternatives, including selling the company or buying smaller chipmakers, one of the people said. It could attract interest from Chinese buyers, although its size may make a deal difficult, the people said. Maxim has a market valuation of about $9.7 billion.



Representatives for Analog Devices, Maxim and Texas Instruments declined to comment.



Texas Instruments, Maxim and Analog Devices compete in the market for analog chips: semiconductor components that translate real-world things like sound and touch into electronic signals, convert power inside machinery and control mechanical functions such as activating airbags in a car.



Semiconductor companies merged at a record pace last year to pool resources and get bigger in the face of a narrowing customer base and increasing costs. Still, growth continues to slow, which may cause buyers to slow the pace in 2016. Microchip is rethinking its $9-per-share bid for Atmel Corp. upon doing due diligence on the San Jose, California-based company, people with knowledge of the matter said this week.

-- Bloomberg News
In a prime-time, televised town hall meeting Thursday, President Barack Obama fielded tough questions from high-profile gun control opponents and supporters alike, often answering with sympathy and without confrontation as he tried to reassure Americans there is a middle ground on a fiercely divisive issue.

The town hall, hosted by Anderson Cooper, featured several well-known figures in the gun debate. Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in 2011, stood as her husband, Mark Kelly, asked Obama about confiscation theories. Taya Kyle, whose late husband was depicted in the film "American Sniper," asked the president about why he doesn't highlight falling murder rates. Cleo Pendleton, whose daughter was shot and killed near Obama's Chicago home, asked about his proposals to stop gun trafficking across state lines.

Kimberly Corban, an NRA supporter, told Obama she'd been raped by an intruder and now feels that owning a gun "seems like my basic responsibility as a parent ... I refuse to let that happen again."

-- The Associated Press
The Columbia River Gorge doesn't need our praise, but it deserves it nonetheless. This year that praise is extending beyond the Pacific Northwest all the way up to the United States Postal Service, which is honoring the scenic wonder with a postage stamp all its own.

The 2016 Priority Mail Express stamp, set to be released Jan. 17, will honor "the grandeur of the Columbia River Gorge," the postal service wrote in a press release, featuring a grand and gorgeous scene that will be all too familiar to locals.

The 2016 Columbia River Gorge postage stamp.

The image, created by Chicago-based illustrator Dan Cosgrove, is set high above the Vista House atop Crown Point on the Oregon side of the Columbia River, the setting sun bathing the scene in heavenly hues.

It's a nice northwest memento, but the new stamp doesn't come cheap. One Priority Mail Express stamp - which gets you the "fastest domestic service" - will set you back a whopping $22.95.

The stamp is the most recent addition to a long tradition honoring natural wonders via mail. In 2006 the postal service released a commemorative "Wonders of America" stamp series that included Crater Lake, the Pacific Crest Trail and the coast redwoods, among others.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB
Tony Harris, Morris Dees and Heidi Beirich

Investigation Discovery presented a press conference about the series, "Hate in America" during the 2016 TV Winter Press Tour. Appearing were host Tony Harris, from left, Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center and Intelligence Project Director, Southern Poverty Law Center, Heidi Beirich.

(Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

PASADENA, California -- A session at the Television Critics Association Winter 2016 Press Tour here took a turn toward the serious during a press conference discussing the Investigation Discovery series, "Hate in America."

The series is hosted by Tony Harris, of Al Jazeera America, and features Harris working with the Southern Poverty Law Center and Morris Dees, its co- founder, to explore cases from the SPLC archives.

Its website describes the Southern Poverty Law Center as "the premiere U.S. non-profit organization monitoring the activities of domestic hate groups and other extremists - including the Ku Klux Klan, the neo-Nazi movement, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, black separatists, antigovernment militias, Christian Identity adherents and others."

While "Hate in America" will focus on past cases that saw the SPLC going to court, working with law enforcement and taking other measures in support of civil rights, the conversation on Thursday turned briefly to the standoff in Oregon, where a group of anti-government armed militants are occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The standoff in Oregon is reflective of the growth in self-styled militias, said Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, which tracks extremist groups. Beirich referred to the recent SPLC annual count of militias, which showed that SPLC-defined far-right, anti-government militia groups numbered 276, a jump over 202 in 2014. The growth represents a 37 percent increase.

In an interview after the TV Press Tour panel, Beirich and Dees said that the Oregon situation wasn't surprising, in light of the federal government not holding members of the Bundy family accountable after another standoff between rancher Cliven Bundy and his supporters in 2014. Leaders of the Oregon confrontation include two of Bundy's sons.

"It's a really dangerous situation," Beirich said of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. "They've got a person up in a tower, with a rifle."

Federal officials holding off on making aggressive moves against the militants has a lot to do with a reluctance to put federal agents in the line of fire, said Dees.

The Investigation Discovery series, "Hate in America," premieres February 23.

-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@Kristiturnquist
The number of smokers in Spain has fallen by 2% since the smoking ban was introduced five years ago. Hugo Ortuno (EFE)

On January 2, 2011, Spain finally banned smoking in bars and restaurants. The new legislation came into force amid the countrys worst economic crisis in a lifetime, prompting protests from the hospitality sector, as well as complaints about establishments allegedly in breach of it.

The measures could not have been implemented at a worse time, says Emilio Gallego, head of Spains FEHR national hostelry federation. The impact, right at the epicenter of the economic crisis, was tremendous.

The fall in cigarette sales is a consequence of the availability of illegal tobacco, not just a decline in smoking Juan Paramo, head of tobacco industry body ADELTA

Although tobacco restrictions had been in force before 2011, in some regions, establishments had been allowed to create smoking areas using extractor fans and air conditioning, which in many cases involved significant investment.

But despite complaints from the bar and restaurant industry, the general public seems to have backed the ban, at least according to Francisco Rodriguez Lozano, president of a Europe-wide anti-smoking network. Society supported the law, he says, pointing out that the number of smokers has fallen by 2% over the last five years and that although no figures are yet available, there is likely to be a fall in heart and lung illnesses. There have already been fewer cases of asthma among children, Rodriguez notes, adding that all of this will have a long-term benefit for the health system.

Tobacco sales have dropped by around half since 2008. GORKA LEJARCEGI

Rodriguez says Spains anti-smoking legislation is among the most advanced in Europe, and that now is the time to take the next step toward eradicating smoking: generic packaging. This would mean that cigarettes could only be sold in plain white boxes printed with the manufacturers name, accompanied by photographs of tumors and other problems related to smoking, something that other European countries have already been moving toward.

FACUA, Spains consumer watchdog, says it initially received hundreds of complaints about bars and restaurants failing to respect the new laws, but that in the intervening five years, the number of such reports has fallen to around one a week.

But organization spokesman Ruben Sanchez adds that regional authorities are not meeting their responsibilities and are relaxing controls. The owners of some bars know they arent going to be inspected, he says, adding that the few inspections that take place tend to be during the day, despite the fact that most infractions take place in the evenings.

Juan Paramo, the director general of ADELTA, which represents Spains tobacco industry, agrees smoking habits have changed in Spain as a result of the law, noting that cigarette sales have fallen by half since 2008, when the first anti-smoking measures were introduced.

But Paramo adds that the tobacco industrys biggest enemy remains smuggling, saying that the fall in cigarette sales is not just attributable to a decline in smoking, but is a consequence of the transfer from legal to illegal tobacco markets.

In response to continued demand from smokers, many bars, where possible, have created outdoor, or partially covered areas on sidewalks. Terrace tables are being put out all year round, not just in the summer, says Paramo.
Antonio Costa (l) and Pedro Sanchez in Lisbon on Thursday. Tiago Petinga (EFE)

The head of the Spanish Socialist Party, Pedro Sanchez, whose party came in second in the December 20 general election, has said he will try to create a great coalition of progressive forces to lead the country if the winning Popular Party (PP) is unable to form a minority government.

Sanchez made the announcement after meeting with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, a fellow socialist who lost the October election in that country but was able to bring together leftist groups to create an absolute parliamentary majority.

A leftist coalition would violate the decision made by Spaniards at the polls

Acting Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria

Sanchez is appearing to seek a Portuguese-style alliance in Spain, although he did not specify just what parties his offer is aimed at  nor did he explain how he plans to deal with the fact that, even if he manages to bring together all of Spains left-wing deputies, it would still leave the coalition short of an absolute majority of 176 seats.

As expected, the December 20 election saw voters split between the two traditional main parties, the PP and the Socialists (PSOE), and emerging forces Podemos and Ciudadanos.

Although the conservatives formally won the ballot with 123 seats, far ahead of the PSOEs 90, Podemoss 69 and Ciudadanos 40, acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been struggling to secure enough support to get himself reinstated to a second term in office.

Skepticism among Socialist chiefs Anabel Diez Socialist regional leaders have pointed out that despite the similarities between Spain and Portugals post-election scenarios, there is one essential difference: in Portugal there are no nationalist parties contesting the nations unity. That is why some Socialist leaders are skeptical about Pedro Sanchezs notion of a leftist coalition. However, these sources said that if Podemos and small regional parties with a congressional presence were to give up on their calls for a Catalan referendum, they would not oppose such an alliance.

Political analysts have been discussing all possible permutations, including an unlikely grand coalition between the PP and the PSOE. But so far, this seems out of the question, and Rajoy is already preparing for the very real possibility of fresh elections this year.

I say no to the grand coalition proposed by the PP, but if Rajoy fails to form a government, then I say yes to a grand coalition for a progressive government in Spain, said Sanchez following his Thursday meeting with the Portuguese leader.

Yet he would not disclose how he plans to find common ground with three or four other parties that would presumably include the anti-austerity Podemos. The latters insistence on Catalonias right to hold a referendum on self-rule has deeply divided the Socialist camp, where many regional leaders are directly opposed to such a vote.

In order to attain a leftist majority, Sanchez would also need support from small regional parties that support independence, such as the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) and Bildu, a radical Basque party that has been accused of having ties to the banned Batasuna, the alleged political wing of the ETA terrorist organization.

Meanwhile, Podemos leaders seem disinclined to give up on their defense of a Catalan referendum.

We can talk about absolutely everything, but we have expressed a conviction: whoever fails to understand that we live in a nation of nations, in a plural country, will be unable to build fraternity for a shared project in the coming years, said the partys number two official, Inigo Errejon.

Acting Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, of the PP, said that such a leftist coalition would violate the decision made by Spaniards at the polls.

English version by Susana Urra.
Right to work is the law in Michigan. But in other states that is not the case. On Thursday, a group of protesters were attempting to make people aware of the shortcomings of RTW in front of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Were protesting the Mackinac Center because they are nothing more than a mouthpiece for the wealthy and well-connected that has waged war on workers for over 30 years in Michigan, said Thalia Cooper, a truancy abatement clerk for the Saginaw City School District, in a press release. Billionaires are spending unlimited money on campaigns and shadowy groups like the Mackinac Center to take away our rights, our voice and ability to join together to improve the workplace and the services we provide. People need to know the real intentions of groups like the Mackinac Center.

The timing of the protest comes just before Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA), a case to be heard before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. At stake is whether or not unions can require teachers and other public employees to pay dues as a condition of employment.

The case was filed by the Center for Individual Rights on behalf of Rebecca Friedrichs. A ruling in her favor would provide RTW protection for all public employees in the United States, meaning an employee may not be fired for not paying union dues.

Just as people are free to protest under the First Amendment, the Mackinac Center believes teachers should be free to choose what political organizations they want to support, which is the central issue in the Friedrichs case, stated Michael Reitz, Mackinac Center executive vice president, in a release.

As an employee of the Michigan Unemployment Agency, protestor and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) member Amy Davis-Comstock disagrees with RTW and believes it is hurting Michigan.

Since it was enacted, we have not seen an increase in jobs or an increase in the living wages in Michigan. Weve actually seen a decrease in that. I work for the unemployment agency. I cant speak officially for them. I do know it has not been successful, based on what Ive seen. I think it would be a bad decision to have that go nationwide, said Davis-Comstock.

Each of the 10 protesters marched back and forth in front of the center, toting signs, one of which read: Billionaires: We will not be silenced.

It really offends me that as a taxpayer, I see that the Koch brothers and the DeVos family here in Michigan are buying elections and controlling a lot of the local elections and at the national level. This is one more way they are going to try to control what happens and take our voices away, Davis-Comstock said.

Another sign read #fightfor15.

One of the things SEIU is looking at is a $15 per hour minimum wage and Black Lives Matter. Those are important things we should be looking at as a country. I know what it takes to actually survive and to file a claim and to be able to live, she said.

Davis-Comstock took exception to the fact the Mackinac Center has filed two Amicus briefs in the Friedrichs v. CTA case and was a primary force in the push to make Michigan a RTW state.

Theyre a think tank and they come up with a lot of these ideas and they disseminate them out to all these legislators, especially here in Michigan and I think other states as well. Were trying to bring awareness that in our own backyard ... we have this think tank that is really working against working people, she said.
The U.S. and five ally and partner nations in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region are scheduled to participate in exercise Cope North 2016 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Feb. 10 through 26.

Exercise CN16 is a long-standing exercise designed to enhance multilateral air operations between the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Japan Air Self-Defense Force and Royal Australian Air Force. As part of CN16, additional participants from the Philippines Air Force, Republic of Korea Air Force and Royal New Zealand Air Force will participate in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training.

More than 930 U.S. Airmen and Sailors will train alongside approximately 490 JASDF, 375 RAAF, 5 PAF, 20 ROKAF and 35 RNZAF service members. Additionally, more than 100 aircraft, comprised of 23 flying units from the U.S. and Indo-Asia-Pacific region, will participate in CN16.

The exercise will begin with a two-day table-top Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief exercise to enhance command and control prior to the week-long HA/DR training. This will be the first time a table-top HA/DR exercise has been completed prior to executing the training. During the second part of the exercise, the focus will shift to large-force employment training, fighter-versus-fighter air combat tactics training, and air-to-ground strike mission training over the Farallon de Medinilla range 160 nautical miles north of Guam. The U.S. Air Force's 353rd Combat Training Squadron from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, will participate in the exercise and conduct multilateral survival training for the first time this year.

Additionally during CN16, Andersen AFB will open its doors to the general public to attend an open house featuring static displays and flyovers.

Beginning in 1978 as a quarterly bilateral exercise held at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Cope North was moved to Andersen AFB in 1999. Today, the annual exercise serves as a keystone event to promote stability and security throughout the Indo-Asia-Pacific region by enabling regional forces to hone vital readiness skills critical to maintaining regional stability.
CAMP HUMPHREYS, Korea -- When Command Sgt. Maj. Matthew D. McCoy arrived here 18 months ago he knew little about installation management because he'd spent much of his career in Airborne and Special Operations units.

Before he came to Camp Humphreys he was the Command Sergeant Major of Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.

He didn't request the garrison command sergeant major's position, the Army selected him for it. He knew being a garrison command sergeant major with Installation Management Command presented him new challenges and opportunities for growth.

"Well, at first I had reservations. As the senior enlisted leader in a tactical organization you're one of the subject matter experts, you bring a skill set and experience to problems you face," McCoy said. "What I realized as I transitioned into IMCOM was as a command sergeant major you're not the most experienced guy at the table, you have directorates that have many, many years of experience and continuity in installations, they are extremely-valuable to the success of your mission."

McCoy also quickly realized that while he could make things happen quickly in his tactical jobs, things move at a different pace in a garrison.

In IMCOM it's more deliberate because resources are involved, he said.

McCoy learned new skills and grew professionally at Humphreys.

"Installation management is all about building healthy and synthesized relationships," he said. "One of the biggest skills I've developed is building relationships with others. I haven't had to rely on that in the past as much as I have in this position."

"We serve many commands here: IMCOM, IMCOM Pacific Region, our senior commander (Eighth Army Commanding General) Lt. Gen. Bernard S. Champoux sets our Fight Tonight priorities, we have customers, military and civilian, it's extremely complex. I don't think I would have had the opportunity to grow as much as I have here."

McCoy said he has appreciated the level of trust the Humphreys command team has from their higher headquarters.

It's been a key indicator of our success, the level of trust and empowerment we have here."

Regarding the on-going transformation of Humphreys McCoy said he's found the community extremely resilient despite the changes and disruptions transformation brought to the garrison.

"On any given day we've got transformation efforts. We're building 655 new buildings and tearing down 329we've got swing space but we've not been given a bye to make sure the community is ready," he said. "A lot of folks are living here through the most-turbulent times, they get to see the post this will become but they don't get to enjoy some of the facilities to come."

Transparent communication between the directorates and the community helps the community cope, he added.

"It helps," he said. "We live with the same hardships as them. As a whole, though, we've received very-limited comments about transformation."

McCoy also credits his success to the assistance he's received from the "Team of Teams," the other garrison command teams in Korea.

"When we had a problem and needed a solution, we reached out to others, there's tremendous sharing," he said. "They're some of the best commanders and command sergeants major I've worked with in my careerit's a great team of teams."

As his tour draws to a close, McCoy said he's grateful for the opportunities it provided him--community relations events and the chance to work with the KATUSA (Korean Augmentee to the U.S. Army) Soldiers who live and work here.

"The KATUSAs are great, they have high national pride; they bring so much to the alliance with the sharing of their culture. I've enjoyed working with them and the Korean National employees on our staff."

Looking back, he said he's not disappointed he served as a garrison command sergeant major instead of in a tactical assignment.

"It's been a real pleasure, a humbling experience to serve in this position, to serve this community, I'm very thankful for this opportunity."

McCoy's next assignment is as the command sergeant major of the Army's Communications and Electronics Command based at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
MANILA, Philippines  The Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Texas (SSN 775) arrived in Subic Bay Jan. 5 for a visit as part of its Indo-Asia-Pacific deployment.

With a crew of approximately 135, Texas conducts a multitude of missions to enhance proficiency of the submarine fleet. Texas is the second Virginia-class fast-attack submarine commissioned by the United States and is operated by some of the Navys finest and most well-trained officers and enlisted personnel.

Texas Sailors are hardworking and downright dedicated, said Master Chief Machinists Mate Daniel Kloepfer, Texass chief of the boat. Maintaining a forward-deployed nuclear submarine is not an easy task and Subic Bay will allow for some much deserved rest for the crew.

For many crew members, this is their first visit to the Philippines.

I cant wait to get to the Philippines for the first time, said Electronics Technician 2nd Class Keagan Garber. Im looking forward to exploring the great outdoors.

Measuring more than 377 feet long and weighing more than 7,800 tons when submerged, Texas is one of the most technologically advanced submarines in the world. This submarine is capable of executing a multitude of missions including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike, surveillance and reconnaissance, irregular warfare, mine warfare and shallow water operations.

Built in Newport News, Virginia from 2002  2004, Texas established its home in Groton Connecticut before transferring to Pearl Harbor in 2009. The boat is sponsored by former first lady Laura Bush.
Police search the home where the dead body was found. A. Encesa

The parents of a seven-year-old child who was found dead inside their home in Girona have been released by a judge, but barred from leaving the country. The couple, who are US citizens, had their passports withheld.

While initial reports suggested that the child had been dead for four weeks, forensic scientists now believe that the death may have occurred over three months ago, given the advanced state of decay of the body.

Family members reportedly referred to the dead child as being merely asleep

Both the father and mother told the judge that they thought their son was asleep, said the attorney in the case, Enrique Barata. They claimed that one morning they went into his room but he would not wake up.

Although the results of a toxicology test are still pending, violence has already been ruled out and doctors suspect that the child may have died of a respiratory condition, as he suffered from asthma like his mother.

Investigators are searching the fathers computer in search of any evidence that the parents were aware that their childs life was at risk yet did nothing to save him.

Failing to report the childs death would not constitute a crime if the parents had nothing to do with it, criminal experts said. For now, the charges of involuntary manslaughter have not been dropped.

Two visits by the police

The parents, a US couple who have been living in the Catalan city with their three children for around two years, were arrested on January 5 after the police walked into their duplex and found the body wrapped in blankets on a bed.

The family had been spending time inside the same room with the body and rarely went out at all, leading psychiatrists to believe that they may have been under a collective delusional state. Family members reportedly referred to the child as being merely asleep.

It has now emerged that the Catalan police had been to the house five days prior to the grisly discovery, after the US consulate was contacted by somebody concerned that no one had heard from the family in a long time. The father spoke with the officers and told them that everything was fine.

Then, on January 5, the apartment owner showed up to demand that the family pay the rent they had owed since September. After getting no answer but hearing loud screaming inside the home, she called the police, who entered the premises and found the body.

Experts believe that the fact the family kept the body and carried on with their lives around it points to a psychological alteration of reality

On Thursday morning, a delegation from the US consulate showed up at the Girona courthouse in charge of the investigation to inquire about the case. The couple, a 39-year-old engineer and his wife, 38, have failed to provide details of how their child died or why they did not report it.

Some experts believe that the fact that the family kept the body and carried on with their lives around it points to them suffering a psychological alteration of reality. One of the strongest working hypotheses is that the youngster may have fallen ill, and that the parents failed to get him the medical attention he required for unknown reasons.

The couple has two older children who have been temporarily placed under the care of the Catalan government.

English version by Susana Urra.
BLOOMINGTON  Twin City residents will get the faster Internet speeds many local agencies use, possibly this year.

MetroNet, an Evansville, Ind.-based TV, Internet and phone provider, plans to begin construction this spring on infrastructure to spread gigabit Internet to homes across Bloomington-Normal, according to a news release.

Gigabit service uses fiber-optic cables to deliver data at up to a gigabit per second  fast enough to download a high-definition feature film in 90 seconds, said MetroNet Business Development Manager Kathy Scheller.

The company will offer TV and phone service through the same cables.

MetroNet's speed rivals what Central Illinois Regional Broadband Network has offered since 2013 to local entities, including school districts, higher education, healthcare agencies, municipalities, libraries, not-for-profit agencies and businesses. Unlike CIRBN, MetroNet will use no public funding, Scheller said.

Scheller did not comment on how much construction will be necessary but said the company is "pretty far along" in related negotiations with Bloomington, Normal, Ameren Illinois and Corn Belt Energy. MetroNet's cable will run next to existing power lines.

It will be a widespread deployment throughout Bloomington-Normal," she said of where service will be offered. We light up certain areas at certain times.

The company also plans to set up a retail facility in the Twin Cities but hasn't decided on a location.

"Well have technicians from there and people that work in the store there, Scheller said.

Asked how much the service will cost the average customer, Scheller said we like to initially say 'Whatever youre used to paying, you get more for the same.'

Mayor Tari Renner said the company's interest shows Bloomington is a technology hub. Google named Bloomington a 2015 eCity, an award honoring the city in each state with the strongest online business community.

We like university towns because of the tech-savviness of that kind of population, Scheller said.

Bloomington-Normal will be MetroNet's first market outside Indiana. Cities with MetroNet service include Lafayette, home of Purdue University, as well as Huntington and Vincennes, which are home to private universities.
Cuban migrants at the Panama-Costa Rica border. EFE

Florida authorities are asking President Barack Obama for federal assistance to meet the needs of about 9,000 Cuban immigrants who have been grounded in Central America and will begin their journey north to the United States starting next week. Most of the migrants are stranded in Costa Rica after Nicaragua denied them entry.

Florida mayors are asking the Obama administration for a specific plan to tackle this situation. Since Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced plans to normalize diplomatic relations between their two countries on December 17, 2014, putting an end to more than half a century of hostilities, there has been a constant, almost daily, stream of Cubans arriving on American soil. Last year around 40,000 migrants from the island entered the United States  the biggest influx in the last decade.

Last year around 40,000 Cuban migrants from the island entered the US  the biggest influx in the last decade

Although the Obama administration has said on numerous occasions that it does not plan to revise the Cuban Adjustment Act  an immigration law that facilitates admission of Cuban newcomers and expedites citizenship applications for Cubans  there is a growing fear that the measure might be repealed. The presidents statement has not helped to discourage thousands of Cubans from traveling for months in order to reach American soil. Although some are still trying to get to the shores of Florida by boat, most have taken a longer, safer route through Central America and Mexico.

About 8,000 of them are now in Costa Rica, where they have been stuck since November 2015 after Nicaragua denied them entry. Another 1,000 are in Panama waiting to travel to the United States.

In late December, Central American nations agreed on a plan of action. Starting next week, Cuban refugees will be allowed to leave Costa Rica to travel by plane to El Salvador where they will be able to continue their journey through Guatemala and Mexico and finally to the United States. The first flight is expected to leave next Tuesday with 180 passengers aboard.

This Cuban migration has also led to a conflict between US federal and local authorities. Ninety-nine percent of Cubans in Costa Rica want to come to Miami and they have no infrastructure waiting to assist them, said Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado. The federal government is the cause of this and they have to give solutions to a crisis that they have created.

Regalado, a Cuban-born American and a Republican, has been warning that normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba and fears that the Cuban Adjustment Act might be repealed could trigger a new Mariel boatlift. Between April and October 1980, 125,000 Cubans fled from Mariel Harbor to American shores. The crisis dramatically changed the demographics of the city and led to significant social changes after Fidel Castro took advantage of the situation to empty Cubas jails of common criminals  Miami crime rates shot up in the years that followed. The city has yet to heal completely from this crisis, the mayor added.

Regalado and other Florida mayors are asking the federal government to provide funds to help them tackle the situation. We have exhausted the resources that we had from the federal government for the needy, Regalado said.

The mayor has complained that the Obama administration has yet to respond to his request, saying: I told them this could happen. Most of them are coming here in desperation, but no one has told us anything at all.

Meanwhile, US State Department sources have said the issue is delicate and that the administration has no plans to change the Cuban Adjustment Act.

English version by Dyane Jean Francois.
Soon, voters will have the opportunity and impertinence to insert themselves into the 2016 presidential conversation that thus far has been the preoccupation of journalists and other abnormal people. The voting will begin in Iowa, thanks to Marie Jahn.

When, after 38 years as recorder for Plymouth County in northwest Iowa, Jahn decided to retire in February 1975, local Democrats decided to throw her a party. When it came to attracting a speaker, the best they could entice from their partys national ranks was a former one-term governor of Georgia. According to Steven Hayward in The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order:

Carters obscurity was confirmed when he appeared on the syndicated TV game show Whats My Line? He stumped the panel, which not only didnt recognize him, but failed to guess he was a state governor. When pollster George Gallup drew up a list of 38 potential Democratic presidential candidates in 1975, Carters name was not on the list.

Eleven months after the fete for Jahn, Jimmy Carter finished second in the hitherto obscure Iowa caucuses, behind undecided. This semi-triumph became his springboard to Olympus. The caucuses would never again be obscure. The moral of this cautionary tale is that voters can be startlingly disruptive.

Perhaps they are somewhat less likely to be so today. Surprises might be more difficult to spring now that there is saturation journalism about presidential campaigns that are in high gear a year before the first votes are cast.

But American politics often has had quirky aspects, as historian Morton Keller demonstrates in his Americas Three Regimes: A New Political History (2007). The Republican Party, Keller says, became known as the Grand Old Party in the 1880s, when it was about 25 years young. In 1840, when William Henry Harrison, scion of wealthy Virginia planters, ran for president as the hardscrabble log cabin and hard cider candidate, the resulting paraphernalia included glass log cabins containing whiskey from Pittsburghs E.C. Booz distillery, which enriched American slang. The Era of Good Feelings, the decade after 1815, was, Keller says, more an Era of No Feelings: In the 1820 presidential election, Richmonds 12,000 residents produced 17 votes. Only 568 of Baltimores 63,000 residents voted. Nine percent of those eligible in New Jersey voted. No one will ever call 2016 part of an Era of Good Feelings. If, however, Donald Trumps vitriol pumps up the number of voters, this will at least lay to rest the canard that high voter turnout is a sign of social health.

Given the pandemic distaste for todays politics, it is consoling to remember that things change. In the late 19th century, Robert Ingersoll, aka The Great Agnostic, was the nations most outspoken atheist and a leading Republican, a combination unlikely today. In the third decade of the 20th century, even a politician with national aspirations could be proudly parochial: The Democrats 1928 presidential nominee, New York Gov. Al Smith, reportedly said he would rather be a lamppost on Park Row than the governor of California, and when asked his thoughts about the problems of states west of the Mississippi, he supposedly replied, What are the states west of the Mississippi? In 1952, the Democratic presidential nominee, Adlai Stevenson, dismayed by the mainstream medias conservatism, fretted about a one-party press in a two-party country.

Today, there is a sense in which there are few two-party states. In the presidential election 40 years ago, Carter against President Gerald Ford, 20 states were won by five points or less, including the six most populous states: California, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Ohio. (Note the absence of Florida, now the third-most populous state.) In 2012, just four states were decided by five points or less (North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Virginia). Today, Larry J. Sabato, Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley of the University of Virginias Center for Politics identify just seven states they consider super-swingy: Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia, all of which voted for George W. Bush and Barack Obama twice, and Iowa and New Hampshire, which have voted Democratic in three of the last four elections.

But, again, things change. One session of the Connecticut Legislature in the 1790s, Keller writes, devoted itself primarily to imposing a tax on dogs. The next session was given over to discussing whether or not to remove that levy. This was, of course, long ago, before government became ambitious, caring and reviled.
Cheers

... to organizers of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial traveling wall, which is scheduled for Aug. 24-28 at Evergreen Cemetery in Bloomington. Organizers need to raise $25,000 to bring the replica wall and related displays to the cemetery.

The wall and other such memorabilia help veterans and families remember the lost and honor the living, while teaching young people about the importance of such memorials.

If you can give, it's a worthy cause. Monetary donations can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/AVTT-Vietnam-wall; or at https://www.facebook.com/avttvietnamwallevergreencemeteryevent.

Cheers

... to Illinois Department of Corrections for hiring more employees to cut back on overtime pay.

Paying overtime to current workers, rather than adding or keeping full- or part-time employees, was once thought to be a panacea for companies and governments looking to save money.

But having a thin staff accrue overtime, holiday pay or compensatory time  often without time available to take it  can result in poor morale or force employees to quit rather than routinely work more than 40 hours.

It's good to see IDOC finally realizing the difference, particularly in a business involving such potentially dangerous work.

Cheers

... to Bloomington and Normal crews who are cleaning up fallen trees and brush from last week's storm.

Local government could have left the material along streets until regular crews had time to pick it up, but leaders of both municipalities recognized the massive amount of debris needs to be picked up as soon as possible.

Cheers

... to all the utility crews, firefighters, police, dive teams, rescue crews and anyone else who put in extra time last week to get the lights back on, fight fires, answer accident calls, rescue boaters or help in other ways during the storm.

It's been a mild winter so far, but we still have a ways to go until spring.

Make the call

Several weeks ago, McLean County Coroner Kathy Davis shared information about the increased number of deaths by suicide over the last year.

Those numbers have continued to climb throughout Central Illinois.

If you know or suspect someone might be thinking about suicide, or seems depressed, call 211. The service, run through PATH (Providing Access to Help) has trained call-takers who can help.
Brazilian Paper Exports Up Nearly 26% in November 2015 Jan. 8, 2016 - Brazilian paper producers exported 170,000 tonnes in November 2015, a volume 25.9% higher than the same month of last year, according to a news release from RISI. The increase is mostly related to the exchange rate, which has been encouraging producers to look for new markets abroad and thus offset the negative impact of the Brazilian economic recession on their domestic sales, RISI noted. In January-November 2015, Brazil exported 1.87 million tonnes of paper, a 10.1% increase over a year ago. In the period, paper export revenues totaled $1.84 billion, or 4.5% higher than January-November 2014. Of this total, Latin America accounted for $1 billion, or 5.8% higher than a year ago, Europe accounted for $240 million (a 2% decrease), North America for $225 million (8.2% lower), Asia/Oceania for $125 million (4.2% higher), China for $112 million (a 40% increase), and Africa for $95 million (up 11.8%), RISI reported. SOURCE: RISI
The Goldman Sachs logo on display at the New York Stock Exchange. EFE

The political uncertainty in Spain is starting to worry international investors.

The positive outlook on the Spanish economy in late 2015 has given way to prudence due to acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoys inability to form a new government following inconclusive elections.

So far, financial markets are not reflecting these fears

Concerns over Catalonia, where the separatist winners of the September election have been similarly unable to form a government, are also playing a role.

On Friday, investment bank Goldman Sachs released its 2016 report on risks to the European economy, which include the refugee crisis, a slowdown in the Chinese economy, and political problems deriving from a potential exit from the European Union by Britain or continuing instability in Spain.

New elections in 2016 are very likely if the alliance of like-minded parties proposed by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy does not materialize, warns the report, which was headed by chief economist Huw Pill.

In that case, the political uncertainty would almost certainly spill over into the economy, affecting consumer confidence and ultimately the economys outlook, says the investment bank.

So far, however, financial markets are not reflecting such fears. On Friday, the gap between Spanish and German 10-year borrowing costs was 116 basis points.

Goldman Sachs is not the first foreign analyst to express fears over Spains political situation. The ratings agency Fitch has already underscored that the uncertainty will lead to a slowdown in reforms.

Meanwhile, experts at Italian bank Unicredit hold that anything other than a grand coalition between the Popular Party and the Socialists will inevitably lead to early elections sooner rather than later.

English version by Susana Urra.
CEPI Director General Marco Mensink to Leave in March

Jan. 8, 2016 (Press Release) - CEPI Director General Marco Mensink will leave his role in CEPI on 15 March 2016 to take up the role of Director General in CEFIC (the chemical industry trade federation).

Marco Mensink has had a lengthy career in CEPI and the overall paper industry sector. During that time he has made a major contribution to progress and lead many innovative initiatives and developments. Above all, he leaves a very professional team of colleagues behind, quoted Peter Oswald, CEPI Chairman.

The CEPI Board thanks Marco for his major contribution to CEPI and wishes him and his family every success in his new role.

CEPI has now commenced the process to appoint a replacement.

The search for a replacement will be coordinated by the CEPI Board Steering Committee, chaired by CEPI Chairman Peter Oswald, with the support of a recruitment agency.

Candidates can make their interest known by contacting the CEPI Chairman on a dedicated and confidential e-mail address: chairman@cepi.org. The applications will be included in the process with the recruitment agency.

The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) is a Brussels-based non-profit organisation regrouping the European pulp and paper industry and championing industry's achievements and the benefits of its products. Through its 18 member countries (17 European Union members plus Norway) CEPI represents some 505 pulp, paper and board producing companies across Europe, ranging from small and medium sized companies to multi-nationals, and 920 paper mills. Together they represent 23% of world production. To learn more, please visit: www.cepi.org.

SOURCE: CEPI
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Lawyer has been unable to present a report to the Prosecutor's Office for 8 days (video)

Nine members of the New Armenia Public Salvation Front demand punishment for police officers who used violence against them at the beginning of the year. However, lawyer Tigan Hayrapetyan has been unable to present a report [on crime] to the Prosecutor General's Office for the past eight days. They did not open the door for a long time. Then someone showed up and said they had no right to take the document. I told him to hand the report to the prosecutor on duty, but he said they did not have one available at that moment. It is already the eighth day, we cannot find a prosecutor on duty in the Republic of Armenia, the lawyer said. Earlier this week, Gevorg Safaryan, a representative of the New Armenia Front, was arrested after clashes with police in Yerevan on New Years Eve and was charged with violence against a police representative [Gegham Khachatryan]. On December 31, several dozens of activists tried to place a Christmas tree at Liberty Square without coordination of the Yerevan Municipality, but the police did not allow them to do so. Suzan Simonyan, another member of the New Armenia opposition movement, says she also suffered from the actions of the police. They hit me and threw onto the ground. I was lying in the snow with the Christmas tree in my hand. A group of men were fighting and dragging one another trampling me. They also insulted and bad mouthed all those who did not obey them, she recalled. New Armenia has held a protest action near Gegham Khachatryans house in support of the arrested activist [Gevorg Safaryan]. Five more activists were taken to the police after the December 31 clashes, but they were freed later. Another member of the Public Salvation Front, Suzy Gevorgyan, 23, was subjected to violence in the yard of her house on January 5. "I felt I was being followed by two men. They threw me to the ground. I fell down and kicked me with their feet, she tells. The activist, who moved to Armenia permanently a month ago, has been subjected to violence for the second time. Dont they realize that they cannot silence us and stop us from fighting for our homeland by using force and violence? she says. Suzys dream is to build a free and independent Armenia, where there will be no place for impunity and illegality. Members of the New Armenia group again gathered outside the police building this morning demanding punishment for real wrongdoers. They did not open the door for a long time. Then someone showed up and said they had no right to take the document. I told him to hand the report to the prosecutor on duty, but he said they did not have one available at that moment. It is already the eighth day, we cannot find a prosecutor on duty in the Republic of Armenia, the lawyer said. Earlier this week, Gevorg Safaryan, a representative of the New Armenia Front, was arrested after clashes with police in Yerevan on New Years Eve and was charged with violence against a police representative [Gegham Khachatryan]. On December 31, several dozens of activists tried to place a Christmas tree at Liberty Square without coordination of the Yerevan Municipality, but the police did not allow them to do so. Suzan Simonyan, another member of the New Armenia opposition movement, says she also suffered from the actions of the police. They hit me and threw onto the ground. I was lying in the snow with the Christmas tree in my hand. A group of men were fighting and dragging one another trampling me. They also insulted and bad mouthed all those who did not obey them, she recalled. New Armenia has held a protest action near Gegham Khachatryans house in support of the arrested activist [Gevorg Safaryan]. Five more activists were taken to the police after the December 31 clashes, but they were freed later. Another member of the Public Salvation Front, Suzy Gevorgyan, 23, was subjected to violence in the yard of her house on January 5. "I felt I was being followed by two men. They threw me to the ground. I fell down and kicked me with their feet, she tells. The activist, who moved to Armenia permanently a month ago, has been subjected to violence for the second time. Dont they realize that they cannot silence us and stop us from fighting for our homeland by using force and violence? she says. Suzys dream is to build a free and independent Armenia, where there will be no place for impunity and illegality. Members of the New Armenia group again gathered outside the police building this morning demanding punishment for real wrongdoers.
A mother of conjoined twins said she has been banned by Children's Hospital Colorado from seeing her newborn child. Now, she wants to sue them for prohibiting her from visiting her baby.

Amber McCullough from Minnesota gave birth in Colorado on Aug. 26. She delivered Hannah and Olivia through a cesarean section, but sadly doctors were unable to save Olivia after the 5-hour separation procedure.

However, enraged Amber argued with the hospital last month after banning her from seeing Hannah as they deemed her to be "disruptive." She was banned for three days and was also limited to two-hour daily visit in the mid of December.

"She was disruptive to staff and interfering with their ability to take care of other patients," the hospital explained to her lawyer, James Avery in a statement sent via email. "The situation has become untenable and unworkable."

Thus, the new mom strongly denied the claims and said she's just concern about her daughter. On the GoFundMe page, Amber also said she wants to transfer Hannah to another medical facility in Boston.

McCullough also warned that she's filing a lawsuit against the hospital. "I am also currently suing them over the retaliation as it violates patient rights, parental rights, Joint Commission rules, the patient care act and others," she wrote.

Amber said she wants to sue the hospital as she wants to speak for herself as well as for other patients and parents -- definitely wanting to hold the hospital "accountable" of such occurrences. She also thinks there are no specific measures in place to protect both rights of the patients and of the parents.

But after filing legal documents, her laywer Avery confirmed on Tuesday to 9NEWS that the hospital already reinstated his client's visitation hours. She is now allowed to visit her daughter four hours a day, except from Sunday to Tuesday. She was also asked not to record anymore any conversations between her and the hospital.

Since the visitation approval, McCullough then removed her Facebook account as it is where she posted the recorded conversations between her and the hospital's staff after the medical facility claimed she was disruptive. Now, McCullough is processing her Medicaid approval and intends to transfer Hannah to a Children's Hospital in Boston.




The "Fast & Furious" franchise is considered to be one of the biggest movie franchises in Hollywood history. With seven movies and all block-buster hits, the "Fast & Furious" production is a force to be reckoned with. The last movie, "Fast & Furious 7," is one of the biggest hit yet out of all the "F&F" movies, raking in a staggering $1.5 billion in ticket sales last 2014.

Not long ago, it was confirmed that a new installment of the mega-blockbuster film will come in to existence. The "Fast & Furious 8" is set to become reality. Although one of the major actors in the franchise Paul Walker, who played Brain O'Connor in the films, passed away the production of "F&F 8" will continue and there have been even rumors of Walker's character making a cameo in the latest film through computer-generated image of the actor.

The "Fast & Furious" franchise is well known to film in exotic cities, such as in Rio and Dubai. The latest details relating to the "Fast & Furious 8" is one of the filming sites. According to the filmmakers, there is a possibility that a part of the film will be shot in Cuba.

"Universal Pictures is currently in the process of seeking approval from the United States and Cuban governments to explore shooting a portion of the next installment of the 'Fast & Furious' series in Cuba," a spokeswoman for the studio said. Already, the filmmakers have gone for a research trip in Cuba to assess the area.

If the plan for "Fast & Furious 8" to film in Cuba pushes through, this will be the first time a major film production will happen in the country. As of now, the film is set to start production this spring in Atlanta and New York with plans to have the major set pieces of the film take place in Cuba.

The majority of the cast will reprise their roles in the "Fast & Furious 8" installment, including Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson. The film is set to be released on April 17, 2017.
The actor who played "Luke Skywalker" in the "Star Wars movies" has admitted in an interview that a serious car crash is the reason for his face's dramatic change in the sequel to the first movie. Mark Hamill's car accident was so severe that it changed his face from a young and fresh-looking man in the 1977 hit movie "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" into an older and wearier appearance in 1980's darker sequel "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back".

According to a report from Food World News, the actor was involved in a severe car accident just before the filming for "A New Hope" has finished.

"What happened was that I was on the wrong freeway. I was way out in the sticks somewhere and there were no cars and no traffic, thank God," the actor explained in an interview with Gossip magazine. "I was going about 65-70 mph... I was speeding, going too fast... and what happened, I think, was that I tried to negotiate an off-ramp and lost control, tumbled over, and went off the road. I fractured my nose and my cheek."

The actor also said in the interview that he fractured his nose and his cheek during the accident which dramatically changed the star's facial appearance. "I just woke up and I was in the hospital and I knew that I had hurt myself very, very, very badly... but I wasn't really sure. And then someone held a mirror up to my face and I just felt that my career was over."

Fortunately, fans and critics continued to embrace him as "Luke Skywalker" in the sequel despite the change in his appearance caused by Mark Hamill's car accident. A review from movie critic James Berardinelli talks about Hamill's performance in the sequel, "Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher have matured in their craft and are sure of themselves in their roles."
Marvel Universe continues to dominate with their onslaught of movies coming out this year, one of the most highly-anticipated movie is the third installment of Marvel's superhero Captain America. The movie "Captain America: Civil War" revolves around Steve Rogers (Captain America) played by Chris Evans and his disagreement with Tony Stark (Iron Man) played by Robert Downey Jr.

The movie is set to be release this coming May and the fans cannot wait. "Captain America: Civil War" will also include numerous new Marvel Comic Universe characters, while some will reprise their roles. According to reports, "Captain America: Civil War" will debut superheroes Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spiderman (Tom Holland).

Ant-man (Paul Rudd) whose movie just came out a year will appear in "Captain America: Civil War" alongside Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), who was introduce in "Avengers: Age of Ultron". Other Marvel Universe characters will also join the cast of "Captain America: Civil War" including Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Vision (Paul Bettany), Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and War Machine (Don Cheadle).

Evans also discussed about how "Captain America: Civil War" is a pivotal movie for both Captain America and Iron Man. "There's a great parallel that they draw between my character and Tony Stark," Chris Evans, told Cineplex. "It's something we can all relate to in terms of how we perceive our own society and culture, in terms of what is best for people."

"Captain America: Civil War" revolves around the different opinion of Captain America and Iron Man whether superheroes like them should register to the U.S. Government's Superhuman Registration Act, which will monitor and follow every move of the superheroes.

"You have this team of people who are destroying every city they go to, but they're saving the world," Evans explained further. "So it's a matter of, do we monitor these people or do we let them monitor themselves? The beautiful thing with Civil War is that no one's right and no one's wrong; it's just your personal opinion."

The movie will be released in theaters worldwide May 2016.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has started tracking and monitoring people who intentionally inflict harm on animals. The law enforcement agency has found that history of animal cruelty is a possible indicator of criminals who have the potential to carry out violence and other crimes to humans in the future.

According to Popular Science, a research conducted by the Chicago Police Department found that 65 percent of criminals who were guilty of assault has a record of animal abuse. A more recent study published on Animal Legal and Historical Center website claims that about 40 percent of people involved in crimes including domestic violence and neglect has perpetrated abuse to animals in their adolescence.

"[A]dults may commit acts of cruelty to animals in order to express aggression through an animal (i.e., train an animal to attack by using pain to create a "mean" dog), enhance one's own aggressiveness (e.g., use an animal victim for target practice), or to satisfy sadistic urges (i.e., to enjoy the suffering experienced by the animal victim), explained Cynthia Hodges, author of the paper.

This is no guarantee that anyone who is aggressive towards their pets will become criminals in the future. However, Popular Science noted that animal abuse in childhood is normally used to diagnose psychiatric illnesses but these does not churn out a school shooter.

Mary Lou Randour, a former psychologist and now an animal rights advocate, revealed that before the changes laid out by the FBI, local police files animal cruelty as "other" in reports submitted to the law enforcement agency. This caused the persistent proliferation of cruelty against animals in the country; no one was keeping track of cases in which animals are being subjected to even serious cases like dogfighting, reported The Washington Post.

Animal Defense League attorney, Scott Heiser, promised that the FBI is now considering animal abuse as a serious crime and every case will be backed with hard data. He also expressed that this change is a "significant step forward" to bringing justice to those who rely on humans for care and safety.
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Young artists work in rundown and unsafe building (video)

The apartments of a rundown building in Yerevan have become studios for a group of artists. It is already several months a group of young people have been working inside the building in most unfavourable conditions. We do not want or expect the government to allocate us a free area. But they can rent us areas for a specific period of time so that we can be sure that we can work there for a definite period, says Harutyun Hovsepyan, a first-year student of Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts. It is already three months Harutyun has been working in this tumbledown building with his friends. An artist does not need castles in order to create works of art there; he only needs four walls. We fear that the building may be demolished at any moment and we constantly think that we can soon be driven out of the premises. The student complains that there is no state support which also hampers progress. Nor does the Ministry of Culture communicate or help artists. There is very little communication with young artists, he adds. Harutyun says another major problem that artists are facing these days is the lack of finances for opening individual exhibitions. I have many things to say to people but I have no opportunity to do it. They say, Pay and your works will be put on display. But I cannot afford it, he says. The young people realized that they can either make money or create. They have chosen the second option and they are going to work as long as they have a roof overhead.
People are super pissed about the fate of Steven Avery after watching the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, and when people are mad on the Internet, its only a matter of time before they begin to practice a very specific kind of misguided, misdirected activism. In this case, rather than commit themselves to the cause of reforming Americas screwy judicial system, they decided to write petitions. Two of them, in fact.

The first, at Change.org, asks for a full presidential pardon for Avery, who is currently serving time for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach:

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.

That petition has garnered more than 350,000 signatures, but the more relevant petition for our discussion was submitted to the official White House page. The message is largely the same: 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.

In this case, only 100,000 signatures are needed before the White House issues an official response, and the petitioneers exceeded that number yesterday.

True to its policy, the White House responded. The full statement is here, but the meat of the matter can be summed up in two paragraphs:

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.

Thats a pretty polite way to say, learn the law, idiots. Obama cant do a thing since its a state crime, so it looks like the Internets passion over Averys case will be forced to revert to its original outlet: Leaving prosecutor Ken Kratz nasty Yelp reviews.
Its always nice to see publicly underappreciated artists get their due, even when that due comes almost 70 years following their death. In February, Alligator Records is resurrecting the music of gospel/blues pioneer Blind Willie Johnson with the power of several notable artists, including Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Sinead OConnor, and Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi. The album, entitled God Dont Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson, is slated for release by the Chicago-based label on Feb. 26.

Johnson is well-known as an early slide-guitar wizard and though he sang in a natural tenor, his signature vocal technique became a raspy, false-bass growl. From 1927 to 1930, he recorded 30 songs, mostly traditional hymnals infused with his blues trappings and performed solo on acoustic guitar. Since then, theyve been reinterpreted by a number of musicians, particularly during the 1960s folk revival after Reverend Gary Davis taught the songs to many of the young artists living in Greenwich Village. Johnsons song Dark Was The Night  Cold Was The Ground in particular has been cited as a seminal piece of blues guitar, enough so that it was included on the golden record of human civilization that NASA shot into space aboard Voyager 1 in 1977.

So maybe someday extraterrestrials will give Johnsons music their own spin. For now, though, well have to settle for the solid lineup executive producer Jeffrey Gaskill has put together. Check out the track listing below:

God Dont Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson

1. The Soul Of A Man (Tom Waits)

2. Its Nobodys Fault But Mine (Lucinda Williams)

3. Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning (Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi)

4. Jesus Is Coming Soon (Cowboy Junkies)

5. Mothers Children Have A Hard Time (The Blind Boys of Alabama)

6. Trouble Will Soon Be Over (Sinead OConnor)

7. Bye And Bye Im Going To See The King (Luther Dickinson featuring The Rising Star Fife & Drum Band)

8. God Dont Never Change (Lucinda Williams)

9. John The Revelator (Tom Waits)

10. Let Your Light Shine On Me (Maria McKee)

11. Dark Was The NightCold Was The Ground (Rickie Lee Jones)
On our first night in Rome we dined Gulag-style. Cramped in the basement canteen of the hotel with about a hundred strangers we squeezed together on long benches behind tables that ran the length of the hall. In front of us empty metal bowls and glasses reflected fluorescent lights of the low ceiling. As soon as the body heat began to warm an otherwise freezing room, a side door opened and several young Italian men, dressed in black slacks and black shirts, walked in carrying two metal jugs each. They placed them in the middle of each table, spaced just enough to serve a group of six, and left.

We looked at each other. My father reached for one of the jugs, pulled it closer, and peeked inside.

Its water, he said.

Water? my mother asked. Hot water?

My father touched the jug.

No, he responded. Cold.

A sharp intake of air followed from a family of three seated across from us.

Cold water? They said in unison.

My father nodded and slid the jug back towards the middle of the table.

This was our first supper in the West, which we hadnt prepared ourselves. The previous three weeks in Vienna we stayed in a hotel that came with a kitchenthe fact that effectively postponed all my hopes of rapid assimilation. Aside from the Latin script on jars of sauerkraut and the sounds of Farsi coming from Iranian refugees applying nail polish in the same kitchen, our meals could have easily been held in Moscow. My mother cooked potatoes, mashed them, and then served them with the canned meat we brought in our suitcases and sauerkraut we purchased at a local supermarket. Teathe quintessential Russian beverageaccompanied all of our meals.

We never drank water with food. Popular Russian wisdom warned that to accompany a hot meal with waterand especially cold watermeant to invite gastritis, or worse, an ulcer. Aside from Borjomi, sparkling mineral water from Georgia famed to have healing properties, water was an ingredient, not a beverage. We used it to make kompot, a fruit drink so perfected in Russia that even kindergartens known for serving its cohorts oatmeal, which smelled like Moscow subway during rush hour, couldnt ruin it.

In my family kompot was a joint effort. My grandfather, my mother, and I harvested the fruits that grew in abundance at our dacha and my grandmother made them into kompot. She boiled combinations of gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, currents, pears, and apples in water and sugar long enough for the liquid to assume the color of the darkest fruit in the mixture. She then served it warm or at room temperature while leaving enough to preserve several five-liter jars for the winter. My grandfather lowered those jars into a podval, a basement he dug under the dacha. When Moscovites put on fur hats and began to gauge the cold by the sight of their breath he took them out one by one. In mid-winter, after our podval supply was gone, freshly brewed black teaand never watertook kompots place at our table.

They are going to bring some kompot or tea, my mother said looking toward the doors behind which the men disappeared. They cannot expect us to drink cold water.

Dont be so sure, my father responded. Remember our last three weeks? Cold water with dinner could be the least of our worries.

He had reasons to be circumspect. Our emigration experience of the last twenty-one days ran contrary to all of our expectations. The morning we landed in Viennathe first stop on a journey of a 1989 Jewish emigreswe thought wed left the USSR behind. Gone were the days when Politburo dictated the rules, communist bureaucrats held the power, and the value of a citizen measured only in proximity to either. We were now in the West, the land, which according to the Radio Free Europe, Voice of America, and other outlawed stations on our shortwave, was the bastion of freedom and respect for an individual. We descended the plane ready to embrace the dignity weve heard so much about.



Corrado Forino CC BY

Then we were directed behind the building, away from other passengers, to wait for the transport to our hotel. For the next five hours we sat on the curb, getting wet under the cold October drizzle and eating the sausages wed brought in our suitcases. When at dusk the van finally deposited us at the hotel, we dragged our luggage up to our room to discover that wed be sharing it with a family of complete strangers, dorm-style. My father was ready to turn back then. Why did we move if we are being treated the sameor perhaps worsehere? he asked.

He posed the same question when the overnight train transfer to Rome came complete with German-speaking armed guards, sealed carriages, and compartments that were too small for us and our luggage. Packed in like sausages in an emigres suitcase, we watched lit up castles in the Austrian countryside pass by our window and I wondered if European Jews saw the same scenery some sixty years earlier when they were shipped to concentration camps in what seemed like almost the same conditions. The next morning, when we pulled up to a small town outside of Rome and were given two minutes to disembark, we evacuated the train as if it had been bombed. We passed children and old people through the windows and flung luggage onto the platform. A few lone Italians at the station stared, amused.

Then, while tending to our bruised bags and our equally bruised sense of self-worth, we heard the shouting. A man in black leather coat and black leather boots approached our group, gesticulating and yelling so loud that he scared the pigeons. The only thing that kept this situation from being a Nazi flashback was that he screamed in Italian. Again, why are we here? my father asked. And as much as I hated to admit it, I echoed his sentiment. Perhaps the West reserved dignity and respect only for its ownmuch like Politburo did with the black caviar and spots at popular vacation resortsand we were nothing but wannabes.

When the side door opened again, my mother stretched to look if tea was making its way to our tables. But the men walked in balancing large metal pots on their hips, as mothers would hold their toddlers. Exchanging unfamiliar Italian words with each other over our heads, they raced along the aisles, throwing contents of the pots into our bowls. Garlic aroma filled the canteen replacing the body odor ubiquitous among large gatherings of Homo Sovieticus. Five minutes later the men were gone.

We stared at each other and at the concoction they dispensed.

What is this? my father asked, picking up the fork and sticking it into his bowl.

I think its pasta, my mother said.

Without cheese? And with tomato sauce? my father responded. Id rather have potatoes.

The pasta looked like mutant macaronia shorter, fatter, and hollow version of noodles we used to eat in Moscow. Instead of butter and shredded Sovietski cheese, it came with the sauce the color of the Sovietski flag.

Its raw, an emigre said, a few spaces down to our right.

Its not, another emigre protested, this time to our left. Its Italian style and its supposed to be like that.

I picked up my fork. Perhaps the assimilation I dreamed about was finally happening. Not only was there a complete absence of root vegetables and canned Soviet meat in this dinner, but also the pasta I was about to eat was prepared the Western way. I was leaving behind the domain of a wannabe and entering the domain of someone who belonged. Surely the dignity was to follow?

I took a bite. And then I poured myself some cold water.

Margarita Gokun Silver is a writer and an artist living in Madrid, Spain. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Christian Science Monitor, among others. You can see more of her writing at www.margaritagokunsilver.com or follow her on Twitter: @MGokunSilver.

Pitcher photo by Tadson Bussey CC BY-ND
We all cant get enough of Game of Thrones, so it naturally follows we all cant get enough of Natalie Dormer (and vice versa). Shes known for playing the devious seductress, Margaery Tyrell, on the HBO series, creating quite a followingand her fans wont be disappointed with her latest role in the thriller The Forest which opens this Friday.

Dormer plays Sara and Jess Price. Yes, two roles and two sisters who are wildly different. When Jess, whos been teaching in Japan, goes missing in a forest close by, one thats known for luring unsettled people to commit suicide, Sara goes after her. After meeting a travel journalist, Aiden (Taylor Kinney), at her hotel, she decides to venture into the forbidden woods. When Aiden and Sara go off the beaten path and decide to stay the night, they uncover the true nature of their surroundings. Is the forest actually malevolent or is it all in their heads?

Dormer is no stranger to playing elusive characters, vacillating between angel and demon with her other roles like Margaery, Anne Boleyn in The Tudors and recently with Cressida in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. Sara and Jess possess no shortage of complexities, and the film manifests them in terrifying and shocking ways. As Dormer puts it, Its a smart-thinking persons horror movie.

Paste got a chance to chat with the blonde beauty at the New York Essex House Hotel right off Central Park. Dormer opened up about why shes drawn to characters with demons, embodying women who are warriors and the physical and psychological impact of taking on a horror film. (She recommends spending a lot of time in the sauna.)

Paste: The movie is so great! Congratulations! This is a really smart film.

Dormer:Its a smart-thinking persons horror movie. Its almost like the genre should be irrelevant.

Paste: It does feel that way. I also love your character. We see you play characters will a dual nature already.

Dormer: Oh, thats interesting!

Paste: And youre literally two characters here.

Dormer: Its embodied!

Paste: Yes! Was that something that drew you to the script?

Dormer: No! Thats an interesting observation. If I did that it was a subconscious decision. Wow! You just made me think about analyzing the reason I choose roles!

Paste: Why do you think that that is?

Dormer: Thats something Ive never thought about before. I love the idea that the central relationship in the movie was the love of two sistersespecially in a genre movie. Theyre just textbook examples of how a human being, when theyve suffered trauma as a child, can go in polar opposite directions. Theres [Jess], the wild child, who goes crazy and then [Sara], the girl who becomes the over-achiever, the suppressor, the control freak. I found that so fascinatingexploring that idea. And the great concept that drew me in the scriptthat a forest would hold your own demons up to yourselfthat you actually, as a character in the piece says, do it to yourself. [Sara] hasnt processed everything that shes carrying and repressing. We could all see ourselves traveling half way across the world for someone we love. We all have baggage and history that were not proud of. Imagine going into a place where that gets thrown back into your face. Then, hopefully, youve got a horror movie that people who dont normally like horror movies will want to go and watch. Then youve got the bang and the scares for the die-hards who love the genre as well.

Paste: You went to this forest! When you were there, as Natalie, were you imagining things? Was it creepy?

Dormer: For me, I felt more sadphilosophical more than anything. You see the tape, the ropes around the trees as you start driving ever closer. You realizethis is a real thing. Its horrific to think that people are in such pain that they make that decision. I found it a really pensive, philosophical experience as opposed to anything else. Its a sacred place to the Japanese. It has the light and the dark. Its a very spiritual place. I found it fascinating that such a location exists.

Paste: This is such a physical movie! Did you do any preparation? Youre running between trees and falling in holes!

Dormer: Im quite an active person. I run! Thank God I run! Running in a horror movie is like doing interval training, you know? It is a bit like cross fit! Run up and down the room 10 times as you re-set for the take. My body didnt go into shock when the cardiovascular element of it started. And yeah, because youre playing heightened-tension, someone whos got an awful lot of adrenaline running through them, you just make sure you do your yoga every now and then because your muscles hold that tension and you need to let it go at the end of the day. I sat in the sauna a lot! It was Serbia, the Eastern European continent, so they love their saunas and their steam rooms in that part of the world!

Paste: And sweat out that energy!

Dormer: Sweat it out!

Paste: Like some of your other films, especially in The Hunger Games, youre also really a warrior in this film! Did you find parallels between those characters?

Dormer: Theres a single-mindedness to it. As you say, with Cressida, the backstory I created in The Hunger Games is she wants to overthrow Snow. She wants to overthrow the tyrannical government that has oppressed her and her family. Im going to join the revolution and liberate my home.

Paste: Its the same thing in The Forest!

Dormer: Its the same thing with Sara! The single-mindedness: Im going to find to my sister; Im going to save my sister; Im going to make sure that my sister is okay. When youre single-minded about something like that in life, its of profound emotional importance. [With] those characters, [its] often to their detriment, look at Saraso focused on something.

Paste: Are you that way with some things in your life?

Dormer: Im a little  well [She laughs].

Paste: Youre thinking of something specific!

Dormer: Im just kind of laughing at myself because what Im about to say is really obvious. Im a hybrid of Jess and Sara. I had a tendency, in my youth, to be the overachiever of Sara. As I get into my 30s, Im more relaxed. Ive experienced more in my life. Ive grown up, as people do. There is more of me that is more like Jessthat is more in contact with my emotions and looks at the darkness of the world. Youve got to let it wash over and through you when it does and be a little bit more Zen in the way that Jess is. I have elements of my personalities that would be both twins I think.

Paste: The film deals with this idea of demons. I look at the other roles youve played, Anne Boleyn, Margaery on GOT. Do you feel like they have demons, too? Why are you drawn to these people?

Dormer: Because we all do! Theres three-dimensional characterization, which is what we need in drama. The whole point of drama is that it cathartically helps us vent our own lives. Maybe people dont realize thats what theyre doing, when they turn on the telly or they pick up a book or they go to the movie theater. Yes, its escapism, but you have to identify with it on some emotional, human levelotherwise you wouldnt be engaged with it. So, for me, its all of those characters, great three-dimensional fleshed-out characters who are struggling with love, loss, sacrifice, pain and often very contradictory characters. I like to play characters who are contradictory because, in real life, were contradictory.

Paste: I always wonder when I watch horror filmsIm terrified by imageshow an actor finds that terror within. When youre imagining those things as an actress, do you have to dig into what you are actually afraid of and project that and see it in the scene? How do you access those emotions? It could be dangerous.

Dormer: For me, to be perfectly honest, the terror for me in this movie, Saras terror, is letting her sister downhurting someone that she loves, inflicting more pain. That is more terrifying to Natalie Dormerhurting people that you love and letting them downthan the bogeyman in the cupboard. But thats what the bogeyman in the cupboard represents. Thats what good horror ismonsters are the physical embodiment of our deepest fears. Whenever I felt like I was going off track, literally, I would bring it back to thinking about how I would feel if I let those people in my life that I love profoundly down.

Paste: And let the monster take over.

Dormer: Yeah. Thats my terror.

Meredith Alloway is a Texas native and a freelance contributor for Paste, Flaunt, Complex, Nylon, CraveOnline, Press Play on Indiewire and The Script Lab. She writes for both TV and film and will always be an unabashed Shakespeare nerd. She rarely lets the monster take over. You can follow her on Twitter.
Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitlers highly racist memoir/manifesto, is now for sell in Germany for the first time in 70 years as the copyright on the book lapses. The book, which has been available in other countries for years, was never technically banned in Germany, but Bavaria, who held the copyright, prevented its publication. The start of 2016 marks the 70th anniversary of Hitlers death, meaning the copyright on the German-language original expired. The Institute for Contemporary History in Munich has worked to create a newly annotated edition of the book, titled Hitler, Mein Kampf: A Critical Edition. It is 1,948 pagesabout twice as long as the originaland examines Hitlers writing in the context of history in an attempt to counter his ideas.

The problem with this book is that it isnt just a historical source  its also a symbol, said Christian Hartmann, who led the team putting together the annotated edition. And our idea was to lay bare this symbol once and for all.

Josef Schuster,president of Germanys Central Council of Jews, said that he doesnt object to the annotated reprint, while the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, said its right to study the book, but he opposed to a new edition at all.

German authorities generally support the new edition.

According to the AP, Johanna Wanka, education minister, said, I think one shouldnt pretend the book doesnt exist. Such taboos can sometimes be counterproductive. Its important that people who want to debunk this book have the appropriate material.
Law enforcement was a central theme for much of 2015. Black Lives Matter exploded into prominence largely in response to ongoing police violence in Black communities. Many conservatives swore a war on the police had erupted (and were subsequently refuted). Violence around the globe forced national security concerns to the forefront of most presidential campaigns. The question of the year seemed to be who will keep us safe, and from whom?

And as we begin 2016, everyone is talking about Netflixs new 10 part docuseries Making a Murderer. The draw isnt too difficult to understand: the story centers on the real-life trials of Wisconsin natives Steven Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, who stood accused of raping and murdering 25-year-old Teresa Halbach in 2005. The stakes are real. The twists are mind-blowing. The story is excellently put together and based on a decade of comprehensive work done by the shows creators Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. Most compellingly, it calls into question the very fabric of our nation: the justice system many hold so dear may not be all that just after all.

Making a Murderer begins with another case against Steve Avery, in which he is accused and convicted of an attempted rape and serves 18 years. Over the course of those nearly 2 decades, DNA testing evolved enough to prove conclusively that he did not commit the attack, and he was released. The filmmakers are then able to show how his false conviction was due, at least in part, to major police fumbles, including refusing to follow up on other, more promising leads and an improperly conducted facial composite sketch. The filmmakers also highlight the fact that a cousin with a substantial grudge against Avery was married to a sheriffs deputy in the department that arrested him.

After unfairly serving 18 years, Avery becomes somewhat of a local sensation. Lawmakers draft a bill in his name intended to prevent false convictions. He sues the city for $36 million. And then suddenly, Teresa Halbach, who was scheduled to meet and take pictures of Averys car for AutoTrader magazine, goes missing. With the pending lawsuit, the timing of her disappearance is questionable enough on its own, but what follows over the course of the next eight episodes is even more disturbingly suspicious. The inconsistencies are countless, and the end result is that almost every viewer is left cursing the system (and the individuals) that eventually lead to a conviction. We are wondering, if this can happen at the hands of the police, who will keep us safe from those who are supposed to keep us safe?

The Manitowoc County Sheriffs Officethe same office responsible for his previous arrest and false convictionare not only heavily involved in the new case, but find key evidence against Avery. We watch as Brendan Dassey, 16-years-old at the time and interviewed without his mother, or a lawyer and with a low IQ, is aggressively coerced into admitting to helping his uncle rape and murder Halbach. We see the depth of how little he understands, when he heartbreakingly asks his interrogators if he can return to his high school classthis, after confessing to an almost fantastical act of utter brutality.

Dassey is then represented by a public defender, who admitted to not believing his client and to conspiring with prosecutors in Averys case to help them obtain a conviction.

Dasseys coerced statement indicated a bloodbath in the Avery home, though no trace of blood is found there. A flattened bullet with Teresas DNA is uncovered days into the search, only when the Manitowoc detectives are allowed to investigate the home on their own. Steve Averys blood is discovered in Halbachs car, but a vial of his blood from the previous case is found to have been opened and tampered with.

According to a December Gallup poll, 56% of Americans rate the honesty and ethics of police officers as high or very high, up from 48% in 2014, with 64% of whites feeling that way. This, despite the work of the Movement for Black Lives in the past few years, access to camera footage of officers shooting a 12 year old child within seconds of pulling up to him (and getting away with it), and a fairly publicized trial and conviction of an officer accused of raping at least 12 women and one child over the course of several years.

With that in mind, the shocked response to Making a Murderer is unsurprising. Americaspecifically White Americaconsistently refuses to believe in the fallibility of its system. Tamir Rice was Black. Those 13 victims in the Daniel Holtzclaw case were, too. Who will keep us safe? was never the same question with the same answers for everyone, because some of us arent white.

The blond hair and blue eyes of Steven Avery fly in the face of the presupposed idea that law enforcement keeps white people safe. Avery shows how white people can also become a government threat and be handled accordingly, the same way Black people and other people of color have been handled for centuries. In a sense, he becomes quite the paradoxshedding light on a police culture that basks in freedom from accountability for most crimes, but only giving importance to combatting that culture when the victim is white and relatable.

So far, more than 355,000 people have signed a change.org petition demanding Steve Avery be pardoned (The White House just issued an official response). I cant help but wonder how many of the white people who signed also demanded justice for Tamir Rice and Sandra Bland. I wonder who these people give the benefit of the doubt to, in other cases involving questionable police activityand if this one story might impact their answer to that in the future. I wonder if it might impact their answer to that for every victim, or if such a response will be reserved for those who look like Steven Avery.

I wonder, because even if Steven Avery was falsely convicted twice, his two cases wouldnt come close to tipping the scales that are so imbalanced, where Black people make up 68% of those exonerated using DNA testing and less than 13% of the population.

The marketing for Making a Murderer left us to question what it was, precisely, that was making a murderer. Was it all that Avery experienced during his previous sentence, or was it the cops themselvesand did that act of making create a real murderer or just the facade of one? Upon completion of the series, its clear who the filmmakers blame for this false making of Avery into a murderer, and I can see why.

But I also cant help but think of all the murderers White America has made every time they believe, without question, the official story of how that gun appeared. Every time a cops testimony disputes video evidence and they still walk free. Every time a Black teen runs through bullets out of an illogical death-wish, because a cop said he did.

I cant help thinking about how so many of those murderers White America makes are Black, and so many of the murderers it makes are cops, and how the scare quotes make it even more real for so many of us.



Hari Ziyad is a Brooklyn-based storyteller. He is the Editor-in-Chief of RaceBaitR, and his work has been featured on Gawker, Out, Ebony, Mic, Colorlines, Black Girl Dangerous, Young Colored and Angry, The Feminist Wire and The Each Other Project. He is also an assistant editor for Vinyl Poetry & Prose and a contributing writer for Everyday Feminism. Sometimes, he goes by they.
Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) has returned to his adoptive home monastery in southern France after six month in the United States to receive specialist care after his stroke in November 2014. As written in an update today by the Monks and Nuns of Plum Village:

Since the dawn of the New Year, Thay has very clearly communicated to us a wish to return to his hermitage in Plum Village, France. Thay is satisfied with the progress he has made so far, thanks to the phenomenal care and attention of the doctors at UCSF, as well as all the many wonderful therapists treating him in the past six months. Thay would now like to return home to benefit from the healing collective energy there and to be with his Plum Village family. The doctors approved of Thays decision and assured us that Thay could make the journey without risk. The attendant team will continue to care for our teacher around the clock and to find the most appropriate therapies.

The update continues that Thay has arrived safely back in France and all are grateful for the support and donations received during their time in the US.

We continue to practice together to care for our teacher, to care for ourselves, and to care for the present moment; by doing so we can assure a bright future that contains the love of community, sisterhood and brotherhood. We are deeply grateful for the supportive energy that everyone is sending our teacher, and invite you to continue doing so as we turn this new page.

Read the full update here.
Some time ago I heard a news story on the radio reporting that currently two thirds of cow milkers in the United States are undocumented immigrants. Coming from a four generation dairy family and having spent many hours in a milking parlor, I immediately took interest in the story. Dairy farmers are very attentive to the immigration reform debate since the most basic and most necessary step of their industry is in jeopardy, the milking of the cows. Cows must be milked, and be milked twice a day (and sometimes three times), every single day of the year. Without a labor force, who will milk the cows?

This dilemma points to the heart of the current immigration situation in our country. There is a high demand for low paying, low skilled workers but these workers do not come into the United States through authorized channels. Why dont they come in legally? Many naively state today, my ancestors came here legally, these people must go back, get in line and come in legally. This is a naive statement because those who say it are unaware of the current immigration system. Asking an immigrant today to get in line like an immigrant one hundred years ago can be compared to asking Saint Peter to show you his iphone. It is impossible. There is no line.

The United States Conference of Bishops issued a statement answering the question Why Dont Unauthorized Migrants Come Here Legally? The answer provided is simple: there are no legal paths for most migrants to enter the United States. Currently one can enter the United States legally under one of three conditions: 1) A family member who is a US citizen or resident petitions you, 2) You are fleeing political persecution in your home country and there is fear you may be killed, 3) You are a high-skilled worker and a US company sponsors you.

Most unauthorized immigrants in the United States are low-skilled workers. They work in agriculture, meatpacking, landscaping and construction industries which do not qualify as high-skilled work. An estimated 300,000 undocumented low-skilled workers enter the United States yearly and the US government officially makes available only 5,000 greencards for low-skilled workers. Temporary work visas exist (66,000 per year), but US companies shy away from these because the red tape is tremendous and the expenses are high.

The United States Bishops firmly believe that immigrants should come into the United States lawfully, but they point out that the current immigration system does not recognize the countrys need for low-skilled labor. The demand far exceeds the supply. The Church calls for a reform that increases the number of visas available for low-skilled workers which will decrease the number of unauthorized entries into the country.

I encourage you to read this document found under the immigration section of the website of the United States Conference of Bishops. Click here to read it. It will be a small concrete step to have accurate information regarding the current immigration system and to know exactly what our bishops are calling for in the midst of the immigration debate in our country.
It has been nearly two years since Bill Gothard stepped down from leadership at his ministry, the Institute for Basic Life Principles (IBLP), amid a growing number of accusations that he sexually harassed and molested girls and young women in his employ. This past October, a group of individuals filed a negligence lawsuit against IBLP. This lawsuit has been amended, and Bill Gothard is now named as well.

This week, Homeschoolers Anonymous obtained the text of the lawsuit, which involves complaints made by ten women, seven named and three Jane Does. This document is over 100 pages long. In the interest of improving accessibility, I have read through the entire document and am listing a summary of each womans allegations below. But first, some general thoughts.

Some of the allegations listed in the document were previously published at Recovering Grace, a website run by graduates of Gothards programs to express criticism of Gothard and his teachings, and others are similar in content to these allegations. In sum, Bill Gothard selected girls as young as 13 from the audiences at his conferences and invited them to come work at headquarters. Once there, he groomed them sexually and molested them. It was common knowledge at IBLP that Gothard took pets, and yet his behavior was allowed to continue unchecked.

Other allegations included in the lawsuit are new, though not surprising. One plaintiff discloses that Gothard raped her. In addition, we learn that Gothard and his employees failed to report disclosures of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and human trafficking as required by law for organizations working with children, and that this was true not only for allegations made against Gothard but also for disclosers that involved sexual abuse carried out by other IBLP employees or by childrens parents.

In several cases Gothard responded to teenagers disclosures of parental abuse by calling the parents, sometimes in front of the teen, to ask whether the allegations were true. At one point he told an individual that children must obey their parents even in cases involving sexual abuse. However, when an 18-year-old girl Gothard was pursuing rebuffed him, he told her that if she were 17 he would have called social services and had her removed from her parents home.

We also learn more about Gothards grooming and the extent to which he would latch onto a specific girl as his pet. The plaintiffs allege that Gothard told them he loved them, that they were special to him, that they were his energy giver, and more. He dictated where these girls lived, what clothes they wore, how they wore their hair, and even paid for them to undergo cosmetic surgery. That all of this was taking place and was common knowledge and nothing was done attests to the abusive power cultish leaders can wield over their followers.

Also of note, the lawsuit makes it clear that Gothard continued his predatory behavior all the way up to the point he stepped down from IBLP in 2013. Two of the plaintiffs, Melody Fedoriw and Jane Doe III, describe abuse that occurred in 2011 and 2012. This is especially appalling to me, given that I had friends from growing up who worked for IBLP and at headquarters during this period and in the years immediately before it. Ill be honestwhen I first opened the document I scanned the list quickly, worried that I would see a familiar name.

For most of the women listed in the lawsuit, the statute of limitations for the sexual abuse they suffered at Gothards hands have passed. For this reason, the lawsuit focuses not so much on the abuse itself as on the failure of both Gothard and IBLP to handle the abuse as required by law and on the damage caused through the sham investigation conducted by the Christian Law Association (CLA) in 2014.

According to the lawsuit, Gothard himself chose the CLA to conduct IBLPs internal investigation into the allegations of sexual misconduct. CLA is a fundamentalist Independent Baptist organization run by David Gibbs, Jr., a personal friend of Gothards and a frequent speaker at IBLP conferences. CLA has no staff qualified for investigating abuse allegations, and the organization failed to contact or interview the individuals named in the lawsuit, in spite of the fact that many of them had already published their allegations and that it was these allegations that had triggered the internal investigation.

The lawsuit also claims that IBLP has made moves to sell its holdings in Illinois in order to avoid being sued there, where the majority of the abuse occurred.

These womenboth the plaintiffs and those who have not been in positions to come forwarddeserved better. They were failed on multiple levels. My heart goes out to the ten women serving as plaintiffs on this lawsuit, and to every survivor of Gothards abuse who has had to put one foot in front of another day after day. One of the women, Jane Doe III, describes the personal harassment and verbal assault she faced from Gothard after publishing her accusations in the comment section of Recovering Grace in 2012. To my knowledge, this is the first time any of Gothards survivors have come forward under their own names. Many of these women will lose family members or friends for what they are doing. They and the other survivors supporting them from behind the scenes are to be commended for their efforts to bring Gothard and IBLP to justice and to help protect future young people from facing similar pain.

I am going to summarize the allegations of each woman below, with quotes from the lawsuit. I am doing so in order to make this information more accessible. Remember, there are still individuals out there defending Bill Gothard. I dont want them to have any excuseincluding the excuse that the information is buried in a 100+ page document full of legalesenot to view and learn the allegations involved in this current lawsuit.

First, a very brief summary:

Gretchen Wilkinson was groomed and molested by Gothard during counseling from 1991 to 1993 while still a minor.

Jane Doe was severely abused by her adoptive parents. When she reported this to Gothard as a young teenager, he blamed her and failed to notify the authorities.

Jane Doe II was sexually abused and trafficked by her father. When she told IBLP staff they failed to notify the authorities. She was also raped as a child by IBLP employee Kenneth Copley while at the Indianapolis Training Center. She reported this, but the other IBLP employees did not believe her.

Melody Fedoriw was groomed and molested by Gothard while working at headquarters in 2012 at age 15.

Charis Barker was groomed and sexually harassed by Gothard while working at headquarters in the late 1990s, beginning at age 18.

Rachel Frost was groomed and sexually harassed by Gothard while working at headquarters in the early to mid-1990s, beginning at age 15.

Rachel Lees was groomed and sexually harassed by Gothard while working at headquarters in the early 1990s, beginning at age 19 or 20.

Jane Doe III was groomed by Gothard in the late 2010s beginning at age 13.

Jamie Deering was groomed and molested by Gothard while working at headquarters in the early to mid-1990s, beginning at age 14.

Ruth Copley Burger was sexually abused by her father, Kenneth Copley, while the family lived at the Indianapolis Training Center in the mid-1990s when she was 11 or 12.

Now a more detailed summary. As you read this, if you choose to do so, please remember that these women have come forward not to give people fodder to use to mock fundies but rather to bring accountability to IBLP and bring Gothard to justice. They have told their stories not to initiate a snark fest but rather to bring change. Many of the women involved in this lawsuit are still strong believers in God and the Bible. This isnt about making a strike against religion, its about making a strike against abuse and brining meaningful change.

Gretchen Wilkinson

Gretchen was an IBLP participant and employee as a minor from 1991 to 1993. She was molested by Bill Gothard while being counseled in his home office. According to the lawsuit:

45. The molestation included Bill Gothard placing his hands on Ms. Wilkinsons breasts and on her thighsup to her genitals, while she was clothed.

Gretchen was a minor at this time. Gretchen published her account with Recovering Grace under the name Charlotte.

Jane Doe

Jane Doe attended IBLP conferences from 1982 to 1988. Jane Doe was abused and neglected by her adoptive family, including sexual abuse by multiple male relatives and severe physical abuse. According to the lawsuit, she was beaten so severely by her adoptive family that she would duck and flinch anytime someone came near. When Jane Doe told Gothard about her abuse, while still a teenager, he not only failed to report it but also blamed her for her own abuse.

80. On several occasionsincluding when JANE DOE was 14, 15, and 16 years old, JANE DOE informed Bill Gothard of her physical, psychological, and sexual abuse. Bill Gothards response was to advise her to let go of her bitterness, and to let go of her rights, and to stop being rebellious. Bill Gothard always made the abuse JANE DOEs fault.

Gothard also sought to cast demons out of Jane Doe.

82. When she was approximately 15 years old, JANE DOE became aware of Bill Gothards teaching that adopted children should be given back to their biological parents or to the state. Bill Gothard taught that due to the curse of the sins of the forefathers adopted children were doomed to repeat the evils of their biological parents. Bill Gothard also taught that adoptive children tainted a familys biological children. Thus the reason they should be given back. 83. Bill Gothard attributed his teachings about adopted children to demonic forces that he claims affect these children. He taught that if adoptive children were not returned, they should at least be ordered to earn their keep in the family home. It was his teaching that they should be treated more like slaves than children.

Under the influence of Gothards teachings, Jane Does parents ultimately kicked her out of the house and disowned her. Her mother beat her again the day she was kicked out.

At around this time Jane Doe spoke again with Bill Gothard, expressing concern that her siblings, too, were being abused. Gothard never reported anything to social services. Jane Doe wrote to the IBLP Board of Directors, letting them know what she had told Gothard, and they, too, failed to report anything.

Jane Doe II

From 1991 (when she was four) through 2009, Jane Doe II participated in IBLP programs and served as an IBLP volunteer. She was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused in her home, as were her siblings. According to the lawsuit, she was raped by her father and other relatives and sold for sex by her father through commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Jane Doe II reported both the severe sexual abuse and the human trafficking to IBLP staff, but those staff members did not contact authorities.

As a child, Jane Doe II was raped by Kenneth Copley, a counselor at ATIs Indianapolis training center. Jane Doe II reported this rape to IBLP staff, but nothing was done and nothing was reported to authorities.

Jane Doe II later told Gothard about her abuse.

128. On at least five occasions, JANE DOE II told Bill Gothard that she was being sexually abused by her father and that her younger siblings were also being abused. Bill Gothard took pleasure in the details presented and kept pressuring JANE DOE II for more explicit details of the abuse that took place. 129. On one occasion, when JANE DOE II disclosed details about her abuse and the abuse of her siblings, Bill Gothard called JANE DOE IIs father on a speakerphone and asked if the allegations were true. JANE DOE IIs father denied the allegations. JANE DOE II was humiliated by this process. The last time JANE DOE II tried to disclose abuse, Bill Gothard personally threatened her. Bill Gothard taught that parents were to be believed over children and that children were to obey their parents no matter what, even if they were being sexually abused.

A short time later, Bill Gothard took Jane Doe II to his private suite and raped her.

During this entire time, neither Gothard nor any of the numerous other IBLP staff members who also knew of Jane Doe IIs accusations against her father and against Kenneth Copley notified authorities.

Melody Fedoriw

Melody attended IBLPs Journey to the Heart in 2011 and worked at IBLP headquarters during much of 2012. During her time as an employee at headquarters, Melody, only 15 years old, was groomed and molested by Gothard.

169. Bill Gothard would call Ms. Fedoriw into his office late at night for Bible study and to mentor her. During this time, Bill Gothard would always want to sit on the couch with Ms. Fedoriw. 170. During the Bible study and mentoring process, Ms. Fedoriw reported the fact that she was being abused by a parent to Bill Gothard. 171. Bill Gothard then called Ms. Fedoriws parents and disclosed the abuse information that she had disclosed in confidence to her abuser. 172. By the second instance of late night Bible study/mentoring, Bill Gothard was putting his arms round Ms. Fedoriw and pulling her closer to him. 173. Despite the fact that Ms. Fedoriw confronted Bill Gothard about his conduct, it continued. 174. Bill Gothard continued to touch Ms. Fedoriw in ways that made her uncomfortable, including rubbing her back and legs. While Bill Gothard was rubbing Ms. Fedoriws legs, he would move his hands to her upper thigh. Bill Gothard was touching Ms. Fedoriw very close to her vaginal area, when he rubbed her upper thighs.

The above quote is long, so let me summarize. Gothard had one-one-one late night mentoring sessions with Melody, who was then 15 and living at headquarters. When Melody disclosed abuse she had suffered at her parents hands, he called her parent and reported what she had said. He also sexually molested her during these mentoring sessions despite her attempts to get him to stop.

In March 2014, after Gothard stepped down from his position, Melody reported Gothards conduct to the local police department. The police department classified Gothards actions as criminal but did not prosecute because the statute of limitations had passed.

Charis Barker

Charis Barkers involvement with IBLP began in 1986, when her family enrolled in the ATI program when she was six, and continued through 2000. In 1997, when she was 17, Gothard singled her out at an IBLP seminar and invited her to come work at headquarters. When she was 18, she left home for headquarters, first as a volunteer and then as an employee. While there, Gothard groomed and sexually harassed her.

211. At lunch, at times in his office, while riding in his van, while sitting on his couch, whoever possible, Gothards feet would touch Ms. Barkers feet, whenever he had the opportunity. 212. Gothards sexual harassment of Ms. Barker got to the point that the only way she was able to prevent Gothard from touching her feet, while riding in his van, was for Ms. Barker to sit on her feet. 213. Whenever she sat on the couch in his office, he would sit very close to her and put his hands on her knee. 214. During church he would lay his head on her shoulder and he would at least pretend to fall asleep.

Over time, Charis became more and more uncomfortable, and ultimately contacted her parents, who assured her that Bill Gothard would never inappropriately touch anyone. Gothards behavior continued for the 18 months Charis spent at headquarters. Charis stayed to complete her year-long employment contract (after six months of volunteering). Her parents told her that if she was kicked out of headquarters, she should consider herself kicked out at home, too.

Charis published her story with Recovering Grace under the pseudonym Grace.

Rachel Frost

Rachel Frost was a volunteer and employee at IBLP headquarters from 1992 to 1995. Gothard singled Rachel out at an ATI conference when she was 15 and asked her to come work at headquarters. Rachel initially demurred, saying she was too young, but Gothard hounded her and wore her down, paying for her plane ticket and handing her cash to attend to her needs once she arrived. Gothard then groomed and sexually harassed her.

259. Gothard told Ms. Frost that he wanted to keep her close to him, so she started her work at headquarters as one of his personal assistants (secretaries). However, at the age of fifteen (15), she had poor secretarial skills and no understanding of how the organization ran or who was important. After a week in his office, Ms. Frost was moved to the ATI Department.

Gothard paid Rachel special attention and would touch her feet with his during lunch; she eventually learned to keep her feet back behind her chair to prevent this. Gothard sent a 17-year-old boy home for talking and flirting with Rachel.

265. Gothard advised Ms. Frost that she had a special place in his heart and advised her that he wanted her to remain at headquarters indefinitely.

Rachel returned home after three weeks because of family issues, but Gothard called her soon afterward to ask her to travel with him on a trip to Australia and then to come to headquarters permanently. He offered to pay all of her expenses. Rachels parents wanted her to stay at home and finish her education, but were eventually worn down by Gothards constant requests. At age 17, Rachel took the GED and headed to headquarters to work for Gothards ministry indefinitely.

Once she was back at headquarters, Gothard continued to single Rachel out, and gradually initiated further inappropriate physical contact. He sexually harassed Rachel during van trips, pushing his thighs against hers, grabbing her hair, and touching her legs with his fingers and her feet with his feet.

274. As a result of the special treatment and physical attention she received from Gothard, Ms. Frost was referred to as Gothards pet, his type, his favorite, or a Gothard girl. The sexual harassment, and special attention were no secret. Gothards conduct was common knowledge to the IBLP staff.

Rachel began looking for excuses to avoid Gothard, and ultimately left for a job as a nanny. Rachel published her story on the Recovering Grace website.

Rachel Lees

Rachel Lees served as Gothards secretary from 1992 to 1993, during the same time Rachel Frost was at headquarters, and had many similar experiences. Rachel was 19 or 20 when Gothard met her at a seminar in New Zealand and asked her to come work at headquarters. He assigned her to himself personally. When she was running low on money, he gave her cash. He quizzed her about former boyfriends and wanted to hear the details of any moral failings she may have had.

312. Approximately six to eight weeks after Ms. Lees began working for Gothard, she noticed that he found reasons to touch her. The touching consisted of sitting so close to her that they were touching. He would sit close, so that his arm or hand would brush against hers. It progressed from there to other physical contact, which made Ms. Lees uncomfortable. The other physical contact included lingering hugs and holding hands. Gothard also began to find reasons to be alone with Ms. Lees. 313. Gothard told Ms. Lees that it was fun. He liked being with her, just you and me.

At one point, while on a trip to Dallas, Gothard called Rachel to his hotel room alone, and embraced her as they sat on the couch. At another point, Gothard embraced her and whispered in her ear, telling her that she was his jewel and his energy-giver.

317. On a long drive to Detroit, Ms Lees felt Gothard put his hands on hers. Later, she felt his foot brush up against her leg. When she first felt his foot run up the back of her leg, she was startled. He locked his leg under hers, and she felt his foot rubbing against hers. He was playing footsie with her. But Ms. Lees describes Gothards actions as more intimate than that. His foot stroked the back of her leg, played with her toes, explored her leg all the way up her calf muscle and back down over and over again, while he was gripping her hand in between them. When Ms. Lees lifted her hand to intentionally break his hold, Gothard pulled her hand over his thigh. When she resisted, he held her hand and rested it on his thigh, covering her hand with his. He patted her hand, massaged it, rubbed her fingers with his thumb, running his dumb slowly up and down between her fingers, over and over. Gothard would frequently hold hands with Ms. Lees during travel.

Once again, this attention was not secret.

318. Gothards emotional and physical attraction to Ms. Lees was no secret at IBLP. On one occasion, the wife of an IBLP Board member approached Ms. Lees and told her that people had expressed concern about the attachment between you and [Gothard]. People are starting to notice that he is paying you special attention.

At one point, one of Gothards sisters accused Rachel of wanting to marry Gothard, and was angry with her. Gothard pushed his control further, arranging for a doctor to remove Rachels small skin blemishes, which he called a distraction. In 1993 Rachel was forced to leave IBLP headquarters due to immigration issues.

Years later, Rachel learned that Gothard had sought permission from the IBLP Board to marry her. She was horrified at this information, finally recognizing him as a predator. She also learned that the board denied Gothard permission to marry her. At this time, Gothard was nearly 60 years old. Rachel was 20. The board also reportedly told Gothard that they were not going to allow him to have female personal assistants in the future, but they never enforced this rule.

Rachel published her story with Recovering Grace under the name Meg.

Jane Doe III

Jane Doe III participated in ATI from 2003 through 2012. In 2006, Gothard approached Jane Doe III at a seminar and asked her to join a missions opportunity on his staff as soon as she turned 14. Jane Doe III declined the invitation because of a medical condition, and Gothard spent the following five years badgering her.

352. . . . Gothard frequently used the stress in JANE DOE IIIs home as a reason that she should come to headquarters. 353. In 2011, at the age of 18, Bill Gothard aggressively pursued JANE DOE III at a conference in Indianapolis. At 11:00 PM one night, he called JANE DOE IIIs father to ask permission for her to come to headquarters for 3-4 weeks to learn how to respect him. 354. Gothard did not want JANE DOE III to work. He just wanted her to come counsel with him personally to learn how to deal with the stress of her strained relationship with her father.

When Jane Doe IIIs parents finally agreed to let her come to headquarters for several weeks, Gothard wanted to come pick her up in his van immediately. Her mother refused, insisting on driving her to headquarters herself the following week.

356. When JANE DOE III arrived at headquarters, Gothard announced: the day I have been waiting for for six yearsyou are finally here. 357. Gothard then informed JANE DOE III, that her [f]ather has lost his authority over [her], because of his behavior. We are your family now. He made an analogy to Jesus on the cross telling John to care for Mary, her mother.

Rather than counseling her, Gothard focused on convincing Jane Doe III to stay at headquarters permanently. He attempted to turn her against her mother, and to convince her to send her mother away. When Jane Doe III refused, and explained that her mother was her best friend and that she would not be separated from her, Gothard commenced efforts to convince Janes mother to divorce her father and stay and work at headquarters.

361. Gothard would hold JANE DOE IIIs hand, touch her hair, carries her, wink at her, whisper in her ear, kick her feet under the table, place his shoes on top of hers when sitting on the couch, and be very flirtatious with her. Frequently, he would press his thigh against hers while sitting together, place his arm along the top / back of the sofa or chair. He would complement her hair, smile and laugh several times per day. He directed her never to cut her hair. He would say to her: [JANE DOE III] come over here. You belong here. Perfect Angel. Beautiful. Amazing. He said to her: I love you, you know that, right? Maybe you dad doesnt love you, but I do. God has put a special love in my heart to you. You are my energy giver. I love being around you. She felt that other people knew that she was one of Gothards pets. This made her uncomfortable and she would shake her head and with a stern look would frown and correct Gothard and tell him: No, Im not perfect. Despite JANE DOE IIIs clear disapproval, the unwelcome complements kept coming.

Gothard gave Jane Doe III his credit card to buy new clothes and had his assistant tell her that he was unhappy that her skirts were ankle length rather than calf length.

364. After ten days, JANE DOE III and her mother decided to leave. After Gothard tried another failed attempt to convince JANE DOE IIIs mother to separate from / divorce her husband, Gothard attempted to have JANE DOE III stay by trying to get her to say that her mother was abusing her. Gothard asked: How old are you again? When JANE DOE III said: 18, Gothard replied: Well, if you were 17 we wouldnt even be having this conversation, because I would call up DFS immediately and tell them you are being abused and have you taken away from home. After all, emotional stress is just as bad as physical abuse.

In 2012, both Jane Doe III and her mother wrote about their experiences in comments on the Recovering Grace website. Gothard saw the posts and personally contacted Jane Doe III, verbally berating her and accusing her of being a liar and of trying to viciously destroy his lifes work and his entire organization. Gothard continued to harass and verbally assault Jane Doe III until she removed her comments.

In 2014, Jane Doe III contacted IBLP headquarters hoping to talk to the IBLP Board of Directors about what had happened, but she was refused access. She managed to get in contact with the director of ATI, who told her the Christian Legal Association (CLA), which was conducting a review of the accusations, would be in contact with her. When she failed to hear from CLA, she contacted the group directly, leaving a detailed message. She never received a return call.

Jamie Deering

Jamie Deering was involved in IBLPs ATI program beginning in 1992. In 1994, when she was 14, Gothard personally invited her to come to headquarters. Jamies story is much like those of Rachel Frost and Rachel Lees, with one exception. During a trip to Russia, something very bad occurred in the middle of the night that left Jamie sleeping on the couch in another couples room, and Gothard left the trip suddenly afterward. Jamie has not recovered full memory of the event, and has other memory gaps as well.

Beyond this, her experiences mirror those of other girls sexually abused by Gothard during these same years, with the same process of groom and the same pet status.

404. Gothard went so far as to make sure Ms. Deerings bedroom was directly across form his office window, so he would know when she could come to his office, after everyone else had left. . . . 407. As part of his sexual abuse of Ms. Deering, Gothard would tell her where to sit. Gothard would then sit across from her, with his legs spread wide apart. Gothard would frequently have an erection and he wanted Ms. Deering to know it. 408. On airplanes Gothard would have Ms. Deering sit next to him, andunder a blankethe would touch her thighs and her hand. Ms. Deering was very uncomfortable with this and was afraid people would know what was occurring. . . . 412. On one occasion, Gothard required Ms. Deering to touch his groin area on top of his clothing. . . . 414. As a result of the special treatment and physical attention she received from Gothard, Ms. Deering was referred to as Gothards pet, his type, his favorite, or a Gothard girl. The sexual harassment and special attention were no secret. Gothards conduct was common knowledge to the IBLP staff.

At one point when Jamie was back at home, her father physically abused her. At a loss for what to do, Jamie called Gothard for help. Gothard refused to help in any way and did not report the incident to the authorities.

Ruth Copley Burger

Ruth is the adopted daughter of Kenneth Copley and lived at the Indianapolis Training Center from 1994 to 1995. Her father had already been forced out of a previous ministry due to sexual misconduct, and was forced to leave IBLP in 1995 due to sexual misconduct involving other IBLP staff in the age range of 14 to 20 years old. In 1994, when Ruth was 11 or 12 years old, Copley began sexually abusing Ruth. Copley used the IBLP facilities to conduct this abuse, which I will not describe.

Ruth has suffered PTSD and has been suicidal on multiple occasions, leading to two hospitalizations, as a result of the abuse she faced at the hands of her adoptive father. Ruth published an account of her abuse in 2010 or 2011 and added more details in 2012. Her allegations came to the attention of the IBLP Board of Directors, and were badly mishandled during the sham 2014 CLA investigation.

Conclusion

Over the past two years, multiple Gothard defenders have asked why, if all of this did happen, no one had attempted a lawsuit. Its ironic, really, because these are the same people who argue that Christians should not sue Christians, and should instead settle disputes within the churchand here they were, using the lack of a lawsuit as proof that there was nothing to the allegations. There were, of course, multiple barriers to starting a lawsuit, including the statute of limitations and the personal costs involved in doing so.

Still, I am glad to see that there is now a lawsuit, and I would like to hope that it will help put remaining objections to rest, bring justice for survivors, and save future young people from similar predation. Ive said it before and I know Ill say it againevangelical Christians need to clean up their act when it comes to abuse. Between blaming victims for what happened to them, elevating religious leaders beyond question, and sweeping problems under the rug because they might detract from an organizations godly witness, there are some serious problems that need addressing.

We can only hope that this lawsuit will prod others to clean their houses.
Sarkis Hatspanian: We cannot let a family member decide for an entire nation (video)

The body of Levon Ekmekjian, a soldier of Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was transferred from Turkey to France on January 4. Where will his remains be buried  in France or in Yerablur pantheon [in Yerevan] as a national hero? Sarkis Hatspanian, an expert on regional issues, told reports today. Hatspanian knew Ekmekjian and his family very well. Levons family said it wanted to take Ekmekjians body to France and funeral rites in their family cemetery, where Levons father is buried. It is the wish of his mother, Mr Hatspanian said. I have told the family many times that as the last Armenian who was executed in Turkey [in 1983] Levon should be buried in his homeland, in Yerablur. I even cited the example of Zoravar Andranik whose remnants were moved to Yerablur cemetery in Yerevan in 2000 from Per-Lashez cemetery in Paris. I think that Yerablur is the only place where Levon can be buried and where our future generations can go and pay tribute to the hero, he added. Sarkis Hatspanian says they need time to persuade Levons family. Levon Ekmekjian is a national hero and he belongs to the Armenian nation, we cannot let a family member decide for an entire nation. I think we need time to be able to transfer his remains to Armenia, Mr Hatspanian added. Ekmekjian, a Lebanese Armenian, was one of two ASALA members who attacked Ankaras Esenboga Airport with bombs and gunfire in August 1982. Seven people and Ekmekjians accomplice, Zohrab Sarkisyan, were killed while Ekmekjian survived. He was executed on January 28, 1983 at Ankaras Ulucanlar prison after being found guilty of carrying out the attack. Ekmekjian was 25 at the time of his execution.
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News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism.
Boston Red Sox part-owner and Pawtucket Red Sox Chairman Larry Lucchino will deliver the keynote address at the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce annual dinner on Feb. 9.
More concern over health of detained Iranian opposition leader

01/08/16

Source: Radio Zamaneh

The daughters of Iranian opposition leaders Mir Hosein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard report that their parents, who have been under house arrest since February 2011, are now facing new health problems.



Mir Hosein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard





The Mousavi daughters are allowed to have brief meetings with their parents in a Ministry of Intelligence facility across from the home of their parents. Mousavi and Rahnavard have been under house arrest for nearly five years and completely cut off from the public after Mousavi challenged the 2009 election results and rallied his supporters to peaceful protests.

Mousavi's daughters report that their father is now suffering from digestive problems and has lost a great deal of weight. They also told the

Kaleme website that the doctors have been providing him with nourishment through an IV.

The Mousavi daughters are concerned that their father's illness was kept from them.

The report indicates, however, that Mousavi has now recovered and is in good health.

President Rohani made several promises during his campaign to secure the release of the opposition leaders, but his efforts have been met with serious resistance from conservative forces in the government and, ultimately, the Supreme Leader of the country.
Washington's Multi-Million-Dollar Saudi PR Machine

01/08/16

By Eli Clifton (source: LobeLog)

Public image isnt something one can always control, but Saudi Arabia is spending millions of dollars on Washington lobbyists and PR firms to improve the Kingdoms reputation in the West. The execution of Shiite leader Sheik Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, followed by an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the Kingdoms severing of diplomatic relations with Iran, would seem to offer few upsides for the Saudi government. Riyadhs behavior comes across as a desperate Hail-Mary pass to isolate Iran at the expense of regional efforts to negotiate a de-escalation of the Syrian civil war and defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Jim Lobe pointed out that Washingtons neoconservatives have jumped to Riyadhs defense, apparently subscribing to the philosophy that the enemy of my Iranian enemy is my friend. But, asThe New York Times editorial board wrote on Monday, 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.

The Times may be stating the obvious, but Saudi Arabia pays millions of dollars per year to American public relations firms to paint the Kingdom in the most positive light. These firms have their work cut out for them. Indeed, that PR machine is doing all it can to spin the Saudis execution of a political dissident and blatant effort to fan sectarian tensions as somehow the fault of anyone but Saudi Arabia.

Defending the Kingdom

Fahad Nazer, a non-resident fellow at the Saudi- and UAE-funded Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, was quoted in Politico defending the executions, saying, The primary message appears to be aimed at Saudi Arabias own militants, regardless of their sect. And the Times published a quote from Saudi commentator Salman al-Ansari, who accused Sheikh Nimr, who was in his mid-50s, of organizing a terrorist network in Shiite areas in eastern Saudi Arabia and compared him to a Qaeda ideologue who sanctioned the killing of security forces. The Podesta Group, a public relations firm hired by the Saudi government, provided Ansari.

So, how much money is in it for the PR professionals who are burning the midnight oil to put a positive spin on Saudi Arabias decision to start the year with a mass execution of 47 prisoners? Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) filings submitted by Saudi government contractors in Washington reveal an expensive PR operation.

Firms listed as active foreign principals for Saudi Arabia on the FARA website include: DLA Piper, Targeted Victory, Qorvis/MSLGroup, Pillsbury Winthrop, Hogan Lovells, and the Podesta Group. Qorvis/MSLGroup appears to the biggest recipient of Saudi money. Their FARA filings reveal what appears to be a $240,000 per month retainer with the Kingdom for services described as:

Drafted and/or distributed news releases, weekly newsletters, fact sheets and/or speeches to promote Saudi Arabia, its commitment towards counterterrorism, peace in the Middle East, and other issues pertinent to the Kingdom.

Qorvis/MSLGroup also reports it created a Twitter account for a senior Saudi official, and managed a website on Operation Renewal of Hope, Saudi Arabias 10-month-old military intervention in Yemen. Moreover, it farms out $55,000 per month of work from the Saudi account to Targeted Victory, LLC, a digital consulting firm.

The Podesta Group received $200,000 from the The Center for Studies and Media Affairs at the Saudi Royal Court for approximately one month of public relations services from August to September. The Podesta Group, cited in the Times as working for the Saudi government, is listed as an active foreign agent for Saudi Arabia on the FARA website, suggesting that the contract is ongoing.

For services that include advising the Saudi government on media reports and related public affairs developments and undertaking specific advocacy assignments with regard to litigation, legislative, regulatory, public policy or public affairs matters, and/or in other activities, Hogan Lovells receives $60,000 per month in fees.

DLA Piper receives a fee of $50,000 per month for services including [contacting] Members of Congress, congressional staff and Executive Branch officials in connection with strengthening the ability of the United States and Saudi Arabia to advance mutual national security interests.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP collects a fee of $15,000 per month for legal and non-legal services to Saudi Arabia in conjunction with information gather on U.S. Middle East policy.

Assuming that these contracts are ongoing, as the FARA site indicates, and the Targeted Victory LLC fees were already included in the Qorvis/MSLGroup fees, Saudi Arabia is spending $565,000 per month for its lobbying operations in Washington, not including expenses. Thats $6.78 million per year in fees for PR, lobbying, and legal representation in the U.S. capitol.

Who Else Benefits?

Saudi Arabia is certainly a prize catch for K Street firms looking for hefty monthly retainers from foreign clients. But the U.S. military-industrial complex rakes in the biggest profits from the country currently fanning the flames of sectarian conflict in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia is looking to complete a $1.29 billion purchase of U.S. weapons, in part to replenish bombs and missiles used in Yemen. Reuters reports that a $11.25 billion purchase of Lockheed Martin warships is also expected to move forward, according to military and industry sources. The Congressional Research Service reports that Saudi Arabia topped the list of arms transfer recipients among developing nations from 2007 to 2014 with $86 billion in agreements, giving US defense contractors ample incentive to lend their own lobbying and PR firepower to the Kingdoms efforts to manage public opinion.

The tangled and volatile realities of the Middle East do not give the United States or the European Union the luxury of choosing or rejecting allies on moral criteria, the Times editorial concluded, but that cannot mean condoning actions that blatantly fan sectarian hatreds, undermine efforts at stabilizing the region and crudely violate human rights.

Saudi Arabias extensive contracts with Washingtons biggest PR firms-and the additional PR help it gets from U.S. defense contractors-are designed to make those actions somehow palatable inside the Beltway. But in the end they will only make the White Houses efforts to navigate the Sunni-Shia divide all the more difficult.



Follow LobeLog on Twitter and Facebook



About the Author:



Eli Clifton is a reporting fellow with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute who focuses on money in politics and US foreign policy. He previously reported for the American Independent New Network, ThinkProgress, and Inter Press Service.






Iranian Princess Ashraf, Shah's Twin Sister, Dies At 96

01/08/16

Source: RFE/RL

Iranian Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, the twin sister of the last shah of Iran, has died at the age of 96. Her death was announced by Reza Pahlavi, a son of the shah, in a Facebook post late on January 7.



Ashraf Pahlavi



Robert F. Armao, an adviser to the princess, was quoted by The New York Times as saying the cause of the death was "old age."

The princess was known as a close ally of her brother, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and has always defended his rule.

According to a long-classified CIA account first published in 2000, the princess played a crucial role in the British- and U.S.-inspired military coup that overthrew Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 and restored her brother to the throne.

Princess Ashraf focused on women's rights during an appointment to the UN, even as Iran's secret police were accused of torturing political activists under her brother's rule.

She was criticized for alleged corruption during her brother's rule.







The princess and her sister, Shams, were among the first Iranian women to go in public with their hair uncovered, breaking traditional norms in the conservative society.

After her brother's overthrow in 1979, Princess Ashraf left Iran and lived between homes in Paris, New York, and Monte Carlo.

She published a memoir and remained outspoken immediately after leaving the country, but gradually faded from public view in later years.

Based on reporting by AP and nytimes.com



Copyright (c) 2016 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
LAS VEGASBluesmart's Smart Suitcase is the unloseable luggage. A longtime Indiegogo fave, the connected carry-on is finally real(Opens in a new window), and it's coming in a checked-bag size as well.

I took a closer look here at CES. The $399 suitcase has several useful tricks. A 3G module with GPS tracks your suitcase wherever it goes, so if you lose it you can locate it with a smartphone app.

The module has a built-in Telefonica SIM card that automatically works with roaming partners such as AT&T in the U.S. It can remain alive for up to 30 days on a full charge of the suitcase's 10,000Ah battery. The suitcase comes with two years' of service, and founder Diego Saez-Gil said Bluesmart is trying to figure out service plans beyond that.

But waitthere's more. The handle has a scale in it; tell the app what flight you're on, and it will cross-reference with your airline's baggage limits to tell you if you've overpacked. The app can lock and unlock the suitcase via Bluetooth. The app will also connect to travel management services in the future, Saez-Gil said. You can charge your phone off the suitcase's built-in battery, but that will lower the GPS unit's battery life.

As a suitcase, the Bluesmart is basic but efficient. It's a hybrid hard-sided/soft-sided suitcase, with an easy-open front pocket to store documents and a laptop and four rotating, hollow wheels. Inside, it's basically one big compartment, although it has a laundry divider in the main area.

The location features are really going to come into their own on the new checked-baggage model, which doesn't yet have a detailed design or a price. It sounds like details on that may come before MWC in February.

I think the Bluesmart's built-in scale function sounds great, especially for people who regularly fly on low-cost European airlines, which tend to have very low baggage weight limits.

The GPS tracking is less valuable in a carry-on. But it's already getting popular for checked luggage with add-on gadgets like the LugLoc, Trakdot, and Spot, which generally cost between $70-90, but also charge you for service. Integrating it into the bag you always bring with you means you can never leave the tracker behind, although it also means you can't use it to track other things. For frequent travelers, the Bluesmart looks very smart indeed.
Goodbye, Motorola. Sort of.

The name "Motorola" isn't going away, but the specific Motorola brand certainly is. According to CNET(Opens in a new window), Lenovo is ditching the Motorola when it comes to smartphones. Motorola will continue as a division under Lenovo, but new devices will eventually transition to "Moto" branding, not "Motorola."

You'll still likely see Motorola's traditional "M" winged logo on smartphones, but Lenovo will also be pushing its big, blue logo as wellnow using the new "Moto by Lenovo" label, reports CNET's Roger Cheng. So, Motorola isn't really gone for good, but Lenovo's smartphones aren't going to be quite as blatantly "Motorola" going forward. The company will slap the "Moto for Lenovo" label on its high-end smartphones and unify its budget smartphones under its "Vibe" brand.

"Motorola Mobility continues to exist as a Lenovo company and is the engineering and design engine for all of our mobile products. However, for our product branding we will utilize a dual brand strategy across smartphone and wearables going forward using Moto and Vibe globally. 'Motorola' hasn't been used on our products since the launch of the original Moto X in 2013," reads a statement we received from Motorola.

Though the move feels sudden, given Lenovo just acquired Motorola Mobility from Google in 2014, it's not entirely unexpected given Motorola's slow descent over the past many years. As Cheng notes, the name Motorola used to carry a ton of weight in the mobile phone worldespecially since Motorola was the first company on the planet to demonstrate a prototype cellular phone back in 1973. It was also the first to sell an actual, clunky cell phone: the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, which came out in 1984.

Motorola revitalized itself with its Razr phones back in the mid-2000s, but it's argued that the company's decision to cling to its flagship instead of pushing harder(Opens in a new window) (and earlier) into smartphones signaled the beginning of the end.

"When Jobs introduced the first iPhone, Zander's Motorola was still pushing Razrs, pumping up sales by taking new variations further and further downmarket. The result: ever-lower profit margins. One analyst calculated that the company made, on average, only about $5 per device," describes a 2014 Chicago Magazine(Opens in a new window) article titled, rather grimly, "What Happened to Motorola."

Motorola spun off Motorola Mobility as a separate company in January 2011. Google acquired the latter in August of that year, but ended up selling to Lenovo in January 2014. As of the third quarter of last year, Motorola's market share for smartphones was just 5.3 percent, trailing Samsung, Apple, and Huaweiaccording to Strategy Analytics(Opens in a new window).
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Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

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Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

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The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

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STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh

USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens

ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression
If you haven't stocked up on Snapchat lenses, you're too late.

As of 12:01 a.m. PT, Snapchat pulled access to its fun little photo effects store. "You will be able to use the Lenses you have purchased after the Lens Store closes, and the ones available for free every day," the company said on its support page(Opens in a new window).

However, Snapchat representatives told Business Insider(Opens in a new window) that the company is ditching the Lens Store because it wants to focus more on its advertising business. But that doesn't mean the Lens Store was a total dudapparently, tens of thousands of the $1 animations were being purchased every day. So, while that's a pretty good amount of revenue for Snapchat, the company probably just wants to concentrate its resources on even more lucrative opportunities, BI said.

Snapchat Lenses arrived in September alongside paid replays. To activate them, hold your phone's camera in selfie mode, and press and hold on your face.

One group that probably won't be sad to see lenses go away? Children with terrible parents(Opens in a new window).

This isn't the only thing Snapchat has shuttered in recent months. In October, Snapchat shut down Snap Channel, a section within Discover that featured content created and curated by the company. Snap Channel reportedly failed to attract the kind of audience Snapchat had hoped for, and the company recently decided to modify its strategy in that space.
ProPublica is the first major news organization to launch on the so-called "Dark Web."

The non-profit newsroom is now available to those using Tor via propub3r6espa33w.onion.

The move, ProPublica told Wired(Opens in a new window), is meant to protect visitors who want to remain secret while reading the latest investigative journalism.

They've come to the right place: Unlike typical SSL encryption, which simply protects the content of the site you're accessing, the dark Web, accessed via Tor, makes online movements nearly impossible to track.

"Everyone should have the ability to decide what types of metadata they leave behind," ProPublica developer Mike Tigas, who worked on the Tor program, told Wired. "We don't want anyone to know that you came to us or what you read."

While most people are content with opening an incognito window in their browser, some don't have such luxuries. When reporting about Chinese online censorship last year, for example, Tigas wanted to be sure the coverage was safe for Chinese readers worried about government backlash.

The news site already accepts anonymous tips and leaks through SecureDrop, another Tor hidden service that's also used by the Guardian, the Intercept, and the New Yorker, Wired said.

In late 2014, Facebook launched a version of its website for Tor, allowing folks access to a more stable version of the social network. Those on Tor can navigate to facebookcorewwwi.onion.

ProPublica did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment, but Tigas confirmed the news on Twitter(Opens in a new window).
The Jurupa Community Services District board of directors on Monday, Jan. 11 will consider disbanding the Citizen Advisory Board.

The citizen board was created several years ago to advise the district about Eastvale parks and capital projects that might be needed to improve them.

Since then, the district has formed the Eastvale Parks Commission. Commission members include director Jane Anderson and board president Chad Blais and Eastvale Mayor Ike Bootsma and Councilman Bill Link.

Directors meet at 7 p.m. at 11201 Harrel St. in Jurupa Valley.

Information: 951-685-7434.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9647 or sstokley@pressenterprise.com
When residents moved into their homes on Seattle Street in Hemet, they didnt know they would be dealing with rain issues worse than in the namesake city famous for its precipitation.

The street is just south of the Seattle Basin flood-control channel, which runs between West Menlo Avenue and North Cawston Avenue, on the citys west side.

The basin tends to overflow when heavy rains fall.

Neighbors said they have been dealing with the issue since the homes were built in 1999. They got some relief Wednesday when the city brought over pumping equipment to help the flow.

Rich Brown, whose home is near the southwest corner of Seattle and Cawston, was happy for the help, but is still concerned for the future.

We dodged a bullet last night, he said Thursday, standing outside his home, where he has stacked sandbags by the front and garage doors. I do commend the city, they actually had the pumps out, but its a temporary solution.

Brown said he has seen previous El Ninos, and expects heavier rain to fall in February and March.

Im prepared for the worst, but hoping for the best, he said.

There are 77 homes near the canal and neighbors say they are caught in limbo between Hemet and other government entities.

Steven Latino, Hemets city engineer, concedes there are some jurisdictional issues. While the channel is owned by the city, it is overseen by federal agencies that monitor endangered species.

The city is only allowed to maintain the channel in the fall and winter, Latino said.

Latino said improving the channel is part of the citys master drainage plan, but noted that it is years in the making. He said the pumps will remain in place and Cawston will be closed to traffic north at Seattle during the rainy season.

Neighbors, tired of waiting for a solution, would like to see permanent pumps and the canal extended west across Cawston. They have taken their fight to the City Council and the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District.

They share stories of being trapped in their homes during previous rainstorms and motorists being stuck as they drove into deep waters. They say water was up to their homes during 2014 rains.

Natasha Brown (no relation to Rich Brown) lives around the corner on Louisville Street. She keeps her car packed in case she, her husband and her two teenagers have to flee rushing waters.

Ive never been this leery, she said.

Rich and LuAnn Brown moved into their home in January from San Diego County and have been concerned about flooding since.

We thought we were moving to the desert to relax, LuAnn Brown said.

Latino said the channel was approved in 1989, along with the housing tract. Plans were for it to drain into a golf course to the west, which was never built.

Rich Brown knows that no matter what the result, there is no quick solution.

Were working with the government, he said. We hope they do something.

LuAnn Brown was more blunt: I dont want a lot of small talk, I just want it fixed.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9086 or cshultz@pressenterprise.com
California issued some 605,000 new driver licenses last year to immigrants residing in the country illegally, surpassing expectations for the programs first year and granting more freedom for those who obtained the permit.

Approximately 830,000 undocumented applicants have sought the licenses since Jan. 2, 2015, the first day they were available following passage of a law, AB 60, that was supported by immigrants and their advocates and some traffic safety experts, and reviled by those opposed to illegal immigration.

In California, home to an estimated 2.4 million undocumented immigrants, the nations largest such group, the Department of Motor Vehicles prepped for the onslaught. Among other things, the agency hired some 1,000 temporary employees, extended office hours and opened four Driver License Processing Centers, including one in Stanton.

This was a major undertaking and never before had the department implemented a program such as this one, said Artemio Armenta, spokesman for the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

In all, undocumented drivers accounted for slightly less than half of all the new non-commercial licenses  about 1.4 million  issued by the DMV in 2015.

We were surprised, but not unprepared, Armenta said.

Still, even with the DMVs temporary expansions, the onslaught of new applicants inconvenienced many.

During at least the first few months of last year, many applicants had to wait longer to get an appointment, and then wait longer to be served, even with an appointment, at a DMV office.

It sends the wrong message globally about our state, that we do not have to obey federal laws in California  that our state will allow individuals illegally in our country, in our state, to obtain a drivers license, said Robin Hvidston with We the People Rising.

Hvidston said this law also paves the way for voter fraud with the new Motor Voter Act that registers people to vote when they obtain or renew their drivers licenses.

However, the secretary of state said the Motor Voter Act prohibits the DMV from registering AB 60 drivers license applicants.

Seniors were particularly hard hit because anyone over 70 has to appear in person at a DMV office to have a license renewed.

Kent Moore, 76, spent hours at the sa DMV last February, even though he had an appointment to register an out-of-state vehicle.

I have mixed feelings, Moore said Wednesday. These folks have jobs. And they support families. If they go through the credential process, they shouldnt be denied.

But I paid my dues. Ive been a model citizen. I dont feel I should have to wait in line for hours, behind newly arrived people who are here illegally.

Armenta said in recent months service times and appointment wait times have returned to levels that we saw prior to implementation of AB60.

For some non-citizens who got the official DMV documents this year the licenses were life-changing.

Luz Gallegos, community programs director at TODEC Legal Center, a grassroots organization serving migrant communities in Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial counties, said many immigrants now have a peace of mind.

It empowers the community and the families as they get their drivers licenses, Gallegos said. Its life changing.

For example, Gallegos said many immigrants were no longer afraid to pass through sobriety checkpoints during the holidays because they now had a drivers license.

For me, that was a highlight coming into the year, she added.

As part of the law to let undocumented drivers get licenses  an idea supported by many driving safety advocates  the DMV engaged in a widespread information campaign.

This included everything from 200 community outreach events at consulates and other locations, to Spanish-language messages on Twitter and Facebook. Theres also a new page on the DMV website dedicated specifically to AB60. And theres even a new character, El Sabelotodo del DMV, the Mr.-Know-it-All of the DMV, who appears on a video series to answer frequently asked questions.

The cost to reach and process the new applicants is estimated at $141 million over three years.

Until the 1990s, states did not specifically restrict drivers licenses to legal residents. But with the passage of AB 60, California became one of 10 states, in addition to the District of Colombia, where undocumented immigrants can obtain a license.

But what the licenses look like, what theyre called and how they are issued, vary from state to state.

The California license for undocumented immigrants looks a lot like the regular drivers license, but it includes a statement on the front that says FEDERAL LIMITS APPLY and, on the back, a statement that the card is not acceptable for official federal purposes.
Riverside city officials want residents to help keep more than 4,800 storm drains clear this winter, which is expected to be especially wet.

Thats why the Adopt-a-Drain Program was established, according to a news release issued Thursday, Jan. 7. The web-based program allows volunteers to sign up to remove debris and report problems at drains in residential and commercial areas.

Though the citys Public Works Department usually handles the clearing of storm drains, Director Kris Martinez said crews could use some help this year.

RELATED: Thursdays storm knocks out power; resorts rejoice over new snow

City crews clear storm drains all year long, but we have really stepped up our effort to get ready for the heavy rainfall we are seeing from the El Nino weather system, Martinez said in the news release. The Adopt-a-Drain program is a way that people who live or work near one of more than 4,800 storm drains in Riverside can help us keep that drain clear.

By adopting a drain, volunteers agree to remove trash, tree limbs, palm fronds and other debris that can block water from entering the storm drain. Drain adopters can request assistance by calling the citys 311 system. Volunteers are not asked or permitted to enter the storm drain at any time, the news release said.
For the past 16 years, the Unforgettables Foundation has helped low-income families throughout Southern California by providing counseling and other necessary resources for a dignified and meaningful burial for their children.

When Tim Evans was invited by Loma Linda University Childrens Hospital to serve as its full-time chaplain, he couldnt have imagined where it would take him. Providing nondenominational spiritual support to families in their time of crisis quickly became just one component of his job. Evans discovered that a very high percentage of the families he assisted could not afford a burial for their child.

Soon, the word got out that he was an advocate for families in this situation.

I realized it was a real problem, Evans said. Everyone was calling on me and there was no one in the area helping. So, I convened a group of attorneys, mortuaries, doctors, etc., to ask if there was a need and if we should do something.

With a resounding yes from the group, Evans began investing all of his free time into building a nonprofit organization to meet the need. After a year of fundraising, the Unforgettables Foundation had $35,000 in the bank and in 2001 the organization began helping families.

It now assists with funds for the burial of children from 32 weeks of pregnancy to 18 years old, regardless of the cause of death.

I created this charity to do a couple of things; to be practical and give practical support, Evans, founder and CEO of the Unforgettables Foundation, said. Not to provide families with the whole amount, but with enough to show that the community cares and to show solidarity. We also want to philosophically let families know that we will help keep the name and the memory of their child alive.

The foundation hosts an annual New Years Eve event, the Lights for Little Lives Memorial March. Supporters and families who have lost children gather at the Loma Linda Ronald McDonald House for a ceremonial release of doves. At sunset, the group walks to Campus Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church. Participants light a candle and commemorate the memory of their lost children by speaking their name.

Families come from all over the Inland Empire and Southern California, because making their child unforgettable is so important to them, Evans said.

The foundation has assisted with 5,000 burials and serves Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties and Clark County, Nev. Yet the need remains great. Evans said the organization gets phone calls throughout the day from people all over the country seeking assistance.

Evans is committed to having 20 chapters around North America to meet this need.

Fundraising can be challenging, though.

Those who help from the front level know about us, but as far as getting the word out in donor circles, it is not an easy topic of conversation, Evans said.

Working with the Community Foundation, the Unforgettables has started an endowment fund.

The Unforgettables will hold a fundraiser, Night of Laughter, featuring comedian Elayne Boosler and friends, at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 at the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside. Proceeds will support families of veterans who have lost a child and need assistance.

For more information, visit facebook.com/theunforgettablesfoundation or call 909-335-1600.

The Community Foundations mission is to strengthen Inland Southern California.

Contact the writer: community@pressenterprise.com
JERUSALEM  An Arab gunman who killed three Israelis in Tel Aviv last week was killed on Friday in a shootout with police, following a massive manhunt that put Israelis on edge while the killer was on the loose.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the gunman was found in a building on Friday. She said he came out shooting at the special forces and was then shot and killed.

The gunman was identified earlier as Nashat Milhem, an Arab from the northern Israel. He opened fire at a bar on a busy street in Tel Aviv last Friday, killing two people and wounding several others. He later also shot and killed an Arab taxi driver.

The incident came amid more than three months of near-daily Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Samri said Milhem had opened fire at the police with the same gun he used in the attacks in Tel Aviv. Police said Milhem was found near the Arab village of Arara in northern Israel where he is from.

Hakim Younis told Channel 10 TV that he witnessed some of the incident from his home.

I was sitting on my balcony with my cousin  when suddenly, shooting began, hundreds of bullets, like in a war, Younis said, adding that he then went inside and didnt see anything further.

Israelis are used to quickly resuming their daily routines following attacks because assailants are usually swiftly captured or killed. But the Tel Aviv shootings left Israelis jittery because Milhem, who was considered armed and dangerous, was on the loose for a week.

Milhelms relatives had said he was 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.

Milhelm 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 well-liked and trusted.

Israeli Arabs, who make up a fifth of the countrys 8.4 million people, enjoy full rights but have long complained of unfair treatment in areas such as housing and employment opportunities. Many identify more with their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and Gaza and with Palestinian nationalism rather than with Israel.

The near-daily Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers have killed 21 Israelis, mostly in stabbings, shootings and car-ramming assaults. At least 134 Palestinians died by Israeli fire, including 93 said by Israel to be attackers. The rest were killed in clashes with troops. These figures do not include Milhelms victims.
MEXICO CITY  Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced Friday that fugitive drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman was recaptured seven months after he escaped from a maximum security prison.

An official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by name said Guzman was apprehended after a shootout with Mexican marines in the city of Los Mochis, in Guzmans home state of Sinaloa.

Responding to what was seen as one of the biggest embarrassments of his administration  Guzmans July 11 escape through a tunnel from Mexicos highest-security prison  Pena Nieto wrote in his Twitter account on Friday: mission accomplished: we have him.

Five people have been killed and one Mexican marine wounded in the clash.

The Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines acting on a tip raided a home in the town of Los Mochis before dawn. They were fired on from inside the structure. Five suspects were killed and six others arrested. The marines injuries were not life threatening.

At the home marines seized two armored vehicles, eight long guns, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

The story is developing. Check back for more details.
Two anti-Armenian resolutions will be debated by PACE in January

The Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is seriously preparing for the PACE winter session to be held in Strasbourg from January 25 to 29. On January 26, the Assembly will hear two anti-Armenian reports. PACE is such a platform where blows and counterblows are of permanent nature, says Hermine Naghdalyan, Vice-Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly. Naira Zohrabyan, Head of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) parliamentary group, says it is important that the Armenian delegation members work with those PACE delegates who have not been bribed yet. The reports included in the agenda of the January 26 sitting are entitled "Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan" and on "Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water". The first report, drafted by Robert Walter (United Kingdom, EC), calls for the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces and other irregular armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan, and the establishment of full sovereignty of Azerbaijan in these territories. The second report is prepared by Milica Markovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina, SOC). It says the lack of regular maintenance work for over 20 years on the Sarsang reservoir, located in one of the areas of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia, poses a danger to the whole border region. Hermine Naghdalyan says the Azerbaijani delegation particularly activated in the last year after sanctions were imposed on Russia after it annexed Crimea. In this period, Azerbaijanis tried to draft a number of anti-Armenian documents and reports, she said. Hermine Naghdalyan says that PACE adopts anti-Armenian resolutions and reports every ten years. In 2005, the structure passed 14.16 anti-Armenian resolution. We do not welcome the fact that PACE has lowered its bar and adopts worthless piles of papers as Aliyev likes to call them. Of course, some of these papers are of political importance, and when their dossier is enriched they harden Azerbaijan's position in the negotiating process. Do our diplomats support the Armenian delegation? Naira Zohrabyan says, Parliamentary activities have one delicacy: when our ambassadors meet with the delegates of the country where they serve, the gesture is not well accepted. They view it as pressure on them by their government. It is much more effective when our delegates speak and work with them. The Armenian delegates promise to do their utmost to make PACE delegates vote against the anti-Armenian resolutions at the January 26 sitting.
ANAHEIM  Just days before the park is set to begin major construction, Disney is once again offering Southern California residents discounted tickets to its Anaheim theme parks.

For $149, a customer gets two visits by May 26  going to Disneyland twice, Disney California Adventure twice or each park once.

A one-day, one-park ticket is $99. Typically, the cost is $185 for two days at the same park or once at each park.

The discount is only for residents with a ZIP code of 90000 to 93599, which covers the stretch from the Mexican border to Palmdale. Residents in Northern Baja California in Mexico are eligible as well.

This years discounted tickets are about $10 higher than last years.

The discount announcement comes days before Disneyland starts major construction Monday that will close a large portion of the park.

The Disneyland Railroad, the Mark Twain Riverboat, the Fantasmic! light and fireworks show, and several other attractions on the Rivers of America are closing for more than a year to allow construction of a 14-acre Star Wars land in the northern part of Frontierland.

Other attractions  the Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue restaurant, the petting farm, and Big Thunder Jamboree  will close permanently.

Disneyland began offering discounted rates for Southern California residents in 2003 to fill the park during the nonpeak months, January to May.

The only time Disney skipped the discounts was in 2013, after opening the immediately popular Cars Land in Disney California Adventure.

The tickets must be purchased by May 19. They are available online or at Disney stores, some supermarkets and the parks ticket booths.

There is a period when the tickets are not good: March 20 to April 2, apparently when the theme parks expect a crush of guests for spring break.

Contact the writer: business@pressenterprise.com
Re: Ranchers who inspired protest report to prison [News, Jan. 8]: Ammon Bundy, as well as his father and followers involved in the confrontation with the Bureau of Land Management, need to be careful what they wish for. They claim to want the country to return to the intent of the writers of the Constitution. Here is what they did in similar circumstances.

Shays Rebellion (1786-7) was a revolt against a tax passed to help pay Massachusetts Revolutionary War debts. The Whiskey Rebellion (1791-4) was a revolt against the federal tax to pay the countrys war debts after the federal government assumed those of the states. Friess Rebellion (1799-1800) was a revolt against a tax to pay for the quasiwar with France.

In all these cases, after failing to peacefully resolve the complaints and attacks by the insurrectionists militias, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Hancock and other founders called out the states militias and the military to end these rebellions. The leaders and other participants were tried for treason or sedition and sentenced to hang. While most had their sentences reduced or were pardoned, a few were put to death.

The federal government must enforce its legal right to collect land use fees (and all fees, taxes, etc.) as well as its control of lands held in trust for the people (all Americans). Failing to do so allows freeloaders such as the Bundys to not only flaunt the law but to pick the pocket of the rest of us as they are getting all the benefits while we pay for the maintenance.

Chris Daly

Yucaipa

Discourage bad decisions

Re: Snowbound off-roaders rescued [News, Jan. 7]: Yet another example of poor choices by recreational enthusiasts of our mountains and deserts. I sure hope there is a charge attached to these rescues to cover the costs of putting our rescuers in harms way to bail out these folks who get lost and trapped in the wilderness, especially when an El Nino storm is fast approaching. How dumb is that?

Maybe a fine incurred would discourage violators. Enough is enough.

Dickie Simmons

Eastvale
Santa Barbara County sheriffs deputies arrested two people in Temecula who were wanted in connection with a robbery at a casino on Christmas Day, authorities said.

Jennifer Alvarez, 31, of Temecula and Alfredo Cantu, 29, of Pico Rivera were arrested by Santa Barbara County sheriffs officials with the help of the Riverside County Sheriffs Department at a Motel 6 on Moreno Road in Temecula Tuesday, Jan. 5, according to a Santa Barbara County sheriffs news release.

Cantu and Alvarez were wanted in connection with a robbery that occurred at The Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez California that happened on Dec. 25, 2015. Deputies say the two lured a male over to his car in the casinos parking garage and then robbed him before fleeing in a rental car.

The two were arrested on outstanding warrants in connection with the robbery and booked into Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, according to the release.

Santa Barbara County Sheriffs Office spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said the two were expected to be transported to a jail in Santa Barbara County by Thursday afternoon.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9693 or agroves@pressenterprise.com
Rep. Norma Torres, D-Pomona, will invite the dispatcher who directed 911 traffic during the San Bernardino terror attack to be the congresswomans guest during the State of the Union Address on Tuesday, Jan. 12.

(Annemarie Teall) was the calm voice we all heard on the 911 recordings from that fateful day, Torres said in a news release.As panic spread throughout the region, she and her team coordinated a swift, effective emergency response to what is likely the greatest tragedy our community has ever suffered.

Torres is on leave from her job as a Los Angeles Police Department dispatcher, where she worked for 18 years.

Teall has worked as a dispatcher for the past 27 years and is currently a police dispatch supervisor for the city of San Bernardino, according to Torres office.
A water main break sent thousands of gallons of water flowing down Arlington Avenue in Riverside on Friday, Jan. 8.

Riverside Fire Department firefighters were on scene at 12:40 p.m. attempting to prevent homes in the 6800 block of Arlington Avenue from being flooded. One homes garage had already flooded since the main broke about noon.

Around 1:15 p.m. the flow of water had begun to slow, fire officials said.

Eastbound traffic on Arlington Avenue between Monroe Street and Murray Street was shut down about 1 p.m.

Fire Capt. Tim Odebralski said crews would probably be out at the scene for a few hours while the water department and public works dig up the asphalt and patch the water line.

Early in the response, firefighters were digging trenches to prevent nearby home from flooding.

Riverside water department workers said they hope to have the main fixed within the next few hours. To do that, they must dig up a portion of the asphalt on Arlington.

The story is developing. Check back for more information.
In case youve been living in a digital black-out, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton put his foot-in-phone last week when he accidentally sent journalist Samantha Maiden a text calling her a mad fucking witch, instead of his intended recipient Jamie Briggs, who had just resigned as Minister following a sexual harassment complaint.

A category 10 shitstorm followed.

Although Dutton and Maiden have brushed off the matter, with the former apologising privately to the latter, not everyone is so satisfied. (PM Malcolm Turnbull has yet to make a public statement, but sources at The Australian say hes described it in private as completely inappropriate.)

Acting Federal Opposition Leader Penny Wong demanded Turnbull explain Duttons actions, asking why it is that Mr Duttons behaviour and this sort of language is consistent with the standards that are expected of ministers.





Greens leader Richard Di Natale went one step further and called for Duttons resignation, reasoning that these comments perpetuate those gendered stereotypes that make it very difficult for women, and citing his recent failures in handling the case of a refugee who was raped while detained on Nauru.



Well, right now a group of women who are mad about misogyny (and boy, has 2016 ever been a year for misogyny) have had fkn enough with the Coalitions inaction, and are protesting as we speak outside Duttons office, demanding his resignation.

Oh yeah  and theyre dressed as witches.

Raising storms to fight the patriarchy! Dutton must go! #witchin #witchcraft #witches #witch #auspol A photo posted by Van Badham (@vanbadham) on Jan 7, 2016 at 1:55pm PST

Protester Sam Pidgeon (who, full disclosure, is a member of the Labor party) explained they were protesting because Duttons apology didnt cut it, and is part of a larger issue of misogyny within Parliament.

Its not okay to say, well, he apologised for sending the text message, she told Fairfax. Sending the text message by mistake to someone isnt the issue here. The issue is that we have a senior member of cabinet who is referring to women as mad fucking witches.



Its not the first time Dutton has used the witch metaphor to sledge women. In 2010 he told then health minister Nicola Roxon to get on her broomstick, a remark which he might have been forced to later withdraw in Parliament, but he damn sure defending on Twitter.

telling nicola to get on her broomstick is hardly grossly unparliamentary as joolia claimed  Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) February 11, 2010

Oh, how far weve come in just six short years.

But back in 2016, Peter Dutton is silent as ever. To be continued.

Source / Photos: Twitter.
Weve partnered with CommBank to help them showcase everyday people that are making Australia exceptional. Whilst the big heroes we see on the news obvi deserve our gratitude, its high-time we celebrate the littler ones. Yknow, the champs flying under the radar that deserve a bit of a shout-out. To do this, CommBank created the Australian of the Day series. Today, we get to know Loren OKeeffe, the woman behind the Missing Persons Advocacy Network whos searching for her missing brother Dan. Head on over to CommBanks Australian of the Day website to read more.





Subscribe to PEDESTRIAN.TV for more: http://pezn.tv/1agPWfI.





When Dan disappeared, Loren quit her job and put her future in international business on hold in order to devote her time and energy to finding Dan, who she believes is still alive, but not reaching out due to his mental health issues.





Loren launched a huge social media campaign, Dan Come Home, which led to a sighting of Dan being reported five months after his disappearance. Unfortunately, he has still not been located.





While many people would get lost in feelings of helplessness, Loren has continued to be pro-active and positive in both her search for her brother, and in helping other families with missing relatives.





She set up the Missing Persons Advocacy Network ( MPAN ) as well as the worlds first Missing Persons Guide , a guide to what to do if a loved one goes missing, in order to provide loved ones with practical, basic direction and advice, and hopefully alleviate some of those feelings of hopelessness and despair.





When someone goes missing, time is of the essence. Understandably people are overwhelmed with that hopelessness; its such a surreal scenario to find yourself in. The website was born out of my frustration with the fact that the day that my brother went missing and I asked the police what to do, they couldnt give me any direction.





Working for nothing and tirelessly hoping for a lead that will reunite her with her brother, Loren remains positive, calling her work rewarding.





Dans campaign really allowed other people out there who had considered going missing to see the impact that it had had on Dans family and friends. They wrote to us to say that its changed their mind and now theyre seeking treatment for their depression, that they havent gone missing, and theyve thanked us  that is the most rewarding thing, to know that our familys tragedy has saved other families from going through the same thing.





Over 100 Australians go missing everyday, and Lorens passion is helping other families like hers, she says. Thats why shes CommBanks Australian of the Day #211.

My inspiration is Dan. I feel really lucky to be able to do something that I love that is so varied. I feel like Dan has given me that gift. Its really uncharted territory and thats exciting to me.

For more Aussie legends doing extraordinary things visit australianoftheday.com.au.

Photo: Claire Reynolds / Loren OKeeffe.
A Baltimore-based engineering firm has acquired a midstate technology company. EBA Engineering Inc. acquired Lancaster County-based GeographIT, earlier this month.

EBA has established a new geospatial technologies and asset management services division led by EBA vice president, Bruce Stauffer and is based in GeographIT's former office in Manheim Twp. at 1525 Oregon Pike, Suite 202. Stauffer was vice president and a co-founder of GeographIT. GeographIT president and co-founder, Ashis Pal will continue to assist EBA as a business development consultant.

With the acquisition, EBA will now offer integrated geographic information system, information technology and asset management solutions, the company said in a press release.

Ten employees of GeographIT will now be employed by EBA.

GeographIT was founded in 1990. EBA was founded in 1981 and has 250 employees in six offices, providing a wide range of engineering services. EBA now has offices in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

In addition to GeographIT's office in Manheim Twp, the company also had an office in Baltimore, Maryland. That office will merge with the existing EBA office at 4813 Seton Drive in Baltimore.
Gina Neely

Gina Neely of the Food Network will appear Saturday at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.

(Provided)

Every year at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, a celebrity chef visits the PA Preferred's Culinary Connection stage.

This year, Gina Neely, best known as one-half of "Down Home with the Neelys" on the Food Network, will appear on opening day, Jan. 9, to help celebrate "Mushroom Day."

She will cook at noon and 2 p.m. on the Culinary Connection stage located in the Main Exhibit Hall of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg.

PA Preferred runs dozens of cooking demonstrations by Pennsylvania chefs and culinary students during the eight-day Farm Show.

Neely, who is now divorced from her husband, operated Neely's Bar-B-Que restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee. In 2008, their television show premiered, and according to the Food Network it became the highest-rated series debut in the five-year history of the network's "In the Kitchen" weekend block.

The couple published two cookbooks, "Down Home with the Neelys" and "The Neelys Celebration Cookbook: Down Home Meals for Every Occasion."

In the fall of 2014, the Neelys announced they were splitting after more than 20 years of marriage. The two are the parents of two grown children.

In recent years, Gina Neely has attracted attention for her dramatic weight loss, dropping at least 50 pounds.
Gun permit numbers continue climb in midstate

A customer is pictured at the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office in Lancaster City on Monday, where sheriff Mark Reese said concealed carry firearm permit numbers have grown two or three fold in recent months.

Anne Reeves

Taking a lunch break from holiday shopping at one of our local malls, I discovered my mind wandering to a strange place that had nothing to do with finding the perfect holiday gift.

In between bites, I started thinking about what I would do if an active shooter burst into the food court and started spraying the room with a semi-automatic rifle.

Maybe it was the holi-daze fatigue or the fact that the San Bernadino, Calif. massacre had taken place just weeks before, but I seriously began planning where I would escape if the unthinkable happened. Because after all, the unthinkable is happening more and more often; loonies with guns are storming schools, theaters, offices and malls and killing as many people as they can.

I looked around at the panoply of fast food restaurants and considered my options. Even with a fake knee, I knew my best chance at escape would be to leap over the counter of one of the eateries and run toward its kitchen -- maybe hiding in the refrigerator or pantry.

The sub shop was out; the glass panel dividing customers from the meats and cheeses was way too high. The other restaurants -- burger, Asian, and Mexican -- were too far away. Running toward them would likely take me toward the gunman anyway.

So the pizza shop it was. Fueled by fear and adrenaline, I thought I could pretty easily throw myself over the low counter and then sprint or crawl to the back of the store. Problem solved.

Later that week, I sized up our local cinema. Where would I go if shooting started during the premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"? There was an exit to the outside near our seats, so that was the most obvious choice. Unless of course, the gunman started randomly shooting in the dark like the murderer did in Colorado four years ago. Then there would be no safe escape.

Welcome to life in modern America. Make sure you plan your escape while you eat your lunch, attend class or celebrate during an office holiday party. Don't assume that any place is safe. Don't assume it couldn't happen to you.

Our country is living in fear. Don't believe me? Last month, 7,300 residents in six local counties got permits to carry firearms, a 155 percent increase over the same month a year earlier. That's a lot of firepower.

People say they want a gun to "feel safer," "to level the playing field against the bad guys," or "to protect themselves and their loved ones," if a massacre occurs. It all sounds logical, but it's not just common sense that's pushing gun sales. It's fear, plain and simple.

I don't consider myself a nervous Nellie; it usually takes a lot to get me flustered. And while I do buy eggs and milk before a snowstorm and once did load up on gallons of water "just in case," I didn't go out and buy duct tape and plastic sheets after Sept. 11, nor did I stockpile cans of soup and tuna when various cult leaders predicted the end of the world.

Yet here I am, trying to figure out how to outrun and out hide a madman. I can't explain it, other than maybe trying to gain some control in an uncontrollable situation. I hate it.

My children often tease me when I get a little too wound up by something that's happening in the world. "Oh mom," they say with a smile, "everything's going to be O.K."

But during the holiday break they admitted that they, too, are afraid. My daughter living on the West Coast said she's not really worried about "The Big One," the earthquake that could level L.A., but is terrified thinking about a fanatic with a gun. Last year, my Philadelphia collegian didn't attend classes because of a credible threat against schools citywide. My youngest has participated in an "active shooter drill" at her high school. She tells me she and her classmates have talked about the best way to escape each of her classrooms, including breaking windows and jumping.

It breaks my heart to think of my children living this way. Granted, the odds of encountering a mass shooter are pretty low when compared to other violent incidents. But any odds are terrifying. Despite my best efforts, I can't take away their fear, mostly because what's happening in our country terrifies me too. And when you're a parent and you can't make your kids feel safer, that's the scariest thing of all.
CORRECTS BUDGET TO $122.6 BILLION, NOT $112.6 BILLION - Senate Minority Leader Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, talks to reporters about Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed $122.6 billion 2016-17 state budget he unveiled, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif. Fuller said Brown's spending plan proves that California can fund its needs without raising taxes. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2013 file photo, the Castle of the Mayan ruins in Tulum, Mexico is lit by late afternoon sun. A Mexican official says Canadian pop star Justin Bieber and his entourage were asked to leave the Mayan archaeological site of Tulum after he apparently tried to climb onto the ruins. Bieber was visiting the sea-side ruins on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, when the incident occurred. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes, File)
South Korean army soldiers adjust equipment used for propaganda broadcasts near the border area between South Korea and North Korea in Yeoncheon, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. South Korea responded to North Korea's nuclear test with broadcasts of anti-Pyongyang propaganda across the rival's tense border Friday, believed to be the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (Lim Tae-hoon/Newsis via AP) KOREA OUT
Public safety millage up for vote in Harbor Springs

The Harbor Springs millage request seeks 1 additional mill for a period of five years dedicated for the purpose of police and public safety needs.
DUBLIN, Ireland and NEW YORK, NY, USA I January 7, 2016 I Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN), a leading global pharmaceutical company, today announced that it has acquired Anterios, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a next generation delivery system and botulinum toxin-based prescription products. Under the terms of the agreement, Allergan acquired Anterios for an upfront payment of $90 million and potential development and commercialization milestone payments related to NDS, Anterios' proprietary platform delivery technology that enables local, targeted delivery of neurotoxins through the skin without the need for injections.

In addition to NDS, Allergan has acquired global rights to ANT-1207, an investigational topical formulation botulinum toxin type A in development for the potential treatment of hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating), acne, and crow's feet lines.

The NDS platform technology and ANT-1207 add to Allergan's strong neurotoxin pipeline, with BOTOX Cosmetic (onabotulinumtoxinA) currently in development for treating forehead lines, masseter hypertrophy and platysma bands and BOTOX Therapeutic in development for osteoarthritis and depression.

"The acquisition of Anterios bolsters Allergan's commitment to innovation and maintaining its leadership position in neurotoxin development and commercialization," said David Nicholson, Executive Vice President and President, Global Brands Research & Development at Allergan. "Our team at Allergan pioneered the development and commercialization of BOTOX, the market-leading neurotoxin used in both medical aesthetics and therapeutic areas of medicine. This acquisition demonstrates our ability to apply our tremendous scientific leadership in neurotoxins to further extend our already deep neurotoxin pipeline by advancing a new delivery system and formulations that are appealing to both patients and physicians."

"Allergan has a long history in dermatology and aesthetics, a deep commercial and development network across these professional communities, and a strong commitment to innovation. They were the natural fit for us as we sought a partner to take our NDS platform technology and ANT-1207 program to the next stage of development and eventual commercialization," said Jon Edelson, MD, CEO and Founder of Anterios.

"The potential for a novel delivery system like NDS and a new topical neurotoxin is exciting for the medical dermatology and aesthetic communities, given that our patients are seeking non-invasive approaches to treat their dermatologic and aesthetic conditions," said William Coleman, III, MD, Clinical Professor of Dermatology and Adjunct Professor of Plastic Surgery, Tulane Health Science Center. "Offering products that provide an enhanced delivery mechanism and an effective topical formulation to today's injectable botulinum toxin products would be an important advance for our specialty."

Prior to the closing, Anterios spun out certain assets to a new company, Eirion Therapeutics, Inc., funded by Anterios shareholders. The new entity also retains certain non-exclusive rights to ANT-1207.

About Allergan

Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN), headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is a unique, global pharmaceutical company and a leader in a new industry model  Growth Pharma. Allergan is focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing innovative branded pharmaceuticals, high-quality generic and over-the-counter medicines and biologic products for patients around the world.

Allergan markets a portfolio of best-in-class products that provide valuable treatments for the central nervous system, eye care, medical aesthetics, gastroenterology, women's health, urology, cardiovascular and anti-infective therapeutic categories, and operates the world's third-largest global generics business, providing patients around the globe with increased access to affordable, high-quality medicines. Allergan is an industry leader in research and development, with one of the broadest development pipelines in the pharmaceutical industry and a leading position in the submission of generic product applications globally.

With commercial operations in approximately 100 countries, Allergan is committed to working with physicians, healthcare providers and patients to deliver innovative and meaningful treatments that help people around the world live longer, healthier lives.

SOURCE: Allergan
Third Time's a Charm: After An Unproductive Two Years, Will 2016 Bring More Online Poker?

January 08, 2016 Matthew Kredell Contributor

Internet poker is entering 2016 with some momentum on the legislative front. After two unproductive years since New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware began offering regulated online poker in 2013, this third year may be the charm in continuing the expansion of online gaming in the United States.

Last year began with the real threat that the clock might be turned back so that 2013 never even happened. That doesn't appear likely after Sheldon Adelson's crusade to ban online gambling took a big hit at December's House committee hearing.

There is now a stable foundation on which to build, and the spotlight this year will be on if Pennsylvania and California can pass legislation to really spark the spread of online poker in a way that could never be reversed.

Pennsylvania is closer to approving legislation than any state since the initial three. There was some sweat that Pennsylvania could have had a House vote on its gaming reform bill late last year, after Rep. John Payne's legislation passed through the state House Gaming Oversight Committee in November.

There's still work that needs to be done. When there's talk that a bill is going to move and it doesn't get called, that's usually because it doesn't have the votes. One problem is that when Rep. Payne's gaming reform bill was amended in December, passing by a slim three-vote margin was a clause that would allow video gaming terminals to be placed in restaurants and taverns, a move strongly opposed by the state's casinos.

Eleven of the 12 casinos in Pennsylvania support online gaming, with the lone opposition of course being the one owned by Adelson. Surely Adelson won't sit quietly by and let it happen, but wouldn't it be fitting if the state that continues the expansion of online gaming that Adelson has been spending millions of dollars to stop is one in which he owns a casino?

Legislators see online gaming as a key element to fixing the state's pension deficit. Payne told Online Poker Report last month that he intended the bill to move this spring. It would then have to pass through the state Senate and be signed by the governor.

Pennsylvania clearly has passed by California, entering its eighth year discussing online poker legislation, in likelihood to pass a bill.

California remains stuck in place because the Indian tribes, card rooms and race tracks that make up gaming in the state cannot come to an agreement on language for a bill, specifically on the issues of a bad-actor clause and horse track participation.

Online poker was removed from the agenda in an Assembly Governmental Organization Committee hearing this week, an indication that there has been no progress behind the scenes worth discussing since potential bills were tabled last July.

The two sticking-point issues shouldn't be that hard to work out for California to finally move with online poker legislation. With PokerStars/Amaya receiving approval to operate in New Jersey, there isn't much argument to be made why a bad-actor clause needs to be in legislation rather than leaving it up to the regulators on an individual basis.

The Indian bands, led by Pechanga, that oppose race track participation have nothing to fear from horse racing in an online poker market. There are only likely to be two or three successful sites in the state, and the tracks aren't well positioned to be one of them.

For that same reason, it would make sense for the tracks if they could reach a settlement that would allow them a share of the revenues and right to host a skin, which likely is a more profitable route for them than hosting their own site anyway. Such a compromise isn't so far-fetched, as Pechanga chairman Mark Macarro offered them in broad strokes last year in a June hearing.

The question is whether the parties are willing to put past beefs aside in order to make online poker happen in the state. Right now, that answer is no, and without that changing there won't be movement on an online poker bill in California this year. If an unlikely consensus is reached, the bill could still move quickly as it has support in the legislature and the governor's office.

A source involved with the California legislature told PokerNews this week that, unlike Pennsylvania casinos, the brick and mortar Indian casinos in California for the most part are doing well financially. They aren't missing out on the small revenue they might get from online poker, and they no longer fear that the feds could take action to trample state rights, so there is no fire to reach an accord.

This is also an election year, and this hasn't been an issue that has generated enough interest from California voters.

Perhaps if Pennsylvania passes a bill this year despite opposition from its most powerful casino owner, it would set an example for California to follow in 2017.

Other states like New York and Massachusetts have yet to seriously take a look at online gaming while their focus has been one brick-and-mortar casino expansion. That might change this year, particularly if Pennsylvania joins New Jersey as nearby states that are taking advantage of the revenue opportunities. However, it seems unlikely that they will go from 0 to 100 in 2016. As we've seen in other states, this isn't a quick process.

This will be a key year for the expansion of online poker in the U.S. Add a Pennsylvania or California to the mix and it could spark a run of states creating a nationwide market in coming years. Strike out for a third consecutive year and one has to wonder if the interest in online poker is waning.

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Sharelines After two unproductive years, Internet poker is entering 2016 with some momentum on the legislative front.
WSOP Champ Joe McKeehen Not Expecting to Join Ranks of High-Rolling Regs

January 07, 2016 Mo Nuwwarah Editor

Heavy is the crown, they say, but Joe McKeehen doesn't seem to be feeling much burden being the world champion of poker.

After taking down the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event, McKeehen remains the same relaxed, laid back guy he was before banking a life-changing score of $7,683,346. In fact, life-changing might not be the right word for it. As McKeehen tells is, things aren't much different for him nowadays, and it might be more accurate to call it a career-changing score.

"I'm playing some of these bigger tournaments now, that's about it," McKeehen said of life after winning the Main Event.

McKeehen fired his first $100,000 buy-in in December when he played the World Poker Tour Alpha8 at Bellagio in Las Vegas, a tournament eventually won by Fedor Holz.

"I was definitely a little nervous," McKeehen admitted. "But once the cards get in the air, it's poker. You're just playing poker against good players. It's cool to test yourself against the best in the world."

Outside of the high caliber of poker skill required to compete against the players he's encountered in his recent high-rolling ventures, McKeehen noted another thing that stood out to him.

"I've had an absolute blast playing these things," he said. "These dudes all know each other, they're friends. They're very funny."

McKeehen airballed that Alpha8, but he's off to a great start in his second crack on the elite super high roller circuit. Here at the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure's $100,000 Super High Roller, the world champ is crushing, battling for the chip lead with less than half of the 58 player field remaining. Battling some of the world's best is suiting McKeehen so far, as he sent notable elites Erik Seidel and Justin Bonomo to the rail on Day 2.

Follow live updates from the 2016 PCA $100K Super High Roller by click here.

Always known as a solid East Coast grinder who was a regular at places like Borgata, McKeehen now finds himself with the bankroll and poker chops to tackle the high-roller circuit. But don't count on seeing McKeehen join the likes of Steve O'Dwyer, Holz, Mike McDonald, and others who appear almost universally at the biggest buy-in tournaments in the world.

"Maybe if I have a little success in this, but I'm laying low for the most part," McKeehen said when asked if he'll appear at more of these events in the near future.

The closeness of the PCA, which is a shorter flight away than many domestic destinations for those in the Eastern United States, appeals to McKeehen, and he plans to play a full schedule while he's here, including the $50,000 and $25,000 buy-in high roller events and possibly some $10,000 and $5,000 ones in addition to the $5,300 Main Event.

His usual work grinding the East Coast circuit no longer holds appeal for McKeehen, who finds himself with a dilemma. He seeks bigger buy-in events that populate the European Poker Tour, but is turned off by the rigors of traveling incessantly to get to them.

"That's Europe, that's far away," he said with a laugh when asked about playing more EPTs. "I'm not too keen on traveling, so I don't know that I'll do a lot."

When not saddling up for $100,000 buy-ins, McKeehen is willing to play a different game for slightly smaller stakes. In a recent interview with Sarah Herring, McKeehen talked a little bit about Hearthstone, a game that's captured the interest of more than a few poker players.

Joe McKeehen is an 888poker-sponsored player. Click here to start playing on 888poker today!

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VIDEO: New Philly Police Commissioner Wants Squad Cars to be More Stealthy

Philadelphias new police commissioner took action this week to turn off the red and blue bar lights on top of squad cars.

Commissioner Richard Ross announced the directive to staff, referring to the still blue and red bar lights, not the emergency flashing colored lights.

Theyll (squad cars) be able to get there before people see that theyre coming, Lieutenant John Stanford told Eyewitness News.

Former Philadelphia Commissioner Charles Ramsey mandated that squad cars have the bar lights on at all times. Stanford says the lights sometimes posed problems for officers, giving the criminals a head start. It gives up your positioning in terms of from a tactical standpoint, so having those lights on, it allows the bad guys to see you essentially before you arrive to a location, Stanford told CBS Philly.
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Riverside Elementary's gym was filled with stories, frustration and questions Thursday night.

More than 200 students, parents, teachers and elected officials gather to talk about a discipline disparity for black and Hispanic students at Rochester Public Schools.

The two-hour meeting focused on a recent report that revealed black and Hispanic students are disproportionately disciplined in the district.

For example, during the 2013-14 school year, 13.7 percent of students were black, but black students were the subjects of 39.2 percent of the district's more than 12,000 disciplinary incidents.

But community leaders are asking the district to take more ownership for the problem, and the big question at the end of the night was: what's next?

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"I think there was a lot of defensiveness  I think we need to get past that," said John Edmonds, co-founder of Project Legacy, a Rochester organization that works with youth of color. "The data speaks for itself. It is what it is. You can spin it however you want, but what it really comes down to is about race, and so we need to just accept that and go from there. What are we going to do about that?"

Edmonds said the next crucial step is making sure people who are passionate about the issue stay organized and hold the district accountable.

"The seeds of that were sown today; we have to stay on top of this," Edmonds said. "Somebody's got to be there to keep asking questions and demanding answers."

The issue was brought to light by a U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights compliance review, which found the discipline disparity after a fiver-year review that began in 2010.

Students, parents, teachers, administrators and elected officials attended the meeting.

"We've got to do more," said Jackie Booth, a community member with three children. She said her 31-year-old daughter experienced the same problems years ago. She was upset to learn that the problem still exists. "These things are still going on; instead of tap dancing around, we've got to do something about it."

Others at the meeting thought the schools were bearing too much of the blame and said that students' families need to be held more accountable.

Regardless of the cause of the problem, Sen. Carla Nelson, R-Rochester, said statewide, these disparities are a huge problem for Minnesota

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"Education is the great equalizer," Nelson said. "And so anytime we have students who are not in school  whether it be because of discipline or because they're not coming to school or whatever  those children are at risk, and our society is at risk."

Nelson said she was happy to see "engaged and passionate school staff and parents" at the meeting. "It's going to take both. So we've got the right ingredients here for success."

Kolloh Nimley, with Rochester's office of Minnesotans of African Heritage, said she has two moves she'll make next.

First, she'll recommend changes to the district's discipline handbook on behalf of Minnesotans of African Heritage, and she also plans to recommend a parental advisory board to the district to keep parents involved in the process.

"I think for 30 years we've been putting a band-aid over it and no one has created accountability," Nimley said. "And that's the role of my office."
"General Alfred Sully: Artist/Writer/Engineer/Soldier" will be presented at the next meeting of the Rochester Civil War Round Table at 7 p.m. Jan. 13 at the History Center of Olmsted County, 1195 West Circle Drive SW, Rochester.

Speakers are Richard and Sharon Krom. Sully, a West Point graduate, commanded the First Minnesota Volunteer Regiment during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. He also served before and during the Civil War on the western plains, and in 1863 was involved in a controversial attack on a Sioux Indian village at Whitestone Hill in Dakota Territory. Sully was also known for his water-color paintings of western scenes.

Admission is free; donations welcome.
CNN convened a town hall forum for President Obama to bloviate on issues of gun violence last night. Im posting the complete video below. CNN has posted a transcript here (along with a two-minute compilation of highlights). The NRA declined CNNs invitation to attend. The repulsive radical Chicago cleric Michael Pfleger was on hand. Reverend Wright was apparently not available.

I wonder if CNN thought about inviting John Lott. If they didnt, I would guess its because they are unfamiliar with his work, or because he would make their heads explode. One or the other. Lott argues the proposition More Guns, Less Crime and deconstructs just about every proposition Obama holds on the subject, including his purported belief in the Second Amendment (Lott interacted with Obama at the University of Chicago Law School). Audio of Levins interview with Lott this week is posted here (about 20 minutes). Lotts NR column Obamas gun-control order is dictatorial, and it wont work is also on point.

It was left to the beautiful Taya Kyle, widow of the late Chris Kyle, to make the case in her own way (video below, about six mintues).

Mrs. Kyle puts it this way:

I appreciate you taking the time to come here. And I think that your message of hope is something I agree with. And I think its great. And I think that by creating new laws, you do give people hope. The thing is that the laws that we create dont stop these horrific things from happening, right? And thats a very tough pill to swallow.

We want to think that we can make a law and people will follow it. By the very nature of their crime, theyre not following it. By the very nature of looking at the people who hurt our loved ones here, I dont know that any of them would have been stopped by the background check. And yet, I crave that desire for hope, too.

And so I think part of it we have to recognize that we cannot outlaw murder because people who are murdering, right, are  theyre breaking the law, but they also dont have a moral code that we have. And so they could do the same amount of damage with a pipe bomb. The problem is that they want to murder.

And Im wondering why it wouldnt be a better use of our time to give people hope in a different way, to say, You know what? We  well first of all, actually, let me back up to that. Because with the laws, I know that at least last I heard, the federal prosecution of gun crimes was like 40 percent. And what I mean by that is that there are people lying on these forms already and were not prosecuting them. So theres an issue there, right?

But instead, if we can give people hope and say also during this time while youve been president, we are at the lowest murder rate in our country  all-time low murders. Were at an all-time high of gun ownership, right?

Im not necessarily saying the two are correlated, but what Im saying is that were at an all-time low for murder rate. Thats a big deal. And yet I think most of us in this country feel like it could happen at any moment. It could happen to any of us at any time.

And Im almost finished. Just when  when you talk about the NRA, and after a mass shooting that gun sales go up, I would argue that its not necessarily that I think somebodys going to come take my gun from me, but I want the hope  and the hope that I have the right to protect myself; that I dont end up to be one of these families; that I have the freedom to carry whatever weapon I feel I need, just like your wife said on that farm (ph). You know, I dont  the sheriffs arent going to get to my house either.

And I understand that background checks arent necessarily going to stop me from getting a gun, but I also know that they wouldnt have stopped any of the people here in this room from killing. And so it seems like almost a false sense of hope.

So why not celebrate where we are? I guess thats my real question is

OBAMA: Well

QUESTION: Celebrate that were good people, and 99.9 percent of us are never going to kill anyone.
President Obama takes to the pages of the New York Times to state that the epidemic of gun violence in our country is a crisis and to demand a national response. The New York Times: What a great forum for reaching those who disagree with Obama, or are undecided, about gun control.

Ill leave it to my colleagues to take on whatever substance might be found in Obamas op-ed. I was struck by this passage: I will not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform (emphasis added).

Obama implies that there exists the possibility that he might campaign for or support a candidate who does not belong to his party, in other words a Republican. Sure.

As for his own party, Sen. Joe Manchin no doubt will be heart-broken to learn that Obama wont be coming to West Virginia to campaign on his behalf.

Lets be real. There arent many Democrats who would want this unpopular president to campaign for them. And the Democrats who do, those in the bluest of blue states and districts, are as unlikely to depart from liberal orthodoxy on guns as, well, the New York Times and the overwhelming majority of its readers.
Fun times on the radio yesterday and today on the Bill Bennett show, and as we havent been able to get our act together here to produce a new podcast (believe meweve been trying), I thought Id post a segment from todays show in lieu of. Plus it gives me bragging rights over John, as Ive figured out (I think) my sound editing software, which might actually be a problem once John gets the bad idea in his head of having me produce some of our podcasts.

Anyway, John joined the show in Hour 2 this morning to talk a bit about his new job as president of the Center of the American Experiment (though I taunted him that hes obviously flunking the whole retirement thing), and about the industrial strength sexual assaults over in Germany that he and Scott have been covering here. Heres the audio, if Ive done this right.
Joseph diGenova, a well-respected former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, predicted today that Hillary Clinton will be indicted for crimes connected with her use of a private email server for State Department business. He made this prediction on Laura Ingrahams radio program.

For Hillary to be indicted, the FBI would have to call for an indictment and the Attorney General would have to approve the recommendation. FBI director James Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch are both Obama appointees.

Comey has a reputation as a straight shooter. In part, that reputation derives from the independence he displayed as a high-ranking Justice Department official during the administration of President George W. Bush.

Its one thing to be independent under a Republican president and another to be that way in a Democratic administration. The former display will win you loud applause from the mainstream media (indeed, the applause Comey won during the Bush administration is probably what landed him the FBI directors post under Obama). The latter will make you a villain, which tends to discourage independent conduct. .

On the other hand, Comey has already displayed some independence as FBI director. Moreover, folks I know who worked with Comey before his rise to prominence vouch for his independence and integrity. One friend whose judgment I trust is fairly confident that Comey will play it straight when it comes Hillary Clinton.

Apparently, then, Comeys statement to a Senate committee that the FBI doesnt give a rip about politics should be taken at face value. And to the extent that the FBI goes where the facts lead, its quite possible, for reasons diGenova explained during his interview by Ingraham, that it will seek an indictment.

What about Loretta Lynch, though? It strikes me as very unlikely that she would approve an indictment of Clinton. Liberal Democrats rarely do that sort of thing to other liberal Democrats. And frankly, with the White House at stake, I wouldnt expect a conservative Republican to do it to another conservative Republican.

DiGenova says that if Lynch declines to approve an indictment called for by the FBI, all hell would break loose. This seems likely. The FBI probably wouldnt take Lynchs decision lying down, and the intelligence community, appalled as it is by Clintons mishandling of confidential and even classified information, could also be expected to make sure word of Lynchs action gets out.

DiGenova predicts that in this scenario, Lynch wouldnt survive as Attorney General. He adds that the situation would be comparable to that which occurred during the Watergate scandal when the Attorney General and his Assistant resigned after refusing to follow President Nixons order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

This, I think, overstates the case. Lynch would likely survive (if she wanted to) because President Obama would protect her.

As for Watergate, there are differences. First, the biased mainstream media would likely underplay, and certainly wouldnt pump up, a dispute between Lynch and Comey. In any event, a dispute between the FBI director and the Attorney General doesnt rise to the level of a dispute between the President and the Attorney General. Moreover, unlike with Watergate, there might not be any firing in connection with a proposed indictment of Hillary.

Even so, the scenario were contemplating  (1) Comey recommends an indictment, (2) Lynch declines to indict, and (3) word of this gets out would  would be potentially devastating for Hillary Clinton. Running for president when the public knows the FBI, headed by an Obama appointee, wanted to indict you for offenses relating to national security (and you were saved only by Obamas Attorney General) would be quite a burden no matter how much the mainstream media had your back.

Few would be inclined to try, but I doubt that Hillary would stand down. Nor is it beyond the realm of the possible that she could win even under these circumstances, especially if the Republican nominee is unpopular.
New version of the Fisher Wallace Stimulator. It is called the Fisher Wallace Stimulator (Mishka Edition).

Fisher Wallace Stimulator (Mishka Edition)

PR-Inside.com: 2016-01-08 07:16:06

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1.888.870.5581

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# 1017 Words

James Matthew1.888.870.5581

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The popular Fisher Wallace Stimulator now sold by Miracle Alternatives, LLC.

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PR-Inside.com: 2016-01-07 20:53:16

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# 558 Words

James Matthew1.888.870.5581

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:James MatthewMiracle Alternatives, LLC888.870.5581815.854.4601support@ hgllc.co New Lenox, IL, 1/7/2016  One of the most popular Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation devices is now sold by Miracle Alternatives, LLC. The device is called the Fisher Wallace Stimulator. This device treats depression, stress, anxiety, bipolar depression, insomnia, mental illness, pain, and chronic pain The Fisher Wallace Stimulator is FDA Cleared.The Fisher Wallace Stimulator has been featured in the to new media such as Dr. Oz, Fox News, CBS News, The Boston Globe, Elle, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, and Bulletproof.Treat Depression, anxiety, stress, mental illness?The Fisher Wallace Stimulator is a wearable neurostimulation device that is cleared by the FDA to treat depression and anxiety. During each 20-minute treatment session, the device gently stimulates the brain to produce serotonin and other neurochemicals that reduce depression and anxiety (and support healthy mood and sleep). The device has been pr oven to be safe and effective in multiple published studies conducted at top institutions such as Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital.Over 6,000 health care practitioners, including 2,000 board-certified psychiatrists, have used the device to treat over 20,000 patients since 2009. Most patients experience results within the first two weeks of daily use.Treat Symptoms with Advanced TechnologyDesigned collaboratively by world-class engineers and doctors, the Fisher Wallace Stimulator uses patented waveforms to gently stimulate the brain to produce serotonin otherThe Fisher Wallace Stimulator is designed to treat depression, mental illness such as Bipolar Depression, Stress, Anxiety, Insomnia, Pain and Chronic Pain.The Fisher Wallace Stimulator is backed by and supported by several Fisher Wallace doctor board members. When we say doctor, we are referring to Medical Doctors.For USA customers only, the Fisher Wallace Stimulator does require a prescription, or also refereed to as an authorization from someone in the health field. This includes medical doctors, chiropractor, holistic doctors, nurses, therapists, naprapaths, acupuncturists.Here is the good news. When ordering from Miracle Alternatives, LLC for only $20.00 you can get a prescription, also refereed to as an authorization directly from ordering the Fisher Wallace Stimulator on line or by telephone. Miracle Alternatives, LLC has a medical professional review the application thus getting an approval.The authorization is completed within a matter of minutes. Here are the authorization requirements. As long as you do not have any of the following you will most likely get approved; Pace maker, or any other medical devices implanted in your head or body. That's it. It's that easy and simple.For additional information please contact: James Matthew at Miracle Alternatives, LLC by phone (888.870.5581),Fax (815.854.4601) or email (support@ hgllc.co) You will also find further information on our web site at http://MiracleAlternatives.com Summary: To learn more about the Fisher Wallace Stimulator visit the product website. Read an in depth description. Read specifications. Learn how to use it. Read many customer testimonials both written and video. Read actual doctor reviews. Watch demonstration videos.About Miracle Alternatives, LLC: Miracle Alternatives, LLC has been in business since 2013.Legal disclaimer: Miracle Alternatives, LLC.The success stories are representative outcomes. However, there are no guarantees, promises, representations and/or assurances concerning the level of future results. Furthermore Miracle Alternatives, LLC does not claim and or guarantee the products they sell will prevent or cure any type of sickness, illness, pain, virus and diseases.# # #
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday raided the residence of the immediate past Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko, in Abuja.

Anti-graft personnel arrived at the house located at 6, Ahmed Musa Crescent, Jabi, at about 7 a.m., the News Agency of Nigeria reported.

Mr. Dikko was not at home at the time of raid. NAN reports that the mission of the personnel was not disclosed to any member of the family who were in the house.

Armed officials of EFCC were still around the property by Friday noon, NAN said.

The agency quoted an armed police at the house as saying that they were deployed to ensure there was no breakdown of law and order.

The report also quoted Mohammed Usman, a relative to the former Customs boss, as saying that the EFCC operatives arrived at the residence at about 7 a.m.

According to him, about seven operatives searched different sections of the property for documents.

A team of about seven operatives of the EFCC in company with some armed policemen arrived at the residence at about 7am and have been in the house for the past five hours.

From the information available to me, no search warrant was presented before the commencement of the search.

As I speak to you, they are currently in my uncles bedroom carrying out the search in his absence, he said.

Mr. Usman faulted the search on the ground that the operation was being carried out in the absence of the former comptroller-general.

The only people in the house at the commencement of this search and even till now are his children who are below the ages of 18, he said.

When contacted, Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC Spokesman said that he had not been informed of the search on the former comptroller -generals residence.

(NAN)
The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, has ordered police officers not to accompany politicians to polling centres during the gubernatorial election rerun in Southern Ijaw Local Government of Bayelsa State on Saturday.

Mr. Arase gave the order through the Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police, Peter Ogunyanwo, in Yenagoa, the state capital.

The IG advised people in the area where the rerun election will hold to follow the law and work towards a peaceful election.

He argued that those aspiring to serve the people should not resort to a do or die approach to attaining their goal.

He said just as finishing touches were being given to preparations for the rerun, the command on Thursday got a report of shootings in one communities in Southern Ijaw.

The police boss said on investigation it was found that a political officer holder in the state went with a police personnel to a riverine community.

For some undisclosed reasons, he said the police officers opened fire and disturbed the peace of the area.

The IG promptly ordered the policemen should be withdrawn and we have done just that. Right now we are waiting for them to report here at the headquarters, the commissioner said.

The instruction is that no police officer attached to political leaders should escort them to polling booths during election.

We have the constitutional duty to protect them when their lives are threatened and it was under that guide that we had policemen attached to them. But where abuses are found, the IG does not hesitate to order for withdrawal and that is what he has done in this case.

I want to appeal to troublemakers to realize that nobody is worth dying for and that they are equally eligible to be voted for and so they have to remain alive to be voted for.

They have to change their attitude because all our armed personnel are already on ground and we will not take chances. Anybody caught on the other side of the law will be prosecuted.

He denied that the police was preparing the grounds to rig election.

The allegation of the IG sending people here to rig election doesnt hold. It is an insult to the integrity of the Nigeria Police. We are here for everybody and that was why in the last election, some police officers attached to an APC personnel were arrested because they abused the process, he said.

We rescued a lot of injured people in Brass and we treated them because it is our constitutional duty to protect lives and property.

He said the constitution does not differentiate between the life of an All Progressives Congress, APC or Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, members for protection.

We advise that everybody limits their movements to the polling units where they are to vote. We dont want any movement from one polling unit to another because it will amount to intimidation and campaign including political leaders.

The IG has ordered that no police officer should escort any VIP to a polling center and we are going to enforce that strictly, he said.
The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has warned against crackdown on the opposition and disregard for the rule of law under the guise of anti-corruption war.

Mr. Ekweremadu stated this in a statement by his media aide, Uche Anichukwu, on Friday.

According to him, some prominent members of the opposition PDP, including its spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, had either been invited or detained by the security agencies over alleged corruption.

While reaffirming the support of the PDP for a genuine anti-graft crusade, the deputy senate president, however, decried a situation where such crusade becomes a calculated attempt to silence the opposition while members of the ruling party with serious corruption allegations go about their businesses.

He lamented the continued detention of Mr. Metuh and expressed fear that Nigeria was fast descending into authoritarianism.

According to him, the continued detention of the PDP spokesperson was an attempt to gag the opposition and therefore unhealthy for democracy.

An anti-graft trap that catches only members of the opposition and those with axe to grind with the government of the day is compromised, Mr. Ekweremadu said.

He called on the nation to denounce and resist the prevailing situation where people are held in custody against the directives of the courts and laws of the land.

The senator said there would be no justice without the rule of law.
The Kano State Task Force Committee on Distribution of Petroleum Products has sealed off five filling stations found selling above the approved pump price in the night.

The chairman of the committee, Rabiu Bako, disclosed this on Friday while briefing journalists in Kano.

Mr. Bako said some of the filling stations were found to be selling petrol to black marketers at 5am and at a price ranging between N110 and N130 per litre.

This is a complete violation of the order on the government approved price of N86.50 per liter, he said.

He said the affected filling stations would remain shut until they pay the fine imposed on them.

The chairman listed the filling stations as Misbahu Oil Jogana; Misbahu Oil Panshekara; Badum Oil; B. A. Bello located on Daura Road and Autan-Bawo in Dawakin Tofa.

He warned that the committee would not allow some unpatriotic marketers to create artificial scarcity of the commodity in order to maximise profit.

We shall continue to embark on night operation so as to track down such unpatriotic marketers with a view to sanctioning them, Mr. Bako said.

He said since the task force commenced operation in the last two weeks, it had distributed over nine million litres of fuel across the state.

He said the price of the commodity had, therefore, gone down even at the black market where a four-litre gallon, which used to sell at between N1, 000 and N1, 200, had now crashed to N600.

(NAN)
President Andrzej Duda

President Andrzej Duda will pay a visit to Brussels on January 18 where he will meet with European Council President Donald Tusk and NATO head Jens Stoltenberg, Presidential Minister Krzysztof Szczerski has told PAP.

The president will also meet with NATO General Philip Breedlove, Supreme Allied Commander Europe in Mons.

According to Szczerski, the president is to meet with the president of the European Council to discuss the EU's political plan for 2016. The talks are to cover such issues as Brexit, migration policy and energy policy, including Nord Stream2.

Inquired about signals coming from Brussels regarding the activities of the Polish government, Minister Szczerski said that the president's meeting was planned earlier and thus it is not related to current events.

Krzysztof Szczerski added that president's foreign visits to be paid to the end of July will be dominated by preparations to the Warsaw NATO summit and building a consensus around decisions which would implement Poland's postulates.

The president is expected, among others, to take part in a nuclear summit in Washington in late March.

In the second half of 2016, President Duda is to pay two large economic visits, one to an Asian and one to an African state or to two Asian countries.

A detailed plan of the president's foreign visits in 2016 is to be announced by the Presidential Office on January 12. (PAP)
A few years ago when gasoline was $4 a gallon, few thought they'd ever see $2 a gallon again. Now the question is whether it will hit $1.50 a gallon. Likewise, the notion that the U.S. would again become a leading producer of natural gas and oil seemed remote just several years ago.

Unpredictable energy markets and the progress of science and technology might also someday favor the nuclear energy industry, which is in retreat in the face of all that cheap natural gas. If so, nuclear power could become a bigger part of South Jersey's economy.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently gave safety and environmental site approval for adding two nuclear plants to the existing three in Salem County. The companies that own the Salem and Hope Creek generating stations have no intention of proceeding with a new plant, not when the U.S. cost of nuclear power is much higher than that of natural gas and is expected to remain so for years.

Events of the past year, however, suggest the feasibility of such plants could change in the decade ahead. University researchers petitioned the NRC last year to reconsider basing its rules on the unproven theory that there is no safe level of radiation. Low levels of radiation are part of the natural world in which humans evolved, so presumably such levels should be acceptable.

Evidence that the danger of radiation has been overestimated has been building for years, as predicted high numbers of fatalities from such nuclear accidents as Russia's Chernobyl in 1986 and Japan's Fukushima in 2011 have failed to appear. The U.N. radiation committee in 2008 quit trying to predict Chernobyl's harm using the no-safe-threshold model.

The NRC historically has promulgated and enforced rules on reactor design and operation based on the premise there is no safe radiation level, even though in 2014 it said, "Studies of occupational workers who are chronically exposed to low levels of radiation above normal background have shown no adverse biological effects."

The NRC in June started accepting public comment on whether to revise safety standards to reflect the experience with low levels of radiation.

If that happens some day, the cost of building nuclear plants could fall dramatically. And if Americans in the future want to significantly reduce climate-related carbon emissions in a cost-effective way, nuclear power could play a big role.

France, where the global climate conference wrapped up last month, produces 75 percent of its electricity with nuclear power. According to The Wall Street Journal, it has the world's 20th highest per capita income, but is 50th in greenhouse emissions.

So maybe those two South Jersey nuclear plants will be built someday, not only adding lots of good-paying jobs to the region but helping solve the energy and climate challenges of the future.

Our view:
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.




Already a target of criticism, both public and private, Dr. Ronald L. Mallett nonetheless commands a passionate fan base and is a media favorite. Now a paper by Marshall Barnes destroys any credibility Mallett has.

Marshall Barnes and Ronald Mallett in 2007 Copyright 2007

Contact

Fame Plan

***@publicist.com Fame Plan

End

-- Ronald Mallett has the reputation of being a genius. Father of time travel. The inventor of the world's first time machine, being featured in a documentary of the same name. He's a media darling, appearing in a wide variety of news programs, talk radio shows, repeated documentary guest appearances. The book about his life has sold on an international level and he's recently joined the advisory board of World Patent Marketing. If you believe the headlines, he's either on the verge of creating a time machine, is building a time machine or has built it. You wouldn't be at fault for believing all of it, after all, we're talking about CNN, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, i09.com, Blacknessradio.com, Coast to Coast AM, Kettle of Fish Show and so many more. The fact is, it's all a lie. All of it.Now, research and development engineer, Marshall Barnes (http://lanyrd.com/profile/paranovation/bio/), a former supporter of Dr. Mallett's and now his most dangerous detractor, has proved just exactly how dangerous he is to the Mallett Myth. He has released a paper destroying all credibility, not only of Mallett's theories and design for a time machine, but Mallett's alleged intelligence capability to understand the concept of time travel itself.(see https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/ 286920887_RING_ L... ) is a clear and hard look at the work of Ronald Mallett through his papers, interviews and published opinions, and reveals huge gaps in the credibility of his work and knowledge.While acknowledging early critical work of physicists such as Ken Olum, J.R. Gott and Allen Everett, Marshall points out, even if Mallett were to overcome their objections, Mallett has no cogent theory of time travel, his machine design is flawed to its very core so it's impossible for it to work. Flying in the face of all accolades Mallett has received for his "genius" is that he's never written a single paper on time travel physics, something Marshall points to as evidence Mallett is nothing more than a time travel physics phony. A fraud."I'm not saying he's not a first class physicist, after all he is a theoretical physicist and professor emeritus at a major university, but guess what? That doesn't mean he understands one ounce of what time travel is about because for decades physicists have been afraid to even consider the possibility."Marshall's opinion of Mallett has vastly changed since the two men first met when Marshall promoted a series of events featuring Mallett and his book, in 2007. It began when it was apparent Mallett was not as up on time travel theory as he appeared to be when, they both appeared together on a panel about time travel at MarCon in 2007."He wasted 29 minutes talking about everything but time travel," Marshall says. I know. I'm transcribing the recording, from the panel, for a book." Marshall also has a documentary being released later this year, establishing he has succeeded where Mallett has failed (see https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=XArmg47LHbU ).Marshall's quick to point out most physicists know little about time travel and what they do know is at least 50% wrong. However, he also says few are called time travel "experts" like Mallett. Marshall's paper proves Mallett isn't and with devastating evidence. Among its main points are:1. He does not properly describe the function of his time machine as it relates to the operation of time.2. He erroneously states he'd be able to prevent disasters after the fact - by warning people in the past.3. His story is constantly 50% about his father's death and only 20% of is actually about his time machine and its proposed operation.4. He contradicts himself in interviews as no expert on the subject would do. This makes Marshall convinced Mallett doesn't have the mental dexterity to comprehend time travel physics or conceive of an actual time machine. This makes all the media praise of him a farce."The bottom line is I now realize this whole Mallett story is little more than a scam - he's called the father of time travel in a documentary about the so-called world's first time machine which he didn't build nor ever will, he's never written a paper on time travel physics - I've done an entire book (http://www.blurb.com/b/5622324-paradox-lost-the-public-edition ), his design for a time machine is flawed to its very core, he contradicts himself and because of that, he calls for the government regulation of time travel. As far as I'm concerned now, Mallett is a time travel fraud. That's right, I'm using the 5 letter F-word, "fraud". He's a theoretical physicist, but has no expertise or understanding when it comes to temporal mechanics. There are people believing he is laying down the future for time travel. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mallett is clueless, he's not even realized it's possible to time travel to the past to see his late father, who was the reason he wanted to learn time travel in the first place...and yet World Patent Marketing adds him to their advisory board because they say he'll put them on the cutting edge of time travel research. That's a crock, if they believe it."
Now in its 17th year, The Future of Retail Banking: Europe will bring together over 150 senior figures from retail banks all across Europe.

Contact

Marketforce Business Media Ltd

***@marketforce.eu.com Marketforce Business Media Ltd

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-- Retail banking continues to evolve in the face of technological development and new customer expectations. Join us in Vienna at this must-attend conference to network and learn from your peers at a critical time of change.Covering the key strategic changes in the industry alongside practical case studies,includes industry leaders from some of the largest retail banks, including: UniCredit Bank, AIB, RaboBank, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, and more.Expert speakers will outline how to meet the needs of the modern customer and what the next generation of branches will look like. The agenda will address the challenges of creating a more innovative banking culture, preparing for the data revolution, and taking advantage of new channels.Topics to be discussed: Taking advantage of the power of omnichannel and mobile to provide an integrated customer experience Fostering innovation in your culture to become a leader in your industry Harness the potential of data to unleash new insights The digital branch: a modern experience for a new customer Utilising technology to stay ahead of the competition"The sense of innovation underpinning the two days was fascinating, and left one more optimistic about the industry"Director & Global Head of Strategy Implementation, HSBC"Very good content, good mix of commercial insights, risk and technology, organizational matters"General Manager, KBC GroupPlease visit the website for more information on the programme and speakers. For any queries call +44 (0)207 760 8699 or send an email at conferences@marketforce.eu.com ( mailto:conferences@ marketforce.eu.com? subject=The% 20Futur...
All-Star Driver/The Next Street in Watertown to receive Small Business of Year Award; Viso Bello Day Spa in Middlebury to receive Entrepreneur of Year Award; Pisani Steel Fabrication, Inc. in Naugatuck to receive Manufacturer of the Year Award

By: Waterbury Regional Chamber

CBIA President and CEO Joe Brennan, Keynote Speaker at Awards Breakfast

Contact

Courtney Ligi

cligi@waterburychamber.com

203-757-0701 Courtney Ligi203-757-0701

End

-- The Waterbury Regional Chambers Small Business Councilhas announced recipients of its prestigious 2016 Harold Webster Smith Awards, which were established to recognize companies that have shown achievement and excellence in small business. Recipients of the 19th Annual Harold Webster Smith Awards are soon to be named The Next Street  in Watertown forin Middlebury forandin Naugatuck for. The annual breakfast will be held on Friday, January 29, 2016, from 7:45 to 9:30 AM at the Aria Wedding & Banquet Facility at 45 Murphy Road in Prospect.Harold Webster Smith founded First Federal Savings of Waterbury in 1935 to help people build and buy homes. He served as CEO until 1937 and as chairman of the board until 1995, when First Federal was renamed Webster Bank in his honor. Today, Webster Bank is the largest financial service organization in New England, and each year, the Chamber honors small business leaders who, like Smith, have the vision to expand, diversify, and prosper. In honor of Harold Webster Smiths legacy and small business inspiration,remarked Lynn Ward, president and CEO of the Waterbury Regional Chamber, we recognize small companies and entrepreneurs who share his passion for business development and his commitment to positive economic progress of the Waterbury region. Throughout his career, Harold Webster Smith served as an inspiration for countless small businesses. We are very pleased to recognize the many companies that share his ideals.is a family-owned driving school based in Watertown and a subsidiary of All Star Transportation. With more than 70 locations, All-Star Driver employs 80 people and is the largest driving school in Connecticut. General Manager Brandon DuFour sits on the board of directors for the Palace Theater, and is board chairman for the Boys and Girls Club in Waterbury, for which he was instrumental in reestablishing a foundation after the organization experienced several challenging years. Known to be passionate about his community, DuFour supports childrens organizations, arts and culture, economic empowerment, and education. He has been recognized as one of the top 40 under 40 in Fairfield and Hartford Counties, and was voted a top business leader under the age of 40 in Greater Hartford by Inc. magazine. Through DuFours tireless ambitions and management of All-Star Driver, the company was recently named 1,598th on the list of the 5,000 fastest-growing privately held companies in America.has owned the spa for 26 years. During those years, Settani has made significant impact in the growth of the business, continually adding services and training employees on new techniques to offer the best services possible. Viso Bello services include massages, facials, laser hair removal, monthly memberships and packages at affordable rates. All massages and facials are customized using 100% organic Eminence products from Hungary and most are also vegan-friendly and gluten free. Notably committed to community, each year Viso Bello has donated nearly $75,000 to local charities. In addition to the Waterbury Regional Chamber, Settani also works closely with Making Strides, Wellmore Behavioral Health, Easter Seals and many more organizations, including local schools and churches. Viso Bello offers their employees a full benefits package, paid vacation, a rewards system for excellent performance, and a bonus system.was founded in 1988 by Giuseppe Joe and Frank Pisani as a welding company. Today the company produces structural steel and miscellaneous metals for the construction industry. Over the years, the privately-held corporation has grown substantially and currently services numerous industries, including government buildings, schools, strip malls, corporate parks, manufacturing and industrial buildings throughout Connecticut, as well as in New England and New York. In 2013, when the nonprofit Holy Land Waterbury LLC was created, Pisani Steel donated $375,000 worth of materials and labor to construct Holy Lands 52-foot-tall cross, which changes colors according the yearly calendar. Joe Pisani has served on the Waterbury Board of Alderman and the Zoning Board; the boards of the Waterbury Regional Chamber and Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board, and is president of the Sacred Heart High School board. His employees supply services to numerous local charities.The 2016 Harold Webster Smith Awards Breakfast also will include keynote speaker, Joe Brennan, president and CEO of CBIA, the states leading business organization that promotes a healthy business climate by supporting economic growth and job creation in Connecticut. Brennan is also president of CBIAs Education & Workforce Partnership, which supports STEM education in public schools and training programs that enhance the skills of employees at member companies. He has served on numerous legislative and administrative task forces on state and local taxes, economic policy, manufacturing competitiveness, workforce readiness and other issues. He serves on numerous boards, including those of CONNSTEP and the Governors Prevention Partnership.Premier sponsor of the January 29th breakfast is Webster Bank. Small business supporters of the honorary awards event are Barker Specialty Company; Nardellis Grinder Shoppes; Peoples United Bank; Pisani Steel Fabrication, Inc; Secor, Cassidy & McPartland, P.C.; and Traver IDC.For costs and reservations, and to learn more about the Waterbury Regional Chamber, visit www.waterburychamber.com , call 203-757-0701, or email to info@waterburychamber.com.
Marty Essen's new book, Endangered Edens, to be published today.

1 2 3 Endangered Edens by Marty Essen Arctic Ocean Ice by Marty Essen Brown Pelicans by Marty Essen

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--is the long-awaited follow-up to Marty Essens six-time award-winning book,Whether traveling with Marty and his wife, Deb, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico, or going solo with Marty in the Everglades, readers will experience naturesin a way few others haveall while laughing and learning along the way.In addition to Martys entertaining stories,also features more than 180 stunning color picturesmerging the genres of wildlife photography, adventure travelogues, and environmental education into one unforgettable book.A magical, fun journey through some of the worlds hidden and not so hidden Edens, as seen through the eyes of a true wildlife aficionado and author whose writing makes the pages come alive and vibrate with the sound and pulse of nature. A book that once started is impossible to put down. Dr. M. Sanjayan, Senior Scientist at Conservation International and host of the PBS television seriesJoin photographer extraordinaire Marty Essen and his intrepid wife Deb on their adventures through four Endangered Edens. Youll be treated to funny stories, unforgettable characters, and striking images. But most of all, youll come away with new appreciation for special places, and their wild inhabitants, under threat today. May this book inspire its readers to protect them!Sy Montgomery, Author ofandhas already become ain four different categories on Amazon.com. If you love nature, travel, photography, or just a good adventure story,is for you!For the book trailer: https://youtu.be/ UpOWWAcybBA For more information, visit: http://www.encantepress.com/ books
New Jersey Health, Medical, Fitness and Nutrition News Blog Celebrates Second Anniversary

Media Contact

YourHHRS News.com

***@yourhhrsnews.com YourHHRS News.com

End

--, New Jersey's health, medical, fitness and nutrition blog, celebrates its second anniversary with a review ofHeartiest congratulations goes toofwho rated as-- a particularly awesome achievement since he's only ten years old. Nutley's mayor honored him for being a straight-A fourth-grader -- a particularly awesome achievement since he has, a genetic disorder that can cause facial paralysis, speech and vision difficulties, and developmental delays."I had never heard of Moebius Syndrome before I met Willem," explainseditor Adrienne Collier. "He not only introduced me it, but also to a worldwide online community of others with Moebius, their families, and their supporters. We were only too happy to help spread the word about their annual. To say that Willem and theorganization know how to put their best face forward is a major understatement!"isof, who has turned a life of obesity, bullying and low self-esteem into the bookavailable by mail order and online. "I didnt want people to suffer as I did," she told the. "When I read the news about kids taking their lives because they were picked on mercilessly, it breaks my heartI want these kids to know: Theyre worth it."Losing 125 pounds -- and gaining a ton of self-confidence -- is admirable in itself, of course," Ms. Collier notes. "But in addition, Lori has also been willing to 'build her brand' from the ground up with motivational speaking and writing. Breakthrough success -- at least, the kind of success that'sworth having -- doesn't happen overnight any more than losing 125 pounds does!"'Others who made this year's "Jersey-est"for the year's most noteworthy stories list include, and. You can read all about it atAnd everyone is invited to go toto submit New Jersey-based health, medical, fitness or nutrition news to be considered for publication.
Farm Will Provide Trees and Services for Nonprofits Ongoing Tree Initiative

By: Fannin Tree Farm

Contact

Barrett Fannin, Certified Arborist TX - 3971A

***@fannintreefarm.com Barrett Fannin, Certified Arborist TX - 3971A

End

-- Fannin Tree Farm, one of North Texas most trusted tree sources, was recently selected by nonprofit Keep Denton Beautiful to carry out tree-planting and delivery services for its Trees Mean Business Program, which is part of a three-year enterprise known as the Denton Tree Initiative.Keep Denton Beautiful launched its Denton Tree Initiative in September 2015 to increase Dentons urban tree canopy, enhance the communitys beauty and involve the citys businesses and residents in the process of planting and maintaining the communitys trees. The Initiative is an ongoing project that consists of several programsincluding the Trees Mean Business Programthat will involve planting a total of 12 thousand trees two times a year for three years within Dentons city limits. So when the time came to select a tree source and planting service provider, Keep Denton Beautiful sought Fannin Tree Farms expertise.As a fixture in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for nearly 40 years, Fannin Tree Farm has provided trees and planting services for thousands of residential, commercial and municipal properties all over North Texas. When Keep Denton Beautiful was planning its Trees Mean Business Program, Fannin Tree Farm was the organizations primarychoice to supply the required trees and render delivery and planting services. The Trees Mean Business Program is a tree giveaway program designed to provide businesses in Denton with free trees to enhance overall aesthetics and value of their properties and involve them in the citys goals of beautification. Fannin will plant the trees, Chinquapin and Bur Oaks, within public view, and the recipient businesses will maintain them.Having worked with Fannin Tree Farm on a 2015 Arbor Day project and with a recommendation from Dentons Parks & Recreation Department, the choice to team up with Fannin was simple for the nonprofits program manager, Lauren Barker. [Fannin Tree Farm] is extremely professional, reliable and knowledgeable when it comes to coordinating community tree-planting efforts, Barker said. The Fannin tree stock is of good quality, the prices are competitive and the company guarantees its trees and work. All of this makes Fannin a wonderful choice for us.Since 1977, Fannin Tree Farm has grown its own inventory of native Texas trees and installed them on a myriad of properties in the DFW Metroplex and all across the state of Texas. In addition to standard tree installation and transplanting, Fannin offers advanced tree services, including pruning, removal, diagnostics, soil management, air spading, soil aeration and more. Fannin Tree Farm is located at 15700 Highway 121 in Frisco, Texas between Preston Road and Custer Road. It is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
An Unexpected Tale of Wags to Riches, Forever Changing Lives

By: Weil Public Relations

Media Contact

Weil Public Relations

rachel@weilpr.com Weil Public Relations

End

-- It was the ninth season ofwhen Lorenzo Borghese thought he found true love. But the hunky Italian businessman called it quits and walked away, with little hope of finding his soul-mate until now.Just over nine years later, with Hollywood in his heart, Borghese found himself in what would be the most important rose ceremony of his liferight here in Los Angeles. Fifteen hopeful contestants begged for a chance to take home a rose, and live happily ever after with this real-life prince charming! But it was Titan who stole Borgheses heart, forever changing the course of their lives.Los Angeles is full of other four-legged beauties just like Titan, longing for their chance to find true love. Adopt Dont Shop, states Kim Sill, founder of Shelter Hope Pet Shop in Thousand Oaks. There are thousands of homeless animals looking for love, and they are relying on us to adopt them.All animals deserve to be loved, states Borghese, a longtime animal advocate and founder of Animal Aid USA. A dog is a perfect companion, and a true testament to mans best friend.Watch the dramatic rose ceremony here:is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization providing education, awareness and resources to the public in an effort to empower positive change for shelter animals. Through monthly transports from high kill shelters to qualified rescues across the U.S., to its spay/neuter clinic providing free sterilization to low income communities, Animal Aid USA strives to improve the lives of homeless animals nationwide. www.animalaidusa.orgis a non-profit volunteer-based adoption center that showcases shelter animals in needIts mission is to support local Los Angeles animal shelters, promote education, and raise awareness of homeless animals in the community. The Shelter Hope business model is the first of its kind, dedicated to eliminating puppy mill pet shops in malls by offering a friendly environment where the public can interact with homeless animals in need of adoption. www.shelterhopepetshop.org
Famous Canadian Event Staffing Agency Wins Toronto Night Club Award for the 6th Time

By: Femme Fatale Media Group Inc

Contact

Leah Pfeiffer

***@femmefatalemedia.com Leah Pfeiffer

End

-- Before spreading her entrepreneurial wings over New York City, Emily Lyons made a name for herself in Canada. She's the Stratford-born, Toronto entrepreneur who created her event staffing agency with precious few resources, relying on her grit, persistence, and shrewdness to achieve success.Her award-winning event staffing agency, Femme Fatale Media, has consistently courted and pleased some of the world's biggest brands: UFC, Warner Bros., Calvin Klein, and Audi. And now, this year, Femme Fatale Media has been awarded, for the sixth time, the Toronto Night Club Award for Best Promotional Models. This award is based exclusively on the votes of the general public. This, perhaps, is why Emily Lyons and her team is especially excited about this award.A lot has happened since Femme Fatale Media was founded  it's just been a dizzying amount of awards and exciting opportunities to work with absolutely great people, says Emily Lyons with enthusiasm. I'm especially thrilled and honored to receive this award because it represents what we strive for here at Femme Fatale Media.Remarkably, winning the Toronto Night Club award is not exactly new for this always-innovative agency. This is the sixth time Femme Fatale Media has received the award, in addition to garnering other impressive accolades this year  such as Toronto's prestigious Top Choice Award.I'm very proud of what our extraordinary team has accomplished this year, muses the blonde CEO. We've worked very hard to get where we are today  but it's not stopping here. Yes, we've won this awesome award  we're really happy about that  but we are going to continue focusing on giving absolutely stellar service. We're also expanding and exploring new collaborations that will benefit our clients.With Emily Lyons at the helm, Femme Fatale Media is now expanding into major cities in the U.S., such as New York City.www.femmefatalemedia.com
The Webs Best Selection of Treadmills Goes On and On and On

By: Treadmill World

Contact

Robert Braun

***@treadmill- world.com

800.928.1258 Robert Braun800.928.1258

End

-- Treadmill World, a leading online authorized dealer of brand name treadmills and elliptical machines, has completed its tenth year in business.Weve had our challenges, thats for sure, muses Robert Braun, VP of Sales at Treadmill-World. But as we start the new year, we find ourselves offering a better selection than ever. A few of our competitors have gone out of business, but our prices stay very competitive. We recently published our Sixth Annualreport, which chronicles the latest goings on with products and companies in the industry. This is a great source for the latest goings on related to treadmills.See the latest report at http://www.treadmill-world.com/state-of-the-treadmill-industry-2015/One of the things we are most proud of, says Brann, is that we now sell on several different platform, besides just our website, including Amazon and Sears. This gives us a much wider audience and allows our customers to compare sellers side-by-side. We think we come out ahead in such comparisons, so we welcome them.About Treadmill WorldTreadmill World has become a leader in its industry by selling name brand treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, and home gyms for delivery directly from the manufacturer to the customer. The company is able to offer discounted prices by providing only online and phone ordering. To learn more, visit http:// www.Treadmill- World.com /aboutus.html
By: Case Medical

Contact

Aerienne Cunningham

Director of Marketing

***@casemed.com Aerienne CunninghamDirector of Marketing

End

--Case Medical, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a Premier, Inc. group purchasing contract for sterilization containers. Contract (PP-MM-367) will continue to give Premier members the option for its no-wrap, universal instrument and device sterilization containers - further enhancing hospital sustainability goals. Also included are modular inserts and accessories that securely accommodate a wide range of medical devices during sterilization, transport and storage. This three-year contract is effective February 1, 2016 through January 31, 2019.Hospitals are increasingly moving toward more sustainable products and procedures for economic as well as environmental reasons, said Marcia Frieze, CEO of Case Medical. The corrosion-resistant, reusable sterilizations reflect our deep support to reduce waste and provide sustainable products for patient care and the environment.Case Medical, Inc. is recognized in the industry as having the worlds only universal sterilization container on the market. The containers are FDA 510k cleared for both high and low temperature sterilization modalities, eliminating the need for duplicate inventory. Additionally, the universal sterilization containers are anodized, which prevents pitting and corrosion that can harm the internal contents and compromise sterility. This anodization also allows the containers the ability to be cleaned and washed with a pH neutral enzymatic solution or by using Case Medicals PentaWipes for full removal of bio burden and inactivation of micro bacteria prior to sterilization.In addition to the sterilization container product line, Case Medical, Inc. manufacturers a line of environmentally-preferred instrument chemistries and cleaning solutions. Recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a 2015 winner of the Safer Choice Partner of the Year ( http://www.epa.gov/ saferchoice/ learn-about- safer-choice- l... ), Case Medical, Inc. designs products that are designed to be safe, cost effective, and sustainable. The use of safer chemicals, more durable containers, validated products, and a high level of customization increases the useful life of medical instruments, minimizes costly delays, and reduces waste.Case Medical is a woman-owned, Tier 1 Diversity Supplier, SFDA registered, ISO certified, USA manufacturer of safe, cost effective and sustainable products for instrument processing. Visit our website www.casemed.com or call 888-227-CASE (2273) for more information about our company and our products for infection prevention.Sustainable Products for a Safer World.
Contact

Ask Sharifah

***@sharifahhardie.com Ask Sharifah

End

-- The Ask Sharifah Communitys Return to Work Program assists people who are having difficulties finding employment as well as those who want to start their own business. The programs services are designed to provide both tangible and emotional support for people who are facing this challenging and often difficult phase in life."It is only natural for people who are out of work to have feelings of hopelessness or even depression and not know where they can turn to for help," said Business Consultant Sharifah Hardie. "Almost everyone feels down at some time while searching for a job, but there are very concrete steps that anyone can take to lift their spirits and begin building a better future. No one should lose hope because there are programs available, like the Return to Work Program, that offer support and assistance to people who are searching for a job or starting their own business.Noted Psychologist Dr. Keisha Holley Johnson of Jacobs Ladder Psychological Services, PLLC offers the following measureable vocational and educational goals for people who are re-entering the workforce or searching for a new job. Explore educational or training options Earn a G.E.D. Consider returning to school Take specific training course applicable to the field of interest Create a resume and have it reviewed and critiqued Identify at least two people to serve as professional references Be free of any behavior that could result in not getting a job offer or loss of a job Scan the job market to determine areas of interest Submit applications to jobs that align with skills and experience Become an active member of a local club or organizationDr. Johnson also recommends developing a strong support structure to assist in working through any difficult situation including unemployment. Mentors and confidants can serve as a sounding board for advice, a resource for information, someone to celebrate successes with or share frustrations and disappointments with.Supporting and mentoring people to achieve their goals and re-enter the workforce, the Return to Work Program is a resource that anyone can turn to discreetly for many forms of job assistance. The type of services offered includes resume creation and review, help in the job search process and identifying potential jobs, interviewing techniques and practice, professional mentorship, business plan creation, funding assistance, business set up services, or simply having the proper clothes for an interview. The Return to Work Program is fully supported through donations and contributions.For more information about the services available from the Return to Work Program, the Ask Sharifah Community or to contribute to the Return to Work Program, please visit: http://www.AskSharifah.com or call +1-888-295-4811.


Les Facettes exhibits the works of Maestro Enrico Cirio from 14 to 30 January By: www.lesfacettes.ch 1 2 Brooch Enrico Cirio - Credit - Daniele D'Angelo Ring Enrico Cirio - Credit - Daniele D'Angelo GENEVA - Jan. 8, 2016 - PRLog -- From 14 to 30 January 2016,



The works of Enrico Cirio are real miniature works of architecture in platinum and precious stones such as diamonds, in combination with more humble stones such as lava; rubies and cork; pink pearls with stucco and glass. This modern architectural style can be found in objects created in the last thirty years, inspired by the typical lines of Franck Gehry or hailing to the geometry of Santiago Calatrava. This is the kaleidoscopic world of Enrico Cirio, on show at Les Facettes, with creations ranging from the early 50's to the first years of the 21st century. Indira Gandhi and Elizabeth Taylor collected his creations, to name but two of his fans.



Vivien Yakopin, Business Development Manager of the latest multi-brand jewellers on the rue du Rhone, said: It's wonderful to have the works of Enrico Cirio at Les Facettes, almost ten years now since his demise. Les Facettes, in fact, is an exhibition centre dedicated to jewellery created by international and independent designers. The inventive and original works of Enrico Cirio fit in perfectly as we strive to offer a privileged place for those who consider jewellery to be inseparably tied to art and craftsmanship.



Enrico Cirio, who died in 2007, was a peerless goldsmith with the most sophisticated aesthetic touch. He was, first and foremost, inspired by nature and daily life. His works combine inventive and ironic creativity with a precision usually only found in engineering, as is easy to see in the exact measurements, the light, and harmony of form. He learnt the trade of the goldsmith in Turin under the watchful eyes of his father and grandfather. Then he studied aeronautical construction, chemistry and crystallography, leaving all ties with tradition behind as he launched himself into his own experimental formula, a style which would mark his work and be the key to his international success, until recently reserved for an elite group of connoisseurs, but today accessible to a wider audience. He was an expert in precious stones and experimented with such innovative cutting techniques that they opened up whole new horizons in terms of cut and luminosity. In his hands, precious stones became sculpture, real works of art.



I continue to promote the conviction my husband had that there is a close relationship between art and handicraft production, and this is what led me to present a Maison Cirio catalogue raisonne in Switzerland, says Anna Novara Cirio, the widow of the great Turin goldsmith. Enrico Cirio showed his works in 2007 at the Royal Library of Turin, shortly before he died. The artist, who was originally from Biella in north-western Italy, was declared to be one of the seven most prominent goldsmiths in the world by La Stampa newspaper. He designed unique jewels, real one-offs, all made entirely by hand using new and unusual creative formulas and workshops, more than innovative, with a touch of genius (some of his creations took up to a thousand of hours of work to finish).



The exhibition is open to the public from 14 to 30 January 2016.

Opening times: every day from 10 am to 6:30 pm, except Saturdays (10 am - 5 pm). Closed on Sunday.



About Les Facettes:



Les Facettes is a multi-brand salon, which has the exclusive in the Geneva Canton for nine top jewellery brands. These creations celebrate modern woman in an elegant, chic way, without showing off. The designers of these brands, of a similar creative approach, are inspired by nature in the surrounding world. The salon strongly adheres to this artistic credo, and offers the artists a prestigious space to show their wares in Geneva.



For further information, please contact:



Les Facettes, rue du Rhone 40, 1204 Geneva (Switzerland)

Vivien Yakopin, Tel. +41 22 400 00 40, E-mail:



Photos HD :



Contact

Les Facettes

1204 Geneva (CH)

***@lesfacettes.com



Photos:

https://www.prlog.org/ 12523335/1

https://www.prlog.org/ 12523335/2 Les Facettes1204 Geneva (CH) End -- From 14 to 30 January 2016, Les Facettes presents in Geneva the very first anthological exhibition dedicated to the genius and works of the great Italian goldsmith and designer Enrico Cirio. Approximately twenty unique works of art will be on show for the first museum exhibition dedicated to Enrico Cirio in Switzerland.The works of Enrico Cirio are real miniature works of architecture in platinum and precious stones such as diamonds, in combination with more humble stones such as lava; rubies and cork; pink pearls with stucco and glass. This modern architectural style can be found in objects created in the last thirty years, inspired by the typical lines of Franck Gehry or hailing to the geometry of Santiago Calatrava. This is the kaleidoscopic world of Enrico Cirio, on show atwith creations ranging from the early 50's to the first years of the 21century. Indira Gandhi and Elizabeth Taylor collected his creations, to name but two of his fans.Vivien Yakopin, Business Development Manager of the latest multi-brand jewellers on the rue du Rhone, said: It's wonderful to have the works of Enrico Cirio at, almost ten years now since his demise., in fact, is an exhibition centre dedicated to jewellery created by international and independent designers. The inventive and original works of Enrico Cirio fit in perfectly as we strive to offer a privileged place for those who consider jewellery to be inseparably tied to art and craftsmanship.Enrico Cirio, who died in 2007, was a peerless goldsmith with the most sophisticated aesthetic touch. He was, first and foremost, inspired by nature and daily life. His works combine inventive and ironic creativity with a precision usually only found in engineering, as is easy to see in the exact measurements, the light, and harmony of form. He learnt the trade of the goldsmith in Turin under the watchful eyes of his father and grandfather. Then he studied aeronautical construction, chemistry and crystallography, leaving all ties with tradition behind as he launched himself into his own experimental formula, a style which would mark his work and be the key to his international success, until recently reserved for an elite group of connoisseurs, but today accessible to a wider audience. He was an expert in precious stones and experimented with such innovative cutting techniques that they opened up whole new horizons in terms of cut and luminosity. In his hands, precious stones became sculpture, real works of art.I continue to promote the conviction my husband had that there is a close relationship between art and handicraft production, and this is what led me to present a Maison Cirio catalogue raisonne in Switzerland,says Anna Novara Cirio, the widow of the great Turin goldsmith. Enrico Cirio showed his works in 2007 at the Royal Library of Turin, shortly before he died. The artist, who was originally from Biella in north-western Italy, was declared to be one of the seven most prominent goldsmiths in the world bynewspaper. He designed unique jewels, real one-offs, all made entirely by hand using new and unusual creative formulas and workshops, more than innovative, with a touch of genius (some of his creations took up to a thousand of hours of work to finish).The exhibition is open to the public from 14 to 30 January 2016.Opening times: every day from 10 am to 6:30 pm, except Saturdays (10 am - 5 pm). Closed on Sunday.is a multi-brand salon, which has the exclusive in the Geneva Canton for nine top jewellery brands. These creations celebrate modern woman in an elegant, chic way, without showing off. The designers of these brands, of a similar creative approach, are inspired by nature in the surrounding world. The salon strongly adheres to this artistic credo, and offers the artists a prestigious space to show their wares in Geneva., rue du Rhone 40, 1204 Geneva (Switzerland)Vivien Yakopin, Tel. +41 22 400 00 40, E-mail: vivien@lesfacettes.com Photos HD : https://goo.gl/ dLPjh0 Email : ***@lesfacettes.com Tags : Jewels , Exhibition , Design , Italy , Switzerland , Cirio , Facettes , Art , Jewellery , Geneva Industry : Beauty , Event , Fashion , Jewelry , Lifestyle Location : Geneva - Geneva - Switzerland Subject : Events Account Phone Number Disclaimer Report Abuse Account Email AddressAccount Phone Number Les_Facettes_Geneva News Les Facettes enriches its range of activities by also buying jewellery


Recently, on 2 Jan 2016, fully armed Islamic terrorist group terrorizes Military Personnel by attacking on Pathankot Air Force Station.

Contact

Anita Baranwal

astrologyindia9@ gmail.com

+91-9650511113 Anita Baranwal+91-9650511113

End

-- The attack with a motive of paralyzing the strategic airbase out of action or to destroy its valuable assets could not finally succeeded in any of their motives. The encounter between Indian security forces and terrorists at the Pathankot air force base has been going on for 50 or more hours.Due to sudden terror attacks, Indian Militants had to encounter great damage or losses of Indian security force personnel. Shanti Yagya is being organized on 08 January 2016 byat the temple under the aegis of renowned Acharya Kalki Krishna (https://astrodevam.com/gemstones-birthstone/achary-kalki-krishna.html)for the emancipation of the souls of the military personnel, martyred in the assault by the Pakistanis. Seven brave hearts have lost their lives while defending the Air Force base from the terrorists. The success of the Pathankot terror operation was actually crowned to their active participation, selfless behaviour and complete dedication to destroy their wrong intention.Our great Astrologersfeels that the Terror attack on Pathankot was not only an attack, but an attack on humanity, so we should participate in such activities in order to bring peaceful environ in the surroundings.Lets salute the brave hearts who died protecting the country. Yagya or Homa is actually being organized to reduce terror attacks and bring complete protection by The Almighty Divinity. Yagya/ Homa process was also meant to stabilize the deteriorated relations between Pakistan and India. The whole process of Homa/ Yagya is performed to please the Deities and it is believed that anything offered in Yagya/ Yajna reaches to the Deities, which control Universe.Shanti Yagya is mainly followed by the principle of Prehistoric Vedic Scriptures. Acharya Kalki Krishna ( https://astrodevam.com/ gemstones-birthstone/ achary-kalki- ... ) who led the team in conducting the Yagya says Shanti Yagya have been well-known and successful in creating a heavenly atmosphere and mental peace for the Public Welfare.- AstroDevam.com is an ISO certified Company for astrology websites. Supported by the committed team of Astrologers, Vastu consultants, experts, priests; they offer proficient services and products, at a reasonable rate.


Zudo Group Launches The Science of Genius Travel Bag Brand By: Zudo Group, LLC DALLAS - Jan. 8, 2016 - PRLog -- Zudo Group, LLC, a holding company of fashion brands, today announced its first bag launch, The Science of Genius brand, born out of the inspiration for the wanderlust creatives who love to travel and seek the arts.



The meaning behind The Science of Genius (TSOG) stems from scientific studies showing that creative minds share similar traits: love of the arts, persistence against skepticism and rejection, and a constant flow of imagination. TSOGs mission is to bolster creative individuals who exemplify these qualities to constantly explore their creative genius through movement, travel, and discovery.



TSOGs product line consists of four styles with functional and customizable compartments catered to any creative who wants to store his or her tools of the trade. Carlos Zuniga, Co-Founder and Creative Director, says, We're explorers of creative ideas and whatever type of creative you are - street artist, photographer, producer, and the list goes on - we want to encourage those creatives to seek new experiences.



Manufactured with 100% leather, the bags are detailed with finishes from vegetable tanning and customized colors, resulting in unique shades and tones. All zippers are produced by the most trusted Japanese zipper manufacturer, YKK. Other materials consist of waterproof canvas, cotton, and polyester.



About Zudo Group



Zudo Group, LLC is a holding company of fashion brands founded by Carlos and Susan Zuniga. The founders seek to share a movement in a brand that will bring solidarity to people like themthe ever-exploring creatives. TSOG is their first bag brand that hopes to fulfill that endeavor. Customers can shop the bags at



Contact

Zudo Group, LLC

Susan Zuniga

***@tsogbrand.com Zudo Group, LLCSusan Zuniga End -- Zudo Group, LLC, a holding company of fashion brands, today announced its first bag launch, The Science of Genius brand, born out of the inspiration for the wanderlust creatives who love to travel and seek the arts.The meaning behind The Science of Genius (TSOG) stems from scientific studies showing that creative minds share similar traits: love of the arts, persistence against skepticism and rejection, and a constant flow of imagination. TSOGs mission is to bolster creative individuals who exemplify these qualities to constantly explore their creative genius through movement, travel, and discovery.TSOGs product line consists of four styles with functional and customizable compartments catered to any creative who wants to store his or her tools of the trade. Carlos Zuniga, Co-Founder and Creative Director, says, We're explorers of creative ideas and whatever type of creative you are - street artist, photographer, producer, and the list goes on - we want to encourage those creatives to seek new experiences.Manufactured with 100% leather, the bags are detailed with finishes from vegetable tanning and customized colors, resulting in unique shades and tones. All zippers are produced by the most trusted Japanese zipper manufacturer, YKK. Other materials consist of waterproof canvas, cotton, and polyester.Zudo Group, LLC is a holding company of fashion brands founded by Carlos and Susan Zuniga. The founders seek to share a movement in a brand that will bring solidarity to people like themthe ever-exploring creatives. TSOG is their first bag brand that hopes to fulfill that endeavor. Customers can shop the bags at www.thescienceofgenius.com Email : ***@tsogbrand.com Tags : Backpacks , Travel , Creative , Leather Goods , Minimal Design , Totes , Bags , Photographer Industry : Fashion , Lifestyle , Travel Location : Dallas - Texas - United States Subject : Companies Account Phone Number Disclaimer Report Abuse Account Email AddressAccount Phone Number


Leading Provider of Senior Homecare to Open Newest Location in Columbus

By: Caring Senior Service

End

--, a nationally recognized non-medical, in-home care company is continuing its expansion in the state of Ohio with a new location in the city of Columbus The new location is the second location in the Columbus area and will serve Northeast Columbus, specifically Franklin County, providings proprietary GreatCare to the communitys elderly.With an accomplished career as a sales manager at a national call center for the past ten years, David Burgess was able to hone his skills as a leader that prepared him for his role as afranchise owner. After seeing how the senior care industry impacted his own grandmother, and the positive difference her caregivers made in her life, David decided he too wanted to make an impact and open his ownlocation.I hope to bring my experience and passion to the business and to this franchise, says David Burgess,. Not only does this business allow me to do something I love, but also share that same enthusiasm with others so that I can make a positive difference in the lives of our clients.David brings a lot of expertise and incredible insight to thefamily, says Jeff Salter, founder and CEO of. David has a commitment to customer care unlike any other and we have the upmost confidence in him to bring superior service to the Columbus area.For more information about, please visit www.caringseniorservice.com. For more information about the Northeast Columbus location, please call (614) 470-5830 or visit them at 4625 Morse Road, Suite #204, Columbus, OH 43230.###Founded in 1991,believes every senior should be able to remain Healthy, Happy and Home. The companys GreatCaremethod addresses the three leading areas of concern when choosing homecare  quality caregivers, care solutions and active involvement. Operating over 50 offices in 18 states,is dedicated to making positive changes in the lives of seniors and families by providing trusted service and support as loved ones age.
Media Contact

Jamie Floer, APR, CPRC

***@fapsc.org

850-728-2662 Jamie Floer, APR, CPRC850-728-2662

End

-- The Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges (FAPSC) concurs with the news today issued as part of its Shortage of Skills profile by the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU) (http://apscu.org/news-and-media/press-releases/Shortage_of_Skills_Two_Health_Care_Professionals_and_Nurses.cfm)that growth in healthcare opportunities will continue to be robust through 2022.In Florida, because of the demographics, the need for allied healthcare professionals in the coming decades is greater than or equal to other areas of the country.With less than 20% of all higher education enrollments, Florida benefits from the focus on health care that private sector career colleges have provided. Nearly 60% of all healthcare graduates in Florida requiring two years of study or less in 2013-14 completed their training at private career schools. Even when the highest levels of training are added, more than 48% of all healthcare graduates completed their studies at private career colleges. Career colleges awarded 25,568 certificates compared to the 11,884 issued by state colleges and technical centers. Career colleges graduated 7,913 with associate degrees compared to 7,960 from state colleges. Career colleges graduated 1,571 with doctoral and first professional degrees compared to 1,790 for the state university system.In 2013-14, career colleges in Florida were responsible for many of those graduating in the following allied health fields: (Percentages are of the total graduates in Florida)Clinical/Medical Lab Technicians 46.3%Dental Assistants 76.6%Dental Hygienists 18.6%Diagnostic Medical Sonography Tech 61.3%Electrocardiogram Technologist 100%Emergency Medical Tech./Paramedics 14.0%Home Health Aide 98.1%Massage Therapy 88.8%Medical Assisting 82.5%Medical Billing and Coding 99.4%Pharmacy Technologist 78.0%Physical Therapy Asst/Aide 28.2%Radiological Tech/X-Ray Tech 33.1%Surgical Technologist 55.0%Chiropractic  Doctors Degree 100%Occupational Therapy (M.S. & Ph.Ds) 19.3%Osteopathic Physicians 39.7%Physical Therapists (Ph.Ds) 32.9%Psychology (Ph.Ds)31.1%Data Source: Florida Department of Education, Commission for Independent Education and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System 2013-14FAPSC (fapsc.org) has been the voice of Floridas career schools since 1956. The association of more than 250 member schools works on behalf of the more than 1,000 licensed private career schools and colleges in Florida that prepare students each year for employment in more than 200 occupational fields by offering degree programs, certification and training.
DAV and RecruitMilitary will produce an All Veterans Career Fair at the Georgia Dome on Thursday, February 4, 2016. The event will run from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Activity at a DAV-RecruitMilitary All Veterans Career Fair

Media Contact

jkrabacher@recruitmilitary.com

513-677-7035 513-677-7035

End

-- DAV and RecruitMilitary will produce an All Veterans Career Fair at the Georgia Dome on Thursday, February 4, 2016. The event will run from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.RecruitMilitary job fairs maintain a track record of helping veterans find meaningful employment,said President and CEO Peter Gudmundsson, a former Captain in the Marine Corps. Just last year, 55% of veteran job seekers expected to secure an interview as a result of their participation in a RecruitMilitary job fair, and employers were expected to extend as many as 29,000 interviews and more than 9,000 job offers.In October of 2015, the DAV-RecruitMilitary Atlanta event connected more than 275 veteran job seekers with 40 exhibitors, including Apple, L-3 Communications, and Lockheed Martin. Participating companies expected to conduct up to 240 interviews and make up to 60 job offers as a result of that career fair.RecruitMilitary has produced veteran job fairs since 2006, and has held 28 events in Atlanta, drawing 12,928 attendees and 1,056 exhibitors. The company has produced more than 814 events in 65 cities across the country. RecruitMilitary will return to Atlanta to host an additional two veteran career fairs in 2016.DAV was founded by World War I veterans in Cincinnati in 1920 and chartered by the United States Congress in 1932. DAV ( www.dav.org ) is a non-profit organization with 1.2 million members.DAV and RecruitMilitary share a common mission: to connect Americas veterans and their family members with meaningful and fulfilling employment opportunities, and to help employers attract, appreciate and retain veterans, spouses, and their survivors. Through career fairs, outreach and resources, this partnership fights to ensure veterans receive the benefits theyve earned and are empowered to lead productive, dignified and high-quality lives that their service has made possible.Among those companies attending the upcoming Atlanta event are DAV; Accenture; General Electric Company; Norfolk Southern Corporation;Sears Holding; UTC Building & Industrial Systems; College of Continuing and Professional Education - Kennesaw State University; Equifax Inc.; ACCC Insurance Company; Compass Point Labor Management; ACES; Airstreams Renewables, Inc.; Argosy University; Aviation Institute of Maintenance;Baxalta; Baxter Healthcare; Combined Insurance; Cotiviti; Cummins Power South; DS Services of America, Inc.; E*TRADE Financial Corporation;Farmers Insurance; First Command Financial Planning; GWCC Public Safety Department; Hertz Equipment Rental; National Vision, Inc.; Rogers Electric; The Art Institutes; Padgett Group; and The Geo Group, Inc.RecruitMilitary also offers subscriptions (search licenses) to its database of 817,000+ registered candidates at http://www.recruitmilitary.com, job postings, targeted email campaigns, retained hiring services, and advertising space in online and print media. The company publishes, a bimonthly print and digital magazine; and distributes 50,000+ print copies of each issue. The company was founded in 1998, and is located in Loveland, Ohio (Greater Cincinnati).
By: America Green

Contact

America Green

***@americagreensolar.com America Green

End

-- America Green is launching a Partnership Program for local business owners. The goal of America Green is to be able to help homeowners and business owners understand the process and full benefits of going solar as well as explain the outstanding investment opportunity.America Green Ambassadors will be working with local businesses to actively involve everyone in pursuing a green environment. Brand Ambassadors will be available at your local stores to readily answer any questions regarding green energy and solar energy. They will be able to give an accurate estimate and qualify a homeowner and/or business owner on the spot. By having access to more homeowners and business owners, America Green intends to not only reach out to interested consumers but also intends to grow its grassroots teams locally.America Green is currently in NY, Southern CA, North Jersey and CT. America Green is excited to expand and paint America Green.Interested in Getting Solar? In Going Green? Save Green? Save the environment and save your money at the same time! Go to AmericaGreenSolar.com and/or email us at Info@AmericaGreenSolar.com a Representative will get you qualified!Become a Planeteer: Save the earth. Its the only planet with chocolate! Interested in working on a Green Energy Campaign in your area/state/region?Help save our planet by starting with you, where you are. Request information at Partners@AmericaGreenSolar.comencourages renewable electricity. America Green gives customers the option to control their energy costs and to protect them from rising rates. The company makes solar energy easy by taking care of everything from design and permitting to monitoring and maintenance. Visit the company online at AmericaGreenSolar.com and follow the company on facebook.com/AmericaGreenGoSolar & twitter.com/AmericaGreen_
By: www.powergridresilience.com

End

-- IQPC is pleased to announce the return of thenow in its fourth iteration,thisPower Grid Resilience will take a deep dive into theand strategic planning necessary to balance the competing priorities of todays utility executives.The summit will feature highly qualified grid resilience and security profile speakers including;, Vice President & Chief Security Officer at Exelon Corporation,, Commissioner,, CISSP Director, Cyber &Physical Security, AES and a pending, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Infrastructure Protection, DHSNever before has IQPC had the pleasure of announcing such a powerful faculty with speakers representing Solutions for Reliability and Resilience of Power Infrastructure Updates on the National Transformer Strategy Building Cross-Sector Security Coordination Enhancing Cyber-Physical Security Integration Reliability Concerns and Strategies for Risk MitigationJoin the community as they come together to learn best practices, programs and processes for 2016 and beyond. This will be a rare opportunity to speak with such a broad range of professionals, while meeting with future clients within this hard-to-reach Power Grid community. To access the full agenda or to register for the conference, visit www.powergridresilience.com ###Energy IQ, a division of IQPC, is an international online community focusing on providing energy professionals with quality resources. We are dedicated to creating a learning environment for sharing ideas, best practices and solutions within the global energy community.
LONDON, January 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

KnowledgeView is pleased to announce the appointment of one of the best brains in the publishing industry, Reiner Mittelbach, as its CEO. Ali Al-Assam remains as chairman of the company.

Reiner's appointment is a big win for KnowledgeView and its clients as we enter a new exciting stage with great products. Reiner has lead IFRA then WAN-IFRA, 2001-2009, to greatly serve the digital publishing transformation in Europe and globally for hundreds of the largest publishing houses, later building Geopolitical Information Service AG, a Liechtenstein start up in the field of specialty information before joining KnowledgeView. We look forward to Reiner developing KnowledgeView further to better serve the publishing industry in Europe, MENA and globally.

KnowledgeView was born 20 years ago, on 21 September 1995, creating over the years great products that have powered tens of successful Newsrooms, used by thousands of journalists, and with Apps used by millions. Nearly 45% of all premium newspaper content in the MENA region is created with KnowledgeView's Publish Live software.

KnowledgeView prides itself on being an innovator in publishing technology, investing considerably for the benefits of our clients. We were one of very few that started Web-based database driven publishing systems as far back as 1996. We were early adopters of XML and semantic Web, and now we have exciting much needed user-centric products such as those from group companies Rewardisement ltd and NewsSocial ltd.

In the course of the twenty years KnowledgeView has created a whole generation of innovators and strengthened its board with the best brains in the industry. Under Reiner's leadership we will continue to use our great assets in people and products to provide real value to our clients and thank them all for using our services.

Ali Al-Assam

Founder and Chairman

For interviews with Reiner Mittelbach or Ali Al-Assam please contact Ms. Diala Shariaf on: diala@knowledgeview.info

About the KnowledgeView group

KnowledgeView Ltd is a UK-based company with headquarters in London and MENA regional office in Beirut. KnowledgeView has a unique combination of industry leaders on its Board and powerful publishing technology used by leading media players globally. KnowledgeView continues the publishing revolution in the MENA region started by Diwan in 1984, acting as a technology bridge between the Europe and the Arab World.

The company was founded in 1995 to develop cross-media publishing, news management and editorial sharing systems, with over fifty media companies and 6000 journalists using its Publish live systems. KnowledgeView has also established a leading position in mobile apps with its own NewsPad platform.

KnowledgeView's founders have expanded into two key consumer-centric products with the establishment of technology startups Rewardisement Ltd and NewsSocial ltd.

Rewardisement Ltd was established with the vision of disrupting the advertising space by putting the consumer first. To enable consumers to control better how advertising serves their needs, Rewardisement seeks to make advertising a dialogue between consumers and advertisers and reward consumers for participation, on mobile, Web and Print.

NewsSocial is designed to unblock user engagement, creating communities around news content.NewsSocial helps community users to network and engage around (1) focused debates and (2) well-tagged news linked to the debates, allowing NewsSocial and its publisher partners to build up more useful user-engagement data, and to bring distinct categories of users to advertisers to increase ROI.

Ms. Diala Al Sharief, marketing@knowledgeview.co.uk, +961-1345178

SOURCE KnowledgeView ltd.
TAIPEI, Taiwan, Jan. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On 7 January, the British Representative, Mr Chris Wood, hosted a reception to celebrate the award of a British honour to Dr. Winston Wen-Young WONG OBE, Chairman of the Grace THW Group.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320261

In being made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), Dr. Wong has been recognised for his services to education and research in the UK, and to UK/Taiwan education relations.

The British honours system recognises people who have made notable achievements in public life and/or who have committed themselves to serving and helping Britain. Awards are recommended by the British Government's Honours Committee through the Prime Minister, and are approved by Her Majesty The Queen.

In presenting Dr. Wong with the OBE insignia and the official Warrant for the award, Chris Wood said: "Dr. Wong is a longstanding friend of the United Kingdom. Since his studies in the UK, where he holds degrees in physics, applied optics and chemical engineering from Imperial College, London, Dr. Wong has been a strong supporter of research and education in the UK, in particular at Imperial College. He has also supported the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Chevening Scholarship programme, which supports potential future leaders in their fields to study for a Master's degree in the UK. I warmly congratulate Dr. Wong on this official recognition by the UK of his outstanding contributions."

In addition to his distinguished international career in business, Dr. Wong has also provided considerable philanthropic support for interdisciplinary and translational research, most particularly in the application of new technologies in healthcare. Amongst other contributions, Dr. Wong is a long-term sponsor of the Winston Wong Chair in Biomedical Circuits at Imperial College; and in 2009 he funded the establishment of the College's Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology within the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. He has also co-funded scholarship awards to Taiwanese students under the British Foreign & Commonwealth Chevening Scholarship programme.

Related Links

http://www.imperial.ac.uk



SOURCE British Office Taipei
TEMPE, Ariz., Jan. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ChiScan is pleased to announce development of a novel device for creating Non-Thermal Plasma (NTP). Huan Truong (ChiScan CEO) stated that, "Although there are currently a number of technologies capable of generating cold plasma, our proprietary cold plasma generating technology is novel due to its size, portability, no requirement for any noble gas, precision, robustness, and its ease of application." ChiScan technology has significant utility as a countermeasure for multidrug-resistant and hard-to-treat infectious agents in both clinical and field settings. This next generation cold plasma technology is the result of more than ten years of research and development.

Figure 1. ChiScan Plasma Driver (eVEG(TM)) and Plasma Array (patents pending) Figure 2. Non-Thermal Plasma (NTP) gas producing on large surface of plasma array Figure 3. ChiScan 3-D eVEG(TM): Electric Vital Energy Generator

ChiScan LLC is a group of innovative and experienced engineers with the passion for providing solutions to complex problems based on physics, microchip engineering, and manufacturing technology. ChiScan has been designing bio-energy based therapeutic and diagnostic technologies with a focus on infectious diseases. Thanks to low cost modern electronics (such as those used in digital control and processing power), it is feasible to employ this technology in both the field and medical treatment centers.

For more than 20 years, non-thermal atmospheric pressure or "cold" plasma has been investigated for biomedical applications in the U.S. and around the world. Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is a practical method of generating cold plasma from air at ambient temperature. According to Bryon Eckert and Brad Eckert, the two inventors and co-founders of ChiScan, the generated Non-Thermal Plasma has significant utility in solving today's and the future's health care related problems in a cost effective and non-invasive manner.

"Our portable plasma driver provides power level control and an automatic tuning mechanism for driving a large range of array sizes and shapes up to 25 square inches active area. Our device would be ideal for the field and resource limited regions," said Huan Truong.

"In this novel device we have used an extensive internal interlocks guard. The exposure time, duration, power level and plasma modulation frequency (protocols) can be programmed into the plasma array by the operator and hopefully in the near future by medical practitioners via an application on smartphones or tablet devices," said Brad Eckert.

The novel cold plasma array is a sheet of low current corona discharges formed in the shape of an array. The array is formed from flexible and sizable PCB (printed circuit board) material and is waterproof since it is enclosed in a sleeve of expanded PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene), which functions as ventilation. The array is attached to a portable driver through a length of coaxial cable.

An extruded aluminum case provides a large battery capacity and efficient thermal management, allowing repeated therapy sessions at high power (large arrays) without frequent recharging. It recharges a built-in battery and uses various power conversion circuits to supply AC and DC at appropriate voltage and current levels as indicated by the load of ID pin. The ID pin is a one-wire interface used for the identification of accessories. A color LCD display shows all driver parameters.

"Our mobile plasma driver powered by DC battery supply efficiently drives the plasma array or an array of the optical energy spectrum such as LEDs. The battery supply runs for hours on a single charge to kill infectious agents," said Bryon Eckert.

About ChiScan: ChiScan LLC, located in Tempe, Arizona, was formed by a group of experienced, innovative and passionate engineers with backgrounds in providing solutions for complex problems based on physics, microchip engineering, information and manufacturing technology. Our collaborating and reach-back laboratories for technology evaluation and efficacy testing are located in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Please visit www.chiscan.com for further contact information, our investor requested information and technology pages.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320203

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320202

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320201

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320200LOGO

SOURCE ChiScan

Related Links

http://www.chiscan.com


JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Jan. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Underwear For Men, a leader in men's underwear products, has announced their search for the next Men's Underwear Model.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320231

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160107/320232

"UFM is looking for someone who aligns with the brand, comfortable with who he is, supportive to his family and community, and most of all, someone with swag," said Dara Gourley, CEO, Red House Advertising and Marketing.

From now until January 30, 2016, men can submit a photo in the Visitor Post section on the UFM Men's Underwear Facebook page. The winner will receive a trip for two (2) to Jacksonville Beach, FL, two (2) nights at a beachfront property, a one (1) day professional photo shoot, and a one (1) year supply of Underwear for Men.

"We are in search of more than just a model to help tell the UFM story," said John Polidan, CEO, Underwear For Men. "We want our advertisements in 2016 to feature an 'average joe' who is good looking, understands the importance of hard work and doesn't give up. We continue to receive an outpouring of support from men who truly need our products to provide support and comfort while on the go and at rest. Our message is important and we need a male model who is also a good role model."

Voting begins immediately and ends January 30, 2016. The winner will be announced on Facebook at 3 pm on February 2, 2016 with the prize package/photo shoot awarded in February 2016. Any images submitted must be tasteful (no nudity) and should show off the model's face and body. The images do not have to be professional, but the person submitting the photo must own the rights to any professional images submitted.

For more information:

www.ufmunderwear.com/averagejoemodelsearch

To register for the men's underwear model search:

www.facebook.com/ufmunderwear

About Underwear For Men

Founded in 2013, Underwear For Men is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. UFM has modernized men's fashion with a design that offers the style, comfort and support found in boxer briefs and compression shorts. UFM's men's underwear products have a drawstring support system that provides all day support and comfort. The adjustable pouch is made from lightweight, smooth, breathable fabrics, with a mesh fly panel. The four-way stretch fabric offers greater mobility and prevents men's underwear from bunching up, losing shape and wearing out. The patent pending design reduces chaffing, rubbing sweating and sagging by isolating your package. This is Underwear for Men.

Media Contact:

Dara Gourley

Mobile: 904-607-1138

Corporate Contact:

John Polidan

Mobile: 904-226-3844

SOURCE UFM

Related Links

http://www.UFMunderwear.com


The Mayor of London has announced funding of 10 million for ambitious councils in the capital city that want to boost their role in building new homes.

Councils can bid for up to 750,000 of the new Home Building Capacity Fund to boost their housing and planning teams, provided they can prove the funding will deliver certain criteria.

This includes providing a new generation of council homes, more social rented and genuinely affordable homes, build on small sites, create proactive masterplans in areas with significant growth potential and provide optimal density across new residential developments.

Londons housing crisis has been decades in the making and there is no easy solution but we will only make progress if councils can take a lead in getting new homes built. In the 1970s London councils were supported by central government and built more than 20,000 homes a year. However, these councils built only 2,500 homes over the last seven years, including 700 that were completed last year, said the Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Despite wanting to do far more, councils have been hamstrung by swingeing cuts from Government for far too long. My new Home Building Capacity Fund wont reverse those cuts but it will help ambitious councils to enhance their capacity to deliver large scale new build programmes, he explained.

I am able to do this thanks to the business rates devolution deal between the capital and central Government, giving us more control to spend more money on the things that matter most to Londoners, he added.

It is generally agreed that the housing crisis cannot be solved unless the planning process is reformed. Local authorities that plan communities and implement the planning process, retain the most responsibility for addressing the housing crisis.

Darren Rodwell, London Councils executive member for housing and planning, pointed out that boroughs are determined to help tackle the housing crisis by building a new generation of council houses for Londoners.

Local government once led the way in house building, but for too long weve been held back by unfair restrictions and underfunding imposed by central Government. There is now growing recognition this needs to change, he said.

This support from the Mayor will help boost boroughs ability to deliver the homes our communities need. Its a welcome development and boroughs will be keen to make good use of these much-needed resources, he added.

The National Federation of Builders (NFB) has welcomed this planning fund because it says it shows that the Mayor is not only listening to the house building industry, but putting into action solutions to ensure the capital is able to meet its growing housing need.

The planning process remains the greatest barrier to industry growth and building new homes. Developers have already agreed to pay more for better planning and its fantastic to see that supplemented by the Home Building Capacity Fund, said Richard Beresford, chief executive of the NFB.

Rico Wojtulewicz, senior policy advisor of the House Builders Association (HBA), pointed out that it is the fourth measure this year showing the Mayors commitment to diversifying the housing market and fixing planning.

It is welcome news for Londoners and should serve as inspiration for other regions, he said.
Cognitive Code Corporation, a technology company specializing in the development and deployment of practical conversational artificial intelligence systems, today announced a key executive hire that will strengthen the companys strategic planning and operations.

Brian Garr was appointed Chief Revenue Officer, joining the company with years of entrepreneurial experience executing highly advantageous strategies that drive growth and strategic planning.

"I am personally excited to have someone of Brian's background and caliber joining the Cognitive Code team. His experience in all aspects of the natural language technology business is a terrific fit for our company. Brian has already hit the ground running and will be incredibly helpful as our company grows to meet the ever increasing demand for our SILVIA conversational technologies and products.", said Cognitive Code CEO and Founder, Leslie Spring.

Before joining Cognitive Code, Garr served as CEO and Co-Founder of LinguaSys, a company that solved human language challenges in analytics and translation for Big Data and Social Media, with Garr eventually leading LinguaSys to a successful exit. He also managed IBMs Voice Technologies, driving the division to exponential growth and guided development teams in Beijing, Vienna and Tokyo. With 20 years of experience in developing, researching, selling and evangelizing natural language technologies, Garr is in demand as a writer and speaker at many press and trade shows. He was also awarded a Heroes in Technology designation from the Smithsonian Institute/Computerworld Awards.

Says Garr, I am excited to be joining Cognitive Code. With their best of class conversational technology that spans from 'disconnected device' to enterprise ready, they are poised for tremendous growth, which I hope to drive."

ABOUT COGNITIVE CODE

Cognitive Code Corporation is a privately-held company specializing in conversational artificial intelligence systems, based on their proprietary patented SILVIA technologies. SILVIA is a system for the development and deployment of intelligent applications to almost any computing platform or operating system, with a technological core that allows humans to interact with computers in completely natural and intuitive ways. Cognitive Code technologies allow companies to build applications and services that can work seamlessly with each other, across a number of devices and operating systems. More information about Cognitive Code and the SILVIA Platform is available at http://www.cognitivecode.com.
"Hello, I just wanna tell you how happy I am with you guys! Thanks for your best service!" (Amakelech Gebreyes via Customer Service)

CallEthiopia.com recently introduced the online Mobile Recharge service for all Ethiopian expats willing to support their relatives and friends back home with mobile credit. This new service is a pair service to Voice Credit for international calls offered by CallEthiopia.com. For the moment, the website facilitates top ups to mobiles pertaining to Ethio Telecom in Ethiopia, but soon more networks will be added per customer feedback. The Mobile Recharge service helps one make a top up in few seconds due to its simple online process: https://callethiopia.com/buy/mobile_recharge

The mobile credit to a number in Ethiopia will be sent from one's CallEthiopia.com account. The amount gets to the destination number in Ethiopia instantly. Also, since the purchase is made online, that saves one time and effort. Many expats, for example, use the online top up to spare their parents or grandparents or other older relatives of going out to the store to refill their mobiles. Others use the Mobile Recharge service to send a mobile credit gift without any hassle.

It is important to remember at least three things about the service, that makes it stand out on the international market:



The registration on CallEthiopia.com costs nothing

There is no contract needed in order to complete a transaction

It is 100% safe since the service is certified by "Verified & Secured"

Top ups can be made easily from both the PC and smart device, since CallEthiopia.com is a mobile-friendly website, in 3 simple steps:



One needs to open an account on CallEthiopia.com or log into one's account if already registered on the website.

Go to the online form and choose the amount to be sent as Ethio Telecom credit:

Click "Continue" and proceed to payment; one can use any major credit or debit card as well as a Paypal account.

Ethiopian expats enjoy CallEthiopia.com for several reasons as they mention on review platforms:



Transactions are 100% safe; the service bears the label "Verified & Certified"

Paypal payment is accepted besides all major cards, no matter the currency or country of the customer.

The service is among the easiest to use on the global market.

There are regular promotions that are sent by email.

The "Support" team is highly responsive and kind, as well as available 24/7; they can assist one in several international languages.

Customer privacy is highly valued on CallEthiopia.com (TRUSTe label)

Besides international top ups of mobiles in Ethiopia, CallEthiopia.com has extensive experience of over 10 years with international calling. The website offers Voice Credit for calls at competitive rates as low as 19,9 cents/minute. Extras include Thank You points for future free calls, free features, KeepCalling app for calls from smartphones, 24/7 quick and responsive customer support.

About CallEthiopia.com

CallEthiopia.com is an interactive website designed by KeepCalling, a global telecommunications company registered in 2002 in USA. Presently, KeepCalling provides its services to hundreds of thousands of consumers and businesses, with a focus on customer satisfaction. KeepCalling has been listed by Inc 5000 as one of the fastest growing companies in the USA for 5 consecutive years. In 2015 the company registered a revenue increase of over 200% from 2011 to 2014.
HPS Product Recovery Solutions It was great to see so many people travel from far and wide to celebrate 21 successful years of the business. Weve got a market-leading product, a fantastic customer base and an excellent team

Nottingham, UK based HPS Product Recovery Solutions has marked 21 years of helping businesses reduce waste and improve product yields. The company, which provides pigging systems (which recover liquid from pipes), celebrated in style with a dinner and party for employees past and present.

HPS started life in Nottinghams Science and Technology Park back in 1995. Since then, the company has grown significantly and moved to much larger premises in Beeston, on the outskirts of the city. It has also opened offices in Indiana in the US, Blackwood, near Adelaide in South Australia, and has appointed representatives Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, China and several other countries.

As well as current and past staff from the UK, employees travelled from overseas to join the companys 21st birthday party.

Gilbert Murphy, CEO of HPS commented, It was great to see so many people travel from far and wide to celebrate 21 successful years of the business. Weve got a market-leading product, a fantastic customer base and an excellent team.

As world-leading experts in Product Recovery and Fluid Management technology, HPS focuses on the niche activity of Pigging. This is where a specially designed projectile (the pipeline pig) is propelled through a pipeline. As the pig travels through the pipe, it recovers nearly all liquid that would otherwise be flushed down the drain. The result is increased yields, faster processing and improved efficiency, plus major savings on water, energy and cleaning fluids.

HPS provides its solutions to businesses in the food, beverage, home care, cosmetics, personal care, paint and pet-food industries. It is finding new applications for its products all the time, recently having worked on projects as diverse as salmon farming, fine wine, industrial solvents and chocolate.

Working with some of the worlds largest companies, HPS has hundreds of customers across the globe. Many are extremely well-known, with the company boasting household-names on its client list such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, Kraft, Nestle, Boots, P & G, Orlando Wines, Campbells Soup, Rowse Honey, Ronseal, Britvic and many more.

In addition to providing a high-quality product, HPS also places great emphasis on delivering excellent customer service.

Gilbert continues, After-sales and support are just as important to us as the design and implementation of a system. In a recent customer survey, 100% of respondents said they were either satisfied or extremely satisfied with their experience with us.

As well as pigging products and equipment, HPS has designed and implemented a variety of custom-designed Automatrix and Rotomatrix liquid distribution solutions. It is also working on new innovations to help its customers further improve their efficiency and productivity.

Gilbert adds, Over the past couple of years, the popularity of our solutions has increased significantly. Were deploying systems for new clients all the time and are taking on new employees as we grow. Were also working on some interesting new developments to make the product recovery process even more efficient.

Its genuinely exciting times for us and were looking forward to another 21 years of success.

Further Information

Founded in 1995, HPS Product Recovery Solutions increases its customers profitability by maximising product yields, reducing waste, lowering carbon footprints and improving efficiency. This is through customised liquid distribution, transfer and product-recovery (pigging) systems.

HPS focusses on delivering high quality, innovative and cost effective solutions; from design, installation, software, automation and commissioning to support, after-sales and customer care. The companys pigging and product transfer systems typically pay for themselves in less than 12 months.

With a wide range of customers, HPS has successfully installed more than 1,200 solutions worldwide. These include projects for multinational corporations as well as many smaller independent businesses. The companys key markets are the food and drink, cosmetics and personal care, household products, chemicals, paint and pet food processing industries.

Headquartered in Nottingham, UK, HPS has regional offices and global partners worldwide, including the United States, Australia, China, India, Malaysia and Thailand.
Tap into one of the sweetest events of the year, New York States Maple Weekend, March 19-20 and April 2-3 from 10am-4pm each day. During both weekends, producers from across the state will welcome families to their farms to experience firsthand how real, mouthwatering maple syrup and other related maple products are made. Visitors will have the opportunity to enjoy fun, family-friendly activities, taste New Yorks freshest syrup and purchase maple products directly from the source.

Each year, New York ranks as one of the top maple producing states in the U.S. As spring temperatures begin to rise in late February and early March, maple trees and sugar bushes come alive with activity. In Northern New York, when sap begins to drip through sugaring lines, it's a sure sign that maple sugaring season has begun.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced that maple syrup production in New York reached its highest level in 70 years, allowing the state to retain its standing as the second highest producer of fresh maple syrup in America. New Yorks maple farmers persevered through a challenging winter to produce a modern record of more than 601,000 gallons of syrup from more than 2.3 million taps across the state during the 2015 season. Locally, Rand Hill Maple in Altona, NY operated by the David Smart family, has been ranked 18th on the 2015 Maple Almanacs list Top 20 U.S. Sugarmakers by Taps with 52,000 taps. Parker Family Maple Farm in West Chazy, NY made the list in 2013 with 45,000 taps.

Once again, New Yorks maple syrup industry is thriving and breaking records in spite of tough conditions, Governor Cuomo said. Our state is an agricultural leader, with some of the most dedicated entrepreneurs and finest products around, and I encourage New Yorkers and visitors alike to discover this fantastic Empire State product for themselves.

Maple Weekend offers visitors and residents alike the opportunity to taste this liquid gold in all its forms. To plan a Maple Weekend trip on the Adirondack Coast visit mapleweekend.com and join the conversation on Facebook at facebook.com/mapleweekend.
Our modeling and simulation methods will enable payers to fly the future before they invest.

Project to Determine Usability & Effectiveness of Transitional Care Model

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 Stevensto 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 TCMs 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.

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 universitys 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 worlds 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 nations 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.
The "Spirituality Circle" will benefit greatly from Lee Schaefer's skills and experience in Philanthropy, Fundraising, Public Relations, Event Management.

Ramesh Malhotra comments It is a personal privilege for me to work with Lee Schaefer as a member of the board of Portrait of a Soul, I admire his spiritual commitment to helping others, and the I know that the Spirituality Circle will benefit greatly from Lees skills and experience in philanthropy, fundraising, public relations, event management.

The Spirituality Circle consists of the learnings, experiences, knowledge in the personal spiritual journey of Ramesh Malhotra:



Books / Writings on Spirituality To build awareness and interest in spirituality evolutionary process. 

Museum of Spiritual Art To promote Interfaith through the appreciation of spiritual art in different religions.

School in Solan, India To "give back", all income received from Ramesh's book sales go directly to building a new school.

"Portrait of a Soul" To promote the project's Vision "the power of art and medicine to nourish the soul and health of body".

Lee Schaefer is co-founder of Portrait of a Soul which is a non-profit organization, which commissions portraits of children with craniofacial conditions. It's art to mend where medicine leaves off.

Portrait of a Soul teamed up with the world-class craniofacial specialists at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center to help identify children who would receive the most emotional benefit from having a commissioned portrait.

Lee and his wife Susan modeled Portrait of a Soul after the highly praised Face to Face Portrait Project started in Philadelphia by Nelson Shanks, founder and artistic director of Studio Incamminati School for Contemporary and Realist Art and Linton Walker, MD, founder of the Craniofacial Program at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. Both men believed in the power of art and medicine to nourish the soul and health the body.

During a successful business career Lee gained extensive experience in a wide range of sales fully utilizing his excellent communication skills and knowledge.

As an entrepreneur Lee Schaefer owned the sales rep agency Midwest Marketing.and as President of Reality Racing he was responsible for the day to day operations of national television show which aired on Spike TV.

As Vice President of Development of VOA, Lee raised money for the programs of Volunteers of America and was the number one fund raiser in the country for major gifts two years in row.

Lee commented:

I am looking forward to the opportunity to promote the various activities within the Spirituality Circle, especially the Museum of Spiritual Art.

The Museum of Spiritual Art is a great opportunity for local schools, organizations and other communities to see and experience paintings and artifacts from different religions across the world.

It is a wonderful collection and location of interfaith spiritual art.

During 2016, we are planning a series of different speakers each month at the museum on the subject of the Religious influence on Art.

Visit the Website http://www.spiritualitycircle.com

Facebook - Museum of Spiritual Art
"We hope our non-profit partners benefit from this experience. Although it only effects a few recipients, our hope is to bring unexpected joy to a handful of deserving families, said Kevin Plummer. Past News Releases RSS Tampa Preparatory School...

Tampa Preparatory School Students...

Tampa Preparatory School Renovates...

Through Tampa Preparatory School's continued partnership with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Amalie Arena, the School owns six seats in the luxury suite area known as Vology Loge. Patrons in these premium seats receive complimentary food and beverages throughout any performance at the arena.

The school has donated these seats to several local charities for eight Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performances this month.

"The circus can be a special and unique experience for a child," said Head of School Kevin M. Plummer. "We wanted to allow local families the opportunity to receive a VIP experience they may not otherwise have while viewing the show."

Tampa Prep donated two shows (of six seats each) to each of the following organizations: Metropolitan Ministries, Academy Prep Center of Tampa, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay and 1Voice Foundation.

We were thrilled to be the recipients of circus tickets, food and parking for our families. What a wonderful opportunity to have such special family time outside the Hospital, says Mary Ann Massolio, Executive Director of 1Voice Foundation. The 1Voice Foundation provides programs and services for children battling cancer.

This gesture of goodwill reflects the school's mission to provide "a preparation for life with a higher purpose than self." Just as students give back to the community through various volunteer efforts, the School's administration embraces this philosophy as well.

Philanthropy is an important priority for independent schools and Tampa Prep in particular. "We hope our non-profit partners benefit from this experience. Although it only effects a few recipients, our hope is to bring unexpected joy to a handful of deserving families, said Kevin Plummer.
Dr. Sandeep Sherlekar, M.D. will present his paper entitled Early Evaluation of Value-Based Ambulatory Endoscopic Spine Surgery at the International 34th ISMISS Course for Percutaneous Endoscopic Spinal Surgery and Complementary Minimal Invasive Techniques being held January 21  23, 2016 in Chongquing, China. The International Society for Minimal Intervention in Spinal Surgery (ISMISS) holds their annual conference in Chongquing, China each year. ISMISS focuses on the fields of minimally invasive and endoscopic spine surgeries. The goal of the society is to coordinate instructional learning activities and international exchanges with other pioneering physicians and surgeons.

Dr. Sherlekar, a founding member of American Spine, will again be presenting results of an ongoing study evaluating outpatient endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery. He will be presenting results which include: a) spine surgery at any level (neck, mid and lower spine) can be performed in the outpatient surgical center; b) patients can all be discharged to home on the day of surgery; c) there is very high level of post-operative pain control; d) no increased infection risk; e) while costing approximately one third the cost of surgery done in a hospital setting.

Dr. Sherlekar has trained in percutaneous and endoscopic spine surgery under world renowned spine surgeon, Dr. Thomas Hoogland of the Alpha Klinic in Munich, Germany and fellowship trained in advanced spinal surgical technique developed by Wooridul Hospital in Soul, Korea and is fellowship trained in pain management at Harvard Medical School. He is dedicated to teaching and promoting percutaneous and endoscopic discectomy / foraminotomy, and the use innovative minimally invasive technologies to treat chronic pain of the spine. His commitment to helping patients discover alternatives to traditional open / invasive surgeries, like laminectomy and spinal fusion, has led him to co-found American Spine, a practice dedicated to least invasive spinal treatments.

Dr. Sherlekar and American Spine are currently accepting referrals and new patients for both surgical and pain management appointments. To schedule an appointment at any of our offices, call #240.629.3939 or visit our website at http://www.americanspinemd.com for more information.

Or for personal attention, please contact Laurie Pantezzi of American Spine, 301.471.4795 or laurie(at)americanspinemd(dot)com.
It has been a banner year for Pathbuilders, an Atlanta-based professional mentoring and leadership development company that celebrated its 20th year. Pathbuilders continued to launch many successful initiatives aligned with its mission to develop high-performing women, and experienced remarkable growth through partnerships with global industry-leading companies. Pathbuilders experienced a 35 percent rate of growth this year and has nearly doubled in revenue over the last three years.

Founded in 1995, Pathbuilders uniquely focused on creating gender-diverse organizations by developing professional women through mentoring and leadership development. A single mentoring class for mid-career women has since expanded to include a full complement of cross-company mentoring programs: InsigniaSM, Percepta, Achieva and Inspiria. Each of these programs is tailored to address the specific needs of professional women across the four key developmental stages of a career.

Success in these programs has continued over the past two decades. This year, the Pathbuilders team launched its largest Percepta class welcoming over 100 women from 41 companies with a focus on preparing new and aspiring managers to deliver results in complex work environments. Through a proven methodology that combines mentoring, interactive workshops, and peer networking, Percepta graduates are ready for the next step in their careers.

Percepta mentors are themselves graduates of Pathbuilders Achievaa mentoring program focused on mid-level female leaders positioned for senior leadership responsibilities in their organizations. The Achieva program has experienced similar growth and success this year with a record number 43 companies sponsoring participants, including Cisco Systems, The Coca-Cola Company, Georgia Power Company, IHG, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Primerica, Turner Broadcasting System and Verizon Wireless.

Bookending these two cross-company programs are Insignia for entry-level women establishing credibility, developing self-awareness, learning to set priorities, and gaining insight into how the business works, and Inspiria maximizing the personal impact of senior-executive leaders  creating cultures where others seek and achieve extraordinary success. These two growing mentoring programs have successfully impacted the careers of high-caliber mentors and mentees.

Today it is a business imperative to focus on growing female leaders, and studies consistently demonstrate the positive financial impact of attracting, retaining and developing key female talent, said Helene Lollis, president and chief executive officer of Pathbuilders. Over the past two decades, Pathbuilders has helped organizations to strategically build pipelines of high-performing women, and its exciting to know that were positively impacting our clients and their people every day.

Complementing Pathbuilders cross-company mentoring portfolio is its custom programming for organizations focused on creating a mentoring culture for both women and men, further developing their leadership bench or launching a womens initiative inside their organization. The success and expansion of these programs have been a key element of the companys growth strategy. These initiatives are customized to the specific needs of each client, such as LeasePlan USAs Insight leadership initiative designed and delivered by the Pathbuilders team already with its second cohort, having recently graduated 22 employees from its first class.

A growing number of internal mentoring programs have rounded out the Pathbuilders roster, including partnerships with IHG, Gas South and Invesco. Pathbuilders has brought formal mentoring programs to support two different employee resource groups at Kimberly-Clark Corporation, a Fortune 200 consumer and healthcare products company. Based in part on the success of the program sponsored by their womens network, Kimberly-Clark won the prestigious 2014 Catalyst Award which honors innovative initiatives that expand leadership and opportunities for women and business.

Pathbuilders has partnered with several global clients to develop leadership development programs and enterprise-wide womens initiatives, including surveys, studies, and turnkey employee-facilitated programs. Infor Global Solutions first womens initiative, Womens Infor Network (WIN) engages certified WIN facilitators to gather more than 1,200 women across eight countries and conduct discussion groups that build upon a broader Infor professional development curriculum created by Pathbuilders. Organizations such as Holder Construction and Millicom have followed suit with similar initiatives focused on building and strengthening gender diversity as a business imperative.

We view our success as a reflection of the success of each client and every one of our mentees, mentors and program participants, said Lollis. We are grateful to partner with leaders at amazing organizations who view their talent as their most valuable asset. Our passion for our work, and our commitment to flawless execution comes from our ability to practice what we preach, and we have built a phenomenal team that drives our success every day.

Additional information about the mentoring programs offered by Pathbuilders for different career stages and its custom programming may be found at http://www.pathbuilders.com.

About Pathbuilders, Inc.

Pathbuilders transforms top talent into high-impact leaders who move business forward. Through customized programming, Pathbuilders leverages a model that effectively combines mentoring, educational workshops, and interactive peer exchange to accelerate the career growth of individuals and directly contribute to the bottom-line success of client organizations. Pathbuilders was founded in 1995 with a unique focus on developing the potential of high-performing women and creating gender-diverse leadership teams. Today, Pathbuilders leverages the corporate experience of its team to develop impactful developmental experiences for high-potential women and men in forward-thinking organizations. Pathbuilders has worked with nearly 4,000 professionals from more than 400 client organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, colleges and universities, and government agencies. More information can be found at http://www.Pathbuilders.com on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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"Behind The Scenes", with host James Earl Jones (star of dozens of Hollywood feature films and Broadway productions in his career), have announced that the popular program will cover the topic of advances in the trucking industry in an upcoming episode. The trucking industry has been on the forefront of technology in recent years, implementing a wide range of different advancements that have completely revolutionized supply chain management in the United States for the better.

Many advancements in the trucking industry have had to do with an attempt to keep the roads safer for both truckers and pedestrians alike. Trucks are now outfitted with GPS systems, helping managers keep an eye on where their products are and whether or not the truckers themselves are maintaining safe driving practices. With advanced inventory control techniques, it is not easier than ever to monitor the movement of important stock as it makes its way across the country.

"Behind The Scenes" is distributed to Public Television Stations in most major markets around the United States - check the show's site for additional information. As the program was designed from the beginning to be a completely independent production, it is not affiliated with PBS or APT in any way.
McGee Wealth Management was honored at this years Portland Business Journals annual Corporate Philanthropy Awards Luncheon and given the award for philanthropy in the small size company category. McGee Wealth Management President/ CCO, D. Linette Dobbins, C.F.P., accepted the award on behalf of the firm.

Giving back is paramount to the McGee Wealth Management team. Throughout her stellar career, Linette Dobbins has contributed time and talent to organizations such as the prestigious Circle of Giving that benefits womens health research at Oregon Health & Science University, the Portland, Oregon Rose Festival Foundation Board, Raymond James Womens Advisory Council, and other non-profit professional and community organizations.

McGee Wealth Management has a long standing reputation of philanthropy and community service beginning with their mission and values statement. Director of Marketing and philanthropy coordinator Ashley Baldwin developed an organized company policy giving paid time off to all employees to participate in activities for a charity of their choice. The firm supports employee chosen charities by allocating funds each year for employee-directed donations and event participation.

Founder Judith Mcgee, L.H.D., C.F.P. and Chair/CEO of McGee Wealth Management has served on numerous nonprofit boards throughout her illustrious career including the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals for which a designation of Smithsonian Affiliation was granted during her service, The Multnomah County Library Association, and Warner Pacific College.

McGee Wealth Managements key team members include Judith McGee, L.H.D., C.F.P., ChFC, CEO/Chairwoman (MWM) & Co-Branch manager (RJFS), D. Linette Dobbins, CFP, President/CCO (MWM) & Co-Branch Manager (RJFS), and Jennifer Currin Gutridge, CFP, Executive Vice President (MWM) and Financial Advisor (RJFS).

Visit http://www.McGeeWM.com, call 503-597-2222, or write 12455 SW 68th Ave. Portland, Oregon 97223 for more information. McGee Wealth Management is an Independent Registered Investment Advisor. Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. For media requests contact Diane with Inspired Media at info(at)inspiredmc(dot)com. Raymond James is not affiliated with the charities or organizations listed.
Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC) is looking for talented Canadians to create a piece of artwork for their travelling exhibition. Together: An exhibition on global development is an interactive, bilingual experience for all ages, sparking discussions on how Canadians are driving positive change around the world. Visitors are invited to climb aboard and explore a custom-built transport truck with 1,000 square feet of exhibition space, travelling coast-to-coast for two years.

AKFC wants Canadians to create a piece of art showing why they care about global development. The foundation will then ask Canadians coast-to-coast to vote on their favourite entries. Those who enter can encourage friends and family to vote too. The winning artist will get to attend the launch of Togethers 2016 tour in British Columbia, have their art displayed in the exhibition for six months as it travels across Canada, and receive a $500 gift certificate for art supplies.

This is a chance to showcase your artistic talents and share your vision of global development, positive change, and working together as global citizens. If chosen, your artwork will be prominently displayed in the exhibition, where it will be seen by people who want to learn about and take action on the worlds biggest challengeslike alleviating global poverty and working with those in the worlds poorest regions to improve their lives.

Click here to learn more about AKFC and the contest!
Mexicos AAA Five Diamond Grand Velas Riviera Maya rings in the New Year with new Vitamin C showers, spa treatments and collection of spa paths. Vitamin C showers in the men and womens showers lightly spritz guests on command with a warm bath of vitamin C essential oils, providing antioxidant and regenerative properties for the skin.

An authentic interpretation of luxury and wellbeing where water, lighting, aromas, flavors and textures converge, each spa path is enhanced by a specialty tea pairing, paying homage to the ancient curative traditions of Mexico that work to balance and harmonize the body, mind and soul.

Part of the Path to Renovation, the Artisan Stones Massage and Damask Rose Experience are new treatments that allow the skin to breathe and feel refreshed, complemented with organic Bombay Chai Black Tea Forte. The Artisan Stones Massage ($342/80 min) is inspired by ancestral knowledge of volcanic minerals and helps to shape, tighten tissue, firm and define ones outline through a mixture of volcanic and active ingredients. A revitalizing experience that intensely nourishes skin, the Damask Rose Experience ($342/80 min) is a micro-exfoliating emulsion that remarkably soothes the skins texture, followed by a massage incorporating Damask rose oil, leaving the skin hydrated and soft.

Additional paths and tea pairings consist of the Path to Wisdom, served with Honey Yuzu Tea Forte; Path to Illumination, served with Citrus Mint Tea Forte; Path to Wellbeing, served with Orchid Vanilla Tea Forte; and the Path of Healing, served with Green Mango Peach Tea Forte.

For more information on the spa at Grand Velas Riviera Maya, visit http://www.luxuryspamexico.com.

About the Spa at Grand Velas Riviera Maya

Voted Best Spa in the World by Virtuoso in 2010, The Spa at Grand Velas Riviera Maya is 90,000 square feet, inclusive of separate hydrotherapy facilities for men and women. Included with any treatment 50 minutes or more, the Grand Velas Riviera Maya Hydrothermal Journey is composed of seven different water experiences, including a sauna, color therapy steam, clay room, ice room, experiences showers, polar pool and experience pool with various water elements. The Spas at Velas Resorts have won numerous industry awards, including Most Excellent Spa Hotel by Conde Nast Johansens, Virtuosos Best Spa in the World, Trip Advisor Travelers Choice Award for Best Spa Hotel, a SpaFinder Readers Choice, and Travel + Leisures Best Spas, among others.

About Grand Velas Riviera Maya:

Set on 206 acres of pristine jungle and mangroves and with the finest white sand beach in the Riviera Maya, the AAA Five Diamond Grand Velas Riviera Maya is an ultra-luxury all-inclusive resort. Guests can choose among three separate ambiances in this Leading Hotel of the World, including adults only oceanfront, family friendly ocean view and a Zen-like tropical setting, embraced by the flora and fauna of the Yucatan Peninsulas jungle. All 539 designer-like suites are exceptionally spacious, more than 1,100 square feet each, all with balconies, and some with private plunge pools. All feature fully stocked mini bars, plasma TVs, Wi-Fi, LOccitane amenities, artisanal tequila, and Nespresso coffee machines. Bathrooms deserve special mention with walk in glass shower, deep soaking Jacuzzi tubs and marble interior. Eight restaurants, including five gourmet offerings, present a tour through Mexico, Europe and Asia. Cocina de Autor, at the hands of world celebrity chefs Bruno Oteiza, Mikel Alonso and Xavier Perez Stone, holds the AAA Five Diamond Award, the first all-inclusive restaurant in the world to win this prestigious distinction. Grand Velas Spa, a Leading Spa of the World, is the region's largest spa sanctuary at more than 90,000 square feet, known for its authentic Mexican treatments, offerings from around world and signature seven-step water journey. Other features include 24-hour Personal Concierge; 24/7 in-suite service; three swimming pools; two fitness centers; water sports; innovative Kids Clubs and Teens Club; Karaoke Bar; Koi Bar; Piano Bar, and business center. The resort offers more than 91,000 square feet of meeting space and outdoor areas for events inclusive of a 31,000-square-foot Convention Center, able to accommodate up to 2,700 guests. The resort has won numerous awards from Travel + Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, USA Today and several other magazines and major companies worldwide. This year, the resort entered TripAdvisors Hall of Fame for obtaining the Certificate of Excellence for five consecutive years in addition to the Signature Spa being awarded Best Luxury Resort Spa-The Americas at the World Luxury Spa Awards 2014. Grand Velas Riviera Maya was built and is operated by Eduardo Vela Ruiz, majority owner, founder and President of Velas Resorts, with his brother Juan Vela, Vice President of Velas Resorts.

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I was lying on my bed, watching a video on my phone when I thought why has no one come up with something to hold the phone up

Move over Selfie Stick, HeadPal is the hands-free device of the future.

HeadPal is a brand new device that allows users to use their smartphone in 3 different formats giving people the option to relax comfortably while taking calls, using Skype or watching Netflix. The company is currently raising funds on Kickstarter to bring the product to life.

HeadPal solves the problem everyone has experienced trying to get comfortable while on our smartphones; neck pain, arm soreness, and blurry eyes from a screen held too close. I was lying on my bed, watching a video on my phone when I thought why has no one come up with something to hold the phone up, says founder Adam Agrestal. It was then the HeadPal was born.

The 3-in-1 Device is versatile for every situation. Head Mount Mode allows users to wear the included headphones streaming audio via bluetooth while the phone floats in front of users face. Table Mount Mode lets the smartphone stand alone in a fixed position for easy viewing. Finally, Selfie Stick Mode allows users to hold their phone out for selfies.

To transition between the modes, the components are pulled apart by detaching the magnetic plugs and the tubing molded to desired shape. The HeadPal includes detachable headphones allowing for use with or without the included accessory.

At its core, HeadPal represents the natural evolution of the selfie stick, whether sitting back on the couch watching a movie, or watching the morning news at the kitchen table, HeadPal is the hands-free device the worlds been waiting for.

Our objective is to solve a common problem with smart phone use and that is fatigue, we want to alleviate that problem and provide a handy accessory, added Agrestal.

All HeadPal purchases come with 1 x Bluetooth over-ear HeadPal Headphones, 1 x Reconfigurable Headset Connection System, 1 x Reconfigurable Phone Mount, 2 x Magnetic Phone Stickers.

HeadPal starts at $49 on Kickstarter for early backers with multiple quantities available at an additional cost.

The HeadPal is now live and available for purchase on Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/75170575/headpal-the-smartphone-accessory-you-have-been-wai

About HeadPal

HeadPal was founded in October 2014 by Adam Agresta. Following extensive research and development the first prototype of HeadPal was produced in April 2015. Adam Agresta visited CES in China to talk to manufactures about HeadPal in May 2015 and a second prototype followed in July 2015. The HeadPal product will be launched via a Kickstarter campaign on 21 December 2015.

For more information on HeadPal visit: http://headpal.com.au

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SaltStack Support now available SaltStack Support addressed all of my questions with easy to understand instructions on how to resolve our SaltStack orchestration process. Time and again, the SaltStack Support team is quick and accurate in their assistance to the Trion Worlds team.

SaltStack, the creators of predictive orchestration software for the management of any infrastructure and application at scale, today announced new SaltStack Support offerings to provide Salt Open users and SaltStack Enterprise customers with dedicated, prioritized access to the Salt brain trust for any Salt implementation. Customers that subscribe to a SaltStack Support package by Friday, Jan. 29, 2016 receive complimentary SaltConf16 passes.

Management of complex infrastructure and application environments at scale is difficult even with the smartest people and the best tools. SaltStack software combined with SaltStack Support can help any IT operations or DevOps team deliver fully optimized orchestration, automation and control of any digital infrastructure.

SaltStack Support is available via several subscription packages for both SaltStack Enterprise customers and Salt Open users. Dedicated, prioritized access to the SaltStack brain trust is available for troubleshooting, bug fixes, knowledge transfer and best practice guidance to optimize any SaltStack implementation. SaltStack Support offerings can help increase the value and effectiveness of SaltStack by offering fast-lane access to the SaltStack team that created and maintains Salt software.

Benefits of SaltStack Support

Get access to the brain trust: Direct, prioritized access to the SaltStack Enterprise and Salt Open brain trust which includes the SaltStack support, quality assurance, and engineering teams, and the core Salt Open development team.

Optimized for unique SaltStack requirements: SaltStack Support packages are built to help any SaltStack Enterprise customer or Salt Open user to receive right-sized technical assistance and best-practice guidance. Support is available for a SaltStack proof of concept, or any dev, test or production SaltStack environment.

A holistic SaltStack experience: SaltStack Support is offered via three packages for any size of IT organization or SaltStack support requirement. SaltStack combines SaltStack Support, professional services and education components for maximum assurances and knowledge transfer.

SaltStack Support Customer Quotes

Trion Worlds - Michael Ford, system integration engineer, said, SaltStack Support addressed all of my questions with easy to understand instructions on how to resolve our SaltStack orchestration process. Time and again, the SaltStack Support team is quick and accurate in their assistance to the Trion Worlds operations team. SaltStack continues to impress.

University of Rochester Medical Center - Ron Sawtelle, enterprise systems AIX analyst, said, The quality of SaltStack Support has been fantastic. Kudos to the SaltStack team for their assistance and support!

Sterling Backcheck - Tyler Jones, platform automation and Linux engineer, said, SaltStack Support has been a big help to the Sterling Backcheck automation team. We were provided with an incredible level of guidance to address the issues we were having with our SaltStack implementation. The response we received was perfect for both the experts and the newer engineers on our team.

NextGear Capital - Robert Hough, DevOps engineer, said, The SaltStack Support team took great care of us. Thank you for the help!

Webinar - SaltStack Support overview, use cases and success

Join us on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at 11:00 am Eastern for a webinar with Thomas Hatch, SaltStack CTO, Dave Reardon, SaltStack VP of sales, and Stephan Looney, Sterling Backcheck associate director of platform support and automation. The webinar will provide additional detail on SaltStack Support packages in addition to profiling customer use cases and success with SaltStack Support, services and education offerings. Register here for the SaltStack Support webinar.

SaltConf16

The 3rd annual SaltStack user conference is coming back to Salt Lake City, April 19-21, 2016. Attend SaltConf16 to hear how organizations like Adobe, Aetna, Dun & Bradstreet, Dutch Government Data Centers, Lyft, Pure Storage, National Instruments, TD Bank, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and many more are using SaltStack to orchestrate and automate any infrastructure or application stack at scale. SaltConf16 is the most effective and economical way to get Salted but the best discounts are available for a limited time only. Register now.

SaltStack at SCALE 14x and Config Management Camp EU

SaltStack is proud to be a sponsor of SCALE 14x in Pasadena, Jan. 21-24, 2016. Find SaltStack in the expo hall and in breakout sessions with talks by SaltStack and Adobe on infrastructure hardening and predictive orchestration.

Also, SaltStack is proud to sponsor Config Management Camp EU in Gent, Belgium, Feb. 1-2, 2016. Dont miss hours of Salty instruction and best practices in the Salt community room. Seating will be limited. More information about all SaltStack events is available on our website.

Licensing and availability

SaltStack Support packages are offered as annual subscriptions priced according to customer requirements and can include web and phone access to the SaltStack support team, training and education, health check services and more. Get a SaltStack Support quote now.

About SaltStack

SaltStack is a complete systems management software platform for scalable orchestration and automation of any infrastructure or application stack. SaltStack is used by IT operators, system administrators and DevOps engineers to automate configuration management, private cloud building, public cloud orchestration and event-driven infrastructure. The Salt open source project was launched in February of 2011 and is now one of the fastest growing, most-active communities in the world. SaltStack was founded in August 2012 to support the Salt project and to deliver SaltStack Enterprise packaged for the world's most dynamic large and small businesses, web-scale applications and clouds. SaltStack won the Best of VMworld Gold Award for virtualization management, won an InfoWorld 2014 Technology of the Year Award, won the 2013 GigaOm Structure LaunchPad competition, was named a Linux Journal Reader's Choice product in five categories, was named a Gartner 2013 Cool Vendor in DevOps, and was included on the GitHub Octoverse list for 2012 and 2013 as one of the largest, most-active open source projects in the world. For more information, please visit http://www.saltstack.com
Eleanor Anukam knows something the fashion world has ignored for decades  not only do women come in all shapes and sizes, so do their feet! As a statuesque African American woman with size 11 feet, Anukam knows all too well the struggle some women face to find footwear that fits comfortably while also being stylish and luxurious.

Im designing for a fashion-forward lady with broadened global influences and a thirst to disrupt fashion, says Anukam, putting her best foot forward for the legions of women with size 9-13 feet.

Her inspired foot fashions encompass everything from the basic leather flat to the sultry spiked pump, the ladylike ankle strap to the bejeweled heel. Affordable high-end heels, flats and boots, smiles Anukam of what her online store offers.

Ladies who have been blessed with larger feet in Canada and the US who are looking to up their shoe game can experience the Eleanor Anukam brand at http://www.eleanoranukam.com. Here, shoppers will find what they have been searching for, for many: high-end footwear whose classic style is trendy enough for any modern fad, yet enduring enough to wear year after year as fashions change. They will experience a clean and sleek shopping interface, an impressive return policy for those that inadvertently select the wrong size, and best of all, the ability to browse from a wide range of shoe styles and colors.

The company is less than a year old, but is garnering a lot of positive buzz. Watch out for this! The CEO is super stylish! Shoes for tall ladies that aren't mediocre, raves one customer on the companys Facebook page. Great quality from a great creator, superb customer service, much needed shoe closet items!!! #eleanoranukamfootwearisawesome, raves another. To date, the company has been rated 5/5 by customers.

If your feet are sized 9 and up, dont delay. Discover your fashion forward footwear at eleanoranukam.com.

For more details, visit http://www.eleanoranukam.com/collections

About Eleanor Anukam

Eleanor Anukam Footwear is a private label shoe brand born out of necessity and developed with passion by its CEO and designer, Eleanor Anukam. Launched in October 2015, the brand caters to women with shoe sizes 9-13. After years of searching for luxury footwear with no success, Eleanor Anukam, a size 11 herself, embarked on a journey to create a line of luxury womens shoes to service an underserved population of women.

Contact Details:

Sharon Hughes, Marketing Director

Houston, TX 76063

marketing(at)eleanoranukam(dot)com

http://www.eleanoranukam.com

866-580-8508
In the dental support industry, Im thrilled that Heartland Dental has become a leader in education and we look forward to expanding upon our opportunities in 2016.

Supported dentists and team members of Heartland Dental, LLC, the largest dental support organization in the United States, completed over 200,000 hours in continuing education through courses offered by Heartland Dental in 2015. This total includes over 34,000 participants and over 1,500 courses held.

Staying educated in your field is necessary for all professions, but especially for dentists. You cannot expect to achieve success in todays industry without seeking the knowledge and skills that currently drive the industry, said Rick Workman, DMD, founder and active executive chairman at Heartland Dental. Since our company was founded, we have understood the importance of continuing education and have strived to offer world-class opportunities for supported dentists that will truly impact their lives, the lives of their team members and the lives of their patients for the better.

Each year, Heartland Dental supports a wide variety of educational offerings to help supported doctors and team members advance themselves personally and professionally. Annual offerings include the Doctor Mastery Program, Aesthetic Continuum, Partnering for Excellence, Dr. Leadership, Dr. LEADS and many others. Courses cover important topics in clinical dentistry, communication and leadership, and feature prominent educators from the dental industry and business world.

Many of these supported offerings are now being regionally offered. This means smaller groups of participants, which will create more one-on-one, personalized training opportunities. With that, we can ensure all supported doctors and team members have access to these advantages and learn as effectively as possible. In addition, Heartland Dental supports dentists in achieving other educational achievements, such as an FAGD or MAGD recognition through the Academy of General Dentistry, added Dr. Workman. In the dental support industry, Im thrilled that Heartland Dental has become a leader in education and we look forward to expanding upon our opportunities in 2016.

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.
Advanced Polymer Monitoring Technologies, Inc.s, or APMT, co-founder and CEO, Alex Reed, was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list in the Manufacturing/Industry category. APMT is based in New Orleans, LA and has shipped patented analytical instruments that support product development and real time monitoring of production for two major industries, polymeric materials and biotechnology. The focus of the company is to reduce production costs, improve product quality, enable more efficient use of energy, non-renewable resources, and to reduce emissions and other pollutants, while enhancing worker safety.

Dr. Bill Bottoms, APMTs Chairman said, Alex has led APMT since its founding, assembling a core team of engineers, completing development of initial offerings for 2 product lines and qualification of APMTs Automatic Continuous On-line Monitoring of Polymer reactions (ACOMP) at a major polymer manufacturer. All this was accomplished with operating funds from customers and contracts. This is what entrepreneurs aspire to but few ever accomplish.

APMT was also recently recognized as one of the 29 inaugural NOLA100 companies in 2015. This is a group of 100 companies going into the New Orleans tricentennial in 2018 considered to be leading the local entrepreneurship movement.

"Being a part of this technology spin-out of Tulane University's Center for Polymer Reaction Monitoring and Characterization has been very interesting," said John E. Koerner III, an emeritus member of the Board of Tulane and an early APMT investor. "Commercialization of technology discovered and developed through science and engineering is an extremely important activity for supporting economic development in New Orleans and Louisiana, especially innovation in a key sector for the State like chemical manufacturing. The team at APMT, led by Alex, has done a tremendous job in taking the company through some very solid early successes."

Alex Reed said This is a tremendous honor made possible by the years of hard work on the part of many extremely talented individuals, especially our team at APMT, Inc. and the very dedicated team at Prof. Wayne Reeds laboratory at Tulane University over the years. This means a lot to all of us and is a direct tribute to what a great team, great technology and persistence can accomplish. I very much look forward to see what the future holds as we continue working together.

About APMT

Advanced Polymer Monitoring Technologies, Inc. develops, manufactures and distributes products and services for the real time monitoring and control of polymer reactions across all synthetic and natural polymer sectors from R&D through high volume industrial production.
1040ES & 1040V for Non-Withholdiing Taxes Weve streamlined steps and added several features through our software in order to make 1040ES and 1040V payments a breeze

Paying 2016 quarterly estimated taxes just got easier for the self- employed, thanks to 1040ES and/or 1040V tax form self-mailers from Laser Substrates. Designed for the individual taxpayer, these all-in-one forms allow users to print an IRS-compatible 1040ES and 1040V form with payment check simultaneously, along with a host of other time saving options. The one-piece document can then go directly from the printer to the mailbox with just a few quick folds; no separate envelope is required. Please Click for Demo: http://tax-form-self-mailers.com/#demo

Currently, people who mail in quarterlies must find the correct form on the IRS website, print it out and manually fill it in, cut a separate check for the payment, and find an envelope and stamp, explains Mark Nelson, Director of Operations at Laser Substrates. Its a tedious, multi-step process that takes up valuable timetime most busy taxpayers dont have. Weve streamlined those steps and added several features through our software in order to make paying estimated and additional taxes a breeze.

The 1040ES and 1040V tax form self-mailers work cohesively with Laser Substrates secure, downloadable TransForm software (Tax Payer Edition). Users can print the 1040ES and 1040V with an optional payment check, signature, and even postage (via a Stamps.com account)all in one pass through their home or office non-impact printer. An option for USPS-approved Certified Mail is also included to provide added assurance of timely payment receipts to the IRS. Several bonus features simplify the process further:



The senders zip code automatically references the correct IRS address to print on the envelope portion. No need to go searching online.

A signature capture function lets users enter their signature electronically so that it can be reused. This eliminates the need to sign the forms and checks by hand.

The Tax Payer version includes forms for all states that require state quarterly filings, as well as the latest city and local forms where required.

Complete summaries that include every payment made in a tax year can be produced and printed at any time.

An unlimited number of taxpayers and transactions can be produced from the software. This is a boon to multiple family members filing singly as well as money managers, financial and asset managers, and personal agents.

Tax issues are challenging enough for self-employed professionals and small business owners, adds Nelson. With our multi-functional tax form self mailers, weve helped to make the process less daunting and easier to manage, and thats a major step forward.

TransForm Tax Payer Edition software can be downloaded at no cost; users only pay for the forms themselves. Forms are available in quantities as few as 10. For additional information, a visual demo, or form ordering please visit: http://www.tax-form-self-mailers.com.

# # #

About LaserSubstrates, Inc.

Located in Boca Raton, Florida, Laser Substrates, Inc. is the leading provider of PC-based and web-based software solutions to automate the generation of USPS Certified Mail forms. Laser Substrates, Inc. also develops, manufactures, and markets engineered laminated business forms compatible with today's most popular laser and inkjet printers.

CONTACT:

Mark Nelson, Director of Operations

Laser Substrates, Inc.

6251-C Park of Commerce Blvd.

Boca Raton, FL 33487

(800) 538-4900
In a policy paper published by the journal Science today, over 40 scientists from academic and civil society institutions around the world argued that the expansion of hydropower dams in the Amazon, Congo and Mekong river basins poses a catastrophic threat to global freshwater biodiversity. The lead author of the study is Kirk Winemiller of Texas A&M University, a member a Belmont Forum/National Science Foundation team led by Conservation International that studies the impacts of global change on biodiversity and people.

Conservation International understands the demand for energy development in these regions, however, with the unprecedented amount of hydropower development proposed or underway in these iconic river basins, there is an urgent need to better understand the cumulative environmental impact of these projects before they are built in order to strike the proper balance between producing hydropower and sustaining the irreplaceable biodiversity of these rivers. The consequences of ignoring these cumulative impacts has born out in the tragic histories of many of worlds other iconic rivers including the Colorado, Rio Grande, Indus and Yellow rivers. These often run dry, because hydropower and irrigation developments took place without a more integrative and strategic planning at the basin scale.

These are the three rivers with the highest remaining biodiversity of freshwater fish species on the planet and the scale of hydropower expansion poses a serious threat to that biodiversity, said Leo Saenz, director of eco-hydrology for Conservation International and co-author on the paper. Saenz and colleagues from Kings College London have mapped over 40,000 existing and proposed hydropower dams, which is the largest geo-referenced inventory of dams available.

The food supply and health of literally millions of people hangs in the balance and we have to do a better job, said Lee Hannah, senior fellow for climate change biology at Conservation International and lead scientist of the Belmont Forum research. These rivers are the canaries in the coal mine for thousands of other tropical fisheries. We need to understand these complex systems, but we also need conservation action even as research results are unfolding.

Saenz elaborated: When impact assessments are conducted now, they are done on a specific site with no analysis into the cumulative impacts that multiple dams can have at the basin scale and from ridge to reef into the future. There is simply no understanding of how the construction of a dam today, and another five years from now, and another in ten years  all in the same river basin  will impact the biodiversity found in these rivers and push it past a point of no return, where large scale species extinctions are imminent. The history of heavily dammed rivers also tells us that the livelihoods of many human communities, often the poor, can result permanently affected when rivers run dry. Not to mention, this can also negatively impact the opportunities for tourism and freshwater recreation that can also help to support local economies.

We want to see multilateral and development banks, which often provide loans that finance dam developments, move to require thorough cumulative impact assessments at the basin scale, that benefit from the most robust science available today, especially for those rivers that include multiple planned construction sites over time, Saenz said. Only through this kind of analysis together with thorough basin scale integrated and strategic planning can we ensure that the threshold of biodiversity resilience, beyond which species extinctions are imminent, is not surpassed by hydropower and development.

The Amazon, Congo and Mekong rivers hold roughly one-third of the worlds freshwater fish species, most of which are not found outside these remarkable basins. The Amazon is home to over 2,300 fish species with new species descried each year. The Congo holds over 1,000 different fish species and the Mekong is home to 850 species and has already been felt the impacts of hydropower development.

In these three rivers there are plans for 450 dams, some of which have already begun construction. Loss of biodiversity in these rivers has rippling impacts on millions of people that depend on the Amazon, Congo and Mekong rivers for clean and drinkable water, food and jobs. The Lower Mekong delta directly supports 60 million people with an inland fishery valued at US$17 billion.

On the Amazon: The Amazon has outstanding freshwater biodiversity that provides food security for millions of people, but that is threatened by the way hydropower expansion is taking place. We need to be smart about how we develop hydropower so we can meet energy needs while also securing the ecosystems and biodiversity that people depend on for their prosperity and well-being."

 Rodrigo Medeiros, Vice President Conservation International Brazil

On the Congo: "The vast forest of the Congo Basin is the second largest tropical rainforest on Earth and about 40 million Africans rely on its incredibly rich and diverse ecosystem for food, fresh water, shelter and medicine. It is home to many critically endangered species including forest elephants, gorillas, okapis, and bonobos  human beings closest living relative. Of the hundreds of mammal species that have been discovered there, 39 are found nowhere else on Earth, and of its estimated 10,000 plant species, 3,300 are unique to the region. Any energy development, including hydropower, in this unique biodiversity, must ensure that it works in consonance with the ecosystem and not against it".

 Michael OBrien-Onyeka, senior vice president for Conservation International Africa & Madagascar Field Division

On the Mekong: Hundreds of dams are planned for the Mekong. It is not only the main stem of the Mekong that is important for sustaining biodiversity, but also smaller rivers and streams, where we are still discovering freshwater dependent species, vital for sustaining the wealth of biodiversity that exists. Information about species impacts related to development projects is often limited, and yet decisions impacting them go forward anyway. We have seen that spatial planning, and the inclusion of data about biodiversity, into criteria for development projects is increasing in the Mekong. Even if it is only used to raise awareness, that is an important start to increase transparency around impacts, trade-offs and pave the way for better informed decision making.

 Tracy Farrell, Conservation International Regional Director, Greater Mekong Region

###

Learn more at: http://www.conservation.org/

For more information, contact:

Kevin Connor, Media Manager, Conservation International

Office +1 703 341 2405/ mobile +1 410 868 1369/ email kconnor(at)conservation.org

About the Belmont Forum

The Belmont Forum is a collaboration of research agencies from 14 countries, all pooling resources to create multinational science teams to help solve global environmental problems. The National Science Foundation is the participating research agency from the United States. Global change and tropical fisheries is one theme being addressed by Belmont Forum scientists.

About Conservation International

Since 1987, Conservation International has been working to improve human well-being through the care of nature. With the guiding principle that nature doesn't need people, but people need nature for food, water, health and livelihoodsCI works with more than 1,000 partners around the world to ensure a healthy, more prosperous planet that supports the well-being of people. Learn more about CI at conservation.org.
Bear Creek Motel & Cabins Our four gentle seasons make us not only the vacation spot that is pleasant to visit anytime during the year, but also the ideal spot to host a wedding year-round. Past News Releases RSS

The holiday season typically sees a plethora of engagements and, subsequently, planning the inevitable wedding takes time, said Donnel. For that reason, booking your facilities now, ahead of time, is strongly recommended.

As for Bear Creek Motel & Cabins, situated in stunning southwest New Mexico, they are flexible with any customized arrangements people would like to have at their wedding. Additionally, there are numerous beautiful locations around its grounds where people can have their wedding ceremony and reception and for couples to have their photos taken.

Our four gentle seasons make us not only the vacation spot that is pleasant to visit anytime during the year, but also the ideal spot to host a wedding year-round, said Donnel. As for guests, after the wedding is over they can utilize the opportunity to visit nearby historic Silver City and explore the adjacent Gila National Forest Wilderness Area and the Gila Cliff Dwellings, among other historically significant sites in the area.

The Bear Creek basic wedding package starts at $895. Interested parties need to call (888) 388-4515 for additional information and available dates.

About Bear Creek Motel & Cabins

Bear Creek Motel & Cabins features 15 secluded, enchanting and delightful two-story split-level cabins with fireplaces. Amenities include free Wi-Fi, satellite TV, microwaves, kitchens, comfortable beds with crisp linens, private porch with BBQ grill and picnic table, a fenced pet play area and a new, fully enclosed hot tub facility for all seasons. Bear Creek Motel & Cabins is located at 88 Main Street, Pinos Altos, NM 88053. Follow them on Facebook.

About the NALA

The NALA offers local business owners new online advertising & small business marketing tools, great business benefits, education and money-saving programs, as well as a charity program. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
The Dominguez Law Firm Los Angelitos Orphanage is a childrens home that provides underprivileged children the opportunity to experience secure living conditions, a nurtured upbringing, schooling and a pleasant family life. Past News Releases RSS

Los Angelitos Orphanage is a childrens home that provides underprivileged children the opportunity to experience secure living conditions, a nurtured upbringing, schooling and a pleasant family life, said Dominguez. All of its residents are either orphans or abandoned children that would otherwise be living on the streets of Tijuana.

Los Angelitos is a secure orphanage located in the rural south Tijuana area with a second location in urban Tijuana. It primarily serves children that are under the jurisdiction of the Mexican government. The orphanage has been operating for thirteen years and currently has children ranging in age from 1 to 21, with several in college.

Dominguez, a first-generation immigrant, has been donating to the orphanage for seven years. He understands the needs of the less fortunate in Latin America, where he has lived and traveled extensively throughout his life. Because the majority of his clients are of first-generation Mexican heritage, Dominguez wanted to give back to the Mexican community and be able to not only contribute financially, but also be involved personally in Tijuana, Mexico, the closest city in Mexico to where Dominguez lives and works in Los Angeles.

Los Angelitos Orphanage is our favorite charity and we are honored to help with its continued growth so that they can help as many children as possible, said Dominguez. There are so many children who need to be saved from the streets of Tijuana, and the ongoing plan is to perpetually improve the environment of the orphanage for the betterment of the children living there.

The future plan for Los Angelitos is to finish the dormitory and kitchen. However, since the orphanage can only afford to hire two construction workers, the timeline for each construction project is very extensive, and they rely on donations to fund these projects. To donate to Los Angelitos Orphanage, please visit http://www.losangelitos.org/donate.html.

About Juan J. Dominguez, The Dominguez Law Firm, Inc.

Juan J. Dominguez is a nationally recognized, award-winning, bilingual attorney. His personal injury, workers compensation, immigration, employment law and consumer rights law practice is one of the most successful and well-known in Southern California and provides a free initial consultation. In 2013, Mr. Dominguez was honored with distinction by the Hispanic National Bar Association with the Latino Attorney of the Year award, and in 2014 the Mexican-American Bar Association honored him with the Special Recognition Award for his outstanding career accomplishments and contributions to the community. The Los Angeles Business Journal awarded him the 2015 Latino Business Award for setting the example for excellence. http://www.DominguezFirm.com
The 7400-S builds on the capabilities of the popular 7400 Series system for improved performance when measuring a broader number of sample materials. The smaller magnet versions offer fields previously only achievable by upgrading to a larger electromagnet.

Lake Shore Cryotronics, a leading innovator in solutions for measurement over a wide range of temperature and magnetic field conditions, announced today the release of the 7400-S Series VSM (vibrating sample magnetometer) featuring higher electromagnet field strengths and other system enhancements.

Ideal for demanding magnetic material characterization applications, the 7400-S builds on the capabilities of the popular 7400 Series system for improved performance when measuring a broader number of sample materials. The workhorse system combines high sensitivity, precision electronics and flexible application software with the ability to characterize temperature dependence of magnetic material properties over a wide 4.2 K to 1273 K temperature range.

Now featuring an enhanced design, the VSM provides higher field strengths in all magnet sizes. The 10-inch (Model 7410-S) configuration offers 3.42 T strengths, while the smaller magnet versions offer fields previously only achievable by upgrading to a larger electromagnet  up to 3.05 T with the 7-inch (7407-S) system and up to 2.63 T with the 4-inch (7404-S) version.

With its redesign, the VSM also offers faster field ramping, improved field setting resolution, a high-sensitivity Hall probe, an updated controller with new gaussmeter circuitry, and quick-swap, ultra-thin pickup coils. Highly sensitive, the VSM features a noise floor as low as 1  10^-7 emu at 10 s/pt sampling, and its technology ensures high stability, with a moment stability of 0.05% per day.

Additionally, the system now includes an upgraded PC/monitor workstation, from which users can execute measurements quickly using the softwares Windows interface. Any number of parameters can be automatically extracted from hysteresis loop data when testing nanoparticles or other material samples in powder, solid, liquid or thin film form. The system can also be used for first order reversal curve (FORC) data acquisition using a free downloadable utility from Lake Shore. The utility provides a convenient way for users to set up and run FORC measurements, and then converts the resulting data sets for use with popular FORC analysis packages like FORCinel and VARIFORC.

As with Lake Shores original 7400 Series system, the 7400-S can be ordered with a number of options. In addition to sample holders for measuring individual or bulk samples at room, cryogenic and high temperatures, it can be specified with a single-stage variable temperature assembly, variable temperature cryostat for rapid cooling, high temperature oven, and a magnetoresistance probe, as well as vector coil and autorotation options for investigating magnetically-anisotropic materials.

Researchers interested in learning more about the VSM can visit Booth 8 at the 13th Joint MMM-Intermag conference exhibit, Jan. 1115, in San Diego, where Lake Shore will be discussing the 7400-S along with the companys MicroMag VSM/AGM systems, magnetic measurement instruments and other material characterization systems.

About Lake Shore Cryotronics, Inc.

Supporting advanced research since 1968, Lake Shore Cryotronics (http://www.lakeshore.com) is a leading innovator in measurement and control solutions for materials characterization under variable temperature and magnetic field conditions. High-performance product solutions from Lake Shore include cryogenic temperature sensors and instrumentation, magnetic test and measurement systems, probe stations, and precision materials characterizations systems that explore the electronic and magnetic properties of next-generation materials. Lake Shore serves an international base of research customers at leading university, government, aerospace, and commercial research institutions, and is supported by a global network of sales and service facilities.
Ronald McDonald House provides comfort and peace-of-mind to families in very challenging circumstances. We feel honored to do anything we can to help.

Serving families of southwest Oregon from offices in Vancouver and Camas, Ami Bennett Agencies introduces a new charity campaign as part of its recently launched community involvement program, raising funds for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oregon and Southwest Washington. On behalf of families with hospitalized children, donations are now being accepted at https://support.rmhcoregon.org/donate.

Ronald McDonald House is an internationally renowned nonprofit organization which supports the families of children around the world who are hospitalized with serious injuries and illnesses. Founded on the simple premise that nothing else should matter when a family is focused on healing their child  not where they can afford to stay, where they will get their next meal or how they will keep the family together  Ronald McDonald House is often referred to as The House That Love Built. Serving as a home away from home, at Ronald McDonald House families may enjoy home-cooked meals, private rooms and playrooms for the kids. Providing parents and siblings with housing in peaceful, safe locations close to children receiving treatment means that families can support each other during stressful hospital stays. Keeping families together and nearby raises everyones spirits, enables parents to communicate more effectively with their childrens medical teams and facilitates healing.

Were very excited to be working with Ronald McDonald House, said Ami Bennett, owner of Ami Bennett Agencies. Its hard to comprehend just how frightening a hospital stay is to a child. Ronald McDonald House provides comfort and peace-of-mind to families in very challenging circumstances. We feel honored to do anything we can to help.

The team at Ami Bennett Agencies is hard at work mobilizing their network of customers, business partners, friends, family and neighbors in order to spread the word about the campaign. To help reach their goal of $500, the agency itself has pledged to donate $10 to Ronald McDonald House for each and every referral they receive for an insurance quote, with no purchase necessary. The initiative will be promoted through the agencys social media channels, email and text message communications, as well as through their monthly magazine. Our Hometown magazine is delivered to thousands of households in the Vancouver metro area, and reserves a full page to feature all the details of this very worthy cause. The electronic Flipbook version of the current issue may be accessed here: http://www.amibennettagencies.com/Our-Hometown-Magazine_46.

Readers wishing to join the agencys efforts to help better the community, while bringing awareness to important local causes, are encouraged to visit http://www.amibennettagencies.com/Home-Away-From-Home-for-Seriously-Ill-Children_7_community_cause and are asked to share the page with friends, family and coworkers. All those who contribute to the campaign for Ronald McDonald House will be acknowledged in Our Hometown magazine.

The community enrichment program initiated by Ami Bennett Agencies will continue to highlight and support people in need in the local community. The agency has promised to launch a new cause every 30-60 days, in collaboration with local nonprofits and community members. Members of the community who would like to suggest a group, family or individual to be considered for future campaigns may do so through http://www.amibennettagencies.com/Add-Community-Cause_45. The selected worthy causes will be contacted by a representative of Ami Bennett Agenciess Community Program. More information regarding past campaigns supported by the agency may be found at http://www.amibennettagencies.com/community-cause. To learn more about the agency, please visit http://www.amibennettagencies.com/. Information on Ronald McDonald House may be found at http://rmhcoregon.org/.

About Ami Bennett Agencies

Serving families from offices in Vancouver and Camas, Ami Bennett Agencies is a full service, award-winning firm whose mission is simple: to provide the best insurance and financial services in the industry, while providing consistently superior service. Ami Bennett and her team of caring professionals believe in protecting all the things which are most important to their clients (their families, homes, cars and more), and in helping to prepare long-term strategies to enable financial success. The dedicated experts at Ami Bennett Agencies may be reached by calling 360-834-3992.
If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity.

PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move.
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During the summer of 2014, Dan Santats new picture book, The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend (Little, Brown), appeared on a few mock Caldecott lists  attention that is both flattering and potentially nerve-wracking. The books editor, Connie Hsu, who left Little, Brown for Macmillans Roaring Brook Press imprint the week that Beekle was published, did what she could to counteract the possibility of a jinx. If it wins the medal, she told Santat. Ill get a Beekle tattoo.

See photograph, below left.

With Hsus commitment to Santat now branded on her forearm, it was perhaps only a matter of time before he followed her to her new editorial home. In December, he signed a four-book deal to publish with three of Macmillans imprints. Santats agent, Jodi Reamer at Writers House, negotiated the deal for world rights.

Santat agonized over making the change. Little, Brown did no wrong, he said, but part of me feels like because [Hsu] had left, she didnt get to experience the [Caldecott] success. She didnt get a raise or a bonus and I feel like I really owe her. At this point, were like family. 

With all these imprints [at Macmillan], this is a great home for Dan, said Hsu. Its like a one-stop shop for somebody as prolific and with as many interests as he has.

Broken Eggs, Big Ideas

The first of the four books to be published will be After the Fall (Roaring Brook, fall 2017), which details the aftermath of Humpty Dumptys accident. In Santats version, Humpty is put back together again but is missing one piece of his shell  which he learns is still on top of the wall. Hes going to have to go back up there, Santat said. Its really about overcoming a fear and getting back on your feet.

Hsu will also edit a second, as yet untitled, picture book which both author and editor agreed needs more shaping. Dan thinks really big, Hsu said. He has all these themes and layers he wants to incorporate and the challenge is to do that and still keep the story simple enough that everyone can enjoy it.

Santat said that Hsus ability to keep me on my toes is one of the reasons he chose to sign on with her again. She will question my ideas if she doesnt think the message is coming through the way I intended, he said.

Santat will also work with Neal Porter, publisher of Neal Porter Books, on Dude, written by Aaron Reynolds, with whom Santat previously collaborated on Carnivores (Chronicle, 2013). Reynoldss text has just one word, and features the exploits of a surfing platypus and beaver. A 2018 release is planned.

Finally, Santat will also write and illustrate a graphic novel memoir, You Bad Son, based on Dans experience as an only child in a Thai-American family, which First Second will publish in spring 2018. Hsu will edit.

Dr. Santat Will See You Now

The idea for the memoir sprang from a story Santat told at a NCTE conference a few years ago, where he was promoting Crankenstein. My parents wanted me to be a doctor so they never let me take art classes because they didnt want me to be distracted from the goal of medical school, Santat said. The day before he was to start dental school, he screwed up the courage to tell his father he had instead enrolled in art school.

I thought he was going to kill me but instead he said, I just want you to be happy,  Santat recalled. The day after the conference, a librarian who heard Santats speech called Hsu to say she thought his story of his childhood would make a good graphic novel.

The switch to Macmillan gave Hsu the opportunity to bring up the idea again. One of the perks that came with the move was being able to acquire selectively for First Second, and Dan is a huge fan of their list, she said. He had visited the booth at Comic Con and introduced himself to [editorial director] Mark Siegel and [senior editor] Calista Brill. Hsu has not edited a graphic novel before but is excited by the prospect. Its a dream come true for me and I have the best people to guide me. Ill learn under their tutelage.

For Santat, the new books mean a further shift away from illustrating the work of other writers to authoring his own titles. His next book, Are We There Yet? (Little Brown, Apr.), also features a text he wrote, based on his younger sons impatience with car rides. The journey in Santats book is so long and tortuous it involves traveling both back to the Paleolithic era and then into the future. At one point, you have to turn the book upside down to read it, Santat said.

While hes promoting it later this spring, he can show off his own Beekle tattoo. I told Connie, if you get one, Ill get one, too, he said. For her part, Hsu says any future bets made with the universe wont involve getting more tattoos. Itll have to be something that is less scarring.
Chris Grabenstein went from acting with an improv troupe (alongside Bruce Willis) to writing commercials under James Patterson, to finally regaling middle grade (and adult) readers with his novels. His second book featuring Mr. Lemoncello  the eccentric billionaire who designed an inventive new library in Escape From Mr. Lemoncellos Library  picks up where his first one left off, expanding his library clue-searching game across the country. Virtually unknown to readers until he started visiting schools for Mr. Lemoncello, and then earning fans with his engaging presentations, Grabenstein now has plenty of work on his plate, between school visits, his own books, and writing with former boss Patterson, including the I Funny, Treasure Hunters, and Daniel X series. He spoke with PW about how improv helps writing, what its like to collaborate with Patterson, and whats in the works for Mr. Lemoncello.

Youve worked in advertising and in improv. What led you from that to childrens books, and how does your background inform your current career?

All advertising  on TV, the radio, in a magazine  is basically a big interruption. Nobody really wants to watch or hear what you have to say. You have to earn the viewers attention and give them a reward for watching or listening. Looking back at my 20 years of writing commercials, I think it helped prepare me for writing fast-paced page-turners that grab the attention of even the most reluctant readers. It reminds me of what my first publisher said to me: I like you ex-ad guys. You dont waste peoples time.

Improv is a big part of my in-person school presentation. I teach story structure and the power of rewriting by, basically, making up a story, on the spot, using the kids suggestions. My goal is to demonstrate how, if you give yourself permission to write a really bad first draft, if you just say yes, and to whatever pops up, youll never have writers block and maybe even surprise yourself with what your subconscious has to contribute to a tale. Then, of course, we talk about rewriting. Because writers block only happens when we try to make something perfect on the first pass.

Youre releasing a sequel to Escape from Mr. Lemoncellos Library. What direction are you taking the series in this volume, and are you planning more books?

The new book, Mr. Lemoncellos Library Olympics, was inspired by a fifth grader on one of my school visits who remarked, I bet Charles Chiltington (the villain in Escape) has the worst Christmas vacation of his life, watching the winners of the first game starring in Mr. Lemoncellos holiday commercials. That got my mental wheels whirling. I imagined that kids all across the country would wonder about the new TV stars, too. When they learn that starring in the Lemoncello holiday spots was the prize for a game they werent invited to play, they demand a rematch. Mr. Lemoncello is buried in letters and emails. He decides the kids are right so he sponsors the first ever Library Olympics, featuring teams from seven different regions of the country. Twelve library games will be played and whichever team wins the most medals will be crowned the true champions of the library.

And, yes, we are already planning a third book: Mr. Lemoncellos Great Library Race.

The first book has been optioned by Nickelodeon. Is there any word on the project moving forward? Would you want to be involved in the adaptation?

Were hearing good things from Hollywood. Nothing official yet, but fingers are definitely crossed. We should know whether the project has a green light by late spring or early summer. Id love to visit the set if the movie gets made (and ride the hover ladders) but I think it might be best if a more experienced screenwriter crafted the script. After all, movies from books are all about cutting things out, killing darlings. That would be easier for someone else to do, I think.

Youre also quite prolific in writing books with James Patterson. How do you balance your own work with those projects?

When I write with James Patterson he does more than half the work. In fact, he sends me a 6080 page outline, with all the characters and the whole plot completely mapped out. I execute against that outline and send him new pages every month for each project that were working on. So, about half of a month goes to Patterson projects, the other half goes to my solo work. I also drink a lot of coffee.

Mr. Lemoncellos Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein. Random, $16.99 Jan. ISBN 978-0-553-51040-9.
Workman and its Algonquin Young Readers imprint are welcoming 2016 with iLoveMG, an initiative encouraging booksellers, librarians, teachers, bloggers, and other childrens publishers to celebrate middle-grade books and authors. The iLOVEmg campaign will have its major kickoff on Twitter, featuring the hashtag #ILoveMG, during the week of January 25. In late December, a targeted mailing to booksellers, educational experts, and bloggers announced the initiative and supplied those champions of middle-grade literature with iLoveMG signage, tote bags, and stickers. Also integral to the campaign is a free monthly email newsletter.

The campaign was the brainchild of Trevor Ingerson, head of childrens educational and library marketing and sales at Workman, who began spreading word of iLoveMG during its soft launch at NCTE in November. In addition to distributing the logo-touting swag, Ingerson had white boards on hand at Workmans booth, on which conference attendees were invited to complete the sentence: I love MG because.

Ingerson, who is working closely on the initiative with Eileen Lawrence, director of marketing at Algonquin Young Readers, and Jessica Wiener, Workmans director of integrated marketing, was gratified by the reaction to the white-board testimonials. We really had a terrific response, and we saw some poignant messages from teachers who were very excited to share their sentiments, he recalled. And I was so impressed by the range of statements  throughout the conference, not one response was repeated.

Fittingly, the iLoveMG campaign was largely inspired by Ingersons own affection for the genre. Its such a formative category that shapes readers as they come into reading independently and figuring out how they fit in with the world, and what kinds of books they want to read, he said. I started my publishing career working at what was then Scholastic Book Clubs, and quickly fell in love with middle grade, given the quality and range of the titles. And through my current work with teachers and librarians, Ive come to appreciate the power of the category.

Ingerson also shared his concern that MG at times gets overlooked  perhaps middle-child syndrome  on the marketing side, given the more difficult-to-nab consumer base. Picture books you can market to parents, and YA you can market directly to teens, but in middle grade, such a critical time for readers, it can be more difficult to reach your audience. So with this campaign, we want to elevate the awareness and importance of books at this age level.

Lawrence at Algonquin Young Readers noted that her appreciation of MG stems from the message books often send to readers and the choices it opens for them. Middle-grade titles can show kids that there are kids like them and they are not the only ones feeling lonely, or worrying that they arent cool, or thinking their parents are weird, she explained. And at this age, readers are realizing the breadth of choices they have, and discovering book subjects and authors they never knew existed.

Ingerson and Lawrence both underscored the collaborative mission of the campaign, in which they hope other childrens publishers will participate. Anytime we can come together as an industry to support our books is wonderful, said Lawrence. We kids publishers have big mouths, and like to rally to help promote each others titles when possible.

To that end, Workman is encouraging fellow publishers to contribute book news and other content to the iLoveMG newsletter, and to feature the initiatives logo in their social media platforms. We dont want to pigeonhole the newsletter, but make it fluid and responsive to what subscribers are interested in, said Ingerson. Wed like it to be a mix of things, including pieces surrounding industry events and awards, and perhaps eventually original contributions from authors. The publisher plans to promote the newsletter and the other components of the iLoveMG initiative at ALA Midwinter, January 812, and at TLA in Houston, April 1922.

MG Devotees Climb on Board

Though still in its formative stages, iLoveMG has attracted the attention of an array of middle-grade fans. Several shared their thoughts about the genre and Workmans effort to spark and share enthusiasm for it.

Colby Sharp, third-grade teacher at Parma Elementary School in Parma, Mich., wrote on his white board at NCTE that he loves middle grade because It saves lives. He added, I believe that this genre offers kids the best books at the best time in their lives to read. Its such a time of transition for readers as they delve into depths of fantasy universes and encounter narrative nonfiction and graphic novels  all for the first time  and find their identities as readers. Middle grade is one of the most precious times in our reading lives, when books can shape who we become as adults. It blows my mind that this category isnt appreciated by everyone as much as it should be. To me, middle grade is everything, and I think its great that the Workman campaign is focusing on it. As I see it, its all about the kids.

"...Were all still figuring it out!! wrote Tracey Baptiste, author of Angels Grace (S&S/Wiseman, 2005) and The Jumbies (Algonquin Young Readers, 2015), on her white board. I think I never did grow up  my childhood in Trinidad was so rich with stories and good feelings, that when I write I automatically go back to that point in my life. Middle grade is a breakthrough time for readers  they are making their own reading choices, and finding the books that connect with them in a special way can be so impactful. I think its really lovely that kids can say, through their reading choices, This is what I like to read  this is my personality. I think the iLoveMG initiative is a lot of fun, and  though it may sound a little self-serving  I love that it is bringing attention to middle grade. People talk a lot about picture books and YA, but middle grade is just starting to get some love, and Im happy that this initiative is helping.

Cathy Berner, childrens and YA specialist at Blue Willow in Houston, told PW, I dont think theres any disagreement that if you hook young readers in middle grade, you hook them for life. I also think its one of the richest and must critical categories we have, and covers such a huge swath of development time for kids. Readers are ready for more sophisticated story lines and books with more background knowledge. At the same time, middle-grade books make wonderful read-alouds, and its so important for kids who are reading on their own to also hear the language spoken. I think Workmans campaign is a great idea. I like to think that it will bring more attention to middle-grade books, and help kids and parents realize how vibrant and varied this category is.

Another bookseller, Sara Hines, co-owner of Eight Cousins in Falmouth, Mass., also weighed in for this piece: No section in a bookstore is one-size-fits-all, but this is especially true in middle-grade, since its such a transition period and kids transition at such different rates. We have lots of conversations in the store about whether these kids are 12 going on 13 or 12 going on 18! It is so important for kids to continue reading at this stage, and so important for us to provide them with books that are just theirs. We do see people skipping the middle-grade section and moving from early readers into younger YA, thinking that middle grade isnt challenging enough. Of course that is not the case  the category has so many beautifully written books with complicated narratives and interesting characters. Our job is to make sure that our customers know that they are there, and iLoveMG campaign is a great reminder to kids and parents: Dont skip over these great books  enjoy them! 
Frances most prestigious literary award for comics is embroiled in controversy after its organizers released a list of 30 nominees for the award that did not include any women.

The Festival dAngouleme's all-male list of nominees was immediately denounced by BD Egalite, a collective of French female cartoonists, who released a statement calling for a boycott of the 2016 Grand Prix dAngouleme. BD Egalite's statement said: We protest this obvious discrimination, this total negation of our representation in a medium practiced by more women every year.

The Angouleme Festival International de la Bande Desinee (FIBD), which opens at the end of January, is the most prestigious comics festival in Europe. And the Grand Prix dAngouleme is the festival's lifetime achievement award, and highest literary honor. With the prize comes a full exhibition the following year, extensive media attention and, in most cases, a boost in big book sales.

After the list was released on Tuesday, bestselling French cartoonist and Grand Prix dAngouleme nominee Riad Sattouf (Arab of the Future) was the first to demand that his name be withdrawn from contention. Other French cartoonistsamong them Milo Manara, Joann Sfar, Pierre Cristin, Etienne Davodeau and Christophe Blainequickly followed. A number of American cartoonists who were also nominated, such as Chris Ware and Dan Clowes, joined the French boycott and asked to be removed from the list.

In response to the boycott, festival organizers initially offered to add six women to the list of nominees. Then the FIBD withdrew the list completely. Instead, cartoonists will now be allowed to vote for any artist they wish.

The new nomination process has done little, though, to halt the chorus of voices now speaking out against the prize. American comics artist Jessica Abel (Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio), a French speaker who lives in France who has also been a juror for the festival's book prizes (a separate award category), posted a notice on Facebook in support of the boycott. Clowes, one of the Grand Prix dAngouleme nominees who came out early in favor of the boycott, is equally nonplussed. He called said the nomination list is "now a totally meaningless honor." He then added that the list has led to "a ridiculous, embarrassing debacle.

Remarks in defense of the list by Franck Bondoux, CEO of 9eArt (a company set up in 2007 to oversee and manage the Angouleme festival), only served to generate more support for the boycott. Bondoux said, to French media outlets that "there are few women in the history of comics. It's a reality. If you go to the Louvre, you will also find very few female artists. In reaction to his remarks, cartoonists in France and the U.S. began posting lists of acclaimed female cartoonists on social media.

The BD Egalite statement noted that over the 43 years the Grand Prix has been awarded, only one woman, Florence Cestac, has ever been honored. In its statement, BD Egalite said: We simply ask for the consideration of the reality of our existence and of our value.
Five book industry organizations issued a statement on Thursday expressing concern about the mysterious disappearance of five employees of the Hong Kong publishing company Mighty Current, and its bookstore, the Causeway Bay Bookstore. The disappearance of the employees has resulted in widespread media coverage speculating on their fate.

Mighty Current publishes books that have been critical of the Chinese government, and the missing employees are believed to be in custody of Chinese officials.

In a statement, the American Booksellers Association (ABA), the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the Authors Guild (AG), the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF), and PEN American Center (PEN), expressed extreme concern over news reports about the situation.

The industry groups went on to urge the Chinese government to explain what has happened to the Hong Kong booksellers, noting that when Great Britain relinquished control of Hong Kong in 1997, China promised to protect freedom of press there for 50 years. The statement said: The summary abduction of men who are engaged in the publication and sale of books would be a very serious violation of press freedom and would have a profoundly chilling effect on free speech in Hong Kong.

The groups also asked the U.S. government to investigate the circumstances of the disappearances and to assist in the release of the missing men.
 Appointments and promotions:

- John Nasukaluk Clare has been named music director of WBAA, Purdue's public radio station. The appointment, announced by Mike Savage, general manager of WBAA, is effective Feb. 1. Clare also will be the new host for the Morning Classics program on WBAA Classical 101.3 FM, replacing longtime host Jan Simon who retired in December. A former NPR broadcaster, Clare has previously worked with Voice of America, the Canadian Broadcast Corp. and public radio stations in Texas, Kansas, Nevada, California, and Pennsylvania. His most recent position was content director at classical music station KMFA in Austin, Texas.

- Venetria K. Patton has been appointed the head of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies in the College of Liberal Arts. Patton has been director of African American Studies and Research Center at Purdue for 12 years, and Provost Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion. Patton's teaching and research focus is on African American and diasporic women's literature. She has written and edited several books in the field. Patton is a former chair of the Purdue Black Caucus of Faculty and Staff, and a former board member of the National Council for Black Studies and the Hanna Community Center. The School of Interdisciplinary Studies was founded in 2014 and is the home of 14 programs.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP)  It turns out that deer love animal crackers in a major way.

Dr. Cliff Shipley, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, keeps about 80 deer, mule deer and elk on 15 acres near Homer Lake.

"Here you go, 404," he tells a hungry deer, and the others gather around to get the crackers from a bulk-sized plastic container.

Are there any deer among those animal crackers?

"I hope not," Shipley says. "That would make them cannibals."

But the deer don't eat flesh; 404, a favorite of Shipley's, licks my fingers, then moves in to try to take a chew out of my jacket on a brisk day out on the prairie.

"404 is very tame. She's my good girl. She loves having her chin scratched," the doctor says.

Shipley, a native of Iowa, bought the land in 2000. It had been a horse pasture; his family planted 5,000 trees.

"I'm a country boy," says Shipley, who had lived in Urbana before buying the land.

Shipley, who is turning 61, said he wanted to get back to the land, and he was able to combine his veterinary medicine specialty, arthroscopic artificial insemination, with the simple of joy of gentle beasts on the land.

Still, it means chores for himself every day, or for son Clint, who usually handles the urine collection.

The deer start to swarm the professor to get at the cookies.

"They're hooked on crackers," he adds.

The animals are penned off by breed; there can be a lot more than 80 of them in fawning season. They are sold to petting zoos, full-sized zoos and hunting parks and just for pets.

The Toronto Zoo is looking for some animals right now, but Illinois is a state where chronic wasting disease has been found, so it's off-limits for now. (None of Shipley's deer has the disease).

Ted Lock of Sycamore Farm in Indiana worked alongside Shipley in the UI vet school for years, and is impressed with the deer ranch.

"Cliff is an amazing guy, probably one of the most versatile veterinarians I ever met," Lock said.

"He got into the deer and elk business and I thought, 'Holy cow, what's he thinking?' But he's really made quite a go of it and really made a worldwide reputation in deer farm management."

Besides selling the deer and elk, the ranch also provides a service to hunters. Deer urine has monetary value, especially that of a doe in heat.

"I started working with deer a lot 15 or 20 years ago at the clinic," says Shipley, who is cutting back from 80-hour weeks as retirement seems ever more enticing. He says the ranch and other projects will keep him more than busy once he leaves the UI.

The deer are pampered to say the least. In captivity, a deer can live up to two decades, but 3 is a normal age limit out in the wild.

"We've seen a lot of coyotes around here," he said.

Alas, by 8 to 10 years old, deer tend to have worn down their teeth from all that vegetable matter.

Shipley walks on to another penned area where there are mule deer, which harken from the Plains States and Rocky Mountains. He found his first breeding group in Minnesota.

Mule deer look a little like mules around the ear. Shipley says Lewis and Clark gave them the name as they trudged westward in service of Thomas Jefferson. They discovered mule deer, as far as the American history is concerned, though Shipley notes the native Americans had known them by their own names for thousands of years.

Another difference from white-tailed deer is the black tip at the end of their tails.

One mule deer has broken antlers. Shipley gives him an extra handful of crackers.

Though the animals are penned off for breeding purposes, at one time early on Shipley had them all together.

"I used to run them all together and they all got along pretty well," he recalls.

All the deer and the elk seem to like animal crackers, but they also eat a lot of apples, some from UI orchards, Shipley said. They love carrots, plums and peaches.

Son Clint Shipley, who works in the UI's horticulture department, often gets the apples. Daughter Abriel Shipley, a UI graphic artist, runs the website, saltforkriverranch.com.

The professor has given tours to Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church groups, even the USDA. Some of the younger tourists want the animal crackers.

"Yeah, you can have some, too," he tells them.

He shows off the white deer. "You should see them in the snow," he says. They're popular as pets, and seem extra-calm.

One white doe is with a buck, and she has an appetite. "410 can eat (the crackers) as fast as I can give them to her," he says.

For beverages, there's a choice of water or water.

There are watering tubes all over the ranch; a tube into the ground provides heat to keep the water from freezing.

Shipley moves over to the elk; there are five cows and one bull. Bull elks get names, Bonehead plus a number, all in honor of the original Bonehead.

Bonehead 4 is trying to herd his kin. He's imposing, even with antlers shorn. If you approach him, he'll back off, trained by pepper spray. But as soon as you turn your back, Shipley says, he'll start to move toward you aggressively.

"This bull is not tame," Shipley says. "I never turn my back on him. I cut his antlers off because he's a danger with them. He's got a 'tude."

Shipley knows not to let a dog get in with the elk. It would be goodbye, Fido.

"He wouldn't last 10 minutes," he says.
MOLINE  Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti extolled a new plan to cut the size of Illinois government in Moline on Thursday, although many of the proposals face strong opposition.

Lt. Gov. Sanguinetti is touring the state to tout the report by the Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Task Force, which she headed at the request of Gov. Bruce Rauner. She spoke to reporters Thursday at the Renew Moline offices about the report's 27 recommendations to reduce government in Illinois.

Illinois has about 7,000 units of government, which is more than any other state. Rock Island, Henry and Mercer counties combined have 233 units of government, according to Norman Walzer, a researcher with the Northern Illinois University's Center for Governmental Studies who worked with the task force.

Lt. Gov. Sanguinetti said the proposals in the report were mainly about empowering local communities to decided how they want their local governments to be run. Among the report's recommendations is a proposal to let voters consolidate or dissolve local governments through referenda.

Many of the proposals, including more school consolidation, have been promoted by previous administrations. But Lt. Gov. Sanguinetti was optimistic about the chances proposals some would be implemented.

"The next step is to take all of these wonderful ideas and put a motor in them," she said. "We need to to work with our legislators to make these real policy."

Joining her in Moline was task force member John Espinoza, a Democratic Whiteside County Board member. He told how a significant amount of consolidation already has occurred at the local level in rural school districts, fire departments and regional offices of education.

But he also said eliminating units of government was not always a positive. A Whiteside County study, he said, found that getting rid of townships would increase expenses considerably for county government as it takes on more road work using higher paid county employees.

The report also includes proposals backed by Gov. Rauner to reform prevailing wage laws and let local governments opt out of collective bargaining  issues strongly opposed by unions and many Democrats.

The full report is available online at illinois.gov.
DAVENPORT  A towering figure in American history, Abraham Lincoln now stands literally larger than life as part of a new bronze sculpture dedicated Thursday at Bechtel Park, next to the Government Bridge on East 2nd Street.

In 2013, the Bechtel Trusts commissioned artist Jeff Adams, of Mount Morris, to create a park sculpture reflecting Lincolns involvement with a lawsuit filed by owners of the Effie Afton steamboat that collided with the Rock Island Railroad bridge.

Bechtel trustee Richard Bittner said the 15-foot, 3,100-pound sculpture  Lincoln with Boy on Bridge  recognizes the historic position the Hurd v. Rock Island Railroad Company case, and the Quad-Cities, played in elevating Lincoln's legal career and him eventually becoming U.S. president in 1860.

"It's our gift to the educational emphasis that places Davenport and Rock Island in this very substantive, historical and geographical location," Mr. Bittner said.

He said Lincoln came to Rock Island and Davenport as he prepared to defend the railroad and bridge company. Mr. Bittner said he hoped the sculpture  depicting Lincoln and the son of the lead bridge engineer, on a bridge plank, placed upon a pedestal  "will be a constant reminder to all of us of the fact that the perpetuation of our freedom falls squarely on the shoulders of all of us."

"We view this statue of Lincoln on the way to work, and on the way home, to remind us that we have these obligations," he said.

At 6:30 a.m. May 6, 1856, the Effie Afton  in its maiden voyage  struck a pillar of the Rock Island bridge, the first railroad span over the Mississippi River, just east of the current Government Bridge near Federal Street. The boat caught fire and sank; the bridge was heavily damaged.

A self-taught trial lawyer, Lincoln was asked to be part of the Chicago team that defended the railroad owners against a claim that the bridge hindered river traffic and navigation.

According to a history of the case, Lincoln met a boy sitting on the bridge during his trial preparation and asked him if he knew much about the river. When the boy answered yes, Lincoln reportedly said, "I'm mighty glad I came out here where I can get a little less opinion and more fact," Mr. Bittner related.

Mr. Bittner said the boy was Bud Brayton, the son of B. B. Brayton, a leading engineer on the project.

The 1857 trial, held in Chicago, ended with a hung jury. The judge dismissed the case, resulting in a victory for railroads and bridges across the country.

"More significant is the fact that the bridge was rebuilt, and east-west traffic proceeded to accelerate the free settlement of the West," Mr. Bittner said.

Mr. Adams, 55, said he worked a year on the sculpture. He said he depicted Lincoln as 25 percent larger than life and Bud Brayton  then 10 or 12 years old  is the size of a grown man.

"It's been an honor and privilege to be involved in this project," Mr. Adams said. "I've been a sculptor for 40 years, and projects like this don't come around every day. This has been a great project to work on."

His other work includes statues of Vickie Anne Palmer, to be placed on Palmer College of Chiropractic campuses in Davenport; San Jose, Calif.; and Port Orange, Fla. Lincoln with Boy on Bridge is his first historic statue in Iowa.

With a grant from Bechtel Trusts, Davenport schools superintendent Art Tate started a scholarship program to inspire and honor students who do presentations on the Effie Afton case. So far, $9,000 in scholarships have been presented.

The event also offered Davenport Mayor Frank Klipsch, sworn in Wednesday night, the first ribbon-cutting in his new position. He praised the "community-minded generosity" of Harold and Marie Bechtel for establishing the trusts, and the sculpture for reflecting "the values and impact that President Lincoln had on our country and our future."

Mr. Bittner said the sculpture meshes perfectly with the Bechtel Trusts' goal of educating local youth; 90 percent of its donations benefit Scott County. Since begun in 1988, the trusts have distributed more than $68 million, primarily to benefit Scott County public charities. The group funded creation of Bechtel Park, which opened in 2007.
Today is Friday, Jan. 8, the 8th day of 2016. There are 358 days left in the year.

1866 -- 150 years ago: The Island City skating park held a masquerade party with music by Stressors full band and illumination by numerous Chinese lanterns. Admission was 25 cents.

1891 -- 125 years ago: Ben Cable left last night with his wife and daughter on a two-month vacation trip to France.

1916 -- 100 years ago: The Rock Island Municipal commission unanimously approved the removal of R.W. Sharp as superintendent of the water works.

1941 -- 75 years ago: Lord Baden Powell, 83, founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, died this morning at his home in Nyeri Kenya, Africa.

1966 -- 50 years ago: The U.S. Army Reserve Center headquarters of the Rock Island Sub sector Command is in the process of moving from 331 20th St. to 305 3rd St., Rock Island.

1991 -- 25 years ago: Rock Island Sixth Ward Ald. Beth Mahlo Monday presented the City Council with petitions bearing 512 signatures of students, parents and teachers who want to see the public library continue operating its bookmobile. On Dec. 18, the Rock Island Library board decided to discontinue bookmobile service because the library could not afford $72,000 to run the bookmobile next year.
These fringe rabbis, mainly affiliated with the settler movement in the West Bank, are blamed for nurturing a venomous atmosphere that led to the killing of three Palestinians in a July firebombing. Critics say their rhetoric must be restrained to prevent more youths from further radicalization.

Israel this week issued indictments against two Jewish extremists in the case of the West Bank arson in July that killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh and his parents, Riham and Saad, and seriously wounded his brother, Ahmad, who was 4 at the time.

The firebombing prompted soul-searching among Israelis and was condemned across the political spectrum. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged "zero tolerance" in the fight to bring the assailants to justice.

In the days leading up to the indictments, Israeli media exposed another jarring scene: a video from a wedding party that appeared to show a frenzied crowd of the arsonists' sympathizers brandishing military-issued rifles, holding a mock firebomb and stabbing a photo of Ali Dawabsheh.

The video caused a public uproar and put a spotlight on radical rabbis accused of firing up young extremists.

"When we see a handful of rabbis succeeding to turn a handful of youth ... into terrorists ... it means something here is not right and needs to be fixed," opposition lawmaker Karin Elharrar said at a recent hearing about the rabbis.

Last month, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon called for certain rabbis to be investigated, and some moderates have distanced themselves from the radicals. In an interview Wednesday on the Times of Israel website, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel was now "looking at" the role of one or two rabbis in radicalizing youth. Bennett, whose Jewish Home party is closely linked to the settler movement, did not elaborate.

Controversial rabbis have long mixed religion and politics. Today's West Bank settler movement was inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Avraham Kook and his son, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, who viewed Israel's capture of lands in the 1967 Mideast war as a step toward the messiah's arrival.

Hard-line rabbis are accused of spouting incitement against Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin before his assassination in 1995. Critics have pointed in particular to a letter that three rabbis wrote the previous year to a group of religious scholars suggesting that Rabin and his government  because of its peace deals with the Palestinians  were guilty of traitorous acts that under Jewish law could theoretically be punishable by death. His killer, Yigal Amir, said he was inspired by Jewish law.

Israel has taken steps against radical rabbis, including banning the anti-Arab political party of U.S.-born Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was later killed in New York by an Arab assailant in 1990. But the current crop of radical rabbis, who say they do not condone violence, has so far eluded punishment.

Netanyahu has repeatedly accused Palestinian religious leaders of inciting a four-month wave of violence. Video on Palestinian social media has shown Muslim clerics giving incendiary sermons, praising the killings of Jews. In November, Israel banned the northern branch of the country's Islamic Movement, accusing it of incitement

But Netanyahu has said little about the radical rabbis. His spokesman declined to comment.

"The King's Torah," a 2009 book by firebrand rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur, is perhaps one of the most provocative texts.

It quotes religious sages as permitting, under certain conditions, the killing of non-Jews, including babies, "if there is a good chance they will grow up to be like their evil parents." The book says "thou shalt not murder" does not necessarily apply to non-Jewish victims.

Its authors have said it is meant to be seen as religious theory and not a guidebook. The book has been endorsed by other rabbis, among them Rabbi Dov Lior, a longtime symbol of religious and nationalist extremism, and U.S.-born Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, who heads a yeshiva in the hard-line West Bank settlement of Yitzhar.

Critics blame Ginsburgh's writings  including a pamphlet that praises Baruch Goldstein, a settler who killed 29 Muslim worshippers at a West Bank shrine in 1994  for fueling the attacks by extremist Jews against Palestinian property, mosques and churches.

Lior has unleashed vitriol against Arabs, repeatedly calling for Israel to be cleansed of what he calls the "camel riders." Ginsburgh has referred to Arabs as a "cancer," a remark that led to him being charged with incitement, but never convicted.

Lior's office declined comment, while Ginsburgh did not respond to interview requests by The Associated Press.

In recent years, Israeli authorities have detained at least four rabbis on suspicion of incitement but released them within hours. The attorney general determined in 2012 there was insufficient evidence to charge the authors of "The King's Torah," a decision upheld by the Supreme Court.

Hard-line settlers say the rabbis have become scapegoats. They blame Israel's policies and say the failure to take a tougher line against the Palestinians and allow even more unrestricted settlement growth is pushing some young Jews to extremism.

The suspects in the West Bank arson are part of the so-called "hilltop youth," a loosely organized group of young people who set up unauthorized outposts on West Bank hilltops  land the Palestinians claim for their hoped-for state.

The Shin Bet says the hilltop youth are extremists who view God, not Israeli law, as sovereign and share a messianic ideology with some rabbis bent on installing a Jewish monarchy in Israel. This ideology also espouses the expulsion of non-Jews from the Holy Land.

As the young settlers ratcheted up their assaults, some rabbis have tempered their statements. Shortly after the West Bank arson, Ginsburgh called for peaceful action from his followers.

"There is no room for violent activities of individuals. As a rule, a strong and forceful response against Israel's enemies is the job of the security forces," he wrote in his August newsletter.

Critics say that doesn't absolve them of past remarks.

"You don't get to backtrack out of these kinds of statements and just get away with it," said Noa Sattath, head of the Israel Religious Action Center, a progressive Jewish group advocating against rabbinical incitement.

Experts say it may not matter because the rogue Israeli youth have adopted an ideology that now goes far beyond that of the religious leaders.

"Even the extremist rabbis have lost control of the most extreme youth," said Dvir Kariv, a former Shin Bet official.
Ulrich Weber said the 231 alleged victims included 50 who made "plausible" claims of sexual abuse at the Regensburger Domspatzen boys' choir and two associated boarding schools between 1953 and 1992.

Weber, who was commissioned by the Catholic diocese of Regensburg, said that former Domspatzen conductor Georg Ratzinger must have known of at least some of the abuses. Ratzinger, the older brother of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, has previously denied knowledge of the incidents.

Allegations of abuse surfaced several years ago, at a time when the Catholic Church's handling of such claims was being widely scrutinized following a series of high-profile cases in Europe and the United States.

Weber said his eight-month investigation involved interviews with more than 140 people, including 70 alleged victims. He concluded that almost a third of all pupils at two primary feeder schools for the choir, one in Etterzhausen and one in Pielenhofen, suffered some form of abuse.

The sexual assaults ranged from stroking to rape, he said.

"The events were known internally and criticized, but they had almost no consequences," Weber said.

Most of the alleged crimes have passed the statute of limitations for criminal complaints by now.

The diocese published the interim report on its website Friday, along with a year-old sermon by Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer in which he expressed regret for the abuse the children allegedly suffered.

The diocese has previously offered to pay 2,500 euros in damages to each of the victims.
Dozens were also injured in the suicide bombing that occurred when a crowd of policemen were gathering at the camp in the morning, witnesses said.

The truck, packed with explosives, crashed into the gate of the camp, which is used to train coastguards, according to the witnesses.

Most of the casualties are believed to be policemen.

Hospitals in Zliten, located around 160 kilometers east of the capital Tripoli, have appealed to local residents to donate blood for the injured victims of the attack, Libyas official news agency LANA reported.

U.N. envoy on Libya Martin Kobler denounced the attack.

I condemn in the strongest terms todays deadly suicide attack in Zliten, call on all Libyans to urgently unite in fight against terrorism, the German diplomat said in a tweet.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the bombing is suspected to have been carried out by loyalists of the Islamic State terrorist militia.

We have information that a boat carrying strangers arrived in the town two days ago, Siarj al-Rashdi, an official at the Zliten security directorate, told dpa.

Yesterday we mounted a campaign to collect all strangers staying in the town illegally. But unfortunately, this did not stop the disaster.

Zliten, a commercial town not known for sheltering militants, is regarded as a center for illegal migrants seeking to reach Europe.

Libya has been gripped by fighting between rival militias since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

The oil-rich country is also split between two competing parliaments, each backed by different militias. Islamic State has taken advantage of the anarchy to establish a foothold in Libya.

Earlier this week, the al-Qaida splinter group launched an attack on al-Sidra and Ras Lanouf, Libyas major oil terminals.

Clashes between guards at the terminals and the jihadists set seven storage tanks on fire late Wednesday, an official said.

The security situation at al-Sidra and Ras Lanouf does not allow firefighting teams to move to extinguish blazes there, said the spokesman for the state-run National Oil Corporation, Mohammed al-Harari, according to LANA.

Islamic State, which is based mainly in Syria and Iraq, controls an area of Libyas Mediterranean coast centered around the towns of Sirte and al-Nofaliyeh, west of al-Sidra.

Last month, Libyan politicians signed a U.N.-brokered agreement to set up a national unity government, but influential figures in the quarrelling parliaments are holding out against the deal.
WASHINGTON -- Soon, voters will have the opportunity and impertinence to insert themselves into the 2016 presidential conversation that thus far has been the preoccupation of journalists and other abnormal people. The voting will begin in Iowa, thanks to Marie Jahn.

When, after 38 years as recorder for Plymouth County in northwest Iowa, Jahn decided to retire in February 1975, local Democrats decided to throw her a party. When it came to attracting a speaker, the best they could entice from their party's national ranks was a former one-term governor of Georgia. According to Steven Hayward in "The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order":

"Carter's obscurity was confirmed when he appeared on the syndicated TV game show 'What's My Line?' He stumped the panel, which not only didn't recognize him, but failed to guess he was a state governor. When pollster George Gallup drew up a list of 38 potential Democratic presidential candidates in 1975, Carter's name was not on the list."

Eleven months after the fete for Jahn, Jimmy Carter finished second in the hitherto obscure Iowa caucuses, behind "undecided." This semi-triumph became his springboard to Olympus. The caucuses would never again be obscure. The moral of this cautionary tale is that voters can be startlingly disruptive.

Perhaps they are somewhat less likely to be so today. Surprises might be more difficult to spring now that there is saturation journalism about presidential campaigns that are in high gear a year before the first votes are cast.

But American politics often has had quirky aspects, as historian Morton Keller demonstrates in his "America's Three Regimes: A New Political History" (2007). The Republican Party, Keller says, became known as the Grand Old Party in the 1880s, when it was about 25 years young.

In 1840, when William Henry Harrison, scion of wealthy Virginia planters, ran for president as the hardscrabble "log cabin and hard cider candidate," the resulting paraphernalia included glass log cabins containing whiskey from Pittsburgh's E.C. Booz distillery, which enriched American slang.

The Era of Good Feelings, the decade after 1815, was, Keller says, more an Era of No Feelings: In the 1820 presidential election, Richmond's 12,000 residents produced 17 votes. Only 568 of Baltimore's 63,000 residents voted. Nine percent of those eligible in New Jersey voted. No one will ever call 2016 part of an Era of Good Feelings. If, however, Donald Trump's vitriol pumps up the number of voters, this will at least lay to rest the canard that high voter turnout is a sign of social health.

Given the pandemic distaste for today's politics, it is consoling to remember that things change. In the late 19th century, Robert Ingersoll, aka "The Great Agnostic," was the nation's most outspoken atheist and a leading Republican, a combination unlikely today.

In the third decade of the 20th century, even a politician with national aspirations could be proudly parochial: The Democrats' 1928 presidential nominee, New York Gov. Al Smith, reportedly said he would rather be a lamppost on Park Row than the governor of California, and when asked his thoughts about the problems of states west of the Mississippi, he supposedly replied, "What are the states west of the Mississippi?" In 1952, the Democratic presidential nominee, Adlai Stevenson, dismayed by the mainstream media's conservatism, fretted about "a one-party press in a two-party country."

Today, there is a sense in which there are few two-party states. In the presidential election 40 years ago, Carter against President Gerald Ford, 20 states were won by five points or less, including the six most populous states: California, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Ohio. (Note the absence of Florida, now the third-most populous state.)

In 2012, just four states were decided by five points or less (North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Virginia). Today, Larry J. Sabato, Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics identify just seven states they consider "super-swingy": Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia, all of which voted for George W. Bush and Barack Obama twice, and Iowa and New Hampshire, which have voted Democratic in three of the last four elections.

But, again, things change. "One session of the Connecticut Legislature in the 1790s," Keller writes, "devoted itself primarily to imposing a tax on dogs. The next session was given over to discussing whether or not to remove that levy." This was, of course, long ago, before government became ambitious, caring and reviled.
Metro stations have reported growth in ad revenue of 4.62% to $390.821 million for the first half of the 2015/16 financial year, according to figures sourced by Deloitte and released today by Commercial Radio Australia.

For the six month period ending December 2015, advertising revenue for Sydney stations reached $119.627 million, 4.06% higher than the same period a year ago.

Melbourne was up 3.75% (to $119.243 million), Brisbane was up 2.37% (to $61.014 million), Adelaide rose by 11.84% (to $36.847 million) and Perth grew by 5.80% (to $54.089 million).

CRA chief executive officer Joan Warner said: While advertising revenue was slightly softer in December, the overall performance for the first half of 2015/16 has been positive and reflects how well radio has adapted to structural change and subdued economic conditions.

In the month of December 2015, commercial radio advertising revenue for the five capital city markets was down slightly by 0.51% to $55.116 million, compared to December 2014.

Adelaide was the strongest performer in a mixed market in the month of December, with ad revenue up 5.81% to $5.305 million. Sydney declined by 1.80% to $16.705 million, while Melbourne was up 0.10% to $16.448 million. Brisbane was down 2.41% to $8.764 million, and Perth was 0.86% lower at $7.893 million.

The Deloitte figures report actual revenue received by metropolitan commercial radio stations and include all metropolitan agency and direct revenue.
Everything is out in the open, as it should be. Today (January 8, 2016), the Surface Transportation Board established a page on its website, Major Railroad Mergers and Consolidations Correspondence, that contains all the correspondence connected to the proposed merger of Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern. The correspondence is in PDF form and can be downloaded by anyone.

The website page, which can be accessed by CLICKING THIS LINK, states: The STB is aware of a recent offer by Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) to merge with Norfolk Southern Railway (NS). A number of stakeholders have submitted correspondence to the STB about this offer, including members of Congress, State and local officials, shippers, and members of the public. At this time, there is no proceeding before the agency related to a merger of CP and NS.

The correspondence had previously been characterized as leaked, which is something that never should have occurred, given long-established and generally accepted STB protocol. If that protocol is followed as it should bethat is, making any and all correspondence a matter of public recordtheres no such thing as a leak (except perhaps in the plumbing at STB headquarters).

I need to give credit where credit is due. That credit goes to our very astute (and a bit cynicalbut who can blame him?) Capitol Hill Contributing Editor, Frank Wilner, who just two days ago called out the STB on its apparent lack of transparency in his blog, Show us the letters, STB. I dont think its pure coincidence that it took fewer than 48 hours for the STBs website page to appear with what we (and Im sure many others) have asked for.

Am I gloating? Well, maybe just a little. Actually, its a good feeling to know that this publication, which was established 103 years before I was born, is taken seriously.

For the record, Railway Age takes no public position on the merits of a CP-NS combinationwhether we think the merger should take place, or whether it will take place. Our duty is to report the events as they unfold, as accurately and balanced as possible. We commend the STB for following long-established agency protocol and making correspondence related to the proposed merger public, regardless of whether the agency needed to be prodded. As such, we appreciate that correspondence that should have been on the public record to begin with is now on the record.

So, download as many of the letters as you care to digest. Transparency rules, as it should. The late, much-revered Linda Morgan, Im sure, is smiling right now. In many ways, this is her legacy.

As of this posting, there are 17 letters on the STB website page. Of particular interest is a response from the STB to the House Judiciary Committee dated Jan. 7, 2016. Go ahead and download it. Its on the record.
Association of American Railroads Senior Vice President-Law and General Counsel Louis P. Warchot has joined the Transportation practice of Sidley Austin LLP as counsel in its Washington, D.C. office.

During his long tenure with the AAR, Warchot was involved in the development of legislative and regulatory policy and standard-setting measures for the safety and productivity of the U.S. rail industry. He also represented the rail industry in numerous matters involving the safety, operations and economic regulation of the railroads pending before government agencies, including the Surface Transportation Board, Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Communications Commission and Environmental Protection Agency. Together with his work as counsel for railroads prior the AAR, Warchot has four decades of experience providing legal advice on railroad economic regulation, safety and operations, environmental regulation, antitrust and federal preemption issues, as well as on corporate governance, compliance, finance and commercial matters.

In his position at the AAR, Lou has been a trusted advisor to the railroad industry for almost two decades, said Ray Atkins, leader of Sidleys Transportation group. He has deep insights into the legal and policy issues facing the industry that complement our existing transportation lawyers, and we are delighted he is joining our team.

Lou joins our exceptional team of transportation lawyers here in Washington, said Mark Hopson, managing partner of Sidleys Washington D.C. office. He brings a wealth of knowledge gained from counseling the railroad industry on legislative, regulatory and other legal matters. His arrival illustrates our continued commitment to providing our clients with a best-in-class transportation team.

I am excited to join Sidleys talented group of transportation lawyers, said Warchot. I look forward to drawing on my experiences to help our clients achieve their strategic and commercial objectives.
California Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense office (DoD), announced Jan. 4, 2016 that Tracy A. Butler, a supervisor at Union Pacific Railroad (UP) was honored Jan. 2 with a Patriot Award in recognition of extraordinary support of her employee serving in the Guard and Reserve.

Butler was nominated for being highly supportive of the National Guard by her Reserve Component employee, Sgt. Mark Mateo.

The Patriot Award was created by ESGR to publicly recognize individuals who provide outstanding patriotic support and cooperation to their employees, who like the citizen warriors before them, have answered their nations call to serve, said James Combs, California ESGR state chair. Supportive supervisors are critical to maintaining the strength and readiness of the nations Guard and Reserve units.

Mateo states: Miss Tracy Butler, supports all military employees in the company.

ESGR seeks to foster a culture in which all employers support and value the employment and military service of members of the National Guard and Reserve in the United States. ESGR facilitates and promotes a cooperative culture of employer support for National Guard and Reserve service by developing and advocating mutually beneficial initiatives, recognizing outstanding employer support, increasing awareness of applicable laws and policies, resolving potential conflicts between employers and their service members, and acting as the employers principal advocate within DoD. Paramount to ESGRs mission is encouraging employment of Guardsmen and Reservists who bring integrity, global perspective and proven leadership to the civilian workforce.
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Discovery en Espanol's programming block Jueves de Aventura is to return with new series and seasons.





#DiscoveryAventura, which begins on 14 January, will show the new season of Monstruos de Rio as well as new episodes of Alaska: Hombres Primitivos and Supervivencia al Desnudo.In Monstruos de Rio, extreme fisherman and biologist Jeremy Wade travels the world in search of strange and terrifying freshwater creatures. In the new season, Jeremy visits Botswana and the icy waters of Alaska.In Alaska: Hombres Primitivos, the Brown family have chosen to live far away from civilization on the remote Chichagof Island, where they can go nine months without meeting other human beings.In Supervivencia al Desnudo, each episode sees a pair of survivalists put in an extreme natural environment without food, water or clothing. They must try to survive on their own for 21 days with the aid of just one personal item each. In the latest season, the action takes place in the jungles of Guyana, Belize and Panama.Discovery en Espanol is offering additional material, such as infographics, fun facts and trivia, on the network's Facebook page , as well as on Twitter and Instagram.
Zimbabwes Government has urged content producers to ensure the Southern African country has enough shows to broadcast when it rolls out digital terrestrial TV (DTT) services later this year.



The countrys initial DTT service is expected in March, following the installation of digital transmission infrastructure, according to The Herald.



Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Deputy Minister Thokozile Mathuthu said that 12 high definition (HD) TV channels would be set up as a result of DTT roll-out. Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation will run six of the new HD channels, while private broadcasters will operate the remaining six.



Permanent Secretary in the ministry, George Charamba, said the government has committed US$125million to the roll-out of digital terrestrial television in Zimbabwe.



Once digital migration is complete, viewers will be charged between US$3 and US$5 access fee per month to watch digital channels, with fees paid through Transmedia, he added.
The terrestrial broadcast and receiving capabilities of the ATSC 3.0 standard are being demonstrated live at CES 2016 by Samsung, Sinclair Broadcast, ONE Media, Pearl TV and TeamCast.



The next generation TV (NextGen TV) partnership is showing the reception of ultra HD (UHD) high dynamic range (HDR) 4K content using ATSC 3.0 in a live streaming from a local TV network to a Samsung S-UHD TV with ATSC 3.0 receiver at the Las Vegas Convention Centre.The over-the-air TV signal comes from a transmitter at Sinclairs facility on Black Mountain near Las Vegas.Samsung said the company was excited that almost all parts of the ATSC 3.0 standard have reached Candidate Standard status. ATSC 3.0 will give TV broadcasters the ability to utilise and participate in the dazzling UHD and HDR 4K ecosystem, said John Godfrey, senior vice president, public policy, Samsung Electronics America.Mark Aitken, vice president of advanced technology, Sinclair Broadcast, added: Enhancing our core television business with stunning content will attract more viewers and advertisers. Adding new capabilities will drive value and enhance revenue opportunities across our broadcast infrastructure.The ultra HD HDR demonstration follows the memorandum of understanding signed in June 2015 by Samsung, Sinclair and Pearl.ATSC 3.0 provides the opportunity for NextGen TV to transform the broadcast landscape, said Kevin Gage, EVP strategic development and CTO, ONE Media. We are only just beginning to scratch the surface of new B2B and B2C services that the NextGen broadcast platform will enable.
Hispanicize has signed Telemundo, Comcast, MSNBC and NBC News as presenting media partners for the upcoming seventh annual US Hispanic influencers event.





The event will take place in Miami from 4-8 April. As part of the media partnership, leading journalists, executives and personalities from the networks will participate in sessions and programmes at the event. Telemundo will produce television and social content from Hispanicize, and exclusively cover the event As the Spanish-language broadcast network with the largest social footprint in America, we are proud to be partnering with Hispanicize to leverage such a significant gathering of influencers, said Borja Perez, SVP, digital and social media, NBCUniversal Telemundo.Hispanicize 2016 is expected to attract more than 3,000 attendees from the fields of social media, journalism, marketing, music, film and entrepreneurship.
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.
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Price: $ 1,025 Seller State of Residence: Arizona Property Address: Cummins Creek Road State/Province: Washington City: Curlew Zip/Postal Code: 99118 Type: Recreational, Acreage Zoning: Residential Location: 852**, Tempe, Arizona

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Price: $ 199 Seller State of Residence: Arizona State/Province: Montana City: Three Forks Type: Recreational, Acreage Zoning: Residential Zip/Postal Code: 59752 Location: 852**, Tempe, Arizona

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Price: $ 499 Seller State of Residence: Arizona Property Address: 32763 Cedar Creek Rd State/Province: Minnesota City: Hinckley Type: Recreational, Acreage Zoning: Residential Zip/Postal Code: 55037 Location: 852**, Tempe, Arizona

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No Reserve Absolute AuctionNOTE: $525 Closing Costs to be added to the Highest BidYou are bidding on the full purchase price of the following property:3117 Gobel Ave Cincinnati Ohio 45211Hamilton County Parcel # 207-0054-0141-00Approx. 75 x 94 0.161 Acre (7,050 Sq Ft) Multifamily/Commercial lot in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio Annual Property Taxes are only around $23.44The lot is ready to be builtThere is no time limit for building, it can be kept vacant foreverDo you want to build? - It's ...

Price: $ 153 Seller State of Residence: Ohio Property Address: 3117 Gobel ave State/Province: Ohio City: Cincinnati Type: Homesite, Lot Zoning: Residential Zip/Postal Code: 45211 Location: 451**, Loveland, Ohio

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Before gaining fame on "Top Chef," Athens-based chef Hugh Acheson made his name with this restaurant in the Five Points neighborhood. Now loca
Photo courtesy of Dottie Smith A riverboat-styled home was built by railroad magnate Charles Crocker in the 1890s.

There are lots of important histories at Lower Soda Creek at the base of Castle Crags.

Where the Berry Estate exists today at Castella, historically it's an amazing place considering all of the important historical structures between the Sacramento River and Lower Soda Springs. Add in the bonus of Castle Crags towering above you when you are there and look to the west.

In 1832, Hudson's Bay trapper and explorer Michel LaFramboise established the first trail on an existing trail through the Sacramento River Canyon. He trapped in the canyon area for 10 years. His favorite canyon campsite was at Lower Soda Springs.

In 1844, Lansford Hastings built a log fort and trading post at the same place where LaFramboise had established his camp. He made improvements, built a log fort and operated an inn/trading post catering to the travelers on the nearby trail that had been established earlier by LaFramboise.

In the 1850s, Joe deBlondy, also known as Mountain Joe, frontiersman and guide for John Fremont, operated a trading post and wayside inn at the same place previously settled by Hastings. Poet Joaquin Miller was his camp cook.

In 1858, George Washington Bailey acquired the property that was previously deBlondy's property. Bailey built a 2 1/2-story, 12-room hotel/resort that became renowned for the medicinal values in Lower Soda Creek's mineral spring, the beautiful scenery, and the excellent hunting and fishing in the area.

In 1892, Southern Pacific Railroad acquired the property when it was building the railroad through the Sacramento River Canyon. So mesmerized with this place, it had its construction company build the Castle Crags Tavern and Resort on the same land where Bailey, deBlondy, Hastings and LaFramboise had previously been.

A few years later, Charles Crocker, one of the railroad company owners, had an elegant summer home built at the same location. Ironically, the home looks like a steamboat when you are driving toward it. The tavern and resort was built in 1892 by the Pacific Improvement Co., a subsidiary of the California & Oregon Railroad, which later became the Central Pacific Railroad, now known as Southern Pacific Railroad.

The tavern and resort were constructed in a meadow on the east side of the Sacramento River at the mouth of Soda Creek. At the time of its construction, it was the largest and most luxurious resort hotel ever built in Shasta County and included luxuries such as hot water and ice-making machines.

The resort was located in a beautiful park-like area of over 6,000 acres on the main line of the railroad. Passenger trains stopped at a railroad station siding and bridge on the west side of the Sacramento River and passengers walked across the river on a footbridge to the resort property. Over time, thousands of people traveled to the resort on Southern Pacific's "Castle Flyer" from the Sacramento Valley and San Francisco Bay areas.

The top attraction on the property was the tavern and resort, which became so popular it was hailed as the most "delightful" mountain retreat on the Pacific Coast.

The main building contained gables and broad verandas. It stood three stories tall, contained 250 rooms, had its own ice house capable of producing two tons of ice every 24 hours, a steam laundry, a power-generating system and three cooks to provide meals to a dining room seating 350 people.

In 1893, a large luxuriously furnished addition with 200 sleeping apartments was constructed, complete with water piped to each room, an electric light system, bathhouses and barber shops. Weekly fees averaged $14. Eighty employees now worked at the resort.

Also on the grounds were several log cabins, a clubhouse and a private dining room for children and their nurses or nannies. A spring house, which is still standing, dubbed "The Temple," was built nearby next to Soda Creek, where guests obtained cold, sparkling, mineral water.

Disaster struck in 1900 when one of the buildings was struck by lightning, resulting in the total destruction of the tavern, the resort and other buildings. Charles Crockers' summer home survived the fire. The tavern and resort were not rebuilt.

In 1928, Clarence Berry purchased the site and the remaining former summer home of Charles Crocker for use as a private retreat. Today it's known as the Berry Estate.

The 6,000-acre estate has since been reduced to 550 acres. All that remains is Charles Crockers' riverboat-styled mansion, 16 cabins, the temple and a swimming pool. The estate is not open to the public.

Dottie Smith is the former instructor of Shasta County History at Shasta College, the former curator of the Shasta College Museum and currenty a part-time instructor at Simpson University. Contact her at historydottie@gmail.com.
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By Alayna Shulman of the Redding Record Searchlight

Proponents of what many are characterizing as a new ban on concealed weapons at California schools say the bill is actually just a "default-ban" that still lets districts adopt policies in favor of CCW holders  a choice that's gotten the Anderson Unified High School District national headlines in recent days after its superintendent said it won't enforce SB 707.

The bill didn't create a new law but expanded California's Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1995 to include conceal-carry permit-holders in a default-ban on any kind of weapons on campuses. But the bill also allows school officials to grant written permission to some CCW holders  something that Anderson interpreted broadly by adopting a policy automatically welcoming any permit-holders in good standing, rather than doing so on a case-by-case basis.

"It's just a little bit more of an umbrella approach," Superintendent Tim Azevedo said. "There's different ways that the law allows it that it can be by application or just by board policy that puts it in place."

While that means the district is technically still in compliance with the law, it also means Anderson is liable if a CCW holder's gun causes an injury, said Craig Reynolds, chief of staff for the bill's author, state Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis.

"The bill certainly provides for the authorities of the campus or school district, whoever's in charge, to allow CCWs on campus," Reynolds said. "The ultimate question is, where does the buck stop? If there's an incident with the concealed weapon-carrier on that campus, then it's going to be the school board and the superintendent who will have to answer to that."

Azevedo doesn't seem to be worried, though.

"We have never and we won't, at this point, go searching people for that, because in the past, I'm sure with the number of permits in Shasta County, that people have been on campuses with the permits," he said.

Azevedo said the district went against the grain because officials have faith in sheriff's officials to vet permit applicants better than the district could.

"Our feeling is, they're more appropriately equipped to make a determination of whether someone should have that permit or not," he said. "We're not arming our staff or training them. We're just, you know, talking about Joe Citizen."

But "other jurisdictions say that's not good enough for them," Reynolds noted.

Still, Azevedo said he's gotten "overwhelmingly" positive feedback on the district's policy, though he noted that some of the people who contacted him don't live in the county and some of them may not be parents.

A few complaints have come in as well, Azevedo said, but they're "very, very minute" compared to the support.

Offering a stark contrast from Anderson, other local school districts said they already barred weapons of any kind on campus, so the law won't really change anything on campus.

That includes Shasta College, whose president, Joe Wyse, said he's not aware of any attempts for exemption from students or teachers in the past.

Over at Simpson University, campus safety officials said in a statement that the updated law also aligns with the school's existing policy.

Shasta Union High School District Superintendent Jim Cloney said the case is similar at his schools, though he noted the anti-weapon policy was specifically for personnel.

"I think if you had said to me prior to the passage of 707, could not a staff member, but a parent or a community member, have a concealed weapon on campus, I probably would have said I would consult the law and find out what the law is regarding concealed weapons," he said. "So I think 707 is providing clarity."

The law might not change much if you follow it, but Sheriff Tom Bosenko said he's concerned about what happens now if someone violates it.

"(School policy's) not law," Bosenko said. "If you were out at Shasta College and carrying ... your trusty gun ... (now) that would be illegal. "

In otherwise gun-friendly Shasta County, "that could become an issue here," Bosenko said, echoing a common argument from gun-rights advocates that gun-free zones only make the law-abiding "softer targets."

"I don't think it'll do anything to stop the criminal element from coming onto those locations," he said.

Reynolds said his office expected at least a few rural county districts to enact blanket policies like Anderson's, but not many.

"We figured it would be rare, because ... it's hard to imagine many school boards that would want to take that risk," he said. "If something goes wrong they're the ones who have to answer to it."
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By Amber Sandhu of the Redding Record Searchlight

A San Francisco Superior Court judge sided with Mercy Medical Center and denied a Redding woman's request for a temporary restraining that would have allowed her to undergo postpartum tubal ligation.

Rebecca Chamorro, 33, of Redding is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, who filed the lawsuit on the behalf of her and Physicians for Reproductive Health.

Elizabeth Gill, senior staff attorney at ACLU, said she was disappointed the temporary restraining order wasn't granted, as it would have prevented Mercy from using religious doctrine to interfere with the doctor-patient relationship. The ACLU has already filed a preliminary injunction for a hearing next week because of Chamorro's impending due date.

Dignity Health was satisfied with the ruling.

"We are pleased by the court's decision to deny the ACLU's request for the (temporary restraining order) which will allow Dignity Health to continue to operate consistent with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services," Dignity Health spokeswoman Lauren Davis said in a prepared statement.

Chamorro is due for a caesarean section Jan. 28, and is under the care of Dr. Samuel Van Kirk, who requested he be allowed to perform the tubal ligation procedure from the hospital. Instead, he was sent a denial letter that stated the procedure did "not meet the requirement of Mercy's current sterilization policy or the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Services."

According to the directives, also known as the ERDs, sterilization along with abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are all considered "intrinsically evil" and not permitted in a Catholic health care institution.

"There should not be a reason why a hospital open to the general public, receiving public funds, should be using religion to deny care," Gill said.

In August 2015, Rachel Miller, 32, contacted the ACLU after she was denied permission to undergo tubal ligation at Mercy. After ACLU sent a demand letter, citing that the denial of care constitutes sex discrimination, Miller was granted the procedure. Miller was also a patient of Van Kirk, who in court documents stated having to turn away 50 women in the last eight years who wanted the sterilization procedure.

"Doctors continue to be denied the ability to give this kind of care," she said. "This is not surprising from a legal perspective that this is going to take a while to resolve."

She added that this issue goes beyond Redding and she hears from women all over the state who have expressed their feelings about the case.

"Women are shocked to learn medical decisions made with a doctor can be overruled by a hospital based on a religious directive," she said.
Fire crews mop up after putting out a fire on a houseboat Thursday near Bridge Bay Resort on Lake Shasta. The vessel was brought to shore following the noontime fire.

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Crews extinguish houseboat fire

A fire on a houseboat near Bridge Bay Resort on Shasta Lake caused an estimated $400,000 in damages Thursday.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said it sent three engine companies, one water tender and a rescue boat to extinguish the fire.

The fire was reported at 12:29 p.m. and was quickly contained, Cal Fire said.

The Shasta County Fire Department, Mountain Gate Fire Department and Shasta County Environmental Health responded to the scene, although Cal Fire said hazardous material did not contaminate the lake.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Red Bluff resident arrested in assault

Red Bluff police said they arrested a 49-year-old Red Bluff man after he was accused of assaulting a woman at a trailer park near Interstate 5 on Wednesday night.

Police went to the O'Nite Trailer Park on Gilmore Road, just southwest of I-5 and Antelope Boulevard, about 10:40 p.m. after getting a report of a domestic disturbance.

Officers learned Frank Roehrich hit his girlfriend several times, took her phone after she said she was calling police, held onto her and prevented her from leaving the trailer, Red Bluff police Sgt. Michael Graham said.

Police arrested Roehrich, who is on parole, on suspicion of assault with bodily injury, false imprisonment, unlawful obstruction of emergency phone use and a parole hold, Graham said.

Pair face charges in deaths of two kids

Tami Huntsman and Gonzolo Curiel, charged in the murder of two children discovered in a Redding storage unit, have been transferred to Monterey County.

Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo announced in a statement Thursday that Huntsman, 39, and Curiel, 17, have been transferred to Monterey County, where they are being held on no-bail warrants and are expected to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Friday.

Both Huntsman and Curiel were in custody in Plumas County, where they were arrested on suspicion of child abuse in Quincy on Dec. 11. Charges against the couple were dismissed by Plumas County District Attorney David Hollister on Wednesday, so the case could be pursued in Monterey County, according to the statement.

On Dec. 18 the Monterey County District Attorney's Office filed first-degree murder charges against Huntsman and her boyfriend, Curiel, in the deaths of two children found in a Redding storage unit in December, and the abuse of a third child.

Huntsman and Curiel face two counts of murder, along with a list of other charges, including three counts of torture, one count of child abuse, two counts of conspiracy, one to commit torture and one to commit child abuse.

The bodies of the two children were discovered in the Redding storage unit on Dec. 13.
Larry Cyphers, of Redding, sits in the food court waiting for his wife on Thursday at the Mt. Shasta Mall. Cyphers said he came early thinking he would get something to eat or drink. I couldnt even get a cup of coffee, Cyphers said about changes in the malls food court.

SHARE Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight People walk past Bath & Body Works and Victorias Secret on Thursday at the Mt. Shasta Mall. Both stores will undergo remodels and Bath & Body Works is moving to new location. Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight Zach Moe, of Weed, shows his son, Ezekiel, 8 months old, a poodle Thursday at the Mt. Shasta Mall. At least two stores are expanding, and Bath & Body Works is moving to a new location in the mall.

By David Benda of the Redding Record Searchlight

Beauty retailer Ulta, a remodeled and larger Victoria's Secret and a new location for Bath & Body Works are among the changes coming to the Mt. Shasta Mall, the owners announced Thursday.

Ulta Beauty will open a 9,000-square-foot store this summer. The new store will be at the south end of what is now the food court, where Donut House, Subway and Taste & See Creamery used to do business.

"We are excited by the progress and success we are achieving across our entire California portfolio, which is creating considerable value for our investors as we continue to transform these assets," Rouse Properties COO Brian Harper said in a news release.

Rouse Properties purchased the Mt. Shasta Mall last February. It is one of eight malls the New York-based company owns in California.

Harper declined to comment beyond the press release.

Additionally, Victoria's Secret will undergo a full remodel and expansion to feature the retailer's latest design prototype.

Bath & Body Works will relocate to a larger space to incorporate its new concept, the White Barn Collection, which is the store's home candle and fragrance brand. Bath & Body Works' new location will be announced at a later date.

The new-look Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works are expected to arrive in the middle of summer. Both retailers' parent company is L Brands Inc.

An L Brands spokesperson did not return a phone message left Thursday at the company's headquarters.

Carolyn Sutphen, a spokeswoman for Ulta Beauty, said the company's stores carry more than 20,000 beauty products and over 500 brands.

Ulta locations also have full-service salons that do hair, skin and eyebrow services. The stores typically have eight chairs in the salons.

"We like to be considered as all things beauty in one place," Sutphen said.

Ulta Beauty locations also carry men's fragrance, hair and shaving products.

For the most part, Facebook comments applauded the changes at the Mt. Shasta Mall.

Sisters Lacey and Kacey Callahan were shopping at the mall Thursday afternoon. They both liked the idea of an expanded Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works. However, they think the mall should keep the food court intact.

Kacey Callahan works at Old Navy in the mall. She and others who work at the mall eat in the food court and enjoy the options.

"We love to go the mall to eat and shop," Lacey Callahan said. "I don't want to eat my food with makeup around or people trying to sell us makeup."

Taste & See Creamery is moving right across from Kaleidoscope Coffee in the mall's center court. Taste & See owner Daniel Lee has said he hopes to reopen in March.

The manager of Sansei Japan and Chinese Gourmet  the only restaurants still open in the food court  has heard that Subway is moving to the former Bob Pizza's space and Pretzel Place, currently just north of the food court, will move into the former Orange Julius space. Orange Julius had been operating in the mall since 1982 before it closed.

Harper said in the news release that Rouse has leased over 60,000 square feet since it purchased the Mt. Shasta Mall early last year and the center is currently 95 percent leased out. Sales also have increased more than $25 per square foot.
WASHINGTON  If youre going to engage in a foreign policy capitulation, might as well do it when everyone is getting tanked and otherwise occupied. Say, New Years Eve.

Heres the story. In October, Iran test-fires a nuclear-capable ballistic missile in brazen violation of Security Council resolutions. President Obama does nothing. One month later, Iran does it again. The administration makes a few gestures at the U.N. Then nothing. Then finally, on Dec. 30, the White House announces a few sanctions.

They are weak, aimed mostly at individuals and designed essentially for show. Amazingly, even that proves too much. By 10 p.m. that night, the administration caves. The White House sends out an email saying that sanctions are off  and the Iranian president orders the military to expedite the missile program.

Is there any red line left? First, the Syrian chemical weapons. Then the administration insistence that there would be no nuclear deal unless Iran accounted for its past nuclear activities. (It didnt.) And unless Iran permitted inspection of its Parchin nuclear testing facility. (It was allowed self-inspection and declared itself clean.) And now, illegal ballistic missiles.

The premise of the nuclear deal was that it would constrain Iranian actions. Its had precisely the opposite effect. It has deterred us from offering even the mildest pushback to any Iranian violations lest Iran walk away and leave Obama legacy-less.

Just two weeks ago, Irans Revolutionary Guards conducted live-fire exercises near the Strait of Hormuz. It gave nearby U.S. vessels exactly 23 seconds of warning. One rocket was launched 1,500 yards from the USS Harry S. Truman.

Obamas response? None.

The Gulf Arabs  rich, weak and, since FDR, dependent on America for security  are bewildered. Theyre still reeling from the nuclear deal, which Obama declared would be unaffected by Iranian misbehavior elsewhere. The result was to assure Tehran that it would pay no price for its aggression in Syria and Yemen, subversion in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and support for terrorism.

Obama seems not to understand that disconnecting the nuclear issue gave the mullahs license to hunt in the region. For the Saudis, however, its not just blundering but betrayal. From the very beginning, theyve seen Obama tilting toward Tehran as he fancies himself Nixon in China, turning Iran into a strategic partner in managing the Middle East.

This is even scarier because it is delusional. If anything, Obamas openhanded appeasement has encouraged Irans regional adventurism and intense anti-Americanism.

The Saudis, sensing abandonment, are near panic. Hence the reckless execution of the firebrand Shiite insurrectionist, Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, that has brought the region to a boil. Iranians torched the Saudi Embassy. The Saudis led other Sunni states in breaking relations with Tehran.

The Saudis feel surrounded, and its not paranoia. To their north, Iran dominates a Shiite crescent stretching from Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean. To the Saudi south, Iran has been arming Yemens Houthi rebels since at least 2009.

The danger is rising. For years, Iran has been supporting anti-regime agitation among Saudi Arabias minority Shiites. The Persian Gulf is Irans ultimate prize. The fall of the House of Saud would make Iran the undisputed regional hegemon and an emerging global power.

For the United States, that would be the greatest geopolitical setback since China fell to communism in 1949. Yet Obama seems oblivious. Worse, he appears inert in the face of the three great challenges to the post-Cold War American order. Iran is only the most glaring. China is challenging the status quo in the South China Sea, just last week landing its first aircraft on an artificial island hundreds of miles beyond the Chinese coast. We deny Chinas claim and declare these to be international waters, yet last month we meekly apologized when a B-52 overflew one of the islands. We said it was inadvertent.

The world sees and takes note. As it does our response to the other great U.S. adversary  Russia. Whats happened to Obamas vaunted isolation of Russia for its annexation of Crimea and assault on the post-Cold War European settlement? Gone. Evaporated. Kerry plays lap dog to Sergei Lavrov. Obama meets openly with Vladimir Putin in Turkey, then in Paris. And is now practically begging him to join our side in Syria.

There is no price for defying Pax Americana  not even trivial sanctions on Iranian missile-enablers. Our enemies know it. Our allies see it  and sense theyre on their own, and may not survive.

Charles Krauthammers email address is letters@charleskrauthammer.com.
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Old hippies, they say, never die.

All that living forever stuff is groovy, but requires a lot of cosmic energy. Where better to tap the source than the crystal shops of Mount Shasta?

That's right, it's officially (we use that word very casually  recreationally even) the best hippy city in America. This is very scientific, mind you. It was given the honor by a writer for ReverbPress. You know, the ReverbPress? OK, we had to look it up too. It's a blog.

But laugh all you want, we'll take it. The community is a North State treasure, and it's been through a lot lately. While the Great Recession wasn't easy on anyone, the loss of two straight ski seasons hit Mount Shasta just as economies elsewhere were starting to improve. Its neighbor, Weed, suffered the devastation of the Boles Fire in 2014. The mountain itself looked naked and vulnerable by the end of last summer, and glacial melting has triggered mudslides.

The community has found a friend in Deborah Montesano. She's the self-identified Portland, Oregon, progressive who wrote the piece for ReverbPress, and she told our David Benda she picked Mount Shasta for the top of her list of 12 cities in part because it's kind of in the boonies.

"I looked for places that would grab attention and people would say, 'I never knew about this place. Maybe I would like to go,'" she said.

(Perhaps we can add another contender to the long list of would-be slogans for our little part of the world. The North State: It's far out.)

But we digress. Let's be serious. It seems everyone has a recommendation right now for the Bundy brothers and their heavily armed anti-establishment buddies, who are getting a lot of attention for blocking out some good bird watching opportunities in the high desert of Eastern Oregon.

Now, Montesano points out that Mount Shasta's appeal to modern-day progressives (she called them hippies, we didn't) is that it's a great place to go and unwind, de-stress. It's been a tough year, what with The Donald and the NRA and all.

Well, we've always believed that the best outcome for any situation comes when people who don't think they see eye to eye can sit down and talk. So we have a modest proposal for the hungry, stressed-out occupation force at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Guys, come to your senses. Pack it in, negotiate safe passage a few hours southwest, and come enjoy the more hospitable environs of Siskiyou County. Leave the guns in the truck. Everyone can use a little breather now and then.

We've heard old cowboys never die, too.

And we've heard you're looking for snacks. Well, so are the hippies. Sounds like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
With all the pledges made in Paris, we would see an improvement, but emissions would still keep rising till 2030, and the path towards global warming would improve to 2.7C, notes Akash Prakash.

The Paris Agreement at COP21 reached in mid- December to tackle climate change has elicited mixed reactions.



Some feel it is a truly historic agreement, fundamentally accelerating the move towards de-carbonisation of our energy mix, while others believe that nothing much has really changed.

Some of the key elements of the agreement are:

First of all, to keep the increase in global temperatures to well below 2Celsius, with a hope to restrict global warming to 1.5C.

Secondly, most countries announced voluntary pledges to curb emissions (158 submissions covering 185 countries and 90 per cent of global emissions were announced).

These submissions are a first step, with most countries having to announce further reductions in 2020 and continuing to increase the cuts every five years.

Thirdly, the developed countries will supposedly provide the poor nations with $100 billion a year till 2025, and then step up this funding.

The problem with the above is that the actions taken do not deliver the desired outcome of limiting global warming to within 2C, forget 1.5C. Not even close.

Prior to Paris, assuming no change in policy, we were on track to achieve a global warming trajectory of about 3.6C.

With all the pledges made in Paris, we would see an improvement, but emissions would still keep rising till 2030, and the path towards global warming would improve to 2.7C.

An improvement, but nowhere near enough. To limit warming to 2C, carbon dioxide emissions will have to be cut by 25 per cent more than the pledges already made.

To limit global warming to 1.5C, we will need additional cuts in emissions of 40 per cent by 2030, according to Bernstein Research.

Just to give a sense of the enormity of the task, the additional emissions cuts needed to restrict warming to 1.5C imply a total phase-out of coal from the energy mix and replacing oil from all transport uses - and all this by 2030. Clearly highly unlikely.

The takeaway from this is that while a target of 1.5C is impractical, we are going to see much higher cuts in emissions than what has been pledged - it is inevitable.

This brings us to the question of stranded carbon: the concept that some of the proven reserves of fossil fuels will never be burnt and will remain stranded.

Thinking of the challenge in terms of a total carbon budget, to stay within the 2C target, we only have about 1,100 giga tonnes (gt) of carbon dioxide (CO2) that can still be emitted.

Assuming emissions peak today (not likely), we would only have another 22 years or until 2037, before carbon emissions would have to go to zero.

Looked at another way, current proven reserves of fossil fuels are about 812 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (oil, gas and coal).

Just burning all these proven reserves (not counting contingent reserves or those yet to be discovered) would generate about 2,512 gt of CO2 equivalent emissions.

The world cannot afford to have more than 1,100 gt of incremental emissions if we are to stay within the 2C framework.

Thus, no more than 40 per cent of the existing proven reserves of fossil fuels can ever be burnt. Probably even less, as some of the carbon budget will be taken by non- fossil fuel applications like agriculture.

Within the fossil fuel carbon budget, coal will lose out, given its carbon intensity and sheer abundance. Bernstein estimates that only about 25-30 per cent of the proven global coal reserves will ever get used.

More than 50 per cent of oil reserves will get burned and upwards of 60 per cent of gas reserves, given its relative carbon efficiency.

The major oil companies, given their short reserve life and speed of extraction will not suffer stranded assets - unlike sovereign nations, many of whom like Iran and Iraq, have been too slow to work their reserves. Whatever oil and gas is stranded will be at the cost of the sovereign nations in Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

What are the implications for India?

First of all, we need to ramp up coal production as soon as possible, otherwise the bulk of our coal will never get burnt.

There is probably a limited window of another 20-25 years for coal, beyond that it will be impossible to use.

Secondly, there is a possibility that we could see a race to produce as much oil as possible by OPEC members, if countries like Iran and Iraq get convinced that much of their oil will never be burnt if they keep producing at current rates of extraction.

This carbon race will be highly damaging to petroleum pricing. We may already be seeing some form of this dynamic playing out, as OPEC production has continued to surprise to the upside throughout this crash in oil prices.

The Saudis may be playing a game beyond just crushing US shale: They may simply be maximising the value of their reserves by pumping flat out.

Thirdly, natural gas will gain prominence as the only way to lower emissions in the short term and provide a low carbon bridge to renewables, electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage systems till they gain economic viability.

We need to ensure long-term linkages for gas; it will be far more important than oil in the future. Locking in long-term contracts today when prices are low may be prudent.

An inexorable shift away from coal and other high carbon fuels (oil sands) is underway. This will benefit lower carbon fuels like natural gas, and zero-carbon technologies like renewables, energy storage systems, batteries and electric vehicles.

As much as 60 per cent of current emissions come from power generation and transport; both will be disrupted as EVs and solar combined with energy storage gain prominence.

We need to attain a technology position in these new fields. China already dominates solar, and South Korea leads in battery technology powering EVs and energy storage systems.

India has to use our likely leapfrogging and mass adoption of these new technologies to build a viable eco-system in these areas. We should encourage local players in both areas.

The writer is at Amansa Capital. These views are his own.
'As many as 29 explosions were recorded after the last terrorist was neutralised, giving an impression of continuing pitched battles!' reveals Rajeev Sharma.

Did India's counter-terrorism machinery bungle in tackling the Pathankot terror attack challenge?

My answer is a big 'No!'

Why? Here's why.

A prime question is why the Indian government could not neutralise the terrorists in a heavily fortified military establishment like the Pathankot airbase in a jiffy when France had done so in a matter of two hours in civilian areas?

Why did India take four long days to neutralise terrorists who were initially four and later turned out to be more?

The Pathankot terror attack was dealt with in a surgical manner. The operations were personally choreographed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval who cancelled his strategically important China visit to be able to oversee the Pathankot counter-terror operations.

The success or failure of the Pathankot terror operation boiled down to just one question: Whether the NSA-led operations were able to deny the hardcore perpetrators meeting their single biggest objective of destroying the Pathankot airbase?

The question, in other words, is whether the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists were able to even remotely meet their mission objective.

The answer is NO because most of the assets like the MiG-21 fighter aircraft and the Mi-25 helicopters had already been removed hours before the terrorists wreaked mayhem.

Moreover, a contingent of National Security Guards commandos had been harnessed and the perpetrators were kept engaged in counter-terrorism operations. All these NSG officers belonged to the Indian Army and drew their strength from the Indian Army.

Pathankot was a different ball game in comparison to the recent Paris terror attacks where all the perpetrators had been neutralised within two hours.

Pathankot was much different as terrorists, armed to teeth, had sneaked inside the Pathankot airbase, one of the biggest in India with over 2,700 acres of total area and a periphery wall of over 24 kilometres.

The size of the Pathankot airbase made the operations all the more tricky as Indian security managers were not sure as to how many perpetrators were still at large and their locations.

So, the next big task before the Indian security forces was to find out the exact number of the perpetrators and their locations.

The security forces were to reclaim the Pathankot airbase virtually milimetre by milimetre. The entire sprawling military facility had to be combed to check for booby traps and explosives.

As many as 29 explosions were recorded after the last terrorist was neutralised, giving an impression of continuing pitched battles!

Had the operation succeeded from this perspective of the perpetrators, they would have definitely gone ahead with their single point agenda of destroying the parked aircraft.

But Doval ensured that the terrorists did not achieve their ultimate mission of blowing up the strategic assets and the entire parked fleet.

Doval the wily fox ensured that not only are the strategic assets safe, but he also assured the NSG commandos were deployed hours before the actual strike by the terrorists began.

Thus, the infiltrators were kept bogged down to the periphery of the base and were never allowed into the sanctum sanctorum of the airbase.

One must not look at the Pathankot terror attack as what the terrorists managed to do, but as what they could have done.

The entire Pathankot incident was dealt professionally and the nation must thank Ajit Doval that the terrorists were denied deeper ingress largely because of deployment of the NSG sharpshooters. Under Doval's supervision, the NSG commandos were there to 'welcome' the intruders.

Pathankot was much different from the Paris terror attacks as the terrorists, who were armed to teeth on a fidayeen mission, were there to prolong their stay and maximise attrition.

If the NSG commandos had not been drafted in by Doval, the damage could have been much more. Imagine a situation wherein Pakistan-based JeM terrorists are able to destroy a military base right on the international border!

Imagine the humiliating and demoralising impact had the terrorists destroyed whatever aircraft and helicopters were still at the base!

Finally, compare this to the Indian response to the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. At that time scores of civilians died and property worth millions of dollars was damaged or destroyed. In this comparison, the Pathankot incident was virtually a walk in the park.

Rajeev Sharma is a New Delhi-based journalist and strategic analyst who tweets @Kishkindha
'Had they struck on the 1st, there would have been hell to pay,' says Lieutenant General H S Panag (retd), the former Northern Army Commander.

IMAGE: An Indian soldier stands guard on a building at the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot, January 5. Photograph: Mukesh Gupta/Reuters

Lieutenant General H S Panag (retd), PVSM, AVSM, VSM, is the former GOC-in-C, Northern Command.

The Northern Command is deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and is responsible for guarding about 1,896 km of India's disputed borders with China and Pakistan, including the Line of Actual Control, the Actual Ground Position Line, the Line of Control, as well as the International Border.

General Panag, one of the Indian Army's finest generals, spoke to Archana Masih/Rediff.com

The first flaw:

The first flaw was in coordination of the intelligence received.

The information came to the police and they sent driblets to all concerned. They warned the central government, army and air force, but when the intercepts started coming in, it was crystal clear that terrorists were in the vicinity of the airbase.

It seemed to be the logical target and this was assessed by everybody. You then secure the airbase and be prepared to take any action required.

If this information was given without the government being involved to the General Officer Commanding of the 29 Infantry Division, who commands 20,000 troops and with additional troops located in Pathankot, he would have informed his superiors, they would have coordinated with the air force and initiated the necessary action.

But this did not happen and the national security advisor held a conference in Delhi. In such a situation it is important to decide who is the lead agency that will pay a dominant role -- the Army, the Air Force or NSG (National Security Guard).

It is situational related.

In all this operation, the main effort was going to be from the army and the lead agency should have been the army.

The lead agency has to be the single point command and control centre. You must appoint an overall commander, but this was not done.

Some direction was given which was in the domain of micro management.

So the NSG was sent -- 130 men followed by 80. Some elements of the army under a brigadier reached in the evening. Whereas had a single point agency been established, the GoC 29 Division would have ensured that the base is secured much earlier.

Initially, Brigadier Anupinder Brelvi (commander, Mamoon 51 Brigade) arrived with two columns. You have an airbase with a perimeter of 25 kms with 5, 6 platoons of Defence Security Corps personnel who are not suitably armed and do internal guard duties.

The first and foremost requirement was to strengthen the perimeter. A minimum of one battalion was needed to strengthen the perimeter and another battalion required to secure the technical area.

The Special Forces and other infantry -- which is equally capable of taking action because they do that in and out in J&K -- should have been placed to respond. The coordination wasn't done.

When (the inspector general, NSG) Major General Dushyant Singh arrived, he wanted to take charge. The brigadier said he was in charge. Then matter went up and it was decided that the IG NSG would be the overall in charge.

That evening, the AOC-in-C (Air Officer in Commanding in Chief) Western Air Command also arrived. His rank is equivalent to an army commander, he has got the rank of a secretary to the Government of India. He was senior to all these guys.

This was not all, the police was involved outside. Also, the BSF because there could be more terrorists trying to infiltrate.

Moreover, for a person who has to exercise command and control, he must have a headquarter, staff officers, communications. Major General Dushyant Singh did not have any such thing neither did the air force.

If GoC 29 Division would have been in charge, he would have had these resources and would have exercised command and control even from Mamoon, just 5 kms away.

Consequently, inadequate force was deployed to secure the perimeter. They did secure the technical area, but the area outside the airbase which should have been combed during the day time wasn't.

They (the terrorists) were probably hiding there.

The surrounding area -- 1 to 2 kms around the airbase -- should have been combed, but it was not. Of course, the main assets -- the aircraft -- had been removed. What aircraft remained was what was needed for surveillance like the Mi-25 attack helicopters that have night vision flying.

This was inadequate and lack of control and command was evident.

Consequently, it was easy for the terrorists to breach the wall and effect an entry.

There are reports that they could have well have entered on the 1st itself (on the night of December 31-January 1). Unlikely.

Had they entered on the 1st when they knew no warning had been issued, they would have struck that night only because the airbase was ill prepared.

When the terrorists effected an entry, they first went across to the DSC cookhouse where the personnel were unarmed. If an alert had been sounded, why were the personnel unarmed?

When I was army commander, Northern Command, I always carried my personal weapon with me, even in my house.

The overall security of the airbase, not only in Pathankot but everywhere, is highly suspect. The DSC consists of aging men 45 to 55 years old. They join the DSC after doing at least 15 years in the army and they can serve up to 60.

The electronic sensors are non existent at the airbases. They don't have bulletproof jackets. Given that these air fields are vulnerable a much larger force is required to secure the perimeter.

Thereafter, the operation fell into place. They brought in additional army columns and two teams of Special Forces. The terrorists were luckily confined to the area of the barracks and finally were eliminated there.

Incidentally, they have only found four bodies. In J&K we burned down houses with terrorists inside them. Eventually, we do find these charred bodies and weapons. The two bodies may be found later.

The fundamental fault was that there was no lead agency and in putting the NSG in charge.

The NSG was sent because a hostage situation was expected:

Why were they expecting a hostage situation when they had 30,000 troops available in Mamoon? Could you not have put one more battalion around the family quarters?

You mean to say our special forces cannot deal with a hostage situation? They dealt with Kaluchak and other hostage situations in J&K.

Even if a hostage situation was expected, then they should have been put under the command of the lead agency under one commander who should have been the GOC 29 Infantry division.

The NSG has a specific task, hostages, aircraft hijacking in civilian areas. This was incorrect and they were not familiar with the area.

While you can say that the terrorists were eliminated. Everybody gets emotional about the casualties suffered. In the '71 war my unit went into battle with 700 men, 50 were killed and 170 wounded -- just a single unit!

Social media and everybody becomes emotional about casualties, but despite the warning and 24 hours to prepare, we were still surprised.

Luck and providence helped us.

Had they struck on the night of the 1st, there would have been hell to pay and had they been able to sneak further in, we would have had a greater problem.

Every operation for the armed forces is like a test. You can clear it with 1st division or with 3rd division. This was a third division operation.

Better to shame ourselves in public than to do nothing.
'There are other prisoners too who are behaving in a good manner, but they are not being released sooner.'

'Show similar leniency to the other 27,000 plus prisoners too.'

A social activist from Mumbai, Pradeep Bhalekar, has filed a petition against Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt's early release from prison.

Dutt has been at the Yerawada jail in Pune since May 2013. He is serving the remaining 42 months of his five-year prison term after being convicted under the Arms Act for possession of an AK-47 weapon which was part of the cache of arms that landed in Mumbai ahead of the March 12, 1993 serial blasts.

He is due to be released on February 27 after Maharashtra's Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government allowed remission of the star's sentence by 18 months on account of good behaviour.

Bhalekar, chairperson, Samajik Karyakarta Saurakshan Samiti, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com that the Maharashtra government has shown Dutt undue favour.

Why you have filed a petition against Sanjay Dutt's early release?

There are 57 jails and more than 27,000 prisoners in jails, but the Maharashtra government does not give any kind of special treatment to these prisoners.

So why give special treatment to Sanjay Dutt alone?

It is not only Sanjay Dutt who is behaving in a good manner in jail. There are other prisoners too who are behaving in a good manner, but they are not being released sooner.

But he is due to be released on February 27. So why file this petition at this juncture?

Sanjay Dutt got five years' imprisonment for his role in the 1993 serial bomb blasts. He spent 18 months as an undertrial in jail when the case was going on. After he was convicted in 2013, he has spent another two years plus.

So he has spent only three-and-a-half years in jail. Therefore, Sanjay Dutt must spend one year more in jail as he has not spent his full five-year term in jail.

Why are you targeting Sanjay Dutt?

I am a Mumbaikar, I am not associated with any religion or any caste. I am an ordinary person. I feel any person who had dinner with Dawood Ibrahim must not be let off easily.

I feel our government is showing leniency to such a man and as a Mumbaikar, I feel sad about it.

Are you sure other jail inmates don't get the same benefit as Sanjay Dutt?

I was myself in jail. I was imprisoned on a false charge and convicted in an attempt to murder case. I am an activist, so I was trapped under a false case. The sessions court sentenced me, but the high court discharged me in the case.

I have studied about all these things in jail. I never got the facilities which Sanjay Dutt got only because I am an ordinary citizen.

The argument is that Sanjay Dutt is a changed man today. He believes in Gandhigiri and non-violence. He is reformed, therefore he is being released.

He speaks of Gandhigiri but he also had dinner with Dawood Ibrahim, India's most wanted man. Gandhiji never asked anyone to have dinner with such men.

Are you sure that Sanjay Dutt has not spent more than three-and-a-half years in jail?

Yes, I have the reports with me.

I feel if they want to release Sanjay Dutt, then show similar leniency to the other 27,000 plus prisoners too who are imprisoned in different jails in Maharashtra.

Do you think Sanjay Dutt gets undue benefits because he is a celebrity?

The government only works for rich people.
50 years ago, on January 10, Lal Bahadur Shastri died suddenly in Tashkent.

We salute The Gentle Giant on his 50th death anniversary.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri visits the Lahore sector on October 18, 1965.

Seven miles from Kashi in Uttar Pradesh is Mughalsarai. Lal Bahadur, India's second prime minister, was born there on October 2, 1904, the same day as India's greatest statesman Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, born 35 years before Shastriji.

Though his parents Sharada Prasad and Ramdulari Devi were Srivastavas, Shastri dropped his caste identity in his early years. In 1921, inspired by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Gandhi, he cut short his studies to join India's freedom movement.

Later, he joined the Kashi Vidyapeeth and earned the epithet 'Shastri' by obtaining a degree on philosophy.

He won the hearts of Indians when he showed exemplary courage in taking quick decisions as prime minister (June 1964 to January 1966) during the India-Pakistan war in 1965. His leadership in war was an answer to that most often asked question at that time: 'After Nehru, who?'

His untimely death on January 10, 1966 in Tashkent, in suspicious circumstances, deprived him the chance for history to sit in judgement.

Anil Shastri, one of the late prime minister's six children, recounted memories of his father in this fascinating interview first published on Rediff.com on October 6, 2004.

On the Congress treatment of Shastri

I don't think India has forgotten Lal Bahadur Shastri. Whatever he did is remembered even today. I must say since Sonia Gandhi has taken charge Shastriji's portraits are displayed in all the annual sessions of the party. Many people have observed that there was a conspiracy to underplay Shastri's legacy within the Congress.

This serious charge is untrue for the simple reason that due to his untimely death his contribution to the nation was confined to those 18 to 19 months when he was PM.

Nehru ruled the country for 17 years, Indira Gandhi for 16 years and Rajiv Gandhi for 5 years. Obviously the Nehru-Gandhi contribution is unparalleled because nobody got this opportunity. And remember Shastriji considered himself a protege of Pandit Nehru.

He was never outside the sphere of the Nehru ideology which is the Congress ideology.

Shastriji, who represented a certain value system, is more relevant today than before because a majority of us today have no value systems.

His father

I still miss him although I was just 16 years old when he died. If he would have lived 10 more years he would have done much more for the country.

He was down to earth. A real son of the soil. His grounding was from the grassroots level. He was a practical man too. He strongly believed the laws of the land should be changed because the British formed them to rule over India.

He did make an attempt by constituting the administrative reforms commission and made Morarji Desai its chairman. But after he died the idea was shelved.

The most cherished memory I have is the verses of Guru Nanak, which were displayed on his table. As Nehru kept Robert Frost's lines -- 'Miles to go before I sleep', on his desk, my father kept Nanak's quotes in Gurmukhi.

When translated into English they mean -- 'O Nanak! Be tiny like the grass, for other plants will whither away, but grass will remain ever green.'

When under the PL-480 programme, America was going to send inferior quality of wheat to India, he opposed it. He asked the nation to go hungry once a day than accept poor quality food from US.

Before making this announcement he asked my mother not to cook evening meals. He himself followed what he recommended.

The 1965 war with Pakistan

He appeared very modest, but was a man of steel. He had the ability to take quick decisions. It was demonstrated on August 31, 1965. On that day he came home for an early dinner.

One of his secretaries told him that the three chiefs of the defence services had come to see him. He immediately left for his office next door at 10, Janpath.

The three chiefs visited him to inform him that the Pakistan army had crossed the International Border with 100 battle tanks in the Chamb sector of Jammu. They told him that in a short span of time the Pakistan army would cut off Kashmir from the rest of India.

Without losing time he asked for the opening of a new front including Lahore. Retaliate with full force, he said.<?p>

What I remember is that the historic meeting lasted less than five minutes. Arjan Singh, the then chief of the air force, was present. He is the only surviving member from that meeting.

He told them, "Be prepared for war." He called Defence Minister Y B Chavan and informed him of the decision. He responded positively and expressed his support. He didn't wait for international reactions.

The next day, newspapers reported that the Indian Army was marching towards Lahore. It was a big morale booster for the country.

During those tense days, in his address to the nation from Red Fort on Independence Day, he said: "Hathiyaron ka jawab hathiyaron se denge. (Force will be met with force). Hamara desh rahega to hamara tiranga rahega(Our flag will survive only if our country does)."

On Shastri and the Nehru-Gandhi family

Pandit Nehru was very found of him. Shastriji was around 15 years younger, but he trusted him fully. In 1956, when a train accident killed 144 passengers near Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu, Shastriji resigned. Panditji refused to accept the resignation, but he prevailed upon Panditji to accept it.

On the following day in Parliament, Nehru said no one could wish for a better comrade than Lal Bahadur. A man of the highest integrity and devoted to ideas is called Lal Bahadur, said Nehru.

Once he was sent to Kashmir by Nehru to help resolve the theft in the Hazaratbal shrine. Nehru asked him whether he had enough woolens for the trip.

"Are you aware Kashmir must be having snowfall at this time?" asked Nehru.

Shastri showed him the jacket he was wearing and Nehru immediately gave his own mink overcoat. My father was short in stature, so he told Nehru the coat was quite long. But Nehru said woollen overcoats were always longer. That no one would know it was a borrowed one.

On his return from Kashmir when father went to him to return the overcoat, Nehru asked him to keep it. The next day newspapers reported: Nehru's Mantle Falls on Shastri.

Shastriji and Indiraji also enjoyed a close relationship.

She had the highest personal regard for him. After Nehru's death in 1964, the Congress chose him as a consensus candidate. He did make an attempt to persuade Indira Gandhi to take over as the prime minister.

He went to see her and asked her to become prime minister.

She put her foot down and said no. "You become PM and I'll totally support you," she said. When he was PM he would drop by at 1, Safdarjung Road (Indira Gandhi's home) without intimation just to chat with her.
Extensive search operations are underway near Pandher village in Gurdaspur district of Punjab for the third day on Friday after locals claimed that two men in army fatigues were moving in a suspicious manner.

In this joint operation of Punjab Police and Army, security officials have been carrying out combing operation around the Tibri Cantonment area, police said.

"Our search operation is going on. We are also doing aerial reconnaissance to locate any suspicious movement," DIG, BorderRange, Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh said on Friday.

The search operations are also going on in a nearby sugarcane field where the suspects may be hiding, police said.

"We are mainly searching sugarcane field (to locate the movement of any suspect)," Gurdaspur SSP Gurpreet Singh Toor said.

In this joint operation with the army, Punjab Police has deployed its Israel-trained SWAT team which have been especially trained to neutralise terrorists.

"We have deployed our own SWAT teams for this operation along with other state police personnels," DIG said.

Punjab's SWAT team had played a major role in neutralising terrorists who had carried out attack at Dinanagar in the month of July last year.

"We are taking every information very seriously and our effort is to either authenticate (the presence of terrorists) or completely rule it out," Deputy Inspector General Of Police Border Range said.

Acting on information, Punjab police led by DIG Kunwar Singh launched a major combing operation on Thursday night at a house near the Tibri cantonment area.

"There was some information that they (suspects) had slipped into a villager's house. We launched a search operation around that area which took long six hours. However, they (suspects) were not found in that area," the DIG said, adding, "The entire night, our search operation remained on."

"Our combing operation will continue and we are at this moment not ruling out any thing," DIG said.

Locals in a village near Tibri cantonment of Gurdaspur district on Wednesday had reported sighting of two men in army uniform moving in suspicious manner, following which Army and police began the search operation.

Gurdaspur was targeted by Pakistani terrorists in July last year when a police station here was attacked while Pathankot was witness to a terror strike on Air base on last Saturday.

The security forces have installed floodlights in that area to see any suspicious movement during the night, police said, adding the vehicles were being checked out thoroughly.

A farmer, Satnam Singh, of Pandher village was the first one to make the claim of having seen two men in army fatigues moving in suspicious manner, police had said.

Pandher village is situated about one-and-a-half km away from the Tibri cantonment.

Six terrorists in army fatigues attacked the Air Base in Pathankot on Saturday last, leading to an encounter that lasted over four days.
P Rafeeq's comment on the burkha led to his studio being razed.

A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com reports.

P Rafeeq's Obcura photo studio was burnt down in the early hours of December 27.

The arsonists were apparently angered by Rafeeq's comment on a WhatsApp group which said 'Purdah is used by few persons as a cover for immoral activities.' The studio was located in Taliparamba, Kannur district in Kerala.

"Rafeeq made this comment because he felt some people were using the veil to hide their identity," Rafeeq's cousin Mehroosh told Rediff.com

Several robberies in surrounding districts were reportedly carried out by burkha-clad individuals.

Rafeeq, left, 30, a photographer and videographer, covers marriages and other functions. He started taking photographs after dropping out of college. He started his studio two years ago and invested about Rs 10 lakhs (Rs 1 million) on it. The studio is not insured.

After he posted the controversial comment, Rafeeq received several threats on WhatsApp. Rafeeq, Mehroosh says, does not know who made these threats.

"All the threats were forwarded messages so he doesn't know from where they originated, that the police will have to find out," adds Mehroosh.

The police have not given Rafeeq protection neither has he asked for it. "He has not asked for protection because he has not received any threat directly. Nobody has called him directly and threatened him," says Mehroosh.

"Rafeeq suspects that a couple of members of his WhatsApp group may have sent the message to other people," says Mehroosh, speaking on his cousin's behalf because Rafeeq does not speak English or Hindi, only Malayalam.

"He suspects two people and has told the police about them. The police have also taken Rafeeq's tablet that he used for his social media interactions."

Rafeeq's family and friends are supporting him morally and financially during this crisis. "The Muslim community is divided on this issue," says Mehroosh, "some are supporting him, some are saying he should not be making such comments which have religious connotations."

Rafeeq was a member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, but his work as a photographer no longer gives him the time for party work. But he remains a CPI-M supporter.

After he posted the controversial comment, there was a call to boycott him and his studio. Again, Rafeeq is unaware of who issued this boycott call because that too arrived as forwards on WhatsApp. The messages said, 'Don't call him to cover marriages or any other functions.'

The '3 Fingers' group on social media has raised Rs 150,000 to help Rafeeq rebuild his studio. The group believes more money will come in.

"Secular people are supporting him," says Mehroosh, "as religious fanatics are targeting him."
Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, has triggered an online rage with his tweet after a man wielding a meat cleaver tried to enter a police station in France claiming to avenge French military action in Syria, on Thursday, a year to the day since the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

Man shot inside Paris police station. Just announced that terror threat is at highest level. Germany is a total mess-big crime. GET SMART! he wrote.

His words immediately led the phrase "Paris is in Germany" to start trending on Twitter as people online assumed Trump, 69, was implying that the French capital was located in Germany.

"I've realised there's no threat @realDonaldTrump will make it to UK He thinks Paris is in Germany. #getsmart," read a tweet posted to the verified account of Chris Bryant, a member of British Parliament.

The shooting in Paris happened on the anniversary of the horrific Charlie Hebdo attacks and involved a man who was allegedly trying to attack a police station, BBC reports.

At a glance, many of those commenting seemed to think "The Donald" appeared to have his European geography more than a little mixed up. But could a man attempting to become president of the United States really think Paris, capital of France (you're welcome), is in Germany?

But others were quick to defend him, pointing out that Trump was trying to talk about two separate ideas. It has been suggested Trump might have been talking about the mass crime in Cologne on New Year's Eve in which women 60 women were allegedly sexually assaulted by a gang of 1,000 men.

But then Trump ought to have 'got smart' and posted his views on two different tweets. So much for character limits!

Even before implying that Paris is in Germany, Donald Trump has faced plenty of controversies during his Presidential campaign. Last summer, he was slammed as a racist for claiming Mexican immigrants bring drugs and crime to America. These remarks led the Miss Universe pageant to sever ties with the business mogul.
Afghanistan: UN mission condemns Taliban attacks in Kabul City

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 7 January 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Afghanistan: UN mission condemns Taliban attacks in Kabul City, 7 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568e7b9529.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) today condemned a spate of bombings in civilian areas of Kabul by the Taliban in the first few days of the New Year.

A statement issued by UNAMA indicated that the Taliban claimed responsibility for three separate suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (IED) attacks in the Afghan capital between 1 and 4 January, killing five civilians and injuring at least 56.

The victims - which included 10 children and nine women - were reportedly killed or injured while going about their everyday lives in homes, restaurants, shops, offices or traveling on a busy public street. Four UN civilian staff were also injured.

"The use of highly explosive devices in civilian populated areas continues to cause extreme harm to Afghan women, children and men," said Mark Bowden, the Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and acting head of UNAMA, in a statement.

"Loss of life, maiming, destruction of homes, businesses and personal property and widespread fear - these are the real consequences of suicide attacks in urban areas," he added.

According to UNAMA, on New Year's Day, the Taliban attacked Le Jardin restaurant, killing two civilians and injuring 18, while on 4 January, Taliban carried out two suicide attacks near Kabul International Airport, which killed three civilians and injured 38.

The second attack reportedly took place in a heavily populated area, destroying or damaging over 80 private homes and shops. There are also reports of a further magnetic bomb having been attached to a car that exploded in the Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul last night.

UNAMA is recalling that "international humanitarian law explicitly prohibits attacks against civilians and requires all parties to uphold their legal obligations to at all times avoid harm to civilians."

The mission also underlined that the attacks occurred while many Afghans held hope for the restart of a peace dialogue for Afghanistan.

In February UNAMA is expected to release its annual report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan covering 2015.
UN human rights chief calls on Thai Government to probe scores of enforced disappearances

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 6 January 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN human rights chief calls on Thai Government to probe scores of enforced disappearances, 6 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568e7bd94a6e.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Calling on Thailand to criminalize enforced disappearance in its laws in line with international standards, the top United Nations human rights official today urged the Government to take decisive and sustained steps to investigate the whereabouts of at least 82 people listed as disappeared.

These include respected lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, who went missing nearly 12 years ago.

"All of the families of those who have disappeared have the right to know the truth regarding the disappearance of their kin, as well as any progress and the results of investigations," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a news release.

Last month Thailand's Supreme Court upheld a decision by the Appeals Court to acquit five police officers accused of involvement in the abduction and disappearance of Mr. Somchai, a Muslim lawyer who went missing on 12 March 2004 while defending people arrested under martial law in the restive south.

The detainees had accused the authorities of torturing them. Witnesses reported seeing Mr. Somchai being forced into a car on the night he disappeared. Two sitting prime ministers have publicly called on law enforcement agencies to throw their full weight behind investigations into resolving the Somchai case.

But because there is no crime of enforced disappearance in Thailand, the officers stood trial on counts of robbery and coercion. One was convicted, but the others were found not guilty by the Bangkok Criminal Court in 2006.

In 2011, the Appeals Court overturned the officer's conviction, found there was insufficient evidence to convict the remaining four and ruled that Mr. Somchai's family could not stand as joint plaintiffs. Under international law, family members of a victim of an enforced disappearance are also victims.

Mr. Zeid said he was deeply disappointed that the judiciary failed to take into account that the Civil Court declared Somchai missing, and that important evidence was not taken into consideration in the case.

"The judiciary's role is not only to interpret laws and procedures but also to protect and defend their citizens' rights," he added. "The Supreme Court of Thailand missed an opportunity to protect the rights of the victims to truth, justice and redress in cases of involuntary and enforced disappearance."

He called on the authorities to immediately ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Despite pledges by the authorities to address human rights violations, the issue of enforced disappearances in which state officials have been implicated remains a serious concern, he added.
Libya: ISIL attacks highlight need for implementation of peace accord, says UN envoy

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 6 January 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Libya: ISIL attacks highlight need for implementation of peace accord, says UN envoy, 6 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568e7c683e8b.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The United Nations envoy in Libya, who last month has helped usher in a UN-brokered political agreement for a national government in the strife-torn country, has said an attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on oil installations highlights the need for immediate implementation of the accord.

"Every wasted day in failure to implement the Libyan Political Agreement is a day of gain for Da'esh (an alternative name for ISIL)," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative Martin Kobler said of the attacks on Sidra and Ras Lanouf oil terminals.

"These oil resources are property of the Libyan people and future generations. Libyan parties must spare no effort to block any attempt by Daesh to finance its terrorist agenda through seizure of Libyan oil. This attack serves as a strong reminder to all Libyans of the need to immediately implement the Libyan Political Agreement and form the Government of National Accord."

In December Mr. Kobler facilitated the final stages of the Agreement to form a Government of National Accord with a Presidency Council, Cabinet, House of Representatives and State Council, in talks between the sides in Morocco 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.

Mr. Kobler, who is currently based in neighbouring Tunisia, began the New Year with visits to Libya as part of his efforts to broaden support for the Agreement.

Last month the UN Security Council 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 needed to stabilize the North African country, which has been plagued by factional fighting since the 2011 revolution.
Ban calls on Israel and Lebanon to maintain cessation of hostilities following attacks

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 5 January 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Ban calls on Israel and Lebanon to maintain cessation of hostilities following attacks, 5 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568e7ca711.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned yesterday's attack against two Israel Defense Forces vehicles in the general area of the Sheba'a Farms south of the Blue Line, which was claimed by Hizbollah.

"The Secretary-General expresses his concern at the retaliatory strikes by the Israel Defense Forces across the Blue Line in southern Lebanon, in the area of operations of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)," said a statement issued today by his spokesperson in New York.

The so-called 'Blue Line,' or Line of Withdrawal, was established in the year 2000 to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon in conformity with a Security Council resolution.

Meanwhile, UNIFIL and the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Sigrid Kaag, have taken immediate steps through contacts with the parties to help restore calm in the area. In a statement issued yesterday, they urged both sides to exercise utmost restraint to prevent any escalation.

"UNIFIL is investigating the circumstances of the incident in cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israel Defense Forces," added the statement, noting that Mr. Ban calls on all parties to maintain the cessation of hostilities and to ensure full respect for Security Council resolution 1701, which imposed a ceasefire and the Israeli-Hizbollah war of 2006.
Fresh allegations of sexual abuse made against UN peacekeepers in Central African Republic

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 5 January 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Fresh allegations of sexual abuse made against UN peacekeepers in Central African Republic, 5 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568e7dfd309e.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The United Nations is investigating new allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse and other misconduct by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR), this time by forces under the world body's flag, the top UN official there said today, as further steps are being put in place to combat the scourge.

"The blue beret or the blue helmet you wear represents hope for the vulnerable population of the CAR," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative Parfait Onanga-Anyanga said, laying out new measures to help identify perpetrators and deter new cases, as well as renewing his commitment to protect whistle-blowers.

The allegations are the latest to have been made against UN peacekeeping missions in recent years.

Mr. Onanga-Anyanga met in Bangui, the capital, with the military and police components of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in CAR (MINUSCA), which he heads, stressing that there will be no complacency for perpetrators or accomplices of such crimes which tarnish the UN flag, the peacekeepers' identity and their country's honour.

Today's meeting follows Mr. Ban's pledge last month to urgently review recommendations of an independent panel which found that the UN did not act with the "speed, care or sensitivity required," when it uncovered information about crimes committed against children by soldiers who were not under UN command.

In the spring of 2014, allegations came to light that international troops serving as peacekeepers had sexually abused a number of young children in exchange for food or money. The alleged perpetrators were largely from a French military force known as Sangaris, which was operating under authorization of the Security Council but not under UN command.

Reaffirming his commitment to Mr. Ban's policy of 'zero tolerance,' Mr. Onanga-Anyanga stressed that all international personnel and units will be held accountable to the highest standards of behaviour and conduct. "There is no place in UN peacekeeping for those who betray the trust of the people we are here to help," he said.

He announced on-going discussions with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to carry out joint actions as part of the reinforcement of MINUSCA's ability to combat sexual exploitation and abuse.

Other measures include the establishment of a Police-Force joint brigade to identify sexual exploitation and abuse perpetrators and deter the occurrence of new cases. He underlined the need to conduct patrols in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in close collaboration with internal CAR security forces.

The Mission continues to investigate each and every allegation of misconduct, and a fact finding mission is currently underway.

The National Authorities have been informed in Bangui and the Troop Contributing Countries in question have been informed officially in New York. Mr. Onanga-Anyanga called on them to conduct their own national investigations immediately and the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services will also be involved as appropriate.

"The entire UN family is collaborating in addressing [sexual exploitation and abuse] in the broader context of upholding highest standard of conduct and discipline within the organization," MINUSCA said in news release.

"Over the past week, UNICEF staff (UN Children's Fund) from the office in Bangui have undertaken four visits to meet with four alleged minors victims. UNICEF is working with a local partner to help the girls receive medical care, and is assessing their psychosocial needs. The girls were also provided with clothes, shoes and hygiene kits," it added.

The nearly 11,000-strong MINUSCA, set up in 2014 after fighting between the mainly Muslim Seleka and mainly Christian anti-Balaka groups erupted in early 2013, killing thousands of people and driving hundreds of thousands more from their homes, played a major role in providing security last month for the first round of presidential and legislative elections.
UN envoy in Central African Republic meets with presidential candidates following first election round

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 6 January 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN envoy in Central African Republic meets with presidential candidates following first election round, 6 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568e7eb51362.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) reported today that the top UN official in the country has met with 28 of the 30 presidential candidates in the capital, Bangui, just days after the first round of presidential and legislative elections.

"[The Special Representative of the Secretary-General Parfait Onanga-Anyanga] stressed the need for the electoral process to continue," UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters at a press briefing in New York.

According to the UN integrated stabilization Mission, known as MINUSCA, the candidates "committed themselves to channelling election-related complaints through the Constitutional Court, as provided for in the Electoral Code as well as the Code of Good Conduct."

As of yesterday, 98 per cent of the voting results of presidential elections and 96 per cent for the legislative elections were reportedly received at the Data Processing Centre in Bangui.

Regarding refugees' vote, tally sheets were received from Cameroon, Chad, the Republic of Congo and Sudan. Meanwhile, final provisional results are expected to be announced in the coming days.

The UN has played a major role in seeking to restore peace in the Central African Republic, with military and police units from the 11,000-strong MINUSCA joining soldiers from the French Sangaris force and local security teams last 30 December at polling stations to ensure a peaceful vote.

After nine months of improved stability in CAR, a new wave of inter-communal violence erupted in September, killing at least 130 people, injuring 430 others, and triggering an 18 per cent increase in the number of internally displaced persons to 447,500.
Burundi: UN chief calls on all sides to avert crisis by engaging in inclusive political dialogue

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 December 2015 Cite as UN News Service, Burundi: UN chief calls on all sides to avert crisis by engaging in inclusive political dialogue, 31 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568ece7c3b1d.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Hailing the resumption of talks between the Burundian parties in Entebbe, Uganda, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged all sides to engage in constructive dialogue as renewed violence prompts fears of a relapse into the decades of civil war that killed tens of thousands of people.

"The current crisis can only be resolved through a credible and inclusive political dialogue," said a statement issued by Mr. Ban's spokesperson, referring to the crisis that erupted when President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term earlier this year.

Since then at least 400 people have been killed, with the toll possibly considerably higher, and 220,000 have fled to neighbouring countries with many others internally displaced.

"He urges them, especially the Government of Burundi, to remain committed and engage constructively in this critical process in order to address the deep political challenges facing the country," the statement said.

"The Secretary-General reiterates his appeal to all Burundian political leaders to demonstrate the highest sense of responsibility and place peace and national reconciliation above partisan interests."

Mr. Ban's Special Adviser, Jamal Benomar, attended the opening ceremony of the talks in Entebbe on Monday. He consulted with regional leaders on how the UN can further support their efforts to help restore peace and stability in the country.

The Secretary-General commended Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, as East African Community Facilitator, for his sustained commitment to helping the parties find a peaceful solution to the crisis, and welcomed all efforts by Burundi's partners to help defuse tensions and bring about a sustainable political solution.
First-round vote in strife-torn Central African Republic 'undeniable success'  UN envoy

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 December 2015 Cite as UN News Service, First-round vote in strife-torn Central African Republic 'undeniable success'  UN envoy, 31 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568eced1e35.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Yesterday's presidential and legislative elections in the Central African Republic (CAR), a major step on the path to stability after two years of conflict between Muslims and Christians, were an "undeniable success" with a massive turnout, the top United Nations official there said today.

Even so, in a sign of the perils facing CAR after fighting between the mainly Muslim Seleka and mainly Christian anti-Balaka groups has killed thousands and driven hundreds of thousands more from their homes, armed elements attacked troops and police from the UN Mission in CAR (MINUSCA) in Bangui, the capital, today as they loaded electoral materials into a truck.

Three police were injured, two of them seriously, in the attack near the Fatima school in the sixth district.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative in CAR, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, called on all sides to follow through on this first round of polls in choosing a new Government, stressing that a full dialogue among all is vital for national reconciliation, and urging courage and determination in fighting impunity.

"MINUSCA will continue to play its role as a catalyst for international efforts to support a determined and coordinated push for peace, justice and sustainable development," he said in a communique.

The UN has played a major role in seeking to restore peace in the country, with military and police units from the 11,000-strong MINUSCA joining soldiers from the French Sangaris force and local security teams yesterday at polling stations throughout CAR to ensure a peaceful vote.

Polls closed in a positive atmosphere without any major security incidents, the Mission reported. Some stations remained open until all those waiting in line cast their votes. Soon after stations closed, MINUSCA began securing the collection and transportation of ballots from the central processing point.

After nine months of improved stability in CAR, earlier this year a new wave of inter-communal violence erupted in September, killing at least 130 people, injuring 430 others, and triggering an 18 per cent increase in the number of internally displaced persons to 447,500.
UN mission in Liberia looking into alleged misconduct by peacekeepers

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 December 2015 Cite as UN News Service, UN mission in Liberia looking into alleged misconduct by peacekeepers, 31 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568ecf124565.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) has dispatched a preliminary fact-finding team to look into an allegation that two members of its military personnel were involved in a possible case of serious misconduct involving the beating of a teenage boy.

The incident is alleged to have occurred on 4 December in Bong County, according to a statement issued today by the Mission, which added that it first learned of the allegation on 29 December.

"The Mission takes such allegations extremely seriously and dispatched yesterday a preliminary fact-finding team," UNMIL Officer-in-Charge Waldemar Vrey said in thestatement.

"While the facts in this case are being established, our thoughts are with the boy, whose condition remains moderately serious, and his family," he added.

The Mission has agreed to facilitate the transfer of the patient on humanitarian grounds from Phebe Hospital to JFK Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia's capital.

"All necessary steps will be taken to establish the facts in this case," Mr. Vrey stated, while calling for all parties to remain calm and cooperate with those establishing the facts.

Among the tasks mandated to UNMIL by the Security Council is to continue to support the Government of Liberia to consolidate peace and stability in the country and protect civilians.
UN tribunal on Rwandan genocide formally closes  major role in fight against impunity

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 December 2015 Cite as UN News Service, UN tribunal on Rwandan genocide formally closes  major role in fight against impunity, 31 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568ecf5a46d0.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The United Nations tribunal set up 21 years ago to judge those guilty for the genocide in Rwanda of more than 800,000 people - overwhelmingly Tutsi, and also moderate Hutu, Twa and others - formally closed today after delivering 45 judgments as part of the Organization's efforts to stamp out impunity for crimes against humanity.

The Security Council, which set up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on 8 November 1994 - the first time in history that an international tribunal delivered verdicts against those guilty of committing genocide - marked its closure with a press statement reaffirming its "strong commitment to justice and the fight against impunity."

During its two decades of work in Arusha, Tanzania, the ICTR sentenced 61 people to terms of up to life imprisonment for their roles in the massacres which took place over the course of three months of bloodletting by Hutu extremists. Fourteen accused were acquitted and 10 others referred to national courts.

The indicted included high-ranking military and government officials, politicians, businessmen, as well as religious, militia and media leaders, and the court noted that "during the 100 bloody days unimaginable violence overtook the country... a rate of killing four times greater than at the height of the Nazi Holocaust."

With its sister tribunals like the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the ICTR played a pioneering role in setting up a credible international criminal justice system, producing a substantial body of jurisprudence on genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and individual and superior responsibility.

The ICTR was the first international tribunal to define rape in international criminal law and to recognize rape as a means of perpetrating genocide. In another landmark, it became the first international tribunal to hold members of the media responsible for broadcasts intended to inflame the public to commit acts of genocide.

Today's press statement by the Council acknowledged "the substantial contribution of the ICTR to the process of national reconciliation and the restoration of peace and security, and to the fight against impunity and the development of international criminal justice, especially in relation to the crime of genocide."

It stressed that the establishment of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in 2010 is essential to ensure that the ICTR's closure does not leave the door open to impunity for the remaining fugitives, and called on all States to cooperate with the Mechanism and the Rwandan Government to arrest and prosecute the eight remaining ICTR-indicted fugitives.

During its two decades, the ICTR held 5,800 days of proceedings, indicted 93 people, issued 55 first-instance and 45 appeal judgements, and heard the "powerful accounts of more than 3,000 witnesses who bravely recounted some of the most traumatic events imaginable during ICTR trials," ICTR President Judge Vagn Joensen told the Council earlier this month.

It became the first international tribunal to issue a judgement against a Head of Government since the Nuremburg and Tokyo Tribunals just after the Second World War, when it condemned former Interim Government Prime Minister Jean Kambanda to life imprisonment in 1998.
Yemen: UN health agency appeals for immediate access for vital medicines to besieged city

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 7 January 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Yemen: UN health agency appeals for immediate access for vital medicines to besieged city, 7 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568ed111562.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

With more than 250,000 people living under virtual siege in strife-torn Yemen's central city of Taiz since November and convoys of life-saving medicines blocked, the United Nations health agency today called on all factions to allow immediate unconditional access.

"In times of crisis, it is vital that health facilities remain functional and provide people in need with uninterrupted access to life-saving medical care," the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said in a news release, citing the deteriorating health situation in Taiz, where the city's six hospitals are overwhelmed with injured patients and have been forced to partially close services.

"Humanitarian organizations are struggling to deliver medical and surgical supplies due to the insecurity," it added in the latest of a series of appeals calling for humanitarian access. "Five WHO trucks carrying medicines and medical supplies have been prevented from entering the city since 14 December 2015.

"The trucks contain trauma medicines, medicines for the treatment of diarrhoea, and other health supplies that urgently need to be delivered to Al-Thawra, Al-Jumhoori, Al-Rawdha and Al-Mudhaffar Hospitals. Three of the trucks are carrying 500 cylinders of oxygen that are critically needed by the hospitals.

"WHO calls on all parties involved in the conflict to allow the secure movement and delivery of medical and humanitarian aid to all people, regardless of their location."

Last month, WHO reported delivering more than 100 tonnes of medicines and supplies for 1.2 million people in Taiz governorate, where over 3 million people, almost 400,000 of them internally displaced, are in dire need of humanitarian aid.

But it said distribution of an additional 22 tonnes of medical aid to five health facilities in Taiz City was on hold due to access issues.

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has been trying to broker peace talks between the various factions to end the fighting that has torn the country apart over the past year, but he adjourned them last month until mid-January to allow for bi-lateral in-country and regional consultations to secure full adherence to a ceasefire.
UNHCR and Liberia resume repatriation of Ivorians after Ebola hiatus

Publisher UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Publication Date 18 December 2015 Cite as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHCR and Liberia resume repatriation of Ivorians after Ebola hiatus, 18 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568fb7e64.html [accessed 19 October 2022]

This morning, UNHCR has resumed the voluntary repatriation of tens of thousands of Ivorian refugees from Liberia. The returns had been interrupted for more than a year by the deadly Ebola outbreak. Some 11,000 of the 38,000 Ivorian refugees in Liberian camps have said they wish to return immediately.

A convoy, carrying about 244 people, set off from the coastal town of Harper, in eastern Liberia, for nearby Tabou, in south-western Cote d'Ivoire, taking a ferry to cross the river border.

A second convoy, carrying 401 people, left PTP camp in Grand Gedeh County for Toulepleu in western Cote d'Ivoire. Toulepleu is also located close to the border, about 300 kilometres to the north of Tabou.

Two more convoys are planned before the end of the year, bringing the expected number of returnees by end-2015 to more than 1,000 people. The convoys will pass along special humanitarian corridors because the borders are still closed. The returns will continue in January, with road repairs planned to improve access.

On arrival in Tabou and Toulepleu, the returnees will spend a day in transit centres, where they will get a hot meal and undergo medical screening, including for Ebola. An awareness campaign aimed at reducing the risk of Ebola-related discrimination and stigmatization will be conducted in the communities where they will be returning.

Before they are taken back to their towns or villages, the returnees will be given kitchen utensils, mattresses, mosquito nets and other basic aid items by UNHCR to help them rebuild their lives as well as WFP food rations for three months.

UNHCR will help the returnees reintegrate in their homeland, with income-generation programmes, training and start-up aid. The Cote d'Ivoire government has put in place a number of programmes to help the returnees regain access to their lands and for children to get access to education.

Some 300,000 people fled the violence that followed presidential elections in November 2010 in Cote d'Ivoire, including more than 200,000 who fled to neighbouring Liberia. The crisis ended in April 2011 following a political settlement that confirmed Alassane Ouattara as president.

The voluntary repatriation of Ivorian refugees started in late 2012. While UNHCR facilitated the return of some 40,000 refugees from Liberia, an additional 160,000 are believed to have returned on their own.

The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa last year caused the closure of the land border between Cote d'Ivoire and neighbouring Liberia and Guinea, forcing UNHCR and its partners to suspend the repatriation operation in July 2014.

No Ivorian refugee in Liberia has contracted Ebola and robust prevention measures have been implemented in the camps since the outbreak began in March 2014.

Cote d'Ivoire has been largely peaceful since April 2011, but sporadic and localized attacks have taken place in the south-west. Security in the area has been reinforced, with additional measures put in place to ensure safe passage for the convoys. Cote d'Ivoire's government has concentrated on building the economy and development.
Burundi: information on the police, in particular its mandate, structure, geographical distribution, and reputation; the appearance of police uniforms, vehicles, emblems and flags; whether police members carry weapons

Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 3 December 2015 Citation / Document Symbol BDI105328.FE Related Document(s) Burundi : information sur la police, notamment sur son mandat, sa structure, sa repartition geographique et sa reputation; information sur l'apparence de ses uniformes, de ses vehicules, de ses emblemes et de ses drapeaux; information indiquant si les membres de la police portent des armes Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Burundi: information on the police, in particular its mandate, structure, geographical distribution, and reputation; the appearance of police uniforms, vehicles, emblems and flags; whether police members carry weapons, 3 December 2015, BDI105328.FE, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568fc2ba4.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

1. Mandate

The Burundi National Police (Police nationale du Burundi, PNB) was created under Law No. 1/023 of 31 December 2004 on the Creation, Organization, Missions, Composition and Functioning of the National Police (Loi n1/023 du 31 decembre 2004 portant creation, organisation, missions, composition et fonctionnement de la police nationale) (Burundi 2004, Art. 1). It is under the authority of the Minister of Public Security, and its [translation] "day-to-day management" is carried out by a director general and a deputy directorgeneral (ibid., Art. 6).

Article 18 of that same law cites the missions of the PNB as follows:

[translation]

The national police is designed as an auxiliary to public authorities to maintain the general order and assist in enforcing the legislation and regulations. The missions of the police shall be:

To maintain and restore public order;

To prevent offences and delinquency;

To investigate and prosecute perpetrators and make arrests;

To ensure respect for the laws and regulations;

To ensure the physical protection of persons and their property;

To ensure the protection of infrastructures and public property;

To relieve and assist persons in danger or in distress;

To ensure road safety throughout the national territory;

To ensure protection of public gatherings at the request of those involved, on orders from the administrative authorities, or on their own initiative;

To ensure the missions of the judicial and administrative police;

To ensure protection of the courts and tribunals;

To prevent and suppress organized transnational crime;

To fight terrorism;

To produce and make use of crime statistics;

To deal with the policing of immigration and the status of foreigners, including refugees and stateless people;

To monitor the movements of foreigners throughout the national territory;

To keep watch on the land, lake and air borders;

To issue travel documents and residence permits;

To ensure protection of the institutions;

To ensure detainees are guarded and escorted;

To work with the other ministries involved in protecting the environment (ibid., Art. 18).

In correspondence sent to the Research Directorate, a political analyst who is a security issues specialist at Lake Tanganyika University in Burundi stated that, [translation] "in exceptional situations" the two other public order organizations, the National Defense Force (Force de defense nationale, FDN) of Burundi and the National Intelligence Service (Service national des renseignements, SNR), perform police missions, even though they operate under legislative frameworks and mandates that are different from those of the PNB (Political Analyst 12 Oct. 2015). Regarding the FDN, he stated that it helps to maintain public order when the police is overwhelmed (ibid.). He added that for the FDN to intervene, the chief of state must give the order, [translation] "after consulting with the two chambers of Parliament and government" (ibid.). An article published in May 2015 by the Research and Information on Peace and Security Group (Groupe de recherche et d'information sur la paix et la securite, GRIP), an independent research centre located in Brussels, stated that after the attempted coup on 13 May 2015, the government assigned [translation] "the policing of demonstrations [of those opposing President Nkurunziza's remaining in power] to [] the army and not to the police" (GRIP 21 May 2015, 2). Similarly, Agence France-Presse (AFP) states that

[translation]

[s]everal hundred opponents of the Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza tried to protest on Monday [18 May 2015] in Bujumbura, and were sometimes contained with difficulty by the army, which was deployed for the first time to maintain order in the streets, in place of the police (AFP 18 May 2015).

With respect to the role of the SNR in maintaining public order, the Political Analyst states that, in compliance with legislation, this service may arrest individuals for violating public order, process their files and send those files to the public ministry, which is in charge of the judicial proceeding (12 Oct. 2015). Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014, published by the United States Department of State indicates that [US English version] "[t]he SNR, which reports directly to the president, has arrest and detention authority." (US 25 June 2015, 5).

2. Structure

Decree No. 100/298 of 21 November 2011 Organizing the Ministry of Public Security (Decret n 100/298 du 21 novembre 2011 portant organisation du ministere de la Securite publique) in Burundi states the following:

The national police directorate has a centralized and decentralized administration.

The centralized administration is made up of technical offices, general police stations and specialized units.

The decentralized administration is made up of regional police stations, provincial police stations and communal police stations (Burundi 2011, Art. 7).

An undated organization chart of the PNB directorate, posted on the website of the Ministry of Public Security, indicates that Burundi has 17 provincial stations, five regional stations and 129 police positions (ibid. n.d.a). This organization chart is annexed to this Response (annexed document 1).

3. Geographic Distribution

In a report called Burundi 2015 Crime and Safety Report, the United States Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) states that, in Burundi, police presence is concentrated in the urban centres (US 20 Mar. 2015). Similarly, the Political Analyst states that the [translation] "bulk" of the police force personnel is posted in the city of Bujumbura and in the urban centres (12 Oct. 2015). The Burundi Ministry of Public Security's Strategic Plan for 2013-2016 (Plan strategique du ministere de la Securite publique du Burundi pour 2013-2016), states that the police stations are distributed throughout the country and that the majority of them [translation] "have infrastructure that is more or less deteriorated" (Burundi n.d.b, 28).

4. Reputation

According to Country Reports 2014, [US English version] "the [police] are widely perceived by local citizens as corrupt, including taking bribes, and are often implicated in criminal activity" (US 25 June 2015, 56). In its Study on the Perceptions of Security Needs in Burundi (Etude sur les perceptions des besoins de securite au Burundi [1]), the Conflict Alert and Prevention Centre (Centre d'alerte et de prevention des conflits, CENAP) [2] notes that [translation] "corruptibility," "lack of discipline of some of its agents," and "poor political neutrality" were the main negative criticisms expressed by the citizens who were asked about the PNB (CENAP 2014, 7). The research network Afrobarometre [3] states that, based on an opinion survey conducted in 2014 of 1,200 Burundian citizens, the police is considered to be one of the most corrupt public sectors, with eight respondents out of 10 stating that [translation] "all" of its members, "the majority" or "some" of its members are involved in corruption (Afrobarometre 12 July 2015, 1, 4).

However, the CENAP survey also shows that between 53.5 and 82.6 percent of people asked (based on their level of education, gender and place of residence) stated that they had [translation] "confidence" in the PNB; 67.3 percent stated that the PNB treated them with respect, and 64.8 percent stated that the PNB was disciplined (CENAP 2014, 6063). The respondents living in the provinces showed more confidence in the PNB than the respondents living in the capital, at 72.5 percent versus 58.4 percent, respectively (ibid., 60).

In an article on the reaction of the police and the army to the April 2015 demonstrations against the candidacy of Pierre Nkurunziza in the presidential election, AFP notes that the police [translation] "are perceived as subservient to authority" (29 Apr. 2015). Similarly, the French newspaper Le Figaro states in an article on those demonstrations that the police officers are [translation] "considered to support the authority" (5 May 2015). For further information on the effectiveness of the police in Burundi, consult Response to Information Request BDI105087.

5. Police Equipment

5.1 Uniforms, Emblems, Flags

Law No. 1/18 of 31 December 2010 on the Status of Burundi National Police Officers (Loi n1/18 du 31 decembre 2010 portant statut des officiers de la Police nationale du Burundi) states the following: [translation] "Officers of the national police wear a uniform" (Burundi 2010, Art. 2). Order No. 215/933 of 30 June 2012 on the Review of Ministerial Order No. 530/610 of 29 June 2006 Defining the Dress, Stripes and Equipment of National Police Personnel (Ordonnance n215/933 du 30 June 2012 portant revision de l'Ordonnance ministerielle n530/610 du 29 juin 2006 portant definition de la tenue, des galons et des equipements du personnel de la Police nationale) states the following about the uniforms of the PNB members:

Article 2: Dress uniform of national police personnel is as follows:

Office dress,

Intervention dress,

Ceremonial dress,

Protection of institutions dress,

Motorcycle dress,

Band dress,

Inclement weather dress (ibid. 2012a).

Articles 3 to 10 of that same order describe these dress uniforms (ibid.). The Order is annexed to this Response (annexed document 2).

Law No. 1/18 states the following: [translation] "The uniform and the distinct badges worn are set out in the regulations" (ibid. 2010, Art. 2). However, according to the Political Analyst, uniforms were introduced outside of any regulatory framework, including the uniform of the Research and Judicial Intervention Brigade (Brigade de recherche et d'intervention judiciaire, BRIJ) and of the Protection of Institutions unit (Political Analyst 12 Oct. 2015). Amnesty International (AI) notes that the members of the police unit in charge of the Protection of Institutions, mandated to guard institutions, politicians and senior officials, "wear a distinctive spotted blue uniform, which differs from the dark blue uniform worn by other police units" (AI 27 July 2015, 15). The Political Analyst added that some police officers do not comply with the standards order of dress (12 Oct. 2015). Further information on the non-regulatory uniforms in the PNB could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

Order No. 215/933 states that the dress uniform of PNB members must include the following:

Beret[;]

Cap;

Hat;

Pin;

Crest;

Pocket badge;

Beret badge;

Collar pin for ceremonial dress;

Identification badge;

Police badge;

Brooch;

Shoulder strap;

Honourary distinctions (Burundi 2012a, Art. 11).

A description of these accoutrements is provided at articles 12-22 of this Order (annexed document 2).

5.2 Vehicles

Information on the vehicles used by the PNB was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints.

Amnesty International states that the Embassy of the Netherlands provided 24 trucks to the Burundian police (27 July 2015, 38).

The Law No. 1/026 of 23 November 2012 on the Traffic Code (Loi n 1/026 du 23 novembre 2012 portant code de la circulation routiere) in Burundi states that the vehicle licence plates of the PNB must contain:

[translation]

an orange background for both the front and back plates, with the letters and numbers in black in the middle of the plates, and the letters BU below the national flag in the left corner and the letters PN in the right corner (Burundi 2012b, Art. 22).

5.3 Carrying Weapons

Article 25 of Order No. 215/933 of 30 June 2012 on the Review of Ministerial Order No. 530/610 of 29 June 2006 Defining the Dress, Stripes and Equipment of National Police Personnel states the following: [translation] "All police officials receive" equipment that includes a handgun (ibid. 2012a). A handgun is a [translation] "firearm designed to be held in one hand[,] that is, a revolver or a pistol," based on the definition that appears in a lexicon attached to a report on armed violence in Burundi, published in 2014 by the Burundi Permanent National Commission for the Fight Against the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Commission nationale permanente de lutte contre la proliferation des armes legeres et de petit calibre) (ibid. 2014, 20). However, Burundi's Ministry of Public Security's Strategic Plan for 2013-2016 states that

[translation]

[a] large number of the members of the Burundi National Police have a military background or are from highly militarized forces. This characteristic is very visible, especially in their use of weapons [].

[T]he weapons used now by the Burundi National Police are weapons of warfare that are incompatible with the community policing vision (ibid. n.d.b, 38-39).

Amnesty International states that "[t]he Burundian police's standard weapon is a Kalashnikov-type assault rifle" (27 July 2015, 39). Similarly, the CENAP states in its 2014 study that the members of the PNB are armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and that this was also the case in their previous study in 2012 (2014, 79-80). An AFP dispatch states that some police officers who confronted the protestors opposed to the candidacy of Pierre Nkurunziza at the presidential election were armed with AK-47 assault rifles (AFP 8 May 2015).

5.4 Use of Force by Members of the PNB

Articles 81 to 87 of Order No. 215/891 of 09 July 2009 on the Code of Conduct of the Burundi National Police (Ordonnance n 215/891 du 09 juillet 2009 portant code de deontologie de la Police nationale du Burundi), state the following about the use of firearms by the members of the PNB:

[translation]

Article 81 No national police officer may inflict, provoke or tolerate an act of torture or any other punishment or ill treatment. They may not invoke an order from their superiors or exceptional circumstances such as state or threat of insecurity, interior political instability or any other public emergency to justify such acts.

Article 82 In carrying out their missions, the members of the national police will resort as much as possible to non-violent measures before using firearms. They may only use firearms if the other measures are ignored or do not achieve the expected outcome.

Article 83 Weapons are not used until a warning sign is given verbally or by any other means available, including by a warning shot, unless it compromises the success of the operation. In those cases, firearms can only be used in compliance with the instructions given and under the responsibility of an officer in charge.

Article 84 In carrying out their duties, members of the national police may only use firearms against persons in the following cases:

in self-defence;

against criminals who have a firearm ready to use against people;

when they cannot otherwise defend people, stations, the transportation of dangerous objects or other items under their protection.

Article 85 In exceptional cases where the legitimate use of firearms becomes inevitable, chiefs will:

use them in moderation, and their action will be proportional to the severity of the offence and the legitimate objective to be achieved;

aim to cause minimal damage to human life;

ensure that assistance and medical care will be provided as quickly as possible to any injured or otherwise affected person;

ensure that the family or individuals close to the injured or otherwise affected person are contacted as quickly as possible.

Article 86 When the use of force or of firearms by members of the national police has led to serious injuries, those in charge will present an incident report to their superiors immediately. An inquiry will be launched immediately and a detailed report will be sent to the administrative and judicial authorities concerned. The police authorities will ensure that legal proceedings will be launched against any improper use of force or firearms.

Article 87 Police officers shall disperse illegal but non-violent rallies without using force and by using dialogue and persuasion. However, when that is not possible, they will limit the use of force to the minimum required.

No circumstance may be invoked by a member of the national police to justify any deviation from these basic principles.

Any use of force is preceded by a warning given at least three times in a language that is understandable by the demonstrators (Burundi 2009).

However, in a survey in Burundi in May and June 2015 within the context of the demonstrations against the candidacy of Pierre Nkurunziza to the presidential election, Amnesty International stated:

On the basis of interviews with eyewitnesses and video footage, Amnesty international found that the police did not use a differentiated and proportionate response to the demonstrators. As the protests broke out on 26 April, the police used live ammunition to respond to demonstrators throwing stones at them. [...] [T]he police often shot at unarmed demonstrators who were running away from them (AI 27 July 2015, 5, 22).

Similarly, based on testimonies concerning those same demonstrations, Human Rights Watch points out that the police, which [Human Rights Watch English version] "used excessive force", "shot and beat[] people, in some cases when they posed no apparent threat" (29 May 2015).

The Belgian news agency Belga states that, in October 2015, Godefroid Bizimana, the Deputy Director-General of the PNB, was subject to sanctions by the European Union (EU) for his role in [translation] "repressing the demonstrators" opposed to the candidacy of the Burundian president at the presidential election (Belga 1 Oct. 2015). The sanctions consist of [translation "restrictions on his movements and an assets freeze" (ibid.). An annex to Council Regulation (EU) 2015/1755 of 1 October 2015 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Burundi, as published in the Official Journal of the European Union, states that Godefroid Bizimana is sanctioned on the grounds that he is

[EU English version]

responsible for undermining democracy by making operational decisions that have led to a disproportionate use of force and acts of violent repression towards peaceful demonstrations that started on 26 April 2015 following the announcement of the presidential candidacy of President Nkurunziza (EU 2 Oct. 2015, 8).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Notes

[1] This study by CENAP, conducted between April and June 2014 for the Office of the Ombudsman in Burundi, includes a quantitative survey of 1,949 respondents from 56 different communes in Burundi (out of 129 in the country), and a qualitative survey conducted through 20 interviews and 20 discussion groups (CENAP 2014, 1, 10, 12).

[2] CENAP is a Burundian non-partisan NGO dedicated to mitigating conflict in Burundi through research, mediation and conflict resolution (Insight on Conflict n.d.).

[3] Afrobarometre is a research network that conducts public opinion surveys on economics, security and good governance in over 30 countries in Africa (Afrobarometre 12 July 2015, 1).

References

Afrobarometre. 12 July 2015. Christophe Sebudandi. Au Burundi, la corruption augmente et touche tous les secteurs. Dispatch No. 38. [Accessed 8 Oct. 2015]

Agence France-Presse (AFP). 18 May 2015. "Burundi : l'armee a la peine dans la rue pour contenir les manifestants." [Accessed 21 Oct. 2015]

_____. 8 May 2015. Aude Genet. "Burundi's Army Walks Thin Line As Crisis Deepens." [Accessed 8 Oct. 2015]

_____. 29 April 2015. "Burundi : Dans un quartier de Bujumbura, l'armee s'interpose entre policiers et manifestants." [Accessed 8 Oct. 2015]

Amnesty International (AI). 27 July 2015. Braving Bullets: Excessive Force in Policing Demonstrations in Burundi. (AFR 16/2100/2015) [Accessed 7 Oct. 2015]

Belga. 1 October 2015. "Burundi : L'UE adopte des sanctions contre 4 personnes impliquees dans la repression." [Accessed 15 Oct. 2015]

Burundi. 2014. Commission nationale permanente de lutte contre la proliferation des armes legeres et de petit calibre (CNAP). Rapport de l'observatoire de la violence armee au Burundi. [Accessed 13 Oct. 2015]

_____. 2012a. Ministere de la Securite publique. Ordonnance n215/933 du 30 June 2012 portant revision de l'Ordonnance ministerielle n530/610 du 29 June 2006 portant definition de la tenue, des galons et des equipements du personnel de la Police nationale. [Accessed 9 Oct. 2015]

_____. 2012b. Loi n 1/026 du 23 novembre 2012 portant code de la circulation routiere. [Accessed 9 Oct. 2015]

_____ . 2011. Decret n 100/298 du 21 novembre 2011 portant organisation du ministere de la Securite publique. [Accessed 13 Oct. 2015]

_____. 2010. Loi n1/18 du 31 decembre 2010 portant statut des officiers de la police nationale du Burundi. [Accessed 13 Oct. 2015]

_____. 2009. Ministere de la Securite publique. Ordonnance n 215/891 du 09 juillet 2009 portant code de deontologie de la Police nationale du Burundi. [Accessed 8 Oct. 2015]

_____. 2004. Loi n1/023 du 31 decembre 2004 portant creation, organisation, missions, composition et fonctionnement de la police nationale. [Accessed 8 Oct. 2015]

_____. N.d.a. Ministere de la Securite publique. Structure de la DG PNB. [Accessed 7 Oct. 2015]

_____. N.d.b. Ministere de la Securite publique. Plan strategique du ministere de la Securite publique 2013-2016. [Accessed 8 Oct. 2015]

Centre d'alerte et de prevention des conflits (CENAP). 2014. Etude sur les perceptions des besoins de securite au Burundi. [Accessed 8 Oct. 2015]

European Union (EU). 2 October 2015. Reglement (UE) 2015/1755 du Conseil du 1er octobre 2015 concernant des mesures restrictives en raison de la situation au Burundi. Journal officiel de l'Union europeenne. [Accessed 15 Oct. 2015]

Le Figaro. 5 May 2015. Tanguy Berthemet. "Au Burundi, la crise politique divise les forces de securite." [Accessed 9 Oct. 2015]

Groupe de recherche et d'information sur la paix et la securite (GRIP). 21 May 2015. Agathe Plauchut. "Burundi : les consequences d'un coup d'Etat manque." [Accessed 7 Oct. 2015]

Human Rights Watch. 29 May 2015. Burundi : riposte meurtriere par la police aux manifestations. [Accessed 14 Oct. 2015]

Insight on Conflict. N.d. "Conflict Alert and Prevention Centre (CENAP)." [Accessed 8 Oct. 2015]

Political Analyst, Universite du lac Tanganyika, Burundi. 12 October 2015. Correspondence sent to the Research Directorate.

United States (US). 25 June 2015. Department of State. "Rapport 2014 sur les droits de l'homme : Burundi" (translated version of "Burundi"). Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014. [Accessed 7 Oct. 2015]

_____. 20 March 2015. Department of State, Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC). Burundi 2015 Crime and Safety Report. [Accessed 9 Oct. 2015]

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: Researcher, Institute of Strategic Studies, Nairobi; Researcher, issues of peacekeeping and reform in the security sector in Central Africa; Research Officer, Groupe de recherche et d'information sur la paix et la securite; Research Officer, Institut de recherche pour le developpement, France; Senior Researcher, Center for International Policy, Washington, DC.

Internet sites, including: AllAfrica; Association burundaise pour la protection des droits humains et des personnes detenues; Belgium - Agence belge de developpement; Bujumbura News; Burundi - Assemblee nationale, ministere des Finances, portail des marches publics du Burundi, Senat; Burundi-Agnews; Centre d'etudes strategiques de l'Afrique; Factiva; Freedom House; Groupe de recherche et d'information sur la paix et la securite; International Crisis Group; IRIN; Iwacu; Observatoire des Grands Lacs en Afrique; Organisation internationale de la francophonie; Reseau africain francophone sur les armes legeres; Small Arms Survey; United Nations - Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Development Programme, Refworld; United States - Department of State.

Attachments

1. Burundi. N.d. Ministere de la Securite publique. Structure de la DG PNB. [Accessed 7 Oct. 2015]

2. Burundi. 2012. Ordonnance n215/933 du 30 June 2012 portant revision de l'Ordonnance ministerielle n530/610 du 29 June 2006 portant definition de la tenue, des galons et des equipements du personnel de la Police nationale. [Accessed 9 Oct. 2015]
Burundi: The May 2015 coup attempt, including its instigators, how it unfolded, the violent incidents and the outcome; the treatment of the coup instigators by the government (May 2015-October 2015)

Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 30 October 2015 Citation / Document Symbol BDI105338.FE Related Document(s) Burundi : information sur la tentative de coup d'Etat de mai 2015, y compris sur ses instigateurs, son deroulement, les incidents de violence qui l'ont accompagnee et son issue; information sur le traitement exerce par le gouvernement contre ses instigateurs (mai 2015-octobre 2015) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Burundi: The May 2015 coup attempt, including its instigators, how it unfolded, the violent incidents and the outcome; the treatment of the coup instigators by the government (May 2015-October 2015), 30 October 2015, BDI105338.FE, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568fc3474.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

1. May 2015 Coup Attempt

1.1 Wednesday, 13 May 2015

1.1.1 Trigger

According to sources, on the afternoon of 13 May 2015, in a military barrack, General Godefroid Niyombare announced before journalists that he was dismissing the president of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza (The Guardian 13 May 2015; BBC 13 May 2015). The same sources state that General Niyombare later broadcast his announcement on the radio (ibid.; The Guardian 13 May 2015). According to an article from Huffington Post and Agence France-Presse (AFP), General Niyombare stated the following on Isanganiro, the private radio station: [translation] "President Pierre Nkurunziza has been dismissed from his duties; the government is dismissed" (Le Huffington Post with AFP 13 May 2015b). According to Radio France internationale (RFI), General Niyombare stated on that same radio station that he [translation] "watched 'with despair the violence, the cynicism of Pierre Nkurunziza'" and that "the security forces decided to take the future of the country in hand, Nkurunziza is dismissed" (RFI 14 May 2015a).

An article by the Belgian daily Le Soir, co-written with AFP and Reuters states that General Niyombare also announced that he wanted [translation] "a repeat of the electoral process" (Le Soir with AFP and Reuters 13 May 2015). According to AFP, the demonstrations in the country beginning on 25 April 2015 against Pierre Nkurunziza's candidacy for a third term as president were used by General Niyombare as [translation] "one way to justify the coup" (AFP 15 May 2015). According to sources, General Niyombare, who had been appointed head of intelligence services [in November 2014 (Jeune Afrique 13 May 2015)], was dismissed in February 2015, apparently for advising the President not to run for president for a third term (Jeune Afrique 13 May 2015; AFP 13 May 2015b; RFI 14 May 2015a). For further details on the opposition to Pierre Nkurunziza's third term, consult Response to Information Request BDI105276.

1.1.2 Public Reactions

According to the London journal The Guardian, a rumour had circulated before General Niyombare's radio announcement was made, and Burundians huddled around radios (The Guardian 13 May 2015). That same source notes that after the radio broadcast of General Niyombare's statements, "the streets of Bujumbura [the capital] flooded with people jumping and screaming jubilant cries of 'Peace in Burundi!'" (ibid.). Sources state that, in the capital, General Niyombare's announcement was celebrated by [translation] "a number of protesters" (AFP 13 May 2015b) or "thousands of protesters" (BBC 13 May 2015). According to the United Nations Security Council,

[UN English version]

[t]he announcement was welcomed by thousands of people in Bujumbura and by some opposition and civil society leaders. Spontaneous demonstrations in support of the coup were largely limited to Bujumbura. Many other Burundians condemned the coup (UN 7 July 2015, para. 8).

Information on public reactions outside the capital could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to RFI, on the evening of 13 May 2015, [translation] "the civil society and the opposition [had not yet] announced their position on the crisis" (RFI 14 May 2015a).

1.1.3 Incidents of Violence

Sources report that the following incidents of violence occurred on 13 May 2015 in the coup attempt in the capital:

According to sources, civilians protested near the offices of Burundi National Radio and Television (Radio-Television nationale burundaise, RTNB), and loyalist soldiers shot in the air to disperse them (Jeune Afrique 13 May 2015; Le Soir with AFP and Reuters 13 May 2015). According to an article co-written by Le Soir, AFP and Reuters, the protesters moved back a little and then remained nearby, [translation] "protected by soldiers and police officers" (ibid.).

A BBC journalist saw protesters walk to the downtown, accompanied by soldiers and two tanks (BBC 13 May 2015). AFP states also that protesters [translation] "were fraternizing with the soldiers and climbing on armoured vehicles" (AFP 13 May 2015b). According to BBC, the police shot at the soldiers and the crowd, and "at least two protesters were killed" (BBC 13 May 2015). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Jeune Afrique states, however, that [translation] "the police remained absent on the whole" (Jeune Afrique 13 May 2015).

The BBC states that protesters entered the national prison and freed the protesters who were detained there, then they set fire to the building (BBC 13 May 2015), while Human Rights Watch notes that [translation] "some people vandalized a police detention centre called the Special Research Office (Bureau special de recherche, BSR) and [that they] freed about 50 detainees" (Human Rights Watch 29 May 2015).

Radio Rema FM, a station close to the party in power, was targeted in an attack (ibid.; Radio Bonesha 14 May 2015). According to Radio Bonesha, an independent Burundi station, protesters and soldiers were the perpetrators of that attack (ibid.).

Sources state that Hospital Bumerec was the site of armed confrontation between coup soldiers and police officers, and a police officer was injured (Human Rights Watch 29 May 2015; RFI 17 May 2015).

1.1.4 Reaction of President Nkurunziza

At the time of the coup attempt, President Nkurunziza was in Tanzania to attend an EastAfrican summit on the political situation in Burundi (AFP 13 May 2015a; Jeune Afrique 13 May 2015; UN 7 July 2015, para. 8). According to The Guardian, he stated on the radio, from Tanzania, that the coup had failed-this message was relayed by the President of Burundi's Twitter and Facebook accounts (The Guardian 13 May 2015). According to RFI, the announcement was posted on the President's Twitter account about one hour after General Niyombare made the radio broadcast (RFI 14 May 2015a). Other media state that the President published a news release announcing that the instigators of the coup attempt would be [translation] "taken to court" (Huffington Post with AFP 13 May 2015; Jeune Afrique 13 May 2015).

1.1.5 Conclusion of the First Day of the Coup Attempt

General Niyombare ordered the borders and the airport in the capital closed (RFI 14 May 2015a; AFP 13 May 2015b; Jeune Afrique 13 May 2015). According to Jeune Afrique, the airport was closed at the end of the afternoon (ibid.).

BBC states that "the capital appeared to have calmed in the evening" (BBC 13 May 2015). According to RFI, once night fell, the streets of Bujumbura were empty and the calm had returned (RFI 14 May 2015a).

Sources state that on 13 May 2015, the outcome of the coup attempt was uncertain (AFP 13 May 2015a; The Guardian 13 May 2015; BBC 13 May 2015). Jeune Afrique explains that "[t]he power dynamic in the army between the coup leaders and the loyalists remained unknown at the end of the day" (Jeune Afrique 13 May 2015). According to sources, discussions took place in the evening between the soldiers in the two camps, who stated that they wanted to find a peaceful solution to the crisis (RFI 14 May 2015a; AFP 13 May 2015b).

According to media, that same evening, General Niyombare stated on the radio that he had [translation] "a lot" of support in the army and the police (AFP 13 May 2015a; RFI 14 May 2015a).

According to RFI, the crisis was still at an impasse at the end of the evening (ibid.). An article from Jeune Afrique and AFP cites the Burundian Army Chief, Prime Niyongabo, who stated on the RTNB air: [translation] "in the night of Wednesday [13 May 2015] to Thursday [14 May 2015,] the coup attempt had [] 'been thwarted,'" and he ordered the "mutineers to surrender" (Jeune Afrique with AFP 14 May 2015).

1.2 Thursday, 14 May 2015

An article of Jeune Afrique and the AFP states that, on the morning of 14 May 2015, "there was total confusion" in Burundi (ibid.). The offices of the African Public Radio (Radio publique africaine, RPA), Radio Bonesha, Radio Isanganiro and Renaissance Radio and Television (Radio-Television Renaissance) were attacked [on 14 May 2015 (Human Rights Watch 29 May 2015)], according to the sources, by [translation] "suspected supporters of the President" (Human Rights Watch 29 May 2015) or by "Pro-Nkurunziza forces" (AFP 15 May 2015). The AFP states that these radio stations broadcast messages from the coup leaders and that they stopped broadcasting them in the night [of 13 to 14 May 2015] (ibid.). In an article dated 29 May 2015, Human Rights Watch states that those stations were still not broadcasting (Human Rights Watch 29 May 2015).

According to the Jeune Afrique and AFP article, as well as an AFP dispatch, heavy weapons fire occurred on 14 May 2015 between the loyalist and military coup forces, as they unsuccessfully tried to take control of the RTNB (Jeune Afrique with AFP 14 May 2015; AFP 15 May 2015). An AFP journalist stated that he had seen [translation] "three military cadavers about one kilometre from the RTNB site," the first deaths noted since the beginning of the coup attempt, according to AFP (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

According to the report of a radio interview broadcast on RFI-an interview that is available on that station's website-General Niyombare stated [translation] "that his objective was not to launch a coup, but to express his refusal to accept President Nkurunziza's violation of the Constitution. [] The General is not opposed to a transition and he wants to return the power to civilians" (RFI 14 May 2015b). RFI points out that this interview took place before President Nkurunziza [translation] "announced on Twitter his 'return to Burundi'" (ibid.). The spokesperson for the presidency, Willy Nyamitwe, interviewed by RFI that same day, stated that he was of the opinion that the coup attempt had failed" (ibid.).

The AFP stated that, according to someone close to him, President Nkurunziza returned to Burundi on 14 May 2015 and went to Ngozi, [translation] "in his native province" (AFP 15 May 2015). Other sources note that, on 15 May 2015, the President had returned to Burundi (UN 7 July 2015, para. 9; Le Monde et al. 15 May 2015), more specifically to Bujumbura (ibid.).

AFP states that [translation] "the movement's second-in-command" to General Niyombare, Cyrille Ndayirukiye, announced the failed coup on 14 May 2015 to the news agency, when President Nkurunziza's return was announced (AFP 15 May 2015). According to AFP, Cyrille Ndayirukiye stated the following: [translation] "We were faced with an overpowering military determination to support the system in power" (ibid.).

1.3 Friday, 15 May 2015: Outcome of the Coup Attempt

According to an AFP dispatch, on Friday, 15 May 2015, in the morning, General Niyombare announced by telephone to the news agency [translation] "that members of his movement had surrendered []. The coup spokesperson, police commissioner Venon Ndabaneze, confirmed the surrender" to AFP by telephone, [translation] "just before getting arrested" (ibid.). According to AFP, the spokesperson stated the following: [translation] "We have decided to surrender.W e have laid down our weapons. We have called the Minister of Public Security and the Minister of Defence to tell them that we no longer have any weapons" (ibid.). According to that same source, Cyrille Ndayirukiye was with the spokesperson of the coup leaders (ibid.). The AFP states that his journalist [translation] "stayed online [telephone] during the arrest of the three men" (ibid.). Le Monde et al. also states that three of the coup leaders, including Cyrille Ndayirukiye and General Niyombare, were arrested (Le Monde et al. 15 May 2015). Further information on the arrest of the senior leaders of the coup attempt of May 2015 could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

Scarce information on what became of General Niyombare could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

An article by Human Rights Watch dated 29 May 2015 states that they [translation] "do not know where Godefroid Niyombare [...] is" (Human Rights Watch 29 May 2015). In August 2015, IHS Global Insight, a global insight organization that provides [translation] "economic, financial and political data" on countries and industries (IHS Global Insight n.d), noted that General Niyombare was at the head of a [translation] "rebellion" (IHS Global Insight 10 Aug. 2015). In an article dated 7 October 2015, BBC states that relations between Burundi and Rwanda "deteriorated further" after Burundi accused Rwanda of hosting General Niyombare (BBC 7 Oct. 2015).

2. Government Treatment of the Instigators of the Coup Attempt

The United Nations Security Council states that,

[UN English version]

[a]ccording to Burundian authorities, 12 coup leaders were killed, 35 were injured, while 40 surrendered and 9 were arrested, including a general and two police commissioners. On May 16, 17 suspected leaders of the coup appeared before the Bujumbura Mairie High Court and were subsequently remanded to prison (UN 7 July 2015, para. 9).

Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

An Agence de presse africaine (APA) dispatch dated 29 September 2015 states the following:

[translation]

Their lawyers stated on Tuesday that twenty-eight (28) soldiers and officers suspected of being coup leaders have been incarcerated since last Friday in the Gitega prison (centre of Burundi) after detainees from the Rumonge prison were regrouped with those imprisoned at Gitega, where cells for their individual isolation were built.

One of them, Me Lambert Nsabimana, stated that members of their families could no longer see them and some highly armed soldiers and police officers came to intimidate them regularly.

[]

Since their imprisonment the day after the failed coup attempt last 13 May, those detainees have not appeared before the public ministry. Me Lambert hopes, however, that imprisoning them in the same prison will facilitate their appearance in court, which is scheduled soon.

[]

Among those coup leaders is the coup second-in-command, General Major Cyrille Ndayirukiye, former Minister of Defense, the spokesperson of the coup leaders, police commissioner Zenon Ndabaneze (APA 29 Sept. 2015).

Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

Further information on the treatment of the instigators of the May 2015 coup attempt could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Agence de presse africaine (APA). 29 September 2015. "Burundi : les 28 putschistes presumes regroupes dans une meme prison." (Factiva)

Agence France-Presse (AFP). 15 May 2015. "Au Burundi, les putschistes annoncent leur reddition." [Accessed 5 Oct. 2015]

_____. 13 May 2015a. "Tentative de coup d'Etat au Burundi." [Accessed 5 Oct. 2015]

_____. 13 May 2015b. Esdras NDikumana and Ephrem Rugiririza. "Tentative de coup d'Etat au Burundi." [Accessed 5 Oct. 2015]

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 7 October 2015. "Burundi Expels Rwandan Diplomat for 'Creating Insecurity'." [Accessed 29 Oct. 2015]

_____. 13 May 2015. "Burundi President Nkurunziza Faces Attempted Coup." [Accessed 15 Oct. 2015]

The Guardian. 13 May 2015. Abigail Higgins and Sam Jones. "Burundi Protesters Celebrate as General Launches Coup Attempt." [Accessed 10 Oct. 2015]

Le Huffington Post with Agence France-Presse (AFP). 13 May 2015. Maxime Bourdier. "Burundi : ce qu'il faut savoir pour comprendre la tentative de coup D'Etat." [Accessed 15 Oct. 2015]

Human Rights Watch. 29 May 2015. "Burundi : riposte meurtriere par la police aux manifestations." [Accessed 28 Oct. 2015]

IHS Global Insight. 10 August 2015. Jordan Anderson. "Assassination of Burundi's Army Chief Highlights Growing Prospects of Violence over Contested Election Escalating to Civil War." (Factiva)

_____. N.d. "About." [Accessed 30 Oct. 2015]

Jeune Afrique. 13 May 2015. Mathieu Olivier. "Burundi : ce qu'il faut savoir de la situation au soir de la tentative de coup d'Etat." [Accessed 29 Oct. 2015]

Jeune Afrique with Agence France-Presse (AFP). 14 May 2015. "Coup d'Etat au Burundi : combats entre loyalistes et putschistes a Bujumbura." [Accessed 5 Oct. 2015]

Le Monde with Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP) and Reuters. 15 May 2015. "Au Burundi, apres le coup d'Etat rate, le president Nkurunziza reprend la main." [Accessed 5 Oct. 2015]

Radio Bonesha. 14 May 2015. "Residents of Burundian Capital City Attack Pro-ruling Party Radio Station." (Factiva)

Radio France internationale (RFI). 17 May 2015. "Burundi : un hopital attaque lors de la traque des putschistes." [Accessed 29 Oct. 2015]

_____. 14 May 2015a. "Burundi : Revivez la tentative de coup d'Etat du 13 May." [Accessed 5 Oct. 2015]

_____. 14 May 2015b. "Le general Godefroid Niyombare et Willy Nyamitwe s'expriment sur RFI." [Accessed 29 Oct. 2015]

Le Soir with Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reuters. 13 May 2015. "Tentative de coup d'Etat au Burundi (les photos et videos)." [Accessed15 Oct. 2015]

United Nations. 7 July 2015. Security Council. Rapport du Secretaire general sur la Mission electorale des Nations Unies au Burundi. (S/2015/510) [Accessed 26 Oct. 2015]

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: Amnesty International; Human Rights Watch; School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Internet sites, including: AllAfrica; Amnesty International; Association de reflexion et d'information sur le Burundi; Burundi - Embassy of Burundi in Canada; Burundi Information; Le Figaro; Federation internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme; Freedom House; International Crisis Group; IRIN; Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme; Ligue des droits de la personne dans la region des Grands Lacs; Organisation des medias d'Afrique Centrale; Pan African News Agency; Reseau documentaire international sur la region des Grands Lacs africains; United Nations - Human Rights Council, United Nations Development Program, Refworld.
Barbados: Treatment of sexual minorities, including legislation, state protection and support services; social attitudes towards bisexuality (2013-November 2015)

Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 3 December 2015 Citation / Document Symbol BRB105353.E Related Document(s) Barbade : information sur le traitement reserve aux minorites sexuelles, y compris sur les lois, la protection offerte par l'Etat et les services de soutien; l'attitude de la societe a l'egard de la bisexualite (2013-novembre 2015) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Barbados: Treatment of sexual minorities, including legislation, state protection and support services; social attitudes towards bisexuality (2013-November 2015), 3 December 2015, BRB105353.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/568fc6934.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

1. Legislation

Sources state that homosexual acts are illegal in Barbados (Freedom House 2015; US 25 June 2015, 12; Jackman 15 Oct. 2015), with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment (ibid.). According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), it is illegal for both male and female same-sex couples (ILGA May 2015, 87). The Barbadian Sexual Offences Act of 1992 (amended 1993), Chapter 154 states the following:

Buggery

Section 9. "Any person who commits buggery is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life.

Serious indecency

...

Section 12. (1) A person who commits an act of serious indecency on or towards another or incites another to commit that act with the person or with another person is guilty of an offence and, if committed on or towards a person 16 years of age or more or if the person incited is of 16 years of age or more, is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of 10 years.

(2) A person who commits an act of serious indecency with or towards a child under the age of 16 or incites the child under that age to such an act with him or another, is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of 15 years.

(3) An act of "serious indecency" is an act, whether natural or unnatural by a person involving the use of the genital organs for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire. (Barbados 1992)

In a study about support for anti-gay laws in Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, Mahlia Jackman, of the Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research of the University of Manchester, states that "in spite of the gender neutrality of Barbados' laws on acts of serious indecency, ... they are often mischaracterised as applying to individuals of a specific sexual orientation. Thus, the laws have symbolic power and lends to the marginalisation of homosexuals" (Jackman15 Oct. 2015, 2).

1.1 Enforcement

Sources state that the legislation banning homosexual acts is rarely enforced (Freedom House 2015, 2; Jackman 15 Oct. 2015). The US Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014 states that there were "no reports of the law being enforced" during the reporting period (US 25 June 2015, 12). According to the UN Human Rights Council's Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, Barbados government representatives stated that persons in same-sex relationships "were not prosecuted, since without a complaint there could be no successful prosecution of such acts" and that individuals in same-sex relationships "were unlikely to complain to the police" (UN 12 Mar. 2013, para. 21).

2. Situation and Treatment by Society

2.1 Societal Perceptions

Sources cite data from a 2013 survey by Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES) (Jackman 15 Oct. 2015, 2; Barbados Today 21 Nov. 2014), in which a random sample of 830 Barbadians were surveyed about their attitudes towards homosexuals (Jackman 15 Oct. 2015, 2-3). The survey reportedly found that approximately 58 percent of heterosexual respondents from Barbados supported maintaining the current laws banning same-sex activity, while approximately 24 percent did not support the current laws (Jackman 15 Oct. 2015, 4; Barbados Today 21 Nov. 2014). Sources further state that the remaining 22 percent were not sure (Jackman 15 Oct. 2015, 4) or did not comment (Barbados Today 21 Nov. 2014). The survey also reportedly found that approximately 46 percent of respondents from Barbados supported the enforcement of the current laws (Barbados Today 21 Nov. 2014; Jackman 15 Oct. 2015, 4), while approximately 26 percent did not support enforcement and 28 percent did not know (ibid.).

According to an article by the LGBT rights activist Maurice Tomlinson, which was posted on the blog Erasing 76 Crimes [1], there is a "culture of tolerance" in Barbados (Tomlinson 6 Mar. 2013). Barbados Today, citing the CADRES survey, reports that among survey respondents in Barbados, 67 percent identified themselves as either "'tolerant'" or "'accepting'" of homosexuals, 17 percent identified as "'homophobic'" and 16 percent as "'unsure'" (Barbados Today 21 Nov. 2014).

2.2 Treatment by Society

According to Country Reports 2014, discrimination against LGBT individuals was one of "[t]he most serious human rights problems" in Barbados (US 25 June 2015, 1). Citing a presentation by the NGO Barbados Gay, Lesbians and All-Sexuals Against Discrimination (B-GLAD), based on their 2014 report, The State of LGBT Barbados: A Brief Overview, Barbados Today reports that the LGBT community in Barbados faces "'covert oppression'" and quote the following statement from the report:

[Those LGBT in Barbados] do not largely suffer from violent hate crimes on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Instead, stigma and discrimination  is often manifested in the forms of property damage, ostracism and verbal abuse from strangers and family alike, unjustified denial of employment, denial of housing, rejection and abandonment [by] family, friends and  society at large. (Barbados Today 9 Dec. 2014)

Country Reports 2014 similarly reports that LGBT persons "faced discrimination in employment, housing, and access to education and health care" (US 25 June 2015, 12). The same report states that, according to activists, "while many individuals lived open LGBT lifestyles  societal discrimination against LGBT persons occurred" (ibid.).

In correspondence with the Research Directorate, the Executive Director of B-GLAD stated that "many" LGBT couples are "forced to hide their relationship to avoid discrimination" (17 Nov. 2015). The same source states that same-sex couples from lower socio-economic backgrounds have more difficulty with "gaining employment, raising a family" and accessing the benefits available to heterosexual couples (ibid.).

2.3 Incidents of Violence

Information on violence against LGBT persons was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to Country Reports 2014, LGBT activists reported "few" incidences of violence, "but suggested that social stigma and fear of retribution or reprisal rendered the problem underreported" (US 25 June 2015, 12). According to the B-GLAD Executive Director, violence against LGBT persons usually occurs within domestic situations, with youth disproportionately "falling victim to sexual, physical and verbal assault within their families," with young gay men facing high levels of "rejection and abandonmentfrom their families" (B-GLAD 17 Nov. 2015). The same source further states that those that do not fit the "gender norm," such as "very effeminate men, transgender women and butch lesbians" are "tremendously at risk" in Barbados, and have been subject to physical and sexual violence (ibid.). The source also states that B-GLAD received "reported incidences of arson, rape of both males and females, attempted suicide, homelessness, verbal abuse, depression and assault" (ibid.). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

3. State Protection

According to sources, there are no legal protections for those who face discrimination as a result of their sexual orientation (Freedom House 2015; B-GLAD 17 Nov. 2015; US 25 June 2015, 12).

3.1 Treatment by Police

Citing the presentation by B-GLAD, Barbados Today reports that "most members of the LGBT community do not report matters to the police out of fear of 'negative repercussions or facing ridicule'" (Barbados Today 9 Dec. 2014). Country Reports 2014 states that, according to activists, LGBT individuals have faced "disapprobation [condemnation] by police officers" (US 25 June 2015, 12). According to the UN Human Rights Council's Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review for Barbados, police in Barbados have been "denounced as discriminatory" in their treatment of victims who are LGBT (UN 9 Nov. 2012, para. 27).

According to the B-GLAD Executive Director, "some" police are well trained in handling cases in which LGBT persons are targeted, while others "can be very dismissive of gay men and transwomen" (B-GLAD 17 Nov. 2015). The same source states that "justice is very rarely served" in these cases "and many charges are dropped due to many years of waiting [or] missing reports" (ibid.).

According to Tomlinson, the police in Barbados were given a one-day LGBT sensitivity training session (Tomlinson 6 Mar. 2013).

4. Support Services

Information on support services available to the LGBT community in Barbados was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Without providing further detail, Tomlinson reports that the Barbadian government has "provided a major LGBT group  United Gay and Lesbian Society of Barbados (UGALAB) with office space for its HIV outreach" (6 Mar. 2013). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

Sources describe B-GLAD as the "leading" (Antillean Media Group 1 Dec. 2014) or "sole" LGBT advocacy group in Barbados (Bajan Reporter 24 June 2015). According to their website, B-GLAD aims to serve as a "pressure group" to encourage anti-discrimination laws for LGBT persons, provides support and resources to "LGBT individuals, groups and companies," promotes sexual and mental health, and encourages individuals to report hate crimes and discrimination (B-GLAD n.d.). According to the B-GLAD Executive Director, they are "the only NGO that caters specifically to the LGBT community" in Barbados, though due to limited resources, they "fall short in providing for all the needs of the community" (18 Nov. 2015). The same source further states that B-GLAD has "no provisions for shelters and minimal legal assistance," though they have allied with, and referred some individuals to, the Legal Fraternity for legal assistance (ibid.). The source further states that B-GLAD focuses on "sexual health and community needs" through youth groups, community spaces and events (18 Nov. 2015).

5. Attitudes Towards Bisexuality

Information on societal attitudes towards bisexuality was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to the B-GLAD Executive Director, bisexuality amongst "gender conforming women and men" is not usually seen as problematic as their "sexuality is generally invisible" (B-GLAD 17 Nov. 2015). The source further states that those "who do not gender conform or who have differing forms of gender expression than the average heterosexual person can be at risk for social exclusion" (ibid.). Further and corroborating information on social attitudes towards bisexuality could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Note

[1] Erasing 76 Crimes is a blog launched by a retired journalist that reports on the human rights of LGBT persons in the more than 76 countries that have anti-LGBT laws (Erasing 76 Crimes n.d.). Maurice Tomlinson , an attorney from Jamaica, has been active in LGBT activism in the Caribbean for over 12 years (ibid.).

References

Antiellean Media Group. 1 December 2014. "CariFLAGS asks Stuart to State Barbados' Position on Gays." [Accessd 13 Nov. 2015]

Bajan Reporter. 24 June 2015. "Elizabeth II Recognises Barbadian LGBT Community and NGO Via Youth Leadership Award." [Accessed 13 Nov. 2015]

Barbados. 1992 (amended 1993). Sexual Offenses Act. [Accessed 23 Nov. 2015]

Barbados - Gays, Lesbians and All-Sexuals Against Discrimination (B-GLAD). 18 November 2015. Correspondence from the Executive Director to the Research Directorate.

_____. 17 November 2015. Correspondence from the Executive Director to the Research Directorate.

_____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 13 Nov. 2015]

Barbados Today. 9 December 2014. Carol Williams. "Covert Oppression." [Accessed 29 Oct. 2015]

_____. 21 November 2014. "Confusion Over Buggery Laws." [Accessed 29 Oct. 2015]

Erasing 76 Crimes Blog. N.d. "About." [Accessed 13 Nov. 2015]

Freedom House. 2015. "Barbados." Freedom in the World 2015. [Accessed 10 Nov. 2015]

International Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). May 2015. "Barbados." State-Sponsored Homophobia. A World Survey of Laws: Criminalisation, Protection and Recognition of Same-Sex Love. 10th Edition. [Accessed 2 Dec. 2015]

Jackman, Mahalia. 15 October 2015. "They Called it the 'Abominable Crime': an Analysis of Heterosexual Support for Anti-Gay Laws in Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago." Sexuality Research and Social Policy. [Accessed 9 Nov. 2015]

Tomlinson, Maurice. 6 March 2013. "Progress in Barbados Despite Harsh Anti-Gay Laws." Erasing 76 Crimes Blog. [Accessed 30 Oct. 2015]

United Nations (UN). 12 March 2013. Human Rights Council. "Barbados." Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review. A/HRC/23/11. < http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session23/A-HRC-23-2_en.pdf > [Accessed 10 Nov. 2015]

_____. 9 November 2012. Human Rights Council. "Barbados." Compilation Prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Accordance with Paragraph 5 of the Annex to Human Rights Council Resolution 16/21. A/HRC/WG.6/15/BRB/2 <&http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=search&docid=50cb3e702&skip=0&query=LGBT&coi=BRB&searchin=title&sort=date> [Accessed 10 Nov. 2015]

United States (US). 25 June 2015. Department of State. "Barbados." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014. [Accessed 9 Nov. 2015]

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: Caribbean Alliance for Equality; International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.

Internet sites, including: Amnesty International; ARC International; The Barbados Advocate; Caribbean Alliance for Equality; Caribbean Community Secretariat; ecoi.net; Factiva; GlobalGayz; Human Rights First; Human Rights Watch; International Service for Human Rights; Kaleidoscope Trust; Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration; Organization of American States-Rapporteurship on the Rights of LGBTI Persons; OutRight Action International; Pink News; The Silver Lining Foundation; United Nations-Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Refworld.
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Towards the end of 2015, a phrase started appearing on the Chinese Internet that was once made famous by Chinese author Lu Xun [1881-1936]. From there, it resonated from the hilltops to the seas, going viral immediately.



This phrase"the Zhao family" and its opposite, "the non-Zhaos"is the most vivid expression of the relationship between the rulers and the ruled, officials and the public, the elite and the ordinary people, "them" and "us," to have emerged in recent years.



Of course, the Zhao family has its origins in Lu Xun's "The True Story of Ah Q." In the story, old Grandpa Zhao spits out, when Ah Q (who shares the same surname) dares to cheer along with the Zhaos: "You think you're worthy of the surname Zhao?"



As Qiao Mu points out on the website of the Eastern Daily News, the popularity of this playful form of deconstruction comes at a time of political regression and ever-tighter Internet censorship.



But what's wonderful about the Zhao family meme is that it explains a good many Chinese political phenomena, and, in doing so, stands in opposition to official ideology.



For example, it neatly encapsulates phenomena relating to the government, the people, and different ethnic groups to the point of being revelatory



A family empire



Our National Security Law is a Zhao family security law. National sovereignty is Zhao family sovereignty, while someone suspected of subversion is suspected of subverting the Zhao family.



State-owned enterprises are Zhao family businesses; the People's Liberation Army is the Zhao family liberation army, and the rule of law is the rule of Zhao family law.



Core socialist values are core Zhao family values, while faith in communism is faith in the Zhao family. In other words, China is the Zhao family empire.



Seen in this way, it becomes clear that, for a long time now, the Zhao family has presided over everything, creeping in to take the emperor's spot under another guise, and ripping off the Chinese people.



Once people figured out this scam, the non-Zhaos were in an uproar.



People have figured out what it means to be a member of the Zhao family, and what it means not to be a member. It's hard to find a neater way of describing this situation than these two oppositional concepts.



Let's look at who profits, for example.



In the past three decades or more, the Zhao family, even those in the lower ranks, have seen the wealth pour in to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. Meanwhile, ordinary people face all manner of hardship, and struggle to afford healthcare, education, housing and pensions.



The sums involved have been sufficient to create the distinction between the Zhaos and the non-Zhaos, the opposition between "us" and "them."



'Busy with projects'



And it seems that the Zhao family don't care about this opposition. In the past three years, they have been busy with three main projects: sorting out the [ruling Chinese Communist] Party, sorting out the military, and sorting out society as a whole.



Through the anti-corruption campaign in the military and the party, through the persecution of lawyers, journalists, scholars, and nongovernment organizations (NGOs), they have plunged the entire country into fear and anxiety.



As we enter 2016, how will the tension between the Zhao family and the outsiders play itself out? It looks as the Zhao family will continue to consolidate its monopoly on power and resources in its capricious, unreasonable, and arrogant way.



For example, it recently detained people in Hong Kong who had believed themselves under the protection of the "one country, two systems" arrangement promised to them by the Zhao family, just because it could.



The head of the Party school told a meeting recently that Party members should act like members of the Party.



Actually, they're members of the Zhao family, which has moved in to take greater control of higher education institutions, the judiciary, and the media, all of whom have been required to swear fealty to the head of the Zhao family.



Perhaps this year, the Zhaos will continue to work their magic, tightening the straitjacket still further. If so, then 2016 will be an even darker year, politically, and the gulf between the Zhaos and the non-Zhaos will deepen still further.



No interest in reforms



As for those long-awaited political reforms, the Zhaos clearly aren't interested, as they have too many drawbacks.



Those who want them, the ordinary people, aren't the ones who hold the power, and they lack freedom of speech and political participation, in spite of the endless discussion of reforms in the Zhao family media outlets.



The people lack confidence in the government, in the Communist Party, in the country's future, and ultimately in the Zhao family.



So, what changes can be expected in 2016?



I don't think even the Zhao family knows, in spite of all their talk of self-confidence in their political theories and system. They're not even sure if they can hang on in there.



They are terrified of a revolt by the non-Zhaos, which is why they've been doing their utmost in recent years to strike at their very backbone.



The scene is set; the battle lines are drawn. What will happen next?



Translated by Luisetta Mudie.



Wei Pu is a U.S.-based economist and a regular contributor to RFA's Cantonese Service.
Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong on Friday handed a six-month jail term to detained rights lawyer Shu Xiangxin, whose lawyers say he was tortured while in custody at a police-run detention center.



Shu was found guilty of "defamation" at a one-day trial at the Licheng District People's Court in Shandong's provincial capital, Jinan.



"He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment," his lawyer Cai Xin told RFA after the trial.



His wife, Liu Xiuqin, said she is extremely concerned for her husband's physical and mental health after seeing him in the dock on Friday.



"He seemed confused, and he couldn't stand up properly; he was propped up by a couple of policemen when they brought him in," Liu said.



"He seemed wobbly on his legs and a bit dazed, spaced out," she said, adding that the family plans to appeal.



"Shu is innocent," Liu said. "Shu is being targeted now because he helped some people bring cases in the past."



According to Shu's lawyers, he was punched, dragged, left in the cold with scant clothing and hanged by a handcuff from an iron bar for eight hours while in detention.



He was denied medical treatment, food, water or toilet facilities despite crying out repeatedly, and eventually lost consciousness, they told RFA.



During Shu's trial, his lawyers were denied the opportunity to argue in his defense, and prevented from submitted files of evidence.



"They wouldn't let the defense attorney in there, and they wouldn't allow them to bring in all the case files," Cai Ying said. "Then, they searched the lawyers and wouldn't let them keep their phones."



"The lawyers lodged a complaint with the court, so they wouldn't let me go in, and they just went ahead with the trial and sentencing," he said.



"I think that this was an incorrect verdict, because the facts of the case weren't proven; I don't think that they made the charges of extortion stand up," he said.



Cai said he had applied for Shu's release on bail, as his client's hearing appeared to have suffered following his beating in detention.



"He doesn't represent any sort of a threat to society," Cai said. "Why are they still holding him? We think that this is an abnormal thing to do."



The daughter of Chinese rights lawyer Shu Xiangxin is beaten unconscious outside the Licheng District People's Court in Jinan, Shandong province, Jan. 8, 2016. Video screenshot courtesy of a rights activist Beating outside court



Meanwhile, video shot by supporters outside the court buildings showed an unidentified man beating Shu's daughter unconscious, leading to her hospitalization, her mother said.



"My daughter is unconscious right now, and I don't know exactly what happened," Liu said. "She is being transferred from one hospital to another."



Jinan resident and supporter Zhang Jinfeng was outside the court along with many others, she told RFA.



"I got to the scene at 1:10 p.m., and the first wave of police came over about five minutes later," Zhang said.



"There was heavy police security on all the gates ... I was standing at the gates, and managed to take a couple of photos before the state security police came over and told me to leave," she said.



"I'm guessing there were about 200 [supporters] there in total."



She said some fellow activists had gone to visit Shu's daughter in the hospital, while others had gone to a local police station to file a report about the beating.



"It was the son of the plaintiff in the defamation case," Zhang said.



Shu was initially detained in November 2012, after he had spent several months gathering evidence of connections between local officials and organized crime in Jinan.



His lawyers said at the time that he had been detained in connection with his work on behalf of villagers who were trying to fight the acquisition of their land by local officials.



He had also made online allegations that an official in Shandong's Guan county had tried to bribe him to drop an "extortion" lawsuit brought against the government by local farmers, and that he had been beaten and harassed by local mobsters, official media reported at the time.



Authorities later withheld Shu's lawyer's business license, a tactic frequently used by the ruling Chinese Communist Party to target lawyers who represent "sensitive" and disadvantaged groups, often evictees who have had their land requisitioned by cash-strapped local governments.



Shu was redetained suddenly last Friday on the same charges and held in the Jinan No. 2 Detention Center.



Call for immediate release



Rights groups hit out at his torture in detention, and called for his immediate release.



"Shu Xiangxins recent mistreatment illustrates that little has changed since the UN Committee against Torture made recommendations intended to urge the Chinese government to abide by its international treaty obligations," the overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) group said in a statement.



Meanwhile, a number of rights groups including Human Rights in China condemned Shu's treatment in a statement on the website of the World Organization Against Torture.



"Our organizations strongly denounce the continued use of torture and harassment against human rights defenders and lawyers in China," the statement, also signed by the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin, said.



"We urge the Chinese authorities to respect their domestic and international human rights obligations and ensure that lawyers and defenders can safely carry out their legitimate and peaceful activities, without which the future of rule of law in China is grim," it said.



"We call on the international community ... not to give China a free pass for these violations of international human rights standards."



Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Lin Jing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye (L) speaking as Foreign MInister Yun Byung-Se (2nd R) and Defence Minister Han Minkoo (R) listen during an emergency meeting of the National Security Council at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, Jan. 6, 2016.

Seoul said on Thursday that its initial response to the previous day's nuclear test by rival North Korea would include turning back on cross-border broadcasts of loud South Korean pop music, global news and information about the wealthier, democratic South, the foreign ministry said.

The broadcasts from power loudspeakers, which also include propaganda condemning North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his regime, would "completely resume" at mid-day on Friday, Kim's birthday, said Cho Tae-yong, the deputy chief of national security at the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

"Our troops will remain in a state of full readiness and be fully prepared for a firm response in the event of any provocation from the North," he added.

Defense Minister Han Minkoo told a parliamentary hearing that "reopening broadcasts is not our only option among military responses to the North's nuclear test. There are also military responses and economic responses."

Seoul also decided to limit the South Koreans who travel to a special industrial park run by the South in Kaesong, North Korea to "essential staff," officials said.



According to South Korean media, the broadcasts include K-pop -- rap and dance music by the country's well-known boy and girl bands -- and talk about sensitive topics like human rights and lifestyles. They are blasted from 11 locations along the heavily fortified border and for several hours at a time a repeated throughout the day and reach well into the southern flank of North Korea where much of its huge army is stationed.

The two Koreas nearly came to blows last August over the border broadcasts in a crisis that was defused by 30 hours of senior-level talks at the Korean War truce village at Panmunjom.

That crisis escalated after Pyongyang had declared a semi-state of war and fired shots in the direction of the speakers and had threatened to hit them with artillery if Seoul did not halt the broadcasts.

The August talks produced statements in which Pyongyang said it would end its threat to fire artillery at South Korea and expressed regret for August 4 mine explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers. The North expressed "regret" without acknowledging its role in the landmine incident.

Reported by Sung-Woo Park for RFA's Korean Service. Translated and written in English by Paul Eckert.


Authorities in Laos have taken into custody a former finance minister and four colleagues in connection with a scheme in which private companies cashed government bonds issued in promise of payment for work they never performed, according to a source in the one-party communist state.



Phouphet Khamphounvong, Lao finance minister from 2012 to 2014 and formerly a governor of the Bank of the Lao PDR (Peoples Democratic Republic), was arrested at the end of December 2015 while attending a party, a finance ministry source told RFAs Lao Service.



Taken into custody at the same time were Phouphets former secretary general, a director general of the ministry, a vice director of the ministrys budget department, and another official whose job was not specified, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



After serving two terms as bank governor, Phouphet was appointed finance minister in 2012, and in March 2014 was abruptly removed from his post, RFAs source said.



His demotion was linked to corruption connected to the issuance of bonds and his involvement in so-called ghost projects while he was at the ministry, he said.



'Ghost projects'



The Lao government had previously granted concessions to private firms to build roads in Oudomxay province in northern Laos to support the countrys 10th National Sport Games, which were held in December 2014, sources said in earlier reports.



And though those roads were never built, the contracting firms later converted bonds issued in promise of future payment into cash with the help of commissions paid to finance ministry officials, sources said.



The scheme has caused losses so far of over 300 billion kip (U.S. $36,840,092) to the state budget, with little chance that money will ever be recovered.



The governor of Oudomxay province has now been urgently removed from office on suspicion of involvement in the scheme, with Phetsakhone Luangaphay, a deputy minister serving in the central government, replacing him as governor in September 2015, sources said.



According to a report presented to the National Assembly last year by head of the Government Inspection Authority Bounthong Chitmany, Laos suffered losses from corruption of more than 1 trillion kip (U.S. $123 million) between 2012 and 2014.



Corruption among high-level officials in Laos is so widespread that it has deterred foreign investors, created problems with the countrys ability to enforce business contracts and regulations, and left many ordinary citizens frustrated and impoverished.



Reported by RFAs Lao Service. Translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Myanmars government army has vowed to wipe out the Arakan Army (AA) in western Myanmars Rakhine state, charging the armed ethnic group with creating instability in the region, as state leaders prepare to hold a peace conference next week.

In an announcement issued Friday, the army said one commanding officer and several soldiers had been killed during clashes with the AA since Dec. 27.

The announcement comes as the Union Peace Conference is set to begin on Jan. 12 in the capital Naypyidaw to foster political dialogue between the government and armed ethnic groups and end armed conflicts.

Hostilities also have continued between government soldiers and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State, and the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Shan State.

The government signed a so-called nationwide cease-fire agreement with eight of the country's 20 armed ethnic groups last October, but the pact did not include the AA, KIA or TNLA.

The Myanmar military said AA soldiers have been hiding in villages in Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U and Minbya townships, pretending to be civilians, while other AA troops had arrested seven people from Paletwa township in neighboring Chin state.

The AA has denied arresting the people, saying it was taking care of them for security reasons, and later released them.

The fighting forced 108 residents of Kyipyin village in Rakhine to flee their homes on Thursday, followed by another 111 on Friday, said Tin Aye Maung, the village administrator.

They said they fled their village because they were frightened when they heard gunfire, he told RFAs Myanmar Service. Some individuals and the townships administrator have donated food for the refugees.

Increased security checks

Because of the continued fighting, immigration officers, government authorities and the military are working together to step up security checks in Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U for guns and ammunition.

Were doing security checks because we found some weapons on a bus and truck in April, a policeman who declined to give his name told RFA. Now we tightened [security] and will do the checks regularly even after this period to stop the drug trade and the illegal migration of "Bengalis."

Myanmars government uses the term Bengalis to refer to the Muslim Rohingya minority group because it views them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though many have lived in the country for generations. The Rohingya minority, which was stricken from the countrys list of 135 officially recognized minorities in 1982, is not involved in the AA fight with the government.

Some 140,000 Rohingyas, who were displaced during communal violence with ethnic Buddhists in 2012, live in squalid camps in Rakhine state, while thousands of others have fled persecution in the Buddhist-dominated nation.

More than 250 people in total have fled their homes in Rakhine state due to fighting between government army and AA since December 27.

Government troops have clashed with the AA 15 times between Dec. 28 and Jan. 4 in Kyauktaw township, according to the state newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar, starting when army soldiers cleared the Ranchaung-Ru Chaung area, believing that the rebel soldiers were about to invade.

The Tatmadaw [government army] has announced that it will continue to launch offensive attacks against AA forces until the area is cleared of all insurgents, the report said.

Hundreds of locals protested against the conflict on Thursday in Mrauk-U and are planning to demonstrate again on Sunday, the Eleven Myanmar media group reported.

Reported By Tin Aung Khine and Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Police in three prefectures in northwest Chinas restive Xinjiang region have stepped up and extended security checks of ethnic Uyghurs who use smartphones into the new year to ensure stability in the area, local police and Uyghur residents said.



Police in Hotan (in Chinese, Hetian) manned security checkpoints in Hotan for 24 hours when the new year began to check smartphones and other electronic devices that could connect to the Internet for Islamic extremist or religious texts and videos, said a Uyghur officer at Mokuyla Township Police Station in Hotans Guma (Pishan) county, who declined to give his name.



Uyghur residents in Kashgar (Kashi) and Aksu (Akesu) prefectures of Xinjiang also reported that police had increased their checks of young people with smartphones around the turn of the new year in the following the Paris terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists in November.



Police in Hotan have been conducting smartphone checks since last May. They are one of several measures, including daily patrols in villages and identification checks of worshippers at mosques in Uyghur areas of Xinjiang to prevent extremist activists and attacks and maintain stability.



Initially, police focused on checking young peoples smartphones, the Uyghur officer said, but increased manpower at the end of the year and beginning of 2016 to check everyone with the handsets.



Whenever we started our operations in the daytime or at night, the auxiliary police and local village cadres also came to cooperate with us, he told RFAs Uyghur Service.



Authorities detained two young people in Lengger village who illegally tried to access websites to view religious content, he said.



Township police sent them to a political education camp, organized by the county law office, for 100 days so they could change what authorities consider extremist ideas and learn the Communist Partys ethnic harmony rules and policy on religion, the officer said.



Local police had organized a special group in Hotan to check young peoples smartphones once a week since last May, the officer said, when users received messages from their service providers that various social media platforms would be unavailable on their handsets.



Abdumejit Akhon, a Uyghur businessman who owns a supermarket in Hotan, said on May 27, he received text and voice messages from his smartphone provider China Telecom that stated: According to the guidance from the [Xinjiang] Uyghur Autonomous Regional Party Committee and government, Hotan prefecture decided to consolidate its telecommunication system and internet [service]. Therefore, all smartphone service for 17 social media platforms has been temporary stopped.



The primary reasons for the service cut-off were to clean religious content and other material deemed extremist from the platforms and maintain stability in the Hotan region, the notice said.



Smartphone users in Hotan have not been able to use Wechat (Weixing), QQ or 17 other social media platforms since that time, he told RFA on Wednesday.



Whenever someone enters the territory of Hotan prefecture from neighboring regions, Wechat and other social media platforms automatically do not work on smartphones, Akhon said. Speaking honestly, most Uyghur smartphone users have faced strict police controls during the last few years.



Smartphones now useless



Because of the suspension of social media services, smartphones have become useless for some Uyghurs in Hotan, especially for businessmen who rely on them to order supplies, he said.



Before the restrictions, Akhon ordered all goods for his supermarket via the Internet and his Wechat Friends Circle service, he said. But now he must travel to Xinjiangs regional capital Urumqi and Kashgar to place the orders.



People can see the police checkpoints everywhere in Hotan, he said, adding that passengers at the long-distance bus station, train station and airport must wait in long lines for security checks.



If the police find any kind of text message or videos with religious content which have been viewed or sent by someones smartphone, it causes big trouble [and] the smartphone owners are detained on the spot, Akhon said.



Rumors are circulating among Uyghurs in Hotan that the police have special smartphone checking software that can recover deleted documents off the devices memory if they had been previously downloaded via the Internet, he said.



Because of this, many Uyghurs have switched to using simple cell phones which they believe are more secure, he said.



Local cadres and stability work team officials in villages also check young peoples smartphones and other electronic devices regularly, said a Uyghur cadre in Aksu prefectures Awat (Awati) county.



If we find [them] viewing some Internet materials that stir their ethnic feelings and local nationalistic ideas, we advise them or detain them at the political education camp until they change, said the cadre, who declined to give his name.



But if we find that someone has viewed or downloaded extremist religious texts and videos on the Internet, we confiscate their smartphones or computers and detain them on the spot, he said. They will be put on trial and jailed according to the law.



Authorities detained three high-school students under 17 last year in a the village in Tamtoghraq township where he was working as part of a stability work, he said.



The three young boys were detained on the spot just because they watched an extremist religious video on their smartphones, he said. They received jail sentences ranging from six months to 15 years.



Rights groups routinely accuse Chinese authorities of heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, including violent police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people.



The mostly Muslim Uyghurs have complained about pervasive ethnic discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression by Beijing under its series of strike hard campaigns in Xinjiang in the name of fighting separatism, religious extremism and terrorism.



Authorities rolled out the strike hard campaign following a deadly suicide bombing in May 2014 in the regional capital Urumqi, which they blamed on Uyghur separatists.



The campaign has included police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people.



Experts outside China, however, say Beijing has exaggerated the threat from Uyghur separatists, and that domestic policies are responsible for an upsurge in violence that has left hundreds dead since 2012.



Reported by Eset Sulaiman for RFAs Uyghur Service. Translated by Eset Sulaiman. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Chinese fishing vessels anchored at Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly islands, in handout photo taken by Philippine military's Western Command, July 17, 2012.

Vietnam issued protests this week after a series of landings by Chinese civilian airliners on a runway China built on a newly created island in busy South China Sea waters claimed by both communist neighbors.

A landing on Thursday marked the third flight to touch down on the runway China is building on Fiery Cross Reef. They caused Vietnam to launch a protest accusing China is violating Vietnams sovereignty.

It seriously violates Vietnams sovereignty, threatens peace and stability in the region, and threatens the security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, foreign ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said in a statement as he used the Vietnamese name for the area.

Vietnam resolutely requests China to immediately stop such actions, not to further violate Viet Nams sovereignty over the Truong Sa Archipelago, respects relevant regulations in international law, and restrain from actions that broaden and further complicate disputes, he added.

On Jan 6, the Vietnamese civil aviation administration told the International Civil Aviation Organization that the Chinese airplanes flew through Ho Chi Minh Citys flight information region without giving prior notice, RFA has learned.

China piled sand on reefs and atolls to build seven new islands as Beijing attempts to exert more control over the area. Chinas moves have brought condemnation by its neighbors and the United States, which accuse China of trying to dominate an area where six governments maintain overlapping maritime territorial claims.

China has rejected calls for a halt construction as it claims sovereignty over the entire area. While Beijing contends the new islands are principally for civilian use it also claims they will be used to defend Chinese sovereignty.

While Vietnam contends flights were improper, Le Hai Binh says the Southeast Asian nation will seek a peaceful resolution

Vietnam will resolutely protect its sovereignty, sovereign rights and national jurisdiction in the East Sea by peaceful means in accordance with the UN Charter and international law, he said.

The U.S. State Department responded to flight on Saturday by reiterating calls for a halt to land reclamation and militarization of outposts in those waters.

'Red lines for us'

In Manila, visiting British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Thursday that freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea was non-negotiable and urged rival governments to avoid provocative steps, the Associated Press reported.

"They are red lines for us," Hammond said, adding that as a major trading nation, Britain expects to continue exercising those rights.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario also warned that China may next impose an air defense identification zone above the contested region, as it did over the East China Sea, and said such a move would be "unacceptable."

China's assertion of its claims has caused a number of tense statements, mainly among China, Vietnam and the Philippines, over long-disputed and potentially oil- or gas-rich offshore territories also claimed by Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

The move is also creating headaches for the U.S., which has refused to recognize the new islands as geographic features deserving of territorial waters and other aspects of sovereignty.

Washington has taken no position on the sovereignty claims, but insists that disputes be settled peacefully and that freedom of navigation be maintained in waters through which one-third of global trade passes

According to the AP, Fiery Cross Reef is the largest of the new islands that in total compose more than 800 hectares (2,000 acres) of reclaimed land.

Its 3-kilometer (10,000-foot) airstrip is long enough to handle any plane operated by the Chinese military.

Another runway is being built on Subi Reef, with signs of similar work underway on nearby Mischief Reef. If all are completed, China would possess four airstrips in all on its South China Sea island holdings.

Reported by RFA's Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
Turkey says it has repelled an attack by the Islamic State (IS) group on its troops in Bashiqa in northern Iraq.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on January 8 that 18 militants were killed in the violence, while there were no injuries or deaths on the Turkish side.

The fighting took place outside the Bashiqa camp, which lies near Mosul, a city controlled by the IS group since June 2014.

The deployment of some 150 troops into northern Iraq last year has been the subject of a dispute between Ankara and Baghdad.

The Iraqi government demanded that Turkish troops withdraw, describing their presence as a violation of its sovereignty.

Ankara said the extra forces were only there to train local Sunni fighters hoping to take back Mosul from IS fighters. Turkey later pulled some troops out.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP
"Powerful explosions" left gaping holes in the Nord Stream pipelines, investigators said as they look to see whether sabotage is to blame for leaks found last month.

Four holes were found in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines on September 26. With Europe already rife with concerns about energy supplies this winter amid supply cuts from Russia as it wages war against Ukraine, world leaders -- including from Russia -- have called the damage sabotage.

Copenhagen police said on October 17 that they were investigating the damage with Denmark's Security and Intelligence Service after seismologists in the country said they had registered tremors -- which did not resemble those seen during earthquakes -- in the vicinity of the leaks measuring as much as 2.3 on the Richter scale.

"It is still too early to say anything about the framework under which the international cooperation with e.g. Sweden and Germany will run, as it depends on several factors," the Copenhagen police said in a statement.

Swedish investigators have already said they found two holes in the pipeline.

The Swedish daily Expressen published video and pictures on October 17 showing metal and a wide-open pipeline with at least 50 meters missing in murky waters at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

"It is only an extreme force that can bend metal that thick in the way we are seeing," Trond Larsen, who piloted the submersible drone which captured the video, told Expressen.

The leaks along the pipelines in the Swedish and Danish exclusive economic zones in the Baltic Sea lasted about a week, discharging huge amounts of methane into the air.

The pipelines -- built to carry Russian natural gas supplied by Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom to Germany -- were filled with Russian gas at the time of the explosions, but were not operational due to the consequences of the war in Ukraine and tensions with Russia.

Russia earlier this year slashed exports through Nord Stream 1, claiming Western sanctions on equipment and services impaired its ability to maintain the pipeline. Nord Stream 2, the newer pipeline, was never put into operation.

The Kremlin claimed on October 17 that the exclusion of Russia from the investigation was further evidence that the West is looking "to put the blame on Russia" for the accident.

With reporting by Expressen, Reuters, and AFP
U.S. President Bill Clinton thought newly installed Russian President Vladimir Putin was smart and thoughtful, referred to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as a son of a bitch, and told British Prime Minister Tony Blair that Washington would not try to assassinate Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.



Clintons private thoughts about those world leaders were revealed when the British Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on January 7 released some 500 pages of transcripts of telephone conversations between Blair and the former U.S. president that occurred between 1997 and December 2000.



In 2000, the first year of Putins presidency, Clinton told Blair that he thought Putin had enormous potential.



I think we can do a lot of good with him, Clinton said. But in a separate call, he told Blair that Putin might get squishy on democracy.



Another time, Clinton asked Blair how his visit with Putin went.



It was fine; very interesting, Blair said. He feels that he is not understood about the problems he is facing there. He was very anxious to impress me. He wanted to see America as a partner, I think.



Clinton agreed with Blair but seemed to think U.S.-Russian relations would progress more smoothly if Vice President and Democratic Party candidate Al Gore defeated Bush in the upcoming presidential election.



I think he does [want the U.S. as a partner], depending on who wins our elections; it might take a while to get it going, but the more time you can spend with him the better, Clinton said.



But he told Blair in a later conversation: Of course, if [George W.] Bush wins, whatever I do with Putin, they can reverse.



He told Blair another time: I think [Putin] is a guy with a lot of ability and ambitions for the Russians. His intentions are generally very honorable and straightforward, but he just hasnt made up his mind yet.



He could get squishy on democracy, Clinton added, rather prophetically.



The transcripts do not say exactly when that conversation took place.



Boris Yeltsin stepped down and made Putin acting president on December 31, 1999. Elected to his first term in March 2000, Putin swiftly moved to consolidate power by reining in the broadcast media and Russias regional leaders, and he went on to take steps seen by political opponents, rights activists, and Western governments as a major rollback of democracy.



In one of the conversations, Clinton told Blair that during a visit to Germany there might be time to run to Russia. Were trying to resolve bilateral issueskind of get this Chechnya thing resolved, he said, in a reference to the second post-Soviet war between Russian government forces and separatists in the North Caucasus republic.

Kosovo War

Concerns about Moscows foreign policy moves were a frequent topic of discussion between Clinton and Blair.



He told the British premier during a phone conversation on August 27, 1998, that he thought Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin wanted to get involved in Yugoslavia during the fighting in Kosovo as the West was contemplating military intervention.



I do think Chernomyrdin has the bit in his teeth to do something, but whether he can, I dont know. They are very anxious to play a role in a diplomatic settlement and go in with their troops, Clinton said. If it comes to a troop option [for the West to end Yugoslav aggression in Kosovo], what the hell are we going to do with Russia if it leads to the collapse of our relationship?



Putin and other Russian officials have frequently condemned the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, which reined in Milosevic and led to the end of the Kosovo war.



The conflict in Kosovo was obviously weighing heavily on Blair and Clinton.



The two had discussed the need to collaboratively plan the ground-force option for Kosovo and refer to the making of some type of deal with Milosevic to end the fighting.



If [Milosevic] means we wont assassinate him or bomb him or extract him from Serbia, I think we can make that commitment, Clinton told Blair on August 27, 1998. I dont think we can make a public commitment on war crimes [charges], because that is an independent body. I said were cooperating with the [war crimes] tribunal, so that is a more difficult issue. Hes looking for some assurance [of not being tried for war crimes], but thats a pretty dicey thing.

Concern Over Saddam

The two leaders also spoke frequently about the situation in Iraq at a time when UN weapons inspectors were monitoring the country for weapons of mass destruction.



Clinton -- who was president from 1993-2001 -- told Blair in an undated phone call that he had asked Moroccan King Hassan to tell Saddam Hussein that the United States has no interest in killing him or hunting him down, but added that hes not fooling with himI just dont want his chemical and biological [weapons] program going forward.



Clinton laments not being able to contact Hussein directly because of the feared public backlash that would come from talking to the dictator.



If I werent constrained by the press I would pick up the phone and call the son of a bitch.



He warns Blair at one point that Iraq could become a real nightmare for you.



Clinton clearly liked Blair, who was in office from 1997-2007, and felt they had a close bond. The two often shared news about their families and Clinton even offered to be a babysitter for Blairs soon-to-be-born son, Leo.



The two also discussed domestic politics in their respective countries, with Clinton keeping Blair up-to-date on the ongoing presidential campaign of 2000.



He repeatedly told the British Labour leader that he thought Gore had a good chance to defeat Bush, who went on to narrowly win an election marred by a dispute over the vote count.



Clinton called Bush a skilled politician who was really smart in how he ran his campaign, but added that he is not ready to be president, maybe not ever, certainly not now.
Finland has decided to extradite to the United States a Russian citizen suspected of computer fraud.

Finland's Ministry of Justice said in a statement on January 8 that Maksim Senakh will be extradited "to the United States for trial."

In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry described the decision as deeply regretful and reaffirmed its categorical objections" to the extradition.

Finland arrested Senakh in August at the request of U.S. federal authorities, in a move which Moscow called illegal.

Senakh has been accused in the state of Minnesota of infecting computer servers around the world with malware to attain millions of dollars illegally.

The Finnish Justice Ministry's decision cannot be appealed.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
Hungary's prime minister says the European Union should establish a new frontier on the northern border of Greece as a "line of defense" to stop migrants.

Victor Orban, known for his tough antimigration stance, said on January 8 that a recent deal with Turkey will not be enough to stop hundreds of thousands of migrants from coming to Europe.

Hungary put up fences on the country's southern border last year to keep out migrants and asylum seekers.

The fences initially drew criticism from Hungary's European Union partners, but several countries, such as Slovenia and Austria, have since raised barriers of their own.

Orban said: "It is nice that [Turkey] has promised that there would be a line of defense there, but we need to build one of our own from our own resources on the northern border of Greece and stop -- not slow down, but stop -- migration."

The EU has offered Turkey some $3.26 billion in aid and political concessions, including easing of visa restrictions, in exchange for increased cooperation to stem the flow of migrants.

The European Union said on January 7 that Turkey is not doing enough to decrease the flow of migrants into Europe.

Germany alone has said about 3,200 people are arriving each day, many through Turkey.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP


Thousands of Iranians held anti-Saudi protests across the country on January 8 condemning Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric that has sparked renewed tensions between the two regional rivals.

Thousands of protesters marched through Tehran after Friday Prayers, chanting "Death to Al-Saud," in a reference to the ruling family of Saudi Arabia.

They also chanted "Down with America" and "Death to Israel," traditional Iranian slogans at protests.

Some were carrying pictures of Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution on January 2 prompted strong condemnations in Iran.

Iranian state media reported that protests also took place in other Iranian cities.

The crisis has seen Saudi Arabia sever ties with Iran, followed by Tehran's decision to ban all imports from the kingdom.

Saudi allies Bahrain, Sudan, Djibouti, and Somalia also cut diplomatic ties with Tehran. The United Arab Emirates downgraded relations with Iran, while Kuwait and Qatar have recalled their ambassadors.

The latest tensions threaten efforts to end conflicts in Syria and Yemen, where Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite-led Iran support opposing sides.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP


An Islamic State (IS) militant executed his mother in public in Syria, activist groups said on January 8.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Ali Saqr shot his mother to death "in front of hundreds of people" near the post office building where she worked in the IS stronghold of Raqqa on January 7, because she had begged him to leave the extremist group.

It said Saqr had reported his mother to IS "authorities," who subsequently arrested the woman and accused her of apostasy.

Saqr's mother, who was in her forties, was living in the nearby town of Tabaqa but worked in Raqqa, the Observatory said.

But another group, Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), said that the reports suggesting Saqr shot his mother because she tried to get him to leave IS were incorrect. It said he killed her because she was an Alawite and therefore considered an apostate.

Abu Ibrahim al-Raqqawi of RBSS told RFE/RL via Skype that there was "more than one reason" why Saqr had killed his mother.

Saqr -- whose age was given by different groups as 20 or 21 -- had a bad reputation in Raqqa before IS took over the city in January 2014, according to Abu Ibrahim.

Saqr was a "bad guy" who was well known for his excessive drinking and fighting, including with knives.

"When IS came, [Saqr] joined them from the first," Abu Ibrahim told RFE/RL.

RBSS identified Saqr's mother as Lena al-Qasem, an Alawite originally from Syria's Latakia province -- a stronghold of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.

A January 2 post on a Facebook page believed to belong to Saqr cursed "the Rafidite [a derogatory term used by some Sunnis to refer to Shi'ites] Shi'ites and the heretic Nusayris [a derogatory term for Alawites]."

The IS group has executed hundreds of people it has accused of working with its enemies or breaching of its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam.

Many others were killed on the grounds of homosexuality, practicing magic, and apostasy.

According to the Observatory, IS executed more than 2,000 Syrian civilians in the 18 months since it declared its "caliphate" over the territory it controls in Syria and Iraq.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and BBC
Pakistani officials say at least 25 militants have been killed in air strikes in the troubled North Waziristan tribal district.

Unidentified security officials said the strikes were carried out on January 8, destroying several militant hideouts and vehicles.

Five of those killed were members of the extremist Haqqani network, 10 were Uzbek and Chechen militants, and 10 were from the Tehrik-e Taliban, one official was quoted as saying.

Pakistan has been carrying out a major offensive against extremist groups in North Waziristan neighboring Afghanistan since 2014.

The military says more than 3,600 militants and 350 soldiers were killed in the operation.

The area is off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to independently verify the number and identity of those killed.

Based on reporting by AFP and dawn.com
Hila Sedighi, a popular Iranian poet who had in the past criticized state repression and campaigned for an opposition presidential candidate, has been detained by authorities, relatives said.



Sedighi was arrested January 7 at Tehrans Imam Khomeini airport as she returned from the United Arab Emirates, family members told RFE/RL. The reason for her arrest and charges were not immediately clear. The relatives asked not to be identified for fear of harassment by Iranian law enforcement.



Its the second time Sedighi, 30, has been arrested. She was detained in May 2011 and held in Tehrans Evin prison, but later released on bail.



In August 2011, reports said an Iranian court sentenced her to a four-month prison term that was suspended for five years.



Sedighi was believed to have been targeted in connection with the poems she wrote and recited in public in reaction to the brutal state crackdown that followed the 2009 mass street demonstrations over the reelection of then-President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.



Sedighi was a member of the campaign team of Mir Hossein Musavi, an opposition lawmaker who lost the election to Ahmadinejad. usavi was put under house arrest in February 2011, along with his wife, university professor Zahra Rahnavard and reformist cleric Mehdi Karrubi, after repeatedly accusing authorities of mass election fraud and human rights abuses.



In one of her poems, Sedighi highlighted the plight of students arrested in the 2009 crackdown.



The first day of the school year has arrived/ and I am full of memorable moments of the unforgettable memories/ the classroom is empty of you/ me and the faded flowers sitting at the desk. The weather is fall-like and its raining in me/ I am a prisoner of my own rage, she wrote.



A video clip of her reciting the poem in a public gathering was widely shared on social media.

Her arrest comes amid what appears to be a new round of repression in Iran where in recent months a number of poets, filmmakers, activists, and journalists have been arrested or sentenced to prison.



Hadi Ghaemi, the head of the New York-based Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said the lack of tolerance of Iranian leaders for the "peaceful voices of the youth" indicated deteriorating tolerance for freedom of expression in the country.



"Arresting writers and young poets for the peaceful expression of their opinions has become a trend in Iran and the frequency [of the arrests] over a short time is unprecedented," Ghaemi said in a statement issued on the campaign's website.



Sedighi was among 41 writers around the world who received prestigious grants from Human Rights Watch in 2012 for their commitment to freedom of expression and their courage in face of persecution. The grants are awarded each year to writers who have been targets of political persecution.
Iranian Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, the twin sister of the last shah of Iran, has died at the age of 96.

Her death was announced by Reza Pahlavi, a son of the shah, in a Facebook post late on January 7.

Robert F. Armao, an adviser to the princess, was quoted by The New York Times as saying the cause of the death was "old age."

The princess was known as a close ally of her brother, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and has always defended his rule.

According to a long-classified CIA account first published in 2000, the princess played a crucial role in the British- and U.S.-inspired military coup that overthrew Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 and restored her brother to the throne.

Princess Ashraf focused on women's rights during an appointment to the UN, even as Iran's secret police were accused of torturing political activists under her brother's rule.

She was criticized for alleged corruption during her brother's rule.

The princess and her sister, Shams, were among the first Iranian women to go in public with their hair uncovered, breaking traditional norms in the conservative society.

After her brother's overthrow in 1979, Princess Ashraf left Iran and lived between homes in Paris, New York, and Monte Carlo.

She published a memoir and remained outspoken immediately after leaving the country, but gradually faded from public view in later years.

Based on reporting by AP and nytimes.com
U.S. cyberintelligence firm iSight Partners said it is certain that a Russian hacking group known as Sandworm caused last month's unprecedented power outage in Ukraine.

"We believe that Sandworm was responsible," iSight's director of espionage analysis, John Hultquist, told Reuters.

ISight and other cybersecurity companies had been leaning toward blaming Sandworm, a nebulous, Moscow-based hacking group that has been strategically aligned with the Russian government, because of the Ukraine hackers' use of BlackEnergy malware associated with Sandworm.

U.S. security agencies have suspected that Russia was behind the Ukraine power outage as well as similar attacks in the United States and Europe, but have not publicly named any culprits to date.

Ukraine's state security service has blamed Russia for the blackout affecting 80,000 customers in western Ukraine on December 23.

ISight came to the conclusion it was Sandworm based on its analysis of BlackEnergy 3 and KillDisk malware used in the attack, and intelligence from "sensitive sources," Hultquist told Reuters.

Hultquist said it is not clear whether Sandworm is working directly for the Russian government. The group is named Sandworm because its malware is embedded with references to the "Dune" science-fiction series.

"It is a Russian actor operating with alignment to the interest of the state," Hultquist said. "Whether or not it's freelance, we don't know."

To date, Sandworm has primarily engaged in espionage, including a string of attacks in the United States using BlackEnergy that prompted a December 2014 alert from the Department of Homeland Security, according to iSight.

That alert said a sophisticated malware campaign had compromised some U.S. industrial control systems.

While no outages or physical destruction was reported as a result of those attacks in the United States and similar ones in Europe, some experts said that may be simply because the attackers did not want to go that far.

ISight said the earlier attacks outside Ukraine may have been experimental in nature.

ISight believes the activity is Russian in origin and the intrusions they carried out against U.S. and European SCADA systems were reconnaissance for attack, an iSight spokesperson told Infosecurity Magazine.

"It's not a major stretch to conclude the difference in the outcomes of the attacks in the Ukraine versus those in the U.S. were an issue of intent, not capability," Eric Cornelius, managing director of cybersecurity firm Cylance Inc. and a former U.S. homeland security official responsible for securing critical infrastructure, told Reuters.

ISight said Sandworm has been staging attacks against Ukrainian officials and media for some time. During Ukrainian elections last fall, for example, Sandworm's "malware of choice," BlackEnergy, was allegedly used in destructive attacks against Ukrainian media.

With reporting by Reuters, Daily Beast, and Infosecurity Magazine


The Taliban is waging an unusually aggressive campaign of violence in Afghanistan this winter, unleashing deadly bombings in the capital, threatening to overrun a strategic southern province, and attacking a foreign consulate.



Afghanistan's mountainous terrain and heavy snowfall have traditionally prompted a winter lull in fighting, with the militants using the colder months to rest and regroup ahead of an annual spring offensive.



There are several reasons why there has been no letup this winter, marking a seeming shift in the Taliban's decade-long insurgency.



Bargaining Chip



The Taliban is trying to strengthen its negotiating hand amid a renewed international push to revive peace talks with the militant group, say analysts.



On January 11, Afghanistan and Pakistan are set to hold a first round of talks also involving the United States and China to try to agree a comprehensive road map for peace. Pakistan, which is said to wield considerable influence over the Taliban, hosted a breakthrough first round of talks in July.



"The surge in winter violence in Afghanistan appears to be timed with the pressure on Pakistan to induce the Taliban to join peace talks," Mohammad Taqi, a U.S.-based Pakistan political analyst, said.



"Pakistan seems to be betting on its Taliban proxy gaining a toehold such as in Helmand Province" -- where the Taliban is engaged in fierce fighting with Afghan and U.S. special forces after threatening to overturn several districts -- "and then to present that as a fait accompli to the Afghan government and the U.S."



Taqi added that whether or not the Taliban gains new territory, the violence will be used as leverage in talks.



The Washington Post last month quoted Western and Afghan officials as saying that "the Taliban now holds more [Afghan] territory than in any year since 2001," when the U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime that controlled much of the country.

Information gathered by the United Nations through October suggested UN security officials also rated the Taliban threat level as "high" or "extreme" in more Afghan administrative districts than at any time since 2001.



It is unclear whether the Taliban, which has previously maintained it will not hold talks with Kabul, will be represented in the Islamabad talks. Afghan officials have said they expect the militants to join the peace process at a later time.



"The Taliban keep themselves open to different scenarios," said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent think tank in Kabul. "One, taking over the country again by military means. Second, if that's not possible, to get a part in government through talks. In both scenarios, making military gains helps."



Power Play



Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansur is trying to tighten his grip on power, and analysts say the high-profile attacks could boost his standing within the fractured group.



Mansur was declared the new Taliban leader in July after the Afghan government confirmed that Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had died in Pakistan in 2013. But a leadership tussle ensued and some Taliban commanders have refused to recognize Mansur. A breakaway Taliban faction has openly challenged the new leadership.



Mansur was seriously injured in a firefight at a meeting of Taliban militant commanders in neighboring Pakistan in December, exposing the divisions.



"Mullah Mansur wants to show that he is the leader and that he can do what Mullah Omar did," said Abdul Waheed Wafa, the director of the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University.



As of November, about 7,000 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed this year, with 12,000 injured, a 26 percent increase over the total number of dead and wounded in all of 2014.





Crowded Battlefield



A number of new actors have entered the scene in Afghanistan recently, contributing to the surging violence as rival militant groups vie for territory and influence.



The breakaway Taliban faction, the High Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, announced its arrival in November. Led by Mullah Mohammad Rasul, a former Taliban governor, the group has clashed with rival Taliban fighters for months.



Gunmen loyal to the Islamic State (IS) group are also increasing their footprint in Afghanistan, where they are attempting to establish a regional base. IS militants have been engaged in an escalating tit-for-tat war with government militias in eastern Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Taliban's special forces have reportedly been deployed to hunt down the extremists.



"One of the factors for a very violent last six months has been the emergence of another Taliban group and also Daesh," said Wafa, using an Arabic phrase for IS. "There are a lot of reports from eastern Afghanistan of a bloody fight between the Taliban and Daesh."



Pakistan-India Peace



There are also suspicions that elements within the Pakistani military establishment that have supported the Taliban are using the militants to attack Indian interests in Afghanistan and derail overtures from the Pakistani government toward New Delhi.



Pakistan and India recently agreed to relaunch peace talks, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Pakistan to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in December, the first by an Indian head of government in more than a decade, hours after visiting Kabul.



But analysts warned that two attacks on Indian interests recently -- a siege on the Indian consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif that ended on January 4 and a deadly assault on an air base in India -- could undermine peace efforts.



"The attack on the air base in Pathankot was timed to scuttle the Modi-Nawaz peace move," said Taqi. "It was calibrated to target a military facility and not unleash havoc like the 2008 Mumbai attacks," he said, referring to the coordinated bombings and shootings by a Pakistani-based militant group that killed more than 160 people and brought the archrivals to the brink of war.



"This recent attack throws a spanner in the talks and yet will not trigger a military response from India," Taqi added.



The latest attacks in India and Afghanistan have been linked to Pakistani militant outfits. The four gunmen who attacked the Indian consulate in Mazar-e Sharif are believed to be members of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, which is based in Pakistan.



Before being killed, the gunmen wrote an Urdu-language message in their own blood stating that their goal was to avenge the killing of Afzal Guru, a member of the group who was hanged in 2013 for his role in the 2000 attack on the parliament building in New Delhi.
A Ukrainian oligarch fleeced of assets in Crimea valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars is taking Russia to court in the quixotic hope of recouping a tiny fraction of those losses.

Ihor Kolomoyskiy says he was unfairly deprived of his right to operate a civilian airport in Crimea after Russia illegally annexed the peninsula in March 2014.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague announced on January 7 that it had agreed to review the claim, which Kolomoyskiy filed one year ago with the world's oldest institution for the arbitration and resolution of disputes involving states.

Kolomoyskiy's company -- Aeroport Belbek LLC -- had a contract to operate a passenger terminal at Crimea's Sevastopol International Airport until 2020. Kolomoyskiy wants Russia to compensate him for an estimated $15 million in losses, according to Ukrainian media reports.

But whether the Ukrainian billionaire -- who has business interests in the banking, energy, media, aviation, and metals sectors -- will get his day in court is far from clear.

Moscow says the court has no jurisdiction over the matter and that it will not participate in proceedings, according to a statement by the court.

Kolomoyskiy is no friend of the Kremlin. While governor of the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region, he took a firm stand against pro-Russia separatism by arming and bankrolling local militia groups and volunteer battalions.

Bad Court Experience

The PCA will first decide if it does, in fact, have jurisdiction to hear the case.

Russia's only encounter with the court to date ended badly for Moscow.

In 2014, the PCS ruled that the Kremlin must pay $50 billion in compensation to former shareholders of the defunct Yukos oil company.

Kolomoyskiy's claim has cast a spotlight on the blatant asset grab by the Russian authorities in Crimea after the peninsula's seizure.

Shortly thereafter, all assets belonging to the Ukrainian state -- from shipyards and oil rigs to health resorts -- were openly expropriated by Crimea's regional government, now part of the Russian Federation. Others were simply seized by armed men, sometimes claiming to possess official decrees, which were never published, or no documentation at all.

Early targets included Ukraine's Chornomornaftogaz, the oil and gas company that was seized and handed over to a Crimean-run enterprise bearing the same name.

The legendary Soviet-era summer camp Artek, and the Massandra, Noviy Svet, and Magarch vineyards figured prominently among the other assets that were pilfered.

Russian authorities in Crimea said in February that "about" 260 properties on the peninsula had been nationalized.

However, officials in Kyiv put the figure much higher.

On the first anniversary of Russia's takeover of Crimea, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Russia had illegally taken control over more than 400 Ukrainian enterprises in Crimea and seized 18 gas fields.

"It was Russia that, using weapons, committed a holdup on Ukraine and nationalized dozens of Ukraine's state-owned facilities," Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in March. "We are talking not about billions, but about hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars."

Even that total, however, is likely much higher if the stolen assets of private firms are factored in.

In a preliminary estimate, Ukraine's Justice Ministry told AP in December 2014 that around 4,000 enterprises, organizations, and agencies had had their property expropriated.

Kolomoyskiy and his businesses were among the big losers.

Seizures

The authorities in Crimea seized 100 of his properties, including all Crimean branches of PrivatBank, which he co-founded in 1992 and which is the largest commercial bank in Ukraine.

Andrey Sambros, a political analyst and independent journalist from Simferopol, wrote in March 2015, that the "Crimean government has used nationalization to target political enemies."

Sambros noted that while Kolomoyskiy was a clear victim, he was not alone.

Serhiy Taruta, a multimillionaire tycoon and former governor of the Donetsk region, also lost his holdings in Crimea, including the Ayvazovskoye park and palace.

Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest man with large industrial holdings in separatist-controlled Donbas, was stripped of the Crimean branch of Ukrtelecom, Ukraine's largest landline telephone company, in February 2015.

Kolomoyskiy's seized assets are proving to be a headache for the new authorities in Crimea.

Russian-installed Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov said on December 28 that few potential buyers were showing interest in the properties, apparently, he mused, because of the sanctions imposed by the West after Crimea's annexation by Russia.

"Big players, unfortunately, do not want to have direct dealings on the territory of the republic due to the sanctions regime, Askyonov was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.

Aksyonov noted that an auction to sell of Kolomoyskiy's former Foros health spa had to be cancelled because there were no bidders.

Aksyonov's government has assessed the value of the 65-hectare facility on Crimea's southern coast at $20 million, far below its believed value.

Undaunted, Aksyonov said the auction would take place in late January.
U.S. authorities on January 7 arrested two Iraqi refugees on terrorism-related charges in California and Texas.

A criminal complaint in Sacramento accuses Aws Mohammed Younis al-Jayab, 23, of traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to investigators about it.

The complaint says Jayab, a Palestinian born in Iraq who came to the United States as an Iraqi refugee in October 2012, wrote on social media about his intent to return to Syria to fight for terrorist organizations, discussing his previous experience fighting against the regime in Syria.

When he applied for U.S. citizenship, the complaint alleges he lied to immigration officials about his travels and ties.

Meanwhile, Omar Faraj Saeed Al-Hardan, another Iraqi refugee who entered the United States in 2009, was charged in Houston with providing support to the Islamic State group and lying about it to immigration authorities.

"Based on the facts, as we know them, today's action may have prevented a catastrophic terror-related event in the making and saved countless lives," said Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
An Uzbek refugee will spend 25 years in jail and afterwards be deported for planning an attack on a U.S. military academy, a U.S. judge ruled on January 7.

He intended to carry out jihad on the United States, U.S. District Court Judge Edward J. Lodge said in sentencing Fazliddin Kurbanov. He intended to explode a bomb in the U.S. to send a message, much like that delivered in the [September 11, 2001] attacks.

The Russian-speaking Kurbanov, a truck driver who fled Uzbekistan in 2009, protested that "I'm not a terrorist...Ive never caused any harm to anyone. And I have no intent to do that, especially not to Americans.

Prosecutors said Kurbanov is a jihadist who communicated with a terrorist organization, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, stockpiled bomb-making equipment, and planned to attack U.S. military targets, in particular the West Point Military Academy in New York.

Based on reporting by AP and the Idaho Statesman
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
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Hidden Valley High School and William Byrd Middle School have received grants from best-selling author James Patterson to support each schools library.

In addition, Scholastic Reading Club will match each dollar of Pattersons donation with bonus points that teachers can use to acquire books and other materials for their classrooms.

HVHS and WBMS were selected from 27,924 applications for funding grants. HVHS received a $1,000 grant, and WBMS received a $4,000 grant.

As part of an ongoing effort to keep books and reading a No. 1 priority in the United States, Patterson, together with Scholastic Reading Club, made a commitment to help save school libraries nationwide. This year alone, Patterson personally donated $1.75 million to school libraries nationwide, with grants ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 allocated to each of the 467 selected schools.

Were very thankful to Mr. Patterson and Scholastic for awarding these grants, said Roanoke County Public Schools Superintendent Greg Killough. Continuous reading is important for all our students. These grants will help each schools libraries have books their students will enjoy reading."

These grants are my humble acknowledgement of some of the terrific work taking place in libraries, said Patterson. Heres to communities supporting school libraries. Heres to a country that makes reading a priority. Heres to flourishing libraries and to a joyful holiday season!

It continues to be inspiring and motivating to work with James Patterson to support school libraries across the country, said Judy Newman, president of Scholastic Reading Club. Jims unwavering commitment to helping children lead better lives rich with books is transformative. Scholastic is thrilled to be working in such an effective partnership.

In the first-ever partnership of its kind, Patterson joined forces with Scholastic Reading Club to administer funding applications to their network of 62,000 schools and 800,000 teachers. Applicants were asked to fill out an online application posing the question, what would your school library do with $1,000 to $10,000? The full list of grant recipients is available online at www.scholastic.com/pattersonpartnership.

Any U.S. school with students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade was eligible for a grant. Patterson hopes that the high volume of requests will raise awareness for the problems facing school libraries today.

Submitted by Chuck Lionberger
A three-judge panel in Richmond on Thursday imposed a new Virginia congressional map that could give black voters a chance to elect candidates of their choice in two districts, not just one.

Unless the U.S. Supreme Court halts implementation of the new map, the reconfiguration will lower the black voting age population in the 3rd District, represented by Rep. Robert Bobby Scott, a Democrat, from 56.3 percent to 45.3 percent.

It will raise the black voting age population in the 4th District, represented by Rep. Randy Forbes, a Republican, from 31.3 percent to 40.9 percent.

Scotts district, which currently meanders from the Richmond area to Newport News, will now be centered in Hampton Roads.

Richmond and Petersburg move into Forbes 4th District, changing its politics significantly. In the 4ths current configuration, President Barack Obama received 48.8 percent of the vote in 2012. The president received 60.9 percent of the vote in the new 4th District the judges imposed.

State Sen. Donald McEachin, D-Richmond, said he would consider running in a redrawn 4th District.

Over the past few hours, numerous people have reached out asking me to run for Congress in the new 4th Congressional District, McEachin said in a statement Thursday.

While Im incredibly honored by the confidence these folks have shown in me, right now I am focused on the coming session of the General Assembly. He added: There will be a time and place to discuss federal offices.

The new map alters only the 3rd District and four that abut it, all represented by Republicans: the 4th; the 7th, represented by Rep. Dave Brat; the 1st, represented by Rep. Robert Wittman; and the 2nd, represented by Rep. Scott Rigell.

The 7th District in which Brat has been serving stretched from the Richmond suburbs to Spotsylvania and Culpeper counties. It was 77 percent white and 15 percent black, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Under the new map the district is 72 percent white and 15 percent black.

While the new 7th still profiles as a Republican district, Brat loses Hanover County  a key base of his support  and New Kent County to Wittmans 1st District, while picking up Powhatan, Amelia and Nottoway counties from Forbes old 4th.

The three-judge panel had twice ruled that in 2012 Virginia legislators packed too many additional blacks into Scotts majority-minority district, thereby diluting their influence in surrounding districts.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by Republicans in Virginias congressional delegation. Their lawyers had urged the three judges not to impose a new map before the Supreme Court rules later this year.

U.S. District Court Judge Liam OGrady and Judge Albert Diaz of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in their majority opinion Thursday that waiting would compound the injury.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne dissented in part, saying a remedial plan is neither required, nor permitted. He also split with the majority on the timing of the ruling, saying implementation of the plan should have been stayed pending resolution of the merits of the case by the Supreme Court.
FISHERSVILLE  A spirited group of Augusta County residents came to the school board meeting Thursday night to react to last months controversy over an assignment on Islam at Riverheads High School.

The controversy stems over an assignment in a world geography class at the school. As part of the groups study on the Middle East, students were asked to write the translated Islamic statement of faith, the Shahada, which says, There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.

School officials said the assignment was to have students write something in Arabic to demonstrate the complexity of written language in the Middle East.

The statement wasnt translated for students. It was only mentioned on the worksheet that the text was known as the Shahada, a Muslim statement of faith.

On Thursday, some who spoke preached tolerance, others expressed concern about religious indoctrination and others thanked the administration for their swift response to the controversy.

School administration cancelled the last day of school in the county before Christmas break because of social media threats that threatened school safety.

Jonathan Garber, the parent of three children who attended the Fort Defiance schools, commended the school district for challenging the minds of students.

Garber said the rigor of education offers students the chance to be pushed and to grow stronger. He said he read the line regarding Islam that is being questioned, and it did not make me want to be a Muslim.

The parent of a student who attended the Riverheads class in question felt otherwise. Jackie Thompson said her daughter felt her religious beliefs had been infringed upon, and wondered about whether the curriculum was proper. She questioned whether Islamic extremists were trying to indoctrinate our children.

The grandmother of children attending Augusta County schools expressed tolerance and talked of the importance of education.Knowledge is power, said Penny Critzer of Waynesboro. Kids need to know what is happening in our world. Critzer, a Christian, said our faith stands up fine when compared to other religions.

Larry Roller, a retired educator, said he could not understand why the teacher of the world geography class, Cheryl LaPorte, was being criticized.

Why is the teacher being persecuted when the curriculum is mandated by the state, Roller asked. He said if the curriculum is an issue, the state board of education should be contacted and changes made.

According to the Virginia Department of Educations website, there are 12 key things students have to take away from World Geography in order to prepare for SOL tests, with many of those broken down further into three or four subsections. One of the requirements calls for students to apply the concept of a region by analyzing how cultural characteristics, including the worlds major languages and religions, link or divide regions.

A petition organized by a LaPorte supporter, Grace Zimmerman, garnered more than 1,600 signatures. The petition was presented to the school board at the meeting.

Zimmerman, a 2011 Riverheads graduate, said it is right to keep the lesson about Islam in the curriculum. She said the lesson is about education, not about religion versus religion.

Augusta County Superintendent Eric Bond said that future Arabic lesson would not include any religious text for students to write.
NEW CASTLE  Craig County supervisors unanimously passed a resolution Thursday opposing closure of Catawba Hospital, one of the largest employers of county residents.

Citing economic, health and safety aspects of the closure, County Administrator Clay Goodman encouraged supervisors to pass the resolution seeking continued operation of the 110-bed hospital that is one of the oldest in the state. Without comment, the five board members complied.

Of the more than 300 people employed at the hospital in northwestern Roanoke County that Gov. Terry McAuliffe recommended closing in a budget proposal, 40 employees have New Castle zip codes and more live in the other parts of the county.

Craig County employees working at the hospital earn an average yearly salary of more than $48,000, which could have a $5.7 million impact on the county if the hospital is shuttered, Goodman said.

Most of Craig Countys employed residents work outside the area and the majority of them commute to Roanoke, Salem or Roanoke County.

The hospital is also the 16th largest employer of Roanoke County residents, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.

Roanoke County supervisors, including newly elected Catawba District supervisor Martha Hooker who already has voiced opposition to the hospitals closure, will vote on a similar resolution at their board meeting Tuesday.

The economics are important, but we dont need to underestimate the impact to mental health services, he said.

Citing the death of Virginia Sen. Creigh Deeds mentally troubled son, who after being released from emergency custody in 2013 stabbed his father 13 times and shot himself to death, the county administrator stressed the importance of mental health resources for local residents.

Deeds, from Bath County, has filed a $6 million lawsuit against the state claiming his sons death was a result of neglect by the states fragmented mental health system.

The budget proposal recommending Catawba Hospitals closing indicates mental health services and the number of beds offered would be beefed up at Western State Hospital in Staunton, about 90 miles away.

For Craig County, which employs six sheriffs deputies, that is too far, Goodman said.

If we had to drive to Marion or Staunton with one of our law enforcement people to have somebody committed, thats a sizable impact on our operations, he said. We have very few officers anyway.
In advance of merger filings, executives at far Southwest Virginias dominant hospital systems said they are absolutely committed to improving the health of people in the Appalachian communities they serve and to satisfying regulators by holding prices below the national average.

Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont Health System are the predominant health care providers for people living in Virginia and Tennessees Appalachian communities. They plan later this month to file formal applications with both states to gain consent to merge their systems. While they pledged to keep their three flagship hospitals open, changes could come for 16 community hospitals.

In a presubmission report released Thursday, the two systems outlined a plan to spend $450 million over the next decade on improving the health of the people they serve, and made the case for why a merger is more beneficial than separate systems or merging with conglomerates from outside the area.

Economists hired by Americas Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, wrote in a November report that a merger would create a monopoly. A combined company would capture more than a 77 percent share of the market covering far Southwest Virginia and east Tennessee and would raise prices by at least 20 percent, the report said.

Wellmont CEO Bart Hove and his counterpart at Mountain States, Alan Levine, said during a news conference they had addressed concerns by committing to cap prices to insurance providers at a limit slightly below the hospital consumer price index.

No one can credibly say this will lead to price increases, Levine said.

Wellmont and Mountain States said they serve one of the unhealthiest populations in the United States, with a high concentration of Medicare, Medicaid and uninsured patients.

The two health systems have expensive, unnecessary duplicative health care resources that are allocated inefficiently, according to the report, which notes that a merger would bring efficiency and lower the cost. Together, they have $1.5 billion in debt they said arose from duplication of services.

Wellmont and Mountain States maintain that if an outside player acquired either of their systems, the government would have less oversight than they will encounter, and would take merger savings and jobs out of the communities.

While the health systems pledge to keep their three advanced-treatment hospitals open, the report said the community hospitals in operation at the date of the merger will remain operational as clinical and health care institutions for at least five years.  The new health system may adjust scope of services or repurpose hospital facilities. No such commitment currently exists to keep rural institutions open.

Levine said they will consolidate and shift services, but we are absolutely committed to keeping health care services available. That wont change  ever.

They also committed to adding mental health and substance abuse services.

Wellmont in 2013 closed the Lee County hospital without warning. The county created a hospital authority, has paid Wellmont $1.6 million to buy back the building and is working with Mountain States to reopen the facility. That plan, though, is complicated by Wellmonts right of first refusal. A merger could ease the reopening of the hospital.

Both Virginia and Tennessee must approve the merger. Virginia set up a new process that falls outside its traditional Certificate of Public Need review, and the submission will be vetted first by the Southwest Virginia Health Authority. The authority board met Thursday and approved the final process for receiving the application. They will solicit public comments before making a recommendation to Virginias commissioner of health.

Members of the authority with financial ties to either health system will not participate in the process.

The Virginia Association of Health Plans opposes the merger, while the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association supports it. The hospitals are proceeding under the states regulations and are not planning to undergo review by the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC has voiced concern about Virginias process, which grants antitrust immunity and was created to foster this merger. The agency has sought to block several similar mergers in other states.

The hospital systems said the states requirements granting antitrust immunity and continual regulatory oversight protect residents by ensuring they have access to care at affordable prices.

Wellmont and Mountain States executives said financial efficiency achieved through a merger would allow them to commit to a series of transformational investments.

They agreed to spend:

$75 million to improve the health of the populations they serve.

$140 million to expand community mental health services and child and rural health services.

$85 million on research and academic opportunities to strengthen the number of health professionals in the region.

$150 million on information technology to connect all their hospitals, physicians and patients.

Any jobs lost through consolidation would be offset by those created through the investments and by developing new services, they said. Both companies are headquartered in Tennessee. The executives said the merger allows them to keep corporate jobs that would be lost if one or the other firm was acquired by an out-of-area health system.

The presubmission report is available online. Comments on the proposal will be included in the filing late this month. The states are expected to conclude their reviews sometime this summer.
Obituaries 10-7-22 Advisory: Obituary information will only be accepted if sent through a funeral home or cemetery. The Wave does not assume responsibility for any incorrect information that is printed in the obituary section John F. Keane...

Obituaries 9-30-22 Advisory: Obituary information will only be accepted if sent through a funeral home or cemetery. The Wave does not assume responsibility for any incorrect information that is printed in the obituary section Patricia A. Smith...
President Barack Obamas willingness to sign a year-end spending package that suspended more than $30 billion worth of taxes mandated by the 2010 health care law will energize opponents efforts to further alter his signature legislative achievement, though the most significant changes may have to wait until after the elections.

The omnibus funding and tax package made the biggest legislative revisions yet to the law by placing a two-year moratorium on the Cadillac tax on high-cost employer health plans and an excise tax on medical devices and suspending a levy on insurers for one year. The revenue-raisers helped cover the cost of the laws insurance coverage expansion in the 2010 overhaul.

Powerful special interests created a blueprint for further efforts to alter the law by rallying bipartisan opposition to the taxes. The levies were portrayed as economically ruinous, but their elimination wasnt seen as undermining the central pillars of the coverage expansion. Language suspending the taxes was then folded into a must-pass bill to keep the government running without an insistence on offsets.
Now that Congress has completed FY16 approps, were finalizing @POTUSs FY17 Budget, Donovan tweeted, providing a link to the site where the proposal will eventually be posted.

Under current budget law, the White House is supposed to submit its request to Congress by the first Monday in February, which this year falls on Feb. 1  the same day as the Iowa caucuses.

New Hampshire primary voters will hit the polls Feb. 9.
THE LISTS

These are the books lists I am working on. They include lists of prize winners, recommended reads, "best" books, "top" books, and books by my favorite authors.


THE latest case of fly-tipping at a site which has proved a magnet for dumpers could lead to a prosecution, says a councillor.

A large quantity of waste material was illegally dumped at the site owned by Biffa UK in Catcliffe just before Christmas after the lock on a gate to the land was broken.

The site off Treeton Lane has been targeted many times in recent years with the lock being burned off on one occasion.

But Rotherham borough councillor Andrew Roddison says he believed that a prosecution could result this time as evidence was found amongst the rubbish dumped.

Cllr Roddison said that fly-tipping is a blight across the whole district and he wants it stamped out, blaming rogue waste collectors and people too lazy to take their rubbish to a proper tip.

Cllr Roddison told the Advertiser: Its something that has occurred on and off for a number of years where people have forced the gate.

People force the lock and go and dump their rubbish.

He said that an investigation into the latest load of rubbish had produced a lead as to where the waste came from and he expects further action in the new year.

Cllr Roddison said: It does appear to be a lorry-load of rubbish.

The people who owned the rubbish may not be the people who dumped it.

The councillor said that site owner Biffa UK had to clear the rubbish every time it is dumped, which was a costly process.

Biffa are doing all they can to make the area secure and safe, he added.

Its people who are breaking and entering. Biffa are not to blame here.

Cllr Roddison said that fly-tipping was a large-scale problem across the Rotherham district which was proving hard to combat.

He said: This is a Rotherham-wide problem. There are country lanes that are plagued by fly-tipping and dumping.

It costs hundreds of thousands of pounds to clear these sites.

I am not sure what the rationale behind it all is. Its just a selfish act that people will dump down country lanes.

Cllr Roddison said that there were cases of people with vehicles posing as official waste collectors who are paid by householders in good faith to take rubbish, believing it will be dumped properly.

Instead, the waste is dumped illegally.

He added that some householders in Rotherham could take their rubbish to tips where it will be dealt with appropriately but for whatever reason that does not happen.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has unveiled the eighth signature proposal of his 2016 agenda, which is to modernize and fundamentally transform the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), improving the travel experience for millions of New Yorkers and visitors to the metropolitan region.

The proposal includes a new approach to rapidly redesign and renew 30 existing subway stations across the system. It also includes a number of technology initiatives to bring the system into the 21st century, including expanding Wi-Fi hotspots, accelerating mobile payments and ticketing to replace the MetroCard and providing USB ports on subway trains, buses and in stations to allow customers to charge their mobile devices.

The MTA is absolutely vital to the daily functioning of New York City, but for too long it has failed to meet the regions growing size and strength, Gov. Cuomo said. This is about doing more than just repair and maintain  this is thinking bigger and better and building the 21st century transit system New Yorkers deserve. We are modernizing the MTA like never before and improving it for years to come.

The MTA is committed to meeting Gov. Cuomos challenge head-on, eliminating every possible inefficiency to deliver these improvements faster, better and at a lower cost, MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Prendergast said. Well accomplish this by incorporating the governors suggestions to use alternative delivery methods, such as design-build, leveraging private-sector expertise through public-private partnerships and streamlining our procurement processes to ensure the entire MTA is focused on delivering improvements to the people who rely on us every day.

More than six million people ride the New York City subway on its busiest days and the proposal is designed to bring rapid improvements to their daily experience while enhancing a system that is more than a century old. The proposal introduces new customer-friendly initiatives and accelerates existing projects to bring meaningful improvements to the transit system that New York relies on.

The MTA will revamp the design guidelines for subway stations to improve their look and feel, then put them in place at 30 stations across the entire system which will be completely renewed. These cleaner, brighter stations will be easier to navigate, with better and more intuitive wayfinding, as well as a modernized look and feel.

The MTA will use design-build procurement to deliver the projects more quickly, at a lower cost and with better quality, as a single contractor will be held accountable for cost, schedule and performance. Stations will be closed to give contractors unfettered access with a singular focus  get in, get done and get out.

Similar improvements will come to the Richmond Valley station on the Staten Island Railway and the entirely new Arthur Kill station opening later this year will also feature many of these elements. These new processes and innovations will inform future improvements to stations on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad, as well.

Work on the majority of these 30 stations will be completed by 2018 and all will be finished by 2020, with timeframe for redevelopments from start to finish being reduced by more than 50 percent. On average, station redevelopments are expected to take between six and 12 months. Comparatively, under the previous piecemeal approach, station redevelopments relying on night and weekend closures could take two to three years or more to be completed.
Dynavax Technologies Corp. (DVAX) announced Thursday morning that its Phase 3 trial of its investigational hepatitis B vaccine, HEPLISAV-B, met both co-primary endpoints.

Dynavax Technologies gapped up sharply Thursday and rose around midday. Shares advanced further going into the close and finished with a gain of 8.52 at $29.70 on the highest volume of the year. The stock surged to a 3 1/2 month high and re-crossed its 50 and 200-day moving averages.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs is scheduled to release its unemployment data for December in the pre-European session on Friday at 1:45 am ET. The unemployment rate is expected to remain stable at 3.4 percent in December.

Ahead of the data, the Swiss franc held steady against its major rivals.

As of 1:40 am ET, the Swiss franc was trading at 1.0849 against the euro, 1.4581 against the pound, 0.9979 against the U.S. dollar and 118.69 against the yen.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Forex News
U.S. President Barack Obama said that he himself was surprised by his public crying this week while talking of steps to tackle gun violence.

"I think a lot of people were surprised by that moment," Obama said Thursday at a live town hall event with CNN's Anderson Cooper in a Washington suburb.

Obama unveiled a series of executive actions on guns on Tuesday and wiped away tears as he spoke of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

"It continues to haunt me. It was one of the worst days of my presidency," Obama said, noting that he visited Newtown two days after the incident.

"It was still very raw. It's the only time I've ever seen Secret Service cry on duty. It wasn't just the parents. You had siblings, 10-year-olds, eight-year- olds, three-year-olds who in some cases didn't even understand that their brother or sister weren't going to be coming home," he said.

Obama said he's never owned a gun but said that doesn't mean he is spearheading a "conspiracy" to take away other Americans' constitutional right to purchase firearms.

"I grew up mostly in Hawaii, and other than hunting for wild pig, which they do once in a while, there's not the popularity of hunting and sportsmanship with guns as much as there are in other parts of the country," he said.

Obama strongly refuted allegations that he wants to take everybody's guns, describing it as a conspiracy.

"Part of the challenge in this is that the gun debate gets wrapped up in broader debates about whether the federal government is oppressive and there are conspiracy theories floating around the Internet these days all the time," Obama said.

The president rejected the notion that the federal government would plot to take everybody's guns away in order to impose martial law.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Thandie Newton, the actress popular for her roles in Mission:Impossible II and 2012, was angered by a racially offensive statue at a London Starbucks.

The statue of a black child wearing a loincloth and safari hat, holding a basket of Colombian coffee beans, was a pretty clunky caricature of a third-world laborer who happened to look about 10-years-old.

Seriously @Starbucks? At the counter - Loin cloth and Safari hat on a black child. Happy New Year circa 19th century pic.twitter.com/kD3qgKmti1  Thandie Newton (@thandienewton) January 4, 2016

Newton criticized the statue as the figure brings memories of the slavery black people had to suffer in past.

Starbucks later apologized about the statue and said they are investigating about the incident.

@thandienewton we are very concerned to learn of this incident & we can't apologise enough. We have removed the figure & are investigating.  Starbucks Help (@starbuckshelp) January 5, 2016

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

More Political Blogs
Longtime Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., announced Thursday he will no longer seek re-election later this year.

In a statement, Westmoreland said he decided not to run for re-election after spending time in prayer and with his family over the Christmas break.

"It has been an honor to serve Georgia's Third District for the last twelve years, and I believe it is time to pass the torch to our next conservative voice," Westmoreland said.

"Washington, D.C. is a much different environment in 2016 than when I was elected in 2004," he added. "I know all too well the challenges the new representative will face, and pledge to offer my support and guidance to the next candidate."

The six-term congressman said he looks forward to returning to his community and spending more time with family and friends.

Westmoreland also hinted at a possible run for Governor of George in 2018 in an interview with WSB-Radio's Jamie Dupree.

"This will give me two years, or at least a year, to really kind of decide what I want to do, listen to people," Westmoreland said. "People have encouraged me. You know I think it's something I would definitely consider. It's not ruled out of my life."

Westmoreland was seen as a liaison between former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and the more conservative wing of the GOP and briefly considered a run for speaker after Boehner announced his retirement.

The district Westmoreland represents, which includes most of the southern suburbs of Atlanta, is expected to remain in Republican hands, but his retirement could lead to a competitive primary.

Westmoreland joins Democratic Reps. Steve Israel, R-N.Y., and Jim McDermott, D-Wash., as members of Congress that have announced their retirement since the start of the New Year.

According to The Hill, nineteen House members have said they will retire at the end of this Congress, while another fourteen members are running for other offices.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
The Hyundai IONIQ hybrid car which is set to rival the popular Toyota Prius has been unveiled at the car makers Namyang R&D Center in South Korea. The green car is based on a new dedicated platform which is engineered to adopt three highly efficient powertrain configurations  fully electric, plug-in hybrid and regular hybrid.

The IONIQs spaceframe chassis is made of Advanced High Strength Steel which is claimed to offer good rigidity and crash protection. Non structural elements such as hood, tailgate and suspension components are made of aluminium to save weight. In fact, about 12.6 kg (45%) of weight saving has been achieved by using aluminium instead of steel at strategic locations.

Only the hybrid powertrain details are released as of now. The IONIQ hybrid is powered by a 105 PS/147 Nm 1.6-litre Kappa GDi petrol engine which is claimed to have the highest thermal efficiency for a production engine at 40%. The IC engine is supported by a 43.5 PS/170 Nm permanent magnet electric motor.

The hybrid powerplant is mated to a specially tuned 6-speed dual clutch automatic transmission which boasts of an efficiency of 95.7%. A lithium ion polymer battery is the source of electricity. Performance, efficiency and range figures are yet to be released.

The Hyundai IONIQ adopts an aerodynamic fastback design whose front fascia is yet to be revealed via official images. Drag reduction alloy wheels, high mounted taillights, glossy black applique on the tailgate and a prominent black insert of the rear bumper are the styling highlights.

The simple yet modern dashboard design adopts all-black color theme with blue accents for the AC vents. The comprehensive multimedia infotainment system on the centre console incorporates hybrid powertrain related functions as well.

The Hyundai IONIQ is expected to greet the show goers at NAIAS (Detroit Auto Show) 2016 which kick starts on January 11.

Hyundai IONIQ  Photos
The new Jaguar XE facelift has been launched in India at a starting price of Rs 44.98 lakh ex-showroom. The updated Jaguar XE mid-size sedan was unveiled internationally a few months before. In comparison to the current model, the facelifted Jaguar XE brings revised cosmetics on the outside, as well as inside. Powertrain choices remain the same.

With subtle changes, the Jaguar XE has become much sharper, accentuating the lines of Ian Callum (Jaguars previous Head of Design) even better. Updates mainly revolve around the front and rear (bumpers and headlamps), but only those who would notice, will notice the difference. The overall exterior design is now evidently in line with the newly unveiled Jaguar F-Type sportscar.

The new Jaguar XE pricing (ex-showroom India) is as follows:

XE S Diesel: INR 44.98 Lakhs

XE SE Diesel: INR 46.32 Lakhs

XE S Petrol: INR 44.98 Lakhs

XE SE Petrol: INR 46.32 Lakhs

All prices ex-sh.

Coming to the inside, the dashboard components have gone through a massive overhaul thanks to the work of Jaguars Head of Interior Design, Alister Whelan. Though the dual adaptive touchscreen infotainment system is not new and we have seen it in various other Jaguar Land Rover products, it will be able to make the XE stand apart from its rivals. The quality of the plastics has been vastly improved and trim choices feel extra premium now.

The steering wheel is borrowed from the I-Pace electric SUV and offers a good feel. Jaguars and Land Rovers seem to be ditching their iconic rotary knob gear selector in new models. The knob, which would look flushed with the centre console and rise up on turning ON the ignition, is now gone and a traditional gear lever takes its place.

As mentioned before, the engine options are the same as before, but upgraded to comply with the new BS6 emission norms applicable from the start of April 2020. The 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder Ingenium petrol engine makes 250bhp and 365Nm of torque. The proven 2.0-litre Ingenium diesel unit is good for 180bhp and 430Nm. Power is sent to the rear wheels via an 8-speed automatic transmission.

The Jaguar XE mainly rivals the likes of the entry-level German saloons: Audi A4, BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Lately, the demand for the Jaguar XE went down by a good margin since it was quite outdated compared to its rivals.

At least in India, it is not a secret that Jaguar may not always be the first choice in the entry-level luxury sedan market, but an alternative for those who wish to own a really good-looking sedan (sometimes sportier as well) rather than the popular Germans. With the new set of updates, we expect the Jaguar XE to regain its lost market share.
The recently launched Hyundai Venue has certainly captured the attention of buyers in the country. Not only it poses a threat to rivals like Maruti Brezza, Tata Nexon, but also to the companys own car, the Creta. For June 2019, which is only the second month of the car in India, Venue missed the title of becoming Indias best selling SUV by just 180 units.

Hyundai Venue June 2019 sales stood at 8,763 units. In comparison, Maruti Brezza registered sales of 8,871 units while Hyundai Creta registered sales of 8,334 units. This record-breaking sales performance have given Hyundai Venue a spot in the top 10 selling cars list for June 2019.

Such is the demand for the Hyundai Venue that waiting periods have been extended to 6-8 weeks depending on variants. Hyundai Venue is priced between Rs.6.6-11.11 lakhs. It gets several features that attract buyers to its fold. Below is the sales performance of popular SUVs in India for the month of June 2019.

What is making the Venue so popular? For starters, it comes in with Hyundais BlueLink connected car technology with eSIM connectivity. This allows users to have access to over 33 connected features. Of these, 10 are India specific and will not be offered on the global model. These include remote start, climate control SOS alert, geofencing and an Indian accented English voice assisted system. The eSIM from Vodafone-Idea and Hyundai offers free data to owners during the warranty period while after this period, the SIM can be recharged via regular data packs.

Hyundai Venue also comes in with premium design features such as a signature cascading front grille, projector headlamps, projector fog lamps, LED DRLs, and LED tail lamps. It sits on 17 dual tone alloy wheels and gets abundance of safety features among which are 6 airbags, ABS, EBD, rear parking sensors, reverse camera, hill start assist, 247 call center support, etc.

Hyundai Venue gets powered via 3 engine options. The 1.0 liter Kappa Turbo GDI petrol engine offers 120 PS power and 172 Nm torque mated to a 6 speed manual gearbox or a 7 speed dual clutch transmission. The 1.2 liter Kappa Dual VTVT engine offers 83 PS power and 115 Nm torque mated to a 5 speed manual gearbox. It also gets a diesel engine option. This 1.4 liter U2 CRDi engine is capable of 90 PS and 220 Nm torque mated to a 6 speed manual gearbox.

It is also in terms of pricing that the Hyundai Venue scores point above its competitors. It is priced lower than the Maruti Brezza, Mahindra XUV300 and the Ford EcoSport. Despite this lower pricing, it still abounds in features thereby making the Hyundai Venue a value for money product.
HRW: Coalition drops cluster bombs on Capital





NEW YORK, Jan. 08 (Saba) - The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the Saudi-led coalition dropping cluster bombs on residential neighborhoods in the Capital Sana'a, early on January 6.



WRH issued a statement on Thursday, stressing the deliberate or reckless use of cluster munitions in populated areas amounts to a war crime. Below is the full text of the statement:



Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces airdropped cluster bombs on residential neighborhoods in Yemen's capital, Sana'a, early on January 6, 2016. It is not yet clear whether the attacks caused civilian casualties, but the inherently indiscriminate nature of cluster munitions makes such attacks serious violations of the laws of war. The deliberate or reckless use of cluster munitions in populated areas amounts to a war crime.



"The coalition's repeated use of cluster bombs in the middle of a crowded city suggests an intent to harm civilians, which is a war crime," said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. "These outrageous attacks show that the coalition seems less concerned than ever about sparing civilians from war's horrors."



Residents of two Sana'a neighborhoods described aerial attacks consistent with cluster bomb use. A resident of al-Zira'a Street told Human Rights Watch that his family was awakened at 5:30 a.m. on January 6 by dozens of small explosions. He said that he had been at work, but that his wife told him that when the family fled they saw many homes and a local kindergarten with newly pockmarked walls and broken windows.



A resident of Hayal Sayeed, another residential neighborhood, described hearing small explosions at around 6 a.m. He went out on the street, he said, and saw more than 20 vehicles covered in pockmarks, including his own, as well as dozens of pockmarks in the road. He said that at least three houses in the area had pockmarked walls and broken windows. He found a fragment in his car, he said.



The al-Zira'a Street resident said that neither neighborhood had been hit by airstrikes before January 6. The nearest military installations, a small office, and a garage used by military guards, were about 600 to 800 meters from the al-Zira'a Street neighborhood. Even if the attacks were directed at the military targets, the use of cluster munitions meant they were still unlawful, Human Rights Watch said.



The al-Zira'a Street resident said that at the time of the attack he had been at his office, about 2 or 3 kilometers from Hayal Sayeed and 5 kilometers from al-Ziraa Street. Every 10 to 15 minutes he heard small explosions, until about 1:30 p.m. "These did not sound like regular gunfire," he said. "I asked my colleagues if they could hear them too - they said yes."



A third cluster bomb attack on January 6 was reported on social media by residents of Sana'a's al-Thiaba neighborhood, although Human Rights Watch could not confirm this.



Human Rights Watch viewed photographs taken on January 6 in Sana'a that showed unmistakable remnants of cluster munitions, including unexploded submunitions, spherical fragmentation liners from submunitions that broke apart on impact, and parts of the bomb that carried the payload.



Human Rights Watch identified the munitions as from US-made BLU-63 antipersonnel/anti-materiel submunitions and components of a CBU-58 cluster bomb. Markings on the bomb remnants indicate that it was manufactured in 1978 at the Milan Army Ammunition Plant in the state of Tennessee in the United States.



Each air-dropped CBU-58 cluster bomb contains 650 submunitions. The United States transferred 1,000 CBU-58 bombs to Saudi Arabia sometime between 1970 and 1995, according to US export records obtained by Human Rights Watch. The US is a party to the armed conflict in Yemen, playing a direct role in coordinating military operations, and as such, is obligated to investigate alleged violations of the laws of war in which its forces took part.



The CBU-58 cluster bomb and BLU-63 submunition were developed by the US during the Vietnam War and are designed to attack personnel and lightly protected materiel. The submunitions also contain 5-gram titanium pellets that produce an incendiary effect on flammable targets.



In 2015, Human Rights Watch documented the use by coalition forces of three types of cluster munitions in Yemen. Amnesty International documented the coalition's use of a fourth type. A fifth type of cluster munition has been used, but the user's identity is unclear. A US Defense Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told U.S. News and World Report in August that "the U.S. is aware that Saudi Arabia has used cluster munitions in Yemen."



Neither Yemen, Saudi Arabia, nor any of the other coalition countries are party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, the international treaty banning cluster munitions. A total of 118 countries have signed and 98 have ratified the treaty. Human Rights Watch is a co-founder of the Cluster Munition Coalition and serves as its chair.



On November 17, the US Defense Department announced that the State Department had approved a sale of US$1.29 billion worth of air-to-ground munitions, such as laser-guided bombs and "general purpose" bombs with guidance systems  none of which are cluster munitions. The US should not sell aerial bombs to Saudi Arabia in the absence of serious investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations in Yemen, Human Rights Watch said.



The UN Human Rights Council should create an independent, international inquiry into alleged violations of the laws of war by all sides.



"It may have been 20 years since the US last provided cluster munitions to the Saudis, but they are being used to kill civilians now," Goose said. "The US, as a party to the conflict, should be demanding that the coalition immediately stop using these weapons or risk becoming complicit in their use."



* Statement issued by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) on January 7, 2016. Source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/01/07/yemen-coalition-drops-cluster-bombs-capital-0.



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[08/January/2016]
A first-of-its-kind journey along India and Pakistan border

What binds the two most talked about nations - India and Pakistan together? What makes the
Conflict Lemons: Guilins novel

examines farm worker immigration

By Peggy Kelly

Dear Alfonso, reads the note from Dr. Dora Crouch, now living in San Diego. How much I enjoyed your new novel, Conflict Lemons! You have risen above yourself. I think it is first rate. Bravo! The characters are well developed and the pace of the story carries the reader along happily. You, wrote Crouch, a noted author, have done well!

Sweet words to Alfonso Al Guilin, who has written a book a year since 2011. Now, the Santa Paula resident wants thinking people who enjoy a good story to read Conflict Lemons which weaves the current immigration debate into an entertaining novel.

Guilins first novel was, The Lemon Thorn and hes written three books since, Sweet Lemons and his book of short stories, Short Handle Hoe as well as his latest.

Agricultural is a subject Guilin is intimately involved in: the former Limoneira Co. vice president is still active as a consultant, and as an Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Sebastian Church Deacon he is involved with farm workers spiritually as well.

His first novel, The Lemon Thorn: La Espina del Limon is a diverse story centered on Carlos Reynoso, a young aspiring physician in the 1970s who finances his medical education in Mexico by picking lemons in Ventura County. At the time the book was published Guilin described his first novel as a hybrid of mystery, adventure, romance, social issues, along with other components, there are some hard truths, including some immigration issues there...they still exist. Farmworkers are still struggling  that still exists and medical dilemmas still exist.

Guilins follow-up novel, Sweet Lemons continued Carlos story with many of the same characters as in the first novel. Guilin said his book of short stories stemmed from chapters not used in his first two novels.

Conflict Lemons his latest is, A different book altogether, at least from the character standpoint, a whole new group although I have a tendency to write about agricultural issues, of which immigration has become increasingly controversial.

Said Guilin, Its a big issue particularly in the Ventura County. My first books I think youd read with a cold beerthis one wasnt. I wanted to be more serious about immigration, throwing my own two cents in as it were.

Guilin said there has been A kind of interesting reaction to the book, positivebut guys like me dont sell a lot of books, we dont have the name, and the subject matter and location, is not sexy, but as an amateur Ive been pleased with the reaction.

That included a shout out from Jim Tovias, a Santa Paula City Councilman who during a meeting said Guilins tome is timely coming as it does during the debates over immigration.

Guilin said there are many undocumented workers in farming, jobs that require hard physical labor. Such workers have been in the fields and groves for more than a century.

Conflict Lemons tells of those that come from Mexico to California to seek backbreaking work and education and having to do it illegally, which is difficult and demeaning.

Basically, Im suggesting the best way, to cope with the issue would be vaguely similar to the bracero program, a guest worker model with no other similarities, and without the problemsthings have changed significantly since then.

If growers wanted to participate in the bracero program  which reached peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s  they had to provide food, housing, transportation and other amenities, not fulfilled by all employers that led to worker strikes.

Now, said Guilin, growers dont have to provide anything. A majority of the workers are undocumented and we have a labor shortage that is going to get worse. Smart growers are making plans, to work with the government and offer incentives to ensure a stable labor force.

My first books were kind of fun, said Guilin, this is more a message book

It took Guilin, a longtime daily journal keeper, probably four or five months of writing each day to complete his latest novel.

Im a farmer by heart and profession with a little bit of religion since I became ordained, and he shares his love for Santa Paula and Ventura County in his books.

Anybody that reads it will recognize local places, its fiction but some of the places are real.

Guilin said Interestingly I got a note from someone in Maine, and those notes  such as Crouchs  and comments are highly satisfactory as is breaking even financially on his books.

Guilin is now working on a fifth book he expects will be published next year: Again, something that is very differentI enjoy the writing and my wife Joann says it keeps me out of trouble!

Guilins books are available for purchase on Amazon.com or from the author; call 525-8839 for more information, or send an email to al.guilin@verizon.net.
By Peggy Kelly

Santa Paula News

Storms lined up over California pounding some areas including Santa Paula where more than 3 inches of rain, some say more than 4 inches, fell on the city Tuesday into Wednesday.

Snow dusted Chief Peak mountain to the north of the city with the Topa Topa range more to the west looking almost skiable due to heavier snowfall. Hail hit the area covering Ken Chapmans orchard in sizeable spheres of ice.

Thunder and lightening, street flooding, clogged drains, power outages, brown outs and more were experienced during the storm, which at its height Wednesday registered a rainfall rate of 8 inches an hour.

Ventura County Fire responded to C.A.R.L. (Canine Adoption and Rescue League) shelter Wednesday about 11 a.m. when water crested over a barranca and flooded streets on Mission Rock Road west of the city.

Water flooded some areas of C.A.R.L. where dogs were moved to dry kennels and employees and animals were told to shelter in place until VCFD personnel pumped water away from the facility, put down sandbags and cleaned the road of mud.

Although very busy there was nothing of significance, that Santa Paula Fire Chief Rick Araiza said occurred in the city.

We went to several flooding calls but most was minor intrusion of water, all roads are clear and most calls were from the heavy downpour of water all at once.

There was an incident reported on March Street at the dialysis center where a structure fire was reported and patients evacuated but Araiza said, It was simply a malfunction of the heating system.

City streets and water personnel were proactive and had prepared for the storm said Interim Public Works Director Brian Yanez.

We had no major problems with any reported damagescrews have done an excellent job.

Yanez said late Wednesday that Public Works Has dropped over 40 tons of sand at SPFD Station #81 and purchase another 5,000 sandbags, for the public to redirect water away from problem areas on their property that are prone to flooding.

The roof was another matter for the Santa Paula Times building on Davis Street where it was found that one-foot of water had accumulated due to a plugged drain.

At Santa Paula Airport there was a major drainage issue that allowed water to reach knee high until it was unclogged by Rowena Mason, president of the airport associations board of directors, and her husband Pete Mason.
Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- The report "Baking Ingredients Market by Type (Emulsifiers, Leavening Agents, Enzymes, Baking Powders & Mixes, Oil, Fats & Shortenings, Starch, Colors & Flavors), Application (Bread, Biscuits & Cookies, Cakes & Pastries, Rolls & Pies), and Region - Global Trends & Forecast to 2020", the baking ingredients market, estimated to be valued at USD 11.79 Billion in 2015, is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.2% from 2015 to 2020



Browse 79 market data tables and 50 figures spread through 155 pages and in-depth TOC on "Baking Ingredients Market - Global Trends & Forecast to 2020"



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The baking ingredients market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.2% from 2015 to reach a projected value of USD 15.19 Billion by 2020.



Ingredients such as enzymes improve protein solubility and reduce bitterness in end products, making enzymes one of the most preferred ingredients in the baking industry. With heavy investment in R&D, new applications such as protein-based fat replacements, flavor enhancements, textural improvements, are emerging rapidly, and prolonging the shelf life of products. Baking ingredients offer several advantages such as reduced costs, volume enhancement, texture, color, and flavor enhancement. Hence, baking ingredients will be viewed as a business opportunity in the next five years. As a result, many multinational players have entered into the production of varied types of baking ingredients.



For Custom Report



Baking powder & mixes to dominate the baking ingredients market



The baking powders & mixes segment accounts for the largest share in the baking ingredients market, followed by oils, fats & shortenings. The enzymes segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR in terms of value.



Ingredients offering similar functionalities are facing fierce competition due to raw material availability and production costs. For instance, usage of enzymes in baking restricts the growth of emulsifiers in baking applications.



Bread: The most consumed baked product globally



Bread segment accounted for the largest share in the baking ingredients market in terms of both, value as well as volume. However, the cakes & pastries segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR due to increasing demand from developing economies.



Increasing consumption of baked foods in developed and developing countries to boost the baking ingredients market



Developing economic in the Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East regions are prospering in terms of increasing GDP with the working population on the rise. There is a noticeable increase in the disposable incomes of consumers in these regions, enabling them to spend more on ready-to-eat products and baked goods. Increasing per capita consumption of bread and other baked goods in this region is another driver for the baking ingredients market.



This report includes a study of marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolios of leading companies. It includes the profiles of leading companies such as Royal DSM N.V. (The Netherlands), Corbian N.V. (The Netherlands), Cargill, Inc. (U.S.), Kerry Group plc (Ireland), and Associated British Foods Limited (U.K.).



The report covers the emulsifiers, leavening agents, enzymes, baking powder & mixes, starch, oils, fats & shortenings, colors & flavors segments in terms of value and volume. In terms of insights, this research report has focused on various levels of analysis industry analysis, market share analysis of top players, and company profiles, which together comprise and discuss the basic views on the competitive landscape, emerging & high-growth segments of the global baking ingredients market, high-growth regions, countries, and their respective regulatory policies, government initiatives, drivers, restraints, and opportunities.



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Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- Synopsis



'The Insurance Industry in Burkina Faso, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2018' report provides detailed analysis of the market trends, drivers, challenges in the Burkinabe insurance industry. It provides key performance indicators such as written premium, incurred loss, loss ratio, combined ratio, total assets, total investment income and retentions during the review period (20102014) and forecast period (20142019). The report also analyzes detailed information on the competitive landscape in the country.



The report brings together Timetric's research, modeling and analysis expertise, giving insurers access to information on segment dynamics and competitive advantages, and profiles of insurers operating in the country. The report also includes details of insurance regulations, and recent changes in regulatory structure.



Browse Full Report with TOC: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/the-insurance-industry-in-burkina-faso-key-trends-19194



Summary



The report provides in-depth market analysis, information and insights into the Burkinabe insurance industry, including:



- The Burkinabe insurance industry's growth prospects by segment and category



- Key trends, drivers and challenges in the Burkinabe insurance industry



- The detailed competitive landscape in the Burkinabe insurance industry



- Detailed regulatory policies of the Burkinabe insurance industry



Scope



This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the insurance industry in Burkina Faso:



- It provides historical values for the Burkinabe insurance industry for the report's 20102014 review period, and projected figures for the 20142019 forecast period.



- It offers a detailed analysis of the key segments in the Burkinabe insurance industry, along with market forecasts until 2018.



- It covers an exhaustive list of parameters, including written premium, incurred loss, loss ratio, combined ratio, total assets, total investment income and retentions.



- It profiles the top insurance companies in Burkina Faso and outlines the key regulations affecting them.



Reasons To Buy



- Make strategic business decisions using in-depth historic and forecast market data related to the Burkinabe insurance industry and each segment and category within it.



- Understand the demand-side dynamics, key market trends and growth opportunities in the Burkinabe insurance industry.



- Assess the competitive dynamics in the Burkinabe insurance industry.



- Identify the growth opportunities and market dynamics in key segments.



- Gain insights into key regulations governing the Burkinabe insurance industry and their impact on companies and the industry's future.



Download Sample Report @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/the-insurance-industry-in-burkina-faso-key-trends-19194#RequestSample



Key Highlights



- The Burkinabe insurance industry grew in terms of gross written premium at a review-period CAGR of 7.9%.



- Rising demand for investment-linked products to inject growth in life segment.



- High levels of poverty and low-income levels are expected to drive the demand for microinsurance products.



- The non-life segment accounted for 48.4% of the industry's gross written premium value in 2014.



- Increase in the number of motor vehicles in Burkina Faso is expected to support motor insurance.



- The insurance industry in Burkina Faso is regulated by the Directions Nationales des Assurances (DNA), under the Ministry of Finance.



- As of 2013, there were 14 insurance companies operating in the industry: five life insurers, eight non-life insurers and one reinsurer.



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Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- The report "Conveyor Systems Market: Industry Trends & Forecast to 2018", defines and segments the conveyor systems market with the analysis and forecasting of the global volume and revenue.



Browse 103 market data tables and 54 figures spread through 292 pages and in-depth TOC on Conveyor Systems Market: Industry Trends & Forecast to 2018.



http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/conveyor-systems-market-31314058.html



Early buyers will receive 10% customization on report.



Asia-Pacific: Potential, growing market for conveyor systems



Asia-Pacific is the region which includes developing countries such as China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The end-use industries for conveyor systems such as automotive, retail, airport, and food & beverage, are growing at a healthy growth rate which is leading companies to expand their facilities and construct new ones. This expansion and construction has enhanced the market for conveyor systems in Asia-Pacific. Conveyor system companies such as Daifuku (Japan) and Taikisha (Japan) are dominant players in this region which will drive the demand for conveyor systems. Apart from these, global players such as Vanderlande Industries (The Netherlands), Swisslog Holding AG (Switzerland), SSI Schaefer (Germany), and Dematic (Luxembourg), have their presence in the Asia-Pacific region, which will also influence the market demand for conveyor systems.



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http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=31314058



Europe: Established market for conveyor system



The European region had experienced the economic downturn of 2009, which affected many industries. Currently, it is in a recovery phase and is anticipated that it will recover in a phased manner. The conveyor systems market is projected to grow at a stable growth rate for the period under study. Europe is the major market for conveyor systems, and it is a home to a number of conveyor system suppliers such as SSI Schaefer (Germany), Dematic (Luxembourg), Swisslog Holding AG (Germany), Fives Group (France), and Vanderlande Industries (The Netherlands).



Americas: Conveyor systems market shows healthy growth rate



The Americas region comprises the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Canada, and others. Mexico and Brazil are the emerging economies in this region, and the industrial sector in these countries is booming. Due to which the automotive, airport, retail, food & beverage industries are growing at a healthy rate. The growth in these industries has positively affected the conveyor systems market; since these industries are the key users of conveyors, the expansion and modernization of the plants/airports has increased the demand for conveyor systems in this region. The major conveyor system manufacturers such as Intelligrated (U.S.), Dematic (Luxembourg), Daifuku (Japan), and Vanderlande Industries (The Netherlands) have a major presence in the Americas region.



The report covers the conveyor systems market in terms of volume (meter) and value ($million) across regions such as Asia-Pacific, Europe, Americas, and the Rest of the World (ROW). It explains qualitative and quantitative aspects of conveyor systems with respect to types and industries. The report briefly explains the conveyor systems market on the basis of geography, conveyor type, and industry, from 2013 to 2018.



The report also shows an overview of the technical, as well as other important aspects of the conveyor systems market. It includes the analysis of the value chain, Porter's Five Force model, competitive landscapes, and company profiles. In addition to this, 12 key players in the market have also been profiled.



About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets is a global market research and consulting company based in the U.S. We publish strategically analyzed market research reports and serve as a business intelligence partner to Fortune 500 companies across the world.



MarketsandMarkets also provides multi-client reports, company profiles, databases, and custom research services. M&M covers thirteen industry verticals, including advanced materials, automotives and transportation, banking and financial services, biotechnology, chemicals, consumer goods, energy and power, food and beverages, industrial automation, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, semiconductor and electronics, and telecommunications and IT.



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Nassau, Bahamas -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- EmailOnDeck has officially launched and now offers a free and easy way for people to get email addresses to use when signing up for websites, apps, and more.



By using free email addresses from EmailOnDeck, people can protect their identity and their email inboxes. The emails at EmailOnDeck are constantly being securely deleted and protect privacy by barring spam from personal inboxes. Currently, professionals around the world are using EmailOnDeck.



People can get started by visiting the EmailOnDeck website and creating their unlimited emails in two easy steps.



More information is available at http://www.emailondeck.com/



About EmailOnDeck

EmailOnDeck is a simple and free service that gives users temporary email addresses to use when signing up for websites, apps, and more.



Contact:

Peter Harris

EmailOnDeck

Address: PO Box CB11148, Nassau, Bahamas

Twitter.com/emailondeck

Facebook.com/emailondeck

Pr@emailondeck.com

http://www.emailondeck.com/

http://www.emailondeck.com/contactus.php
Santa Monica, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- Force Change announced the success of dozens of the group's petitions and initiatives over the course of 2015. Covering everything from animal rights and environmentalism to successful struggles against institutionalized racism, police brutality, and the dehumanizing use of solitary confinement in prisons, Force Change members were able to push through positive change of many different kinds over the course of the year. With a wide range of important, well-supported petitions currently active on the site, Force Change representatives expect that users will compel even more positive change in 2016.



"It has been an amazing year here at Force Change, and we would like to take a moment to thank our many devoted, engaged users," site representative James Lipton said, "We've tackled some of the world's thorniest and most pressing problems head on and people in power have listened. Whether that means finding safe new homes for refugees fleeing the devastation of war or protecting defenseless wildlife, Force Change users have come together in 2015 in incredibly productive ways. We think 2016 is going to be an even more important year for us and our members and we vow to make Force Change an even more effective tool for those committed to making the world a better place."



With inequality growing throughout much of the world and corporations and the wealthy increasingly wielding an out-sized influence on democratic governments, many people today find it easiest to succumb to apathy or pessimism. Force Change was founded to give those who care about issues like environmentalism, human rights, and social justice a more powerful and engaged option, with over half a million now receiving the group's regular newsletters.



Throughout 2015, Force Change activists helped push through much-needed, positive change on a variety of important issues. With an average of four million pages served to visitors every month, the site at ForceChange.com informed users about a wide range of the most pressing contemporary problems and gave them concrete means of pushing for change in the form of ready-made petitions.



As a result, dozens of significant successes were recorded over the course of the year. When Gambia became the latest of 19 African nations to ban female genital mutilation in November, for example, Force Change users were among those prominently demanding that the country take action. With politicians around the United States pandering to constituents who demanded the refusal of refuges from Syria and other war-torn places, Force Change activists fought back, winning a number of important battles.



With many more successes to note in 2015, as recorded in detail at the Force Change website, the group's leaders commit to being even more active and involved in the coming year. As one of the most influential and fastest-growing sites for those who care about progressive causes and other issues, Force Change will be even more effective in 2016.



About Force Change

Leveraging the power of petitions to demand positive, targeted action from those in power, Force Change reaches an audience of over half a million engaged, concerned activists.
Waxhaw, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- Although the holidays have ended, the spirit of goodwill still pleasantly lingers, and many community members in North Carolina may be asking themselves what they can do to help those in need. One cause always worth supporting is awareness of and research to cure childhood cancer. The Isabella Santos Foundation, one of Charlotte, NC's non-profit organizations, works tirelessly to fight Neuroblastoma in the memory of Isabella Santos, a young girl who battled the disease throughout her short life.



The Isabella Santos Foundation holds an annual blood drive at the Community Blood Center of the Carolinas. No matter what time of year, however, community members can donate at the Center, which the Isabella Santos Foundation supports year-round.



During her life, Isabella Santos was one of many other children and community members whose treatment was helped by blood donors at the Community Blood Center. Donations at the center help to treat and alleviate the symptoms of other diseases that community members fight every day. Many of these diseases are blood-based or can be treated with blood transfusions, and those in need include those who need transplants, accident victims, children with cancer and sickle cell disease sufferers.



As a community blood bank, the Community Blood Center of the Carolinas ensures that every donation remains at the center. Donors know that by giving blood, they are directly benefiting someone in their community.



In addition to the annual blood drive, the Isabella Santos Foundation holds several other events throughout the year to raise awareness and donations for Neuroblastoma research in Isabella's memory, including an annual fun run in Charlotte.



Learn more at http://www.isabellasantosfoundation.com.



About Isabella Santos Foundation

The Isabella Santos Foundation was created in honor of Isabella Santos, a courageous young girl who was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma at the age of 2. Losing her battle in 2012, the Foundation stands strong in the honor and memory of not just her fight, but for many other children fighting with the disease throughout the world.



To help create awareness and raise money for Neuroblastoma research, please visit http://www.isabellasantosfoundation.com.
Levittown, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- Now that winter has officially begun, it is only a matter of time before frigid climates arrive. When the temperature drops, homes and businesses depend on their heating systems to keep the indoor atmosphere comfortable and cozy. To ensure that the heating system is up to par and can work efficiently, it must be inspected and cleaned by an HVAC professional. Ivey Air, the leading specialists of air conditioning, duct work and heating, provide property owners in Pennsylvania with topnotch preventative maintenance services for systems to make sure they are in top condition. The technicians thoroughly examine heating systems for any issues and remove dust and debris from the appliance's components.



Often, property owners will neglect to have their heating system serviced and will experience a breakdown as a result. To avoid having to deal with a heating system malfunction, a preventative maintenance service should be scheduled so that problems can be detected and assessed beforehand. Having the heating system maintained and serviced by an experienced and knowledgeable technician will elongate the lifespan of the appliance and prevent surprise repairs. Ivey Air offers high-quality HVAC maintenance agreement services in Levittown, PA that are affordable and can meet any budget.



The premier HVAC company provides residential dwellings and commercial properties in Bucks County, PA with furnace and boiler services that can help save money in the long run. The technicians operate with friendly customer service and quality workmanship using state-of-the-art tools to meet the needs of their customers. For more details on their heating system maintenance services, visit their website or call 215-695-4170.



About Ivey Air

Ivey Air is a Levittown, Pennsylvania-based heating, cooling and ventilation service, repair and installation business servicing both residential and commercial property owners in and around the Levittown, PA area. They provide improvement services for indoor air quality, including air duct and ventilation cleaning and air filtration systems.



For more information, please visit http://www.iveyair.com.
Mexico City, Mexico -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- Cubos Web, the country's leading digital marketing agency, or "Agencia de Marketing digital," reported strong recent growth and its ongoing search for a new AI Community Manager to add to its staff. With a full range of digital marketing services that deliver impressive returns on investment to clients throughout Mexico, Cubos Web has grown rapidly since its founding. This growth positions the company to take on additional staff to better serve its clients, with the present search for a full-time Community Manager leading off what is expected to be a number of additions.



"We're happy to report that word of the effectiveness of our services is really getting around," Cubos Web representative Mauricio Martinez said, "With so many organizations in Mexico seeking our assistance, we are ready to take on even more expert staff members to help serve these clients. Our search for a new Community Manager is progressing nicely, and we expect to have even more openings to report in the near future."



Digital marketing is widely considered a fundamental need for companies of all kinds and sizes today, and this holds true everywhere in the world. Many companies, of course, cannot realistically hope to maintain their own full-time digital marketing experts on staff, making it critical that they obtain effective help from independent agencies that specialize in delivering whatever they might need.



Cubos Web was established to provide world-class digital marketing services to companies throughout the vast country of Mexico. Founded by a team of highly experienced marketing experts whose skill-sets together encompass the whole range of modern digital marketing strategies and tactics, the Agencia Digital focuses intently on turning clients' investments into valuable visibility and business-enhancing results.



To that end, Cubos Web experts craft customized strategies that account for each client's unique needs, situation, and goals. Thereafter, they make use of top-quality services including search engine optimization, web design and development, Google Adwords and other pay-per-click advertising, and eCommerce and mobile app solutions. By employing the mix of tools best suited to each customer's market position and requirements, Cubos Web digital marketers consistently deliver results that repay investments many times over.



The company now seeks an experienced Community Manager to assist with carrying out its social media activities, as described under the "agencia de redes sociales" heading at the Cubos Web site. The ideal candidate will possess at least a year of experience at working with AAA accounts and demonstrated knowledge of a range of contemporary social media and digital marketing best practices. Cubos Web will continue accepting applications until the ideal candidate is found.



About Cubos Web

With a full range of top-quality digital marketing, design, and development services that can be deployed in any combination that best suits a given client, Cubos Web takes a strategic, results-oriented approach, consistently delivering business-boosting assistance to customers throughout Mexico.
Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- Synopsis



'Personal Accident and Health Insurance in Mexico, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2019' report provides detailed analysis of the market trends, drivers, challenges in the Mexican personal accident and health insurance segment.



It provides key performance indicators such as written premium, incurred loss, loss ratio, commissions and expenses, combined ratio, total assets, total investment income and retentions during the review period (20102014) and forecast period (20142019).



The report also analyzes distribution channels operating in the segment, gives a comprehensive overview of the Mexican economy and demographics, and provides detailed information on the competitive landscape in the country.



The report brings together Timetrics research, modeling and analysis expertise, giving insurers access to information on segment dynamics and competitive advantages, and profiles of insurers operating in the country. The report also includes details of insurance regulations, and recent changes in the regulatory structure.



Complete report is available @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/personal-accident-and-health-insurance-in-mexico-key-41109



Summary



Timetrics 'Personal Accident and Health Insurance in Mexico, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2019' report provides in-depth market analysis, information and insights into the Mexican personal accident and health insurance segment, including:



The Mexican personal accident and health insurance segments growth prospects by insurance category

Key trends, drivers and challenges for the personal accident and health insurance segment

A comprehensive overview of the Mexican economy and demographics

Details of the competitive landscape in the personal accident and health insurance segment in Mexico

Details of regulatory policy applicable to the Mexican insurance industry



Scope



This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the personal accident and health insurance segment in Mexico:



It provides historical values for the Mexican personal accident and health insurance segment for the reports 20102014 review period, and projected figures for the 20142019 forecast period.

It offers a detailed analysis of the key categories in the Mexican personal accident and health insurance segment, and market forecasts to 2019.

It profiles the top personal accident and health insurance companies in Mexico, and outlines the key regulations affecting them.



Reasons To Buy



Make strategic business decisions using in-depth historic and forecast market data related to the Mexican personal accident and health insurance segment, and each category within it.

Understand the demand-side dynamics, key market trends and growth opportunities in the Mexican personal accident and health insurance segment.

Assess the competitive dynamics in the personal accident and health insurance segment.

Identify growth opportunities and market dynamics in key product categories.

Gain insights into key regulations governing the Mexican insurance industry, and their impact on companies and the industry's future.



Download Sample Report @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/personal-accident-and-health-insurance-in-mexico-key-41109#RequestSample



Key Highlights



Direct marketing was the largest distribution channel in the personal accident and health segment, accounting for 30.1% of the segments total written premium in 2014.

The largest category is health insurance, which accounted for 90.2% in 2014.

During the review period, the segments penetration level increased to 0.34% in 2014.

Government-funded health insurance, which attained universal coverage, will lead to a rise in public awareness with regards to health insurance benefits. This will support the growth of private health insurance.



Contact Us

Joel John

3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,

Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,

United States

Tel: +1-386-310-3803

GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714

USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651

Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com

Web: http://www.marketresearchstore.com
Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- Synopsis



'Reinsurance in Mexico, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2019' report provides detailed analysis of the market trends, drivers and challenges in the Mexican reinsurance segment. It provides values for key performance indicators such as written premium, reinsurance ceded and reinsurance accepted during the review period (20102014) and forecast period (20142019).



The report also analyses information pertaining to the competitive landscape in the country, gives a comprehensive overview of the Mexican economy and demographics, and provides detailed analysis of natural hazards and their impact on the Mexican insurance industry.



The report brings together Timetrics research, modeling and analysis expertise to enable reinsurers to identify segment dynamics and competitive advantages, and access profiles of reinsurers operating in the country.



Read Complete Report with TOC: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/reinsurance-in-mexico-key-trends-and-opportunities-to-41108



Summary



Timetrics 'Reinsurance in Mexico, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2019' report provides in-depth market analysis, information and insights into the Mexican reinsurance segment, including:



The Mexican reinsurance segments growth prospects by reinsurance ceded from direct insurance

A comprehensive overview of the Mexican economy and demographics

Detailed analysis of natural hazards and their impact on the Mexican insurance industry

The competitive landscape in the Mexican reinsurance segment



Scope



This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the reinsurance segment in Mexico:



It provides historical values for the Mexican reinsurance segment for the reports 20102014 review period, and projected figures for the 20142019 forecast period.

It offers a detailed analysis of the key categories in the Mexican reinsurance segment, and market forecasts to 2019.

It provides a detailed analysis of the reinsurance ceded from various direct insurance segments in Mexico, and the reinsurance segment's growth prospects.



Reasons To Buy



Make strategic business decisions using in-depth historic and forecast market data related to the Mexican reinsurance segment, and each category within it.

Understand the demand-side dynamics, key market trends and growth opportunities in the Mexican reinsurance segment.

Identify growth opportunities and market dynamics in key product categories.

Gain insights into key regulations governing the Mexican insurance industry, and their impact on companies and the industry's future.



Request for Sample: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/reinsurance-in-mexico-key-trends-and-opportunities-to-41108#RequestSample



Key Highlights



As the second-largest country in Latin America and a hub for the insurance industry, Mexico offers significant opportunities for reinsurers especially foreign operators.

Growth in the segment was achieved partly as a result of Mexicos exposure to natural disasters, favorable risk-retention regulations, and large-scale government and corporate risk.

The Mexican government and the insurance legislator, Comisin Nacional de Seguros y Fianzas, are expected to introduce a new framework based on the risk-management principles of the European Union Solvency II program, which will be implemented by 2016.

In total, 25% of the country's population is exposed to other disasters such as floods, hurricanes and storms. Consequently, the demand for property and life cover will put pressure on life and non-life insurers to improve products and reduce prices.



Contact Us

Joel John

3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,

Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,

United States

Tel: +1-386-310-3803

GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714

USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651

Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com

Web: http://www.marketresearchstore.com
Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- According to photographer Scott Clark, his brother's work in combating malnutrition and stunted growth in children in the African nation of Malawi has great value in producing data that could be used to combat hunger everywhere. The project, which focuses on using common beans and cowpeas as a way of reducing enteric dysfunction, has been funded by a grant from USAID's Feed the Future Initiative. Using these common food sources, researchers are working with children six months to five years old to stop malnutrition. Clark will use photography to document the research and bring attention to this critical work.



According to researchers, Environmental Enteric Dysfunction or EED is an inflammatory disease of the small intestine. It causes stunted growth and makes children more vulnerable to diseases. In Malawi, more than 75 percent of children in rural areas are suffering from the disease.



Workers have found success in combating EED by using roasted and milled legume flours, which are a good source of protein and soluble fiber. The study will focus on 600 children for 15 months and will collect 25,000 samples for study and analysis.



The Kickstarter campaign, which is located at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/805431477/common-beans-and-cowpeas, will raise money to pay for transportation and photography to document the entire research study. Pledge levels of $5 to $800 are available, with rewards ranging from a personalized thank you on social media to a complete album of photos from the project. For more information on the specific prizes associated with each pledge level, see the Kickstarter page.



About Scott Clark

Scott Clark is a photographer whose brother is closely involved in helping the people of Malawi, Africa, battle malnutrition and hunger. He has now launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a project in which he will photographically document his brother's research into the use of common beans and cowpeas to battle environmental enteric dysfunction in Malawi's children.



Contact:

Contact Person: Scott Clark

Company: Scott Clark Photo Inc.

Address: Los Angeles, CA, United States

Email: scott@scottclarkphoto.com

Phone: 2123650958

Website: http://scottclarkphoto.com/travel
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- Small hydropower (SHP) has no standard international denomination and its upper limit varies from country to country. For example, in Canada it ranges up to 50 MW and in Brazil it ranges up to 30 MW; however, 10 MW total capacity is generally accepted worldwide. SHP is the development of hydroelectric power on a small scale to serve a small community or an industrial plant and provide off-grid and on-grid electricity generation capability. Small hydropower systems convert the energy in flowing water to electricity by using a turbine coupled to a generator. Small hydropower plants are ideal for rural areas, where there is no availability of grid. Hydroelectric energy is the cleanest form of renewable generation as it does not release any harmful gases, carbon dioxide, and other pollutants which directly or indirectly affect the environment.



Complete Report with TOC @ http://www.mrrse.com/small-hydropower-market



Demand for clean and renewable source of energy has led to the development of the small hydropower market. Since small hydropower requires minimal reservoirs and civil construction work it has very low or no negative impact on the environment. The market for small hydropower has been rapidly expanding, predominantly due to government incentives and subsidies.



The small hydropower market has been analyzed in terms of installed capacity (GW). Additionally, the market has been segmented on the basis of geography. The Asia Pacific region held the largest share of 70.3% of the market for small hydropower in 2014. High hydropower potential, tax incentives, and increasing demand for off-grid electricity are some of the drivers for SHP installations.



Inquiry on this report @ http://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/1389



In terms of geography, the small hydropower market has been segmented into five regions: North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America. Asia Pacific was the largest market for small hydropower, accounting for 70.3% of the global market in 2014. China is the leader in terms of SHP installations, followed by India and Japan. The Government of China has been promoting small hydropower by offering tax credits and incentives. Europe was the second-largest market for SHP in 2014. Italy spearheads the small hydropower market in Europe with well-structured policies and large funding for market development. North America was the third-largest market for small hydropower, in terms of market share, in 2014. The U.S. and Canada are the leading countries with major SHP installations. The market in Middle East and Africa is expected to witness significant growth in the near future, with increase in electricity demand from renewable energy across Kenya, Nigeria, and Egypt.



Request a Free Sample Copy of the Report @ http://www.mrrse.com/sample/1389



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.
Bangkok, Thailand -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/07/2016 -- Forex traders in Thailand have a reason to rejoice now because FBS, a leading Forex brokerage company that was established in 2009 and that has received innumerable awards for their impeccable services to traders, has found a new market in Thailand. They offer reliable services and have the support of many renowned financial institutions. Further, the company avers that their principle is to find the best solutions to their customers.



FBS points out that they have branches in 110 countries and the number of traders who have been utilizing their services has exceeded 700 000. Likewise, they have over 130,000 representatives. Traders are earning profits of more than $ 500 million per year through them.



Traders can have great deals from them. Further, the company has a team of professionals who handle more than one hundred orders each day. Those who utilize their services can get 100% Deposit Bonus also. The commissions their partners earn go even up to $ 80 per lot. The company accepts transaction deposits in various forms. They make available round-the-clock support to their clients.



FBS points out that over 600 people have been opening new accounts with them every day as traders as well as partners. More than 50% of their clients have increased their deposits by 8 to 10 times. Likewise, 48% of profits have been derived through trading with their help, says FBS. The company takes pride in pointing out that once every 20 seconds, a trader or partner withdraws gains from their accounts. More than 80% of their customers want to trade with them on a permanent basis.



FBS emphatically says that their success is solely due to their motto that the convenience of customers always comes first. They make it point to get constant feedback from their clients and partners so they can improve their services. Such an approach alone has helped them get nearly 50,000 clients within the first year after their establishment.



FBS adds that they have won several prestigious awards, the first among them being "The best small brokers" award. This is a testimony to prove that they are on the right track, they say. They have also won three consecutive awards including the "Fastest growing broker Asia", "Best Forex broker Asia", "Best platform MetaTrader 4" during the same year.



Their development team analyzes news and ensures to provide competitive activity. The company assures that they will strive to improve their services. They are confident of doubling the number of customers with them very soon.



It is their commitment towards their clients that that has helped them win the trust of their clients. They are registered with the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) and the Centre for Regulation in OTC Financial Instruments and Technologies (CRFIN).



About FBS

FBS, a leading Forex brokerage company that was established in 2009 and that has received innumerable awards for their impeccable services to traders, has found a new market in Thailand. They offer reliable services and have the support of many renowned financial institutions. Further, the company avers that their principle is to find the best solutions to their customers.



For Media Contact:

Company name: FBS Markets Inc. Thailand

Phone: +66(0)83-8952379

+66(0)82-399-3399

Business Email: nkirillova@fbs.com

Contact person: Natalia Kirillova, Thailand Development Manager

Url: https://www.thfbs.com
Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- Synopsis



Timetric's Ukrainian fiscal regime report outlines governing bodies, governing laws and tax-related information on three commodities: coal, iron ore and uranium.



Complete report is available @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/ukraines-mining-fiscal-regime-h1-2015-16772



Summary



The mining industry in Ukraine is governed by the Mining Law of Ukraine. The Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, and the State Committee of Ukraine are the main governing authorities that manage the mining industry in the country.



Scope



The report outlines Ukraine's governing bodies, governing laws and tax-related information which includes mineral resources fees, corporate income tax, capital gain tax, depreciation, withholding tax, losses carried forward and value added tax.



Reasons To Buy



Gain an overview of Ukraine's mining fiscal regime.



Request for Sample: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/ukraines-mining-fiscal-regime-h1-2015-16772#RequestSample



Key Highlights



- The Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine (Ukraine Minenergouglya) is the central executive body whose activities are managed by the Cabinet of Ministers in Ukraine



- The State committee of Ukraine on industrial security, labour protection and mining supervision is a central body and a legal entity



- The main legislative act that regulates mining industry in Ukraine is Mining Law of Ukraine No. 1127-XIV of October 6, 1999.



Contact Us

Joel John

3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,

Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,

United States

Tel: +1-386-310-3803

GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714

USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651

Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com

Web: http://www.marketresearchstore.com
Buenos Aires, Argentina -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2016 -- According to About.com, the Spanish language boasts 329 million native speakers, making it the second most common language in the world, trailing behind Chinese. For this reason, many individuals opt to learn this language as part of their personal development. Those who do so find they can converse with individuals around the globe easily. In fact, more people now speak Spanish than English worldwide, making it essential for numerous to comprehend this language. Located in Buenos Aires, Vamos Spanish Academy (vamospanish.com) offers classes of this type, along with many other features that make this facility unique.



"Vamos Spanish Academy announces they are now considered one of the most prestigious Spanish schools in the country according to TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g312741-d2302457-Reviews-Vamos_Spanish_Academy-Buenos_Aires_Capital_Federal_District.html. Buenos Aires offers numerous Spanish school and all are very competitive, offering good prices and quality classes, yet Vamos Spanish Academy stands out in that it offers accommodation options for students, extracurricular activities and more, to ensure each student gets the real Argentine cultural immersion experience," Ingrid So, spokesperson for Vamos Spanish Academy, announces.



Classes teach students how to read, write, speak and understand Spanish and include a maximum of six students, ensuring each participant gets the individual attention they need. Classes are structured around the needs of the students and the number in the class, and the curriculum may be adjusted to meet the needs of those taking part. Conversation and games make learning grammar and vocabulary easy, and all include information on local customs and current affairs. Students find the classes allow them to mingle with the locals easily, as they are so comprehensive.



"Students undergo a written test and oral exam to determine their grasp of the language, as this allows the academic director to assess the language abilities of each student. Participants are then placed in a class with others of similar abilities to ensure students understand the concepts being explained and don't waste their time going over things they already know," Ingrid So continues.



In addition, students receive the opportunity to take part in social activities, including workshops and events. Some choose to attend festivals or street fairs in the area, yet others prefer to take part in dance lessons or try local restaurants. Cultural workshops come with the classes, allowing students to learn more about local public transportation, the National Infusion of Argentina, native gestures and more.



"Vamos Spanish Academy wants participants to feel as if they truly know the language and all it entails and offers these extra activities to ensure this is the case. Contact us today to learn more about our classes, social activities, accommodations and more. Our goal is to make it easy for everyone to learn Spanish, and former students will tell you we succeed in every way," Ingrid So states.



About Vamos Spanish Academy

Vamos Spanish Academy is a Spanish school located in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina in Latin America. The academy offers various types of Spanish courses, like intensive group courses, one on one private lessons, a Spanish crash course for busy travelers and more. In addition, the school offers home stay accommodation, student resident accommodation, luxury private apartments and additional options. The school organizes social and cultural activities, some free and some paid, including a weekly outing to restaurants or eating establishments. Furthermore, the school also organizes events such as a Mendoza wine tour or a trip to Iguazu to see the falls.
One of the nearest supermassive black holes to Earth with active powerful outbursts has been discovered by a team of astronomers using NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory.

This unusual object was found in the famous Messier 51 system of galaxies, which is located in the constellation Canes Venatici, approximately 26 million light-years away.

The system contains a massive spiral galaxy, NGC 5194 (also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy or M51), merging with the dwarf galaxy NGC 5195.

Just as powerful storms here on Earth impact their environments, so too do the ones we see out in space. This black hole is blasting hot gas and particles into its surroundings that must play an important role in the evolution of the galaxy, said team member Dr Eric Schlegel, of the University of Texas in San Antonio.

In the data from NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory, Dr Schlegel and co-authors detect two arcs of X-ray emission close to the center of NGC 5195.

We think these arcs represent fossils from two enormous blasts when the black hole expelled material outward into the galaxy. This activity is likely to have had a big effect on the galactic landscape, said Dr Christine Jones of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Just beyond the outer arc, the team detected a slender region of emission of relatively cool hydrogen gas in an optical image from the Kitt Peak National Observatory 0.9-m telescope.

This suggests that the hotter, X-ray emitting gas has snow-plowed, or swept up, the hydrogen gas from NGC 5195s center. This is a clear case where a supermassive black hole is affecting its host galaxy in a phenomenon that astronomers call feedback.

We think that feedback keeps galaxies from becoming too large. But at the same time, it can be responsible for how some stars form, showing that black holes can be creative, not just destructive, said team member Dr Marie Machacek, also of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

The scientists believe the black holes outbursts may have been triggered by the interaction of NGC 5195 with its larger companion, NGC 5194, causing gas to be funneled toward the black hole.

They estimate that it took 1 to 3 million years for the inner arc to reach its current position, 3 to 6 million years for the outer arc.

The black holes behavior may be a local example of events that commonly took place when the universe was much younger. That makes this observation potentially very important, Dr Schlegel said.

The findings were presented January 5 at the 227th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting in Kissimmee, Fla.

_____

Eric M. Schlegel et al. 2016. NGC 5195 in M51: Feedback Burps after a Massive Meal? AAS 227, abstract # 118.04
[NEW YORK] A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) believe they have uncovered the secret behind the potent parasite-killing ability of artemisinin, a drug considered to be the last line of defence against malaria.

Artemisinin, primarily used for the treatment of Plasmodium (P.) falciparum malaria species, is also increasingly used to treat P. vivax.

CThe WHO has called artemisinin combination therapies as the first-line therapy for P. falciparum malaria worldwide. By Qingsong Lin, NUS assistant professor

In a study published in Nature Communications (22 December), the researchers clarified a long-standing debate regarding the source of iron required for artemisinin activation.

We showed that the main activator of artemisinin is haem, a specific iron-containing compound, which is either biosynthesised by the parasite at its early developmental ring stage or derived from haemoglobin digestion in the later stages, says Qingsong Lin, co-author of the study and an assistant professor in the biological sciences department of NUS.

Although artemisinin has been in use for a long time, how it works has not been fully understood, he notes. Previously, only two targets of artemisinin were identified, and now, we have identified 124 protein targets of artemisinin in P. falciparum, which is the most pathogenic malaria parasite to infect humans.

Many of the newly identified protein targets are involved in essential biological processes in the parasite, explaining its potent killing effect, he adds.

As the last line of defence for malaria, this means that if artemisinin loses its effectiveness due to resistance, then we are in deep trouble, as no other effective drugs are available against malaria, Lin acknowledges.

He stresses, however, that this does not mean that it is the last choice for malaria treatment: The WHO has called artemisinin combination therapies as the first-line therapy for P. falciparum malaria worldwide.

Lin believes their finding not only provides a more complete picture of how artemisinin and its derivatives work, but also suggests new ways of using the drug. For instance, to improve drug activation at different stages of the infection, we can explore enhancing the level of haem biosynthesis in the parasite.

Kevin Tan, a professor at the department of microbiology and immunology at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, is concerned that artemisinin resistance on malaria parasites is becoming an emerging issue, particularly in South-East Asia. The study, he believes, could potentially contribute to the design of better drugs and treatment strategies against malaria.

The researchers are collaborating with the NUS department of chemical and biomolecular engineering to develop novel artemisinin analogues with more specific targeting properties.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets South-East Asia & Pacific desk.
If an ocean gets too acidic for a coral's liking, it can't just swim away and find a nicer place to live. So how can corals survive in changing waters? Coral reefs sustain fisheries that feed millions of people, provide protection to coastlines from storms, and bolster economies through tourism. But with climate change altering ocean conditions important for healthy coral, the future of coral reefs is unclear.

Dr. Hollie Putnam, a National Science Foundation Ocean Sciences Post-Doctoral Fellow, is researching the mechanisms that corals use to respond to altered ocean conditions. Her work in the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa is revealing that some coral are responding to climate change by changing markings on their DNA to modify what the DNA produces. Like punctuation marks in an alphabet, this changes the result (proteins made) without altering the original letters (the DNA). Although this is a known phenomenon in many organisms, how coral use this to their advantage is largely a mystery.

Putnam recently investigated two species of coral in Kane'ohe Bay off the coast of the Hawaiian island of O'ahu. Montipora capitata, known as the rice coral, is a species common to Hawai'i that is environmentally resistant. Pocillopora damicornis, the cauliflower coral, is found throughout the Pacific and Indo-Pacific regions and is more environmentally susceptible.

To answer the question of how the corals respond differently to environmental changes, Putnam performed an experiment in which she altered the acidity levels on the corals in the lab. She housed some corals in normal water at natural pH levels, and other corals in more acidic water. Putnam monitored changes in growth, physiology, and DNA methylation, a process that modifies what genes make by editing the regulatory markers on DNA.

She found that the rice coral was not substantially affected by the acidic water, indicating high environmental resistance, but the cauliflower coral showed stunted growth, altered physiology, and increased levels of DNA methylation -- a dramatic response to acidity.

Why do the two coral species differ so greatly in their response? The rice coral is more resistant because it may not sense pH changes in the water, or it could buffer itself to these changes. Putnam says this could indicate "it's not getting the same sort of environmental signal," which could mean that "corals are potentially not experiencing the environment in the same way."

The cauliflower coral, which was vulnerable to acidification, showed an increase in DNA methylation. This ability to regulate what the DNA produces may be a mechanism by which this species responds to environmental perturbations. While it might appear that this tactic of modifying DNA markers leads to environmental susceptibility, Putnam explains that the process is much more complex.

"Just because there was a decline in growth in Pocillopora that correlated with flexibility, doesn't necessarily mean that methylation is bad." The changes to the markers on the DNA of adults could potentially transfer to offspring and benefit them so that they are more prepared to live in an acidic environment, explains Putnam, because "they're getting a signal from the parent which may allow them to perform in a better way in that same type of condition in the future." These edits to DNA markings also are "generating more variation, which then has the possibility to be acted on by natural selection," Putnam continues, creating differences amongst organisms that can have crucial evolutionary effects across generations.

It is still unclear what the overall effects of DNA methylation are for coral. If it leads to more viable offspring, then corals capable of regulating their DNA may be more successful on a long-term scale. But if DNA methylation does not confer benefits across generations, and instead is an ineffective method of coping with change, then more resistant corals are likely to thrive in future acidic oceans.

Better understanding of this mechanism can lead to improved practices for conservation of coral reefs. In a process called "pre-conditioning," corals are exposed to treatments of certain pH levels or temperature that induce alterations to DNA markings. While most studies of pre-conditioning have been done in the laboratory, it is possible to apply this technique to wild coral. If DNA methylation yields benefits for offspring, pre-conditioning corals would prepare future generations to succeed in particular environments, but more must be known about this process before it could be adopted on a large scale.

Preserving the coral reefs benefits humans and ecosystems alike. Knowing corals from the inside-out is a major step in making successful ocean conservation a reality. Putnam presented her research at the 2016 annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in Portland, Oregon.
In 2012, a proposed observation of the Higgs boson was reported at the Large Hadron Collider in CERN. The observation has puzzled the physics community, as the mass of the observed particle, 125 GeV, looks lighter than the expected energy scale, about 1 TeV.

Researchers at Aalto University in Finland now propose that there is more than one Higgs boson, and they are much heavier than the 2012 observation. The results were recently published in Nature Communications.

"Our recent ultra-low temperature experiments on superfluid helium (3He) suggest an explanation why the Higgs boson observed at CERN appears to be too light. By using the superfluid helium analogy, we have predicted that there should be other Higgs bosons, which are much heavier (about 1 TeV) than previously observed," says Professor (emeritus) Grigory E. Volovik.

Prof. Volovik holds a position in the Low Temperature Laboratory at Aalto University and in Landau Institute, Moscow. He has received the international Simon Prize in 2004 for distinguished work in theoretical low temperature physics, and the Lars Onsager Prize in 2014 for outstanding research in theoretical statistical physics.

At the same time, the new CERN experiments have shown evidence of the second Higgs in just the suggested region (at 0.75 TeV). This evidence has immediately been commented and discussed in a large number of papers submitted to arXiv, an e-print service widely utilised by the physics community to distribute manuscripts of their unpublished work.
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 what's 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 don't know the language, they don't know the culture, and they're jet-lagged. They're 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:

1.) 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 doesn't 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.

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2.) 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.

3.) 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.

4.) Long-term sustainability. "We'd 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 people's hearts are in the right place, but there are often aspects to what they're doing that they just don't 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 UD's College of Health Sciences.
Some women believe that taking contraceptives in pregnancy will likely result to some congenital anomalies in their babies. A new study debunks this notion and finds no link between use of oral contraceptive and risk of birth defects.



It cannot be denied that pill is the most preferred birth control method; however, there is no concrete basis if sex hormones really impact the development of a fetus inside a woman's womb. Amid the growing concern, American and Danish researchers studied the association between risk of birth defects and use of contraceptives before and during conception.



The study utilized Denmark's national medical registries data of all live births, birth defects and medical conditions of mothers between Jan. 1, 1997 and March 31, 2011. Prescription information was also scrutinized to check use of oral contraceptive leading up to and in early pregnancy.



Results reveal that less than 3 months before pregnancy, 8 percent of mothers quit taking oral contraceptives, whereas only 1 percent stick to using oral contraceptives during conception. Researchers found no causal relationship between the two.



Lead author Brittany M. Charlton confirms previous studies that postulated no association of birth defects following exposure to exogenous sex hormones. Furthermore, the study revealed that between women taking control pills before or during pregnancy and women who have never taken control pills, birth defect rates were the same, which is 25 in every 1,000 infants. Researchers still yielded consistent results even after birth defects were broken down and categorized into subgroups.



"Women who become pregnant either soon after stopping oral contraceptives, or even while taking them, should know that this exposure is unlikely to cause the fetus to develop a birth defect," Charlton said. Nevertheless, Charlton made it clear that the study has not proven their causal relationship but has only found a link.
A team of physicists from the University of Edinburgh may have spotted a new phase that can be a precursor to the creation of metallic hydrogen. Hydrogen in solid metallic form has long been a sought-after breakthrough by the scientific community.

University of Edinburgh physicists published their findings that highlight the new phase that might unlock the synthetic creation of metallic hydrogen. They called this phase as "phase V." The process in achieving phase V is using two diamonds to crush hydrogen and deuterium. They were able to squeeze out hydrogen molecules into a new solid phase.

The hydrogen in phase V showed some interesting and unusual properties in this particular stage. Its molecules began to separate into single atoms. In these atoms, the electrons are becoming just like what one would typically observe on metal electrons. Phase V, however, is just the beginning. Higher pressures are still needed in creating a metallic form of hydrogen.

"We think we've reached a state of the material that is probably the precursor to metallic hydrogen," Ross Howie, one of the researchers and co-author of the published study, said. "If you compare what we've observed experimentally with what's theoretically predicted for metallic hydrogen - they're very strong similarities between the two," Howie added.

Hydrogen in metallic form is one of chemistry's most interesting problems. Hydrogen is already the most abundant element in the universe, but in metallic form it is very elusive. NASA already sent out a probe to Jupiter with one objective: investigate metallic hydrogen on the planet's surface.

Metallic hydrogen is considered the only superconductor that could conduct electricity without resistance at room temperature. Metallic hydrogen is also extremely stable, meaning, it can be used in lightweight building materials for theoretical floating ocean cities and replacing liquid hydrogen in rocket fuel. Metallic hydrogen rocket fuel will effectively quadruple the propellant and thrust of modern aircraft.
DARLINGTON, S.C.  January is School Board Recognition Month in South Carolina, and the Darlington County School District will celebrate the dedication and service of its board members Monday night.

The Darlington County Board of Education is responsible for maintaining and operating the system of free public schools for all children living in the district. The board manages the districts long-term vision including budgeting, strategic planning, curriculum auditing and inclusion of the community. The board ensures accountability of itself and all district operations while overseeing a $72 million annual budget that serves more than 10,400 students in Darlington County.

Superintendent Dr. Eddie Ingram thanked the members of the Darlington County Board of Education for their leadership and dedication.

It takes courage for the members of the board to provide the direction, permission and cover to the district, Ingram said. I join the rest of the Darlington County School District in celebrating the board for its enduring commitment to provide a 21st Century education to our children.

During the Darlington County Board of Education meeting, three members will be recognized for benchmark years of service.

Dr. Thelma Dawson will be honored for 25 years on the board. Both Jamie Morphis and board Secretary Charles Govan will be recognized for 15 years of service on the board.

Voters living in the Darlington County School District elect the eight members of the board, and their tenures represent the voters confidence. Alongside the three members being recognized Monday, board Chairman Connell Delaine has served 13 years on the board, and Vice Chairman Warren Jeffords has served for 23 years. Board members Billy Baldwin, Maureen Thomas and Wanda Hassler are all serving their first terms on the board.

Jamie Horton, the districts 2015 Teacher of the Year, said she appreciated deeply the boards desire to push the district to the forefront of public education.

The Darlington County Board of Education has proven to be essential in the success of our school district, Horton said. We are very fortunate to have a forward-thinking and progressive school board that does an excellent job of listening to the needs of our teachers, and right now those needs are related to technology. Their vision and perseverance has really helped teachers and students move forward in the ever-changing technological world.

Mondays meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the Board/Community Conference Room of Administrative Annex No. 1 at 102 Park St. in Darlington.

For more information, visit www.darlington.k12.sc.us.
"We are very honoured to have been awarded this contract from the US Coast Guard to provide LRIT ASP services in support of the United States National Maritime Domain Awareness Plan and wider National Strategy for Maritime Security programme," said Julian Longson, md of Pole Star, in a statement.

Pole Star currently provides LRIT services to 47 maritime administrations, including four of the five largest fleets in the IMO LRIT network - those of Panama, Singapore, Liberia, and the Marshall Islands. In securing this contract, Pole Star has added the US Coast Guard to those of Australia, Canada and others that form the backbone of international LRIT data users network.

It is an honour to be working with the US Coast Guard today and into the future. Our technical teams are working very well together. We look forward to supporting the US Coast Guards needs by providing them with robust maritime domain awareness services in todays challenging maritime environment, said Nick Salvi head of government sales - North America.
The two new categories are Corporate Social Responsibility Award and Deal of the Year adding to four other categories that companies can enter for the prestigious awards ceremony to be held at the Guildhall in London.

Details of the new categories are as follows:

Corporate Social Responsibility Award

This Award recognizes a leading corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy or initiative delivered in the last year. New for 2016, this award has a truly unique judging panel - the visitors to the Seatrade Maritime News website.

Deal of the Year

Judged by the Seatrade Editorial Board, this award recognises a significant business deal in the regional maritime industry supporting its growth and sustainability.

There are four categories which companies are encouraged to enter: Safety at Sea; Clean Shipping; Innovation in Ship Operations and Investment in People. The deadline to enter these categories is 14 January 2016 so make sure you get your entries in before it is too late by visiting www.seatrade-awards.com

The respect within which the Awards are held is reflected by the high-level industry judging panel which is chaired by Secretary General, Mr Ki-tack Lim, International Maritime Organization (IMO).

He is joined by a prestigious line-up of names that includes: Mr Philippe Louis-Dreyfus, President, Baltic and International Maritime Council (Bimco); Mr Pierfrancesco Vago, Chairman, Cruise Lines International Association Europe (CLIA); Dr John Coustas, Chairman, Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA); Mr Christopher Wiernicki, Chairman, International Association of Classification Societies (IACS); Mr Masamichi Morooka, Chairman, International Chamber of Shipping (ICS); Mr John Platsidakis, Chairman, International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners (Intercargo); Mr Nikolas Tsakos, Chairman, International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko) and Mr Grahaeme Henderson, Chairman, Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF).

The remaining awards, classified as Personality & Community awards 2016 are judged by the Seatrade Editorial Board and include: Seatrade Personality | Seatrade Lifetime Achievement Award | Seatrade Global Performer | Seatrade Young Person in Shipping | Seatrade Award for Countering Piracy | IMO Themed Award for World Maritime Day

The awards are presented on 6 May at the prestigious Guildhall, London, to 350 industry guests.

Enter the Seatrade Awards
The Chinese yard announced on its website that it has reached an agreement to transfer the ownership rights of the water space at its shipyard to Minsheng banks Fujian branch, which will then lease it back to the yard.

The shipbuilder also entered into an agreement to transfer its ownership rights of land, docks, piers and other assets to Minsheng banks Xiaman branch, which will also lease them back to the yard.

Huadong Shipyard will be allowed to repurchase all the assets back from Minsheng within two years.

The agreements have also allowed the shipyard to secure an undisclosed sum of loan from the bank.

Recently, Huadong Shipyard was added to Chinas white list of shipbuilders, allowing it to benefit from prioritised policy support and access to domestic bank loans.
In a regulatory filing to the stock exchange, HHIC said it faces a temporary liquidity shortage and seeks to restructure its debts with creditors under a voluntary agreement.

Local media reports mentioned that HHIC is requesting its major creditor Korea Development Bank (KDB) to approve the debt restructuring plan, allowing the yard to then delay debt repayments and obtain extra funding.

The Busan-based shipbuilder also said its projected deficit is a result of weak demand for ships amid the oversupply of vessel tonnage, as well as troubles with its investment in a shipyard in the Philippines and labour disputes, Bloomberg reported.

HHIC established a shipyard in Subic, west of Manila, and delivered its first vessel from the yard in July 2008. It uses the Philippine yard to build big ships while its facility in Korea focuses on smaller vessels.

The weakening demand for new ships is hitting Hanjin Heavy. The Philippines yard hasnt been generating much business because there are so many delays in delivering the ships to customers, Park Moo Hyun, analyst at Hana Daetoo Securities Co, was quoted saying.
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Another wolf has entered the far Northern California wilds, providing more evidence of a comeback for the animal that was absent from the state for nearly 100 years and driven to near-extinction by hunters and trappers.

In mid-December, a wolf wearing a radio collar entered the state from Oregon. The canine known as OR-25 is a male and is nearly 3 years old with a very dark coat, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A reading from the collar on Thursday showed OR-25 in Modoc County, in the far northeast of the state. The county  which carries the slogan Where the West still lives  is one of the states most sparsely populated with about 10,000 people.

In August, remote cameras captured photographic evidence that a separate family of gray wolves, five pups and two adults, had entered California, becoming the first known pack in the state since 1924.

And in November, a calf was apparently killed and eaten by the Shasta Pack in Siskiyou County.

A probe by wildlife officials  the states first livestock depredation investigation  said the attack was unproven but likely, based on what the predators left behind.

The 48-page investigation report included color photos of the calfs two rear legs, which were all that remained of the carcass. It said that a rancher rounding up cattle with his workers reported seeing five wolves eating a dead calf in a meadow and that the wolves raced away as the humans approached.

The return of wolves to the state is believed to have begun in 2011, when OR-7, a collared wolf, crossed the border from Oregon and wandered around several rural counties before returning to Oregon in 2013, mating and producing three pups.

With wolves apparently ready to recolonize the state, the Department of Fish and Wildlife has prepared a comprehensive draft plan for how it might manage the return of the animals, which were classified as endangered in California in 2014. Public comments are due Feb. 15.

While wildlife advocates welcome the return of the species, farmers and ranchers fear the animals will feast on their sheep and cattle.

Lethal means of control are not an option in California, but the states draft plan suggests wolves could be taken off the endangered species list, or be downgraded, if they become abundant.

As many as 2 million gray wolves once lived in North America, including a healthy population in California, but they were gradually killed off by European settlers who feared them.

By 1900, they had been driven to near-extinction in the lower 48 states. The last known native California wolf was trapped and killed in Lassen County in 1924.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
An increased number of Californians expect terrorist attacks close to home and dont believe law enforcement can prevent them. But even more fear government actions to avert terrorism, according to a new Field Poll.

The poll, conducted after last months San Bernardino massacre, found that 33 percent of those surveyed considered terrorist attacks in California in the near future very likely.

That compared with just 21 percent who thought terror attacks likely the last time the questions were asked in July 2002, 17 percent in January 2002 and 20 percent in September 2001, right after the Sept. 11 attacks.

It actually makes lot of sense now to compare public opinion after the San Bernardino attacks to public opinion after the New York City attacks, said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll.

The poll results show an increased concern among Californians now that an attack has taken place inside the state instead of thousands of miles away, DiCamillo said.

When a terrorist attack hits closer to home, he said, more voters are inclined to fear attacks closer to home.

Pollsters conducted telephone interviews with 1,003 randomly selected registered voters in California. The poll has a margin or error or plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Few Californians  21 percent  have faith in the ability of the FBI, CIA and other law enforcement agencies to break up terrorist plots, the poll found.

But in addition to the rising fear of terrorism, Californians are even more afraid that the government will go too far in its efforts to fend off attacks by taking away personal liberties. The poll found that 55 percent were worried that the government would overreach, a slight increase over the 53 percent that expressed concerns in 2002 and a big leap from the 42 percent right after 9/11.

The poll also found that Californians opposed sending ground troops into Iraq or Syria to combat Islamic State militants. Overall, 51 percent of voters opposed a ground war while 37 percent were in favor. The results were highly partisan, with 63 percent of Democrats opposed to just 28 percent of Republicans. A majority of Republicans  54 percent  supported sending in troops, and just 34 percent were opposed.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
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Bad weather has forced officials to suspend a search for two fisherman believed to be from the Bay Area who disappeared on New Years Day at a lake in Nevada.

The men, aged 38 and 41, were last seen Friday at Pyramid Lake north of Reno, said Don Pelt, a spokesman for the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe fire department.

The tribes police department and crews with Washoe County Sheriffs Office started searching for the men on Monday because friends and relatives didnt immediately realize they were unaccounted for.

Friends in Reno thought the men had returned to Northern California, and relatives in the Bay Area thought they were still in Nevada, Pelt said.

The two set out on the lake in a 12-foot aluminum fishing boat with a small outboard motor, Pelt said, but no one has seen them since. Officials found the truck the men drove parked on the northwest side of the lake.

Family of one of the men filed a missing persons report to Burlingame police, Pelt said.

Authorities have performed land, water and aerial searches but havent found any debris or evidence from them.

Pelt said the men have fished the lake before, but even good swimmers can succumb to the chilly waters. The lake is 29 miles long, 14 miles across at its widest point and up to 335 feet deep.

Police Chief Christopher Parsons said search crews stopped going out on the water after Tuesday to wait out the weather.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
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Black Oak Books, once a fixture in North Berkeleys Gourmet Ghetto and now in West Berkeley, will close its doors at the end of the month. It has been in business for 33 years.

Its sad, owner Gary Cornell said by phone, but at some point you have to realize that its just not going to work.

The 6,000-square-foot independent bookstore at 2618 San Pablo Ave. has been in West Berkeley since 2009, when a rent increase forced it out of its old neighborhood. Books Inc. moved into the vacant North Berkeley space in June.

Two other bookstores closed in Berkeley last year: the 1-year-old Bookish and the 51-year-old Shakespeare & Co.

Cornell said he had hoped his new neighborhood, with help from Berkeley Bowl West and other new businesses, would grow into a thriving, hip destination, not unlike Oaklands Temescal neighborhood. But the foot traffic didnt increase, he said, and the neighborhood plateaued.

As good a year as 2015 was for independent booksellers, Cornell said his stores business grew by only 1 percent. Basically, it has always been a marginal business, he said.

Cornell added that turning a profit would be even tougher with Berkeleys recent minimum wage increase to $11 an hour. Black Oak Books has four full-time-equivalent employees.

It means my expenses would go up 50 percent over the next five years, and to be honest, that just wasnt in the cards, he said.

Dont get me wrong, Cornell added. Im not against the increase in the minimum wage, but people have to be aware that itll probably change the mix of stores that youre going to get. And thats not necessarily a bad thing.

Cornell, 62, bought the store in 2008  he had fond memories of visiting its original location while on two sabbaticals as a math professor at the University of Connecticut  but he said he hasnt been as involved in the stores day-to-day business. The bookseller is a mathematician in my other life, he said, adding that he was at a math conference in Seattle.

Cornell said he might reopen the store if another building opens up, but for now he plans to continue selling books online. As for the tens of thousands of books, new and used, that are in the store, they are for sale at 40 percent off.

John McMurtrie is the book editor of The San Francisco Chronicle. Twitter: @McMurtrieSF
Greenwich billionaire Steve Cohen has taken a step toward returning to the hedge fund business after making a deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission that will allow his Point72 Asset Management to take on clients in 2018.

Cohen  who in 2014 paid $1.8 billion to settle U.S. insider trading claims  will continue to be barred from managing money outside his firm until an independent supervisor ensures there are legally sufficient policies, procedures and supervision mechanisms in place to detect and deter any insider trading, Andrew Ceresney, director of SEC enforcement, said in a statement on Friday.

At his Stamford headquarters, Cohen remade SAC Capital into Point72, a so-called family office investing his fortune while working out remaining legal issues. The SEC had reopened an administrative proceeding against SAC late last year with a potential administrative trial date for this spring, but Fridays agreement cancels that action.

Cohen, in an email to staff that was obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media on Friday, did not rule out Point72 resuming traditional hedge fund activities by investing client assets with an eye on outsized returns, and said that the SEC imposed no additional penalties. Even as Stamford has been buffeted by the contractions of UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland, Point72 has remained a major financial industry employer with close to 1,000 people on staff who are split between Stamford, New York City and smaller trading offices elsewhere.

Having the opportunity to accept outside capital again does not necessarily mean we will, Cohen said in the email. Our firm has focused on generating replicable and sustainable high-quality returns that yield prudent growth and we will continue to do so for the next two years. Should we become a registered investment adviser in the future, we will maintain our focus on delivering superior risk-adjusted returns, not accumulating assets and fees.

In its order on Friday, the SEC said Cohen failed to supervise former portfolio manager Mathew Martoma, who was convicted of trading on insider tips in 2008 while employed at SAC subsidiary CR Intrinsic Investors, resulting in $275 million in ill-gotten gains for Cohens company.

The strong combination of a two-year supervisory bar and additional oversight requirements achieves significant and immediate investor protection and deterrence, while ensuring that the activities of his funds are closely monitored going forward, Ceresney said.

Point72 did not offer immediate comment on Cohens statement, in which he says the firm can expect to have clearance to manage outside investments effective Jan. 1, 2018, if the company maintains world class compliance programs and ethical standards.

Cohen has taken multiple steps to change the image and operation of Point72 in the post-SAC era, which include hiring Doug Haynes  the ex-McKinsey & Co. managing director  as firm president, and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut Kevin OConnor as general counsel. Shedding a stereotypical image in the tight-lipped fraternity of hedge funds, Point72 has reached out over the past year to Hearst and other media outlets to set up visits and executive interviews, without Cohen agreeing to be interviewed himself.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-964-2236; www.twitter.com/casoulman
WASHINGTON  Volkswagens top executive is traveling to Washington next week to meet face to face with the nations head environmental regulator.

VW global CEO Matthias Mueller is set to meet Wednesday with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy. EPA says the meeting was scheduled at the companys request.

The German automaker and U.S. regulators are at an apparent impasse over how to proceed with the expected recall of nearly 600,000 clean diesel vehicles sold with secret software designed to make their engines pass federal emissions standards while undergoing laboratory testing. The vehicles then switch off those measures in real-world driving conditions, spewing harmful gases at up to 40 times what is allowed under federal environmental standards.

Weve been having a large amount of technical discussions back and forth with Volkswagen, McCarthy said at a public event Thursday. At this point, we havent identified a satisfactory way forward, but those discussions are going to continue. We are really anxious to find a way for that company to get into compliance, and were not there yet.

On Monday, the Justice Department, representing the EPA, filed a civil suit that could potentially expose VW to more than $20 billion in fines under the Clean Air Act. VW could rack up additional civil penalties based on facts determined at trial.

A separate criminal investigation is under way, and numerous private class-action lawsuits filed by angry VW owners are pending.

VW admitted in September that the suspect software was installed in cars with its popular 2.0-liter diesel engines. The company has thus far denied findings by U.S. regulators that another so-called defeat device was also included in a smaller number of diesel vehicles with 3.0-liter engines, including some sold under the VW-owned Audi and Porsche brands.

Bringing the cars into compliance with U.S. clean-air rules will likely include complicated recalls to install either new software or additional equipment on the cars. The process is expected to take several years.

Mueller has apologized for the scandal, but denies that he and other corporate leaders at the company knew of the scheme. He has suggested a small number of software developers in Germany are to blame for the suspect computer code.
Edward A. Ornelas /San Antonio Express-News

The Forest Park Medical Center building on San Antonios Northwest Side wont be heading to foreclosure after a resolution was reached Thursday between its bankrupt owner and its primary lender.

At a bankruptcy hearing, a lawyer for owner FPMC San Antonio Realty Partners LP said it has withdrawn a motion that sought to prevent lender Texas Capital Bank from foreclosing on the nearly $100 million building at 5510 Presidio Parkway. Details of the resolution werent revealed in court due to the sensitivity surrounding negotiations to sell the building. A forbearance agreement has been executed, however.
Raymond Shrimp Boy Chow said he was a changed man after his last prison sentence for racketeering in Chinatown more than a decade ago. But jurors heard an undercover FBI agent, backed by tape recordings, describe paying Chow for illegal transactions with his underlings. And they heard former cohorts saying Chow had ordered two murders.

On Friday, after 2 days of deliberations, the federal court jury in San Francisco found Chow guilty on all charges: conspiracy to operate a century-old community organization as a racketeering enterprise, murdering its previous leader, conspiring to try to murder another rival, five counts of dealing in stolen liquor and cigarettes, and 154 counts of money-laundering.

It was vindication for a five-year undercover federal operation that had already netted another big fish, former state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, one of 28 defendants indicted along with Chow in 2014.

Agents posing as shady campaign contributors contacted Yee through Keith Jackson, a former San Francisco school board president who had ties to Chows organization. In July, Yee and Jackson pleaded guilty to racketeering and admitted that the legislator, with Jacksons help, had accepted bribes in exchange for promises of political favors and illegally importing firearms. Their sentencing is scheduled Feb. 10.

Chow, 56, is to be sentenced March 23, and faces a mandatory life term in prison for Leungs murder. His lawyers said he would appeal.

I put the blame on jurors accepting the word of snitches with no integrity and no credibility, defense attorney J. Tony Serra told reporters, referring to five co-defendants who reached plea agreements with prosecutors to testify against Chow. This is snitch heaven. We feel disgusted.

He was not unnerved

He said Chow remained calm after U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer read the verdicts and polled the 12 jurors, who unanimously confirmed them. He smiled ... he was almost Buddhistically accepting, Serra said. He was not unnerved.

David Johnson, chief of the FBI office in San Francisco, said in a statement that the verdict represents a just and final end to Mr. Chows long-running and deadly criminal career.

Jurors declined to speak to a reporter before leaving the courthouse.

The jury evidently credited the testimony of undercover agents led by Dave Jordan, the alias used by an agent, who posed as an East Coast businessman with mob ties and as a devoted admirer of Chow, during three years of secretly recorded conversations. Other clandestine recordings, in which Chow appeared to express hostility to rivals Allen Leung and Jim Tat Kong, bolstered his co-defendants testimony that he had ordered their murders,

If you have tapes that are perfectly consistent with informant testimony, then juries convict a great deal of the time, said Robert Weisberg, a Stanford law professor and co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center. He said he was not surprised by the verdict and expects it to be upheld on appeal.

The investigation focused on the inner workings of the Ghee Kung Tong, a long-established Chinatown brotherhood that prosecutors said had become a front for crime and corruption under Chows direction.

Chow became the tongs leader after Leung was shot to death in February 2006 by a still-unidentified gunman at Leungs import-export business in Chinatown.

A self-described gangster for much of his life, Chow was imprisoned in 1993 for racketeering and won early release a decade later for testifying against a gang leader. He testified last month that he had reflected on his past during his time in prison and promised himself, while meditating on a beach after his release, to live a crime-free life.

He began counseling troubled youths in minority communities and later won praise from the likes of Mayor Ed Lee and Sen. Dianne Feinstein. But prosecutors said Chow all the while was secretly plotting to take over the Ghee Kung Tong and bringing in longtime followers to run a criminal organization.

Murder charges added

Prosecutors initially charged Chow with racketeering. The murder charges were added in October after prosecutors secured guilty pleas from two co-defendants who agreed to testify in exchange for possible reductions in their sentences. One man, Kongphat Chanthavong, said he heard Chow order Leungs murder during a feud between the two men over a loan Chow wanted from the organization.

Chow was also implicated by the alleged driver of the getaway car. In addition, jurors heard a secretly recorded conversation in which Chow supposedly told the undercover agent in 2013 that he had once advised Leung that anyone who messed around with him, or his investments, would be gone.

Chow, who listened to the same recording, disputed the prosecutions transcript and said he hadnt referred to Leung. Defense lawyers questioned the truthfulness of the prosecution witnesses, telling the jury they were convicted criminals and liars who had been allowed to meet in jail and work on their stories.

The other homicide charge involved Kong, a onetime rival in an affiliated organization, the Hop Sing Tong, who was shot to death in Mendocino County in 2013. Andy Li, one of the co-defendants who pleaded guilty, testified that Chow had ordered him to kill Kong in 2011, then later told him that the matter had been handled. Jurors also heard a recording in which Chow told an agent he had withdrawn protection from Kong.

The bulk of the charges against Chow involved crimes that his subordinates allegedly agreed to commit with the agent who called himself Dave Jordan. Testifying in a courtroom closed to the public, the agent described transactions with members of the tong over a three-year period for sales of supposedly stolen liquor and cigarettes, and some drug deals, with more than $2 million of the proceeds laundered to evade government detection.

The agent said Chow introduced him to his followers and approved their transactions. Jurors heard numerous recordings in which the agent thanked Chow for making it possible and pressed envelopes of cash on him, which Jordan said totaled more than $60,000. Chow usually protested, saying he hadnt done anything for the money and didnt want to know about the details  but, the agent said, he never refused payment.

Love and respect

In three days of testimony, including a lengthy and sarcastic cross-examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney William Frentzen, Chow denied ever knowingly taking payoffs for crimes. He said he had introduced the agent to more than 50 tong members, for no illicit purposes. He said he deliberately steered clear of learning about their interactions and was repeatedly assured by Jordan that the payments to him were gestures of love and respect.

Chows lawyers argued that Frentzens accusatory questioning went too far and put words in the mouth of a defendant whose English skills were limited, though he had an interpreter to help him. They made little headway with Breyer, and have publicly accused the veteran judge of bias.

The defense was saddled with so many handicaps ... so much misconduct during the trial, including Breyers restrictions on defense funding and his rejection of many proposed defense witnesses, attorney Curtis Briggs said after the verdict.

Bob Egelko and Steve Rubenstein are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: begelko@sfchronicle.com; srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko; @steverubesf
A member of a noted Bay Area family quartets car was broken into in San Francisco and a violin worth about $35,000 was stolen  all while he attended a memorial service.

Orinda resident Greg Mazmanian said someone broke the windows of his Acura sport utility vehicle and swiped his 150-year-old Carlo Bergonzi replica on Dec. 28 while he was at a lunch reception after his aunts funeral.

Mazmanian, 60, said hes not sure anything can replace the instrument, which he played for about 40 years with the San Francisco Symphony, an assortment of celebrities and his own family group.

Its the first sound my kids heard when they were brought home from the hospital, the father of three said Thursday. Every instrument has its own sound, you know, its just not the same.

On Dec. 28, he said, he played the violin at the funeral, then placed the instrument in his SUV and went to a lunch reception at the Harding Park golf course. He returned to his car around 2 p.m. and found the windows smashed and his prized possession gone.

We called the police, Mazmanian said. At that point, they said, oh yeah, that place gets hit a lot.

San Francisco police Officer Carlos Manfredi, a department spokesman, said its unlikely the thief targeted the violin, because it was hidden from view.

Manfredi noted that vehicle burglaries have been on the rise all over San Francisco, a phenomenon that has provoked outrage and finger-pointing. In the first half of 2015, car break-ins jumped 47 percent compared to 2014.

Mazmanian joked that his violin would have an interesting diary  it helped him back up the likes of Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. He said he also performed with it while recording the first CD with the soundtracks from all three original Star Wars films.

And, when Mazmanian was a student at Juilliard in New York, it was in his hand as he played at Carnegie Hall.

Mazmanian, born and raised in Oakland, recently used the instrument as an orchestra and band teacher at Orinda Intermediate School and as a member of the Mazmanian Family Musical Ensemble.

I play with my own kids, he said. we perform together as an ensemble.

His son Edward and daughter Rose followed in their fathers footsteps as skillful violinists, while his daughter Ida is an award-winning pianist, he said.

The family has released CDs and performed at events throughout the Bay Area, including a November benefit at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley.

Mazmanian said he does not know what hell do without the violin. His son has offered to let him use his, but that would leave the ensemble short an instrument.

Manfredi said its possible the thief might simply discard the violin somewhere in the city. He or she faces a felony if caught, and now that the instrument has garnered so much attention it will be harder to sell, he said.

At the end of the day, the victim only wants his violin back, Manfredi said. To a musician, its the world to them. Even getting another violin wont replace the original.

To Mazmanian, his missing piece could only be likened to a priceless work of art.

Its not the real Mona Lisa, he said, but a good replica.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
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A San Francisco man has been convicted of spray-painting anti-Chinese graffiti around the southeast part of the city.

A jury convicted John Schenone, 62, of seven misdemeanor counts of vandalism and six misdemeanor counts of a hate crime by way of defacing property in connection with the graffiti discovered in September.

Racism has no place in San Francisco, District Attorney George Gascon said after the Superior Court jury returned the verdicts Thursday. We pride ourselves on being a diverse, tolerant and inclusive city. Actions such as these strike at the heart of who we are and the values we hold dear.

The orange graffiti, reading no more Chinese, was discovered Sept. 7 at six locations in the Portola and Bayview neighborhoods. According to public records, Schenone lived less than a mile from the majority of the locations.

Authorities said Schenone targeted mostly vacant properties, including a house under construction, another being sold on the 100 block of Brussels Street and a fence at an empty lot at University and Bacon streets.

Investigators connected the graffiti to Schenone through surveillance-camera footage that showed the same 1980s-era white pickup truck at two of the locations. After executing a search warrant, investigators found the truck at Schenones home and paint like that used at all the graffiti locations.

Community members rallied to condemn the graffiti, something Assistant District Attorney Myles Campbell said had helped to lead to a quick arrest.

Deputy Public Defender Bonnie Chan, Schenones attorney, said she planned to appeal the verdicts.

We all have a constitutional right to express our opinions, however unpopular they may be with the public, she said. Mr. Schenone did not threaten, target or physically harm a single person. Like it or not, racism alone is not a crime. From the beginning, this case has been based on emotions rather than law.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo
A 30-year-old San Jose man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of killing his father, who was reported missing last week and later found dead in his car in Richmond, police said.

Maxim Zhukov was arrested in Palo Alto after investigators uncovered evidence linking him to the death of his father, Evgeniy Zhukov, 54, police said.

On New Years Day, a family member reported Evgeniy Zhukov missing.

On Monday, police got information that Maxim Zhukov was possibly involved in his fathers disappearance, said San Jose Police Department officials. That same day, Richmond police officers discovered Evgeniy Zhukov dead inside his car in their city.

Richmond police determined that the crime scene was possibly at the victims residence and searched the home on Neptune Court alongside San Jose police detectives, they said.

Police in San Jose took over the case based on follow-up investigation and evidence recovered at the victims residence, officials said.

Police did not immediately reveal how the elder Zhukov was killed or release a motive for the slaying.

Anyone with information about the killing can call San Jose Det. Sgt. Rick Yu or Det. Wayne Smith at (408)277-5283.

In a separate slaying, the second of the year in San Jose, police were called Thursday shortly before 10 p.m. to the area of Pinto Dr. and Lone Bluff Way to investigate a person shot there, they said. Police found a man who was declared dead at the scene. The suspect in the case fled the area and no arrest has been made.

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz
Oakland Police Department

A 22-year-old man accused of unleashing a barrage of gunfire in the heart of downtown Oakland that injured a bystander was arrested in San Francisco, authorities said Friday.

Cervando Jessie Sterling-Valdez was busted Thursday night by San Francisco police after Oakland police released security video from Tuesdays 10:30 a.m. shooting, showing him pulling a gun from his waistband and firing wildly on the 1300 block of Broadway.
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People in horror movies really need to consider the possibility that they are in a horror movie and act accordingly. They need to stop doing the stupid, reckless things that people in horror movies do and instead pause and take notice of their surroundings. Lives would be saved.

The young woman in The Forest, for example, ignores all the obvious signs that she is in a horror movie and ends up putting herself through needless torment. Of the many signs, this one should have been the most obvious to her: If every time you turn and see something unexpected, there is a crashing sound like a million doors slamming in an echo chamber, youre in a horror movie and must take evasive action. Yet even though this happens to our heroine, Sara (Natalie Dormer), at least once every five minutes in The Forest, these sudden noises fail to make an impression on her.
FORT WORTH, Texas  A woman with means who was arrested at a Mexican beach resort city with her fugitive teenage son who invoked affluenza as a defense after killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck has complained about the conditions of her Texas jail cell, a sheriff said Friday.

She expressed a slight displeasure about her accommodations, and I told her this was a jail and not a resort, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said at a news conference.

Tonya Couch, 48, and her 18-year-old son Ethan Couch, have been the objects of derision since Ethan was sentenced to probation, rather than jail time, for the 2013 wreck. The case drew renewed attention when the mother and son fled to Mexico after a video surfaced that appeared to show Ethan Couch, fresh from a rehabilitation center, at a party where people were drinking. If Couch drank alcohol, he violated the terms of his probation.

Tonya Couch made an initial appearance in a Texas courtroom Friday on a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon. She did not enter a plea.

Tarrant County Judge Wayne Salvant advised Couch of the charge against her and asked if she understood. The mother, wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit, said she did.

Salvant set bond at $1 million and Couchs attorney, Stephanie Patten, filed a motion asking for the bond to be reduced. We think anything $25,000 or under would be fair, Patten told reporters.

Anderson said he opposed a bond reduction because Couch is a woman with means who can get out of the country with the right connections.

Authorities believe the mother and son fled Texas together in November as prosecutors investigated whether the teenager had violated probation. They were arrested at an apartment complex in Puerto Vallarta late last month.

Ethan Couch was driving drunk and speeding near Fort Worth in June 2013 when he crashed into a disabled SUV, killing four people and injuring several others, including passengers in his pickup truck. He pleaded guilty in juvenile court to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury and was sentenced to 10 years probation.

Couch is being held at an immigration detention center in Mexico City after winning a delay in deportation, a ruling that could lead to a drawn-out court process.
WASHINGTON  Reports of sexual assaults at the three military academies surged by more than 50 percent in the 2014-15 school year, and complaints of sexual harassment also spiked, according to Pentagon officials.

A senior defense official said the sharp increases were due largely to students growing confidence in the reporting system and expanded awareness programs that over the past several years have included training, videos and information sessions for both students and leaders.

But the dramatic increases raise nagging questions about whether criminal assaults and harassment are on the rise or if the numbers actually reflect a growing willingness of victims to come forward.

I think its appropriate for people to feel frustrated about hearing this in the news. Bottom line is that if this were an easy problem, we would have solved it years ago, said Nate Galbreath, the senior executive adviser for the Pentagons sexual assault prevention office. Unfortunately, this is a very hard problem to solve.

According to the report documents, there were 91 reported sexual assaults over the last school year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, compared with 59 during the 2013-14 school year.

At the same time, the number of sexual harassment complaints spiked by 40 percent, to a total of 28 during the last school year. According to the documents, the most sexual harassment complaints were at the Naval Academy, with 13. There were seven at West Point and eight at the Air Force Academy.

Galbreath said a key recommendation this year is for the academies to put more emphasis on sexual-harassment prevention and training.

Senior Pentagon leaders have argued for years that increased reporting is positive as it suggests the victims are more willing to come forward. Sexual assault in civilian and military society have historically been a vastly underreported crime because victims often fear reprisals or stigma, or they worry that they wont be believed or dont want to go through the emotional turmoil of a court case.
A 23-year-old Sacramento man who emigrated from Syria as a refugee was arrested and charged with making a false statement involving terrorism after he lied about returning to the war-torn country two years ago and fighting alongside extremist insurgents, federal prosecutors said.

A complaint was unsealed Thursday against Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab at the federal court in Sacramento. An attorney representing Al-Jayab, who is to appear in court Friday, did not respond to requests for comment.

The arrest came the same day federal authorities unsealed an indictment of a Houston resident and refugee on charges of attempting to support the Islamic State. Prosecutors said the two cases were linked and that the second man, 24-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, had communicated with Al-Jayab.

In the Sacramento case, Al-Jayab traveled overseas to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lied to U.S. authorities about his activities, said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin.

Benjamin Wagner, the U.S. attorney in Sacramento, said that while Al-Jayab was a potential threat, there is no indication that he planned any acts of terrorism in this country.

The FBI said Al-Jayab is of Palestinian ancestry, was born in Iraq and came to the U.S. from Syria as a refugee in October 2012.

In the next 13 months, while living in Arizona and Wisconsin, Al-Jayab allegedly communicated online with more than 15 people around the world  including an unnamed person in Texas who also expressed a desire to fight in Syria. Al-Jayab spoke of specific plans to return to Syria to fight for terrorist groups, officials said. The FBI said it had recovered the communications.

O god, grant us martyrdom for your sake while engaged in fighting and not retreating, Al-Jayab wrote on April 13, 2013, according to an FBI affidavit by Special Agent Elizabeth Buckmiller.

Three days later, he wrote, I am eager to see blood, said the affidavit that alleges Al-Jayab was wired money from associates in Iraq and Syria to finance his trip.

I am at the shooting club. I want to learn long range shooting, he wrote to another man on June 30, 2013, including photos of him at a Wisconsin gun range, Buckmiller said.

She said Al-Jayab discussed his previous experience with firearms and with fighting against the regime in Syria. On Nov. 9, 2013, he flew from Chicago to Turkey, and then traveled to Syria.

Al-Jayab allegedly wrote on social media that he was in Syria from November 2013 to January 2014, fighting with militant organizations including Ansar al-Islam, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization since 2004. He returned to the U.S. and settled in Sacramento Jan. 23, 2014, officials said.

On Oct. 6, 2014, prosecutors said he gave false answers to immigration agents who asked him whether he had ever been a member of any rebel group or militia or provided material support for any person or group engaged in terrorist activity.

Al-Jayab also allegedly stated during the interview that he had traveled to Turkey in late 2013 and early 2014 to visit his grandmother, authorities said.

Al-Jayab faces a maximum eight years in prison if convicted.

Meanwhile, Al Hardan was indicted Wednesday on charges of attempting to provide material support to foreign terrorists, unlawfully procuring citizenship, and giving a false statement to a U.S. agency.

Al Hardan is also a refugee of Palestinian ancestry born in Iraq, federal prosecutors said. He emigrated in November 2009 and allegedly provided support to the Islamic State starting in May 2014.

Thursdays arrests came weeks after the massacre in San Bernardino in which a couple believed to have held Islamic extremist views opened fire on a holiday party, killing 14 people.

Last month, Fremont resident Adam Shafi, 22, was arrested. He pleaded not guilty to a terrorism charge after he allegedly tried to fly to Turkey to join a militant group in Syria.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
TEDx spreads ideas and knowledge throughout individual communities. Tikkun Olam is the Jewish idea of "repairing the world." Now, a new project aims to blend the two concepts to solve social issues.

Related: Amazon Launches a Maker Marketplace That Will Compete With Etsy

TOM (Tikkun Olam Makers) is a 72-hour event that brings coders, developers, engineers and doctors together with individuals with disabilities. The mission is to solve the everyday issues that the latter group faces, using new assistive technologies. In just three days, 10 to 20 projects are completed by 150 people, as this video demonstrates.

The events are made possible through their unique collaborative nature: Volunteers work with individuals facing challenges to create the best solutions possible.

Heres a look at how TOM events work and why they matter:

How it works

TOM has held hold a total of seven events in the past year -- one each in Tel Aviv, San Francisco, the Bay Area, and Calgary; two in northern Israel and two in Sao Paulo.

How do these global events happen? Much like the way TEDx events are organized, TOM relies on the power of local communities. "We dont want to run the events -- we want the local communities to do it, says Sefi Attias, co-founder of TOM. We provide the methodology, the process, the branding, the online portal and access to our growing network of global sponsors. We give them the framework.

Events in each location partner with local organizations to provide the cutting-edge technology needed to build the innovative solutions. Tools like 3D, laser cutters and raw materials are available to the participants at each event, thanks to global and local partners.

Each event is run by local volunteers. Designers, engineers, scientists, care professionals, entrepreneurs and others come together to plan, produce and execute the event.

Sapir Caduri, an engineer at Google who has participated in four TOM makeathons, said, "I have been to other hackathons, but TOM is not the same. TOM is not just about being a cool geek, it's about developing something for and with people with a real need. It gives you the feeling you got way more than you gave."

The process starts with a "call for challenge" and a "call for talent" in the local community. Then invites to both individuals and organizations are sent, and applications are curated and filtered, by volunteer professionals, to ensure technological feasibility and social benefit. Once filtered, a pre-TOM event takes place and allows "need knowers" to meet with selected talents to form teams and transition from challenges to projects.

The teams research and work, online and off, before the event and are encouraged to arrive at the event with an understanding of the tools, technology and materials they expect to need, to tackle the challenge.

The leaders behind TOM are less focused on facilitating each individual event than investing more in the research and collaboration side to keep the organization growing and events occurring worldwide.

Related: This Program Wants to Help People With Disabilities Become Entrepreneurs

Why its important

TOM brings together people facing real-life challenges with the talent that can solve those problems. The event allows individuals with specific disabilities to form a relationship with the people behind their solutions, which leads to personalized tools and technology. Were allowing people to use a simple system to solve unsolved needs, says Attias.

Those needs remain largely unsolved because large, for-profit companies typically invest only in projects with a large customer base; that leaves little-to-no room to solve the unique needs of those with specific intellectual and developmental disabilities. TOM events, in contrast, allow the creation of innovative solutions to be customized for individuals. Under typical circumstances, those solutions would require a lot of time and money.

"For people with disabilities, here at TOM, one can imagine a solution to their challenge, and it's like a dream on one hand and a gift on the other," said Eran Tamir, father of participant Guy, who has a disability.

The future of TOM

The mission of TOM has been focused, but its founders are looking toward expanding the events in the future. Now we're focused on assistive technology, but we'll do other things down the line, says Attias. Were less focused on producing events and more interested in scaling.

TOM was grown out of a leading societal think-tank, the Reut Institute, and due to those roots, we are always challenged to think of areas in which there is an overlap between government failure and market failure," Attias adds. "At our last event, we tested our methodology on the needs of the elderly, and we feel our human centered approach has relevance in many other fields."

Reut Institute president Gidi Grinstein says, "TOM's uniqueness is its ability to connect innovative technology and social goals, and that's a critical function for bettering humanity."

By 2017, the organization aims to host 100 events. The demand for the events is there -- five people with disabilities apply for each open spot, Attias says.

Some of the upcoming locations for the beginning of 2016 include Australia, Argentina and Washington, DC, where calls for talent and challenges are open.

In addition to expanding, the founders are looking at changing the model of TOM from a nonprofit to a self-sustained model that will allow rapid growth. As the organization grows, it promises to address more solutions to other, unaddressed problems.

What organizations are using tech to change your community? Let us know in the comments!

Related: 4 Easy Steps to Get You on TEDx Talks

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Meet the New 'TEDx' of Social Action

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10 Incredible Nonprofits and the Women Behind Them



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Ukraine's permanent representative at the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko has reported the intention to organize a visit to Donbas by a group of permanent representatives of the UN Security Council member countries to convince them that there is a need to deploy a peacekeeping operation.

"This idea has appeared literally recently: to try to organize a visit to Donbas for a group of permanent representatives of the UN Security Council member countries so that they could become convinced that Ukraine really needs it [a UN peacekeeping operation in Ukraine], that the global community needs it," he said on TV Channel Five on Thursday.

Yelchenko recalled that he raised the question of a UN peacekeeping operation in Donbas at a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. He also said he has begun discussing this issue with his colleagues in the UN Security Council specifically, with the representatives of France and the UK, and "the meetings will continue this week."

"This idea [the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas] has not been officially discussed in the Security Council. There have been some test contacts, that is, we tried to understand why this idea is taken without enthusiasm. Clearly, there is a fully predictable Russian veto. But besides that, there are a lot of other issues," Yelchenko said.

He recalled that in order for negotiations on this issue to begin the UN Secretariat needs to send an evaluation mission to Ukraine, "which will see how many staff and military men are needed, what the communications are, and what the size of the territory where they will be deployed is, and many other issues."

"I asked the secretary-general, and I will have a substantive talk with his deputy next Monday about what Ukraine needs to do for the UN Secretariat or the UN secretary-general to make such a decision [to send an evaluation mission to Ukraine]. This decision has not been made yet," the Ukrainian envoy at the UN said.

Yelchenko said a lot of work remains to be done.

"I wanted to speed it up, but nothing is done fast in the UN," he said.

Yelchenko also recalled that he is raising the issue of opening a UN office in Ukraine to support the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

"It's a little easier because it does not require the Security Council's decision, but the issue needs to be discussed," the diplomat said.

Yelchenko said work is being done on these tracks.

"I think the first results will appear in several weeks," he said.
One of the most glorious episodes in San Franciscos history was the City Hall demonstrations over the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in 1960; these demonstrations were a significant contribution to breaking the back of Americas shameful anticommunist witch hunt. It was therefore shocking to pick up the Jan. 3 edition of The Chronicle and be confronted by Michael Bernicks scurrilous and red-baiting article, Why the lies of Trumbo matter, need challenging.

Bernick makes no claims to originality, writing instead to publicize the writings of Ron Radosh and Ron Capshaw Discerning readers may have missed Radoshs review of Trumbo in the online magazine PJ Media. Writings of Radosh and Capshaw can also be found in the online FrontPageMag, whose slogan is, Inside every liberal is a totalitarian screaming to get out, and which believes its mission is to warn America about President Obamas coming communist takeover of the government.

Bernicks road to challenging Trumbos lies has an unpromising start. His first statement of putative fact is: In the 1930s, Trumbo also became an active member of the Communist Party USA. If there is any one fact upon which both Trumbos biographers and the FBI are agreed, it is that Trumbo became a member of the Communist Party in 1943.

Bernick then cites Radosh and Capshaw as setting out that Trumbo was an apologist for the 1930s Stalinist purges, secret police, and state control in the Soviet Union. After all these years of controversy, Ive never seen anyone, even Trumbos worst enemy, produce a single quote from Trumbo supporting or apologizing for the purges, the secret police, or state control. Bernick claims Trumbo called Stalin one of the democratic leaders of the world. Trumbo scholars Larry Ceplair and Christopher Trumbo, in their massive biography Dalton Trumbo state unequivocally that Trumbo never publicly extolled or defended Stalin.

Bernick says, Historian Radosh notes that Trumbo took steps to block movies by anticommunist authors Arthur Koestler, James Farrell and Victor Kravchenko, whose works he deemed untrue and reactionary. This is pure fiction! Heres a communist, who cant even get a screen credit under his own name, blocking movies in one of the most ruthlessly capitalist industries in America. Actually, Trumbo defended Koestlers right to write a wrong-headed screenplay when the issue arose during the making of Spartacus. Radosh/Bernick then go on to take out of context a letter to Herbert Biberman about Bibermans conduct toward Trumbo. (Radosh has virtually made a career out of misquoting and misrepresenting the Trumbo to Biberman letter. He puts it in every one of his pieces about Trumbo.)

Almost through Bernicks article, I am still looking for one of the lies of Trumbo and for even a mention of what he thought should not go unchallenged. We finally get it: Bernick wants us to remember that there were many people on the left who opposed Trumbo and the Communist Party. These included liberal Democrats, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, trade unionists and democratic socialists such as Michael Harrington. Thats what Bernick thinks we needed to know. Eleanor Roosevelt was not a communist. Got it.

Eleanor Roosevelt, trade unionists, and democratic socialists such as Michael Harrington were also opposed to McCarthyism, the red scare, right-wing witch hunts, and imprisoning people and destroying their livelihoods for their political beliefs. Thats what the movie Trumbo thinks we need to know.

David Looman, a political consultant in San Francisco, has taught at UC Berkeley and the former George Meany Center for Labor Studies ( now the National Labor College).
The former first deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine, Andriy Portnov, has stated the ruling of the European Union Court of Justice on the illegality of personal sanctions imposed on him by the Council of the EU has come into force.

"Today the court office in Luxembourg has reported that the Council of the European Union has not filed an appeal on time and the decision of the EU Court of Justice dated October 26, 2015, which declared all the decisions of the Council of the European Union on the introduction of international sanctions against me unlawful, has entered into force," Portnov wrote on his Facebook page.

He stressed that "from this moment the decision of the Luxembourg court has become a source of international law and can be officially used as a precedent in court cases against the European Union by applicants from around the world."

As reported, on October 26, 2015 Portnov stated that the European Union Court of Justice recognized the decision of the EU Council on imposing personal sanctions against him illegal.
Dutch government to campaign in support of Ukraine before referendum on Association Agreement with EU

The Dutch government plans "to campaign for a Yes" in an upcoming referendum on the EU-Ukraine association agreement, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has stated.

According to the EUobserver edition, Mark Rutte, who currently holds the EU presidency, told press in Amsterdam on January 7 "the pact is good for Europe and good for the Netherlands."

"I'll be out there and I'll be explaining to people why we signed this agreement We are a trading nation. We live by free trade agreements and Ukraine is another example of this," he said.

"People who are inclined to vote No think it's a first step to EU membership. It has nothing to do with accession," he added.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said it serves Dutch security interests, by helping to stabilize the EU's eastern neighborhood, and that it's "important for both our [Dutch and Ukrainian] economies."

"We will actively put forward what we think the answer should be, which is Yes," Koenders said.

The referendum is take place on April 6 following a petition organized by civil society, is non-binding.
South Korea Reiterates Call On Japan Not To Tarnish Agreement On Comfort Women Amid Domestic Opposition

South Korea once again called on Japan not to tarnish their Dec. 28 agreement on the issue of comfort women in the midst of opposition from locals who said the deal between the two countries was "humiliating."

Yonhap News Agency reported Monday that South Korea asked Japan to avoid in making remarks or taking measures that could break the position of their pact over the long-standing issue of comfort women, a term coined to identify South Korean women who were forced into sex enslavement by the Japanese military during World War II.

The rejoinder came after Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida reportedly said that Japan has not changed its view that the comfort women statue in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul should be relocated first before the country shells out $8.3 million (1 billion yen) in compensation to those who suffered sex slavery during the war.

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"Japan should show a sincere attitude in carrying out the deal in a way to restore the victims' dignity and heal their pain," said a ministry official who refused to be named.

He added, "The statue was set up by civic groups, so the government does not have any authority to order the relocation of the statue."

In connection to this, the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery in Japan said Japan's condition to move the statue is "shameful and disappointing."

"The Peace Monument cannot be a condition or means for any agreement," the group said in a dispatch. "It is a public property and a historic symbol representing the peaceful spirit of the Wednesday Demonstrations, which has been continued by the survivors and the citizens for over a thousand Wednesdays."

The group continued, "The Korean government cannot mention anything about the removal or moving of the monument. While the survivors and the civil society cannot accept the agreement, the governments cannot push their own agenda. Such an act of arrogation only adds to the pain of the victims even more."

The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 28 that South Korean President Park Geun Hye spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the phone after the deal was reached. The former reportedly told the Japanese leader that she hopes the recent agreement would turn into "a precious opportunity to restore the honor and dignity of the victims" and "build trust to bring in a new relationship" between South Korean and Japan.

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Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying briefs media on the DPRK nuclear test issue during a daily press briefing in Beijing, Jan 6, 2016. [WANG ZHUANGFEI/CHINA DAILY]

Beijing said on Thursday that it had "maximized its efforts" in addressing the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, dismissing accusations that it had not done enough.

After Pyongyang conducted what it called its first hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday, a senior official with the Foreign Ministry "elaborated China's stance (on the test) to the leading official of the DPRK embassy in Beijing", Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday.

Speculation of countermeasures was unfolding on the Korean Peninsula, including a report that Washington and Seoul were considering steps amid rising international criticism of the DPRK's fourth test since 2006.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that military leaders from the Republic of Korea and the United States discussed the deployment of US "strategic assets" in the wake of the test, The Associated Press reported.

Hua said China "expresses concerns over the development of the situation" and the country is calling on all parties to "get back on the track of resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue through the Six-Party Talks".

The talks, which grouped the DPRK, the ROK, the US, China, Japan and Russia, stalled in December 2008. The first three nuclear tests were carried out in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

Yang Xiyu, a senior researcher on Korean Peninsula studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said it is a "lose-lose" situation and no single party is winning after the test.

The peninsula is drifting away from the goal of denuclearization, and any countermeasures taken by Seoul and Washington might only worsen the security situation on the peninsula, Yang said.

Meanwhile, China "participated in a constructive manner" in an emergency closed-door meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York on Wednesday, according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua.

While doubts remained about the DPRK's claim of testing a hydrogen bomb, the UN meeting "strongly" condemned the nuclear test.

A media statement said the Security Council members will "begin to work immediately on ... measures in a new Security Council resolution".

In Seoul, Cho Tae-Yong, the first deputy chief of the Republic of Korea's presidential security office, said on Thursday that the country will resume propaganda broadcasts beginning at noon on Friday with loudspeakers in border areas with the DPRK.

Earlier broadcasts were stopped after an agreement was reached on Aug 25 to end a standoff with the DPRK.

Related:

Chinese FM Holds Phone Talks with U.S. Secretary of State Over North Korea Nuclear Problem

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held telephone talks at request with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, exchanging opinions on Korean Peninsula nuclear problem on January 7, 2016.
Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a symposium on improving the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, Jan 5, 2016. Xi made an inspection tour in Chongqing from Jan 4 to 6. [Photo/Xinhua]

CHONGQING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed ecology and "green development" in boosting the growth of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

He made the remarks in Chongqing at a meeting with officials from Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and some departments under the State Council on Tuesday.

It is a key strategy for the country to boost growth in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, while much has been done in river course renovation, use of water resources, and control and treatment of water pollution, he said.

For thousands of years, the Yangtze River has been important for the Chinese society and the economy.

Today, it is still crucial, linking the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Xi said.

The status and role of the river and the economic belt mean the development along the river must prioritize ecology and "green development" to respect natural, economic and social rules, Xi said.

The Yangtze River boasts a unique ecological system. To restore its ecological environment will be an overwhelming task and no large-scale development will be allowed along the river at present and for a rather long period to come, he said.

Coordinated development must be achieved in various sectors like water, road, port, wetland and environment, as well as in various regions along the river, he noted.

Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli attended the meeting.
(Global Times) 09:09, January 08, 2016

China on Thursday expressed concern over the current developments on the Korean Peninsula, urging all members of the Six-Party Talks to return to the negotiation table after South Korea and the US discussed deploying strategic weapons in response to North Korea's nuclear test.

Analysts believe the deployment on the Korean Peninsula will further aggravate tensions in Northeast Asia and risk upsetting China and Russia.

Peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia meet the common interests of all concerned, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Thursday at a regular press briefing.

China is determined to advance denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and settle the nuclear issue through the Six-Party Talks, she said.

The talks stalled in 2008, with the North quitting the process in 2009.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Lee Sun-jin and US Forces Korea commander Curtis Scaparrotti on Wednesday discussed the deployment of US strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula, including a nuclear-powered submarine, the F-22 stealth combat fighter and the B-52 bomber, a South Korean military official said Thursday.

South Korea also said it would resume propaganda broadcasts by loudspeaker into North Korea from Friday, which is likely to infuriate Pyongyang, Reuters reported.

"The military deployment is possible as the US will not dismiss the chance to expand its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, neither will its ally Japan," Lu Chao, a researcher at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Moreover, the US is overreacting as military deployment would only aggravate tensions in the region and the situation may spiral out of control, especially if there are any incidents, he said.

US President Barack Obama spoke to his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye Thursday. The two agreed to forge a united and strong international response and that North Korea should pay the corresponding price, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

Obama also said the US would take measures to ensure the security of its allies, including Japan, during a phone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Thursday morning, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

After North Korea last tested a nuclear device in 2013, Washington sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers on a sortie over South Korea in a show of force. At the time, North Korea responded by threatening a nuclear strike on the US.

North Korea's official media announced it had successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test at 10 am on Wednesday, its fourth nuclear test.

No pollution

Separately, US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Wednesday that China should take the lead in tackling North Korea, Reuters reported Thursday.

"China has total control," Trump said on Fox News. "They have total control over North Korea, and China should solve that problem. And if they don't solve the problem, we should make trade very difficult for China."

"Trump is being ignorant and ridiculous. China was not informed in advance and has also been a victim of the test as a neighbor of North Korea," said Lu.

The test site, in the northeast of the country at the Punggye-ri nuclear site, is only 100 kilometers from the Chinese border.

According to sample tests on water, air and soil in Northeast China's border cities, together with weather forecasts for the coming week, North Korea's nuclear test will not cause any pollution in China, the Ministry of Environmental Protectionannounced on its website Thursday.

The US should take the major responsibility, said Lu, as according to the North Korean statement, the test was mainly targeting the US. It was also a result of the failed US policy to hold a contradictory approach to address the nuclear issue of North Korea.

The US, European Council members and Japan would seek to expand existing UN sanctions against Pyongyang if the latest North Korean nuclear test was confirmed, several Western diplomats said, Reuters reported.

Related:

Chinese FM Holds Phone Talks with U.S. Secretary of State Over North Korea Nuclear Problem

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held telephone talks at request with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, exchanging opinions on Korean Peninsula nuclear problem on January 7, 2016.
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Sinaloa drug cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been recaptured by Mexican authorities, President Enrique Pena Nieto announced Friday.

"Mission accomplished," Pena Nieto said.

RELATED: Gruesome photos show aftermath of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman raid

Guzman was apprehended during a clash at a house in Los Mochis, a city of about 250,000 in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa, The Associated Press confirmed.

The Mexican Navy announced Friday that five people and one Mexican Marine were killed during a raid there.

Guzman escaped from the maximum-security Antiplano prison near Mexico City on July 11, 2015. He used an almost mile-long tunnel that led from the shower in his cell to a home construction site near the prison to escape.

RELATED: Cartel kids Ivan and Alfredo Guzman share photos on Twitter

Since, authorities have scoured the country for the drug lord, particularly in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

Guzman narrowly escaped capture by Mexican marines in October during a raid on a ranch near Cosala in the Sierra Madre mountain range.

The cartel leader was believed to have escaped on an ATV, but not before sustaining injuries to his leg and face.

RELATED: Instagram photos claim ties to 'El Chapo,' show off Mexican drug cartel exploits

The hunt was not without its human costs: Spanish news outlet EFE reported in October that about 260 people in the area had been displaced by the operations.

Meanwhile, Guzman's wife Emma Coronel Aispuro Guzman  a California-born pageant queen who married the drug lord on her 18th birthday  filed two lawsuits in Mexican federal court in November to block authorities from executing search and arrest warrants against her.

The drug lord previously escaped from a maximum-secuirty prison in January 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart.

RELATED: Photos show death and destruction from 10 years of Mexican Drug War

Authorities re-arrested Guzman in February 2014 at his apartment in Mazatlan, Sinaloa.

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jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson is calling for building next-generation ballistic missile submarines and to adopt emerging technologies faster in his new strategic vision. Richardson, a former submarine fleet boss, took over as CNO in September 2015. (Photo: MC1 Nathan Laird/Navy)

The U.S. is to strengthen its naval power in order to compete with rising Russian and Chinese military capabilities, the Chief of U.S. Naval Operations wrote in a recent strategy report.

John Richardson, Chief of U.S. Naval Operations, explained that the U.S. navy has to deepen operational relationships with other services, agencies, and industry partners who operate with the Navy to support their shared interests. Richardsons latest strategy, called "A Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority," was unveiled on Jan. 5, 2016.

According to the new strategy, the U.S. is currently confronted with emerging rivals such as Russia and China, the nuclear ambition of North Korea and Iran, and the expansion of global terrorism.

In the report, Richardson identifies three forces that have profound implications for the United States Navy: the forces at play in the maritime system, the force of the information system, and the force of technology entering the environment as well as the interplay between them.

As for their emerging rivals, the report indicates that the Russian Navy is operating with a frequency and in areas not seen for almost two decades, and the Navy of Chinese People's Liberation Army is extending its reach around the world.

"Their goals are backed by a growing arsenal of high-end warfighting capabilities, many of which are focused specifically on our vulnerabilities and are increasingly designed from the ground up to leverage the maritime, technological and information systems," said Richardson.

(File photo)

As the scope and complexity of the challenges they face change, there is a demand for a different approach. Of course, the competitors themselves have changed, too. The U.S. strategy must reckon with the pace of global technology, increased globalization, more heavily trafficked oceans and potential adversaries fast-emerging new weaponry, said Richardson in the document.

Richardson also mentioned that the report will guide behavior and investment, both in 2016 and in the years to come. More specific details about programs and funding adjustments will be reflected in our annual budget documents, said Richardson.

In response to the latest report released by the U.S., Yin Zhuo a military expert told CCTV that PLA Navy is speeding up its development in recent years. However the U.S. claims that PLA Navy impose threat to its navy. "This is another kind of China Threat theory," said Yin, "The U.S. aims to strive for its naval status and funds shares among U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force."
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It was supposed to be a celebration, the inauguration of Mayor Ed Lee for his second full term of office. But protesters turned the hour-long ceremony on Friday into a cacophony of boos and shouted demands that Police Chief Greg Suhr be fired.

The protesters, most of them angry about last months fatal police shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview, were so loud that when it came time for Lee to be sworn in by Gov. Jerry Brown, both men had to raise their own voices  nearly yelling  to be heard over the chants and boos in the City Hall rotunda.

This has been my seventh mayoral inaugural, and Ive never seen anything like it, said Ahsha Safai. It was a spectacle. Safai, who has held positions in city government and is a candidate for the District 11 supervisors seat, lost the 2008 race to John Avalos, who is in his second and final term on the board.

The protests offered a vivid contrast to Lees message of consensus-building and cooperation as the city struggles to address the housing crisis that contributed to the widespread displacement of low- and middle-income residents.

More for you S.F. Mayor Ed Lee takes protesters at inaugural in stride

We need to move past pitting one camp against each other because it doesnt advance our common good, the mayor said during his speech, only to be answered by still more shouting.

Sticks to script

Before the inauguration, the mayor was in high spirits as he took a series of family pictures and selfies with his two daughters, his wife, mother and other relatives. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Willie Brown  all former San Francisco mayors  and the governor also joined Lee in his office.

The ceremony kicked off around noon, with about 700 people in the audience. It was a Rolodex of politicians, former politicians, political consultants and influential people, from former Supervisors Angela Alioto to the Rev. Amos Brown.

Board of Supervisors President London Breed presided over the ceremony. She is known for speaking her mind, but was mild-mannered Friday.

Lee also kept to his script, even as he was booed.

He said his priorities are to address the citys homeless problem and the housing crisis. He reiterated plans to build or rehabilitate 30,000 homes by 2020 and called for a second BART tube and converting Caltrain from diesel to electricity.

Embrace values, progress

His theme throughout his speech was that the city can embrace progressive values, such as preserving affordable housing, and change at the same time.

In San Francisco, we have a tremendous opportunity, even responsibility, to demonstrate how a successful city can also be a progressive city. A city that doesnt fear its future, but invents it. A city that doesnt resist change, but creates it.

The mayor said he will apply one standard to every proposal over the next four years: Whether or not it protects or adds housing for low- and middle-income working families.

If the answer is no, then Ill oppose it. If the answer is yes, Ill fight for it, he said. Critics of Lee have accused him of not being energetic enough in preserving and creating affordable housing.

While Fridays protest was not unexpected  the Woods demonstrators had promoted their plans  it still brought an element of surprise to the formal affair. Sheriffs deputies dressed in riot gear detained and later released about 10 protesters.

We need to revamp the whole system, because they are not doing anything about these cops, said protester Geoff Smith. There obviously is some racism going on in the (police) force and it wasnt addressed by the mayor.

Protest over shooting

Woods, 26, was African American. He died shortly after being shot by at least five officers in the Bayview on Dec. 2. He was the suspect in a stabbing, and police say he was still armed with the kitchen knife used in the crime. Suhr infuriated many African Americans when he said, before an independent investigation had been conducted, that the officers actions were justified.

Another protester at the inauguration, Karlee Johnson, said: Mayor Lee is complicit in letting killer cops walk. We want Police Chief Suhr fired and indicted.

Suhr was at the inauguration and left immediately after the ceremony. He didnt respond to a request for comment.

Linda Ueda, a longtime acquaintance of the mayors, called the chants and boos disturbing.

I thought it was very unfortunate, she said. Obviously (the protesters) want some public officer fired, but Im not sure thats the way to get their point across.

Lee has supported the police chief, while also calling for several reforms within the department, including implicit racial bias and cultural sensitivity training for all police officers. On Tuesday, he met with community and faith-based leaders from the Bayview to discuss police reforms.

Lee only made glancing remarks about the simmering tensions between the Police Department and the African American community.

I wont stop until we build better trust between law enforcement and the communities theyre sworn to protect, especially young men of color, the mayor said.
North Korea's claims of a successful hydrogen bomb test have frustrated international society. The UN Security Council issued a prompt statement denouncing North Korea's act. It is expected new measures against the North will be announced soon.

At this juncture, the US and a few Western countries are pointing the finger at China, accusing China of being responsible for the North Korean nuclear problem.

Donald Trump, US presidential candidate and always an indiscreet speaker, claimed that "China should solve that problem and we should put pressure on China to solve the problem." He even flippantly advocated that the US should act very tough on China on trade and "have China collapse in two minutes."

The US and European mainstream media blamed China for not doing enough in sanctioning North Korea. In their eyes, Beijing should care little about the impacts that full-scale turbulence in North Korea may have on China and take all the risks.

The root causes of the North Korean nuclear issue are very complicated. For one thing, the North Korean regime has chosen the wrong path for security, and for another, the US has persistently stuck to a hostile policy toward North Korea.

There is no peace accord on the Peninsula yet, which makes North Korea feel full of security anxieties. The Korean Peninsula is the only place in the world where the Cold War lingers. The US should bear more responsibility to alleviate tensions in the Peninsula.

Now the North Korean nuclear problem has entangled all parties, including Pyongyang itself.

If North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons gives rise to nuclear proliferation, there will be no winners. All parties concerned should make concerted efforts, reaching a joint compromise.

There is no hope to put an end to the North Korean nuclear conundrum if the US, South Korea and Japan do not change their policies toward Pyongyang. Solely depending on Beijing's pressure to force the North to give up its nuclear plan is an illusion.

In no way will China bear the responsibilities that the US, South Korea and Japan should take. The hostilities between them and Pyongyang are actually the source of the nuclear problems. The China-North Korea relationship should not be dragged into antagonism. Beijing has participated in previous sanctions on the North. Whether China will take tougher measures hinges on the decision of the UN Security Council.

Denuclearizing the Peninsula is one of China's strategic goals and is in the common interests of all parties. All parties concerned should share the responsibilities and enhance cooperation to promote the resumption of the Six-Party Talks, solving the cross-century conundrum.
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A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against a high-profile Yountville restaurant, claiming deadly food poisoning caused by shellfish.

As first reported in the the Napa Valley Register, the family of Larry Sacknoff is suing Redd Restaurant because they believe that Sacknoffs death resulted from eating contaminated and undercooked scallops at Redd in July 2013. The case is scheduled to go to jury trial this summer.

Run by celebrated chef Richard Reddington, Redd has long been considered one of Napa Valleys best restaurants. Reddington also owns nearby pizzeria Redd Wood.

According to court documents, Sacknoff and his friends, Mary and Scott Papas, dined at Redd and soon thereafter experienced diarrhea, a common symptom of vibrio parahaemolyticus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes vibrio parahaemolyticus as a naturally occurring bacterium in the same family as those that cause cholera; it is most often caused by consuming raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters.

While the Papas eventually recovered, Sacknoff  a former San Diego television sportscaster who had a history of heart problems and had recently undergone a heart transplant  did not. He spent the next year in and out of San Diego hospitals due to complications from the alleged food poisoning. Sacknoff, who tested positive for vibrio in August 2013, died a year later in August 2014.

Traced to scallops

After Sacknoff tested positive for vibrio, the Napa County Public Health Department was notified and launched an investigation to into the suspected source, eventually tracing it to scallops served at Redd.

Redd received a B grade on its subsequent health inspection, which found the restaurant out of compliance in several areas, such as proper hot and cold holding temperatures, food contact surfaces, and undercooked caramelized scallops. Three inspections since have produced A grades, including the most recent one in August 2015.

Brooklyn-based Pierless Fish Corp., the restaurants seafood supplier, was also named as a defendant in the same case, but an undisclosed settlement was reached in September 2015; on Nov. 11, the case against Pierless was dismissed.

Higher-end restaurants often intentionally serve undercooked or raw seafood, meat and egg dishes; but if doing so, FDA regulations state that they must provide a consumer advisory, which often finds a place at the bottom of menus.

Ron Simon, managing partner of Houston-based Ron Simon & Associates and attorney for the plaintiff, claims that Redd  which in addition to caramelized scallops seared medium rare, offers such dishes as raw yellowfin tuna tartare with Asian pear, avocado, chili oil and fried rice  did not have such an advisory at the time of the food poisoning.

Basically, the health department laid the case out for us, said Simon, who noted that its quite rare for food poisoning cases to go to trial. The reason this case is going to trial, said Simon, is because the restaurant is contesting the claims.

Risk of undercooked food

That is ultimately the crux of this case for Simon: Not only were Sacknoff and the Papas served undercooked and potentially unsafe scallops, but also that the restaurant failed to provide a consumer advisory.

Simon said that a restaurant either has to cook to temperature or put the warning; then the buyer can make the decision to take the risk, or not take the risk. You cant have it both ways, Simon said.

In response to a request for comment from the restaurant, Tami von Isakovics of Moana Restaurant Group issued a statement, noting: As this is an open investigation we are not able to make a comment about the case. The Chronicle also reached out to the attorneys representing Redd, but they were unavailable for comment.

The full lawsuit can be read at http://sfchron.cl/lawsuit.

Sarah Fritsche is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: sfritsche@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @foodcentric
Facebook is giving San Mateo County transit planners $1 million to look for ways to reduce traffic congestion between the East Bay and Silicon Valley.

Under an agreement approved Wednesday, SamTrans will use the grant from the Menlo Park-based social networking giant to brainstorm transit improvements in the corridor used by Dumbarton Bridge commuters.

One part of the study will focus on a Dumbarton predecessor  the dilapidated remnant of the old rail span just south of the current bridge.

The San Mateo County Transportation Authority bought the old bridge, part of what's now called the Dumbarton Rail Corridor, in 1994, about a decade after it went out of service. That agency and several others have studied transbay rail service across the old structure.

Advocates for using the old bridge for a commuter train line have envisioned a service linking to Caltrain on the Peninsula side of the bay and BART on the east side. But that idea was put on hold in 2014 because it's so expensive, said Tasha Bartholomew, a SamTrans spokeswoman.

While the Facebook funding will be used to study ways to improve the commute over the current Dumbarton Bridge, planners will also look at creating a bicycle/pedestrian trail or express bus service on the old span, Bartholomew said in an interview.

"Maybe we're not necessarily providing passenger rail service, but maybe we can use that path to provide some sort of bike-pedestrian trail or we look at bus rapid transit along that area."

SamTrans wants to explore ways to improve bus service over the existing Dumbarton and make it easier for drivers to get to the bridge from nearby roads.

Weekday morning traffic on the bridge has grown 27 percent since 2010. SamTrans' Bartholomew lives on the Alameda County side of the bridge and is one of the thousands who suffers through that commute.

"When I do have to drive over, you can definitely see the shift that's happened getting across the bridge, whether it's the Dumbarton or the San Mateo Bridge," said Bartholomew. "They're much more crowded than they used to be."

One critic of Bay Area transit planning says Facebook's funding of the study raises serious concerns about who is setting the agenda for a crucial public service.

"Kudos to Facebook for stepping up, but this is an awfully bad precedent," Jason Henderson, a San Francisco State professor specializing in transportation, said in an email.

Henderson said local transit leaders have neglected future planning for the Dumbarton corridor.

"The end result: a large corporation donating money to study a much needed regional rail and bus connection," Henderson said. "That is a sad commentary on the sorry state of regional planning in the Bay Area. It raises long-term questions of accountability  who does the study? Is it just to benefit Facebook or the region?"

Facebook, whose employees are bound to benefit from transit improvements, says the money could help solve a shared local problem.

"Facebook is committed to supporting initiatives that help reduce regional roadway congestion and is pleased to partner with SamTrans to explore ways of improving traffic and transit options on the Dumbarton corridor," said the company's campus facilities director, Fergus O'Shea, in a joint statement with the transit district.

The Dumbarton funding deal comes a month after reports surfaced that Facebook has begun offering its employees bonuses of $10,000 or more to move closer to its Menlo Park campus.

This story originally appeared on KQED.org
PASADENA  The new Viceland cable channel that launches next month will have series with actress Ellen Page exploring gay and lesbian life around the world, actor Michael K. Williams telling about black market economies, and celebrity chef Eddie Huang illustrating stories about politics, culture and food.

Filmmaker Spike Jonze, the creative director of Viceland, offered a first peek Wednesday into the results of last years deal between Vice Media and the A&E Networks. Viceland is taking over the H2 network on Feb. 29.

Founded as a punk magazine in Canada in 1994, Vice Media has exploded in influence with a young audience. Vice airs a documentary series on HBO and will be starting a news series on the network later this year, Disney reportedly invested in the company and A&E has given them a channel thats a mix of hard-edged culture and lifestyle series.

Were trying to make a channel thats personal, that feels like a group of people trying to understand the world we live in, Jonze said.

Although Viceland will acquire some documentaries and movies, the heart of the channel will be unscripted series that are passion projects for individual filmmakers. They have the irreverent, action-packed style familiar to Vices fans, and tell stories from parts of the world not covered heavily by traditional news organizations.

Pages Gaycation, co-produced and co-hosted by Ian Daniel, will likely have the highest profile. Page attracted attention a few months ago for bringing a film crew and questioning Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz about gay rights while he campaigned at the Iowa state fair. Page and Daniel, who are both gay, meet a masked man in Brazil who proudly talks about killing homosexuals.

Im hoping to explore what it means to be LGBT all over the world, Page said.

Williams first episode of Black Market explores auto theft in Newark, N.J., the city where he grew up  and where he was once arrested for stealing a car.

Based on clips screened on Wednesday, Jan. 6, Huangs World, from the author of Fresh Off the Boat, looks like an edgier version of Anthony Bourdains Parts Unknown on CNN.

Actress and model Hailey Gates is also making a travelogue show, using the fashion world as a window into issues like womens rights. Rapper Action Bronson hosts a show, with an unpublishable title, focused on food and music. Weediquette looks at the marijuana industry as it becomes legalized in more jurisdictions, Flophouse is about communities of young comics across the country and Noisey looks at cities through the eyes of musicians like Kendrick Lamar.

While most of Vicelands shows are produced internally, Jonze said outside companies are also being used. A sketch comedy show from actor Ben Stillers production company is in the works, for instance.

Being considered a cultural network  and not news like the programs Vice makes for HBO  takes some of the pressure off Vicelands leaders, Jonze said.

We can be completely subjective, he said. We dont have to be objective journalists.
File photo of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. [Photo: cnr.cn]

Diplomatic efforts are stepping up in the aftermath of a nuclear bomb test conducted by North Korea this week.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has spoken with his US and French counterparts over the issue, and is calling for the restart of the six-party nuclear talks.

During his telephone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Wang Yi underscored China's firm stand on promoting the elimination of nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula, and the safeguarding of regional peace and stability.

Both sides agreed to maintain communication over the issue.

Wang Yi also exchanged views with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius on Thursday.

The Foreign Ministry of China has also issued a statement calling for an early resumption of the Six-Party Talks, to solve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying stresses that it is the only effective and practical approach to solve the issue.

"The Peninsula nuclear issue has existed for a quite long time and is very complicated. China insists on finding a solution to the issue and each side's concerns within the Six-Party Talks framework. Realizing denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and maintaining the peace and stability of the Peninsula conform to the common interests of all parties concerned, and are of each party's responsibility. This calls for concerted efforts of all parties."

The spokeswoman confirms that China contacted the North Korean embassy in China right after Wednesday's nuclear test, adding that the test "hampers normal development of relations between China and North Korea."

On Thursday, leaders from Japan, South Korea, and the United States held separate talks on the issue by phone.

The three countries are seeking closer cooperation and to push for a firm response from the international community.

The UN Security Council has already held an emergency meeting, and has started work on a new UN resolution against North Korea's nuclear bomb test.

China says it will take part in those discussions.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

"China took a constructive role in the consultations. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China will participate in follow-up discussions organized by the Security Council and work to promote denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, prevent nuclear proliferation and safeguard peace and stability of Northeast Asia."

South Korea's military has issued its highest alert in frontline areas and has announced plans to restart broadcasting across the border today.

More surveillance assets, including unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft defense systems, and radar have also been deployed at 10 locations.

The broadcasting, which was halted in August, is expected to escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula as Pyongyang denounces the practice as a "direct act of war."

Seoul is also planning to restrict the entry of workers into the Kaesong industrial complex, an inter-Korean factory park.
JERUSALEM  An Arab gunman who killed three Israelis in Tel Aviv last week was slain Friday in a shootout with police special forces, authorities said, after a massive manhunt that put Israelis on edge amid months of near-daily Palestinian attacks on civilians and soldiers.

The gunman was hiding in a building in his hometown of Arara in northern Israel, said police spokeswoman Luba Samri. As the special forces closed in on him in the residential area, he came out shooting, she said.

Authorities had identified the gunman as Nashat Milhem who opened fire at a bar on a busy Tel Aviv street on Jan. 1, killing two people and wounding six others in chilling video that was caught on security cameras at a health food store next door. He later also shot and killed an Arab taxi driver.

Milhem fired at police Friday with the same gun he used in the Tel Aviv shooting, Samri said.

Witness Hakim Younis told Channel 10 TV that he saw some of the shootout from his home.

I was sitting on my balcony with my cousin ... when suddenly shooting began  hundreds of bullets, like in a war, Younis said, adding that he then went inside. Large numbers of security forces had entered the town earlier and had told residents to stay in their homes, he added.

Alon Ben-David, the TV stations defense analyst, said Milhem shot a police dog that had entered a building as part of the search, and that exposed his location, prompting troops to close in.

It appears that several people had helped Milhem hide, assisting him with food and other essentials, after last weeks attack. He said the gunman had been hiding there all week.

Israeli Arabs, who make up a fifth of the countrys 8.4 million people, enjoy full rights but often face unfair treatment in areas such as housing and employment opportunities. Many identify more with their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and Gaza and with Palestinian nationalism than with Israel.

The Palestinian attacks on civilians and soldiers have killed 21 Israelis, mostly in stabbings, shootings and car-ramming assaults. At least 134 Palestinians have died by Israeli fire, including 93 said by Israel to be attackers. The rest were killed in clashes with troops.

Israel says the bloodshed is fueled by a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement. Palestinians say the attacks stem from despair at not achieving statehood.
1 Peace deal: South Sudans government and rebels have agreed on how to share the countrys ministries for a proposed transitional government of national unity, a group overseeing the implementation of a peace deal to end the two-year civil war said Thursday. The ministries of finance, defense, justice, and information will go to loyalists of President Salva Kiir, while the rebels under former Vice President Riek Machar, who is slated to retake his post in the transitional government, picked the petroleum and interior ministries in the oil-rich country, the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission said. South Sudans civil war started on Dec. 15, 2013, after a skirmish in a barracks in Juba between soldiers loyal to Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and troops who support Machar, who is of the Nuer tribal group. The United Nations says tens of thousands have been killed. More than 2 million people have fled their homes, including hundreds of thousands seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

2 Guatemala arrests: Guatemalan authorities on Wednesday arrested 18 former military officers on charges related to massacres and disappearances during the 1980s, the bloodiest period of the countrys 1960-96 war, when security forces razed whole villages as they pursued leftist guerrillas. Over the years, prosecutors have struggled to put officers on trial for human rights atrocities committed during the war. In 2013, a former military dictator, Gen. Efrain Rios Montt, was convicted of genocide, but the verdict was overturned. A retrial is scheduled to begin next week.
BRUSSELS  Belgian prosecutors on Friday revealed new details about the biggest mystery in the Paris attacks: What happened to fugitive Salah Abdeslam after he ditched his car and explosives vest?

After slipping through a police dragnet, they said, he apparently hid out in the same Brussels apartment that served as the killers bomb factory.

We found material to make explosives, we found traces of explosives and we found three belts. So you dont have to be Sherlock Holmes to make the right deduction, said Belgian Federal Prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt.

Also discovered during a Dec. 10 police search of the third-floor residence on the Rue Henri Berge: one of 26-year-old Abdeslams fingerprints, the Federal Prosecutors Office said.

A Brussels native whose older brother, Brahim, was one of the Paris suicide bombers, Abdeslam is believed to have played a key logistical role in the Nov. 13 carnage in which 130 people lost their lives. Islamic State extremists have claimed responsibility for the mass killings.

Early on the morning of Nov. 14, Abdeslam called two friends in Brussels to come fetch him from the French capital.

A French gendarme stopped the three men in their car near the border, but released them. Authorities now believe Abdeslam arrived later that same day at the apartment in the Schaerbeek district of the Belgian capital, eventually was picked up by someone else, and we lost him, Van der Sypt said.

Its not yet clear when Abdeslam was most recently in the apartment, he said.

Now the target of an international manhunt, Abdeslams whereabouts remain unknown. If we knew where he was, wed catch him, said Van der Sypt. Earlier unconfirmed reports said he was spotted two days after the Paris attacks in Liege in eastern Belgium, heading toward Germany.

Last month, some Belgian tabloids reported hed been smuggled Nov. 16 out of a hideout in Molenbeek, another Brussels neighborhood where he and other Paris attackers lived, by an accomplice who feigned a household move and hid him inside a piece of furniture.
WARSAW  A new wave of concern for media freedom in Poland rose among European Union leaders and independent journalists after Polands president signed a temporary new law Thursday thats a step toward giving the government full control of state radio and television.

The legislation will take effect one day after it is published, which should be within days, and will expire June 30. By then, a sweeping new law intended to overhaul the state-run broadcasters and the PAP news agency is expected to be in place.

President Andrzej Duda signed the new legislation because he wants state media to be impartial, objective and reliable, his aide Malgorzata Sadurska said. She added that the president believes that the private views of journalists currently interfere with the objectivity of information in state media.

The new law allows for the immediate ending of the terms of the heads of state radio and television, and transfers the authority to appoint successors to the treasury minister, from a separate radio and TV committee that oversees the media. It also limits the number of members sitting on the state broadcasters supervisory and management boards.

The legislation was proposed and put on a fast track for approval by the new conservative ruling party, which has embarked on sweeping state and social reforms, including the new media law, that have raised eyebrows in Brussels.

The European Commission will debate Polands rule of law on Jan. 13, a step that could eventually result in the country losing its EU voting rights on matters that concern the entire 28-nation bloc. Poland joined the EU in 2004.

The new law has also provoked concern among independent media organizations, which say that it threatens media freedom in Poland.

The measures taken by the Polish government are contradictory to media pluralism and independence of public service broadcasting, and to democracy in Poland, the European Federation of Journalists said Thursday in a letter to Gunther Oettinger, the European commissioner responsible for media issues.

They would be in clear contradiction to EU fundamental values, the letter added.

Sadurska said the president is fully aware of the EU concerns, and believes the new law wont be detrimental.
SEOUL  In response to North Koreas latest nuclear test, South Korea on Thursday announced it would resume cross-border propaganda broadcasts that Pyongyang considers an act of war. Seoul also began talks with Washington that could see the arrival of nuclear-powered U.S. submarines and warplanes to the Korean Peninsula.

From Seoul to Washington, Beijing to the United Nations, world powers are looking at ways to punish Pyongyang for the test of what it called a new and powerful hydrogen bomb.

The loudspeaker broadcasts, which will start Friday, believed to be the birthday of young North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, are certain to infuriate authoritarian Pyongyang because they are meant to raise questions in North Korean minds about the infallibility of the ruling Kim family. South Korea stopped earlier broadcasts after it agreed with Pyongyang in late August on a package of measures aimed at easing animosities that had the rivals threatening war.

Experts, meanwhile, are trying to uncover more details about the detonation that drew worldwide skepticism and condemnation.

It may take weeks or longer to confirm or refute the Norths claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major and unanticipated advance for its still-limited nuclear arsenal. Even a test of an atomic bomb, a less sophisticated and less powerful weapon, would push its scientists and engineers closer to their goal of building a nuclear warhead small enough to place on a missile that can reach the U.S. mainland.

Statements from the White House said President Obama had spoken to South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan. The statements said the countries agreed to work together to forge a united and strong international response to North Koreas latest reckless behavior.

Obama reaffirmed the unshakeable U.S. commitment to the security of South Korea and Japan, according to the statements.

Secretary of State John Kerry said he spoke with Wang Yi, foreign minister of China, North Koreas main ally, about ways of working together on the issue.

We agree that there cannot be business as usual, and we agreed that we will work very closely together to determine the steps that we can take in order to address our increasing concerns about that nuclear test, Kerry said in Washington.

Parks office said she also spoke with Abe over the phone and that they vowed cooperation to ensure that the U.N. Security Council imposes strong and effective measures against the North.

South Korean and U.S. military leaders also discussed the deployment of U.S. strategic assets in the wake of the Norths test, Seouls Defense Ministry said Thursday.

Ministry officials refused to elaborate about what U.S. military assets were under consideration, but they likely refer to B-52 bombers, F-22 stealth fighters and nuclear-powered submarines.
Right to Work

Republican Gov. Susana Martinez is

in New Mexico, saying shell include the issue on the agenda for the upcoming legislative session. She says companies considering relocating to New Mexico always ask if the state is right-to-work. A similar measure failed last year, after labor unions said it would lower wages in the state. Expect another partisan fight this year.

Deliberating Real ID

Heath Haussamen wants the US Homeland Security Department to

to develop a two-tier drivers license program during the upcoming Legislature.

Richardson Acted Surprised

Former Gov. Bill Richardson has some explaining to do about leaving the scene of a fender bender earlier this week. His interview with a Santa Fe police officer shortly after the accident was recorded on lapel cameras and audio belt recorders.

Conspiracy to Destroy Public Records Alleged

Reynaldo Chavez, who was fired from his job as the Albuquerque Police Departments records custodian last year, is suing the city and high-ranking brass for retaliation. He claims his supervisors directed him to

When he objected to that approach, Chavez claims he was told, There are items we just will not release, and we will just pay the fines or lawsuits. The city and police department have not responded to the lawsuit yet.

Open Government Resource

The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government has a great new resource on its website. If you want access to public records from a county or state agency but dont know who to contact, check on NMFOGs

.

Extending Lottery Scholarship Eligibility

State Senator Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces, is introducing a bill that would allow New Mexico high school students to

for the lottery scholarship.

Some students arent ready academically right out of high school, they arent ready financially right out of high school or sometimes they just got an opportunity and we shouldnt be limiting their ability to use the lottery scholarship, said Soules.

The lottery pays for about 90 percent of a students tuition as long as he or she maintains a 2.5 GPA.

New PRC Chairwoman

Valerie Espinoza was elected chair of the

on Wednesday.

Last year during an argument at a public meeting, Espinoza compared the commission to The Three Stooges. Last month, she cast the sole vote against Public Service Company of New Mexicos controversial plans for the aging San Juan Generating Station near Farmington.

Espinoza replaces Karen Montoya, who served as the groups chair in 2015 and is running for re-election this year.

Campos Enters House Race

Former Santa Fe County Commissioner

is planning a campaign to replace longtime state Rep. Luciano Lucky Varela, who is retiring this year. Campos, who helped create the Buckman Rio Grande River Diversion Project, says if he wins the House seat, he wants the state to encourage solar and wind energy and require electric utilities to produce up to half of their energy using solar, wind and other renewable sources.

Toulouse Oliver Announces Campaign

Bernalillo County Clerk

made it official: Shes running for secretary of state this year. Maggie Shepard reports:

The longtime progressive Democrat sought the post in the 2014 election but lost to incumbent Dianna Duran, a Republican, who just one year later was convicted of using campaign funds to gamble at casinos  the kind of unethical conduct the secretary of state position is intended to monitor.

Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican, appointed Brad Winter to fill in for Duran, but he says he doesnt plan to run for the position.



Republicans Challenge Lujan

Meanwhile,

, a former Taos police officer, says hes seeking the Republican Partys nomination to run against US Rep. Ben Ray Lujan this fall. Steve Terrell reports Romero is not the only Republican seeking to challenge Lujan in the 3rd Congressional District. Michael Lucero, a 39-year-old rancher who lives in Jemez Pueblo, announced his intention to run last month.

MetroGlyphys

The Santa Fe Reporter has

 and its drawn by a local artist.

Winter Weekend

Finally, as we head into the weekend,

.

Santa Fe Reporter
A pair of open seats in the New Mexico Legislature are shaping up to be hotly contested in the June primaries.

One is the District 48 House seat to replace the 30-year veteran Luciano "Lucky" Varela, who is retiring after this year. The other is District 39's Senate seat, now occupied by Republican Ted Barela, who was appointed to replace Phil Griego after he resigned last spring due to ethical violations.

Paul Campos, a former Santa Fe County Commissioner, announced his intentions on Thursday to run for Varela's seat, which takes in a good chunk of the city from the northeast to the southwest but was considerably larger until redistricting in 2010.

Campos, an attorney, grew up in the small town of Santa Rosa, and he now joins fellow candidates Jeff Varela (a native Santa Fean, former state employee and son of the outgoing Luciano), and Linda Trujillo, a Tacoma, Wash., native who serves as president of the Santa Fe Public Schools Board of Education.

Santa Fe County Commissioner Liz Stefanics hopes voters will return her to the Senate seat that she held for four years before narrowly losing in 1996 to Griego, who resigned last year after brokering the purchase of a state-owned building after he voted for its sale in the Roundhouse.

Stefanics, whose term on the county commission will end next year, announced her bid in September last year for the seat that takes in multiple counties, from Bernalillo, Valencia, Lincoln and Torrance to San Miguel and Santa Fe. She ultimately hopes to defeat Barela, an Estancia mayor and former state Department of Transportation worker who was appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez.

As for the House candidacy, Campos tells SFR he believes voters should look at his experience as a Santa Fe County Commissioner from 2001 to 2008. During that tenure, he says, he helped lead the effort in creating the Buckman Direct Diversion Project.

If elected, Campos says he will also do his best to crack down on fracking, a controversial drilling technology that he says can pollute the aquifers if not kept in checked.

"I led the fight against oil and gas companies wanting to 'frack' in Santa Fe County," he says in a press release sent to SFR.

But Campos could find competition in Varela, who plans to follow in his father's footsteps and who casts himself as a native Santa Fean who knows the homegrown issues, having graduated from Santa Fe High School in 1979.

An employee of state government for more than two decades, Varela says too often lost in the continual push for arts and tourism in the City Different are the real needs of his constituency  boosting the economy and creating more jobs.

Varela, 52, who announced his candidacy in September, says, "It's become too expensive to live in Santa Fe, and I think I can make a difference on a state level by interacting closely with city and county governments. The time has come to try to help those who are being priced out of the district.

"I'm very familiar with how the state works," he adds, "and am committed to serving public employees."

Trujillo moved to the state in 2003. She worked with ACCION New Mexico, a nonprofit dedicated to helping entrepreneurs realize their full potential, according to her biography on the school board's web site.

She is also currently a deputy at the state's Records Center and Archives, and before moving to the Land of Enchantment, she operated a home child care facility and taught Head Start while managing multiple AmeriCorps programs.

Mike Anaya, a former Santa Fe County Commissioner, is also running for District 39, and Griego himself has said he may be interested in regaining his seat. Interested people have until March 8 to file for candidacy.

Santa Fe Reporter
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 Index fell as the market caught up with global losses on a day of relatively subdued trading. Nuplex Industries, Xero, Chorus and 37 other stocks fell, while A2 Milk Co gained after a week of declines.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 55.29 points, or 0.9 percent, to 6158.1. Within the index, 40 stocks fell, six were unchanged and four rose. Turnover was $86.3 million

The decline came as shares across Asia were largely positive, with China's Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index rising 2.8 percent in afternoon trading, Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 1.2 percent, and Japan's Nikkei 225 Index up 0.1 percent. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5 percent on the afternoon's trading, seeing its fifth straight day of decline with concerns about slowing Chinese growth continuing to weigh on equity markets.

"It's a little bit of a correction," said Grant Davies, investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene. "While New Zealand may be one of the worst-performing markets in the area today, we've been the best performing market in the past year. We haven't come back as far as Australia over the last couple of days, so this is a bit of a catch-up.

"The lack of volume today also suggests it's a bit overblown, there's a lack of buyers and liquidity rather than people rushing for the exits," he said. "New Zealand is a reasonably small market, and some people are taking profit to move into other markets overseas."

Nuplex led the index lower, dropping 3.6 percent to $4.50. Xero fell 3.3 percent to $17.50, and Chorus declined 2.3 percent to $3.90.

There is "no reason to panic" about Xero, Davies said. T the stock is notoriously volatile, and a 3 percent move either way isn't unusual.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare fell 2.2 percent to $8.37. Freightways dropped 1.9 percent to $6.13, a five-week low, and Warehouse Group fell 1.9 percent to $2.60. New Zealand Refining fell 1.9 percent to $3.63.

NZX dropped 1.9 percent to $1.03. The listing of local government bonds and share sales by Australian banks to bolster their balance sheets eclipsed capital raised from initial public offerings in 2015, according to NZX's shareholder metrics released today. A total of $1.7 billion of new capital was raised from IPOs and compliance listings last year, down from $4.7 billion in 2014, while $8.1 billion of new debt was listed, up from $1.7 billion.

Metro Performance Glass fell 1.8 percent to $1.66 and Trustpower dropped 1.8 percent to $7.71.

The handful of stocks which rose today were led by A2 Milk Co, which had tumbled in the first week of trading fro 2016 as nervousness about China sapped the stock's pre-Christmas momentum. A2 rose 2.3 percent today to $1.78, having fallen nearly 22 percent from its Dec. 29 record high of $2.27.

Steel & Tube Holdings rose 2.2 percent to $2.30, and Meridian rose 0.2 percent to $2.30. Air New Zealand was the only other stock to rise today, up 0.2 percent to $2.95.

Outside the benchmark index, IkeGPS was unchanged at 70 cents, valuing the company at $35 million. The laser measurement tool developer had its stock halted pending a placement of shares to some institutional and wholesale investors. The stocks have declined 14 percent in the past 12 months.

Michael Hill International stock was unchanged at 98 cents. Much of the stock is held by members of the Hill family, giving it a free float of $160.7 million, according to Reuters data. The listed jewellery retailer increased first-half sales 8.7 percent and maintained its gross margin even as the US dollar strengthened.

VMob shares fell 1.9 percent to 51 cents today, valuing the company at $41.8 million, after it reached an eight-month high of 52 cents yesterday. The mobile advertising firm is migrating to the main board of the NZX after its stock gained enough to lift its market capitalisation over the required $40 million mark. VMob has surged 46 percent in the past two weeks and is now well above the 34 cents apiece investors paid in the most recent fund-raising round.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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Man obsessed with sound of breaking glass causes loss of over 1 million yuan by smashing glasses

According the Chongqing Morning Post, an Internet cafe owner and two of his employees were caught by the police in a residential community in southwest China's Chongqing city when the three men were using slingshot to break the windows of the buildings.

According to the investigation, the three men have broken the glasses for more than 80 times since last October, including the windows of a Mercedes-Benz AMG car in a 4S shop, which has caused loss of more than 1 million yuan.

When they were asked about the motivation of their behavior, the answer was that the boss is obsessed with the sound of breaking glass!
Gao Bingyan embraces her father amidst tears in the Caiyuanba Railway Station in Chongqing.

"My dear father, I want to share with you a lot of things. I can still recall my hatred towards you at the age of six. At that time, I cried a lot and wished you would turn around and look at me, but you just walked away, determined to earn money in the city. When I grew older, I realized you had gone through many difficulties to support our family," said Gao Bingyan to her father, Gao Yongke, in tears.

On Jan. 4, 2016, 18 migrant workers took train number K1248 from the Ningbo railway station to their hometowns in Chongqing. Gao Yongke is one of them.

In 2016, 500 migrant workers who were born in Chongqing were able to use train tickets bought by the Chongqing welfare lottery center to return to their hometowns.

Gao thought about nothing else besides his daughter on the train home, and counted down the minutes until he could see his daughter in person.

Gao knew the train was expected to arrive at Chongqing Caiyuanba Railway Station on Jan. 6. He got up quite early on that morning and talked with a neighboring passenger to pass the time.

The closer he got to his hometown, the more homesick Gao became.

After more than 40 hours of travel, Gao finally reunited with his children on the platform of the railway station.

Gao Yongke and his wife hold a birthday party for their daughter after her actual birthday, once they arrive home.
Residents in a village in south Chinas Guangdong province became rich overnight when the village decided to distribute the 990 million yuan acquired from a land sale to its residents, Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Thursday.

According to the distribution plan approved by the board of the Dadun village in Foshan city in Guangdong, the 990 million yuan will be divided into 6,249 shares, with each villager receiving two to three shares.

Through this distribution, some families will get millions. A villager surnamed Zhang disclosed that his family holds nine shares in total.

Bank clerks distribute money to villagers.

The local bank responsible for the distribution service even began to promote their wealth management services to the residents.

With such a great amount of money, some villagers are thinking about saving money for future investment, while others are considering travelling and purchasing cars as well as property.

Besides the large sum of money, they will also get villas according to their hukou, or household registration, the report said.

As urbanization progresses, some cities in China have launched plans in recent years to renovate the villages on their outskirts and in downtown areas. Residents of those villages usually get considerable compensation for sale of their land.

Foshan is one such case. Last month, villagers in Tengchong village, located beside Dadun village, got a total of 1 billion yuan in dividends for their land sale.
BANGALORE: At an event held in New Delhi, Microsoft has finally launched the Surface Pro 4. With a starting price tag of 89, 990, looks like Microsoft is certainly targeting high-end consumers. The device will be sold exclusively via Amazon India for the first six months and shipping begins January 14. One can also try out the device at Microsoft Stores located at Noida, Gurgaon, Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 will be offered in three variants in India  Surface Pro 4 with Core i5, 4GB of RAM and 128GB SSD priced at 89,990, the Core i5, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD variant at 1,20,990 and Core i7, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD at 1,44,990. In addition, Microsoft is selling the Surface Pen at 5, 990 and the Surface Pro 4 Type Cover keyboard at 12, 490, which is available in blue and black color variants.

During the Future Unleashed event in Mumbai held in November last year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had also announced that the companys Surface Pro 4 tablet will launch in India in January 2016. The tablet was launched in October in the U.S. at a price of $899. The company also launched the 2013s Surface Pro 3 in India, priced at 73,990 and includes Intel Core i3 variant, with 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD,

With the kind of specification set that Microsoft has packed into the Microsoft Surface Pro 4, it seemed like it didnt want to leave any room for competition. Microsoft Devices head Panos Panay launched the Surface Pro 4, calling it the best Surface device ever. According to him it is 30 percent faster than the Surface Pro 3 and around 50 percent faster than the Apple MacBook.

Read More: Nikon takes on GoPro; Unveils KeyMission 360

LeTV, Aston Martin Reveal AutoLink Rapide S at CES 2016
Bengaluru: The International Consumer Electronics Show, an annual extravaganza that kicked off amidst much grandeur, pomp, and excitement in Las Vegas has a super bowl of latest gadgets on display. The cavalcades of worldwide technology gadgets displayed on the official first day of the event have left everyone clenching their teeth with amaze. The consumers can lay their sight on most whacky yet desirable and usable gadgets. The annual digi festival gives an opportunity for the companies and startups around the world to bring forth their latest innovations and showcase them to the entire world. Companies from around the globe will be displaying their novel digital inventions from January six to January nine. Below is the list of the latest consumer technology products on display at CES 2016 as complied by Economic Times and Digital Trends.

Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator

The Samsung Family Hub refrigerator, a 21.5 inch full HD LCD screen, helps owners to spy and keep a check on the food, eatables, placed inside the refrigerator. Equipped with internal cameras to keep a track on the food, this refrigerator helps hoteliers, and consumers plan their future food stock.

HairMax Laserband



The lifestyle diseases like hair fall, balding, early greying of hair, baldness patches are on the rise. A quick remedy for hair loss, balding and any other hair related problems is HairMax Laserband. This digital equipment helps in treating all the hair problems and helps the hair follicles to grow sooner making the hair look thick and strong.

Hydrao Eco-Sensitive Smart Shower



With the increasing pollution, many countries in the world are facing acute shortage of pure clean, and drinking water. While water conservation is on the radar of many developing countries here is an app that can prevent the over usage of water while taking a shower.? The Hydrao Eco-Sensitive Smart Shower records water usage on an application for a mobile device, and lightens up in various colors to notify the user the amount of water used.

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NEW DELHI: The Centre is considering to put in place a policy on naming of new airports in the country, under which they will known after the citys name and not certain personalities or icons amid the on-going controversy over naming of the new Chandigarh airport.

The Civil Aviation Ministry keeps getting requests from different political parties to name/rechristen airports after certain icons and personalities, more particularly after the change of regime at the Centre or in states and a firm and long-term policy in this regard is needed to put an end to the practice, sources said.

The Government is discussing the issue of naming of new airports and may put in place a policy soon in this regard, Civil Aviation Ministry sources said on Thursday.

Under the proposed policy, airports will be known by the name of the city and not individuals, they said adding, whatever mechanism will be put in this regard will be for long-term.

The developments come in the backdrop of Haryana and Punjab Government locking horns over the naming of Chandigarh International airport, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.

While Haryanas BJP government reportedly wants the airport to be named after one of the RSS pracharak Mangal Sein, the Badal Government wants it to be named after martyr Bhagat Singh.

At the same time, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy has recently said that his government was considering naming the International Airport at Nedumbassry in Kochi after K Karunakaran, who was a Congress leader and former Chief Minister.

The Civil Aviation Ministry had last year, received request from various quarters to change the names of airports such as Delhi, Udaipur, Chennai and Srinagar, among others.

One of the proposals from a BJP office-bearer was to rename the IGIA after Mahatma Gandhi.

At that time Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma had said that Government was not considering changing the name of any of the airports in the country including the Indira Gandhi International Airport while acknowledging that it (the ministry) had received some proposals in this regard.

It (changing names of some of the airports in the country) is not under our consideration, he had said.

Read More: J&K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Passes Away

PM Modi Forms 8 Groups of Bureaucrats to Drive Economic Growth
BENGALURU: The world today is facing serious threats from the terrorists from around the world. Thus the world is now united to counter terrorism, for which the spy agencies of the respective countries play a major role.

As said, all most all the countries around the world have their own official agencies for espionage activities and some among them play a crucial role safeguarding the in-house peace and tracking outdoor terrorism. As a result, here goes the list of top 9 spy agencies in the world, as reported by the Top10Wala.

The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operation (MOSSAD) - Israel

The Israel and Palestine conflict has been plaguing the world peace since the formation of the Israel; both countries have maintained differences about the border issue, which has been a soul reason behind the dispute in the region. Hence, the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operation (MOSSAD) was founded in 1949 and the agency will directly report the prime minister of the country.

Also Read: Govt Considering Policy on Naming Of New Airports after Cities

China Prepares Over 20 Space Missions In 2016
WASHINGTON: In an aggressive push for tighter gun controls, President Barack Obama took his case to the nation and vowed not to back any candidate "even in my own party who does not support common-sense gun reform."

Rejecting the "imaginary fiction" that he wanted to take away the guns of law-abiding Americans, Obama charged his opponents at a live television event Thursday night with twisting his plans on gun safety measures.

"The way it is described, is that we are trying to take away everybody's guns," Obama said. "If you listen to the rhetoric, it is so over-the-top, it is so overheated."

Obama appeared on the "Guns in America" event to press for public support for the executive measures on gun control he announced Tuesday. He disputed the notion that most criminals got guns illegally or through personal connections, making background checks - a major focus on his policy initiative on guns - of little utility.

"All of us can agree that it makes sense to do everything we can to keep guns out of the hands of people who would do others harm, or themselves harm," Obama said.

He called on Congress to set up a system that is "efficient" and doesn't inconvenience lawful gun owners to create a background check system that would stem at least some illegal gun activity.

Ahead of the event, Obama pledged in a New York Times op-ed not to "campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party who does not support common-sense gun reform."

Though Obama has made clear he will continue advocating for gun control throughout the remainder of his second term, the president admitted defeat saying it's clear gun reform will not happen in this Congress or his presidency.

Still, he wrote, the whole of the US has a collective responsibility to confront the crisis.

The two leading Democratic candidates for President, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, expressed support for the executive actions, making it unlikely that Obama's ultimatum would affect a member of Obama's party.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump held a rally in Burlington, Vermont, at the same time as the forum and weighed in on the issue of firearms, attacking the idea of gun-free zones, though it wasn't a topic raised by Obama or other participants Thursday night.

"You know what a gun-free zone is to a sicko? That's bait!" he said. "I would get rid of gun-free zones on my first day. It gets signed."

A CNN/ORC poll released earlier Thursday evening found that a majority of the public supports the measures that Obama outlined this week but less than half of Americans think they will actually work.

Support for the measures crosses party lines, with 67 per cent of those asked saying they favour the changes. But 57 per cent of those polled also said that the measures would not be effective in reducing the number of people killed by guns.

Obama renewed his push for gun regulations following a spree of mass shootings last year, including a one orchestrated by a radicalised Pakistani-origin couple in San Bernardino, California, in December in which 14 people were killed.

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Source: IANS
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Staten Island construction company whose disregard of federal safety rules was cited by inspectors in the death of a demolition worker at a Travis car dealership in 2014 has resumed work at the accident site.

Delfino Jesus Velazquez Mendizabal, 43, of West Brighton, is shown with his wife and child in this photo posted to his Facebook page.

Formica Construction, which continues to dispute the $121,000 in proposed fines levied by the Occupational Safety Health Administration for myriad safety deficiencies uncovered by investigators, received a permit to perform additional construction at the Dana Ford Lincoln car dealership on Dec. 9, city Buildings Department records show.

The Port Richmond-based company, whose laminated permits are posted on a green construction fence outside the dealership, has been contracted by Dana Ford to perform grading, paving, striping and landscaping of the area where the old dealership once stood. The work is expected to last until fall.

WORKER KILLED IN COLLAPSE

Formica built Dana Ford's new 100,000-square-foot dealership and had been in the process of demolishing the old one when the mezzanine above the steel-framed car show room collapsed on Delfino Velazquez and three other workers on Nov. 28, 2014.

Velazquez was born in Mexico, lived in the United States for about 20 years and had worked at for Formica for about a decade.

The 43-year-old father of five and grandfather of three from West Brighton, was trapped under the rubble and suffocated.

The site, which was immediately placed under a Buildings Department stop work order following the accident, sat dormant for about eight months until Paul Toth Excavation was issued a permit to perform the remainder of the demolition.

Formica's recent reappearance at the site, where bouquets of flowers and a decorated cross remain affixed to a utility pole as a memorial to the late construction worker, has struck those close to Velazquez as difficult to fathom.

"It's a total disrespect to the family and to the workers of Staten Island that work every day for their families," said Jorge Torres, the community job center coordinator at El Centro del Inmigrante, a local immigrant advocacy organization that has held vigils and rallies at the construction site since Velazquez's death.

Torres, who was unaware that Formica had recently resumed working at the construction site, expressed shock and dismay when a reporter informed him on Tuesday.

He said it was "a shame" that Dana Ford had re-hired Formica and chided the city for issuing them another permit to work there.

"The decision [to rehire Formica]," Torres said, "demonstrates that Ford, as a dealer and a business, does not care that a person died on their site."

He called Buildings' decision to permit the work "extremely unbelievable," and said it showed that "the law is not on the side of the day laborer, but on the side of the construction companies."

A woman who answered the phone at Formica's office on Wednesday declined comment on the company's continued work at the car dealership.

"I have no comment on that matter, why don't you guys just leave it alone," the woman said, before hanging up the phone.

Dana Ford Lincoln's owner, Jim Cognetta, did not respond to requests for comment regarding the company's decision to bring back Formica.

WORKER'S FAMILY ANGERED

Velazquez's 27-year-old daughter, Monica, who left flowers at the construction site two weeks ago to commemorate her father's birthday, said Formica's return to the construction site angered her.

"They are still working like it's nothing," she said. "It's not right ... someone has to do something."

Buildings Department spokesman Alex Schnell said that because no formal disciplinary action had been taken against the construction company, the agency was bound by law to issue them permits to work at the site.

"If you are eligible to hold the permit or to file to get a permit from the department, then there's nothing that we can legally do to prevent an applicant from holding the permit," he said, adding that the agency's investigation into the accident that killed Delfino Velazquez is continuing.

While Formica is not currently performing demolition work at the site -- Paul Toth Excavation took care of that -- Schnell acknowledged that nothing would have prevented Dana Ford from hiring Formica to continue with the demolition following the fatal accident, despite the fact that the company lacked the permit to perform it in the first place.

"They have no formal disciplinary actions from the department," Schnell said. "And that's the only way privileges can be revoked.

"There was nothing in their disciplinary history that would have prevented them from pulling the permit."

AGENCY PROBES CONTINUE

In addition to the Buildings Department, both the Staten Island District Attorney's Office and the Department of Consumer Affairs are still investigating the fatal incident.

Only OSHA's investigation into the deadly building collapse has concluded.

In May, the agency released a statement deeming Velazquez's death preventable and censuring Formica for its "willful disregard" of numerous safety protocols, while proposing $121,000 in fines.

"Had Formica Construction chosen to plan and carry out the demolition correctly, this collapse would not have occurred, and Mr. [Velazquez] would not have died," Patricia Jones, OSHA's area director for Staten Island, said in May.

Formica has contested the fines and is in the process of meeting with Labor Department officials in an effort to settle them.

If the Labor Department's attorneys cannot reach a settlement agreement with Formica, the agency is prepared to litigate the case, which would result in a hearing before an administrative law judge who can affirm, modify or eliminate any contested citations or penalties.

NOT THE FIRST TIME

The district attorney's probe into Velazquez's death is not the first time the office has investigated Formica.

Prosecutors charged one of its owners, Ken Formica, in the on-the-job death of employee Lorenzo Pavia in 2003.

In December 2003, Paula Pavia is pictured with a photo of her late husband, Lorenzo F. Pavia from his soccer playing days. Pavia was killed in a construction accident on Taylor Street in West Brighton.

Pavia, a Mexican immigrant like Velazquez, died after the muddy walls of a 15-foot-deep, un-shored trench caved in on him and another worker at a West Brighton construction site.

Formica pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide in 2007, admitting he knew the trench was not safe to enter, and was sentenced to 16 weekends in jail.

The company fought a protracted, but ultimately successful, legal battle with the Department of Consumer Affairs to get its Home Improvement Contractor license renewed following Ken Formica's criminal conviction. It was formally re-licensed by DCA in 2009.

Thus far, Velzaquez's death does not appear to have had any negative repercussions on Formica's business.

In the 13 months since the incident, the company has been granted permits to perform demolitions, alterations and construction of new buildings at 10 separate Staten Island sites, including Dana Ford.
Postcard.jpg

"An Entirely New South New York" postcard offers lots for $190 and under on the North Shore of Staten Island, early 20th century. (Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library)

SOUTH NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Staten Island once offered a unique opportunity to folks outside the borough.

A vintage postcard, perhaps from the early 20th century, provided a chance for buyers to acquire North Shore property for less than $200 a lot at what was billed "An Entirely New South New York."

The postcard is one of 180,000 digital items available within the New York Public Library's brand new collection. Its description reads: "Largest development in the history of Richmond Borough. Hundreds of lots at $190 or under ($10 down, $5 per month). High class improvements."

Directions are shared beneath the price and pinpoint the land at Meiers Corners and Westerleigh. The location was said to be "forty-five minutes from Wall Street NOW."

The commute still seems familiar to Staten Islanders today: A ferry ride and a train. In this case, replace the train with ... a trolly.

"To reach South New York take Municipal Ferry at Battery to Staten Island, change to Silver Lake trolly, and get off at Jewett Avenue, corner Richmond Turnpike."

Richmond Turnpike is now Victory Boulevard. The name changed in 1918.

Folks who couldn't make the trip were requested to send the postcard with a name and address, and in return, the real estate company would send a map, free tickets, and more information.
Donovan.jpg

Rep. Daniel Donovan voted along with the rest of his party in gutting the Affordable Care Act, sending the bill to President Obama's desk for a guaranteed veto. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Brooklyn Democrats lashed out at Donovan for his vote Wednesday.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It's politics, pure and simple.

When the House of Representatives voted Wednesday to undo President Obama's signature achievement, the Affordable Care Act, its members knew that it was nothing more than a symbolic vote, a gesture, a way to put their thumbs down on the single most divisive policy to come from this administration.

So the Republicans got enough votes to repeal key provisions of Obamacare -- like the individual and employer mandates -- and defund Planned Parenthood for a year, and sent it to the president's desk for a guaranteed veto.

They knew it was symbolic, that the president would do nothing other than veto their attempt to kill his precious policy achievement.

Had they been serious about reform, the GOP would have simultaneously put forth their own plan for health care while shutting down the president's.

"We are confronting the president with the hard, honest truth: Obamacare doesn't work," Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) said Wednesday after the vote.

The bill had gotten through the Senate first using the same method as the House: a procedure called reconciliation, a fast-track process wherein a simple majority is all that's needed.

So why do it? Why waste time when the end result is a vetoed bill?

It's a way for Republicans to show the American public, "Hey guys, if we had a Republican president in the Oval Office, this wouldn't have been vetoed and Obamacare would be dead. This is what you could look forward to if you elect one of our guys."

And, they think, it forces the president to answer for his policy that has created high premiums and deductibles.

Democrats, of course, vilified the GOP for the votes, noting about 16 million people are enrolled in health care plans through the program.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, without Obamacare, about 22 million fewer people would have health insurance in the years after 2017.

While the GOP has no alternative, Ryan has said that his people are working on crafting a plan out of the dozens of bills that have been put forward in the House.

With many Americans opposing the president's health program, it's no wonder Republicans voted to earn brownie points in a presidential election year.

Rep. Daniel Donovan voted along with the rest of his party in gutting the health care program, saying, "Obamacare just isn't working. Middle-class families in Staten Island and South Brooklyn are already burdened with some of the highest costs of living in the country. To continue this charade while family health premiums reach $20,000 per year and more is ridiculous."

He cited a family-owned business in Brooklyn as an example of many that can't afford to pay the high health insurance premiums.

What the bill really does is allow the GOP to play politics and thumb their noses at an unattractive policy, and in turn allows the Democrats to take aim at anyone who voted for it.

Case in point: Shortly after his vote, Donovan was the target of attacks from Emily's List, a liberal, pro-choice group that chucks daggers at the Republican congressman any chance it gets.

"Congressman Donovan decided to ring in the new year exactly the same way he spent 2015 -- by voting to strip health care away from millions of hardworking men and women," said Emily's List press secretary Rachel Thomas. "Even as one of the most vulnerable Republicans up for re-election this year, Congressman Donovan showed yet again that he's more interested in driving his own ideological agenda than fighting for the women and families he was elected to represent."

Granted, for someone like Donovan, being on Emily's List's "On Notice" list -- with 34 other state and federal lawmakers and a few governors -- is probably a badge of honor, so he's not losing any sleep over it.

But it goes to show how little gets done and how much rhetoric is tossed around on something as important as health care.

More locally, Justin Brannan, a former employee of Councilman Vincent Gentile, Donovan's opponent in the May 2015 special election, tweeted a response to the congressman's vote: "So today you'll tell 17.6 million Americans to go jump in a lake. Tremendous leadership."

Brannan led Gentile's communications for the congressional campaign against Donovan and now works as deputy director of Intergovernmental Affairs at the city Department of Education.

He has since deleted the tweet.

He is also president of the Bay Ridge Democrats, which tweeted several times about the topic. Among them: "2 million+ New Yorkers enrolled into comprehensive, affordable coverage thanks to #Obamacare. You are a disgrace."

Both Donovan's vote and the response from angry Democrats were predictable, and perhaps that's all that was intended.

Maybe, just maybe, Ryan will make good on him promise, and in 2016, his party will have a replacement for the health care program they so vehemently oppose.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The 121 Precinct took to social media with an alert about a helicopter flyover at the Staten Island Mall on Friday morning.

The aircraft is expected to land between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and FDNY personnel are scheduled to be on the scene, according to Notify NYC.

The 121 Precinct said on its Twitter feed that the helicopter flight is connected to a construction project. The Mall is scheduled to open at 10 a.m. on Friday.

Detoured buses include the S55, S56 and S79, according to the MTA website.
Lighting up the American flags When Simi Valley resident Hayden Kelly was in elementary school, she learned the proper etiquette when it comes to the American flag. She enjoyed looking at flags around town and...

Local racer makes a winning pass at auto championship Storied track pushes drivers to their limits

James Landry of Simi Valley., won the Honda Challenge 4 class championship Sept. 18 at the 2022 National Auto Sport Association Championships. Landry captured the title by making a pass...

Fall is a festive time of year at the farm READY FOR AUTUMN At right, 7-year-old Martin Segura of South Gate, drives a peddle tractor Oct. 9 during the Fall Harvest Festival at Underwood Farms in Moorpark. The festival runs...

Prost to the good times and fundraising Rotary Club of Simi Sunrise recently held Oktoberfest on Oct. 8 at Lemon Park (Rancho Tapo Community Park) in Simi Valley, More than 1,200 attendees spent an afternoon with music,...
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The NRB was established in 2013 and works closely with the Immigration and Border Protection Service which falls under the Ministry of Justice. It is responsible for combatting Human Trafficking and Smuggling in Sint Maarten.





The purpose of the meetings are to maintain an ongoing partnership with community groups that represent various nationalities residing in the country as well as with consular representatives.





In the meeting the NRB conveyed to the representatives the need to continuously strengthen ties with each minority group representative in the community, seeing that the representatives may have a closer relationship with their members. In turn they can provide information to their membership about the NRB and also how they could assist in combatting human trafficking by being informed about the mechanism that is in place.





Some of the key topics discussed during the meeting were the NRBs organization, its responsibilities and the human trafficking indicators that can be used if trafficking is suspected.





The main tasks of the NRB is to provide information on the risks of human trafficking and smuggling; taking care of the intake of victims of trafficking and providing them with protection such as giving a temporary residence permit; conducting a public campaign aimed at increasing public awareness and specific risk of the consequences of human trafficking and smuggling; channelling victims of trafficking and smuggling to health authorities and twinning partners and international organizations to enforcement staff in recognizing signs of smuggling and trafficking.





Individuals who are a victim of human trafficking can contact the authorities who will in turn issue the relevant temporary residence permit allowing them to remain in the country during a criminal investigation and ensuring legal proceedings.





To report suspected cases of human trafficking, call Tel.: (721) 542-1553 or email naticotip@gmail.com





All calls and emails are kept confidential! The NRB office hours are from 8:00am till 17.00pm, Monday through Friday, and is located at A.Th. Illidge road #6, Phillipsburg.





PHOTO CUTLINE: L to R: NRB Communications Officer Rashirda Hughes, Marsha Thomas community representative (Jamaica), Consulate General Monique Jackman (Guyana), and former Consulate General Michael Brotherson (Guyana).





The National Reporting Bureau (NRB) for Human Trafficking recently met with representatives of Guyana and Jamaica who represent those members who are part of the Sint Maarten community, and/or who provide consular services.
It's been nearly two years since New York City's Mayor Bill de Blasio and CityBridge announced a project called LinkNYC to transform public pay phones in New York City into digital hubs. And while we have been following this story and blogging about in during that time (see:

New York City to have the Fastest Free Wi-Fi in the World

and

From Waste To WiFi: New York Citys Innovation Shows No Signs of Slowing

), we can finally report that we should soon see some of these Wi-Fi kiosks popping up around the city.

According to a

recent article in the Wall Street Journal

, work will begin this month to transform telephone booths in the city's five boroughs into free Wi-Fi hotspots. The city anticipates that 500 hotspots will be installed by July with an eventual overhaul of 7,500 pay phones by 2017. When complete, New York City could have the largest and most efficient Wi-Fi network in the world.

The hot spots will sit atop a 9.5-foot kiosk with electronic screens on each side to display advertising, said the WSJ. The kiosk will also provide an Android tablet that can be used to place free phone calls in the U.S., go online and charge mobile devices. While projects like these have failed in other cities because of slow Internet speeds and requiring people to sit through ads before logging on, LinkNYC is addressing these issues. It claims it will deliver broadband speeds of 1,000 megabits a second, about 100 times typical speeds provided by wireless carriers, and will not force users to sit through ads on their mobile devices to log on. Instead, CityBridge plans to make money via advertising on the billboards housed on the kiosks.

The LinkNYC project promises several benefits to the city, its residents and businesses. During its 12-year contract, CityBridge will pay the city $500 million or a 50% revenue share, whichever is greater. While this service may pose long-term competition for carriers such as AT&T and Verizon, in the short term, the additional Wi-Fi coverage will likely compliment their service by reducing the strain on their services and fill in the spotty mobile coverage common in the city due to skyscrapers. It will also help provide broadband access to the nearly 30% of

people in New York City without it at home.

The project could be a boon for the local economy; according to a report by

Wired

, "the free services will attract job hunters, freelancers, small businesses and tech startups."

As we mentioned before,

free WiFi and information hubs will likely test the role technology can play to close the digital divide and change the ways people experience and interact with cities. And, while online security has not yet been addressed in the LinkNYC project we hope that it will also encourage Internet and advertising providers to address the risk of data breaches over public Wi-Fi.
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The country burned through at least $US120 billion of foreign reserves in December, twice the previous record. Credit:Bloomberg Faced with mayhem, regulators have retreated yet again. They have extended the ban, this time prohibiting shareholders from selling more than 1 per cent of the total float over a three-month period. The China Securities Regulatory Commission said the move was to "defuse panic emotions". The freeze on sales is an admission that the government is now trapped, forced to keep equities on life-support to stop the market crumbling. The commission said its "national team" would keep buying stocks if necessary, doubling down on its frantic buying spree to rescue the market last year. Turmoil on the Shanghai "casino" has little bearing on the Chinese economy itself, which has been moving to an entirely different rhythm for years. Few companies raise capital on the stock market. A large chunk of the shares are owned by state entities, and are not traded. The currency ructions are more serious. What is worrying is that the central bank has so far failed to stop the yuan sliding, despite spending an estimated $US140 billion last month in the foreign exchange markets.

Last month's switch to the currency basket (CFETS) was a belated move to liberate China from the rising dollar as the US Federal Reserve tightens policy. The view in Beijing is that the yuan is now fairly valued after soaring since mid-2012. Premier Li Keqiang vowed to keep the basket rate "basically stable" yet it has been dropping for three weeks. It is hovering near a 16-month low. The spreads on offshore yuan contracts in Hong Kong have ballooned, a sign that traders are expecting worse to come. Events are coming to a head fast. The central bank (PBOC) pinned its colours to the mast yesterday, insisting that it has the firepower to defeat "speculative forces" and keep the currency stable at a "reasonable equilibrium level." It said the market gyrations had decoupled from the real economy and that a country running a current account surplus of almost $US600 billion has no need for a weaker currency. "It is not necessary to stimulate exports and stabilise growth through a competitive devaluation," it said. For good measure, the authorities suspended the foreign exchange operations of Standard Chartered and DBS Group Holdings, and cracked down of false invoicing by exporters, effectively invoking police powers to stop money leaking out of the country.

China's reserves have dwindled from $US4 trillion to $US3.33 trillion and are no longer far from the $US2.6 trillion deemed to be the prudent threshold by the International Monetary Fund, given China's $US1.2 trillion liabilities. The central bank still has the clout for a shock-and-awe blitz to defend the yuan, but this entails serious costs. Reserve depletion causes monetary tightening. It is the exact opposite of the boom years when China accumulated reserves, causing the economy to overheat. It can in theory offset this by cutting the reserve requirement ratio for banks (RRR) from 18 per cent to 5 per cent, where it was during the banking crisis in 1998. This would inject $US3 trillion stimulus, but would weaken the currency, accelerate the exodus of capital, and trap China in a vicious circle. George Magnus from UBS said Beijing is trying to reconcile impossible objectives. "They don't want any tightening. They are trying to keep interbank rates as low as possible," he said. In economic terms, it is the Impossible Trinity. No country can have an open capital account, a free exchange rate, and sovereign monetary policy. One must give. In trade terms, China does not need to devalue, and it would not help much. The trade share of GDP has fallen to 41 per cent from 65 per cent a decade ago. Yet it needs internal stimulus to keep a hard-landing at bay, and that cannot easily be achieved if credit policy is kept tight to defend the exchange rate.
Labor is escalating its pursuit of dumped frontbencher Jamie Briggs over the leaking of a photograph of an Australian diplomat whose complaint led to his resignation.

Shadow special minister of state Gary Gray has written to the Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd demanding to know what steps have been taken to address a breach of the woman's privacy.

"I seek your assurance that there will be no further harm to the complainant for having raised this matter, and that her privacy will be protected," Mr Gray wrote.

Mr Briggs resigned last week after the female public servant claimed he had kissed her neck and said she had "piercing eyes" during a drinking session in a Hong Kong bar.
Women who say they are "mad about misogyny" and fed up with sexism have protested outside the electorate office of Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, calling for him to be sacked.

Dressed in witches' hats and carrying broomsticks, the group expressed their anger about Mr Dutton's use of gendered language in a now-infamous text message to News Corp journalist Samantha Maiden.

The minister called Maiden a "mad f---ing witch" in an SMS intended for his parliamentary colleague Jamie Briggs that was accidentally sent to Maiden herself.

Protesters say Mr Dutton's remark was one of a number of sexist incidents to take place in Australia in the past fortnight, including Briggs' indiscretions in a Hong Kong bar and cricketer Chris Gayle asking journalist Mel McLaughlin out for a drink during a post-match interview.
Fort Worth, Texas: Tonya Couch is back in Texas and in the Tarrant County Jail.

Mrs Couch, who waived her right to extradition in a Los Angeles County court, flew into Dallas/Fort Worth Airport on an American Airlines flight and was whisked away in a caravan of Tarrant County Sheriff's Department vehicles.

Tonya Couch, centre, is taken by authorities to a waiting car after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday. Credit:Mark J. Terrill

Wearing handcuffs that were draped by a blue jacket and ankle cuffs, Mrs Couch was booked into jail and will be arraigned before state District Judge Wayne Salvant on Friday morning local time.

Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said he spoke with a subdued Mrs Couch at the airport.
A Canberra duo used to performing at small gigs has been plucked from obscurity to perform at the Australian of the Year awards ceremony and concert in front of a live audience of thousands and potentially one million television viewers.

Ruth O'Brien and Damian Ashcroft will play five songs at the revamped Australia Day Eve celebration on the lawns of Parliament House, with the headline act being veteran rocker Jimmy Barnes.

Local duo Ruth O'Brien and Damian Ashcroft will play five songs at the revamped Australia Day Eve celebration on the lawns of Parliament House. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

Samantha Jade, Nathaniel and Cyrus are also on the bill for the January 25 concert, with the festivities also including the announcement of the 2016 Australian of the Year award winners.

Ruth, 29, and Damian, 23, both former St Mary MacKillop College students, met during their studies at the Canberra Institute of Technology and found they were kindred musical spirits with a liking for blues and soul with a contemporary edge.
With a whole fresh year ahead, we asked some local movers and shakers about what they're hoping for or looking forward to in 2016.

From having dinner with Oprah to opening new restaurants and winning gold  this is what they said.

Peter Harrington at Sage Dining Rooms in Braddon. Credit:Rohan Thomson

Peter Harrington - restauranteur (Sage Dining Rooms, Akiba)

I see 2016 as a year of infinite possibilities and opportunities for Canberra to continue its emergence as the capital of cool. My partners and I will be playing our part in Canberra's rejuvenation, with an incredible new restaurant and bar in the city due to open in mid-2016.
The CCTV footage shows the victim, also aged in his 20s, in a tense conversation with a man before another steps in and levels him with a swift punch to his jaw. The two men walk off as one bystander is seen to rush to the man's aid. Police were called and found the man unconscious a short time later. The man, who is recovering from his injuries at home, said doctors had inserted a titanium plate and screws to help fix his broken jaw, which had been wired shut to realign his teeth. He said his mind was blank and he couldn't remember what he was speaking to the men about at the time of the incident.



"I honestly didn't think it was that bad at the time. I'm just surprised I'm alive from they way my head hit the ground." Constable Jarrad Drennan described the attack footage as "sickening".

"We're lucky that we're not standing here today talking about a death and that we are talking about an assault. "So he's lucky  if not a miracle  that he didn't land a certain way." The footage has prompted a strong reaction on social media and revived a debate on drunken violence similar to that generated in 2014 by a string of alleged one-punch attacks in the ACT. ACT Policing previously said they were "generally pleased" with New Year's Eve revellers but had been disappointed by the number of young people under the influence of alcohol who stayed in the city into the early hours of the morning. Police said they publicly released information about the attack for the first time on Friday  a week after it happened  because they had exhausted initial lines of enquiry.

ACT opposition leader Jeremy Hanson said the territory's current assault laws weren't sending a strong enough message and he would continue to examine one-punch laws in other jurisdictions, particularly NSW. "These sorts of attacks are abhorrent and we need to have an environment where young people can go out into Civic and feel safe and we've got to send a very clear message to people who are perpetrating these attacks. "Any law that we would bring in would need to be evidence-based and proven to have an effect, and not just grand-standing." Attorney-General Simon Corbell said there were no plans to introduce one-punch legislation in the ACT and current laws for offences including common assault and intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm were adequate. Mr Corbell said the government would consider potential further reforms to liquor laws, following a broad review of the territory's liquor legislation in 2010, that were laid out in two reform papers issued last year.

ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner John Hinchey said the community expected the "inexcusable violence" of one-punch assaults would be met with a firm response from the justice system to deter similar attacks. He called for greater powers for police to issue on-the-spot fines for disorderly conduct in and around licensed premises to help address unruly behaviour before it escalated. Mr Hinchey said Victim Support ACT supported an "unfortunately high" number of people who were seriously affected by alcohol-related street violence. "Frequently these victims are young men, whose injuries result in chronic, disabling conditions. I have observed young men whose lives have been ruined by an unprovoked attack involving an aggressor who is intoxicated." Mr Hinchey said severe disabilities sustained in drunken assaults often had a lifelong impact and could lead to a downward spiral of unemployment and financial disadvantage.
Unions ACT has hit back at the Canberra CBD group over its lobbying for more support of the city centre, saying the city's big property owners should not be putting out their hands for more public money.

Unions ACT secretary Alex White said Canberra CBD was not a business owners' group but a property owners' group, representing big owners like the Queensland Investment Corporation which owns the Canberra Centre, with three members appointed by the Property Council.

Seeking money in Garema Place: Canberra CBD has called on the government to deal with beggars and charity workers in the city. Credit:Jeffrey Chan

If they wanted money spent on the city centre, they could afford to do it themselves, he said.

Canberra CBD has called on the government to help clean up and revitalise the city centre, asking for a delay on opening a new development front at West Basin. It wants a grants program to help Sydney and Melbourne building owners improve their properties, government garbage collection in Braddon, control of the graffiti removal funding, matched funding for public art, and action to deal with charity sellers and beggars.
Lawyers have been described as the canaries in the coal mine in the face of a wave of automation now beginning to displace highly skilled white-collar workers.

In recent years, the increasing reliance on so-called "e-discovery" software in lawsuits raised the spectre that $US35-an-hour paralegals as well as $US400-an-hour lawyers would fall victim to programs that could read and analyze legal documents more quickly and accurately than humans.

Computer software may put lawyers' jobs at risk. Credit:James Davies

The fate of lawyers has been seen as a harbinger of a broader wave of worker displacement. The rapid commercialisation of a new generation of artificial-intelligence-derived technologies has led to concerns that technological disruption will extend from white- and blue-collar occupations of largely routine work that can be automated to highly paid professions like legal workers and doctors.

That has led to a new round of automation anxiety. Two Massachusetts Institute of Technology economists, Eric Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, and a Silicon Valley software entrepreneur, Martin Ford, have written several books among them - including "Race Against the Machine, "The Second Machine Age", "The Lights in the Tunnel" and "Rise of the Robots" - warning that rapid technological advances might wreak havoc with the economy.
"The quickest way to die is to spend your life sitting inside watching TV" was how former Hawthorn mayor Betty Marginson saw retirement. Back in 1992 she told The Age in an interview: "You have to remain active and keep involved with other people". And active she certainly was  as a mother, teacher and dynamic community leader.

Betty believed that the role of public services was to help people to better themselves and actively determine their own lives. In relation to the University of the Third Age, where she was president of the local chapter, she declared that it was "not other people doing things for the aged, it's the aged being given a chance to do something for themselves. It's the non-charity attitude that seems great to me".

Betty May Marginson, who has died aged 92, was the second female mayor in Melbourne, wearing the chains at Hawthorn in 1976-1977. From a shop-keeping family, she was a first-generation university student during World War II and then a teacher and the mother of four children  in the front lines at a time when Australian women were beginning to break through into a larger public role.

Born as Betty Reilly, the youngest of five children, she grew up in Footscray during the Depression at a time when more than one breadwinner in four was unemployed. A good student at the Geelong Road public school and Williamstown High, Betty enrolled at the Melbourne Teachers College, and later the University of Melbourne. Only one in 100 women, from any social class, went to Australian universities in 1939. Teaching was Betty's route into the professional middle class at a time when not many women were professionals.

In her early twenties Betty was vice-president of the Students Representative Council in 1946 and Victorian Minute Secretary of the Council for Civil Liberties, assisting Brian Fitzpatrick in the Victorian "Yes" Campaigns in the two unsuccessful referenda to extend Commonwealth powers in 1944 and 1946. No doubt the early lesson about economic deprivation in the 1930s, followed by fascism, war and the danger of invasion by Japanone of her brothers was lost in the air on a bombing raid from North Africa into Crete in 1941helped to shape her strong belief in a better world.

Betty made life-long friends at the University who shared her values. Her generation saw the solution not in terms of the market, which had failed in the Depression, but in the combination of responsible government and an active democratic citizenry. Roosevelt's New Deal had legitimated interventionist government in the United States, as did the war itself, and the influence of socialism and communism, before the Cold War took root. Also active in student politics was her future husband Ray Marginson whom she married in 1947.
Gender rights are no joke. Australian law gives us all a legal right to live and work free from sexual harassment.

But where does behaviour that is inappropriate, disrespectful or just plain rude cross the line to become unlawful? This is a question the Australian Human Rights Commission has been working on for 30 years.

Illustration: Michael Mucci

Each year the commission receives about 20,000 inquiries and 2388 complaints alleging breaches of human rights and anti-discrimination law. About 20 per cent (453) of all complaints arise under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and, overwhelmingly, such complaints allege sexual harassment at work. In short, significant numbers of women and men seek to enforce their right not to be sexually harassed in that most vital arena, employment. Sexual harassment is no joking matter. It is not trivial or slight. It affects Australians where it hurts, their fair access to work, promotion and equality of opportunity.

So, what behaviour does the law say amounts to sexual harassment? The Sex Discrimination Act, section 28, defines "sexual harassment" as the unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that a reasonable person would anticipate that the person harassed would feel offended, humiliated or intimidated by. Sexual harassment is unlawful if it arises in certain contexts including employment, education and the provision of goods and services. It is, additionally, unlawful for a member of the committee of management of a club to sexually harass a member of that club, or for an employment agent to sexually harass a person using their services.
POETRY

Happiness

MARTIN HARRISON

UWA Publishing, $24.99

The late poet Martin Harrison in 2007. He died in September last year.

I first met Martin Harrison in a tiny ABC radio studio in Adelaide in 1986. He was working on an Adelaide Festival edition of an experimental program called Surface Tension, and I was his sound engineer. We were going live to air around the nation and we had several reel-to-reel tapes lined up. He told me to spool them forward, stop them at random and then hit play. When we came out of the broadcast, the guys in master control just stood there silently shaking their heads. Harrison was a radio radical, and as a teacher he always encouraged experimentation. He died in September last year, found in his car by the side of the road after suffering a heart attack. He had only a few months earlier delivered the manuscript of Happiness to his publisher.

Attuned to the voices of place, and a Romantic in that his work is centred on feeling, he admired such traditionalists as Judith Wright and Robert Frost, though his prosody is very different from theirs. Harrison was deeply concerned with catching the fleeting moment, the exactness of specific times and places and arrangements of the world, particularly in the environment around his home in Wollombi in the Hunter Valley. But then his poems always extend beyond recording these fleeting moments into something more philosophical; an awareness, sometimes on a micro level, of the connectedness of things, and of the mind to things.
Picture this. You're walking along a quiet road in the countryside at night, torch in hand, enjoying the serenity. You spy some tissues on the ground, so go to pick them up. Then you see a pair of undies. They are crawling with ants and, on closer inspection, it's clear that that's because they are covered in shit. Down the phone line from his home in West Sussex, David Sedaris tells me this is what he encountered on his walk earlier in the day. And it's not the first time this has happened  remarkably, this is his third such experience. "But the last time, the underpants belonged to a very, very fat man; these looked more like they would be worn by a teenager," Sedaris says.

It's what he calls "a headline story", which he will work on next morning. That means it's the most interesting snippet he's happened upon that day and will form the basis of one of his essays.

David Sedaris. Credit:Robert Banks

Sedaris is the master of turning an isolated event into an incredibly funny yarn; he has a remarkable talent for observation and humour. A regular contributor to The New Yorker and to National Public Radio in the US, he has published seven books, including five New York Times bestsellers.
Perhaps the winners will point more clearly as a predictor of Academy Awards, but that said, the idea that the Golden Globes "predict" the Oscars is something of a myth. On historical form, the Producer's Guild Awards are the most accurate oracle of Oscar's "best film" winner. (Side note: the PGA nominations are out January 5.) British actor Nicholas Hoult, Australian director George Miller and South African-US actress Charlize Theron of Mad Max : Fury Road. Credit:Anne-Christine Poujoulat Still, across the city today, the studio's bean counters are toting up their wins. They pretend that it's all a bit of colour and frippery, but in truth there's a lot riding on this. More than just reputations have been lost on the whim of who makes the final cut, and who does not. On pure nomination terms, 20th Century Fox's film division stood well ahead of its rivals with 12 nominations. Universal and The Weinstein Company took eight. Paramount five, Sony four, Warner Bros and Disney just three apiece. On title terms, Carol took five nominations, The Big Short, The Revenant and Steve Jobs four, The Danish Girl, The Hateful Eight and The Martian three apiece. Matt Damon as Mark Watney in The Martian. Credit:AP

Australia's Mad Max: Fury Road secured two nominations. In the television categories, there were few surprises when you factor in that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association - the Globes' voting body - are generally faster to respond to new programs than their Academy cousins with the Emmys. That means with the Globes that older shows tend to linger around for shorter times, and the very best new shows (and talent) can often secure a nomination, and sometimes even a win, in their first season. (Recent examples: Amazon's Transparent and Jane The Virgin's Gina Rodriguez.) Bill Hader and Amy Schumer on the set of Trainwreck. Credit:Bobby Bank First year wins happen more rarely at the Emmys, which seem to prefer rusted-on hits. The five nominated TV dramas are: Empire, Game of Thrones, Mr Robot, Narcos and Outlander. Of those, Mr Robot and Narcos are the first season "freshmen" and both more than deserve the nomination. They were among the buzziest shows of the year, particularly Mr Robot, which made more conversational noise than almost any other show.

Gina Rodriguez in Jane The Virgin. The five nominated TV comedies are: Casual, Mozart in the Jungle, Orange Is the New Black, Silicon Valley, Transparent and Veep. Again a mix of very new and well established. In the TV comedy field, Transparent looks to be the standout. And Orange is the New Black the only anomaly; the Emmys had the good sense to push it into the drama category, it's odd that the Globes have not done the same. Category creep is a growing problem with all awards shows, and television, where genres are blurring, seems most vulnerable. Crunching the numbers, it's the digital disrupter Netflix which has emerged the winner, though its bete noir HBO isn't yielding too much ground quite yet. The two brands led the nominations with eight (Netflix) and seven (HBO). Ben Mendelsohn was nominated for a Golden Globe award for best supporting actor in a series, miniseries or movie made for TV for his role in Bloodline. Credit:AP What is revealing, however, is how smaller cable networks and fringe players have pushed into the centre. Starz, a channel no one paid much attention to several years ago, took six nominations. Amazon and FX took five and PBS - the US equivalent of Australia's ABC, but on an infinitely leaner budget - took four.
Tarantino owns the New Beverly cinema, just south of Hollywood. A year ago, he took over as its program director, mostly showing prints from his private collection, always in double bills. He hopes it can be to a new generation of enthusiasts what the Carson Twin Cinema in Scottsdale was to him in his youth, presenting martial arts and blaxploitation flicks, thrillers, comedies and horror movies; Five Fingers of Death and Enter the Dragon, to a live soundtrack of hooting and yelling and kung fu fighting in the aisles. Thankfully, by the time I see The Hateful Eight at the Crest on December 4, the problem has been fixed. The projectionist's body has been disposed of. Blood has been scrubbed from the carpet. And when legendary screen composer Ennio Morricone's overture is finished, and the screen fades from red to snow white, the whirring of the projector is the only sound. The Colorado wilderness, presented in an extra wide aspect ratio of 2.76 to 1, flickering at 24 frames a second, looks absolutely magnificent. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a fugitive in The Hateful Eight. The Hateful Eight is set shortly after the end of the US Civil War. Bounty hunter John "the Hangman" Ruth (Kurt Russell) is bringing fugitive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to face justice in the town of Red Rock. They encounter Union officer-turned-bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) and Confederate soldier Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins). A blizzard forces them to take shelter at Minnie's Haberdashery, an inn in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where they are greeted by four strangers with bad intentions. "I think of this movie as a western Reservoir Dogs," Tarantino tells me, when we meet at the Four Seasons hotel the day after the screening. "A bunch of characters in one space. No one can really trust anybody else. The paranoia is so thick that it bounces off the walls until it has nowhere to go but the fourth wall into the audience."

How has he changed as a director in the two decades since Reservoir Dogs? "I think, um " There's a long pause. Tarantino's words generally tumble out in flurries, forming sentences that break down and veer off on tangents, as if he's constantly trying to express two related thoughts at once. "I think my methods are the same. You can ask Tim Roth and Michael Madsen about that and they'll tell you. Hopefully I'm a lot better. That was my very first movie. I was kind of a boy when I did that." Well, I tell him, I watched Reservoir Dogs for the first time in 10 years yesterday and was knocked out by it, but you can see when the titles come up that it was made on a budget. "Yeah, exactly. I guess the difference is if I did Reservoir Dogs now it would be three hours long." He laughs  a throwaway line, for sure, but not one that holds up. The lean, propulsive script, in which events unfold in real time, is one of the main reasons it's such a great film. We've got into a polarised, lines-drawn camp that we haven't experienced since the Civil War. "A friend of mine had a really profound take on [The Hateful Eight]," Tarantino continues. "He said 'I feel like this could be your first post-apocalyptic movie'. As opposed to the Australian outback in the Mad Max movies, it's this brutal winter wasteland, and the survivors of the apocalypse have found shelter. They're sitting there arguing about who caused the apocalypse, and the apocalypse is the Civil War." In Django Unchained (2012), with its brutal depictions of slaves torn apart by dogs and forced to fight to the death for the amusement of white plantation owners, Tarantino obliged movie-goers to confront the horrors of slavery. His new film is a sequel, of sorts, set in a country recovering from an unprecedentedly brutal war, in which more than 600,000 men perished and atrocities were committed by both sides.

He has a theory that westerns, more than any other genre, reflect the values and conflicts of the American decade in which they were made  he cites the "noir" westerns made after World War II, the self-confident, morally certain films produced under Eisenhower in the 1950s and the counter-cultural mythic westerns of the '70s as evidence  and says that, although it wasn't his intention, The Hateful Eight fits the pattern. "I didn't know that it was going to be such a serious meditation on the post-Civil War era," he says. "And I had no idea that events in the news would be corresponding with the themes we were dealing with  You've got institutional racism running rampant in this country. We've got into a polarised, lines-drawn camp that we haven't experienced since the Civil War." Bounty hunters Kurt Russell and Samuel L. Jackson face off in The Hateful Eight. In November, he marched through New York to draw attention to police violence against unarmed African-American men, telling demonstrators: "I have to call the murdered the murdered and I have to call the murderers the murderers." Police unions responded with a threat to boycott his movies. Django Unchained was heavily criticised for its unrestrained use of the word "nigger"  a charge fellow director Spike Lee has levelled at Tarantino since 1997's Jackie Brown  and The Hateful Eight doubles down on this. The southern characters use the word with real spite, savouring the hatred of its original meaning.

"If I was doing a romantic comedy, maybe they don't use the N-word so much," says Tarantino, with a forced, rather nervous laugh, like the host of a dinner party trying to prevent an argument. "I'm not making a romantic comedy; I'm dealing with post-Civil War times, black and white struggle, ripped apart and laid bare. I think dealing with racial issues in America is something I have to offer the western." Samuel L. Jackson, Tarantino's leading man and greatest defender, tells me "I always feel like the characters are speaking honestly. I never feel like he's just throwing it in people's faces." Django also won the blessing of several prominent African-American intellectuals, including Henry Louis Gates, Harvard professor and founder of The Root news site. Watching The Hateful Eight, though, I felt that the criticism had brought out the little boy in Tarantino, stubbornly refusing to do as he's told. He's not buying this. "It is my job as an artist to ignore social critics," he says. "I can't let them in the rooms in my head. I believe 100 per cent in what I'm doing and I'm doing it with all my passion and I'm coming from a wonderful tradition of provocateurs in cinema." The film is Tarantino's first western, or fourth. There's Django, set in the antebellum South. He has often described Inglourious Basterds (2009) as a western taking place during World War II. Kill Bill (2003) is studded with references to Once Upon a Time in the West, The Searchers, Navajo Joe and Death Rides a Horse. He showed Uma Thurman The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and suggested she model the Bride on Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name. Once a week on set, Tarantino hosts a movie night, to show the cast and crew films that have inspired him. For The Hateful Eight, he had them watch The Thing, John Carpenter's 1982 shocker about a dozen men trapped on an Antarctic research station with an alien organism, not knowing which of them has been infected.

In the five years he spent behind the counter at Video Archives in Manhattan Beach, before his breakthrough with Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino watched literally thousands of movies. He studied the old masters and the French new wave, and devoured the good, the bad, and the indifferent, with the same hunger to improve his own art that led William Burroughs to pencil GETS  Good Enough To Steal  in the margins of the books he read. When asked if he did much research into World War II before writing Inglourious Basterds, he replied that he studied propaganda films by Jean Renoir and Fritz Lang. The biblical verse that Samuel L. Jackson's hitman declaims in Pulp Fiction, Ezekiel 25:17, is something remembered not from Sunday school, but from a Sonny Chiba martial arts movie. All directors have a mental library of images and sequences to draw on. Tarantino is just more willing to cop to his influences, and artful enough to get away with it, employing genre conventions in a fresh context and turning his films into a game to be played by his most cine-literate fans. In Kill Bill, the Bride fights her way through the history of exploitation cinema, with each character on her death list representing a different genre  the climax is an homage to Shogun Assassin, with a dash of Ichi the Killer. Tarantino didn't attend the screening at the Crest because he was at the New Beverly that night, watching Carwash, in a double bill with Thank God It's Friday. "I hadn't seen it since I was a kid," he says. "And it was wonderful in the theatre. Everyone was laughing  Not to get too sappy about it, but it brings me a lot of joy. There are regulars and fans coming out, and a whole lot of young people and film students, and they're making the pilgrimage again and again and again." The opening credits of The Hateful Eight announce that it is "the eighth film by Quentin Tarantino". He says that once he's made 10, he'll retire, to write novels and film criticism and run the cinema. And although artists often say they'll stop, and rarely do, there's reason to believe him. He has never been a director for hire, and it seems as if he really would be happy to spend the rest of his life watching films, and talking about films, and writing about films, and sitting in the back row, waiting for the lights to go down.
The genius  if that is not too burdensome a word for such light delight  of Julie Taymor's now classic 2005 production of The Magic Flute is the way she has created a new visual language of contemporary pantomime that aligns with the populist vision of Mozart and his librettist Schikaneder when first creating the piece.

Originally created for the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 2005, and first transplanted here in 2012, this piece is a parable grounded in Mozart's engagement with Freemasonry and the struggles of his own day, but with a simple truth for all ages, designed to speak to child and adult with directness and charm.

Opera Australia uses the abridged version, which should offend purists like me, yet I always find this production enchanting.

Many of the cast will be familiar to those who have seen previous revivals.

John Longmuir sang Tamino with polished control of pitch and phrase, shaping his first aria with blemishless line. His colourful eyeshadow and serious postures convey an impression that he is not quite sure how he got himself into this situation, but needs to maintain a pose or princely bearing nevertheless.

As Pamina, Taryn Fiebig combines exquisite purity of sound with rounded colour, finding, on pitches in the upper mid-range, timbres of delicate beauty. With its naturalness and and subtly rich tonal spectrum, her voice is near ideal for these Mozart roles.
Brown, affectionately known as "Brownie", was nonplussed when he realised he was having a major technical malfunction on the live 6pm news.

Veteran weather presenter and meteorologist did the weather all from memory after a major technical glitch. Credit:Seven

The veteran meteorologist, who has been delivering forecasts on Seven for 20 years, kept his cool on Wednesday when his weather map malfunctioned, leaving him hamstrung for the two-minute segment.

"Hello, my clicker's playing up. Oh well, it's that time of year," he said before launching straight back into the weather forecast.

Brown, who has been presenting the weather for twenty years, said he was off to buy a new clicker after the show. Credit:Seven

Like Ten's Magdalena Roze, and Seven's Jane Bunn, Brown is a meteorologist as well as a presenter.

His training certainly paid off as he delivered statewide temperatures and rainfall stats in places as far flung as Wangaratta all from memory and with a sense of humour.

"For Victoria, if we had a map we could show you, but you'll just have to believe me," he laughed.
Australia must follow the lead of the United States and outlaw the use of microbeads in all cosmetics, environmental groups say.

The United States Senate passed legislation to phase out the use of microbeads in cosmetics after finding they were detrimental to fish and other aquatic wildlife.

Do Something founder Jon Dee says Australia should have full legislation banning microbeads. Credit:Getty Images

The Senate decision was part of changes to wider chemical safety laws that seek to protect consumers from an array of dangerous chemicals in everyday products.

The ban is set to come into effect early next year, and will impact all cosmetics within the country.
Major supermarket chains and beauty product manufacturers have committed to phasing out the use of microbeads in Australia, following US legislation to ban the tiny plastic particles that damage waterways and oceans.

Coles and Woolworths have promised to stop using microbeads in their own products from 2017, while global companies including Unilever, Beiersdorf, Johnson & Johnson and The Body Shop have already commenced the phase-out.

Australian companies move to phase out microbeads from beauty products. Credit:Getty Images

Microbeads are small pieces of plastic commonly found in facial cleansers, body scrubs and soap. They are washed into waterways where they settle into sediment.
Miranda Kerr has spoken about the new man in her life, and it seems things are getting serious.

The Australian model told The Edit, the magazine of luxury fashion retailer Net-a-Porter, that she stepped her relationship with 25-year-old Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel up to the next level, by introducing him to her young son.

Miranda Kerr and Evan Spiegel at LAX in Los Angeles in August 2015. Credit:Getty Images

According to Kerr, 32, Spiegel was introduced five-year-old Flynn, her son with ex-husband Orlando Bloom (from whom she separated in 2013) only after they had been dating for six months: a period of time that she and Bloom had agreed upon when they separated.

"We had to know the person for six months and feel good about them," she said.
A woman whose Instagram handle was reportedly being courted by one of the world's most recognisable fashion brands has allegedly had her account hacked and handle stolen by a phishing scam, less than a day after Instagram reinstated access to her account following a suspected copyright claim.

Until this morning, Chanel Bonin, a 20-year-old from Canada, was the owner of the @chanel Instagram handle.

Chanel Bonin, 20, has lost her Instagram handle. Credit:chanel827372/Instagram

However, following a suspected phishing scam, she has lost her prized handle, and is now the displeased owner of the account "@chanel827372".

For the past two weeks, Bonin had not been able to access her @chanel account, after Instagram allegedly disabled access to the account without explanation.
Who has perfect-looking labia? Porn movies showing impossibly smooth-looking, Barbie doll-like genitalia seem to suggest that everyone should, and they've been blamed for a rise in labiaplasty surgery.

But a new Australian study has found that all that may be needed from dissuading women from undergoing unnecessary surgery is a major reality check, in the form of a short educational video.

Labiaplasty is one of the fastest growing cosmetic procedures in Australia.

Flinders University psychology researchers surveyed 136 female undergraduate students and measured the effectiveness of two online resources  one a video, the other a photo resource  designed to improve women's knowledge of the variation in normal genital appearance and their attitudes towards their own genitals.

The study, published in Body Image: An International Journal of Research, comes as the number of labiaplasty procedures continues to rise.
Under food safety laws, Australian eggs are washed, inspected for cracks, graded and kept in cool rooms on farms before being transported in refrigerated trucks to reduce the risk of bacterial survival. But Brian Ahmed, president of the egg group at the Victorian Farmers Federation, said keeping eggs refrigerated in supermarkets remains the "missing link" in the food safety chain. "It should be treated exactly like raw meat  don't look at an egg any different way," he said. Connor Thomas, adjunct senior lecturer in microbiology at the University of Adelaide, also urged grocery stores to keep eggs in a cool environment. "That way you minimise the growth, increase the storage time, and minimise the risk," Dr Thomas said.

The calls come as the rate of salmonella infections rises across the country, with up to 40 per cent of cases linked to contaminated eggs. In 2015 there were 58 cases per 100,000 people in Victoria, twice the infection rate of 10 years ago, health department data shows. A total of 3404 people in Victoria suffered salmonella poisoning in 2015  almost 2000 more than a decade earlier. The National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System figures also show that the first three months of the year are a peak period for infections. A total of 36 per cent of salmonella notifications since 1991 were recorded between January and March each year.

The largest outbreaks tend to be at restaurants, which serve food made from raw egg products like tiramisu or aioli. Last year, Melbourne's Langham Hotel was linked to an outbreak due to raw egg mayonnaise, which left 90 people ill and 16 hospitalised. But an Australian Egg Corporation study also found inappropriate storage in retail stores can substantially increase the risk of salmonella with bacterial growth occurring within 10 days in eggs stored at 22 degrees. "Given that commercially produced and graded eggs are given a shelf life of up to 37 days, there is a risk to consumers that eggs will contain substantial numbers of salmonella," the 2006 study, led by Dr Thomas, concluded. Major grocery stores, however, have taken differing views on the issue since there is no legal requirement to keep eggs refrigerated like the United States and Canada.

Coles released a one-line statement when asked about its stores keeping eggs on shelves: "Coles adheres to all health and safety regulations regarding egg storage." But supermarket rival Woolworths pledged it would move all of its eggs into refrigerated cabinets  and had already done so at many stores. "As we roll out our store refurbishment program across the country, any remaining stores will move to refrigerated displays for all fresh eggs," a company spokesman said. Wholesaler Metcash, a major supplier for IGA, said it urges store owners to keep eggs below 5 degrees, but it's not known how many follow the recommendation since stores are independently operated. In a statement, ALDI did not disclose if any of its stores keep eggs in refrigerators.

Woolworths said it will move all eggs into cold storage while rival Coles said it adheres to all health and safety regulations regarding egg storage. Credit:Quinn Rooney Food Standards Australia New Zealand last updated egg safety laws in 2011, but left out a retail requirement for cool storage because it concluded temperature was not a factor in spreading salmonella here if eggs are clean and intact. A spokeswoman said the strain of salmonella present in Australia cannot grow on egg shells, though it could contaminate other foods or get inside the egg when its protective membrane breaks down or the egg is cracked. "It was acknowledged that refrigeration during retail storage may enhance the quality of eggs," she said. "However, this option was excluded early in the standard development process due to the nature of egg shell contamination in Australia and the substantial cost of implementing such an option."
Administrators could be running councils across Sydney and NSW for up to nine months, after the government laid down its latest timetable for compulsory mergers.

In briefings this week, staff and mayors from councils facing mergers were told new councils should be established by the middle of this year but were given no guarantee over who would run councils until elections were held.

Those elections could occur as late as March 2017.

In a letter to mayors, the Minister for Local Government, Paul Toole, said under the Act the government could appoint administrators or existing councillors could continue to run the new entities.
More than 300 Vietnamese students living in Australia have been dudded out of overseas flights ahead of the Lunar New Year in a $500,000 fraud, police believe.

Members of the closed Facebook group Vietnamese Dynamic Students bought discounted Vietnam Airlines tickets through one of its female members. They paid about $1140 each to travel return from Melbourne and Sydney to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Police

But from early January travellers began to notice problems, according to Minh Nguyen, a course co-ordinator who helps run the online student group.

"Some people, they go to the airport and they check in and it says their ticket is invalid," Mr Nguyen said.
Contractors have begun chopping down trees on the edge of Centennial Park to make way for Sydney's $2.1 billion light rail line after protesters unchained themselves peacefully from century-old figs in the wake of warnings from police.

Up to 10 protesters chained themselves to the trees on Thursday night, shortly before contractors began erecting fences along a stretch of Alison Road in Sydney's east.

However, the protesters walked away peacefully from the area several hours later, when police warned them that they would be trespassing on what had been deemed a construction site.

About 40 people also stood nearby to show their support for the protesters and voice their opposition to the removal of about 50 trees along Alison Road and Anzac Parade over the next week.
A "premium" childcare centre that charges up to $180 a day did not respond to or was not aware of a recall on a Samsung washing machine that caught fire and forced the evacuation of 100 staff and children.

Samsung confirmed the recalled top-loader that caught fire on Wednesday at an Only About Children childcare centre on Brook Street in Coogee was not a reworked unit.

This means the top-loader is among the 35 per cent of about 53,300 units in NSW that have not been fixed, replaced or refunded, despite a recall campaign since April 2013.

"Based on details provided to Samsung, we can confirm that the washing machine is not a re-worked unit. We have made contact with the customer to arrange an inspection of the unit," a Samsung spokeswoman said.
Two highly venomous sea snakes found washed up on the NSW south coast recently were returned to the ocean by a brave passerby.

The pair of yellow-bellied sea snakes were discovered at Congo Beach, south of Moruya, several hours apart and returned to the water by Carolyn Larcombe, the ABC reports.

A yellow-bellied sea snake which washed up on Congo beach, south of Moruya. Credit:Wandiyali Images

The Burra resident said she recognised the species after finding another one washed ashore at Broulee.

"It was very quiet [and] I was able to put it over a stick and put it back in the water," she told the ABC.
Curiosity didn't kill this cat.

But it did lead her on a 600km road trip across a large chunk of Queensland.

Coco the cat hitched a ride all the way from the Gold Coast. Credit:Paul Braven/Gladstone Observer

Ten-month-old Coco went missing from her Gold Coast home on Boxing Day, causing owner Kelly Graydon to fear the little rescue cat had come across a snake in nearby bushland.

But after 10 days on the run, Coco was picked up at a shopping centre in Gladstone, central Queensland.
Las Vegas: Tech gadget manufacturers are amping up the cute factor to stand out from the crowd at this year's CES.

Here are some of the more adorable objects and designs from this year's show.

PetBot

If your pet (or you) suffers from separation anxiety, PetBot may be the gadget you've been looking for. This Wi-Fi enabled device has a camera, speaker and treat dispenser. It watches over your pet and sends remote notifications via a smartphone app if it senses your pet is agitated or upset. Call out to your pet via the speaker and drop a treat into the tray. When your pet runs over to the PetBot to grab the treat, PetBot will take a live video "pet selfie" and send it back to you.
WA has lost an internationally-recognised gem with the destruction of the heritage-listed Yarloop Workshops in the South West bushfires.

Some 95 structures were lost including homes and much of the town site as the out-of-control inferno swept through the old timber town, some 130 kilometres south of Perth.

Three people remained unaccounted for on Friday morning.
A radio DJ's daughter has spoken of her terror after a passenger attacked crew members on a British Airways flight, screaming "I have a bomb and you're all going to die".

Steve Penk's daughter Natalie, 27, said she feared for her life after a man began running up and down the aisles, shouting and spitting at staff, during a flight from Heathrow to Dubai.

British Airways plane in flight

After 45 minutes, the man was finally restrained and handcuffed, as he yelled: "I have a bomb and you're all going to die".

Describing the ordeal in an email written to her father - a former Virgin DJ - Natalie said: "It was absolutely dreadful. I've never felt so scared in my life.
Washington: Donald Trump continued to fan the flames of doubt over Senator Ted Cruz's citizenship on Wednesday, suggesting that his Canadian roots might be a problem if he won the Republican presidential nomination.

The decision to confront Cruz more directly comes as Mr Trump, who has dominated most national and state polls for months, faces the prospect of losing to the Texas senator in next month's Iowa caucuses. Senator Cruz, who is popular among evangelical Christians and conservatives, has become a favourite to win the first contest of the nominating process.

Donald Trump has led more than one birther movement. Credit:Bloomberg

The Trump-Cruz clash represents a shift in the Republican race because Trump and Cruz had largely steered clear of each other, professing mutual admiration and agreement on many issues. Mr Trump, a billionaire businessman, warned, however, that he would eventually have to go after Senator Cruz if he continued to rise in the polls. This week, he has started to make good on that threat.

"It's a problem for him, and it's a problem obviously for the Republicans," Mr Trump said on MSNBC's Morning Joe program. "Let's assume he got a nomination and the Democrats bring suit, the suit takes two to three years to solve, so how do you run?"
Brussels: Belgian investigators believe explosives used in the attacks in Paris in November may have been made in an apartment in Brussels that was rented under a false name and where a fingerprint of a key fugitive was found.

Police found material that could be used to make explosives, traces of explosive acetone peroxide and handmade belts during a raid on the apartment on December 10, federal prosecutors said in a statement on Friday.

Police close streets near the Grand Place in Brussels in November. Police found bomb-making material and handmade belts during a raid on a Brussels apartment on December 10. Credit:AP

Belgian newspaper De Standaard, which reported the raid in its Friday edition, said the investigators believed the explosives were probably packed into suicide belts in a hotel outside Paris in the lead-up to the November 13 attacks.

Prosecutors investigating Belgian links to the Paris attacks said the apartment in the district of Schaerbeek had been rented under a false name that might have been used by a person already in custody in connection with the Paris attacks.
Honolulu: Hawaii's last sugar plantation is getting out of the sugar-growing business, signalling the end of an industry that once powered the local economy and lured thousands of immigrants to the islands.

The Alexander & Baldwin company has said it will phase out sugar by the end of 2016. Its 14,600-hectare Maui plantation will be divided into smaller farms to grow biofuels and food crops. Some of the land will be irrigated to supply pasture to cattle ranchers.

Workers cut sugar cane at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, Hawaii's last sugar plantation, in Puunene. Credit:AP

All 675 people who work for the company's Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar subsidiary will be laid off. About half will be retained through the final sugar harvest.

"This is a sad day for A&B, and it is with great regret that we have reached this decision," Alexander & Baldwin chief executive Christopher Benjamin said.
POINTE BLANCHE:---- Members of Parliament (MPs) attending this weeks Inter-parliamentary Kingdom Consultation (IPKO) had the opportunity on Thursday afternoon to visit the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise & Cargo Facility.

After visiting the Seven Seas Water Desalination Plant, the delegation of MPs from the Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten gathered at the Cruise Terminal Building which overlooks the cruise piers and Great Bay where Port St. Maarten Chief Executive Officer Mark Mingo gave a brief overview of port operations.

In port was the Celebrity Silhouette and Allure of the Seas as well as two giga-yachts. This provided an opportunity to see cruise operations underway where thousands of passengers and crew were moving around either heading back to the ship or patronizing one of the gift stores at the port or making use of the internet Wi-Fi services.

Mingo explained about the distribution network that is in place in order to get passengers from one point to the next which includes walking to Philipsburg, taxi service, tour busses, and water-taxi.

The delegation which also included MPs Hon. Sarah Wescot-Williams, MP Hon. Cornelius de Weever, MP Hon. Leona Marlin-Romeo, and MP Hon. Maurice Lake, were informed about the importance of the Causeway Bridge to facilitate the movement of traffic to the Western side of the island in order to ease congestion; but most importantly, if the Simpson Bay Bridge was to have a technical problem while open, motorists would still be able to use the Causeway to get to the airport area or to Philipsburg and other districts rather than having to drive via the French side.

Mingo explained about the cruise operations and cargo operations; that the company is owned by the Government of Sint Maarten; the importance of the mega-yacht sector and the private jet market; contributions to the BES islands (mainly St. Eustatius, and Saba) where shipping of goods are concerned; the spin-offs for the port by providing fuel services to vessels; the concession fee that is paid by the port to the shareholder; the development of the Simpson Bay Lagoon; and the strategic agreements with Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

The CEO added that Port St. Maarten contributes one third of the Gross Domestic Product of the country which in turn provides thousands of jobs and generates foreign exchange for the government and businesses. He pointed out that various infrastructure enhancements have been made over the years in order to improve the tourism product which is essential for the growth of the destination and its economy.

The Chief Executive Officer also spoke about the agreement with Ernst & Young Advisory Services, to perform an Enterprise Risk Assessment (ERA), which will prepare the harbor group of companies for 2016 and beyond as well as the various financial and operational audits that have been done over the years as part of good corporate governance.

ERA is the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the activities of an organization in order to minimize the effects of risk on an organizations capital and earnings.

Enterprise risk management expands the process to include not just risks associated with accidental losses, but also financial, strategic, operational, and other risks.

Mingo informed the MPs that Port St. Maarten accommodated 1,901,617 cruise passengers in 2015, and is the #1 cruise port in the Caribbean, the second year in a row according to Cruise Fever.net readers who were asked to vote on the best cruise ports in the Caribbean in the 2015 Cruise Fever Fan Awards.

The other nine cruise destinations vying for the number one position were St. Thomas, Cozumel (Mexico), Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands), Grand Turk (Turks & Caicos Islands), San Juan (Puerto Rico), St. Kitts, Oranjestad (Aruba), Ocho Rios (Jamaica), and Roatan (Honduras).

Cruise Fever has been featured in many media outlets including the Drudge Report, CNN, Huffington Post, ABC News, Yahoo, MSN, and ABC Radio. The website receives over 200,000 unique visits a month, with some months reaching over half a million unique readers. Cruise Fever was founded in the Spring of 2011 and is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

At the end of the overview, the delegation headed over to the Walter Plantz Square at Down Street where they received a tour. During snacks and drinks, the MPs were explained about the importance of these types of tourism product enhancement projects which are necessary to generate economic activity for the local population and at the same time offering visitors whether they are cruise or stay-over a new venue to visit which portrays the local culture and heritage.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Chief Prosecutor Ton Maan will soon have to answer to the Parliament of St. Maarten also to the Minister of Justice regarding the statements he made in a presentation at the IPKO meetings. The Chief Prosecutor is quoted as saying that St. Maarten has over 40,000.00 illegals mostly nationals of Haiti residing on the island. He further stated that the St. Maarten has a high rate of human smuggling and a booming prostitution industry, further to that he said the monies the Netherlands is making available to St. Maarten is to fight those types of crimes. The quotes were made in a Dutch newspaper on Friday.

SMN News contacted press prosecutor Karola van Nie who said that the statements published in the newspapers are not that of the islands Chief Prosecutor and that her boss was misquoted. When SMN News asked Van Nie to provide SMN News with the statistics on which the Prosecutors Office based its conclusions Van Nie said that they will not release the full text of presentation which was aired via radio, and that her office will issue a press release which would include figures to back up what was presented the Members of Parliament attending the IPKO meetings.

Instead of sending out the press release the prosecutors office promised to send out they posted this statement on their Facebook page.

"Yesterday, the 7th of January 2016, the Prosecutors Office, on invitation of the IPKO (Interparlementair Koninkrijksoverleg), gave a presentation to members of parliament. Focus of the presentation was the combat of human trafficking and human smuggling. In this presentation the Prosecutors Office stressed it is satisfied with the progress the Country of Sint Maarten has made in dealing with human trafficking. A growing number of government agencies is busy adapting its rules and regulations and is closely working together with law enforcement to effectively tackle this very complex issue. This is a huge challenge, since the country of Sint Maarten has to deal with a constant flow of economical immigrants. People tend to say that there are just as many legal as illegal inhabitants. The truth of the number is hard to verify, but recent criminal cases (like investigation Sandpiper) has shown that on regular basis smuggling boats filled with illegal immigrants are going to and from Sint Maarten. Unfortunately, economical refugees tend to fall into the hands of people who abuse their hopeless situation. Exploitation is punishable under the new Penal Code, but its fair to say that it has not been the focus of prosecution, due to lack of capacity for investigation. At this moment the focus lies on investigating and successfully prosecuting human trafficking in the sexindustry. On Sint Maarten there are 12 sexclubs in which yearly approximately 475 prostitutes and 150 dance girls are working. All the prostitutes come from the Dominican Republic and Colombia. These statistics are based on figures from the Ministry of VSA and are based on the amount of working permits in 2014. The prosecutors office made a comparison with the amount of prostitutes in the city of Amsterdam. The estimation of the amount of sexworkers per day in the window-, club- and  streetprostitution in Amsterdam is 650 (Source: A. van Wijk, A.Nieuwenhuis, D. van Tuyn, T. van Ham, J. Kuppens en H. Ferwerda Een onderzoek naar de prostitutiebranche in Amsterdam, 2010). A careful estimation of the amount of sexworkers per day in the clubprostitution on Sint Maarten is 200 (Source: statistics of VSA, amount of workingpermits (for 6 months) in 2014). Compared to the total inhabitants, 800.000 in Amsterdam and 40.000 on Sint Maarten, this means that on Sint Maarten there are 6 times as many prostitutes than in Amsterdam. These statistics are even less favourable for Sint Maarten since there is no view on street prostitution. Prostitution in itself is not punishable. The exploitation of a sexclub in principle is also not punishable. But, the larger the prostitutionbranche, the more difficult it is for law enforcement and supervisory agencies to have a clear view on what is happening. The Prosecutors Office stresses that criminal law is not the ultimate solution to the problem, but it can give a direction with which government can proceed. In the end the key of success lies in cooperation of all key partners."
Oakridge Announces New Corporate Image, Branding and Media Communications Tools as it Enters Full-Scale Production for 2016

MELBOURNE, FL  (Marketwired)  01/07/16  Oakridge Global Energy Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB: OGES) is pleased to announce its new corporate image, branding and media communications tools in conjunction with its ramp up to full production of its best in class lithium-ion Proudly Made in USA batteries and energy storage products.

As a key part of its new corporate image and branding, Oakridge now has a sharp new-look website () that highlights the companys global market and presence, and which is in keeping with its corporate mission to become the leading Made in USA producer of lithium-ion batteries and energy storage products. The new website now also contains easy-to-access product details for the reference of wholesale consumers and direct customers alike. The revamped site can also be accessed by using Oakridges old domain name, .

Oakridge has also partnered with DreamTeamNetwork (DTN) to create an innovative Investor relations (IR) package that provides excellent detail for potential customers and investors regarding the company and its products.

This new IR package can be viewed at

Having successfully completed a total revamp of the companys business and products during 2014 and 2015, Oakridge continues to improve every aspect of its business, and media and communications tools like these are no exception, says OGES executive chairman and CEO Steve Barber. These new tools are fantastically well-designed and provide improved information regarding all aspects of our business. The new website and IR package provide Oakridge with a major point of differentiation over our competitors in the Far East, and these media and communications tools that we have just launched are absolutely best in class. Being in the battery business, we have reviewed websites from over 100 companies that are in the industry worldwide. Investors and customers demand easy access and good communication and we again lead the industry by delivering these tools.

The new branding also addresses increasing interest and demand for information on Oakridges revolutionary energy storage technology.

This new corporate image and branding, embodied in the dramatic, crisp new website and the matching investor relations package were inspired by requests and questions from our various customers, investors and suppliers about the company and its game-changing Made in USA lithium-ion battery and energy storage products, said vice president of Oakridge Corporate Communications Suzanna Barber. Our goal is to be a global leader in all aspects of the world battery market, and our new media and communications tools are a key part in that process of getting the exciting Oakridge message out and allowing Oakridge to take its rightful place in the global marketplace.

DTN Managing Director Mike McCarthy adds, Weve worked closely with Oakridge for several months now and are increasingly impressed with the companys technology, vision, and capability to execute its expansion strategies. Management is a pleasure to work with and were proud to put our name and resources behind the Oakridge brand. The sleek new website and factual IR kit demonstrate Oakridges commitment to clear communication and presentation.

Oakridge continues to grow and expand as planned. During 2015 and into 2016 Oakridge has continued to exceed targets for hiring of employees, acquisition of capital equipment for factory automation, and providing innovative and informative tools to keep stakeholders fully engaged in company activities. This is another example of how this Proudly Made In The USA manufacturing company is aggressively serving its target markets. Oakridge is fully engaging with the world lithium battery market in every aspect. The new 69,000-square-foot facility at 3520 Dixie Highway in Melbourne, Florida, is now fully operational with production ramping up rapidly since reopening after the Christmas period on January 4. Oakridge will also be attending several major industry trade shows in the first quarter of 2016 to roll out exiting new products.

Oakridge Global Energy Solutions Inc. is a publicly traded company, trading symbol: OGES on the OTCQB with a market capitalization of approximately USD $ 250,000,000, whose primary business is the development, manufacturing and marketing of energy storage products. Additional information can be accessed on the companys website

Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: anticipate, believe, continue, could, estimate, expect, intend, may, ongoing, plan, potential, predict, project, should, will, would, or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time the statements are made and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements in this press release. This press release should be considered in light of all filings of the Company that are contained in the Edgar Archives of the Securities and Exchange Commission at .

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2016 Cantech Investment Conference Features a Conversation With Uber Canadas Ian Black

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA  (Marketwired)  01/07/16  Editors Note: There is an image and a photo associated with this press release.

The 2016 Cantech Investment Conference, to be held January 26 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, is pleased to welcome Uber Canadas .

Ian Black is the General Manager of , a technology company that is reinventing transportation in cities across Canada and around the globe. Not only has Uber transformed the traditional taxi and limo industry in just four years, it has pioneered inexpensive on-demand transportation with ridesharing and . Before Uber, Mr. Black developed his business and startup acumen at Bain & Co, Google, INSEAD and Helios Solar Energy.

We are very pleased to welcome Ubers Ian Black to Canadas largest technology conference, Cantech16, said Cantech Letter Founder and Editor, Nick Waddell. Canadians across the country are interested in the advances that Uber has made and the influence it has had not only in business, but also in how cities employ innovation to improve the lives of their residents. We look forward to exploring Ubers initiatives in Toronto and across the country.

I look forward to speaking with my colleagues in the tech community at Cantech 2016 said Uber Canadas General Manager, Ian Black. This is an exciting time to be a technology company in Canada and Im excited to share more on some of the things Uber is doing in cities across the country and around the world.

The Cantech Investment Conference is sponsored by the TSX, DLA Piper, PwC, and Haywood Securities.

For more conference information and online registration visit the following link

About the Cantech Investment Conference

Now entering its third year, The Cantech Investment Conference is where Canadas next great technology companies meet the investment community. The conference, brought to you by Cantech Letter and Cambridge House International, attracts public market investors, VCs, angel investors and media to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for a one-day exhibit and presentation. Past speakers include Chris Hadfield, Sir Terry Matthews, and Dragons Den star Michael Wekerle. This years conference takes place January 26. For more information on the conference please visit the following link .

About Cambridge House International Inc.

Founded in 1995 Cambridge House International Inc. has grown to be the world leader in producing investment conferences held throughout North America. Cambridge House Conferences bring industries together for impactful two-day events where attendance includes novice to expert retail, accredited and institutional investors. The conferences are a monumental place for networking, education and investment discovery.

To view the image and the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following links:

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Cambridge House International Inc.

Karen Renaud

1-877-363-3356 / 604-398-5356
A funny, but al too true, blog about being sober in Ireland.

I am, I have realised, the walking emodiment of Mr Burn's search for 'something so rare that mankind has searched for it since the dawn of time' - a sober Irishman. As a Celt who used to drink, but now doesn't, I have come to learn that not drinking alcohol places you at a little bit of an angle to things when one is in the Emerald Isle. To spare you the My Booze Hell story, suffice it to say that like almost everyone else I know, I spent most of the Tiger years blowing my new found Pot of Gold on whiskey, before realising that if I continued in this vein, I would end up as one of those tedious boozy gents-of-a-certain-age that one sees propping up bars all over Dublin: The boring old Irish boozer with a twinkle in his eye and a well-worn anecdote or two in his pocket, who will tell you a story about that time he went drinking with Shane McGowan if you'll only buy him a pint.It was unlikely of course that I or any of my friends would have ended up sitting insensible in a pool of our own wazz at a train station, most of us so-called Tiger Cubs (I know, Im sorry) were from far too decent backgrounds for that ever to happen. It was more likely that like countless millions of talented Irish people before me, I would have ended up having an uneventful, frustrated life of dissipated talents whose central lynchpin was drinking booze. Chances are you have at least two or three friends who have ended up or are on their way towards such a fate. Mercifully for them, nobody in Ireland would be so rude as to stage interventions or hustle them into a van and drive them to rehab - The downward spiral is usually laughed off with a wave of the hand and a sigh: "Ha, ha, he's a legend that one!"So, having discovered over the past two years what Ireland looks like through the bottom of a 7up glass, I feel its only my duty to scoop up what little urinal cakes of wisdom I have gleaned from the well-piddled on bowl that is the Irish drinking scene: This, if I may presume, is my advice for those considering a booze-less life in Ireland that doesnt involve joining the Moonies or becoming so alienated you feel like climbing the Spire with a sniper Rifle:(1) Pubs Really Are Incredibly Boring Places:A sacred cow of a certain sentimental sort of drinker is that pubs are lively places full of anecdote and sparkling conversation, where revolutions are forged, dreams dreamed, poems conceived and novels born. In some way the alchemy of alcohol manages to turn a dingy little room full of people making small talk into a literary salon full of fascinating agile minds. By and large the conversations that people have in pubs are a good deal more boring than the conversations they have elsewhere, due to the volume of other people's conversations, the music, and the fact that alcohol makes you not give a toss about boring the arse off other people.As a non-drinker, that is what a pub is and for the most part it is to be endured. If possible try and steer things towards pubs that have other things to do in them: A live band, a dance floor, a stripper, a fistfight or a game of darts, are all reasonable ways to keep your mind active while the drunks around you are emptying their minds of whatever uninteresting silt has gathered in them over the week.(2) House Parties:Now this is where it's at. House parties actually are fun. Therefore you dont need to alter your brain chemistry with fermented fruit juices in order to enjoy them. Not only do they cost almost nothing, they are usually far closer to the spirit of what the drinking life is supposed to be all about: At house parties you can usually meet and talk to new people very easily, which, despite the propaganda, actually happens quite rarely in pubs/clubs. You can usually dance (to good music) and there is a far better, less posey vibe at most of 'em.Plus the people at a house party are filtered for your delectation: If its a friend's party, chances are its full of the sort people you'd actually like to meet: Not the random collection of social driftwood that washes up at the doors of whatever nightclub you've ended up in. Plus, at a house party, if you get bored, you can simply pack up and go to another room and talk to somebody else. Try that in a Dublin pub where the 10 square inches of floor space you've conquered to place your feet on has to be guarded like it was Tokyo real-estate.(3) Fun Things Are Still Fun:Music, gigs, dancing, festivals and good conversation with interesting people are actually more fun when you don't drink than when you do. Its just that as an Irish person, you've probably spent most of your life not really giving a **** where you go on Saturday night as long as there's a bar.Also, it is nice not to have to approach your night as if it was a chemistry experiment, as you are forced to do when you're a drinker: "O.K. Ill have one beer at 8, before the support band, and another at 8:30 before the main band comes on, so Ill have nice little glow on when the first song starts: Then Ill have to go for a whizz at 9:00, have another 2 beers before they finish the set, so that I peak somewhere about the last song, but Im not too drunk to chat up girls at the end, but not too sober either as Id feel self-conscious, which will hopefully give me a window of about two pints to see if there's anything fun happening afterwards, and make sure I dont pass the Magic Pint that gives me a filthy hangover the next day." It is actually kind of liberating not to have to think in those terms.(4) Things That Aren't Fun Aren't Fun:One of the magic things about the old electric soup is the way it papers over the cracks between human beings, even if the cracks are of the order of The Marianas Trench. When I was drinking I could probably have sat at a table with Hitler and said "Ah well, 6 million aint so bad, sure we all make mishtakes, ya wannnotherdrink?"When you don't drink, people that are irritating/boring/objectionable/sexually unattractive/murderous fascist dictators, remain so. You thus have to be far more selective about who you hang out with than you used to. You actually will find it annoying to talk about Rugby for 2 hours with some D4 arse-wipe, whereas before you'd probably have thought "Am n't I a wonderful expansive social chameleon for talking to this guy who's completely different to me. What an interesting experience this is!"This experience, can, of course lead one screaming back to Auntie Ethanol, as the terrifying realisation dawns that things which one had previously considered the apex of fun, are actually really dull. This of course is all part of the deal, once you've coped with this realisation, you'll probably want to go and find things to do that actually are fun, which will make your life far more interesting. This phenomenon has it's reverse side, too, of course. Ask any of your friends who are betrothed to the booze why they do it and they'll probably answer "Cause there's **** all else to do in Ireland!". And then notice that when they go abroad they do exactly the same amount of drinking. One of the major effects of drinking too much is to make you think that drinking too much is the only way to have fun.Remember too, that drinkers will tend to use what I call the Keith Richards Defence: The idea that there is some essential connection between alcohol and youth, fun, freedom, sex, music, socialising and having a good time. That if you give it up, you necessarily have to become a bit of a Ned Flanders. This couldnt be further from the truth: The only sense in which not drinking makes you a Neddie, is in the sense that you dont drink.All the other stuff remains unchanged, except that you enjoy it more. How many drunken one night stands do you actually enjoy (or even remember) ? How many hundreds of times have you had a drunken heart-to-heart with somebody, that you thought was an epiphany, only to wake up the next day and think "Oh Jesus, what was I saying.." Have you noticed alcohol ever make a non-fun person fun? Its effect is mostly the opposite: It generally takes fun talkative people, and in the course of a few hours reduces them to sitting subdued staring into their glass or prattling on in a loud voice about nothing.That it makes people more open and sociable is also a myth: I have watched numerous drunks and always see how at the beginning of a night, social interaction proceeds as normal. Once people pass The Magic Pint , no meaningful social interaction takes place: People talk, but dont listen, and eye contact often dissipates: It is as if by creating a soft cushion around each drinker that reduces social anxiety, past a certain point it becomes a suit of armour: Everybody is oblivious to everyone else, even though each thinks they are relating more deeply than they normally do. Its a very odd illusion.Yet it is a pervasive one. Imagine we lived in a country that beleived that looking at porn and having sex were intimately connected: One in which most people looked at porn before, during and after the real thing, and it was widely beleived that looking at porn made people better in bed, and that people who dont look at porn are probably sexually frigid. Yet as most of us know, the guy with the massive stash of scruffy mags under his bed is in fact usually the least likely guy to be a sexual dynamo. He is more likely to be a jizz-spattered, hollow-eyed virgin who never leaves the house. We all know that looking at eyefuls of porn is probably more likely to diminish your interest in sex with real people than enhance it.The same is to a certain extent true of Alcohol: In Ireland we tell ourselves that a chemical subsitute for a good time, is a necessary component of having a good time. When actually it's really a fairly grotty little tranquiliser - good for mashing up your brains when you're a feudal peasant who works the land from dawn till dusk, useful for easing the aches, pains and boredom of old age, but not something that engenders youth , vigour and energy. Yet amazingly, we've somehow got it into our heads, that it is the very bottled essence of same. In reality - it is only because young people are so full of vigour and energy anyway, that they can afford to quash it by drinking booze.Of course I realise, that for uttering the above words, I have resigned myself to the ranks of the terminally uncool. I sound like a bitter old man. A Fun-Black-Hole. Or worse - like John ******* Waters. Which is of course a fair accusation, to which the only answer I can supply is this:Think of Valium - The original Mother's Little Helper, a relaxant drug first used in the 60s for panic attacks, anxiety and depression. Most of us associate Valium with highly neurotic people, uptight housewives and people in Woody Allen movies. It has a reputation as something of a dull, bourgeois person's drug, a sort of Soma for the uptight hard-working professional.Imagine somebody asked you "You dont take Valium? Jesus, you must be so stressed out!" - you would rightly laugh at them, thinking, "there's no necessary connection between Valium and relaxation, unless you happen to be massively neurotic in the first place" We have this clear-eyed attitude to Valium, because it is a niche drug, one used by a small percentage of the population and so we are not blind to it's effects. Alcohol, by contrast is used by everyone and his auntie - and thus it is difficult to see it with the same clarity as a drug on the sidelines. We have built up fairly ridiculous notions about what it's affects really are.This is the major reason that those DrinkAware ad campaigns are so bad: They all show ordinary, hard-working, decent citizens who are not amused by your irrational, unpredictable drunken antics and are sniffing at you: "Ive Had Enough." - One is a nurse, another is a shop-steward who has to mop up your barfed-up Guinness, the other an old man who's trying to enjoy a nice nap and is being woken up by the sound of you being young, and having fun, which he hasn't done since 1972.I promised myself when I finished my arts degree that I would never use the word 'paradigm' again, but here goes anyways: The DrinkAware campaign feeds directly into the paradigm of "Drinkers: Fun, irrational, creative, rock'n'roll etc." vs "Non Drinkers: Boring working stiffs with rods up their asses who never cut loose." The campaign is thus feeding directly into the whole idea that life without drink is life without fun: It is literally screaming at you from the ad-hoardings: "Get out there and have a drink before The Man gets his hook in you and you end up living alone and writing letters to the Irish Times that begin 'A Chara, I was shocked and appalled.."We often hear it touted as a result that we need to adopt a more 'continental' attitude towards drinking, and you can actually hear the collective sigh that goes through Irish people when this is proffered: "Oh god, drinking little snifters of weak beer in tapas bars, and having to endure 4 hour meals with only a glass and a half of wine for comfort. Sounds like a barrell of laughs. - Sure aren't all those Continentals a bunch of dry shites anyway, and sure isn't getting arseholed part of our culture?" (Cue anecdote involving Brendan Behan/Paddy Kavanagh et al getting lamped in McDaids back in the day).Suggesting 'Continental' drinking as the solution feeds into the, ahem, paradigm, as well: It feels a bit like your ma scolding you by saying "Now why can't you be more like your sister, she never sets fire to her toys with lighter fluid and a magnifying glass, now does she?". Plus it reeks of a sort of Middle-Class Missionaryism - you feel as if the same people would offer organ recitals and watercolour classes as a cure for inner-city smack addiction.So what, as they used to say, Is To Be Done? Well it would be nice, of course, if Irish people did drink a bit more like Continentals, but as Irish people, we are generally gonna turn round and tell you to get ****** if you ever tell us there is anything we ought to be doing - a legacy of 400 years of being told what to do, some might say. Here for what they are worth would be my suggestions:(1) Remove all the stupid new laws that make alcohol worth it's weight in gold after 10 o clock. Making things illicit and officially frowned-upon is a sure-fire way to make them attractive to human beings. If those humans are shirty, rebellious fuckers like the Irish, this is doubly true.(2) Free Swimming Pools/Saunas/Gyms for all: The people who use the poor weather as an excuse for Irish drinking do actually have a point: There are only a few things in life that give you that "Aaaahh.." feeling of physical release that the first pint does so well: The knot in your belly loosens, the shoulders relax: Sex, exercise, basking in the sunshine and for some deeply Amniotic reason, swimming in a pool seems to have the same effect.Well, obviously the sunshine isn't something we can guarantee, but taking access to these simple pleasures to people who cant afford a yearly subscription to some poncy gaff like Westwood would be a good step in the right direction.(3) Encourage an attitude to alcohol that is not more 'sensible' and 'responsible' and other boring sounding words: But one that simply sees alcohol as one option among many: Not the central Alpha and Omega of life that many Irish see it as now.What needs to be done is not to make drinking booze in huge quantities seem dark and dangerous (thus increasing it's attractiveness) , or inconvenient and messy (making it seem Rock'N'Roll), but make it seem boring and unsexy - a tedious, predictable downer drug, that makes people drool on themselves, bore their friends and fail to perform in the sack. Ads that try and make drinking booze seem pathetic and life-destroying will fail too - for most people that's not their experience of it, so they write such ads off as scare-mongering.Perhaps an ad which, instead of showing some tragic hollow-eyed wasted teen, struggling to stay aloft on her high heels, or a vicious drunken ******* beating hell out of his wife, show some real, terrifying footage of a middle-class dullard pontificating about house prices to an audience of ordinary ugly people, who aren't listening to him. Then show a fat secretary making horrible cringeworthy sexual advances on a pimply office boy at a Christmas party. Anything, just make sure it's DULL.Cause that, ultimately is the thing - Booze is not Baudelaire jacking himself up on Absinthe and pouring forth with Les Fleurs Du Mal, it's not Tom Waits howling at the moon or Hemingway wrestling bears. It is basically a fairly low-grade sedative that slows down your brain and makes tedious things seem endlessly fascinating. It does not allow you an entry pass into worlds of imagination and creativity that would otherwise be barred to you. In fact, a casual glance around my local pub would reveal at least a dozen would-be writers, musicians and artists that haven't created jack in years, due to being more interested in talking about creativity down the pub, than in actually staying up till 3 in the morning making something.
'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' won't be on TV this year: How to see it
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.
A major step has been taken to coordinate U.S. agencies and intergovernmental efforts to respond to future near-Earth objects that threaten Earth.

NASA has announced the creation of a Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). Lindley Johnson, NASA's current near-Earth object (NEO) program executive will lead the newly established office. The PDCO will reside within NASA's Planetary Science Division, in the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.

"The formal establishment of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office makes it evident that the agency is committed to perform a leadership role in national and international efforts for the detection of these natural impact hazards, and to be engaged in planning if there is a need for planetary defense," Johnson said in a NASA statement. [Photos: Potentially Dangerous Asteroids in Space]

NASAs Lindley Johnson will head the space agencys new Planetary Defense Coordination Office. (Image credit: Leonard David)

Planetary defense duties

What will the office do? It will be responsible for:

Supervision of all NASA-funded projects to find and characterize asteroids and comets that pass near Earth's orbit around the sun;

Lead the coordination of interagency and intergovernmental efforts to plan response to any potential impact threats.

Improve and expand on past efforts with other U.S. federal agencies and departments, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Continue to assist with the coordination across the U.S. government, including planning for response to an actual impact threat and working in conjunction with FEMA, the Department of Defense, other U.S. agencies, and international counterparts.

Issue notices of close passes and warnings of any detected potential NEO impacts, based on credible science data.

Collaborative relationship

"FEMA is dedicated to protecting against all hazards, and the launch of the coordination office will ensure early detection and warning capability, and will further enhance FEMA's collaborative relationship with NASA," said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate in a press statement.

"Even if intervention is not possible, NASA would provide expert input to FEMA about impact timing, location, and effects to inform emergency response operations. In turn, FEMA would handle the preparations and response planning related to the consequences of atmospheric entry or impact to U.S. communities, NASA explains in its announcement of the new PDCO.

NASA and FEMA were not the only agencies lauding the new planetary defense project. The National Science Foundation (NSF) also hailed the event.

"NSF welcomes the increased visibility afforded to this critical activity," said Nigel Sharp, program director in the agency's Division of Astronomical Sciences. "We look forward to continuing the fruitful collaboration across the agencies to bring all of our resources  both ground-based and space-based  to the study of this important problem."

Wake-up call

More than 13,500 near-Earth objects of all sizes have been discovered to datemore than 95 percent of them since NASA-funded surveys began in 1998. About 1,500 NEOs are now detected each year.

One recent event that some experts have dubbed a a 21st century wake-up call was the Chelyabinsk meteor explosion over Russia in 2013 . That event cast a new spotlight on the potential dangers from the heavens and helped prod international resolve to deal with NEOs in an organized manner.

For its part, NASA's long-term planetary defense goals include developing technology and techniques for deflecting or redirecting objects that are determined to be on an impact course with Earth.

This Chelyabinsk sky rendering is a reconstruction of the asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia on Feb. 15, 2013. Scientific study of the airburst has provided information about the origin, trajectory and power of the explosion. This simulation of the Chelyabinsk meteor explosion by Mark Boslough was rendered by Brad Carvey using the CTH code on Sandia National Laboratories Red Sky supercomputer. Andrea Carvey composited the wireframe tail. (Image credit: Photo by Olga Kruglova. Credit: Sandia National Laboratories.)

Reduce the risk

The recently passed federal budget for fiscal year 2016 includes $50 million for NEO observations and planetary defense, representing a more than ten-fold increase since the beginning of the President Obama administration.

Indeed, within the White House National Space Policy released on June 28, 2010, it notes under "Civil Space Guidelines" that the Administrator of NASA shall: "Pursue capabilities, in cooperation with other departments, agencies, and commercial partners, to detect, track, catalog, and characterize near-Earth objects to reduce the risk of harm to humans from an unexpected impact on our planet and to identify potentially resource-rich planetary objects."

For more information on NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, this website is to be updated with additional details:

https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense.

Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is former director of research for the National Commission on Space and is co-author of Buzz Aldrin's 2013 book "Mission to Mars  My Vision for Space Exploration" published by National Geographic with a new updated paperback version released in May 2015. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
This image of the massive galactic cluster IDCS 1426 combines data taken by three major NASA telescopes. The off-center core of X-rays is shown in blue-white near the middle of the cluster, and was captured by Chandra. Visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope is green, and infrared light from Spitzer is shown in red.

KISSIMMEE, Fla.  The most massive collection of galaxies in the early universe has been spotted. Although not the largest collection of galaxies ever found, it holds the record as the largest group in the early universe, appearing surprisingly old for the time.

"Of all the structures we've ever seen, this is the most massive in the first 4 billion years of the universe," astronomer Mark Brodwin, of the University of Missouri at Kansas City, said at a news conference unveiling the discovery here at the 47th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Brodwin led the team that identified the evolved ancient galaxy cluster.

"It should be consistent with the largest cluster in the observable universe." [The History and Structure of the Universe in Images]

A young monster

Galaxy clusters are collections of galaxies that formed once stars and individual galaxies had been built. Gravity binds hundreds of thousands of galaxies together in collections so large, they can distort the fabric of space-time. According to present understanding, the massive objects should take billions of years to form.

In 2012, scientists used NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to measure the galactic cluster IDCS 1426, which lies approximately 10 billion light-years from Earth. Because light takes a full year to travel the distance of 1 light-year, that means astronomers are able to study the cluster as it appeared when the universe was only 3.8 billon years old. [Related: How Old Is the Universe?]

Initial estimates suggested that IDCS 1426 contained an enormous mass at a significant distance, but were not conclusive. Brodwin and his colleagues decided to use NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, Keck Observatory and Chandra X-ray Observatory to refine measurements of the mass of the cluster, using three different methods.

Hubble and Keck studied IDCS 1426 in optical light. Because clusters bend space-time, they are frequently used as natural magnifying glasses to observe objects behind the cluster in a process known as gravitational lensing. A more massive cluster produces a higher gravitational force that bends the light more strongly; by observing how the light traveled around the cluster, the scientists could calculate its weight.

At the same time, Chandra studied the object in the X-ray wavelength. The more massive a galaxy cluster is, the more the gas within it is compressed and heated, producing more X-rays. By observing those X-rays, the scientists were able to compute the mass of the cluster.

All three observations independently provided a mass 250 trillion times higher than the mass of the sun, or 1,000 times more massive than the Milky Way.

IDCS 1426 is not the most massive galaxy cluster in the universe. That distinction is held by a massive cluster that lies only 7 billion light-years from Earth. Known informally as 'El Gordo,'the hefty cluster weighs in at a whopping 3 quadrillion times the mass of the sun (that's 3 followed by 15 zeros, or one thousand million million). However, according to Brodwin, the cluster is on track to grow into something that large.

"Statistically speaking, it is a progenitor of 'El Gordo,'" he said.

After another 3 billion years, the ancient collection should weigh in fairly close to the larger cluster.

The research will be published in The Astrophysical Journal, though a preprint of the study is available on the site Arxiv.org.

A sloshing core

The enormous mass of IDCS 1426 in the early in the life of the universe isn't the only indication of its unusual evolution. In addition to studying its mass, Chandra also took the temperature of the heart of the distant cluster, and found something surprising.

The core of a galactic cluster is an active place, with objects moving around and bumping into one another. This ongoing activity keeps the core hot for the cluster's early lifetime. Once things slow down, however, conditions in the core begin to relax, and the center begins to release energy in the form of X-rays, causing the center to slowly cool.

Chandra revealed a bright knot of X-rays at the center of IDCS 1426 that were surprisingly cool. In fact, it is the first "cool core" cluster at such an early age in the universe. The cool heart of the cluster provides even more evidence for its formation early in the life of the universe.

"A cool core is a property of an evolved cluster," Brodwin said.

A collision may have added the extra kick to the formation of the young cluster. The cool core lies not in the center of the IDCS 1426 but off to one side by a few hundred thousand light-years.

"When it is hit by another group or cluster, the cool core will slosh around like wine in the bottom of the wine glass," Brodwin said.

"Eventually it will settle towards the center, but it hasn't settled yet."

All of these suggest an advanced age for the cluster that came as a surprise for a feature so early in the life of the universe.

"The cluster looks at least a billion years old," Brodwin said.

"It probably really started forming 2 to 3 billion years earlier, which is very early for something of that size."

Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd or Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, seen aboard the space station in March 2010, will devote part of his next mission, launching in March 2016, to highlighting the significance of the history of the orbiting outpost.

HOUSTON  NASA's next astronaut to launch to the International Space Station will use his unique position  in both time and space  to share the history of the orbiting outpost.

Jeff Williams, in March, will become the first American to spend three long-duration expeditions aboard the space station and will set a new U.S. record for cumulative time off the Earth. The astronaut will dedicate part of his upcoming six-month expedition to highlighting how the orbital complex came to be what it is today.

"It occurred to me a few months ago that I have gotten the unique opportunity to have gone in the early days, before Expedition 1, to the space station for the first time and then to be there again, about halfway through assembly with a crew of two, and then back with a crew of three, and then later with a crew of six," Williams said in an interview after a briefing at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Thursday (Jan. 7). "So my career covers the history of the space station." [Inside the Space Station: Take the Video Tour]

Williams, whose first trip to the outpost was aboard space shuttle Atlantis in May 2000, six months before the space station's first expedition crew arrived, is now set to join the Expedition 47/48 more than 15 years later. He will launch with cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos on Russia's Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 18.

Once aboard the orbital laboratory, Williams, Ovchinin and Skripochka will join Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, U.S. astronaut Tim Kopra and British astronaut Tim Peake with the European Space Agency (ESA), who all launched in December. Later, after those three depart in June, Williams will command the Expedition 48 crew, including Ovchinin and Skripochka, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Anatoli Ivanishin, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

"I'm really looking forward to flying with this crew," Williams said. "I think if you add it up, I've been on orbit with about 45 different people, and this will add at least five more."

During their stay, the Expedition 47/48 crewmembers will facilitate about 250 research investigations and technology demos, as well as oversee the re-supply of the station with the arrivals and departures of American and Russian cargo vehicles. The crew is also expected to be aboard when a prototype habitat, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), is inflated and when the first international docking adapter is installed. This adapter will enable future U.S. commercial crew spacecraft to visit the station.

Amidst that work, Williams intends to devote some of his time and outreach activities to taking a look back at what the station has accomplished and where that might lead as future missions embark outward into the solar system.

"If you go and survey the workforce right now and survey those in the general public who are following what we do, as is always the case, in the minds of many of them they don't have the awareness of how we got to where we are today," Williams said. "So, given my personal history going back ... I thought it would be a good opportunity to rehearse some of the significant milestones and the depth of history behind getting the space station built."

NASA astronaut Jeff Williams with his Soyuz TMA-20M crewmates Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. (Image credit: collectSPACE.com

Williams, whose father was a high school history teacher, said he hopes to remind the world of the significance of the history behind his soon-to-be home off the Earth.

"To me, it is fair to argue that the greatest achievement of the space station program is the space station itself, and that's what I want to try, in some way, to maybe enrich the awareness of the public [about]," he said. "Not so much because of the history, but because of what that history enables us to do in the future."

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2015 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
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SPIEGEL: The equality minister in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (where Cologne is located) has spoken of the "tip of a very dire iceberg." What does this iceberg look like?

Reker: I haven't seen it yet. I clearly live -- at least when it comes to this -- in a protected environment. These days it's no longer even obvious what it is that you need to protect yourself against. That applies here in Cologne as well. But until now, I had been of the belief that the generation of advanced men rejected such inhuman practices.

SPIEGEL: Please excuse us. What is it that you mean by "advanced men"?

Reker: I'm not fond of referring to enlightened men. I'm referring to new generations of men who consider equality to be self-evident.

SPIEGEL: What role does the ethnicity of the perpetrators play?

Reker: You can only surmise in that regard. I've heard speculation that alcohol played a major role. It appears that the men come from a cultural environment in which alcohol cannot be consumed very often in public. But that's no reason for us to impose a ban on drinking alcohol for North African men. That's nonsense. It's imperative that we ensure safety in such squares and in the entire city during the Carnival festivities (in February) and throughout the entire year.

SPIEGEL: Does Germany have a refugee problem?

Reker: We are facing the challenge of integrating the people who are coming here into our society. That also includes drawing them closer to our culture.

SPIEGEL: Leading German feminist Alice Schwarzer claims: "These young men are the sad product of failed integration."

Reker: What is she proposing? I mean, it doesn't mean much for a person to have a North African or Arab appearance. How long have these men been here? Have we already had the opportunity to integrate them or not? I have no idea. We don't know the group of perpetrators. But we do need to start thinking about how we can reach the people who are coming here more quickly. And also about how we can familiarize them with the cultural traditions that we have.

SPIEGEL: Is the frustration of young men palpable to you when you visit accommodations for refugees in Cologne?

Reker: Of course. I have always said that we need to offer more of the federal government's integration courses and faster so that the people can lead self-determined lives. And we can't complain about people not speaking Germany as long as we aren't moving quickly enough to offer them lessons. The people who are coming to us want to change their lives -- otherwise they wouldn't come. We need to take decisive action to help them.

SPIEGEL: There was also a terror warning in Munich on New Year's Eve and a large police deployment. This also meant increased fears in Cologne that overstrained police there. Is there a connection? Are we looking at two sides of the same coin?

Reker: That's difficult to say. For me, terrorist warnings have a different quality because terror is more consciously directed at the general public. But in the final analysis, the crimes that took place here in Cologne were also an attack on our liberal social order. The only question is whether there were any political motivations behind them. There I have my doubts.

SPIEGEL: In what kind of society do we want to live in the future?

Reker: We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed by fear and we cannot subordinate our way of life to this fear. But we also have to pay attention. Among the next steps we need to take is to develop a safety plan for Carnival celebrations in Cologne. Even though the event includes many groups and participants, we as a city do consider ourselves to be the organizer. In the run-up, we need to consider what could happen and what we can do to address it.

SPIEGEL: What does that mean in concrete terms? Will the police deployment be doubled or tripled?

Reker: You'll have to ask the state interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia. I am only able to inform myself and ask questions: What are the people involved doing, and how are they thinking about addressing this? I might also nudge them a bit because that appears to be needed. Ultimately, however, I am not the person who can take responsibility for policing duties.

SPIEGEL: We've read that you want to better explain our Mardi Gras tradition to people from other cultures. What are you planning?

Reker: There are already pictograms for refugees explaining public life in Germany about how to act in this society. We are considering applying the same thing to Carnival.

SPIEGEL: It may be more difficult to explain Carnival traditions than German society in general.

Reker: That's true.

SPIEGEL: How, for example, are you supposed to explain the difference to immigrants -- from North Africa, for example -- between an innocent Carnival peck on the cheek and sexual violence?

Reker: We are going to have to come up with something quickly now with the help of language mediators from this area who can advise us. I don't know if it will help, but we need to do everything we can to keep things from getting out of control. And in Cologne, people get wild when they celebrate Carnival.

SPIEGEL: Will that be the same this year?

Reker: Yes, it will be like it is every year. The only difference is that my costume won't be as spectacular as it usually is this year.

SPIEGEL: What did you dress up as last year?

Reker: Some won't find this to be politically correct, but I dressed up as a Chinese woman last year. Usually, though, I am so well disguised that it is hard to recognize me. I always love that. I will be recognizable this year, but I don't know what I am going to wear yet. I always go through costumes and decide a week before.

SPIEGEL: You have advised women to keep at least an arm's distance from men at major events.

Reker: And I have been subjected to a ton of ridicule and criticism for it.

SPIEGEL: On social media, your advice has been illustrated with a Heil Hitler salute. The New York Times even reported prominently about it.

Reker: During a one and a half hour press conference, I was asked what preventative advice includes. I then gave this example in one sentence. Perhaps it was a bit helpless, but it also shows how helpless our society is when it comes to dealing with such incidents. Ultimately, it depends on the police doing their work and keeping such occurrences from happening in the first place. Of course, that is entirely lost in this debate. It doesn't matter what you do -- many people appear to just be incapable of taking things in the way they are said.

SPIEGEL: So you are sticking with your recommendation?

Reker: I'm sorry that some women have understood this to mean that I am holding them responsible for the violence. But I don't have to apologize for stating an example that is officially referred to by the City of Cologne. Besides, as you may have noticed, nobody is offering any constructive suggestions. I haven't read anyone writing anywhere that the arm's length proposals is nonsense, instead this or that would be better. The federal justice minister and the justice authorities all have considerable expertise in danger prevention. But all we are getting from them at the moment are accusations and little in the way of constructive proposals.

SPIEGEL: Have you landed in the midst of a major gender debate?

Reker: I believe so. And it is one that is completely foreign to me given that I come from an era in which women fought for their equality. I have always had a problem with young women who have given up the opportunities that I helped to fight for.

SPIEGEL: Ms. Reker, you were attacked two months ago during the election. The perpetrator's motive was xenophobic and he wanted to kill you. How is your health today?

Reker: Oh, I'm doing well. People always ask me what it's like having a knife stuck through your throat. In your head, you realize you are being stabbed in public, and it is incredibly demeaning. It's a feeling that may be like rape. I don't know. Thank God I haven't experienced that. But you do get the feeling that you are no longer safe.

SPIEGEL: When you entered into office in December, you weren't yet able to wear the livery collar worn by a lord mayor. It was too heavy. Are you able to now?

Reker: No. My thoracic vertebra was split. It has since grown back together and I hope that I will soon be able to wear it rather than just hold it in my hand.
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The NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans teams worked together to solve one big case that spanned across both cities. Even though this crossover is somewhat overshadowed by the sad news that came out a few days ago, here is my review of both episodes. Since the episodes are so intertwined and there is no reviewer for NCIS: New Orleans on our site, I decided to include part II in this review as well.





About the Author - Daniel van der Veer

Daniel van der Veer is a Dutch university student studying Psychology. On SpoilerTV he is a reviewer of NCIS, The 100, Madam Secretary and Quantico. He also enjoys LOST, Arrow, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Nikita, The Blacklist, Scorpion and How To Get Away With Murder. All Reviews)

Recent Reviews by Daniel van der Veer

The case starts when all communications are lost with a private airplane going from New Orleans to DC. The plane, which was chartered by the military tech company Blye Industries, needs to be stopped as it will run out of fuel somewhere above New York, Philadelphia and Boston. The pilots are dead, so the plan is to remotely shoot down the jet. However, Abby instead takes control of the satellite, which causes the plane to crash land in a reservoir. Pride from New Orleans, who has tracked down the flight manifest, takes a moment off-screen and calls Gibbs to inform him that Abby's brother Luca Sciuto was on board since he is the chef of Jenner Blye, who owns Blye's Industries. Abby does not believe that the brother she grew up is dead. Besides Luca, four other persons were on board: the pilot, the co-pilot, the Senior Vice President of Blye Industries and a Commander Lively. The team finds five bodies at the crash site, including a badly burned Luca. Abby comes to autopsy to identify her brother, but quickly notices the body has its earlobes attached, which Luca doesn't have. Meanwhile, in NOLA, Percy and LaSalle search Luca's apartment and find a bag with two guns, a high-tech bug and a large amount of money. McGee discovers that Commander Lively was supposed to have a meeting with the Secretary of Defense, but the latter has no clue what it could be about. Also, all the passengers on the plane were poisoned by batrachotoxin on the utensils, and the last person to be seen with those utensils is Luca.Gibbs and Bishop head over to Blye Industries and talk with CFO Dalton Greenbrick and Blye's head of security Blake Huxley. Huxley tells them that Jenner Blye went missing after a meeting with Command Lively in New Orleans. Meanwhile, Abby and Tony head to the Colossal Fun Amusement Park in North Carolina after Abby had earlier received a text from her brother, which hinted that he was at the park. After searching for Luca the entire day, Abby finally finds him in the haunted house. Luca tells his sister that he woke up in a motel with no memory of how he got there. As Tony also enters the scene and Abby introduces him to her brother, Tony arrests Luca. It turns out Luca met a woman named Eva at a prayer group at church, and she looks quite suspicious since she uses different cell phones all the time and Eva wouldn't allow Luca to take pictures of her. It is likely that Eva used Luca to gain access to Blye's technology. Fortunately, Brody and Percy find a cartoon at Luca's apartment of him and Eva, which Abby uses to identify her. Her full name is Eva Azarova and she raises flags in five different databases, including the NCIS database. Eva works for Russian diplomatic counselor Anton Pavlenko, and she is likely a sleeper agent. Luca doesn't believe that, but when his phone rings, Eva wants to talk with Gibbs. She figures she has been made and asks Gibbs not to contact Pavlenko through official channels. She also tells him that things aren't always as they seem.Abby locates the call to a certain block, and Luca remembers a Russian restaurant there. Gibbs and Tony head to the restaurant and find Pavlenko. He reveals that the man who took Luca's place on the plane was one of his agents. That agent would take Pavlenko's place in the meeting with the Secretary of Defense. Pavlenko deosn't know anything about the murders and claims that the Russian government stole technology that Blye Industries developed and he spent two days in New Orleans to confirm his suspicions. Pavlenko says he is trying to prevent war and asks Gibbs if he has ever heard of Project Manta Ray. However, before Pavlenko can further explain, he collapses and dies. Turns out that bottle of vodka he was drinking had a poisoned cap. Since Pavlenko's body is the only clue to his whereabouts and Project Manta Ray, it would be best to keep his body out of the hands of the Russian consulate. Meanwhile, Luca tells Abby that he has decided to go back to New Orleans and that he still believes Eva is doing the right thing. Innocent until proven guilty, Luca says.In order to prevent the body from falling into the hands of the Russian consulate, Ducky and Jimmy secretly take the body to New Orleans. The autopsy van is forced to stop, however, when a car stops in front of them and men with guns come out of the car, ending the episode in a cliffhanger......but fortunately the story immediately continues in the NCIS: New Orleans episode. The group orders Jimmy and Ducky to get out of the van, but they don't find Pavlenko's body there. Instead, Bishop has his body in the truck and his driven all the way to New Orleans. Wade is not too happy with an unannounced body, but does an autopsy anyway. Meanwhile, Gibbs and Pride are read in on Porject Manta Ray, which turns out to be a project that created undetectable warships. The project was too costly for the US, but now Russia is interested. The search for Eva Azarova continues as Pride meets Luca at a bar, where Eva also shows up. She tells Pride she hasn't killed anyone, but he says he has to take her in anyway. With Luca's help, Eva escapes. Pride tries to talk sense into Luca, but clearly he isn't listening and still believes Eva is not a spy. Pride keeps him at the office for protection. In the meantime, Wade has examined mosquito bites on Pavlenko's body and Sebastian uses that to find a location on where Pavlenko has been. He was at a place outside of New Orleans, which is owned by Blye Industries. Pride and LaSalle find a very alive Jenner Blye there, who has stayed there for his own safety. However, Blye drinks from his water bottle and collapses. The bottle was poisoned, but fortunately, Blye survived, though he is in danger of having permanent paralysis in his left leg.Blye tells NCIS that Manta Ray was greenlighted for commercial use. It was sold to a Norwegian company for oil exploration, but the company was actually a Russian shell company. It is suspected that Eva was sent to kill everyone involved in the plot, including Luca, who was cooking at the meeting between Jenner Blye, Commander Lively and Pavlenko. Meanwhile, Sebastian and Wade discover a hidden listening device and transmitter hidden in Pavlenko's tooth, meaning they listened to every word that was said in autopsy. Patton traces the signal back to Paulina Kurteva, a former GRU agent who now works in the diplomatic core. Paulina and Pride have a history, but she denies knowing Eva and using the listening devices. Patton installed something on Pride's phone that enables them to listen to the Russians, and Brody and Bishop are tailing Paulina. Paulina and her bodyguards head to Eva's apartment, but then gunshots are heard. All of Paulina's bodyguards are dead, but Brody and Bishop find her in the closet. Eva has once again gotten away.Pride questions Paulina, who says that Eva worked for Pavlenko and that she was spying on Blye. Russia became worried about Pavlenko's loyalties and they sent Paulina to investigate. Eva did not come in when Russia called her in. During the interrogation, Percy comes in with the news that Luca has escaped. Sebastian, who has made his way to DC, tries to calm down a furious Abby, but he badly fails. Abby and Sebastian instead track the serial number on Pavlenko's tooth to a dentist in Moscow. Pride then confronts Paulina and offers to work together by using Eva's tooth implant to track her down. She has reunited with Luca at the museum where they first kissed, but she knew Pride would follow her there. A gunman then starts shooting from the second floor and Eva pushes Luca to safety. Nobody is hit, but LaSalle identifies the shooter as Blake Huxley, Blye's head of security. Eva runs after Huxley and a fight between the two ensues. Just as Huxley is about to kill Eva, Pride steps in and shoots him dead. Eva is then taken in, and she reveals that Pavlenko was her mentor. He found out that Russia had stolen the Manta Ray project and Eva was working to confirm that. She used Luca to draw out Huxley, since he was killing everyone at that meeting. The only remaining question is: who does Huxley work for?That turns out to be Jenner Blye himself, who sold Project Manta Ray to the Russians. He ordered Huxley to kill those involved and even poisoned himself. Jenner is arrested for treason. With the case wrapped, Eva says goodbye to Luca with a kiss. Paulina wants to take Eva with her, but Pride says she needs to go through DoD processing first, which will take a few months. Paulina hopes to see Pride again the next time and Gibbs calls Pride to wrap it all up. Manta Ray is about to hit an iceberg, and Gibbs and Pride boost about their team effort. Until next time!Can they do more of these crossovers please? These two episodes were really enjoyable. Sure, the story was a bit too complicated for its own good, but it did keep up the tension throughout the episodes. We immediately started with a crisis as the plane's communications were down and then the action didn't stop. The two teams worked really well together. Even though they hardly know each other, they are comfortable discussing their personal lives. The interactions between Wade and Ducky, Sebastian and Abby, Brody and Bishop, and Pride and Gibbs in particular were pretty fun. The episodes also flawlessly flowed into one another. My main criticism of the episodes is Luca's portrayal. That guy is just so naive and I don't even get why. Abby, Pride and Percy all tried to talk sense into him, but he wouldn't listen and kept believing Eva was doing the right thing. He seriously deserved a head slap from Gibbs. Luca was all right in part I, but in part II he just looked dumb. Luca was either delusional or madly in love. Anyway, I liked the relationship with his sister and when Abby was confronted with the possibility of having lost the brother she grew up with, I felt sad for her. Killing off Pavlenko was rather soon, I like these uneasy allies that the team has. Fortunately, the new Orleans episode introduced us to Paulina Kurteva, who is also quite an uneasy ally. She was one of the best parts of the second episode and I hope to see more of her in the future. She has awesome chemistry with Pride and she herself said he is fun to spar with. All in all, this was a great crossover and I hope to see more of that in the future. If they could just include NCIS: Los Angeles next time as well, it would be completely perfect. Just imagine Gibbs, Hetty and Pride working together, that would be amazing.A few other notes from both episodes:-The entire New Orleans team knows about Bishop's recent divorce, and she opened up about it a little to Brody. She said she doesn't feel very different, so I assume she has closed the book on it. I would have loved to see Pride and Bishop's conversation thought, seeing as both have recently divorced.-Tony broke up with Zoe, and he said they parted amicably. With Michael Weatherly's upcoming exit, this means Tony is available for whoever wants him.-Also, Percy, a transfer from ATF, revealed she trained with Zoe.-There were two Star Wars references in the episode: both Tony and McGee said at the same time they were talking about Star Wars when Bishop asked them what they were talking about (while they were actually talking about the former's break-up) and Abby made some reference to the force. (Side note: I have never seen Star Wars.)-Vance refers to Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man and Gibbs has no idea what he's talking about. Hilarious!-Speaking of Gibbs, his haircut is back to normal. He told McGee he didn't need it anymore.-Another Trent Kort reference! Can we get this guy back please? If we're talking about uneasy allies, he might have topped the list as the biggest one of them all.-Gibbs and Pride referred to a Miami operation that apparently caused an international incident. Lol, of course they did.The next NCIS episode airs January 19.